Author's Note

Winner of the July 2024 Flashfic 150 competition!

July 2024: "Seashore" (AWARD WINNER)

She Sells Seashells

“Mother?”

Cookie Crumbles was laying back in her beach chair, where she’d been watching her little Sweetie Belle pushing clumps of sand together into misshapen mounds. Slowly, she rolled onto her side to find her other daughter awaiting her attention.

“Yes, Rarity?”

Grinning, the eight-year-old held out her cupped hands, revealing a rather astonishing number of small seashells – cockles, conic structures, and others she couldn’t recognize. “I’m going to make necklaces!”

“I see.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Rarity chirped. “I washed them off in the ocean before bringing them here.”

Cookie winced. “Just, um…” She reached over and picked up a toy bucket Sweetie wasn’t using. “Put them in here, please.”

Rarity nodded, and the shells dropped into the bucket with a clatter. “They’re going to be wonderful,” she mused.

“I’m sure they will, dear.”

After a moment, Rarity’s expression changed. “What do you think people will pay for them?”