//------------------------------// // Adventure #3: The Fight And The Fallout // Story: Adventures In Babysitting // by TheNewYorkBrony //------------------------------// Cadence pulled her gloves off as she exited her car. It has been a few weeks that she's been watching Twilight. The two have become so close that Cadence would come over even when Twilight didn't even need to be sat. On this particular day, Cadence wasn't greeted with a smiling Twilight. She was met with a frowning Mrs. Sparkle. "Ah, did something happen, Mrs. S?" She asked, staring behind her to see that Twilight was at the kitchen table with her head down. "You should go ask her yourself. I'm gonna go run a few errands. Make sure she doesn't get into anymore trouble?" The older woman responded, shouldering her pocketbook. "Ah, sure." Cadence replied. She stepped into the house, pulling her jacket off in the process. She hung it up, then took her boots off before walking over to Twilight. "Hey, squirt." She said, patting her on her back. Shining Armour was sitting at the island eating a sandwich and nearly choked. Even though Cadence has been coming over more and more frequently than before, he still wasn't used to her being around him. "Oh, hey Shining. What's Twily's problem?" Cadence directed towards him. She smiled at him, glad to see he was there today. Usually when she came over he was either out or on the way out. He coughed. "She uh, got into a fight in school." He barely talked to her, and when he did it was very few words. Most of the time he spent avoiding her so that he didn't have to talk to her. "What?!" Cadence forcefully lifted the younger girl's head to see she had a black eye, multiple scratches on her face, and a lip that looked like it had just stopped bleeding. "What the hell, squirt?!" Twilight smiled wryly. "Hi, Cadence. It's nice to see you again." "Don't you 'Hi Cadence' me! What the hell happened to you?!" Cadence yelled at her. She couldn't help but wonder what Twilight could have done to end up in such a bad state. As long as Cadence had known her, (which wasn’t long if she thought about it) She had come to know Twilight had no physical upper body strength whatsoever. She still needed a stool to reach the cabinets above the counter, she still needed someone to reach up for the cereal boxes atop the fridge, and she was so small and possibly underweight for her age that if Cadence pushed her the right way there was no doubt in her mind that she would break a bone in her body. "Isn't it obvious? Shiny just told you." Twilight looked up at her smiling again. The cut in her lip that had stopped bleeding began to bleed again. Twilight put the wet paper towel beside her up the the wound and winced when the napkin made contact with it. Cadence glared at her. She sighed. “Okay. I got into a fight with that Rainbow girl.” She then turned back to Cadence. “There, bubblegum princess. Ya Happy?” She really didn’t feel like explaining herself, after having to explain to her teacher, the nurse, the principal and her mother. She inwardly snorted. Her father wasn’t home from work yet. He would be home late and when he did come home she hardly doubted that her mother wouldn’t wake her up just to make her explain herself again. For the uptinth time. She swore to high heaven if it’s anything that pisses her off more than children her age, it was enforced repetition. “What?! How?!” “Do you want me to draw you a schematic graph for you or have you never seen a fight?” Twilight asked sarcastically. Stalling with sarcasm was her specialty. Sometimes she would offend or annoy the other person so much that they’d just tell her to ‘forget it’ and storm off. “Explain what happened, turd, before I take away your TV privileges for the night.” Cadence bit back, folding her arms. Unfortunately for Twilight, Cadence had grown used to her irritating attitude. While she did want to just give up and walk away before she actually hit the child herself, she soon learned how to calm herself and remember that that is what Twilight would be wanting. For someone to get so frustrated with her that they’d give up on talking to her, or even asking her about anything. Suddenly, Cadence didn’t seem too surprised that Twilight didn't have any friends. Twilight rolled her eyes. “Ms. Cheerilee, my teacher, she was talking about multiplication.” She snorted. “I already knew the material so I was reading a book I had borrowed from an acquaintance in the sixth grade.” Cadence didn’t say anything so she scowled. “Do I seri-” “Yes, I’m listening.” Cadence cut her off. Twilight rolled her eyes again, but continued. “So yeah, I was reading, and Rainbow Dash came up behind me and said, ‘Whatcha got there, egghead?’ And I said ‘None of your business you insolent twit’ She took offense to that and pushed me out my chair. So I did what any self-respecting genius would do. I pushed her back. She punched me in the mouth,” -Twilight pointed to her lip- “She got me on the ground and started wailing on me. Now, it’s kinda funny, because she’s like two inches shorter than me, and looks like she belongs in one of those late night ‘Feed The Children’ ads.” Twilight churned her wrist disinterestedly. “She scratched me a few times and before I knew it I was seeing red. So I pushed her off of me, pinned her to the ground and punched her in the nose. Gave the brat a run for her money too. She had to walk around all day with two ripped up pieces of paper towel in her nose.” Twilight gave Cadence a concluding look, a bored expression that screamed, ‘Can I go now?’ “You beat up a fellow classmate.” Cadence deadpanned. “She started it.” Twilight shrugged. It’s not like she insinuated the fight. “The brute wanted a brawl so I gave her one. Robert Downey Jr. style.” She pounded her fist and grinned. Cadence raised an eyebrow, her face taking on a disgusted look. “Okay first, no more Sherlock movies for you. Second, you’re going to apologize to that girl on Monday.” “Boy, you really are a bobble head cheerleader aren’t you?” Twilight snipped. “Because only a blondey like you would be so dense enough to even consider telling me to do something as absurd and ludicrous as that.” Cadence’s put her hands on the back of the chair across from Twilight and squeezed on it, her knuckles turning white. Shining Armour had been quiet during their conversation, having heard the story already, but couldn’t believe that Cadence was letting Twilight treat her like that. She was the bigger girl, the older sibling in a sense, the babysitter. She should be the one calling the shots. He was used to Twilight being a snide little smart ass but when it came to Cadence, her doing that kind of pissed him off. “Hey, Twilight. Knock it off. Stop being a smart ass and apologize to Cadence.” He had spoken up for the first time in ages, his stern listen-to-your-big-brother voice slicing through the tense silence. He looked at his younger sister expectantly, who snorted and rolled her eyes for the third time. “Fine. I’m sorry that you fit the systematical high school blonde airhead popular girl stereotype that has been set and portrayed by mediocre teen actresses for the past thirty years.” Twilight didn’t even look at her. She gave her another dull look. Cadence let out a defeated breath. “I’m sorry too.” She paused for a moment. “I’m sorry that you’re going to have to look for a new babysitter.” Twilight’s head shot up and her eyes bulged. “Wait what?! You can’t do that! You can’t be serious! Shiny, tell me she cannot be serious!” She snapped at her brother. Cadence walked over to the door, putting her coat and boots back on. They both hurriedly followed after her, Twilight shaking in fear. “Cadence?” He asked, unsurely. The girl gave him a sad look before turning back to Twilight. “It’s been a pleasure babysitting you, Twi. Maybe there’s someone out there that’s more equipped to deal with a problem child like you.” Without another word she flipped her hood up and stepped out into the winter that was as just as cold as her words. As the screen door banged shut behind her, Twilight felt a chill run up her spine as tears started to fall from her eyes. Her whole body shook, her heart beating like a jackhammer. She took one look at Cadence’s car as she sped off then faced her brother, who was giving her a mixed look. “Are you-” “Don’t.” She held up a hand. “Whatever you say isn’t going to make her come back. Just, shut up.” Twilight responded, stomping up the stairs. She slammed the door to her room behind her before climbing in bed with Smarty Pants, the knitted horse her grandmother made for her. She pulled the covers over her head and wept. She didn’t come out for the rest of the night.