“So. You were making everything up?” Sunset asked, watching as Iridescent began to levitate several large spellbooks. The two were sitting under a tree, looking outward at the rest of the area from the comfort of the shade. “Celestia told me you were living in some old house.”
They were in the gardens again, near the same spot as last time. Iridescent had all but insisted on it. After taking one look at the royal archives and complaining about the smell of old books, he turned around and tried to leave. Only for Sunset to drag him back in so they could at least pick out spell books that would help him.
“Yeah. Well, making up everything except the part about not knowing magic. I actually had no clue what I was doing,” The books settled onto the grass in front of him, stacked in such a way that resembled a house of cards. Iridescent was sitting on his haunches and guiding the movements with his hooves like those limbs were doing the magic. “Getting better at this, though. Maybe my cutie mark is magic related.”
Sunset just stared at him, trying to process the information. How could he not know what his cutie mark was?
“Even the part about your mom? The magic surge? Surely your cutie mark didn’t come out of nowhere.” She pressed.
Iridescent paused, his hooves stopping their motions and settling into the grass. He took a glance at Sunset as the books were once again coated in an amber aura and neatly stacked themselves on top of one another.
“I, uh. My cutie mark just appeared one day, like I told you and uh...,” He was being hesitant again yet seemed to be telling the truth. She got the feeling that he wasn’t telling the full story, though. “I haven’t seen my mom since I was eight. It’s just been me and my dad for a while.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
That... sounded like a problem.
“What happened?” She asked, head tilted curiously. Her own book had long been closed in favor of paying attention to the colt in front of her.
“Ouch! Rude,” Iridescent put a hoof over his chest in a mock display of shock. Even completed it with an aghast expression, though there was a twinkle of humor in his eyes that didn’t go unnoticed. “What if it’s like super tragic and you just offended me or something? Be more careful of what you say!”
“... Is it something tragic?”
“Nah,” Iridescent snickered, a cheeky smirk on his face. “Not in the slightest.”
Sunset snorted, barely containing a giggle and giving him a light shove with her hoof.
“Okay. For real, moron. What happened?”
“Well, Shimmy,” He began, opening the top most spellbook and examining the contents within. Sunset rolled her eyes inwardly at the nickname. “She was sleeping next to my dad when she just-“ He made a poof sound with his mouth. “-vanished. Dad woke up with an empty spot on the bed and was sad about it for ages... Oooh. How to turn apples into oranges. That sounds fun. Can we try that?”
Sunset rolled her eyes openly this time. At least he was telling the truth. She didn’t have that weird feeling in the back of her mind that he was lying anymore. So she assumed that meant it was fine.
“And your dad?”
Iridescent froze. His movements stopped almost completely. It even looked like he stopped breathing. If it weren’t for the light swaying his body did, she would have thought he had turned into a statue.
“Iridescent?” She asked, waving a hoof in front of his face. His eyes looked clouded and distant, fixed to a point in the distance with a thousand yard stare.
The colt suddenly jumped and dropped the book he had been holding in his magic. It hit the grass softly, the yellowing pages turning rapidly in the breeze.
“Huh? What? Dad? I-,” A wince crossed his face for a moment but it left just as quickly as it had come. “Headache. Dammit. Anyway, I don’t really know what happened to dad. But he was there for me after mom disappeared.”
“You... don’t remember?” He was being honest here too. “Do you even know how you got here?”
“Nope,” Iridescent shook his head to clear away the headache. A few of his dreadlocks wiggled at the motion. “Went from my house to Canterlot overnight. Whenever I try to remember how or why, I get these headaches.”
“Right. Why didn’t you ask for help?” The whole situation was weird. Could something magic related have happened to his parents at separate times? Maybe he had his memories suppressed somehow and the headaches prevented him from accessing them. Neuromancy spells weren’t common but they definitely existed. But that would imply somepony did this to him.
“Can we just not talk about it?” Iridescent’s face twisted into a slightly annoyed look as he noticed her analytical expression. He always seemed eager to cut off her train of thought. “Celestia’s already looking into it. I don’t want to make it worse by thinking about it.”
“Of course,” Sunset grumbled, standing up and brushing some dirt off of her fur. The mention of her mentor had put a bad taste in her mouth. Ever since Iridescent moved in, Celestia had been spending more time with him. For some reason it was more irritating than it should have been. “Whatever. What’s this about apples and oranges?”
***
“For the last time, you’re not the ‘Master of the Arcane’!” Sunset snapped.
Iridescent, like a mature teenage colt, stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry in defiance.
“I turned a bunch of apples into oranges! I’m like, a master wizard or something!” He declared, taking a bite out of one of the aforementioned oranges and chewing obnoxiously. “It’s delicious! A proper meal befitting the Master of the Arcane!”
Sunset could feel her eye twitch. She thought about squeezing orange juice into his eyes and making him cry for mercy. That would teach him.
But she didn’t. Instead she decided that not ruining his vision was in her best interest and that next time she’d swear at him or something. Minions do need to see after all.
“Close your mouth, meathead,” She let out a sigh, facehoofing and counting to five in her head. “You’re getting orange juice on my fur.”
“Oh. Eskizé mwen. Padon,” There he goes in that weird language again. Maybe she should ask about it. He raised a foreleg up to his muzzle and wiped it, before downing the rest of the orange with a single bite. “Still the Master of the Arcane, though.”
“What’s that language you keep speaking?” Sunset asked, floating an orange over and beginning to peel it. For her own sanity and Iridescent’s physical well being, she chose to ignore his last statement. “You’ve said some words in it before but it doesn’t sound like any language I’ve ever heard.”
“Oh that?” His head tilted. Sunset just nodded, taking a bite out of her freshly peeled orange. Hey, it was rather delicious. Guess he did do the spell properly. “It’s Haitian Creole. I don’t think anypony in this- anypony speaks it much anymore.”
It was a bit hard to discern if he had simply stuttered or had almost slipped up and said something else. Then again, he was a bit of a moron.
“Haitian Creole?”
“Yeah. My great grandparents taught it to my grandad and my grandad taught my dad. Dad was teaching it to me before he uh,” A quiet hiss of pain came from Iridescent’s lips. Sunset’s head snapped in his direction but by the time she did so, his headache had already passed. “Yeah. You get the idea.”
“So it’s a family thing? How come you don’t speak it more often?”
“My great grandparents are from the country that spoke it the most,” Iridescent shrugged. He grabbed another orange, peeling it crudely with his magic. “Me and dad moved before grandad could help teach me more. Dad tried to keep the lessons going but he’s not exactly the best teacher.”
“That’s cool.” She said almost without thinking as she took another bite.
“Thanks,” Iridescent smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away a little. “Look at you managing to say something positive. Didn’t know you had it in you, Shim Sham.”
“Don’t call me that,” She snapped, feeling her face get warmer. Those stupid nicknames he gave her were beyond irritating but also slightly nice? To put it in simple terms, at least. Half of her felt like screaming and the other half... also felt like screaming but in a more directed way toward Iridescent. “While you’re at it you can drop the other nickname. It’s stupid.”
“C’mon!” He whined, even pouted about it, too. It reminded her of those spoiled fillies she went to school with. “I like it. Sounds funny and it rolls of the tongue. I know you like it too, Shi-“
“Don’t.”
Iridescent’s mouth snapped closed and Sunset fixed him a pointed glare, daring him to speak. A cheeky grin spread across his face. If this idiot so much as-
“Shimmy.”
“...”
She didn’t put the orange juice in his eyes. Even if she really wanted to. But it was going to take one mean scrubbing to remove it from his coat and mane. Maybe next time he’d think twice.
That meathead.