There was a brief moment of pain, and then pleasure. The bone-deep pleasure of an emptiness she had never even noticed being filled, of finally fulfilling the role coded into the depths of her being, of the round peg sliding into the round hole. She lost herself in the pleasure of the act for a time, energy coursing through her body from the frogs of her hooves to the tips of her ears.
After a brief eternity she was, quite literally, shaken out of her trance. The adorable lavender unicorn filly who had just been shaking her regarded her with a tremendous grin.
“It’s your cutie mark, Apple Bloom,” squeed Dinky Doo. “You just got your cutie mark.”
“Ah just got my cutie mark?” replied Apple Bloom, her own face splitting with a grin. Ever since she could remember she’d dreamed of being grown-up enough to work beside her sister, helping her provide for Equestria. And now Luna herself had declared that she was ready. But then she froze, as a thought suddenly flashed through her head. She wasn’t in Sweet Apple Acres just now. She wasn’t helping to buck or plant or water apple trees. If she had just gotten a cutie mark, then what exactly was that mark?
She slowly turned her head, already knowing what she’d find there. And sure enough, there it was. The proof of her misdeeds, the mark of treachery. A single carrot, orange root and green leaves vivid against her butter-yellow coat, identical to the carrot she had just pulled from the dirt. All of a sudden, what had seemed harmless dabbling with friends, an afternoon looking after the absent Carrot Top’s fields in exchange for a promise of candy, had become deadly serious.
“NO!” screamed Apple Bloom. “No, this can’t be happenin’. Applejack is goin’ to kick ma out and Ah’m goin’ ta have ta sleep on the streets and eat the park grass cause Ah don’t have any money or job or…”
Sweetie Bell cut her off. “Stop it! Applejack isn’t going to kick you out, you’re her sister.”
“Ah was her sister,” retorted Apple Bloom. “But what am Ah now? Ah’m no Apple, that’s for sure and certain. Apples' don’t go consortin’ with other vegetables, it’s just not done. You know as well as Ah does what Applejack’s like when someone turns traitor on her. Or maybe instead of Applejack bucking ma out, Granny Smith’ll turn ma into a tree!”
“Can she do that?” asked Scootaloo skeptically.
“Ah don’t know! She used ta say she’d do it if Ah didn’t behave. Ah thought she was jokin’, but Ah ain’t so sure no more.”
“Only one thing to be done,” replied Dinky.
“Sneak Apple Bloom down to the ocean so she can run off to sea and become a pirate?” guessed Pipsqueak.
“Start a fashion of dresses for fillies before Applejack gets back from that competition?” suggested Sweetie Bell.
“Find some paint and paint over Bloom’s new cutie mark?” proposed Snails. While technically not part of the group of foals Dinky had talked into helping out Carrot Top in exchange for candy, he’d happened to be there that day to talk the local bugs into eating something other than carrots.
“No! Go talk to Miss Trixie, of course,” said Dinky. “Miss Trixie knows everything about magic. If there’s a way to fix this, she’ll know about it. And if she can’t help, then we’ll ask my Mom what to do.” She paused for a moment. “Though painting over Apple Bloom’s mark might still be a good idea. Keep adults from finding out until we figure out the best way to break the news to Applejack. And all of us will keep Apple Bloom’s secret, right?”
Dinky Doo and Apple Bloom departed to a chorus of oaths of secrecy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinky Doo rapped on Miss Trixie’s door. Beside her, Apple Bloom shuffled nervously under the mound of garden tarp. After a moment, the cerulean showmare opened the door.
“Miss Trixie!” said Dinky, trying to keep her voice steady. “There’s a problem that we were hoping you could help with, but you can’t tell anyone.”
Trixie’s gaze sharpened. “What problem? And who’s 'we'?”
“Promise not to tell anyone?”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Ok, I promise, by the moon and stars and my magic hat. I’ll keep your secret.”
Dinky telekinetically nudged Apple Bloom, and the foal responded by shuffling awkwardly forward through the open door.
“Is Mr. Pierce around?” asked Dinky, glancing back and forth for possible witnesses even as she closed the door behind her.
“No, not right now,” replied Trixie.
Dinky’s telekinesis grabbed ahold of the tarp and pulled it away with a flourish, just like a magician revealing something hidden on the stage. And Trixie’s response was just the response a magician almost always loves, her eyes going wide in astonishment.
“Luna’s Mane, you’ve got your cutie mark!” exclaimed Trixie.
“Ah know,” replied Apple Bloom, sounding thoroughly depressed. “Can ya do anythin’ about it?”
“Do…” replied Trixie, cocking her head to one side a hair. “What do you mean, ‘do anything about it’?”
“Make it go away!” half-screamed Apple Bloom. “Ah’m an Apple, Ah can’t be havin’ a carrot for a cutie mark. Applejack’ll kick me out of town, and Ah’ll have to go live in tha Everfree and mrrph!” Trixie’s sapphire aura had pinched her mouth shut.
“Ok, first, there’s no way in Tartarus you’re going to have to go live in the Everfree. I wouldn’t put it past Applejack to kick you out of Sweet Apple Acres the way she acts sometimes-,” Dinky winced internally at Apple Bloom’s reaction to Trixie’s cynical opinion “-but she can’t make the mayor kick you out of town, and half the town will be willing to offer you a place to stay. If nothing else, I’m sure Carrot Top will take you in.”
Trixie released Apple Bloom’s muzzle, though her horn was still alight. The foal took a couple of quick breaths, but didn’t resume her panicked oration.
“Second, I don’t know any way to remove or change a cutie mark once a pony’s got one. You can hide them with an illusion, of course, but no illusion lasts forever. And even if you could manage to hide your mark indefinitely, sooner or later Applejack would start wondering why you weren’t getting a cutie mark or you’d display too great a connection to carrots. I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s any way to hide this.”
“No,” sobbed Apple Bloom. “No, no, no.”
The filly lurched forward and grasped Trixie’s leg, sobbing into the dumbstruck unicorn’s cerulean fur. Dinky and Trixie just stared. What could either of them do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wind caressed Ditzy Doo as she trotted down the streets of Ponyville. Her cutie mark talent let her feel each individual touch as it ruffled her short silver fur and stroked her wing-feathers. She couldn’t help but arch a little under those etheric ministrations. It had been a long time since anypony had preened her like that.
As she came to the Official Residence Of The Representative Of The Night Court Of Luna In Ponyville (as the oversized sign out front proclaimed Trixie’s dwelling to be), one of Ditzy’s eyes froze as it spotted Dinky standing next to the mailbox. That was odd, she didn’t think Dinky had a magic lesson today.
As Ditzy deposited the day’s post in the mailbox, Dinky tapped her mother on the shoulder.
“Momma?” asked Dinky, looking up at her mother. “Do you think I could get your help with a problem?”
Ditzy pushed the last couple of letters into the mailbox and turned her attention to Dinky. “Sure thing, muffin. What’s the problem?”
“Well, I have this friend-,” Both of Ditzy’s eyes swung around to focus on Dinky. Was this “friend” her little muffin? If it was and Dinky wasn’t comfortable actually associating this “problem” with herself, it must be pretty bad. The thought took only a split second, not even interrupting her awareness of Dinky’s explanation. “-and she might have gotten herself in real trouble. She’s afraid that when her family finds out what’s happened to her she’ll be kicked out onto the street or banished into the Everfree and Miss Trixie already said she didn’t know any spells to make it go away, and I don’t know what to do!”
Ditzy’s eyes went in opposite directions again, her mind jolting as if she’d been bucked in the head. Dinky couldn’t possibly be saying what it sounded like she was saying. She’d barely even gotten her cutie mark, for Luna’s sake! Even Ditzy had been nearly twice her age when she’d gotten involved with Castor Cut. What kind of twisted pony would do that with a filly barely into double digits?
Ditzy was vaguely aware that her back had arched and her wings flared to full spread. Most ponies, Ditzy knew, confused Kindness with weakness. Nopony who saw her now would make that mistake. But right now, that strength was counterproductive. Faced with her mother’s rarely-seen anger, Dinky seemed to shrink, dropping her eyes and even cowering a shade.
Ditzy carefully pushed down her anger, calling up the more usual manifestations of her Element. Her wings dropped back to her side, her tensed body relaxed slightly, and her concern for her filly bubbled to the surface.
In addition, her mind began to work again. It really was ridiculously improbable that Dinky had gotten into that kind of trouble at her age. Far more likely that Dinky really was asking on behalf of a friend, like that time last Hearts and Hooves day that had ended up with her falsely accusing one of her best friends of seducing her muffin.
But even if Dinky really was asking on behalf of a friend, most of Dinky’s friends weren’t that much older than Dinky herself. It could be Amethyst Star, Ditzy supposed, or one of Ditzy’s own friends.
Before Ditzy could figure out what to do, she needed some more information. If Ditzy’s worst fears were correct and this really was a case of a mere filly falling afoul of some pervert, that would call for a very different response than if it were a young mare, old enough to know what she was doing and catch the attention of a healthy stallion.
“Dinky,” asked Ditzy, locking both her eyes onto her filly’s horn, “is this friend of yours a grown-up?”
“No,” replied Dinky, still apparently addressing her front hooves. “She’s about my age.”
Ditzy swallowed her nausea and began to search for words.
“Your friend needs to understand that this isn’t her fault,” she began. “I can promise that if she’s willing to be honest about what happened to her, nopony is going to blame her. This isn’t her fault, and it won’t define the rest of your friend’s life. Not unless she lets it.”
“Yes, it will!” Dinky’s voice cut her mother off, her eyes coming up to meet Ditzy’s. “That’s what a cutie mark does!” Her eyes went wide and she clamped her mouth shut.
Ditzy didn’t say anything, largely because she couldn’t think of anything to say. What did cutie marks have to do with anything? Had Dinky’s friend’s …experience… gotten her a cutie mark in sex appeal like in that novel she’d caught Raindrops reading the other day? At least since Dinky already had a cutie mark, it probably wasn’t something that had happened to her muffin. She was suddenly sure of nothing, except that she didn’t understand what in Tartarus was going on.
“Maybe you’d better come in and see for yourself,” said Dinky after a brief silence.
“Maybe I’d better,” said Ditzy, trying to marshal her thoughts.
The two clopped into Trixie’s residence. Inside, Ditzy found a rather sniffly earth pony filly sitting staring up at Trixie, while her friend cast spells into a familiar hair bow. One of Ditzy’s eyes focused on the carrot emblazoned on Apple Bloom’s flank, while the other settled on a shelf full of bourbon.
“Oh, so that’s what you were talking about, Dinky,” said Ditzy with a slight sigh of relief. No matter how much potential trouble Apple Bloom’s new cutie mark might cause, it could not even remotely compare to the horrors that she had been imagining just minutes before.
“Yeah.”
An awkward silence fell. After a long pause, Ditzy tried to break the proverbial ice.
“How’d it happen?” she asked.
It was Dinky who replied. “Me and a few of my other friends were doing some of Carrot Top’s chores while she was away at that competition thingy. She’d promised us candy when she gets back tomorrow. Anyway, Bloom had just pulled up a carrot when it happened.”
“Apple Bloom?” Ditzy asked. The filly turned to face Ditzy. “I know you’ve probably already been told this, but I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you. And I don’t think Applejack will be angry with you. No matter what cutie mark you may get, you’re still her sister. Amethyst had a lot better reason to be mad at Dinky than Applejack has to be mad at you, but they’re sisters, and that brought them together. And anyway,” Ditzy blushed slightly, “Big Mac would never stand for it.”
“Thanks,” said Apple Bloom.
There was a cerulean flash as Trixie finished with whatever she was doing to Apple Bloom’s hair ribbon. “Here, try this on now,” Trixie said.
Apple Bloom shakily threaded the bow through her hair. The carrot mark emblazoned on her flank faded, leaving her with an unmarked coat. Her legs gave out and her face shone with relief.
“ThankYouThankYouThankYou!” she gasped.
“This is only a temporary solution,” warned Trixie. “Sooner or later one of your family will spot you without the bow, or the enchantment will wear off. You will have to tell them sometime, but this should let you pick the time. I’d recommend waiting until you find out how Applejack did at the competition. If she did well, she’ll be in a good mood and you’ll probably get as good a reaction as we can hope for by just telling her off the bat. But if she didn’t do too well, and especially if she’s angry at Carrot Top again, you might want to wait a day or two to let the bad mood pass.”
“I’d say tell Applejack as soon as she gets home, and tell your family tonight,” argued Ditzy. “Applejack may not like finding out that you’ve got a carrot cutie mark now, but she’ll be ten times worse if she feels like you’ve been lying to her. We both know how much that mare values honesty.”
“Ditzy does have a point,” Trixie admitted. “Plus, if Applejack does take it really badly, at least having it happen in public, at the train station, will help make sure that she doesn’t get physical.”
Ditzy brought one eye around to glare at Trixie, while the other cataloged Apple Bloom’s cringe at this suggestion. “Trixie, stop frightening Apple Bloom. I’m sure Applejack won’t do anything to her own sister.”
Before this discussion could go any further, it was interrupted by a knock at the door. Apple Bloom disappeared into a closet while Trixie opened the door. In through the door there bustled what appeared to be at least half of Ponyville’s foal population. In between them they were lugging something heavy wrapped up in a blanket. Something that, upon the removal of the blanket, turned out to be a bound and gagged Pinkamena Diane Pie.
Trixie facehoofed. “I shudder to ask this, but is there a reason why you’ve just dropped a tied-up pink party pony in my foyer?”
“Cause we weren’t sure what else to do with her,” replied Pipsqueak. “She showed up at the farm to give us invitations to Apple Bloom’s cutecenera. I don’t know how she found out about it, but I don’t think she’s told anyone else.”
Apple Bloom trotted back out of the closet upon hearing that the arrivals all already knew about her predicament.
“Hey, your mark’s gone again!” said Scootaloo.
“It’s just an illusion,” replied Trixie. “The idea was to buy a few days for Apple Bloom to find the right time to tell her family, but I think that’s out now. No way we can keep Pinkie tied up that long.”
“We could ask her to keep the secret,” pointed out Ditzy.
Trixie considered that idea, then ungagged Pinkie. “How about it, Pinkie? If we let you go, will you promise to keep Apple Bloom’s mark secret and not hold the cutecenera until she’s found the right time to tell her family?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” replied Pinkie, accompanying the words with appropriate gestures.
Ditzy blinked. Trixie had only removed the gag. How had Pinkie gotten untied? But before anyone could ask, the pink party pony had pronked out the door, leaving the rest of the herd to stare at each other awkwardly.
“So, what now?” asked Trixie. “If you want to tell your family, I can come with you for moral support.
“I think I’ll wait,” replied Apple Bloom in a small voice. “I want to tell them all at the same time, so if they kick me out at least it’ll all happen at once.” He stance and voice grew a little firmer. “I’ll tell them all tomorrow, when Applejack and Carrot Top get back.” And with that, the filly turned and trotted out the door, the rest of the herd of foals following in her wake.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Around noon the next day, half of Ponyville’s population was gathered around the train station to welcome back Carrot Top and Applejack. Though far less prestigious than the Great Equestria Farm competition, the local competition the two farmponies had been competing in still gave out a few nice prizes, and both contestants had promised to donate large percentages of any winnings back into the town. However, this time there were an unusual number of foals stippling the crowd, and Ditzy Doo and Representative Trixie hovered close to where Applebloom stood with her brother and grandmother.
Finally, the train steamed into the station. Applejack dismounted, and dozens of hooves drummed in applause as she waved a grass-green second place ribbon to the crowd. One of Ditzy’s eyes noticed Carrot Top following her with a red third-place ribbon, but her other eye and most of her attention were focused on Apple Bloom.
The butter-yellow filly took a deep breath and stepped forward towards her sister.
“Applejack?”
“Yes, Sugarcube?”
“I’ve got something to show you. You too,” she said, turning towards her brother and grandmother and indicating them with a wave of her hoof. Ditzy and Trixie drifted closer, as did the small herd of foals.
“What is it?” asked Applejack somewhat absent-mindedly.
Apple Bloom dropped her gaze to the ground, tensed up, and in one swift jolt pulled the enchanted ribbon from her hair. There was a faint shimmer from her flanks as the illusion came apart. Trixie stepped forward to stand next to Applebloom, her horn glowing blue. Ditzy followed suit, wings partially extended.
It was Granny Smith who noticed it first. “Apple Bloom, yer cutie mark’s come in!”
“Huh,” said Big Mac.
Applejack stared in disbelief. “A carrot? How did you get a carrot for a cutie mark?”
Apple Bloom cringed away, but Dinky piped up. “If you’ve got to blame someone for that, blame me. I’m the one who talked Apple Bloom and some of my other friends into helping Carrot Top while she was out of town.”
“Blame?” said Applejack, looking a bit confused. Then she registered Apple Bloom’s look of fear. “Listen, sugarcube,” she said to Apple Bloom, “Ah don’t care what you’ve got on your flank, you’re still my sister. And there aint nothin’ wrong with a carrot cutie mark. An Apple’s job is to feed Equestria, but there’s no rule that says we’ve got to feed them apples. Carrots will fill bellies just as well. Shoot, Uncle Orange offered Carrot Top over there a place in the Trust last year.”
“Really?” Apple Bloom looked amazed.
“Really. Ask her yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“Yay! Now I can finally invite everypony to Apple Bloom’s cutecenera!” shouted Pinkie Pie, bouncing through the crowd tossing out invitations.
“We made you wait for less than 24 hours,” pointed out Trixie.
“That’s still way too long,” insisted Pinkie. “Now, let’s party!”
“Yes,” said Applejack, hugging her sister, “let’s.”
Author's Note
In case you're wondering, yes, the novel Ditzy caught Raindrops reading was by Estee. 
