The Truth About Cutie Marks

by Magic Step

Chapter 5

Blueblood left the building and looked over his shoulder. He was sure everypony who saw him would somehow know he was now involved in a conspiracy to overthrow his mom. Even though he was now wearing his magical disguise that he always had on when he went to see Twinkleshine.

Though, admittedly, having a red pegasus with a bloody knife for a cutie mark walking with him would not improve his image to the random populace, but he didn’t think he could leave Apple Bloom and Autumnshy alone. He thought they needed to meet Twinkleshine too… for some reason.

He had no idea why he was going along with this little rebellion, and if he paused to think a moment he instantly realized how ridiculous it was. But somehow he didn’t feel any reason to stop doing it… and anyways, Apple Bloom was right. He couldn’t expect things to go on like normal now that he knew about cutie marks. He just couldn’t shut up and hide the truth.

He was pathetic. He was aware of that. And now his patheticness was leading him to be suicidal. But somehow he couldn’t make himself care. He felt so… removed from all these events, as though this was just a book he was reading and not what was actually happening to him, as though at some point he would stop reading the book and then his life would be normal again.

Some part of him knew that wasn’t the case, but he ignored it.

He hadn’t even reached the café before he realized something was wrong. Ponies were crowded around in a curious mass. Guard pegasi hovered around in a cloud in the midst of other curious civilian pegasi.

“All right, official detective coming through!” a gray mare shouted, holding up a badge and somehow making her way through the tight crowd with just three legs. “Well, my precious guard ponies, what do you have here?”

A pony that Blueblood couldn’t see laughed nervously. “Why, nothing. Ah’m just enjoying a sandwich. Ah hope Ah’m not in trouble.”

It was Twinkleshine. Blueblood felt cold.

“Regret to inform you that you are, in fact, in trouble, ma’am,” said the gray mare. “More trouble than you know. We’re on to your secrets, your highness.”

Twinkleshine paused. “Your highness? Why are you saying that? Ah’m not the princess.”

“Not the princess, no, but a queen. Queen Chrysalis, I presume.”

“Who?”

“Queen of the changelings.”

The crowd gasped.

So did Blueblood, so, he reflected, he fit right in. A changeling? More than that, the queen of the changelings? And he ate dinner with her at least once a week! Why was a changeling- more than that, the queen of the changelings- leading him on like that? What purpose did that serve? Changelings fed on love, didn’t they? Was Blueblood just especially loving or something? He sort of doubted that Or… was there a more nefarious reason? Everypony knew that changelings couldn’t be trusted.

Well… actually… Blueblood wasn’t sure anymore. He wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

“So, Queen Chrysalis, it appears we finally found you,” the gray mare continued. “You must have known your reign of terror wouldn’t last. So are you ready to return to the Everfree Forest?”

“You have no proof,” Twinkleshine said, standing up. Blueblood saw her head poke into view briefly.

“Oh, no,” the gray mare said. “I don’t need proof. I have this.”

Blueblood couldn’t see anything, but the ponies in the front of the crowd and the pegasi flying above the crowd gasped.

“What is it?” an annoyed stallion standing near Blueblood demanded. “I can’t see a thing!”

“It’s the Wand Of Everfree Summoning,” a pony cried.

“And as you will soon find out,” the gray mare said, “it also works in reverse and becomes the Wand of Everfree Banishing. Obviously, if you aren’t a changeling, it will have no effect. But, judging from that little bead of sweat on your brow, you most certainly are a changeling.”

The gray mare rose the wand dramatically above her head. “Prepare for banishment, you parasprite!”

“No!” Twinkleshine shouted.

“Hay!” The annoyed stallion standing next to Blueblood said, pointing at him. “This pony ate dinner with Queen Chrysalis all the time. I saw them together.”

Blueblood tried to scoot away, but a couple of ponies grabbed him. “Banish him too! He’s one of them!” they shouted.

“No I’m not!” Blueblood shouted. “I-I’m… I’m…”

Somehow, he couldn’t spit his name out. He couldn’t make himself save his own life.

Autumnshy had a horrified look on his face, but clearly didn’t think that his word would be worth much in a frantic crowd. Apple Bloom was sighing and smacking her forehead.

Blueblood was passed from pony to pony until he was thrown in the little clearing in the center where Celestia’s head detective, Ruby, stood next to Twinkleshine. Twinkleshine stared at Blueblood in horror and shook her head, as if trying to persuade herself that he was an illusion.

“Two changelings at one go,” Ruby said smugly. “I should get a raise.”

She raised the wand above her head again and chanted,

“Fly over mountains, meadows and seas,

“To a land full of monsters beneath deadly trees.

“Isn’t this how you want it to be?

“Away from my sun, you are Everfree.”

Violet light surrounded Blueblood and Twinkleshine. Then they were launched into the air as though flung.

They soared over Canterlot, which got smaller and smaller as they traveled up into the blue. It was very beautiful up there, but Blueblood couldn’t appreciate it.

He turned to Twinkleshine. She was surrounded by a lavender fireball, but she didn’t seem to be in pain. She turned to Blueblood, tears in her eyes, and grabbed his hoof. She smiled slightly.

“My prince,” she whispered.

Then she kicked him hard.

Blueblood gasped as he spun away from Twinkleshine. The dark patch on the ground that was the Everfree Forest filled his vision as he plummeted towards the ground. He closed his eyes.

SPLAT.

Blueblood opened his eyes. He had landed in some soft mud. Judging from the pain in his legs, sides, and head, he had broken something, but he wasn’t entirely sure what. He lay his head back in the mud and wished it would stop.

Then he realized that the sun was still shining.

He lifted his head and looked around a bit. The Everfree Forest was within his range of vision, but he wasn’t inside it. He was lying in a patch of mud. A barn was nearby.

Blueblood laughed. It hurt to laugh, so he stopped instantly, but he still thought it was funny. He’d fallen short of the Everfree Forest. For once, somepony besides him had failed pathetically. It was just too funny. He could almost understand why Celestia got such a kick out of his failures.

Blueblood lay his head back on the ground and found that with his ear to the ground, the thundering of hooves drowned out everything else, even pain. It was almost soothing.

“Oh my stars, are you all right?”

The thundering hooves stopped.

Blueblood looked up to see an orange earth pony kneeling over him, her face full of concern, panting slightly.

“No, I guess not,” he replied.

“Okay, don’t worry about a thing, sugarcube,” the orange mare said, a note of urgency in her voice. “We’re gonna get you some help, and everything will be just fine, Ah promise. Big Mac!”

A red earth pony appeared in Blueblood’s vision. The earth pony was huge and muscular. He looked like he should have been working in the royal guard.

“Okay, you’ve got the planks… here, help me lift him, and be gentle,” the orange mare said, working her hooves under Blueblood’s front shoulders.

The red earth pony took his back hooves, and together they half lifted and half slid him onto a few planks strapped together as a makeshift stretcher. Blueblood gasped with pain and tried to stop himself from crying. Not in front of strangers, he told himself.

“Shh, it’s okay,” the orange mare said. “We’ll make sure you get proper medical help, no worries. Ah know it must hurt, but it’ll all be over soon. Trust me.”

And Blueblood did, he realized. Maybe because her accent reminded him of Twinkleshine. But there was just something about this mare…

The two ponies lifted the stretcher onto their shoulders and carried him slowly toward the barn.

“Can you talk okay?” the orange earth pony asked.

“S-sure,” Blueblood said. It didn’t hurt to talk; it just felt weird.

“Keep talking, okay?” the orange mare said. “Let us know you’re staying conscious, Ah guess.”

“Um… I don’t know what I’m supposed to talk about,” Blueblood said. “Uh, what’s your name?”

“Applejack, but that ain’t important. Uh, how ‘bout you tell us why you were soaring through the air like a meteor? Did heaven send us a present?”

“Oh, well…” I was mistaken for a changeling and was almost banished to the Everfree Forest somehow didn’t seem like a smart thing to say right now. “Uh, messed up a flying spell I guess…”

“Really? You like flying?”

“Not anymore.”

Applejack laughed. “No, Ah figure not anymore…”

Blueblood sighed. “It’s so hot out here…”

“Huh, feels cool to me, since autumn’s getting started… but then we’re out all the time and are used to hot temperatures. Summer ends late here in Ponyville.”

“Well, I’m inside a lot I guess…” Blueblood said. But the heat just got worse and worse. And unlike the heat from the sun, it wasn’t just the parts of him in the sunlight that got hot; it was everywhere… like a fever.

Suddenly panic gripped him.

“What time is it?” he panted.

“Uh, gee, Ah dunno,” Applejack said. “11 something?”

Blueblood’s throat felt dry. How long had it been since he’d last taken his medicine? Four… five hours?

“Stop, please,” he said, starting to hyperventilate. “I need my medicine…”

“What medicine?” Applejack asked.

“I… um... magic… stuff…” Blueblood had been told the name of the medicine multiple times, but it had been something like ten syllables long and had just gone in one ear and out the other.

“What kind of medicine?” Applejack continued. “For what? What’s your problem?”

“…hot…” Blueblood moaned. “So… hot…”

“Uh, we have an icehouse, if you want some ice…” Applejack said.

“Ice. All of it. So so hot…” Blueblood babbled.

“All right, Big Mac, change of course. To the icehouse, and quickly!”

The ponies trotted, though still slowly and cautiously, towards a wooden door in the ground.

“How much?” Applejack asked, opening the door.

“All of it,” Blueblood moaned.

Applejack blinked at him. “Okay, will you be all right if Ah leave you in here while Ah fetch the doctor?”

“Please,” Blueblood sighed.

The two ponies lowered him onto a block of ice and shut the door. The total darkness was frightening, but Blueblood was more worried about the pain that he knew was coming. He wondered if anypony would be able to hear him screaming.

He flailed out with his hoof and struck a block of ice. He dragged it closer to him with the vague idea of covering himself with it, but it only fell on his nose, which hurt. He nudged it off, and heard a crashing sound as the ice fell on the floor.

How do you prepare yourself for agony?

The only thing his fevered brain latched on was the time he’d heard a street preacher telling people to repent and turn to God before it was too late and they went to hell to be judged by fire, or something like that. It was kind of hard to believe in an eternal God high above the clouds when you had the goddess of Equestria living in your house as your mother.

But, then, if Celestia was a goddess, why would she be bothering with ‘fake’ cutie marks? Why couldn’t she use her god-powers to create working cutie marks? Actually, that bit about being a goddess might well be a lie too. Maybe Celestia wasn’t even immortal.

That was a scary thought. If Celestia died, what would happen to Equestria? They’d be destroyed by Discord and changelings and other Everfree monsters. And their neighbors in the Griffon Empire would eat all the ponies alive. Perhaps there was a reason Celestia didn’t tell her subjects the truth about cutie marks…

But on the other hoof, if Celestia was lying about cutie marks, then maybe… maybe… she was lying about Discord, the changelings, and the griffins too. Though on second thought, it was hard to believe that a freak dragon crossed with half a dozen other animals, a creature that looked like a zombie pony and lived on love while impersonating other ponies, or a lion-eagle hybrid (eek!) would be anything other than evil.

Blueblood had done a good job distracting himself up to this point, but suddenly the fire began.

The ice beneath Blueblood cracked and started melting. His blood felt like lava, his limbs like they were wrapped in red hot iron. He screamed and cried, and his tears turned to steam. He kicked out, smashing ice blocks. If his legs had been broken before, they sure didn’t feel like it now; all he could feel was the fire.

His eyes started burning, and his tears stopped. They just wouldn’t come anymore.

The door opened, flooding the room with light. “Are you okay?” Applejack asked.

Blueblood didn’t answer. He was biting his hoof, half to try and keep himself from screaming and half in hopes that it would somehow stop the pain.

“Oh my gosh,” Applejack said. “No, you ain’t okay. Hold up…”

Thanks for the observation, Blueblood thought. His eyes and limbs stopped burning as much, and he just felt a kind of all-around hot sensation. He started sobbing again.

Applejack came back with a hose, which she blasted Blueblood with. The water turned to steam at first, but eventually the coolness got to Blueblood. It felt so good…

After a while, he was simply a drenched pony in an icehouse. His body temperature seemed normal… or at least, closer to the temperature of a pony and farther from the temperature of the sun.

He hadn’t known it was possible for that to happen. He’d assumed Celestia needed to handle it and that he’d need to take a huge dose of medicine instantly or risk it coming back.

“Th-thanks,” he stammered, wiping tears from his eyes and wet mane from his face. “Thank you. I think… I think you can turn off the water.”

Applejack dropped the hose and ran out of Blueblood’s sight. The water stopped.

Blueblood still felt kind of hot, but only like he had a fever. He looked around the room. All the ice had melted and was vanishing down a drain in the floor.

“Sorry about your ice,” he muttered.

“Aw, hay, it’s not that important,” Applejack said. “Are you okay?”

Blueblood smiled shakily. “Yeah… yeah, you know what? I am, actually.” He lay down on the floor and laughed weakly.

“Anything Ah can help with?” Applejack asked. “Anything you need?”

Blueblood debated whether or not he should ask her to contact Celestia. But he could always ask that later, right?

“Maybe you’d like to get inside?” Applejack asked.

“O-okay,” Blueblood said, slowly getting to his hooves. “Do you have any-”

“Don’t try to walk!” Applejack shouted. “We’ll help you up!”

“Why…?” And then Blueblood remembered that his legs had been broken a few minutes ago. “Oh, well, actually… Actually, my legs are fine.” He blinked with surprise. “In fact, everything is fine. Wow… even my back legs.” All the acid damage had just vanished. Acid damage couldn’t even be healed with magic. “I’m just a bit stiff, I guess.”

“Don’t try and be tough, now,” Applejack cautioned.

“Oh, I’m not, I’m not. I figure any dignity I had went out the door a minute ago…”

“Don’t worry about that, sugarcube. My opinion of you ain’t changing.”

“Then it must have been awfully low to begin with…”

“No. You’re just a pony who needs help. No shame in that. Heaven knows Ah had the hardest time accepting help from other ponies before…” She smacked her face with her hoof. “Oh, dang it. Ah forgot, Ah invited some friends to do the harvesting while Big Mac and Ah watered the fields over here. Ah shouldn’t leave them hanging… tell you what, how about Ah get you set up at the house with a bed and whatever you need, and then Ah’ll see to my friends. Work for you?”

“Okay…”

Blueblood half walked and half hobbled after Applejack towards the farmhouse. She mostly walked ahead, but towards the end she fell back and kept pace besides him.

Then she gasped. “Oh- my- stars!”

“What?” said Blueblood.

“You’re- you’re an alicorn?”

“What?” Blueblood blinked. “No! Wait, I haven’t suddenly sprouted wings, have I?” he craned his neck to look over his shoulder.

“No-no,” Applejack said, putting out a hoof to stop Blueblood. She stood on her hind legs and ran her hoof along Blueblood’s shoulder blades. “Ah know you can’t exactly see your own back…”

“Hold on a sec,” said Blueblood. He could create a spell to project his sense of vision as easily as he could project his sense of hearing; he just usually didn’t do that because it was more disorienting. So he closed his eyes before casting the spell, then moved the magical ball that was, for all intents and purposes, an extra eye, around his body to take a look at his back. “Okay, tell me what I’m looking at.”

“See the scars?” Applejack asked, tracing a pattern on his back. “That’d be where your wings were.”

She was right. Two white scars, kind of curved, were on Blueblood’s back. He hadn’t noticed them before, nor would anypony else have noticed them- they wouldn’t have shown up on Blueblood’s usual white coat, but against a tan background they were just barely visible.

But why would he not have his wings? Who could possibly have gotten into the castle to cut them off? Wouldn’t Celestia have stopped them? And wouldn’t she have told him that he used to have them?

Unless…

No, why would Celestia have cut off his wings? Celestia only did mean things for comedic payback, and him just plain not having wings wasn’t funny. Not even in Celestia’s sense of the word. It just… didn’t make sense.

“Wow,” was all Blueblood could say. “Are… are you sure that’s what those scars are? They can’t just be from some other injury?”

“We-ell, Ah suppose maybe, it would just be an awful coincidence,” Applejack muttered, starting off for the farmhouse again.

“How do you know what to look for to tell if a pony had wings, anyway?” Blueblood asked.

“Aw, that,” Applejack sighed. “It’s kinda a sad story…”

“Go on,” Blueblood said. “I want to hear. I mean, if you don’t mind.”

“No, Ah guess not…” Applejack took a deep breath. “Ah had a pegasus for a cousin- he was adopted- who lived with my rich aunt and uncle in Manehattan. He just loved flying. Ah rarely saw him with his hooves on the ground. He wanted to be a stunt flyer when he grew up. Ah was living with said aunt and uncle at the time, and he’d tried living at the farm- sorta a trading places thing, except his parents demanded he come home before Ah was ready to trade back, so then we just both lived in the city for a while, but he really loved it at the farm. Still wanted to go for stunt flying, though… until the day we both were chosen by our cutie marks, and we both were destined to be farmers. Am Ah boring you?”

“No, keep going.” They were almost at the farm house.

“Okay, well… anyway, so we were gonna be apple farmers. Which was all well and good, but it seemed like we’d have to go work on one of Celestia’s private farms, not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that we both really liked the farm I grew up at, but that one had lost a whole lot of money- parasprite attack- and we didn’t have enough money to rebuild, so it looked like it’d have to close down… and then, one day, my cousin comes up to me with a whole bunch of money, and said he’d like to help rebuild the farm. Ah asked where he’d got the money, and he showed me his scars… scars like yours. He’d sold his wings on the black market.” Applejack was clearly trying not to cry at this point. “He just said… said it didn’t matter anymore, his cutie mark wasn’t in flying, it was in farming, and he didn’t need wings to farm. It… Ah just… can’t get over it.” Applejack swiped a hoof across her eyes.

“What- what happened to him? Does he work here?”

“Nah. We tried to make it work, but… he knew he wasn’t helping us enough for the money it cost to keep him, so he left to work on Celestia’s farms. But he’s happy enough, knowing that our farm is here, and that he’s fulfilling the destiny his cutie mark showed him. What more could he ask for?”

Blueblood felt ill again.