The Search For The "Hidden You"
"Slow down! We're going too fast!"
"Don't be such a baby, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo shouted back to the wagon behind her, "we're not even going fast enough!"
"Scoots! We'll never make it, we need to stop!" Applebloom said frantically as Sweetie Belle and herself we're being pulled along by the orange pegasus' scooter.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were out and around Ponyville yet again, in search of there special talents. Today's idea had come from the group's resident stunt devil who, when asked for an idea shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS RIVER JUMPERS!" So here they were, barreling down the largest hill around, just outside town, towards the river that ran adjacent to it. At the side of the river sat a very poorly-made wooden ramp that was just barely wide enough for the wagon that was being tugged along. Of course, the orange pegasus had to do a lot of begging to get her two friends to go along with her crazy plan, and after they pushed off the top of the hill Applebloom and Sweetie Belle knew they'd made a huge mistake. On any other day, their failure would only result in them falling into the river harmlessly. Today however was a different story, as Winter Wrap Up was the day before. All of the melted snow had made the water levels rise, as well as create a faster flowing current in the river. If they fell in, they might not have been able to get out.
As they reached the halfway point of the hill, both of the crusaders in the wagon knew that they would never make it across the water. Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle had frozen up in fear, and was unable to do anything about their impending doom. Applebloom realized that there was nothing she to do to get Scootaloo to stop, so it was up to her. Gathering all the strength she could muster, she dug her fore hooves into the ground on the right side of the wagon. Just as they reached the bottom of the hill, a mere 20 meters from the ramp, the wagon turned off course from the earth pony's actions and violently tossed Applebloom and the terrified unicorn rolling to the ground. Because of the wagon pulling from behind, it was detached from the scooter, causing the pegasus to lose control and fly off to the other side. All three of the crusaders rolled to a painful stop, right at the edge of the raging river.
Scootaloo was the first to come to her senses, as she was already used to similar crashes. She sat up, rubbed her scrapped foreleg, and glared at her two friends, "Why'd you do that, we would've made it across!"
Sweetie Belle sat up next followed by Applebloom, both of whom were sporting a few cuts and scrapes of their own. "It was too risky to even attempt that! Ah don't know why ah let you talk us into that in the first place. If we fell in, we wouldn't have been able to get out!" Applebloom returned her friend's glare, it was obvious that she wasn't happy with Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo, I have to agree with 'Bloom, it was too dangerous! Nobody even knew that we were doing this." Sweetie Belle was quite literally shaken up from the experience and was holding a hoof to her head to stop the world from spinning.
"Well," Scootaloo looked over to the ramp at the side of the river, and almost as if it were on cue, it fell apart into a big heap of scrap wood. She rubbed the back of her neck before looking back to her friends, "I guess we could've waited until the river wasn't as fast to try that. That doesn't mean I was completely wrong though!" Scootaloo's annoyance returned again as she remembered their clubhouse meeting that morning, "I don't remember either of you suggesting an idea to get our cutie marks today! I was the only one, and you agreed to do it."
"Does it matter? We tried something today and failed, remind me to cross it off the list," Sweetie Belle stood up and started to walk back towards town. "We'll just have to keep searching for our special talents, because river jumping is not it."
Both Scootaloo and Applebloom knew not to stay mad at one another when it came to attempts for their cutie marks. As such, they simply got up, grabbed the scooter and wagon (both of which were centimeters away from being lost in the water), and followed Sweetie Belle.
The walk back into town was fairly uneventful. Each of the Crusaders was too bummed out to talk to each other, as was the case with a lot of their failed attempts. They probably would've said nothing at all until they got back to their clubhouse, had a purple alicorn not bumped into them. Just as the Crusaders passed by Quills and Sofas, Twilight was leaving, carrying a mountain of quills with her magic and also reading a scroll. The purple mare couldn't see in front of her and ran right into the Crusaders, sending the quills all over the four of them.
"Oh! I'm so sorry girls! I wasn't even looking looking where I was going! I was so focused on this letter that–" Twilight had cleaned up the mess of quills back into the pile they once were. That was when she noticed the sad looks on the faces of the three fillies. "What's wrong?"
"Just another failed search for our cutie marks, as usual" Scootaloo sighed.
Twilight stood there for a moment, thinking about what to tell them next, "Girls, come with me back to the castle. I've been thinking about this for a while, and I want to talk to you about your club, if you're not busy that is." The Crusaders each shared a look of confusion among themselves, before shrugging and looking to Twilight. The purple mare then started to lead them back to her home. They didn't know it yet, but this talk would completely shatter the one goal the CMC stood for.
A short walk later and the four mares, led by Twilight, walked into the crystal tree-castle. "Spike! I'm back from the quill store!" Twilight shouted into the vast, open entrance of her home.
A few moments later, Spike walked out of kitchen and into the foyer, wearing his pink apron. "Oh hey Twi, girls," he turned and gave a small wave to the CMC before returning to Twilight. "Did you guys want anything to eat? I just made some oatmeal cookies," he gestured back towards the kitchen.
"That would be lovely Spike, thank you." Twilight smiled at her number one assistant. "We're going to go and talk in the map room, if you don't mind," Spike nodded and went to go get the snacks. Twilight led the girls to the map room, and they each sat down around the table. Applebloom sat in Applejack's chair, Sweetie Belle in Rarity's, and Scootaloo in Rainbow Dash's. Spike walked in behind them, carrying a large plate of cookie in one claw, and a tray of drinks in the other. Twilight levitated them to the table, thanked Spike and turned back to the girls before her.
"So," Twilight began, "I'm sure you're wondering why I wanted to talk to you girls."
"Well yeah. You never said anything on the way here," Scootaloo looked to her two friends before continuing. "Are we in trouble for trying to jump the river on my scooter to get our cutie marks?"
Twilight's smile was replaced by a look of shock as she realized what they'd tried to do. "You did what!? Do you girls know how dangerous the river is today?" she stopped for a moment, and her shock faded. "Actually, that is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about." This caused many confused looks from the Crusaders. "Girls, I'm just going to be blunt and say it; I think that your club is a waste of time." Had Twilight been listening for it, she would've heard the the collective THUMP of the Crusaders' jaws hitting the floor.
"Twilight! What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying we're not going to find our cutie marks?" Applebloom exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle squeaked. "What's the big idea?"
Scootaloo sat silently, but not calmly. She was very carefully trying not to say something she'd regret to her princess (and her friend).
"Ok. Girls," –Twilight rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof– "I didn't mean to come across in such a rude manner. I did however mean what I said, and if you'll let me, I want to explain why." Twilight could tell that the three fillies in front of her were still furious. However, she was expecting this reaction. She knew how she'd feel if suddenly Princess Celestia told her that all the learning she did was for nothing.
"This had better be good, Twilight," Scootaloo said with such venom that even Twilight wasn't prepared for it. Scootaloo immediately realized what she'd said and covered her mouth before she got herself thrown in the dungeon.
"Don't worry Scootaloo, I know you didn't mean it," I hope. Twilight straightened up in her chair/throne before beginning again. "I think that you girls are making a mistake by having a club devoted to searching for your cutie marks." Twilight looked to Applebloom, "Remember when you asked me to use magic to make your cutie mark appear?" At her nod, Twilight continued, "Well after I tried, I told you that nothing can make a cutie mark appear before its time. I really did mean that.
"Cutie marks are a wonderful event for everypony's life, but you need to accept that you can't search for it. Your cutie mark will come when you discover your special talent, your hidden you, and no scavenger hunt, or crusade for that matter, will help you to find it. The best thing that you can do to find your cutie mark, is to stop searching for it. Eventually, you'll come across the thing that you were meant to do, and with or without a cutie mark, you'll know that it's your destiny."
Twilight paused for a moment, and Applebloom took the opportunity to speak up, "But what if we find our talent, but don't get our cutie mark? What if the three of us can't get cutie marks!?"
Twilight chuckled at the thought, "What about the griffons, or any other species? They live their entire lives without a cutie mark, but does that matter to them? Of course not! At some point in their lives, just like the three of you will, they find their special talent."
"But what if they don't find it? What if they get really really old and they never know what they're good at?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"Well, I can say for certain that no matter the being, you will find your hidden you at some point. If they make it to their deathbed without finding it, it means that they weren't paying attention. This is why you're lucky that you'll have a cutie mark, you won't be so unlucky to miss what is right in front of you."
"Everypony is here for a reason," –Twilight gestured all around her– "it's your job as living beings on Equus to figure out what that reason is, when the time is right." Twilight paused again, she really wanted to Crusaders to really let this sink in.
"Do you see now, girls?" Twilight took on a much softer tone, "I don't want you girls to waste your foalhood looking for something that you can't find purposefully. Do you see why I asked to talk to you?"
The Crusaders sat in silence for a couple of minutes, before Scootaloo finally spoke up. "Yes," she looked to Twilight, "I understand,"
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked to each other before replying to Twilight in unison, "We understand too."
"We all just wanted our cutie marks so badly that we wanted to try and force it, but now I see that we need to stop searching," all of the anger that Scootaloo had was now gone. Her face was that of pure contentment, like she'd just had an epiphany.
"Be careful though, I don't want you girls to stop having fun. If you did, what trouble would we have to get you out of?" Twilight said with a smug look.
They all shared a laugh at that comment, after which the four of them stood up and walked back out to the castle's entrance. The three fillies stood in the doorway, each with a cookie in their mouth.
"Thank you Twilight," Scootaloo began, spitting cookie crumbs all over the doorstep.
Sweetie Belle continued, "Yeah, we've been going about this all wrong."
Applebloom finished the thought, "But now that we've learned from our mistake, we can move forward from it. And now we're on the right track, we're one step closer to finding our cutie marks."
Twilight stood just inside the door, Spike at her side, "I'm really glad to hear that, girls. I know that you will get your cutie marks eventually, everypony does. You'll all do spectacular things with your lives, and it all starts with letting your special talent find you."
With that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders left the castle to go have some fun. Fun that didn't require them trying dangerous activities just to find their cutie marks. But first, they needed a new club name.
Author's Note
I'm not quite sure how this one turned out. The idea came from a discussion at school about the search for the "hidden you." During that talk, I instantly linked the idea to the CMC, and that night I started thinking about this idea. Let me know what you thought, I'm all ears for ways to improve my writing.
I also want to say that I'm sorry that I wrote this instead of updating When: "Pony Up" Becomes a bit too Literal. But I really needed to get this idea down on paper (or, into my computer in this case). I will NOT abandon that story, and it WILL be finished at some point, I just don't know when. 
Again, thank you guys for all the support you've shown me thus far. 
