School. A facet of every young pony’s life, the place where their entrance into the massive world of Equestria. Ponies learn here, they thrive here, they grow here. And every so often, under the guidance of a dutiful teacher, they have the wondrous occasion of discovering who they are. For many, school is a magnificent home of learning and friendship.
However, even the most treasured of places can have its drawbacks, and school was no exception. Something Applebloom knew full well.
In fact, she could hear said drawbacks taunting her this very moment.
“Blank flanks! Blank flanks!” Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara taunted scornfully, watching the young Apple trot away slowly. “You’re not special, you’re a Blank!”
“Do you know what being a Blank means?” Diamond Tiara asked her friend.
“What’s it mean?” Silver Spoon asked, gasping for dramatic effect.
The spoiled filly gave a deep, mockingly sorrowful sigh. “It means, Silver Spoon, that they don’t have a purpose. They don’t belong anywhere -at- all! She and her loser friends will never find their Cutie Marks, and you know what that means-”
“They’ll never amount to anything, that’s what it means!” Silver Spoon added enthusiastically, her cheerful tone clashing with her cruel words.
“Exactly right! Being a Blank Flank just makes you dead weight! All a Blank Flank can be is totally useless!”
Apple Bloom’s head sunk as their words pierced her like wasp stings. She’d become used to hearing their taunts, but lately they’d become rather unbearable.
“Aw, don’t let them get you down, Apple Bloom,” her old friend Twist said encouragingly as she walked on by. “They’ve got no reason to be so mean, anyway.”
Apple Bloom nodded, not saying a word.
“Well, I’ve got to get back home, Mom’s taking me to Canterlot tonight!” Twist declared. “Bye, Apple Bloom!”
The young filly walked along until she met up with her fellow Crusaders; the energetic Sweetie Belle, and wannabe daredevil Scootaloo. They had been friends ever since they had met, a day that felt a lifetime ago. From then on, they had worked together to find their Cutie Marks, trying occupation after occupation in an attempt to find their true destinies.
For months now, no such luck.
“What’s wrong, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked, noticing her friend’s downcast features.
“It’s nothing,” Apple Bloom said dully, shrugging her shoulders. “Just a bit tired s’all.”
Looking past their farmgirl friend, Scootaloo could see the silhouettes of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon making their way down to Ponyville’s main plaza. She frowned at the sight of them, her dislike creeping into her mind along with understanding.
“Were they teasing you again?” Scootaloo asked. “What’d they say this time?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Apple Bloom responded tonelessly.
“Don’t worry about them, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said. “As Pinkie Pie would say, they’re just a bunch of mega-mean-meaniepants!”
“How can they only be one pair of pants?” Scootaloo asked, looking at her friend in apparent confusion. “Use the plural meaning for pants!”
“But I don’t know the plural form of pants!” Sweetie Belle protested.
“Well, I don’t either,” Scootaloo said, “maybe it’s just pants.”
“Uh, anyway, I’m gonna go on home,” Apple Bloom said, her monotone words cutting through their conversation.
“Wait!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “We’re still going to meet at the clubhouse tomorrow, right? Just like we planned?”
“Yeah, we have to, I’ve got a bunch of great ideas for getting our Cutie Marks!” Scootaloo added. “I’m not gonna say what they are, but just be ready to jump!”
“We’re not going to try hang gliding again, are we?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously. “It took me and Rarity all day to get the sap out of my mane last time we tried!”
As both pegasus and unicorn made their way towards their respective homes, the small young Earth pony cantered slowly towards her farmhouse home. The beautiful open countryside slowly began to give way to a forest of dense apple trees, some bearing fresh fruit ready for bucking, while others still carried only seedlings. Far in the distance, Apple Bloom could see her brother working alongside Granny Smith, carrying the wizened elder away to survey the east orchard in their cart.
“Howdy, Apple Bloom!” a hearty young voice greeted, and Apple Bloom turned to see her sister, Applejack, walking towards her with a smile on her face. “How was school today?”
“It was fine, I guess,” Apple Bloom answered, her dull response causing the smile on the farm pony’s features to fade.
“What’s wrong, sugarcube? Did somethin’ happen?” Applejack inquired.
“Nothin’, just normal school stuff,” the filly replied.
“Hmm.” Applejack scrutinized her small sibling, eyes narrowed and her right eyebrow cocked. “Now, what does “normal school stuff” entail?”
Apple Bloom sighed. “Come on, sis-”
“Just answer the question, Apple Bloom.”
“Homework, schoolwork, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, adding, “and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”
“Those two again,” Applejack growled. “If ah was their mother-! Anyway, Apple Bloom, what’d they do this time?”
“Just the usual,” Apple Bloom answered.
Applejack had been party to this conversation before. She’d seen her sweet little sister come home tired and drained, occasionally even arriving with a teary-eyed expression. But today, her normally bright and cheerful sibling was exhausted and dulled.
Applejack kneelt down and made herself level with Apple Bloom. “Ah know that it hurts, sis, ah really do. Ah feel awful for ya, and ah wish ah could make ‘em stop, but ah can’t. All you can do is prove them wrong. Ah promise, your Cutie Mark will come in time. Right when it needs to, OK?”
“OK,” Apple Bloom responded, getting up and walking away.
“We’ll be eating dinner not too long from now, so don’t go anywhere!” Applejack called after her, watching the filly slink into the farmhouse. She gave a wispy sigh, saying, “Oh, Apple Bloom… don’ wither away ‘fore your time comes.”
Saturday morning brought a miserably cloudy day with the occasional streak of sunshine as Apple Bloom was roused from her slumber by her Granny Smith.
“Time to get up, child, no more dawdlin’ in bed!” The old mare cried jovially as her grandchild rose groggily from her pillow. “The weekend means more apple pickin’ and we need all the hooves we can get!”
“Apple pickin’...” Apple Bloom slurred, mostly asleep as she watched Granny Smith open the curtains. “Granny Smith, Ah’ve got plans with Sweeite Belle and Scootaloo!”
“No time for that, got lots of work to do!” Granny Smith protested cheerily. “Get your caboose out of bed and get moving, child!”
With a groan of disappointment, the young farm filly shook her head free of sleep and leapt from her bed, heading down to the kitchen for a spot of breakfast before heading out. “Some day this is turnin’ out to be,” she muttered to herself.
The weather had only seemed to worsen as the day went on, the clouds above twisting and darkening as hints of thunder occasionally echoed across the sky. Anypony who had some sense knew that the weather would break and the storm would unleash itself upon the land.
Apple Bloom herself was counting down the moments, bringing another basket of apples over to the cart. The moment the rain began to fall would be the end of her workday, and maybe then she could find her friends- if they hadn’t given up on waiting for her and gone on off without her-
“Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom, where are you? Someone yelled across the orchard. The young farm filly looked up and saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle racing towards her. “Apple Bloom, we’ve been waiting ages! Where were you?” Scootaloo demanded?
“Sorry, girls, but Ah’ve got chores to do,” Apple Bloom replied apologetically. “I can’t go crusadin’ with y’all today.”
“That’s no fair, we’ve been planning this for days now!” Sweetie Belle said. “Let’s ask Applejack if she’ll let you off early!”
Apple Bloom began to open her mouth to speak when she heard, “Did somepony say mah name?” She looked over her shoulder and saw her elder sister walking towards her, a barrel of apples straddled across her back. “Hey there, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo. Did y’all need Apple Bloom for something?”
The two fillies nodded, and Applejack glanced up at the skies. “Well,” she said hesitantly, “The weather isn’t gonna hold for a whole lot longer. Ah’m just worried about lightnin’.”
“We’ll be safe, I promise!” Scootaloo replied eagerly. “Can Apple Bloom come with us, Applejack? Please?”
Surrounded by pairs of overlarge, pleading eyes, Applejack had no choice but to relent. With a smile, she said, “Sure, you all go on. Be safe, Apple Bloom!”
“Thanks, sis! And I will!” Apple Bloom said over her shoulder, the three Crusaders already dashing off into the horizon.
“So, where are we going, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked excitedly. “The Everfree Forest? Whitetail Woods?”
“Nah, those places are super boring!” Scootaloo said derisively. “I found this really cool place on the outskirts of Ponyville, come on!”
The three fillies raced across the emptying town, most of the townsponies preferring to stay indoors rather than risk a soaking. The empty streets made it rather easy to reach their destination, a series of jagged cliffs that loomed over Everfree.
The three fillies stared down the edges of the cliffs, Apple Bloom taking particular note that even though the height wasn’t colossal, it was enough to cause serious injury.
“Well? Isn’t it awesome?” Scootaloo asked gleefully, apparently ecstatic.
“Umm, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “What are we doing here?”
“Yeah, what are we doing here at these big, scary-looking, dizzyingly tall cliffs?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously, creeping forward on her belly to peer over the edge.
“I got to brainstorming yesterday and I realized- we could try for our Cutie Marks in basejumping!” Scootaloo responded keenly. “Isn’t that a great idea? If it works and we get our Cutie Marks, we could even climb up to Canterlot and jump all the way from the tallest tower like it’s nothing!”
“Umm, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked tentatively.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t we need special suits of some sort to do that?”
Scootaloo’s bright expression dematerialized in an instant, her cheeks already beginning to flush. “Uh… maybe?”
“And if you haven’t noticed, Ah’m an EARTH PONY,” Apple Bloom added, putting the emphasis on those last three syllables. “And Sweetie Belle’s a Unicorn. We can’t fly. At all.”
Scootaloo said nothing, though her cheeks were now a deeper red than the ripest tomato.
Sweetie Belle looked up at the sky from where she stood. “I feel rain,” she remarked.
As if on cue, the clouds opened up and an absolute deluge came crashing down from the iron-gray clouds, soaking the three fillies almost immediately.
Apple Bloom gave a loud moan of frustration and disappointment, her spirits sinking back to somewhere at the bottom of her stomach. “Let’s go back to the clubhouse,” she muttered.
The Crusaders were wet all the way through by the time they arrived at their destination, the miserable weather showing no signs of ceasing. Apple Bloom had taken sentry position on the window sill while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle milled around, occasionally dropping a remark for the other. The farm filly hadn’t exactly been paying attention to their remarks, but the rising pitch of Sweetie Belle’s squeak was enough to rouse her from her thoughts, and she turned around to find her two friends were having a blazing row.
“Look, I already said I was sorry, what else do you want me to do?” Scootaloo demanded of the unicorn.
“You didn’t even bother to think that basejumping maybe wasn’t a good idea! What did you think Apple Bloom and I were going to do? Hope we wouldn’t break our necks?” Sweetie Belle spat back, her voice squeaking in fury.
“It was an accident! I can’t say sorry any more than I already have!” Scootaloo replied defensively. “Besides, since when have your ideas been so great? You’ve gotten us into lots of trouble more than once with your “great” ideas!”
The dig was a low blow, and Sweetie Belle flinched as the words slapped her across the face. With a shriek of anger, she dove at her pegasus friend and the two became a whirl of feathers, fluff and angry voices.
Apple Bloom found herself forced to jump in and separate the two of them. “Knock it off, both of ya!” she said fiercely.
“What?! But she started it!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle shouted in unison, glaring daggers at each other.
“Oh, just shut up,” Apple Bloom said sulkily, returning to her post on the window, watching the dark sky pour out. “It doesn’t matter, we weren’t gonna get our Cutie Marks today, anyway.”
The despondent words were so unusual, coming from the Earth pony’s mouth, that the two friends forgot their spat momentarily. “You OK, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked tentatively.
“Does it really matter?” she replied dully. “We’re never gonna get our Cutie Marks, we just might as well admit it.”
“What? Of course we are!” Scootaloo protested passionately, wings flaring. “We just haven’t found the right thing yet, that’s all!”
“We’ve been trying for ages now, and we haven’t found anythin’ yet! We haven’t even come close!” Apple Bloom said miserably, her pent-up emotions finally coming to boil after several days of suppression. “Just be honest, when was there ever ah time that we came
even just a bit close to gettin’ our Cutie Marks?”
Her two friends stood there at a loss for words. Scootaloo momentarily opened her mouth to speak, but immediately brought it closed.
Apple Bloom gave a miserable sniff. “Ah want my Cutie Mark so much, but it’s never gonna come,” she said despondently. “Ah’ll never have a purpose, never amount to anythin’. Nothin’ at all.”
“That’s not true,” Sweetie Belle said suddenly. Apple Bloom turned about to see her friend staring right at her, a look of fervor upon her face. “You matter to us a lot. Grannie Smith, Applejack and Big Mac all love you, and your not having a Cutie Mark hasn’t made them love you any less.”
Apple Bloom bit her lip, unsure of what to do.
“She’s right, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo added. “You’re a great pony even without your Cutie Mark. You matter to a lot of ponies. Not having a Cutie Mark isn’t gonna change that!”
“But what if we never get our Cutie Marks? Ever?” Apple Bloom asked honestly, a pleading tone in her voice. “What am I then?”
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other and said, “You’re our friend.”
“And an Apple,” Sweetie Belle added.
“And a Crusader,” Scootaloo said simply. “No matter what, you’ll always be our best friend. We started this together, we’ll finish it together, and we’ll always be friends.”
“I promise,” Sweetie Belle added.
Apple Bloom felt her eyes sting for a moment, then asked, “Are ya sure?”
“Yup!” both pegasus and unicorn replied warmly.
Apple Bloom stood there for a moment, then leapt to wrap her forelegs around her friends in a tight hug. “Thanks, girls,” she said softly.
“It’s what friends are for,” Scootaloo said. “But could you please let go? I’m having trouble breathing.”
“Oh. Sorry,” Apple Bloom replied, stepping away.
“Look, it stopped raining!” Sweetie Belle said, running to the window. The three girls stared out into the open fields and saw the clouds beginning to break up, the last of the storm’s raindrops failing to reach the ground.
“Do we wanna wait until the ground’s dried up?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Nah!” Scootaloo protested. “Let’s go already! Who knows what we’ll be able to try in this weather!”
The three fillies bounded down the stairs and out into the open fields, racing their way out of the trees and back towards town, beams of light beginning to shine their way through the clearing sky. Just before they went out of sight, a cry could be heard echoing across the open air:
“Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!”
Author's Note
Well, it's about time I wrote something on here again! I may not be back in black, but I'm back, and raring to do more! Hope you enjoy my story!
