A Marked Question

by Greatazuredragon

Rating: everyone
Tags: The Legend of Zelda, Comedy, Crossover, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Other
Length: 2325

Cutie Marks are a central point of pony culture. They are celebrated as the culmination of a pony’s special talent. As such, Singing Blossom couldn’t help but ask herself, what did her three new friends’ Cutie Marks mean?

Cutie Marks are an everyday, but extremely important aspect of pony life. They showed a pony’s greatest skills and talents, interests and aspirations, some would go so far as to say that they allowed a glimpse at a pony’s very soul itself.

If you could interpret the darned things, that is. Something that, more often than not, was easier said than done, especially when one considers the myriad of ways even the simplest of symbols can be interpreted and analyzed, and the many, many meanings even the most basic of marks could have.

As such, upon making three strange new friends with very similar and unique-looking Cutie Marks, young Singing Blossom couldn’t help but wonder: What did their Cutie Marks mean?

This is a Canon-Compliant Omake for my story The Power of Freedom, meaning that basically what happens here happened off-screen in the main story.

In this, we see Singing finally getting her answer to the question she first tried to ask Ganondorf during chapter V, about what his Cutie Mark means.

Timeline wise this tale took place around chapters XI to XII of the main story.

Beta Reader: The Amazing Emtu!

Featured! 05/28/2021;05/29/2021; 05/30/2021

Published 2021-05-28 14:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2021-05-28 14:50:01 UTC

Of Symbols and Symbolism

Of Symbols and Symbolism

Walking through the dirt path that led towards the clearing where her big sis was training under Mister Ganondorf’s care with a picnic basket carefully balanced atop her back was a young yellow-coated filly. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she thought about what she intended to do.

Singing Blossom was a filly on a mission! As she walked through the small woods around the village, she couldn’t help but think that far too often something seemed to happen that stopped her from getting the answer to what she sought! But now it would be different!

Her mom asking her to bring lunch to Ganondorf and Forest was the perfect opportunity! There would be no one to interfere this time, what with how far away the clearing was, and with the food to keep Mister Ganondorf there and preventing him from leaving, she would finally manage to get the answer to what his cutie mark meant!

With a solemn nod, Singing picked up the pace, eager to get to the clearing as fast as possible so that she could find out what the three golden triangles that were her new friends’ cutie marks really meant.

As she finally reached the clearing, she stopped for a moment to take in the sight before her. Forest was splayed upon the ground breathing heavily, her body covered in sweat, looking really, really tired. So, just like always after her lessons were over. By her side, looking completely untouched and fresh while giving her downed big sis an assessing look, with a hint of respect in his golden eyes, was the large brown-coated stallion that was her target.

So far so good, everything was as she expected!

What was unexpected, was the green-coated pegasus calmly talking with Mister Ganondorf, and the white-coated unicorn by his side that was looking from Forest to Ganondorf with a hint of curiosity in her blue eyes. That was not part of her plan.

For a moment, Singing hesitated. This was way more ponies than she had initially expected. But then her eyes fell upon the golden triangles that adorned Mister Link and Miss Zelda’s flanks. The sight of two more cutie marks, so very similar to the one the large earth pony had, made her firm her resolve. There was no backing down now.

She would have her answers!

“Hi, I brought lunch!” she cheerfully exclaimed, bouncing into the clearing. The idea that she was finally going to have her question answered filled her with enthusiasm. “I thought only big sis and Mister Ganondorf would be here, so I don’t know if there will be enough food for everybody! But then again, mom made a lot of food! Now that I think about it, she made way too much food for just two ponies! I wonder if she knew that Mister Link and Miss Zelda would be here! So maybe there will be enough food! Guess we will have to eat first in order to find out if there is enough food or not!”

As her enthusiastic, rapid-fire speech filled the clearing, her three new friends looked her way with various types of smiles on their faces. From Miss Zelda’s polite and kind smile, to Mister Ganondorf’s big and open one, to Mister Link’s tiny but very amused one. She hadn’t even known that there could be so many kinds of smiles but a few days ago! Learning new things was always cool! Adding her own beaming smile to the collection, she placed the basket down and grabbed the blanket on top, though the fact that Forest simply groaned on the ground instead of putting her own smile forward herself was kinda sad.

“Thank you for bringing lunch to us, Singing,” Zelda politely said to the tiny filly as her horn glowed blue. A moment later, her magic had grabbed hold of the blanket and extended it on the ground so neatly that there wasn’t a single wrinkle visible upon it. Magic could be really neat!

“You are welcome!” she happily replied, starting to take in the sandwiches and other foodstuffs Beautiful had packed and giving them to Mister Link as he moved to her side and proceeded to help to place them on the blanket. This was good, because there really was way more food than for just two ponies in there. How did her mom know that Mister Link and Miss Zelda would be here? Perhaps she could solve that mystery after getting her answers here!

“What the little Princess said, squirt,” Ganondorf added with a laugh as he briefly hoisted Forest from the ground and placed her atop one of the corners of the blanket. Her sister had no reaction as he did so, save for her cheeks getting that funny crimson color that they seemed to be getting so frequently these past few days. Her big sis could be so silly at times!

“Hey, Mister Ganondorf, I have a question,” she asked after a few moments while giving a pair of sandwiches to the large earth pony.

“What is it, squirt?” Ganondorf asked, placing the first sandwich in front of Forest before promptly taking a bite of the second one. Meanwhile she gave some food to Zelda, who politely thanked the filly.

“What does your cutie mark mean?” she eagerly asked him, looking at the large earth pony with big soulful eyes.

“Din’s fury, this name again,” Ganondorf grumbled in a barely audible tone of voice, causing Miss Zelda to let out a small chuckle by his side as she daintily took a bite of her sandwich. Giving the white-coated unicorn a brief aggravated look, Ganondorf then turned his gaze towards Singing before simply answering. “Power, the meaning of the symbol upon my flank is power.”

Tilting her head to the side, Singing tried to understand how exactly a golden triangle could represent power. Giving Mister Ganondorf’s cutie mark a good long look, as if it could solve her confusion for her, the yellow-coated filly tried to link that concept with the mark. A moment later she decided that she wasn’t having much success. And so, voiced her confusion.

“So all three of your cutie marks mean power? And how does a large golden triangle made of other smaller golden triangles mean power anyway?” she confusedly asked, tilting her head to the other side, as if a different angle could give her the answer to this puzzle.

“Not quite young Singing,” Zelda said while putting her sandwich down upon the blanket and giving Singing a warm smile. “The symbol that we share is called the Triforce.

“Its whole story is long and complicated, and as such, it can wait for another time,” Miss Zelda explained to Singing, her tone of voice greatly reminding the tiny filly of when Old Oak was teaching her about a new poultice or remedy. “But, basically, it is a very old symbol from our homeland, and it symbolizes the merging of power, courage, and wisdom into a united whole.

“Have you perhaps noticed that for each of us a single triangle is brighter than the others?” the white-coated unicorn asked while gesturing with a hoof towards her own flank, where the bottom left triangle was indeed brighter than the others.

“Yes, I noticed that!” Singing immediately replied, firmly nodding her head.

“That is because each of the three triangles represents a different aspect of the Triforce,” she continued with a chuckle, her hoof briefly mussing Singing’s mane. “Mine would be wisdom, Link is courage, and Ganondorf’s so happens to be power.”

“The best of the three by far!” Mister Ganondorf boisterously declared, cutting off the unicorn’s explanation.

“Debatable, even at the best of times,” Miss Zelda immediately shot back with an annoyed huff as she gave the large earth pony a look that Singing usually received from Beautiful after doing something her mom thought was silly.

“Would you care to repeat that, Princess?” Mister Ganondorf asked with a fanged smile as he placed his own food down and got up, cracking his neck one way and then the other.

“Your inability to understand my words already proves my point by itself,” Miss Zelda replied as her eyes narrowed, also getting up for some reason. “Wisdom is the most important of the three by far. For without wisdom, how can one prosper?”

“Oh, don’t kid yourself, Zelda. Wisdom without power is useless!” the brown-coated earth pony loudly boasted as he slowly approached the white unicorn, his golden eyes looking straight into Miss Zelda’s narrowed blue ones. “What good is knowing what you must do and how to do it, if you don’t have the power to actually do what has to be done?”

“Power without wisdom is nothing but an illusion and a fallacy, and you know it, Ganondorf!” was Miss Zelda’s prompt rebuke, as she too approached Mister Ganondorf until their muzzles were almost touching each other. “Without the wisdom to act as a guide, all that power accomplishes is to turn people into unthinking brutes that believe raw strength is the answer to all problems!”

“And without power to back them up, all that wisdom accomplishes is to turn people into trumped-up scholars that cannot get anything done!”

Soon the two started to bicker and argue about which was better, wisdom or power. A moment later, Mister Ganondorf had dared Miss Zelda to prove her words with actions; all of it was accompanied by a few words that Singing had never heard before, which nonetheless seemed to cause Miss Zelda’s eyes to narrow even further.

Soon afterward, both ponies were leaving the blanket behind as they moved towards the center of the clearing, eyes locked against each other before, with a surge of motion, they started to spar against each other. Singing watched wide-eyed right next to a still barely responsive Forest, and a calmly eating Mister Link, who just so happened to be finishing his fourth sandwich.

As the earth cratered and bolts of blue magic filled the air, Mister Link finished the last bite of his sandwich, and after grabbing a napkin to clean his mouth turned to Singing and spoke.

“What they both mean, Singing, is that each of the three aspects have their own uses and abilities,” the green-coated pegasus calmly explained, his blond mane swaying in the slowly strengthening breeze, not really paying any mind to the confrontation between the two other ponies happening but a few meters away. “But, while each of the three are indeed quite mighty in their own right, it’s only when the three are together that they can truly soar.

“Just think. You have a problem that needs solving, but while you know what to do, you lack the strength to do it. Not much will be accomplished, right?” he asked to his now very attentive audience; Singing, who was also not really paying much mind to the spar despite how the earth was quaking, it being something that also happened fairly often nowadays, fiercely nodded her head, since that made sense. “And even if you know what to do, and have the strength to do it, not much will be done unless you are brave enough to go and do what needs to be done.

“But likewise, if you have the courage to act, but lack the other two traits, things won’t work that well now, will they?” he serenely continued. Singing’s eyes widened in realization as she got what Mister Link meant.

“Just like when big sis fought those meanie gryphons!” Singing happily exclaimed, all but jumping into place in excitement. “While she was quite brave and tried to fight them off, she wasn’t strong enough to do it, nor did she have a plan to deal with the situation!”

“Precisely, she had courage, but lacked wisdom and power,” the pegasus firmly stated, a proud smile on his features, even as the sound of wood cracking thundered in the not-so-far distance.

“And that’s why she is now training with Mister Ganondorf so that she can fix that!” the filly proudly declared, quite happy that she had solved the mystery.

“Indeed,” Mister Link agreed, both of them all but ignoring the sounds of the still ongoing spar. “Remember this, Singing, for, when Courage, Wisdom, and Power work together in harmony, very few things cannot be achieved.”

Thinking about this newfound revelation, of how three very different things could work together, helping each other grow, and creating something that was far greater than each alone, Singing came to a single conclusion.

“That’s really neat!” she cheerfully proclaimed as she looked at the green-coated pegasus by her side, a beaming smile on her face even as she shivered a little due to a sudden gust of wind.

“Yes, Singing, it is indeed really neat,” Mister Link agreed with a small smile of his own, as he lightly tousled the filly’s mane with a wing, before resting said wing atop her small body as if a makeshift blanket in order to protect her from the cold wind that was now blowing.

Nestling herself closer to Link, quite happy with her new warm blanket, Singing accepted the sandwich that was being offered to her, relaxed, and got back to watching Ganondorf and Zelda continue to play together, quite happy that she had finally gotten the answer to her question.

Author's Note

This Omake was Richmaster’s gift as the holder of the 3000th comment in TPoF. He wanted a scene where Singing finally got her answer to the question she had made in chapter five about what the Triforce Wielders’ Cutie Marks meant, and here we are.

I really liked how this shaped up, to the point that this is now Canon to the main story, making this the second Canon Omake I have written, right alongside ‘A Will of Iron’.

Hope you all enjoyed it.