//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Discovered // Story: A Crystal Shines // by SeasonTheWiccan //------------------------------// Chapter 5 Discovered “We’re almost done, dear” Rarity chimed as Heart sewed up the dress. “You have been doing a very fine job.” “Okay,” Heart squeaked, just above a whisper. Heart wasn’t used to the kindness and generosity surrounding her and she certainly wasn’t used to being fitted for a dress. It was a tedious process, she had to stand for hours without moving and was sometimes accidentally picked by the pins. Though Heart was being put through a lot, Rarity let her take breaks to eat and stretch her muscles. The first time Heart met Rarity was when Applejack took her to Carousel Boutique and the door opened to reveal her. At first, Heart thought she was a lost princess, living among the common ponies because she didn’t want her crown. Heart told herself that one day she would look like Rarity. She even started carrying herself like Rarity, turning the other cheek when others were making fun of her and offering to help others when she felt they needed it.         It took two days to fit Heart for her dress, but they also talked, told funny stories, Rarity even talked about her first time at the Grand Galloping Gala which had Heart laughing on the floor. Rarity also took Heart out shopping for pins and supplies with her and taught Heart about types of fabric and sewing materials. And afterwards, Rarity would always get Heart some ice cream. When Rarity announced that the dress was done being fitted to her, she was saddened by this. She wouldn’t be able to spend time with Rarity anymore, Rarity saw the expression on Heart’s face when she announced this and offered for Heart to help her make the dress. Heart’s eyes sparkled in the peculiar way they always did, causing Rarity to raise an eyebrow at the strange occurrence. However, she quickly dismissed it when she saw how happy the young filly was. Heart then realized she didn’t know how to sew and asked Rarity for sewing lessons, “Well, I don’t know darling…”         “Please Ms. Rarity?” she asked with a sweet smile and pleading eyes.         Rarity was more than hesitant about this little filly around sharp objects, especially with a sewing machine where she could easily get hurt. She looked at Heart with a look to kindly tell her no, but Heart looked at her with all the admiration she had and Rarity suddenly felt compelled to teach her. Rarity had gotten wind of her Mother dropping her off at the orphanage and the reasons why from ponies in town. She felt that she couldn’t let this filly down and say no. Heart had been through so much disappointment in her life, Rarity felt she needed to fix that. Rarity had the patience of a saint teaching her, mainly because Heart was a little slow at first in learning and hurt herself a couple of times from the sewing machine, but Rarity urged her to keep going.         “Just be patient dear, you’ll get it eventually.”         “I keep trying but the fabric keeps slipping and when I try to catch it, I get hit by the needle.”         Rarity looked closer and found what was wrong, “Guide the fabric with your hoof, sweetie, it’ll make things much easier, trust me, this is very tricky material.”         Heart eagerly took every bit of Rarity’s advice, she wanted to do her best for Rarity and be just like her and not want to feel like she let her down. Rarity let her eat once every hour and sat and talked with her during her breaks, Heart like to talk about her friends and the fun things they do together. Even though some of the activities were ones Rarity didn’t exactly find suitable for a filly to be doing, like playing in mud puddles or getting dirty period. Yet, she found some things slightly funny, like when she told a story about how she thought there was a monster under her bed once and shined a flashlight under her bed to scare it away, then slept under there to ensure herself that the monsters didn’t come back. Rarity had to admit, she had become fond of Heart’s Desire and had to giggle sometimes at how she mimicked Rarity like how Scootaloo did for Rainbow Dash. She could tell that Heart admired her and Rarity felt compassion for her and never took advantage of it.         Heart went home a lot of times daydreaming about what it would be like for Rarity to be her new Mom. But what if Rarity didn’t want her? What if she asked her and she just laughed in her face? ‘Maybe I should just keep it to myself and not say anything, it would probably be best.’ she thought to herself as she fell asleep.         The next day after school and tutoring, Heart went straight for Carousel Boutique. She knocked on the door and was greeted by somepony she had never seen before, she was a white pony with a curly purple and pink mane with green eyes.         “Oh! You must be Heart’s Desire! My name is Sweetie Belle, I’m Rarity’s sister.  I’m sorry but she’s out getting some more supplies for your dress but she said you could come in and color if you want.”         “Thanks.”Heart entered with a smile, this pony was really nice and Heart immediately trusted her. Sweetie Belle was very pretty with a velvet soft voice. She had Heart sit down at a table in the boutique while she got her some crayons and paper. When Sweetie returned, she laid the materials on the table and sat in the chair next to her. Heart then began to draw, she drew her friends, flowers hearts, she also drew Sweetie Belle a picture. Sweetie herself found that this filly didn’t talk much at first, but while she drew, Heart asked her a couple things like what Rarity was like as a sister and Sweetie answered sweetly and with charm and soon Heart and Sweetie were laughing at each other’s stories. Sweetie told her about Rarity competing in the Sisterhooves Social with her and covering herself in mud. Heart laughed because she couldn’t imagine Rarity doing such a thing. “She really did that?” “Mm-hm! She did it for me because it was something I wanted to do that day with her.” Heart then smiled and went back to drawing and drew what was haunting her mind at the moment. She drew herself and Rarity face to face, when the picture was finished, Heart couldn’t help but let a tear slide out from her eye and land on the paper.         “Heart, what’s wrong?” Sweetie asked.         “I...I just...Rarity has been so nice to me and...she’s taught me a lot and I’ve been hoping that she’d want to be my Mom from all the time we’ve spent together but...nothing.”         “Why don’t you just ask her?”         Heart rubbed the back of her neck, “Because she might laugh at me! I mean, she probably just sees me as some cute little orphan who’s annoying her.” Sweetie put a hoof on Heart’s shoulder, “She doesn’t think that!” Heart looked up at Sweetie Belle, “How do you know?” “You wanna know what she told me? She told me that she thinks you are a very smart, loving, kind, and wonderful filly.” “Really?” Sweetie nodded.“You know, my friend Scootaloo had the same problem as you did, only this mare she wanted to be her big sister.” “What did she do?” “Well, Scoots finally couldn’t take anymore of hiding it and just told her outright and this mare didn’t laugh or turn her away at all...she took her under her wing and was like a big sis to Scootaloo.” “So, you’re saying I should do the same for Rarity?” “Yes, just don’t be upfront about it.” “What do you mean?” “Well, it means not to ask her about it right away, hint at it and maybe she’ll get it.” “Okay, I’ll try…” “Good girl.” Sweetie then hugged Heart tightly, if Rarity said yes, Heart knew she would enjoy having Sweetie as an Aunt. When Rarity returned, Sweetie got up and left to go to Sugar Cube Corner with her friends. But before leaving, Sweetie turned and winked sweetly at Heart. “Ready to get to work Heart?” Rarity asked. “Yeah.” Heart got up from the table as Rarity approached then the both of them went to the work room. After about a half hour of working, Heart decided to start dropping hints to Rarity by asking questions, Heart was pinning the skirt to the bodice of her dress when she said  “Miss Rarity…” “Hmm?” Rarity replied cutting the lavender colored tulle that would go over the skirt. “Have you ever wanted to be a...Mom?” Rarity looked at the filly a little stunned and confused by the question, “Well, I...I guess so...but the thing is Heart, I’m not married and I would like to be a mother after I’m married.” “How come?” “You see, Heart, a mare and a stallion should not even think of children before marriage. It makes things more difficult.” “Well, what about...adopting before marriage?” Rarity was even more stunned at this question. “Why are you asking me all this, Heart?” Heart then couldn’t face her, she turned around and said quickly, “No reason!” “Heart, what are you not telling me?”         Heart sighed and walked to the table where her drawing of her and Rarity was, which now had the word ‘Mom?’ sloppily written in red crayon on the bottom. Heart picked up this drawing with her mouth and with the most cheerful and hopeful face she could conjure, she showed it to Rarity. Rarity took a step back, she had never been in this situation but she soon got over her surprise by feeling some compassion for this filly. But Rarity knew she couldn’t make up her mind just yet, she had to think this over.         “Sweetheart, I know you want me to make a decision right away, but I have to think on this.”         Heart’s ears drooped and her smile turned to a frown and the paper dropped to the floor.         “Heart, how about you go home early and I’ll finish the dress,” Rarity answered quickly, “You’ve worked hard this week and you deserve a break. It’ll be done by tomorrow, I promise, I will deliver it tomorrow and make sure it hangs right and everything.”         “O-ok...” Heart responded while trying her best to hold her tears back.         After Heart left sadly for the orphanage that day, Rarity got ready for bed and began pacing and thought of how happy she was making this filly. She then thought of Heart’s picture and began to feel guilty, she wanted to give Heart the mother she deserved. But the thought of it was a bit daunting, she just couldn’t picture herself as a mother. The more she thought about it, she felt it would be the best thing for Heart’s future and ever since Sweetie Belle moved to Manehattan things have been lonely in the boutique since then and she had learned a lot about raising children from Sweetie Belle. Her mind was then made up. The day after the dance, she would legally adopt Heart’s Desire.         The night of the dance, a streak of black smoke flew past the moon so quickly that few ponies noticed it. The smoke then took a nose dive for the ground on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. When the smoke landed, it turned into King Sombra.  He looked at Ponyville with scorn, he had been here numerous times looking for a student with no luck whatsoever.         “What is this town good for again?” he asked to no one. He then heaved a sigh, “All these years of searching, there has to be something.”         He turned back into smoke and took off into town and to the orphanage. Once there, he looked through all the windows, watching for any unicorns and any signs of powerful magic which so far he wasn’t finding. He then stopped in front of the window to Heart and Sugar’s room, he saw Heart in a purple dress with her hair done up. She was spinning around in front of a mirror happily she stopped and smiled.  She barely recognized herself and felt like she should be going to ball rather than a dance. Rarity had not informed Heart of her decision, wanting to keep it a surprise, instead, she told Heart that she needed to think a little longer on this and though this set a small depression and a twinge of impatience in Heart, she took it in stride and didn’t want to let it spoil her night. She then looked at Sugar who was on her bed studying, “Are you sure you don’t want to go, Sugar?”         “Yeah, nopony asked me and I’m not really into dances.”                          Heart looked in the mirror again to marvel at the dress she and Rarity created.         Sugar’s voice then spoke, “He likes you - like, a lot.”         Heart looked at her bewildered, “Who?”         “Lil Mac, he likes you!”         Heart blushed, “How do you know?”         “Lil Angel says that after you leave your tutoring sessions with him...he can’t concentrate for 2 seconds on anything plus she asked him and he came clean.”         Heart looked confused at Sugar as the pink filly continued studying and Heart pondered this information for a moment. Why did Lil Mac tutor her? Because he wanted to be helpful, but was that really the reason behind it? As Heart thought more, it became more and more clear to her that what Sugar was saying was true. Lil Mac liked her, and not just as a friend but as a crush, Heart’s excitement built up and that excitement went to her horn, which then began to glow. A light breeze was felt through the room, even though the window was closed. Sugar felt this breeze and looked at Heart, when she saw Heart’s horn glowing the way it was, she was stunned. But before Sugar could say anything, a beam shot out of Heart’s horn which ricocheted all over the room. Sugar then opened the window and the beam shot out and just missed Sombra who was still watching outside their window. He watched as it flew into the Everfree Forest and there was a glow with a small explosion, he followed it and saw that it left a blackened crater, he then looked inside of it and saw three yellow crystals growing out of the ground. He had never seen this kind of magic before, not even in the books he’d read, but this kind of magic could be his advantage. He looked back in the direction of the orphanage and grinned, he had found what he was looking for.         But, he had to be sure that this filly was the one, he flew back to the Everfree Forest and turned back to his demonic form. He then lit his horn with Dark Magic as it swirled around him, changing him into a normal looking unicorn stallion with a brown coat, red eyes, and dark brown hair. He was dressed in a tux that showed that his cutie mark was still there which was some grey crystals with red and black sparks of lightning scattered around it, but he could create a reason for that later. He instead grinned in the direction of the dance, conjured up some bits to get into the dance, then made his way to the center of town.