History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E12CallOfTheCutie

* WilliamTelling: Possibly referenced at the beginning of the episode, with an apple being in the desk of a filly whose cutie mark is a bow-and-arrow.

Apple Bloom is sent into a funk, until Rainbow Dash offers to coach Apple Bloom in all manner of activities until she finds what her special talent is. One frantic, slapstick montage later, and the only thing Apple Bloom has earned is a distaste for sports and a few bruises. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie needs some assistance making treats at Sugar Cube Corner, and Apple Bloom brightens at the prospect of earning a cutie mark in baking. Unfortunately, Apple Bloom's first batch of cupcakes only demonstrates that cooking is definitely ''not'' her special talent.

Apple Bloom tries to hide her lack of a cutie mark and sneak out of the party, but despite all her efforts she's found out. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon start to mock her, only for two other blank-flanked fillies, a unicorn named Sweetie Belle and a pegasus named Scootaloo, to rush to her defense. They, and Twilight, point out that still having the potential to become anything can be regarded as special too, turning the crowd turn positively interested towards Apple Bloom, much to Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's annoyance.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Absolutely not a metaphor for puberty.]] [[hottip:*:[[GeniusBonus Note the magnetic permeability symbol on the chalkboard]]. [[EEqualsMCHammer Those kids are learning physics!]]]]

Apple Bloom is at school one day, listening intently to her teacher Cheerilee delivering a lecture on "cutie marks", the picture on a pony's flank that helps represent who they are and what they can do. Apple Bloom is one of the last girls in her class to get a cutie mark, alongside her nerdy friend Twist. This makes them a prime target for teasing from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, a pair of bossy, spoiled, upper-class ponies who already have their cutie marks, and are only inviting Apple Bloom and Twist to Tiara's "cuteceañera" so they can lord it over the "blank-flanks".

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Absolutely not a metaphor for puberty.]] [[hottip:*:[[GeniusBonus Note the magnetic permeability symbol on the chalkboard]]. [[EEqualsMCHammer Those kids are learning physics!]]]] ]]

Desperate to get her cutie mark before the big party, Apple Bloom tries to earn her mark by helping her big sister Applejack with the family business. Unfortunately, she's a little too young to help with harvesting, and her hard-sale at the apple stand does more harm than good. Applejack suggests Applebloom go to the party with her fellow blank-flank Twist, but much to Applebloom's chagrin, she finds her friend has already earned her cutie mark, which prompts a passing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to rub in the fact that Applebloom is officially the last girl in her class to earn her mark.

Applebloom is sent into a funk, until Rainbow Dash offers to coach Apple Bloom in all manner of activities until she finds what her special talent is. One frantic, slapstick montage later, and the only thing Apple Bloom has earned is a distaste for sports and a few bruises. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie needs some assistance making treats at Sugar Cube Corner, and Apple Bloom brightens at the prospect of earning a cutie mark in baking. Unfortunately, Apple Bloom's first batch of cupcakes only demonstrates that cooking is definitely ''not'' her special talent.

* EpicFail: The Cutie Mark Crusaders' fate is pretty much set in stone from this episode. You almost expect Applebloom's kite to ''catch fire'' after it crashes.

-> Written by Meghan McCarthy

** And of course the whole "Cutie Mark" thing seems to be a reference to puberty. (Though some interpreted it more [[NoPeriodsPeriod specifically]].)

* GonnaFlyNowMontage: Rainbow Dash puts Apple Bloom through one of these.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: On TreehouseTV airings of the episode, a line said by Silver Spoon is altered.
-->'''Silver Spoon:''' Whatever. [[spoiler: We still think you're losers]], right, Diamond Tiara?

* ADayInTheLimelight

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Aside from the whole cutie mark = puberty metaphor, at the party at the end, one of the ponies[[hottip:*:[[FanNickname "Berry Punch"]]]] stops to take a surreptitious slurp of punch straight from the bowl. Her cutie mark includes a bunch of grapes. [[TheAlcoholic Wonder how she earned that]]?

* AdultsAreUseless: Suddenly popped up in this episode where it hadn't been present before. Cheerilee doesn't stop the teasing and mocking going on in her classroom, Applejack does the out-of-touch-adult thing of referring to her little sister's tormentors as her friends, and everyone who's not a filly is generally wildly unhelpful(although Rainbow Dash seems to be giving it an honest try and several of them are giving relevant and accurate information), except for Twilight's speech at the end. Probably one of the reasons the PeripheryDemographic wasn't too impressed with the [=CMC=].
** ''some'' of the PeripheryDemographic, a lot of fans don't blame Apple Bloom or the other Crusaders for this.

-->'''Silver Spoon''': Whatever. [[spoiler: We still think you're losers]], right, Diamond Tiara?

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Aside from the whole cutie mark = puberty metaphor, at the party at the end, one of the ponies[[hottip:*:[[FanNickname "Berry Punch"]]]] stops to take a surreptitious slurp of punch straight from the bowl. She had shown up earlier in the episode--Apple Bloom tried to force her to buy some apples ("You touch 'em, you buy 'em!"), causing her to drop the drink she was carrying. Her cutie mark includes a bunch of grapes. [[TheAlcoholic Wonder how she earned that]]?

The trio resolve to become fast friends, and to help each other find their purpose in life as the "Cutie Mark Crusaders".

* TheLibby: Diamond Tiara, with Silver Spoon as TheDragon.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Absolutely not a metaphor for puberty.]] [[hottip:*:[[GeniusBonus Note the magnetic permeability symbol on the chalkboard]]. Those kids are learning physics!]] ]]

** ''some'' of the PeripheryDemographic.

* InformedAttribute: Diamon Tiara and Silver Spoon's outfits supposedly "show off" their cutie marks. However, their cutie marks are actually covered up!