Bucking hell these tumblers are hard! Granite thought, Stiletto would be pretty angry if she found out I was trying to break into her house...
He notices the shadow of an alicorn covering the door as he works.
Crap. He turns around. "Hey Stiletto, how's it going?"
Granite tries to put on a sheepish grin in hopes she won't drive his head into the nearest solid object.
"Granite what are you doing to my door?"
Stiletto looked extremely agitated, but something was holding the lions' share of her anger in check. Whatever it was, however, was not stopping the clouds of steam coming from her nostrils.
"Just tell me you have a GOOD reason!"
"Uh, as you can see I was trying to pick the lock to your door! And... uh... I wanted to go grab and then read your diary... so I could find the trap designs you and Flux were talking about a couple nights back!"
Oh god please help me!
"You.. why... how!?... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAW!"
Stiletto smashed both hooves down on the ground, shattering the walkway beneath her. She just stands there seething for a moment.
"Granite, why? why can you not just ask for things? You are Flux's' student now!"
Stiletto breaths out heavily several times
"I would prefer that you come to me and ask for something."
"But asking yields a fifty percent chance of no. And my method works perfectly: eavesdrop off of you and Flux for any necessary information and then break into your house when your off on patrol. It works out well every time!"
"I caught you, and this is not the first time I have caught you. What is Kat saw you here? You would under arrest again. That means your plan failed. One more thing, how much Highpony do you know?"
"Well, you didn't catch me just yet- WAIT! Never-mind, you could just hold me with your magic..."
Wait, what if Kat saw? "Who's Kat? Is she hot? 'Cause maybe I would want to get spotted by her." Stiletto is so gonna slap me for that...
"And no, I don't speak highpony, it just sounds like some rich foreign dude yelling random gibberish, at least that's what Jaxler says..."
Problem Stiletto? Granite thinks to himself, a smile creeping on his face.
Stiletto gave Granite a look so flat it could level a mountain.
"Kat is a guard who, unlike Jaxler, takes her job seriously, she would have you in Irons in front of your parents again. Your ignorance of my language would be a hindrance because even if you had not been caught, you could not read my designs at all. Törichtes Kind, do you just not think? What is it that makes you act this way?"
"Well you see, my mom was an earth pony and my dad was a pegasus. My older sister is a unicorn, so what the doctors said was that my prodigal sister teleported mom and pa when I was born, Earth Ponies can't stand on clouds. So my dad chose to save mommy, while I went head-first into a pond. Also I drink a lot of booze, that alone must have killed a good portion of my brain cells. So yes, I was dropped on my head as a baby."
He pauses and decides to push Stiletto's forgiveness.
"You didn't answer my question though, is Kat hot? Because her name alone makes her sound like an eight out of ten."
If she can tolerate this then she must have nerves of steel!
"Nine out of ten." And then Stiletto smiled and winked
Stiletto looked over and around Granites' head, checking for scars.
"What are you really trying to say Granite? I do not speak midpony that well so please, be very clear with your intent."
That answer shocked Granite straight to the core. "You asked for my problems, I gave them to you. As in I was probably raised poorly by my family considering I am the only son amongst three unicorn sisters."
"Teen years are gonna suck when they figure out how to use magic..."
He remembered the stuffed animals they had and how torn they became after a little 'temper tantrum.'
Then he remembers Stiletto's response.
"I swear to you miss Alicorn if you hit on any of my sisters from now until twenty years later, I will... do... something... crap. Anyway are you gonna do anything to me for attempted burglary and possibly hitting on a member of the guard? Also threatening a member of the guard too? What if I were to pay you to look the other wa- NEVERMIND."
Stiletto sighs heavily and then unlocks her door
"Granite, you just seem like a sad little foal to me. I will not punish you, or tell on you, or steal your sisters away. I just want you to be a good little foal, one who finds his place in Dawnpick and excels. Is that not what you want?"
"Excel? What could I possibly excel at? My lack of strength hinders any success in the military, I don't see myself as a carpenter or mason, I might do something as a miner if I'm lucky, and Flux whines more about stuff then smelting ores! And I may have burned a few parts of Flux that you may want to talk to him about..."
He then contemplates his future.
"I will probably end up being the civilian form of Jaxler..."
"I think he would be rather disappointed to hear that. I do not think he saved you from the well so you could waste your life in self-pity."
Stiletto opens her door and magically brings a small book out. It hoovers in the air just out of Granite's' reach
"You get to chose your life Granite. Now tell me what you really want from it."
"What does Arbalest have to do with anything? I could have pulled myself out of the well eventually, I'm sure there's some service ladder somewhere and really has Flux ever mentioned any achievement I achieved while studying under him? No! Because I never achieved anything while working with him! Oh and please Great and Powerful Stiletto! Tell me what I'm destined to do for the rest of my pointless life!"
Stiletto reaches out with a hoof and musses Granites' hair
"Did I not just say only you can chose that? I know I do not speak midpony very well, but I should think that my question was strait forward. What do you really want to do with your life?"
"I want to protect people, but at the same time I am way too weak to join the military, so if there is a job to help protect those that protect people who need to be protected then I would sign up in an instant. That job I believe is to be a smith or a smelter, as in forging the ingots and then armor that could save a soldiers life as he engages an enemy force. Problem is I suck at smithing in general, just ask Flux."
"You need to work hard to get better at anything you do. If it was easy, everypony would do everything. You will be a great weapon smith if you try. Now, what did you want to take from my apartment?"
"There are lots of things I would take from your apartment, but the main things are those diagrams you had, course they're in old pony or whatever so I won't understand anything. I guess I'll just casually walk out your door and come back in maybe a few hours or so when your asleep..."
"If you come back then I can assure you, I will not be sleeping."
Five bits and a book fall to the ground at Granites' hooves.
"That book has been translated into midpony, it is a book on ores, take it and learn. Those bits are for you to buy yourself some candy. Please just stay out of trouble, there are ponies that worry about you Granite. Many more then you think."
"Okay, I really appreciate the book on ores, but money for candy? What am I? A foal?! But why give me a book after I attempted to break into your apartment? I guess I'll accept the gifts either way..."
"Spend it how you like, but I bet your sisters would rather see you enjoying some nice sweets then drunk in the dinning hall again."
"HEY!!! I made sure they didn't see me in my moments! But, I see where you're going with this... I guess I'll tone down on the drinking... and you know what? Maybe I'll make little flower crowns with them. And I'll stop stealing from people for awhile! YEAH!!! I'll become the best brother ever!"
"That is the way to be thinking, Granite!"
Stiletto smiled at the young Colt and nodded, quiet pleased at his decision turn over a new page in his little life.
"I know they would enjoy picking flowers with you, just remember to ask a guard or militant, who is not too busy, to go with you if you go outside the walls."
"Thanks again Stiletto! I totally won't go into a relapse within this month and go back to my old ways! I promise I will find my talent and achieve my destiny!"
Granite then walks out of the apartment, but then he trips over a rock and falls into the well, again.
"Horse feathers!"