Chapter One — Sweet, Sweet Childhood
Cradle of Dreams
Chapter One — Sweet, sweet childhood.
Work is hard. Working when you're new is even harder. Work when you're new, young and have very little experience in magic? No problem!
Or at least that's the logic Mr Waver had to follow in order to get an idea to hire a ten years old filly as a maid!
I mean, my family has been serving Wavers for a long time. But I wasn't supposed to start working until two years later!
It's not like I'm not happy to be one of the youngest ponies ever to start working for the Wavers (second only to my great-grandpa Mountainhoof that got to work as soon as he turned eight), but that still was way too unexpected for me!
Almost as unexpected as for Mr Waver to get doused in wine by me right before an important meeting.
“Ha-ha, oopsie?”
“Rettieeeeeee!”
. . .
“This is the third time this has happened, young lady! Three times. In a row!”
Maybe then you should ask somepony more experienced than me to carry these stupid glasses of wine?..
“I’m sorry Mr Waver, It won’t happen again-”
Of course I wouldn't dare say it out loud.
“I've heard that before!”
His shout almost made me cover my ears, but I’m used to loud voices. Thanks to some of my nearly-deaf old teachers.
Mr Waver took a deep breath and exhaled only a few seconds later.
“Listen. I do understand that it's not your fault that you were dragged into work so soon. If it weren't for your predecessor's bad health you’d still keep attending school…”
Actually it was more like “private lessons” than “school” really…
“But you must acclimatise to your new place as soon as possible for your own good.”
As if it's possible to get used to all that stuff so quickly!
“As an acting maid of the Wavers' house, you have to take responsibility for your actions.”
Oh no, don’t tell me that you’re gonna-
“That's why, as a punishment, you'll have to...”
C'mon, I’m new here!
“...clear the old library-”
Oh? That doesn't sound that bad actually.
“...Alone-”
That’s expected.
“...In two weeks!”
Phew! That’s a lot of time and I’m used to cleaning!
“Using only your magic. Any hoof-working is prohibited!”
No prob- WAIT WHAT?!
. . .
“What?!”
Mom was just as surprised as I was.
“He told me that it will be a good practice for me to improve my telekinetic abilities and stop dropping things on him.”
“I can understand this, but what's with that time limit?!”
“This is to make sure that I won’t slack off.”
“No-no, dear, you moved here not so long ago and haven’t seen an old library yet. It’s big enough to take two weeks of hard work even from me and your dad to clean up! And we've been working here for years!”
That doesn’t sound good.
“And it hasn't been cleaned in ages!”
“Uh oh…”
Thanks mom, that sounds even worse now!
“I will go to Mrs Waver and-”
“Oh, Honey, stop scaring our little bun with those silly worries.”
Dad was too calm for somepony whose daughter might die soon from arcane overflow.
“Mister Waver may be a little harsh, but he knows what he does. Let Rettie explore her limits. She’s much stronger than you may think of her.”
“You… may be right. I think I’m worrying a bit too much.”
Dad ruffled my hair with his hoof and put a cup of tea with some sweets in front of me. All of today's stress and anxiety disappeared in the blink of an eye. To calm both me and Mom in such a period of time? Very impressive!
He gently smiled at me (or to my thoughts?).
“Do your best in those two weeks Sweetie, alright?”
At that moment dad seemed like an unreachable example to follow for me. Yet he had no doubt in me and my abilities.
“Alright!”
Tomorrow I'll show this old stupid library who's the best cleaner over here and will get my best-maid-ever cutiemark! It will be a piece of cake!
. . .
THE HELL?!
I almost shouted it out loud when the library doors swung open.
The library was not just an old, big building as I expected. It was ENORMOUS!
Mom definitely wasn’t joking when said that she and Dad would have to work hard to clean that place in two weeks!
“I will leave the keys here, Miss Rettie.”
As if I wasn't anxious enough, Mr Waver asked a Wavers' senior servant to watch over me!
“On this I bow out. Do your best. Good luck.”
“T-thanks?”
Huh, “Bow out”? Like he won't always be around to watch over me…
“Worry not. I do have other things to handle, so I won’t bother you with my persistence all the time.”
The heck?! S-scary!
“I still do not recommend even thinking about cheating. I will know."
“Y-yes sir!”
On that he actually bowed and flew away.
I tried to take a deep breath to calm down, but the amount of dust in the air made me sneeze for several minutes, exhausting me even before I started cleaning.
“Amazing. I think I’ll have to get some kind of mask at least to be able to enter here...”
. . .
“Nghhhhhhhhh-!”
*creeeeeak*
Two hours later, I finally managed to at least open all the windows in the library.
Two damn hours! Just to open all the windows!
Immediately after that, I ran out of the building and took off my mask so that I could finally breathe again.
“Never… Air tasted… So good… Before… Pheew!”
Even my eyes felt dusty and began to water.
Now, looking at the library from the outside, I can definitely say that inside it seemed much bigger than outside.
“Someone really loved books a lot to put all that stuff in, huh?”
“The founder of the Wavers’ family was indeed an unicorn with a great love for books and scrolls. By the way - It is the smallest of his three libraries of his own.”
I screamed.
“WHEN DID YOU GOT HERE?!”
"I just came here to check on you and to give you this."
Black pegasus handed me a bottle of iced tea. Maybe he ain’t that bad after all?
“Thank-”
The second I tried to take it off his wing he dragged the bottle away.
“No hoofs allowed.”
It took me a second to realise.
“Hey! You must be kidding me! It isn’t part of the cleaning!”
“Mr Waver’s order.”
“It ain’t fair at all! My horn hurts enough already after moving those enormous old windows! And now it turns out that I have to use magic for literally everything during those two weeks?!”
“That’s correct. You can use only your magic as long as you’re in the territory of the library.”
Wait a second!
“Sooo, if I take a step outside I’ll be able to use hoofs?”
“That’s correct.”
A-ha! With a sense of victory I took a step outside the gates that separated the library area. Take that, Mr Waver!
But the pegasus didn't move an inch.
“Uhh, can you come closer, pretty please?”
“Sure.”
He put the bottle on the earth and walked to me.
“Is that right?”
“I meant with a bottle!”
“Oh. You should have clarified this.”
He went back, took the bottle and back at the very same spot, as he stood a few seconds ago.
“Is that right?”
“Yes, thanks!”
But when I tried to take the bottle, he pulled it back again.
“WHY?!”
“Mr Waver’s task was to “Bring Miss Rettie drink to the library area”. That place doesn’t count as an “library area”.”
He must be kidding me.
“Then can you take a step back?”
“Sure.”
He took a step back. One damn step back.
“I meant, that you would be in “library area”?”
“Oh. You should have clarified this.”
He stood right behind library gates.
“Is that right?”
“Yes, thanks!”
Yet again he pulled the bottle back.
“WHY?!?!”
“You’re outside of “Library area”, so I can’t give it to you.”
He’s kidding. He is one hundred percent kidding me! I bet that frick just enjoys bullying little fillies!
I had no choice but to enter the “Library area”, take the bottle with magic, get out and only then take it with my hoofs.
“Thanks?!”
I was still worried that he would snatch the bottle out of my hoofs.
“You are welcome. Enjoy your tea. I will bow out.”
And so he flew away again.
“Well, at least I managed to get some tea.”
I gulped down the fresh tea greedily.
Only to spit it out a second later.
“IT’S BITTER AS HELLLLLL!!!”
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Nice beginning to the story. Just wondering when a certain pegasus makes an appearance.
11618483
Thanks! Her appearance will definitely take some time, probably more than a few chapters > >
But I'll try to make this time fly by so that we can all enjoy her company.