Magical Mystery Marks

by bdoubleowo

Rarity's Story

Magical Mystery Marks

Rarity's Story

“Morning in Ponyville shimmers! Morning in Ponyville shines! And I know for absolute certain, everything is certainly . . . AAUGH!” Twilight Sparkle’s song was suddenly cut off at the end as the purple unicorn mare was drenched by a rain cloud. Twilight shouted angrily at the sky, “Rainbow Dash! That’s not funny!”

“Terribly sorry, darling,” said a voice. This was the very last voice Twilight expected to hear. “I’m afraid I’m not good with the thundery ones.” Twilight stared at the pony who was moving the clouds in the sky. Normally, cloud control was a pegasus job, but this pony was using her magic to move them! She was a unicorn – and not just any unicorn. It was Rarity! With Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark?! Twilight gasped.

“Rarity?!” She couldn’t believe her eyes. “How is this possible? Your cutie mark- it’s changed!”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?” Rarity stared at her, confused. “This has been my cutie mark ever since it appeared.”

“Ever since it- Really?” Twilight was admittedly curious. “How did you get your cutie mark, anyway?”

“I never told you this story?” Rarity looked shocked. “I thought for sure I had!”

“Nope.” Twilight shook her head. “I think you told the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but you never told me.”

“Ah! That explains it. Come along, and I’ll explain it to you!” She headed toward the Golden Oak Library. “I need to pick up a book as well, for there must be something that explains how to deal with storm clouds. May I borrow one?”

“Sure, Rarity!” Twilight said. “But after the story, okay?”

“Of course, darling.” Rarity opened the door with her magic and stood to the side. “After you!”

Twilight smiled gratefully and walked in, Rarity following. Closing the door behind them, Rarity asked, “Would you like to hear it now, or later?”

“Well, Spike is still asleep, but…” Twilight levitated a pair of earmuffs and walked upstairs. She placed the earmuffs over Spike’s ears, and he turned over, mumbling to himself. Twilight walked back to Rarity, smiling. “He’ll be fine. I didn’t want to wake him just yet.”

“Very kind of you, darling.” Rarity smiled as well. “Now, where to begin? Ah, yes! It all started a few days before my school had their annual play, when I was a young filly…”

*****************

“Back in those days, I was obsessed with fashion!” Rarity said. “I guess you could say I was good at it, but I wasn’t sure. I was the last in my class to get my cutie mark – most of the other foals already had theirs – and I thought fashion would be my special talent! Anyway, I had been making the outfits for the school play, and my classmates loved them!”

“That’s fantastic, Rarity!” Twilight said, though she was wondering how this story had changed from the timeline that she remembered.

“I agree. The outfits were fabulous. However, I thought they needed something, well… more.” Twilight blinked, confused at Rarity’s words.

“Like what?” she asked.

“That was the problem. I wasn’t sure! I sewed for hours, days even. Soon, it was a day before opening night, and I still wasn’t sure what to add! That was when an event happened that would change my life.” Rarity smiled fondly in remembrance.

“What was it?” Twilight moved her chair closer, eager to hear more. Even though Rarity had the wrong cutie mark, even though she had no idea if her friends’ cutie marks had changed, she still was interested in Rarity’s story.

“Well, my horn suddenly glowed! It was surprising, and I had no idea what would happen! Unicorn magic is very unpredictable, darling,” Rarity said, and Twilight nodded.

“I agree,” she said. “Many things could happen if your horn glows suddenly, like what yours did.”

“Exactly.” Rarity nodded. “However, I trusted my magic, and I let my horn take me where it wanted me to go. It took a while, but eventually I ended up at the final destination, which was…” Here, Rarity paused for effect, and Twilight leaned closer. “A rock!”

Twilight blinked. “What?”

“That was my reaction, too. I stared at the rock, sure that something was wrong. My magic certainly wouldn’t have brought me to a rock for inspiration, would it? It wasn’t even an interesting rock – just a gray, ordinary, boring rock.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I got annoyed. I started shouting at the rock. I yelled, ‘A ROCK?! That’s my destiny?! Dumb rock!’ I just couldn’t fathom it.”

“Then what happened?” Twilight asked.

“I was so caught up in yelling at the rock – ridiculous, I know, but it’s true – that I didn’t notice that my horn was glowing. Suddenly, a lightning bolt flashed from the sky, cracking the rock in two, and showing that the inside was filled with fabulous gemstones! I looked up at my horn, and saw that it was indeed glowing. Then I looked at the sky and saw that I had controlled the clouds to shoot a bolt of lightning at the rock! That was when I felt a weird sensation on my flank. I looked down, and saw the image of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt on it. I gasped, shocked. I had gotten my cutie mark! The cloud was the clouds I had controlled, and the lightning bolt was the one that had split the rock. It was rainbow colored because of all the gems inside the rock, which were in all the colors of the rainbow! I had found my destiny – cloud controlling!” Rarity squealed in excitement, smiling at the memory. “However, I brought the gems back to my house, sewed them onto the costumes, and gave them to my teacher. She was happy to have them, congratulated me on getting my cutie mark, and we had one of the best plays I’ve ever seen!” Rarity smiled again. “So? Did you like the story?”

Twilight’s mouth was hanging open. “Wow! That was a really good story, Rarity!” She levitated a book on cloud control over to Rarity, and smiled. “You said you wanted to borrow this?”

“Yes, I did! Thank you so much, darling!” Rarity stood up and hugged her friend, then turned around. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going to finish my job. The weather’s not going to control itself, you know!” With a laugh, she started heading for the door.

“Wait, Rarity!” Twilight called. “What about your love of fashion?”

“My love of fashion? Oh, it’s still here, darling!” Rarity smiled. “It’s still a fantastic subject, and I love looking at other ponies’ work. But making clothes is not for me anymore, I’m afraid!” She waved to Twilight. “See you soon, darling!”

As Rarity left the library, Twilight reflected on the story she had just been told. “That’s incredible! The Rarity I know told me her story, but she had gotten her cutie mark after the play! This timeline’s Rarity got it before the play! The lightning bolt on her new cutie mark is rainbow because of gem colors, not because of a Sonic Rainboom! There are so many differences! But wait . . .” Twilight stopped as a thought suddenly occurred to her. “If Rarity’s cutie mark is different . . . what is Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark?!”

Comments

[EverfreePony]

Very nicely written. I have seen some theories on this topic, but never a full-fledged story, let alone one with such good flow and solid grammar.

Regarding some technical aspects of the story, I have just one teeny tiny nitpick. If you want to mark an abrupt stop in character’s speech, or insert some remark of theirs, em dashes(—) or double hyphens (--) are the way to go—and these are used without any spaces between them and words. The en dashes (–) you are using now shouldn’t be used as such. Just a little thing that ought to bring this story closer to perfection

I hope to get back to reading the next chapter later tonight!

[bdoubleowo]

10070012 Thanks for the grammar tip, and thanks so much for enjoying this story! ^^