> Marked
>  by fluttershywriter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There! Applebloom looked at her work, pleased. Applejack and Big Macintosh would be so happy that she had helped repair the barn. They already had too much work as it was, and Applebloom's little hooves were too slow to help much on the farm. She had finally found a way to make herself useful on the farm—at least until she got her apple farming cutie mark.
She picked up her toolbox in her mouth and skipped off to find one of her older siblings. As she fantasized about how proud her family would be, a sudden flash of light caused her to skid to a halt and drop the toolbox. A hammer and screwdriver rolled down the hill, completely unnoticed by Applebloom. Her eyes widened and her breath came faster. Sweet Celestia! Was that what she thought it was?
Applebloom began to tremble uncontrollably. It was what she had always dreamed of. Her cutie mark had finally arrived, and yet instead of beaming with delight, she was staring at her flank in horror. She blinked several times, hoping that he bright sun was making her woozy, but the design on her flank stayed the same. She sat down heavily on the ground, tears filling up her big, caramel-colored eyes. But even with the salty water blurring her vision, she could still see what was wrong with her cutie mark.
It was not an apple.
She thought of a discussion she and Applejack had. “Why does everypony in our family have a special talent with apples?” Applebloom asked after a family reunion.
“Ah don’t know, sugarcube,” said Applejack, giving a tree a buck. Apples fell down all around her. “There’re just some things that get passed down in a family. Ah’d say that it’s in our blood. We are called the Apple family, ya know, not the Strawberry family.”
If that was true, then why was Applebloom staring at a hammer and screwdriver on her flank?
“Howdy, little sis,” said Applejack, jerking her little sister back to the present. Applebloom gasped and positioned herself so that her flank was hidden by her toolbox.
“H-hi,” gulped Applebloom, her heart pounding crazily.
“You all right?” asked Applejack suspiciously. “Ya seem a bit . . . nervous.” She looked around, as if there was some horrible creature lurking in the apple trees. Her eyes lit up when she saw the new doors to the barn. “Applebloom! Y’all fixed the doors!” Applejack scooped up her little sister and hugged her.
Applebloom yelped and squirmed out, sure that Applejack had seen her cutie mark. Applejack frowned, confused. But by the time she opened her mouth to ask Applebloom what was going on, her little sister was racing away. Applejack shrugged and went over to inspect the doors. She chuckled with pride. “Applebloom did such a swell job on this, ah wouldn’t be surprised if she got a cutie mark in carpentry!”

Applebloom raced to the clubhouse, hoping that no one would see her cutie mark. She sprinted up the stairs and got her hoofpaints. She smeared yellow paint over her flank, hoping to cover up the mark. She allowed herself relax. Phew! Now she could just wait until she got her apple cutie mark—her real cutie mark.
A grin spread over her face as an even better idea struck her. She excitedly grabbed the red paint and let her little hooves paint an apple with one bite out of it. There! She had used up the last of her red paints, but it was worth it. She just hoped that the other crusaders didn’t want to use the red . . .
A jolt ran through her body. The other crusaders! How could she have forgotten about them? Hadn’t they made a pact to get their marks together? What would happen when they saw her fake mark? She began to sweat. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were her only friends.
As if reading her mind, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo clambered up the stairs. Applebloom gasped and shoved her hoof back into the yellow paint. She smeared it all over her flank, covering up the last of the red apple just as her friends came in.
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SHARK-CATCHERS!” shouted Sweetie Belle, out of breath but still excited. As an afterthought, she added, “Yay!”
Applebloom gave them a genuine smile. Phew! They hadn’t noticed anything. Now she could go on trying to earn her cutie mark—a cutie mark that her family wouldn’t be ashamed of. “Sounds swell!” Applebloom agreed, leaping up. “Oh, and ah hope you don’t mind—ah used up the last of the red paints,” she said guiltily. 
“That’s okay,” said Scootaloo, waving a hoof at her. “You’re the only one who uses those paints. And the best part it, you won’t need to wash your hooves using soap—the paint will just slide right off the second you get in the water.”
Applebloom’s smile froze on her face. That was right! The paint would just slide off once they got in the water, revealing her cutie mark. Having a cutie mark defeated the entire purpose of being a Cutie Mark Crusader. That would just leave Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to do fun things without her. Without her friends, she would be nobody, like she was when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bullied her all the time.
She didn’t want to be a nobody again.
“Ah-ah don’t kn-know,” she stammered, avoiding her friends’ eyes. “Shark-catchin’ seems kinda unsafe, don’t it? Besides, ah don’t think there are any sharks in Ponyville. Maybe we could do something better and drier, like picking apples! Ah bet Applejack and Big Macintosh could teach us!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “BOR-ing,” she groaned. “We’ve tried that before, and it didn’t work out. We’re not good at bucking apples, so we had to climb up and pick each apple one by one.”
“How about we try baking apples? We didn’t try that last time! Maybe we could discover a new recipe and get our cutie marks in apple baking!” Applebloom looked hopefully at her friends, but they looked unsure.
“It’s too hot to bake,” said Sweetie Belle, wiping sweat off her brow. “If you don’t want to catch sharks, we could just go swimming.”
“Why are you suddenly obsessed with apples?” asked Scootaloo. “You’re always up for anything, and now you only want to do things with apples.”
Inwardly, Applebloom screamed with frustration and fear. On the outside, she took a deep breath and smiled. “Let’s go catch some sharks!”

Applebloom trailed one hoof in the lake, then the other, hoping to stall. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were already in, their manes dripping. Scootaloo sent a wave of water towards Sweetie Belle, causing the curly-maned filly to shriek and swim after her. They seemed to have forgotten about the shark-catching, but they were having fun anyway. Applebloom squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. It was so unfair! Why did her cutie mark have to come when the other crusaders weren’t there to get theirs, too? Why couldn’t it just be apple-related?
“Applebloom, come swimming with us!” shouted Scootaloo. She was beginning to get annoyed with her usually exciting friend. She looked like Rarity, standing by the side of the lake refusing to get wet.
“Hold your horses, ah’m comin’!” shouted Applebloom. She had no intention to. All she wanted to do right now was ask Twilight Sparkle for the time travel spell. Then, she’d go back in time and buck apples instead of fixing the barn doors.
“Howdy there, Cutie Mark Crusaders!” shouted Applejack, jogging towards the lake with Big Macintosh at her side. She jumped into the lake with a huge splash. Applebloom cringed as some of the water got very close to her flank.
“Hi, Applejack!” said Sweetie Belle cheerfully.
“Hey, Applejack,” Scootaloo greeted Applejack in a less cheerful voice. “We were going to catch sharks, but Applebloom won’t get wet.”
“Oh, really?” asked Applejack mischievously, turning around to her little sister. “You know, Applebloom, when ah was your age, ah was afraid of the water, too.”
“Ah’m not afraid of—” Never mind. It was pointless arguing with Applejack when she got that look in her eyes.
“Big Macintosh wanted me to come swimming with him, but ah said no and would refuse to come near the water, even when it got so hot that ah near melted. Isn’t that right, Big Mac?”
“Eeyup,” said Big Macintosh, dropping his towel on the sand.
“So he dragged me into the water, kicking and screaming, and he dropped me in. And you know what happened when he dropped me in?” Applebloom knew that she was supposed to ask what happened, but she thought that if she opened her mouth, she’d start screaming. Or crying. 
“Ah loved it,” declared Applejack. “Ah swam the whole day, and ah’ve loved swimming every since.”
“Eeyup,” confirmed Big Macintosh.
“So don’t be afraid to give something you’re afraid of a try!” Applejack finished, getting the mischievous look back in her eyes. Applebloom backed away nervously. Then, without any warning, Applejack swooped down and picked up her sister in her mouth. Applebloom squealed and kicked, but her limited amount of kung fu was nothing compared to Applejack’s brute strength.
Applejack dropped her in a shallow area. “There? Now don’t you worry, ah’ll be here to—” She stopped. Yellow swirls were filling up the water. Applebloom gasped and tried to run towards shore, but Applejack grabbed her. “What is that on your flank?” she said, frowning and wiping off paint. Her eyes widened. “That’s a—”
“I KNOW THAT IT’S NOT AN APPLE!” screamed Applebloom, taking everyone by surprise. Curious, the two fillies swam over. Even the calm Big Macintosh looked worried and came into the water. Exhausted from lying, Applebloom shut her eyes and waited for everyone to start screaming at her.
“Cool!” said Sweetie Belle. Applebloom’s eyes popped open. Wait, what?!? “You finally got your mark! But why’d you paint it? Don’t you want everyone to be able to see it?”
“We’re so proud of you, little sis!” said Applejack, hugging Applebloom fiercely. “Now we know who’s gonna fix the barn’s saggy old roof!”
“Eeyup,” said Big Mac, patting Applebloom on the head and wearing a smile so wide it seemed as if it was going to break off his face.
“Why’d you paint over it? It’s really cool!” exclaimed Scootaloo. Even Scootaloo was happy for her? She had to be dreaming.
“But aren’t y’all upset that it’s not an apple? After all, we’re the Apple family, not the Hammer family,” said Applebloom, shocked. She watched the last of the yellow paint wash off. Now that she wasn’t panicking, she realized that she actually kind of liked how it looked on her flank.
Applejack waved her hoof in the air. “Just because you’ve got a knack for building things doesn’t mean that ya can’t help out on the farm. May not be your special talent, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Besides, our farm is fallin’ apart! Ah was waitin’ for the day that someone’d come along and offer to fix our barn.” She chuckled. “Who’d guess that it would be my little sister?”
“And you two aren’t angry?” Applebloom asked, turning to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
“Of course not!” said Sweetie Belle, surprised. “Now that you know what it’s like to get a cutie mark, you can help us learn how to get ours!”
	“I’m angry,” grumbled Scootaloo, scowling at Applebloom. Applebloom froze before Scootaloo broke out in a big grin. “But only because you didn’t swim! Come on, let’s have a celebratory water fight!”
The three fillies clumsily bumped hooves, giggling. Applebloom gave her sister and brother a hug before splashing off into the water, her cutie mark on display for everyone to see.