Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat doodling on some paper in the treehouse. Apple Bloom had wanted them to have a meeting here, but they had arrived before her. When they found a large amount of paper and pencils already here they had decided to amuse themselves as they waited.
"I think my picture of Twilight's castle needs some serious help," Sweetie Belle said with disappointment. It looked like a badly made cross between a fork and a spoon, and nothing like Twilight's castle. She looked over to Scootaloo. "What are you drawing?"
"Rhamfpho Dhsh," Scootaloo mumbled around the pencil in her mouth, before spitting it out. "I meant to say Rainbow Dash. I am not having much luck either. I can't really draw her mane without colors. It was kind of silly to try to draw her with a pencil."
"At least what you drew looks like a pony," Sweetie replied, still looking at her own drawing with frustration. "My drawing looks like a broken shovel, or something like that."
Scootaloo looked at her drawing and burst out laughing. Sweetie took her pencil in her magic and popped her friend on the muzzle with it.
"Hey, that hurt!" Scootaloo protested as she rubbed her muzzle with her hoof.
"Well, so does you laughing at my drawing," Sweetie retorted with a huff.
"Alright, sorry I laughed at your..whatever that is," Scootaloo said as she looked again at the drawing.
Just then, Apple Bloom came in through the door.
"Sorry I’m late girls, Sugar Belle was at the house meetin’ Granny for the first time, and I was there providin’ moral support," she looked around at her two friends drawing. "Um, I didn't get all this to draw on. I have something specific that I want us to do."
"Well, we didn't use that much paper," Scootaloo replied back, as Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement with her. "So what did you have in mind?"
"Well, I got to thinkin’ about how Pinkie Pie keeps records on every pony; their birthdays, what their favorite foods are, just about everything you can think of. I was thinkin’ we could do the same thing."
"That seems like a lot of work," Sweetie said, as she raised her eyebrow in apprehension. "I don't even know where Pinkie gets all that information, or has time to write it all down."
"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it," Scootaloo said with a shrug. "But Sweetie's right. That seems like way too much work. Why would we need to know all that anyway?"
"I didn't mean writin’ everything about them down," Apple Bloom replied, shaking her head at the very idea of writing down so much. "I was thinkin’ of keepin’ a file of what each Pony's cutie mark means. I'd think it would help us do a better job at figuring out other ponies’ cutie marks."
"That actually makes sense," Sweetie said thoughtfully. "So where do we start? I suppose we could start with us, and then our sisters. We know those cutie marks very well."
"All the ponies we’ve helped so far, too," Scootaloo chimed in.
"That's the spirit!” Apple Bloom said happily. "Let's get to writin’ it all that down, and then we can move on from there."
After some time spent writing Apple Bloom looked up from her papers with a confused look on her face.
"Girls, you know how Diamond Tiara's cutie mark means she is good at making other ponies do what she wants?" Apple Bloom said as she glanced to her two compatriots.
"Yeah, she always knew how to make us do things even when we didn't want to, and she got every pony together really fast when she wanted to help rebuild the playground at the school," Scootaloo confirmed. "Is sometime wrong? It seems pretty clear what her mark means. It’s a tiara, so she’s like royalty, so it’s like leadership or something."
"It's not her," Apple Bloom said shaking her head. "It's Silver Spoon. What is her cutie mark supposed to mean?"
"Maybe the same thing as Diamond's does?" Scootaloo suggested helpfully. "They always do everything together, so it seems like they might have similar talents."
"But Silver Spoon isn't ever the one leadin’," Apple Bloom explained. "And being rich isn't a talent, so it can't be just a sign she has money."
"Filthy Rich and Spoiled Rich have cutie marks that seem like they mean their talent is having money," Sweetie Belle contributed to the discussion.
"Filthy has a talent for doing business and making money, so it's an actual talent. It isn't just being rich," Apple Bloom objected. "And Spoiled Milk's talent seems to be just being an entitled brat."
"By your logic that seems unlikely for Spoiled Rich," Sweetie Belle said with a hoof to her chin in thought. "Maybe we need to start a file on ponies that we have absolutely no clue on as well.Then we can put Spoiled Rich at the bottom of the file. I don't want to have to try to deal with her again any time soon."
"But we should have had enough contact with Silver Spoon over the years that we should know what her's means," Apple Bloom insisted. "If we’re that familiar with a pony shouldn't we have an idea what her cutie mark means? It’s our purpose to help ponies with cutie mark problems, we should understand our friends' cutie marks."
"I am not sure I would call Silver Spoon a friend," Scootaloo said with a level look. "Yeah, we made friends with Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon hasn't bothered us since then, but she never has really tried to make friends with us either."
"Maybe we need to try to make ourselves friends with her then," Sweetie added in. "We don't have any reason to still have problems with her if she isn't picking on us anymore. She’s been in our class with Miss Cheerilee since day one of school. What would Twilight think if we didn't try to make friends with her?"
"I suppose," Scootaloo conceded with her forelegs crossed in front of her.
"So what do we think her cutie mark could mean?" Apple Bloom said now that they were committed to finding out about her.
"Well, it is a spoon. What do you do with a spoon?" Scootaloo questioned.
"You use it to eat with of course," Sweetie Belle answered immediately, as if it was obvious.
"Um, I don't," Apple Bloom replied with confusion as she looked at Sweetie Belle.
"I don't either," Scootaloo said with a shake of her head.
"Why not? How do you eat soup or ice cream if you don't use a spoon?" Sweetie Belle said with confusion.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other with raised eyebrows, and then looked at Sweetie Belle with the eyebrows still raised.
"What? What am I missing here?" Sweetie Belle said with frustration.
Scootaloo calmly walked over to Sweetie Belle and pulled on her horn.
"You are missing the fact you have a horn and use magic to move the spoon around," Scootaloo explained to her.
"So what does that matter? That doesn't mean you two can't use spoons too," Sweetie said, still completely missing the point.
"And how do we pick up the spoons?" Scootaloo said with a sigh, hoping Sweetie Belle would figure this out if they walked her through it.
"With your mouths I suppose," Sweetie replied back, still not seeing the connection.
"And how do we get the food in our mouths if we are using our mouths for the spoon?" Apple Bloom said with a deadpan expression.
"You just..um..hmm..How do you do it?" Sweetie said as she looked down in thought.
"We don't," Scootaloo finished the discussion. "It just isn't practical at all to try to eat with the same utensil you have in your mouth. We just pick up soup bowls and drink from them, we lick ice cream. We don't use spoons."
"Which is why it is odd that an earth pony like Silver Spoon would have a spoon for a cutie mark," Apple Bloom said finally completing her original point. "Her cutie mark just don't make sense on an earth pony, and it wouldn't make sense if she were a pegasus either."
"Maybe she just has really nimble fetlocks and can use it with them," Sweetie Belle suggested.
"Does Silver Spoon strike you as being really agile at all?" Scootaloo asked.
The three of them all considered it, just for a moment, and then shook their heads as one, definitely not that agile.
"And even if she could, what kind of talent is that? Being able to eat with a spoon isn't exactly a talent worthy of a cutie mark," Sweetie Belle said after some consideration.
"Try doing it without your horn and see how talented you need to be," Scootaloo muttered.
"All there is to do is just ask her," Apple Bloom decided. "Come on girls. Let's go find Silver Spoon and find out what she thinks her cutie mark means."
The Crusaders set out of their tree house and went on a huntsearch for the enigmatic silver pony. It took a great deal of searching, but eventually they found their quarry, along with her ever present friend Diamond Tiara. The two seemed to be just relaxing in a meadow after having a picnic.
"Hey Diamond Tiara, hey Silver Spoon," Apple Bloom shouted to them as the Crusaders went running over to greet the two former bullies.
Diamond Tiara seemed pleased to see the Crusaders, and gave a friendly wave of her hoof as the three approached. She truly was a very changed pony in the past few months. While the Crusaders didn't spend much time with her outside of class, it was still obvious that Diamond was much friendlier to all, and even helpful in her own way. Word was that when the school year ended she would begin working as an aide to Mayor Mare, to better learn how to use her talents for the public good, and perhaps become mayor of Ponyville herself one day.
Silver Spoon simply looked on at the Crusaders with an impassive expression. She wasn't being hostile, but she wasn't being very friendly either. She gave a quick glance at her best friend, and then gave the Crusaders a halfhearted wave.
"Hello Crusaders," Diamond Tiara said with a smile, as the three friends finally reached the duo. "We don't get to see much of you outside of class anymore, but I know you three are really busy. Did you need our help with something? If you need to get some pony to do something I would be happy to help."
"Oh, we're sorry if we haven't spent a lot of time with you since we became friends. You were right, we have been really busy," Scootaloo apologized.
"It isn't like we have much in common, so don't feel bad for it," Silver Spoon spoke up. "We would likely bore you as much as you would bore us." It wasn't a mean response, just her stating how she saw things.
"It was actually you we wanted to talk to, instead of Diamond," Sweetie Belle told the silver pony.
"Oh?" Silver Spoon's ears perked with interest. "Why would you possibly want to talk to me?"
"We were curious about what your cutie mark meant," Apple Bloom informed her, while pointing a hoof at the spoon that adorned the former bully's flank.
Silver Spoon looked at her flank and then back at the Crusaders with a raised eyebrow. "Um, it seems like that should be obvious. I am rich, a silver spoon is a sign of privilege and wealth."
"Your talent can't be that you’re rich," Apple Bloom asserted. "Sweetie Belle's family has a lot of money too, thanks to all her sister's businesses. Any pony can be rich or poor. What would your cutie mark mean if you suddenly lost all your money?"
"It would be a pretty bad joke," Silver Spoon said with slightly lowered ears. "But that isn't going to happen. It is obvious what my cutie mark means."
"Come on, there has to be more to it than that," Scootaloo insisted. "Diamond Tiara's mark seems like it just means she is rich too at first glance, but that isn't what it means at all. Filthy Rich's mark means he is good at making money, not that he has lots of money. Yours has to mean something more too."
"Well, maybe I just don't have any special talents like every pony else," Silver Spoon said with a frustrated huff. She looked at every other filly's cutie marks. "Maybe some of us aren't meant to be able to do special things."
"Silver Spoon, that isn't true!" Diamond Tiara shouted with dismay at her best friend. "There has to be special things about you too."
"Really? What have you ever seen me do, Di?" Silver Spoon shot back at her friend. "I can't help ponies find their cutie marks, or convince ponies to do what I want them to do. I don't have crazy super strength, or able to write poetry, or baking, or anything."
The silver filly now held her head dejectedly as her best friend tried to comfort her. The Crusaders looked to one another, this was a cutie mark emergency.
"Don't worry Silver Spoon, we will help you figure this out. It is what we do," Apple Bloom said confidently. "You had to have known what it was for when you first got it, you've just forgotten what it is."
"I highly doubt ponies just forget what their cutie marks mean," Silver Spoon said grumpily. Diamond Tiara somehow looked both apprehensive and hopeful at the same time at hearing this.
"You'd be surprised," Apple Bloom said as she looked to her fellow Crusaders.
"Yeah," Scootaloo continued. "We met this stallion name Troubleshoes once, he had no clue what his mark actually meant. I mean he probably knew right when he got it that he was destined to entertain audiences, but he got so embarrassed right after getting it that I think he got confused about what it meant."
"Come on Silver, please give them a chance to help you. You aren't happy with not knowing what your cutie mark means, and this is what they do," Diamond pleaded with her friend.
Silver Spoon looked at Diamond Tiara for a moment then sighed. "Alright, but I don't think there is anything more than just being rich to it."
"Great!" Apple Bloom said happily. "Let's get to figurin’ this thing out."
"Do you remember the day you actually got your mark?" Sweetie Belle asked Silver Spoon.
"Duh, of course I do," Silver Spoon said irritability.
"So, tell us about it then," Sweetie continued, trying her best to ignore the silver pony's bad attitude.
"There isn't a lot to tell," Silver Spoon said with a roll off her eyes. "I was sick at home that day, as sick as I have ever been. It appeared on my flank when I was sick in bed. Really interesting and insightful cutie mark story isn't it?"
"You were just sick in bed and it appeared? That's it?" Scootaloo said with her head turned to the side in confusion. "That isn't how ponies get cutie marks. Not unless your talent is being sick in bed."
"That would certainly be a rotten talent to have," Apple Bloom muttered.
"Well, that's all there is to tell. I'm sorry I don't have any big life changing event that happened. I just have a cutie mark that says I am rich," Silver Spoon crossed her forelegs as if the matter was settled.
"Hold on, there's got to be more to it than that," Apple Bloom said with a shake of her head. "And even if it were just saying you are rich, that be an awful weird time for it appear to say that."
"Well, that's what happened. You should just accept it," Silver Spoon insisted.
"Maybe we are looking at too broad a time by looking at the whole day you got your cutie mark," Sweetie Belle said with thought. "If you are like Troubleshoes the the fact you were sick and miserable that whole day might have made you not take the time to really think about what made you earn your cutie mark."
"Can you remember what was going on at the exact moment you earned your cutie mark?" Scootaloo asked.
Silver Spoon still looked annoyed. Diamond looked at her with pleading eyes. Silver Spoon huffed again, and sat visibly thinking about it for a moment.
"I was in bed, and my mother was there," she said as she worked to recall the event. "She was giving me my medicine. She was taking it from a bottle with..a silver spoon, to give to me." The filly looked over to her flank with a nostalgic look. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she continued. "I remember that I was feeling so miserable, but my mommy was taking care of me. I remember thinking how great she was for doing so. She is always so busy, she is out of town a lot, but when I was sick she rushed home to take care of me. It made me feel so special and loved to know that she was taking the time to come take care of me, despite being so busy. I don't think I ever looked up to her as much as I did right then, and then my cutie mark appeared."
"So your cutie mark is for being taken care of?" Diamond Tiara asked uncertainly.
"I think you are missing part of the point, Diamond," Apple Bloom said with realization. "Her mark is the spoon, the item her mother was using to take care of her, and she was wanting to be like her mom right then. I don't think being taken care of is Silver Spoon's talent, I think it is a desire to be like her mom right then and take care of others."
"Like Rarity!" Sweetie Belle said with realization. "To be generous with your help and time to those who need you."
"That doesn't sound like a talent," Diamond said.
"But it does sound like a destiny, and what makes you feel good. Cutie marks don't always mean you do something well, they can mean that doing something is really important to you," Sweetie Belle explained.
"I..I don't know," Silver Spoon said shakily. "I definitely haven't been really doing that since I got my mark."
"And have you really felt good about yourself since then?" Apple Bloom asked. Silver Spoon shook her head dejectedly. "Maybe that is because you aren't doing what your mark says will make you happy. You are ignoring an important part of yourself, a definin’ part of yourself."
"But how can I be sure that is what I should be doing?" Silver Spoon said, now crying.
"Just take any opportunities you can to try to give your time to help some pony else that needs some pony to care about them, and see if you start to feel more in touch with your mark then," Sweetie Belle replied kindly. "The worst that could happen is you only just helped some pony, and that is pretty good on its own."
"I'll try and see what happens, and..thank you Crusaders," Silver Spoon said with a smile.
As the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked away, Sweetie Belle again reflected on what an earth pony did with a spoon, and came to a realization.
"I understand what non-unicorns can do with spoons now," Sweetie Belle said to the other two. The other two friends looked to her expectantly.
"They can't use a spoon to take care of themselves, it just isn't possible, but they can use a spoon to take care of others."
Author's Note
Welcome any comments on corrections. My phone's autocorrect is the devil. I did deliberately cut the g off all the things Apple Bloom said ending in ing in an attempt to mimic her speech.
