Skill or luck?

He wokn with the image still fresh in his mind as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. It had been that colt again. The one he had meet in the hallway. The one with those eyes. The eyes that had looked down on him. Like he wasn't even worth his time. Seihai disliked eyes like that. Who was he to judge? Just because he had a bigger word pool.

The dream had been him with his Grandcolt growing rice paddles. He faintly remembered his Grandcolt words. "Your magic comes from your heart Seihai." That was the kindest thing anyone had ever said to him. There were stories of great Unicorns. They said the body stores the magic in different parts. Some the legs or the mind, but the heart was rare and special. He didn't believe that he was anything special, but his Grandcolt saying that to him made him feel good about himself.

When he gazed into the flooded water in the dream he had saw two self's in the reflection. One had been what he dreamed to be. He was older and had honor for his spell making, surrounded by fully grown rice fields.

Then the nightmare happened.

The other Seihai was a older him with a five-o-clock shadow and lived working as a dish washer in some town near Canterlot. Shamed and banned from returning home with a sad looking grandcolt's face as the sun. He drank a little water from the bottle on his stand as he walked outside into the night. Fresh air would get the images out of his mind.

He looked out to the stars as he walked to see beyond the railing. He hadn't noticed the neighbor in his apartment had got delivery and he tripped over the box. He had barely anything to even react as he saw the stone steps of his upstairs apartment getting closer. Was this how it ended for him?

His horn lit up as he just prayed for anything to save him and *poof*. He hit the ground with his hooves over his head. He peeked out to see Cobblestone steps and a grouping of building around.

"Huh?" He looked around as he breathed really hard. He was feeling tried all of sudden as his knees shook and wobbled to stand up. Had he teleported? Seihai wasn't sure if he was proud of himself. He didn't remember how to do it and he could barely walk because of it. Another check on the things he can't do well.

Another thought came to him. He was out after curfew! If a guard caught him he would be expelled! He didn't have the strength to move very fast as he took toddler steps to get across the street.

Spoiler:

"More tea, Lady Design? On the house."

Elegance beamed. "Yes, thank you." She would pay anyway, it was really a wonderful evening. Construction had finally begun, and the days of idle waiting were finally over. After a busy day, tea at the Leaf Cafe under the stars was simply divine. No inane chatter, no stress, just tea and Elegance.

Speaking of stars, Elegance looked up at them, the work of the Second Princess. If she could capture that beauty and place it in her own creation....

Something inside her fell, a thought that ruined her happy state of mind. You would only be imitating.

Shaking the thought out of her head, the young lady looked around for something else to think about. It came in a flash of magic, and it took several moments for her to realise what had happened, and several more for her to recognise who the colt who teleported over there was. Her smile became a straight line of disapproval.

After taking another sip of tea, she called out, "Shouldn't little colts like you be in bed by now?"

His mind was a bit blurred as he looked up and tried not to fall over. He was dead from the amount of magic he had spend. He wasn't sure if he would recharge or need to eat something.

He looked at he filly till his eyes widened. "Eregansu-dono!" He hadn't expected to be confronted by this filly. They hadn't had the nicest chat last time they met and he was in very bad situation. She had asked question with look that expected a answer. It had a hint of Challenge, but Seihai hadn't the strength to argue or be confronting.

"I was till I fell down the stairs.." He said with his face to the left, looking at the ground.

"You are in Canterlot, dear. We speak Equestrian here," Elegance said condescendingly. She then signaled to the waitress. "Oh, Patience? Another cup of tea for the young colt. Something refreshing, perhaps. He looks like he has risen from the grave."

She took a sip of her own tea. "Please, take a seat, colt," she said, emphasising the last word, "I haven't forgotten you, and it seems like you haven't forgotten me. I have a small disagreement with you that has not been fully resolved in our last meeting. I shall need you to be in a suitable state of mind, so kindly drink before you respond." She looked at the colt expectantly.

Seihai couldn't refuse her offer. It would be rude to do something like that. He decided to avoid replying to the part about speaking Equestrian. There had been recent talks on being empathetic to other cultures way of doing things, however she did have valid point. At least she wasn't confused by the name. Most made him explain instead of scold him.

"Thank you." He bowed before climbing up in the chair as the tea touches the table. He lifts it up with his hooves as he exhales the smell deeply before drinking. He seemed pleased with the familiar feeling and taste of tea. He felt much more relaxed as he looked up to see what you were drinking.

She seem to have remembered their little battle for the clocks before and she appeared to want to discuss. He was a little surprise she would bring it up. Perhaps she didn't have fights with others often. "I feel a little better now." He said calmly.

Spoiler:

"Then I shall speak candidly," Elegance said, "Whenever one has something unpleasant to say, one should always be quite candid. Your behaviour that afternoon was quite vulgar and unacceptable for a gentlecolt. In fact it caused an unneeded scene in a bystander's store, and I was called for other duties before I could get a satisfactory explanation. No doubt I wasn't in the right state of mind to listen. But here and now, everything has been going well and I'm willing to receive an apology."

The way she said this conveyed perfectly her pure and unfettered belief that she was entitled to an apology, no questions asked. There wasn't any hint of malice or threat, Elegance's tone was one conveying a simple fact. Her face was expectant, waiting for the inevitable apology, as she sipped her tea. It really was good tea. Imported from the east, so she had been told.

Seihai looked at her with mild disbelief this was happening. He was just trying to shake off a nightmare and think about his life as he looked up at the stars. Now he was sipping tea he bought from his convenience store down the street from his parents back home. He looked around seeing clearly this was a nice place to eat. Maybe they were right when they said Equestrian would buy anything.

Seihai smiled now that when he returned to his homeland he could joke around with his famliy more. His gaze then looked at the filly as he tried to decide what to do. It would be easy to just say he was sorry and maybe the filly would let him leave, but he knew if he did she would show him the eyes like that colt. That colt.

He slammed his hooves on the table as shot of adrenaline shoot through him. "No! I won't apologize to you!" He pointed at her as his eyes opened wide to express the emotion and passion in his eyes. "You used your statue to get what you want. The store owner wouldn't of tried spiting the clocks if you hadn't used your famliy name." He slammed his hooves on the table. "Why don't you earn the right to bare something like that? If you were anything like the famliy you run from...."

His hoof pointed you once more. "You would have been realized from the beginning when you walked in! Don't throw around your famliy name around so you can push around others!" He half yelled as he sat back down to breath. He sipped some of his tea as the smell of memories and home came over him.

He understood in this moment why his grandfather had sent him away. He wanted him to meet ponies like this. Ponies who acted high and mighty because of a name their great-grandmare made known to all. He now knew why he needed to earn the right to be called a Spell Maker.

Spoiler:

Sip. The tea didn't taste as well as before, but Elegance was glad she was in her current state of mind when the colt stood there, using his foolish tongue to feebly attack her. It would be offensive, if it weren't so pathetic.

"I deserved the opportunity to buy the clock because I am a living, thinking pony with he resource to make a purchase," she snorted, looking at the foreign colt with disdain, "Not because of my name. You did not have the right to try to cut me off. I only introduced myself because I wanted to be polite, even friendly. Not for any other reason."

The words from the colt finally sunk in, and Elegance finally realised their meaning. And that made her furious. Her expression of simple dismissal became an expression of pure hate and fury. How dare this, this colt with hardly an achievement to his name even imply she was not worthy of the Design title.

"And don't dare say I'm not worthy, you little piece of insignificant dragon shit. You become a Design not when you are born but when you do make something worthy of even comparing to our legacy!"

She felt as though her cutie mark was burning into her thigh. The memorial monument. A place where the ponies who fell in the wars past can be honoured. She still remembered the old war widow tearfully thank her for thinking and designing it. How dare he say she hadn't earned her right as a Design. It was bad enough in the courts, being treated as inferior being a second sibling, but this- this was too much.

"And what, may I ask, have you achieved to even give the illusion you can utter such heresies like that, you little colt? Have you done anything to deserve even thinking of judging me like this? You are sickening."

Seihai smirked as he put his hooves to his hips and shook his head. He never felt so alive in long time as his minded race. There was no time to study the situation, there was no time to think. Only to move on to the next line of words in the trading. "This isn't about me! I was talking about you and what you did!" He pointed his at you with actually pretty controlled tone. Seihai wasn't upset or angry, actually he felt a little emphatic. She for moment had that look he would wear when someone torn at him.

"As for me..." He stopped as he looked down. "I haven't done anything yet. I was sent here to prove myself worthy of my family's name. If I fail I'm not allowed back and I'm banished for life." He looked up with fire burning in his eyes. "But even if I turn up to be no good at what I do, even if I lived in shame and could never return to see my home land again, or even if I did prove myself worthy and they welcomed me back." He slammed his hooves again for effect before pointing at you once more.

"I wouldn't use it to bully someone else because I knew I could get away with it. Even if you think you deserve that name... You don't act with the kindness and grace of whoever gave you chance to prove yourself. If you have talent or respect. You should set a example!"

Seihai had a look of determination and refused to show weakness in his eyes. He knew she would jump at it and claw away at where he was weak. He was tried of ponies pushing him around. The school telling him he wasn't good enough. His famliy telling him he wasn't good enough. That colt and his judging eyes. He wasn't gonna take it anymore. He was taking a stand.

"Excuse me?" she almost shrieked, "What I did? You were the one at fault! You were trying to bully yourself into getting two clocks! I only wanted one! You were the mean one! And I thought you would be reasonable...instead you just insult me."

This was a mistake, Elegance realised, when she felt her eyes water. She closed them, and took a deep breath. When she reopened them they were relit with burning hate. She hated him. His smug words. His expression as if tormenting her was some sort of game.

"You ask for kindness and grace, when every word you utter is unfair judgement or selfishness. You haven't even proved yourself worthy of respect, yet you declare me as being a bad role model. When you first met me, you wrote me off as being completely beneath you. When you knew nothing about me."

Elegance had a look of determination and refused to show weakness in her eyes. She knew he would jump at it and claw away at where she was weak. She was tired of ponies underestimating her. The courts treating her and her family as 'not really nobility'. Her own flesh and blood endlessly comparing her to her older brother. Intelligent just breezing through life as if it was a easy as breathing. She could take it from them, but not from this colt. She was drawing a line.

If you were to tell her what the colt was thinking, she would not believe you.

Seihai opened his mouth, but he stopped as he saw the reflection of water under her eyes the in the soft light of the place. He was stunned for few minutes as the words sank into to him. She claimed he had judged her with his actions, that he was the one to start it. His grandcolt always said it was shameful to make filly cry, even if they may have deserved it.

Seihai wanted to keep up his assault, but he knew that his victory would be hollow. He had already made his point and there wasn't much reason to attack anymore. "It's true my words aren't kind, and I don't know you.. but I never thought you were beneath me. I thought you thought I was under you." He said as he looked into the tea empty tea cup.

Seihai felt the steam that burned in him start to cool down as he started to think about what he said and he almost couldn't believe he was standing up to this filly at all. Had he really been holding all that in him all this time sense he got here? He looked up at the filly with a few blinks of his eyes thought about it. Even though she seemed to be cold and mean, she really was like him in way. She just wanted to be treated equal like he did.

Elegance glared at the colt, not believing him. She already gave him a chance to apologise, and it blew up in her face spectacularly. She didn't believe in second chances. She rarely got even one.

"Fine words from a false tongue," she hissed, "If you truly believed me as your equal, you would not have tried to get both clocks when I clearly showed interest in purchasing one of them. You displayed knowledge of their rarity, yet used that knowledge to fulfill your desires, denying your greed with your speech whilst flaunting it with your actions. I was prepared to forgive you for those things. I allowed you to apologise."

She took a deep breath. "And you respond thusly. You accuse me of using a simple introduction for ignoble purposes. Can I not introduce myself to a possible future friend without some scheme behind it? You accuse me of being a bully, you say that I am not worthy of buying a simple clock because you wanted it. True Sight was going to give you one, but somehow that wasn't enough. You wanted more, and were willing to take from me. How in the realm of possibility can you do all of that, then have the gall to say that I believed you beneath me? Before, you had no right to think that. Now, I truly do regard you beneath me. You are a bully, and a hypocrite. It is clear to me now."

Seihai was wondering now why things had to be this way. Was it really like this in Canterlot? Everybody gets one and if you use it thy just clam up and use against you. Then again it was like that in Japony as well, just much more subtle. This talk they were having was the most direct and quick battle he had ever had. This should of took a few years to settle and brief run in's over the course of life.

It seemed she had come to a idea of him and she still didn't see that they both had made mistakes. Maybe they just both couldn't admit it to themselves, maybe they thought if they did. It would make the one's people said about them true. "The problem you used your name to get it. Had anyone else walked in she would of let me buy both clocks. Maybe it's unfair me to want to, but I had just as much right as you! If you hadn't dropped your name then Shin no biggu saito-san wouldn't of even asked if did."

Seihai shook his head as he felt like the old record player. Words wouldn't help her and never had help him. He looked up to with reflecting eyes, one that felt similar pain. They didn't pity, or blame, just sad feeling of failure. Seihai was never good at words or telling how he felt. "Well know I don't see you under me." Seihai hopped off the chair and left a few bits on the table. He heard that they tip ponies for service. "Also that monument you made was pretty. Where I from honoring the dead or being allowed to is one of the highest honor."

Seihai would find his own way. He walked fourteen steps. He counted each one as he approached the door and the creak of the new door. Everything was new in Canterlot, expect for the dreams. They were old and never realized. He looked outside to see if there were any guards before he slowly stared to try and walk off.

"She would have split the clocks, whether I was a street orphan or Celestia herself," Elegance stated simply, "Or at least she should have. I do not believe she would be that shallow. I judge a pony by their actions, not their words. Or their titles."

With the colts departing words, Elegance tensed, but said nothing more. She didn't say that the colt could have gone down Trot alley and up Friendship Street if he wanted to avoid guards. She didn't say that she still didn't believe him. She didn't say that tips weren't necessary in the city.

She just ordered another cup.

Seihai slipped pass a few guards on the streets and everytime he almost passed out for not breathing so long. What he hadn't thought of is that there were sky guards and one had been following him the whole time.

The colt finally let out a 'yeah kid!' and flew down to him. Seihai's eye opened with fear as he started to run. Climbing over crates and hiding in shops. He couldn't get cuaght. He couldn't let Canterlot break his dreams.