AT THE SEARCH PARTY:
“N-no-No” Rarity exclaims lifting up an old Apple family rope that Applebloom had given to Sweetie Belle as a gift.
The worst part was they found it broken at the bottom of a cliff.
“She’s probably f-fi-fine. Right Twilight?” Rainbow Dash says unsure if it’s true.
Twilight looks over at rarity unsure how to respond to such a question.
She knew logically Sweetie Belle was probably dead or mortally wounded from such a fall and if they found her dead or she died Rarity would never be the same.
“She’ll be fine she’s a tough gal” Applejack shouts knowing no one else will answer and if Sweetie’s dead Rarity’s hate will be directed at her....
But she doesn’t care of Rarity hates her it’ll be better then hating their other friends.
Plus Applejack had seen Sweetie Belle’s drive and will power before and believed out of any of the young ponies she’d met Sweetie could and would survive the most.
MEANWHILE AT THE CAVE:
“I’m not jealous of Rarity” Sweetie Belle scoffs angrily crossing her hooves and turning to face the wall.
“Then explain to me why you stole her notebook” Quartz questions the biggest smirk on his face as he asks Sweetie Belle.
“T-to get m-my cutie ma-mark of course” she manages to stutter out in response.
Quartz presses the issue further by saying “and why are so obsessed with getting your cutie mark?”
Sweetie Belle doesn’t answer and does something she finds herself doing more often as of late.....staring at the cave wall.
“Your friends have their own reasons for looking for their cutie marks.” Quartz claims aloud.
“Applebloom wants to live up to her sister and her parents legacy. And scootaloo is trying to make her own place in the world since her parents are never their to give her a family and or a place.” Quartz continues stating his theory as of its a fact.
“And you want your cutie mark so you can best your sister and prove to your parents your just as good or better then Rarity.” Quartz claims smug about his skills as an analyst.
“Well I—“ Sweetie never finished her statement as she didn’t know how to answer.
Because deep down she knew he was right.
FLASHBACK:
Papa Magnum was sitting down at the table with
Cookie Crumble and their daughter Rarity eating the meal Sweetie had just cooked.
They were here to drop off Sweetie while they “vacationed” the truth was they were leaving her with Rarity indefinitely.
And they were currently trying to convince Rarity to watch her indefinitely thinking Sweetie was upstairs packing her mountain of things.
The truth was she was around the corner listening to their conversation.
“As you might well know Rarity Sweetie’s been getting into trouble...” their mother starts.
“Yes?” Rarity asks wondering where her mom is going with this.
“Well we’ve been struggling to handle her troublemaking and nosiness in our old age.” Hondo exclaims annoyed and saddened.
“What?” Rarity questions unsure if she’s understanding this right.
“We never planned on more children after having our perfect little angel because no one could live up to YOU darling.” Cookie Crumble exclaims in an ego stroking tone of voice
Rarity opens her mouth to speak but is stopped by her father who continues by saying “and she needs a strong hoof and example to lead her and show her how not to be such an aimless screw-up.”
Sweetie who was still ease dropping had heard enough and ran up the stair into her new room.
After she got up the stairs she quickly decided she was gonna prove she wasn’t an aimless screw-up by helping Rarity all day.
But throughout that day all Rarity did was get angry at her attempts to help and prove her parents point that she couldn’t do anything.
Later after meeting Scootaloo and Applebloom she decided the best way to prove she was just as good as Rarity was to get her purpose and excel at it.
FLASHBACK END
“I see.” Was all Quartz said on the matter after he finally got Sweetie Belle to tell him the truth.
Sweetie stare’s at her hooves embarrassed about her jealousy toward’s Rarity.
“Just be yourself and forget about your parents and sisters expectations.” Quartz tells her wisely.
Sweetie continues to stare at her hooves still reeling from the realization that she had been trying to one-up her sister for over a year and failing.
“Wh-who am I?” Sweetie questions looking up at Quartz a desperate look in her eyes.
“Only you can figure out who you are and what you want out of life. You are on a journey to discover herself.” Quartz says in sage wisdom.
Sweetie Belle looks him in the eyes and solemnly says “I guess your right Quartz.”
BACK AT THE SEARCH PARTY:
“Gals look at this.” Applejack exclaims pointing out a trail of broken trees and holes in the ground going further into the swamp.
GRRR!!!
The girls look up in fear at the trail of destruction and the sound of some unknown beast.
“What was that?” Fluttershy whispers terrified of what might have made that sound.
CRUNCH!!
The girls heard more trees crack and shatter with earth shattering force heading further into the bog and away from them.
What the girls didn’t know was the beast was heading towards Quartz’s cave at an alarming pace.
AT THE CAVE 8 HOURS LATER:
“What’s that?” Sweetie asks as the whole cave shakes.
“Is it an earthquake?” She asks in fear.
Quartz looks out the cave and hears a low rumbling grunt and feels the quake’s getting stronger and closer.
Then Quartz see’s the large claws come over the edge of the entrance to the cave as if pulling something up the mountain to the cave’s entrance.
And in an instant the hydra pops up over the edge and standing at the entrance of the cave bloody wounds all over it from when Sweetie tricked it into falling off that cliff.
All the hydra heads sniffed the air and immediately turns to look at the Sweetie who was cowering behind Quartz back leg and tail.
Quartz looked at the hydra and shouts “I won’t let you hurt her you 3 headed freak.”
”REEEEE!!” the hydra shrieks loudly as its charges him.
Quartz mimics the hydra’s movements and charges both the smaller dragon and the larger hydra colliding with a loud SMACKING sound.
TO BE CONTINUED.........