C.M.C.T.N.G Daughter of discord

Odd One Out

Prism picked up the pace as she neared the old treehouse. Thanks to their Aunt Applebloom, it was newly renovated and painted, this time with a rainbow roof and pink walls. When she reached the entrance, she found the Tri-Pies on the floor, huddled around a book.

"Ooh!" Cherry piped, pointing to a picture in the book. "Is that Mommy?"

"She's so pretty!" Raspberry marveled.

"And she's in a giant lettuce!" Blueberry exclaimed. "Cool!"

"What are you guys looking at?" Prism asked.

The triplets looked up and replied in unison, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders Memory Book!"

"There's a lot of cool stuff in here!" Blueberry declared. "Look!"

She held up the book to Prism's face. On the page was a group photo of four fillies in red capes: two earth ponies, a pegasus and a unicorn. They were all standing in front of the clubhouse, their hooves on each other's shoulders.

"See?" Blueberry said, pointing to the yellow earth filly with the big red bow. "That's Auntie Applebloom, the unicorn's Auntie Sweetie Belle and the pegasus must be Auntie Scootaloo! I don't know who the other filly is, but she looks familiar."

Prism squinted and read the caption underneath: "The Cutie Mark Crusaders welcome their newest member: Babs Seed. Oh, I know who that is! I saw her at the last Apple Family Reunion! She's Aunt Applebloom's cousin, I think."

Blueberry turned a few more pages. "And look at this!"

The picture on that page showed a bunch of new foals wearing the same capes and standing in front of the clubhouse. Four were fillies, two were colts. Prism recognized the two pegasi in the middle as her brother and sister. She figured that the yellow filly standing shyly next to Thunder Dash was Apple Blossom, his current girlfriend. She also spotted their unicorn friend Dinky and Cinnamon Stick, Cinnamon Roll's older brother. There was no guessing who the earth pony with spiral purple eyes and propeller hat was.

"I was thinking," Blueberry announced, "that since we're Cutie Mark Crusaders now, we could take a group photo and add it to the memory book!"

"That's a great idea!" Prism declared. "That way generations of Cutie Mark Crusaders can look back and see how awesome we were!"

"Ooh!" Cherry chimed, bouncing up and down. "That'll be fun!"

"Let's go tell Gemstone about it!" Raspberry insisted.

The pegasus filly's face fell. "Gemstone?"

"She is joining us, isn't she? I mean she's a blank flank too! Besides, she's our friend!"

Prism stomped her hoof. "No! No way are we letting that Canterlot snob join our club!"

The triplets blinked at her in confusion.

"Why not?" Cherry asked.

"Because...because...because she'll just act like she owns the place and treat us like dirt like she always does! Besides, some pony of her background is obviously too important to be part of our group!"

When the bell rang for recess, Prism felt some pony tap her on the shoulder. She turned and, much to her discontent, saw the white unicorn with the blue, shiny, curled mane.

"What do you want, Gem?" the pegasus groaned.

Gemstone glanced down at her hoof and watched it draw circles into the floor. "I...I heard you and the triplets started a club. The Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

Prism folded her hooves. "Yeah? What's it to you?"

The unicorn looked up at her with pleading eyes. "I...I was wondering if I could join you, since..."