Lost Muse

by David Silver

56 - Cycles

The next morning, Libel roused and checked her sleeping bedmate before slipping quietly from the room, aiming for the bathroom to freshen up for the day. There was more than one, of course, and she aimed for the one closest to the room she had slept in.

"Good morning."

Just as Libel reached an intersection, the voice and image of her mother struck at the same instant. She jumped with surprise. "Mother... hello."

"Hello." She looked past Libel down the hallway she had come from. "Can we talk?"

"You're asking permission now?" She hiked a brow. "That's not like you."

"I'll talk if I want to, but that doesn't mean you'll listen, or respond. Can we talk?" She gestured aside at a mostly empty sitting room. "I'll be brief."

Libel abandoned thoughts of warm baths for the moment, following her mother. "Sorry, for running off like that."

Succinct inclined an ear at Libel. "I would have been impressed, and worried, if you hadn't responded..." She stepped up onto the one couch in there, settling with plenty of room left. "I'm the one that should be sorry."

"Are you? What for?" Libel hopped up onto a basic wooden chair that sat near a desk.

"Cheeky girl..." Succinct sighed softly. "'It was awkward' is a terrible excuse... I should have told you, sooner. I have to admit that to myself, and you. Maybe I should have told you the instant I knew... It was my... This is a very..." She sank onto the couch with a weary grunt.

"Even a Word can be struck speechless at times." Libel smiled thinly. "I still hate him."

Succinct perked an ear. "Who? Your father?"

"Yes him." She crossed her hooves. "He did a nice thing, but 'nice' doesn't always mean 'right'. He made a shitty decision for a new father. What did he see... in this random mare?"

Succinct lifted an ear. "Well... It's exactly as I was trying to educate your... suitor... She had a tragic tale, black as night. He had the answer. He gave, she took..."

Libel hiked a brow. "That makes it sound like she just took his bits. If he did that, he'd be laughing about it right now, not... dead, so..." She rolled a hoof in the air. "Explain?"

"She was unwell." She huffed softly. "Not the kind that kills a pony right away; wasn't even aware it as a thing she had, until she tried to become a mother."

Libel's ears trained on her own mother. "She was pregnant?!"

"And doing a poor job of it... Maybe... just fresh off of helping me though the time, he couldn't help but sympathize... That condition was making it worse, would have killed her, and the foal. He couldn't even stand the thought... He would just visit her, I learned."

She looked towards a bookshelf, the books holding no answers for this. "He would visit and comfort her and try to cheer her, encouraging her to have hope they'd find a donor... But they didn't, and time was running out. He never told me a word of this, not a whisper. He just smiled at me like everything was fine, then go visit the sick mare."

Libel's teeth set. "Until they got desperate, and he volunteered..."

"She was dying." Succinct growled softly, a rolling noise that shook her form. "Her body was quitting, he was there... He was in the room when she went critical..."

"And he was the one that died instead of her," finished Libel, leaning her head against the back of the chair she was in. "Which left two foals without a dad. Where was her stallion?"

Succinct scowled at that. "Not there... I didn't pry past that. Does it matter?"

"I suppose not... Did... that foal live?"

"She did." Succinct sat up. "I couldn't tell you more than that. It's not my business. The damn fool at least did what he set out to do. The mother lived, the child lived. A happy ending, if you ignore two little things."

"Two little things..." Libel trembled softly. "Jerk..." Her tone didn't have all the conviction she'd want. "A hero and a jerk at the same time."

"That is... about right... I have one more confession."

Libel shrank back, but her ears went forward. "Please don't tear apart my worldview anymore."

"This one is far smaller." She held up two hooves close together. "You have met a mare, a mailmare? Her eyes are not properly aligned."

"Derpy?" Libel inclined an ear. "What about her?"

"She's on my payroll, or has been for a small while... I was... testing your stallion... I wanted to see if a pitiable and nice mare would distract him away; one that had far fewer requests, at least to start."

Libel sat up straight. "Mother! That... Mother!"

"You can be irate, that is your right, but Little Splash passed. He has... done his part well. I don't think he'll make the same mistake... I pray not... Please forgive your mother."

Libel put a hoof over her chest. "Well, we can make this even easily."

"Mm?"

"I don't want another word about my book. Even better... I'd like your support. Tell me, without lying, what you think of it. Read it, and be proud that I'm writing, damn it. Even if it ends up being horrible, be proud of that, at least." She thumped the arm of the chair, wings spreading a moment before folding restlessly. "Can you do that?"

"I plan to read every single word you write." Succinct raised a brow. "I already have." She inclined a wing at the shelf she had glanced at before. "All of your works."

"What?" Libel hopped down, wings catching the air before she hit the ground, causing a swooping motion that carried her easily to the shelf that she attached to, peering at the books. "You had my articles bound? And here's my first book... Mother? Why... didn't you tell me?"

Succinct smiled gently, watching Libel examine her own work. "I thought it'd only make you embarrassed, or angry."

"I am both of those things." She grabbed a book by its spine in her teeth and fell easily to the ground. She turned back towards Succinct. "But I'm also... happy." A single tear dripped to the ground as she approached her mother. "How long have you been gathering them?"

"Since your first sentence." She gestured with a wing towards the left side of the shelf. "A single book used to hold quite a bit of your writing, but you became more verbose with age and practice... Now... Libelous Word, I expect much from you. I expect... that you will write with everything you have. No matter the topic, it should glow with your touch. Can you do that?"

"Mother." Libel dropped the book on the couch her mother was sitting on. "If I wasn't your daughter, this would be... a little creepy. Lucky for you--"

"Giving birth to you did come with certain benefits, one supposes." She reached for Libel, setting a hoof on her head. "Thank you, for listening. Now, dispel this suspense. Am I forgiven?"

"A good writer waits until they have good words..." She hiked an ear at her mother. "I only blame you on sitting on the sequel for so long everyone forgot the original plot."

Succinct turned her nose. "You're feeling good enough to make humor... I'll accept that. Go, wash yourself. If you're done with me, go on home with your stallion. You stayed for dinner, all I asked in the end."

"Did you really hire Derpy? She seemed so... oblivious."

"A fine mask she wears quite well. Sometimes I wonder if even she knows she's wearing it, but she gets things done... She once met you while wearing two masks, and you didn't notice."

"Two?" Libel hiked an ear. "If this was written down, I'd question the quality of this plot... I should bathe."

---

Color awoke to being alone on a strange bed. A moment later he remembered where he was and stepped down carefully, looking around his girlfriend's filly-room. He slipped out into the hallway and looked around, unsure where to go. "Libel?"

"Little Splash?" Miss Pot stepped into view from around the corner. "Ah, yes, there you are. Would you like some breakfast?"

He licked his lips. "That sounds great... Say... Miss Pot, besides a thank you for that dinner... do you still make that prench toast? The big fluffy ones? I don't even know how you made them, but I miss them."

Miss Pot's face lit up with a warm smile. "It's been simply ages since anyone asked me for one of those. It's not one of the Missus' favorites, and with no foals around, well..." She turned away. "I'd be glad to make some for you, follow me."

She led him to a small dining room. "Just sit there and get comfortable. I'll be back with a drink and we'll get breakfast on the way. If you need anything else, you just let me know, Young Master."

Color perked an ear at that. "I'm not your master, and I'm not that young..."

"You're younger than me," countered Miss Pot with a smile. "And you are my master, just how that works. Unless Miss Word commands it, any guest of this house is my master. Hmmph, not young. I still remember when you were so small." She trotted off in search of drinks and cooking.

He saw a paper folded on the table and reached for it with his magic, unfolding it to find it was the day's copy of the same paper Libel used to work for. He began to read through it casually, only interrupted with a jump when something was set on the table.

"Here you are." Miss Pot gestured at a big glass of orange juice. "Drink up, boys need juice to grow up strong."

"I don't think I'm growing much more than I already did." He set the paper down and picked up the glass in his magic. "But I'll gladly accept this, thanks. Do you know where's Libel?"

"I heard the bath running, I imagine she's in there. I'll send her here when she's out, and have enough for the both of you, have no worry." She retreated busily from the room with a happy little whistle.

The juice was quite fresh. He squinted softly as he sipped. "Did she just literally juice this? It still had pulp, and tasted so fresh, like the sort he'd given up getting in the city. Sure, back home... right off the farm... He sighed gently with a smile, nostalgia filling him a moment with a sort of joy.

Maybe he really did need a...

He frowned softly. Had he been about ready to hire a chef, like that? His life had... changed.

"Extra fluffy," sang Miss Pot as she entered with a tray on her back overburdened with great big slabs of appetizing slices of bread. "Now you eat up." She let it slide off of herself onto the table. "Sauces." She set out a variety of syrups. "The strawberry's my favorite, but don't be shy."

"You are absolutely perfect." Pity he couldn't just hire Miss Pot, but he was reasonably certain he'd be ripped into small pieces by Miss Word, and for good reason, if he even uttered a faint desire for it. "Thank you! It smells... like foalhood."

He just couldn't hold back the smile on his face. It'd been so long since he had one of Miss Pot's prench toast slices, and a whole platter of them, for himself!? He had to giggle softly to himself, snatching up a fork with his magic. "Did you tell Libel?" That was about the only thing that could make his breakfast better, his lovely girlfriend.

"She's on the way, Little Splash." She saw the moment of sourness on his face. "Please allow me that, Young Master. It reminds me of nice times."

His dour expression evaporated. Luxuriating in nostalgia, he... thought he could understand. "Yeah, you do that. I'm sorry I was being a grump about it." It seemed a fair trade, in the end, he decided.

Author's Note:

This was a nice morning, I vote.

Comments

[badninja]

So who was the other foal I wonder? I think we may never know as it is unimportant to the story.

[Daremo]

Please don't tear apart me worldview anymore

And hooves off me lucky charms!

me worldview - my worldview

[Daremo]

9410937
It had to be Derpy. Libelous and Derpy are half-sisters!

[David Silver]

9410973
Even if it was Derpy, there's no blood relation going on there.

[Daremo]

9411000
Or is there?

[David Silver]

9411105
(dramatic music!) Though that would make her father back into the two-timing jerk.

[Dashie04]

"Two?" Libel hiked an ear. "If this was written down, I'd question the quality of this plot... I should bathe."

We call this medium awareness.