//------------------------------// // The Big Speech II (daughter's edition) // Story: The Last Temptation of Hondo Flanks // by angelbunny //------------------------------// Rarity’s saddlebags jingled as she walked alongside the lake and grinned, admiring the way the moonlight danced beautifully across the water’s surface. She was approaching her parents’ house and spotted her father dressed in a suit jacket and lying down about twenty feet away from the front door. “Father?” asked Rarity. “Hi, jelly bean,” said Hondo with a wide smile. “Long time no see.” “First I find Sweetie Belle out and about in the middle of the night and now I find you out here all by yourself. Did something happen?” “Short version or long version?” “Mmmmmmmwe’ll go with short.” “I told your sister’s coltfriend that he could spend the night with her in her bed and now I’m not allowed back in the house until I’ve thought about what I’ve done.” “Hmm. Well, I’m certain that you’ll have an epiphany before midnight. If everything else is all right, I must beg your pardon. I must speak with Mother.” “Sure. Hey, Rarity?” “Yes, Father?” “Is there a reason why don’t you carry stallion’s clothing in your shop?” Rarity blinked. “Why?” she asked. “Were you interested in a new suit?” “No, I was just curious is all.” “Oh. Well, I could design stallionswear... I’ve done so before for a few special orders... but it’s just not challenging enough to do on a regular basis... and it’s not where my true passion lies. One can only do so much with stallion’s fashion before hitting a wall. With mare’s clothing, the sky’s the limit. A mare’s outfit expresses her mood and those can change by the second. We may feel confident, flirty, reserved, whimsical, austere... the list goes on. We mares are enigmas with a multitude of emotions and we want beautiful, extravagant ensembles to reflect them. More to the point, mares want to buy ensembles that reflect these moods and my creativity allows me to perfectly capture those moods in fabric and gem. I connect with my regular customers in a very special way. I become attuned to what they like and I know how to give it to them – because only a mare knows another mare’s needs. Some days I’ll sit by the door to my shop and my mouth waters over the desire to satisfy the next mare that comes inside with a special request! Why, the very idea makes me so giddy that I can hardly contain myself.” Her smile melted away as she concluded her opinion. “But if a stallion comes inside my boutique, well...” Rarity shrugged. “I’m just not as interested in the possibilities.” Hondo shifted his jaw. “Uhhhh-huh,” he said suspiciously as he bit his lip. “Well, that certainly answers that question... as well as a few others. Listen, I don’t want to hold you up so I’ll let you go on inside so you can catch up with your mother, okay?” “Adieu, Father.” Rarity planted a kiss on her father’s left cheek. “Mwah. It’s always lovely to see you.” Rarity opened the door and closed it behind her as she entered the house. “Yyyyyeah...” sighed Hondo. “My daughter’s not gay at all. And what the Tartarus is ‘austere’?” “Yoo-hoooooo? Moth-errrrr?” sang Rarity as she entered the kitchen in search of her parent. “Hey, the prodigal daughter returns,” said Cookie as she put down her dishcloth by the sink and turned to face her daughter. “What’s the occasion?” “Do I really visit home that infrequently?” said Rarity with a pout. “Shame on me. I’m terribly sorry about that. I promise to make it a point to come by more often.” “Is that another dress for me? You know I appreciate the thought, hun, but I’m seriously running out of closet space. I’ve got more dresses than I have occasions to use them. I don’t want to be one of those storage space ponies.” “That’s all right. I just brought it along to have an excuse to stop by. I reasoned that Father would become disinterested in something feminine and leave us be but since he’s currently outside sulking, this is actually the perfect time.” “For what?” Rarity grinned warmly at her dear mother. She telekinetically extracted a folded up piece of paper that was concealed within the dress and then tossed the dress on the kitchen table. Cookie watched with great interest as Rarity put on her reading glasses and cleared her throat. “You. Are. Special,” began Rarity as she read from the paper. “Those three simple words formed the first sentence in a marvelous speech that you read to me when I was ten years old. That sentence held so much power, so much meaning... and for one simple reason: I believed you. Now that I am in my adulthood, I have something that I’d like to read to you and it is my sincerest wish that you believe the first sentence as well as all the others. There isn’t enough writing paper in all of Equestria for me to adequately convey in writing my appreciation for the countless ways you’ve shaped my life into what it is today so I hope you’ll forgive its brevity. While it took me a while to craft this speech in order to get it just right, its first sentence was never in question. You are special, Mother. All that I am I owe to you. You gave me more than life – any mother gives their child life at birth – you gave me directions and a map so that I could navigate life on my own. Even in my formative years, you saw the fire of independence in my eyes and rather than extinguish that independence, you encouraged it. It was your love, patience, and guidance that allowed a little filly to envision the adult that she dreamed of becoming and it was your spark of faith in her that allowed her to believe that she could make that dream a reality. You taught me how to believe in myself, how to respect myself, and how to persevere when things didn’t go my way. You taught me how to decide for myself when it was time for fun and when it was time to work. You served as my role model. I wanted to be just like you: unabashed, caring, intelligent, generous, creative and fearless. You pushed me when I needed to be pushed and you let me go at my own pace when I wanted to take off in my own direction, even when that direction took me away from the comforts of home. You did all this and more, tirelessly and without complaint. Some lessons were harder for me to learn than others but those that I did take to heart became the foundation of my life.” Cookie held her right forehoof to her smiling lips, touched by her daughter’s words. “I have been blessed with good fortune as a result of the morals and values you instilled in me,” continued Rarity. “My auspicious career did not come easily but I never gave up because I was told by a very wise mare ahead of time that striking out on my own wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I’ve tried offering you homes, vacations, and other luxuries that both you and father denied yourselves in years past so that your two children could have everything they needed – and you’ve turned them all down. Not out of resentment or jealousy, but because you wanted me to enjoy the fruits of my own labor. You know how stubborn I can be when I don’t get my way. For years, I was determined to spoil you with something special that you would be willing to accept. And then I glanced at my calendar and saw that the answer had been staring me in the face every three hundred fifty-six days. A simple, heartfelt speech was one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received; so much so that I’ve been marking that day on my calendar every year since the day it reached my ears and touched my heart. And so, with quill and ink, I set forth to produce something worthy of the mare who brought me into the world. It seems like such a meager way of expressing my gratitude but I have a hunch that this speech is a gift that you’ll accept. I hope that it will make you as happy as yours made me. Your speech ended just as fabulously as it started and I struggled to find just the right words to bring it to a close until I finally found the winning combination.” Rarity cleared her throat. “In my adult life,” she said as her voice wavered, “I have been called many things: fashionista, philanthropist, best friend, even heroine... Rarity cancelled her levitation spell and dropped the sheet of paper upon which her speech was written. She had rehearsed these final words at home so she didn’t need to read the paper to conclude her speech. Removing her glasses, Rarity sniffled as her lower lip quivered. Her entire body trembled as the emotion present in her next words overpowered her. “...but no matter what I’ve been called, am currently called, or have yet to be called,” she continued, “there is one title... that I shall always value above the rest; a title that makes me prouder than all of the others combined.” Tears flowed steadily down Rarity’s face as she squeaked her final words. “Daughter... of Cookie Crumbles.” Cookie had been fighting tears herself throughout most of the speech but upon its beautiful conclusion, she burst into sobs. “Oh, Rarity,” she whispered. Unable to suppress their emotions any longer, Cookie and Rarity threw their forelegs around one another in a soulful embrace and wept with joy, the only thing between them being their unbreakable mother/daughter bond. Cookie planted a kiss on Rarity’s cheek and rocked from side to side as she held her beautiful baby. Her grown mare. Her Rarity. “I love you so much, Mother,” whimpered Rarity, breathing in short gasps as her weeping allowed. “Thank you, baby,” whimpered Cookie. “I love you, too.” After a minute, Cookie broke the hug with a smile. “Now get out of this house and don’t come back without one or more of my grandchildren,” she ordered. Rarity giggled as she gently dabbed her waterproof mascara-lined eyes dry with a hoofkerchief she obtained from her saddlebag. “I’ll get started on that immediately,” she said. “Do you think that stallion next door who immerses himself in jelly would want to elope with me?” “Absolutely,” said a tearful voice that came from the window. “You guys are such a beautiful family.” Rarity and Cookie quickly turned their heads to see their jelly-loving neighbor in tears. He was spying on them through their open living room window which Cookie swore she had closed earlier. The stallion was wearing his favorite homemade T-shirt that featured an illustration of a jelly tub with blue, green, lavender and pink layers of jelly within it and had the words CELESTIA PRESERVES written in a half circle across the top. Both mares used their telekinesis to slam the window down on his hooves. The stallion screamed out in pain. After pulling his hooves out from under the window, Rarity closed and locked it while Cookie pulled down the shade. “Is that offer on that two-family house in Las Pegasus still good?” asked Cookie. “You’d accept it?” asked Rarity. “It’s not for me. It’s for him.” "I doubt he'd want to move." "He wouldn't have to. Bring the house here so I can drop it on top of him."