//------------------------------// // 6 - Excitement and Disappointment // Story: My Overbearing Aunt: Alternate Perspectives // by Sketchy Changeling //------------------------------// Celestia I’m not one to brag, but it was a rather beautiful Monday morning as I walked down the halls of the castle with a skip in my step. Today was Marcus’s first day of school at CUFTA, and I couldn’t have been happier for him! The excitement of seeing his smiling face bubbled within me as I made my way to his room… only to find that it was empty when I got there. “Huh?“ I asked myself as I looked around his empty bedroom. “He left already?” I crossed my arms in as I left the room, closing the doors with my magic. “Good morning, princess,” said a voice to my right. My ears perked when I heard the voice and I turned to see one of my maids passing by. “Oh… Good morning, Dusty Feather,” I greeted back. “Question: have you seen Marcus at all this morning?” The young pegasus nodded her head. “He was on his way to breakfast with Princess Luna a few minutes ago.” “Great! Thanks,” I said excitedly as I teleported myself to the dining area, where Marcus and Luna were sitting at a nearby table eating their breakfast. “Good morning, sister and nephew!” I cheered jubilantly as I pranced over to them. “What’s up with her?” Marcus whispered to Luna. “I don’t know. Just act like you don’t notice,” she whispered back, and then she looked at me with a bright smile. “Good morning, Tia.” “Morning, Auntie,” Marcus said before taking another bite out of his pancakes. “Aren’t you excited?” I asked him. “It’s your first day!” “Yeah, but I don’t want to seem like the eager freshman, though,” he answered, taking a sip of his water. “So I can just ask one of the chauffeurs to take me to the school, right?” “Actually, I have something better in mind!” I smiled, and for some reason Marcus and Luna moved their chairs away from me. “Since it’s your first day, I’m gonna have you go in style! You’ll be riding in one of my best carriages, and I’ll be going with you!” The first thing I heard was Luna choking on her orange juice. Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Um… not that I appreciate the gesture, Auntie Celeste, but I’d rather just go in a regular old carriage. Probably the least royal one you have.” “Really? Why?” I asked, my head tilted to the side in confusion. “I’d rather not draw too much attention to myself. I don’t want to make a scene or anything.” “Not to mention the fact that Marcus’s adoption is supposed to be a secret,” Luna added with a cross look. “You know, in case you forgot.” “Pfft! I didn’t forget,” I scoffed, my eyes averted rom hers. “I was just really excited and didn’t think about it.” “Riiiiight. Also, is it really necessary for you to accompany him on the ride? You’re going to be killing his vibrations.” “Killing my vibe,” Marcus interrupted. “What he said.” “It’s not uncommon for parents to be there with their kids on their first day of college, Luna,” I stated with a humph. “If you say so,” my sister conceded with a roll of her eyes. “Regardless, you’ll need to disguise yourself so you won’t be recognized.” “Uuuugh. Fine…” I groaned, lighting up my horn and changing my appearance to that of a normal golden-maned unicorn. “Better?” “Much,” my sister and nephew answered in unison. “In that case, Marcus, meet me out front when you’re done eating so we can head out, okay? I’ll get the carriage ready in the meantime.” “Okay,” he nodded, his mouth stuffed with pancakes as Luna giggled at the way it made him look. I, however, was not amused. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, young man,” I told him with narrowed eyes. He gulped his food down, looking at me sheepishly. “Sorry, Auntie.” Luna shook her head. “Honestly, Tia,” she muttered under her breath. I smiled at both of them as I turned around and left the dining hall on my way to the front entrance of the castle. Luna “She is just too much, sometimes,” I sighed once Celestia was out of earshot. “Eh, I kinda expected her to fuss over me a little,” Marcus shrugged as he ate the last of his breakfast. He then stretched his arms and legs out before standing up. “Alright, I’m out. See ya when I get home, Luna.” “Enjoy your first day, Marcus,” I smiled as I waved him off. I continued to eat my breakfast at my leisure, but I soon heard hurried hoofsteps approaching the dining hall as I swallowed my last bite. “Who’s in such a hurry?” I wondered as I leaned back into my chair, waiting for whoever was running to appear. When I found out who it was, I struggled to contain my displeasure. “Princess Luna!” an elderly stallion shrieked as he rounded the corner. “Good morning to you, too, Withers,” I sighed. “Have you eaten breakfast already?” he asked frantically. I glanced at my plate. “Well, there is an empty breakfast plate with used utensils in front of me, so I think so,” I answered. My advisor sighed to himself. “Drat. I was hoping to get you started before breakfast.” “Get me started on what?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I planned to start your diet today.” “My WHAT!?” I snapped, immediately standing up and flaring my wings as I momentarily slipped into my Royal Canterlot Voice. Withers stared at me in fear for a moment before fixing his glasses and clearing his throat. “Well, princess, I’ve been observing your eating habits and it’s come to my attention that your lack of a well-balanced diet has begun to take its toll on your body.” I gave him an incredulous look before glancing over my physique, not noticing any flaws. “Taken its toll… what?” “Look here,” the stallion said, motioning for my to stand beside him as he took out his tablet. “For the love of Tartarus, not another chart…” I groaned with displeasure. Withers was practically attached to that infernal device, using it to keep track of schedules and pull out some random chart that was related to whatever lecture he happened to be giving me. In this case, it was one of those height-to-weight ratio charts. “Can you do me a favor and skip all the mathematics this time?” I asked. “Of course. You see, princess, you’re six feet tall,” he said as he dragged the silhouetted picture of the mare on the screen to match my height. “As you can see here, the appropriate weight for a mare your height is one-hundred and sixty pounds.” He then added another mare to the chart of the same height but started to adjust her weight. “I talked to your doctor about your physical last week, and her records show that you currently weigh one-hundred and eighty-one pounds, so you’re twenty-one pounds above average.” “And? It’s not like I’m overweight. In fact, the doctor said that I was perfectly healthy.” “Even so, a princess must maintain an appearance of absolute perfection in order to inspire her subjects.” “Perfection is relative,” I retorted. “In addition, you want to look presentable for potential suitors,” Withers added, ignoring my comment. I scoffed when he mentioned “potential suitors.” Oh, how I dreaded the idea of arranged marriage. Unfortunately, Withers made me go through a semiannual process of meeting an assortment of desperate stallions that wanted my hand in marriage, but most of those neanderthals would still want my hand even if I was morbidly obese. I could easily tell that they were just in it for the social status it would bring them. Marriage was the last thing on my list of priorities, as it was something that I didn’t want to rush into, and ideally, I would outright reject any proposals that came my way, but doing so would cause trouble for the diarchy, so I had to wait to hear their offers in full before saying no. What was truly unfair was the fact that Celestia’s advisor, Kibitz, wasn’t bothering her with marriage, but Withers was so adamant with me. As much as Kibitz annoyed me, especially during my time taking over for Celestia, I’d take him over Withers any day. “And that’s why your physical maintenance is of the utmost importance, princess. Now do you understand?” I blinked. I hadn’t listened to a word he had said. “I don’t, but I really don’t want to hear another explanation, so let’s just assume that I do.” The stallion let out an exhausted sigh. “Very well, but I’ve already arranged for your future meals to reflect the new dietary regimen that you will be practicing effective immediately.” My pupils shrank and I could feel my mane and tail becoming heavier. “You’re kidding.” “Certainly not, princess. From now on, your meals will consist of items that have nutritional value. I have also notified the guards to make sure you don’t try to cheat.” “You evil little bastard!” I thought vehemently. “How dare you try to come between me and my chocolate chip cookies!?” “Trust me. This is for your own good. You’ll thank me later.” The old stallion said as he walked off without another word. In case you’re wondering why I haven’t fired him, believe me when I say that I’ve tried, but apparently Withers has tenure as a staff member of the castle, and his employment cannot be terminated until that tenure is up. “Eight months. Just survive for eight more months Luna. You can do this.” Rarity It was nine-o-clock in the morning when I had arrived at the school. I had stayed in a decent hotel the previous night, which my parents were happy to pay for, and had taken a taxi this morning to arrive here. As I took my first step onto the campus I took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh university air. I lit up my horn, taking out a sheet of paper and unfolding it with my magic. “Okay, so I’m in Acrylic Hall, Room 116,” I muttered to myself, pulling my luggage over to a directory so that I could find where my residence hall was. “Oh, it’s not that far of a walk. Thank Celestia…” I thought, but then I looked at my bags. “Although, in retrospect… maybe I did overpack.” I guess hindsight really is twenty-twenty. Knowing that there was nothing I could do about it, I took hold of two suitcases with my hands and one with my magic, continuing on my trip to my new room, silently cursing myself for packing so much stuff. I didn’t even know whether or not I’ll have space for all of it. I sighed inwardly as I trudged onward, but then I heard someone approaching me. I turned to my right and saw a dark-haired human standing in front of me. “Can I help you?” I asked. Octavia I looked in the mirror as I combed my mane, nervously anticipating the arrival of my roommate. My room was in pristine condition, as I didn’t want to give this mare a reason not to like me. I was usually very tidy, but I made sure that not a speck was out of place when I cleaned up this morning. Come to think of it, I never read the email the school sent me regarding who my roommate was going to be. It was originally sent to Mother, but she forwarded it to me in case I ever wanted to see it for myself. I glanced over to my laptop, setting my comb down on my vanity. “I guess now is a good a time as any,” I shrugged. I sat on my bed, opening my laptop and looking though the emails that I had received over the past month, eventually finding the letter from the school that had my roommate’s profile attached to it. My heart began to race as I clicked the little icon, waiting for the profile to show up. “Okay… so her name is… Rarity?” I thought out loud. “Sounds familiar. Where have I heard that name before?” I shook the thought out of my head and continued reading. “Okay, age eighteen… first year… fashion major…” This “Rarity” already sounded a lot different from Vinyl. That mare didn’t give a flying feather about fashion. I was also surprised at the fact that my new roommate was a first year. Then again, the school recently starting pairing some newcomers with more experienced students in order to make their transitions easier. Well, at least that will take some of the pressure off. Whoever this mare was, she was probably more scared than I was. “Well, I can’t make her feel uncomfortable,” I muttered. “I’ll just have to put on a smile and make her feel welcome. In the meantime, while I wait for her…” I shut my laptop and grabbed a book from my nightstand, but as soon as I was about to start reading, I heard the door open. My heart jumped in my chest as I looked up to see a white unicorn mare standing next to a fair-skinned human boy. I let out a relaxed sigh as I got up to greet them. Honey Pot “So, HP,” Dusty Feather said as we returned to our room. Several hours had passed since breakfast, and the clock had struck noon, which meant that it was time for our scheduled break. “It’s been a month since Marcus moved in. I thought you would’ve made a move by now.” “I could do without the taunting, thanks,” I retorted. “I’m just sayin’. You were so set on making him yours and all.” “I know, I know! I’m just… waiting for the right moment. Besides, I’m still considering my approach.” I mulled it over for a minute before my eyes widened in realization. “Wait, Marcus is seventeen, right?” My pegasus friend sighed. “Yes, and like I said before, it’s kinda creepy that you’re preying on a kid that’s ten years younger than you.” “So what if there’s an age gap?” I asked. “My mom is twelve years older than my dad.” “I didn’t mean that the age gap was bad, I’m just- Wow. Twelve years? Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that the way you’re putting so much thought into this is a little strange, not to mention unnecessary.” “Whatever! Back to what I was saying. Teenage boys love hot older females, right?” I asked. “Some do, yes, but I don’t think you should make that kind of generaliza-” “Well, I’ll just have to show him that this hot older mare doesn’t mind a little young blood!” I declared with determination boiling in my chest. “If you ask me, the kid doesn’t seem like that type of-” “Oh, Dusty. Dusty, Dusty, Dusty. You don’t know males like I do.” She rolled her eyes. “Apparently not.” “Now I just need to wait for the right time to make my move, and he won’t be able to resist me.” Dusty Feather let out yet another sigh. “Just promise me you won’t scare the poor kid.” I scoffed at her, turning my head and looking into a nearby mirror. “Oh, please. What could he possibly have to be afraid of?”