Life Is like a Cookie Jar

by TheReaderAndWriter

Wednesday

"Not a word to your, ow, your mother," said Cloudy and handed Raindrop a cookie on that morning.

"Dad, mom's going to loose her mind if you keep giving me these cookies. She baked them for her friends."

"I know, but there's still like half of them left," said Cloudy and kissed his daughter on the forehead. She giggled a bit, feeling embarrassed, but loved.

"Thanks, dad, but come on, stop it!"

"Never!" said Cloudy and started to tickle her. Raindrop tried to get away from him, but he kept following her, the more she laughed the more he tickled her, but then to Raindrop's surprise he suddenly stopped. She turned around and looked at her father. He was out of breath, and he leaned towards the door frame in the hallway.

"Dad? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, dear, just, ah, just a little woozy. Wow, I'm out of shape," said Cloudy and kept breathing.

"Dad, you collapsed a few days ago, maybe you should see a doctor," said Raindrop. Cloudy just shook his head.

"No, I don't think that'll be necessary. I just need a glass of water," said Cloudy.

"Dad, please see a doctor. For me, please? I would feel a lot better if you did," said Raindrop. Her father looked at her for a little while, considering it.

"Well, alright. But after I do something at work, I have something important to do today and it can under no circumstances wait, but right after I'll ask to leave early." Raindrop knew she couldn't stop him, but she was just happy he would see a doctor.

"I'll be going now, dad. I think I'll be late for school at this rate."

"Actually, dear. I was thinking that you and I could do something today. You can take today off, we'll do something fun after I'm done with all these things this morning. It'll take a few hours at most until we can go out and do whatever you want. How about we go to Sugarcube Corner?"

"Dad, I can't. I can't just skip out on school, besides, I have plans," said Raindrop. She hoped he wouldn't ask what that was.

"What are your plans?"

"I'm going to... hang out and play with a friend from school."

"Alright, with who? Oh, I meant 'with whom'."

"Billy Folds," said Raindrop. She instantly wondered if she should have.

"Alright? At his house?"

"At that old warehouse past Sweet Apple Acres," said Raindrop. She should've lied, but while she certainly could, she just didn't want to lie to her own wonderful caring father. If he needed to come find her and didn't actually know where she was, then she didn't want to be the one to make him worry.

"What are you going to do?"

"He... well, he wants to play... with, with dolls! And he wants to keep it a secret, that's why it's so remote. Don't tell anyone," said Raindrop. It was never nice when she lied to him, and she almost never did. It almost hurt a little.

"Oh, well, alright. That's a bit weird, but alright. Have a great time today, dear," said Cloudy and kissed her on the forehead again. She noticed how much he was sweating.

"Have nice day, daddy."

"I sure will. Come on, let's walk you to school."

Raindrop and Billy both waited for the day to end. Even history didn't seem as interesting when they both thought about what they could accomplish that day, or would experience. The wait was nearly unbearable. The weather outside was great, but they both stayed inside during recess to talk about what they hoped they would accomplish. When the day actually ended, Raindrop just wanted to grab Billy and get going, but she stayed behind for just one more thing. While other students were packing up their things and leaving, Raindrop walked up to the teacher's desk. Before long most other colts and fillies had left to enjoy the wonderful day. The only ones left were Raindrop, Billy who waited leaning on the door frame and Cheerilee looking through a bit of work the students had made during the day.

"Miss Cheerilee, I wondered if you could help me with something?"

"What is it, Raindrop?"

"I'm just curious in how the teaching profession works. Could you give me a tip on how to teach someone well?"

"Well, I find that it depends on the one you want to teach. Sometimes you have to use positive reinforcements, and other times you need to be strict and firm. It depends on if the one you are teaching is more open or a bit closed off. However, never be mean. The best way to teach someone is to make them want to listen to you, not ignoring you. You've got to get a smile on their face," said Cheerilee and gave her a quite big grin. It was almost like a cold in a way, since Raindrop couldn't keep herself from smiling as she thanked her and walked out of the room with Billy alongside her. They kept walking at a steady pace. They went out of the school and took the road towards Sweet Apple Acres. They made sure to not talk to each other about what they were going to do today until they were outside the town. Once there was nopony in sight they felt a bit more relaxed.

"So, Rainy, what are you going to teach me?" asked Billy.

"Well, I thought that for the first hour, we would start out really small. I brought some notes I made from the books, since I didn't want to lounge those things around with me all day," said Raindrop.

"Alright, small. Okay... Are, are you actually going to tell me what it is?"

"Well, not until we're there," said Raindrop. She was actually a bit worried that if he heard it here so relatively close to his home, he would be so disappointed, confused or upset that he would leave.

Actually getting there took longer that Raindrop had expected. The warehouse was old but seemed to be in a great condition, if a little dirty. The big blue and white building was smaller than Raindrop had expected but still big enough to hold her entire house inside it. It looked nothing like the buildings in Ponyville, this one had to have been made much more recently. Most of it was metal with a bunch of large broken windows. The warehouse was right next to a river gently flowing by. Trees surrounded the entire area, making it hard to see from the road unless you were actively looking for it. The once clear area right in front of the warehouse was overgrown with tall grass and flowers. They helped each other to open the big front door, which immediately fell off its hinges and landed on the ground with a large thud. Looking inside, Raindrop noticed how brightly lit the windows made it seem. Aside from a bunch of really big empty boxes the place seemed like a perfect spot. Its largest plus was just how remote it all was.

"This place is perfect," said Raindrop.

"Yeah. It's funny, I never wanted to see it again after I got here the first time," said Billy. Raindrop did notice something on the stone floor in the middle the building. There was a ring on the floor, like something had scorched it. She also noticed the shape of four hoofprints in the floor, where it had melted.

"Ouch."

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"Well, let's try to fix this, okay? Are you ready for your first lesson?"

"Sure am, Rainy!" said Billy. Raindrop put down her saddlebag and picked up a few things. They were rings, just little plastic rings, the type you would use with a game.

"Um, what are those?"

"Well, the books keep talking about things like focus points. I think I'm going to start today's lesson with making you think differently."

"What?"

"We're going to play a game! I will toss these rings, and your job is catch them with your horn!" Billy actually seemed a little upset.

"What's your problem? I already told you that I can barely lift a pencil," said Billy.

"I don't mean you should catch them like that! I want you to catch them with your actual horn, without magic. I want you to be able to make the ring spin on your horn like a loopy hoop. I got the idea from that time Applebloom went crazy or whatever it was she did, poor filly," said Raindrop. Billy starred at her like she was insane.

"What?! We went here just so you could use me like a game?"

"Billy, no! This is just step one. You need to focus with that point above your head in mind. At least that's what I figured from all this reading. Come on, it will be fun."

"Maybe it will be funny, for you to watch, that is."

"Don't be grumpy. I'm doing this for you," said Raindrop while walking up to a box and climbing up on it. She sat down on top of it.

"Why?"

"I told you yesterday. I want you to get over this. I think you deserve it. Come on, just do it. Have fun. Here, catch!" said Raindrop and tossed the first ring. Billy ran towards it almost like on an impulse. He tried to catch it with his horn, but instead it just hit his head and bounced off. "Okay, that didn't go very well, but it was a surprise. Ready for the next one?" said Raindrop after stopping a little giggle.

"Yeah, but don't laugh," said Billy.

"No way, my laughing lips are sealed," said Raindrop and did the zipping gesture with her hoof. She tossed the ring, and Billy ran towards it.

At first it had been funny, but then it quickly got stale. They had been going at it for a full half hour, and under those thirty minutes Billy hadn't even managed to get a single ring on his horn, much less make one spin.

"Well, I think this is part of your problem with why you aren't very good at basic magic stuff. You have trouble focusing with the horn. You just sort of use it wrong, that's my guess."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, okay, it's like... Ah, it's like listening to Cheerilee. You should be listening to each word carefully, but you're not focusing on her and instead hearing her as this white noise in the background. If you don't do it right you might as well not do it at all. I think you can do it though."

"You do?"

"Well, yeah. Isn't hard work supposed to pay off?"

"We'll see about that."

"We sure will, now keep catching these rings," said Raindrop and tossed another one into the air. Billy jumped towards it and to their surprise he managed to catch it and make it hang from his horn.

"I did it!"

"Finally! See?"

"So, can we start with some magic now?"

"Oh no, not so fast. I've put a lot of thought into this and you won't move on just because you've caught one. Think fast!" said Raindrop and tossed another ring. Billy jumped towards it, but it just hit his horn and bounced off, landing several feet away. "Billy, that was the last one again."

"I'm on it," said Billy and rolled his eyes. He gathered them all and balanced on his hind legs to reach them up to her on the box. She reached down and picked them up.

"I'm getting a bit tired. I'm also hungry," said Billy. Raindrop jumped down from the box and walked up to her saddlebag.

"I didn't make any plans with food. I all thought about was the lesson. Sorry, but I do have this cookie from this morning," said Raindrop and picked up the cookie Cloudy had given her.

"That looks so tasty," said Billy.

"I know, want to split it?"

"Very much, thanks," said Billy. They walked up to one of the smaller boxes and jumped up. They sat down next to each other. Raindrop was about to break the cookie in half.

"Hey, Rainy, let me do that," said Billy. He got a really strained, ridiculous look on his face. The cookie started to hover a bit unsteadily. It very slowly floated over to Billy. He grunted, and with a slight cracking sound the cookie... broke apart into a thousand tiny crumbs. He lost his concentration and they both watched what was left of the cookie gently falling to the dirty floor. They were both so disappointed.

"So- sorry," said Billy.

"It's alright, it's nothing. Still, now when you mention it I'm a bit hungry," said Raindrop.

"You know, we are pretty close to Sweet Apple Acres, maybe we could..."

"Go over and ask them if we could pick some apples?"

"I was going to say 'snatch', but-"

"Are you joking? Billy, that's just wrong."

"It's just a few apples."

"And it's also their property. I don't care how hungry I am, I will not steal anything," said Raindrop sternly. Billy sighed.

"I wouldn't actually do it," sneered Billy, but he didn't sound convincing at all.

"We could get in deep enough trouble as it is. Stealing would be really dumb right now, or ever," said Raindrop.

"Yeah, I guess."

"But, Billy, are you really hungry enough to steal?"

"Well, not really that much. I guess... I guess I want to do something right for once."

"Hey, doing something wrong to do something right doesn't make sense to me," said Raindrop.

"You know what I mean."

"I do, but we can still do something right. Remember, we have until Monday," said Raindrop with a smile. There was a slight pause between them.

"So, Rainy, really hate stealing so much?" asked Billy a bit carefully, a bit too carefully.

"You've stolen stuff before, haven't you?" said Raindrop.

"Nothing big, nothing that would be missed. I like the thrill."

"Billy, that's awful!"

"I know, I know! Don't give me that look."

"What would your parents say?"

"Nothing."

"You can't honestly think that th-"

"I don't think, I know. I've been caught five times, and all they say is 'Don't do it again,' and then that's it. Nothing else. They don't even shout at me."

"What? Really? Wow, if I would've stolen something and my parents found out I don't think I would've heard the end of it for a week. My father would've been furious!"

"What about your mom?"

"She wouldn't be as mad as my dad. Huh, just thinking about how disappointed he would be in me if he found out about me stealing... or if he would find out about this... Oh dear... I've... I, I've been so selfish. I didn't think about... what he would... Billy, I can't do this. I can't help you," said Raindrop and jumped down from the box. She felt sudden guilt.

"What?! But, but Rainy, I, I want you to teach me. You have to help me! I mean, I can't return the book to the library without getting into huge trouble! I can't... Rainy, please! I can't do this on my own!" Rainy was already on her way out. Letting down Billy felt terrible, but she just couldn't let down her own father. The very thought of seeing her family hurt because of her was too much. Billy would learn eventually since his horn was so adamant in its quest for him to find his destiny. Raindrop had to be just as adamant to not turn around. She had to keep her mind made up.

"I'm sorry, Billy, but I can't help you. I'm returning the book right away. This whole thing was stupid. I want to see you succeed, but after everything my father has done for me, I can't betray his tru-"

"Rainy, I'll be honest, I think you can figure this stuff out better than I can. You're good at history, you can get in right mindsets and stuff! I need somepony like you to help me! Please, just until Monday like you said!"

"I can't betray my father's trust. I respect him too much for that. I've kept thinking about this like it's a harmless mischievous little thing without thinking how it could affect my family. It's not that I don't want to help you. Again, I'm sorry."

"I've even thought about sawing it off!" yelled Billy. Raindrop suddenly stopped. She slowly turned around, not sure she had heard him right. When she looked at Billy it was impossible to not notice he was silently weeping.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me. Rainy, I can't stand this magic. I'm scared, alright? Sometimes I feel like I'm not even in control of my own life. It hurts, and I'm so scared for whenever it's going to happen next. It's like this monster that's just going to jump out and make my life miserable when I least expect it. What you saw yesterday was nothing. At one point I almost just wanted to saw it off than let it keep going. I don't know what it wants! It makes me tired when it does stuff that I just can't do on my own. Please, I just want somepony to help me. You're the only one that knows, I don't want everypony to know just how useless I am that I can't even control my own pathetic magic. Please help me."

"But, but I..."

"At least leave the book so I can try on my own. You can return it later." That didn't seem like a good idea either. There was probably a good reason young unicorns shouldn't practice on their own unless allowed by those qualified.

"Billy, this entire thing is how you want to get you little mark and you might be focusing on the wrong thing," said Raindrop. Billy sighed and wiped his tears.

"Raindrop, I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do. But it's just that I don't know what else I can do. If you want to go... then you should go. I'm, I'm sorry I tried to stop you."

"I can't just go now! You've basically said you'll saw off your horn if you fail! That's, how could you put me in a situation like that? What's wrong with you?"

"What? No! That's not, I said 'I've even thought', as in the past. I wouldn't do it now. That's, I do want this to stop, and while I would do a lot of things to do so, I'm not that desperate. I never even got close to actually doing it. Did it come off as like, guilt blackmail? I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. But, I really want help, and I think I need it too."

"Well, maybe, maybe we've faced this problem the wrong way. Maybe we could get the money for your education?" How, how much does it cost for your father to get a license?"

"That would be 300.000 bits for an education over two years, at the fastest. We can't even afford a tenth of that."

"Okay. Um, how, how much would it cost to get a teacher for you?"

"That's 80.000 bits at the cheapest. It's still far too much for our family to afford. I don't even need a full course, but they won't accept anything less!"

"What about applying for magic kindergarten?"

"That would be cheap enough to get into, but it would also mean I would have to take the train, which takes a very long time, to Canterlot everyday or live in Canterlot. That's not cheap, and my parents demands that I need an actual education in normal stuff."

"Okay, so earning money is out of the question. We wouldn't be done for years," said Raindrop.

"I have a suggestion," said a third voice. Both Raindrop and Billy jumped in shock. Raindrop turned to the side. Somepony who had been hiding in the bush came into view.

"Dad?"

"Mr. Day? Uh oh," said Billy.

"So that's why you couldn't spend time with your old man. You were of breaking the law," said Cloudy.

"Dad, I didn't-"

"It was me, Mr. Day! She didn't know what she was doing! How could she? She's never known much about laws about magic, I barely did! I was desperate so I tricked her into teaching her so I could blame her for it! I can't do it, that'd be too wrong!" said Billy a little too quickly. Cloudy turned to Raindrop. She felt so guilty she couldn't look her father in the eyes.

"Raindrop, is what this colt is saying true?" Raindrop just couldn't...

"No, dad."

"Then why did you do this?"

"I wanted to help him." Suddenly she felt her father picking her up and hugging her.

"That's my girl!" he said proudly.

"W- what?"

"Sweetie, I'm so proud that you would actually risk so much for someone else!"

"You're not mad?" asked Raindrop and looked into his face. She had never seen him happier.

"Of course I'm not mad. While I am a little disappointed you got into a situation where you broke the law, I am also happy you did it for the sake of another pony."

"I don't know what I should say, dad."

"How about that you will keep helping him? Train him in magic."

"What?" asked Raindrop.

"Why?" asked Billy.

"I heard how much this affects you, Folds. I've heard about some of those magical escapades."

"How?"

"Please, a colt teleporting magically and getting hurt can't be kept a secret in a small town like this. Until you've found what you need to make it stop, actually learning how to use magic might be good for you. You're a unicorn for Celestia's sake! A unicorn without proper magic is like a pegasus that can only dig! This might be what you need. This is something that will help you for the rest of your life, learning how to use it at an early age is something most unicorns need. How you've never got a chance at magic kindergarten is beyond me."

"I... Thank you, sir."

"But dad, maybe I shouldn't..."

"Sweetie, you have a chance to help someone in trouble. I would certainly take that chance if I was in your position. Still, it's your decision, and I'm confident you will do the right thing. In any case, this is our little secret. Not a word to your mother," said Cloudy and gave her a wink. He walked over to the bushes he had been hiding in.

"But for now, I just came out here to hand you this, you must be hungry," said Cloudy and picked something up from the ground. It was a woven basket.

"Is that food?" asked Billy.

"Shure ish," said Cloudy with the handle in his mouth. He put it down on the ground.

"I have to get back home. I will see you kids later today when I check in on you. Have fun, and take it easy. This magic stuff could be dangerous if not handled carefully."

"I know, dad. I've thought about that all along."

"Great. Bye, you kids!"

"Bye, Mr. Day!"

"Bye, dad. I'll see you later," said Raindrop and waved goodbye. She felt a little bit unsure, but much less than before. Billy walked over and picked up the large basket of food. He walked over and sat down next to Raindrop. She sat down on the soft grass alongside him. Billy opened the basket and peeked inside. It was filled with sandwiches, sweet drinks, muffins and a few of her mother's cookies.

"Wow, your dad's the best!" exclaimed Billy and picked up a sandwich and took a bite.

"Well, yeah, he is," said Raindrop and picked up her own sandwich.

"So, does this mean you will teach me? With your dad's blessing and all?"

"I... yes. I will. What he's saying is right. You should be able to live like any unicorn even if you already had your cutie mark." Bill took another bite of his sandwich.

"Rainy, thank you so much. This means a lot to me. And you know what? It feels pretty good sharing this stuff with you."

"What? The food? Because I think that technically I'm sharing it with you."

"No, I mean my problems. With my parents, this stupid horn, all of these things. I've never had anypony to talk about them before. Feels good. Also, this sandwich is great," he added.

"Want to share another thing with me?"

"What?"

"A cookie from the same batch as the one you ruined," said Raindrop, holding up a cookie from the basket. Billy chuckled a bit in a slightly embarrassed way, then they split it in half.

"You know, I get why you didn't want to disappoint your dad so much," said Billy and chomped down on the cookie. Raindrop couldn't keep herself from laughing at the adorable way he ate his part of the cookie.

"Ha, ha, well, he has a bit more time for me than mom has. I know my mom loves me, but she can be super strict sometimes. I hope she never finds out about this, she'll freak out."

"I don't get it, why aren't you as worried about 'betraying' her?" said Billy who took another bite.

"Well, because I trust my dad. Besides, mom is, I think she's stronger than my dad. She won't get sad, or feel hurt, she'll just be hopping mad." Billy looked at Raindrop for a little while.

"I wish I had your parents... want to trade?" Raindrop giggled, and Billy chuckled.

Once they had finished their meal, they had returned to the training. While Billy never managed to get the rings to spin on his horn as he caught them, he did managed to actually catch them. After careful consideration and reading up on it, Raindrop had decided he was ready for the next thing. It was time to make him use the spell of levitation on something for a longer amount of time.

"Don't overdo it, okay? That would probably be bad. We'll start really small."

"With what, Rainy?"

"This piece of paper!" said Raindrop and picked up one of the less usable notes from her saddle sack.

"I, yeah. I guess I can do that, it doesn't look too big. How hard can it be?"

"I'm sorry I did so poorly," said Billy as they both walked back to Ponyville.

"Hey, you managed ten whole seconds. Sure, it was your fiftieth try, but still. Improvement," said Raindrop as they walked. She was carrying both the saddlesack and the basket. The sun was almost about to set and Raindrop was almost home.

"Well, maybe."

"Hey, we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow. It will be a good day, I promise," said Raindrop.

"Thanks again for teachin-"

"Quiet, shh, somepony's coming," said Raindrop. A pony strolled past them, politely greeting them as they went past him. The both greeted back.

"There's my house. I'll see you tomorrow, Billy," said Raindrop and waved goodbye to Billy.

"Bye, Rainy," said Billy and continued on his way. While the day hadn't been a major success in any meaningful way, it had improved Billy's attitude. He seemed more hopeful and cheery than usual, something his merry steps alone conveyed quite clearly. Raindrop walked up to her house, but as she got closer she heard something unsettling from inside the front door. She had never heard those sounds from inside her house for a long time. It was the sound of a fight, a quarrel. Raindrop felt scared, she wondered if she had already been caught and her mother was furious because of it. For a whole minute she considered just not coming home until the next day, just slipping a note under the door and sleep over somewhere safe, but in the end she understood that she had to suck it up and get whatever punishment she had coming. She didn't feel she had done anything really wrong, but the law was the law. She couldn't change that. As she got close enough to distinguish what was going on she realized the voice didn't belong to her mother, or her father. Then her father's voice interjected. Who is that? Raindrop sneaked up to one of the windows and looked inside, partially hidden by the thick green curtain. Inside was her father, standing up, walking around, pacing. He looked mad. The other pony inside was a stranger. He had a white coat and a pink long mane, and one of the first things Raindrop noticed was how handsome the pony looked. His face expressed anger so clearly it almost seemed like he was dripping just pure aggression. It surrounded him like a terrifying aura.

"DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION?!" yelled the stranger.

"OF COURSE I DO, BUT SOME THINGS ARE MORE IMPORTANT! I STILL HAVE PAYMENTS LEFT!"

"WHAT? THAT'S MORE IMPORTANT? No! You know what? I don't care. I've got what I came for, FINALLY! The next time you want a visit from me, then you better actually support me! If this gets worse, then you can't blame me. I'll analyze the results tomorrow. Good day, sir," said the pony in a very unkindly tone.

"There's the door. Don't print your cutie mark on it on your way out," said Cloudy with a sardonic mean voice Raindrop had never heard from him before. The pony in question stormed out so quickly he didn't even see Raindrop. She decided to just stay low for a few minutes, to let her father calm down. For the first time in her life she was truly afraid of her own father. Once enough time passed she walked inside like nothing had happened.

"Hey, dad. I, I saw a pony coming from around here when I came. Who was he?" Cloudy had given her a kind smile when he noticed her, but he still seemed a bit annoyed.

"Ugh, he was was a doctor you wanted me to see. Took home calls, but he was a complete quack. Took about ten minutes of tests, then demanded a 8000 bit paycheck. I said I couldn't afford it right now, and that he could shove that themome- I, I mean, I didn't thought it was fair, and we started to fight a bit. Don't worry about it. I'm going to take it up with the hospital first thing in the morning... after I make a visit to Tripper Track. We haven't just been hanging out in months!" He walked over and closed the door, after peeking outside a bit mysteriously. He turned to his daughter. "So? How did it go?" he said quite curiously.

"Not that good, but we're going to keep trying. Again, dad, thanks a lot for everything. Also, Billy really appreciates it too."

"No problem, sweetie."

"So, when's mom coming home?"

"Not until tonight. She got swamped with things... about swamps, actually."

" He he. Well, I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed. Good night, dad."

"Good night, Raindrop. Sleep tight."