The misadventures of a polymath. (Private)

Celestia’s late day sun found Sharp C. Note sitting at one of Canterlot Royal Library’s many desks,  three magic-borne quills scratching sedulously across three separate scrolls bearing her latest obsession. Industrious Scratching gave way to biological rumbling, and, Sharp realized just how hungry skipping both breakfast and lunch could make a pony. Another rumble prompted a sigh from the young mare.  “I wasn’t going to finish anyways….” she mumbled to herself.

Shifting her focus on quill and scroll alike, Sharp teleported the items into a messenger bag that laid neatly resting against her desk. Wiggling her way into them, she lazily trotted towards the massive library’s front exit, pondering where she could find her much needed meal. On one hoof, she could stop by her parent’s home for a late lunch… on the other, that idea brought with it the chance her parents were there. Said occurrence was not something the mare wanted to suffer through. “Why weren’t you in your bed this morning?” Sharp rolled her eyes, imagining the patronizing tone of Long Bar, her father. She scoffed, thinking of a particular flavorful retort to the aforementioned question. As if she’d ever talk back to them like that. No, avoidance was the best course of action.

Her parents weren’t exactly terribly happy with her, she’d told them, on the last day of that year’s term, of her decision to forsake her parent’s chosen profession in favor of a career as… well… she wasn’t really sure. All she knew is that the Royal Orchestra was not for her. Indeed… Avoidance was the best course of action. Sharp nodded to herself, arriving at the massive library’s front entrance’s equally massive double doors. Focusing on one, she pushed it open with telekinesis and stepped through, closing it behind her.

Another grumble set the mare’s thoughts away from her parents, and towards a more solvable issue. Her hunger. A half dozen potential shops and restaurants flashed through her mind, at least… they all had potential until she came to her next realization: She hadn’t brought any money with her. The mare stopped moving away from the library, her hoof meeting her face as she let out a groan of annoyance. “You idiot!” she chastised herself, once again restarting her trek forwards. “Maybe there’s…” she began, focusing on the messenger bag around her neck with her magic and bringing it to bear in front of her floating out the various objects within and obstructing her vision. “Of course there isn’t… You knew there wasn’t.” she sighed, talking to herself. It was at this moment, that Sharp collided with another pony a surprised ‘eep’ escaping her as she tumbled onto the ground.

Two objects did indeed tumble to the ground, but only one of them was actually Sharp herself, while the stallion she bumped into ended up dropping a large backpack that sounded rather heavy as it clanked against the finely leveled streets of Canterlot. From the backpack, a chest plate that could easily fit Sharp one and a half times over rolled out towards her direction, before the stallion stopped it in place as it quickly turned around with a light snort.

The stallion then looked down and cast a gaze towards Sharp, though the nature of the gaze would be a bit hard to guess as the sun shone from behind the large-framed being before her, hiding his face under a shadow that cast over Sharp as well. All that could be seen at first glance was that the stallion had a long white semi-wavy mane, a horn, and a full body red robe set that seemed like something out of a theater, yet the material was of high durable quality, and a matching fedora with a single white feather. "I was almost done re-strapping that thing to my back! What's your rush about, Miss!?" The somewhat deep voice belonging to the stallion showed that it was as fully grown as it looked, and was somewhat vexed as well as it awaited for a response out of Sharp... Her misadventures were likely looming over her just as the stallion was.

Sharp looked up at the towering stallion with a groan, it took her a moment, but, upon realizing that she had collided with another pony, her eyes were wide in surprise. She quickly returned herself to an up-right position, “Today is just not my day…” She laughed weakly. “Ugh... Sorry, Mister. You alright?” Sharp asked the towering stallion, it took her less than a second to answer her own question, and, with an awkward laugh, she stated as such. “... Right, stupid question.” she said with a small smile.

It was then that the mare’s stomach decided to advocate it’s traitorous opinions once more. Rumble rumble. “And that… would be the reason behind my reckless pace.” The young mare couldn’t help but blush, her snow-white cheeks turning an easily noticeable shade of crimson.

Sharp sighed. “Really not my day.” she reiterated with a mumble, focusing on her scattered school supplies, she teleported them back into her bag all at once, the items disappearing in a white flash. A similar white aura encompassed the bag itself as Sharp levitated it back on.

She was about to do the same for the wall of a stallion’s chestplate… but one look at it and the mare knew there was no way she’d be able to teleport something that large and heavy accurately, at least, not without extreme effort… and Sharp was tired. One tends to be, after spending so long away from home--- intentionally or not, after all.

((Crossroads of life.))

The looming figure remained quiet as he looked to Sharp mumbling and talking to herself after her apology, but her strong rumbling stomach would be quick to change the mood of their meeting as he cocked his head lightly and took off his hat with the hoof he was holding the armor down with, sitting down -though still being significantly larger than her-, and scratching his mane lightly. His features were more noticeable now that Sharp was on her legs and his hat didn't cover his face nearly as much under a shadow. He had a white splotch over his muzzle, while the rest was light brown. He looked somewhat rugged, though a light shine from his chocolate brown eyes stared down with a kindly, if somewhat world-weary gaze. "Sheesh... For a small mare, your stomach rumbles like a bear's. If you're late for dinner with someone, I won't keep you, but you really ought to slow it down... If only to not pass out from not eating for so long...?" He was merely guessing, but it was rather likely to him that Sharp had eaten very little with how desperate she seemed to want to eat and how loud her stomach was. He also thought she looked a bit on the skinny side, but he wasn't about to comment on that.

He did notice that her gaze went over to the armor for a moment, and so he decided to make mention of it. "Oh, and... Don't worry about the armor. This isn't mine of course, but I'm running an errand for someone to get these reforged. A light scuffle against the ground is a non-issue..." And so he sat before Sharp, gathering up the contents of the bag and beginning to strap it upon himself. He didn't really seemed to be in a bad mood, so conversation with the stallion in red, however little, would hardly bother him.

“I’m not small.” The younger mare huffed. “You’re just very large… Okay, maybe I’m a little small. You’re still very large, though.” she continued.  The looming stallion’s gaze had calmed her some, and his general willingness to stay and converse was welcomed by her, after all… avoidance is the best policy.

“No, you’re not really keeping me from anyone, I’m doing a good enough job of that myself.” She joked.

The stallion chuckled lightly, not quite taking his own size into account when he was obviously used to it by now. "I suppose I am... Pardon, didn't mean to cause a stir with that. I was just intrigued and impressed you alone made that much noise!" He then realized that probably sounded more rude than intended. "... I mean that as a compliment, honest."

Once he was done strapping the backpack successfully, her joke had piqued his interest in a way. "Oh...? Er... Is... something wrong...?" He was a curious sort. May as well try and get something out of the mare that wasn't in as much of a hurry as she claimed.

“I’ll add that to my resume, then.” the mare responded to his assurances not without a small hint of sarcasm. She smiled, here she was, idly chatting with a stranger after having unceremoniously crashed into him. Bizarre things happened to everypony, she concluded. That little bit of transcendental realization over with, the mare moved on to his next question.

“Yeah, I’m bit-less.” she said with a sigh. “Turns out rescinding life plans isn’t exactly the best way to please your parents. Go figure.” she continued, her hoof meeting her face for the second time that day. “And here I am, complaining about my life to a total stranger… Sorry, I don’t even know your name and you’ve got me talking about my daddy issues.” the smaller mare said with a small laugh. “My name is Sharp. Sharp C. Note.” she said, offering the stallion the same hoof in greeting.

The stallion smirked lightly, and nervously, worried he might have hit a nerve on Sharp without meaning to, but it soon became apparent she wasn't in a good mood at all from what little he could gather. "Ah... So something is wrong."

He looked to her, and then her hoof in thought, before extending his own slowly, grasping her arm gently as he shook it. "... Pleasure to meet you, Miss Note. Sugary Market's the name... And if trouble is what you have, then let me at least make a proposal. I'm willing to buy you a meal if it'll help you clear your mind a bit. I'd like to know about what happened. See if I can't lend some help... Alright?" Some might consider his generosity to be too good to be true, but to anyone who could peer into his heart, he was just doing what he felt was the right thing to do under a soft smile.

“Mmm… Alright. You’ve got yourself a deal, Sugary Market. Where to?” the mare asked, happy to stave off the inevitable meeting with her parents whenever possible. “Oh. Uhhh. Pleased to meet you too!” she quickly added. “Do you sound as desperate as you feel, Sharp?” she thought to herself. “Ah well… It is what it is.” she concluded, slumping a little.  

“It’s not… trouble exactly, more like a major inconvenience. There are obvious answers, but, no solutions.”

Sugary stood up in full after the introductions with relative ease, clearly not bothered by what looked to be a full backpack of armor, and a constant soft smile. "Well, I haven't actually thought about where yet... I mean, I hear Donut Joe's is a great place for a quick snack, but I think Budin's Bistro might be more of what you need... Actually, I have been meaning to go there. Their subs smelled divine when I passed by!"

He took a few steps in the intended direction he wished to go, but he looked to Sharp to make sure she would follow, as well as share his thoughts on the matter. "... By the way, just don't think yet about whatever answers you seek. Really, you should eat first. Just let it go for now." Maybe not deep words of wisdom, but the least he could do was to try and comfort the troubled polymath.

“Agreeable destination.” Sharp mused with a nod. In reality, the mare didn’t really mind where they went… so long as said destination met two of three criteria. One, it was a direction opposite to that of her parent’s mansion, Two, it had something edible, and three, that the locale was relatively free of any geological anomalies. So far it seemed criterion one and two were accounted for, if the direction of Sugary’s pathing, and his general stance towards the locale was to be any indication. Tell the polymath to not think… and the polymath thought harder, it seemed.

Sharp quickly took a position next to Sugary, following him as they made their way towards Budin’s Bistro and further away from her parents. The mare herself had never heard of the place, but, she reached the conclusion that the only reason a small restaurant could continue to operate in the capital city of Equestria, competing with it’s many similar businesses, was that it offered a unique product, or, a product of particular worth.

The trip to the locale in question would be fairly uneventful since Sugary wouldn't speak much, though some might consider walking along next to a stranger in foreign clothing carrying a big sack to be eventful in itself. The streets of Canterlot weren't overly busy at the hour, but since many were getting done with their jobs by that time, many laborers sought to go eat by that hour too. The fact would become apparent as Budin's Bistro came into view, and it was lively with mostly hungry stallions wanting a good and hearty meal.

Among all the activity, there was organized chaos as orders were made left and right, but one thing that could not be denied was the smell of good food being cooked, which made Sugary hum as he thought the early trip for an early dinner was worth it. He also finally spoke at last. "So? You're alright with this place? Though I don't know who'd wanna pass on that!" He pointed to a small row of three stallions marching their way out of the Bistro... while carrying a large fully filled sub that was as long as the row they made over their shoulders. The locale had served various already sitting in the small tables, and while there was some variety for locals and travelers, subs were clearly their main serving meal.

Sharp herself was pretty comfortable with the silence the two shared, afterall, no speaking meant that she couldn’t say anything stupid. She spent the majority of the trip to the Bistro doing exactly what Sugary had advised her not to do, trying to come up with some way to explain her predicament to the stranger. How much is too much? What if he laughs? I mean, it’s pretty funny… the mare thought, groaning internally. She’d been so busy stressing over said predicament, that she hadn’t even noticed the Bistro coming into view. She did, however, smell it… and that was enough to derail even the polymath’s train of thought. Sharp caught the tail end of Sugary’s question, and improvised.

“H-huh? Yeah! It’s perfect.”  Excellent execution, Sharp, perfectly done. the mare chastised herself, looking around the bistro. … That’s a bit excessive, isn’t it? she asked herself upon noticing the sub-row-stallions. “Hey, doesn’t that seem a bit… excessive, Mr. Market?” the polymath asked, discreetly nodding towards the aforementioned stallions.

Sugary chuckled mildly at Sharp's sudden enthusiastic answer, but thought nothing wrong of it as he looked on. "Hm... Maybe? I guess they could eat it together and all... But I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure they'll be fine. It's us I'm thinking about, the smell is really making me hungry... Now... Do follow me close, we might have to wade in the hard way through the crowd... Unless you'd rather wait out here and tell me what you'd like?" Sharp might be able to survive a trip through a restaurant filled with many a hungry customer. But what does the narrative know about the constitution of a book worm?

“You and me both..” The mare responded, nodding. The narrative would be pleased to know that its question is to be addressed in the next sentence.

“Uhh, go on ahead. I’m not terribly difficult to please… just get me something edible.” Sharp said, looking a little uneasy with the sheer number of ponies in such a close proximity to her being. The narrative should also note, that, our Ms. Note was looking at the sub with a certain hunger, and, that the narrative’s character should probably feed her soon, lest she faint from undernourishment and the general excitement of the situation at hoof.

"Hm... Guess the Bistro looks too rowdy for her... May as well go ahead then." Having made his assessment, Sugary nodded to Sharp and tried to make his way in quickly enough, lest she probably jump one of the patrons for their meal with how increasingly hungry she looked to him.

It was, of course, still difficult even for the large stallion to wade his way through, but he managed. It also helped that a couple that were a bit too rowdy for a meal got a bit too close to him, and hit their heads on the backpack with armor he wore when he was just standing still. That discouraged further rowdiness from those around him as they learned to notice that armor was not something the wanted to hit against no matter how hungry they were while the others groaned in frustration, and making Sugary apologize just for good measure even if he didn't really do anything.

He'd have his turn, and eventually he would come out again to hopefully meet Sharp with two subs filled with varying vegetables and eggs, and a couple cups of lemonade all being held in a static levitation field. He wasn't sure if she would eat it all, but he figured more than necessary was better than too little as the subs were each nearly as long as her body was from chest to flank. "I'm back!"

The polymath looked on from her comparatively less rowdy position outside the bistro. When the couple collided with him, the mare let out a giggle. “Been there, done that.” she told herself, fairly amused.  She made a note, however, of the effect colliding with armor had on ponies, adding ‘throw heavy object’ to her list of spells to practice.

Sharp awaited Sugary patiently, sitting where he’d left her and merely observing the bistro’s customers as they went about ordering and consuming their meals.

"Sweet Celestia, they’re as long as I am..." the polymath thought, staring at both Market and his sandwich wings as they approached her.  “And you’ve brought company.” Sharp joked, gesturing towards the subs.  “Bonus points for initiative for bringing lemonade too, Mr.Market.” the mare continued with a light laugh.  “Where would you like to eat, then?”

The polymath seemed to be relatively at ease, had she forgotten about her troubles? Doubtful. But, at least Sugary was providing a well needed distraction.

Sugary chuckled lightly at Sharp's jest, but the acknowledgement of his efforts was well appreciated as he looked around the street. "Hm... Ah, right over there." He pointed to a section with well cared for free tables in the open for anyone that simply wanted to sit and rest upon, or to eat. "Nice and quiet, right?" Before he urged her to follow him, he offered her one of the lemonades to drink up, having figured she might have been thirsty after the wait.

Eventually, he'd carefully unstrap the backpack and levitate it off of him, sit down, and unwrap the subs to really let their smell out and show their contents well. "Mmm~ Well, Bon Appetit!" He'd take his, and start munching on it with relative ease and delight. Then again, he had the mouth and hunger for it.

The polymath glanced over to Sugary’s appointed location for pony-length sub consumption and nodded. That particular area was as good as any, she supposed. Of course, the polymath was also starving, so, her opinion was probably extremely biased towards whatever got her to her meal the fastest. As an added bonus, said locale was completely and utterly lacking in the geological anomaly department.

“Nice and quiet.” Sharp repeated in agreement, following as urged and taking her lemonade glass into her own white aura of telekinetic magic. She took a small sip and smiled. “It’s good” she remarked as the duo arrived at the fairly well-cared-for and relatively close table of Sugary’s choice.

The mare waited for Sugary to take care of his backpack before she herself sat down, taking her own sub into a telekinetic grasp previously reserved for lemonade glasses. The smell of the subs themselves had the polymath’s mouth watering, a fact she, as a pony brought up in the relative sophistication of one of Canterlot’s socially-elite families, naturally did her best to hide.  

When Sugary did sit down, the mare did the same, and, when Sugary wished her an enjoyable meal, she responded with a similar statement of her own. “Cheers.” she said, taking a bite from her own sub. After chewing her bite down, the polymath spoke again. “I admire your choice of sandwich, Sugary Market. Could use a little bit of oregano, though.”

Sugary wouldn’t know this particular fact, but, the polymath was to the culinary arts as potassium was to water. The two were perfectly fine coexisting, so long as they didn’t come into contact with one another. When they did… well, it more often than not resulted in violent explosions.  

The polymath reserves the right to claim and state her lack of knowledge behind the circumstances of any cooking-related failure.

"Cheers." Sugary kept a light smile on after returning the gesture, finding it a bit odd how Sharp seemed to be acting. He thought that maybe she just didn't have much to really say to him, though the comment about the oregano got him to retort a bit. "Oregano, eh? What's wrong with the flavor yours has?" He wasn't a great cook, but he wasn't bad either. He was honestly curious about her input on that particular ingredient, thinking he might actually learn something. Plus, a bit of chatter on something mundane might put her at ease since she looked a bit stiff to him still.

Sugary’s question prompted a rather simple and straight-forward answer from the mare. “Absolutely nothing, Oregano makes everything better.” She told him once her mouth was once again free of pony-sized sub. Indeed, it seemed that when it came to spices, Sharp was rather partial to Origanum Vulgare. However, with that revelation of preference brought into Celestia’s sleepy mid-day sun, the polymath had essentially exhausted her very limited supply of idle conversation starters…. Unless, of course, Sugary was interested in the day’s current obsession: applied thermodynamics.

Sharp gave serious thought towards showing Sugary the scrolls she had been working on earlier that day, but, one glance towards the stallion blew that idea out of the water. It took a special kind of pony to want to talk about applied thermodynamics. Sugary, Sharp concluded, was not that kind of pony.  At this realization, Sharp caught herself staring at the aforementioned stallion, quickly switching her attention back to her sub, and blushing. “Sweet Celestia, I was staring at him… He probably thinks I’m weird now.” she mentally panicked.


Truth be told, Sharp’s mentioning of spice preference had very little meaning behind it beyond a rather poor attempt to shift the conversation away from that inevitable topic: her problems. A topic, that, for what was probably one of the first times for the young mare, she had no idea how to approach. It wasn’t like mathematics, where the answers and solutions were one and the same. This was her life… “Why can’t life be more like math!” the mare groaned internally.


Much to her chagrin, her lack of easily breachable topics of conversation was blatantly obvious in how she ate and drank in relative silence… To most, the silence the two shared during eating could have been seen as polite, but, to the polymath, it was the epitome of awkwardness.


Of course, this silence wouldn’t be a problem, were it not for the fact it would probably lead right into Sugary asking her about her problems. The polymath shifted uneasily, wondering if she should just ask him the question that had been at the top of her mind since their abrupt meeting: “Why do you care?” Surely asking such a thing would be viewed as rude by the stallion, and, Sugary would be upset with her… Yes, it was probably for the best that she kept quiet and just let it happen. Very quickly, Sharp was beginning to regret taking him up on his offer. “Takings to ponies? What a joke…” she thought.


As this war of indecision raged on inside the mind of the polymath, she continued to eat. On occasion, she would glance towards Sugary, her eyes wandering away from her sub and quickly darting back as soon as she caught herself… though, not without renewing the crimson cover across her cheeks.


“At least… At least I can talk at my parents…” the mare sighed, accidentally vocalizing a stray thought. She seemed to realize her blunder, and her eyes widened briefly before she buried her face in the table.

While Sharp was in her own whirlpool of thoughts and personal problems, Sugary was... in the opposite scenario as he was just calmly enjoying the sub as he had intended to, and let nothing else bother him. He did notice Sharp looking at him, more than once even. He kept thinking she was gonna say something each time, and so his ears kept flicking her way, but almost nothing came of it.

Seeing her blushing a bit, he thought that perhaps she was just really shy aside from being hungry, but her last words he did catch on. "Hm...? What was that about your parents...? You know, if something's really troubling you a lot, then we can at least talk it over while we eat. I do wanna help if it's something I can deal with." He hoped she would open up a bit more to him. He was not a mind reader after all. He also meant her no harm.

Sharp slowly looked up from her side of the table and at Sugary. “I’m a genius, Mister Market---” she smiled a small, melancholy smile and continued. “---A genius of a pony who could probably give even the illustrious Twilight Sparkle a run for her bits, and, I can’t even figure out what to do with my life.” the mare finished. It seemed that by giving the polymath something else to focus on, Sugary had inadvertently calmed the maelstrom of stray thought and self depreciation that she had been engaged in. “Look, Market, I don’t know what you can do to help… I don’t even know who you are, really, but you’ve led me to a rather obvious realization, one that I had been unable to come across alone. Talking at myself isn’t going to solve any of my problems. Perhaps you’ll prove a better audience than I.”

The polymath went on to tell the stranger of her troubles. She told him of Long Bar and Minor Note, both prestigious musicians of the Royal Canterlot Orchestra, and, her parents. She spoke of their expectations, their plans for her, how she disagreed with them, and how they had been less than pleased… Then she began to tell him of herself, and a gradual change in her despondent reminiscence would soon become easily noticeable, replaced by one born of fascination.

She told the stallion stories of her love for anything written, her tone turning downright joyful when she breached the topic of magical theory---which she spoke of particularly in-depth, to a point where most would have thought her jargon gibberish--- Even her shyness and fear of rocks were divulged into the stallion’s willing ears. Indeed, Market learned more about the young Note in those minutes they shared than most would ever come to learn.

Sugary had respectfully nodded slowly, acknowledging that he was listening to Sharp. He was glad that, at least, she was opening up after all. What he didn't expect was for her to share as much as she was... and yet, he felt like it was as it should be. In fact, he felt like he was meeting an old friend again, even if he hardly knew her. It was a comforting sensation.

"... So let me see if I understand correctly... If you're so devoted to magical study, what's keeping you from becoming a researcher? I don't think I ever had even the simple act of levitation explained so meticulously and still make it sound interesting, especially at my age... Don't you have any way of looking out for yourself unless your family helps directly in the meantime?" He was still concerned, but now he felt he could try to aid her better as he tried to seek a solution from the conversation.

Sharp had, sometime during her little speech, taken to periodically pausing to take small bites of her sandwich. It was during the most recent pause, notably the end of her story, that Market had asked his question. The polymath was honestly a little surprised with herself. Sharing all of that with a near-total stranger was… easy. An oddly pleasant surprise.  

“I could always get a job… Sure, that would make school a lot harder to balance out time for but, I could do it. Looking out for myself isn’t the problem, Market. It’s more that my parents are going to disown me if I do anything that isn’t what they want me to do. They’re my parents! I don’t want to disappoint them, you know?” Sharp responded.  “But I also don’t want to live the rest of my life like they do… They don’t have time for anything, Market. They’re always either practicing or performing. That’s not something I want for me, no matter how good I am.” she added.