Destiny

Sometimes the only thing that greets me in the morning is a mountain of unfinished designs that I have been struggling with, but even so I still jump out of bed every day, looking forward to everything it may bring. It can be hard, it can be easy, but it’s almost always fun. Stitching, sketching out designs, ordering materials and even staring at the blank mannequins in my workroom -- I couldn’t imagine a life without these things and I’m thankful every day that I found out what I could do.

However, I always wish that things played out a little differently. I was quite young when it happened, when my horn took me on a journey that seemed to last for days, eventually bringing me to a gargantuan rock. Though I admit I was pleased at the time, looking back on it I realise now that my, “talent,” truly is a useless one. Why would I need to be able to find gems, when it is so easy to order them from companies that dig them up for profit?

Still, despite how frustrated my own cutie mark makes me, if I find that my stash of gems and jewels is running low then I’ll run out and put my horn to work, since it was designed to do so after all. I eventually mastered digging with magic so hunting gems is now much more enjoyable for me, and I do love seeing my tinted reflection in their vibrant surfaces, but I can never shake the feeling that I shouldn’t be out there.

But it’s destiny, right? My cutie mark appeared one day and told me that I’m a living gem finder, so that means I should be looking for them every day, right? So why is it then that I always hate walking out onto the hills where the Diamond Dogs may strike at any moment? Why is it that I hate pulling the heaped carts of gems home? And why is it that every night I hope that I can wake up the next morning with a different cutie mark -- with a different destiny?

Every pony in Ponyville knows it; they know that I’m not the type of pony who would spend all day out with the dirt, digging for gems that sparkled like the stars. They all know that I prefer to be with civilization and that I love nothing more than a good spa day, but I still got stuck with a skill I don’t need. Everyone knows that my passion is for fashion.

I think it was just the timing. I know a number of ponies who have more than just one talent, but their cutie marks only ever represent one of them. Maybe if I had ordered the gems or maybe if I had used something else instead, something that was readily accessible, then maybe my flank would have a different tattoo on it. I’ll never know now though, I’m stuck with these three diamonds that shows off my fondness for gems more than it does my apparent “talent” for finding them.

I try to ignore it though. I try to ignore the fact that I’m destined to do something I hate. I’ll get absorbed by my work, I’ll start singing whilst I put the dresses together, and I’ll do anything I can to just forget about it. But it never works. There are too many ways for me to remember. Sometimes I’ll need a few gems to finish my latest masterpiece, sometimes Sweetie Belle will use them as a border for her newest collage, and sometimes I’ll find myself staring into a mirror, eyeing a stranger whose body seems vigorous and lively but whose eyes reflect a profound sadness.

But every now and then, when the moon’s risen, I’ll walk to my bed and glimpse at all the happy memories of my life and realise that it’s not that bad. I have five friends that will stay by my side until the end of time, I have loyal customers who spread my name like wildfire throughout all of Equestria, I have the mementoes of the times I met the big names in the fashion industry. Even if fate doesn’t think I should do it, I know that one day I can become one of the greatest designers in the world. It’ll be hard competing with the ones that were predetermined for greatness, but I know beyond a doubt that there is nothing I want to do more.

It seems in Equestria, ponies are expected to stick to what their cutie mark says and that they are happy with it. The multitude of ponies in the Apple family seem to testify to this, as do most other ponies, but there have to be other ponies like me. There have to be other ponies that believe that we don’t have to be one trick ponies, that we don’t have to live a monotone life, and that what we want to do is what we decide it is.

I wonder what our lives would be like some days if cutie marks didn’t exist, if we just had to live life and find out what we were good at without some magically appearing sign that stays with you for the rest of your natural life. Would that world have many more unemployed ponies? Would that world be even more peaceful that the one we’re in? Would I finally be able to chase after my dream without having to face the crushing realisation that I barely stand a chance in a world I wasn’t born to live in?

My friends know that I feel this way, but no matter how many times they see me in a depressed state for the same reason, their reply has always been the same and honestly, I never get tired of hearing it. Sometimes I feel like feigning sadness just to hear their words of encouragement one more time.

“You’re cutie mark is a sign of what you’re good at,” they’ll say, and by this point I’ll already be grinning. “But it’s not who you are. It’s a small part of you that will always be a part of you, but there’s so much more to you than what first meets the eye. Your cutie mark is merely what destiny thinks you are, but destiny can be wrong too. Even if it says that you are doomed to spend your life looking for gems, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else. You don’t have a cutie mark that says you’re a great sister, but you still know you are, so why do you need a cutie mark to tell you that you’re going to be a world famous fashion designer one day? Work for your dreams and ignore the ones who say that you won’t make it. One day you’re going to have the chance to give another young pony budding with potential the chance to shine, and when that day comes you’ll know that you have finally shown that fate is nothing more than a path amongst countless others. The one you walk is the one you choose.”

They’re right. Even if I feel like the world is against me, I know that my friends will be there to cheer me on.

Destiny doesn’t know anything.