Chapter One: Where It All Started
Dear Butch,
Cutie Marks.
For a world that has a plethora of magical races, the one thing that sets the far flung pony races apart from the other races is that one thing that defines everypony-- that one thing that sets him or her apart from everyone else; the Cutie Mark.
Even fancy scholar ponies like Princess Twilight aren’t precisely sure where the Cutie Mark came from, or why only the pony tribes- even the hybrid tribes, like sea ponies or Quillin -get them where others don’t. That’s not to say that they haven’t tried, nor that there isn’t studies to trace the record of their first appearance.
Explaining it as magic is not a satisfying answer. Even the animals of this world have some magic. As Princess Twilight would say, magic is a fundamental part of how life works. So saying that getting a pair of Cutie Marks on one’s backside is a result of ‘magic’ is too simplistic.
Even though there’s only theories as to why they started to appear, there is proof as to why they do. As one of my teachers told me, they are the result of an external effect of a ponies’ mana as a result of self-discovery. In other words, when a pony finds that one thing that sets them above everypony else, the thing that brings them the most joy, they subconsciously mark themselves.
That last one is why ponies that lose their magic lose their marks. Or when marks get switched, it subconsciously affects their belief in what their ‘special talent’ is. Also, ponies who lose their memories often lose their mark as well, which is sad.
Unfortunately, the Cutie Mark, or lack thereof, can be a knife between young ponies. I don’t know how things are where your from, but not having one for a pony in my homeland is a mark of being ‘different’.
As if a mark on one’s butt is what defines them as a pony; that’s not how it works. Took me years to figure that out though.
For my friends and I, trying to find our Cutie Marks was a grand adventure. Or at least it was for them. I wasn’t as interested in finding it as much as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were, though I took great pains to seem like I was.
Looking back, I think I may have tried a little too hard on that front.
I mean, yeah, the idea of the Cutie Mark Crusaders was partially mine (actually, I’’m not sure which one of us girls came up with the idea first; it might have been Bloom), as well as the Rainbow Dash Fan Club, but finding one wasn’t my real reason for starting the club.
I just wanted to hang out with my new friends, and I saw how much torment Apple Bloom went through because she didn’t have hers. Not to mention, I really wanted to rub the fact that I had a cool one in the snouts of those two rich bullies. More on that later.
Growing up as a late-blooming pegasus born to earth ponies made making friends hard for me. The CMC really helped with that, though in hindsight, we probably scared the horseshoes off a lot of the towns-ponies with the stuff we pulled.
But yeah, the CMC is a lot of fun. We still do stuff together, though not as destructive as we used to-- though that is relative. I could write a book about the stuff Bloom and Babs get up to with their respective talents.
As for the Rainbow Dash Fan Club, I’m no longer its President. She’s still my idol, but every little filly has to grow up sometime. She’s a sister to me now, in everything but blood.
Everything that matters.
So, I have a princess for a sister, and a princess for a teacher. I’m really connected, aren’t I?
Anyway, I was talking about Cutie Marks.
You know what, I think just telling you how my friends and I got ours would better describe my thoughts on them.
So, here’s my story; it’s not much, but it’s mine.
Just one more story in the long tale of Cutie Marks.
And how mine showed me that I belonged to an exclusive club. A story that marks me as a part of the legend that is the Sky Dancer.
“So, what do we wanna try now girls?”
Apple Bloom’s chipper voice trailed off after she said it, looking at Sweetie Belle’s slightly glum expression, and my wing-shrug.
The three of us were in our Clubhouse, looking over the list of things we had tried in our quest for the Almighty Cutie Mark.
I was beginning to think it was hopeless. At this point, we’d tried nearly everything. Quite a bit of it was stuff that a trio of fillies had no business trying; not to mention dangerous.
Did I mention fun? I’m sure I did.
Besides, I was more than a little distracted. My father’s Gypsy sister was visiting, and some of the stuff she was showing us had me really interested.
“Well, what haven’t we tried yet?” Apple Bloom asked.
Sweetie looked at the board that had our most recent attempts at finding our marks. “By the board Scoots put up, it looks like we’ve pretty much done everything we can, except for Cutie Mark Mountain Climbers and Cutie Mark Skydivers.” Sweetie Belle scratched her head. “Why do we have the last one there anyway? Only one of us has wings, and after what we did with Cutie Mark Crusaders Hot Air Balloon Pilots, I don’t think Cherry Blossom is gonna let us use her balloon.”
“Ah can’t do either of those anyway,” Apple Bloom said in a glum tone. “Mah sister and brother said that if Ah was to pull one more dangerous stunt to try and get mah mark, she was gonna tan my tail.”
Sweetie cringed. “My sister said the same, and my parents backed her up on that. And I was grounded for three days the last time I tracked tree sap into Carousel Boutique.”
I wasn’t paying much attention to what either of my friends were saying; my mind was elsewhere. I still had the dance that my aunt had done the night previously on my mind. Apple Bloom noticed this, and did her best to get my attention.
“Scoots, are ya there? Equestria ta Scoots, are ya with us?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry Bloom,” I said a little sheepishly. To cover my embarrassment, I looked at the board myself. “Ah, girls, I don’t think we should try any of the ideas we have left. The princess told my parents yesterday that she’s cordoned the cliffs off on account of the slides the last unplanned Everfree storm, in order to keep ‘a trio of mischievous fillies from doing something both stupid and dangerous.’ I’d also get my tail tanned if I did anything else that caused any more damage.”
The three of us sighed in frustration. “Well, what are we supposed to do? Ah don’t want a stupid cutie mark! Though with mah luck, it’ll have somethin to do with apples. Family rumor says the Oranges are flukes in mah family.”
Remembering something that my aunt had told me about dance forms, I started to look for similarities in each of their stories. I was a little bored with all but Rainbow’s at the time, even though I did catch the most important part; the mark itself. Or at least, what I thought was the most important mark.
“Girls, I think we’ve maybe kinda been trying the wrong things out in getting our marks,” I said slowly. “Everything I’ve suggested has always been fun things. Apple Bloom, you and Sweetie often suggest constructive things.”
I walked up to the board and erased everything I’d written up on it earlier. “I’ve just thought of something. Everypony we’ve ever asked who has gotten their mark has told us something important. Mushy, but important.” I listed all of those who have told us their stories, or those who we knew of who had gotten their mark.” I put the names of all who had told us their stories on the board. It wasn’t a lot.
“I seem to remember each one having done something that they enjoyed, or had discovered something about themselves just before their mark appeared.” Sweetie Belle raised her hoof. “What Sweetie?”
“Um, Scoots, what does them having found something out about themselves have to do with getting our marks?” Sweetie pointed at our cloaks. “Making beautiful things doesn’t have anything to do with my sister’s talent.”
Apple Bloom got up from where she was sitting, a look of confusion on her muzzle. “Mah sister wasn’t doing anything when she got her mark, other than coming back to the orchard. How does that help us find our marks?”
“Don’t you see girls? We’ve all been trying things that other people are good at to get our marks, or things that were fun, but wouldn’t give a practical mark.” I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. “And a lot of that was kinda my fault. I’ve really been more into just having fun with you guys than trying to get my mark.” I looked at my blank flank. “It never really bothered me as much as it seemed to. It was more of an excuse to just have fun with you girls.”
The other two just looked at me. “But Scoots, you’ve been the reason we did all of the things we’ve done. Don’t you want your mark?” Sweetie asked.
“Well, yeah, I’d like to have it, which is why I really think we need to figure out what they were all trying to say that day.” I pointed to the first name on the list, which was our teacher Cheerilee.
“Um, Scootaloo, she never told us her story,” Apple Bloom began, only to have Sweetie interrupt her.
“But she did, at least, she told us what it meant.” Sweetie bounced excitedly as she spoke. “She said that she got her mark when she realized that her true joy was teaching!”
Apple Bloom brightened at that. “And mah sister said that she got hers when she realized that her home was where her family was, back at Sweet Apple Acres,” she said in a tone of dawning awareness. “Twist and ah were gonna do something together the weekend of Diamond Tiara’s cute ceanera, only she’d already got her helping her sister make sweets.”
I nodded excitedly. “Fluttershy got hers when she realized how much joy she felt when she realized that she could talk to animals. Pinkie got it when she realized how happy she was making other ponies happy.”
“My sister got hers when she realized how beautiful the gems she had found made the dresses she had made. That tied into what she had already decided to do, which was to be a fashionista.”
“Let’s not forget Twilight; she got hers when she hatched Spike’s egg. All that stuff about the connection they all had.” I started to giggle. “Remember the ‘Happy Hoofy Dance she started to do when she was telling us?” The others giggled at that as well.
“What about Rainbow Dash?” Apple Bloom asked. “Oh that’s right, she got it when she realized that going fast was her greatest joy. Even though she had done the Sonic Rainboom, that wasn’t what made her happy.”
“That’s it! That’s what we’ve been missing. Everything we’ve tried was something that was either fun, or something some adult pony did.” I pointed to the board. “Each one of them had found their cutie mark when they found something they were good at that made them happy. Not necessarily a special talent, but that one thing that makes them special.”
“We’ve been going at this the wrong way. We’re trying to do things together to find our marks.” I scuffed a hoof ruefully as I said the next part. “I guess my wanting to spend my time doing fun stuff with fillies I had something in common with made me suggest things we could all enjoy.”
I turned towards the board. “But a cutie mark is personal. Whatever our talents are, it’s not gonna be found by doing stuff that might be fun, but doesn’t have any real practical meaning.” Something caught my eye. I moved over to the corner, where I found an old flyer for the Ponyville Elementary School Talent Show.
I giggled as I remembered the award we had actually won. “Girls, remember when we did the routine for this? I’d tried to write a song, Sweetie had tried making some costumes, and Apple Bloom, didn’t you try some sort of dance routine?”
Apple Bloom moaned. “Ya ah did; didn’t work all that well. Ah’m not co- cro- oh, dangitall, what’s the word--”
“Coordinated,” Sweetie Belle said helpfully.
“Ya, that’s the word. Ah’m not coordinated enough for that sorta thing. Am still havin trouble with rope tricks.”
“Yeah, but you’re really good at coming up with new things. Not so much the building, as the designing,” Sweetie Belle said. “Look at how well you did with that growth potion; well, after you stopped trying so hard.”
“Well, what about you Sweetie? Y’ all are really good with words and such. Hay, you’re even good at the piano and stuff.” Apple Bloom put her hoof to her chin thoughtfully. “Ah’ve never noticed it until now, but y’all are as natural at singing as Fluttershy is.”
Sweetie Belle looked down. “Well, yeah, I guess I can sing. but how does my being good at singing, or your good at coming up with new things help us finding our cutie marks?”
“Sweetie Belle, weren’t you listening?” I pointed to the board again. “Every single pony written here found their mark when they figured out about a part of themselves that they were not only good at, but that brought them joy.” I looked down sadly for a moment. “I don’t think finding cutie marks is something we can all do together.”
My friends looked at each other sadly. I stared at the flyer for a moment, thinking of some way that we could all combine our efforts together. Suddenly realizing there was a way, I started to grin. “Actually girls, I think there is a way that we could all combine an individual effort to find our marks.”
I pointed towards the costumes in the corner. “We could set up ourselves our own little talent show. This time though, each one of us is gonna do something that we might actually have a talent for, instead of going for the wrong idea.”
The girls looked at each other, smiles appearing on their muzzles. “Hang on, how’re we supposed to do all this without getting in trouble?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Why don’t we ask some of our friends for help?” Sweetie Belle said thoughtfully. “I mean, there are colts and fillies in our class that have some skill with building stuff.” She then looked at Apple Bloom. “And I’m sure you could ask your brother to help you. If you did so the right way, he’d even keep it from Applejack, as I’m sure she’s the one that’s threatening stiffer punishments if we all try something that could get us hurt again.”
“And I have another really good suggestion,” I said. “Sweetie Belle, I know that you love to sing. You could get better at it if you asked Fluttershy or maybe even Lyra Heartstrings for some lessons. Fluttershy would be a better bet though; we know her better.”
Sweetie nodded enthusiastically at that.
“What are you gonna do Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked me.
“Oh, I have some ideas,” I said, a sneaky grin on my face. “Oh, we should probably make sure that at least some adults know what’s going on. None of our sister’s, as if this works, I’d like to surprise them.”
The other two nodded. We all raised on our back hooves to do a new version of our cheer:
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Talent Team, Yay!”
So saying, we all took off to different parts of Ponyville, on a mission to do something to find our talents that could actually work. Though I’m sure it was more so we could do something that we all thought might be lots of fun.
I think I should introduce myself before I go much further, as it’ll help explain the suggestion I had given my two best friends that day. My name is Scootaloo Brightfeather. My name is something of a family joke, as I don’t really have bright feathers.
My parents are Stern Glow and Bright Lily, though my mother usually prefers just Lily. They’re the best parents a filly can have, and I love them both to pieces. They really couldn’t help me with learning to fly though.
My parents are both earth ponies. And before you say anything, they are my real parents. I share mane and coat colors with them- which is usual in many earth pony families, though not always the case in pegasus bloodlines -only in reverse. Except my mother has a fetching azure stripe that curls around her barrel.
The fact that I was born a pegasus caused my family some issues. They’re originally from Fillydelphia, though they were forced to move after my father lost his city job because he sired a pegasus. That worked against them however, as Princess Celestia ruled that the City of Fillydelphia had to pay a sum of 3.5 billion bits to displaced workers, as every worker they let go was done so because of being of mixed races.
Equestria lost 7 of its oldest noble houses that year, and my parents got enough money to start their business.
We didn’t move before I started school, so I had to endure some teasing as a result of parentage. For a time at least, until the Princess got word.
Last I heard, the Dean of Fillydelphia’s School Board was still working on one of the Pie Family Farms with a mitigator and several limiters strapped to his horn.
Then when I finally get someplace where I won’t feel left out because of my mixed heritage, I get flak because I had trouble flying.
Oh, and because I was still a blank flank.
Of course, not having my cutie mark wasn’t that much of a bother. Being teased about not having it, and seeing two other fillies get the same from a couple of rich twats was a bother though.
Yeah, I really didn’t care for Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon in those days. It’s different now, what with being a really good friend with SS, and having DT as a frenemy.
Strange thing, the Power of Friendship.
Anyway, once we had moved to Ponyville, some of my more far flung family members were able to visit. And they did, though not very often. Gypsy ponies are like that.
My aunt is a prime example of the traveling folk, especially her talent with dancing.
Now normally, you would think that something like dancing wouldn’t interest a pegasus. Like with anything else, it all depends on what kind your talking about. Most of the formal types of dance are too rigid for pegasi; we really enjoy freedom of movement when we dance. And not that silly frou-frou dancing high-society ponies do either.
Gypsy dancing, on the other hand, is a celebration of the music and the freedom of the Gypsy lifestyle. Many ponies love to watch it, even though it has the tendency to be a little provocative and sensual at times. But not in a bad way; more in a way that expresses the joy of life.
My aunt is a savant when it comes to this type of dancing. She only has to see a dance move once before she is able to mimic it nearly flawlessly. I’ve since seen her dance many times, as I journeyed with her clan for a while as part of my studies.
But that’s getting a bit ahead of things.
All of what my aunt had said the night before got me thinking. I began to see that my love of both my scooter and fast speed was secondary to the joy I felt when I watched somepony dance. Some of that went into the suggestion I gave to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle that day.
So, there you have it; a bit about myself. There’s more, but you’ll have to hear the full story to get it.
Frustrating, I know. And now you know how little fillies and colts feel listening to boring stories.
Probably should get back to my tale; Pinkie Pie is getting anxious. I’m not sure why, as she was there for a good portion of it.
That’s Pinkie Pie I guess.
Butch, I know what you’re thinking here. ‘Scoots, you’re rambling. You’re gonna confuse your audience if you keep doing it.’
Well, that’s just tough. I’m not writing a book, I’m telling a story, and everything I said there helps explain what all happened. Besides, nopony has to read this.
I’m not even sure why I let you, Rainbow, and Princess Twilight talk me into writing the blasted thing. Saying that there should be some record from ‘Ponyville’s first Sky Dancer’ is a lame reason.
The only reason I am is because my sister insisted. I really can’t refuse her anything; of course, I seldom try.
Well, I should probably continue, shouldn’t I?
Okay, okay, I’ll stop rambling.
Here’s the rest of what happened that day.
Author's Note
So, here's another story connected to my little AU.
I got curious about the backstory to Scootaloo and the rest of the CMC having got their cutie marks in Light's Rising, Shadow's Fall. Pretty soon, that curiosity turned to a desire to write it out.
And now I have yet another fic made up of horsewords.
I'm not sure how many chapters this fic will have; likely not very many, as it's a side fic. I will say this much though; I plan on working on it some more, and will likely be able to finish it a lot quicker, as it isn't going to deal with everything the other two fics connected to it will.
That being said, it's likely that this fic will remain incomplete until near the end of this fic, as some of what is happening in the linked fic will likely tie into this one. I'm not for sure though; like I said before, I'm not really in charge of these fics. They write themselves for the most part, with occasional input from my muse.
There's something I'd like to address here though. I know that Scootaloo seemed to go off on a tangent near the end. She's actually telling a story, so a lot of this has the feel of an autobiography. At the same time, there are interspersed snippets of and even full letters that she's written to a pen pal.
If it seems that her writing is a little bit higher educated than you would think that Scoots would, it's my head canon that the cute orange filly is smarter than we see in the show.
In any case, I hope this in up to snuff.
The last bit about her parents are backlash against all the blasted ScootAdopt and ScootAbuse fics I've seen on this site. Most of the former are reasonably good, if similar.
The latter I tend to avoid like the plague, as they tend to be tagged with the horrid tragedy tag. I really don't care for that tag.
The reason for the backlash? It's in response to the assumption that since we've never seen her parents, that means she must be an orphan.
The only ones that that has been confirmed as being canon is Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh. And that only goes so far as their parents. They still have Granny Smith.
Seriously, I really don't get this fandom sometimes.
