Chapters HeartShine stumbled through the door in a dazed state, the tip of her curly tail singed and smoking.
"I'm guessing horse-shoe making isn't your special talent." I smiled and pulled a brush out of the cupboard.
"I guess not." HeartShine managed a weak smile. I sat her down in front of me and began brushing the ash from her blonde mane.
"You'll get your cutie mark eventually, sis." I told her. "Everypony does."
"But what if I never get it, CloudShine?" She sniffed. "What if I'm doomed to be a blank flank forever?"
I rolled my eyes. "Maybe your special talent is being a drama queen."
She rewarded my joke with a small smile and looked down at my flank. My cutie mark, a simple pencil, stood out against my purple coat.
HeartShine jumped up, yanking the brush from my hoof. "You never told me!"
"Told you what?"
"How you got your cutie mark!" She grinned and flapped her tiny wings, to small to hold her aloft.
I picked up the brush and smiled. "You might want to sit down. This'll take a while."
She sat down obediently and I began my story:
The lake was perfect for skating; large and round with thick, smooth ice. I sat down on a large rock and pulled my skates on.
My first few steps were wobbly, but I was soon gliding along smoothly. Skating came naturally to me; I had been doing it every since I was old enough to walk. I whizzed around the lake in meaningless circles, not bothering with any fancy tricks or spins. I skated for speed.
I pushed myself forward, going faster and faster, loving every moment of it. It all felt wonderful: the wind rustling my feathers, the smooth ice beneath my skates.
This is what it must feel like to fly, I thought to myself, flapping my too-small wings as if I could take off right then and there. I smiled to myself and looked up at the sky.
A midnight blue pegasus flew overhead. She had long, graceful wings and... a long horn.
It was Luna. Princess Luna.
Gaping upwards at the radiant alicorn princess, I lost my concentration and leaned backwards too far. The corner of my skates caught in the ice, and I was thrown backwards. My head hit the frozen lake at full speed, and black spots danced before my vision. I stood shakily, and watched as a spiderweb of cracks spread from the spot where I had collided. The ice beneath my hooves shifted, and I plunged into the icy depths.
A dark shadow passed over me just as the world began to fade into blackness.
"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.
Luna's horn glowed as she summoned one of my notebooks from my room. She flipped through the pages, scanning it thoroughly. She stopped on one page and turned it so I could see.
"Will you read this poem for me?"
I nodded and looked down at the page, took a breath, and began:
To float across the sky,
So big and white and proud,
To blow along, with the wind,
I wish I were a cloud,
No one to tell you that you can't,
No one to say you're wrong,
No one around to say that you're,
Too tall, too fat, too long.
And if I feel too heavy,
My cloud-self dark with power,
I'd just let go, let droplets fall,
And make a formidable shower.
Clouds don't worry what ponies think,
They don't care what they say,
Because no matter what happens,
They do things their own way.
I looked up at Princess Luna and waited for her to respond.
She smiled. "CloudShine?"
"Yes, Princess?"
"How shall I put this... you're no longer a... what do the fillies say? Blank Flank?"
I looked down at my flank, and my eyes widened with excitement. There, so beautiful against my light purple coat, was my cutie mark: a pencil. It may not have been anything fancy, but it was mine, and nopony else's.
I smiled widely. "I got my cutie mark!" I yelled. "I got my- wait." I looked up at Luna. "If my special talent is writing, then why didn't I got my cutie mark before now?"
"I believe it's because writing is meant to be shared." She said. "You're special talent is not only writing stories, but also sharing them. Do you understand?"
"I think so." I said. "And... there's something I need to do."
I stood in front of the class and took a deep breath. Everypony had their eyes on me, and I was almost fine with that.
Almost.
I straightened the papers in front of me and glanced down at my cutie mark one last time, to give me confidence.
"This is the story of how I met Princess Luna." I began.
"That's it?" HeartShine looked at me. "That's how you got your cutie mark?"
"Yup." I grinned. "Pretty neat, huh?"
"Be right back." She said quickly, and raced out of the room.
I smiled and looked at the fireplace mantle, where a collection of framed photographs stood. In the middle, one stood out in a dark frame. The picture portrayed two ponies: one pegasus, one alicorn, both smiling broadly. I sighed nostalgically and picked up the picture.
"Thanks, Luna." I said.
"Cloudy?" HeartShine raced into the room, a pair of skates tied around her neck. "Come on, slowpoke! We're going ice skating!"
The End
I stood in front of the class, my heart beating a million miles a minute. Everypony stared at me, waiting for me to start talking.
I swallowed hard and looked down at the paper in front of me. "For my story, I wrote a..." I stopped, unsure of what to say. All those eyes glued on me, all those fillies and colts just waiting to make fun of me. "I... I..."
Someone giggled at the back of the classroom. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. One of the fillies whispered something to her neighbor. Were they talking about me?
I felt my eyes grow wet. "I have to go." I said quickly, and darted out of the room before anypony could see my tears.
The snow covered ground rushed by as I ran, the cold wind stinging my face. I galloped down the path towards my family's cottage, blinking away the wetness that was gathering in my eyes.
"CloudShine?" My mother asked as I entered the warmth of the cottage. "What are you doing home from school so early?"
"We... uh... had an early release." I trotted to the fire grate and began warming my frozen wings.
My mother looked doubtful, but she said nothing.
I spotted my skates hanging on a peg and an idea occurred to me. "Is it okay if I go skating?"
"Go ahead." my mother replied. "But be careful of the thin ice."
"I will!" I grabbed the skates and started out the door.
"And take a scarf!"
Sighing, I turned around and pulled one from the closet before running out the door.
CloudShine...
The voice was soft and melodic, like a lullaby. I smiled to myself and felt a chill run through my wings.
CloudShine...
I reached down to pull up my blanket, but there was nothing there.
CloudShine...
The voice was starting to get annoying. Couldn't it just let me go back to sleep?
"CloudShine!"
My eyes flew open. "What?" I asked blearily.
"Oh, thank Celestia you're okay!" Princess Luna grinned at me and sat down on the grass. "Actually, thank me."
"Thank you, I think." I groaned and lifted my head. It throbbed like someone was kicking it from the inside. "What happened?"
"Well," Luna said. "Either you were trying to get a cutie mark for swimming in deadly temperatures, or I just saved your life."
I glanced down at my flank, which was, sadly, still blank. "No cutie mark." I said weakly.
Luna smiled. "That's too bad. Maybe your special talent is writing."
I smiled back and sat up the rest of the way. "Mayb- Wait, how did you know I like writing? And how did you know my name?"
Princess Luna grinned sheepishly. "Your name is on your scarf. And... well, there were many papers in your saddlebag, and I tried to dry them out for you, and I may have -accidentally- read them."
I shook my head to clear it and looked around, wondering if this was just some weird dream. The snow was melted in a perfect circle around us, and all of my notebooks were open and drying in the sun.
"You're... you're Princess Luna." I blinked a few times.
"You can call me Luna." she replied.
I spread my wings and shook the remaining water off of them. "Thanks again." I said. "For saving my life, I mean."
"'Twas no problem." Luna said. "Now let's get you home."