Cutie Mark Wishes

by Silver Letter

Family Destiny

The mornings came and went without much to do. Ribbon got used to watching the clouds pass above through her window. She didn’t have to go to work so getting up early was no longer a thing she had to do. Crystal forbade her from going to town so she mostly stayed in her room. Usually to avoid bumping into her. They hadn’t spoken much and she didn’t mind. There was something different about Crystal. Or maybe it was there all along and Ribbon just couldn’t tell. She had seen it at the castle. A chink in her armor. And every time their eyes even briefly met, she could still glimpse something just a little darker underneath. They were the eyes that craved control and she hated them because they were unrecognizable. They didn’t belong to her sister.

She tried to forget those eyes by looking for shapes in the clouds. Sometimes they were in the shapes of stars or a fish. Often enough, she would fall asleep and when she woke, the same clouds would still be there. She knew they were the same since the clouds barely moved at all. Clouds were made by ponies so it was their job to get them from place to place. They were helpless without ponies to direct them across the sky. In so many ways, they reminded Ribbon of herself.

She also stayed in her room to avoid the fallout from the newspaper article. Partially because she couldn’t see it as anything but her fault. She should have done more to prevent it somehow. And all the shame was for her. And when certain thoughts came, reminding her of everything she had done to become just like her sisters, she quickly tried to smother them. She would try to read, think about things her mother said or go to sleep. She slept a lot in her room while she was all alone.

She wanted to spare her ears from all the rising tension below. Crystal yelled all the time and did most of it. She spoke harshly of the princess and when Lavender tried to make a calm rebuttal, it would only end with more shouting because Crystal was always right and she was going to let the whole world know it. The farm animals outside were even disturbed by the noise. They mooed, squawked, and squealed. Ribbon mostly held her stuffed bear close and shut her eyes until it was over. The bear was from Lavender and Ribbon had a little red ribbon which she tied around its neck. She put ribbons on a lot of things. The mirror, her bed, her old toys. She loved to make her things her own.

She turned over in bed. Wide awake, she looked at her nightstand. Her crystal ball was on its iron ring which acted as a stand. Next to it were a bunch of framed pictures of relatives and a few friends. One of them had Crystal and herself when they were younger. She was hugging her older sister tightly when that photo was taken. Ribbon was six and reminded most ponies her age of one of those insects that looked like sticks since she was so thin. Crystal was never like that. She was already starting to gain weight, even though she was only fourteen then. Crystal never knew her elder sister to be anything but responsible and she always had thin smiles except in that picture. How could she be any different when their mother had always been away at work?

On the other side of the ball was a photo of her uncle, Cotton Wishes. It wasn’t just a random relative. He was a master glass maker, the one that made nearly every one of the crystal balls the family has used for more than twenty years. Hers too was made by him and it was delivered from his home where he lived by the western sea.

That was a long time ago. Ribbon lacked any kind of cutie mark and her flank was utterly bare. She was milking one of the cows on one very similar morning when her crystal ball came into her possession. It had been a hot week and the flies kept annoying her. The cow would sometimes accidentally whip her when it tried to shoo them away. Milking a cow was just the worst as she had to use her hooves to keep the stream steady. After, it was a matter of keeping the pail from tipping in her teeth while walking to the cottage to put it in bottles. She could have used magic but it was even harder that way. Keeping that steady required finesse.

Her sister had rushed over, telling her to stop. She looked all excited like it was somepony’s birthday. Ribbon put her pail down and met her by the stable doors.

“You’re not going to believe what showed up this morning,” Crystal said. She held a package. Ribbon thought it looked familiar. A brown box tied with black string and a small white tag that had the recipient’s name on it.

Ribbon took her time opening it. She was only twelve and the future hadn’t taken up much of her thoughts. It was still somewhere off in the background behind school and her friends. That one tag with her name in gold broke that trance in an instant. And it had snuck up on her before she could even prepare for it. The bare crystal ball reflected the image of a filly that neither smiled nor jumped for joy. She just stared at it, her mouth as blank as her flank.

Of course, Crystal misinterpreted her speechlessness as a sign that she was overjoyed. She gripped Ribbon’s shoulders and had the biggest grin that Ribbon had ever seen her make. “Isn’t this just wonderful? I bet you couldn’t wait to get your ball and it’s finally here!”

After a few seconds, Ribbon managed to force herself to smile back. It would become a familiar feeling to her but not being used to it didn’t make it any easier.

“Yeah….but how does he know to send us all one of these?” Ribbon asked.

“Because it’s what he does. It’s important to the family. Back when it was just one wandering group, our ancestors listened to those crafts ponies. They were the ones with the wisdom to know where the family should go even before the towns that we would call home even existed,” Crystal said with an air of amazement.

“Wasn’t it Pearl Wishes that settled here a year after the Apple Family?”

“Yes, she was,” Crystal answered. “Her ball was given to her by the old family crystal makers. Their lineage still exists in the west where Cotton lives.”

“That’s neat.”

Crystal looked somewhat amused. “It’s more than ‘neat’. You foals always seem to forget even the most basic of history these days. Even your own. It makes me think you would be better off being taught at home.”

“But mom knows the importance of friends,” Ribbon said. Her sister rolled her eyes while Ribbon reached down. Protected by some hay and paper stuffing, her crystal ball lay in the center. Ribbon picked it up with both hooves. It was so new, it was slippery like an egg. Crystal told her to be careful with it.

Ribbon frowned. “There’s no need to tell me that,” she assured her. She looked at the ball closely. There was nothing to it. Just a colorless sphere. “I kind of expected something more than this.”

“Each one of us gets one of these when we come of age. I didn’t get mine looking the way it does now”. Ribbon remembered going up to Crystal’s room when her ball was unveiled. It was cut with sharp angles that formed triangles. The whole thing was colored a deep blue. When ponies looked into it, they were supposed to be hypnotized by what would appear to be the rippling surface of water.

Ribbon looked up at her. “So we all get one no matter what?”

“Absolutely,” she said. “Every member of the family.”

---

Ribbon stared up at the ceiling fan which spun around slowly. She was in her room all morning and her stomach sounded like it was boiling. She heard a knock down below. It must have been her uncle. Her sisters were anything but lethargic those last days and though a series of phone calls, they were trying to contact family members across Equestria for opportunities to seize upon. Ribbon knew that they contacted Cotton too and there was a chance he could come but she didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. She had missed them though and the idea of catching up with the uncle she loved to go on walks with sounded delightful. She thought she heard a stallion’s voice so she got out of bed and brushed her hair.

She went downstairs and saw Cotton chatting with the others in his lively manner. He loved to wave his hooves around when expressing something. He and Ribbon shared the same body type, tall and lean. Glitter had already taken his stylish scarf and hat for him. He wore a baby blue button down shirt and had a diamond piercing in his left ear.

“Ah! Ribbon, my dear! Come down here so I can see you,” Cotton said excitedly. Even his voice was light, bordering on shrill if he ever saw an insect. He gave her a hug with his long arm then eyed her up and down. He always wore expensive perfume that she never really cared for. But that never mattered. She always liked his bubbly personality. “You look as lovely as your mother says. I do hope you are up to date on your summer dresses?”

“Sort of. We don’t go into town anymore though so we can’t get any new ones,” Ribbon said.

He brushed aside a couple bangs and sighed. His hair was styled in a sort of spiky array that draped down his face and neck. It obviously required a lot of gel to set in. “Yes, that whole affair with the royalty. What a mess to find oneself in. Well, no need to fret. I have traveled all this way to be by my family’s side.”

“And we are grateful,” Lavender said. “But for now, let’s have you settle down. I have your favorite coffee.”

His ears perked up. “With foam and a wisp of cinnamon?” She nodded and he giggled happily as they headed to the kitchen. “Oh, what would I do without you?” Before they exited the room, he turned toward Ribbon. “I almost forgot. If would you kindly do this little thing for me and let me see what you’ve done with that old crystal ball I gave you? I always love to catch up with my work and see what each family member has done with them.”

“Of course, uncle,” Ribbon replied. He winked at her and left. She noticed his cutie mark. It was a crystal ball held in a white linen hammock tied to a branch or stick above. It made sense; he was a designer of fabrics of all kinds from silks to wool.

After they had gone, Crystal’s face soured immediately. She looked like she had just heard that Glitter was going to be cooking dinner.

“About time he got here. I expected him two days ago and he shows up now as if we called him for anything other than a family emergency,” she criticized. Her cheeks were slightly reddish as if she was just holding her frustration in the whole time he was in her presence, only releasing it now when it would do no damage.

“Well, he does live really far away,” Ribbon said.

“He probably stopped by every antique shop and clothes store on the way. We both know how he is. He’s still as vain as he ever was. He can’t just stop trying to attract every mare he sees.” Ribbon had no idea what she was blabbing on about. She always saw Cotton with mares but not in the same way as her other male relatives. He was the only one without foals of his own but Crystal thought of him as selfish for not wanting to pass his skills down. She kept reminding them all that once he retired, it would be hard to find somepony to make new crystal balls. Ribbon thought that point of view was shortsighted.

Crystal noticed Ribbon’s odd stare and looked offended. “Just go and get your ball!”

“Fine!” Ribbon ran up to her room and slammed the door, trying not to scream. She grabbed her ball from the nightstand, the movement pulling it closer to the edge where the light shone. Then she hurried back downstairs and into the kitchen where her mom and uncle talked. She was at least able to calm herself by then to not alarm the two older ponies. Her sisters were outside tending to some chore while she sat down. She set the ball on her lap and started to eat some of her breakfast. She shoveled it into her mouth but they didn’t notice. Lavender and Cotton talked for what seemed like forever as older ponies tended to do until Ribbon was left tapping the fork on her plate in a bored trance. So much time passed that her back legs were turning numb so she stood up and Cotton glanced at her.

“Oh, excuse me for forgetting you, dear.” They both chuckled as if Ribbon had done something funny. “I was just having a nice chat with your mother. I do see you have the ball with you.”

“She does indeed. Ribbon, let your uncle see it,” Lavender said. Ribbon used her magic to float the ball over. When he received it, he moved it around in his hooves, examining it carefully.

“This is something I wasn’t really expecting.”

“What do you mean? It’s the same ball you gave me,” Ribbon said.

“That is what I meant. I recognize it like an old friend.” He looked up at her. “I’ve never seen anypony not make their ball their own before.” Ribbon didn’t like where things were going again. She always thought of him as the tolerant member of the family, sort of like the opposite of Crystal. Where the eldest sister would condemn, he would forgive. But would even he question the way she did things with her own crystal ball? It was one thing to not be able to decide whether to give ponies fortunes or not. That was something else entirely. It was far too much.

Ribbon’s entire body already felt tense and that was just one more added to the weight. She went and seized her ball back from his hooves. She already knew she was acting a bit childish but she didn’t care.

“Ribbon…what are you doing?” Lavender said. Her voice was laced with motherly concern.

Ribbon grimaced painfully. “I don’t really feel like talking about my ball. I’m sorry I didn’t do with it as you would have liked, uncle. Now, if you would excuse me…” Ribbon left the room at once, her voice cracking. She very much hated to displease her uncle but she feared that if she did then the damage had already been done.

Cotton blinked a few times then reached for his coffee. “I sure didn’t see that coming, Lavender.”

“Neither could I. Isn’t it sad how our own family’s feelings are so out of reach?” she said.

“I guess that’s a good thing? Like there are some things we just aren’t meant to know?”

Lavender paused but slowly nodded. “You could be right. Ribbon is just such an odd filly. Then again, any other mother would want to know everything she could.”

Ribbon returned to her room. She had run so fast that she panted. Her thoughts were full of mean things to say. They swarmed, threatening to strike like angry bees. Yes, her crystal ball was plain but she had no reason to be any different. Not in her family where everypony had to have a crystal ball. She knew why she was angry. She wanted somepony to be the bad guy. She knew it was unfair but if it was that easy then it wouldn’t be her fault for having no future of her own. But she saw the look in his eyes. He had expectations that looked all too familiar. And it scared her as to how similarly she looked towards herself. And it was all because of a shiny ball.

She almost hated that stupid thing. She practically slammed it down on the iron ring and fell on the bed, facing away from the window. She used magic to open a new box of tissues and held her bear tightly like it was her only friend in the world. As an ache in her throat grew, she couldn’t tell that the cloud she watched when she woke was long gone. A ray of light grew hotter in the crystal. Such a magical thing it was. It became a magical flame.