//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Cutie Mark Abandonment 
// by Luna1337 
//------------------------------//

        "Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked as her sister rushed back and forth between fabric racks and sewing machines. "What am I good at?"

"Not now, Sweetie Bellle! I have an important order to finish!" Rarity quickly stitched a row of sequins onto a slinky dress, and tossed it in a pile. She paused to wipe her sweaty nose so her glasses would stop slipping, and dived back into her work. 

Sweetie Belle tried a parent trap. "Will you help me with my homework?" 

"Later, darling! They ordered six bridesmare's dresses by tomorrow and they each take several hours to make!" 

Finally, Sweetie Belle had to resort to crude but effective tactics. "@&$#% you, Rarity!" 

Her big sister froze, the shimmery pink fabric slipping from her hooves. "What.....did you say?" 

Uh oh.


*************


"Ah told ya already, Applebloom. No crusadin' till yer homework's done," Applejack said, kicking a tree with her back hooves so hard that it and the two trees behind it dropped every single apple. "Now scat. Ah have to concentrate on applebuckin'."

"Can't ya at leas' tell me what ah'm good at?" Applebloom begged. "It'll only take a second!" Applejack sighed and sat down. 

"If it makes ya stop buggin' me and go do yer homework," she said, gathering up the fallen apples that had missed the basket. "Thing is, sugercube, you're good at a lot of things. Loopty-hoopin', float buildin', crusadin'....Ah just don't know what you're best at." 

"Thanks, Applejack! That narrows it down to loopty-hoopin', float buildin', and crusadin'! That's much more manageable then what ah had before!" 

Maybe if ah ask as many ponies as possible, ah'll have even more stuff ta try!

"Ah didn't say that was all that you can do!" Applejack called after her little sister as Applebloom galloped out of the orchard.


******************


"I was gonna ask you something...but these clouds are so relaxing I forgot all about it." Scootaloo shook little bits of cloud out of her mane. Rainbow Dash had flown her up here, and even though her wings were too small to fly, she still had the natural hollow bones of a Pegasus. 

"Still can't believe your big brother's never taken you up here. He's certainly bulky enough," Rainbow Dash said, fanning a piece of cloud between her wings so hard that it started to rain on her back. 

Scootaloo made a rude gesture with her hooves. "Snowflake? He can barely get himself off the ground! Besides, the only reason he got into the Wonderbolts Academy was because they needed somewhere to send him after he got kicked out of that reform flight school for wing-size-boosting steroids that backfired. And he wants us to call him Bulk Biceps now. Yeesh."

Rainbow Dash winced. "Uh...squirt? How about you don't do that in public? I know I taught ya how to do it, but it's kind of like swearing with your hooves." 

"Sure thing, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said instantly, resolving to never expressively use her hooves again. "Uh, could you fly me down? Fluttershy's gonna freak if I'm not home before dinner. She's trying to be a better foalsitter." 

"'Kay. I also need to get going. Twilight got the very first issue of the Daring Do comic series two weeks before it officially comes out! She's refused to let me see it before she finished." Rainbow Dash snorted. "Something about spoilers. Just because I accidentally told every pony at the Daring Do Fanclub meeting about how the handsome stallion she met in this village in Marefrica after her memory was wiped was actually the dastardly villain Professor M does not mean I give out spoilers!" 

She carried Scootaloo to the ground and zoomed off. 

Darn it. I hadn't finished that part yet. But it's okay, it was kind of obvious....I think.



*****************



"I've never actually theen your room, Thilver Thpoon," Twist remarked as she lapped applesauce from a misshapen spoon. "It'th really nithe." 

"Thanks," Silver Spoon answered, grimacing at the spoon. It was one of her earlier pieces, but she had a somewhat sentimental attachment to it, as it had gotten her her cutie mark. 

Diamond Tiara adjusted her crown in front of a dusty vanity. "I don't see why you don't, like, use this mirror more often! It really draws attention to your highlights." 

Maybe when you look at it. But when I look at it, all I see is an ugly little filly who's not the little lady her parents want her to be. Silver Spoon bit her lip and quickly stuffed a cucumber sandwich in. "Who wants to try and figure out how to torment this new governess my dad assigned me?" 

"We'd love to, Thilver Thpoon, but Mith Cheerilee gave uth a lot of homework." Twist motioned at her saddlebags in the corner. "We really thould get going." She put down the spoon and trudged towards her bags. 


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"Twist, could you clean your room, please?" Twist's mother asked, stirring a pot of liquid peppermint. "I started, but then Mrs. Cake came by and ordered twenty boxes of peppermint sticks."

"Okay, mom," Twist said, glad for the excuse to get away from how many apples Bob has after throwing away the eight rotten apples per box. She could barely see where her mother had started. Twist groaned and started to clean up.