User:Mega Sean 45/Sandbox/The Seed of Truth

The Seed of Truth is the fourth episode of the alternate seventh season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the one hundred forty-seventh overall.

When the Cutie Mark Crusaders travel to Manehattan with Rarity to visit fellow crusader Babs Seed, they find out that Babs hasn’t been keeping in contact with her friends in the Manehattan CMCs.

Production
This story is similar to the Fall for the Cutie chapter in the alternate season six story, but with a few changes like Babs' destiny.

Kelly Sheridan needs to be voiced by Sunflower with an angsty-teen voice if she appears in the show.

Also what's taking so long for Babs to have another episode?

The BG ponies that appear in this episode are Serena, Neon Lights, Bubblegum Blossom, Orange Slice, Chargrill Breadwinner, Buried Lede, Mr. Stripes, Silver Shill, Eclair Crème, Grace, Lady Justice, Quiet Gestures, Cloudy Daze, Chirpy Hooves, and Sweet Pop.

Summary
Over in Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom was excitedly jumping on her bed just as Applejack walks into her room telling her to calm down or else she might break her bed. Apple Bloom claims that she can’t help it because she and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are travelling with Rarity to Manehattan to see Babs Seed and the rest of the Manehattan CMCs. Apple Bloom claims that she hasn’t seen her since any of them first got their cutie marks. Applejack then reminds her that Rarity is mainly going to check on her Manehattan expansion, but is letting the crusaders come because they kept whining about how much they wanted to see Babs, and then Applejack tells her to finish packing up since she’s going to be leaving early in the morning. Apple Bloom said she would once she let out her steam, but after jumping on the bed so much, her bed splits in half, much to Applejack’s annoyance.

When the next day comes, the Cutie Mark Crusaders take the Friendship Express to Manehattan with Rarity to talk about how excited they are to see Babs after so long. While Rarity starts rambling on about how successful her business is coming along, the crusaders just talk amongst themselves without her noticing. Sweetie Belle wants to know how she got her cutie mark in the first place, Scootaloo wonders how her life turned out after she got it, but Apple Bloom wonders if Babs is still in contact with her old crusader members after she said she left the CMCs after she got her cutie mark. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo think she has since they helped her find her special purpose in life, she would be forever grateful to them. Apple Bloom believes that they’re right, and the three all get excited for seeing their old friend again. Rarity confuses their cheering for cheering for her store, and thanks them for it.

When Rarity and the crusaders first get to the station, the crusaders excitedly search around through the crowds of ponies to find Babs who was waiting for them. They searched in the bathroom, in the trash bins, even inside a pony’s hat, but eventually, Apple Bloom finds Babs after accidently bumping into her. Apple Bloom and Babs excitedly gave each other a hug, and Apple Bloom calls out to the rest of the crusaders to join along. After saying how happy they were to see each other, the crusaders show Babs their cutie marks, which really impressed her; and right after, Babs shows them her scissors cutie mark, which really made the crusaders wow in excitement. Meanwhile, Rarity catches up with the crusaders telling them that she looked everywhere for them, and she asks who the pony next to Babs is, and Babs introduces her as her older sister Sunflower, who really didn’t care about being there. Rarity gets the thought of leaving the crusaders under the responsibility of Sunflower, but afterwards, she decides to stay with them until they get to Babs’ apartment.

Once the cab drops the crusaders and Sunflower off at Babs’ place, Rarity leaves them to check on her boutique. Once the five head up to the apartment, the crusaders head into Babs’ room without Sunflower caring. While hanging out, since the crusaders already told Babs how they got their cutie marks, Babs explains how she got hers. When she and her friends went out crusading to try out different things, being a barber was one of them. They were grooming a stray cat out in an alley when suddenly, Babs’ cutie mark appeared. She was so happy when she got it, and her friends, Bubble Pop and Cloudy Thunder, seemed pretty proud of her too a bit. The crusaders were really proud of Babs for all she accomplished. After Apple Bloom asks how Bubble and Cloudy are doing, Babs immediately changes the subject to asking her friends if they wanted to see her new workplace. The crusaders agreed, and with Sunflower’s uncaring permission, they wandered off into the streets of Manehattan to visit the barber shop Babs works at now.

The crusaders start to wonder why Babs immediately changed the subject as the three walked behind her towards her workplace. Apple Bloom starts to feel that Babs is hiding something, but Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle disagree with her, saying that she might be just too excited to tell them about her new career. On the way to the shop, the four meet up with the Manehattan CMCs, Bubble Pop and Cloudy Thunder, who greet Babs to ask her where she’s going, and Babs biasly tells them where they’re going. Both Babs and her Manehattan crusader friends awkwardly copped an attitude towards each other about Babs’ job and how Cloudy and Bubble are still blank flanks, while putting the Ponyville crusaders in an awkward position. Cloudy and Bubble, however, were happy to see the Ponyville crusaders, and tell them that they’re an inspiration to them, but if only they could teach Babs to be more humble and loyal to them. However, Babs complains that they’re the disloyal ones.

After Babs takes her crusader friends to the barber shop to meet her co-workers, Babs offers to show them the basics of mane styling. When Babs helps out with a customer’s mane, the crusaders all talk to each other about Babs’ situation with her friends. They find out that Babs hasn’t been keeping in touch with her friends since she left the CMCs, and for some reason they’re all mad at each other sometime after Babs got her cutie mark, and they need to find out why so they can fix their relationship. After Babs finishes styling a pony’s mane, the CMCs pretend that they were watching the whole time. Just then, Apple Bloom immediately changed the subject, and asked Babs about her problem with her friends. Babs tells them that there is no problem, and that it’s just a phase, and that they’ll get over it. When Scootaloo asks what kind of phase they’re going through, and Babs tells them that ever since she got her cutie mark, they seemed to be jealous of her because they don’t have their marks yet, and they lost touch with her because of it, and that it doesn’t bother her a bit. The CMCs eventually tell Babs that they want to take a walk for a while, and Babs allows them, saying that she’ll be at work for a while.

When the CMCs walk out into the streets, they try to find Babs’ friends, but with Manehattan being so big, Sweetie Belle thought it was going to be really difficult to find them. They eventually find them walking down an alley, and the crusaders run over across the street, but causing a cab driver to stop in the middle of the road as they crossed. When they cross the street, they walk down the alley to try to find Babs’ friends. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle start to get nervous while walking down the dark alley, but Scootaloo just bravely shows off her fighting moves just before running into a couple of hoodlums in the alley, which caused Scootaloo to finally become nervous. The hoodlums began to harass the crusaders; saying that they’re in the wrong alley, and are trespassing in their alley, but luckily for them, Cloudy Thunder and Bubble Pop come to the rescue. Cloudy Thunder incapacitates the colt bully, and Bubble Pop tells them that the CMCs outnumber them 5 to 2. The bullies decide to let them go, but threaten to beat them up if they come by their alley again. When the CMCs thank them for rescuing them, and explain that they were looking for them, the Manehattan CMCs told them that they made the wrong turn, and that the crusader clubhouse was in the opposite alley.

Once all the crusaders made it to the Manehattan crusader clubhouse, the Ponyville crusaders make themselves at home, and right after, the crusaders explained to them what they’re up to in trying to fix their relationship with Babs. The Manehattan crusaders tell them that she cannot be reasoned with because she’s really modest about finally getting her cutie mark, making them feel that they’re inferior to her. The Ponyville crusaders tell them that Babs isn’t like that, but the Manehattan crusaders tell them that she has been. She thought it was best to abandon the CMCs and to go on with her own life. Apple Bloom tells them that even though Babs already got her cutie mark, that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be a crusader anymore, and tells them that she and her friends all got their cutie marks and are still part of the crusaders. Even though they have hobbies, they still help those that are in need, and Babs can do the same. The Manehattan CMCs angrily tell the Ponyville ones that if Babs were to help those in need, then why isn’t she helping the ones who are in need the most. The Ponyville CMCs suddenly felt defeated.

Later on, Babs returns to her apartment to see the Ponyville CMCs waiting for her. When Babs asks what’s going on, the CMCs explain the situation to her, and tells her that she needs to reunite with her old friends, but Babs tells them that they don’t need her anymore, and are better off. Apple Bloom then tell her that they thought she abandoned them, and didn’t bother helping them earn their cutie marks, but Babs tells them they said they didn’t need her help, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tell her that ponies sometimes say the wrong things because they’re angry, and that they really want her back. However, Babs asks the CMCs that if they really wanted her back, they should’ve told her they wanted her back, and made up her mind that she wanted nothing to do with them, and the CMCs understood.

When the next game comes, the CMCs return to the apartment to say goodbye to Babs and Sunflower before returning to Ponyville, but Sunflower tells them that Babs left early for her job. The CMCs were upset because they weren’t able to reunite Babs with her old friends, making Apple Bloom feel like she’s a failure as a cousin and a crusader, but her friends try to cheer her up saying that they tried their best, and perhaps one day they will reunite, but until then, there’s nothing they can do except to say goodbye to the Manehattan CMCs and wish them the best of luck. After saying goodbye to Sunflower, the CMCs walk back out to the Manehattan streets, and told Rarity that they are just going to be saying goodbye to the others before leaving. They go through the dark alley again when they suddenly met up with the hoodlums again who surrounded them.

Eventually, Rarity comes into Babs’ barber shop, where Babs immediately recognizes her. Rarity tells her that the CMCs are saying goodbye to her friends, and thought that she could get a quick mane makeover before leaving. Babs starts to feel upset about not being able to say goodbye to her friends, and asks Rarity if she could say goodbye for her, and Rarity suggests her to tell them herself since they’re just down the alley across the street, which causes Babs to gasp in shock. She runs out of the store and crosses the street, and runs down that alley, and notices that her friends are being harassed by the local hoodlums. Babs, feeling like she had no other choice, turns over to the Manehattan CMCs to assist her in rescuing her friends from the hoodlums; when her old friends begin to criticize her into coming back, Babs begs for their help because the Ponyville CMCs have no idea how bad Manehattan bullies can be. Her old friend eventually agreed to do it, and Babs asks if they know what to do, and they told her that they do what they always do when they meet up with those bullies; the way that Babs taught them how to stand up for themselves.

Back in the alley, just before the bullies were about to beat the CMCs up, Cloudy Thunder comes in and holds the colt bully in a headlock, and Bubble Pop began to reason with them – telling them that they shouldn’t be beating up on tourists that don’t know how to defend themselves against big city hoodlums. The filly bully asks what would happen if they don’t, and then Babs comes, pushes her down and tells them that she’ll be going to their moms because of their bad attitudes, which scares the colt bully, but not the filly. Bubble Pop then shows the bully an embarrassing picture of her playing with dolls, which she knew would ruin her reputation, and that causes both of the hoodlums to get scared and run away.

The Manehattan CMCs all helped the Ponyville CMCs back on their hooves and thanked them for saving them again. Babs then immediately apologizes to all of her friends about the way she behaved in the situation, and then apologizes to her Manehattan friends for being so modest about earning her cutie mark. The Manehattan CMCs then apologized to her for being jealous and saying they didn’t need her anymore, and Babs gladly accepted. Babs also told them how effective they were in saving her friends from the bullies – Cloudy Thunder with his ways of self-defense, and Bubble Pop with her reasoning and blackmailing, were able to save them from getting beat up. Bubble and Cloudy both tell Babs that it was her that taught them how to defend themselves against bullies when they first met, which inspired them to know exactly what to do when coming in contact with a bully. That’s when Bubble and Cloudy both received their cutie marks. Cloudy Thunder received a shield for a cutie mark, and Bubble Pop received a briefcase. They were both really excited, and Babs felt really proud of them for finding their special purposes in life, and they both thanked Babs for helping them find out.

Afterwards, the CMCs all returned to the barbershop, and Babs and the Manehattan CMCs thanked their Ponyville branch for helping them reunite, and the Ponyville CMCs tell them that they will always be there to help out their fellow crusaders. Babs then claims to be returning with her friends in the crusaders to help other ponies in their time of need. They all learn that the Cutie Mark Crusaders isn’t just about cutie marks and helping others find their special purposes in life; it’s about just helping them in getting on the right track to making the right decisions. The CMCs then all felt upset because they’ll be leaving later that day, but as Rarity was getting her hair made-over from one of the barbers, she tells them that she won’t be able to ride the train with her mane fragile after being done, so they’ll be staying an extra night, which made all of the crusaders happy to be hanging out an extra day. Suddenly, Sunflower comes in feeling worried for the CMCs after finding out their encounter with the hoodlums, and then they all shared a laugh.

Credits

 * Michelle Creber as Apple Bloom
 * Claire Corlett as Sweetie Belle
 * Madeleine Peters as Scootaloo
 * Brynna Drummond as Babs Seed
 * Lenore Zann as Bubble Pop, Barber 1
 * Jerry Wasserman as Cloudy Thunder, Bully 2
 * Kelly Sheridan as Sunflower
 * Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity, Barber 2
 * Ashleigh Ball as Applejack, Bully 1

Quotes

 * Applejack: Now, you should really get finished packin’, because Rarity is leaving early in the morning.
 * Apple Bloom: Ah will! But let me out the rest of my steam first! I’m… going… to see… Babs! Ow! (nervous laughing) Steam has been let out.


 * Babs Seed: Wowza! Your marks look even better than the pictures you’ve sent me!
 * Sweetie Belle: Well, mainly because I drew them in crayon.


 * Babs Seed: Oh this is my older sister, Sunflower! The best sis I’ve ever had!
 * Sunflower: Best sister, worse sister, whatever. Really doesn’t matter to me.


 * Sunflower: Sure, we can go home; or we can… you know… stay here. Whatever.
 * Apple Bloom: Yep, she hasn’t changed a bit.


 * Rarity: It’s nice to meet you, Sunflower! Hey, dear, is it okay if I leave the girls with you while I check out my boutique?
 * Sunflower: Whatever, I don’t care.
 * Rarity: On… second thought… maybe I should go with all of you to your place, I mean… just to make sure I know where it is. (nervous chuckles)


 * Cloudy Thunder: You crusaders are really an inspiration to us!
 * Bubble Pop: Yeah, but if only yous could’ve taught Babs here the first meaning of being humble and loyal after beating them to her goal.
 * Babs Seed: Me?! You’re the disloyal ones! Yous could’ve been proud of me, but instead, yous complained and whined like a bunch of cutie mark crybabies!
 * Sweetie Belle: Okay… I suddenly have that feeling of déjà vu.


 * Babs Seed: So what did you think of the work I did?
 * Scootaloo: What? Oh! Yeah… it looks great, Babs!
 * Sweetie Belle: Yeah, I really like her… mane?
 * Scootaloo: Yeah, and we totally watched the whole thing!


 * Babs Seed: It’s just that they’re jealous because I finally found my purpose in life, and they didn’t. They should’ve been proud of me, but instead, they decided to cut off ties with me, and it doesn’t bother me one bit.


 * Bully 1: It looks like you wimps are in the wrong alley, and are trespassing in our area.
 * Scootaloo: Trespassing? Do you, like, own this area? Can we see your papers?
 * Bully 2: Are you some kind of wisepony?


 * Sweetie Belle: This is a very nice clubhouse you have here, Manehattan crusaders!
 * Scootaloo: Yeah, but why does it smell like garbage here?
 * Cloudy Thunder: The garbage is what keeps the intruders out, and brings the cats in. (stray cat meows) We care for the local animals here!


 * Bubble Pop: So if the Cutie Mark Crusaders are supposed to help those in need, why would Babs not be able to help two of her friends who are in need the most?! We helped her with her destiny! Why wouldn’t she do the same?!


 * Babs Seed: If they really wanted me back, why didn’t they just tell me instead of whining at me like a bunch of crybabies?!
 * Apple Bloom: But Babs…!
 * Babs Seed: Forget about it! I don’t want nothin’ to do with them, capiche?!
 * Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle: Capiche.


 * Sunflower: Apple Bloom? (yawns) What are you doing here? It’s 10:00 in the morning. It’s still in the middle of the night.


 * Bully 1: Oh yeah? And what if we don’t? What are a bunch of blank flanks like you gonna do about it? (gets pushed) Ow!
 * Babs Seed: Or else we’re going to tell your mamas about your bad attitudes!


 * Bubble Pop: It was because of you, Babs! You helped us find our special purposes in life!
 * Cloudy Thunder: Yeah! I’m going to be a bodyguard!
 * Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Babs Seed, Bubble Pop: Yay!
 * Bubble Pop: And I’m going to be a lawyer!
 * Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Babs Seed, Cloudy Thunder: Um… yay?


 * Sunflower: Apple Bloom! Girls! Oh I was, like, soooo worried about when I heard you were about to get beat up by those bullies! I’m totally not joking right now! I really care!