//------------------------------// // Sunshine, Sunburn // Story: Glory of the Sun // by Celesti Lateo //------------------------------// I'm currently in front of a manor in the Inner city, having already knocked on the door. Or rather, one of my guard did. Rapid hoofsteps can be heard and the door swings open. "Prince Solus! You made it!", Sunset says, beaming. "Of course I did, Lady Shimmer, what do you take me for?" I say in my worst imitation of a noble. *snort* "Heh-eh, sorry, of course you, eh, wouldn't!" I smile. "On a more serious note, I'm glad to see you again, Sunset." "Me too, Prince. Please come in!" I follow her inside. The interior is exactly as what I expected: banners, tapestries, paintings, marble and gold. I wonder if the nobility would have a collective heart attack if I built something out of granite and silver? Hmm, something to consider for the future... Anyway, let's set aside the inner monologue for now. "So, what are we going to do?" "Hmm, do you like chess?" "I never really played, but I'd be willing to try." Not exactly a lie, since I never played in this life. In my previous one, I never won at chess, I always got beaten because I had no idea what to do. "Come on then! We have a set in the garden!" She runs off and I hurry to follow her. We soon arrive outside, in a, well, a garden. Surprise, surprise. Enough self-snark. The garden is quite the sight, with exotic flowers and fountains. I'm pretty sure the exotic birds are enchanted to stay here, but it's still quite beautiful. Sunset is already at a table which has a chess set deployed on top of it. I sit opposite her, and look over the pieces. Seems the pawns are earth ponies and the knights are pegasi. The king is a unicorn, rooks are towers, fools are also unicorns and... The queen is an alicorn. Obviously. "Prince?" "Uh, oh! Sorry, I'm listening!" She shakes her head, smiling. "As I was saying, do you know how to play?" "Superficially." "Right. Well it's rather simple, see that piece there? It can..." Thunk! "You'll win one day, Prince." "Right." Considering I currently had my muzzle pressed against the table, It probably came out as 'vraith', or something like that. Thunk! "Oh, come on it wasn't that bad." "I do not appreciate false compliments." "It wasn't a compliment." Thunk! "You didn't lose that often." "Sunset. 29 to 1. And I'm pretty sure you lost that one on purpose." "What? Noooo..." Doesn't that sound sincere. "And it has just been an hour since we first began to play. Two minutes per match." "Well...don't feel too bad? You're just six after all." Oh, right. Wound my pride even further. It's not like I'm actually nearly three times your age. "Not that I'm not having fun, but can we do something else?" "Hmm, oh! We could go swim!" "Swim? I didn't know you had a pond nearby." If only because we are on a mountain. "No, silly! We have pool! Come, on I'll show you!" Pool? Did medieval societies have pools? Hmm... Well, it's not like it requires any kind of special technology... Meh, whatever. I follow her out of the garden to another area, where there is a rather large pool. A huge pool. And I just thought about something. "Uh, Sunset?" "Yeah?" "I...I don't know how to, uh, how to-" "You don't know how to swim? That's not a problem, I'll teach you!" "Really? Thank you!" I glomp her, holding her neck. "A-ah, It's, uh, nothing, Prince! Let's do it!" I let go and follow her to the edge of the pool. She jumps in and begin swimming. "See my legs? You simply paddle in rhythm. It's a lot like galloping, in fact!" Is it really that simple? "Come on! Jump in! I'll hold you with my magic!" Oh, dear. Here we go! "Cowabunga!" I jump in. Eeep, it's cold! Paddle, paddle...I'm not doing it! I'm not doing it! "Help!", I shriek. "Hold on! I got you!" As she says that, I feel myself being lifted up and I can finally stop flailing. "There, it's okay. Why don't you try it again? Don't worry, I won't let go." I do as she says, slowly. Move right foreleg, move left hindleg... I "swim" for a few minutes before Sunset talks again. "I'm going to let you go now, tell me when you're ready." "What? I'm not ready! Not even close!" "It's not that complicated, Solus. You're already doing it." "...Fine, I'm ready." The support slowly fades away and I struggle to continue without it. "Relax. If you keep your legs that stiff, you won't be able to do it." Relax, Relax... Hey! I'm doing it! "I'm doing it! Sunset, I'm doing it!" She laughs. "That you are! Told you you could do it!" I swim in circle around her, smiling like Pinkie Pie. And then I have a sudden impulse coming from my childish brain. "Oy, Sunset!" "Hmm?" "Take this!" I proceed to splash her. Now her mane is down in her face and she's spitting out water. She also has a murderous look in her eyes. "Wait until I get you, twerp!" Curse you, child's brain! "Huff-hurph, you...you didn't need to -hurf- nearly drown me." "You started it!" "I just wanted to have fun!" "Well...I didn't know that!" What else could I have meant? "So? Did you really think I was attacking you? After everything you've done?" "N-no...ugh! Fine! I'm sorry! There! Happy?" Didn't that seem honest. "I'll take it." "Whatever." A bell rings out. "What's that?" "It means dinner is served. Come on!" She starts to walk away. "Right, right I'm following you." "Also, I have my lessons to attend this afternoon, so dinner is all the time we have left." "Lessons? I thought this day was a free day?" "Only losers and underachievers take breaks like that." "If you say so." "That's what my mother says and considering she's one of the top nobles, I'll believe her." I think I'll shut up now. She's clearly disinclined to discuss this. Wait... Mmm, sweet, sweet food...how you smell divinely tasty... "I was glad to spend the morning with you, Sunset." "Likewise, Prince." "See you later, and good luck with your lessons!" She grins. "I don't need luck. See you tonight." "'Kay! Bye!" She waves as I enter the carriage. I don't think I ever felt this happy in this life. Just...playing and fooling around. Getting to act like a child. I wonder if I could get away with acting like that with Shiny, Mac and Cady... Probably not, but I'll make sure the next generation can. And maybe Sunset will help me do that.