It was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. My friends were all geared up in their gowns and ready to go. There was only one small problem, and I was the first to be called about the situation. Applejack came to my house, almost tripping over her dress. She cried out, "DD! Doodledraw!" I helped her by picking up the train of her dress, and asked, "What is it, Applejack?"

"My…regular….foalsitter…canceled on us…" she said, panting from her hurry to get here, "and since…you're the closest friend I know that isn't going…I was wondering if you could watch Applebloom and Scootaloo for tonight."

"Wait…they're teens by now," I pointed out. "Aren't they able to take care of themselves?"

"Well, Applebloom can be a bit naïve for her age, and Scootaloo likes to hang out with them so often, and Celestia only knows they get into when they're alone…" I sighed, "Alright, alright, I'll keep an eye on them. They can't be too much to handle, considering they're nearly adults."

Later, the two teens and I watched our friends go off to the Grand Galliping Gala in a carriage pulled by Big Macintosh. Applebloom shouted, "Hope you have good luck at the Gala, sis!" Scootaloo added, "And don't forget to impress Soarin', Rainbow Dash!" We then headed into my humble home, and the two teens immediately made their way to the couch.

"So, what do you kids wanna do?" I asked. "I heard your friend, Sweetie Belle is coming over after a show she has at a club, but we can think of something to do until then."

"Do you have any craft supplies?" the yellow earth mare asked. "I've always been good with crafts, but never drawin'."

"Well, I've been naturally handy with drawing, but never crafts," I explained, "although I may have some felt. Maybe you girls can do something with that." I checked in the next room's supply closet for anything, and instantly overheard a conversation between the two mares.

"Hey, 'Bloom, we've spent most of our lives knowing each other, right?"

"Yeah. What are you getting at?"

"Well, maybe we can write an entire book about our misadventures in finding our cutie marks as fillies! Believe me, there was a lot!"

"But none of us have writin' talents!" I came back into the room with some felt, paper and pencils, and explained, "Well, maybe I do. Sorry for overhearing your conversation, girls. But, I've taken up writing in the past few weeks, and would be pleased to help you write your story."

"But it can't just be a normal story about our adventures," Applebloom said. "I think some ponies would find that boring."

"Maybe it can be a high-fantasy epic!" Scootaloo announced. "It could take place in the medieval days of Equestria, right after Discord's rule!" We both stared at her, until she explained, "I really get excited about history class. Hehe…"

"Alright," I started, taking out a piece of paper and pencil. "Where does the tale of the Cutie Mark Crusaders start exactly?"

"It probably started with me," the yellow teen chimed up. "I wanted my cutie mark more than anything, and then I met Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who were also blank flanks."

"Hey, Scootaloo, maybe since you want this to be high-fantasy, this could be how the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a team of knights, came to form together."

"I like the idea," the orange Pegasus agreed. "Applebloom could be a knight in search of a team in order to defeat a beast or something." I wrote the ideas down that they suggested, and once I had filled the entire page with a good story and characters, we went straight to writing.

I walked through the woods, my mind wandering on the events that had past over the last few months. Discord had been sealed away in a stone prison, and two allicorns had risen as rulers. The stuff of legends, some ponies had called it. Once they had been released from his tyrannical rule, they could finally live their own lives again.

What had I done in the past few months? Still the same rebellious spirit I was when he was around. Of course, the resistance I had joined and become a co-leader of disbanded, and I went into the world of hunting monsters.

Unfortunately, I was no good at it, and many others were more successful than me. Speaking of better and successful, two of the mares who symbolized it walked right past me: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. I thought their greed was just something that Discord had done to them, but apparently not.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Applebloom, now co-leader of the loser committee!" Diamond taunted, Silver just nodding along. I had never known the silver mare to be mean, but she was very close friends with the pink leader all her life.

"Where have you been, Diamond?" I asked. I knew she hated when I didn't call her by her last name, but she explained anyway, "We just hoarded a dragon's lair while he was asleep. Want to see the cool loot we found?"

"Huh. I didn't suspect you two were also thieves as well as rats." The silver mare gasped as she looked upon her friend to see how she would respond. She only threw off her saddlebag, and said, "Consider this your last payment, ever. If you expect even another petty bit from us, you better start showing up to these raids."

"Fine! I don't need you!" I shouted, the two walking away. "I can make my own crusade team without your help!" They just laughed at me, but I knew that with my determination, I could pull it off.

"Awesome! We're finished the first chapter!" Scootaloo announced, looking over the paper. "Where do I come in, then?"

"Well, I was thinking of putting you at a griffin pub up in the skies. It would be in Cloudsdale, but many pegusi would flock there as well." I explained.

"That sounds awesome! I hate to ask of this, but could you make my character a guy?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, you don't really see a lot of females hanging out at pubs, do you?" Suddenly, somepony came in my house. Spike came in, and immediately explained his sudden entrance, "Twi said I should spend the night with you guys. She thinks I'm still too young to take care of myself…"

"Well, you are a baby dragon," 'Bloom stated. Her friend and I nodded in agreement. The dragon sat on a nearby chair and asked, "What are you three up to?"

"We're working on a story," I explained, to which the baby dragon only blew a raspberry to, and complained, "It's probably some girly frou-frou stuff or something." He scoffed, "Like I'd ever be interested in that…" We ignored him and went on with writing the story.

I set off to find my band that would become my crusade team. In the past few months, crusade teams became a common and almost note-worthy profession in many towns. Crusade teams were basically knights that helped in towns wherever the call was needed. There was one from every town, and I set to be the one from Everfree Township. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were more like a rookie crusade team, both hailing from the land that was now Canterlot.

I took a hot air balloon to the sky-city known as Cloudsdale, where all pegusi hailed from. The unicorn's spell that kept all non-cloud-walkers safe was in full-effect, and I soon came across a griffin pub. The place was filled with tough-looking griffins and pegusi all-around, the only thing that looked close to a woman being the main tender to the pub.

I came to her, some eyes falling on me as I did, and asked her, "Is there any pegusi in this bar that would be perfect for a crusading team?" The surly girl griffin answered, "Only one guy," and pointed a claw in the direction of a dimly-lit booth. I could only make an outline of the figure. "He comes here every night, and keeps to himself. You'll be lucky if he even speaks a word to you."

Though nervous, I sat next to him, and noticed his weapon of choice, a sword, was lying on the table. I picked up that for conversation as I asked, "What kind of beautiful weapon is that? A sword, I reckon? I've always wanted a sword, but I got stuck with this." I put my weapon, a double-edged battle axe, right next to his. "My big sister fought using this in the resistance. One day, she stood up to Discord with this thing. She was brave, but a fool to do it. She…she lost her life just so we wouldn't be found out about."

The orange Pegasus grabbed his sword in his mouth. All eyes in the pub were suddenly on him as I realized he meant to fight me. I took my battle axe in mouth as well, a few griffins in the place chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The Pegasus took the first swing of his weapon. He covered more distance with his weapon than I did with mine, making it easier for him to take me down.

The key for me was to get in close, and make sure to hit him down from there. I hid behind a thrown-over table, and waited for him to get close enough. He was more than close enough, I thought as I heard his heart beating through the wooden table. I quickly swung the axe into the air, and it hit the Pegasus stallion with a thunk! I looked at his body as it laid on the ground, as the pegusi and griffins around me looked as well, everypony inspecting for damage. He quickly picked himself up and finally spoke. "Huh. You must be as good as your sister was! I'm Scootaloo, and if you're offering for me to join a crusading team, consider it done!"

"Are you guys done with your story yet?" Spike groaned, still sitting at a chair far away from us. "I'm hungry!" I sighed, knowing what a dragon's diet consisted of, "There's some food in the pantry. Help yourself to whatever's in there." The baby dragon left the room and we went back to the story, Scootaloo explaining, "It feels like the story's missing something important…but what?"

Our answer soon came through the door. Sweetie Belle finally showed up and stated, "Sorry I'm late, you guys. The ponies at the club were cheering for an encore, so I gave them what they wanted."

"That's it!" Applebloom pointed to her unicorn friend. "We forgot to include Sweetie Belle in our story!"

"We're writing a fractured retelling of how the Cutie Mark Crusaders came to be," the orange Pegasus explained. "It takes place in this medieval setting, and Applebloom has just met up with Scootaloo to form a crusading team. I don't know where we can fit you into the story, though…"

"I got it!" I gasped, jotting down more notes on more paper. "How about…we fit her in during the cockatrice fight? She can have some musical magic to lull it to sleep."

"A surprise rescue!" The teen Pegasus realized. "I like it!" We went back to our story, I prepared to write a new character in.

The Everfree Forest was right near the job we had been assigned for: to find the creature that had turned an innocent filly that had wandered off to stone. It was ruthless, and probably one of the creatures that escaped from Tartarus, like the changelings a few weeks ago.

"This is it!" my companion, Scootaloo proclaimed. "The day we finally become recognized as a crusading team!"

"I wonder what this creature will look like," I said as somewhat a reply.

"I bet it will be a fearsome creature with three heads that fight all the time and never agree on anything!"

"Scoots, that sounds like something from a horrible knight's story."

"Well, what if this creature looks cute or non-threatening?"

"That sounds even worse than your first guess, Scootaloo!" I noticed my friend looked a bit nervous, and asked, "Are you scared about going on this mission?"

"N-no!" she exclaimed, looking at the things around her in fright. I mocked, "Hey, now I know how to call a chicken! Scootaloo! SCOOTALOO!"

"That isn't how you call a-!" She stopped defending herself when we heard some rustling from the bushes. She then asked, "Wait, do you hear that?" I only nodded, getting my weapon out from my belt. I held the axe in my mouth, ready to attack. It came from a bush, and we both turned to it. Out popped…

The head of a chicken. I laughed, "Hah! Speak of the devil! Look, Scootaloo! It's the perfect match for…" my mocking words fell short when I realized the chicken's head was giving a stone cold glare, and the orange Pegasus was turning to stone! I averted my eyes before the thing could hurt me, and as it came out of the bush, I noticed it had the body of a reptile.

This was a cockatrice, definitely a beast from Tartarus. I fled from it, my friend now turned to stone. I presumed this is why the filly went missing: she had met with the creature's gaze and immediately was frozen. It had me cornered to a rock, and there was no way to fight against it. I covered my face with a hoof and prepared for the worst.

I heard an arrow whiz by me, and hit something. The cockatrice squawked in fear, and with a whump! hit the ground. It was dead, and in the distance, I could see Scootaloo breaking out of the stone. The shooter of the arrow came to me soon after. She was a white unicorn, with a pink-and-light-purple-streaked mane.

"Ohmygosh!" She exclaimed, turning to me. "I'm so sorry I almost hit you with the arrow. But I know I'll eat well to—you know what? This thing looks disgusting. I'm not going to eat this." Holding the dead cockatrice with her magic, she threw it over her shoulder. I just had to thank this girl for saving my skin. I said, "Thank you! You have no idea what danger I was-!"

"You were cornered by a cockatrice, who was about to turn you to stone?" The unicorn guessed. I nodded, and she explained, "I've seen these disgusting things walking around before. Abominations to nature, if you ask me."

"Glad we're on the same page," I laughed, my friend Scootaloo finally coming over. The orange Pegasus, immediately knowing who her rescuer was, exclaimed, "We'll give you anything you want, Miss…?"

"Sweetie Belle, and if this is a crusading team, I'd love to join for the money. I'm pretty skilled with the bow since my sister taught me."

"Great!" I said, ready to move foreword and find the lost filly.

"I ate whatever was left in the pantries," Spike said, coming out of the kitchen. He grabbed the rest of our story, a bunch of pages, and looked it over, asking, "Is this your dumb story? I bet it's—!" his eyes widened as he looked over the first page. "Wait, crusade team? And are those your-! Whoa! A cockatrice? I thought those were only myths…"

"We've actually met one," Applebloom said coolly, as if she had seen one yesterday. The dragon looked at the just-completed page and asked, "Can I see you complete this story right now? Th-that is, if you don't mind."

"I'm fine with it," I explained, "Just sit somewhere where you can see the manuscript," and continued to write the last few pages.

There we were, standing right in front of the cave of the beast. Sweetie Belle on my right, Scootaloo on my left, we headed into the cavern. We were supposed to face this being with bravery in our hearts, but hidden beneath that mask we put on was fear.

It didn't take us long to find the aforementioned dragon's den, filled with many treasures. The white unicorn looked tempted to take them, but I explained to her, "Don't touch anything. Considering the beast that's living here, we don't want to disturb a thing."

Suddenly, the whole room shook as we heard a monstrous roar come from another part of the cave. There were a few tunnels coming to the nest, but I never would've suspected that the beast would come gliding down from above. It was purple, except for its underbelly and spikes, which were green.

"Oh, I get it," Spike growled, looking over the dragon's description. "You put me in as the beast because I've been a jerk this entire night!" I just shrugged off what he had said, and continued.

I was the first to make a move. I took my axe and swung it like a boomerang. Unfortunately, it never came back to me, and instead, the dragon swatted it out of the way. I yelled, "Scootaloo! Stab that thing!" and he immediately did as told. Holding the sword it his mouth, he began viciously stabbing the dragon.

At his foot. The dragon, no longer seeing us as any serious threat, threw us out of the way. We hit a cave wall, and suffered greatly, feeling much pain from the critical hit. That meant there was only one left standing that could save us.

"Sweetie Belle!" I yelled with all my might. "You have to kill this thing." She whimpered, pulling out her bow, "B-but I forgot to make more arrows for today! I only have one left!"

"J-Just do it!" I shouted as loud as I could, before I blacked out, and heard an arrow shoot off.

"Wait a minute," Applebloom said, noticing I was starting to put pencils and pens away. "What happens next?" I answered, starting to turn out the lights, "They killed the dragon, and lived happily ever after."

"But 'happily ever after' is clichéd and sounds boring!" Scootaloo stated, us all agreeing. "How about we make a continuing adventure series for them?"

"That sounds great," I stated, only one light not turned off by now. "How about you start thinking about it tonight at the sleepover?" The girls all nodded and rolled out their sleeping bags, and chatted idly about the next story for The Real Cutie Mark Crusaders.