//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Facing The Consequences // Story: Loving the Sunny Skies // by Midnight Words //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Facing The Consequences ------------------------------ I couldn't sleep. The bunkers were only used for a few guards that decided to go overtime. I never stay for overtime. There was nopony else here, it was strangely quiet. A few of the night guards paid me a visit, just to say goodbye. News travels fast during the night. Right now, I was just lying in bed, thinking how this went so wrong. I never really got angry before, but right now... AGH, just thinking about her makes my blood boil! I was alone in the dark room, just staring at the ceiling, trying to calm myself. The door opened, I didn't bother to look anyway. I don't care anymore. "Uhh... Hey" I know that voice, I really don't want to hear her right now. "Umm... I'm real sorry-" "You should go to sleep." I said in a cold tone, I don't want to talk to her right now. She stayed quiet for a while. I really feel bad for her, she's probably feeling a lot guilty about what happened tonight. "I'm serious, you're gonna have a headache tomorrow." "I'm really sorry..." "Don't worry about it..." We stayed silent for a little while. She stepped closer to me. "I'll make it up to you." "Don't worry about it, I was planning to quit anyway." "... Can I... uhh... stay here with you?" She asked. "... Do what you want." She climbed on to the bed next to me, I could hear her sniffle a little. "I really shouldn't tell you this, but do you know why I didn't have any guards when I got here?" "No." "I was supposed to have a guard when I visited the Crystal Empire last week, but... he quit... I don't know what I did, but he just quit, said I should just go to Canterlot by myself." I think I could hear her sobbing. "Every bodyguard I ever got either quit or just left... I don't think I'll ever make any friends if I can't even get my bodyguard to stay for more than a day." I could hear her sob right now, and I don't know what to do. I turned to face her. "Hey, pretty mare like you shouldn’t cry." "You're leaving like the rest..." She said, I got up from my bed and walked over to hear. "You remind me of a little filly that left here and went to Ponyville. I guess you're trying to make friends, unlike her. And now she's got friends there, she was the most studios, know-it-all bookworm you will ever meet. And if she could make friends, so can you." I said and placed my hoof on her shoulder. "But... I'm a princess, the only ones that like to hang out with me are nobles, and you know how they're like." I looked around, seeing nopony here(I could be wrong), but what the heck. "After the whole 'getting fired' thing tomorrow, I'll show you someplace we can go." "Right..." "I'd say you already made a friend, me! Come on, go to sleep, wouldn’t want my new friend to be tired tomorrow when we get chewed out." I said and pulled her up. "Let's get you to bed." "Thanks..." ------------------------------ I fell asleep outside her door... I don't know how, but I have a HUGE hangover and a sore neck, I really couldn't care about that right now. "Hey, Shieldy. Wake up." A guard said and kicked me up. "You're gonna be late for your execution." "WHAT!?!" Was this guy serious? I really can't tell, guards all look so serious. We stared for a few minutes and then he bursts out laughing. "OH! You should have seen your face! Priceless!" "Ha ha, very funny. Get the princess, she's in her room." I said and rubbed my head. He nodded and went inside. I really feel bad for her, it was one thing for me to get in trouble, but both of us are getting in trouble with Sun Goddess of Equistria. I got up and looked out the window. It's a nice day outside... Shame I won't be seeing it when I'm in the dungeon. The door opened and both the guard and Sunny left the room. "Hey..." She said. She looked horrible, didn't look like she got a wink of sleep last night. I should treat her to some coffee after this. "Hey, why so glum. It's just a job, come on." I grabbed her hoof and ran, leaving the guard. We stopped around the corner. She still seemed sad about last night. "Sunny..." "No, I'm fine. Let's go." She said and headed to the throne room. "Sunny..." I followed her, she's really going through a lot right now... We went through the large doors to the throne room, Princess Celestia and Luna was sitting on their respective thrones. We both bowed in respect. "Rise." Luna said. It was still loud, not Canterlot Voice loud, but still pretty loud. We both stood up. "Tell us what happened last night." "It was my fault, I-" "No, It was me!" Sunny yelled. I turned to look at her, she wasn't confessing, she was begging. "Sunny... Don't..." "I told him that I wanted to drink, he was just following orders. I should be the only one in trouble, not him." She yelled, she was desperate now, I could hear it in her voice, and I bet Celestia and Luna could hear it too. "Sunny..." I said, I turned towards the two Goddesses. "I offered her to go to the bar, I was the one who ordered the drinks, it was on my tab, it was all my fault, she had nothing to do with this, she wanted to back out, but I forced her." I lied, at least I could take some heat off of her. "No, he's lying! I ordered the first drink. He tried to talk me out of it, but I was too stubborn... and now..." She started to cry. Sunny... what are you doing? I stepped forward. "Ask the bartender, he'll believe me." "He's lying! Please... Auntie... Don't fire him..." "Sunny... Don't worry about me." "Enough!" Celestia yelled. "We want answers, not lies." I sighed, there wasn't a way out of this. "Really though, it was me, I told her about the bar. You can ask one of Luna's guard, Stalwart" "Yes, but I only told him I wanted to eat, not get drunk. I lied to him, and used his tab to empty the bar." Sunny said. "I just let her drink, I knew it was wrong, but I didn't even stop her." I said. "But, he was looking out for me and I didn't take his advice..." She said. "Stop," Celestia said. "I know what both of you did was wrong, and that deserves punishment." She said, we both looked away. "I may be the Goddess of the Sun, but I cannot let this go without punishment." Here it comes... "Sunny Skies..." Well, I hope I didn't get her to burnt... "Shield Breaker..." I wonder if I get banishment, a nice change of pace that's for sure... "Sunny gets a week probation and with a probation officer." She got off easy... "Shield Breaker... You will be her probation officer." "What?" "You will not leave her side, this whole week. Am I understood?" Praise the merciful Celestia! "Yes, ma'am." I gave a salute and smiled. Sunny was smiling too. "Thank you, Princess." She bowed and both of us left with a smile on our face. We walked out the gates and laughed... Well, actually, I guffawed and she giggled lightly, but still laughter. "So, where should we go 'probation officer'?" She said in a mocking tone. "Get drunk?" I said, sarcastically. "You've read my mind." Both of us laughed again. "Let's not. Let's go get some coffee, first. I need something to wake me up in the morning." I said and took to the air, she quickly followed. We flew for a while, I love the wind passing through my mane. The air just feels nice. "I love flying! I love the wind!" She yelled against the air current. I smiled, today was going good. "We have more in common than I thought." We dropped down to the ground. Ponies were busy getting to their jobs or having a quick breakfast, it was still pretty early so I expect a lot of ponies trying to get to work. I never really cared for schedules, hence that is why I am always late, did I mention I threw my alarm clock out the window? We went to one of the coffee shops "Star Bucks" I believe. I went over to the counter and ordered some coffee, for both of us. The mare at the counter nodded and brought out two cups of hot coffee, I placed the bits on the counter and picked the coffee up with my wings. I walked over to the table she was sitting on. "Coffee, ma'am?" "Thank you, waiter." She said with a sarcastic tone. "So where are we going?" She took one of the cups and placed it on the table. I sat down on the opposite chair. "There's a carnival in town..." "I'm liking this idea!" "Finish your coffee first." Shield said and sipped his coffee, it was still steaming hot, and I quickly spat it out. Sunny giggled as the hot black liquid dripped from my, now burnt, mouth "Laugh it up." She stifled her laughter. "Sorry, sorry. I just needed a laugh after last night." She smiled and sipped her coffee too. It was also hot and burned her tongue. I started to laugh. "Karma." I said with a smile We finished our coffee and left the shop. The day was cool, a nice breeze going through the air, I saw Sunny's mane blowing with the wind. She looked like she was in deep thought actually. I wonder what she's thinking. It wasn't before long, we made it to the carnival. The carnival was packed... with up-tight snobs, and bored looking foals. Some had actually fallen asleep on the carousel. "Well... I was expecting a much more festive mood." I said as saw that even the mascot was just sleeping on a nearby bench. Sunny rubbed her chin, thinking of some clever way to liven up the party. "Shield... Follow me." I don't know what happened, but now I'm dressed as a clown trying to juggle TEN balls on my wings while she kept throwing more stuff for me to juggle. A few foals started to laugh as I basically failed at juggling more than ten balls, I don't even know how I got to ten. "Go on, you can do it, Shieldy." "Shiedly!?!" I stammered and the balls juggled out of my wings and hit me on the head. The foals laughed, and a few noble snickered. I'm not really sure if they were serious. She was now on to the games, water guns, throwing rings and the like. All the foals joined in and even a few not-so-uptight parents too. "Clowny!" She squealed at me. "Come on, join the party!" She pulled my arm and gave me a few rings. "Just get the rings onto the stick over there." She pointed. I was horrible at this game and every other game for that matter. Sunny was dominating EVERY game. Every. Single. One. Even the big hammer thing... Things were at full-swing now. Foals were playing and smiling, the older folk were actually somewhat having a good time. I finally got out of that weird clown costume and found Sunny sitting on a bench with two milkshakes. I assumed one was for me, unless she ordered two for herself. "Hey there, Clowny." She said and handed me one of the milkshakes, I noticed that somepony drank from it. "Did you drink this?" I asked. "I like strawberry." She shrugged and drank her milkshake. "Why didn't you order strawberry then?" "I also like watermelon." I shrugged and drank my own milkshake. "Backwash?" "I know you like it." "Agh..." Really what is wrong with this girl? She's a princess yet she acts like... me? Disrespectful, doesn't care about the rules, happy-go-lucky, cute... scratch that... I'm not cute. We just walked around the carnival for a while, taking in the sights. She looked up and saw a rather large roller-coaster. I hate roller-coasters... "Let's ride one!" She said. I was afraid of that... "Uh... let's not..." I said nervously. "Don't tell me you're scared." She said and laughed. "You are! You're a Pegasus for Auntie's sake." "It just doesn't feel natural being in the air without using your wings..." I said and looked up at the giant tower and the roller-coaster, I started to feel very dizzy. "Who's the boss?" She asked. Ha, little does she know that I'm the boss now! "Me, that's who. I'm your probation officer, remember?" I said with a cocky tone. She deflated a bit. "Ummm... didn't think that would back-fire at me..." She sighed and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes, my heart seriously exploded... "If you don't ride with me, I'm gonna make this face all day." She said. I've got an iron will, she won't break me. "Pwese, can we go on the roller-coaster?" ... ... ... ... How did I end up here? I was being strapped to the front row of the roller-coaster with Sunny right next to me. I was tense... Actually, I was downright terrified of roller-coasters, I gripped on the railings as the cart or whatever the you call them started going up. We stopped at the top. "Well, that wasn't as- AHHHHHHHHHHHH" I screamed as we rocketed down at insane speeds. I could hear the others scream behind me, most of their screams were ones of joy, but mine was genuine fear. This went on for several minutes, mostly because I was paralyzed in fear and Sunny took the chance to ride it again. After she got bored and dragged me off my seat, which I was clinging on to for dear life. After I calmed down, by dumping cold water on me. "NEVER DO THAT EVER AGAIN!" I yelled. "How about something calm this time?" Sunny asked with a genuine smile. "I'll make it up to you, promise!" "Anything that doesn't involve falling to my death at extreme speeds sounds good." I said. By Luna's mane, I don't want to do that ever again! "How about a Ferris wheel, just the two of us, I think there was supposed to be some fireworks later." She said. I suppose nothing could go wrong. We made our way to the Ferris wheel and boarded. It was a slow circular motion, it was somewhat soothing being up here. I could see the light of the moon reflect off the lake below Canterlot, and the city itself was beautiful, lights that shimmer through the dark, it was nice, like I could stay here forever. I felt Sunny's head rest on my shoulder. "Hey." She said. "You're buying me a plushie later." She said softly and yawned. "I'm not carrying you back if you fall asleep." I stifled a yawn as well. "And I'm NOT carrying you back either." She said. The fireworks started, the sky was colored with all the colors of the rainbow, it was beautiful, the sky was lit up with pictures of Celestia and Luna and even a little Discord there. "Hey, look at that." I said and pointed to a pink heart shaped firework made from smaller hearts. She fell asleep on my shoulder. She was cute, when she smiles, her eyes are beautiful... Her wings are perfect, she's perfect... I have a problem... I think I'm in love with royalty... This is like a crappy romance novel... I hope this isn't going to be tragedy... I'm in love with Sunny Skies, niece of the Sun Goddess herself, Celestia... Forbidden love... Why does the Universe hate me?