The next ten days... could have been better. The first thing I had to do was convince the Crusaders to not jump off a bridge. Though, my method of convincing them involved telling them that if they did jump off, the rope would definitely snap and that the Cutie Mark Crusaders would be back to having three members in Ponyville. That wasn't the end of my troubles, though. The three of them actually came up with a list of things they wanted to try, which had all the most extreme stuff they could think of on top! Thankfully I manage to turn their thinking around to more safe ideas after citing that if they get caught again so soon they might end up being grounded for a month.
The next issue I had to deal with was the filly-loving rumor. While Applejack and Rarity honored their word to inform the adults that it was just another silly rumor, Rainbow, on the other hoof... I didn't have much confidence in her since I knew that she spent lots of time napping or playing pranks. I unfortunately didn’t have much time to address the issue myself thanks in part of being stuck in class during recess for a week. The Crusaders were able to deal with the part of the rumor that involved them, but so far the other fillies in class hasn’t confronted me about the rest of the rumor when my detention finally ended. Seemed so far that they were not at the right age to care about romance, though I did notice a few fillies looking at me time to time. The one truly positive thing that came out of that fight with Diamond Tiara was that she finally stopped mouthing off about my parents abandoning me. She instead teased me with everything else she can come up with. Still, it was much more tolerable.
Even with the Crusaders once again taking up a portion of my free time, I was still making headway into translating Twilight's research, as I learned more about the Maralus shards’ reactions to various kinds of magic. I poured more time into improving my ability to speak in their language, finally learning how to properly say their contractions a few days ago. Sadly, just when things were starting to calm down, I caught wind of news about the Ponyville Days Festival. Knowing about Ponyville's recent track record with town events... I knew I had to prepare for whatever would come to plague the town.
I was sleeping peacefully, enjoying the comfort of my bed and its fluffy pillow until something bright shone onto my eyes, waking me up. Raising a hoof to block the bright light, I open my eyes a bit to see that it was morning, and it was the rays from the sun that decided to torment me once again. As I grumbled to myself, I started to notice that I was feeling a strange sensation that I never felt before. Blinking away my sleepiness, I focused my mind on figuring out where this strange feeling was originating from, until I pinpointed its source to be my horn.
"Huh? This is new..." I mumbled to myself as I rubbed a hoof against my horn. The sensation wasn't too bothersome, it just felt like some kind of pressure was being applied to me. After a short rub, the pressure was gone, though I made a mental note to ask Twilight later about what could have caused that. Climbing out of bed, I yawned as I used my magic to make my bed. Between my magic practice and using my magic to write now, I’d gathered enough endurance and learned enough precision for me to use magic for most regular things. Though I still lugged stuff around in my saddlebags, I just recently managed to work off my extra weight so I needed to keep myself fit somehow beyond my daily exercise.
Coming down the stairs, I caught the scent of pancakes being made. Enjoying their aroma, I took my usual seat at the dining table as I kept an eye on the troublesome twins until Pinkie bounced on over and put a plate of pancakes in front of me while the Cakes brought the twins their own meals. Before I dug into my meal, I noticed that Pinkie was more cheery today, which reminded me that today was the day that somepony was going to be selected to head the festivities preparations this year. "Excited about the festival, Pinkie?" I asked, knowing that Pinkie would love to have a chance to talk about it.
"You know it! I always love festivals, and I love to help with setting them up! I hope that the festival committee selects me to lead the preparations, though I understand if they select some other pony to lead it," Pinkie answered. "So how was your night, Aether?"
"The usual, dreamless as normal," I replied. After that nightmare episode weeks ago, Pinkie would often ask about how well I slept, which led to her discovering that I don't dream often. At first she was mortified about my lack of dreaming, but I managed to calm her down by saying that it was just something I'm used to and that when I do have a dream it made it much more special. This cheered her up a bit when she began to think that dreams were like presents to me instead. "Though my horn was feeling funny when I woke up this morn...ing?" I said before Pinkie let out a gasp of shock.
"Aether! You might be getting close to getting your Cutie Mark!" Pinkie exclaimed with excitement.
I looked at her for a moment at first, before taking a peek at my flanks to see that they were still blank. Returning my attention to her, I asked, "Umm... what does my horn feeling weird has to do with me getting a Cutie Mark?"
"I heard from Rarity once that her horn acted weird just before she got her Cutie Mark. So maybe yours is acting weird for the same reasons!"
"Okay... well... I was going to ask Twilight about it anyway," I said as I returned my attention to my meal, stuffing it down my throat in a fashion that is somewhat similar to Pinkie. After being compared to Pinkie a few times by other ponies, I decided to look into that myself, and I founded out that I may have been adopting a few of her mannerisms myself. So far the only things I truly adopted were a better sense of humor than what I had before I arrived in this world, and that my eating habits were starting to become more like Pinkie's, though I still ate carefully enough to avoid making a mess. Still, Celestia help us all if I somehow develop the Pinkie Sense.
After I finished breakfast, I joined Pinkie as we made our way to a gathering in front of the town hall, though before we reached it I saw the Crusaders already together. After giving Pinkie my farewells and wishing her good luck, I quickly made my way to my friends to join them. We chatted a bit about who would be selected to be planner for the festival, we heard the mayor about to make the announcement. Before it was told though, I got the mind-numbing treat of seeing Pinkie's head inflated and actually rising into the air for a moment. After shaking my head clear of that unpleasant sight, I got to hear that Rarity was chosen to lead the preparations.
"Congratulations to your sister for receiving the role," I said as I patted Sweetie's shoulder, as the others responded with much more excitement than I was expressing.
"It's so awesome that my sister is leadi- wait... oh, sorry, Aether. I guess that since my sister is doing the preparations, that means Pinkie isn’t," Sweetie said, her eyes a bit downcast from the realization.
Looking at Pinkie, I saw that she wasn't even bothered by the news, and instead was showing genuine excitement. "Oh, I don't think that's a problem. Seems like Pinkie is okay, and if she's okay, then I'm okay too." Those words seemed to cause any tension to disappear as Sweetie relaxed at the news, giving me an opportunity to ask her something. "Hey, Sweetie, I got to ask you something. Does having your horn feel weird a sign that you could be getting your Cutie Mark soon?"
"Well... I'm not sure. Rarity did told me that unicorn magic doesn't happen without reason... wait... have you gotten your Cutie Mark?" Sweetie said as the trio look at my flanks. Meanwhile, the crowd we were in started to disperse as I spotted Pinkie and her friends heading off to Rarity's home.
"If I actually gotten my Cutie Mark, wouldn't you three notice it sooner?" I said as I raised an eyebrow. The Crusaders blushed at my statement.
"You have a point there, but what were you doin' when your horn was feeling weird? Maybe we can find your Cutie Mark today!" Apple Bloom declared as the three of them look at me with expectations.
"I don't think that would work, since all that happened during that time was me waking up from having sunlight hitting my eyes. So unless my special talent is waking up, I’ve got nothing on that weird horn deal I had," I replied.
The three let out sighs of disappointment before Sweetie's eyes lit up as she said, "Oh! Maybe Twilight can help. She's so good with magic and science that maybe she can trigger that feeling you had again and help you find your Cutie Mark!"
"Maybe... as long as she doesn't go overboard on it," I replied, remembering her frantic state over the shards.
"Or that Smarty Pants incident," Apple Bloom said with a shiver. ...Maybe I shouldn't go to her alone...
"...If I do go to Twilight... can you three come with me? I may need some help if I need to make a hasty escape," I asked as I gave them a nervous smile. They look at each other with reserved expressions as they think it over, before I finally said, "Who knows, maybe you can get a Cutie Mark in being escapists?"
"Hey, that's not a bad idea," Apple Bloom said.
"Yeah, Aether could end up being Twilight's test subject and we would come to her rescue!" Scootaloo said as I winced at the sudden thought of me being strapped to a table, waiting to be dissected.
"Getting a Cutie Mark in escaping does sound fun!" Sweetie exclaimed as they put their hooves together. Sighing, I put my hoof in as well as I folded my ears back.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders Escapists!"
After a few hours of waiting, we finally spotted Twilight leaving Rarity's home. As we rushed over to Twilight (well, the Crusaders rushed. I had to be pushed along by them), Sweetie Belle said, "Twilight! We need your help with something!"
Seeing our little group, Twilight replied, "Are you four up to something? The last time I helped, you three made a love poison that ended up with a pony's home being moved," as she pointed a hoof at the Crusaders.
"Wait... how did you th-" I started to say ‘till Apple Bloom stuck a hoof in my mouth.
As I stared at Apple Bloom for that, Scootaloo said, "No, it's nothing like that. We just think we might be able to find Aether's Cutie Mark!"
"Yeah, she told us that her horn was actin' real strange this morning," Apple Bloom said as she kept her gaze away from my glaring eyes.
"So we think that maybe you can help Aether figure out what her horn was trying to tell her," Sweetie Belle said as I pulled Apple Bloom's hoof out of my mouth.
"Well... this does sounds intriguing... how about this, after I'm finished helping Rarity out, I can help you four figure out whatever Aether's horn was feeling. It would be an honor to help another pony find their Cutie Mark," Twilight replied with a smile as the other three cheered while I scraped dirt off my tongue.
I really hope this doesn't spiral out of control... though it probably will do just that.