> Bearers at Ease
>  by leonidas701
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Morning Discussions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Spike?” Twilight called from the kitchen.

        “Yeah?” 

        “Where’s the green mandarin tea?”

        “The what?”

        “The tea that Trixie likes. I just bought a new box of teabags and I can’t find it anywhere. It’s a little orange rectangle with green swirls.”

        “Oh. I think you threw it away when you cleaned out the cupboard yesterday.” Spike cringed at the sound of a loud crash. The little dragon put down the books he was reshelving and went to the door separating the public library from the private living residence of him and Twilight Sparkle. 

        “What was that?” he called.

        When no answer to his question came, he went to the kitchen to see if something bad had happened to Twilight and either point and laugh or help as appropriate. However, all thoughts of laughing was thrown out of his mind when he saw exactly what was going on in the kitchen.

        Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the middle of what had been a clean kitchen floor, sifting through the contents of a recently upturned garbage can.

        “Where is it, where is it, where is it, where is it, where is it,” she muttered to herself, oblivious to the fact that her assistant had just walked in on her.

        “Uh, Twilight? Twilight? Twilight!” Spike finally yelled.

        “Spike, don’t distract me.”

        “What’s so important about that box? It’s just tea, I’m sure Trixie would be fine drinking some other kind,” he said.

        “That’s not the point. I told her that I would have something special for her as a late New Years present since she gave me that book light, and it was supposed to be that box of tea because she was talking about how expensive it was and she couldn’t afford it very often, so I wanted to repay her, and now I’ve thrown it away and I can’t find it and she’ll be disappointed and-” Twilight was forced to stop by the sudden sensation of her lungs trying to force their way out of her windpipe as a replacement for the air they had just run out of. She took a deep breath began to continue rambling at Spike before realizing that she should be desperately looking for the tea. She refocused her efforts on sifting through the filth.

        Spike decided that there was an sudden urgent need for him to not be there, and went back into the library, where he found an azure mare waiting.

        “Hey Spike. How’s it been?” Trixie asked as she hung her pale purple scarf and grey cloak on the coatrack.

        “Not bad, been getting used to sleeping less with the nights getting shorter again”

        “Yeah, I can’t believe winter in this town is only a month or so. Winter wrap-up’s tomorrow right?”

        “Yeah. Other than that not much. Oh yeah, Twilight’s gone insane.

        “Already? Huh,  I thought it would take a lot longer.” Trixie brushed some errant snowflakes off her coat. “Where is she?”

        “Sitting in a pile of garbage.”

        “Where?”

        “Kitchen.”

        “Thanks.” Trixie walked over to the kitchen and saw Twilight vigorously massaging her temples with a pile of trash in a ring around her.

        “Remind me again, you’re older then me, right?” Trixie said with a smirk.

        “Ahh!” Twilight shrieked. “Oh, uh, hi, sorry, you startled me,” she said as she turned around.

        “Mmm,” Trixie said as she rubbed her ear. “So, what are you doing?” 

        Twilight sighed. “I wanted to give you a big box of that mandarin green tea you said you liked so much, but I threw it away,” she muttered as she hung her head. “Sorry.”

        Trixie waved it off. “No problem. You just get me another one if it bothers you that much. Here, let me help you put these things back in the trash.” A very faint white aura, almost colorless, thinly surrounded some of the items on the floor and placed them back into the trashcan.

        Between the two unicorns, the trash was quickly collected off of the floor in no time at all, allowing the friends to talk a bit.

        “So, I haven’t seen you since the party. Anything interesting pop up?” Trixie asked.

        “Celestia and Dr. Whooves have set up a schedule for my lessons,” Twilight said.

        “Bet you’re looking forward to those aren’t you?” Trixie asked, fully aware of the silly crush Twilight had on the stallion she had exchanged maybe five sentences with, assuming a definition of sentence that includes stammering. “A few hours, alone, with Tron’s full attention on you, and you alone.” Trixie did not know Tron very well.

        “W-w-why no, o-o-of course n-n-not.” Twilight’s face turned luminescent as she stammered, imagining going through a day being gazed at by Tron’s piercing violet eyes. Twilight did not know Tron very well either.

        Trixie laughed a little bit and smiled at her friend’s antics. By now the garbage was all put away and the two retreated forward to the library.

        “How about you? Anything come up?” Twilight asked.

        “Nah, not much.”

        “What about Card, have you seen him?”

        “No actually. Last I saw of him was when he had Pinkie’s tongue down his throat at the fireworks.”

        “Me neither. Do you think something might have happened?” 

        “I doubt it. He mentioned something about having a lot of work to do, something about a backlog. He’s probably still working on that. Speaking of Card, what do you think of Never Yet?” Never Yet was a book that Card had recommended to his two friends, and did not cease recommending until they had both agreed to read it.

        “I haven’t started it yet,” Twilight admitted.

        “Twilight,” Trixie said in a faux-stern voice. “You said you’d read it.”

        “I will, I will. It’s just… I’ve been so busy and with these lessons coming up soon I’ve-”

        “Twilight,” Trixie said teasingly, “is the book scaring you?”

        Twilight hid her face behind her hooves. “I got two chapters in and had to put it down.”

        Trixie shook her head. “You know none of it’s real, right?”

        “Of course I know,” Twilight said, taking offense. “Well, my brain does. The rest of me is still in doubt.”

        Trixie giggled. “Tell you what, let’s read it together. Maybe that’ll help you.” She levitated a copy of the book off of the shelves.

        “Okay. Just let me get mine and put on some tea.” Twilight went off to her bedroom to grab the book. While she was gone, Trixie’s mind wandered to her absentee friend.

        I hope he’ll be back soon. There are some appointments coming in a couple days. She looked out the window at the layers of snow covering the ground. No one’s outside. I guess even the foals have gotten tired of playing in the snow. I’ll be glad to see it gone.

        Twilight came back to the library. “Got it. You wanna start?”

        “Sure.” Trixie settled down, ready for a nice warm day indoors reading a book with her best friend.




-----And Now For Something Completely Different-----




        Fluttershy was taking a walk around the outskirts of the forest. She did this most days when there was no snow coming down. She enjoyed the peace and quiet of the sleeping forest, and took the opportunity the relax and be alone with her thoughts, along with looking out for any animals that may have been caught outside their dens and were injured or lost. She was on the very cusp of the forest, the line where it gave way to a wide plain that was wedged in between it and a mountain. The tallest mountain in the Ponyville area, Cat’s Ear. A very strange mountain, far removed from the mountain range on the other side of the forest, it almost seemed fake.

        Still, Fluttershy decided to take a walk on the boundary of the valley to see the sun for a little bit. A peaceful endeavor, one that she had done many times before.. However, just as she crossed the point where the trees would have hidden her from any possible sight, suddenly-- 

        “oooOOOOO, OH CRAP, WAIT, GET OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

        Fluttershy turned to face the sound and saw a massive snowball barreling towards her, with a green pony that had his front hooves over his head sticking out the side like an axle missing a car. She froze in her tracks, partially out of shock, partially out of fear, but mostly out of confusion. Still, regardless of the reason, she was stuck to the spot and could do nothing but watch as the snow ball smashed into, and added, her. The next few seconds were a wash of fear and motion sickness ending when she felt the ball come to a sudden stop, the force of which made her black out.




-----At the Top Of Cat’s Ear-----




        “Oooh, shit,” the blue pegasus said, with eyes wide as he saw the yellow pegasus come out of the forest, directly in the path of the snowball his friend had just gone down the mountain in.

        The massive red unicorn standing next to him could only nod, really a useless move seeing as Tron was next to him and looking forward, well, forward and down, and could not see him.

        “Oooh shit!” Tron lept off the mountain and flew straight towards the treeline as the snowball, now one mare heavier, disappeared into the forest. “Bones!”

        “Oh yeah,” Brick Bones said, reaching into his first aid purse to pull out his shield. A red glow surrounded it as it grew from it’s storage size of one inch to a full five feet in diameter. He stepped onto it and made it quickly zoom, first after Tron who had somehow managed to go in the wrong direction, and then, having caught and told him to follow, directed the shield to fly to the place in the trees where Odd had disappeared.

        “Odd! Are you okay?” Brick Bones yelled as they flew to the forest.

        “I think I killed a chocobo!”




-----At the Unconscious Fluttershy-----




        Fluttershy was slowly coming around from the sudden shock, each of her senses turning back on. Her sense of touch was particularly painful, alerting her to a throbbing pain in her hoof. Once her ears started working again, they were immediately assaulted.

        “-so very sorry, really, I didn’t know that anyone would be out this far, I’m so so sorry, I hope you- Oh good you’re awake.”

        Fluttershy opened up her eyes and saw a dark green blob. After a few blinks the blob resolved itself into a dark green face. 

        “AAHHH!” Fluttershy started screaming, struggling to move but her limbs were underneath piles of snow. She was terrified, for this was no ordinary face. It looked normal enough, normal nose, normal proportions, right until you got to the eyes. The eyes were a pair of light green circles floating in a white void. No pupils, no lines within the iris, just a flat green mass that didn’t even seem to be fully focused on her.

        “Ah! No, please don’t be scared,” the green earth pony said, panicking, as he leapt away from her face, revealing a chest that seemed to be slightly crushed inwards but quickly pushing out, made more obvious by the fact that his large parts of his coat were matted down with some kind of dark liquid. “Oh, uh, don’t worry about th- the blood, most of it’s mine!” He gestured at himself very quickly, tapping on his chest in case she was confused. 

        Fluttershy angled her head downwards and saw the snow on top of and around her was covered in blood. Her screams grew louder.

        “No, no, no, don’t worry, really.” He tried to smile at her reassuringly, but that backfired when she saw two wicked sharp fangs in his mouth. She felt like she might faint again, but forced herself to stay awake out of a fear that he would eat her. She tried to use the stare on him, but she was too afraid to use it.

        Meanwhile the green stallion seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He was flailing around like mad, his head whipping every which way, rambling out half finished reassurances. Suddenly he stopped. He looked upwards and said, “Yo, down here!”

        Fluttershy’s throat had gone dry from the screaming, so she was forced to stop and could only watch in terror as the blood-covered earth pony was joined by a blue pegasus with dark hair who swooped down from above.

        “Oh, dude, thank the giants you’re here!” Odd said as he galloped over to his friend. He started talking very quickly, and gesticulating wildly. “Is Bones here? I think she got really hurt, she might have broken something and-”

        Tron cut him off with a loud clap in his face. “Is it alright?” he asked.

        “What?” Odd looked confused for a moment before remembering the reason he was rolling in a giant snowball. He took a small metal bracelet off of his right hoof, and hoofed it to Tron. “Yeah, I don’t think it’s broken. Listen, dude, she was screaming like someone was cutting her in half, and I think Bones-”

        “I don’t think she was screaming because of the pain.” Tron gestured to his eyes while he inspected the device in the center of the metal bracelet.

        “Wha- Oh.” Odd’s shoulders slumped and his head fell. Tron briefly looked up from his examination and patted Odd on the back. A brief instant of silence passed before Odd spoke again, this time much more reserved.

        “Still, Bones should still take a look at her. Why’s he still up there anyway?” referring to the fact that Brick Bones had spent the whole time since Tron flew down hovering over the forest.

        Tron smirked. “He’s looking for a way down. Dude, give it up! Just come down!” he said loudly.

        *crick, crick… CRAAAACK*

        It’s worth mentioning that this whole time, Fluttershy had been left buried in the snow, confused and only slightly less scared then when she had awoken. She could only barely hear what they were saying, her ears clogged with snow and distracted by the pain in her leg and the cold pressing in on her from all directions.

        Then a ring of light broke through the forest canopy, bringing with it a large white disc that gently fell through the air and landed softly right at the bottom of her body. On top of the disc stood a massive blood red stallion, larger than even Big Mac, with a white mane covered by a slightly tilted stetson. There was a brown strap slung over his shoulder like a sash adding to his regal bearing. He had a far off look in his eyes as he scanned the surroundings.

        Stupid branches, thought Brick Bones, having been forced to smash out a hole big enough for him to fit through in order to get to the forest floor. He shifted his brown medical bag up from the uncomfortable position it had slipped into on his back as he allowed his shield to slowly drop.

        “Okay, so how bad is- Oh lord.” Brick Bones got a good look at the pile of blood stained snow on Fluttershy’s body. 

        “No, no, don’t worry dude. All me,” Odd said. “Hey, uh listen, I don’t suppose you have my contacts with you?”

        “Yeah, yeah, they’re in the smallest front-left pocket,” Brick Bones said. He stepped off his shield and shrunk it back down, levitating it into his bag. He took the bag off his shoulder and put it on the ground as he went over to Fluttershy. He knelt down next to her, taking care to avoid any place that looked like it might be covering parts of her body.

        “Hey, are you alright?” Brick said, taking care to speak gently as his face appeared in front of Fluttershy.

        Fluttershy, responded the first piece of dialogue she could make out over the last half-minute or so with a shy little, “Eep.”

        “What’s your name?”

        “F- Fluttershy.”

        “Pleasure to meet you Fluttershy, my name’s Brick Bones. Here, let me get this snow off of you.” He took a few seconds to push aside all of the snow covering the mare’s body. “Are you hurt?”

        “A- a little.”

        “Where?”

        Fluttershy wiggled around the hoof that had been radiating a dull ache throughout her ordeal.

        “Do you mind if I take a look at it?”

        Fluttershy shook her head.

        “Okay, tell me if this hurts.” Brick reached for the hoof.

        “Eep!”

        “I haven’t even touched it yet,” Brick said with a smile. “Don’t worry, I promise to be gentle.” He daintily lifted her hoof and looked it over, noticing a harsh inflammation. He pushed at a few spots around the lump.

        “Eep!” 

        Brick put the hoof down and said, “Well, the good news is that it’s only a sprain. The bad news is that I don’t think you’ll be able to walk on it for a couple of days. Do you want some help up?”

        Fluttershy hesitantly nodded. Brick grabbed her non sprained hoof and rolled her over, pushing her back onto her feet. She tried to put some of her weight on to the injury, but found that even the slightest amount made her buckle. 

        “I gotcha,” Brick said as he held her up by placing a hoof underneath her chest. Now that she was standing, Fluttershy could see that her head was only barely the height of his shoulder.

        “Hey, uh,” Odd said, having taken his contacts out of Bricks bag and put them in. “I’ve gotta say.” Odd came closer to Fluttershy and Brick, leaving Tron standing there, rolling his eyes at his machine. Fluttershy flinched and tried to move to hide behind Brick.

        “No, no, it’s okay. He’s my friend, he’s not going to hurt you,” Brick said. “In fact, he’s probably the reason you only have sprain. I’d wager he made sure he took most of the impact.”

        Fluttershy cautiously looked at Odd, noticing that his eyes had suddenly gained pupils. Odd stood there, rubbing the back of his head.

        “Listen, I’m really sorry about that. I thought there wasn’t anyone else in the woods. My bad.”

        “Th- that’s okay,” Fluttershy said quietly. Odd took on a look of relief and walked back to where Tron was standing.

        “Do you want a ride home?” Brick asked.

        “No, I would hate to bother you,” Fluttershy said. 

        “Oh really, it wouldn’t be a bother. In fact, it’s the least I could do, considering I’m part of the reason you’re in this mess.” Brick smiled.

        “W- well then, I- I guess, yes. That would be n- nice.” Fluttershy was very glad that the cold existed to give her a reason for her blush.

        “Okay then, hop on.” Brick pulled out his shield and expanded it to a couple meters and stepped onto it. “Here, let me help you.” He took her good hoof and helped her step up the foot it was from the ground.

        “Is- is this safe?”

        “You bet. Don’t worry, I’ll go slowly. You can hold on if it would make you feel any better.”

        Fluttershy very timidly wrapped her front hooves, including her bad one, around Brick’s leg. 

        Before they could lift off, Odd said, “Yo, Bones, see you at the farm?”

        “I’ll be there.” With that Brick lifted them out of the forest and into the sky, leaving Odd and Tron behind.

        “What the heck did you apologize for?” Tron asked, his eyes still fixed onto the machine. “It was her fault, she had more then enough time to jump out of the way.”

        “I still should have made more certain that the woods were empty. So, what’s the verdict?” Odd gestured at the device.

        “It still works, but it looks like it shut down when you hit the tree. The design needs work.” Tron put the bracelet on and looked at the sky. “Come on, let’s go back to the manor.”

        “Word. I’m starving, dude.” 

        “Yeah, I’ll bet.” Tron looked once more at the massive piles of bloody snow. “How much did you have to regen?”

        “Not too much, mostly just scrapes and bruises. A few broken bones, a couple holes in my lungs, one or two torn ligaments. Although, one of my ribs did manage to burst out of my chest somehow. Had to pull it out and grow a new one. Dang I’m hungry.” Odd did a thing with his head. “Come on, let’s get going.”

        “Right.” Tron started to walk off.

        “Dude?”

        “Yeah?” Tron looked back at Odd.

        “That way.”

        “Right.”




-----Speaking of the Manor-----




        Silvertongue was standing in the kitchen of his part of the Manor. He had only awoken recently, and was debating his choices in breakfast. While he was attempting to make this decision he heard a clap at the door. He used his magic to open it up, knowing that only one pony in the house claps instead of knocks.

        “Good morning Shade. You are up early,” he said. And good morning to you too Morrogar, he thought to the little beige dragon that he knew flew in with it’s master.

        Morrogar hissed back.

        “Yeah, Guile was playing and woke me up,” Shade said. He yawned and took a look around the kitchen. “You eaten yet?”

        “No, not yet. Perhaps you can help me, I am trying to decide on a dish. Any recommendations?”

        “Sure.” Shade started rummaging around in Silver’s drawers. “You still remember how to make klava after all that time in the land of tea?” 

        “Certainly.” Silver pulled out the necessary ingredients and aparati and began making a cup of the coffee-based drink, taking time to put on a kettle for his morning tea afterwards. While he did that, Shade got to work slicing up tomatoes, onions, and peaches, for his omelette and Silver’s porridge.

        After the food was done, along with a chunk of ham for Morrogar, they sat at the table and enjoyed their morning meals in a companionable silence until their hungers were sated, at which point the focus of the meal shifted to conversation.

        “So, heard from Ami lately?” Shade asked.

        “Sadly no.”

        “That’s weird, usually you two can’t go a day without mooning over each other.”

        “Yes, well, certain circumstances have arisen in my absence that have made it... problematic.” Silver started tilting his spoon around idly.

        “Oh? Anything that would interest me?”

        Okan politics interesting you? Who are you and what have you done with Boss?

        The two stallions ignored Morrogar’s attempt at wit, both having learned long ago that responding only made it worse.

        “Possibly,” Silver said. “Have you, perchance, heard of the skirmish that occurred recently around the area of Nonji?”

        “Nope, can’t say I have.”

        “Well, ten days ago a small force drove out the Satherans occupying an island off the coast. The attacking force managed to avoid allowing any of the forces to escape, and the captain realized that the entire legion that was guarding the peninsula had no idea that the outpost had been compromised. This element of surprise was enough to allowed the force to launch a surprise attack a few days later and reclaim the entire area.”

        “So?”

        “The ease with which the area was taken has given a push to certain factions in the empire who believe that there is no more purpose in relying so heavily on Equestrian supplies and aid, especially now that it has been demonstrated that a comparatively small force is able to remove a fairly large threat with little trouble.”

        “Idiots.” 

        “Politicians.”

        “You’re right. I forgot to add greedy.” Shade saw this all the time. Gamblers getting lucky once and going crazy, certain that nothing could bring them down. Still, usually it meant more money for him, but in this case… “So, you’ve got to go and try to talk them out of slowing trade huh?”

        “Well yes, but there is another small issue. The influence spread to other factions who took it as a sign to try and press an attempt to reclaim the rest of their territory, possibly even to launch an invasion of Sathera itself.”

        Shade scoffed.

        “I agree. But they are very loud, and not without their own powerful supporters. Naturally others have been attempting to make sure a more moderate stance is taken, among them being Ami.”

        “Okay, so she’s a bit busy, but so what? That hasn’t stopped you two before.”

        “As one of the leaders of the group against those stances, Ami is being watched very closely to make sure that she does not have ulterior motives for wanting to keep the Empire’s current close ties to our Kingdom, and as such must take certain steps to make sure our relationship remains hidden.”

        Shade laughed. “Oh yes, your ‘secret’--” He made air quotes with his wings “--relationship with the one of the king’s daughters. A secret shrouded all the more, no doubt, by the golden ring you gave her last month.”

        “Yes, well,” Silver said, looking as close to flustered as he ever gets, “as long as the rumors remain rumor and no more, no one dare to attempt to use it against her for fear of the wrath of the Emperor.”

        “Heh. So, I guess you and Guile are going to be going back to Oka soon?”

        Silver sighed. “I fear I will not be able to take him with me. In order for me to properly resolve this matter, I will have to meet with many of the leaders of the movement to attack personally, on their terms. I can not bring Guile along when I am going to be traveling so often around the country.”

        “Damn. Well I’d take him if I could, but I’ve got my own problems. Some little upstart has been making some noise back home, and I’ve gotta watch out and make sure he doesn’t try and move in on my territory, so I’ll be dealing with that for a couple of months.”

        Silver sighed.

        “Why don’t you leave him with grandpa? I’m sure he’d be happy to take him.”

        “Gallant has already done so much for us, I do not wish to burden him with my problems.”

        “Yeah, I hear you bro,” Shade said with a sympathetic look as he finished off his food. “What do you say to a little sparring session? Maybe you’ll come up with an idea once I’ve put you on your back.”

        Silver scoffed as he took the last spoonful of his porridge. “If that were to happen, I believe I would be too distracted by the flying pigs to be able to think clearly enough,” he said with a friendly smirk.

        Shade laughed as he put the dishes in the sink. C’mon Morrogar, you’re running the timer.

        Okay boss. The dragon flapped onto his back as they left Silver’s rooms and went to the training room.




-----Not Everyone in the Manor Was As Relaxed As Those Two-----
-----Let’s Check in on Card-----




        Card’s eyes were drooping out of boredom, having spent the last few days doing nothing but filling out paperwork that he had neglected during his vacation that no one but him could deal with. But his hard work had evidently paid off, as all that was left of the room-engulfing, desk-buckling hoard of wood pulp and ink that had filled his office at the start of the new year had been reduced to a single packet, and all that he had left to complete it was a single signature on the last page, denying the request for an amendment to the Satheran seed trade limits. He scrawled out his signature, turned the packet over, and heaved a huge sigh of relief as he saw the hideous thing poof out of his office and become someone else’s problem.

        A sigh that turned exasperated even as it left his mouth as he felt the appearance of yet more paperwork pop onto his desk, this being the work that he had neglected while he caught up. 

        He looked at the stack of papers. Not glared, just… looked, as blank faced as a stallion who had just rediscovered an old stain on his work chair.

        After a few second of this looking, he stood up, swept the papers up onto his back and opened the door out of his office, revealing the hallway.

        He took a step back, closed the door, and opened it again to reveal… the hallway was still there.

        For a moment his blank face almost approached what could have possibly been termed confusion, if one was being generous, until he remembered that he currently had guests staying in his house. He stepped out into the hallway and made his way outside.

        He walked a few feet away from his house and plopped the papers down onto the snow-covered ground. He reached into his jacket, when a voice rang out.

        “Howdy Card,” Brick Bones said, tipping his stetson to his boss as he emerged from the wooded part of the forest into the clearing the manor was currently occupying.

        “Hey Brick.” He pulled a canister out of his jacket and emptied the contents over the papers. “Throw this in the trash.” He hoofed the canister to Brick.

        “Okay.” Brick took the canister and walked inside the manor as Card pulled a lighter out of his jacket. 

        After a quick check to make sure it wasn’t raining, he flicked the lighter on and set the pile on fire. His blank face gave way to a small content smile while he tilted his head slightly back with a sigh, never losing eye contact with the fire as the ink on the paper made the flames turn interesting colors.

        You know they’re just going to resend the files to you, right?

        “Keep your logic out of my catharsis.”

        The flames eventually burned out, leaving only a smoldering pile in the snow. Card held out a hoof and a new set of requests and reports, exact duplicates of the ones just burned, appeared in his grasp.

        He gave one last sigh and placed them onto his back as he went back to his office to deal with them, his gaze lingering over the-

        “N?”

        Yes.

        “Fuck off.”

        Fuck off I shall, then.
> Card Hat Trick
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Twilight sat in the town square, trying to conceal her embarrassment by hiding in a snowy tree. She had managed to somehow fail at each and every single task that a pony could do to help in the winter wrap-up. From panicing when she was waking animals up, to simply failing at pulling a plow, to face planting on ice when she tried to score it. Compared to how good she felt when she woke up, this was a complete one-eighty.

        “C’mon, Twilight. Come on out,” Spike said as he stood beside the tree.

        “I’m a winter mess up,” Twilight said despondently.

        “Well you’re good at a lot of things, just not nest-making, ice-skating, animal-waking, snow-clearing-- ”

        “Thanks a lot for making me feel so much better.” Twilight clammed up. Then a certain stallion came up to the tree.

        Card stood there and looked at the pine tree, tilting his head back and forth, working his jaw as he did so. After several seconds Spike finally had to cut through the awkward silence.

        “What?”

        Card said, “...There’s a joke here, somewhere. I just, can’t, find it. I want to say, ‘the twinkly goes on top of the tree, not inside it,’ but that doesn’t work.” He turned to Spike. “You have any ideas?”

        The green dragon glared up at the orange stallion, saying, “Twilight’s really upset.”

        “Oh?” Card turned back to the tree. “What’s wrong, Twinkly?”

        “I’m a failure,” Tree-light --Tree-light? Ugh, that was terrible-- Twilight mumbled.

        “Is this about something specific, or just in general?”

        Twilight popped her head out to glare at him but only managed a pout. She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly heard Mayor Mare speaking.

        “Oh! What in Equestria are all you arguing about? This sort of silliness is why we were late for spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that,” she said.

        “Did she say late?” Twilight excitedly asked.

        “Among other things,” Card said with a nod. “Hey, listen, would you mind meeting me at the road that leads into my forest at around 10:45 tonight? I’ve got something to show you.”

        “Yeah, sure, be happy too,” Twilight said distractedly, most of her attention being directed at the fuss in the center of the square. She lept out of the tree, shaking small bits of snow off it and onto Spike and Card. “Spike! Get my checklist and clipboard, STAT!” she said as she galloped to the crowd of ponies.

        “Eh, yes ma’am.” Spike went to go do his duty, albeit in a slightly confused manner. This left Card standing at the tree along, with a pleasantly surprised smile.

        “Damn, I am the greatest psychiatrist in the world,” he said as he dusted the snow off of his jacket. “Oh, wait, no, crap! I forgot to ask where Trixie is!” He shrugged his shoulders. “Ah, well, I’ll find her eventually.” He walked off.




-----Eventually-----




        “Hey, Trixie.”

        “Ahh!” Trixie said as she was jolted out of her state of concentration, her hoof slamming down onto the nest she was making she such force that it tore apart. “Ugh.” Trixie shook her head and grabbed some branches to start making a new one. “Dang it,” she muttered. “Hi Card. Where have you been?”

        “Working. It took me awhile, but I’m finished now.”

        “Oh yeah, that reminds me. You have clients coming in again starting tomorrow.” 

        “Thanks. So, what are you doing?”

        “My part for Winter Wrap-up.” Trixie gestured to the pile of nests next to her on the table. “I volunteered to help work on the nests. Of course, then I found out that I wasn’t allowed to use magic, so I’ve been trying to make these dumb things by hoof.” Trixie placed another branch, taking pains to make sure that it wasn’t placed somewhere where it could slip out. In order to do so she had to carefully move another piece slightly out of the way and-

        “Gah!” A part of the nest wall collapsed. Trixie rubbed her face in frustration. “This is so stupid, seriously, I could’ve been done ages ago! Stupid traditions.”

        Card grunted in a way that indicated agreement. “So, has anything interesting happened while I was cooped up?”

        “Not much, at least not that I noticed.” Trixie briefly considered telling him about Twilight’s fear of the book as revenge for her waking her up at five a.m., but quickly squashed it down. “A couple of days ago Pinkie came to the library and asked where you were.”

        “Oh?”

        “Yeah. What’s happened with you two?”

        “Nothing.”

        Trixie stopped working on the nest briefly to cast a skeptical look at Card. “Bull. I saw what happened at New Year’s. What’s going on?”

        “No, really, nothing. She kissed me, I kissed back, that’s all.”

        “What, really? And when you two were alone for hours in the hotel?”

        “We watched a movie.”

        Trixie looked at him with a raised eyebrow before harrumphing and getting back to work.

        “I’m sorry my affairs don’t entertain you,” Card said dryly. 

        “Apology accepted,” Trixie said faux-sincerely. “So?”

        “So?”

        “So, do you like her? ‘cus I think she likes you.”

        “Really, I never would’ve guessed.” Card gave Trixie a look, which Trixie ignored.

        “So?”

        “S-” Card was cut off by Trixie picking up a nest and pulling her hoof back like she was going to smack him with it.

        Card chuckled a little bit. He paused for a moment to think while Trixie put the nest back down. “Yyyy- yeah. Yeah, I like her.”

        “Huh. Well, good luck.”

        “?” 

        “You’ve kept her waiting for four days. Go ask her out, I think she’s scoring the ice at the lake.”

        “Who’s winning?” Card asked.

        Trixie stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Card, trying to tell if he made the pun on purpose or if he just didn’t know what scoring was. After a couple seconds of failing to read his face, she decided it wasn’t important and got back to work with a shake of her head.

        “Just go,” she said.

        “Hey, would you mind meeting me and Twilight at the road leading into the Everfree at 10:45 tonight?” Card asked.

        “Why?”

        “Uhm…” Card tapped on his sleeve, the sound making Trixie turn.

        “Oh!” Her eyes widened a bit. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”

        “Great. Bye.” 

        “Yeah, bye.” Trixie refocused her efforts as Card left to go find Pinkie, but for the rest of the day her mind kept wandering to the bite marks she knew were concealed underneath Card’s jacket.




-----At the Lake-----




        Pinkie sat down to catch her breath. It had taken almost the entire day but she had finally finished her job. While her body rested, her mind was active and trying to figure out what kind of snack she should grab from SugarCube Corner while she waited. 

        Maybe a cupcake but this is something that only happens once a year it’s special I can’t just get a normal cupcake what if I made some lava fudge and filled a cupcake with that but that might take a while I think I could do it but oh wait it would cool down too quickly I can’t take it all the way from the bakery to here I could just make a hot cream pie no I did that last year and if I repeat then-- Wait, what’s that? Pinkie noticed that her back left hoof started jiggling, and her Pinkie Sense was going off.

        “Pinkie.” 

        She looked down at the ground and noticed Card standing at the foot of the tree she was in. Pinkie eagerly jumped down with a big smile on her face.

        “Card!” she said. “Did you come out for Winter Wrap-Up? Oh, did you want to help with the ice? I’m so sorry, I should’ve saved you some, but today I managed to get it all cut up and melted already. In one day! Did you see it, Twilight was standing over everypony--”

        “Actually, I came to talk to you,” Card said with a serious face.

        “Oh.” Pinkie’s smile left her face and was replaced by a horrified expression. “Oh no!” She started gesturing wildly as she spoke. “Is this about me kissing you, because I thought you were going to, and I’m sorry I make mistakes like that sometimes, I won’t bother--”

        Card quickly grabbed her head and pulled her in for a kiss. Pinkie’s hooves froze mid-gesture out of shock, slowly coming down to wrap around his neck as she started kissing him back. 

        It’s very hard for ponies to balance on their hind-legs, particularly while they are kissing, so it was only inevitable that they both fell sideways to the ground. Thankfully, the ground was still padded by a good bit of snow, so the shock was only enough for them to break their kiss.

        “Wowie,” Pinkie said, her fore-legs still around Card’s neck. “Usually ponies yell at me to make me stop talking.”

        “My way’s more fun,” Card said.

        Pinkie nodded, slightly dazed. “So, you’re not mad?”

        Card answered her. The answer stopped twenty seconds later when Pinkie needed to breathe.

        “Yippee!” Pinkie said in between breaths. “I thought you were mad at me and that you weren’t coming out of your house because you didn’t want to talk to me!”

        “No, I had some very boring work to catch up on. I’m done now.”

        “Yay,” she said breathlessly. This time Pinkie started the kiss, only to break it off after a couple of seconds. “Wait, silly me, you said you wanted to talk about something right?”

        “Did I?” Card cast his mind back a minute. “Oh yeah.” Card stood up and extended a hoof to help Pinkie. Pinkie pouted a little, sad to stop the fun, before smiling and standing up. 

        “Wait, what time is it?” Card asked himself. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a wall clock. “Oh good.” He tossed the clock back into his jacket, flinching immediately afterwards. “Whoops,” he muttered. To Pinkie he said, “I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me?”

        “Okie-dokie! When?”

        “Do you have anything to do right now?”

        “...Huh. Nope! Not for the rest of the day! Where do you want to go?”

        Card looked around. “How about we just stay here, have a picnic?”

        “Good idea! I can go back to SugarCube Corner and get my picnic basket, and bring it here!”

        “No, don’t bother. Here.” Card pulled a blanket out of his jacket and laid in open on the ground. “What do you want to eat?”




-----After The Date-----




        Card had walked Pinkie back into town and the two of them were standing outside of SugarCube Corner. Pinkie Pie had unlocked the door when she looked over her shoulder and was about to speak before Card piped up.

        “Let’s do that again,” he said from the curb. “Uh, not now, obviously, later--  uh, some other day.”

        Pinkie was momentarily taken aback. “Ye- uh, yeah, that’d be- yes.” Pinkie smiled warmly. “Yep! That sounds fun!”

        “Great! I’ve gotta go. Good night.” 

        “Nighty-night!” Pinkie Pie started going into her house as Card walked off. He got five feet away before hooking one of his forelegs around a lamppost and swinging back around.

        “Iiiiii Foooorgooooot.” He walked back to Pinkie and kissed her good night. “Theeerrrre we gooooo.” Pinkie Pie giggled and closed the door to start getting ready for bed.

        Card was walking home, enjoying what had just happened. He recalled the memories of Pinkie telling him how hectic all of the other Winter Wrap-ups were, and how she had guiltily enjoyed the bizarre chaos as everypony struggled to work together. He remembered how she had gotten through half a bowl of piping hot bean soup before she realized she had burned her tongue. He vividly remembered how she had laughed when he slipped on some ice and landed head first into snow trying to show off, apologizing through her giggles as she asked him if he was okay. All of this he remembered, turning it over and over again in his head to distract him from what he was about to do. He got to the edge of the Everfree forest and sighed deeply. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his usual clock. Then he remember that he had broken that clock and threw it back into his coat, pulling out a different one. 10:30.

        He sighed again and buried his head in his hooves. All there was to do now was wait. Wait and try to convince himself he wasn’t making a terrible mistake.


A/N: Sorry this took so long. It was my birthday weekend and then it was the first week of summer break, so I was a little busy, but I’m back now.

Word of warning, next chapter will be mostly first person.
> Secret Depths Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        It was just barely morning when Spike woke up. He was enjoying a nice dream about eating gems when he heard loud hoofbeats echoing throughout the tree. He tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but then he remembered that Twilight hadn’t been home in a while. Assuming that this was her returning, he decided to go find and ask her why she was out for so long. He stumbled along inside the dark house until his vision started to adjust, tracking her by the sound of her hoofs as she walked through the dark corridors when suddenly she stopped moving. The last sounds had come from the direction of her bedroom, so Spike decided to check there.

        When he got to the room, he opened the door and started to say something. He stopped before his first syllable when he saw Twilight, able to just make out her profile in the 1 a.m. darkness. She was sitting at her desk, staring blankly down at the wooden surface. He walked up to her.

        “Twi?” he hesitantly asked. “Is something wrong?”

        Twilight jerked her head back at the sudden noise. She swiveled her neck around searching for its source when she spotted Spike standing in the doorway. She sighed. “No, Spike. Everything’s fine,” she said hollowly as she rubbed her eyes.

        Even Spike’s seven year old brain could tell that she was lying, but he didn’t know what to do. He decided to ask. “Anything I can do to help?”

        Twilight sighed again. “No, no, it-- it’s-- no. Just go to sleep.”

        Spike felt like there was something he should do, but he had no idea what. He just cast her a worried glance and started to leave.

        “Wait,” Twilight said. “Actually, could you light this for me?” She held out a candle.

        Spike blew a small spark at the candle and a green flame sprouted, illuminating the room in an eerie emerald glow.

        “Thanks. Good night, Spike.”

        “Good night.” With that Spike went back to his room to spent half an hour wondering what had happened to rattle Twilight so badly, and, more importantly, why she wasn’t willing to tell him. But, it’s not Spike who we are concerned with.

        Twilight sighed for the third time in the past minute, her breath making the green flame on her desk dance. She reached into one of her drawers and levitated out a blank scroll, a quill, and some ink. She put the items on her desk and began thinking about how to phrase what she was about to say.

                Dear Princess Celestia,


It has recently been revealed to me that

        Twilight crumpled up the parchment and chucked it in the bin. She sighed again, this time so forcefully she nearly put the candle out, and buried her face in her hooves. How do I even begin with this? she thought. After a solid ten minutes of just sitting there, she picked up the quill again, deciding to just write it as it came.

                Celestia,



Card told me. He told me everything. About the Sea, about why he’s here, about what- No, who he is. He showed me his scars and his eyes. He even took me to the Sea and showed me it. Oh Celestia, I can still feel it. And even now, knowing what it is, I still want to go back to it, to see it, feel it, again. I don’t know how he handles it.

        Let me go back and tell you what happened from the start. During the day Card had asked me to meet up with him and Trixie at the forest. So, after I was finished with Winter Wrap-Up and had sent you my friendship report, I went.




-----10:45 p.m.-----


-----Outskirts of the Everfree Forest-----











        “Hey, Trixie,” Twilight said as she saw her friend standing outside the trees.





        “‘Bout time you got here,” Trixie replied. “You’re almost late.”





        “Why are you so grumpy?”





        “You woke me up at 6! I’m tired.”





        “Oh. Sorry, again.”





        “Ugh. No problem.” Trixie waved her hoof and turned to go into the forest. “Card said he’d be just inside from here.”





        The two mares went into the thick treeline, covering their heads with magic spells to deflect the branches that they thought they would be running into. The spells proved useless when they found that, beyond the trees they had to go through to get in, there were none. Instead of the dense, dark foliage they were expecting from their last excursions, they found themselves immediately  in the meadow that surrounded Card’s massive manor, the starlight bright enough even without the moon’s help that they could see the stallion himself sitting on a rock waiting for them. 





        While they were confused from the drastic difference from their expectations, Card walked up to them with a big smile on his face.





        “Hey hello there. Glad to see you both were able to come make it,” he said as he brushed some dirt off the back of his jacket.





        “Hi,” Twilight said as she shook her head.





        “Yeah, hi, hey, Card, I thought your house was a bit further into the forest?” Trixie asked.





        “Yeah, I didn’t feel like walking moved it here.” Card clapped his hooves and turned towards his house. “Come on,” he said. “I’ve got a lot to show you and a short not much time to do it in.” He walked off. The two mares looked at each other and followed him into the manor.





        When they were walking through the house, they were treated to an interesting sight. The floors that used to be spotless wood now had what looked like a single long strip of tape crisscrossing all around them, going under the doors and, the mares assumed, into other rooms.





        “What all this stuff for?” Trixie asked, trying to fill the silence as they started walking through the house, pointing at the floor with her horn.





        “Trixie,” Card said with concern as he looked at her over his shoulder. “That’s tape.”





        Trixie rolled her eyes. “Yes, but why is it there?”





        “Oh.” Card looked relieved as he opened the door to a corridor. “Well, I have guests staying here, and I don’t want somepony getting lost again, so I need to make everything stay in stick.” 





        “...What?” Twilight asked.





        Card suddenly stopped in place, almost making the mares bump into him. “Stick. In. Place,” he said, almost to himself, emphasizing each word with a little bounce of his front hooves from left to right in front of him.





        “Oh. Oh, yeah. How much longer are they staying?” Trixie asked.





        “In Ponyville or with me? Because if it’s Ponyville I don’t a clue.”





        “Wait,” Trixie said. “Was that ‘Don’t care,’ or ‘Have no clue’?”





        “Yes.” Card put on the most self satisfied grin he had that would have almost certainly gotten him flicked if either mare could see it. Instead he just got a glare from Trixie.





        As the trio walked a little further into the house they began to hear sounds of carnage from the side walls.





        “What is that?” Twilight asked.





        “Oh, that’s just Odd--”





        “I would say so,” Trixie muttered.





        “--he’s eating. Well, you know. ‘Eating’.” Card made massive air quotes with his forehooves. He then looked at his hooves like he was either confused at what they had just done or, more likely, was suddenly struck by the realization that he possessed them.





        This made the mares both pause and look at each other significantly.





        “Card,” Twilight asked haltingly, “are you feeling alright?”





        “Yeah, you seem a little… Drunk,” Trixie said.





        Card chuckled at the notion. “No, I’m fine. Better than fine. I feel good. Really good. Not too good though; that’s why we had to wait. See?” he asked, turning around and looking both mares in the eye. Only one eye each mind you, he didn’t have glasses. “Now come on, we’re almost there.”





        The trio had walked to the end of the part of the manor that had tape on the floor, and were faced with a door that had a symbol drawn on it, three triangles in a row, with the middle on flipped upside down, and two circles, one using the bottom of the middle on as its diameter, and the other using the length of all the triangle bases. He pressed open the door and they were in… a perfectly normal room. Card strode to the door on the other side.





        “No. No. No. No. Nh. Nh. Nh. Nh. Nh,” he said as he opened and closed the door, trying to make it open to the correct destination. “Ahh!” he finally said. “Come on, it’s just through, through here.” He waved the mares into the small, dark room that he had managed to finally get to.





        As Twilight entered the room she was filled with a desire to go off to somewhere. Maybe to grab a bagel, or go to the bathroom, and, thinking about it, was she sure she had properly filled those returned book. She was in the process of turning away, not really even thinking about it, when Card spoke up again. “Come on, it’s just past this door.”





        “What door?” Trixie asked, herself almost facing back the way they came.





        “This door.” Card grabbed their hooves, suddenly those stray thoughts had left Twilight’s head, and pressed them against the wall. At least that’s what it looked like at first. When they made contact the wall faded away and revealed itself to be an ornate door, tens of feet high, and easily six feet across.





        “See?” he asked. He took their hooves off and put them back on. And again. And again. And again. “--left hoof in, you put your left hoof out. You put your left hoof in and you--”





        “Card!” Trixie said, jerking her hoof out of his grip. Suddenly she started turning back again. Card put a hoof on her side and she stopped. “Okay, what is that!”





        “Eeehhh, I’ll explain later. For now, we need to go in. Both of you, put one hoof on my side so I can stop holding you and open the door.” The mares did so. Card reached for the door and-- OW!











-----Oh Shit! N, Speak to Me!!! Uhh, Back to the Letter!-----











        Celestia, it was so strange. His entire expression vanished the second he touched the door. His smile, his wide eyes, everything gone; it was like he turned into a robot. I was scared, and wanted to ask, but then Trixie looked at me and shook her head.





        Card slid the door to the side, and I felt... I don’t know how to say it. A push, from somewhere deep within me, to go forward. I needed to go forward. So, we did. 





        We went through the door and across a short walkway. We came to a bright beach, with sand that was so crystal clear that you could look straight down to the edge of sight. But I only noticed that as we left, because the moment I could see through the door I was my eyes were drawn forward. When we got close enough, I saw it. 





        I don’t know how to describe it. It was so clearly there, but I couldn’t make out a shape. It was completely  see through, and yet still so opaque, and colorful, though never a consistent color. It wasn’t patchy, it was like every part was a different shade, but for less then a second before it shifted. the crest were going up, sideways, below the surface, every which way except for towards the beach and, thinking about it, it may have even had some of those that I just didn’t notice. I could have stared at it for hours. I was completely enthralled, not even blinking, until I felt a sharp burst of pain on the back of my head. I yelped and turned around, snapping out of it to see Card standing there with both mine and Trixie’s hair in hoof.





        Trixie asked him why he did that, and he said that we had been staring at it for fifteen minutes, and, if anything, I think he underestimated it. I asked him what it was and he told me it was the Sea of Chaos.








A/N: This is a good place for a chapter break while I go revive N.


> Secret Depths Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


-----Are you okay, N?-----


Yeah, I think so.


-----Are You Sure?-----


Yeah. Long as she doesn’t look right at it, I should be fine. Put me back in, Aoc.


-----Okay-----


-----Back Into Twilight’s Memories-----




        “This is the Sea of Chaos,” Card said, still in his emotionless monotone. “This is the reason I came here.”

        “...”

        “...” 

        “...”

        “...What?” Trixie asked, even as her eyes slid back to the boiling chaos. Card tugged on her hair again. “Ow! Stop that!” She smacked at his hoof, to no avail.

        “Come on,” Card said as he started backing away, still gripping both mares’ manes. Twilight and Trixie alternated saying “Ow!” for the time that he drug them back across the walkway and into the small room. He briefly let them go as he slid the heavy door closed. The second the door connected with the other side of the wall, Twilight noticed two sudden changes. The constant push she had been feeling towards the Sea had dissipated, replaced with the feeling she had had earlier of forgetting that there was something that needed her urgent attention far, far, away, and Card’s robotic demeanor had immediately vanished and was replaced with the same, broad, undeniably genuine, and yet still incredibly disquieting grin that he had had as they went through the building. Card put his hoof back onto her, along with Trixie, and the feeling of urgency left.

        There was a long stretch of time that followed, whole seconds, where the room was crushingly silent, outside of the heavy breathing of the mares as they recalled the intense feeling of power that overwhelmed them as they gazed upon the roiling Sea, bringing with it a great pleasure that felt just barely out of reach. Finally the silence was broken by Card clapping his hooves.

        “Right! Questions! I think you both have a lot, you’re very clever fillies, so feel free to ask them!” Card noticed that in order to clap his hooves he had to let go of the mares, and so they were turning towards the door leaving the room. “Uhh, perhaps not here though.” He put a hoof on both of them again and they exited the room, appearing in a cozy room where everything was designed like a citrus of some kind. Card broke his contact with the two mares and sat down on the blood orange love seat, where he looked at them expectantly as he drummed his hoof against his cheek. “Well?”

        “...” Twilight was speechless.

        “...What… was that?” Trixie asked.

        “The Sea of Chaos!” Card said with a grin.

        “I got that, but what is it?” 

        “The reason I’m here!”

        Trixie slammed her hoof down. “Damnit, Card!” she yelled. “Stop messing with us! Be serious!”

        “Well, this is hardly the right place for it,” he said as he looked at the orange coffee table. “Perhaps we should leave the house.”

        They went back through the corridors and exited. When they were out of the manor, Card lost his over-massive grin and sat down, looking as awkward as his friends did for the first time that night. It was there, on the steps of the manor, looking to the ground as his friends towered over him on the grasslands that Card began speaking.

        “The Sea of Chaos is… Well it’s…” Card sighed. “How do I phrase this?” he mumbled. “The Sea is the largest concentration of entropy in the world. It is a collection of Chaos, and the source of your magic.”

        Twilight started to speak, but Card cut her off with a raised hoof.

        “I don’t know exactly how, but it has something to do with your horns converting the pure amorphia into a usable form. You’re starting up sessions with Tron soon, he knows more about it then me. The most important thing is that it. Is. Dangerous. You both remember Luna’s birthday, right? What happened with the moon.”

        The two mares nodded.

        “Well, that was me.” Card reached into his jacket and pulled out a small pinkish stone. “Using this much pure amorphia I was able to completely destroy the moon. Not break it, not disintegrate it, I made each individual atom into pure energy and then destroyed the energy. And I almost lost it. That’s the reason I’m here, the closer I am to the Sea the easier it is for me to control it, to keep it from escaping its confines. But it’s not that simple.” Card stood up and took off his jacket.

        Twilight gasped and flinched her gaze away. His forelegs were the worst, covered with bite marks that all looked like he had put them there himself, some fresh and only just scabbed over, some almost faded, and some that were so deep as to have formed permanent scar tissue. His chest was a little better, some long scratches, and a few bruises, but these looked like they were inflicted by some other pony.

        “You both felt it didn’t you?” Card asked.

        “Y- yeah.”

        “Uh-huh.”

        “I feel that all the time. The power, the push, and I have to resist it, because if I give in, the chaos will escape and the world will dissolve.” 

        “Why are you telling us this?” Trixie asked.

        Card sighed. “Because you two are the best friends I’ve ever had. You both deserve to know what it is you’re dealing with.”

        “I-- This is a lot to take in.”

        “I know. If you feel the need to leave, then I understand. I don’t expect you to have an answer for me right now. Please, tell me when you know for sure.” 

        “Card…” Twilight tried to think of someway to comfort her friend, but she couldn’t. Her mind was still filled with the Sea, and what it meant. Eventually, she just had to give up. “Good night.”

        Trixie echoed her sentiment, and with that the mares exited the forest, leaving Card slumped on the steps cradling his head in his hooves. They parted ways almost immediately after to take some time to think about it.




-----Back to Twilight-----




        So, Princess, I don’t know what to do. He’s my friend, and he’s just told me all of his secrets. But, with how dangerous it is, should I tell everypony? They deserve to know that they’re living in on top of… That. I guess if it was so dangerous you would have evacuated long ago, but did you even know? You must’ve, right? I-- I don’t want to leave Ponyville, or Card, or Trixie. 

        What do I do?

                From,
                Twilight Sparkle


        Twilight rolled up the letter and stuck it in the green flame that Spike had lit for her, sending it directly to Celestia. With that task done, she dragged herself away from her desk and plopped down onto her bed. She was asleep before she hit the sheets, going into a fitful slumber.

Aoc?


-----Yeah?-----


Take me to him.


-----Okay?-----


-----Outside the Manor of Mayhem-----




        …

        “...”

        You pussy.

        Card groaned and slumped over even harder. “I know.”
> Packing Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “Tron! Hey, Tron!” Brick Bones shouted from behind Tron’s bedroom door.

        Tron stuck a hoof out from under his bedspread and picked his glasses off of the bedside table. He fumbled them onto his face before laboriously forcing one eye open. He looked at his bedside clock. Tron sighed and pulled himself up out of bed.

        “Bones,” he said as he opened the door with one wing, using the other to rub his eyes. “It’s three p.m., ponies are trying to sleep.”

        “Sorry. I’m looking for Odd, he borrowed one of my games and hasn’t given it back yet. I wanna pack them all away now.”

        “Wh-” he yawned. “Why? I thought the train didn’t leave until five in the morning.”

        “It doesn’t, but I’d rather have everything packed away early. Speaking of, why ain’t you packed up yet?” Brick Bones looked into Tron’s unlit bedroom, seeing the outlines of his lab coat slung over the back of his chair, paper strewn about, and various gears and wires littering the floor and the desk, and his luggage opened up, and leaning upside down against a wall.

        “Because I’m coming back pretty soon, remember?” Since he was now going to be tutoring Twilight, he was being forced to move to Ponyville from Kingswatch, the city he, Brick Bones, and Odd had all lived in for the last few years.

        “Oh yeah.” Brick’s face fell slightly as he remembered that his friend was moving. “Ah well, at least most of your stuff is still packed up from the last time you moved.”

        “Heh. Small blessings.” Tron remembered why he was woken up. “Come on, let’s go find Odd.” He took his lab coat off his chair and put it on, following Brick out of his quarters and into the manor proper.

        As it turns out, it didn’t take that long to find Odd. They heard a humming noise broken up by giggles and followed it to a closed bathroom.

        “Odd, come out!” Tron yelled, knocking on the door.

        “Ah!” Odd cringed. He opened up the door. “Not so loud dude, I can hear you just fine,” he said as he rubbed his ear. He giggled and a smile came to his face. “Sup?”

        “Are you high?” Tron asked.

        A look that tried to be serious passed over Odd’s face. “Either no, or we both are because you’re still taller then me,” he said, breaking out into laughter.

        His question thus answered, Tron rolled his eyes.

        “Do you know where my Lazer Wrecker is?” Brick asked.

        “Uhh…” Odd thought for a moment. “Yeah, dude, I think I left it at the farm. No problem, right? You’ve still gotta go there anyways.”

        Brick absently rubbed the back of his head, pushing his stetson up and down a little bit, making Odd giggle. “Yeah,” he said. “I’d better go do that.” 

        “Yo, It’s been a while, and I’m about all the way back down. What do you guys say to a little food?” Odd asked.

        Tron rubbed his eyes again. “Yeah, sure. I can go back to sleep later.”

        “I’m good,” Bones said.

        “Sweet, let’s go.”

        “It’s not like we have to go back to school soon,” Tron said.

        Odd groaned. “Don’t remind me. Just one more semester and I’m out.”

        “Yeah. And then it’s the bar exam.”

        Odd groaned again. Tron laughed at his friend’s annoyance while Brick fought a small smile. With that the three friends went to eat.




-----The Other Guys-----




        Card was sitting at his desk in his home office, his head buried in his hooves thinking about the previous night. Suddenly, he heard a clap at the door.

        “Come in,” he said. In walked Silver and Shade, dragging behind them a pouting Guile. Card motioned for Silver to speak.

        “I have been able to enroll Guile in to the local middle school for the next semester. He starts on Monday,” Silver said. “We will be sending a sum large enough for him buy his own food and amenities every month.”

        “And if the little punk gets into trouble, I’ll be able to come handle it in about a day or so,” Shade added.

        Card nodded. “Okay then. Looks like you’ve dealt with all the issues. What do you think of all this?” he asked Guile, the young unicorn pouting in his hoodie.

        Guile groaned. “I get that I can’t come along with either of you two,” he said to his brothers. “But why do I have to go to school? There’s no possible way that they’ll be teaching anything that I don’t already know.”

        “We will not be imposing you onto His Majesty anymore than is absolutely necessary. Besides, a young colt such as yourself has no place spending his days ignoring the world around him,” Silver said.

        “What do you guys think that I’ll do all day? Just sit in my bedroom?”

        Neither of his brothers dignified that with a response.

        Guile groaned again. “I don’t have a way out of this, do I?”

        “Nope,” Shade said. “You’re screwed.”

        Groan. “Morrogar, help me out here.”

        The beige reptile on Shade’s shoulder shook its head sympathetically.

        “This blows.” Guile put on his biggest pout and retreated into his hood.

        “Okay,” Card said. “I’ll be happy to watch Guile while you two sort out your business.”

        “Thanks,” Shade said. “Now come on, let’s stop bothering Card.” He pushed Guile out the door with one of his wings, leaving Silver and Card alone in the office.

        “Thank you for letting Guile stay here, my lord. I apologize for the invasion into your home,” Silver said as he bowed.

        “Pick your head up,” Card said with a hint of annoyance, which left his tone once Silver was looking him in the eye again. “Don’t worry about it. Your rooms are yours. Do whatever you want with them, I don’t care.”

        Silver bowed and backed out of the room, not turning until he reached the doorway.

        “Oh yeah, and Silver?” Card said, just before the door closed.

        “Yes, my lord?”

        “Tell Ami I said hi.”

        “Of course.” And with that, Silver went back to his room to pack up his things.

A/N: So, not a very interesting chapter, but it was necessary to establish what’s going to be the new status quo for a while.

Up next, Guile’s first day of school, and then we finally get back to following the episodes. Thank you, and good night.

> Adapting to Normalcy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        You know, I don’t think I actually woke up this morning until I got to the schoolhouse. The first thing I remember clearly is the teacher, Ms. Sherry? Merry? I don’t know, the purple bitch. Mare! Mare. Gotta remember, not in Oka anymore, right. Well, anyways, Her. Yeah, I remember her making me stand in front of the class, and everything before that is sax practice and panic. See, I actually forgot I had school now, because I haven’t in… I haven’t. I’ve had tutors, but… I’m getting off topic. 

        I had forgotten about school until I glanced at a clock while I was half-asleep playing my sax. Fifteen minutes before it started. I rushed out the house, grabbing my backpack and my hoodie, and ran to the building, my brain just active enough to keep my body following the little white arrow telling me where to go. That reminds me, I should probably thank Dr. Card for that. 

        So, there I was in front of the schoolhouse. Half-asleep, lacking breakfast, probably late, and my headphones on, but not playing anything. Or, probably, connected to anything. It wasn’t until I watched, dumbfounded, as the arrow went into my backpack that I realized I should probably knock on the door.

        I don’t even want to think about how long it was before I actually did.

        But I did eventually, and then the door opened and there stood the teacher. She said something to me. Probably. Maybe. She definitely made some kind of noise with her mouth. Well, she definitely made some kind of noise as she pulled me in and stood me at the front of the class. It was as I stood there, gazing blankly at an entire crayon box’s worth of foals, that I guess my brain finally finished loading.

        My entire body jerked in different directions, and I made noise, probably something like, “Dahg!” I quickly shook the last of the sleepiness from my head and looked at the teacher. “Sorry, what?”

        “Perhaps you would like to introduce yourself to the class?” she asked.

        I turned my head back to the sea of faces and noticed that they were all looking at me like they were expecting something. “Oh. Uh, hi. My name’s Guile. I am residing in Ponyville for the next few months. I am very pleased to meet you all, and look forward to the coming semester.” Yeah, whenever I can’t think of anything to say, my brain just defaults to Silver’s lessons.

        There came a cacophony of “Hi”s, and “Hey”s, directed at me while I desperately tried to compose myself. 

        “Now,” the teacher, I really need to ask about her name tomorrow, said. “I can see an empty seat right in front of Tech. Why don’t you go sit there, and we’ll continue with the lesson.”

        I went over to this unicorn colt with interesting hair, it was black but spiked down and with green borders, and sat at the desk in front of him, putting my backpack next to me. He didn’t say anything, so I didn’t say anything back.

        “Excuse me, but we like to keep hoods down in this classroom,” the teacher said.

        I pulled my hood down.

        “Headphones too, young stallion.”

        “Wha?” I mumbled. I felt my head, looking for the headphones. “Uhm, oh.” I pulled them down around my neck.

        “Excellent.” She turned to face a chalkboard and started saying something about Equish. I just drifted off, taking care to pay enough attention that I would be able to tell if she mentioned something I didn’t know, which she didn’t. It was like that for a couple of hours, through Equish, history, and science, until finally something happened that did make me pay attention.

        “Okay, it’s time for lunch, you can all go outside now.”

        I grabbed my backpack, and was the first one out the door. You see, the main thing that I use my backpack for is to carry my books and comics when I’m walking around, in case I get bored. I found the shadiest tree in the yard and planted my ass underneath it, reaching into my bag and pulling out the first thing I touched. I never actually saw what it was, because I like to listen to music while I read. So I put down the comic, it was too thin to be a book, and pulled my player out of my pocket. While I was attaching my headphones to it, I got interupted.

        “Hey.” I looked up and saw Silver Spoon standing there in front of me. I really hate to admit it, but it never occurred to me that Silver Spoon would be going to the same school as me, despite the fact that there only seemed to be the one school in the village. When I saw her that stream of logic suddenly bashed into my skull and made me feel really stupid, to the point that I spent a few seconds frozen, amazed at my own stupidity. I only snapped out of it when I realized that I was frozen with my eyes locked onto her face, which understandably made her feel uncomfortable. I least, I assume so given that she was blushing pretty hard and not looking at me.

        I realized I hadn’t responded to her yet and began to say hello back, but she started speaking before I could. I unfortunately couldn’t understand what she said because she was mumbling and spoke really quickly, so I asked her to repeat herself.

        She took a quick breath, squared her shoulders, and looked me in the eyes. “Come on,” she said. “You can eat lunch with us.” She jerked her head to a circular table in the yard that was empty except for one pony and two lunchboxes.

        I accepted the offer and stood up, grabbing my backpack. She lead me to the table and I sat down. As I did that, I noticed some of the foals on the yard staring at me. It was only for a second though, then they whipped their heads back to what they were doing.

        “Guile,” Silver Spoon said, “This is Diamond Tiara. Diamond, Guile.” 

        I was about to say hello, but Diamond Tiara spoke up before I could. “Silver Spoon told me about you. She said you were worthy of being one of us.” Diamond said the last part the same way someone would tell you that their friend believed birds had jet engines. I was slightly put out by this. Still, I tried to hide it.

        “What do you mean, one of you?” I asked. Diamond Tiara turned her head, looking at a group of foals, they looked a year or two older then us, eating lunch on the grass a-ways away.

        “Spanner,” she said in a sickly sweet voice.

        One of the colts froze in his place. He slowly turned around and looked at Diamond Tiara. “Y- yes?” he asked. He seemed to be in disbelief that she had spoken to him.

        “May I please have that soda?” 

        Spanner looked at the can of unopened soda next to him. Without a second thought he picked it up and walked over to Diamond Tiara. “Here,” he said.

        “Thank you.” Diamond Tiara had a slight smile on her face as she watched Spanner quickly walk back to his friends. She turned back to face me. Her eyebrow lifted as if to say, “Understand?”, and I did. I had to deal with her type all the time. Noble’s brats who thought they owned the world because their parents have power and money, and everyone around them were too afraid of retribution to say otherwise. I knew exactly what she was offering me. Power by association. I had been offered it before, but this time was different. Usually it was by people wanting to get influence over my brothers through me, but Diamond Tiara didn’t, and still doesn’t, know about Silver and Shade. It bothered me, but if there’s one thing Shade was able to teach me, it’s the desire to have my own power, not sponge it off of others. I thought knew my answer, but that nagging bother wouldn’t leave my head.

        “Why?” I asked.

        Silver Spoon was shocked. “What? Why?” she asked. “Aren’t we friends?” She had a sad, puzzled look in her eyes.

        “Yeah, Silver Spoon told me that you two hung out together over winter break,” Diamond Tiara said. “Why would you want to stop now?” 

        My brain was starting to ache. They both seemed genuine in their reasons and their confusion. That’s when it hit me. They weren’t trying to recruit me. They really did want to be my friend, well Silver Spoon did, I think Diamond Tiara just wanted Silver Spoon to be happy, and this was their way of showing me why I should be theirs. 

        I accepted; I really did enjoy the short time I spent with Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara didn’t seem too bad. We spent the rest of the lunch period talking, them telling me about some interesting things that happened to them and I told them about Oka. Then it was time to go back to class, which I half-slept through until the end of day bell rang. Anyways, that was my first day at school. Wonder what the next one will be like.

> Last Straw
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Silver Spoon shifted restlessly in her chair, waiting for the school bell to ring and signal the start of the weekend. The grey filly’s gaze darted around the room, trying to find new points of interest among the surroundings that she had long since committed to memory. She actively kept her gaze away from the white, circular clock in order to avoid falling into despair at how much time there really was left. She attempted to listen to Cheerilee, but the schoolteacher was merely recapping the topics she had taught that day in a voice suggesting that she couldn’t wait for the weekend to start either. 

        After sweeping the entire room, Silver Spoon’s eyes fell upon something that was, in fact, new to the class. Rather, someone. A couple of desks to the side and three desks in front of her, there sat Guile. More interestingly than him though, at least at that moment, was his hoodie. The big, black, everpresent jacket that he insisted on wearing. The uniform bulkiness and color of the jacket made the colt appear to be a single black mass from Silver Spoon’s perspective. She was able to amuse herself for a few minutes by attempting to see shapes in the mass, treating it like a goth cloud.

        It’s a volcano, she thought. No, wait, it’s an arrow. Yeah, there’s the point and there are the- Guile shifted in his seat. Never mind. It’s a… shark? A sailboat? Silver Spoon was extremely bored. 

        Finally, salvation came in the form of a sharp ringing from the schoolbell. Ugh, finally! Silver Spoon stood up from the desk and shook her sleepy legs awake. She hung back as the class thundered around her, hooves pounding the ground as every foal tried to leave at once, causing a massive jam at the doorway. Silver Spoon looked two desks over at her best friend Diamond Tiara, one of the two other ponies who realized that a few seconds wait was worth not getting crushed, standing by her own desk. The two of them mutually smirked at the stupidity of their classmates. Silver Spoon tried to include Guile in the smirk but he was still sitting down.

        After the traffic jam resolved itself, and Guile finally stood up, the three teenagers left the classroom together.

        “Oh, wait up a second,” Guile said, turning away from the schoolhouse entrance. “I’ve gotta go to the bathroom. I’ll catch up with you two.” He headed down the hall.

        “Okay,” Silver Spoon said, “We’ll be right outside.”

        “Great!” Guile called back.

        Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon exited the building, going out onto the grey road.

        “That was soooo boring!” Diamond Tiara said. 

        “Ugh, I know.” Silver Spoon rolled her eyes as she recalled the day. “When are we ever going to need to know how to manually find the root of a number? And that picture of Ms. Cheerilee’s old haircut, blech. I am going to be seeing that thing in my nightmares.”

        Diamond Tiara snickered at that. “Hey,” she said as she spotted a certain pair of fillies on the road in front of them. “Look at that.”

        “Applebloom and Twist? What about them?”

        Diamond Tiara smirked. “Wanna go have some fun with them?”

        “Hmm.” Silver Spoon looked at the schoolhouse for a second. “Sure. What’s the plan?”

        “Follow my lead.” Diamond Tiara started confidently walking up the road, Silver Spoon close behind. When Diamond Tiara got close enough for Applebloom to hear her, she started speaking.

        “I don't know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark. I mean, waiting for your cutie mark is sooo last week,” she said. She turned around to face Applebloom and Twist. She pointed at Silver Spoon. “You got yours.”

        Silver Spoon wiggled her hips a little to show off her mark.

        “I just got mine.” Diamond Tiara walked in front of Twist to make sure she could see it. “We all have them already.” Diamond Tiara gasped loudly. “I mean,” she turned to face Twist again, “almost all of us have them already.” Twist’s eyes narrowed. Diamond Tiara kept speaking. “Don't worry, you two,” she said, her voice dripping with false reassurance.“You're still totally invited to my cute-ceañera this weekend.” 

        “It’s going to be amazing!” Silver Spoon chimed in. The two of them began circling the blank flanked fillies like sharks.

        “It’s a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark, how could it not be?” Diamond Tiara said. Her and Silver Spoon went to the side of the road and did their best-friends dance.

        “Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump,” they sang, erupting into giggles afterwards.

        “Give me a break,” Applebloom said, as she and Twist walked away from the pair.

        “See you later,” Silver Spoon called. “Blank flanks!” she said with Diamond Tiara.

        The fillies erupted into giggles again, but in between the laughs Silver Spoon noticed that Applebloom’s head was drooping as she walked away. The sight seemed so wrong on the usually proud filly that it made Silver Spoon feel bad for giggling. 

        “What was that all about?” Guile asked, the sudden voice making the fillies jump into the air, completely blowing the bad feeling out of Silver Spoon’s head.

        After the fillies hit the ground, they turned around to face him, light red blushes on their cheeks. “How much of that did you see?” Silver Spoon asked, praying it wasn’t much.

        “Not much,” Guile said. “I only just got here.”

        Silver Spoon sighed discreetly. She had no idea what she would have done if he had seen her shaking her butt in front of the blank flanks, but she was pretty sure “die of embarrassment” was somewhere on that list.

        “Nothing much,” Diamond Tiara said. “We were just having a little fun with Applebloom and Twist.” Now that the last member of her group had arrived, Diamond Tiara started heading down the road, expecting the others to follow, which they did. “Ugh, I can’t believe Cheerilee saved all that boring stuff for Friday. It’s like she thinks we don’t have anything better to think about.”

        “Yeah,” Silver Spoon said, rolling her eyes. “What do you think, Guile?” Not hearing an answer, she turned to face the colt, looking up slightly to see his face. He appeared deep in thought as he looked at the two fillies. “Guile?”

        “What do your cutie marks mean?” he asked.

        “What? Why?” Silver Spoon asked, slightly nervous.

        “I’m just curious.”

        “My cutie mark means that I’m good at getting ponies to do what I want,” Diamond Tiara said loudly. “I got it when my daddy took me to a jewelery shop. I saw this,” she pointed at her tiara, “and I just knew I had to have it, but daddy said it was overpriced. So,” she bragged, “I went up the seller and said, ‘Mister’,” she turned her eyes watery and started shaking her voice, taking the tiara off her head and holding it out in cupped hooves, “‘I really want this little crown, but my daddy can’t pay for it. Could you please let it cost a little less? Pwease?’ and he marked it down by twenty percent! Daddy was so happy.” Diamond Tiara put her tiara back on her head with a proud smile. 

        “Huh. Interesting.” Guile looked over to Silver Spoon. “What about you?”

        “Oh, uh,” Silver Spoon stalled for time, looking at her hooves as she walked. She had really hoped that hearing Diamond Tiara’s story would make him forget about her. “Mine means that I’m good at finding things. My parents were going to buy a new set of silverware and I found the same set for cheaper.” Silver Spoon sweated a little bit under Guile’s lingering gaze. Then Diamond Tiara got his attention.

        “What about you?” she asked. “What’s your cutie mark about?”

        “Huh?” Guile turned his head towards the pink filly as the question reached his brain. “Oh. I don’t have one.”

        Diamond Tiara stopped out of shock. “What?” she asked. The other two foals stopped as well. Guile turned to face her. 

        “Yeah.” Guile turned so that each filly could see one side of his body and took off his hoodie. “See for yourselves.”

        Silver Spoon looked over his body, seeing it for the very first time. Her eyes lingered on his lean muscles and toned stomach, before gliding further along to his flank. It was equally shapely, a fact that did not go unnoticed, or unappreciated, but undecorated. The same mottled, tarnished color covered it as the rest of his body, uninterrupted. 

        “Wow,” Diamond Tiara said. “You’re a blank flank.”

        “Yep.”

        “Huh,” Diamond Tiara smirked and looked up at Guile’s eyes. “No wonder you’ve been covering it up with that ratty old thing.”

        Silver Spoon was looking so intently at his flank that she noticed a slight tightening of his muscles. Confused, she glanced up at his face and saw that his teeth were clenched and eyes were narrowed. Taken aback at his obvious anger, Silver Spoon felt a smaller version of the same feeling she felt when she saw Applebloom’s head fall. She tried to figure out how she felt about it, but Guile broke her train of thought again.

        “I don’t wear this hoodie to cover up anything,” Guile said in a casual tone, forcing his muscles to relax as he turned to look at Diamond Tiara. “I wear it because I like the way it looks.”

        “What?” Diamond Tiara was baffled. “How? It’s all like, torn up. It looks like a cat used it as a scratching post!”

        “I like the tears!” Guile protested. “They give it character! This is a hoodie that has survived the harshest of snow and most pounding of rain!” He brandished it at Diamond Tiara. “It saw my first concert, and my first convention!” He pulled it back on.

        “But it looks terrible!”

        Silver Spoon nodded her agreement. Granted, Guile could have been wearing the finest robe in Equestria at the moment and Silver Spoon would have still hated it now that she saw what it was hiding.

        “Says the thirteen year old wearing a plastic tiara.” Guile looked at Diamond Tiara skeptically.

        “That’s different!” Diamond Tiara pointed at the tiara. “This is cool!”

        “How?”

        “Because I’m wearing it,” Diamond Tiara said with an air of finality.

        In the face of such an unimpeachable argument, Guile couldn’t disagree. “You’re right, you’re right.”

        Diamond Tiara tossed her hair in triumph as she started walking again, only to stop in her tracks when Guile kept talking.

        “I mean, with that comparison, anything would look cool,” he said.

        Diamond Tiara spun around, her eyes bugging and mouth hanging open.

        Silver Spoon covered her mouth but only succeeded in stifling her laugh. 

        Diamond Tiara faux-glared at Silver Spoon. “Traitor,” she joked.

        “Sorry, sorry,” Silver Spoon said between laughs.

        Guile pressed his hoof to his forehead and shook his head, smiling the whole time. “I’ve gotta get home, I have work to do,” he said.

        “Later, blank flank!” The two mares yelled after him. 

        “Come on,” Diamond Tiara said to Silver Spoon. “We’ve got our own work to do.” She turned around and started heading to her house, knowing that Silver Spoon was right behind her.




-----Later, in Diamond Tiara’s Bedroom-----




        “Maybe we should only have a quarter of the cupcakes be vanilla?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I mean, everypony loves chocolate, but only a few ponies like vanilla cake. What do you think?” She looked up from the paper she was writing on and faced the filly laying on the floor next to her.

        “Sounds good,” Silver Spoon said. The two fillies were laying on the wooden floor of Diamond Tiara’s bedroom, their back legs bent at the knee and resting against the side of her bed, as they finished up the preparations for Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera. They had been working on the last item of the menu, cupcakes, and deciding how much of which type there should be.

        Diamond Tiara read the numbers back, “So, eighty total, with forty chocolate with chocolate cream, twenty red velvet with vanilla cream, and twenty vanilla with chocolate cream. Perfect!” The magenta teenager grabbed the paper off the floor and stood up. She went over to her desk and began pushing stuffed animals and school materials to the side in order to make room for it. While she was watching Diamond Tiara bunch up papers and shove toy animals, Silver Spoon’s eyes caught sight of the digital clock on the desk.

        “Wow, we got through that fast!” Silver Spoon said.

        Diamond Tiara smiled proudly. “Yeah. While Cheerilee was talking, I was able to put the whole thing together in my head,” she said.

        “Wow.”

        “Yeah, well, not all of us were able to spend the last half-hour of class staring at colts,” Diamond Tiara teased as she finally put the paper down on the desk.

        “W- what?” Silver Spoon asked.

        “Oh come on, I saw you checking out Guile.”

        “I was not checking out Guile!” Silver Spoon said as she sat up.

        “Oh? Then why were you looking straight at him?” Diamond Tiara sat down on her bed.

        Silver Spoon scooted away from the bed a bit and turned around to face Diamond Tiara as she explained herself. “I was-” The grey filly stopped when realized how stupid she would sound if she said she was cloud watching using Guile’s hoodie. “Look, just, never mind what I was doing!”

        “And you were upset when he told us yesterday that he was busy on Sunday,”

        “I didn’t want him to miss the party!” Silver Spoon protested. 

        “Okay, what about when he took off that piece of swiss cheese he calls a jacket? You couldn’t take your eyes off of him.”

        Diamond Tiara had her there, so Silver Spoon scrambled for something to say. “I was just so surprised that he didn’t have a cutie mark yet,” she lied.

        Diamond Tiara bought it. “Yeah, like, I couldn’t believe it either,” she said as she leaned back on her bed. “I mean, he sure doesn’t act like a blank flank.”

        After Silver Spoon’s internal sigh of relief, she remembered why they were talking about blank flanks originally. Just like that, the image of Applebloom’s head hanging as she walked away came back into her mind, bringing the bad feeling with it.

        Diamond Tiara noticed the shadow that passed over her friend’s face. “What’s up?”

        “...Huh?” Silver Spoon looked up at her friend again. “Oh, nothing.”

        “Great!” Diamond Tiara jumped off of her bed. “Well, we’ve got some free time. Wanna watch a movie? I’ll have the servants make popcorn,” she offered, already pushing the button on her wall that would patch her voice into the kitchen.

        “Yeah, sure,” Silver Spoon said. While her friend started making the preparations, Silver Spoon thought. From Diamond Tiara ordering the popcorn to leading her down to the massive home entertainment studio in her house, Silver Spoon thought.

        We were just teasing her. I mean, she had to know that. Guile knew that. He was more annoyed that we insulted that hoodie. Besides, Silver Spoon rationalized, if she’s still upset after Diamond Tiara invited her to the party, it’s her fault. She shouldn’t take things so seriously.

        Diamond Tiara nudged Silver Spoon, getting her attention.

        When Silver Spoon turned to look at her, Diamond Tiara asked, “So, what do you wanna watch?”

        “Oh, uh, uh, you pick.” Silver Spoon went back to staring into space with a shadow in her expression.

        “Okay.” Diamond Tiara smiled as she picked the film.

        Silver Spoon smiled back, pushing her thoughts into the background as she tried to relax. She didn’t do a very good job of it, as Diamond Tiara saw her distress as the film started.

        “Hey, don’t worry, the party’s gonna be amazing!” she said, misinterpreting what Silver Spoon was worried about. Still, Silver Spoon smiled, nodded, and leaned back to enjoy the movie. Nothing to do now but wait until Sunday.




-----At the Cute-Ceañera-----




        This is a disaster, Silver Spoon thought as she exited SugarCube Corner, following Diamond Tiara. She had never seen her best friend like this. Diamond Tiara’s mouth was locked, the strain on her jaw obvious even from the back. Her every step pounded the ground like she was trying to snap her own ankles. Her breaths came out in forceful shudders, the air being blasted out of her nose like carbon-dioxide had killed her parents. She tried to keep her face away from Silver Spoon’s concerned eyes, but she had still managed to catch a few glimpses before they left and see a gathering of tears resting on Diamond Tiara’s squinted eyelids.

        Silver Spoon closed the door to the bakery, shutting out the sounds of foals playing and laughing. She followed Diamond Tiara, feeling sick and worthless as she saw her friend trying to not to break down in front of her, desperately in need of her help, and she couldn’t think of anything to say. After a couple blocks, the sound of Diamond Tiara’s angry breathing as she choked back sobs became too much for her. She had to say something.

        “Diamond,” Silver Spoon said as she reached out to tap her friend on the shoulder, only to yank the foreleg back like a cobra had just popped out when Diamond Tiara spun around.

        “What?!” Diamond Tiara said, a level of venom in her voice that Silver Spoon had never heard before. 

        Silver Spoon stopped dead in her tracks, all thoughts of speaking left her head as she saw Diamond Tiara’s face. The fur on her face was clumped together and matted down from her tears. Her eyes were red, and puffy, and angry. Her teeth were clenched in a scowl. 

        Silver Spoon stared at her with worry and the worst kind of pain, the pain of being useless when a friend’s in need, but all Diamond Tiara could see in her face was pity and fear. She spun back around, so Silver Spoon could only see her back,

        “I- I- I-” Diamond Tiara tried to force out without sobbing, “ju- just g- go away.”

        Silver Spoon tried talking again. “Di-”

        Diamond Tiara turned around again. “Leave me alone!” she screamed at her best friend. When she saw the way Silver Spoon recoiled from her, she looked at the ground, disgusted with herself and the world. She turned away again. “P- please,” she said as she walked away.

        Silver Spoon tried to reach out for her again, but she had gone out of reach and the grey filly felt that her legs had turned to lead. Try as she might, she couldn’t go to her friend. She just stood there, one foreleg reaching out, until Diamond Tiara turned a corner and vanished from view. Silver Spoon finally put her leg down. She turned around, and went in the opposite direction, her tears fogging up her glasses.

        The party had started out so well too. SugarCube Corner had managed to complete all of the order exactly on time, most of the guests arrived at around the same time so there was no awkward standing around in the big empty cafe, and everypony seemed to be enjoying themselves. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were going through the room, Diamond Tiara periodically getting complimented on her party and getting a larger look of satisfaction with each one.

        Then she caught sight of Applebloom. Looking back, Silver Spoon wished she had resisted Diamond Tiara a little more when she said that they should go talk to the yellow earth pony. But it was her party, and Silver Spoon wasn’t going to keep her friend from talking to someone else.

        It was nice at first. Applebloom had told them that she had a new cutie mark, and Silver Spoon felt happy for her, really, she had heard about her spending Saturday trying to figure it out, and she could tell Diamond Tiara was impressed. But she refused to show it to them. Neither of the fillies pressed the issue, and Applebloom walked away. Then the pink scrap of fabric fell down.

        Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara called her out on her lie, and everything went downhill from there. First those Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, then Applebloom’s big sister, then the Princess’s student, slowly the party’s attention was taken away from Diamond Tiara. Try as she might, Diamond Tiara couldn’t get the crowd’s attention back onto her. She was being ignored at her own party, the party she had spent so long putting together. Not just ignored, vilified. It was too much for her, and she couldn’t take it anymore. Silver Spoon tried to cheer her up, but to no avail. She left. With Silver Spoon close behind her, Diamond Tiara was forced to leave her own party out of embarrassment, even pushing away her best friend.

        Silver Spoon walked through the streets, replaying the events over and over in her head, trying to think of what she could have done to avoid the situation.

        I could’ve stopped Applebloom from talking about her cutie mark. I could’ve kept her away from Diamond Tiara. I could’ve seen through her not wanting to show us her brand-new cutie mark. I should’ve seen through it! How didn’t I?! Applebloom would’ve been shouting it from the rooftops if she had found her cutie mark, the big deal she made about… Silver Spoon sighed as she realized something. She didn’t make a big deal about it. I should’ve kept Diamond Tiara from teasing her about it. I shouldn’t have made fun of her about it.

        The epiphany didn’t do anything to make Silver Spoon feel better. And now, because I didn’t, Diamond Tiara’s crying her eyes out. What do I do? Silver Spoon walked a while more, repeating the question to herself over and over again, each repetition making the feeling of emptiness spread further throughout her body. Finally, she stopped as a memory came up. Way back at the start of the school year, Cheerilee showed the class a video on bullying.

        I have to apologize to Applebloom tomorrow. Once I do that, she’ll have to apologize to Diamond Tiara, right? Silver Spoon thought. That’s what happened in the video. It has to work! Why else would they teach it to us?

        With a clear plan in her head, Silver Spoon turned back towards her house, crafting the perfect apology in her head. Hey, Applebloom- no, that sounds too fake. Applebloom, I was hoping to talk to you about- no, that makes it sound like I’m embarrassed to apologize to her. Dear, Applebloom- ugh, I’m going to be saying it to her, not writing her a letter. 

        Silver Spoon made it home, into the shower, and into bed, all the while thinking about her plan to apologize. When it was polished to her satisfaction she closed her eyes and went to sleep, eager, for once in her life, for the next day of school.




-----The Next Day of School-----




        Silver Spoon’s refusal to fall asleep until she had composed the perfect apology had bitten her in the ass. She was only barely able to get to the schoolhouse before class started, leaving her only a couple minutes to apologize before the class started. She rushed to the door, stopping just before opening it to make sure she didn’t look sweaty and overeager. Once she had calmed herself down to the point that it looked like she had just calmly walked into the building, she stepped into the room.

        She glanced at Diamond Tiara’s seat and found it empty, only strengthening her resolve. She looked at Applebloom’s seat and found that she was already seated with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing next to her. The trio was talking about something.

        Reciting her perfect apology one more time in her head, Silver Spoon confidently walked over to the trio. As soon as they caught view of the bespectacled filly, the conversation stopped. 

        “What do you want?” Applebloom asked, her eyes narrowed.

        Silver Spoon felt a little intimidated, what with all three fillies staring at her with a cross look. “I just wanted to-”

        “What, call us all blank flanks again?” Scootaloo interrupted.

        “Yeah, we’ve heard that already,” Sweetie Belle said.

        Silver Spoon was taken aback. “N- no, I-”

        “Besides, it’s not like you’ve got one that’s all that great,” Scootaloo said. “A spoon? What are you, really good at eating breakfast?”

        “It- It’s not-” Silver Spoon stammered out. “I just wanted to talk to Applebl-”

        “Look, whatever you have to say to me, I’d really rather not hear it! It can’t be that important, or Diamond Tiara would be the one saying it,” Applebloom said, her voice low and acidic.

        “I- I-” All the rehearsing Silver Spoon had done went out the window in the presence of three pairs of cold eyes. She stood there, stammering, as the looks on their faces went from angry to amused at her discomfort. 

        “Attention!” Cheerilee called. “It’s time for class to begin! Please, everypony go to your seats.” 

        Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo went to their chairs and Silver Spoon slid into hers. Fortunately everypony was focused on Cheerilee so no one noticed that Silver spoon’s head was buried in her forelegs. 

        “I just wanted to tell you,” she mumbled, to quietly for even herself to hear it, “I’m sorry.”