Short stories about ponies and whatnot

by shutaro

Miss Piggington thought so too

You got up early today, it was to be a day of celebration, for festivities and joy. Instead of the usual half hour it took you almost two hours to prepare and Sweetie Belle had to brush her teeth in the kitchen sink. She was not happy with you, but it was worth it. You admired the results of your work in the mirror: Your coat shone whiter than on other days, just like a layer of fresh snow on the first day of winter. Your mane and tail were waterfalls of indigo silk and showed off the care you took with them for all the world to see. And the eyes behind those carefully trimmed eyelashes were a sparkling azure like the pools in the Royal Gardens, accented with just the right amount of eyeshadow. As a last thought you double-checked for any new grime that might have collected in the chinks of your horn since yesterday’s spa-treatment.
Perfection! Nothing less would suffice!
One could only hope that the other girls took as good care of their appearance as you and for a moment you could clearly see them before you. Rainbow Dash, with her coltish charm, Pinkie Pie, curves in all the right places and Applejack’s muscular, yet attractive build. The competition was strong this year. You clearly remembered the relief at the announcement that Fluttershy would not run for this year’s “Miss Ponyville”. You even snickered a bit as you recalled Twilight Sparkle’s glum face when her application was rejected: Princesses were not allowed to participate.
But those petty thoughts of jealousy were not befitting the Element of Generosity!
Begone and never return!
The pony in the mirror had stretched her fronthoofs in the air in a most dramatic gesture.

“Maybe a bit much drama. This is just Ponyville after all.”

But on the way to the ground floor you realized that this really was not you anymore.
You wanted to be a pony who dared to think beauty in new, exciting ways every day!
Your dream was not to stand in line to be eyed by a group of old stallions like one of Applejack’s prized pigs. Your ambition was not this small. It had outgrown Ponyville a long time ago. Your creations dazzled the rich in Manehatten and impressed the powerful in Canterlot after all.
You would not stoop so low as to parade around on a dinky stage made from a barndoor to get a blue ribbon for their backwards idea of “beauty”.

But you had spend all this time and work on your perfect complexion, it would be a waste not to go. A light breakfast would have to suffice today, you decided. Neither stains nor crumbs would impair your elegance today.
You had never spend so much care on drinking a single glass of water.
As an afterthought you prepared a minor shield-spell to protect yourself from ... pranks. Ponyville was famous for it’s freaky weather and eccentric ponies. Eccentric pink ponies to be precise.

As you reached Ponyville town hall the catcalls and wolf whistles started. Cretins and yahoos all around. You looked around a bit, then you spotted your competitors. Former competitors, you mentally corrected yourself.
Applejack looked fabulous with a red and white bow in her mane and tail. Rainbow Dash was almost casual, except that her mane was less unruly than usual and her wings were expertly preened. You commended her on that and Rainbow almost blushed and mumbled about Fluttershy helping her. Pinkie had some white ribbons woven into her mane and a number of little bells sewn on them tinkled and jingled with every movement. That was clearly the Pinkie Pie kind of pretty, not your’s.

Then you dropped the news: You were not going to participate.
You had expected some kind of protest but nopony came forth. It felt a bit disappointing. Not much, but the feeling was there all the same.
Then, to your utter amazement, Applejack agreed. She had thought the same thing! Her price sow Miss Piggington had refused the last round of contests this year and that got Applejack to thinking. You nodded, but said nothing, stunned by this revelation. Even a pig could see that this was not right? Dear Celestia, how could you have been so blind so long?
Then Rainbow Dash and Pinkie showed their torn up applications. The pegasus pony just said that this was not the kind of attention she desired any more and Pinkie Pie only pointed over to the library. It would be no fun without Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy.

A few minutes later you joined Ponyville’s resident royalty to report on your findings:
Sometimes you lose sight of what beauty is. It is not the clothes you wear or your well groomed mane or your shiny teeth. Those are appeal and that is only skin deep, at best. Real beauty is what you find in the balance, in the harmony of the things you see and those you feel.

Twilight asked if you felt beautiful today. You smiled. Yes, today was a beautiful day.
And then Rainbow Dash brought Fluttershy over and you six partied like there would be no tomorrow.

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Rarity looked up to Spike from the bucket. “Really? I told you all that? I don’t remember anything about yesterday. The mind is a complete blank.”
The little dragon smiled compassionately. “Uhm, yes. You even made me write that letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna too. Twice. You girls should probably not touch my spirits again. I need that for my fire but a dragon can’t get drunk on it.” He slowly shook his head.
“I have no idea where Pinkie Pie got the idea it would make a good ingredient for the punch.”

Author's Note:

Rarity slumped back into the pillows. "And who won the contest?". Spike scratched his chin. "Some young unicorn, yellow coat, green mane, very shy. She must be new, I've never seen her in Ponyville before. I think the name was Gloss or Glitter or something like that."

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What a prompt! I have never spent so much time thinking about an idea first. But I wanted Rarity and a letter to the princess(es).
And if you don't remember li'l Piggington watch "Spike at your service" again.

This one got rejected because the last part was in third person narration. People... that's the punchline of the whole thing: Spike tells Rarity what her last day was like because she suffered a blackout at Pinkies spiked punch.

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The Prompt: Write a story in the second person in which the perspective character (i.e. “you”) is one of the Mane Six or Spike.