Cutter and Darling

The bells of the ships lining Trottingham harbor echoed out to reach us on the rowboat I'd commandeered. The early morning sun raked across the water and cast us in a warm glow, much to my appreciation. Carefully, I pressed the worm I'd picked out of my bait bag onto the hook of my fishing line. Just before I cast my line, Lily flopped down into the bed of the boat with a groan.

"Papa, this is boring," my miniature pony companion groaned as she gently beat against the back of my leg with her tiny forehooves.

"It's relaxing," I argued before snapping my rod and sending the line flying. Once it hit the water and I'd set it, I shot a smile down at the recently school-aged filly. "Besides, it's no different from us just spending time together on land." She pouted at me and I winked.

"'Cept this way I get some free food," I added with a chuckle. She tilted her head before sitting up and craning her head to look out at the water with a frown.

"Free food?" She grumbled. She chewed on the thought for a moment before beaming up at me. "Oh! Fishing. I get it!"

"Yep! This is how all those weird meals you see me eating come from," I replied with a nod. Her smile redoubled and she hopped up into my lap with some effort before sitting down and watching the line with an eager look.

That lasted for all of twenty seconds before she sulked again. "Can it go faster?"

"Nope!" I chirped, causing her to groan harder and slowly slink down off my lap. Smirking to myself, I let her lie on the bed of the boat for a little bit before speaking again. "How you liking school?"

"I'm not," she grumbled, rolling away from me and curling up. This too lasted for all of twenty seconds before she gasped and shot up again to fix me with an excited smile. "Oh! We get to play outside after lunch!" She reared up against my side and frowned at me.

"You didn't tell me we got to do that!" She accused, causing me to laugh.

"Hey, in my defense, I've never gone to pony school," I declared, earning a humph from her. "You make any friends yet?" She perked up again to the point her wings snapped out.

"Yeah!" She squealed before beating her hooves against my side as she searched her thoughts. "Uhm! There's this one unicorn named Stellar and she uses magic like some of the maids! She can make her books float!"

"Sounds pretty exciting!" I replied. Before she could continue, my line jerked and I straightened up. "Oh hoh! That's not all that's exciting!" Lily tilted her head and considered the fishing line for a moment before catching on to what was happening and gasping. She hooked her forehooves on the edge of the boat and watched with an eager grin as I yanked the line and slowly reeled in my price.

For once, despite the quiet period that followed, Lily didn't complain about being bored as she was too enthralled by the sight of the line creeping closer and closer and the water becoming progressively more lively as the fish was dragged in.

Finally, with a triumphant yawp, I shot forward and snatched the fish out causing Lily to squeal with delight as I held it up. Then, as I considered the flopping and thrashing animal, she wilted.

"It's alive," she murmured.

"Yep," I chirped.

"Why's it alive?" She demanded, drawing my attention to her. Her ears were back and she wore a wide-eyed frown as she stared hard at the fish.

"Well," I murmured, clearing my throat with a shrug. "I mean I gotta club it first, then-" Her eyes snapped and locked with mine causing my eyebrows to slowly raise.

"Or I can-" I cleared my throat again and offered her a weak smile. "Put it back and we can go get some apples instead."

"That one," she demanded.

I stroked my beard as I considered the newspaper report on the recent string of arsons that had plagued Southpile, leading to the discovery of a massive lucid laurel farm hidden in one of the warehouses. Said farm went up in flames and covered the town in silly smoke for a whole day, but it still meant the next quarter was probably going to be busy.

Whatever ring was responsible for that farm was going to be scrambling to recoup their losses. Beside me at the table, Lily sat with her tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she used her wing to carefully scrape her quill on the paper she'd been instructed to fill out.

"Cow," she murmured as she wrote today's assignment. "Cow goes-" She strained as she carefully copied the letters.

"Mm-Mm.. Moo," she sighed and dropped her quill before massaging her wing with her foreleg. "This is hard." I lowered my paper to examine her work, smiling when I saw how clean her writing was.

"You know, I couldn't read or write until I was over twenty years old," I declared, causing her to gasp and look at me in shock.

"What! That's old!" She cried, earning a nod from me.

"Yep. In fact, I was pretty annoyed at that fact myself," I replied, tapping the side of my head with a finger. "I turned my frustration into motivation." Her look of shock turned to one of wonder.

"How'd you do that?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Like I said, the fact annoyed me," I explained, folding my paper and sitting forward. "So! I worked hard to make it a fact no longer!" I reached forward and poked her on the nose.

"Savvy?" I asked, at which she giggled and rubbed her nose.

"I think so," she replied before considering her work with a determined frown. Just before she resumed writing, Silver came trotting up with one of the maids, both of whom had a plate for Lily and myself.

Lily scooted her homework aside and giddily tapped her hooves on the table as the maid set her plate of baked cheesy oats on the table while Silver gave me a nod and set my fish before me. Just before I could dig in, I saw him flinch and I turned to see Lily staring at my plate with a frown.

I grunted, guessing what was about to happen.

"Those used to be alive?" She suddenly asked in a somber voice. I winced and shared a look with Silver before nodding.

"Ah," I huffed, slowly nodding. "Yeah, they- Were." She frowned harder and furrowed her brow as she considered my plate.

"Do you only eat things that used to be alive?" She murmured, causing me to grimace.

"Not-" I grunted and sank back in my seat with a shrug. "Exclusively." She looked to the side in thought for a moment before frowning at me.

"What other alive things do you eat?" She pressed. I sighed hard and shared another look with Silver who offered me a sympathetic smile.

"Uh," I began, but Lily sat up and pointed a hoof at me with a strange look on her face.

"Do you eat ponies?" She demanded causing me to choke.

"No!" I cried. She blinked and scowled at my plate for a moment before looking at her homework and humming. She sat like that for a minute, during which time Silver and I shared another look.

"Papa, you remember we made a deal when you made me go to school?" Lily asked, fixing me with a determined frown.

"Yeah?" I murmured with a shrug.

"Can we make another deal?" She pressed, tilting her head toward me. I balked and raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of deal?" I asked, tilting my head.

"You can eat the fish but you have to eat my teacher, too," she explained causing me to flinch. As I stared at her in astonishment, she smiled and held her hoof out for a shake. I considered her and her hoof for a moment before frowning.

"Do your homework," I ordered causing her to gasp as I turned and held my plate to Silver who was poorly restraining his laughter. "Silver, I need something vegetarian." Silver laughed with a nod before taking the plate away, causing Lily to wilt hard with a grumpy sob.