“This class seems to be getting smaller and smaller as time goes by,” said Sticker, Ponyville’s Secondary School teacher. “Diamond Tiara’s always away doing work for her dad’s company, True Ring got himself a part-time job, and Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle just transferred. And now you want to leave.?”
“It’s my cutie mark, Mr Sticker,” Silver Spoon explained. “Look. It’s glowing and vibrating.”
At that moment, Silver Spoon’s cutie mark split, and the other half sailed out of one of the Schoolhouse windows.
“Alright, you’re dismissed,” said Sticker. “When you get to Starlight’s Village, say hi to the Cutie Mark Crusaders for me.”
*****
At Ponyville Station, some of Sticker’s other students happened to be having a heated conversation.
“Come on, DT. We’re both teenage ponies working jobs instead of going to school,” smirked True Ring.
“You only come to work whenever I’m chartering a produce train,” said Diamond Tiara shrewdly. “Do you even know how to use that hammer?”
“Of course I do,” said True Ring smugly.
He walked over to the train that was due out soon, and tapped the wheels one by one with his long thin hammer.
“Yeah, yeah, but do you know why the railway hires ponies to tap the wheels?” demanded Diamond Tiara.
True Ring’s smug grin stayed where it was, but the rest of his face sagged like a wet shirt on a clothesline.
*****
He was spared from having to admit he had no idea what exactly the Wheeltapper was meant to be looking for by the Stationmaster coming to inform Diamond Tiara that there was a problem with the train she was chartering.
“Both the Driver and the Stoker are sick?!” Diamond spluttered.
“I’m afraid so,” said the Stationmaster. “The Driver’s had an allergic reaction to a bee sting, and the Stoker’s back’s out. Now I’ve heard you passed your driving exam this past summer.”
“Yeah, I can drive a steam engine,” Diamond nodded.
“But it may take time to get a relief Stoker,” said the Stationmaster. “Oh, wait. There’s one. He’s qualified. Passed his examination just last week.”
Diamond Tiara could see where the Stationmaster was pointed, but didn’t turn around; she didn’t want to see the inane grin on True Ring’s face.
“One for Starlight’s Village Halt,” she heard a familiar voice say.
She turned to see Silver Spoon at the Booking Office window.
“There’s my relief Stoker!” Diamond burst out.
She ran to Silver Spoon, grabbed her, and threw her into the steam engine’s cab. Before the Stationmaster could voice his doubts and suspicions, the Guard blew her whistle, and Diamond Tiara drove the train out of the Station.
“Well,” said True Ring, still grinning, “looks like the dish ran away with the spoon.”
*****
“If I were paranoid,” said Diamond Tiara as she passed Silver Spoon a shovel, “I’d say he planned this. I’ll bet he set that bee on the Driver and snuck up on the Stoker and karate chopped his back.”
“Uh, what do I do with this?” asked Silver Spoon, holding the dirty shovel.
“Just scoop up coal from the tender and throw it into the furnace,” said Diamond Tiara. “Leave the rest to me.”
Silver Spoon looked around the cab. She could see a pile of coal at the rear, but had no idea where the furnace was. Diamond showed her the firehole door, and gave her a set of gloves to wear so she wouldn’t burn herself or get splinters from the shovel handle.
“I just hope none of the wheels fall off this train,” Diamond groaned. “That useless brainless zero couldn’t find a cracked wheel if it burped in his face.”
As the train left city limits and steamed into the countryside, Diamond Tiara peered out of the cab to look for any sign of faulty wheels.
“Okay, it looks like we’re safe,” she said at last.
*****
“So where were you going?” Diamond Tiara asked Silver Spoon, who was heaving a shovelful of coal from the tender.
“Starlight’s Village,” Silver Spoon grunted.
“Really? Me too,” said Diamond. “Does this mean…?”
She leaned out of the cab and gasped; hovering in the sky, seeming to lead the train North, was a bright grey spoon.
“Looks like the Cutie Mark Crusaders are going to help you just like that helped me once,” she smiled.
Silver Spoon didn’t return the smile; she was already getting sore from shovelling coal.
*****
“What’s the problem you’re having with your cutie mark?” asked Diamond.
“I don’t really know,” grunted Silver. “I didn’t think I was having one until now. I was just sitting in class and suddenly, my mark goes off.”
“What was Mr Sticker teaching?” asked Diamond.
“I wasn’t really listening,” Silver Spoon sighed. “I remember he said something about a sense of tradition leading to inertia, but that’s about it.”
Diamond Tiara leaned out of the cab again. “There’s a road crossing. Look out your side.”
Silver Spoon did so, and as the two teenage fillies looked to see if there was any road traffic about, Diamond Tiara yanked the whistle chain. A stallion hauling a cartload of goose feathers stopped and waited as the produce train went by.
*****
Diamond Tiara went about adjusting some controls to make the job as easy for her inexperienced friend as possible. But as the train headed further North, guided (sort of) by the hovering cutie mark, Diamond could see that the strain on Silver Spoon was increasing.
“Could you tell me again how you got your cutie mark?” Diamond asked, hoping to take Silver’s mind of the arduous task bestowed upon her.
“Again? I never even told you once,” said Silver Spoon.
“You didn’t? Oh. I thought I’d just forgotten,” blinked Diamond Tiara. “Are you sure you never told me?”
“I couldn’t possibly have told you how I got my cutie mark, Dia,” said Silver Spoon. “How could I? I don’t even know.”
Diamond couldn’t help but snort with laughter. “Well, I guess it didn’t matter to either of us how we got our cutie marks at the time. We were young and foolish in those days. Still, don’t worry. Apple Bloom and her friends will help you straighten that out.”
*****
“I do remember when I got my mark though,” Silver Spoon said after a pause. “It was my first Hearth’s Warming Eve party at my uncle’s place, Napkin Manor.”
Diamond Tiara was glad Silver Spoon found something to keep talking about; this was sure to ease her burden.
“I never got along with my uncles and aunts and cousins before then,” said Silver Spoon as she carried on stoking. “Things were always stilted whenever we got together. But not that night. Nopony was stand-offish or grumpy or argumentative or too serious, everypony was having fun talking and playing and eating and joking with each other.”
Diamond Tiara smiled. “You did tell me about that night. I remember now. You wouldn’t shut up about that dirty joke your uncle whispered to you, or that card trick your cousin taught you.”
Silver Spoon giggled, remembering the joke about the pheasant and the bulldozer.
“The thing is,” she went on, “I have no idea when exactly my cutie mark appeared, or what I was doing at the time it appeared. Nopony else noticed it appear either. We were all having too much fun to notice, I guess.”
*****
In Starlight’s Village, Apple Bloom was sleeping in class. She was woken up by her cutie mark. She yelped when she felt it, and hastily tried to sit up straight and look attentive.
“I- I wasn’t sleeping, Professor!” she said quickly.
She blinked to regain focus, and realised that Professor Glomgold was asleep at his desk. Most of the other students were making origami. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were on their hooves, no doubt having responded to their cutie marks going off as well. Apple Bloom stretched and stood up from her desk, and the three CMCs walked quietly out of the classroom.
*****
“We’re almost there,” Diamond Tiara said to her weary friend.
“Good,” said Silver Spoon, setting down the shovel. “Finally, I’ll get some clarification.”
She leaned out of the cab to watch her cutie mark lead the way.
“Finally, I’ll learn why I got that mark on the first time I was happy to be spending time with my extended family.”
Diamond Tiara glanced at the shovel; the blade had a lot of coal dust on it, but she could still see her reflection in it.
“Silver,” she said, “you know how when you look at your reflection in a spoon, it’s different depending on how you’re holding it?”
Silver Spoon froze. Moments later, her cutie mark started glowing and vibrating for the second time that day, and the mark hovering in the sky ahead of them vanished.
*****
As the train pulled into the Halt, Silver Spoon, coated in smut and bones aching, hugged Diamond Tiara. She was grateful to her best friend for opening her eyes.
“Glad I could help,” chuckled Diamond. “Least I could do, I guess. You helped me out of what could have been a disaster this morning.”
“This was a fun trip,” smiled Silver Spoon. “And hey, you still need a Stoker for the trip back to Ponyville, right?”
“Well, yeah,” said Diamond Tiara, “but don’t you want to rest now?”
Silver Spoon was in too good spirits to care much about her aching bones or filthy condition, and Diamond Tiara had been worried that she’d not be able to find another relief Stoker. So as their cargo was unloaded, they drove their steam engine back to the nearest turntable to begin their return trip under the bright evening sky.
*****
At the entrance to the Cave, Scootaloo swore she saw something glowing in the sky. But none of the Crusaders could see anything now. Eventually, they saw several ponies walking towards the Village.
“Whoa!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “How many ponies are having cutie mark problems…?!”
But she quickly realised that they were only Villagers returning with goods from the produce train. She walked over to the procession as it passed the Cave.
“Any of you having a cutie mark problem?” she asked.
The Villagers all shook their heads.
“Anypony on the train?” asked Apple Bloom.
“It’s not a passenger train,” said Double Diamond, laden with panniers of calleries. “There’s only the Guard, the Driver, and the Stoker on that train.”
Disappointed, Apple Bloom returned to the Cave entrance with her fellow Crusaders.
“Somepony must be coming,” she said as the Sun set. “Our cutie marks did call us to the Cave… or did I just dream that?”