//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Marked // by Turtwig-Tales //------------------------------// Manehatten wasn’t an easy place to grow up, but Cherrywood had it a bit easier than most. Her mother, Copper Quill, was the head of a big company in the city. Cherry didn’t know exactly what the company did, but Momma always said that she helps ponies with their money. She always thought it sounded boring. Her father, Ironwood, owned a shop near the edge of town where he made things. He liked making things out of wood. Cherry loved it when she didn’t have school and Mom was busy, because she got to go to the shop. It was noisy, but it was a good noisy. It was a noisy that meant creative things were being made. Dad would proudly show off the picture of her Great-Grandfather Sturdy Oak, who made the big head that everyone in the city loved. She always wanted to work there when she got big. The idea of making things that ponies would love is something desperately wanted to do, even though she had no idea what to with metal or wood. She didn’t even have her cutie mark. When she did get it, she wanted to make ponies happy with things she made. But for now, she was just a bored filly wandering the apartment looking for something to do. She would usually occupy herself by drawing, but she had run out of paper that morning. There wasn’t a single spot of white left on any of them. She considered playing, but she couldn’t think of a game to play right now. On the kitchen table, she found some paper. They looked boring, so she decided to make them prettier. She gathered her wide assortment crayons and set to work. She wasn’t sure why she liked drawing so much, it just felt…right. She felt more alive with a crayon in her hoof, like both paper and utensil became apart of her. After a while of scribbling, just when she was getting really into her craft, Mom came out of the home office and saw what her daughter was doing. At first, she just stood there with a horrified expression. Then came the dreaded Look. Cherry knew what the Look meant. She tucked her tail between her legs and plodded to her room. What she did wrong wasn’t important, she’d get an earful about it later. It was better this way, ignoring the Look was a recipe for disaster. For now, Mom needed to cool off, then the reckoning would come for her. She climbed onto her bed with a sigh. In times of crisis like this she needed the help of her best friend and confidant, Robearto, who was seated near her pillow. “What did I DO?” she asked him pleadingly. Robearto didn’t reply. He was simply at a loss for words at the injustice of this imprisonment. Cherry could tell his stuffing was writhing in righteous fury, though. The sound of the apartment’s door opening and closing again signified the return of her father. Great. Cherry thought, Now, I get to be punished TWICE for doing nothing… It was hard to hear through her closed bedroom door, but she could just make out what they were saying. “Copper? What’s wrong?” her father asked. “Your daughter had another burst of creativity today.” Mom replied coldly. “Oh? Did ‘MY’ daughter doodle on the walls again?” Dad half-joked. Cherry winced at that. It was ONE TIME. Okay twice. Several. But she was sorry! Mom didn’t answer. Instead, the sound of papers fluttering was her response. There were a few moments of silence. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Cherry grabbed Robearto and jumped down from her bed. Tip-hoofing to her door, she cracked it opened as quietly as she could. Then, filly and bear watched the scene unfold. Dad was staring intently at the papers, while Mom was pacing on the other side of the table muttering to herself. After a minute or so, she stopped and turned towards Dad. “I’m all for supporting her creativity and all, but this is getting out of control! It was only a matter of time before something like this happened! Worse yet, there’s not enough time to get replacements before they’re due! My career will be ruined, your shop will be repossessed, we’ll both go to prison, and we may never see Cherry again!” She began to breathe hard, waving a hoof in front of her face. Dad trotted over to her and patted her back gently. “Copper, dear, you’re overreacting again. You know the worst that’ll happen is a small fine, which we can afford.” He said gently. Mom took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. “You’re right Oakie, it’s just…” she sighed. “We keep telling her what not to draw on, but she ALWAYS finds something new. I just…I-I don’t know what to do anymore…” “It’s ‘cause she blows through her paper so quick. She get’s bored when she’s not scribblin’ on something.” He gave a short laugh. “I even considered adding a paper mill in the shop just for her.” Mom snorted at that. “As if you could get enough wood through it to support her. That filly could go through a forest’s worth of paper in a day if she tried.” Really? A WHOLE forest? Cherry thought smugly, Challenge accepted. They both laughed for a minute. Then Mom frowned. “But what are going to do about Cherry? You know we can’t just let this slide…” Dad looked at the paper’s again. “About that…Have you actually looked at these? I mean, as a professional and not a mom?” he said earning a scowl from the rust-colored mare. She snatched the papers from him. “Of course I-“ she stopped, staring the papers in her hooves. Her eyes moved rapidly as she scanned the page, and she began frantically flipping through the rest. After a moment she slowly lowered them, wide-eye and slack-jawed. “I…She…This is…” she stammered. Dad tenderly closed her mouth for her. “Now I’m not a fancy business pony like you, but I’ve had my fair share of dealing with paperwork. And these-“he announced, pointing to the papers, “seem to be perfectly balanced.” Balanced? Cherry thought, I didn’t balance anything. I just drew on some papers, right? Mom rushed over to her office down the hall and opened one of the cabinets. Cherry recognized them, because they were full of paper she wasn’t allowed to draw on. Where these papers like those ones? After rifling through some folders, Mom pulled out another paper and looked between the two. “Amazing! They even take last years returns into account…It’s incredible! Granted it’s written in crayon, and there a lot of doodles in the margins, but still…” she stopped and walked back to her husband. “I don’t think Cherry’s ever seen forms like these, but she still managed to fill it out perfectly! She even managed to find loopholes I didn’t even know were there! I…” she sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye. “I’m so proud…” Cherry was still thoroughly confused, maybe even more than before, but also relieved. If Mom was happy, that meant that she wouldn’t get punished, right? Dad put his foreleg around his wife. “Yes our little sapling is quite some-“ he stopped, his expression blanking. He looked around. “Um, Copper? Where IS Cherry?” Mom suddenly found the floor very interesting as her cheeks turned redder than normal. “I, uh, may have sent her to her room just before you got home…” “…You gave her the Look, didn’t you?” he asked, but it was obvious he already knew the answer. Mom didn’t reply. Instead, she raised her head and gave him the wide-eyed, ear-drooped, lip-quivering Other Look. She only used this look to get Dad to do whatever she wanted. Or on the rare occasions she’d messed up. Dad sighed on patted her head. “C’mon. Let’s go rescue her.” Cherry bolted back to her bed with Robearto hanging on for dear life. She clutched him tight and buried her head in her pillow, trying to squeeze out a few tears to gain a few more sympathy points. By Celestia, if she was already out danger, she was going to milk this for all its worth. After a moment, her door opened. “Cherry? Sweetie?” her mother called softly. Cherry sniffled in response. She felt a pair of hooves wrap around her. “I’m sorry I was hard on you, but those were very important papers you drew on. It turned out alright, so you’re not in trouble. I think you’ve suffered enough.” A quiet sob was all that was offered. Copper rolled her eyes. “Plus, I know you’re trying to milk this.” “Aw, I thought I was doing good.” Cherry whined as she sat up to face her mother, who grinned and ruffled her mane. “You were, but you can’t fool me. I’m your mother, I’m immune to that.” She leaned in and loudly whispered. “It might have worked on your father, though. He’s a big softy like that.” She earned an incredulous look from her husband in return. “So... I’m not in trouble?” Cherry said, looking between her parents, who nodded in response. Satisfied, she stood up and stretched. She was about to pick up Robearto and go play Jousting Tournament in the living room, when she noticed her parents staring at her. “…What?” Copper didn’t move, frozen in place with a grin on her face and a gleam in her eye. Iron’s jaw dropped. “What?” Cherry whined, growing uncomfortable. Her father shook his head, breaking his stupor, and moved to Cherry’s side. “Cherry, look at your flank.” My flank? Cherry thought, looking at the place in question. Her eyes widened. Adorning her flank was wooden pen with a golden trail following behind it. She had finally gotten her cutie mark! Cherry jumped and pranced around the room, squealing with joy. Robearto sat on the bed, struck speechless by the revelation. Copper, finally free of her paralysis, swept her daughter up in an embrace, giggling like a school filly. “I’m so proud of you, Cherry!” she squealed “You’re going to be an accountant just like your Momma!” “Hehe, yeah!” Cherry laughed as gave her mother a hug. “…Momma, what’s a ‘accountant?’”