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                  A Lesson to be Learned                   
                     -by Stale_Coffee-                     
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                  A Lesson to be Learned                   
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A Lesson to be Learned
“Many moons ago, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two princesses. One ruled over the day; the other, the night. The two sisters ruled the land in perfect harmony. That was, until the Great War came.
The princess of the night, Luna, was furious because ponies shunned the beauty of the night, casting themselves into their homes in fear. They came out as her sister raised the sun, bringing forth light across the land. Out of fury and hatred, Luna proclaimed that she would cast eternal darkness throughout all of the land.
This worried the older sister. She know that there was only one way to stop her sister from bringing Equestria into darkness, though she feared that it would only make things worse between the two; however, it had to be done. Without hesitation, she cast her sister to the moon where she would stay imprisoned for a thousand years…”
“Um, Miss Cherilee, what does this have to do with cutie marks?” a small, squeaky filly asked.
“Well you see Sweetie Belle, before I can share with you the origins of the cutie mark, one must first know the story of how our land first came to be.”
“But Miss Cherilee, I think we already learned this from the Hearth’s Warming play that was held last year, right?” This time, it was a small tom-boyish filly who spoke up.
“Well yes Scootaloo, bu-”
“Then why are we relearning what we already know? Shouldn’t we be learning something more interesting, like where cutie marks came from?” Scootallo asked, this time with a little more of an attitude.
“I would love to tell you where they came from Scootaloo, but not even teachers are allowed such valuable information.”
“What’s so valuable about the origins of a cutie mark?”
“Look, girls, I do not know why such things haven’t been shared with us teachers, but I can only say that I don’t know about the origins. The only information that I was ever given was that cutie marks are placed upon us at a certain point in our lives and that they are meant to give us more insight on what our destiny is.”
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle only stared at Cherille, looks of confusion residing on their faces.
“But don’t you worry about that you two. Wait,” Cherille paused briefly, looking around the room. “Where’s Applebloom?”
“But I don’t wanna go!”
In a quick hope to escape her sister, Applebloom dashed behind the barn and let out a sigh.
“Whew, ah think ah lost her.”
She turned around and bonked her nose against a sturdy, red foreleg.
Looking up, she gulped loudly and nervously said, “U-um h-hey Big Mac. Ah was just lookin’ fer ya. H-have you seen Applejack anywhere?”
“Eeyup.”
“You have? Where?”
Macintosh moved to the side, revealing the orange coated mare that Applebloom had been trying to escape from.
“Oh…”
“I don’t know Miss Cherilee. She said that she was going on some kind of trip with her family, but she didn’t seem to happy about it.”
“Well, that’s rather peculiar. But, it seems that class is about to let out, so everypony, pack up your things! I hope you all have a wonderful break and I will see you when class is back in session!”
Cherilee was drowned out by the blaring of the school bell. Foals of all sizes ran out of the small schoolhouse, each excited to get on with the break and forget about the worries of school.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle on the other hoof had different plans.
“Come on Sweetie Belle, we need to go and ask about the origins of cutie marks! This could be our big break!”
“I don’t know Scoots,” Sweetie Belle hesitated before continuing. “It seems kind of redundant that we go about asking other ponies for help, and we don’t even bother to find out who we are on our own, don’t you think?”
Scootaloo looked at the floor, contemplating her friend’s question.
“Nah,” she said nonchalantly. “We do plenty to help ourselves. Now, stop being a chicken and let’s go!”
Sweetie Belle looked at her friend, astonished. Nobody had ever called her chicken before, not even her own sister.
“Okay, fine,” she said in a monotonous tone. “Let’s go.”
“But ah don’t wanna go!”
Applebloom kicked her hind-legs furiously as she was forcefully pulled to the wagon by her sister.
“Applebloom, ya need to calm down. We’re just goin’ on a trip to Manehattan for some fashion show that Rarity is throwin’.”
“But why do ah have to go?”
“Because, ah’m pretty sure that Rarity would like the support.”
Applebloom groaned and continued towards the wagon against her own will.
“Um, Scootaloo, are you sure that this is the best idea?”
“Uhhh… I don’t think this was the best idea… I guess we should’ve gone and asked somepony else for help.”
The duo had wandered into the Everfree Forest in hopes that Zecora could help them learn where cutie marks originated from. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after a few minutes, they found that they were completely lost.