//------------------------------// // Tout de Suite // Story: On Your (Cutie) Mark... // by Scantrel //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle did not want to get out of bed. Even though it wasn't early morning still, the soft comfort of being snuggled under the covers felt especially good. The night had been full of vivid dreams, but Sweetie Belle couldn't remember any of them. Perhaps that was Luna's doing, if she had chased them away then Sweetie Belle knew Luna had her reasons. Reluctantly, Sweetie Belle crawled out of bed and walked down to the kitchen, hoping that Rarity might have left her something for breakfast. Upon entering, Sweetie Belle saw the kitchen had already been tidied up and she frowned, that meant cereal again. Walking over to the pantry, Sweetie Belle looked for the box of Frosted Oats cereal that she liked and spied it sitting on the top shelf, well out of her reach. "Seriously?" Sweetie Belle mumbled to herself, turning away from the pantry to find a step-stool. She really wished Rarity would be more considerate where she put things. Sweetie Belle found the stool and drug it back towards the pantry. As she turned to scoot it into place, she stopped in surprise. The cereal box was now sitting down on the floor in front of the pantry. Rubbing her eyes to get any sleep out of them, Sweetie Belle looked back up where the cereal had been and shrugged. Picking up the box, she started to head to the refrigerator to get some milk. Before she could reach for the handle, the refrigerator door swung open by itself then slammed shut, causing the little filly to jump back in surprise and drop the cereal box, spilling oat clusters all over the floor. "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity called from the kitchen archway. "Whatever are you doing in there?" Stepping into the kitchen and seeing the mess on the floor, Rarity gave an exasperated sigh. "You really must learn to be more careful! Now go and get something to clean this up and I'll get you something to eat." "But...I...I didn't..." Sweetie Belle stammered, until she realized that Rarity was no longer listening to her. "Fine." Sweetie Belle said with an air of defeat and went to go get the broom and dustpan. Rarity in the meanwhile had reached out with her magic, opening the refrigerator to get out the milk, taking down a bowl from the cupboard, and lifting the cereal box to pour some into the bowl. "There you go, Sweetie, no harm done!" Rarity said with a smile. "I have errands to run this morning, but I'll be back fairly soon to start work on a large project today. Do try and keep the chaos to a minimum in the store?" Rarity said hopefully. "I promise," Sweetie Belle said, pouring the milk over her cereal and setting down to eat. With a satisfied nod, Rarity turned and levitated a hat with bright plumage to cover her head from the sun, and left the shop to head to the market. Sweetie Belle finished her breakfast and put her bowl and spoon into the sink. Warily, she approached the refrigerator to put the milk away. This time, the door behaved as expected and Sweetie Belle gave a little "Whew" of relief. It was still a little early to head over to Sweet Apple Acres to meet up with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, so Sweetie Belle walked out into the store to find something to do. The workshop area was filled with half-dressed ponyquinns, fabric swatches, and patterns from Rarity's current project. Sweetie Belle always enjoyed getting to peek at her sister's latest creation before anyone else and this morning was no different. The garment in question looked to be an evening dress and the fabric Rarity had chosen made Sweetie Belle at once think of Canterlot. Perhaps Hoity Toity had placed another order. As she looked more closely, something bothered her, but Sweetie Belle couldn't put a hoof on it. She turned her head slightly from side to side, taking care to note the different stitching, how the hem had been taken in, the cut of the neckline. Sweetie Belle wasn't sure why this suddenly was so interesting to her, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from the half-completed outfit. Rarity's errands took only a short while and she returned in short order to the boutique. Setting down the packages she had levitated home, Rarity called out cheerfully, "Sweetie Belle? Where are you?" When no answer was forthcoming, Rarity grew concerned. She really hoped that the curious filly had respected her earlier admonition to steer clear of trouble. Not trusting in chance, Rarity walked through the boutique lobby and towards the workshop. As she entered, Rarity suddenly ground to a halt, her face contorting with shock. Sweetie Belle was sitting right in front of the unfinished dress, staring at it intently. But what was most surprising was the number of small objects hovering around Sweetie Belle, all bathed in a light alabaster glow as they levitated. Scissors, measuring tape, a cushion of push-pins, even a small pad and pencil orbited around the filly's head. "Sweetie Belle!!" Rarity finally gasped. "What are you doing?!?" The sound of panic in Rarity's voice broke Sweetie Belle's concentration and as she turned around in surprise, the objects that had been floating around her clattered down to the floor of the workshop. The sound of their impact on the floor startled Sweetie Belle and she jumped up, knocking the ponyquinn over by mistake. "Rarity!?" Sweetie Belle answered, trying to calm her nerves. "What...what happened?" Rarity immediately dashed over to her little sister, righting the ponyquinn magically and putting a hoof to Sweetie Belle's forehead as if checking for fever. "Sweetie, do you...remember what you were doing?" she asked slowly. "I...I came in here to see what you were working on today." Sweetie Belle stuttered. "I was looking at the dress you were working on and once I started looking closely, I couldn't help but notice the mistakes, so I started trying to figure out how to fix them." "You don't remember the items that you were..." Rarity's voice trailed off and her expression changed from surprise to something a shade more critical. "Mistakes? What mistakes?" she asked a little coarsely. "Well..." Sweetie Belle said reluctantly. "You didn't use pinking shears on the cross-seam where the forelegs will exit, so that seam will probably unravel over time. A few of your angle pleats around the middle are too straight, so you won't get the full slimming effect and I think you missed a couple of darts along the shoulders." She gave Rarity a bright smile as she finished, glad she could be helpful. Rarity just gaped at Sweetie Bell with her mouth open in shock. Walking in a daze past her sister, Rarity ran a careful eye over the unfinished dress, examining it closely. "You're right..." she said at last. "But how could you possibly..." "I don't know!" Sweetie Belle burst out, her voice starting to sound a little afraid. "It just stood out to me when I looked." Rarity cast her eye back down at the array of objects surrounding Sweetie Belle, and then back to the dress. For several moments she stood thinking, then levitated a new ponyquinn in place of the previous one along with a bolt of fabric. "Show me." Rarity said. "But how?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I can't sew." "Something is different, dear. I could swear I saw you using magic before and while I can't explain it, something is happening. Unicorn magic is very fickle at your age and it may be manifesting in ways you don't understand. So please, just give it a try Sweetie Belle, perhaps you'll start to understand." Sweetie Belle nodded, encouraged by her sister's support and closed her eyes. In her mind's eye, she could see the pattern, could imagine how the fabric needed to be cut and stitched. Opening her eyes, Sweetie Belle concentrated on the fabric. Slowly at first, a little pearly glow started to form around the bolt, then grew stronger. With a gasp of surprise, Sweetie Belle felt herself lifting the bolt of fabric off of the floor without using her hooves, though it felt like she was holding it. She guided it to the table and let the bolt settle down on the surface, releasing her telekinetic hold. As the glow faded, Sweetie Belle gazed over at Rarity, who was standing there beaming with pride. Sweetie Belle turned next to the scissors, this time levitating them with ease and guided them to the fabric, making precise cuts along the pattern lines. As each piece came loose from the bolt, Sweetie Belle grabbed them with her magic and guided them over to the sewing machine, stacking them neatly beside it. Once all of the pieces were cut, Sweetie Belle went over to the machine, using her newfound magic to grab the appropriate thread and bobbin from the little rack of spools and threaded the machine as she had watched Rarity do hundreds of times. A slow smile started growing on Sweetie Belle's face as she started to sew the pieces together, forming the rough pattern of the dress. Once the machine work was complete, Sweetie Belle started in on the hoof-stitching, no longer even needing to concentrate to levitate over the thread, needle, or pins as she worked. Within about 15 minutes, Sweetie Belle had finished the first pass of the work and used her magic to slide the dress over herself to check the basic fit. Rarity had watched in awe barely able to control herself. As Sweetie Belle turned around in a slow circle to model for her sister, Rarity nearly pranced with excitement. "Oh Sweetie Belle, I just cannot believe it! It's marvelous dear, simply marvelous!" As Sweetie Belle levitated the dress off of herself and onto one of the ponyquinns, she heard Rarity's gasp of surprise. Looking up with some concern, Sweetie Belle asked, "What is it?" Rarity pointed a hoof and beamed, "Your flank...I daresay it looks very fashionable with that new cutie mark." "My what?" Sweetie Belle said. Then it hit her. "MY CUTIE MARK!!!" In a flash, Sweetie Belle zipped over to the full length mirror and turned her flank where she could see the three diamond pattern that had appeared. As Sweetie Belle stared at it, her expression turned puzzled. "This looks like your cutie mark, Rarity." "That's right, it does. It absolutely doooeesss!" Rarity practically sang. "Do you know what this means?" "That I should have been spending more time in here all along trying to earn my cutie mark?" Sweetie Belle replied. "Well, perhaps, but I was thinking of the future. The Carousel Sisters Boutique!" Rarity exclaimed. "No...wait, that won't work. Perhaps 'Rare and Sweet Boutique'? Oh, the possibilities, think of all the things we will get to work on together!" Sweetie Belle smiled broadly at her sister and her excitement. This was The. Best. Day. Ever! "I need to go show Apple Bloom and Scootaloo!" Sweetie Bell gushed. She started to run out the door, but then stopped. "Wait, I want to make us all new capes first!" As Rarity giggled at her little sister's enthusiasm for her new-found talent, Sweetie Belle was already levitating bolts of maroon and gold over to the sewing machine. She couldn't wait to surprise her friends with her newest design.