//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: The Tale of a Cross-eyed Mare 
// by Cheezy805 
//------------------------------//

Tale of a Cross-eyed Mare – Part 3

She opened her eyes then promptly shut them again. Sunlight was streaming in through the open curtains and flooding Ditzy’s room, pointing directly onto her bed.
She had intentionally left the curtains open so the sun would wake her up early, but she still didn’t want to get up. Why did I leave the curtain open… Oh, I don’t care, I want to sleep! She thought to herself. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, but it was too late, she was already awake. There was no going back to sleep from here.
She rolled out of bed and landed heavily on her hooves, then immediately remembered why she wanted to wake up early. She wanted to get up and cook breakfast for the rest of her family, and Zedd, before they woke up. She quietly crossed her room, avoiding creaky floorboards, and made her way into the hallway, then down to the kitchen.
Retrieving several items from both the fridge and the cupboards, she placed a pan on the stove and turned it on to begin cooking. When the food was most-way cooked she became aware of another presence. Risking a sideways glance (with one eye) toward the doorway, she saw a familiar brown coat and messy hair.
‘Good morning, sleepy-head’ she said, knowing it was Zedd.
He responded with a grunt and sat down at the table, immediately resting his head on his hooves. ‘I woke up because I smelled something good, but I am not a morning pony’.
‘How about I put on some coffee? Dad always drinks that to wake himself up in the mornings’
‘I’ve heard that apples wake you up more than coffee, but I don’t want to ruin breakfast. I don’t normally drink coffee, but I wouldn’t mind some, thanks,’ he said, still drowsy but waking up a bit.
Ditzy flicked a switch on the coffee maker and it began to hiss as it heated. After another couple of minutes, the toast and eggs were ready to be taken off the pan. Pine and Spring appeared in the doorway.
‘Well, this has to be a first. Cooking breakfast for us? What’s the occasion?’
‘Does she need an occasion? It gives me a break from cooking’ said Spring quietly from his side.
‘I just felt like doing something nice for the family! I hope I did a good job…’
The last time she had tried cooking for the family she had successfully burned everything from the toast to the juice. Pine looked over the food that was being put onto four plates and smiled. It looked and smelled good. ‘It looks fine. Can’t wait to try it’ he said.
Ditzy smiled broadly and finished piling food onto plates with renewed vigour. Pine took a seat at the table and noticed Zedd was already there, still half asleep.
‘Not a morning pony, eh? Don’t worry, I never was when I was your age, either.’
He immediately perked up again and said ‘Yes, si- um, uh… Pine…’ awkwardly. He still wasn’t used to calling him by his first name, and often let slip by saying ‘sir’. ‘Ditzy’s making coffee. It’s nearly done, right?’ he asked her.
‘Yeah, just a moment’ she said, dropping two of the plates down on the table in front of her parents. She turned and moved to the coffee maker, retrieving two mugs, and poured some coffee. After adding milk she placed the mugs in front of Pine and Zedd.
Pine took a sip and said ‘Ahh, just the way I like it. Strong!’
Zedd wasn’t so sure about it anymore. If a pony of Pine’s size wanted strong coffee, he would probably need to dull it a bit with sugar. He reached forward and added three teaspoons to his own coffee then took a sip. Still strong, but not bad.
‘Jeez, one or two?’ said Pine from across the table
‘Teaspoons?’ asked Zedd
‘No, bags! Hah!’ he slammed a hoof down on the table and laughed. Zedd chuckled nervously and put his coffee back down just as Ditzy dropped a plate in front of him and sat down at her own.
Spring poured two glasses of apple juice, courtesy of the Apple family, and asked ‘Do you have any plans today?’
Ditzy immediately spoke up. ‘We were going to go around town and ask how everypony got their cutie marks! Neither of us have ours and almost everypony else does… actually, the only pony left without hers is Applejack’
It was well known that the Apple mares were always the last to get their cutie marks in their year levels. ‘I think that sounds like a great idea’ said Spring. ‘Pine?’ she asked her husband.
‘Well, you’re not going to get them by sitting around every weekend, so I guess that’s alright. How about I tell you about how I got mine?’
‘That sounds interesting… how does a lumberjack get his mark?’ asked Zedd.
‘Well, it happened when I was only a little bit younger than you two are now. 
---
‘Get off your lazy rump, Pine! That is not how family members of mine act. You need to work! The real world is a lot harder than this!’ shouted the green colt. Pine’s father, while a passable role model, was very strict. There was no nepotism with him, he would treat everyone the same. 
‘Dad, I’m tired! I’ve been raking these leaves for seven hours!’
‘And you’ll rake them for seven more if you don’t get off your kiester and finish up the pile! There’s a wind coming, and you’ll need to start again if you don’t finish soon.’
‘What’s the point anyway? These trees are just going to drop more leaves and I’m going to have to rake them again…’
‘These trees aren’t going to drop any more leaves after today, Pine. Today I’m going to teach you to use a saw.’
Pine stared in disbelief. He had watched his father cutting down trees for years, but being unable to hold a saw properly due to his size, he was always given the rake to clean up. If he was lucky he’d be able to cut off loose branches with a small hacksaw, but never more than a few inches across.
‘Move it, son! If you want to get to cuttin’ we’re gonna need all these leaves out of here! If you slip while sawing, you’re in for a mite of trouble.’
His father was named Oak Bough. His coat was leaf-green, and his mane was auburn, just like leaves in autumn. He was a well-respected lumberjack in Ponyville. Ever since the Apple family had begun to sell their incredible Zap Apple Jam, he had moved his family in. They had a good business going. All the ponies' houses needed wood; some were entirely made of it.
Pine continued to rake with renewed vigour. Oak went back to his trailer and retrieved a well-worn saw and a brand new one, still sparkling in the sunlight coming between the forest canopy. 
Pine was done raking and he rushed over to the trailer to retrieve a net. This was something he had perfected. He tied the net to two trees and tied the other two corners to loose rocks and threw it over the pile of leaves. After the leaf pile was completely covered with the net, he and his father dragged the rock ends under the pile and tied all four ends together, making a large leaf sack.
With the leaves tied down, they moved back to the trailer and the two saws.
‘Pine, this was given to me the day my father taught me how to use it. This saw has been with me every day of my life since then. Now, I give you your own saw to use. Use it well, son.’
He moved a hoof from his slightly rusted saw to Pines new one and picked it up. After looking at his son with pride for a moment, he gave it to him.
‘So… are you going to show me how to use it?’
‘If you’re my son, you’ll know how to use it. You’ll know,’ he said, voice cracking a bit.
Pine had never seen his father get emotional over anything before. He knew that this was important not just for him, but for his father, too. He carefully put it on his back and picked up a small axe. He walked to a nearby tree and dropped the saw to the ground. He took his mark between a knot and a root and swung the axe. It struck dead-on where he wanted it to. 
Oak saw this. It was the worst tree in the vicinity for roots and knots, yet his son had chosen the perfect place to begin a mark. Pine removed the axe from the tree trunk and placed his new saw in the dent left by the axe. Slowly, he began to saw. It felt better than he could ever imagine. He had discovered something that matched his personality perfectly! The saw felt like an extension of his forelegs. He could almost feel the blade grinding through the wood.
After what felt like no time at all, the tree began to groan. Pine quickly yanked the saw from the tree and gave an almighty buck.
‘TIMBER!’ he yelled as it fell with a resounding crack. He didn’t need to, but in the euphoric state left by felling his first tree, he wanted to do something. Yelling just seemed fitting. A deafening boom filled the forest as the tree hit the ground, followed by the indignant screeching of hundreds of birds that were fleeing their homes.
Oak laughed and placed a hoof around Pine’s neck. ‘I have never been more proud of you, son,’ he said. Pine felt a light burning on his flank and craned his neck to see a mark. It was an axe. His father had a saw and he had an axe. He couldn’t help but laugh with glee at the whole situation. He had felled his first tree, he had received his cutie mark, and he had finally made his father proud. Oak laughed, too, and moved off to retrieve his own saw and axe. ‘Come on, son! There’s more where that one came from’.
---
‘Wow… that’s awesome!’ said Zedd after Pine had finished his story. 
Ditzy knew the basic story of how he had gotten his mark, but had forgotten most of it. He had told it to her one night when she had indigestion and couldn’t sleep when she was a little filly. She still didn’t know her mother’s story.
‘What about you, mum? How did you get your mark?’
‘Oh, well, when I was a little bit older than you are right now…’
---
She flapped her wings harder. School was over and she was out in the real world… she didn’t know what she was going to do, but trying out for the Weather Patrol was a good start. There was a strong headwind coming toward her practise team. It hadn’t hit yet, but she could sense it coming.
‘Brace yourselves!’ she called back.
‘What for? It’s perfectly clear ou- woah!’ shouted a Pegasus, pausing when the gust hit and he was knocked back a few feet.
All the other Pegasi immediately began to flap harder to overcome the headwind, but Spring stopped flapping completely. She held her wing joints taut to keep her wings extended, but let everything else go limp. She could feel small eddies in the wind and glided between them, wasting no energy. Sensing a backdraft a few feet away, Spring signalled for the group to go single-file behind her as she led them through it.
The task they were set was simple. A mock storm had been made somewhere in Ponyville and they had to find it and subdue it. Another pony, Highwind Stray, had spotted the gray cloud in the distance and Spring had immediately begun to lead them along. The cloud was small, but powerful. It was made of condensed Cumulous, and wouldn’t simply be able to be bucked away. 
When they reached the cloud another pony took the lead and sent Pegasi to strategic parts of the cloud, all to buck on his signal. He found every loose part of cloud, sometimes lightly kicking to loosen it, and placed a Pegasus there. When all 8 of the group were around it he shouted ‘Now!’ and they all bucked. The cloud roared as it blew apart and dispersed and the wind died down.
‘Good job, everypony. You showed great skill today. Spring, Highwind, and Breeze, would you please report to HQ? The rest of you can continue with the drills.’
Spring would have leapt for joy if she weren’t already airborne. Being told to report to HQ meant they were almost sure to be accepted! She could finally begin work!
When they arrived at the head office of the Weather Patrol, they landed on the cloud out the front and walked in. the building was only mid-sized considering it was located next to the Weather Factory. 
Spring looked over to the factory and noticed a grey van entering the Rainbow Factory directly. I wonder what they’re delivering… the Rainbow Factory is so mysterious… oh well she thought to herself as she walked through the front doors.
The pony at the front desk barely looked up before saying ‘Go straight through, the boss is expecting you’, and continuing to file her painted hoof.
The three moved into the next room and stood awkwardly. The boss was a great, black stallion with a grey mane. Black ponies were rare and to have a black coat showed power. ‘Take a seat’ he said to the three, indicating a few seats across from his desk.
After they were seated, he sat in his own seat and pulled out some files. ‘Now, Mr. Highwind, it says here that you have strong eyesight. That could come in helpful with us locating stray clouds. If you would report to Sector 12 tomorrow morning at sunrise you can begin training as a searcher immediately. Are you happy with this job?’
‘Yes, sir! Very happy, sir!’ he said, enthusiastically. 
‘Good. A happy worker is a hard worker. You may leave. Take the day off.’
‘Yes, sir’ he said again, giving a bow before leaving the room.
‘Mr. Breeze? The report says you showed leadership skills. We could train you as a Weather Patrol Captain, if this is true. Please give examples of your skill’
Breeze began to tell of several instances where he had seen what needed to be done and immediately given orders. Without a leader in these circumstances, something could have, and would have, gone wrong. The final example he gave was just a short while ago in the mock storm chase, where he had ordered the ponies to different spots around the cloud.
‘Without him we probably would have just stared at it until somepony turned up to fail us’ said Spring.
‘As untrue as I hope that is, I suppose you may be right. Very well, Breeze, if you would report to Sector 2 tomorrow, you can begin training immediately. You may also leave’ said the Boss.
‘Yes, sir’ he said, also bowing before leaving.
‘Now, Ms. Spring. It says here that although you have strong leadership skills, your voice is quieter than most. Am I right?’
‘Um… yes, sir’ she said.
‘I see… shouting over a gale would be exceedingly difficult for you. Your report tells me that you can somehow sense changes in weather patterns before they happen. Is this true?’
‘Well, I’m not sure about “before they happen”, but my wings are very sensitive. I can feel changes in wind speed and direction before the bulk of it hits, and I can also feel slight… pulling whenever there’s a backdraft or slipstream. That came in helpful today when we were rushing to the mock storm cloud. I led the group into a slipstream and we didn’t have to fight as hard against the wind.’
‘Very good. That’s a most unusual skill… You know, I don’t think we’ve had a meteorologist in a while.’
‘Excuse me for asking, but what’s a meteorologist, sir?’
‘A meteorologist is a pony who studies the weather and predicts it for the good of everyone. Most of the time the workers at the factory control the weather, but if something goes wrong and we need a few days to clean it up a meteorologist may come in helpful in cleanup and telling the public. You’ll also be able to deliver weather reports to the towns of Ponyville and Cloudsdale, should you accept.’
‘That sounds like a great job! I- I would be honoured to take it’
‘Very good. If you could report to Sector 1, Subsector 3 tomorrow morning, we can assess your skills and you can begin work the day after.’
‘Wait, no training?’
‘With this skill being so rare, there is no training to be given to you. If anything, you should be training other ponies. But, alas, it is not a skill that can be taught. You have a rare talent, my little Pegasus. Always remember that.’
‘Th-thank you, s-sir.’
‘You may leave’
She gave a small curtsy before turning and leaving. On her way back through the front door she noticed a small burning on her flank. She turned and looked at the glass door to see her reflection. There appeared to be a fluffy white cloud on her flank. Just to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light, she craned her neck to see. There was definitely a mark on her flank.
She immediately gave out a loud ‘Woo-hoo!’ before taking to the skies and landing on the one cloud in the sky where she could see all of both Ponyville and Cloudsdale. The cloud she sat on was fluffy and white. She had become a weather pony, all because of a talent she was born with. This was the best day of her life to date.
---
‘The best day of your life? What about the day you met me? The day we got married? The day Ditzy was born?’
‘I said “to date”’ she said shyly, blushing.
‘That was incredible. So you were born with your special talent,’ he said to Spring, ‘and you simply knew your own skill all along, but couldn’t get a mark until you did something?’ he asked, looking to Pine.
‘That’s right, I guess… I never really looked at it that way’ he said.
Ditzy spoke up. ‘I think I know what I want to do,’ she said.
‘Well, come on, let’s go!’ said Zedd
‘You two have fun. I’ll take care of breakfast’ said Spring, moving to pick up the empty plates and cups.
They walked out the front, and Ditzy immediately began to fly a few feet from the ground. She was barely moving her wings at all… it was strange… almost as though she was being levitated. Nopony could fly like that without moving their wings a lot more.
‘How are you doing that?’ asked Zedd
‘I can feel an updraft. My body is light enough that I can float on it, I just need to keep my wings completely still or else- Eep!’ she said, then fell back to the ground. Luckily she hadn’t been flying any higher, but she had dropped a loose feather in her right wing and had lost balance.
Zedd made sure she was alright, then noticed the feather floating away. He chased it, Ditzy in tow. He ran all the way across town, the feather just out of reach, laughing all the while. Ditzy began to laugh, too, at how childish it seemed to chase a feather caught in the wind, but still refused to stop.
Ditzy took to the air and began to glide effortlessly to it. 
‘Hey, no fair!’ shouted Zedd from below.
‘Well, it did come from my wing!’ Ditzy called back.
Zedd began to run frantically toward it. They were approaching the marketplace. Zedd overtook Ditzy without her realising. She had closed her eyes and was relying on her wings to guide her.
Zedd ran straight into the marketplace. Somepony was blowing bubbles all over the place and one hit the feather. Instead of the bubble popping, it absorbed the feather and began to sink slowly to the ground. Zedd stopped in front of the bubble and stared in disbelief. The bubble was reflecting a rainbow and he could see the colours being refracted all over the grey-blue feather. It was entrancing as it hovered a foot from the ground, seeming to dance in the wind.
He looked back and saw Ditzy, eyes still closed, flying through the air.
She could feel an abnormality in the wind… several, in fact. She began to fly between the strangely spherical eddies of wind and felt something wet splash on her nose. She opened her eyes to see bubbles all around her. There were several ponies watching, but she paid no heed as she spread her wings wider and turned them up to stop her movement through the air.
She watched as the bubbles moved through the air in response to her flaring her wings… she had control over them. Dance, bubbles, she thought to herself as the lightly began to fluff singular feathers to make certain bubbles move. She led them into formations of snowflakes and flowers, then gave a huge flap of her wings to spread them. They fell into perfect harmony, even while floating away, and a rainbow reflected between them all and coalesced to Ditzy as she landed.
Zedd had never seen a more incredible sight. She seemed to glow under the spectrum-coloured light, and her flank flashed. He looked down to see seven bubbles on it.
He suddenly became aware that she was staring at him, and he glanced away, embarrassed. She wondered why he had been looking at her hip… No, he’s not that kind of pony… do I have dirt or something on- oh Celestia! She thought to herself, turning her neck to see the seven bubbles on her flank.
She rushed over to him and jumped on his shouders shouting ‘Zedd! Zedd, I got my cutie mark! I did it!’
He was surprised by how light Ditzy was… it almost seemed to defy physics how light she was versus her body size.
‘Good work, Ditzy! I saw. You looked amazing…’ he said.
‘Thanks, Zedd’ she said, leaning down close to kiss him on the cheek. His front knees buckled and he fell flat on his face, Ditzy landing on top of him.
‘Oh, sorry! I’m so sorry, Zedd!’ she said, jumping off of him to help him up. ‘I shouldn’t have jumped on you’
‘That’s not why I fell- oh, um, yeah, I guess I just lost my balance, heh-heh’ he said, taking her hoof to get up.
They became aware that everypony in the marketplace was staring at the two and Ditzy massively blushed and hid her face in Zedd’s mane.
‘Come on, Ditzy. Let’s go and tell someone. Hey, is that Pinkie over there? Oh, shoot, I still have to apologise to her for the other day. Come on’ he said, leading her over to the pink mare.
‘What do you want? I thought we weren’t friends anymore,’ she said, her hair still deflated.
‘Weren’t friends? Why would you think that, Pinkie?’
‘Only because you never want to see me again! The other day when I only wanted to be a help to you, you told me to go away.’
‘Look, Pinkie, I’m sorry about the other day. I was-‘
‘Oh, that’s okay then!’ she almost shouted, her hair puffing back to normal, ‘Ditzy, good work on getting your cutie mark! I got mine a few months ago when I realised that I like happiness and I like making other ponies happy and I threw a party for my family and they liked it and were all SO HAPPY and GASP, I should throw you a Congratulations-On-Getting-Your-Cutie-Mark party! I’ll be right back!’
‘Um… at least she accepted my apology?’ said Zedd, sheepishly.
‘What did you do?’
‘When you ran away the other day and I was running after you Pinkie started running with me. She thought it was a race or something and she started speaking gibberish. I told her that I didn’t have time for it and told her to leave me alone. I didn’t know it would affect her that badly’
‘Well, I suppose it didn’t do any damage…’ muttered Ditzy.
‘Well, should we go somewhere now? We could go to Sugarcube Corner, I guess. I mean, Pinkie would be done preparing the party by the time we got there’
They began to walk to Sugarcube Corner, wondering aloud what Pinkie would have in store for them. Every time she threw a party it was somehow even bigger than the last one she held, and the last party she had was pretty big…
Upon arriving at Sugarcube Corner, they noticed nothing out of the ordinary. They walked in and asked Mrs. Cake if she had seen Pinkie at all.
‘Oh, well I saw a pink blur a while ago, but I thought that was just a trick of the light. She must be really excited about something!’
‘Oh, okay… well, do you have any of those delicious blueberry muffins?’ asked Ditzy.
‘But, of course! Do you think I’d ever leave you without some? They just came out of the oven’
Mrs. Cake turned and put on a pair of oven mitts, then retrieved a tray from the windowsill. There were six muffins on it; half blueberry and half raspberry. She took off one of the mitts and touched the tray. Finding it warm, but not hot, she allowed the ponies to each take one and passed over four bits to pay for them.
‘Oh, and good work on getting your cutie mark, Miss Doo,’ she said, moving to place the remaining four muffins under the counter for everypony to see through the glass.
‘Thanks, Mrs. Cake! This is delicious, by the way’ said Ditzy as she pushed the front doors open for herself and Zedd.
‘’Eah! If rea-y ‘ood!’ said Zedd with a mouthful of muffin. Ditzy giggled as he walked through the door and then followed.
---
After a day of searching the town for Pinkie, fruitlessly, they decided to return home. How could I have forgotten to tell mum and dad? Oh, they’re going to be mad, thought Ditzy to herself. 
They walked through the front door and noticed all of the lights were off.
‘Hello? Mum? Dad? Is anypony home?’ she called to the empty house.
‘Maybe everypony has been invited to the party and they couldn’t find us’ said Zedd.
‘Well, that wouldn’t make sense,’ said Ditzy, moving to flick on the lights. ‘How could Pinkie, of all ponies, forg-‘
‘SURPRISE!’
As the lights turned on, they saw numerous ponies all in a crowd around them. How they hadn’t walked into one of them in the dark was beyond Ditzy, especially considering that they were blocking the exit.
‘You’re right that I didn’t forget about you! I was beginning to wonder when you were going to get here, silly filly! I got the whole class here and your parents and some other friends of ours and everypony is here!’
Pinkie rushed through the crowd and put on some music. ‘Now, let’s par-tay!’ she shouted to the crowd, who began to talk and dance a bit.
Ditzy and Zedd began to tell the story of what had happened again and again to eagerly awaiting ponies in the room. After telling the story for the fourth time, to the same ponies, Ditzy said she just wanted to talk to people. Others began to swap stories about what had happened to them, a surprising amount saying something about a rainbow, and they eventually began to dance.
As the night wore on, more ponies began to leave and the tempo of the music began to slow. Eventually, Pinkie announced the final song was coming up, and the remaining couples got up for a dance. The song began to play as Zedd took Ditzy’s right hoof in his left, and put his other hoof to her flank. They stood up and leaned together as the song began.

It's sad we're worlds apart.
There'll have to be a way for us to start.
You're in an alternate reality.

I know that you're not real, except for what I feel.
I want you buried in my heart.

Zedd held her closer to him and leaned his head against her neck as she responded in kind.

The way you look at me, with such ferocity, it's makin' me just fall apart.
Tell me, is this wrong?

There's nothing for me here, but solitude and fear.
Your bright colors make it clear.
If I were to leave what more could I be than just some passing stranger?

This is my life.
This is my dream.
This is my fantasy.
Wanting for more
Wanting your form
To be so near to me.

They leaned in even closer and began to hug each other tightly, still rocking side to side with the music. They were both hopeless dancers.

This is my life.
This is my dream.
This is my fantasy.
Wishing for more
Wishing your form
to be so near to me.

This is my life
This is my dream
This is my fantasy...

As the song ended, the two shared a passionate kiss. After what felt like an eternity, they broke apart.
‘I love you’ whispered Zedd
‘I love you, too’ she whispered back.
They were pulled out of their trance by cheering and stamping of hooves. They looked around and noticed that everyone in the room had stopped dancing and was watching the two in the middle.
Ditzy wished she could simply disappear. She began to blush hotly and hid a little bit behind Zedd. After standing in silence for a few long seconds, Pine came into the middle of the crowd.
‘Come on, party’s over. Unless you want to stay and help clean up, that is?’
There was a mad rush as everypony who didn’t live there ran to the door and tried to fit through it, four at a time. Someone even opened a window and dived out.
Spring glanced around the room. There wasn’t much mess at all; most of the empty drinking cups and packets of food were still on the tables. There was no food on the floor, nor where there any drink stains. There would be a time to clean up, but it could wait. Luna’s moon had long-since risen and they were all tired.
Pine followed Spring to their bedroom, flicking off lights as he went, and turned to say something before he closed the door.
‘Now I don’t want to hear any “bumping” in the night, got it? I don’t want to hear anything.’
Ditzy blushed and turned to enter her room. Zedd simply stared awkwardly.
‘Don’t worry, it’s just a joke. Jeez, do you understand the meaning of “humour”?’
‘Oh, err, right… well, good night, Pine, sir’
‘Night, Zedd,’ he said before turning and closing his door.
Zedd made his way to bed without turning on the light. When he got there, he found somepony already in it.
‘Don’t tell me I have the wrong room’ he muttered.
‘Right room, I just wanted some company. Come on, lie down’ whispered Ditzy.
Zedd awkwardly climbed in and lay down. She was warm and soft. He leant against her in the double bed and pulled the covers over himself. He hugged Ditzy to him and cleared his mind, trying to sleep.
Both comfortable in the company of each others, the two lovers slept.