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// { 0 } 
// Story: My Little Cuties 
// by Amazing Ups 
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“Girls, I want you to know something.” 

Luna was trotting at a steady pace, the Cutie Mark Crusaders in tow. Much time had passed since their return from the human world, but they all had yet to find their cutie marks, and were still the fillies that Ponyville knew and loved. Every so often, they visited Luna for little playdates. Being the first pony beside themselves they’d ever encountered, they had a tendency to trust her a little more than others. 

Today, Luna was touring them through the Canterlot Gardens, a favorite activity of theirs. Birds flapped their wings, plants shimmered with dew, and animals peeked from their hiding spots. The sun was relaxed, slowly rising from behind the horizon, lazily making its way over the distant cloud cover. It was days like this that made Luna sad that she was the Princess of the Night. She continued on.

“When an alicorn or unicorn learns certain high level spells, there are phrases, little sayings, that explain the mindset behind the spell.”

“What do ya mean?” Apple Bloom asked, clearly confused.

Luna exhibited a slightly pained smile on her face. “When I learn new magic, I have to understand it, feel the meaning of its power. These phrases provide insight into this power.” She turned her head towards the ponies. “Does this make sense?”

They looked at her blankly.

“Perhaps you’ll understand better from example, then.” She cleared her throat.

“From the darkness, light can always be seen.

From the night, the day always arrives.

And from nothingness, a trace of something can always be found.”

Scootaloo cocked her head to the side. “Huh?”

Sweetie Belle seemed excited by the incantation. “I like it. It sounds so pretty!”

“Really?” Luna asked. “I’m glad you think so. I am the one who came up with it.”

The Cuties stared fixedly at the Princess as she stopped in the middle of the pathway, and turned towards them. 

“I used it when I sent you to the other dimension.

“The idea was that I could send that something away into nothingness. You’re very luck that it turn out as I planned. How could I send something into nothing? Then that nothing would have something. And something has to exist somewhere, does it not?

“That is what happened to you. You became nothing, but then far, far away, you became something again. And that is how he found you."

Apple Bloom seemed flabbergasted. “That’s amazing…”

Luna nodded her head. “Do you remember anything from when he first found you?”

They all remained silent. 

Apple Bloom kicked it off. “I remember. We were in a box. In a place with no trees or nothin’, just a bunch of lights.”

Scootaloo piped up as well. “Yeah, uh, me too. I think he took us back on a skateboard.” She let her gaze wander off again. “I was so warm.”

“I remember…when we got to his house…he sang to us.” Sweetie Belle’s voice quivered, and her eyes were at her hooves. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked over at her, and their eyes moistened ever so slightly.

“Maybe,” Luna said during the pause, “He found you for a reason.”

“What type of reason?” Sweetie Belle asked, raising her head.

Luna shook hers in response. “I don’t know. But what I do know is that before he found you, he had nothing; and you girls gave him something.”

She let herself crack a tear.

“Isn’t that just beautiful?”

Scootaloo stopped her. It was getting a little too sappy, and she hated crying. “I’m sorry Princess, but why are you telling us this?”

“None of you have found your cutie marks yet, am I correct?” Luna shook off the drama of the moment swiftly. 

“That’s why I’ve called you all here today. I think I’ve found something that can assist you in that regard.”

All three of the ponies shouted excitedly. “Something?”

Luna laughed audibly. “Yes, girls, something.” 

She stepped to the side of the garden pathway, allowing a small, rumpled cardboard box to come into their view.

“Something that came from nothing.”


The End