Spearmint and Cherry Coke squeezed through the hordes of ponies trying to get through to the Assembly.
“Wow,” Cherry Coke mused. “People must really be interested in what the Princess is going to say. What is she even going to say, anyway?”
Spearmint rolled her eyes. “Uh, she’s going to introduce you. Of course.” Cherry Coke paled at this.
“Do you think she’s even go--nevermind.”
Spearmint shook her head, bemused, and led the filly over to a table near the center.
Princess Luna tapped halfheartedly at the microphone a few times. Celestia rushed over.
“It’s magical, sister, you need not worry.” The Princess nudged Luna on her way before beginning. “I’m sure you all must have heard of Equestria’s own traveling performer, Cherry Coke.” A murmur spread through the crowd at the mention of the entertainer, and Spearmint widened her eyes at Cherry Coke herself, impressed. Celestia continued to ramble for a while before coming to a point.
“So with no further ado, I welcome to the castle--” Celestia smiled wide and a little too satisfied with herself for Spearmint’s tastes. “Cherry Coke herself, and a friend. He goes by the name of...” Celestia looked down at a hovering notepad. “Midnight Ebony, hailing from a faraway land on...official business.”
Spearmint’s jaw dropped as a dark green and black alicorn stepped up to join Cherry Coke on her way to the stage. Midnight barely concealed his grin as Spearmint tumbled out of her chair, trying to catch Cherry Coke’s eye. She, of course, was not as successful, snorting loudly at the sight.
The laughter rang out cruelly in Spearmint’s ears, a high-pitched giggle joining in in her mind. Images flew by before her eyes as she ran away, her twisted wings flapping madly. The images were things of nightmares. Violetta and a dark and mysterious alicorn, pain and fury and eternal darkness.
“Hello, there.” A deep and slow voice cut through the whirling...daymare? “Would this happen to be the mare who took that glorious fall?”
Spearmint spun around on a pink hoof to tell off the stranger, falling flat at the sight of Midnight Ebony himself.
“Are you usually clumsy, or do I just have that effect on you?” Midnight joked dryly as he helped her up. Spearmint merely sniffed in response.
“I never knew I could do that. Might be a nice secret weapon sort of thing. Oh my,” He continued as she scrambled up to face him. “You seem a little ruffled. Problem?”
“Problem, indeed.” Spearmint spoke delicately and controlled. “I’m off to work and somepony is in my way.”
Midnight snickered. “Oh, I thought you were just embarrassed. I’m sure you’re in a hurry to your job of taking care of Luna. Especially since she’s still in there.”
Spearmint whirled around on the spot and began to fly off.
“You know,” The irritating stallion appeared in front of her again. “It’s really no good trying to run from an alicorn.”
“It’s really,” Spearmint huffed back. “Rude trying to chase after me.”
“Oh, who said I was trying?”
Spearmint turned a corner. “You’re not allowed past here.”
“Oh,” He smirked in response. “Don’t worry. I’ve never let that stop me.
“In fact, I quite enjoy a challenge.” He rolled over midair to look up at her. “I’ll take those wings as a hint you used to--”
Spearmint spotted a line in the ceiling, flew upwards, and was through the trapdoor before he could finish his sentence. The last three words came through muffled, as she brushed off her forelegs and restored her wings to their normal, rolled up place.
“Oh, Minty.” Luna sighed. “Escaping too?”
Spearmint turned around, smiling down at her friend. “Pretty much.”
The two looked down at the sound of crashing pillars. “Well. Sounds like the Gala is coming a few weeks early this time around,” Spearmint laughed. “How long d’you think we’ll last before everything comes crashing down?”
“Minty, Minty,” Luna chided jokingly. “We shouldn’t talk like that. I’m sure Cherry Coke is very responsible and will lead us to our first successful gala since--oh, wait. We’ve never had a successful Grand Galloping Gala.”
Midnight Ebony gave up on thumping at the ceiling, and the two waited quietly for a few moments, listening to him flapping away and back to the Assembly before bursting into giggles and snorts.
***
Cherry Coke sat with the maids at meals the rest of the week before her shows began, but Midnight Ebony refused to even go to meals--proving, in Lady Spearmint’s mind, that he was as petty as he had seemed that first day.
“Oh, and you should have seen their faces!” Cherry Coke was telling a story of a show she did in the prissy city of Manehattan. “Canterlot could never be that uptight.”
“Don’t be cruel, Pounce.” She whispered, nudging the pink earth pony she had caught eyeing Flipside, one of the more prim and proper fillies at the table. Pounce,Celestia’s head maid and one of the few ponies among the staff to have a Cutie Mark, wasn’t exactly the most socially correct pony.
“I happen to have experience in both cities,” Contessa Freckles, one of the pegasi waiters spoke as she glided past their table. “And I have to say Cherry Coke is right.”
“They have this thing about not casting out their foals in Manehattan, though.” One of the messengers piped up. “Some say it’s a little bit of a bad thing to do.”
The maids laughed as Freckles dived down to face the messenger. “Don’t I wish it. I happen to be from a family in Manehattan myself, sugarcube.”
“Ah, well, though,” Cherry jumped in again. “You haven’t met Midnight Ebony yet. Man, is he just the epitome of--”
“Beauty? Grace?” Midnight Ebony skidded into a spot next to Cherry for the first time since the Assembly. “Surely those are the only words that could be used to describe me.”
“Ah, yes, graceful yet even with both magic and wings, you still manage to knock somepony over wherever you go.” Spearmint quipped as the alicorn turned to see the tables of angry courtesans calling for the servers to fix the destruction he had left behind him.
Cherry Coke, meanwhile, was trotting off towards a clump of servers propping a table back up, her new plan reeling through her head. “You. The orange one.”
Contessa Freckles looked up, as well as a few others. “Uh, me?”
“How would YOU like,” She paused for dramatic effect. “Being my assistant?”
Freckles nodded happily, pinwheeling throughout the dining hall. Cherry smirked, satisfied. The show could go on. “You’ll be playing...Have you ever met Lady Violetta?”