//------------------------------// // FFAF #9-Just Friends, Darn It! // Story: Ponywatching // by ThunderTempest //------------------------------// Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadence, or The Greatest Foalsitter in the History of Foalsitters (Cadence was particularly proud of that title), was something of a conundrum in Equestria. Her domain, Love, was obvious to all, but her role in the Equestrian Diarchy was less so. However, as Cadence and her husband Shining Armor lived in Canterlot, the pink princess was a frequent sight around the districts of Canterlot, and to the uppity nobles, a visitation from Princess Cadence was almost as good as a royal seal of approval, especially as Cadence was a far more frequent shopper than Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. As Cadence walked down the streets of Canterlot, enjoying the beautiful day, she could hear the normal sounds of life in the Royal City- birds were singing, merchants and shopkeepers were calling out, hoping to attract her attention, and Cadence could hear arguing. Turning off her previous path, Princess Cadence found the source of the disturbance sitting outside a cafe. The two ponies involved were a grey earth mare, a pink bow tie wrapped around her throat and a cutie mark of a treble clef, and a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane, a set of purple glasses over her eyes and a cutie mark of two bridged notes. “Hey,” began the unicorn of the pair, “we went to the Canterlot ball last year, so it’s my turn to pick, and I say we’re going to go down to Ponyville this year!” “Vinyl, as...charming as Ponyville is, everypony who lives there is certifiably insane!” “Hey, Pinkie Pie is my friend, and she lives in Ponyville!” “That’s only proving my point!” Cadence’s horn lit up as she watched the two ponies continue to argue, and two halves of a heart popped out from the end. Unknown to Cadence, several ponies had gathered behind her, or stopped their tasks to watch the results of cadence’s magic. Maybe this would finally get Vinyl Scratch and Octavia to finally admit that they were in love with each other. With a flash, the heart reformed between Octavia and Vinyl, and the small crowd, and Cadence, held their breaths. Octavia let her next rebuttal die on her tongue as she felt the magic fizzle out without doing anything, and the cellist looked at Vinyl, who simply raised her left eyebrow twice, and gave the smallest of head bobs. Interpreting the message, Octavia looked out from the corner of her eye, spotting Princess Cadence, and the small crowd that had gathered behind the Princess, all waiting expectantly. Thanks to Octavia’s obsession with playing a Royal Wedding (which the cellist still hadn’t fully forgiven Vinyl for stealing), the two were very much aware of the Princess’s talent. Octavia let her eyes fall into a flat stare. Vinyl raised her left eyebrow once, glanced down at the table, and then bobbed her horn in Cadence’s direction. Octavia blinked twice, and let her mouth curl into the smallest of smiles. Both ponies placed their hooves on top of the table, and leaned in towards each other. Cadence couldn’t understand why her magic was taking so long; it had normally taken effect by now. Upon seeing the two ponies begin to lean into each other, Cadence let out a small sigh of relief. It must have simply been a big argument, and Cadence turned to continue on her way. “Just because Pinkie Pie lives there doesn’t make it a crazy town!” “They live next to the Everfree Forest, Vinyl! Willingly!” Cadence jerked, and whipped her head around. Sure enough, the couple was continuing their argument, even more angry than before. “Yeah? You wear a bow tie willingly!” “That was a terrible insult, Vinyl!” “Your mother is terrible!” Desperate to stop the fight before it devolved into violence, Cadence fired up her horn once more, putting more power behind the spell. Once more, Octavia felt the spell fail as the magic washed over her, and she winked at Vinyl. The crowd began to dissapate, disappointed that Cadence’s magic hadn’t elicted the desired response from the two musicians. “Oh, you did not go there,” she said, “You want it like that, Vinyl? You’ll get it like that.” [Time] Cadence trudged away from the cafe, head down. She was unsure why her magic had failed to help the couple overcome their differences, because something like this had never happened before. She felt a pony walk up on each side of her. “Hey,” said a voice, and Cadence looked up to see the unicorn from the arguing couple beside her. “Hope we didn’t get you down too much with our little joke. Join us for lunch?” “Vinyl!” said the pony on Cadence’s other side, and the Princess twisted to see it was the grey earth pony. “That’s hardly any way to talk to royalty! I do apologise for my friend. She’s a bit crass, but she generally means well,” continued the mare, addressing Cadence, “Would you like to join us so that we can explain why we think your magic failed?” **** “So, you two aren’t dating? Not even romantically involved?” asked Cadence. “Nope,” said Vinyl, “Don’t you have some kind of shipping sense or something that tells you stuff like that?” “You see, Princess,” began Octavia, “it’s an ongoing problem of ours. Everypony, and I do mean that quite literally, is convinced that the two of us are in a relationship, or in denial about it at the very least.” “But...what about all the insults?” “Octy and I grew up together, Princess. We know that we don’t really mean it.”