I woke up to a bright day, oh the sweet joys of Spring which has been good for me. It was a Thursday, so I had to do my weekly shopping and a good thing too since my food storage was running incredibly low. Grabbing several bits from my jar and placing them in a bag, I placed on my saddle bags and left the house to begin my shopping around town. I walked past a filly school which of course brought back bad memories, but I didn't let that phase me as this was Ponyville, not Fillydelphia.

I looked to see that the Fillies were leaving the School, all cheerful...except for Applebloom who looked sad as she walked away from School, although she had a friend called Twist talking to her at least, which got me wondering if Applebloom had friends.

"Hi Applebloom and Twist." I said to them.

"Hi Bond." Applebloom said depressingly.

"Oh hey Mr. Racer." Twist who replied more happily. "You want something sweet, I've got some peppermint sticks, I made them myself."

"Well I'm shopping at the moment, but I'd like to have one so you can reserve one for me."

"I'll make sure to remember, what about you Applebloom?"

Applebloom responded with a no thank you but in a not moving mouth kind of way.

"They'll make you smile."

"Nooooo." Applebloom replied quietly.

"Is there something wrong, Applebloom?" I asked.

I then saw two other fillies walking up.

"I don't know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutiemark. I mean waiting for your cutiemark is so last week." one spoke, "You got yours and I just got mine. We all have them already." she then stopped to notice Twist not having one. "I mean almost all of us have them already."

Twist sighed and I didn't know who they were, but I could tell that they didn't seem friendly.

"Don't worry you two, you're still totally invited to my cute-ceañera later tonight." she added as she and her friend began walking around Applebloom and Twist.

"It's going to be amazing." her friend said.

"It's a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutiemark. How can it not be?"

Wow, their boasting reminds me of Trixie's boasting, thank goodness I was able to change her ways that night, but these two are somewhat worse, especially the pink one, she has a major high opinion of herself.

I had to step in as Applebloom was beginning to look uncomfortable, "You know, why don't you take your boasting somewhere else? There's a time and a place for bragging over a cuitemark and this is not it."

The two then noticed me, "And you are?" the grey one asked me.

"Bond Racer, an alicorn who knows what it's like dealing with boasters." I proudly stated.

"Yeah, whatever!" the pink one remarked which made me roll my eyes, she obviously didn't know better.

"Bump, bump, sugarlump, rump!" They chanted as they did the actions in unison before giggling.

"Gimme a break." I said to myself.

They then walked off but not before one of them said, "See you this weekend..."

"...blank flanks!" both of them said, giggling all the while.

Twist and Applebloom both felt extremely sad about it, I gave them both a quick hug.

I smiled at them, "Don't let them bother you, everypony gets a cuitemark in time, when they discover what they're destined to be." I looked at Twist, "Like you, Twist, if what you're saying is true about your peppermint sticks, you might get yours very soon."

"Thanks Bond." Twist said who seemed to have cheered up. "I have to get home now, see you Applebloom."

"See you at the party, Twist." Applebloom replied back, but she was still sad.

I sighed, "I wish I knew what your talent was, Applebloom, but you have all the time in the world to find out and when that day comes, it'll be worth the wait and you're massive apple family would be proud."

Applebloom looked at me, but she wasn't feeling much better.

"Come on, I'll take you home after I've done my shopping, okay?"

Applebloom nodded and soon, we were in town, I had a few questions for her as I was checking over my list.

"Who were those two fillies?" I asked.

"The pink one is Diamond Tiara and her friend is Silver Spoon."

"Pfffft, hahahaha! Tiara? Spoon?" I laughed randomly, "What kind of talents are they exactly?!"

Applebloom looked back, confused at my randomness.

"Ahem, sorry about that, continue, do you know why they pick on you?"

"They always seem to make fun of fillies who don't have cuitemarks and ah'm afraid that ah'm going to be laughed at her cute-umm whatever in the hay she meant."

"I think in simple terms, it's called celebration, but that's only a guess."

"It's not fair, it's just not fair!" Applebloom moaned.

"I know how you feel about wanting a cutiemark, but everypony gets one eventually and it always happens when you don't expect it."

"But ah don't want one, eventually. Ah want one right now." she continued to moan, "Ah can't go to Tiara's cute-thingy without one, ah just can't."

I sighed again, wondering if she will stop whining.

After my shopping was done, I walked Applebloom to her apple family home to find Applejack hard at work.

"Howdy there, Bond," she greeted before noticing her little sister, "What's wrong sugarcube?"

"Ah just don't know if ah should go to Tiara's cutie celebration thing." Applebloom said unsure about it.

"Why's that?"

"Cause ah don't have a cutiemark."

"Y'know, ah was the last pony in my class to get my cutie mark, and ah couldn't be prouder of it. Ah know my future was to run Sweet Apple Acres, and these bright shiny apples sealed the deal." Applejack gasped, "Come to think of it, Granny Smith was the last one in her class, too. Same as Big Macintosh. What about you, Bond?"

"I'll tell you some other time." I replied whilst looking down.

"Ah don't see how that's supposed to make me feel better." Applebloom responded whilst kicking a bad apple around. "It probably means that being the last one in your class to get a cutie mark runs in the family." Suddenly, she perked up and exclaimed, "Runs in the family! Runs in the family! You've got apples for your cutie mark, Granny Smith has an apple pie, Big Macintosh has an apple half, my unique talent must has somethin' to do with apples! Apples apples apples!" Applebloom hopped around excitedly, which eventually caused her to crash into a bucket of apples. " Oops... apples."

"Well, ah guess we better get back to work. Ah've got apples to sell." Applejack said.

"Ahhh, I knew there was something I forgot to get during my shopping day." I replied, "Mind if I have four apples?"

"Sure ya can, Sugarcube. 20 bits and they all yours."

I handed some bits of my bag and exchanged them for a small bag of our apples. "Thanks, AJ."

"No problem, Bond. See you again."

"Same to you."

So I left Sweet Apple Acres and headed on home with my shopping. Heading on inside, I unpacked all the shopping and stored my food in the cupboards and the apples in a fruit bowl. With it approaching sunset, I decided to head out again and see if Applebloom is feeling better, it was only by chance that I saw her walking through town on her own and she was heading to the flower store.

"Hi again, are you feeling better?" I asked her as I approached with her with concern.

"A little bit." Applebloom replied. "Ah was on my way to the cutie-thingy, but ah need Twist to come with me." she then knocked on the door.

The top half of the door opened and it was Twist who answered it.

"Oh, hey there, Applebloom. Good to see you." Twist said.

"Hi Twist, are you ready to go to Tiara's cute-cen...ugh, ah can never seem to get that right."

"Yes, just one more thing and-" she cut herself off when she noticed me "Oh hey mr. Racer, I've got you a peppermint stick you reserved earlier." she then gave out one to me as I walked over. "Here you go."

I took the candy from her, "Thanks Twist..." I then took a bite and it was quite good "...mmm, this is very good candy, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a cutiemark from this."

"But for now, ah don't have a cutiemark and you don't have a cutiemark, right?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, umm..." Twist then opened up the bottom half of the door to find...a cutiemark on her flank.

"A cutiemark? Well congrats, Twist. Now I know why this peppermint candy tastes great."

"Thanks, Mr. Racer. Isn't my cutie mark swell?" she asked Applebloom. "I've always loved making my own sweets, but it took me some time to discover that it was my super special talent." she then beamed herself with pride. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

I saw Applebloom looking sadder than ever, "Yeah, really sweet." she said to herself.

"Hey, that doesn't mean we can't go to the cute ceañera together. You're still gonna come to the party, aren't you?" Twist asked.

Suddenly, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked by, on their way to the party.

"Of course she will." Tiara answered rudely.

"It's not like being the only pony there without a cutie mark will be like, the most embarrassing thing ever." Spoon added.

They giggled before carrying on walking to Sugarcube Corner.

Now they've gone and done it, I looked back at Applebloom to see her running off, crying, leaving Twist on her own.

"Don't worry about her, Twist, you go on to the party." I said to her, "At least you know how to stay friends with others who don't have one. I'll be sure to come by for more peppermint candy again in the future."

She perked up and smiled once more, "Thanks Mr. Racer, that would be sweet."

I just knew she would say that...I went around town, looking for Applebloom, before I found her, sitting down by the lake and in tears.

As much as I love being random and funny, this wasn't the time for it.

"Applebloom, I can only apologize for seeing what you're going through, but I want you to believe that it's not going to last forever and you can't keep running away from your problems, you will have to face them."

Applebloom sniffed. "But why should ah face one of those problems tonight?"

"You never know, you might find some others who agree with you when you least expect it. Now do you wanna go to the party or not?" I asked.

She wiped her tears away and got up, "Ah do, because ah wanna have a good time."

"Well don't you worry, a few of us older ponies will be watching over the party." I assured, "Pinkie, Twilight and myself will be there and one of us will step in if any bullying starts."

Applebloom smiled again, "Thank you, Bond. Ya'll a really great friend." she then hugged my foreleg.

"That's what friends are foooooooorrrrrrrrr." I sang out randomly in a low tone voice.

Applebloom chuckled and soon, we were on our way to the party. When we arrived, it was just starting and Twilight was outside, probably greeting the fillies who got the invitations.

"Hey Twilight, I'm here at last and we have one more apple for the party." I said with a smile.

"Hey Bond, great. Have fun, Applebloom." Twilight said to her.

We headed on inside and the party was in full swing, Pinkie was on food duty and the sweets on display were very tempting to take, but I resisted as I wanted to keep my stallion figure tolerable for Trixie to gaze at, he he he...what, I know it's too soon but come on, I have standards!

I walked on over to one of the corners of the shop and began my duty as party security for the night as I watched over the area. I saw Tiara showing off her cutie mark to a few other fillies, whilst Applebloom was hiding behind a chocolate statue, only to then see pinkie give her a party hat before bouncing back to her food duty. Snips took a big bite out of the cake which angered Tiara, whilst Applebloom zoomed away and into another corner of the shop, it seems that she's chickened out and not staying which disappointed me.

She grabbed a pink cloth and wrapped it around her body, probably to hide her flank from the two fillies, but then as soon as she was about to leave, she tripped up and smashed into the record player which stopped it playing. Soon, all of us were paying attention to Applebloom.

"Oh no." she said to herself.

"Nice try..." Tiara added.

"...blank flank!" she and Silver Spoon said together.

This was the third time they've picked on her today and I was about to teach them a lesson with my alicorn magic, when suddenly...

"You got a problem with blank flanks?" a voice yelled.

Soon, two fillies from under the table came out...it was Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who were the first two fillies I met when I first came to Ponyville...hang on, why haven't I seen them until now?

"I said, you got a problem with blank flanks?" Scootaloo asked.

"The problem is, I mean she's like totally not special." Spoon answered back.

"No." Sweetie Belle disagreed. "It means she's full of potential."

"It means she can be great at anything." Scootaloo added. "The possibilities are like, endless."

"She can be a great scientist, an artist, she could even be mayor of Ponyville someday."

"Yeah and she's certainly not being stuck up like you two."

The other fillies laughed.

"Hey, this is my party, why are you two on her side?"

"Because..."

Sweetie and Scootaloo then revealed that they didn't have cutie marks which cheered Applebloom right up.

"You don't have any cutie marks either?" she gasped, "Ah thought ah was the only one."

"We thought we were the only two." Scootaloo replied.

"Well, I for one think you're three very lucky fillies." I intervened.

"Lucky? how can they be lucky?" Tiara asked rudely

Twilight then came in and answered for me, "They still get to experience the thrill of discovering who they are and what they're meant to be."

"Hear, hear!" I agreed. "And they've got all the time in the world to figure that out, not just in one day." I finished.

Soon, Applebloom got welcomed by the other fillies and the party ran smoothly again. Moments later, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were talking together and overhearing their conversation, they wanted to make a society of what their talents are and they would be known as The Cutie Mark Crusaders. I found it a little humorous at first, but it sounded like a perfect fit all the same.

I chuckled on the inside at watching Tiara moaning like a baby, I then walked towards Twilight who has drinking down some berry juice.

"Twilight, you should definitely write a report about this. I believe a lesson was learnt today." I suggested.

"Already on it." she then got Spike to write out a letter, "Dearest Princess Celestia," She began reading out loud. "I am happy to report that one of your youngest subjects has learned a valuable lesson about friendship. Sometimes, the thing you think will cause you to lose friends and feel left out can actually be the thing that helps you make your closest friends and realize how special you are."

A lesson well learnt I said to myself, soon though, the party came to an end and all of us said our farewells before going back to our homes. I was actually looking forward to getting to my bed as it had been more than just a shopping day. Sleeping on my bed, I learnt one other thing about talent before my random mind decided to mess up with what I've learnt.

It's okay having no talent...wait, that didn't sound right...oh well, sleepy time... Next Chapter: Fall Weather Friends Estimated time remaining: 27 Hours, 2 Minutes