Lessons in quirks

by Mike84

Chapter IX

"I'm sorry if I got carried away", Frank said after a while. Twilight hadn't said anything since they had left Fluttershy and Discord. "It's just that one doesn't get a chance to ask questions from some... well not exactly somepony, like him. I was curious."
Twilight was the last one to blame anypony for curiosity and actually the whole encounter between Frank and Discord had turned her musing rather than angry.
"It's okay, but I'm not sure if you have done yourself a favor provoking his... attention like that. I don't know Discord much, I don't know if anypony knows him enough to figure him out. Probably not, or else he wouldn't be Discord. But I think with what you said you somehow got through to him one way or another. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."
Frank was looking rather uncomfortable.

"Uhm, Twilight, what did he mean when he said that you didn't have the Elements anymore?"
Twilight shook her head. She had seen the question coming but didn't really want to answer it. The fact that her friends and she had had to give up on the Elements recently and return them to the little known and magically protected Tree of Harmony, so it could battle an evil unleashed by Discord more than a thousand years ago, was not common knowledge and Twilight was not eager to change that. It was bad enough that ever since she had been worrying herself about whether they would be able to keep the spirit of chaos in check should the unlikely relationship that Fluttershy had established with him ever fail to do so. Moreover it would be better if the Tree remained a secret. From what Celestia had told her, the magic of the Tree would keep anypony away from it who wasn't linked to the Elements of Harmony as a current, future or former wielder, or entrusted with the knowledge and led to the Tree by one of the wielders.

"That was just Discord trying to sow discord. Please let us not talk about him anymore. He sure can spoil a beautiful morning. With him around you didn't even get much of a chance to get to know Fluttershy."
Frank nodded, but didn't seem very convinced.
"So... where are we going now?"
Twilight shrugged: "Back to the library?" she suggested. "Maybe you want to take some notes on what you heard so far."

"I might want to make a checklist on things to do about the studies in days to come", Frank said.
Twilight looked at him surprised and tried to read from his mind if this idea might have been a joke at her expense. She couldn't think of anypony other than herself making check lists. It was a habit she had never given up on since her studying days at Canterlot and one that Spike was sometimes claiming her to be obsessed with. Obsessed or not, nothing in Frank's expression or voice suggested for him not to be serious when he continued: "I can also try out Discord's quill while I'm at it."
"Hmm... you might want to be careful with that one. Beware of Discord bearing gifts."
"Do you think I should get a new quill instead?"
"If you want to be on the safe side you might want to."
"I was going to take a little walk through the town anyway. I haven't ever been to Ponyville before and maybe I can get to know some other ponies too."

Twilight was thinking of her own first day in Ponyville. She had been here by royal order of Princess Celestia to supervise the preparations for the summer sun celebration and to make some friends. Today Twilight was a little embarrassed about her reluctance back then to get in contact with anypony who was not in charge of part of the preparations the supervision of which had been Celestia's first order. She was sometimes wondering what might have been had the others been similarly reserved about her. She shook off the thought.
She and her friends had been... destined to meet. If there had ever been any doubt about it, it had actually been finding out how their earning of their cutie marks had been interlinked, long before most of them had even met each other, that had made Twilight certain that something beyond chance or even magic had been at work here. She was sure that the story of how they had all earned their cutie marks on the same day and linked to the same event would be of great interest to Frank. However, it was also a story which was so meaningful to herself and probably to the others as well that Twilight had decided not to mention it to Frank unless all of the others would agree to this. Frank was a student, similar in that respect to who she had been at the time of her arrival; a student who made checklists of things to do. And yet he seemed very different with regard to getting to know other ponies.
"Perhaps...", Twilight thought to herself, "...Princess Celestia has seen this also and perhaps this too was a reason to sent him here."
Maybe observing Frank could be as interesting to her for her own studies about friendship as what she could tell him could be interesting for his studies on cutie marks.

"Twilight...?"
Twilight was startled from her thoughts. "Yes?"
Frank's expression told Twilight that he must have said something requiring her response and that she had utterly missed it during her brooding.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I was just asking if you were going to head back for the library", Frank repeated his question.
"Why?"
"It's what you first suggested before I mentioned the quill. I am most obliged to you for having taken so much time for me already, but if you got anything else too do I certainly don't want to be a nuisance. I'm sure I can find my way in town."

"Don't worry Frank", Twilight said and gave him a smile, realizing suddenly that she hadn't been smiling since some time before their visit to Rarity. "There isn't an awful lot of royal business to attend to. Moreover we might catch Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie or both of them on the way. It's unusual we haven't even seen Rainbow Dash at all so far..."
Twilight was scanning the sky with her eyes. "She does love her naps on clouds or trees, but I don't remember when last time I didn't see her perform some kind of awesomeness in the sky for an entire morning."
"Awesomeness...?" Frank asked.
"You'll know what I mean when you see her doing just that."

By now morning had long passed and when they reached the outskirts of Ponyville the sun had reached its highest point and the heat, already noticeable in the morning, had grown intense. Nopony was to be seen on the road.
"Frank, maybe you want to pass by the library and put away your bags and your coat after all? It is getting really hot."
"No."
It was the second time today that Frank refused this offer and it reminded Twilight of the question that had formed in her mind in the morning already. She stopped. Frank walked on but Twilight was almost sure he was just pretending he hadn't noticed her stopping. She was not going to let him get away this time.

"Frank?"
The colt stopped and looked back. Twilight caught up to him, blocked his way and looked right into his eyes.
"Tell me, are you a blank flank?"
"What?"
"Are you a blank flank?"
"What makes you think I was?"
Twilight snorted. "Talking about cutie marks for hours without showing your own? Wearing all these clothes in this heat? Getting all tight-lipped at the mere suggestion of putting off your coat?"
Frank didn't respond.

"Are you a blank flank?"
"No. Sort of. Not really", Frank didn't seem eager for the topic.
"Sort of? not really? What are you saying?"
"Do you remember what I told you about ambiguous cutie marks?"
"Of course", Twilight said. "You said mine could be interpreted as a reference to a habit of getting intoxicated to the point of seeing stars!"
"What I said was that this interpretation could not be ruled out with absolute certainty on the basis of scientific objectivity if the mark was attached to somepony else you didn't know at all."
"You are getting off topic, what is it with your cutie mark?"
"Well, I guess I could have used that one as an example of an ambiguous cutie mark instead."
"Why didn't you?"
"I was hoping for you to get to know me a bit first, so you wouldn't... misinterpret the cutie mark."
"What is it?"
"A blank flank."
"So you are a blank flank?"
"No I'm not! My cutie mark is."

Some moments passed in silence as Twilight pictured what Frank had just said then suddenly she just couldn't help bursting with laughter and was literally laughing tears. Twilight was trying to stop it, but the excessively dignified look of hurt pride which Frank gave her send her right into another fit of laughter. She barely managed to exhale an apology between two fits of laughter. Ultimately her laughter turned out to be contagious causing Frank's somber expression to crumble first into a chuckle and finally into all out laughter as well.

When at long last Twilight regained her composure and Franks laughter too became a little forced before at last he stopped, Twilight apologized more decently than the previous laughing fits had permitted.
"I'm sorry Frank it just sounds so... hilarious. A cutie mark of a blank flank?"
"Yeah, I get that a lot. Been getting that a lot ever since it first appeared. At school the notion that my best talent was being a blank flank was about the kindest thing they told me. And my reactions to all the 'Blanky Franky' nicknames soon earned me 'Cranky Flanky' and whatnot as an alternative."
Frank laughed again, but it didn't sound very authentic. His eyes had grown rather dull.
"Cranky...?" Twilight muttered, but Frank didn't seem to hear her, just staring at some point behind her as he continued.

"When we all got older the interpretations obviously changed. It wasn't exactly fun to be the pony with the butt for a cutie mark. Some of the few who didn't make fun of it actually seemed to be creeped out by it for real, presuming I don't even want to know exactly what of me while others started speculating loudly whether it was a mare's or a colt's behind I was sporting. In the end I started wearing this all the time..."
Frank plucked at the wrap-around covering his torso.
"After a school change I made up some story linking this to my last name 'blanket' and most ponies were satisfied with that story so long I didn't get to know them any better."

Twilight gave him a compassionate look. It seemed so much less funny now. These were experiences far from anything she had ever made herself at the highly distinguished school for gifted unicorns at Canterlot. If her studiousness, extreme even among the elite that composed the pupils there, and her lack of interest in making friends had ever tempted any of her fellow students to mock or mob her, her status as Celestia's own protégé had likely protected her from any of this ever manifesting. Of course Twilight didn't regret having missed out on that kind of experiences, but there were moments when she was wondering if perhaps she had sometimes been shielded a little too much from the realities of life for many other ponies.

Rainbow Dash for example didn't usually speak about her time at the Cloudsdale Flight Academy and Fluttershy who had been there too referred to it even less frequently. But from what the two did allude to it had been far from a canter through the clouds for either of them.
Frank continued his tale: "By that time I had started studying whatever I could find on cutie marks, finding that there was very little to be found about them. So in a sense the appearing of my cutie mark pushed me towards an interest that I might not have had without it. It also helped me to get doubts out of my mind about whether the others might be correct in interpreting it as me being the blankest of all blank flanks."

"Or a..." Twilight didn't know how to finish the sentence in an unoffensive manner.
Frank gave her an indignant look. "No doubts there."
"I'm sorry."
"It is okay. But perhaps you understand why I'd rather keep my cutie mark covered, at least until ponies know me enough to know that I am not what random onlookers might make of my cutie mark. To be sure it doesn't help when talking to many ponies about their cutie marks."
There was a moment of silence.
"But still you did, didn't you?" Twilight asked.
"Err... did what?" Frank was looking at her perplexed.
"Talk to many ponies I mean. Talking to them about their cutie marks."
Frank nodded.

Twilight waited for a moment. There was something else she wanted to address, but she was a little hesitant to and right after this self-revelation about his cutie mark and what reactions it provoked Twilight wasn't sure if she should give the colt a break. But then again it was a matter burning on her mind and perhaps this was the best time to clear the air altogether.
"Is that how you came to pick up so many different... manners?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your different ways of acting, of talking, of... being?"
Frank gave her a confused look.

"This morning...", Twilight began to explain what she meant, "...you were talking to Owlowiscious for a long time. When then I was at the door you were all courtly until I told you to stop it and you were all enthusiastic about seeing Spike. You appeared a little...", Twilight decided it was not too offensive to say it, "...a little quirky."

Frank was looking at her with the blank face of somebody trying to figure out the point of the talk.
"You were then talking quite regularly. The moment you heard Applejack talking you switched all to her way of talking as if you had never spoken any differently. Next you did the over the top educated speech about... what did you say? Fop-ponies and dandy-ponies? Then we headed to Rarity where you revealed yourself to be a hobo—"
"I had never claimed not to be!"
"I know I know, but while saying you were a hobo your speech and attitude towards Rarity were that of a perfect gentlecolt—"
"But should I not—", Frank tried to interject, but Twilight continued.
"...almost like a fop- or dandy-pony."

Frank tried to protest, but Twilight was insistent on finishing before hearing Frank's response.
"Then we went to Fluttershy and you didn't have much of a chance to talk to her. But you did banter with Discord teased him and actually somehow managed not to get bashed by him."
"So?" Frank when it was clear that Twilight had finished her enumeration.
"So totally different attitudes all the time. Which of it is no performance?"
"Performance", Frank snorted. "I wasn't performing... except with the 'educated speech', but that was very obvious. I even said that I was putting up the show."
"But putting on so different attitudes every time you talk to somepony else. Isn't that kind of... dishonest?"

Frank was frowning, but then his expression relaxed and he said: "A pony has more than one hoof. Is it so dishonest to show the one that looks best to somepony else? And if that is dishonesty, is it really so bad? Aren't you acting different towards different ponies?"
"Not quite as different as you do", Twilight said after thinking about it for a moment. She shrugged. "But I think I see you point. I suppose it isn't really bad." At the same time however Twilight reminded herself to talk to Applejack about this. Who could answer that kind of question better then the representative of the Element of Honesty?

Author's Note:

Added a few sentences here on July 24th which will spare some ill timed explanations in a much later chapter. The italics are what was added:

The fact that her friends and she had to give up on the Elements recently and return them to the little known and magically protected Tree of Harmony, so it could battle an evil unleashed by Discord more than a thousand years ago, was not household knowledge and Twilight was not eager to change that. It was bad enough that ever since she had been worrying herself about whether they would be able to keep the spirit of chaos in check should the unlikely relationship that Fluttershy had established with him ever fail to do so. Moreover it would be better if the tree remained a secret. From what Celestia had told her, the magic of the tree would keep anypony away from it who wasn't linked to the Elements of Harmony as a current, future or former wielder, an extremely powerful creature like Discord, or entrusted with the knowledge and led to the Tree by one of the wielders.

Last edited on December 7th 2015.