A/N: Oh, yes Applejack, Rainbow, and Lucky moved out of the farm house, but Applejack still works on the farm, and Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom live there, but Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee got married and Miss Cheerilee lives with Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom now.
Chapter 23: Lucky's Cutie Mark
~3 years later~
"Mama Applejack, Rainbow-mama, I'm going now." They looked at her and smiled, "Ok Lucky, have a good day at school and work.", they said. Lucky smiled and said, "Will do. I have a great feeling about today. I just know something good's going to happen." Lucky then left with that having been said. Applejack shook her head and Rainbow just chuckled. "I wish she'd have said what she thought would happen. Oh well, she's gone now. My, three years later and she's gotten much better about things and she's starting ta work on her own more at bein' the Princess. I'm mighty proud of that filly. From bein' shy as hay ta bein' who she is now."
Rainbow nodded. "We know the saying 'they grow up too fast' definitely fits the picture here. I can't believe she's eight years old. She also got taller, she's now the same height as the Crusaders who have also grown a bit, although they finally have their cutie marks. Scootaloo's is a boombox to recognize her dancing skills, Apple Bloom... well, it took long enough, but hers is 3 zap apples, which is very unique in and of itself, then Sweetie Belle's is 3 quarter notes. Lucky, well hers might just be one of them fire reading pits with the fire ignited, she's an excellent fire reader. Very accurate. She's also the luckiest filly alive too, so the pit itself might have four leaf clovers on it, the wooden part that is."
Applejack nodded, "Like, four leaf clovers spaced out probably a foot apart on the wood." Rainbow nodded, "That's exactly what I pictured, I just couldn't get the right words for the description, thank you AJ." Applejack chuckled. "No problem. Hey, now that it's been three years, think we should make 'us' official? That filly's been our filly fer three years and all three of us have gotten closer as a family, 'specially now that we're in our own place in town 'n all. I think it's 'bout time we become official now Rainbow. What do ya say?"
Rainbow thought about that. "Hmm... perhaps we should. I also think we have had enough time to think over it and enough time to make it happen." Applejack then gets a pretty amusing idea. "Hey, maybe we should have Lucky have the honor of makin' us official." Rainbow just grinned, then thought about it then said, "Hey, what if we wanted to surprise her though? We couldn't do that if she's the one to make it happen." Applejack contemplated that as well, "You're right. Shoot, that woulda been pretty amusin' too." Rainbow agreed with that.
"Wanna get together with our friends? Well, the ones who are left in Ponyville. Still can't believe Rarity and Fluttershy are gone ta Canterlot. Then again, even though it's only three years, a lot can happen in that time. Rarity's dream came true on becomin' Celestia's designer, well Luna's too now, and Fluttershy took Lucky's advice from three years ago and is now goin' ta college in Canterlot fer Veterinary and Groomin'. She will open up a shop there in Canterlot suited fer veterinary and groomin'. Thankfully she was able ta bring her woodland friends with her too. Pinkie's moved in with Twilight and still is workin' at the cafe/bakery the Cakes run. "Twilight actually has opened up the library fer ponies ta browse through the books and now are able ta check 'em out. She finally got the equipment. Ink stamps fer tellin' when the book has ta be returned, record sheets fer who has what book, the whole nine yards. Unbelievable."
Rainbow nodded, "I'm still the overseer for the weather team and you're still working on your family's farm." Applejack nodded. "Now, we gonna get everypony together like we wanted?" Applejack smiled, "Yeah, we should. Let's go." So they go to Twilight and Pinkie's tree home. "Hey, anypony here?", Rainbow asked while knocking. The door opened after about a minute and Pinkie appeared. "Hey guys, come in. Twilight's making breakfast for me and her. Spike is still sleeping though." Rainbow and Applejack went in and followed Pinkie to the kitchen. "Hi you two.", Twilight said. They both said hi back. It's become routine now that when Lucky goes to school the two go to Twilight and Pinkie's.
Then when Lucky gets home at 7 or 7:30 depending, because after school she goes straight to the Town Hall, AJ and Rainbow are always home with supper made and ready to eat with their Princess/daughter. "We wanted to get the 6 or 7 if Spike wants to hang with us, together again like good old times.", Rainbow said. Twilight smiled a big smile, "That sounds like a great idea. After breakfast we'll contact the two in Canterlot." The three ponies nodded. They did just that and the two other ponies were on their way. It's been a year since all of them have been together like they used to be. Within 2 hours the 7 of them were together again and doing what they used to back before Lucky came into their lives. Fool around and be carefree. Pinkie doesn't do as many parties anymore for no reason, actually, she made her own service as a party thrower for when there's birthdays and special occasions.
"I've missed you guys so much. I can't believe how long it's been. I was actually off from school, it being exam time and I didn't have any today, so I fortunately was free. Rarity could come whenever she wanted, she just had to let the Princesses know ahead of time. This time though was last minute, but thankfully the Princesses were kind enough to let her come today.", Fluttershy said. "Yes, it is nice that they let her. I'm sorry this was last minute. It kinda was on impulse.", Applejack said. "It's fine. It happens sometimes to anypony.", Rarity said.
"Thanks for understandin'. Hey, want to see your old Boutique?", Applejack asked. "Sure, I wonder who lives there now? I haven't seen it in a year, sure I've visited Ponyville, but I actually didn't think of visiting my old place." All of them then walk to what used to be the Carousel Boutique. Now it just looks like a home. "Well, I should have guessed this would have happened.", Rarity said. They all debate whether or not they should go up to the door and ask to see the inside. They all decided against it. They just went to Sugar Cube Corner.
"So, when's Lucky's last day of school for the summer?", Fluttershy asked. "It's this Friday. She can't wait. She said she'd actually have more time ta spend with Rainbow and I, and her friends as well when she gets out of work bein' the Princess. You remember she goes in at 6 in the mornin' right? Well, now she usually gets out at 3. She gets her papers done with little help, unless it's from foreign countries." Rarity looked surprised. "It does seem she's getting better then. Good for her. I'm proud of my little niece."
Rarity and the others have gotten used to Lucky calling them 'Aunt', so now they go along with it and call her their niece. Took them a month or so after Lucky called them Aunt when she was 5, but they went along with it and Lucky was happy they called her their niece. By now everypony's used to it and don't even think anything of it. Lucky also loves visiting Bonbon and Lyra ever since she first met them. They've become her best friends even though they're her parents' and Aunts' ages, along with the crusaders and Derpy having become her best friends too.
Also by now Lucky knows every pony in Ponyville. She's also used to crowds of ponies and is also not shy anymore. Although she still doesn't trust other ponies easily. The ponies decide to visit Bonbon and Lyra. Twilight knocked on their door and Bonbon answered. "Hey guys. What brings you here?" Twilight said, "We just thought we'd pay you a visit. Lucky's in school right now so we thought we'd go around town and hang out until she gets out. We want to walk her to the Town Hall and talk to her about her day at school."
"Oh, well, come in." They do and Lyra is in the living room with Derpy. "Hey Derpy. What are you doing here? Just visiting as well?", Rainbow asked the mailmare. "Yeah, I been real busy these days and I finally got time to visit friends. How's Lucky Fire? I haven't seen her in a while yet." Applejack replied, "Lucky's good. Busy bein' the Princess and all and with school too. Also with her training fer magic and flyin'." Derpy looked amazed that a filly of Lucky's age could handle all that. "Wow. That's a lot. Can she handle it well?"
"Yeah, we don't know how, but she handles it very well.", Pinkie said. "Good. She's gonna be a great pony when she's our age. Especially as a Princess. I've heard of her helping everypony she gets asked for help from. They all say really good things about her." The other ponies smiled, doubly proud of Lucky now.
~with Lucky~
Now it's almost lunch time, in about an hour, Lucky can't wait. She's getting a bit hungry. Right now the subject they're doing now is music. There is singing involved today. They all sing their favorite songs. Lucky went last, she asked if she could. When she does get to sing, it's 11:45 or a bit after. Lucky grinned when Miss Cheerilee told her the time after she asked. Lucky sings one of her favorite songs that Twilight actually had introduced her to, Dust In the Wind. She loved how it sounded, it sounded really pretty.
After Lucky sings the song, the class and Miss Cheerilee loved it. "That was really pretty Lucky, I know that song and I never heard it sung more beautifully. You did an excellent job. You really have a talent for melody and harmony. I gotta wonder, will your cutie mark have something to do with music as well as Sweetie Belle?" Lucky looked at Sweetie Belle, another filly who did great at her song. "I dunno. I guess we're gonna have to see." Miss Cheerilee nodded. So, at lunch time Lucky sits with the crusaders.
"So, I'm thinking at recess of doing some fire reading, think you guys can keep our classmates away from my travel size fire pit and I as I meditate?" They grinned and Scooter said, "Of course. Do what you gotta do and we'll keep distracting ponies away from you." Lucky thanked them so then when recess came after another subject after lunch, Lucky took her travel size fire pit from her saddlebags and set it up and asked Miss Cheerilee to help her light it. Cheerilee wasn't too thrilled about that, but at least she's doing it outside and away from any flammable things.
(I got the travel size fire pit idea from Hino Rei in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the live action to the cartoon Sailor Moon. The episode where she finds out she's Sailor Mars, I think what the girls took from her was actually a travel size fire pit, either that or a very small plant. I don't remember which T_T )
Lucky then sat in front of it and meditated, the crusaders surrounding her, protecting her. Lucky focused on the fire, and images coming through it. First she saw Rarity and Fluttershy with Bonbon, Lyra, Derpy, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike. Lucky smiled, her two Aunts from Canterlot are here in Ponyville, now she can't wait until school gets out today. She hasn't seen her Aunt Fluttershy in a while on account of Fluttershy being in college. Next she sees herself, and something happening.
Lucky then got a confused look on her face, then she saw her face in the fire looking ecstatic. Now she's even more confused. Lucky asks in her mind, 'What happens that I look so happy? Is it a good thing?'. The fire then glowed, meaning in it's a positive for something good happening, and she saw everypony at school with her when it happened and it happens at school. Lucky then asked, 'does it happen today?'. Again, the fire glowed. Lucky grinned.
Twist came up to her, but Sweetie stopped her. "It's ok Sweetie, she only wants to see what I'm doing, and she has a question for the fire. Go ahead Twist, ask." Twist looked amazed. "You're good Lucky. Very good. I do have a question. Um... what will my future be like? Will I be able to work at Sugar Cube Corner making candy canes?" Lucky raised an eyebrow. "O-kay then. Well, certainly a different question, but I'll ask the sacred fire." Lucky asked in her mind, then the fire showed her a scene where Twist actually is making candy canes.
It kinda does look like Sugar Cube Corner's kitchen from this perspective. Twist definitely does look much older, then in comes Pinkie, but she looked like she was asking Twist something. Older Twist nodded and brought out some candy canes. To Lucky it kinda looked like Pinkie was running the shop. Then the fire stopped the images. Lucky was confused, the Cakes would have been able to still run the shop when Twist is the age she is in the fire's images. Maybe Pinkie was assistant manager or something, she probably got promoted.
Lucky smiled at Twist and said, "You definitely will work there when you're older. I saw it. Your future is definitely good." Twist hopped up and down a couple times, "Thank you Lucky! You really are psychic." Lucky just shrugged, "I don't let it show though. I don't want my ponies to outcast me from Ponyville. I want to act normal around them." Twist understood. One by one, all Lucky's classmates came up to her, with questions of their own. One by one Lucky helped them out with her fire reading. Some were happy and others looked unsure if that really is their destiny.
(nothing bad, it's just some of them don't get a job they really want. They'll see though that it becomes true and it helps them out, they eventually like their job as they get used to it)
Lucky just told them that's what the fire said. She'd done the fire reading for 3 years, she knew not to doubt the fire. They shrugged it off though. Then when recess was over, Lucky got up, extinguished the fire, and thought of letting the mini fire pit cool off before putting it back in her saddlebags. She sighed, stretched, then her flank glowed. Everypony watched her, Lucky looked at her own flank, her classmates and teacher get to see her get her cutie mark. When the glowing stopped, a mini fire pit like the one she has appeared on her flank, the fire was lit and it was white fire, with a design of four leaf clovers a foot apart from each other on the wooden part.
Lucky was astounded. The fire was right. "Oh... my... GOSH! My fire was right, something good did happen today, and even before I came to school I knew something good was gonna happen today, and this is it! Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" The others were impressed. "That is one awesome cutie mark Lucky.", Scooter said. Lucky was speechless, she couldn't say a word after her ohmygosh mantra. Miss Cheerilee loved her cutie mark too. "Well, your cutie mark seems to fit you Lucky. Four leaf clovers designing the wood and the white fire, which your real fire in your pit seems to be.
"You're a lucky filly and you are gifted at reading fire, so that's what your name stands for, of course no pony else can do what you can. Actually, it's lucky we have history for our last class and now that we're on the subject of fire readers, psychics in general, there is only one in the history of Equestria. She was Japonies. Come, follow me back to the class room and get out your history books."
They do as they're told. When Miss Cheerilee gets to the chapter she wanted, she instructs the class to turn to page 106, they do. Then Miss Cheerilee starts teaching. "Class, this one particular pony way back in time was Japonies. Her name was Fire Reader. Her name fit her occupation. She was a fire reader, just like Lucky Fire. Fire Reader was an Earth pony. When she was 10 years old, she was out camping with her family. At their camp fire, Reader looked into the fire deeply, she had an interest in it for some odd reason, so her family thought.
"When she actually was focusing hard on it, slowly but surely an image came to her, growing ever so clearer as she stared at it. It was her family in the future, they actually would become the first rulers of Japone. At the time she was born up until that time she was camping with her family, there was no ruler for her country. Her father actually stepped up to the challenge of ruling her country. That didn't happen for another 6 months, but it still came true, though at the moment when she first saw it in the fire, her family were doubtful, saying it was all fake stuff. They got quite the surprise though when it actually came true.
"From then on they never doubted her. Reader was a spirited pony. She loved adventure and she loved to go places. She loved exploring and she was brave. Time went by and she found out more and more that she was psychic. She could see visions as well as feel others' feelings. She didn't actually feel them herself, they didn't become her feelings, but she knew how they felt at the moment, and if they felt angry or sad, she was able to make them happy again. By the time she was 30 though, she settled down, built a shrine, and had a room built specially for her fire reading and meditation.
"A lot of other ponies came to her for advice or help. She made charms that worked although they were only for good causes, like for example, if a family was classified as poor, they could get a charm and they'd be able to get a little more money so they could get what they needed. Reader was an excellent psychic and shrine keeper. She was adored by everypony." Miss Cheerilee then looked at the clock, it was 2:20. Ten more minutes. "Well, I think that wraps it up for your History lesson. No homework today my little ponies.
"You all did well today and there really wasn't much else to learn. We just went over everything that we did throughout the school year and even though we learned something new in History, I don't think it was really homework worthy." The class cheered. Then in 4 minutes was the end of the day, and the bell rang. Lucky got all of her things, including her mini fire pit and went off to work. She bumped into Lyra as she went out the gate from the playground. "Oof, I'm sorry.", then she looked up. "Oh, hi everypony. Guess what?"
"What?", they all said. Lucky showed them her flank. Their jaws all dropped. "You got your cutie mark! When?", Pinkie said. "During recess when I was doing fire reading." Rainbow then said, "And I was totally right. I knew your cutie mark would be that. I figured that since you are an excellent fire reader, you might get what you have as a cutie mark." Lucky grinned. "Nice. I'm so happy, oh, and I learned about the only other psychic in history in school today. She lived in Japone way long ago." So as they walked to the Town Hall, Lucky gave them a lesson in History that she just learned just a few minutes ago.
When she finished, they were all standing outside the Town Hall. They were interested in that lesson. "Wow, that is awesome. I actually think you are a reincarnation, because you like going new places and you're definitely spirited and you explore things like her.", Twilight said. Lucky nodded. This actually confirmed it. She was exactly like Fire Reader. Though as Lucky thought more, she was starting to wonder if Fire Reader may have had a connection with her cousin as well, Fire Dancer.
Lucky bid everypony good bye and went into the building. She was greeted by the workers there and she greeted them back, although she was still deep in thought. They all knew that look. They knew to let her think until she's ready to do her work. The judge actually interrupted her once, and Lucky just about bit her head off, not literally though, of course. Figure of speech saying. Then when Lucky realized what happened, she couldn't apologize enough. So now they all let her think and they know when she's ready be approached.
Lucky thought, 'Fire Dancer and Fire Reader. They've got to be related somehow, or maybe it's just mere coincidence. Fire Dancer's mother, my Aunt, is also Japonies... that can't be coincidence, could it? Ugh, I want to find out more. Maybe if I can get a trip to Japone, maybe they have records there I can look through and confirm if they are related or not. I hope someday I can actually do that. I'm really curious.' Lucky sighed. "Mayor, what do I have today?", she asked over the intercom.
The mayor replied, "You actually have your first paperwork relating to another country, it's in the Middle East. It is in our language though thankfully, so you don't have to ask for an interpreter. The handwriting is neat too, and the grammar isn't all bad, I think you might be able to figure it out on your own, then you also have paperwork from Las Pegasus. There's also a half a folder of paperwork from Baltimare. That's all you have for today. Pretty simple work if you ask me." Lucky grinned, it did sound simple enough.
"Bring it in. I wanna get started before it becomes even more behind." The mayor came in 3 minutes later and set the folders on Lucky's desk. The foreign one was two folders worth, the Las Pegasus one was only one and Lucky already knew the Baltimare one. Easy work compared to other times. Though when she was 5, she only got two folders at the least and only 4 at the most. A lot of papers, so a lot of time, especially if one cannot read yet and needed a bunch of help. Now she's older and can read extremely well, and can figure out situations a bit better, it takes her less time now.
Though when she's even more older, she'll get a taste of what Celestia and Luna go through every day. Not now though, she's still too young to get massive amounts of paperwork yet. Lucky decided to get started on the foreign one. It was actually 3:15 when she talked to the mayor over the intercom and 3:25 when she started the paperwork. If everything goes smoothly, she can be out of there by 7:00, 7:30 the latest, depending on what is in these foreign folders. She looked through them and found some things that were simple to solve, and in the other folder some laws that the leader of the one part of the country wanted an opinion on from some pony other than his or her subjects.
A couple laws Lucky didn't think were really good, but the rest seemed fair enough, though she wanted a second opinion. She asked her advisor for an opinion. The mayor agreed with her. Lucky smiled, thanked her, and then started writing. She was done around 4:30 with that paperwork. "Phew, two down, two to go. Well, technically one and a half to go." She started on the Las Pegasus one next. All laws, well, in total there were 5 laws thought up, a little less than the foreign one. That one had 7.
Then the rest of the Las Pegasus one were problems that some other ponies had that the King and Queen couldn't really solve themselves. They gave their solutions, but they, as well as Lucky when it came to the foreign laws, wanted a second opinion. Lucky did the laws first, some she didn't agree with and some she did. Then the problems of other ponies. She found most of the solutions the King and Queen though of were very good, and thought would help the ponies. Very few she found didn't seem like they would help... much.
She got to writing again and when she got done with that, it was 5:42. Ouch. Well, the foreign one was simple and easier to find out solutions and give opinions. This one was a bit harder. Finally she was able to get to the one from Baltimare. It was mostly pony problems. Her grandma and grandpa being the King and Queen there,and also having been King and Queen a really long time, she knew they wouldn't send anything to her unless it's something they themselves couldn't really get, this however, wasn't too easy to read, and she could see how they couldn't read these.
It wasn't because they couldn't figure out solutions, it's because the spelling and grammar wasn't that great. The writing wasn't too bad, some words you couldn't read well, but they were easy to decipher at least. Her being young however, and three years ago having the same problem, they thought she might be able to read it, they were right, although for some of the words, she really had to focus on the words. Her grandparents wrote a letter saying these problems are all from ponies with developmental disabilities, much like Derpy. In the state Lucky lives in, there aren't many if at all other than Derpy, if there aren't many ponies with developmental problems, they wouldn't so bad they couldn't live on their own and have families. Also if they had a disability, you couldn't tell at all.
Lucky picked up on that instantly and was able to be patient with Derpy. Lucky was able to write solutions for their problems. Lucky was good at thinking up solutions for problems, she had to ever since she was young. It seemed her parents knew when she got older, she would find out she was actually a Princess and would want to rule a town or city or whatever. They wouldn't have expected her to start being a Princess as young as she started though.
The last couple papers were all good comments on her grandparents' ruling. Lucky shook her head, grandma must have put these in without noticing. Oh well, Lucky just put them back. She looked at the clock, she can actually tell time now... well... sort of. Right now though she knows it's almost 7, that's all she knows. She'll be out of this building at 7. She gets the folders stacked up after putting the last bit of papers in their folder and closed it and put it in the 'done' bin. She looked around, making sure her office was nice and neat again.
She smiled, it was and then she grabbed her saddlebags and went out the door, locking her office as she left. She bid everypony who worked the night shift, which was the janitors, good bye and good night and went home for supper. She was happy about today for many things. She got home to her mamas and dropped her bags on the living room floor then stretched her body, then wings. "Whoo, today was eventful. I'm ready to eat then go to bed." Applejack chuckled. "So, I take it you had a bunch of paperwork?" Lucky shook her head, "Not really. Three and a half folders worth. It was easy really."
"Oh? That's good. Which of the cities did you have to do paperwork for today?", Rainbow asked. "Baltimare, Las Pegasus, and I had my first from a foreign country." Both of her mamas were impressed. "You were able to do that that easily?" Lucky half lifted one shoulder, "Well, it was really easy actually. It was in our language and the grammar was really good, so it was easy to read." Applejack said, "Well good. Lets hope that all foreign countries do what that one did."
Lucky nodded. Rainbow brought the food to the table and they all got their portions and started eating. After supper Lucky decided to take a bath before going to bed. She wanted to talk to her parents more so they came in the room too. "Did you have fun talking to everypony today?" They nodded, "Surprised me that Derpy was there though. The times we've been there before now she was never there, but today she was. Surprised as we were, we still were happy to see her.", Rainbow said. Lucky smiled, she too was happy to see her friend. Lucky then started washing up while still talking, then she got out when she was finished and they all went to bed. Lucky had her own bed and her own room now. She was grateful for her bed as she fell right to sleep.
A/N: Ok, so next chapter's a time skip again, but Lucky's still 8, it skipped only to July, so school's done, but she's in Rainbow's and Fluttershy's flight camp now, she had this all planned out 3 years ago, and the ponies at the Town Hall all knew she was going to flight camp when she was 8. So, with that all said, on to the next chapter ^^