Cutie Mark Crusade: A Lesson in Love
This story supports a Sweetie Belle x Apple Bloom relationship, and implies a Twilight x Rarity relationship. If you have a problem with lesbianism, shipping, or emotional subject matter including fillies, leave now.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and all associated ponies are intellectual and physical property of Hasbro and were envisioned by Lauren Faust. As such I have no claim to ownership of MLP:FiM and associated ponies.
Enjoy.
"Oh where is she?" Sweetie Belle moaned as Apple Bloom paces throughout the club house. "Why is she always late, I mean is it so hard to follow a plan?"
"Ah don't know, she has a lotta nerve to call us out here and be late herself."
Sweetie Belle pauses for a moment and asks, "Did she tell you why she wanted to talk to us?"
"Nah, just somethin' about gettin' our cutie marks." They both ponder for several moments. What had they not done yet? They were quite adamant about trying everything, but they had recently hit a creative block. Apple Bloom breaks the silence. "Hmm maybe—"
"GIRRRRRLSS" a loud shout comes from outside followed by a loud crash. Apple Bloom glances at Sweetie Belle, who returns the worried look, before they quickly scamper outside to survey the damage.
Scootaloo had crashed into, and subsequently broke, the cutie mark crusader picnic set. "Scootaloo ah just put that together, and 'twarn't easy!" Apple Bloom yelps at her.
"Oh..." Scootaloo nervously chuckles as Apple Bloom glares at her, "sorry"
Sweetie Belle decides to interject, "So what's so important that we had to rush down here this morning?" Scootaloo picks herself up, clearly thankful for the change in subject, "Well you remember when we tried to set up Cheerilee with Big Mac?" Her friends nod slowly, a little confused "Well maybe we can sell couples chocolate hay or flowers!" she shouts practically bursting from excitement.
Sweetie Belle gives Scootaloo a disapproving glance, "What kind of cutie mark will that give us?" Sweetie Belle slowly asks, but Scootaloo impatiently waves her question aside.
"Or maybe we can be mail carriers?"
"Ah don't know, Scoots, these seem a little—"
"—desperate?" Sweetie Belle interrupts Apple Bloom.
"Well I don't see you coming up with anything to do," Scootaloo snaps back with a frown.
Apple Bloom looks at Sweetie Belle. "She's right, we may as well try. An who knows, maybe one of us'll get lucky," She says trying to reassure Sweetie Belle. "But after this, you're helpin' me fix the picnic set, Scoots."
"Sure sure..." She mutters as she beckons her friends into the wagon.
The cutie mark crusaders travel all over Ponyville trying to sell sweets and flowers to the young couples in the area, much to their dismay, to no avail. Only about half of their deliveries were even successful.
"Ugh, geez, I'd say we'd get our cutie marks in failing, except that we haven't yet," Scootaloo moans as they sulk over to the mail station.
"Well, at least we know we ain't good at failifyin'...." Apple Bloom mutters and Sweetie Belle scowls at her "That's not a word!" There's a long pause in their usual dialogue before they both glance back at Scootaloo, who appears lost in thought.
"Hmm? Oh. What are you a dictionary?" The girls open the doors to the mail station and explain their dilemma to the clerk.
"I'm sorry girls, but we already have a Mailmare. We aren't looking for any sort of position I'm afraid." Dejected, they leave.
"Well, now what'll we do? Apple Bloom starts, apparently having forgotten, or perhaps too depressed to care, about the picnic set. Scootaloo goes back to thinking while Sweetie Belle lets out an exaggerated sigh. Before long they found themselves back at their club house.
"Erm...maybe..." Scootaloo starts to say something, appearing in some discomfort.
"Spit it out already." Apple Bloom scowls at Scootaloo.
"Maybe we can get a cutie mark for kissing?" The inflection in her voice suggests that she wasn't sure herself.
"Even so, we don't have anyone here to practice kissing with." Sweetie Belle sighs.
"Well...there's us..." Scootaloo retorts, already turning a deep red. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both swing their heads towards her, blushing almost as much.
"Nevermind, it's probably a bad idea..." She quickly dismisses her own idea.
"I...I hadn't thought of that..." Sweetie Belle mutters, "but..I guess I'm willing to try..." Scootaloo perks up at Sweetie Belle's comment and then glances over at Apple Bloom.
"Aah...ah guess if everypony else is down with it..." She stutters out, quite embarrassed.
After some nervous shuffling and finally deciding on an order to try it in Scootaloo asks
"Are we sure we're going to do this?" The other two nod nervously.
"How do we know if we're doing it right?" Sweetie Belle asks.
"Aah think you just do what feels right?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nervously approach each other. They slowly lean in and quickly kiss.
"Oh...that wasn't bad at all!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"Yeah, it was even...fun!"
"Aah guess that means ahm next." Scootaloo walks over to Apple Bloom and they repeat the same kiss that was done before. "Ah...yeah that 'twasn't bad at all!" As Apple Bloom begun walking towards Sweetie Belle, she suddenly felt very hot and her nervousness came back. "Sweetie Belle?"
"It's nothing..." Sweetie Belle takes a deep breath to calm down and closes her eye. She felt Apple Bloom move in, and then they kiss. Her heart starts pounding and she's almost shaking from anxiety but there is a warmth spreading from her lips and in her chest. And then it was over. Sweetie Belle thought that she has never had a more disappointing feeling than what she felt when the kiss ended.
"Sweetie Belle! Are you okay?" Scootaloo's voice sharply brings her back to reality
"Huh? Y...yeah I'm...fine."
"Well let's see your flank." Sweetie Belle looks at her flank.
"Nothing..." The other two look down in disappointment. It wasn't entirely true however. There was something, a new feeling Sweetie Belle hadn't encountered before.
Something New. Perhaps Something important.
Sweetie Belle was wallowing about in confusion after the kissing experiment, she kept trying to talk to Apple Bloom, but Scootaloo was always around. First they had to fix the mess Scootaloo had made earlier, then after that they fixed her scooter. It went on like this for a little bit and Sweetie Belle left, seeking out Rarity for advice.
"Big Sister, I need help..."
"I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle..." Rarity is rushing about her workshop, clearly in a little over her head. "I really need to get this order in and I can't afford any distractions." Rarity quickly glances at Sweetie Belle, "I'm afraid I'm a bit over my head here. I'm sure Twilight can help you with whatever is bothering you. I'm really sorry." She stops and offers Sweetie Belle a look of empathy when apologizing. Having nothing better to do, Sweetie Belle went to Twilight's library.
"Hmm?" Spike opens the door "Oh hiya Sweetie Belle..." He stops greeting her and glances around.
"Something wrong?"
"No I'm just used to there being three of you...anyways come on in..." He shouts for Twilight then goes through a side door.
"Sweetie Belle? What brings you here?" Twilight asks almost sounding worried.
"Twilight..." Sweetie Belle pauses for a moment "You really like Rarity don't you." Twilight raises an eyebrow at the seemingly random question.
"Of course I like her, she's one of my best friends"
"...no I mean you really like her don't you..." Twilight nervously blushes unsure how to respond. "We were looking for our special talents, and one thing led to another...and we practiced kissing..."
"Wait...you thought you'd get a kissing cutie mark? When you girls get your marks you're going to kick yourselves...sorry for interrupting, go on..."
"Well..." Sweetie Belle starts fidgeting. "When Apple Bloom kissed me, I...I really liked it. It made my chest pound and..." She trails off her face already blushing.
"You have a crush on Apple Bloom? What's the problem?"
"I...I want to talk to Apple Bloom about my feelings...but she's been busy with Scootaloo all day..." Twilight ponders this for a second or two.
"Sometimes you just have to be patient, but maybe we can do something..." Twilight suddenly shoos her outside "I need to talk to Rarity." Sweetie Belle looks at her a little confused, but Twilight wastes no time and heads to Rarity's workshop while shouting "Wait at your clubhouse"
Rarity, still a little ragged, doesn't notice Twilight enter. "Rarity!"
"WAHHAAAHH!" Rarity nearly falls over, startled by Twilight.
"I didn't mean to startle you..." Twilight apologized. "Oh Rarity..." Twilight looks at the mess and begins sorting it. "You know I'll help you if you ask me..."
"Oh I know dear, I didn't think I would have so many.....err....problems." Twilight scowls at her comment.
"Anyways, did you know Sweetie Belle has a crush on Apple Bloom?" Rarity drops her needle and fabric and quickly tackles Twilight.
"She does?! This must be what she needed help with..."
"Yeah..." Twilight gets up and brushes herself off and explains Sweetie Belle's dilemma.
"We must help her..."
"I figured, but how?"
"Hmm well Scootaloo is always fawning over Rainbow Dash, Maybe we can elicit her help?"
Sweetie Bell was lying about the clubhouse. "What am I supposed to do...? Twilight told me to wait here, but now what now what do I do?"
"Erm...Sweetie Belle? Twilight and Rarity said you wanted to see me" Apple Bloom enters the clubhouse.
"Apple Bloom! I...erm...I wanted to talk to you about earlier..."
"...d'you mean...the kiss?"
"...yeah...I want to tell you..." There's a pause, Apple Bloom unsure of what to do or say, just waits. "I...really liked it..."
"what...do you mean?"
"I." She takes a deep breath, "I want to kiss you again." Apple Bloom blushes deeply.
"Ah'm...you really...?" Apple Bloom tries to stutter out a response. They both sit there a while before
"Ah think ah'd like that..." She whispers looking straight at Sweetie Belle. They lean in close about to kiss , but the door flies open and Scootaloo comes in.
"What are your girls doing..." She pauses. "Were you two going to...kiss?" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom quickly look apart blushing. "Do...do you two...like each other...?" There was an awkward pause, but Scootaloo quickly came up with an idea. "I bet you can't say it!" Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom look at each other, shocked at the dare Scootaloo just issued.
Sweetie Belle breaks the silence, her body almost shaking, and her eyes closed.
"—I—"
The words feel like they're taking an eternity to come out. There is no quavering in her voice, just determination.
"—love—"
This is it, last chance to back down. She'd felt that the words were coming naturally like it was just easy to say, but she could feel the weight of the words.
"—Apple-blmhph"
