Thirty Minute Pony Stories
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alexanderkrizak I Was A Dragon Once... -
babysealburritos Conversations with Kaitlyn -
bombasticbookman The Bombastic Bookman -
donnys-boy Pony Shipping with Donny's Boy -
kyronea Kyronea's Randomness -
norsepony NorsePony's Mead Hall -
obselescence Planned Obselescence -
professorpiggy A Study in Nonsense -
rwlart RWL's Daily Art -
theobscurereference Weird crushes on Pokemon: the blog
Six mares. Fifteen combinations. Infinite possibilities.
Rainbow strutted around in the black flight suit that clung to her lithe body, and Rarity’s eyes followed every twist and turn of the smooth, nearly glistening fabric as Rainbow tested it with every stretch of her limbs.
“Damn, Rarity. This feels awesome.”
Rarity gave Rainbow a kiss and slid a hoof against Rainbow’s chest, feeling her handiwork, before grabbing the zipper.
Rainbow grinned. “What’re you doing?”
Rarity snorted. “Taking it off.”
* * * * * *
Fallen apples litter the orchard, and Applejack stands at Fluttershy’s side instead of walking down the rows of trees picking up every last one, and they watch as an army of rabbits, squirrels, and birds clean the apples hungrily.
“I told you they could do it,” Fluttershy said, smiling as she leaned against Applejack.
Applejack grinned at her. “Wonder what we could do to pass the time instead.”
Fluttershy squirmed and spread her wings as Applejack’s lips met hers.
* * * * * *
Pinkie Pie stares into the room in silence, looking at all of her friends, the party hats, the cake, the confetti, the presents.
“You… you surprised me,” she finally said.
Twilight just smiled even wider as she walked up and gave Pinkie a kiss.
“I told you I was studying Pinkie sense for a reason.”
What do I think about my friends? Truly? Are you sure you wish to know?
That is why you came to see me, Miss Rarity, so you could talk about—
Yes, yes, of course. Just… just give me a moment.
Whenever you’re ready.
All right… all right. What do I think about my friends? Hmm…
Fluttershy is the most darling mare I’ve ever known. She is absolutely gorgeous, with the softest hair and primary feathers you’ll ever see on a pegasus! She’s always there for me, whenever I need a shoulder to cry on or a partner to visit the spa with. She and I go weekly, you see, every Thursday. It’s very… intimate. Every time I’m there with her, my heart won’t stop racing. If it weren’t for the spa treatments, why, I think my lips might dry out! She also… oh my heavens I can barely speak the words…
She… makes the most delightful little noises whenever she’s being massaged! Sometimes I want to be the cause of those noises, to feel her under my hooves, to take away her aches and pains and give back to her at least a tenth of what she gives me each and every day!
Carousel Boutique was empty save for a single table with a lit candle on top of it. Sitting at the table was a butter yellow pegasus. She had a martini glass full of a neon green liquid in front of her and a calm smile was on her face. A pair of spot lights turned on revealing a baby grand piano. At the piano’s keys was a pink earth pony mare with a poofy mane and tail. She had a bowler hat over her head that barely contained her wild mane. On top of the piano was a white unicorn mare wearing a sparkling red cocktail dress. The pink pony pressed a few keys on the piano causing the unicorn to smile.
“Somebody loves me, I wonder who,” she sang. “I wonder who she can be? Somebody needs me, I wish that I knew. Who she can be worries me.” The unicorn slid off the piano. She slowly approached the pegasus while the pink pony continued playing. The pegasus blushed as their performance continued.
“Every girl who passes by,” the pink pony sang. “I shout, ‘Hey, maybe you were meant to be my lovin’ baby.”
“Somebody loves me,” they sang together. “I wonder who.” The unicorn placed a hoof under the pegasus’ chin. “Maybe it’s you.” The unicorn held the final note as the last of the piano’s keys were played. Both the pink pony and unicorn had doting smiles on their faces.
“Happy Birthday, Fluttershy,” the unicorn said. “We love you.”
The rays of sunlight slipping through the blinds brightened the tastefully-decorated room just enough for Pinkie to see. And what she saw took her breath away. Of course, it always took her breath away, but she wasn’t going to let that little fact stand in the way of her appreciation for her bedmate. Just looking at her made Pinkie shiver even though she wasn’t cold, seeing as how she was under the covers.
Rarity laid asleep, her well-endowed and curvy body laying elegantly in a gentle arc, a delicate silken sleeping mask firmly affixed to her face. The duvet covers were tucked in tight to the mare’s body, with only the tips of her forehooves peaking out. As Pinkie watched, a small smile flittered across Rarity’s lips like one of Fluttershy’s songbirds but twice as beautiful.
Oh how Pinkie wanted to kiss those lips! She wanted it more than anything else in the world, more than sweets, more than sugar, more than laughter itself! She allowed herself a little frowny-frown at the thought.
Sure, it was nice and all, getting to cuddle up with Rarity every other weekend. But ever since the unicorn had moved out to Canterlot, to “pursue her destiny in high society and high fashion!” as Rarity had put it, Pinkie had been absolutely miser-able, with an extra heaping of misery!
The part was going along smoothly, as always. Rarity watched with a small smile set in place as the entire town danced and talked and laughed and smiled and lived freely. For the first time in years, Ponyville had come ahead in the unofficial race to wrap up winter, finishing easily before teatime. And so, of course, this warranted a joyful, boisterous party, much like the joyful, boisterous pony she couldn’t stop watching. And as much as she was enjoying the party, Rarity couldn’t seem to quite leave the relative safety of the punch bowl. She sipped at her cup if only to keep her mind off of what she knew would happen tonight. the steady, low burn of vodka sat easy in her throat and slowly smoothed away the worst edge on her sharp and abrasive worries.
It had been a strange winter, to say the least. In late November, when the orders had finally slowed down at the Boutique, Rarity had found herself drawn, as if by a magnet, to Sugarcube corner on a nearly daily basis. Soon enough, the Cakes didn’t give it a second thought if she was in the kitchen, helping Pinkie decorate custom cupcakes or providing taste-tests on various recipes for fudge. And slowly, inexplicably, Pinkie began spending more time at the Boutique as well, respooling ribbons or having tea or wine and chatting about the ponies around town. And in mid-December, after nearly four weeks of pussy-hoofing around the issue, one of the most fulfilling, delightful relationships Rarity had ever been in had started with a simple question over hot chocolate.
Rarity always loved the feeling that came immediately after a day at the spa. She felt rejuvenated, she felt refreshed, but most importantly she felt happy to have spent the entire day with one of the most important ponies in her life, Fluttershy. Of course Rarity was not like most ponies, as she was fortunate enough to have so many ponies in her life that were special to her, specifically five mares in general came to her mind. Despite their numerous differences, Rarity had found a true, deep connection with each of them, and to her maintaining that connection was her most important priority.
Even if it came at the cost of burying any other feelings she may have for any one of them.
“I must say I just simply don’t know how Aloe and Lotus do it, their hooves are like magic,” she said to Fluttershy in an attempt to keep up a conversation to distract her from her thoughts.
However, Fluttershy seemed just as preoccupied as Rarity.
“Fluttershy, dear?” She asked.
“OH, I’m so sorry Rarity I had my mind on something, what was it you were asking?” Said the pegasus as they approached Carousel Boutique, and Rarity opened the front door with her magic.
“Oh it’s quite alright dear, what I was saying was…” Rarity continued, before she immediately stopped, realizing what stood before her.
Or rather who stood before her.
It was as natural as breathing, and that was the problem.
It was love at first sight, in a sense — not the right sense, but even so. From the day Twilight Sparkle arrived in Ponyville, we all looked at each other with respect, and trust, and friendship deeper than I had ever known.
I don’t think any of us noticed when the form of that love changed.
Were Applejack and I already in love, the day of that unplanned sleepover amid the storm? My feelings for her that night were a maelstrom. If you had asked me, I would have said it was absurd that I could feel affection for such a boorish pony … but I don’t know if that would have been true, even then.
Or when Fluttershy briefly became the darling of the modelling industry? I should have hated her, that beautiful, beautiful mare, for taking my success from me. Certainly I envied her, but hated? I was so happy for her. Could that warmth have come from anything but love?
RWL’s Commentary
Heh, it’s funny to see Rarity racing around town to each of them like this, and I felt sorry for her as she got more and more tired. The way they all fought over her in their confusion was funny, and I was glad for how it turned out when she finally told them what was going on. And then the extra twist at the end was wonderful. Great stuff!
Timbers groaned as the deck listed below her. Rarity had never heard of a kraken before this day. As the thick, slimy tentacle that was wrapped around her midsection waved her through the air, she was quite certain she never wanted to hear of one again.
“Keep it away from the mast!” hollered Twilight, firing off hot bolts of raw magic at the encroaching tentacles. Rainbow Dash whizzed through the air, diving at whatever looked like an opportune target, while Applejack wrestled with a slimy tendril as big around as she was.
“Wheeeee!” Pinkie cheered as she rode one of the tentacles across the sky.
Rarity struggled against her captor, but its grip was too tight to squirm free. She blew a strand of seawater-soaked mane out of her face. “I have a confession to make,” she announced.
Applejack grunted as she kicked at the appendage. “Maybe this ain’t the most opportune time, sugarcube.”
Twilight leaped over a toppled pile of crates and blasted away at another tentacle. “Fluttershy,” she called, “any luck?”
Fluttershy hovered in midair over the deck. “I keep asking it to stop,” she cried, “but it just won’t listen!”
And so I lay my heart bare before you. I give it to you, to all of you, if you would have it. And if any among you would give me yours, then know that I would always treasure it as even more precious than my own.
But I’ve been talking around myself, haven’t I? In all this, I haven’t really said what I meant to say.
So I will stall no longer. You deserve to hear it.
I love you. I love you all.
The prompt: Rarity tells her friends that she’s in love with them. All of them.
This is a thirty minute prompt, which means you have a thirty minute time limit in which to write your story. (The thirty minute limit includes writing time only and does not include pre-writing thinking or planning.) The submission box will be open for six hours and will close at 7:30pm Pacific, 10:30pm Eastern, and 2:30am GMT.
Also, if you don’t happen to have a Tumblr account, please submit via e-mail to thirtyminuteponies@gmail.com. (Tumblr will let you submit without an account, but that system is very buggy and tends to eat submissions instead of giving them to us.)
A cold, late autumn wind blew across Rarity’s coat as she stood facing away from the rising sun. She shivered and tugged her scarf tighter around herself. She was at the very edge of Ponyville. Where she stood now was still home, still safe and comfortable. A step ahead of her was the world, waiting to swallow her up into its endless expanses.
A scrap of paper hung in her magic grip, glowing a cool blue against the dawn’s warm yellow rays. It was what Pinkie had left her with. She had dropped Gummy off at Fluttershy’s cottage. Left a sack of bits on Applejack’s doorstep that the farm mare had forgotten she was even owed. Returned all her books to the library, and left all her pranking things in a pile beneath Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. But at Carousel Boutique, Pinkie had only slipped a mouthwritten note under the door.
‘I’m sorry. Goodbye.’
Rarity took a deep breath and folded the note, tucking it into a pocket in her saddlebags. She was dismally underprepared for a journey. Rations for a few days travel, only the most utilitarian of clothing—by anypony’s standards, even, not just her own definition of necessary attire—and a few bits in case of expenses. The Boutique was locked up with a sign indicating it would be closed for an unknown amount of time. Fluttershy would take care of Opal.
Up. ”Chimmycherry?” Down. ”Cherrychanga?” Up. ”Chimmycherry?” Down. ”Cherrychanga?”
Up. “I am going to kill Rainbow Dash.” Down. “I am going to kill Rainbow Dash.” Up. “I am going to kill Rainbow Dash.” Down. “I am going to kill Rainbow Dash.”
A lone hoofcar made its way along the rails of the wide open desert, its journey from Dodge Junction to Ponyville having carried well into the night. As far as Rarity was concerned, it was a night that simply would not end; she had been listening to Pinkie Pie’s endless looping question for what felt like an eternity, and at this point the unicorn was willing to bet Princess Luna herself was watching from the moon above and laughing at her misfortune. ”Honestly,” she hissed under her breath as she continued her thankless pumping to the rhythmic thought of her planned vengeance against Rainbow Dash for having landed her in this mess (a scheme that was going to involve polka-dotted gowns, ribbons of a most garish color, and layers upon layers of oppressive make-up), “this is the thanks I get for coming out to help Applejack? Mane a mess, dirt all over me, and stuck in a stupid…’Chonga Line?”
And suddenly, Pinkie Pie’s incessant Chimmy/cherrychanga-ing stopped.
((Prompt: Playing the fool))
Rarity was a mess. Her mane was in shambles, her wonderful dress was smeared with cake. Long lines of mascara chased her tears across the bags under her eyes and down her puffy cheeks.
She was beautiful.
She made a face as she blew her nose into a kerchief. “I just… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she lamented.
Five minutes. Three hundred seconds. That was all it took. It had to be some kind of record or something. They hadn’t even made it out of Sugarcube Corner yet!
Pinkie’s eyes went wide. Her mouth hung open. “Omigosh, Rarity! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—”
“Well, this feels familiar,” Rarity said as a glop of cake frosting dripped from the side of her face.
Four of those first five minutes had gone so well, too. Rarity had shown up, looking as ravishing as she always was. Her dress had been pristine—neatly pressed, perfectly in style for the season, and most importantly, free of cake.
Pinkie had come down the stairs as soon as the door opened. Sweet Celestia, she had brushed and braided her mane just for Rarity. It still poofed at the corners, but it was an incredible sight to behold nevertheless.
Rarity had brought a gift, of course. A lovely light blue chapeau, which looked ever so adorable there atop those pink braids. Pinkie had hugged her fiercely in gratitude, which Rarity had returned in kind.
Next, Pinkie had shown her the fruits of her own labor. A cake, naturally. A great, heart-shaped confection painted in pink frosting and trimmed with red and purple. A gaudy affair, to be sure, but most definitely heartfelt, and the combination of color and shape was pleasing to Rarity’s keen eyes. Especially the decoration in the center, which contained a picture, rendered as accurately as a pony could make with a tube of frosting, of a pink mare and a white mare leaning against one another and smiling. Captioned in a red drizzle, it read, “Our first date!” Rarity particularly appreciated the aesthetic appeal of that part.
“Where you goin’, sugarplum?”
Said in a voice just a little too loud and a little too cheerful. Just a little too much.
“Just out somewhere,” comes the reply, in a low snarl, barely restrained. “And for the last time, I’m not a baby anymore, Mom. Stop calling me sugarplum!”
“Okie dokie lokie, sugar—” An embarrassed grin, paired with eyes as sad as they are blue. “I mean, okie dokie, Topaz.”
The door opens, and the door slams. Pinkie Pie stands staring at the front door for several long moments, standing more silently and more motionlessly than she’s almost ever been, and it breaks Rarity’s heart just to look at her wife. Finally, Pinkie turns around and gives a helpless shrug.
“I dunno what I’m doing wrong,” she confesses in a voice that’s soft and scared.
“Nothing, darling,” Rarity replies, shaking her head. “Our little gem is simply growing up. That’s all.”
Pinkie Pie frowns. “But that doesn’t make any sense, Rarishine. Topaz and I used to be the bestest friends ever, and now … now …”
