The Truth About Cutie Marks

by Magic Step

Chapter 6

“Here you go,” Applejack said, pulling a few pillows out of a cabinet. “We have a bunch of guest beds upstairs, if you’d rather, but Ah’d like you to be close to me… just in case.”

“Thanks,” Blueblood said, lying down on the couch.

“How are you, then?”

“Still a bit hot… but not like I’m going to burst into flames. Yet, I mean.”

“Why? Do you expect it to happen again?”

“That’s usually how it works, yes.” Which was why he’d had to do nothing but rest in a case of icy lead for a week after each prior incident. The only comfort he’d had was Celestia’s constant attention and devotion, and that had been enough. “I’ll… do my best not to set your couch on fire. Actually, maybe I should leave…”

“Who cares about the couch?” Applejack said. “Ah’d rather make sure you’re safe. Though Ah’ll admit Ah appreciate your concern.”

“You met me ten minutes ago and all I’ve done was make a huge hole in your field and destroy all your ice,” Blueblood almost shouted. “Why do you care?” His eyes grew wide. “You… who are you? This is a trick, isn’t it?”

“What?” said Applejack.

“You’re working with Celestia, or you might even be Celestia in disguise, and I don’t care what you say, I’m not as gullible as you think I am, and none of this was funny. At all.” Blueblood hid his head under one of the pillows, wondering how much of this entire incident was a prank. The part about him actually having had wings? The part about him being banished to the Everfree Forest? The part about Twinkleshine being a changeling? Or the entire bit about cutie marks?

If he could have his choice, what would he want to be false?

Probably the whole thing.

But why did the thought that everything that happened today and yesterday was actually a lie make him feel like crying?

“Sorry, sugarcube… what are you talking about?” Applejack said.

“You’re working for Celestia,” Blueblood whined.

“No, no, that was my cousin. Remember? Or… does… your memory get affected when you do that heat thingy?”

“No, look,” Blueblood said, whipping the pillow off his head and leaping to his hooves. I’ll prove it to you!” Blueblood ran through all the things Celestia had told him about spotting deceptions. “First, how likely was it that that particular felon would happen to walk into my office the day after, at such an inopportune time? Obviously a set-up, right? And that whole thing with Twinkleshine- completely random. And most of all, no real pony would be acting like you. I mean, you’re taking on the form of a poor pony, but you didn’t even think twice before you told me it was okay that I destroyed all your ice and don’t care about the couch. Nopony acts like that. It just makes no sense. And then that thing about the wings- you have no reason to cut off my wings, just like you had no reason to make Shining Armor the acting prince instead of me. And then, you said ‘your’ cousin was a pegasus with no wings working on Celestia’s farm, but why would Celestia’s farm want to hire a pony like that? He has no earth pony magic to help the trees, but he has no wings to help with the weather. So, this is all a fake.” He sat up and smiled. “Are you proud of me, Mom?”

Applejack blinked.

“Oh, uh, sorry, I just assumed you were a disguised Celestia… can you take me to my mom now?”

“Wh-wh-what?” Applejack said. “Wh-who is your mom?”

Blueblood blinked. “Celestia, of course.” He took off his magical disguise. “You must know I’m the prince, right? Since you are in on this, obviously, since you’re obviously acting, right? And you have to work on that, because no real pony would act so nonchalant about me destroying stuff. Especially in these times.”

Applejack just gaped.

“Uh, yeah, I-I know Celestia probably told you I’m really gullible, and, well, I just don’t know why this suddenly became so clear to me… heh heh… uh, maybe Mom’s lessons are sticking? …After, uh, twenty years, maybe I’m finally getting the hang of it?”

“Oh-h-hhhh, my starrrrrs,” Applejack moaned.

“Um… uh, was I right?”

“You’re- you’re the prince?” said Applejack.

“Yeah…?” Blueblood said slowly. “Well, uh, actually, no, not technically, I mean, everyone calls me the prince, but actually I’m just the potential future prince, and any actual prince would be Celestia, Luna, or Cadance’s husband if they had one. Which… Cadance will probably have any day now, the way she and Shining Armor are getting along, so, well, there go my chances, but…”

“Ah-ah have the prince in my farmhouse?” Applejack half-shrieked.

“Um. Didn’t you… sign up for that?”

Applejack seemed to be having difficulty breathing, and her eyes were wide open.

Blueblood sat back on the couch and rubbed his forehead. He really thought he’d done a good job there. Celestia must just be trying to throw him off, right. She did that sometimes.

Oh gosh, he felt hot… hotter than before.

“I-I think…” he stammered. “I’m going outside. I-I’ll try not to set any trees on fire, okay?” He raced out the door and tripped over Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh, sorry!” they both exclaimed at once. Blueblood crashed to the ground, but Twilight remained standing.

“Are you okay?” a soft voice asked. Blueblood looked up a saw a yellow pegasus offering him her hoof. Her blue eyes shone with concern.

“I’m perfectly all-” Blueblood tensed up and writhed with pain.

“Oh my!” another pony cried.

“What’s wrong?” the yellow pegasus said.

“He needs water,” Applejacks’ strong voice rang out above the confused pony voices. “Rainbow, fetch me that hose. Fast.”

“No, he doesn’t need water,” Twilight said. “He needs the Princess Celestia’s help. Rainbow, fetch Spike. Fast.”

“I can’t fetch both!” Rainbow snapped.

“Fetch the hose! It’s faster!” Applejack shouted.

“No, fetch Spike and I’ll fetch the hose!” Twilight cried.

“Fine, fetching Spike! No arguments! Bye!” A blue blur with a rainbow trail crossed Blueblood’s range of vision, and a cool breeze ruffled his hair.

“Okay, here’s the hose,” Twilight said. “See how fast that was? Now what the heck do you plan to with it?”

“I’m going to spray him with it,” Applejack said, taking the hose in her mouth.

“I don’t think you understand the situation,” Twilight said. “Blueblood suffers from Physiomagical Radial Inversion, and you can’t cure that with a stupid garden hose!”

“It wrkd b’fre,” Applejack muttered with a mouthful of hose.

Blueblood tried to just concentrate on breathing as he dug his hooves into the ground and squeezed his eyes shut. Please let this be quick… he prayed.

Applejack blasted him with the hose. The cold water made him cry out with shock, but in a moment he was glad for it. It made his pain more tolerable, though he still fought to keep tears back.

“That’s just a temporary fix!” Twilight Sparkle insisted. “A mere home remedy, a trick to ease pain. It won’t save all of Ponyville from turning into a firey crater when his symptoms increase!”

“What?” said Blueblood.

“Twilight, isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?” the white unicorn said. “How could a single unicorn wield so much power? And haven’t you always said the prince is an underpowered and, er, useless, um… never mind…”

“Physiomagical Radial Inversion magnifies the power of the sufferer by multiple orders of magnitude,” Twilight said.

The cold water wasn’t enough. Now it felt like putting water on a sunburn: Blueblood thought it would be soothing, so his subconscious expectations did a bit of the work, but ultimately it just stung.

Firey crater? he thought, whimpering slightly. Celestia, please…!

Celestia claimed she could hear the prayers of her faithful subjects, but had told Blueblood that he didn’t count because he was her son. Maybe she made that up, maybe she didn’t, but it had never worked for Blueblood.

“Ice?” he whined.

“Twilight,” Applejack said, throwing the hose down, “this ain’t working. Don’t you have some kind of ice spell or something to help him until… whatever more permanent cure you want is available?”

Twilight sighed. “Whatever.” She cast a spell and put a block of ice around Blueblood.

It felt so good.

Blueblood could tell the other ponies were still talking, but he could no longer hear them. He thought he saw a rainbow flash and wondered if that meant Rainbow was back, but other than that he could hardly see anything. Nor did he much care right now; he just wanted to relax in his pleasantly cool prison.

Until it started melting…

Thankfully, the ice and his fever seemed to be vanishing at about the same rate, and when he found himself on the grass, gasping for air, he also felt mostly okay. He also felt numb all over, but his senses, from hearing to seeing to feeling, were returning gradually.

“How the hay were you breathing?” Applejack demanded.

Blueblood just shook his head.

“D’oh, that’s not important,” Applejack said. “You okay?”

“Still hot, but yes.” Blueblood sat up, and then…

…it started.

Blueblood would struggle to explain what happened next for years to come. The best he could do was that, you know how some ponies talk about having a sixth sense? Well, in regards to this imaginary sixth sense, it was like Blueblood had been blind, and now all of a sudden he could see- all at once. It was overwhelming and he didn’t understand any of it, anymore than a blind pony suddenly understands what the strange shapes he’s suddenly become aware of represent.

It was dizzying. All sorts of new information was being pumped into his brain, and all in a foreign language.

A blind pony who suddenly received sight would probably close his eyes, but Blueblood didn’t quite understand how to turn this sense off yet. So he just closed his eyes, plugged his ears, and curled up into a ball. That didn’t stop the information from coming anymore than closing your eyes stops your sense of hearing, and in the same way that hearing allows you to construct an idea of how things should look, this new sixth sense was still constructing a way that things should look or hear. He knew, for example, that somepony was approaching him, and that she was very worried.

And very wounded.

He still didn’t quite understand what the information meant, but his sense seemed to be telling him that this pony was badly hurt.

He reached out to her, and then realized he was somehow touching the pony while keeping both front hooves on his ears. He wondered briefly if he’d now grown extra limbs, but that was all he had time to think about.

Now he was trotting up a set of stairs. Without moving his legs.

Actually, no. He was flying up a set of stairs. Without moving his wings. Which he didn’t have.

Then he started singing to himself. In a female voice.

Blueblood couldn't control any of his actions. It was more like he was now seeing, hearing, and feeling everything somepony else was seeing, hearing, and feeling.

He flew up to a dingy door marked with a number. 419. His apartment number. How did he know that? He didn’t have an apartment. This mare had an apartment. It was her apartment number. The apartment number for the mare whose mind he was invading. This was awkward. How did this even get started?

He/the mare opened the door. Then he/the mare breathed a sigh of relief. It was a very soft and high-pitched sigh. Then, as the mare adjusted a painting on the wall, Blueblood saw that the hooves were yellow. Light yellow.

Oh, he thought, I’m that sweet little pegasus… did he know her name? No, not really…

The yellow pegasus sighed again. Blueblood was overwhelmed with her intense cuteness.

There was a thump.

The yellow pegasus froze. Blueblood could feel her heart thumping.

The yellow pegasus flew up to the rafters and pulled down a frying pan that was hanging there. Then she flew towards the thumping sound, moving only a few inches at a time.

She yanked a door open and shouted.

The pony in the room screamed too.

It was Autumnshy. He was crouched under a kitchen table and looked about ready to die of fright.

“What do you want?” the yellow pegasus demanded, swinging the frying pan threateningly.

“I… I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Autumnshy whispered. “I wanted to call ahead, but you always tell me… when I do that… that… you tell me I can come any time, and I really… really needed a place… You have no idea what I-”

“I’ve never seen you before in my life,” Fluttershy said.

Autumnshy’s eyes widened and filled with tears. “Wh-wh… what?”

“I don’t know you,” Fluttershy repeated, pointing the frying pan straight at Autumnshy.

Autumnshy crawled out from under the table and flapped his wings a bit, sort of hopping into the air as he headed for Fluttershy. “But- I’m your brother, Fluttershy! Don’t you-”

The frying pan clanged against Autumnshy’s skull.

“Don’t touch me!” Fluttershy shrieked.

Autumnshy slumped on the floor, rubbing his head and sobbing.

“Don’t try and make me pity you, you evil creature!” Fluttershy said. “I know what you are.”

“D-don’t you… remember me?” Autumnshy all but whispered. “I’m Autumnshy.”

“No you aren’t,” Fluttershy said. “My brother, Autumnshy, is a dutiful soldier who serves his country well and is honored by his peers. Because that’s how I raised him. And he says he loves me, and he’d never go against what I’d taught him. Never.”

Autumnshy shook his head. “I’m… I’m so sorry… I’m so so sorry…”

“You murdered my brother,” Fluttershy said. “I can never forgive you.”

Autumnshy looked up, right into Fluttershy’s eyes. “Fluttershy…”

What happened next was weird. Blueblood felt like all the blood suddenly rushed to Fluttershy’s head, that her eyes were suddenly looking at a bright light and bulging out of her head. But his experience with magic told him that this was a commanding spell- that was somehow being cast by a pegasus. Through her eyes instead of her horn.

“Leave this apartment,” Fluttershy said emphatically. “Leave this city. Never come back. Never try to see me again.”

Autumnshy stared, horrified, at Fluttershy throughout the duration of the spell. Then, when Fluttershy’s command spell ended, he slumped to the floor, shaking.

“P-please,” he sobbed, “please, Fluttershy…”

“Go!” Fluttershy shouted.

Autumnshy sighed heavily, then launched into the air and flew out of the room.

The vision seemed to collapse on itself, fading and growing smaller. Blueblood blinked- and found himself looking up at Fluttershy. She was kneeling down over him, feeling his forehead.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Blueblood blinked up at her. “Do… you… have a younger brother?”

Fluttershy stared at him and didn’t say anything.

“Oh, why hasn’t Celestia replied yet?” Twilight wailed.

“It’s hardly been an hour,” Spike said. “Maybe she’s busy. She has a lot to do.”

As though Blueblood had only just stopped becoming cross-eyed, the information from his eyes and this strange new sense were starting to line up. Fluttershy was the terribly scarred pony. And he noticed things about the others too.

Rarity was the flickering, tiny light; Twilight was a blazing red sphere wrapped with a yellow rope, and Applejack…

“Oh- oh wow…” Blueblood said, staring at Applejack.

“Blueblood?” she was saying. “Are you okay?”

“You…” Blueblood tentatively reached out a hoof and stroked Applejack’s mane slowly. “You’re… radiant.”

The dropped jaws of the other ponies were audible.

“Wh-wh…” Applejack stammered, staring at Blueblood in shock.

Blueblood sat down so that he could run both his forehooves through Applejack’s mane. The tie had come loose somehow, and her mane was loose and flowed about her face. But that wasn’t what made her beautiful. If this new sense of his had been the sense of taste, Applejack would be apple pie. If this new sense had been the sense of smell, Applejack would have been a field after a rainstorm. Pleasant, simple, wholesome. That was how Applejack seemed to this new sense.

Overcome with emotion, Blueblood seized one of Applejack’s forehooves in both of his own. “Marry me?”

To Blueblood’s eyes, nothing changed.

To the new sense, Applejack quavered and shrunk back, horrified. Her fear hid everything else and shocked Blueblood to his senses like a slap on the face.

“I-I’m joking,” he said quickly, dropping her hoof. That was Celestia’s one-size-fits-all excuse.

Applejack laughed weakly. “Heh, for a second there, A-ah thought you were serious.” She smiled.

Blueblood smiled back. Her smile made his heart flutter, even as it was sinking.

No, he hadn’t been joking. Not really. But of course the thought of marrying him would give her such horror. Who was he, anyway? A pathetic weak pony. The whole time she’d known him, he’d been too weak to take care of himself, or even stop himself from destroying her property. He was a monster.

A bright light attracted his attention.

A golden chariot descended from the sky, pulled by two pegasus made of flame. In the chariot was Princess Celestia, radiant with brilliant sunlight. Besides her were two attendants, high ranking officials in the CMB. Blueblood didn’t know either one very well, but they were easy to recognize by the heavy gold chains they wore around their necks, with a gold and silver compass rose charm hanging from the chain. The compass rose matched Blueblood’s cutie mark, which had been a good sign. At least that’s what he thought the day he’d gotten his cutie mark. Now it was meaningless.

Celestia descended from the chariot regally. “My dear prince-to-be-”

“Mom!” Prince Blueblood shouted, rushing over for a hug.

Celestia reared up on her hind legs and kicked Blueblood with her front legs, sending him sprawling on the grass. Somepony gasped; maybe Fluttershy.

“Blueblood,” Celestia sighed heavily. “Honestly, it’s bad enough when you act like an infant when we’re alone. Must you behave this way in public?”

Blueblood buried his face in the grass and whimpered. “Sorry.”

Celestia smiled slightly. “I’m sorry, too. That was hasty of me. I just assumed you wouldn’t want to be burned up again after all you’ve been through. Speaking of which…” she ran her front hoof across Blueblood’s forehead, being careful to only touch him with her power-limiting golden shoes. “We should get you to Canterlot Hospital, stat. Don’t worry; soon everything will be fine.” She smiled at Blueblood and petted his mane.

In the same way that just because you look at something doesn’t mean you are tasting it, or just because you listen to something doesn’t mean you see it, so too just because Blueblood had been looking at Celestia this whole time didn’t mean he’d been using his new sense on her. He didn’t quite know how he controlled it. But now he somehow turned it on.

And he saw chains.

Balls, chains, shackles, bindings, ready to strap him down, every muscle, every word, every emotion, every thought, and keep him locked up and never let him go, ever.

Coming from Celestia.

Blueblood screamed.

“What is it?” Celestia asked, drawing back, looking concerned.

His sense suddenly turned off.

It had been so surreal. Blueblood wondered if it had been his imagination, or if it had been the product of a deranged, sick mind. Maybe he really did need help. Now.

“M-mom?” he said softly.

“Yes, dear?”

He was going to ask if they would go home now.

Instead he found himself asking, “What are those guys for?”

“To pull the chariot.”

“No, the other guys.”

“Oh, them?” Celestia gestured to the members of the CMB standing behind her.

“Y-yes.”

“Oh,” Celestia said, shrugging and smiling causally. Blueblood feared that casual smile. “When I realized you were in Ponyville, I knew I had to go and fetch you in pony, and… well… I thought, while I was in the neighborhood, I’d bring a couple of assistants. This town, you see, is in dire need of a cutie mark audit.”

Blueblood could almost hear the Ponyville residents cringing behind him. But he smiled and crawled to Celestia’s hooves on his knees.

“Can I please please stay and watch, please?” he said, assuming a begging posture. “I’ve always wanted to see a cutie mark audit and you never let me and now I especially need to know what they’re like…” he paused and frowned briefly. In the excitement about getting to watch an audit, he’d forgotten what he now knew about cutie marks.

“Wellll….” Celestia smiled slightly. “I suppose it couldn’t do much harm. But,” she held up her hoof, “you need to take your medicine first. And you have to wear a lead suit when you come with us. And you aren’t allowed to say anything. At all. The minute a word slips out of your mouth, you’re going home. And Cadance will look after you until I get back. Which could be a while.”

The thought spending time with Cadance under any circumstances made Blueblood quiver. The thought of Cadance looking after him while he was in a weakened state made him feel like melting into a puddle of pure terror.

“Not a word,” Blueblood said. “Starting now.” He made a zipping motion across his lips.

“Good,” Celestia said. “Now, medicine.”

Author's Note:

Why, yes, this is the chapter where I forgot about Apple Bloom's existence. Blueblood was just more fun to write about.

This is where I stopped because I had too many ideas that would require heavy editing of previous bits to implement. If anyone's interested I could have another chapter that sums up the remaining plot... or maybe I could work on it again; I still think it has potential. I'm just not that motivated to at the moment...

Comments

[Fluttercheer]

I really hope you continue this story! You have an unusual pairing of characters and a very unique idea. I don't think anyone tackled it to bring cutie marks and bureaucracy together so far.
As an advice, though, even if you have several chapters of a story already finished, you should never release them all at once. Most readers don't like to read so much at once, hence why you only have such low views so far.
Spreading out chapter releases gets you a lot more views.

[Kichi]

the story seemed good, oh well.

[Proper Prose]

I like this story and sincerely hope that you continue it.

[Mix-up]

you really should have put this story in other groups if you wanted to have more comments to help you inspire you to write more.

[Allons-y Geronimo]