"Alright, okay Rarity, you can do this. You've faced the Spirit of Disharmony himself, battled hordes of changelings and even forced Applejack in a cute little red dress after hours of chasing her around.You can do this," said Rarity to herself, her back facing a certain diamond-shaped rock at the edge of the Everfree Forest. She faced away from it a longer than she wanted, but she needed to prepare herself.
That wasn't its original place; Rarity had her friends move said rock as far away from Carousel Boutique as possible. Everypony has made fun of Rarity one times too many with her 'relationship' with Tom.
"Ah' see you've been hangin' out with a lotta' gems, Rarity. Wouldn't old Tom get a mite jealous?" Applejack actually has been the most frequent bully at this, but at least it wasn't crass.
"Why did the giant rock cross the road? To get to the rare side! HAHAHAHA! Get it, Rarity!? As in, your sides!!" Rainbow Dash on the other hand...
But this time Rarity was intentionally near the rock.
Rarity finally mustered up her courage and thoughts. And turned.
"Tom! I-" and Rarity flinched at her impulse. "Rrrghh! I'm so sorry. It's just- you, me, what... Alright, I apologize, let me start over,"
She sighed and began slowly.
"You're probably wondering why I'm talking to you, an inanimate rock. You can't understand me, after all, you're just a big rock that's not a diamond. So in a sense, I am speaking to myself, which doesn't make sense, but it does in someway, I know this. Because a part of you, is me.
"Discord, that wretched, tacky excuse of a snake thing is the cause of all this, of you, therefore me, therefore you. Oh my stars, I sound like Twilight giddy on some philosophy book!" Rarity giggled. she continued on, more comfortably this time.
"I remembered so long ago, of how I gotten my cutie mark. Such a strange day, such a funny way my magic worked. And gems. Ah, gems were my life! I use on clothes, accessories, and the occasional snack for the cutest-wootsiest little baby dragon ever! You know, Spike, the little dragon and such a daaarling! Gems are one of my very favorite things in the world,"
She sighed.
"But, I realized something that other day. It all started with a nonchalant conversation with Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. I felt a little pampering was in order after completing a particularly complex order. Kilts for a whole marching band, ugh! Why did I ever agree to that deal?
"I've been to the spa that week already, so I thought I'd head off to Pinkie's place for something sweet, but not too heavy, a lady always watches her diet.
"Pinkie was at the counter and I ordered some cupcakes. And you know Pinkie, the moment I said I came after an order of kilts, she went ballistic! She was all 'kilts' this, 'taek ower freey-dum' that, so after I calmed her down, she joined me for teatime.
"After telling me a rather uncouth story of how she daringly wrestled some caramel monster and stuck it in some Nelson's lock to subdue... oh don't look at me that way, Thomas, it's Pinkie Pie! It's likelier that it was the truth!
"Anyways, she wanted to show me something, so she zipped up to her room, and before me was a simple blue box wrapped in some lovely red ribbons. Quite classy actually, now that I think about it. She opened it up, and there it laid: a small rock.
"I gave Pinkie a, 'what the hay' look, as Applejack would say. And she looked at me with such eager, childlike eyes, as if I was supposed to be excited, and I can most assure you I wasn't. So I asked her, "Pinkie, why are you presenting me a rock?"
"She gave me this confused look, and said something, well, both like Pinkie and not like Pinkie. She actually said that she thought I would get excited over rocks! And I laughed! I told her that I'd get excited over gems, yes, but not rocks rocks!
"... don't give me that silence, Tom, I'm just retelling what happened accurately. She asked why, and I said that there's nothing special about ordinary rocks, they're just plain, grey and nothing spectacular.
"And like some sleazy salespony, she went 'Aaaaah, but you haven't heard what's so special about this rock!'. And she explained to me that that little rock was a gift by her parents from their rock farm.
"And I started immediately apologizing, why, I just insulted a gift by her parents! Then she shushed me by pinching my lips shut, and explained what the rock really was. Come to think of it, how did her hoof pinch- oh, what am I saying, it's Pinkie Pie!
"She said that it was a rock in the shape of an alligator, where, were it viewed at a certain angle, a silhouette of Gummy, her pet gator, would appear. They explained that it would be a nice gift for her. And when I looked closer, indeed, there was Gummy in an uncanny silhouette!
"As you know, Pinkie can work in strange ways, but then she got strange in a way that I didn't think possible: the scholarly sort of strange. She's been socializing a lot with Twilight, I suspect. She asked me if I had kinship with her in the ways of the rocks," she waved a hoof dramatically in the air for effect.
"I must admit, I didn't, but I said I did with gems, after all, my cutie mark reveals as such. Pinkie asked where do gems come from, and I said from the earth of course, and that's when it clicked in me. "You're saying I have a sort of Earth Pony like bond with the earth because of rock and gems and such?""
"And she was all, "Yes! That's it!" She said that her little gift obviously was to be taken in jest, but she saw something more to that gesture. I'm quite aware that she had a bit of a conflict with her parents being stoic rock farmers, but she began to explain that at that young age, she never truly understood the value of rock farming, until years later when she ended up at Sugarcube Corner.
Pinkie explained with sweeping grandiosity that why there even is rock farming in the first place was because, you see, a demand for all sorts of things.
"Stone sculpturing, construction, cookery, the list goes on. And she said that sometimes, if they're lucky, they'll find stones that has the potential to cultivate gems inside. Anyways, ever since that little revelation, Pinkie's tried to reconnect with her family, the Cakes even did some business with them by purchasing some gems for their pastries! Spike loves those.
"A customer came up, and before she bounded away to harass them, she told me that we've all got to look at the inside of the rock, and sometimes, even for what it is. And she left me alone with my thoughts. And here I am, with you, who is me, whom I also consider a you, especially since I called you, a he.
"That was Pinkie's story," Rarity said contemplatively, turning away almost shyly, "Now for my story, my cutie mark story, as it were.
"Ever since I was a little filly, I've always loved putting on sparkly, lovely things on clothes and costumes, especially gems. Sapphires, rubies, the whole repertoire! I knew that my cutie and even my magic would be surrounded by them!
"And by magic, and I do mean Magic with a capital M, my horn literally dragged me to this tall rock.
"I can assure you, Thomas, that I was rather cross with my horn, I thought it had good taste, like myself, or does it work on it's own, oh never I mind! Long story short, sonic rainboom happened, the rock split, revealing a bevy of gems and then my cutie mark,"
Rarity got caught in her own moment, and relaxed herself unconsciously on the rock she called Tom. The sun was setting.
"If anything, that little incident did teach me that even in the most garish of things, there's a possibility of a diamond in the rough within, but what about you, my friend?
"I know there's no gems inside of you, you don't even have the minerals suitable to cultivate any, I'm afraid. But after what Pinkie's memorabilia represented, To me, you are nothing, even though I call you Tom. But to others, you could have value. You could be great material in construction, a counterweight for some giant scale, perhaps.
Rarity smirked, "Or even as a tool used to deceive a certain unicorn, having her lug around what she thought a giant diamond all day...
"I used to assume, there's always a gem even in the darkest of places, but now, I can see that there can also be a gem even when something isn't one at all,"
She gently touched Tom's surface with her hoof. "I came her orginally to get over you Tom, but now I see I am fated to be bonded closer to the earth. I must thank Pinkie for this strange day. And I thank you Tom,"
Without hesitation, she kissed him.
Then pop goes the Pinkie.
"Whoohoo! Congratulations Rarity!" yelled Pinkie out behind the rock.
"AAAARGH!" screamed Rarity as she jumped away from Tom, "Pinkie! Why- where- how did you know I was here!?"
"I came to congratulate you, silly, for bonding with the earth! And to wrap this story up with a bang of course, this is a pony show after all!" Pinkie happily explained.
Rarity stared at her incredulously; typical Pinkie as usual. But then she smiled, and simply nodded in agreement.
"So, after my phisophical trip there, what should I do now with Tom?" she asked, "It seems silly to just leave him here after all that, after how I shunned him,"
Her pink friend pointed right underneath the bottom of the rock. Rarity took a closer look, and there was a glimmer of a hole visible.
"No need Rarity. A badger has found its home under Tom. It's quite enough," Pinkie said coolly.
"You can tell it's a badger underneath there? Is that some Earth pony magic you did to find out?" asked Rarity.
Pinkie turned around and Rarity grimaced when she saw the bite mark. "Yeaaahhh..." Pinkie slurred sheepishly, "When you're trying to be quiet to let your friend spill her feelings onto her rock, the badger underneath you is bound to get frisky...!"
Rarity stifled a laugh and gently said, "Thank you Pinkie, for this strange yet wonderful day, and tolerating the jaws of a badger for my sake. Now let's make a move, I have just the thing for that back at my boutique,"
And they walked back to Rarity's place to wipe some ointment on Pinkie's posterior.
THE END