//------------------------------// // School - Sweetie Belle & Luna // Story: Table for Two // by KitsuneRisu //------------------------------// It was a strange order. 90% milk. 10% decaf. Enough sugar to coat an apple. The Owner obliged. He always did. He had anything you ever wanted. The cafe always had anything you ever wanted. He even knew exactly how much sugar ‘enough to coat an apple’ was. Sweetie Belle sat at her table. Staring into the design of the woodwork. It was something she enjoyed – looking at designs in things. There were patterns everywhere, no matter what you were looking at. It only mattered how you looked at them and how much you looked at them and if your head started spinning or not. Sometimes it helped. Sometimes it didn’t. “Oh.” The voice came from above. Sweetie looked up. “Oh, hi, Princess Luna,” she said, her legs dangling off the edge of the comfy plush beanbag she was sitting upon. “Yes. Small child,” Luna said, scanning over the rest of The Cafe. Inexplicably, every other seat seemed to be full now, although there was never a time that Luna recalled that it was. She was forced to look back down. “It appears The Cafe is… full.” Luna observed, dourly. “Um… guess so. Got a seat here, though.” Sweetie pointed to the beanbag across from her. “This is… a young pony’s table.” Luna said. “Yeah.” “With beanbags.” “Yeah.” “And crayons on the tabletop.” “Yeah.” “Crayons.” “You want pencils? They got pencils,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “No. I think I shall… perhaps indulge myself another time.” Luna sighed, turning for the door. “Alright. Goodbye, Miss Luna.” Sweetie Belle returned to staring at the table. Luna stood there. She tilted her head to the young child. The young child that was giving a blank space complete and full attention. “What are you staring at, small child?” Luna asked. “Sweetie Belle.” “I beg your pardon?” “Sweetie Bell, Miss Luna. You forgot my name, didn’t you?” She continued to stare at loops and swirls. Luna’s eyes darted left and right, her head following in motion a while after. “Yes. I had. Thank you, Sweetie Belle.” “I’m looking at the wood thingies in the table, Miss Luna.” Sweetie explained. “The… wood thingies?” Such a concept. “Yes, Miss Luna. You know those lines? I dunno what they’re called. I like how they look, though. They move around and stuff. There’s a million shapes on this table.” Luna sat down in the beanbag. It was uncomfortably small. She had to press her hind legs against her midriff to fit completely. “Grain,” Luna declared. “What now what?” “The lines. They are called… grain.” “Like… the stuff you make bread with?” Sweetie made a face. “Yes. It is the same.” Luna nodded, nary an expression on her own. “Why… are they the same word?” “That is how words work, Sweetie Belle.” “Isn’t it weird that they’re the same? Why can’t there be a different word?” “Because that is how words work! Words just mean things! It matters not if one word is replaced with another word, it only matters that we understand what they mean!” Sweetie lifted her head to look at Luna. “You’re angry about words.” “I am…” Luna cut herself off. “I am not. I am merely… excitable.” “Oh.” “Yes.” Luna turned to look at the menu on the wall. Perhaps she needed a drink after all. When she had turned back, she had found the child, once again, resuming her duties. “Do you really find that all entertaining?” Luna asked. “Um… yeah. Sure, I mean… it’s alright. Sis doesn’t allow me to touch her sewing machine, so I gotta do something.” “But… it is merely looking at lines upon a table.” “Yeah, and?” “And… it is… it is a nothing. It is nothingness. It is an action that precedes nothing and proceeds to be nothing.” “I’m not sure what you just said, Miss Luna.” Princess Luna placed her hoof on the table, a glint of gold blinding Sweetie for a moment. “This! This all. What is it for? Why do you stare at lines?” “I told you, Miss Luna. There’s shapes in.” “There are no shapes!” “You can’t see them?” Luna blinked. She hadn’t given it consideration before. “Should I be able to?” Luna asked. “Why not?” Luna’s eyes flicked to the side as she cleared her throat. She gave out a soft sigh, her mane rustling as she looked over The Cafe. Slowly she looked down. It took three tries before she managed to get her focus to stick. “There… there are no shapes here.” She said, immediately pulling her head up again. “Then what’s that?” Sweetie asked, pointing at a small bit on the tabletop. Luna turned her eyes downward again. “A circle. Yes. Fine. You found a circle. Well done, small child.” “It’s not just a circle. See, there’s a bit there that’s sorta not really straight.” “Fine. A bad circle. This is what fascinates you?” “Yup.” Sweetie Belle said. Luna stared back. “Why?” “Because it’s there.” “You do not answer the question in a straight-forward way!” “No, really. It’s ‘cuz it’s there, Miss Luna. My sister always says that we have to look at the small things in the big things in order to make the big things look good. It’s part of design or whatever. She’s trying to teach me.” “Well… yes, I mean, it applies in such cases, but…” “Don’t you ever look at the clouds, Miss Luna?” “The clouds? Yes. Of course I do.” “Why?” “To predict the weather, which is important for the crops.” “I look at them to find shapes.” “Shapes again.” “Yeah, but I mean, why is what we do different?” “What is the basis of your comparison?” “I mean…” Sweetie Belle said, looking at a cloud through the window. “Look. Look at that one. The one there. What’s that cloud mean?” “What it means? It will rain in three hours.” “Yeah, well, all I see is a bunny.” “It looks nothing like a bunny.” “It looks nothing like it’s gonna rain, Miss Luna.” Luna paused in the middle of her response. She held a hoof up, mouth agape. She slowly closed it again. “I see what you are getting at, small Sweetie Belle child. An interesting perspective. Aren’t we clever.” “Heehee,” Sweetie chuckled, grinning mischievously at Luna. “Nah, big sis says stupid things like that all the time. She always likes to show me how stupid I am.” “Stupid?” “Well, I dunno. She just says that there’s a lot of things in life to learn. And that not everything can be learned in school. So she does things like this all the time to show me that I don’t know enough.” Princess Luna’s eyes wandered. “And then, you know? I ask her then, why can’t I skip school if all the good lessons is outside of school, and then she gets mad and then she starts yelling again and beating me and taking away my toys.” “She doesn't beat you, really.” Princess Luna raised an eyebrow. "Does she?" "Well... no," Sweetie Belle said. “But sisters are dorks, anyway.” “Yes. Indeed. Sisters are… dorks.” Luna agreed readily. Sweetie Belle sighed. “I guess I just like shapes,” she said, shrugging. “Perhaps… we all should.” “Huh?” “I never went to school, you know.” “What?” “Not regular school, I mean. I was… tutored. Even now, I am being tutored. I have a lot of things to catch up on. Things that I missed for a thousand years.” “That sucks. School at your age?” “Ahem. Yes. But that aside, perhaps we never ought to stop learning.” “Uh…” Sweetie Belle muttered. “Maybe… we all should stare at the shapes in the table. For if we never even bother to look, then we will never know that they’re there at all.” Luna nodded. “Um… I think you’re thinking too much about this, Miss Luna. I was just goofing.” “Miss Luna?” The Owner said, stopping suddenly by. “You appear to have had time to consider. Can I take your order?” “I will have what the small child is having,” Luna said. “Um. You sure about that, Miss Luna? This is basically just milk.” “Yes.” Luna nodded. “Yes I am.” “Very well, miss.” The Owner bowed. “I’ll be back momentarily." Luna nodded again as her eyes swept back across The Cafe. It had died down once more to a bearable half-full capacity, although she couldn't remember anyone having stepped out. She turned back to Sweetie Belle. “Tell me something else,” Luna said. “Um. Sure I guess. What do you want to know?” “What you see in the clouds,” Luna said, pointing out the window.