Title: OC - Meridian Author: Rokade Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/Ei488EP1 First Edit: Sunday 3rd of July 2016 05:35:46 AM CDT Last Edit: Last edit on: Thursday 3rd of November 2016 07:57:27 AM CDT OC - Meridian =======================     The scratch of quill on parchment and the tick of a great grandfather clock are all that keep the workshop from being dead silent. Occasionally, the young earth pony takes his quill off his work and dips it into his ink, which makes the elderly unicorn look up from his own task. The young one shakes his head to get his green mane out of his grey eyes. A few hairs are about to fall on the map beneath them, before being caught by purple magic. "Careful, boy, you'll ruin your work with that mane of yours." The colt sighs, he's heard it all before, but there is no way he's parting with his wavy mane or tail, no matter how often his parents or his master tell him to.   The young pony takes his quill off the map before him to admire his work. Caught up in silent self-praise, he forgets about his quill, which drips some black ink onto the colt, creating a dirty black stain on his ocean coat. "What have I told you about your quill," the unicorn's voice thunders through the workshop. "I'm sorry, mister Maps." The unicorn dismisses the earth pony with a wave of his hoof and proceeds to hold the finished map into the light. The colt trots toward the kitchen sink in the back of the shop. The clear tap water proves sufficient to make most of the hideous blot disappear from his coat.   Meanwhile, the brown unicorn mumbles words of criticism at no one in particular. At times his white bushy eyebrows form a frown, other times a smile creeps its way across his old face. "I will admit, Meridian, you draw a fine map for a colt your age." The earth pony approaches his master with a beaming smile. "But to truly master the art of cartography, you need an artistic touch." The smile disappears and is replaced with a mix of sadness and frustration, Meridian's usual response to criticism. "Don't worry, my boy, we'll make a mapmaker out of you, one way or another." The colt rekindles his smile and proudly holds his head high. "Now, why don't you head home, your mother will be expecting you for dinner soon." The unicorn gets a cheerful "Bye!" from his apprentice, before the colt storms out through the door, nearly running his green-maned head into a cart parked on the street.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The young earth pony is early this morning, as always, but far more cheerful than ever. He tells his master what he dreamed last night. He rushes through the story with an incredible haste, but the unicorn manages to get the essence of it. The colt dreamed he created an amazing map, unlike any before. But that was only the beginning of the story, because when Meridian woke up, he found that at long last, his cutie mark had appeared. So overjoyed that the mark matches his studies, the colt can't stop rambling about it for a good thirty minutes. Truth be told, the unicorn has to admit that it is a great cutie mark for an aspiring cartographer. A nearly blank map marked only by the lines of longitude. After the colt finally calms down, Mr. Maps decides to put the young pony's new mark to the test. "Meridian," he says "today you won't be drawing a map, you will be illustrating one."   "But Mr. Maps, I've never made the illustrations for a map before, what if I mess up?" The colt, quill in hoof and inks and paints of different colours on the table before him, looks pleadingly at his master. "Don't worry, you've got to practice to improve and there is no shame in making mistakes. Now look at some of the examples in the book and get to it." The unicorn then leaves his apprentice to his task and sits down to do his own work. The colt sets aside his doubts and starts this new challenge. After a few minute of intense illustrating, he puts down his quill and lets out a worried "Hmm.." He takes the quill back into his hands and starts making adjustments to his work. After a minute, he once again stops and looks at his master anxiously. "Uhm, Mr. Maps? Could you take a look at this, I think I made a mistake." The brown unicorn trots over to assess the damage. A quick look at the mess, a few words of advice and a pat on the back are all it takes to get the colt to try again, this time with more care.   "Drat! Mr. Maps, I messed up again." Sighing, the unicorn puts down his quill and takes another look at his apprentice's work. "Meridian, I understand you're excited about illustrating, but the way to learn it is to copy examples first, to get a feel for what looks right. Once you know how to do the basics, you can play around with your own designs." The colt shoots his master a look of frustration. "But my cutie mark?!" The unicorn sighs again. "Getting a cutie mark does not make you an expert instantly, it takes a lot of practice to become good, at anything." Tears well up in the young one's eyes. "But I want to be good right now..." The elderly unicorn runs out of patience and stomps his hoof on the ground. "No more complaining, Meridian, get back to work!" The colt shakes his head, unable to speak while holding back his tears. "You won't achieve anything by giving up!" Those last loud words make it impossible for Meridian to hold back his tears. The colt kicks the table and rushes for the door, tears streaming down his face. The unicorn, surprised by his pupil, stands by as the young pony disappears onto the street.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   "Meridian, there you are!" The colt slumped against the wall at the back of the alley, looks up as he hears his name. "Go away..." Unconvinced by Meridian's words, Mr. Maps approaches his pupil. "What's wrong, my boy?" The colt sees the sincere care in his master's eyes and wipes the tears out of his own. "I'll never be a cartographer," he mumbles. "Nonsense," the unicorn says. "You can already make a map, you just have to learn how to make a beautiful one, there's plenty of mapmakers who still struggle with that." A glimmer of hope shines in the colt's eyes. "Really?" The unicorn smiles relievedly. "Really. Don't let mistakes get you down, you can learn the most from them." He extends his hoof and gets a hug from his student. "Let's go back to the workshop and you can practice some more. Aside from a slightly wet muzzle, nothing betrays the colt's distress anymore. He walks proudly beside his master, head held high, a beaming smile on his face. "I bet I can get the whole map right in one go, this time!" The unicorn chuckles softly at his pupil's new-found optimism. "I bet you can, my boy, I bet you can."