Twilight took a deep breath, placing a hoof on her chest, then removing it, pushing it away as she exhaled. "You can do this Twilight," she muttered, nervously shifting her wings. "It's not like we haven't dealt with worse..." she calmly reassured herself, opening her eyes to see a plain wooden door. Twilight had faced countless monsters, villainous entities, and numerous nerve-wracking events, just nothing quite like this...
"And announcing our special guest: princess Twilight Sparkle!" came a cheery voice from behind the door.
Twilight put on a smile and pushed open the door. Nope, she thought. Nothing had quite prepared her for this: speaking to schoolchildren.
"Everypony welcome the princess!" Cheerilee said, which gained a resounding "Good morning princess Twilight!" from the classroom full of kids.
"Hello there!" Twilight said kindly, looking over the occupied desks. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sitting near each other, and most of the other kids she had seen at least once before, during the little "Twilight Time" incident a few months ago. Good to recognize some of the children, it will make speaking a lot easier, the princess concluded. She took comfort in familiarity, and quietly sighed in relief.
"Now, the princess has come here to talk to you all about friendship today!" Cheerilee announced, being met with a few interested smiles, and some subtle rolled eyes. She motioned for Twilight to take the floor, and stepped back a bit. The princess stepped forward and was about to speak, when she heard some giggling from the back of the classroom, breaking her concentration. Twilight smirked slightly, and despite Cheerilee standing to tell them to stop, she motioned to prevent her from doing so. "Is there anything any of you wish to say before we start?" the princess asked, directing a look at the back of the class.
The giggling stopped, although the group did continue snickering for a bit. "Anything at all?", she asked, eyeing the group suspiciously, but with a small smile. Maybe handling children isn't as difficult as I had originally thought, Twilight mused.
Eventually, one still-snickering young filly, with a turquoise coat and a light blue mane raised a hoof. "Princess Twilight...? You're a princess... And princesses can do amazing things, like raise the moon and the sun, and give love and stuff, right?" she questioned, somewhat shakily.
"Well, some of them, yes," Twilight responded, still half-smiling. She was curious where the filly was going with that thought.
"So, we got to thinking, maybe a princess makes Cutie Marks appear! So, do you make Cutie Marks, princess Twilight?" the child inquired innocently.
Twilight was a little shocked by the question, but quickly laughed it off. "No, no, I don't make Cutie Marks..." she replied, slightly chuckling at the idea.
The child then simply asked "Well, if you don't make them... Then what does make Cutie Marks?"
Twilight's chuckling died down at this question, as all eyes were on her. The Cutie Mark Crusaders seemed intently focused on her, and even Cheerilee cocked her head slightly in curiosity. "Well..." Twilight started cautiously, rubbing her chin with a hoof. "I'm not entirely sure..." Twilight pondered this. Where DO Cutie Marks come from?
"Now now students, the princess came here to talk about friendship, not Cutie Marks," Cheerilee said, trying to get the class back on track.
Twilight shook her head. "Right, of course!" She stuttered out, lightly blushing at getting sidetracked. The Crusaders let out a quiet "aww..." in the corner. Twilight sighed, then looked over the class, beginning her speech. "Yes, friendship: one of the most important parts of our lives..."
Later that night, Twilight walked into her new castle, plopping herself down on her chair in the table room, sighing as she eyed the roots hanging above. The question from earlier still lingered in her mind. Where did Cutie Marks come from? As far as she knew, they just appeared whenever someone found their special talent, but the more she thought about it, the more her concern grew. Something just appearing with no recognizable stimulus? Perhaps it comes from within, but if that were the case, my countless medical books would have mentioned it, surely!
Twilight was no longer sitting, but pacing, her hoof steps echoing in the crystalline room. Perhaps I can dismiss it as simple magic for unicorns, but what of the pegasi or earth ponies, who are inherently non-magical biologically? And why only ponies? There are no gryphons or buffaloes with Cutie Marks. And just what factors determine the manifestation of a Cutie Mark? It's generally accepted that it forms when a special talent is discovered, but are there any other criteria? Thoughts such as these rushed though here mind as she paced back and forth.
Meanwhile, Spike was awoken from a lovely dream of a storm of delicious diamonds by the sound of continuous clacking on the floor in one of the other rooms. The baby dragon groaned as he sat up, quietly muttering something about how the seed should have made the castle less echoey. He walked out into the table room, only to see a distressed looking Twilight, who paid him no mind. "Twilight? Twilight...?" he asked tiredly. "Twilight!"
She was snapped out of her stupor when Spike called out her name for the third time. "Spike? How long have you been standing there?" she asked, trotting over to him.
"Long enough to see that something's bugging you. At least you can't wear a divot into the floor here. Let me guess... Forgot to schedule something?" he questioned, noting her behavior.
"No, everything's scheduled. Sorry Spike... I just... One of the kids asked me where Cutie Marks come from, and I honestly don't know! I mean, who would know something like that?" she inquired, mostly as a rhetorical question.
"Didja ask princess Celestia?" he asked groggily, half tired from being awoken, and half tired from Twilight's worry. Sometimes she'd get so worked up that she wouldn't see simple answers.
"Spike, You're a genius!" the princess exclaimed, levitating him and spinning him around before setting him down.
He shook his head to dispel the minor dizziness, then turned to walk back to the room to sleep. "Well this genius is tired... Goodnight...." the dragon said halfheartedly, hoping he could get back into the diamond-rain dream.
Twilight decided she should best get some rest, quickly writing a letter to the princess to inform her she would be visiting tomorrow afternoon. She levitated a pen and quickly began jotting down a letter herself.
Spike closed his eyes, the visions slowly returning. He saw the sky open, and gems of the highest quality rain down. He looked beside him, seeing Rarity there, and as she opened her mouth to speak, he looked at her hopefully. He was shocked when Twilight's voice came out of her mouth. "Spike? Spiiiike...?"
He jolted awake to the sight of a lightly blushing Twilight standing in front of him. "Sorry to bother you but..." she pulled out the letter she had just written. "Could you send this real quick?" she requested with a mildly embarrassed smile.
He sighed tiredly and sent the message, earning him a "thanks!" as Twilight went off to bed. Spike groaned slightly. Twilight is great, to be sure… Spike thought to himself with a sigh, but beyond any doubt, she is one weird, weird pony.