Sunset carefully knocked on the modest home’s door as not to break anything while she did her best to control the nervous feeling in the back of her head that said everything was going to go wrong today because she was the one walking Shining Armor to school while Cadance was out rounding up the ponies they would be needing later in the day. Although Sunset had offered to do it for her, Cadance had been the one to insist on getting the girls.
And since the pink princess was supposed to be the one taking care of the Cinch problem, according to Celestia at any rate, Sunset let Cadance decide who went where, even if she didn’t know the whole plan as of yet. Which was how Sunset ended up standing outside Twilight’s house as she waited for one of the unicorns inside to open the door.
As soon as it did, Sunset found herself looking down at the light-gray mare that was Twilight Sparkle’s mother. “Um...Mrs. Velvet.”
“Prince-ah...S-Sunset Shimmer,” the other mare repled at almost the exact same time before they both paused for a few moments. Long enough for the unicorn to look past the alicorn and notice the obvious absence of the other pony that should have been there. “Where’s Princess Cadance?”
Well, at least she dropped the title when it comes to me, the amber alicorn told herself while she concentrated on the good part of what Velvet had said to keep a smile on her face. “Cadance is...running some errands before school starts,” Sunset explained as she carefully edged her way around the whole truth. “So I got bored at the palace and decided to come over here a bit earlier than usual. Is that okay?”
The unicorn blinked at the question and put on a smile that Sunset didn’t need years of hobnobbing with the Canterlot elite to see was fake. “Why yes, of-”
“Mrs. Velvet,” Sunset said a little more forcefully to stop the older pony before she could finish. Sunset took a look inside the house and noticed the distinct lack of ponies around the breakfast table, then turned her attention back to the smaller unicorn. “Really, is it okay for me to come in? I know I’m a bit earlier than usual. If you’re too busy for me, I can go do something to keep myself busy for a few minutes.”
After the amber alicorn finished talking, Twilight Velvet gave a tentative glance back into her house. “Well, Night Light and I just got back from work, and I’m about to get started on breakfast.”
Sunset leapt on the opportunity to make herself look a bit more friendly. “Oh! I can help with that!” she exclaimed before remembering she needed to keep herself reeled in and gave a nervous grin as she slinked back down a bit to her less than towering height to help keep the frightful mother from freaking out. “If...you want help, I mean. Um...before becoming an alicorn, I cooked for myself all the time! I even helped one of my friends out at a bakery every now...and...then.” It took some effort to keep the sadness from her face as memories of Pinkie Pie played through Sunset’s head. “S-Sorry...after yesterday, I’m just a little...nervous around you.”
Thankfully, Twilight Velvet didn’t call attention to it, or seem to mind the declaration of invasion into what some mothers considered their sacred ground. The admittance of Sunset’s feelings, although only half-true, made the other pony brighten up just a bit. “Well, of course you can help me dear. Please, come on in!”
Even with the invite, Sunset still felt unsure about the offer. While Velvet had taken her initial offer to help out rather well, Sunset couldn’t shake her unease. After the other pony’s reaction the day before, it seemed a little fast for her to be accepting Sunset into her house again. She gave the mare a worried look. “Are you sure? Mrs. Velvet, the last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable in your own home.”
The comment got a sigh from Twilight Velvet as she looked away from the amber alicorn. “Dear, I’ll admit I was very nervous about your interest in our family. But, I’ve always been a little...worrisome,” she said after taking a minute to search for the right word. Velvet looked back up into Sunset’s eyes with an apologetic expression. “All you’ve ever done is be kind to my foals, and I’ve repaid that with nothing but suspicion and fear because of what happened to somepony else. If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you.”
Sunset held up a hoof. “Okay first off, considering how most of the nobility treat the ponies outside their little pampered social circle, I can more than understand you being worried when the highest ranking member of the snob club started taking an interest in your dorky son,” she told the other mare before putting on a little frown. “But can we please stop talking about it? Moving past something is next to impossible when everyone keeps bringing it up every fifteen minutes. And I don’t think we have time to be tripping over each other's apologies when breakfast still needs to be cooked.”
There was a short pause as Velvet seemed to digest the information, and then smiled in a way that made Sunset think of her own mother. “Yes. I suppose you have a point there,” she said before stepping aside. “Alright then...Ms. Shimmer, would you like to give me a horn in the kitchen?”
A smile broke out on the alicorn’s face. “I’d love to!” Sunet replied before she trotted in and headed into the family cooking room. Although, once she arrived in the food preparation area, Sunset’s too human hygienic sensibilities kicked in and made the alicorn look back at the unicorn with a bit of nervousness. “Uh...out of curiosity, you do use your horn for handling all the pans, right?”
Velvet giggled a bit as she moved past Sunset. “Well of course. I’m not going to handle something as hot as a frying pan with my hooves.”
Grateful that she wouldn’t have to explain what would have probably been an odd comment for a pony to ask another, Sunset let Velvet list what needed to be done in short order. The amber alicorn looked around and got out the tomatoes, carrots, onion, and other vegetables that were part of an omelet as well as a melon that would be chopped up to serve as dessert. Thanks to her size, and the fact that the island in the middle of the kitchen would turn Sunset into a road block for the mare that was probably more used to moving around the room freely no matter where the amber alicorn placed herself, Sunset decided to stand in the doorway and handle her carving knife from there.
Halfway through the preparation for the ingredients, Sunset frowned when she noticed something wrong. Whenever she had come to Twilight’s house before, the purple unicorn’s family had eaten much simpler dishes than the omelets with the half a dozen ingredients she was in the middle of slicing. The fact that Velvet was also getting two mixing bowls of batter ready only heightened Sunset’s suspicions.
“Umm...Mrs. Velvet, is there something special going on today?” she asked as Velvet brought out a tin for baking muffins. It isn’t Shiny’s birthday, is it? The possibility was...a less than pleasant complication considering everything else that was going on in Sunset’s life at the moment.
The light-gray unicorn turned back to look at the alicorn. “No. Why do you ask dear?”
Sunset let her expression drop into a half-lidded one as she used a wing to wave at all the food. “Because we’re making omelets, pancakes, muffins, and you’ve got a package of hay-bacon out to fry when the fanciest thing I’ve ever seen Shiny eat for breakfast when I come over is some chopped fruit and oatmeal,” she explained to Twilight’s mom before letting out a sigh. “Please tell me you’re not going through all this because I’m here.”
After a moment’s hesitation, which gave Sunset all the answer she needed, Twilight Velvet cleared her throat and actually held her head up a little bit at the accusation. “Ms Shimmer. If I want to put my best hoof forward for a guest, then it is because I think she is a wonderful young mare that deserves a bit of an apology, then I will do it.”
With Velvet standing up to her, Sunset found herself stunned for a few seconds, before her pegasus-hearing caught something coming from the upstairs.
“Dad, did you use up all the hot water again?”
Sunset’s mind provided the image of a soaking wet Shining Armor, with his coat clinging to his skin as his shivered a bit from the cold water, just begging for a mare with a pair of big, strong wings to warm him up. Then, the shower fantasy was quickly shoved to the side before Sunset’s body could tell everypony what she was thinking about with a grunt, and Sunset focused on something that wasn’t nearly as sexy as her adorable little unicorn snuggling up to her to get warm.
“Okay, well...uh...stuff like muffins take time to bake, time ah...that, you know, we probably don’t have with all the time I wasted talking in the show-doorway! So...let me help you with that,” Sunset said before she barged her way into the cramped kitchen and gently moved Velvet out of her way to stick the tray of muffins into the oven.
Off to the side, Velvet just blinked at the oddity before she turned on the oven and got to work on removing the hay-bacon from its packaging. As she prepared yet another pan to cook the food, Sunset heard the muffled clip clops of something small coming down the stairs. At least until Twilight scampered back up to yell at her father. “What was that, Daddy?”
Velvet sighed and looked out towards the living room that promised to be filled with ponies in the very near future. “Great, they’re already up.”
“Sorry,” Sunset apologized as Velvet looked at the last of the pans she had just finished buttering to cook pancakes in, and the other three pans that were currently cooking eggs and taking up most of the stove. “If I hadn’t come-”
“No,” Velvet said with a shake of her head. “I was the one who stood around like an embarrassed little foal instead of just letting you in, and I was the one who decided to make enough to feed half a dozen ponies when we only needed three-quarters as much. I mean, I’m baking muffins for crying out loud! I haven’t made muffins for breakfast in ages. And I’m going to have to clean all of this up before I get to bed, or it’ll just be harder when noon comes around and it’s all stuck to the pan.”
Sunset licked her lips. “Well then, it’s a good thing that you’re letting me help out,” she said before focusing her attention on the problem at hand.
The eggs for the omelets were nearly done cooking, so the amber alicorn levitated them over to Velvet so the unicorn could add the omelet ingredients the different members of her family prefered while Sunset put a minor heating spell on the pans to make sure they would continue to cook. The free burners were then put to work on heating up the three pancake pans, which Sunset looked away from on check on the muffins that Velvet had put in the oven.
“Well, this is certainly a useful spell,” the unicorn in the corner said as she studied the tiny spots of heat beneath the pans for a few moments before she looked over to Sunset. “Although, unless you want to char broil the muffins, I’m afraid they’re not going to be ready in time.”
The amber alicorn smirked at Velvet’s words as the other pony went to work on chopping up a cantaloupe. “Oh please, I don’t let something a stupid as time stop me from getting what I want,” Sunset said softly before focusing her magic and weaving a small temporal field inside the oven, centered around the tin of baked goods. She kept the amount of power to a minimum, increasing the temporal flow in that one tiny space to only ten times the speed of the world around it.
Then, Sunset simply let a minute pass while Velvet continued her work on the rest of the food, and cut power to the spell shortly afterwards to open up the oven. The blast of heat that came from inside the cooking device was more intense than Sunset had thought it was going to be, but it was nothing too bad. And the food looked fine.
“But-it...you, how did-they should have been in there at least another fifteen minutes,” Velvet mumbled before she hesitantly frowned at the bigger pony. “Princess, I know you probably have more magical ability than half the ponies in Canterlot combined, but please tell me you didn’t just conjure some muffins.”
Sunset winced at the question. It had been over ten years since Princess Celestia had tricked the then little unicorn into eating something willed into existence purely from her magic, and the amber alicorn still felt like throwing up at the mention of it. “Uh...no,” she said while keeping her gag reflex under control. “I just manipulated the flow of time inside the oven to go ten times faster than the world around it. Kind of like an age spell, but centered on a place instead of a pony.”
An astounded blink was all Twilight Velvet could manage for a few seconds, and then she got an expression Sunset could read so well that she didn’t even have to wait for the obvious question when Velvet opened her mouth again. “And before you ask, no. I can’t use the spell to travel through time. Although the nature of the magic would allow me to theoretically manipulate the flow of time into reversing itself within the given area, any thing or pony outside the bubble wouldn’t be affected by the reversal, and thus not exist when time is rewound to the point when they should be in said area, creating a paradox since the matter comprising their existence wasn’t in the temporal bubble to be repositioned as time reversed to go through the motions it isn’t there for. Not to mention the rest of the planet would continue on at its normal pace. And that’s even if the pony manipulating the temporal flow isn’t inside her own bubble, which would rewind her along with everything else and create a kind of infinite time loop since she would continue to try and rewind time whenever she reached the point in her progression that she decided to go back through time in the first place!”
Velvet blinked again as Sunset finished her rant. “Um...that’s very interesting dear. Now, can you pass me the cheese?”
“Um…” Sunset got out as she looked over to her right and grabbed the plastic bag full of shredded cheddar in her magic. “Sorry, it’s just...something I might have looked into and...uh...nevermind.”
Doing her best to hide an embarrassed blush, Sunset turned around and looked at the unpoured batter. She grabbed the beater to whip it up a bit more before Velvet spoke again. “Something on your mind, dear?”
The question got a sigh from Sunset as she pushed the mystery of her current position in the time stream and lack of a past self to the back of her mind. “Sorry it’s just this...question I’ve had some trouble answering as of late,” she said before looking back at the other pony. “I don’t like it when I run into a question with answers that don’t make sense.”
Velvet smiled. “It’s not the first time I’ve dealt with a like pony that. You and Twilight are a lot alike in that way.”
Before Sunset could repudiate the comparison, a quad of hooves came down the stairs so fast that the amber alicorn wondered if somebody had fallen. A second after she heard them hit wood, a little purple pony appeared from around the corner and looked up a Sunset with wide eyes.
As for the amber alicorn, she had to resist the urge to suck in a sharp breath at seeing the filly form of Twilight Sparkle again as a mix of emotions assaulted her only halfway calm mind. Guilt, love, shame, pride, and nearly overwhelming urge to just snatch the little filly up in a hug all demanded Sunset perform a different action before she got herself under control and simply smiled down at the tiny unicorn. Twilight didn’t need a oversized alicorn freaking out or ‘daawing’ at her presence.
“Princess Sunset, what’re you doing here so-oh no!” The little Twilight exclaimed before she started stomping her hooves on the ground in a panic. “Is Shiny late for school? Did we sleep in too much? Mom, why didn’t you wake us up when you got home? If Shiny is counted absent, then his perfect attendance will be ruined and Princess Sunset will break up with-brugh!”
With the little filly quieted down for the moment, Sunset waited until Twilight took a bite of the muffin blocking any further speech. Then she pulled it back as the little lavender unicorn fell back on her butt. “Mmmm, ish good,” she said through her mush-filled mouth.
Sunset rolled her eyes at the little pony, then bent down to get on eye level with the girl. She had always hated it as a filly when adults talked down to her in the physical sense. “Everything’s fine Twilight,” she assured her friend in a gentle voice. “I just showed up a bit early because Cadance had some princess business to do and I got bored lying around the palace by myself. Now…”
She took a moment to gently wrap Twilight up in her magic, and then turned around before sitting the little filly down on her back. After clamping down on the purple unicorn’s rear legs with her wings to make sure the tiny pony wouldn’t fall off, Sunset moved back to the stove and looked back to Twilight Sparkle with a smile. “Now, how many pieces of bacon and pancakes do you want?”
Before the fill could answer, the other Twilight in the room spoke up. “Well, since you seem to have everything well in horn. I’ll go set the table. Celestia knows that if Twilight’s here, the rest of them will be stampeding in soon enough.”
Right after the mother mare took her leave, Sunset found Twilight looking back up at the clock with a scrunched up face. “Something wrong Twilight?”
“I’m trying to calculate the maximum amount of edible food we can prepare in the time allotted based on the average cooking time of a pancake, as opposed to the more time consuming slice of hay-bacon to ensure the meal reaches its full nutritional potential,” she said before the clock on the wall ticked away a minute. “Gaaah! Stop throwing off my calculations!”
Sunset couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. “Relax Twilight. I’ve got-”
“I can’t relax!” Twilight exclaimed. “This is breakfast! The most important meal of the day! If Shiny doesn’t get a proper breakfast, then his grades will suffer! But hay-bancon, despite its increased calorie value, takes several times the amount of time to cook than a pancake! And we can’t put too many pancakes into Shiny to make up for the difference because too much will make him lethargic!”
Once again, Sunset stuffed her muffin into Twilight’s mouth for the little unicorn to chew on. “Relax Twilight. I happen to know a way around this,” she said before taking some slices of hay-bacon in her magic to rip them into little pieces and throw them into a waiting pan.
Shining Armor froze halfway down the stairs as an odd sound reached his ears to accompany the smell of cooked food that had been coaxing him since he got out of the shower.
Makin’ pancakes
Makin’ bacon pancakes
Take some bacon
And put it in a pancake
Bacon pancakes
That’s what we’re gonna make
Bacon pan~caaaaakes
Is that...Sunset? Shining Armor asked himself before he looked at the clock and frowned when it said the time was at least half an hour too early for her to be in his house. But, when he reached the first floor and found his mom away from the stove, the unicorn peeked into the kitchen to find that the cool alicorn really was in his house, and...cooking breakfast with Twilight sitting on her back before she took up their little song.
Makin’ pancakes
Makin’ bacon pancakes
Take some bacon and-ugh!
The bright glow around the little filly’s horn intensified for a few seconds as the hay-bacon in her magical grip shook before the unicorn’s magic winked out completely. The slice of hay-bacon fell an inch before Sunset’s blue glow kept it from hitting the floor, and Twilight gave the amber alicorn she was riding a pitiful look. “I can’t get it.”
“It’s okay Twilight,” Sunset told her number one fan before the bacon in her magic was ripped apart into little bits that the amber alicorn placed in a pan before pouring some pancake batter on top of them. “The fact you can use magic at all at your age is plenty amazing. If you were any more awesome, I might be jealous.”
Twilight blushed at the praise before Sunset came in to rub their noses together, which got a laugh from the little filly before Sunset flipped the pancakes over and looked over at the only stallion on the floor. “Hey Shiny. You want bacon bits in your pancakes, or just the regular kind?”
Twilight’s horn lit up to grab one of the trio laying on a plate near the stove, and she took a bite out of the pancake. “They’re good!” she said with a mouth full of food before gulping. “Both fluffy and crunchy.”
“I am making some more regular ones in case that’s not your thing,” Sunset said before levitating a trio of normal pancakes out of a pan that was on the back burner. “But your mom called dibs on the ones already done for your dad, so there’s only three right now.”
The sight of an alicorn princess just standing there in the middle of his mother’s kitchen made Shining Armor’s brain freeze. The weirdest thing was that he couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t because of Twilight, Sunset doted on her every time she came over. The domestic chore she was involved in didn’t make her seem that out of place or stunning. If anything, from the way Sunset handled herself, she was a complete natural in a kitchen. It was like she belonged there.
In his house.
Cooking breakfast.
For him.
“Well, I am hungry, but not for pancakes,” Shining replied in a seductive tone before he wrapped Sunset up in his magic and pulled her onto the island counter before licking his lips.
The mare in the apron that said ‘best princess’ blushed and looked away. “Oh, Sir Armor! I was waiting for this. There’s something special for you to try in my...personal oven,” the princess told him with a raised tail before she wiggled her plot.
The next thing he knew, the big alicorn’s face was filling Shining Armor’s vision and looking down at him in worry. “Shiny? Are you okay?”
The question made Shining Armor react with a tiny jerk as Sunset pulled him back to reality, and he looked up to meet her concerned gaze. “Oh! I’m fine, just uh...little...um, distracted.”
Twilight let out a gasp from where she was still sitting on Sunset’s back and looked over the amber alicorn’s shoulder. “You were daydreaming again, weren’t you?” She asked with a little frown before glancing back to the pony she was riding and letting out an excited gasp. “Were you thinking about how you were going to get together with Princess Sunset? What you were going to do after you were together? Oh! Were you planning your wedding so that Princess Sunset could be my big sister for real?”
With Twilight’s line of questioning moving from cute and into uncomfortable territory, both Sunset and Shining Armor gave each other a nervous look before Sunset cleared her throat. “Oh c-come on Twilight, you don’t want a pony like me as your big sister.”
“Yes I do!” Twilight told Sunset as the bigger pony looked back to the stove to levitate the last of the bacon pancakes out of their fiery nest and onto a plate. “You’re smart, and strong, and super magical and-” she said as Sunset rushed out into the dining room to try and get away from the purple unicorn. An exercise in futility, as Twilight was on her back.
Luckily for Sunset, Velvet came to the alicorn’s rescue when she took Twilight to get her washed up and reminded her daughter about the rules when it came to eating in the kitchen.
Of course, Twilight Sparkle had a counterargument. “But Mom, I had to try at least three of them to know if I wanted any more. Everypony knows you need at least three samples when examining a new edible substance to see if you like it, make sure the first taste test wasn’t a fluke, and then confirm the results with the third pancake.”
As the bigger Twilight led her daughter into the downstairs bathroom, Sunset gave Shining Armor a darting glance. “Foals...am I right?”
Shining Armor blinked in confusion. “Huh?”
“Y-You know. The whole...you and me...thing,” she said before let out a nervous laugh.
“Oh! Yeah,” Shining Armor replied before doing his best to copy Sunset’s laugh. While he didn’t see why Sunset had gotten so out of sorts from Twilight’s foalish comment, the stallion figured it was best not to press the issue and roll with Sunset’s weird reaction before moving on as fast as possible.
Which meant a change of topic was in order. “So uh...where’s Princess Cadance?”
Sunset visibly backed away from the edge she had been on and rolled her eyes. “Shiny, just because Twilight’s stuck in her hero-worship phase doesn’t mean you need to start throwing around the titles when we’re in the same room,” she said before scooting out a seat at the table with her magic and offering it to him. “And she’s busy with princess stuff, so I got bored and came over early. We’ll see her at school.”
Without much choice, Shining Armor took the seat Sunset was offering, and then watched as she floated some normal pancakes, a muffin, and an omelet over to him. “Wait...do you have one of those...everypony has to be at the table before the eating begins families?”
“Not for breakfast,” he told her. There wouldn’t be enough time to eat in the mornings if they waited that long.
Sunset nodded. “Okay,” she said before taking a second to look around for something before turning her attention back on him. “Oh! What do you want to drink?”
Despite the oddity of an alicorn princess acting as a waitress, the rest of breakfast went by pretty normally. Shining’s parents came back to the dining room shortly after Sunset returned with a pitcher of orange juice and another of milk, and levitated everypony’s food to them before taking a seat herself to devour what was in front of her and half of the omelet that Twilight couldn’t finish with the same amount of ferocity Shining had seen the alicorn use in the cafeteria.
The other stallion in the house was a bit put off by Sunset’s waitress act at first, but he put his unease to the side quicker than Shining Armor would have expected him to as breakfast went on. The only other oddity of the morning was something Sunset said to Shining’s parents he didn’t quite follow.
“About that thing we talked about yesterday. Just tell her dad to have Star come by the castle tomorrow after school and I’ll get to the bottom of everything, and see what we need to do to get it all set right.”
Since it sounded like what was going on was none of his business, Shining Armor decided not to pry. He had other things on his mind thanks to Twilight’s little marriage comment. Not in the way of him and Sunset getting married, despite how images of the amber alcorn in a white and gold dress pranced across his mindscape. But what concerned Shining Armor did involve the future of Sunset Shimmer’s relationship...with Cadance.
Although the two of them meeting up before skipping away to leave Shining Armor out in the cold didn’t quite agree with the stallion, he couldn’t shake the oddity of how a pony like Sunset Shimmer, who had taken Shining Armor further than any mare ever had been around before wasn’t doing anything with Cadance. Explanations as to why that was did come to mind as he remembered what the pink alicorn said the other day, but asking for clarification when it came to Sunset’s side of things in the middle of breakfast just didn’t seem to be a good idea.
So, after Sunset and Shining left for school, the stallion looked over to the bigger alicorn trotting down the street next to him. “Hey uh...Sunset, you mind if I ask you something, well...personal?”
“Sure,” she said as she looked over to him with a little smile. “You can always ask me anything Shiny.”
Deciding to just go the band aid instant removal route, Shining Armor took a deep breath and let it rip. “Are you not into mares?”
Sunset stumbled forward and barely stopped from hitting the ground with her muzzle as her wings unfurled. She looked back up at Shining Armor with wide eyes, then slowly stood back up, ending a couple inches higher than she had been before. “Say what?”
As the alicorn came back up to her full height and made Shining Armor inch his eyes upward to meet her frowning gaze, the carefully crafted speech he had thought up over the breakfast table quickly vanished from his mind, leaving behind a total blank that had Shining Armor mentally grasping at straws as Sunset Shimmer looked at the colt as if he had just grown a second horn. “I mean, it just...you know...m-mares...like you, with the um….” Unable to remember what he was supposed to say, the stallion just gulped.
“If this is your way of asking if I’m bi-er-I mean, fully harmonious,” Sunset said before she smirked just a little bit and rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’ve gotten plenty hot over a mare’s plot, just like your hiney Shiny.” The aforementioned organs then slowly drifted to focus on Shining Armor’s cutie mark, then narrowed into a look that almost seemed predatory.
Shining Armor blushed as he remembered how Sunset had fondled his plot when they were alone in his room. Not that he didn’t...mind the attention, but...it had been a little...intense.
“Then how come you and Cadance aren’t together?” he went on to ask before Sunset could get another word in, blowing through what was probably ten pages of forgotten dialogue that would have definitely been able to ferret out the truth behind Sunset and Cadance’s lack of a relationship without the amber alicorn ever suspecting Shining Armor was digging into their private past.
Sunset’s attention snapped back to Shining’s face before she raised an eyebrow at him in a way that only increased the unicorn’s unease. “Come again?”
Spurred on by the question, Shining Armor barely managed to realize what his mouth was putting out before his brain could register the question. “Well, it’s just you’re going on and on about how great Cadance is, and how she’d make a better fillyfriend than you, and now you’re kind of shoving the two of us together after she does the same to you and me, but if you think she’s so great and she thinks you’re so amazing, then how come the two of you haven’t...done...anything?” he finished, finally managing to slow down at the end from breakneck gallop to a verbal crawl.
Once again, Sunset’s face became impassive, then dipped ever so slightly into sadness before she put on an obviously forced smile that even Shining Armor could tell was fake. “What makes you ask something silly like that?”
“Sunset,” Shining Armor began before the alicorn let out a sigh and and shook her head.
“Never mind, rhetorical question. Look, it’s not that I don’t like Cadence, it’s just...” the amber alicorn said before she stopped and got a thoughtful look for a few seconds. “Me and Cadance, we've got...baggage, okay?”
The expression on Sunset’s face plummeted, and she lowered her gaze to the ground. “I wasn’t really very nice to her when we first met, and even though we’re around each other all the time, well...ponies may forgive, but forgetting is a whole other deal that never really happens no matter what anyone tells you. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about there.”
She sighed again, but didn’t look back up. “So...between you and me Shiny, yeah...I like Cadance. She’s kind, forgiving, and incredibly beautiful. But...there’s just too much there for us to ever be anything more than friends. I messed up the possibility of us ever doing anything together a long time ago.”
Through with her conversation, Sunset dropped her shoulders more than she usually did when walking around, and Shining Armor was left with a uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach before he trotted up next to the bigger pony and gave her a little nuzzle to try and defuse the situation. The affectionate touch seemed to pick Sunset up a little bit, and Shining Armor quickly found himself talking again. “S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you, I just-”
A wing being thrown around his back that pulled the stallion in close shut Shining Armor up.
“It’s okay Shiny,” Sunset said. She rubbed her cheek on his for a second before she pulled back and frowned. “Oh buck it.” Her lips touched where she had been nuzzling, and Shining Armor found himself becoming a little flustered as Sunset continued talking moments after the kiss. “And it’s not Cadance with the problem. She’s perfect. It’s why I think you and her need to give each other a shot. I don’t want to...well, let you...not have the best mare possible.”
Although Sunset’s explanation made no sense to the stallion, Shining Armor decided not to press the issue. He was pretty sure Sunset was still having issues with her libido, and if he started asking the big mare why she thought she wasn’t the best pick, Shining knew where the conversation would eventually lead.
Not that Shining Armor would have minded a mare that wanted to get together in a special somepony kind of way, but...Sunset’s warning involving the amber alicorn’s insane strength and how she could accidentally crush Shining Armor like a grape if they were to have sex replayed in his mind. That was the one big obstacle to being with Sunset that he couldn’t logic his way around when it came to the good reasons as to why he and Sunset needed to keep from hooking up.
And as much as Shining wanted to find out if Sunset had found a way around that little problem, he didn’t want to keep reminding Sunset of her fears and reasons she didn’t want to go out with him when she was obviously still conflicted about it.
“You need to play the field,” Sunset suddenly added. “See how you get along with all the girls who are interested in you, not just the first one that uh...you know...showed interest.”
Despite how Sunset’s argument had broken down at the end, Shining Armor found himself unable to actually argue with the bigger pony’s words. “Okay, okay,” he relented before something else came to mind. “But uh...that means you’ll be free Sunday, right? Because Gaffer’s hoping to make up for that session we lost and he should have figured out how to use that tablet by then, so...um...do you want to play O&O...this...Sunday?”
Shining Armor felt his heart rate increase as the amber alicorn stopped in her tracks. She stood there for a few second, not looking back. The lack of an immediate response made Shining Armor start to worry. He needed something else to sweeten the deal. “Twilight will be there too,” the unicorn quickly added as he remembered how Sunset acted around the little purple filly. “And um...she’d be really, ah...disappointed if you couldn’t make it.”
“Twilight’s going to be there?” Sunset asked as she turned around and gave Shining Armor a measuring look. “Isn’t she a little...young to be hanging out with your friends?”
“No!” Shining Armor quickly answered with all the confidence he could muster to help hide the lie. “She plays with us all the time. We just, you know, thought we’d wait until the second session until we sicced her on you. F-For...obvious reasons.”
Sunset stood there for a moment, torturing Shining Armor with her silence. Then, after what seemed like an hour, a small smirk appeared on her face. “Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint Twilight,” she said before motioning with her horn. “Now come on, we’re going to be late to class.”
Deciding not to press his luck, Shining Armor kept silent for the rest of the trip to school, and was pleasantly surprised when he arrived to find the majority of the student body still waiting outside the building to be let in for the start of the day. Both Cadance and Fleur were standing apart from the crowd, with the tall unicorn’s entourage standing not too far off on the grass.
What surprised Shining Armor was the fact that Fleur was wearing a light blue sweater. Even with it being Fall, the temperature was still warm enough not to require clothes, and students at Canterlot Academy didn’t usually wear anything aside from the letterman jacket ponies involved in sports or the band sported unless it started snowing.
As soon as Cadance noticed the pair of ponies, she took a second to raise her hoof in a little wave to Fleur, and then took off in a wing-assisted leap to land a few trots from where Shining and Sunset were before making up the difference between them on the ground.
“Showoff,” Sunset half-heartedly grumbled with a little smirk as Cadance finished working off the excess motion from her landing.
The pink princess giggled and before rolling her eyes. “Oh, like you’re one to talk,” Cadance said in an amused tone before looking over to the other member of their trio. “Good morning Shiny.”
A quick nuzzle to the side of the unicorn’s neck followed the greeting, and Shining Armor blushed at the attention. “M-Morning. So um...what were you and Fleur talking about?” he asked.
“Just making sure everything was ready for-oh! There’s Cheerilee now,” Cadance replied, looking past the young stallion before she waved. “Hey Cheerilee!”
Shining Armor turned around and blinked when he saw the mulberry mare doing her best to trot up to the school with only three legs as she held a plastic cup in her fourth fetlock. He still couldn’t understand how earth ponies could walk with one of their appendages so occupied like the mare with the mouth full of braces was doing with hers.
“G-Good morning Princesses,” Cheerilee replied nervously.
Behind Cadance, Sunset groaned at the greeting while the pink princess smiled back. “Good morning Cheerilee,” the smaller alicorn replied before moving in so close to the other mare Shining Armor could barely hear her speak. “Everything ready?”
Cheerilee quickly nodded once. “Yes,” she said, then nervously licked her lips before she started looking around. “Where’s-oh, never mind, I see her.” The pony took in a deep breath through her mouth and blew it out through her nose. “Well, wish me luck.”
The mare quickly trotted away from the three horned ponies. leaving Shining Armor blinking in confusion. “Okay,” he mumbled before looking over to Cadance. “What was all that about?” It had sounded a lot like Cheerilee was wanting to ask one of the diva trio out on a date, or something.
Both of the alicorns shared a look. While Cadance became a little uneasy, Sunset just shrugged nonchalantly.
“I-It’s nothing...important,” the pink alicorn mumbled.
“Just sit back and watch the show, Shiny,” the big mare on campus told him.
Shining Armor blinked and stood there for a moment before he looked back to see Cheerilee trotting up to the three most popular unicorns in school as they conversed among themselves. “Fleur, do you mind if I-GAAAAH!” the earth pony cried out as she fell forward, launching a mass of dark liquid into the air...and straight onto the piece of clothing that Fleur was wearing.
As if driven by some unknown force, everypony in the courtyard suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the scene that was just beginning to play out in front of them. Both Sassy and and Upper Crust switched back and forth between looking at the wet sweater and the cause of what was quickly becoming an unremovable stain. Meanwhile, the head diva simply stood frozen, with what was either cold coffee, or not so hot cocoa dripping from her clothes.
After a few seconds had passed, Sassy’s attention finally settled on the pony lying face down on the grass, and trotted over to her. “Are you alright?”
“Alright?” Upper Crust asked at a volume that was barely short of a yell. “Of course she’s not alright! Just look at what that idiot did to Fleur’s new sweater!”
Crust’s shout got a jolt of a reaction from the mare in the middle of the diva trio, and Fleur let out a loud, long gasp before she looked up and covered her eyes with a foreleg to strike a dramatic pose. “Oh no! My CLOTHES! My incredibly expensive designer sweater! It’s ruined! Absolutely, positively, irreparably RUINED! Whatever am I to tell my parents?”
A choking sound came from beside Shining Armor, and he turned his head to see Sunset dry heaving on the ground. “S-Sunset?”
Cadence gave the other alicorn an even look. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry,” Sunset said as she suddenly stood back up. “I tend to gag when somepony asks me to swallow something that terrible.”
“Huh?” Shining Armor mumbled.
Before any explanation could be given, Cadance quickly shushed Sunset, then looked back towards the dramatic display as Sassy started speaking again. “Well, I’m sure that there’s something that can be done Fleur,” she consoled her friend before she looked back down to Cheerilee. “More importantly, are you okay Cheerilee? That looked like a nasty fall.”
The mulberry mare lay on the ground, motionless for a few seconds before she looked up to Sassy. “Um...I-I’m not sure...we didn’t plan for-"
“Who cares about her?” Upper Crust suddenly cut in as she glared as Sassy Saddles for a moment before turning her attention down towards Cheerilee. “You clumsy idiot! HOW are you going to pay for this?”
“W-What?” Cheerilee stuttered.
Behind the round mare, a frown appeared on Fleur’s face. “Um, Crusty.”
Either ignoring her friend, or simply not hearing her, Upper Crust snorted and stepped forward, taking a position that would have made it appear to Cheerilee that she towered over the other pony. “What? Is there too much dirt in your ears? I asked how you were going to pay for this? That sweater costs more than your dirty parents probably make in a year!”
Fleur De Lis cleared her throat. “Well then if that’s the case, perhaps we should work to salvage it while we can,” she said in a disgruntled tone as a frown pressed down on her face. “Bathroom. You too Sassy.”
The last member of the trio watched as the other two trotted away. The rest of the crowd gathered outside the main school building giving them a wide berth. “I’ll...be right with you,” Sassy said before she reached down to help Cheerilee up and speak with the uneasy mare too softly for Shining Armor to hear before she turned and galloped towards the door.
With everything apparently over, Shining Armor looked back at the two alicorns next to him. “Uh...shouldn’t you two have...done something about that?”
Sunset snorted. “There are limits to what even I can do Shiny,” she said before looking over to Cadance. “And I know Fleur was horrible, but don’t you think Crust was laying it on a little thick? There’s such a thing as overcompensating, ya know.”
“I’d better talk to Cheerilee,” Cadance said before she quickly trotted off towards the mulberry mare.
“And I’d better go rendezvous with the girls,” Sunset added before she looked back to the stallion of their trio. “See you at lunch, Shiny.”
As Sunset cantered away and headed into the school, Shining Armor found himself alone and confused once again. He almost couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Another pony, one of Shining Armor’s friends, had been harassed by another mare and Sunset hadn’t bucked the chubby pony performing the verbal assault to the moon. She hadn’t even gotten upset about it.
Unless...she was on her way to…
Shining Armor took a moment to watch as Sunset disappeared inside the building, but decided not to chase her down. After what he had just watched, he didn’t think those three overgrown fillies deserved the young stallion putting himself between their endangered bodies and an enraged Sunset Shimmer.
Instead, he quickly made his way to where Cadance was helping the other mare up, and all the other ponies were quickly giving the princess more than enough space. “Cheerilee, are you alright?”
The earth pony looked over to the unicorn and smiled just a bit. “Don’t worry Shining, I made sure to fall on the grass.”
“Uh...oh-kay?” Shining Armor replied before shaking off the odd response and frowning at the building. “But what they said-”
“I know!” Cheerilee agreed before the unicorn could finish. “Fleur was just awful!”
Shining Armor tried to figure out how the pony who had her sweater ruined had behaved badly, and found himself completely lost as he tried to follow Cheerilee’s logic. “Uh...but...Upper Crust...” He didn’t know what to say on the subject. That mare had some serious issues.
“It’s a good thing Princess Cadance had her help out too,” Cheerilee said with a nod.
Once again, the earth pony managed to completely derail Shining Armor’s train of thought, and he cocked his head to the side. “Wha-huh?”
Off to the side, the look on Cadance’s face suddenly became very nervous. “Um...r-right,” she said before the bell rang, cutting off any further conversation as Shining Armor found himself needing to get to class.
Despite the fact that everything was going as planned, Fleur felt as if her stomach was doing more backflips than a pegasus at a Wonderbolts show while she walked into the mare’s bathroom. Once inside, the unicorn went up to the faucets in front of the wall-length mirror with Sassy and Crusty on her tail to turn on the water and look ahead.
For a second, Fleur saw everypony that had been outside being reflected along with her own face. All of them, just...looking at her. All of them with their passive expressions. All of them, completely unsurprised by the way she had acted. As if caring about a cheap sweater that had been glamoured to look expensive was more important than the wellbeing of another pony wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Fleur De Lis.
She turned back to look at her other friends. Sassy was wearing a deep scowl and had her lips puckered in irritation, while Crusty was still going on like she had been in front of the school. “And another thing, what was she even coming near us for? It wasn’t time for lunch! If she thinks that just because the Princesses have taken pity on her because they have to have an earth pony around for appearances that she has the right to talk to us-”
Sassy looked down at the pudgy mare as her lip curled into a snarl. “Well, I’m certain whatever she was going to say would be more pleasant than what is coming out of your mouth right now Upper Crust!”
“Yes Crusty,” Fleur agreed as she took off her sweater and set it to the side in case they would need evidence to initiate phase two of Cadance’s plan. “We’re not in public anymore. You can turn it off.”
The shortest member of the trio looked over to Fleur was a strangely confused expression. “Turn what off?”
Before Fleur could scream ‘THE INTENSE TRIBALISM!’ the unicorn heard the restroom door bang open and looked over to see a large amber alicorn stomp her way around the corner with a frown on her face that made the future supermodel worry that the young goddess was angry over the fact Fleur had been in the way of Cheerilee’s hot cocoa when the earth pony spilled it. “P-Princess Sunset!”
“I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING!” Sassy screamed before she scooted away from Upper Crust until her backside ran into the door of a stall.
For a second, the amber alicorn’s eyes widened, and Fleur thought she saw pain flash through Sunset’s eyes before the confusion set in and she looked around the room with a half-frown. “Oh-kay,” she mumbled before settling her gaze on Fleur. “So, are you...ready for phase two?”
Upper Crust broke from whatever strange prey instinct that had her playing statue to blink at the question. “Phase...two?”
With something to focus on that wasn’t as confusing as her friends, Fleur nodded to the princess. “Yes, the illusion the princess told me you cast on the sweater is holding up wonderfully,” she said. “But, I’m afraid that Princess Cadance took off before she divulged any more of the plan, aside from how Cheerilee would ruin my clothes this morning that is. She said you would explain things after that.”
“What...Oh!” Upper Crust exclaimed. “Yes...right! The plan, that...Princess Cadance talked about, when she...came by...this morning. With Cheerilee, and all that!”
Sunset frowned at the yellow pony. “Yeah. You and me are going to have words about that later.”
Upper Crust gulped so loud that Fleur could see the bulge travel down her throat.
“Okay so, phase two,” Sunset said before she looked at each of the three girls in turn. “Well, I can’t hide behind Fleur’s since she’s going to be the one talking to so...Sassy, come here.”
The tall blue unicorn sunk in on herself. “Um...what for, Princess?”
Sunset sighed and drooped her eyes to half-lidded. “Because I need your help to create a situation in which I can gather evidence so we have documentation of Cinch’s immoral behavior when we fire her at the end of the day and thus avoid a media backlash that might try and paint me and Cadance as going mad with power.”
As soon as the explanation finished, Sassy’s expression turned into a happy smile. “Ah! Well why didn’t you just say so Princess!” Sassy said before she trotted up to the larger pony. “So, what do you need me to do?”
“Don’t move your head around too much.”
Sassy blinked and her smile disappeared amidst the confusion that appeared on her face. “Huh?”
Everything was perfect.
Doubly perfect.
Cinch double-checked all her preparations for the major upcoming school events to ensure it was so and found everything to her liking. The Canterlot Dragons would be a shoo-in to win the homecoming polo game next Friday thanks to the center for the Fillydelphia Fliers varsity team being arrested. The first major step in their path to the playoff, the championship, and another feather in Cinch’s cap.
Cinch chuckled as she read the Filly Free Press news story about what Straight Shooter said as the police were hauling him away. That poor little colt. Everypony uses that ‘I don’t know how that bag got in my locker’ defense. Of course for him, the fact that it was actually true wouldn’t matter until he went to trial in a few weeks and was forced to testify inside a Circle of Truth that he was innocent of both possession and dealing illegal substances. But by then, the game would be over, and Cinch didn’t much care about what happened to him after that.
As for the pony that placed the drugs, the internship that he would receive from one of Cinch’s former students that she had helped through academia in return for such favors had already been agreed upon. Although his future would suddenly look quite bleak should he have a sudden loss of self-interest and confess to his part in everything. And if he did...well, it wasn’t as if he had seen Cinch in pony. No names were mentioned in the letters that they had communicated through either, aside from mentioning the internship was with Hasburro, which employed thousands of ponies.
Then there was the other thing. Recent events had put a bit of a kink in her plans for the upcoming dance. When Sunset Shimmer had joined the school, Cinch had intended to have her be elected Fall Formal princess as a nod of respect towards the demigoddess. Anypony who was anypony knew that Sunset was Celestia’s ward, and rumors mentioned that the amber alicorn would soon to be outright adopted by the princess. Anything Cinch could do to endear herself to the heir of Equestria’s throne, no matter how redundant the title, was well worth the cost.
But after Princess Cadance had barely been deflected from taking action on behalf of some nopony, the unicorn principal needed something to keep the pink princess happy, or at least distracted. Making sure the Fall Formal crown went to her instead of Princess Sunset seemed like a logical first step to show the country princess being Cinch’s friend had certain benefits.
Benefits that couldn’t even compare to the power Cadance already wielded.
Cinch sighed as that little conundrum entered her mind again. Her ability to control her students hinged on the fact that she was more powerful than they were while they still went to her Academy, and the dirt she could get on them before they left. But all the connections and school power Cinch had built over the years were nothing compared to a pony whose word was literally the law.
Of course with two princesses attending Canterlot Academy, there was the option of Cinch playing the two of them against each other. In that way, Cinch could use Princess Sunset’s authority to protect herself from Cadance. But that was a game with the added danger of drawing attention from Celestia Herself. While Cinch was confident in her ability to manipulate a couple of teenagers, she had no doubt that the immortal ruler of Equestria would see through her sweet talk and misdirections in an instant. And with one of them being the next best thing to Celestia’s daughter…
Cinch shivered at the thought of what an irritated mother with centuries of experience, the total authority of the government, and the magical power of an alicorn could do should she become enraged.
Thankfully, the waking nightmares of Celestia flailing Cinch’s soul over the fires of the sun were quickly ended when the door to her office was knocked open by a pair of unicorn’s that stormed their way in.
The sudden appearance of Fleur De Lis and Sassy Saddles made Cinch blink in confusion. It was odd to see the third member of their trio absent. While the blue unicorn moved about in an unnaturally stuff manner, the white one with the pink mane stormed up to Cinch’s desk with a stained sweater in her magic to slam both it and her hooves on the desk.
Cinch kept her expression passive, even if she was quite annoyed with the little filly’s actions. Despite the advantages of having a supermodel in her saddlebag would bring, the ponies that actually made it in such an industry were few and far in-between. So Cinch didn’t put much beyond a token effort to keep the head of that little threesome happy.
It was the fat one that would be of guaranteed use in the future, and Cinch already had ties to Upper Crust’s family.
Still, a token effort was easily doable. So Cinch put her forelegs up on her desk and kept her face passive at the brat that had just dropped a wet rag on the expensive wood. “Yes, Ms Fleur? What seems to be the trouble?”
Fleur turned to the side so Cinch could see her profile, and then let out an exaggerated ‘humph’. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of this...this travesty!” she said before pointing to her sweater.
“Hmm?” Cinch asked before she looked at the article of clothing and frowned. The light blue sweater hummed with a minor enchantment she didn’t recognize, but other than that, it didn’t seem that special. Any value it once held was stripped away by the chocolate stain covering most of the front. “I’m afraid you have me at a loss Ms Fleur. Please enlighten me as to the cause of your...mood.”
After letting out an exaggerated sigh, the unicorn shook her head. “This...slovenly earth pony assaulted me this morning and ruined my brand new, one of a kind expensive sweater!”
“I saw the whole thing ma’am,” Sassy added before nodding, then freezing solid with wide eyes. “S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to...uh, interrupt you, Fleur!”
The other unicorn blinked with wide-eyes at Sassy’s comment, and then recovered with a grumble before she looked back. “Yes. Now, as I was saying. This...earth pony by the name of Cheerilee, threw hot cocoa on me this morning, and I want her punished!”
Despite the fact the filly was an earth pony, Cinch recognized the name Fleur mentioned. One couldn’t run an academy without knowing something about the students. It helped separate the wheat from the chaff. From what Cinch recalled off the top of her head, Cheerilee was a purple-ish earth pony with smiling flowers on her flank. Considering her tribe and cutie mark, the little filly would probably end up working on a farm, or maybe a flower stand for the rest of her life. In short, she was not a pony worth bothering with.
“I...see,” Cinch mumbled as she considered what she could do to a student that...as far as she knew, had no extracurricular activities tied to the school.
Then, Fleur went off again. “No! Not just punished! I want her,” she said before thrusting a hoof towards the ceiling. “EXPELLED!”
Cinch blinked at the odd behavior. “...yes,” she mumbled before looking down to the stained clothing and worked the situation through in her mind. “Well, that’s...understandable. I can see how the presence of such a student would be...detrimental to your educational experience. Don’t worry my dear, I’ll have this taken care of for you as soon as possible.”
Bathrooms were not a good place for waiting on the results of a covert operation. Aside from the fact that a lecture from Sunset on good hygiene had been very detailed on just what she was trotting through, Cadance had to greet the several students that needed to make way for breakfast in their digestive tract during first period. So, aside from the fact that ponies who had just finished clearing their plots with paper that was far too thin to prevent at least some seepage before they walked across the floor, there was also a less than enjoyable smell that somepony would come in and add to when the aroma began to wane.
Ugh...why couldn’t I have just waited until lunch? Cadance asked herself as she made sure to keep her tail from touching the floor and resisted the urge to sit down.
First period had begun several minutes ago, and Cadance had asked to be excused ten minutes in because not knowing how things went would have been even more detrimental to her education than listening to the stallion at the front of the classroom for the whole class.
The sound of the door opening followed by at least two sets of hooves made Cadance look around to the wall that kept other ponies from looking in. This time, her faith was rewarded when she saw both Fleur and Sassy trot in. Not wanting to waste another second, the pink princess stepped forward. “So how’d it-wait, why isn’t Sunset with you?” she asked in confusion.
Although the amber alicorn hadn’t given much in the way of explanation as to how she was going to get Cinch to incriminate herself, Sunset had told Cadance she was planning on using a simple recording spell to gather the evidence like ponies used to copy the events of a replay before distribution. The fact the amber alicorn was missing did nothing to fill the pink princess with confidence.
Sassy looked up at the horn on her head that was nearly covered by her mane. “Umm, well…”
“Ugh, give me a second! I had to use something to help me stay put since somepony’s never been to stupid stuck-up mare school and learned to trot properly!”
Cadance blinked at the...squeak that came from Sassy’s mane. “Uh...what was that?”
“I’m sorry Princess! I-” Sassy said before she was cut off.
“STOP TALKING!”
A second later, a little orange-ish...something popped out of Sassy’s maane to jump down and land on the blue unicorn’s nose, making Sassy’s eyes cross as she looked at it.
“I mean jeez, do you have any idea just how many vibrations talking causes? It’s like I had to suffer through an earthquake every time you opened your mouth.”
Cadance’s mouth dropped as her eyes finally focused on the little thing and turned it from a bug-sized blob into a bug-sized amber alicorn. It took her a second to talk again. “S-SUNSET?” she asked before getting nearly muzzle to muzzle with Sassy to have a better view. “But...you...what happened to you?”
Sunset was...tiny. Almost ridiculously so. In fact, if the amber alicorn had been crouching down on the ground, Cadance was certain that she could have tried stepping on the mare and miss her completely if Sunset aligned her body with the pink princess’s frog.
The other alicorn turned back around and frowned at Cadance while her horn glowed a dim blue. For some reason, the pink princess found the scowl on her usually intimidating friend unbelievably cute at her current size. It took all of Cadance’s willpower and the fear of crushing Sunset not to snatch her up and nuzzle the mare to death.
“I lost a few pounds. And I swear, if you make ONE Ant-Mare joke…”
Cadance giggled at the unfinished threat as Sunset pointed her little hoof at the much bigger pink alicorn. “Yeah, you might actually want to be able to look me in the eye before you start making promises like that again,” she said before looking over to Fleur. “But seriously, what happened to...uh…”
“Turn Princess Sunset into an adorable little breezie with alicorn wings?” the white unicorn said with a little smile.
“GAAAAH! For the last time! I AM NOT A BREEZIE!”
Laughter filled the bathroom as the other three horned ponies giggled at the mini-mare’s anger. After it ended, the pink princess did think she needed to set things right. “Sunset’s right. I’ve seen breezies, and they’re about a quarter bigger than she is now.”
The comment got Fleur’s attention, and her eyes lit with interest. “Really Princess Cadance? You’ve seen breezies? How? Where? When?”
“Their last migration had them collecting pollen a mile from my village,” she explained while secretly hoping that they wouldn’t ask any more questions. While cute, the little things were a hoofful for the ponies assigned to take care of them during their collection operations. And after an incident with a lamp that nearly killed half their flock, Cadance’s matchmaking expertise had her wondering if they were in fact sexually attracted to fire.
“Well now that we’ve gotten all the little mare jokes out of the way…”
Cadance looked back to Sunset as the tiny alicorn leapt off of Sassy’s nose to begin gliding down to the floor. Halfway there, she was enveloped in a bright light, and the pink princess found herself needing to back away to make way for Sunset’s fit five-foot-plus frame. “Ugh,” she said before clutching her stomach. “Compression magic always does a number on the stomach. And...sorry for being so snappy, Sassy.”
There was a brief moment of disappointment as Cadance realized she had missed her chance to play with a little Sunset, but the task at hoof quickly got her back on track. “Okay, now would somepony please explain to me what that was all about?” the pink princess asked with a small frown. “Why were you…” the ridiculousness of the coming statement made Cadance take a break to keep from giggling. “Hiding in Sassy’s mane? Not to mention the whole breezie-”
An amber hoof raised up, cutting Cadance off. “I used a compression spell, whole different thing than a species swap,” Sunset explained. “And I needed to since a camouflage cloak might not have given me enough time to slip into Cinch’s office before the door closed so I could record everything.”
Cadance blinked at the explanation, focusing more on the fact that Sunset had done what they had set out to do rather than her need to correct spell terminology. “Fine,” she said. “So, now we just take it to Minister Board, and everything will be ready.”
The good news made Cadance smile. It may have taken them a bit longer than she had originally wanted, but Canterlot Academy would finally begin its long trek back to becoming a place that deserved the respect it was getting. “Great!” she said before looking back to the three horned ponies in front of her. “Say, why isn’t Upper Crust with you three?”
“She said she had to get to class,” Sunset explained with a shrug before looking over to Cadance. “Although the next time we pull something like this. She needs to be our fake bitch-pony. No offense Fleur, but...you should really just stick with modeling.”
Fleur sighed and moved her eyes away from Sunset when the amber alicorn looked over to her. “Yes well...if Princess Cadance had given us a little more time to prepare, I could have put on a better performance. Improv is...not my thing.”
The blue member of the group let out a little snort. “Well I would have appreciated knowing what was going on ahead of time.”
“Sorry,” Cadance apologized. “I only had time to visit Fleur and Cheerilee’s house before school started.”
A frown appeared on Sunset’s face. “Say what?”
“News flash! I can’t teleport willy-nilly around the city like you Sunset!” she replied before grumbling. “You’d think a pony who just got her own pair of appendages would know how hard it is mastering them. Especially considering you’re the one who’s teaching me magic.”
Sunset’s frown disappeared under Cadance’s ire. “No, that’s not…” She sighed and shook her head. “Never mind. Let’s just hurry on and get to class.”
As the others nodded in agreement and got moving, Cadance saw the amber alicorn stop the white unicorn from leaving the bathroom and turned her head back as Sunset asked Fleur a question. “Say, what were you girls talking about this morning after Cadance came to see me and Shiny?”
“Just my sweater,” Fleur answered. “Why?”
Sunset shrugged. “No reason. Although...do you know what class Upper Crust has this period?”
As lunch came around, Shining Armor found himself sitting next to Cadance with the seat to his right completely empty of a certain amber alicorn. Compounding the oddity was the presence of the yellow unicorn sitting across the table and three seats to the left of Shining. At least Upper Crust being stupid enough to show her face was confusing until Fleur finished her explanation about what had happened outside school between her second and third apologies.
“So I just wanted to apologize again Cheerilee. I know it was just acting, but I just feel awful about it.”
“Y-yes, acting!” Upper Crust added nervously while her eyes darted around. “We were just acting! Don’t feel uncomfortable, it was all pretend! I’m sure we’ll laugh about it in a few years. By the way, in a completely unrelated topic, h-have any of you seen Princess Sunset?”
Shining saw Cadance frown at the yellow unicorn a bit before she answered Upper Crust’s question. “There isn’t anything in the way of royal business that she had to deal with, as far as I know.”
Gaffer cleared his throat. “Okay so, now that we’ve all gotten that out of the way. Let’s move onto the business of this weekend. Final check to make sure everypony’s got their tickets for the replay.”
“Oh, about that,” Cadance cut in. “I don’t remember if we told all of you or not, but Sunset won’t be able to attend the premiere because of diplomatic business. So, it’ll just be me, and I have an extra ticket if you know anypony else that wants to go.”
“Thank you for the offer Princess,” Fleur said with a nod of her head. “But we had our parents buy ours when the first went on sale to make sure we could get the best possible ones next to each other. First balcony level, third row, stage right.”
A groan came from the other unicorn of the nerd herd before Gaffer reached up to rub on the side of his head with a hoof. “Please don’t show off your seating like that. It’s bad enough I’m going to have to bring an oxygen tank to survive sitting sitting through the play and binoculars just to turn the specks into blurry blobs.”
Cadance blinked in confusion at the comment. “Um...what?”
Eight-bit rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind him, Princess Cadance. Gaffer’s just being a drama queen because the only seats we could get on our budget were in the nosebleed section. It’s no big deal, really.”
“Says the pony with the eagle vision,” Gaffer grumbled.
The confusion on Cadance’s face only mounted. “Wait, they have assigned seats at the theaters in Canterlot?”
“For the more important ones anyway,” Sassy told her. “Like the Grand Globe Theatre, which is getting the play a day before any of the others.”
Cadance’s face twisted with worry. “Oh dear. Does that mean we’re not going to be able to sit together?”
Shining Armor thought about it for a second, but he didn’t see any way around it. “Well, you didn’t get your seats until later, so...no. Not unless you’re really lucky anyway,” he told her before becoming curious. “What seat do you have anyway? Do you remember?”
“Alicorns have great memories.” Cadance looked up at the ceiling for a moment before she made eye contact with Shining again. “It was that set of numbers and letters on the side of the ticket, right?”
After Shining Armor nodded, Cadance gave a worried smile. “FLCSR1S49,” she announced. “Sunset’s is the same, but it ends with a 50.”
The world seemed to tilt, and Shining Armor had to lock his forelegs to keep from falling out off of the cushion beneath him. Thankfully, he didn’t look too out of place since all the other stallions also had their mouths hanging open. Even the rich prissy mares looked impressed at the declaration.
Gaffer’s jaw slammed shut and opened again as he found the will to speak. “Y-you mean to tell me that you have two floor level, front row center-stage tickets to the most anticipated play of the year?” he asked without his usual mask of monotone and uncaring hiding his amazement.
Cadance squirmed around under the looks of the other ponies for a few seconds before she answered. “...yes?”
The worried declaration made Shining Armor’s head spin as he tried to figure out how in Tartarus Sunset and Cadance could have gotten tickets. The floor level was only for very important ponies like producers, actors, writers, world leaders and… Oh, right...princesses, he reminded himself.
Silence permeated the table for a few more seconds before Gaffer glared at Shining Armor with a look that could have killed most other stallions. If the white and light-brown stallion ever actually learned to cast Eyes of Blazing Death, that is.
After nearly half a minute, Gaffer finally, and with great difficulty, spoke. “H-How?”
“Huh?” Shining Armor replied in confusion.
The earth pony Poindexter cleared his throat before adjusting his bowtie. “I believe what our dungeon master is referring to is your newfound talent to just waltz into good fortune, such as how you just cantered into a meeting with Princess Sunset Shimmer, got whisked away by Princess Cadance, made out with Princess Sunset after a rather spectacular dragon slaying in which she only used her bare hooves,” the nerdiest of the herd said, making the three divas look over to Poindexter with a trio of expressions that ranged from surprised to outright terrified in Crust’s case.
“S-she did what to a dragon now?” the mare asked.
The question went unanswered. Shining Armor’s mind focused on what was wrong with Poindexter’s final statement. “Wait a second, how in the hay do you know about that?” he demanded as he pointed a hoof at the glasses-wearing earth pony. “You weren’t there.”
Gaffer chuckled nervously. “Uh...yeah, but that magic tablet we used? It kind of has this reviewing feature that lets the DM see what happened during the last sessions and-”
“You used it to watch Sunset stick her tongue down my throat,” Shining Armor deadpanned.
Cheerilee raised a hoof. “Um, excuse me but...what are you all talking about?” she asked with a little frown as her voice lost its usual cheerfulness. “Because it almost sounds like Shining Armor got foalnapped by a dragon.”
The giggle that came from Cadance’s mouth told Shining Armor that he was about to lose what bit of stallion pride he had recovered since then. “Oh it’s a sweet story, really. You see I used this magic spell to transport Shining Armor and Sunset to an alternate dimension where he thought she was in danger and galloped off to certain death in an attempt to save her,” she explained before giving Shining a little smile. “Of course it all backfired when Sunset broke out of the cell she was supposed to be trapped in and snapped the dragon’s neck with her bare hooves before immolating its corpse, but I think the important thing is that Shiny tried to rescue her.”
When Cadance finished her story, the reactions of the other mares at the table were a bit...mixed. Cheeriliee and her pink-maned mare friend blinked in a shared stunned silence. Fleur and Sassy gave the stallion smirks that matched Cadance's, as if to agree with the alicorn’s assessment of things. Upper Crust on the other hoof, she...looked to be a nervous wreck.
“A-A dragon, with her...hooves,” the shaking yellow unicorn said before she glanced around nervously and excused herself before bolting. “I need to go to the bathroom, bye!”
All of the other ponies at the table blinked as Crust galloped away from the cafeteria. And then Gaffer went back to frowning at Shining. “And now, you're getting front row center-stage tickets to the play of the year with your other fillyfriend!”
Shining Armor frowned back at the other unicorn. “H-Hey, Cadance isn’t my fillyfriend!”
“Neither is Sunset...yet anyway,” the pink princess added in a grumble towards the end before she brightened up just a bit. “But Shining Armor needs to be around other young mares in order for him to make a well-informed decision regarding the future of his relationship. It will allow him to put his bond with Sunset into perspective, and help create a measuring stick for future interactions. Although, I will admit that this is turning out to be a little more intimate than I had originally planned for a group date.”
The unicorn across the table gave Cadance a flat look. “So to help give Shining Armor some perspective, he’ll be dating the hottest filly in school instead of the coolest,” he said, making Cadance a little embarrassed at the compliment before looking over to Fleur. “Uh, no offense.”
A sigh escaped from Fleur's mouth before she put on a little melancholy smile at the mention of both her former positions. “None taken.”
Cadance shrugged and gave Gaffer one of those looks that said she was above the comment, but it annoyed her at the same time. “I don’t see what that has to do with-oh,” the pink princess said before the look on her face darkened into a frown. “What’s she doing here?”
The odd shift in demeanor made Shining Armor follow Cadance’s gaze to a door on the far side of the cafeteria. He saw an older unicorn mare with a light blue coat in a business dress standing in the center of the far wall with her head slowly moving back and forth as she scanned the crowd.
Cinch looked around the room for a few seconds before her horn lit up and a spark of magic went from her horn to her throat. “Cheerilee of class 2-B, come to the front of the cafeteria. Now.”
Shining Armor looked over to the mulberry mare in confusion. “What’s going on?”
When Cheerilee only gave him an apologetic look before trotting off, Shining Armor turned to Cadance for an explanation. Then he felt the amount of less-than-friendly magic that pulsed from her horn and reminded Shining that despite how she rarely showed it, the pink pony could flatten the school in an instant. So he decided to just keep his mouth shut on the subject and watch.
“Students of Canterlot Academy,” Cinch announced with her volume increasing spell as Cheerilee reached the principal. “It has come to my attention that this less-than-reputable member of our prestigious academy has assaulted one of your fellow students in a most heinous manner.”
As everypony in the cafeteria began to whisper among themselves, Cheerilee’s expression became a bit concerned. At the same time, Cadance started grumbling to herself in that scary tone she used whenever talking about love. “Oh you have got to be kidding me. She can’t possibly be doing this in front of the entire school!”
“Such actions against your fellow students will NOT be tolerated!” Cinch went on as Cheerilee looked around nervously.
“Unless it’s against ponies like us,” Shining Armor mumbled. To which the rest of his friends nodded.
Cadance let out an angry snort.
“And to ensure that this will not happen again, I want you all to take a good long look at your FORMER classmate!” Cinch shouted before throwing out a hoof towards Cheerilee, who cowered from the motion as if the older unicorn had been about to hit her. “This pathetic excuse for a pony-”
Cadance let out a cry of rage and reared up on her hind legs to slam her front ones down on the table.
“Oh shut up you old nag!”
The booming voice coming from the princess knocked Shining on his back. By the time he looked back up, Cadance had already flown across the room and touched down with a loud thump before she glared down at the stunned Cinch. “How DARE you talk about her like that!” she shouted at the unicorn, knocking her on her rump.
“P-Princess…” Cinch stuttered.
“You, calling her pathetic?” Cadance asked. “YOU?”
Back at the table, Sassy Saddles leaned over to Fleur. “Um, wasn’t the whole point of this for Cheerilee to be expelled?”
Fleur nodded. “Yes. Although, it would appear that Princess Cadance has decided to alter the plan.”
The brief silence from across the room gave Cinch the time she needed to recover her composure. “Young lady, I feel I must remind you that I am the principal of this school, and-”
“AND I AM A PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!” Cadance fired back in Cinch’s face, cowing the older pony once again. “And as such I feel that I must remind you that as a princess, it is my sworn duty to come to the defense of a pony being attacked! A pony, that anypony else here will tell you tripped and fell this morning on her way to school!”
“But-”
“BUT WHAT?” Cadance yelled from her place standing over Cinch. “She’s not one of your in crowd? Not one of your special favor ponies? NOT WORTH CARING ABOUT? Is that why she isn’t allowed to spill something on another pony? Why she has to work for her passing grades instead of just having them hoofed over? Why she isn’t allowed to just beat up other ponies and send them home with bruised bones yet not received a lick of punishment? Well? IS IT?”
Cinch cowered under the alicorn’s enraged gaze. “I...um….I-I-I-”
Cadance stomped her hoof onto the floor, stopping Cinch before she could even really begin. “You are NOT going to be expelling anypony today! Instead, you are going to trot back to your office and stay there, and you are not going to leave until I come and get you!” the pink pony princess said before she lowered her head to put her muzzle to muzzle with Cinch. “Understand?”
“Y-Yes Princess. Of course Princess! T-Thank you very much, Princess!” Cinch said as she slowly backed away from the enraged pink pony and turned to gallop out the door when she had gotten more and one body-length distance between them.
As the door slammed shut behind her, a heavy silence permeated the the room.
Then, there was the sound of a hoof hitting the floor.
Followed by another.
And another.
And soon, nearly everypony in the room was clopping to Princess Cadance.
There was a stupid look of embarrassment on the princess’s face as she took that brace-face filly and led her back to the royal table to the cheers of the lunchroom. But, unlike all the other tables, Buck Withers made sure that none of the polo or hoofball team gave a single stomp.
He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Like everypony else in school, he had seen what had happened before classes started. That stupid nopony had gone and ruined Fleur’s clothes. But instead of getting what she deserved, Princess Cadance had let her get away clean.
And that other stuff she had talked about…
Buck nervously looked over at the beautiful white pony as she spoke to the less than nothing mulberry mare and actually bowed her head to the lesser filly.
The sight made the all-star stallion grit his teeth. First that one alicorn had stepped up for that Shining punk, and now it was looking like Princess Cadance was making the hottest unicorn in school happy-flower flank’s fetch pony.
Something was wrong.
Really wrong.
Buck was the biggest, strongest, and oldest stallion on campus. Both of the alicorns should have been raising their tails for him! But instead, everypony was saying that Shining Armor was banging both of them.
The fat princess was probably a lost cause, but Princess Cadance...Buck knew that if he could just get that hot mare away from Shining Armor long enough to show her what he had, the earth pony knew there was no way in Tartarus that she’d go trotting back to that nerd.
He’s make her moan like nopony else and then…
A tap to the shoulder pulled Buck out of his plans to make Cadance his, and he looked over to Three-D with a frown. “What?”
“Hey Buck, does this mean we can't be smacking around on nerds no more?”
He snorted and looked back over to the stupid unicorn that was the cause of all his problems. “Shut up.”