I had just walked onto Sweet Apple Acres when I got run over by three fillies. They seemed familiar. Ah! They ran me over on my first day in town. I hope I wasn't the only one this happened to. As if in answer, Applejack, who was heading towards me, was bowled over next. She got up and dusted herself off. She looked crossly at the fillies. "Watch where y'all are stampedin' girls!" She shook her head as the fillies kept running around. I walked over to her. "Hooves full there Applejack?" She smiled. "I do at that. Apple Bloom and her friends can't keep out of trouble for a minute." I smiled as we watched the fillies running around  the barn. "They sure seem lively. They must keep you busy." Applejack sighed. "Busier than I have time fer. I need to get out to the orchard, but I also gotta keep an eye on these three." She did seem a little stressed. Applebucking and foalsitting would be a chore for anypony.

I thought for a moment. "I could come help you with the bucking. At least we'd get the job done faster." Applejack smiled. "Thank ya Speedy, but yer forgettin' one thing." She tapped my false leg. I looked back at it. I had one strong hoof to hit trees with, but this false one probably would buckle under the pressure. I sighed. "Right." She gave me a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder. The fillies ran by and another idea sparked in my head. "Why don't I take the girls while you get to the orchard?" She laughed. "I wouldn't do that to ya Speedy. Them fillies are a hooffull." I gave her a questioning look. She shook her head. "You've never been around my sister and her friends have you?" I shrugged. "I've seen them in town before, but I've never talked to them." Applejack laughed chuckled. "They are the most spirited fillies you'll ever meet."

For some reason Applejack kept looking at me after her comment. Her eyes moved along my body and down to my flank. What was she doing? Her eyes lit up. "You know what? I think you should watch the girls." Now I was confused. "Huh?" She began to walk away. "Go introduce yerself. You'll figure it out before long." And off she went to the apple orchard. What the hay had just happened? One minute she says I'm not up to it and the next she says I am? I shook my head. Mares.

I walked over to join the fillies. "Hello!" They stopped where they were. One of them smiled. "Yer Speedy Quill right? Applejack's friend?" The accent gave it away. "You must be her sister Apple Bloom." She nodded. "Yep! And this is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo." She motioned to each of the fillies in turn. I nodded to each of them. "I hope you three don't mind, but Applejack has a busy day ahead of her, so I volunteered to watch you." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Great. Now how are we supposed to go crusading." Crusading? What did she mean? I looked at her. "Crusading? For what?" Big mistake. The girls looked at each other and smled. Sweetie Belle stepped forward. "We are-" She looked at the other two and they all took a deep breath.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!"

It would take a few minutes for my ears to stop ringing. "The Cutie Mark..." Apple Bloom raced around me. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders! We're on a mission to find our special talents and git our cutie marks." Ah. Out to find their special talents and get their... I glanced down at my flank. My eyes moved to the orchard. I grit my teeth. Applejack was going to get it. Apple Bloom joined her friends and they looked up at me. Sweetie Belle tilt her head to the side. "So what do you do Speedy? Rarity's talked about you before, but what's your special talent?" Oh boy. Change the subject! "Um...you talked to Rarity?" She rolled her eyes. "Well yeah, she's my sister. Didn't she tell you about me before?" She hadn't. But at least we were off the subject of- "So what's your cutie mark look like?" Huh?

Scootaloo was moving around to my side. I went to turn, but it was too late. She froze and stared at my blank flank. The others walked over and stared. Scootaloo looked up at me. "You...you don't have a cutie mark!" I swallowed. "Uh...yeah." The questions began flying without warning. Applejack must have known this would happen. She was going to pay for this. I was at the mercy of three fillies who wouldn't stop asking about my blank flank. And then I got lucky. Over the questions I heard a 'SNAP'. I felt myself falling over.

I landed on the grass and looked down at my false leg. Something had broken and bent it in the wrong direction. If it had been any other leg, this would have been extremely painful. The girls stood there with open mouths. Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom. "Apple Bloom! What did you do?" Apple Bloom rushed over to me. "Speedy. Ah'm so sorry! Are ya hurt? I should go git Applejack!" She was ready to run and I grabbed her. "I'm fine girls. Really. I just need to fix it." Sweetie Belle looked scared. "Wh-what do you mean f-f-fix it?" I grabbed hold of the leg and pulled it off. The frightened screams that came after were piercing. "Girls! It's fine. It's not real." The screaming stopped.

I showed them the fake leg and pointed out what was left of my actual leg. "See? I told you." Apple Bloom stepped closer and eyed the leg. "You mean ya only have three legs?" I nodded. Scootaloo stepped up. "How does that work?" I smiled. "Why don't you three sit down and I'll tell you all about it. I'll even tell you about my blank flank too." I received three smiles and they sat in front of me, ready for a story.

For an hour or so I regaled them with the story of how I lost my leg, from the dragon to the leg coming off. I didn't bother to go into my time with Discord. No filly needed to here about that. I set the leg in front of me as I finished. "Rarity built me this leg so I could walk again." Sweetie Belle's eyes lit up. "My sister made this?" I nodded. I looked the leg over and tweaked it back into place. "Looks like a wire caught." I tested the gears and the leg bent perfectly. I hooked it back on and stood up, stretching it out. Apple Bloom looked confused. "How can you move it if it's fake?" I smiled. "A little help from Twilight and Princess Celestia. Their magic made it so I can move it like a real leg." Satisfied that the leg was fine, I sat back down.

The girls seemed to be at a lose for words. I wasn't surprised. It was quite the story to tell. In fact, it was the first time I had ever recounted the whole adventure. Scootaloo was the first to find her voice. "I can't believe you went up against a dragon!" I chuckled. "Neither can I." She smiled. "That's so awesome!" Sweetie Belle inched closer. "But weren't you scared?" I nodded. "Oh yeah. I was scared silly. But as you can see, I'm still in one piece. Well...mostly." That got them to laugh. I joined in.

Once we calmed down I could see they were ready for the next story. I glanced back at my blank flank and sighed. "I guess it's a strange sight to see a grown stallion with no cutie mark." I glanced at the Crusaders and saw the nervous looks they exchanged. I smiled. "It's okay girls. It's not embarrassing for me to talk about. You can ask me about it." They sat still for a moment. Apple Bloom raised her hoof. Good old school manners. "Yes Apple Bloom?" She lowered her hoof and hesitated. "Um... why don't you have a cutie mark?" General enough.

I thought for a moment. "Well...I don't rightfully know. My mother always says that when I was little I had a different talent every day. I was always trying new things. And I was good at all of them." Scootaloo's mouth fell open. "So you can do anything? Like...anything?" I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I haven't tried everything yet. But what I have tried, I can do pretty well." Sweetie Belle grinned. "Wow! You must be the most talented pony in Equestria!" I chuckled. "Don't give me too much credit. There are some things even I can't do. I can't fly or perform magic." Scootaloo looked at her wings while Sweetie Belle looked up at her horn. "But there was a price that came with all that talent." Apple Bloom looked confused. "Whadaya mean Speedy?"

This was the part I hadn't really wanted to get into. I could see however that I wasn't going to get out of telling my sob story. I sighed and looked at each of the fillies. "When I was your age I looked just like any other young pony. I had a bright future and a blank flank to cover. Nopony thought any differently of me. I was normal. But as I got older, I became the joke of the town. Nopony had ever heard of a stallion with a blank flank. And my talents didn't help either. I could outperform a lot of other ponies at their own special talents. Eventually they started calling me a freak. That's when I decided to leave and find somewhere where I could live in peace. And that's when I came to Ponyville. I seem to remember three fillies running me over my first day in town."

The girls smiled. Sweetie Belle put her chin against the ground. "Oh. That was you?" I smiled. "You want to know the real secret though?" They all nodded and leaned in closer. I looked around and then whispered. "I still hope that someday I'll get that cutie mark." Apple Bloom beamed and stood up. "I know! You could come crusadin' with us!" Scootaloo jumped up. "Yeah! You could be a Cutie Mark Crusader!" Sweetie Belle stood and joined her friends. "You were crusading for your cutie mark way before us. You're like...the first crusader!" All three jumped up in the air.

"THE FIRST CRUSADER!!"

I saw that one coming. I had already covered my ears before they yelled. When they had finished, I stood back up. "Thanks Crusaders. I'd be honored to join you." Scootaloo ran over to a scooter with a wagon attached to it. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Scootaloo wheeled over and the others jumped in the wagon. Before I could say anything else, Scootaloo's wings started flapping at an incredible speed. And away the scooter and wagon flew down the road. Was I supposed to follow? Duh! I'm foalsitting them, aren't I? And so I ran after them.

I caught up with the Crusaders in the town square. As I walked up to them I could here them discussing what to do. Scootaloo was hopping in place. "We should totally try pogo-stick racing!" Sweetie Belle shook her head. "How about puppet shows?" Apple Bloom stepped up. "Ah say we should be a three pony marchin' band!" I laughed to myself. These fillies sure did think of some crazy ideas. I was surprised however that Scootaloo didn't want to do something athletic. The way she had taken off with her scooter had been impressive. She probably had a great talent for sports or something.... Idea!

I joined the group. "Have you figured out what you're going to try first?" They looked up at me and shook their heads. I put a hoof to my chin and hummed. "What about sports. Have you girls tried any sports yet?" They looked at each other. "Apple Bloom looked back at me. "Not many. Whadya have in mind?" I thought for a moment. "Well... what about rollerskating?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle perked up at the idea. Apple Bloom lowered her head. "Um... Ah tried a roller derby once...It wasn't very fun." I rolled my eyes. "Well that's a roller derby. They skate pretty fast. I'm talking about just rollerskating for fun." Apple Bloom looked up again. "Ah guess that would be okay. Let's do it!"

I don't exactly know where they found four pairs of skates, but I didn't want to. I figured the less I knew the better. I had just finished putting on my last skate when I heard a voice. "Hi Speedy!" I looked behind me to see Twilight walking by. I waved her over. "Hi Twilight." She sat down next to me. "What are you and the girls doing?" I rolled my eyes. "Applejack got me to watch them while she finishes working." Twilight looked at the fillies. "You all seem to be getting along." I tapped my flank. "Us blank flanks got to stick together." Her eyes questioned the comment. I simply smiled and stood up. "Besides, I think they enjoy having an older pony around that shares that trait. I'm great at moral support." Twilight stood up and smiled. "That sounds good. Those fillies definitely need somepony to cheer them on. They just need to realize what their actual talents are." I eyed Twilight. Did she have the same theory I did? "You mean..." I glanced at the girls and leaned in closer to Twilight. "You know their talents?" She nodded. "I have a fairly good idea. And you will too soon enough. It becomes easier to see every day. Those three just need to figure it out." I smiled. "Well I already have Scootaloo narrowed down. So that leaves the other two." She smiled back and began walking away. "I'll leave you to it then. See you later!" I waved as she left.

The skates were on and we were beginning to roll. It was something to watch. I caught on quickly enough. The girls took a little longer. Once she got a feel for the skates, Scootaloo took off. She began jumping and spinning through the air. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stopped to watch her for a moment. I skated in circles waiting for them and heard Apple Bloom. "Are you sure you haven't done this before Scoot?" Scootaloo shook her head. "Nope. But this sure is fun!" She began to skate away and the others followed. I fell in behind them. I had to admit, Scootaloo was almost...graceful. It was like watching a ballet performance on skates...Of course! I smiled to myself. Now all I had to do was when I went crusading with the girls, I would try to edge Scootaloo towards dancing. I would figure out the others soon enough and do the same with them.

We rolled into Sweet Apple Acres just as Applejack appeared from the orchard followed by a big red stallion pulling a cart of apples. Applejack waved to us and trotted over. "Looks like y'all had a good day." We all nodded. Applejack nodded towards the house. "Go on girls. Dinner'll be on the table soon." The girls began running towards the house.

"Bye Speedy!"

"See you later First Crusader!"

"Thanks for taking us skatin'!"

Applejack eyed me and smiled. "Sounds like they had fun." I smiled and narrowed my eyes. "They did." Applejack nudged me. "And did I hear them call you a Crusader?" I nudged back. "It's all your fault. You told me to watch them. Herding all the blank flanks together are ya?" Her sheepish grin gave it away. "Uh..."

She didn't have time to react. I tackled her to the ground and stood over her smiling. "Thanks AJ. You and Rarity can ask for me to watch them anytime." Applejack stood up and began to laugh. I joined in and we laughed as the sun set on Ponyville.. Next Chapter: My Curse Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 12 Minutes