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// A Chance With Royalty 
// Story: Welcome to Ponyville! 
// by CharcoalShift 
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Soon after, the blame was put on him, saying that all of this wouldn't have happened if he had used magic. Ironically it was magic that got her hurt in the first place. Charcoal was expelled from school and Cinnamon was taken to the hospital. He ran to his usual comfort spot, which was the palace garden, hidden from the rest of the ponies in sight. The guards never really mind it, since Charcoal always found a spot to seclude himself without disturbing anything else. And there he sat, covered in tears, grease, and blood. He had no idea what to do, where to go, how to face the others.

He laid there, curled up into a ball until he heard a commotion near the back of the garden. He peeked over the bushes to see Princess Celestia and a chancellor fretting over a machine that had gone haywire.

"All of our mechanics are busy with more important matters chancellor, there is nothing else we can do at this point" Princess Celestia said with a worried tone. "If we don't do anything now, this whole palace could go up in flames!" the chancellor panicked. Charcoal popped up from the bushes, which gave them quite a scare. 

"I can fix that for you miss" he said with curiosity.

"You there! Learn how to address yourself properly to a Princess!" The chancellor hissed. Charcoal lowered his ears and leaned back into the bushes slightly. 

"Do not worry about him young one" Princess Celestia said calmly "You are able to fix this machine?". He looked at her and gave her a nod. She called the guards and gave Charcoal a small set of tools. He sat before the machine, which looked bloated and ready to burst. A few of the components were a bit different than what Charcoal had been used to, but he quickly got into the swing of things. The machine gave out a roar before returning to normal. 

The chancellor, as well as the princess herself was shocked. A Stallion of his age never had the ability to do something like that with such tenacity and motivation. Charcoal, who was now covered in oil and grease, gave a sigh of relief. He smiled at Princess Celestia, who commended him for his spontaneous act of volunteering. When Charcoal wiped away some of the grease from the back of his leg, he noticed a marking of two gears. Turns out that his devotion had given him his cutie mark, and Princess Celestia had given him a chance to work at the palace, as well as any other jobs that needed to be done in Canterlot.