Make Your Mark: The Cutie Mark Mix-Up
Down at the hospital, Misty was awake and Hitch and I sat at the foot of her bed. We hadn’t exactly coordinated good cop/bad cop, but considering I was the one who’d broken Misty’s face, I figured I knew my place.
Yeah, I’d kind of ruined the whole friendly law enforcement thing Hitch had going on. He’d been sheriff for years and had never even been in a fight. Meanwhile, I’d shown up and punched someone straight into the hospital. Plus, now that we were married, Hitch and I definitely had conflict of interest going on, being the only two cops around.
Boy, I’d definitely gone eyebrow-deep in this one.
I tried to distract myself by focusing back on Misty.
“Are you two, like, together?” she asked, immediately ruining my chance at building up a momentum of questioning her instead.
Hitch and I had unconsciously been holding hooves.
“Sheriff Hitch and I are working this investigation jointly,” I deflected.
Misty raised her free hoof. “Okay, ‘cause it looks like-”
Yes, it did look exactly like my pregnant husband and I were together. In hindsight, we should have done more to keep Misty restrained than simply cuffing her to the bed. I had no idea how a unicorn might extricate themselves. I also didn’t know if Canterlogic had ever produced any actually effective counter-unicorn items.
I interrupted Misty, yanking the conversation back to business. “So we’ve got you for two counts of attempted murder.” Yeah, that wiped any other thoughts she might have had. “But I get the feeling that there’s more layers to this onion. So, are you going to talk, or are you going to fry?”
“That’s a tough metaphor,” Hitch commented. “I guess ‘saute’ is a little more difficult of an analogy.”
“To really push the ’fry’ angle, I’m also going to have to bone up on capital punishment in Equestria, and under whose jurisdiction we’d have to be to get it to stick.”
Hitch looked like he wanted to remind me that there was no such thing, but watched Misty’s eyes get big, and decided to let me have it.
“N-none of this was my idea,” Misty said. Her voice was a little nasally, what with the bandages on her face.
“Yeah, we gathered that.” I pulled out my phone. Considering it a security risk, I hadn’t brought the mirror I’d gotten from Sunny, but instead took a picture of it. I showed the screen to Misty. “Who does this connect to?”
“Uh, I…” Misty gulped, and looked away.
“I saw you using one, too.”
She refused to say any more. Looked scared, to, in fact. But the dead end on that line of questions only seemed to confirm someone else was pulling the strings. I sat back. “So I’m curious. You’re obviously the patsy here. What were you told you were gaining out of it?”
I didn’t think she was going to answer that one, either, but she dropped her head and said quietly, “Magic.”
I spread my hooves. “Look around you. Everybody’s got magic.”
“Not that kind. Like…” She trailed off again.
Hitch and I traded glances. Exactly what more magic could be out there?
“Is a perceived lack of magic why you’re an adult without a cutie mark?” Hitch asked, voice gentle.
“I don’t know why I don’t have one.”
I pulled out a folder. It was hardly a formal thing. It was what passed for recordkeeping in Bridlewood. They’d sent it to us after we’d collared Misty. “According to this, you ran away from home when you were a kid. Maybe that’s why you never got one.”
I still didn’t fully understand cutie marks. It was a totally alien concept to a human like me. I still didn’t fully understand what the one I had meant.
“Who were you with all that time?” I asked. “Did they not teach you how to get one?”
Misty just shook her head.
“Well, you could have killed two people - foreign princesses, in fact. If you don’t start naming names, you’re going down for it all by yourself.”
I stared at her, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. After a few seconds, Hitch and I got up and left the room without another word.
“Poor kid,” Hitch murmured when we were in the hallway. I thought for a moment that he might be taking the good cop thing a little too far, but then realized he’d been a lot more tender lately. Hormones, maybe.
I did feel a little bad for Misty. Only a little. Not that I hadn’t done dumb things in my own life, but I’d never tried to kill anyone in cold blood because someone told me to.
“Isn’t it kind of weird that the name ‘Misty Brightdawn’ and ‘Sunny Starscout’ are kind of opposites?” I said.
“Huh, now that you mention it.”
Neither of us could draw any threads to that, though, and let it drop.
We decided to let Misty stew for a while. At any rate, it was time for another event.
Most people around town thought Sunny’s community garden idea was fairly silly, and so she’d rebranded. Successfully, at that. The place was now a designated area for earth ponies to practice magic. We’d been invited to the grand opening.
Hitch put on his fancy sheriff Smokey Bear hat. I didn’t really have any formal wear, so didn’t bother to dress up.
For all I knew, Smokey Bear was a real person in this world.
Maybe one reason Hitch had worn the hat was to distract from his belly, which was really getting too big to hide. We were going to have to start telling people soon.
The garden had been built at the front of the Brighthouse lawn, closest to the road. All our friends had come. Sunny made a speech for the opening ceremony. Izzy kept interrupting, which, while not surprising, was a little more annoying than her baseline.
As I listened, Sunny called it “flora magic” which I guess was the official name for earth pony magic now. I wondered who was the authority on that. Honestly, probably Sunny herself. Until recently, nobody else even believed magic existed.
Sunny let Hitch say a few words, too, and gave him a huge pair of ceremonial scissors to cut the opening ribbon.
The rebranding of the garden as a magic-practice spot had proven so popular that there was actually a stampede to get in, and I had to pull Hitch out of the way to avoid getting trampled.
As I glanced through the gates after the crowd, I saw dozens of animals also scrambling to get out of the way.
“I think they’re headed for the Brighthouse!” Zipp said.
“Oh no, this is a disaster!” Sunny exclaimed.
“Did we not know that a bunch of animals lived here?” I said.
“Sentra’s right, Sunny,” Hitch said. “Proper environmental surveys could have determined that before building the garden. Or you could have just asked me.”
“I’m sorry,” Sunny shook her head. “Can we talk about this after you help round up the animals?”
“Sure, I’m on it,” he replied with resignation.
“That was kind of a deep sigh,” Sunny observed.
I glanced between the two of them. Hello? The current problem of rounding up the animal stampede that was running from the pony stampede?
“It’s just that being sheriff is sometimes a hard job,” Hitch said. Complaining was unlike him; maybe it was the hormones again.
“I can relate. Do you know how hard it is to be the alicorn of Maritime Bay? I need to be somepony that others can count on. Plus, running the smoothie stand is no picnic.”
I snorted.
“What’s so funny?” Sunny asked.
I could have pointed out her pun about making food being no picnic. I could have mocked her for comparing the difficulty of making smoothies to keeping the peace of an entire town, particularly moments after she’d just asked Hitch to clean up a problem of her own making. Neither of those were exactly productive, though, and with me trying to be a little more responsible, I let it go.
Maybe Sunny’s perceptions on the difficulty of Hitch’s job were skewed, because she generally was the difficulty in his job.
I consoled Hitch on the way. He bemoaned, “I had hoped the ceremony opening the garden would go better. It was supposed to be my moment! I was in charge, I had big scissors…”
Hobbled as he was, I was able to keep up with him and comfortingly pat him on the back at the same time.
He sighed. “Yeah, I know Sunny doesn’t mean anything by it, but sometimes I wish she could walk a mile in someone else’s horseshoes.”
“If this whole magic thing is supposed to be based on friendship, maybe there’s a few more lessons left to learn?” I suggested. “I mean, not that I know anything about it, but I definitely see opportunities for some compassion in our fellow citizens, not just Sunny.”
My phone beeped and I pulled it out. Pipp had gotten famous last week for a video of getting hit in the face by an apple. Today it was an entire rabbit, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her.
“You too, Sentra,” Hitch said.
I ducked my head. “Y-yeah.”
I wasn’t sure if Hitch had gotten more assertive lately since he’d gotten pregnant and gotten married or if I’d just been a little more submissive to him for the same reasons.
Though ironically he’d been the one who was submissive and breedable…
The two of us worked to round up the animals. Hitch, of course, was a pro at this. I did most of the actual herding at his direction, though, given my ability to fly and his limited movement.
And for the final loose critter, Sparky. We’d brought him with us to the ceremony, and admittedly had taken our eyes off him for just a moment. Fortunately, in the few seconds it had been, he didn’t go far. He was still in the Brighthouse.
Hitch and I reached him at the same time, but just as we did, he sneezed and a green cloud of something enveloped us. I felt a tingle in my entire body, even as I coughed.
“Sparky, buddy, what did you do?” Hitch asked, also coughing. I hoped that the substance wasn’t something toxic. As rapidly as it dissipated, though, and as sparkly as it was, I had a feeling it was something magical.
I had a very different feeling suddenly develop in my gut, like I’d swallowed a bowling ball. As we emerged from the cloud, I looked down.
“Sentra, what-” Hitch began.
His side was turned to me, and it was clear he’d had a weight lifted from him. And he had my cutie mark. I had his - and the baby.
We stared at each other for several seconds.
“Okay,” said Hitch. “I have no idea what just happened but-”
“-I’m kind of okay with it?” I finished. “I mean, I guess I’m still surprised and a little worried that I’m the pregnant one now, but at least I’ve got the right parts and we don’t have to wonder how the birth would happen, right?”
Yes, being pregnant and giving birth sounded like a hassle, painful, and somewhat terrifying, but it would be kind of hypocritical to demand Hitch take it back after I’d already, er, given it to him once.
“I'm glad you're okay,” he said, “though my primary concern was the baby.”
I felt a kick and involuntarily gasped at the new-to-me sensation. “Well, still lively, but yes, I think a trip to the hospital would be a good idea.”
I couldn't imagine the look on the ultrasound tech's face this time.
“You're sure you're fine?” Hitch said. He stepped up to me and put a hoof on my belly.
“Yeah. Honestly, it's actually less weird now.”
We kissed.
Zipp walked in at that moment. She frowned. “Sentra did you, uh…”
“Something weird and magical happened with Sparky and swapped our cutie marks,” I interrupted as a diversion, gesturing between me and Hitch.
It worked. Now noticing, Zipp rushed over. “What in the world?”
“Slightly ironic that I was just talking about walking a mile in someone else’s horseshoes,” Hitch said. “I didn’t think it would actually happen. I didn’t think it could happen. At least it didn’t happen with someone besides Sentra.”
Small blessings.
“Have you noticed anything else strange?” Zipp asked. “Like, I see that you…” She trailed off, too polite to say it, but gestured at my belly.
“Probably just a trick of the light,” I hurried to say, throwing out whatever came to mind. “Black has a slimming effect, you know, and that combined with Hitch’s ten-gallon hat over here probably threw off perception of proportions.” I faked a laugh. “Well, we were going to announce that we were expecting, but clarifying that I was the pregnant one was not how I expected to do it.”
“Oh my gosh, I’m so happy for you!” Zipp gushed. “Okay, I’ll let you be the ones to tell everypony else. In the meantime, I’m going to figure out how to get the two of you switched back.”
“Wait!” Hitch and I both blurted.
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I love this story! Can’t wait for the next chapter!
I wonder what perceptive or behavioral changes the swap will induce.
Would be very enlightening for both of them if they really were to walk a mile in each other's shoes.
Might even bring them closer than ever.
they should try swap cutiemark with that the dragon. wanna see prago baby.
...oh. so that's how that works. Okay.
11548303
WTF is wrong with you?
11548477
That's the prime example of two defunctive brain cells short-circuiting. Basically, hmaf has bad takes on all fanfics they comment on.
11548753
Like, how is it even possible to have a bad take on a story that essentially makes fun of bad takes? I don't know how, but hmaf must have a certain kind of stupid to achieve that.
Please do not attack other users in my comments.
I have to wonder if it would be a chest burster kinda birth, or a magical orifice once time comes. I really don't want to think of any other options for a male birth.
In any case, finally caught up, didn't think I'd enjoy this as much as I did, but you have a knack for keeping it silly and serious enough to work. I'm normally quite leery of gen 5 pony fiction, but I suppose like anything, it's the author and not the subject matter that really makes it.
Looking forward to more of this.
11554984
I imagine ponies are well capable of performing a c-section, even with hooves. Now that they have magic, that should be no problem for unicorns, in particular.
11555060
Ah, c sections, I thought of that too, tho before writing my response but forgetting during it.
And yeah I suppose. Maybe teleport out the baby, tho with how new magic is again, maybe not.
11555064
Ehh, I think a c-section is less horrifying than trying to teleport something out of someone. There's a bit more to take out of the womb than just the baby (like... all of the fluids, the placenta, not to mention the umbilical cord still being attached to the baby and whatnot). Besides, it's also easier to just use a scalpel. *shrug*
Rereading this a year later and I notice that the word "pasty" was used for "patsy" here when describing Misty.
11868904
oops