I had much weighing on my mind, such as the confusing revelation I received while talking to the unicorn at the Canterlot ruins. But I still needed to think about what the proper course of action was, and to do that I needed time to kick my hooves up and relax.
It was rare that I got a chance to do anything with my family, since I'm usually too busy with my work to spend any time with my children. So when I found I would have the early part of the day today free, I decided to take Baby North Star and Cowntdown to the Satin Slipper, the local ice cream shoppe adjacent to the castle. Since I'm still trying to make peace with Sparkler for that whole Newborn Twins fiasco, I invited her and Baby Sparkler to join us. I quickly realized that that was a mistake.
"So as you can see, Baby Sparkler is ahead in all of her classes." The blue unicorn bragged, as she looked proudly down at her daughter. "She the best dancer in her class, and is even the junior pony polo champion. What is it your little pegasus has accomplished again?"
"Well... that is...um.." Struggling for an answer, I think back to my daughter's painting Baby Ribbon's mane plaid. "Well... she's very good at the arts!" I replied sheepishly.
I had forgotten how much of a vain braggart Sparkler is, and how she loved to rub it in other pony's noses. She claims descent from one of the harmony bearers, though even she's not sure which one. Her cutie mark is several gems, indicative of her unicorn ability to find the worthless glass rocks. She trades them to the humans, who value them for some unfathomable reason. She had always pushed her daughter to succeed, and the little brat- I mean, angel, had turned out just as snooty as her mother.
"Yeah, what have you accomplished, twerp?" Baby Sparkler sneered. Although blue like her mother, the daughter was an earth pony... a trait from her father, no doubt. She's the little star pupil in Sundance's class. She takes every effort to show my little filly up, and then rub her face in it.
My daughter just sit there and scowls at her, as the serving mare, Lickety Split, comes up to our table. "Okay, here's the super-sized hot Fudge sundae with chocolate ice cream." She set it down in front of the three kids. "And here's the two small low fat sundaes you two mares ordered." She put down Sparkler's and I's ice cream in front of us.
"Wow mom, you and Miss Sparkler didn't order much." Countdown commented to me.
"Sweetie, at your mother and I's age, anything we eat goes right to our flanks." Sparkler replies with a laugh.
Too young to get the joke, Countdown simply shrugs, and looks over at Baby Sparkler. "Hey, after we're done, you wanna go out and play?"
"Buzz off, colt creep!" Baby Sparkler snaps, greedily digging into the ice cream. Baby North Star scowls at her with that 'nobody talks to my baby brother like that and gets away with it' look. I am about to stop her, but Sparkler opens her mouth to brag again.
"My little sweetie has the nicest voice in the castle! Sundance thinks she should try out for the Ponyland inter-kingdom recital. You know, the one your little warbling nightingale over there failed to qualify for?"
That does it... Baby North Star, feel free to do your worst.
As Sparkler continued to ramble on and on, my daughter went up to the counter and starts talking to our family friend, Fizzy. She's the unicorn who makes the milkshakes, ice cream sodas, and malts for the Satin Slipper. Baby North Star whispered something in the unicorn's ear, and I could see Fizzy's face break into an evil girn. I began to worry, as I knew those two were planning something.
"Baby Sparkler is the best singer in all of Ponyland!" Sparkler insisted. She turned to her daughter. "Come on, sweetie! Let them hear that angelic voice of yours!"
As the spoiled overachiever cleared her throat, I saw Fizzy's horn begin to glow. There was a flash of blinding light, and then Baby Sparkler began to sing...
"Quack!"
Sparkler looked at her daughter in shock... but not just because of what came out of her daughter's mouth. Baby Sparkler has turned white with a rainbow-colored mane.
"Mama!- quack!- Mama what's happened- quack!-to my- quack!- voice?"
"Looks like you're not baby Sparkler anymore!" My daughter said in a jeering tone. "I think the name Baby Quackers suits you better now!"
At that moment, Baby Sparkler's cutie mark appeared- a baby duck dragging an umbrella in the rain. The little filly burst into tears, and went galloping out of the ice cream shoppe.
"Wahhhhhhh-QUACK!-aaaaahhhhhhh-QUACK!-ahhhhhhhh-QUACK!-ahhhhhhh-QUACK!"
"Uh oh..." Fizzy said ominously, coming up behind me. "North Star, I hadn't counted on her cutie mark appearing. With her special talent tied to the transformation, I can't change Baby Quackers back!"
"Damn you, North Star!" I felt a hoof strike me across the face, as an angry Sparkler scowled at me. "My daughter could've been a singer, a dancer, anything she put her mind to... she could have gotten her cutie mark for any special talent she wanted! But thanks to that little monster of yours, my little jewel will be a freak for the rest of her life!"
"If you were any kind of mother, instead of a status-seeking mare..." I replied coldly, somehow miraculously keeping my temper in check. "You would not call the daughter you profess to love a freak."
Sparkler stared at me for a second, before galloping out after her daughter. "Queen Majesty will hear of this!" She wailed as she ran.
Just then Scoops , the shop's earth pony owner, came up to me.
"North Star, I was lenient after your daughter mixed all the flavors together, after the last Dream Valley Colts little league game." She looked at me angrily. "But this was too much. I don't want that juvenile delinquent in my shop again, do you understand me?"
I looked over at Baby North Star, hiding under the table.
"What? I told Fizzy since her singing sounds like a duck, we should help her out and make her voice sound like one, too!"
"What am I going to do with you?" I sighed.
----
"Elder, how did the ponies of Equestria deal with bullying?"
At our next visit to Canterlot, I have slipped away from Wind Whistler to talk to the unicorn privately. My partner wants to question her about the possible impostor, but right now I just need to speak with her.
"Something amiss again, child?" The unicorn asks. "Verily, the ponies of Equestria did hath their bullying problems amongst the youth. We do recall a filly named Apple Bloom, who was treated badly by the daughters of two noble ponies, Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon.”
“What were they making fun of her for?” I asked curiously. “Class and wealth difference?”
“Neigh, twas the fact she was a ‘blank flank’, whose Cutie Mark had not appeared long after many of her classmate’s had.” the unicorn replies. “They used this small thing that made her different to single Apple Bloom out to make fun of.”
“How did she finally get them to stop?” I ask her. “Was it when her cutie mark finally came in?”
“Again we say neigh!” The unicorn whinnies. “She had other blank flanks stand up to her, outcasts like herself, who became her friends, out of the commonality of what made them different.”
I think about what she had said. My daughter had always fought with the spoiled Baby Sparkler, because the overachieving perfect filly had looked down on her because of her lack of perfection. I wonder if my daughter could see past her anger, and resist the urge to turn the tables on the now imperfect Baby Quackers?
“Once again, thank you for your wisdom, elder.” I incline my head. “But now I must ask you another question.”
“And pray tell…. what is that, child?”
“Are you Princess Luna?”
With a tilt of her head, the most majestic pair of wings unfold from nowhere. A black diamond necklace forms around her neck, and the most beautiful black crown adorns her head. I am speechless, as this formerly hunched over unicorn pulls herself up to reveal the most magnificent alicorn… the only alicorn… I had ever laid eyes on.
“WE DO NOT KNOW, DEAR NORTH STAR.” She replied, in the booming royal voice of old Canterlot. “PRAY THEE, THOU TELLEST US!”
And before I could say another word… she was gone.