“Discordant ponies will believe
anything to accomplish their ends.”
- Poison Pen
All of the rich colors of autumn could be seen from Minuette’s second-floor dormitory. It made for an impressive backdrop for Twinkleshine’s impromptu recital. She’d discovered how to use meter and rhythm to encode fragments of spells, and, to Lemon’s amazement, had begun to learn how to form illusions out of song.
Currently, she was singing a ballad of lost love. Adrift on a gray-green sea, a rough sketch of a pony in what might charitably be called a boat sailed endlessly, searching for his special somepony. As she brought it to a close, the illusory figures faded away, like mist on a sunny day.
Lemon, Minuette, and Moon Dancer applauded, their hooves rumbling on the carpeted floor.
“That was so pretty!” Minuette said, bouncing towards Twinkleshine, and embracing her. “I can’t wait to see what you do next!”
It was supposed to be O&O day, but Gaffer still needed space. His marefriend had transferred to Manehattan a week ago, and he was still reeling from it. Or so Shining Armor had said.
He’d also sent over his favorite board game, Nobles of Oceanhearth.
“Thanks for having me over, girls,” Lemon Hearts said as they began to set up to play. “But I got to take off. Suns— Miss Shimmer wants to review chapters four and five of Equilibrium, and she’s—”
“— ‘particular about punctuality,’” the room said in harmony.
“We understand, sugarfloss,” Minuette said, giving Lemon Hearts a brief nuzzle before pushing her out the door. “Go keep Miss Shimmy happy, be the best Princess ever. Go. Shoo!”
Lemon started trotting away, a puzzled expression on her face. “… ‘Shimmy’?”
She descended the spiral staircase to the main floor, and into the bustle of students going about their day. Rather than going across the campus to their usual classroom, she instead headed for the library. Sunset had decided to meet there today, and Lemon could guess why.
More reading. More theory. When, in the sweet name of the Sun, do I get to the ‘Applications’ part?
“Ah, Miss Hearts!” A rickety mare’s voice rung out in the echoing hallway. “There you are!”
Lemon cast her gaze about, picking out the waving hoof of Professor Inkwell, the librarian. She cantered over alongside the elderly mare, and raised a quizzical eyebrow.
“Sunset sent me to find you,” Professor Inkwell said, faintly out of breath. “She was afraid you might be late, and you know how she gets…”
“Mhm. Yeah, thanks.”
They walked together, discussing the upcoming midterms and Lemon’s standing in the race for Autumn Liege. As they passed under the arch leading to the library, their chat was cut short by the sound of voices within the stacks.
“— can't change its stripes, Sunny.” A velvety mare’s voice hissed dangerously. “I know what you are, you can't hide it forever.”
“Please…” Sunset Shimmer sobbed. “Why are you doing this to me? I've never—”
“Oh, that's rich.” The other voice said in a mocking tone. “‘Sunset Shimmer’s never done anything, why are you being so mean?’ Don't make me laugh. I'm going to make sure you lose the Autumn Crown, your scholarship, your apprenticeship, everything. This is only the beginning—”
Lemon Hearts charged around the final shelf, ready to confront the bully. However, she froze in her tracks when she saw the culprit. She could feel her mind skip gears and come apart.
It couldn't be Raspberry Tart saying such hateful things.
Sunset Shimmer couldn't be in tears.
“Miss Tart!” Professor Inkwell said sharply, shattering the tableau. The malicious grin Raspberry Tart wore disappeared, replaced by wide-eyed terror. “You will not speak to other students in that way! The Dean shall hear of this! Threatening another student, I never!”
“No!” Raspberry Tart said, “You don’t understand—!”
“How could you?!” Lemon Hearts shouted, bounding in front of the angry librarian. “All those things you said about me… You were using me to get to Sunset! I trusted you! I liked you!”
“N-no!” Raspberry Tart repeated, eyes darting from Inkwell to Lemon. “She’s not—”
Sunset Shimmer began to bawl, her body shook with each sob.
Professor Inkwell muttered something that might have been a curse, before shaking her mane angrily. “Get up, Miss Tart. Let’s go see what your grandfather has to say about this. You’ll be suspended for this, at least, and you can wave goodbye to that apprenticeship with the Fillydelphia Shaper’s Union.”
Raspberry Tart stood numbly, and was escorted out by Professor Inkwell. Sunset Shimmer remained on the floor, sobbing.
“H-hey, Sunset? Miss Shimmer? Um…”
Sunset sniffled once, and turned her damp eyes up towards Lemon Hearts. In a flash of recognition, she stood and tried to wear her ‘upper classpony’ guise.
It was too late. She couldn’t quite manage. She began to cry again.
“Hey!” Said Lemon. “It’s okay! She’s gone!”
Sunset threw her hooves around Lemon Hearts, and sobbed into her mane. Lemon Hearts froze, caught between a desire to comfort her mentor, and her orders not to touch her.
Eventually, her empathy won out. She hugged Sunset back, and they rode out the waves together.
“Gosh, I’m so sorry,” murmured Sunset. It had taken some time, but she looked her old self again. Mostly. Her eyes were still red from crying.
“I’m so sorry, Suns— Miss Shimmer. I didn’t know Raspberry Tart could be so mean!”
Sunset laughed weakly, and braced herself against Lemon for a moment. “We never really know anypony, do we? If I’d thought she could be so petty, well… Never mind.”
Lemon looked on as Sunset wiped her face on her hoofkerchief. “What was that about?”
“Oh, that? A couple years ago, she and I were in the same pool of candidates for a research fellowship in the Griffish Isles. She had to bow out for some reason, and I won. She still blames me for it. So when I just placed over her in our Alteration exams….”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Lemon said. “I’ll bow out of the race tomorrow. I don’t deserve it. I was just a pawn in somepony’s sick revenge scheme.”
Sunset’s eyes flew open. “Oh, no, Lemon! You can’t! You’ve done so well! You and I are only separated by two or three tenths of a percent! You’ve worked so hard for this! I’ll step down. That should help calm things.”
Lemon felt her cheeks burn hotly. “No! I only started because of Raspberry. It’s not fair to—”
Sunset shook her mane furiously. “You might have started this as her pawn, but you’ve seen through her now. I insist you keep trying. You’d be the first first-year ever to wear the crown. However,” Sunset met Lemon’s eyes, and smiled. They still glistened with tears, but her smile’s warmth finally glowed behind her eyes. “If you don’t mind a little friendly competition, I’ll try to keep up. What do you say?”
Lemon hugged her mentor again, and agreed. “Yeah, a friendly competition! Thank you so much, Sunset!”
Sunset returned the embrace, and chuckled. “No, thank you, Lemon Hearts. Now, how do you feel about starting to apply your Alteration studies?”
Lemon’s shout of victory got them roundly shushed by the other students.
But it was so worth it.