//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 - Life is Unfair // Story: Morning in Ponyville // by Skarsnik //------------------------------// Princess Luna smiled. She was in one of the most private dining rooms of the castle with her sister and the Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor. Both had a questioning look on their face, though her sister was hiding it well by sipping her first tea of the morning. They had just raised the sun and lowered the moon. It was especially a relaxing routine after all the events of the night. After her meeting with Twilight Sparkle and Morning Star, she still opened the Night Court since she expected a low attendance but that had suited her just fine, so she had time to think. Of course, it was now obvious who Cadance’s flower filly was. It sheds some light on Shining Armor’s parents not wanting Twilight’s friends at the wedding, Twilight Velvet probably blamed them for stealing Twilight Sparkle and her daughter. It was not hard to also understand Princess Cadance's reaction to her sister's proposal to have these ponies participate in the preparation of the wedding itself, not that Cadance seems to dislike them. A servant brought the special treat she ordered to the Royal Pastry chef. It was hidden under the typical silver cloche. “Hm, do you have an announcement, Luna?” inquired her sister, putting back her cup of tea on the table. “Yes, exactly!” smiled Luna. Once the servant left, she lifted the cloche revealing a quite plain vanilla cake with frosting on the side. The centrepiece was composed of a grey moon made of mascarpone and vanilla and a purple star composed of blueberry. Celestia’s eyes lit up, and her lips curled in a sly grin “Did you intend to court my student, sister?” She brought a hoof to her mouth “Think of the scandal!” Shining Armor snorted but quickly regained the stoic face he had kept since entering the room. Luna had summoned him without saying why and he looked upset. “What?! No sister.” She replied surprised. “Then, if you seek out our dear Captain addition to your harem, do I need to remind you that I abolished this practice a long time ago?” Luna did not like the scolding tone, she had already been informed of this after asking a particularly appealing stallion if he was part of her sister’s harem. The poor stallion had been all confused, especially when his commanding officer asked him to ask the Princess herself. “Of course not. And I think Princess Cadance is not willing to share his beloved” she giggled then put a happy smile on her face “Thou, I think the news I bear is as grand as their love.” she paused before continuing “Our dear Shining Armor’s daughter got her cutie mark!” she clapped her hooves together and expected the other to share her excitement but the result of her revelation had mixed results. Her sister only sighed “I guess it was a matter of time before you find out.” she quickly put a smile on her face, Luna was not sure it was a genuine one. “Congratulation Captain Shining Armor.” “Thank you.” replied the stallion, who wore a genius and honest smile. He looked at the cake “So I guess, it’s her cutie mark?” “Yes. It’s quite lovely don’t you think? I always have a soft spot for moon themed cutiemark.” “Yes, I can’t wait to see it.” “Anyways, it’s time to taste this cake” interrupted her sister, holding a silver knife in her magic. With surgical precision, she cut three slices then put them on plates before serving them *** Sadly for Princess Luna, there was no real conversation after the cake was consumed, everypony just ate in silence and when it was time for the first duties of her sister and the captain, they just left the room. She started walking toward her bed chamber for a well-earned rest when she was quickly stopped by Captain Shining Armor “May I speak with your highness in private?” She was annoyed by the formal speech from the stallion but nevertheless followed him toward another privatised room. He closed the door, then looked around before marching toward her. Keeping a stern face he put a hoof in her peystral, which made her recoil more from the surprise than the physical push “Don’t ever do something like that again.” Another hit “I will not have my daughter serve in any kind of scheme or plan anymore. Is that understood?” After the stallion backed away a bit she answered “No.” The stallion grumbled “Don’t play stupid with me. What was that with this… party and the cake?” “I mean yes” she sighed “I suppose I was trying to get under my sister's skin” she looked at the stallion in the eyes “but what about plans?” “You know nothing really? My sister did not explain the whole ordeal to you?” “Well, only how your daughter came to life.” The stallion sighed and walked toward the window to look outside “The Princess, your sister… She uses Morning as a way to make my sister do her bidding.” “I thought Twilight Sparkle was a dedicated student. Pray, tell me.” “Do you really think my sister wanted to stay in Ponyville? When she has a whole family in Canterlot?” he cut her before she could think of a reply “Yes friends are important but you don’t abandon your daughter for friends.” It was easy to follow the reasoning “So I guess my sister threatened your sister to remove her Morning Star or a similar fate?” He paused to think “I… am not sure, probably. Actually, the only reason Princess Celestia allowed Twily to keep Morning was for her to stay faithful…” the stallion assurance started to melt as he keeps talking “It makes hard to disobey a pony that can, on a whim, put your daughter away from you in an orphanage or something.” He sat on his flanks and looked at the princess with sadness in his eyes, “So please don’t complicate this anymore?” Princess Luna closed on the stallion and put her forearm around his barrel, she added her wings for extra grip “Ssh, I am sorry for my sister's actions.” Shining Armor did not react nor gave a reply so she continued “But I am afraid now that I am involved I should help you. Is that not what Princess Cadance wanted?” The stallion tensed and talked “I told her it was not a good idea. I don’t want you to fight your sister.” Luna sighed “Siblings often fight, yes” she paused “I know what you imply. But you are family, something my sister has apparently lost the meaning of.” She tightened her grip on the stallion, having the confirmation that his stature matched his fitness, a fine stallion indeed, lucky Cadance “Can I ask you a few questions?” “Can you let me breathe?” he simply replied. “Sorry”, she giggled. “But you are very huggable.” Shining Armor snorted “I hear that a lot, especially from fillies.” Sweetie Belle awoke slowly, she did not sleep well because of the dumb storm and the dumb filly, and the dumb cutie mark and the dumb comfy bed that was not silk and… She jumped out of her bed and groaned in frustration. “This is so unfair!” She caught a glimpse of her reflection and groaned again, of course her mane also chose to misbehave and it would be a nightmare to put it back in order. “This is so unfair!” “Is everything alright, Sweetie Belle?” she heard from behind the door, this sounded like Spike. “Yes, yes.” She sighed and resigned herself to have to spend one hour brushing her mane in submission, she sure loved her curly bouncy mane, but beauty has a price. “Wow, you look wild,” said Spike holding a pillow under his arms, it was kinda cute. “You look sleepy,” she replied. “I think Morning is stealing my sleep every night,” he replied. She was not sure what that was supposed to mean “so breakfast? Twilight made some celebrating pancakes.” “Ok.” celebrating? She sighed and passed a hoof through her mane, she was ready to say ‘This is so unfair’ again and just groaned, another filly that got her cutie mark before her “This is so unfair!” “What?” She stomped and hoof on the floor “Gah” “Hey! I waxed this floor last week, geez you are so like Rarity.” “Sorry!” and now she was bothering Spike for nothing, she wanted to stomp again but restrained herself, “Breakfast!” She followed Spike toward the kitchen, trying to calm herself. She hummed a cheery tune to try to calm herself descending the stairs. Her spirit was lifted when she entered the kitchen, “Pancakes!”. On the table, there were multiple plates with hot steaming deliciousness. “I know that will cheer you up,” said Spike, but Sweetie Belle was not listening as she moved to an available seat. She grabbed a fork and started blindly picking up a pancake, but her fork hit the table instead. “They are mine.” Sweetie Belle could see traces of magic around the plate as it slid toward the other filly of the room. “That’s not very nice, Morning.” chided the only adult in the room. Sweetie Belle paid no mind and tried to reach a pancake from another stack. “They are mine!” shouted Spike before grabbing the plate away from the filly’s fork. That woke up Sweetie Belle from the enticing smell of pancakes permitting the room. She gave a puzzled look at Twilight Sparkle. “Here, you can take those ones.” A fresh stack was placed in front of her muzzle and it smelled good. She tentatively gave a poke with her fork, expecting to have them vanish before she could reach one, but no. She nearly brought the pancake to her muzzle but stopped, plain pancakes were silly “Do you have some syrup?” “Of course.” A bottle of maple syrup was levitated toward her, the lid already removed. “Thank” as she poured the syrup on her first pancake Sweetie Belle had a better look on the pancakes she had been denied. The ones in front of the lucky filly had a half-moon pattern in the middle, but she could not make it exactly make what was different from the one in front of Spike. “There are some crushed gems in them” smiled Spike, he made a no no gesture with his claws “No good for fillies.” “Yes, don’t try it, Sweetie Belle, you could cut the inside of your mouth.” injected Twilight, still working a pan full of pancake batter.. Sweetie Belle tried to imagine what it could feel to have the inside of her mouth full of tiny cuts, it was probably not nice. “What the… moon are? Cheese?” She giggled at her own joke. “It’s blueberry jam!” beamed the other filly to the surprise of Sweetie Belle. “It’s her favourite,” added Spike. “Ok” she got back at her own pancake and realized she poured too much syrup on it, annoying clumsy hooves, and now Morning was watching her funny. “I love syrup!” She cheered for herself to give herself an excuse for her clumsiness. After washing her hooves and having eaten probably a Rarity non approved amount of Pancake, Sweetie Belle was reading one of the few magazines in the library. Seated nearby was Spike reviewing a checklist of some sort. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Preparing for the tornado!” The filly tilted her head “But you are not a pegasus.” “I am the head coordinator.” He looked again at the paper in front of him. “The numbers are not that great with so many ponies having caught the feather flu.” Sweetie Belle got back at her magazine, that sounded like boring math, and she was not a fan of math at all. There was a knock at the door of the library and she followed with her eyes an excited Morning Star rushing to the door to open it. Sweetie Belle was confused about who would want to go so early to the library. It was the mailmare and her daughter, Dinky. Sweetie Belle tried to hide behind her magazine, that was two fillies that got their cutie marks before her! It was so unfair! They were younger than her too! “Sweetie Belle, what are you doing here?” asked Dinky, putting Sweetie Belle out of her loop of unfair monologue. “Huh, I slept here, my parents are out of town... again,” she said the last part for herself. Dinky tilted her head then her head ears perked up, she threw her saddlebag on the ground, open it and grabbed a bag and rummaged her hoof inside it. “Here is a candy to cheer you up.” Sweetie Belle picked the candy with her hoof and before she could put it on her mouth she was taken in a hug from Dinky. It was nice. She saw Dinky make a hoof gesture toward the door where Morning Star was, and soon the other filly joined in the hug. It was a bit awkward for Sweetie Belle but she could not deny that she felt so much better.