Post by Sky Blue on Feb 9, 2012 0:04:37 GMT -5
Royal Palace
/#\-/#\-/#\ *** ROYAL PALACE *** /#\-/#\-/#\
The Royal Palace is the crown jewel of Canterlot, spiking like a system of stalagmites from the Ponyville side of Canterlot Mountain. The palace is surrounded by a lush botanical and zoological garden and also adjoins a world famous sculture garden and hedge maze. Its exterior is rich and impressive, made of white stone and ivory, mixed with a dazzling array of other colors and patterns. The various turrets and towers are built in peaks, onion domes, gables, and more, and many of them bear balconies, parapets, awnings, flags, or flower ornamentation.
On the inside, the palace is no less astonishing. Its tremendous foyer is crisscrossed with red carpet and hung with tremendous tapestries. Throughout the palace, unbelievably tall stained glass windows provide an air of solemnity and gaeity at once. In the Hall of the Elements, these windows are especially haunting, telling the stories of battles with Discord and Nightmare Moon. The palace has countless rooms, from the guard halls to the guest rooms to the throne room. Finally, Princess Celestia's private suite, done up in swirly purples, is furnished with a hearth, rug and bolster, ornamental window, and miniature trees.
Per invitation, the Crusaders were welcome anytime they wished at the Royal Palace. Only problem? Canterlot is a long ways away from Ponyville! Lucky for the girls, the school was taking a week long field trip to Canterlot to see the museums and shows, artwork and architecture. Lucky, too, they all get some free time and, with agreement they wouldn't leave palace grounds, the Crusaders are headed for the door to visit their favorite princesses. "I'm liking this trip!" Scootaloo says, her Crusader cape warding off the cold. "Away from all those stuffy grumps back home and we get to visit again!"
Scootaloo
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She may be short, she may not be the best flier, but the little Pegasus filly named Scootaloo is one pony that's well known amongst the folks of Ponyville. One of the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, the young pony is a frequent sight alongside her best friends or blazing around town in her scooter. Her overall color scheme is reminiscent of sherbet, with a creamy orange body and a spiky, wind-blown mane and tail of a raspberry magenta. Her wide eyes are a lilac tinged with darker amethyst tinges. Her most distinguishing mark is her lack of one, her status as a 'blank flank' and the discovery to find it the driving goal in her life.
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Apple Bloom had so many ideas on how to get their cutie marks. Yet when she was put on the spot that morning and asked for anything the princesses could do for them. Any sort of lesson. So, naturally, the exhuberant earth pony youth choked and shouted out, "FILING CLERKS!" and it all went downhill from there. It might have been a little more realistic, but for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, realistic is a four-letter word. She's right behind Scootaloo, still looking a mite ashamed of herself. But she does cheer up when Scootaloo speaks. And not about filing. "Yeah, ah can't wait to see the princesses!"
Apple Bloom
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"Yeah, Rarity won't let me go anywhere fun since we got sent to the Everfree Forest," Sweetie Belle chips in, also wearing her hoof-made Cutie Mark Crusaders cape. "I hope we get to see Princess Celestia, this time..." she adds, as the throne room door looms up ahead, "Princess Luna's REAL nice and stuff, but she kinda sucks at the teleporting thing."
Sweetie Belle
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Here Stands Sweetie Belle - with a voice that could make an angel jealous, this little alabaster pony stands before you with the greenest of spring green eyes and a heart of gold. Her coat is a beautiful pristine, combed and cultured like an unicorn's would be - espcially a unicorn whom is the sister of the fantastic and faboulous Rarity (Which makes this little foal fantastic and fabulous by default!) Her tail blooms into a bouncy and colourful purple, dashed with a brilliant shade of pink, just like her mane. Sweetie Belle's disposition depicts smiles on her face whenver you might see her - sunshine and smiles, and enough energy to power a small building. Go and say Hi to her - you won't regret it!"
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"Well, Nettleglum thought Princess Luna mighta sent us there on purpose." Scootaloo says as she walks along, flicking snow from her tail and wings. "To see the cave and plants and stuff. Maybe we could ask Princess Luna if we see her? She's probably asleep right now, though, it's not dark yet. Ya think Princess Celestia is in the throne room?"
Apple Bloom hadn't seen Celestia since the time she got outright drunk with Scootaloo thanks to the princess. But maybe she should let her fellow Crusaders propose ideas to the princess instead, since she might blurt out something like "Cutie Mark Crusaders Magnet Inspectors!" Besides, the young earth pony apple farmer can't always be the idea pony, can she? "Ahm sure Celestia is in th'throne room!"
"She always is during the day," Sweetie Belle replies as she trots happily up to the door to the throne room, swirls around, and then lowers herself down into a crouched stance. Besides, she's always happy to see us? Ain't she? CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GO!" then, with that, she kicks open the enormous double doors.
The door slams open, and Luna is visible for the blink of an eye standing next to the window! Then she's gone in a flicker of blue light, and the stained glass window falls, shattering into a million brightly colored pieces on the marble floor. Luna isn't gone, she's just abruptly appeared behind the Crusaders, wings spread and pupils slitted with darkness boiling out of the cracks of every flagstone, until she tisks, "Oh, it is thee. Greetings, foals. Thou have made us destroy a quite valuable and hard to replace window depicting ourself being banished as a monster by our sister. A tragedy."
Princess Luna
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The royal presence! Of the divine princesses of Equestria, Luna is the night herself. She towers over other ponies, with long legs and a face as elegantly feminine as a statue. Eyes the aquamarine of settling twilight are framed by long lashes and angled with the same graceful lines as her muzzle. Her coat is much deeper, the indigo blue of a moonlit night. Mane and tail are a mere royal blue, glittering with stars and transparent at the edges. They shift in the slightest breeze, or at her whim.
She's not merely taller than other ponies. A horn longer and sharper than a unicorn's thrusts from her forehead, and tucked against her sides are wings broader than those of a pegasus. Just in case, somehow, all of this doesn't clue you off that she's a princess, a pitch black tiara sits beneath her horn, and around her shoulders she wears a black metal yoke with a crescent moon painted on it.
Oh, and on her royal backside is her cutie mark, the same crescent moon glowing white on a black mass like spilled ink.
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That was when Apple Bloom was drunk, no doubt. She has no memory of it. "We did? We're sorry, princess! Ah didn't mean to cause any damage when I was drunk!" Apple Bloom seems genuinely sorry. But in her haste to get off an uncomfortable topic, she ends up blurting what she said that morning and dooming the rest of the crusaders on her lame idea. "Ah was wondering if ye needed some Cutie Mawrk Crusader Fawlin' Clurks?"
As Sweetie Belle kicked open the door facing backwards, she is facing the right way to see Princess Luna materialise behind her, prompting a terrified shriek and for her to hide behind Apple Bloom. Once the earth pony has spoken up, she pokes her head up from behind her friend's flank and comments, "Y-yeah... you know, something that doesn't involve icky bugs or stuff?"
Luna refolds her wings, her pupils bounce back out to normal roundness, and the shadows turn into perfectly normal shadows that don't creep around so. Smiling amicably, she nods her head and steps past the CMC back into the throne room, letting her misty tail with its sparkling stars drift right through them. "We do not entirely understand thy request, children. We recall thou are eager to discover thy cutie marks, but why would thee come to us for fowling? There are no chickens in the palace."
Bugs?! Now why didn't Apple Bloom think of that? Cutie Mark Crusader Bug Hunters or something! With a sigh, Apple Bloom simply resigns herself to her fate that she had an awkward moment in the clubhouse that morning and the Crusaders are all going to pay for it! To Luna, she continues to bury them deeper. "No no! Fawlin' clerks! And ah bet you gawt lots of fawlin' to get done!"
"But Apple Bloom, ain't filing work real bor-" Sweetie Belle starts, before remembering their pre-arranged Cutie Mark Crusaders Cutie Mark Challenge for the day. "Uh, yeah! You must have loads of... files and.... uh... stuff that needs doing, Princess Luna!" the unicorn filly replies, pulling an enormous smile onto her face as she starts to nod enthusiastically.
The royal castle! Wow! Newest student in the class, Pumpkin has yet to really exprience the wonder that is Ponyville, but he's very quickly learning, and very gracious that he's been allowed to partake on this wonderful excursion from the class. The boy, of course, has meandered away from Cherilee and is keeping out of sight from the guards, happily clip-clopping about the castle on his own explorative little jaunt. "Buck Hoofington has invaded the perilious Castle Nefarious in hopes of stealing the golden treasure from it's dark and decaying depths! Only one pony has the wit, the courage, and the awesome, muscle to pull this off - that's right, Buck Hoofington! Not even Daring Do could hope to reach his level of sure, unparallel awesome! Buck Hoofington IS - Buck Hoofington!" the boy whispers, parading about the hallways - and freezes when he spots the Cutie Mark Crusaders in conversation with... holy macaroni.
Pumpkin Pie
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The youngest of the Pumpkin Brothers, Pie is a lithe, muscular little pony with a blonde mane dangling over baby blue eyes and a full orange body. Oh yes, this little foal is quite the cutie, and he knows it. He's adorable, and flaunts it wickedly. Over his flanks is a... well, looks like this one is a blank flank - he hasn't found his true calling yet, but it's probably pumpkin related. Celestia help him if it isn't.
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Luna is everything her reputation promised. She's an amazonian giant of a pony, towering over the largest stallions like a lighthouse, and yet utterly, sleekly feminine. Her long legs are graceful, her body slender, and her muzzle as perfect as a statue's. Mane and tail are billowing, spectral bands of the Milky Way, and, in case there was any doubt whatsoever, she keeps walking past the Cutie Mark Crusaders until she can look out through the empty window again. Lifting one hoof, she murmurs just audibly, "It is time, my beloved," and at that invitation the moon creeps up into view in the sky outside. Only with that taken care of does she look back around at the little fillies, her brow furrowed as she attempts to sort out their gibbering. Then understanding hits. "Ah, thou wish to be clerics! Do they teach earth ponies to read and write these days? Astonishing! Certainly, we can help thee discover if bureacracy is thy calling. Of course, the unicorn child is correct - filing is obviously not to thy temperament. Thou are administrative ponies, if ever we have seen them!"
Apple Bloom supposes back over a thousand years ago earth ponies weren't that well educated. But she nods excitedly and says, "Shore we can read and rawt! Right girls?" Apple Bloom says as if that was a challenge. But then she hears that last thing and Luna has her attention once more. "Administraytive ponies? Really?"
"What's administrative?" Sweetie Belle asks, though her eyes are already wide at the sound of being such a big word-ed pony. "Is it like... uh... well, who cares what it's like! We can do that reading and writing and clerics! What'll our cutie marks look like?"
Pumpkin Pie's ears perk and the boy gives a little squeak. "I wanna be a clerk! I can totally do that! No problem! "I'm not even supposed to be in today!"" He quips, pauses and glances around his shoulder, and then back towards the CMC. "Uh, hey guys! Is that a real princess? The REAL princess Luna?" Pumpkin peeps, looking up at the impossibly tall pony. "I was readin' about you in class! Didn't you go all crazy and try to raise an eternal eclipse?"
Luna's head tilts further, bluegreen eyes locking on Pumpkin as he thrusts himself into the conversation. "No, little colt," she corrects him, "We went all crazy and froze the heavens in their place, preventing Celestia from raising the sun so that night would reign eternal unless the ponies of Equestria learned to love it as much as it loved them. There was a magnificent stained glass window right here showing how when Celestia was too weak to defeat us herself the Elements of Harmony punished us instead." She gestures with a hoof at the huge, empty windowpane, and then down at the colored glass all over the floor. "Alas, there was an accident." Now her eyes rove over all four foals, and she asks, "Is this colt joining thee in thy pursuit of a cutie mark?"
"No! Ah mean... Yes! Ah mean! Ah dunno!" Apple Bloom calms herself before she gets too excited and proposes some other bad idea for the Crusaders to try. What she means to say is, "He's nawt really a Crusader."
Scootaloo has been primarily oogling the numerous shards of glass strewn across the floor, perhaps dumbfounded by the sparkling - though, ravens generally like sparklies, not chickens. At some point, she shakes her head clear and blinks up at Luna with her mouth slightly agape. "Um... administrators. Eh, don't nurses administer stuff? S'what other ponies always say." Give her a minute, she's got the derp.
Pumpkin Pie's ears perk instantly. "Cutie mark?! YES! YES! I want a cutiemark! Oh, how did you know?! Oh, of course you know, You're Princess Luna! You're obviously remarkably intelligent, AND if I dare say so myself, incredibly beautiful! Why, yes, y'highness! I am looking for my Cutie Mark," the boy explains, with a waggle of his blank flank. "Good eye. Doesn't she have a good eye? She's got a remarkable good eye. No wonder your everybody's favorite!" he elaborates. Boy lays it on thick. But, afterall, first impressions are important. One doesn't get a second chance to impress a princess. "But I COULD be a Cutie Mark Crusader," he says to Apple Bloom, glancing over at the other earth pony with a little coo.
Luna's eyebrows press down in bafflement, and perhaps faint disgust, as Pumpkin Pie tries to sweet talk her. Then suddenly she laughs! "Such a sweet colt," she coos, rubbing the top of his head with her hoof. "However, fellowship is earned, not forced. If thee join these fillies, that must be by their choice." Stepping away from BUCK HOOFINGTON, she clops back up to Apple Bloom and lowers her head to peer down almost eye to eye with her. "Do thee wish a task, then? Shall we give thee some assignment and let thee test thy skill at the clerical arts?"
"Yew bet yer eyebrows! I mean... Yes, princess!" Apple Bloom says. And arts! She gets to do art? Ooooh, maybe this clerking won't be such a bad thing after all! As for whether Pumpkin Pie can be a Cutie Mark Crusader, she'll need to have a nice long meeting about it. She turns to the girls. "Should we huddle for a sec?"
"HUDDLE!" booms Scootaloo in her official Call to Order voice, long perfected by many hours of leading the Rainbow Dash fanclub meetings. She scampers in close to her fellow Crusaders, still donning her crimson cloak, and ducks her head in to talk business with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "Princess Luna, we need a minute and YOU," she voices with a sharp glance over her shoulder to Pumpkin Pie, "You stay right there."
Swooping in overhead is Rainbow Dash! The cyan colored pony lands with a loud huff, panting heavily. "There you guys are! Geez, I take one little nap and you all just bolt! Alright, Cutie Mark Escape Artists, I can't be your official school chaperone if I am not chaperoning!" she says as she trots over to the three girls, lifting a wing to wave to Luna. "Hey there, your moon-ness. Whaddup? I hope these fillies aren't ruffling your feathers or breaking your stuff," she says as she flicks Scootaloo on the ear as she passes by their huddle.
Rainbow Dash
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Wrapped in a blanket of turquoise, Rainbow Dash's pelt is as brilliant as a beautiful cloudless sky. Her mane is a choppy sprawl of a rainbow across the top of her head that leads down her neck to tousle at the base of her shoulders. Unlike most mares, Dash appears to enjoy a more haphazardly disheveled look as she is a speedster of the skies and her colorful hair is known for being whipped about. Her tail is a tad thicker and longer than her mane, revealing in the same playful rainbow colored spectrum. Upon her backside is the cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow bolt zigzagging down towards her leg. Dash's eyes are a dark purple that always holds a brilliant energy within them to match her outgoing personality. Last but not least are her pegasus wings that are neatly settled upon her back which are strong enough to carry her swiftly through the skies. Just like the rest of her, they are painted the same beautiful blue.
Dash usually has a competitive and cocky look upon her face, as if she was constantly looking for the next challenge so to prove her worth. Despite being such a big talker, her heart is even larger as she represents the element of loyalty. Her voice is a raspy tomboyish tone that always has a bit of an egotistical edge to it, hardly eloquent as some of her other companions. When she does allow her hooves to hit the ground, she has a swaying strut to her gait with head raised high and the ever-present grin along her face.
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Pumpkin Pie smiles warmly. The boy does have a good heart, really, and a silver tongue. He's just not entirely sure how to use it properly yet. Out of the corner of his eye, he watches Luna talk to Apple Bloom and his heart gives the faintest little flutter. She really is a cutie but no no, eyes on the prize, Buck. Cutie Mark. You want your Cutie Mark! When the girls huddle up, though, he whistles casually and starts to inch ever so much closer, perking an ear and FREEZES the moment Scootaloo gives him a repremand! "W, what? I wasn't movin none!"
Apple Bloom has her heat into the huddle and looks at the other two girls. There is much muttering coming from her during this inquisition.
Apple Bloom whispers, "Alright Crusaders. Whattaya think? Think we should welcome a new Crusader?" to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Sweetie Belle Whispers, "But three's our lucky number! Plus, he's a colt. You know colts always screw up teams. Remember that time I got partnered with Snips for the seven-legged race?" to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.
Scootaloo whispers, "No way! Besides, if Rainbow and the others can do such cool stuff without colts, why do we need one? All colts do is get in the way. Besides... he's creepy." to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom looks up from the huddle at BUCK HOOFINGTON and then returns to the huddle to whisper.
Apple Bloom whispers, "What's so creepy about him, Scoots? Jus' seems lawk 'nother colt t'me," to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Pumpkin Pie pouts quietly, and sneaks over towards Princess Luna. "Hey... if I'm not a CMC, can I have a task anyway? I want my Cutie Mark too. It would totally impress Apple Bloom... I think. Or she might beat me into submission. Either way, Cutie Mark, so it's win win!" he whispers and nods sagely. "D, do you think that'll impress her? Cause Seed hassa girlfriend, and Patch has Salsa, so I want one too, and Apple is sorta cute in that 'I can't do much better anyway' kinda way."
Sweetie Belle whispers, "Yeah, he ain't any worse than Snips or Snai- Wait, did you hear that, Apple Bloom? He said you're cute in a 'I can't do much better anyway' kind of way! Cutie Mark Crusaders Colt Kicking?" to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo has her head ducked back among those of her friends and furiously whispers back to the other two, her tail giving an agitated swish even as she shoots another suspicious glance over her shoulder. That is until Rainbow arrives and flicks her across the ear, bringing a huff of protest from the orange filly. "Rainbooow, we're doing Crusader business!"
Scootaloo whispers, "We got more important things to do! Cuties before Colts! Let's talk to Luna and prove we're better than any old stupid colt. Come on, girls, let's do this!" to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
Luna listens to Pumpkin Pie's question solemnly. She looks over at the whispering fillies. She looks back at Pumpkin. She smiles, widely and warmly, and asks, "Cannot do much better?" She turns back towards the window, and one of her wings extends, curling down to scoop Pumpkin Pie off the floor, holding him up and carrying him with her as she walks over to the empty window, then rears up to prop her front hooves on it. Well, one hoof. The other points up at the moon. "Know thee, sweet colt, that the first stallion we truly loved was an earth pony? Neigh, not just an earth pony, but a miner, a pony of no station, no education, no honor. Thou would think him a slave in modern times. He dared to love the moon, and his passion and his steadfastness won our heart in return. Listen to thy princess, and listen to thy heart. Never let thyself be deterred because a filly is too good for thee. If she is truly what thou want most, thou are better pursuing her and failing than settling for the withered mule thou think is thy desert. Plus, a passionate heart counts for much, very much indeed. Thou might win her!"
"Ooh, Cutie Mark business, well, can I listen in?" Dash asks as she nudges her head in there as well, whispering loudly. "Alright, so what are we talking 'bout girls? Kickball or Tag, right? I say let's go with kickball. That's way more awesome than tag. Tag is so[i/] boring." She says as her wings flutter out to curl around the three little fillies. "Alright, on three, we yell kickball." Pause. "Which of you brought a ball?"
Apple Bloom glares at Pumpkin Pie when Sweetie Belle tells her what he said. Well! If she's 'the best he can do' then he can just go ahead and try harder then! Hmph! She looks over at Luna. And, likely to Rainbow Dash's horror, shouts, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Clerk Ponies are a go!" Yes. Not tag, not kickball. Paper pushers.
Pumpkin Pie blushes and shakes his head. "No, I mean I dun think there's a pony prettier than Apple Bloom on this whole planet," he whispers quietly to the princess, the little foal risking a glance over his shoulder at the CMC and then back to Luna. "I don't think I could ever do any better than her," he add, his voice smooth and oddly sincere. "But don't... don't let that get around, ok? You feel in love with a miner? Like a pony livin under ground n' stuff? Oh, that's cool! I'll have to try harder!"
Luna chuckles, turning back and lowering Pumpkin gently to the ground again. "We have loved many times, but back then we were very young and thought ourself a fierce warrior and a hero. To be loved so sincerely and bravely shocked us." Stepping away from him, she folds her wings up and addresses Apple Bloom. "Well, then. Know thee how bureacracy works, fillies? It's founding principles and purpose?"
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLERK PONIES ARE GO!" Sweetie Belle yells at the top of her tiny, yet rather impressive lungs, high-hoofing her fellow crusaders and promptly clonking Rainbow Dash in the head by accident. Then, with a ready pose, she makes to leap to Princess Luna and... pauses, loses her balance, then tips forward and lands on her face. "What do clerk ponies do anyway?" she asks... seemingly whoever's nearest. "Ah thought Princess Luna said we were gonna be the Cutie Mark Crusaders Administrative Ponies?"
"Clerks?" Scootaloo remarks with an equally questioning voice as she helps hoist Apple Bloom up off her chin. "Aren't those the ponies that sit behind store counters and complain how bad their lives are? How do they administer anything?" she says with her face scrunching up in an uncertain frown. "What's burrocracy?" she then asks of Rainbow Dash, the poor chaperone who's since been left behind, boggled, and smacked in the face thus far today.
"Ow! Watch it Sweetie," Rainbow Dash grumbles as she rubs her chin with her hoof. "Beauracracy? I don't know, it sounds boring and stuffy. Why don't you get your cutie mark in alligator wresting, or something awesome like demolitions? Wouldn't you rather blow things up with dynamite instead?" With a flutter of her wings once more, she falters her ears backwards.
"Maybe they're the same thing?" Apple Bloom says, wondering about that herself. Luna might have her answer about bureaucracy. She turns to face the princess and says, "Ah bet ye'll teach us! Rawt, Princess Lewna?" Hey, it's hard to discourage Apple Bloom. She may get down sometimes. But giving up isn't something that runs in the roots of the Apple family.
Pumpkin Pie draws in a breath and shuffles his way over towards Applebloom and flashes his best and brightest smile. "Yeah! Cutie Bark Crusaders! GO! I... uh, I wanna be a clerk too! I bet Princess Luna has all sorts of desk jobs avalible being royalty n' all! I reckon she'll give us a job handin' the royal funds in the treasury or somethin! I'd be real good at that! And I promise not to illegally transfer funds to an offshore account I have set up under a fake name! No sir!
Luna reaches out and touches Apple Bloom's nose with the tip of her hoof affectionately, and explains, "Bureacracy is the profession whereby the world is brought into order.A Bureaucrat ensures that all things are aspects of pony life are performed according to rules, and are recorded and organized. Often the rules themself do not matter, only that there is a system rather than chaos." Suddenly her wings spread, and wind barrels around the great hall, pushing foals around as she declares, "HEAR US, CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! WE, THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, GIVE THEE THIS TEST! THINE NOW IS ALL AUTHORITY OVER... oh, what is something trivial no one cares about... THE LICENSING OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS AND PRODUCTS IN THE COUNTY OF PONYVILLE! THE RULES ARE WHAT THOU SAY THEY ARE, UNTIL THOU RENOUNCE THIS TASK AND SEEK A DIFFERENT CUTIE MARK. IF ANY DEFY THEE, SHOW THEM THIS, THAT THEY KNOW THOU ACT WITH OUR AUTHORITY." Her head lashes in a semi-circle, her horn carving a crescent in the air that floats over to attach itself to Apple Bloom's left shoulder as a glowing, rippling moon. The wind stops, her wings are withdrawn, and she leans down to whisper to BUCK HOOFINGTON, "If thou wish in on this action, colt, thou must charm thy beloved for thy place."
"... is that a cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle asks in the most confused voice possible as she walks up to Apple Bloom, gives the crescent-shape a few pokes, then props up an enormous smile on her face... and eventually pulls on a confused expression instead, before asking THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, "If we all get this power of agriculturings, doesn't that mean me and Scootaloo get fancy moon mark things too?"
"Yah!" Voices Scootaloo as she ambles up beside Sweetie Belle and looks up to the Princess. "Are we supposed ta do the same thing or do we get other... bureocratical things to do? OH! Can I be in charge of what's awesome and what's not? I'd be totally good at that, right Rainbow Dash? Ponies need someone to tell them what's awesome, because how would they know otherwise?"
Pumpkin Pie's ears perk happily, and he gives Apple Bloom the brightest smile he can muster! "Well alright then! I'll get extra tips from Seed n' Pat - whoops, he's probably still mad at me. Latte! Yeah! She'll never let me down! H, hey Apple Bloom... Ya'll think maybe I can be a uh... whatcha call, uh, agricultural uh, bureaucratic uh, dictator pony? Or ya know, a CMC whichever? I promise I'll uh, I'll be real good at it. A, and I'll spend all my time right by yourside! If ya need me too, I can replace Scootaloo!" he says waggling his eyebrows.
Of course, Apple Bloom and the other Crusaders are probably the last ponies to put in charge of agriculture in Ponyville. But they won't say that! All Apple Bloom knows is she's been put in charge of something awesome by the princess and - "Cutie mark? Ah have a, oh. Ah think that's a badge or somethin'. OH! Wait'll Applejack hears about this!" Apple Bloom doesn't seem to respond to Pumpkin Pie since she is still way too excited at this. "Come on, Crusaders! We got an important job and we gotta do it rawt!"
Luna smiles widely. "MARVELOUS!" she booms. Her horn shines blue, and so do all four foals. Picked up in a gentle magical grip, they're carried through the air back out the front door of the great hall as Luna trots along. "Thou receive but one badge of authority, but may transfer it between thyselves. Thou are a TEAM in this. Bureacracy is about ponies working together in organized harmony. When thou give up on this cutie mark, thy power will be revoked. Until then -" She nods to Apple Bloom, "Thou have an important job and must do it right!" And with that the foals are set on the carpet, Luna takes a step back, and the doors slam shut. "Now, we must hide a lot of stained glass..."
