Another day had come and gone in the place known as Ponyville, and where the majority of the ponies in the area had already gone to sleep, one peculiar filly was looking out her window, watching the stars.
This filly was known as Silver Spoon, who sported a somber look as she remembered all the wonderful comments she got today.
"Oh hey, it's Diamond Tiara's second in-command!"
"Hi there, Diamond Tiara's friend!"
"Hey, could you do me a favor and tell Diamond Tiara I need to ask her something?"
She narrowed her eyes and began shouting.
"When is everypony going to stop seeing me as just Diamond Tiara's associate!? I'm not just a mindless drone that follows her everywhere, I'm my own pony!"
Eventually remembering what time it was, Silver Spoon calmed down and spoke in whispers.
"It's not my fault people think I'm just Diamond Tiara's friend and nothing more, I understand that, but it still hurts that nopony ever sees me as my own pony."
Silver Spoon sighed.
"I wish there was a way I could stand out from Diamond Tiara..."
Just then, a shooting star appeared in the sky and caught the attention of the filly, who thought about making a wish to it, as legends said that wishes made upon shooting stars usually come true.
However, knowing how fast those kind of stars were, it'd probably be gone by the time she was halfway down with the wish.
That was when she took her eyes off the shooting star for a second, and looked back, only to see the shooting star still in range, getting slower and slower as the filly pondered how could this be, ignoring how the moon got a peculiar face on its surface.
In fact, the shooting star seemed to have stopped in place for some reason, almost as if it was waiting for the filly to make a wish...
A chance Silver Spoon immediately took advantage of.
"Oh please, kind shooting star, give me something, anything, that can help me stand out from my friend Diamond Tiara. Not something or anything that'll make me better than her, of course, just something that can help everypony see myself as my own being."
And as soon as the wish finished, the shooting star vanished in an instant, with the moon turning back to normal soon after.
This left the filly to go back to sleep, with a sense of both curiosity and dread for what would come.
"I hope it worked..."
Next day came, and since there was no school that day, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara decided to go to Sugarcube Corner in order to talk about what Silver Spoon did yesterday.
"So, to recap, you saw a shooting star in the sky, one that didn't vanish immediately for some reason, and made a wish for it?"
"Uh huh."
"And what was your wish?"
Silver Spoon paused.
"To get something that could help me stand out from you."
Diamond Tiara took a deep breath.
"You're still bothered by the fact people see you as my associate and nothing more, right? Look, I understand the sentiment, but I'm not sure if making a wish on a shooting star is going to work."
The pink filly rested her chin on her hoof and rolled her eyes.
"Then again, I've never either tried making a wish on a shooting star, nor seen one myself, so what do I know?"
Silver Spoon frowned.
"Well, regardless, I was just hoping you'd understand why I did that, and just in case the wish doesn't come true, then tell me what do you think I should do next?"
Diamond Tiara fell silent and looked away, sporting a concerned look as her silence eventually began making her friend worry.
"Tiara?"
"Hold on, Spoon, I'm trying to figure out what to say."
Spoon frowned, but after looking at Tiara for a moment, she seemingly heard her say something.
"I need to watch my words carefully. I know Silver Spoon can take a lot of punishment, but this is about her hope of one day be considered her own pony. I don't want to hurt her feelings without meaning to."
Despite not seeing her mouth move even once, Silver Spoon felt compelled to answer regardless.
"You don't have to worry about me taking it badly, Tiara, I already prepared myself for anything you could tell me."
Tiara turned to her friend and raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't say anything."
...
"Wait, did I just read your mind?!"
"Wait, did you just read my mind?!"
A pregnant silence followed.
"Okay, let's not freak out, m-m-maybe it was a coincidence! Let's try it again; Try to read my mind this time!"
Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and thought something, prompting Silver Spoon to squint her eyes and read the filly's mind.
"Zappity Zapples!"
Spoon understandably raised an eyebrow in confusion, which she kept as Diamond opened her eyes and asked, "Okay, what was I thinking about?"
After a couple seconds in silence, Silver Spoon gave her answer.
"Zappity Zapples!"
Diamond Tiara gasped.
"You really did read my mind!"
"I did! But, how could I do it?" Silver Spoon inquired as she sat down and looked at the ceiling. "I'm sure something like the ability the read to mind would be something exclusive to unicorns, right? 'Cause it's some sort of magic?"
"There's only one way to find out!"
At Twilight's Treehouse, the Princess of Friendship was levitating a couple of books into the empty spots of the bookshelf, when the fillies barged in.
"Princess Twilight! We need your help with something!"
"Oh hi Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon," Twilight calmly answered, focused on her books. "Sure, I'm almost done putting these books on the shelf: What do you need?"
The fillies exchanged looks, nodded, and dropped the question:
"Do you know anything about psychic powers?"
Twilight dropped the book in shock.
"And what wind blew to get you interested in such a topic?"
"Well, Silver Spoon was telling me how she made a wish upon a shooting star yesterday, and while I was trying to think of what to say so as to not hurt her feelings, she wound up reading my mind!" Diamond Tiara explained. "And before you ask, yes, we thought it could be a coincidence, so we tried again and she also read my mind that time!"
Twilight hummed, rubbing her hoof against her chin.
"Silver Spoon, are there many unicorns in your family tree?"
"I think so, why do you ask?"
Twilight smiled. "Take a seat, girls, I think it's time to share a little interesting information I found in my history books."
The fillies obliged, seeing no harm in following the princess's orders, and sat down at the table while
"So, according to the entire history of Equestria, interbreeding between the three known tribes of Ponies was actually fairly common: However, even back then, the end result could still only be either an Earth Pony, a Pegasus, or a Unicorn, just like how it is in the present day."
"Uh, Princess Twilight?" Diamond Tiara interrupted. "This is a nice lesson and all, but we came here to find out if you knew anything about psychic powers."
"Yeah, where does this history lesson fit in?" Silver Spoon asked.
"Patience, my little ponies, I was just about to get there," Twilight replied, waving her hoof. "Anyway, the book goes on to state that, with enough years of interbreeding, special "gifts" began developing in certain individuals who had enough blood of a different tribe in their DNA."
Though the fillies were mostly lost on what Twilight meant by that, they still felt interested enough to keep listening as Twilight continued her explanation.
"With enough Earth Pony in their blood, Pegasi and Unicorns would gain a better physical strength and endurance compared to pure Pegasi and Unicorns, although it would still be second to the Earth Pony's strength and endurance."
"With enough Pegasi in their blood, Earth Ponies could gain greater speed than their pureblooded relatives, and the unicorns could have an easier time levitating, though, again, it would still be second to the Pegasi's ability to fly."
"And finally, what you've probably been waiting for me to tell you: With enough Unicorn in their blood, both Pegasi and Earth Ponies could be born with an ability that compensates their inability to use magic: Psychic powers."
"Of course, what they get depends on the species: Pegasi get Psychokinesis, or the ability to lift things with their mind, while Earth Ponies get Telepathy, the ability to read the minds of other ponies."
"So, basically," Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow. "The reason I can read Diamond Tiara's mind might not be because of the shooting star, but because it's a side-effect from having Unicorn ancestors?"
"That's one way to look at it, although the book goes on to state that, despite the possibility of these gifts materializing, most of them remain pretty much dormant without external factors."
Twilight closed the book and walked to Silver Spoon's side, throwing a look at her cutie mark.
"In fact, it says that when the powers do manifest, then a cutie mark manifests as well. It can take the form of anything: Like an aura of magic, an object surrounded by said aura..."
Twilight smile.
"Or a spoon, bended or otherwise."
Silver Spoon looked at her flank, and smiled as she realized an important fact.
"Wait a minute, I have a spoon for a cutie mark!"
A blatantly obvious fact, but a fact nonetheless.
"Now that I think about it, I don't think we ever found out what your cutie mark was supposed to represent," Diamond Tiara remarked as she walked to her friend's side. "I mean, my tiara was eventually revealed to represent leadership, but I never figured out what your spoon represented... Until now."
Diamond Tiara put her hooves on her friend's shoulders.
"Silver Spoon! Maybe your talent is telepathy!"
"Yay! I have no idea how to use this for my benefit!"
"Well, you could use it for something petty like winning mind games easily," Twilight jokingly suggested. "Or you could also use it to try and figure out what everybody's thinking so you could blackmail them."
Silver Spoon hummed. "Yeah, that might
"I was joking!" Twilight exclaimed. "But honestly, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find a way to use your telepathy for good, even if it takes a while."
Silver Spoon squinted her eyes at Twilight, and her telepathy kicked in.
"And trying to read my mind to get another suggestion isn't going to work."
"Well, it was worth a shot," Silver Spoon sighed. "So, what do we do now, Tiara?"
"You mean what do you do now, Spoon," Diamond Tiara replied, wrapping her hoof around her friend's shoulder. "This is your power, after all. The thing that makes you stand out from me."
Diamond Tiara scratched the back of her head.
"Having me around would kinda beat the purpose, don't you think?"
Silver Spoon smiled.
"Even so, I still want you around."
With that said, the fillies exchanged excited looks and trotted out of the library, excited to find a way to make good use of Spoon's ability.
"So, it seems thy filly is satisfied."
Twilight turned around, and saw a much peculiar visitor enter through the window.
"Princess Luna? Why are you visiting me all of a sudden?"
"I cometh here to witness thy fruits of thy labor, and to warm thine heart with the sight of a joyous filly."
It didn't take Twilight long before she connected the dots.
"So, wait, were you the one who summoned the shooting star that Silver Spoon wished on?"
Princess Luna shook her head.
"Nay, it is thy stars job to decide when to shoot one of thine own. All we did was ask that she had a chanceth to make thy wish."
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"And did the wish come true?"
Luna remained silent for a moment, then turned around and looked at the window.
"That is for thou to decide, but one thing's for sure."
The princess flew up to it and saw Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara happily heading to begin their quest for an application of Spoon's power, bringing a smile to the princess of the night.
"We do not regret it."