The campfire crackled and popped. There were a million stars overhead, each of them a twinkling jewel. Whippoorwills cried in the distance, owls hooted, and swarms of bats went flying past, out looking for bugs.

Tarnish was alone with his thoughts. Maud, on the other side of the campfire, was sound asleep, using a rock for a pillow. He looked at her for a moment as she slept, and his eyes returned to the stars.

It had been the most amazing day. Feeling very small, feeling humbled, Tarnish reflected upon the events of the day. Most ponies would never know the hidden beauty that existed down in the bottom of a crack in the earth. He thought of Buttons, the diamond dog he had met. She was very much like the geode cave, off in a very inaccessible place, but she had been worth the trip as well. He found that he missed Buttons, and a part of him wanted to see her again.

Staring at the stars, Tarnish’s thoughts turned to Twilight Sparkle. He wondered if Twilight was becoming his friend. It seemed reasonable that she was, she was the Princess of Friendship after all. He felt very, very sorry for what he had said to Twilight as he had walked away from Ponyville. Turning his head, he looked at his cutie mark, the poison joke flower. It was the perfect representation of his magic, and perhaps, his life.

He wondered how long it would be before something happened that screwed up his relationship with Maud, whatever that relationship was. Friends? It was hard to tell. Maud wasn’t the sort that showed her emotions and she was impossible to read. There was something there, but it was impossible to know what it was. Perhaps it was friendship with curiousity, an interest in the possibility of something more.

Sooner or later, Tarnish knew that something would happen that would ruin everything. Tarnish found that he liked Maud; he liked her a great deal. She was unlike any other pony he had ever met. He looked over at her, sighed, and then began to feel a terrible feeling of dread, not wanting to hurt her. Sooner or later, his magic ruined everything.

With a heavy heart, Tarnish came to an unpleasant conclusion. At some point, something would happen and Maud would come to hate him. He watched her as she slept, her barrel rising and falling beneath her blanket. At some point, everything would go wrong. Everything had gone wrong in Dodge City Junction. Tarnish had been plenty stupid, but he wondered if perhaps his own magic had something to do with it.

Perhaps the best way to deal with his talent was to avoid ponies altogether. Perhaps he should find himself a secluded shack in the middle of an inaccessible swamp like Buttons and hide away from the world. She didn’t fit in with her fellow diamond dogs and ponies in general did not welcome her, fearful of what she was.

Tarnish heaved a heavy sigh as he thought about leaving. A gentle breeze blew, it caused the flames in the fire to flicker and one of Maud’s ears began to twitch. Tarnished Teapot, his brain informed him in a stern internal voice. If you walk away right now, you will never, ever be able to live with yourself, wondering what might have been. He looked over at his saddlebags and his pith helmet which sat atop them.

There was a long agonising moment where Tarnish wasn’t certain what he should do.

You know, a colder voice within his head said. Sooner or later, the circumstances will change and when everything goes wrong, you will still be walking away. Only Maud will be hurt and you’ll still be leaving. You cannot change the inevitable. If you leave now, you’d be doing her a favour.

Tarnished Teapot’s ears drooped down to the sides of his face.

That’s not true, the other voice said. You’d still be hurting her. She likes you. If you walk away now, you are going to spend the rest of your life walking away, trying to avoid trouble. Is that what you want? To go through life, unloved, unwanted, your only knowledge of love being a rampaging she manticore and a painted mare of the night? Don’t blow this… just wait this out and see what happens.

“But I don’t want to hurt her,” Tarnish said to himself out loud.

Closing his eyes, Tarnish lay his head down upon the blanket he was lying upon, he fought to silence the voices bickering in between his ears, and he wished that sleep would take him, as he was unable to bear this internal struggle any longer.

Looking over, Tarnish could see Maud sitting up on top of a column of rock. He had no idea how she had climbed up there, but she was up there, writing something down in her research journal. Earlier, she had made measurements with a long length of cord that had black lines dyed into it to mark length. Tarnish had no idea what she was doing, but it seemed to be important.

Reaching out, Tarnished Teapot picked up the mirror, which was sitting on top of his saddlebags. He took a deep breath, held it, let it out, took another, closed his eyes, and then he said, “Twilight Sparkle?”

He waited, staring at the mirror, part of him hoping that she would be there, the other part of him hoping there would be no answer. The conflicted feeling from last night still permeated his brain and he didn’t know what to feel about anything.

“Twilight?”

“Tarnished Teapot?”

Looking into the mirror, Tarnish saw Twilight. She looked tired. Her eyes were red and her mane was messy. “Hello Twilight.”

“I was just researching some way to help you,” Twilight said in a low, tired voice. “I am in the Royal Archives in Canterlot, in the Magical Oddities wing. I’ve found something interesting.”

“Oh?” Tarnish peered into the mirror, his curiousity overcoming his feelings of insecurity, and causing him to forget about his troubles for a moment.

“There was a pony named Snowy Summit… his cutie mark was a nullwood tree… do you know what nullwood is?”

“No,” Tarnish replied, staring at Twilight in the mirror.

“Ponies have done all they can to destroy nullwood trees… they radiate antimagic. All magic ceases to function around them. Unicorns have no spells, pegasi can’t fly, earth ponies lose their strength… Snowy Summit was a walking island of antimagic. He was an earth pony… and he was banished for the safety of others.”

“I see.” Tarnish’s ears fell back against his head and his expression fell somewhat.

“Princess Celestia never gave up on him. She worked endlessly, trying to find some way for him to fit in, some way for him to belong. He was very dangerous though, and Princess Celestia had a very hard time figuring out what to do. Nullification magic is so hazardous… around magical creatures, like dragons and chimeras, it sickens them, even kills them. There was no place that Snowy Summit was welcomed.”

“You know Twilight, this is not helping me feel better,” Tarnish said in a meek voice.

“I’m sorry… what I am about to say won’t make you feel any better either, I’m afraid. There was finally a use for Snowy Summit… turned out, he had been born for a purpose, just like everypony else.”

“And that is?” Tarnish asked.

“There was a powerful necromancer… his name was Grogar. Grogar was a horrible sorcerous goat with terrible powers. Grogar planned to open a portal to Tartarus and unleash an army of the undead upon Equestria. Snowy Summit stopped him.”

“What happened?” Tarnish looked into Twilight’s face, noticing how sad she looked.

“When Snowy Summit encountered Grogar, the portal that Grogar was trying to create became unstable,” Twilight replied in a soft voice. The image of her in the mirror shook her head. “The resulting implosion put an end to Grogar’s evil. Snowy Summit’s body was never found, neither was Grogar’s. The explosion created the San Palomino desert. Princess Celestia awarded him a knighthood, posthumously of course.”

Tarnish shuddered. “Everything you just said did nothing to make me feel better.”

“But Snowy did have a purpose. A pony is born and they are given a destiny, that is the purpose of cutie marks. There is something that only that pony can do, something that makes them special… you have a dangerous, even destructive talent, but you have a purpose. That is why your cutie mark exists.”

Twilight Sparkle’s words offered no comfort. Tarnish sighed. “I don’t want to die to find my purpose. That sounds awful.”

“Tarnish, I don’t think it will come to that. This is just proof that no talent, no cutie mark, no purpose is useless. Snowy Summit and his seemingly cursed talent saved the lives of so many. His talent made him great. Don’t look at your talent as a curse, but as a potential sign of greatness. You were born to do something that nopony else can do. And I’m going to help you find out what it is. Princess Celestia never gave up on Snowy Summit, and as the Element of Magic, I am going to do everything in my power to help you.”

“Thank you, Twilight… that means a lot…”

“I need to go… I’m getting funny looks from the librarian for talking in the library. Goodbye Tarnished Teapot, good luck, and don’t give up,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Goodbye, Twilight…”

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqH21LEmfbQ