Heart's Desire

by LunarShadow

The Cutie Mark Crusaders

The Cutie Mark Crusaders

“Good morning Crusaders.” Sweetie Belle yawned as she trotted into the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ club house.

And she’s an hour late, like usual. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and went back to staring at the map. Now, where could we go crusading today?

“Morning Sweetie,” Scootaloo replied. “Trying to get your cutie mark in lateness?” She snickered at her own joke.

Sweetie Belle growled and lunged at Scootaloo. “Hey! Rarity keeps me from going anywhere until 8:45 and it takes ten minutes or so to get here!”

Upon seeing Sweetie Belle jump at her friend, Apple Bloom darted in between the two fighting fillies. “Hey! Give it a rest, will yah? We can’t afford tah argue like this. Anyways, we’ve already established that our special talent isn’t arguing.” She held both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at legs length. Desperately, she said, “It’s okay, honestly. We know about your sister’s dumb rule and we should have changed our times to reflect that.”

“No! We’ve had this time as our meeting time for ages,” yelled Scootaloo. “We’ve never had issues with it until Sweetie Belle got in trouble with Rarity, again!”

“Chicken!” growled Sweetie Belle.

“Dictionary!” retorted Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom stared in horror at her friends. “Yah both fight like a married couple! Oh!” She feigned sudden shock and pointed at their flanks. “Ah... Ah think your cutie marks just appeared. And... yup, it’s you two arguing.”

Both fillies immediately stopped throwing insults and looked at their flank, a mixture of anticipation and horror on their faces. Sweetie Belle twirled around trying to see while Scootaloo backed up to look into the club house’s small, cracked mirror. When they discovered that what Apple Bloom had said was not true, they looked back at her with disappointment.

“Gotcha!” Apple Bloom giggled. “Now can we stop arguing and get to today’s crusading? Ah have several ideas.”

Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo and broke into a fit of laughter. “S-sorry, won’t happen again. I’ll ask Rarity about going out a little earlier. Are we all good, Scootaloo?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Scootaloo hopped trotted back over to the wall where their map was pinned up opposite the mirror.

But one day, I’ll bravely save them from something and they won’t be able to call me chicken. She sighed and examined the map. I’ll just throw it on the growing pile of things I want to do along with flying.

Across the paper, each location they had already visited had been crossed out with a giant, red X. Some places had be marked a second time. And then there was Sweet Apple Acres, which had over a dozen X’s over it.

“Now hear me out before yah all laugh, but I really think that our cutie marks are going to be earned on the farm.” Before Sweetie Belle could protest, Apple Bloom waved her hoof, shushing her and said, “ Ah know that we’ve tried a lot here, but there’s one place we haven’t been.”

Scootaloo frowned, but waved for Apple Bloom to continue. Yeah, we’ve tried a lot here. Pruning, harvesting, herding, and... and... I can’t even remember it all. Scootaloo could feel the frustration building. We really need some new places to go.

“The barn loft!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, continuing on with her idea. “ Ah really think that Ah’m on tah something here.”

“But you told us yourself that there’s nothing up there except hay,” Scootaloo said, voicing her concern.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes seemed to light up and her ears shot up. “Hey, yeah! Didn’t you hear about the explosion, Scootaloo?” When Scootaloo shook her head, Sweetie Belle explained. “Twilight apparently cast a spell that went off with a big bang in the loft and no pony knows what it was.”

Applebloom nodded. “And Ah was thinking that maybe if we identified the spell, we could get our cutie marks!”

The other two ponies nodded vigorously, the plan intriguing them both. They all reared up and smacked hooves. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Spell Identifiers!” they shouted.

“It’d be cool to have an thaumatologist cutie mark” Sweetie Belle hopped up and down in anticipation as they left the club house and headed to the distant hill where the barn sat.”

“A thaumawhat now?” Scootaloo said as she dodged a tree, the group just having entered the southern orchard.

Sweetie Belle coughed, her cheeks flushed a light shade of red. “Sorry. It’s just a word I heard Rarity say while while she was talking to Twilight once.” She looked straight ahead, away from her friends. “I was curious and looked it up in the dictionary. It’s a pony who practices magic.”

“But we aren’t going to be practicing magic. We’re only trying to identify a spell that Twilight cast and then maybe more spells once we get our cutie marks,” Scootaloo replied.

Apple Bloom cut into the conversation. “Now wait a second. Ah supposed that spell identification would fall into this thaumathingy.” She looked up as they came out of the orchard and found themselves at the base of the hill. “No use arguing about it. We’re at the barn. Last one to the loft is a rotten apple!”

There’s something special in the loft, I can just feel it! Scootaloo thought happily. She grinned as she prepared to gallop up the hill.

All three fillies took off at full speed, jostling for first. They burst through the barn doors all at once and tumbled to the ground in a heap. Giggling, they untangled themselves and lay on the ground for a few seconds panting.

They took this time to look around, just in case there was a clue on the first floor as to what spell Twilight had cast. In the dim light that seeped through the cracks and came in through the large double doors, they only saw the regular objects. A recently cleaned plow, buckets of nails plus hammers, and several ancient farm tools.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” cried Applebloom. “The loft is this way!” She mounted some stairs at the far end of the barn and beckoned for her friends to follow.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle glanced at each other and grinned. Together, they dashed for the stairs, following Apple Bloom up. When they reached the top they stopped and stared in confusion. Besides hay and a slight draft which blew strands of hay, there was no sign that any spell had been cast.

In fact, the floor looked as if it had been recently washed. Curiously, they nodded to each other and separated to look for clues. Scootaloo stayed by the trap door and looked around it. Sweetie Belle went to pile of hay and jumped in to look underneath. Apple Bloom wandered over to the far end to examine the ground.

Danggit! I was sure that there was something special about this place. I still feel like there’s something for us here. Scootaloo sighed in disappointment and frowned.

Suddenly, her ears perked up and she spun around as Apple Bloom cried out in surprise. At the far end of the room, she could be seen sitting on the ground, rubbing her snout and glaring at something.

Trotting over, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle helped their friend up. “Whatcha staring at, Apple Bloom?” they asked.

“This stupid mirror! Ah didn’t see it and ran smack dab into it.”

Scootaloo cocked her head and looked at the empty space in front of her. “What mirror?”

“Wha... ugh! What do you mean you can’t see it? It’s right there!” Apple Bloom gestured wildly at something. When her friends only stared at her blankly, she grabbed their hooves and forced them to touch the cool surface. “This one!”

They collectively gasped as the mirror shimmered into view.

“So that’s what Twilight cast. Just a simple cloaking spell.” Sweetie Belle frowned and examined the misty surface of the mirror.

Scootaloo ran her hoof along the ornate frame. “But that doesn’t explain the supposed explosion. There has to be...” Her words trailed off as she blinked in surprise. Guys? Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” She stood stock still while her reflection flittered about high in the air.

Eventually, her other self landed on the doorstep of Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. The door opened and a very happy looking Rainbow Dash swooped down to give the Scootaloo in a big hug. Together they went inside where they sat at a table and ate from plates of hay fries. They laughed about something that Scootaloo couldn’t hear.

“Guys... I think I’m seeing things.”

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Yah aren’t the only one. You guys can see us standing together, right? Except we look older and so happy? We’re at the clubhouse, but it looks older somehow. And... and we have our cutie marks!” she exclaimed. “But Ah can’t quite see what they are.”

“I don’t think we’re seeing the same things, cause that’s not what’s appearing to me.” Sweetie Belle looked away from the mirror for a second and shrugged at her friends. “I see me and Rarity at the park. Mom and Dad are there too. They’re showing us a card from two years ago. It says something about how they enjoyed their last trip ever and they’re home for good now. We’re so happy, it looks like neither me nor Rarity have argued in ages.”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned to stare at Scootaloo. “What’d you see?”

“Umm... I was flying with Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo grinned nervously, trying to come up with something plausible other than what she’d actually seen. “We were... err... flying together as Wonderbolts.”

They can never know, but why am I so ashamed of my current situation. It’s not gonna last forever. It’s not like being an orphan is bad or anything.

“Girls! What are ya’ll doin’ up here?”

All three fillies whirled around at the voice of Applejack.

“We were just trying to see what Twilight cast to cause that explosion!”

“We were just crusading, honest!”

“Ah thought that maybe we could discover our talent as thaumathingies up here.”

Applejack waved a hoof, silencing anymore explanations. “Wait, thaumawhats now? You mean cutie marks as sorceresses? But only...” She cut herself off and said, “Nevermind! Yah know you’re not supposed to be up here. We moved everything out of here for a reason.”

“Yeah, Ah know. The floorboards are weak.” Apple Bloom looked down, frowning. She shuffled her hooves and turned back to Applejack. “But we didn’t move everything down. There’s that mirror.” She looked back at her friends who nodded their agreement.

Applejack peered around the three fillies and raised an eyebrow. “What’re yah talking about? There’s no mirror. Ah think you’re imagining things. Anyways, it’s time for breakfast and then chores.” She trotted back down the stairs, gesturing for Apple Bloom to follow.

Apple Bloom sighed. “Sorry guys. Guess we can cross this off the map of places we didn’t earn our cutie mark.” She followed her sister out. “See ya’ll in a few hours.”

“Bye!”

“Take care.”

Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I’d best go too. Rarity is probably wondering where I am by now. Best go get this yelling out of the way.” She too trotted down the stairs, leaving Scootaloo alone with her thoughts.

Someday I’ll get up the nerve to talk to Rainbow Dash. There’s no way she can say no, and then maybe she’ll teach me to fly.

Comments

[RaptorJesus]

Adorableness level: Over the roof.

[twilightsparkleisbestpony]

Don't go in there! Don't look at the mirror! Dammit guys, why do you never listen to me?!?!