The noise of my pocket watch woke me up and I nearly slammed it down, only to remember that I have to get up and help watch over the fillies since Miss Cheerlie is unable to, might as well make myself useful and hey, maybe something will happen.

The moment I got out of bed, I heard Rarity moan before she mumbled. "Hmmm...where are you....off to, darling?"

"I have to watch over the fillies, Miss Cheerlie is unable to do it today." I replied quietly. "I don't think it'll take long."

She sightly moved to see my face. "Well if you have to, make sure Sweetie Belle stays safe and Applejack and Rainbow would tell you the same with the others."

"They'll be safe with me, all...well however many fillies there are in her class."

"Just be careful too, dear."

I moved my head towards her. "I will." Before kissing her and then turning to leave my house.

I walked on over to the school and saw a group of fillies already outside the playground. Sounds like something was going on as I saw Scootaloo put Pipsqueak who I haven't seen since Nightmare Night on a wooden box. I entered the school playground which got their attention.

"Hey Bond!" Scootaloo greeted.

"Hey there, one half of the sisterhooves social champ." I replied with a wink. "What's going on here?"

"Oh I am running for student pony president!" Pipsqueak exclaimed. "And these fillies are helping me out."

"Student pony president, eh? That sounds cool."

"And what are ya doin' here?" Applebloom asked.

"Oh I'm here to watch over you all because Miss Cheerlie is away on an appointment, has she been gone for long?"

"Yeah, she just left five minutes ago." Twist replied before handing out a candy. "Peppermint stick?"

"Oooh thanks." I took it with my magic and placed it in my pocket. "Anyways, don't mind me fillies, continue."

Applebloom turned to Pipsqueak. "So, Pip! How would you help the school if you were elected student pony president?"

"Our playground equipment took quite a beating during Twilight's battle with Tirek!" he replied, reminding us of the time where Ponyville was in absolute peril, ohhh the shivers I get from that. "If I'm voted in as student pony president, I'll go to the school board and right this wrong!"

"Well, I think that's a ridiculous waste of money!" I heard from among the fillies, I could tell that was Diamond's voice I heard. "It's just like when Twist proposed to repair the window that Discord destroyed! She just wanted to repair it like a plain old schoolhouse window, but you all know voting for me was the best choice, because I convinced the school board to give that window visual appeal!"

"'Course, it doesn't hurt that her mother is Spoiled Rich, Miss President of the school board." Applebloom remarked.

"Exactly! Which is why when I am voted student pony president, the school will be putting a statue of me in the centre of our schoolyard!"

"That's not gonna happen!" Silver Spoon intervened. "There is no way these fillies are gonna waste their time voting for a spoilt brat like you."

"You take that back, ex-friend!"

"Make me!"

I had to step before this got ugly. "Hold on, hold on, just before any hoof-bags are thrown at dawn. Let's all calm down and try to get back on topic."

"Thank ya." Applebloom replied. "Haven't we all had enough of Diamond Tiara?"

"Do we really need a big statue of her?" Scootaloo added.

"Especially where our playground equipment should be?" Sweetie asked too which caused several whispers among the other fillies.

"A vote for Pip is a vote for the playground!" Pip declared.

"A vote for Diamond Tiara is a vote for more Diamond Tiara!" Diamond countered.

I rolled my eyes, this was going to be a long day. Soon they told me that I was to supervise the voting for school pony president and after a while of counting up the votes, we had a winner as I stood by the postal boxes.

"The votes have been counted! The student pony president is...Pipsqueak!" I announced.

Diamond gasped whilst the other fillies all celebrated, it was a landslide victory too, turnout was 95%, so a good day for democracy. The CMC's looked at their flanks, guess campaign managers isn't their destiny either...I facehoofed once again, I thought they were over their obsession with the cutie marks.

"Guess you're not as good as you thought, blank flanks!" Diamond said rudely. "In fact, I demand a recount!"

"No recount needed." I smirked. "There was only one vote."

"WHAT?!"

I couldn't help it, I was laughing away on the inside, until I was interrupted by Diamond screaming with rage before galloping away.

"What, I'm just glad that I was through with her before this happened." Silver said before she walked away with a few other fillies.

"I know Diamond Tiara's been pretty awful, but...we should probably make sure she's okay." Applebloom said. "Just 'cause she's never cared about anypony else's feelin's, doesn't mean we shouldn't care about hers..."

"Wait, what?!" I asked. "You can't be serious!"

"Uhhh no offence Bond, but could you please hear us out without interruptin'?"

I sighed. "Alright, do carry on."

"Is it weird that I feel bad for her?" Sweetie asked.

"It, it is, and...I'm weird too." Scootaloo replied who was confused, although I knew what she meant by that.

"She wants to change, but she doesn't know how." Applebloom said.

"Seems like she could use a friend or two to help her figure it out." Sweetie added.

"Well if you three are going to do that, I better come with you just to be sure." I advised.

"Sure, we might need you for the things we may not be able to do." Scootaloo replied.

Well thankfully, it was lunch hour and Miss Cheerlie had returned from her appointment after a few minutes of watching over the rest of the fillies, she thanked me a lot and I replied saying that it was too easy to look after them before I went with the CMC to where ever they were going to. It wasn't long before we were outside somepony's house and we could hear a bit of commotion from inside.

"Diamond Tiara! Why are you making that face? That is not the face of a winner." we heard a voice exclaim.

"Because...I didn't win." Diamond replied, sighing.

"What? You mean I have to own these party supplies and celebrate nothing?"

"Sorry mother."

"It's bad enough you lost to that transplant from Trottingham, but imagining you lost to one of those blank flanks... as a Rich pony, you must always think of your social standing. That starts here in Ponyville, and reaches all over Equestria. Don't ever forget that, Diamond Tiara. Ever!"

So that mare in the house is Diamond's mother? I knew right away that was a lie since I saw her REAL mother in that basement floor in the hospital just under a year ago. But these CMC fillies didn't know this and I thought it would be be best to keep it to myself. But I did wonder, who is she and how on earth did she become Diamond's stepmother as I saw it?

My thoughts were cut off when the door opened and out came Diamond who looked really glum until she saw the CMC's and myself.

"What do you four want? To gloat? Rub in my defeat?" Diamond asked impolitely.

"Actually, we wanted to invite you to our clubhouse to hang out." Applebloom replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah, for real!" Scootaloo replied.

"Well, thanks to you all, I don't have any important class president business to attend to or anything. So I might as well."

"That sounds like a yes..." Sweetie said.

"It'll have to do." I added. "I hope you three know what you're doing, cause this is really far-fetched."

The CMC's looked at me, feeling concerned. "Bond, are you okay, because this isn't like you."

"Sorry fillies, it's just that throughout all these years, Diamond has been nothing but a pain in the flank for just about everypony."

"Hey!" Diamond yelled.

"Well, it's true and you've caused me nothing but grief too, you're a lost cause."

The CMC's looked at me, a lot more worried now. "Bond, if you don't want to help, you don't have to." Applebloom said.

"Sorry again fillies...I just wanted to say my piece. I still wanna help, I really do, I'll try my best to keep quiet, maybe we can learn something from this."

The fillies nodded and smiled before turning our attention back to Diamond and we walked over to the clubhouse on the apple farm. Once inside, I could see that the CMC's had put up two posters, one that had several items all crossed out and the other one completely blank. As usual, Diamond seemed half-interested in it all.

After a while of discussing, I heard the door flung open, it was Pipsqueak and he looked like he was in a hurry.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders! I was at the school board meeting and they didn't approve my request for the new playground equipment!" he exclaimed.

"Why not?" Sweetie gasped.

"There's no money in the budget! So I checked my piggybank to see if I had enough bits, but my little piggy wasn't nearly full enough!"

"Don't worry, Pip!"

"We'll meet you back at school." Scootaloo said.

"And help you find a solution!" Applebloom added.

"Thanks, Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Pip replied before galloping away.

Suddenly, Diamond began to perk up very quickly, well that was a miracle recovery I thought.

"Oh, I already have a solution! Our new school pony president is gonna be kicked out of office and I'll be reinstated!" she declared before she galloped away.

I sighed angrily. "I KNEW this was too good to be true, after her, fillies!"

The CMC's left the clubhouse and galloped after her and I followed too, I was right all along, she is a lost cause! But then again, they way she behaves has to come from her stepmother, maybe there could be a chance for me to have a word with her about humility, but that could wait for another time.

We were catching up to Diamond but she kept laying down obstacles, all of which I avoided since I could fly. The CMC's eventually caught up to her, trying to get her to stop, but Diamond kept going as I watched over the chase several feet from the ground. Before long, Diamond was at the school where Cheerlie and many of the fillies were, the CMC's were too late, but they tried and I knew this was going to get bad.

"Everypony, I have an announcement!" she said to everypony.

"Diamond Tiara! Think hard about the choice you're makin' right now!" Applebloom intervened.

"You can be a better pony!" Scootaloo added.

But before she could answer, the school door was opened and out came a mare who seemed to be quite stuck up. "Diamond Tiara!" she exclaimed. "I just happened to be here for the school board meeting, and this is what I see when we adjourn? My daughter, associating with confused, insignificant lowlifes? Socializing with their kind is not how you move up in Equestria! Come, Diamond Tiara!"

So this is her step-mother, at least we all now know where Diamond gets it from...like mother, like daughter, or step-mother in this case.

Diamond looked at her mother who was walking around the other fillies making them uncomfortable. "No, mother!"

My jaw literally dropped and my pupils shrank, did she just defy her stepmother?

"Excuse me?!"

"You've spent your life acting like a high horse, and raised me up following your hoofprints! At first I thought this was fine, but then I finally realized I wanted something you don't have, friends!"

The CMC's gasped and so did the others, I couldn't believe what was happening.

"That's enough, Diamond Tiara! Step away from those blank flanks!"

Diamond stood her ground, moving closer to the CMC's. "These are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they are my friends! You need to stop calling them such mean and hurtful names! They are working harder to get their cutie marks than anypony I've ever seen! And they will get them exactly when they discover their true talent, which I guarantee will be amazing! Now, will you please deliver this to father?"

Her stepmother sighed. "Yes, of course, dear..."

Diamond looked at the CMC's. "I have to thank you, Crusaders. Obviously I've known since I got my cutie mark that my talent is getting other ponies to do what I want. I just asked my father if he could donate the money for the new playground equipment!"

I smiled, this was the first time I ever saw Diamond do something nice. She then turned to Pipsqueak. "I knew you were worried for a second there, weren't you? Ha! Well, I think it's all gonna work out just fine, Mister President!"

Soon, the fillies all got to work and once the money came through, the school playground was being restored and then improved on and by the time it was done, I was in awe, the playground looked even better and more fun than ever before and they all did it together.

Shortly, I was with the CMC's and they looked like they learnt something today.

"I've been thinkin', Crusaders. We spend an awful lot of time fussin' and frettin' tryin' to discover our true talent, but when we take a little time off, we end up helpin' other ponies figure out their true talent!" Applebloom said.

"Yeah, and I think that's way more important than worrying about our cutie marks, don't you?" Sweetie agreed.

"Absolutely! I don't care if I ever get my cutie mark, as long as I get to hang out with my best friends." Scootaloo said.

"That's the spirit, fillies!" I replied confidently. "So what do you say, Crusaders? Want to just focus on helping others find their cutie marks?"

"Yeah!" they cheered happily.

Suddenly, as soon as they slapped hooves, a spark of magic appeared from their hooves and down to their bodies before they began to fly up, covered in aura of magic, I had to stand well back and then a bright light flashed forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them up again, this caught the attention of the other fillies who saw what was happening.

Shortly, they flew down to the ground gently and the aura was gone, by the time the CMC's woke up, the other fillies were in awe and when I saw what happened, my jaw dropped to the floor for a second time, I gotta stop doing that in future, I thought.

"What happened?" Sweetie asked.

"What's goin' on?" Applebloom asked too.

"It's your cutie marks!" Diamond replied. "They're amazing!"

I saw them too, all of them had the same cutie marks, minus a few differences. All of them were shaped like shields, except Applebloom had an apple in the middle, Sweetie had a musical note and Scootaloo had a lightning bolt, it took me a long while for it to sink it all in. After nearly five years, they FINALLY got their cutie marks, but in a way that I had never seen before.

"We all got the same cutie mark! Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!" They cheered happily together.

I knew then that it was time for a song, when the music started playing.

We're were searching for our cutie marks

For a while there

Trying to find out how we fit in

So many ways we've tried before

But we kept on trying more

'Cause the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't give in

Now we know what it took all along

And our journey here is never really done

For it is more than just a mark

It's a place for us to start

An adventure that has only just begun

We'll make our mark

Show the world what we can do

We'll make our mark

Helping fillies to break through

To the ultimate reward of a cutie marks

Sometime later, the CMC's celebrated with me and the rest of the Mane Six who were all smiling today.

"Alright, everypony! Get ready for the biggest cute-ceanera celebration ever!" Pinkie yelled in her way.

Applejack was holding onto her sister with a tear in her eye. "Oh, sugarcube, if Mom and Dad were here, they'd be so proud of ya."

"Oh... Thanks, Applejack" Applebloom replied.

"Now go on and party with your pals."

Rarity was the same with Sweetie, she was shedding a tear too, I'm sure their parents will be very proud of Sweetie. As for Rainbow, she and Scootaloo celebrated in their own way and that was being awesome but also sharing a hug.

"Well, what do you think, Crusaders?" I asked them. "Were those cutie marks totally worth waiting for or what?"

"YEAH!" They replied.

"But I'm quite curious." Twilight said." It seems that you all have a similar cutie mark, but I think I know why, it's because you're destiny is to help others find theirs."

"But I think for now, we should just enjoy the moment and rest, cause you never know what will come next." Fluttershy said.

We all nodded and soon got back to celebrating until the sun began to set, Rarity, Sweetie Belle and myself left shortly afterwards and back to Rarity's own boutique, where the sister shared one last hug before Rarity and I walked back to our home.

Getting inside, Rarity couldn't contain her happiness, she began to jump up and down before I reminded her that she was still pregnant, making her blush.

"Oops...I need to be a bit more careful about celebrations." she said bashfully. "I'm just so proud of my little sister."

"I think we all are." I replied. "And all of them I might add."

We walked up to our bedroom and got inside, getting comfortable and as Rarity went off to sleep, I looked back on today. It was indeed a long day, but so much happened, I learnt about Diamond having a stepmother who was pushy as heck, but now it seems that after many years, Diamond FINALLY understands about friendship and perhaps turned over a new leaf.

Maybe in time, she and Silver will become friends again in future...maybe... Next Chapter: The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes