Rarity gave a contented sigh, and leaned back in her chair, as she swallowed the last bite of cupcake. Pinkie Pie grinned, and put her foreleg around Rarity's shoulders.
"What did I tell ya? Were those good or what?"
"Simply wonderful, Pinkie," Rarity agreed with a nod. "Did you make them yourself?"
"Mhm. I'm an apprentice baker here. I moved here a few years ago from the rock farm I grew up on, and the Cakes took me in." Pinkie Pie sighed contentedly and leaned back in her own chair. "It's been really nice."
"Better than my foalhood, I daresay," Rarity muttered. "Reporters running after me all the time just because I--"
Rarity was cut off when Pinkie Pie put her hoof on her mouth. She looked over at Pinkie, who smiled warmly at her and shook her head. "I don't need to know. I don't need to know what those reporters wanted, or what you did."
Rarity frowned and pushed Pinkie's hoof away. "I don't understand. Don't you already know? I thought that all of Equestria knew what I did."
Pinkie shrugged. "Maybe I do know, maybe I don't know, but I don't think it matters either way. You're Rarity, not your actions, silly filly. I mean, do you want your whole life to be defined by what you did?"
Rarity's eyes widened, and she vigorously shook her head. "No! No I don't! I want ponies to forget, and I just want to go on living my life as if it never happened!"
"So then why would you want to talk to me about it?" Pinkie tilted her head, a slight frown on her face. "Don't you wanna talk about other things? Forget those nasty reporters. Before they came to talk to you, was running in here to hide from them what you wanted to do?"
"Absolutely not!" Rarity closed her eyes, and her smile returned. "I wanted to run. I wanted to go to the park and run free, unrestricted from any walls or ponies telling me what to do. Then maybe if I wanted to do something else, I'd just up and do that. Why? Because I'm free now. I'm my own mare, and I get to make my own decisions. Nopony has the right to stop me ever again."
"Hmm..." Pinkie frowned and tapped her lower jaw. "Interesting, because Sugarcube Corner has a lot of walls in it. I guess we'll have to fix that particular problem." Pinkie stood up and extended her hoof to help Rarity up. "The park, you said? Well, then, to the park we will go!"
"Er..." Rarity frowned and tilted her head. "Don't you have work?"
Pinkie giggled and waved her hoof. "I've saved up a lot of vacation days. The Cakes keep telling me to take one or two, and I think that this is as good a time as any!"
Pinkie hopped over to a nearby staircase and looked up it. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake! Is it okay if I take a day off?" she shouted.
Rarity heard the sound of ponies moving on a floor above them, and within a few seconds, she heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and ponies talking.
"Oh, yes, Pinkie, I think that would be okay," said the voice of a mare. "It's been a slow day, after all, and you do need one."
"Just be back before closing time to help us close up, okay," said a stallion. "Before that, have a great day!"
"I will!" Pinkie chirped. She bounced back over to Rarity and put a hoof over her shoulders, just as the two ponies reached the bottom of the stairs. "I'm hanging out with my new friend Rarity today!"
The smiles that had previously been on the faces of the two ponies evaporated, and their eyes widened. They exchanged a brief glance before looking back to Rarity. Rarity flattened her ears and looked down to the floor, unable to meet the stares. The silence was broken when Pinkie cleared her throat.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cake, this is my new friend Rarity. Have you ever met her?"
"Uh..." Mr. Cake cleared his throat. "N-no, I can't say that I have."
"Well, I have, and I can tell you without a doubt that she is a very, very nice pony, no matter what she's done, or what happened to her in the past." Rarity slowly raised her head, not missing the bizarre mix of cheerfulness and sharpness in Pinkie's voice. "I know that she's a good pony, so you don't need to worry about me or her, okay?"
"Uh..." The two exchanged another uneasy look, but after a few moments, the two nodded. "Yes, you're right, Pinkie," said Mrs. Cake. "You two have fun then, okay?"
"We will!" Pinkie chirped. "You too have a good day too!" With that, Pinkie turned to Rarity and began nudging her towards the door. "Okay, Rarity, it's time to go run! It's time to go do whatever you want to do, because ponies have been telling you what to do for far too long!"
Rarity's smile returned, and she followed Pinkie out of Sugarcube Corner, where she was pleased to see that the reporters were not lying in wait for her. "Indeed, Pinkie. I think that the park would be a great place to start. I want to run!"
"Then run we shall, madame!"
Rarity and Pinkie trotted towards the park, Pinkie chatting animatedly about how her day had been going at Rarity's behest. Rarity found that she rather liked this bubbly, excitable pony. She clearly made the right choice in going out today, if for no other reason than meeting Pinkie Pie, and adding her to her growing collection of good friends.
Within five minutes, the pair reached the park. Given that it was a beautiful day, many ponies were playing, or laying in the grass, or having picnics. Rarity smiled at the scene and took a deep, refreshing breath. "So lovely," she whispered. "I can't recall the last time I did something like this."
"Mhm, well, I only have one word to say to that."
"Oh? What?"
Pinkie's grin widened to a width Rarity previously thought impossible, and she snapped her hoof out and touched Rarity's shoulder. "Tag!" Before Rarity could register what Pinkie said, Pinkie zoomed off so fast that Rarity swore she left a trail of fire behind her.
Pinkie's word clicked in Rarity's mind, and her eyes narrowed as Pinkie ran farther away. Rarity pawed at the ground and cracked her neck. "Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"
With that, Rarity took off after Pinkie Pie, going as fast as her legs could carry her. When she got close, Pinkie looked behind her and giggled before putting on an extra burst of speed and increasing the distance between the two.
"You'll never catch me!" Pinkie crowed turning around so that she could bounce backwards.
"On the contrary, Pinkie, you will never escape!" Rarity cried. "You might as well surrender now!"
Pinkie giggled and bounced in the air higher than Rarity thought possible. "You gotta catch me before I'll believe you, silly filly!"
Rarity leaped towards Pinkie Pie, swiping forward with her hoof. She missed Pinkie Pie by inches when Pinkie screeched to a halt in midair and bounced backwards. Rarity tried to twist her body in midair to account for this, but Pinkie had already landed and begun running away. Rarity growled, landed herself, and gave chase.
"You'll never escape me, Pinkie!" she cried in her most over-the-top voice. "I will catch you, and when I do, I shall... er... tickle you!"
"Tickle?" Pinkie gave an exaggerated gasp. "No! Not tickle! Anything but that!"
"You have nopony to blame bit yourself, Pinkie!" Rarity leaped towards Pinkie again, but completely missed when Pinkie juked to the right. "I'll tickle you until you turn pi... er... blue!"
"No, I can't be Bluey Pie!" Pinkie wailed. "Say it ain't so!"
"It's so!"
"Now what in the hay are you two doin'?"
Rarity and Pinkie both screeched to a halt, and turned to the source of the voice, where they saw Applejack standing nearby. She looked at them with a bewildered expression on her face. "Ah see you've met Pinkie Pie, Rarity."
Rarity grinned and nodded. "Indeed I have. We were enjoying the day."
Rarity glanced over at Pinkie Pie, who gave her a mischievous grin and inclined her head to Applejack. Rarity copied Pinkie's grin, and turned her head back to Applejack. "Oh Applejack, darling, could you not move from that spot?"
"Uh..." Applejack frowned and tilted her head. "What?"
Rarity and Pinkie Pie simultaneously bolted towards Applejack, and before she could do anything, the two ponies poked her on each shoulder with a cry of "tag!" Applejack flinched back when the two tagged her, but a look of comprehension dawned on her face, followed by one of determination.
"Oh, so that's the way it's gonna be, is it?" Applejack licked her lips and adjusted her hat on her head. "You'd best be the fastest runners in all of Equestria, then!"
And so the race continued, Pinkie and Rarity running from Applejack. Given that Pinkie turned out to be so difficult to catch, Applejack focused most of her attention on Rarity, and, since Rarity found herself a little tired out from chasing Pinkie, she caught her rather easily. Rarity refused to go down so lightly, and put all of her energy into chasing after her two friends.
It continued on like that for a few hours, the burden of being "it" changing from pony-to-pony several times. The laughter of the three friends echoed throughout the park, and many ponies stopped for a moment and watched the three and smiled. Finally, Rarity started running out of energy, and she slowed down and sat on her haunches, holding a hoof out to stop the other two.
"O-okay, girls, I th-think that's enough for right now."
Applejack and Pinkie Pie grinned and trotted up to Rarity. "You have fun, then, sugarcube?"
Rarity returned their grins and vigorously nodded. "More than I've had in years. I can't remember the last time that I ran like that. So free, so unrestricted, so..." Rarity closed her eyes and took a deep, refreshing breath. "Pure. There are no walls for me here. No locked doors keeping me inside. No orderlies telling me to come inside. Nothing. I'm really free, aren't I?"
"Free as a free bird!" Pinkie chirped. "Nopony is ever gonna lock you up again."
"Never again," Rarity whispered. She laid down, and relished the feeling of the cool grass on her coat. "I cannot thank you girls enough for today. We'll have to come back with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, won't we?"
"We sure will," Applejack agreed. "For right now, Ah'd say some lunch is in order, what do y'all think? Mah treat."
Rarity sat up, and her stomach growled. She hadn't realized how hungry she felt. She nodded as she got to her hooves. "Yes, I think that lunch sounds positively delightful. Do you know of any good--?"
Rarity was cut off when she her horn ignited, and with a yelp, it began pulling her away from the two. Rarity squealed, and began thrashing about, but she continued being dragged backwards. Applejack and Pinkie both gasped and ran after her, their speed meaning that they kept pace with her.
"Hold on, Rarity! Try draggin' yer hooves in the ground!"
"Help me, Applejack!" Rarity cried. "I think it's a magical surge!"
"Just try to uh... focus, or something!" Pinkie bit her lip and somehow tapped her lower jaw and continued running at the same time. "Uh, does your horn have an off switch, or something?"
"An off switch?!" Rarity shrieked. "No it does not have an off switch, Pinkie! I don't know what it's doing! I've never had this happen before!"
"Well, you just hold on tight, Rarity!" Applejack looked in the direction of town, and grimaced when she saw that they were going away from it. "Ah may be able ta get mah rope from mah house and back to ya before somethin' bad happens to ya!"
"We could be a long ways away before you get it, Applejack!" Pinkie responded. "If something happens, I think I'll need you here!"
Applejack sighed, but nodded and kept running beside Rarity. "Yer right. Okay, we'll see where yer horn is takin' ya. If it's somewhere bad, we'll try ta stop ya."
"We could both try to grab on to her at the same time!" Pinkie suggested. "Maybe that could slow her down!"
"It could also really, really hurt!" Rarity retorted. "My horn is pulling my entire body, Pinkie! If you pulled the other way hard enough, it could cause some serious damage!"
"So what do we do?" Applejack cried. "Who knows how long this is gonna last?"
"Just don't let me go off of a cliff, or anything like that!" Rarity gulped, and did her best to turn her head to look in the direction her horn pulled her. "Make sure that I don't hurt myself!"
Applejack and Pinkie Pie exchanged a brief, uneasy glance, but they both nodded, and kept running beside Rarity. The three moved without speaking, each continuously exchanging worried glances. Applejack and Pinkie Pie kept glancing behind Rarity to make sure that she didn't run into anything, but the terrain in front of her remained clear. After twenty minutes of Rarity being dragged along, Applejack spotted something in the distance.
"Rarity, Ah see a gigantic rock in yer way! Ah think we gotta try ta move you out of the way before you run into it!"
"No, there's a cliff behind the rock!" Pinkie pointed out. "If we move her and she keeps going, she could go right off the cliff!"
Rarity squealed, and began thrashing about, digging her hooves into the ground to slow her journey. "I just want to stop!" she wailed. "Don't let me hit the rock, and don't let me go over the cliff!"
"We won't!" Applejack put on another burst of speed, and got behind Rarity. She pressed herself against Rarity and dug her own hooves into the ground. "Ah'll make sure you don't hit that rock."
"It's a really, really big rock, girls!" Pinkie bounced between Applejack and the rock, and pushed against Applejack. "This is gonna be close! Rarity, is your horn turned off yet?"
"No, it's still going strong!" Rarity wailed. "It's actually pulling harder now that we're getting closer to the rock! I think that the rock is what my horn is drawn to!"
"A rock? What in tarnation would yer horn want with a big rock?"
"I don't know, but I'd really rather not hit it, if it's all the same to you!" Rarity dug her hooves in deeper to the ground, but she still did not slow. "Come on, horn! Stop it already!"
"We're about to make impact!" Pinkie closed her eyes and flattened her ears. "Brace yourselves!"
Rarity squeezed her eyes shut, and yelped when she felt Applejack and Pinkie collide with the rock. To make matters worse, her horn did not stop pulling her towards it. Instead, she found herself slithering over Applejack towards the rock. Her eyes snapped open, and she began thrashing about once more.
"Applejack, help me!"
Applejack, still dazed from colliding with Pinkie when Pinkie collided with the rock, couldn't regain her senses in time to stop Rarity from sliding over her, and before she knew what was happening, Rarity was already moving over Pinkie, her horn pointed at the rock like an arrow. Rarity squealed again, and put her hooves over her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable painful impact with the rock.
And then she felt the tip of her horn gently touch the rock, and the magic that had been pulling her fizzled out, allowing her to drop to the ground. Rarity groaned and rubbed the base of her horn, certain that it, among other things, would be quite sore in the morning. Applejack and Pinkie shot up, and rushed to Rarity's side instantly.
"Rarity, are you okay?" Applejack poked her shoulder. "Did it hurt when ya hit the rock?"
Rarity groaned and slowly raised her head to look up at the two. "Er... yes, I think that I'm alright. I'm... not quite sure what happened, though, or why, but I'm not hurt."
Rarity took Applejack's extended hoof, and allowed Applejack to help her to her hooves. When she was back up, she rubbed her eyes and looked over at the rock with a frown. "Yes, quite curious. My horn seemed rather drawn to it. I mean, it... looks like it's just a rock."
"Maybe there's something really cool inside of it!" Pinkie's trademark grin returned, and she bounced over to the rock and began banging on it. "Wouldn't that be cool?"
Rarity smirked and walked over to the rock. "Yes, I suppose that it would be. I mean, it would explain my horn's fascination with it." Rarity clicked her tongue and shrugged, raising a hoof to the rock as she did. "Well, it's a possibility. I would hate for it to just be a rock."
Rarity brought her hoof down on the rock, and before she knew what was happening, she heard a loud cracking noise. With a yelp the three ponies leaped back as a great crack appeared in the stone that grew larger by the second. It traveled up the length of the stone until it reached the top, and then, with one more final cracking sound, the gigantic boulder split in two, revealing...
"Gems." Rarity's eyes went almost as wide as her head, and her jaw nearly hit the ground. She slowly walked up to the boulder and looked inside, where, sure enough, dozens upon dozens of gems of all shapes and sizes lay. "My goodness," she whispered breathlessly. "I... I've never seen gems like this before!"
"Me neither," Applejack said, coming up beside Rarity with Pinkie in tow. "This is amazin'."
"And it's yours too!" Pinkie chimed in with a nod. "Every last one of these is for Rarity!"
"Uh..." Rarity blinked once and looked over at Pinkie. "Come again?"
Pinkie giggled and pointed to Rarity's horn. "Think about it, silly. Your horn led us here, and your knock even split the rock open. I'd say that these gems belong to you. Your horn seems to think so, anyway."
"Hmm..." Applejack frowned in thought for a moment before nodding. "Yep. Ah'd have to agree with Pinkie Pie here. These are yer gems, Rarity." She put her hoof around Rarity's shoulders. "Though, uh, I'd be willin' ta help you get them back to yer house if ya want."
"Uh..." Rarity blinked once again, then looked back down to the massive stockpile of gems that her friends insisted belonged to her. "W-well, yes. Yes, I think that I would like some help in that regard."
* * * *
That evening saw Rarity in her room, the large gem pile secured safely in her closet. Applejack had run back to her home and collected one of her apple carts and a large blanket, which the three of them used to move the gems to Rarity's home. Her parents were surprised to see not just a new pony they had never met before, but who was more than happy to meet them, but a massive pile of gems that Rarity promised belonged to her.
Rarity assured them that her ownership of the gems came as much of a surprise to her as to them.
When the gems were put securely in Rarity's closet, Pinkie and Applejack joined Rarity's family for lunch, where the all got to know Pinkie better. Sweetie Belle especially seemed to like the antics of the pink pony, and when Pinkie left, she promised to come back to see Sweetie Belle again.
With the day over, Rarity now found herself in her room sewing a small dress for Sweetie Belle; one of the ones she had designed on the day of her birth. The fabric itself came together perfectly, but now that she had the gems... Those would make a perfect addition to the dress.
"I told you that I would make these for you, Sweetie Belle," Rarity whispered, sewing a ruby onto the dress. "Big sister promised, didn't she? Yes, and she's about to do it." Another gem, more of the dress completed. She had never designed with this much efficiency before. Sure some of her foalhood designs turned out well, but this, this was something else entirely. Her sewing machine, her magic, her needle, her thread, all moved like a dancer to create this dress for her filly sister. Her masterpiece. "You're going to love this, Sweetie Belle, just as much as big sister loves making it for you." Rarity sewed on another sapphire. It was almost complete. "I promised that this would be real, and now it will be! It will be real now, Sweetie Belle, it will be real now!"
Rarity snipped the final stitch, and looked over her dress. A wide smile split her face. She was finished. She took a deep breath, and gently levitated the dress off of the small dress form. Absolutely perfect in every way. Rarity slowly walked out of her room towards the main room of the house, where her mother and father were playing with Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie Belle, I have something for you," Rarity said as she approached. The three looked up and smiled at Rarity when she approached them. Rarity sat down next to her sister, who giggled when she saw the dress. "This is for you, Sweetie Belle. I designed it for you the day you were born, and now I finally was able to make it."
Sweetie Belle cooed, and put a hoof on the dress. She leaned her head in and gently nuzzled the fabric, something that made Rarity chuckle.
"I think she likes it," Rarity's mother observed.
"She seems to, doesn't she?" Rarity said quietly, a wide smile on her face. "I'll make more for you, Sweetie Belle. This is only the first."
"But I think that this will be the most special one, Rarity, and not because it's the first one," her father said. He shakily raised a hoof and pointed at Rarity's flank. "I think you'll remember this dress forever."
Rarity frowned, and followed her father's pointing. She looked down at her flank, and gasped when she saw it. Her cutie mark. After thirteen years, she now had her cutie mark. Three blue gemstones. Rarity gasped, and put a hoof up to her mouth, tears filling her eyes. "It's... it's beautiful," she whispered. "My cutie mark. I finally got my cutie mark."
Rarity's parents scooted closer to Rarity, and they both wrapped her in a tight hug. Rarity's mother ignited her horn, and lifted Sweetie Belle onto Rarity's back, so that Sweetie Belle could hug the back of Rarity's neck, allowing the four of them to enjoy the happy moment.