Chapter 1: Chasing Cutie Marks
The Cutie Mark Crusaders are tied to harnesses at the canopy of a tree, ready to try out their latest scheme in their eternal quest: Ziplining. Sweetie Belle speaks a few words of hesitation, but the rowdy Scootaloo would have no such thing, and pulls the trio off the ledge and into the action. Soon, however, the three stop short of their goal, suspended in midair. They panic and scream as the rope begins to tear and break.
The Crusaders are dropped into the forest below. They bounce off various tree branches which break their fall, but hurt no less for it. Applebloom glances at Scootaloo.
“See anything?” asks the young earth pony. Scootaloo turns her head toward her flank and sticks her hoof in the tree sap that has covered it.
“Tree sap and pine needles, but no cutie mark,” she says, dejected.
“Plan B?” asks Sweetie Belle, with a sheepish grin. Scootaloo turns toward her and smiles devilishly.
“Yeah. You know where we can find a cannon at this hour?” In response, the other two flash quick expressions of panic. Scootaloo frowns and throws off her helmet. “It’s no use! No matter what we try, we always end up without our cutie marks. And, surprisingly often, covered in tree sap.”
Sweetie Belle brushes some pine needles off her coat and says, “Maybe we can try something less dangerous. Like pillow testing, or flower sniffing.” Applebloom passes out some buckets of water and towels to the others.
“This town is full of ponies who have their cutie marks,” she says, dipping her head in water and brushing herself off with a towel. “Why don’t we ask them how they did it?”
“That’s a great, safe idea,” says Sweetie Belle with excitement plastered on her face. Then, suddenly, the clouds above move wildly into a plaid pattern and shower the Crusaders with rain. It quickly passes them and drenches another location. Scootaloo shakes her mane out and grimaces at Sweetie Belle.
“Looks like your sister is messing with the weather again,” she says, referring to the town’s weather pony, Rarity. “You’d think the first Unicorn Weatherpony would be a little better at her job.” Sweetie Belle frowns and looks at the clouds, now arranged in a checker board design.
“She does her best,” reasons the little unicorn. “She just has a few quirks.” Sweetie Belle laughs nervously. Scootaloo shrugs and prods at the ground.
“I wonder how she got her cutie mark,” the pegasus asks. “I mean, a unicorn prodigy that could control the weather as a filly?”
“Yeah!” exclaims Applebloom. “And we can ask my big sis too!” The others give her a strange look.
“Pinkamena always seems a little, you know…” starts Sweetie Belle, trailing off nervously.
“Miserable,” finishes Scootaloo, with a nod of her head. Applebloom stomps in the dirt and glares at the two.
“Don’t talk about Apple Pie like that, she’s the best sister anypony could ask for!” says Applebloom, with a snort of her nostrils. Her friends grin and avert their gazes. “I mean, she isn’t as strong as most earth ponies, so she has a little trouble with the work, but…” She trails off and frowns.
“Sorry, Applebloom,” says Scootaloo, with a genuine look in her friend’s direction.
“Yeah, we know how important she is to you,” says Sweetie Belle, with a smile. Applebloom smiles back and hugs her friends, entrapping a reluctant Scootaloo in the embrace. A black cloud wizzes by and washes the three with heavy rain before continuing on, knocking them off their hooves and onto the ground. The Crusaders groan loudly.
As they get back up and brush themselves off from the water again, their discomfort quickly turns to curiosity once more. The Crusaders all think of the local weatherpony and what could have led her down this path.
“Let’s find Rarity!” Scootaloo exclaims.
“Yeah!” say the other two in unison.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
997 users online
2,633,008 hits today, 2,139,894 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
They're looking for a cannon in the show, two n's. Good story so far.
Huh, so the cutie mark swap spell not only altered their cutie marks, but everyone's memories of them as well?
apple pie... how come i never thought of that? and did apple bloom just randomly forget about applejack?
2568141 that's what happened in the show.
Okay, so, I saw the premise for the story and immediately became incredibly excited. This story concept is everything I could dream of. After all, if the season finale hadn't included sudden Twilicorn, it would have easily been my favorite episode. Ever. So I wanted this story to be equally awesome, which, to be fair, is an entirely unfair expectation.
But while I absolutely love the concept, the execution so far seems a bit... lacking. The first paragraph really put me off. It just told me so many things, and I don't like being told things. I like being shown things. Throw in the choice to use present tense over past tense, and it was a really off-putting start. I understand that this was a short intro designed to recapture the same feeling that "Cutie Mark Chronicles" did, with so many of the same scenes, but I feel that you rushed through this intro scene too fast.
Another, though very minor, thing that bothered me is that "Apple Bloom" is two words, not one.
All those criticisms aside, holy crap, I'm still looking forward to this! Like, I don't think I can tell you how much I love you for writing a story based on this premise.
2572079
In most fics exploring this elseworld, Pinkie married into the family, while Applejack stayed with the Oranges (but was still Apple Blooms biological older sister).
3363353
I've been LOOKING for else world fics about this, but I can't find any.