The Gates of Equestria

by SapphireRose87

Chapter Fourteen

A couple days after Sapphire's birthday, Sapphire was still at her home on the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. She had cooled off somewhat but she wasn't ready to head back to Canterlot just yet.

She was still asleep in her bed when she got woken up by a trio of ponies singing outside her bedroom door.

"Oh Sapphire, I'm coming to you as your future husband!" The trio of ponies sang.

Sapphire did a facehoof and thought, Not this shit again! Honestly, when is that stupid Prince going to get a clue? At least he could send ponies that can carry a tune! Seriously!

When the trio of ponies sang the part about Prince Blueblood asking for her hoof in marriage Sapphire rolled her eyes. I guess I'm going to have to deal with this. This time, no more Ms. Nicemare!

Sapphire used her magic when she got out of bed and made herself look presentable. She went out onto her balcony and called out, "Would you guys learn how to sing at least?"

"Say what now?" One of the trio of ponies called out. "I say we're singing just fine!"

"Seriously?" Sapphire growled. "I think you guys need to record yourself singing and Prince Blueblood is probably just being nice because he's paying you to do something that he's too big of a coward to do himself!"

"He said you might say that!" The same pony replied. "He just wanted us to prepare you for his presence!"

"Oh really?" Sapphire scoffed. "Prince Blueblood's around the corner isn't he?"

The same pony nodded. "Yes Ms. Sapphire and he is awaiting your answer!"

The trio of ponies smiled as they looked like they were expecting Sapphire to jump for joy and say yes to Prince Blueblood's marriage proposal. Sapphire rolled her eyes and went back into her room. She smiled as she thought about what she was getting ready to do. Well I do need to go sofa shopping today. Mostly because the sofa's I have are starting to break down anyway.

She lit up her horn and grabbed all of the sofas in her house and there were only three of them in her magic. She used her magic to rip them in half and she carried them to the balcony. "So you guys want to know what my answer is huh?"

"Yes My Lady!" The pony responded.

"Actually, I would love for Prince Blueblood to come around the corner so I can tell him in person please." Sapphire said. Once again, she rolled her eyes as the trio of ponies went to find Prince Blueblood with looks of excitement on their faces. Seriously? Do these ponies not see the sofas that I have in my magic that I'm getting ready to throw at their stupid Prince? They must be about as dumb as he is!

She gave Prince Blueblood a wicked smile when she saw him standing in the same place the trio of singing ponies were just a moment ago.

"Ah, yes Ms. Sapphire!" Prince Blueblood cheered. "Won't you let me come into your house so we can discuss our um… Wedding arrangements?"

"Wow you are very full of yourself you know that?" Sapphire snapped. "Besides I haven't answered the question yet!"

Prince Blueblood smiled and purred. "Oh yes Ms. Sapphire! Please tell me your answer! You know so I can give you your engagement ring! I have it-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Sapphire took all of the sofas that she had chopped in half and hurled them over the edge of her balcony right at him. "Ow! Hey! Arggg!" He shouted.

"You want to know what my answer is?" Sapphire shouted at him with anger. "It's a word that starts with an 'N' you moron!"

Prince Blueblood ran off after he called out. "Don't worry Ms. Sapphire, one of these days you WILL accept my marriage proposal! I'll keep coming back and I'll win you over you'll see!"

Sapphire groaned and shouted back. "At least send ahead of you a trio of ponies that can sing! You wasted your money on those three!"

After Prince Blueblood and the trio ponies that were with him left, Sapphire smiled when she saw Princess Twilight and her cousin Prince Purple Artist laughing at what just happened.

Sapphire went to the door and let Princess Twilight and Prince Purple Artist into her house.

"I am terribly sorry about Prince Blueblood, Sapphire." Princess Twilight said, trying to keep a straight face. "I should've known not to try and set you up on a blind date with him after how he treated Rarity."

"Yeah, that guy just doesn't know how to take no for an answer." Sapphire said. "I think he's going to go bankrupt trying to win me over by sending a trio of singing ponies ahead of him!"

"So uh, Sapphire," said Prince Purple Artist, "I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but I heard you've been really stressed out lately, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Prince Purple," Sapphire replied, "but thanks for asking. So why are you guys here today?"

"Oh," said Princess Twilight, "we're because we wanted to bring you your birthday presents! Don't worry, everyone knows why you weren't there. Pinkie Pie should've known to respect your wishes."

"Oh." Sapphire said. When Sapphire saw the mountain of presents she got that Princess Twilight had with her, she felt guilty for not going to the party that Pinkie Pie worked so hard on. Sapphire's ears dropped and she turned away from Princess Twilight. "I'm sorry Princess but I can't accept these."

"Why not?" Princess Twilight asked.

"Because I disrespected Pinkie by not showing up to the party that she worked so hard on for me." Sapphire replied.

"Oh I see." Princess Twilight said. "If you don't take these then you'll be disrespecting your friends. They want you to have these because they care about you."

Sapphire turned back around to face her. "I guess you're right. I'll have to apologize to Pinkie in person the next time I see her."

Princess Twilight shook her head. "Nope. If anypony needs to apologize, it's Pinkie. She didn't respect your wishes because if she did then we wouldn't have this problem in the first place."

Sapphire smiled. "I guess you're right. But the Elders are right too. I need to stop overdoing it because of working so much."

"Yeah I agree with that. I'm not saying to take it easy, I'm just asking you to not overdo it." Princess Twilight said. "You can't save Equestria if you're not feeling well. Oh, before I forget, I have a note for you!"

She lit up her horn and pulled the note out of thin air. The note was actually a letter in an envelope on the outside of the envelope said the words: To Sapphire from your Secret Admirer.

The letter Princess Twilight gave to Sapphire even made Prince Purple curious. That's because the writing on the outside of the envelope looked a lot like his handwriting but Sapphire didn't know that. She doesn't know Prince Purple well enough to know what his handwriting looks like.

The note said:

My dear beautiful Sapphire,

I've been wanting to ask you this for a long time now and I have to admit to keep chickening out on doing this. I was wondering if it wouldn't be too much trouble if you would at least like to go on one date with me? I have been admiring you from afar for far too long now and I would like to talk to you in person.

If your answer is yes please let me know through my friend Princess Twilight.

Sincerely,

Your Secret Admirer

Ps. Oh just to let you know, your secret admirer is a stallion.

After Sapphire read the note she did a facehoof and groaned. "Another one! Seriously dear Princess, would you please stop setting me up on dates with random stallions?"

"Awww come on Sapphire!" Princess Twilight said. "This stallion is nothing like Prince Blueblood! He's a good stallion and I think you two just might hit it off. Just go on one date with him please?"

Sapphire groaned again. "You said that about every stallion you've tried to set me up with! And every stallion has been worse than the last one!" She took a deep breath and let it slowly. "Okay fine, I'll go one date and one date only! If I don't like the guy don't try to set me up with another one! Got it?"

Princess Twilight grinned. "Sure I can do that. But I really think you two would make the perfect couple!"

As soon as Princess Twilight said that Prince Purple gave her a look of annoyance. Princess Twilight looked at him. "What? What's wrong?"

Prince Purple shook his head. "I'll tell you about it later, okay?"

Sapphire looked over at the presents that she had gotten for her birthday and smiled. Honestly it feels good to know that ponies care about me.

"Okay then," said Princess Twilight, "I shall take my leave now. And I'll let my friend know what your answer is to his question!"

Sapphire groaned and shook her head when she saw Princess Twilight and Prince Purple leave. What is with ponies and wanting me to settle down with someone all the time? I'm immortal so what's the point? I wish ponies would let me decide if I want to date someone or not. Oh well, I have to go sofa shopping today. I'd better get going before the store closes.

With that, Sapphire lit up her horn and teleported over to the sofa shop in the Crystal Empire.

* * *

Prince Purple pulled Princess Twilight off to the side when they got back to the castle in Canterlot. He was very annoyed with her for snooping in his private life and giving that note to Sapphire without his consent.

"What's wrong Purple?" Princess Twilight asked.

"First of all," replied Prince Purple, "I don't appreciate you snooping in my private life and taking that note! And second, I know you have good intentions but I agree with Sapphire, you need to stop meddling in her love life. I know you're just trying to help but that wasn't the best way to go about it."

"Okay fine," said Princess Twilight, "I won't do it anymore. It's just that you've been so depressed lately. I figured if I helped you out, you would at least get to know the mare you have a crush on finally."

"Honestly, I think this might backfire on you if she finds out her secret admirer is a guardian that's on the reserve team." Prince Purple said.

"Yeah I disagree but okay then. I won't meddle anymore. Or I'll try not to meddle anymore." Princess Twilight said. "Oh and now that you know she's going on this date with you, where are you going to take her?"

Prince Purple blinked. He never thought in his wildest dreams that he would actually get to go on at least one date with the mare he has a crush on. "Hmm, I'll have to give it some thought. I never thought I'd actually get that far. But I have a feeling Sapphire's just going on this date to be nice."

"Yeah I agree but that's just how Sapphire's nature is." Princess Twilight said. "Who knows? She might actually wind up liking you! Right now, you have a once and a lifetime opportunity! I wouldn't pass it up if I were you."

Prince Purple nodded. "Okay I'll do it. You're right and I'm not passing this up. I might be a-"

"Oh no," Princess Twilight cut him off, "don't second guess yourself! Just do it okay?"

He smiled at this. Although he liked the idea that his cousin was looking out for him, he was still nervous about the idea of going on a date with Sapphire.

* * *

Thunder groaned as he listened to another round of Rainbow Dash bragging about how cool Sapphire's power is because it's powerful enough to destroy a whole watchtower.

"I mean wow!" Rainbow Dash gushed. "You're powerful and all that jazz Thunder but Sapphire, she's awesome! Although I don't want to be the one to make her angry with all of the destruction she leaves behind when she gets mad. Too bad I'm not the ruler of Equestria so I can work closely with her."

"I get it!" Thunder snapped. "Sapphire is more powerful, yeah I know you don't get to be the Head Guardian by being weak. You do realize she used to guard the Center Gate before she became Head Guardian?"

"Yeah I know that," said Rainbow, "I knew she had a lot of power but I didn't realize she had that much power!" She crossed her arms. "What I don't get is why does Twilight keep setting a mare up on dates when Sapphire is clearly not the dating type?"

Thunder paused. "Huh? How do you know Sapphire's not the dating type?"

"Pffft! Are you kidding?" Rainbow retorted. "Sapphire's been rejecting every single stallion that Twilight's been trying to set her up with! Hello! Uh, if a mare keeps rejecting dates and just going on them to be nice, she obviously doesn't want to date in the first place. Duh! I hear Sapphire recently threw a couple of sofas at the last stallion Twilight tried to set up her with. I have no idea why Twilight thought it would be a good idea to set Sapphire up with Prince Blueblood! Especially because of how he treated Rarity at the Grand Galloping Gala!"

Thunder laughed at that because he knew about Prince Blueblood and how arrogant the guy was. "So let me guess, Prince Blueblood keeps asking Sapphire out on a date and that's why she threw those sofas at him?"

"Worse than that." Rainbow replied.

Thunder raised an eyebrow. "Worse than that? What could be worse than constantly asking someone out on a date?"

"He's not constantly asking her out on a date," Rainbow said, "he's constantly proposing marriage and on top of that he keeps sending a trio of singing ponies ahead of him that can't even sing!"

Thunder's jaw dropped. "Seriously? Wow!"

Rainbow nodded. "Uh-huh. Prince Blueblood being the arrogant prick that he is, is probably going to keep proposing hoping to break Sapphire down so she'll say yes. And if throwing sofas at him doesn't get him to go away, who knows what Sapphire will do next? Maybe she'll pretend to go out with this other stallion that Twilight's trying to set her up with just to get Prince Blueblood to leave her alone?"

"Wait," said Thunder, "Princess Twilight's setting Sapphire up on another date when she just threw couches at the last one?"

"Yup! I know Twilight has good intentions but she really needs to stop doing that." Rainbow said. "And from what Twilight told me, she's trying to set Sapphire up with another Prince that's actually her cousin who has a crush on Sapphire."

"Well hopefully this Prince won't be so arrogant this time." Thunder said. He stretched and went to sit down by a nearby tree so he could pretend to take a nap to get Rainbow to leave. He'd had enough of Rainbow's bragging for one day. He really wished Rainbow would just shut-up and talk about something else.

Rainbow sighed. "You're going to take another nap aren't you?"

Thunder nodded. "Yup."

Actually, I'm going to pretend to take a nap. Once Rainbow Dash leaves I'm going home and going to chill out. Geez this pony doesn't know how to talk about anything else besides things being awesome all the time!

"Okay fine." Rainbow said. "I'll leave you alone for now at least."

Thunder curled up underneath his hooded cloak, and put his hood up to block out the sunlight. He didn't have to pretend to take a nap this time. That's mostly because for whatever the reason, after Rainbow Dash flew off he actually fell asleep.

* * *

A couple of weeks after Sapphire's birthday, Master Shi called the Guardians into the unstable magic dimension to train with the Windigos again. Firewing was still having trouble lassoing a Windigo and so was Fancy Mark. Everyone else, Aether, Melody and Thunder had lassoed a Windigo and had started working on giving commands to them so they could control them.

Finally by the end of the training session, Firewing and Fancy Mark had lassoed a Windigo. Firewing was super happy about this. He hopped up and down and clapped his hooves excitedly. "I did it! I did it! I lassoed a Windigo!" He cheered.

Master Shi laughed at Firewing’s excitement because he had been trying so hard the last two training sessions and failed to lasso a Windigo and he wasn't happy about it either. "Good job Firewing! You too Fancy! Now before we end our training session I want to see if you two can get your Windigo to bow to you."

Firewing and Fancy nodded and said in unison. "Yes ma'am!"

Master Shi's jaw dropped when Firewing had no trouble getting his Windigo to bow to him. However, Fancy had the hardest time getting his Windigo to bow to him. His Windigo was terrified of him and didn't look him in the eye.

Even if the Windigo did look up it shrieked and backed away.

Drat! Fancy thought. You've got to be kidding me!

Fancy sat down on his haunches and crossed his forehooves frustrated about his Windigo not liking him. I wonder if this Windigo can sense my evil intentions? Oh well forget about this stupid thing! I don't need it! Soon and very soon I'm going to have to find a way to get around being house arrest so I can contact Phantasia!

"Hello! Fancy Mark! Are you in there?" Master Shi shouted.

"Huh? What?" Fancy said looking up at Master Shi. He didn't even realize that she had been talking to him because of his plotting to betray his fellow Guardians by going to Phantasia.

"I said, we'll have to try again during the training session." Master Shi said. "Not everypony can get a Windigo to bow to them on the first try. It seems this group of Guardians has a special power in forming a relationship with their Windigos. Except for you Fancy. I wonder why this Windigo is so terrified of you?"

Fancy shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Well next training session, you'll get it bow to you for sure! I have every confidence you will." Master Shi said with a small smile. "Now everyone follow me to stables we say goodnight to your Windigos and that includes you, Fancy."

"But I didn't get my Windigo to bow to me yet!" Fancy said.

"That still doesn't mean you can't say goodnight to it." Master Shi responded.

"Oh, uh okay." Fancy nodded.

Fancy and the other Guardians followed Master Shi to the stables. Fancy gave his Windigo a wicked smile and said, "Goodnight my Windigo. I'll get you to bow to me sooner or later and hopefully, sooner."

His Windigo looked up at him and shrieked again. As Fancy walked away, Thunder and Firewing caught up to him.

"What was that all about?" Thunder asked.

"Yeah, why would your Windigo be afraid of you like that?" Firewing said.

Fancy shrugged. "I have no idea and right at the moment I don't care."

Firewing gasped. "How can you not care about something that important? I was anxious for the longest time just wanting to lasso a Windigo to begin with! That's because I know this training is very important!"

Fancy rolled his eyes. "Yeah well I don't care. Why be anxious about something you can't do? And it's out of my hooves at the moment."

Firewing narrowed his eyes. "What's with you lately Fancy? That's not something you would say! Who are you and what have you done with Fancy?"

Fancy's eyes widened a bit. Does he know that I've taken over Fancy Mark's body and I'm now Fancy Dark?

Firewing tapped his hoof waiting for an answer. "Well, what's wrong with you? Do you have an answer for me?"

Fancy shook his head. "Nope. Right now I just don't care. I have other things on my mind at the moment."

"Oh," said Firewing, giving Fancy a wary look, "I see. Well, I can't force you to change your mind about it but I will be watching you."

Fancy rolled his eyes. "Gee thanks? Honestly, I don't need a babysitter but hey whatever floats your boat."

Fancy almost laughed because of Thunder and Firewing's conversation he heard as he walked away.

"I'm telling you Thunder," said Firewing, "there's something weird going with Fancy!"

"Yeah but we don't know if we have reason to be suspicious." Thunder said.

"Oh I have plenty of reasons to be suspicious." Firewing growled. "I'm going to get to the bottom of it!"

"What are you?" Thunder said. "The guy's father? I don't think he needs a dad Firewing! He's gotten along without a father from what I know of, so if I were you I'd back off."

"Nope," snapped Firewing, "not happening! Fancy's changed and I want to know why!"

Thunder groaned. "Alrighty then."

As Fancy got out of earshot from Firewing and Thunder and no longer heard their voices he came across a mirror. He had an evil look as he stared at it and said to himself. "Oh don't worry you'll get to the bottom of what's been going on with me Firewing. I'm going to make sure you're the first to know when I double cross you and all of the other Guardians."

What Fancy didn't realize was that Melody was standing around the corner listening to what he was saying to himself as he walked away.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Are you still accepting OCs?

[SapphireRose87]

11046707
Sure, yours would be a supporting cast though. Because I already have the main ones if that's okay with you?