Trapped In Canterlot

by TartarusFire

C32 - The makings of Ponies

"Have any of you ever done something besides what your cutie mark stands for?"

"Relic, shut up. None of us like you, and the guards are on edge, especially with the right of Passé."

"No, I’m serious." He kicked his hooves like a bored colt would on the chair. "I’ve been wondering, that’s all."

Laceration was having the time of his life, no not really; He called it that to remind him how much he disliked Relic. "As much as you put me on edge, I don’t think any pony has. We grow into our cutie marks because it is what defines us and makes us special. Plus, we’re really good at what we have on our flanks."

Relic looked down, contemplating how he ask going to ask his question. "C-can you ask Cross or the bat pony guards in there? I just had a thought."

"And is it going to justify what you might do next?" Laceration ground his teeth.

Relic opened his mouth and shut it again, fearing his answer.

"Then no."

***

Happy Gary strolled along the base of the tower, "What a wonderful day," he said in a strange, patterned voice.

A guard heard him and decided to rebuke that statement, "Buddy, it’s four in the morning, it’s not day yet."

Happy Gary stopped, and was still happy. "A day is 24 hours."

"Shiiii, alright you got me there wise crack."

Happy Gary strolled off, with beats following his instantaneous change in direction with a never changing smile.

"Dark Storm, Canterlot ponies are strange, especially that one."

"Yeah, weird cutie mark too; what the heck does ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ mean?"

Twilight burst out of her tower’s doors. "Good Morning guards, if Spike asks, tell him I’m studying for my test in a few hours." They nodded, pretending not to have spoken. "I’ve got research to do."

"Dark Storm became flustered. But didn’t you say you were studying?"

"Didn’t you just pretend like you never talk?" Twilight quipped.

"Touché."

Twilight was rounding the corner to the castle library when she ran into Mr. Greenhoof. "Good morning sir."

His raking was an afterthought, "’S G’morning to you too. What’chu up to so early?"

"Oh, I’m kind of in a hurry..." She feinted a forehoof.

"Shoo, an’t got nothing to worry about. You’ve got plenty o’ time before the sun rises, miss student." His raking had cleared out the plant debris from the area, so he moved to a covered spot several feet to the left.

"How did you –" Twilight stopped asking her question as she realized that she was very well known "– err, I’d rather not take your valuable time explaining though."

"Valuable?" Mr. Greenhoof’s chortle nearly removed his sprig of hay fell out of his mouth. "Nah, I’m frightfully bored, cleaning’s like reflex with my age. I like talking to take the ol’ monotony away. I’ve nothing to look forward too, me being markless."

"Why do you say that? That’s a depressing thing to say."

"Well," he stopped his raking to actually think of a reason, "I’ve gone everywhere, looking for a mark, but when you get to my age, you sink real well into a stagnate life."

Twilight scrunched slightly. "But.. I still don’t get it? Couldn’t you find something else to enjoy, since you lack a cutie mark?"

He started to rake again. "Little ma’am, I ain’t good at nothin’ ‘cept raking and gardening, I’ll work until the day I die ‘cause if I don’t, I’ll be rotting, trying to find something I’m good at." He whistled a tune, collecting his mood. "I forgot I could whistle. That’s nice."

Twilight stared at the old stallion as he turned his back, intent on finishing the garden at whatever time he was assigned to finish it, probably at the first day rotation. His words milled around in her head, distracting from her immediate interest.

He had never enjoyed any of his life to the fullest. Even by this time, he was depressed. How far does having a cutie mark, a guiding light, drive a pony? Is there even a choice in the matter once you’ve started down a path?

***

It was a slow morning at the castle’s medical bay’s front desk, meaning that every pony was probably safe and unharmed, so it was a good day, Laceration decided. "Less work and more bits." He chuckled.

Looking to where the ‘alibi’ was sitting, he could hear soft snoring as Relic’s head was laying on the nearby desk, using magazines as a pillow. "Well, looks like a good time to ask." He trotted to the infirmary where Red Cross had been changing out Caedes’s fluids and redressing the guards’ wounds.

Relic had posed a very valid question which Laceration was not going to admit to, so he instead chose to wait till Relic had fallen asleep to ask every pony. "So, every pony, I’ve had an interesting question," he kept his voice low to prevent from waking up the filly and more importantly Relic. "Has any of you done something besides your cutie mark after you’ve had it, like a job or something not related to your talent?"

Evershade had spoken first, "Nope. Me and Deepsky were pretty much born and raised to be Night Guards, so we’re quite happy with it and haven’t tried anything else. Besides, why bother if you know what you’re good at which makes you happy right there on your flank?"

"Just curious, you know." He turned to face Cross. "And how about you?"

Cross was forever grumpy as she levitated on the last cold rag onto Caedes. "You know, if you did more work instead of thinking, I’d be a lot happier to answer." Laceration gave her puppy eyes. "Ugh, that’s nasty on that face. Stop that and I’ll talk." Laceration backed off to a respectable distance.

"That’s better. Now that I think about it, I used to hate studying. Back when I earned my mark for my medical forte, I was making do with a first aid kit. My father had suggested for me to read books and expand my knowledge when I was eight."

Cross sat back on a bed, done for the time being. "At first, I wouldn’t touch any book on the subject, and I just did chores and sold filly scout cookies. Eventually though, I got tired and depressed, I just felt like quitting everything. So I opened the small guidebook to battlefield medicine my father had left me; I was hooked."

"So, it didn’t work out then Cross?"

"Another thing not related my talent? No. I just came right back to my talent after forgoing it for so long."

"Then he really did have a point," Laceration mumbled under his breath.

Relic had been listening the entire time, hidden from behind the curtain. There were some things he needed to work out.

Author's Note:

Just saying where Happy Gary came from; it's this Happy Gary.. This one specifically. "What a wonderful day"

... Sorry for the delay, I accidentally chose Hayseed Greenhooves before finding out that he had no cutie mark by design. So, have this one and the next.