This question was inevitable, wasn’t it?

As a filly, my parents made all their income from selling the carrots we farmed.  It didn’t earn too many bits, but it was enough to get us by.  One day my mom fell very ill.  She had to stay in bed every hour of the day.  Every morning, my dad would hand me a basket with three carrots in it to carry to her room.  I’d wake her up, and lay the basket beside her bed, and we would talk.  Not about anything in particular.  I would just tell her stories and such until my father would call for me to do the daily chores.

At the time, I wasn’t sure why he didn’t just bring her the carrots himself, and he never truly told me why, but looking back I think it must have been because he was too afraid to see her in that state.

One day my dad didn’t wake me up to bring the carrots to her.  I woke up on my own very late into the day.  I stumbled around the house for a while, trying to find him.  There was broken glass on the floor.  I looked out back in the garden, and it had been destroyed.  Well, most of it.  Carrots were ravaged and stomped on, but there were still a few left.

I looked back at the house and noticed the basket I always took to my mother.  It was just sitting there.  So I grabbed it, and I looked through the carrot patch for carrots which were still in good condition.  I picked several, but being very inexperienced, I accidentally destroyed many more than I salvaged.  After a while, I finally picked a third carrot.  I carried them inside.

My mother was lying in bed, struggling to breathe as she slept.  I slowly crept over to her and nudged her.  She opened her eyes, looked down at me and smiled.  ”Good morning my little Carrot Top,” she said followed by a cough.  I left the basket by her bed and crawled up next to her… as I always did.  I didn’t mention the mess.  I didn’t mention anything.  She just stroked my mane as I lay next to her, not noticing my muddy hooves or the tears in my eyes.

As I got up and walked out of the room, she gasped, and I quickly turned around to see what was the matter.  She was smiling, almost getting choked up, and she enthusiastically said “Carrot… you got your cutie mark!”

I’m sure it sounds really cheesy and sappy, but those are basically the events which led up to me getting it.  My dad did show up a few days later.  He was very apologetic.  All that came afterwards is unrelated to this question.  Sorry for the long read.