“Alright, let’s take a short break. I promised Scootaloo I’d visit their clubhouse today,” Rainbow Dash said. “She’d be disappointed if I didn't show up.” Discord nodded.

“I remember that place. I chased off some bullies with a band of angry spirits,” he said, conjuring a miniature version of the ghost to float around his head in a circle. “Cruel and unusual pranks for the cruel and unusual,” he mused.

“Hmm… I kind of feel like doing something nice for her. How experienced are you with cutie marks?” Rainbow Dash asked Discord.

A small explosion threw Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle back from the desk as the concoction they were brewing shattered the test tube. It hissed as it hit the walls, eating away at the wallpaper. “I guess we’re not getting our breakfast making cutie marks today,” Sweetie Belle shook her head sadly.

“Breakfast?” Applebloom asked, “I thought we were mixing potions. What was the test tube and random chemicals for?”

“So that wasn’t how you make fresh squeezed orange juice?” Scootaloo asked, sweeping up the broken glass and discarding it into a wastebasket. “Hey, why’d you put the omlette in here? It looks fine.”

“Because it blinked at me,” Applebloom said, running over and shutting the lid. The fillies turned their heads as a knock came from the door.

“Rainbow Dash must be here!” Scootaloo shouted, running over and opening the door. Rainbow Dash came in, looking around at the burn marks.

“Um… what happened here?” she asked, sniffing the air. A low growling sound came from the wastebasket.

“We were making breakfast!” Applebloom said as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo smiled and blocked off the trash can. “No luck with our cutie marks though…”

“Yeah, about that… I have something here that you might like. Here you go,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling out a small, dusty book and setting it on the table. “I was rooting around in my attic before I found it.”

Scootaloo rushed over to inspect it. “It’s just a coupon book. A really old coupon book. The coupons expire tomorrow,” she said, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “And they’re all for… cutie marks?” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom zoomed over, staring.

“Wow, there’s cutie marks for everything we ever wanted in here! How will we choose?” Applebloom asked. “Wait. You aren’t pulling our leg are you?”

Rainbow Dash smiled reassuringly. “Of course not, I wouldn’t…”

“Rainbow Dash wouldn’t do that to us! She and I are like sisters!” Scootaloo shouted, rushing over to Rainbow Dash’s side.

“Well there is a catch,” Rainbow Dash said. “The coupons expire tomorrow, and so do the cutie marks. You’ll still need to earn them just like everypony else.” Scootaloo’s smile fell.

“I remember having a cutie mark like that… it wasn’t very fun,” Applebloom said, frowning. “Besides, none of us would… Sweetie Belle? What are you doing?”

Sweetie Belle had torn a coupon out of the book, placing it at Rainbow Dash’s hooves. “I’d like to redeem this coupon!” she squeaked, beaming. “Even if it’s just for a day, I’d just like to know what it’s like.”

Rainbow Dash looked down at the coupon. “Alright then,” she said loudly. “It looks like Sweetie Belle, the white unicorn filly with the pink and purple mane, wants to paint.” The coupon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“You don’t have to shout, you know,” a disembodied voice whispered in Rainbow Dash’s ear as a paintbrush cutie mark appeared on Sweetie Belle’s flank. She bounced around happily as Scootaloo and Applebloom stared.

“Try it out!” Scootaloo said, digging up a paintbrush from a cardboard box marked “failed cutie marks”. Sweetie Belle picked up the brush with her mouth and dipped it in paint, getting to work at the clubhouse wall. In a couple minutes, a portrait of the cutie mark crusaders standing valiantly on a hill against the sunset stood against the door.

“Wow…” Applebloom said, turning back to the coupon book. She selected a coupon and deposited at Rainbow Dash’s hooves, smiling expectantly.

“Applebucking?” she asked as the coupon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Applebloom nodded.

“Nothing beats spending time with my sister! And this is just the way to do it! Besides, it’s only for a day,” Applebloom said as the mark appeared on her flank. “Thanks a ton for this!” She exited the clubhouse, heading off to Sweet Apple Acres.

“I’m next!” Scootaloo said, tearing out a coupon out and giving it to Rainbow Dash.

“You… want to fly?” Rainbow Dash asked. Scootaloo nodded.

“They said… from when I was born… that I wouldn’t be able to. And I just thought this once, that… you know,” Scootaloo said, shifting her weight back and forth. Rainbow Dash pulled her closer with a wing.

“You do know that a flying cutie mark means that you’re not just an average flier. You’re one of the best,” she said. “C’mon, let’s go.” Scootaloo’s face lit up as a wings cutie mark appeared on her flank.

“Really? You mean it?” Scootaloo asked, fluttering in the air with happiness before realizing what was happening. “Whoah! I can fly!”

“Just for today,” Rainbow Dash winked. “C’mon, I’ll go show you how to do a Sonic Rainboom!” Scootaloo’s mouth nearly hit the floor as she nodded furiously, following Rainbow Dash out the door. Sweetie Belle left the clubhouse, bringing an easel and paintbrush.

Three hours later, the sun had begun to set. Rainbow Dash was lying beside Scootaloo at the base of a tree at Sweet Apple Acres, watching Applebloom help out her sister. “So that’s what it feels like,” Scootaloo said, and yawned. “I didn’t know it would be so tiring.”

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Rainbow Dash said. “And you did an awesome Rainboom.” Scootaloo squeezed up against Rainbow Dash, resting her head on her tummy.

“It felt so amazing. For the first time in my life, I felt… completely free. It was so natural that I don’t want it to end,” Scootaloo said, closing her eyes.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said. “Any pegasus pony can fly. If you ask me, it’s the fact that you can’t that makes you special. Sure, you’ll need to work a lot harder, and you don’t even have your cutie mark yet. But I know that you can do it. And when you do, it will feel so much sweeter.”

“Thanks, Rainbow Dash. That means a lot,” Scootaloo said as her breathing slowed. Rainbow Dash watched the apple sisters head back home as the cutie mark disappeared from Scootaloo’s flank. Scootaloo had fallen asleep.

“That was hardly a prank. I hope it was worth it,” Discord said quietly, stepping out from behind the apple tree. Rainbow Dash gently moved Scootaloo off of her, taking care not to wake the sleeping filly. She headed over to Sweetie Belle’s easel and admired the finished painting of two Sonic Rainbooms, a large one and a smaller one, across the sky.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’d say it was worth it.”

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