“Okay, so you’ve got your cutie mark, and you were just really proud of it?”, Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”, the colt asked in return.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that you were rubbing it in everypony’s faces.”, Sweetie Belle answered.

“We totally get being proud of your cutie mark. You should be proud. We couldn’t be more proud of our cutie marks, but you don’t see us throwin’ them in the faces of any blank flanks.”, Apple Bloom told the colt.

“Yeah, kinda like how you talked about how much better your cutie mark was than ours.”, Scootaloo reminded the colt, still irritated at how he had so snidely mocked them earlier.

Apple Bloom glared at her pegasus friend.

“Sorry.”, Scootaloo apologized.

“Yeah sorry, girls. As much as I would love to hear you lecture me about my cutie mark, I have more important things to do.”, the colt rudely dismissed the fillies once again.

“See? That’s exactly the problem.”, Apple Bloom said.

“We might have our work cut out with you.”, Sweetie Belle told their newest client.

“The important thing you need to learn is to know how to talk to other ponies in a calm and peaceful manner without bringing up your cutie mark every two seconds.”, Scootaloo told the colt.

“Well, how else am I gonna get everypony else to realize how great I am?”, the colt asked.

“It’s not about your cutie mark. It’s about how you act that counts.”, Sweetie Belle answered his question.

“Havin’ a cutie mark is one of the greatest things that can ever happen to a pony, but your attitude is the most important aspect of all. If you act like a kindhearted pony around others, they’ll return the favor. Whether or not you have a special symbol on your flank will never affect that.”, Apple Bloom told their newest client.

“Huh. Maybe you’re right.”, the colt admitted.

“Nice going there, Apple Bloom.”, Scootaloo whispered to her earth pony friend.

“Aw, it was nothin’.”, Apple Bloom whispered back.

“So now that we’ve gotten that through your head, why don’t we head back to your cute-ceanera and see what you’ve learned?”, Sweetie Belle suggested to the colt.

During the trip, Sweetie Belle had shared some stories of the Crusaders’ past adventures.

“Wow, he really stole your cutie marks? I can’t imagine how I would feel if that happened to me. Must’ve been awful.”, the colt said, shocked at what’d happened.

“It’s been a peaceful few months since then, but I’ve had a few nightmares here and there.”, Apple Bloom shuddered.

“To have all of our hard work just taken away like that…makes me sick!”, Scootaloo added with disgust.

“If anything, I’m even more grateful for having my cutie mark!”, the colt commented.

The Crusaders shared a worried look, as if their attempt to fix his attitude had failed.

The four ponies finally arrived at the colt’s cute-ceanera. As he entered, the guests visibly rolled their eyes at seeing the showoff back at the party.

“Gee, people don’t want him around even at his own party!”, Sweetie Belle whispered to her friends.

“Yeah, no kidding!”, Scootaloo agreed.

“I can’t believe it!”, Apple Bloom also agreed.

The colt made his way to the center of the room, with all eyes on him. Confident, he started to speak to everypony present.

“Everypony, I know I’ve been a huge jerk. After I got my cutie mark, I thought I was better than everypony else and let it get to my head. I treated everyone I saw as below me like dirt. But because of these three fillies that call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, I’ve learned that it’s not about what’s on the outside, but on the inside that counts. I want to apologize to everypony I mistreated because of my ego. I want to apologize to my friends, the guests, and every pony without a cutie mark that I didn’t let into my party. I promise I won’t ever disrespect other ponies because of my cutie mark.”, the colt finished.

Everypony clapped after hearing his apology. He was forgiven and felt at ease for having his apology accepted. He turned to the Crusaders that had helped him.

“Thank you so much, Crusaders. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“You’re welcome. It was fun to help you fix your social life and get back together with your friends.”, Sweetie Belle told the colt.

“Yeah, and we’ll always be here to help in the future.”, Apple Bloom added.

“That’s a promise.”, Scootaloo added.

“Good. And by the way, your cutie marks actually look great. I was wrong to say you got the short end of the stick. Being the only fillies to have matching cutie marks is a big deal.”, the colt told the Crusaders.

“You bet it is.”, Scootaloo responded, pleased that their client had finally recognized what a huge point of pride their cutie marks were and what they meant.

“Well, see you around!”, the colt said goodbye.

The three fillies waved goodbye, and then went back to their clubhouse.

“It’s always nice to help other ponies, even if they already have cutie marks.”, Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

“What’ll we do next?”, Sweetie Belle asked.

“I don’t know, but whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll succeed.”, Scootaloo answered confidently.

“Yeah!”, the three fillies yelled in unison as they high-hoofed each other.

Author's Note

This was meant to be a short, relaxed story. I just wanted to do something a little easier than previously, and a slice-of-life story was the way to go.

Might step away from the CMC for my next fic, as I don’t want all my stories to just have the CMC in them.

Any criticism is necessary.