//------------------------------//
// Chapter 26 - Marks that do not disappear 
// Story: Dusk Shine in pursuit of Happiness 
// by bigsnusnu 
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Marks that don’t disappear

"This is the Ponyville Schoolhouse." Dusk said once he and Sweetie Belle arrived at the small construction that was not far from the center of town. "I have never seen it up close, it actually looks quite cozy."

The Ponyville Schoolhouse was a nice little house painted red, beautifully decorated, with a small bell that served to warn the small foals and fillies the beginning and end of classes. Also, around the school, there were several playgrounds, which were empty at that time because fillies and young colts were in classes at the time.

"Well, would you like to come inside?" Dusk asked smiling, looking at Rarity's little sister.

"Eh? Oh! Yes, sure..." Sweetie Belle answered quickly, who hadn't paid much attention to the last words Dusk said or the school that was in front of her.

At that time Sweetie Belle had her mind elsewhere. Since she had managed to marginalize Rarity from the ride and had managed to stay alone with Dusk Shine, the initial joy that she had to beat her sister and get her revenge, was rapidly decreasing, while guilt and repentance began to emerge within her. Now Sweetie Belle couldn't stop thinking that maybe she had over done it with her revenge and that it wasn't Rarity who was in the wrong, but she herself had exaggerated, just because her sister hadn't paid enough attention to her, after all Sweetie Belle knew that Rarity was a good sister most of the time, and now with what she had just done to her older sister, Sweetie Belle couldn't help but blame herself little by little and think that maybe now her sister would hate her for what she had done to her. Besides, now that Rarity was gone, Sweetie Belle realized that the ride was a bit boring, after all, visiting the school wasn't something that really caught her attention, as she falsely made Dusk believe, and now that Rarity wasn't there, she couldn't continue to tease her on her date, Sweetie Belle began to feel lonely, because although she liked being with Dusk, she began to realize that she had had a better time when the three of them were together.

"It was fun to fight for Dusk's attention, especially because I won! But now that I won..." Sweetie Belle thought absently, that now that her anger against her sister had disappeared, she began to remember again how much she appreciated the good moments with Rarity, because although both had been fighting, Sweetie Belle had had a lot of fun at the expense of her sister. "I want to have Dusk with me, but... I also want to be with my sister..." Sweetie Belle thinking with melancholy, not knowing how to feel exactly.

While Sweetie Belle rambled on in her thoughts, the two unicorns approached the door of the school and slowly entered through the main hall to see the different rooms that were there. They both advanced and reached to see a few rooms until Dusk heard murmurs from one of the rooms.

"Come here, they should be in class." Dusk said looking at Sweetie Belle and indicating with his look that they were coming to a room where the door was open and where the murmurs came from.

Upon arriving at the doorway, both unicorns poked their heads slightly, so they could see the class without interrupting. There, both could see the teacher who dictated the class, a smiling mare with dark fuchsia fur, green eyes, with a mane and a tail that was of a pink color of two tonalities, and three smiling flowers like cutie mark. In front of the teacher there was a small number of colts and fillies, all seated while the teacher dictated the class. Dusk immediately recognized two fillies: Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom, who was listening attentively to her teacher; and right next to her was the other filly that Dusk recognized, because he had seen her yesterday and had learned her name that day, it was Diamond Tiara, who unlike Apple Bloom, seemed like she was not paying attention to anything that her teacher was talking about.

"Watch this!" Dusk whispered to Sweetie Belle, still seeing the ponies in the class. "Unicorns, pegasus and earth ponies, everypony studying together! I must admit that this is one of the things I like most about Ponyville."

While Dusk looked around smiling at the students and their teacher, Sweetie Belle had another look, one of nervousness, while her eyes had focused exclusively on the pink filly wearing the tiara and that maintained that look of displeasure that bothered Sweetie Belle.

"Please be quiet, before I finish the class I would like to talk about a very important lesson." The teacher said, who, like her students, hadn't noticed that they had two peepers peeking from the door. Then she approached a flipchart that was next to her desk and removed the first page, revealing on the second page several colorful drawings of different things. "We're going to talk about the cutie marks."

As soon as the teacher announced that she would talk about the cutie marks, most of the students in the class were alerted to listen, especially Apple Bloom, who immediately took the pencil with her mouth to take notes. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle and Dusk Shine were interested, because they both wanted to hear what the teacher would say, each for their own reasons.

"Boring…!" Diamond Tiara abruptly interrupted the teacher, making a face of annoyance.

"What a rude filly! Besides, knowing about the cutie marks is the best way to-" Dusk whispered again, turning to see Sweetie Belle, but stopped and became surprised to see that Sweetie Belle had started to run.

"I'm sorry I have to go!" Sweetie Belle shouted in a whisper as she looked back at Dusk and ran, with a nervous face that showed discomfort for something. "I-I have to help my sister with something!"

"Wait! I wanted to introduce you to-" Dusk said trying to scream to stop the little unicorn but whispering so he would not interrupt the class that was next to him, however it was already too late, Sweetie Belle had left and closed the door after her.

"Damn it! What do I do now? Should I follow her? She looked worried... No! She said she had to help Rarity with something, maybe that's why she was nervous, because she had forgotten something and only now she remembered it, she'll be fine... I hope..." Dusk thought indecisively, looking towards the school door and then looking back to the classroom. "She said she'll be with Rarity, however, if I lose sight of Apple Bloom, I'm not even sure if she'll return to Sweet Apple Acres during the afternoon, now my priority should be to talk with Apple Bloom and convince her to meet Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, I can't make the same mistakes with her as I did with the other two fillies, this is my last chance to convince at least one out of the three of them to become friends with the other two."

After Sweetie Belle fled and Dusk decided to stay, the lavender unicorn looked back at the room to continue listening to what the teacher was saying about the cutie marks. At that time the teacher was explaining when she got her cutie mark while showing a picture of her younger self, wearing a very old-fashioned look, which caused laughter among the students, including Dusk, who couldn't help but smile at the sight the photo.

"Yes, I know, but honestly, that's how everypony wore their mane back then." The teacher laughed too, a little embarrassed but continuing with her class. "I decided to become a teacher, and the flowers symbolized my hope that I could help my future students bloom if I nurture them with knowledge. The smiles represent the cheer I hope to bring to my little ponies while they are learning."

Upon hearing the detailed and beautiful description that the teacher made about her cutie mark, Dusk's smile disappeared, while unconsciously he put a melancholier look and his mind was filled with other thoughts.

"Now, can anyone tell me when a pony gets his or her cutie mark?" The teacher asked, asking a question that was quickly answered.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" An enthusiastic filly shouted, a filly with white fur and a curly red mane, with enormous purple glasses. She held her hoof high so the teacher could hear her, talking so loudly that it made Dusk get out of his thoughts and pay attention to the class again. "When she discovers that certain something that makes her special!"

"That's right, Twist!" The teacher said with a smile, revealing the name of the filly that had answered her. "A cutie mark appears on a pony's flank when he or she finds that certain something that makes them different from every other pony. Discovering what makes you unique isn't something that happens overnight, and…"

"Yeah, sure... " Dusk thought bitterly as he stopped paying attention to the teacher after her speech lengthened, lowering his head and looking discouraged towards the floor.

Both the explanation about the cutie marks and hearing the meaning of teacher's cutie mark, had discouraged Dusk, because precisely there was a time in his past about his cutie mark that he dragged with him and couldn't erase from his mind.

Dusk looked up at the ceiling with a melancholy look as he began to remember why he didn't like talking about the cutie marks, however a sudden scream shocked him and put him on alert again.

"Apple Bloom! Are you passing a note?" The teacher shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

Dusk immediately peeked out the door a bit more to see what had happened. That's how he saw that apparently Apple Bloom had passed a note in class, which obviously bothered the teacher. She approached Apple Bloom, looked at the note, and was surprised to see that it was blank, which also surprised Dusk, after all, why would Apple Bloom be passing a blank note to somepony else? Then Diamond Tiara said loudly: 'Remind you of anypony?', pointing with her hoof towards Apple Bloom's flank, causing all the other students in the room to burst into laughter, except the teacher and Apple Bloom. Only then Dusk realized that it had all been a misunderstanding and that Apple Bloom had only received the note, everything had been planned by Diamond Tiara to make that mockery to Apple Bloom, something that immediately annoyed Dusk, an annoyance that grew as he listened to the laughter of the other younger ponies and remembered part of his childhood and when he himself had been teased.

At that moment the school bell rang, causing the students to begin to stand up from their seats, glad that the class had finally ended.

"Who is he?!" A female voice screamed from the school hallway, causing Dusk to turn around and see who it was. There Dusk could see that in the entrance of the school were two mares, probably mothers of some of the fillies that studied there, both looking puzzled at Dusk from a distance.

"He's spying on fillies... He's a foal stalker!" The second mare shouted, with a horrified face. Then both mares began to run furiously in Dusk’s direction, ready to pounce on the alleged stalker who spied on their children from the door of the room.

"EH?!" It was all Dusk could say before realizing what was happening and the misunderstanding that those mothers had probably understood. Dusk immediately decided to stop them and explain that everything was a misunderstanding, but seeing the furious glances of those mothers, Dusk knew immediately that he couldn't reason with them in that state, so he only managed to activate his magic and teleport himself out of there.

Dusk managed to evade the furious mares at the last second, disappearing and reappearing again outside the school, but very close to the front door, so he immediately ran to some nearby bushes and hid there, waiting for the right moment to get out.

Several minutes passed until the fillies and young colts of the school began to come out one by one, and it took more time until the two mares that had tried to attack Dusk finally came out as well. Both mothers stayed talking to the teacher that Dusk had seen, and seeing the expression of concern shown by the teacher, Dusk could guess what they were talking about.

"Great! Now to my already bad reputation in this town, rumors will begin to circulate that I am a foal molester..." Dusk thought resigned and frustrated before the situation, not knowing how he could fix that misunderstanding, since those two mothers who were talking with the teacher still had their furious looks on them which made Dusk tremble. "Maybe I can talk to the teacher and later explain the situation, at least she doesn't look so intimidating... "

Finally, the two mothers left with their foals and the teacher went back to school, and it was only then that Apple Bloom finally came out, then Dusk's worries took a back seat and he focused on the sad face that Apple Bloom had, who left school with her head down and her ears drooping. Dusk immediately came out of the bushes and began to approach from one side to talk to her, after all Dusk understood that the poor filly should have a very low spirit after the bad joke in which she was the victim of, but then Dusk stopped suddenly to see the cause of everything, Diamond Tiara, came to her before him, accompanied by another filly with gray fur and a light gray mane, wearing elegant glasses and a necklace, with a cutie mark that showed a silver spoon. Both fillies had approached Apple Bloom and began to laugh and moved their flanks exaggeratedly as they walked in a circle around her, before the sad look of Apple Bloom. As Dusk couldn't hear what they were saying, he approached slowly to be able to spy without being seen.

"Don't worry, you're still invited to my cute-ceañera." Diamond Tiara said with a look of arrogance.

"It's going to be amazing, Diamond Tiara invited all the fillies in town." The gray filly said, looking with the same contemptuous look that Diamond Tiara had on Apple Bloom.

"That's right, as my daddy says, sometimes you have to do some charity and show how generous you are." Diamond Tiara said with a false loving look, which quickly changed to one of mockery. "So even a dirty country mare like you is invited, you should thank me, blank flank! Hahaha!"

Then the gray filly and Diamond Tiara playfully clasped their hooves and made a kind of a personal hoofshake, then began to laugh mockingly as Apple Bloom looked down and her lip began to tremble. That was the last thing Dusk could handle, so he finally came out from where he had been listening and stood next to Apple Bloom.

"Leave her alone! Couple of rude brats!" Dusk said annoyed, looking angry at the pink and gray fillies, while the three fillies present watched him totally surprised by his sudden appearance.

"And who are you!?" Diamond Tiara asked with a petulant look, without any consideration that she was talking to a pony older than her.

"I am-" Dusk answered seriously before being interrupted.

"Oh, I know who he is! It's that evil colt that yelled at the princess at the Summer Sun Celebration!" The gray filly said, looking with fear and some contempt at Dusk. "Mom said not to go near him."

Those words surprised Dusk and made him lower his guard for a moment, but he immediately returned to his serious attitude, because he could solve his problems later, now he was there to help Apple Bloom.

"Oh... I see... So you get together with this kind of pony, blank flank? Is he your friend?" Diamond Tiara said with a mocking smile looking at Apple Bloom again.

Apple Bloom still said nothing, she just stood next to Dusk not knowing what to say or do, looking back and forth between Dusk Shine and Diamond Tiara.

"I'm friends with Applejack, and I will not let you keep pestering her little sister." Dusk said decisively, staring at the two bullies.

After Dusk's words, Diamond Tiara and her friend looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, so you need someone to defend you? Hahaha!" The gray filly scoffed looking at Apple Bloom.

"Oh... poor baby, hahaha! Don't worry, we were leaving anyway." Diamond Tiara said, turning to start walking with her friend, but not before looking one last time at Apple Bloom with a mocking smile. "I'll ask to keep a baby seat for you, haha, see you at the party, blank flank! Hahaha!"

While the two nasty fillies moved away, and after the last mockery of Diamond Tiara, Dusk got even madder and took a step to continue facing the pair of bullies to understand that what they did was wrong and stop bothering Apple Bloom, however, Dusk stopped when he finally heard Apple Bloom speak.

"What have you done…!?" Apple Bloom said in a whisper, with her head down. Then she quickly raised her head and glared at Dusk. "Why did you get involved!? Now they'll make fun of me even more and it’s all your fault!"

At that moment Apple Bloom turned her back to Dusk and began to move away from him, before the surprised look of Dusk.

"A-Apple Bloom, wait! I... I just wanted to help." Dusk said catching up to the filly until he reached her and walked beside her.

"Well, you didn't do it right, did you?" Apple Bloom responded without stopping, still upset.

"But someone had to put them in their place and tell them that what they were doing was wrong." Dusk said a little confused by the attitude of Apple Bloom.

"But it didn’t help me at all!" Apple Bloom said, still looking annoyed at Dusk. "How would you feel if you were in my place!?"

At that question, Dusk paused thoughtfully, realizing that perhaps he had not done the right thing, or rather, he had done the right thing, but not in the right way, it was true that someone had to tell that little thug, Diamond Tiara, to stop bothering others, but Dusk realized that this was the mature vision of an adult, for a filly the world worked a little different, where pride and childish loyalties played an important factor... It was then that Dusk did what Apple Bloom asked him, and he put himself in her place, he imagined himself as a young colt, being defended by the princess while he argued with his bullies... Now that he was older, he would have thanked the princess for defending him, but when he was Apple Bloom's age, he would probably have reacted just like her and would’ve become angry with the princess for meddling and humiliating him in front of others, even though she had done it just to help him.

Thinking about that last, for the first time Dusk realized how the princess must have felt when she found out that he was being bullied in class. Dusk imagined how difficult it had to be for the princess to learn about that and not be able to do anything concrete. She had acted with more restraint than he ever could and never faced his bullies directly, something for which he was now grateful for, however she finally did do something to help him, something more subtle but that left a big mark on Dusk, something that he spent years without knowing and only discovered years later...

While Dusk wandered into his thoughts due to Apple Bloom's question, the filly kept looking at Dusk upset.

"I know he wanted to help me, but the only thing he did was make everything worse!" Apple Bloom thought trying to leave her anger behind. "I guess what Applejack said is true: 'he's a bit silly, but he has a good heart'."

Now a little calmer, Apple Bloom continued looking at Dusk, undecided how to act in front of him, because the truth was that even her family was divided on how to act in front of him. At home, when they talked about Dusk, Big Mac immediately said that Applejack deserved someone better, but Granny Smith said that he was the perfect coltfriend, and as for Applejack, she always repeated that Dusk was not her coltfriend, however Apple Bloom knew that her sister had feelings for Dusk, it was evident when she saw the unusual lying face of her sister, however knowing all that left her in an uncomfortable situation, because if Applejack had not decided... Should she support Granny or Big Mac? Finally, Apple Bloom thought that the best thing for now would be to act without any side, at least for now.

"By the way, why are you following me?" Apple Bloom finally asked, starting to walk again.

"Eh? Oh, yes!" Dusk responded quickly, leaving his thoughts about his past and returning to focus on his mission. "I... I wanted to see if you wanted to join a couple of fillies I know, they are your age, and I think all of you could become great friends if you know each other." Dusk said smiling, determined to get to the point this time.

"No thanks, with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon I have more than enough." Apple Bloom responded, looking askance to the side.

"What? No, I'm not talking about bullies like them, I'm talking about real friends!" Dusk said quickly, correcting her.

"I can't be sure of that, who knows, maybe they're even worse than Diamond Tiara." Apple Bloom responded with indifference. "That's why I think I prefer to be alone, and I prefer to spend my free time with my sister."

"Nooo! Her as well! Don’t any of them see the importance of having friends!?" Dusk thought depressed, realizing that his plan to reunite the three fillies was falling apart, as neither Scootaloo, neither Sweetie Belle and now Apple Bloom were not interested in making friends.

"You know, maybe if you had friends they would help you with Diamond Tiara." Dusk said, trying to use the same approach he had used when talking with Scootaloo, but this time he could attest that this advice had been useful to him. "In fact, I was bullied a lot in school, there were some bullies who always looked for me and... probably did a lot more bad things to me than Diamond Tiara could do you..." At that point, a shadow passed through Dusk's eyes as he remembered those unpleasant moments, but he quickly raised his head and smiled again. "But one day I met a friend, she defended me and helped me many times to get ahead, that's why I can tell you first-hoof that a friend can help you solve your problem with that annoying filly."

"So the fancy city ponies also bother each other?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.

"Um? Y-Yes, of course." Dusk responded a little surprised, realizing the reason why Apple Bloom was probably annoyed. "Maybe... Those fillies bother you because your family is from the country?"

"Yeah... sometimes it's like that, although lately they are bothering me more for something else..." Apple Bloom answered nonchalantly, then glancing sideways at Dusk's flank. "Now they have their cutie marks and they annoy me for being a blank flank."

"That's why they bother you? but that's a silly thing! Everyone gets their cutie mark in due time, it's something natural, it's not something to be bothered or something to feel sorry for." Dusk said without being able to avoid releasing a small laugh when he realized that the taunts towards Apple Bloom were about something much more childish than he had thought.

"It's not silly!" Apple Bloom said a little annoyed to see Dusk laughing at her problem. "It's easy for you to say it because you already have your cutie mark."

After that, Apple Bloom began to walk a little faster due to her discomfort, but she was quickly reached by Dusk, who also accelerated the pace to continue accompanying her. At that time Dusk regretted having laughed at the Apple Bloom problem, after all that was important to her, so he started thinking about the best words to say to apologize, however his thoughts were quickly interrupted.

"You... How did you get your cutie mark?" Apple Bloom asked suddenly, who had already calmed down a little and again fixed her eyes on the flank of the unicorn lavender.

"Eh? Well, I..." Dusk said quickly, who had been taken by surprise by that question. Then he looked up and began to remember how he had got his cutie mark and the events that had surrounded that occasion, while he did, he gave a fleeting look of sorrow in his eyes. "I-I think I'm not the best example if you want to know how to get a cutie mark, hehe." Dusk finished saying with a nervous smile, hiding the fact that he did not like to talk about his own cutie mark.

Apple Bloom looked at Dusk confused for a few seconds and then focused her eyes again on Dusk's flank, while the unicorn turned slightly, trying in vain for Apple Bloom to stop looking at his cutie mark.

"The stars symbolize magic, don't they?" Apple Bloom asked thoughtfully while Dusk remained silent, a little uncomfortable.

While Apple Bloom looked at Dusk's cutie mark, a brilliant idea came to her.

"That's right!" Apple Bloom said almost jumping at the sudden revelation, looking up to meet Dusk's eyes again. "You're good with magic, more than good! You even faced Nightmare Moon! If you're so powerful, then you can help me and make my cutie mark appear!"

"Eh…?" Dusk said totally surprised, a little nervous to see the look full of hope of Apple Bloom. "I-I'm good with magic, but I can't make a cutie mark appear, that's impossible."

"Have you ever tried?" Apple Bloom asked smiling.

"No, but it's not something that can be done, and even if it was, I wouldn’t do it, after all the cutie marks are not something to play around with." Dusk said trying to get a little more serious.

Apple Bloom lowered her eyes dispiritedly, pouting, until another bright idea came to her.

"How about we make a deal?" Apple Bloom asked with a mischievous look. "Help me to get a cutie mark, and I'll agree to meet those fillies you wanted to introduce me to, deal?"

Before the treatment proposed by Apple Bloom, Dusk immediately thought to reject it, however this was his last chance to get Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle could have a real friend, so Dusk had no choice but to accept.

"Okay... I'll try, but I think you'll be disappointed." Dusk finally said reluctantly, with a big sigh. While Apple Bloom jumped for joy for having convinced Dusk.

Both ponies were put in position for the magic they would perform, Apple Bloom with her flank in front of Dusk, and Dusk crouched, lighting his horn a few inches from the flank of Apple Bloom. Dusk used all his concentration, reviewing all his knowledge about cutie marks, magic of invocation, and magic of appearance, after all this was something new for him, and although he was sure that what he was trying to do was impossible, but it didn’t hurt being serious and trying with all his effort to see if he can at least get some interesting results.

Finally, Dusk's horn flashed, and on the flank of Apple Bloom appeared the drawing of a cart with apples, Apple Bloom had gotten a cutie mark. As soon as Apple Bloom saw her flank and could see her new cutie mark, she started jumping for joy.

"You did it! You did it! I knew you could do it!" Apple Bloom shouted euphorically, she stopped jumping and started to gallop around Dusk, exaggeratedly moving her flank to show her new acquisition.

"Wait a minute..." Dusk said suddenly, causing Apple Bloom to stop, focusing his eyes on the flank of the filly, which she also did. So both could see that the cutie mark that had appeared in Apple Bloom began to fade and disappear slowly.

"What... What happened?" Apple Bloom asked sadly after seeing that her new cutie mark had disappeared.

"I told you that not even magic can make a cutie mark appear too soon." Dusk said shrugging.

"Try again!" Apple Bloom said looking pleadingly at Dusk.

"But-" Dusk said without reaching to say what he wanted to and being interrupted by the filly.

"Again! Again!" Apple Bloom insisted, still without losing hope in the Dusk’s magic.

Then Dusk sighed resignedly and returned to concentrate to try again to make appear a cutie mark. So, Dusk made several marks appear on Apple Bloom's flank: a kite, a teddy bear, a tricycle, among many others, but all had the same result, disappeared few seconds after Dusk made them appear.

"You're not doing it right!" Apple Bloom said frustrated looking at Dusk, after the last cutie mark disappeared. "The first one you did lasted several seconds, but the next ones disappeared immediately."

"It's not my fault, to tell you the truth, I don't even know why that happened." Dusk answered thoughtfully, who had already noticed that fact. "I suppose it could be because the origin of your cutie mark is type 'talent', and maybe the apples are tied to some talent that you will discover in the future, that's why the cutie mark of the apple cart lasted longer than the others, although of course, it's just a theory... "

"Cutie mark of type 'talent’...?" Apple Bloom asked confused.

"Yes, well... In classes you were taught that a cutie mark appears when a pony discovers something that makes him or her special, and it's true in a certain way, but it's also a somewhat simplistic explanation." Dusk said, inflating his chest a bit by feeling like a teacher teaching a young student. "When someone teaches you intermediate magical theory they will teach you that there are three possible origins for cutie marks, the vast majority gets it for some 'special talent' they have, that's the first category, that's why those cutie marks are said to be type 'talent'."

"So my talent is... Carrying apples?" Apple Bloom asked, somewhat confused after Dusk's explanation.

"I don't think so." Dusk said quickly. "I just thought that since your family all have cutie marks related to apples, maybe yours will also represent some talent tied to that, maybe that's why that cutie mark lasted longer than the others."

"That's it! How did I not see it before!?" Apple Bloom suddenly screamed when she realized something crucial.

Then she started running at full speed towards the center of town.

"H-Hey! Wait! Where are you going!?" Dusk asked confused, leaving immediately in follow of the little filly.





"Apples! Buy your delicious, nutritious apples!" Applejack shouted at the town market, where the food merchants settled to sell their products.

She was standing next to a small cart full of apples, and next to her was Apple Bloom, wearing a small white apron, like her older sister; and Dusk Shine, who was dressed in a ridiculous red suit with an equally ridiculous apple-shaped hat that surrounded his entire face.

"How did this happen...?" Dusk asked himself, dying of shame when he saw that the ponies passing by were looking at him and laughing at him.

"Well, you and Apple Bloom said you two wanted to help, and Apple Bloom's apron doesn't fit you, so you can only wear that new disguise that Granny Smith and I made." Applejack said with a smile. "We thought maybe having a mascot would help sell the apples, so from now on you'll be 'Lil Appleling, the Happy Apple.' Big Mac was supposed to use it, but for some reason today his stomach hurt, just the day we wanted to make the debut the disguise!"

"Yeah... What a coincidence..." Dusk whispered, understanding that probably Big Mac had pretended to get sick just so he didn't have to use that ridiculous disguise.

"By the way, why were you next to Apple Bloom, and why is she so eager to help me sell apples today?" Applejack asked, something she had been thinking about since both ponies had arrived with her, glancing sideways at her little sister, who was approaching the passing ponies and urging them to buy apples with a lot of enthusiasm, maybe too much.

It was only then that, while Apple Bloom was focused on trying to sell apples, Dusk Shine explained to Applejack his reason for going after Apple Bloom, and her reason for trying to sell apples so suddenly.

"So that's it... I guess so, it's a good idea for Apple Bloom to make friends of her age." Applejack said thoughtfully after hearing Dusk's explanation. "But what about the cutie mark... Does she think that helping me sell apples will make her cutie mark appear at any moment?"

"I know, I also told her that it probably wouldn’t work and that she just had to be patient and wait for things to come in due time." Dusk answered with a shrug. "But she is still determined to continue with this, and now I have no choice but to continue with her until she realizes the truth, and so she will fulfill her part of the deal and finally I'll be able to introduce her to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo."

"Hmm... well, I must warn you that the mares of the Apple family are stubborn, so you'll probably be helping us sell apples all afternoon before convincing her to change her mind." Applejack smiled mischievously, actually happy to have Dusk’s company. "And by the way, enough talk, it's time for 'Lil Appleling' to make his special show."

Hearing that, Dusk blushed again, remembering that he had offered to help Applejack when he arrived with Apple Bloom there.

"D... Do I really have to do this?" Dusk asked timidly.

"Well, you said you wanted to help and I would guess that you'll keep your word, right?" Applejack answered with a mischievous look, smiling at what would soon happen.

Finally Dusk just bowed his head, resigned to what he would have to do, after all he had said he wanted to help, and now he would have to comply, after all he always kept his word. It was so that Dusk adjusted the disguise as Applejack asked and finally he walked to the center of the street where the ponies were going to buy products.

"Well Dusk, you are about to take your biggest challenge." Dusk said in a whisper, talking to himself to give himself courage, with his eyes closed and totally focused on the task to come. "You have faced against Nightmare Moon, you have saved Equestria, you can do this, you can do it by trusting in the power of friendship!"

"H-Hey everyone...! Listen to me!" Dusk shouted at the top of his lungs to catch the attention of everyone around him, arming himself with courage for the ridicule he would begin to do.

"It's Apple butter jelly time ~ Apple butter jelly time ~ Apple butter jelly time ~" Dusk started singing, leaving the seriousness aside and trying to smile, totally blushed, while dancing foolishly and moving his hooves from one side to the other. "Where he at?~ Where he at?~ There he go~ There he go~ Apple butter jelly~ Apple butter jelly~"





So Dusk continued singing and dancing while all the ponies around him looked surprised, laughing to see a pony disguised as an apple, dancing and singing in the most ridiculous way possible, all while Dusk's face was perfectly combined with the red color of his suit and saying to himself that this is probably the most shameful thing he had ever done in his life, and also thought that perhaps from now on he would not offer to give his help so easily without first knowing in advance that it wouldn’t be anything ridiculous.

While Dusk continued dancing and attracting ponies to the apple stand, Applejack laughed with a big smile for several reasons: first, to see Dusk doing something so ridiculous; second, for the good surprise of seeing that indeed the disguise and the dance of 'Lil Appleling' was serving to attract clients; and third, Applejack could not stop smiling when she saw how helpful and how good of a friend Dusk was to her, after all not any pony would have offered to do what he was doing.

While Dusk danced, Apple Bloom approached the ponies who came to see Dusk's ridiculous dance and quickly began to offer and sell them apples. For her part, Applejack was still thinking how lucky she was that Dusk was helping her, then she glanced sideways at her little sister and turned her gaze back to Dusk, with her eyes increasingly enraptured.

"He is not just helpful, he also cares about foals..." Applejack thought remembering how Dusk had arrived with her sister because he wanted to help her have friends. "He would definitely be a good husband and father..."

Those last thoughts from Applejack, made her unknowingly blush and put on dreamy eyes, but then she realized what she was thinking and quickly shook her head to scare the ideas that had come to mind, ideas about her and Dusk having foals and forming a great family. Meanwhile, Dusk had already stopped with his show and wiped the sweat from his forehead due to all that dancing, at that moment he looked to one side and then turned his gaze to fix his eyes on Applejack, which made the heart of the country mare jump with emotions for a second, then Dusk began to approach Applejack while she realized that Dusk had a different look, as if he was undecided about what he was going to do.

"Applejack, I... I've thought about it a lot, but I can't take it anymore, I... this feeling I feel... I can't help it." Dusk said with his eyes fixed on Applejack, who began to get nervous because of his look.

"Dusk is all blushed, and he's so nervous... he... he's talking about what he's feeling, maybe he's thinking about... No! It's impossible." Applejack thought as her heart started to accelerate.

"Applejack, you... you know that I'll always prefer you, I always have and always will." Dusk said all red, staring at Applejack and trying to hide his nervousness.

"What does he prefer me? Oh my Celestia! He made up his mind! He... He is declaring his love to me!" Applejack thought as her heart was beating a thousand times per minute.

"I... I feel so hot that I... I have to ask you something." Dusk said just as red and nervous.

"WHAT!? It can't be!! This... This is what others call an indecent proposal!?" Applejack thought so blushed and dizzy from what she was hearing that it almost seemed like she would have smoke coming out of her ears.

"Applejack, Can... Can I buy an orange juice in the next stand?" Dusk finally asked, hoping not to anger his friend.

"Uh?" Applejack replied totally confused while all the emotions she had felt a second ago disappeared instantly, leaving her frozen.

"I just can't stand the heat of this suit anymore." Dusk said, opening the collar of his suit so that some air came in and he could vent a little. "And in the stand next to yours, they sell an orange juice that looks delicious... I know they are from the competition, and if you sell apple juice I would buy it without hesitation, you know I prefer your apples, but I can't stand it anymore, I'd like to refresh myself with the orange juice they are selling there, I hope it doesn't bother you."

While Dusk gave a silly smile, Applejack lowered her head, making it impossible for Dusk to see her face.

"So you were talking about apples..." Applejack said slowly between clenched teeth, then she quickly raised her head, showing a furious expression but blushed with embarrassment. "You idiot!" Applejack shouted before giving a strong blow to Dusk that made him fly a few meters, falling flat on the ground.

The next thing Applejack did was turn her back on Dusk and refocused on selling her apples, while she was still ashamed of herself for misinterpreting what Dusk was going to ask her and for getting excited about having imagines of being with that idiotic unicorn. While Dusk slowly got up from the ground, touching his aching muzzle.

"I knew she would get mad for asking about orange juice, but I definitely think she exaggerated!" Dusk thought confused, as always without realizing the feelings of the mares that surrounded him. "Anyway, the best thing will be to get rid of this ridiculous suit at once, I think I've already attracted enough customers to the place."

"Look mommy, a giant apple!" Dusk heard a foal's voice talking behind him.

"Another foal attracted to 'Lil Appleling' and brought their own mother, time to sell apples." Dusk thought as he turned to return to the character and attract the last customer before removing the disguise.

"Hi little one, I'm Lil Appleling! Tell your mom to buy apples from Sweet Apple Acres! The best apples in Equestria!" Dusk said with a smile, speaking in a childish voice as he spoke to the foal in front of him.

"You!!" Suddenly the foal's mother cried, who was standing by his side. Dusk looked up to see the mother of the foal, then his face almost fell when he saw that next to the foal he had just greeted, were the two mothers who had seen him spying in schools and had confused him with a stalker. "You're the stalker, now you disguise yourself to attract foals! Pervert! "

Immediately the two furious mothers jumped to chase Dusk, while the unicorn only managed to run and dodge them, screaming and running in circles around the Applejack's apple stand while being followed by the two furious mares.

"Applejack! Help me!" Dusk cried totally scared of the two mothers who were chasing him, shouting at his friend, who just stared at the strange scene without understanding much of what was happening.

Finally, after Applejack stopped both mothers from wanting to hunt down Dusk, Applejack could understand what was happening by listening to what the two angry mares said, immediately she understood that it was all a misunderstanding, but she also knew that she could not calm those furious mothers so easily without a good excuse, so she finally told them that Dusk had been in school to look for her little sister Apple Bloom on her behalf, and that was the only thing that finally calmed both the mothers wanting to hunt Dusk. So, at last both mothers left with their children, already calmer but still giving him looks of distrust to Dusk.

"You... Did you lie for me?" Dusk asked Applejack once the mothers had left and everything was calm again.

"It was only in the part that I said that you were commissioned by me to look for Apple Bloom, all the rest was true." Applejack responded with a sigh of relief, since she didn’t like to lie, even if it was just a little white lie. "It was the only way to calm those furious mothers."

"I'm sorry." Dusk said noticing the discomfort of Applejack, then smiling to cheer her up. "I promise you'll never have to lie for me anymore."

Seeing Dusk's sincere smile, Applejack lowered her hat to hide her face.

"You better..." Applejack said smiling, hiding from Dusk the blushed face she had when she saw his smile.

"This is a fraud!" Suddenly a scream was heard that caused Applejack and Dusk to be on alert and look to the side.

Only at that moment both Dusk and Applejack realized that for some reason, while they explained the situation to the two mothers, Apple Bloom had been surrounded by a mob of ponies, who looked at her very annoyed. Immediately Applejack and Dusk approached to see the cause of that.

"Something wrong?" Applejack asked politely to the pony who was in front of Apple Bloom and who was apparently leading the rest of the annoying customers.

"Of course there is something wrong!" The mare responded, very annoyed. "It turns out that everyone here approached her to buy apples, but this filly here filled the bags with more apples than we had requested, and now she demands that we pay her for the extra apples she put there."

"Yes, and I was only looking at the apples, and she says that I have to pay to see them." Another angry mare shouted.

And so, all the ponies of the crowd began to complain, all claiming against the measures of the little sister of Applejack’s abusive sale.

"Apple Bloom! Are what these ponies saying true?!" Applejack asked, looking sternly at her sister.

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to defend herself and invent a good excuse, after all, all of this had been to try to get her cutie mark, because she believed that if she sold more apples, the faster she could get her cutie mark, something that until now didn't worked. However, Apple Bloom finally just lowered her head with a regretful look, after all she could make excuses and lie to other ponies, but she knew that with her older sister the only option was to be totally honest.

"Yes... it's true, I'm sorry." Apple Bloom said sadly.

"Well, then your days of selling apples are over, little miss." Applejack said seriously, approaching her sister and removing the apron she was wearing.

"B-But then, how will I get my cutie mark!?" Apple Bloom asked pleadingly.

"I'm sorry sugarcube, but I can't let you keep ruining the family business." Applejack responded by trying to be tough, since she could not risk the welfare of her family to solve her sister's childhood worries at the time, after all Apple Bloom had bothered many frequent customers who always bought her apples, and if she did not solve this now, it could be a disaster for the business. Then Applejack turned her back on her little sister and smiled nervously at the crowd of annoying customers in front of her. "Okay, what do you think if you take the apples my little sister sold you for free, to make up for all your inconveniences."

While Applejack talked to her customers and tried to keep up the reputation of her apple stand, Apple Bloom ran away because she was punished by her sister. Applejack saw that her sister ran away, and immediately activated her older sister instinct, who indicated that she should go after her, even putting the family business at risk, so she turned and took a step, with a look nervous about what she was about to do.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it, you take care of the business." Dusk said suddenly, who was next to Applejack and had already run to catch up with Apple Bloom.

Seeing Dusk running to help her little sister, Applejack breathed a sigh of relief, because thanks to him, she would no longer have to leave her stand and could focus on solving the problem caused by Apple Bloom.

"He immediately noticed that this was an uncomfortable situation for me and jumped to help me." Applejack thought as she watched Dusk go.

"Hehe... he's a really clumsy colt, but one with a very good heart." Applejack said in a whisper as her cheeks blushed again at the sight of her 'friend'.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom had moved far from where the apple stand was, and she would have gone further if it had not been because she saw something that made her stop, something that was lucky for Dusk, since it gave him a chance to reach her before losing sight of her. What Dusk saw while running was that Apple Bloom had stopped in her tracks for some reason and she in an instant jumped behind a barrel that was next to a store, hiding from something.

"I finally got you!" Dusk said once he got to Apple Bloom. "Why are you hiding behind a-?"

"Shhh! Hide!" Apple Bloom said, telling Dusk to be quiet.

Without knowing why, Dusk simply did what the filly told him, he got behind her, and looked where she was looking, from there Dusk could see and guess why Apple Bloom was hiding. Not far away was Diamond Tiara's close friend, Silver Spoon, who apparently was touring the part of the market where they sold jewelry, probably looking for a gift for her friend's cute-ceañera, and fortunately for Apple Bloom, it seemed that she had not noticed her presence.

"So that's why your hiding..." Dusk said in a whisper, watching as the gray filly watched with contempt the jewels offered in the stands that were there.

While Dusk was looking at Silver Spoon, an idea came to Dusk's mind, something that could perhaps help Apple Bloom.

"Apple Bloom, have you tried to be friends with Silver Spoon?" Dusk asked while Apple Bloom looked at him as if he had gone crazy. "I mean, I know that Diamond Tiara is very irritating, but it seems that Diamond Tiara is the leader and Silver Spoon was a simple sidekick, maybe she alone is not so bad."

"I don't think so, it's true that Diamond Tiara is the worst, but Silver Spoon is not far behind." Apple Bloom responded, glancing at the gray filly. "She also treats others below her because she is from a rich family, we are very different, we could never be friends."

"But being different is not an impediment to being friends, look at me! My personality is very different from your sister's, or Flutterhy's, or Pinkie Pie's, but we're all good friends." Dusk said trying to motivate Apple Bloom.

"Don't insist, I'm fine without friends." Apple Bloom said a little annoyed, still watching Silver Spoon and thinking how ridiculous it would be that she, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were friends.

Upon hearing the resounding refusal of Apple Bloom to have friends, Dusk Shine could not help feeling annoyed, increasingly annoyed to see that no filly appreciated friendship, something he now valued a lot.

"I'm tired of hearing the same answer." Dusk said a little annoyed, talking to himself, remembering that the three fillies had said the same thing, almost with the exact same words. "Maybe I should just use my magic and force them together." Dusk finished talking to himself, taking out all his frustrations.

"But if you force us to get together, that would be a false friendship, isn't it?" Apple Bloom said, who listened to what Dusk said and imagined that he was talking about her, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara.

That brought Dusk out of his thoughts, realizing that what he had thought, he had angrily said it out loud without meaning to.

"W-Why did you say it would be a false friendship?" Dusk asked nervously.

"Because if you force someone to join another pony by force, it would not be true friendship, at least I think so." Apple Bloom responded with a thoughtful face.

Upon hearing what Apple Bloom said, and specifically when she said, 'false friendship', Dusk's heart tightened as a cold sweat ran down his back. What Apple Bloom said was true, and he had lived it in his own flesh, because the truth was that Dusk had not only suffered bullying at school, there had also been a number of ponies who had done the opposite, they had pretended that they liked Dusk and that they were his friends, only to be able to approach Princess Celestia through him, and among those ponies was one that stood out, a mare that had left a deep mark on Dusk.

While Dusk put a face of total concern to remember part of his past and realize that he had made a huge mistake in saying that perhaps he should force the three fillies to get together and be friends, Apple Bloom saw the face of scared Dusk and immediately she tried to say something so that Dusk returned to normality.

"B-But maybe it's not such a bad idea... Maybe having a bad friend is better than not having any." Apple Bloom said thinking that maybe Dusk's advice was not so bad.

"No!" Dusk said dryly, putting a serious face for a second, then smoothing it and looking at Apple Bloom. "I was wrong, you're right, friendship shouldn't be forced, friendship should be born because both want to share and want the best for the other, not for selfish interests or things like that, otherwise you can make a big mistake."

At that moment Dusk remembered his own experiences in Ponyville and remembered his five magnificent friends, which made him smile tenderly, because despite his stormy past, he had finally found five true friends.

While Apple Bloom realized that Dusk's mood had returned to normal, she was distracted to see out of the corner of her eye that Silver Spoon was finally leaving where she was, without buying anything, just looking with contempt all the jewelry and petulantly until finally walking away completely. By refocusing on Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom's mind again wondered something she had thought before but had not been able to ask Dusk.

"Dusk..." Apple Bloom said after Silver Spoon had left, with a look of confusion on her face. "The cutie marks appear for a special talent, but... What about Silver Spoon's cutie mark? It's a silver spoon, does that mean that her special talent is making silver spoons?"

Dusk was surprised at Apple Bloom's question, but at once he smiled vainly and pretended to put on some invisible glasses, going into 'teacher mode' to explain that to the little filly.

"Well, remember that I told you that there are three possible origins for the cutie mark and that most of them are ‘talent’ type." Dusk said smiling, speaking like a teacher and reminding Apple Bloom of what they had previously discussed. "But Silver Spoon's cutie mark is probably the second type, of the 'personality' type, these cutie marks don't appear when discovering a special talent, rather they appear as a product of a strong personality or of some distinctive feature in the pony. She is probably a high-born filly and has never lacked anything in her life, which marked her elegant and elitist personality, so surely her cutie mark is a silver spoon, which symbolizes that she was born with a silver spoon personality."

"Personality?" Apple Bloom asked curious and excited. "Maybe I have that type of cutie mark! How can I know if a cutie mark of that type will appear?"

"Hmm, I guess it's a complicated thing to discover..." Dusk said thinking aloud, but immediately noticing the hopeful look of Apple Bloom, which prevented him from breaking her dreams that she would try something to get that type of cutie mark. "Well... Tell me, what do you like to do? Is there something that you highlight in your tastes or in your way of life? Something that you're very passionate about doing, perhaps?"

"My likes..." Apple Bloom said as she banged her head trying to understand Dusk's explanation and tried to think of something. "I like a lot of things, apples, cupcakes... Cupcakes! That's it!" Apple Bloom finished screaming.

"Eh?" Dusk asked confused.

"I like cupcakes, and if the cutie marks appear for things you like and are passionate about, I'll definitely get a cutie mark of cupcakes, I can't believe I didn't see it before, it's so obvious!" Apple Bloom said excitedly.

"No... I don't think that's it-" Dusk started scratching his head, about to tell her that this was not what he had specifically referred to, but he could not finish speaking as Apple Bloom had started running without warning.

"Wait! Where are you going!?" Dusk shouted, also starting to run, coming out to follow Apple Bloom.





"They're ready~!" Pinkie Pie said in a sing-song voice, approaching the kitchen oven.

It had been several minutes since Dusk Shine and Apple Bloom had arrived at Sugarcube Corner, going directly to the kitchen, which was where Apple Bloom wanted to go, and fortunately for the filly, right there was who she expected to find, the amusing friend of her sister, Pinkie Pie. There, Apple Bloom asked for her help to cook cupcakes, as many as they could, since she needed to eat all those that were necessary to show her taste for the cupcakes and so that her cutie mark could finally appear. It didn’t help that Dusk explained to her that it was very unlikely that a cutie mark would appear like that, although of course, the magic of the cutie marks was so unpredictable that there could be a slight chance that this would happen, and that minimal possibility was enough for Apple Bloom to be filled with motivation to cook cupcakes, all the sound of a cheerful song that Pinkie Pie sang, a song that was not sung by Dusk this time, after all he had already danced and sung enough that day while he was wearing the ridiculous apple suit, so he just stood there, watching and listening to Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom as they made a mess in the kitchen, throwing ingredients from one side while preparing a bunch of trays to make cupcakes.

"Wait a minute!" Pinkie Pie shouted suddenly, when they finally took out the cakes from the oven, stopping her song and looking at Apple Bloom and Dusk. "I haven't asked you, why do you need so many cupcakes?"

"Are you serious? You've been making cupcakes with Apple Bloom for more than an hour. And now that they're finished, you are asking yourself that question now?" Dusk asked without believing how clueless his friend was.

"It's to get my cutie mark!" Apple Bloom responded looking at Pinkie Pie with a big smile. "Although we did more cupcakes than I thought... I'm not sure if I can eat them all." Apple Bloom added when she saw all the trays with the ready cupcakes that Pinkie Pie took out of the oven.

"Oh... now I understand." Pinkie Pie said after listening to Apple Bloom. "But it doesn't matter if you can't eat them all." Pinkie Pie said, turned and looked at Dusk. "If there are any extra cupcake, you could offer them to the town foals, maybe that's how your reputation finally improves!"

As soon as Pinkie Pie said that, a chill ran down Dusk's back, remembering all the confusion that had occurred with the two angry mothers.

"Believe me, that would only make things worse." Dusk said with a nervous smile, imagining how he would definitively be accused of being a harasser, after all the things that he was doing today, now he would go out and give the little foals of the town some cupcakes. It would not help his reputation one bit.

After taking all the cupcakes out of the oven and waiting a little for them to cool, Apple Bloom finally began with her arduous and delicious work, devouring all the cupcakes so she could to get her cutie mark of cupcakes, all while Pinkie Pie and Dusk Shine watched her carefully, the first with a smile, and the next with a worried face.

"Can she really get a cutie mark by eating cupcakes in that way?" Pinkie Pie asked smiling, looking at Dusk.

"I don't think so, but I couldn't convince her otherwise, she's as stubborn as her sister." Dusk responded worried about the disappointment that this could bring to Apple Bloom once she discovered it.

"This doesn't work!" Apple Bloom finally shouted frustrated after having devoured several dozens of cupcakes, with her mouth full of food and her stomach swollen, looking towards one of her flanks and verifying that in spite of everything no cutie mark had appeared.

Apple Bloom struggled to get up from where she was sitting and lowered her head in total disappointment, while Pinkie Pie took the empty trays and began to order some things in the kitchen, while Dusk approached the little filly to comfort her, having already thought of a way to reassure her.

"Now what will I do... I can't go to Diamond Tiara's party without my cutie mark, she'll make fun of me." Apple Bloom said very sad. "I guess it's best not to go."

"No way, you should go to that party!" Dusk said looking determinedly at Apple Bloom. "You can't let that bully win, also think, you're not the only filly in the world that doesn’t have a cutie mark, there is no reason for somepony to make fun of somepony for not having cutie mark, and Diamond Tiara should understand that!"

"Wait... You're right!" Apple Bloom said, recovering her spirits when she realized something, which made Dusk happy when he thought that she had finally understood that she should not be affected by what Diamond Tiara told her. "I'm not the only one who doesn't have cutie mark, Twist doesn't have a cutie mark either!"

"Eh?" Dusk said confused, after realizing that Apple Bloom had again not understand what he was referring to.

"Twist is my friend, she goes with me to school." Apple Bloom said believing that Dusk was confused to know who Twist was.

"Speaking about Twist, she just arrived." Pinkie Pie suddenly said, who had left the kitchen for a moment and now went back inside.

"Eh?" Apple Bloom said, who this time was she who was confused.

"To the party, the cute-ceañera has already started!" Pinkie Pie said with a big smile, starting to inflate some pink, blue and lavender balloons, and tying them together to make a  life-sized foal out of balloons.

"Oh no! The cute-ceañera was here at Sugarcube Corner! How could I forget it!?" Apple Bloom said surprised and slightly scared, then she trotted towards the front door, which was the door that connected the kitchen to the main room of the bakery. "I must find Twist before Diamond Tiara finds me!" Then Apple Bloom entered the main room and got lost in a crowd of ponies.

"I think I'll go after her..." Dusk said watching Apple Bloom go away, then turning to see Pinkie Pie. "Do you need help on something?"

Then Dusk saw that Pinkie Pie now not only made a small balloon foal, but she had inflated two more balloon figures, both very large, the size of an adult pony, one of them was of pink balloons with two small light blue balloons for eyes and the other one was of lavender balloons with a mane and tail globes of a dark blue color, slightly higher than that of the pink balloon figure. Then Pinkie Pie put the three balloon figures together, as if they were a family, and only then Dusk realized that the foal that she had made from balloons before was of a combination of colors from both parents.

"What do you think, what comes to your mind when you see this?" Pinkie Pie said with a flirtatious smile, bringing the figures of the parents' balloons together, pretending they were kissing.

"Hmm... That you are a very talented balloon artist?" Dusk replied shrugging, as clueless as ever, not understanding the hint Pinkie Pie was giving to him.

As soon as Dusk responded, Pinkie Pie put on a face of defeat while the foal shape balloon deflated and flew through the kitchen. Then Dusk returned to what mattered and left the kitchen to go after Apple Bloom.

"He's definitely too naive..." Pinkie Pie said, looking at her balloon double and bursting it with a needle that she pulled out of her mane, then she looked at the figure of balloons that she had made of Dusk. "Hmm... I think I'll keep you." Pinkie Pie added with a smile, taking her balloon-Dusk to her room with a smile.

For his part, Dusk was surprised when he went to the main room of Sugarcube Corner, the whole room was full of ponies, many adults but mainly fillies and young colts, making it difficult for Dusk to find Apple Bloom in that sea of ponies, however, after looking for a while, he finally could locate her, she was in a corner of the room, totally paralyzed. Dusk pushed his way through the ponies and finally reached her.

"What's going on?" Dusk asked, worried after seeing that Apple Bloom was pale, with a sad look.

"I... I found Twist, she... she's not a blank flank like me anymore..." Apple Bloom replied sadly, seeing that her last hope had vanished. "She got her cutie mark this afternoon."

"And did she abandon you because you don't have one?" Dusk asked worriedly.

"No, she said we could be together, but everyone around her started asking her about her new cutie mark, and I felt uncomfortable, so I left her." Apple Bloom answered, head down, almost on the verge of crying. "The best thing is that I go home before Diamond Tiara sees me."

While Apple Bloom was lamenting, Dusk saw out of the corner of his eye a pony he knew, a filly with white fur and curly hair, it was Sweetie Belle, who walked with a childish but elegant party dress. At that moment Dusk's eyes shone, finally finding the solution to Apple Bloom's problem.

"Don't leave! Wait here, I'll be back soon." Dusk said giving a warm smile to Apple Bloom to comfort her and then turning around to go where Sweetie Belle was going.

"Sweetie Belle, wait!" Dusk said catching up to Sweetie Belle, so that she could hear him and stop.

"Oh, Hi Dusk!" Sweetie Belle said with a big smile.

"Sweetie Belle, do you remember what we talked about making friends? How they are important in one's life and how I wanted to introduce you to a filly your age, so you could become friends?" Dusk said a little agitated but smiling to see that he would finally achieve his goal, to make the fillies become friends.

"Yes, I remember it, I thought about what you said, and I think you're right, it's important to have friends." Sweetie Belle said with a smile, while those words eased Dusk's heart. "That's why I became friends with Diamond Tiara."

"You… WHAT!?" Dusk said totally incredulous of what he had just heard.





'Sweetie Belle's flashback. (A few minutes before)'

"Nice dress." Diamond Tiara said with her always arrogant look.

"Hmm... thanks, my sister made it for me." Sweetie Belle replied with a shy smile, surprised that Diamond Tiara was being nice to her.

The truth was that Sweetie Belle had decided to go to the cute-ceañera party with a dress to avoid having to show that she was still a blank flank, so she would not receive jokes from the other ponies, especially from friends of Diamond Tiara, however nothing prepared her when she discovered that the dress Rarity made for her had the opposite effect, not only she was able to avoid taunts from Diamond Tiara, but she attracted compliments from her! As soon as Sweetie Belle entered Sugarcube Corner, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approached her to admire her dress.

"Those emeralds that are embedded make your eyes stand out." Silver Spoon said, as always, also admiring what Diamond Tiara admired.

"Yeah, after all, she's Rarity's sister, Mom says she's the best seamstress in all of Ponyville." Diamond Tiara said without taking her eyes off Sweetie Belle's dress. "Obviously you can't compare her designs with the fine and expensive dresses created in Canterlot, but I guess they are good enough for Mom to wear them here." Diamond Tiara added, with her always scathing tongue, without Sweetie Belle realizing that false compliment.

At that time Diamond Tiara stopped seeing the dress and stared at Sweetie Belle, which made the little unicorn a bit nervous.

"You know, it's a very pretty dress, I guess you're worthy to walk with us today." Diamond Tiara said with a smug smile.

"Really?" Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon asked at the same time.

"That's great! I'll show you our best friend hooveshake!" Silver Spoon added quickly, happy that her friend allowed another filly to enter her group. Then she stood next to Diamond Tiara and made a few steps in the air, stretching her hooves on the air and waiting for Diamond Tiara to do the same. "Bump! Bump! Sugar-lump, rump!"

"Yeah, yeah… later we'll see that..." Diamond Tiara said without accompanying her friend with the steps of the hooveshake and belittling her, focusing again on Sweetie Belle and giving her a big and false smile. "Now, since we're friends... What if you ask your sister to make us some dresses like the one you're wearing?"

"Eh?" Sweetie Belle asked confused at the question.

"Well, we're friends, and friends make gifts for each other, don't they?" Diamond Tiara said smiling. "So we three can wear those beautiful dresses and be the most envied mares of the whole town, you two after me, of course."

Sweetie Belle bit her lip for a moment, not sure what to do, but then she remembered her morning with Dusk and how he had insisted so much on the importance of friendship, and now that a filly her age was asking her to be her friend, Dusk would say that the right thing to do would be to give her a chance, right?

"I... I think so, you're right." Sweetie Belle replied with a nervous smile. "I'll go ask my sister if she can make two more dresses."

Then Sweetie Belle turned around and immediately began to look for her sister, because even though she had arrived on her own, she knew that Rarity would be there, since Pinkie Pie had invited her.

Finally, after a while searching, Sweetie Belle found her sister, elegantly taking fruit punch in a corner, talking to Fluttershy. At that time Sweetie Belle bit her lip again, as she remembered that there was another problem, she could not just go to her sister and ask her to make her some dresses, after everything she had done to her older sister that morning, Rarity must have been furious with her. That made Sweetie Belle stop and look back, where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon watched her from afar, their stares fixed and a fake smirk on their faces. Finally Sweetie Belle swallowed and decided that she had nothing to lose by asking Rarity, and what would be worse to lose her only chance to make new friends.

"Uhmm... Hi Rarity." Sweetie Belle said timidly once she got to her sister.

"You! How dare you appear like that!? We have a lot to discuss! Like about how you made me look ridiculous in front of my beloved Dusk!" Rarity said theatrically, looking angrily at her little sister.

"Yes, I... I'm so sorry, I think I exaggerated a bit with my revenge." Sweetie Belle said with her ears drooping, leaving aside the performances and genuinely expressing her regret.

"Hmpf!" Rarity snorted, looking annoyed to another side.

"Uhmm... Rarity, I... I made some new friends." Sweetie Belle said timidly, knowing what Rarity would answer, but determined to ask anyway. "They... they asked me if you could make them dresses similar to mine..."

"First you make fun of me all morning and now you want me to make some dresses for your friends!? Hmpf!" Rarity said annoyed, huffing again, just looking at her sister for a second and then averting her look again.

At that moment, Sweetie Belle lowered her head sadly and turned around, after all she knew that Rarity would not be willing to do that, after how badly she had treated her that morning...

"They will be ready in three days." Rarity said suddenly, causing Sweetie Belle to freeze and turn to see her sister again, who was still looking at her angrily.

"You... Are you going to do it? After everything I did to you, will you do it?" Sweetie Belle asked confused and excited.

Rarity saw the genuine emotion in her sister's eyes and could not help but stop looking at her so severely.

"Huff... Of course I will, you are my little sister, and I want you to have friends and be happy." Rarity said sighing and smiling slightly but warmly. "Sometimes you drive me crazy and make me angry with you a lot, but you're my little sister, and I'll always love you."

Listening to Rarity's words, Sweetie Belle could not help but shed a few tears and jump to her sister's hooves to embrace her with all her affection and express what she truly felt for her sister, because what her sister had said as well she felt it, many times Rarity was annoying, carefree and self-centered, which made her annoyed with Rarity, but the truth was that Rarity was a very good sister, the best sister in the world! And Sweetie Belle wanted to let her know with her warm hug.

"I'll tell it to my new friends!" Sweetie Belle said with a huge smile after hugging Rarity.

"Okay, go with them." Rarity replied smiling, happy to have made peace with her little sister, but knowing that by the strong character of both it was inevitable to fight among them, and that this would probably not be the last time. As good sisters, they would always argue, but they would also always reconcile.

That's how Sweetie Belle started walking back to where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were, until Dusk's familiar voice stopped her.

'End of Flashback.'





"Yes, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon liked my dress very much, and they asked me if Rarity could make them similar dresses, now we'll be friends!" Sweetie Belle said, still smiling at Dusk's incredulous look. "They are waiting for me, see you!" Sweetie Belle added, saying goodbye to Dusk and started going again.

"She became a friend of Diamond Tiara... that... it's good that she has a friend, but this doesn't convince me..." Dusk thought confused, not moving from where he was, thinking that he would have preferred Sweetie Belle to become friends with Apple Bloom, but he could not force her to stop being Diamond Tiara's friend just so she could meet Apple Bloom. The whole situation had left him very confused, while many thoughts filled his head about what would be the right thing to do.

"Psst!" Dusk heard a whisper, coming from behind him, which made him turn around to see who was calling him, but behind him there was only one table.

"Psst! Down here!" Again the noise was heard, followed by a childish voice. Then Dusk ducked a little to see who was calling him, it was then that Dusk saw that under the table, partially hidden by the tablecloth, it was Scootaloo, who was looking attentively at Dusk.

"Scootaloo, what are you doing under there?" Dusk asked a little worried.

"I... I came to the party, as I promised you." Scootaloo answered a little nervously.

"But why are you hiding under the table?" Dusk asked, raising the tablecloth to see Scootaloo better.

"I... I'm comfortable here." Scootaloo replied, going back even more to be seen by no one but Dusk Shine.

Dusk saw the concern in the face of the little pegasus and decided not to continue insisting, however he continued to see her with a worried face. Seeing the energetic Scootaloo becoming so shy in the presence of Diamond Tiara bothered him, Dusk wanted the little pegasus to show all her personality, that she showed when she was with him, and so she could make friends. He was sure that Scootaloo could get it, but not while she didn’t get rid of the fear of being molested by Diamond Tiara.

"That filly only brings problems..." Dusk thought annoyed, turning his eyes to the room, thinking of Diamond Tiara. "Scootaloo is as afraid as Apple Bloom to meet with Diamond Tiara, if only my advice about friendship would be more useful, but the only thing I did was make everything worse... Maybe... I'm not good at giving advice about friendship..." Dusk finished thinking sadly.

At that moment the flow of thoughts had stopped after seeing the culprit of everything, the filly of the day, Diamond Tiara, seemed to be giving an order to Sweetie Belle, because the little white unicorn moved away from her towards the table with desserts, something that immediately annoyed Dusk, who could not stand that the sweet Sweetie Belle was being used as a servant by that bully. However, Dusk quickly went from anger to fear, seeing that Diamond Tiara suddenly put on a wicked smile and told her friend Silver Spoon to look towards one of the corners of the room, Dusk followed the view of both fillies and saw that both fillies had fixed their gaze on Apple Bloom, who was still standing exactly where Dusk had left her. The two spoiled fillies began to walk towards Apple Bloom with sinister smiles, then Dusk also began to move to get to Apple Bloom before them and prevent them from bothering her again.

"Well, well, look who's here." Diamond Tiara said smiling, who unfortunately arrived to Apple Bloom before Dusk. "It surprises me that you have appeared at my party, blank flank, hahaha."

Apple Bloom, who was caught by surprise at the sudden presence of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, only blushed and tried to retreat as much as she could, despite being cornered.

"Poor thing, I guess that flank is never going to get a cutie-" Silver Spoon said, mocking Apple Bloom like her friend, but stopped suddenly, putting a surprised face and bringing her head a little closer to Apple Bloom's flank.

"What's up Silver Spoon?" Diamond Tiara asked confused to see that her friend had stopped bothering Apple Bloom.

"She... She has a cutie mark." Silver Spoon replied, still trying to see the flank of Apple Bloom well, since as Apple Bloom was cornering, she did not show her flank well.

"EH!?" Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom said in unison, both looking towards where Silver Spoon looked.

This was how both fillies saw a white spot on the flank of Apple Bloom, which surprised everyone. Immediately Apple Bloom glanced at her other flank and looked back again, further hiding the flank that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon did not see, quickly understanding what had happened. What both bullies were looking at was not a cutie mark, but a flour stain that had remained on her from when she and Pinkie Pie made cupcakes, but of course, that stain was only on one side, so Apple Bloom secretly hid her clean flank.

"What is that? A cloud? A stain? What does your cutie mark represent!?" Diamond Tiara asked annoyed, suspecting that something was not right.

"I... I can't say, I mean, not today at least." Apple Bloom responded nervously but quickly acting to pretend she was calm. "You know, Twist also got her cutie mark today, she already overshadowed you enough, can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for you if I also explained the incredible meaning of my great cutie mark? It would be very embarrassing."

Before the astute comment of Apple Bloom, who knew how to hit the spot when attacking the vanity of Diamond Tiara. The pink filly bit her lip and became very nervous.

"N-No matter, I'm not interested in knowing about your silly cutie mark anyway." Diamond Tiara said nervously and annoyed, turning her back on Apple Bloom and walking back towards the center of the room, followed by Silver Spoon who was always close.

"Phew! That was close." Apple Bloom said, wiping away the sweat after the two bullies had moved away from her.

"Phew! That was close." Dusk Shine said at the same time, who was not far from Apple Bloom and had reached to see and hear everything, relieved that the little Apple Bloom was unscathed.

"Phew! That was close." Applejack also said at the same time, next to Dusk.

"Applejack! Since when did you get here?" Dusk asked surprised, only realizing that all that time his friend had been at his side.

"I came here as soon as I saw that annoying brat going to bother my little sister." Applejack answered with a sigh. "I knew that Diamond Tiara was going to approach her just to annoy her, fortunately everything went well."

At Applejack's comment, Dusk could not help but smile when he realized that he had not been the only one to notice the bad intentions of the pink filly, and he smiled even more at the sharpness of Applejack's older sister's instinct.

"Isn’t this ridiculous? All this happening over a silly cutie mark." Dusk said scratching his head. "That filly shouldn't bother Apple Bloom for not having one, and Apple Bloom shouldn't worry about not having one yet, it's all absurd!"

"Well, it's partly true, but it's not like the cutie marks are not important either." Applejack said, thinking and noticing some disdain from Dusk when he talked about the cutie marks.

"I didn't say that, I'm just saying that a cutie mark is not something that should define you, even I-" Dusk answered quickly, but stopped when he realized that he was going to say something that Applejack did not need to hear.

"You what...? Maybe you... Don't you like your cutie mark?" Applejack asked confused, noticing immediately the nervousness in Dusk.

"I... I wouldn’t say that..." Dusk answered slowly, knowing it was useless to lie to Applejack.

Then Dusk glanced at his own cutie mark and sighed as he remembered what he had heard that morning at the town school.

"Today, when I went to see Apple Bloom at school, I heard how her teacher explained the meaning of her cutie mark." Dusk said looking at nothing with a slightly disturbed look. "She... she was so clear about what symbolized her cutie mark, it was very nice to hear. Even when I see your cutie mark, I can immediately determine what your talent is, what you're passionate about, your tastes... But not all of us have that advantage."

"You don't know what your cutie mark means?" Applejack asked a little surprised.

"Not exactly, historically the stars symbolize magic, but I hate not being able to know what it means, specifically the five stars surrounding the larger one, I mean, most of the time the cutie marks are a unique drawing, like Rainbow Dash’s or the princesses, or they come in a pattern of three, like yours, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy." Dusk responded slightly bitter. "It has always bothered me that I don’t know why there are five stars, they can symbolize the five kinds of magic, or perhaps the five basic skills to invoke a spell, who knows, the truth is that I have never been clear about it, and that has always been frustrating."

"But when you got your cutie mark, don't you remember any hint that indicated it more clearly?" Applejack asked still surprised, since it was the first time she heard someone talking about their cutie mark without smiling.

"Hehe... That's the funniest thing." Dusk answered with a bitter smile. "The way I got it... despite everything my parents and the princess said about demonstrating great magical potential, I know the truth, the truth is that it was just an accident."

Applejack looked confused at Dusk and thought to ask him more details about the origin of his cutie mark, but Dusk continued speaking before she could ask.

"And the pink star in the center... Why did it have to be precisely THAT star?" Dusk said mumbling and frowning, talking more to himself than with Applejack, finally venting what bothered him the most about his cutie mark. "Everyone says that cutie marks are unique, but then why do I have to have a cutie mark equal to HIM!?"

Applejack could not quite hear what Dusk said, as Dusk spoke under his breath, but she was surprised to see Dusk's annoyed face. She thought to ask him if something was wrong, but a sudden noise coming from the corner of the room made her and Dusk and all the ponies in the room see where the noise had come from. There, everyone could see that the noise had been from the fruit punch bowl, which had fallen to the floor, just over Apple Bloom, who apparently had just passed by there and had tripped over the tablecloth of the table.

"I... I'm sorry-" Apple Bloom apologized timidly, before being abruptly interrupted.

"Hahaha! Look at this everyone!" Diamond Tiara yelled, quickly approaching where Apple Bloom was. "You have no cutie mark! It was all a trick! This blank flank painted herself a fake cutie mark! Hahaha!"

Only then Apple Bloom looked at her flank and realized that the flour stain on her flank had been diluted when the juice fell on her. Then Apple Bloom bowed her head, completely blushed before receiving the taunts from Diamond Tiara and feeling the view of everyone present fixed on her blank flank.

"Hahaha, I would really be ashamed to be you right now, haha!" Silver Spoon scoffed, approaching Apple Bloom and giving more taunts with her friend.

"Those little brats!" Dusk said in a whisper, who like everyone else, had been watching and listening to the whole scene, not far from where the fillies were.

While Dusk listened, his anger grew when he saw Apple Bloom being the victim of those bullies that harassed her. At one point he took a step forward, ready to approach and stop the fillies that abused Apple Bloom, however a hoof stretched to his side and stopped him, it was the hoof of Applejack, who was next to him and stopped him.

"Give her space, she'll solve it, I know she will." Applejack said firmly.

Dusk turned to see Applejack and listened to her, since in his opinion these taunts were too much, however Dusk stopped to see Applejack's face, who had her brow completely frowning and her teeth clenched, containing her anger to the fullest. Only then Dusk realized that if it was difficult for him to see this situation, it was much more difficult for Applejack, who saw how the bullies made fun of her pretty little sister, however the mare struggled with herself to see how her sister reacted and waited for her to defend herself against those bullying. That gave strength to Dusk to stop and continue to see how everything developed, waiting for Apple Bloom to defend herself, but ready to jump in her defense if she didn’t do it or if the taunts reached an unsustainable point.

"L-Leave me alone..." Apple Bloom said timidly.

"Leave you alone? Why? Don't you want to be with us? I thought we were friends." Diamond Tiara said, speaking loudly for everyone to hear, pretending to be offended but unable to hide her mocking laugh.

"Friends? Who would want to be friends with a blank flank like her?" Silver Spoon said, walking near Apple Bloom and looking at her with contempt.

"I guess you're right." Diamond Tiara replied smiling derisively, continuing with her performance and speaking loudly to capture the attention of her audience. "But who knows, maybe I'll show her some generosity and allow her to join us..."

Then Diamond Tiara came closer to Apple Bloom, until they were face to face, looking at her with the same mocking smile as always, all the while Apple Bloom cringed on nerves.

"Look at all the ponies here, nopony wants to be your friend, even less after knowing that you are not only a blank flank, but also a liar." Diamond Tiara said, staring perversely at Apple Bloom "But I'll give you a chance, say you're an useless blank flank and I'll let you join us, maybe you'll be useful for errands."

"Oh, Tiara, you're so generous!" Silver Spoon said, flattering her friend exaggeratedly for everyone to hear her. "Obviously she'll accept, after all we are so good at accepting a blank flank with no friends in our group."

At Silver Spoon's final comment, Apple Bloom trembled at the realization of how she was being manipulated, and despite how cruel they were being, they were right, after all she was just a simple blank flank that did not have any friends. And Apple Bloom was not the only one who trembled at the comment of Silver Spoon, so did Dusk Shine, who immediately realized that the advice he gave Apple Bloom could be harmful, since he remembered that he had told her that it was important to have friends and it was not good to be alone, if Apple Bloom remembered what he had said that day, she could accept and be making a huge mistake. That filled Dusk with fear and guilt.

At that moment, Apple Bloom lowered her head, with a nervous and thoughtful look, she was not sure what to do. Was it true what they said? Nopony else would want to be her friend? If that was true, then would it be better to accept? Would it be better to join them, so they would not bother her? To join them even though they would never consider her as a real friend? But the alternative was...

"I... I don't want to be alone..." Apple Bloom finally said, raising her head slowly, with a sad look, ready to put aside her pride. "I…"

While Apple Bloom raised her head, she saw Dusk Shine, who stood out from the crowd since he was taller than the mares and fillies present, who were the majority in the room. As she did so, the looks of her and Dusk crossed for a second.

"Don't do it!" Dusk thought as they looked at each other, feeling that Apple Bloom was going to give in. "I know I told you that making friends was important, but I don't want you to lose your dignity because of me!"

"A pony I know, told me how important it is to have friends..." Apple Bloom said after looking at Dusk. While Dusk trembled, knowing what was going to happen. "But that same pony told me that friendship shouldn't be forced, that it should be born to share and to want the best for the other, not for selfish things as you want!" Apple Bloom said that last one almost shouting, full of determination.

At the words of Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were stunned, not waiting for her to say that, but none of them was as surprised as Dusk, who was not only surprised by the determination of Apple Bloom, but by listening to those words about friendship, something he had told her about false friendships when he remembered about his past, something that he had almost forgotten that he had told Apple Bloom.

"If it's going to be a false friendship, I'd rather be alone!" Apple Bloom added, finally facing Diamond Tiara, making her even take a step backwards by the impression.

"S-So do you really think that? Okay, if you want to stay alone, you're going to be left alone!" Diamond Tiara responded very angry, turning to see the crowd of fillies, her own classmates, who watched the scene attentively. "Do any of you want to be a friend of this blank flank? Come on! Does anyone want to be friends with this fool?"

The young colts and fillies of the hall only lowered their heads, without saying anything, because everyone knew Diamond Tiara very well, and none of them wanted to expose themselves to be her new mockery. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom also looked at her classmates, and could not help but feel alone to see that none of them came to her aid or said anything.

"You see, for rejecting me, you'll be completely alone, nopony wants to be your friend!" Diamond Tiara said looking back at Apple Bloom mockingly but being interrupted unexpectedly.

"I will! I-I'll be her friend!" Scootaloo said suddenly, coming out from under the table where she was hiding. In doing so, the crowd unconsciously opened to see who had spoken, leaving a space in the room so that Scootaloo could walk and get to where the center of the discussion was, something she did very timidly, walking slowly towards them. While she was advancing, she saw how everyone's eyes focused on her, especially the gaze of Diamond Tiara, who, as she watched her approaching, smiling more mockingly.

"You want to be her friend? Don't make me laugh!" Diamond Tiara said sharply, causing Scootaloo to stop when she was almost on the verge of reaching where Apple Bloom was. "Do you know what I'll do if you become her friend?" Diamond Tiara added intimidatingly looking at the little pegasus, already knowing how to handle her, after all she had already mocked her other times.

Scootaloo started to lower her head, slowly regretting having come out to defend that yellow filly named Apple Bloom, but as she did so, she caught a glimpse of Dusk Shine, who was also watching her intently.

"A... A pony told me that I must be brave and face bullies, and that's what I'll do." Scootaloo said raising her head again and looking at Diamond Tiara with determination, finally taking courage to face that filly that bothered her, and thus finally demonstrating her strong and true personality.

"Wait a second... I told her that!?" Dusk thought surprised, remembering that he had said that to her, and almost forgot about it after thinking that the only thing he was doing for the little pegasus was to force her to receive taunts from her bully.

"You're just a bully filly who enjoys making fun of others! You will not intimidate me anymore!" Scootaloo added, finally approaching where Apple Bloom were and standing next to her, staring fiercely at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "In fact, if you mess with her then you'll have to mess with me!"

Seeing Scootaloo's fierce stare, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon could not help but panic another bit and take another step back. Meanwhile, the room stopped being so quiet, because the other young colts and fillies began to whisper among themselves, all amazed to see how someone finally faced Diamond Tiara.

"I-I don't care what you say about me!" Diamond Tiara screamed furiously. "You're just two pathetic ponies without a cutie mark or a special talent, you're just a couple of blank flanks!"

"Actually, I think we are three." Sweetie Belle suddenly said, who came out from behind Diamond Tiara, passed by her side, and stood next to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, all while Diamond Tiara looked at her in total astonishment.

"Are you going to abandon me for these two fools!?" Diamond Tiara said looking angrily at Sweetie Belle, not believing what she saw.

At that moment Sweetie Belle looked sideways at Dusk, who in turn noticed the look of the filly.

"Somepony told me that to make friends, you need to know the right pony, and now I'm sure you aren’t the right pony." Sweetie Belle replied, realizing that making friends did not imply making friends with anyone.

"I... I told her that, too!" Dusk thought surprised when he heard what Sweetie Belle had said. He had been so focused on his plan to bring the three fillies together which didn’t work out, and that his speeches about friendship hadn’t helped much, that he had been sure that everything he had done with the fillies had been wrong. But now he saw with relief and a little pride that despite everything, the fillies had paid attention to him, even to details that he had said almost out of inertia, without realizing how he was helping the little fillies with his advice, although they wouldn’t have admitted it at the time. "I... I am learning about friendship!" Dusk finished thinking, happy to realize that maybe he was worthy to continue learning and preaching in turn about the magic of friendship.

"I prefer to be friends with someone who knows what is right and someone who defends their friends..." Sweetie Belle added, who immediately took off her dress quickly and showed everyone present her flanks while looking at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. "I'm also a blank flank, I think I have more in common with you two than with Tiara."

"Enough! This is my cute-ceañera! And no one will humiliate me in it!" Diamond Tiara yelled totally furious. "Two, three, ten, it doesn't matter, you are all still blank flanks, you're worthless! No, you're worse than that, you are nothing! Because you don't have any special talent!"

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were a little scared to see Diamond Tiara so furious, but none of them hesitated or moved from where they were, because although now they were shouted and mocked by the same bully that had bothered them before, now they were not alone, now the three knew that they had each other and that between the three they could support each other.

"I wouldn’t say they’re worthless, I would say that they’re the luckiest ponies out of those who are present here." Dusk said suddenly, who felt that it was the right moment to act, after all, the little pink filly did not notice, but she had already been defeated by the three blank flank fillies.

"Lucky!? How can they be lucky?!" Diamond Tiara said angry and ready to make fun, who, like everyone in the room, had turned to see Dusk Shine.

"They still get to experience, the thrill of discovering who they are, and what they're meant to be." Dusk said, saying the speech in which he had thought while he realized that all the taunts of Diamond Tiara focused on the lack of cutie marks. "Having a blank flank means that they are full of potential, it means they could be great at anything, the possibilities are endless! And they aren't stuck with a mark, just like me and just like YOU, because we already have our cutie marks."

Dusk’s speech left Diamond Tiara speechless, and at the same time that was a psychic impulse for the rest of young colts and fillies of the hall to approach the three blank flank fillies and talk happily with them, asking them about what they would like to do or how far they thought they could reach in their goals, all talking happily, without fear of being scared by the smug pink filly, who was only still, red with anger, not knowing what to do or what to say.

While the three blank flank fillies were the new center of attention, the five friends of Dusk, who were all present and had not had the opportunity to get together at the party, joined Dusk to talk about what happened. There Dusk learned that for a long time Applejack and Rarity had wanted Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to meet, however as the fillies had refused, they decided to wait and not force them, after all they wanted the friendship between their sisters to be born spontaneously, just as the friendship between them was born.

"It's true, the best thing is for a friendship to be born naturally, but it doesn't hurt to give it a little nudge..." Dusk thought remembering that finally a small part of the whole talk about the friendship he had with each of the fillies had helped each one see a truth about friendship. Dusk also realized that this time he had acted very much like his teacher had, since the princess had also given him a push to make friends by forcing him to go to Ponyville, however it was finally his decision to form friendships there. "I guess you can only give a push, then you just have to trust the good heart of the ponies, hoping that those like-minded hearts get to know each other, understand, and make friends on their own." Dusk thought as he saw the three blank flank fillies chatting happily with each other.

Just at that moment, the three fillies that Dusk watched, turned at the same time and were smiling to where he was with his friends.

"Dusk! So these were the ones you wanted me to meet?" Apple Bloom asked with bright eyes.

"That's right." Dusk answered nodding. "I’ve been trying to get you three together all day, but I guess it was in vain, after all it seems that you three were destined to meet here."

"If I had known we were so similar, I wouldn't have put so much trouble into making friends." Scootaloo said smiling happily. "We three still haven’t got our cutie marks, and we three were going crazy with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon."

"That's why we decided we wanted to be more than just friends!" Sweetie Belle added, also smiling. "We'll make our own secret society!"

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" The three fillies said at the same time, all smiling happily.

"What?" Dusk asked with a somewhat confused smile.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders! It's a group that works together to find out who we are and what we want to do." Sweetie Belle responded excitedly.

"In other words, that's mean..." Dusk said, summarizing what Sweetie Belle had said.

"A group made to look for our cutie mark!" Scootaloo said, interrupting Dusk emotionally before he finished speaking.

Upon hearing that, Dusk could not help but take a hoof to his face in frustration, because despite everything that happened and after his great speech, they were still stubborn in giving too much importance to the fact that they still didn’t have a cutie mark. Dusk moved his hoof from his face and thought to argue with them, however, seeing them smile so happily, talking to each other about all the things they could do together, Dusk just gave a big sigh of resignation and smiled, thinking that perhaps, in spite of everything, it was a good idea that they had a club and accompanied each other in different adventures, after all, this club would greatly strengthen their new friendship.

"Dusk..." Apple Bloom said suddenly, taking Dusk out of his thoughts. "I was thinking, do you remember saying that there were three ways to get a cutie mark? First there were the 'talent' cutie marks, then there were the 'personality' cutie marks, but then, what is the third type of cutie mark?"

"Oh, that! I thought you hadn't paid attention to me." Dusk smiled, again entering 'teacher mode'. "Well, the third type of cutie mark are the most unusual, and frankly it's based on something I didn’t believe in, at least, until I got to Ponyville." At that moment Dusk glanced at his friends, who were behind him accompanying him. "The third type of cutie mark is a 'destiny' type, that means that somepony who doesn't discover a special talent, nor do they have a characteristic personality that dictates their cutie mark, rather it's chance or destiny that makes a cutie mark appear, meaning that the pony has a great destiny to follow, dictated by that cutie mark. The truth is, they are very rare, usually only appear in very special ponies, like those of royalty, a good example of this are the princesses."

"Oh... So getting our cutie mark that way is out of the question." Apple Bloom said looking at her friends after Dusk's explanation.

"That doesn't matter, anyway I still prefer doing what we had planned." Sweetie Belle replied smiling.

"Yes! Do EVERYTHING to discover our special talent!" Scootaloo said excitedly, completing what Sweetie Belle was going to say.

"Well, there's no time to lose, let's go!" Apple Bloom shouted excited, starting to run to the door with her two new friends, ready to have different adventures with them.

While Dusk watched the three fillies go away cheerfully, he could not help but continue to think about the group they had formed, and about the mission they had set together.

"They'll be great friends, I can feel it." Dusk thought smiling, watching the fillies move away. "No matter how hard I tried, it's as if fate would have wanted them to meet here and now, all so that their friendship would be born strong from the beginning..."

"It may be by chance, but I prefer to think that they were meant to be friends since childhood... That would be nice." Dusk thought as he turned around and looked at his friends with a smile, who smiled back. "I would’ve liked to have that special bond with my friends and that we would have been destined to meet when we were younger..."

So, Dusk smiled at his five friends, forgetting all his worries, like the hidden meaning of the five stars surrounding the big star on his cutie mark, but sooner or later he would discover that fate had another surprise for him, one that was born with his cutie mark and one that would’ve kept him confused forever, if it weren’t for the five mares that were standing in front of him, his five friends, his five stars.

# End of chapter 26