Aqua rolled a ball from one hoof to the other on the wooden floor of the common room."Well, I'm bored. I know we've definitely talked about it at some point before, but can you tell me more about the cutie marks?"
Why does she sound uncertain? Cotton put down her book. "Well, uh, they're basically to symbolize what a pony both is good at and loves in life. Like if you discovered you really liked cooking, you might get a cutie mark of a pan with food on it."
"That's-... I-... Wouldn't that feel... Eh... Nevermind. Does a mark show exactly what you like, or is it more of a general give-or-take of what you're good at?"
More uncertainty... Has nopony ever even talked to her about it? ... The way she's acting, somepony might have told her off. Cotton frowned at the filly. Despite losing her eyes, it's probably better here than wherever she was...
"Cotton? You good?"
"Oh! Sorry. Lost in thought." The pegasus rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry, what was your question again?"
Aqua snorted. "Does one of the marks show exactly what you're good at, or a more general symbol of it?"
"Mn. The second. It's just vague enough to keep you on track through life, but it doesn't feel like it defines you... It's... hard to describe. When you follow your mark, it just feels right. Satisfying, I suppose. Soon, when you get your own, you'll fully understand."
"I hope..."
Cotton leaned in to hug the downtrodden filly. "It's not a hope, it's a will. Since the beginning of The Princess' rule, ponies have been getting their cutie mark consistently earlier. You still have another few years." Patting Aqua's head with a wing, she continued, "There's no need to worry; you've got a lot of time."
"Ponies started getting their mark earlier?" Quietly, the filly continued to herself, "Prolly because of the peace?"
"Mhm. The Princess really has made the Equestria a better place in every way."
"Actually, speaking of her, what's her mark? She's prolly got a unique one what with her basically being the sun avatar here and all..."
Sun avatar? It does fit... "The Princess's is just the sun itself. I don't think I've seen any other cutie marks close to hers."
"Hm. Makes sense. What about you, Solid? You seen any like hers?"
Solid twitched out of his statue-eske impression. "Huh? Oh. Aside from The Princess, only one comes to mind. A high-ranking solar knight."
"Ooh. I love that name. Are solar knights different from the guard?"
"Yes, ma'am. They're knighted by The Princess herself. They mainly act as her close guards and are leaders to the actual guard.
"Well, the leadership roles make sense but, from what I've heard of her, does she even need bodyguards?"
"To be honest, ma'am, no. The Princess's magical ability far surpasses any unicorn I've met. I've seen her lift her throne with ease where it usually would take at least five unicorns to do so."
Aqua's eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Okay, she does sound pretty powerful..." Aqua's mouth split into a grin. "Though I may beat her in telekinesis alone come time. I'm getting pretty good at it. I would show you, but I'm not allowed to use magic till tomorrow..."
Solid chuckled. "You'll be fine, ma'am. I've seen cases much worse than yours."
"Thanks, Solid. Oh, yeah. What about that solar knight's mark?"
"Her mark is of a sun with a beam of light coming out. I'm aware you learned the warming spell. Her speciality is making things extremely hot. She's stronger during the day."
"Huh... Well, that's not dangerous at all... It doesn't take a genius to figure out how she'd be good for a fighting position..."
Cotton spoke up, "There's a governmental agency for that kind of thing... Right, Solid?"
"Correct, ma'am. They're called the E.C.M.A. Equestrian Cutie Mark Agency. They register dangerous, beneficial, and unique cutie marks. Mainly for protection toward the pony registered."
The filly interjected. "Ah. The whole situation where like if someone has a mark of like a skull or whatever, and others are freaked out by it?"
Solid nodded only to get no response. Cotton could see him mentally berate himself as she stifled a giggle.
"Sorry, ma'am. You're correct."
"Huh? What happened? What, did he nod or something?" Aqua giggled lightly.
"I did. Sorry, ma'am. But you are correct in your assumption of cutie marks."
"I gotcha... Makes sense..." Aqua looked straight ahead for a few seconds. "What's your guys' and Sunny's?"
Solid hummed questioningly.
"Y'know, the butt mark. What's yours? I can't exactly see it myself, so I'll just ask." Aqua said, pointing at her eyes. "Also, I probably should've asked this first, is it rude to ask about that?"
"No, ma'am. Most are okay with it. Who wouldn't want to talk about their greatest interest in life?"
"Ah, so don't ask the ones who haven't got it, right?"
Cotton spoke up and put her book down, "It's a good idea to not ask any growing filly or colt about it..."
"Well, that's absolutely not going to cause problems in the future... I can't exactly see if they have one to ask about." A sigh. "Yay, me... Anyway, your marks?"
Cotton responded first. "My cutie mark is of a feather duster. I'm very good at cleaning things up. I work here because I like seeing the cleanliness actually help the foals. And ease the stress for the others." Cotton looked to Solid, beckoning him to speak her a hoof.
Solid nodded. "My cutie mark is of a tower shield protecting a pony. It's not terribly interesting, but I'm happy."
"Sick. Well, I see why both of you help me so much... Ah! That's why you disappear so much, Cotton?"
Cotton hummed agreement. "Yup. Oh, I remembered you asked; Sunny's mark is of a hearth, with warmth radiating out."
"Also fits... I don't know why, but she's like a living campfire..." Aqua trailed off and stared into space.
Cotton leaned over to Solid and whispered, "What do you think she's thinking about?"
"I'm not su-" Solid started before being cut off by a high-pitched voice.
"I heard that!"
Solid whispered, quieter. "I can never tell what she's thinking." Cotton nodded.
"I swear, everyone here is just bad at whispering. Every time, I can hear it all."
Cotton and Solid looked at each before Cotton nodded as she deadpanned at the filly, "Aqua, you're probably the only pony in Equestrian that could hear that."
Said filly crossed her hooves before looking away dramatically and then looking back. "Nuh-uh. You're all just bad at whispering." A snort.
The two adults looked at each other and sighed.
hmmm her hearing going to end up like Daredevils? With magic involved she might be able to do something like that. Or a extremely light telekinetic push in all directions every 5 seconds to get an idea of the object around her. When she gets mad it'd be like that scene in adventure stories where the group is in the tunnel and the large beast is breathing in and out somewhere down the way.
As someone with bat like hearing I can say that I’ve rarely heard people whispering about me behind my back, but I’ve had a number of situations where I’ve heard someone tell someone near by something and then come over to tell me the same. The repetition is weirdly something that can be either amusing or grating.
With hearing like that aqua's going to hate pinkie' s party cannon. I wonder if pinkie will throw her a surprise party without knowing about her blindness?
Thank you for the chapter!
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While I won't discount the Daredevil idea, the telekinetic push idea wouldn't work. Telekinesis is merely an exertion of will. You can move things with it, but it gives no haptic feedback. So while it's likely that an exceedingly skilled user would have that sort of unconscious 'push' on things around them, it wouldn't be very helpful. Unless, enraged, of course. With enough strength, a punch can kill.
But there might be a way around it.
I very much like both the ideas I was thinking of when conceiving the story, as well as what commentators have put forth.
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I ain't exactly got perfect hearin, but in my little experience, those events are mostly amusing.
Stay clear of any loud noises, friend.
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I can imagine how horrible that would go down. In the future, if Aqua's abilities get enhanced, I can see either Pinkie getting really hurt, or Aqua getting really hurt, depending on the author. Depending on if they give pinkie her signature reality-breaking powers.
Personally, I'm not much of a fan of how people write Pinkie's powers. Especially when they're at the forefront of her personality in stories. Like always, I get hung up on making characters actual people with things they like, dislike, habits they have, and other things about people. So to see someone write a character as simply their power, feels bland. In my subjective opinion, I think it's better to have her powers be more subtle. Where she can do things others can't, but only barely. Mix that with the idea that Pinkie has always had said abilities, so she wouldn't or would barely notice them at all. Only other people like a character with neurosis, say Twilight, for example, would make a big deal out of it.
Don't you think you've seen someone do weird things? Not because of drugs or what-have-you, but something wasn't right. Maybe they end up reaching a bit farther than their arm would allow. Maybe they can simply jump higher than average. Maybe you can see their thoughts change pace. Maybe...
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Loud noises are my kryptonite. I wear headphones when I go to the movies.
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Oooh... My condolences. With that level of hearing, I can't imagine ever going to a concert for fear of going deaf.
Ah, hearing... according to my mother, I had oversensitive hearing when I was still a tiny little bastard. I honestly can't tell you if my hearing is better than normal or somehow different because she thought it best for me to grow up without any devices or some such. Said I only would have been bullied. Good call, really. The fact that I didn’t even know until she straight-up said it during a visit to a psychiatrist confirms that it was a good choice. Some might disagree with that thought, I suppose. I guess I still live with it to a small degree since I've always been a bit more careful with my hearing. I always have my volumes set a little lower than the Average Joe, hate going to movie theaters, actively avoid loud noises of all kinds, and often wear protection and cover my ears when others don't. I've also developed a sixth sense for when my name is said. Half the time I don't even hear it and it still registers.
Hearing is always weird for me to talk about in all honesty. I do my best to preserve mine and in specific ways my hearing is excellent, but... it may be an effect of the ADD/Aspergers that I was diagnosed with, but I often have a hard time listening. Incredibly ironic considering that the few people that I interact with always says that I'm a good listener. Background noise tends to muddle voices a lot and makes it really difficult to properly pay attention because I can't tell what's being said. I have to constantly ask if I heard things correctly. Sometimes I can't even tell what language is being spoken.
I don't even know if that's a normal thing. Hearing is a rare topic and I've never thought to ask before.