The Disarray Trilogy Part 1: Of Harmony and Chaos

by Ink Blotch

Chapter 5 Cutie Mark Crusaders Berry Pickers

The Disarray Trilogy

Part One: Of Harmony and Chaos

Written by Walker “Ink Blotch” Holden

Chapter 5: Cutie Mark Crusaders Berry Pickers

Twilight awoke and immediately checked on Spike. She had slept with her brother in her bed all night worrying about the nightshade poison. The night before, when Fluttershy had returned with the antidote, Twilight had been afraid that the Disarray brothers would have sold them short. This fear had only grown when Spike’s condition had not improved. But now she was able to sigh a breath of relief as she glanced at Spike in his usual sprawled-out condition rather than his sickly, curled-up one. Twilight, despite having gotten a full night sleep, was incredibly exhausted. Between the overuse of magic and the emotional distress of being outwitted by Wisdom, she was still drained from the day before. Deciding to leave Spike as he was, Twilight quietly climbed down from where her bed was and into the main library area. Once she was at ground level, Twilight heard one of the quietest noises she had heard in her life. It was a soft “clip clip clip”-- almost like tiny hooves. Twilight looked curiously around the room, only to facehoof herself when she realized it was her magic diorama of Ponyville. During the excitement of yesterday she had forgotten completely about it, but now she decided to admire her handiwork some more. She loomed over the tiny town and observed everpony’s morning rituals. Mr. Breezy was opening up shop in his fan and air conditioner store, Derpy was once again fluttering busily around town delivering the post, and Ms. Cherilee was taking a stroll through the park. “I wonder…” Twilight thought, “What Cherilee thinks of the Disarray brothers…?” She banished the thought from her head, assuring herself that it did not matter. But she couldn’t help but wonder what they had said to gain Cherilee’s trust. “Probably that they were old friends of mine,” Twilight decided.

She tried once more to think about something else, but she couldn’t, so she decided that if she couldn’t stop thinking about them, she would focus entirely on them. She opened the model library and pulled from it the three wooden minis of the brothers, still bare wood without paint. From a nearby shelf she pulled out plastic containers of paint and some tiny brushes. She selected the containers of orange, black, and yellow. She then picked up the tiny miniature of Wisdom and looked it straight in its eyes. It looked back with a smug look of confidence. I hate you. Twilight surprised herself with this thought but did not regret it. She glared at the mini for another moment before dipping a brush into the orange paint and gently stroking the mini’s body. She finished the body and began to paint the mane black next. It was then that Twilight realized the mane was almost identical to her own, except that hers was shorter. This only made Twilight resent the unicorn even more, but she continued to accurately paint the body of the pony, finally painting the small crown cutie mark with the yellow paint. She put the first mini back, but before she could begin another, her stomach growled. “I suppose it is time for breakfast.” She put the painting supplies away and glanced at the town one more time, noticing Caramel standing at the edge of town, near the Everfree forest. Twilight dismissed this and went into the dining area.

When she entered she saw Fluttershy and Applejack both sitting there, as if they had just been talking but had stopped when they saw their friend enter.

“Oh, good morning, Twilight. How was your sleep?” Fluttershy timidly asked.

“It was okay, I guess,” Twilight replied. “What about you guys? I feel so bad about leaving you to watch them while I slept.”

“Aw, hay Twilight,” Applejack said. “It was no problem at all. You were scared fer yer sibling; I would have done the same.”

“And everything was quiet last night? No escape efforts?” Twilight inquired jokingly.

To this, Applejack bit her lip and shifted her eyes. “Well…” she said, “We did have a minor problem just a bit ago…”

Twilight, concerned with her friends well-being, asked “What? Is everypony okay?”

“Naw, everypony is just fine. But…Pinkie Pie did let one of the varmints out…” Applejack said, biting her lip again.

Twilight’s jaw dropped at this news. She had always known Pinkie could be irresponsible, but this took the cake. “B-but why? Which one was it? He didn’t try to hurt anypony, did he?”

Applejack quickly told her about Fluttershy waking her up and the events that took place afterwards, up until Pinkie taking the newly christened Silver Lining back to the basement. “It’s my fault, Twilight. I went back to sleep when it was my turn to watch them.”

“It’s all right, Applejack, as long as nopony got hurt… well, except for Silver Lining. The point is: everything is fine. I will talk to Pinkie myself to let her know that what she did was wrong.” Twilight still had an expression of shock on her face; this was not what she wanted to wake up too.

She sighted the newspaper on the table next to Angel and Owloysius. “Please at least tell me that there’s something good in the news.” Twilight levitated the paper to herself and read the front page while her friends remained silent. When she finished reading, she dropped the paper back on the table her face even more down then before. “The entire world is falling around us! First those three and now more ponies disappearing. I just-I just don’t know what to do!” She covered her face in her hooves, but felt a pat on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Fluttershy standing by her.

“There, there. Everything will be alright. We just need patience. Also, when will Rainbow be back? At least then we will know that the princess will have gotten our message.”

Twilight couldn’t help but perk up to her friend’s soft voice and kindness, and she took a deep breath and thought aloud on how long Rainbows journey would be. “Well, she left yesterday afternoon, so she probably flew all day and then rested when it got dark. Today she will finish the trip to Canterlot, deliver the message to the guards, and rest for the night. Tomorrow, if she leaves early, she can probably fly all the way back to Ponyville by nighttime. After that, I don’t know how long it will be until Celestia gets back and receives the message, so I guess we will just have to endure until then.”

Twilight felt more confident knowing that Rainbow Dash would return the next day. The cerulean pegasus would be a more intimidating warden than she could hope to be herself. Twilight’s stomach growled again, but louder this time. She blushed a deep red. “Uh… excuse me. Are you two hungry? I can make French toast for everypony.”

******************************************************************************

“Are you two ready?”

“Ah was born ready!”

“Yeah, me two!”

“Okay then, on three. One…” Scootaloo clenched her rope and tensed to swing. “Two….” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom both nervously gulped, but prepared themselves in the tree opposite to Scootaloo’s. “THREE!” The Crusaders, all at once, jumped from their trees. Scootaloo let go of her rope at the right time and was caught by her friends Applebloom and Sweetie Belle on their own rope swing.

All three looked to each other in amazement, and in unison yelled “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ACROBATICS TEA--,” but were cut off by the ropes snapping and their falling into their makeshift safety net made from some fabric “borrowed” from Rarity’s boutique. The fabric caught them, but collapsed from the weight. Dazed, Scootaloo looked around and asked, “Any luck girls?”

Sweetie looked at her flank expectantly, but sighed and replied, “No.”

Applebloom did the same. For a brief moment her face lit up ,but she realized that it was just a squished cricket. “Nothing here…”

Scootaloo hoofed the ground. “Dang it!” she exclaimed. “I thought for sure that this time it would work…”

Applebloom said, “It's okay, Scootaloo. We’ll just have ta try something else instead!”

Scootaloo brightened up. “Yeah! You're right! We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We will not stop until we have our cutie marks!”

With that the Crusaders left the acrobatics display behind, having forgotten it on their way to more adventures. They returned to their tree house, and once there gathered around a large, unsorted list nailed to the wall. Scootaloo marked “Acrobatics” off the list.

“Okay,” Sweetie Belle said. “What’s next on the list?”

Scootaloo scanned the list and said, “Snowball fighting-- but we can’t do that during the summer… After that is mini golf, but I don’t think Mr. Putters will let us near the golf course after the incident with the windmill. After that is berry picking. How does that sound to the both of you?”

Both fillies nodded in agreement. “Okay then,” Scootaloo said. “Applebloom, go and get some buckets from your family's farm; Sweetie Belle, get your boom box so we have some music; and I will find us a good spot to pick berries. I think I saw some near Zecora’s cabin last time we visited. Everypony ready? Good!”

All three fillies put their hoofs together and yelled, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS BERRY PICKERS!” and they ran off to do their different jobs.

******************************************************************************

Some time later, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both were outside of Zecora’s hut, waiting for Applebloom. Scootaloo had brought her scooter and Sweetie Belle’s boom box was resting on the end of it.

Scootaloo impatiently tapped her foot. “Where is Applebloom? We could have started by now…”

Sweetie Belle, who had already started-- but having no bucket ate the berries instead-- looked over to Scootaloo with a purple-stained mouth and replied, “Don’t worry she will be here soon.” Then she continued to eat berries, making sure to avoid the bushes that Zecora had marked with small skull and crossbones sign, symbolizing poison.

Finally, Applebloom appeared from the brush carrying two buckets in her mouth and three with her tail. She spat the buckets out from her mouth and the three began to pick berries. When one bucket became full, they put it on Scootaloo's scooter next to the boom box, which was currently tuned to a channel playing Sapphire Shores. They kept picking berries, avoiding the toxic ones with ease, but soon began to journey deeper into the forest when berries became scarce. For awhile they walked, looking for more berry bushes while the boom box sang, “Equestria girls, we're kind of magical/ Boots on hooves, bikinis on top...”

Sweetie Belle, who wasn’t paying attention but was dancing and sinning to the music instead, hadn’t noticed where they were, and when she looked up saw a large monster about to pounce. “AHHH!” she screamed and tumbled over. Scootaloo and Applebloom both laughed at this. “What are you two laughing at? It’s going to eat us!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

“Look, doofus,” Scootaloo said through her laughter. “It’s just a statue.”

Sweetie Belle looked again, and sure enough it was only the Nightmare Moon statue to which they would offer candy on Nightmare Night. At the base was a pile of wrappers and decomposing candy from the previous Nightmare Night.

“Oh,” Sweetie managed to say as she picked herself up and brushed the dirt from her flank. “I knew that. I was just testing you guys.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay, but it’s going to take a lot more to scare me.”

From behind Scootaloo, somepony quietly whispered in her ear, “Boo.” Scootaloo jumped a foot in the air, her wings fluttering, and she hid behind Sweetie Belle, who was doing the laughing now.

With her eyes covered, Scootaloo heard some more chuckles from her phantom. “Please forgive me, my friend;/ I did not mean to offend.” Scootaloo peered from behind Sweetie Belle and saw Zecora with a hoof over her mouth fighting back laughter.

“Oh it’s just you, Zecora.” Scootaloo said. “You got me good. What are you doing here?”

Zecora looked at the fillies and responded, “I could ask the same./ There are many beasts here untame. If one of you were eaten,/ my heart would be beaten.”

“Wow, uh, freaky poetry,” said Sweetie Belle. “Maybe you could teach us that sometime and it could be our cutie mark! We haven’t had much luck with berry picking.”

“That would be nice, but we must for now leave./ I sense a danger that would cause us grief.”

Applebloom chimed, “Okay, Zecora. I was getting bored of picking berries; it's not like picking apples.”

So the Crusader's berry quest ended and they followed Zecora through the forest. Halfway through, Zecora dropped her voice to a whisper. “Sweetie Belle! Turn off that boom box!”

Sweetie, surprised by Zecora’s sudden alertness and lack of rhyming, obeyed, but then asked “Whats wrong Zecora?”

“Shhh. Children, all of you get down. We are being watched.”

The Crusaders complied, but Scootaloo asked in a quiet voice, “By what Zecora?”

The sun was blocked out by something, but returned to normal a minute later. Zecora, still in a hushed tone, replied to Scootaloo “I know not / whatever it is by it we do not want to be caught.”

The sun blocked out again, but returned a little less quickly this time. The Crusaders and Zecora stayed to the ground waiting. For five minutes they waited, but nothing happened. Finally Zecora stood and said, “I believe it is for now gone,/ but not for very long.”

The Crusaders stood with Zecora, and the sun was blocked out again. “Weird clouds today,” Applebloom said, and then looked up. She screamed.

******************************************************************************

“Okay, Twilight. I Pinkie Promise not to do it again,” Pinkie Pie said, crossing her heart and following the rest of the movements of a Pinkie Promise. She, Twilight, and the rest of the girls were all in the basement, and Twilight had finished lecturing Pinkie about letting Silver Lining out.

“Thank Discord she stopped talking!” Rage exclaimed. He had spent the last ten minutes of Twilight's whole lecture with his ears covered, complaining on how she wouldn’t stop talking. Twilight, like she had done the other times he had complained, simply ignored him.

“Now then where were we…” Pinkie thought, trying to remember. “Oh yeah!” Pinkie jumped, turned in midair to the cell, and pointed to Wisdom. “Your name is… MONARCH! It’s perfect! You are the same colors as a monarch butterfly and your cutie mark is a crown!” Pinkie smiled as Twilight facehoofed for the second time that day. She had just finished telling Pinkie to stop talking to the Disarray Brothers and, more importantly, to stop naming them, but she only got her to promise not to let the three out again.

Rage rolled his eyes. “Really? Do you really think that Wisdom would let himself drop that low? Granted, he has zero personality, and is way too polite to you guys, but do you really think he would accept a name from you?”

Rage looked to his brother expectantly. Wisdom thought for a moment and replied to Pinkie, “I like it; it’s got a ring to it.”

Rage banged his head against the bars of the cell.

Pinkie smiled with delight to have made the newly dubbed Monarch happy. She then turned to Rage, still hitting his head and said, “You look like a…”

“No! No name for me! I am perfectly happy with Rage, thank you very much. I don’t need one of your stupid nicknames. I would be happier with my serial number as a name.”

Pinkie looked offended by this. “Fine! The only Pinkie trademarked name you would deserve would have been Poo Poo because that’s what your attitude is like!” She crossed her arms and looked away from Rage with a huff.

Rage rolled his eyes and muttered to Silver: “You really know how to pick em bro.”

Silver Lining tried to hide his blushing, but failed, the only pony not to notice being Pinkie Pie. Twilight Sparkle, confused, asked, “What?”

Rage gave a wicked smile and slyly said, “Oh yeah, I've only told Rarity haven’t I? Well you all should know that my brother Bli-- oh, excuse me, Silver Lining has the biggest cru-- EYOWTCH!” Rage didn’t get to finish because both Monarch and Silver had stamped on his tail at the same time.

Monarch looked in surprise at Silver. “Well that’s new, Silver. It looks like you're finally learning to stand up for yourself. About time; only took you six months.”

Silver shrugged. “I'm just too lazy to learn life lessons, is all.”

Monarch glared. “That’s your excuse to everything: is that you're too lazy.”

“Well it is true, isn’t it?”

“I suppose…”

“Would both of you kindly PISS OFF!” Rage exclaimed to the casually talking brothers, who were still standing on his tail.

Upstairs a crashing was heard, followed by panicked screaming and yelling. Twilight and the other ponies ran up, leaving the Disarray Brothers behind.

“Hey where you five going?” Rage smirked. “You know from behind you all look a lot better-- OW!”

******************************************************************************

“And then and then there was a SWOOSH! And then there was a BA-BOOM.”

“Then they were gone and then Scootaloo and me screamed and then we we…”

“Girls, please; one at a time. I just woke up!”

Spike had been sleeping until Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had barged into the library, screaming and yelling. He didn’t feel the way he had the night before, but still felt groggy and a little queasy. Now the duo of fillies kept talking and wouldn’t make sense. Spike heard more hoof steps behind him and Twilight and the other four ponies ran in from the basement door and the attention of the two Crusaders shifted from Spike to them.

“Rarity! It was huge! And it had claws and eyes! And…”

“I would have fought it off, but Sweetie Belle was screaming like a baby!”

“Was not!”

“Were too!”

“Was not!”

“Were too--”

Both fillies were engulfed in purple auras, each of a different shade. Rarity and Twilight both brought the fillies closer to them and now had their silent attention.

“Sweetie dear, take a deep breath and-- calmly now-- tell your sister what happened from beginning to end.”

Sweetie Belle inhaled and exhaled slowly, then looked up to Rarity and told her of the Crusader's plan for berry-picking cutie marks up until the part where Zecora had told them to hide.

“Zecora told us it was safe to come out, but then Applebloom looked up into the sky and screamed her head off. Then Zecora shoved us into a bush and then these huge talons came down and grabbed Zecora and Applebloom! When it was gone me, and Scootaloo hopped on her scooter and drove all the way to Ponyville to get help. We went to Sweet Apple Acres first but nopony but Granny Smith was there. Then we came here because we thought Twilight would know what to do and we found all of you here.”

Sweetie breathed deeply, out of breath. Applejack hoofed the ground impatiently. “Well what the hay are we all waiten for! My little sister's in trouble!”

Applejack ran for the door, but Twilight closed it with magic before she could make it. “Applejack we need to figure out what we are dealing with first before we go running after it. I'm worried about Applebloom and Zecora too, but we can’t help them if we get captured too.”

Applejack sighed in defeat. “I reckon yer right Twilight-- but make it quick!”

“Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle? What else can you tell me about what captured Zecora and Applebloom?” Twilight asked.

“Well…” Scootaloo began, “It was big, and had talons like a hawk, and I think I saw feathers. Could it be a giant bird Twilight?”

“Yes Scootaloo, I think that’s exactly what it was.” Twilight glowed her horn and got a book from a shelf. She flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. “Roc: a large bird of prey. Roughly half the size of a full grown dragon. These birds consume most large land and sea mammals. When a mother believes its eggs are about to hatch it, will begin to gather live food for the newborns so they can practice hunting in the nest. If the eggs do not hatch on the day the live food is brought, the mother will eat the prey itself. A roc’s nest is usually hidden on a mountain to avoid contact from ponies.”

Twilight finished reading from the book and looked at everypony. “I am almost certain this is what we are dealing with. It would also explain the recent disappearances. We should have until tonight to save Zecora and Applebloom. Now if we can find something that Applebloom or Zecora recently touched I should be able to cast a dowsing spell on it to find the roc’s nest. Once we find it, I should be able to cast the flight spell on one of you and teleport myself up to save the both of them.”

Applejack walked in front of everypony. “That would be me.”

Twilight nodded to Applejack. “Okat then. I am going to cast the spell now so that you can get used to flying. But remember, these wings are fragile and can not go as fast as a regular pegasus’s.”

“Ah know, just do it.”

Twilight focused her energy on Applejack. She let loose the magic of her horn, engulfing Applejack in ribbons of light. Sparks and snaps could be heard from within the cocoon of light. When it was over, the light vanished and Applejack stepped out with large red and yellow butterfly wings that cast sparkles from the light. Everypony around was stunned. Rarity spoke up first, her face in utter amazement and her eyes shining with glee.

“They are fabulous darling! They have given me the greatest idea of a fashion line yet!”

“Rarity ahm glad you like em and all, but I don’t care as long as they get the job done.”

Twilight stood, her head tipsy from the large amount of magic she had just cast. She shook her head and looked to Applejack, looking the wings over. “Actually, AJ, I'm not so sure that they could. I mean they will get you up there, but if the roc attacks, those wings will not last. Not to mention you will only be able to carry one pony, and I could only teleport myself and one other pony down halfway with the magic I have left over. I would like to have another Pegasus around to help. Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy nervously squeeked, “Well, Twilight, the thing is... I-I couldn’t, because I can’t fly that high…”

Twilight remembered the last time Fluttershy had climbed a mountain; it had taken hours. They didn’t have that kind of time to work with.

“Well what other Pegasi are in Ponyville? The Weather Team?

“Well no, there was only Rainbow. The rest of the Weather Team are at a wedding…” Fluttershy nervously mentioned.

“Derpy?”

“Derpy wouldn’t be able to fly that high either. She gets airsick…”

“How does a Pegasus…? No, never mind. What other Pegasi are there?”

Fluttershy thought for a moment and then said, “Well there is Silver Lining…”

“What, who?” Twilight asked

“I said there is still Silver Lining…”

“Fluttershy, please speak up. I cant hear yo-”

“WE COULD ASK SILVER LINING OK?!” Fluttershy blurted out and then regretted yelling. “Oh dear. I'm sorry for yelling. I’m such a loud mouth…

Twilight paused to absorb the shock of Fluttershy’s outburst, but was back and instinctively answered, “No, not in a thousand years am I letting one of them out. Not until Celestia arrives.”

“So we’ll jus have tah make do with what we have?” asked Applejack.

Twilight felt torn: on one hoof, if she and Applejack went alone, they would risk being outnumbered and have a difficult time getting down whatever Celestia forsaken cliff they would have to climb; but on the other hoof, if she got help from Silver Lining, she would have greater safety and easier descent, but one of the most dangerous ponies in Equestria would be out in the open and could cause serious trouble.

“Well Twilight?” asked Applejack.

Twilight thought for another moment or two, but finally decided, “We will go on our own; we can’t risk Silver Lining escaping.”

Pinkie opened her mouth to protest, but Twilight gave her a look before a word escaped her mouth. Twilight then asked Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo: “Can you tell me where you last saw the roc?”

Sweetie explained how they had been by the Nightmare Moon statue and how her boom box might have been turned on in the panic, with any luck. Twilight then addressed her friends: “Rarity, I want you to stay here with Spike, Sweetie, and Scootaloo and keep an eye on those three. I will take Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie to the Everfree Forest to find and rescue Zecora and Applebloom.”

Her friends nodded in agreement, except Fluttershy, who asked, “Um excuse me. Why do you need me to come along?”

“Your abilities with animals would be invaluable in the forest,” Twilight explained.

“Oh okay…”

The small troop of ponies filed out of the library towards the Everfree forest. Once they were gone Sweetie asked Rarity “Hey who's Silver Lining.”

Rarity bit her lip, but decided it would be best to tell her sister the truth. “Spike, deary, might you put some tea on? This may take awhile.”

Comments

[Lionheart]

mhmm

[Ink Blotch]

353686 Yeah I dont know what to do with passion fruit. At first he was just a part of a dream sequence but I think I might put him in Part 2 of the trilogy.

[Aziraphael]

He has the coloring of a moarch butterfly, so obviously we should call him -
fc03.deviantart.net/fs50/f/2009/288/c/3/The_Monarch_by_Supajoe.jpg
THE MONARCH!

[Wishful Thinking]

I shall read more..much more MWA HA HA