A lot has happened since I last wrote in you. I have a Mew Pokèmon named
Melisande. She's adorable and very smart. I have flying power too-- a magical pig gave it to
me. I found a great new book series by an author named Marianne Equina about a pony whose
job is to explore this undersea cavern. It's really neat because the pony, Liora, meets magical
creatures who live there. They're called Kandilos and
--
"Silver Swirl!" At the call of her name, Princess Silver Swirl stopped writing in her
journal. It was the first time she'd written in it since three months ago.
"What is it?" Silver Swirl shouted back. The voice calling was that of Princess
Twinkle Star, one of Silver Swirl's best friends.
"Come see the new Pokèmon I got!" Twinkle Star answered. Silver Swirl shut her
journal and scampered down the stairs to Twinkle Star's room.
"This is Flareon, this is Abra, this is Horsea, and this is Seel." Twinkle Star
released the four creatures from their PokèBalls.
"They're so cute!" cried Silver Swirl with delight. "Especially Flareon. I'll tell
Melisande to come down here and meet them later."
"Are you going to get more Pokèmon?" queried Twinkle Star.
"Well, I've been sorely tempted," Silver Swirl admitted, "but I don't think so. I'm
too irresponsible to take care of a whole bunch. Besides, I want to be able to give enough
attention to Melisande and Jade."
"I don't think you're that irresponsible," objected Twinkle Star.
"Are you kidding? I can't get out of bed until almost noon, I always forget to write
in my journal, my drawers are full of junk, and I'm constantly losing things," Silver Swirl replied.
"How much worse can one get?"
"Well, a lot of ponies say they're irresponsible, but they really just don't try hard
enough to be otherwise," Twinkle Star explained.
"I do try, once in a while, but I always forget that I'm supposed to be trying."
"Maybe you just don't try enough," persisted Twinkle Star. "I think that if you
made a serious effort for a day you'd be surprised at what you could accomplish." She sounded
very confidant.
"You want me to try for a day? Okay, I'll try really hard tomorrow. At the end of
the day, we'll see if it's irresponsibility or lack of effort." She sounded equally confidant.
"Deal?"
"Deal," agreed Twinkle Star. The two ponies shook hooves.
Silver Swirl almost forgot about her deal with Twinkle Star for a while the rest of
the day. She was busy playing hide-and-seek with Jade and Melisande in the forest. Silver Swirl,
of course, promised not to wink from one hiding place to another. Jade was the best hider since
she was the smallest and her green scales camouflaged against the leaves of trees. Melisande was
a great seeker because she had very sensitive hearing. Silver Swirl felt like an amateur beside her
two friends, especially since her horn tended to stick out of hiding places.
When the three got tired of playing, they flew back to Silver Swirl's high castle
tower. The unicorn read to her two friends out of the newest book by Marianne Equina until
dinnertime. The dragon and the Pokèmon loved stories, and Silver Swirl was working on
teaching them to read-- at least, she worked on it when she remembered to.
Around the dinner table, the ponies of Friendship Castle told each other about their
respective days. Ivy told about her new ball gown, Morning Glory mentioned a picture she was
painting, and Lady Cupcake informed the others about her latest donation to charity. Trixiebelle
hinted about the show she was going to put on and Lady Light Heart told jokes. After describing
her various new Pokèmon and how they were settling in, Twinkle Star mentioned the deal she and
Silver Swirl had made.
Silver Swirl explained in greater detail. "So don't worry if you see me acting rather
strangely tomorrow!" she added. The other ponies laughed.
Before going to sleep that evening, Silver Swirl had Melisande help her to set an
alarm clock for eight-thirty the following morning. Silver Swirl had a dream that night that she
laughed to herself over after the fact. She dreamed that she had become Sandina, a very
responsible character in a Marianne Equina book.
The next morning, Silver Swirl was jolted awake by a horrible noise. After a
moment, she realized that it was not a fire alarm or Jade screeching-- it was only her alarm clock.
She fumbled wildly for the "Off" button until Melisande came over and helped her. Melisande
had read a book about electronics and now claimed to be an authority on the subject.
Silver Swirl resisted the temptation to go back to sleep, remembering that she was
supposed to be responsible for the day. Instead, she winked to the kitchen and prepared a quick
breakfast for herself, Jade, and Melisande. Then she went back to her tower and got herself ready
for the day. She even made her bed without being reminded. Afterwards, she looked around for
something responsible to do. She decided to write in her journal.
Silver Swirl spent the next hour telling her journal all that had happened in the last
three months. She wrote about how she'd gotten Melisande, the big drought and the rain that had
finally ended it, the full story of how she'd acquired her flying power, her visit with the wonderful
pony she was secretly in love with, the summaries of various books she'd read, her plans for the
future, and-- of course-- the reason she was suddenly writing in her journal. She even described
the dream she'd had the previous night.
After Silver Swirl had written everything she could think of to write, she decided
that organizing her room would be the next thing she'd do if she were a responsible pony. This
took about three hours. She designated different drawers for different things, like Sandina did in
a book, and hung up some baskets around the room for miscellaneous objects. She put the books
on the shelves and displayed her many collections on the little tables that had been previously
covered by books.
Jade and Melisande helped her clear out the area under her bed. Silver Swirl
discovered all sorts of junk and treasures that she had thought lost years ago. She was almost
sidetracked about fifteen times, but each time she remembered her deal with Twinkle Star or was
reminded by her little friends.
When the room was finally fairly organized, Silver Swirl threw herself onto the bed.
Being responsible was incredibly hard work-- she didn't know how other ponies managed it!
Silver Swirl figured that teaching Jade and Melisande to read was a responsible
thing to do, so she wrote some simple stories and helped the dragon and the Pokèmon to sound
out the words. She got bored a few times, but the recollection of her deal with Twinkle Star kept
her on task. She knew she'd forget to be responsible sooner or later, so she decided to hold out
while she could-- after all, she was getting a lot done.
Jade and Melisande were coming along very nicely with their reading. They helped
each other along with difficult words like "cake" and "squirrel". Silver Swirl listened to them and
realized what a difficult language English was. Even easy words didn't have much of a reason or
rhyme to their pronunciation. I probably didn't learn to read as easily as Jade and
Melisande, she thought to herself.
After a while, the three of them decided that their brains needed a break. They
went down to the kitchen to pack a picnic lunch. Silver Swirl almost forgot to put away the
leftover food, but remembered in the nick of time. Carrying the picnic basket, the unicorn flew
off with her friends close behind her.
Silver Swirl landed on a lovely little hill. Jade and Melisande helped to spread out
the food. Silver Swirl had packed things she knew they would like, and all three had a satisfying
meal. Afterwards, they cleaned up the garbage.
As they were about to leave, Melisande spotted something. "Look!" she
whispered excitedly. "A Clefairy!" Sure enough, a small winged Pokèmon was hiding in the
bushes.
Silver Swirl knew that Clefairys were fairly rare. "I'll tell Twinkle Star so she can
come and catch it!" Silver Swirl planned, and then she and her friends flew home.
Back at the tower, Silver Swirl spent a while trying to think of more responsible
things to do. Then she suddenly remembered that she hadn't watered her orchid the previous day.
She quickly filled a watering can and gave the plant its life-sustaining fluid. The orchid was not
doing very well because Silver Swirl often forgot to water it. She always felt guilty when she saw
its leaves turning brown. And that poor little bonsai tree she'd had a couple of years ago-- it had
simply withered away. Silver Swirl and plants generally did not do well together.
Silver Swirl washed the watering can out and put it away instead of leaving it
sitting around like she usually did. Then she, Jade, and Melisande had another round of reading
lessons.
By dinnertime, Silver Swirl was very tired out. Responsibility definitely did not suit
her. She winked to the eating room and settled down in a chair. Then she remembered that she
hadn't been on serving duty for weeks, so "Silver Swirl the Responsible" set the table and served
the food.
Twinkle Star grinned at the unusual sight. "And how are you, Miss
Hopelessly-Irresponsible?"
"Exhausted," replied Silver Swirl. "I wrote in my journal, organized my room,
gave Melisande and Jade reading lessons, watered my orchid, and woke up with an alarm clock.
Oh, and I found a Clefairy on the little hill for you to catch sometime."
"O-o-oh, a Clefairy? Oh, thanks so much for the tip!" Twinkle Star clapped her
hooves. "But about our deal... it looks like you were able to stay quite responsible for a
day."
"Well, I guess I did pull it off," said Silver Swirl in surprise.
"So it looks like you could be responsible," concluded Twinkle Star.
"Now, wait a minute! I might have been able to manage for a day, but I could
never do this on a regular basis!"
"No?" asked Twinkle Star.
"No way!" asserted Silver Swirl. "It takes too much energy-- I'm twice as tired as
usual. You proved yourself right about today, but I'm never going to change!"