//------------------------------// // Pound Cake I // Story: Perspectives // by StunningSwan //------------------------------// I am known as being the Captain of the Royal Guard. Others know me as being the son of Marquis Zephyr Breeze. And now, many know me as being the fiancé of Princess Skyla, but there is more to me that most do not know. My name is Pound Cake. I belonged to the Cake Household, a bakers family with a mom, dad, and twin sister. Though I lived a commoners’ life, I could not be more happy, but it did not last too long. I was eight at that time and my dad has sent me to fetch some eggs from the market. I did what I was asked, but when I got back home, the house was on fire. I tried going into the house to find my family, but somepony stopped me. That pony was the Marquis. He happened to past by it and called for help. When the help finally arrived, it was too late. If only I didn’t go to the market, I would have been there. Maybe things would have turned out differently. I could have done something to help, to save them. They could have been alive. Sadly, it did not turn out that way. Not only was my home destroyed, my family was gone. All burned to death. The authorities believed the fire was accidental since it was a baker’s home. They believed something went wrong while somepony was baking something. I personally did not believe that. My family were experts, including my sister. They wouldn’t be clumsy enough to start a fire in the house like that. Something was off. But I was just a kid at that time. I could not do something about it. And since it was a family of commoners that died, no pony cared. From that point on, my life changed. I was suddenly adopted by my new father, Marquis Zephyr and became his heir. I would never forget about my old family, but I also had a new one. Marquis Zephyr and Lady Polomare were kind, and at some point, I got used to calling them ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’. Going from rags to riches was really unsettling. I wasn’t used to getting everything on a silver platter. It took awhile, but I got accustomed to my new life. As a young colt in an aristocratic family, I got the privilege to receive education. Everything I learned was easy and I went through it fast. And at the age of ten, I became a young genius. Before, members of the aristocracy knew me as the poor colt the Marquis took pity on. Now, they see me as a bright young scholar. That was the most satisfying part of becoming a noble, you get the opportunity to prove them wrong. Even with my accomplishments, I was still blind. Too blind to see my adopted parents’ true colors. That was until she arrived. I was in my bedroom until the butler came in. “Young Master, your Father wants to speak with you” “Is Father home already?” The butler nodded and signaled me to go downstairs. I went down to the living room, where Father was. “Son, just the pony I was looking for” I greeted him and looked past him to see a little filly hiding behind him. “Oh, so you have noticed”, Father said. He then turn back to the little filly and says, “Don’t be shy, he won’t bite”. The little filly shyly comes out from behind Father and goes next to him. “This is my son I was talking about during our carriage ride” The little filly suddenly looked at me with glee. She goes up to me and asks, “So you are Pound Cake?” I slowly nodded, still confused at what is happening. Then, I noticed her eyes. Before, she had her head down, but I can clearly see it now. Her eyes are crystal. Like the ones only the Royal Family have. Wait . . . “I’m eight, how old are you Pound?”, the young filly asked me. “Ten”, I hesitantly said. “Son, this is Skyla. She will be staying here for some time. I want you to look out for her from now on” I nodded to his request. “Pound, can you play with me?”, Skyla ask. I looked at Father to see if he approves. “Go ahead son, I will discuss about the situation more with you later” Long story short, Father had a sister, Fluttershy. Fluttershy went missing awhile back, but apparently she went to the countryside and had a daughter. Fluttershy died from an illness and now her daughter, Skyla, lives with us. And as I expected, she was royalty. Her father is Emperor Shining Armor, but I won’t dive deeper into it anymore. Honestly, it was nice to have Skyla around. Having someone close to my age made me feel less lonely at home. She reminded me of myself a lot. After all, our backstories are somewhat similar. But as the months passed and we grew a little bit older, I realized something. “Pound?” I looked up from my book and turned toward the door. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. “Pound, may I come in?” I sighed, “I’m sorry Skyla but I’m too busy studying” “Maybe I can help” “Unless you know how to read HθικὰΝικομάχεια in Greek, you can’t” “Then may you read me a book?” I don’t respond and tried to pick up where I left. Skyla continues, “You can finish reading me the one you read last time”. “But I finished reading you that two days ago”, I said, hoping my reason would make her leave me alone. “Then help me brush Angel’s hair” I sighed again. She just doesn’t go away. I think of Angel, her stuff bunny, and thought of another reason I can use. “Angel is probably on the drying line by now. You put him in the laundry basket this morning” “T-then come to the green house with me. Can’t you come see all the pretty flowers with me? Please?” “I’m sorry Skyla, but not now. Just go away” I know it sounds harsh, but I just don’t want to play with her now. “O-ok” A few hours later, Father called me to his office. I’m sure I am going to get scolded again for neglecting Skyla. I have learned in the past year since Skyla has live here that Father’s request was actually a demand. I do cherish Skyla, she is my cousin after all. It’s just that I can’t handle her neediness all the time. I get tired. I try to avoid feeling the guilt as I arrived at Father’ office. I was about to knock on the door until I heard voices. “She is such a crybaby”, I hear Mother say. “Don’t mind her dear. She is still young after all”, I hear Father say. Oh, so they are talking about Skyla. “But dearie, Pound Cake never acted like this at all. He always did what he was told and never whined about it” “Well, he is a very bright and mature child for his age. He is our son after all” “What did Skyla even do?”, Father asks Mother. “She just came up to me bawling and said Pound would not play with her” I can hear Father sigh and say, “I’ll scold the boy later about that then” I raised an eyebrow. So Skyla wasn’t the reason why he called me. Well, now it is. “Don’t scold our son, dearie. He was right to tell Skyla to go away, he was studying. Besides, I may have yelled at her for crying and she ran to her room” “I advise that you two need to be more patient with Skyla. After all, she will be very useful to us once she get’s into the Emperor’s graces” “And our status will increase and we can have more power, I know dearie” “Yes, but that will only happen if we are kind to Skyla. Trust me honey, if she wasn’t the Emperor’s daughter, I would have left her in that cottage so you not have to suffer”, Father says. “I would have preferred if that filly serves as a servant for me if it hadn’t been for her bloodline” I was in shock. Skyla was just a tool for them to get power? I thought my opinions of Skyla were bad. I always avoided the fact that Skyla is royalty, I only thought of her as my cousin. To think Mother and Father could have such thoughts. I regained my focus and continued to eavesdrop on them. I heard Mother say, “Why does it have to be the day of her Debutante Ball, for us to present her? That is still years ahead” “It’s best if we not only present her to the Emperor but also to the whole Aristocratic community” Mother groans, “What if things go wrong? He didn’t even care about the Lowly Princess. What makes you think the Emperor will accept Skyla?” Father sighs, “We can only hope. But if he doesn’t accept her, we’ll just throw her under the bus and forget that we even knew her” Mother laughs, “That is my husband” I couldn’t stand their scheme. I can’t believe what I just heard. I quickly ran from the office and went to Skyla’s room. I knocked on Skyla’s door. “W-who is it?” I can still hear her crying. I feel really bad now. “It’s Pound Cake. Let’s go to the Greenhouse” “R-really?” “Uh-huh” It takes her a moment to open the door. When she did, I could tell she just wiped her tears. I realized that Skyla is just a lonely child. Though she has us, we never really give her out full attention. Father and Mother only give her attention when they want to. Most of the time, they make me watch over her, but I neglect her as well. I’m no better than them. It’s night and I’m in Father’s office now. “I was going to scold you for not coming to my office earlier, but I saw that you were playing with Skyla” “I apologize Father” Father scuffles my mane and says, “I apologize for pressuring you in taking care of Skyla. You are just a child too” “It is fine Father. Skyla is my cousin after all” “Well, you do not need to worry about that anymore” “What do you mean?”, I ask. He passes me a letter. “You have been accepted to train at the Ordo Equestris Academy at the Crystal Palace” I have officially turned twelve already and I am going to the Crystal Palace soon to begin my training. But now, I regret going because I’ll leave Skyla behind. She is going to be even more lonely than before after I’m gone. I tried begging to Father to not let me go, but he wouldn’t. The Ordo Equestris Academy is a prestigious school where the most scholar and talented noble colts go. Basically, only the highest of the high in the Aristocracy community go there. And if I go to this academy, the Shy Family’s status will boost. That is why Father denied my pleads. I understood after some time. If I rejected the chance to go to this prestigious school, the family will be looked down on. It’s just disappointing that I have to leave Skyla. I am walking around the Estate when I bumped into Father. “Why are you wondering around, Son?”, Father asks. “I am looking for Skyla. She must have gotten upset and ran out of the mansion again” Father sighs, “I’ve told you that you don’t need to handle all of her tantrums anymore” Father scratches his head as he continues, “That child may be a precious treasure but you are what is most important” I scoff. Father isn’t ashamed of calling Skyla a tool in front of me anymore. He knows that I already know his intentions by now. “I’ll just look around for a little longer. I’m leaving soon, so I want to make it up to her before then”, I responded. “I see. I’ll leave you to it.” I finally found Skyla, she was in the Greenhouse. “As much I don’t want to leave you, I-“, I was interrupted. “Really? Then you don’t need to go!”, Skyla said cheerfully. I sighed, the message I gave her is being misinterpreted. Skyla continues, “I’ll tell them for you. Uncle and Auntie would understand if they heard it from me” “Skyla.”, I said. Don’t make it harder than it already is. “You can just tell them that you don’t want to leave”, she begged. “I have to go, even if you say that” “W-why? Why must you go? You’ve always said yes to whatever I wanted before”, Skyla said as she started to get teary. “I’m not leaving forever. I’ll come back to see you even during the semester. If you write me letters, I promise to write back, so you don’t need to cry like I’m disappearing for good” I wipe her tears and give her a hug. I’m truly sorry Skyla.