//------------------------------//
// Finding Their Way 
// Story: The Foalympians 
// by KidatHeart5 
//------------------------------//

	The ponies and Spike decided that the safest place to hide would be the abandoned castle that Celestia and Luna had once inhabited before moving to Canterlot. It lied desolate and in disrepair after all those years. Tirek’s attack on the sisters’ former home made it uninhabitable, but it proved to be a safe hideout for those rebelling against the centaur. What made it even more suitable was that it was situated in the Everfree Forest, so the zebras could give them the necessities when needed. 
When the ponies’ families heard about the liberation of their daughters, most dared to go to the Everfree Forest to see their lost girls again. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash’s and Fluttershy’s families couldn’t risk coming to the castle in fear of arousing suspicion. When the rest of the girls reunited with their families, some of them were surprised that they had little sisters!
Rarity was so glad to see her parents after all this time. Cookie Crumbles then said to Rarity, “That reminds me. Would you like to see your little sister?”
Rarity was astonished at this and she breathed, “A sister? I have a sister?”
Sweetie Belle walked up, saying, “Yep! I’m Sweetie Belle.” She then peered at Rarity’s side and exclaimed, “Wow! You’re a blank flank, too!”
Rarity chuckled nervously, “Why, yes. I haven’t got my cutie mark yet. I was inside Tirek all this time.” The same could be said about the other four ponies trapped inside Tirek. They hadn’t found their cutie marks yet.
“Well, maybe you can cutie mark crusade with my friends and me. We’re trying to find our cutie marks, too.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
Applejack, in the meantime, was reuniting with her brother, granny, and little sister. She remarked, “Lands sake! I have a family! Say, where’s Ma and Pa?”
The trio of family members stood in somber silence and exchanged sad glances. Applejack took this as a bad sign.
Granny Smith finally spoke up, “Young’n, we need to sit down.”
Meanwhile, Twilight’s parents and brother reunited with her. Shining Armor chuckled, “Twily! It’s so good to see you again.” He then pulled on one of Twilight’s wings and added, “And you’re an alicorn.”
Velvet said, “The princesses told me you would possess powerful magic, but I never knew that you’d become an alicorn!” 
Twilight exclaimed, “You talked to the princesses, too?! What else did they tell you?”
“Well, other than that, they told me how to save you.”
Shiny smiled as he wrapped his hoof around his little sister, “I knew you were special the moment you were born, Twily.”
Twilight said, “I guess I am.”
Pinkie Pie was so happy to see her family. When her parents told her all that happened on the rock farm, they admitted that they were perplexed that Pinkie was the only twin with harmony magic. She had a younger twin sister named Marble Pie. Thankfully, she was spared of Tirek’s belly while Pinkie was not. 
After the families had left, Pinkie noticed that Applejack was sitting alone on the platform where two thrones stood. The Earth pony was now wearing a Stetson hat. Pinkie thought it looked good on her. Pinkie went over and said, “That’s a nice hat, Applejack. Where’d you get it?”
Applejack sighed and took off her hat, saying, “Granny Smith gave it to me. It used to belong to my pa. Unfortunately…both Ma and Pa are gone now. This is all I have left of them.”
Pinkie sniffled as tears streamed down her face, “That’s the saddest thing I ever heard.”
Applejack put her hat back on and said, “Eeyup.” She then walked away solemnly.
Pinkie’s mane deflated a bit from looking at the poor sight. She wanted to help Applejack, but what could she do? It wasn’t like she could throw her a party or anything…
It then struck Pinkie. Like the four other ponies that were trapped, she had been dreaming a life in the outside world. Pinkie dreamed about throwing parties and making ponies smile. Maybe she could do the same for Applejack. 





“Where in tarnation are you taking me?” a blindfolded Applejack asked as she was led by Rarity and Fluttershy. 
Rainbow Dash said as she flew ahead, “Well, if we said anything, it wouldn’t a surprise anymore, would it?”
Twilight smiled, “And besides, we think you’re going to love it.” 
When the girls stopped, Rarity said as she took off Applejack’s blindfold, “Here we are, darling!”
Applejack stood there with a gaped expression as she saw decorations, streamers, and confetti lining the formerly-unused ballroom. She breathed, “Who…Who did this?”
Pinkie then appeared suddenly and said, “I did, silly! I made this party just for you!”
“For me? But why?”
“You were feeling sad, so I decided to cheer you up. Feeling happy yet?”
A smile then spread across AJ’s face as she said, “Am I ever! I’m happier than a rabbit in a carrot patch!”
Pinkie hugged her and said, “I’m so happy to hear that!”
Applejack and the others soon noticed a flash. Rarity gasped in surprise, “Oh, my!”
Fluttershy said in awe, “Oh, wow…”
Applejack then gestured to Pinkie, “Uh, Pinkie…” She smirked as she pointed to behind Pinkie, “I think there’s somethin’ you should see.”
Pinkie looked behind her and to her delight, she saw three balloons on her flank! She jumped up and down, shouting gleefully, “I got my cutie mark! I got my cutie mark! Whoo-hoo!”
Rainbow Dash smiled, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s have a cute-ceaneara!”
Pinkie suddenly stopped in her tracks and said, “Wait! We can’t have it now! This is Applejack’s party! We should celebrate her and then me.”
AJ blushed, “Aw, shucks, Pinkie. That’s a mighty nice thing to say.”





Weeks had passed since the Mane Six came to the abandoned castle. Tirek made good on his word that their revolt wouldn’t go unpunished. He rounded up gargoyles and nightmarish creatures from distant lands to aid him in his fight against the rebels. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash persuaded ponies to their cause and led their armies into battle. Twilight feared for the lives of the brave soldiers, including her brother. She didn’t want the conflict to continue needlessly, so she spent her days scouring the books for anything that might help defeat Tirek. She also practiced her magic if a second encounter with Tirek was unavoidable. 
Pinkie wasn’t the only one who got her cutie mark. Shortly after Applejack came back to Sweet Apple Acres, she joined her family in harvesting apples and various foods and sending them as supplies for the troops. She knew she belonged on the Apple farm, so she got three apples for her cutie mark. The rest of the Mane Six were a bit jealous of the lucky Earth mares, but they were too occupied with the war – either hiding or fighting – to even think about cutie marks. In fact, Pinkie could care less about her cutie mark.
She saw that the conflict with Tirek was stressful on her friends and the ponies in the nearby town of Ponyville. She hated seeing them as grumpy-pusses, so she suggested to Twilight that a party should be held at Town Hall to boost the ponies’ spirits.  Twilight saw this as a great opportunity to raise the ponies’ morale and make them forget about the war for a while. She only hoped that Tirek and his minions wouldn’t crash the party. 
She felt refreshed supervising something that wasn’t war-related. She assigned the Apple family to refreshments, Pinkie to decorations and cake, and Muffins to invitations. Rarity took it upon herself to create fabulous dresses for her and her friends. Since she had been dreaming of making dresses, she took inspiration from several magazines to create the right look for her friends. She had practiced sewing, knitting, and stitching until tonight. She knew then that her skills would be put to the test now. 
Rarity carefully stitched together her friends’ dresses according to each pony’s personality. When she was done, she was satisfied with the end result…mostly. 
The unicorn rubbed her chin as she contemplated, “Hmmm…Something’s missing.” 
Sweetie Belle then entered the room and asked, “Hey, Rarity. What are you doing in here?”
Rarity turned to her sister and said, “Hello, Sweetie Belle. I was just looking at the dresses, and well…they seem plain, don’t you think?”
Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened when she saw the dresses. She exclaimed, “Wow! You made all of this?!”
Her sister smiled in flattery, “Yes. I daresay my work is rather good. But still…there’s something missing.”
SB squinted her eyes as she inspected a dress, and then she cried, “The sparklies!”
Rarity asked in confusion, “Er…The sparklies?”
“Yeah!” The filly then went over to Rarity’s work table and grabbed a magazine. She pointed to a picture of a sparkly dress as she said, “They’re what make the dress so shiny!” 
Rarity clarified, “I believe they’re called sequins, Sweetie Belle.” She looked back to the dresses and said, “But sequins wouldn’t look fashionable on dresses like these.” She then got an idea. “Unless I used the next best thing.”
“What?”
“Gems! They’re extravagant, elegant, and they shout ‘Gaze upon me! I am beautiful!’”
Just then, Rarity’s horn glowed light cornflower blue. Suddenly, she was being pulled out of the room.
Sweetie Belle shouted as she ran after her, “Rarity, what’s going on?!”
Rarity shrieked, “I don’t know! Unicorn magic doesn’t happen without a reason!”
Sweetie gasped in realization, “Then it must be taking you to the gems!”
“You might be right, Sweetie Belle! If that is the case, it could be a long and arduous journey! Stay here with Twilight and the others!”
The filly shook her head, “Nuh-uh! I’m coming with you!” She then jumped on Rarity’s tail and held on. 
Rarity sighed, sensing the futility in dissuading her younger sister. 





Rarity’s enchanted horn took them a long distance away. Rarity got tired of hearing Sweetie Belle say “Are we there yet?” constantly. Eventually, SB got tired of saying it, so both girls just flew over hills and plains.
When they got to a rocky plain, Sweetie asked in a bored tone, “How much farther, Rarity?”
Rarity answered in the same tone as Sweetie’s, “I’m not enjoying this as much as you are, Sweetie Belle.”
Suddenly, Rarity bumped into something hard. As she was regaining her senses, her little sister said, “Rarity, look! It’s…”
When Rarity looked up, she saw that it was a giant boulder. She spouted off, “A rock?! That’s where the gems are?!”
Sweetie Belle scolded Rarity’s horn, “What is your problem, horn?! We followed you all the way out here for a rock?!” She then kicked the boulder and said, “Dumb rock!”
KA-BOOM!
Both sisters gave a yelp as Sweetie Belle jumped onto Rarity. They looked up in the sky and saw a wave of rainbow light sweep through the atmosphere. The boulder then started to crumble and split in half. The sisters gasped in amazement as they saw the gems lining the inside of the halves.
Rarity breathed, “Oh…It. Is. Too. Glorious!”
Sweetie said, “What are we waiting for, Rarity? Let’s get these back to the castle!”





Sweetie Belle, Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were waiting outside the room to wait for Rarity to finish the dresses. Just then, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walked up to them.
RD waved, “Hey, all! What’s happening?”
When the girls turned their heads to see the Pegasi, they were surprised by what they saw on their flanks.
Pinkie Pie cried, “Ohmigosh! You have your cutie marks!”
Rainbow Dash struck an awesome pose and said, “Yeah, you’ll never guess how I got my cutie mark. But I think Fluttershy should tell you about hers.”
Flutters blushed and stuttered, “Oh. Uh…I was just…with Liana in...the Everfree Forest…Suddenly, there was an explosion and a rainbow. The animals got scared, so I comforted them. And…that’s how I got my cutie mark.”
Rainbow said, “You’ll never believe this, but it was my Sonic Rainboom she saw!”
The rest of the girls gasped in shock. Twilight pointed out, “A Sonic Rainboom?! But I thought it was just a legend!”
Sweetie Belle said, “Wait a minute! I bet Rarity and I saw it, too!”
Rainbow smiled, “Was it great? Tell me it was great. Okay, I’ll tell you how I pulled it off. I was on the battlefield. Pegasi in the sky, Earth ponies and Unicorns on the ground! We were charging towards Arimaspi, thief of the Idol of Boreas! 
“He knocked down every last Pegasi, but I dodged his every blow! I was zipping left and right and left and right! I wasn’t stopping! Soon, I was so fast that I began taunting him and flying circles around him! Then, in one quick moment, Arimaspi threw Soarin’ into the air! I flew up to Soarin’ as fast as I could! I caught him in my arms, but when I did, the Sonic Rainboom happened! 
“Most people thought that the Sonic Rainboom was just an old mares’ tale, but today, the day I discovered speed, I proved that the legends were true! I made the impossible happen!”
Sweetie breathed, “Wow…”
Just then, Rarity opened the door and said, “I couldn’t help but overhear your story. You must’ve been incredible, Rainbow Dash.”
Fluttershy said, “Not as incredible as her Rainboom was in helping me get my cutie mark.”
The white unicorn smiled, “Funny you should mention that.”
When she walked out the door, the ponies’ mouths flew open. Rarity now had three diamonds decorating her flank. She asked, “Well, what do you think?”
Rainbow Dash said, “That. Is. Awesome!” 
Pinkie jumped up and down, cheering, “Yay! Now we all have our cutie marks! Cute-ceaneara for everyone!”
Sweetie then hung her head and said sorrowfully, “Yeah. Everyone but me.”
Applejack wrapped her hoof around the filly and comforted, “Aw, shucks, Sweetie Belle. Ya’ll get your cutie mark someday. Ya know, I think your cutie mark will be extra-special.”
Pinkie chimed, “Maybe super-duper special!”
Sweetie smiled, “I hope you’re right.”