Cutie Mark Mix-up

by AlicornPriest

Chapter 2

Scootaloo rapped on the door to the farmhouse. To her surprise, it wasn't Apple Bloom who came to the door, but Applejack. “Hey, where's Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked. “Sweetie Belle and me are gonna meet up with Rainbow Dash and do some more karate practice. We're still hopin' for those karate cutie marks!”

“Sorry, kiddo,” said Applejack, “but Apple Bloom hasn't come out'f her room all mornin'. Don't rightly know why. Probably has somethin' to do with her cutie mark.”

“Did you say anything to her?” Scootaloo asked.

“Course not! We've been nothin' but s'pportive of her new talent. We Apples've always loved our singin', and we've known since she was small that Bloom could sing like the best of 'em!” Applejack shook her head. “And you two didn't say nothing neither, right?”

“No, we told her she could stick along while we try and get our cutie marks. We're supposed to be best friends, no matter what!”

“Well, I don't rightly know, then,” Applejack said. “But she needs to come out and get to her chores. We got a lot of applebuckin' to do today.”

Scootaloo recalled the look Apple Bloom had had when she'd realized she'd earned her cutie mark with Fluttershy yesterday, how despondent she'd looked. “I've got some time,” she said. “I could do them for her.”

“Ya'll don't have to do that. Apple Bloom should be the one to do 'em.”

“Apple Bloom needs some time to figure things out,” Scootaloo said. “I bet she'd feel better knowing she didn't have to do her chores while she was thinking.”

Applejack took Scootaloo at her word. “Well, all right. If you think you're up for it.”

“I... think so.” It occurred to Scootaloo that she'd never actually done any applebucking before. “Is it hard?”

“Depends on the pony. I mean, no offense, but pegasi usually ain't got the stamina for it. Unicorns neither. It's usually an earth pony gig.”

Scootaloo took that as a challenge. “Well, maybe I'll be the first pegasus to be any good at applebucking! What about that?”

Applejack laughed. “Maybe ya will be. But maybe you oughta try kickin' a coupl'a trees first 'fore yer mouth writes checks yer hooves can't pay.” She and Scootaloo found the first tree close to the house; it looked full to bursting with way too many apples for one little pony to kick down on her own. “Think ya'll can handle this'un?” Applejack said.

“Y-yeah, I think so,” Scootaloo said. She turned around, squinted her eyes shut real tight, and threw back her hooves as hard as she could. Only two apples responded to her attempt, and neither of them managed to land in the bucket next to the tree.

“You did a good job, Scoots,” said Applejack. “Celestia knows Ah didn't do much better on mah first applebuckin'.”

“Wait, wait, I've got an idea!” She stood back a few feet, then ran up and did a flying kick to the tree trunk, just like Rainbow Dash had been teaching them in karate class. To Scootaloo's credit, quite a few more of the apples fell off of the branches; some of them even landed in the buckets this time!

“Well that's mighty fine of you,” said Applejack, “but ye can't do that for every single tree. 'D take too long.”

“What if I used my scooter, though?” She dashed back to the house and returned with her trusty scooter in hoof. She lined herself up with one of the rows of trees, then flapped her wings until she was pushing herself through the orchard at full speed. At each tree, she flipped off of her scooter and blasted it with one of those flying kicks, throwing the apples off of the branches and into the buckets. No matter how many of the trees she kicked, Scootaloo never felt tired; in fact, she felt exhilarated. She was harvesting apples like the best of them! That'd show Applejack for thinking she didn't have the stamina for it!

At least, until she ran out of stamina. Thankfully, she'd just finished a row, so she slowed to a stop and flopped onto the ground, completely beat, and waited for Applejack to catch up. “Wow, Scootaloo!” she told her. “I ain't never seen a pony pull off somethin' like that. Ah didn't think it was possible!”

“And I can't believe how much fun that was!” Scootaloo replied. “You get to do that every year?”

“We gotta do a lot more than one little row, but yeah, reckon we do,” Applejack said. “Why? Thinkin' of doin' some more of that fancy scooter-work?”

“Hey yeah! I bet if I do it enough, I'll be able to knock down all the apples in a row, and, and do all the rows in one swoop without getting tired!”

“All right, pardner, we'll see about that. Fer now, you promised you'd do Applebloom's part of the orchard, so you got eight more rows to go for today.” Applejack gestured to the rows next to her. “Now that yer done rollin' in the grass, think you got the energy for it?”

Scootaloo jumped up and set her scooter back up again. “I've never felt better!” Scootaloo said. “Let's go!”

***

As Scootaloo finished up the last row, Applejack called out to her from the house, “Sweetie Belle's here!”

Unlike the first row, Scootaloo hardly felt fatigued at all by the time she was done. She powered her way up to where Sweetie was waiting by the front door. “You were supposed to meet me at the dojo half an hour ago!” Sweetie moaned. “What have you been doing all morning? And where's Apple Bloom?”

“Oh, she's in her room moping, so I thought I'd do her chores for her,” said Scootaloo.

“You... did her chores for her?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That sounds boring.”

“No way! Have you ever done it before? It's the best!”

“Actually, I have. I think I'll pass.” Sweetie Belle tipped her head to the side, then gasped. “I guess you really did like it, 'cuz it's your cutie mark!”

“What?” Scootaloo twisted around to get a glimpse of what Sweetie Belle had seen. Sure enough, there on Scootaloo's flank was an image of an apple criss-crossed with a lightning bolt. “That's... not really what I was expecting.”

“Me either. What's mine going to be? Flight?” Sweetie laughed. “Things just seem all topsy-turvy recently.”

“What if we go tell Apple Bloom the good news? Maybe if she knows I got my cutie mark, she'll know she's not alone and that we can still be friends?” Scootaloo asked.

“Great idea! Let's go!” Together, they charged up the stairs and knocked on Apple Bloom's bedroom door. “Hey, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle said. “Scootaloo wants to show you something.”

“Go away,” came the voice behind the door.

“I think you'll like it!” said Sweetie Belle.

Eventually, they heard the door open, and Apple Bloom appeared in the threshold. Her mane was an utter mess, and her eyes had deep black circles beneath them. “Ah'm really not in the mood, you two,” Apple Bloom said. “Whatcha got?”

Scootaloo turned around and revealed her cutie mark. “Ta-da! Now I have a cutie mark, too!”

Apple Bloom didn't seem happy by this revelation. The first clue was when she scowled and tipped her head down to glare at Scootaloo. The second was when she tackled Scootaloo and began smacking her left and right. The third was when she screamed, “That's mah cutie mark! It's supposed ta be mine! YOU STOLE MY DESTINY!”