Twilight took a deep breath as she stared at the red building in front of her. Her first day of school was today, and it wasn’t just her first day in Ponyville either- she had been home schooled ever since she went to live with Spike, so she hadn’t been schooled with others since kindergarten. However, she wouldn’t let her nerves get to her, instead walking in with her head high.

It was a pretty small school so it was easy to find the only classroom in it. Twilight poked her head in the classroom.. “He...hello?” The class immediately quieted down and all heads turned to look at Twilight. There were only about twenty foals in the classroom and Twilight sighed in relief as she recognized five of them.

“‘Ello there, who are you?” A pinto colored stallion with a strange accent greeted her. He was standing at the front of the class so Twilight assumed he was the teacher.

“I’m Twilight, I’m new to Ponyville.” said Twilight, introducing herself.

The stallion nodded, “I’ve heard that we’d be gettin’ a new student soon. Word is you’ve come all the way from Canterlot.”

“Yes, sir.” Twilight confirmed, stepping into the room.

The pinto stallion waved his hoof dismissively, “There’s no need for that. This isn’t a military school. The name’s Mr. Pip.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Pip.” Twilight was right beside him now and turned to face the class. They were all staring at her. She swallowed a lump that was starting to form in her throat.

“Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?” Mr. Pip asked Twilight.

Twilight nodded and took a deep breath. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle and I’m from Canterlot. I’m currently living in the local library with my mentor, Spike- he’s a dragon, as well as Princess Luna’s personal student.”

There was silence for a few moments before a voice spoke up out of the crowd. “You live with a dragon?” Twilight couldn’t see who said it but she could hear the snark in their voice.

Twilight’s cheeks went red, “Yes, I- I do live with a dragon.”

“She sure does.” A new voice called and Twilight locked eyes with who said it, Applejack. “I’ve seen ‘im.”

“I’m sure Twilight’s story is a completely true.” said Mr. Pip, stopping the argument. “Twilight, why don’t you go sit next to Applejack? Then we can start the lesson again.”

Twilight nodded and sat in the desk he had indicated. She leaned over to Applejack and whispered a quick thank you.

Applejack shrugged, “I don’t like bein’ accused of lyin’, and ah doubt you would.”

“Now,” Mr. Pip said excitedly. “Who knows anything about pirates?”

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The lunch bell rang much quicker than Twilight would have liked. She had enjoyed hearing Mr. Pip give his lecture on pirates and the times when they still existed. Now she was sitting alone at a picnic table, quietly eating her lunch and trying not to attract attention to herself.

“Hello, Blank Flank.”

No, no, no! Twilight did not want this. She had hoped no one had noticed, or no one would care. Apparently, this wasn’t the case- everywhere she went, someone would tease her. Against Twilight’s better judgment, she looked up to see who was talking to her.

A light blue unicorn with white hair glared down at Twilight, and a mint green Pegasus with yellow windswept hair hovered beside the unicorn, looking smug.

“We don’t need any more lying Blank Flanks in this school. Trixie hopes you know that nopony believes your silly story about the dragon.”

Twilight’s blood ran cold as she recognized the voice that had called her out earlier today. “I’m sorry,” Twilight tried to keep her voice steady. “Who’s Trixie?”

The blue unicorn seemed to get angry, “Who is Trixie? Who is Trixie?!? Trixie is the greatest pony ever! Trixie is the most powerful unicorn to ever walk the earth! Trixie is the most popular filly in this school! Trixie is-”

“Trix,” The pegasus face hoofed, “She meant she didn’t know Trixie was you.”

“You’re Trixie?” Twilight asked, baffled. “Why did you speak in third pony?”

“Do not question the way the Great and Powerful Trixie talks!” Trixie shot at Twilight.

“It’s just her thing, but that isn’t the point. The point is-” Lightning Dust leaned closer to Twilight until their snouts were almost touching. “This is Trixie. I’m Lightning Dust, and
we’re the top fillies around here. We don’t like it when no good Blank Flanks move in, so you better just stay out of our way.”

“Just leave her alone, Lightning. She’s not cramping your style, even if you had one.”

Lightning Dust whirled around, ready to face who had insulted her. A cerulean blue Pegasus was waiting for her, and she looked very irritated.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked in wonder. Why was the filly standing up for her?

“Aww, that’s so cute.” Lightning Dust said sarcastically. “The little Blank Flank is looking out for the new one. I guess losers have to stick together.”

Rainbow was hardly fazed by the bully’s insults. “Beat it, Dust. No one wants you here.”

Lightning Dust glared at Rainbow for a couple of seconds before smirking. “Fine, you have fun with your loser friends. Come on, Trix.”

Both of them left with an air of importance, not giving any mind to the death glare Rainbow Dash was giving them.

“You didn’t need to do that, Rainbow.” Twilight said quickly, feeling embarrassed.

“‘Course I did,” Rainbow Dash said, sliding next to Twilight. “Us ‘losers’ need to stick together.”

Twilight gave a small laugh at Rainbow’s joke.

“Besides,” Rainbow continued, “I stop those two from bullying lots of ponies. It’s just habit for me now.”

“They bully ponies?” Twilight tried not to sound scared as she asked the question.

“Oh yeah, they’re real jerks.” Rainbow said calmly, “They bully Fluttershy ‘cause she can’t really fly, Rarity ‘cause she’s a drama queen, Pinkie for being crazy and A.J.-” Rainbow Dash giggled slightly. “They bully Applejack for everything. She’s a farm pony, she has an accent, she has those goofy looking freckles...”

“No one’s ever bullied me for ma freckles.”

Rainbow jumped at Applejack’s voice. The earth pony was standing two feet away, glaring at Rainbow Dash.

“Hehe, sorry A.J. They are goofy though.” Rainbow laughed nervously.

Applejack just rolled her eyes and slid in next to Rainbow. “Twilight, don’t let ‘em get to ya. They just latch onto anythin’ they can find wrong with ya.”

“Yeah, and not having a cutie mark is like a sin to them.” Rainbow’s eyes widened and she quickly turned to Applejack, grabbing the orange pony’s face. “She doesn’t have a cutie mark!”

“Jeez, don’t rub it in.” Twilight grumbled.

Rainbow Dash ignored her and continued grinning at Applejack. “We can start our club again!”

“Your what?” Twilight asked.

Applejack sighed, as Rainbow released her face, “Before Rarity got her cutie mark, we had a club where we all tried to get ours.”

Rainbow turned to Twilight, beaming. “When Rarity got her mark we had to stop ‘cause it didn’t work with just two. But now that you’re here we can do it again!”

Applejack folded her arms, “Ah’m only goin’ to do it if we change our name.”

“Why? We had a great name!”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow at her blue friend, “The Dashing Rainbow Rangers is not a good name.”

“Fine, we’ll change it. How about Rainbow and Friends?”

“That’s got the same problem as the last one! What about Friendship Explosion?”

“Ew, no. That sounds too sappy. We should do Cutie Mark Acquisition Program.”

“Ya sound like a robot. How ‘bout The Appletastic Fillies?”

“You just want the word apple in it.”

“Better than wantin’ ma name in it.”

“My name is awesome!”

“Ah thought it was Rainbow Dash.”

“You know what I meant!”

“How about the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

The two arguing fillies turned to Twilight, who blushed as she realized they had heard her.

“Crusading means to go out and change things for the better, and that’s what we’re doing, sort of. I just thought it would be a good name. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.” Twilight said quickly. She was surprised when the other two beamed at her.

“That sounds awesome, Twi! Eggheadish, but awesome.” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Does that mean yer gonna join?” Applejack asked hopefully.

Twilight hesitated for a moment before nodding, “Yeah, it sounds like fun. I’ll join.”

“YES!” Rainbow Dash tackled Twilight into a hug. “This is going to be the greatest club EVER!”

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The three newly dubbed Crusaders met after school. Rainbow had insisted she give them a ride home but now that Twilight looked at her mode of transport she was having second doubts.

“Rainbow Dash, what is that?”

They were looking at wagon that looked like it had gone through a train wreck. The paint was peeling, one of the wheels looked ready to fall off and Twilight was sure she would fall ill if she even touched the rust that coated it.

“This is our ride!” Rainbow hooked herself up to a harness that was projecting out the front. “Powered by the fastest filly alive.”

“What the hay happened to it?” Applejack exclaimed, looking just as surprised as Twilight was.

“Well I tried to do tricks while I was hooked on and...” She giggled nervously. “Anyway, it still works like a charm so hop in!”

Applejack and Twilight cautiously stepped into the wagon. It creaked under them but held firm.

“You ready?” Rainbow asked, buzzing her wings.

Applejack shook her head and Twilight squeaked out a no.

Rainbow flapped her wings harder and took off. Twilight found herself grabbing onto Applejack as they accelerated.

“How does she move so fast!” Twilight shouted over the wind.

Applejack just shrugged as best she could as she gripped Twilight.

In seemingly seconds they were outside of Twilight’s new tree house. Rainbow was panting as she waved Twilight off.

“Here we are, hope it wasn’t too bumpy.”

Twilight shakily climbed out of the wagon, “N-no it was fine, thank you Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow saluted and buzzed away, with Applejack bouncing along behind her.

Twilight entered the tree house and immediately called for her guardian. “Spike! I’m home!”

“Hey Twilight!” Spike called from under a pile of books. “How was the first day of school?”

“Great! I met some new friends!”

“That’s amazing!” Spike said happily. “I told you you shouldn’t be afraid of making friends.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Spike, you were the one afraid of making friends. I was excited.”

Spike blushed slightly, “Yes, well, can you help me? I need to organize the books. They were alphabetized and I need to put them in the Dew Decibel.”

Twilight laughed lightly, “Sure Spike.”

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“What’s the first thing we’re going to do?” Twilight asked as the Crusaders bounced down the street.

“I thought we do something the old fashioned Rainbow Rangers did.” Rainbow said maniacally.

Applejack narrowed her eyes, “Ya ain’t gonna do what I think your gonna do are ya?”

“I don’t know,” Dash answered innocently. “I can’t read your mind.”

They accelerated up a hill until Rainbow came to a screeching stop. “Here we are!”

“Rainbow,” Twilight asked slowly, “What are hang gliders doing up here?”

There were three identical hang gliders on top of the cliff and Rainbow immediately walked up to one. “They're here to help us get our cutie marks. Our hang gliding cutie marks!”

Applejack face hoofed. “How would that even work for you? You can fly.”

Twilight stared in shock- this is what she had roped herself into.

“We can still hang glide! I promise not to use my wings.” Rainbow insisted.

“No Rainbow, no.” Applejack said. “We should at least start with somethin’ simple. Don’t just jump into crazy things like before.”

“Guh! Fine get back in the wagon, I have another idea.” Rainbow snorted as she rehooked herself up.

Twilight gulped, “Did all your searching involve probably dying?”

Applejack shook her head. “Only Dash’s ideas where dangerous.”

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“Here we go. Boring, safe, cutie mark searching.” Rainbow huffed, unhooking herself again.

Twilight blinked at the building they were parked at. “Why are we at Sugarcube Corner?”

“Boring stuff.” Rainbow grumbled as she walked into the bakery. “Maybe we can get our cutie marks in it though.”

The other two fillies followed Rainbow inside, albeit cautiously.

“HI, TWILIGHT!”

Twilight gently pushed the pink fuzz out of her face. “Hi, Pinkie Pie.”

“Hi!” The pink pony said again. “I didn’t know you were hanging out with Dashie and A.J. now. Oh! Are they doing the Dashing Rainbow Rangers again!? I really, really, really wanted to join but I already had my cutie mark and Rarity said that it was really scary and she’s glad that they stopped when she got her cutie mark but I think it sounded like so much fun and...” Pinkie continued talking as Twilight slowly backed away.

“Applejack,” Twilight called out, “How do I get her to stop?”

Applejack walked up to the blabbing pony and calmly put her hoof over Pinkie’s mouth. “Pinkie Pie, that’s enough.”

Pinkie nodded her head and Applejack removed her hoof.

“Why are you guys here anyway?” Pinkie asked.

“We want help getting our cutie marks.” Rainbow said by the counter. “Those two want to do something boring so we’re going to bake.”

Applejack stared at her. “Are ya feelin’ alright Sugarcube? Ya don’t have a fever or anything?”

“Haha, A.J.” Rainbow stuck her tongue out. “This was the boringest thing I could think of.”

Applejack just rolled her eyes. “We just don’t want to do anything dangerous.”

“Can I help you bake? Pound and Pumpkin went shopping anyway. Please?” Pinkie Pie asked, going into begging overdrive. “Oh please oh please oh please!”

Rainbow grimaced, “I sort of wanted Pound or Pumpkin to help us...” Pinkie gave her puppy dog eyes and she caved. “I guess if you want to, then-” She was interrupted by Pinkie Pie giving her a bone crushing hug.

“Oh thank you Dashie! Thank you so much!” Pinkie squealed.

“You’re welcome,” Rainbow tried to push Pinkie Pie off of her. “can you just help us now?”

“Sure! Just come on back to the kitchen!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight hesitated, “Are you allowed to bake things without supervision?”

Pinkie Pie didn’t answer, but just hopped into the kitchen, giggling like a maniac.

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“Wow...” Was all that Pinkie could utter as the last batch of cupcakes were pulled out of the oven. She didn’t know what went wrong. She had shown them how to make her favorite treats and then let the three blank flanks start cooking.

She had been watching the whole time, but even with her help Twilight somehow managed to set the stove on fire and Rainbow Dash had smeared batter everywhere. Well, they did get into a cupcake fight but it shouldn’t have been this messy. Applejack’s had turned out alright...except somehow worms had crawled their way into her batter. And she had used soda instead of baking soda.

“Did we get our cutie marks?” Rainbow asked, checking her flank. Her face falling when she saw that it was still blank.

“How could we?” Applejack demanded, prodding her worm infested pastries. “Not one of us made a decent batch. Ya didn’ even make one, RD!”

“Spike will probably eat your cupcakes, AJ.” Twilight tried to reassure her new friend, “He sometimes eats worms.”

“That’s gross!” Rainbow explained, sticking out her tongue. She licked her lips and sighed, “I need to get home and take a bath now. Come on girls, I told you boring stuff was a waste of time.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked out of the bakery, saying their goodbyes to Pinkie.

As soon Pinkie heard the bell ring to signify their departure she took a bite of Twilight’s cupcakes. They weren’t so bad once you got past the burnt taste.

The bell on the door rang again, and a cheery male voice called out, “Pinkie! We’re back! Did you destroy the store?”

Pound and Pumpkin had come home.

Pinkie looked around the batter covered, slightly burnt kitchen.

She was so dead.

Author's Notes:

IT'S DONE!
This is going to be a lot of short stories about the CMC. It's going to be REALLY long so I'll write other things while I write this. If you just want to read stories about the fillies then this is where you need to be! Hope you like!