The Show Stoppers
It was a bright and sunny day at Sweet Apple Acres, and Applejack was leading the Crusaders through the trees. Skeedaddle, Rumble and Pipsqueak were wearing the hoodies with the CMC logo on it. [A/N: They will continue to have on throughout the series]
"Where are you takin' us?" Apple Bloom asked her big sister.
Applejack just smiled. "We're almost there, young'uns."
Sweetie Belle looked around, not having spent that much time in the orchards. "I've never been here before."
Applejack and Apple Bloom both brushed past a large leaf, which ended up hitting Skeedaddle in the face.
"Ouch!"
"Oh. Sorry." Apple Bloom apologized, going back and moving the leaf. Skeedaddle used his magic to hold the leaf as the others walked by.
“Are we there yet?” Scootaloo asked as she walked by.
"There? Where? What? I don't even know what we're doing," Sweetie Belle complained. Skeedaddle let go of the leaf prematurely and almost hit Pipsqueak.
“Blimey!” He exclaimed as he ducked to avoid it.
“Whoops.” Skeedaddle said.
Applejack lead them out of the orchard and into a clearing that had a single tree in the center with what had once been a treehouse built onto the branches. "Here we are." she said with a big smile.
"What are we lookin' at?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I have no idea.” Pipsqueak answered.
"What is that thing?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, welcome to your new clubhouse," Applejack announced proudly and sighed when she was met with silence from the three fillies. "Well, don't thank me all at once," she muttered, leading them up a ramp to the porch lining the treehouse.
"This was my clubhouse when I was your age. Sure it hasn't been used in a while, but it's empty and on a secluded, private part of the farm. And it's all yours.” A part of the roof caved in, resulting in a sheepish look on the face of Applejack. “It just needs a little, uh… TLC."
“Tender loving care or Totally lost cause?” Rumble asked. Apple Bloom slapped him in the back of the head.
“We're supposed to turn this into our new clubhouse?" Pipsqueak asked, still in a state of shock upon seeing the clubhouse.
Applejack sighed and leaned against the nearest wall. "Well, maybe y'all will get your cutie marks when you discover your talent for… Waaah!" she yelped when a section of the wall collapsed, and she fell inside, getting buried by rubble. She dug herself out with a slight dazed expression as the three fillies poked their heads inside to check on her. "Uh… house cleanin'?"
Apple Bloom began walking off.
“I’m gonna go get Chad.” Apple Bloom said.
My Little Pony,
My Big Changeling too
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh…
[Bandit]
(My Little Pony)
We used to wonder what friendship could be
(My Big Changeling too)
[Twilight Sparkle]
Until you all shared its magic with me
[Rainbow Dash]
Big adventure
[Pinkie Pie]
Tons of fun
[Rarity]
A beautiful heart
[Applejack]
Faithful and strong
[Fluttershy]
Sharing kindness!
[Lightning Sprint]
Motivate the team
[Bandit]
Heroics makes it all complete
You have my little ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?
Some hours later, Skeedaddle was drawing out a map of Ponyville. He was drawing the library of ponyville. As soon as he finished drawing it, Scootaloo zipped by on her scooter. Skeedaddle watched in amazement.
As Scootaloo went past a few obstacles, as well as almost running over Granny Smith, who in turn shouted “Soup’s on!”, she managed to make it to the clubhouse, where Apple Bloom was painting the ramp as Chad was hammering some nails into the roof, with Klaw holding a bucket of nails in his mouth and Fang was coiled around the tool box. Apple Bloom hears Scootaloo coming and turned to look at her, cringing as she braced for impact, but it never happened. She looked at her.
"Whoa! Hi, Scootaloo! Back already? You're amazin' on that scooter." She commented.
Scootaloo hopped off her scooter and removed her helmet while her mane sprang back into shape.
"Thanks!" She said before looking at Chad climb down the tree. Klaw and Fang flew down and sat next to him as Scootaloo saw the clubhouse, which was now so much better then it had been that morning.
"Wow Chad. You and Apple Bloom did all of this?" She asked, impressed.
“We sure did.” Chad said as he pet Klaw and Fang. “We fixed the broken shutters, sanded off the splinters, rebuilt the roof, painted.”
Skeedaddle managed to catch up to the trio and saw the clubhouse.
“Wow! That looks so cool. You guys did that yourselves?” Skeedaddle asked.
“Sure did.” Apple Bloom answered. Klaw and Fang walked off and came back with a stick. Chad began playing fetch with them as Rumble got to them. He had a wagon of posters.
“Got the interior decorations.” Rumble told them. Pipsqueak walked over with a plastic container of shield shaped cookies on his back.
“My mum made cookies for our first day in the clubhouse.” Pipsqueak said as he presented the cookies. “Freshly baked.”
The crusaders all took a cookie out to eat. Chad was about to eat his but saw Klaw beg for a piece. Chad broke his in half and gave him one half and ate the other. The red tiger was about to eat the cookie, but his snake tail looked like he wanted a piece. So he held it out and the two broke off a piece to eat.
Scootaloo then looked around.
“Hey, what's Sweetie Belle up to?” Scootaloo asked, Chad’s ears twitched.
“Singing.” Chad said as he began to walk to her location. “Follow me, I’ll lead you to her from hearing her voice.”
A short distance away, Sweetie Belle was singing and dusting off a picnic table with her tail. "We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders…" she hummed. "…Never stop the journey…" She was still humming and dusting off her tail on a nearby tree.
“There she is.” Chad said as he lead the others over to her. “Told you I could lead you to her from hearing her voice. Which is awesome by the way.”
“What's that sweet tune you're singing?" Scootaloo asked, Sweetie Belle looked a bit bashful.
"Oh. I was just working on our new Cutie Mark Crusaders theme song." She answered.
“Cool!” The other 6 said.
“Teach us?” Rumble asked.
“Well, I've only come up with one part… but okay!" Sweetie Belle agreed after hesitating for a moment.
“I’ll help too if you want.” Chad offered. Sweetie Belle nodded as they all went back to the clubhouse.
Applejack went to the treehouse out of curiosity of how the CMC were doing, which she was impressed to see was vastly improved, and then she heard Sweetie Belle singing. She went up the ramp to the nearest window and listened.
"They all say that you will get your mark," Sweetie Belle sang.
“When the time is really right…" Chad sang.
“And you know just what you're supposed to do.” Apple Bloom sang. Applejack smiled from the window, but ended up cringing when Scootaloo began singing.
"And your talent comes to light!" Scootaloo sang both loudly and off-key. Applejack shook her head and looked at the group proudly.
“Well, uh... I'll be, Cutie Mark Crusaders. You've done one fine job with this place. So, what's next?” Applejack asked as she looked in through the window.
"Well, now that we have a real life clubhouse…" Apple Bloom started.
“…and a map of Ponyville…" Skeedaddle said as he pointed to the map he drew earlier, which was on the wall.
“And a cutie mark crusader theme song.” Pipsqueak, Chad and Sweetie Belle said at the same time.
"Theme song?” Applejack questioned.
We're gonna go out in the world and discover our talents," Apple Bloom announced.
"A new adventure!" Scootaloo declared.
"And earn our cutie marks," Sweetie Belle added.
"We'll leave no stone unturned!" Rumble divulged.
"No mountain unclimbed!" Pipsqueak announced
"No meal uncooked!" Skeedaddle proclaimed
"No sock unworn!" Chad exclaimed.
“Well okay then! Sounds like you have a plan. I gotta, uh… Leave no apple unpicked! See y'all later!" She told them before leaving to get back to work on her chores. Chad looked at the group.
“Are we ready to get our cutie marks, crusaders?" Chad asked as he raised a hoof.
“Ready!” The others said as they High hoofed.
Their first stop was at the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, where they filled troughs with buckets filled with a bunch of food for the pigs.
Skeedaddle, Scootaloo and Rumble were filling up the troughs evenling, Sweetie Belle and Pipsqueak were ringing the bell, and Apple Bloom and Chad were opening the door, and the pigs came running in to feast. They ended up running over most of the crusaders, They were all knocked down as a result. The pigs were eating their food as the crusaders fish themselves out of the mud. They all looked at their own flanks and every single one of them were blank. All of them looked down sadly.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders then went to Carousel Boutique, where they set up a hair salon with Rarity's permission.
Apple Bloom was ringing a bell, inviting customers inside.
There were 2 different chairs. A chair with the female crusaders who were mixing some shampoo, and a chair with the male crusaders, who were readying clippers.
A mare and a stallion were sitting in their respective chairs.
There were 2 very different reactions when the job was done. The mare was crying from the fact that her hair was now styled like that of a clown. The stallion was satisfied with his new cut, but this was only because he didn’t notice the patch on the back of his head. As the fillies checked for a cutie mark, the colts took off before the Stallion took notice.
The next activity was a trip to sugar cube corner. Chad was baking more of the RaspCherry cupcakes. The fillies were trying to sort out the Caramel and the toffee and the colts were trying to mix them all together, but all three got trapped inside when Rumble’s wing got caught and Pipsqueak and Skeedaddle tried to grab him.
Chad unplugs the machine and the colts pulled themselves out, stuck together. Yet, their flanks remained blank.
Later the group was in front of a table out in a field by SAA, trying to solve a puzzle. Apple Bloom was looking at her options of cards as Chad was waiting there patiently. She pressed the triangle card, which was wrong, evident by Chad shaking his head. She then pushes the star card, which was the same result. Then she got an idea, and pressed all the buttons at once.
Chad ducked his head and his friends were assaulted with a bunch of cards.
Next up was mountain climbing, where the crusaders were trying to climb up a large rock that had snow on top of it. Chad was the only one who wasn’t having trouble, due to him sticking onto the rock. The crusaders slipped and were forced to hold onto Chad’s rope. Chad trotted less than 10 steps to get off of the large rock.
Next up was scuba diving. As the six foals swam underwater for fun, Chad was on the seabed digging at the sand where he grabbed a crab. He looked up and saw a squid chasing his friends. He swallows the crab and swims after the squid, who retreats from away from him. Chad was on his tail until he was inked, making him lose the Squid’s trail.
Bandit, Cheerilee and Twilight were chatting about their favorite books when they entered the library and Spike ran up to them with an alarmed expression on his face and Chad putting a lot of the books in their original spot.
"I had nothing to do with this." He said defensively.
Twilight was confused until Bandit made her look at the mess in the middle of the library. Nearly all of the books were in a pile on the floor, along with pieces of papers.
"What is going on here?" she asked, shocked.
"Hmm… Well, we sure aren't getting our cutie marks for being librarians." Pipsqueak said.
"I should think not." Spike said. Bandit shot him a glare. “What?”
"Kids. I think you're going about this the wrong way." Bandit told them.
"Instead of trying to do things in areas you're not familiar with, why not try doing things in areas that you already like?” Twilight suggested.
"And I have the perfect place to start.” Cheerilee said as she filtered through her bag and pulled out a flyer.
""Showcase your talents…"" Apple Bloom read.
""…for all to see,"" Skeedaddle read.
""Perform in the Ponyville school talent show!"" Sweetie Belle finished reading.
"There'll be all sorts of-” Cheerilee started.
“Hold on.” Chad said as he and the other colts hid under the books. The stallion from the Rarity’s Boutique peeked his head in, looked around and moved on. The colts came out.
“You were saying?” Chad asked.
“Right, There'll be all sorts of awards," Cheerilee explained. "Best dramatic performance, best comedy act, best magic act… Surely you can find your talent."
Apple Bloom was excited and she was already coming up with ideas. "This would be the perfect place to discover our talents." she agreed. "Jugglin'!"
"Acting!"
"Magic tricks!"
"Square dancin'!"
"Tightrope walking!"
"Tiger taming!"
"My little ponies." Bandit started. He looked at Twilight so she could continue it.
"My big changeling too." She said before looking at the group. "You're missing the point. Think about the things you already enjoy doing. Think about what you're already good at." Twilight continued.
"Sure! We can do that." Rumble said.
"Yeah! Sure we can." Sweetie Belle agreed.
“Well, whatever we do, we'll do it as…” Chad held up his hooves.
“The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” The others reared up before High Hoofing together. Klaw pawed at Chad and Fang dropped a bone at his feet.
At Rarity's boutique, Sweetie Belle was grabbing various pieces of material putting them in a wagon that was pulled by Chad.
Rarity came running out of the shop, yelling at them.
"Sweetie Belle!" she shrieked after the three filles. "I told you not to touch my things. Come back with my supplies!"
"We're just borrowing them for the talent show sis. I'll bring them back, I promise!" Sweetie Belle called.
Going into town, they stopped by the shop run by Mr. Breezy, who placed a fan into the cart.
"Thanks Mr. Breezy, we'll return the fan real soon" Scootaloo said as Chad began moving to the next location.
Next, they went to the nearby hardware store to pick up wood, plywood, nails, paint, and brushes.
"Okay, so that's six wooden planks, four-by-eight plywood, a box of nails, four cans of paint, and four brushes. Anything else?" Scootaloo said. Pipsqueak reached into Chad's mane and pulled out a list.
"Instructions on how to use six wooden planks, four-by-eight plywood, a box of nails, four cans of paint, and four brushes." He read. Chad reared and began running.
Twilight Sparkle gave them a book about building sets and a second book, which had her perplex. ""Ghosts, Goblins and Ghoulish Figures"?" she asked, reading the title before Spike put the book in the cart. "Good heavens, kids. What do you need a book like this for?"
"We need it for the tal-" Chad was silenced by a beet being shoved in his mouth.
"You'll see. Thanks, Twilight. We'll give it back as soon as we're done with it." Scootaloo said. Bandit watched as Chad pulled away while eating the beet.
"What do you think they're up to?" Twilight asked.
"I have no idea," Spike admitted, "and I don't know if I should be excited or scared to find out."
“Well, Chad’s involved so it won’t be that bad.” Bandit said.
Once they had their supples, they went back to the treehouse to work on their plan for the talent show. Chad was multitasking as he played fetch with Klaw and Fang.
"I'm glad we're doing this as a team." Apple Bloom said.
"Me too." Chad agreed. "Um… so what are we doing again?"
"A super awesome dramatic song for the talent show, of course." Scootaloo answered.
"With super-cool scenery. And amazing costumes!" Pipsqueak added.
"And mind blowin dance moves!" Apple Bloom said.
Chad began performing dances as she said that.
"This is gonna be so amazing!" Rumble said.
"Sweetie Belle, I think you should be a singer." Pipsqueak suggested.
"What? No way I'm singing in front of a crowd," Sweetie Belle protested, hiding behind the fabric.
“What if Chad sang with you? You two would make a killer duet.” Skeedaddle suggested. Sweetie Belle looked at Chad.
“Actually, I want to sing a wicked rock ballad.” Scootaloo spoke up.
“Then who’s gonna do the dance choreography?” Rumble asked. Eyes turned to Apple Bloom.
"Hm… I'm not much of a dancer…" Apple Bloom admitted, thinking, "but I do like Kung-fu. That's kinda like dancin'. Hi-ya! Hah! Hah! Yah!" And she did a few fancy kicks. One of the kicks was caught by Chad.
“And we’re gonna help out every step of the way.” Chad said.
“Yeah!” The colts said with a smile.
"Then it's settled!" Sweetie Belle said, no longer hiding behind the fabric. "Let's get started."
A couple of hours went by and the group were all doing what they were assigned. Scootaloo was still at the piano, trying to coming up with a song, and she was struggling with both the piano keys and the words. "We fight the fight, walk the walk. Talk the talk, eat the… uh… food like a celery stalk?" she wondered and then groaned, banging her head on the piano keys in frustration. "Ugh! I'll never come up with anything! Never, never, never!" She sat up and blinked when a roll of purple fabric went rolling and bouncing past.
"Come back! Come back!" Sweetie Belle yelped, chasing after the runaway fabric and failed to catch it. Chad pounced on it and caught the fabric and gave it to Sweetie Belle. He then trotted over to Scootaloo.
“Hey Scootaloo, how are the lyrics coming along?” Chad asked. She blew a raspberry. Chad mimicked it. “That bad huh?”
"I'm just no good at lyrics," Scootaloo complained. "Coming up with words is, like… really hard.”
“Oh, it can’t be that bad.” Chad said as he looked at the lyrics. “"With our cutie marks we'll rock Equestria. We use our stomachs to… digestia"? Wow, these lyrics are absolutely terrible.”
Scootaloo was about to say something but Chad spoke up again. “Maybe it would help if you play the tune first. Usually when I think of the tune of the song I want to write it helps.”
He started playing a tune on the piano.
"The 7 of us, we are the CMC
Doing our absolute best despite impossibility.
Sure sometimes we go and try and that results in a fail,
but we'll always get back up
Persevere to prevail
Yes you can knock us down, you can push us around, but will always get ourselves back up off the ground.
This is one part of our journey that is just the start,
and it will begin once we gain ourselves a cutie mark." Chad sang. Sweetie Belle walked over and joined in the singing.
“They all say that you will get your mark
When the time is really right.
And you know just what you're supposed to do
And your talent comes to light!” Sweetie Belle sang, then the two sang together.
“We fight the fight
And there is nothing that we fear
We'll have to figure out what we'll do
until our cutie marks are here.
We are the cutie mark crusaders
Our journey is close and our goals are clear.” They finished.
"Wow! That's so awesome!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Did you two just come up with that now?"
Sweetie Belle blushed and nodded. "Yeah… kind of."
“You can use that if you want.” Chad told her.
"Thanks, I'm totally using that." Scootaloo said. She took out a pencil and began writing it down.
Sweetie Belle was now sewing the costumes. When she was done, she held it up for Skeedaddle to look the gold/purple outfit over. Skeedaddle walked over and looked at the outfit.
"One, two, three, four, five?" He counted that she'd made five legs instead of four and Sweetie belle first moaned and then sighed.
“Well, Chad has taught me about asgard. I believe there’s a five legged pony. I think his name was Helhest?” Skeedaddle said.
“That’s the three legged one, you’re thinking of Grani.” Chad said from the distance.
“Right, Grani.” Skeedaddle said.
Apple Bloom was working on a spin and stumbled over. She was about to fall but Chad flopped where she was going to land, making her have a softer landing.
“Thanks Chad.” Apple Bloom said. Sweetie Belle looked at Apple Bloom.
"How's the spin coming along?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I think I gotta just stick to punches and kicks." said Apple Bloom, figuring that it was less dangerous and then she raised her eyebrows at the costume her friend was holding. "You know, ponies only have four legs."
“Except Grani apparently.” Sweetie Belle commented.
“Granny who?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I’ll explain later.” Chad said. Sweetie belle moaned.
"I'll never be a designer like my sister Rarity." Sweetie Belle moaned. Rumble tapped her head and pointed to the mannequin.
“Why don't you use the dress form?" Rumble suggested.
"Yeah, it'll help you with your patterns and help you put all the pieces in the right places." Apple Bloom added.
"Oh, is that what that's for?" Sweetie Belle asked. Pipsqueak walked over with a paint brush in his mouth.
“Pip, are you cleaning the paint brushes in between each color?” Chad asked. Pipsqueak’s eyes widened and then he smiles sheepishly. Before turning to the scenery, which was looking more muddy then bright.
“I was wondering why all the colors looked like mud." Pipsqueak said.
“You're not using power tools, are you?" Apple Bloom asked.
Several days went by, and Applejack decided to check on the Cutie Mark Crusaders and their progress for the talent show. "The talent show is just around the corner," she remarked, reaching the treehouse. "I wonder how the foals are doin'."
Reaching the top of the ramp, she peered through the window and her heart sank when she saw the foals practicing.
"Oh! Sorry, Scootaloo."
"That's okay. Ugh!"
"Oops! Sorry, Scootaloo. Ouch!"
“My bad Skeedaddle!”
“Whoops. Didn’t mean that Pip.”
“Rumble watch your wing!”
“Ouch! Chad look out!”
“Sorry!”
Applejack hurried back down the ramp, disturbed by what she'd seen. "Well, gosh. Sure wasn't expectin' that," she muttered when she heard them come out, she tried to sneak away.
"I think that sounded pretty good," said Apple Bloom.
"Me too. You think we're ready?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
"Ready as we'll ever be.” Scootaloo said. Skeedaddle then noticed Applejack.
"Hey! Did you see us practicing Applejack?" He asked.
Applejack hesitated before answering. "Uh… Yeah."
"Well? How'd we do? How'd we do?" Apple Bloom asked eagerly.
Applejack hesitated again, unsure of whether to tell the truth or not. "Uh…"
"Speechless!" Scootaloo said.
“Actually, I think that’s a different type of speech-” Chad tried to say.
"See, guys? I told you that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna leave them speechless."
"Yay!"
""Speechless" is right," Applejack agreed, worried about how the talent show would turn out.
It was the night of the talent show and every pony in Ponyville had turned out to see the various talents that the fillies would be showing off.
"…And on the count of three, this rabbit will disappear, and something tasty will reappear in its place," Snipes said as Snails placed a black top hat over a gray rabbit.e "A one, a two, and a three!" he said and removed the hat to reveal that the rabbit was gone, but there was nothing in its' place. "Hey! Where are they?" he asked, looking around frantically while the ponies tittered. "Snails, where are the… carrots. Snails!" He saw his friend was eating the carrots, and chased him off the stage to the laughter of the ponies.
Cheerilee came on stage smiling nervously. "Uh, how about a round of applause for the S&S magic act?" she asked and the ponies stomped their hooves loudly. "Now for our next act, we have Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie reciting their favorite poem… on roller skates!"
Backstage, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were waiting to go on next and their costumes were hidden under cloaks. Except Chad, who was playing with Klaw and Fang. He waved as the two ponies went on stage.
"Break a leg!” Chad encouraged.
“Chadwickson! What a thing to say!” Apple Bloom objected.
“It’s a figure of speech. You see, in the theater it's considered bad luck to say "good luck". So you say "break a leg" instead." Sweetie Belle defended.
Twilight walked over with Bandit.
“My little ponies.” Twilight called.
“My big Changeling too.” Bandit added. “How are you doing?"
"Nervous…" All but Chad said. Klaw and Fang ran to Bandit and began to climb him.
“I’m not too nervous.” Chad said as he looked at the duo.
“You're gonna be amazing. Remember, just stick to what you know best. I can't wait to hear you and Chad sing, Sweetie Belle." Twilight said.
“I’ve got the camera ready for your performance Chad.” Bandit said as he showed a camcorder.
“Actually, I’m not singing.” Chad told him.
“You’re not?” They both asked.
“Nope! I am.” Scootaloo said.
"And I'm the main dancer," said Apple Bloom, striking a pose. "Hi-ya!"
"And I'm in charge of…" Sweetie Belle began.
"Costumes?" Twilight asked. Sweetie Belle nodded.
“And I’m in charge of the props!” Pipsqueak said.
“I’m the background dancer.” Rumble said.
“I’m the background singer!” Skeedaddle said.
“And I’m in charge of the music!” Chad said with a wagging tail.
“Well, at least there’s hope for the music.” Bandit said, Twilight stepped on his hoof. He stepped back and shook the discomfort out.
“What he means is, are you sure?” Twilight asked.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, you're on next," said Cheerilee as she trotted past. "Break a leg."
"Break a le-" Twilight began when Apple Bloom tripped before hurrying after her friends as they all tossed off their cloaks. "Uh… good luck!"
Bandit placed a book titled, ‘Idioms for Idiots’ and her ears flopped.
“Did I just give them bad luck?” Twilight asked.
“Well kinda.” Bandit shrugged, he kept himself from saying ‘They were doomed from the start’. “Come on, we’ll still give them our full support. Maybe it won’t be as bad as my first talent show.”
“Wait a minute, your wha-”
“Moving!” Bandit said as he grabbed her by the scruff and trotted off to the crowd. Klaw and Fang began playing with the cloaks before looking at the lights turn on the CMC.
On stage, the Cutie Mark Crusaders began their performance and they were dressed like rock stars.
"Look, here, are seven little creatures,
Ready to sing for this crowd,
Listen up, 'cause here's our story
We're gonna sing it very loud!" Scootaloo began singing, very off key, joined by Skeedaddle, who was trying desperately to remain on key. Chad appeared with a guitar and played a brief solo.
The lights came on to reveal the scenery, which was looking vastly better, but the crowd, and especially Applejack were too stunned by the performance. And not in a good way.
"When you're a younger creature
And your flank is very bare (very bare)
Feels like the sun will never come
When your cutie mark's not there (not there)
So the seven of us will fight the fight
There is nothing that we fear
We'll have to figure out what we'll do next" Scootaloo continued, with Skeedaddle singing in the background. Pipsqueak used a series of ropes to place the props onto the set. Rumble and Apple Bloom were doing the ‘kung fu’ for the dancing. They all went to the platform to sing.
“Till our cutie marks are here!” They all sang, followed by another guitar solo from Chad. The mixture of who was on and who was off key was unsettling to the ears. Klaw and Fang looked at each other and began to walk over to the smoke machine.
"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders
On a quest to find out who we are
And we will never stop the journey
Not until we have our cutie marks." They sang together. Klaw moved the smoke machine on stage and Fang turned it on. Rumble and Apple Bloom collided with each other at one point making Rumble stumble backstage. The smoke impaired Pipsqueak’s vision as he tried to run another prop over, as a result, ended up tripping over Rumble.
“They all say that you'll get your mark
When the time is really right (Really Right)
And you know just what you're supposed to do
And your talent comes to light (Comes to Light)
But it's not as easy as it sounds
And that waiting's hard to do (Hard to do)
So we test our talents everywhere.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders sang together after changing the color of the light to blue for effect.
"Until our face is blue!”
Klaw flicked the fan on with his paw as Pipsqueak ran past him.
Unfortunately Apple Bloom got one of her high-legs stuck in one of the sets, which started falling, and Skeedaddle struggled to keep it from falling as his friend freed herself.
"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
On a quest to find out who we are.
And we will never stop the journey. Not until we have our cutie marks!"
Chad’s shell shook and he quickly pulled all his friends out of the line of the falling sun. Klaw and Fang looked at the rope and saw that it gave out. They came back out from behind the curtains, saw the ponies were staring speechless for several seconds before they all burst into laughter.
"They're....laughing? I was not expecting that but let's go with it." Chad said.
"Go with it?" Sweetie Belle asked. They looked and saw Chad was in a hat and cane. There was a happy piano tune as Chad danced off stage as Klaw and Fang closed the curtains, the crowd roared with laughter.
"Okay, that was funny." Pipsqueak said.
"Where did that hat and Cane come from?" Skeedaddle asked.
"This is Chad we're talking about." Apple Bloom said.
Backstage, the cmc were listening to the crowd still laughing.
"Well.....that was-" Skeedaddle started.
"Eventful." Scootaloo said.
"I was gonna say an absolute cinematic disaster that somehow indeed humor, but will go with eventful." Skeedaddle said.
"I can't believe they laughed at us." Apple Bloom said.
"Was it that bad?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
Cheerilee came over to them with Spike, who was going to be helping hand out the rewards. "Back on stage, kids," she informed them. "It's time for the awards."
Chad and Spike did a hoof/claw shake which ended with Chad giving him a noogie.
"Back on stage?" Pipsqueak repeated, alarmed. "No."
"They'll just laugh some more." Rumble added.
Scootaloo nodded sourly. "Yeah, what's the point?"
"Now kids, let's be good sports," said Cheerilee, escorting them back onto the stage. "You made a great effort. You should be proud. Now come on."
Once all of the CMC were back on the stage… well, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were hiding behind the other foals to avoid being seen, except Chad, Cheerilee turned to the audience.
"Let's hear it for all our talented fillies and colts," she requested and they all stomped their hooves. "Our first award goes to… Snips and Snails for best magic act."
Spike put over their necks blue ribbons with three gold stars on them, and the two admired their rewards.
"Hey!" Snips said happily. "Mine's at least shinier."
"Well, mine's bigger," Snails retorted, and they walked off the stage, bickering.
"Oh yeah, well… Well, mine is, um… heavier?"
Chad, Spike, and Cheerilee shook their heads as they continued walking.
Cheerilee waited until they were gone before announcing the next winner. "The next award goes to… Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie for best dramatic performance." And the two fillies gasped as Spike gave them their rewards, which were shaped like happy masks.
"And finally, the last award of the night goes to… the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" She announced and the Cutie Mark Crusaders stared at her in confusion since they couldn't hide anymore. "For best comedy act." And the ponies cheered as the seven foals were given their ribbons by the baby dragon. Chad and Spike hoof/claw bumped afterwards.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders raced backstage again, only this time they were thrilled by the fact that they had managed to win despite their performance ended in a disaster.
"Can you believe it? We won!" Apple Bloom squealed, jumping up and down.
"I knew our act was awesome." Scootaloo said happily.
"You know what would be the best?" Sweetie Belle asked eagerly and her friends looked at her. "If we won and we got our cutie marks." And the Cutie Mark Crusaders got rid of their costumes to check their flanks, as well as revealing Chad was still wearing his hoodie underneath, only to find that they were still blank, and they all pouted. The only one not disappointed was Chad. The colts put their hoodies back on as Twilight and Bandit came over.
"Congratulations, ponies and youngling! Job well done." Bandit cheered.
“Thanks Bandit.” “Thanks Bandit!” The crusaders said, most of them disappointed.
“Why’s Chad the only one excited?” Twilight asked out of concern.
“We worked really hard and won a prize, but we still don't have our cutie marks."
"Which is the prize we really wanted." Sweetie Belle added.
“Oh.” Bandit said as his own ears flopped. “Look, I understand your-”
"But we think we know why," Apple Bloom interrupted and she was looking happier.
"Yes. We know why." Sweetie Belle
"Oh? Tell me.” Bandit said as he pulled out a scroll and quill. “I’d like to write a letter to mother about what you learned.”
"Well, maybe we were trying too hard." Rumble admitted, thinking.
Twilight nodded. "Yes? And?"
Bandit wrote this down.
"And instead of forcing ourselves to do something that's not meant for us…" said Scootaloo thoughtfully.
Twilight nodded eagerly. "Yes? Yes?"
"We each should be embracing our true talent!" Skeedaddle said.
"And that is…?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"Comedy!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders announced together. Bandit stopped writing and looked up with a facehoof.
Just then, Applejack came in with Rarity, Thunderlane, Cherry Song and Rainbow Dash. Among them, Rarity was the only one who didn’t look amused.
"Apple Bloom! You did it!"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders bar Chad ran over to them to show off their medals. "Did you see our award? Weren't we funny?"
“I can’t wait to show my parents when they’re off work!” Skeedaddle was heard saying.
“Skeedaddle, your parents ain’t got no job.” Rumble was heard saying.
“Do too!”
“Do not!”
Bandit shook his head and sent the letter.
“One day.” Twilight said, then looked at Bandit.
“So, what did you do with the camcorder?” Twilight asked Bandit.
“I followed the recording the first talent show tradition and burnt it to ash.” Bandit said. Twilight put the pieces together.
“So that’s why I’ve never seen that video.” Twilight said.
“Like I was gonna give you material to make fun of me. Not happening.” Bandit told her. Twilight gave him a smug look before rolling her eyes.
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10698889
I like that OC
10698903
Thank you!
nice job, loved it!
10698914
Thanks a ton!
10698920
keep up the good work!
10698922
No worries, I will.
10698931
10699400
What character?
10699401
Never mind. I posted that before opening the chapter and then saw the OC in the picture.
10699406
Oh right. For future reference, that OC is Chad.
10699411
I had assumed that would've been Rhino, but ok. It's your OC, you're the expert on it. I'll take your word on who it is.
10699412
Oh no, Rhino's not my OC. I apologize for the confusion.
10699418
That's alright. I don't mind a little confusion.
10699432
To help clear things up, Rhino actually my OC, from the story The Dragonfly Hive.
Great chapter, I'm looking forward to the next one.
10724332
Do you not get it? It's a way to say fuck without saying fuck.
10724332
And very true.
I kind of don't like this type of story because it seems it only revolves around Bandit and Chad on some episodes. I meant like your replacing Twilight with an OC character and it's quite annoying. Though I like your version of the CMC and Lightning Sprint added to the main group and also Bandit and Chad as nymph changelings. But it's your story I'm not saying I don't like it I'm saying it needs some little improvements with letting Twilight take over some time and I'm saying in my opinion so I won't force on doing anything with your story and I'm not pressuring you so keep up the nice work!
Also, I'm curious what Bandit's and Chad's reactions to certain characters like Discord, Queen Chrysalis, the changelings, and Starlight Glimmer!
10726907
My apologizes, but season one is gonna have a lot of that. Believe it or not Seasons 1-9 were planned from start to finish, so the who, Bandit taking the wheel on Twilight for a lot of season one was intentional, but later seasons, it'll pay off.
Also, boy oh boy you're in for a lot of foreshadowing for season two.
10726987
I understand
10730538
You are so far the 1st and only person to point out the Midwestern 'Ope' i put in there. Finding the tiny details make me feel appreciated.
10730545
No problem.
I’m Midwestern myself, and I know how we speak.
10730764
It's a bit of an overrated film in my eyes.
Lightning Sprint, somewhere in the distance, is screaming.
He must really like that hoodie.
I don’t know if it’s the intent, but I imagine Twilight deadpanning this in the most,”You don’t say?” way possible.
I’m surprised there isn’t any prior material, Bandit must’ve not tried to impress her, then.
...
Anyways, a good chapter, I’ll be following this story, my only complaint so far being that it could use an editor. I was a little nervous about doing this thing, because I didn’t want to encroach upon what Silver Dragon Blade Wing does, but I managed to get this entire comment in one place and this happened.
Also, I don’t know who does your drawings, or if you’re really good at Photoshop, but I like them.
10730801
Indeed she is.
He does. His hoodies were made by someone special to he and Bandit.
It was more of a, 'please tell me you learned what I wanted you to learn' tone.
Impress? No, beat in a friendly competition? yes.
Oh trust me, comments like this will always be appreciated. Also, I try my best to edit this. However, the best editing will come when I finish the season.
The drawing was commissioned by me, drawn by BrutalWeather.
10730801
No need to worry about encroaching my friend, I enjoy reading these kinds of comments as much as making them. Who knows, you might find things I missed before.
10731174
Agreed wholeheartedly.
10731174
I like reading them, too.
Ya know, reading Applejacks line here made me remember something I had thought about before. Applejack is easily fhe most serious of the mane 6 when it comes to working and figuring things out, but out of the 6, she is also the LEAST likely to have any fun outside of that work. It's kibda depressing seeing that Applejack was made to be a all work no play character when lines like this seem to show her discomfort in attempting to have said fun. (dang that got long.)
Someone learned from his mom.
hm...wonder what he did?
Great chapter as always!
10800924
I've met people like that IRL (theres a lot of them in the military) and let me tell you, some of these people have fun doing the work over fun. It happens sometimes.
Momlestia us best lestia.
Trust me. It wasn’t what he did.
Is it weird that everytime I see Skeedaddle, I think of Gallus, because of his hair also love this chapter
10818640
Blue and yellow. Nope, not weird.
10818643
Yup, and when I saw the picture that you post in this chapter. When I saw Skeedaddle, I thought "Gallus what you are doing here," Till I took another look and notices it was Skeedaddle
10818646
To be fair, Gallus does end up having an attachment to Chad and Bandit.
Before we start, I want to say I love the hoodies the colts have. Now onto the comment;
The scene opens with Silver walking through his yard with a large bowl of mint chocolate chip popcorn (yes it's actually a thing) munching away.
Silver: "I like popcorn, I like it a lot. I've seen movies where the popcorn was the best part, and considering that kind is the week old stuff drowned in butter, that's saying something."
Silver walked up to a table and set the bowl down.
Silver: "Nowadays I don't really go to movies anymore, not after that flaming snack incident. I'd rather not talk about that. So I just make my own popcorn at home."
He picked up a glass measuring cup filled with kernels.
Silver: "What I'll do is take a cup of kernels like this, put it into a pot, shake her on the stove until my foreleg falls off or I suffer a magic headache, and that'll make me about a bowl of popcorn like this *picks up his bowl* and I can flavor it the way I want to. But when family, friends, or big eaters like Bandit drops over, well... I need to make a bigger batch."
He took the cup and poured it into a bucket full of kernels and picked it up.
Silver: "Now one could just have four pots of popcorn going at once, but that's more work than one would think. I'm think I need something that'll do the work for me. I'm thinking a clothes dryer."
He walked up to same item and opened the door, pouring the kernels into it.
Silver: "Now I know what you're thinking; "But Silver, a clothes dryer doesn't have enough heat to make popcorn." Well an industrial grade one does but those are massive and are power hogs, and you would be right on ones like the standard home one. However, this one here I'm modified to put out more heat than normal. Useful for when my stove kicks out and my siblings come to visit."
He tossed the bucket aside as he closed the door, picking up some butter from a container on top of the machine.
Silver: "now we just take a stick of butter and pop it into the lint filter *he did so and closed the door* and it's showtime."
He thumped the start button with his hoof and left as the machine turned on.
*Later*
The dryer when still as a small amount of smoke rose from it and Silver placed a large basket with a cloth lining inside under the door and opened it, allowing a wave of fresh popcorn to fall into it, Silver giving the hoof version of a thumbs up.
Lilly slowly and careful moved through the bushes, shifting along like a shadow as she approached her prey. She gave a toothy smile as she got behind it, her prey had no idea. With a wiggle of her rump and a silent shake of her tail she pressed her wings into the ground and used them and her legs to leap into the air, arcing towards her prey.
Only to be caught in a magic field as her prey turned to her with a smug look it it's face.
Bandit: "Nice try."
Lilly gave him a sheepish smile. "Mercy?"
Bandit: "Nope."
Lilly laughed loud and hard as Bandit used his magic to relentlessly tickle her.
Lilly: "Okay Okay I give I give!"
Grinning Bandit set the giggling Filly down next to him, noticing that besides the CMC-styled scarf around her neck she was also wearing a dark navy blue hoodie a few shades lighter than her coat.
Bandit: "Where'd you get the hoodie Lilly?"
Lilly: "Oh it was a gift from my auntie Ribbon, it was suppose to be a birthday present but the post got mixed up and it arrived only this morning. First it was sent to my parents' house and then back to auntie's who delivered it here personally."
Bandit: "Ah, I get what you mean. It looks nice on ya."
Lilly: "Thanks, I'm guessing you heard me coming?"
Bandit: "Actually no, you were completely silent. I knew you where coming from your scent, when hunting always try to have the wind to your front so your prey wouldn't smell you coming. Other than that you had it down perfectly."
Lilly: "Okay, guess I need to work on that. But I do have other tricks I need to work on."
Bandit: "Like what?"
Lilly: "Like my... SURPRISE ATTACK!"
Before Bandit could react Lilly shoot forward and used all four of her hooves to tickle his underbelly, which was the softest part of his body and one that his mom had used to tickle him more than once. Bandit was sent laughing as he tried to get Lilly who dodged his hooves before stopping and taking off as Bandit recovered. He gave her a playful smile.
Bandit: "Oh you're gonna pay for that little bat."
Lilly blew a raspberry at him. "Have to catch me first."
She took off as Bandit stood up.
Bandit: "Oh, it is on."
He took off after her, the two laughing.
Wanted to do something with Bandit and Lilly together, and I liked the look of her wearing that hoodie you mentioned in your last comment so I added it in.
Classic.
Lilly: "You did ask for that Rumble."
Lilly: "We're gonna need more than house cleaning."
Good idea.
Lilly's ears twitched and she looked around "Does anypony hear Lightning screaming?"
Nice job.
That's why you stay out of the way of hungry animals, because they will run over you. Learned that the hard way in a petting zoo when I was just a kid, though I didn't get run over, more like swarmed. Those animals were hungry, even had a lama sneak up behind me and lean down over my shoulder to eat out of the food cone I was holding.
I do really feel sorry for the Mare, and the patch, he's not gonna be happy.
Lilly walked up to them and give the Colts a lick.
"Mmmm, not bad, but this is why Uncle Silver tells me don't have loose clothing or body parts around moving machines. You know this reminds me of that sap adventure they had some time ago."
Lilly: "THIS IS THAT UNO GAME ALL OVER AGAIN!"
Of course Chad would have no trouble.
It's things like this that make me wonder if Chad could be classified as an Apex Predator.
Yeah, he's mad. good thing hair grows back.
One would think so...
And they say males are bad at multitasking, Chad's got a lot of talents doesn't he.
That would be something to hear, and I think I see the blush on Sweetie Belle's face.
Now that was great.
That was actually rather funny.
Lilly: "Sweetie is right you know. Uncle Lance taught me that."
Still funny.
Silver whispering: "Hoof-in-mouth Bandit."
Silver: "At least it wouldn't be as bad as that one prom night, now that was ugly."
That bad Bandit?
I feel for them.
Have to work with what you get.
Lilly: "Yep, nice move there Chad."
Lilly: "He's like Pinkie, but in this case I'd say his hoodie."
Lilly: "Actually for absolute cinematic disasters, I've seen much worst."
Silver and Lilly joined in on that.
I'll be honest, even after the explaination I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around this one. Maybe I'll get it eventually.
Lilly: "Hey Skeedaddle, what is your parents' job?"
Their siblings in a way, so of course Bandit wouldn't want to get Twilight material. I know I wouldn't.
Couldn't really find much to comment on for this one but I did what I could, not really sure how to review it either as I haven't seen this episode in a very long time.
But beyond that, anything I missed?
10959531
Slight Bad news. I'm stuck on Quarantine and I have to rely on my mobile data since I don't have wifi in the barracks I'm confined to for Quarantine. So me responding to that in a usual manner is gonna not be for a while.
note, I am not infected with Covid. The situation is a bit complicated
But I can tell you, you got all the nails on the head for this chapter, no additions required. and I loved that Bandit and Lilly story FYI, bandit would've 100% seen that surprise belly attack coming. Chad's done it enough times to be ready for it, and shouting a move before executing it isn't a trope Bandit falls for. I was gonna have a scene in Season 2 that hilariously plays on that, but that was still cute.. Just know that a Dog, Ling, and Pony show is yet another one I've been anticipating. Goes more in dept with Bandit and Chad and sets up a few chekov's guns.
10961689
Quarantine sucks, but at least you're okay. That's the main thing.
Surprised to see I got everything on the first go, not something that happens often. And I sort of figured Bandit would see that attack coming, but hey... Though Lilly's still waiting for the moment to "facehug" hug him.
In case you were wondering about some of the things Lilly mentioned; I plan to do the sap adventure as a flashback thing though not sure when and as for the Uno game, here's what happened:
Silver and his siblings were playing said game with Stacking: (One player can STACK Draw 2 OR wild Draw 4 Card to pass the effect to the other player.), 7 - 0: (The 7 card lets someone choose who to swap hands with. The 0 card makes EVERYONE Swap hands with each other!), Force Play: (When someone Draws a Card that matches the Color, Number, Or Symbol, they MUST Play it.), Jump-In: (Lets a player play their card out of their turn if the card is IDENTICAL to the one in the Discard Pile.), and Draw to Match: (Makes a Player Draw cards until they draw a card that matches the Color, Number, Or Symbol.). It was a really unlucky game for Silver.
Now usually he's good at the game but bad luck combined with the above rules brought the game to a quick and explosive end. His siblings got good "hands" with things like "+4" and "+2" and it lead up to the turns being swapped all over the place until Silver ended up with a total of 300 cards! And that was before he even had his first turn! It got worse because even with all those cards he still didn't have the right color and had to draw, which when that ended Silver had a grand total of 600! (good thing he was a Unicorn as he needed his magic to hold them all) And none of them were good cards.
Needless to say, he lost it right there. Not like I can blame him though, and Lilly got caught in the barrage of cards.
Oh my god Chad looks adorable!