//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Gemmed Satyr // by The Rarispy //------------------------------// “Boy and howdy! Ah can’t believe it actually went swell! Ah’ve gotta tell my friends right away!”   A brown-colored speckled butterfly fluttered about over the park as four mares sat together on a red-and-white checkered blanket, gathered for a picnic. A tea-set and some sandwiches lay between them, and they were all listening intently to Rarity as she recounted the night when her younger sister’s love had finally blossomed.   It had been four days since the night Twilight returned from Canterlot, after Sweetie Belle and Spike had finally simultaneously confessed their mutual crushes. She looked on with a straight face, while Pinkie was antsy, listening intently to the story. Fluttershy had her focus on the ground, looking unusually solemn. Rarity herself was adorning a sparkling red hat that somewhat resembled a Stetson.   “…the most spectacular fireworks! At least, that’s what they looked like. Oh, it was one of the most magical sights I think I’ve ever experienced.”   “Yeah! That definitely goes down as the best Equestria Day Festival ever!” said Pinkie Pie excitedly. Rarity shook her head with a smile.   “I’m so happy that Sweetie Belle got what she wanted in the end without having her heart broken,” Fluttershy quietly expressed. “She’s so lucky… But um, Twilight, so you’re not still upset with Spike, are you?”   Twilight Sparkle hesitated to answer, as she sipped her lemonade. “I— Well… I guess I’m a bit more open-minded about it now. I just… I just want to make sure they both know what it means to be in a proper relationship and—”   “Whoa-whoa-whoa, Twilight!” exclaimed Pinkie, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Take it easy!” Twilight blushed then, perhaps out of embarrassment.   “Yes, dear,” Rarity affirmed, as she sipped her tea. “After all, you must remember. They’re still children in the end. I’m sure if you let things take their course, it’ll all work out fine. It goes to show, love can blossom even at the youngest of ages.”   Twilight took another gulp of lemonade. “I guess you’re right. I mean, I had my first crush when I was only a filly too.”   -TWINGE-   “Why, Twilight… you never told me about this childhood crush of yours. Oooh-ooh! What was his name? What was he like?” begged Rarity, through gritted teeth.   “Actually, it was… it was a she,” admitted Twilight, blushing.   “Oh. … Oh, I see. Goodness, Twilight. I never took you as one to be interested in mares.”   “Really? Because I was hoping you would be!” said Pinkie.   “Why?” asked Twilight, tilting her head.   “Mmm, I dunno!” she replied, shrugging.   “What about you, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, turning her head. “Didn’t you once tell me at the spa that you went out on a little mini-date with a colt back in…”   “…back in Cloudsdale, yes,” she finished, quietly reflecting. “But he turned out to be a bully in the end. He took advantage of my shyness and ordered me around, and… he even wanted us to find a house together, even though we were both only foals! But for a while, until all of that started happening, I suppose— I guess he could’ve been considered my coltfriend.”   “Gee, Fluttershy, I’m so sorry to hear that,” said Twilight.   “Oh, it’s fine,” she replied. She started to blush. “I don’t think about him anymore, and I’ve been trying to tel— I mean, find the one I want to be with, for a while now.”   “That’s the spirit! Like they always say, what goes down must always come back up!” said Pinkie. She continued before Twilight had the chance to correct her. “But you know what? I did better than that! I was in love with a colt and a filly! At the same time, too!”   -CRACK-   “A colt and a filly? How does that work?” asked Twilight.   “Now, Twilight. It is a fact that some ponies, like Pinkie apparently, don’t have a specific gender preference and instead prefer to swing both ways!” Rarity took a big sip of her tea; the cup held in her magic almost looked like it was trembling.   “I didn’t know I was just supposed to pick one,” Pinkie mused. “I’ll love anypony that just wants to smile with me!”   “Now then, I wonder what’s keeping Applejack and Rainbow Dash?”   “Huh, you’re right,” said Twilight. “Aren’t they usually the first to arrive?”   “Oh, um…” Fluttershy piped up. “Rainbow is in Cloudsdale visiting her mother for a few days. She asked me to tell you all. I guess I… sort of forgot. I’m sorry.”   “Oh, that’s quite all right, Fluttershy,” said Rarity. “We all make mistakes from time to time.”   Twilight swallowed the last bite of her sandwich. “You know, now that I think about it, I wonder if Applejack and Rainbow have ever experienced love. I don’t think they’ve ever told us before.”   “Indeed,” Rarity pondered. “Fluttershy, you’re good friends with Rainbow Dash. Has she ever told you anything?”   “Oh! Um… I— Uh…” What do I say? I don’t want to spoil her secret! Oh… what is it she tells everypony else? “Well, of course! Rainbow Dash has had lots and lots of coltfriends!” Oops. That didn’t come out right.   -SNIP-   ‘Ohh, that Rainbow Dash,” Rarity groaned, starting to sweat for some reason. “Playing the field. Why am I not surprised? I bet she doesn’t even remember their names.”   “Well, what about you, Rarity?” asked Twilight. “Surely with how popular you are, you’ve been asked out time and time again, right?”   Rarity spit her tea, nearly choking on the bag as she accidentally sucked it up in her shock. After she gagged it out, she locked a death stare right at Twilight.   “Twilight, shame on you! A lady never reveals the details of her history in companionships!”   The three ponies all glanced at each other puzzlingly.   Pinkie scratched her noggin. “But… we all shared our first loves!” Then she gasped, putting her hooves over her head. “Wait, were we not supposed to? Oh, no! Now I can’t even keep my own secrets anymore!”   “No no no, Pinkie, it’s— oh, you’re right. I really hate to admit this, but… I’ve never had anypony of my own.”   Twilight and Pinkie both gasped. Fluttershy however, perked up in sudden intrigue.   “That is to say… I’ve always had the mare’s typical dream of being whisked away one day by their handsome, dashing Prince Charming…” Her face glimmered up as she described the fantasy, but instantly sunk again. “But, nothing for me has ever progressed beyond a single date. The closest I’ve ever gotten to having somepony I could call my special somepony was Prince Blueblood, and well… you all know how that turned out.”   Twilight was about to say something, but then ears caught a peculiar sound. “Hey… do you girls hear that?”   “It sounds like… somepony’s panting,” said Fluttershy.   “Oh my word! Applejack, are you all right?”   “Hey, y’all,” greeted Applejack, sweating intensely as she hobbled over to the blanket, clearly winded. She collapsed on the ground in a huff, as her hat gently floated down with her. “Sorry ah’m late. Got a bit held up. Ah’ll explain in a minute. So… what y’all talkin’ about?”   Rarity cleared her throat to reacquire her dignity. “Oh, nothing particular, reall—”   But then Pinkie suddenly cut in front of her face. “Hey, Applejack! Why, Twilight, Fluttershy, and I were just talking about our first fillyhood crushes!” Rarity humphed.   “Well, by golly, what a coinky-dink!”   “Why’s that?” Rarity inquired.   “Well, that’s the good news ah was comin’ here to tell y’all about!” she enthusiastically replied. “You’ll never believe what happened last night.”   “What?” They all asked in unison.   “Ah finally did it!” She grasped her hat in pride. “It took over four dates, but ah finally mustered up all my courage and asked Caramel if he could be my special somepony!”   -CRACK-   Fluttershy gasped. “What’d he say?”   “Why… he said YES!”   -TWINGE-   “No, way!” Twilight exclaimed. “How did you do it?”   Applejack brushed up a leg in modesty. “Well, gee willikers. The hardest part was going up to him and asking him on that first date. After that, well… it just came naturally, I suppose.”   -SNIP-   “Really?” Fluttershy responded, sounding quite amazed. “It was that easy? All you had to do was… walk up to her— I mean, him?”   “Eeyup! Don’t get much simpler than that. Whoo-ee! The folks in town who were there told us that we might be the third or fourth couple to have sprouted in Ponyville this month alone!”   -SHATTER-   -SHAAAAATTER-   “Oh my goodness Rarity, are you okay?” Twilight clamored. “You just broke your teacup!”   “I-I’m fine, Twilight. Just… just fine.” She turned towards Applejack with an almost manic-looking face. “So, Applejack… you too are now proud to say that you’ve had a special somepony sometime in your life?” Her eye twitched a couple of times.   “Um, well… yeah. Now that ya— now that ya mention it, I suppose I am,” she answered, taking a step back at Rarity’s sudden erratic behavior.   An awkward silence followed, as Rarity’s friends exchanging looks of worry towards each other and towards Rarity.   “Rarity…” Twilight finally uttered. “Is something wro—”   “Nope! Nothing’s wrong at all!” Rarity interrupted, standing up. “However, I must say that I’m feeling rather nourished. I think I’ll head off early.”   “Huh?” They all replied.   “But, Rarity,” said Fluttershy. “You haven’t even eaten anything yet!”   But she was already starting to walk away. “Oh, well, I had a large brunch this morning. Just put my sandwiches in a doggy bag or something for me. But I really must get going! We should do this again, sometime. Ta-ta! And congratulations to you, Applejack!”   With that, she trotted off, leaving a quartet of stunned and confused mares in her wake. Eventually, Fluttershy took to the skies.   “I’ll be right back. I just have to… get something.”   Rarity strolled on through the Ponyville square. She had a smile of glee and a sense of calmness in her eyes, looking perfectly content as she strode past the market place.   The same brown speckled butterfly from earlier flew alongside her. She admired its beauty as it landed on her nose for a few seconds before flying away again.   Meanwhile, the youngest member of the Apple family was keeping herself busy. She had a stack of flyers on her back, and was placing them around Ponyville.   The flyers each had a picture of three male ponies in a band. The one in the middle was brown with a flowing yellow mane and glasses, and was holding a white acoustic guitar. To his right was a dark red pony with short green hair, holding a microphone. The pony on the left had blue fur and was bald in terms of a mane. He was wearing a black turtleneck and standing behind a keyboard synthesizer.   Apple Bloom was just finishing hammering one to a pole as Rarity walked past.   “Oh, hi Rarity!”   “Good afternoon, Apple Bloom,” she responded. “Hard at work, I see?”   “Yup! Say… do you know where Sweetie Belle is? I asked her yesterday if she could come by and help me put these up.”   Rarity put a hoof to her chin and pondered for a bit. “Hmm, can’t say I have. But as you’re well aware, she has been busy as of late.”   “Oh… right,” Apple Bloom remembered. She looked down in disappointment.   “Hmm, hmm, don’t worry, dear,” said Rarity, nudging Apple Bloom’s head much to her annoyance. “You’re still her best friend. I’m sure she’ll come around eventually. Anyway, I should be off. I have some matters to attend to at home. Ta-ta!”   “Bye, Rarity!” said Apple Bloom as she waved to her. She picked up her hammer and moved to put up the next flyer, grinning to herself.   After she left, the twin pegasi sisters Flitter and Cloudchaser took notice of the flyer and walked up to it.   “The Drifting Cattails are playing live at the Ponyville Park, this Sunday…” Cloudchaser read. “The Drifting Cattails? Who are they?”   “Ooh! The Drifting Cattails!” They’re an acoustic band,” Flitter explained. “I listen to their songs on the radio sometimes. We should buy tickets!”   “Ehh… no thanks. Acoustic rock really isn’t my thing.”   “Aw, come on, sis!” said Flitter, nudging her in the shoulder. “A little acoustic rock might be just the thing you need to help you ease up a bit.”   She scoffed. “Well Flitter, maybe you should start listening to some heavy metal, might help you a perk up a bit.”   “I think you should both listen to some soft jazz, might help you guys chill out a bit,” said Blossomforth from behind them.   Flitter and Cloudchaser smirked at each other, and shrugged.   Rarity continued along, on her way back to her home. But from above, she was being watched. Fluttershy peeked through the tree’s thick branches as she watched her best friend from afar.   Rarity…   I just want to confess. To tell you that I love you…   “Are you sure about this, Spike? Should we really be… y’know, doing it, so soon?”   “Aww, come on, Sweetie! I do it by myself all the time, and I heard it’s way more fun when you do it to a partner! We can do it right here on Twilight’s bed! I’m sure she won’t mind.”   “Alright, if you say so…” Sweetie Belle jumped onto Twilight’s bed and slowly began to lie down. “You sure you know how to do this?”   “Of course! I’ve had lots of practice!” Spike got up on the bed too and slowly began to lean over her. “Just relax… and let me do the rest.”   “Okay… Oh! Ohh! OHHHH! Oh, Spike! I— AAH! Oooaahhh! Oh, more! MORE! Yeah, yeah! Aaaaahhhh…”   Sweetie closed her eyes as feelings of bliss and euphoria surged through her body. Finally, she sat up again.   “Geez, Spike. Where’d you learn to give such relaxing hoof massages?”   “Oh… some of Twilight’s books,” said Spike as he delicately stroked her left hoof with his claws. “Rarity would always ask me to give her one when she found out how good I was at doing them.”   “Yeah…” Sweetie reflected. “Why do I feel really dirty right now, though?”   Before Spike could answer, a gust in wind blew in through the bedroom window. The speckled butterfly flittered in, as it flew around both of their heads.   “Whoa…” they said in unison.   “What kind of butterfly is that?” Sweetie inquired.   “I don’t know… it sure looks really pretty, though.”   The butterfly continued fluttering about, until it was knocked about by the wind. Tumbling back, it pinged into the sapphire.   The sapphire that Sweetie Belle had given to Spike as a sign of her affections. A symbol of their young love. And now it was tumbling down.   “OH, NO!” they both cried.   “I got it!” yelled Spike. With quick reflexes, he made a dive and was able to catch the large blue gem right before it impacted with the ground. “Phew. That was close.”   The butterfly quickly dashed out. One might say it was embarrassed by its tumble and having almost broken their precious gemstone.   The lock turned, and the front door of the Carousel Boutique swung open. Rarity still had a plucky smile as she entered her abode, placing her red hat on the table near the door. Despite her cheerful-looking demeanor, her pet cat Opalescence could tell something was amiss, and she dashed away into another room.   Sure enough, as soon as the door closed behind her, the smile completely disappeared, and her cheery face was replaced by a reddening sea of anger and vile. Rarity’s first act upon coming home was to emit a mighty scream of frustration.   “ERRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! Why, why, why, WHHHYYYY?!”   In her sudden anger, Rarity swung her hoof and smacked down a nearby vase, in the most possible unladylike manner ever.   “This is simply far BEYOND the point of ridiculous! Everypony in this Celestia-forsaken town has once had somepony they could consider calling their own, somepony to boast about and tell stories about! Everypony in this town except ME!”   She stamped her front hooves on the ground, and began sharply facing the room as she continued brooding.   “Bon-Bon has found somepony! Daisy has found somepony! My friends! My own sister, for the love of Celestia! She’s found someone before I have! And even Applejack! APPLEJACK, of all ponies!”   Opal was about to try coming back in, but Rarity in her tantrum swung again and flipped away the box of yarn balls, one of them almost hitting the frightened cat, who quickly retreated once more.   “Meanwhile, I am over here, the one who’s never had anypony! The lonely mare! The loser! The shameful and mocked of Ponyville!” She tossed herself onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, her hair already becoming disheveled.   “I mean, what do I have to say for myself? Prince Blueblood, the pompous blowhard of a prince? Or Baron Summersday, the lying cheater who stole my heart and split it among two more? “Best of the bunch” my flank! I suppose there’s also that brief stint with Turnip Hayseed, which I’d rather not think about at the moment… or any given moment.”   She sighed. “Just a long list of failures. Because that’s all I am. I’m Rarity the Failure, doomed to never have a special somepony for myself. Perhaps I should just lie here for the rest of my life!”   “Rarity, what are you saying?” she scolded herself. “You can’t give up so easily!”   “But what more can I do? All of my options are exhausted and I am left in the shadows of everypony else! I’ll never make a name for myself.”   “Not with an attitude like that, you shan’t! You must take action, Rarity! Grab destiny by the HORNS!”   “But what if I fail? What if I go so hard only to fall just as hard?”   “Then it’s a fall you’ll take with gusto! Because the Rarity I know would NEVER back down from such a challenge!”   “Yes, you’re right! I shall take this lying down NO MORE!” she declared, standing tall and raising her hoof in the air. “If I am to undo this wrong, then I simply have to step up my game! Make them want me, come to me!”   Feeling more triumphant than over, she proudly leaped onto her sewing table.   “Look out Equestria, because here comes Rarity! And with Celestia as my witness, I shall find my special somepony by the end of this week… if it KILLS ME!”