As the last roll of cloth hovered into place, Rarity sighed with relief. “Thank you, girls. I don’t normally get this disorganized, but when customers make such big orders on short notice…”
Applejack smiled. “Hey, we’re always happy to help out. Between Twilight’s organization and Pinkie’s energy, it took no time at all.”
The white unicorn responded with a weary chuckle. “Well, I don’t know about anypony else, but I need a treat after all that. Sugercube Corner, anyone?”
Twilight Sparkle smiled. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”
“Ooh, great idea!” chirped out Pinkie Pie. “The Cakes have just finished their new ice cream selection. I’ve been looking forward to trying them out!”
Rarity smiled. “That sounds wonderful. Let’s go.”
The four made their way out of Carousel Boutique, Pinkie Pie bounding in front with her distinctive hopping motion as the other three walked behind her. Moving much faster than her fellows, Pinkie turned around to hurry them along. Instead, something else caught her eye: a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus nudging a dark cloud between the boutique and a nearby tree.
“Oh hey, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow Dash snickered for a moment before turning to face her. “Oh. Hi, Pinkie Pie.”
As the other three looked up at her, Rarity opened her mouth, her tone filled with curiosity and a hint of veiled worry. “Uh, Rainbow Dash? Why are you pushing a storm cloud next to my boutique?”
Her friend snickered in response. “Oh, this is for a prank. Don’t worry, not you… there’s a certain somepony I plan on spooking later today.”
“Yes, but… why is it next to my boutique?”
“Because nopony would ever think to look for a storm cloud here.”
Rarity readied herself to respond, but reluctantly withdrew her complaint. “Can’t argue with that, I suppose. Just make sure nothing goes awry with it, okay?”
Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively. “Eh, that won’t happen. It has just enough charge for a flash and a bang. No real jolt’s coming out of this one.”
“Well, as long as you’re sur-“
“Enough chit-chat!” yelped Pinkie Pie. “Time is ice cream!”
Upon reaching Sugarcube Corner, Applejack heard an enthusiastic “ooh” come from Pinkie. She initially assumed it was to the aforementioned ice cream, but when the pink pony zipped forward, she noticed that it was less about the sweets and more the ponies next to them. Two unfamiliar unicorns in Ponyville – a colt, looking slightly older than Apple Bloom, with green fur, purple eyes, a short, dark grey mane with a silvery sheen, and no Cutie Mark, and a strangely familiar looking mare, presumably the colt’s mother, with purple fur, a longer golden mane, golden eyes, and a Cutie Mark of three gold ingots arranged into a pyramid.
Unsurprisingly, Pinkie was immediately into greeting mode. “I haven’t seen you two in Ponyville before! *gasp* You need a Welcome Party! Time to break out the Party Canno-”
“Please, no parties,” the mare said, cutting Pinkie off and raising her hoof in a negatory fashion. Pinkie stopped, but didn’t start backing off until she glanced at the colt. Applejack squinted to get a closer look. Was he… glaring at her? Whatever it was, he really didn’t seem to like the idea.
“Oh. Well, can I at least know your names?”
The mare smiled slightly. “My name is Gold Lining and this is my son, Silver Lining. We’re visiting from Canterlot for a small…” she frowned for a second, “break.”
Silver Lining, still scowling, shoved past Pinkie and circled around the others, heading for the door. “I’m going for a walk.”
Pinkie frowned with concern. “Really? You haven’t had any ice cream yet.”
Silver said nothing, magically slamming the door behind him.
Before any of the friends could respond, Gold Lining spoke up. “Please don’t mind him. We didn’t leave under the best circumstances.”
With tension thick enough to cut it with a knife, Applejack aimed for an unrelated ice breaker. “So… you seem kinda familiar. My name’s Applejack… ring any bells?”
Gold smiled slightly. “Applejack? Yes, I saw you competing with my sister Black Corinth at the last Equestrian Rodeo. Maybe you saw me in the crowd at some point.”
“Black Corinth of the Califilly Raisins?”
“Yes, I’m from the Raisin family. Though, as you might be able to tell,” she said, nodding to her Cutie Mark, “my calling wasn’t with the family business. Stopped going by Gold Raisin after I married Fine Lining, and now I live in Canterlot making gold jewellery.”
“You’re that Gold Lining?” Rarity chimed in enthusiastically. “I heard about you when I was last in Canterlot. Oh, since you’re in town, we really ought to do some collaborative work together.”
The mare smiled. “Sounds lovely.”
Twilight stepped forth. “You mentioned your husband, Fine Lining. Is he in town as well?”
“No, he’s still back in Canterlot, working as an instructor at the academy for talented unicorns.” Gold frowned. “Actually, that’s… kind of why we’re here.”
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.
“Silver… really wanted to be like his father. Wanted to enroll in the academy and become a teacher himself. But, when it came to the entrance exam…” she trailed off.
“He didn’t make it.”
Gold nodded. “Silver didn’t take it well, so we took a trip to Ponyville to help him… cool off.”
Twilight frowned. “I see.”
Following Applejack’s example before, Rarity tried to break the tension. “So… what sorts of jewellery do you liking making?”
As the two started talking, Applejack leaned over to Pinkie. “Hey, uh, Pinkie? Maybe we should go collect Silver Lining now.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, I noticed that he doesn’t have a Cutie Mark yet. I don’t want the CMC bothering him, or worse, the bullies that pick on them…”
Silver Lining gradually slowed his storming around. He had no idea where he was, especially since he’d only just arrived in Ponyville, though he didn’t particularly care that this point. He just wanted to be alone right now. In his efforts to avoid people, he seemed to wander into an area that was more or less empty, right next to a closed shop.
With nobody in sight, he stopped walking and did what he hadn’t really done since he took the exam: think. Sure, he had fumed and grumbled in the interim, but he hadn’t really mused over the implications of what happened. What now? He wasn’t skilled enough in magic to become an instructor in the future; if he recalled correctly, one of the judges said that verbatim. He hadn’t really had any aspirations beyond being like his father, so he didn’t have any idea what to move on to. Speaking of his father, he hadn’t spoken to him since the day before the exam. Mother had, but he had no idea what was said beyond “some time away from Canterlot might help calm him down.” What did he really think?
Silver’s thoughts were cut off when, seemingly out of nowhere, came the mocking, synchronized voices of two fillies: “Blank flank!”
Turning around, he saw them. One had pink fur, blue eyes, a purple mane and tail with a white streak through them, and a tiara Cutie Mark that matched the one on her head. The other had grey fur, a lighter grey mane, purple eyes, a silver spoon Cutie Mark, and spectacles.
The pink one stepped forth. “Aren’t you a little old to not have a Cutie Mark? Or are you just devoid of any talent?”
The two fillies started giggling together. Silver started to glare, but then his gaze darted away. He didn’t want to make eye contact with bullies.
“Maybe he should hang out with those Cutie Mark losers,” the grey one said mockingly.
Silver didn’t know what she meant by that, but his attention was diverted. As he looked away, he noticed what looked like a small, dark cloud hidden away next to a nearby shop. What was something like that doing in a place like this?
The pink filly spoke again. “Of course. No-talent losers should stick together.”
As they started giggling again, Silver Lining glowered. Whatever the reason, his was a superior cause for the time being. His horn glowed in a silvery light as he telekinetically pulled the cloud behind the two fillies. He might not have had the best repertoire of spells, but he had moving objects down pat.
“What’s the matter?” asked the pink one. “So talentless that you can’t get a spell off?”
With an arcane twitch, Silver Lining jostled the unseen cloud, emitting a loud bang. The two fillies shrieked and immediately started to run away. He smirked as they fled.
“Yeah, you better run, you stupid… mules!”
Wasn’t the best insult, he admitted to himself, but it served its purpose.
“Ahem,” said a stern voice from behind. Silver immediately regretted his choice of words as a very grumpy looking mule with a large yellow hairdo stared down at him.
“Uh, heh. Um, no offense?”
The mule’s expression didn’t change. “No offence, huh? That why you said it as a parting shot?”
Silver looked down shamefully. “…Sorry.”
“Hrmph,” the mule grunted. He started to walk past him, but then paused for a moment. “By the way, I think you got your… something mark, or whatever.”
Silver’s eyes widened and darted towards his flank. Indeed, his Cutie Mark had appeared… a dark grey cloud outlined in silver. His expression steadily transformed into one of horror, and he sped away from the mule, heading for the nearest exit out of town…