//------------------------------// // A Story of Cutie Marks // Story: Trapped // by I am not a Dalek //------------------------------// Chapter 5- A Story of Cutie Marks Soarin’ has fallen asleep, and he is leaning against the cold wall of the cave. I am trapped in his wings, but I’m not complaining, it’s freezing cold so I’m glad that I have this small inkling of warmth. I wonder how long we have been trapped in here, I know that it is not daytime yet since there is not even an ounce of light falling through the boulders, blocking us in the cave. However, maybe there is so many that it’s trapping all the light from coming through. I sigh as I think about my friends, what would they be thinking right now, what if they give up the search party? No, they wouldn’t, especially since Soarin’ is missing too. Surely Twilight has a spell that could help find us as well, we still have hope left. We always do. Boredom finally takes over and I nudge Soarin’ in the stomach with my hoof. He groans and stirs slightly, before falling into a deeper sleep, but his wings loosen up slightly so I am able to fly out of his embrace. Silently, I trot over to the cave entrance and try to move some of the smaller rocks. If no pony can find us then we have to get out ourselves. I wrap my hooves firmly around one of the rocks and tug at it, after a few moments of pulling and shaking it comes loose and falls to the floor. However, I realise that I didn’t think this through as well as I thought I had when a pile of rocks come tumbling down on top of me, forcing me down to the ground. I groan and glance up at the entrance, and find the more stones have covered up our escape route. We must be buried pretty deep. I move slightly in attempt to get out but it’s no good, I’ll need Soarin’s help to get free. I just consider myself lucky that none fell on my head and knocked me out, again. That would have been bad for sure. Soarin’ mumbles incoherently before I hear him jump up to his hooves in fright. “Dash? Where are you?” I can hear him running around the cave frantically. There is a low thud followed by a groan which indicates that the big dope must have ran into the wall or something. “Soarin’, can you help?” My voice breaks slightly, along with my pride. I can make out Soarin’s silhouette as he gets to his hooves and walks towards me; I hear a low whistle in astonishment, “Whoa, Dash, how did you get into this mess?” I sigh in annoyance. “You’re not helping!” I complain, and get a snicker in return from the Wonderbolt. Rocks clutter around me as Soarin’ moves them away, after a few minutes of bickering, rearranging and squirming, I finally manage to slide out of the death trap. Soarin’ takes my foreleg and helps me to my hooves. We then walk – well more like limp- back to the far end of the cave, where we sit down in silence. “What time do you think it is?” I whisper out into the darkness. Soarin’ is silent for a few moments before saying, “Probably almost sunrise, around five, maybe?” I nod even though he cannot see me, and then everything is silent again. “So, why don’t you tell me your cutie mark story?” Soarin’ asks. I thought every pony had heard of my legendary cutie mark tale? That I was the Pegasus who pulled off the Sonic Rainboom at such a young age. Maybe he has heard of the story, but just doesn’t know it was me who pulled it off. I do have to admit, it is a pretty awesome story, and I love telling it. “Okay, make sure you’re sitting comfortably then!” I sit in front of Soarin’ with a smile spread across my face. “But there’s a catch, you have to tell me yours afterwards.” Soarin’ chuckles, “Deal.” I lean forward and begin to tell the most awesome story in all of Equestria. **** “... And when I looked back after I had done the Rainboom, my cutie mark was there. It was the best race to ever go down in history!” I conclude. During the storytelling I ended up standing up. I am now standing before Soarin’ with my chest stuck out in pride and my head held high. “So you were the filly to pull of the Sonic Rainboom then? I should have figured it was you,” Soarin’ says and I feel a hoof on my foreleg, pulling me down to sit on my rump. Knowing that he’s holding to his part of the deal, I lean forward in anticipation as I await the story on how Soarin’ earned his legendary cutie mark. “Every year in flight school we’d have a ‘special’ visitor come in to give us a lesson or two in techniques and whatever. When I was eight it was announced that a few of the Wonderbolts were coming into our school as the visitors for the year. If you were anything like me, you would understand how ecstatic I was about this, I was so excited that I began to train every evening and every morning. “The day had finally come when they were teaching us, and I was starstruck. They had taught us some basic moves and tricks which I caught onto easily, no problem at all. At the end of the day Captain Hurricane challenged anyone who was brave enough to a race. I was one of the four who stepped forward. “The race began and I, surprisingly, was ahead of all my classmates and I was closing in on Hurricane pretty quickly. I knew that I would never beat a Wonderbolt at this age, however I knew that I could come second easily. “Which is what I did. Hurricane was shocked that a Pegasus so young would be that talented, he told me that he was impressed with everything he’d seen from me, especially the race. Then he put a hoof on my shoulder, and whispered in my ear, “You’re talented, kid.” And that’s when I knew that my talent was flying and mastering tricks.” Soarin’ finishes his story and I stare at him in shock. He raced a Wonderbolt, and almost won? His story is almost as awesome as mine! “Impressive,” I comment and watch as he sits back down beside me. “It may be impressive, but I’m pretty sure you would have won,” he says, causing me to look at him in shock. No pony that age would have beat a Wonderbolt, let alone the Captain of the team! Captain Hurricane was one of the fastest fliers of his time and if Soarin’ had managed to come close second then he’s probably really fast. Still, that doesn’t mean I can’t kick his flank once we get out of here. I lie down on the cold floor of the cave, my mind still racing with thoughts. “We should probably get some sleep,” I say quietly. Soarin’ stays still for a few moments before lying beside me and he falls asleep pretty quickly after that. If I was told in advance that this would be the situation I’d find myself in, I would have been afraid. I wouldn’t admit it to any pony, but I would be. I mean, we’re still trapped in here and we could still possibly die, but Soarin’ being here has given me hope, he’s kept me calm without knowing it. I don’t even know how he manages to do that. He makes me feel warm inside, he makes me genuinely smile. I haven’t felt like this in years, I always thought that romance was pointless, stupid and useless. But here I am now, falling for the Pegasus who is trapped in this cave with me. He has made me go completely against what I thought before within the space of a few hours. I stare into the darkness as I wonder how he has managed to make me feel this way so easily. How is he different to all the other ponies I know?