//------------------------------// // Rarity's Retrospection // Story: The Cutie-Marky Tales // by CrowMagnon //------------------------------// The Cutie-Marky Tales by CrowMagnon Afternoons were generally the quiet time in the Bean There, Done That. The breakfast and lunch rushes represented most of their business while Cuppa Joe and Pinkamena's poetry nights brought in a small but devoted herd of regulars, plus whoever decided to filter in on a whim that night. Because of this, it was Mugga Joe and not his live-in employee or one of the part-time waitresses behind the counter. He was keeping himself occupied by reading the newspaper when the bell over the door rang to announce Fluttershy's presence. "Hi, Mr. Joe," she said in a sweet, lilting voice as she pranced inside. "Is Pinkamena around?" "Upstairs," the big, gruff unicorn replied, tilting his head up toward the ceiling. "Taking a break in her room with some of your friends." Fluttershy somehow managed to perk up even more at the news, hopping up into the air so she could hover excitedly. "Oh, that's great! That'll save us a lot of time!" Mugga Joe raised an eyebrow, but lowered it again when the jangling of the bell answered his unasked question and heralded the arrival of two more pegasus mares and three little fillies. "Alright. Want anything to take up there?" ----- "Oh, don't worry about a thing, dear. I know a few ponies who know a few ponies in the theatre community, and I'm sure it won't be any trouble to--" Applejack stopped short when a knocking on the door interrupted her. "Were you expecting somepony else?" Rarity asked Pinkamena from off to the side where she was watching Spike and Gummy engage in a staring contest. Shaking her head 'no', Pinkamena walked over to the door and opened it to find the small crowd of mares and fillies. Front and center was Fluttershy, who was carrying a large tray of cookies and drinks on her back, balancing it with the help of her wings. "Heeeeeeey, girls~" the cheerful pegasus exclaimed as she stepped inside. "What do you have going on here? A slumber party?" Applejack laughed at that and waved it off. "Far too early in the afternoon for that sort of thing, isn't it? No, we were discussing a little project that Pinkamena has in mind." "I was actually going to talk to all of you about it," Pinkamena added as she stepped aside to make room for everypony to come in. Her room wasn't particularly large, but it was rather sparsely furnished, giving everypony plenty of space to enter. "I just wanted to run a few things by Applejack first, to see if it would be plausible." Rarity interjected, "And since I was already talking with Applejack about investing in new tools for my farm, Spikey and I decided to tag along." "Oh my, a secret project? That sounds exciting," Fluttershy gushed as she angled her wings to let the tray of snacks and drinks slide off of her back, settling down on the center of the floor without spilling a drop. "I hope it will be," Pinkamena replied, though as usual, her voice betrayed no enthusiasm. "But what brings all of you here?" While Apple Bloom sipped from a glass of apple juice and Sweetie Belle was busy struggling with her magic, trying and failing to form a telekinetic aura around one of the cookies, Scootaloo stepped forward and proclaimed, "We want to know how you got your cutie marks! Mrs. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash told us their stories already." Pinkamena frowned slightly, which wasn't all that different from her typical expression except for the fact that it could be recognized as being an expression of emotion at all. "It doesn't really work like that..." Rarity smiled warmly and replied, "Well there's no harm in it, is there?" Turning to her adopted son, she asked, "Spikey-wikey, do you want to hear a story?" The little baby dragon gasped in delight, his head whipping toward Rarity. "Mommy's gonna tell a story? Yay! Story time! Story time!" He started to pick himself up in order to toddle over toward her, but suddenly stopped and looked back at Gummy, who hadn't moved the slightest bit. He then hung his head and pouted, "Awww, I lost..." Before he could get too sad, he found himself getting lifted up in his mother's light blue aura. She set him down beside her and lovingly wrapped a foreleg around him to hold him close to her. "You'll get him next time, my brave little dragon warrior," she cooed. "Now, who wants to hear how mommy got her cutie mark?" Spike giggled, answering with a wholly sincere "I do!" One that was echoed by Sweetie Belle as the little unicorn gave up on magic and simply picked up a cookie with her hooves. "Alright. This story starts right here in Ponyville." ----- Rarity's Story Once upon a time, a long ti... not that long ago, there was a little filly. This little filly lived in a little town, went to school in a little schoolhouse, and played with her little friends every day. But even though this filly was little, she had big dreams. More than anything in the whole wide world, she wanted to be a fashion designer who would make fabulous clothing to bring out the true beauty of everypony who wore them. Even at that young age, she was talented enough to make costumes for the school play all by her little self. They were quite good, too. The fillies and colts wearing them loved the little outfits she made, and so did the teachers. The only pony who didn't, in fact, was the filly herself. Oh, she knew they were good, but that wasn't enough for her. She wanted to make them brilliant! They were just missing something special. Something extra that would give them a sparkle and brilliance that everypony would remember for a long, long time. But even though she made the best of what she had, she just couldn't find that one elusive thing that would make it all complete. This bothered the little filly. It bothered her greatly. It bothered her right from the bottom of her little hooves, went all the way up her little legs, through her little body and little head, until it reached the tip of her little horn. That was when it happened. The magic inside that bothered little filly boiled over, and without even trying to, formed itself into a spell that suddenly yanked her by the horn and started dragging her away! Now, at first the little filly was frightened. She didn't know what was happening, after all! Once she realized that it was her own magic's doing, though, she felt happy. Do you know why? It was because she knew deep in her heart that it was leading her to her destiny. She was being carried where she needed to go in order to find that one thing that she was missing! That thought filled her with so much anticipation, she just couldn't stop smiling! ... For about fifteen minutes, anyway. After that, she realized that she was in for a long trip. Hours and hours passed as the bored little filly was dragged over grassy hills, through green forests and dry desert, until finally... finally, she felt it bump up against something before releasing its grip on her. The little filly picked herself up and turned, eyes filled with wonder as she looked to see what destiny had in store for her. What she found was a big rock. As rocks go, it certainly didn't look all that special. No glitter or sparkle or pizzaz to speak of. Thinking that perhaps the rock was simply in the way, she frantically began searching all around. There was nothing behind it or beneath it, though, and no invisible fairies of fabulousness sitting on top of it either. She checked. Three times. The little filly had wanted nothing more than to bring beauty into the world, and now her own magic had told her that her destiny was in this most dull and ordinary of objects. That was when the little filly, her little hopes and dreams dashed upon the very literal rocks in front of her... went a little nuts. "A rock?! That's my destiny? What is your problem, horn? You dragged me all the way out here for a ROCK!? Gah... DUMB ROCK!" She gnashed her teeth in anger and focused every little bit of magic in her body into her horn until she felt like she was about to explode. Then she threw that magic at the rock as hard as she could! But the rock just stood there, mocking her with its plainness, so she hit it again and again with her magic. Now, this is very dangerous for unicorns, and it made her feel very woozy after a while, but she didn't care. The little filly was much too angry, so she just kept hitting the rock over and over and over again, until her vision got blurry and she could hardly stand. But the rock just stood there and took it until finally, she clenched her little eyes shut, gathered up the very last specks of magic she could find within herself, and let loose one last little blast of magic. And the last thing the little filly heard before her little legs gave out under her was a deep grinding noise, and the sound of stone cracking open. The little filly lay there for what felt like a very long time. It was slow and her little head ached something fierce, but eventually, she was able to open her eyes again, and what she saw took her breath away! The rock that her magic had pulled her toward... the one that she had been so angry at because it wasn't what she had wanted, had opened up like a Hearth's Warming present, and inside was a dazzling assortment of gems! Every color in the rainbow glittered and sparkled, and the filly's eyes opened up big and wide just to take it all in! ----- "That was when the filly realized what her magic had been trying to tell her. She had always thought that everything and everypony around her was too small. That her little school and her little friends and her little town just weren't big enough to make her dreams become reality. "Once she started looking at the world with new eyes, she was able to see just how big and beautiful and full of possibilities everything was; even the things that had seemed plain and dull before. That was when she realized that there was a bright light behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw this." Pulling up the hem of her overalls with her magic, Rarity showed everypony in the room her cutie mark. Adorning her pearly white flanks was half of a hollowed-out rock that was filled with colorful crystals. "It's called a 'geode'," she explained to Spike. "It's a special rock that looks completely ordinary on the outside, but on the inside, it's filled with beauty. The one I found taught me to look for those hidden treasures. That's why that little filly grew up to be a rock farmer, and how, when I found a certain purple egg not too long ago, I knew how to look past its unbreakable shell and find the most beautiful treasure I would ever see inside it. A cute little Spikey-wikey, with the most adorably tubby-wubby little tummy!" With that, Rarity leaned in and planted her mouth on his stomach, then started blowing loud, wet raspberries on it that sent the baby dragon into an hysterical ticklish giggle-fit! The rest of the ponies in the room (sans Pinkamena) snickered as Spike's chubby little arms and legs flailed around helplessly. When she eventually relented to allow both Spike and herself to catch their breath, she nuzzled her son, who hugged her back. "Awww... too bad Ah don't have a horn ta lead me to mah destiny," Apple Bloom lamented once the laughter died down, reaching up to feel her smooth, round head. She and Scootaloo both turned to look at Sweetie Belle, who was in the middle of stuffing her mouth with biscotti. "What? Don't look at me," she replied, spraying crumbs before swallowing. "I can barely even use mine as a night light!" "Oh, are you afraid of the dark, Sweetie?" Fluttershy asked. "N-no..." Sweetie Belle glanced from side to side before quietly squeaking out, "... But Lord Plushington is..." Applejack sidled over to Apple Bloom and wrapped a leg around her little sister. "It's alright, darl-- I mean, sugarcube. Most ponies don't have horns, and even those who do aren't typically dragged to their destiny. I do know from personal experience what it's like to be surprised by it, though." Apple Bloom tilted her head up to look at her metropolitan big sister. "Whattaya mean, sis? Ain't that why ya moved ta Manehattan in the first place?" The older earth pony let out a polite little laugh at that. "Well, that was the intention, but it wasn't quite that easy. It all started when I was not much older than you..."