The Masked Mare of Mystery

Firefly's POV

Rainbow Blaze hasn't been the same after Dad's death. After the funeral, he fell into  a deep depression. I can feel his pain though, not long ago I lost both my parents to old age. We went to see a therapist about his condition, and she suggested we move to Ponyville so we can be close to him.

"Remembering that pony and  the good times you had with them always helps." she said.

Along with that, she made another suggestion, that we adopt a foal to raise. I think the idea was either to occupy our our minds, or to fill the hole that came with Rainbow Strike's death. Anyway, I'm all for it. Once you've raised Rainbow Dash, you can easily bring up any other foal out there. (yes, she was that bad)

I looked at the boxes now full of our stuff. I going to miss  old Cloudsdale, but if  we want to move on, we have to move out. Ponyville isn't far away, so I'm sure we can visit every once in a while.

"You ready?" a voice asked asked behind me.

I turned around to see my husband, saddlebag on his back.

"Yes, let's go." I replied.

Since the movers knew where to go, we flew ahead. About an hour or so later, we arrived in Ponyville, and more importantly, Rainbow Strike's old house. It was it was pretty good shape when we got there, not surprising though, since we asked the Mayor to spruce it up for us after the funeral. She was more than happy to oblige, we even got it for free, out of pity no doubt.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked.

Blaze was silent for a moment. "It needs a family." he said at last.

"It has a family." I pointed out.

"Then it needs a bigger household." he replied.

***

Scootaloo's POV.

"Well, any ideas?" I asked.

Class had just finished as we outside, trying to think how we can earn our cutie marks.

"Well, we could ask our class mates how they earned their cutie marks." Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Yeah, maybe they could give us some ideas." Apple Bloom said with spirit.

We ran to the CMC mobile (my scooter connected to a wagon) and we rode off to find our class mates. The first foal we met was Twist.

"Hey Twist!" Apple Bloom called.

Twist turned around to face us.

"Oh, hey guys, how goes the crusade?" she asked cheerfully.

"Great, do you mind telling us how you got your cutie mark?" I asked.

"Sure. Well, I always had a thing for making candy, I did it every time I got the chance. One day after school, I made some peanut brittle and let my mom have some. She told me I always made the best sweets she ever tasted, then it appeared on my flank." Twist explained.

"Oh yeah, you told me the day you earned it." Apple Bloom remembered.

"Yeah, but we tried candy making, remember?" Sweetie pointed out.

Man, did THAT not end well. I'm still surprised that Twist didn't flip out on us for making a big mess and burning the goods.

" Oh right, well, thanks anyway Twist." Bloom said.

"No problem guys, good luck with the good fight." Twist said as we rode off.

Next we ran into Snips and Snails.

Hey Snips, Snails, can yall tell us how ya got your cutie marks?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Sure, I got my cutie mark when discovered my talent with using scissors. One day, I made a  heart shaped card for my mom for her birthday, said it was the prettiest thing she ever saw." Snips said, patting his flank proudly.

"What about you Snails?" I asked.

"I got mine when I was practicing levitation and  accidentally discovered a spell that slows down time." Snails replied.

We could only stare at him.

"It's true, I'll show you." Snails cried defensively.

His horn lit up with a yellow aurora. The spell clearly required a lot of effort since Snails was sweating already, but true to his word, everything around us began to slow down.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

Snails stopped casting the spell. "Yeah, but it takes a lot of energy to cast." he panted.

"Man, I wish it could get my cutie mark as easily as you guys did." I commented.

To my surprise, the colts laughed.

"Scootaloo, when I was cutting the paper that day, the last thing I expected to happen was me earning my cutie." Snips said.

"Me too, I was trying to levitate a book, not find a spell that changes the speed of time. The less you try, the closer you get." Snails put in.

"What?" the  three of us crusaders asked together.

"He means the answer could be right under your nose. You'd never know because it's so obvious. You talent could be something you do well everyday." Snips explained.

Now there was food for thought. Well, I ride my scooter everyday, and I can do pretty cool tricks, but there's no way that's my special talent, anypony can ride and do tricks on a scooter.

"Thanks fellas." Apple Bloom said climbing back in the wagon.

"Your welcome, good luck." the colts called as we rode off.

Going down the road, we saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon ahead.

"Let's not bother." I suggested.

"Normally, I'd agree, but maybe they can help us, and we need all the help we can get right now." Sweetie Belle said.

Agreeing I slowed down next to the two snobby fillies.

"What do you want blank flanks?" Diamond Tiara asked annoyed.

"Yeah, should you losers be somewhere else failing to earn your marks?" Silver Spoon added.

"Hey, no need to be rude, we just want to know how you got your cutie marks?" Apple Bloom replied.

For some reason, the two rich fillies got quiet.

"Well," Silver Spoon began after a moment of silence, " I got mine after some colt asked my how much he could sell an old collection of baby books for. I guessed about seven bits. We went to a dealer, and when he said he'd take then for seven bits, I got my mark."

Diamond Tiara took off her tiara. "I got mine when I made this with my own two hooves." she said simply.

Whoa, that explains why she was wearing it when she came to school with her cutie mark.

"So you make jewelry?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yes, and and don't tell anypony that I labored like a lower class worker, cause I had to sweat to make it." Tiara said sternly.

We promised, said thank you and rode off. By now it was time, I had to take Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle home. After I dropped them off, I rode back to the orphanage, my home. I never had a family like they did. I spent my whole among other foals who had nopony to love. That's why I was so happy when Rainbow Dash took me under her wing, she became the big sister I never had, but always wanted.  When I got home, I was surprised to see a couple with our caretaker. Even more surprising was the  pegasus stallion had a rainbow mane.

"Wow, I though only Rainbow Dash had hair like that!" I exclaimed.

The couple turned to face me. A pink pegasus mare with blue hair walked over to me.

"You know my daughter?" she asked.

"Yeah, she's like a big sister to me." I replied.

The mare looked back at her husband who nodded.

"How would you like to have Rainbow Dash REALLY be your sister?" she asked.