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load operation_cutiemark.fnd
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The next day was a Friday, and once class was over it would mark the beginning of a three-day weekend, a break from schoolwork coveted by many fillies. For Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, however, this marked the beginning of a new era in their lives.

Indeed, they had accepted the offer of One-Hit Wonder, codenamed Numbuh 911, to join the unfamiliar organization called the Foals Next Door. It was only last night that they had been informed of the worldwide battle to end this horrible yet ridiculous concept called 'adult tyranny'. The details still remained fresh in their minds, and many questions swirled in their heads like cotton candy in a machine. Was everything they'd been taught growing up really a lie? Was having a cutie mark really all that and a bag of Nightmare Night candy?

But that wasn't their concern right now. Instead, their concern was class. The clock continued to tick in what seemed like the longest day of school they'd ever had.

Today, in World History, Ms. Cheerilee was talking about the history of Equestrian Wars, including the Saddle-Equestrian War of 711 ALB. Specifically, she was lecturing her young, studious fillies about the fateful terrorist attack the Saddle Arabians made on Canterlot on June 26th of that year.

However, for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, the Crusaders weren't paying full attention. For one, it may have been that they would get to know the full truth behind these different wars. Or, it might have been that they would be able to make history, one that might not go down in the 'adult'-made books. Or, it could have been that they were busy staring at the clock.

Whatever reason, be it mundane or mysterious, they forced themselves to seem like they were paying attention.

'RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!'

"Alright class, once again your homework is to complete the questions in page 33 in your History Book," the teacher beamed. "Have a wonderful 3-day weekend!"

With no more distractions to concern themselves over, the students all rushed out the door to enjoy their weekend, and the Crusaders, Twist, and Button Mash - now or soon to be known as the Foals Next Door - headed to Sugarcube Corner...

"It was real nice of ya to treat us today, Twist!" smiled Apple Bloom. "Ah mean, ah know we're doin' official stuff an' all, but we could've paid for mah own."

"Oh, it wath nothing," Twist lisped. "However, even if you offered to pay it still would have been free."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, thith ith the funny thing, right?” she smiled. “You know how One-Hit Wonder ith new to Ponyville?"

Indeed, it was only a few days ago that One-Hit Wonder had come to Ponyville. It was all but assumed that he moved in out of nowhere, from the island off the coast of Saddle Arabia, but even that was put into doubt now.

"He's been here since Tuesday,” Scootaloo mused. “Why?" It took a split-second before she realized what she meant. "Oh, you mean-"

Almost if it was on schedule out of the blue came the sights noises of party poppers, horns, and confetti as Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's Premiere Party Planner sprang out of nowhere to welcome the fillies that sat at the table. Indeed, because One-Hit Wonder was, in fact, a new pony by default, he had the esteemed privelege of getting an all-expenses paid 'Welcome to Ponyville' party from Pinkie Pie herself. And with her came the guest of honor, One-Hit Wonder himself.

He was so happy to be here, he even wore an over-the-top party hat, just for the occassion. His deadpan, unamused scowl spoke volumes of his enthusiasm over the party she threw for him. One Pinkie Pie left to go get the cake and ice cream, he sighed.

"I look ridiculous."

Scootaloo had to stiffle a giggle.

"Yes, go on, laugh it up," he grumbled. "I just wish someone-" (here he glared daggers at Twist, who gave him a toothy smile in return) "-had told me about Pinkie Pie."

"Oh lighten up, One-Hit Wonder," chuckled Scootaloo. "It's a party."

"Yes, a party that is wholly unnecces-" he complained, before being rudely shushed by everypony at the table. "...What?"

"Rule of hoof,” Sweetie Belle warned, “if Pinkie Pie offers a party on her paycheck, never refuse.” He tilted his head in confusion. "Trust me on this."

He sighed. "Very well. However, we need to go over basic information about the enrollment to the FND Training Academy; we can't simply put it off because of a party."

"Right."

One-Hit Wonder had explained to them the night before that the location of the academy was, simply put, very cold. So when he laid down a couple of posters, advertising a place called "Camp Maredock", a 'fun for fillies of all ages summer camp', complete with pictures of fillies having fun in Spring-Time activities, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle were baffled.

"...ah thought this was a winter camp, not a summer camp," Apple Bloom remarked. The way One-Hit Wonder described made it sound like it was a grueling process. This didn't look anything like it.

"It'th not," Twist whispered. "Thith ith juthet the cover-story. We don't thow the actual Camp Maredock for obviouth reathons. Uthually, we taketh new recrutth during the thummer, and it goeth from the firtht of June to the theventh of July, and 'thummer camp' ith the typical cover thtory."

"But why obscure the winter part?" asked Sweetie Belle. “I thought most fillies would love to play in the snow.”

"Well, that's a fair point," smirked Button Mash, "but most fillies don't play in the snow during the summer. And would your parents be willing to send you off to the military?"

"...good point.”

“However,” noted Scootaloo, “it's the middle of April, so there's still a ways to go, right?"

"Applications go from-" began One-Hit Wonder, before pausing. "...hold on a second."

He motioned everyone to quiet down as the bounding steps of Pinkie Pie came pronking forth with the party food. She'd baked him a huge, extravagant cake, gihugic in stature and slathered with blueberry-colored frosting. There were six miniature fake party cannons placed on the edge of the layers, colored velvet red for the occasion.

"Here you go, One-Hit Wonder a cake with very berry blue! I baked it extra special, and it's just for you!" she sang, prompting a couple of giggles from the other fillies. She also put the rest of the desserts on the table, including a trio of milkshakes for the Crusaders, a peppermint chocolate bar for Twist, and a sundae for Button Mash.

"Miss Pinkie Pie, this really isn't necessary," he complained.

"Oh, quit being such a silly filly, One-Hit!" she beamed. "I mean, it's not banana this season."

He rolled his eyes as she bounced off. "'Not banana this season', she says," he deadpanned. "I do not understand her at all." Twist coughed.

"Well, er, do you like blueberry?" Scootaloo sighed.

"Yes, but that doesn't explain how she knows I like it," he grumbled. "And let's not get into what she calls a 'doozie', or her twitchy tail, or-"

"Don't ya worry none 'bout Pinkie, One-Hit," reassured Apple Bloom. "She's just being Pinkie."

"...just being Pinkie? What in the world does that mean?"

Scootaloo tried to go into more detail, but Twist cleared her throat, so she decided not to. They were getting off-topic, anyway.

"Anyway...applications go from the 5th of January to the 8th of May, so I'll need the three of you to fill out a basic form so an official Foals Next Door operative can submit them to Global Command."

"Global Command? Where's that?"

"On the Cloudbase," explained Button Mash. "Oh pony, the Cloudbase. It's this really cool cloud-tree-station-thing that orbits Equestria and it's where the Soopreme Leader, Numbuh X-squared commands all active operatives."

"Really?" asked Scootaloo.

"Yep. I'll explain more on the trip to Camp Maredock. But it's super cool," he gushed, "and I highly recommend checking it out when you get a chance. It's got these super-cool new inventions called elevators and escalators, and don't even get me started on the sliding doors, and-”

So Button Mash, Twist, and One-Hit Wonder were gonna escort them to either the camp or the Cloudbase. That seemed really cool.

One-Hit Wonder cleared his throat. "Since apparently we're getting off-topic again," One-Hit pointed out, glaring at Button Mash as he did so, "I'll give these forms to you now, but you have to fill it out on your own time without anyone else watching. Is that clear?"

The Crusaders nodded, and he smiled. "Alright. Now...apparently I've got a huge cake to eat."

So they cut it into several slices so everypony could enjoy it. One-Hit Wonder got the first slice, obviously, but he offered the second one to Scootaloo. She accepted it, and savored the taste of blueberry. It was delicious. As they talked, they used the meeting slash party to catch up on what the other was up to these days, and what things they were up to outside of the Foals Next Door, and what kind of hobbies One-Hit had, etc.

As she munched on her slice, she noticed something very odd. Not once had Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon butt in to mock them. Not that she complained, but it was very weird. Usually they would come to pick on them at this time.

So she looked out the window to see what the outside was like right now.

And that's when she saw the both of them, smiles on their faces, confronting a large stallion, about the size of Big Macintosh, with a cowboy hat, a bandana, and a very thin staff.

This made alarm bells inside her ring very loudly. Typically, Diamond Tiara would avoid those kinds of 'disgusting mud ponies', not befriend them. So why in Equestria would-

"You alright?" asked One-Hit Wonder.

She blinked. Apparently she was staring off at a distance.

"Kinda. Hey, One-Hit Wonder, I got a question."

"Shoot."

"Well..." she gulped. "who is this Brandon Brander you were talking about earlier?"

He grimaced. "Remember those supervillains we talked about? He's one of them."

“Yeah...he'th nath-ty,” affirmed Twist. “Like, thuper creepy nath-ty.”

"Ah...I see. What does he, well, do?"

Diamond Tiara was talking to this stallion, and he seemed to have a smug grin on his own face as well. He had a deep, chocolate-brown coat.

"He's made it his goal to give every little filly in Equestria his own 'brand' of Cutie Mark,” explained Button Mash. “Normally it would be a good thing, but the problem is, the ones he gives out are cursed; they rapidly increase the rate of aging, and dulls their personality. Plus, he doesn't give them much of a choice. It's just sick and wrong.."

“So he's like this Starlight Glimmer pony Rainbow Dash talked about weeks ago,” she mused.

“Well,” admitted Twist. “I'll have to double check, but I think Tharlight wath a Foalth Next Door operative, but got kicked out for being an extremitht againtht all cutie markth.”

Diamond Tiara gave him a bag of bits, and smiled up at him. He took it, and said what she could have sworn was a 'thank you'.

"Which is why Sunday, I want you, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to remain OFF the streets," commanded Numbuh 911. “Got it?”

"Got it. But er..."

He shook their hooves, and they walked off as pompously as they ever had.

"What exactly does he look like?"

"Unicorn with brown coat and bandana," Twist explained, "though it'th kinda hard to tell with hith bandana on...He'th a darkly one, jutht tho you know."

"He's also got this evil looking cowboy get-up besides," Button Mash shuddered. "Cowmare boots, cowmare hats...kinda like Applejack, only eviler."

"Is 'eviler' even a word?" questiond Sweetie Belle.

"Ah think so, probably."

"No, I'm pretty sure-"

Scootaloo cleared her throat to get their attention, and took one last look outside the window. The stallion was now heading over towards Sugarcube Corner.

Towards them.

"You said he was coming on Sunday, right?" asked Scootaloo.

"Yes, if previous records of his attacks are to be believed," One-Hit Wonder noted. “I mean, a three day weekend is a prime time to attack.”

"Did they say anything about bribery?"

He blinked. "No, why?"

Then, realization dawned on them just as Brandon Brander walked through the door and toward the table the little ponies were sitting at. Everypony's hackles tightened in fear and anticipation as he licked his lips and gave the foals a toothy smile.

“Good afternoon, fillies and colts...” he grinned, his gravelly voice dripping with venom.

Button Mash glared at him. “What are you doing here, Brandon?”

He sneered. “Y'all probably know why Ah'm here, lil gamer grub,” he explained. He pointed towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, “but ah'll tell ya. A lil' birdie told me these lil' uns didn't have their cutie marks yet.”

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom instinctively covered their flanks.

“Oh, don't you worry none, little 'uns,” the stallion chuckled, “Ah'm not gonna hurt y'all. If y'all will sit still, it'll be over before you know it-”

“Did Diamond Tiara send you to- mmmpgh!” blurted out Scootaloo, before One-Hit Wonder covered her mouth and stuck his front leg before her.

He grinned, bearing his unpolished teeth in the process. “Oh, she did, and it was the derndest thing, too! These lil' rich fellers told me about 'oh how horrible it was you all didn't have yer cutie marks', and 'oh Mister Brandon sir, could you give these three poor unfortunate fillies the thing they've been searching for their whole lives?'...” he said, mimicking Diamond Tiara's obnoxious voice. “They're real cute.”

“Forget it,” warned One-Hit Wonder, giving the stallion a deep glare. “They're not interested.”

He glared at One-Hit Wonder. “Ah didn't 'spect to see you here, Numbuh Nine-One-Wonder,” Brandon Brander snarled. “But ah'll 'scuse that, considerin' you don't have yer cutie mark either.” One-Hit Wonder's scowl deepened, causing him to gwaffaw. “Yer all real cute, ya know that?!”

“Yeth,” Twist smirked. She looked at Button Mash and One-Hit Wonder knowingly, the latter of which levitated the remaining cake off the table. “And you know what elthe we are?”

He cocked his head. “Y'all tell me, Miss Sweetsmaker.”

And in that moment, One-Hit Wonder, known now as Numbuh 911, donned a pair of sunglasses, to indicate that it was on. “Foals Next Door...BATTLE STATIONS!”

Immediately after he called that out, Brandon Brander shot a quick bolt of magic towards them. Button Mash (codenamed Numbuh 64, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders recalled) jumped upwards with a makeshift gun-like weapon, while Twist (codenamed Numbuh 1619) and Numbuh 911 forced the table down to act as a shield. It proved surprisingly effective, and the table suffered little more than a dent and a few burn marks.

As Numbuh 64 whistled for every other operative in the room to gear up, Numbuh 911 turned to the Crusaders. “If Brandon so much as touches you with his Cutie Mark staff, you'll be 'marked' with his curse marks, and it's going to be a very rough process getting it removed.” He gave them a makeshift knife slash gun slash...ranch, apparently. “This is a-”

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FOALS NEXT DOOR 2X4 TECH: R.A.N.C.H.E.T.E.
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“-and it's set to defense. Use it to defend yourselves if he finds you. Stay there, and don't let him anywhere near you, got it?”

In fear, they nodded, and took the custom arms and he leapt into battle with his own R.A.N.C.H.E.T.E., dueling Brandon against his own staff.

They marvelled as the three operatives, now joined by Gallop (codenamed Numbuh 22nd Century) and First Base (who they didn't see at the meeting), effortlessly fought against this first adult supervillain as he whipped and swung his Cutie Mark staff around. He was a pony that Twilight could have easily taken down, though they noted that he was a lot stronger than most of the bullies she'd taken on before. So to see these foals take him on like they were, that left the Crusaders awestruck.

That being said, however, Brandon Brander was putting up a heck of a fight. He managed to block every attack the operatives mounted on him, and even countered them. For what it was worth, the Crusaders helped by shooting their R.A.N.C.H.E.T.E., but it did really little in comparison to what seemed like years of experience from Numbuh 911 and his friends.

Soon, Scootaloo started to notice something. “Aw no, I think I'm running out of ranch!” At the sound of her voice, Brandon's head immediately screwed towards their location, and he started walking over to them.

“Eep!”

Numbuh 911 jumped in between the stallion and the table, and boldly declared, “You will not pass.”
“Ahahaha...y'all crack me up, sometimes,” he grinned, as he cast a bolt of magic.

“Oof!” grunted Numbuh 911 as he got hit with the spell, subduing him onto the floor with the Crusaders and knocking off his sunglasses in the process.

“Numbuh 911!” gasped Scootaloo. She shook him to try to wake the unicorn foal, while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom kept firing with what little ammo they had left.

“Uuuurnnnnnng...” moaned Numbuh 911 with very little semblance of conciousness. “...don't turn the telly off yet, mummyyy....”

Soon, even Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bwelle ran out of ammo. Noticing their leader was down, Numbuh 1619 and Numbuh 64 called the others to dogpile onto Brandon. Unfortunately, he knocked them all back with a shield spell. As if he'd never been attacked, he walked forward to Numbuh 911.

“It's yer lucky day, nine-double-one,” he cackled. “Time for yer brand new cutie mark..”

Scootaloo looked at the adult, the monster that was about to fully defeat her friend. There was no way she was strong enough to take him on.

Then, she looked at his birthday cake, which was only partially eaten, with the fake party cannons still on the second laye-

'Wait...I got it!'

Without warning, she grabbed one of the miniature party cannons.

“Scootaloo, are you crazy?!” asked Apple Bloom.

But Apple Bloom's warning was ignored as the pegasus filly shot forward to cover her new friend, and aimed the fake cannon at the adult.

'BOOM!'

Brandon Brander was taken aback as the fake cannon actually shot a dense load of confetti and cake batter towards him, and he was knocked back, presumably out for the count. The other operatives slowly got up to see if Brandon Brander would get up as well.

“...”

After ensuring that he was in fact knocked out, they tied him up so he wouldn't be able to attack them when he regained consciousness.

Slowly, slowly, Numbuh 911 himself started to rouse from his forced slumber. “Urrrgh...what happened?”
Scootaloo took a deep breath, then explained, “The mini-party cannons on the cake had actual party cannons in them...I used them to take out Brandon.”

“You did? So you're the saviour of this mission?” he asked. She nodded. “...and how did a decoration contain a weapon?”

“Pinkie Pie?” asked Twilight, as she tried to calm her pastel-pink friend down. She came in here a few minutes ago and was tearing the castle apart in trying to find something. “What are you looking for?”

“One of my party cannons went missing!” Pinkie hurriedly explained, as she took a look in the library. “I think I left it in here when I was hiding them a few weeks ago, and I'm just trying to make sure I didn't leave one in here from then!”

“Are you sure it's not in the cake you said you were making for the new pony?”

“One-Hit Wonder? Yes, but I don't know if I hid it correctly! I can't believe I hid them so good!”

“...it's a long story,” Scootaloo chuckled. “But the important thing is, we're okay.”

Numbuh 911 nodded. “Good work, team..”

"Whoa! That wath awethome!" Twist complimented.

"You totally TKO'ed that scrub, Scootaloo!" squealed Button Mash. "He didn't see it coming!"

As the others cheered Scootaloo for the fact she took down a notorious villain, One-Hit Wonder started to walk off.

“Wait!” Scootaloo called. When he turned back to see what she wanted, she hooved him the glasses he lost.

“You forgot these.”

He paused for a moment, before telling her, “Keep them.”

“Wha- aren't they your's?” she asked.

“Yes, but...” he smiled. This, she thought, was the smile of a friend, “I think they'll look better on you.”

She gasped. “You really-” He nodded to confirm, and she returned his smile.

And as Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Twist, Button Mash, and every other operative in the room gave cheers to the savior of the day, Scootaloo smiled. If this was what being a Foals Next Door operative was going to be like, she'd be a part of it any day...

By Sunday, things got much calmer. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash had been told what happened at Sugarcube Corner, and the Crusaders told them some of the finer details. For obvious reasons, they omitted a few important details (i.e. Anything relating to the Foals Next Door), but they got the gist of it. Applejack and Rarity coerced their sisters into staying home for the whole of Saturday out of borderline parental worrying, but by Sunday Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were back in business. However, things were much different than before, and it was that afternoon that Scootaloo was heading towards the 'treehouse' on her scooter.

“Hey, Scootaloo!” called the brash voice of Rainbow Dash from atop a nearby cloud.

Scootaloo screeched to a halt. “O-Oh, hey Rainbow Dash!”

The rainbow-maned pegasus flew down to meet with her favorite filly. “So...I hear you're going to be off to Camp Maredock this summer, right?”

She gave a fake, cheesy grin. “Y-Yeah, it's gonna be super fun!”

Rainbow chuckled. “I'll bet. I hear it's really nice this time of the year.”

'By nice, it'll mean not as cold as normal..' lamented Scootaloo.

“Well, I just want to talk with you a second.”

'Uh-oh...'

“So...” Rainbow Dash declared, “I'm not entirely sure I heard correctly, but apparently you're the one who knocked this Brandon pony out a few days ago. Is that right?”

Scootaloo gulped. On one hoof, she wasn't allowed to talk about stuff involving the Foals Next Door, and she had to refrain from talking about her interaction with the supervillain. On the other hoof, this was Rainbow Dash, her idol and mentor way before One-Hit Wonder came to Ponyville. She couldn't just lie to her like that!

“...yeah.”

“Ah, I see...” Rainbow Dash trailed off for a second. Almost as if she were contemplating something. 'Almost as if she knew...'

“Why?” asked Scootaloo.

“Well, I mean, the pony was a jerk, to put it mildly,” Rainbow shrugged, putting a hoof around Scootaloo. “I'd rather you not get hurt, but everypony's gotta learn how to defend themselves at some point, so I'm glad you did it.”

'O-Oh..'

“Wow, thanks,” smiled Scootaloo, returning the warm embrace.

“Anyway,” Rainbow said, “I gotta run. The Princesses are holding the Summer Sun Celebration in a few weeks, and can you believe they asked me to perform a Sonic Rainboom at the celebration?!”

Scootaloo giggled. “I'd believe it. Nopony's as fast as you!”

Rainbow smirked. “You know it. Anyway, see ya, kid!”

And with that, Rainbow Dash flew off to go practice, leaving Scootaloo to head towards the treehouse. She waded her way through the thick of the woods upon her scooter until she found Numbuh 911 atop the same stump from before. Thankfully, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom found there way over at the same time.

“Greetings,” said One-Hit Wonder. “Did you get the form filled out?”

“You bet!” affirmed Scootaloo.

“Eeyup!”

“Yep!”

And they showed him the paperwork they had to fill out. He took a few quick glances at it before accepting it, and smiled. “Alright, I'll foward these to Cloudbase Headquarters, and in the meantime...” He levitated three tickets – train tickets, in fact – to the three little ponies, “here are your tickets. The train leaves on May 31st, destination: Maredock. Are you ready?”

Scootaloo smirked, and donned her new sunglasses. “I was born ready...”

end transmission
save mission specs? (y/n)
y
submit mission? (y/n)
y
logg out? (y/n)
y
numbuh 711 logged out▮

Author's Note

Numbuh 711 - Mission Logg #02

And with that, Operation: C.U.T.I.E.-M.A.R.K. comes to a close. But we're not done with Codename: Foals Next Door. No...we're just getting started.

One thing to note: I added the OC tag starting with this chapter with the proper introduction of the first of many FND-exclusive OC's in this fanfic, Brandon Brander. I decided to go for a gruff, tough cowboy adult as the starter, one that sounds like Grant Goodeve or something. He's the kind of fraud who promises something for children that they want, but gives them something they don't. Seriously, those guys are crazy!

Anyway, I think that's gonna be it for this mission logg. See you all next chapter.

incoming encrypted transmission
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZRT
BZZZZZZRZTRSTRZRRT
PzJmfHusPALbmH+jkPVtsFXkPDwXfh/dfrD8ZPMfg+c=
BZZZZZZRZTRSTRZRRT
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZRT
BZZZZZZZRTTTTis this thing working?
Okay, Numbuh 711 here. Sorry about that, the FND transmitter's been acting up lately, and it's been giving me encrypted messages for whatever reason. I'll try not to be too annoying with them, but just know it's gonna be a pain in the flank to keep it from acting up. In any case, I'm sure the encrypted messages aren't anything to worry about...
End transmission▮