//------------------------------//
// 1 - Big Expectations 
// Story: Lost Muse 
// by David Silver 
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"Surely you understand." The larger mare loomed over the filly. "You've a bright future ahead of you. You will be something grand, something big! Something worthy of this family."

She frowned a little, imagining the last part was the most important part. "Uh huh... so... end of next week?"

"Yes, precisely." She paced around the filly. "I'm so proud of you, taking this as well as you are. I know this will be a tough transition, but you'll only be stronger for it." She put a hoof on her daughter's shoulder. "In the future, they will speak your name only with respect and awe."

"Sounds neat," she said without much conviction. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll be back later, for dinner."

"Libelous Word." She winced. It was never good when her mother spoke her name. "Go on, but you better be back in time, or I will not be amused, young lady."

"Yes, Mom." Her teeth were set, but she kept a smile on her face despite it, dipping towards her haughty mother. "I'll be there, promise."

"See that you are."

Libelous fled as quickly as a 'proper' little filly could, which turned into a full gallop the moment she felt sure her hooves would not be heard. She threw open a door, wings unfurled, only to almost run into a refined stallion. "Oh,  hey Butters."

"Ma'am," replied the butler. "Going off to see your friend?"

"Sure am."

"Very good." He inclined his head faintly. "Are you wearing protection?"

Her cheeks warmed rapidly. "I can handle that on my own."

"I'm certain you can, Ma'am. Shall I launder your things while you're away?"

She waved a wing dismissively as she stormed past. "Yeah, yeah, see you later." Libelous fled out the front door and took to the skies. The air never judged her, at least not any test she couldn't pass. She did a little twirl, casting aside the grey clouds of her mind for a time in favor for a wild spin.

Below her, she saw a familiar top of a pony. A pony with a pointy bit. He was a forest green unicorn, walking along while a sketchpad floated beside him. She guessed he was drawing something, even if she couldn't make out the details from so far away. "Hey, Splashie!"

Color Splash looked up at the call and his expression brightened to a warm smile. "Libel!" He waved a hoof up at her, standing on the other three. "Come on down here, you crazy mare."

Libelous Word came in at a shrieking angle, pulling up at the last moment to skid to a halt in front of him. "As if you could talk." She reached with a wing to swat at his pad. "What are you drawing, some kind of surreal landscape?"

"What?! No!" He hid the strange angles that made up the landscape he had been working on. "It was, uh, a portrait."

"Portrait of who?" asked the filly, bouncing closer on her hooves.

"Uh... A really nice mare I know." He rubbed behind his head with the same hoof he had waved, his eyes darting away.

"A mare?" she sang in a teasing tone. "Is  it a mare mare, or a filly mare? Are you growing up, Splashy-Boy?"

Color Splash glanced around wildly, "Oh, um, you wouldn't know her anyway."

"Oh, c'mon. There aren't that many ponies in this town." She prodded him in the chest and trailed her hoof as she went around him. "Spill it, or just show me the picture and let me guess."

He kept the picture floating perfectly opposite of Libelous. "What if it's... of you?"

She stopped, crashing to her haunches. "What? Oh! I mean... Sheesh!" She slugged his shoulder. "If you wanted to draw me you just had to ask, moron."

He laughed nervously as he tucked the pad away while she was distracted. "I'll do that next time, honest. Not my fault you're photogenic."

"Stop that." She bopped at him again, but was smiling. "Uh... speaking of that..."

"Yeah?" Color Splash canted his head curiously. "What's wrong? You look upset."

"Well... they did it..."

"Did what?" He leaned in a little, concern written on his face. "Was it your parents? What'd they do this time?" He groaned sympathetically. "Whatever it is, I'm here for you."

She thrust a hoof up and away, at the distant mountain that was barely a shape. "Soon I'll be there, learning stupid stuff my mother wants me to learn, because she knows best."

He grunted, a low noise full of his annoyance. "Well... So?"

She perked an ear at him. "So?"

"So what if that's what she says. Maybe we should... just go, in the opposite direction." He pointed with his horn in the other way. "We'll, you know, find something. Maybe something better?"

"Color Splash..." She stepped closer, an unsure half-step. "We're... just foals... We don't know how to... you know... We can't do that."

"We'll learn." He sat on his haunches and crossed his arms petulantly. "Better than going there because she said so."

"You're... nice... but she'd just find me." She turned away towards her home. "She has the bits, and the ponies. They'd just find us, and we'd get in all kinds of trouble... No... Two weeks, then I go. I have to... Please, be good, alright?"

He was suddenly beside her, rushing her. "Stop talking like you already lost!"

"I did already lose!" she screamed louder than she had intended, huffing for breath. "She wins, alright...? Look, I'll be an adult someday, make my own shots..." She spread her wings slowly. "Do what I want, but... for now, I'm her precious little filly, and I have to do what she says."

He took a step back, still facing her, tears stinging in his eyes. "It's not fair..."

"Nope." She stepped in, closing the distance. "It really isn't..."

He reached for her, hugging his favorite filly friend tight. His nose twitched and his snout wrinkled a bit. "Uh, you smell that?"

He had never been thrown before, but he learned the experience as he crashed back to the ground, flopped and limbs spread before a heaving Libelous. "Nothing! It's nothing!" She turned to flee, but his magic grabbed hold of her tail, preventing her easy escape.

Color scrambled back up to his hooves. "Hey, hey, we're friends. You sit in something? It's not the end of the world, c'mon."

She glanced around, not that there were many other ponies in the sleepy little town on that specific road at that specific time. Despite that, she threw a wing around him and fled off between buildings. "Look, stop asking questions."

"You know that won't happen." He smiled softly at her. "Now, really, what's up? You need to stop by my place and wash up?"

"It isn't anything," she hissed angrily like a tea kettle that was left on for too long. "Now forget it. I don't need you laughing at me."

He set a hoof on her shoulder. "Libel, I wouldn't laugh at you."

"You've laughed before," she noted with a half-lidded glare. "What makes this special?"

"You're scared." He sat down lightly. "And you're being sent off to who knows where? I mean... I don't want you to remember me as the colt that laughed at you. We're friends."

"It's... look..." She thrust a hoof at him. "I just have... a little thing. I'll grow out of it, and I wear protection. I need to go home and change."

"You sound like you're quoting your mom."

She turned bright red. It didn't help that she literally had been doing so. "It's true! You promised you wouldn't laugh!"

He held up both forehooves. "And I'm not laughing, and I won't. You're still an amazing filly. I mean, uh, we all have our... things. I can think of worse."

"Worse than... that?"

He rolled a hoof. "You could be like Chip Tooth, always chewing on something he really shouldn't be." Color shivered softly. "I've seen some of the things he's stuffed in there before... Nope!"

Libelous laughed softly at that, some of the tension fading. "He has no control over himself. If it isn't nailed down,  he'll get it in there, and sometimes..."

"How did he even get to the top of that flagpole?" asked Color with a laugh. "See, compared to that, you're fine. Besides, you'll grow out of it." He bumped into her gently. "I'll agree with your mom, just this one time."

She hopped back. "Well, um... I better do that." She took off into the air, trying to sort her feelings as she went. She expected far more scorn and mockery. Color Splash was a good colt, she decided. Pity she'd soon be living far away from him.





Libelous was sent off to school, as promised. There she refined her skill at editing and journalism, just as her mother had wanted. She was a part of the Word family, and scholarly works were part of what made them who they were. By the time she graduated, she was demonstrating her ability to find lies and deceptions in writing, be it unintended in the form of mistakes and typos or those that the author fully tried to seed.

She touched noses with a mare she had learned to like the company of. "How's the final project coming?"

The mare rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. "It's a mess! The pony I'm supposed to interview won't answer my calls or letters. How am I supposed to write under these circumstances? I mean, really, you know?"

Libel gave the unicorn a stroke along her side with a wing. "Don't even worry about it. Make his refusal the project. Document how much he's trying to hide from you and go hard into details about that. You'll get a good grade."

She perked up. "You think so? Huh... Major tycoon can't or won't face the press." She tapped at her chin thoughtfully. "What is he hiding?!" She burst into giggles. "You're the best, Libel! Thanks!" She took off in a gallop, looking determined to get to her writing.

Libel spread her wings and took to the air. "You'll grow out of it," she muttered in mocking tones, trying to imitate the inflection of her mother. "Yeah, right." She had grown into a capable young mare, and still she wore that... thing. She kicked out a hind leg lightly as she sailed, which let her feel the angry little symbol of her failure to grow up like every other pony in the world.

She landed on the balcony of her room and opened the door easily with a key she had tucked away. "Home sweet home." When she entered, she saw a letter laying on the counter, all official with a seal she hadn't seen in a while. Her blood ran cold and she cringed away from it.

But there was no hiding from her mother. "I'm basically an adult, why are you bothering me," she hissed at the envelope,  but it provided no meaningful response. With a resigned sigh, she stalked towards it and tore it open, allowing the letter inside to spill free.



It's Been Too Long,

You're overdue to  be matched with a suitable gentlepony. I've arranged for you to attend a proper matching ball where you'll be wined, dined, and paired up with a stallion fitting of your name and station. Show up clean, well coiferred, and in something respectable.
This is how I met your father, so I know it can work. Bring this letter with you, it will get you past the front door, though I imagine noting your lineage would suffice if need be. It's not in good taste to bandy one's name about like a bludgen bludgeon, however. You know that.

Catch a Good One,



Below that was not a signature. It was a stamp, all flowery and fancy with the family crest worked in and around it to such a degree that there could be no mistake that the mare who used it took pride in her family.

She had taken great pleasure in fixing her mother's typo.