“I’m sorry honey, I can’t buy you a telescope right now.”
“But mother…” The small blue filly whined.
The mature dark blue mare sighed. “Listen Cobalt, I know you want to continue your studies, but with our new king, everything has become much harder for mares. I don’t make nearly as much money as I used to.”
Cobalt wasn’t bratty. She would ask for something once, and if declined, she wouldn’t pester. “...Yes mom.”
“I’m sorry my little Cobalt. Maybe your father will be able to buy one for you. He will be home in…” She looked at her watch. It read: January 1st, 2022, 5:00 PM. “One hour.”
“Okay.” She tried to hide her disappointment with a fake half-smile, but she wasn’t too sure of it.
Her mother trotted upstairs, and Cobalt wandered to her room on the first floor, taking off her small white lab coat that obviously seen some use. She didn’t bother taking off her glasses, since she would be nearly blind without them. She hung her coat on the door, and closed it behind her. She walked over to a mirror on her closet to check her hair.
She had similar colors to the late Princess Luna. She had plenty of hair, even when compared to her mother, and was done into a style similar to Sephiroph from Final Fantasy VII, one of her most favorite video games. Her hair itself was blue just like the night sky, her eyes only slightly brighter, and her cutie mark being a blade infused with magic. She received her mark remarkably early, at her current age of six. The unicorn was always talented with magic, and she learned this quickly.
Once she decided her mane was fine, she laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling, finding the popcorn paint above oddly alluring as her brain trailed off into deep thought.
Why is mother always so down? The King made her make less money? How?
She continued on her thoughts, but never really seemed to pick out any definite answer. She was a child with plenty of smarts above her peers, but sometimes even the simplest questions could go over her head if she overthinks it.
Eventually she grew comfortable with the thought of, Maybe he just did it because he can?
No, too simple.
At any rate, she seemed to ponder on it long enough, as an hour passed. Her father, Star Dust, came into the home. He called to his wife and daughter. “Astrology Spectrum? Cobalt Spectrum? I’m here!~”
Star Dust, a white unicorn with short sky-blue hair and yellow eyes, watched as his daughter dashed from her room to hug him.
“Father!”
He chuckled as he closed the front door and returned her gesture. “How’s my favorite little scientific filly?”
“Great now that you and mother are home! I missed you so much… I thought you would be gone…”
“I told you I would come back.” He appeared to be wearing an army uniform. He was drafted by Ice Breaker himself to serve for two years. He was lucky to make it out alive, as uprisings against the king were becoming more common, and crowd control officers were in sharp scarcity. Some things occurred that not even Star Dust wanted to remember.
“Honey! You’re back!” His wife gave him a hug that was almost too tight. “You don’t have any injuries do you?”
“I’m lucky to have come back almost unscathed. Those were a pretty bad couple of years I had to suffer through.”
“What happened?” Cobalt inquired.
“I… I don’t want to talk about it. Not right now at least.” He sighed heavily, the memories of his unwilling service to the king surfacing quickly in his mind. He decided to change the subject to combat his poisonous recalls. “Did you finish your homework? Ms. Briggs would be displeased if you didn’t.”
“Did you forget that I’m always on top of my work father? I’ve already completed my Basic Economics homework!”
“...Right. It’s been too long. Good work. I’ll settle down upstairs. Astrology, could you get dinner started? I’ll be back downstairs to help in a second.”
“Sure. What are we having tonight?” She made her way to the kitchen, beginning her search through the many wooden cabinets.
The white unicorn put his hoof to his chin. “Hmm… organic hayburgers?” He suggested on his way up the stairs.
“We haven’t had that in some time.” She smiled at the thought. How long has it been since we had that dish? It’s somewhat of a delicacy in the home, as odd as it sounds! “I’ll start right away.”
“Cool! Something different for a change!” Cobalt cheered.
“Indeed dear.” She started to pay more attention to the cabinets, noticing that they were rather empty. “Groceries are looking scarce… no matter, we have what we need.” She retrieved the ingredients from the cabinet and fired up the stove after grabbing the required dishes with her magic.
Star Dust came trotting down from upstairs, then took his spot at the table. “Come sit with your old pa.” He motioned for Cobalt to come around the table.
She obliged, sitting at his side. “Are you finally here to stay with us?”
“My service is over smartie, I promise.” He sighed out of relief. “I’m here to stay.”
“Awesome!”
After a few minutes, a strong scent radiated through the home. The food was coming along just fine.
“Mother, that smells good!” Cobalt chirped.
“Home cooking at it’s finest.” She stated confidently. “Just another minute and it will be ready.” She took some ketchup from a nearby cabinet. “This is up for grabs if either of you wants it!”
The father and daughter glanced at each other and nodded. “Yes please.”
She took the hay from the pan and distributed it between four pairs of buns for two burgers. “How many do you want Cobalt?”
“Three.”
“Really?” She chuckled. “Okay. You always were a hungry filly. Star?”
“Same.”
“A grown stallion needs his food!” She whipped up the orders and placed them on the table, along with her own serving of one burger. “Eat up!”
The bottle of tomato paste sat in the center of the table. Cobalt and Star Dust stared each other down over it.
Astrology noticed their contest, and merely rolled her eyes. Just like the old days.
They began to tug at the bottle with their magic, seeing who would prevail in snatching it first. It was heated, and they both seemed very concentrated. Eventually, Cobalt managed to rip it out of her father’s grasp. “Hehe, I win!”
“Well played. Your magic keeps getting better everyday!”
“Now now you two, are you done fighting over the condiment?”
They both nodded.
“Good.” She replied with a smile. “Now, no more playing at the table, both of you.” She took a bite of her food.
Within the span of a minute, Cobalt had already finished one of her burgers, and so did Star Dust. Those two always seemed to be so competitive.
Astrology giggled at their antics.
Soon, Cobalt finished her plate only seconds before Star Dust.
“Blast!” He said in defeat.
“Haha! Beat you again father!”
“Undefeated as always eh? Seems I lost my edge.”
Astrology was barely halfway done with her meal. “How do you two not get stomach aches…”
“We’ve grown accustomed to our fast intake of food.” Star Dust replied, looking at his daughter. “For better or for worse. So, my little scholar, tell me what you want to be when you grow up. I want to hear your story again.”
“I want to be a super powerful master wizard who can shoot fire and summon creatures!”
“That takes quite a bit of skill young Cobalt. But if you succeed, you’ll be the first pony in Equestria to practice summoning magic! Doesn’t that sound amazing?”
“I suppose… but isn’t that type of magic prohibited here? It’s some form of black magic right?”
“Come to think of it, I’m not too sure…”
“I can already summon things!” Her horn glowed an almost pitch black blue, and out came a bright blue wisp.
Her parents glanced at each other before Astrology asked: “Where did you learn that spell from?”
“I made it! The wisp gives me a Light Magic Shield until it’s destroyed.”
“...Interesting…”
“Honey?” Star Dust said. “Are you alright? You look worried.”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Cobalt was distracted by the Wisp dancing around her.
Astrology whispered into Star’s ear. “I have to talk to you upstairs.”
“Whatever for? About the magic?”
“Yes.” She got up and took her burger. “Cobalt, we’ll be right back, okay?”
“Yup!”
Both parents trotted upstairs, Star Dust bearing a confused expression all the while.