While it had started out okay, despite her search being sadly unsuccessful, Cloud’s first day in the Capital quickly went downhill when it was time for the first rehearsal for the ceremonies. She didn’t know how much time it took her, but Velvet Sparkle did came out of her cloudy-prison and was clearly not too happy about where her obviously sheltered daughter had gone. If the constant glaring the Master Arcanist cast in the Ponyville’s representatives’ directions was of any indications.
Luckily for Cloud, everyone else in the Arcanium Main hall was much too busy following the instructions of the ceremony planner, a strict woman with glasses and shiny black hair styled in a tight bun named Raven, to notice Velvet’s obvious animosity. The representatives of each town’s Guard were forming two long lines on both side of the red carpet, according to the following plan Raven had given them : “Town A: escorter 1, Officer, escorter 2; Town B; escorter 1, Officer, escorter 2;... and so on. Behind each town’s officer stood their standard-bearer, holding their unit’s flag above the heads of his comrades. While it had been decided at first to have Gale holding it, Constance decided to have Blossomforth do it when she realized the girl’s unease for facing the Detrot’s representatives, among which stood her father. -That and the fact that Gale’s muscular figure was more escorter-like than Blossomforth’s lithe body-
After everyone was at his proper place, Raven reminded the guards of the first lines that they would have to kneel as the Princesses would walk before them, only to repeat the process when the new Council member would walk up to the Princesses’ sides.
“Now, the Princesses having an awful lot to do today, they won’t be present for this first rehearsal,” Raven explained in her megaphone. “As such, Sir Kibitz and I,” she added, waving at the nearly bald man with an impressive ashen mustache beside her. “We’ll act as replacement for them today!”
“Well, I don’t think the Princesses would even need to come to those,” Gale whispered as the “princesses” took places at the entrance of the main hall. “I mean, they’ve been to hundreds of those, right?”
“It’s not that they need to rehearse, Swiftwing,” Constance replied softly. “It is us, soldiers, who need to get used to be in their presence. Imagine Sergeant Kicker’s first reaction to meeting the Princesses?”
“It would involve a lot of drool, I reckon,” Cloud whispered back playfully, earning quiet chuckles from her teammates and Lieutenant.
“ANNOUNCING, PRINCESS CELESTIA CORONA FAUSTBORN AND PRINCESS LUNA SELENIA FAUSTBORN OF EQUESTRIA,” Raven nearly shouted in her megaphone, oblivious to Kibitz wincing in pain at the volume of her shout.
She and Kibitz, after he recovered, walked slowly along the red carpet’s length, prompting each group of guards to kneel as they passed before them. As the two “princesses” reached for their respective thrones, which had been installed at the end of the hall, the two lines of Royal Guards stood back in unison. Raven nodded appreciatively, before giving a look at her clipboard as Kibitz pulled a set of fluffy ear plugs from his pocket and put them on.
“All right, now, you’ll have to do the same for the new Council Member,” Raven explained matter-of-factly. “As she’s taking part in those rehearsals, I must remind you that you’re all forbidden to divulge her identity to anyone before the official ceremony!”
Finally, you’re going to make your appearance, Cloud thought with excitement as she cast a fleeting glance at the group of banner-women masking the future Council member. Hang on a minute… Her symbol wouldn’t be like that. Cloud frowned at the sight of the purple banners with a big pinkish star surrounded by five white, smaller ones.
“So, what are you working on? More statistics on the average Titanian magic core?”
“Nope! Just trying to come up with a sigil for me.”
“...What for?”
“Well, once I’m on the Council, I’ll need a symbol of my own. Something to have on banners, or signet ring.”
“Sounds cool enough! Let me see!”
“What do you think?”
“.....It’s nice, but why do you want to have a yellow and red squid as your symbol?”
“It’s not a squid! It’s a sun!!!”
“Oh……”
“Oh, what?!”
“Oh, thank the gods, you’re good at magic and you’ve got that killer-body of yours, because your drawing skills sucks!”
SLAP
“Hmmm, fiery as the sun, just how I like you, ”
“Cloud, stop! I’m trying to do something,”
“Me too, and unlike you, what I’m trying to do is something we’re both good at! So put that poorly drawn squid away so that we can make good use of that desk!”
“Why do I put up with you? You only think about one thing!”
“You love it and you know it!”
“That’s besides the point!”
“ANNOUNCING, THE NEW REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MAGICAL ARTS IN THE COUNCIL OF HARMONY,...” Raven yelled in her megaphone, with Kibitz softly smiling with his fuzzy ear plugs on.
…...Oh, no, that would mean… Cloud thought with worry as the blonde banner-women broke formation to let who they were hiding pass.
“THE LADY TWILIGHT VELVET SPARKLE!”
WHAT?! Cloud almost let her jaw drop as the same girl she had met at library earlier today sheepishly started to walk along the red carpet.
Well, not exactly the same, as Twilight was now correctly dressed, coiffed and had traded her school uniform for a simple yellow dress with a pink belt. She gulped nervously at the sight of the two long lines of soldiers clad in their respective ceremonial armors, and started to tremble a bit. It took one of her banner-woman gently tapping her back to get the nervous teenager moving. Once again, the Guards kneeled as Twilight passed before them, much more quickly than Raven and Kibitz had done, while she was glancing in their directions.
Of course, she’d look at me! Cloud thought desperately as she spotted Twilight pausing her walk just in front of her from the peripheral vision granted by her kneeling.
Cloud slightly raised her head to get a proper look at the young lady, only to see her wide-purple eyes looking back at her.
Aaaaand her mother clearly didn’t catch her before she reached that store! Cloud mentally facepalmed when she realized how Twilight’s cheeks were redder than her crimson ceremonial armor.
After another nudge from the banner-woman as before, only this time it was more forceful, Twilight sheepishly resumed her advance up to the Princesses’ assistants, and her mother who stood closely by. Cloud’s briefly locked her eyes with Velvet Sparkle’s, noticing the angry fire of retribution in them, while the Master Arcanist saw the equally angry glint of interrogation in Cloud’s.
“Great, what did you do now, Cloud?” Blossomforth asked in a scared and angry whisper.
“Shut your trap, Private Shields!” Cloud whispered back in an unusual bout of cold authority. “Or I’ll shut it for you!”
No more casual searching now! I really need answers now! Cloud thought as Constance cocked a surprised eyebrow at her while Blossomforth and Gale were left speechless at the blonde’s threat. As soon as this shindig is over, I’m coming for you, Sunset Shimmer!
*******************************************************************************************************
As soon as the rehearsal ended, around six PM, Cloud was probably the first person out of the main hall. After her cold snapping at Blossomforth, she had reverted to her usual self in appearance while her mind was bubbling with questions that needed answers. Without losing anymore time, she rushed to the female dorms of the Arcanium. It was just the time when most of the future arcanists would return to their tower to rest. Many of the younger titanians around looked at the armor clad blonde in confusion, while a pair of older students, who Cloud recognized from the Las Pegasus’ maneuvers, stood between her and the dorms’ main door.
“Kicker, you can’t come in here!” a curly-haired pinkette called in a warning tone. “Master Sparkle forbade it!”
“I never needed or cared of Master Sparkle’s permission before, Twinkleshine!” Cloud replied slowly. “I’m not going to start now!”
“What she means is that Master Sparkle set up wards,” a teal-haired arcanist, whom Cloud had once nicknamed Lemonhearts, explained more forcefully than Twinkleshine.
“That didn’t stop me before either,” Cloud cockily replied as she reached the open door of the tower.
She softly pushed the two girls out of the way and stepped through the threshold, only to pull her leg back with a pained wince. As soon as she had put her foot on the ground beyond the door, purple sparks of magic surged from a suddenly glowing inscription on the floor and went straight to her limb. Many students jumped away from the blond guard and the doorway in fright after that.
“See?” Twinkleshine let out with a sigh as the younger arcanists wondered if the door was safe for them to travel.
“Hmmm,” Cloud let out pensively as she extended her arm through the door.
Once again, Velvet Sparkle’s runic inscription appeared on the threshold and purple lightning sparks went straight for Cloud’s arm. With a pained frown, she pulled her arm away. Lemonhearts and Twinkleshine looked at the Jupitarian in the red and golden armor, only to blink in shock when she let out a warm chuckle. They, as well as the many other arcanists present, watched in confusion as patches of fog appeared around them before those patches became denser and moved up to cover Cloud’s body.
“Girls, when Velvet Sparkle gets here, could you tell her something for me?” Cloud asked as the silvery fog hugged every single curves and plates of her armor, making it look as it was made painted white and silver instead of red and gold.
“Huh?!” Lemonhearts and Twinkleshine let out in confusion.
“Tell her that clouds are lightning-proof!”
Cloud stepped into the tower, once again triggering the warding spell. Only this time, when the purple sparks stroke her, it merely was absorbed by the silvery coating she had applied on her armor and herself. Many arcanists’ jaws dropped wide open as the Jupitarian walked the three steps that put her out of range of the wards.
“...Wow!” Twinkleshine let out as the cloud-covering of the blonde’s armor dissipated itself in the air.
“.....Should we tell what she said to Master Sparkle?” Lemonhearts whispered sheepishly as Cloud conjured her fuchsia wings on her back to take off inside the tower.
“Of course not, Flask-head!”
“HEY!!”
While the two arcanists started to argue with one another, Cloud took flight up to the eighth floor of the tower, startling the many female students on her way up. She landed before a very much familiar, oaken door. Ignoring the confused inhabitants of the eighth floor, Cloud nearly ran to the door before banging her armored fist against the wooden surface.
“Sunset, open this door!” Cloud called after subtly knocking at her door. “Sunset, I’m going to count up to three, and unlike before you won’t like it if I reach number three!” she warned angrily when her heavy banging was met by silence. “ONE!” She violently punched the door. “TWO!” She punched it harder. “THR….” She began as a blackening smoke coursed by sparks of lightning gathered around her fist.
It was then that the door of Sunset’s room, shaken up by Cloud’s hits, opened itself a little. Dissipating the storm-cloud around her hand, Cloud grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. As soon as she took a few steps in the room, Cloud’s anger was replaced by complete confusion at the emptiness of the room.
The bookshelves stood bookless whereas they had been filled of books about magical theory, the histories of the many noble houses of Canterlot and Equestria, politics and statistics.The desk was clean of the piles of research papers, spread quills and stack of bottles of ink that usually laid on top of it. The bed was made and looked as if no one had slept in it in days. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Cloud walked to the wardrobe.
“Congratulations on passing my wards,” a cold voice commented when Cloud pulled it open, only to see it empty of all of Sunset’s clothes. “You’re much more creative than I thought. Maybe you do deserve your rank as a sergeant.”
“Where is she?” Cloud asked as she looked back at the entrance, finding Velvet Sparkle standing on the threshold.
“Sunset decided to leave the Arcanium two days ago,” Velvet explained matter-of-factly.
“Why would she leave?” Cloud asked slowly with narrowed eyes. “Her formation isn’t over yet, and she’s your top arcanist-in-training… Some even said she was better than quite a few of your teachers… I have a hard-time imagining her dropping out.”
“She didn’t handle the news of her not getting chosen into the Council very well,” Velvet replied with a short sigh.
“Funny thing that she wasn’t chosen, don’t you think?” Cloud asked sharply.
“You make it sound as if I had any say in the matter,” Velvet commented with narrowed eyes. “The Princesses choose the people in their Council!”
“You’re the head of Arcanium, your husband is the head of Princess Luna’s Guild of Astrology and your son is the Captain of the Royal Guard,” Cloud countered. “Don’t try to convince me that you’re not in Celestia and Luna’s good books.”
“I’m not sure of liking what you’re implying, Sergeant Kicker,” Velvet warned coldly.
“Don’t be so uncertain! You’ve never really liked anything about me, Master Sparkle,” Cloud replied with a shrug. “Back to what I was saying. Just basing myself on what I know, the Princesses had the choice between the young teenager from Celestia’s school for the gifted with a 4.0. GPA, Twilight Sparkle who seemed completely unprepared for that function during the rehearsal, and the Arcanium’s top apprentice, coming from Celestia’s school for the gifted with a 4.0. GPA as well, Sunset Shimmer who has participated in three joint maneuvers with the recruits of the Jupitarian Corps training grounds of Las Pegasus and the Initiates of the Golden Shield -The first one of them leading to her saving 40 citizens from a gruesome execution in the paws of a Diamond Dogs pack with only four other people- and who’s been working on establishing a list projects to help the magical education of the young Titanians throughout the nation ever since YOU, the master Arcanist of Canterlot, mentioned that Princess Celestia was thinking of selecting someone from the Arcanium for the seat of Councilor of the Magical Arts.”
Cloud took an exaggeratedly long and laborious breath of air after finishing her exposition.
“Did I miss anything?”
“...You forgot that Sunset has also taken extra classes in Political sciences,” Velvet reminded with a sigh.
“I always forget about those.” Cloud chuckled softly before focusing back her attention on Velvet Sparkle. “Now, of course that’s only what I know. Maybe your daughter followed a similar cursus than Sunset.”
“No,” Velvet softly replied. “My daughter’s magical abilities and knowledge are all for the sake of academical performances and for the knowledge in itself. She finds a subject that tickles her fancy and she studies it, period.”
“So, what does she have over Sunset?” Cloud asked with a frown. “Is it her social skills?”
“She’s seventeen and her only friends outside the family are a nine-year-old boy whom she taught how to speak Equestrian and her pet owl,” Velvet replied impatiently.
“Is it because she’s good judge of character despite her social issues?”
“She thought you were a decent human being!” Velvet replied snappily, her blue eyes sending lightning bolts at Cloud.
“Then what is it?!” Cloud asked angrily. “What is that one thing that made it that your daughter was chosen and not Sunset? Because, with what you told me, I don’t think anyone will look at your daughter without screaming “Nepotism”!”
A brief silence followed the blonde’s angry comment. A silence during which Velvet didn’t blink or move a single muscle before she rubbed her eyes with a sigh.
“I didn’t think you’d actually know the meaning of the word Nepotism,” Velvet commented slowly.
“Sunset rubbed off on me in more ways than the one you think,” Cloud explained in a playful whisper, smiling at the groan the Master Arcanist let out in response.
“...The only thing that my daughter has over Sunset is about who was in charge of her magical education,” Velvet explained in a resolute tone.
“You were also Sunset’s teacher,” Cloud reminded with a confused frown.
“I haven’t taught anything about magic to my daughter since she was eight years old,” Velvet retorted slowly. “Princess Celestia did.”
“W-what?” Cloud stammered in shock.
“For the past nine years, Twilight’s, let’s say, magic tutor has been none other than Princess Celestia,” Velvet explained with a hint of resentment in her voice. “There has been an… incident during her entrance exam for this school and the Princess had to intervene. After that, Celestia stated that Twilight had a lot of potential and asked me and my husband if she could take her as a personal student. We said yes,” she added with a sigh.
Cloud stared blankly at the Master Arcanist after the new bit of information on the latter’s daughter. It lasted until she mimicked Velvet’s earlier gesture : rubbing her eyes with a deep sigh.
“So, you knew that Sunset never had a chance.”
Velvet wasn’t surprised that Cloud’s reply had no interrogative tone. She nonetheless nodded to confirm the Jupitarian’s statement.
“And, you still pushed her to work harder to get Celestia and Luna’s attention,” Cloud stated slowly. “Even though you knew that she was likely to not get chosen, you always told her that the odds were in her favor, that there wasn’t any candidate more suitable for the seat of Councilor than her,”
Once again, the Master Arcanist simply nodded in response.
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I wanted Twilight to distance herself from Celestia a bit,” Velvet explained in a shameful tone. “Don’t get me wrong! I am very proud that my daughter was chosen first as Celestia’s student then and now as a Councilor. But for the last nine years, it’s always been : Princess Celestia advised me this! Princess Celestia recommended that I do that! Princess Celestia likes cake, so I’ll try to bake her one myself as a Heart's-Warming-Eve gift. Thanks for the blue dress you bought, Mom, but Princess Celestia told me I looked good in yellow, so you can take it back to the shop.” she added spitefully. “It’s been frustrating, to say the least.”
“I can imagine,” Cloud admitted slowly. “So, with Sunset as a Council member, your daughter would have started to what? Listen to you again? That was what you were hoping for?”
“A fool’s hope, now that I think about it,” Velvet admitted.
A cold, mirthless chuckle escaped Cloud’s throat at Velvet’s admittance.
“That’s it?! That’s the whole reason you lead Sunset on for more than a year with false promises of greatness and empty encouragements?” Cloud asked coldly. “All because you’re jealous of Princess Celestia?”
“I’m not exactly proud of that, but yes,” Velvet admitted slowly.
“And you told that to Sunset?”
“Yes, Sunset deserved to know… Though I thought she would have accepted her loss to Twilight,” Velvet commented slowly, waving at the empty room in which they stood. “Obviously, I was wrong.”
“I’ll admit that Sunset’s a sore loser, but even she would have come to accept your daughter, Princess Celestia’s student, in the function she wanted so much,” Cloud coldly stated. “What she couldn’t accept was your attitude! She was your star student, and you didn’t support her! Sure, you encouraged her to work harder for it but you didn’t really believe in her, nor did you do it for her!” Cloud explained with a slightly disgusted tone. “You were her teacher, a woman she looked up to, and you failed her! Failed her really hard! That’s probably why she left!”
“And how would an armored whore like you know that?” Velvet asked snappily.
“Because I love her whereas the selfish, frigid bitch that you are didn’t even bother to care!” Cloud snapped back at a shocked Velvet Sparkle.
The Master Arcanist expected many things from Cloud Kicker, but the L-word and seemingly gratuitous insults weren’t part of them. After speaking her mind, Cloud walked past Velvet, angrily shoving her steel shoulder-pad into her silk-clad shoulder. While she thought it extremely rude, Velvet didn’t call the younger guard over it, thinking she deserved it a little. With a sad sigh, the purple-and-white-haired rubbed her sore shoulder as she heard the metallic steps behind her coming to stop.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry to hear about what’s happening between you and your daughter,” Cloud softly said in a compassionate tone. “...With some luck, the errand I accidently sent her through this afternoon will make her go back to you a little. I can’t really imagine her asking the Princesses for advice about what she found in a sex-shop,” she added with a playful chuckle.
Cloud expected a fuming reply from Velvet Sparkle, the woman who had spent the last three years trying to discourage her and Sunset from visiting each other, but instead she got a booming, crystalline and heartfelt laugh from the Master Arcanist.
“If it turns out like that, I’ll owe you big time!” Velvet replied once her laughter died down a bit. “...Goodbye, Sergeant Kicker.”
“Goodbye, Master Sparkle.”