6. Taking Ownership
Diddle hoofed at my chest a little as she snuggled against me in her bed. It was late and yet we hadn’t managed to go to bed on time, even though I actually had the night off. We’d managed to get into bed on time, but then things happened.
“So, just so I’m clear. You got a better job and, instead of dropping out of school, you get three tutoring sessions with Princess Celestia a week?” Diddle asked.
“That is somehow what happened to me, yes.”
She giggled and pushed her hoof against my cheek. “That could only happen to Sunny Day.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“You’re like a cat: you always land on your hooves. At least for as long as I’ve known you,” she mumbled before yawning and nestling her head under my chin. “I’m really happy for you. This will work out for the better.”
I suppose Diddle was right. Things did seem to work out for me in general. At least once I set my mind to doing something. Hard work was paying off. It was certainly paying off better than being a lazy mooch. There was probably a lesson there, but now I was sleepy. Diddle had already passed out. We could think about it in the morning.
After class…
After I visited Melody…
Then after work…
When did I get so many responsibilities?
☼
Princess Celestia stood silently by my side. She never disparaged me when I failed. In fact, she was always positive and encouraged me to keep going. In some ways it was infuriating. Mostly because I was nothing but a failure.
“It’s okay, Sunny, try again. This time concentrate on positive energy and placing it into a really small area,” she said softly.
The task was supposed to be simple. There was a cut down the middle of a piece of wood. Before I could even think about working on a pony I had to mend the cut. Just use positive energy, feel the two sides, and knit them back together. Easy for a unicorn as powerful as me.
Breathe slowly like she taught. In—one, two, three. Out—one, two, three. In… out… Feel the mystical energy brush past my horn. Draw it in. Draw it in. Feel the positive resonations. Focus on the cut, horn down, and release.
A very narrow beam leaped from my horn and hit the cut perfectly. I’d done it! I’d gotten far better at focusing. Then the scent of burning wood hit my nostrils. I stopped the spell and sighed.
Princess Celestia lightly stroked her wing along my back. “Your control is some of the best I’ve ever seen. That heat lance was tiny. You could cauterize wounds quite easily with that or even do engraving.”
Always positive. Even when working on a lost cause. I smiled up at her and nodded. “Yes, I’ve never had it so small or narrow before. It’s still destructive, though, Princess. Why is everything I channel with magic destructive? I just want to do something that matters.”
“I’m afraid even I don’t know. Magic is as fickle as our talents. Some unicorns are strong, some are weak. Some can learn many spells while others struggle to know a few. There is no easy answer but, like many things in life, the more we work at it the better we get. Even if that just means discovering new ways for you to control or grow your talent with heat and fire.”
After a soft squeeze with her wing, she pushed on, “But why do you need magic to do something that matters? Doesn’t it matter to read to ponies in the hospital? Doesn’t it matter to help build homes for ponies on hard times? Doesn’t it matter to provide company to the elders? Sunny Day, you don’t need magic to make a difference.”
“I… I guess I don’t. I just thought that all of the big differences are made with magic.”
The princess shook her head. “No, the biggest efforts are achieved with a little kindness, generosity, and love. Why don’t you start there?”
“Yes, Princess,” I replied softly. She’d given me a ton to think about. There were a lot of things a pony could do without magic. Tons of them, actually! I could do them and not use my magic. Plus, if there was ever a need for a pony that could start fires, I was their filly!
“Now try again,” she said.
“Pardon?”
“Try again. Try to mend the wood. Just because you can help in other ways does not mean we should give up. At the least, you’ll have a better understanding of your magic.”
Always positive. Always supportive. I nodded and turned back to the piece of wood. Why she’d want me to get better at blowing things up I’d never understand, but if she wanted to invest her time in me the least I could do was try.
☼
“Melody!” I chimed happily as I pushed through the door of her hospital room, several trashy magazines captured in my magic and floating along with me.
She looked up from her bed and smiled. “Well, don’t you look happy. Did something good happen?”
“Yes! I got off school and came to see my poor, frightened, laid-up, wounded, and miserable friend.”
Melody’s head tilted and she replied flatly, “And then you came here?”
With a laugh, I nodded. “Yes, and then I came here. How’re you?”
“Better. Getting better.” She wiggled her forehooves a bit. They were still wrapped in bandages. “I need less pain medicine now and the tingles are starting to fade.”
I landed all of the magazines beside her and set my forehooves on the bed. “I’m glad. Really I am. I’m ready for you to take me out and buy me dinner,” I teased before nuzzling her.
“Buy you dinner? Buy you dinner? You should buy me dinner! I’m the one that got hurt.”
First, I swished my tail. Then I slightly turned my head and flashed my eyes at her. “But I’m cute.”
Melody groaned and asked, “Does that work for you often?”
I blinked a few times and wiggled my eyebrows as a response.
“Fine, I’ll buy you dinner! Now, what did you bring me today?”
Eagerly, I clapped my forehooves together. “So many horrible things! I found a new Cosmarepolitan and a few of those celebrity rumor magazines. You know, the ones where they take a fact that is marginally true and distort it completely.”
The mare’s ears wiggled and she peered at me. “You’re taking some kind of sick pleasure in bringing me this stuff.”
“You’ve enjoyed it! Don’t pawn this all off on me… but, I also brought you a magazine about puzzles. Strong said you’re into puzzles.”
“Yeah… I am. I won’t fight it. Alright, well, before you fill my head with useless trash tell me something good about you. What has been going on outside of this room? You’ve been awfully busy lately.”
I waved a hoof. “You know how it is! You’re a working filly. School, work, and other things. Diddle mostly. It has been great, though.”
Melody smiled and shrugged, “And yet you still make time almost every day to come see a mare you barely know.”
“I don’t ‘barely know you’. We’re friends and friends help each other… and buy their cuter friends dinner. Now, do you want to hear about Princess Celestia’s cake addiction or the latest in puzzles?”
“Puzzles, please. That whole cake thing is the biggest load of hay. Ponies blew that out of proportion.”
I smiled and nodded. “Puzzles it is. Oh… before I do, I have a question for you. Do you know anything I could volunteer for? Like with the royal guard?”
“What do you mean?” Her head tilted.
“You know… to help ponies. I want to do something that matters. Does the royal guard need volunteers for things?”
Melody laughed softly. “You can’t be a volunteer royal guard. It is a way of life, Sunny… but I do happen to know that a lot of guards work with a program that goes to elderly ponies’ homes, helps clean them up, and then spend time with the ponies that own them. It is really awesome. Would that work?”
“I can do that, yeah! Okay, how do I get on with that?” I asked.
“Just talk to Strong Wing about it. He’s our chapter’s captain.”
“Great, I’ll do that!” Of course he was! Strong Wing was like a model pony citizen. Even I’d figured that out from our few and brief interactions. I flipped the puzzle magazine open and said, “Alright, let’s see. Oh, evidently, puppy puzzles are in fashion.”
☼
Dolly leaned against the bar looking over the crowd. It was busy again. The Mare Contraire was always busy, actually. I had never stopped to think about how the older mare had built such a thriving business from such a little hole in the wall.
“Sunny I need two orange and one cherry fizzy,” Lollypop said from off to the right.
“You’ve got it!” I replied cheerfully before turning back to the fountain. I’d recently been allowed to start making fizzy drinks for the customers. That was a huge vote of confidence and boosted my morale.
With care and precision, I made the three drinks, set them on a tray, and floated it down to Lollypop. Then I turned back to Dolly. She was still watching the crowd. “Something on your mind, Dolly?”
“Hmm?” she replied absently.
I lightly poked her with my horn. “Hello? Work hours? If you have time to lean you have time to clean.”
The older mare looked over at me and snorted. “Is that so? Who made you bar manager?”
“Well, the owner is looking a little senile so I thought somepony would need to take over. Might as well be me!”
Dolly laughed. “You think you can take Emerald in a fight? I’m sorry, filly, you might be a lead pony but I doubt you could take a punch.” She reached over, tossed my mane a bit, and winked.
I blew my bangs out of my eyes and shrugged. “It was worth a shot. So, what’s on your mind?”
“Oh, not much. I was just thinking about you a bit.”
I blinked. “Me? What’s up?”
She waved a hoof. “Not really you exactly. Me when I was your age. I looked over at you when you came in and it made me feel old.”
My nose wrinkled. “Thanks?”
Dolly laughed and shook her head. “No, sweetie! It is fine. I’m proud of you is all, and it just made me realize where I am in life. You know, I never settled down and had a family. Then you breezed into my life a few years back and it has been great.”
“It has been great for me, too. I’m just glad you didn’t laugh me out of Canterlot when we met.”
The mare grinned evilly. “You came in too hot then, too.”
“Yeah, yeah… so what is this big meeting about tonight?”
Dolly winked. “You’ll see tonight. Now get back to work. I’m going to start cleaning since I’m leaning.”
☼
Staff meetings weren’t common for the Mare Contraire. Dolly generally felt they were a waste of time and that she was better off just telling us what we needed to know when she saw us. That meant this was something serious.
The sun hadn’t quite come up by the time we’d closed but it probably wouldn’t be too long before it did. The bar was quiet now even with all of us talking. Everypony was there: Dolly, Emerald Eyes, Lollypop, Cherry, Pink Pearls, Garnet, and Mango.
I’d been around after hours before but it was always weird. The doors were locked, the dance floor was empty, and everypony had put their manes up. There was no cleaning, no post-work, or anything of the sort. Just all of us standing around the bar while Dolly finished her count for the night.
“Alright, Dolly, enough waitin’! What’s this all about?” Lollypop asked.
Emerald nodded. “Yeah, come on, you old mare, spill! I’ve got to get home to my filly.”
Dolly waved a hoof at them. “Hush. You can wait a few more minutes, this is important.” She continued to count the till, moving bits into a pile.
I sat on one of the bar stools and slowly spun myself while we waited.
“2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 exactly!” Dolly exclaimed before turning away from the bits and setting champagne flutes in front of us.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
The older mare opened a cabinet and levitated three bottles of champagne out of it. The first went to Emerald, the second to Lollypop, and the last to her own hooves. “Fillies, I have some big news that is going to impact you all. Every closeout since the first night we opened, I’ve been taking some bits and putting them aside. These were outside of the usual profits and such. I made do on what was left.”
Emerald’s head tilted. “So… you’re telling us you’ve been skimming off the top?”
Dolly laughed and nodded. “Well, it isn’t really skimming! I’ve been saving off the top to put the bits in a special fund. A fund to buy this building instead of rent it. As of tonight, I can take all of those savings and go do the deal in the morning! Girls, we own the place!”
For a moment, there was a confused pause and then a burst of excited cheers. Lollypop wasted no time before shaking up and cracking open the champagne. She expertly sprayed Dolly, Emerald, and then the rest of us before starting to pour.
Emerald just stood there in shocked silence. She’d been Dolly’s first employee and had pretty much seen it all. Lollypop had been second, but there was a big gap between those two.
Dolly reached across the bar and pulled the green mare into a hug. “I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus, I never knew how much we’d make each night. All your hard work has paid off, sweetie. You were my first bartender and we’ve done it!”
Pink Pearls asked, “So, what does this mean exactly, Dolly?”
“Well, for starters, a pay raise across the board since I won’t be saving anymore and we don’t have to pay rent. You’ve all worked so hard through the good times and the bad. Obviously it will go by seniority but even our newest ponies will get something. I also plan to hire another pony or two so you can start getting that time off you wanted.”
A raise? We get a raise! I cheered a bit louder, which blended in with all of the others.
Dolly filled our glasses and levitated hers in her magic. “Alright, let’s make it official. Lift your glasses and toast the Mare Contraire! To a whole new era of our business.”
“To the Mare Contraire!” we cheered before drinking.
Lollypop went over to the sound system, turned it back on, and started a record. “Well, forget going home! I say we party until Dolly does the deal with the landlord and leave our future selves to deal with the consequences.”
“Works for me,” I replied before hopping off the stool and heading for the dance floor.
“I know I’m going to regret this, but party on!” Dolly chimed.
☼
Cold. Cold, cold, cold, cold. I stood up and banged my head. “Ow!”
“Mind the booth,” Lollypop groaned next to me.
A quick survey of my surroundings revealed that she and I were nestled beside each other under one of the booths. It was dark inside the bar and there was no music playing. My head hurt a bit and it wasn’t because I’d just whacked it. “Why are we under the booth?”
“Privacy to make out,” she said as softly as she could.
“Ooh. I don’t remember that at all. Did we?”
“No idea.”
My body was stiff and achy. Carefully I slipped out from under the booth and took stock. The bar was still in one piece, but that didn’t seem to be the case for the ponies that ran it. They were all strewn about in various places asleep or half asleep. All except Emerald and Dolly.
Emerald was nowhere to be found which wasn’t surprising. She had a filly at home. Dolly looked perfectly fine and was setting bits into a bag.
I wandered over, climbed onto a stool, and set my chin down on the bar. “You look perky. How are you perky?”
She winked. “I’ve been drinking longer than you and I’m buying this building. Nothing is going to stop me today.” She finished loading the bits and then set a glass beside my face after filling it with water. “Drink all of that.”
I did so without any coaxing. “Can I come with you?”
Dolly grinned and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “No. I don’t need you distracting Mr. Goldhooves with your wild charm. Instead, be a dear and make sure everypony gets water. There are pain tabs in my desk drawer, too. Then go to school when it is time.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“Good girl. See you later.” Then she headed off, her saddle bag loaded with bits. More bits than I’d ever seen or imagined. How neat was that? Dolly, the dropout, was going to go buy her bar forever. Maybe that would be me one day if I worked as hard as her!
That could wait, though. For now, I just needed to check on the staff, feed them water and pain tabs, and then get ready for school. Thankfully, as I started to do so, most of them were already up and moving. Everypony seemed fine on the whole. We just might all be a little more careful with the drinking next time.
When I wandered out of the Mare Contraire, the sun was already up. Its beautiful radiance made my brain hurt. Despite that, Canterlot looked brighter than ever. White stone buildings rose off the side of the mountain and glimmered in the day. I’d never really appreciated before what it meant to own one. It had never crossed my mind. Now it was something to think about. I couldn’t live on Diddle and Dilly’s couch forever.
The trot to the school was slower than normal so as to keep my brain from bouncing too much in my head. When I got there, I slipped inside and to my first class of the day: Sex Ed. Suffice to say, I hadn’t learned anything yet, but I was committed to it now. There was no stopping Sunny Day!
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I just hope that you're aware that you don't drop things like that and then don't write it. It kills people.
On whole, this chapter made me smile again and I can't get enough of Celestia
6854693
Long term I'm into that, but it's been a crappy couple of days. Sorry the drama ended up on your story :).
Man, though, if that's your philosophy Silent really shouldn't have killed all those people...
You go Sunny, your future is hopefully bright and one day you'll get yourself a nice funsized unicorn and some goodlooking pegasus manservant, and yay Mare Contraire owned by Dolly.
Oh no. Please tell me dolly is going to be okay. Helping is one thing, but I really don't want sunny becoming a guard because someone mugs dolly, or worse.
Of course, I could simply be forgetting stuff from the main stories again. I honestly need to read back through everything again because of how bloody much there is.
Im rather worried about the fact that dolly left with
''More bits than i'd ever seen''. Thats not a good sign considering she left alone.
6854891
In a surprised twist, Sunny donates all her worldly posessions to charity and, owing to her magical aptitude, joins the Unicorn Temple to spend the rest of her life chilling with Ferrel. (And maybe "corrupting" her.
)
Why do I get this bad feeling about Dolly and that bag of bits...
I swear by Luna Anzel if you screw Dolly over...
fisticuffs or wing beatings.
Its a fact! she does have one. she just good at hiding it!
Its good to see melody on the mend, and that Dolly finally owns her bar. As for Princess Celestia tutoring her, I have a feeling its gonna be a good thing. We know the end destination of her path to a point, but im really enjoying learning about the journey to it. cant wait to read more.
Y'know, this would be the perfect point to pull a Game of Throws, and throw everything over a cliff into an active volcano....
But I know you won't go that far. I hope.
Squee!!!
My character made it through the casting call!
Too bad the Q&B site is throwing up an error right now.
Oh, and the story
. I'm probably not alone in hoping that a certain bartender isn't going to get mugged. Still another nice, lighthearted chapter.
6855256 I thought that was the plan for the end of Trials of a Royal Guard...
6855680 Sorry about that, I'm working on the casting call tool right now!
Congratulations, Sunny, you can now very precisely burn things down. Despite the fact that such a thing isn't exactly healing, it's still technically progress on controlling your talents.
Well, we know that it's worked at least once!
I now know why we don't see Sunny and Melody together in the future, one too many Cosmarepolitan magazines.
It begins.
Those unicorns and their built-in pokers.
Wow, that really sounds wrong, but I'm leaving it.
I know who Garnet is voiced by in my headcanon.
Nice!
Thanks,
ObamaCelestia!I don't get why so many posters are worried about Dolly.
I mean all she's doing is walking through Canterlot wearing a saddlebag that is visibly bulging from a huge quantity of bits, alone, at night, and after drinking a ton of alcohol.
"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."
- Yoda.
Fantastic chapter, I'm loving the tutoring by Celestia. Also starting to see how this could lead to Sunny being a guard.
On another note, this actually reminds me a lot of Crystal's Wishes. The style is really similar.
6859022 I really enjoy writing Celestia. I'm glad you're enjoying it! I suppose it is a bit like Crystal's Wishes. It covers a similar time frame in Sunny's life.
6858716 Hmm, tricky! How will I know if I'll succeed? :D
6856417 No faith in the Anzel! She's in Canterlot!
6855731
That could break up any friendship!
6855680 Yes indeed! Seemed like a good fit.
6855256 Everyone is just assuming I'm going to do something horrible!
6855220 You read to many pony tabloids!
6855198 Hahaha ;D
6855157 Because you don't trust me!
6855013 They don't have credit cards ^_^
6854944 So much distrust in the Anzel!
6854823 Hooks for potential futures ;D
Well this sucks, everything is going great and now im allredy sad because i know somethings gotta goto hell. Jeesus your writing is more adictice then crack.
And then Dolly gets mugged?
6871769
He said, like he doesn't understand why.
Things make going great! Too great. I have a really bad feeling. Please don't make me right.
10093776 Thank you =D
I just have to say that this Celestia is one of my top ten, maybe even top five, maybe even absolute favorite of all Celestias that I have ever read about in the entire Metaverse.