Chapter 5

"Welcome back to the show, everybody!" Pinkie exclaimed, momentarily frowning as she realized she forgot to refill her popcorn, until she shrugged it off and pulled a fresh bag out of her mane. "I do so hope you all enjoy these prolonged breaks, because that hope is all that keeps me from beating the ever-loving cra- I mean from politely knocking on mister Seer's door and asking him just what he's been up to. Either way, we're back to the usual of glancing into this lovely little universe where things turned out differently.

"And for this next episode, we get to introduce some pretty darn amazing fillies that just about everypony can adore!" She beamed proudly, pointing a hoof wildly at the large blank screen that had been moved in behind her. "So I'm not going to detain any of you any longer: let's see just how things have changed for these adorable little fillies!"

"All right everypony, time to settle down; we have a very important lesson to discuss today!" The maroon teacher said as she slowly stepped into class, the rowdy students calming down and sitting back in their seats. Cheerily smiled her warm smile, the one she wore every day when she was with these foals, and stepped towards her prepared display board. "Today, we are going to talk about cutie marks."

There was a resounding groan from many of the students, vocalizing their displeasure at such a topic. A purple filly with a blue tiara for her cutie mark slammed her head on the table. "Boring!"

"Like all ponies, I wasn't born with a cutie mark; my flank was blank." Cheerilee flipped the front page of the presenting board, revealing two pictured taped to the blank page, one covered by the other, which appeared to be a picture of the teacher when she was a filly. The groans had quickly been replaced by awing foals, which became silence as she flipped to the next picture, one of a dancing teenage Cheerilee, now sporting her cutie mark: three smile sunflowers. "Then one day, when I was about your age, I awoke to find that I had my cutie mark."

"Look at her mane!" One of the students smirked from the back, though Cheerilee looked unfazed by it.

"I know, I know; but that was how everypony wore their mane back then. I had decided to become a teacher, and the flowers symbolized my hope that I could help my future students bloom if I nurtured them with knowledge. The smiles represent the cheer I hoped to bring to my little ponies while they were learning. Now, can anypony tell me when a pony earns their cutie mark?"

Several students glanced around nervously, though an excited student waved her hoof in the air wildly, bouncing up and down in her seat. "Oh! Oh! When she discovers that certain something that makes her special!"

"That's right, Twist." Cheerilee nodded, smiling greatly that her students were learning these important lessons. "A cutie mark appears on a pony's flank when they find that certain something that makes them different from anypony else. Discovering what makes you unique doesn't happen overnight, and no amount of hoping, wishing, or begging will make a cutie mark appear before it's time."

While Cheerilee was going on with her lesson, the purple filly had begun to fold up a piece of paper, and once she had finished her item, she began to discreetly try to obtain poor little Apple Bloom's attention, though the yellow earth pony was studiously taking notes. It did take some time, but eventually, the purple filly gave up being discreet and let out a ostentatious 'psst' in her effort to get Apple Bloom's attention. The latter filly, finally realizing what was going on, turned to see what Diamond Tiara wanted, though she knew that it probably wasn't all that good. Diamond Tiara tossed her the note, though it came as a surprise and dropped to the ground, the antics catching Cheerilee's attention.

"Apple Bloom! Are you passing notes?!" Cheerilee asked, upset that her valuable lesson was being interrupted, and began to trot over to the stunned filly, who was stammering to get out a response to the rapidly escalating situation. "Just what could be so important that it couldn't wait until after class?"

Cheerilee bit down on the note and propped it open in her hoof, revealing an empty page. "It's. . . blank?"

"Remind you of anypony?" Diamond responded, with malice in her voice, and the entire class laughed realizing the filly was making fun of Apple Bloom's distinct lack of a cutie mark. Cheerilee returned to teaching class, grateful that no other distractions happened, though Apple Bloom was pretty dejected at the ridicule. She sat silently through class, though she had lost her vigor for notes.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, Ahhhhh. . . . Skip!

Once the school bells rang, the entire class practically bolted from the single room schoolhouse, many giggling and cheering as they had a whole day of fun planned. Not Apple Bloom, that prank Diamond Tiara pulled on her had reminded her that she had yet to bloom, so to say, and was still just a blank flank. So, she had hoped to just run on home after school, trying to avoid any bullied along the way, until she was stopped by Peppermint Twist, who was happily munching on a peppermint stick. Once she had noticed Apple Bloom looking all sad, she trotted up to her, reaching into her saddlebags for another. "Want so sweets? I've got some peppermint sticks; I made them myself!"

"No thanks." Apple Bloom said, sighing as she picked up her pace, hoping to get home sooner, though Twist stayed right at her side.

"They'll make you smile!" Twist insisted, leaning against the yellow filly, though Apple Bloom simply shook her head and grunted her refusal. Unfortunately for Apple Bloom, the delay had been more than enough for Diamond Tiara and her best friend, Silver Spoon to catch up, the two wealthy fillies complaining about the lesson.

". . . I mean; waiting for your cutie mark is so last week." Tiara said, raising her voice as she passed by the other two, though she paused just long enough to continue to the torment. "You just got yours, I just got mine, we all have them already."

Peppermint rolled her eyes, sparing a quick glance at her own bare flank, but didn't have a chance to do anything before Tiara was staring her down. "Well, I mean almost all of us have ours.

"Don't worry, you're both still invited to cute-ceañera this weekend." She said while she backed off, motioning for her and Silver Spoon to leave, though the two left with noses held high in the air, proud of the celebration happening for them. Silver Spoon was quick to leave, making it clear that she wanted nothing to do with the blank flanks, and Apple Bloom had a feeling that it was because she thought herself better for having a cutie mark.

"It's going to be awesome." Were the only words that Silver Spoon decided to say to both Apple Bloom and Peppermint Twist.

They heard the two pompous fillies exclaimed giddily as they left: "It's a party celebrating my cutie mark, how can it not be?"

And the sound of spiteful laughter could be heard across most of town, or so Apple Bloom thought, as she found the sounds irritable. She sighed and muttered to herself about needing to go home, hoping that Twist understood, then trotted her way home.

After working out in the fields for some time, Apple Bloom still didn't feel like she had worked her frustration out of her system, so she turned to the one pony she knew could help; her big sister. Once she had found her, she explained the situation and began to vent hoping that Applejack would provide either a solution or at least a listening ear while she whine. The explanation only got her worked up, though, and she found herself pacing. "It's not fair! It's just not fair!"

"Don't get yer mane in a tangle; you'll get yer cutie mark eventually, everypony does." Applejack stated, the whining starting to grate on her, which turned out to be the wrong thing to say, somehow, as it only fueled Apple Bloom's irritation.

"But I don't want one eventually, I want one now! I can't go to Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera without one!" Apple Bloom cried out.

"'Course ya can." Applejack said, gathering the final apples but turning to look at her sister. "Ya know, I was the last one in my class to get a cutie mark, and Ah couldn't be prouder of it. I knew it was my future to run Sweet Apple Acres, and these bright shiny apples sealed the deal. Come to think of it, Granny Smith was the last in her class too. Huh, so was Big Macintosh."

Apple Bloom grumbled and trotted over to the bucket of apples, kicking one out and pushing it across the orchard with an angry hoof. "I don't see how that's supposed to make me feel any better; it probably means that being the last one in your class to get a cutie mark runs in the family."

And with that, she gave the apple one final kick before trudging up to the bucket of apples and sliding herself against it; flopping her head down on top in exasperation. Staring off into the distance while a new though, a new approach to her dilemma, wormed its way through her head. Runs in the family. Runs in the family. "Runs in the family. . . Runs in the family! Runs in the family! You've got apples for your cutie mark, Granny Smith has apple pie for hers, and Big Mac has a half apple!"

She jumped up and started running around in circles excitedly. "Mine must've got somethin' to do with apples! Apples! Apples! Apples! Apples!"

In her excitement, she began to do circles around the bucket of the named fruit, happily exclaming how she knew her destiny would end for her cutie mark. That excitement was full and complete. . . until she slammed head-first into the nearest apple tree, causing Applejack to wince, and a few apples with wings to circle above her head for a moment. Though the impact put her on her flank, she refused to allow anything to dampen her mood now that she knew what she was going to do in life. This determination manifested in her smiling happily, despite being groggy from the crash, and chuckling to herself. "Apples."

Later that day, once they had gotten the harvest done for the day, Applejack took her little sister to the market so they could sell the surplus, with Apple Bloom thinking for sure that apple-selling would be her cutie mark. Applejack made her supplies well know: "Come get your delicious, nutritious apples here!"

That was where the problems really began; with Apple Bloom being far too hyped up for the job by balancing a green apple atop her head. "Delicious and nutritious! And so many uses; you can eat 'em, play with 'em, create fine art for your home with 'em. You'd have to be crazy to not to get a bushel of yer very own!"

Each example of a usage of an apple was demonstrated, with her munching down the first, tossing the next in the air and slamming it with a tennis racket, the third was bucked across the marketplace to a random pony's blank canvas, all the while the nearby ponies panicked at the brazen mayhem that followed. The splattered remains of the racketed apple sped across town, shattering a window and causing a startled yelp from a poor elderly mare. The painter was less than enthused at purchasing any apples, and his paint brush was now coated in apple juice.

Thankfully for most of Ponyville that day, Applejack realized just how much energy her sister had real quick, and snatched her back to their stall before she caused any more trouble. She nervously turned to the mildly upset ponies around them. "She's so creative, heh."

Apple Bloom was having none of it, however, and the next pony, who was happily trotting through the market in search of some spare sockets for a new project, was her next intended target. "You, sir! Care t'buy some apples?!"

He blinked at her in surprise, but never once did he slow his pace. "Uh. . . no thanks?"

"Why not?" She asked, in what was probably an honest question, though her persistence was the most notable aspect at that point.

"I have plenty at home." His reply was gentle, but firm enough that he figured she'd leave him be.

She didn't. She had no intention of it when this could be the very thing to earn her a cutie mark. "Are you sure?"

"Y-yes I'm pretty sure. . ."

"You're 'pretty' sure, but not absolutely, positively, completely, super-duper sure, are you?" She asked, practically teleporting into every side of him that he was using to try to escape, now that she had made her determination clear to him. Before he had a chance to reply, she began staring him down, as if accusing him of evading her question, forcing him to slowly back away, a worried frown planted over his muzzle. Lucky for her, she had worked him back to the other side of the cart, which his flank bumped into, catching his attention.

"Uh. . . If I buy some apples, will you please leave me alone?!" He begged, her complete focus bringing up severe anxiety for him. That turned a switch on her, and her focused staring flipped to a beaming smile.

"Alright!" Her sparkling orange eyes shot open to see him sifting through his saddlebags, then tossing a hoofful of coins directly into Applejack's unsuspecting bib pouch. Applejack glanced in surprise to see Time Turner making off with a single, shiny red apple clamped between his teeth while he barreled through the crowd, clearly fleeing from her little sister. She tried to call out to him about his change, but he was long gone before the words left her mouth, which wouldn't be said about Apple Bloom, who was cheering loudly at her victory.

"That is how you sell some apples and get a cutie mark!" The filly cried happily, spinning in place as she tried to get a good look at her flank, hoping to admire her new cutie mark for selling apples, one that was quickly apparent was not even there. "A shining bag full of apples? A satisfied customer eatin' an apple?"

When she realized she was still blank on the flank, she started to think of other ways to earn a cutie mark. She glanced at a purple earth pony with several fruits for a cutie mark sniffing at the apples, a new idea in her head. "You touch it you buy it! We take cash or credit."

The mare recoiled back in fright, shivering at the determined, almost smug face of the filly set on selling every apple they owned. Applejack jumped to the mare's rescue, pulling Apple Bloom away from both her and the apples. "Ah'm so sorry, ma'am! Ma'am!"

The mare got right out of there the moment she could, not buying a single apple that she had hoped to. "Now, Apple Bloom, you can't just-"

Said filly had just dumped an entire bucket of apples into Bon Bon's saddlebag, proudly beaming once she got the mare's attention. "That'll be four bits!"

"I didn't put those in my bag!" Bon Bon replied in stark surprise, the saddlebag now drooping on the ground with the added weight of that many apples.

"Likely story." Apple Bloom said rolling her eyes as she held out a hoof, barely getting any more words out before Applejack came in to stop the madness. "Four bits, lady-"

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack said with a sternness she had yet had to use on the filly, stuffing her own hoof in the filly's mouth to prevent any more damage on the her part. She turned to the Bon Bon, who was glaring at the rude behavior from Apple Bloom. "Ah am really, really sorry about that; she's new. Here; take these, no charge."

She filled the mare's other saddlebag with apples, but when Bon Bon frowned at the extra apples, clearly unhappy with the situation, Applejack just threw in more, hoping to satisfy here somehow. Two saddlebags full, and Bon Bon was just staring at her with an incredulous expression, making Applejack so nervous that she grabbed the last bucket of apples and tossed it onto the cream-colored mare's back, also free of charge. Bon Bon was clearly worried about the apple farmers, so she just gave them a false smile and trudged off, barely able to keep herself standing. "Y'all come back now, ya hear?"

"What?" Apple Bloom asked at the glare now being sent her way by her older sister, who realized that they were now fresh out of apples to sell.

"Sorry li'l sis, but yer apple-sellin' days are over." She bent down and pried the apron off of the filly, who gasped in shock.

"What?! But how else am I gonna get my cutie mark?"

"Home. Now." Applejack said sternly, but her expression softened when her sister remained there, a hard pout on her face. "Listen, sugarcube; Ah know it's hard to wait for yer very own cutie mark, but ya just can't force it. 'Sides, yer not even fully grown up yet. Ain't there other fillies in yer class without one?"

"Well. . . there is Twist." Apple Bloom replied slowly.

"D'you think you'd feel better goin' to the party with her?" Apple Bloom nodded, grunting in affirmation. "Well, then there ya go! Bet you and Twist will have a great time together! Now run along and go find yer friend."

Apple Bloom knocked on Twist's door, excited that her big sister had found a solution to her dilemma, taking the pause before the filly answered to admire the lovely flowers decorated all over the building. It was more fancy than the Apple farm house, but at least it wasn't like Sugarcube Corner, and retained some sense of modesty. Twist came to the door pretty quickly, offering a flashy smile when she saw her friend. "Oh! Apple Bloom, what's up?"

"So, I was thinking that we could go to Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera together; I don't have a cutie mark, and you don't have a cutie mark." Apple Bloom said, a touch shy about her blank flank still. At the mention of cutie marks, though, Twist's smile vanished, and she shifted around nervously, but after a moment to think, she stepped in front of the door, revealing two peppermint sticks crossing her flank. The world froze for a second for Apple Bloom, who could only stare in dejected horror that her friend had gotten a cutie mark before her. Twist stepped into the street so she could explain.

"Isn't my cutie mark swell?" She asked, her nasally voice suddenly bright and excited that she had a passion to discuss with her friend. "I've always loved making my own favorite sweets, but it took some time to figure out that it was my super special talent. Pretty sweet huh?"

"Yeah. . . pretty sweet." While Apple Bloom was happy that her friend had found their special talent, she couldn't hide the disappointment that her plans for the party were ruined. She plopped on the ground with her ears flat against her head, which Twist immediately picked up on, and stepped forward to comfort her friend.

"Hey, this doesn't mean we can't go to the cute-ceañera together." She added with a warm smile. "You're still going to come to the party, aren't you?"

"Of course she will." Tiara said in an extremely patronizing tone, raising her nose in the air while Silver Spoon carried a similar position.

"It's not like being the only pony there without a cutie mark will be, like, the most embarrassing thing ever!" The silvery gray filly chimed in, leading to the two ponies laughing mockingly at the embarrassed apple farmer filly.

It's time for another super boring but super needed commercial break! Pinkie's screams can be heard throughout the multiverse, I am more than certain. Ooh, I just can't wait to see what we have in store for the fate of Apple Bloom and the original Cutie Mark Crusaders: I'm nearly bursting. But we all know that this is a necessary part of the show, and actually gives us a moment to breathe and refresh ourselves, so let's do just that. After the break, I want to read some fan mail sent in by our adoring community.

Insert some boring, if different commercial about a disease that is easily preventable and had nearly been killed off before idiots wanted to contract it to fight "the system."

Insert some bland advertisement from some large corporation looking to take your money for inadequate or pointless items/services.

Insert an absolutely awesome teaser trailer for a new game in a long line of very successful and incredibly fun games that have been around for 25 years.

And now that we've heard from the spokespeople coming from places large and small, let's get to talking to you all, our wonderful fandom. I have a few letters sent in from you amazing guys that I wanted to read, and hopefully answer a few questions. The first one comes from a mister Devildog, who asked: "What do you think about the released information regarding the last season of Friendship is Magic?"

Hmm, that's a good question, Devildog. My answer would have to be that I am super duper excited and can't wait to see just how this amazing story is going to be closed, even if I am sad that all of us in Ponyville are going to go our own way.

Our next question comes from an anonymous person in the fandom, or maybe it's Anonymous? Well, either way, they don't seem to have a question per-se, but it reads: "OMG, I'm so sad that MLP FiM is ending, why is everything going down the drain?! This is the saddest thing ever! We had built up such a community! We actually had a thing going!"

I couldn't agree more, but sadly, not everything lasts forever, and not even this wonderful land of Equestria must fade away eventually. But rejoice in the community we built up, and never forget that, while Friendship is Magic is ending, the next generation of My Little Pony is just around the corner, so to say. Pinkie forced her frown away with her usual smile. Even though Equestria is being split up, she shall live on in our hearts and across the forms of creation this lovely community created.

And with that, I think it is high time that we got back to the show and rejoice in what we've all become, and fondly recall those days so long ago!

Dejected and feeling hopeless, Apple Bloom was happy to rest underneath the massive, dark cloud that visualized her mental state. Rainbow Dash came along, noticing the out of place structure and happening upon the source. She popped through the cloud to see her friend's sister glumly sitting about. "Looks like somepony has a dark cloud hangin' over their head. Let me do something about that!"

She quickly busted the cloud, leaving a grumbling filly still sitting there, resisting her efforts. "What's the matter, kid?"

Apple Bloom hesitated, then unleashed her frustration, whining and complaining about her impatience of getting a cutie mark, stating that she believed her sister and all, but with the upcoming party, she felt like she needed to get hers now. Rainbow Dash listened quietly, then thought it over for a second, finally proposing a solution by offering some speedy-style advice, in the fashion that the fastest pony in Equestria would give. After short words, She picked Apple Bloom up and took her off to a distant field to train. "The key here is to try as many things as possible, as quickly as possible. One of them is bound to lead to your cutie mark. Are you ready?"

"Ah'm ready!" Apple Bloom said, having finished her stretching and prepared to do the training course that Dash had set up for her. With a loud blow, Dash had her try juggling, leading to a failure. Then hang gliding: failure. Karate: failure. Kite-flying: failure. Ultra-pony roller derby: failure.

At the end of the day, she had burned through an extensive list of super awesome and athletic tests for the filly, but nothing had positive results. As the filly began to doubt whether she'd get any cutie mark ever, Pinkie approached with a solution, happily bouncing to the rescue by proposing for her to eat cupcakes, something Apple Bloom was thrilled to try.

'Eating' cupcakes turned out to be 'baking' cupcakes, which ended in spectacular failure, only reinforcing the filly's despair. Though Pinkie was thrilled that they'd made improvement, Apple Bloom would only lament her shortcomings to the next pony she saw. Enter the most unfortunate, if concerned, Twilight Sparkle.

It wasn't until after Apple Bloom had explained the situation had that Twilight had a chance to speak: "I still don't follow-"

"You can use your magic to make me a cutie mark!" Apple Bloom cried out excitedly, beaming and begging, raising her voice and desperation with every refusal that the unicorn made. They went back and forth with the "no's" and "please's" before Twilight finally relented, casting a spell that she hoped would get the begging and whining to stop. And for a moment, she succeeded: Apple Bloom had a moment of elation with a cart full of apples on her flank, before the image faded into her yellow fur.

"I tried to tell you: each pony must find their cutie mark for themselves." She said, frowning when Apple Bloom shot into her face.

"Try again!" She did so reluctantly, and when that image faded, again. And again, and again, and again. She burnt through multiple potential cutie marks, many of activities the filly had tried previously, until she had no energy left to try.

"I told. . . you: you can't make them appear." She gasped for breath, sweat pooling on the floor around her.

"Forget it: there's just no way I can go to. . . that. . ." She looked around, somehow missing the fact that dozens of ponies had filled into the Sugarcube Corner while she was busy, and now finding herself in the middle of a full-blown cute-ceañera. Panicking, she did her best to escape, using every trick she'd learned growing up on the farm, diving to and fro, using every scrap of coverage to hide from everypony around her, ducking under cakes, slipping into groups of balloons, sweeping under tables. Eventually, she had a clear shot for the door, using a table supporting a rather large punch bowl. She could actually see the open doors, and the paths just outside that meant she was free to escape, if only Pinkie had reminded her that the party was here, now, and that the pink party pony was hosting it!

The named mare bounced under the table, greeting the scared filly with a bright smile and slapping a party hat in front of the filly's iconic red bow. "Don't forget your party hat!"

Before Apple Bloom could utter a response, the mare was gone, flashing away in a puff of smoke to perform acts only she was capable of comprehending. Apple Bloom ripped the hat off, hoping to escape without any further complications. . . which came as soon as she bolted for the door: in the form of a bright, grinning purple and green dragon. "Oh, hey Apple Bloom! I'd heard that you weren't going to make it to the party, but I'm glad you're here!"

She panicked, trying to work around him so she could escape, feeling the cool breeze blowing through her mane, a sign that freedom was just there! But alas, Spike grabbed her foreleg and pulled him with her to the punch bowl atop the table she had just hid under. "I'm kind of hoping that you wouldn't mind hanging out with me, seeing as how I don't exactly have a cutie mark either. . ?"

That gave her a little pause, and she cast a quick, curious glance to where he might have had one, which revealed plain purple scales, and nothing more. She was about to comment on her observation, but a biting, grating voice called out through the general noise directed right at her. "Well, well, well. Look who's here."

She whipped around to see both Tiara and Spoon marching towards her, with evil grins as if closing in on somepony weaker than them. She panicked, not hearing anything that came out of Spike's mouth as she tried to evade this escalating situation. Finding no options of escape, her next thought was perhaps to defuse anything from becoming more serious, and she ripped the tablecloth off and tied a quick dress out of the pink fabric. Silver Spoon glared daggers at the makeshift dress, venom dripping in her voice: "Nice outfit."

"It's uh . . . just something that Ah put together last minute." She chuckled nervously, elbowing Spike as he raised a claw to add his opinion to the coversation.

"Well," Tiara began menacingly, almost as if teasing her into misspeaking. "it definitely shows off your cutie mark. . . oh wait: you don't have one."

"I have a cutie mark!" She replied instantly, though her heart felt like it was coming out of her chest at the sheer weight and importance of that lie. The pair of fillies teasing her actually recoiled, as if her words had physically struck them, leaving Silver Spoon gaping in surprise.

"What?! When?!"

"Since, um . . . earlier this morning." She said, scanning the room for any means of causing a distraction so she could flee and have this behind her. Spike gave her a confused look and opened his mouth to object, only to find that Apple Bloom's hoof had been fully shoved inside it, silencing him from blowing her fib.

Tiara glared at her. "Oh, really? Then let's see it!"

"I shouldn't. I couldn't." She quickly put together something that would feed the other fillies' egos just enough that they'd hopefully back off. "My cutie mark is some unbelievable amazing, I'm afraid that if I show it off, ponies would start paying attention to me instead of you. Out-shined at your own cute-ceañera? Can you imagine how embarrassin'' that would be?"

"Forget it." Tiara grumbled, taking the bait. "I didn't want to see it anyway."

Before anypony could respond, or more importantly: before Spike could, Apple Bloom decided now was the best time to get out of the confrontation. "Well, I'm gonna go, uh, mingle now."

Right as she stepped away, the tablecloth dress caught on something behind her, and as she stepped forward, the dress snapped, revealing her defiant blank flank. There was a record scratching somewhere, and literally everypony turned to see what had caught Diamond Tiara's attention, thus seeing Apple Bloom, cutie mark-less and all. To her horror, and to the sadistic glee of both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, this was the perfect opportunity for some petty vengeance.

The pair of fillies approached her, chuckling madly and staring her down. Silver Spoon took the moment for herself, chuckling the words out hotly: "Wow! That is a remarkable cutie mark! Nice try, blank flank!"

At the mere mention of a bare rump, many of the ponies gathered around began to chuckle and murmur amongst themselves, pointing at the exposed pony with unbridled mirth. Then, like saviors descending from the heavens above, a voice called out to the bullying fillies from the crowd, and everypony turned to look at a pair of fillies, one unicorn and pegasus, accompanied by Spike the Dragon. "You got a problem with blank flanks?!"

Silver Spoon replied in a posh and snobbish tone: "The problem is, like, she is, like, totally not special."

The two newcomers were unfazed by her disgusted tone and stepped through the crowd to stand by Apple Bloom, Spike rushing along to step between both parties. The pearly white unicorn filly, who Apple Bloom recognized from class as a fellow blank flank by the name of Sweetie Belle, frowned at the bullies. "No, it means that she's full of potential."

The orange pegasus, another blank flank, was sort of from class, she was more of a hit or miss student who went by Scootaloo, spoke up next: "It means that she could be great at ANYTHING!"

Spike volunteered to stand by her, much to her eternal thanks, offering in a mock impression of the bullies' own posh tone: "Like, endless."

The three each bombarded the two bullies with examples, from scientist, to teach, to writer, stepping forward with each affirmation and making Tiara and Spoon back up, refusing to give anymore ground. Spike jumped forward to be in line with them. "And best of all, she's not set to be as stuck up and arrogant as you two!"

Tiara snorted, pawing at the ground with an angry hoof. "Hey! This is my party, so why are you two siding with her?!"

Scootaloo jumped in between Apple Bloom and Tiara, snorting and flaring her wings. "Because, we blank flanks are tired of being pushed around by bullies and meanie-heads like you two!"

Twilight interjected then, hoping to be the reasonable adult that deescalated things before they went too far. "I, for one, think you are three lucky fillies."

"Lucky?! How can they be lucky?!" Tiara spat, earning a stern glare from the adult actually adulting, but she met their question with an even response.

"Because they still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are, and what makes them special." And with that, ponies started to crowd around the three blank flanks and cheering for what they thought were good careers, hoping that something stuck, though Tiara and Spoon glared from the back. Tiara threw a fit about her party being ruined, but the only one to listen to here was Spoon, who was receiving the cold shoulder for her efforts. The three broke free from the crowd after some shuffling around, Spike agreeing to distract the various foals with some simple dragon tricks he knew.

"Now that we three are friends, why don't we search for our cutie marks together?" Apple Bloom suggested, earning the rapid approval of the other two, and they immediately left the tattered remnants of the party in pursuit of something far more valuable. "We're gonna be UNSTOPPABLE!"

And as the day drew closed, Twilight took her quill to parchment, wrapped up in a blanket in the library, knowing full well this was something the Princess could hear as a Friendship lesson. "Dear Princess Celestia, I am happy to report that one of your youngest subjects has learned a valuable lesson about friendship: sometimes, the thing you think will cause you to lose friends and feel left out can actually be the thing that helps you make your closest friends and realize how special you are."