Diamond Tiara's Birthday Wish - 366 Days of Fun

by Theo Vellum

Day 14 November 7th Friday: The First Winter Stargaze

“Alright, everypony. I’ll check on you all in a bit. Be sure to take plenty of notes!”

Miss Cheerilee trots back into the nice, warm lodge. Gee, I wonder if all this cold snow in the middle of the night is too much for her? At least she made sure to bring lots of warm clothes for us. Not that it helps much. It’s cold out tonight, even for winter. It’s so cold that Dad was worried about us catching the flu, so he made me pack some emergency cold and flu relief medicine. He’s probably worrying too much though.

“Oh, DT! I think I see something! It looks like Luna’s made some stars in the shape of a cannon... But what kind? I’ll get out the history reference books.”

Silver Spoon is really into this stargazing assignment. It seems the cold won’t be getting to her anytime soon. The other ponies don’t seem to be having many problems either. They seem to be keeping their distance from us on this field trip. Maybe they are afraid we’ll pelt them with water balloons like on Nightmare Night? That was a one-time revenge scheme, and... Oh darn. It’s freezing... I think I’m gonna...

“Achoo! Achoo!” Great, I think I might actually need that medicine Dad packed. Silver Spoon looks at me with concern.

“Come on, Diamond Tiara, you can’t already be getting like this, we need to stay here for another half hour, at the least.” I ignore her as I take some medicine for my runny nose. I like snow as much as the next pony, but it’s so cold out tonight I can barely stand it.

“DT, c’mon, do you want to do this or not? You know as well as I do that historic stargazing really does a lot for getting a good reputation with art ponies. How else are you going to get a discount on that art piece you want to buy for your Dad?”

“H-h-how can you s-stand this c-c-cold? It’s so stupidly cold... Stupid cold!” I kick at the snow beneath my hooves, only for a sudden wind to blow it all into my face. “Ack! Even the snow is against me t-tonight!”

I feel something warm wrap around my neck. I look over to Silver Spoon, who is taking off some of her extra warm clothes. “Go ahead and take it, DT. You wouldn’t believe how cold it gets in Canterlot, it’s up in the mountains after all. So I’m pretty much used to the cold.”

“Thanks, Silver, but won’t you catch a cold if you don’t wear enough warm clothes?”

“Not really, those who lived in Canterlot build up a resistance to it eventually. Now let’s get our extra credit done already. Now, I think this cannon is one of the ones used in the Griffon-Pony War about 400 years ago, and a very early one at that.” She gives a quick smile up to the stars. “Princess Luna must be giving one of her history lectures through the stars again. I could imagine she must enjoy learning about all that happened... Oh! There’s the next constellation!”

Just as Silver Spoon said, the stars are rearranging to create another shape. It appears to be... A pony and griffon staring each other down.

“Who are those two, Silver Spoon?” Silver stares hard at the constellation. She always tries very hard when it comes to history.

“If I’m not mistaken... It must be... Hm... Ah! Got it!” A flash of brilliance appears on her face. “Those are the two leaders of the armies in the late years of the war, back when they were mere soldiers!”

I look close at the constellation. If her conclusion is true...then she’s really gotten better at this. I can’t really tell that’s who they are, but then again most of the pictures we see of them are in their later years, when they commanded the two armies.

It goes on like this for a while, Silver Spoon occasionally asks for help in identifying a constellation. I look through the history books for references and other notes to make in our reports. We all around have a good time. But once twenty five minutes have passed, I have a question I needed to ask her.

“How did you get so good at this anyway, Silver Spoon? Stargazing isn’t really your special talent.”

She looks at me with a bit of shock on her face, but quickly starts thinking. “I guess... Hm... I suppose it all started whenever my family used to go on stargazing trips every month when I was little. I was never really perfect at it, but it’s something I’ve always been interested in.” She gives me an awkward smile. “Maybe even more than my actual talent.”

I suppose I never really thought about it like that, the fact you could pursue things other than your talent. I mean, I’ve always been interested in royal history and crown making, but I never really thought about pursuing other stuff when I’m older. Of course, I would be good at anything I try, and those I’m not immediately good at... I never really thought about practicing them. But if Silver Spoon got that good, maybe I should try that again.

“Ah! Here’s the last one! The one that represents the truce the two countries made. It’s so amazing that if these two didn’t meet each other on the battlefield the truce might not have been made...” I write down the last notes we made; this should make for a good report.

“Students! It’s over! Don’t forget to turn in your reports next week!” Cheerilee shows up now that the half hour has passed conveniently enough. “I hope you all got plenty to think about from this stargaze!”

In a way... I suppose we did. I look over to Silver Spoon. She looks back at me and smiles.

“We are definitely doing this again, DT.”

DAY 14 END

Author's Note:

Sorry it's been so long, I can't make any excuses, but I will be trying to write more now. I most likely won't finish this on the date of the 366th day, but I'll still be posting. I'm never giving up on this story.

Comments

[Pink as Pie]

Yeah, it isn't dead!
Keep going if you can, I know it ain't easy.

[Biker_Dash]

It is great to hear that, even though you sense that you will not make your planned completion date, you still fully intend to see this project through. I applaud you, good Sir.
mlpforums.com/uploads/post_images/img-2851931-1-Octavia_Clapping.gif

[ServingSpoon]

what is Silver Spoon's talent in this fic? I read so many SS and DT fics that it's hard to differentiate them from each other.