The Cutie Master
Chapter 1: I Don’t Know
After having usurped the throne from the alicorn rulers of the Sun and the Moon, Princess Twilight Sparkle ruled the magical kingdom of Equestria with an iron grip. There were no smiles. There was no laughter. Was Princess Sparkle in a good mood, all was terrible. Was Her Majesty in a bad mood, I dare not speak of the consequences.
I am, of course, merely jesting. In the story I am about to tell you (and I am quite fond of stories, indeed), Princess Twilight Sparkle was no tyrant, nor had she usurped the throne – although she was ruler of the fair kingdom.
You see, the past 20 years or so, something had been rather odd in the land of the magical ponies. Everything had begun to turn weaker, somehow. As if the magical essence of which the ponies drew their powers had begun to wane, although it was hardly noticeable at first.
The unicorns of the land, being magical in nature, were first to notice. Levitation was not as much of a breeze as it used to be, and teleportation became nigh impossible for all but the most skilled of unicorns. But Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle’s predecessor, had informed the fine ponies that she had indeed experienced this kind of magical flux before: it would soon pass.
But soon the problems seemed to spread. The pegasi of Las Pegasus and Cloudsdale were the next to be hit. For although a winged pony is physical in its natural element, air, some magic does play in, as a flying equine hardly has any aerodynamics. The pegasi were having troubles controlling the weather, not to mention the problems that came around during their other duties. Unexpected storms arose, seemingly out of nowhere, and whenever water reserves had to be sent to Cloudsdale for the next season, it was more often than not that several assistance teams were required to reach the minimum power to propel the water properly.
The earth ponies of Equestria, relying on simple, brute strength and stamina, were seemingly unaffected for many a season, which was quite fortunate indeed, as it was they who were in charge of tending to the land, growing crops, and thus feeding the entirety of Equestria. However, eventually they, too, began to feel this “magical flux”, as Princess Celestia had coined it. The harvests seemed poorer, and the earth ponies felt rather exhausted beyond that which comes naturally with being a farmer.
The alicorn princesses, being the most magical and powerful in all of Equestria, were last to be struck by this phenomenon. However, when it struck, it struck hard. Princess Luna of the Night and Princess Celestia of the Day had to abdicate from the throne altogether, as they were too weak to both rule Equestria and raise the Moon and the Sun, respectively. Only with the loving care (and a good chunk of magical help) from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza were the alicorn sisters able to do their duties as raisers of Sun and Moon, and that only with great strain. Some even claimed that the Sun had begun glowing weaker with every passing year, but that was nothing more but mere paranoid whisperings amongst the commoners on the streets, if you ask me.
With the diarchs of Equestria being quite unavailable, it was up to Princess Twilight Sparkle to keep order in the kingdom of the ponies. Being almost the living manifestation of magic herself, she somehow was very much able to hold her head as well as her abilities high in this mysterious catastrophe that plagued the land. But she, too, felt the strain of the so-called “magical flux”. However, Twilight Sparkle had been Princess Celestia’s star pupil in the teachings of magic when she was but a filly, and knew very much about how to handle magic in times of crisis – learnt from the history books, of course. But in a somewhat amusing turn of events, it turned out she had to be the pupil once again, but this time in how to properly rule a country of equines, and I assure you, it was no simple task!
The only equine being utterly unaffected by all of this was not even fully equine altogether. Discord, Draconequus and the Avatar of Chaos, was at his full capacity. As to why, nobody knew. The Avatar of Chaos works in mysterious ways, it was said.
Although a being of Chaos seems like a bad idea in this scenario – some even dared to imply that he was the cause for all the trouble – Discord had been reformed from Evil to Good a long time ago, and he wouldn’t dare causing anything but minor, everyday chaos as pranks these days, much less drive the entirety of Equestria to ruin. In fact, he would have been a valuable asset during the crisis. Alas, he had left Equestria many a year ago, never to be seen since, although the princesses would hesitate not to call upon his aid if things seemed to get out of hoof.
As you can see, this was all quite distressing indeed, and that was the biggest understatement Equestria had heard since Discord first escaped from his magical stone prison, and the antics he caused were described as “rather unusual”.
A certain darkness fell over Equestria. Not a literal darkness, of course, as the Sun still shone bright, but the uncanny darkness of despair. The brightest heads of the land had estimated that if things did not soon improve, be it by chance or their scientific discovery, Equestria would have less than 80 years of relative prosperity left. In fact, “relative prosperity” simply meant: “A decent amount of Equestrian ponies are alive.” Everypony went about their business as usual. After all, what else could they do? Sit down and cry like foals? That would imply giving up, and nopony in Equestria would ever give up. They were a strong race, and they had faith in their leaders. Everything would work out, somehow.
However, with the alicorn sisters disabled, the unicorns tapped of magic, the pegasi in weathery disarray, the earth ponies weak, the scientists scratching their heads in befuddlement, and the goodly Discord nowhere to be found, who would be able to work it out? The ponies turned to their newfound monarch, Princess Twilight Sparkle, but she had few answers, and knew not how to fix it. In fact, she never did. For this story I am about to tell you is not about Twilight Sparkle at all (though she does play an important role in it, as you will see). It is about her grandson: Morning Light.
_______________________________
“Let’s quiet down, please! We have a very important lesson to get to,” said an old, but kind voice in the busy classroom. The greying mare knew this particular lesson like the back of her hoof; she had indeed been through it many a time. As always, the young colts and fillies fell silent, for she was a much respected teacher indeed, and was thus able to continue:
“Thank you. Today we’re going to be talking about cutie marks!” she said, as she walked up to a small stand, and removed the topmost paper, revealing a plethora of pictures depicting various cutie marks.
Some of the small ones gave excited gasps, while others just watched in awe.
“You can all see my cutie mark, can’t you?” she said, as she proudly flashed the three smiling flowers she sported on her flank. A few nods of acknowledgement spread in class.
“Like all ponies: I wasn’t born with a cutie mark,” she continued, as she removed another paper from the stand, behind which were a few veritably ancient photographs of a filly so much younger than the old mare standing before the class. There was little resemblance between them, unless you made quite the effort to search for it.
“Miss Cheerilee,” asked a yellow filly on the second row, “who is that?”
Cheerilee managed to keep down a wince, then threw a rather stiff smile at the class. “Believe or not; I am the young filly in these pictures,” she had to tell the class, as she had discovered she often had to the last years. Alas, growing old is a tough, but mandatory thing of life.
“and as you see:” she said, as she pointed at the first picture her as a small, purple foal, “my flank; was blank.
“Then one day, when I was about your age, I woke up to find that a cutie mark had appeared!” She removed the picture of the foal, and thus revealed another of a significantly more mature, older filly with the craziest mane style you can imagine. A few of the young ponies made a rather poor effort not to chuckle, as you do not laugh at one of the most respected teachers in Canterlot. The adolescent Miss Cheerilee was sporting the same three smiling flowers the old teacher before the class wore.
“I had decided to become a teacher, and the flowers symbolised the hope that I could help my future students bloom if I nurtured them with knowledge!” Miss Cheerilee continued, “the smiles represented the cheer (!) I hoped to bring to my little ponies while they were learning!”
“Now,” the class perked, ready for the obvious impending question: “can anyone tell me when a pony gets his or her cutie mark?”
Being the grandson of the legendary Twilight Sparkle, Morning Light’s aquamarine hoof was naturally first in the air.
“Yes, Morning Light?”
“I do believe it is when a pony discovers their certain talent that sets them out from the rest of the crowd. That which makes them special, if you will.”
“That’s right, Morning Light! A cutie mark appears on a pony’s flank when he or she finds that certain something that makes them different from every other pony!” Cheerilee taught on. She was obviously in her element, and rightly so, for cutie marks were a topic very fond to her indeed.
“That’s what I just said!” half-chuckled Morning Light to himself, but paid it no further mind.
“Discovering what makes you unique isn’t something that happens overnight. And no amount of hoping, wishing, or begging will make a cutie mark appear before its time!
“Also, every cutie mark is unique. You will never find two looking exactly the same; every cutie mark is as special as the pony wearing it,” Miss Cheerilee finished, smiling at the captivated students.
The class looked simply astonished after this thorough lecture. Everypony were either in obvious deep thought or busy furiously taking notes. A small, mint-coloured unicorn filly in the front most row actually managed to break her pencil in the midst of the excitement, although she was quite quick to get a new one. Telekinesis is a handy thing.
“Now,” Cheerilee spoke again, “does anypony have any questions regarding cutie marks?” She gleamed with a cheer in her eyes at the classroom full of knowledge-hungry fillies and colts.
Quite a step up from Ponyville, she thought to herself, even though I miss not living in a large city, I’m glad I took this offer. And it was not the first time she had thought such. Canterlot, and especially Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, offered so many more enthusiastic students. It was a good thing they accepted earth ponies as teachers, too.
A deep blue colt raised his hoof for a question. He had a snorkel for a cutie mark, but how he managed to deal with a talent related to that sort of depiction in a large city as Canterlot, much less deal with it on a daily basis, few ponies knew. Rumour had it that he had a distant relative in the mythical sea ponies of the far south.
“Yes, Deep Sea?” Miss Cheerilee asked kindly.
“I was just wondering…” started the colt slowly, then hesitated.
“Go on.”
“Never mind, Miss Cheerilee, it’s stupid anyway,” Deep Sea said, shuffling a bit in his seat.
“Now, don’t be so shy. No question is stupid. Not in my class, at least,” she reassured with a smile.
“Okay…” the colt dared continue, “I was just wondering: you said no two cutie marks are ever the same…”
“Yes?”
Deep Sea took a deep breath: “Well, my uncle, Swift Nail, has a hammer for cutie mark – he’s really good with hammers – but then I saw a stranger on the street the other day that also had a hammer for a cutie mark, and how can that be and I’m really confused!” Deep Sea buried his face in his hooves in deep shame. The class switched between a befuddled, inquisitive look at Miss Cheerilee and a pitiful, concerned look at Deep Sea.
“That’s a very good question, Deep Sea,” Miss Cheerilee reassured.
“It is?” the colt peeped from behind his hooves.
“Mhm. Does anyone know the answer?”
Not even Morning Light’s hoof went up to answer, although you could hardly blame him anything; cutie marks were little researched in those days, and there were few books about them. Even a knowledge-hungry descendant of Twilight Sparkle would have troubles with a topic like it.
“It’s not as strange as it sounds, but it can be a little tricky to see at first,” Miss Cheerilee started to answer when none of her pupils volunteered to do so, “like different ponies’ special talents can be similar, so can their cutie marks. I can assure you, Deep Sea, that your uncle’s and the stranger’s cutie marks might be similar, but they are different. I don’t know, the one hammer might be… a darker shade of grey, or it could be… from a different angle, or even upside down!” Cheerilee chuckled.
“Oh!” Deep Sea exclaimed, happy for the explanation.
“Yes! I have a fun example I’ve seen myself of the similarities between three ponies’ cutie marks and their special talents: One of my old friends, Tea Cup, has exactly a tea cup as a cutie mark. Can anypony guess what her special talent is?”
The mint-green filly (with a fresh pencil!) cautiously raised her hoof: “She was good at… drinking tea?”
“Almost,” Miss Cheerilee nodded. “She was good at making tea. Many different kinds of tea. She used to sell them.”
“Cool!”
“She had another friend here in Canterlot. A nice gentlecolt named Earl Grey, who also had a cutie mark of a tea cup. Can you guess what his special talent is?”
Deep Sea’s hoof shot to the air like a rocket! Others did follow, but he could barely contain himself from answering before Miss Cheerilee pointed him out.
“He was good at making tea!”
Miss Cheerilee smiled. “A good guess, but no.”
“Aww,” Deep Sea buried his face in his hooves again. The class mate next to him tried to comfort him, but little did it help, that is, not until Miss Cheerilee spoke up again, and he heard that he had been tricked indeed!
“Earl Grey was good at tasting different kinds of tea, and their level of quality. He actually worked as tea critique for many years, and helped Tea Cup with her tea.”
“So they have almost the same cutie mark but two different special talents?” asked a brown colt.
“That’s right, Oak Root, but there’s more! See, just last week at a café, I met a mare with a tea bag as a cutie mark.”
Morning Light’s hoof went up: “And I suppose she was good at making tea? Many different kinds of tea?”
“Right you are, Morning Light! You see, class? I know three different ponies, two had almost the same cutie mark, but different special talents, while two others had almost the same special talent, but different cutie marks. There are so, so many ways cutie marks can look, and so, so many special talents cutie marks can represent. We shouldn’t run out of combinations anytime soon.” And with that remark, Miss Cheerilee winked to the class, and thus she made nearly 25 young fillies and colts giggle. She truly was a teacher at heart.
“Are there any more questions? Plum Cake?”
A purple filly had her hoof raised.
“How about magic?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you said no amount of hoping, wishing, or begging could make a cutie mark appear before its time. But how about magic? Could you magically make a cutie mark appear?”
Miss Cheerilee chuckled. “No, I don’t think even Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight Sparkle combined could make a cutie mark appear before its time, even if they wanted to.”
Again the class giggled.
“I’ve heard about a strange disease once. What was it? Cutie pox?” asked a crimson filly.
“The cutie pox was a mysterious disease affecting ponies many, many years ago. It not only made a lot of cutie marks appear all over an infected pony’s body, it also made the pony do the talent related to the cutie marks, causing massive chaos. It disappeared without a trace a long time ago.” Miss Cheerilee briefly thought back to an incident that happened when she was much younger. A young filly, desperate to get her cutie mark, had concocted herself a weird potion and somehow inflicted cutie pox upon herself, but that is a different story altogether.
“Are there no more questions?” she asked, half-expecting there to be none. This class has been much more inquisitive than her usual classes, and although she didn’t mind at all – she in fact really liked answering the young ponies’ questions – but she couldn’t possibly imagine there to be any more of those questi-
“I have one,” sounded Morning Light’s voice from the back of the class.
“Well, let’s hear it!” said Miss Cheerilee with a smile.
“Where do cutie marks come from?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Cheerilee answered, “cutie marks grow in your coat: you wouldn’t see one if you shaved yourself, but it would grow out again. And as we have already stated, the cutie mark will appear when you find your special talent…”
“That’s not what I meant. I – we – are very well aware of what and when, but I’m asking wherefrom, how… and perhaps why?”
“Well, I…” Morning Light’s question had Miss Cheerilee completely flummoxed. Never before had she been asked that. Furthermore, she had never expected to be, though she had wondered about the answer herself. Miss Cheerilee had to regain her posture, and she did.
“Well, Morning Light, cutie marks are very magical in nature, and they are difficult to study. Because very few young ponies want to devote themselves to science, there aren’t many scientific studies on them, much less their initial appearance.”
“Wait, does that mean?” Morning Light asked nervously.
“Yes, Morning Light.”
The entire classroom of fillies and colts suddenly held their breaths, for this was something you saw very rarely, if ever, at a school such esteemed as this.
“I don’t know.”
Author's Note
Well! It's all downhill from here!
We're talking my first fiction here, so, please, be gentl-I mean: TEAR ME TO SHREDS!
Corrections and suggestions are much appreciated!
Some proofreading done by The Red Hawk...
Chapter 2: Torch
“Hey, Spike, another doughnut…”
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
“Another doughnut! Extra sprinkles!”
Spike rolled his eyes, but served Morning Light another doughnut anyway (with extra sprinkles, of course). Business was business, after all.
“I still think you’re overreacting, though. I mean, Cheerilee is just a pony. You can’t expect her to be all-knowing. Isn’t this a bit much just because she-“
“Because she doesn’t know? She doesn’t know! How dare she not know!?”
Morning had gone to Spike’s Sweet Space to calm his nerves in the wake of the terrifying event.
“Calm down already, Torch, it’s no big deal. Heck, she might even have just forgotten. Miss Cheerilee is a bit... old,” said Spike, while polishing a seemingly spotless smoothie glass – but who could argue with the eyes of a dragon?
“But you don’t understand! Do you know what this does to my perception of authority figures? I’ll never be able to trust a teacher ever agaaaaiin!”
Spike threw Morning a sarcastic glare.
“Torch, I’m speaking from experience when I say; leave the drama. It’s not your thing.”
“But-!”
“No buts. You can’t expect teachers to know everything – that’s why there are more than one of them. You can probably find a teacher at school who actually knows the answer to your question, but you might have to wait until Monday to ask. Keep calm and eat your doughnut – extra sprinkles,” Spike said and pointed at the doughnut.
“Do excuse my ignorance, wait until Monday? What day is it again?”
“It’s Friday,” Spike chuckled.
“Bollocks.”
“You’re the only kid I know who doesn’t like weekends. It’s hilarious!”
“Hey, Spike!” a yellow pegasus filly exclaimed, having just entered the doughnut bar.
“Hey, Blitz!” Spike yelled back at her.
“How’s Pony Joe doing?”
“Surprisingly well. Business is really giving him his pension – and then some. But could anything else happen with such a handsome dragon behind the counter?” he said while drawing a claw through the scales on his head, “I never did manage to grow a moustache…”
“Why did you decide to change the name of the shop?” Blitz asked puzzled.
“I wanted to keep Pony Joe’s, actually, but Pony Joe insisted that you couldn’t have a shop named Pony Joe’s without any Pony Joes, so being Pony Joeless, it isn’t Pony Joe’s anymore!” Spike smiled, rejoicing in the perfection of the phrase he had so obviously practised for quite some time now, as ponies were rather curious.
“That's a lot of Pony Joes!” chuckled Blitz. Then she turned to Morning Light.
“What are you doing here looking all sad and stuff, Morning?”
“Oh, I am but wallowing in grief because of Miss Cheerilee’s quite gruesome-“
“Ahem, what did I say about the drama?” Spike shot him another glare.
And Morning promptly shot one back at him.
“Teehee,” Blitz giggled, “you’re weird. It suits your crazy mane. It looks sciency,” she said as she ruffled his almost white and rather puffy mane.
“Congratulations upon being the thousandth pony to notice! Truly a remarkable feat. May I offer you a doughnut as a prize for your achievement?”
“Extra sprinkles?”
“Extra sprinkles.”
“Yet another doughnut, extra sprinkles, coming up!”
They sat and ate in silence for a while. A few ponies came to the café, ordering doughnuts and coffee. One even asked for cake, to which Spike kindly directed him to a bakery elsewhere in town. “This is a doughnut café,” he said, "we don't even have marzipan!"
“You know what, Spike?” Morning eventually said. “You’re right. There’s no point in despairing because of a teacher whose knowledge upon a specific subject was not quite as covering as one might have hoped. I’ll have to find someone else who can answer my question. Be it my parents, another teacher,-”
“The books at the library,” Spike added.
“the books at the li-“ Morning almost fell into a trance.
“Torch?”
“The library! Why did I not think of that! I am there almost eight days a week!” and with that, he was off.
“Morning Light!” Blitz called out, but no avail. He had his head far too deep in the books to notice. “See you later then!” she tried.
“He didn’t even pay…”
“I’m going to friend him so hard.”
“He didn’t even pay…”
“Why won’t he be my friend, Spike?”
“He didn’t even pay…!”
Blitz threw a bit on the counter with a roll of her eyes.
“Put it on his tab and focus, already!”
Spike snapped out of his haze, took the money, and put it in the cash register.
“Right. Why don’t you tag along and help him find a book with some answers?”
And with that, Blitz was off too.
Spike continued to polish the smoothie glass. “Teehee. Sparkle.”
__________________________
“Good day to you, Mrs Decimal,” Morning Light greeted the all too grey mare with a grey mane and dull glasses with a grey frame. Despite all this greyness, the librarian of the Canterlot library was a very kind mare. “And to you, Morning Light. What can I do for you?” Mrs Decimal asked with a smile.
“I am currently dealing with quite the conundrum, and I was wondering if you could help me?”
“Certainly. What is it?” Her smile grew wider.
“Cutie Marks.”
Then her smile faltered somewhat.
“More specifically, where do Cutie Marks come from?”
And the smile of the gentle Mrs Decimal was all but gone by now.
“Well, I certainly don’t know myself,” she said, “however, I can help you find the section with books on Cutie Marks – but I must warn you... it is not very large.”
And so Mrs Decimal brought Morning along rows and rows of bookcase upon bookcase down one of the largest libraries in all of Equestria.
“Well, you have been here before…”
“Once or twice.”
“But I still find it fascinating to bring you through these eons of literature and history. We have Neighton, Aristrottle, Saddlespeare, you name it…”
“Indeed.”
“Not to mention famous magicians. Starswirl the Bearded, for example.”
“Oh, he is one of my absolute favourites.”
“And your lovely grandmother’s, too. But as I was saying, it really warms my heart to bring such knowledge-hungry ponies such as yourself down these rows of books, even if we have to go all the way to the far end of the library: 999.7 – Obscure And Ancient Religions Nobody Cares About. 999.8 – The Journey of Paper from Seed to Print. Oh, here we are: 999.9…”
“Where a very measly collection of books about Cutie Marks resides.”
And that was no understatement. Despite being the Canterlot Library, one of the most renowned libraries in all of Equestria, the entire Cutie Mark section consisted of only three books – and they were apparently really old, too.
“Let’s see,” mused Mrs Decimal, “”Cutie Pox and Other Cutie-Illnesses,” by Catalogue., T; “Famous and Notorious Marks through the Ages,” by Depth, I.; and “Finding Your Special Talent – A Guidebook,” by Capt. Obvious.”
Morning hardly looked amused. In fact, he was adorning quite the frown.
“Are you sure there is absolutely nothing else?” he asked.
“Well, I could go look, but I’m afraid the results will be scarce.”
“Please, have a look; this question is tearing my mind apart. I’ll look at these in the meantime.”
“I shall be right back.” Mrs Decimal had some idea where to start, but wasn’t quite sure.
Morning sat down to read. After a quick scan, he quickly dismissed the guidebook, for it was full of cliché sentences like: “Follow your heart,” and “do what makes you happy,” and “seek inwards.” It was all very cringe-worthy and did nothing but waste Morning’s time.
Although he had no Cutie Mark himself, he knew very well that it made little sense to try to force it to appear. Why, they had just learnt about it in class.
The book about the Cutie Pox and related illnesses was an interesting read, indeed. A rather superficial reading revealed something about a Cutie Mark Flu, which caused quite the chaos in the years around 400 A.D., After Discord. The colours of ponies’ Cutie Marks were shifted to their contrasts, and thus a pony carrying the Cutie Flu turned absolutely terrible at whatever special talent they possessed for up to two weeks at a time. Thankfully, it was not lethal, unless a pony’s special talent was something dangerous and they tried to do it regardless of the disease. The book even included an illustration of a pony whose special talent was operating a trebuchet. Never had an Earth pony flown so far.
“Famous and Notorious Marks through the Ages,” Morning said aloud. Now, this might prove interesting, he thought to himself, and rightly so. The book looked like the literary manifestation of old wisdom: it was heavy, thick, with yellowing pages and even some cobweb on the shelf it stood on. Despite all this, it had to be rather new, because the Cutie Mark – or Morning assumed it was a Cutie Mark – on the front of it was none other than the one currently on his dear-
“Hi, Morning!”
“Gah!”
“What are you doing here?” asked Blitz cheerily, a huge grin on her face.
“Picking strawberries, Blitz, you startled me!” Morning said, still panting heavily from the surprise. How could she creep up on him like that?
“Oh yeah! I found this book,” said Blitz, and presented a lovely little book with the title: “Where Cutie Marks Come From,” by Jest, S.. Morning could hardly believe his own eyes. It seemed almost too good to be true. How could he miss a book like this? With its purple colour and mesmerising title, it was pinpointing exactly what he had been asking.
“Uhh, Morning? You’re… drooling.”
Morning came back to reality. “It’s beautiful,” he mused, “can I touch it?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
Morning carefully opened the book containing the key to solve all his problems, and began to read aloud.
“Page number one:
“Nopony knows. Just give up.”
“Huh?” Blitz looked confused.
“There are no more words! The rest- the rest of the pages are b-b-blank!” Morning sputtered.
“You’re sure there’s nothing more in it?”
“It’s worthless! Utterly worthless!” Morning shouted, as he ripped the book to bits and pieces and scraps of paper flying everywhere. It was quite a sight to behold, if not for the fact that he was destroying library property.
“Mister Morning Light!” was the angry yell heard behind the two. It was, of course, none other than Mrs Decimal, and the two young ponies twirled around in their spots; utter terror in their eyes.
“Mrs Decimal! I-!”
“THIS is how you would treat our books? Why, I had expected better of you, young colt!”
“Mrs Decimal, I’m truly sorry!”
“Being sorry won’t restore this lovely piece of literature!” Mrs Decimal said as she levitated the sad remains of the comedy book into a trash bin. She sighed: “I’m afraid I cannot let you go unpunished, Morning Light.”
Morning gave Mrs Decimal a frightened, pleading look.
“I’m sorry, Morning Light. Rules are rules.”
“Please don’t be too harsh on Morning Light, Mrs Decimal,” intervened Blitz, “it wasn’t his fault! I gave him that terrible book, and because he was so focused on his goal, he-“
“Lost his temper? That would certainly not be the first time, though I had never quite imagined him to destroy a book in one of his fits.”
Morning looked down on the floor in shame. “Please tell me what I can do to make it alright again, Mrs Decimal. I will do nigh anything! I will replace the book! I will polish the mosaics! But please, please do not suspend me from this fair library; I love it so much here!”
Mrs Decimal pondered the proposal for a moment, then she answered: “Yes… that seems fair.”
“I am to polish mosaics?”
“Why, among other things, indeed. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after school for a month, you will come to the library and do work for me in the library; polish mosaics, scrub floors, dust and move books, chores like that. And you will also replace the book, of course. Do we have an agreement?”
Morning looked up and said: “We do. I accept the punishment for my heinous crime, and I will ensure it will never happen again.”
“See to it that it doesn’t,” remarked Mrs Decimal, “lest I be forced to banish you from the library altogether.”
Morning swallowed a lump, but nodded in agreement to the terms put forth. Mrs Decimal changed the subject.
"As for other books, I'm terribly sorry, but I could find nothing in my records that might help you with your search.”
“Aw,” said Morning, with Blitz chiming in but a split-second thereafter.
“I’m sorry, Morning Light, but did you at least find use in the books in the section?”
“Actually,” Morning said, “may I borrow “Cutie Pox and Other Cutie Illnesses” and this?” He held up “Famous and Notorious Marks through the Ages” with his telekinesis.
“Why, of course, you may. As long as you don’t ruin them.” Mrs Decimal winked at Morning.
__________________________
One would think that the grandchild of a Royal Alicorn Princess lived at the grand Canterlot Castle, and one would be perfectly correct. Thus, Morning Light was no stranger to a life in luxury. However, his parents had done their best to ensure that Morning did not grow up to be a spoilt brat, as Twilight Sparkle had done with his mother in her time.
They all lived in the castle, indeed, and they all had servants, chefs, maids, guards, butlers, gardeners, plumbers, and pretty much every other profession you can imagine being necessary at a castle as grand as the Canterlot Castle.
But who wanted such thing?
Nay, most of the staff belonging to Morning and his parents had been given an extended, paid leave, being summoned only when extra help was needed. Sure, the garden needed its gardeners, but Sun Spot, Morning Light’s mother, cleaned their own, rather grandiose living quarters – “the maids can clean the rest of the castle, thank you very much,” she usually said.
Morning’s father, Everfriend, was an excellent chef, despite specialising in diplomacy. Chefs were only called in when the family was hosting a banquet.
And thus, trying little by little, the happy family tried to live a relatively normal life despite their royal status.
That didn’t stop Morning from trying out the royal throne every once in a while, however. Being royalty did have its perks,
and sitting on the throne gave him a few chuckles as well as a sense of inner serenity on rough days, and today had been especially cruel.
Goodness, he thought, as he sat in the golden chair. Miss Cheerilee didn’t know the source of everypony’s Cutie Marks, Spike was of little use too; even the library… failed me. He slumped a bit forward in shame, And I failed it.
Equestria was a somewhat quirky place; the magical ponies had a tendency to burst into song at a moment’s notice, whenever the situation and mood seemed appropriate, and just now was such a moment for Morning. It makes little sense to try and explain how he sang, but what he sang is an entirely different story. It went a bit like this:
Should I describe a trait of mine;
Draw a sole defining line?
One thing that fills me up with glee:
I’d pick my curiosity.
Every day brings something new.
Knowledge which I never knew!
And once I pick a foreign scent:
I shall not stop afore the end!
But here comes this; a query mad.
I knew not it could make me sad.
I feel like such a useless pawn,
When I ask: “What makes Cuties spawn?”
My teachers failed; they seldom do.
Alas, my books kept silent too.
Where do I go?
Whom should I ask?
Should I give up this foolish task?
No…
Although, some nuts are tough to crack:-
And this has taken me aback;
I won’t give up; I shall prevail!
For Sparkle blood can never fail!
For with my great dedication,
And a little motivation;
Not too much procrastination,
I shall scour this fair nation.
With some systematisation,
I will do interrogation,
And a bit investigation,
Find the x of this equation.
With my strong, stalwart fixation,
I will reach my destination.
By this very information,
I shall be a great sensation-!
The answer, it will come to me.
This I vow; just wait and seeeeee…
__________________________
Morning Light soon found himself at home – or rather; the living quarters he called home. A separate wing of the castle had been refurbished to accommodate the demands of Morning’s family. Why, if you did not know better, you might think that they were just another Canterlotian upper middle class family. His father, Everfriend, was already in the kitchen, preparing an exquisite dinner that would make anypony’s mouth water run; royal as well as common.
“Hey, there, Torch!” he said, adorning a somewhat cute apron and a truly amazing, puffy chef’s hat.
“Good evening, father, how was your day?”
“Splendid! Splendid indeed! Played badminton with the Griffin ambassador today. I tell you, Kra’kow has a mean smash. I’ll have to claim my rightful victory when we meet again. But I’ll be a good sport for now!”
“That does sound entertaining indeed. Would you mind if I watched next time?”
Everfriend chuckled: “Not at all, Torch, not at all. How was your day?”
“Oh, absolutely dreadful. However, if you would like to hear, I’d rather elaborate at the dinner table. For now, please, tell me you are cooking something delicious; I am positively famished!”
“My cooking is always delicious, Torch, you know that,” Everfriend said with a wink, “however, to satisfy your curiosity for now, I’m making my delicious VW.”
“Veggie Wok?” Morning asked excitedly.
“Veggie Wok,” said Everfriend.
“Veggie Wok!” said a third voice behind Morning!
“Mother!” Morning and Everfriend said in unison. Everfriend was of course merely jesting, for it was none other than Sun Spot, wife of Everfriend and mother of Morning Light, standing before them.
“Good evening to you both,” she said lovingly, ",what mischiefs have you colts been up to today?"
“All that will have to wait!” Everfriend interrupted, “dinner is served.”
__________________________
At the dinner table Everfriend was just finishing the spectacular epic that was his badminton match against the griffin ambassador.
“… I was absolutely certain of my victory when he stood almost leaning over the net. I thought I would trick him by opting for a long shot, and for a moment there, it did look like I had taken him with his pants down – figuratively speaking, of course.” Everfriend took a bite of fried broccoli, and while chewing, he continued:
“But then old ambassador Kra’kow leaps up and smashes the ball into the ground before I have a chance to react to what’s going on. And thus he was declared winner of the match. It was a very close call, though!”
Morning Light and Sun Spot clapped their hooves at the remarkable tale. “Amazing story! It was indeed a shame that you lost, father. But I have utmost faith that you shall emerge victorious upon your next glorious clash.” Morning raised his glass utilising his magic. It contained apple juice.
“I appreciate the support, Torch. And of course I’ll get him next time! Had I been an Earth Pony, I would probably have made a stern remark, if not a complaint, about Kra’kow’s use of wings, but you know,” he waved a piece of leek all around the table before biting it, “magic!” Everfriend chuckled.
Morning rolled his eyes.
“What’s the matter, Torch? Don’t like dancing veggies?”
“No, father, please, I beg of you! Do show some restraint!”
“Nope!”
What happened next was quite the sight to behold. Everfriend used his telekinesis to lift pieces of carrot, celery, leek, cucumber, broccoli and many other vegetables up in the air, and created a dance show using the vegetables. The aubergine did a salsa with the peas! Leeks waltzed along with cucumbers! And even though they are technically not vegetables, even the tomatoes and bell peppers showed off quite an admirable tango. It was all very impressive!
Morning, of course, found it absolutely dreadful, and looked with pleading eyes to his mother as the broccoli did a marvellous leap in front of his face.
“Everfriend, dear, your son and I would be glad if you would stop playing with your food and eat it like a gentlecolt,” Sun said with a sly smile.
“Aww, but they are so talented!” Everfriend replied, and begrudgingly returned the vegetables to his plate, before he said: “Now, tell us about your day, Torch!”
“Oh, but dear father, ‘tis such a long story! I’d like to hear about mother’s day at the hospital, first.”
“Alright, Morning, but I am really curious about what has happened to make you so tired. You must promise me to tell us about your day once I have finished!” said Sun.
Morning gave a slight nod in agreement.
“My day was very good. I did get an odd call from the head of the Trottingham department – something about a vanished cutie mark – but it turned out to be false alarm. So for once, nobody died!” Then Sun looked at Morning with a smile of anticipation.
Morning drew a breath before speaking, but he got no further before a very familiar and very unwelcome bell rang that quickly took the warmth out of the dining room. Being the chief physician of the Canterlot Central Hospital, Sun often had messengers intruding upon the very family’s privacy. And more often than not, they were bearers of ill news…
“How dare they call at this time?” spurted Sun, voice seething with rage. Seemingly out of nowhere, she levitated a piece of paper up next to her face, crumbled it up and tore it apart in a manner most gruesome. Then it burst into flames.
“Oh, no, darling, not at the dinner table!” wailed Everfriend as he tried to keep the ashes from landing on the unquestionably pretty tablecloth.
“…six, seven, eight…” Sun sighed, “well, better get to it. I’ll return as soon as I can. Do have a nice evening, you two.”
“Goodbye, mother!”
“Cheerio, darling!”
Morning gloomily bit a carrot.
“Don’t be too sad, Torch. Your mum is a very busy mare, you know.”
“I know…”
“Now, why don’t you take a breath, gather your thoughts, and tell me about your day,” Everfriend held a short pause before gesturing at the bowl in the middle of the table. “Seconds?”
Morning threw Everfriend a slight, but sincere smile.
__________________________
It felt like days had passed since Sun Spot had left the cosy dining table, and Morning Light missed his mother dearly!
Then again, Morning had never been exactly good with time…
It was half past nine by the minute when Sun at last entered Morning’s room as he was preparing to go to bed. In fact, he was sitting on it at the very moment.
“Hi, Morning Light,” she approached Morning, kissed his forehead, and sat down with him.
“Hello, mother. Did your emergency call proceed tolerably?”
“Sorry? Yes! Oh, yes. Everything is under control.”
“That is comfortable to know, indeed…”
“Your dad said you are in a bad mood?”
“I’m afraid so…”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
And little more was needed to switch Morning into a veritable talking frenzy! He talked all about his entire day, and rather quickly, too!
“… and then it was just a joke book by some S. Jest, so I became full of rage, like, WOAH, and I RUINED A LIBRARY BOOK, MOTHER!” Sun flinched slightly at this. “And then Mrs Decimal became really angry and disappointed, and now I have to help at the library three days a week for a month, and I’m so sorry, but at least I’m still allowed to borrow books, but I still don’t know where cutie marks come from!” Morning buried his head in his pillow while Sun embraced him in a tight hug.
“Calm down, Morning, dear. You’ll figure it out, eventually, I’m sure! Now, I don’t know much about cutie marks, but I do know a way to keep your anger under control.”
“Is that so?” Morning looked up from the pillow.
“Yes! I assume you have noticed how I always have several pieces of paper close to me?”
“I have…”
“Well, as you know, I have quite a fiery temper myself, and when I get mad, I simply must destroy something – anything.”
Morning’s eyes went wide with clarification, and he concluded: “And you keep sheets of paper around so you have something nigh worthless to rip apart instead of ruining something important. Thus your rage is quenched, and no one is worse off! That is brilliant, mother!”
“You’re welcome, Morning. Now, don’t you think it’s bedtime?”
“It is, indeed. Thank you, mother, for the great tip. I shall put it into effect first chance.” Morning snuggled in under his duvet. It was decorated with stars.
“Good night, my dear. See you tomorrow. And remember, it’s Saturday,” said Sun, as she kissed Morning’s forehead once again.
“Good night, mother,” he said as the lights went off, "I love you."
"I love you too, dear." And thus Sun made her exit.
In the darkness, he in a whisper said to himself: “Saturday…” he glanced around the room. There was a faint light coming through the window from the full moon, illuminating the otherwise dark bedroom. Morning’s room was rather modest, indeed. Well, for a grandchild of the ruler of Equestria, that is. There were two bookcases filled to the brim with a wide assortment of books; a working table on which Morning could be doing his homework had he not preferred the floor; a small telescope, heavily used; and a nice rug with the star cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle, the family crest. In the corner one would also find a chest, containing a broad variety of personal objects, some being: “Why Are You Ten!? – a Guidebook for Emotionally Mature Foals” by Up, G., a personal favourite book of Morning’s; a shining ball enchanted to threaten anyone touching it with death and despair; a small stuffed of a rabbit he got when he was but three days old; and, oddly enough, a prismatic tie…
Author's Note
Yes, I had to include a song!
Yes, there will be more!
Next up: Saturdaaaaay!
Great thanks to The Ice Princess for a whole lot o' proofreading!