Cutie Mark Crusader Superheroes

by infernape612

1 - It Will Never Work

"Uh, Apple Bloom? I think we've hit the motherload."

It was a normal day in Ponyville. The weather team had cleared out the skies and the sun was shining brightly as everypony got started with their day. At Sweet Apple Acres, a small group of fillies who called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders were embarking on their latest attempt to earn their cutie marks (which had become a generally accepted synonym for the phrase "all hell was about to break loose"). The three fillies were currently poking around Applejack's bedroom in an attempt to find inspiration for their goal.

Sweetie Belle had just popped open Applejack's closet and pulled out a small trunk that was tucked away in the back. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked on with interest as Sweetie Belle popped open the trunk and got the shock of her life. Sitting in the trunk was a costume. Specifically, this costume had belonged to the famous Ponyville superhero Mare Do Well, who had suddenly appeared in town, become a sensation by saving the lives of its citizens, and disappeared just as suddenly.

Scootaloo gaped. "Apple Bloom... your big sister... was... Mare Do Well?"

Apple Bloom could only stammer in shock. "Ah never knew..."

Sweetie Belle piped up, "Wait a minute... didn't Mare Do Well have wings and a horn? Applejack doesn't have either of those. How...?" She interrupted herself when she noticed a letter tucked under the folded outfit. "A letter... shall we?"

Apple Bloom began to read.

Applejack,

I'll admit that Rainbow Dash has never been a modest pony, but this hero thing has gotten to her head and she's taking her ego way too far. I want you to meet me and the rest of the girls (with the obvious exception of Rainbow Dash) at Carousel Boutique. I have a plan.

Twilight Sparkle

Scootaloo pieced together the puzzle. "Of course... the newsponies were saying there might have been more than one Mare Do Well... Applejack and her gang must have teamed up to make it look like one superpony when it was just a bunch of different ponies putting all of their abilities together!"

Sweetie Belle frowned. "This seems really careless of your sister, Apple Bloom. I would have burned the evidence and scattered the ashes to the four winds. ...Apple Bloom. ...Apple Bloom?"

The gears in Apple Bloom's head had already begun to turn the instant she heard the words "more than one Mare Do Well". "Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo... y'all thinkin' what ah'm thinkin'?"

The two fillies glanced at each other, and then it clicked. A wild grin spread across their faces.

---

Carousel Boutique was a bust - the trio couldn't find any other Mare Do Well costumes. They also knew that Twilight's new castle would be a waste of time - even if she had her old costume, it would have been immolated along with the rest of the old library thanks to a giant fight with the demon lord Tirek. The next stop was Sugarcube Corner, where they finally lucked out. While Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle distracted Pinkie Pie with talk of a possible surprise birthday party for Scootaloo, the pegasus filly in question successfully snuck into Pinkie Pie's bedroom and "borrowed" (definitely not stole) a Mare Do Well costume. Having two of the three costumes, the group headed to Fluttershy's cottage and did the same thing, but the distraction they chose backfired spectacularly when Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had to sit through a 10 minute lecture about the responsibilities of owning a pet.

After their "collection of supplies" was complete (much to their disappointment, neither Scootaloo nor Sweetie Belle got cutie marks for stealth), the three seemed to be ready. However, they quickly ran into a problem.

"Uh, this might be a bad time to mention this, but THESE CLOTHES ARE WAY TOO BIG FOR US!!!"

"Quiet down, Scootaloo, you're gonna give us away!" Apple Bloom scolded as she struggled to make her costume fit. It took a lot of time, rolled up sleeves, and liberal use of paper towels and old newspapers as padding, but the three were finally ready to attempt to become Cutie Mark Crusader Superheroes.

---

That night, while everypony else was asleep, the three were sneaking around the back alleys of Ponyville looking for trouble. Sweetie Belle, despite being in a layered superhero outfit, was shivering. "Guys... it's cold outside. How long is this gonna take?"

Apple Bloom responded, "As long as it takes, Sweetie Belle. Ah ain't goin' home without my superhero cutie mark."

Sweetie Belle couldn't help snarking, "That's what you said about the ziplining cutie mark and the author's cutie mark and the pyrotechnics cutie mark..."

"Ah thought we agreed never to talk about the pyrotechnics cutie mark ever again."

Sweetie Belle chuckled to herself at the memory. It had taken a lot of convincing on Twilight Sparkle's part to stop that magician from forcing the three to rebuild her entire stage with their bare hooves.

"Hey..."

Sweetie Belle began to reminisce. "Well, we've had worse disasters. Like that time you tried to use a potion to force your cutie mark to appear and ended up giving yourself the cutie pox."

"Girls..."

Apple Bloom jumped in, "Or that time we tried gettin' journalism cutie marks and ended up becomin' gossip columnists and gettin' the whole town out for our heads!"

"APPLE BLOOM! SWEETIE BELLE! I hate to interrupt your fond memories, but that pony is ABOUT TO GET MUGGED!" It was true. Scootaloo pointed to a scene a short distance away. A green unicorn mare was backed up against a wall by a large, muscular-looking earth pony with a spiked club held between his teeth.

"Now, you can do this the easy way and gimme all your bits, or I can do this the fun way and bash 'em outta you!" The mugger gave a sadistic laugh.

With the enthusiasm that only a child could have, Apple Bloom promptly sprung the plan she had spent the last hour carefully devising and adjusting for every possible contingency imaginable. "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!" The three superhero wannabes ran out of the shadows and jumped at the mugger, clinging to his back and trying to bite him (forgetting that they were wearing mouth-concealing masks). This had the sum total effect of startling the mugger and sending him rearing back onto his hindlegs. The panicking unicorn mare promptly blasted the mugger in the chest with as much magic as she could muster, sending him flying into a nearby wall and instantly knocking him out. The CMC were knocked aside by his unconscious body, but managed to right themselves and make a dramatic exit back into the shadows of Ponyville. The dazed unicorn watched a cape flutter around the nearby corner and vanish.

"Mare Do Well..." She considered going to the police, but then realized that there was something she had to do first. The unicorn trotted over to the unconscious mugger and gave him a brutal kick in the flank. Then she fled for the nearest police station.

---

"That was insane..."

"Did you see that? We kicked his butt!"

"That had to have gotten us cutie marks!" The three fillies had managed to make it back to their clubhouse on Sweet Apple Acres. Having a moment to rest and recuperate, they began taking off the costumes and making plans to sneak them back to their respective owners (see, it was borrowing!). Apple Bloom started thinking, "The animals livin' in Miss Fluttershy's house are gonna be a real problem, seein' as some a' them might be those kinds a' animals that sleep in the day and run around at night... whaddya call'em... nocturnal? Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, help me out here..." Her two friends had stopped what they were doing and were staring slack-jawed at Apple Bloom. Or to be more specific, her flank. Apple Bloom frowned. "...Girls? Whaddya starin' at? ...Girls?"

"You... you..." "Ebbeh..." Apple Bloom followed their gazes to her rear. Sitting there, where a dreaded patch of blank fur had sat before, was a picture of a cape fluttering in the breeze. Apple Bloom poked it tentatively. Not a paper cutout or something. Then she rubbed it. Not a marker stain.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo snapped out of their stupor, ran over to their best friend, picked her up, and began whooping and cheering. "YOU DID IT!!! YOU DID IT!!!! IT WOOOOOOOOOOOOORKED!!!"

It was a cutie mark.

Comments

[pinkis cupcake]

YAY APPLE BLOOM!!! now strut yo stuff girl!

[Honest Wisdom]

This... All of my yes to this!