"Please?" Twilight asked.

"No," Shining answered.

"Please?" Twilight asked again, this time joined by Apple Bloom.

"No."

"Please?" Twilight, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all asked together.

"No."

"Please?!" the four asked again, the Cake twins adding their own voices to the request.

"No!" Shining responded once more, his voice showing the irritation he was starting to feel.

Twilight narrowed her eyes and looked at her brother. She let out a snort then took a deep breath slowly.

"Pleeeeeeee-" Twilight started to whine out. She held the sound for fifteen seconds before she started to run out of air. Her voice grew hoarse and slowly turned into a wheezing noise.

"-eeease?" she finished before dropping onto the floor and trying to catch her breath.

"No," Shining answered again.

"But...but why not?" Twilight asked between pants. She looked up at her brother, making her eyes as wide and sad as she could. Her friends picked up on this and started to do the same. In moments, Shining Armor was looking at five fillies and one colt, all giving him their best puppy dog eyes.

"Hey," Shining Armor turned away, covering his eyes with his hoof, "no fair. That's cheating. Put the look away. Turn it off. Turn it off."

"Does that mean you'll do it?" Twilight asked.

"No."

Twilight let out a groan and dropped her head onto the floor.

"Twiley," Shining Armor said, moving over to his sister, "even if I wanted to, I couldn't. And for the same reason. A cutie mark is supposed to be something a pony finds for themselves. It's supposed to be something they like and feel is right for them. I couldn't give you one magically any more than I could just tell you what are you supposed to do with the rest of your life. Understand?"

"I guess," Twilight replied, though not very happily. She slumped back down onto the floor.

"Good." Shining ruffle her mane with his hoof. "Magic can't solve everything Twiley."

Twilight's ears drooped. Her eyes went wide while the retinas shrank down to pin pricks.

"What?... Magic.... not.... what? Magic... can't.... what? Magic... solve...what? Magic.... magic.... magic....what?"

She continued to repeat these words, seemingly to herself.

"I think you broke her," Pumpkin said, moving toward the purple filly and poking her gently.

"Yeah, that can happen sometimes," Shining said.

"You've seen this before?" Pound asked. "When?"

"When she was little and Mom and Dad had to tell her she wasn't starting school for another year."

"So you really can't give us cutie marks?" Apple Bloom asked, looking at Shining Armor with her big gold-colored eyes.

"No," he replied, looking at multiple crest-fallen fillies.

"Not even for a couple hours?" Scootaloo asked, trying to look at the stallion pleadingly. "Like, maybe a day so we would have it for a party."

"I'm sorry," Shining said just because he was uncertain how to reply, "but there's no spell that can give a pony a cutie mark that I know of. You'll just have to try and figure it out on your own." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Here." He gave them some bits. "Why don't you take Twilight and get her a milkshake."

"Okay," Apple Bloom said as she took the bits. They foals then picked up the still mumbling Twilight and carried her with them. Shining Armor watched as they trudged away.

"I have never seen a foal so disappointed when getting ice cream."

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Spike asked, moving to stand behind the stallion.

"What do you mean?" Shining motioned toward the group. "I can't give them cutie marks. They do have to find their special talents for themselves. Nothing I can do about it."

"I suppose," Spike sighed, crossing his arms. "But I got a bad feeling about this."

"Relax Spike." Shining Armor wrapped an arm around the young dragon. "It's natural for them to want to get their cutie mark. Besides, how much trouble could six foals possibly get into in a town like this?"

Spike rolled his eyes, but said nothing. He still had a bad feeling about the whole thing.