Chapter Six - A Walk
I lie back on my bed and, not for the first time tonight, I am incredibly frustrated. By my side is my discarded sketchpad, with my latest work unfinished for all to see.
I know what's wrong with it, anyone could tell by looking, it has no face. This is becoming a theme of a lot of my human pictures, and it was really starting to bug me. I can draw myself fine, and ponies are surprisingly easy. But the minute I try to draw any other human… I just get stumped at the face.
It’s actually getting really creepy, all these faceless sketches. I think I need a diversion.
I swing off the bed. “I’m going out.”
Cherry looks up from some dusting she was doing. “Huh? Why is that?”
“I need some fresh air, and I’m thinking of exploring the castle… the bits I can, anyway,” I say heading for the door.
Cherry bounds up next to me and gives a quick curtsy. “Umm, how about I show you around, I got the castle tour on the day I was hired,” she says eagerly.
I think about it, then shrug. “Why not?”
Cherry beamed. “This way please!” She leads me out the tower and down the steps.
Cherry leads me down yet another corridor. The tour so far had been… interesting I suppose, it is a lot different then exploring the old castle and trying to guess what each room was, although I still told Cherry to let me guess before telling me. (In the old castle I had to make my own fun and old habits die hard.) Due to my reliance on windows, we often had to take rather long and winding routes to various places. We are currently on one such route now to one of the main dining rooms.
Boredom motivates me to speak. “I’ve been meaning to ask, why did you become a maid… for that matter why does anyone become a maid?”
Cherry seems surprised that I initiated a conversation, but recovers pretty quickly. “W-well, I can’t speak for everypony… But um, well… I think maid outfits are cute.”
There is a rather long pause before I realise Cherry had finished talking. “...And that's it?”
Cherry looks rather self conscious. “Well, yes… kinda… Pretty much.” she mumbles.
“Sure it wasn’t your destiny or something?” I ask.
“Wha- Oh you mean my cutie mark. No nothing like that… Although that would be a pretty depressing destiny, if you think about it.”
I do think about it. “Yeah It kind of would, wouldn't it? I can’t imagine ‘hanging around in big houses that don’t belong to me cleaning up other people's messes’ being a particularly satisfying destiny.” We share a little giggle at that.
We walk along in a companionable silence, feeling content with each other’s company… Wait.
I stop in my tracks. Content with someone else's company? I haven’t felt like that since… Oh god I’m doing it again aren’t I? Stupid, stupid! STUPID!! This always happens, I let my guard down, for just a little while and then I end up setting myself up for it to happen all over again. Why am I this dumb? Am I some sort of masochist?
“Mare, are you alright?” Cherry’s concerned voice penetrates my mental beratement. As much as I want to scream at her, it's not her fault that that Celestia hired her... and that I’m apparently a sucker for punishment. So instead I take some deep breaths.
“Oh nothing… just thinking.” I half-lie. I recall what we were talking about before, and decide to change the conversation back.
“So what is your destiny anyway?” I say, walking ahead, Cherry taking this as a cue to start leading again.
“You want to know my Cutie Mark?” says Cherry, “Well, it's kind of complicated…”
“Don’t tell me you don’t have one.”
Cherry laughs, “Oh, nothing that dramatic, You see, I was very young when it appeared, and, well… I can’t really remember how I got it.”
“Seriously? That can happen?” I say, raising my eyebrow.
“Oh you know, when you're at that kind of age, the memories tend to blur together, and I was a very unfocused foal, head in the clouds almost constantly, so I can’t quite pinpoint the moment where my mark appeared, or what I was doing when I got it.”
“For most ponies that's a pretty big event isn’t it? Something you’d think would be pretty hard to forget.”
Cherry laughs. “You’d think so, but I was a preschooler at the time, and that whole ‘I need a cutie mark’ mentality doesn’t really kick until the second year of school.”
“I guess that kind of sucks, not knowing, I mean,” I say.
Cherry shrugs. “I can’t say I’ve ever been too bothered, it's never really become a problem. I never had to suffer the whole ‘no cutie mark’ stage that most foals go through. I have plenty of hobbies that I can enjoy, and enough skills to be employed in a nice job at Canterlot castle. It's not that it wouldn’t be nice to know, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.”
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this,” I say, actually kind of impressed. Until now I’ve taken Cherry as sort of a wet blanket, but she seems like a surprisingly well adjusted (if not socially awkward) pony, certainly better adjusted than m… somebody I know.
“Well, I’ve had this conversation a lot in my life, I can practically recite it myself these days,” says Cherry, lightly blushing as if she heard my unspoken comment. “It helps when your mom is a guidance counsellor.”
“I guess it would,” I say.
“Miss Cherry?” comes a voice from ahead.
I look ahead to see a middle aged jenny, who was looking at Cherry with a skeptical eye.
“Oh-ah, good evening, Miss Glenda,” says Cherry, giving the donkey a quick bow of the head.
“I must admit, when I saw you were no longer on the general night register, I thought you had been fired,” says Glenda.
“N-no, I was reassigned to the western watchtower,” says Cherry quietly.
“The western watchtower? Why on earth does the western watchtower need a maid?” says Glenda, raising her eyebrow.
“Yeah, that would be me.” I say, mildly puzzled that the donkey had yet to notice me, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't invisible to donkeys or something. As funny as that thought might be, I don’t need any more weird existentialism in my life.
Glenda looks up, and seems surprised by my presence. “My apologies, but who might you be?”
Cherry steps up for this. “T-this is Mare, She lives in the western watchtower, Princess Celestia has assigned me as her personal attendant. You see, I was taken off the the general night register because the princess considered it easier to do my job if I was not a part of general castle duties.”
The jenny looks mildly miffed. “It would indeed be nice to know these things, rather than hearing about them several days later. Although, I suppose that is not your fault. Still, might I inquire to your current activity?”
Cherry makes a gesture in my direction. “Well, Mare wanted to explore the castle, so I’m taking her for a little tour… is that alright?”
Glenda nods. “I can find no fault with that. Although, might I ask, would that tour include the main dining room?”
“Umm, yes?” says Cherry.
“Then I’m afraid you might have to find somewhere else,” says Glenda. “The dining room is currently in use, Princess Celestia is having a political dinner with some of the nobility.”
“Oh, s-sorry I didn’t know,” says Cherry.
“Might I advise you to stop by one of the workrooms when planning such an excursion, or at the very least getting the castle schedule at the start of each week for your workroom. It will save you from making such errors in the future.” says Glenda.
“Yes, of course, Miss Glenda,” says Cherry, bowing, before turning to where Mare was. “Come on lets…”
But Mare isn’t there.
She had walked off exactly six paragraphs ago.
“Mare? Mare!” Cherry calls, panic seeping into her voice.
“She seems to have wandered off,” says Glenda, looking around.
“Oh Celestia, I had one job… One job!” Cherry wails.
“Compose yourself! She can’t have gone far,” says Glenda sharply. “If you hurry you might catch up to her, I will help you look, after all it’s at least partially my fault for distracting you.”
“Wha- I mean thank you!” says Cherry.
“Enough lollygagging,” says Glenda, bustling off. “Who knows what kind of mischief a child can get up to unsupervised… She is a child, right?”
“In a sense…” says Cherry, following behind.
Glenda huffs. “I really wish Celestia would give me notice when she pulls stunts like this, it really confuses my schedule.”
Okay, I do feel kind of bad for leaving Cherry back there. I try to squash that feeling.
“The more distance I get, the safer I’ll be,” I murmur to myself.
I stop in front of a pair of large doors. I hear a murmur of conversation through it, so I open the door slightly and peer in.
It seems to be some sort of dinner party, with various important looking ponies, including both princesses… and another one I had never seen before, she was really… pink.
The more sensible part of me says I should just walk away and find somewhere else to explore…
I take note of the particularly high windows, and the network of of cross beams on the ceiling.
...But what I want to do is try to get into the rafters.
I disappear and walk to one of the the large decorative curtains on the wall. After I give some experimental tugs, I start climbing up. It was a bit of work, and climbing up gave me a lot of time to think.
Mostly on my inclination to climb things.
I don’t know, it just seemed to be something I did when I wanted to be alone… I mean, more alone than usual. Feeling sad? Climb something. Feeling angry? That tower looks good. Stressed, frightened? I think I’ll find a nice tree.
I swing my feet a little and manage to land on one of the crossbeams. I re-appear and slowly make my way across, my arms outstretched like a tightrope walker.
I don’t know why, but I’ve always been very comfortable with heights. There must be some reason, mustn't there?
Reaching the middle of the room, I come to one of the vertical support beams. I prop myself up against it and slide down until I’m sitting, my mind buzzing with idle curiosity for the most pointless of things. In my relaxed state, some memories drifted to the surface.
It… It was a tree, wasn’t it? It sat on one corner of the old orphanage. There was a trick to climbing it that only I knew. I went there whenever I wanted to be alone… No, when I didn’t want anyone to find me except…
“Ah, I thought you’d be here, are you alright dearie?”
*Sniffle*
“... I’ve spoken to Erin, she is very sorry, she didn’t mean to break it like that.”
“…”
“But you still shouldn’t have pushed her like that, So I’m gonna ask you to come and apologise as well.”
“...don’ wanna.”
“Listen dearie, I have a good friend who is very good at knitting, I can give your toy to her to be fixed, but I can’t do that until you come and apologise.”
“...You pwomise?”
“I’m a woman of my word, now come down now dearie, these old bones are too frail to be chasing young ladies up trees.”
*sniff* “Okai.”
I come back to the present.
That... was me? Wow, that was an old one, I couldn’t have been older than... four, five?
I wear a little bittersweet smile, things were a lot simpler back then, weren't they? I was a lot happier… until… until…
“MARE!”
The sudden shout startled me out of my trance. my arms flail as I lose my balance and topple off the support beam.
’Oh Crap!’
A few minutes earlier…
“...So there she was, standing in the middle of the kitchen, covered head to hoof in icing, and I was so utterly baffled all I could do was laugh,” Fancy Pants says, finishing his story.
There were some good natured laughs around the story, which Celestia joined in wholeheartedly. She was grateful to Fancy Pants, these dinners would be almost unbearable without him.
“Your daughter sounds quite the hoofful,” says Luna, who is doing remarkably well for her first time in attendance. Celestia couldn’t help but feel proud with how fast Luna is acclimatising.
“Indeed she is, your highness,” says Fancy Pants jovially. “I wouldn’t have her any other way... Although I must say I was relieved when she and Fleur hit it off, I was worried she wouldn’t take well to a new mare in my life.”
“Your concern does you credit, I can’t think of a more loving father,” Celestia says warmly.
“You flatter me, Princess,” Fancy Pants says graciously. “But enough about me, how about you, Celestia? Have you picked up any new wards, now that young Twilight has ventured out on her own?”
“Am I really that predictable?” Celestia says, giving a light chuckle. “As a matter of fact I picked up one not a few days ago.”
“Oh? This is the first I’ve heard of it,” says Cadance, joining the conversation.
“Is that so?” says Celestia, “I suppose that shouldn't surprise me, young Mare is very nocturnal and keeps to herself, I doubt most of the staff even know she is here.”
“Mare? That is a rather unusual name,” says Fancy Pants.
“Its for a very unusual girl,” chimes in Luna.
“As my sister puts it, Mare is no ordinary pony... in fact she is not a pony at all.”
“Really? I feel like there is a story behind that,” says Fancy Pants.
“Indeed there is, but much of it is unfortunately private between me and Mare and those close to her, but what I can say is she a strange creature from a very faraway place, that she is unable to remember or return to, I am giving her a place to stay in the castle, and despite being around about 900 years old she has not aged in all those centuries, she is very much still a ten year old child.”
“My, you sure do find the strangest characters,” says Fancy Pants.
“I guess I do,” Celestia replies with an impish grin.
“When might me meet this girl?” asks Fancy Pants.
“Well, that largely depends on her. Unfortunately, she is rather anti-social, so I have to be careful when it comes to exposing her to new ponies.”
“A shame, little Twilight was always a delight to have around the castle,” says Fancy Pants. “It gave the place a more lively feel… especially the library.” There was another good natured laugh.
Just as the conversation was about to shift to Twilight, however, two maids walked in. Most of the ponies present recognised Glenda, head of the night staff, who walked in proud and dignified, but only Celestia and Luna recognised Cherry, who was trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.
“Excuse us, Princesses,” says Glenda, giving a bow, Cherry quickly following suit, “We apologise for the interruption.”
“That is quite alright Glenda,” says Celestia, frowning, “But what seems to be the matter? Why is Miss Cherry with you?”
Glenda looks to see if Cherry would explain herself, but she seems too nervous, So Glenda sighs and speaks in her stead. “Miss Cherry was taking young... Mare was it? Yes, Mare for a tour around the castle. Unfortunately when I stopped her to inquire a few things, her young charge took it upon herself to walk off on her own while we were not looking. She was heading this way as far as we know, we were wondering if you have seen her.”
“I’m sorry, Princess!” Cherry says, bowing again.
Celestia gently puts her hoof on her face. “Of course she has... Don’t worry Cherry, it's not your fault, I have known Mare to occasionally pull stunts like this.” She turns to address the table, “Excuse me, it seems I must find my wayward ward.”
“Sounds like you have your hooves full with this Mare as well,” says Fancy Pants.
“Seems like it,” sighs Celestia, getting up.
“Actually, it seems a search will not be necessary,” says Luna, looking up.
Celestia is not foolish, she follows her sister's gaze until it falls upon a dozing figure in the rafters.
‘How on Equus did she get up there?’ thinks Celestia.
Celestia takes a deep breath.
“MARE!”
She sees Mare’s arms flail, and before anypony could react, she falls right off the cross beam…
...and face plants into the huge cake that had been the meal's centerpiece.
SPLAT!
Celestia winces, that could have probably done with more thought.
Mare slowly lifts herself out of the cake.
“Are you alright, Mare?” Celestia says.
Mare looks at Celestia, her eyes full of sparkles. “This cake is delicious!”
“She’s fine,” Luna deadpans.
“Again, excuse me, everyone,” says Celestia, lifting Mare with her telekinesis, who is obliviously munching on a chunk of intact cake in her hands. “It seems I need to have a word with young Mare. Glenda, please go down to the kitchen and ask for another cake, Cherry, come with me. Everyone else, please enjoy the rest of the meal.
Celestia left with Mare floating on her left and Cherry walking to her right.
“What are you going to do with Mare?” Cherry asks when they are out of earshot.
Celestia looks down at Mare’s cake coated form. “What else? I’m going to give her a bath.”
“Wait... what!?” shouts Mare, shocked out of her cake fueled stupor.
“I don’t believe you,” I mutter from the bathtub as Celestia and Cherry sit some distance away, currently in the process of washing my clothes. They would have used a machine, but after they saw just what state my clothes were in, they decided that this called for some serious hoof washing.
“I’m sorry, but your clothes needed washing, and I wasn’t about to put a dirty girl into clean clothes. Honestly, considering you probably haven’t even seen a bath in 900 years this was a long time coming,” says Celestia conversationally.
“I always managed to stay clean somehow,” I mutter, sinking into the bubbles until nothing but my head could be seen. “It's not as if I sweat or anything…”
“Considering how much filth I’m washing off this vest, I am starting to doubt that, I guess it's true what they say about black.”
“You just wanted to see me naked,” I say, hoping to get a rise.
No such luck this time, while Cherry splutters, Celestia simply rolls her eyes. “Please, that one was predictable. You can only get me with the dirty jokes so many times before I start to expect them.”
I sink deeper into the water to hide my flushed cheeks at having my counter attack so neatly foiled.
“Now are you going to start scrubbing yourself, or do I have to do it for you?”
I grumble as I reach for the soap and start lathering my hands to rub myself down.
“Wow, so this skirt is purple?” Cherry says, holding up the offending garment. “I’m honestly surprised this dress is still in one piece.”
“Indeed, this is a surprisingly durable material,” says Celestia, examining it. “By the stitching I’d say it's handcrafted, very good needlework.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, trying to work out how to apply shampoo to my ridiculously long hair, before just upending the bottle over my head.
“Oh, of course, I do remember you mentioning that you made this yourself.”
“She did? That's really impressive… but shouldn’t you take better care of it, if that's the case?” says Cherry.
“Well it's not as if I have any other clothes-OW!” I wince as some shampoo gets in my eyes.
I hear Celestia sigh. “Cherry, mind if you take over the rest of the washing?” I then hear Celestia's long strides approach, and I feel her hoof on my shoulder, “Just lean back and keep your eyes closed, I’ll take care of your hair for you.”
“Okay,” I sniff. The shampoo had really hurt.
I sit quietly as Celestia’s magic and hooves work through my hair.
“Rinse,” says Celestia.
I comply, letting her dunk my head under the water.
Celestia quickly works the shampoo out of my hair, then allows me to come back up.
“Don’t open your eyes just yet, I’m going to apply conditioner.”
I groan. “Do you have to?”
“Well your clothes aren’t clean yet, so it's not as if you have anywhere else to be right now,” she says as I feel the conditioner on my scalp. “Besides, someone has to take care of you, because you don’t seem to inclined to. I know you have wonderful hair, Mare, it seems a waste to neglect it.”
For some reason that seemed familiar, although thankfully no flashback accompanied that feeling. It feels like I had felt this sentiment from someone before, long long ago.
“Mare, might I ask what you are smiling about?” says Celestia.
“I was just thinking… There is one thing about your company that I appreciate.”
I could almost hear Celestia’s ears perk up. Her voice was level though. “Oh? What would that be?”
“That no matter how much I wish you would sometimes, you never leave me alone!” I say before breaking into giggles.
Celestia was silent, before giving a laugh that was crystal clear. “And I never will, That is a promise.”
Oops, forgot to release it yesterday
I hope you enjoy this little character building chapter. Next chapter shit hits fans.
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Did chapter 6 vanish or is the new chapter not 7?
8159374
Oops, My bad, you see the original chapter six is now the second half of chapter five, but I hadn't got around to editing my google docs to reflect this change so they are still separate docs, its fixed now
Ummm... besides the thousand years alone in an abandoned castle located in the middle of a extremely dangerous forest? Y'know, the little issue that happened and only changed a week or so ago?
Heck, I'm pretty sure I recall that when Celestia saw her before the Midsummer Sun Festival she outright said (or thought) "Oh. Riiiight, Mare... Haven't thought of/seen her in centuries."
It just seems both Celestia and Mare have suddenly had complete 180's regarding each other and their outlooks on life for little to no stated reasons while also forgetting that; prior to this they were at best rather chilly acquaintances.
8159435 Actually, Celestia didn't say she hadn't seen Mare in centuries, nor that she wasn't thinking about her, Celestia only thought that she didn't see Mare as often as she should. That Largely being the fault of Mare herself.
And despite her usual chilliness, Mare doesn't dislike Celestia, its just that Mare has trust issues that run deep in her consciousness, and doesn't like expressing herself. Its just that right now, Mare was in a particularly good mood.
Sorry if that didn't come across well, I hope I haven't lost you.
8159398 Will Mare be meeting the Main 6 soon?
It doesn't show here, but there's a horizontal line between these two that feels like it doesn't belong.
8159446
Nah, it's fine. It's just still sort of jarring how quickly everyone involved is moving on: no grudges, deep-seated resentment, or abandonment issues (thus far at least.) Just Celestia suddenly deciding to actually be involved/care about Mare's life and wellbeing after a thousand years of neglect, and Mare being totally on-board with it.
Actually thinking about it (hard to put into words/write so excuse the partially formed thoughts) I think my main issue is: Mare seems to be improving due almost solely to the fact that she's not trapped in a decrepit, impossible to reach castle and can actually interact with people semi-normally. The Sisters have dinner with her, maybe see her for a few minutes between/after court, and the only other being she's interacted with is her maid. Given that; it makes Celestia actions/lack of such, look incredibly neglectful/lackadaisical.
She could have just chucked Mare's Star Stone in Ponyville/Canterlot/literally any town on her way out of the castle for the last time and told the residents "Sup. She's not a monster, but she's immortal and only exists in starlight. Play nice and make friends. Hurt her and I'll be mad/displeased." and Mare's life for the past thousand years would have been vastly improved and she wouldn't have the issues she does now.
I guess (?) what I'm saying is: Celestia (and Luna) have pretty much just moved her Stone and had dinner with her once a day. Something literally anyone could and should do. She has had little-to-no interactions that should have caused this, almost mother-daughter relationship they seem to be developing, to begin to form.
8159465 eehh, that depends on how fast I advance through the cannon, right now only six days have passed since Nightmare Moons defeat, I'm not even sure Ticket Master has even happened yet. The closest estimation would be the Gala, although If I get some idea for filler that wouldn't adversely effect anyones character development, I'll bring them in sooner.
8159483 Its a semi-subtle indicator of the shift of first person from mares perspective to third person from Cherry's.
8159526 Well I can't say too much without venturing into spoiler territory, but just keep in mind that Mare is a child, and hopefully future interactions will make sense.
Thou hast impressed us once again!!!
Her logic is unassailable.
Nice chapter, good work.