Parental Guidance
The rest of the day passed in an embarrassing blur for Minuette. Try as she might, she just could not force her humiliating and flashy failure during the first major test in her magic class out of her mind. It didn’t help that she didn’t share many of her classes with her friends, at least not until the end of the day, meaning she was forced to fend for herself for most of the day.
But, for a mercy, the school day eventually drew to a close. The moment the final bell rang, Minuette gathered her things into her saddlebags and practically bolted from the classroom, in spite of the teacher’s insistence that ‘the bell does not excuse you, I do!’
“That’s not how it works,” Minuette thought as she fled through the door. “If you excuse us and not the bell, then why do we have a bell at all? That’s a dumb thing to say. That teacher is dumb.”
Thankfully, the teacher did not deem it fit to go after Minuette, allowing her to make her way for the exit without incident. She ducked and weaved through the densely packed crowd until she was back outside in front of the school. She glanced up at the sky, feeling the warmth of the afternoon sun on her coat. She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath, savoring the fresh mountain air, letting it chase the embarrassment out of her system.
“Minuette!”
She was drawn from her momentary reprieve by the voice of First Aid. She turned around to see First Aid, Bristle and Split approaching her at a steady canter. First smiled as she came up, reaching out to nudge Minuette’s shoulder. “How did your day go?”
Minuette returned the smile, albeit weakly. “It was… uh… it was okay? I guess? Meh,” she shrugged and looked ahead.
Bristle Stroke frowned. “Still bothered by the test, huh?” he asked carefully.
Minuette sighed and nodded as they set off down the street. “Mhmm. It looked so easy when all of you did it… Then I had to go and blow up like a lightbulb! Everypony could see it, too! Ugh… it was so embarrassing.”
First Aid placed her hoof on Minuette’s back. “I’m sorry. But hey! You’ll figure it out next time! Just gotta study up and practice a little before the next test comes up!” she encouraged with a cheerful smile.
Minuette perked up slightly, her chest warming up from the assurance. “You think so?” she asked hopefully.
First Aid nodded, her grin growing. “Definitely! You’re smart as all heck, even if your brain is all over the place!”
“But my brain isn’t all over the place. It’s in my head, where it belongs,” Minuette said, frowning.
Split End chuckled and shook his head. “And behold, for she has proven First’s point!” he declared, deliberately exaggerating his native Canterlot accent.
Minuette pouted back at him. “Hey, I am not! My brain’s in my skull, where it belongs! It’s not all over the place, and no, you can’t have it to spread around!”
“A shame,” Split shot back with an only slightly evil smirk. “I was looking forward to getting a new type of jam to put on my sandwich…”
“That is disgusting,” First Aid deadpanned, glancing back at Split with a flat look.
“It is also a joke,” Split End rebuked without missing a beat, completely unrepentant.
“Brain jelly?” Minuette asked, tilting her head. She then stuck out her tongue in revulsion. “Blegh! Gross! You’re a gross pony, Split!”
He rolled his eyes. “Maybe. But hey, at least I’m not a light bulb.”
It was like someone had flicked a switch. Just like that, whatever good mood Minuette had managed to accumulate from their friendly banter was shattered and scattered to the wind. Her expression immediately withered, her ears drooping to rest flat against her head. “R-right… eheh…” she stammered out, trying and failing to laugh.
First Aid stopped and faced Split End directly, jabbing a hoof into his chest. “Hey! That wasn’t nice, Split! Apologize, right now!” she demanded, her eyes narrowing with severe displeasure.
Split leaned back, cringing guiltily under the smaller filly’s ire. He glanced back up at Minuette and briefly made eye contact with her before looking away. “I, uh… sorry, Minuette,” he apologized weakly, scuffing his hoof along the ground. “I wasn’t really thinking…”
“Yeah… I’d have at least waited a few weeks to make that kind of joke,” Bristle pointed out carefully. “Ya know, so it’s not so fresh, and so we can actually laugh at it without upsetting you.”
Minuette hummed, her ears perking up just slightly from the apology. She nodded and gave Split a small smile. “It’s okay, Split… I know you can be kind of a big dumb head sometimes,” she said slowly and quietly.
“Yeah, yeah,” Split agreed, seemingly having missed the cheeky insult Minuette had snuck in. “My mouth opens before I- Wait, hold on one bloody second!”
Ah, there it was.
Minuette giggled as Split’s cheeks puffed up in indignation. She pointed a hoof at him in the process. “Ha! Ya see, that’s called a joke! Even if it’s true!” she forced out between her amused giggles.
“No, we call that a burn,” Bristle pointed out while nudging Split in the side with an elbow and a teasing smirk. “Kid’s got a mouth on her.”
Split mouthed uselessly like a fish for several seconds before throwing his head up to just his pointy nose at the sky. “Hmph! Okay, fine! You win this time! But next time will be different, you’ll see!” he decided with a huff.
A few amused giggles passed through the group, and First Aid visibly relaxed on seeing the tension so swiftly defused. She gave off an audible sigh before turning back to Minuette and grinning at her. “Whew. Nice recovery.”
Minuette beamed. “Mom and Dad call me a little beast!”
“With good reason,” First replied before nodding back at her friends. “Anyways, these guys invited me over to their house for a little while to play some games. If your parents give you permission, would you like to come with?”
Minuette paused at that, her smile faltering. She looked between them all for a few seconds, the cogs in her brain slowly spinning into life. It was tempting, that was for sure. These three were really the only friends she had in this school so far, and most of her other friends lived a little too far away for her to go and see them without her parents taking her.
But at the same time, going with them would mean she wouldn’t have time to focus on her homework or work on figuring out what she had done wrong with her spell. She shuddered at the thought of standing before the class again, primed and ready to perform the simplest of magic spells, only for her horn to pop all over again.
She had no desire to get some stupid nickname like ‘Minnie the lightbulb’ or ‘blown fuse’ or ‘Botched cantrip the wonderfultastic!’
Not that anypony would come up with that third one, but still!
Minuette stared at her friends for a moment longer before offering them an apologetic smile and shake of her head. “Sorry, guys, but no… I gotta practice that spell and get some homework done. Kinda slacked on some of it thanks to my birthday yesterday.”
There was visible disappointment in the trio before her, but they were quick to recover. First Aid nodded in understanding. “Right. That’s okay, Minniuette. We’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” she said with a big smile.
“Good luck, Minniuette,” Bristle added with a nod of his head. “We’re rooting for you.”
Split grumbled out something to that same effect, but it was lost under his still lingering annoyance from being so magnificently ‘burned’ as Bristle had called it.
Minuette nodded at all of them one more time before turning and sweeping her eyes across the sea of faces coming and going from the school. Foals, both younger and older than her, were scattered about. Those on the older end of the spectrum were seeing themselves home, while those nearer her age kept busy by their own little spaces to await the arrival of their parents to escort them home. A few staff members from the school were parked in strategic locations to oversee the proceedings, occasionally taking a moment to strike up a conversation with some students.
Minuette had a hard time picking out any distinguishing features or faces In all of the chaotic hustle and bustle of the crowd. That was, of course, until the tell-tale face of her father came wandering into view, his own eyes scanning through the crowd for any sign of his little girl.
Minuette perked up and waved at him. “Dad! Over here!” she called out, drawing the stallion’s attention.
Sunspot turned to face her, his face lighting up with a smile. He cantered over, his gaze briefly flicking to her friends gathered behind her. “Hey, kiddo. How was your day?” he asked once he was in speaking range.
Minuette paused before glancing back at the school, an uncomfortable grimace on her face. “It was okay. First period kinda sucked, though.”
Sunspot frowned, coming to a stop right in front of her. “That so?” he asked curiously, crouching down to be her at eye level. “Do you wanna tell me about it?”
Minuette nodded. “Uh-huh. On the way home?” she asked before moving forward and casually lumping herself onto Sunspot’s exposed back, eliciting a grunt of surprise from the stallion.
Sunspot grimaced before rising to his full height. “Oof. Sure, but do you have to make me carry you? You’re ten, for pony’s sake. And bigger than you used to be.”
Minuette smirked down at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Uh-huh! If I can’t have more than one slice of cake on my own birthday, then you get to make it up to me by carrying me home!” she declared, patting her hoof on his head like a judge’s gavel, finalizing the sentence.
Sunspot groaned in defeat before smiling down at her friends. “Heh. I hope she didn’t cause any of you too much grief,” he said, though his tone implied he suspected she had.
Split scuffed a hoof along the floor. “...She roasted me a minute ago.”
“And it was magnificent,” Bristle added, grinning up at Minuette with an odd form of respect shining in his eyes. “Your daughters clever, there, mister.”
Sunspot chuckled. “Heh. Yeah, that she is…” he acknowledged before turning sideways so Minuette could see her friends. “Anyway, we gotta go.”
“Oh, okay,” Minuette said before smiling down at her friends and waving at them. “Bye, guys! See ya tomorrow!”
First Aid waved happily in response, her lips peeling back into a big grin. “See you, Minuette! Study hard!” she called as Sunspot carried her away.
Minuette nodded. “I will!”
She kept waving for a while until, finally, the forms of her friends faded entirely from view amidst the ocean of bodies. Once they were gone, she got comfortable on Sunspots back, allowing him to carry her horn.
“So… what happened in first period?” he asked once they were a block or so away, swiveling his ears to face in her direction. “Nothing bad, I hope?”
Minuette frowned, shifting in place to get more comfortable. “Um… no… well, okay, yeah, totally. I failed the second half of the test…” she admitted, lowering her head to hide her eyes behind her bangs.
Sunspot paused for a second before carrying on. “Second half of the test…?” he asked, seemingly confused. He perked up a moment later as the realization hit him. “Oh! It was a practical test, wasn’t it? Actually casting a spell and not just writing about it?”
Minuette hummed and nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“What went wrong?”
“Um… I kinda popped like a lightbulb…”
The return journey to the house was filled largely with Minuette regaling her father with what had happened during first period. She recalled how so many others had done well before and after her, especially Twilight Sparkle, and how among those who failed, hers was perhaps the most flashy. None of the others had created quite such a light show in their blunders.
Recounting the tale had, unfortunately, done wonders to immediately crush what high spirits Minuette had managed to build up from the banter with her friends. By the time they stepped into the living room of the house, Minuette held no desire to socialize any farther, and instead went directly to her room.
And that was where she now found herself a few hours later, a school-lent textbook on beginner’s magic open in front of her. Foal-friendly drawings were scrawled along the pages to go with the more clinical text, helping to add some visual aids for the more abstract concepts of spellcraft.
Minuette’s eyes skimmed over the page time after time after time, soaking up all of the details she could. She had to figure out where she had gone wrong so that she could do it right next time! Her parents weren’t the sort to get on her case for bad grades unless they were really bad, primarily because they knew she wasn’t a slacker and usually bounced back from such occurrences.
It wasn’t them she was worried about. It was everyone else. She hadn’t been in Celestia’s school for very long. None of the ponies in that class had, but that didn’t change the fact that, as far as she knew, a fair few came from upper-class families in the wealthier parts of the city. Bristle and Split Ends were examples of that, both of them coming from very well-to-do families. Hay, even that Twilight Sparkle filly was the youngest child to some minor noble family or other.
But the same could not be said about Minuette. Her family had wealth, sure, enough to live comfortably in Canterlot, but they were far from living a life of luxury. Her family didn’t carry impressive business influence or any sway over local government. She was, among her peers, basically a nobody…
“Somepony wanna remind me why the daughter of a dentist is in this school?”
The scorn in that colt’s voice… the contempt. Minuette had heard it but the once, and she did not want to hear it ever again. But to do that, she had to prove herself worthy of their respect, or at least above their condemnation. And to do that, she had to get her act together and nail the next test that came her way.
Minuette took a deep breath and lifted her muzzle from the book. She was situated in the center of her room, her bed to her back and a window set into the wall ahead of her, affording her a pleasant view of the city. Celestia was in the process of setting the sun, causing the world outside to slowly fade away into orange-tinted darkness.
Minuette took a long, deep breath before closing her eyes, tuning all of it out and focusing on her magic. Her horn lit up with yellow light, and she began to try the spell that she had failed before. Her brow furrowed in concentration, small needles of pain starting to stab into her skull from the strain.
“Come on, come on, come on…” she thought, gritting her teeth behind tightly pursed lips in a desperate bid to get it right this time.
The light formed on the tip of her horn. It was small, fragile, and barely even noticeable. That ephemeral point of magic drifted forward a few inches before, like last time, Minuette felt it starting to unravel at the seams. Resisting the urge to curse, she cut off the flow of her magic and canceled the spell before she could pop again. Opening her eyes afforded her a disappointing glimpse as a few stray sparks of energy drifted out of view before fading away, like the last dying embers of a pitiful campfire.
Minuette growled in frustration. “UGH! What am I doing wrong?!” she demanded, pressing her face into her hooves.
She took a few minutes to calm down and catch her breath before scanning the page and trying again. As before, she closed her eyes and called upon her magic. Like before, her horn began to glow with yellow, and a small pearl of ephemeral white light formed on the tip of her horn. Minuette tuned out everything else, focusing instead on just the spell. She took her time, working on it bit by bit, piece by piece.
She was making progress! She couldn’t repress a smile as she realized what she had been doing wrong. It was all kinds of technical, and she really didn’t want to commit any brainpower to figure out the specifics just now, but whatever she was doing differently this time, it was working better than before!
Spurred on, Minuette put a little more power into the spell.
“Careful…”
“Huh?!”
Minuette’s eyes snapped open as an unfamiliar voice reached her ears. Her spell forgotten and winking out of existence, she pivoted on her haunches to face the source of the noise, only to find there was nopony there. It was just her, alone in her room-
Movement. Minuette’s eyes flew to her mirror as something, a shadow, darted out of her view in its surface. She sprang to her hooves, her heart spiking in her chest. She had definitely seen something moving in her mirror, she was sure of it. Suddenly feeling cold, Minuette spun in a slow circle, casting her gaze across her room for any sign of the intruder.
But there was nobody. Nothing was even an inch out of place. Minuette wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse. She licked her suddenly dry lips and glanced back to the mirror. Whatever she had seen, it was no longer visible there.
Repressing the urge to shudder, Minuette opened her mouth and called out in a shaky squeak of a whisper. “W-w-whos there?”
A knock came to her door the moment those words fled her lips. Minuette let out a high pitched yelp of fear, falling back to her haunches with a grunt. Her eyes flew wide, focusing on her door as it swung open, her heart hammering wildly in her chest as the interloper revealed itself.
It was Sunspot. He looked down at Minuette, blinking. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Minnie! I didn’t scare you, did I?” he asked, slipping inside and giving her a warm, affectionate smile.
Minuette took a few deep breaths before looking over at her mirror in confusion. She knew she had seen something there! She couldn’t deny it! It had been there, clear as day, even if only for a split second! Where had it gone?! What was it?!
Sunspot frowned and drew closer. “Uh, Minuette? You okay?”
Minuette jumped on hearing his voice and turned back to him. Now he was starting to look worried, and all at once, Minuette’s anxiety began to drain away.
Whatever strange thing she had seen, it wasn’t worth upsetting her father over. She put on a warm smile and nodded. “Uh-huh. I’m okay. You just startled me, that’s all!” she said, trying to shove aside the quiver in her voice.
Sunspot didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he did not press the issue just then. Instead, he looked down at the textbook still open on the floor. “Ah. Studying, are you?” he asked knowingly.
Minuette rolled over onto her hooves. “Mmhmm!” she chirped before dragging herself over and plonking herself down in front of the book. “I’m trying to figure out what I did wrong with the test spell.”
Sunspot nodded, lowering himself onto his belly beside her. “And? Made any progress?”
Minuette nodded. “A little bit. I think I was just trying to make it a bit too fast back in school. So it just kinda… popped.”
“Makes sense,” Sunspot said, looking down into the book with a frown. “Yeah… the energy required for this spell is pretty low, but you are still really young and inexperienced. If you pour too much power into it too fast, you risk accidentally overrunning your own ability to maintain it. Kinda like slowly hoofing you more and more weights versus just dropping one really heavy one into your hooves. You can adapt to one, the other will break your shoulders.”
“That sounds painful.”
“It is painful.”
“How do you know? Did you break your shoulders once?”
Sunspot blushed. “A-anyways,” he seamlessly deflected with much grace. “Uh, w-why don’t you try it again?! I can, uh, walk you through it, or something! Eheh!”
“Oh yeah, he broke them hard,” Minuette thought to herself with a predatory smirk before nodding and returning her attention to her book. She scanned the contents one last time, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Her horn lit up with yellow light, and slowly but surely, she began to pour power into the spell. Bit by bit, piece by piece, she put it together, slowly weaving the simple pieces together.
All the while, her father was right there, lending her his voice and his warmth, guiding her along. “That’s it… that’s it. Slow down a little, don’t overdo it. Steady… steady… There’s a gap there, can you plug it?... Atta girl. Okay… okay… nice!”
Minuette’s eyes popped open upon hearing her father’s delighted exclamation. The moment she did, she was rewarded with an up-close and intimate view of the pearl of light she had just made. She stared at it, eyes wide, jaw agape for several seconds. With a small wince of effort, she nudged it a few feet away from her face to shine its light on the whole room.
“I… I did it.”
“You sure did,” Sunspot agreed, leaning down to give Minuette an affectionate nuzzle. “And you did it very well.”
Minuette stared at the ball of the light several more seconds before allowing it to disperse. The moment she did, a pressure that had been building up in her head was released, and she only then realized just how bad her headache had gotten. She wouldn’t be able to do that again for a little while.
Nevertheless, victory was hers! A delighted squeal peeled past her lips as she turned and hurled herself against her father in a bone-crushing hug. “I did it! I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it! EEEE!”
“Yes, you did,” Sunspot agreed in a strangled gasp. “But- ack! I can’t breathe! Oh my!”
Minuette released him, blushing sheepishly. “Oops! Sorry,” she apologized.
Sunspot shook his head with an amused chuckle. “No, no don’t be. You did good,” he said before reaching out and pulling Minuette into another, far gentler embrace. She returned it gladly, burying her face into his chest fur and smiling.
“Thanks for the help, dad…”
“You’re welcome, kiddo… although it doesn’t look like you really needed much help. You pretty much had it-”
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Just take the compliment.”
Sunspot rolled his eyes and gave his daughter a little squeeze. “Okay… if you insist.”
The two remained like that for a little while longer, enveloped in each other’s hooves and basking in Minuette’s victory. However small it was, it was still a good one.
Unbeknownst to either of them, the presence in the mirror watched on. It smiled at the two of them, in plain sight of them both if either had bothered to look. Then, without a word, it turned and stepped out of sight, vanishing beyond the frame.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
770 users online
1,322,554 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
aaah you tease! :D
10276867
Ohhh, but you all know you love it.~ ;)
The bug almost gave himself away there.
Okay Mini-Mini is really cute.
How many stories will be in this series?
Daww
10276984
I have no idea.
Just found this story and started reading it. This certainly has been a fun read so far, looking forward to more!
Minuette's "light-bulb pop" oopsie got me thinking: what would happen if there was a pony who's talent was to always fail but fail in such a way that she (and those around her) always learned and took to heart an important and valuable lesson each time? Like she never really succeeds per-se, but every failure is never futile and meaningless and always laid the groundwork for something new?
10277072
An interesting concept, for sure, but I don't see myself doing anything with it.
Does this count as the deuteragonists meeting?
Nice chapter.
10277072
I honestly love the idea of failing so hard that you somehow do it correctly. Like if you wanted to throw a ball to your friend, but you dropped it, and it somehow bounced all the way over to your friend anyway.
10277076
It was just a silly idle thought. I would not want to distract from the story of Filly Minuette and the mirror changebug
10277095
I actually had something more subtle in mind, inspired by one of my university professors who admonishes us " 'Failure' is not a dirty word. Take the lessons of failure to heart and look for new opportunities in what it teaches you. Learning to fail is is just as important, if not more so, than succeeding". The idea is that she can (and does) learn from every single one of her failures and that none of her failures are ever futile.
Interesting... Possibly only visible while they have some source of love energy in order to maintain their appearance? Or they can only be seen by those with ‘Pue Hearts’ or something, and the older one is, the less pure their heart is likely to be?
10277415
The implication so far is that only foals can see them, and not really anything beyond that. That colt from chapter one saw just fine, and so have others, so I don’t think it’s anything like needing love (although that is a neat idea; kind of like how a circuit needs a power source to stay energized).
He can be heard! 🎉
It's almost like he doesn't know how to transform, or perhaps hiding in plain sight simply turns out to be not-so-useful when you can be seen by only one pony...
Keep going! ;)
Indeed.
Anyways, it seems as though we've had our first if brief interaction! Yay!
10277095
I do believe it's called "task failed successfully".
10277481
Ah, but you didn’t look at that quote carefully enough. It said that the Changeling was in plain sight of both of them, if they had bothered to look, which means that there’s some other variable for being able to see them.
i am really liking this story.
Wonderful chapter
“Botched cantrip the wonderfultastic!” that is the best nickname every actually
I really liked this chapter
YES! YES! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!
10296867
Yes! Absolutely! I understand the feeling of disrespect it gives to the teacher, but yes!
So... Is it wise buying cursed items in a world full of magic?
Then again... I saw a neat amulet that other day! I bet it would help Minuette to become great and powerful in no time! And the she could show all those who laughed!! Wuhhahahah.
Huh. Her concentration seems to have been a bit... buggy.
11002205
Huhh, where is this mirror cursed? One colt was crying loudly about it, but if you look at it, there is NOTHING there. What are you on? Drugs?