Cutie Mark Crusaders Royale

by Bluecatcinema

Athletic Pursuits

Minutes after deciding to form their own chapter of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Pureblood brought up an important question.

"So, what should we try first?" Pureblood asked. "I mean, our special talents could be anything..."

"Ooh, I know!" Hurricane smiled. "Sports!"

"Sports?" Miracle asked.

"Why not?" Hurricane shrugged. "A lot of ponies have their Cutie Marks in athleticisms! If we find one we're good at, it might be our special talent!"

"Oh, I already do a lot of sports!" Vito boasted. "And I'm great at all of them."

"That's news to me..." Pureblood snorted.

"But what sport should we start with first?" Miracle wondered, "There's so many of them…"

"How about golf?" Hurricane suggested. "My dad plays it all the time. He could give us some pointers!"

"A golfing Cutie Mark?" Vito frowned. "Hardly seems worthy of a prince..."

"Stay behind then." Pureblood smirked. "But don't blame us if we all have Cutie Marks and you don't."

"Alright, fine, I'll give it a try." Vito growled.

"Great." Miracle nodded. "Let's go find Caboose."

They didn't have to look far. Caboose was patrolling the north corridors.

"Dad, dad!" Hurricane called.

"What's the matter, my little whirlwind?" Caboose asked.

"We're trying to get our Cutie Marks, Mr Napoleon." Miracle explained. "We figured we'd try sports. And Hurricane says you could teach us how to play golf."

"Please, daddy?" Hurricane put on the puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, I can't say no to that face." Caboose chuckled. "Follow me, kids."

A few minutes later, they were all stood outside, on the castle's private golf course.

"I just realised, when did we get a golf course?" Pureblood asked.

"I dunno, plot element?" Hurricane shrugged.

"Definitely plot element." Caboose chuckled.

"So, tell us, uncle 'Boose, what's your secret for golf?" Vito asked.

"Yeah, and leave out no details." Miracle suggested.

"Well, kids, if you want to be good at golf, you have to remember three things..." Caboose took his position next to a golf ball. "First, analyse your target and adjust your body as such to line up your shot." He looked at the hole, and then adjusted his body. "Second, take account for wind patterns." He licked his hoof and put it in the air. "And last, and you all must remember this: before each swing, you must call out a word so powerful, so that all ponies knows that a force unlike any other is coming, and if they don't get the buck out of the way, then..." He pointed 'out there'. "You, are already dead."

"And what if we don't?" Vito asked.

"You'll tear a hole in the universe and kill everypony you love." Caboose declared.

Vito winced in shock.

"Now, allow me to demonstrate the perfect delivery..." He prepared his swing, and with a bellow, shouted, "FORE!"

Caboose swung, hitting the golf ball with vicious velocity... but it missed the hole and bounced off a tree and into the castle. What ensued was a golf ball ricocheting pass several servants and guards…

Iron Hooves was doing his patrol when the golf ball was flying right at him.

"Lauren F-" Iron gasped, as he quickly jumped, the golf ball flying right under him. As soon as Iron landed, he glanced under him, and gave a sigh of relief as his 'stallion parts' still remained intact.

The golf ball eventually shot back out and landed in the hole.

"YAHOO! HOLE IN ONE!" Caboose cheered, as he turned to the kids. "Okay, now it's your turn!"

The kids lined up next to the already set-up balls, and started swinging. Hurricane missed her's.

"Dang it!" She groaned.

Miracle hit hers, but it only bounced off the tree.

"I need to work on my power swing..." She sighed.

Pureblood hit his, but far too hard, sending the ball flying into the horizon.

"Oops." He winced. "Sure hope that doesn't hit anypony..."

"Step aside." Vito smirked. "Let a pro show you how it's done."

Vito swung his club... and tore a big chunk of earth out of the ground near the tee.

The others snickered and snorted.

"Way to go, 'pro'." Pureblood teased.

"Obviously, I've been given a defective club!" Vito claimed.

"I guess golf isn't our special talent." Miracle shrugged. "What next?"

"Leave that to me, kids." Caboose declared. "I'll go fetch some sports supplies, and you can try all that stuff out."

"Thanks, dad." Hurricane beamed.

Caboose departed, and returned a short time later with all sorts of sporting gear.

"Where did you get all this?" Miracle asked.

"I know a guy." Caboose smiled. "Who knows another guy, who knows a gal, whose cousin knows a guy... Anyway, I have to get back to guard duties. You kids have fun!"

"Okay, let's get to work!" Hurricane rubbed her hooves together.

And so, it began. All manner of sports were tried by the new Crusaders. First, there was the hurdles.

After a few hurdles had been set up, they started their run, one at a time.

"Ladies first." Vito offered to Miracle.

Miracle took her place and began running… however, as soon as she approached the first hurdle and jumped, she ended up getting her bottom half caught on it.

"Nice one." Vito smirked. "Bring on the gold medal."

"Lay off, V." Pureblood nudged his brother. "It was good for a first try, Mir."

"Yeah." Hurricane agreed. "You got halfway there!"

Pureblood was up next, and he ran towards the first hurdle. He almost cleared it when he jumped, but his back leg got caught and knocked the hurdle down.

"That should not count." Vito frowned.

"Why not?" Hurricane asked. "That was neat! PB should get extra points for knocking it over!"

"He was better than me." Miracle admitted. "At least he made it to the other side."

Hurricane soon followed after, making her way to the first hurdle (put back up by Miracle)… and went under it.

"Ha-ah! How you like that? I don't get why ponies jump over these when they can slip right under them!" Hurricane smirked.

"Um, Hurricane, the point of hurdles is to go over them." Miracle pointed out.

"Really? Since when?!" Hurricane protested.

"Since forever, Hurri!" Vito rolled his eyes.

"Well, if you're so smart, Vito, why don't you try it?" Hurricane challenged.

"With pleasure." Vito scoffed, as he took his place.

He eyed the first hurdle, and with a burst of speed, charged right at it. And as soon as he was ready, he jumped… but not high enough, as he crashed into it.

"Ow…" Vito sniffled.

"You okay, V?" Pureblood asked.

"I'm fine." Vito wiped his eyes.

"You sure?" Hurricane inquired. "It looked like you were crying."

"I was not!" Vito growled. "I just... got something in my eye."

"Both of them?" Miracle pointed out.

"Yes!" Vito insisted.

"Whatever you say, bro." Pureblood sighed.

"Maybe hurdles aren't our cup of tea as well." Miracle frowned, "What do we have next?"

"Well, there's volleyball…" Hurricane suggested, "But I think that's more of a filly sport…"

"No biggie." Pureblood shrugged, "You two can try that, me and Vito will try…" He scans the pile of sport equipment, "Weight lifting?"

"Yeah, maybe that will hurt less than hurdles…" Vito groaned.

Within minutes of setting up the net, the girls were trying their hooves at volleyball, while Pureblood and Vito tried lifting weights.

Vito went first, but could barely get them to budge.

"This is impossible!" He growled through clenched teeth, trying to lift the weights. "Nopony can lift these!"

"Let me try." Pureblood offered.

"Yeah, right." Vito snorted.

Pureblood grabbed the weights, braced himself... and easily lifted them. After a few reps, he set them down.

"That wasn't so hard." Pureblood shrugged.

"I softened them up for you." Vito pouted.

"That doesn't make any sense." Pureblood pointed out.

"You don't make any sense!" Vito shot back.

The volleyball suddenly flew between them.

"Sorry!" Hurricane called, somehow tangled up in the net. "Hit it a little too hard there!"

Next, they tried field hockey with Vito and Hurricane playing goalie, and Pureblood and Miracle on the offense. It seemed to be going well for a time, until…

"Okay, Hurricane, get ready for this!" Pureblood warned Hurricane, as he lift his stick and hit the ball hard with a gnarly slapshot. It bounces off Hurricane's mask with such force…that it split it in two, and smashed through a castle window…pelting a unfortunate guard in the head, knocking him out.

"Hurricane, are you alright?!" Miracle rushed over to Hurricane, who was knocked down by the shot.

"Yeah… just had my life flashed before my eyes… and for some reason, 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing' by Aeroshire was playing…it was weird." Hurricane said in a daze.

"Maybe we should try something less aggressive…" Vito gulped, noting the now split mask.

"I concur." Pureblood nodded.

After that, they attempted the shotput, with limited results.

That being, neither Miracle, Vito, nor Hurricane could lift the heavy ball.

"Grr…" Vito groaned, as he tried to lift it, but to no avail. "If only… I could… use my… magic…"

"No can do, V, it says clearly in the rulebook that magic is prohibited in all sorts of sports." Hurricane explained.

"Well, that's just great!" Vito pouted, as he stopped trying. "Stupid ball…"

"Let me try…" Pureblood offered, as he stretched his front hooves and cricked his neck. He lifted the ball with ease, much to the other foals' shock, and threw it… only to break another window in the castle.

"OWWWWWWWW!" A voice cried out, as a guard now had his hoof squashed by a random shot put pall.

Next, they tried horseshoe throwing… which resulted in more windows being broken, courtesy of Pureblood's strong throwing hoof, and more guards suffered head injuries.

"You know, I think we shouldn't do any more sports that requires throwing things." Miracle frowned.

"Yeah, I don't think our royal guard regiment can take any more abuse…" Vito winced.

"Nor can the castle…" Hurricane noted the broken windows.

"I'm sorry, guys. I guess I don't know my own strength." Pureblood shrugged, rubbing the back of his head.

Unfortunately, they spent the rest of the afternoon running through all the supplies Caboose brought, and ran out of options, even resorting to hoof-wrestling at one point…

Vito was currently trying to beat Pureblood… but as displayed earlier, Pureblood had the upper hoof, quickly beating him in seconds.

"Gah!" Vito gasped.

"I win… again…" Pureblood sighed.

"Only because you cheated." Vito growled.

"Don't be a sore loser, V. It's unbecoming of you." Pureblood sighed, as he glanced back. "Anything, girls?"

Hurricane and Miracle glanced at Pureblood's flank, seeing nothing.

"Nothing." Miracle sighed.

"Na-da." Hurricane groaned.

After that, at the end of the day, they were all exhausted, and still blank flanked.

"No Cutie Marks today..." Miracle sighed. "Whatever our special talents are, they definitely have nothing to do with sports."

"There's always tomorrow." Hurricane said hopefully.

Pureblood's stomach started growling.

"I'm hungry." He realized. "Wanna get some snacks?"

"Sure, I could eat." Vito nodded. "Besides, I got some more ideas to run by you guys…"

The new Cutie Mark Crusaders headed inside, already discussing other ways to get their Cutie Marks.

Comments

[Galaxy Knight]

Thank goodness this is a cartoon world, otherwise those guards could have been seriously hurt.