Central Ponyville.
August 10. The following Tuesday. “Call of the Cutie”.
“Monster!”
Yup, yet another Tuesday.
~ ~ ~
Lyra found Bon-Bon in the Situation Room, intently watching the unfolding battle between the Bearers and a trio of ouroboros, giant snakes that made themselves into wheels by biting their own tails, and then rolling through one building after another.
“Hi, Bonny,” said Lyra.
Bon-Bon said nothing.
Lyra sat down next to Bon-Bon and watched her eye motions for a while. “Are we still mad at Twilight?” she whispered in her ear.
Bon-Bon said nothing. Her eyes looked bloodshot, and a bit disturbing.
Lyra sighed. “I’ll get us some snacks,” she said as she got up.
Bon-Bon said nothing.
It was the one-year anniversary of Agent Sweetie Drops’ expulsion from S.M.I.L.E. Before that, she was the best monster hunter in Equestria, even if that fact was only known to seven other ponies including Princess Celestia. And now she was stuck as a spectator. Because if she ever tried to help in a hunt, tried to use the true purpose of her cutie mark, she’d give herself away. And the Princess would be forced to banish her, and then throw her in a dungeon in the place where she had been banished to. Or something even worse.
So Bon-Bon sat there, denying her special purpose. She laughed nervously to herself for no reason.
And her cutie mark faded, just a little.
The fillies and colts filed into the Bunker, on their way to the classroom.
For Apple Bloom, this was her first day of public instruction, and she was excited.
“Oh you’ll luff it,” her friend Twist assured her as they walked out of the magic extractor. “You’ll make so many friendss!”
This brought Apple Bloom short. “But what if I don’t?” she asked. “You’re the first friend I’ve ever made, Twist! What if I can’t make any more friends?”
“Oh, making friends ish easy!” Twist exclaimed. “I befriended a zebra a couple of monthss ago, and that wass nothing!”
A panicked Apple Bloom pulled Twist completely out of the hallways for an emergency conversation. “A ‘zebra’?!” she demanded in a whisper. “What’s a zebra? Do I need to know what that is to pass for a pony?”
“Pa-shaw!” Twist exclaimed, using the type of exclamation that really only existed in books. “Zebras are just like ponies, but with shtripes. Everypony elsh was sushpish…suss…pisssh…” She gave up on a word that had too many sibilants for her taste. “They didn’t like her. But I went to her hut in the Everfree and found out the truth! And now I get to help Zecora get her ingredientss.”
“Zecora?” asked Apple Bloom. “I remember Applejack telling me about her—somehow managed to leave out the ‘zebra’ part… That was the time when she got shrunk! I wish I could have seen her before she took the cure…but I was still stuck on the farm then.”
“Well, well, well!”
Apple Bloom and Twist turned around, to see that the light was blocked by two earth pony fillies: one pink and one gray. The pink one walked around Twist to approach Apple Bloom. “You poor dear!” she exclaimed in mock pity. “Here, let me help you out.” She pulled out a washcloth and proceeded to clean up Apple Bloom’s face. “There. I removed all the spit that Twis-s-s-st here put all over your face! You need to be more careful, Twist.” And the new pony then herded Apple Bloom away from Twist and towards the classroom.
“Yeah!” exclaimed the gray filly. “Say it, don’t spray it!”
“Good one!” the pink filly exclaimed. “My name is Diamond Tiara, and this is Silver Spoon.”
“Charmed to make your acquaintance,” Silver Spoon said in a too-sweet voice.
“Oh,” Apple Bloom said, looking behind her at a disappointed Twist. “My name is Apple Bloom. Are we late for class?”
“No, but the better kind of ponies shows up early,” Diamond assured her.
“Oh!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, putting down her hooves to stop the trio in place. “In that case, let me go back and get my friend.”
Silver Spoon looked incredulously back at Twist, who looked to be on the verge of tears. “She’s your friend?”
“We can be much better friends than…that,” Diamond Tiara said flatly. “Stick with us, and you’ll go places.”
“I am going places,” Apple Bloom said simply, ducking down to escape from the two pony’s clutches, and walking over to join Twist. “With all of my friends. Coming with?”
Diamond Tiara turned up her nose and sniffed imperiously. “I think not,” she declared. “Come, Silver Spoon. The better kind of ponies are going to class now.”
Twist looked sadly over at the pair as they left. “You sh…should go over there and apologishe,” she said in a wavering voice. “Getting on Diamond Tiara’ss side is the only way to get popular in thiss school.”
“Then I guess I won’t be popular,” Apple Bloom said lightly. “I’m not going to abandon you for such a dumb reason as that.”
For a moment—just a moment—Apple Bloom considered using her Changeling powers, to make Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon love her. That would solve all of her problems in a single stroke, she thought. But then she reconsidered. It was her dream to be accepted as a pony. And ponies didn’t use mind control on each other. I mean, everypony knew that!
A few minutes later, Apple Bloom was finally seated in her first classroom seat, after being introduced for the first time to her class. Everyone in that class was attentive to her except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who acted as if she didn’t exist.
“Yay Apple Bloom!” yelled Twist. “You’re the bessht!”
The rest of the fillies and colts burst into laughter. Snails expressed the general opinion by his comment that “‘Bessht’ isn’t a real word!”
“Children! Children!” Cheerilee called out, trying to get control over the classroom. “Let’s quiet down, please. We have a very important lesson to get to.”
Once she had finally gotten the students’ attention, she continued. “Thank you. Today we are going to be talking about cutie marks.”
“Boooring!” Diamond Tiara muttered under her breath.
~ ~ ~
By the end of that lesson, Apple Bloom had learned that a cutie mark was the most important thing in the history of the universe. A pony who didn’t have a cutie mark wasn’t a pony at all. And everypony in the universe had a cutie mark already. Except for Apple Bloom and Twist. Well, at least those two could stand together against an uncaring universe and—
“Isn’t my cutie mark sswell?” Twist asked Apple Bloom, showing off the symbol of her utter betrayal in front of Bon-Bon’s candy emporium. “I’ve alwayss loved making my own favorite sshweets, but it took me ssome time to discover that it wass my ssuper-spescial talent. Pretty sshweet, huh?”
“Twist, you spit too much,” Apple Bloom said flatly.
“Wwhat?”
“It’s like they say, ‘say it, don’t spray it.’ I mean, come on!” She looked away, feeling utterly and completely alone.
Twist’s eyes filled with tears. “W…what are you ssaying? Doesss…doess this mean that you’re not going to the cute-sceñera together, doess it? You’re sstill gonna come to the party, aren’t you?”
Apple Bloom tried to walk away.
“Of course Apple Bloom is going,” Diamond Tiara said, butting into the conversation.
Silver Spoon laughed from her position beside Diamond Tiara. “It’s not like being the only pony there without a cutie mark would be, like, the most embarrassing thing ever!”
The two laughed wickedly as they walked away.
Twist turned to try and say something, anything, to Apple Bloom, only to see the filly running away, tears running down her own face.
~ ~ ~
“This ssong ish so ssuper!”
Twist was dancing in the middle of Diamond Tiara’s ruined cute-ceñera party. Because, if you had a smile on your face, that meant you were happy, right? And if you’re around other ponies that were smiling, that means that they’re your friends, right?
And Twist had her cutie mark, the mark she had always wished for. It meant that she could become a great candy maker someday, like Bon-Bon, the pony she was already apprenticing for. And someday she’d grow out of the lisp, and everypony would love her. Right? Right?!
~ ~ ~
And just a few strides away, Apple Bloom was making new friends, with two ponies who wouldn’t betray her by getting a cutie mark before her. A trio of Cutie Mark Crusaders. And together, they’d show the world.
…And fill the hole in Apple Bloom’s heart.