Sickie Marks

by TheMasterofDespair

Chapter 3

The skies were now only slightly lit, as the sun hadn't fully arisen. But even this early in the morning several ponies out among the hazy dawn.

“Twilight don’t you think it’s a little early to be doing this,” said a pony, yawning as she spoke.

“I know it’s early but we’re way behind schedule, the ceremony is tomorrow, and we still have so much to do,” replied Twilight.

“Oh Twilight, I was looking for you,” called Pinkie Pie. “Okay I got everything.”

“Um, Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight.

“Okay, I got the streamers, confetti, fireworks…” remarked Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie,” said Twilight.

“Nighty eight balloons, could you believe they didn’t have hundred. I wanted to get hundred, but I guess that can do right, it’s alright, right,” added Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight again.

"I also got the super bubble maker, and the super-duper bubble maker. But just in case the super-duper bubbles aren’t super-duper enough, I got the extreme ultimate bubble maker 2.0 deluxe that is said to make bubbles way more super-dup…"

“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight.

“Yes,” answered Pinkie Pie pleasantly.

“I was thinking that this time maybe we should keep things simple,” said Twilight.

“S-Simple, but this is a Pinkie party, a party of Pinkie. You can’t party without it being Pinkied,” remarked Pinkie Pie.

“Well you remember what happened last time?” asked Twilight. Pinkie Pie just stared at her with a confused look. “The huge disaster.” Pinkie Pie expression remained the same, she just slightly tilted her head. “The reason we had the reschedule the ceremony in the first place.” At this point Pinkie Pies eyes started to widen a little bit.

“As your humble leader I come before as we honor our fellow ponies,” spoke Princess Celestia. “We are here to give thanks to them for all of their bravery and loyalty that they have performed towards everypony across Equestia.”

“Ooh, it’s time to launch the fireworks,” cheered Pinkie Pie, as she lit all fuses and watched them soar into the sky.

“At this time I would like to give a special award to my beloved student,” said Princess Celestia. Twilight’s eyes began to glow in anticipation; she could feel tears of joy flowing from them. “Twilight Sparkle for all the outstanding work you have done since the day you’ve became my student I would like you to receive…” But she interrupted by a sudden shout.

“Everypony look, a distraction,” shouted Pinkie Pie, causing everypony to look up into the sky to see all the fireworks raining upon them. Once the smoke had cleared, all that remained of the ceremony was utter chaos. All the decorations were burnt to a crisp, and the food was scattered along the ground. Everypony in the audience to Celestia and Twilight on stage, were now completely covered in ash and soot.

“So yeah, I think we should keep things simple this time,” said Twilight.

“Alright simple, I’ll get just what we need, and make sure it’s, completely, s-s-simple,” said Pinkie Pie, she than ran off to acquire the decorations, passing by Rarity who coming from the opposite direction.

“Oh Twilight,” called Rarity.

“Hello Rarity, how are the decorations coming along?” asked Twilight.

“They will be finished very shortly,” replied Rarity. “But I have some fantastic news.”

“What is it?” questioned Twilight.

“Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark yesterday,” answered Rarity.

“Wow that is great,” said Twilight. “What’s her talent?”

“I’m not really sure, she didn’t really talk about. She seemed very exhausted, and just went right to sleep,” said Rarity.

“Hold on, Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark too,” said Applejack. “Apple Bloom just got her cutie mark as well.”

“Aw, that is so adorable that they both got their cutie marks at the same time,” said Rarity.

“Do you think Scootaloo got hers as well?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t know, Apple Bloom didn’t mention it,” replied Applejack.

“Either did Sweetie Belle,” added Rarity.

“Maybe Rainbow Dash knows,” said Twilight.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” called Applejack.

“What!” replied Rainbow Dash, who was setting up a large banner with Fluttershy.

“Hey, do you know if Scootaloo got her cutie mark?” asked Applejack.

“Yes, she did. She came by my house last night to tell me,” replied Rainbow Dash.

“Oh that is so incredible,” said Fluttershy.

“Why didn’t you tell us before!” called Twilight.

“It must have slipped my mind!” replied Rainbow Dash.

“They all got their cutie marks, aw that is just so precious,” said Rarity.

“Wait, all of them, that’s so rad,” chanted Rainbow Dash, as she and Fluttershy flew down to the ground.

“Yay,” cheered Fluttershy.

“Hey Twilight, I’m back,” called Pinkie Pie.

“Oh Pinkie Pie, you have to hear… Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. Within seconds they were swarmed by piles and piles of confetti. “Pinkie!” called Twilight popping her head of the confetti. “Pinkie, I said keep it simple.”

“This is simple, that’s why I only brought like one fourth of the decorations,” said Pinkie Pie. “Oh by the way did you know that Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all got their cutie marks, isn’t that fantastic.” The rest of the mare six just let out a groan in response. “Well I thought it was fantastic.”

---

It was beyond being just another day; it wasn’t just good or a great one. It was perfect in every way possible, the day they dreamed of since they became The Cutie Mark Crusaders. They approached their school, the sun gleaming ever so beautifully. It was as if Celestia herself summoned the most elegant ray of light to ever grace ponyville, just for them, all for them.

They advanced towards their school, with such elegance and style; they were savoring ever last second of it. Ahead of them were all their fellow students waiting for the bell to ring. For a moment everything was calm, but once everpony saw their new cutie marks, things started to get a little crazy.

“Awesome cutie marks,” said Dinky Doo.

“Yeah their really adorable,” added Ruby.

“Thour thutie tharks are reathy thuper,” said Twist.

Everpony was over thrilled to see their new cutie marks. There was only one thing that could make this day even better, and that’s when they saw them. Standing at the far end of the crowd was the pink pony, and beside her was the gray one. Scootaloo was the first to run over towards them, she was then followed by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“So what do you think of our new cutie marks?” spoke Scootaloo, with a smug grin.

“Even with your cutie marks your still losers,” said Diamond Tiara.

“You wish you had a cutie mark as awesome as ours,” said Scootaloo.

“Please, your cutie marks are so lame,” replied Diamond Tiara.

“Ah I think somepony is getting a little angry,” said Apple Bloom.

“You know what, we have better things to do than hang around with you losers. Come Silver Spoon, we’re leaving,” snapped Diamond Tiara.

“Yeah see you around stupid heads, called Silver Spoon.

“Stupid heads really, you couldn’t think of anything better,” said Diamond Tiara, as they were walking away.

“Well we can’t call them Blank Flanks anymore,” replied Silver Spoon.

“Whatever,” remarked Diamond Tiara.

School seemed to drag on forever; they were just too excited to experience their new talents. But at long last school had come to an end, and for the next several hours all they did was practice with their new special talents.

“Applejack, Applejack,” called Apple Bloom.

“What is it,” replied Applejack.

“I just came up with a great idea that will really help with the farm work,” said Apple Bloom. She then handed Applejack a poorly drawn sketched of her devise. Applejack couldn’t seem to make out what the devise even was.

“What does it do?” asked Applejack.

“It’s an automatic apple bucker thing, it makes apple bucking a lot easier,” said Apple Bloom.

“Yeah that’s sounds like a good idea, but I don’t know if it’s really necessary,” said Applejack.

“Well I have so other ideas,” said Apple Bloom. “Ah by the way do you mind if I leave, I have to go to Rarity’s?”

“Yeah it’s fine, but why are you going to Rarity’s?” asked Applejack.

“I won’t to see if she can design me a logo,” replied Apple Bloom.

“A logo, for what?” questioned Applejack.

“All great inventors have a logo,” said Apple Bloom.

“O-okay, I guess I’ll see you when you get back,” said Applejack.

“Bye,” called Apple Bloom, as she headed towards Rarity’s house.

---

“Alright Opal, it’s time to take a bath,” said Sweetie Belle. “I know you’re a little cranky, but with my talent, your crankiness will disappear and you will your be filled joy and happiness. So Opal before we begin, I’m going to pick you up and give you a hug, just so you won’t be afraid. Alright let’s get started.”

Apple Bloom had just reached Rarity’s house when she a loud shriek, seconds afterwards Sweetie Belle was ran out of the house covered in claw marks, nearly colliding into Apple Bloom as she proceeded.

“Ah, what happened?” asked Apple Bloom.

“The dumb cat,” replied Sweetie Belle.

“So I guess your new special talent isn’t going to well,” said Apple Bloom.

“I don’t know, Rarity said I just need to practice more, but it just doesn’t seem to be working right,” replied Sweetie Belle. As the continued their chat, they started heading towards their clubhouse.

“So how’s your special talent?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“Well Ah got some cool ideas to help with the farm work, but Applejack says that their not really necessary. I think it would make things so much nicer,” answered Apple Bloom.

“That sound’s cool,” replied Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah it is, but ah got to ask you something?” questioned Apple Bloom.

“What,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Ah was just wondering, do you kind of miss being The Cutie Mark Crusaders? I mean love having my cutie mark, but I just feel like something is missing,” said Apple Bloom.

“I guess so,” said Sweetie Belle.

They were just a few feet from the clubhouse, when they heard Scootaloo call them from the roof. “I was hoping you ponies would show up,” said Scootaloo, as flew down from the roof of the clubhouse.

“Wow Scootaloo, you’re getting a lot better at flying,” said Apple Bloom.

“I know, isn’t it great,” replied Scootaloo, trying to catch her breath. “Soon I’ll be flying as high as Rainbow Dash. So anything knew?”

“Well, Ah been we’ve been practicing our new talent, but it just seems kind of well, boring,” said Apple Bloom.

“I know what you mean, now that we have our cutie marks we can’t really go on crusades anymore,” answered Scootaloo.

“Just because we have our cutie marks doesn’t mean we can’t go have adventures,” said Sweetie Belle.

“But if we’re not trying to get our cutie marks, than what’s the point,” said Scootaloo.

“Just to have fun,” replied Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah we did have a lot of fun on our crusades, so I guess we could go on them just to have fun,” said Scootaloo. “Well what are we going to do?”

“We can go apple bucking,” said Apple Bloom. “That was always a lot of fun.”

“Um, I’m not going to lie, I always found apple bucking to be very boring,” answered Scootaloo. “Wait, wait how about we go hang gliding.”

“No!” cried Sweetie Belle. “Last time we did that, I almost fell off.”

“You were just overacting, you weren’t going to fall,” replied Scootaloo.

“The harness broke!” snapped Sweetie Belle.

“Okay fine, what do you want to do?” asked Scootaloo.

“Um, I…” her mind than tuned out from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and was just thinking about what they should do. “Just give me a second, I’ll think of something.”

Growing impatient, Scootaloo glared away from Sweetie Belle and over towards Apple Bloom. “Okay do you have any new ideas?” questioned Scootaloo.

“We can go apple picking,” responded Apple Bloom.

“Something that doesn’t have to do with apples,” said Scootaloo.

“Alright, how about cherry picking than,” said Apple Bloom. At this point she was just trying to annoy Scootaloo.

“I was thinking something more along the line of… But before she could finish her sentence she was cut off by a sudden yell.

“LET’S GO CAMPING!” shouted Sweetie Belle. “Yeah, we can build a campfire.”

“We can make s’mores,” added Apple Bloom.

“And we can venture out in the dark woods, who knows what adventures may await us there,” continued Scootaloo.

“Okay, the ceremony is tomorrow. We hang out all night and into the morning, and we head back in the afternoon, just in time for the ceremony,” said Apple Bloom.

“Perfect,” replied Scootaloo.

“Cutie Mark Crusa…” But they stopped before they could finish their cheer.

“Oh yeah, were not The Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Well we could be the cutie mark, cutie marked, ha, The Cutie Mark-ED Crusaders,” said Scootaloo.

“Cool, Cutie Marked Crusaders Camping!” cheered the group.

At this point time seemed to fly by with ease. They spend the next couple of hours gathering all the supplies they need for their camping trip. The last thing that was on their minds were their cutie marks, it seemed they wanted to have at least one last day as the cutie mark crusaders.

The sun was finally starting to set, as they hiked out into the woods. Although this time they didn’t go too far, they still remained in Ponyville. After their last adventure in the Everfree Forest they decided it was much better to just have a simple camping trip. After hiking for a few minutes they found the perfect location right beside a small pond to set up camp.

“Okay, let’s get started,” said Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo want to go get firewood while we set up the tents?”

“Ooh, I’ll make the fire,” called Sweetie Belle.

“Alright, you go get the firewood than,” remarked Apple Bloom.

“Yay,” cheered Sweetie Belle, as she headed back into the woods.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo than proceeded to assemble the tents. At first they couldn’t figure out which part went where, but after about twenty minutes they had the tents up and ready. It was around that point that Sweetie Belle had returned, using her magic she carried several small logs and a pile of dry twigs. Celestia had now lowered the sun completely, and Luna was raising the moon. It was the perfect time to light the campfire, and to start roasting some marshmallows.

Sweetie Belle focused her magic onto the dried logs, and within seconds it was set ablaze. The ember glow of the campfire, burned brightly with the wave of smoke elevated into the sky.

“It was than they realized their friends had not returned,” spoke Scootaloo in a creepy tone. “So they decided to venture deeper into the woods, something they should have never done. They could hear a quiet moan coming from the bushes; they thought it was one of their friends. But once they came into its sights it arose from the bushes. They ran in terror when they saw that the pony in front of them had… No head! Mwahahahaha.”

Even though Scootaloo was trying to scare them with her ghost story, either Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom we’re not really paying much attention anymore. Apple Bloom was devouring an entire bag of marshmallows, and Sweetie Belle was just blindly staring at the fire.

Scootaloo slowly walked over towards Apple Bloom, who didn’t seem to notice her. But that quickly changed when Scootaloo swopped the bag of marshmallows from Apple Bloom and run off.

“Hey!” cried Apple Bloom, as she started chasing Scootaloo in circles around the campfire. It didn’t seem to bother Sweetie Belle; her eyes remained absolutely focused on the campfire. She didn’t even blink nor twitch she just stared blankly upon the burning inferno. To try to escape Apple Bloom, Scootaloo swiftly flew up onto a high branch.

“Hey come down,” snapped Apple Bloom, leaning up against the tree. “Those marshmallows are mine, give them back.”
“I think you’re mistaken,” remarked Scootaloo. “They were yours, now there mine.” Scootaloo than began to eat as many marshmallows as she could, which was angering Apple Bloom enough that she started growling. Sweetie Belle continued to ignore them; she was lost among the fire that danced ever so gently.

Comments

[Tygerburningbright]

Pryomania, greed, and ... still not sure

[TheMasterofDespair]

1035699 You Almost got it, just think back to Apple Bloom's challenge in the cave. Think beyond what you see, to what she really had done. And to answer your old comment, I do not plan to change anything. Everything is as it is, and in the end it comes down to one of those two chooses, Mind Control, or Zombism, one of them is correct.

[Tygerburningbright]

1035975

You gave hints that point to both... so I am taking a third option and say that you are telling a lie and that it is not one or the other but both.

Also I am putting my bits on the cutie marks being undone somehow.

[TheMasterofDespair]

1073546 I did not notice that, thanks for pointing that out. I'm going to fix it right now.