The Cutie Cup

by Mathew_The_Raridash_Fan

Teams of Three

Ribbons decorated with assortments cutie marks surrounded the parameter of the class room. The words “The Cutie Cup” were written boldly on the black board, surrounded by other cutie marks. All of the foals talked among each other about the Cutie Cup. Miss Cheerilee was busy organizing some papers.

After five minutes of rowdiness, Miss Cheerilee was finally finished. She needed to tell the students about the Cutie Cup, though, “Can I have your attention?” Everypony stopped talking and listened attentively to the teacher. The sudden silence surprised Miss Cheerilee, “Well, thank you! As you all already know, the Cutie Cup is coming up! Who knows what the that is?”

Apple Bloom raised her hoof. The teacher looked at her, and she explained, “The Cutie Cup celebrates the first cutie marks ever! Long before Equestria was found, even long before the tribes, only a small group of ponies existed. During that time, cutie marks didn't exist. They would put foals through five difficult tasks and brand them based on their performance.

“One day, a filly had an unusual branding. It was of a basket of berries, and there was one on each flank. Some of the ponies held her in high respect while others thought she was a fake. Later, markings, which are now known as cutie marks, appeared on the ponies naturally.” Apple Bloom nodded to indicate that she was done.

The other students stared at her with their jaws dropped. Apple Bloom's obsession with cutie marks inspired her to read about its history, but no one else know that. Even Miss Cheerilee was astonished by the detailed description. She was expecting her to talk about the games itself.

Miss Cheerilee explained that the Cutie Cup was a competition that was divided into five courses: relay race, tug o war, item finding, rock climbing, and capture the flag. The relay race was timed while the others had a certain number of teams to move on. The tug o war allowed half the teams to move on, item finding allowed five teams to move on, and rock climbing allowed two teams to move on to the final round, Capture the flag.

Each team consisted of three members. Even though the three member team was meant to be a symbol of unity, there were no set rules about the species of each member. The original rules required one of each type of pony to be on each team, but a lot of Earth Ponies were left out.

The Cutie Cup courses were far different from what the ancient ponies had to go through, and unlike the tasks to get their cutie mark, the Cutie Cup courses stayed the same. They were also played with teams of three rather than individuals.

The bell rang to dismiss the students, and Apple Bloom searched for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She found them just outside the door. The three fillies walked straight to the their club house. As they walked, they decided to be on a team together.

They reached the club house and walked in. Everything was decorated in Rainbow Dash pictures from the courtesy of Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle looked at the pictures and asked Scootaloo, “Don't you think it's strange to put up pictures of her when she never won the Cutie Cup? I think this place should be decorated in pictures of Rarity.”

Apple Bloom's head shot up, “I remember Applejack telling me that she won the Cutie Cup with Rarity and Derpy!”

“Rainbow Dash couldn't have played in the Cutie Cup. Cloudsdale never celebrated it!” Scootaloo explained. Cities that only had one type of pony like Cloudsdale and Appleloosa never celebrated the Cutie Cup. It wasn't that they couldn't. It just felt wrong for there to be a symbol of unity for the different types of ponies when there was only one type of pony in those places.

“Maybe we can ask Applejack for help!” Apple Bloom suggested.

“Applejack couldn't find anything during the item finding course,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

Apple Bloom's ears dropped as she sighed. Sweetie Belle was right, Applejack wasn't the best as searching for stuff. She had poor attention to details. Still, without her, the other two didn't stand a chance at tug-o-war. Applejack also saved her team during the relay after Derpy tripped over and cost them ten seconds.

“I think Rarity would be a great pony to talk to!” Sweetie Belle told the others.

“Yeah, if she didn't almost cost her team during the rock climb,” Apple Bloom explained.

“Everyone knew that she stepped on a faulty rock!” Sweetie argued. “They still won!”

“That's because Applejack went back and saved her!” Apple Bloom stated, “My sister was clearly the best!”

“Rarity was far better than Applejack!” Sweetie Belle retorted.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle continued arguing much to Scootaloo's dismay. She wanted to leave and hang out with Rainbow Dash, but she didn't want to abandon her friends. Rainbow Dash wouldn't have done that. The argument got so intense that her patience reached its limit, “Enough, you two!” she hollered.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stopped arguing and looked at Scootaloo.

“If it wasn't for Applejack, Rarity, and Derpy, they wouldn't have won! Apple Bloom, when Derpy tripped over, Rarity went over to help her. After the race, she made sure that everything was OK. Sweetie Belle, sure Applejack wasn't able to find anything during the item finding, but it doesn't mean she didn't try. If it weren't for Derpy, you wouldn't have won the capture the flag!” Scootaloo explained to them in an annoyed tone.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said, “sorry,” simultaneously.

The fillies talked more about the Cutie Cup. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom wanted to enter to live up to their family names while Scootaloo wanted to enter to make Rainbow Dash proud. The three of them agreed that it was a great opportunity to earn their cutie marks, though.

They needed a lot of help if they were going to win the Cutie Cup, so they decided to ask their sisters. They left their club house and split up to search for their sister. Apple Bloom headed towards her house, Sweetie Belle headed towards the Carousel Boutique, and Scootaloo headed towards the park where Rainbow Dash often hung out around that time.

Author's Note:

My Little Pony franchise belongs to Hasbro.