Chapter 7: Cutie Mark Crusader Buzz Killers!

It was early morning when you felt Applejack get out of bed. You lazily threw a leg over her, trying to get her to stay in bed but she was already too far away. Knowing that soon enough you would be forced to get up you climbed out of bed and made your way downstairs.

"Have a good sleep dear?" you heard Granny Smith ask as you groggily made your way towards the kitchen. You mumbled in response, still half asleep, as you opened the fridge to find nothing but apples. I should have guessed as much, you thought as you shut the fridge. Knowing that the only thing you were bound to find was going to be apple related to decided to head into town for breakfast. As you made your way out of the door you were stopped by Applejack.

"Where ya goin'?" she asked, putting her hat on.

"I was going to go into town for breakfast" you said as you turned to face her, "If that's all right with you?"

"Of course, but can you take Applebloom to school for me?" she asked, moving out of the way to show her sister standing behind her.

"Sure, I have time before the stores open anyways" you said, nodding to Applebloom so she would follow you. She quickly ran up to your side, and for the entire way down from the farm house to the edge of town she was quiet.

"So, are you and my sister, you know, serious?" Applebloom asked, breaking the silence.

"I would like to assume so, why?" you asked, knowing that she might have another definition of serious.

"Well, I know you guys kiss and all, but do you guys, uh, you know..." Applebloom asked, kicking the dirt around a bit.

"What do you-" you said just before it hit you, "Oh! Uh, why are you asking that?"

"Well, I heard from Rarity that when a stallion and a mare really love each other, they, uh..." Applebloom said, her face turning almost as red as her hair.

"Now listen here Applebloom," you said as you turned to face her, "When a stallion and a mare truly love each other, that isn't necessary. If that is needed in a relationship then it isn't true love"

"Oh..." Applebloom said as she thought about what you said, "But you didn't answer my question"

"It's none of your business what me and your sister do at night" you said, starting to walk again, hoping that the awkward conversation would end. Thankfully it did as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle came running up to you and Applebloom as the two of you entered town. Without saying goodbye Applebloom ran off with them towards the school house, which you could see just down the road. Knowing your job was complete you made your way towards the center of town.

"Hey Choco!" Med yelled, seeing you from his front door.

"You already got a house?!" you yelled back, seeing his two story house behind him.

"Yeah, being a doctor pays really well in this town" Med said as he stopped in front of you, "What are you doing in town?"

"I came to get a bite to eat, wanna join me?" you asked, knowing he was probably busy.

"Sure!" Med said instantly. The two of you started to walk towards one of the restaurants in town, talking about small thing like jobs, favourite food, today's schedule, and what you were going to order. When the two of you sat down a rather fancy looking waiter came over and took your orders. You got a simple daisy sandwich, while Med got a rather expensive salad that you couldn't pronounce.

"So, what's going on between you and AJ now that you're out at the farm?" Med asked as his salad arrived.

"Well, I think me and Big Mac are on good terms now, but her sister is a bit weird" you said honestly, thinking about the conversation you and Applebloom had.

"Why?" Med asked, a smile creeping across his face as his took a gigantic mouthful of salad. You proceeded to tell him about Applebloom's question, and then told him about her little group of friends.

"They seem to think that if they do as many things as possible that they'll get their cutie marks sooner" you said, finishing off your sandwich.

"Really?" Med downed a glass of orange juice to wash down his salad, "I remember when I was their age"

"Yeah, but I remember getting mine by accident" you said, thinking back to the incident.

"Isn't that how they show up anyways?" Med said, pointing out the obvious.

"Yeah, but mine was really out of the blue, I didn't notice it for a week" you said, remembering what had happened when somepony pointed it out to you.

"What happened then?" Med asked, now intrigued as to how you got your cutie mark.

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It was an early morning when your family was going to go on vacation. You had been waiting for this day for almost a month now, and you could hardly believe it was finally here. Today you and your family were going to go to Canterlot to see if your oldest sister would be accepted into the school of magic. People would always make a remark that somepony in your family was adopted because of differences between you and your sisters. Your oldest sister was a Unicorn, somewhat short and chubby, but was extremely smart and could perform magic easily. Your other sister was an Earth pony, about average size, but was extremely beautiful and hard working, and then there was you. You being the Pegasus child, and looking extremely like your father, who was an Earth pony, made everyone confused. Compared to the other Pegasi you were always bigger and a fair bit smarter, and learned how to fly earlier than all of them.

Knowing that your whole family would be going to Canterlot was a dream come true. You had always heard stories from your mother, who was a Pegasus, that Canterlot had schools for all ponies, and the smartest Pegasi could attend the flight school there. You were planning to find one of the teachers and show off for them while you were there, hopefully being accepted into their school.

"Are you coming?!" your sister yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"Just a second!" you yelled back, grabbing your hat from the back of your chair. Running downstairs you nearly toppled your sister, and within moments you were outside.

"How are we getting to Canterlot without a carriage?" you asked, noticing a lack of any means of transportation.

"Your sister's got that covered" your mom said as your sister's horn started to glow, and suddenly the world went black. It felt as if you were flying through a cloud, and suddenly you saw colour pop back in, just as you hit the ground along with the rest of your family.

"Ow..." you said as you rubbed your head, "I think you were tiny bit off sis"

"I know, sorry, I forgot to account for altitude differences between our house and here"

"Whatever, I'm going to get a snack or something" you said as you wandered off, looking for some sort of store that would sell candy. As you looked around you say one of the Wonderbolts wandering idly through the streets, and knowing that a Wonderbolt's recommendation would guarantee you a place in the flight school you rushed over.

"Are you Soarin?" you asked, recognizing his dark blue mane and light blue coat. He turned around, surprised to see anypony recognized him without his flight suit on.

"Hey kid, how did you know it was me?" he asked as he turned around, his green eyes confirming his identity for you.

"I saw you on the poster as the newest Wonderbolt!" you said, thinking back to the poster you had on your wall. Soarin was the newest Wonderbolt, coming almost months after Spitfire was accepted into the team.

"Wow, thanks kid, I didn't think anypony would know who I am" Soarin said, rubbing your mane, "So what brings you here?"

"My sister's trying out for the school of magic, and my whole family came along to support her" you said, now realizing you had left before finding out where you would be staying.

"Well, I'm sure she'll make it in" Soarin said, now noticing how big you were, "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm twelve, only six years younger than you" you said, as if it was nothing.

"Wow, for you too be so big, and that wing span..." Soarin mumbled as he rubbed his chin, "Want to come get a bite to eat with me?"

"Of course I do!" you said, happy that a Wonderbolt wanted to eat with you. You happily followed him, barely able to contain your excitement. As he slowed down you saw a gigantic bakery, topped with a roof that looked like a cupcake, just ahead of you, and standing out front was...

...the rest of the Wonderbolts!

"Hey Soarin, you changing careers to kidnapping now or what?" the Spitfire joked, noticing you beside him. Soarin laughed back and walked over, and when he got over he waved to you. I'm eating with the Wonderbolts?! you thought as you trotted over, Best. Day. Ever!.

"So kid, what made Soarin bring you with him?" Spitfire asked, confused as to why Soarin would bring you with him to their meet up.

"Well, uh..." you mumbled, not sure how to talk to her, seeing as she is a beautiful mare, and a Wonderbolt.

"He's with me because he's only twelve, and look how big he is!" Soarin said, waiving a hoof at you, causing the rest of the team to look over. When they saw you they all rushed over, eager to figure out if Soarin was telling the truth. You quickly lowered your head, somewhat worried that they would start poking and prodding at you.

"He's telling the truth, he doesn't even have his cutie mark yet!" one of the Wonderbolts yelled out from behind you.

"Wow,  and he's already so big!" another Wonderbolt said as she examined your wings. After a few more comments from the team about your size they calmed down, leaving you to talk to Soarin and Spitfire alone. The two of them talked about new routines and tricks that they wanted to try, and you sat there and listened, happier than you had even been before. When your stomach growled Soarin laughed and called over a waiter, who had a tray of what looked like chocolate covered apples.

"We'll have three please" Soarin asked, pulling out ten bits to pay for them. After getting the apples the rest of the team asked for some too, but the waiter tripped on your hat, which had fallen off when the Wonderbolts were examining you and the apples went flying over the edge of Canterlot. Without thinking you shot out of your chair and flew towards the apples as they fell, grabbing the tray, and then expertly catching each of the apples on it.

When you came back up you heard cheering coming from the Wonderbolts and the waiter, who was grateful that his food hadn't been destroyed. As a reward he gave you one free along with one of his specialty cupcakes. As you sat back down you heard Soarin whisper something to the captain, and a moment later he tapped you on the shoulder.

"Hey kid, this is for you" Soarin said, handing you an invitation to the Canterlot flight school.

"Really?!" you asked in surprise, finding it hard to believe that they would give you something like that for catching some treats.

"You flew really well there kid, and with training you could become one of us" Spitfire said, patting you on the back.

"Wow..." you said as you stared at your invitation, eager to find your parents and tell them the good news. Luckily you didn't have to wait as your mother came flying towards you, and landed, nearly causing you to lose your grip on the invitation.

"What are you doing here?!" your mother asked, her worried state mirrored in her voice.

"Mom, look!" you said, throwing the invitation in front of her. When she read it she picked you up in a huge hug, and promptly thanked the Wonderbolts. After she had thanked every member of the team she took you to the hotel, and the rest of the time spent in Canterlot was amazing. Your sister was accepted, and you were being set up at the flight school dorms. It wasn't until your other sister was helping you get settled in that you finally noticed you had your cutie mark. It was a chocolate covered apple with wings.

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"That is one hell of a story!" Med said as you finished, having spent almost the entire morning telling him about it.

"Yeah, it was awesome" you said, still thinking about how it all happened.

"So then, why don't you want to be a Pegasus anymore?" Med asked, noticing a big difference between the current you, and the twelve year old you.

"I don't want to talk about it..." you said, your mood quickly changing from happy to depressed.

"Okay..." Med said slowly, realizing that it was a touchy subject, "Well, how about we head to the new bar that opened up in town, I have the day off, and I'm guessing you do too"

"I don't work at the farm yet, so I guess I can get a drink with you" you said as you paid for your meal.

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"...and when Redheart came to me, it was still dripping out!" Med yelled out, almost completely wasted.

"Wow..." you said quietly, still only having a light buzz even after ten shots of hard cider. You looked at the time and turned to the waiter, tapping on the bar and pointing to his hard liquor. Right now, you wanted to get drunk, because ever since Med brought up why you don't want to be a Pegasus anymore your mood has gotten worse, and has continued to do so as time went on. The bartender came back with a shot glass of his finest hard liquor, and you downed it, finally getting a true buzz when something knocked on the door.

"We're open!" the bartender yelled as he cleaned Med's shot glass, seeing as he had finally passed out.

"Um, Choco, are you in there?" you head Applebloom say from the other side of the door.

"Yes I am, why?" you asked back, wondering how they found you.

"You said you would help us get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo said, opening the door, only to have it shut on her as the bartender used his magic to keep her out.

"Either get them to leave, or leave with them" he said, still holding the door closed with his magic. You got up, after saying that Med was paying for you, and walked over to the door. When he released his hold the door slammed open and the three crusaders tumbled inside in a heap.

"Come on, let's get going" you said, eager to get this over with so you didn't have to think about cutie marks anymore.

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"Is it even physically possible to be bad at running?" you asked, seeing as the three of them had all crashed into one another when they attempted to try for a running cutie mark. The three of them moaned as they got up.

"I think we're done for today, anymore and you guys are going to get hurt" you said, thinking about today's activities. They tried to fly kites, buck apples, and every kind of running event you could think of. The three of them nodded to each other and started to walk home, with you following Applebloom. When you and Applebloom got to the house you were pulled aside by Applejack.

"How did it go?" she asked, seeing that her sister was still without her cutie mark.

"They weren't able to do anything, but they did do one thing right" you said in a depressing tone.

"What would that be?" she asked, wondering what they did.

"They really can kill a buzz" you said as you turned around, noticing Big Mac hauling around a cart filled with apples.

"What do you mean?" Applejack asked, pulling your attention back to her.

"I went drinking with Med, and then they showed up after I got a buzz, and within minutes of helping them, it was gone" you said while waving a hoof in the air.

"Why were you drinking during the day?" Applejack asked, eyeing you suspiciously.

"I was depressed because of something that was brought up when me and Med talked" you said, turning around, not wanting to discuss it with her just yet. She obviously understood that you didn't want to talk about it, and for the rest of the night she left you alone. After dinner you headed upstairs to the guest bedroom and climbed into the bed that was there. After around an hour of trying to get to sleep you heard somepony open the door.

"You in here?" Applejack asked, unable to see due to the darkness of the room. You didn't answer, but instead turned over, hoping she wouldn't see your face, but she was able to hear you move in the bed. She slowly made her way over to you, thinking you were sleeping and climbed in, placing her head between your wings just like she had the night before, and she started to shake. After a while you realized she was crying, not because she was sad, but because she was worried about you.

You waited for the shaking to stop before you turned around to face her, you noticed that she had instead just flipped over, not wanting to cover your back in her tears, so you wrapped your legs around her and put your head above hers. She was still shaking when you wrapped around her, but she quickly stopped, and moved herself into a more comfortable position.  Just before you went to sleep you heard her say something.

"I love you..."