Raindrop grumbled as she adjusted her pack with her good hoof, her wings giving an irritated little flick.
She was definitely not used to having walk everywhere. Or, to be more accurate, she was annoyed at not having the option to fly. It was amazing how much of a chore it was to walk when you get told not to fly.
Harrumphing, Raindrop stalked down the main street of Ponyville towards Sugar Cube Corner, wracking her brain to try and think what would be the best kind of apology gift. Cupcakes? A mini-cake? Pastries? Which one would work the best so there was the least chance of her having to apologize openly?
Raindrop still hadn’t made her mind up when she pushed open the door to Sugar Cube Corner. A bell on the top of the door jingled faintly to announce a visitor, while she moved to stand in front of the counter, waiting for service.
The glass display case was filled with cakes and cupcakes and donuts and all manner of wonderfully tasty-looking foodstuffs covered in so much icing sugar that Raindrop’s teeth hurt just looking at them.
After a few moments, a white pegasus came barreling down the stairs from the second level, bounding over towards the counter and then bouncing in place, staring at Raindrop. Her voice was high-pitched and happy as she leaned in and cooed, “Whatcha looking for, frownyface?”
Raindrop raised a brow slowly at the bouncy pegasus. She looked like she was in the midst of a sugar-rush. Her blonde mane and tail were frazzled and looked more like the nesting area of a small animal than anything found on a pony.
“I’m looking for...I don’t know,” Raindrop admitted, her ears pinning back. “Something that says ‘I’m sorry’ emphatically enough that words won’t be needed.”
“Apologies?” the pegasus asked, giving a thoughtful hum, a hoof at her chin. “Hmmm...I think flowers are best for that! But we don’t have flowers here...maybe if you got cupcakes for the petals...and a sparkler for the stem! Everyone loves sparklers! But ohhhh, sparklers aren’t so good for apologies unless it’s a filly or colt...is it a filly or colt?”
Raindrop blinked slowly, head tilting slowly to one side, before she blinked once them. “W-what? No. He’s a stallion.”
“No sparklers then!” the pegasus declared, peeking down through the glass at the array of cakes, cupcakes and donuts in the display case. “What are you apologizing for?”
“I kinda beat him up and then insulted his recently deceased coworkers. He took it pretty badly,” Raindrop said, rubbing at her mane with a hoof, chagrined.
The pegasus leaned right over the counter to peer at Raindrop with one eye suspiciously. “Are you sincerely apologizing? Or is this one of those ‘I’m only apologizing because to do otherwise would be socially unacceptable and I really hope you choke and die’ kind of things?”
Raindrop’s ears splayed backwards, and her cheeks flushed faintly as she muttered, “Uhm...kinda...both?”
“Ohhhhhh...a passive aggressive cake!” the pegasus said with a grin, clapping her hooves together. “Let’s see what I can do!”
Raindrop canted her head to the side as she watched the pegasus dig around under the counter for cakes and the like. All that was visible of her over the counter was the curve of her rump, her back, a cutie mark consisting of purple balloons, the tips of her white wings, and her shock of yellow tail swaying happily back and forth.
“There!” The pegasus declared, pulling up a vanilla cake, slapping down a circular base on top of it, and then adding a cake on top of that. “See, if he wants to mix the flavours, or even get at the bottom cake, he had to pull it apart and make a bit of a mess and inconvenience himself. But he can’t be mad, because it’s cake. The perfect passive-aggressive cake!”
A soft laugh left Raindrop, and she shook her head, before pulling up her purse to pay the pegasus.
In a few moments, the cake was placed in a pink box, and then pushed across the counter towards her.
“Come again!” the pegasus said, waving a hoof cheerily and then bounding back upstairs.
Raindrop waved her hoof in response, pushing the door open and stepping out into the sunshine. She looked left, towards Canterlot, visible on the mountainside. Her eyes traced the long, winding road up to it, and she groaned.
Raindrop stepped down off the train, stretching and arching slightly. Thank Celestia for trains. There was no way she was going to walk from Ponyville all the way to Canterlot.
Adjusting her load as she straightened up, Raindrop began to make her way towards the palace. There was a quietness to the air, like it was a holiday. There were no ponies in the street, and the shops were all mostly closed. It was eerie.
As she got closer to the palace, Raindrop began to hear trumpets, blaring out a mournful series of notes.
The giant arched gates in front the palace were open, and a great deal of ponies were sitting on chairs in rows just inside, in the courtyard. A military procession was making its slow way out of the gates. Raindrop paused on the other side of the road from the palace, watching awkwardly as the procession carried a pair of caskets towards the Canterlot graveyard.
Not spying Sentinel amongst the casket-carriers, Raindrop made her way over to the front gates, and pushed her way through the crowd that was spilling out into the streets to follow the caskets towards the graveyard.
Sentinel was standing on a raised stage that had apparently been erected just for this occasion. Celestia was stepping down off it to follow the procession towards the graveyard, and Sentinel was standing in a salute posture, dressed in full armour, watching his two fallen comrades being carried away to their final resting place.
After a few moments, Sentinel lowered his hoof, and then lifted his helmet to wipe at his eyes guardedly, before turning around and walking back into the castle.
Raindrop hobbled after the guard, crippled by her three-legged walk, carrying the cake on one hoof carefully as she limped after him.
“Sentinel, wait!” she called after him.
Sentinel paused, looking back over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing. “What do you want?”
“I just...uhm...” Raindrop trailed off after a long moment, suddenly feeling very stupid, holding the cake and standing in front of the guard.
“Spit it out,” Sentinel stated flatly, turning to face her and planting his rump on the ground, his expression completely blank under his helmet.
“I...Well...I got you a cake,” Raindrop said helplessly, holding the box out towards him.
Sentinel slowly tilted his head to the side, raising a brow and then looking from the box in her outstretched hoof, to her face. “...A cake.”
“Two, actually,” Raindrop said nervously, holding out the cake still.
“It’s not a joke? There’s no hidden spring that will send a puff of smoke in my face, or explode? It’s not poisoned or laced with laxatives?” Sentinel asked blankly, as he shuffled over closer.
“You realise, of course, that you’re merely giving me devious ideas, right?” Raindrop asked flatly.
Sentinel raised a brow, giving a thoughtful hum as he reached out to take the box, popping it open to inspect the cakes within. “I think this is devious enough.”
“How is this devious? It’s cake,” Raindrop pointed out, harrumphing.
“Yes. It looks quite good. But it’s a cake from you,” Sentinel pointed out with a wave of a hoof. “And so I will be forever tormented by the fact that I’m holding a tasty cake but cannot eat it for fear of some horrible trick you employed with this cake. And why does it have a double base?”
“The shopkeeper put in two cakes. So there are two bases,” Raindrop said with a dismissive wave of a hoof.
“But they’re both on the bottom...a single base would have been better. And lighter,” Sentinel said with a wise nod.
Raindrop growled faintly in the back of her throat. “Just eat the damn thing.”
“I’ll get fat,” Sentinel protested, huffing.
“Eat a piece then!” Raindrop corrected, waving a hoof in annoyance.
Sentinel looked her up and down once, and then took on a guarded expression. “You’re pretty eager for me to eat the cake, how do I know you don’t just want me to eat it because you poisoned it?”
Raindrop gave a sound that was somewhere between exasperation and anger, dipping a hoof in the cake and then licking some of the icing off her hoof, poking out her tongue in proof. “There. Not poisoned. Now eat it.”
“But you ruined it.” Sentinel held out the box to show Raindrop the hole she’d made in the cake.
“Sentinel. I am going to start hurting you, and I’m not sure when I’m going to stop,” Raindrop stated flatly, her ears pinning back.
Sentinel snorted a moment, and then set the cake aside, straightening up and looking at Raindrop levelly. “Say it.”
“Say what?”
“What you came to tell me.”
“I came to call you an arrogant, dim-witted, useless excuse for a-” Raindrop’s tirade was halted by Sentinel’s hoof over her mouth.
“Repeat after me,” Sentinel said, lifting his hoof as though to swear a vow. “Sentinel.”
“Sentinel,” Raindrop repeated, glowering.
“My name is Raindrop,”
“My name is Raindrop,”
“I am but a lowly pegasus,”
“I am but a lowly pegasus,”
“You are more clever and ever-tempered than I ever will be,”
“The urge to hit you is rising fast,”
“Close enough,” Sentinel said with a grin, “And I’m sorry.”
Raindrop blanched, fuming at the other pegasus.
“I’m...” she wrinkled her nose, and then shifted her hooves slightly from side to side.
“Say it,” Sentinel sing-songed, raising a brow.
“Sentinel...I’m...” Raindrop scowled up at him, and then gave a faint sigh, deflating. “I’m...I’m sorry, okay? Happy?”
“Undoubtedly,” Sentinel stated, as he dipped a hoof in the cake and then licked it off slowly, before dabbing some on Raindrop’s nose playfully.
“Can I go now?” Raindrop asked, scowling.
“Don’t you want to hug and make up, first?” Sentinel asked with wide, innocent eyes.
“...Do you want a concussion?” Raindrop asked flatly.
“Later, then,” Sentinel said with a grin, licking the last of the icing from his hoof.