The Crusader's clubhouse was normally a place of fun and creativity, but not today.
Today, sitting, lying, or pacing the floor of the tree house were three young fillies. Each wore a look of boredom and slight sadness. Yet another one of their schemes had failed. The three youngsters were still blank, and they had run out of ideas.
"Welp, Ah'm all out of ideas." Applebloom stated, noticing a groove starting to take shape in the floor from her pacing. "We've tried everything and we still don't have our cutie marks!"
"Yeah. Maybe we should just give up." Scootaloo sighed. rolling over from her stomach to her back.
"Let's face it. We'll be blank-flanks for life." Sweetie Belle groaned from her sitting position. The three sighed in unison, all hope of discovering their special talent fading away.
Suddenly, there was a noise outside the tree house. The Crusaders turned to the door in time to see it burst open, with a clearly upset Applejack entered, followed by an equally angry Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
"Ah can't take no more of this!" The eldest Apple sister yelled. "You've been at this for forever, when are you going to realize that you're special talents are right before you very eyes?"
"What do you mean?" Sweetie Belle cautiously interjected. Rarity placed a hoof on her sister's withers.
"Sweetie, did you ever wonder WHY I leave musical instruments all over the boutique, when I don't play one?"
"And Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash cut in, "Did you ever stop to think WHY I push you so hard with exercise?"
"Look around you, Applebloom." Applejack said, "You did this! All Ah had to do was show you a broken down tree house, and you turned it into a headquarters for your club!" The three elder mares watched as the looks of realization spread across the younger's faces. Three bright flashes of light followed, and they looked down at their flanks.
Applebloom was good at fixing things, so her mark was a wrench.
Scootaloo was athletic, so hers was a scooter.
Sweetie Belle was gifted in music, so a pink heart with a musical note had appeared.
The three fillies yelled in joy, then at once their faces dropped.
"Wait a minute..." Scootaloo pointed accusingly at the older ones. "You told us! That's cheating!"
"Wow, what a bummer." Sweetie Belle said.
"Great. That ruined that for us." Applebloom retorted. "Ya'll could have at least been a little more subtle."
"Oh you've got to be bucking kidding me." Applejack facehoofed and groaned. She turned around and stomped out the door, muttering about "ungrateful youth". The other two followed with similar expressions.