Transcripts/The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

:[sand throwing and splatting]
:Sweetie Belle: So Scootaloo's keeping Petunia busy like you asked. What did you two want to talk about?
:Mrs. Paleo: I'm sure you get these questions all the time. Oh, this is so awkward.
:Mr. Paleo: Um, you're the experts, so we thought you'd have some insight into our daughter's new, uh, cutie mark.
:Apple Bloom: What's wrong?
:Mrs. Paleo: Obviously, we're both very proud of her and her cutie mark...
:Mr. Paleo: Despite its, um... unsettling nature.
:Sweetie Belle: Unsettling?
:[sand shuffling]
:Apple Bloom: I don't get what you mean.
:Mrs. Paleo: Her mark doesn't... bother you at all?
:Scootaloo: Hey! Check out what we found!
:Petunia Paleo: Look! A spiny-backed ponysaurus! In our own backyard! And I found him on my very own! How cool is that?!
:Mrs. Paleo and Mr. Paleo: Oh! [chuckles] She's an archaeologist.
:Scootaloo: Of course! What'd you think she was gonna be, a pirate?
:[beat]
:Mrs. Paleo: Pirate? Pfft! Why would we think that?
:Mrs. Paleo and Mr. Paleo: [laughing nervously]
:
:Scootaloo: Woo-hoo! Another successful cutie intervention! You know, Crusaders, I don't wanna toot our own horn, but we've helped a lot of ponies figure out their purpose in life. Like Bluenote here. Nice saxophone, Bluenote!
:[saxophone playing]
:Apple Bloom: Yep, everywhere you look, there's a pony we've helped find a purpose.
:[tap dancing]
:Apple Bloom: You've gotta admit. We've had a pretty good effect on everypony since we've discovered our destiny.
:Scootaloo: And started helping other ponies discover theirs! Could this get any better or what?
:Sweetie Belle: Now, Scootaloo, you do know there will always be challenges? Someday, somepony might even come to us with a problem that even we can't handle. Like, say...
:Apple Bloom: A griffon?
:Sweetie Belle: Ha! Exactly! Like a griffon. But that's just crazy talk.
:Scootaloo: Or not!
:Sweetie Belle: Is that really a griffon?
:Apple Bloom: You're darn tootin' it is! What do you think that griffon wants?
:Sweetie Belle: I guess we've gotta ask her, but aren't griffons supposed to be kind of mean and cranky?
:Scootaloo: Crusaders, looks like we've gotta step carefully.
:Gabby: The Cutie Mark Crusaders! I can't believe it's really, really you! [laughs]
:Scootaloo: [strained voice] Aah! Ooh! This... griffon's... not... cranky.
:Apple Bloom: How in the blooming apples did you know who we are?
:Gabby: Know who you are? Know who you are?! Why, I've heard about you from everypony in Ponyville! I'm so excited to meet you, I could just explode! I'm Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby since we're friends now! Pleased to meet ya!
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: [groaning shakily]
:Apple Bloom: Well, howdy... um... Gabby.
:Gabby: [squeals] I'm just about the most excited anygriffon has ever been about anything!
:Sweetie Belle: Excited? But whatever for?
:Gabby: What for? What for?! Everypony in town tells me of your amazing assistance! How you help ponies find their place in the world!
:Scootaloo: It's a calling, but—
:Gabby: And that's why I'm here. I need help, too. I want you to give me a cutie mark!
:Apple Bloom: Um, can a griffon even get a cutie mark?
:Scootaloo: I dunno, but I think we should probably find out.
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: [chuckling nervously]
:Scootaloo: So, Gabriella...
:Gabby: Gabby, 'kay?
:Scootaloo: Gabby, why do you even want a cutie mark?
:Gabby: [slurping under]
:Scootaloo: It doesn't seem like a very... griffon-y thing to want.
:Gabby: Right? Right?! Right?!
:[thud]
:Gabby: You're tellin' me! I don't know if you've heard, but griffons can be a little bit... unfriendly.
:Gabby: [voiceover] Most griffons don't pay much attention to each other. And if they do, it's not, y'know, the good kind of attention. As for me, I'm just a little mail delivery griffon who likes to spread a little bit of griffon-y sunshine on my rounds, which always makes me feel different from the other griffons.
:[doors slamming]
:Gabby: [voiceover] I'd do anything for any old griffon in need.
:Elderly griffon: Ahh! Uhh!
:Gabby: [voiceover] But it just always seemed like the harder I tried, the less I fit in. It wasn't until your friends came to Griffonstone that I realized some creatures actually like helping each other, and I saw something so awesomely awesome – how helping spreads from pony to pony and griffon to griffon! I knew then that I had to find out why I was so different from the other griffons, and I knew the answer just had to have something to do with those wonderful, amazing marks on the ponies' flanks. And I admit, hehe, I became, um, maybe a little obsessed. So first chance I had to deliver a letter from Gilda, I took it, so I could find the perfect pony to help me understand what those marks are. Everypony here told me one thing – I just had to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders! They've helped everypony here get their cutie marks, and I knew, I just knew, that someday I'd have one, too! A cutie mark of my very own!
:Gabby: That's why I flew all the way here! I want to find my own place in the world, and I know you can help me by giving me a cutie mark! So let's make with the cutie! [giggles] Whenever you're ready. Did it happen yet?
:Sweetie Belle: Uh, not exactly.
:Gabby: Howboutnowhowboutnowhowboutnowhowboutnow?
:Apple Bloom: Um, Gabby, I hate to break it to ya, but it sounds like you might've heard some tall tales about what Crusaders can do.
:Scootaloo: I mean, we are kinda awesome and all, but nopony can just give you a cutie mark. It just sort of... happens.
:Sweetie Belle: Though I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen to griffons. Or if it does, we've never ever heard of it.
:Gabby: Oh. I hadn't thought of that. Sounds like a challenge! And who could be up to it but the world-famous Cutie Mark Crusaders? Cutie marks! It's in your name and everything, right? Right?! Right?! Now I have to deliver Gilda's letter to Rainbow Dash. I bet by the time I get back, you'll have it one hundred percent figured out! Toodles for now! Whee-hee-hee! Gonna get my cutie mark!
:Sweetie Belle: What she wants... It's not possible, right?
:Scootaloo: I don't know. But I know someone who just might.
:Twilight Sparkle: I've read every book on the subject, and I've never read a thing about any creature other than a pony getting a cutie mark.
:Scootaloo: But, Twilight, Gabby flew all the way here so we could help her. There's gotta be something we can do.
:Sweetie Belle: Say, is there some kind of spell you can whip up to make her mark appear?
:Twilight Sparkle: Um, I don't know if any of you remember, but using magic to get a cutie mark never really works out all that well.
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: Ohhh. Right.
:Twilight Sparkle: Crusaders, I'm sorry. While I can't say for certain that it's utterly impossible, the chances of Gabby getting an actual mark are... pretty slim. Everything I've ever learned tells me. It's just not gonna happen.
:Apple Bloom: Oh, no! Poor Gabby! What the apples are we ever gonna tell her?
:Sweetie Belle: Crusaders, this is terrible! Gabby really believed in us. And now, we're gonna let her down.
:Apple Bloom: But what else can we do?
:Scootaloo: Hmm. You know what, Crusaders? So what? Maybe we can't help Gabby get a cutie mark, but we can still do what we're best at. We can help her find her purpose!
:Apple Bloom: And I reckon doing that is the same for griffons as it is for ponies or any other creature in Equestria.
:Scootaloo: All we have to do is be extra-special clear with her. Like, Crystal Empire clear.
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: Yeah!
:Gabby: Incoming!
:[thud]
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: [straining]
:Gabby: Hiya, you wonderful, wonderful Crusaders! I just know you've figured out how to help me because you're all so incredible!
:Scootaloo: Well, Gabby, we've talked it over, and we think we may just be able to help you out. But not exactly in the way you think. See, here's the thing about you getting a cutie mark—
:Gabby: I'm getting a cutie mark!!! Woo-hoo-hoo! [yelling excitedly]
:Scootaloo: Wait! You didn't let me finish!
:Sweetie Belle: Um, I think maybe that could've been clearer.
:Gabby: [rhythmically] Cutie mark! Cutie mark! Gonna get my cutie mark! [yelling excitedly]
:Sweetie Belle: She's still going. Anypony know if griffons ever get tired?
:Gabby: What do you think my mark will be? A lightning bolt? An erupting volcano? I don't care if it's a jar of marmalade! I know I'll love it, whatever it is!
:Apple Bloom: Hold on just a hoofstep, Gabby. There's somethin' we need to clear up. We can definitely help you find your purpose, but that mark's probably not gonna happen.
:Gabby: What?!?
:Scootaloo: It's true. Twilight's never heard of a creature other than a pony getting a cutie mark.
:Gabby: Oh! [laughs] Is that all? You had me worried for a second. I-I mean, there's a first time for everything, right? And she didn't say it was impossible, right?
:Apple Bloom: Well, not exactly.
:Gabby: Well, then if anypony can make it happen, it's you three. I mean, you haven't failed yet.
:Scootaloo: You know what, Gabby? I promise we're gonna do everything we can to help you get your mark.
:Gabby: Oh! It's gonna happen! I can feel it! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo! [laughs]
:Sweetie Belle: Aaaaand... she's off again.
:Apple Bloom: Why in tarnation would you promise somethin' that just can't be done?
:Scootaloo: I know what it's like to want something that's out of reach. And just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it can't. Maybe trying for the impossible isn't so bad.
:Sweetie Belle: Guess we'll never know for sure unless we give it a try.
:Apple Bloom: All right, but where do we even start?
:Scootaloo: Where we always do – with a good old-fashioned Crusaders chart.
:Apple Bloom: The first thing we gotta do is find your purpose.
:Scootaloo: Nopony gets a mark without one.
:Gabby: All right. Let's do this.
:Scootaloo: What are you good at? Do you play any sports?
:Apple Bloom: Or like to dance?
:Sweetie Belle: Or how about singing? I just love to sing! La-la-la-la!
:Gabby: Wow! I kinda wanna just try everything! I mean, I don't even know what to pick!
:Scootaloo: Don't worry. That's what we're here for.
:Sweetie Belle: Gabby's special purpose can't be everything, right?
:Apple Bloom: It may as well be. I don't know how we find what she's supposed to do when she can do it all.
:Scootaloo: [sighs] And if finding her purpose seems impossible, we can just forget about the whole griffon-getting-a-cutie-mark thing, which is actually impossible. I never should've gotten her hopes up!
:Gabby: I did... it... all! So, lay it on me, Crusaders. What's my purpose? And how do we get a mark on these here haunches?
:Scootaloo: Gabby, we... we don't.
:Gabby: Wait. What are you saying?
:Apple Bloom: We're sayin' that since you can do everything so amazingly well...
:Sweetie Belle: We just can't figure out what one thing you're supposed to do.
:Scootaloo: Gabby, we can't help you.
:Gabby: But, but... you're the world-famous Cutie Mark Crusaders! I can't believe it! I... I... I won't believe it!
:Apple Bloom: Gabby, wait!
:Scootaloo: We're sorry! We're so, so sorry! This is just awful. For the first time ever, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are cutie mark failures.
:Scootaloo: I'm sorry, Crusaders. I really thought we could help Gabby.
:Sweetie Belle: I thought we could help anypony.
:Apple Bloom: Maybe that's just it – maybe we can only help ponies.
:Scootaloo: Or maybe we just plain failed.
:[door opens]
:Gabby: Failed? Then what do you call this?!
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: A cutie mark?!
:Sweetie Belle: What? You got your mark after all! Even though we couldn't find your purpose? But– What? Huh?! How?!
:Apple Bloom: And what does it mean? A cauldron?
:Gabby: Uh... I don't know. Maybe it means my purpose is, uh, helping Zecora with potions. That was the first thing I tried. I guess it just took some time to appear. But here it is!
:Scootaloo: This is awesome! We're not failures! Whatever we did worked! I had a feeling we could help you, and we did!
:Apple Bloom: Oh! We've gotta go see Twilight right away! She'll wanna know about this!
:Sweetie Belle: Correction – she needs to know about this! I bet she'll want to write a whole book about the very first griffon to get a cutie mark of her own!
:Gabby: Oh, uh, totally! Um, but, you know, Rainbow Dash asked me to pick up her answer to Gilda's letter. I better take care of that before I forget. Heh. Here's an idea. Uh, y-you head to the castle, and I'll meet you there, cutie mark and all! Um... toodles!
:[whoosh]
:Scootaloo: Wow! Can you believe it? We were able to help her get her mark after all! Come on, Crusaders, let's tell Twilight!
:Twilight Sparkle: Gabby? You just missed her. She was in such a hurry, she didn't even come in. Just dropped this letter and zoomed away!
:Scootaloo: [reading] "Dear Crusaders, I'll never forget you. You really are every bit as awesome as I'd heard. I'm heading home to tell all the griffons how you did the impossible by getting me my cutie mark. Toodles."
:[books thudding]
:Twilight Sparkle: Wait a second. Cutie mark?
:[teleportation zap]
:Twilight Sparkle: You actually got a griffon a cutie mark for the first time in recorded history?! You know what this calls for? A full-scale research project!
:Sweetie Belle: This makes no sense. Gabby didn't come in and show you her mark?
:Twilight Sparkle: You have got to get Gabby back here right away! I have so many questions! Oh, I hope I have enough ink and parchment to document everything! Spike! Guess what just happened!
:Apple Bloom: Weird. Gabby didn't show Twilight her mark like she said she was gonna do? Somethin' in this here applesauce smells kinda fishy.
:Scootaloo: We'd better find her and find out what's going on. Come on, Crusaders.
:Scootaloo: Keep your eyes on the skies, ponies. Gabby can't have gone far.
:Apple Bloom: She's not in the air. She's right there! Gabby! Hold up, we're a-comin'!
:Gabby: Um... Sorry, no time to chat. I-I just stopped to help this pony get out of the muck, and then I really gotta fly. Okay? Heave-ho! [grunts]
:[splat]
:Sweetie Belle: Gabby, we're your friends. Why in Equestria are you running away from us?
:Gabby: Running away? Oh, I'm not running away. I'm just, uh, e-excited to show my lovely new cutie mark to everyone in Griffonstone!
:Apple Bloom: You mean the cutie mark that's runnin' right off your flank?
:Gabby: [defeated] Yup... That's the one. I guess the one thing I'm really not good at is faking things.
:Scootaloo: Wow, Gabby. Painting on a fake cutie mark to make yourself feel better? You must have been really upset.
:Gabby: Sure, I was disappointed. But I didn't do it to make myself feel better. I wanted to make you feel better.
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: [gasp]
:Gabby: I couldn't bear you three thinking you failed after you tried so hard to help. That's why I had to leave before you or Twilight found out the truth. [sighs] I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you. I'll just wing my way back to Griffonstone. Thanks for trying.
:Apple Bloom: You don't need to apologize for carin' about how other ponies are feelin'.
:Sweetie Belle: I'm just sorry we couldn't come through for you.
:Scootaloo: Hmmm... Maybe we can. Gabby, clean up and meet us at the Crusaders' clubhouse!
:[door opens]
:Gabby: I know you all tried your very best, but I guess griffons and cutie marks just don't mix. Maybe... I don't even have a special purpose.
:Scootaloo: Hang on a second. We were racking our brains trying to figure out your destiny, until we remembered how every time you did something new, you tried to help everypony around you.
:Sweetie Belle: Even us. How did it feel when you showed up with that fake mark, and the three of us thought we'd actually helped you?
:Gabby: Well... I was really glad I helped you feel happier.
:Scootaloo: So maybe helping is your thing! You might even say it's your purpose!
:Gabby: But helping just feels good. I-It couldn't have anything to do with what I'm supposed to do with my life... right?
:Scootaloo: Gabby, finding your special purpose doesn't have to be about being good at something. It's about feeling good about something inside.
:Apple Bloom: And it looks like your destiny is a whole lot like ours – helping others. And you don't need a symbol on your flank to know that.
:Sweetie Belle: But since we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we made you one anyway. Behold!
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: Your very own cutie mark! Ta-da!
:Scootaloo: We carved it to mark the moment we all figured out what you should do with your life.
:Gabby: But they look just like yours. You can't mean...! [gasps]
:Scootaloo: You bet we do! You're one of us now! Gabby, today we dub thee...
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: The very first griffon member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Woo-hoo!
:Sweetie Belle: You may not be able to get a cutie mark...
:Apple Bloom: But you're selflessly dedicatin' your life to helpin' others anyhow. I can't think of anything more Crusader-y than that.
:Gabby: Awesome! My very own cute-ceañera!
:[chatter in background]
:Apple Bloom: Oh, land sakes! You sure have earned it.
:Sweetie Belle: And so have we! Scootaloo, you're pretty amazing. Even though things looked bleak, you still found a way to help Gabby in the end.
:Scootaloo: 'Course! Helping's what we do, right?
:Gabby: [laughing] I am so grateful! I'm gonna go home and do my very, very best to bring Cutie Mark Crusader values to Griffonstone! I promise.
:Scootaloo: Promise us one other thing, too?
:Cutie Mark Crusaders: Come back soon!
:Scootaloo: After all, you're a Crusader now. Crusaders forever?
:Gabby: Crusaders forever!
:[credits]