It didn’t take Miley long to find the source of the untapped love she felt earlier. And it wasn’t too far either. Peeking down from the cloud she was on, she saw a pink coat and gray haired earth pony, who looked like she was going back home with her errands completed.
Miley could tell that this was the source of that untapped love. And it looked like she was headed in the direction where that other pony was.
“Hmm…” Miley put a hoof to her chin, thinking back to another lesson she learned.
”Some animals are more confident than others, and some are too shy to try. Sometimes they just need a little push to find what they’re looking for. They may not even realize that 'something' is what they’re looking for. But that’s what makes finding it all the more special.”
This time, it was only words that Miley had to remember. She came up with a plan. Reaching into her saddle, she pulled out a small Fluttershy toy with a string on it. Taking a gaze at it, she said. “Don’t worry mom. I’ll make you proud!”
______________________________________________________________________________
”And now, let me tell you the tale, of the toys who just wanted some fun.”
After Rainbow Dash’s start, Fluttershy gave a soft sigh of relief. “Toys. That doesn’t sound so bad.”
But Fluttershy’s relief just made Rainbow Dash smile before continuing. “It all starts with a single pony just casually making her way back home. Her name was-”
-Cinnamon Flake, who was just now gaining sight of her home before she suddenly stopped walking. She thought she had heard a small filly crying somewhere. Taking a close listen, that sound didn't return. Thinking it was just her imagination, she continued on. But the sound came again, making her stop. It was clear that there was a small filly crying somewhere, But the direction she heard it from seemed to be where an alleyway was. Being the caring pony that she was, she decided to investigate.-
A flashlight was pointed at Rainbow’s face. “Inside this dark alley, she found many boxes filled with toys. They were cute, sure. But nothing was cute about their figure. Dusty. Abandoned. Alone. Her hooves were trembling with each step already. But she continued, until she found-”
-the source of the crying. Cinnamon thought it was a filly at first, but a closer look showed that it was just a yellow pony toy with its hooves over its eyes. How it was emitting that crying, she had no idea.
And then, there was a sound of something that moved. She looked behind her, and found nothing. The move happened again, making her gasp as she looked the other way.
”Everywhere she looked, shadows were moving about. She wanted to scream, but she didn’t want those shadows finding her. But then, it crossed her mind that the little toy she heard the cry from, was nowhere to be seen.”
“H-Hey! Come back here!” Cinnamon heard a voice call. The first thing she saw was a picture being smacked into her face, and then a loud crash within the alley. “Ahh! What the?!”
“Casserole? Is that you?” Cinnamon asked. “What’s going on here? I keep hearing these sounds.”
”With the two of them trapped and nowhere else to go, the shadows closed in. ‘Go away!’ they said, ‘Leave us alone!’.”
A loud filly’s cry sounded followed by a flash of lightning, booming their ear drums. It was as if it responded to their protests. Cinnamon’s bags had all fallen out of her grip including the picture as she and Casserole held each other in their fear.
A wound up toy fell from the barrel behind them, causing them to jump and scream. They moved away from the barrel.
”But they kept coming. One by one, the toys appeared from the barrel. ‘Why? Why?’ the toys called, creepily crawling towards them with each passing second. ‘Why didn’t you play with us?’ they said.”
Despite how much she was shaking in fear, and how tightly her mother held her during the story, she was enjoying every moment.
“The poor ponies wanted nothing more than to run away. But backed in a corner, they had nowhere left to go. They approached. Closer… closer… …”
“...”
“Maybe we’ll play with you…”
The shadow of what looked like a dragon came into view. Cinnamon and Casserole held each other tighter in their fear of the beast stomping towards them with its vicious growl. They didn’t know what to do. They wanted to run, but they were cornered. They wanted to scream, but their lungs weren’t working. They wanted to just close their eyes, hoping this nightmare would be over.
”And then, the dragon appeared. It was all over right there.”
The nightmare had ceased. After one last flash of lightning, the large shadow had shrunk considerably. The growling was no longer vicious sounding. And the dragon walking towards them was very small. Casserole had stopped shaking, noticing the tiny dragon’s walking decrease. Slower, slower… until it suddenly fell over. Cinnamon was still shaking, but Casserole was able to walk up towards it.
“Cinnamon, look, it’s okay,” Casserole said, pointing towards the dragon. “It was just a wound up toy.” Taking a clearer look at the scenery, she noticed the rest of the toys scattered around. “It looks like they were all just wound up toys…”
Cinnamon took a few deep breaths. “Toys…” She held her chest. “It was all just… *pant* hallucinations… *pant*”
“Cinnamon? Are you okay?” Casserole rushed to Cinnamon’s side, who almost collapsed to the ground. Casserole held her firmly in her forelegs. Casserole tried so hard not to reveal her blush, but she couldn’t hide her body's increasing temperature. And yet, Cinnamon seemed very comfortable in her grip.
“U-um… come on,” Casserole stuttered. “I-I’ll get you home safely.”
Cinnamon sniffed, but smiled. She allowed Casserole to escort her. They used their strength to push the barrel that was blocking their path out of the way, and both left the alley.
When the ponies were out of sight, the toy dragon surrounded itself in a green flame. The flames quickly vanished, revealing Miley back into her filly pegasus form. She laid herself against a wall and gave a big whiff of the air, holding it in for a few seconds before releasing through her mouth with a pleasant sigh.
“That was sooo lovely…” She allowed her body to sink along the wall, savoring the taste of the love she tasted. It wasn’t complete, but it showed signs of the start of a very new relationship. All it needed, was just that little push to get it started.
She hovered slowly back up to the cloud she left her bag at. The love that she tasted felt so fa
miliar to her, like she had tasted it before. But for some reason, she just couldn’t pinpoint why it felt so familiar. All she knew, was that it was a pleasant thought to hang on to.
“That must be it,” she told herself as she reached her bag. “This must be what I was looking for. What my talent of being a pony is.”
Miley pulled out her book of Cutie Marks and placed it on the cloud. Now that she had found what she enjoyed doing, she felt she could finally choose one to stick with. There was no magical connection that would choose one for her when the time came, so she had to choose herself.
But oddly enough, Miley couldn’t bring herself to open her book up to find one. She just found herself staring at it, thinking about what she had done for her talent. Looking at the book wasn’t gonna help her choose. Her talent wasn’t gonna come from something she saw in a book. It had to come from something from her heart.
With that in mind, she set aside her book and closed her eyes. She then opened them to take a few glances around the scene, making sure nopony was around. Her eyes closed back afterwards. Placing a hoof on her horn, she activated her changeling magic once again.
A green glow slowly enveloped her body. Sparkles floated in the air. The sparkles were more gathered around both sides of her flank. Her body was glowing brighter with every second. Then, green flames spawned from the cloud surrounding where she stood. They floated up from her hooves to her head. When they reached past her body area, both sides of her flank changed with a glowing image. No longer blank, her flank spawned a green cracked heart with a bandage covering its top. Finally, the flames evaporated and the glow and sparkles vanished. She was complete.
Miley turned her head towards her flank and opened her eyes. She was proud of the results she had created. Re-closing her eyes she turned her head forwards, taking a whiff at the fresh air surrounding her before allowing her body to plop backwards on the cloud.
Many memories flooded Miley’s mind, all relating to her family. She wanted to rest, but the excitement of seeing their reaction to what she achieved anticipated her. But her body was too exhausted to move too much after all the magic she used up. The love she fed off of was just enough to get the job done. And when she returned to them, she was sure there would be much more to feed off of.
”Did you find her?”
“No…”
Miley opened her eyes when she heard those voices. As if luck had fallen upon her, she smiled, recognizing those voices. Picking herself up, she looked off the edge of the cloud in the direction of where it came from. She saw her parents near a playground park where trees surrounded by flowers bloomed. Holding on to her cloud, she fluttered her wings to fly the cloud over to them.
“Heeey!” Miley shouted and waved.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were alerted to the sound of Miley’s voice and saw her approaching them on a cloud. They were both relieved, but at the same time, angry with their daughter. When she reached them, Fluttershy started. “Where have you been young lady?”
“And why did you sneak out of school in front of everypony’s eyes?!” Rainbow Dash continued. “At least show some class and use an excuse or sneak out without them knowing!” Fluttershy was a bit shocked at that response and stared at Rainbow Dash. With her ears falling, Rainbow corrected. “Sorry, not the time.” She returned her glare back at Miley. “But it’s still not right to be skipping school like that! What were you doing out here anyway?!”
Miley jumped off the cloud and looked up at them. “You know how you said I could find my talent in the most unexpected way? Well that’s what I did! And look what I found!” She turned to the side to show her Cutie Mark.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy gasped at the sight of it. They weren’t sure what they were more surprised about. The fact that she got a Cutie Mark, or what the Cutie Mark was. They took glances at each other with their mouths held agape. But Miley just kept holding her pose, waiting for a response.
“Miley,” Fluttershy started. “We need you to go home now.”
Miley’s ears fell. That wasn’t the response she expected. “But I-”
“Listen to her, Miley!” Rainbow cut in. “Your parents need to talk, and YOU need to get home. Now get on your cloud and go!”
Miley’s heart began to sink within her blood. It felt like all of the love in her body was starting to leave her. Hesitantly, she obeyed and climbed on top of her cloud ride. With a frown, she looked to her parents. “W-will you be coming?”
“We’ll be meeting with you later, now get going!” Rainbow Dash took it upon herself to raise the cloud’s altitude. When it was high enough, she kicked it to start its motion. Miley’s cloud ride was starting to fly itself. She brought a hoof out and wanted to say something, but Rainbow’s glare made her too scared to say anything. The cloud was taking her away, and alone.
______________________________________________________________________________
When Miley was out of sight, Rainbow Dash flew back down to ground level so she and Fluttershy could talk. “Will she be alright?” Fluttershy asked.
“Don’t worry. I set that cloud so that it’ll stop inside her room.” Rainbow released a sigh. She wasn’t sure what she should be more upset about. The fact Miley skipped class, or the way she did. But what was important now was its result. “Now about that Cutie Mark. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Fluttershy had to glance away for a second while a tear formed in her eye. “If you’re saying her special talent is breaking hearts… yes…”
The words and tone from Fluttershy’s voice took Rainbow by surprise. “What? No! That’s not it at all!”
Fluttershy returned her look to Rainbow. “Wasn’t her Cutie Mark a broken heart? What else could it mean?”
“No Fluttershy. Weren’t you paying attention? There was a bandage on top of that heart.”
Fluttershy’s tear stopped. She put a hoof to her chin to think back at that. “A bandage? Are you sure about that? She skipped class to get that Cutie Mark.”
“Psh… Yeah! And that hasn’t stopped us now has it? Don’t you remember how successful we were after getting our Cutie Marks?”
Another pause from Fluttershy. “But… weren’t you kicked out of Flight School?”
Rainbow Dash snarfed. “I told you, I didn’t get kicked out. Why does everypony think I got kicked out of Flight School?”
“Well… you never told anypony what really happened.”
Rainbow placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s nose. “Well if you were more interested, I would tell you. But that doesn’t matter now. We gotta go visit Twilight right now,” she finished before taking to the air.
“Twilight? For what?”
“Haven’t you been paying attention to how Miley’s been acting? She’s been showing her love and care to everypony she meets!” Rainbow’s face warmed to a slight blush. “Not that I’m… all that into the sort of thing. But now she has a Cutie Mark to show that. Who else do we know that has a Cutie Mark similar to that?”
Fluttershy joined Rainbow in the air as she thought about that. “Princess Cadance?”
“Exactly! She must be destined for something awesome! ...Well, in a way, awesome, but still awesome!” Rainbow put a hoof around Fluttershy. “And there’s only one way we’re gonna find out! That’s why we have to go to Twilight and make that appointment!”
Everything that Rainbow Dash said made sense to Fluttershy. Her worries were put at ease. She believed that she did see the Cutie Mark wrong, and it was what Rainbow said. Realizing this, she made a nod.
“Good! Now let’s-” Rainbow Dash started flying, but then suddenly froze. “Wait… will Miley be okay at home by herself?”
“Oh don’t worry. I told Angel to look after her if she ever came by the house.”
“Alright! Then-” Rainbow froze again. “Hold on. You left Angel in charge?”
Fluttershy hesitated to respond. “Y-yes… Is there something wrong?”
“N-nevermind.” Rainbow shook her head and started flying slowly towards Twilight’s place. Fluttershy followed after her.
______________________________________________________________________________
The Cloud Garden. That is what they could describe their home as. When she came into their lives, they had agreed to build a brand new home that would represent both of them. It was a very tall home that utilized both the skies and ground.
The higher points of the home was made with compressed clouds covered with structures that would support the weight of most small animals. The outsides held multiple cloud slides and wooden ladders for animals and ponies to climb in and slide out as they please. One of the slides circled the entire house two times with an end that leapt upwards, used for takeoff. Rainbow waterfalls decorated the outsides and fell into a cloud fountain. And of course, many windows without glass decorated the many rooms within.
The lower points of the home was made with the usual lumber to create homes. A smaller cottage was at its center, but the rest of the field was a large and spread out garden. There was enough space to form a meadow. The corners of the meadow held more tiny houses, pens, holes, tree coves, flower beds, lakes, and even a few houses made out of clouds for some of those flying creatures that liked it better close to the ground. One could say the home was far bigger down below than in the air.
It was everything that she could call, a paradise. But today… it was her prison. No animals were playing in the paradise today. Instead, almost all of them were in her room, which used to be decorated with lots of love and family care. One corner of her room held blue and yellow bean bags with wings spread to support the one who laid on these. The other side of that was her bed, fitted with a blanket that was decorated of butterflies with the colors of the rainbow. Even her pillows held pictures of her parents. Next to the door to her room was a dresser and mirror which she looked at every day before she ever went out of her room. The dresser itself however contained no brushes or makeup. There was a closet next to her door which held all her toys and books. And most importantly, there was a window next to her bed pointed at the exact location the sun would appear, greeting a beautiful morning to her every day.
Today… it was no longer home. The window was blocked by bats. The bean bags were covered with porcupines. Her bed was covered in a web with a large spider resting where the pillows used to be. And all her toys were replaced with real living animals. Standing on her mirror was the mastermind behind all this change, Fluttershy’s personal animal assistant and favorite rabbit, Angel Bunny.
“Angel, please! Let me out!” Miley begged as she tried to open her door, finding it locked thanks to him. Angel signaled a few birds hanging from the ceilings. They flew to Miley and grabbed her by the mane and tail, forcing her away from the door and made her sit in the middle of the room.
“I want to see my family… Where are they?” Angel didn’t listen to Miley’s pleads. He obeyed Fluttershy’s order to take care of Miley and make sure she didn’t leave before they came back. From Miley’s drawer, Angel pulled out a celery stick that he had prepared. Riding one of the birds, he was taken in front of Miley’s face. With a grin, he showed a fake bite into the celery to signify what he wanted Miley to do. But Miley scrunched and turned her face away.
“Oh… that doesn’t look lovely… Do I have to-” a bird silenced her by flying into her mouth. The bird forced her mouth to open, allowing Angel to stick the celery in her mouth before they allowed her to close it. Immediately, Miley was greeted with a foul taste. She wanted so bad to spit it out, but Angel wasn’t allowing her to. He kept his paws on both sides of her cheek and made a chewing motion with his mouth.
Tears started welling in her eyes as the horrible taste spread along her taste buds. There was no love added to this celery so she didn’t have a lovely aftertaste to look forward to. She moaned and whined inside her mouth, trying her best to continue chewing. If she was a normal pony, she would probably feel like hurling right now. But if she was a normal pony, she wouldn’t be disgusted with the celery in the first place.
Miley took one large gulp. The celery hadn’t been chewed much, and she just barely managed to avoid choking on it. The aftertaste was just as foul as the celery. She had to stick her tongue out and groan. Fortunately, Angel wasn’t that cruel and soon had a cup of water ready for her after she had eaten. Angel helped pour the water into her mouth. Thankfully water being water, the taste of it was normal to her, and it was washing out all the terrible taste that filled her tongue.
When Miley was done, Angel signaled the birds to carry her over to the spider web-filled bed. Her body shook with fear at the sight of the large spider waiting for her. She was assured that this spider was harmless, but the look on its eyes and the venom seeping out of its mouth told her otherwise. She wanted to fly away. She wanted her family. But the birds weren’t allowing her to escape.
Miley was dropped on the web, and immediately her wings were trapped. The spider had crawled over to her, using its many legs to roll her body around in the web. Whimpers escaped her as her shaking was slowly being forced to a stop due to the grip of the web.
It didn’t take long before her body was now cast in a cocoon, with only her head free to move around. She couldn’t even flinch her body when the spider gave a last nip at the cocoon to ensure its brace. Angel was next to her again, pressing both paws next to his head and making a snore. He jumped off the bed and started leaving. He signaled the rest of the animals to follow suit, leaving Miley alone with the large spider watching over her.
All Miley could do, was tear up. If she could, she would look down at her Cutie Mark and reflect what a terrible she had made. All she could see... all she would see, was the blank white prison that now covered her body, and her shamefully made Cutie Mark. This was her reward for finding her talent. Her eyes closed with that crossing her mind now. She never wanted this change.