Reflecting Shield

by Evilhumour

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

I took a deep breath of the fresh morning air as we stepped out of my apartment. Letting the Princess go ahead of me, I made sure to lock my door. Trotting down the the stairs to catch up with her, I began to wonder who she was taking me to see. Who could be important enough for her to show me off?

She had to know who I was, about my past. Was she going to be like those nobles that showed off a pony like me to her friends?

“Um,” I said with a bit of hesitation in my voice. “How much do you know about me, Cadance?”

“I know absolutely nothing about you,” she said with her head held high, still smiling. “As my fellow princesses have taught me: it is best to get to know a pony openly and properly before prying into their private lives.”

“Ah good,” I said with a weak smile, passing by the restaurant I worked at. If my boss saw me now, I’d think he’d plotz or something. Maybe even fire me… “So is there anything you want to know about me?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said with a tilt of her head before giggling. “How old are you, for starters?”

“I’m twenty-one, your majesty; and you?” I asked without thinking, going into one of the most debated and talked about subjects ever.

“Oh, please, I stopped aging when I was in my mid twenties and I only noticed when I was in my late forties.” Cadance shook her head with a light blush on her face. “I would actually need to check a calendar now to give you a proper answer.”

“Wow,” I said, unable to think how old one must be to need a calendar to check their age. “That’s old!”

Again, where was my mind when I said this stuff? What, was I going to say she looked good for a mom of her age next?

“Oh please, I am the third youngest Princess and Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna still won’t tell me how old they are. Just that I need to create a forest fire when I give them their birthday cakes,” she started to snicker, making me feel better for laughing at that mental image. “Then again, one must first stop Celestia from just inhaling her cake.”

That did it, I was laughing my plot off. Leaning against a building, I laughed at the mental image of the Princess Celestia sucking up cakes.

Holding my sides as I did my best to get the laughter out of my body, I turned my head up to see Cadance smiling down at me, a hoof held out.

“Oh horsefeathers, I haven’t laughed like that in ages,” I said as I got to my hooves, actually smiling, using the hoof to pull myself upright. “Thanks, Princess.”

“It was my pleasure, Miss Shield,” she said as we started to walk again. “So may I ask you about your cutie mark?”

Blinking, I looked at my odd shield cutie mark. “Eh, I know it looks weird, shields aren’t meant to be concave… convex? I can never remember which one is which,” I shook my head before I tried again. “I mean, I know shields aren’t meant to curve inwards but it does relate to my special talent perfectly.”

“Oh?” She tilted her head.

“Yeah,” I said with a bit of smugness. “I can take anything thrown at me and toss it right back.”

“That sounds like a very powerful special talent, Miss Shield,” she said, eyes narrowing in thought. “What’s the limit? Physical? Mental? Magical?”

“Mostly physical,” I replied. “I only once really got a magical toss back to work right for me and even then it was a fluke.” Please don’t ask, please don’t ask, please don’t ask…

“Care to elaborate?” Cadance asked.

“It’s personal, your highness,” I answered coldly, stepping back away from her.

Cadance winced, “I’m sorry,” she said gently. “You’re not used to talking about yourself, especially around strangers. I’m…” she scrunched her nose and grumbled. “Can’t say sorry again… sorry, gah!”

I stared at the Princess as she fumbled with her words before simply closing her mouth and puffing out her cheeks.

Shaking my head, I did my best to move along the conversation. “It’s alright, your highness,” I said, slowly taking in our surroundings.

We were in Old Ponyville, a really contradictory place. It was the richest part of the entire town, yet it looked like something from the past. The streets were just dirt pathways and some patches of old cobblestone. The buildings were so odd, leaning against each other with random specialized structures here and there. I recognized the original Carousel Boutique in the distance, my coworkers always jabbering about the latest fashion to come out of that clothing empire.

Bleh. I was fine with my scarf and hat during the winter, thank you very much!

Ignoring my mom’s old saying and real reason why I always rolled my eyes up at the Boutiques, we turned around the corner to reach the famed Golden Oaks Library.

In the center of Old Ponyville was this massive tree turned into a library; but instead of normal ponies, it was staffed by tin ponies from Ponyville’s Princess for some reason. I did my best to step around the foals running around, with Cadance snickering as I had to jump over one that almost barreled into me.

And of course, the most glaring oddity of Old Ponyville was the sparkling tree-castle-thing at the far end of the town, that a lot of Ponyville’s Princess tin ponies were marching around.

To show that I wasn’t scared by them, I walked with my head held high, some of them glaring at me and some of them looking at me curiously.

Following the Princess around to the back of the crystal tree castle thing, she stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.

Comments

[Asolem2]

Again, where was my mind when I said this stuff? What, was I going to say she looked good for a mom of her age next?

Well I mean, it's true isn't it

“Oh please, I am the third youngest Princess

Aren't you also the third oldest princess

 “Then again, one must first stop Celestia from just inhaling her cake.”

So basically you got to learn to perform miracles before causing the mass deforestation

“Oh horsefeathers, I haven’t laughed like that in ages ,” I said as I got to my hooves, actually smiling, using the hoof to pull myself upright. “Thanks, Princess.”

Hey look at that, progress, good job Cadance

[Evilhumour]

10089661

Aren't you also the third oldest princess

She'd prefer to be a glass half full type of pony.