"Sweetie has been missing her friends this summer."
"Oh, really?"
The mare raised an eyebrow at Cheerilee's remark. Mouthing 'sorry' as she returned to sifting through the papers in her drawer seemed to sate the diva's momentary ire. Cheerilee knew exactly where the folder for her upcoming fifth grade class was, but she didn't mind making her uninvited guest wait a bit longer.
"When I started watching her this past June, I hadn't considered the more social aspects of the school's summer activities." Rarity sat there on the desk, waving her hooves around like none of this mattered. And why should it matter to her? All she cared about was peddling her dime store garments-
Now, now. She already said that she was canceling her reservations for the dress-up. Cheerilee closed her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to cancel out the harsh thoughts she was harboring. Rarity was still the warden of one of her darling students, regardless of whatever else had happened. Ugh, darling...
Rarity peered over the edge of the desk, having come closer while the teacher was distracting herself. "Is there, something wrong? Did you misplace it, dear?" she asked, using that half sing-song voice the mare took whenever she was trying to get a hoof up in a conversation.
Cheerilee looked up as she took hold of the folder she had been 'searching' for out of memory. "Nope, I got it! I just, ah, put it in the wrong order." She pushed the drawer closed, hopefully before Rarity had the chance to notice the elaborate rainbow colored sorting tabs sticking out from all the dividers.
Unlikely, colors are her thing and all...
The seamstress leaned against her desk and patiently waited for her to flip the folder open. Cheerilee casually attempted to peel off the tab as she did. Inside rested the forms for the students that she had meticulously scheduled to study with one another, at least so long as she wouldn't have to deal with the parents complaining about it to no end whenever they saw her in public. She'd have moved Silver Spoon up a grade at least two years back if she could do so peacefully. "I'm not entirely sure who I put Sweetie Belle with," Cheerilee lied through her teeth, "but I can still see about moving her around. Was there anypony she wanted to be in class with?" She put on a light-hearted smile, honed through dozens of parent-teacher conferences, and waited to see what Rarity might say.
"Well, she'd mentioned that filly Scootaloo, and told me quite the humorous story of the three of them, her, Scootaloo and Rumble I mean." Cheerilee winced ever so slightly as Rarity spoke. "And then there is also the matter of- Is something wrong?" She cut her sentence short with a mote of concern as Cheerilee realised her composure had broken.
"Oh! Sorry, nothing to do with Sweetie Belle, it's just that..." Should she really bring this up? Now, with Rarity of all ponies?
Rarity looked on, a curious gaze filling her eyes.
She is a socialite. And a drama queen. Cheerilee sighed. "Scootaloo was also missing a friend of hers."
"Rumble?" The seamstress guessed with a tone of self-assurance.
"Yes," the teacher confessed, "she was looking forward to the summer, and then he went off to flight camp. Without her."
Rarity relaxed into her posture, placing her hooves one over the other. "I see..."
"Do you," Cheerilee glanced out the door to check for anypony in earshot, no matter how lightly she was speaking, "remember back when we were in school. When Thunderlane went on that trip to-"
"Sol, do I!" The mare lifted a hoof to her chest and she gave out a hearty chuckle. "To think I'd almost forgotten, we were all so dramatic back then, why if I could go back and..." Cheerilee could see the look that spread across Rarity's face when she realized the connection. "Oh dear. Is Rumble being just as oblivious?"
"I think so." Cheerilee confessed.
Rarity looked down and let out a tsk, tsk as she shook her head. "Like brother, like... bro?"
"Indeed."
"Well, given time it should all work out. Things went well for us all," she waved a hoof in the air, much more exaggerated than before, "since we still had our friends."
Cheerilee sat there for a moment, reflecting. "Yeah, you're right..."
"They're growing up, they'll figure these things out as long as we're here for them." Rarity stood up and walked around the desk, resting a hoof on the teacher's shoulder. As Cheerilee looked up, Rarity continued. "I promise, I want to be there for her. She's independent, but that doesn't mean alone."
Cheerilee looked back at the papers and fanned through them. She pulled out the forms for Sweetie, Scootaloo, and Rumble and laid them next to one-another over the file. "Anyone else?"
"Well, there is..." Rarity looked down at the papers and paused. Cheerilee checked them herself and noticed the freshly penned, scholarly T that was peeking out from behind the edge of the three student's forms on a line marked Parent. She looked back up at Rarity and blushed slightly.
The mare patted her shoulder and said "That will be all, thank you." A smile crossed her lips that put the teacher's own to shame.
"Shining, it will be fine. What can happen?"
The restless captain paced back and forth before the royal meeting hall throne. She had chosen to relocate to the spot for the privacy it provided, given that day court had concluded hours prior.
"A lot of things, Ma'am. That town has no guard presence, barely a police force, who knows how many hooligans-"
Celestia chuckled as she interrupted the stallion. "Hooligans, Shining, are you listening to yourself?"
"She's just dropping everything and flying off to some town?!" He tossed a fetlock up in frustration.
"Twilight is doing this because she cares. You should go visit her, she seemed quite determined when we spoke. And please, 'Flying off?' She's not some pegasi tween stepping on the wrong cloud for the first time." Celestia rose out of her seat and strolled over to one of the cabinets in a side-room. She retrieved two glasses and a pitcher that had been left there at her request. Shining followed her as she walked through the doorway.
"What about her studies? Has she even finished them?"
"I know that you are concerned about your sister, but she is a grown mare, Shining. She's been ready to take on life for a long time, now. I've just been keeping her busy." The princess poured a drink and turned to hoof it to the captain. Upon meeting her gaze, she scoffed and said "Yes, she's still working on her studies. They're coming along wonderfully, and this should be a great boost for her con-"
"What about rent, does she have a co-signer? I can make time to go meet with the-" his mouth stilled as Celestia thrust the drink into his meandering foreleg. Under her prudent gave, he raised the glass to his lips and downed half of it before her eyebrow returned to a normal elevation. The momentary break had done its job in silencing the stallion, as he did not resume his rant.
"It will all be fine, Shining. This is good for her, and for Spike. They couldn't stay cooped up in my reading suite forever." The princess finished her own water in one gulp and walked past the stallion. He turned to follow her until she raised a hoof. "Just, take the rest of the night off. Think it over. Stop by Ponyville when you have the time. You'll not find a hooligan on those streets."
"They have streets?" Shining remarked.
Celestia chuckled again. "Yes, my little pony, they have streets. Not everything has to be a garish conglomeration of a million cobblestones."
His features continued to bear the weight of worry until the princess stepped forward and wrapped him up in a hug. "Don't stress yourself out."
"Fine." He answered.
"Ta-ta, then," she chimed, releasing the captain and stepping out the doorway, "I've got a freshly abandoned canopy bed calling my name in the east wing. Til the morning, Shining."
He waited there, until the hooffalls of the princess disappeared in the distance. He finished the rest of his glass before gathering a few pages of loose paper and a quill from the countertop, left there by some scribe or another. He'd told Celestia that he would be fine, but the truth was that he'd remain unsure until he knew for certain that someone was watching over the town.
When Celestia had hugged him, he'd noticed the royal seal still resting on the stand by the throne.
He couldn't just diverge a contingent of guards to the town. That would be costly, terribly obvious, and run the risk of catching the attention of the princess, or worse yet, his sister.
What might work, he had thought to himself, is one or two guards, those that wouldn't be recognized by Twilight or Celestia, going to the town out of uniform under orders of the princess.
He knew two mare cadets that would be perfect for the job...