One in a Trillion: Lemons

by UnkleBumbleHeck

Introduction

Every mare, stallion and foal has a purpose, some reason they were put on this earth. Unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi all find their calling in some way or another.

When you're young, if'n you subscribe to the idea of cutiemarks being as vital as oxygen, you're gonna be doin' just about everything within your little pony power t' find that cutiemark. Well, I have a sort of belief on that, and I ain't no scientist, but who's to say you gotta do what your "special talent" is?

I'm sorry, I got all caught up in makin' a point'a things and didn't even bother introducing myself. The name's Barron Skyes, hailin' from glorious Cloudsdale, and my special talent is lemons.

Well, okay no it ain't lemons. My cutiemark is a lemon, but my supposed talent is baking. Specifically, it's baking lemon pies, but I ain't never met a single pony that likes lemon pies, so lotta good that does me. See, when I was real little, my mother, blessed saint that she was, would just about spend every conscious hour in our kitchen, fixin' all sorts of things. Well one day, when I was about five or six years old, I decided I wanted to see what all she found so interestin' in cookin'. Now, granted my mother did own a bakery on down the road a ways, so lookin' back I can see why she spent s'much time a'cookin', but when I was little I didn't quite manage to put two n' two together t' make five. Or six, can't quite remember.

Anyhorse, I was figurin' I could just hop up there and watch her at it. Oh I had it all planned out like some sort of heist or somthin'. I'd climb up onto the kitchen counter, notepad and pen in hoof and just start a' takin' notes.

Well that went about nowhere in ten seconds flat. I trotted up behind me mom that mornin' while she was a'cookin', and she heard every little hoofstep. Well, what ended up happening was, she figure'd she'd show me what all she was doin', but only if I helped. Yeah, sounds real fun for a little buck like I'd been. (That's sarcasm, err'pony.) so, she sat me on one of our dinin' chairs so I could see what all she was a'fixin', and she wanted me to decide what to make.

First thing I saw was a pie tin, an' little buck that I'd been, I decided it'd make an excellent hat, so I asked her for it. She put it on my head and I wore it like an officer's wheel cap.

Now, before y'all go laughin' at me, I do indeed still have that pie tin, but that's besides the point.

Well, because I took a likin' to that pie tin, dear ol' mother decided we'd make a pie, and she wanted me t' decide what went in it. See, that's what she was doin' there in our home kitchen, expirementin' t' see what tasted good to add to her bakery.

Well, I looked round the kitchen, perched up on that chair as I was, and I spotted a lemon. Now, at the time, I genuinely didn't actually know what a lemon was, but I just knew that's what I wanted in that pie.

Dearest, lovin' mother, she didn't protest nor nothin', just went right over, grabbed a couple of lemons, and went to makin' 'em into the pie. I sat and watched, tryin' my darnedest t' take a mental note 'a every part of makin' the pie. Just a while later she put it in the oven and set it a'bakin'.

Once that was all done, an' the pie was done baking, she had me taste test it. To this day, I remember every ingredient that went into that pie, and the moment I took a bite of it, on popped that there lemon on me butt.

Well, a special talent of makin' lemon pies, as you might fig're, ain't gonna take me far if I can't diversify it a bit. So I ended up goin' to cookin' classes once I was old enough, 'n ain't been a one of 'em did me any good. See, fact of the matter is, I just don't enjoy makin' pies. I'm good at bakin', sure. But way I figure it, why spend my whole life doin' somethin' if I'm only good at it? I believe you ought to spend your life doin' somethin' that makes you happy, otherwise you'll just end up with regrets, and regrets ain't healthy.

So, that's how I ended up with a lemon for a cutiemark, but my cutiemark doesn't make me who I am. My name is Barron Skyes, and I'm a self-employed courier pony with a dark, curly mane and 'n achin' to see the world. And I gots a lemon on my butt and an old pie tin in my bags.