//------------------------------// // Guess Who's Coming To Dinner... // Story: Apple of My Eye // by musicalreader //------------------------------// Apple of My Eye- Ch. 25 and a Half Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? AKA- Let’s Get This Story Back On Track… Halberd wasn’t the most attentive guard in the castle… in fact, he’d been the pony on duty in the royal garden when Discord had started to break out of his stone prison. When he noticed the statue breaking apart, he’d merely commented to the gardener that one of the “decorations” looked like it needed a touch up… he’d also been posted as Princess Cadence’s personal guard while she was in Canterlot… Unfortunately, he got caught up in a conversation with a rather charismatic cloaked figure one night and didn’t notice the changeling sneaking up behind him to knock him out. Luckily, when he woke back up, Princess Cadence was alright, albeit, a tad bit surlier than before… But that had to have just been the pressure of organizing a wedding showing, right? …The point is, Halberd just wasn’t very watchful, despite his job as a watchpony… and it was about to bite him in the flank. Let’s watch… Princess Luna had just walked into one of the guest suites to check on a young mare that had been brought into the caste a few days ago after some kind of accident. She had actually woken up yesterday, and Halberd couldn’t help but pay attention to the cutie after she was up and about again… in fact, all of the seven mares that the Princesses were hanging out with had their own charm… he had heard about a couple of them through the grapevine of the Guard’s barracks. If he was guessing right, the pink one had terrorized at least three squadrons before being stopped by Princess Luna. But how could this little ball of sunshine ever be threatening? Then there was the purple one. If he was remembering correctly, her name was something Sparkly, and she was the personal student to Princess Celestia. There was something else important to remember about her though… what was it? Ah, whatever, if it was really that important, he was sure that he’d remember it eventually… in the meantime, the six mares were all hanging out right down the hall from his post outside their friend’s door… Time to do a little recon… he thought to himself, trying not to be too obvious as he angled his spear tip to catch a reflection of the group… or more exactly, their flanks… Oh yeah… the pink and yellow one’s have curves in all the right places… the blue and orange ones look nice and tight without looking like a stallion, very important… and the Unicorns have got it going ON… geez… I don’t even know where to start. He thought to himself, drooling slightly as a dopey grin spread across his face. Oh hay…who says this job doesn’t have any perks? Ooohhh… that’s right sweetie, turn around a bit for me… there we are… hmm? Is she looking at me? She is! This is awesome! Come on cutie… you know you want this… Halberd thought, noticing that the white Unicutie was looking back at him with an appraising eye. Maybe he should strike a pose or something? Yeah… that just might do it! Mares love a Stallion in uniform… V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “……Twilight? Your brother was Captain of the Royal Guard… do you have any idea what that Pegasus guard is doing?” Rarity asked, nudging her friend with a hoof, keeping her eyes glued to the odd stallion. “Hmmm… I’m not entirely sure… Pinkie Pie, you’re random enough… does that make any sense to you?” Twilight responded, getting the giggly mare’s attention. “…I’m not a hundred percent positive…. But I think he might have an itch he can’t reach…” Pinkie replied, “Oh! Maybe that other guard walking up behind him is gonna help him out!” V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “Dang… this is working better than I thought… now there’s three of them looking at me!” Halberd said, a mildly smarmy grin on his face as he struck another pose. “And what exactly are you supposed to be doing?” a voice said from behind him. “Come on dude, don’t crowd me… I’m trying to impress those hot pieces of flank over there…” he responded, striking yet another goofy pose before realizing that there was someone behind him… uh oh… Spinning in place and crouching in a defensive stance, Halberd was about to ask who went there, in a very official voice of course, but stopped short when he saw his superior officer, Sergeant Sun Storm standing and glaring at him. “Uhhh… Sir, nothing sir!” Halberd said, snapping to attention and saluting the large Zebrican guard in front of him smartly. “Private Halberd… would you care to explain what in Tartaurus you are doing at your post…” the Sergeant asked, remarkably calm given the silliness in front of him from a supposedly ‘professional’ guard… “Sir, I was uhhh…. Scanning the hallway for threats to the Princess’s guest?” Halberd replied weakly. “Really? Because to me, it looked to me like you were a bit too busy checking out Princess Celestia’s student and her companions to be scouting anything.” Sun responded, quirking an eyebrow and glaring at his subordinate. “Uhhh…. I suppose I may have taken a break from surveying the hallway for that…” Halberd choked out, his life flashing before his eyes. “Sir, sorry sir, if I-” “Can it Private. You’re just lucky that I’m not in a bad mood.” The Sergeant said offhandedly. “Besides, I just got through with the new recruits for the day, so I don’t exactly have any plans to make anypony else do drills for at least the next eight hours or so…” “Thank you sir!” Halberd said excitedly, saluting again and smiling, “Permission to at least try and talk to the white Unicorn sir?” “Permission denied, now get back to your job Private.” Sun Storm said, rolling his eyes and walking over to the group, muttering to himself, “I swear… one of these days, I’m going to figure out how to get through that thick head of yours…” “Momma always said that I had a thick head in case I needed to break my way through a challenge.” Halberd said, smiling lazily but standing at attention and looking forward. The Sergeant couldn’t even bring himself to try and fire off a retort to his subordinate, shaking his head as he approached the circle of mares. There was something he needed to do… V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V “Oh my… is that a Captain?” Rarity asked, inspecting the newest arrival in the hallway from the Royal Guard. “Actually, based on the silver armor and the star on the chest piece, that guard is a Sergeant.” Twilight informed her friend, squinting down the hall to get a better look at the guard, the details were a little fuzzy at this distance, but she was sure that those were the trappings of a Sergeant. “And since when did you become so knowledgeable about military ranks?” Rarity questioned, her expression surprised, to say the least. “My brother was the Captain of the guard, and I’m kind of going out with an officer.” She answered, frowning slightly, “I’m actually surprised that he hasn’t tried to visit me yet… we’ve been in Canterlot for almost four days now, and I haven’t seen him at all!” “Oh come on Twily, you shouldn’t think like that. I’m sure that he’s busy off doing guard things. And we didn’t exactly come here for a planned vacation.” Pinkie said, actually making a good amount of sense… “I guess, but-” Twilight started to say, before being interrupted by Pinkie. “I mean, if we HAD come here on a vacation, then I totally would have brought my party cannon, my portable pool, my swim goggles and scuba gear, ooh! And I can’t forget my special we’re-on-a-vacation-in-Canterlot-Castle Cupcake tin! They’re shaped like the castle!” “Well… I have to admit, those do sound interesting…” the guard said from behind Twilight and Rarity, somehow having made his way to the group without being noticed. “Oh my!” Rarity said, jumping slightly in surprise, the rest of the group turning towards the guard. “Sunny!” Twilight gasped, a large smile growing on her face in an instant as she launched herself at the Sergeant and giggling as she tried to tackle him to the ground. “Heh… hey sweetie, how are you doing?” Sun Storm replied, shuffling back under his marefriend’s unexpected tackle-hug before returning her affections with a loving nuzzle and looking at the other young mares in the group. “Oh, hello everyone. I’m Sun Storm, Twilight’s coltfriend.” “Oh my… No wonder Twilight has been hiding you from us…” Rarity commented, blushing, “You are certainly a wonderful example of Stallionhood, Sergeant... If you were with me, i'd be ever so scared that somepony might try and steal you away...” “Rarity!” Twilight said, turning red with embarrassment, “That’s hardly appropriate!” “Relax hun, it’s alright.” Sun Storm said, grinning and removing his helmet, revealing that the plume for his helmet was actually his own mane. “Anyways, I meant to come see you earlier, but I’m the acting Drill Sergeant for the new batch of recruits, so I’ve been kind of busy the last few days… Anyway, I was wondering if you’d let me make it up to you tonight.” “W-what did you have in mind?” Twilight responded, flustered… it was one thing to be around the tall, strong stallion… it was a different one entirely to have her friends watching them…” “Well, I was thinking, there’s that Prench restaurant you like just a few blocks away. And it’s been awhile since I got to take you out for a real date…” he offered, smiling warmly. “I’d love to Sunny… but, well, we’re kind of still waiting for our friend… there was this spell, and it’s wearing off tonight, and we just want to be there for them…” Twilight explained sadly. Sun Storm considered this, “Hmmm… well, this spell, do you all know when it wears off? If I remember right, most spells wear off relatively quickly once they reach their limit…” “Luna said it would happen after the moon comes out tonight!” Pinkie supplied, bouncing around Twilight and Sun Storm. “I remember because Aurora was all surprised that the spell was already at its deadline, and I wanted to throw a party so I got the exact time from Luna so I wouldn’t throw the party too early, and then she started talking about a whole bunch of magicky stuff that didn’t make any sense at all, but I mean really, this was the kind of stuff that would probably confuse a Unicorn, and they’re MEANT to understand magic and stuff like that, and then-” Luckily for everyone present, it was at this precise moment that not one, not two, but three separate hooves covered up Pinkie’s mouth at the same time. Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack looked at each other, breathing a simultaneous sigh of relief. “I think we get it Pinkie…” Rainbow said, chuckling and looking at the Sergeant, “Sorry about her, she gets a bit excited sometimes.” “Excited? She's as hyper as a squirrel that got into a batch of mah family’s coffee…” Applejack chimed in. “Well in any case, Sergeant, I’m sure that Twilight would love to accompany you out tonight, but it will have to wait until after sundown and we have all had a chance to check that Aurora… I mean, ORION, is alright.” Rarity said graciously, looking at Twilight as if daring her to contradict her. “Oh? So your friend is under a sex-switch spell?” Sun Storm surmised. “Hay, I was under that one once… didn’t wear off for a week… how long have they been under it?” “A month.” Pinkie said, somehow escaping her friend’s grasp for a second. Sun blinked, trying to wrap his mind around that time frame. “……Wow… well, I mean, the invitation isn’t just for you Twilight. I heard that you all went through some kind of trouble… I heard a couple of the night guards talking about it last night… If any of you want, I’d be more than happy to treat you all out to a night on the town. Orion too, if he feels up to it after the magic works him over… again…” he offered. "Besides, if i remember right, somehting calming is gonna go a long way to helping your friend after that magic works its way out of their system..." “Umm… I’d rather not… I actually was going to go see the animals in the Royal Gardens with the groundskeeper… it’s been awhile since I got to spend time with my little friends…” Fluttershy replied, looking at Sun Storm, “But uh… thank you anyway…” “And as much as I would love to accept your offer, Sergeant, I have already agreed to meet up with my friend Fancy Pants and his wife after checking in on Orion.” Rarity said, “Oh, and Pinkie darling, Fleur requested that you join us so that you might be able to show her some of your baking skills. She’s been taking classes, you see, and she would like to put them to the test against a pony that knows their way around the kitchen.” “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie replied excitedly, “Looks like I get to make some cupcakes tonight after all!” “Okay then… what about you two? My treat.” Sun said, looking at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “If Orion’s feelin’ up to it, Ah guess Ah’m in.” Applejack replied, shrugging, “Truth be told, not too comfy with the idea of Dash being alone with him…” “And we both know there’s no way I’m leaving you alone with Orion either…” Rainbow huffed, getting in her rival’s face. “Besides, I’m not the one that kissed him the other night, so I’m clearly more trustworthy.” “Fer Luna’s sake, it was a game, you were just too scared, and Ah wasn’t gonna give up a chance ta try and git closer when Ah saw one.” Applejack replied, gritting her teeth. This wasn’t the first time they’d argued about that kiss over the last few days. “……Do I want to know?” Sun Storm asked his marefriend, who just shook her head. “Trust me, if I told you, you’d only have more questions…” she said, walking away from the group and tugging her special somepony along for the ride. “Girls, we’ll be back before the sun goes down.” She said over her shoulder, a wave of acknowledgement and a smile from Fluttershy letting her know that the message was received, despite the ongoing debate between AJ and Rainbow, and Pinkie chewing Rarity’s ear off about some kind of new cake recipe… “Well… they seem nice….” Sun Storm said, looking down at the lavender Unicorn leaning gently into his side as they walked. “Oh yeah, they’re wonderful friends… but sometimes, it’s nice to just get away and do your own thing… and it’s been a while since we got to spend time together, just the two of us…” “Hmmm… that it has my dear, that it has… come on, there’s no one in the astronomy tower right now, we can have all the privacy we need up there…” Sun said, smiling and leading the two of them down the hallway for some much needed catching up.