Cutie Mark Crusaders

The Cutie Mark Crusaders (CMC) is a club consisting of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Babs Seed, formed in Call of the Cutie. Their unity is based on being "blank flanks", ponies who have not yet gotten their cutie marks. Each of the founding three fillies represents a different race, with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle being an Earth pony, Pegasus pony, and a unicorn respectively. Starting at the end of One Bad Apple, Babs Seed, Apple Bloom's cousin from Manehatten, joins them and says she will start a Manehatten branch of the CMC. The exploits of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are featured in several episodes in the series.

Founding
Although the three fillies only introduce themselves to each other in Call of the Cutie, the three make an appearance together in Friendship is Magic, part 1 huddling under a table in fear of Nightmare Moon. According to a layout artist, the scene was originally story boarded with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, but he was sent different characters for the shot. The artist assumed the different characters were sent by mistake, and used the Cutie Mark Crusaders instead.

The three fillies meet at Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera and form a bond, as all three don't have their cutie marks yet. Sweetie Belle suggests they found a "secret society". They each propose a name for it and Apple Bloom's suggestion–Cutie Mark Crusaders–is approved by everyone. The term Crusade refers to any military expedition undertaken by the Christians of Europe in the 11th to the 13th century to reclaim the Levant, though it is commonly used as a metaphor meaning a vigorous movement for or against something.

Development
The society is not kept a secret, as the Crusaders later come to sing about it at a talent contest and often shout out the name of their group. The club's purpose is to "work together to find out who we are, and what we're supposed to be", and the Crusaders are often seen engaging in activities in pursuit of their cutie marks.

In The Show Stoppers, Applejack passed on her old clubhouse for the Crusaders to use. Initially the clubhouse is dilapidated, but Apple Bloom fully repairs it and the clubhouse becomes their headquarters.

The initiation speech, written by Scootaloo and read out in One Bad Apple by Sweetie Belle, is long and repetitive to the point where Scootaloo herself interrupts it and makes a note to revise it.


 * Sweetie Belle: [reading] We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Babs Seed to join us as a sister, friend, [pronouncing wrong] confidante, ally, bossom buddy, gal pal, compadre, chum of chums...
 * Scootaloo: [clears throat]
 * Sweetie Belle: Well you wrote this.
 * Scootaloo: Oh, uh, yeah...
 * Sweetie Belle: [reading] Homegirl... Amiga... blah blah blah blah blah. Oh, yes, here. ...and fellow Cutie Mark Crusader! You are solemnly sworn in, here this day, in witness of your fellow sisters, friends, confidantes... bossom buddies... compadres...
 * Scootaloo: Congratulations! [quickly, under her breath] Gotta remember to revise that.

Activities
The Crusaders pursue various activities to discover their special talents. They briefly try carpentry and chicken-herding in Stare Master, and feature in a montage of pig farming, taffy making, hairdressing, mind-reading, mountain climbing, and underwater exploring in The Show Stoppers. Right after the montage, the three make a mess in Twilight Sparkle's library in pursuit of a librarian cutie mark. Twilight enters with Cheerilee, who suggests the Crusaders appear in a talent show. The fillies excitedly suggest juggling, acting, magic tricks, square dancing, tightrope-walking, and tiger-taming, but Twilight advises them to try things they're already good at. They concur, but throughout the series they seem oblivious to their innate talents. The Crusaders' insistence on pursuing different activities seems to comes from Rainbow Dash in Call of the Cutie, who suggests "[trying] as many things as possible as quickly as possible", however this view is not shared by Applejack, Cheerilee, or Twilight.

In One Bad Apple, the Crusaders build two floats for the Summer Harvest Festival (the first being destroyed by Babs Seed). The first is designed to look like a pumpkin, the second a golden apple. They build these in one of Sweet Apple Acres' barns.

Clubhouse
The Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse, formerly owned by Applejack, is located in a "secluded, private part" of Sweet Apple Acres.

Since its first appearance in The Show Stoppers, the clubhouse has been seen in many episodes and used for different purposes, with furniture and equipment being added to suit the Crusaders' needs. It has a wide open space, large enough to practice dance moves in (The Show Stoppers), fit several ponies (The Mysterious Mare Do Well), and create large arts and crafts (Hearts and Hooves Day). It has multiple floors, joined by a staircase, and in some episodes an additional building higher up in its tree, connected via an outside ramp. While normally only occupied by the Crusaders, Scootaloo has previously used it to host the "Rainbow Dash Fan Club" in The Mysterious Mare Do Well, and in One Bad Apple, it was briefly occupied by Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Babs Seed. Things seen and used in the clubhouse are:


 * Map of Ponyville: Scootaloo draws a basic map of Ponyville in The Show Stoppers, and it later appears pinned to the clubhouse wall. By the end of the episode, all of the key locations in it have been crossed out.
 * Craft materials: In later episodes, pots containing paintbrushes and pencils can be seen on the clubhouse's windowsill.
 * Posters: At least two posters of Rainbow Dash appear in the clubhouse in a couple of episodes, along with a poster of Noi, wearing reporter getup, in Ponyville Confidential.
 * Telescope: On the upper level or in the upper building of the clubhouse, the Crusaders have a telescope. They use it in Family Appreciation Day to spot the fourth sign of the zap apples.
 * Great idea spot: A target painted on the floor directly below the lamp inside the clubhouse. While first used without a target in Family Appreciation Day, when Scootaloo leaps up into the air and hits her head on the lamp, turning it on, by the time of One Bad Apple, the Crusaders have turned it into a feature of the clubhouse (requiring a second pony to turn the lamp on when necessary).
 * Podium: Used by Scootaloo during The Mysterious Mare Do Well for the "Rainbow Dash Fan Club" meeting, and again by Sweetie Belle during Babs Seed's initiation into the Crusaders in One Bad Apple.
 * Drums: Used by Scootaloo during Babs Seed's initiation.

Innate talents

 * Apple Bloom: Whoa! Hi, Scootaloo! Back already? You're amazin' on that scooter.
 * Scootaloo: Thanks! Wow, Apple Bloom. You did all of this?
 * Apple Bloom: Yep! I've fixed the broken shutters, sanded off the splinters, rebuilt the roof, painted...
 * Scootaloo: That's so cool. What's Sweetie Belle up to?


 * Sweetie Belle: [humming a song]
 * Apple Bloom: There you are, Sweetie Belle! See? I told you we could find her by following her totally awesome voice.

The Crusaders demonstrate their talents very clearly in The Show Stoppers. Apple Bloom quickly and masterfully repairs the broken-down tree house that Applejack passes on to the Crusaders, Sweetie Belle effortlessly composes rhymes and music for their "theme song", and Scootaloo performs spectacular maneuvers on her scooter. Later, Apple Bloom asks Sweetie Belle to be the singer in their act, but she opts for making the costumes and scenery; she asks Scootaloo to do the choreography, but she opts for singing; and Apple Bloom herself is left with the choreography. They each find their chosen task difficult, and get help from the other Crusader who is skilled at the task.

Sweetie Belle tries her hand at sewing in Stare Master. She makes capes for the Crusaders, complete with a patch of the club's emblem. However the results are somewhat patchy and ragged. In the same episode, she breaks into song in a very theatrical and professional manner. In Friendship is Magic, part 1, when Twilight and Spike are looking for their copy of Predictions and Prophecies, one of the books Twilight gets out has an emblem similar to the Crusaders' emblem.

Near the end of The Show Stoppers, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash visit the Crusaders backstage. While Applejack and Rarity are Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's older sisters, respectively, Rainbow Dash is not related to Scootaloo. However, Scootaloo idolizes and looks up to her, as seen in The Cutie Mark Chronicles.

We don't know Babs Seed's talent yet, as she has only been seen in 2 episodes.

Appearances
There are eight episodes centered around the Cutie Mark Crusaders: Stare Master, The Show Stoppers, The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Family Appreciation Day, Hearts and Hooves Day, Ponyville Confidential, One Bad Apple and Sleepless in Ponyville. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are also featured together in Friendship is Magic, part 1, Call of the Cutie, The Return of Harmony Part 1, Lesson Zero, Luna Eclipsed, The Cutie Pox, Secret of My Excess, Hearth's Warming Eve, It's About Time, and A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, and separately in A Friend in Deed. They also appear in the remastered opening sequence in the last car of the train that passes by after Twilight Sparkle hops off her hot air balloon.

In the cold open of The Return of Harmony Part 1, they argue over what the "statue" of Discord represents. Apple Bloom says it represents confusion, Sweetie Belle says it represents evil, and Scootaloo says it represents chaos. After a brief scrap between the Crusaders, Cheerilee assigns them to each write an essay explaining the meaning of "discord".

They are the initial victims of Twilight Sparkle's shenanigans in Lesson Zero when she gives them a doll in hopes that they will fight over it, allowing her to stop them and get in her friendship report on time. She casts a "want it need it" spell on the doll and shows it to the girls. The girls' pupils turn to hearts and they begin fighting over it. Twilight, unable to break up the fight, gets Big McIntosh to take the doll away from them, but the spell affects him too, and subsequently causes dozens of ponies to fight over the doll. Princess Celestia eventually undoes the spell.

They make brief appearances in Luna Eclipsed, dressed up as the three classic Universal Studios horror movie monsters: Sweetie Belle as Dracula, Scootaloo as the Wolf Man, and Apple Bloom is the Bride of Frankenstein rather than the monster.

In Hearts and Hooves Day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are trying to find a stallion in Ponyville that would be perfect for their teacher, Cheerilee, for Hearts and Hooves Day. They are also featured in the song The Perfect Stallion in this episode, where they choose Big McIntosh as Cheerilee's "special somepony".

In Ponyville Confidential, the Cutie Mark Crusaders become reporters for their school newspaper, under the group name, "Gabby Gums." They print several scandalous stories, but when they discover how harmful the stories are, they reveal themselves in an open letter, apologizing to the town.

In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, the Cutie Mark Crusaders serve as flower fillies for the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders appear together in One Bad Apple. They invite Apple Bloom's cousin Babs Seed to join them, but she refuses and instead bullies them. The Crusaders sing about her as they worry. Later in the episode, she apologizes and joins the Crusaders, promising to found the Manehatten branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. In Apple Family Reunion Babs Seed mentions to Apple Bloom that there are two other blank flanks at her new school who might be interested in joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Other depictions
Two toy sets focus on the three Cutie Mark Crusaders. The set Pony School Pals & Cheerilee features them and Cheerilee similarly to The Show Stoppers, with the description "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo really want to earn their cutie marks, and they're not afraid of getting on stage to perform at the school talent show! Their teacher, Cheerilee, is there to cheer them on!" The Pony Wedding set Wedding Flower Fillies features them similarly to their appearance in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, with the description "Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo have never been to a wedding before. They can’t wait to dress up and wear flowers in their hair!"

Apple Blooms großes Abenteuer, one of the comics in the German magazine, is about the first meetup of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, evidently taking place at some point after the club's founding. In the comic, the three fillies go to the lake and subsequently try riding a banana boat towed by four Pegasus ponies. Afterward, the Crusaders get muddy, and the comic ends with the three of them taking a bath together as Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle watch. The Crusaders also appear on a poster in the same issue, as well as on the issue's cover. In Einfach rufus, a comic in another issue of the same magazine, a portrait of the three Crusaders is shown on the wall of Sweetie Belle's room.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are featured on the Comic Con 2011, Season 2, and Royal Wedding promotional posters and on several merchandise designs carried by WeLoveFine, Zazzle, and FashionPlaytes.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are shown together in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Discover the Difference, appearing in the Call of the Cutie and The Show Stoppers images. All three of the Crusaders are available characters in the Hasbro version of Castle Creator, the Valentine's Day version of Card Creator, and both versions of Twilight Sparkle's Royal Invitation Designer.

A promotional image from a page on the MiniMini+ website and from the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Facebook page shows the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with seven other characters from the show, and a promotional image from Hasbro's My Little Pony Facebook page shows the trio dressed in their flower filly outfits from A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2.

On October 27, 2012, The Hub's website began offering a PDF file containing seven recipes, each themed to either Littlest Pet Shop or My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, with accompanying illustrations. The "Cutie Mark Crusaders Chocolate Popcorn" recipe's accompanying illustration depicts the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom wearing a chef's hat as in Call of the Cutie. Prior to a revision in early November 2012, a different illustration was used depicting grown-up versions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders with cutie marks: Apple Bloom's being an apple heart, Scootaloo's being the same butterfly as her G3/G3.5 counterpart's, and Sweetie Belle's being the same heart as her G3/G3.5 counterpart's. This illustration was drawn by show layout artist Kat Stenson prior to her work on the show.

Galleries

 * Apple Bloom image gallery
 * Scootaloo image gallery
 * Sweetie Belle image gallery
 * Babs Seed image gallery