And That's How I Got my Cutie Mark
Love is in bloom, a beautiful bride, a handsome groom...
"Blech, all this mushy stuff is making me sick." Scootaloo said, faking a gagging noise.
"Aww, it ain't that bad." Apple Bloom said, shaking along with the music that Twilight was singing. She and Scootaloo were standing on the edge of the crowd, watching everypony else dance.
"We have two more days in Canterlot, I say we do some Crusading, team!" Scootaloo said, jumping up and pumping a hoof in the air.
"Yea!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo clapped hooves, but suddenly noticed part of their team missing. "Where's Sweetie Belle?"
They searched the crowd for several minutes before finding their Unicorn filly friend dancing with Twilight Sparkle's friend, Spike. "Sweetie Belle, we're goin' Crusadin'!" Apple Bloom said.
"Sweet!" Sweetie Belle hopped into the air and tossed off her dress. The three dashed off, leaving Spike to scratch his head in wonder.
"What should we do?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"How about we ask somepony here how they got their Cutie Mark?" Scootaloo suggested.
"Wow!" Apple Bloom whinnied, "Ah'm surprised! You didn't ask us to do somethin' dangerous!"
"There's not much we can do with this crowd around." the orange filly replied. The three scanned the crowd. "Oh, that's a cool cutie mark!" Scootaloo pointed at Vinyl Scratch, who was nodding her head along with the music as she sat in the crowd. Pinkie Pie had taken over as DJ.
"Hiya, Scratch!" Apple Bloom greeted the white unicorn with red eyes and a blue streaked mane and tail.
"Hey, fillies." Vinyl said, patting the yellow Earth Pony on the head with a hoof. "Why aren't you dancing?"
"We wanted to go crusading for our cutie marks!" Scootaloo said, flapping her wings rapidly and lifting herself an inch into the air as she bounced.
"How did you get your cutie mark, Scratch?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Oh, that's a great story!" Vinyl said, standing. Let's go someplace quieter."
The four ponies clopped through the crowd and came to a place on a hill. They could still see the party and hear the music, but it wasn't quite as loud.
"Now here's the story...."
A filly Scratch sat on the doorstep of her home in Fillydelphia. "Scratch, please brush your hair!" a call from inside startled her. "It's a horrid mess!"
"Mom, I don't care what my mane looks like!" Scratch called back, stomping a hoof, even though she knew her mother couldn't see. She heard hoofsteps as her mother raced to the door and flung it open. Scratch's mother was a gray Unicorn with a black mane and tail, purple eyes, and a acoustic guitar for a cutie mark. Her name was Strum.
"Scratch, you must keep yourself neat! Who would you trust, a clean, tidy mare or a rugged, dirty mare?" Strum demanded, using her horn to levitate a brush in the air.
Scratch tried to run away, but Strum surrounded her with glowing magic and pulled her back. As Scratch sat there, forelegs crossed angrily, Strum used her magic to run the brush through her blue striped, messy hair.
"Hehehehehehehe! Having fun, Scratchie?" Scratch looked up to see her sister, an exact copy of her mother except she was an Earth Pony, giggling at her with a hoof on her mouth.
"Shut up, Octavia." Scratch growled, kicking the air in front of the gray filly's face with a hoof.
"Don't use such harsh language, Scratch!" Strum snapped, pulling the brush harder so it tugged her head back.
"Ow! Mom, quit it!" Scratch smack the brush out of the air and raced away on short legs.
"Vinyl Mozart Scratch, get back here right now!" Strum called after her daughter, chasing her. Ahead, Vinyl Scratch weaved through buildings, trying to shake her mother off her tail. Suddenly, the clopping behind her seized and she relaxed, slowing to a trot.
"Oh! Oh! Are you telling that story of how you got your cutie mark, Scratchie?" suddenly, there was a bouncing pink Earth Pony in the middle of the group.
"Pinkie Pie!" Scootaloo groaned, "We were listening to a story!"
"Oh, I should tell you about how i got my cutie mark, it's a doooooooooozy!" Pinkie dragged out the last word to emphasize its 'dozy-ness'.
"Pinkie, we already heard you cutie-"
"There were once three tribes, the Pegasi, the Unicorns, and the Earth Ponies!" Pinkie began, waving her hooves in the air. "They didn't like each other much, not at all! But one day, there was a blizzard-"
"Pinkie," Vinyl Scratch put a hoof on the pink pony's shoulder and pushed it down so she would sit, "I think that's the story of how Equestria was made."
"Duh!" Pinkie said, "maybe I should tell you how I got my cutie mark!"
"Pinkie, we were listening to Vinyl Scratch's story!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Oh, right, sorry." Pinkie sat beside the fillies and made a motion of her face like she was zipping her lips.
"All right, continuing on..."
Scratch was watching the ponies bustling around town when suddenly, *crash*! She fell backwards onto the concrete sidewalk. Rubbing her head, Scratch looked up to a magnificent white Alicorn with a flowing, pastel rainbow, flowing mane.
"The princess!" she breathed in awe.
"Oh, hello, little filly." Celestia said kindly, "I'm sorry I bumped into you."
"Oh, no, It's my fault." the white unicorn filly scrambled to her hooves then bowed in front of the princess. "What are you doing in Fillydeliphia?"
"No need to bow, young one." the princess nudged Scratch with a hoof. "I'm in Fillydelphia to pay a visit to an old friend of mine."
Scratch stood straight and gazed up at the princess in wonder. A friend of the Princess lived in Fillydelphia? Suddenly, there was a grunt of pain, and she noticed two guards standing behind the princess, carrying a DJ stand on their backs. "Why do you have a DJ stand with you?" Scratch asked.
The Princess smiled, though surrounding ponies gasped at how casually Scratch was speaking to her. "I was going to ask the old friend of mine to become my new DJ, because my other one quit."
"That's so cool!" Scratch bounced up and down. "Can I come with you visit your old friend? I love DJs!"
The Princess thought for a moment. "Sure, why not?"
"I am deeply sorry, Miss Celestia, but I simply can't be your DJ." a colt was saying. "I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer."
"That's quite alright, Record Spin." Celestia said kindly, smiling. "I shall find someone else to be my DJ."
"I'll do it!" Scratch hopped up and down to show how eager she was. "I'll be your DJ!"
"I'm sorry, Miss Scratch, but I can't have a filly be my DJ."
"Please, Princess, I want to be a DJ!" Scratch pleaded.
Celestia thought about. "Well, there are so many other DJs I could ask, but this little filly wants it so badly. I guess if I do at least let her try out for the part of being my DJ it will save me tracking down my second choice all the way in Las Pegasus..." Then the princess spoke to the filly. "Miss Vinyl Scratch, please come and play on this stand here, and I shall choose if you are good enough. Of course, I'll need to check with your parents if I do approve."
"Of course!" Scratch raced over to the guard who had the huge DJ stand on their back. Celestia's horn glowed as she took off of the Guards' backs and set it carefully in front of Vinyl Scratch.
The little white Unicorn filly clopped over to the stand and used her horn to levitate a random record out of a shelf on the side. She dropped it on the player and put the needle on it. She used her magic to spin the record and a slow tune started playing.
Scratch rolled her eyes, she hated slow music. How about she livened this music up? She increased her magic, making the record spin faster and faster. Somehow, the music was turning into a fast-paced rock song. She put one hoof on each side of the record and scratched it randomly, making a nice bass song in the background of the song. She started shaking her head to the beat and waving her tail back and forth.
Suddenly, she stopped. She heard laughing. turning around, she saw Princess Celestia with a hoof on her face, giggling. "That's amazing, miss Scratch!" the Princes said, "You really have a talent for this."
"I'm just that AWESOME!" Scratch turned around and leaped up onto the stand. She sat on top of the record and started spinning it, starting up the fast-paced rock beat again with her sitting on it. She spun around and around and laughed delightedly.
Then the music stopped and she rolled off the record, head spinning. "I'll talk with your parents, Vinyl Scratch." Celestia said, for it was she who had stopped the record. "I think you might be one for the job. Oh, and one more thing." She pointed at Vinyl Scratch's flank. The little filly forced her eyes focus through her dizziness and look where she was pointing.
And on her little white flank was a black music note.
"My cutie mark!" little filly Vinyl Scratch squealed with delight. "I have my cutie mark!"
"And there's your story!" Vinyl Scratch finished.
"That doesn't help much." Sweetie Belle said, "It's not like we can just walk right up to the Princess and ask if we can work for her."
"Or can we?" Scootaloo said, pointing with a hoof. Celestia was sitting with Twilight Sparkle at the edge of the crowd. The little orange Pegasus raced off towards the elegant white Alicorn, followed by her friends. That left Vinyl Scratch and Pinkie Pie sitting alone on the hill.
"Oh well, I'm gonna go rock out!" Vinyl Scratch said, galloping down the hill and heading for the DJ stand.
