10.00 AM
Yet another day, yet another 24 hours of nothing much really happening. Usually I'm busy. You can always tell by the way I'm in my room reading letters busily, or writing in my journal busily, or playing tricks on my vanguard, such as 'hide the radish'.
Oh, they do hate that game.
I wonder if they have ever found the radish. I must ask them later.
But despite my entire schedule of ruling and dominion, I manage to get the rare day when nothing happens at all.
It's just one of those days which is like so many days in the past, where it's the same old thing that happens again and again, in little different ways but is essentially the same story repeated, usually having to do with some sort of crisis that cannot be overcome, that eventually puts everypony watching into a state of existentialism due to the nature of the telling.
Wait...
What was I talking about again?
Oh yes, I'm bored, and the Cutie Mark Outcasts are doing things.
They have started to congregate around an old abandoned tree fort off the edge of the Sweet Apple Acres Farm. This being the case, I believe that their social group can now be recognized officially, which means that I can start taxing them.
11.20 AM
I could stand here and watch these three fillies for the rest of the day, and make snarky comments about their failures, but I think I can tell what is going to happen.
They are going to try to perform some sort of ridiculous act, each one more out of the way and unbelievable than the last, in order to try to find their cutie mark.
They can try, but they will not be successful.
Seeing how they are preparing for some sort of talent-based pageant later on in the week, I think I will show my talents and write a story, which will no doubt be well received by the general public.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders Fail Again
by Princess Celestia
The sunlight was beating down upon the land, thanks in no small part to the magic brought as an eternal gift to the citizens of Ponyville by their lord and ruler Princess Celestia. Who would have thought that a single Pony could inspire so much in everypony else? Certainly not Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who wouldn't know inspiration if it came and gnawed their tails off.
But that is the curse of the younglings, the ones who have yet to find their true meaning in life - their Cutie Mark.
Woe betide the fledglings who have yet to find a place in life in our unstable society, knowing that all around them are judging with googly eyes and grey wings, for one cannot escape the eyes of society - they are everywhere.
It is for this reason that Apple Bloom, shunned by her compatriots and her friends, sought solace in the company of Ponies like her, the markless, ever doomed to wander the streets in search for an identity to call their own.
And such was the way of the world.
"When are we going to get our Cutie Marks?" Sweetie Belle whined. "It's been almost three hours since I last asked!"
Scootaloo made a quick cursory glance to the rear of the bubblegum filly just to check, and shook her own off-coloured grape-like mane in disappointment.
"Not yet, dude,' she said in her own anarchic vernacular. "But it doesn't mean we can't try!"
"Yeah!" chimed in Apple Bloom, "Definitely!"
The trio of young Ponies were standing outside of the schoolhouse, after a regular day of not paying attention to their teachers. They were not disobedient, nor were they layabouts; in fact, they were quite well studied and very focused indeed. But something else took precedence over this and caused their minds to wanderlust over the planned after-school activity.
"So, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, you girls ready?" charged Scootaloo, as eager as ever and always at the forefront of the pack. "It's time to go find our marks!"
The girls, screeching in the gamut of their vocal ranges, ran forth from their positions to wherever the wind would take them.
And the wind carried them along, from school to the middle of town, where it merged with the sweet scent of delicious baked treats and fresh apples coming from the stalls that open regularly for trade.
As usual, Applejack had her own stall open in a corner of the square, which betrayed the origins of the lovely smells. The fillies, distracted from their quest momentarily, were drawn to it like bees to flowers.
"Well, howwwwdy, girls!" greeted Applejack. "What'chu all up to on this fine day, then?"
"We're looking for our Cutie Marks!" said Scootaloo, loudly and with passion.
"Yeah, well, can't say I didn't expect that," replied Applejack, with an empathic look on her face. "Not much else you three usually do 'round these here parts, do yah?"
"NO!" shouted all of them at the same time, causing many heads to turn and stare.
"We're on a mission," said Apple Bloom. "But we just can't find our Cutie Marks! Why can't we find our Cutie Marks, Applejack? Why?"
Applejack stood there in consummate silence. By then, her mind had already long since wandered to a better time when she didn't have to answer the same questions every other day. It was a peaceful time of much rest, when the worries of the world didn't take the shape of her sister and her two friends.
"Applejack? You there?" asked Apple Bloom, nudging her older sister in the face.
"Huh? What? Oh, yeah," Applejack returned to the room. "Well, look girls, like ah told yah many times afore, it really ain't 'bout no finding, but more 'bout waitin'. And not botherin' me. Definitely not botherin' me."
"Awwwwwwww," said Apple Bloom. "But we want our C..."
"Cutie marks noooow," mouthed along Applejack. "Yes, ah know, darlin'. Trust me. Ah know."
She sighed heavily and moved to stand alongside her younger stead.
"Now, listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this for the eighteenth time," Applejack started. "Your Cutie Marks'll come when they come, darlin'. There ain't no forcin' it out, and there ain't no way to make 'em come afore they're s'possed to.
"Bloom? You really just need ta... enjoy life. Y'know? Go out. Have fun. Be a girl. And don't worry so much about somethin' so small."
Apple Bloom stood there, like a mere pinpoint of light in the encroaching shadow that was the realisation of life.
"...Really?" she asked, the futile question.
"Yeah, darlin', really."
It was the answer she knew was coming, but in our efforts to halt the truth, we ask them anyway. Applejack gave no quarter to even deny this fact, and Bloom's heart sunk like a stone in a wild river, forever obscured from sight by the torrential waves above.
Her eyes cast downward, as she thought to herself a final thought, and then spun on her hooves to face the other two girls.
"Listen, Scoot? Sweetie Belle? I've... got something to say."
They too, were no strangers to denial.
"What is it?" asked Sweetie Belle slowly, dispassionately. The feeling had drained from her voice, and she merely intoned her speech. She knew what was inevitable.
"My sister? She... she's right. I've got to stop this running around. I mean..." struggled Apple Bloom. "It's been fun, and I really hope we can still do things together, but I don't want this to be the reason why. You girls are my best friends, and I'd rather not need an excuse to do stuff with you."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded slowly.
"I think it's time we gave this up. It was fun at first, banding together against the bullies, but I think I know... I've always known where my talents lie. I just didn't want to acknowledge them because it's just been so fun discovering things together with you."
It was a sad moment. Not sad enough to cry, but still, somewhat affecting of the three who stood there. Applejack was proud as a freshly-baked muffin, and glowed with the full knowledge that her little sister had finally grown up.
And it was at that moment when yet another sigh could be heard audibly, coming from the direction of Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, Bloom," she said. "I was also thinking the other day? And I really want to be a great and famous designer, just like my sister. But I know that if I'm always running around doing everything except practice, I'll never be as good as her. I know that talent comes from within, but my sister's always saying that it also needs nurturing and growth, and I can't expect it to be shiny right out of the box."
It seemed that she had been feeling misgivings for a while now, and it only took that one step to cement them. A great weight had been lifted off the two Pony's shoulders, as they both took comfort in the fact that their friendship wouldn't be ruined just because they had nothing to tie them together outside of just being friends.
But that's what friendship was about, just being there, and not having to worry about the things that bind you. The two realised this for the first time, that day, in front of Applejack's stand.
They looked toward each other, nodding in unison, in unspoken agreement that they would then focus their attention on the betterment and improvement of themselves, and instead of denying, they would embrace, and whenever their marks would come, they could come.
They turned to Scootaloo, waiting for her reply.
"Well SCREW YOU BOTH, AND YOUR MOMS TOO," she shouted suddenly. "I don't have to take this crap! I'm going to go get Rainbow Dash, the most awesome Pony in the whole of Equestria and she's gonna come down and kick you both in the flanks so hard that you'll have horseshoe prints as Cutie Marks for the rest of your lives, jerkfaces!"
6.38 PM
I shall finish it at some other time.