Diamond Tiara laughed. “We'll be seeing you...”
“Blank flanks!” Her and Silver Spoon sang in unison.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders' antagonists trotted away, laughing at the three cutie mark-less fillies. Scootaloo let her scooter drop on the ground and threw her helmet down. “Why do we keep putting up with them?!”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah agree. Ah wish we could do somethin' about 'em, but Ah don't know what.”
Sweetie Belle dug her hoof into the ground. “Think we should tell their parents?”
Scootaloo shook her head. “No way. We tried that once before and it didn't help any. If we're gonna get back at 'em, we should hit 'em where it hurts most.” She pounded her hooves together, put her helmet back on and picked up her scooter. “Let's head back to the clubhouse and figure something out.”
On their way to Sweet Apple Acres, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran into Fluttershy and knocked her down.
Fluttershy groaned. “Girls?”
The three help her up. “Fluttershy! We're so sorry.”
“Ah hope we didn't hurt ya...”
Fluttershy smiled as she used her wings to dust herself off. “I'll be okay. You need to be more careful, Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo's ears drooped. “I know... I'm so sorry, Fluttershy. I was distracted by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”
Fluttershy nodded understandingly. “Are those two picking on you again?”
Again? Try still. The three hung their heads and nodded, then Scootaloo perked up. “Hey! Discord lives with you, doesn't he?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes he does, but I wouldn't ask him for help though.”
Scootaloo became even more excited. “That's perfect! Get back in the wagon, girls. We're going to Fluttershy's cottage!” The three fillies bolted off before Fluttershy could voice her objections.
Sweetie Belle adjusted herself so she wouldn't fall out of the speeding wagon. “So what's the idea, Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo laughed. “What's the one thing they won't let go of?”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other for a moment. “We don't have cutie marks?”
Scootaloo nodded in affirmation. “Exactly. Let's see what happens when they don't have them.”
Sweetie Belle winced. “Should we really go to Discord for this? Don't you think it's a bit excessive to ask for his help?”
They reached Fluttershy's cottage and Scootaloo stopped and parked her scooter in front of the gate. “We're here, so we might as well ask.”
The three nervously trotted up to the door and knocked on it.
Moments later, the once feared Draconequus opened the door. “You three must be Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, am I right?”
They nodded. “Yup. Ah think you know our sisters.”
Discord chuckled. “Indeed I do. What can I do for you?”
Scootaloo nervously dug at the ground. “We keep getting picked on by two fillies: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...”
Discord examined the three. “Is it because you don't have your cutie marks yet?” He popped out of the house and popped in front of them, resized to stand at head level with the ponies. “Let me guess, you want some payback, right?”
Apple Bloom swallowed hard. “Yeah...”
He laughed hard. “Marvelous! It's been a while since I flexed my chaotic muscles. What do you need me to do?”
“Could you remove their cutie marks?” Sweetie Belle blurted.
Discord returned to his normal size and looked down at them. “Cutie marks aren't something I can remove willy-nilly, but...”
The trio looked at him in suspense. “But what?”
Discord smiled and chuckled. “I can hide them. If these two are obsessed over some silly cutie marks, then you should get the desired reaction.”
The girls grinned at each other, then looked back at Discord. “Think you can do it tonight while they're sleeping?”
Discord nodded. “Of course I can, little ladies. I AM Discord after all. How long do you want them to be blank flanks?”
Apple Bloom rubbed her chin with a hoof. “How about the whole day tomorrow?”
Discord frowned. “Just one day?” He sighed. “Very well. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a rather mean spirited rabbit to play with.” He closed the door.
Scootaloo looked at the others and sighed. “He didn't seem too happy about it.”
The three trotted back to the scooter. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hopped in the wagon while Scootaloo got herself ready. “At least he agreed to do it,” Sweetie Belle noted.
Apple Bloom nodded. “Yeah, we just gotta make sure he doesn't do anything else to 'em.”
Scootaloo grumbled as she started moving the scooter. “Fine, but for now, let's head back to the clubhouse and think of more things to get a cutie mark in.”
Fluttershy raced back to her cottage, but the girls were long gone. She entered her home and saw Discord lounging in his hammock. “What did they want you to do and did you do it?”
Discord looked over to Fluttershy. “Relax, Fluttershy. They asked me to hide a couple of cutie marks, nothing strenuous and no, I haven't done it yet. They asked that I do it while they're asleep.”
Fluttershy looked confused. “Apple Bloom and her friends, or Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?”
Discord examined his talons. “The latter two, of course.”
Fluttershy looked at him with pleading eyes. “You won't do it, will you?”
“You know I've done worse.” He deadpanned. “Besides, they only want those marks hidden for the day. I can easily set up a timer for that spell and they'll reappear overnight.”
Fluttershy sighed. “There's no way to convince you not to do that, is there?”
Discord rested his head on his arms and closed his eyes. “Nope.”
The Next Day
The Cutie Mark Crusaders made it to school earlier than usual. They found Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wearing dresses that covered up their flanks.
Apple Bloom chuckled “Of course they'd do that.”
Scootaloo grinned. “I wonder what their excuses would be if we asked to see their 'amazing' cutie marks?”
Sweetie Belle bounced. “Let's go ask.”
Apple Bloom stopped her friends from trotting up to them. “Wait a sec. Don't y'all think it's too early to be doin' that?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo briefly looked at each other and Sweetie sighed. “You're probably right. We should probably wait until recess.”
The foals filed into the schoolhouse and took their seats. Our trio looked over to their antagonists and saw they were taking longer than usual to sit down on account of the dresses.
“They do look a little sad.” Sweetie Belle commented.
Scootaloo let out a huff. “Serves them right.”
Cheerilee entered the classroom with a warm smile on her face. “Good morning, everypony!”
“Good morning, Miss Cheerilee!” The foals greeted in unison. Soon after, the class began.
Recess arrived and everypony bolted toward the school's playground. “Let's go find Diamond and Silver.” Scootaloo suggested.
The three make their way to a spot where they could view the entire playground and frowned at each other when they couldn't find Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “We're never gonna find 'em like this. Ah say we search for 'em.”
They knew recess was short, but it didn't take them long to find their two classmates, who were near the side of the building, away from the other foals. Silver Spoon was trying to comfort a sobbing Diamond Tiara. Silver saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders and glared at them. “What are you three, like, doing here?”
“We didn't see y'all out there pickin' on anypony...”
Sweetie Belle nervously dug her hoof into the ground. “We were worried about you.”
“Well, I wasn't.” Scootaloo huffed. Her friends glared at her. “What?”
Diamond Tiara's sobbing calmed down. “Why would a few blank flanks be worried about us?”
The three slowly approached them. “We don't like ya insultin' us, but that doesn't mean we can't be worried about ya.”
Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. “So what's going on?”
Silver Spoon looked to her friend and swallowed hard. Diamond Tiara nodded, then she looked back to the blank flanks. “Can you, like, not tell anypony about this?” The trio recited the Pinkie Promise and she sighed. “Our cutie marks are, like, gone.”
The two look around to make sure nopony else was around before they took off their dresses. “We're... blank flanks.” Diamond Tiara cried.
Sweetie Belle hopped in excitement. “Ooh! Maybe we can help you get them back!”
Apple Bloom smiled. “Or help ya find new ones.”
The two gasped in horror. “Ours were the perfect cutie marks!” Silver Spoon spat.
Scootaloo smiled wickedly. “Were they?”
The alarm indicating the end of recess sounded. Apple Bloom smiled. “We'll talk more after school.”
While the blank flanks took off back to class, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara helped get each others dresses back on. “Were they the perfect cutie marks?”
Diamond Tiara scoffed as they made their way back to class. “Of course they were. Anything else would be lame. Don't tell me you're siding with the Cutie Mark Crybabies.”
Silver Spoon shrugged. “Well, we are blank flanks now, so we should, like, play along with them.”
Diamond Tiara sighed with aggravation. “Fine. We'll follow them on their lame quest after school.”
School had ended better than the two expected, and met Apple Bloom and her friends in front of the school.
“We're here. Where do you want to go first?” Diamond Tiara huffed.
Diamond Tiara entered her home and closed the door behind her. “I'm home!” She shouted to her parents, who were probably not home.
Her mother rounded a corner. “Welcome back, sweetie. You're home later than usual, did you have fun with your friend?”
Diamond rolled her eyes. “We hung out with those blank flanks for a while.” She shuddered. “The things they put themselves through to get a cutie mark...”
Her mother smiled. “I'm glad you had fun. Your father should be home in a bit and we'll be going out for dinner tonight.”
Diamond Tiara entered her room, closed the door behind her and removed her dress. She stared at her blank flank and wondered if she was doomed to never see it again. She removed her tiara and placed it on the dresser next to her bed, then she crawled underneath the sheets and began to cry.
Her mother slowly opened the door and poked her head inside. “Is something wrong, sweetie?”
Diamond sniffled, trying to stop herself from crying and uncovered herself and pointed a hoof at where her cutie mark used to be. “This is what's wrong.”
Her mother opened the door all the way and trotted to her. Her eyes widened when she saw. “What happened to your cutie mark?”
Diamond sniffled some more. “I don't know. I woke up this morning and it was gone.”
Her mother gave her a reassuring hug. “Everything will be fine, sweetie. Remember: nopony is born with a cutie mark.”
They heard the front door open and close. “I'm home!” Filthy Rich greeted.
Diamond's mother stood up and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead. “I know how vain you are, so I suggest getting back into your dress.”
The Next Day
Diamond Tiara woke up and groggily hopped out of bed. She trotted to her vanity mirror and felt dread about the fact that her cutie mark was gone, but she examined herself anyway. She instantly became excited to see that her cutie mark had returned. Her excitement died down as she remembered yesterday. The only ponies who knew she didn't have a cutie mark were her friend Silver Spoon, who lost hers as well, and the cutie mark crusaders. If hers returned, did Silver Spoon's?
After she ate breakfast, she went back into her room to get herself ready for school. Her mother opened the door and smiled at her. “Diamond, sweetie, Silver Spoon is waiting for you outside.”
Diamond galloped out of her room and outside. When she saw her friend, her heart sank as she saw she was wearing a dress. “Your cutie mark didn't come back, did it?”
Silver Spoon shook her head. “No. This is, like, totally embarrassing. I know our thing was to pick on blank flanks, so...”
Diamond shook her head. “You're my only friend, Silver Spoon. I guess I can live without you having your cutie mark.”
Silver Spoon tilted her head. “What about Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?”
Diamond was holding back her anger. While she enjoyed bullying them, if she continued, she'd also be bullying her own friend. She let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose I can stop picking on blank flanks.”
Silver Spoon grinned. “Did you hear that?!” She yelled, but to whom?
One by one, Apple Bloom and her friends popped out of a nearby bush. “Ah sure did.”
Diamond gave her friend a disgusted look. “Why did you invite them here?”
Silver Spoon took off her dress, her cutie mark had, in fact, returned. “The whole thing yesterday, like, gave me a new perspective, you know?”
Diamond was dumbfounded. “What?! You're siding with the blank flanks?!”
Silver Spoon nodded with a stern look on her face. “Yes, I am. If you can't, like, handle it, then I guess we won't be friends anymore.”
Diamond was torn. Her friend lied to her about her missing cutie mark and is not only siding with them, but is also blackmailing her. “Fine, I won't pick on them any more.”
Discord popped into view and smiled. “That's good to hear.”
Sweetie Belle gave a smug smile. “Do you remember Discord? We're friends with him.”
Diamond Tiara looked back to Discord, who gave her an innocent wave. She couldn't believe that the Cutie Mark Crybabies were friends with that monster and fainted.
The four fillies giggled and turned to Discord. “Thanks fer yer help.”
Discord bowed. “It was a pleasure. Should you require my assistance again, don't hesitate to call.”
And with that, Discord vanished. Silver Spoon looked back to her unconscious friend and frowned. “I suppose we should, like, help her.”
Scootaloo chuckled. “Let's put her in the wagon.”
The four proceeded to lift up Diamond Tiara and set her gently into Scootaloo's wagon before they headed for school.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading this. It was the kind of story I'm surprised hasn't been done yet. Please rate and leave a comment.
