To Whatever's Coming Our Way
The last month had been like an absolute whirlwind.
It all started on a seemingly ordinary afternoon. Scootaloo had been hanging out with Rainbow Dash, when Rainbow Dash offhandedly mentioned Scootaloo's scooter skills. Eager to impress her idol, a few days later, in front of Rainbow Dash, she poured out every last move, trick, and stunt she knew upon those two wheels, culminating in a stunning double rotation into a front flip. It was one of those magical moments where everything just felt so perfect - Scootaloo was at the peak of her game, and Rainbow Dash simply could not believe what she had just borne witness to. As it turned out, all of these incredible moves were not only enough to astonish and amaze Rainbow Dash, but they also landed her that elusive, long-awaited cutie mark, a scooter wheel with purple and orange flames bursting from its outside, as if it were some sort of aura. This made her the first of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to get a cutie mark.
About a week later, a package arrived at Carousel Boutique. In it were two tickets to the Wrong Direction concert in Ponyville, which Sweetie Belle had won by entering a slogan contest in a magazine, which was offering tickets to "the latest coltband sensation from Trottingham!" Like most of the fillies in her class, Sweetie Belle was a big Wrong Direction fan (Rarity would roll her eyes at the mention of those two words). During the concert, in the middle of one of Wrong Direction's songs, a spotlight circled the audience, then stopped on Sweetie Belle. Then, Wrong Direction called upon
Sweetie Belle to join them on stage for their next song. As one might have guessed, Sweetie Belle was highly apprehensive and rather frightened at this, but something felt right about this moment, and this feeling grew when she saw the now cutie mark-adorned Scootaloo and the still blank-flanked Apple Bloom in the audience. Following this, she proceeded to belt out the next WD song with the five teenage colts on the stage. In fact, she actually upstaged them, and gained her cutie mark, a silver CD with a magenta microphone laid over it, in doing so. One critic in the audience noted that "it was inevitable that those five teenybopper hacks would eventually be shown up by an amateur."
It had now been about two weeks since Sweetie Belle got her cutie mark, leaving Apple Bloom as the only one of the three without hers yet. By now, Scootaloo's and Sweetie Belle's cute-ceañeras had come and gone, and, while happy for her two closest friends, Apple Bloom was growing increasingly glum about her being the only one without a cutie mark. However, this was soon about to change. A massive storm had torn through Ponyville, and it had caused a tremendous amount of damage. Buildings and residences were damaged, roads were lined with fallen trees and branches, property had been wrecked by debris, and that was just the beginning of it. Sweet Apple Acres had not been spared. A tree had collapsed in the storm and fallen through the roof of one of the sheds, almost destroying the whole thing in the process. Some so-called "experts" were roped in to help with the repairs, but it was to no avail, as they declared the shed "beyond salvation" and "scrap-heap material". That's when Apple Bloom stepped in. When she insisted that she could help, the "experts", as well as Applejack and Big Macintosh, were very skeptical. However, she eventually managed to convince them all that she was the pony for this, and that this might get her a cutie mark. One of the "experts" facehoofed at this. However, this skepticism turned into amazement when, armed with a hammer, nails, and other such supplies, Apple Bloom got to work on the shed, and, about an hour and a half later, the roof had been completely restored in every way. Everypony there was dumbfounded and almost awestruck, and they were even more so when Apple Bloom's cutie mark appeared there and then - a toolbox with an apple image on its outside.
Back to the present, it had now been a month since all of this started - the day Scootaloo got her cutie mark. For the first time ever, the three of them were now meeting up, each with their final goal achieved. They had decided to meet at Carousel Boutique.
"I can't believe we finally did it." Scootaloo spoke with tones of both awe and relief.
"Ah know. Ah reckoned we'd never get this far." Apple Bloom took a swig of her soda, then realized there was none left in her can. "Darn. Ah'm all out."
"I'm all out too. Maybe we should just go home right now," Scootaloo agreed.
"No, no! Stick around! I'll get us each another soda!" Sweetie Belle went off to get three more soda cans.
When she returned, she told them, "Yeah, let's just sit back down for another drink." Then she added, "So... what now?
We've already got our cutie marks. Where do we go from this?"
"Ah've no idea," Apple Bloom replied. "Havin' a cutie mark still hasn' fully sunk in for me yet."
Scootaloo nodded. "Same for me. We may have our cutie marks, but actually... I'm kinda scared about what lies ahead."
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom gave their assent to that statement.
Sweetie Belle then queried in a near-whisper, "So... is this the end of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
Apple Bloom nodded and answered slowly, "Ah guess it is..."
They all took a sip of their sodas, but Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle noticed that Apple Bloom appeared rather pensive.
Sweetie Belle asked her, "Is something wrong?"
Apple Bloom shook her head and said, "Actually, no. Ah was just thinkin' 'bout how far we've come as a group. We've stuck it out together an', though it felt like our dreams were crushed, things got better! All this time has gon' by so fast, but nothin' lasts forever..."
Suddenly, she raised her soda can.
"Ah propose a toast!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were surprised by this turn of events, but decided to go along with it.
"To all the times that we screwed up, though awful as the outcomes might've been, to everythin' that we missed out on to chase our cutie marks, even to our biggest mistakes, like that editorial we once did - lookin' back, Ah actually wouldn' have traded that experience for anythin'! To us splitting up without breakin' down, and to whatever's comin' our way!"
The three of them raised, then clinked their cans together and chorused, "To us!"
