Cutie Mark Mix-upby AlicornPriestChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3EpilogueChapter 1There was only one thing Scootaloo wanted in the whole wide world: to be amazing. More than anything, she wanted to be looked up to, to be admired, to be adored. She idolized a pony whose every action radiated coolness, the pegasus racer Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had gotten her cutie mark in a way nopony before or since could ever match: she'd broken the sound barrier and performed the incredible Sonic Rainboom! Scootaloo thus reasoned that, if she ever wanted to match the awesomeness and derring-do of Rainbow Dash, she'd have to get her own cutie mark in an equally record-smashing way. “All right, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, just remember to keep up a steady speed, or I'll fall out of the sky and probably break all of my legs.” “Are ya sure you've gotta get your cutie mark in hang-gliding?” Apple Bloom asked. “Positive!” Scootaloo replied. “I've never heard of a filly getting her cutie mark in hang-gliding before, so that must mean I'm the pony to do it!” “I don't think that makes any sense,” Sweetie Belle said. “Don't worry about all that. Just gallop really fast, and we'll figure it all out in the air!” “Hold on, Ah don't think we're rea--” “Go go go go go!” Obediently, the other two Crusaders galloped their little hearts out. To their credit, Scootaloo did start to rise. A little bit. A little higher than she could hover, at least. Unfortunately, they'd planned for her to be cresting Fluttershy's cottage after 100 yards, which she most certainly was not doing. WHUMP! “Oh my goodness, are you all right out there?” Fluttershy came racing out of the house and immediately fell on Scootaloo, checking everywhere to make sure she wasn't hurt. “I'm fine, Fluttershy.” She'd had far worse collisions on her scooter, though she was sure if she mentioned that, she'd never hear the end of it from Fluttershy. “Just a little Crusader accident.” “Looks like another dud, too,” said Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo twirled about to get a glimpse of her flank, but Sweetie Belle was right. Nothing. “Darn!” “Language, young lady!” said Fluttershy. “I won't have you maligning the fine art of knitting with your foul mouth!” “Sorry, Fluttershy.” Scootaloo said. “It's okay,” Fluttershy replied. “But you do still need to fix my wall.” She gestured to the spot in question, which had crumbled at Scootaloo's impact. “I accept bits, checks, and helping with my animals. Which is it gonna be?” “Girls?” Scootaloo looked back. Apple Bloom revealed an empty wallet, and Sweetie Belle upended her saddlebags and shook her head. Scootaloo turned back to Fluttershy. “Looks like it's gonna be the animals thing then.” “Great!” Fluttershy smiled. “Then let's get started!” *** Working on Fluttershy's homestead was very peaceful and quiet. The animals were agreeable, the smell of flowers filled the air, and Fluttershy hummed softly in harmony with the trill of birdsong. It was a beautifully pastoral scene. It was torture. “Ugh!” Scootaloo threw another bushel of bugs to the mole family and wiped the sweat off of her brow. “Are we almost done?” “Has it been two hours yet?” Fluttershy asked back. “Uhh...” Scootaloo checked the clock. “One fifty-five?” she replied, hopeful. Fluttershy laughed. “All right, you can go. And no more doing crazy stunts near my house, okay?” She nodded one more time, then returned to her work again, humming all the while. “All right, Fluttershy! Come on, Crusaders, let's go try something else!” She wrangled up Sweetie Belle and prepped her scooter for takeoff. “Get over here, Apple Bloom! We've got Crusading to do!” “Hold yer horses, Scoots!” Apple Bloom called back. “Ah just need to ask Fluttershy somethin'.” She waved to catch Fluttershy's attention. “Fluttershy, what song are you humming? It sounds real familiar.” “Oh!” Fluttershy blushed and hid underneath her wings (a tricky task, considering she was currently hovering off the ground with them). “It's a song we're practicing for the Pony Tones. 'For the Longest Time.' It's... usually for stallions, but if I drink a Poison Joke potion, I can sing with them.” “Ah think Pa used to sing that, way back when. I think I still know the words. Is that the one that goes, 'But we won't be free 'til there's Harmony?'” “No, that's 'Pansy's in the Ice.' 'For the Longest Time' starts, 'If you said goodbye to me tonight.'” “Yeah, yeah, I do know that one! The next line is... no, wait...” Apple Bloom hopped up and down, pulling on one of Fluttershy's back legs as she did so. “You've gotta teach me all the words, Fluttershy! It'd mean a lot to me!” “Oh, well, if it'd mean so much to you, then I guess I can...” Apple Bloom looked back to her friends. “Go 'head, you two. Ah might be here a while.” “If you say so...” Sweetie Belle replied. The two of them shot off towards Ponyville, riding towards the afternoon sun. After a few moments of relative silence, Sweetie Belle brought up what was on both of their minds. “Have you ever seen Apple Bloom so excited about something before?” “Not really,” Scootaloo said. “But it was just that one song, right?” “Maybe. But I've never heard of 'Pansy's in the Ice' or that other one, and I know a lot of songs. Have you?” “Nuh-uh.” A thought jumped to Scootaloo's mind, but she rejected it as an impossibility. “Anyways, maybe we can drop by after dinner and see if she still wants to do something before it gets dark.” *** By the time Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had finished dinner and met up again to find Apple Bloom, the sun had already started its exit to make room for night. To their surprise, Apple Bloom wasn't back on the farm; she'd never made it home for dinner. Concerned, they decided to return to Fluttershy's cottage and retrace Apple Bloom's steps. Surely she'd been abducted on her way home, and they'd have to find the ponynapper red-hooved! Or at least, that's what they thought at first. But as soon as they reached Fluttershy's cottage, the only pony that was keeping Apple Bloom hostage was Fluttershy herself. And considering how much Apple Bloom was laughing and singing in there, she probably wasn't under duress or anything. It seemed the private investigator cutie marks would have to wait for another time. Scootaloo skidded her scooter to a stop in front of Fluttershy's chicken coop. Together with Sweetie Belle, she raced up to the door and knocked really fast. “Apple Bloom!” they called to her. “What's going on in there?” The door opened, and Apple Bloom appeared in the doorway. “What are you two nincompoops doin'?” she asked. “Ain't ya got somewhere ta be?” “Have you been here all afternoon?” Sweetie asked. “Well, yeah!” Apple Bloom said. “I had no idea Fluttershy knew so many old folk songs! 'Just like a Flower,' 'Old Crystal Campfire,' 'Orchard Blues!' How in Equestria'd you fit all them songs in your noggin, Fluttershy?” “I used to hear them all the time at the filly's shelter where I lived here in Ponyville before I bought the cottage,” Fluttershy said. “I may not be very good at singing with others, but I do like to listen to it.” “Ah'm so glad you taught 'em all to me,” Apple Bloom continued. “Ah've been meanin' to ask Applejack about them for a while now, but I've never had the courage.” Scootaloo cut in. “Why? Why was it so important to ask Applejack about a bunch of dumb songs?” she asked. Apple Bloom gasped and reeled in shock. “Scootaloo! How could you say that? Those songs go back centuries in my family! It's in my blood to be singin' them old songs. It's practically my destiny!” The moment she said that, there was a sound like a star sparkling in the night and a light that flashed so bright as to turn the ponies' eyes away. When they looked back, Apple Bloom was sporting a cutie mark: an eighth note riding on a flowing music staff. “That's... that's...” Sweetie Belle struggled to find the best word for what she'd just seen. “Awesome!” Scootaloo jumped forward and hugged Apple Bloom tight. “You got your cutie mark! Now you'll just have to help us get ours, too!” Apple Bloom pushed Scootaloo off of herself and turned away. Before Scootaloo could ask what was the matter, she heard Apple Bloom start to sniffle and cry. Without another word, she galloped out the door and away down the path and into the night. Chapter 2Scootaloo rapped on the door to the farmhouse. To her surprise, it wasn't Apple Bloom who came to the door, but Applejack. “Hey, where's Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked. “Sweetie Belle and me are gonna meet up with Rainbow Dash and do some more karate practice. We're still hopin' for those karate cutie marks!” “Sorry, kiddo,” said Applejack, “but Apple Bloom hasn't come out'f her room all mornin'. Don't rightly know why. Probably has somethin' to do with her cutie mark.” “Did you say anything to her?” Scootaloo asked. “Course not! We've been nothin' but s'pportive of her new talent. We Apples've always loved our singin', and we've known since she was small that Bloom could sing like the best of 'em!” Applejack shook her head. “And you two didn't say nothing neither, right?” “No, we told her she could stick along while we try and get our cutie marks. We're supposed to be best friends, no matter what!” “Well, I don't rightly know, then,” Applejack said. “But she needs to come out and get to her chores. We got a lot of applebuckin' to do today.” Scootaloo recalled the look Apple Bloom had had when she'd realized she'd earned her cutie mark with Fluttershy yesterday, how despondent she'd looked. “I've got some time,” she said. “I could do them for her.” “Ya'll don't have to do that. Apple Bloom should be the one to do 'em.” “Apple Bloom needs some time to figure things out,” Scootaloo said. “I bet she'd feel better knowing she didn't have to do her chores while she was thinking.” Applejack took Scootaloo at her word. “Well, all right. If you think you're up for it.” “I... think so.” It occurred to Scootaloo that she'd never actually done any applebucking before. “Is it hard?” “Depends on the pony. I mean, no offense, but pegasi usually ain't got the stamina for it. Unicorns neither. It's usually an earth pony gig.” Scootaloo took that as a challenge. “Well, maybe I'll be the first pegasus to be any good at applebucking! What about that?” Applejack laughed. “Maybe ya will be. But maybe you oughta try kickin' a coupl'a trees first 'fore yer mouth writes checks yer hooves can't pay.” She and Scootaloo found the first tree close to the house; it looked full to bursting with way too many apples for one little pony to kick down on her own. “Think ya'll can handle this'un?” Applejack said. “Y-yeah, I think so,” Scootaloo said. She turned around, squinted her eyes shut real tight, and threw back her hooves as hard as she could. Only two apples responded to her attempt, and neither of them managed to land in the bucket next to the tree. “You did a good job, Scoots,” said Applejack. “Celestia knows Ah didn't do much better on mah first applebuckin'.” “Wait, wait, I've got an idea!” She stood back a few feet, then ran up and did a flying kick to the tree trunk, just like Rainbow Dash had been teaching them in karate class. To Scootaloo's credit, quite a few more of the apples fell off of the branches; some of them even landed in the buckets this time! “Well that's mighty fine of you,” said Applejack, “but ye can't do that for every single tree. 'D take too long.” “What if I used my scooter, though?” She dashed back to the house and returned with her trusty scooter in hoof. She lined herself up with one of the rows of trees, then flapped her wings until she was pushing herself through the orchard at full speed. At each tree, she flipped off of her scooter and blasted it with one of those flying kicks, throwing the apples off of the branches and into the buckets. No matter how many of the trees she kicked, Scootaloo never felt tired; in fact, she felt exhilarated. She was harvesting apples like the best of them! That'd show Applejack for thinking she didn't have the stamina for it! At least, until she ran out of stamina. Thankfully, she'd just finished a row, so she slowed to a stop and flopped onto the ground, completely beat, and waited for Applejack to catch up. “Wow, Scootaloo!” she told her. “I ain't never seen a pony pull off somethin' like that. Ah didn't think it was possible!” “And I can't believe how much fun that was!” Scootaloo replied. “You get to do that every year?” “We gotta do a lot more than one little row, but yeah, reckon we do,” Applejack said. “Why? Thinkin' of doin' some more of that fancy scooter-work?” “Hey yeah! I bet if I do it enough, I'll be able to knock down all the apples in a row, and, and do all the rows in one swoop without getting tired!” “All right, pardner, we'll see about that. Fer now, you promised you'd do Applebloom's part of the orchard, so you got eight more rows to go for today.” Applejack gestured to the rows next to her. “Now that yer done rollin' in the grass, think you got the energy for it?” Scootaloo jumped up and set her scooter back up again. “I've never felt better!” Scootaloo said. “Let's go!” *** As Scootaloo finished up the last row, Applejack called out to her from the house, “Sweetie Belle's here!” Unlike the first row, Scootaloo hardly felt fatigued at all by the time she was done. She powered her way up to where Sweetie was waiting by the front door. “You were supposed to meet me at the dojo half an hour ago!” Sweetie moaned. “What have you been doing all morning? And where's Apple Bloom?” “Oh, she's in her room moping, so I thought I'd do her chores for her,” said Scootaloo. “You... did her chores for her?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That sounds boring.” “No way! Have you ever done it before? It's the best!” “Actually, I have. I think I'll pass.” Sweetie Belle tipped her head to the side, then gasped. “I guess you really did like it, 'cuz it's your cutie mark!” “What?” Scootaloo twisted around to get a glimpse of what Sweetie Belle had seen. Sure enough, there on Scootaloo's flank was an image of an apple criss-crossed with a lightning bolt. “That's... not really what I was expecting.” “Me either. What's mine going to be? Flight?” Sweetie laughed. “Things just seem all topsy-turvy recently.” “What if we go tell Apple Bloom the good news? Maybe if she knows I got my cutie mark, she'll know she's not alone and that we can still be friends?” Scootaloo asked. “Great idea! Let's go!” Together, they charged up the stairs and knocked on Apple Bloom's bedroom door. “Hey, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle said. “Scootaloo wants to show you something.” “Go away,” came the voice behind the door. “I think you'll like it!” said Sweetie Belle. Eventually, they heard the door open, and Apple Bloom appeared in the threshold. Her mane was an utter mess, and her eyes had deep black circles beneath them. “Ah'm really not in the mood, you two,” Apple Bloom said. “Whatcha got?” Scootaloo turned around and revealed her cutie mark. “Ta-da! Now I have a cutie mark, too!” Apple Bloom didn't seem happy by this revelation. The first clue was when she scowled and tipped her head down to glare at Scootaloo. The second was when she tackled Scootaloo and began smacking her left and right. The third was when she screamed, “That's mah cutie mark! It's supposed ta be mine! YOU STOLE MY DESTINY!” Chapter 3"Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom! You've got to snap out of it!" Scootaloo fluttered her wings to help her slip out from underneath Apple Bloom, who fell to the ground and started sobbing. "It's my destiny..." she cried. "It's mine..." "Apple Bloom, what are you talking about?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You got your destiny, and Scootaloo got hers. There's nothing stolen!" "But it's a Apple!" Apple Bloom flopped over onto her back and pointed to her head. "It's my name, don'tcha see?" Scootaloo, who had now managed to get up and dust herself off, looked confused. "Uh, that's your mane, not your name." "No, Ah mean my head, my brain, my--oh, ferget it!" She rolled over and huffed. "Y'all just don't understand." Scootaloo looked to Sweetie Belle, who looked right back. "Don't look at me!" Sweetie said. "I don't have my cutie mark yet." Scootaloo sighed. She was going to have to try and be sympathetic and caring--this was gonna be harder than she thought. "Look, Apple Bloom... sometimes, getting your cutie mark is, like, super awesome, because it's something you've been looking forward to for a long time. And sometimes, it's just a thing that happens, 'cuz you knew it was something that was gonna happen your whole life." Apple Bloom glowered at her. "And what if it ain't somethin' you were expectin'? And what if somepony else steals the thing you thought you were gonna get?!" "Scootaloo, that didn't help at all!" "Well, I'm sorry! I don't exactly have a cutie mark in being nice and helpful to people!" Apple Bloom started wailing again, but Scootaloo continued, "Maybe you should get a cutie mark in that so you can help her, then!" "That's not...!" Sweetie Belle stamped her hoof. "That's not how any of this works!" "Girls!" Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom. She'd stood up, and the stony look on her face was unlike anything either of them had seen. "Yeah, 'Bloom?" Scootaloo asked. "Ah know exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go find an adult... and I'm gonna complain!" "That's... what we usually do anyway," Sweetie Belle remarked. "Ah know, but I ain't gonna rest 'til I find somepony who can actually fix this!" "You... go for it, Apple Bloom???" Satisfied with herself, she stalked out of her room, leaving Sweetie and Scootaloo behind. "All right, Scootaloo," Sweetie said. "How long until she gives up on this?" "How long, or how many ponies does she talk to?" Scootaloo answered. "My bits're on a week, or 10 ponies." "Remember when Twilight wouldn't give her the recipe for that transformation potion? It's gonna be at least a month until she gives up on it. Half of Ponyville, at least." "You're on!" *** In the end, they were both wrong. Not because Apple Bloom gave up, though. Or that she spent a whole month whining about her cutie mark to anypony who would listen. Instead, she complained to Twilight first, and rather than blow her off, Twilight actually listened. She invited all three of them to the castle to talk about it, and for a few minutes, all she did was observe. She hemmed and hawed, and Scootaloo objected to the scrutiny. "Twilight, please! What's going on?" "It's just... very strange," Twilight murmurred to herself. "It can't be a coincidence that you got an apple-based cutie mark, right after Apple Bloom got a music-based one." "Ah know, right?!" "Still, though. That doesn't give you the right to hit your friends, Apple Bloom," Twilight chastised her. Apple Bloom scowled and scuffed the ground with a hoof. "I wasn't really hittin' her. Just kinda... Ah dunno." "In any case, I want to get Princess Celestia's opinion on this, so... we'll send her a letter, okay?" Twilight winked to Spike, who had already been writing down everything Twilight had said. He nodded in agreement, then set the letter alight and let the smoke drift off to Canterlot Castle. "Now," Twilight continued, "Celestia's turnaround is usually five to eight days, depending on--" In a flash of yellow light, Celestia appeared right in the middle of the library. "...Oh! Princess! You're... that was quick." "You said it was a problem with cutie marks, did you not?" "I-I did, but--" "Not cutie pox, not Almond's Sickness? Destiny's chosen cutie mark?" "Y-yes?" "Then this is very serious." Princess Celestia looked at Apple Bloom, and she smiled serenely. "Hello, little one. What's wrong?" "I-I..." It was one thing to complain to your sister's friends, but to get the ear of the Princess... suddenly Apple Bloom's throat was very dry. "I got a cutie mark in music, a-and then Scootaloo got a cutie mark in apples, and I... I thought for sure--" "That should be yours?" Celestia guessed. Apple Bloom nodded. "And I guess... I was a little jealous, and I thought..." She sniffed. "Maybe I was just overreacting." "Maybe, maybe not." Celestia offered a hoof. "I'm ready to check and see. Do you want to go ask?" Sweetie thought that was odd, so she chimed in, "Ask? Ask who?" Celestia looked at her; she didn't seem frustrated, but instead simply said, "Why, the ones in charge of destiny, of course. Would you like to meet them? You can come too, if you like." "And me, too?" Scootaloo asked. Celestia chuckled. "Of course. I've heard so much about you three, and I'd never expect to split you up on anything you might call an adventure." They cheered, but Celestia continued, "Though I'm afraid you won't find this much of an adventure, unless you really like paperwork." They paused, their hooves still mid-high-hoof. "Paperwork?" Apple Bloom asked. Celestia waved a hoof, and a door appeared in the middle of the room, which opened quietly to a glowing white. "Come in and see." One by one, they filed in, and gaped at what they saw. All about them, ponies were milling about, each carrying folders full of paper, or sorting paper into different stacks, or folding paper into envelopes and pushing them into express tubes that wove through the ceiling high above them. Sweetie was the first to ask what all three of them were thinking. "Princess Celestia? Where... are we?" Celestia sighed. "This is the Sidereal Bureaucracy. They're in charge of everything that goes in the world. Everything, be it past, present, or future, they keep track of it all. If anybody were to know anything about your destinies, it'd be them." She stomped a hoof, then called out, "Regulus! Your servant has need of your aid!" "Yes, yes, Celestia. I saw your arrival." A pony came down a nearby staircase, though he certainly looked very odd. He was dark brown in color, but he wore a green cape and a green crown-like circlet on his head. "And who are these children with you?" "They seem to have some sort of... issue with their cutie marks. So we'd like to see their files, please. If it isn't too much trouble." "Of course, Celestia." He gave a wide wave. "Right this way." They followed Regulus out to a far corner of the room, where a sign saying "PONYVILLE DIVISION" hung over a group of desks. Regulus hailed the pony working at the closest desk. "Virgo!" he said. "I need the files on Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. It's a favor for the princess." Virgo shrugged. "Sorry, sir," she said. "But my directory says they're not in Ponyville right now. That's not my jurisdiction." Regulus' eye twitched. "Well, no, they're right here, but--" "Then their files were moved to the Sidereal Bureaucracy Division." Virgo shrugged again. "Like I said. Not my problem." He sighed deeply. "Very well. Come, my dears." They hurried across the hall, running for what seemed an infinitely long time until they arrived at the next sign, which, just like the previous one, said its respective division on it. "Polaris!" The pony at the desk, who was wearing an explorer's hat Scootaloo recognized as being exactly like Daring Do's, looked up. "I need the files on--" "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, right?" Regulus beamed. "Yes, of course!" Polaris looked at him, perplexed. "I knew you were going to need them, so as soon as they moved to my division, I had a courier run them out to you." Princess Celestia facehoofed. "You must be joking. So where is the courier, then?" Polaris fidgeted with her hooves. "Well... I expect he's waiting for you by the entrance door." Celestia sighed. "Then... lead the way, Regulus." "Very well. I have a feeling _someone_ is gonna need some retraining." Polaris' eyebrows shot up, but he quickly added, "Not you, though, Polaris, you're doing just fine." They hurried back to the door Celestia had created, but to Regulus' growing consternation, no courier was in sight anywhere. He pulled the nearest worker aside and asked, "You! Where is the courier who came to deliver a file to me?" "Well, I saw you were going to the Ponyville Division, so I told the courier--" "No!" Regulus stomped his hoof, and the whole bureaucracy ground to a halt. "We are ending this farce right here! We'll jolly well wait right here until the courier comes and finds us, and not the other way around!" It was perfect silence for about five minutes, the quietest any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had ever heard. (To their credit, they didn't so much as move a muscle.) When the courier arrived (from the way they'd come, of course), Regulus snatched the folder from his hooves and said icily, "Thank you so much." "You're welcome!" the courier said cheerfully. Regulus sighed. "Now, let's see if we can get this matter settled." He opened the file, but the surprises were still coming. "Uh, my good man?" "Yes?" "There should be three papers in here, should there not? One for each of them?" The courier thought on this for a moment, then recalled something. "Oh yeah! I asked miss Virgo that, and she said, 'They're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They're a team.' So I guess they're all on the same page!" Regulus' eye twitched. "They're..." He laughed. "They're on the same page." He opened up the file and pored over the paper in front of him. "And I suppose all their information is on here." "Yep!" "Their names, their birthdays, their cutie marks." "Mm-hmm!" "In alphabetical order, as per instruction S7G.01-X?!" The courier nodded, unaware of what he'd just walked into. Regulus stabbed a hoof into the paper. "Then that means their names and their cutie marks don't line up properly, is that what you're saying?!?!?" The courier looked where Regulus was pointing, thought a moment, then laughed to himself. "Huh! Yeah. Oops. Guess that could be wrong. Thankfully it hasn't caused any problems, right?" There was only one thing you could hear at that point, and it was Regulus' heavy breathing. "Breathe, Regulus," Celestia said slowly. "It's not worth it." He sighed. "Yes, Celestia. I don't actually have to breathe, but I appreciate the nod just the same." The courier looked uncertainly between the two of them. "So... what do you want me to do?" Regulus closed the file and shoved it into the courier's hooves. "I want you to take this back to the star in charge, have them separate this file into three separate pages, and then assign the correct cutie marks to each filly. Do you understand?" "You got it!" The courier threw a snappy salute. "Take this paper, write out the three cutie marks, and make a new one for all three of them. Understood!" "No, wait--!" Regulus chased after the courier as he made his departure, and Celestia and the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched him go. "Uh... are they gonna be okay?" Apple Bloom asked. Celestia waved a hoof. "This is Regulus we're talking about. It'll be fine!" "And our cutie marks?" Scootaloo looked at her flank, where the apple mark sat quietly where it'd been all day. "I imagine it'll be gone when you wake up in the morning, once Regulus fixes your file." Celestia crouched down, looking at each filly in turn. "In fact, I think you're starting to feel really sleepy, like you could sleep for a very long time..." Sweetie yawned. "Huh. You're right, princess. Why do I... feel..." And all three of them quietly slumped to the ground, snoring and dreaming little filly dreams. Epilogue"Let's go, Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hurried ahead to their latest wild scheme, but Apple Bloom slowed down to a stop. "Girls?" They stopped and looked back at her. "Yeah, Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Do y'all ever think..." she asked haltingly, "...that maybe we need to work on different stuff, on our own, if we wanna find our cutie marks?" "No way!" Scootaloo replied. "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If we're gonna find our cutie marks, we'll do it together!" "Hah, yeah. Don't know what I was thinking." And so they ran off to enjoy another perfect day. Hopefully without breaking too many bones before the day was up.
Chapter 1There was only one thing Scootaloo wanted in the whole wide world: to be amazing. More than anything, she wanted to be looked up to, to be admired, to be adored. She idolized a pony whose every action radiated coolness, the pegasus racer Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had gotten her cutie mark in a way nopony before or since could ever match: she'd broken the sound barrier and performed the incredible Sonic Rainboom! Scootaloo thus reasoned that, if she ever wanted to match the awesomeness and derring-do of Rainbow Dash, she'd have to get her own cutie mark in an equally record-smashing way. “All right, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, just remember to keep up a steady speed, or I'll fall out of the sky and probably break all of my legs.” “Are ya sure you've gotta get your cutie mark in hang-gliding?” Apple Bloom asked. “Positive!” Scootaloo replied. “I've never heard of a filly getting her cutie mark in hang-gliding before, so that must mean I'm the pony to do it!” “I don't think that makes any sense,” Sweetie Belle said. “Don't worry about all that. Just gallop really fast, and we'll figure it all out in the air!” “Hold on, Ah don't think we're rea--” “Go go go go go!” Obediently, the other two Crusaders galloped their little hearts out. To their credit, Scootaloo did start to rise. A little bit. A little higher than she could hover, at least. Unfortunately, they'd planned for her to be cresting Fluttershy's cottage after 100 yards, which she most certainly was not doing. WHUMP! “Oh my goodness, are you all right out there?” Fluttershy came racing out of the house and immediately fell on Scootaloo, checking everywhere to make sure she wasn't hurt. “I'm fine, Fluttershy.” She'd had far worse collisions on her scooter, though she was sure if she mentioned that, she'd never hear the end of it from Fluttershy. “Just a little Crusader accident.” “Looks like another dud, too,” said Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo twirled about to get a glimpse of her flank, but Sweetie Belle was right. Nothing. “Darn!” “Language, young lady!” said Fluttershy. “I won't have you maligning the fine art of knitting with your foul mouth!” “Sorry, Fluttershy.” Scootaloo said. “It's okay,” Fluttershy replied. “But you do still need to fix my wall.” She gestured to the spot in question, which had crumbled at Scootaloo's impact. “I accept bits, checks, and helping with my animals. Which is it gonna be?” “Girls?” Scootaloo looked back. Apple Bloom revealed an empty wallet, and Sweetie Belle upended her saddlebags and shook her head. Scootaloo turned back to Fluttershy. “Looks like it's gonna be the animals thing then.” “Great!” Fluttershy smiled. “Then let's get started!” *** Working on Fluttershy's homestead was very peaceful and quiet. The animals were agreeable, the smell of flowers filled the air, and Fluttershy hummed softly in harmony with the trill of birdsong. It was a beautifully pastoral scene. It was torture. “Ugh!” Scootaloo threw another bushel of bugs to the mole family and wiped the sweat off of her brow. “Are we almost done?” “Has it been two hours yet?” Fluttershy asked back. “Uhh...” Scootaloo checked the clock. “One fifty-five?” she replied, hopeful. Fluttershy laughed. “All right, you can go. And no more doing crazy stunts near my house, okay?” She nodded one more time, then returned to her work again, humming all the while. “All right, Fluttershy! Come on, Crusaders, let's go try something else!” She wrangled up Sweetie Belle and prepped her scooter for takeoff. “Get over here, Apple Bloom! We've got Crusading to do!” “Hold yer horses, Scoots!” Apple Bloom called back. “Ah just need to ask Fluttershy somethin'.” She waved to catch Fluttershy's attention. “Fluttershy, what song are you humming? It sounds real familiar.” “Oh!” Fluttershy blushed and hid underneath her wings (a tricky task, considering she was currently hovering off the ground with them). “It's a song we're practicing for the Pony Tones. 'For the Longest Time.' It's... usually for stallions, but if I drink a Poison Joke potion, I can sing with them.” “Ah think Pa used to sing that, way back when. I think I still know the words. Is that the one that goes, 'But we won't be free 'til there's Harmony?'” “No, that's 'Pansy's in the Ice.' 'For the Longest Time' starts, 'If you said goodbye to me tonight.'” “Yeah, yeah, I do know that one! The next line is... no, wait...” Apple Bloom hopped up and down, pulling on one of Fluttershy's back legs as she did so. “You've gotta teach me all the words, Fluttershy! It'd mean a lot to me!” “Oh, well, if it'd mean so much to you, then I guess I can...” Apple Bloom looked back to her friends. “Go 'head, you two. Ah might be here a while.” “If you say so...” Sweetie Belle replied. The two of them shot off towards Ponyville, riding towards the afternoon sun. After a few moments of relative silence, Sweetie Belle brought up what was on both of their minds. “Have you ever seen Apple Bloom so excited about something before?” “Not really,” Scootaloo said. “But it was just that one song, right?” “Maybe. But I've never heard of 'Pansy's in the Ice' or that other one, and I know a lot of songs. Have you?” “Nuh-uh.” A thought jumped to Scootaloo's mind, but she rejected it as an impossibility. “Anyways, maybe we can drop by after dinner and see if she still wants to do something before it gets dark.” *** By the time Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had finished dinner and met up again to find Apple Bloom, the sun had already started its exit to make room for night. To their surprise, Apple Bloom wasn't back on the farm; she'd never made it home for dinner. Concerned, they decided to return to Fluttershy's cottage and retrace Apple Bloom's steps. Surely she'd been abducted on her way home, and they'd have to find the ponynapper red-hooved! Or at least, that's what they thought at first. But as soon as they reached Fluttershy's cottage, the only pony that was keeping Apple Bloom hostage was Fluttershy herself. And considering how much Apple Bloom was laughing and singing in there, she probably wasn't under duress or anything. It seemed the private investigator cutie marks would have to wait for another time. Scootaloo skidded her scooter to a stop in front of Fluttershy's chicken coop. Together with Sweetie Belle, she raced up to the door and knocked really fast. “Apple Bloom!” they called to her. “What's going on in there?” The door opened, and Apple Bloom appeared in the doorway. “What are you two nincompoops doin'?” she asked. “Ain't ya got somewhere ta be?” “Have you been here all afternoon?” Sweetie asked. “Well, yeah!” Apple Bloom said. “I had no idea Fluttershy knew so many old folk songs! 'Just like a Flower,' 'Old Crystal Campfire,' 'Orchard Blues!' How in Equestria'd you fit all them songs in your noggin, Fluttershy?” “I used to hear them all the time at the filly's shelter where I lived here in Ponyville before I bought the cottage,” Fluttershy said. “I may not be very good at singing with others, but I do like to listen to it.” “Ah'm so glad you taught 'em all to me,” Apple Bloom continued. “Ah've been meanin' to ask Applejack about them for a while now, but I've never had the courage.” Scootaloo cut in. “Why? Why was it so important to ask Applejack about a bunch of dumb songs?” she asked. Apple Bloom gasped and reeled in shock. “Scootaloo! How could you say that? Those songs go back centuries in my family! It's in my blood to be singin' them old songs. It's practically my destiny!” The moment she said that, there was a sound like a star sparkling in the night and a light that flashed so bright as to turn the ponies' eyes away. When they looked back, Apple Bloom was sporting a cutie mark: an eighth note riding on a flowing music staff. “That's... that's...” Sweetie Belle struggled to find the best word for what she'd just seen. “Awesome!” Scootaloo jumped forward and hugged Apple Bloom tight. “You got your cutie mark! Now you'll just have to help us get ours, too!” Apple Bloom pushed Scootaloo off of herself and turned away. Before Scootaloo could ask what was the matter, she heard Apple Bloom start to sniffle and cry. Without another word, she galloped out the door and away down the path and into the night.
Chapter 2Scootaloo rapped on the door to the farmhouse. To her surprise, it wasn't Apple Bloom who came to the door, but Applejack. “Hey, where's Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked. “Sweetie Belle and me are gonna meet up with Rainbow Dash and do some more karate practice. We're still hopin' for those karate cutie marks!” “Sorry, kiddo,” said Applejack, “but Apple Bloom hasn't come out'f her room all mornin'. Don't rightly know why. Probably has somethin' to do with her cutie mark.” “Did you say anything to her?” Scootaloo asked. “Course not! We've been nothin' but s'pportive of her new talent. We Apples've always loved our singin', and we've known since she was small that Bloom could sing like the best of 'em!” Applejack shook her head. “And you two didn't say nothing neither, right?” “No, we told her she could stick along while we try and get our cutie marks. We're supposed to be best friends, no matter what!” “Well, I don't rightly know, then,” Applejack said. “But she needs to come out and get to her chores. We got a lot of applebuckin' to do today.” Scootaloo recalled the look Apple Bloom had had when she'd realized she'd earned her cutie mark with Fluttershy yesterday, how despondent she'd looked. “I've got some time,” she said. “I could do them for her.” “Ya'll don't have to do that. Apple Bloom should be the one to do 'em.” “Apple Bloom needs some time to figure things out,” Scootaloo said. “I bet she'd feel better knowing she didn't have to do her chores while she was thinking.” Applejack took Scootaloo at her word. “Well, all right. If you think you're up for it.” “I... think so.” It occurred to Scootaloo that she'd never actually done any applebucking before. “Is it hard?” “Depends on the pony. I mean, no offense, but pegasi usually ain't got the stamina for it. Unicorns neither. It's usually an earth pony gig.” Scootaloo took that as a challenge. “Well, maybe I'll be the first pegasus to be any good at applebucking! What about that?” Applejack laughed. “Maybe ya will be. But maybe you oughta try kickin' a coupl'a trees first 'fore yer mouth writes checks yer hooves can't pay.” She and Scootaloo found the first tree close to the house; it looked full to bursting with way too many apples for one little pony to kick down on her own. “Think ya'll can handle this'un?” Applejack said. “Y-yeah, I think so,” Scootaloo said. She turned around, squinted her eyes shut real tight, and threw back her hooves as hard as she could. Only two apples responded to her attempt, and neither of them managed to land in the bucket next to the tree. “You did a good job, Scoots,” said Applejack. “Celestia knows Ah didn't do much better on mah first applebuckin'.” “Wait, wait, I've got an idea!” She stood back a few feet, then ran up and did a flying kick to the tree trunk, just like Rainbow Dash had been teaching them in karate class. To Scootaloo's credit, quite a few more of the apples fell off of the branches; some of them even landed in the buckets this time! “Well that's mighty fine of you,” said Applejack, “but ye can't do that for every single tree. 'D take too long.” “What if I used my scooter, though?” She dashed back to the house and returned with her trusty scooter in hoof. She lined herself up with one of the rows of trees, then flapped her wings until she was pushing herself through the orchard at full speed. At each tree, she flipped off of her scooter and blasted it with one of those flying kicks, throwing the apples off of the branches and into the buckets. No matter how many of the trees she kicked, Scootaloo never felt tired; in fact, she felt exhilarated. She was harvesting apples like the best of them! That'd show Applejack for thinking she didn't have the stamina for it! At least, until she ran out of stamina. Thankfully, she'd just finished a row, so she slowed to a stop and flopped onto the ground, completely beat, and waited for Applejack to catch up. “Wow, Scootaloo!” she told her. “I ain't never seen a pony pull off somethin' like that. Ah didn't think it was possible!” “And I can't believe how much fun that was!” Scootaloo replied. “You get to do that every year?” “We gotta do a lot more than one little row, but yeah, reckon we do,” Applejack said. “Why? Thinkin' of doin' some more of that fancy scooter-work?” “Hey yeah! I bet if I do it enough, I'll be able to knock down all the apples in a row, and, and do all the rows in one swoop without getting tired!” “All right, pardner, we'll see about that. Fer now, you promised you'd do Applebloom's part of the orchard, so you got eight more rows to go for today.” Applejack gestured to the rows next to her. “Now that yer done rollin' in the grass, think you got the energy for it?” Scootaloo jumped up and set her scooter back up again. “I've never felt better!” Scootaloo said. “Let's go!” *** As Scootaloo finished up the last row, Applejack called out to her from the house, “Sweetie Belle's here!” Unlike the first row, Scootaloo hardly felt fatigued at all by the time she was done. She powered her way up to where Sweetie was waiting by the front door. “You were supposed to meet me at the dojo half an hour ago!” Sweetie moaned. “What have you been doing all morning? And where's Apple Bloom?” “Oh, she's in her room moping, so I thought I'd do her chores for her,” said Scootaloo. “You... did her chores for her?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That sounds boring.” “No way! Have you ever done it before? It's the best!” “Actually, I have. I think I'll pass.” Sweetie Belle tipped her head to the side, then gasped. “I guess you really did like it, 'cuz it's your cutie mark!” “What?” Scootaloo twisted around to get a glimpse of what Sweetie Belle had seen. Sure enough, there on Scootaloo's flank was an image of an apple criss-crossed with a lightning bolt. “That's... not really what I was expecting.” “Me either. What's mine going to be? Flight?” Sweetie laughed. “Things just seem all topsy-turvy recently.” “What if we go tell Apple Bloom the good news? Maybe if she knows I got my cutie mark, she'll know she's not alone and that we can still be friends?” Scootaloo asked. “Great idea! Let's go!” Together, they charged up the stairs and knocked on Apple Bloom's bedroom door. “Hey, Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle said. “Scootaloo wants to show you something.” “Go away,” came the voice behind the door. “I think you'll like it!” said Sweetie Belle. Eventually, they heard the door open, and Apple Bloom appeared in the threshold. Her mane was an utter mess, and her eyes had deep black circles beneath them. “Ah'm really not in the mood, you two,” Apple Bloom said. “Whatcha got?” Scootaloo turned around and revealed her cutie mark. “Ta-da! Now I have a cutie mark, too!” Apple Bloom didn't seem happy by this revelation. The first clue was when she scowled and tipped her head down to glare at Scootaloo. The second was when she tackled Scootaloo and began smacking her left and right. The third was when she screamed, “That's mah cutie mark! It's supposed ta be mine! YOU STOLE MY DESTINY!”
Chapter 3"Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom! You've got to snap out of it!" Scootaloo fluttered her wings to help her slip out from underneath Apple Bloom, who fell to the ground and started sobbing. "It's my destiny..." she cried. "It's mine..." "Apple Bloom, what are you talking about?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You got your destiny, and Scootaloo got hers. There's nothing stolen!" "But it's a Apple!" Apple Bloom flopped over onto her back and pointed to her head. "It's my name, don'tcha see?" Scootaloo, who had now managed to get up and dust herself off, looked confused. "Uh, that's your mane, not your name." "No, Ah mean my head, my brain, my--oh, ferget it!" She rolled over and huffed. "Y'all just don't understand." Scootaloo looked to Sweetie Belle, who looked right back. "Don't look at me!" Sweetie said. "I don't have my cutie mark yet." Scootaloo sighed. She was going to have to try and be sympathetic and caring--this was gonna be harder than she thought. "Look, Apple Bloom... sometimes, getting your cutie mark is, like, super awesome, because it's something you've been looking forward to for a long time. And sometimes, it's just a thing that happens, 'cuz you knew it was something that was gonna happen your whole life." Apple Bloom glowered at her. "And what if it ain't somethin' you were expectin'? And what if somepony else steals the thing you thought you were gonna get?!" "Scootaloo, that didn't help at all!" "Well, I'm sorry! I don't exactly have a cutie mark in being nice and helpful to people!" Apple Bloom started wailing again, but Scootaloo continued, "Maybe you should get a cutie mark in that so you can help her, then!" "That's not...!" Sweetie Belle stamped her hoof. "That's not how any of this works!" "Girls!" Sweetie and Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom. She'd stood up, and the stony look on her face was unlike anything either of them had seen. "Yeah, 'Bloom?" Scootaloo asked. "Ah know exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go find an adult... and I'm gonna complain!" "That's... what we usually do anyway," Sweetie Belle remarked. "Ah know, but I ain't gonna rest 'til I find somepony who can actually fix this!" "You... go for it, Apple Bloom???" Satisfied with herself, she stalked out of her room, leaving Sweetie and Scootaloo behind. "All right, Scootaloo," Sweetie said. "How long until she gives up on this?" "How long, or how many ponies does she talk to?" Scootaloo answered. "My bits're on a week, or 10 ponies." "Remember when Twilight wouldn't give her the recipe for that transformation potion? It's gonna be at least a month until she gives up on it. Half of Ponyville, at least." "You're on!" *** In the end, they were both wrong. Not because Apple Bloom gave up, though. Or that she spent a whole month whining about her cutie mark to anypony who would listen. Instead, she complained to Twilight first, and rather than blow her off, Twilight actually listened. She invited all three of them to the castle to talk about it, and for a few minutes, all she did was observe. She hemmed and hawed, and Scootaloo objected to the scrutiny. "Twilight, please! What's going on?" "It's just... very strange," Twilight murmurred to herself. "It can't be a coincidence that you got an apple-based cutie mark, right after Apple Bloom got a music-based one." "Ah know, right?!" "Still, though. That doesn't give you the right to hit your friends, Apple Bloom," Twilight chastised her. Apple Bloom scowled and scuffed the ground with a hoof. "I wasn't really hittin' her. Just kinda... Ah dunno." "In any case, I want to get Princess Celestia's opinion on this, so... we'll send her a letter, okay?" Twilight winked to Spike, who had already been writing down everything Twilight had said. He nodded in agreement, then set the letter alight and let the smoke drift off to Canterlot Castle. "Now," Twilight continued, "Celestia's turnaround is usually five to eight days, depending on--" In a flash of yellow light, Celestia appeared right in the middle of the library. "...Oh! Princess! You're... that was quick." "You said it was a problem with cutie marks, did you not?" "I-I did, but--" "Not cutie pox, not Almond's Sickness? Destiny's chosen cutie mark?" "Y-yes?" "Then this is very serious." Princess Celestia looked at Apple Bloom, and she smiled serenely. "Hello, little one. What's wrong?" "I-I..." It was one thing to complain to your sister's friends, but to get the ear of the Princess... suddenly Apple Bloom's throat was very dry. "I got a cutie mark in music, a-and then Scootaloo got a cutie mark in apples, and I... I thought for sure--" "That should be yours?" Celestia guessed. Apple Bloom nodded. "And I guess... I was a little jealous, and I thought..." She sniffed. "Maybe I was just overreacting." "Maybe, maybe not." Celestia offered a hoof. "I'm ready to check and see. Do you want to go ask?" Sweetie thought that was odd, so she chimed in, "Ask? Ask who?" Celestia looked at her; she didn't seem frustrated, but instead simply said, "Why, the ones in charge of destiny, of course. Would you like to meet them? You can come too, if you like." "And me, too?" Scootaloo asked. Celestia chuckled. "Of course. I've heard so much about you three, and I'd never expect to split you up on anything you might call an adventure." They cheered, but Celestia continued, "Though I'm afraid you won't find this much of an adventure, unless you really like paperwork." They paused, their hooves still mid-high-hoof. "Paperwork?" Apple Bloom asked. Celestia waved a hoof, and a door appeared in the middle of the room, which opened quietly to a glowing white. "Come in and see." One by one, they filed in, and gaped at what they saw. All about them, ponies were milling about, each carrying folders full of paper, or sorting paper into different stacks, or folding paper into envelopes and pushing them into express tubes that wove through the ceiling high above them. Sweetie was the first to ask what all three of them were thinking. "Princess Celestia? Where... are we?" Celestia sighed. "This is the Sidereal Bureaucracy. They're in charge of everything that goes in the world. Everything, be it past, present, or future, they keep track of it all. If anybody were to know anything about your destinies, it'd be them." She stomped a hoof, then called out, "Regulus! Your servant has need of your aid!" "Yes, yes, Celestia. I saw your arrival." A pony came down a nearby staircase, though he certainly looked very odd. He was dark brown in color, but he wore a green cape and a green crown-like circlet on his head. "And who are these children with you?" "They seem to have some sort of... issue with their cutie marks. So we'd like to see their files, please. If it isn't too much trouble." "Of course, Celestia." He gave a wide wave. "Right this way." They followed Regulus out to a far corner of the room, where a sign saying "PONYVILLE DIVISION" hung over a group of desks. Regulus hailed the pony working at the closest desk. "Virgo!" he said. "I need the files on Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. It's a favor for the princess." Virgo shrugged. "Sorry, sir," she said. "But my directory says they're not in Ponyville right now. That's not my jurisdiction." Regulus' eye twitched. "Well, no, they're right here, but--" "Then their files were moved to the Sidereal Bureaucracy Division." Virgo shrugged again. "Like I said. Not my problem." He sighed deeply. "Very well. Come, my dears." They hurried across the hall, running for what seemed an infinitely long time until they arrived at the next sign, which, just like the previous one, said its respective division on it. "Polaris!" The pony at the desk, who was wearing an explorer's hat Scootaloo recognized as being exactly like Daring Do's, looked up. "I need the files on--" "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, right?" Regulus beamed. "Yes, of course!" Polaris looked at him, perplexed. "I knew you were going to need them, so as soon as they moved to my division, I had a courier run them out to you." Princess Celestia facehoofed. "You must be joking. So where is the courier, then?" Polaris fidgeted with her hooves. "Well... I expect he's waiting for you by the entrance door." Celestia sighed. "Then... lead the way, Regulus." "Very well. I have a feeling _someone_ is gonna need some retraining." Polaris' eyebrows shot up, but he quickly added, "Not you, though, Polaris, you're doing just fine." They hurried back to the door Celestia had created, but to Regulus' growing consternation, no courier was in sight anywhere. He pulled the nearest worker aside and asked, "You! Where is the courier who came to deliver a file to me?" "Well, I saw you were going to the Ponyville Division, so I told the courier--" "No!" Regulus stomped his hoof, and the whole bureaucracy ground to a halt. "We are ending this farce right here! We'll jolly well wait right here until the courier comes and finds us, and not the other way around!" It was perfect silence for about five minutes, the quietest any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had ever heard. (To their credit, they didn't so much as move a muscle.) When the courier arrived (from the way they'd come, of course), Regulus snatched the folder from his hooves and said icily, "Thank you so much." "You're welcome!" the courier said cheerfully. Regulus sighed. "Now, let's see if we can get this matter settled." He opened the file, but the surprises were still coming. "Uh, my good man?" "Yes?" "There should be three papers in here, should there not? One for each of them?" The courier thought on this for a moment, then recalled something. "Oh yeah! I asked miss Virgo that, and she said, 'They're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They're a team.' So I guess they're all on the same page!" Regulus' eye twitched. "They're..." He laughed. "They're on the same page." He opened up the file and pored over the paper in front of him. "And I suppose all their information is on here." "Yep!" "Their names, their birthdays, their cutie marks." "Mm-hmm!" "In alphabetical order, as per instruction S7G.01-X?!" The courier nodded, unaware of what he'd just walked into. Regulus stabbed a hoof into the paper. "Then that means their names and their cutie marks don't line up properly, is that what you're saying?!?!?" The courier looked where Regulus was pointing, thought a moment, then laughed to himself. "Huh! Yeah. Oops. Guess that could be wrong. Thankfully it hasn't caused any problems, right?" There was only one thing you could hear at that point, and it was Regulus' heavy breathing. "Breathe, Regulus," Celestia said slowly. "It's not worth it." He sighed. "Yes, Celestia. I don't actually have to breathe, but I appreciate the nod just the same." The courier looked uncertainly between the two of them. "So... what do you want me to do?" Regulus closed the file and shoved it into the courier's hooves. "I want you to take this back to the star in charge, have them separate this file into three separate pages, and then assign the correct cutie marks to each filly. Do you understand?" "You got it!" The courier threw a snappy salute. "Take this paper, write out the three cutie marks, and make a new one for all three of them. Understood!" "No, wait--!" Regulus chased after the courier as he made his departure, and Celestia and the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched him go. "Uh... are they gonna be okay?" Apple Bloom asked. Celestia waved a hoof. "This is Regulus we're talking about. It'll be fine!" "And our cutie marks?" Scootaloo looked at her flank, where the apple mark sat quietly where it'd been all day. "I imagine it'll be gone when you wake up in the morning, once Regulus fixes your file." Celestia crouched down, looking at each filly in turn. "In fact, I think you're starting to feel really sleepy, like you could sleep for a very long time..." Sweetie yawned. "Huh. You're right, princess. Why do I... feel..." And all three of them quietly slumped to the ground, snoring and dreaming little filly dreams.
Epilogue"Let's go, Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hurried ahead to their latest wild scheme, but Apple Bloom slowed down to a stop. "Girls?" They stopped and looked back at her. "Yeah, Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Do y'all ever think..." she asked haltingly, "...that maybe we need to work on different stuff, on our own, if we wanna find our cutie marks?" "No way!" Scootaloo replied. "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If we're gonna find our cutie marks, we'll do it together!" "Hah, yeah. Don't know what I was thinking." And so they ran off to enjoy another perfect day. Hopefully without breaking too many bones before the day was up.
