Tiaras and Parasols

by Starpony999

Rating: everyone
Tags: Pinkie Pie, Main 6, Diamond Tiara, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Sweetie Belle
Length: 7477

Diamond Tiara was once the most popular filly in school, until she got her cutiemark. Now she stays on the sidelines and interacts with nopony. Cheerilee has other ideas.

Diamond Tiara wasn't like most schoolfillies. Her favorite part of the day wasn't recess. It wasn't passing notes back and forth between friends. It wasn't even picking on other ponies (though admittedly, it had been at one point.) Her favorite part of the day was when she could go home and work on her homework in the solace of her room. Of course, on today of all days, Mrs. Cheerliee had to go and ruin that. Diamond Tiara is now forced to team up with a certain white unicorn for her next homework assignment. On top of that, their homework is to talk to other ponies about their jobs!

And just why does the topic of cutiemarks always have to come up?

Published 2019-09-19 23:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-12-19 23:24:37 UTC

Animals and Songs

I was always set on the path for my cutiemark. Everypony would tell me how great I was with animals, or how wonderful I sounded when I sang.

Coloratura peaked around the schoolhouse corner. There was Rarity, sitting next to a bush and singing softly. The white filly was soothing a little white bird that was decorated with a few golden feathers and a golden beak. Coloratura waited and watched as Rarity sang a little lullaby to the shaking bird. As the song ended, Coloratura applauded. "That was so beautiful Rarity! Please tell me you are trying out for the musical."

The purple-haired filly jumped at the sound of her friend's voice. At the prospect of being in front of ponies, she violently shook her head. She barely managed to squeak out a response. "Oh no, I couldn't."

The mint filly pouted. "Why not? You are a lovely singer!"

Rarity never stopped shaking her head. "I-I... have stage fright."

Coloratura reached out to stop her friend's head from unscrewing itself. Once she stopped the shaking head, Coloratura pulled Rarity into a hug.

I, however, did not want to be a singer. The horror of being on stage with all eyes on me was too much for me to bear. My friends, upon realizing my paralyzing stage fright, would often push me towards my other apparent talent: animal care. The problem was, I did not want to be associated with the nature lovers in my class either.

"Hay Rares!" Sandalwood called. He waved his yellow hoof ever so slightly, that the only reason Rarity could tell he was actually waving was that his green treads were swinging back and forth. "Want to go on a nature walk with us?"

"It'll be totally awesome," Treehugger added, her green face solemn as always. Her head was swaying back and forth to a beat (sorry, vibe) only she could hear.

Rarity cringed the moment that nickname was spoken. She hated that name. "No thanks, guys." Rarity called back, "My mother wants me back by 3:15." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Maybe some other time," although she hardly meant it.

So instead I pursued designing. I would go up to the rock farm and purchase some of their gems with my own allowance, and I would attempt to sow them into costumes for the musicals.

"Rarity, Darling, that looks fabulous!" The yellow mare marveled over Rarity's design for Flower.

"Madam Play Wright?" Coloratura interrupted, tapping the drama teacher on the shoulder. "Is my dress supposed to do this?" She pointed to the gem-studded belt that was supposed to be around her waist. It was currently lying on the floor while the center of the belt was still attached to her dress at the center. Fruit was spilling out of her saddlebags if she moved even the tiniest bit.

Her glasses on the tip of her nose, Play Wright examined the outfit. "No, I don't believe it is." She turned to Rarity. "Darling, could you fix this, perhaps?"

The white filly nodded frantically and dashed backstage to grab her spare sewing kit. She returned in a jiffy and immediately started working on restoring Coloratura's outfit.

That was the fateful day when I realized sewing was not my true calling. The dresses eventually turned out fine, but they would never stay together. It would take two or three more adjustments before the outfit would work properly. I eventually gave up pursuing designing. It required more work than I could give.

It wasn't until a few days later when a large explosion scarred the entire animal population of Trottingham. There was a large, crowd of ferocious animals around the school house. Every pony hid under his or her desk. There was a grizzly bear outside the front door, wood peckers and hummingbirds knocking at the windows, and an alligator that had managed to get in the hallway. I was so scarred, I started humming a tune. I didn't notice how loud my humming was getting until the whole room was silent. The birds had stopped their assault on the window. The bear was no longer roaring. The alligator wasn't moving.

Everypony looked at me, amazed. I was so startled that I stopped humming. Almost immediately following mypause, the animals started up again. Mrs. Play Wright urged me to start humming again. She even started it with me. Soon the whole class was singing, and I was leading. It felt right.

Soon enough, all the animals left in peace back to their homes, and I was left with this special piece of blue fur on my flank.

"Wow...." Di murmured.

"Just like that?" Sweetie questioned, surprised. "Are all cutiemarks that sudden?"

Diamond Tiara thought back on her own experience in gaining her cutiemark. "Well, when you think about it, they just kind of 'pop' into existence."

Sweetie nodded her head slowly, not quite sure if she understood.

"Sweetie, dear, is there anypony else you look up to that you can watch in action?" Rarity asked, concerned. "I'm afraid I haven't been much help."

"You did fine." Diamond assured the earth pony, placing her foreleg on the mare's.

Sweetie rolled her eyes again. She wasn't about to admit it in front of her older sister, but the shy and quiet act really made her gag. "I don't suppose Dawn or Fleur are doing anything interesting today, are they?" Sweetie asked, specifically mentioning the two unicorns of Rarity's friends.

The mare stopped to think for a moment, going so far as to tap her chin with her hoof. "Yes, yes I believe they are. Dawn, if I remember correctly, is practicing party spells today, and Fleur, Fleur is probably still working on the parasols and other accessories she has to make for the upcoming Gala."

"That means Dawn's the closest, at Sugarcube Corner. Let's go, Di." Sweetie proclaimed.

Diamond followed behind the determined filly, giving Rarity a timid 'goodbye' wave over her shoulder. Then she trotted to keep up with her partner as they rushed onward to Sugarcube Corner.

Author's Note

So, I'm relatively sure this was supposed to take place before the gala....

Honestly, I forgot about this story for awhile.

Gadgets and Gizmos

Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle trotted along the path back into town. They kept their eyes out for other ponies who they could ask, or at least they pretended to. The first pony the duo passed was none other than the most meticulous of weather ponies: Twilight Swish. The purple mare easily held two jobs, librarian and weather pony, yet she still found time to annoy the fur off anypony susceptible to one of her random fact listings. The current victim of fact listing was none other than Feather Weight, a well-known crush of Scootaloo's. Diamond Tiara didn't give herself much time to think as she quickly apologized to Sweetie before running off in the direction of the two pegasi.

"—carrots, grass, daisies, petun-". Twilight rattled off to the colt in front of her.

"Hey, Twilight." Diamond interrupted, waving her hoof in greeting. As Twilight's attention turned, Feather took the chance to dash away, leaving behind but a cloud of dust.

"Oh, hi Diamond Tiara!" The friendly pony greeted. "How are you enjoying your book on cutiemarks by Strawberry Star?"

Diamond cringed at hearing that name. Star was the author of the book she currently had checked out, and it would be embarassing for anypony else, especially Sweetie, who was no more than a few paces behind Diamond, to know that she had that book out. The white filly might be able to deduce that Diamond didn't actually know what her talent meant. "Yeah, it's...good. Full of--knowledge." Di replied.

That was the moment Sweetie decided to canter up. She glared fiercely at Diamond before turning to Twilight. "Twilight, how'd you get your cutiemark?" When the filly saw the look her partner was giving her she added, "What? It's not like we're going to learn any less."

Diamond had no chance to respond because Twilight immediately launched into her story of her cutiemark: "My cutie mark? I got my cutiemark when I realized I could share flying wth my family. You see, my mom and dad are both unicorns, so they never could go on flys, nor could they come to any of my flying derbies."

One day, my parents took me to a Magnabolts convention. I overheard dad complaining about the Starswirl the Bearded show being closed, but my mom was apt to shush him.

"Hush now dear. Maybe this could be our chance to bond with Swish." Twilight Velvet explained, sliding over another flyer not unlike the one her husband held in his magical grasp. "The group exhibits different kinds of magics: including pegasi and unicorn!"

"I suppose you are right." Night Light sighed, putting down his own pamphlet and picking up the one his wife passed him. "Hot Air Balloons, huh, interesting."

I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear. They were just in the other room. I over heard them. Ahem.Anyways, the Magnabolts were amazing. They created these astounding inventions no one had even heard of before! My favorite was the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 2000, that was the second best cider I've ever had. I actually got to meet the creators of it.

"Well lookie what we got here, brothers of mine. It's the same in every town...." A tall, yellow, unicorn stallion started to a tune, speaking along with the beat of the cider machine. Another, almost identical, stallion joined him in other lines, with a third and fourth stallion joining on other verses, although these latter two were far from identical. The third stallion was a (decidedly fast) pegasus and the fourth was a solid hoofed earthpony.

"...Care to step into the modern world and put the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy to the test?" The heartsong came to an end as the pegasus stallion handed filly Twilight Swish a frothing cup of fresh apple cider. She looked to her mom and dad for permission. When she received two nods, she took a small sip to taste before a wide smile spread across her face and she swiftly drank the rest.

She turned toward her dad, and, despite his lack of interest in machines, asked him, "How can they make such good cider without getting their hooves dirty?"

Wait a second, you mean to tell me that there is a pair of unicorns who can make better cider than Mrs. Smith?

Well, that was a long time ago, way before I even knew of Ponyville, much less tasted the Apples's prized cider. I did know, however, that good food was that of earth pony work.

My curiosity got the best of me and somehow found my way into the inner workings of the '2000.' I got stuck, but failed to notice my predicament as I was aptly admiring the automobile. My parents later told me they had been searching the crowd frantically for half an hour before Flam found them and told them where I was. Flim's the one who found me though.

"You know, I'm pretty sure we could make this machine even faster." The clean-shaven unicorn said, glancing back at his brother as he made his way towards the Cider Squeezy.

"Don't forget the quality!" The mustached salespony replied. "If we sacrifice quality for quantity, we might end up sickening people. Remember 'Baked Bads'?"

The first brother shivered. "Let's not mention that again. I don't think I can stomach the thought of it." He turned toward the machine again. His horn lit up in a lime green color as he opened a side door so that he could begin fiddling with the many parts that made up the 'Cider Squeezy.' His eyes widened and he audibly gasped as he noticed something out of place. He turned around, calling out to his twin as he attempted to keep his voice even. "Flam, there's not supposed to be a purple pegasus filly in here, is there."

Flam looked up in surprise. "No, wh-....". He trailed off, surprised at the fact that there actually was a filly inside his family's machine. He lit up his horn to create a magic field around the tinkering filly. He pulled her out, setting her gently on the ground. Unfortunately, the moment the purple pegasus was on the ground, she took off towards the largest exhibit of the Magnabolts: the hot air balloon.

Flam sighed and looked at his brother. "You keep an eye on the filly, and I'll go find her parents." After receiving a nod of agreement, Flam trotted out of the hall and toward the 'Lost Foals' section.

Flim, on the other hoof, trotted toward the bright filly. She was actually flying in the balloon part of the machine.

"Little filly, will you please come down?" The tall unicorn asked. He wasn't as talented with his telekinesis as his brother was, and certainly not on a moving pony.

The foal looked downwards at the stallion, but did not seem to have any desire to comply.

"I'll show you how it works if you come down." He offered, having noticed certain parts the filly had had in her hooves earlier. That combined with her intense stare as she surveyed the balloon indicated that she was into mechanics. There was no cutiemark to confirm such an assumption, but it was better than nothing.

The filly looked downward once more. She seemed to want to come down, but she was hesitant. She gave the balloon one more quick fly around then floated down onto the yellow pony's back.

Flim had to twist his head around to look at the young pegasus, but that didn't stop him from explaining everything about the balloon to her. He was just finishing talking about the purpose of the balloon when an explosion of lightning and rainbow caused the balloons to rise into the sky. Flim, being ever so afraid of heights, did his part to grasp the side of the basket. Filly Twilight flew into the balloon area once more. She tinkered with the oil lamp until it slowly lowered it to the ground.

Just as the balloon landed, two very worried-looking parents came up to the contraption.

Flim turned around to face the pair as Twilight landed on his back once more. He cleared his face of fear and began to levitate the filly off his back. Chuckling, he asked, "This is your child, I presume?"

Twilight Velvet and Night Light nodded in tandem, both sighing in relief.

"Thank you very much for watching her while your brother fetched us." The mare said, expressing her gratitude.

"We're so sorry. I hope she didn't break anything."

Chuckling once more, Flim replied, "No she didn't. But she may have just fixed something." He glanced over at the balloon. "And if that's the case, you little filly here is quite the genius."

"In fact," Flam stood next to his brother. "I'd say she got a knack for it." He pointed to pegasus' previously blank flank, where there was now a trio of six-toothed gears.

Twilight Swish looked at her flank and began jumping on her father's back in joy. "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!"

"And that's the story of how I got free cider for a year." Full-grown Twilight finished, licking her lips. "Sometime I should tell you about my cutiemark."

"Ummmm..." Diamond Tiara stammered, not catching the twinkle in the pegasus' eye.

Sweetie Belle caught sight of Rainbow Zap walking down Mane Street, and took advantage of the situation. "Thanks so much, Twilight, but we really should continue! We're going to go speak with Rainbow Zap now, bye!" At this point, Sweetie was already pushing her puzzled project partner down the street towards the blue mare.

"That was close." Sweetie murmured when they were far enough away.

Diamond did not reply, her brain zooming at a thousand miles an hour trying to comprehend what the purple pegasus said. There was something that seemed to be connected between the two cutiemark stories. Then there was that odd part of her brain noting the way the pink, white, and indigo gears somehow went together with her purple coat. A cloud of white blurred in Diamond's vision, but she didn't acknowledge it. She was too busy focusing on the stories. Suddenly a shout brought her back to reality.

"DI!"

"What?!"

"You were in a daze. Now hurry! If we're fast enough, we might be able to catch Rainbow Zap." The pink-and-purple-haired unicorn raced off in the direction where she had last seen the multi-hued earth pony.

The other unicorn filly shook her head as she galloped to catch up with the first. "Rainbow Zap? Isn't she Applebloom's sister?"

Fierce emeralds glared into Dimond's scared eyes. "Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"N-no. Not at all."

"Good. Now let's go! We're almost to the apple farm."

Sweetie put on more speed as if she were desperate to see another pony. Diamond had a hard time keeping up, and a part of her wondered if Sweetie was running away from her instead of just towards Rainbow Zap. Whatever the case, if she really wished to see somepony else, she might as well considered her wish granted, for in their path now stood two filly pegasi. One was orange with fashionably ragged magenta hair, the other was grey with ponytailed silver hair.

Diamond only managed to see a glimpse of orange before coming to screeching stop at the hooves of the pegasi. She backed up as she shook her head of dirt. She lifted her head, made eye contact with the orange filly, and regretted it immediately. She was greeted with a menacing smile and a condescending voice.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

Rainbows and Apples

"Just where do you think you're going?"

The words hung in the air for a while without answer.

The orange pegasus rolled her eyes before speaking again. "What, are you deaf? I asked you a question. Where. Are. You. Going?"

Sweetie, having gained her composure, glanced sideways at the filly. "Since when do the acts of the unicorn concern the pegasus?" Having once been more than mere acquaintances with Scootaloo, the white filly knew how to press the pegasus's buttons.

Scootaloo growled as Silver Spoon promptly flipped her hair and retorted, "Since you started hanging around with that unicorn. She thinks she's better than all of us. Are you starting to think you're better than us too?"

Sweetie rolled her eyes. "Just because I like to get started on my projects as soon as possible does not mean I'm better than anypony else. To think so would be absurd, indicating that one believes herself to be below others for not getting a head start on school assignments."

Silver Spoon was left speechless. She quickly shut her mouth (which was left agape) and glanced at Scootaloo with a look that said 'I have no comeback'. The orange pegasus hurumphed before making to take off. As she hovered a hoof off the ground, she countered "Yeah? Well you're a walking talking dictionary."

"I personally prefer 'walking talking thesaurus'." The white unicorn answered, giving Diamond Tiara a 'watch and learn'/'see?' type look.

The agitated pegasus blasted through the tree tops in a blur of orange and magenta lightning. The silver companion made her way after the blur, comparatively slow in pace, but still swift for a filly pegasus. All the while she gave the two unicorns an evil-looking glare.

Once the two pegasi were gone, Diamond looked at her assignment partner in awe. "How'd you-"

"Don't mention it." What normally would have been a phrase spoken in a friendly tone, was said with such ferocity that the other unicorn flinched.

"O-Okay."

The duo then trotted on towards Sweet Apple Acres. Sweetie Belle was the first of the two to spot their next target bucking apples in the orchard. "There she is. Hey! Rainbow Zap!" The white filly waved her hoof, trying to get the Element of Generosity's attention.

The mare in question turned towards the voice, and upon spotting the source, trotted merrily towards the fillies. "What can I do ya for?" She asked, tipping her hat.

"We were wondering if you could show us your work," Diamond Tiara asked timidly.

"Or tell us about your cutiemark." Sweetie Belle piped up.

"Well, I'm sure you've seen me work. I'm out in the orchards all the time. Just bucking apples away." The mare replied.

Di's eyes wandered across the orchard. The bright red apples, deep green leaves, and sturdy brown trees blended together into such a beautiful scene and accented Rainbow Zap's color palette.

"So that's why your cutiemark is an apple. But why is it rainbow-colored?" The white filly asked, nudging her partner back into the world of the living.

"Well that's quite the story. Apple Jet actually had something to do with it..."

While AJ was away at flight school, Granny asked Aunt and Uncle Orange to stay over. They brought along Orange Juice, my cousin, so I still had somepony to play with while Granny and Mac worked in the fields. Applebloom was still a foal at that time, mind you. One day, OJ and I decided to go out into the orchards to play hide and seek.

"Alright, you go hide, and I'll count to twenty!" OJ proclaimed, bouncing on his hooves.

"I bet you won't be able to find me!" Zap retorted, pawing at the ground as she readied herself to race off.

OJ sat down and covered his eyes, "One, two..."

And just like that, a cloud of dust replaced the young blue filly. She took off for the west fields, where the foliage was the thickest. Rainbow Zap skidded to a stop in the middle of the field as she looked for the best place to hide. She began to climb a tree when a bolt of lightning shot across the sky. Barely a second later, a sonic boom echoed through the air, accompanied by a large gust of wind. The combination of noise and force knocked the filly back to the ground. And she sat up, she found herself surrounded by tons of apple leaves. Zap looked upwards into the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the lightning bolt again. Instead, a blast of pink, purple, and blue exploded across the sky. Sparkles of blue fell like rain onto the trees and, the moment they touched, the leaves sprouted faster than they had left. The leaves were not alone, however, where the apples would eventually grow were odd, star-shaped flowers.

My earthpony instincts tugged at me. I sat up and reached to touch the tree. Electric currents rushed through my veins, but I wasn't electrocuted. I felt connected, as if I was one with the tree. And that's when it happened.

The clouds of pink and purple rolled away and the flowers zapped into Zap Apples. The blue filly turned around and bucked the tree in front of her. Zap Apples came raining down, but miraculously, they all landed in her saddlebags. Rainbow's eyes locked on the farmhouse in the distance. She galloped back to the homestead, almost as if she had been called, the game of hide and seek completely forgotten to her.

Once inside, she began to make the Zap Apples into several different recipes; Zap Apple Juice, Zap Apple Sauce, Zap Apple Pie, and Zap Apple Cider, just to name a few. Over an hour passed by the time the side door slammed opened. Rainbow was jolted out of her whirlwind of opportunity. She turned to the door to see her cousin standing there, fuming and covered in mud and muck.

"Zap! You're not supposed to hide in the house!" The orange colt complained.

"Juice! I'm so sorry!" The blue filly apologized. "I got lost in the orchard and then the trees grew with amazing speed and I found these apples," She held up one of the rainbow-colored apples for her cousin to see.

Orange Juice sniffed the air. "What are you making?"

"Cake, caramel, cider, cobble, crumble, dumplings, fritter, honey, juice, pie, sauce, strudel, tart, and jam."

"No kidding." OJ licked his lips. "Any of it done yet?"

"Juice is, the pie is almost done." Rainbow chuckled to herself as she handed over a glass of Zap Apple Juice. "That's funny. Juice is ready for my cousin Juice."

Both young earth ponies giggled together at that point.

Later, as the two cousins sat at the kitchen table with all the zap apple sweets, Orange Juice noticed something. "Hey, Zap?"

"Yeah, Juice?" The rainbow-named filly answered, sipping some cider.

"You didn't have a cutie mark when I got here, right?"

"No, of course not. What did you think it disappeared?" A few beats passed between the two as they looked at each other. Orange Juice made a point of looking at his cousin's rump. Rainbow slowly tilted her head down to see what he was looking at. There, in the spot where she had been hit with many apples but had always cleaned it out to find it was still just a lump of blue fur, was a zap apple. She rubbed at the picture as if to make sure it was real. It didn't budge. "I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!"

"So, what exactly did your sister have to do with that?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Sounds more like your cousin helped you out."

"Remember that lightning bolt?" The fully grown earth pony mare asked.

"The one that made the zap apples grow?" Diamond guessed.

"Yeah, that was AJ's doing."

"Like that?" Sweetie pointed upwards with her hoof, where a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.

"Exactly like that. That's her now."

The lightning bolt did a loop-de-loop.

Sweetie looked at Diamond.

Diamond looked at Sweetie.

An air of silence passed between the two before Diamond gave in. "I guess we should go ask her?"

"Definitely." The white filly responded before taking off with her fellow unicorn.

Rainbow Zap chuckled at the fillies before returning to her apple-bucking.

Apples and Storm Clouds

Sweetie galloped as fast as her legs could take her, following the streak of lightning in the sky. Despite the amount of yelling from Diamond Tiara asking Sweetie Belle to slow down, Sweetie kept up her pace. The streak was starting to dissipate and she really wanted to catch Apple Jet before she took off again. The lightning landed behind the barn. Sweetie skidded to a stop as she rounded the corner, as they were greeted by yet another pony in the Apple family...one that was significantly smaller than the pony they sought.

"Howdy!" The pony who greeted them was small in size with a yellow coat and a red mane. Next to her was a similar, but lighter, colored pony with a frizzy mane and large purple glasses. Both of the fillies were earth ponies. "Are you two crusadin' for your cutie marks?"

"Applebloom," the frizzy-haired filly hissed, "She already hath her cutie mark." She pointed to the pink filly. Diamond, on having attention drawn to her flank, nervously covered her cutiemark up with her tail.

"Ah shucks. I guess not. I was gonna invite ya to come with us. Neither of us have cutiemarks yet, so we're goin' adventurin' to see what our special talents are." The farm filly shrugged. She tapped her chin after a moment. "Although, Ah suppose ya'll could come too, if ya want. The more the merrier!"

Diamond Tiara shrunk further back at that comment. She really hated all this talk about cutiemarks. As she avoided the gazes of the other fillies her age, she spotted Apple Jet just a little further along. She quickly went from a still position to a moving one to catch up to the mare. Unfortunately, the pegasus took off again in a bolt of lightning before Diamond could reach her. She slid to a stop and landed on her rump as she gazed up into the sky. At least it looked pretty. The red apples, green trees, and the orange and yellow lightning looked like it came straight out of a painting. She faintly registered the sound of hoofbeats as Sweetie and the other fillies trotted closer.

Sweetie sighed. "That mare is going to be really hard to catch."

"Jus' why are ya tryin' to catch her?" Applebloom asked.

"We're getting a head start on our project for school. We're going around asking my sister and her friends how they got--"

"How they do their work." Diamond cut in, not willing to let that subject return again.

"That'th interething." The glasses-wearing filly answered. Diamond hadn't caught her name.

"Well, we'll leave ya too it. I heard AJ sayin' she was goin' try to do another Lightning Jet." The country filly supplied, "Pretty sure she's been flyin' back and forth between here and Dawn's place for a while."

"Thanks." Sweetie answered as she turned to go. "Bye." She waved over her shoulder, trotting in the direction of Sugar Cube Corner. Diamond Tiara followed her fellow unicorn in a trot after waving half-heartedly at the earth pony fillies.

"Why are we heading to Sugar Cube Corner?" Diamond asked. She was kinda glad to leave the conversation, but she was still perplexed why Sweetie Belle had done it. "Surely Miss Apple Jet will be back at the farm soon."

"Two birds with one stone, or ponies, as it were." Sweetie answered simply.

Diamond wanted to ask more questions, but social anxiety won out.

By the time the two unicorns reached the run-down sweets building, AJ had already flown across overhead three times. Diamond was still wondering why they didn't just stay at Sweet Apple Acres since the orange pegasus was bound to return there. Perhaps it was just two birds with one stone. After all, Miss Pie was restoring the old bakery, and was living in the upper room. Maybe that was also the reason Miss Apple Jet was flying specifically to Sugar Cube Corner.

"Hey! Miss Apple Jet!" Sweetie called out as the blonde pegasus landed. She was on the steps of the gingerbread-bakery ready to take off again, but, thank Celestia, she seemed to have heard Sweetie's call. She stopped and turned towards the fillies.

Catching the gaze of Sweetie, AJ smiled. "Howdy! What are you girls up to?" She asked as she trotted towards them.

"We're working on a school project. And we were wondering if we could watch you work." Sweetie Belle answered.
Glancing up at the cloudless sky, she added: "Or, if you've already finished, tell us how you got your cutiemark."

AJ followed Sweetie Belle's gaze to the sky and smirked. "Yeah, I suppose I could tell you about my cutiemark..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It all happened during the race at Flight Camp where I stood alone against all odds to defend Candy Apple's honor.

Four pegasi stood on a cloud facing each other. The filly with a chocolate mane was trembling just the slightest bit, and had finally taken her hooves away from her face.

"How dare you!" Filly Apple Jet yelled. "Just because Candy Apple isn't as good as me, doesn't mean you can pick on her!"

The two colts laughed. "You and your funny accent think you're better than us? Alright then. I challenge you to a race!"

"You're on! First one around the track wins. Loser has to shut up. Candy you can wave the flag."

"Oh... okay." Candy mumbled.

They dashed over to the race track, accumulating a crowd of fillies, colts, and a unicorn who were all excited to witness the race against the meanest colts on campus. Candy fluttered over to a cloud that was separate from the others, carrying the checkered flag she had been given. She raised the flag above her head and began to count down.

3... The three foals crouched behind the starting line.
2... "I hope you're ready to be silent forever, Ap-dull-Jet." "Yeah, better go crying back to your earthpony mom now, Apple-sweat."
1... "Ya'll need to come up with better nicknames."

Down the checkered flag went, and off went the contestants. Twisting and turning through the air, Apple Jet flapped her small wings as fast as she could, dodging out of the way of the bullies. They were definitely cheating and trying to run her into a cloud bank. She did a double roll underneath of them and shot ahead. The wind was in her mane and face, pushing back hard against her. Not wanting her to go any faster. But she didn't care what the wind thought. She didn't care what anypony thought. She pushed harder, squeezing herself closer together for less drag against the air.

I've never flown like that before! That freedom was unlike anything I've ever felt! The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in my mane... I liked it... a lot!

Out of the open blue sky, Apple Jet saw a blur of brown followed closely by black and white. It was Candy Apple! She had been knocked off of her cloud and gotten her wings tangled in the flag. AJ didn't give herself a chance to think twice before modifying her angle from parallel to the ground to basically perpendicular. She headed straight for Candy, but it seemed the young pegasus was falling faster than AJ could fly. She pushed herself to the limit, pushing harder against the wind until she finally felt it give. Candy was almost within reach. She needed to go faster, but how could she? Suddenly, the wind seemed to be at her back, pushing her forward in just enough time.

Apple Jet grabbed Candy's hoof and pulled a 180. She raced towards the finish line, holding tightly onto her friend. The wind seemed to work with her, pushing her faster towards the clouds. The plowed into the cloud bank that doubled as a finish line, rolling head over hoofs. When they finally came to a stop, Apple Jet lifted Candy Apple up so she could look her in the eyes. "Are you okay, Candy?"

Candy blinked. Then she wrestled the flag off of her back and launched herself onto Apple Jet. "You saved me! Thank you!"

Turns out the only thing I liked more than flying fast... was helping my friends.

The two colts landed beside the fillies, obviously having lost the race, despite Apple Jet's detour.

"What was that?" One of them asked.

"What was what?" Apple Jet snarled. It was their fault Candy had fallen.

"That streak of yellow! It looked like... like..."

"Like lightning!" The other chimed in. "And sounded like it too!"

It turned out, when I dove down to save Candy Apple, I had broken the sound barrier. Most people thought that the sonic blast was just an old mare's tale. But that day... The day I discovered racing... I proved that the legends were true. I made the impossible happen!

"Yes! Like lightning!" The first one added, "Like the lightning on your flank."

"Wait. I thought you didn't have a cutiemark yet."

~~~~~~~~~~
"And that, little ones, is how you earn a cutie mark."

"Wow," Sweetie Belle marveled. "That's Amazing."

"I like to think I have the best cutiemark story there is. And you know, with that big blast of lightning, I helped my sister get her cutiemark that day too-"

BAM!

The top half of the front door to Sugar Cube Corner burst open before promptly falling off of its hinges and onto the ground. A bright pink mop of hair stuck itself out the door and apologized. "Sorry about that, I guess that's another thing to add to the list. Gummy!" She yelled back into the house before turning back to the ponies outside who were all trying to recover from the shock of the initial loud noise. "But, did you say 'big blast of lightning'? When was that?

Apple Jet tapped her chin with her hoof. "The day I got my cutiemark... Well that was about 10 years ago as of last week."

"No Cheesing Way." Dawn pushed open the bottom half of the door, significantly more gently than the top half. "10 years ago last week, I also got my cutiemark. And there was this blast of lightning that shot through the sky at the same time..."

Author's Note

School. School, school, school. I accidentally took 18 credit hours this semester....and I'm about to do it again! No promises the next chapter will come out soon. But I will promise that this book isn't abandoned.

Cutiemarks and Assignments

Diamond Tiara was your average filly. However, she had some notable exceptional aspects. For one, she was the first in her class to earn her cutiemark: a trio of diamonds. She was also the only unicorn in a family of earth ponies. A rich, influentialfamily. In fact, her father was actually running for mayor next year.

One might think a pony of that standing would be snooty, stuck up, or at least proud of her family. Ms. Tiara, however, was a shy, timid pony in the classroom. Mrs. Cherilee recalled the one day, at the beginning of the year, when Diamond Tiara was a chatterbox. It was the day the pink fully earned her cutiemark. She was even talking to the pegasus Silver Spoon, somepony most of the fillies avoided. The next day, the unicorn was as quiet as can be. Cherilee never managed to find out why the filly was so quiet, but she guessed it had something to do with the gray pegasus.

Mrs. Cherilee hoped today's assignment would help Diamond and the other shy colts and fillies in her classes.

"Today, we're going to learn about putting your skills to use!" The magenta mare proclaimed as cheerily as her name. "As you know, each and every pony has a special talent which is displayed by their cutie mark." A couple of quiet groans were made at the mention of something they had not acquired yet. Their teacher ignored them. "But a special talent is not something that comes with your cutiemark. It is something you already possess but have yet to discover. Furthermore, while your special talent is what you excel at, it is not something you are instantly good at. You might be better than the average pony, but your special talent is something you need to work hard at, striving towards being the best at what you do.

"There are others who have the same talent as you, but might look like they have it all figured out. Don't be discouraged, they have worked at their special talent longer than you have, so they have more practice. If you practice your special talent yourself, you'll eventually be just as good as them, if not better! That's why, for this week's assignment, I want you to partner up in groups of two. You don't need to have the same special talent, but that might help. Your assignment is to find ponies in Ponyville who have a similar special talent, or who you look up to. Find out what it is they do that makes them good at their job. You and your partner are to give a presentation to the class on your findings on Friday.

"I also have a list of ponies who have agreed to take on an intern or two for more in-depth study, if this sounds like something you want to do more with."

The bell rang, and most of the fillies and colts began to get out of their chairs.

"Have a good week my little ponies!" Cherilee called over the rising conversations.

"Working in pairs?" A pink unicorn filly muttered, watching as all the other fillies and colts paired up. AppleBloom partnered with Twist (those two were inseparable), Silver Spoon with Scootaloo, and Snips with Snails. By the time Diamond Tiara managed to get out of her seat, there was only one filly, besides herself, without a partner. Di didn't know this filly all that well. While Diamond sat at the back of the class, this filly was at the front. Mustering up as much courage as she could, Diamond approached the snow-white filly.

"H-hi." The pink pony greeted. "I'm, uh, Diamond Tiara." She pushed a loose piece of purple and white hair behind her ear. "Would you, um, like to be, uh, my partner?"

The filly stared at her like she had grown a second head. "I know who you are."

Diamond shrank back, unsure of how to respond.

"There really is no pony else left to partner up with anyways." The filly shook her head. "Fine. This shouldn't be too hard. My name is Sweetie Belle. Do you have to be anywhere after school?"

Diamond shook her head.

"Great, let's get a head start then. Come on."

"Well, who should we visit first?" Sweetie Belle asked as the duo trotted through Ponyville.

Diamond Tiara shrugged, not daring to answer in fear of rejection.

Sweetie Belle gave her fellow unicorn an odd look. This couldn't possibly be the same pony who had taunted her at the beginning of the year. "Well, we could visit my sister. I mean, I look up to her, she is my older sister after all, even if she is a little different."

"Different?" Diamond couldn't help but ask. She immediately covered her mouth with her hoof in regret.

Sweetie didn't notice. "Yeah, my mother, father, and I are all unicorns. However, my sister was born an earth pony and nopony knows why."

"Oh." That sounded a lot like her own situation, Diamond thought. Only difference was that she was born a unicorn to a family of earth ponies. Pure blood earth ponies.

"So, I guess we should turn here then." They were at the one road that went straight from one side of the town to the other. Being one of the shyest ponies in town, Rarity tended to stay out of town in a little cottage in the woods. Sweetie Belle knew that her sister wasn't fond of the woods, but, in her sister's words, 'at least they didn't silently judge her'.

"I guess so."

It didn't take long before they reached the cottage. It wasn't anything like the typical Ponyville house. The main color was a bluish-white instead of the traditional beige, and the trimmings were mauve, a lighter purple than the traditional palatinate. The roof itself seemed to be composed of a combination of ribbons and hay, like the bird nests made during winter wrap-up.

While Sweetie went up to the door to knock, Diamond stayed behind on the bridge just outside, admiring the way the colors of nature blended to create such beauty. She loved how seeing how everything fit together. She wished she was an earth pony. Then maybe she could put together something as beautiful as this.

"Di!" Sweetie called from the house, waving her forehoof to help get the pink filly's attention. "Come on!"

Diamond snapped out of her daydreaming and galloped toward the door. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, head down.

"Nothing to be sorry about, dear." A quiet, regal-like voice spoke. Out from behind a couch rose a full-grown mare. She was snow-white like Sweetie Belle, but her mane style and hair color differed. It was a deep purple and had only a slight curl to it. "It's always a good idea to stop and smell the roses....or take in the beauty of nature."

The pink unicorn looked up into the blue eyes of the older earth pony. "Hello." She managed to say, although it was considerably quiet. With the shyest mare in Ponyville, however, it was the perfect volume.

"Hello. I'm Rarity, Sweetie's sister." She greeted.

"I'm Diamond Tiara."

Sweetie tried not to roll her eyes at the shy ponies' interaction. She didn't succeed. "Hey, sis. We got a school assignment for this week today. We're supposed to find out how ponies we look up to do their job."

"Well I'm flattered, but I'm not sure how I can show you my job. The next animal event is the petting zoo, and that's not 'til next week."

"Maybe you could tell us how you got your cutiemark?" Sweetie asked, pointing to the blue butterfly-note on her sister's flank/

"Well I suppose so, if you both want to hear it. But I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times already."

"Actually...." Sweetie Belle sighed. "I haven't." She prayed she wouldn't regret this decision.

"Oh? I can't believe I've never told you!"

Author's Note

Well, It's not Saturday, but I was gone all last weekend and then school and... well... I just wanted to get this out to you guys.:heart: