//------------------------------//
// 10 - Reading 
// Story: First Hoof Account 
// by TCC56 
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It had taken most of her free time across a week, but Sunset had her letter ready on time. 

A single page, front and back - her greatest work yet. A masterpiece of passive aggression, it apologized to Blueblood in flowery terms and showered him with compliments. Every single one was backhanded, of course, and the apology was as close to blaming him as Sunset could manage while still maintaining a veneer of plausible deniability. The basics of the first draft had been quick to write, but Sunset had spent days afterwards giving it every tweak she could. Sleep had been lost over crafting words as precise as needles.

And not a single iota of Sunset Shimmer regretted spending it. Blueblood's body had escaped their fight unscathed, but Sunset knew a few things about how to bleed somepony's pride. 

She praised all the hard work he had done to reach the top of the bell curve; she cited his amazing self-confidence that overcame all the other ponies talking about his shortcomings; she admired his skill with cosmetics to hide his many blemishes; she lavished him with compliments about how masterfully he had reminded everypony about how great his ancestors were in spite of how their modern descendants had let it slip away.

And then it had all been cut down to a single sheet of parchment, rolled to a perfect scroll (with a blank second sheet around it to keep the outward appearance clean), and then sealed with a wax seal Sunset had created for herself - one that bore the heraldry she would use once she became a princess, rather than some hoof-me-down from a musty dead relative like Blueblood's own.

The palace courier arrived at Sunset's door just as she was putting on the finishing touches: using a toothpick to spread a little gold paint to the appropriate spots of the seal to really highlight her mark. It was timed just as she had predicted: right after breakfast on the day Princess Celestia had told them the letters needed to be delivered by. Typical Blueblood, holding off until the last second. (Not that Sunset had intended on doing differently.) Messages were exchanged: Sunset's tightly-bound scroll for a crisp, rather modern envelope that bore Blueblood's wax seal on the flap - the heraldry of House Platinum, with Blueblood's own cutie mark in the bottom-left corner. 

Sunset dismissed the courier with barely more than a wave, her attention solidly on the snow-white paper before her. For all her bravado, she knew that Blueblood was also fairly talented with words - he could snipe and be snide with the best of them. He would show her no more mercy than she had shown him. So she hesitated, sitting at her desk and gathering herself for a long, tense moment.

Then she slashed it open with a mote of magic and pulled the letter out. 

Three single-sided pages, each piece of fresh, spotless paper folded crisply. Black ink with a little bit of sand to help it dry. And Blueblood's extra-thin calligraphy made clear he'd used a fresh quill as well. 

Bracing herself, Sunset read the first lines.


To Sunset Shimmer
Auntie Celestia's most brilliant student


Sunset snorted quietly. It was rich, seeing Blueblood use Celestia's pet term for Sunset.


To begin with, I will apologize for my rash actions the other day. While we both were in the wrong in our own ways, that does not justify my actions. It is a disservice to my House and to my personal honor to engage in such actions with another pony of high standing.


Sunset's derision faded into confusion. That... that sounded a lot like a legitimate apology. She even re-read the paragraph twice to be sure she hadn't missed a subtext - but she couldn't find any. He was probably just trying to start from the high ground, though.


And I do stress of high standing -- while there are some who would deny the reality, I am not fool enough to miss it. You are, for the moment, of common blood. But it is most certain you will be the foundation of a noble house of your own once you come of age, should you not choose to join with an existing one. So while I cannot call you a peer, I similarly cannot say you will not soon be adequately close to such.


For Blueblood, it was probably a compliment. But a part of Sunset's brain still snarled and frothed at the implication that she would settle for mere nobility rather than being a Princess. (It was held back by the rational part that reminded her that she hadn't exactly shared her plans with anypony, let alone Blueblood, and that being angry at him for something he couldn't possibly be aware of made no sense.) 


So I consider this to have been a solitary error that shall not be repeated. I have no problem defending myself and my honor -- as any noble scion must -- but this incident has taught me the lesson that this sort of conflict is beneath both of us.


Sunset clenched her teeth. She didn't need the reminder that he was beneath her.


With that out of the way, I should get to the bulk of this letter. Auntie has suggested we mend our rift by providing proper compliments to one another, and I shall not fail in that command. Fortunately, it is quite easy given your prolific talents.

That you are magically gifted is something I need not state -- it is obvious to any who so much as stands in your presence. You are most certainly the most powerful unicorn in Canterlot, else Auntie Celestia wouldn't have made you her personal student. Likely it places you above every unicorn in Equestria, but my experience with rural hedge-wizards is lacking so I cannot be as definitive with that statement.

What truly sets you apart from that power is your confidence, however. Many a mage has been handicapped by their bookish nature, held from greatness by their own insecurities. But you embrace your power and do not shy from the application of it. That is an admirable trait, for power means nothing if one will not use it.


Her frown deepened. Mild condescension aside - for that was just Blueblood's natural state of being - that had been an actual compliment. 

Sunset read it again to make sure she hadn't missed any subtext.

Then she sprinted through the remainder, finding the following two pages to be the same. Blueblood's words were packed with legitimate, earnest statements of admiration and profuse praise for Sunset's qualities. He praised her intelligence, her force of will, her cunning - he even appealed to her beauty, though he stated he was not currently interested in her. And every word seemed legitimate. 

Sunset licked her suddenly dry lips. 

Blueblood had written his letter of penance authentically and seemingly without a cruel word. 

As opposed to Sunset's, which was full of every drop of vitriol she could muster. 

Gears turned in her head as she pieced it together: there was only one reason why he would do such a thing. It was a trap. Any moment now he would be showing her letter to Princess Celestia, his eyes full of mock tears and begging for her punishment.

The fabric of space-time split with a ka-KRAK as Sunset Shimmer violently teleported halfway across the Palace grounds. Her room was replaced by Blueblood's own suite: his sitting room in specific, decked out with all the opulence of a noble who'd never known anything less than luxury and enjoyed flaunting it. Too many things gilded, for starters. Even the silk-cushioned chair Blueblood was lounging in was accented with enough gold to pay a Canterlot commoner's yearly wages. 

There was a moment of inaction on both their parts: Sunset took a moment to recover from an unusually long teleport, while Blueblood was more simply caught off-guard. He had been waiting for her to come through the door rather than to appear behind him, and his carefully arranged pose with her letter in hoof was ruined by her failure to obey physics.

Sunset recovered first and used that chance to snatch the unfurled scroll out of Blueblood's grip with her magic. It incinerated almost instantly, banishing every detail of her words before he could try and stop her.

It took another second for Blueblood to react, and one more past that to process what had happened. Then, distressingly, he smiled. "Ah, Sunset Shimmer. I take it you got my letter."

"I did," Sunset snarled back. 

He laughed - the sort of laugh that reflexively demanded a punch in return. "I had hoped you would be flattered by my words, but I suppose that isn't quite who you are. Pity," he added with a mocking sniff. "I truly did mean all of it."

Sunset didn't buy it for a moment. "I know what you're up to," she accused. "But I destroyed the letter, so now you can't go crying to Princess Celestia about how I hurt your feelings." She made sure to add a mocking sneer to the last word.

But Blueblood's smile didn't falter. "I wasn't going to," came his response. 

"What?"

"I wasn't going to show it to her," he repeated. "That wasn't the point." Turning the chair around to face Sunset, Blueblood kept smiling. "The point, before you ask, was to let you know I could have."

Sunset snorted, growing more irate with each smug word of his. "That you could have run and hidden behind her legs?"

"Exactly." Blueblood clicked his tongue. "You value power, Sunset Shimmer. You're strong and you know it - and with how you strut it around like a show dog, you ensure everypony else knows it, too. But at the end of the day, all your power is only notable compared to other unicorns. Princess--"

Blueblood's words stopped as his neck was enveloped by teal magic. Sunset squeezed until she heard him gurgle - then her burst of anger faded just enough to realize what she was doing and release the petulant prince. 

Everything was quiet for a minute after that as Blueblood caught his breath and Sunset pushed her fury down further. 

"Your power--" Blueblood stopped mid-croak to clear his throat before trying again. "Your power is always going to be second, because you value the wrong kind."

"Just look how you reacted," he continued. "At the mere possibility that I could make you look bad in her eyes, you teleported across the Palace, destroyed the letter - without even slowing down to make sure that's what the scroll actually was - and then physically attacked me." 

Sunset winced at the blunt statement. "I--" 

Blueblood waved his hoof dismissively. "You lost control, it's who you are, I'm not going bother holding it against you."

Which simply made Sunset's eyes narrow in suspicion. 

"I don't need to hold it against you," Blueblood clarified. "Just as I don't need to run to Auntie about the contents of your letter. It's enough that you know that I could, and that sends you scurrying. That's my point, Miss Shimmer. You insist you're more powerful than I am, but I still got you to act how I wanted. And, if I took any of that to Auntie, I could have done far worse." 

Sunset's lips curled to a snarl just as his came to a sharkish grin. 

With the causal air of somepony who hadn't just been nearly strangled two minutes before, Blueblood stood up and opened the door to the hall with his magic. "Remember that next time you decide to interfere with me. I may not be able to level a mountain with my horn, but I am most certainly capable of getting you to do what I want. Of your own free will, no less." 

The rage rose in Sunset's gut again - and this time, she had the common sense to remove herself before it became overwhelming. "We're not through, Blueblood," she snarled as she trotted out of his suite. 

He ignored the threat - but did add his own retort. "I'm scheduled to have tea with Princess Cadance on Tuesday. I do hope she won't have to reschedule again." He didn't even bother to add a threat.

She indulged the anger for a moment by slamming the door behind her with enough force to dislodge a hinge.