“Shouldn’t we be studying?” Brimstone asked, causing his companions to groan. He walked with his head high, a new sense of pride evident. A few nights ago, he had been inducted into the guard. Sort of. He had been in an unusually good mood since.
“Not today Brimstone. Today, the lesson may come to us.” Cadance said cheerfully. Cadance was feeling a bit more like her usual self after the events of the other night. Not quite so murderous.
The group walked together. Four foals, one alicorn, with several unicorn and pegasi guard in tow.
“Usually, the crystal ponies are friendly bunch.” Cadance remarked. “Normally, when out and about, ponies come up and say hello.”
“I stink.” Brimstone commented, his mood unspoiled.
“No you don’t.” Ivy protested.
Brimstone rolled his eyes.
“I do not care about stink.” Cadance said. “I expect my ponies to be better mannered. I’m going to have to give a gentle reminder at some point about hospitality and graciousness. Ponies should feel loved when they visit the Crystal Empire. All ponies.”
“Something about this place.” Ivy said, leaning in on Brimstone. “Makes me feel funny.”
Brimstone stood stoically against Ivy invading his personal space. He’d given up some time ago.
“I just feel so good here.” Ivy said. “My scales tingle.”
“Ivy, I do not know what effect the Crystal Heart may have upon you, but upon ponies, it fosters a strong sense of love and affection. You are a chaotic creature, but you have a harmonious cutie mark, and you were raised in a home full of love and adoration.” Cadance smiled warmly. “It seems the Crystal Heart affects all creatures, not just harmonious ponies.”
“I’ve been all over Equestria and I’ve never seen a place like this.” Hoodwink said.
“I grew up here Winkie. It’s boring .” Minerva said.
“Minerva, you are awful.”
“Am not.”
Cadance sighed.
A crystal pegasus drew near them, watching the group intently, his nose crinkling. From a short distance away, he waved with a hoof and saluted with a wing. Cadance returned his salute. The pegasus then flew off, rising into the sky and vanishing.
“I do believe that was our weather captain.” A guard commented.
Hoodwink rushed forward to a fountain, raising up on her hind legs and resting her forelegs against the edge. “Crystal fish!” She announced. Her companions drew near to examine her find.
The fountain was full of crystal fish. Strange creatures, swimming around. Transparent. Odd. Hoodwink looked up from the fish and saw a crystal pony statue. Her ears fell back against her skull and her tail drooped. She began to look very afraid.
“Snap out of it Winkie.” Minerva said. “Don’t spoil the moment.” Hoodwink shook her head, causing her ears to flop around, as if she was trying to dislodge a troublesome thought. Minerva slipped a foreleg over Hoodwink’s shoulders.
The group continued on their walk, nearing the marketplace. Ivy began to drool.
“Stink alert.” Minerva said. “Something other than Brimstone must smell really bad.”
Ivy paused, leaning into the breeze, sniffing, her tail snapping out perfectly straight. She rose up on her hind legs, becoming bipedal. Sniffing.
“No, something does smell good.” Hoodwink said in Ivy’s defense. “I smell it too.”
Cadance sniffed. Something sweet. And smokey. Cadance felt her self drooling slightly and immediately took steps to regain her composure. People didn’t want a slobbering princess.
Ivy strode forward, still bipedal, causing some curious stares from a distance, her tail ramrod straight, her claws clicking on the crystal walkway.
The group followed Ivy as she led the way, her nostrils flared, eyes half closed, her tongue hanging down half the length of her body.
“Ivy,” Cadance said gently, “tongue.”
Ivy paid no attention. She was enraptured. She followed her nose forward, into the market, clutching her talons to her chest, her talon-fingers fidgeting fitfully as she sought the source of her delight. The ponies in the market gave her a wide berth.
And it wasn’t long before Ivy stopped in front of a market stall, a long ribbon of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth. A bright green earth pony stood behind the counter, smiling at her.
“You’re an earth pony.” Ivy said, slurping back drool.
“Sure am youngin, and yer lookin’ awful happy to be seein’ me.” The green earth pony grinned, eyeing the rest of the incoming group. “My name is Pine Apple. And this is my lunch counter.”
“I am Climbing Ivy, honourary Apple, loved by my aunt Applejack and Clan Apple of Ponyville.”
“Right pleased to meetcha cousin!” Pine Apple exclaimed.
Cadance smiled at the exchange.
“Something smells GOOD.” Ivy said, getting right to the point. She wiped her face with a foreleg, trying to remember her manners. “What is it? Never smelled anything like this before.”
The green earth pony smiled warmly at her customers, nodding to the princess.
“Pineapple burgers.” Pine Apple began. “Grilled pineapple burgers. A fat slice of pineapple, grilled over a searin’ flame, burnin’ it just right, . Slathered in a sweet tangy sauce, sprinkled with pine nuts, and served on a hot fresh buttered bun.” Pine Apple drawled.
Ivy could do nothing but drool. Brimstone helpfully reached up to wipe her mouth with a foreleg, and instantly regretted it, shaking his leg and hoof, slobber beading on his dingy yellow pelt.
“Ugh.” Brimstone mumbled.
“Would you like to try one?” Pine Apple asked, smiling warmly.
Ivy looked at Cadance pleadingly, eyes wide, using the saddest face she had, the one that could melt her father’s heart into goo.
It seemed that Cadance wasn’t immune to it either. Cadance was shocked by how quickly Ivy’s face shattered her resolve.
Cadance nodded.
“I’ll take a dozen!” Ivy said wetly.
Cadance sighed. Ivy’s appetite. She was definitely Twilight’s student.
“A dozen for Ivy,” Cadance agreed, “and some for everypony else as well.”
Several guards grunted in pleasant surprise.
Pine Apple chuckled and ducked back behind the counter to get to work.
Ivy paced, awaiting lunch.
A short while later….
The group sat around a collection of benches and tables, eating lunch. Cadance was trying to eat the sticky sandwich as delicately as possible. This was an awful idea, she reflected. Brimstone was completely unable to levitate his food, and had his muzzle stuffed into his sandwich, gnawing away. Hoodwink and Minerva had given up on levitation after a few messy bites and had followed Brimstone’s lead. Pegasi guards were scarfing and gobbling, the unicorn guards looking on in disgust.
And Ivy was up to her elbows in sticky sauce. There were pine nuts stuck to her antlers somehow. She was wearing down her pile of sandwiches with alarming speed.
But spirits were high. And that was important, Cadance reflected. A glob of sticky orange sauce squirted from her sandwich and dribbled down her chin. She gave a most unladylike grunt of annoyance, something pegasus in nature, causing several pegasus guards to snicker.
Minerva chewed a pine nut thoughtfully, her own light green muzzle covered in sticky orange sauce.
Hoodwink grew tired of trying to snip off bits of pineapple in each bite of bun and pulled out the remains of the pineapple slice. She held her prize in her teeth for a moment, before pulling in the entire remainder, causing her face to become slathered in sauce. She licked her muzzle enthusiastically, making wet sloppy sounds.
Cadance cringed. This had been a horrible idea. But working with foals was give and take. She tried to take another dainty bite, but her sandwich conspired against her. A rivulet of sauce dribbled down her chin, down her neck, and congealed onto her chest.
Cadance grew angry and gave up, suddenly savaging her sandwich in a most unladylike manner, sending sauce splattering everywhere.
A unicorn guard looked on in annoyance, a gobbet of sauce stuck to one ear. “Found your missing sauce, milady.” He said politely, looking upward at his ear.
Cadance shot him an unpleasant look as she devoted her effort toward destroying the insolent sandwich.
Cadance began to wonder if the sandwich was somehow magical in nature. The more she ate, the more sauce there seemed to be. It really was everywhere. She looked over at the stand. Pine Apple was leaning on the counter and speaking to other customers. Customers who did not know what they were in for. Customers that should be warned, Cadance reflected.
“If only you kept track of your lunch the same way you did your students milady.” The unicorn guard lamented, his face now freckled in sauce.
Cadance ignored him and scarfed down the last few bites of sandwich, feeling an odd sense of accomplishment.
Brimstone leaned back and wiped his muzzle with a sticky foreleg, causing sauce to smear up to his eyebrows. He looked at Minerva, who was still struggling with the last few bites. The pineapple had squirted out.
Hoodwink was gobbling the remains of her bun, the occasional crunch of pine nuts could be heard as she chewed.
Ivy was almost finished, working on her last sandwich. She was covered in sticky.
Cadance looked at the group, both students and guards, and realised that a return trip to the Crystal Spire was in order. They were going to have to march through the city splattered in orange sauce. She sighed. Shining Armor was going to tease her. Her reverie was interrupted by Brimstone’s sudden cry.
“Personal space Ivy!”
Ivy had her forelegs around Brimstone’s neck and was licking his face. Brimstone struggled against her grasp, but Ivy was a much stronger creature.
“Oh gross! Dragon drool!” Brimstone protested. “Somepony help me!”
No help seemed forthcoming.
Cadance felt her heart warm as she watched Ivy.
“Hold still!” Ivy said between licks.
“Ivy…” Cadance said, smiling.
Ivy paused, turning her head towards Cadance.
“You missed a spot on his ear.” Cadance said in a teasing tone. Ivy resumed her task.
Brimstone gave up on his futile efforts to shove Ivy away. “Your breath smells like smoke.” Brimstone said. “Like wood burning in a fireplace.”
Ivy said nothing, but kept licking, her tongue seemed to be the only thing that could actually remove the sticky sauce from something.
“I feel strangely damp.” Brimstone commented as nonchalantly as possible.
Ivy stopped when Brimstone was mostly clean.
Ivy hugged him one last time and pulled away, smiling shyly.
“Somepony has a filly friend.” Minerva said teasingly.
“I do not!” Brimstone retorted. “She’s a filly. And she’s my friend. And she’s a silly filly that just slobbered all over me. It’s probably just some bit of dragon culture that I am not yet acquainted with.”
Hoodwink giggled, licking her own lips.
Ivy tittered.
“I’m sticky.” Minerva announced suddenly.
“I believe we are all sticky.” A guard agreed, nodding.
“I was remarkably sticky free. For a short time.” Said the guard sitting next to Cadance. “And then something happened to change that.”
Cadance turned away, trying to look innocent.
“I feel a lot better, after everything that’s happened.” Minerva announced. She looked at her friends. “I’ve never done anything like this before, or had this much fun before I met all of you. It was worth being scared the other night.” Minerva paused, looking thoughtful. “It is nice knowing that my friends care about me.” She gestured to the world around her. “And sitting here, doing this, is a nice reminder of why friends are important. Bad times and good times. Friends stay together. You’ve been with me twice now, when I am sticky and gross…” she halted, looking puzzled, “there is more I want to say but I don’t know how to say it.”
Hoodwink gave Minerva a sticky hug, their coats making wet crinkly sounds as sticky patches of sauce connected.
“Friends stick together.” Brimstone said helpfully, causing the entire group to groan.
“Brimstone.” Cadance said, “I’m telling your mother.”
Brimstone cowered.