Marjoram

by Nekiyha

Meeting Fluttershy

Twilight woke the next morning to the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs. Peering over at the clock on the night table, she learned it was seven o'clock in the morning. Twilight groaned, but knew that if she wanted a chance at getting some food, she'd have to get up before Spike.

Twilight tiptoed out of the loft, bypassing the library, and entered the kitchen in the back of the building. Celestia was nowhere to be seen, but that was because she had had to return to Canterlot to lower the moon and raise the sun. Marjoram was awake and cooking, a blanket draped over him. Kafir sat at the counter, sipping coffee.

“Hello, Twilight,” Marjoram greeted without turning around, flipping the eggs in the pan, “I'm making them like you like them. Sit down. Join in the fun,” The last statement dripped sarcasm.

Twilight offered a sheepish smile to Kafir, “I-I'm Twilight Sparkle, student of your brother and Celestia.”

Kafir snorted into his coffee, “Never thought you'd teach.”

Marjoram shot Kafir a glare, and Twilight winced at how exhausted her mentor still looked, the dark circles and bags under his eyes worse than usual, his eyes bloodshot. Clearly didn't sleep much after I went to bed.

“Guess we're all full of surprises, aren't we?” Marjoram muttered darkly. He turned his attention to Twilight, “How many eggs does Spike usually eat now? One, two?”

“Two,” Twilight replied automatically, “Celestia says he needs more protein in his diet.”

Marjoram nodded, scooping two portions of eggs onto two plates, then magically set them in front of Kafir and Twilight. Twilight had to stop herself from smiling like an idiot: Marjoram didn't often cook, but he was very good at it. Marjoram cracked two eggs into the pan, and watched them as they cooked, occasionally using the spatula to make sure the bottom of the eggs didn't become burnt.

The toaster beside Marjoram popped, but before Marjoram could do anything, Twilight had the toast floating towards herself and Kafir, and put four more slices into the toaster.

“I'm not hungry,” Marjoram protested.

“It's toast. You're eating it.”

Marjoram sighed, but nodded, “Fine.”

A few minutes later, Spike walked into the kitchen, rubbing his bleary eyes, “Hey, Twilight.”

“Morning Spike. Marjoram is cooking breakfast.”

Spike perked up at that, scrambling to sit at the counter with the ponies, “Really?! Thanks Marjoram!”

“It's not a problem, Spike,” Marjoram offered a tiny, tired smile, dumping Spike's eggs onto a new plate. Marjoram levitated the plate to Spike while Twilight fetched the freshly toasted toast from the toaster, giving Spike his and putting Marjoram's on a smaller plate.
Marjoram lightly buttered his toast, but remained standing, reluctantly eating the toast as he turned the burner off and moved the pan to one side. Seemingly out of spite, Marjoram ate the two pieces of toast quickly, setting the plate in the sink.

“I'm going back to bed. If I'm not awake by then, come get me at noon. We'll start overseeing the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration after I get up.”

“Have a good sleep!” Spike called after Marjoram, “Thanks for breakfast!”

Kafir stood, moving to put his empty plate in the sink, “I should go-”

“No,” Twilight interrupted, “Spike, go finish your comic book when you're done. I need to talk to Kafir.”

Kafir's shoulders slumped. Spike shoveled the last of his breakfast into his mouth, then all but ran back upstairs into the loft.

“How much do you know?” Kafir asked.

“Not a lot of details,” Twilight replied, “Marjoram was already sick when I met him. Carnation had died two years before, and he was already a mortician. He hasn't told me much, and I'd like to hear it from him. All I want to know, was how you never received the letters.”

“I got two,” Kafir protested, “From the letters I got, it sounded like they were fine-”

“That doesn't answer my question, does it?”

Kafir sighed, “I'm...a mercenary, basically. If you can pay me, I'll fight for you, guard you or your things. That requires me to travel a lot. A lot of the time, I don't even see mailponies, because of the dangerous areas I'm in. I was lucky I got the two I got.”

Twilight nodded slowly, “That's it? Because you traveled?”

“In the Badlands, and outside Equestria for a few years. It's hard to get mail to every little settlement in Equestria. I don't envy the mailponies at all; their job is hard.”

Twilight sighed, “I can't believe its that simple.”

Kafir shrugged, “Sometimes shit happens for the simplest reasons. Not much we can do. Anyway, I really should get going. I'll be seeing you around?”

“For the next week,” Twilight replied, “Then we're going back to Canterlot.”

“Of course,” Kafir shot Twilight a crooked, handsome grin, “See you, Twilight.”

Twilight sighed, resting her head against the counter. Why are other ponies so unreliable?

(LINE BREAK)

Marjoram awoke, on his own, and was ready to leave the library by noon. Twilight and Spike went over the official checklist of things that needed to be done in the next six days; music, décor, food, and weather. The weather and food would be checked on closer to the celebration, but the décor and music needed to be checked on while there was still time to change things if they needed to be changed.

The walk was slow, and relaxing. Marjoram was stoically ignoring the whispers and glares that were shot his way, preferring to stare at the road ahead with a glare that sent many ponies skirting out of his path. Twilight knew Marjoram was angry, and also knew to stay out of his way until he'd calmed down a little.

Finding the little cottage didn't take much time, as it was perched upon a small hill, and was surrounded by nature and all types of animals. Finding the mare in charge of music took a little longer, eventually finding the pegasus by using Spike's heightened hearing.

The pegasus was yellow, with a pink mane and tail that was so long it brushed the ground. She was directing the birds singing, and seemed oblivious as the trio approached her until Twilight cleared her throat; making the birds scatter and the pegasus jump.

“Sorry,” Twilight stated, “It was very beautiful.”

The pegasus said nothing, her mane covering half of her face, while she looked down at the ground, looking very uncomfortable.

“Uh...anyway, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Marjoram. We're here to make sure you've got the music handled, and from what we just heard, I'd say it's taken care of! What's your name?”

The mare muttered something so quietly that Twilight couldn't hear. She looked questioningly at Marjoram who shrugged.

“Pardon?” Marjoram asked.

All the two ponies heard was a high-pitched squeak. Marjoram shrugged helplessly. Twilight sighed.

“I didn't quite catch that,” Twilight said.

Another high-pitched squeak. Marjoram sighed, “Well, if you have everything under control, we should really be going-”

“Yeah!” Spike agreed, “Maybe we can get some lunch!”

The pegasus gave out a delighted shriek, flying over to Spike so quickly she almost knocked Marjoram to the ground, “Oh! A baby dragon!? I've never seen one before!”

Spike blinked, then looked pleased. He puffed his chest out a little, and straightened up, “Well, I am-”

“And he can talk!?” The pegasus turned to Twilight, “What does he eat? How old is he? Oh, this is so exciting-”

“Um..” Spike interrupted, “What do you want to know?”

“Everything!”

“Well, my name is Spike.”

“Mine's Fluttershy! It's so nice to meet you!”

Spike smiled, and Twilight rolled her eyes. With her magic, Twilight scooped Spike from the ground, and placed him on her back. It was a common sight around Canterlot: Celestia's apprentice and her dragon. Twilight began to walk back toward Ponyville, a sudden sinking feeling growing in her stomach that said the conversation wouldn't end until someone put a stop to it. Marjoram followed, and judging by the look on his face, he'd come to a similar conclusion.

“Can you start from the beginning?” Fluttershy asked, following behind Twilight so she could talk to Spike face to face.

Spike was delighted, “Well, it all started back when I was an egg...”

(LINE BREAK)

Marjoram looked over at Twilight, and felt his concern grow. Twilight chafed under the presence of anypony that wasn't himself or Celestia rather quickly, even her own family as much as she loved them, and Fluttershy had been asking Spike questions the entire way back from the edge of the Everfree Forest to Ponyville. It looked like Twilight was going to have a meltdown.

Knowing Fluttershy was completely enamoured with Spike, Majoram moved closer to Twilight's side, “What's rule one?”

“'Mess with my lab and you'll be the next pony I autopsy?'” Twilight quoted back, still looking sullenly toward the ground.

“No! After that?”

“No double-dipping?” Twilight retorted, a small smile gracing her features.

“Twilight, I'm being serious.”

“So am I! Double dipping is a serious problem. Think of all the germs!” Twilight shuddered visibly at the thought.

Marjoram rolled his eyes, “Fine. What's rule one socially?”

“Be polite?” Twilight guessed. At Marjoram's affirmative nod, she grinned, “You really should be more specific. There's a lot of rules!”

Marjoram groaned in exasperation, shaking his head. He spotted Sugarcube Corner, and motioned for Twilight to follow. Once outside the doors to the establishment, Marjoram turned to face Fluttershy, who had ceased her questioning to take a breath.

“Now, Miss. Fluttershy,” Marjoram started before Fluttershy could begin to talk again, “It's been a long morning, and since Spike is just a baby dragon,” Marjoram ignored Spike's indignant cry, “he needs some food and then some sleep. We're going to be checking on you again closer to the Summer Sun Celebration, so you have another chance to talk with Spike.”

Fluttershy nodded, now suddenly looking sheepish, “Thank you...for letting me talk to him for so long.”

Twilight smiled awkwardly, the smile not reaching her eyes, “No problem! Bye!” With that, Twilight practically ran into Sugarcube Corner, Spike clutching onto her back for dear life.

Marjoram sighed, and followed Twilight. Can this afternoon get any stranger?

Author's Note:

I know this is short, but I figure you'd appreciate having updates more regularly if the chapters are a little shorter. Please enjoy!

Comments

[Sethprower]

How is this still so unknown?

[Nekiyha]

6699229 I'm really flattered you seem to think that this story is good enough to get popular! Thank you!

[amiamera]

I was highly interested at the beginning but I'm starting to be a little reticent because this looks like it's heading into "the same as the show but with 1 more character that doesn't really change anything" territory. I'll give you more than a few chapters but if I just suddenly disappear never to be heard from again, that's probably why.