//------------------------------//
// Chapter XIX 
// Story: Lessons in quirks 
// by Mike84 
//------------------------------//

	Applejack managed to avoid being subjected to a tea-shower from Rarity by just smiling and eating without talking about the treat from Fillydelphia at all. Fluttershy was sharing just enough of it with birds, squirrels and other critters around for it to be credited to her kindness rather than any kind of dodging. Rainbow Dash fed part of hers to Pinkie when Frank wasn't looking, while Twilight decided to consider it a princess' lesson in diplomatic countenance to finish the pretzel and Rarity seemed to think along similar lines. 
Maybe Rarity's threat had reminded Applejack of the request she had for Rainbow Dash. In any case she turned to her after a while: 
"Hey Rainbow, Ah was going to ask you yesterday, but forgot during the party an' all, if you could give us a bit of a shower over Sweet Apple Acres today? It's been very sunny lately and that's good for the apples, but the soil needs some water too."
For everypony's surprise Rainbow Dash gave a somewhat frustrated sigh: 
"I'll do what I can, Applejack, I promise."
"But...?" Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Some ponies in Cloudsdale must have been messing up!" Rainbow Dash made a wide gesture with one hoof that included the whole sky. "Do you see that?" 
"See what?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"Nothing! There is not a cloud in the sky! Not one!" Rainbow Dash's tone gave away that she hadn't noticed this today for the first time. 
"I mean it happens that there is no cloud for a day, but this is like the sixth in a row with none at all!"
Everypony was looking at her now. 
"You didn't even notice, did you?" Rainbow asked. 
"Well, Ah did notice", Applejack hurried to assure. "Ah thought it was like part of some plan for the weather or something like that."
"I wish it was", Rainbow Dash said, sounding a bit crestfallen. "I don't know exactly what is going on there, but it seems like they haven't been creating nearly as many clouds as they should up in Cloudsdale. I don't know any details, but it seems like there was a series of things not going as they should, so we don't get any clouds to distribute here. Didn't even find any for a nap in the last days and had to make do with trees!"
Applejack gave a frown that showed she wasn't nearly as concerned with the comfort of Rainbow Dash's naps as she was with the drying soil at Sweet Apple Acres, but whether Rainbow Dash had noticed the look or not, her next words stopped any comment that might have been on Applejack's tongue: "I promise I'll fly to see if I can scratch any stray clouds together, AJ. There just doesn't seem to be anything to work with at the moment."
Rainbow Dash spread her wings to live up to her promise right away, but Applejack held her back: "No, that's very kind of you su... err... Rainbow Dash, but you needn't fly off right now. We still got a picnic to finish."
"Oh yeah", Rainbow Dash said, looking like she had indeed totally forgotten about that. 
It was uncommon for Rainbow to be so worried about something Twilight thought. She didn't know much about the details of weather planing or the workings at the weather factory in Cloudsdale, but Rainbow Dash's not so laid-back reaction was indicator enough that some things were in disorder. She didn't want to spoil the mood by inquiring further right now. 

The sun was high up by the time they had not just finished most of their food but were also short of topics. Frank had told a number of anecdotes from his studies and of Fillydelphia and other places he had visited, but had not pressed towards the topic of cutie marks or his research. Rarity listened up at one story in which Frank's hat and the fact that it was rather waterproof played a role. Everypony else too had told similar, often funny, stories from their daily lives and the entire morning had been mostly about getting to know each other better. Finally Twilight suggested telling Frank about how they all had gotten their cutie marks and in which way they had found out for their cutie marks to be connected. The others all agreed, but Pinkie Pie made Frank swear a Pinkie promise that he would tell them about his still hidden cutie mark the moment it would not interfere with his studies anymore. Frank made that promise right away and walked over to his saddle-bag escritoire and picked up his quill.
As he did so, Twilight looked at him in surprise. Rather than holding the quill with his mouth, as earth ponies and pegasi usually did, lacking the levitation magic usually employed by unicorns when it came to writing, Frank held the quill with his left hoof. 
"Frank, how do you do that?" Twilight demanded to know.
"Do what?" Frank asked surprised. Following Twilight's look at his hoof with the quill he answered before Twilight could clarify the question. 
"Oh, that", he held out his left hoof with the quill for Twilight to look at. 
His horseshoe there had a small, rounded projection sweated to it. The projection had a loop in it wide enough to only just squeeze a quill's shaft through without either damaging it or it sitting so loose that it would shift. The inside of the loop was lined with a little felt to prevent the metal from scratching the quill shaft. 
"Unicorns have an edge when it comes to writing", Frank said. "And most of the students at the Academy are unicorns. Writing with the mouth is somewhat slower and less clear than writing through levitation. I found that attaching the quill to the hoof I could write almost as fast as the unicorns and a lot clearer and smaller than I would have with my mouth, which saved paper. Moreover it has come in rather hoofy when interviewing ponies for it allows you to speak and write at the same time without the need to always put down and pick up the quill again."
"That's kind of ingenious", Rarity said.
"Ah was wondering about that when I saw ya scribbling earlier", Applejack said. "Did ya ever think of making more of these quill-holding shoes?" 
"Uhm, no... should I?" Frank asked. He scratched his temple with the quill, apparently oblivious to the streaks of ink this left where he scratched.
"But of course", Twilight said as she discretely made the ink streaks fade away from Frank's temple with a spell. "I'm sure many ponies would find that very useful."
"You think?" Frank asked a little doubtful. "Many ponies are so used to writing with their mouths that they may be skeptical about using their hooves for it. Earth ponies and pegasi don't usually write that much anyway—"
"Are you kidding?" Rainbow Dash interjected annoyed. "Not so many eggheads among us, but take A. K. Yearling! She's a pegasus and Daring Do is more and much better than most of what unicorns ever put on paper!"
"Hey!" Twilight protested. 
Looking at his left hoof, Frank shrugged. "Point taken. I guess I should show it to somepony who can make more of those. It might be helpful to some ponies."
"It might also get ya some bagful of bits", Applejack added. 
"Okay, I may give it a try if I come across some pony who can make more of those", Frank said, though the idea of some bagfuls of bits still didn't seem to kindle the same degree of enthusiasm for the idea in him as with the others. 
"I'll have one for Apple Bloom right away", Applejack said. "She may just as well give that hoofwriting thing a try while still at school."
"And one for Sweetie Belle", Rarity added. "It might actually be an interesting accessory for some pieces in my upcoming fall collection."
Rainbow Dash burst into laughter.
"What?" Rarity asked irritated. 
"Sorry Rarity...", Rainbow Dash chuckled while wiping a tear from one eye, "...but the image of you behind an anvil forging horseshoes was just too much for me."
Not even Rarity herself could suppress a little chuckle as the others joined in Rainbow Dash's laughter. 
Half in jest half seriously Rarity said: "Of course I would order these accessories from a professional, same as I don't weave the fabric I use or you don't make the clouds you..."
Rarity clapped both forehooves over her mouth. "Oh, I'm very sorry Rainbow Dash, I didn't mean to..."
Rainbow Dash gave a dismissive wave with a hoof. "If I did make those clouds you bet we would have some by now." 
She grinned.
"So...", Frank said, "...you were going to tell me about how you got your cutie marks?"

Frank took some notes during the tale of the six friends' cutie marks, but before long he put down the quill, either too fascinated by the story or maybe, Twilight suspected, he decided he would be able to recount every word later on anyway, to put it down on paper then. 
At last Applejack announced that she had to head back for Sweet Apple Acres which Rainbow Dash too took as a cue to go on her quest for stray clouds for Applejack. Twilight wanted to ask if she could accompany Rainbow in order to get some flying practice and lessons from her, but then she decided against it. She knew she would slow Rainbow down, thereby hindering her attempts to find any clouds for Applejack. It was only after both Rainbow and Applejack had departed that Twilight remembered Applejack's offer for Frank to stay at her barn. She didn't feel easy about bringing up the subject and decided not to without Applejack being around. 
Frank's embarrassment about the picnic and his little contribution to it made Twilight wonder if Frank would appreciate or be embarrassed or even a little offended at the suggestion. Rarity took her leave as well a little later and Twilight remembered that she still hadn't written to Celestia. Moreover she wanted to see after Spike, a little surprised that he hadn't joined them. 
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy however didn't seem to have anything particular to do at the moment and as Pinkie Pie told 'Frankie' that he could ask her cutie mark questions Fluttershy agreed to stay too and take a first interview together with Pinkie. 

Frank's first questions were mostly about more details on how Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had gotten their cutie marks. In particular he asked if prior to the appearance of their cutie marks they had ever done activities related to what their cutie marks stood for or if they had felt like doing something along those lines or thought about it at all. 
"I did not have a chance to care about animals before the day I got my cutie mark", Fluttershy admitted. "I don't remember thinking much about anything but what the other pegasi thought of me and about how much I feared flying. I hadn't ever been near the ground before that fall from the height of the summer fly camp. I hadn't even known about all the wonderful creatures down here. But then, when they appeared to be as scared by Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom as I had often been about flying, it just seemed natural to help them. I didn't have to think about it and there was no need at all to have thought about it beforehoof. It was just... what had to be done. What I had to do. And when I helped them not to be afraid, I was not afraid myself anymore. Not afraid anymore... It was so beautiful." 
Fluttershy smiled and it was a smile so calm and utterly relaxed as she rarely showed. Her eyes became a little unfocused. Frank nodded but neither said anything nor wrote anything down at this moment. With Fluttershy's look and tone it didn't take much sensitivity to understand that she was reliving a moment that meant a lot to her and the student from Fillydelphia was not going to interrupt it. 
It was Pinkie Pie who broke the silence. 
"There were never any parties at the rock farm!" she exclaimed. "I don't think I even heard the word there. I must have heard about it somewhere else and also about balloons and cakes and streamers. But I don't remember where I heard about it. There wasn't much smiling on the rock farm either. Though I'm pretty sure I must have seen some smile at some point before. But I don't remember about when or where I did either! Why can't I remember? Can you tell me Frankie?"
Pinkie Pie grabbed Frank by the shoulders and shook him as if she could shake the answer out of him. Pinkie certainly didn't mean for this to be an aggressive approach, but Frank almost lost his spectacles and tried to shy away from her, looking as if he feared she was about to hit him. 
Fluttershy knew Pinkie Pie too well for any such misunderstanding and intervened with the same kind of coolness she would have applied in case of a rampaging grizzly bear. Of all her friends Pinkie was sometimes the one most closely resembling one of her critter friends with their occasional unpredictability. She put a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder and said calmly: 
"I don't think Frank can tell you that."
Pinkie sat down immediately and just smiled. 
"How...", Frank straightened his spectacles, "...how did you get everything you needed for the party on the rock farm? The balloons I mean and the cake and the streamer? With parties so... unknown on the rock farm how did you get all that?"
"I just did, silly", Pinkie smiled. Frank gave her a confused look, but Pinkie didn't look the least bit like she had meant any offense. Much rather it seemed that to her his question had sounded silly enough to warrant her words. The mystery of how she had gotten her hooves on all the material necessary for a party in the middle of nowhere didn't seem to give her any of the distress that she had shown about not remembering how she had learned about the very concept of a party in the first place. Frank raised his quill and scribbled something on the paper on his saddle-bag escritoire. 
"What did you write there?" Pinkie asked curiously.
"I can show you", Frank offered. "Or shall we continue with the questions first and I'll show you later? You know, all this is just so interesting!" 
Frank almost cheered the last words while taking down some more notes. So fast did he move the quill across the paper from one end to another that it almost appeared like he was merely drawing streaks all over it. His script was so tiny that indeed it took a closer look to make sure that indeed it wasn't mere streaks on the paper. 
"Uhm, what is it exactly that interests you so much Mr... Frank?" Fluttershy carefully. "I mean I am sure that it is interesting, I guess. But we did tell you about how we got our cutie marks during the picnic already."
Frank gave her a broad smile and put down his quill. 
"Well, you see there are different kinds of cutie marks...", Frank began. 
"Of course there are!" Pinkie said. "Did you never notice they are all different?"
"Yes, Pinkie, I did notice that", Frank said patiently. "That's not what I meant though."
Pinkie opened her mouth for another interjection, but Fluttershy silenced her by gently laying one of her hooves on one of Pinkie's. 
"Different types of cutie marks I should say", Frank picked up the thread again. "Compare your stories with that of the others. Neither of you had known what you were going to do or what you wanted to do. If I understood you correctly then it came by sudden...", he was looking for the right word, "...inspiration? Like on the spur of the special moment."
Fluttershy nodded.
"Compare this to the other ones. Twilight had long known her fascination with magic, she had been inspired by Princess Celestia, she had studied what she could in books and her mark actually appeared while she was passing the entrance exam for Princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. Or take Rainbow Dash. She had been an avid flyer long before and had already discovered her love for speed and winning in competition. Rarity had been sewing costumes for the school play and knew that she wanted to be a fashion designer. In case of all of them it seemed like they had long been working to get just the kind of cutie mark they got. While in your case it was more like... like you were meant to find your gift, maybe even be found by your gift, rather than pursuing it."
Both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie tilted their heads in perfect synchrony. 
"What about Applejack's cutie mark?" Pinkie asked.
Frank cast a musing look in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres before he said: "I am not absolutely certain, but if my guess is right then her type of cutie mark is a bit in between your types and that of the others. She had been working on the farm already for quite a while and I bet that doing so she had little doubt about her talent for it. But unlike Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Rarity she was not sure that this was what she wanted. Only when giving up on it for the sophisticated life she was looking for in Manehattan did she realize how much it meant to her and it was by this realization rather than her talent alone that her cutie mark appeared. She is a lucky pony."
"I think we all are. Lucky ponies I mean", Fluttershy said.
Frank nodded vehemently. "Yes Fluttershy you all are. No doubt about that. And please do not mistake my categorizing of cutie mark types as some kind of ranking or anything like that. You all are very lucky with your cutie marks and that is the most important thing about it, I think. There are some ponies not quite so lucky", he added with a slightly sad tone. Before either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie could say anything he continued: "Like I said, this is not about ranking cutie marks when I put them in such categories."
"What is it about, Frankie?" Pinkie Pie asked curiously. 
Frank was chewing on his lip for a moment before he responded: "Oh well, this somewhat goes into some of the rather tricky core questions of my studies. Some of the essence of what I hope to find out. The root of the matter or one of the roots rather..."
Pinkie gave him so blank a look that it was unnecessary for her to voice the question and her fleeting glimpse at the gnarled root of a tree on the meadow wasn't necessary either to ascertain that she hadn't understood Frank's image. 
"You see, we don't know for certain how cutie marks come about. In many cases, and you all are lucky that you belong to these cases, ponies understand the meaning of their cutie marks beyond any doubt. We don't know however if cutie marks appear because they are essentially what their wearers want their cutie marks to be... this might be the case with cutie marks such as Twilight's, Rainbow Dash's and Rarity's... or because the marks sort of find the ponies fitting to them as seems to have been the case with you two. Then we got the case of ponies like Applejack who got their marks not triggered by their unquestionable talents, but by their deliberate decision to embrace that talent. Would Applejack have gotten a different cutie mark if she had decided against her feeling to stay in Manehatten? Or would she have gotten the same cutie mark but ended up less happy with it?
Would her cutie mark have caused her to leave Manehatten if it had appeared before she left there?"
Frank was looking at Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy for a moment before he continued: 
"In some contexts it can be boiled down to the question 'do we control our cutie marks or do our cutie marks control us?' It may seem like silly manesplitting...", Frank said to Pinkie who looked like she was getting a little drowsy over the extended lecture on cutie mark research, "...but especially for ponies who are not so lucky to be as happy with their cutie marks as you all are, this may be really important. I do not yet know all the ends my research may come down to, but the different ways in which cutie marks are acquired may be of very direct importance for fillies like Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo too."
"Do you think you can help them get their marks, Frank?" Fluttershy asked. "That would be really kind of you. They have been so much after their marks for such a long time already."
Frank looked down, his face turning somewhat sad. "I want to help them as much as I can. But I'm afraid I cannot tell them anything that would just make their cutie marks appear..."
Fluttershy nodded: "Twilight told them so yesterday."
"Did she? She is right I'm afraid. What I can tell them however is that I know of hardly a case where anypony succeeded in getting a cutie mark by randomly trying out everything that could be tried out. This, I understand, is what they have been doing for quite a while now?" 
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded. 
"I don't really know if it would be good to tell them so. Cutie marks or no cutie marks, trying all that may give them so much! Just think of all the fun and excitement these little fillies must be having while trying out all the world has to offer for them." Frank's voice had become rather enthusiastic but switched to a rather downcast tone when he continued: "I don't want to take that away from them by telling them that they are not likely to get their marks by just trying randomly for the sake of getting their marks rather than for the sake of whatever they are doing."
"It is kind of you not to tell them that", Fluttershy said. 
Frank however looked even more distraught. "And yet I may have too. I have been talking to so many ponies about their cutie marks and the happiest were always those who acquired theirs like you all did, by either getting a mark for something they had long known they wanted to do or by having such an epiphany as you."
"What is an epifunny?" Pinkie asked.
"An epiphany is a sudden, striking realization. Like when you two realized what you felt you were meant to do."
"Epicfunny..." Pinkie repeated slowly to remember the word she had made of what she believed she had heard Frank say. 
Frank ignored her, focused on trying to make his point about the Cutie Mark Crusaders: "There are other ponies who got their marks for what seems to have been a fleeting enthusiasm or a temporary fancy. Some of these ponies just go on with other things apparently not minding their cutie marks much, but others...", Frank sighed. "I just hope I can make them understand that there may be a bit of a risk in wishing so much for any kind of mark that they might get marks which might make them unhappy after a short time of joy about having gotten their marks."
"Oh my goodness", said Fluttershy. She had been listening ever more intensely to Franks explanations. "I had no idea how important your studies could be for other ponies."
She blushed noticing that her words could easily be taken the wrong way, but Frank didn't take any offense. 
"On the paper it may all sound so theoretical. Like the rants of some— what was it Rainbow Dash said yesterday? Egghead? But actually if I really get my studies where I want to get them, they may really help some ponies with very real problems!" 
Fluttershy was impressed. Even though she had by now lost some of her shyness about Frank, everything had still just seemed like just a favor to a stranger. An act of kindness was of course nothing that she of all ponies would consider unimportant by itself, but the possible benefits for many others made it all appear in a totally new light for her. 
"On the paper!" Pinkie Pie suddenly called. "You still haven't said what you wrote down when I asked you what you wrote down!"
Frank made an inviting gesture towards the saddle-bag escritoire while looking at Pinkie. 
"It is a bit of a jumble on this page. I'm just taking quick notes to arrange and put them in coherent order later on. But this is what I had written when you asked." 
He tipped the paper with the quill. Pinkie bent over the paper to read the tiny script:
Pinkie -> high potential of randomized magic? 
Indicated by:
Party provisions, 
"Pinkie Sense", 
energy
Significance for cutie mark?
"What does that mean?" Pinkie asked when she looked up. 
"I think that you are doing quite a lot of magic and..."
Pinkie Pie gave him a look as if he had just announced that he thought of her as a long lost sister of Princess Celestia and Luna. Then she burst into laughter literally rolling on the floor.
"Silly Frankie, that's Twilight you are talking about. I am Pinkie Pie. I'm not even a unicorn."
Frank remained totally serious: "Pinkie, rest assured that I did not confuse you with Twilight. Of course everypony is thinking of unicorns when thinking of magic. Unicorns can control their magic more than any other ponies, but while it may not often be pointed out in daily lives all tribes of ponies are endowed with a degree of magic." 
"Really?" Fluttershy asked interested.
Frank nodded. "You know birds Fluttershy. Imagine a bird had wings of a size similar to your wings in ratio to its body. The wings would be way too small for the bird to fly with. Pegasi can fly even though their wings are too small for their flapping alone to give them enough lift of their own. The wings however do work in combination with magic to allow for a pegasus to fly. The magic part of it comes so instinctively that hardly a pegasus even realizes that magic is involved in this at all."
"BREATHE PLEASE!" Pinkie Pie shouted silencing Frank's lecture on pegasus flight. 
"And tell me why I am a... 'high potential of randomized magic'?"
Frank chuckled at Pinkie's silencing call but hurried to explain: "You are rather special Pinkie, for usually earth ponies like us show magic in the least obvious ways of all tribes. But to you many things seem to appear perfectly normal even though nopony else could explain them but for use of magic. The party provisions you got at the rock farm for example. Unless you went to some place to buy all of it or your family had a secret store of party supplies— which I guess was not the case —you probably got all of the balloons, streamers, and cake by using magic, even though you may not remember. Then there is something Twilight mentioned to me yesterday. She called it the 'Pinkie Sense' and if I understood everything right, it allows you to see things that will happen in the future. This is actually something that I don't think even the most powerful unicorn magicians were capable of. Twilight also told that sometimes you just seem to appear at places where you couldn't just appear without the use of magic and that sometimes you move so far in so short a time that no pony could walk or run so fast. I took note of all that because I think... and I must admit that this is only a theory of mine... that our cutie marks are strongly linked to our magic. And if a pony has such magic abilities as you, it is a point I should keep in mind when comparing the effects of your cutie mark on you with the effect the cutie marks of others have on them."
Pinkie Pie looked at Frank, her eyes having become as large as plates. 
"You mean... I am some kind of magicy wizard?" she asked.
Frank shook his head: "No, Pinkie. You have a lot of magic, but you cannot use it as deliberately as a wizard or a unicorn could. Very often you don't even seem to remember when you used magic and if you do remember it seems to you like it was just as not magical as everything you do without any magic being involved. I'm afraid you are not a wizard, but I wonder if Twilight was teaching you a bit you might—"
"Oh that is okay, Frankie", Pinkie Pie said happily. "I am much rather a party pony anyway. That's what my epicfunny told me, remember?"