Cutie Mark Challenge

by Touch the Sky

Care More Deeply Than Fluttershy

The next day was cloudy and cool. Fluttershy yawned, stretching her legs and opening her eyes. Then she sprung upwards in shock at the sight of two stern, beady black eyes glaring at her. Fluttershy hovered over her bed, looking down in surprise at the white rabbit who was looking up at her.

"Oh, Angel." scolded Fluttershy. "You scared me..."
The rabbit waved a paw at her, then pointed to the clock. It was 8:30. "Oh, sorry, Angel. Um... you have to wait for breakfast today, because my friends are coming over for a competition..." Fluttershy flinched

Angel's eyes narrowed and in a rage he began to shred the blankets with his wicked little claws.

Winona uncurled herself from her spot at the side of Applejack's bed and leaped onto the duvet, scrabbling with her paws at her owner. Applejack grumbled, trying to push the dog away, but Winona yapped crossly and, grasping the duvet in her teeth, pulled the covers off onto the floor.

"Whuh?" Applejack scrabbled blindly for the duvet, but couldn't find it. She scowled at the dog, but Winona just wagged her tail. Applejack looked thoughtfully at her pet. "Ya know, I think I care for you pretty well, ain't that right Winona?"
Winona barked happily. Applejack smiled. "And ya understand every word I say. This is gonna be a two-pony race today- just me and Fluttershy."

Rarity's alarm clock went off with a loud ring and she sat up sharply in bed, displacing Opalescence who had been curled up on the pillow. With an angry meow the cat tumbled from the bed, landing neatly on all four paws and stalking moodily towards the window, tail in the air.
Rarity pulled her eye-covers off and saw the cat leap onto the windowsill. Just as Opal was about to make her leap for freedom Rarity seized her with her magic and slammed the window shut.

Opal hissed crossly, but Rarity paid little attention; she put the cat down on the bed and began to do her make-up by the mirror, talking to her pet all the while.

"Oh it's going to be so much fun, Opal, darling. You'll be pampered today by all my friends... though you get quite enough attention from me." Rarity looked at her cat's lush coat, pretty ribbons and gem-studded collar and smiled. "Oh yes, I think only Fluttershy will have any chance against me today." Through the snow white unicorn's mind flashed images; memories- Opal hissing and spitting at her, Opal swiping sharp claws at her, Opal digging claws into her coat and refusing to let go- but Rarity dismissed them all. She smiled at her disgruntled cat and turned back to the mirror.

Rainbow Dash turned over in her bed. She only woke when a whirring hum reached her ears and a scaly leg poked her.
"Huh?" Rainbow sat up to see her pet tortoise, Tank, hovering in front of her in his magical helicopter harness. Very slowly, the tortoise stretched out his neck to touch his nose to hers. Despite the mushiness of the gesture, Rainbow smiled.

"We're gonna show 'em who's boss today, right Tank?"
The tortoise nodded slowly.
"Ha! And Fluttershy's supposed to be the only one who can communicate with animals. Hang on- we're late! C'mon, Tank!"

Even the helicopter couldn't keep up with a speeding Rainbow Dash, so she grabbed hold of her pet and dive-bombed through her cloud floor. She cast a quick look at her pet in case their speed was scaring him, but she needn't have worried; Tank was clearly loving every second. He was turning into a real speed demon. Rainbow smiled and kept flying.

Twilight was already awake, pacing her bedroom. Spike was still asleep, but Owlowiscious was standing on his perch and watching her with huge yellow eyes.
"Ok, it's time to head to Fluttershy's." said Twilight, to nopony in particular.

"Who?" said Owlowiscious.

"You know, Fluttershy. You like her. We've been to the pet picnics before. Now, let's go."
Owlowiscious flapped over to perch on Twilight's back. The alicorn descended the stairs, but at the bottom, she turned to look fondly at her pet and number two assistant.
"We'll win this contest today, won't we Owlowiscious?"

"Who?"

"We will. Me and you, Owlowiscious."

"Who?"

"Owlowiscious. That's your name."

"Who?"

"Oh, forget it." groaned Twilight, and she left the library.

Outside, she almost walked straight into Pinkie, who was hopping up and down. Twilight kept one eye on the pink unicorn horn on her friend's head, which sparked with magic every now and then. Gummy was standing in front of his owner, staring ahead with his glassy purple eyes. Twilight shivered, then looked at Pinkie.

"Aren't you excited for this competition today? It's gonna be soooo fun!" chanted Pinkie.

"Yes, but I think maybe Fluttershy might win..." said Twilight doubtfully.

"Yeah, but I know Gummy knows exactly what I mean when I talk to him, even if he doesn't talk back! I know exactly what he likes and dislikes, and I can sense when he's happy or sad, so I think I have a good chance! Anyway, if I'm going to win I have to get there- so, gotta run!"
In a blur of pink and green, Pinkie and Gummy were gone.

Fluttershy and Angel were waiting when the others arrived. Pinkie got there first, shortly followed by Applejack, then Rainbow Dash. Tank hovered about as Winona sniffed curiously at a vacant-eyed Gummy. Angel just glared daggers at the ponies.

Twilight and Rarity trotted in side by side, and though Owlowiscious swooped over to sit in a nearby tree Opalescence remained on her owner's back; when Winona came over to investigate she arched her back and hissed and Rarity winced as the cat's claws gripped her back.

Fluttershy gathered them all together to explain the rules. "Okay, I've divided this contest into three sections. They are communication, feeding and grooming. First we'll do communication- Ow!"
Angel had kicked her in the leg. Fluttershy cringed and said, "Alright, feeding is first. Then communication, then grooming. Now, rules; if you have wings, you can use them, but we'll be using flying animals for your communications round. We all have magic, but I'd prefer you didn't use that since- well, I'm new to magic and I've already caused a few accidents- nothing serious, but I'd prefer you didn't use magic for this. So, yes to flying but no to magic.

The feeding round is where each one of you will individually assign the correct food to each animal. The rest of us will go over there so that we can't see, and Angel will record the scores. Then you can go to your own animal, present it with its food and make sure they eat it all up. No force-feeding, please, but try gentle persuasion by all means. Now, we'll start the feeding competition. If you could put your pets over there..."

The pets were lined up in front of empty food dishes. Fluttershy laid out some fish, some salad, some soup (everypony but Pinkie looked confused) a dish of what appeared to be dog food, some carrots and, with quite a bit of sobbing and sniffling, a dead mouse.

"Terence died yesterday evening." sniffled Fluttershy, "but he very kindly volunteered for this before he died."
The other ponies shifted awkwardly.

"But some of these could apply to two or more pets." protested Rainbow.

"Well, these are their favourite foods. You should know your own pet's pretty well, and then you should be able to work out which food the others should have. Rainbow Dash, you can go first. Come on, girls, let's go over there. Angel, make sure to record the scores honestly."

Rainbow was left on her own with six animals looking at her. Angel was holding a small clipboard and a quill in his paws.
"Um..." Rainbow quickly pushed the carrots towards Tank; she knew they were his favourite. Angel ticked something on his sheet.
Rainbow then pushed the mixed salad towards Angel, who plucked a leaf from the top and ate it, chewing critically before ticking again on his sheet and looking at her.

Rainbow looked from the remaining food to the pets. She hesitantly pushed the dog food towards Winona. Another tick.
Rainbow looked at the soup. Surely it had to be Gummy's- there were only so many things you could eat with no teeth. Sure enough, she got another tick.
Then she was stuck. Both Owlowiscious and Opal would surely eat mice... but then she remembered whose cat Opal was. As if Rarity's pampered cat had ever caught a mouse in her life. Rarity certainly wouldn't allow her pet to be so uncouth even if the cat had ever wanted to eat mouse.

Owlowiscious, on the other hand, tended to go hunting by night; she'd seen him fly by her window a few times with a mouse in his claws, though he'd always been heading back from the Everfree; he knew enough not to kill Fluttershy's mice.

Rainbow pushed the fish towards Opal and, with a little revulsion, the mouse towards Owlowiscious. Angel ticked his sheet and then waved her away; as she left Rainbow saw Angel pushing the food back to the places they'd been before, with a bit of irritation coming from the other pets as their food was taken away.

Rainbow, Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack and of course Fluttershy got full marks on the food test. Rarity only lost one mark because she refused to touch the dead mouse and Angel was feeling strict.

Next, it was feeding time. This was if anything the easier part of the test, since all of the pets were hungry after they'd had no breakfast. Twilight had only to poke the mouse at Owlowiscious for him to scoop up the little body and swallow it; Fluttershy looked away, then muttered a little prayer under her breath.

Tank and Winona eagerly tucked in, munching away on their food. Angel was eating too, since he like all the others wanted his owner to win. But apparently, Opal decided that she didn't want Rarity to win so badly that she'd eat when Gummy was beside her, blowing bubbles and gargling in his soup.

Rarity begged and pleaded, but though Opal was hungry she only ate two of the four fish before refusing to eat any more.

Angel, when he finished eating, padded around, deducting points as he saw fit for any remaining food. In the end, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Twilight were tying for first. Pinkie had had points deducted because a lot of Gummy's soup had ended up on his face and on the grass, while Applejack lost a point because Winona had left a few biscuits. Rarity looked crossly at Opal, but the cat just groomed herself and ignored the glare.

"Okay." Fluttershy said, when they had gathered again. "Time for the communications round. You need to move a pet around this course- but it has to be somepony else's pet. This is timed, so make sure the pet understands what it needs to do and fast."

"I've got dibs on Winona." said Twilight and Rarity together.

"No, we'll draw names from a hat." admonished Fluttershy. But Rainbow, if you want to use your wings you'll have to take Owlowiscious. Twilight, did you want to fly?"

"Not particularly..."

"Right, then. I'll take Tank, and the rest of you can pick names from this bag." Fluttershy held out a bag.

Twilight was paired with Opal, something she looked less than delighted about, though she was at least grateful that she didn't have Gummy or worse, Angel. Applejack got Angel, and they glared at each other as they sat down. Pinkie drew out Winona, leaving Rarity with Gummy.

Rarity looked hesitant sitting next to Gummy, and rightly so; as soon as she sat he sprung up and latched his toothless mouth onto her nose. She screamed, trying to shake him off, but to no avail.

Fluttershy had built a ground course and then another similar one in the sky. The ground one included tunnels, jumps and crawls, while the sky included hoops to fly through, and bars and poles to dodge around.

This time, Pinkie went first. She led Winona around the track quickly; she just called the dog as she herself leapt the jumps or squeezed through the tunnels and the dog followed. It took a little time for Pinkie to explain to the dog the concept of crawling under the net, but Winona finally understood when Pinkie explained in a Southern accent. Winona crossed the finish with a very respectable time.

Twilight was next, with Opal. Despite Twilight's best efforts, the cat was too lazy to jump. She passed through the tunnels and went under the net just fine, but finished considerably slower than Winona and that was before her penalties for missing the jumps were added.

Applejack went with Angel next. Fluttershy had warned her pet not to cheat and sabotage Applejack's attempts, and with the aid of the Stare, she got him to listen.
Angel cleared most of the jumps with great bounds and skittered through tunnels and beneath nets with little difficulty. But on the final, highest jump he underestimated the height and crashed, dizzily staggering over the finish line after some urging from Applejack. Angel went back to his clipboard, shook his head to clear it and awarded himself a penalty.

Rarity was still struggling to pull Gummy off her face, so Rainbow began the sky course with Owlowiscious. The owl passed through the hoops with no bother, but clipped his wings a few times on the posts. Angel awarded penalties for this.

Fluttershy took Tank around carefully, making sure he lined himself up perfectly for each obstacle to avoid any collisions. Though he got a clear round, the slow and steady tactic meant he was slower than Winona.

Finally, Rarity set off with Gummy. Or rather, Rarity set off. Gummy just stood there at the start, blinking.
Rarity came back and tried talking. Asking. Begging. Shouting. Prodding. Poking. Shoving. Pushing. All that happened was that Gummy saw a golden opportunity to grab hold of her curly purple mane with his jaws.

Rarity screeched like a mad thing, running the whole length of the course before Pinkie caught up to her to prise Gummy off. Angel disqualified Rarity from the round for carrying Gummy through the course.

Fluttershy gathered them together to announce the standings so far and explain the rules for grooming.
Pinkie, thanks to Winona's performance, was now in the lead by a small margin. Rainbow was in second place and Applejack and Fluttershy in joint third. Twilight had dropped back into fifth due to Opal's misbehaviour, while Rarity remained in last place.

"Alright then." Fluttershy said. "Finally, the grooming round. You're with your own pets again, and you have just ten minutes to spruce them up to make them as adorable as possible. You can use anything you have to hoof. These three sweet little fillies will be the judges."
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo appeared from Fluttershy's cottage, while Applejack and Rainbow both made gagging motions at the word 'adorable.' Rarity just looked delighted.
"No rules for this one, just keep in the time limit and avoid magic and you'll do fine. Oh, and the animals have to like what they look like." Fluttershy finished. "The ten minutes starts now!"

Rarity dived straight in, grabbing hold of Opal and producing ribbons and glitter from her saddlebags; the cat vanished in a cloud of glitter and sequins. Fluttershy was brushing Angel's fur gently, while Twilight mused over Owlowiscious. Applejack and Rainbow stood looking helpless for a minute before springing into action and racing off to collect sticks and leaves. Pinkie was hiding behind a tree to keep what she was doing a secret.

The ten minutes ticked by, until finally they were gone. The ponies stopped what they were doing and then lined up, their pets hidden by screens.

Rainbow pulled the screen away from Tank. He was absolutely covered in leaves and flowers. Scootaloo, being the fan-filly that she was, instantly declared her love for the style, while her two friends just tilted their heads and looked confused.
Winona was just wearing a mane of straw. Applebloom thought it was cute until the dog sneezed and all of the straw fell off.

Twilight had clearly thought hard about her owl's new look. She had fluffed up his feathers so that he looked like a little ball of fluff. Sweetie Belle hugged him and declared him 'the fluffiest thing ever.'
Angel was like Owlowiscious in some ways, his snowy fur fluffed up. But his ears were hanging down, and he'd opened his eyes extremely wide to look very cute. He drew an "Awwww." from Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

Opal was magnificent- she held her head high in obvious pleasure at her new look. Her fur was so smooth it gleamed, and this was enhanced by the glitter in her fur. A bow sat atop her head and at the base of her tail.
But then Pinkie revealed Gummy, and he was an instant winner.

Pinkie had dressed him in a little black suit. A rose was gripped in his gums, and he wore small spectacles with shaded lenses. A bowler hat sat atop his head.

"That is the cutest thing ever." said Sweetie Belle. Her fellow judges nodded in silent agreement. Angel looked slightly irritated and looked away, as did Opal. But the judges had made up their minds. They put a 1st rosette on the ground before Gummy.

Opal got second, and Angel and Owlowiscious tied for third. Winona and Tank got joint fourth, though Scootaloo had wanted to elevate tank to joint third.

The scores were totalled, but it was clear Pinkie had triumphed, with Fluttershy scooping second. Twilight took third, while Rarity's second place in grooming allowed her to pull herself up to joint fourth with Applejack and Rainbow, avoiding the shame of coming last.

The six ponies gathered together to decide the next day's contest.
Rarity was first to voice her opinion. "Dressmaking."
"Parties!" argued Pinkie.
"Dressmaking."
"Parties!"
"Dressmaking!"
"Parties!"

"Okay! Rarity, Pinkie won, so she gets to choose." interrupted Twilight.

"Well that's not fair. I didn't get to choose yesterday." pouted Rarity.

"Look, Rarity, we'll do dressmaking the day after. No more arguing." said Twilight quickly as Rarity opened her mouth to complain.

"Hmph. Fine. But there's no way I'm losing this." said Rarity. And she walked over to Opal. "Come on, Opal. Time to get you back to normal." Rarity started untying ribbons, much to the dismay of Opal. After a brief wrestle, Opal's topknot was back in place and the glitter scoured from her fur.

Rarity picked up Opal and dropped the sulking cat onto her back and called out a cheery goodbye. As she rounded the corner a caterwauling set up, featuring the voices of both Rarity and Opalescence as the cat begrudged the loss of her new attire.

Author's Note:

If the ponies are all herbivores and cows and sheep talk in Equestria, what does Applejack feed Winona? A bit of an issue there.
Which pet would you have picked as the winner of the grooming?

Comments

[Periphery]

Definitely the best chapter so far. Rarity and Gummy especially were pretty funny, and the dead mouse was a slightly morbid sort of amusing. Although I'm not sure how much it was a genuinely fair competition, since so much of that depended on who got which pet each round.

Gummy is pretty cute when Pinkie dresses him up, though, so him winning the grooming round makes sense.

Maybe feeding Winona is why Applejack keeps pigs? I don't know, maybe they buy that sort of pet food from griffons or such, and just don't ask too many questions about how it's made.

[MissPegasis]

Awesome competition! Though I though Opal should've won the dressup/grooming round That's just me though

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

This was funny.