The Glimmer Surprise

by ThePinkedWonder

Chapter 2: Revenge that is best served cold, or hot

In Princess Twilight’s library…

Princess Twilight and Spike woefully hung their heads while sitting side by side on a purple couch. The alicorn’s ears were drooped, and she was scraping her hoof on her couch, as if pawing away at her guilt. Sunset Shimmer sulked near one of the library’s doors, her own head down from shame.

Sunset exhaled a sorrowful sigh and turned to her moping friends on their couch. “Am I the only one who feels like the worst right now?”

“Nope,” Spike answered. “I do too.”

“So the worst.” Twilight smacked her hoof against her forehead, both as a facehoof and to literally slap herself for her unfortunate moment of weakness. “As the headmare of a school of friendship no less, I am so disappointed in myself. The next time I have to tell a friend something difficult, I will not run from it so shamelessly, let alone leave someone else to do it in my place.”

“I hope Eric’s not too mad at us, but I won’t blame him if he is,” Sunset said. “I’m gonna do something special to make it up to–”

The door near Sunset glowed in turquoise magic. It opened and revealed Starlight and Eric, who stepped through it.

“So, there you are,” Eric said, scowling. He crossed his arms. “Waiting for your chicken costumes to be delivered?”

Sunset stared at Eric with pleading eyes. “I know I was horrible to leave you alone, and I’m so, so sorry! I panicked at the possibility of hurting someone else again, even if it was just their feelings! You know about my…pre-’no offense’ days!”

Spike chimed in with pleading eyes of his own, “I don’t have the kind of excuse or past that Sunset does, but I’m sorry too, big bro! I swear I won’t do it again!”

“No excuse I could conceive of can justify how I left. It might have been even worse than if I had stayed and lied.” Twilight slumped further on her couch while closing her eyes. “Princess Celestia would be so ashamed of me. She might even think I learned nothing and should be sent back to mag–”

“Okay, Twi, I get it,” Eric said with a chuckle, his scowl soothing to his more typical smile. “You and your partners in wussiness are sorry, so don’t imagine yourself in magic kindergarten again.”

“Besides, if Princess Celestia did send you back, who would be the Princess of Friendship or your school’s headmare? Me?” Starlight teasingly asked.

“To be fair, you would be not only a pretty good headmare, but even a good Princess of Friendship if something ever happened to Twi,” Eric said. He sneered at Starlight and added, “It’s also been a while since your last crazy Starlight plan.”

A deep, long groan rolled from Starlight’s mouth. “Must you say it like that? Fine; I sometimes had a bit of trouble thinking things through, but I wasn’t a crazy mare.” She shoved a hoof into Eric’s belly. “Besides, it’s not like you or Twilight never had any ideas that backfired badly.”

“And what about me?” Sunset asked, wearing a sly, playful smile. “I’m over wanting to be a princess for power or authority, but you don’t think I could fill in for Twilight as the Princess of Friendship?”

“Heh heh. Well first, Starie, you got me there.” As Starlight moved her hoof off his belly, Eric looked toward Sunset. “And, Sunset, you’ve long been alicorn-worthy, but how could you handle being the Princess of Friendship or an Equestrian princess period? You still live on the other side of the portal, remember?”

“Hee hee, fair enough. Starlight at least lives in Equestria.”

“But we’ve gone way off-topic, so let’s get back to the Princess of Fleeing and her two protégés here. They not only wimped out by leaving me out to dry, but they left behind a very good dinner.”

“Huh?” Twilight asked, puzzlingly tilting her head to the side. “What are you talking about? What dinner?”

“Starie’s Glimmer Surprise. What else?”

“What?!” Spike exclaimed. “Are you talking about that Glimmer Surprise, or something else she gave you after we…left?”

“Yep, I’m talking about ‘that’ Glimmer Surprise. Trust me, I did not see it coming, but it’s actually delicious despite how it looks and smells. I would even Pinkie Promise if I had a cupcake.”

“You would Pinkie Promise?” Twilight asked. She flew off the couch and toward Eric. While continuing to flap her wings, she leaned her head closer to the human’s face and gazed into his brown eyes. “Hmm. You seem fine, but maybe I should find a thermostat and take your temp–”

“No, Momlight, I’m not sick, but you should find some breath mints.” Eric gently pushed Twilight back, though she remained airborne. “Your breath almost stinks as bad as that Glimmer Surprise. But before you do, how about we return to the dining room and you can see what I was talking about?”

Twilight, Spike, and Sunset stared toward one another. They all nodded in unison and faced Eric and Starlight.

“Okay, let’s go try some Glimmer Surprise,” Twilight conceded. A mental image of the dinner flashed into her mind, coaxing her to bite her lip. ‘Oh, Celestia, the things I do for Starlight,’ she thought.

---

Sitting in chairs at the castle’s dining table, Twilight, Spike, and Sunset surveyed their respective plates still full of Glimmer Surprise. All three grimaced at the noxious odor of the meal and its unsavory sight. Particularly at what appeared to be raw tentacles.

Twilight started, “Uh, are you–”

“Yes, Princess of Skepticism,” Eric preemptively answered as he rolled his eyes, “I’m sure this is good. I’ll prove it.” He grabbed a spoon and scooped up some beans, greens, and a tentacle from his newly re-filled plate. With no hesitation, he promptly devoured them.

Twilight and Sunset covered their mouths, willing their stomachs to behave. With his stronger dragon stomach holding itself in check on its own, Spike merely flinched his head backward.

“See?” Eric smacked his lips. “This stuff is a lot better than it looks or smells. You will be in for a surprise.”

Twilight, Spike, and Sunset all traded apprehensive glances, then each re-focused their gaze to their plates and took a bracing breath. The mares’ horns glowed as a spoon by them floated in magic and scooped up a piece of greens; Spike scooped up a tentacle with his spoon. The trio, slowly, pushed their spoons near, and finally into, their mouths. After a second, smiles lit on their faces.

“Wow!” Twilight cheerfully exclaimed. “This is de–”

Fire roared in Twilight’s and Sunset’s pupils. An ice cube froze in Spike’s pupils. All three dropped their spoons on the spot.

“HOT!!” Twilight and Sunset screeched.

“COLD!!” Spike jumped off his chair and ran in frantic circles.

At the sudden scene of panic, Eric and Starlight exploded in laughter.

Twilight’s and Sunset’s eyes scanned the table for something, anything, for their mouths’ savior. Their eyes locked on a couple of bottles of milk that were luckily waiting on the table, yanked a bottle to them with their magic, and gulped down the precious, spice-cooling liquid. However, their eyes dilated even further. They screamed and dropped their bottles onto the table, inadvertently spilling their milk onto the table.

“How could milk make it worse?!” the alicorn shrieked.

“I don’t know, but make it stop! I can’t take it!” Sunset waved a hoof over her mouth and panted, her tongue sticking out in desperate refuge.

“How’s that for a surprise, you cowards?!” Eric asked as his revenge-filled laughter went on. With his hunger for, albeit benign, vengeance satiated and feeling pity for the suffering trio, his laughing calmed and he turned to Starlight. “Okay, Starie, they suffered enough. Cancel those spells you cast and save their mouths.”

Starlight’s own laughing calmed. Her horn glowed and released a flash of turquoise light. Twilight, Sunset, and Spike relaxed, smiled, and blew a huge sigh of relief.

“Much better,” Spike said. “If ponies feel that kind of pain when they eat spicy foods, it’s no wonder they scream and want a bottle of milk so badly.”

“I might have burst into flames if I had to endure that much longer.” Sunset wiped her forehead of newly formed sweat. “Still, we deserved that for being the worst.”

“I agree,” Eric said, wearing a smirk. ”So, ex-cowards #1, #2, and #3, what have we learned today?”

With fond memories of how she used to write letters to Princess Celestia when she or her friends learned a friendship lesson filling her thoughts, Twilight giggled. “We learned to never run from telling someone what we really think or trick someone else into doing it in our places.”

“Well, yeah, but I was talking about a more important lesson: anyone who ditches me the way you three did will get a helping of revenge that is best served cold, or hot.”

“Hehe, that’s fair, but I’ll give up my wings first before I repeat my mistake and act like the worst big sister again,” Twilight said with a smile. Her smile weaned to a more puzzled frown. “Now, I’m pretty sure I understood what you meant, but is ‘revenge that is best served cold, or hot’ another human expression you never told me about?”

“It is, though the ‘or hot’ bit isn’t actually part of the expression. I used it more as a pun, but there’s a bit more to what the expression truly means.“

“It is? Okay, that’s it. I am going to have you tell me all known human expressions for me to study later.” An enraptured grin curled on Twilight’s face. “I hope you don’t have anything to do, Buggie, because this could be reminiscent of when I asked you a few questions about your world soon after I found you in Equestria. I’ll be right back with some lists, a quill, and some sandwiches for us! Hehe!”

Twilight flew out of the library, giggling gleefully to herself with her thirst for knowledge nature activated. Waves of nostalgia of when she and Eric first started bonding pulsed through her body.

“Uh-oh.” Eric facepalmed. “I know that look. Whenever she got it and it was about me and my old world, it was a while before she finally had enough or got tired.”

“Yep,” Spike said. “You did it now.”

“Well, I better brace myself.” Eric turned to Sunset. “Sorry, Sunset, but it doesn’t look like we're going to play games at Ponyville Arcade after dinner like we were thinking of doing. The Princess of Curiosity won’t be satisfied until I spill all human expressions to her.”

Author's Note:

Hopefully Eric isn't too full, because Twilight is set to "serve" him a banquet of questions about human expressions.

I'll see myself out.