//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Despairing on the Societal Effects of Cutie Marks // Story: Sayonara, Zetsubou no Poni: Negativity is Magic // by Gallant Tempest //------------------------------// The classroom was awash in the cascading array of golden light wrought by the sunset, as the nine mares chatted contentedly amongst themselves; all eager for the arrival of their teacher, Mr. Nozomu Itoshiki, so that they could begin their evening classes. One could say “continue” but that would be foolish, considering that they had learnt little else but their teacher’s name in the lesson the week prior. The most confusing thing to everypony had been their teacher’s location in Ponyville; none of the mares present had seen him around town, nor really knew where he lived. Most of them, however, just shrugged it off as him being a somewhat asocial pony. Soon the door to the classroom flung open, and Nozomu Itoshiki trotted over to the front of the classroom and towards his desk. A quiet hush descended upon the room as he entered; placing his saddlebags down by the side of his desk, he turned to the class and paused for a few moments before remarking, “Good evening, class. The express train to Appleloosa stopped running again today, didn’t it?” This was met by the exchange of a few confused glances between the students before he added, “Not that that has any profound meaning or any relation to our curriculum…” Suddenly Pinkie Pie leapt out of her seat, reached into hammerspace once again and threw four small gold coins onto the desk, beaming excitedly all the while. A confused look crossed Nozomu’s face momentarily; then understanding dawned and he sighed in frustration, shaking his head. “So, this is for today, is it?” he inquired dejectedly. “That’s right, Pink Supervisor!” Pinkie replied, bouncing back to her seat with hyperactive glee. Reaching onto the desk, he slid the coins into the open saddlebag by the desk’s side. “Mr. Itoshiki, you can’t seriously be accepting her offer!” Twilight remarked with scepticism, arching an eyebrow. “Well, I am,” he replied flatly. “But if you give up now, you’ll only encourage her!” she pointed out. “Well, sometimes it’s best to know when to give up,” he sighed morosely, “Anyway, it’s time for roll-call,” he pulled out the class register from the top drawer; gripping the pencil in his mouth, he began calling out each name on the list. “Pinkie Pie?” “Yeppie-deppie!” she replied enthusiastically. Nozomu groaned at this for a moment before continuing. “Twilight Sparkle?”; “Present.” “Rarity?”; “Here.” “Fluttershy?”; a slight pause. “Fluttershy?” After a few moments, a voice timidly whispered “Um…here.” “Ah, good. Ditzy Doo?”; “Here!” “Lyra?”; “Yeah!” “Bon Bon?”; “Lyra! Don’t be some impolite- Here!” “Colgate?”; “Yes, sir!” “Berry Punch?”; “Uh-huh.” Placing the register in the drawer once again, Nozomu commented “Well, looks like that’s everybody. Now, today we will begin our curriculum with a lesson focused upon the study of cutie marks.” “A Cutie Mark is, simply put, a mark that appears on a pony’s flank when they discover their one true special talent – a unique talent that sets them apart from all other ponies-” “Um, Mr. Itoshiki?” Twilight interrupted, “We already know all this. It’s pretty common knowledge,”; there were general murmurs of agreement. “Ah, well…”, he faltered, before continuing, “However, what is interesting to consider are the social implications of cutie marks. For example, if one lacks a cutie mark as a young foal, then they may be derided by their peers as “blank flanks” and mocked for such a thing. This, however, is quite uncommon, and when a foal finally obtains his or her mark the future possibilities that mark brings will fill them with newfound hope…” he froze for a moment, and he turned his face downwards; then, he lifted his head back up and fixed the class with a frustrated and despondent gaze. “Hope?!”, he yelled, “There is no such thing as hope! There is only despair in this cruel, harsh world! Those without marks are made light of by those who have them, and as such are pressured into finding their future life path before their time comes! And what if they find what they believe to be their one true calling, then find it is not so? Then they are stuck with such a mark, defining a talent that is not truly theirs to cherish and thus they are forced to spend the remainder of their days cultivating a talent that brings them only sorrow and anguish!” He slammed his eyes shut and tilted his head skywards, screaming at the top of his voice, “I’M IN DESPAIR! This society where one’s life is defined by the appearance of mark on their flank that they have no control over has left me in despair!” After a long, awkward silence where everypony’s jaw hung wide open in disbelief – sans Pinkie, who was simply giggling and rolling her eyes – Twilight nervously said, “Um…sorry to interrupt, but cutie marks don’t work like that. They only appear when you realise your love for a special talent that is uniquely yours and yours alone. I doubt that a pony would be stuck with a mark that they would hate throughout their entire lives.” Nozomu shot her an irritated glare, “Are you completely certain of that? I mean, have you ever met such a pony?” “Well, no…but like I said, cutie marks just don’t work that w-“ “Then how can you be sure?!”, he interrupted hysterically, “I should just end my life right now, and escape from such a pressurised society! Perhaps I will be reborn as a buffalo, where one needs not fear the possibilities or consequences of a cutie mark…” He began slowly trotting towards his open saddlebags – as he leaned towards them, however, he stumbled forwards and landed flat on his face, causing part of his kimono to slip forwards slightly; revealing both his flank and the cutie mark adorned to it. At least, it would have done, had Nozomu Itoshiki not lacked said cutie mark in the first place. Everypony in the classroom gasped in surprise; “P-pink Supervisor! You don’t have a cutie mark!” Pinkie squealed, stating the blatantly obvious. He staggered up and quickly pulled the kimono back over his flank, before he hung his head despairingly and exclaimed, “Now you know my terrible secret! I have no cutie mark!”; he then slumped down onto his haunches, sighing in mild annoyance. Pinkie Pie hopped over to Nozomu and placed a hoof on his shoulder; “Why so glum?”, she inquired. “This means that you’ve still got the wonderful opportunity of getting your cutie mark!” she giggled cheerfully. “But to do that,” he pointed out dejectedly, “I would have to have some inkling as to what my special talent could be. The only thing that I really enjoy is teaching; yet that doesn’t seem to bring me any closer to obtaining my cutie mark…” “Well, perhaps it’s a certain kind of teaching,” Twilight pointed out, “I mean, instead of just teaching generally, you may be more adept at educating people on a more specific subject.” “Yeah, Twilight’s right!” Pinkie added, “Maybe your special talent isn’t teaching students about a whole bunch of stuff, but rather teaching them about a certain something!” For a long while, silence filled the room; eventually, Nozomu sighed and glanced back towards Pinkie, an impossibly faint glimmer of hope in his eye. “Well…I suppose it couldn’t hurt to try…” he admitted. Leaping joyfully into the air, Pinkie proclaimed “Yeah! That’s the spirit!” before turning to face the class; “Does anypony have any suggestions for what Pink Supervisor would be good at teaching?” she asked, causing Nozomu to wince at the continued mention of his unfortunate nickname. “Maybe he’d be good at teaching science?” Lyra suggested, giving an equine shrug in the process. “Unlikely; while I do sometimes enjoy partaking in some of the sciences, I’m not really that interested in delving deeper into the subject matter than a general understanding of them,” he stated bluntly. “What if he was a mathematician?” Colgate queried. “I doubt it,” Nozomu retorted, “I lack interest in the more advanced areas of mathematics, anyway.” “He could be a muffin salesman!” Ditzy exclaimed excitedly. “I’m not sure that I would-“; he momentarily paused before turning to Ditzy with a puzzled look, “What, exactly, does that have to do with teaching? Ditzy lowered her head ashamedly, “It was just a suggestion…and anyway, maybe you’re someone who’s great at cooking?” “Hardly. The majority of the dishes I prepare are more often than not mediocre at best” Nozomu flatly responded, putting himself down once more. And so an hour passed, each student suggesting a potential teaching career for Nozomu and each in turn being shot down in flames, causing a depressive air to permeate the classroom and infect all within; sans Pinkie Pie, of course. “Does anypony else have any suggestions?” Pinkie asked the class; the despondent collective sigh from her classmates was taken as a clear enough response. “That’s it…I give up,” Nozomu muttered; “There’s no point in going on any further with this life; I’m unlikely to find my special talent in this lifetime, in any case.” “Aw…but there’s so much out there to see and do, Pink Supervisor! You’ve just go and give it your all!” Pinkie cheerfully quipped. Nozomu shot her an irritated glare. “Don’t you know what the phrase ‘give up’ means?” he bitterly remarked. “Yeah, but…I prefer to use the phrase ‘Just keep trying’!” she joyfully explained, “After all, just because teaching isn’t your forté doesn’t mean that you should give up completely! What if your special talent is something that you didn’t even think of yet?” Nozomu pondered this for a moment; then shrugged, “Either way, I think I’d rather go ahead and die, anyway.” He pulled a noose out of his saddlebag with his teeth and flung it towards the ceiling, where it hung over one of the wooden rafters. “Ditzy, could you tie this noose to the rafter, please?” Nozomu asked; Ditzy nodded emphatically, tying the end of the rope to the rafter, leaving the noose dangling a few inches from the desk. After she flew down to her desk, she joined the class in watching Nozomu clamber on the desk and stand on his hind legs as he grabbed the noose; suddenly they all sat up anxiously, as the full realization of what he was about to do kicked in. Pinkie Pie noticed their anxiousness and commented “Don’t worry, he won’t really do it! He just likes to try and make himself taller, that’s all!” in an attempt to calm them, though her joyful reassurance sounded hollow even to herself. Nozomu began to raise the noose towards his neck, quietly remarking “This pitiful world of despair…”; after his remark, however, there was a dull flash of light from towards his flank. Feeling an odd tingling sensation from that area, Nozomu let go of the noose and dropped back onto all fours, lifting up his kimono in the process – and revealing his newly-obtained cutie mark. It was the image of a rope noose. As the class simply sat frozen in shock, Pinkie excitedly squealed, “Pink Supervisor! You finally got your cutie mark! That must mean your special talent is making yourself taller!”; after a momentary pause, she placed her hoof to her chin and added “Or maybe it means your special talent is despairing about everything, or teaching suicidally depressing lessons, or…” Nozomu interrupted her with a mixed shriek of shock, joy, anger, and – of course – despair. “That’s it!” he yelled, “Now I really am going to do it!” He threw his kimono back over his flank and stood back onto his hindquarters, lowering the noose onto his neck once more. Pinkie suddenly leapt towards him, her eyes filled with terror. “NO! Don’t do it!” she cried. Pinkie barrelled into Nozomu, causing him to stumble forwards a step or two; as she collapsed onto the desk, he fell forward as the noose tightened around his neck. His body was still for a moment after, save for the gentle sway of the noose. The class all held their breath in horror… Then Nozomu began to cough and splutter; as he jerked his head back up, he shot his students an enraged glare as he screamed “What if I had died?!” They all let out a sigh of relief, thankful that their teacher wasn’t dead; Ditzy flew up and undid the knot on the rafter, causing Nozomu to collapse onto the floor, before she then helped Nozomu back onto his feet. After berating Pinkie Pie for her foolishness and returning her to her seat, Nozomu proceeded to conclude the lesson. “Well…in conclusion, a cutie mark is something truly unique and wonderful. You never know where or when you’ll get it, and you may not even be sure what it means – but nonetheless, it is still something which defines you as a pony, and there’s no denying that it brings a feeling of joy to you in its uniqueness. All right, class dismissed.” After this, they all began to quickly file out of the classroom and head for home. As Pinkie reached the door last, however, she heard Nozomu call out her name; “Pinkie Pie?” She stopped for a moment, turning her attention back towards the front desk, “Yes, Pink Supervisor?” Nozomu winced at the nickname again; then let out a small smile, “Thanks for helping me find my cutie mark today. That was really kind of you,” the smile left his face as he narrowed his gaze “even if you almost killed me doing so.” “Aw, don’t mention it!” she replied ecstatically, before she bounced through the classroom door in her usual bubbly manner. After she had left, Nozomu began to tidy up the classroom; it did not take long, and soon he was done and out the door. As he locked up the classroom for the night, however, he paused and lifted up part of his kimono, revealing his cutie mark. He stared at it for several seconds, before sighing and admitting “Well, I suppose it’s better than nothing”; then, he headed back to his home.