Testing Her Library Skills
When Starlight led Twilight into the library, the first thing Twilight couldn't notice was the small size of it. While she had never been in any particularly large libraries, she had never been in a small town library either. She gave Starlight a curious look and asked, "Is this it? Is this all the more books that the library down here has?"
The question initially irritated Starlight but then she realized that the mare she was with had likely never been to any smaller communities, perhaps never even outside of Canterlot. She replied, "Yes, this is all we have. Small towns don't exactly have a demand for massive libraries like Canterlot does."
She led her down into the library where they were greeted by Spike, "Oh hi Starlight." He turned his attention to Twilight and asked, "Who is this?"
Starlight replied, "This is Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia has given me the task of helping her find her special talent."
Spike gave the unfamiliar mare a curious look and asked, "You a full grown pony and you still haven't earned your cutie....." Starlight gave him a glare causing him to not finish the question. He continued, "Oh hi Twilight, it's nice to meet you."
Twilight had never seen a dragon before, she had only read about them. She asked, "You have a baby dragon? Is he a pet or....."
Starlight interrupted, "He is my assistant actually. I hatched him in my entrance exam before becoming Celestia's protege."
Twilight took a close look at him and noticed something familiar about his colors. She commented, "That's odd, he is the same colors that the egg was that I was ordered to hatch but couldn't."
Starlight gave her a smile, "Hmmm....that's odd." She then led her towards the bookcases and continued, "Alright, I want you to take a good look at these books, the numbers on their spines, the order they are in and then we will see how good you are at shelving."
Twilight gave her a nervous look before beginning her task. As she was looking at the order of the books and the identification codes on them Spike asked, "Starlight, what is she doing? Why are you having her look at the books like that?"
Starlight replied, "Once she is done, I am going to take them all off the shelves and see if she can put them back in order. If she can, maybe she will get a librarian cutie mark."
Spike wasn't sure what to think about this as this was so unlike Starlight. Normally, outside of Moondancer, she was even leery about her friends handling the books. Once it appeared as though Twilight was finished, Starlight grabbed the books in her aura, took them off the shelves, placed them in a pile in the middle of the room and ordered, "Alright Twilight, put these books back in the proper order."
Twilight's pupils shrank upon the order. She knew that this had to be done to see if this was her special talent but she was terrified about how Starlight may react if she did it wrong. She gave her a nervous smile as she began to re-shelve the books with Starlight watching her. It would not be long until it was clearly visible that she was not putting them back in the right order but Starlight was not about to stop her and help her. If this was truly her talent, she would be able to complete it correctly without any help.
When she had placed every book back on the shelves she gave Starlight a nervous smile and said, "Well I have put them back on."
Starlight began to look over the books and was not thrilled by what she saw. The books, while Twilight had put them in order by number, had not put them back in order according to the letter that indicated subjects. She sighed before grabbing them in her aura, taking a quick look at them and putting them back in the right order. Once she finished shelving them she turned to Twilight and sighed, "Well it looks like library work is not your special talent."
Twilight held her head down and asked, "Does this mean you are done with me and I have no talent?"
Starlight replied, "Of course not. Follow me over to the apartment where my friends live. I have a feeling that one of them might be able to help you."
Visiting Starlight's Friends
Once they left the library they headed towards the apartment where her friends lived. Once they arrived Starlight knocked on the door and Lyra answered. Before she could say anything Starlight said, "Lyra, just the pony I want to see."
Lyra asked, "Oh?" She then pointed her hoof at Twilight and asked, "Who is this with you?"
Starlight replied, "This is Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia gave me the task of helping her discover her special talent but since library skills are not her talent, I brought her over here to see if perhaps one of you could help her."
Lyra motioned for the two to go in and closed the door. They sat on the couch and were greeted by her other friends. Minuette said, "Hi Starlight!"
Twinkleshine continued, "Hi Starlight, how's it going?"
Moondancer continued, "Starlight, it's so good to see you!"
Starlight replied, "It's good to see you too ladies."
Minuette asked, "So Starlight, who is this with you?"
Starlight replied, "This is Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia has given me the task of helping her find her special talent...."
Her friends began to stare at Twilight and noticed that she did not have a cutie mark. Moondancer asked, "Wait a minute, you still haven't got your cutie mark?"
The question bothered Twilight quite a bit. She held her head down and sighed, "No, I don't have it yet and I don't know what my special talent is."
Starlight was not thrilled with it either but her friends were the one set of ponies she would not glare at but she was going to go into further detail about the situation, "Alright, from what Twilight has told me, besides liking to read and liking the idea of being a librarian, she has also mentioned that playing the lyre or harp sounds interesting and right now she works at a bakery."
Both Minuette and Lyra's ears perked up at this. Lyra suggested, "Twilight, you could work with me and we could see how you are when it comes to the lyre!"
Minuette added, "Or you could join me in the kitchen and see how you are when it comes to baking."
Starlight responded, "Well actually I was thinking we could do both with her." She turned towards Lyra and continued, "How about you take her first and see how she is with the lyre?"
Lyra replied, "That sounds good to me!"
Lyra cast her gaze at Twilight and motioned for her to follow her. Twilight wasn't as nervous as she was with trying library work because Lyra seemed much more laid back and carefree than Starlight did.
Testing Her Musical Skills
Twilight followed Lyra back to her bedroom to discover that she had a decent sized lyre in there, a lyre larger than any she had ever seen. She commented, "Wow, you're lyre is pretty big."
Lyra replied, "Yep." She led Twilight over towards it and continued, "Alright, let's see how you are."
Twilight headed over to the lyre and wondered how exactly she was supposed to play it. She asked, "So do you use your hooves, do you have something like a pick for a guitar to do it or what?"
Lyra replied, "Well normally ponies use their hooves but watch this." She grabbed it in her aura and began to play music that Twilight found absolutely amazing.
While the music sounded wonderful to Twilight, she couldn't help but wonder how Lyra was able to play it solely with her magic. She asked, "Lyra, how can you do that? How can you play it without touching the strings?"
Lyra gave her a smile, "I don't know how I do it. When I was a filly I was curious about various things and I just thought I'd see if I could play it with magic. I discovered I could and that was when I got my cutie mark!"
Twilight gave her a weak smile, "Well that's good."
Lyra kept her big smile and replied, "Who knows Twilight, you might be good playing the lyre too. Whether it is using your hooves or using your magic, you might be amazing!" She cast her gaze towards her lyre and continued, "Go ahead Twilight, you might get your cutie mark!"
Twilight got a larger smile on her face as she knew that Lyra truly believed in her. She wasn't sure if she would be any good but unlike it was with Starlight, she felt a great sense of ease as she readied herself.
First she grabbed it in her magic and attempted to just use her magic. Unfortunately she couldn't get any notes played at all but that would not deter her when Lyra gave her an enthusiastic smile and suggested she used her hooves. Once she started to play, it sounded good but not quite as good as Lyra's playing did. After finishing what she hoped was a song, she looked down at her flank and saw nothing. She held her head low and sighed, "Well I guess playing the lyre isn't my talent."
Lyra replied, "Keep trying Twilight, it might take more than just one song!" She put her hoof around her and continued, "I believe in you, I know you can do this!"
Twilight gave her a smile and began to play some more but after thirty minutes it was obvious that she was not going to get her mark in this. She gave Lyra a look of sadness and sighed, "I'm sorry I wasted your time Lyra. I really enjoy playing but I guess it isn't my talent."
Lyra gave her a hug and replied, "It's alright Twilight, maybe you'll discover your talent in the kitchen with Minuette."
Twilight said, "Maybe."
Lyra motioned for her to follow her back to the living room and replied, "Follow me, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to help you."
Twilight couldn't help but feel frustrated that she had failed to get her mark twice already on this trip and had a bad feeling that despite working in a bakery and have done some baking, that she would likely fail this time as well.
Testing Her Baking Skills
When Twilight followed Lyra back into the living room and she still didn't have a cutie mark, everypony, including Starlight, looked sad for her. Starlight asked, "I take it you weren't good playing the lyre?"
Before Twilight could reply, Lyra said, "Well I think she sounded great but it just isn't her destiny to play the lyre."
While she looked sad at first, Minuette got a huge smile on her face and suggested, "Come on Twilight, let's get in the kitchen! Maybe baking is your special talent."
Twilight sighed, "Maybe."
As they headed into the kitchen Twilight couldn't help but feel the positivity radiating from the blue unicorn. Once they arrived Minuette asked, "So Twilight, do you ever do much baking?"
Twilight replied, "Well I work in a bakery so I have a little bit. I normally work the cash register but I have baked a couple of cakes that turned out well."
This immediately caused the wheels in Minuette's head to start turning. She suggested, "Tell you what, how about I have you bake a cake for all of us! If you've had cakes turn out good, I'm sure it will be delicious!"
Twilight asked, "Really?"
Minuette replied, "Really!" She grabbed some ingredients from the fridge and cupboards and sat them on the table. She then gave Twilight a smile and added, "There you go, now bake a delicious cake!"
Twilight gave her a smile but noticed one thing was missing, the directions. She asked, "Minuette, where are the directions? How can I bake a cake if I don't know how much of what to put in there?"
Minuette joyfully replied, "Oh Twilight, I never use directions! I just throw in what I like and let my imagination run wild!"
Twilight asked, "But what about how long do I bake it for? I don't want it to be overdone or underbaked!"
Minuette replied, "Just test it every now and then." She handed her a butter knife and continued, "Just insert it in the center every now and then. When it comes out clean, that means it is ready."
For Twilight this seemed like a rather crazy way to do things given that they had very specific recipes at the bakery but decided to go with Minuette's plan. She said, "Ok, I'll do that."
Twilight began to throw ingredients together and decided that she would bake her favorite kind of cake, chocolate with strawberry frosting. As she was making the cake, Minuette couldn't help but watch her with the same smile she has when she bakes. An hour after she had begun to mix ingredients together, she tested the cake with the knife and it was done. She pulled it out and couldn't help but smile.
Twilight grabbed the frosting but would be stopped by Minuette. She put her hoof around her and suggested, "You want to wait until it cools off a bit. If you try frosting it while it's hot, the frosting will melt right off of it."
Twilight sighed in frustration as she wondered how long it took for a cake to cool off. After thirty minutes the cake had cooled off enough that Twilight began to frost it. Once she was finished, Minuette licked her chops and suggested, "It looks so tasty! Let's cut everypony a slice and see how it turned out!"
They cut the cake into six even slices, plated them, grabbed a fork for everypony and headed out to the front room. When they took the cake out to the living room the first to say anything was Starlight, "Chocolate with strawberry frosting? Too bad Celestia isn't here because she would love this."
Twilight was hoping so much that it would be good and would be pleasantly surprised when she heard the ponies compliment her on her cake.
Minuette said, "Wow Twilight, this is delicious!"
Twinkleshine added, "You know Minuette, I think this might be better than yours!"
Lyra continued, "Wow, I've never ate cake this tasty!"
Moondancer added, "This cake is so good."
Starlight finished, "Wow, I don't think I've ever ate cake this good!"
Twilight asked, "Really, is it really that good?"
Starlight replied, "Yes Twilight, it is."
Twilight couldn't help but smile seeing that she had done such a good job and that everypony liked it but her smile disappeared when nothing appeared on her flank. She held hear head low and sighed, "I can tell you all really liked it and I really enjoyed making it but I guess this isn't my talent either." She sat down next to Minuette and began to cry, "I'm never going to find my talent, I'll probably be a blank flank for the rest of my life."
Everypony except Starlight had gathered around Twilight and embraced her. Starlight was sitting there in thought and then it hit her, Twilight had made Celestia's favorite flavor of cake. She then approached Twilight and suggested, "Twilight Sparkle, I just thought of something."
Twilight asked, "What?"
Starlight replied, "You made Celestia's favorite kind of cake and I am thinking, maybe if you can make one that she would like, something that would be the best cake she's ever ate, you might get your mark."
Twilight's eyes brightened up as she asked, "Really? You really think that if I can impress her that I might get my mark?"
Starlight replied, "Yes, you might." Starlight looked at the clock and noticed that it was only the middle of the afternoon and came up with another idea. She suggested, "Twilight, how about we go up to Canterlot. I'm sure I can get it arranged to where you can make Celestia a cake."
Twilight's eyes grew wide, "Really? You really think so?"
Starlight replied, "Yes. If somepony wants to make her a cake, she'll drop everything just so she can eat it." She headed towards the door and continued, "Come on Twilight, let's go up to Canterlot and who knows, you may have your mark before the day is over."
Twilight raced to Starlight, embraced her and exclaimed, "Oh thank you Starlight, let's get going."
Minuette joined them and added, "If you're going up to Canterlot to bake a cake like the one you just made, I'm joining you!"
Starlight turned back and asked, "Anypony else want to join us?"
While everypony did enjoy the cake that Twilight had made for them, none of them showed any interest so the three left the apartment and headed to the train station. While Twilight had her doubts as to whether she could make a cake so good that Princess Celestia would like it, she knew that at least she might get a chance so all she could do was hope for the best.