How I Got My Cutie Mark

"You are in big trouble, young filly!" My mother began berating me the moment I stepped through the door. "Your teacher came by, and she said that you ran out in the middle of your-" She stopped, noticing Princess Luna behind me. "Oh." she said softly.

"Hello." Said Luna, ducking to get through the low doorway.

"Mom," I said. "Princess Luna. Luna, Mom."

"Can I... can I get you anything, your majesty?" My mother said nervously.

"That is all right, thank you." Luna smiled and looked down at me. "Would you show me your room?"

"Sure." I led her down the hall to my tiny bedroom. It wasn't much to look at; just a bed and a dresser.

Luna examined the bare walls. "Where do you keep your writing?"

I swallowed nervously. "In here." I pulled open the bottom drawer, revealing a mess of papers and notebooks, all covered in writing.

"May I?" Luna picked up a notebook.

I nodded, worried about what she would think.

She flipped it open to a random page and began reading out loud. "A pony unseen. She's hidden in the shadows. Alone and in tears."

"I was in a haiku stage." I say quickly. "It was... fun to me at the time."

She chose another page. "Chandra ran as fast as her hooves would carry her, terrified of the undead ponies lumbering after her. The factory was only two blocks ahead, and her brother was waiting for her."

"That was a cheesy story." I said. "I didn't really-"

She held up a hoof to stop me and picked up another journal. "Princess Luna looked over her kingdom hopefully, but there were no celebrations in the darkness of night. All the ponies slept, and the lonely alicorn hung her head and sang a mournful song."

"I... I..." Of all the stories to read, of all the notebooks in my dresser she had to choose that one. I felt tears begin to sting my eyes, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. Who does this pegasus think she is, to write little fillies stories about grand and beautiful alicorns? Why does she write so much, when she's obviously so terrible at it? "I'm sorry." I hung my head and ran out of the room.

I couldn't go outside again. Celestia knows how badly that went the last time. Instead, I ran to the hall closet and buried myself among the coats and scarves.

"CloudShine?" I could hear Luna trotting down the hallway after me. The closet door creaked as she pulled it open. "There you are."

I took one look at her kind face and burst into tears. "I'm sorry." I said. "I'm sorry that I fell in the ice and I'm sorry that I'm terrible at writing. It's just... it's the only thing that-"

"CloudShine, you're not terrible at writing."

"I'm- I'm not?" I looked up at her. No one had ever said anything good about my writing before. Of course, no one had ever read my writing before, either.

"Of course not." Luna's horn glowed and I was levitated out of the closet and set down on the floor in front of her. "In fact, I think you're an amazing author."

"I am?"

"Yes. And I'd like to try something, if that's all right."

"Okay." I said softly.