Chronicles of Equestria I: The Tome, the Stranger and the Book Club

Someponies believe it to be difficult, perhaps even unbearable to wake up with the sun rise, to the loud hawking of a pretencious bird no less! Others, such as the members of the Apple family found it one of the most basic and uplifting components of the day.

For Apple Bloom, it meant a new day, full of new opportunities and fun with her Cutie Mark Crusader friends. For her big sister and brother, it meant another calm and fulfilling day out in the fresh air, having a well deserved rest, given that it was already the end of fall, past harvest season. For their grandmother it meant another restful day of exchanging letters with far away friends and family, while also taking a few quiet hours reflecting on a long rich life and the pride she feels towards her hard-working and foursquare grandchildren.

Beyond that, it meant another, very important thing to the entire family: A delicious breakfast, made the way only Granny Smith knows how. Apple Bloom - for one - declared to herself a long time ago, that even if her super special talent turns out to be something like train puller or maybe being a sea captain, which would lead her to far away lands, she would always find a way to come back as often as she can, because she could simply not imagine her life without the delicious apple pies her granny always makes.

Yes, the breakfasts held a very dear place in the little filly's heart and just minutes after the rooster's call, she was already hopping down the stairs, wondering if she should put some extra syrup on her slice today or just eat it 'raw'. To her surprise, as coming down, she's noticed that Big Macintosh was pulling up another chair to the breakfast table.

'We're havin' a guest Big Mac?' she asked, walking to his brother.

'Eeyup.' replied that in his simple manner. 'He's ahrrived yesterday evenin', not long before you've got home ahctually.'

'How come Ah di'nt meet him then?'

'He rested down early, sugarcube.' replied Applejack, walking out of the kitchen while balancing five plates on her nose. She quickly slid them on the table then continued while moving them in place: 'We didn't want to bother 'im to introduce you two. Which reminds me: Could you please go and see if he's up Mac? Ah'll go help Granny with the pie.'

'No need!' came a merry tune from upstairs. The unknown stallion trotted down with a friendly smile. He, unwitingly caused a slight bit of consternation in the dining room.

He was still wearing the weird-looking, rag-like harness but that wasn't the source of the shock. His mane was now combed, rid of yesterday's matted mess and this revealed - apart from a few brighter strands of hair - that his left ear's top was chipped off. It wasn't a nasty wound. Whatever caused the loss of his upper ear, happened at least a few years ago, but it is always an uneasy feeling when a pony sees the signs of such harsh and obviously painful damage on somepony else. Naturally, Big Mac and Applejack were only moved for a single moment but Apple Bloom couldn't help but stare at the crippled ear.

'I must say, this was one of the best rests I can remember. I'm truly grea...' started the teal stallion, then noticed the filly and followed her eyes to the side of his own head. 'Well, hello there!' he changed after a moment's hesitation. 'My name is Oakleaf!'

It took a few seconds for the little filly to realize she was addressed but then quickly replied blushingly: 'Ah'm Apple Bloom.'

'A pleasure Miss.' nodded the stallion, smiling at the filly; then turned to Applejack. 'As I was saying: I am greatly thankful for your hospitality, but I'd hate to be a bother any further so...'

'Hold ahn right there.' interrupted him the orange mare. 'We insist you stay for breakfast. Mohst of Ponyville is still sound asleep, so it's not like you'd miss anything.' Applejack said, but only partially out of hospitality. She also wanted to stay true to her promise to Twilight and keep eye on this unicorn for at least the time being.

'Thank you!' The unicorn bowed his head once more. 'Can I help with anything?'

'Nah don't you worry. We'll be ready in lickitysplik!' the orange mare replied and quickly went back to the kitchen, soon followed by her brother.

The teal stallion lifted one of his hooves uncertainly as if preparing to go after the mare but stopped, just placing it back on the ground and stared in the kitchen's direction.

Meanwhile Apple Bloom still didn't lift her eyes off of the ear. Various scenarios were racing through her mind from the improbable to the downright impossible. For one, she imagined the stallion performing some kind of elaborate trick where he flies many sharp knives through the air with magic then accidentally loses control of one... She shivered a bit at the image that came to her mind.

Noticing her undying attention, the stallion turned to her once more.

'I don't want to be mean but why are you starring at me like that?' asked the unicorn, pretending not to follow the filly's gaze.

'Oh Ah'm just...' started the filly. She wanted to make a quick excuse, but then again her sister always said she should be honest and it's not like this stallion would be hiding it or anything. 'Ah'm just curious as to how did...' Here she lowered her voice so only the two of them can hear it. '...that happen to you ear.'

The stallion looked up and wiggled his left ear visibly.

'It's a pretty old wound. Got it from a pack of wolves.'

'WOLVES?!' shouted Apple Bloom in amazement, completely forgetting about their company.

'What's goin' on out here?' asked Applejack, almost instantly appearing at the door. 'What are ye yellin' for Apple Bloom?'

'It's nothing, she was just curious how my ear ended up like this.' explained Oak in a pacifying tone.

'Apple Bloom!' The orange pony raised her voice and gave a look to Apple Bloom that (though wasn't on match with the work of "The Stare Master") reassured the filly that she's officially on the bad side of her big sister now.

'It's really nothing.' preserved the teal stallion. 'Curiosity is natural and a good thing to have, in my opinion.' he noted in defence of the filly. 'Still, I doubt the story would be much befitting of a dinning table.'

'Ahlright then.' said Applejack finally, still looking at the filly. 'It'll be just a few more minutes! Make yourself comfortable.'

Apple Bloom - feeling down from the silent scolding - crawled up onto her usual chair and started to stare mulishly at her plate. Hesitantly, the stallion took a seat across from the filly and looked at her with a supportive smile.

'You didn't offend me.' he said simply after about a minute while the filly didn't take her gaze off the plate.

'It's mah sister Applejack.' replied the filly, still not moving her eyes. 'Sometimes she can be so serious about stuff.'

'Well, it may be so but she means well.'

'Ah know she means well.' said Apple Bloom finally looking up. 'It's just that it get so annoying at times. Ah'm trying my best to be good.'

'I see...' nodded the stallion and started thinking. After a bit he raised his head and started flapping his left ear, rerouteing the filly's attention.

'You've said you got that from wolves?' asked the filly quietly. 'Are you an animal tamer?'

'That would be the day...' The stallion chuckled a bit. 'No actually I've got this on a... Well maybe "adventure" is the best word but I don't think the details fit for breakfast, especially for such a young filly.'

'So you're an adventurer?!' Apple Bloom's eyes widened. The possibilities! If she could get a real, honest to Celestia adventurer to help her and the CMC, they could get their cutie marks in no time! And what wicked cutie marks could those be! 'Is your cutie mark a compass? A whip?! Maybe a... a... One of those jungle sword thingies!'

'A machete cutie mark?' asked the stallion bending back in the chair and lifting his gaze to the ceiling, smiling thoughtfully. 'I once knew somepony who would have loved that. But no, I'm not one of those "born to be an adventurer" types.'

'But then what is your cutie mark?' the filly stood up on her chair and tried to look over the table to see stallion's flank.

Normally she wouldn't do this. It was considered very rude to stare at a stranger's flank but she was just too worked up with curiosity. When Oakleaf stood up a little and she saw his flank, she had to catch her breath.

'You've got no cutie mark?!' she asked in terror. The phantom possibility that she may grow up without a cutie mark just materialized in front of her.

'Right, I've forgot.' said the stallion more to himself than to the filly. He lit up the top of his horn and shined it's magical light towards his back, revealing the same strange symbol.

'You! You can do that?! Make cutie marks appear?!' asked Apple Bloom gasping for air. Her worst nightmare just transformed into her greatest hope in front of her eyes. 'You've got to do that spell on me!'

'It doesn't work like that.' said the stallion in a calming voice, then gave the same explanation he gave to the librarian yesterday about his coat's and mark's colour coincidentally being of the same colour. Apple Bloom however didn't pay attention to any of it. This was the single most remarkable experience involving real cutie marks she've ever experienced and - since, on multiple occasions the CMC provided unquestionable, scientific proof that cutie marks are the single most important thing in the know world - she knew that she needed to get this stallion to help them.

'So you are a magician?' asked Apple Bloom with big eyes.

'Well, you could say that I suppose. But I'm better with making spells than casting them.'

'What does that supposed to mean?' Excluding a selected few, driven by academic interest; earth ponies, had little understanding of unicorn magic. Add this to the young age of Apple Bloom and her crude belief that magic is "Just something where a unicorn wrinkles her eyebrows and her horn starts glowing." is understandable.

'Oh, it's not that complicated really. It's like with...' the stallion looked around, searching for a good comparison. 'Apples!'

'Apples?' Apple Bloom knew much about apples. Well, as much as a filly at her age can know about her family's business anyway. And if she was sure of one thing then it was that apples are not magical. Not ordinary ones anyway.

'Apples!' nodded the unicorn obviously proud of the clever and appropriate analogy he just came up with. 'You see, there are ponies who know how to care for apple trees, ponies who can flourish an apple acre! But it takes somepony with a different kind of talent to make delicious pies of them!'

'What does that have to do with magic?'

'Well, I grow apples. Write spells in actuality.' continued Oakleaf. 'Then some pony comes, who knows how to turn them into pie. Or in reality: successfully cast them!'

The unicorn eagerly smiled at the filly, awaiting a sign of understanding but she had none to share. Despite the familiar reference, Apple Bloom had trouble understanding the concept. Somepony being good at casting magic was easy to imagine. No, she didn't even need to imagine, Twilight Sparkle was right there to show it, but writing spells? Don't they all come with the horn?

Before either of them could say anything, a merry, old voice broke the silence coming from the kitchen.

'Make way Macintosh!' said the voice of Granny Smith, moments before entering the room by the side of Applejack who was carrying a pie steaming delicious fumes. The orange pony quickly placed the pie on the table and then picked up the already prepared cutting knife.

Now, despite years of practice, delicate knife handling was never the strong point of Applejack, or generally all of pony kind with the exception of unicorns and alicrons. The fact that she now had to cut the pie five ways instead of just four - when she could be done in two crude cuts - just added to the problem.

'Allow me.' hurried Oak (who courteously stood up as soon as the mares entered the room) to her help and used his horn to cleanly cut the pie in five perfectly equal slices with the movements of an expert. Apple Bloom was reminded of an adventure book where it's hero - a kind hearted but often overly eager unicorn mare - used to expertly cut her cutie mark into her foes' armour, just further lifting her admiration for the new new stallion.

In reality, which this outsider pony apparently didn't know was that even with the three pony races living together in harmony, there were unwritten rules. It was highly rude for example for unicorns to use their magic in a way that would make others appear as if they can't handle a situation without request. Still, it was Apple family standards to always be kind and tolerant to visitors, so the only negative gesture was that Granny Smith looked at the unicorn with oblique eyes.

The rest of the breakfast went mostly usual. Apple Bloom finished with her slice as soon as she could just so she can start asking questions like "Big Mac! Did you ever meet somepony who fought a wolf?" and "Ah wonder, can you make a spell that can take down a wolf in one blow?". The unicorn's retinas gone smaller after the second question but his muzzle remained inexpressive. "What a thing to say Apple Bloom!" Applejack hushed her sister quickly and that was that.

After the breakfast, Oakleaf stood up and bowed his head to the other, thanking them for the food and was just about to bid farewell and leave when the orange mare interrupted him and asked if he'd like to visit Twilight's library. A bit of consideration later the unicorn agreed.

'Can Ah come along?' asked Apple Bloom eagerly. There were so many questions she wanted to ask of the stallion.

'Shouldn't you wash up and visit your friends?' replied her big sister. 'I bet ya'll have a loooong list of things to try today.'

How can she be so blind? Who cares about list of random things THEY'VE come up with? This stallion here is a real adventurer! A sword player, a wolf tamer, a magic-crafter! If anypony can get them their cutie mark, it's him!

On the other hoof, she didn't want to stay on the bad side of her big sister for long so she just hanged her head in as much of an irritated way as she could muster and walked back up the stairs to the bath after mumbling under her nose: "Okaaaay..."

The day was still young though; the filly thought to herself once she left the house to find Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She may not have the unicorn with her but she knows where he went! Besides, the library usually makes everything suuuuuper long and boring. They'll be stuck there for hours, she doesn't even have to hurry.

She started by heading to Carousel Boutique, to find Sweetie Belle and hopefully Scootaloo too. It was bit weird as she just recently noticed how big Ponyville really is, since Sweetie Belle's parents gone off to yet another - this time a month long - vacation leaving their daughter with her sister. All the unfamiliar roads and houses that she usually saw from far away when walking into town, seemed to double in size and number when she got up close.

She always had an admiration for all the various buildings in town, the way a balcony hangs out here, a small tower rises above the surroundings there, how the roofs gently roll over near the edges on some of them...

When she was younger, despite the usual energetic, unstopable nature of fillies in that age, she once would sit down and watch as ponies built one of the bigger houses near the edge of Ponyville just to see how they work...

But she didn't have time to wonder about them, not now of all times! Oh the looks on her friends' faces! A strange, perhaps not exactly 'deserved' pride rested on her chest, knowing that she just ate breakfast with the redemption of their little group.

Arriving at the town's most elegant boutique, she found that Scootaloo was already waiting there and she seemed pretty restless. As soon as noticing the yellow filly, she emitted some kind of a groan and started to pound on the building's door. A few seconds later a very displeased Rarity appeared in one of the upper floor windows, wearing a towel on her head with eyes as sharp as the grass. She yelled something over her shoulder that the two fillies couldn't make out from the outside but just under a minute their third friend hopped out the front door.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle instantly proceeded to say their trademark Cutie Mark Crusader greetings but Apple Bloom didn't say a word just had a smug little smile on her muzzle. They asked her what's the problem to which she proudly explained that she've just met a unicorn who is not simply an excellent sword swinger, a master of the wilds and worthy of the title arch-mage; but is also a great adventurer who easily has seen enough in his travels to know what they must do to get their cutie marks!

Apple Bloom noted with satisfaction that her prediction of dropped jaws on her friends' behalf did not exaggerate. As soon as she mentioned that the said stallion was currently at the library, Scootaloo shouted: "Then what are we waiting for?!". The orange pegasus obviously did not share her friend's "We've got time." attitude and already reached for her scooter which had their little red wagon tied behind it.

A few minutes later, they were already well on their way to the great tree that gave home to Ponyville's library. They've sped through the - mostly empty - main street, only gathering the attention of a hoofful of shopkeepers who were busy rearranging their shop windows and stalls.

'You never said what kind of cutie mark he has, Apple Bloom.' noted Sweetie Belle, over her own shoulder, afraid of letting go of the wagon to turn around.

'But that's the most amazing part!' her yellow friend replied. 'His cutie mark is invisible!'

'Invisible?!' asked Sweetie Belle turning her head back in disbelief. 'What does that supposed to mean? He's got some sort of spell that makes him invisible?!'

'Ah'm not sure.' replied Apple Bloom thoughtfully. 'Prohbably, but that's not the amazing part! He can make it appear using his magic!'

'But if it's invisible by standard, how come it has a shape that can be made visi...' argued Sweetie Belle but couldn't finish as Scootaloo suddenly shouted:

'HOLD ON!'

The orange filly took a very sharp turn right at the end of the street, that nearly made her two passengers roll out of their wagon. She simply released a wild cheer and continued down the next road without looking back. She didn't really pay much attention to the conversation behind her either right now, she was on a mission! A mission to get from A to B as fast as possible and given the wind in her face, the small rocks and gaps in the road she had to dodge and the awesome turns she could pull of, she just had too much fun to talk at the moment.

When the library was finally in view Scootaloo completely leaned onto the steering rod of her scooter and got ready to make one of her famous pin point stops! She didn't even have to warn the others at this point. They've garbed their wagon as hard as they could. Scootaloo quickly made a 135 degree turn, making the scooter and wagon look like an arrowhead shooting towards the tree. They slid a good five feet more and then stopped just an inch off of a large rock next to the tree. Pin Point stop #9 was a complete success.

The orange pegasus filly jumped off of her scooter with great pride and hastily trotted to the library's door.

'Miss Sparkle!' Scootaloo called out, pushing in the door without knocking. Her friends quickly made their way to the door as well.

'Let me guess,' replied Spike who was running through his morning checklist in a corner of the empty library room. 'you want a book about how to build trains?'

'Uh... No.' replied Sweetie Belle making a note in her head reading: "Cutie Mark Crusaders, Engineers".

'Where's mah sister and Miz Sparkle?' asked Apple Bloom pushing her head into the library next to Scootaloo.

'They? They went off with that weird unicorn. They're probably at the café.' shrugged Spike, focusing on the list in his hands.

'How do you mean "weird"?' asked Sweetie Belle.

'I don't know. He just looked at me funny all the while he was here.' The baby dragon stood up. 'So, what do you need?'

'Nothing.' replied Scootaloo and turned around, pushing her friends out of the library. 'Come on, we need to get to the café!'

With that the fillies left behind the library, as hastily as they came, leaving nothing but a dragon behind who - to put it frankly - was beyond the point of caring about their shenanigans as long as it didn't involve him in some way.

Just a couple of minutes later, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom once again found themselves holding onto the wagon like if it would be their very lives as Scootaloo made #13 of her pin point stops. (Which of course involved her, jumping in front of the scooter, while grabbing tightly onto the steering pole; then hanging herself in the air for a few moments with sheer muscle power, flapping her wings as hard as she can in the opposite direction as the one in which the scooter is going and finally when it's just about to stop, stepping down on the ground with as much of a "What's up?" expression on her face as possible.)

They were just around the corner from the Café. Scootaloo would have gone closer but they've got temporarily banned from the area once before when Scootaloo jumped over a table where two ponies were dining as part of trick #4. They all agreed that it was unfair, after all she didn't even touch the table or anything.

Looking around the corner, the crusaders quickly spotted the purple librarian and the orange farmpony, who sat at the most distant table. It wasn't difficult to notice them really, apart from the crusaders there was only three ponies in the whole area. Two of them were Applejack and Twilight and the last one was the waiter. He seemingly didn't expect customers this soon as his mane lacked that glossy shine that he always applied with some nasty glue like stuff that the fillies thought just smells awful.

Once the waiter disappeared back into the shop, the coast was clear for the fillies.

'I just don't know Applejack.' they've heard Twilight say as they made their way to the table. 'I just feel... I don't know how I feel. I'm afraid I wronged him without a good reason. But I've got a reason... Except I'm not sure.'

The librarian rested her head on the table, next to the newly delivered coffee and fruit salad,looking to the opposite direction as the three fillies.

'Now, now sugarcube.' said Applejack in as sweet a tone as her voice allowed. 'Ah admit; you not telling 'im right away that the book is with the Princess, was not a good thing to do. But...' Applejack stopped and put a hoof infront of Twilight's face. 'Look here, please. That's better. So even thou' that was not the best thing, you did what you thought was best. Ah reckon, that is nothin' to be ashamed of. In fact, Ah must admit that there's something about this unicorn and 'is appearance that just rubs me the wro...' Here she was interrupted by the curious tone of Sweetie Belle.

'Excuse me, Applejack, Miss Twilight. We are looking for a unicorn. Wasn't there one with you?'

Twilight and Applejack both turned towards the fillies, however while Twilight's eyes shown surprise, curiosity and focused on the group; Applejack's eyes closed in a deathly gaze and searched for the image of her little sister, who hid behind her two friends now.

'Apple Bloom.' noted the orange mare in a tone as if she would just acknowledge that apples are a sort of fruit. She obviously knew why they were looking for the unicorn and was working on... No! Crafting with great care, a scolding for her little sister that could be unleashed at any moment.

Right now, Apple Bloom could have kicked Sweetie Belle. Not too hard of course... Maybe a bit... Okay not at all, but still! Why did she have to announce the reason why they came? They could have just had a nice boring little chat with Twilight, maybe ask for tips about book writing - one of the things they've neglected to get to since the first generation of their list of possibilities.

Then and just then, maybe hint at their passing curiosity of where they could find a unicorn who knows how to wield all sorts of weapons, fights beasts as a hobby and incants spells that could put any other magician to shame.

Instead Sweetie Belle had to blurt it all out in the first line. Well done. Now she, will have to listen to her sister's scolding. Apple Bloom hanged her head and stood out from behind her friends, ready to take whatever her sister has to say.

'Oh, if you're looking for Oakleaf, we sent him to Carousel Boutique.' said Twilight before Applejack could open her mouth.

'Really?' Apple Bloom's eyes went wide. This is her chance to dodge a... Come to think of it she wasn't quite sure what a bullet even is, except that Scootaloo once declared that even one of those can't keep up with Rainbow Dash. But this was no time to wonder! This was a time to act. And fast!

'He-hey!' Applejack raised her voice as Apple Bloom gave a more than gentle nudge to her two friends. 'Where do you think you're...?'

'Thank you Miz Sparkle!' shouted Apple Bloom and started galloping back to the corner where their scooter and wagon waited. She quickly added over her shoulder: 'Have a nice breakfast.'

They could hear a few words after that, but not much before going around the corner and blasting off once more to the botique.

'What was all that about?' Twilight was utterly confused by the episode.

'Ah think my sister wants to bother 'im about some adventure story or what not.' replied Applejack who stood up but didn't go after her sister.

'Great, so I've sent another curse upon him. I'm just great at this huh?' Twilight grunted.

'Curse is ah strong word isn't it?' Applejack replied somewhat insulted that her little sister would be referred to as such but continued in a calm tone: 'But you didn't know. Rarity will take care of them, Ah'm sure.'

'Great, so we'll make a full circle now.' moaned Scootaloo over her shoulder once they were clear of the café.

'Well yeah, but how was Ah supposed to know he'll want to go to Rarity's of all places.' defended herself Apple Bloom. The thought of the now postponed scolding completely escaped her mind in the light of their goal.

'Maybe he wants my sister to make one of those big, dark coloured dresses that all the mages wear.' added Sweetie Belle.

'I think that's just for the mages in the oldmare's tales.' cooled her down the orange pegasus filly. 'Who would seriously want to wear something like that all the time?'

They've took a sharp turn around a house after which it took all of Scootaloo's expertise to keep the scooter and wagon intact and not run into the unsuspecting stranger who was walking down the road just ahead of them. Even then, the scooter train and its passengers tripped over once she made the second, correcting manoeuvre to dodge the stallion.

Lucky for them, the stallion heard the screeching noise behind himself and quickly turned around, just in time to catch the falling fillies and their favoured vehicle in a friendly, teal blob of magic.

'You should really look where you're...' started Oakleaf, then noticed Apple Bloom and placed the fillies on the ground. 'Miss... You three didn't happen to be looking for me by chance?'

'Ooooh. He's good!' noted Scootaloo.

'Mizter Oak, sir!' started Apple Bloom but stopped, unsure as what to say.

'We were thinking, if maybe you could...' Sweetie Belle tried to help in but was afraid she would address such a great pony wrongly.

'Apple Bloom told us what an amazing adventurer you are!' Scootaloo broke through finally. 'We though that if there's anypony here or anywhere else who can tell us how to find our special talents, then it's you!'

The stallion did not reply just looked at the fillies for a while with a sense of irk on his face. Apple Bloom noticed that he seemed a lot more serious now than when they had breakfast. He turned around for a moment to lift a scroll he apparently dropped when catching them and only then replied:

'I think Miss Apple Bloom here may have exaggerated my talents from their truth.' he said. The fillies didn't have a single clue what the word "exaggerated" may mean. 'I'm not a soothsayer or medium of any kind. I can't just, I don't know; look into your eyes and say: You are destined to be a cook, you're a swimming champion and you would do great as a portrait painter maybe.' he said while pointing his hoof at Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle respectively on the last part. 'Now, I'd hate to be rude but I've got an important letter and I must get to Caro-Carou... to a boutique. Ladies.'

'But... Hey!' Scootaloo jumped in front of the stallion, forcing him to stop. 'I'm sure it would take just a moment for you to cast a spell that will tell us our true talents!'

'It's so unfair that nopony ever helps us.' sighed Sweetie Belle.

The teal stallion raised his eyebrows. Perhaps he just took pity or realized that he's only going to walk out of this as a villain if he doesn't say something so he huffed a bit and said:

'I presume many grown ups before me told you that you should be 'waiting' for your cutie marks right? Right. Well I can't magically make them obvious but I suppose I might be able to help figure them out. Now, I won't make this easy and it won't come cheap, I can tell you that much right now. The price of my first suggestion shall be...' Here he paused and stepped to the side so the orange filly was no longer in front of him. 'A little ease of mind until I get to the boutique with the strange name on the end of this road. Deal?'

The three crusaders exchanged looks then - somewhat disappointedly - replied in chorus: "Deal." The stallion smiled, more to himself than to the fillies and continued to walk down the road in such an annoyingly normal a pace that it made Scootaloo itch. She could have made the route 8 times by when they finally arrived at the boutique.

The stallion, as if toying with them, thoughtfully examined the shop, looked in a window where the fashionista displayed her most popular designs then brushed his mane back before stepping to the door.

'Oh I almost forgot.' he noted before opening the door. 'My first suggestion to the three of you is this: If you want to find your cutie marks you need not go further than your own bedroom.'

'Huh?' Apple Bloom asked, partially confused, partially annoyed by the useless tip. 'How's that supposed to help us?'

The stallion chuckled slightly then explained: 'In almost all cases, a pony's special talent is something they did most of their lives, but didn't reach a peak in yet. Or simply did not think of it as their talent. You three should look around your own bedrooms for songbooks, photos showing you doing some hobbies, drawings you made or even in your journal if you have one. Find what you enjoy most and you're probably half way there!'

"Well, that didn't help much" noted Apple Bloom in herself. Still, it was more than what most grown ups said and he IS somepony who can make his own cutie mark appear and disappear. He of all ponies should know this stuff.

'Well ahll right.' she nodded. She looked at her two friends, expecting looks that spell "This is why we ran around for?", but instead Scootaloo wrinkled her eyebrows in concentration and Sweetie Belle seemed excited.

'I guess that means I'm first!' the white filly chirped and quickly trotted around the stallion, pushing in the boutique's door, much to the teal unicorn's surprise.'

'Um, good morning!' said the stallion taking but a few steps into the shop. He was quickly forced to skip in further as the other two fillies pushed their way in.

The Carousel Boutique - as always - bathed in an air of class, elegance and all around fabulousness that was unique to it in Ponyville. The only other venture in the town to successfully mimic this feel was the spa. It was an open secret that the Spa too only achieved this, once Rarity decided to give it a make over so it can be worthy to tend to her beauty.

The fashionista herself was just tending to a few rolls of cloth in a corner and didn't seem too happy when she heard the three fillies rush into the store.

'Good Morning, please give me a second.' replied Rarity only giving the stallion the briefest of looks. 'Sweetie Belle, girls! Stop for a moment!'

The fillies groaned at their continued delays but they knew not to go against Rarity so just sat down where they were.

'I thought I told you that I had a very important dress to work on this morning Sweetie Belle! I told you that after dinner I'll have some time for you. Can't you girls please find another place to play until then?' asked Rarity trying to find balance between sounding understanding and voicing her authority.

'But Sis, we were just going to my room! We're going to be quiet. I promise!' the white filly preserved.

'Just to your room?' Rarity had a bad feeling about this. What could drive these three little fillies to lock themselves up in a room? Do they want to try being Interior decorators? Heavens forbid! 'You three just stay put for a minute alright? I have to help the gentlecolt. Don't go anywhere!'

The mare turned around and looked at the stallion, preparing to greet him formally but paused. Her eyes slowly scanned the stranger, taking time to examine the dreadfully ugly patchwork harness, the hastily brushed mane that was just swamped by the signs of long time unkemptness and... Gah, a chipped ear? - when her eyes met the ear, the stallion instantly pulled it back against his head. - What sort of pony came into her beautiful shop? She'll have to correct this... this... There is not an adequate word for 'this'.

'What can I do for you Mr...?' she started poorly hiding her professional disgust.

'Oakleaf...' The stallion stopped. 'Oakleaf "the Vagrant".' he added with a spiritless smile. 'I hate to intrude but two ladies told me that I should come see you about a formal suit, which I need made as soon as possible.'

'Oh.' nodded Rarity while "You'll need a lot more than a suit to make you look couth dear." ran through her mind. 'Well, I'm not exactly specialized for... Stallions. But I can definitely try my best!'

'Actually,' Oak quickly opened his scroll at a specific area then flew his scroll over to the white unicorn. 'one of them, Miss Sparkle said I should show this to you.'

'Twilight?' Rarity was surprised by this turn of events but nonetheless took the scroll and read the part. ' "...For this, I officially summon you to Canterlot Castle..:" ' she mumbled under her nose. "Canterlot Castle? CANTERLOT CASTLE?!" her mind shouted. "Rarity, why is it that every time an unkempt stranger, a villain of fashion walks into you, they turn out to be important ponies?"

A small frown appeared on her muzzle as she quickly finished the rest of emphasized part of the letter, which contained a notice from Princess Celestia herself that the royal treasury shall pay for any formal attire that he needs in order to appear proper before the Royal Council of Magical Practices.

The mare's eyes closed. She heard of the RCMP but even when she spent a few days in the circle Fancypants himself moves in, she could only see maybe two members of it. They were the single most respected group of unicorns in all of Equestria, their expertise and professional attitude was the talk of all the refined circles. To think that a suit, that she herself makes will appear in front them!

At this level, she was not even concerned about getting a name for herself among them. They weren't that much moved by fashion, they were academics. But to have one's work displayed to the eyes of such ponies?! That alone was something many of the greatest names in fashion could only dream of!

Rarity opened her eyes that now were glowing with inspiration and motivation. She needed to make a suit that would put Fancypant's wardrobe to shame!

'Sir, you came to the perfect place!' her voice dinged with each word. With a quick burst of magic, she pushed aside a few half finished pieces and made space in front of her mirrors. Quickly trotting to some mirrors, she pulled out a long measuring tape from a nearby cupboard then turned back to the stallion. 'If you would only stand here, I shall take your measurements and...' she paused looking at the harness that even in the new light of the stallion's status, remained a spit on fashion's face. 'You can also take that... thing off.'

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom just kept quietly moaning all the way, but Scootaloo did not plan to sit through one of Rarity's brainstorming sessions just so she can send them off later. She quietly sneaked to her friends and whispered: "Come on, she's way too busy to notice if we go."

The white filly hesitated, but seeing the fire in her big sister's eyes reassured her that there is no point in staying, so got up and went after the other two whom silently made their way to the stairs.

Once safely up, the fillies quickly gone into Sweetie Belle's room and started searching though her stuff, looking for inspiration. Before heading off, her parents wanted to make sure she'll feel right at home, so they helped moving almost all of her stuff to one of Rarity's guest rooms, effectively transferring the loads of rarely used items she kept around her room.

'You've got a lot of dolls.' noted Scootaloo, opening a drawer with a couple of old figurines in it. 'Maybe you're supposed to be a doll maker?'

'I'm not sure.' Sweetie Belle replied while flipping through her own journal on the bed, eyes racing from page to page. 'I guess I could try.' she gave Apple Bloom a brief look and added: 'To be honest, I hoped he would be a bit more specific or at least obvious.'

'It may still be obhvious!' replied Apple Bloom. She felt wrong for leading her friends into this seemingly fruitless plan. Still, she had hoped it will still turn out well. 'Ah mean, maybe when we find it, there will be some kind of sign.'

'What kind of sign?' Sweetie Belle looked up from her book.

'Apple Bloom's got a point.' nodded Scootaloo, who by now made her way to the bottom drawer and was taking out old drawings. 'Maybe it will just hit you, like with your sister.'

'I don't think I want to be dragged through half of Ponyville by my horn.' Sweetie Belle sunk a bit deeper in her bed. "It would look so ridiculous." she thought. "And everypony knows my sister got her mark like that. If they'd see it they would probably follow me all the way and if my talent turns out to be something lame everypony would be there to see it." The filly returned to her journal with diminished enthusiasm.

Apple Bloom, on the other hoof was working as hard as she could to find her friend's talent. If she could do it, it would prove that her hunch about the stallion was right. She searched the room eagerly with her eyes looking for something, anything that would just yell "Sweetie Belle's cutie mark". Something eye-catching, something...

Suddenly she spotted 'something'! She jumped to a table in the corner which had about a dozen song books on them. They weren't too interesting for Apple Bloom, she knew she probably has them too... Somewhere. Probably in the back of her drawers on the farm or something. Who cares? But above them!

A definitely eye-catching, but equally grotesque sight hung over the song books. It was a crude picture, obviously drawn by a not very experienced pony, but what was important was rather the frame! Apple Bloom didn't see anything like it, in all honesty, Equestrian painters had more than enough justification for not canonizing this frame but it did catch the not very art-savy filly's attention.

The frame was covered in colourful flower petals, radiant rocks and even a gem stone or two. They were all glued on in no particular order. They didn't form the colours of the rainbow, they didn't follow any sort of symmetry and it was more than obvious to the critical eye that who put them on didn't know how much glue is 'too much'. It was one of those things that if a filly makes, will melt the heart of anypony but would be considered pure junk if an art critic would try to take it seriously.

Apple Bloom was not an art critic. In the back of her head she still knew that whatever this tried to be, on a professional level it failed miserably. Yet that part was so deep in her mind and the surrounding areas were so caught up in the uncommon sight that a rush of "what if" clouded her judgement.

'Hay, mahybe your talent is picture framing!' she said, pointing her hoof at the picture.

'Huh?' Sweetie Belle looked up from her journal surprised. "Picture Framing" wasn't even on her list of "All The Possible Things".

'See? You did the frame didn't you?' asked Apple Bloom, pointing at the picture even harder.

'I don't know Apple Bloom.' said Scootaloo, tilting her head. She was now looking at the picture while standing in a sphere of open space among various drawings, dolls, toys, miniatures and two music boxes that she took out of her friend's cabinet searching for cutie materials. 'That doesn't look very...' the pegasus searched for the best words but couldn't finish as Sweetie Belle interrupted:

'That could be it!' Sweetie Belle seemed very relieved. She didn't feel any "tick" that would suggest this is the one true talent she should jump after, but no pony really said there would necessarily be one. Besides, Rarity told her that when they had that huge fight long ago, when she wanted to adopt Applejack as her big sister, Rarity's eyes were opened by that picture she made with the blue diamonds! That's technically framing right? Her sister still has that in her room! It really COULD be her special talent! - It HAS to be it! 'Rarity still has one of my self-framed drawings in her room!'

'Then we gotta test it!' Apple Bloom cheered with zest.

'We should go to the market and get some materials first.' replied the white filly and energetically jumped out of her bed, her spirits restored.

The two fillies quickly rushed out of the room leaving the pegasus behind. Scootaloo took another look at the bizarre frame work then shrugged and hurried after her friends.

Meanwhile, downstairs Rarity was already done with taking measurements but the stallion was still chained there as she drew newer and newer sketches of tailoring poetry. Or as she tried to rather. Rarity was a highly gifted fashionista and could deal with professional competition with ease. Usually she could even defeat stress but the prospect of having her work shown before the RCMP and that she was admittedly more experienced with mare fashion put her on an edge she rarely reached. This lead to her designs going a bit beyond fabulous.

'How about this?' she asked, showing the sketch of a suit that would easily befit the most highest of royal stewards, even in the olden days when Celestia and in fact most of Equestria was not bored of pointless pompousness yet. Her mane was a bit out of shape, obviously she turned her head a lot in the past few minutes. A tear drop sized pool of sweat grown slowly, trapped behind her horn.

'I deeply appreciate the effort you put into this,' started Oakleaf. 'but I told you: I want something simple. Look, do you have a catalogue of some kind? Perhaps I could show you along what lines I would like to go.'

'I mostly make dresses for mares so...' started Rarity and summoned a hoofkerchief.

'How about that?' asked the teal pony turning towards an open book on a nearby table that shown a mare and stallion dancing in very old clothes. Around them were small printed notes pointing at their apparel.

'Oh that's nothing.' Rarity shook her head. 'It's almost one and a half centuries old by now. I just have it for research.' she explained while the stallion walked over to the book.

'May I?' he asked.

Rarity nodded with a shrug and the stallion closed it to look on the title page that had a pure white unicorn wearing various elegant jewels, a black tuxedo with trousers, a top hat, fancy cuff-links and necktie while sporting a cane - a very old, very silly piece of high society apparel that forced it's owner to walk on his hind legs alone.

Ironically, though the book took itself very seriously as a study; wearing the title "The Fashions of the Future" proudly upon it's face; that one cane could easily promote it as a comedy novel or a guide for the theater as it was mostly - if not only - used as a prop in comedic sketches, aiming to parody the well-to-do of olden times or serve tricky purposes in stunt performances.

'I would dare say this to be an extraordinary coincidence,' started the stallion turning back to the mare with the book. 'because I know I had a copy of this exact gallery. Hold on just a moment! I think I know just the thing!' he quickly started flipping through the pages of the book, searching for something.

The three fillies watched as the stallion searched, followed by the white tailor mare's woeful eyes, who was in deep dismay seeing how this stallion would rather choose some ancient vogue instead of her inspired designs.

Scootaloo tapped her friends on the shoulder and pointed towards the boutique's door. As silently as possible the crusaders made their way to the door and left the two grown ups behind.

'Hey girls!' chirped a merry voice almost instantly as they exited the house. The pink party maker of Ponyville stood in front of them with a smile wider than a tub and her post-card-basket-hat-thingamajig on her head. 'Do you want to come to a party this afternoon? Oooh you just gotta! There's this new pony in town! He's s unicorn. You might have seen him. He has this blueish, greenish coat.'

'Uh, hey Pinkie.' replied Sweetie Belle when Pinkie Pie finally stopped.

'He's actually in the shop right now.' noted Scootaloo.

'He is?!' Pinkie skipped to a window and looked into the boutique. 'Huh, he seems older with his hair back like that.' she tilted her head, then shrugged: 'Oh well! I guess I should find a few older tunes for the party then! Here!' Pinkie yanked her head, somehow managing to drop out exactly three cards from the basket on the top of it. 'See you three at the party!'

On that note she jumped to the door and walked in, happily greeting the two ponies inside.

'Should we go? Ah'm not sure if we'll have time.' asked Apple Bloom turning to her friends as they continued towards their scooter and wagon, Sweetie Belle carrying the three cards with her magic.

'I guess we'll just see.' shrugged the white filly and placed the cards in the wagon, before sitting in.

' "Cutie Mark Crusaders, Picture Framers"?' turned back Scootaloo once pulling her scooter in the right direction. The three grinned and repeated the line adding a powerful cheer at the end, then the pegasus launched off and they were speeding down the streets of Ponyville again.

All in a day's work for the valiant Cutie Mark Crusaders.