//------------------------------// // Chapter Twelve - Rub It In // Story: A Daughter and her Dragon // by Level Dasher //------------------------------// “What? No way!” “Yep, in the flesh. Princess Twilight showed up at Cotton’s party,” Flarechaser said, shutting her locker. “Sucks that you were out of town, Daisy.” “I knoooooooooow! Stupid family traditions,” Daisy Withers, a yellow-coated earth pony, grumbled. “It was her Sweet Sixteenth, too! I can’t believe I had to miss it!” “Yeah, it was quite the bash, even in that community hall. Gotta admit, it was funny seeing Cotton’s dad huddled up in the back—he could barely fit in the place. But you know how Featherhead is. Only someone with bigger claws could keep him in check,” Flarechaser chuckled. “I bet he’d complain about it if he got half a chance.” “Well,” Daisy replied, “there’s still fifteen minutes before the bell—think Cotton’ll be at her locker?” “Nah, she’s probably already in History class. She and Steadclaw have it first period, and you know how important nerding it up is in her family,” Flarechaser replied. “True dat—I’ll see if I can catch her. Catch ya later, Flare!” Daisy called as she cantered down the hall. “See ya at lunch!” Flarechaser called back. Ж Just as Flare said, Daisy thought to herself with a smile as she entered the classroom. “Hey, Cotton!” “Ey! Lackadaisy!” Cotton chuckled as her friend approached. “Whatcha doing in here? Don’t you have math first period?” “Yeah, but I’ve got some time, and I wanted to nab you first,” Daisy answered. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to your party, you know I—” “Duh, I know you wanted to come. You said yes before you even talked to your family,” Cotton laughed. “How was the gathering, anyway?” “It was fun, but probably not the blast your party was.” “Oh?” Steadclaw turned around at his desk beside Cotton. “So which of the other two ‘Core Four’ told you?” “Flare,” Daisy answered. “Haven’t seen Harmony yet. Geez, Steadclaw, you’re so lucky! You’ve gotta tell me about it at lunch!” “I can arrange that,” Steadclaw said, as other ponies filed into the classroom. “We’ll tell you about it later, just get your flank to class on time,” Cotton said, before she slapped a hoof to her forehead. “Sheesh, I think Aunt Twilight’s starting to rub off on me.” Steadclaw laughed. “Probably when you pushed her onto the dance floor!” Daisy whipped around. “You did what?” Cotton shooed her out with a hoof. “Go to class! We’ll tell you at lunch!” “Fine, fine! See you later!” “Girls,” Steadclaw chuckled from his seat, “always want the latest scoop the second the opportunity strikes.” Cotton giggled. “Yeah, we’re a chatty bunch. What can you do?” “Keep my beak shut,” Steadclaw replied. “Knowing your friends, I bet you’ll be drowning in questions by the end of the day.” Cotton leaned on her desk and laid her cheek on a hoof. “Blegh. Dad did tell me I should be prepared for that. Thanks.” “No problem. I guess we’ll find out at lunch how much yapping your friends have—” “Okay everyone, take your seats.” Their teacher reached the front of the room and tapped his hoof on his desk. The rest of the students scrambled to their own desks. “I have some exciting news!” “You’re letting us out of class?” Steadclaw asked, eliciting laughter from the rest of the students. “Nice try, Steadclaw, but no. And for that, you can come up to the front and pass these sheets around.” Steadclaw groaned. “Yes, Mr. Turner.” He let out a huff and mumbled, “Me and my big fat beak.” “So much for keeping it shut,” Cotton whispered to him as he got out of his chair. Steadclaw stuck his tongue out at her in response. “Before you pass these around, Steadclaw, I have a surprise for you all.” Mr. Turner turned to Steadclaw for a moment. “Make another remark and you’ll regret it.” Steadclaw smiled, then pinched two of his talons together and slid them across his beak. Satisfied, the teacher turned to the rest of the class and announced, “I’ve decided to cancel the research paper I assigned to you last week.” The classroom erupted with cries of thanks and appreciation, but Steadclaw narrowed his eyes. Letting out a squawk to quiet the class, he walked toward Mr. Turner and asked, “You’ve got another assignment for us, don’t you, Mr. T?” Mr. Turner smiled. “You’re rather perceptive, for a class clown.” The class groaned in unison before he continued. “In honor of someone’s birthday…” Cotton covered her head with her hooves, her face flush. “…we’ve been granted access to certain information normally forbidden from public use.” Mr. Turner motioned for Steadclaw to pick up the stack of papers on his desk. As the griffon handed the sheets out, the teacher continued, “Sir Spike from the Canterlot Archives has provided me with a list of topics that have certain details we normally wouldn’t be allowed to teach. There weren’t enough for everyone in the class, so I’ve added a few of my own as well that may have information available from the Archives. Instead of the topics I assigned you all last week, you’re each allowed to pick something from this list as your topic, but only one of you will be allowed each option. You’ll then be provided with as much information as you request for your research. All the requirements I set for your paper last week remain the same. I thought letting everyone choose their own topic would make the assignment seem like less of a torture method,” he said with a slight chuckle. Murmurs buzzed through the room as the students discussed what topics they wanted to pick from the list. As Steadclaw passed out the last of the sheets, he asked, “So Mr. T, how are we going to figure out who gets first pick on their topic? Roulette or something?” “In a way,” the teacher replied, picking a top hat up from his chair. “I have all of your names in this hat here. We’ll start with one of you to choose your topic. After they do, they’ll come up and draw a name from the hat. That student will then pick their desired topic and do the same. After a topic is chosen from the list, it cannot be repeated, so consider a few.” Cotton furrowed her brows and raised a hoof. “But Mr. T, who’s going first?” The teacher smirked. “Funny you should ask, Cotton.” Cotton’s eyes widened before her hoof smacked her forehead again. “Seriously?” “It was your father’s one condition, Cotton. He wanted to make sure you could choose from the whole list.” “That’s not really fair, though,” Cotton said, looking around the room. None of the other students glared at her, so she just sighed and looked over the list. She looked for a subject that either wouldn’t bore her, or actually interested her, but wouldn’t be something she knew a classmate desperately wanted. Eventually, she saw something that made her ears perk up. She rose from her chair and trotted to the teacher’s desk, the list still under her wing just in case. Addressing the class, she asked, “Is anyone here big into fashion?” Not a single hoof rose into the air. “Seriously? Nobody?” She turned back to Mr. Turner. “Alright then. I’ll take the rise of Lady Rarity’s fashion empire,” she said with a smile, ignoring the collective sighs of relief among the rest of the students. Mr. Turner grinned. “Great choice, Cotton. You’ve got a resource of ample information on that topic.” “Yeah, no kidding,” Cotton giggled. Placing her hoof into the hat, she pulled out a slip of paper. “Hey Buzz, you’re up.” A changeling in the middle of the room buzzed his wings. “Yes!” In the process of walking up to the teacher’s desk, Buzz said, “I have a feeling I might regret this, but I’ll go with the Canterlot Changeling invasion. I want to know what the buck was going through my family’s heads. Good thing we’ve got a treaty now,” he said, winking at a blushing filly sitting at the desk next to his. A couple of groans could be heard throughout the room behind a few quick laughs. “Language, mister Buzz, and you can flirt with your feedmate on your own time,” Mr. Turner said. Buzz lit up his horn and hovered out a slip from the hat. “Hey,” he said, enveloping himself in green flame and mimicking Steadclaw’s image and voice, “I’ve got beak-breath.” The whole class, Steadclaw included, laughed as Buzz resumed his usual form. “Laugh it up, Bugster,” Steadclaw chuckled, looking over the sheet one more time before rising from his seat once again. “I’ll admit, though, that was pretty good. You’ve never looked better.” “I swear, you two are going to be the end of me,” Mr. Turner said, putting a hoof to his head as he suppressed a snicker. “Well, I’ve already heard about Griffon history too many times,” Steadclaw said, “so I’ll take the Secretariat Comet Crisis. I’ve heard some interesting things about it.” “Hoo-wee, have I got a good source of information for you, then,” Cotton laughed. Half the class laughed with her, while a few students just shrugged off the comment, oblivious. Steadclaw dug his claw into the hat and drew out another name. The process repeated until all the students had chosen a topic, either excitedly, begrudgingly, or indifferently. With only a few minutes left in class, Mr. Turner addressed his students again. “Alright, well, we don’t have time for a full lesson, and everyone now has a topic. You’ve already had some fun, so let’s end class with a little more celebration.” “Oh no…” Cotton covered her head, blushing again. “Isn’t once enough?” Steadclaw leaned toward her and said, “Well, the first time didn’t turn out so bad. Maybe this’ll be alright.” Mr. Turner went to a closet and took out a giant tray of cupcakes of varying flavors. “Because Sir Spike helped us with your assignments, Princess Twilight sent these to me. She sends her regards to all of you, and is sorry that she didn’t see you at Cotton’s party this weekend.” All heads whipped toward Cotton, whose head slammed to her desk. Steadclaw grimaced. “Okay, maybe not.” Mr. Turner left the cupcake tray by the classroom door. “Everyone can grab one cupcake from the tray on your way out.” He looked at the clock. “Hmm… only five more minutes? Oh, why not? Class dismissed!” In a matter of seconds, all the students surrounded Cotton’s desk, instead of filing out of the classroom. Steadclaw looked over at his friend as she tried to find a way to escape from the chaos. “Well, that escalated quickly…” Ж “I’m really sorry I didn’t come to your party, Cotton. I, uh—” “Does Princess Twilight really dance that badly? My grandpa told me—” “I still haven’t seen your dad. How is it having—” “Were the other princesses there, too?” “I heard—” “STOP! PLEASE, EVERYONE STOP!” Cotton shouted over the barrage of questions from various students in the cafeteria. Rumors of the party had spread like wildfire by lunch. “Most of you couldn’t come, for whatever reason, and you missed the action. You’re H.O.L. there. I’m not gonna sit and answer every question while my lunch is getting cold. If you really want to ask me something specific, talk to me after school, alright? I’ll be out front, waiting; I’m getting a ride today.” “Oh, in one of your chariots I bet,” a snarky voice said from behind the crowd. Eyes turned to the back to find a pair of unicorn fillies strutting toward the table. A violet-coated filly tossed her muzzle in the air as she approached where Cotton, Flarechaser, Harmony Wishes, Daisy Withers, and Steadclaw all sat, surrounded by the mob. “I bet you’re lying about the whole thing,” the other, blue-coated filly said. “I bet nobody showed up, and your party was a bust. Even your friends didn’t come.” “Hey!” Daisy shouted. “I—” “Just let Gemstone and Jewel flap their muzzles, Daisy. It’s not worth getting into a fight,” Steadclaw said. “They won’t shut up until they’re finished anyway. And besides, Cotton’s got three witnesses right here,” he continued, pointing at Flarechaser, Harmony, and himself. “Yeah!” Harmony chimed in. “She had old friends there, her family, and her cousins all the way from Ponyville! Everyone that didn’t come missed out!” “Oh, it sounds like a ball,” Gemstone retorted. “In that teeny community hall? What in Equestria could you have done in there? If you were going to celebrate, you should’ve had your party at the castle. Maybe then we would have actually come, and burned the midnight oil.” Steadclaw pushed his seat out from the table. Cotton recognized the look in his eyes; she held up a hoof in front of him, knowing that it could get messy if she didn’t step in. As she shook her head to cover her scars with her mane, an idea struck her. “Pfft, like Cotton would want you two at her party,” Flarechaser laughed. “Actually, I did send them invitations,” Cotton interjected, looking up from her lunch. “Seriously?” Harmony asked incredulously. She turned to the offending fillies and said, “Wow, then you two are idiots.” “Ya know…” Cotton let a smirk cross her muzzle. “Speaking of the castle,” she said in between bites of her food, “Gem, how many ponies do you think can fit in a standard chariot?” “Four, comfortably,” Gemstone responded warily. “Five or six if the carriers are strong enough and everypony squeezes in. Why?” She narrowed her eyes. “Well, I’ve got a little free time after school today, and a certain griffon classmate of mine has some research to do.” Cotton looked at her friends sitting with her at the table. “How’d the four of you like to come to my place after school?” Steadclaw, Flarechaser, Harmony, and Daisy all shouted affirmative responses. The crowd around the table grumbled about not getting invited as the two obnoxious fillies turned their backs. “Hmph! Fine, let them go to the castle,” Jewel said. “Yeah, it isn’t like I haven’t seen it. My father has taken me there before,” Gemstone scoffed. “Oh… but you haven’t seen my room,” Cotton answered with a smirk. “Or the birthday gifts I got.” The crowd summoned a unanimous “Ooooooo.” “Like anypony would get you anything special,” Gemstone retorted. “Maybe you’ll get to see for yourself,” Cotton said, finishing off her meal. The two fillies sneered one last time and left. Cotton asked, “Hey Flare, could you watch my stuff for a minute? I’m gonna go to the office and send a message to my dad.” “Everything okay?” Harmony responded. “You’re not really letting them get to you, are you?” Cotton smiled. “Well, maybe a little. But I’ve got an idea that’s gonna wipe those smug smirks off their faces. And I think it’ll make one of my aunts very happy in the process.” Ж “…So yeah, turns out two of my old elementary school buddies are going out. Two others tried to hit on the girls here, and this one decided to play bouncer,” Cotton said, nudging Steadclaw, “so they went after my cousins instead.” Turning to another classmate, she added, “And yes, my Aunt Twilight does dance pretty badly, but that’s public knowledge at this point. If there’s anything else—Nope! Nevermind. There’s my ride,” Cotton said, looking up at the sky. The crowd of students looked up, and unanimously gasped. Led by six royal guards, Cotton’s present from Princess Luna descended from the air, landing right in front of the mob of students. Motioning for Flarechaser, Harmony Wishes, Daisy Withers, and Steadclaw to get inside, Cotton turned around to find Gemstone and Jewel at the front of the crowd, staring at her, their mouths agape. “But—you asked me how many ponies could fit in a standard chariot!” Gemstone exclaimed. “I did?” Cotton asked. “Oh yeah, I did, didn’t I? I guess I forgot to mention my Aunt Luna got me a deluxe chariot. Fits six comfortably, with plenty of room for schoolbags. Custom design, and led by the best flyers in the Guard.” Turning to the pegasus stallions in front of the chariot, Cotton said, “Thank you very much for giving my friends and me a ride home, gentlecolts.” She smiled and gave them all a salute. “You’re very welcome, Miss Cotton,” the guards said in unison, all returning the smile and the salute. “Well then, we’re off!” Cotton said, hopping into the chariot herself. Turning to her friends, she said, “Don’t bother trying to talk—you won’t be able to hear a thing. It’s a pretty short ride, anyway.” As the stallions began their ascent, she waved over the side of the chariot and shouted, “See you all tomorrow!” Once they were out of sight from the school, Cotton sat back on her haunches and sighed. Ahh, now I can stop acting like a pompous jerk. That felt awful. Ж As the chariot descended from the sky in front of the castle, Cotton looked over the side. To her surprise, Spike, Princess Twilight, and Princess Luna waited for them. When they landed, five mouths went agape. Cotton hopped out of the chariot and asked, “Aunt Luna, what are you doing awake? It’s the middle of the day!” Luna suppressed a yawn. “Thy father informed Us that thou decided to make use of thy birthday gift after all. We are delighted to see it out of storage so soon. If We may ask, what made thee change thy mind?” Hesitating for a moment, Cotton responded, “Well, remember I said I don’t like traveling in chariots on my own?” When Luna nodded, Cotton smiled and continued, “Well, I’m not alone. And I needed the extra room.” She turned around and waved to her friends. “Come on out, everyone!” The four teens climbed off the chariot. The ponies bowed to the princesses, while Steadclaw dipped his head. “I guess we can be official this time around for Aunt Luna’s sake,” Cotton said. “This is Flarechaser, Harmony Wishes, Daisy Withers, and Steadclaw. Everyone, my aunts, Princess Luna and Princess Twilight,” Cotton said, gesturing to each princess in turn. “And my dad, Sir Spike,” she giggled. “It’s an honor to meet you,” all four of them said in unison, as if rehearsed. “‘Tis a pleasure to meet ye,” Luna said. “Welcome to Canterlot castle. ‘Tis a pity Our sister could not step away from the Day Court to greet ye.” “Nice to see you again,” Twilight added, “and I see a newcomer. Nice to meet you!” “I second my sister’s greeting,” Spike said with a light chuckle. “Okay everyone, you can get up,” Cotton said. As her friends rose from their bows, she saw the guards trotting away. She waved to them and shouted, “Thanks again for the ride, gentlecolts!” All six of them beamed at her before continuing on their way. “That’s my girl,” Spike said with a smile. “Always thank your flyers.” The other four made to do the same, but the guards were already out of sight. “No wonder Cotton asked for her deluxe. For her first time inviting guests from UCHS, this is quite a crew! Come on in, it’s a pleasure to have you all here.” “Thank you, sir,” Daisy responded. They all followed him inside. None of them noticed Spike grumble under his breath. “She knows I hate that title…”