open Cutie Mark Crusade!

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

@,

@@Yoshi89,

@@Littlecandylulu903,

 

"It is? Why's that?"

 

Blitz had been sitting near the campfire, nomming slowly on a s'more while starring at the charred wood, but when she had heard the others speak about how it was hard to manage in Manehatten without a cutie mark it made her curious, so she had gone over to the group again and currently looked between Brownie, Sunday and Babs.

 

She knew that cutie marks were important to fillies and colts from watching how Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell were chasing after it, but she had always just figured that it had something to do with finding your path in life quicker, and not something that would make it harder for you to not have. Did other ponies judge you if you hadn't it? It sounded weird to her if that was the case, but considering she couldn't remember the time before she got her own she guessed it was possible she just hadn't noticed, odd as it would be to judge anypony on in her mind..

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@@Blitz Boom, @, @@Littlecandylulu903,
 

"If you really want to know," Babs told Blitz. "Manehattan is a tough place to grow up in. When my friends were getting their cutie marks, they were distancing themselves from me. There really wasn't anywhere else to turn because I was getting bullied for not having one."

 

"Don't worry, cousin," Apple Bloom reassured her. "We forgave you for what happened when you first came to town. It's too bad Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon got to you first."

 

"We still taught them a lesson they'll never forget," Babs said with a chuckle.

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

@@Yoshi89,

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@,

 

Blitz looked sad when theyh mentioned how Babs had been bullied for something so pointless, and was about to say something to that, when the conversation veered off towards two Really mean bullies and what sounded like them having done something, which replaced the sad with happy grin and a curious mind.

 

"Oooh, I Love teaching those meanies a lesson. What'd you do to them? I bet it was something sneaky."

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@@Blitz Boom, @, @@Littlecandylulu903

 

"Well, I didn't do a whole lot," Babs told her. "Except when they gave us an attitude, I threatened to tell their mothers on them. They never bothered my friends with me around since."

 

"Babs is great to have in Manehattan, too," Sundae said, rising by her side.

 

"It's times like this I wish I could have two Babs Seeds around," Apple Bloom said, Babs patting her cousin on her withers.

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

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@,

 

"Heh, telling on them might be fun too. I can really see them being scared and getting flustered, 's a good one Babs."

 

The imagery of the two snobbish fillies hastily wandering off whilst mumbling under their breaths about *tattle-tales* made her giggle slightly. Suited them right when they were meanies.

 

"Ever thought about getting back at meanies? It's fun, and they stop being after you after a while."

 

While the others wouldn't know, Stormy, Pinkie, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would perhaps be able to recall some of the things she had done back at the two meanies when they had been after her the first bit of time she had wandered into town while they were wandering around.

 

From itching power to firecrackers, mock bombs and all sorts of random, non-harmful things, she had done a lot back when they had gone at her, or the few times she had seen them being real mean to the others, and these days they didn't even call her crazy to her face anymore. It was a bit of a shame though. She had some real good prank stuff she would love to test, and they just made the funniest test subjects ever.

[Littlecandylulu903 415]

@@Blitz Boom, @@Yoshi89, @,

 

Ace came back hovering in the air with his wings, with plenty of wood in his hooves. "I'm back everypony!" he called to them and put the wood down for them. He grabbed a stick and impaled some marshmallows with it before greedily chomping down.

 

"Hi Spellbind!" he said.

 

(Hey guys, is it okay if we have it that Ace was with the group the entire time?)

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@@Littlecandylulu903, @@Blitz Boom, @,

 

(OOC, I'm fine with that as long as everyone else is.)

 

Babs smiled at the mention of Blitz dealing with bullied. "Believe me, Blitz, meeting my cousin the first time gave me a lot of confidence. I'd say our Manehattan branch is stronger because of her, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo."

 

"Any s'mores-making cutie marks?" Apple Bloom asked, watching Ace chow down on his marshmallows.

 

"No," Brownie and Sundae answered in unison.

 

"So, what should we all do next?" Babs wanted to know.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Yoshi89

[Littlecandylulu903 415]

@@Yoshi89,

 

"Would you want a smore making cutie mark Spellbind?" Ace asked.

 

Spellbind sighed. "Honestly, I'd be fine with anything. When you're like me, you can't really afford to be choosy."

 

Ace sighed. He hated seeing his friend act like this.

 

He laid back and realized he needed to break wind. He did so, rather quietly, and nopony else heard it.

 

But what gave him away was the fact that the fire became more aggressive from the gas.

[Storm Shine 1,195]

@@Yoshi89,@@Blitz Boom, @@Littlecandylulu903,  

 

"So!" Storm called, jumping into the conversation once he'd finally cleared away the gigantic glob of melted marshmallow holding his mouth shut. "Who likes pranks?" He asked with a wide grin. "Because I think now would be a great time to share some pranking stories! One of my favorites is the prank that was played on Blueblood... Though we've also had some awesome pranks and prank wars right here in Ponyville, that's for sure!"

 

"Yuppers!" Pinkie agreed. "Remember that one prank war you and Blitz had? You two turned half the town into a pie-warzone complete with an entire street of confetti! And then the time we had that snowball fight."

 

Storm laughed at that, "Yeah! And I learned to never bring just your throwing arm to a party-cannon-powered snowball fight."

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

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@@Littlecandylulu903,

@@Yoshi89,

 

Blitz waved at Ace when he flew down looking with big eyes at the movement of his wings.

 

"One day..."

 

She mumbled a little under her breath before chomping down the last of the s'more that miiight have gotten a little... Okay, a Lot burnt after she forgot it at the fire, but hey, still tasted good. Just a little crusty.

 

She was about to mention something about the cutie mark question when Stormy brought up pranks and wanted to tell stories, which brought up the tiny, little war they had had back in the days by Pinkie, and then the one about Prince Blueblood. She had only heard about that one, but oooh, it had sounded So fun!

 

"Hehe, the prank war with Stormy was really fun. I bet if the mayor hadn't stopped us there'd still be some scorching and stuff around."

 

It was likely for the better that the mayor had, but still... It could've been Way fun.

 

She turned to Babs and the others she hadn't met before today with a big grin on her face and clapping her front hooves together at the mention of Pinkie's famous canon.

 

"Oooh, Pinkie's party canon rules! You should Really see what she can do with it. There's like, nothing, and then all of a sudden Poof! and there's confetti and hats and stuff everywhere."

 

Where the stuff it fired off came from she wasn't entirely sure about, but she bet it had something to do with that "fourth wall" thingie she had heard something about before. But oh well, she'd find out one day for sure, just a matter of time, and watching reeeeally carefully. And perhaps then she could make Stormy's canon even better. Just had to figure out the weird element in things.

 

"Right, we were talking about pranks and stuff too. Do you make some good pranks in Manehatten? Small? Large? Sneaky? Explosive? Colourful? Elaborate?"

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@@Blitz Boom, @, @@Littlecandylulu903,

 

"At this point, I'm just ready to accept whatever cutie mark I can come up with," Sundae told Spellbind and Ace. "It doesn't matter to me which."

 

"It does with me, though," Brownie added. "I wish my dad would stop pressuring me into finding my talent."

 

"But at least you're workin' hard for it, Brownie," Apple Bloom told him. "Applejack says that's what I've been doing."

 

Apple Bloom, her cousin and her Bucklyn friends then listened as the rest of the group started talking about her pranks. Babs didn't want to remember the kind she pulled when she first visited Ponyville but smiled when she remembered how it taught her to get around in Manehattan.

 

"Well," Babs said, turning to Blitz. "I remember when I first met some friends in my new school. We got back at some bullies by putting them in a trash can and rolling it down a hill. Those bullies never bothered us again but we still have other foals to deal with. It's every foal for themselves in Manehattan."

 

(OOC: I'm highly considering changing Brownie Chip's name to avoid connection with Brownie Bun of The Horse Wife's blog. If I do, another OOC post will be made to address the change.)

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

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@@Littlecandylulu903,

@@Yoshi89,

 

Blitz snickered behind her hooves at the images that was going through her head at what Babs had said.

 

"Hehe, trash can sounds like a fun one."

 

It wasn't the sort of ways she usually dealt with things, but she could see how it would work with the thump, thump, thump, and the wee from the inside. Granted, it sounded a bit like something she'd just do because it would be fun to try rolling down a hill like that, but if you didn't like that then it could be Really sucky to try.

 

After a bit more giggling though, and pondering over a few of the last words Babs had said, Blitz wandered really close to the filly, looked up at her and with a big, slightly manic grin asked her something.

 

"Say, you ever thought about using prank stuff on them?"

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@@Blitz Boom, @, @@Littlecandylulu903,

 

"Well, my pranks on the other crusaders are harmless," Babs told Blitz. "I wouldn't hurt them, not after what I did to my cousin and her friends."

 

"What we do is good fun," Sundae said. "When we're not hunting for our cutie marks, of course."

 

"Remember that time when you laced my mom's cookies with hot peppers, Babs?" Brownie asked her.

 

Apple Bloom burst into laughter while Babs smirked, trying her best not to crack up. "Yeah, Brownie," Babs told him. "I thought you were going to turn into a dragon the way you wolfed those down."

[Littlecandylulu903 415]

@@Yoshi89,

 

"Which reminds me..." said Ace. "Hey Spelly! I know how we might be able to get you your cutie mark!" he said. "Do you remember that trick I did once? We should go to the shop and get some baked beans, some brussels sprouts, and some matches."

 

"Uhhhhh I don't think so Ace," Spellbind said. "When you tried that trick, you had to have a cast on your butt for a month and a half."

[Fractured 2,683]

@Blitz Boom, @Storm Shine, @Littlecandylulu903,@Yoshi89, 

As Skyla moved away from the orphanage in Ponyville, moving quickly under the cover of night, she didn't look back. She just knew it was time to go somewhere, anywhere else, and she also knew that if she looked back, she would probably want to stay. And she couldn't do that. So, with nothing but a saddlebag with a few bits in it, she began running away, though she had no clue where she was going.

 

She eventually ended up on the outskirts of Ponyville by the forest, looking for...something. And she found it; with nothing more than a cry of surprise, she tripped and fell over a large root, tumbling down a small hill and landing next to a campfire and a group of ponies with a loud crashing noise.

 

She was alright, and stood up quickly, but was also stock still, looking at the group of ponies with a speechless expression.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Corona de Adamas

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@, @@Littlecandylulu903, @@Blitz Boom, @,

 

Babs fell to the ground, bursting into laughter when Spellbind reminded Ace of her fiery predicament. Fudge and Sundae just lightly chuckled at the thought of Spellbind running around with her plot on fire.

 

"We may be crusaders, Ace," Apple Bloom said. "But we ain't gonna do that to get our cutie marks!"

 

Just then, the gang heard a crash and rustling of leaves behind them. Fudge gasped and turned around, noticing the new dark pink filly before the others. Apple Bloom and Babs Seed beamed when they turned around to see her blank flank. By the time Sundae turned to look at her, she had already stood on all fours, not moving a muscle.

 

"Hello," Sundae greeted her first.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Yoshi89

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

@,

@@Littlecandylulu903,

@@Yoshi89,

@,

 

Blitz had been about to say something about the prank stuff not being anything harmful, just something that they'd never forget, when the tales around started to go towards something else involving fire and a cast around Ace's butt. She didn't say anything then because she wanted to hear more and it had sorta sounded like they were gonna start up on more with it... When they had another one roll down the hill and join them. Perhaps they should set a sign somewhere that it was dangerous to walk up there or something? Or a net down here to catch them?

 

Oh well, things to think on later. Right now, they had more company in the new filly she couldn't remember if she had seen before and that was more important to think about. Besides she didn't want to be the last to say hi to their new friend, that'd be boring, so she went more or less directly after Sundae..

 

"Hi new friend. You're okay?"

[Storm Shine 1,195]

@@Blitz Boom, @@Yoshi89, @@Littlecandylulu903,@, 

 

 

Storm and Pinkie moved towards the filly with smile on their muzzles, "Hiya!" Storm greeted, "Are you alright? That was probably a pretty big tumble... Though at least you didn't end up in the campfire like Spellbind nearly did."

 

"Yeah!" Pinkie nodded, "That would've ended badly." She giggled, remembering how Spellbind's flank had caught fire. It was a bad thing at the time, but it's always silly to remember those kinds of things later.

 

"Why don't you come sit down?" Storm suggested, "We've still got plenty of S'mores and snacks if you'd like some and you look like you may have been traveling for a while." He gestured at her somewhat ruffled and dirty appearance. Most of which was probably from the fall, but it's likely that some of it was just from traveling.

 

"Yeah!" Grey piped up, popping up on Storm's back and placing his front hooves on the blue pegasus's head. "Dad made sure to bring lots of snacks for everypony! And now we all know why he insisted on extra, considering the amount of random ponies popping up around here lately."

 

"Yeah" Scootaloo nodded, "For a couple of goofballs, your dad and Pinkie are oddly insightful sometimes..."

 

Grey nodded, "Yeah, Apparently something called the 'fourth wall' makes it easy for them to know a bunch of stuff. They say that they read the script and stuff like that. I don't know what it means, but I guess it works.."

 

Storm chuckled, picking Grey off his back and ruffling his mane, "Don't worry son, maybe one day you too shall understand cartoon logic."

 

"Dad~.." Grey complained, fixing his mane. "You know I hate it when you do that!"

 

Storm just continued chuckling, "I know, but a father's gotta tease his foals sometimes. Speaking of which, have you told scootal-Mph!" He was interrupted by Grey shoving his hooves into his dad's mouth. 

 

"Dad, you're not supposed to say anything!" He whispered frantically into the older stallion's ear before removing his hooves.

 

"I know, I know." Storm said with an easygoing smile, "Sorry about that son. Anyways..." He turned towards the filly, "Feel free to join us at the Campfire."

 

He began pointing everypony out, "I'm Storm Shine, that's Pinkie Pie, that's my adopted son Grey Sky, that's Scootaloo, that's Sweetie Belle, that's Apple Bloom, that's Babs Seed, that's Spellbind, that's Fudge Cookie, that's Sundae Shake, That's Blitz Boom (Awesome fireworks filly extraordinaire), and that's Ace" He introduced as he pointed in no particular order, "Most of the colts and fillies here are part of a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, all looking to find their Cutie Marks and help others do the same. Grey just recently managed to find his. Blitz isn't part of the club as far as I know but she's a helpful little filly, so I'm not surprised that she wanted to tag along."

 

"And of course I'm going to stay and help out the CMC!" Grey added happily. "I can't leave my friends just because I got my Cutie Mark after all!"

 

(OOC: Did I put too much? Jeeze, sorry about the wall of text everypony, you can blame my repressed RP instincts.   )

Edited August 27, 2015 by Storm Shine

[Fractured 2,683]

@Blitz Boom, @Yoshi89, @Littlecandylulu903,@Storm Shine,

Skyla was still a little shocked. Only now, it was because of surprise; she hadn't expected there to be any ponies out here in the forest in first place, and now she had to absorb all of this information that had just been given to her. Still, she smiled, albeit shakily; they were being really nice to her, and all of this strangeness and activity actually reminded her of the fillies and colts that had her been her friends back at the orphanage, giving her that familiar urge to not disappoint anypony. 

 

"Hi. My name's Skyla, it's nice to meet you all. And, i'm fine." The last past was directed at the second pony who had talked, Blitz Boom, if she remembered right, and the corners of her mouth turned up a little more as she said it. It didn't last too long though; all of the eyes watching her while she stood there was making her nervous. She went over and sat down, picking a seat next to the first pony that had talked to her.

 

"So...Cutie Mark Crusaders, right?" She spoke curiously as she glanced over at Sundae, hoping to start a conversation with her, and hoping that she would be nice to her, considering how she'd just dropped in.

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@, @@Littlecandylulu903, @@Blitz Boom, @,

 

"Nice to meet you, too!" Sundae said, offering her hoof to shake. "I'm Sundae Shake. We're all Cutie Mark Crusaders. We're all hoping to get our cutie marks someday." She moved to her side and waved her brother forward. "This is my twin brother, Fudge Cookie."

 

"Hi," Fudge said, blushing. "Pleased to meet you."

 

"I'm Apple Bloom!" Apple Bloom introduced herself. "And this is Babs Seed, my cousin, and my friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Me, Scoots and Sweets are Crusaders here in Ponyville. Grey Sky got his cutie mark today but he's still gonna be with us to help us get ours."

 

"Yeah, thanks for staying, Grey!" Fudge beamed. "You're a real pal for helping us out."

"I'll never forget any of my other crusaders, either," Babs added. "Whether in Manehattan or here, I've made a lot of friends and I'll never forget any of them."

"All thanks to your cousin," Sundae told her. "Without here, we'd have no Manehattan Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"In the meantime," Apple Bloom said as she picked up a stick and moved it in Skyla's direction, "why not have some s'mores with us?"

Edited August 28, 2015 by Yoshi89

[Blitz Boom 4,441]

@,

@@Littlecandylulu903,

@@Yoshi89,

@,

 

So Skyla, eh? Hehe, nice name. And she seemed really okay, just stumbled down and stuff, which wasn't so bad.

 

This time a night it could be all sorts of things like having gotten lost, really tired or sick, but she seemed healthy enough and she Had said she was fine so.... Yep, nothing to worry about there then, unless you considered why she was out here this time a night, but who were she to judge really? She barely used her nights to sleep and currently they were all out here camping, so taking a wander during the usual sleepy-time of colts and fillies? Sounded fair enough.

 

Besides, new ponies were always fun to meet, and another filly without her cutie mark would fit right into what they were trying to do anyway, so spot on with this.

 

"Hehe, just because you have your cutie mark doesn't mean you can't help your friends get theirs. New friends too, if you have the time and such Skyla? I mean, we're hunting for some marks, and Grey got his pretty fast today, so I bet we can be on a right roll tomorrow. with a bit of luck."

 

To say that Grey got his pretty fast could be seen both as him getting it within the first day of the two-town Cutie Mark hunting, and the fact that he had won it by being Really fast, but she did mean it in the first sense mostly, cause things did tend to get going in momentum. Bad things and good things alike tended to do that really, and right now, bad things wasn't happening, so who knew? Might have a great day with lots of results tomorrow. Or she might be superstitious, but oh well, they'd see.

[Fractured 2,683]

@Blitz Boom, @Yoshi89, @Littlecandylulu903,@Storm Shine,

"Okay, thanks." She smiled at Applebloom and took the stick, before poking a nearby marshmallow and slow-roasting it. She was glad to see that the ponies here were really nice and hospitable, and actually wanted her to stay.

 

But...the subject of cutie marks brought out a depressing mood in Skyla. When she had been staying at the orphanage, she had been the only foal in the group that still hadn't gotten their cutie mark. It seemed she had no special talent; at least, that's what she had secretly suspecting this entire time.

 

"I can help you guys get your cutie marks, if you want." She pulled her marshmallow out of the fire, and frowned; it was blackened and charred. "But, i'm not so sure about mine. I think i'm older than a lot of you here, and i'm still just..." she thought there was a word for this, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. "just somepony who doesn't have their cutie mark."

[Yoshi89 5,291]

@@Fractured, @@Littlecandylulu903, @@Blitz Boom, @,
 

"Aw don't worry, Skyla," Apple Bloom reassured her. "We have foals here of all ages. We all help each other out when we can. Plus, we have Pinkie Pie who's a friend to anypony. She can help, too."

 

"Yeah," Babs agreed. "And Blitz is right. Grey may have discovered his talent already but that doesn't mean we can't keep trying."

 

"Speaking of which," Fudge said, putting another s'more into his mouth and eating it. "Any s'mores cutie mark yet?"

 

"No, Fudge," Sundae told him after checking his flanks. "I don't think a talent for eating s'mores will get you too far, unless you're a woods-colt."

Edited September 1, 2015 by Yoshi89

[Storm Shine 1,195]

@@Yoshi89,@@Fractured, @@Blitz Boom,

 

"Or unless it's a S'mores eating contest!" Storm added with a grin, popping up next to the two. "Those are tough, believe me." He nodded sagely.

 

"There are contests for eating S'mores?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

 

"Of course! There's contests for all kinds of foods! In fact, I'm the current the champion of the Muffin-eating contest." The blue pegasus replied, nibbling on a muffin he'd pulled from... Somewhere.

 

"Woah, a S'mores eating contest would be pretty hard though, right? I mean all of those Smore's could get really sticky and glue your mouth shut or something." Grey said, thinking about how that would work.

 

Storm burst into laughter, "T-that reminds me of the time Pinkie made a marshallow cake!" He managed to get out through his laughter. "We both took a bite and backed away, but the marshmallow acted like a rubberband and launched us both into the cake."

 

Pinkie laughed too, "Yeah, we were stuck there until some of our friends found us stuck muzzle to muzzle with the marshmallow. It took a LOT of effort to break the marshmallow apart!"

 

"Yeah! And then you made hot chocolate, which dissolved the marshmallows." Storm remembered with a grin.

 

"The moral of this story is to always have Hot Chocolate ready when eating a marshmallow cake!" Pinkie announced with a similar grin.

 

Grey shook his head at his parental figures with a smile and Scootaloo just laughed at their antics.

[Fractured 2,683]

@Blitz Boom, @Yoshi89, @Littlecandylulu903,@Storm Shine,

Skyla smiled; the ridiculousness of the story they were sharing made her smile pretty much forced her to crack a grin. Also, now that she thought about it, their antics reminded her a little less of the kids she had been with back at the orphanage, and a little more of something that she hadn't quite had yet; a true family. And Skyla, for the moment, wanted to at least try to fit in. She poked another marshmallow on the stick, careful to watch it this time, and tried to join in.

 

"Does anybody here actually want a cutie mark for smores? Uh..." She paused, looked around, and decided on the first thing that came to her mind. "What would that even look like in the first place? It can't look good on your flank, that's for sure." She grinned widely, hoping her first joke had panned off at least slightly.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Fractured