The Diversified Growing-Up of a Simple Weather Pony

by bluemeganium

Chapter II - The Weather Pony and the Melody that Captivates

The Diversified Growing-Up of a Simple Weather Pony

Chapter II - The Weather Pony and the Melody that Captivates
by Bluemeganium

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”... so I hope, Mr. Goodair will teach us!”

”Oh no, no way, he's mean! Better, Mrs. Featherclear will be our new teacher!”

”You say that because you think, Mr. Goodair is boring. He's not!”

”Boring, mean, so old, he could be my grampa's grampa, ugly glasses. All the things!”

I trotted into our classroom and the first thing I saw was two young mares named Raindrops and Springy arguing about some teachers and who will be the next one. I observed them for a while. It was like a ping-pong-game – Springy and Raindrops exchanged words like ping-pong literally!

I just stood there like waiting for yesterday. All the other classmates were already there. Well I have to say, it was the first day of our new school year, but as soon as the days pass by, Dashie and Thunderlane will come late regularly. I gave them two weeks – then either one of them may report their tardiness to the principal.

To destroy the wall of blabbering was my next goal. Though, it was quite nice to see Springy in action, blabbering a lot of words, it was time to stop them.

”HEEELLLLOOOO!”

Okay, that was too loud, the whole class was wake now. Raindrops and Springy just stared at me. Dashie waved without looking at me and simply said, ”Hey, Med! What you've done in holidays?” She scribbled some things on her desk additionally, but I couldn't figure out what.
Thunderlane looked upon me, smiled and waved me a hoof. The others were just impressed how impulsive a filly like me could be in the early morning when you just want to nap for a while.

First, I had to reply Dashie before I turned to my friends. ”Hey Dashie! It was a fine holiday! It was really hot, though! My parents and I visited some family members and we helped other pegasi building a cloud house. I went swimming in the pool almost every day, and slacked off!”

Well well, thinking back about my last summer holidays was nice. Especially going to the swimming pool, one of our neighbors had, was so enjoyable. Hot weather was not a big thing for me, in fact, I loved hot summer days, even cold winter days. But relaxing in the swimming pool was just like a thousand clouds that carried you softly over the world.

”We were deep into talking. Sorry, Medley!” Raindrops apologized and promptly carried on, ”So you said, you had great holidays? Wait until you hear that, Medley!”

”If I were you, I’d better count how often Raindrops will tell you her story,” Springy smiled, ”she told me her story the fourth time now. Yesterday two times, today two times. And listen very closely! One time, she sailed away with granny, the next time, it was Rainbow Dash!”

Raindrops turned her head to Springy and snarled, ”So you’re calling me a liar?”

”Never!” the bright green pegasus pony spoke it out so clearly, you could’ve heard her sarcasm 20,000 miles away.

”Whatever, during the holidays, I sailed on a huuuuge ocean down on earth. It was a huuuge boat, and I went with my parents and Springy was also th—”

Springy and I interrupted her simultaneously, ”Not true!”

For a good reason – there were two or three days where I spent some time with Springy. One of them was a funny sleep-over together with Sunny. We watched the stars or some fireflies, and told spooky stories about headless horses.

”Besides, you showed me the boat tickets you got, and the photos you made. Just you, and your grandparents. Nothing more.” Springy’s eyes narrowed and she put an eerie smile on her face like she wanted to say ”Gotcha!” in Raindrops' mind.

”Raindrops, you're not a good story-teller!” Springy and I began to laugh about the fact, while Raindrops muttered some things, both of us did not understand. Was there a pony upset?

”Grrrrr....”

”Oh Raindrops,” Springy put a hoof on her head and began to stroke on her mane, ”at least you've tried!” And again, Springy spoke in her sweetest sarcasm.

Springy and I began to laugh again, but then we suddenly heard a stomping from outside. We all took our places and were quiet. Grumpy Granny would arrive in a few seconds.

I quickly whispered to Raindrops, ”By the way, what were you two arguing about before I trotted in?”

”Some ponies say, we all get a new subject with a new teacher,” she replied, ”and—”.

”Enough! No five minutes of your new school year and you all already behave undisciplined! Fun time is over!”

Grumpy Granny trotted in, but to our surprise, she hobbled the way to her desk this time. But hay, she was still like a drill sergeant. ”I'm weak, but I'm still gonna paddle your plots if you don't follow my rules!”

We were curious about the thing. Me, Raindrops, Springy, but also the other ones. Rumors have been told about the new subject. And the new teacher of course. After half an hour, Grumpy Granny finally put in the issue about the new subject.

”Okay, now that we're done with our homework, I'll tell you everything you need to know, about your new units of all of your subjects.”

She carefully stood up from her seat, grabbed some sheets with her teeth, and distributed them desk for desk. ”These are your subjects for this year! Everything is clear!”

”Miss Seedflare!” Thunderlane intervened after a couple of seconds, ”what is the 'special subject'?”

”Good question, little Thunderlane, now listen up! This afternoon you will all come into the gym, so you can choose between subjects you must visit. There are plenty of subjects for you. The whole school will participate in this. If you don't come, I'll send you to the principal without a word! Got it?”

We all replied, ”Yes, Ma'am!”

”Alright then, let's move to our next topic. We'll discuss about the right punctuation!”

~ ~ ~

In the recess, Springy, Raindrops and I took a seat next to a beautiful flower box. ”Look, girls! These gentians look so beautiful, and over there those huge orange gladiolas!” joyful Springy mentioned, walked around the flower box and started to smell on one of the gladiolas.

I must say, the flowers around the place were really pretty. When I first visited school, our playground was trashy. No filly ever wanted to play there because it was all rotten and ugly!
Another class of our school prettied up the whole place, so it was all like a beautiful garden.
Some pegasi flew down to some earth ponies, were teached by the gardeners how to care for flowers, and how to plant seeds. All in all, it was a good piece of work.
Some flowers were even fine for me. Like gentians, for example. I loved their deep blue color, and the gentians smelled so nice.

”So, which of the subjects will you choose? Springy?”

”Oh, Raindrops, I still don't know. But I guess chiseling or sculpturing would be fine for me. You know how I love sculpture things out of clay or solid cloud material! Dancing could be nice too, but I'm afraid I have two left hooves.”

Raindrops voice raised in excitement and she said, ”If it's something like Iron Hoof, I'll sign up for a thousand years! Medley, what about you?”

”Hm... I must think about it. Painting would be awesome. Or gardening. We'll see it in the gym.” Like Springy, I also didn't know exactly what to choose.

”Gardening, Medley?” Springy stepped in in excitement. ”Awesome! I’ll be your first customer!”

Her statement made me feel kinda embarrassed. ”Oh thanks, Springy!”

”By the way, I remember, my little sis also had to choose, but she must visit two subjects. If I remember it correctly, she visits poetics and art. Yeah, poetics definitely, but about the other one, I'm not exactly sure.”

Raindrops shoved her sandwich in her mouth. As always, she spoke with a full mouth, leaving crumbs and food all over the table. And all over me. ”Mmmh, guwws, didw wealize?—”

”Raindrops, don't talk with your mouth full!” I was annoyed about the crumbs in my mane, and Springy couldn't hold out a chuckle. I turned my head to Springy half-way. ”And you! Don't hesitate. Show us your best laughter!”

”I'm sorry, Medley, but you look too funny with the crumbs in your mane. Hihi. Like snowflakes!”

Annoyed about this situation, I shook my head impetuously to get rid off all of the crumbs in my mane. I could swear, I also saw a big piece of salad flying on the table! Too bad, I aimed not on Raindrops.

”GULP! Sorry, Medley! You guys realized, all of the subjects we have to choose are some kind of creating stuff? Art, music, crafting, and all of the things? Besides martial arts, I'm not fond of it to be honest. I mean, all of the things sound so boring. No real activity.”

”What you're talking about, Raindrops?” Springy questioned. ”It is something to unfold your creativity, and to unfold yourself! That's such a wonderful thing! Maybe you'll get your cutie mark in one of these things!”

”Umm... I don't really want to unfold myself in that way. I just want to have some activities. Where you can exhaust yourself and be on your limits. Art or crafting is something where you sit or stand in front of your work, and that sounds not really suitable for me.”

Sometimes Raindrops had not the sense of art. She's the active pony. You can't force an active pony like Raindrops or Dashie in front of a block of marble. That's something, I can understand.
But I was kinda annoyed about what she said. I appreciated these things we can choose this afternoon, and even Springy was very fond of it. Two ponies who are interested in artistic stuff, and one pony who's a real party pooper. Usually, Springy is the party pooper in our little circle of friendship, but this time, all of our excitement about our new subject was threatened by a yellow somepony, with a blue mane. There's no way, Springy and I would let it spoil.

I threw in calmly, ”How the hay can you judge, without trying it out? How the hay can you say, it is all boring and stuff, and you haven't even touched a brush in your hooves?” Meanwhile, I drew some circles in the air with my hoof like I was painting imaginary. In my imagination, it sure would feel nice.

I continued and looked deep into Raindrops face. Not with a serious face, instead I continued with a more positive expression to motivate my yellow buddy. ”Come on, Raindrops, give it a try! Art or music is also an activity. A different kind of activity. Plus, what about your cutie mark? You still haven't earned one, and this is the chance for you, and even for me, to find out your special talent!”

”I think a lot of fillies will use this to find out their special talent. That's the purpose of this whole choose-your-subject-thing,” Springy declared.

”Right. I can think of it too!” I nodded. My excitement raised.

”Bad thing is, I must choose. Maybe I hammer down some wood with my hooves or something. Could be a nice training,” Raindrops grumbled and shoved her last piece of sandwich in her mouth.

”Oh, don't be so grouched,” I begged. ”today, you will sign up for a certain subject and tomorrow you're full of joy about it! You sure won't regret it!”

”Imagine her as a prima ballerina!” Springy smiled and couldn't hold out another chuckle.

Raindrops was not really in a good mood to hear jokes like that. But she let out a big sigh, and said, ”Yeah yeah. Guess I have no choice.”

~ ~ ~

Springy, Raindrops and I flew over to the gym in the afternoon. Three or four schools in Cloudsdale used this gym to do some lessons in physical education. Today was not about sport or something, and you could've seen it when you'd entered the main hall.

Dozens of young pegasi stood or walked in the main hall. Beside the sport equipments on the walls or on the ceiling, there was nothing but a couple of booths. In each of the booths, there was at least one pegasus pony. I could think of, these ponies were some sort of guides or deputies to inform little young fillies about the subject they've chosen or they were about to choose. Could've even been teachers instead of guides, though.

On top of the stands, the name of the subject was written, and these stands were well-visited. Ten or twelve pegasi per stand was quite the normal.

Okay, let's list these subjects up.

On the very left stand, you could sign up for painting. Though it's pretty tough to hold a brush in your mouth and to paint your picture in an ocean of marvellous colors, painting was very welcome for me! If you were a unicorn, it was sure an easy thing, but I can think of a couple of pegasus ponies, painting beautiful pictures.

Especially my uncle from Las Pegasus was one of them. My uncle made a couple of beautiful pictures, and is still in charge for decorating the walls in enormous and luxurious casinos with his expensive art. Illuminated by a thousand of colors, I was really amazed as a young filly when I last visited some of my uncle's work! Sadly, only for a couple of minutes because little fillies were not allowed in casinos.

Speaking about decorations, the do-and-dont’s of decorating was topic in another booth, but it was not the right thing for me. To beautify bird nests, little shops or something with ornaments was nice, no offense, but I wanted it big. Like I already said about my uncle and his paintings gazed by a lot of ponies around the world to make them impress and smile from ear to ear. That's what I want!

The next thing was something, Springy was really enthused about it. I'm talking about sculpture things. Another pretty tough thing because you had to chisel everything from wood to marble, from gypsum to various kinds of expensive minerals.
When Springy and I talked about this issue a couple of weeks ago at the sleep-over during the summer holidays, she told me about the tools you had to use, like a hammer in your mouth, or the chisel in your hooves, or the other way round, the variety of material you had to carve and of course the dirt in your coat and in your mane, which all sounded too messy for me. Plus, I found it rather hard and uncomfortable to hold heavy tools in your mouth.
But Springy seemed to love this stuff. Right when I thought about it, Springy hastily galloped over to this booth to join boxing her way through the crowd screaming, ”Get outta my way!”

I'm sure, she'd love it! Have you seen her eyes? They looked so heart-shaped!
Anyways, the next stand was all about crafting. Like sculpture things, you had to use tools like screwdrivers and hammers in your mouth. Nail down things and so on. Better see, what's next.

And the next thing was acting. I must say, acting sounded really interesting! To be in a play, wearing costumes, being applauded by the crowd – how wonderful it would be! Beside painting, acting was on the top of my list.

Then, a stand was all about cooking. Not a good thing to be honest! No no no!
I remembered a lot of days with my mom. She teached me how to cook – at least she tried to. Off the record, don't ever let me in the near of spices!
One time, I wanted to do a favor for my mom and dad, but instead, I destroyed everything! The salad was too sour due to an overload of olive oil, I burned the sandwiches, and the potatoes were uneatable because I put in too much salt, red and green pepper, and it was all salty and stuff! The cream lacked in creaminess; it was more water than cream. What a shame!

Fortunately, the next thing for us pegasi was just singing, and not playing instruments. I couldn't imagine how to play the piano or other complicated instruments with just my hooves and not with magic. But I must say, instruments like the glockenspiel or bells sound so beautiful! The bright tones of bells were so lovely! When I was a little filly, I always wanted to ring the town's bells in Cloudsdale!
But singing is different. I have to admit, singing was occasional in my spare time. I'd rather whistled or hummed the songs, instead of singing vocals, but all in all, singing was another thing in my list.

The last one was writing. I didn't know exactly, what you had to do. Maybe it was all about writing stories or about the art and improvement of mouth-writing. The first aspect was interesting, but not as interesting as the other things. The latter was nothing special for me because I already wrote my letters and numbers beautiful. My teacher never blamed me for bad mouth-writing. Instead, it was, for example, Raindrops or Thunderlane with a bad mouth-writing, and both of them often had to redo their homework, until it wasn't all sloppy anymore.
So writing stuff was the fourth thing on my list, next to painting, acting and singing.

There were only eight booths in the gym. I missed other things to participate, though. Springy told, her sister took part in poeting. Gardening was an issue, Springy and I talked about in school. But I could imagine gardening was for earth ponies or unicorns exclusively.

And there were also the rare kind of crafts like glass-blowing, horseshoemaking or calligraphy. I shouldn’t wonder, there were no booths here to exhibit those rare things. Horseshoemaking, for example, was really unknown here in Cloudsdale. Maybe down on earth, horseshoemaking was more popular, but I didn’t really want to rack my brain about thinking about earth ponies’ stuff.
I fetched my only friend left to have a dialogue.

”So, Raindrops, what's your favorite?”

”Seriously, Medley? Nothing! All boring stuff.”

Better change the topic. Not that it was hopeless, but she’d see that she wasn't right, and those things will make a lot of fun. ”Well... isn't it just beautiful to see the smile in her face?” I pointed to the sculpture stand where Springy was just about to sign in for her lessons.

Raindrops replied, ”Oh yeah! It is like a dream come true for her. Remember when she told us everything so excited about a new pony statue in Ponyville next to town hall?”

Though I'd never been to Ponyville so far, I remembered that she talked about it. I added, ”You're right, there was this Ponyville thing! Have you ever seen this statue, she talked about?”

Raindrops shook her head. ”Nope. Haven't seen it. Besides, the last time I was in Ponyville was in a hospital when I've hurt my leg badly down there. I can say, it really hurts when you hit the ground! I'm glad, my leg wasn't broken! Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to walk for a couple of weeks! Horrible!”

That was the 42nd time, she told me that! How she fell off of a little cloud, just two hooves from the ground! Nevertheless, I left Raindrops alone. ”Okay, I’ill hit the booths. Hope, you'll find something nice too!”

”Ooooh, sure!”

”Bye!”

I first trotted over to the writing section. I quickly forgot about Raindrops' last ironic statement, and informed myself, what the focus of writing was about. A young but massive stallion there told me that writing focused all about both writing and telling stories. He gave me a quick look into one of the famous adventures of Daring Do.

”Mhm, okaay!” I just replied without being that much astonished.

I left this stand behind because there were some other priorities to discover. So I walked straight on to the painting stand. There were beautiful pictures on easels exhibited, all of them colorful and made of oil or watercolor!
Furthermore, I saw a small box with deep red, yellow and blue pigments, as well as a color palette, various brushes and a canvas to exercise!

”I liiiiike this place!” My eyes gleamed in excitement, and my smile was full of joy.

The old painting pony was really glad to hear that. He stuttered, ”Well, little filly. There are not many pegasi, who dare to hold a brush between their lips. Why don't you just brush on the canvas?”

I happily nodded. ”Yeah yeah yeah, pwease!”

I grabbed a brush between my lips and dipped the brush into the color. ”Don't worry, little filly. Just make some lines or circles. No need to beat my paintings.”

I gazed at the exhibited pictures. ”Zeese r ur painzings?” I put away the brush, so he could understand me better. ”Have you painted all these pictures?”

”Of course! This one is my newest work. It shows the rainbow and the endless sky in the dusk.”

I promptly reacted, ”But there is a blank piece there! HERE! It isn't finished!”

”Yeah, little filly. I ran out of all all the green colors I had. You see, when I made this picture, it was a day with one of the very very rare sunsets. I sailed on the ocean, and the sky showed not only red and yellow but also a tiny tiny piece of green above the sun. The sky was illuminated in a slight green touch. And the sun itself was nothing more than a green spot above the ocean.”
He continued his little story. ”This scenario took just half a minute, wellwellwell. If I could just see it with my own eyes again. If I could see the beautiful, unique green color again. Then I can finish my work.”

”Oh, I see.” I grabbed the brush again and painted a single red line on the canvas.

”NONONO! What's that?” the old painting pony yelled. I dropped my jaw, and the brush fell down on the floor! That hit me hard!

”But but, this was my first try and—”

”SHUT UP! A gifted painter doesn't paint like this! You didn’t take the one brush off at the end. You stopped and then you took the brush off the canvas. You moved your paint to places where paint doesn’t belong! Look, how crappy this last piece of stroke is! And you want to be a good painter?”

I… was… this was… My inner parts of my brain were paralyzed by this excoriate critique. Other parts just wanted to slap his face with his own brushes and then smash a canvas on his head. A couple of seconds ago, he was so nice to me. I shouted, ”HEY! You haven't even given me a chance! I just made one stroke! That's not fair!”

”I'll only teach the talented ponies. I have painted many pictures for 60 years! I'm old, but I still can see, who's talented and who's not! I know, what makes a pony gifted!”

Was he conceited? I screamed at the vain old man, making my voice a bit croaky. ”Unfair!”

To my surprise, Raindrops heard all about it and galloped over to me. I turned to her, then looked around me. Many wondered faces were directed to us.

Besides the fact that I drew some attention, I confronted him in assertiveness. ”You cannot leave a pony in the dark, just because a pony’s not gifted! You cannot leave me in the dark! Everypony's got a chance!”

”What are you talking about, Medley?”

I stared angrily at Raindrops and pointed my hoof to the vain pony, afterwards to the canvas. ”HE! I made just one brush! He wanted me to try out! I haven't even made one final brush on the canvas, and he yelled at me for being ungifted and for doing everything wrong!”

I gnarled. Raindrops instead tried to calm me down. ”Come on, it's not worth it!”

My stare bittered. ”Count me IN!”

”And I say NO!”

”Unfair!” I jumped and stomped with all of my four hooves. I spread my wings to menace him more. You cannot do this to me!” my voice increased.

”I can. It's my right to do it. I won't teach you!” The old pony sat on his chair like there was no angry Medley here and crossed his forelegs.

The other ponies gathered around me were just silent and did nothing to help me. Raindrops put herself in front of me, and tried to push me a little bit further. ”Come on sweetie, it's really not worthy. Look for something else!”

”It's not over, big stinky man!” I hollered, so almost everypony in the gym could hear me. Raindrops pushed me a bit more out of sight. I finally freed myself and shouted, ”Let me go!”

We both were quiet for a time. Eventually, I broke the silence. ”It's so not fair! What does he think he is, huh?”

Raindrops sighed, ”Forget him, Medley! Just forget him!”

”Have you already found something?” I asked with a incensed voice.

Raindrops knew, I was still angry, but she understood that. ”Crafting. Better than nothing. I signed up, and quickly went away. Just a decision.”

”Hope the others are not such stinky ponies. I better go to the acting stand.”

”Do it, Medley. Keep calm.”

”Thanks, Raindrops!”

Unfortunately, acting was already not available anymore. A lot of fillies already signed up. So I went to the singing stand.

”Hello, Lady! Do you want to join us? We have plenty of room!”

The voice of the mid-age stallion was rough. He had a gray mane, had dark shades and wore a hat. Though he looked not familiar, he sounded pretty nice, and was really glad to see me. But in the end, everything would turn worse – well, I thought so.

”I've heard you over there. He was mean to you, right?”

I nodded.

”You have a pretty clear voice. Do you mind participating with us?”

I shook my head.

”What's your name? Don't be shy, speak to me!”

I hesitated. ”Medley.”

”And your full name?”

”Sprinkle Medley.”

”Riiiight. How old?”

”Still eleven.”

”And you live here in Cloudsdale, right?

I nodded.

”Good. Last question. Which school do you visit?”

”Old town's centre. The one in the middle of tiny streets. Miss Seedflare's my teacher.”

”Oh yeah, the school within the labyrinth! All right, I've signed you up! Welcome to our glee club, Medley!”

He made me smile. But not that you think, he turned my feelings topsy-turvy in a second! This acknowledgement was really the thing I needed. After all the happenings in the last minutes, I was still incensed, but it was a nice, comfy feeling. I headed to Raindrops because I haven't seen Springy anymore. When I met her, my first things to say to her were just, ”I'm in!”

Raindrops marveled. ”And? You go crafting as well?”

”Singing!”

”Singing? All you do is hum. I never heard you sing before.”

”Don’t be suspicious, Raindrops! The teacher over there believes in me.” I pointed my hoof to him.

”Are you sure?”

”Sure I am. He heard what happened at the painting stand. He said it was mean from the old pony for not giving me a chance. But instead, he wants to give me a chance. He thinks, I have a clear voice.”

Raindrops looked over my shoulder to see, who the pony is. Then she turned her head to my direction again. ”You sure have a neat voice when you talk or something. But I'm not sure, what he's up to. Has he ever heard you singing before?”

”Not really. But hay, we need to choose our courses, so it doesn't matter anyways! He'll just make his lessons, make some exercises, tests and all the other stuff, Miss Seedflare already does.” I shrugged in front of Raindrops and continued, ”Are you sure about your teacher?”

Raindrops also shrugged, but in an incuriously way. ”I just joined them. I wrote my name in the list without having eye contact to the teacher,” little Raindrops shook her head. ”I'm totally not interested in this whole thing.”

”Oh, Raindrops. Just wait another two weeks. It will be interesting,” I thought to myself.

~ ~ ~

”Lalalalala-la-la-la-la-la la-la-la-laaa-laaaa.”

”Hey, Medley! It's been 5 hours since you've been singing this song. Don't hurt yourself!”

Silly Raindrops. Why should I hurt myself? Maybe my throat hurt from excitement about singing!
I took a couple of lessons now. At the end of the day, it was really a lot of fun! Not only singing, but the way my teacher Mr. Piccollo explained it to us, made the whole lessons kinda magical. Like you were able to 'feel' the music.
Music itself was complicated, he told us, but not for the ones, who love music. And he really made me love music. Maybe I should really take lessons in playing the glockenspiel?
Fact is, I was more and more enthused about singing. And he appreciated it. To say it better, he really loved my clear and bright voice. There were some voice cracks, though, but that's normal in my age, he told me.

But maybe Raindrops was right. I better go easy on my voice now. Better avoid a croaky voice. I remembered a pretty young filly, who overdone her singing exercises and started her lessons with a croaky voice. Her voice was so croaky, the chalkboard cracked in pieces! Or maybe it was just the drunk groundskeeper pony of the school, who crashed his cloud-mower into the wall.

”Am I singing that bad?”

Wonderful – a rhetorical question! Now how does Raindrops react?

”Are you nuts?” Raindrops was pretty surprised by my question. ”Your voice is pretty! But better slow down before you caw like a crow!”

I tried to make this whole thing funnier by making ugly noises while singing. ”LalaLAALAAAAlalalaaa lalaLAA-LAA-la—”

Perfect! Raindrops plugged her ears! ”Oough, Medley stop! That was worse than Thunderlane last week.”

That made me chuckle. ”It wasn't that bad!” I spoke in an ironic tone.

”Are you kidding me? He sang the anthem so bad! He probably never heard of harmony or melody!”

Raindrops shivered by just thinking about his awful gig. She then shut her eyes and shook her head rapidly, to forget this scene in her mind. It was quite funny to see that. But there was another thing, I wanted to know. ”Raindrops, how's your crafting been so far?”

Raindrops eyes turned into a sad look. ”Terrible. I'm with Dashie in this mess.”

I copied her look. ”Why?”

”Dashie's like me. She's also not happy about it. So we teamed up to craft things together. Last time, we had to finish an aviary made of wood. Winter is coming soon, so we all had to make a warm place for birds, who don't migrate.”

She paused. After a while, she sighed ”It was really bad. All the other ones were pretty. Ours was miserable. All slanted, nails stuck out, glue was all over the aviary, we painted it sloppy and to make it worse, we forgot to make a hole in the aviary! How should birds survive in the cold without a warm place inside? That's terrible!”

I said nothing. My face still showed a sad expression. There was a little piece inside of me laughing prettily. I mean, that was really a shame if you forgot to make a hole! But I wasn't in a mood of laughing right now. Raindrops seemed to feel really queasy about it. By the look, you could say, she was really unhappy about this situation.

And when I heard about the whole aviary thing, this really hurt her. I could easily think of a reason why she was upset in a sad manner. It's certainly not their, Raindrops' and Dashie's, poor skills in crafting. Both of them were sure satisfied with a below-average work, as long as the birds just had a roof over their heads. But their effort was not enough, so the birds must freeze or even die in the cold.
I knew Raindrops. And I knew Dashie. Especially Dashie could be really disappointed if she was trying to do her best, and the result was pathetically disastrous.

”Come on. Don't be so sad.” I leaned my head on her own, like I was about to cuddle her. My goal was to console her. I peeked and saw a slight blush on her cheeks.

The next thing I made was very strange. Her slight blush and her stillness made me have… it was… phew, it was first hard to explain! It was like a sudden urge that induced me. My body twitched and trembled, but in a positive way, like it was alright. I whispered in her ear ”I really love it when you blush!” and gave her a gentle kiss on her cheek.

Raindrops stunned. Her eyes were opened widely. I saw her eyes slightly flickering like she was going to cry soon. She blushed even more! We looked in each other's eyes for a short time. It felt so good right now to console a pony you really like since your first encounter.
Our faces were just a hoof away. And we were about to do something that was nearly uncontrollable – a kind of a natural thing I supposed. Raindrops slowly closed her eyes and gently puckered her lips to meet mine. My reaction was quite the same without any inhibitions. We slowly approached each other. I could feel her warm and comfy breath on my face. But before we even touched our lips, we heard a bright voice of a young mare bubbling over in joy.

”Medley! Raindrops! I got an A+!”

Oh dear, it was Springy! We had to interrupt this sudden emotion quickly. I spontaneously turned away from Raindrops and offered Springy a hug to congratulate in just one movement. ”Hello Springy! I'm so happy for you!”

Raindrops was uptight and stood back first. Then she walked towards Springy and she gave a nuzzle for her good work. ”Nice! Springy!”

Springy worried ”What's wrong with you, Raindrops?”

Oh dear, Raindrops sounded so reluctant. Even deaf and blind ponies would know, Raindrops was kinda worried. Springy was full of joy, while our yellow-coated young mare commiserated herself.

”Nothing. Just a bit tired from school. By the way, you seem to enjoy it, right?”

”Right!” Springy turned her frown into happiness. Our lucky Raindrops saved the day by using a diversionary tactic!

Raindrops quickly forgot her sorrow when she saw Springy smiling again and said, ”Then tell us more!” I believe, it was a just distraction from her own sorrow. Well, at least it was better than nothing.

”Oh everything's fine! The teachers there are nice, my fellow ponies are all nice, and we already started to sculpture little models!”

Springy carried her bag on her back. She opened it, and grabbed something with her mouth to place it in front of us. She continued, ”This is a green little pony soldier made of malachite. It took about 4 hours just to hone the body of the pony! But it was worth it to waste the time. I got the best mark. A+!”

Raindrops and I were amazed at her work. Springy really made this figure well! There were hardly no defects, the eyes of the pony soldier were pretty detailed and the color of the figure was neat.

”This'll be a present for my little sis! Not for her birthday, but for Hearth's Warming Eve,” Springy happily announced.

”So glad to hear that,” Raindrops added.

Springy turned to Raindrops and asked ”How about you? Do you love crafting by now?”

Oww.

”Not really. I had to build an aviary with Dashie last time. It was a disaster! None of us loved it! And neither did our teacher. It really sucks!”

”Oh, this can't be that bad! How about, I will help you?”

Raindrops looked in Springy's eyes and said: ”Hmm, thanks, but I can't let you do that. You do so love to sculpt things, it's really not necessary to even help us. Besides, it's too late. We already got a bad mark for our aviary. I hope some woodpeckers will peck a hole into our aviary since we forgot to make a hole.”
Our sweet yellow pegasus pony cupped her hooves around her head in shame.

”Oh, I'm so sorry, Raindrops.”

”Mhm, thanks Springy. I told you all, this makes no fun,” Raindrops sighed.

”Maybe it's just this time. That should not bother you,” Springy replied to comfort her.

”I'll have my good mood thrown away. Somewhere in the ocean. Just a couple of failures like this. Soon.”

”Oh, come on Raindrops! Fight against it!” Springy said and carried on, ”If you let yourself down, you will not be happy anymore!”

Raindrops was silent for a while. She just looked down to the ground. She relented then, ”Maybe, you're right.”

Springy was not satisfied with her answer. The young yellow pegasus mare still had her worried expression. ”Raindrops, be fair to yourself!”

”I'm sure, I'll fix it. Just give me some time,” Raindrops declared without meeting her own eyes with Springy's.

Springy hesitated for a while. Afterwards, she sighed, ”I hope so.”

She then turned to me and saw that I was not really happy about this situation either. Make-the-mare-forget-about-her-sorrow was her job now, so she asked me, ”And I've heard, you love to sing, don't you?”

”Wh-What? Oh yeah. It's been nice so far. We're eight pegasi. My teacher said, I have a bright voice. Mr. Piccollo and some other pegasi really like it,” I faintly smiled.

”He's so right! You really have a neat voice, especially when you talk! Keep talking, I'm listening!”

”Mmh, okay. The first lessons were practical. We exercised the scale, for example. Just the easy ones like C and F major. Do-re-mi and so on. We talked about harmony and disharmony. The next thing will be how to avoid voice cracks.”

Springy turned to Raindrops again and saw a slight cheer on her face. Before Raindrops could fall back to some sad emotions again, Springy didn’t gave her a chance to do so, and happily announced, ”You really love her stories, don't you Raindrops?”

”W-what? Sure, absolutely! So nice to hear, she's happy.”

Springy turned to me again. ”I'd say, you should carry on, Medley! Maybe you'll earn you cutie mark in singing?”

Springy reminded me of something. Maybe it was really time for my cutie mark to appear?

”A musical note? That would be a nice cutie mark!” Raindrops chimed in.

”We'll see it,” I happily said. However, I secretly looked down to the ground in a worried manner.

~ ~ ~

The months passed by. I aged up in winter and this spring was one of the wettest ever. Not that I'd hate it, though. Once on a rainy day, I wasn't motivated to play along with other ponies or with my close friends, so I sat on the table along with Mom and Dad. I was sorrowed these days. and I hoped, Mom and Dad wouldn't know about it.

We all ate herb soup. While Mom and I were satisfied with the soup, Dad's stomach knew no limits. Next to his soup, there was a lot of bread, vegetables and some cider on the table. Alcoholic cider of course. It really amazed me how a pony could eat so much food at dinner without becoming fat! Okay, he was a bit chubby, but that’s all.

However, I leaned my head in one hoof on the table, while I moved my other hoof back and forth, as well as around the soup plate, like I was drawing imaginary circles.

Meanwhile, Mom grabbed her own soup plate, swallowed the whole soup and put away the plate. She turned her head into my direction. ”Darling, what's wrong?”

She drew Dad's attention as well as mine. He stopped biting into a tomato and looked at me for a while in silence. He continued eating his tomato carefully, to be ready for a little family discussion. Something that was not really welcome to me right now.

”Nothing, Mom.”

”Have you problems in school, Meddy?” my dad promptly asked.

”No no. It's really fine there. I can sing something for you. I managed to avoid voice cracks many weeks ago.” To distract them, I quickly began to sing, ”Lalaaa-la-la-la-la-laaa—”

”Meddy,” my dad interrupted, ”you sing so wonderful. No need to demonstrate it.”

”Are they mocking you?”

Geez. Parents always hammer you with questions! They won't give you time to breath! ”No. I get along fine with my school mates. Both in my class and in the glee club.”

”Then what's the problem, Darling?”

I sighed. I must tell them something – somehow. They wouldn’t give up, until you let out all your secrets. ”I learned a lot of things now. Especially in the singing class. I got very good marks. My singing teacher told only two of us, some colt and me, have the most glorious voices he ever heard in his life.”

”So?” Mom curiously asked.

It was a really knotty situation, and I was not happy about this situation right now. What if my parents knew about it? Truth is, they'd blabber you until your head explodes. Until the little filly is quiet and happy again. Better make it quick, so I could finish my dinner, hit the shower, do my homework and get ready for bed, without any further questions.

To make it more plausible, I hid my face under my hooves in despair and asked, ”Are... I think the other ones in my class are jealous of me!”

You got me! I'm not a clever pony if it comes to tell lies. I always was an honest pony, but that white lie would do.

Dad became silent. Really silent. You could've mistaken him with one of those pretty pony statues, Springy always talked about.
Mom startled and backed her head a bit. She shook her head to catch herself up, then she asked me quite wondered, ”Em, why would they be jealous about you?”

”Don't know? Just a feeling,” I responded.

”Most ponies aren't jealous of something. If ponies are, you'd clearly see it in their expressions and behaviours. Not just 'a feeling',” Mom said and raised an eyebrow.

Dad suddenly intervened after the little shock by saying ”Is it that, what troubles you?” It seemed he didn't expect my answer, and his look told that he didn't believe it either.

”I suppose,” I answered Dad's question, leaving Mom's statement unanswered. My look shuttled between Dad and Mom.

Both looked at me quite strange. Like they wanted to look through me or something. To scan my brain to search for the truth. Before they'd go any further, I stopped their intentions by saying with a bit of a shaky voice, ”I... will manage it. D-don't worry.”

”How are you gonna work it out?” my dad asked, shoving away his food to have a more direct talk with me.

”By... I um... ,” I hardly found no words to say, ”to show my classmates, they don't have to be jealous of me. Or of the young colt, uh yeah the young colt, don't forget about him! The ponies in the glee club are also jealous of him!”

Dad repeated ”How are you gonna work it out?”

”Like I said.”

”And how? Are you gonna try singing worse?”

”No. I'll... find a way. D-don't worry.”

”Medley,” my mom suddenly called me without saying 'Darling' to me, ”I believe there's something more, you don't want to tell.”

”N-no Mom. Nothing more. I was just curious.”

Mom and Dad looked in each other's frowny eyes.

”If something troubles you, you can tell us.”

”But Dad, um, there is nothing that troubles me.” I gazed down to the floor.

”Look me in the eyes,” my mom declared, ”what is wrong? Are you sure, there's nopony who's mocking you?”

Mom didn't knew. Of course, I feel fine in my class, and the ponies my class treated me like a usual pony. I hated that question. Furiously and to declare it straightaway, I stomped with my hooves on the table shouted out a short but very intense ”NO!”

”DON'T SHOUT AT US! WE'RE STILL—”

Mom put a hoof calmly to Dad, who freaked out at me for shouting at them. His voice was powerful. After all, he was hired as a construction worker here in Cloudsdale! On constructions, there’s always a huge noise level, so you needed a loud voice, otherwise you couldn't hear your fellow workers.

”Flare, don't shout,” my mom relaxed the situation a little bit. Meanwhile I'd flinched with nothing to say right now, but Mom turned her head to me, like I was the next pony, who needed to be calm down.

Mom just looked me in my eyes with a worried face. I surrendered before the whole dinner ended in a family tragedy. ”There is something.”

”We're listening,” Mom said, and holded her one hoof stronger to one of Dad's. In case of an outrage, so the tiger won't attack me literally.

”Six of my fellow classmates in the singing group have already got their cutie mark, since they joined in. Leaving me, and the other colt I told you 'unmarked'. Perhaps, he'll be the next getting his cutie mark.” I raised my head and my voice and continued with a light sad expression, ”Why don’t I have cutie mark?” Afterwards I sharply dropped my voice level, ”I'm singing well they said.”

I looked on my soup that was still untouched. I supposed, the soup was already cold now. The seconds of silence at the table felt so long. Eventually, the silence was broken, when a tapping sound from one of the kitchen's windows could be heard, which was caused by a little dragonfly that got lost. I stood up and opened the window to free the little dragonfly.
While I was at it, I headed outside leaving the window open and said with a dry voice, ”I'm going to my room. I'm sleepy,” without looking back to my parents. I didn’t notice their expressions after my confession. All I did was gazing at the ground, free that little flying thing, and trot back sheepishly. I wondered, why my parents remained mute.

Anyways, that felt like a slow runaway. Young ponies usually tended to flee after making minor confessions like this one. Most young ponies even cried while running away, but to my surprise my tears contained.

I couldn't really sleep. The sunset was done, but it was still too bright outside. Cloudsdale's houses usually have no shutters like the houses down on earth. Just a window or two per room, and that was all. Only a few windows had curtains.

I rolled back and forth trying to find a position to fall asleep. With or without my sheets. After a while, I grabbed one of my pillows and threw it on my walls in anger for not falling asleep. ”Grrrrrr.”

I heard somepony's coming upstairs. It must’ve been Mom or Dad. I hoped one of them went to the bathroom or something. I wasn't in the mood to talk because it was just uncomfortable for me to tell them the truth.

The door was opened by Mom. I turned myself away from her to avoid a talk. Beneath my one last pillow, there was an old plushie. Geez, I didn't know how long I had this plushie. The coat of my plushie was frayed and the overall condition could be described as ‘worn out’. I better throw this plushie away soon, objects never had an emotional attachment for me, even if these objects, like plushies, were made for it.

I felt something heavy on my bed and a hoof-touch on my shoulder. It was Mom. ”Hey Darling!”

First, I pretend I couldn't hear her. Then I quickly quashed my idea. I simply grumbled into my last pillow like it was a guttural way of saying 'hello'.

”If I were you, I couldn't sleep on that tiny pillow either,” she said, walked away, grabbed the thrown pillow on the floor, and gently laid it back to my bed.

”Um, thanks. Now I must sleep,” I said with a sleepy voice, but the voice was fake. Oh dear, I usually hated it to lie, but right now I faked around more and more, just to feel well. It was time to make it stop. ”Sorry,” I whispered.

”For what?” my mom asked.

”I lied. I hate lying.”

”Darling,” my mom leaned closer to me, ”you can have many talents. Many wonderful talents. You fly graceful and you sing so brightly.”

”Then I must get a cutie mark!” I announced. I haven't noticed, she distracted the lying-issue, yet.

My mom put a hoof on my cheek in a comfort manner. She added, ”You can have a lot of talents. But there's one special talent that will make you unique. And you haven't discovered your special talent yet.” Before I could say something, she continued, so I couldn't have the chance to complain. ”Fillies are eager to earn their cutie mark. I can really understand. And that's what makes me so happy, seeing little fillies trying to do some adventures in order to get a cutie mark. Searching for your own destiny is the greatest adventure you can ever imagine.”

”Mhm,” I just hummed.

”You might discover even more other talents in your life. And suddenly, when you expected it at least, it can happen, what one pony's waiting for a long time. You'll find your very special talent.”

”Unfair. There are so many wonderful things out there. It takes so many years,” I complained.

”One important thing is, you must not force it. This will be the worst way to earn a cutie mark. Hardly nopony ever got a cutie mark by forcing it.”

I crossed my forelegs and grumbled.

”I know, waiting for your cutie mark upsets you. I totally understand it.”

”I'm upset of other things. Like that I lied to you, to hide my sorrow. To hide my impatience,” I declared.

”Darling, lying is really not the right thing a pony can do. It really surprised me because you're such an honest pony. I'd count it as another talent of you!”

Okay, Mom tried to calm down the situation. How many talents I got now? Three? Six? The whole population of Cloudsdale? Wow, I’m a lucky pony who found out lots of talents! Geez, this was not helpful for me! Though I must say, I was really impatient all the way, and maybe that's why it caused some trouble now. And maybe Mom was right. Maybe time was the key for all the good things you want.

Mom knew, I was thinking about it right now, but my expression was more... I’d say sad. So she gave me a cuddly hug. I begged close to tears for one last question – okay, three questions. ”Please. Please tell me. Why do I get so sad thinking about my own cutie mark? Why do I need to lie to hide it? And why does it hurt?”

My mom hugged me tighter. Her warmth felt like that she really cared for a pony like me. She gently whispered, ”It's because you have a pure heart.”

In her presence I became more and more drowsy. After a few minutes, I let off of her and slowly closed my eyes.

The next day, I told Raindrops and Springy about my last conversation with my mom about my lack of patience and my want of a cutie mark.

”Oh Sweetie!” Raindrops said and gave me a nuzzle to comfort me.

Springy instead warned me, ”If you keep on having sorrow, you’ll be frustrated to tears.”

Raindrops nodded in agreement, ”She's right. Don't be so fussy. I also can’t wait to get my cutie mark. But I'm excited about it, and you're being fussy.”

I just sighed, ”Hmm. May—Maybe you're right.”

~ ~ ~

Author's Note:

Pre-readed by goddamnAnimalPlanet. Thanks! ;)