Middle Canterlot
Episode 3 - Muffin Day
Balloons and streamers filled the marketplace of Canterlot's Middle Quarter. Confetti, streamers, and games lined the walls and whatever space wasn't already being taken up by the party-goers. All of this was in celebration of one particular treat that everypony loved.
"Muffin!" exclaimed an odd gray pegasus pony as she tossed out muffins from her bag to the passersby, giggling. Her blond mane became a blur as she darted around the market. "Have a muffin!" she told the next group to pass by, who smiled at her enthusiasm. She smiled back, crossing her gold-colored eyes briefly before flying away again. She flew up above the crowd, proclaiming, "Happy Muffin Day everypony!", then made it rain the baked sweets until she ran out. She dove back down to the ground to fetch more.
"Is Muffin Day a real holiday?" asked Azure as she stared curiously around at all of the decorations. She, Primrose, and Rose's class were all on a trip to the celebration today. "I've never heard of it before, and I've been through half of Equestria."
Ms. Primrose chuckled and said, "Well its real enough to everypony here, right kids?" The class nodded, all itching to run and join in on the fun and games. "Okay, class, you know the rules. Everypony stay on the city's grounds, and remember that if you get lost, we meet at the fountain. Now go, have fun, and Happy Muffin Day!"
The mass of colts and fillies surged by Azure and Primrose, knocking Azure's mane around. She tossed her head to the side, roughly fixing it, and laughed. "Well, so long as they're happy, I don't mind a little craziness," she said.
"Thanks for helping watch the class today, by the way," said Primrose, "Even if we do just let them run around as they want every year."
"Oh its no problem at all. I'm happy to help out," said Azure.
“Glad to hear,” said Primrose. She looked around, then leaned in towards Azure. “By the way, I did some research on your little magic ‘problem’,” she whispered.
Azure recoiled from Primrose slightly. “Uhh, why are you whispering?” she asked.
Primrose shrugged. “I just thought you were embarrassed, the way you acted when Rose brought it up the other day,” she said. “In any case, its not too much to worry about. In short, you’re probably forcing some spells to be more difficult than they need to be.”
“How does that work?”
“Well,” said Primrose, “Think of it like this: your magic right now is like trying to open a door by pushing in the wrong spot.”
“How’s that? Like pushing by the hinges?”
“More like pushing straight down on the knob.”
Azure blinked in surprise. “Well then how do I get anything done at all?”
“Simply put, brute force,” said Primrose, laughing, “Which is impressive, by the way. I think you could get a lot accomplished if you just had the proper training.”
“Well, do you think you could—,” Azure started to say, only to have somepony's hoof shoved in her mouth muffin-first. She coughed and forcibly swallowed the muffin whole.
"Muffin!" said the mystery pegasus, smiling so wide her eyes had shut.
"Hey, I was talking!" Azure scolded.
Primrose laughed to herself. “Yes, I could help you practice sometime, Azure,” she said.
The pegasus opened her eyes, which were somehow still crossed from before. Azure was about to say something when they fixed themselves automatically. "Oh, sorry, I get a bit excited sometimes," said the pegasus pony with a shrug. "My name's Derpy Hooves, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
Azure shook her head. "Uhh, it's fine, just try not to do it again, all right?"
Derpy nodded, smiling widely again. "I won't! Want another muffin?" she asked, seamlessly going back to her previous enthusiasm.
Rose trotted over, wearing a muffin-top hat, laughing. "That was great!" she said, "Azure you shoulda seen the look on your face!"
Azure groaned and said, "Yeah, I'll take another muffin. Just lemme chew this one, okay?"
"Yessir," said Derpy with a cross-eyed salute. She went to shove another muffin at Azure but just barely stopped herself short. "Whoops, almost did it again!" she said, giggling. Rose and Primrose joined in the laughter, while Azure was clearly unamused. This didn't stop her from taking the muffin off of Derpy's hooves though.
“And its ma’am, Derpy,” Azure grumbled.
"Can I go play with Derpy? She seems really fun!" asked Rose, bouncing alongside the pegasus.
Azure looked at her sister as if she was nuts. “What? We just met her!” said Azure.
Derpy’s eyes brightened and she jumped in front of Azure. “Can I?! Please?!” she said. “I’ll keep an eye out for her, I promise!” Coincidentally one eye rolled over towards Rose as she spoke.
Azure backed away, unable to ignore the off eye. “Well I don’t know...” she said.
Primrose cleared her throat. "Don't worry, she might have her quirks, but she's pretty trustworthy," she said in a reassuring tone, “I’ve seen her around a few times. I’m pretty sure she delivers mail for some parts of the city.” Derpy nodded in confirmation.
"Go ahead," said Azure reluctantly, rolling her eyes.
"Yay!" yelled Rose and Derpy in unison. They ran off into the celebrations, laughing.
As they left, Primrose looked at Azure confusedly. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with them.”
“Eh, I gotta let her get out and make friends on her own sometime, right?” asked Azure. “Besides, maybe we can spend some time hanging out by ourselves now.”
Primrose gasped and giggled in excitement. Azure backed off in surprise, then laughed.
"Muffin, muffin, muffin~" Derpy sang as she and Rose trotted through the crowd. Even her trotting was silly, Rose noted. It was bouncier than other ponies' ways of walking. Derpy never stopped smiling as she went.
"What do you wanna do first?" asked Rose eagerly.
Derpy thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you ever bobbed for muffins?"
"Is that like bobbing for apples?" asked Rose.
"Well, I guess it would be." She put a hoof to her chin to think. "But I don't think muffins float too well, do they?"
"How does that work then?"
"Hmm," she said, "I guess it doesn't." Her eyes crossed again for a moment, "But there are other games we can play, too!"
Rose laughed and shook her head. "All right, lead the way, silly!"
Azure and Primrose weren’t far behind the other two. Azure strained her neck to look over the other ponies in the crowd. Primrose was talking, but Azure wasn’t paying attention.
“I mean, what would you do?” asked Primrose. She finally nudged Azure to get her attention when she didn’t respond.
“Huh, what?” said Azure obliviously.
Primrose shook her head. “And here I thought it was just my students who couldn’t pay attention to me,” she said softly.
“No, no, I was just distracted!” said Azure, “What were you saying again?”
“Well I got asked out by one of the school’s janitors yesterday, and I still haven’t given him an answer.”
“Uhuh, uhuh,” said Azure. She was already “distracted” again.
Primrose rolled her eyes. “Okay so no romantic topics. Would you rather talk about the city or something?”
Azure shook her head quickly and turned back to Primrose. “Honestly, of the two, I’d rather that second one,” she said. “I’m sorry, but any of that dating stuff is all hooplah to me.”
Primrose chuckled softly. “I understand, don’t worry. To each her own, right?” she said. “Now, what do you want to know?”
Once outside the city, Rose didn't know what she wanted to do first. There were all kinds of games from throwing darts at muffin-shaped targets and pans, to a game where you smashed a hammer down to send a muffin flying towards a bell at the top. There was even a trampoline made to look like uncooked dough. In fact it might actually have been uncooked dough from the looks of the ponies who recently got off of the ride.
Derpy led the way straight to a ring toss, where the plastic muffins had targets on their tops that the rings had to balance on top of. The catch was how easy the plastic bounced off of plastic, as they saw with the two disappointed ponies before them. Rose frowned, unsure if either of them would be able to be more successful. Derpy smiled and reassured Rose. She put down two bits for three tosses. Focused, she grabbed the first one in her mouth, and gently tossed it at the muffin. It bounced off of the front softly, and the owner of the game shook his head. Derpy almost went for the second toss herself, but reconsidered it and gave it to Rose. Rose's toss went further than Derpy's, bouncing off of the back of the tent. The owner shook his head again. Derpy then grabbed the third and final ring. She squinted, focusing as much as she could, then flipped it upward from her mouth. Both Rose and the owner's jaws dropped as it spun rapidly then bounced off the muffin, landing exactly on the center of the target. They looked at each other, then back at the ring, then at Derpy. Derpy just stood there with a cheerful, cross-eyed face. Rose bounced with joy. The owner laughed. He passed a large stuffed toy of an Ursa to Derpy, who in turn gave it to Rose. Rose smiled and hugged Derpy in thanks before they moved on.
The rest of the afternoon pretty much went like this. They'd find a game, trade turns with it, and, win or lose, have a good laugh about it. Derpy's antics proved to be amusing to some of the owners of the games, and Rose got a few extra turns out of their generosity. There was the strength test game that Derpy tripped and fell onto, technically winning it for them, and then the dunk tank that Derpy managed to, somehow or other, get herself dunked in. All in all, it was perhaps the most entertained Rose had been in years.
Azure levitated an oven tray of muffins carefully to a picnic table. Primrose, already waiting patiently at the table, clapped her hooves once the tray touched down. Azure stared dryly at her.
“Please, I don’t need any of that cheap praise like you give in class,” said Azure as she sat down across from her friend.
Primrose frowned. “Well still, you’re doing really well without any training,” she said.
“Oh uhh, about that,” said Azure, averting her eyes, “I might’ve exaggerated just a little bit with that.”
“How so?”
“Well I mean I learned a lot from Mom and Dad, just not anything formal.”
Primrose thought for a moment. “Well can you show me something your parents didn’t teach you?” she asked.
Azure nodded, then stood back from the table. She focused intensely as her horn started to glow. A moment later, in a small flash of light, a floating blue-translucent muffin appeared in front of Azure.
Primrose’s eyes widened. “That was great! Where’d you learn an illusion manifestation spell like that?” she asked as she stood to get a closer look.
Azure sat back proudly. “Illusion, nothing! That’s as good as real, minus the taste, mind you,” she said. “Picked that up just messing around with some old spellbook my Momma had. Of course I could barely read the thing, and she never let me see it since, but still.”
Primrose poked at the muffin curiously. It swayed back and forth in the air, and she snickered. “Well of course, now it makes sense,” she said. She jumped in surprise when the muffin winked out of existence immediately after she finished.
Azure growled to herself. “Sorry, the thing fizzled on me.”
“Probably because you’re casting it so very wrong,” said Primrose snidely.
Azure glared at Primrose, who recoiled with an uneasy smile. They were both soon distracted, however, by a loud splashing noise from one of the games nearby.
“About time somepony won at that thing,” said Azure with a laugh. As soon as she saw the pony lifting herself out of the tank, however, her expression broke into one of concern. Azure watched as Derpy Hooves shook the water from her coat, splashing everypony around her. Rose was the most wet after the motion, but she just laughed it off. Derpy just stood with a proud, wall-eyed expression in the middle of the crowd.
“Is everything alright?” asked Primrose.
Rose hugged Derpy. Azure lowered her head. “No, its not,” she said.
Derpy Hooves and Rose eventually took a break from their games for a snack. They laughed and joked as they left the concession stand. Azure approached them slowly with a stern look on her face.
"Oh, haha, hey there Azzie! Derpy was just telling me about this time she was delivering a package, and—" Rose started.
"Yeah, ha-ha, great. You two having fun?" asked Azure, in a flat tone.
"Of course!" said Derpy, smiling, "Its been a great Muffin Day so far! Your sister is fun!"
Rose bounced in excitement. "Derpy won me a few prizes too!" she said, showing Azure the large stuffed Ursa.
Azure averted her eyes, trying to stifle a pained expression. "That's great, haha," she said uneasily. "Hey Rose, wanna go check out the bake sale? I hear there's a big muffin with Celestia's face on it, and—"
"Nah, I wanna hang out more with Derpy," Rose blurted out.
Derpy giggled. "I think we saw that already anyway. Sorry, Blue," she said. She patted Azure on the head. Azure swatted away her hoof and growled. Derpy looked puzzled and asked, "Oh, sorry, what was your name again?"
"Azure. Come on, Rose, we're leaving," Azure said in a huff, sliding her sister over with one hoof.
"What!? Why?" asked Rose while trying to fight her sister's grip.
"Because I said so, that's why," Azure grumbled as she dragged her sister away.
Derpy cocked her head. "Well, goodbye for now I guess. It was fun Rosey!" she called after the two. At hearing Derpy use Rose's nickname, Azure gritted her teeth, dragging Rose more forcibly away.
The two passed Primrose on their way. While they almost knocked her over, they didn’t even notice. “Oh dear,” said Primrose, putting a hoof to her lip.
Derpy fluttered over to Primrose. “Is she okay?” she asked.
Primrose shook her head. “You know, the way she acts I just assumed she’d at least know how to share,” she muttered.
"What are you doing!?" Rose yelled at Azure, who lay underneath a tree. They had left the celebrations and come to rest behind one of the tents. "I was having fun! With a new friend!"
"I didn't trust her, that's all. We just met her," Azure said, blatantly rationalizing.
“Make up your mind! Should I make friends or not!?”
“Well of course you should” said Azure, “but she’s not the kind of friend you should be making.” She couldn’t make proper eye contact with Rose for the second part.
"Yeah, right," said Rose, "I was with her all day and nothing bad happened! She's great, she's silly, she's fun—"
"Well if she's so great then why don't ya just live with her?!" Azure yelled out suddenly.
Rose gasped. "Okay, first, you live with me. Second, are you actually jealous?!"
"No!" Azure said defensively. She looked down though, and said, "Okay, maybe a little. You never seem to like hanging out with me that much."
"Well duh, that's because she's actually fun!" said Rose, rolling her eyes, "Derpy's more fun, more nice, and more..."
"Derpy?" Azure offered to finish, crossing her eyes in jest. Rose was not amused. "Besides, I can be fun!" added Azure.
“More importantly,” said Rose, “I hang out with you all the time. Can’t I at least have a break?”
“No!” blurted out Azure without realizing what she was even saying.
Rose groaned loudly. “You’re unbelievable!”
“Yeah, well you’re—,” Azure started to respond when a sparkle in the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. The sun was just setting, and the sisters were in the perfect spot; a rainbow of sparkles came from somewhere in the forest downhill. Reds, blues, greens, and even gold, all shone through the trees in a mesmerizing cascade. Both sisters were entranced by the wondrous sight. They walked closer to the sparkles for a better look. But the colors vanished as the sun set, and the light no longer shone from inside.
Rose sighed in her disappointment. Azure, on the other hand, was busy figuring out a bit of a plan. After a moment her eyes lit up and she nudged her sister.
"Hey, you wanna have fun?" asked Azure.
"Yeah, but what does a shiny cave have to do with it?"
"We can go check out that cave. It'll be like an adventure!" said Azure, jumping up eagerly.
"And do what when we get there?" asked Rose skeptically.
"Well, I'm thinking what we saw was some jewels in the cave, and if we get there, they'll be ours for the taking..." said Azure. Her eyes brightened as she imagined her own story.
Rose's eyes widened as she finally understood. "What are we waiting for then!?" she asked, galloping off before her older sister.
"Don't let me slow ya down!" shouted Azure. She scooped up a nearby souvenir saddlebag from the trash before galloping after the filly. "I'm the only pony with a bag to carry the gems with us when we're done!"
As they left, Derpy dropped down to where they had been, landing with a small bounce. She held the stuffed Ursa crammed inside one of her postal-pony saddlebags. "Rosey! You forgot your prize back at the party!" she called after them. When there was no response, she frowned. She turned to the Ursa and patted its head with one wing. "Don't worry, Mr. Starbuck, we'll get 'em," she said cheerfully as she took off after the two.
The two sisters quickly galloped through the dark trees. Azure couldn’t help but get a bad feeling from this forest. She kept thinking there was something watching her from the trees and bushes. More importantly, she felt she knew the name of the forest from somewhere, and that it came with a foreboding reputation. Eventually, the faint shine coming from inside a cave ahead made her forget her reservations completely.
Rose galloped into the cave without a second thought. Azure followed at a slower trot, curiously looking around the walls. "Slow down there, buckaroo!" Azure called after her sister. The cave formations were spectacular, glowing on their own almost. Around the corner, an orange, wavering light marked some sort of fire. "Uhh, wait! Somepony might be here already!" Azure shouted hastily. Sure, she was as fond of jewels as the next pony, particularly valuable, sell-able ones, but that didn't mean she was at all okay with stealing.
"I found them!" Rose called from the next room, "Oh, wow, Azure, they're amazing!"
"That's great, Rose!" said Azure. As she rounded the corner though, her heart sank, and she stopped cold. She whispered-yelled to her sister, "Rose! Get back over here!"
"What for? All these pretty gemstones... Sapphires, Diamonds, this purple thingy," said Rose, holding up the gem in question. Suddenly the entire cave rumbled, and Rose was swept up by a gust of wind, knocking her over to the other side of the gem pile. "What was— oh..."
Both ponies were now frozen, staring as a large gray-green dragon blinked awake. Its face had been not ten feet from the pile, and a heavy sigh as it awoke pushed Rose. Its tail swept up dust as it stood. It yawned, rather loudly, causing Azure to recoil. At the end of its yawn a small flicker of flame came from its mouth as it turned downward to face the intruders. It growled, a low and rumbling noise, and stared at the two for a moment. It licked its lips. Its tongue slipped between a row of jagged teeth. Azure and Rose gulped in unison.
Derpy landed on a tree branch just outside of the cave. It promptly snapped under her weight, of course, but somehow she still managed to land on her hooves. She was briefly shook-up, but seemed to smile the shock away. She double-checked that Rose's Ursa was secure before starting to trot inside the cave. She was abruptly stopped by a forceful roar from inside that was enough to blow her mane back. She shrugged. "Somepony's not in a good mood," she said as she tried to think of what that could've been.
Inside, Rose and Azure cowered behind the pile of gems as the dragon breathed fire against it. Somehow, the jewels were rather effective cover. "Well, Rosey, looks like this is a bit more 'adventure' than I bargained for," said Azure, sneaking a peek at the dragon over top of the pile. The dragon stopped, tilting its head while it thought of a solution to its problem. Azure went back to her sister and whispered, "Come on, while he's distracted, let's run for it!" Rose nodded. But when they tried to tip-hoof out, the dragon's tail swiped just over their heads, scattering the top of the gem pile across the cave. They stopped dead in their tracks, ears slumping in defeat.
The dragon licked its lips again, smiling with a toothy grin. It was low and guttural, but it sounded to Azure like it said "Mmm...". It reared back, taking in a deep breath, preparing to toast its slippery dinner to a thorough crisp. Rose cowered, just short of crying. Azure saw her big chance just in this moment. She lept in the path of the flames and, focusing with everything she had, generated a shield-shaped barrier of magic between the fire breath and her. Rose blinked open her eyes, expecting to be fried already. Her jaw dropped when she saw her sister.
"Go, Rosey! I'll hold him off!" Azure yelled back. She quickly realized she had to maintain focus on the spell, as the fire almost pushed through while she was talking. She shut her eyes, wincing from the heat coming off the tongues of fire that got around her barrier. Unfortunately, the same fire that was making it around the barrier kept Rose from leaving, and she jumped back to right behind Azure, quivering.
The dragon let up his flame just as Azure's spell fizzled out. Azure collapsed, out of energy. Shoulda paid more attention to Primrose’s lesson I guess, she thought. She looked up at the dragon who was smiling triumphantly. She frowned and said, in a broken voice, "Well Rosey, I guess that's it."
Derpy heard the sisters scream and in a panic flew in after them. A short way inside she stopped and called out, “Rosey?! Blue pony?! Are you alright?” It took her a moment to notice the dragon's nose was right next to where she was hovering. She gulped and poked it with one hoof, asking, "Hello?" It snorted, knocking her around in midair. She just giggled as she reoriented herself.
"Derpy Hooves!" Rose yelled. "Help!"
Derpy thought for a moment, crossing her eyes, before she finally realized what was going on. In a panic, she did a spin through the air to get away from the dragon’s maw. The dragon, however, was still confused by the new, tasty-looking flying pony. It licked its lips thoroughly, sniffing at Derpy. She giggled at the sniffing, and said, "Are you hungry mister dragon?" The dragon recoiled, confused by her lack of fear. Azure and Rose looked at each other, then back to Derpy and the dragon, easily just as confused.
"Here, muffin!" said Derpy. She flipped a muffin from her bag in the air towards the dragon's mouth. It caught it in a reflex, swallowing the tiny treat quickly. It started to growl at the pegasus, then noticed the sweet taste. It smiled nicely for once.
"There's no way," said Azure. She shook her head in disbelief.
Derpy smiled and cheerfully said, "Muffin! Good boy!" She patted the dragon on the nose. As it opened its mouth to snap her up, she tossed in another muffin.
With the dragon distracted, Azure silently motioned for her sister to follow her out of the cave. Meanwhile Derpy continued to mess with the beast, even getting it to beg for another treat like a dog.
"Derpy!" Azure called up from the exit, motioning for her to follow. Derpy smiled, nodding, then turned back to the dragon.
"Fetch, mister dragon!" she said, tossing another muffin over the dragon's head. It turned around, shaking the ground as it ran after the thing, while Derpy swooped down and out of the cave. The dragon returned to the front with the muffin held proudly, only to realize it had been
tricked.
As Azure, Rose, and Derpy ran from the cave, an echoing roar of frustration followed them. "Happy Muffin Day!" yelled Derpy behind them. Azure yanked on her tail to keep her moving.
Back at the festivities, Azure stopped, panting. Rose bounced around, excited and full of energy. Derpy Hooves giggled and landed not-so-daintily next to Azure. "That dragon was silly," Derpy said with a smile. "It's just too bad I couldn't save any muffins."
Azure suddenly turned and squeezed Derpy in a hug. "Ohmigosh thank you thank you thank you thank you!!" she blurted out. Her voice was still broken a little; she was crying tears of joy.
Derpy patted Azure's head, fluttering up a few feet after her grip was released. "You're welcome!" she said cheerfully, "Sorry about the muffin thing earlier."
"What? It's fine, I said that before," said Azure.
"Oh? Well then why did you leave the party like that?" asked Derpy, genuinely concerned.
"It..." Azure looked to the ground, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. I was a little jealous of how you and my little sister were getting along so well, but now I'm just thankful you were here."
Derpy landed. "Why were you jealous? I was just being me, silly and trying to bring a smile to everypony's face!" she explained, smiling brightly herself.
"Well it kinda looked like she would rather be sisters with you than me, you know?"
Derpy frowned and said, "Aww, I'm sorry if it seemed that way. I just can't help it, you know?" At this her eyes crossed for a second again.
Azure laughed a little, uneasily. "I guess you're right. Still, Rosey said I wasn't any fun—"
"That was amazing Azure!" Rose chimed in, finally calm enough to be coherent. "You stopped a dragon's fire breath! Who else in my class can say their sister ever did that!" she exclaimed, bouncing around happily. Derpy joined in on the bouncing just for the fun of it.
"Hah, I guess that was pretty cool, huh?" said Azure. She finally started smiling herself.
Primrose peered out from around the corner, attracted by Rose’s shouting. She stayed back and watched the conversation.
"Uhuh! I take back everything I said about your magic, its pretty good when it needs to be!" said Rose.
Azure laughed. She finally realized what she had really accomplished tonight, and felt proud for it. "Well thanks!" she said. Then she turned to Derpy Hooves, who was still bouncing, smiling and cross-eyed. "Uhh, are you all ri—"
Derpy's eyes fixed themselves, on-cue.
Azure shook her head quickly. "So, uhh, can you forgive me for thinking you were trying to steal my sister? I feel like we just got off on the wrong hoof, ya know?" she said, offering a hoof to shake.
"Sure!" said Derpy. She offered her hoof in return, but then pulled it back. She thought for a moment and came up with another idea. She held her hoof to her face, licked it sloppily, then offered it back.
Azure recoiled, then just laughed, shaking Derpy's hoof quickly. Afterwards she quickly wiped down the slobber on the ground.
"And the spit makes it official!" said Derpy. She jumped forward to hug Azure. The hug went on for a minute, as Derpy hovered them both up a few feet before dropping Azure.
"Hah, whatever you say, Derpy!" Azure rolled her eyes.
"Now come on, both of you, Muffin Day's not over yet!" Derpy motioned for the two to follow her back around the tents.
"Wait for me!" shouted Rose, who broke off into a brisk trot.
Azure started after them, but hesitated. "Go on, I'll catch up in a minute, I just gotta check something!" she said. Rose shrugged. As she caught up with Derpy Hooves, she took her Ursa back. She smiled and hugged it mid-stride.
Azure waited until both had left before opening the muffin-themed saddlebag. She slowly levitated out a small purple gemstone, smiling wide as she gazed at her little treasure. "'Purple thing'? It’s called amethyst, Rosey. And it’s all mine," she said.
“Beautiful gemstone,” said Primrose suddenly. Azure jumped, hiding the rock.
“W-when did you get here?” she asked in a panic.
Primrose laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony,” she said, winking. “I hope you learned something today, at least.”
Azure nodded. “Something about not being jealous of friends’ friends, right?”
“Well you tell me,” said Primrose, “do you still have a problem sharing your sister’s time with somepony else?”
After a pause, Azure shook her head. “Its not something I’ve really had to do before, but I think I just have to get used to it. Besides, if Rosey’s ever going to make friends on her own, she’ll have to spend time with them instead of me anyway.”
“Wouldn’t you rather that happen?” asked Primrose. “She can spend time with her friends, and you,” she said, patting Azure’s back and smiling, “can spend more time with your friends!”
“Yeah, uhh, sure,” said Azure quietly. Primrose’s ears dropped and she looked away. Azure nudged her friend, with a mocking smile on her face, and Primrose’s expression shifted to match.
“Come on, you,” said Primrose, messing with Azure’s mane with magic, “We have a class to round up before they close everything up for the night.”
Azure magic’d a brush for herself and in one motion ‘fixed’ her mane. “Lead the way, Teach,” she said, pointing between the tents.
“Ladies first,” said Primrose, mirroring Azure’s pointing. The two laughed in unison and left side-by-side.