//------------------------------// // It's a Gem // Story: The Fluttershy Effect // by banjo2E //------------------------------// Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two normal fillies... It was a day just like any other on the rock farm. Pinkamena Diane Pie was working the fields with her sisters, pushing the rocks from one field to another to make sure they got the right amount of sun. Her gaze turned skyward as it often did; it wasn't as though the rocks were particularly impatient or difficult to move. Pinkamena loved watching the clouds drift across the sky. Sometimes she would even see a pegasus pushing them. In another place, Pinkamena's cloudwatching would have given her a cutie mark in having her personality radically altered by rogue thaumic energies. In this place, however, this day was just like any other day on the rock farm. Rarity was not having a particularly good day. She knew her special talent was fashion, or at least something related to making clothes, but she still hadn't received a cutie mark. The costumes for the school play that she had designed weren't good enough, she had no idea why, and nopony else she'd talked to thought they weren't done yet so she couldn't even get any advice. Her horn had spontaneously cast a spell she didn't know and dragged her halfway across Equestria for no readily apparent reason; her hooves where in such a terrible condition from all of that dragging that, far from not looking good, she wasn't sure it was even safe for her to walk at all! And the thing her horn had been dragging her to seemed to be...a rock. Certainly, it was a very large rock, with a somewhat unusual shape, and being perfectly balanced on the edge of a cliff was nothing to sneeze at, but...it was a rock. A boring, ordinary, unfashionable, nothing-to-do-with-clothes rock. This would have made Rarity incredibly angry, were it not for the fact that she'd already yelled herself hoarse. At this point, she'd decided to try another tactic. "Come on, horn, light up again and bring me to...oh, I don't know, a mattress factory or something! I'll polish you every day if you do! ...Well, unless you don't want to be polished, in which case I won't! Come on, please?" It wasn't going well so far. The two fillies had been denied their destinies through no fault of their own. But fate is a funny thing. There are more than two destinies in the world... Pinkamena stopped to catch her breath. One of the rocks had gotten really big, and it had been pretty hard for her to push it to its current resting spot. She looked it over, making sure that it was sitting in the right place and facing the right direction, before sighing and gazing skyward once again. She couldn't explain it, even to herself, but she felt as though she had missed something important, but she didn't know what it was. Her gaze drifted for a while, before her eyes fell on something very unusual. "Why is there something purple on top of that cliff?" Rarity was nothing if not thorough. Her grief had passed denial, gone through anger, attempted bargaining, returned briefly to denial when bargaining didn't work, then gave anger and bargaining a miss and dove straight into depression. And oh, boy, did she know how to be depressed. A full-blown Rarity tantrum was a force of nature, capable of making even stone wince with volume alone. She'd even been trying to learn a couch-summoning spell so she'd have something to collapse on dramatically, but for the moment she had to settle with rolling backward onto the apathetically warm stone of the cliff instead. Rarity knew for a fact that dramatic collapses had to be done with one's eyes closed, which is why she didn't know she had an audience until she heard the clapping. "You're pretty good at that! But why're you so upset?" Rarity squealed and jumped a foot in the air, a pretty impressive feat given that she'd been lying on her back when she did that. She sputtered, then asked, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The thoroughly pink filly in front of her replied, "I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie. I know it's kind of a mouthful, but I haven't thought of any good nicknames yet. And I came up here because I saw something purple, and I wanted to know what it was. I think it was probably you. But now I kinda want to know what you were crying about for. I mean, it must've really been bad, right?" Rarity blinked, then sighed, sitting back against the rock her horn had dragged her to. "I suppose it couldn't hurt to talk about it...Well, I've been trying to get my cutie mark for a while now. I know what my special talent is, and I've been practicing it every day, but...nothing. This morning my horn just cast a spell by itself, so I assumed it was going to show me how to get my cutie mark, but all it did was drag me halfway across Equestria, to this rock, and leave me here." She groaned. "I'm starting to think that maybe I really don't know what my special talent is, but...what kind of a special talent involves finding a rock?" Pinkamena frowned. "Well...I'm actually a rock farmer." After seeing the look on Rarity's face, she facehoofed. "Yes, rock farming is a thing. I don't know why so many ponies think it isn't." She laid down next to Rarity and pointed to a fenced-in, barren-looking patch of land in the fields below them. "Do you see that field over there? That's where the rocks start growing. You take some pebbles and sprinkle gold dust on and around them, then you leave them there. A few months later, they'll be bigger, so you have to start pushing them around and letting the sunlight hit them all over. After a lot of pushing and some other boring stuff, the rocks turn into different kinds of gems depending on what kind of rock it was before you started." Rarity blinked. "Wait, gems come from fields? Then what are the Diamond Dog mines for?" Pinkamena seemed a bit surprised at Rarity's question. "I...don't actually know? I think it might have something to do with earth pony magic, I mean it's not like I told you everything there is to know about rock farming or anything. It's actually really complicated, and I'm pretty sure Pa would get mad if I talked about it too much." She looked up at the rock looming above them, and frowned. "The thing is, though, this rock's just sitting here. Nopony's been cultivating it, and it's not even one of the kinds of rocks we grow at all. So if you were supposed to be a rock farmer, it wouldn't make any sense for you to get dragged to this rock. But there's got to be something special about this rock, because you wouldn't have been dragged all the way out here Rarity was silent for a bit, then said, "What if this rock somehow grew gems by itself, without any ponies to help it? How could we check that?" Pinkamena blinked. "Um...well, I'd probably have Ma or Pa take a look at it, but I don't think they'll be able to climb up here...maybe we could try and push it down off the cliff?" Rarity fidgeted. "Won't that mess up my hooves even more than they already are?" Pinkamena raised an eyebrow. "They seem fine to me. I guess they're kinda scuffed, but it's not like they're chipped or bent or anything." Rarity looked at her hooves, then sighed. "Well, I suppose they won't get any worse from this..." She stood up and pressed her arms against the boulder. "Ready?" Pinkamena placed her forehooves next to Rarity's. "Ready. Push on three?" Rarity nodded. "One...two...three!" The two fillies pushed with all of their might, and ever so slowly, the boulder moved towards the edge of the cliff. It took five whole minutes of the hardest effort either of them had ever gone through, but the rock did finally fall... As soon as the rock tipped over the edge of the cliff, the two fillies collapsed, panting. After a minute or so, Pinkamena turned her head to look at the white unicorn next to her. "...you all right?" The unicorn raised her head and groaned. "Is rock farming...that hard...all the time?" Pinkamena felt her lips twitch. "Not...usually, no..." She laid there for a while, resting,until a thought occurred to her. "Hey, now that I think about it...I'm pretty sure I don't know your name yet." The unicorn looked at her for a moment, then facehoofed. "Ugh. I'm sorry, Pinkie, that was really rude of me. I'm Rarity. Well, Rarity Burbage, but nopony ever uses my surname, so just call me Rarity like everypony el–why are you staring at me like that?" Pinkie blinked. "Oh, sorry, Rarity, it's just, you found my nickname! I've been looking for one for ages, and you just found a really good one right after you met me!" She paused, then put a hoof to her chin. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's really kinda obvious, isn't it?" Rarity just sighed, but Pinkie swore she heard chuckling. "Let's go see what happened to that dumb rock, shall we?" The two fillies walked over to the edge of the cliff and leaned over the edge. When they saw just what sat at the bottom of the cliff their jaws dropped and they gasped. There were hundreds of perfectly-formed gems of all different colors and sizes glittering in the sunlight. Pinkie felt her face split into a grin wider than she'd ever thought possible. "Look at all those gems! They're so beautiful! I've never SEEN this many gems at once before!" On impulse, she pulled Rarity into a crushing hug. "Rarity, you're best pony! No, wait, I helped, WE'RE best pony!" Rarity remained silent and motionless for a moment longer, then began to chuckle. Her chuckles turned into giggles, and then became full-blown laughter. Pinkie began to laugh, too, and the pair of them rolled backwards. Eventually their laughter stopped. The two fillies laid there for a while, gazing at the sky, until Rarity's irritated voice pierced the calm. "Darn it, I still don't have my cutie mark!" Pinkie turned to look at her friend, still smiling. "That's all right. I don't have mine yet either. We can help each other find them." Rarity was still for a moment, then turned her smiling face to Pinkie. "Thanks." Pinkie giggled. "No problem. Now, let's go find Pa and show him what we found." Pinkie's father was speechless when he saw the gem pile; all he could do for a while was smile broadly. He decided to let Pinkie and her sisters take the rest of the day off, and asked Pinkie to go into town and help Rarity send a letter to her parents, so they would know where to find her. Thusly did Pinkie and Rarity walk into town in high spirits... "...so I've basically got eight straight years of allowance saved up that's just sitting here! Trust me, Rarity, it's not gonna be a problem!" Rarity smiled and shook her head. "Fine, fine, you can buy me whatever you like, but you'd better believe you're getting something even better come next Hearth's Warming. What were you thinking of buying, exactly?" "Well, I found a new friend, and we found the biggest harvest of gems Pa's ever seen by accident, so I figured we should celebrate! I just don't quite know how yet." It was at this point that the two fillies walked in front of a store selling party supplies, and Pinkie's brain short-circuited. Rarity had to shake Pinkie's shoulders for several seconds before Pinkie noticed. "Whoa! Uh, sorry, Rarity, what is it?" "Pinkie, your mane just changed shapes! Hang on, there's a mirror right over there." She grabbed Pinkie's hoof and dragged her to the window of the adjacent shop, which appeared to sell furniture and writing supplies. Pinkie looked her reflection over, giggling softly. "You know, Granny's a real prankster, and her mane is really curly, but everypony else in the family has a totally straight mane! If I didn't know better, I'd say my mane couldn't decide whether it wanted to be straight or curly, and tried to be both at the same time!" Rarity chuckled. "Well, I think it's a good look for ya! I'm actually a bit jealous, t'be honest; I've always wanted a wavy mane..." Pinkie giggled again. She could get used to giggling. "Thanks! Your change isn't half bad either!" Rarity blinked. "Er...what?" "Your voice, silly! You sound totally different now!" Rarity froze, then gasped, her voice quickly switching back to her old accent. "Oh no oh no oh no that did not just happen, you did not hear that, my voice is perfectly normal there is nothing wrong with it I do not sound like a MRPHRGL" "Rarity, stop freaking out! I like both of your voices just fine! There's nothing wrong with having two of them like that, in fact, I think it's neat!" Pinkie removed her hoof from Rarity's mouth. "...ya really meant that, didn'cha?" Pinkie rolled her eyes and laughed. "Of course, silly! I don't get why you have to be so melodramatic about it, but hey! You're good at being melodramatic, so why not?" "...Thanks, Pinkie." Pinkie beamed. "No problem! So, I figured out how we're gonna celebrate. Wanna help?" "Yeah. What'cha need?" The party was in full swing. Pinkie's parents were dancing like they hadn't danced in years, and her sisters had discovered the joy of party games and were taking full advantage of their newfound knowledge. Giggling, she turned to Rarity. "Well, I guess this isn't cutie mark quality, but it's still pretty good, isn't it?" "Oh, definitely." Pinkie beamed, then her face fell. "Uh...I just realized something. Isn't it gonna be hard for us to stay friends if we live in different towns and don't see each other at all?" Rarity looked up at the ceiling innocently. "Oh, that's not gonna be a problem." Pinkie's heart plummeted. "...you mean, we aren't friends?" Rarity beamed, and raised a hoof. "Nah. We're bestfriends. And that lasts forever." Pinkie laughed. Their hooves met, and there was a flash of light. Pinkie's vision cleared to a wonderful sight. On Rarity's flank were two cyan diamond-cut jewels, loosely bound by a silver thread. Pinkie turned her head to her own and saw a large, heart-shaped blue crystal, surrounded by five multicolored balloons. After a moment, Rarity said faintly, "Remember how ya asked me why I'm so melodramatic? It's 'cause the world keeps doin' things like this all the time." It was a night just like any other on the rock farm. While the days were filled with quiet, determined work done well, and did not permit anyone to slack off; the nights were cool and calm, providing rest, relaxation, and a chance to have some fun with friends and family. And that's how Equestria was made.