Minuet Shimmer was the pony that no pony saw, the kind of pony that you overlook in a crowd, or think nothing of when you pass by her. And that's what every pony did.
“Minuet! Minuet! Come here this instant!” The orphanage keeper shrieked,
Minuet Shimmer walked gloomily into the office of Madam Sniffle, it was perfectly clean, sparkling, because she was the one who cleaned it. The papers were stacked neatly in cubbyholes, pens in a finely decorated pen holder, the shelves were filled with dictionaries, but not a speck of dust on them, lamps, pencil sharpeners, scrolls, pictures, more pens, and small statues were all organized and perfect.
“Minuet,” said Madam Sniffle,
“Yes madam?” Minuet looked into the frowning face, and she racked her memory for any shelf she left without dusting or a pencil that she had accidentally put in a pen holder.
“You left the lamp on in the attic,” Madam Sniffle raised her chin, and expected an apology,
“Very sorry, Madam,” said Minuet, “but I didn't clean the attic today, it was Beach Bounce.”
The Orphanage keeper looked quizzical, but then she shook her head, “He should be ashamed of himself. He could of wasted a whole light bulb.”
“Maybe he just forgot,” tried Minuet, “What if he just—”
“Hold your tongue orphan!” cried Madam Sniffle,
“—but what if—”
“Hush up!” cried Madam Sniffle, her bouncy, golden mane shook with rage, “You should not disrespect your elders! Now go to your room, or something!”
Minuet Shimmer did not hesitate and flew out the door. She galloped out of the sight of The keeper. She then slowed to a walk, going down the orphanage halls, lined with fine portraits of all the past keepers and teachers.
The orphanage was very empty that day, Minuet did not know why, usually there would be at least three or four ponies, coming and going. But today it was strangely quiet.
Minuet Shimmer Found out where every pony was when she went into the gym, in there, there was a large crowd of stallions and mares, all talking. In the center of the crowd, was a very gorgeous pony, Gemstone Blossom, the prettiest mare in the orphanage, her coat was golden, shining like the sun, (because she attended to it every day) and her mane and tail were bubblegum pink, emerald green, and velvet. She was waring a dress or significant beauty, it was pearly whit, with rose red trim, pink ruff, and bits of blue here and there.
Minuet heard talk, such as:
“Isn't that dress perfect for her?”
“—I want it—”
“Her mane looks beautiful today—”
“I should ask her out,”
“—No! I want it!”
Minuet envied the popular pony, withing to get to her a manicure everyday, have people adore you, and have everlasting beauty. She sighed and then turned away from the crowd, she headed for the doors.
Minuet opened a heavy door and then sighed, the crisp fall air tickled her ears, the sun was setting, and giving off a beautiful golden glow. Fallen leaves scattered the street and sidewalk, and they crunched under her hooves. The trees had turned red and harvest yellow, Minuet's favorite time of year in Baltimare.
~~~
After School was over, Minuet grabbed up her books and rushed out of her school and onto the sidewalk that led home. Afternoon carried a slight wind, and it sent the loosest of leaves on the ground.
But as Minuet Shimmer was walking home, something caught her eye on a lamppost. She slowly turned around and than saw that there was a flier of some sort on the coal black post. It read:
Dear citizens of Baltimare, On November the first,
there will be a grand ball. Everyone who has a suit
or dress may come and enjoy the party. For no pony
should come without a proper dress or suit.
It will begin at 6:00 pm. And end at 11:00 pm.
So please come and enjoy yourself.
~Mayor
Minuet Fluttered with excitement. A ball! And she could go! She didn't really care about dancing with handsome stallions, she just wanted to be there. And then she galloped back to the orphanage as fast as she could. Wind stung her face but she didn't care. She wanted to go home and tell the keeper.
When Minuet got into the orphanage, she hurriedly put her books away and rushed over to the office. Madam Sniffle was there and she didn't look very friendly.
“Minuet!” Madam sniffle shouted.
Minuet always wondered why she had to yell at her when she was right there. But she answered “Yes?” anyway.
“You're late!” The keeper stomped her foot.
Minuet suddenly thought about how long she might ave been there, admiring the invitation.
“Sorry, Miss, I didn't realize the time,” Minuet apologized, “Because you see, there was a—”
“No excuses,” said Madam Sniffle, “You were late. And that is bad! Do you ant to grow up to be a mare who is always late—”
“I was looking at—” Minuet tried to say again,
“—admiring stuff, such as—”
“An invitation!” Minuet surprised herself by almost shouting, and she expected a scolding, but instead Madam sniffle paused and looked at Minuet, “An invitation? To you?”
“No, an invitation to everyone, to all of Baltimare, as long as they have something to wear.”
Madam Sniffle gasped with excitement, she looked like she was holding in a burst of joy, but she kept it in. “We—we need to tell this to all the orphanage! I'll announce it first thing in the morning!”
“Wait, Miss Sniffle...” said Minuet as the plump keeper turned around, “Can I go? To the ball?”
“Oh of course, it said everyone didn't it? Now run along and fetch me a copy of that invitation.”
Minuet walked out of the office tingling with excitement. She quickly went outside and found a flier quickly, she then took it down and raced it to the keeper's office, she laid it on the desk and scurried to her room. When she closed the door, she grabbed her diary and started writing, most of her writing was about music and songs she had made up in secret, but this time it was finally about something exiting, and now all she needed to do was just get a dress.
Minuet Shimmer plowed through all the ponies to get to school, not caring to say excuse me. She was in a rush to get done with school, so that she could go shopping for a dress, maybe materials to make a dress, it would half to be something other then white, because her color was white, and it also needed to ho with her mane, which by the way was velvet, dark purple, and scarlet. She was an earth pony so she didn't need to have one with wing holes or anything.
Minuet quickly got to her desk which was conveniently in the back row. She sat down, pulled out her books and tapped the floor impatiently waiting for the teacher. When she finally did come, she greeted the class and got right to math. Most everypony was listening, but after a while, Minuet drifted off into dream land; of dresses and music and her falling into the arms of a strong stallion, she imagined herself playing a wonderful symphony, on piano, her favorite instrument. She, tho pony with no friends, surrounded in handsome young stallions, all admiring her beautiful locks.
But then reality came tumbling back like a boulder, she had no friends, she was an orphan, and she spent every day dusting statues and scrubbing floors and such. But to stand out, she had to wow everyone, find a dress or make one,and she was very much willing to pay three quarters of her coins to look beautiful for the ball.
When School had ended and the bell rang annoyingly, she quickly put away her books back at the orphanage, got her money and headed out the door, it was Friday, the day she had the afternoon off. She only had to clean in the evenings. She would very much prefer to go shopping with a friend to help pick out styles. But she didn't, so she just went alone. The first thing she did was get a list of all the clothing stores in Baltimare. She retrieved it from a magazine page and cut it out. The first on the list was:
Finest Fabric.
So Minuet shimmer walked down the streets of her friendly town and looked for the address of her first stop. She came to it sooner then she thought, and was soon going in through the doors.
“Hello, how are you today?” asked a plump pony of purple and green behind the counter, “How can I help you today?”
“I'm looking for a dress, a very fine dress, I'm going to wear it to the grand ball”
“Oh I’m very sorry miss,” said the pony, “Were all out. Everyone was so excited to go that they bought all of them. You can order one when the next bunch comes in.”
“No,” said Minuet, trying not to look to disappointed, “I'll see if anywhere else has any.” and with that she walked out of the store, and she crossed out Finest Fabric.
“Next on the list:” she said to herself, T. S. Elegant. Most formal dressing you'll ever see come on by in the evenings and afternoons.
Minuet crossed out that too, she did not want formal, she wanted...well, she didn't know exactly what she wanted, but she was going to look anyway.
~~~
After searching almost everywhere, Minuet was put out. All the stores either had none she wanted, or were all out, so in the end she turned up just buying fabric and lace and stuff, she would half to make it herself.
Minuet Shimmer started to walk home, she had basically no training in making a fancy ball gown, and she had no idea what it would look like, she had picked out velvet, navy blue, white, and cream color. She didn't know if those went together or not, but she just was in a rush.
When she got to the orphanage and tucked away the fabric under her bed, she got to her cleaning as soon as possible, fortunately for her, she only had to clean the shelves and mop the floors. She got a duster and went to the nearest shelf, it was full of five sets of encyclopedias, one red, one blue, one green, one yellow and one white.
She dusted it quickly moved onto the next one and two.
By the time she was on her last shelf, she felt like she could sneeze the orphanage down. The shelf had a statue of a fine, mare, with her nose in the air, and it had small little pictures in the shelves of old ponies. She started to dust the statue slowly and sneezed a couple times, but when she accidentally knocked overt one of the pictures, she bent down to pick it up and bumped into the statue. It tipped top one side, but she caught it before it fell over and set it down. But then something caught her eye, a glimmer of silver behind the shelf. She figured it was piece of glass or something, so she pushed the shelf away from the wall with her shoulder very carefully and then reached blindly behind the shelf.
Minuet waved her hoof to and fro behind trying to feel anything sharp or hard. But then when she noticed that she could not feel anything, she started to pull it out. But it got stuck.
“Ugh.” she sighed pulling harder. It was tuck harder then she thought.
Suddenly it popped free and she fell on her back, but as her hoof came out, it brushed something cold and a little soft. “Aha!” she said triumphantly as she pulled it out. But what she saw wasn't a piece of glass or anything like that, she gasped as she looked down at it, how did it get there? She ran the small thing in her hooves, feeling it lightly, was it hers? Could she keep it? There, in her hooves, that she had found behind the shelf, laid a silver Mask.
Minuet Shimmer stared down at the shining mask, it was gleaming silvery-blue, and it looked very old. Yet, it looked like it hadn't been faded or anything. On the one side of it, there was five little silver feathers. The other side was bare. It must have been for a masquerade a long time ago, and a fancy pony must have lost it.
But If Minuet found it, was it hers? Did she own it?
Madam Sniffle would have definitely said no, she would have snatched the precious thing right out of Minuet's hooves and put it in an old, dusty case or something.
And that’s why Minuet Shimmer kept the mask for herself.
She wished she had a friend to show it to, that would be nice. But all the Orphans ignored her.
~~~
Minuet shimmer played the piano a lot. It was her favorite instrument. And it was one of the hardest for a pony to master. Especially an earth pony.
Whenever Minuet played, it eased her mind, made her calm.
That day, she was playing an old, classical song. Her favorite songs were classical, they reminded her of all the old, pony masters, playing symphonies and beautiful songs. She was playing the Turkish March, practicing to get better at it. It was very difficult, but she loved the tune. She could play it over and over again.
The Music room was most of the time empty, she liked it that way, there were violins on racks, flutes, harps, cellos, drums, and even a DJ section. Most ponies didn't really care for music as much as she did, she spent her spare hours practicing alone, by herself.
She ended her song on the piano with a lower key tone, and then sighed.
“That was marvelous!” came a voice from behind her.
Minuet turned around, and there, in the doorway, was a pony. Her main and tail were turquoise, wavy and sleek. She was violet all over, and she didn't have a cutie mark yet. The ponies eyes were red, standing out to her ocean-y colors. She looked a little younger then Minuet, but only by a little.
“I—I'm sorry, I'll be leaving if you want me too...” Minuet's voice trailed off.
“No! That was great!” said the Pony, “You seem like a nice pony.”
“I do?” asked Minuet,
“Yeah.” said the pony, “um, I’m Jade Weave. But ponies just call me Jade.”
“Hi,” said Minuet, she hardly ever talked to any pony other then the maids, and Madam Sniffle.
“What's your name?” asked Jade Weave eagerly,
“Uh, Minuet Shimmer.” said Minuet, she tried her best not to pepper her speech with to many ums and ers.
“You wanna talk later?” asked Jade, “The schoolteacher will be looking for me. Maybe you could teach my how you play, I don't have a cutie mark yet.”
“Um, sure! Where at?”
“uh...” said Jade, tapping her unicorn, “how about at Sugar cube Corner? They have awesome pastries there.”
“We could go tomorrow.” said Minuet, “I half to work hard today, and tomorrow is Saturday.”
“Yay! Meet you there!” said Jade, trotting down and away the hall.
Minuet heard her new friend whisper to herself: “Awesome! A new friend!”
A new Friend.
Minuet felt like she was going go crazy. A friend? She finally had one! She could not wait until Saturday. What would They talk about? Friends stuff right? Like secrets. And magazines. She giggled to herself, and picked up her books. Then she went outside of the school building and down the street to the orphanage.
When Saturday finally arrived, Minuet was fluttering with excitement. The one day on the week that she had all to herself. She raced off down the halls of the orphanage, pictures, and statues went flying by. And soon, Minuet shimmer was out the doors.
Sugar cube corner wasn't that far, she walked past it every day to school, sniffing the delicious smells.
She had brought some of her favorite things, her diary, her flute, and her reading glasses (Yep, she had reading glasses) but she also borrowed some magazines, she did not know which ones that Jade would like, so she just got a selection of them, she herself didn't read them that much, but maybe she could get into them.
The slight breeze washed over her, it was almost lunchtime. She had brought a small loaf of bread, and daises to make a sandwich with them or something.
Minuet Shimmer knew that she was close to Sugar Cube Corner as she trotted down the path without even seeing it. The simple fragrance of brown sugar, cinnamon, and spice was enough to locate it's direct location.
Then, she came to a turn, and the store on the corner was Sugar Cube Corner. She inhaled and then breathed out to prepare herself, and then she put herself in a fancy pose and walked in like a normal citizen of Baltimare.
The doorbell dinged as Minuet trotted into the bakery. And she was overwhelmed with the sweet smell.
The walls were bubble-gum pink, and decorated with paintings of cupcakes and pastries. There were a few ponies sitting at tables and eating the delicious deserts. There was a display stand, and it was loaded with all the goodies that Minuet had ever seen, cakes, pies, cupcakes, bars, dumplings, cookies, there were some milkshakes, ice-creams, sundaes, and a whole bunch of other foods that She didn't know but looked delicious.
There was a small door to the back room where they made all of the food, and there was a plump, baby-blue mare at the counter.
Minuet Shimmer examined the room, she could not see Jade, so she must have gotten there first. So she decided to take a booth over in the corner. She put her bag of stuff down beside her and waited for about a minute or two.
And then Jade Weave came prancing through the doors. She looked absolutely marvelous. Her mane was braided, she was wearing a normal pink jacket, and she looked like she had eyeliner or something.
Minuet had never seen a pony dress up like that just to come to visit someone.
“Over here.” said Minuet Shimmer, waving her hoof,
Jade saw her and trotted over, she was carrying a purse of some sort. She sat down in the booth, “Hi! You made it.”
“Yeah.” said Minuet, “Why wouldn't I make it?”
“I don't know.” said Jade, “But finally we get to talk!”
Minuet nodded,
“Did you forget to comb your mane?” asked Jade, not rudely, just out of curiosity,
“Um.” Minuet's cheeks went red, she always had her hair that way—down. “Yeah, I did.”
“Well that's no matter.” said Jade, “Anyways. I just got some new glasses. Do you want to see them?” she opened her purse thing and then pulled out sunglasses, they were red, and they made her look cool, “What do you think?”
“Those are cool!” said Minuet, “The only glasses that I've got are reading glasses.”
“You have reading glasses?” asked Jade, “That's too bad. Show me them.”
Minuet hesitated, but then got out her reading glasses, just regular, round. She put them on.
“They actually don't look to bad.” said Jade,
“Really?” asked Minuet,
“Mm Hm.” answered Jade, “But totally off the subject. But if you haven't noticed, I don't have a cutie mark.”
“Me either.” said Minuet, “Even though I'm a mature filly.”
“Yeah. And I'm trying to find out what It is.” said Jade, “Maybe it's music! Or chess! Or dancing.”
“I don't know what mine will be.” said Minuet gloomily,
“You sounded pretty good playing the piano.” said Jade encouragingly, “Maybe you are good at singing or something!”
“Trust me.” said Minuet, “You do not want to hear me sing.”
They laughed.
“Plus,” said Minuet, “I've been playing the piano, flute, and harp for years and I still don't have a cutie mark.”
“we can find out what ours are together!” said Jade, “Speaking of, are you hungry?”
“Um yeah.” Minuet said, “I brought some daisies and bread.”
Jade looked at her quizzically, than went back to normal, “No matter. I can take care of that.”
Then, the plump baby-blue mare walked over to them a notebook was hovering in front of her, “What would you guys like to have today?”
Minuet then suddenly had a sinking feeling, she had no money along to buy anything. She would look bad to her new best friend.
“I would like two strawberry milkshakes please.” said Jade Weave, “And with caramel drizzled over them.”
“Coming right up.” said the waiter trotting back to the desk.
“Um...” Minuet didn't know what to say, “Thanks.”
“No prob.” said Jade,
Minuet felt awful, Jade was generously buying her a milkshake, Minuet had not tasted one of those in years, and she had showed up without brushing her mane or getting fancied up.
Jade looked at Minuet, “Is there something wrong?”
“No, I just...” Minuet's voice trailed off,
“I have to ask you a question.” said Jade leaning closer, “Are you—poor?”
“Well, kind of.” said Minuet looking down,
“That is totally fine.” said Jade, “You don't have to feel bad, not everyone in Baltimare is rich. Is that why you don't comb your mane and stuff?”
Minuet nodded, “I'm not as cool as most other ponies. I half to work for Madam Sniffle all week except for days like today.”
“That's alright.” said Jade, “We can still be friends, no matter what happens.”
Minuet felt herself smiling,
“Here you go young fillies.” said the waitress, “that would be two coins.”
Jade tossed her three coins as a tip and then slid one milkshake over to Minuet.
“So,” said Jade weave, “Tell me a little more about yourself.
Minuet sipped her milkshake and sweet goodness washed over her like a waterfall, “Well...” she began
