Chapter 4 - Not Everything Should Be Kept Secret
We all have our own secrets that we try to keep hidden from others. Some are about others, while some are about yourself. The ones about yourself are usually something that you don't want the wrong people to find out about.
What secret have you not told anyone about? An embarrassing secret, or a dark secret? Whatever it is, you don't want some to know.
But no matter how hard we try to keep it a secret, we usually end up telling one or two people about it. Then when you ask them to keep it secret, they'll eventually forget about it and tell another person. Then they tell their friends, who tell their friends and it keeps going on until the wrong person finds out about it.
That's when you are getting laughed at more and picked on for telling one or two people that secret. That one thing that you knew would drag you lower than you already were.
Now you hate yourself for telling them that.
But what if you succeeded in keeping it to yourself? Then no one except you would know about it. No one picks on you because of it, and you keep your heads up.
Those are probably stuff that should remain a secret. But then there are the secrets of others that are told to you. What about those secrets?
They could be about anything, or anyone. Someone you are a close friend to, or a big jerk that hates you more than others.You might want some of those to remain a secret for your friend's sake, but you might want something to get out to get revenge on someone who hates you.
And so I'm asking you. What do you think should be a secret? Everything you don't want known about you, or only some of that for some to know about? But if you do keep it a secret...
...just how long until someone does find out?
Canterlot Castle's Kitchen Unknown Date
I could clearly see the tall white alicorn standing directly behind me, but I could not see her face. Either I was too short, or she was standing directly behind me.
I think it was both, because all I could see was her leg in my muzzle when I turned.
The guard that was standing directly beside me was now at least ten feet away from his previous position. I could tell that he was sweating. The sweat was still on his brow.
"Last I remember seeing you," she said, but it wasn't clear who she was speaking to, "you were passed out from the spell that my student cast."
She's talking to me, I thought.
"And now you're here in the kitchen making..." She bent her head down and sniffed at it. "...What is this?"
"W- Well, You're Highness," the guard began, "the kid here was wandering the halls not to long ago, and I brought him to the kitchen to get something to eat."
"But I don't recall us ever having this kind of food here before. As I asked, what is it?"
"Oatmeal," I said. They both turned to me. "Its oatmeal, Princess Celestia."
The guard wasn't surprised at my speaking, but I could tell that Celestia was at least a bit shocked. Her sudden movements to a voice she'd never heard before could surprise anyone(pony?).
"Oatmeal?" she asked. "I don't ever recall having this kind of oatmeal. Where'd you get it?"
"From in this kitchen. It's just regular oatmeal with a few peach slices and cinnamon. Anyone could make it if they knew how."
"And... you know how to make this?"
"Of course I do," I replied. "I would have used a microwave to make it a lot faster, but you ponies don't have one!"
"A 'microwave'?"
"He asked about that earlier, You're Highness," the guard spoke up, making us both turn to him. He was so quiet, I nearly forgot he was there. "I haven't the slightest clue to what he's talking about either."
"I see," the princess replied. "And what about this... oatmeal. How did you make it?"
"You should probably worry more about what it taste's like," I said to her. "Trust me, you'll like it."
"Oh?" She picked up a bit of the oatmeal with her magic. She was about to take a bite of it until I spoke up.
"You might want to be careful. It's still pretty hot," I warned her.
She smiled and blew a bit onto the clump of food hanging in the air. Then she took a bite of it.
I don't know exactly what happened, but I know I'll never forget that expression Celestia gave when she swallowed.
Here's a picture for better details.
Admit it. You laughed when you saw that picture. I did too.
"This has got to be the best oatmeal I've ever tasted!" she said, grabbing another bite-sized chunk in her magic. She popped the entire thing into her mouth before I had a chance to speak up.
"Um, Princess?" I called to her.
"Hmm?" she said with what could have been a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth.
My stomach growled at that point. I blushed at its sudden noise, but it also helped explain what I wanted to tell her.
"Oh..." she said. "I'm sorry. It's just that I've never had food that is so simple taste so good!"
I laughed. "Well, if you don't mind, I would like at least some of the oatmeal in the pot. And I think he would like some to," I said, pointing my left hoof at the guard.
He blushed slightly as his stomach growled at the same time I pointed my hoof at him. "Well, I guess..." he said. "I am kinda hungry after an entire night shift."
Celestia chuckled. "I see." She then used her magic and picked up three separate bowls from a nearby cabinet. I couldn't see everything in there, but there were definitely a lot of bowls. She then picked up the oatmeal and put even amounts into each of the bowls. She also got three spoons from somewhere that I didn't notice. I was to distracted by the bowls to notice.
She kept one of the bowls and handed the other two to me and the guard. He immediately started to eat, along with the princess. I just sat there and stared at the bowl.
"What's wrong?" she asked me.
"Nothing, it's just..." I started, "I have no way of lifting this."
She looked at the bowl, and then back to me. She picked up my spoon with her magic. "Would you like me to help?"
I immediately backed away. "No thanks!" I quickly said. I grabbed the floating spoon in my mouth. I'll get creative, I thought.
I put part of the spoon in the oatmeal and braced for what I was about to do. "What's he doin'?" the guard asked.
I didn't see or hear Celestia give an answer in time. I had already begun what I was about to do. I quickly brought the spoon into the air and had the oatmeal fly above our heads. I dropped the spoon onto the ground and looked strait at the oatmeal that had stopped ascending into the air, and was beginning to come back down.
I positioned myself below the oatmeal, tilted my head up and waited for the result.
Take a guess at what happened. Your choices are:
A. I got it into my mouth.
B. It fell onto the floor.
C. It hit my face.
D. It stopped in midair and everything was stopped by Celestia.
What's the answer you chose?
Well, the correct answer is C. Why? Because C is for Cookie, and Cookie is for me.
Bonus Question: What part of my face did it hit?
Write your answer in the space provided.
The Correct answer is:
My Eye
I think that was a little too big, don't you think?
But yes, it did go into my eye. So if you ever see me in the hallways, imagine a big oatmeal clump in my eye and laugh. That might make you have a better day.
Then again, you don't know who I am. Furthermore, I'm not going to tell you, so that is pointless, isn't it?
MOVING ON!
I tried not to laugh at myself, like I usually did when something like this happened.
...
Like I said, I TRIED!
But I couldn't help it. Its not everyday that you have a huge clump of wet, mushy food in your eye. I could also hear the muffled laughs of Princess Celestial and the guard.
I turned my head toward them. "What are you doing?" I asked with a very serious face.
"Um, nothing!" the guard said and both he and Celestia went back to their oatmeal.
"No, you were laughing," I said. He froze. "You were laughing at the oatmeal that is in my eye."
He didn't speak, but silently nodded.
"Well why'd you stop?" I suddenly asked with a huge grin and a happier tone. "That was funny, and you know it!"
He was shocked at my sudden change in attitude. I might have been too, but that's who I was. I'm not always surprised at myself unless its something I don't normally do.
He and Celestial started their laughing again after a minute of silence. It wasn't the same type of laughter they were holding back, but it was laughter.
I smiled to know that I made two new people(ponies) smile right then. But then Celestial asked something that changed the entire mood in the kitchen.
"Oh. I was so caught up with the oatmeal, I never got your name."
I immediately stopped doing... whatever it was I was doing... and just stared, wide eyed, at the floor beneath me.
"M- My name?" I repeated. "Y- You want to know my name?"
"Yes," she replied. When she saw my face, she asked: "Is something wrong?"
Something was wrong. Something that I didn't want to admit. I could still remember my old name clearly. (Content lost due to Author's carelessness. =P) That was my name. My name. Not my sister's, or my brother's. Mine. Mine alone. There were others that shared some of that name, but none of it was the same as the one I had.
There was nothing wrong with it too. Nothing at all. It was a great name. I couldn't ask for a better name. But there is a reason I hated it.
The reminders.
No matter how hard I tried to forget all the pain I've ever gone through, there was always one way it came back to me. My name was one of them. Others would always annoy me by calling me something close to that name, but always different. No matter how many times I told them otherwise, they always did the same thing.
My name was a permanent reminder of all the bad times I had in life. And that's why I hated it.
"N- Nothing's wrong!" I lied. I hated lying. Dishonesty separated people from each other. It could turn the closest of friends to the bitterest of enemies. That's why I like to tell the truth more often then lies. I only did lie when I certainly didn't want some secret of mine to be found out.
"Then what is your name?" she asked again.
I could feel the sweat flowing down like a pond from my brows. "I'm going for a walk," I said before turning to the doors.
"What about your oatmeal?" the guard asked.
"Lost my appetite," I replied. I pushed the door open and exited into the large hallway of the castle's interior. I walked as fast as I could through the winding hallways.
*Clop, clop*. *Clop, clop*. The sound of my hoofsteps echoed through the hallway as I went through. I was getting better at walking since yesterday.
I eventually found my way back to a familiar set of large doors. Not the doors to the throne room, but to the outside. I used all my strength to open it and stepped into the cold night air. The gates to the city of Canterlot were closed.
"Figures," I mumbled to myself. I turned left and found the statue garden again. I walked over to it, this time keeping my head up in case of evil Discord statues appearing in front of me and slamming my horn into my head.
An idea for an advertisement appeared in my head.
Do you constantly have trouble with pesky Discord statues appearing out of nowhere and you accidentally hurt your head because they appear? Well never worry again! Thanks to The Statue Movers, they will move the statue where you never have to worry about it again!
Want it further in your statue garden? BOOM! They already moved it there! Want it given as a gift to somepony else? BOOM! They've already wrapped it for you and sent it! Want it demolished?
Too bad! That's an evil God of Chaos we're talkin' about! You have to call 1-800-Elements-of-Harmony.com if you want that problem fixed. For our services, call This-Number-Is-Stupid.org, and you could never not have your evil God of Chaos moved never again!
I chuckled. Sometimes, I even made myself laugh.
I stopped in front of the familiar statue of Discord. "What's going on," I said to the statue. "Nothing is as it seems. You aren't free, Twilight Sparkle isn't Princess Celestia's student, and Sunset Shimmer is here in Canterlot in her place. I just don't understand what's going on."
I paused to catch myself between breaths. "Why did all of this happen to me? What have I done to deserve this?" I paused again. "Why didn't I just tell them the truth right then and there? Its not like they would have told anyone I was from another world. Who would have believed them if they did?"
I sighed and looked at the statue stuck in a cackling pose. "Here I am talking to you again when I don't even know who I am anymore. I was just sent here yesterday with no purpose, no reason, and no idea what was going on. I run into the one familiar thing, and it was you. How does that make you feel, Discord?"
There was a silence that hung in the air around the statue. "Heh. What am I doing here, really?" I closed my eyes. Suddenly, several flashes of a green ground filled my head. Following the images, there was pain. Nearly unbearable pain.
I gasped for air the moment the pain came to memory. What was that? I turned back to Discord. "Was that you?"
"Was what who?" someone asked from behind me. I jumped and turned around to find a red and yellow manned filly sitting behind me.
"Oh, it's just you, Sunset Shimmer," I said between breaths.
"What's just me?" she asked. "Why are you talking to a statue?"
I turned back to the statue and turned my head. "I don't know. Probably because I tend to talk to objects as if they were real."
"If that's the case, why don't you just talk to a prettier statue? That one's hideous." I laughed. "What's so funny?"
"N- Nothing. It's just that... Heh... That you insulted him!"
I kept on laughing while she rolled her eyes. "And, why is insulting a statue funny?"
I fake gasped. "You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?"
I fake gasped again. "She doesn't know..." All of my slightly sinister plan was falling into place...
"Know what?" she asked again.
"This is worse than I thought. She is in danger of not knowing..." I was trying my hardest not to laugh, but I think that I was giving a sinister grin out of her sight.
"Not knowing what?" she asked for a third time, this time with a bit of force in her voice.
I turned to her. "This statue," I pointed to Discord behind me, "is none other than the God of eternal Chaos, Discord! Nopony, and I mean NOpony, has ever insulted him to my knowledge."
She stared at the statue, and then back at me. Then back at the statue. Then back at me. "Are you pulling my leg?" she asked.
I tilted my head from side to side. "A little," I admitted. "He really is the God of Chaos."
"Never heard of him," she said.
I fake gasped for a third time. "How could you?" I asked, pretending to be surprised at what she was saying. "How could you insult him?"
"What's bad about making fun of a statue?"
"Point taken," I whispered. "Anyway, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I could say the same thing to you," she replied. "Not everypony tends to walk out into the statue garden at night just to talk to some God of Chaos or something."
"Well, not everypony knows he's the of of Chaos," I countered. "For example, you, Princess Celestia's personal student, didn't know."
"Should I know?"
I had to think about that. For all I knew about her, she went to the other world through the mirror and was set on conquering Equestria by using Twilight's crown as a power source. I never knew anything about her knowing about Discord. That was never mentioned in Equestria girls.
I also remembered Celestia mentioning that Sunset Shimmer was her student before Twilight. But if this was at all the same universe, wouldn't she be as greedy as I thought she was? This filly that sat in front of me seemed more innocent than Fluttershy.
"I'm not sure," I finally answered.
"Well, why don't we head back inside?" she suggested. "It's still night, and I don't the guards can take another fiasco like the one you pulled yesterday."
I chuckled silently to myself. Too late. I got up and followed her back into the castle.
"So how did you become Princess Celestia's student?" I asked.
"Hmm? Oh, that," she said. "I don't exactly remember everything, but I think it was during the last Summer Sun Celebration. I always wanted to see Celestia personally raise the sun. You could never imagine the way I felt after witnessing that glorious event. Anyway, I was so inspired from that day, I decided to join Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."
Wow, I thought to myself. So far, this is just like Twilight's story on how she became Celestia's student.
"I studied day and night for what seemed like forever. When I finally got accepted, I was overcome with joy. What I didn't realize..."
"Was that you had to take an entrance exam?" I interrupted.
"Y- Yes," she replied. "How do you know that?"
I shrugged. "No reason," I lied. I thought it better not to tell her about Twilight. At least, not yet.
"Well, the entrance exam was certainly something I didn't expect," she continued. "I was nervous at first, but when I realized that all I had to do was preform one of Star Swirl the Bearded's old spells, I was certainly more confident."
"Oh?" I commented. I guess it's not the same for everyone. "What was the spell?"
She shrugged. "I don't remember. Anyway, after I preformed it several times, Celestia came in and recognized my talent. Then she said that I was going to be her personal student."
"Just like that, huh?"
She shrugged again. "I guess. Like I said, I don't remember the spell, but I guess that it was something that was difficult or most other unicorns to do."
"I guess," I agreed.
We took a left turn. "What about you?" she asked. "How can you hear Equestrian and know what others are saying, but not speak it yourself?"
I think my heart skipped a beat again. "N- No reason. It's just that Equestrian was a lot like my old language, and I got used to hearing it. I think you didn't understand my language because you've never heard it before."
"I think that makes sense. What was your old language?"
"English. You've probably never heard of such a thing."
She shook her head. "No I haven't."
We stayed silent as we made several turns throughout the castle. I guess there was nothing to talk about for a while.
"So what's your name?" she finally asked, making my heart skip another beat. "You already know mine, so what's yours?"
I didn't freak out as I did earlier. I still didn't want others to know my real name, even though it was what I was used to other people calling me. But you also have to remember, there are no people here.
I was horrible at coming up with names, especially if it was for a pony name. So I decided to use what I had come up with a long time ago. A new name for myself.
I just calmly smiled and said to her: "Blue. My name is Blue."