Owlicious was woken up from his nap by the clanging of pots and pans. With an annoyed hoot and shuffling of feathers, Owlicious took flight and headed to the source of the disturbance.
When Owlicious flew into the kitchen, he found it to be, to put it frankly, a disaster zone. The floors, countertops, walls, and even ceiling were covered in liquid globs that came in various shades of brown. Fresh milk stains dotted the countertops like spots on a cow. Bits of eggshells stuck to the floor, sometime coupled with the egg’s former contents. And in the center of the mess were three flour-covered fillies. One of them was using pots, pans, and wooden spoons as an improvised drum set. Another was stirring what Owlicious assumed to be batter despite its strange coloration and poor consistency. And the final filly was singing—if one could call it that—a song about baking.
“Shh!” Spike whispered to three over-enthusiastic fillies. “Twilight’s busy studying in the library and you can’t disturb her!”
Sweetie Belle immediately stopped banging on the pots and pans without question, but Applebloom only paused from her “singing” to ask a question. “But, Spike, how do you suppose we can earn our cake bakin’ cutie marks without having a song as we bake?” Applebloom asked.
“Besides, it’s not like Twilight could possibly be able to hear us when she’s on the other side of the castle,” Scootaloo added as she started dumping baking powder into the bowl on the counter.
Spike facepalmed. “One,” Spike said as he started counting on his claws. “I said you could cook here only because you promised to be quiet! Two, this castle makes everything echo. You could say something at one end of the castle and someone else could hear you all the way on the other end. Three, remind me again why you couldn’t do this at Sugarcube Corner?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Cake said we would have to wait ‘cause Pinkie was busy in the kitchen,” Applebloom explained.
“But Pinkie spends more time in the kitchen than Rarity spends in the bathroom every morning!” Sweetie Belle complained.
“So this was the only option we had left,” Scootaloo concluded.
“Who,” Owlicious decided to add in. I’m pretty sure there were other options at your disposal. You just wanted an excuse to come to the castle.
“Not now, Owlicious,” said Spike with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I’m busy.”
Owlicious rested his wings were his hips should be and glared at the back of Spike’s head. You know, if actually took the time to listen you could understand what I’m saying. Twilight does it all the time, but you’re too immature to even consider asking anyone else for help. I’d be surprised if you solved this issue without having a day-long adventure resulting in a lesson maturity, only for you to forget your lesson when you wake up tomorrow morning.
“Look,” Spike said to the three fillies. “I don’t want to get between you and your crusading, but I need you to keep the noise down to a minimum like you promised. Okay?”
“Okay!” the three filies chorused.
“Good,” said Spike contently. He turned around and headed towards the door, but paused in midstep. “Huh, that was easier than I thought,” he said to himself. “Looks like Spike isn’t so much of a baby dragon anymore!” He puffed up his chest proudly as he triumphantly marched out of the kitchen.
Owlicious facewinged. You surprised me with your mature response to the situation, but you still have a long way to go before others stop calling you a “baby” dragon. Although you are a few years older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders, you do not act significantly more mature. You never seem to accept that dragons just don’t mature as fast as ponies do, but it’s a simple fact that you’re going to have to accept at some point whether you want to or not.
Owlicious flew after Spike as the dragon skipped over to the library. It would also help if you actually attempted to understand what I’m saying, the owl thought with a huff. Sadly, you are utterly hopeless in that regard.
“Hey there, Twilight,” Spike said cautiously as he hesitantly stepped into the library. “Is your studying coming along… well?”
Twilight, as usual, had her nose stuck in a large volume. Judging by the two stacks of books next to her, she hadn’t moved in a good, long while and had no intention of doing so. The alicorn was so absorbed by her book that she didn’t even respond as Spike cautiously approached her.
“So, I guess nothing disturbed you then, huh?” Spike asked Twilight as he observed her eyes scanning the words on the page.
“Mh-hmm,” Twilight replied vaguely.
“Well, that’s good,” said Spike nervously as he tapped his claws together. “I guess I’ll just be… going then… bye!”
Owlicious waited until Spike had gently closed the door to give a hoot of annoyance. Couldn’t he see that Twilight was too engrossed in her reading to hear anything that was happening in the castle? Owlicious asked, despite the lack of an audience in his own head. I mean, he’s been her “number one” assistant for years! I’ve only been with Twilight for barely a year and even I learned her most obvious cues a long time ago!
Owlicious turned to Twilight and narrowed his eyes. Alright, Twilight, it is time for you to get your nose out of that book! I need to have a talk with you!
Owlicious flew down and landed on the edge of Twlight’s book. Of course, the mare didn’t notice him, so he jumped into the middle of the page she was reading. Unperturbed, she gently picked him up with her magic and placed him at the corner of her desk. Then he tried tugging on her mane, but unlike Rarity, the feeling of someone pulling at her hair didn’t disturb Twilight. Owlicious narrowed his eyes into horizontal slits as hopped onto Twilight’s shoulder and gave a loud hoot.
“WHO!”
“AHH!” Twilight screamed as she fell backwards. Owlicious jumped off and landed on her desk as her back met the unforgiving crystal floor.
“Who.”
Twilight slowly sat up and faced the slit-eyed owl. “What was that for, Owlicious?” she asked crossly as she rubbed the back of her head.
Before Owlicious could reply, the library door was loudly flung open. Spike rushed inside, with the flour-covered Cutie Mark Crusaders right on his tail. “Twilight!” Spike exclaimed in panic. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “I’m fine. Owlicious just startled me, that’s all,” she explained as she shot the owl a look. “You can go back to whatever you were doing.” She then noticed the three messy fillies behind her dragon assistant. “Applebloom? Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle? When did you three get here?”
Owlicious sighed as the CMC explained their latest plan to Twilight. Those fillies have less sense than Spike even when they have their heads put together, he mentally grumbled. Actually, they might have less sense when they’re put together than they do individually. Applebloom is usually responsible and can take care of herself. Sweetie Belle doesn’t ususally get into unnecessary danger without reason or strong prodding. And Scootaloo… He paused for a moment, and then shook his head. I believe Scootaloo is the only one who actually has more sense when working with the group as opposed to working solo. Still, considering these fillies’ exploits, that isn’t saying much.
Do they really expect to get their Cutie Marks by doing everything they can think of in rapid-fire succession? Did they ever stop and think that they should simply find out what skills they are naturally good at and just practice until they find the specific talent that will give them their cutie mark? Any creature that has observed those three as long as I have would know that they have very distinct talents and abilities.
Scootaloo is very capable with both using and maintaining her scooter. She may not be able to fly with her wings, but I’ve never seen another pegasus propel themselves horizontally with their wings. I have very little doubt that her cutie mark will probably be related to doing stunts and tricks. She is the daredevil of the bunch after all.
Sweetie Belle has proven to be intelligent and adaptable, but her greatest strength is her singing ability. As far as I know, she has received no formal training in that regard, and yet, she can easily hit notes that professional singers take years to master. If she doesn’t a musical note or something of the like as her cutie mark I will eat all my stray feathers next molting season.
Applebloom’s future cutie mark is a curiosity even to me, but her talents are very clear. Soon after meeting Zecora, Applebloom displayed a keenness for making potions. I wasn’t there to witness the event, but from what I heard she managed to make an original potion that fulfilled its purpose, even if it had severe undesirable side-effects. While she might not have made the potion perfectly, it was an excellent first attempt without a recipe to go by.
She also shows skill in carpentry and construction. Whenever the Cutie Mark Crusaders come up with a crazy idea involving building ridiculous contraptions, Applebloom takes the reins of the operation. And I must admit, she does a very good job. I don’t think the Apple family will be worrying about roofing problems when that filly finally grows up.
Sadly-
“OWLICIOUS!”
Owlicious lost his balance and toppled over the edge of the desk. “Who…” he moaned in pain as his the top of his head gave the floor a low-five. He carefully hopped to his feet and looked at Twilight. Judging by the look on her face, he guessed she had been calling for him for a while now. “Who?”
“What do you mean ‘What’?” Twilight asked, looking more than a little frazzled. “I was busy reading some books Cadence shipped from the Crystal Empire before you interrupted. You must have disturbed my reading for something. Mind telling me what it is?”
I almost forgot what I came here to do in the first place. Owlicious mentally reprimanded himself. “Who.”
“What about Spike?”
“Who. Who.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re worried that he doesn’t realize or won’t admit that he won’t mature as fast as he wants to because he’s a dragon and not a pony?”
Owlicious nodded.
“So… what exactly do you want me to do?”
“Who.”
“Tell him to accept that he won’t mature as fast as he would like?”
Owlicious nodded.
“Why me?”
He raised an eyebrow.
Twilight smiled as she got up from her seat. “Fair point; I am the one who usually bridges the communication gap between you two after all,” she said. “But before I go find Spike, I want to show you something.” She scanned the large bookcases and began pulling a few books off the shelves. “There. Take a look at these with me, Owlicious.”
Owlicious hopped onto Twilight’s head as she placed the books on her desk. “These books show the growth stages and rates of dragons. However, as you can see, their information do not line up perfectly. This is because dragons have many subspecies—most of which have yet to be named or identified—that have varying rates of growth, which means the growth stages have to be compared to something more stable in order to make a useful analysis. For example, I’ll be using the growth stages of ponies. Now, we can’t exactly be sure of how fast Spike grows or matures because there is no mention of any dragon similar to him in any of my books. Believe me, I’ve tried for the longest time to learn more about him, but everything has turned up empty.”
“Who…”
Twilight gave the owl a small smile. “Thanks for the sentiment, Owlicious, but there’s no need for you to worry about that. Although I might not know the specifics of his subspecies, I have been carefully observing Spike since I hatched him. He’s twelve years old right now, and judging from my knowledge of general dragon development, he’s around five or six years old in physical maturity—proportionally of course.”
Owlicious gave a hoot of surprise. That young?
“That’s right, Owlicious. Remember, dragons live much longer than ponies do, so naturally he doesn’t physically age as fast. However, Spike appears to have the emotional maturity of a ten year old dragon. As for mental maturity… well that’s complicated. Let’s just say that I would probably need to contact a dragon expert before I could say for certain, but I’d guess between ten to twelve years of age. As you can see, he’s very mature and intelligent for a dragon of his age.”
“Who,” said Owlicious sadly. All this time I had thought Spike was immature for his age, but I was wrong.
“Don’t worry, Owlicious, you didn’t know,” Twilight soothed the owl, noticing that his mood was plummeted.
I know I didn’t know, but I should’ve known, Owlicious thought glumly as he let out a sad hoot.
Twilight blinked. “Uh… could you repeat that?” she asked politely. “I didn’t quite catch that.”
Owlicious facewinged and gave another hoot, except this one was out of annoyance.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You do realize I can’t read your mind right?” she asked. “You’re going to need to be clearer.”
“Who.” Owlicious’ deadpan stare and flat hoot contained no discernable emotion to the casual observer.
Twilight, however, was more than that. “Yes, I’m trying my best to understand you,” she said pointedly. “But I’m not Fluttershy, remember? It’s taken me over a year to get this far in understanding you.”
“Who. Who,” Owlicious admitted begrudgingly. Still, I would prefer if you could understand everything I said.
“Now could you repeat what you were trying to say earlier?” Twilight requested. “Except this time, try to be a little more clear.”
With a roll of his eyes, Owlicious complied with her request.
“So, you’re upset with yourself because you didn’t know?” Twilight asked. Owlicious nodded. “Well there’s no need for that. No harm was done.”
“Who?”
“Of course I’m sure,” Twilight replied in exasperation. “Spike can’t understand you, and I didn’t say anything to him.”
“Who. Who.”
“Yet you still can’t help but feel a little guilty, huh?” Twilight asked with a sad smile.
Owlicious flew off her head and nodded as he landed on the desk.
“I believe you have a simple problem you need to work on,” said Twilight. “Any guesses on what it is?”
I have a problem? Owlicious thought in surprise. He wasn’t used to being the one with the problem, he was used to being on the sidelines trying help others with their problems. Interesting. Let’s see, what is my problem? I set high expectations for Spike’s performance, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; but I didn’t take note of his limitations. I was expecting too much of him, but why?
Then he realized something. In fact, I even made high expectations for Twilight’s communication with me. I know she doesn’t have the ability to talk to animals like Fluttershy, but I still got annoyed when she didn’t understand me. What trait would cause me to expect results higher than someone can perform? Hmm… figuring out the solution is harder when I’m actually the source of the problem.
Owlicious finally gave a hoot of defeated as he shook his head.
Twilight smiled. “Good job for admitting you didn’t know,” she said. “That’s the first step in besting your problem of arrogance.”
Owlicious hooted in indignation as he fluttered off the desk. Me? Arrogant? That’s absurd! Rainbow Dash is arrogant; so much so that her ego alone could float Pinkie’s balloon! There’s no comparison between us!
“I know you might be a little surprised,” said Twilight as she eyed Owlicious with the slightest hint of amusement. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you do have a problem with arrogance. Not as big as Rainbow Dash’s for sure, but it’s still there. That’s why you tend to have high expectations that can border unreasonable. Your arrogance doesn’t stop you from being helpful and kind and such, but it still can cause issues because you’re not willing to understand the other pony—or dragon, in this case— before setting standards for them to reach. Do you understand?”
At first Owlicious wanted to deny any accusation Twilight made, but he decided to take a moment to digest this. Am I arrogant? I certainly don’t act like Rainbow Dash but… Twilight may have a good point, he admitted. I do tend to look at everything as a complete picture, because usually I find myself on the outside looking in. Can my perspective of situations cause arrogance?
After all, I thought Spike was immature because I didn’t know how he stood among his own kind. I only compared him to his environment, because that was all I knew. I was annoyed with Twilight because she didn’t understand me, but aside from Fluttershy she’s the only pony that actually manages to understand me. I also don’t understand the actions of the Cutie Mark Crusaders because owls don’t have anything similar to cutie marks.Judging from this it appears… I really am arrogant. He gave Twilight a small but firm nod.
Twilight beamed. “Excellent. You’ve already made great progress, Owlicious.”
“Who?”
“You. No. Argh!” Twilight shook her head furiously. “What I meant to say is you already admitted to your problem, and that’s the first major step to fixing it. Can you guess what the second one is?”
Owlicious mused over the question. Let’s see, the first step to fixing a problem is finding the problem. Hmm… what comes between acknowledging the problem and fixing it? Finding how to fix it, perhaps? He hooted his answer to Twilight.
“Precisely,” Twilight replied. “I’m glad you’ve managed to come this far so quickly, Owlicious. For my friends it and I, it usually takes us the rest of the day to solve issues like these. How do you feel right now?”
“Who,” said Owlicious thoughtfully. I’m feeling… good. I mean, I feel horrible that I’ve been unfairly judging Spike, but learning the steps to correct my mistakes make me feel much better. From now I on, I will take strides to understand others before judging them or their actions.
“That’s good to hear,” said Twilight. She opened her mouth to say more, but at that moment, the library doors swung open to reveal three sticky fillies and a… thing on a platter.
“Presenting the Cutie Mark Crusader Cake Bakers! Yay!”
Owlicious blinked as he saw the supposed confection. If they actually had managed to bake a cake in the time he’d been gone from the kitchen, he wasn’t seeing it. All he could see was a lopsided swirl of icing that took up almost an entire large platter. Applebloom and Scootaloo were sharing the weight on their heads, while Sweetie Belle was walking in front of them carrying plates and utensils.
“That looks… nice, girls,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle as she surveyed the heap of frosting on the two filly’s heads. “But are you sure you gave it enough time to cook? It’s only been about ten minutes.”
“Don’t worry,” said Sweetie Belle as she set down the plates and utensils on Twilight’s desk. “We used multiplication and division to find out what temperature we needed to bake the cake at so it would be done in ten minutes.” She cut and a presented slices to both Twilight and Owlicious. “Take a bite and tell us what you think.”
“Who,” said Owlicious as he eyed Twilight. I am now presented with two choices: disregarding these fillies’ feelings, or dying. With this talk in mind, I make my decision.
Ever since that time, Owlicious has stayed true to his nocturnal nature.
Author's Note
I must admit, writing this was a challenge that I don't think I aced with flying colors. However, staring at this unpublished story for hours on end was't doing any good, so I did the best I could before shipping it out for public scrutiny. Simple slice of life may not be my cup of tea, but being a writer means that sometimes I have to test my limits and break through.
Love it. Hate it. It's a free country. But I'd really appreciate some critical feedback. Comments are food for the writer's soul!
