The Only Truth

by bahatumay

Chapter 2

Author's Notes

---

Turns out when Zoom said 'first thing', she really meant, 'first thing'. I hadn't even woken up yet when she crashed through the window.

This, to put it lightly, startled me.

She had apparently crashed through windows and woken up ponies before, because she didn't even flinch at my expletive-filled rage. When I had finished calling her every name I could think of (which wasn't much; it was way too early in the morning for insulting ponies), she grinned. “So, you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Makeover time!”

“You've got to be kidding me...” I growled. “It's way too early in the morning for this.”

“It's, like, ten,” she protested.

“Doesn't feel like it.”

But apparently it didn't matter what I thought, because the next thing I knew, she had carried me out the window and was carrying me through town, notwithstanding my very vocal protests.

* * *

Let's be honest here. I wasn't exactly the poster filly for personal hygiene (and I'm still not). Sure, I showered every day, but I can't remember the last time I had actually used shampoo in my mane, and I was certainly ok with leaving it how it was—messy, oily, and a bit ratty. I actually expected to be kicked out of the spa as soon as the spa pony saw me.

Turns out there are at least two spa ponies in Ponyville, which, in a world where everypony's supposed to be unique, was kindof funny. They were twins, though, if that means anything.

“Hi!” Zoom said cheerfully. She pushed me forward. “She really needs some work.”

The blue one reached out a hoof and touched my mane. I flinched and scowled at her, but she remained calm. She stroked it lightly and her eyes lit up. She let out a small giggle before calling her sister over in a language I didn't understand. She, too, came over and stroked my mane, and then she began giggling as well. It wasn't a mocking giggle, though. It wasn't even amusement. It was the same kind of laugh I would give after finding a great book (which had happened only twice in my life).

It was the 'challenge accepted, and I know I'm going to enjoy this' giggle.

I wasn't entirely sure I liked where this was going, but I didn't have much say in the matter, as both ponies grabbed me and frog-marched me into the back, still giggling.

“Go, Zoom!” I cried dramatically. “Save yourself!”

“Are you kidding?” she hooted. “I'm watching all of this!”

* * *

I'm not going to describe the torture I was put through there. Suffice it to say that it turned out I didn't need a mane-cut so much as a mane styling and cleaning, and the spa ponies provided. Happily. And enthusiastically. And, from my perspective, painfully.

I stumbled out of the spa, still dazed and with my eyes spinning. I smelled clean and fresh, and probably like I was drowning in some of the other perfumes and stuff they sprayed on me because that's certainly what I felt like. I don't know what they had done to my face, but I was probably wearing more makeup than I had ever worn before in my life, and I'm pretty sure my eyelashes had been extended to three times their normal size.

Rainbow walked up and obviously suppressed a gag. “Hey, Cherish. Lookin'... uh... good! You smell kinda funny, though.”

Well, she didn't sugarcoat anything, did she? I bet she and Zoom got along really well.

And even though we hadn't seen each other for almost seven years, Zoom and I still got along pretty well, too. She shared all about Ponyville, the ponies there, the latest thing that had happened (apparently, Ursa Majors aren't myths, after all) and how great Pinkie Pie's parties were.

That reminds me. She threw me one. It was a surprise party. I learned this as I walked back inside Twilight's treehouse.

I don't envy the parents who had to teach their foals the significance of the words I responded with. Heh... Even Zoom blushed at the swear-filled tirade I unleashed at being surprised, I remember that. Being awake increased my vocabulary somewhat. I also remember the look in Twilight's eyes as she stared at me after my explosive vocabulary. Now, I recognize that look. Back then, though, I didn't. In fact, I felt worried for a while, that she might even take me back to the orphanage. But she didn't. In fact, she never brought it up again. I did make an effort to stop around her, though.

And even though I had been surprised, and the games were foalish, I gotta say that Pinkie Pie made great food, especially her cupcakes, and these ponies (eventually) didn't make me want to slam my head repeatedly in an oven door, so all in all, I guess it went ok.

Also, another thing happened that afternoon that I am still not sure about. Honestly, what filly would ask about a cussing cutie mark? And what would that even look like?

You know, I don't know why I shared that. There are other Ponyville memories that are much more important to my story.

That being said, I have never tasted a cupcake as good as Pinkie Pie's. I wonder if I will ever taste another like it.

* * *

“All right,” Twilight said. “Let's try that again. Remember to feel the water.”

I rolled my eyes, but I knew she was right. Being raised in an orphanage really didn't give me much time for learning magic, so I was still stuck on the basics. Let me rephrase that. I had plenty of time, but no teachers. I had gotten pretty far, though, with Twilight as my instructor. She was everything I had imagined, and more. She worked with me, she gave me drills to practice on my own, she assigned readings for me (don't judge me, I like to read), she was perfect.

Well, she only had one shortcoming. She couldn't cook very well. This I learned from personal experience. But she was a great magic teacher. And teaching me that wind spell to clear the smoke was pretty cool. The water manipulation to actually put the fire out, though, I didn't do so well on; so that was what we were practicing now.

It's hard to explain to a non-unicorn, but I'll try. There's no such thing as different 'kinds' of magic. There isn't fire magic or water magic or anything like that. There's just 'magic', and every spell is weaved from that same kind of magic. Almost like making a wicker basket, or sewing cloth. It's all made with the same basic thread, but can become very different things depending on how you tweak it. Thread can become a heavy coat, or a lacy sock; and no, I wouldn't know that from personal experience. So I was trying to manipulate the magic to lift the water, bring it around my head, and put it back. Simple stuff. Basic exercise.

In theory.

Let's just say Twilight got a lot of practice with drying spells and all her books were now very much out of the way and on much safer, higher ground.

“All right,” she said, after yet another failed attempt. “Try again, and remember to feel...”

By this time, my self restraint had run a little low. “The only thing I'm feeling is 'hungry', and the only thing I want to feel right now is some food.”

“Cherish, it's only...” Twilight looked over at the clock and blinked in surprise. “Oh. You're right. It's way past lunchtime.”

I smiled. “Told you.”

She paused, thinking. “Spike's collecting gems with Rarity, and I'm pretty sure we're out of everything I can make. Do you want to go out to eat?”

“Only if you're paying,” I grinned.

* * *

I walked along proudly, if a bit shakily. Twilight walked beside me, still in relative shock.

“I have never seen anypony ever finish that challenge,” she breathed. “Five plates! Five whole plates!”

Just for clarification, I've seen wagon wheels smaller than these plates. “Well, I'm not everypony,” I said. “I am Cherish, and I am awesome. That, or I've lived on orphanage food for so long that I've never known what real food tastes like.”

Twilight smiled. “I'm glad I could remedy that,” she said.

I was about to reply when I heard the all too familiar sound of fillies teasing each other. I stopped and turned to listen to the conversation. It was a pink earth pony and a gray earth pony, teasing—I kid you not—an earth pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus. Yeah. One of each, just like a matched set or something. This place was full of coincidences.

And, sure enough, it was about cutie marks.

“Give it a rest, DT,” the yellow one said tiredly. I guess she'd been taking a lot of crap from the pink one.

“I bet you three are going to be the world's oldest blank flanks!”

Here I had to step in. “Actually, that honor belongs to me.”

All five spun to look at me, and jaws dropped and eyes widened as they took in my magnificent, blank magenta flank. It was almost like I was at the orphanage again. I could see the balance of power.

I could also see that it belonged completely to me, even if none of them realized it yet.

The pink one scoffed. “You're the oldest pony I've seen without a cutie mark,” she said.

“And you're the brattiest pony I've ever seen with one,” I retorted.

Maybe the filly was high on something. That was the only valid excuse I could see that she had for trying to get under my skin. “What's it like?" she taunted. "Being so old, and not having a place in life?”

“It could be worse,” I said, taking another step closer and circling around her. “Your special talent is what? Being a tiara?” (1) Before she could respond, I lifted her up and placed her on my head, like an obnoxious squirming pink hat. She squealed and struggled, but I quickly lit my horn and held her hooves in place. “You are the worst tiara I've ever seen!” I said. I began to strut around, much to the amusement of the three fillies who were now rolling on the ground in laughter. “World's worst hat, right here.”

“Let me go!” she squealed.

“But I'm helping you fulfill your purpose!” I protested.

It was at this point that she stopped struggling and began screaming a long, high-pitched scream. To be honest, I could easily have put up with that for a while, but I decided to show some mercy. I made a disgusted face. “This tiara sucks balls,” I said. As soon as I did, I winced, realizing that these fillies probably didn't need to know that phrase. But I did let her go, and she may or may not have fallen flat on her face.

Picking herself up with as much dignity as possible, she lifted her nose in the air and walked off, closely followed by her gray sycophant. (2)

I heard a more mature-sounding giggle. I looked back to see Twilight covering her mouth and laughing. Oh, no. She had seen all that, hadn't she? Don't be stupid, Cherish; she was there the whole time. I had just responded without even thinking about her.

But to my surprise, she didn't seem to mind that much. She walked closer and stood next to me, facing the three fillies.

“Girls?” she said, “This is Cherish. She's my daughter.”

That one word. That glorious word.

The yellow filly perked up instantly. “Nice t' meetcha, Cherish! Ah'm Apple Bloom, and these are my friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.”

The pegasus and unicorn, respectively, greeted me excitedly as well.

“And We Are...”

I noticed Twilight quickly place her hooves over her ears. I briefly wondered why. Then I quickly found out.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders! Yay!”

I'm pretty sure my ears were bleeding a bit after that. To be honest, I would rather have listened to the pink one scream.

The fillies didn't seem to notice. “We do all kinds of things to try and get our cutie marks.” As if on cue, the three turned and showed their flanks, blank as the day they were born.

“That's great,” I said, rubbing my ear. “What have you tried so far?”

“All kinds of stuff!” Scootaloo said excitedly. “We're not spa ponies, we're not pet care or grooming ponies, we're not rock climbing ponies, we're not sailor ponies, we're not writing ponies, we're not newsponies...”

“I think she gets it,” Sweetie Belle interrupted.

“And we may or may not be skydiving ponies. But for some reason, we keep getting interrupted whenever we try.”

Apple Bloom brightened. “Hey, you want to come with us? Maybe you'll find yer cutie mark, too!”

I looked back at Twilight, who smiled. “You can go if you want,” she said.

“All right!” Sweetie Belle cheered. “Hooves in!”

I joined in, even though I was twice as tall as they were. I didn't yell when they did, though.

“At least do the last part,” Sweetie Belle said.

I rolled my eyes. “Yay,” I said.

The three cheered again. “Let's go skydiving!”

“Actually, I just had lunch,” I said, queasily bringing a hoof up to my stomach. “Can we do something... closer to the ground?”

Scootaloo sighed, but the three agreed.

“So what do we do instead?”

“We can give a guided tour?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

This time, I was quick enough to plug my ears before they screamed, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Tour Guides! Yay!”

So there I was, walking with these three fillies. They were pretty excited, which was a stark contrast to the foals in the orphanage. I learned that these three were pretty crazy. I did learn a bit about the town, though.

I also learned that the pink pony's name was Tiara, Diamond Tiara. That made my last outburst more than a bit awkward. Frankly, if you're sucking balls at that age, you're headed for a world of trouble.

Why am I talking about this, again? Oh. Right.

Anyway, there we were, walking along, and...

You know, I can't even remember what we did that day. I spent a lot of time with the Crusaders when I was in Ponyville, and all those memories are kindof jumbled. I seem to remember a lot of tree sap, for some reason.

No, I remember the day after that. They invited me to go rafting, because for safety reasons they wanted a big pony there (as much as Apple Bloom protested that she was such), but they also wanted to keep it a crusaders-exclusive meeting, and I fit both qualifications. From the books Twilight had, I thought it was going to be dangerous. Turns out Ponyville town limits don't have anything over a class 1 rapid (3), and if you want anything bigger, you have to go through the Everfree Forest, which is just as likely to kill you as the rafting itself. Since none of us really wanted to die a blank flank, we ended up on a lake somewhere, floating around on a wooden raft, sadly without raft-building cutie marks. But that wasn't what was so special about this day.

Later, I was walking Sweetie Belle home. Apple Bloom had chores and Scootaloo had flown off with Rainbow Dash, so it was just me and Sweetie. She was bouncing along when out of the blue, she turns to me.

“Hey, Cherish, are you any good at magic?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I guess.” I wasn't. Thanks to Twilight's training, I had gotten basic telekinesis down, which would be commendable—were I half my age. Right now? I was just behind. “Twilight says I have great potential, but I unfortunately lack the necessary previous experience and required foundational prerequisites to truly become a great magician.”

To Sweetie's credit, she understood me. “Yeah. Rarity says that, too, but I still can't do much.”

“You lifted the hammer earlier,” I said.

“Yeah, to my mouth,” she said with a hint of bitterness, “But you got to tie the ropes with magic.” Suddenly, she brightened. “Hey! You wanna come over and help me practice my magic?”

I shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

So there I was, heading back to Sweetie Belle's house, which was actually Rarity's house. After convincing her sister that I did not want to model for her and that my slim frame was more the result of a lifetime of eating dry orphanage food than a love for my appearance, she agreed to let me study with Sweetie Belle. She also provided some rather tasty cookies, actually. Oatmeal raisin, and she was generous with the raisins.

Stop laughing. I like them. (4)

Anyway, Sweetie Belle pulls out this book and sits down at the table and pulls me close to read it. It was a simple magic book, I don't even remember what it was called.

I do remember what happened next, though.

I was reading one of the spells designed to help fold paper (because Celestia forbid a unicorn use their -le gasp!- mouth to do something) when I realized that something didn't look right.

“This part here looks kindof redundant,” I said, pointing the quill at one section.

Sweetie Belle scrunched up her face as she reread the part I was looking at. “I don't think so.”

“Yeah, it is. I mean, look. You could just do this.” Lifting the pencil, I sketched out a new flow process. “It's much simpler and wouldn't take as much energy.”

Sweetie Belle squinted. I don't think she understood.

“Just... just try it,” I said.

“Ok...” Sweetie said hesitantly, but she gamely scrunched up her face and lit her horn.

Her spell worked. Her aim was off, though, and instead of the paper we were aiming for folding, she hit the book page itself. It ripped itself from the book, flipped through the air, folded itself nicely into a little stack, and landed right in front of her.

We both stared at it.

“Oops,” I said. I looked over at Sweetie, who was still open-mouthed and staring wide-eyed at the paper. After about seven seconds, though, I became concerned. “Sweetie Belle? You ok?”

“I did it,” she whispered. “I did it...” She jumped up and threw her forelegs around my neck. “I did it! I really, really did it! I did magic! Didja see? Didja?”

“I was standing right here,” I pointed out. “And you don't have to grab my flank like that.”

Sweetie withdrew slightly. “I'm not touching your flank,” she said, confusion splashed across her face.

I looked down and blinked as my flank shone. Yeah. Some ponies think the light shines out their butthole? Turns out it's true at times. Cutie marks shine when they appear, and I did not know that. Well, I know now. But still.

Sweetie Belle later said that I shouldn't be embarrassed about my reaction, because Twilight dances like that too when she's excited. No, I'm not showing you my dance. But yes, I was happy. And Sweetie danced with me, so I guess it wasn't so bad.

“This is the best day ever!” I squealed.

Sweetie Belle checked her own flank and frowned. “Aw,” she whined. “I was hoping I'd get a cutie mark in helping others get their cutie marks.”

“What would that even look like?” I asked.

She paused. “I don't know.” But her attitude quickly changed and she began bouncing in place again. “But you got your cutie mark! You're good at making up new spells! That's so exciting! Twilight's gonna be so happy!”

“Twilight!” I had almost forgotten. I wanted to show her. I had accomplished something—me!—and I wanted her to know. I guess I really hoped she'd be proud of me, you know? Because that wasn't something I got very often and I think everypony needs to know that they're special to somepony.

I sprinted out of there (I might have knocked over a few of Rarity's dresses in my rush) and headed home. Sure enough, Twilight didn't disappoint. Also, Sweetie Belle was right—Twilight dances funny, too.

She wrapped me in a hug and squealed. “Not even a week in town and you already earned your cutie mark. Cherish, I always knew there was something special about you.”

I smiled broadly. Somepony was proud of me! Me! No longer was I a worthless filly unwanted at an orphanage. She really cared about me.

“I'm proud of you, Cherish,” she said, giving me a gentle kiss on the forehead. I felt like I was really worth something right then, and I couldn't help but squeeze and nuzzle her back.

The whole emotional bonding thing was kindof ruined when Pinkie Pie appeared with a bang, a cupcake, and the loud, boisterous offer of another party, but hey. That's Ponyville, I guess. Also, confetti is really hard to wash out of your mane. Just saying.

Twilight did it again later that night. She whispered, “Good night, Cherish,” and she kissed me on the forehead.

If this is what mothers did... every night, kiss her filly good night... life would be a little bit better.

At least, it's what mothers should do.

Oh, I see that look. You're thinking, 'oh, the poor princess. She got her cutie mark and made friends all within the week and her adopted mother loves her. Boo-hoo, her life is sooo hard.'

Heh. We'll see if you still want to be me after I tell you what happened on my eighteenth birthday.

Comments

[Cold Spike]

MOAR!

[Jgame]

I know I've written this before, but after reading chapter two I must say this again: Cherish's voice is loud and clear. Her characterization, even though I don't quite like her, is strong and clear, and can easily be understood by the background she grew up in, and easily sets this fic apart from the rest. Well done.

[Chaos Knux]

At first this was going to rot in my Read Later pile for eternity. Then I ran out of Yu-Gi-OH! Decks to buiild and RealityCheck stopped his updatestorm.

As such, this is far better than I expected. First-person stories tend to die for me, but this is quite intriguing.

and again, assuming the cover picture is Cherish, Twilight is her biological mother, or at the very least older cousin.