//------------------------------// // That One Time Where Celly worked at Hayburgers for a Week // Story: Source Code // by Nugget27 //------------------------------// So, as I was saying, Celestia’s idea of punishing me is forcing me to spend the day, everyday for a week, with her. Frankly, I don’t know if she knows what a good punishment is or not. I am getting ‘punished’ because I beat the shit out of Blueblood, and made him terrified of me. Logically, I got to happily enjoy being embarrassed in public. Since I got a heads up, I was perfectly fine with being the center of attention whenever somepony figured out that I was dating their favorite, immortal, Sun controlling alicorn. What was really fun was being able to tell her cabinet of ‘advisors’ to shut the fuck up and get to the point of whatever they were trying to trick Celly into signing. Now what’s also fun was when I had to go to work, because as it turned out, at the start of the week, my boss told me that he actually wanted me to work full time for just a week; there was a huge event happening in Canterlot, a simple celebration of the arrival of Fall, so Canterlot was going to be even busier than usual. When I told Celestia… She figured out why this week would be actually pretty fun for her. That meant everyday, for about eight hours, for the next five days, would be spent outside the castle. When we woke up, she decided to watch me the entire time after she raised the Sun.  “Is that your uniform?” Celestia asked, looking me up and down. “Yeah,” my uniform consisted of a pink and yellow snapback hat, to match Hayburger Al’Round’s color scheme. To match, I was wearing a pink shirt with yellow shoulders, the… I guess the sleeves for a lack of a better word were short, and ended just an inch or two down from the shoulder. On the front was my name tag, which proudly bore my name… in comic sans. I suppose even in another universe, I can’t escape this stupid font. It was pretty close to literally any uniform I’d see to say… a McDonalds uniform. There was even a logo over the left side of my chest. My uniform was topped with a pair of saddlebags that weren’t actually a part of the uniform, but came as a bonus for me working for Hayburger, and I liked the look and they were of pretty good quality. “I must say, I would much rather see you in a suit…” “You can wait until the Gala, I hated wearing suits back in the day.” “I suppose that is fair… However, I did not mention how your uniform is tight enough to make some of your muscles much more noticeable. They’re getting sharper, Source. That is rather impressive, if I must say so myself. And then your hat? The way your mane is neatly tucked under it?” Celestia gave me a look that wasn’t too discernable from a lion looking over a nicely seasoned sirloin steak. “I have to refrain from keeping you from your work… SO!” Celestia magicked on a snapback hat… It looked adorable. It was a simple, black snapback. “I pretended to be a fast food employee a few times; I always ended up leaving because somepony found out who I was. Today, however, I will be working, undisguised. I won’t be accepting payment; I won’t need it anyways.” “What did you look like?” “Think of me as a white pegasus, with a build not too dissimilar to a less physically fit Rainbow Dash. Then give me my current mane, without it flowing constantly, but a light blue. Would you like to see it at some point?” “If we go on a date to a restaurant in the city, yes, yes I would like to see it. I betcha look adorable.” “...It’s what I would’ve been had I not ascended, with the exception of the wings. I was a unicorn before ascending.” “I still bet you’d look adorable… well, more adorable. You’re pretty cute as is, Celly. Especially with your ears pokin’ out the hat. My human brain is wanting to pinch and rub the inside of them…” I lifted my hooves after sitting on my rump for a brief moment. “I don’t have hands, though, so I can’t do that. It’s making me kinda mad; everypony here has ears that scream ‘rub the inside of me’, and I don’t have the means to do so! I wish I still ended up in Equestria as a human still. That would be fun.” Then I would essentially be Anon, but then again I did somehow find myself dating Celestia while being some random chump she found at the bottom of a crater that was the result of a magical anomaly… Meh, at least I’m a horse instead of a human without a face. That isn’t an overdone thing. As we walked through the streets, ponies were stopping and gawking at the wild Princess Celestia that was walking around without any regalia. She left her shoes, crown, and necklace at home. Not gonna lie, I found it better to see her like this, than with her regalia. It was usually what she did when she was trying to relax around me; no regalia meant it was just Celly in charge, not the head of a country in charge. Of course, my lovely marefriend was just happily waving and greeting everypony along the way, and they would say hello back. After bowing and looking away like a twink would after seeing a girl’s nips.  I suppose a naked Princess, even if she was mostly naked anyways, was a taboo to look at? I dunno. I just know that my Celly is perfect the way she is; she even shrunk herself to my height and it was kinda weird. What was even weirder was that Celly wasn’t naked. No, since it was starting to get a little chilly, she decided to take out a green sweater with a turtleneck out of the closet. She had then shrunk it down, put it on, and that’s how Celestia was since we left the castle for work.  About the size of the average stallion, or below average since I wasn’t much taller than the average mare, happily skipping along in a dark green turtleneck sweater, wearing a black snapback hat. What’s even more fun is that I swear Celly did something to her ears with some magic; they were a lot floppier and even more precious. Celestia was just walking down the street, beside me, acting like nothing was wrong. She even draped a wing over me and provided me with ear licks on occasion, usually after passing by a bunch of ponies that were gawking at her. Surprisingly, no guards were present. Though I think they were hidden around, keeping an eye on us. Celly and I were both very capable when it came to magic, mostly Celly. We were beyond capable of defending ourselves; the guard didn’t need to be reminded of that after they watched the absolute smackdown that Blueblood received for slapping me in the face and challenging me to a duel. And Celly… Well, it was Celly. She could blow up the mountain Canterlot was on without blinking. If she weren’t holding back, because I can sense how little magic she actually uses with diagnostic spells, she could probably burn the entire country to the ground in a heartbeat. I know she’s capable, she’s told me so. She just holds back, because if she doesn’t… well, that would be a lot of ponies that would’ve died as a result of her fighting back. Luna was very similar, but in a sense that she would probably freeze the globe over instead of just burn it, or blow a whole through it with the Sun.  The route to work was actually pretty straight forward. Since the disks of Canterlot were laid out in a very specific way, we ended up walking down Royal Avenue, which was essentially an entire street dedicated to taking you to Canterlot Castle, down to the lift system for ponies. So I’ve mentioned the lift systems here and there, but never really said what they were like. So basically, think of them like a big, big ferris wheel, but it was less of a wheel, and more like a conveyor belt. There were large, ferris wheel cabins(fully closed off to prevent ponies from falling out of them on accident).  You just step in, and wait, and once the ride’s over, you step off and you’re on a lower disk. It was pretty neat. “You know,” Celly said, staring out the window of our cabin. “I’ve never actually been inside of one of these things. Usually whenever I leave the castle, I end up flying to the disk I need to be on, and then walk from there.” She hummed. “I wish I partook in this more often; it’s quite relaxing… though with how many of my guards like to come with me whenever I leave the castle, I don’t think that would be a very wise decision. I don’t want to back up everypony’s day just so I can have some level of security when leaving the castle. Luckily, I do believe that the guards were notified ahead of time, and should be greeting us at your workplace.” “Eh, if I had wings, I’d probably use them to avoid this. Sometimes I have to account for what time it is, and sometimes wait for my turn on the lift. It’s relaxing, but when it’s raining or cold, I can’t imagine I’d enjoy waiting for a lift while I get snowed on, rained on, or knocked over by a gust of wind.” “Surely my coltfriend would be stronger than a gust of wind?” “Back home, I’d be lucky to still be standing on any particularly windy day, Celly. I’m a bit of a little bitch, if you haven’t noticed yet.” “Do not talk about yourself in such a manner, Source. Not everypony is the epitome of bravery; you are fine just the way you are. And from what ponies were telling me on The Summer Sun Celebration, you were brave, or in your words, stupid enough to go after Nightmare Moon in order to get an answer about my whereabouts. Sometimes it takes bravery to be able to stand up to a pony that can beat and batter you around. Buck, you’re the stallion in this relationship; I should be bossing you around, but you have some bark, and you more than enough to back it up if seeing you beat Tartarus into Prince Blueblood is anything to go by.” “That Nightmare Moon bit was because I was concerned about your well being. And with Blueblood… I have a very, very thick line as to how I’m treated If we’re sparring and you club me over the head too hard, I expect ya to stop and make sure I’m good to keep going, and vice versa. If somepony were to hit me unprovoked, then I would fight back. I ain’t gonna let myself get murdered when I know I could fight back and defend myself, or the people I care about… Ponies, I mean.” “Worry not, you are still adjusting. Though… Why are you making the effort now? I thought-” “I don’t wanna move on from Earth, Celly, but I know I have no choice in the matter. I was happy with my life on Earth. It wasn’t extravagant, nor was it amazing. I worked full time at a fast food place and still lived with my parents at the age of twenty three, but I was happy. My parents were chill with keeping their babies at home, as in me and all my siblings as long as we all helped out with the house in some way shape or form. I got to hangout with my buddies, work on my passion projects, and be happy. Then I wake up here, in a body that I fucking hate, but…” Source, the pony of me, smiled. “I do have friends here, and I do have a wonderful girlfriend. “I can learn to be happy again, and if it means accepting that I will never be human again, or see my home again, I’ll adjust to life in Equestria.” I then kissed Celly. “I think you played a large part in why I’m still alive, not because you’re my marefriend, but because I figured you would be the one constant I’d have in my life, somepony to call a friend. I know I probably woulda offed myself if I didn’t have at least one friendly face that I could chat and laugh with every now and then. I may have been way, way off the cuff when it comes to mental health, but I also know what would happen if I killed myself. It isn’t very often that you let down your walls and be yourself around your ponies, ain’t it?” “It is rather rare… You used ‘ain’t’ again. Quit that.” “But…” “Source,” Celly said pointedly before giggling and before nuzzling me. “But I would’ve been rather upset if I found out that a pony went missing, and your face was on the latest posters. Though I can’t be the only reason you didn’t… hurt yourself.” “It was a second chance, I suppose. I was happy with my life, but I wanted to be more than just some random patty flipper in a fast food place. Sure, I do that here, but I’m not defined by it. I have the loveliest lady to come home to everyday, I can come up with ways to revolutionize spell casting. I could make a name for myself. You played a large part in that, since you literally taught me how Runes worked, but a large part of my still living… I just saw a chance to make something of my life beyond being some nobody… to somebody.” “I see… Do you have any progress on Python, or perhaps that horrible, absolutely terrible mess that you call a spell system?” “You love Windows ME and you know it.” “No, I do not. It is so… pointless! I bet you won’t even make more than one spell.” “I already have the whole back work for it, I just gotta put it in a textbook and ship it off to Twilight during Hearth’s Warming. It’ll be funny. Besides, it has its uses, such as seeing how precise a unicorn is with their Rune Casting, or their proficiency with their spell equations.” “...It does, you are correct, but Luna and I can barely even cast levitation, something that is normally the easiest thing a pony can cast. Then you went and made it neigh impossible!” “That’s the point!” I chuckled as the door opened. After we moved onto a much more lighthearted topic than my horrible mental health, we started making our way down the Shopping District Plate towards my workplace. “Howdy boss,” I walked through the front door and waved to Flipper as I walked past the front counter. The store wasn’t open for business yet, but the front doors were unlocked for employees to show up. “Gonna be a nice and busy week starting, eh?” I asked as I hoof bumped the stallion.  “Sure is… I appreciate you agreeing to at least work forty hours in a week this one time.I guarantee that you’ll get the weekend off; most of our minors will be off, so we won’t be as heavily slammed if you take the weekend off this week.” “Hey, more money for me, eh?” We both chuckled at that. At least my boss was upfront about it, since he knew most of the ponies that work for him were just hoping to make some spare cash. He was a lot like my managers back home, they appreciate the work you put in, even if they are aware of the actual reason as to why their employees are working at a fast food joint. “But seriously, if you’re down a pony or two any shift, hit me up. I’ve got nothing to do in my free time, since my marefriend usually makes enough to keep us both afloat.” “I’ll keep that in mind. It’s just kinda hard to get letters out to ya… With you apparently living in the castle to take up your studies. I’d also feel bad about taking you away from them, with you being the Princess’s personal student and-” The door clicked open. “Oh sorry, but we aren’t open just yet, m’am. Give us a moment…” My boss stopped when he saw Celly, in all her glory, walk in without any regalia. Instead, she was wearing a black snapback hat and she was a lot shorter than usual, because she would be too tall to stand in the line kitchen if she wasn’t using a spell to keep herself shrunk down. She could stand up straight, at full height, in the lobby just fine though. “Oh! Princess Celestia! What are you doing here? Looking for a quick bite to eat before the Fall Festival begins in full swing? I bet you were hoping to partake in the festivities this year…” “I was actually hoping to assist my coltfriend, and by extension, your business, by lending aid. I’ve been in a line kitchen a few times while under disguise. I’m sure I can lend a hoof, if you wouldn’t mind?” “...If… Wait, who's your coltfriend?” Flip asked.  Celly picked me up in her magic, before bringing me back out of the kitchen, away from the cooling table, or the sandwich station, I was trying to set up. “Hey… I was trying to get ready for my shift,” I grumbled. I actually did like the process of setting up the sandwich station, it was a simple pleasure and kinda reminded me of home; it was nice. Celestia nuzzled my ear, planted a kiss on my cheek, before sending me back to continue setting up my station. I had to admit, watching Flip, who’s usually super collected and chill, start sputtering. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a playful glint in Celly’s eyes. She was enjoying this way too much. “W-what!?” Flip shouted. He turned to me, and I just happily waved, before going back to the task at hand. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY YOU WERE THE PRINCESS’S COLTFRIEND?” “I didn’t wanna draw too much attention to that. I’m the same ol’ pony that you’ve always known, boss.” I called, not diverting my attention away from my station. “Is there a problem?” “No… I suppose not,” Flip sighed. “You could’ve at least given me a heads up before Princess Celestia walked through my door and announced that one of my best employees is her coltfriend,” he walked around the front counter and into the line kitchen before walking around and nudging me. “And maybe tell me that she wanted to work with us for a day.” “It might be for a week, boss,” I said, nodding to my newly set up station. “I did an oopsy, as in kick the shite out of Blueblood, yeah? Well, now Celly demanded spending the week with me as a punishment, which really isn’t a punishment to me… I’ve been hoping to spend more time with her, so it works out.” I looked Flip dead in the eye while Celestia walked into the line kitchen to quickly get herself familiarized by everything before she had to get to work. “Lemme guess, it’ll feel weird to be bossing around the Princess of the entire country that this franchise of restaurants stands on?” “It would…” “She’ll listen. She’ll follow orders. I think she’ll like being the pony carrying out orders for once…” I almost made a joke about Celly being submissive, but I don’t think I should give my poor old boss a heart attack. “I believe I know how to work this grill,” Celestia. “I just press a button and it cooks the hay patties?” She asked. “Uh… yes, Princess.” “Oh please, none of that, Mr. Flip. Just call me Celestia while I am working with you and Source. I’ve taken this week off as the Princess, and my little sister graciously agreed to take over for the week. For this week alone, I am just Celly, Mr. Flip.”  “Uh… okay, Celestia. Sorry if I call you Princess out of habit-” “It’s chill, boss. Celly kinda gets why it’s so hard for y’all to see her as anything other than Princess Celestia.” I felt Celly kiss my cheek, and I immediately knew why she wanted to work the grill for today. It was right next to the sandwich making table, and it was a relatively easy job; she could pick up on how to make sandwiches, work beside me, and be able to kiss and nuzzle me whenever she gets a free moment. Celly casted a spell to make her mane and tail more resemble what they would look like if she wasn’t using them to channel excess magic. It was still in the same style, but the color made me squeal whenever I saw it. I know her normal mane made Celly look more regal and beautiful, but her pink mane and tail made her look more like a normal pony. It was adorable, especially since it was usually what she had her mane in whenever she just wanted to cuddle. While it was merely an illusion that had physical aspects of a regular mane(it was weird ass magic, don’t ask me how an illusion still feels real), it was just a lot fluffier, which made her an even better cuddle buddy than when she had her normal mane. That being said, to see her in public, with old hair… I kissed her while Celestia opened up a sleeve of hayburger patties, and she froze for a moment, before she returned it, and set the sleeve in the coolbox for easier access. After about an hour, Celestia got bored of the grill, so she shoved me off the sandwich station(she noted that I could go faster if I used magic, and figured she could do a better job). So here I am, putting meat on the grill, while Celestia clears out entire orders, while barely knowing the menu, with her magic. There was a handy-dandy chart used for teaching new employees to make sandwiches, and she watched it like a hawk while using her stupidly good multitasking to look at an order, blink, and have six or seven sandwiches done in a heartbeat. What’s even better is that I got to sit and watch the fryer guy, sit in watch, because she also moved him aside and used her magic to work those too. “Oh hello!” Celestia waved to a family that was watching, jaw slacked, as they watched a miniature version of their Princess of the Day, Bringer of the Morn, Princess Celestia make sandwiches. “I hope you enjoy your stay at Hayburgers Al’Round!” Celly quickly got their order together, put it on a dinner tray, and the family just kept staring, as did the whole lobby full of guests. Orders were backed up, not because Celly was going slow, no she’s literally going so fucking fast that I couldn’t keep up. Ponies were watching Celly, fished eye, none of them were regulars. In fact, most of them were probably from out of town because they were visiting for the Fall Festival. Before they got over their shock, after a good ten minutes, and went to finish the food they just ordered. We were busy as hell, and it was apparently the most profitable day Flip’s had in years, since ponies after they left, probably spreaded word around, so more ponies came in. We were busy well past dawn. “Princess Celstia, have my foals!” Some weirdo yelled. “Oi!” I almost went on a tirade before Celestia stopped everything she was doing, before picking me up with her magic and holding me up to her. We ended up nuzzling cheeks, and I was immediately happier for no reason at all. No, it’s not because Celly Nuzzles are the best. “My apologies, my little pony, but I am currently already ‘taken’ as you younger ponies would say.” Celestia then put me back down and we both got back to work. Aside from that, and a few other things that popped up, the day went on as normal. I think this week is going to go by nicely if I get to just spend it all with Celly, and then we can have the weekend to enjoy some of the festivities of the Fall Festival. The two of us, after everything was over and the restaurant was closed for the day, sat on our rumps outside the building and sighed. “Oh man,” I chuckled. “The way some of those ponies reacted to you and I kissed in the middle of a dinner rush…” I nuzzled her. “That was a great one, by the way.”” “It was rather humorous, I will agree. Personally, I find working in these environments… to be rather fun.” “You shoved me and my coworker out the way…” “I wanted to try and multitask. The sandwiches were like a million little puzzles, and working the fryers were not too difficult. It’s… quite fun, to be honest. I have to sit in boring, dreadful meetings most of the time, where I barely pay attention and just read the documents my advisors were trying to get me to sign long after the meeting has passed. Meanwhile… I felt a little stressed out, in a good way. I was never too sure if the rush would end, or if I was going fast enough. On top of that, the million little puzzles were engaging enough for me to have fun. If you let me build sandwiches all day, while you just work on your grill, that would be lovely!” Celestia giggled. “It felt so good to get three sandwiches out in three seconds flat.” “Yeah, fast food sucks, but sometimes it is fun to get an order out super quickly. Back home, orders were timed, and while I never did care for it for all the right reasons, it was just satisfying to have a nice, crisp one twenty seconds whenever me and my crew managed that…” I sighed. “I kinda miss that, but… meh, life goes on, and we’ve got a nice, fun week ahead of us, along with a really cool weekend planned as well.” “That we do, come, I wish to carry you home tonight. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind riding my back?” “Of course I would! So long as you don’t carry me by the scruff of my neck again; that was embarrassing! And that was only around the castle. I couldn’t imagine being carried through town like that!” I saw the look in her eyes… wouldn’t dare, would she? She’s going to carry me around town throughout the whole Fall Festival by the scruff of my neck. I can already see it happening… I should’ve just kept my mouth shut. So the next three days go off without a hitch. Celly and I show up, work, and Celly either refuses to get paid, or gives me her bits, or tries to put them into a charity of some sort. She makes plenty of bits, and knows how little I like using the Royal Treasury to fund my own ventures, so she’s fine with me taking a paycheck. Flip insisted on paying Celestia, he even raised the prices of everything on the menu to discourage ponies from showing up just to see Celestia working in a job one would typically only associate with a job that a teenager would typically have, or just a normal pony still trying to get their footing in life. However, on the third day, I noticed that Celly wasn’t stopping for a break, even when told to, or stopping to eat something. So, about halfway through the dinner rush, I walked right up to Celly, and nuzzled her. “Where are you at, dear?” “What?” Celestia asked. “Which order are you on? I’m taking over the station for you for just a moment; go make a sandwich or three and eat something. I know it’s been a day or two since you’ve stopped and eaten anything at all.” “I’ve had dinner the last couple of nights,” Celestia insisted. “Sun Butt…” I said sternly and almost loudly. “Stop being an idiot, make yourself a hayburger, and go in the back and eat it real quick. It ain’t healthy for you to be skipping over lunch and breakfast constantly.” Everypony in the room stopped in their tracks and started staring at me. “But… I can keep going, Source! I can get us through the day-” “You can do that after you eat something, Sun Butt. you are going to eat food, or you will be sleeping on the couch tonight.” Celestia huffed. “Fine, I suppose I am a little hungry,” she pointed at the order she was on, before promptly making four sandwiches for herself, and walking off the line. I could tell she was going to give me an attitude later, probably for telling her to take care of herself, but it was worth it; she needs to eat something, and judging from how she grabbed four sandwiches… she definitely didn’t stop and eat anything.  “Dude,” one of the minors said flatly. “You’re going to get tossed in a dungeon, or banished. Or thrown in a dungeon in the place you’re banished to.” “Nah,” I said with a casual, dismissive hoof. “She’ll nip me and tickle the hell out of me.” “You just called the princess an idiot.” “Yeah, I do it all the time. Usually it results in Celly tickling the utter shit out of me, it’s chill man. She’ll just plow my fields later.” I snickered slightly, realizing that I definitely just broke my coworker, before I proceeded to work the grill with my magic and still get burgers out with my hooves, almost(not even close) as fast as Celly does for the next ten minutes before Celestia came back, with a bit of ketchup smeared into cheeks, while giving me an annoyed look. She then nuzzled me and licked the inside of my ears. The smell of hayburger patties was as strong as the day when she opened her mouth. “Thank you for making me do that. I guess I did not realize how hungry I was.” “And then you wonder why your students, mostly Twilight, have damn near unhealthy studying habits, you ol’ horse,” I whispered. “I suppose a break or two would be fine. If Luna is willing, perhaps we could have one day after the Fall Festival to simply snuggle together and play Line Four?” That, for you non-ponies, is basically pony Connect Four.  “That would be nice…” We both swapped places, she went back to the sandwich station, and I went back to grill, and the rest of the day went on without a hitch beyond when I made her get off again to eat dinner… Then she lifted me with her magic after returning. “You, colt, are also going to go get something for yourself to eat. I know you skipped over breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the last three days. You are going to make yourself a sandwich, and you will go take a moment to eat them.” “Fuck you,” I grumbled, before nodding along and doing as she asked, or I would be the one sleeping on the couch tonight. After the week of working at Hayburgers with Celly, her vacation time was over, and we both had to go back through our separate daily routines. Surprisingly, or rather, unsurprisingly, Luna did a damn good job with daycourt, and even did a stellar job at making sure certain, very important bills were signed and passed through without any of the horrible, stupid shit that came along with said important bills. Meanwhile, I kept working my usual hours, or one eight hour shift at Hayburgers Al’Round.  Celly and I still got our daily dose of snuggles before and after bed though. In fact, we were just having breakfast, perfectly fried eggs and pancakes that Celly made. She even put a silly smiley face on them the day before. Celestia was reading over the mail, before humming and her eyes widened a little. “Oh dear…” Celestia whispered. “What’s up? Did Luna execute somepony?” I joked, knowing Luna wouldn’t willingly even hurt a pony, unless Nightmare Moon took over and decided that some stupid noble, or me, needed to not be alive anymore.  “No… I just forgot about the annual ‘meeting’ for various magic universities. It’s where a teacher, along with a student or two, meet up in either Canterlot, or some other designated town. My school is included with this, and students that learn directly from me, such as yourself and Twilight, are registered as two separate entities. As I do run my own school, and I do try to teach every now and then, but there is a clear difference between learning directly from me, and occasionally seeing me in your classroom with a dozen other unicorns.” “So, why is it a big deal?” “With you being my personal student, along with Twilight, everypony was hoping to meet you. As you’ve noticed, whenever I take a personal student, it doesn’t usually affect your everyday life. But when I take another student, it usually spreads around magical universities rather quickly… there is also a slight issue with these little meetings.” “You never show up?” “No. I try to show up, and always bring Twilight along if she is able. Luckily, this year, it seems as though the meeting is taking place in Ponyville. So Twilight should be able to make it… Back to the topic at hoof. You see, there is a small competition consisting of magical duels. The Royal Guard does have its own university for magic, and usually excels in this competition. Twilight usually does well in these magical duels, but usually falls short due to her lack of creativity.” “And now you have the option of yeeting me at one of Shiny’s guys so that I can kick their ass?” “That is the point… but you are aware that you will be bringing a lot of attention your way, correct?” “Meh, again, if I expect the attention, I don’t mind it.” “Okay… you do wish to come, right?” “Yeah, and if I deem this convention to be stupid, I can go to Apple Jack’s place again and chill with her and Big Mac for the day.” “I suppose I could allow that…” “Hey, cool news,” I hummed. “I made a textbook for Python. It’s a very, very early stage of Python, but it’s practically done. The means to make news spells with it are there, and all the Runes I could possibly make are done. Mayhaps…” “Source…” “Yeah?” “You are going to have a sea of scholars asking how the buck you made a new system, and then they’ll probably yell at you for beating them all with your system of magic…” “Hey now, the version of Python I put in is made for the general public. What I’m using is Python Script, or a version made specifically for me to get as much as I can out of each spell cast, in terms of strength and magic reserve preservation.” “...Okay, you essentially made three different magical systems, one exclusively made for you, and you expect to walk into a magical convention and be left alone? These are magical scholars; they will notice that you are putting way more power into spells than your natural talents should allow.” “Meh, they can buy a Python Textbook from me, and I can make some extra bits, and they can almost achieve the level of optimization I’ve gotten with Python.” “Twilight will hound you for a copy, even if she knows she won’t get any use out of Python.” “I mailed a copy of it to her. Guess what, I've been saving all the bits from my job and used them all to get four or five copies printed.” “...Huh. That is a lot more foresight than what I would expect from you.” “Hey, I wanna be able to make bits in a way that doesn’t involve me sitting in a line in the kitchen for the rest of my life. I can announce Python’s release, make some bits, print more copies, and sell those to make even more bits. One book’s thirty bits.” “...That’s half the price of most magical textbooks, Source. Charge at least eighty for the time it took you to test Python out.” “...Fine, Mom. I’ll make damn near a hundred bits off of one stupid textbook.” “Good. You deserve it after putting in so much work into this system.” We both sat in silence before the question came to mind. “When is it happening?” “In about a week from now. Why do you ask?” “Okay, a week to mentally prepare myself. It lasts… how long?” “Three days. One day will be dedicated to three different events, with the third being for the magical duel tournament.”