The Move
When the day of Stardust’s move finally arrived, she didn’t know how to process or describe the mess of emotions she experienced in the early hours of the morning. When the letter arrived saying that her lease went through a couple weeks ago, Stardust and her parents instantly started planning how they were going to move her and everything she had into her awaiting new home. The packing went little-by-little until everything of Stardust’s was either stuffed into large cardboard boxes or left off to the side in the living room. With her mattress sitting against the wall and her bedding boxed up, Stardust slept on the couch the previous night. When she awoke to see her things filling up the living room, she realized she wouldn’t be waking up in her old room anymore. Heck, she already wasn’t waking up in her room, and her things weren’t even out of the house yet. It was just one of the first of many slaps of reality that her move was truly happening.
Breakfast was quick and once everyone’s morning routines were finished, loading Stardust’s things onto the cart outside became the main task of the morning. Celestia’s sun did it’s best to peak through the abundant amount of thick grey clouds blanketing the sky. A fair breeze blew at a constant pace, bringing with it the cooler nip in the air that signaled the approaching winter. The cooler air flowing through her coat and mane were welcome as Stardust heaved the first of her things outside to be loaded on the cart. Her, Mezzo Melody, and her father, City Streets, all took to the task with team effort. For a little less than an hour, the three of them whizzed in and out of the house to gather more boxes, each of which found its way in some degree of organization onto the cart.
Stardust thought it odd seeing the living room deplete of her things and the cart grow with them. Every box loaded on was another step forward in her move. This couldn’t have been easy for her parents either, but she thanked Celestia that they weren’t anything like Twilight Velvet during Shining’s last few weeks at home before he left for Trottingham. When the living room was empty, all that remained were a few things still in her room she didn’t want to risk getting smooshed among the rest of her things. Mezzo had already started bringing those items down with her and placed them in the front of the cart as Stardust headed in to collect the rest. When Stardust reached her room, her father was already picking up the last box in his own deep-green magic surrounding the box and his horn. The only other thing in the room was her treasured guitar case sitting in the empty bedframe. She strapped it on her back and was about to head out when she saw City Streets standing in the doorway looking into her room with a distant look glazing over his face. Stardust approached her father and lightly patted his leg. “Dad? There’s nothin’ else. We can…” She started to trail off and began to match her father’s look when she started to gaze at what had silenced him in the first place; her empty room.
Two weeks was all it took to devoid her room of practically any life or sense of someone else having lived there. The room that used to be covered wall-to-wall with posters of musicians of all genres now seemed so lifeless and sterile. Both of them looked as if they had forgotten the walls were white underneath all of Stardust’s posters. For the first time in who knows when, the floors were clean. The music notes, scattered pencils, papers, and the random guitar picks that used to litter the wooden floors were all sitting in the cart, leaving their old home to sit in an erie cleanliness. The empty bedframe only added to the growing haunting presence of the room. Stardust could barely wrap her head around it. This used to be her room. It used to be so full of her presence and so full of life. Now, she looked on at it as what it was going to be; an empty space.
Mezzo’s hoofsteps weren’t even heard when she made her way up the steps and into the room. “There you two are. The cart is all loaded up, and I’ve been waiting outside for—” Just as her daughter had, Mezzo fell silent as she took in the room in front of her. She stepped forward and stood next to her husband as a hushed gasp escaped her. It was all too real for her.
City Streets stood in a similar state as his wife. His eyes scanned the room and it was as if all reality came crashing down that his only daughter, his only child, was truly moving out; another slap of reality that this was happening. He looked down at her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Next to him, Mezzo leaned her head to rest on his side, her mane easily blending into the deep black of his coat. He inhaled and breathed a full, deep sigh that lightly shook his standing form. “This is really happenin’ isn’t it?”
The mare standing below him craned her neck up, and through an open section of his long, darker black mane that covered the upper part of his face, looked into his emerald eyes that were so much like her own. She put a hoof on the one on her shoulder and smiled. “Dad, we’ve been packin’ for days. Ya just noticin’ this now?”
Even in an event like this, City Streets expected such a response from his daughter. “Seriously couldn’t think of anythin’ else to say?” he said through a few snorted laughs that drew laughter out of Stardust as well. Amid his low chuckles, he moved his hoof off of Stardust’s shoulder before he took her in his forelimbs in a tight embrace. “I love ya, Stardust. We’re gonna miss ya so much.”
Mezzo’s forelimbs joined in the collective hug, with Stardust near suffocation in the middle, yet not wanting to break it off just yet. “I love you too, Stardust,” Mezzo warmly said, tears brimming at the edge of her closed eyelids ready to drop.
Seeing her mom so close to crying felt like a burning stake being driven through Stardust’s heart. Without a second though, she wiggled her forelimbs out of her parents’ hold and threw one around each of them to hug them back. “I love ya too, guys.” Mezzo and City’s grips instantly tightened as they held onto their precious treasure, wishing they had more time before they sent her off.
“Be sure to visit,” Mezzo said once the hug dissolved. “And check in with us every now and then. And please let us know you have enough to eat.”
“Come to us if ya low on food, I can make ya somethin’.” City made no effort to conceal the pleading tone in his voice. “And please walk home with somepony at night.”
The two of them continued to list their requests, most of which went along the lines of asking her to be careful coming from work at night, keep them in mind, to not overwork herself, and other basic safety stuff she learned as a foal that she was sure they were only telling her because of worry and the crashing reality of her move her room ignited. She just let them talk until they ran out of things to worry about for the moment, told them she’d do everything, and that she would be fine.
In truth, Mezzo and City knew their daughter could handle herself, but there would always be that part of them that worried for their not-so-little girl. They squeezed in one last hug together in the room before they resumed loading the last of Stardust’s things in the cart. City took the last box down while Stardust took one more look into her old room. She looked in and could briefly see all the posters, mess, and papers scattered around the floors and walls one more time. Her lips curved into a reminiscent grin before everything in the room was bare again as she brought the door to a close.
Outside, Mezzo was already situated on the front seat of the cart while City hitched himself to the cart. Stardust took a seat next to Mezzo at the front of the cart as she steadied her guitar case next to her. “Ya ready, Star?” City asked looking back.
A quick look was shared between the mares in the cart before Stardust gave the all clear to go. “Ready, dad!” City reared on his legs and readied himself. He came down hard and began to pull with all his strength. Once the wheels got moving, the cart rolled much easier as City lead the way towards Stardust’s new home. As the sights of the city rolled by, Stardust sat back and watched it all come and go. Behind her, she could hear and even feel the rattle of her things in the boxes bumping up and down along the ride. She then began to hope the road would be smooth enough for everything to make it to the apartment unscathed. Time and again, she would do a quick once-over to check on her things.
Next to her, Mezzo busied herself with her mane. Mezzo held a pocket mirror in front of her with her magic and played around with her thick curls until she felt she had the perfect look. Satisfied, she clicked the mirror close and turned to face her daughter. “What do you think, Stardust?”
Elegance was, without a doubt, a trait Mezzo carried with her wherever she went. Every time she went outside, she looked as if she just stepped out of a salon, and this was no different. “Ya look great, mom, but ya know we’re just gonna be movin’ my things, right?”
“I know that, but didn’t you say your friends were going to be there to help out?”
Slowly, Stardust answered, “Yeah?”
A still quiet rested over the two for a moment, and the expected connection Mezzo was hoping Stardust would make never came. “And you’re friends are…”
Stardust rolled her eyes away from Mezzo when she filled in the blanks; a prince and princess of Equestria. “Mom, they’re not gonna care.”
“But they’re still royalty. I know the three of you have gotten close, but I still want to look my best when they see me.” She flicked open her mirror again and started to bounce a few places in her mane. “How again did you end up becoming friends with two of the most powerful ponies in the nation.”
She sat back and thought on it for a few seconds only to shoot back up, and in a snorted laughter, say, “I have no freakin’ clue.”
The cart started to slow down when City eased his pace. Ahead, he could see Canter Square advertising signs leading to the entrance road off to the side along with two other ponies waiting on the sidewalk. When the two ponies on the sidewalk noticed the cart, City turned his head back to his wife and daughter. “Almost there guys. Star, I think your friends are here.”
Stardust scooted to the far side of her seat to get better outside view, and sure enough, Blueblood and Cadance were the ones waiting on the sidewalk waving to her. She waved them back until something caught her eyes the closer the cart got to the entrance. More of the apartment building’s walls and the outside landscape came into view as City pulled forward, but what stole Stardust’s attention were the ponies dressed in servant's clothes that emerged from behind Blueblood and Cadance. First, she saw maybe three, then five, then ten. When City finally came to a stop at the front, he, Mezzo, and Stardust looked onto the front courtyard filled with about twenty or so servants standing in silence, awaiting their call for service.
In front of the mini-army of ponies, the royal cousins happily greeted Stardust and her parents. “Good morning, Stardust,” Blueblood said when Stardust hopped out of the cart. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought I’d bring some helping hooves for your move.”
All at once, the servant ponies took a step forward, all eyes going to the blue mare before they gave a simultaneous bow. As weird as it was to absorb the oddity in front of her, Stardust still thanked her friend for the surprise that would definitely make unpacking easier. “Thanks, Blue.” She hugged him and Cadance before she left the courtyard to pick up her key from the front desk. When the mare at the front desk finished looking over some papers, she pulled a key off a nearby hook and hoofed it to Stardust. On the key, a small note was looped through the ring reading “22”.
Stardust held the key in her hoof for a moment to let it sink in that she held the key to her new home. When she looked up, the mare behind the desk was still smiling warmly. “Welcome to Canter Square, Ms. Dust.”
When she stepped back outside, she was only half-surprised when she saw everything from the cart now on the backs or held in the magic of every servant pony Blueblood had brought along to help. “Where to, Stardust?” Blueblood asked.
One story up and a little off to the right from where she stood, she pointed her hoof up to her apartment. “Number twenty-two, guys.” Her words were like a instructions to the servants. Briskly, they walked in a nicely formed line towards the stairs. Stardust was aiming to lead them up, but stopped at the first step when the first servant pony in line reached her. The servant, a stallion, stopped behind her and was about to ask if anything was wrong. Before he could, Stardust’s green magic surrounded the item he was carrying on his back; her guitar case. She set it on her back and strapped it on. “Sorry, but, I’m the only one who touches it.”
The servant gave a courteous bow and a low, “As you wish, ma’am,” before he and the others resumed their climb up the flight of stairs in perfect formation.
Stardust approached her door and took out her key. She inhaled as she inserted the key and turned the lock to her new home. “Here we go,” she whispered as the lock clicked open. She turned the knob and pushed open the door. Stepping in, she felt the carpeted floors brush under her hooves, and took in the distinct new building smell. It was pretty spacious for the price. The little living area that doubled as a kitchen space actually had a definite border between the areas, and off to the side was the door to her new room. She only had a moment to take it all in before the sound of twenty or so sets of hooves marched in. The servant ponies filed in like a line of ants, bringing in all of her things in one trip from the cart before they started opening the boxes and taking her stuff out.
Before she had a chance to ask what they were doing, Blueblood took her hoof and started to walk her out. “Don’t worry about anything, Stardust. They’ll have everything ready for you in less than an hour.”
She looked back as she was being lead downstairs and got a glimpse of the servants unpacking her things. “Don’t ya think we should help? Or at least tell them where I want things to go?”
“I brought them here for a reason, Stardust, so everything could go by much quicker, and I wouldn’t worry about how they decorate. These are the same ponies who set up the bedrooms for when foreign dignitaries stay at the castle. Trust me, when they’re done, it’ll look like you’ve lived there forever.”
“If ya say so,” she said, hesitation very present in her voice despite the faith she was putting in her friend’s words.
“Of course if I say so. Now come on, I had the chefs make us a little lunch to take while we wait.”
Before they were completely out of earshot from everything happening in the apartment, Stardust vaguely made out the rapid ripping of tape and the labored grunts she figured were from moving the heavier objects around. Many things ran through her mind in that instant of what could happen, but decided to trust in Blueblood’s promise that everything would turn out fine. She still took one last look back. Through the open door, just before she couldn’t see them anymore, she saw the servants scurrying all around the apartment that she was sure shouldn’t be able to occupy so many ponies doing so much moving around. “This should be interesting.”
***************
Trottingham Base
***************
Quick Fix tried hard to pretend he had a chance. He tried his utmost to tell himself he wasn’t completely screwed when he was called up, but when Ironclad barked at him and his opponent to take their stance, all he could think of was how badly it would end this time and how much it was going to hurt. Silver Edge stood opposite of him, the handle of his sword held in his mouth for now.
The latest part of weapons training took on a competitive approach. After a couple of weeks of hoof-to-hoof combat and sword training, Ironclad and the other drill sergeants thought it was time to test their recruits on how far they’ve come since the beginning in a contest amongst their respective platoons; tournament style. Quick Fix, Pinpoint, Shining, and Silver Edge had already taken on a pony or two, disarmed them, and made it to fight another round, but when Quick saw that Silver was going to be his next opponent, any shimmer of hope Quick Fix had at passing on to the next round went out like a weak flame in a dilapidated building during a monsoon.
“ALRIGHT YOU TWO!” Ironclad instructed as loudly as ever a distance away. “TAKE YOUR STANCE! READY!”
They took their stance with their hooves shoulder-length apart and the handles held in their mouths, and before Ironclad ordered them to begin, Quick Fix muttered through a mouthful to Silver, “Be gentle.”
“FIGHT!”
“I’ll try.” Silver Edge cleared the distance between him and Quick, and in a swift, silvery movement, reared on his back hooves and gripped the handle in his mouth before pulling his sword out in front of him.
The most Quick Fix got done was get his sword out in front of him, but everything else around him seemed to go by in a blur. When he saw Silver in front of him, nothing in his body seemed to want to work. He couldn’t get up on his back legs, he couldn’t move forward, and all he could do was get his blade up to defend the strike coming his way. His attempt at defense wasn’t all for nothing. When their swords met, Silver retracted his and went back on the attack, and Quick defended again like it was all he knew. Again and again, Silver would hit, but Quick would defend. It was a steady back-and-forth for several strikes where Silver’s blade would met Quick’s in a reverberating *CLANG that sent Quick stepping back. Eventually, Silver broke the cycle when he charged forward, this time hitting Quick’s sword harder than before and holding it there as Quick struggled against the force of Silver’s sword. Silver moved his sword along Quick’s blade, stopping near the end only to push it along with his own. He led Quick’s blade around, increasing the power he put in, and forced the sword out of Quick’s hoof and onto the ground with a metallic ring.
“MATCH! NEXT PAIR!”
The next two ponies took Silver and Quick’s places right as they left the area to join the rest of their platoon gathered in a circle around the next two fighters. They found a spot next to Shining and Pinpoint, both of whom briefly congratulated Silver and patted Quick on the back for good effort.
The rest of the matches ate up the rest of the morning and a little bit of lunch time. When all was over and done, Silver Edge came out as the top sword fighter. He took his victory almost as if it was nothing as everypony wasted no time in scrambling to the mess hall to get some food in them.
“I didn’t go too hard on you, did I, Quick?” Silver asked when he and the rest of his friends sat down at what had become their usual spot in the mess hall.
Upon the question, Quick Fix looked up from his plate with a mouthful of mashed potatoes. He swallowed before he answered. “Nah, you were fine. Thanks for taking it easy on me.”
“Especially after the guy you beat before him,” Pinpoint said, aiming a glance back at the entrance where a large stallion walked through the open doors with a few bandages wrapped around his upper foreleg.
“Again, sooooo incredibly sorry,” Silver said when the stallion passed by their table as genuinely as he could sound. The pony just waved with a weak smile and assured Silver there were no hard feelings. The easily accepted apology would've been enough for Silver to feel better had he not seen the stallion walk away and hesitate every time he stepped with his injured leg. Viewing the limp, Silver shrunk back in his seat, put a hoof over his face, and groaned.
“Ah, don’t feel too bad,” Pinpoint said as he patted his friend’s back. “He was putting up a good fight.”
“I made him tear a tendon.”
“Well, technically all you did was force the sword out of his hoof,” Quick Fix said in an effort to comfort Silver.
“Yeah, so fast the he tore a tendon!”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Pinpoint tried to stress to no avail, only getting Silver to raise his head off the table and sneer at him.
“Not that bad? Really?”
Quick and Pinpoint could only exchange unsure glances at each other before Pinpoint opened his mouth and hovered a hoof in the air. “I meeeaaaan…”
“Just shut up.” Silver looked away and down at his food before he proceeded to eat. Pinpoint chuckled under his breath at his friend’s little snit and looked away when Silver eyed him to see Shining and the reason for his silence in the last few minutes. He saw that Shining had brought with him a few pieces of paper and an inked quill. As Shining scribbled away, Pinpoint could just make out the name of the pony he was writing to.
“Writing to your mare, huh, Shining? Shining?” Pinpoint called his name a few more times, getting no response out of the unicorn. Shining just kept on writing until Pinpoint’s hoof came down roughly on the table in a series of taps. “Equestria to Shining!”
“What? Where? Why?” Shining quickly looked up and darted his head around until he remembered where he was and saw the curious stares of his friends all aimed at him. “What were we talking about?”
“Well, other than that Silver may or may not have crippled a pony, I was asking you if you were writing to the princess.” After a hard punch to his shoulder from Silver, and through his wincing, Pinpoint asked, “Were you?”
“Yeah. She wrote last night’s letter with my family, so I’m writing one to her, one to them, and another to a friend of mine back home.”
“Why here though?”
“Because last night after we finally got back to the barracks, me and Quick only had fifteen minutes before lights out. Magic training just kept on going, and I could barely write anything down last night before running off to mail it.” Shining looked back down at what he had written so far and started again. “And I am not going to risk being able to mail my letter off due to time.”
“Making good on your letter everyday promise. You’re a good pony, Shining Armor.”
“Thanks.”
A crafty little grin began to show on Pinpoint’s face as he turned to Quick and Silver. “He kinda makes you guys look like chumps. When’s the last time you guys wrote your mare and colt?”
Silver and Quick each put a hoof in up ready to fire back, but stopped cold as the horrible realization that neither had written in a while caused them to look ahead and their faces contort into a dumbfounded look as their minds went totally blank. Several moments later, they broke out of their trance and turned to Shining. “You wouldn’t happen to have any more…” Before Quick could finish his question, Shining pulled two more pieces of parchment from underneath his letter to Cadance and hoofed them to his friends.
“Let me finish this one, then you guys can use my quill.”
Silver and Quick thanked Shining for his offer and let him get back to his letter. “How’s Lily Seed doing anyway, Quick?” Silver asked his bunkmate.
A giddy grin came on the smaller unicorn’s muzzle as he thought of his marefriend back home. “She’s doing good. Her, her mom, and her aunt are about to open up their own flower shop together, and she’s been the one responsible for basically growing their inventory.”
“She likes growing flowers?”
“She loves growing flowers. Always has, and she will find any reason to grow something. For our last anniversary, she planted a small section of her rose garden a different color so that when they grew, the flowers spelled out ‘QF + LS’ with a heart around it.” Quick Fix didn’t exactly know how to react to the very amused grins that came over Silver and Pinpoint. He just awkwardly smiled and tried to keep eye contact. “What? What I say?”
“Nothing,” Silver said, still retaining his cheeky grin.
“I will say this though,” Pinpoint added, scooting a bit in his seat to get a little closer to Quick Fix. “A mare willing to do all of that for you, I’d say that’s wife-material right there.”
“New topic! New topic!” Quick Fix’s face began to heat up and flush a bright red. “For the love of Celestia, new topic!”
“Alright.” Pinpoint quickly turned his attention to Silver Edge. “What about Streamline? How’s he doing? You’ve been really quiet about him lately.”
At first, Silver shrugged, not exactly knowing what to say about his quietness on the subject of his coltfriend back home. “Guess it doesn’t help that I don’t write as much as Shining does.” Across the table, Shining still wrote away, completely unaware his name was called. “But he’s alright, great actually. One of the last things he told me was that he passed his entrance exam.”
“Well hey! Good for him. This mean he's finally gonna get to fly with the big ponies now?”
“Soon enough. He’s only in the reserves for now.”
Quick Fix had been listening, but found himself lost in the conversation. He put a hoof in front of himself to get the two stallions’ attention and asked, “Streamline’s in the reserves for what exactly?”
“Silver here,” Pinpoint said, throwing a hoof around his friend and pulling him close, “managed to catch himself a future Wonderbolt.”
“I didn’t just catch him, we were dating before that,” Silver said defensively as he wriggled out of Pinpoint’s hold.
“Potato-potato, tomato-tomato,” Pinpoint replied with a few waves of his hoof.
“You’re coltfriend’s gonna be a Wonderbolt!” Quick Fix was standing in his seat, stretched across the table with his front hooves almost right on Silver’s food tray, and looking at his battle buddy with the widest, awe-filled eyes the pegasus had ever seen on the unicorn. “Why didn’t you tell us before?!?”
“Who’s a Wonderbolt?” Shining asked, now at mostly-full attention with his quill resting on the table by his, now-finished, letter.
“Streamline,” Pinpoint answered, “Silver just thought that bit of info wasn’t newsworthy.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before! Do you know how awesome that is?” Shining said, eyes now about as wide as Quick’s, but only getting an unsure shrug from Silver.
“I don’t know, and you’re one to talk Shining. When were you gonna mention you’re dating Princess Cadance if I didn’t see her letter?” Shining went quiet at Silver’s answer. He darted his eyes back and forth, unable to think of something to say as he listened to Pinpoint and Quick Fix snicker away.
“He’s kinda got you there, Shining,” Quick Fix said as he settled back in his seat.
“Do you want to use my quill or not?” Shining dryly asked.
Now it was Quick who went silent. “I’ll shut up now.” Shining hoofed the quill to Quick, and the smaller unicorn eagerly started his letter.
While Quick wrote, Shining looked to Silver. “Think you can wait till tonight to write yours to Streamline? I’ve still got two more to write and I don’t know how long magic training will go on tonight.”
Silver nodded. “Sure, I can wait. Hey, how is magic training going anyway. I hear the sergeant’s really tough on you guys.”
“Sergeant Firearms…” Shining trailed off, ears going back against his head. Upon hearing the sergeant’s name, Quick looked up and then at Shining, seeing his face morph into the same uneasy look he had.
“She scares us,” Quick Fix finished before he went back to his letter while Shining recounted the details of their first night with her.
The tall and slender mare that was Sergeant Firearms, at first glance, didn’t seem like somepony to be feared. Rather, it was her actions that made her name a cause for anxiety. Shining told Silver and Pinpoint how Firearms first lined everyone up and gave them a brief talk on magic and it’s importance and use in the Royal Guard right before she lit her horn and shot a burst of magic at one pony who barely had enough time to react and create a barrier between himself and her magic. “Then she looks at all of us, we’re all scared crapless now after she did that, and all she says is ‘Always be alert, and be aware of your surroundings.’”
“Well, that is a pretty good lesson to drill into a future soldier’s head,” Pinpoint admitted.
“Still, though.”
“What have you guys been doing recently?” Silver asked.
“Mostly strengthening our defensive magic,” Quick picked up to answer. He put the quill down and closed his eyes. His horn started to spark with a bright light, and his magic started to materialize and spread out in front of him, circling around until it took form as a half-open bubble covering his face.
Impressed, Pinpoint and Silver looked over the makeshift shield that hummed with Quick’s magic. “Nice,” Pinpoint said to a smiling Quick Fix.
“It gets better.” The smaller unicorn turned to his side to Shining and gestured invitingly to the bubble guarding his face. “Shining?”
Shining balled his hoof and drew it straight back, lined up with Quick’s shield. Panic instantly shot through Pinpoint and Silver, jolting them out of their seats and only able to scream “Shining, don’t!” before the unicorn drove forward. The impact made the two flinch back, clenching their teeth and eyes for a moment. When they dared to open their eyes, they breathed a heavy sigh of relief when they saw Quick’s shield still up and guarding his face.
“C’mon, guys. Have a little more faith in me than that,” Quick said with a smirk.
Silver steadily nodded as he looked on at the crackless magic. “Noted.”
“Can I try?” Pinpoint asked, already halfway stretched out of his seat, only to be met with a panicked chorus of “No!”
“You’re a lot stronger and my magic’s not that resistant just yet,” Quick said rapidly, internally sighing with overwhelming relief when Pinpoint was able to stop himself from doing something stupid and damaging. “But you know who’s is?”
Quick Fix dropped his shield and went back to writing right as Shining lit his horn. In what had to have been less than a second, several of Shining’s bubbles manifested around him and his friends, each of them humming with magic and shimmering with lavender light. Pinpoint and Silver Edge observed the bubble field around their table in awe and raised a hoof to touch one. They gave the bubbles a light bop. The floating orbs hummed a slightly lower pitch at their touch and gave off a soft reverberation that made the two stallions’ ears twitch.
“That is so cool,” Pinpoint said as he reached to grab one of the bubbles out of its suspension.
“Go ahead, try to break it. Punch it,” Shining said.
Shining wasn’t kidding, Pinpoint realized when he saw Shining’s eyes go back and forth to the bubble, openly inviting him to try. “Dude, my hoof is bigger than this,” he said, chuckling as he held Shining’s bubble up. When Shining just gestured to the bubble again, Pinpoint set the lavender bubble on the table and blew a confident snort. “Okay.” His raised his foreleg up. Without hesitating, he slammed his powerful hoof down on the little orb of magic. Right as he was about to claim the task too easy, disbelief held his tongue for him. The little bubble still remained on the table, humming away and glowing brighter than before.
“You know you need to hit it hard to break it, right?” Silver said, the cheekiness in his tone about as apparent as a black sheep in snow.
“Shut up. Let me try again.” Several times, Pinpoint tried to smash the glowing ball of magic, each time, coming nowhere near close to achieving his goal. Whenever he brought his hoof down onto the bubble, it sent his forelimb back with a strong force and a resonant hum. After around his eighth or ninth failure, Pinpoint grasped the bubble in his hooves and set it in front of him where it suspended itself in the air. “One more try.” He drew his arm back and balled his massive hoof. With enough power to obliterate somepony’s snout, he drove forward, striking the bubble and instantly regretted it.
The bubble remained unscathed, much to Pinpoint’s vast annoyance, but his focus was mostly on his hoof that felt like it rammed into a steel wall lined with cactus thorns that were dipped in molten lava. The pain was instant and he recoiled back grasping his hoof with the other as he groaned as much as he’d allow others to hear. “Owhowhow, what is that thing made of, Shining?!?”
“Uh, magic?” Shining dropped his spell, and the bubbles vanished. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Pinpoint answered through gritted teeth and a struggled grin as he kept holding onto his hoof. Next to him, he could hear Silver’s muffled snickers behind his forearm. “You think this is real funny, don’t ya?”
“Hey, you’re the one who kept on going at it like a maniac.”
“I realize that! Sorry for being something called, determined.” Pinpoint countered as he started to shake his hoof out. “Sheesh, has anything gotten past those bubbles of yours, Shining?”
Shining placed a hoof on his chin. “Not that I can think of.”
“You should’ve seen him the first night of magic training,” Quick Fix spoke. “Firearms wanted to see how good or how bad we all were with defensive magic, so she told us to make a shield, and fired at each of us. Shining was the only pony who’s magic not only didn’t break, but also didn’t crack.”
“Yeah, I’d believe it,” Pinpoint said as he continued to shake out his hoof. “Impressive, by the way.”
“That really was,” Silver joined in. “How’d you get so good with defensive magic in the first place, Shining?”
“If I’m being honest, no clue. I didn’t even know I could do stuff like that until the day I got my cutie mark. Then I just kept playing around with it until I could do a little more with it, like the bubbles.” His horn lit up, and once more, the group found themselves in a kaleidoscope of lavender. Like little foals, Shining’s friends curiously observed the impenetrable bubbles hovering around their heads before they started to mess around with the magical orbs and started pushing them around as they hung in the air.
“And how’d you learn to do this?” Quick Fix asked, trying to see what would happen if he pushed one bubble into another.
“I saw the technique in a spellbook where I used to work, so I looked it over and kept working at it.”
“By yourself?”
“Weeeeeell…”
***************
A few months ago
***************
New spells were always a challenge for most unicorns, and the one Shining was attempting was no different. Looking over the spell book on his living room table one more time, he pictured what he wanted. He closed his eyes, pulling all his focus into the spell and what it was supposed to create. For a few moments, all he could hear was the steady hum of magic coming from his horn. In the middle of the spell, Shining cracked one of his eyes open to sneak a look at his progress and briefly struggled to keep focus when he saw the small success floating in front of him. A small orb of magic had formed in front of him, perfectly suspended in front of him. He closed his eyes again. When he opened them, at least a dozen more bubbles had appeared, surrounding him in a reflecting field of lavender light.
“Oh, Shiny! They’re beautiful! Whisk me away and let’s get married, my prince!”
“Star!” The spell instantly broke, each bubble fading away along with the hum of Shining’s magic while Stardust erupted into laughter.
“Sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the cackling unicorn somehow managed to say through her steadily asphyxiating laughs. “I couldn’t resist. But hey, ya finally got the spell down.”
“Yeah, until you made me lose focus. And would you take that wig off!”
Stardust continued to laugh as she removed the blend of pink, purple, and vanilla-white wig reminiscent of the manestyle of a certain pink alicorn from her head. “Hey, you're the one who said he needed a practice date before showin’ off ya spell to Cady. I gotta make sure I look the part, right?”
“Where did you even get that?” His voice went a little higher than he liked, and he was sure Stardust was enjoying every bit of his flustered state like a decadent dessert.
“Ya know how many little fillies wanna dress up as Princess Celestia or Cady for Nightmare Night each year? Literally, all I had to do was head into the nearest costume store on the way ova.”
Shining’s eyes went back to the candy-colored wig and marveled at how this didn’t come as a surprise to him at this point in their friendship. “So you bought a wig to ‘Look the part’, or just to mess with me?”
“Eh, little of Column A, little of Column B,” she said with a smug grin that may as well have been tattooed on her face. The way Shining’s ears splayed down against his head and how his eyebrows lowered to an irritable glare, however, let her know that she was close to treading thin ice. “Ah, don’t gimme that, I’m gonna help ya out. C’mon, give the spell another shot. Just give me like,” slowly, she put the tri-colored wig back on her head as Shining watched with disbelieving eyes, “five more minutes of messin’ around wit this… and ya.”
“You know…”
***************
“I like this mare,” was the first thing out of Pinpoint’s mouth after Shining finished his story involving the blue mare. “She sounds like a riot.”
“She’s definitely something, and she’s my next letter,” Shining breathed lowly, but found himself smiling and shaking his head a second later. Even with the teasing that came with her, Shining could easily recall and treasure all the times Stardust had come through for him or simply brightened up his day. “Eventually, I learned the spell, and then we headed out for donuts afterwards.”
As he listened, Quick Fix finished off the last few words of his letter and gave Shining his quill back. “She a good friend of yours?”
“Best, actually. By now, she’s probably Cadance’s too.”
Pinpoint’s eyebrows went up in slight surprise. “So your marefriend and best female friend are friends?”
“Yeah. Why did you seem like that was weird?”
“Just not something I hear often, but it’s also kinda nice hearing that the princess isn’t the jealous type.”
“He’s had some bad experiences with a few of his ex-marefriends,” Silver interjected, bringing a wave of memories back to him and Pinpoint. “Remember Aurora Rose?”
“Probably the worst one of all,” Pinpoint answered, his face scrunched into a pained grimace. “Never wanted me talking to another mare that I happened to come across, even if she was just a friend. When we would go out to eat, if we had a mare serving us, she’d give me this death glare if I said more than my order to her. She even tried to keep me away from Silver when she found out he was gay.”
Chuckling behind his hoof, Silver said, “The crazy pony thought I was going to steal him away or something.”
“And I got tired of her very, very, very, very, very quickly” Pinpoint said, each “very” hitting harder than the last, and he did not hold back when Shining and Quick asked the details of how his ex became his ex. Despite his ruthlessness, Pinpoint still cracked up as he spoke of his, as he described, biggest mistake of his life. “Bottom line, I ran. I ran far and fast” he said at the end of his story, “dumped her, abandoned ship, flew the coop, whichever sounds harsher.”
“Why’d you get with her in the first place?” Quick asked.
“I’ll tell you guys this, hopefully you won’t need to remember it if things keep going well for you with your mares… and stallion,” he added with once over at Silver. Pinpoint inched forward and pointed a hoof back and forth at his friends with a rare humorless look. “Never fall for just a pretty face.” Holding his intense gaze, Pinpoint eased back into his seat. When seated, he fell back into his regular jovial grin. “But going back a little bit,” his eyes drifted to Shining, “your friend, Stardust… is she single?”
Falling into a blank, empty stare, Shining quickly lit his horn. A small bubble formed in front of him, and before Pinpoint even saw it move, Shining propelled the little hollow orb at his friend’s face where it popped upon harmlessly bopping his muzzle. “I’ll tell her you say ‘Hi’ in my letter.”
Pinpoint put a hoof to the spot on his muzzle where Shining’s bubble had popped. He wondered if the little sneak attack was just him messing around or being protective of his friend. It was probably a mix of both, so he just nodded and said, “Thanks,” before Shining smiled back and began his letter to Stardust. When he finished writing to her and his family, Ironclad started to clomp his way into the mess hall and began directing everyone back outside for afternoon training.
As Shining got up and shoved his letters into his armor, he silently prayed he’d have enough energy to run out to the mail post later on tonight with his letters to everyone. It had been a while since he last wrote to Stardust and family, and he felt a little guilty not writing more. He made a mental goal to remedy that. Running out with his platoon, he also thought on Stardust’s latest letter to him detailing her excitement when she was approved for a lease. While he was not sure when she was moving, he hoped everything would go smoothly, and he wished to hear from her about it soon.
***************
“Holy crap-snacks!”
Unsure if he heard the strange outburst correctly, Blueblood quizzically eyed Stardust. “That’s a... new one.”
The blue unicorn was too focused on the apartment she swore was completely empty just a couple hours ago to give Blueblood any kind of coherent reply. “Because, just, the-the-and the… with the… crap-snacks!” Cadance, Mezzo, and City stepped through the door with similar wide-eyed disbelief. Before they came back up the steps from their lunch, the servants Blueblood had brought along exited swiftly out of Stardust’s new home and announced they had finished unpacking her things. When she went inside, she didn’t expect half the things that were inside. Everything was set up; dishes were placed in the cabinets of her small kitchen, the little couch she had brought with her was set in the living room, new curtains Cadance had brought as a small housewarming gift were tastefully hung and let in the perfect amount of sunlight, and one of her turntables was placed on top of a small table by the couch.
In her room, her posters were already leaving little to no empty space on the walls. Her dresser was moved in with her second turntable placed carefully on top. Her closet was lined with her clothes, and more of Cadance’s curtains were hung on the window. The bed was set and made with an extra pile of small plush pillows that she knew had to be Blueblood’s little gift for her new place. At the foot of the bed, two large plastic bins held every album she had. Along the curtained window, her writing desk and music stand stood, already littered with some of her folders of unfinished songs crammed inside with a few pages peeking out. “Everything’s where I’d put it,” Stardust lightly breathed, as if unable to believe this was real. “How did they—”
“I told you they’d have everything under control.” Blueblood stepped in, beaming proudly with a walk that matched. “Best decorators in the castle, maybe even Equestria. Every few months or so I get bored of the way my room looks, and I have them redecorate. Never was I ever unsatisfied with their work.”
She was about to further question Blueblood’s newly revealed decoration habit until Mezzo and City stepped into the newly decorated room. Stardust stood next to them as they took it all in. “It’s quite somethin’, huh?”
Mezzo was breathless. To her, it was like walking into a magical duplicate of her daughter’s room back home. City held his wife close. As much as they both knew how ready their daughter was for this, it did not make it any easier knowing their not-so-little girl was not going to be as big a part of their home anymore. “Sure is, Star,” City simply said as he looked lovingly at his daughter.
Even underneath her father’s mane, Stardust managed to lock on City’s eyes before she shared a look with Mezzo, who was visibly trying to hold back the tears that desperately tried to fall despite her wide smile. Stardust felt her eyes prickle as they started to water up seeing Mezzo trying to stay strong. All of a sudden, she lunged forward and threw her forelimbs around them in a tight embrace. With all their strength, Mezzo and City hugged her back, not wanting to let go. “I love ya, guys,” she said, her words muffled with her muzzle on Mezzo’s shoulder.
“We love you too, baby,” Mezzo said as she lost her battle in holding back her tears. She sniffed a few times before her and City drew back from the familial embrace, but kept a forelimb on Stardust’s shoulder. She held her daughter’s eyes with a loving gaze. “You are so ready for this, Stardust, and we know you are going to do amazing things.” She cupped Stardust's cheek with a tender hoof. “You are going to take the world by storm.”
“Or by its throat until it does what you want it to do,” City added with a deep chuckle.
Stardust wiped at her eyes and laughed as well. “Love how ya get me, dad.” She thought on how right her father was. One way or another, things were going to work out. Exactly how, Stardust still did not know, but her move was one step in the right direction. Possibilities on how the next few months would play out piled up in her mind and followed her as she walked with her parents towards the front door after Mezzo had suggested her and City taking their leave so Stardust could settle in. “I’ll visit real soon,” she reassured as the older ponies stepped outside.
The verbal promise was elating to hear, and Mezzo instantly brightened up. “Please do, and please be safe. Let us know if you need anything.”
One more hug was shared between the three of them, and right before City and Mezzo started to make their way downstairs, City whispered, “Ya mom and I left a little somethin’ for ya in the kitchen. Love ya, Star.”
Stardust said, “Love ya too, dad,” and closed the door once they were down the steps.
In the kitchen, Cadance and Blueblood stood behind one of the counters where a moderately-sized drawstring pouch sat. “Was this yours in the first place, or did one of the servants leave this here?” Blueblood asked when Stardust joined them.
“No, my dad said he and my mom left this here for me.” She undid the drawstrings and pulled the pouch open and nearly stumbled back onto the stove behind her when she saw the pouch was filled with bits. As her mind struggled to comprehend that there was a sack of bits right in front of her, Cadance called attention to the folded up note lying under the bag. Stardust slipped the note up and unfolded it. Instantly she recognized the familiar hoof-writing of her mother.
“Surprise, Star. Your father and I didn’t want to give this to you while we were inside. I know how weird you get about taking big gifts. Work on that.”
“Shut it,” Stardust shot at the two royals who shared a laugh at Mezzo’s honest words before she read on.
“Take this and put it towards some recording equipment. We believe in you, and we’ll miss you at home. We love you.
- Mom & Dad”
Exasperation aside from her parents’ trick, Stardust felt a welcomed warmth come over her. It was only midday, and she was standing in her new home that was fully decorated after sitting down to a nice lunch with her parents and two of her best friends. Now, another great gift was sitting in front of her. For a moment she wondered exactly what she did so far in life to deserve such great ponies in her life.
“So are you gonna take it without making a big deal about repaying them somehow like you did with me?” Cadance asked, cracking a know-it-all grin she had to have picked up from the unicorn.
In a mocking tone, Stardust repeated Cadance’s question and lifted the bag of bits with her magic. “Yes, I’ll take it, but I’m gonna think of somethin’ to do for them later on. Don’t know what, but it’ll come to me.” The total amount of the bits made itself present in how much more energy Stardust put into keeping the pouch afloat next to her. “I should probably go deposit this now before I forget.” From her room, she picked up her saddlebag, noting the odd feeling that she could grab something in this new place as if she never left her old room, and dropped the pouch inside. “Thanks for comin’ out today, guys.”
“Of course,” Cadance said as she opened the door for the three of them.
“And thanks for gettin’ some help, it made everythin’ so much easier.”
“No problem at all,” Blueblood said on his way out the door. “I’ll let the staff know they did a tremendous job.” Arching his neck forward, the prince aimed a cocky grin at Cadance. “And you said I was going overboard when I suggested bringing some help.”
“Yeah, well, your original idea was to bring in fifteen royal guards from the castle and use them as movers.”
Not believing her ears, Stardust turned to Blueblood as the three of them started to descend the stairs. “Isn't that misuse of power?”
“There’s no written law against it, I checked, but Cadance still thought it was overusing my power. Almost with that same face you're making right now, actually. I just figured they would be able to carry and lift more and move things along faster, and since I was bringing help anyway, it might as well be the best if it's for a friend.”
“And that you hoped it would also excuse you of actually having to lift a hoof to help move things around?” Cadance interjected with a raised brow.
Blueblood shrugged and with a wave of his hoof said, “Little of column A, little of column B.”
They were at the bottom of the staircase where Stardust snorted at Blueblood’s remark. “Either way, thanks. So are ya doing anythin’ else tonight, guys?”
“Not really,” Cadance answered. “But we’re supposed to sit in with our aunt for a meeting with the new Duke and Duchess of Maritonia tomorrow.”
“In other words, an afternoon of boredom, but it comes with the job,” Blueblood chimed in with a roll of his eyes. “So we were just going to head back to the castle after this to get everything ready for tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Stardust’s ears flicked down only for a second before she hastingly brought them back up. “I was gonna see if ya wanted to help break in the new place and hang out for the night, but I guess you’re busy.” She hid it well, but the faint disappointment in her voice was enough for Cadance and Blueblood to pick up on. The regal cousins looked to one another when Stardust was not looking and shared a crafty grin.
“Well,” Cadance began lively, “the meeting isn’t going to be until dinner time.”
“And it’s the servants and our aunt’s staff that usually deal with setting everything up,” Blueblood chimed in. “All we need to do is choose a nice outfit and show up.”
Stardust turned to look at both ponies on her sides as she started to smile. “You guys are the best,” she said, bringing in her friends in a quick side hug. “So what’s the plan?”
“You go make your deposit, and we’ll meet back at your place after we get a few things from the castle.” Cadance’s plan was easily agreed on, and the trio broke off. Stardust continued on towards the bank while the princess and prince started their walk back to the castle.
Half an hour later, a quick trip to the nearest grocery store, and her saddlebags four hundred bits lighter, Stardust was back in her new place moving things around for her night in. She was in the middle of setting up her film projector when the knock on the door came a while later.
“Sorry we’re late,” Blueblood said when Stardust opened the door and followed Cadance inside, bringing with him a bag of overnight supplies and a large set of bedding and pillows in his magic. “Cadance wanted to pick up Shining’s latest letter before we left.”
Cadance laid her own plush bedding that was mostly a bunch of queen-sized blankets stacked on top of each other down on the ground next to the couch. “Can you blame me? Besides, I was thinking that we can write back to him tonight.”
Already back at toying with the projector, Stardust replied, “Great idea. Been awhile since I wrote back to him. What’d he say today?” The projector started to hum and the lens finally emitted a blank light at the wall. “Hold that thought. I’m gonna get the movie and a sheet.” She darted into her room and came back into the living room with the night’s first movie, a white bedsheet, and some tape. “So what’s Shiny gotta say?” she asked as she began taping the sheet to the wall.
“Just the usual; how training’s going, asking how I’m doing, that he misses me. Oh, and he also asked me to ask you for your new address for the next time he writes you.”
Moving to the kitchen, Stardust started to make the popcorn. “Awww. I’ll write it in my letter. I picked up some paper and envelopes on the way home if ya wanna start yours, Cady.”
“Thanks.”
By the time Cadance finished up her letter, Stardust plopped down on the couch and set a giant bowl of hot, buttery popcorn down on the carpet between Cadance and Blueblood. “It’s pretty awesome how you guys are still keepin’ up with the whole letter every day thing.”
“You should see the stack of them she keeps back in the castle,” Blueblood said as he took some popcorn in his magic. “She actually had to get a bigger box to put them in.”
Red flushed Cadance’s pink cheeks as she hastily looked down and began to take some popcorn for herself. Stardust quickly noticed the change in her friend, and once Cadance had looked up at her, the princess was met with the one of the unicorn’s grins. “You’re in love with him, aren’t ya, Cady?”
Blueblood inched in with raised brows, Stardust’s question literally reeling him in so he could see Cadance’s face go even redder before she straightened up in her sitting position. Memories of her blue-maned coltfriend began to rush in her mind, bringing with them images of Shining Armor and some of her favorite moments with him; their first awkward meeting, the Summer Sun Celebration, their first date, their first kiss, their late makeout in the castle’s infirmary the night after he helped save her life, and every big gesture the stallion made over the last several months. She moved her hoof to pick up the letter she had just written and smiled down at the words he would read in a few days. She missed him. She clutched the letter close and looked up at Stardust, and in a gentle voice, almost like she realized it herself, answered, “I do.”
Everypony was silent. The mares in the room were still looking at one another while Blueblood silently darted his eyes between Stardust and Cadance’s wide smiles that seemed to be getting larger by the second. Suddenly, the momentary silence was destroyed when Cadance and Stardust each erupted into loud, ecstatic screams of delight as they flailed their back hooves in the air. Stardust started repeatedly pointing at the letter in Cadance’s hooves. “Tell him! Tell him!”
Cadance looked down at her letter, almost immediately taking her quill and signing off with the sentiment, but before any ink was used, she held herself back. For a moment she stayed still, quill held in her magic and hovering just millimeters off the page, and then she set it down. “No. Not through a letter. I want to tell him face-to-face for the first time.”
“Wouldn’t this be much easier?” Blueblood asked.
“Yeah, but, well, I already told Stardust this before Shining left, but I’ve been wanting to try and do things for him like he does for me. Let me finish,” Cadance said when Stardust pointed a hoof, about to say something. “He’s done these gestures for me, and I wanna do something like that when he gets back, but I might need help with ideas.”
Stardust looked at Cadance for a second, knowing full-well how serious she was about this. She sighed as she swung her legs off the couch to get to the projector. “It can never be easy with the two of ya, can it?” She said as she worked the film reel. “But it is really sweet that ya wanna do this.”
“Almost dangerously sweet,” Blueblood snarkily added in, quickly earning a nod from Stardust.
“Right? No offense, Cady, but sometimes when the two of ya were together, it got so sickeningly sweet, the air around you started to taste sugar. I’m scared that at my next checkup, the doc’s gonna say I’m at risk for diabetes.” No words. Cadance only managed some kind of croak as she tried to think of something to say back, but was left speechless. “Where do I come up with these?” Stardust asked herself happily as she plopped back in her spot on the couch while the film’s countdown began.
Cadance furrowed her brow and groaned. “Can you just…”
“Don’t worry, Cady. Me and Blue will help ya out.”
The film finished its countdown and went black before the opening sequence. Blueblood grabbed some more popcorn in his magic as he kept watching. “It really shouldn’t be too hard if it’s all three of us. We’ll think of something. Maybe you can get some ideas at my party. A lot of ponies are coming, it’s a big event, and romantic things tend to happen at castle events. Remember when Auntie told us about those two mules she saw at the Grand Galloping Gala decades ago?”
Cadance nodded, looking ahead at the movie. “Oh yeah. Wonder what happened to them.”
“Probably married with kids in some little town living a storybook ending. So, Stardust, what movie is this?”
Through a popcorn-filled muzzle, Stardust said, “You’ll love it. Little destructive blue alien crash lands on an island and a little filly livin’ wit her sister gets him as a pet. Ya may or may not cry.”
Taking more popcorn, Blueblood sat back against his bedding and glued his eyes on the sheet. “Well this should be good.”
***************
Dear, Shining
Things are okay over here in Canterlot. Blueblood and I ended up helping Stardust move all of her things into her new place. Well, the servant staff Blueblood brought along helped, but whatever. She’s writing in her new address in her letter, I think you should get it along with this letter. Her place looks nice, but she’ll probably tell you more about it herself. We ended up having another movie night… Blueblood was tearing up by the end.... it was a really good movie. Speaking of Blueblood, his birthday is coming up. I wish you were here so we could go to his party together. Castle parties are huge, and he organized it with a masquerade theme. Could you imagine us? Dressed up and wearing masks, and later on in the night, we’re dancing under chandelier light? I miss you so much, but I’m so proud and happy for you to make it this far already. I can’t wait to finally see you again. There’s only so much I can say with ink. I miss you.
- Cadance