With Heart and Sword

by FALG

Less

This was the third day since everything started.

"Your time got shortened up?!" Shining was terrified

I went to the barracks to tell Shining what happened, "hopefully I'd find my dad too" I told myself.

"How long do you have until, well, 'that' happens?" Shining asked again

"Three days at most" I answered.

"What? Didn't you tell me you had a week to resolve this?" the unicorn asked.

"Exactly, but that was when this whole thing started; I lost a day on the train towards here, yesterday was the second day, and with the skipped day they are three." I explained.

"Counting today right?"

"Yes; so I had seven days to fix this, minus the skipped day it makes a total of 6."

"You are in trouble, you know that?" Shining affirmed.

"Tell me something I don't know, Shining."

---

I went back to the castle, to see the archives, maybe they had written another thing I should be aware of. But after three hours of reading there was nothing else found.
I asked the council if they had some new info, or something they knew that was in the archives; but their knowledge for this subject was very limited.
I was very mad at them because they didn't warn me about the skipping time. I wasted two days doing nothing to solve this, and one was skipped, so I had a very tight situation. Despite my anger they were very patient, they were still trying to find something with Princess Celestia to help me.

I went to my dad's house around 14:30 PM. He was awaiting me like we agreed.
I told him about this new circumsance I was in, he looked worried, but was still calm. He had the theory that if you get too worked up with something, you can't think clearly.

"It's pretty ironic you know." he simply said when I finished.

"Huh? Please tell me you have a GOOD reason to say that." I told him.

"Well, you remember your time in school right? Primary and secondary school?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, you always left your homework for the last moment, rushing to finish it. This is almost the same situation, only with bigger consequences." my dad explained.

"Let me guess, are you joking about my situation here?" I asked him impatiently.

"I'm not joking, I'm only pointing it out."

"Oh great, thanks, I feel a whole lot better now." I mocked

"Calm down Flare, I know you don't like doing jokes about something serious, but take in mind that without an encouraged mentality no solution will be found." my father said.

Happiness, that was the solution for almost everything, seriously. It is a factor in the army, if your soldiers aren't happy, they won't put up a fight.
Just like this, if your mind wasn't clear of all negative thoughts, you won't see the solutions, even if they pass right in front of you.

"What do you want me to do then dad? I can't sit here and do nothing!"

"Of course you can't, but you also can't find the answer by your methods. If this is another cutie mark, you have to wait..."

"...until it reveals itself." I finished the sentence. Now everything made a little more sense now.

"Exactly, fate will create the opportunity for you to realize that; you can't do nothing about it." my dad affirmed
He was right, if this new cutie mark was supposed to reveal me the purpose of my life, it should appear by itself, by fate's doing.

Like every other cutie mark.

I looked at my dad and said:

"I don't know dad, what if fate doesn't create this event in time?"
He looked away.

"Don't think about that Flare, those thoughts will consume you sooner or later." my dad answered.

"You're right dad, sorry".

I left the house and headed for the outskirts of Canterlot.

---

I sat down in a hill and looked towards the horizon.

Something good about looking at the horizon was that your mind could drift away, and you could keep like this for hours.

I was a bit less worried about the days wasted, because they weren't a total waste, fate hasn't decided to make a move yet. But I was still worried nonetheless.
I went back to the castle, and straight to my room. I left myself collapse on the bed for a nap that I really needed.