> Three of Diamonds
>  by Anzel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. My Trip To The Faire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, Azurite, from my notes it has been eight months since you told me that you’d entered into this multi-pony relationship. How is that going lately?” 

This was a different train of conversation than normal. Mindful Soul usually focused more on my panic attacks and my feelings about the pony I had killed. “Things are going pretty well. I mean I’m not an expert at relationships but I have to assume that all of them have challenges. We have our challenges like anypony else.”

“When you say challenges, what do you mean?” she asked.

“You know… challenges,” I said, shrugging. “Ponies disagree sometimes. Although not too often. Mostly it is the challenges that surround us. Some ponies think we’re weird or sick or who knows. I get tired of explaining what we have sometimes. So… we don’t.”

Mindful Soul took down some notes. “Do you think you’re in a healthy relationship?”

What did that mean? I frowned. “Yes, I do. It is certainly the best relationship I’ve ever had.”

“You’ve admitted it yourself that you haven’t had very many. Are you sure you’re not just settling because you didn’t want to make a tough decision?”

“No, I’m certainly not settling! In fact I’d say I’m being greedy. Most ponies get to love one pony. I get to love two and they love me back. It is still the best relationship I’ve ever had.”

She held up a hoof. “Easy, Azurite, I’m not judging. I’m just asking. Are you still seeing Sandy?”

My hackles were still up but I tried to accept the change of topic. “I am, just like you told me to and just like she asked. Every week we do something together. It is like old times, actually. I don’t really see the wheels anymore either. She is just Sandy. Super strong Sandy.”

“That is wonderful progress.” More notes. Always taking those notes. “How about your fear of crowds. Is that getting any better?”

Deep breath. She won’t be angry. She’s never angry. “Mostly no. We’ve tried the little exercises but I usually freak out. If Sunny and Soarin keep everypony about two meters away from me it's okay. Not great but okay… and that wears them out. It is easier outside but we just avoid crowds.”

Her quill scribbled on the page, levitated by green magic. “If you don’t try, Azurite, you’re not going to be able to learn to deal with the panic better.”

“I try! I do. Sometimes. Look, I just don’t see why I have to be able to go places where there are crowds. Crowds are bad. When there are crowds ponies get—”

“Killed?” she interjected.

With a sigh I replied, “Trampled, rude, angry, and other words like that.”

“Nightmares still?”

“Not as many. None with Sandy anymore. Just him. Him and his foals. Him, his foals, and his angry wife. Him, his adult foals, and their angry spouses.” 

Mindful Soul took a few more notes and then set her pad down. “Perhaps you should go see them?”

“Now I know you’re the one that needs therapy. That is crazy! I killed their dad and made her a widow. No thank you.”

She sat silently for a while as if considering that and then shrugged. “Well, we’re almost out time. You’re obviously doing better. You’re not in tears and you seem happier. That is good to see. Tell me, are you still unable to discuss sex like an adult?”

“What? Me? No,” I sputtered.

Mindful Soul said, “Azurite, you’re with two ponies. You’ve been with the same two ponies for about a year. Clearly you’re having sex. We talked about promiscuity and now you’re in a committed relationship. You can say sex.”

I couldn’t see it but I knew my face was turning all kinds of red. “Nope.”

“You’re not having sex?”

“Yup!”

“Yes you are or yes you’re not?”

“We play sports!”

Mindful Soul lightly rubbed her temple with a hoof. “Okay, next time we’re going to talk about this. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

“Next time! Thank you. Gotta go back to work. Bye bye!” And out the door I went.  

My hooves took me quickly from the medical building to the street and then on to the palace. From there I headed to my office, unlocked the door with my magic, and went in. Mr. Clockerson ticked softly from his spot on the wall. He was a good clock.

“It went fine.” 

“Tick, tick, tick.”

“No, I didn’t cry. She wanted to talk about…” My voice drew to a whisper. “...sex.”

“Tick, tickity, tick tick!” 

“That is what I said. Look, we’ve got work to do okay?” My gaze fell to the stack of forms on my desk. “You didn’t get anything done while I was gone?”

“Tick.”

My eyes rolled. “Fine, you did your job. I see the little pointers are still moving. I’ll get to all of this right away!”

Some of the paperwork was for ponies I recognized from last year. Those were the easiest to do. Just little tweaks here and there to make certain they were up to date. Most of them wouldn’t even require an appointment. There was a new bunch though. That is what would consume the most time.

“Knock knock,” Lieutenant Brook, my commanding officer, said at the door. “Working hard, Azurite?”

The small nest of files I had built around me suggested that that was the case so I nodded. “Yes, sir. Plenty of ponies to prepare paperwork for.”

He chuckled and nodded. “I see. Big plans this weekend?”

Happily I clapped my hooves together. “Yes, sir! We’re going to the faire in Ponyville. I’ve heard it is all kinds of fun.”

“Oh that does sound like fun. Word around the palace is that Princess Luna is going, too.”

“Really? That’s neat. I never imagined a princess going to a faire. How about you, sir? Any plans?” 

“Nothing particular. I think the wife and I will spend some time in the garden. It has been getting a little out of hoof lately and could use some work.”

The idea of the lieutenant gardening made me giggle. At least on the inside. He was always so proper and neat that imagining him covered in dirt and grass stains was hard. “Well, sir, show those weeds that royal guards don’t stand for… um, weeds?”

“I’ll do that. Just to let you know, some paperwork came through that I pushed a while back. You’re getting a service award for all the hard work you do.” 

“Really? I’ve never gotten an award before! Thank you!”

He smiled and waved. “You’ve more than earned it. Have a good weekend, Azurite. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Yes, sir! See you then.”

A quick glance up at Mr. Clockerson let me know it was time to pick up the palace missives and start delivering them to the officers. Historically it was grunt work that was given to new ponies so that they could learn the palace. I had really enjoyed doing it, however, so I’d kept the responsibility.

Each missive afforded me time to meet with a different pony, briefly chat, and move on. My favorite stop, of course, was my last one. Lieutenant Sunny Day was always last. She was the commander of Princess Celestia’s House Guard and her office was the furthest away. 

Of course none of those facts were the reason I stopped there last. The real reason was because we were marefriends and I wanted to spend some time with her without worrying about anypony else waiting on internal mail. 

Happily I trotted through her open door. Sunny Day was at her desk working on some paperwork. She looked up. “That time already Azu?”

“Yup! You have eight today.” Purple magic surrounded the missives and slowly levitated them over to Sunny’s desk.

“Only eight?” Sunny asked sarcastically. That wasn’t like her at all!

My happy hooves were now less happy but they took me around her desk to settle at her side. “Is something wrong?”

Sunny rubbed her eyes before looping a hoof around me. “I’m still in command of the palace and Princess Celestia has a full schedule for the next month. That is following up a month that was also packed. She is taking on so much it is running us ragged. Raven literally just dropped off a new request for this weekend and I’m spread so thin I’ll be lucky to get this all organized in time.”

This weekend? Oh no, no, no. “We’re going to the faire this weekend,” I reminded her.

Slowly she shook her head, “I’m sorry, Azu, I can’t. If I could do anything I would but my ponies are close to dropping. Going to the faire while the unit is half dead would look horrible and destroy morale.”

It took a lot of effort not to frown. “No, you’re right. That makes sense.” Softly I pushed up to nose her cheek. “We’ll go next year.”

“We as in all three of us, yes. This year, you’re still going. You and Soarin should go have a good time.”

“And have you come home alone, exhausted, and lonely? No way!” I put a hoof down.

Sunny laughed softly and booped my nose with her hoof. “You’re cute when you’re trying to be firm. Look, I’ll probably just crash here at the palace. You know I slept alone before I met you, right? It would kill me to think that after you bravely decided to go to the faire you’d drop the idea for my job. It is settled. You and Soarin will go. He can fly you out if you get panicked.” 

Softly I huffed and tried to look cross. She pushed my helmet up and leaned down to softly kiss me. “It is settled,” she repeated. I knew better than to argue. Especially when she was right. 

“Okay, I’ll bring you something back. Ooh! Would you like me to go tell Princess Celestia that you’ve got too much on your plate?”

Sunny Day smiled at me. It was one of her frightening, predatory smiles. “Yes, Azu, by all means, please go do that.”

“I might!”

“You might. Why don’t you tell her right now?” Sunny pointed past me towards the door. “Hello, Princess.”

With a squeal I immediately dropped to the ground and lowered my eyes. How other ponies could do any less in her presence was beyond me. I’d only run across the princess a few times but every time I had my legs wouldn’t work.

Sunny was giggling uncontrollably with a hoof pressed to her mouth. That sort of behavior would be highly inappropriate in front of the princess. It would be… “Sunny!” I squeaked before looking up. Princess Celestia was not, in fact, in the door.

“I’m sorry! You’re just so easy. Come here.” She looped her hooves around me and offered an apologetic hug, which I accepted.

“I should get back to work. You’ll at least come home tonight so we can see you before we leave?” I asked.

“Of course. I’ll be there.”

“Okay, see you then!” Reluctantly I slipped out of her embrace and headed back to my office. There was paperwork to do!


♦♦♦


Soarin stood patiently by the window looking down into the street. “Sunny is going to be late again?”

“Yeah, she’s still in command of the palace and Princess Celestia is really busy this month.” My magic slowly engulfed a plate and levitated it to the table. I followed the process with two others as I got everything ready for dinner.

The pegasus nodded and went over to the stove so he could start making dinner. “We haven’t been seeing much of her lately.”

I nibbled on my lip. “I do… but only at the palace during work hours. I know what you mean, though. It is an awfully big bed for only two ponies.”

Soarin chuckled at that and softly shook the pan back and forth over the fire. “Are you going to be okay at the faire with just me?”

“Probably. Ponyville is pretty spread out and if things get bad enough you can fly me out. My counselor says I have to at least try if I want to get better.” 

The stallion nodded. “Seems reasonable. I’m sure you’ll be fine. We’ll just keep an eye on the crowd and…” He trailed at the sound of the door lock being worked.

It took a little longer than usual for Sunny Day to get the spell right. The lock finally clicked and the door swung open to reveal our golden-coated marefriend looking even more frazzled than when I’d seen her earlier.

Her mane was all over the place from being hidden beneath a helmet all day, her coat was dull, and there was a bit of red in her eyes. “I’m home,” she said as cheerfully as she could to us.

Soarin replied, “Welcome home. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Why don’t you sit and relax?”

“Thank you. I didn’t get lunch so that is going to be a treat.” Sunny settled herself onto one of the kitchen chairs and I looped my hooves around her to hug.

“I’m sorry work has been so busy for you lately. It is just until the end of the month though, right? Could you ask for help?” I asked.

Sunny grumbled softly, “I hope so. The princess has just been keeping her usual schedule. With me inheriting the palace it is getting overwhelming. I think Major Aegis and Captain Dancer are getting better. Plus, with any luck, Silent Knight might start being useful again.”

Soarin’s ear flicked. He lifted the skillet from the stove and brought it over to the table. Once there he carefully started portioning out food onto our plates. Tonight was some sort of pasta with vegetables and a cream sauce. I rarely knew what I was eating; I just knew it was tasty.

“What about your company commander? Russet Rook, right? And why isn’t this Silent Knight pony being useful? From what you’ve said he isn’t a lazy pony, right?” Soarin asked curiously.

“Yeah, Russet Rook. He is trying to knock out his captain and advanced leadership courses all at the same time. Silent Knight works for Princess Luna. He had some vacation and then immediately had to go pick her up from Haven. Plus he or they also disappear some nights. Classified. That is all I ever hear. He comes back injured and just says classified. It had best be some serious business or I’ll murder him,” Sunny explained.

“I like him. He is stuffy but I feel like he is a good pony. He did bring back earrings for us, after all. You seem to want to murder him often enough though,” I pointed out before moving to my spot at the table. “I thought you two were friends.”

Sunny levitated a napkin onto her lap and picked up a fork. “We are. He’s just… sometimes he is so… Silent Knight! I don’t know. Either way he isn’t helping me right now. He isn’t part of the problem, but still… Enough about work though. What have you two been up to?”

“Puzzles!” is what I said but Soarin said “Tea party!” over me.

I looked at Soarin and asked, “Tea party? Really?”

He just shrugged and Sunny giggled. “You don’t have to lie. I’m not going to get jealous. I’m at work, you two are here alone… I can do the math.”

“We did legitimately get halfway through a puzzle last night. It has puppies and they are adorable,” I said, pointing out into the living room. 

“I’m sure they are,” Sunny replied as she ate.

Soarin shifted and asked, “Would you like for me to come stand guard for you or help with your schedule? That way you could sleep a little?”

Sunny’s ears stood up. “You, a Wonderbolt and a vice commander, want to stand guard?”

He shrugged. “If it makes your life easier.”

“You’re adorable but no. That would never fly, pun intended, and honestly I’m not sure you would even be up to the task. You’re used to zipping about. Imagine standing still for 12 hours.” Sunny explained cheerfully.

“I could do it,” Soarin replied, his pride a little wounded it seemed.

“I believe you… but it still wouldn’t do. Why don’t we all have dinner and talk about something other than work, okay? It is Friday after all!”

We stopped talking about work but then everything just got silent as we ate. The only noise was the sound of forks against plates.

“I’m getting an award,” I blurted randomly.

Both Soarin and Sunny turned to me in modest surprise. Probably not the award part, just the awkward-silence-breaking blurting part. 

“Really? That is great!” Sunny said.

Soarin agreed, “Yes it is. What kind of award?”

“A service award for… I guess doing my job well? The lieutenant put me in for it. He said it was going to happen.”

“You do go the extra mile,” Soarin said.

“Yup!” Sunny agreed. “I’m proud of you. That will look great in your file.”

“And on my armor!” I chimed in.

Soarin’s head tilted. “Uh… I think it is more like a piece of paper Azurite. An award, not a medal.” He looked to Sunny for help. “Right?”

The mare nibbled her lip and nodded. “Yeah… he is right. Sorry, Azu. We can frame it and hang it on the wall in your office if you like, though.”

I’d always wanted a medal other than that one I got from before. That one was buried in a closet somewhere. I suppose this was just as good, but I shook my head. “No… Mr. Clockerson would just be jealous. I don’t want to flaunt my success.”

“Oh, you got an officemate?” Soarin asked cheerfully.

“Don’t ask,” Sunny replied.


♦♦♦


“Now you two have fun,” Sunny said. She was still in her robe and a mug of coffee was floating nearby, wrapped in her golden magic. “If she gets scared just fly her out.”

Soarin nodded. “I know. Try not to overdo it, okay?” He leaned in and the two smooched.

“I’ll do my best. See you late tonight… or tomorrow… maybe… see you later,” Sunny replied before leaning down to smooch me, too. “Don’t feel bad if you need to leave.”

“I won’t! We’ll see you tonight.” Tonight sounded better. We could always drop into the palace.

We said a few more goodbyes and then Soarin scooped me up princess style and set off for Ponyville. I don’t care how many times he has flown me, I still loved the feeling. It didn’t take long to get there and he touched down outside of town.

Ponyville was packed full of booths for the Summer Faire. All kinds of vendors were selling their wares, hosting games, and putting on little performances. It was pretty cool. It was also outside and the wide streets didn’t make it seem too closed off.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Soarin asked.

“Nope… but Mindful Soul says I have to try. Besides… faire!” I said, motioning to town and all of the fun.

He chuckled and nodded. “Alright, what do you want to do first?”

“Funnel cakes!” I cheered before trotting towards the nearest booth. It had a big sign over it that boldly claimed, ‘We serve Equestria’s largest funnel cakes. They’re so big you’ll only need one!’

“No argument here,” he replied and followed after. His eyes flicked over the sign and he grinned. “We’ll see about that.”

The whole place was just starting to get into the swing of things and it wasn’t packed out yet. That was a good thing. “Two funnel cakes please!” I said, pushing bits towards the orange unicorn behind the counter.

“Two? Well, alright! Coming right up!” she replied before setting to work.

Soarin was looking around and, surprisingly, not focusing on the giant funnel cakes that were coming our way. 

“What’s up?” I asked him.

“Princess Luna’s House Guard is here. Probably all of them. Look.”

The funnel cakes levitated to my side of the counter and I wrapped them in my magic. They actually felt a bit heavy. “Thank you,” I told the mare before stepping over to Soarin. “Oh yeah, I heard Princess Luna is coming. They’re just doing the guard thing.” I floated a funnel cake over to Soarin’s muzzle and softly bumped him with it. “Giant funnel cake!”

Soarin laughed. “Okay, okay! I get it. You have to remember that I’m not used to being in the palace surrounded by these ponies. They look so much more sinister than the rest in that dark armor.” He took the cake from my magical field and started eating.

“They’re not sinister,” I replied between bites of the delicious fried treat. “They just match the princess. I can introduce you to most of them. I do their paperwork. The old section sergeant used to work for Sunny. The new one is pretty nice, too.”

The stallion’s funnel cake had already disappeared and he was busy licking his lips, eyeing mine. “I still think it is weird seeing a bunch of guards at a festival like this. What next?”

“Mmm… I think Trixie has a show somewhere. Why don’t we see if we can find that and then just go where the day takes us?” I asked.

“Seems reasonable.”

We wandered about the faire for a bit taking in all of the sights. For a small town Ponyville had really gone all out. So much so that it had drawn in ponies from neighboring villages. It was starting to make me nervous but I stuck close to Soarin and most of them weren’t looking our way. Plus, thankfully, the place was full of guards. I always felt comfortable around other guards.

“Oh, I think I see Trixie’s show,” Soarin said, pointing a hoof. 

“Great why don’t we go over—woah!” I ducked as a large barrage of fireworks shot overhead without any warning. “Is that supposed to happen?”

Soarin’s eyes were wide and he looked around. “No idea… keep your head down and follow me.”

“Is that some kind of short joke?” I retorted before doing exactly what he’d said. 

We went together towards Trixie’s booth and arrived without being blown to bits. She had already started and I could tell immediately that this was a new act for her.

Trixie had marionettes and was putting on a play that was, evidently, loosely based on a real event that had happened in town.

The Trixie marionette was trotting out in front of a violet and purple unicorn and an orange and yellow earth pony. “Save us from the ursa major, Trixie, please!” the marionettes called.

From the opposite side of the stage a large blue bear marionette started stomping towards the little Ponyville set. “RAWR!”

“The great and powerful Trixie was not afraid! She bravely stepped in to save all her friends in Ponyville,” Trixie narrated as the marionette that resembled her went up to the ursa major and enveloped it in its blue magic. 

With a quick motion the ursa went flying away.

“And with that, the great and powerful Trixie saved the day!”

There was some light hoof stomping and no cheers. It was a lukewarm reception at best. Between you and me, and never tell her I wrote this, it wasn’t near as good as her stage show.

“Thank you all for watching The Great And Powerful Trixie’s Traveling Magical Puppet Show! Please be sure to come see me live in Canterlot,” Trixie said as she finished. She looked a bit disappointed as the small crowd started to break up and move on.

I eased back behind Soarin. I wasn’t sure I wanted to engage Trixie following such lackluster review. Then something white and purple caught my eye. “Oh, hey!”

“Hmm? If you found another faire treat I’m not sure I’m ready to eat again after that funnel cake,” Soarin replied.

“What? Oh.” I laughed and then pointed. “No, look. That is Silent Knight.” On the opposite side of Trixie’s caravan was a white pegasus. His mane and tail were two tones of blue that matched his flight feathers.

Silent Knight was keeping a rather vigilant watch on the comings and goings of the ponies. He was one of Princess Luna’s House Guards and wore the group’s dark purple armor.

“Okay… The one Sunny was complaining about? You do his paperwork?” Soarin asked.

Quickly I nodded and grabbed his hoof. “Yes, but don’t mind that. And yes, I do! We’re also kind of sort of acquaintances. Come on, let’s go say hello.” I dragged the big stallion over while calling, “Silent Knight! Hi! Hello! Down here!”

The guard’s tufted ears flicked and he turned towards me. He briefly smiled and said, “Well, Warrant Officer Azurite. Hello there.” His eyes then shifted to Soarin.

“Just Azurite today! I’m off duty.” My eyes followed his and then I added, “Oh yeah! This is my stallli… my spec… my Soarin.”

My heart sunk a little bit. Most ponies weren’t aware that Sunny, Soarin, and I were in a three-pony relationship. As far as I knew Silent Knight had never met Soarin and as far as he knew I was only with Sunny.

Of course Sunny talked about Silent a decent amount when discussing work at home. Like the following evening, for instance. I was hoping Soarin wouldn’t say something foolish.  This could get awkward or even hurt Sunny’s career.

Soarin laughed and offered a hoof. “I’m Soarin. Nice to meet you. Although I feel like I’ve heard your name before, other than from Azurite.”

“I’m not sure how that would be,” Silent Knight replied. He then waved it off, thankfully. “Of course I imagine most ponies know your name. You’re one hay of a flyer.”

Soarin shrugged. “I do my best. Are you stuck on duty all day?”

Silent Knight shook his head. “No actually. I worked the first half and hoofed over the second to my section sergeant. I’m actually here with my fiancée.” He motioned to a nearby caricature booth where a beautiful unicorn mare was seated having her likeness drawn.

She had a white coat that seemed to have just a hint of cream in it and a luxurious blonde mane. It was the sort that the nicer ladies in Canterlot had. There was also a little rebellious pink streak through it that set her apart.

“Oh, wow, she’s pretty!” I said, staring a little too long. Soarin’s hoof teasingly came around me and tugged me back.

“Easy tiger. She’s spoken for.”

I laughed, he laughed, and Silent Knight just looked confused. “Thank you,” he said but there was a bit of a questioning inflection to it.

“We’ll let you be,” Soarin said with a smile. “Have a good afternoon.”

“Bye!” I added.

Silent Knight nodded and replied as we headed off, “You do the same. Have fun.”
> 2. My Investigation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“He seems nice enough,” Soarin said to me. “All business, though. Of course that wasn’t the highlight of that show. I knew Sunny had a wandering eye but I didn’t expect you to as well,” he teased.

“If he hadn’t pointed her out I wouldn’t have wandered! That is like putting a carrot in front of a rabbit. The rabbit can’t help it,” I protested.

“Sure, sure… Hey, that looks like fun!” Soarin pointed to a bright pink tent with a giant ‘love advisor’ sign on it.

I wrinkled my nose. “We don’t need love advice! We have tons of love! Buckets of love!” I looped my hooves around his neck and tugged him against me… and by that I mean I tugged myself up against him.

The stallion laughed and started walking towards the tent while taking me for a mild drag. “Oh come on, I’m sure it will be silly. What’s the harm? What if it’s like a kissing booth? Pay a few bits, kiss a mare?”

“You have two mares to kiss!”

Soarin laughed and winked down at me. “Come on, Azurite, what are you afraid of?”

That was a fair question. Sometimes I still felt like I wasn’t good enough for Soarin and Sunny. It was sort of like they’d just taken me in. That is why I always worked so hard to be a good marefriend. He was right, though, this was just some silly faire love advisor.

I let go and got up to trot along beside him. “Fine, fine. If she says I’m your little sister, I’m going to punch her right in the snoot, though.”

“No, you won’t.”

“I might!”

“I really don’t think so.” Soarin chuckled as he pushed the tent flap aside and wandered in.

There was little arguing with that. I certainly wasn’t prone to punching and, when I was, I liked to let Soarin handle that sort of thing for me. Call me old fashioned or sexist or whatever, but I like a stallion that can fight for his mare… or mares, in our case. Although Sunny was better in a fight so maybe they could both just fight for me.

While I figured out the dynamics in my head of who would fight whom I stepped through the flap after Soarin. My eyes fell on the love advisor. “It’s her!” I squeaked in surprise.

The pink on pink on pink pegasus behind the little heart shaped table squealed in delight, “It’s her! It’s her! It’s her who?”

“You!” I squeaked.

“You who?” she replied.

“Lovey Dovey!” I finally said, exasperated. “Don’t you remember me? I tried to be your client and you… you… well, you weren’t helpful!”

Soarin’s head was tilted and he looked extremely confused. His eyes kept flicking from me to Lovey and back.

Lovey Dovey’s wings flapped and she hovered just a bit. “What do you mean? You didn’t need any help! Your love lines were pretty clear and you’d already met your ponies. Did it not work out? It sure looks like it worked out. He’s a stud!”

“Wait, love lines?” Soarin broke in as I sputtered and tried to refute the pink nightmare. “Isn’t that the stuff Sunny was always talking about? How do you know each other?”

All I could do was nod and before I could come up with a reasonable explanation and/or white lie, there was a delighted squeal and a blur of pink as Lovey swooped in to hug the stallion. 

“Sunny Day and I are friends from way back! It wasn’t too terribly long ago that I was in the palace and met a grumpy guard who took me to see her because I forgot my pass. Actually, I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my pass again… hey, do you know how to get a new pass? Sunny would know… oh, yes, Sunny! Her love lines were a lot less tangled than they used to be.”

Soarin looked suspicious but asked, “And you know Azurite, too? Are untangled love lines good?”

“If you want to find true love, it is!” Lovey chirped, not hearing or just ignoring the first question. She then pointed at us. “You two have a very strong love line between you—” Her eyes lingered longer than made me comfortable as she then added, “The other one looks like it needs a little work.”

“What?” Soarin asked in surprise. “What do you mean by that?”

I slipped in between him and Lovey, putting a hoof over her mouth before she could respond. “Don’t worry about it. It was nice to see you again, Lovey. Drop in sometime or maybe don’t. Okay?” My hooves then found Soarin’s chest and I started to push him outside. At first he protested but then complied.

“That will be fun! See you later,” Lovey replied, seeming completely unaware of the distress she may have caused.

Once we were outside Soarin looked down at me. “What did she mean?”

“I have no real idea. She is kind of crazy and I’ve met her before. Sunny buys into her stuff but I don’t. Come on, don’t pay it any attention and certainly don’t over think it. She’s just a silly faire love advisor. You said it was just for fun, okay?

He still had a concerned look on his face but then he smiled. “Yeah you’re right. What does she know?”

After a sigh of relief I replied, “Exactly. Now why don’t we just go… go back to… to—” 

“Back to what?” Soarin asked.

“Yeah…” I said, my eyes locked.

“Azurite?” Soarin asked with concern. He waved his hoof in front of my face. “Are you okay? Do we need to leave?”

“Yeah…” I was fixated.

“We need to leave?” His wings unfolded in preparation.

My head shook. “No… but I need that.” I pointed and his eyes followed my hoof. Directly across the way was a ring toss booth and on the top of the prize shelf was a big stuffed pink unicorn pony plush about my size. It was staring at me with magnificently blue button eyes. 

I wandered over to booth, set my hooves on the rail, and peered up at the beautiful pony.

“Hello there, little filly. Care to try a hoof at winning the grand prize?” the pony working the booth asked. He was some sort of unicorn or pegasus. I wasn’t really paying him any mind.

“Yes,” I responded absently. 

Soarin had somehow gotten right beside me and was grinning. “You really want it, huh?”

“Yes. She’s calling to me. Win it? Please?” Reaching deep into my toolbox I found the best pair of puppy eyes I could and locked them on the stallion.

Bits immediately hit the table and Soarin said, “Bring me the rings.”


♦♦♦


“Don’t be mad. You won it!” I said cheerfully as we walked through the faire. The giant pink plush pony was resting on my back.

Soarin grumbled, “I could have bought you your own pony for as many bits as I spent.”

My ears wiggled. “I’m pretty sure slavery is illegal. Besides, didn’t you feel amazing when you finally got the ring on the bottle on the 83rd try? You’re a hero!”

“I am a Wonderbolt, I was a hero before!” he said but a smile was creeping into his voice.

“And I’m sure that really impressed the pegacorn behind the counter. To me you’re my stallionfriend that won me the biggest prize! Your valiant deed will be sung through the halls of the condo and you will be rewarded with sports-related favors.”

“There is no such thing as a pegacorn! He was a unicorn wearing cardboard wings as a costume.” The big stallion leaned down to nuzzle me. “I’m glad you’re happy and I best hear lots of singing. You seem to be doing okay out here in the crowd.”

“There aren’t a ton of ponies and they’re not crowding around me. Plus there are guards everywhere. The less I think about it the better.” I trotted along beside him and changed the subject. “Hey, do you want to go to that restaurant? The place where we had our first date? I can get drunk and this time when we get a hotel room you don’t have to be a gentlestallion!”

Soarin’s cheeks turned bright red. “Since when do you say stuff like that?”

“When you win me the biggest, softest pony plush in existence!” I looked around and then added, “And only to you and Sunny.” 

He laughed and replied, “Well, why don’t we go relive our first date, then?”

“Yay!” I cheered as we headed off for an adventure in nostalgia. “We’re not actually going to stay the night though, right? We promised we’d be home.”

Soarin shook his head. “No, we’ll just get a dirty look from the mare behind the counter and ask to pay hourly!”

“Scandalous!”

The stallion chuckled and continued on. 

Getting to the restaurant wasn’t too difficult. Most of the ponies were going the opposite direction towards the town’s center as the sun started to drift lower in the horizon. The further we got away from there the thinner the crowd got. Unfortunately it also became obvious that a lot of the shops and cafes were dark.

We approached Haut-Savoir and it was looking pretty bleak. There wasn’t a single pony out front eating and all of the tables were bare.

“I don’t see any lights on,” I said as I looked at the windows.

“Yeah… there is a sign.”

Once we were close enough to read it my ears pinned back. Soarin seemed pretty disappointed, too. It read very clearly, “Closed for the Summer Faire.” There would be no eating! No wine! Just empty tummies and sober Azurites. 

Soarin frowned. “To the hotel? We can relive that part. Assuming you’re still up to it without being drunk.”

My tail flicked and I pointed. “To the hotel! Also, the plush has to sit in the bathroom. She’s not old enough to see that sort of thing.”

The stallion looked at me curiously and then shrugged. “I can live with that.”

Our trek over to the hotel was looking equally disappointing. “Oh, come on! How can you close a hotel?” I squeaked.

“I guess they’re really serious about the summer faire. I’m sorry, Azurite, it was a great idea too. We can come back some other time though and take a trot down memory lane.” He said before patting me on the head.

“True. Well… it is kind of getting dark. Why don’t we just go home?” I asked.

“Are you sure? There is going to be a dance and fireworks,” Soarin replied.

Quickly I shook my head. “No. I did well. I don’t want to be in a place where all of these ponies concentrate into one area. Why tempt fate? I pushed the limit and won. Besides, we already survived fireworks once. I’m ready if you’re ready.”

The stallion’s wings spread and lightly flapped. “It seems weird to end on a slightly sad note but there is plenty of Saturday night left at home. Let’s get out of here, then.”

With my new plush carefully hugged to my chest I let Soarin pick me up and fly me home. It had been nice to have a mostly normal day!


♦♦♦


“We should have gotten more funnel cakes,” Soarin said as I used my magic to unlock the door. 

“I’m not sure my body could survive another funnel cake that size. You’re just hungry because we didn’t get dinner. I’ll make you something,” I replied as the lock clicked and the door opened.

We went inside and I headed to the kitchen to get started. The pink plush floated into one of the kitchen chairs while I got to work. After setting a pan on the stove I pooled some oil in it and dropped in bunch of broccoli and a little water. When I set the lid on it I noticed that Soarin was looking around curiously. 

“What?” I asked.

He picked up a golden helmet from the entry table. I always left my armor at work. It was Sunny’s. “I guess she is home?”

I hopped down off the stool I was using to reach the stove and nodded. “Guess so! Watch the broccoli, I’ll find her.”

“Yeah,” Soarin replied, going to the pot to stir it.

“I’ll be right back,” I told the pony plush and then went to check the bedroom for Sunny. She wasn’t there so I checked the bathroom. Nope. Under the bed? No. “Sunny?” I asked loudly.

Soarin’s voice called, “I could have done that!”

“She isn’t here!” I shouted again.

“Why are we shouting? Just come back in here!”

“OKAY!” I yelled as I walked into the kitchen, grinning.

The stallion laughed and shook his head. “I wonder where she went. Should we make dinner for three?”

I shook my head and replied, “No, make it for four. Don’t be rude to the new pony.”

Soarin peered at me as if he was contemplating whether or not I was serious. Then he shrugged. “Alright but I get to eat anything she doesn’t… and hey, you started this meal. How did I get stuck cooking?”

“You fell for ‘I’ll go find her.’ Be sure to put the black beans in there once the broccoli gets soft. Oh and sugar snap peas! I could deal with some sugar snap peas.’”

“I see… I’ll remember this! We went from me being a hero and you singing my praises in the condo to me cooking for you and your new friend.” 

“If you wanted totally equality you should have either dated a stallion or been born a mare! Know your place, stud!”

Soarin snorted and finished up the cooking while I set the table. Tonight we were having eastern unicorn noodles with snow peas, broccoli, black beans, and a surprise guest: carrots. It was one of my favorites. I set Sunny’s place but once the food was done we started to eat.

“Have you named your new friend yet?” He asked me.

“Mmmm… how about Soarinette, after you? Since you did bring her into our life.”

“I am flattered, but how about not. My ego can only stand so much. Besides, having a puffy pink unicorn named after me will damage my street credibility.” 

While I munched on my noodles I considered the options. “How about Pink Pony?”

His ears flicked and he nodded. “It is a bit obvious but honestly I like it. After all, what did you name your plants?” 

“Plant, Plant, and Plant. What’s your point?”

Soarin grinned. “You are very literal with your naming of things. I’m not judging, I’m just pointing out a fact. So… Pink Pony?

I nodded. “Pink Pony it is!”

The sound of the door unlocking floated in from the living room. Soarin and I turned to look through the arch that separated it from the eat-in area. Sunny came in. She wasn’t in her armor and actually she looked pretty glammed up.

Our eyes met and she blinked. “You two are home early. Did something happen at the faire? Are you okay, Azurite?”

Soarin shook his head. “No, the faire was great. We just left early because most of the shops were closed and Azurite didn’t want to go to the dance. By the look of things it seems like you were home early, too.”

Sunny looked at her helmet and then back at us. “I was, yes. The princess cut her event short after seeing how worn out the guards were. She sent us home early.”

My nose wiggled. “So… you got dressed up to come to the faire but couldn’t find us?”

Soarin cleared his throat lightly. “Azurite…”

I looked at Soarin. “She got dressed up to come to the faire.”

My marefriend’s cheeks flushed and she shook her head. “No, Azu, I didn’t. Taking a train after my day just wasn’t what I wanted to do. I got dressed up and went down to the Mare Contraire to relax.”

“I see,” I said before turning back to the table. “Well, come sit down and eat. Soarin made dinner.”

The unicorn came in and sat at her spot, staring at Pink Pony. “I see we have a guest.”

“We do,” I replied. “Sunny, this is Pink Pony. Pink Pony, this is Sunny Day.”

“Charmed,” Sunny said softly, her eyes staying focused on the plush.

Soarin went to serve her but she waved a hoof. “I’m really sorry you went to the trouble of cooking. I actually ate, too. I just thought I’d sit and enjoy the company.”

“Alright,” Soarin said, sitting back down.

“They don’t serve food at the Mare Contraire,” I mumbled.

Sunny shook her head with an almost guilty look on her face. “No, they don’t. I went there first and then went out for dinner.”

“Alone?” Soarin pried.

Sunny didn’t respond and I stared at her. “Sunny? You went alone right?”

For a minute she just sat there looking at the table. Finally... she broke. “No! I wasn’t alone. I met somepony at the Contraire who’d I’d seen there once or twice before and we went out. We had drinks and dinner, then I came straight home.”

“Another mare! Why a mare?” I squeaked, exasperated. “Sunny!”

“It was just drinks and dinner!” she replied.

“That is a date, Sunny! You picked up a mare and went out,” Soarin chimed in after looking at me. He was talking louder than I expected.

Sunny’s ears folded down. “It may have been a date.”

My head drooped a bit and then Soarin got really hot. His head shook. “Unacceptable. We had a deal.” He slipped off his chair and walked around the table to nose me. “I’m going over to the Wonderbolts’ dorm. If you need a place to stay you’re welcome and I think you should come.”

“Soarin, wait…” I started but he was already halfway out the door.

“Too angry right now,” he replied before disappearing and slamming the door behind him. That left me alone with Sunny and Pink Pony.

Sunny looked extremely guilty and ashamed. Which is exactly how she should have looked!

“Who was it?” I demanded.

The mare blinked. “What does that matter?”

“It matters to me! Who was she? Do I know her?”

“I don’t think so. I met her before I met you. Her name is Velvet Step. She’s a ballet dancer and I’ll never see her again, I promise. It was just a stupid thing to do.”

My magic wrapped around Pink Pony and I slipped off my chair. “We’re going to bed.” 

“Azu…” Sunny started.

“You promised!” I spat back and hurried out of the room. Sunny could talk me out of being mad and I didn’t want that right now. I should have gone with Soarin. He probably thought I abandoned him because I caved. Now I was mad at Sunny and Soarin was mad at us both.

Pink Pony and I curled up on one of the big pillows in the living room. Tears welled up in my eyes and I squeezed the plush tightly against me. Why a mare? Wasn’t I good enough?


♦♦♦


The next morning I was mad… all kinds of mad! Sunny, Soarin, and I had a great thing going. That should have been enough for Sunny and I was going to tell her that, too. She had to make this right.

I got up and stormed into the bedroom. The bed was neat and made and lacking Sunny. She wasn’t in the bathroom or kitchen either. She wasn’t home at all. I guess she’d left sometime during the night.

Her armor was curiously absent too. That probably meant she’d gone to stay at the palace. There were rooms there and no pony would question the house guard commander working on a Saturday.

Considering we’d chosen to live in her condo, though, I was guessing she would be back. Of course with her being gone that just gave me more time to stew. I sat with Pink Pony in the living room switching between rage and doubt.

I couldn’t understand why Sunny would have done something so foolish but I was going to put an end to it right away. There was a way out. She’d apologize to Soarin, he’d forgive her, and she’d never stray again.

Of course I had to make certain she would have no temptation. That meant making sure the other mare knew her place and to back off. It was time to take action!

The mare in question, Velvet Step, wouldn’t be too hard to find. Sunny had given me enough details even if she didn’t realize it. I’d been a city guard first and that meant having at least basic detective skills. Plus Sandy had taught me a lot. She was awesome at that sort of thing.

Canterlot only had two ballets: the Canterlot Ballet which was semi-local and the Royal Ballet of Equestria which was world renowned. If Sunny had been with Velvet Step the night before it was far more likely Velvet was in the former rather than the latter.    

That was where I headed first. The Canterlot Ballet had a performance every Saturday and Sunday so I was guessing they’d be around practicing or getting ready for the show. It was also pretty early.

I went to the stage door and knocked. It wasn’t long before it popped open and a pony stuck her head out. “Hello?” she asked.

Alright, Azurite, you have to play this cool and professional. “Good afternoon, ma’am. My name is Warrant Officer Azurite. I’m with the Royal Guard. I’m looking for Velvet Step. I understand she performs here?” After I asked my question I levitated a little notebook and pencil out of my saddle bag.
> 3. My Little Fight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pony blinked. “Oh, she does but she isn’t here today. She performs in the Sunday shows though. Is she in any kind of trouble?”

My head shook. “No, she isn’t, Miss…”

“Nightingale,” the pegasus replied.

I wrote it down in my notebook along with the date and time. Sell the lie. “Nightingale,” I repeated, keeping it cool and casual. “She isn’t in trouble but I really need to speak to her about somepony she may have seen last night. That pony is in a world of trouble.” Very clever, me!

“She’s like a witness?”

“Exactly! Do you know where I could find her?”

Nightingale looked at me curiously and asked, “Have you tried her condo?”

Oh, Azurite, a royal guard would obviously know where she lives if she knew where she worked. Play it cool. You can figure this out. After a moment of standing there silently I started to flip through my notebook. Eventually I stopped on a page that had a drawing of my fish, Mr. Peepers, on it. I rattled off Sunny’s address and said, “She wasn’t there.”

“That isn’t where she lives.”

I tapped the paper without showing it to the pony. “That is the address it says here, ma’am.”

With an exasperated sigh Nightingale replied, “The royal guard ought to keep better records. Let me give you the correct address.”

I took it down and nodded. “Thank you, ma’am. Please don’t discuss this with anypony else. It might compromise my investigation or, at worst, put Ms. Step at risk. Have a good day.”

She nodded and I went on my way. With a little clever manipulation on my part the mare had been happy to give me Velvet’s address. Me the royal guard. Not me the jealous Azurite. Perk of the job! Also, probably a career-ender if anypony ever found out. It was kind of unnerving to use what Sandy had taught me for semi-evil.

Although it wasn’t evil! I was protecting my relationship. Velvet Step shouldn’t have gone out with a mare that was spoken for. Of course I probably shouldn’t have told Nightingale my name and rank. That was stupid, Azurite.

All of that was tomorrow me’s problem, though. Today was all about revenge! I hurried through Canterlot to the address I’d been given. It was on the nicer side of town.

Velvet Step lived in a pretty fancy condo building. It was the kind that had only two exterior doors and all of the various unit doors were on the inside. That made certain there were only two ways in and two ways out. Great for security. Not great for angry little mares that didn’t want to be noticed.

I went through the main door and headed for the stairs. There were a few ponies coming and going and I didn’t make any eye contact. With my head kept down I hoped to use my size to my advantage and pass for a filly. No one would suspect a little blue filly of anything!

It wasn’t long before I found the right unit. I stood outside her door for twenty minutes or so as I psyched myself up for a conflict. It was time to be an adult, Azurite! This mare is wrecking your world. She swooped in, seduced Sunny, and rode off into the sunset while twisting her mustache.

Okay, Azurite. You’re a royal guard. You’re a mare scorned. Let’s do this! My hoof rose to bang on the door but I ended up just knocking politely instead.

It seemed like an eternity as I waited outside the door. What was taking her so long? I nibbled on my lip and thought about galloping off. It wasn’t too late to run away. There was still time to back out. I could just turn left and trot down to—

The door opened and a creamy white unicorn with a blonde mane peered down at me curiously. Our eyes briefly met and it immediately dawned on me that she wasn’t just any unicorn; she was the pretty one from the faire. This was Silent Knight’s mare! Why was she here?

The last thing I needed as a vigilant royal guard bent on revenge was mixing it up with a hugely respected officer’s mare.

“Hello there?” she offered after we’d stood in silence staring.

Wrong condo! Do you want to buy any Filly Scout cookies? Is something missing in your life? Say anything! “Oh… hi, pretty unicorn. Uh… does Velvet Step live here?” I stammered, all of the wind leaving my sail.

The unicorn nodded. “Oh! Yes, she does. Is she expecting you?”

My head shook. “No.” 

“Okay… well, can I let her know what you’re here for?”

I nibbled on my lip and said meekly, “I’m here to fight her over a mare.”

She actually giggled a little and I got the feeling she didn’t think I was serious. Turning back into the condo she called, “Velvet! A filly is here to fight you or something.”

From somewhere behind her a new voice responded, “Okay. Tell her I’ll be right out!”

“She’ll be right out,” the mare repeated before stepping back. “You can wait in the living room if you like. Would you care for some tea sweetie?”

“That would be nice, thank you.” I replied, wandering in. “I’m Azurite.” Why did you tell her your name!

“Crystal Wishes. Charmed to meet you. How do you know Velvet?” Crystal Wishes asked as she went into the kitchen to presumably make tea.

I settled onto the couch and looked around. The condo was really nice. It was clear that these two had money. Assuming they both lived there. I wondered what Crystal Wishes did for a living. This didn’t seem like the sort of condo you’d have a fight over a mare in. We’d have to take it outside. I hoped Velvet was small.

When the unicorn returned with the tea I replied, “She took my marefriend out on a date. So… you know… we have that in common.”

Crystal Wishes stopped in her tracks. “Oh… you were serious. Well then.” The tea floated over to me and I accepted it in my magic. My hooves were shaking too much to hold it normally. She then turned towards one of the doors. “Velvet, I think this little filly is actually here to fight you.”

“What?” the voice called before being followed up with a door opening and a pink pony head poking out. Her mane was wet and up in a towel. She looked at me curiously. “Hi?”

Velvet Step didn’t look like the homewrecking, sultry mare I had imagined. In fact she was a fairly normal looking earth pony. Her coat was pink and her face looked more like the filly next door stereotype. Kind of like me actually but bigger. I waved a hoof awkwardly. “Hi.”

Crystal Wishes sat down next to me and didn’t look the least bit concerned. In fact, if I were to guess, I’d say she was amused. “Velvet, she says you took her marefriend out. Have you been catting around behind my back?” she asked.

Velvet glared at her and ducked back into what I guessed was the bathroom. A second later the door opened and she came out in a robe. “I went on one date! You’re always harping on me to get out there. So I put myself out there, a mare offers to take me to dinner, I said yes, and now I have to fight a filly. Great plan, Crystal!”

“She’s my marefriend,” I said softly.

Crystal Wishes looped a hoof around me. The sudden unexpected touch caused the tea to wiggle in my magic and I had to really focus to keep it from tipping over. 

“How could you do this to us, Velvet?” Crystal whined.

The pink earth pony blinked and came over to sit across from us. “You are not helping! This isn’t funny. Can’t you see she’s upset? You… uh…”

“Azurite,” I said. Again! Don’t give ponies your name when you’re on a rampage. Why was I so bad at this?

“Okay, Azurite. You and Sunny Day are together?” she asked.

My head bobbed yes. The tea followed the motion but somehow still managed to stay in the cup.

Crystal Wishes said absently, “Sunny Day, why do I know that name?”

Velvet Step waved a hoof at Crystal while she kept her attention on me. “Listen, I don’t know what she told you but she didn’t say anything about that to me and there wasn’t a ring… I really didn’t know. If I had I wouldn’t have been so...”  She cleared her throat. “Well, I would’ve backed off, all right?”

When I didn’t respond she continued, “So for what it is worth, I really am sorry. I’m not trying to steal your marefriend. Nothing happened, though. We danced and then went out and had dinner. Then she shot out of there faster than anypony I’ve ever seen. I thought I’d done something wrong. It wouldn’t have been a date if we hadn’t called it a date… but if you still want to fight, I understand.”

It really wasn’t what I wanted to hear. This was supposed to be all her fault. She seduced Sunny. Wishful thinking Azurite. After seeing Velvet Step I knew exactly who’d done the seducing. Well… I didn’t but I had suspicions!

Velvet Step most likely wasn’t lying and even if she was, Sunny still had to have said yes. Both mares were looking at me. “I… was mad. You don’t seem like the homewrecking type.”

“I’m not!” Velvet Step squeaked.

“She isn’t,” Crystal Wishes replied. “I promise.”

Idly I turned the tea cup in my magic and then sipped from it. It was really good. “I don’t normally storm into pony’s homes to fight them.”

“You didn’t exactly storm in here, sweetie…” Crystal Wishes said.

“Yeah… so maybe I should just go. I’m really sorry about this. It just got me worked up and I wanted to do something about stuff for once instead of just… you know… taking it.”

Crystal Wishes gave me a little squeeze. The look on her facing screamed ‘you poor little mare.’ She cleared her throat, “That’s okay. I’d be really upset if my stallion went on a date with somepony else.”

Her stallion… Oh! Oh, no… What had I done? Sunny’s career! My career! Think fast, Azurite, do something. “Uh… you mean Lieutenant Silent Knight?” No! Don’t make the connection!

The mare blinked and replied, “Yes. You know him?”

No. “Yeah, we work together…” Gah! “I’ve really messed up coming here. There are lines we’re not supposed to cross. I crossed like, all of them. Could you please, please, please not tell him about this? Please? He’s so big and scary.”

The mares exchanged glances briefly.

“Since you don’t want to fight Velvet I think we can all just forget this happened. Your reaction was understandable, right Velvet?” she replied and looked to Velvet Step.

Velvet Step nodded. “Yes, completely.” 

I wasn’t sure if they would keep their promise but I felt relieved. “Thank you! Thank you so much. I’m really, really sorry for doing this,” I said before sipping my tea.

We all sat together awkwardly. Me on the couch beside Crystal Wishes and with Velvet Step standing on the other side of the coffee table.

“So…” I hesitated. “This tea is actually really great. I’m paralyzed between the choice of sitting here in what is, without a doubt, the most uncomfortable situation I’ve ever put myself in so I get to finish it or just running out the door. Any thoughts?”

Crystal Wishes snorted softly and started laughing. Velvet Step finally cracked and laughed, too. 

“Finish the tea, Azurite,” Velvet replied through giggles.


♦♦♦


“You WHAT?” Sunny exclaimed in exasperation.

My ears drooped. “I went to Velvet Step’s condo to fight her.”

“Why in Equestria would you do something crazy like that?” 

“Why am I the bad pony here! You’re the one that cheated! I was mad and hurt. It was like she was trying to steal you and I went to put a stop to it. How was I supposed to know that you were the seductress?”

Sunny’s mouth opened and then closed. She opened it again, lifting a hoof, and then paused. Finally she replied, “I did not expect that from you. You must have been really upset.”

“I am! I still am! She said you asked her out to dinner, Sunny. I really want to believe she is a liar but she doesn’t seem the type.”

My marefriend shook her head. “She isn’t a liar. I’m not sure I’m the seductress but she had no idea about us. You look fine… You didn’t beat her up did you?” There was a deep level of concern in her voice.

“No. We had tea and talked about books. She was nice. For the record she lives with Silent Knight’s marefriend so you’ve gotten us into some crazy filly flick plot. They said they wouldn’t say anything but who knows. We might both be discharged on Monday.”

Sunny facehoofed and groaned. “Sweet Celestia. Look, Azurite, it was stupid of me but I just needed to feel… I don’t know… free. Just for a night. I was lonely. All we did was dance and have dinner. This commitment thing comes easy to you two but I struggle sometimes, okay?”

“This time!” I blurted. “All it was this time was dancing and dinner. Sunny, I’m a pushover and maybe sometimes I don’t feel like I deserve you so maybe I can get past this but I just can’t do this right now. I can’t fight with you and fight with Soarin. He still hasn’t come home if you haven’t noticed. He is hurt. I let him walk out. How do I fix this?” I asked.

“You can’t! That isn’t your job. I have to go fix it with Soarin. You worry about you and me, and you and Soarin. I’ll worry about Soarin and I… and Celestia knows I probably don’t deserve either of you. For what it is worth, Azurite, I am genuinely sorry.”

She fidgeted and added, “I knew as soon as we sat down to dinner I’d screwed up. I felt it deep in my gut. So I ate and split. We didn’t even shake hooves. I’d never felt like that before.”

“I want to believe you,” I said softly. My eyes were starting to get teary and I didn’t want to cry right then. “I’m going to go see Soarin so he doesn’t think I took your side… maybe I should stay there a few days.”

Sunny nodded sadly. “I think that is a good idea. I’ll let him cool off before I try to explain, assuming he lets me.”

My head drooped and went to gather a few things. It felt an awful lot like moving out. I’d given up my little apartment to live here with Sunny and Soarin. Once I had a bag packed I levitated Pink Pony onto my back. “You’ll feed Mr. Peepers and water my plants for me? You know they need a lot of attention.”

“I will, I promise,” Sunny replied, her voice full of pain and regret. “See you later Azu.”

“Yeah… see you later, Sunny,” I replied before hurrying out the door in tears.

When we’d decided where we wanted to live, there had been three options. My tiny apartment, Sunny’s midtown condo, and Soarin’s room in the dorms on the Wonderbolt Campus.

My apartment was the first to go. It was rented and tiny. Soarin’s room was highly visible and both he and Sunny were worried that our unique relationship might impact our careers. So we’d all moved into the condo. Compared to the high I’d felt when I’d moved in there I now felt twice as low walking away.

It took me a while to get across town to the Wonderbolt Campus. Not because it was far, which it is when you have short legs, but because I just didn’t have any energy. Today had been a colossal screw up.

I’d abused my position in the royal guards. I’d almost gotten into a fight with a perfectly nice mare who was at least 85% innocent. I’d fought with Sunny and walked away from her. Now I was heading to face Soarin who I should have went with the night before… but noooo. I stayed with Sunny. Stupid Azurite. Stupid, pushover Azurite.

The sun had set by the time I arrived but that didn’t really matter. The campus was always lit up with a ton of lights. I pulled out my pass and put it on. Pink Pony didn’t have one but the guard didn’t seem to think that was a problem, so that was lucky at least. Although probably sloppy guarding.

I trotted around in confusion. The campus was pretty big and I’d only ever been to a few different areas on sporadic occasions. Plus I felt like I was in a fog. After two unsuccessful attempts to find the dorms I headed towards the central area to try again.

When I got there my ears twitched at the sound of wing flapping growing closer.

“Well, if it isn’t Soarin’s little unislut.” Of course it was Fleetfoot. Who else would it be on a day like today?

I looked up to where she was hovering, my ears folding back, and said, “Can we please not today? Please? I don’t know where Soarin is and I really need to find him before I start losing it again.”

The pegasus blinked at me. “You… you look rough. Like you’ve been worked over.” Her tone was somewhat snarky but only half-hearted.

“That is probably the saddest insult you’ve had for me yet but I really can’t do this today. Can you please tell me how to get to Soarin’s dorm or at least leave me be?”

She landed in front of me. “Yeah, I’m off my game today. It will be scathing next time, though, so you’d best be prepared. The dorms are over this way. Come on.”

“Okay, I will be. Thank you,” I replied, following along behind her and hoping she might actually be a good pony on the inside.

The trip was pretty short. The dorm building was on the opposite side of the massive gymnasium. It was three stories tall and shaped like an L. Fleetfoot put her hoof across the door. “So Soarin moved back in. You two have a fight?”

I didn’t look up at her. “Kind of.”

“Is he going to take you back?”

“Dunno.”

“That is pretty tough,” she said.

“Uh huh.”

“I met somepony. Somepony nice.”

My eyes lifted. “Hurray?”

She smirked. “He’s nice, like you. Less weird, but nice. That doesn’t mean that I like you, though. I still suspect you’re a little gold digging tramp but… until I see actual proof you’re okay.” She moved her hoof and pushed the door open for me. “Second floor, room B.”

“Thank you,” I said earnestly.

Fleetfoot nodded and replied, “Good luck… and get him right quick. We’ve got a tour coming up soon. If he’s sad it will impact the team and I don’t want to look bad.”

For the briefest of moments our eyes met and I could tell she was being sincere. At least about the good luck part. The rest was all bravado. I nodded at her and headed inside. The last bit of my trip was the longest. Soarin was probably still mad. He had every right to be mad at me for being so weak.

When I found room B I was simply too tired to get spun up. Anxiety is like that sometimes. You just get so tired you can’t even worry. I sat Pink Pony down next to me. “Now don’t be scared. We might have a little bit of a fight but that’s okay. Ponies fight sometimes. Are you ready?”

Pink Pony looked at me with sympathetic eyes. I took that to mean yes.

I dropped my bag, and knocked.

It didn’t take long for it to open. Soarin’s eyes widened a little when he saw me. “Azurite? This is a bit unexpected.”

Of course it was. I should have come yesterday. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he repeated before stepping out of the way. “Come on in.”
> 4. My New Acquaintances
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“When you said dorm I was thinking about my tiny room when I was back in training,” I said as I looked around.

Soarin chuckled lightly and replied, “This is just another perk of being a Wonderbolt.”

The “dorm” had a foyer, a large living room, a big master bedroom with a bathroom, a smaller bedroom, a dining room, a chef’s kitchen, and a smaller bathroom. It was also immaculately maintained, almost brand new looking, and as modern as dwellings came.

“This is just nuts…” I said, my cares briefly falling aside in a wave of awe.

“Yeah… again, work hard, play hard, I guess.” He looked at my bag and then asked, “Are you moving in?”

“May I?” I asked.

Soarin came over and looped his hooves around me. He held me very tightly. “Of course. You didn’t do anything wrong, Azurite. This wasn’t your fault.”

I embraced him and my eyes filled with tears. We just lingered like that for a while. Soarin had known Sunny far longer and she hadn’t been cruel to him but she’d never been delicate either. My suspicion was he thought I’d just stay with her because I’m a pushover. I am a pushover.

He finally let me go and then looked over my belongings. “Where is Mr. Peepers, Plant, Plant, and Plant?”

“It’s just me and Pink Pony. Sunny is going to watch them for a few days while we… you know… stuff,” I explained sheepishly. My fish and plants were my way of keeping Sunny’s door open.

“Ah, I see,” he replied, a ton of meaning in those words. He then seemed to push the tone away and tried to sound more positive. “Well, why don’t we get you settled in the bedroom? Pink Pony can have the guestroom.”

“Pink Pony can’t sleep with us?” I asked.

Soarin’s brow lifted. “Well a few nights, sure, until she gets comfortable being here. After that though…” He put his hooves over her ears, “...I don’t think she is old enough to see what pony couples do together at night.”

Despite how I felt that made me giggle and I felt my ears turn pink. I wiped my eyes and nodded. “Agreed!” I took Pink Pony, my bag, and myself into the spacious master suite. Rank has its privilege and being a Wonderbolt just adds onto that. 

Of course, deep down, I’d still rather have had the three of us back in Sunny’s condo together. Even after what she did.


♦♦♦


“It is my distinct pleasure to present Warrant Officer Azurite with this Certificate of Achievement for her diligent work in the Palace Pony Resources Section. You’ve not only handled the palace guard but you also took on both House Guards and did so in a timely and professional manner. Well done, Warrant Officer!”

I shook hooves with Major Aegis and thanked Celestia that the small crowd of ponies staring at me were all royal guards. It was unlikely I’d have been able to stand there if they weren’t. 

“Thank you, sir,” I replied as I accepted the certificate. “I just like to do my part.”

Major Aegis smiled. “Lieutenant Brook says you do your part and more. Congratulations.”

The assembled ponies, only three of whom I knew, stomped politely. Then they all headed for the snack table, forgetting all about me. That, of course, was totally alright.

“Great job, Azurite,” Lieutenant Brook said as he approached. Evidently I was more important than snacks to him.

“Well it was all you, sir. You put me in for it.”

He waved a hoof. “Don’t be so modest. You did the work, I just wanted to be certain it was recognized. Be sure to get some of the goodies before they disappear. The crowd is looking pretty ravenous.”

“Yes, sir!” I chimed eagerly. I wasn’t above cookies and cake. In fact I was in love with sweets in general. As he wandered off I put on my best smile as the other two ponies I knew approached.

“Well done,” Silent Knight said evenly. “I appreciate all the work you did for my guards.”

“Honestly I was glad to help, sir.”

He nodded. “Of course. Thank you again.” He looked over at Sunny Day, back to me, and then wandered off in the opposite direction of the snacks. That is when I knew Silent Knight was some kind of robot. No pony turned down a free sweets buffet!

“Congratulations Azu, I’m really proud of you,” Sunny started once Silent Knight was out of earshot. “You worked really hard for that.”

I waved a hoof. “I just did my job.”

“And you do it well…” she trailed and then idly rubbed one hoof against her leg. “How’re you settling in with Soarin?”

“It’s okay. His place is pretty nice but it is weird without you. Why don’t you talk to him?” I asked.

Sunny shook her head. “He probably hasn’t cooled off yet.”

My ears flicked. “It’s been a week. You are going to talk to him aren’t you?”

“Yes, of course. I just haven’t worked out what I’m going to say and it is busy here during the day. You know how it goes. Look, why don’t you go get some punch and sweets before the vultures eat them all?”

“Good idea. Talk to him,” I said before I went to go get some treats.


♦♦♦


After the ceremony I went into my office to get back to work. Somepony had dropped a lot of files in my inbox. That didn’t bother me. What did, however, was the fact that there was a note on top: Come see me ASAP, Lieutenant Knight. 

“They told! I’m doomed!” I told Mr. Clockerson. He just ticked casually, not understanding the gravity of the situation. Under my desk seemed like a good hiding place so I nestled there for about an hour while the waves of panic washed over me. Once I’d calmed down I hurried upstairs.

When I got to Silent Knight’s office I was out of breath. The door was closed so I knocked.

“Come in,” he called from the opposite side.

I did so and found that he wasn’t alone. Silent Knight stood with another pegasus stallion in front of a chalk board. The other stallion was big, like Silent Knight, but looked far more raptorish. If raptorish is a word. Is it a word? Anyway, he was a raptony or raptopony. Whichever sounds better.

The raptony had a steel grey coat and his mane was a lighter off white. The two contrasted starkly and both made it obvious that he also had really intense green eyes. Quickly I looked away from them and at the lieutenant. “Reporting as ordered, sir.”

“Thank you for coming up, Azurite. I’ve got a lot of files that require your talent,” Silent Knight started. He motioned to three large stacks that were settled up against his office wall. “I imagine stacks like this would get your attention?”

Maybe I wasn’t doomed. Could he really just need me to do work? “Yes, sir.”

The grey pony approached me. On his armor he had a chief warrant officer pin. Without a word he held out a scrap of paper to me which I accepted in my magic.

“Return the file of every pony on that list back to the archive,” Silent Knight said in a way that sounded like an order.

“Yes, sir. That seems… well pretty mundane, sir?”

“Indeed it does. Unfortunately there is a slight catch. These files were pulled… inappropriately. We need them to be replaced without it looking like they were accessed. All of them.”

Azurite tilted her head. “What for sir?”

“Classified. Don’t let this get in the way of your usual work but do it as quickly as you can. When you’re done destroy the list and do not log the request. Am I clear?”

I squirmed a bit. “Does Lieutenant Brook know about this, sir?”

The grey pony looked over at Silent Knight in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable. It was a look that said ‘get her in line, even if it means beating her.’

Silent Knight shook his head. “No and I’m afraid he isn’t going to. You’re doing this on my authority and I give you my word that if anything comes of it I’ll say I coerced you.”

“Coerced makes it sound like this is… unethical? Inappropriate? Outside of protocol, sir.”

He shook his head. “Not exactly, at least as far as ethics go. Just a stretch of protocol is all. I just don't want anypony knowing who is on the list and that their file was pulled for their safety. If I make an official request, it gets logged, and the list goes into the record. I’m ordering you to break the documentation chain is all.”

That was less frightening. It happened a lot on accident. Not with me but with other ponies. To intentionally do it was wrong but usually it was just a little reprimand. Still, I didn’t do bad things. Even little bad things. “I can’t do that, sir! I just got that award for being good and to turn around and do the wrong thing… it seems bad,” I blurted.

Silent Knight crossed over to me. He loomed. Pegasi can loom. They’re all so darn big. At least the ones that aren’t weather ponies. “Am I coercing you warrant officer?”

I cringed a bit. “It feels an awful lot like coercion right now, yes. And your friend there, the chief warrant officer, he is super scary.”

“So you’ll do it?”

“Um… no? If I do it without reporting you, even if I was coerced, they’ll say I should have reported you. I might not get in trouble but they’ll put a black mark in my file for questionable behavior. Plus… um… you’re usually a nice pony and I don’t think you’d actually hurt me so I can’t really say I was fully coerced even if I am very, very scared right now.”

Silent Knight and the grey raptony exchanged glances again. Finally Silent Knight smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “You’re right, I’m sorry. Okay, we’ll do it the right way and you can report me for trying.”

“Sir…” the grey pony growled, his voice really gravelly. 

“No, she’s right. If I wanted this done quietly I should have gone through channels or did it myself.”

“The mission, sir… we don’t have time for that nonsense.”

The big white and blue pegasus shook his head. “We’re not burning ponies.” He turned back to me and said, “My apologies warrant officer. Please handle my request how you normally would and I absolutely will not be mad if you report it to Lieutenant Brook that I tried to circumvent controls. In fact you should report me to cover yourself.”

“Yes sir. Thank you, sir,” I replied before backing out of his office. I didn’t know Silent Knight well but he was a good pony. That other pony though… he scared me. He scared me a lot so I hurried away and right to Lieutenant Brook to tell him everything.


♦♦♦


Lieutenant Brook nodded and said, “It is pretty brave of you to report that.”

“The lieutenant insisted,” I put in.

“Yeah, that sounds like Silent Knight. Look, I know you haven’t dealt with one of these before but it happens from time to time.”

“What does one of these mean, sir?” I asked.

“Sometimes ponies have missions that we never hear about. Commanders look for particular skills or experiences and pull from a range of units. They always try to take the shortcut to do it, too. I know Silent Knight is the House Guard commander but he’s always had other things going on. All kinds of missions that no pony hears about,” he explained.

“What sort of missions, sir?”

The earth pony shook his head. “We don’t ask, Azurite. We never ask. The less we know the better.” He unlocked and then opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a log book.

Offering it to me he said, “Those names go in this one. Fill them out and do what the lieutenant wants just like normal. All the work is here but not in your daily log. Record the check-ins here as well, not the usual registry. This log comes back to me every day. The regulations just say we have to log it. They don’t say it all has to go in the same book that anypony can walk by and pick up.” 

“How will they be able to audit if they don’t know to ask for that book?” I asked.

“Exactly,” he replied. 

“Sir?” My head tilted.

“The ponies that need to know about this stuff know to ask. The casual lookiloos don’t. You’re following the regulation. All of your work is logged and we don’t potentially put any ponies at risk. I know Silent Knight well enough to believe that if he thinks this needs to be kept quiet I’ll take him at his word. He’s earned that.”

This was turning into a day of mixed feelings. “Alright, thank you, sir.”

He nodded and said, “Carry on.”


♦♦♦


Sandy and I stood in the grass side by side. She held a spool of string in her hoof. Mine was gripped in my magic. Far overhead two kites bobbed and danced in the wind.

Mine was modeled after Mr. Peepers. It was a bright orange fish with two giant black eyes. Sandy’s was far more elegant and beautiful. It was a jade-colored dragon with a sage mane along its back. 

“That sounds like a pretty big fight,” Sandy said, tugging her string and commanding the long dragon to do a loop.

“Yup, they haven’t spoken in a week. Soarin doesn’t talk about it, I don’t bring it up, and Sunny and I just barely engage in the office.” I tugged my string and Mr. Peepers just flipped over briefly to look at me with his big derpy eyes.

Sandy twirled her dragon and looked over at me. “Not to a be a drag but it honestly sounds more like a break up.”

I shook my head. “What? No… no. We all worked too hard for that. They’ll get over it. They have to get over. I’m over it.”

“I’m just saying Azurite you need to prepare yourself just in case. You got out of having to choose before but I’m thinking you won’t get that lucky twice. Plus, I’m not so sure you’re over it. You’re just saying that.”

Sandy had always been a sharp royal guard. Assess the scene, get the facts, figure out what happened. I wasn’t sure how to respond immediately so I just kept an eye on Mr. Peepers. Finally I asked, “How’s that?”

“Well, for starters, you’ve just said you’re barely talking to her and only at work. You’re not mad?”

I shook my head. “Not mad.”

My old partner looked over at me. “Okay… let me rephrase. Azurite, she picked up another mare. Another sweet little—”

I snarked softly as I struggled to fight back a sudden onset of tears.

“Sorry… you see what I mean, though? Are you sure the two of you are good? Shouldn’t you iron that out before worrying about her and Soarin?”

She was right, I wasn’t quite over it yet. Mad wasn’t the feeling I was struggling with though. It was inadequacy. I sniffled, wiped my eyes again and focused on the kites. “Okay, I see your point. Counterpoint?”

The mare tugged the string and the dragon swooped down briefly before bobbing even higher into the sky. “Shoot!”

“Instead of dealing with that right now we table it. I’m a bit cried out. As an alternative you and I will concoct an elaborate but unlikely scheme that forces the two of them to see how much they miss each other and ultimately realize that together is better and once they’re together I can deal with my issues with Sunny.”

Kite Mr. Peepers was casually flying towards a tree. I started to rein in his string.

Sandy shook her head and then just shrugged. She started to loop her hoof in a circle, bringing the dragon towards us. “If that is how you want to play it, I’m game. It sure beats bingo down at the veterans’ hall. Where do you propose we start?”

“I’m thinking at the movie theatre. We’ll need to watch every filly flick they have playing.” I started winding Peepers’s string faster and yelled, “Get away from that tree! No means no, mister!”

My friend giggled as I struggled. Did she help me at all? No! “We can skip that step and just do all the common tropes and see which one works out.”

I trotted backwards, tugging my kite away from a certain tree death. Quickly I wound the string around the spool until I could capture him in my magic. “You are just all kinds of trouble!”

Sandy’s kite came down gracefully and she went to collect it.

“Where do we start?” I asked.

“Invite them both to dinner individually and then duck out. That one comes up all the time.”

“Does it ever work?”

Sandy laughed and shook her head. “No, but I thought this plan was largely just a distraction until nature took its natural course.”

With a nod I replied, “Then we’ll start there. What else have you got?”

As we headed over for our traditional post kite flying treat at Sunridge Sweets Sandy went on, “Lock them in a room until they work it out. Oh, then there is also the classic put one in mock danger so the other saves him or her.”

I looked over at her. “Sunny may clean up nice but I’ve seen her in those self defense classes. She’s a beast and Soarin… well you don’t get more fit than that. What kind of mock danger could we possibly come up with?”

“Maybe we should leave that one off the list.” Sandy pulled the door open and I walked in. 

“Hi, welcome to Sunr—Azurite?!” Velvet Step called from behind the counter. “What now?”

I squeaked, “Nothing now! We came for treats. We fly kites and get treats. We always get treats! Why are you here?”

Velvet set her hooves on the counter and leaned over it to peer down at me. “It is my family’s bakery.”

“I didn’t know, I promise. Can we please get treats?” Sunridge Sweets made the best treats in Canterlot because they used real butter no matter what health craze was going on. It was critical I wasn’t cut off.

The pink mare glared at me a bit but then nodded. “I guess so… since your friend looks nice.”

Sandy maneuvered around me and replied, “I’m very nice and I didn’t know Azurite had any enemies. She doesn’t seem the type.”

I trotted up next to her. “We’re not enemies. We’re just… uh…” 

Velvet nodded and waved a hoof around. “Yeah we’re sort of… you know…”

My friend looked back and forth between us. “Former lovers?”

“What? No!” I squeaked.

Velvet glared again. “Don’t say it like that! We could be.”

I held my face in my hooves while Sandy giggled. Finally I looked up. “Velvet, I’m sorry. You’re very pretty. Sandy, Velvet is the mare Sunny went out with. The one I went to fight but had tea with.”

“And fancy biscuits!” Velvet interjected.

“And fancy biscuits,” I repeated.

“This makes so much more sense now,” Sandy said. She then smiled brightly at Velvet. “I’m not with her, so make with the sweets please.”

I just stood there, my mouth wide open in shock. “Traitor!”

Sandy shrugged. “Friends come and go. Sweets like this are forever.”

“What is all this commotion?” came a sugary sweet voice from further back in the bakery. 

Velvet looked over her shoulder. “It isn’t anything, Mom, you can keep doing your thing.”

A mare the color of pale bread appeared out of the back. She was older but not in the going grey sort of way. In fact her mane and tail were a magnificent golden blonde. “It sounds a lot like something.” She nudged Velvet out of the way and smiled at Sandy and I. “Are you two some of Velvet’s little friends?”

Did she just make a short joke? 

Before I could figure that out Sandy replied, “Yes, ma’am. At least Azurite here is. It seems that she and Velvet have the same taste in dates. I’m Sandy Shores by the way.” 

The two shook hooves and the mare smiled. “Well I’m Sunbeam, Velvet’s mom.”

Velvet groaned and peered at Sunbeam. “Really, Mom?”

“Oh, hush, dear. It is about time you branched out a little. What brings you two in?”

Sandy replied, “Azurite and I fly kites now and then. We talk about serious things and then come lighten it up with sweets.” My soon to be former friend patted me on the head. “Azurite has had a bit of a rough time lately. You know she could probably use some wisdom.”

“What?” I squawked. “Sandy’s kidding, we were just leaving.”

“Don’t be silly, why don’t we get a table? We can talk all about it.” Sunbeam then looped a hoof under Velvet’s and tugged her over. “Right, cinnamon stick? We should be nice to your friends.”

Velvet briefly struggled and then just gave up. “Sure, okay. Let’s all sit down and help my friends!”

Sandy seemed to be enjoying this way too much. She was all grins as she wheeled over to one of the tables. Sunbeam sat across from her and tugged Velvet over. “You know this one never tells me anything? No gossip, no stories, no grandfoals, nothing!”

Velvet looked at me and I gave her a sympathetic shrug before coming over and sitting next to Sandy. What can I say, I accepted my fate.

“Well, I’ve got something for you. Gossip, story, intrigue, broken hearts, and more. Of course you’ll have to keep an open mind though. Can you do that?” Sandy asked.

Sunbeam smiled. “Why don’t you try me?”

Sandy nudged me. “Alright Azurite, try her. Velvet can fill in some of the gaps I’m sure.”

I took a deep breath, rubbed my face with a hoof and then started to lay it all out. The relationship, the date, the fight, the resolution. Everything. At this point Velvet could have already had me fired, why not give her more.

“So yeah, things are tense right now,” I concluded to the assemblage of mares at the table.

Sunbeam shook her head. “See Velvet, Azurite has TWO ponies in her life. Why can’t you find one?”

“Mom, you’re killing me here. Can we please just focus on Azurite? As weird as that sounds right now,” Velvet replied.

The older mare winked. “Well, it sounds like a really tough situation sweetie. You really love them both that much?” She then hurriedly added, “And I’m not judging at all. I’m just trying to get some clarity.”

The few ponies we told were always curious. That was something I’d grown accustomed to. “Yes, ma’am. It just feels wrong with Sunny missing. I thought it was all perfect.”

Velvet’s expression shifted from mild annoyance to one of embarrassment and shame. “I am really sorry, Azurite, I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to mess anything up.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault. If it wasn’t you it probably would have been some other mare… one that probably would have beat me up and told the royal guards. So, in a way, I’m actually glad it was you. You’re really nice."

“Aww…” Velvet said softly. “You’re so sweet. I’m glad it was me, too.” She then threw her hooves to her mouth. “That isn’t want I meant!”

I actually laughed. A genuine, happy laugh. “It’s fine! I get it. At this point I just want to fix everything and move on.”

Sandy’s brow arched. “What makes you think you can fix it?”

Sunbeam motioned at me and replied, “Clearly she thinks she’s the glue.”

I opened my mouth and Velvet quickly nodded, saying before I could speak, “That’s right. She is the more amiable pony. The one in the middle.”

I frowned. “I—”

“Or the most pliable,” Sandy cut in. She leaned in a bit and whispered, “I’ve known Azurite a long time. She is really easy going but sometimes I think ponies take advantage of that. How do we know Sunny didn’t use her to latch on to Soarin? He is famous you know.”

“Well—”

Sunbeam gasped. “I hadn’t considered that… but she is in an important position, too. What if he is trying to get into the palace?”

“He’d—”

“Oh he can go into the palace whenever. He is a Wonderbolt. Crystal says she sees them there a lot and yeah, Sunny’s position is important, but Silent Knight has a ton of ponies over him. She’s in the same boat. I think Soarin is far more famous,” Velvet explained.

“Can I—”

“Sunny should just do right. She needs to apologize right now and set things right,” Sunbeam said in a very motherly, disapproving tone.

The other mares just nodded.

“Can we please get back to helping me!” I squawked louder than I meant to. 

Sandy looked my way and replied, “We are helping, Azurite!”

“How?” I asked.

Sunbeam smiled. “We’re talking it out like civilized ponies.”

“I… but… how… buh?” I stammered before stuffing a cookie into my mouth and crossing my hooves. If this is how they were going to help me, I was at least going to enjoy the treats.
> 5. My Devious Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m home!” I called as I popped through the door finally. Earth pony locks and keys weren’t nearly as efficient as unicorn magilocks. First you had to levitate the key out of your bag and then slot it into the hole, and turn it. Now a good magilock, you just had to know the right spell and ta-da, the door opens! 

“In here,” Soarin replied from the living room.

Alright, Azurite, it is show time. Razzle him, dazzle him, and lie to him without it being super obvious that you’re up to something.  

He was stretched out on the couch and looked over at me when I came into the living room. “Did you have fun? Your kite looks fine so it must have stayed away from the tree this time.”

“Oh, he tried. Believe me he tried.” I set kite Mr. Peepers down near the door and levitated my saddle bags down too. “I think he is a treeaphile. They’re like forbidden fruit or something. How are you?”

“Lazy and loving it.”

I went over to him, slipped onto the couch, and looped my hooves around his neck. “Did you do anything today?”

“No, I did not. Do you know how often I get to say that?”

“Never?”

He nodded. “Never.”

“Well, that is good then.” Okay here we go. What would Mirror Azurite do? “So remember how we didn’t get to eat at that restaurant in Ponyville?”

Soarin nodded and lightly tipped me onto my back beside him.

That muddled my thinking and my cheeks felt hot. I really liked when he did that. He or Sunny actually. I rested there and had all kinds of adult pony thoughts while idly hoofing at him.

Soarin looked at me and grinned. “Yes…”

Mmm, yes indeed. Wait, what was I doing again? Oh right, lying! “I want to go. I was thinking of heading over there Wednesday. Maybe after practice you could show up, too?”

The stallion nodded and slinked over me, rubbing his cheek against my chest. “I can do that.”

My hooves found the back of his neck and started rubbing there. “Good… good...” I bubbled.

“Mmhmm,” he replied before his head popped up for smooches. “I’m not really thinking about Wednesday right now. I’m thinking about how fast you can get Pink Pony into the guest bedroom and back into the master.”

My eyes fixed on his and I whispered, “Really fast.”

He smiled and nuzzled me. “Then get to it!”


♦♦♦


After a highly successful night of semi-lying to Soarin, it was time to work on Phase Two of my devious plan. It wasn’t really that devious but Sandy, the girls, and I had pretended it was to add an element of danger. Mares need an element of danger! It’s exciting.

I finished up delivering all of the internal mail before putting on an even face and trotting into Sunny’s office.

“Mail is here,” I said, trying not to sound too chipper as I floated two missives over to her.

Sunny looked up from her desk and accepted them in her magic. “Thank you, Azu. How’re things?”

“Still weird but otherwise well. How’re you?” I asked.

She softly shrugged. “The condo is feeling empty. Mr. Peepers said he wasn’t feeling it.”

I snorted. “Mr. Peepers doesn’t talk like that. He’d have said something like, ‘Oh my! This won’t do a-tall.’”

The golden mare snarked, her lips curling into a grin. “I know it probably isn’t healthy but one day I hope to fully understand what goes on in your head.”

I shook my head and replied, “Nope, there are enough voices up there already. I don’t need yours, too. Have any plans for Wednesday yet?”

Sunny’s brow arched. “No? What’s Wednesday?”

“Well, I was going to head into Ponyville and eat at this cool restaurant called Haut-Savoir. It is only the best place in town. I think you should be there, too.”

“Why Wednesday and why Ponyville?” Sunny asked.

“What part of best place in town doesn’t explain that! It is really nice. Please, Sunny? I know it is out of your way but please? I want to get out into the country and do a little something different!”

Sunny looked down at me and asked, “What about Soarin?”

“He knows about dinner. He was okay with the idea.” Oh clever Azurite. The perfect non-lie!

“Okay, okay. I’ll be there. I really am sorry, Azu, but I have to cut this short. The princess and I have a meeting here in a few minutes.”

Quickly I nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay. Go do your guard thing! I best get out of here before she shows up or I won’t be able to move.”

Sunny nodded, lightly set a hoof on mine, and then shooed me away teasingly.

I headed back down to my office, reached the intersection, turned the corner and found Lieutenant Brook standing outside my door.

“Warrant Officer Azurite,” he said, his voice very formal. That was never good. The lieutenant only used my rank when I was in trouble.

I made a quick check of my uniform. My helmet was on, my armor looked good, and I seemed to be appropriately dressed. It couldn’t be that. I closed the rest of the distance between us, stood at attention, and replied, “Yes, sir.”

“Warrant Officer Azurite,” he repeated.

“Yes, sir?”

He smiled. “It sounds alright, but Senior Warrant Officer Azurite sounds better. Don’t you think?”

“Sir?”

The lieutenant produced a parchment from his bag. “Promotion list, Azurite. Your name is on it. As long as you don’t do anything insane for the next two months you’re set. Congratulations!”

I gasped when I saw my name on the sheet. I never really got a lot of promotions as a regular guard. In fact I’d never even made guard 1st class when I was enlisted. “Thank you, sir!” I squealed.

He chuckled and nodded. “Good work. Now remember, the list comes out way in advance. You’re selected but you still have to keep it together.”

“Of course, sir. I’ll work twice as hard!”

“I know you will,” he replied before patting me on the back. “Good job. See you later!”

I was still clutching the list. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir! Thank you!”


♦♦♦


Sundridge Sweets was pretty much the best place ever. It came equipped with cool drinks, sugary treats, and wisdom.

It was after work and I was sitting back in the kitchen while Sunbeam and Pepper Ridge worked on a massive order of cupcakes.

“It was lucky you stopped by, Azurite. Velvet was supposed to be here to watch Red while we got this order together. I have no idea where she could be,” Sunbeam said.

Red Velvet was Velvet Step’s much younger little brother. He was dark red with a cream-colored mane and tail and all adorable. The foal was sitting in my lap, looking up at me, and giggling. I’m not sure at what but I didn’t mind. As long as he didn’t mind me tickling his tummy!

“Hmm? Oh I’m glad I could help. I’m sure she’ll be along soon. Until then you’re all mine!” I said down to the foal between tickles. “Yes you are!”

Sunbeam laughed and just shook her head. “You’re good with foals. Do you have younger siblings?”

Carefully I sat Red up and leaned him back against me. Looping both hooves around him, I replied, “Oh, not me. I’m an only child. Just me and my parents. Still, I think foals are super cute!”

“Mmhm, everypony says that until it is changing time,” Pepper Ridge put in teasingly.

From out front the little bells on the door chimed.

Velvet called, “Mom, I’m here! Sorry I’m late, they wouldn’t let us go from practice. The new choreographer is a real—” She blinked as she came into the back. “Azurite!”

Sunbeam asked, “Cute and tiny?”

Pepper Ridge put in, “Willing to do your work for you?”

“Hi!” I chimed, waving Red’s super adorable teeny tiny little hoof.

“I was going to say pony’s rump. Hey, Azurite. I wasn’t expecting to see you here. How’re things?”

“So far so good. I tricked Sunny and Soarin into meeting for dinner so now I’m hiding out so I don’t accidentally spill the beans before Wednesday. I’m not a great liar.” I bounced the foal a bit.

Velvet nodded as she came over, “Well… that is a start.” She held out her hooves.

“Aww…” I nuzzled Red’s mane. He smelled like new foal. They had a particular smell and I loved it but I gave him to her.

The foal giggled more and nestled in against his sister. She asked, “You’re not hiding out here until Wednesday are you?”

“Nope! Just until it is close to dinner time. I’ll stuff food in my mouth to keep me quiet.”

Sunbeam looked over her shoulder and said, “You stay as long as you like, sweetie. Velvet is just cranky. Maybe we should put her down for a nap when we do the same for Red.”

“Mom! You do recall that Azurite and I were going to fight before, right? Aren’t you like… giving aid to the enemy?”

“Oh hush, sweetie, you went on a date with her marefriend. Besides, look at her! She isn’t the type to do harm.”

Velvet looked at me. I smiled up at her.

She sighed. “Ugh, why do you have to be cute, too?”

“Soarin says I’m fun sized.”

Velvet’s ears shot up before she started laughing. Red laughed too but I’m pretty confident he didn’t get it. “Okay… so clearly staying semi-angry at you isn’t going to work.”

“Yay?” I replied.

Sunbeam came over and kissed Velvet on the cheek and Red on the mane. “Okay sugarlumps, we’re going to deliver the order. Mind the store and be sure Red gets fed and has his nap. Oh, and be nice to Azurite!”

“Alright, alright. See you later tonight,” Velvet said. 

Once the pair was gone she looked over at me. The silence was a bit awkward. We’d never been alone together.

“So you’re a royal guard like Silent Knight?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Oh no. I don’t think anypony is a royal guard like Silent Knight. I’m a warrant officer which is a specialist. Most of my work is doing files for ponies. Retirement, medical, and that sort of thing.”

Velvet snorted and grinned a bit. “Well, at least you get Silent Knight. Do you know how long it took for him and my friend Crystal Wishes to get together?”

“I don’t. I don’t know him as well as Sunny.”

The pink mare came and sat at the table with me, holding Red in her lap. “Well, you’ve got time to kill and I think you’ll enjoy this. It took about a year and is quite a story. It might even give you perspective on your situation.”

“Sure! I’m all ears.”


♦♦♦


Wednesday. It had been tough playing it cool around Soarin and Sunny for two days straight. Thankfully, Silent Knight’s little project had kept me fully occupied. 

His list of ponies was… different. These weren’t your usual royal guards. Not all of them were even royal guards! I wasn’t supposed to read the files, just handle making them go back cleanly into the archive, but I couldn’t help it.

These were the ones that had been in situations where things had gone sour. Ponies like Sandy and I. Unlike us, however, they’d handled the outcomes very differently. Most seemed to have gotten harder. Either that or they had some other kind of skill. They were also all pegasi.

I put the current file into the out bin. The pony that it belonged to had run into some gryphon bandits out west all on her own. Things got ugly and she still bested them both. That certainly qualified as hard.

Mr. Clockerson peered down at the pile. “Tick, Tiiick, Tick?”

“Yes I think he wants this kind of pony! The rough and tumble kind.”

“Tick, tiiiick, tick tick, ticky, tock.”

My head shook. “No, I don’t think he wants a clock. Besides, what would Mrs. Clockerson say if you told her you wanted to do field work?”

“TICK!”

“Exactly. So you just get back to your job and I’ll get back to mine.”

“Tick, tick, tick.”

I looked up at him. His pointers were on the five and twelve. “Oh! Yeah I’d best get going. Thanks!”

It only took a few moments to get out of my armor and lock my office door. Then I hurried off to the train station. I had an early dinner date in Ponyville!


♦♦♦


“Hello, my name is High Horse and I’ll be your server tonight,” High Horse said to me. She was the same server from my first date here. I remembered her because she was blue, kind of like me, and that date had been amazing.

“Great, thank you. Just a water for now,” I said from under a giant, white floppy hat.

High Horse nodded. “Certainly. Are you waiting for somepony?”

“Someponies! Yes.”

“Alright, I’ll come check on you later then.”

“Yes, thank you, bye bye,” I replied, looking around the area. Okay, showtime Azurite! Our first guest is arriving.

Sunny was approaching from down the street. Quickly I lifted my menu up and peeked through the area between the top of it and the brim of my hat.

She found a seat at a nearby table and started looking around. My disguise was flawless. My menu and hat combination was seemingly sufficient to keep me hidden since Sunny looked right at me and then on to the next table.

High Horse went over to Sunny. “Good evening. My name is High Horse and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with a drink?”

“Yes… I’m meeting somepony. She’s a little blue unicorn mare.”

“Oh, I thi—”

I knocked over the vase on my table, spilling water and flowers everywhere, while squealing “Oh my!” in my best elderly mare voice.

“Excuse me,” High Horse said, hurrying over to me. “Let me help you, ma’am.”

“She isn’t here for me. That isn’t the pony I’m looking for,” I whispered.

High Horse looked at me like I was crazy. “Okay… sure. Sure.” She cleaned up the spill and left me be.

Good work, Azurite. You saved the day. Now the stage is set! We just need our heroic stallion to swoop in.

As if on cue Soarin landed out in front of the restaurant and looked around. His eyes flicked past me and then onto his actual date.

“Sunny?” he asked in surprise.

Sunny looked surprised for a moment and then softly hoofed her face. “Yes. Let me guess, Azurite invited you to dinner?”

Soarin looked around again before nodding. “Yes.”

“She’s been pushing for me to have a talk with you. I guess she is determined.”

“You don’t want to talk to me?” Soarin asked, not fully coming over to the table.

Sunny winced and quickly shook her head. “No, I do! I just wanted to wait for the right time. Look… Azurite set all this up, somehow managed to fool us both, and kept the secret for two days. That had to have been a huge feat for her.”

“Hey…” I said over my menu but immediately raised my voice to the high elderly mare. “Hey,” I repeated, waving at a random pony going by. She looked at me and awkwardly waved back before hurrying off.

Every other pony was looking at me. I ducked back behind the menu and let the brim of my hat rest on it. 

“At least come over and have a conversation with me,” Sunny continued.

I peeked again and the stallion seemed to be uncertain about doing that. He remained where he was so long it took all of my self discipline not to shout at him. Finally he came over and sat down. “Okay.”

“So you’re totally spying on them,” High Horse whispered in my ear.

I squealed in surprise and jumped. Everypony at the restaurant looked my way yet again and I dived under the table. “My napkin!” I shouted in my elderly voice. My hoof found High Horse’s and I tugged her down with me. “Shhhh! You’ll blow my cover!” I hissed.

“Uh huh, weren’t you with that Wonderbolt before?” she asked.

“Yes! We’re all friends and they’ve been fighting. I tricked them into meeting up so they’d have to talk it out. So please don’t call any more attention to me… and bring me some of those little cookies, please. I like those.”

High Horse giggled and replied, “I don’t believe I’m the one calling the attention to you but yes, ma’am. Cookies are coming right up.”

After straightening my big hat I peeked over the edge of the table. Soarin and Sunny were sitting together and talking. They were leaning in close and speaking in hushed tones which meant I couldn’t hear them. At least it looked like a civil conversation.

“Your cookies, madam,” High Horse said, surprising me again.

I squeaked, “Thank you!” and lifted the menu up and over my face once more.

“Do you want me to go listen in on their conversation?” High Horse asked.

“What? No! That would be rude.”

She nodded and replied, “It would be, but aren’t you spying on them?”

I sputtered, “No! Well, yes but I’m their friend and they weren’t whispering before. Now they’re trying not to be heard. It’s different, right?”

High Horse shrugged and smiled. “Fair enough.” She turned to go and I grabbed her hoof.

“If you happen to hear something though, I would appreciate a head’s up,” I mumbled behind the menu.

“Of course.”

It was agonizing to sit there and be out of the loop. All I had to keep me company was my glass of water and the delicious, wafer-like cookies. They weren’t much of a dinner but I’m an adult pony. I can eat cookies for dinner if I like!

Every so often I would peek at Sunny and Soarin, they were so engrossed in their conversation they didn’t notice. It gave me hope that they were working things out.

High Horse wandered back to my table with a basket of rolls. “They’re discussing a pony named Azurite. Is that you?”

“Good discussing or bad discussing?” I asked without answering.

“Well, I heard the words ‘she deserves’ and other things like that. So I’m guessing positive? Would you like anything besides rolls and cookies?”

I shook my head, “No, thank you. I should actually pay and get home before they leave. Thank you.”

High Horse smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome.”

After paying my tab, tipping heavily, and hurrying to the train station I settled down. Sunny and Soarin were talking. I’d gotten away without notice. Mission successful! They had grossly underestimated Azurite!

By the time I’d gotten back to the Wonderbolt Campus I was feeling pretty smug. With my head held high I pranced to the dorms. I wanted to be home before Soarin so that he wouldn’t know I’d been at the restaurant too, but I wasn’t going to gallop there like I was trying to be home before him. You know, in case he was already home. Nope, cool, casual Azurite right here! 

Besides, it was likely that I was already in trouble for having lied. My lie had been for a good cause though!

When I reached our door I levitated the keys out of my saddlebag and started to work the earth pony lock. The stupid thing always gave me fits and I was fumbling with it when I heard hooves approaching from down the hall.

“Azurite, what a nice surprise to see you here,” came Spitfire’s voice from over my shoulder.

I frozen up for a moment and then looked her way. “Oh! Hello there captain. I’m… I’m… uh… here.”

She laughed. “I can see that. Are you and Soarin having a sleepover?”

Heat flushed over my face and I nodded. “Yes.”

“Alright, well don’t keep him up too late. We have practice tomorrow,” she replied.

“Yes, ma’am! Thank you, ma’am,” I said before ducking into the dorm room and hiding my face in my hooves. “So embarrassing, Azurite!”
> 6. My Big Bust
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pink Pony and I sat on the couch playing cards. I’m somewhat ashamed to admit it but she was winning. That didn’t seem possible given her relatively inanimate state. I laid down my cards and then flipped hers over with my magic. “How are you doing that!”

Pink Pony just stared at me with her pretty button eyes. Her three of a kind had beaten my two pairs. Soarin had been teaching me to play but somehow I wasn’t picking it up. Figuring out how many cards to pitch and how many to hold was confusing. 

I grumbled and made a note. “Alright, so that is another three snuggles for you. I better quit while I’m ahead.”

The plush stared at me.

“No, I’m not afraid! A good gambler knows when to walk away.”

She stared some more.

“And when to run! It is time for me to run.”

Pink Pony’s eyes bore into me and I could have sworn her head turned down to look at the notepad.

“Hey, don’t count your winnings while we’re still at the table! There will be time enough for counting when we’re done... Although I guess we’re done. So count away.”

Behind me the door handle started to jiggle. I stood up quickly and faced it. Sweat beaded on forehead and the urge to hide kicked in. It could be Soarin and he could be angry. It could also be Soarin and Sunny and they could be angry

Then there was also the chance that it could be both of them but they were here to reward my efforts. Or a robber! What if it was a robber here to murder me? Robbers don’t murder Azurites, though. Oh! But a murderer does.

The door opened and that immediately narrowed it down to two options. It was both of them. Yay! It was both of them and not a murderer! Although… they didn’t look happy. They didn’t look angry, but they didn’t look happy.

“Hi, am I in trouble?” I asked softly.

Soarin had let Sunny in first like a gentlepony. He came around her and shut the door. “No, you’re not in trouble. Although I’m not sure lying to us was nice.”

“I didn’t lie! I misled and tricked you,” I replied.

The stallion waved a hoof. “Okay, we can discuss that later. For now though, we need to have a serious talk.”

The optimism I had been feeling was starting to rapidly deflate. My eyes flicked from Soarin to Sunny and for the first time I saw the look on her face. It wasn’t her usual, cheerful look. No, she looked sad and Sunny almost never looked sad.

Soarin was wearing a pretty serious face too. His was the kind you see on royal guards around the palace. Hard, even, and emotionless.

My nerves were starting to fray a bit. I took a few steps back. “What kind of talk?”

“It’s going to be okay, Azu,” Sunny said softly. “Your little ploy to get Soarin and I talking was pretty successful.”

My ear flicked and I looked from mare to stallion. “Okay?”

The pegasus came over and settled next to me. He looped his hooves loosely around my waist.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Sunny sat in front of us. “Just a precaution. You’re a runner.”

I glared at her and then over my shoulder at Soarin. “And why would I run?”

Soarin cleared his throat. “Sunny and I had an honest discussion about things. We talked over what she did and about whether she thinks she might do it again… and go further.”

“In all honesty it is possible. I felt horrible after I’d done it but I’m not positive that is enough. I’ve never been a commitment type of pony,” Sunny explained.

I shook my head. “No, you went months without doing anything. You just went to dinner and dancing. A mistake, against the rules, but not cheating. Maybe next time you’ll go even longer. You have to work at it!”

Sunny smiled, but it was that kind of bittersweet smile that shouldn’t even be called a smile at all, and then she looked at Soarin. “You were right.”

“Right about what?” I asked, squirming in Soarin’s grasp. He held onto me a little tighter. I put my hooves on his foreleg and tried to push out.

Sunny’s ears fell as she said, “You’d let me walk all over you if we were together. I’d see another mare, you’d be upset, but you’d stay.”

“What do you mean were together? We are together!”

Soarin squeezed me. “We talked about it and we think it is best if you stay with me. Only if you want to of course.”

Sunny nodded. “Soarin isn’t going to cheat on you. He’s going to be the sort of partner you need. We can still be friends though. It will just be easier this way.”

I put my hooves against Soarin and tried to push my way out. “No, no, no! This is crazy. Let me go! Easier for who? You? Don’t I get a say in this?”

“You couldn’t pick before so we picked for you this time. I’m sorry, Azurite, we talked it over like adults and feel like this would be the best solution for you. I will even look the other way if you and Sunny occasionally… well, be more than friends.” 

My eyes found Soarin’s. His expression was firm. Quickly I turned to Sunny. She looked sad but equally resolute. “Sunny, you can’t be okay with this,” I mumbled as tears started to well in my eyes.

“I love you enough to want you to be treated with respect. I haven’t done that,” she replied.

Soarin loosened his grip on me and said, “You can still go with Sunny, Azurite. We just think it is best that you don’t.”

Now freed I pressed up against Sunny and peered at her. “Tell me you’ll be good and we can just skip all this horrible stuff. Please?”

The unicorn mare softly nuzzled my cheek and hugged me. “I don’t want to lie to you again sweetie, I’m sorry.” She softly kissed the spot behind my ears and pulled away. “I’m going to go. I’ll see you around the office.”

Sunny nodded at Soarin who returned it. Without another word she left. 

Soarin softly stroked my mane. “If you’re mad with me I understand. You don’t have to make any decisions tonight but I still feel the same way about you I always have. I hope you’ll stay.”

I looked back up at him through my tears and just nodded. My body sank to the floor, devoid of all energy. It didn’t make any sense. Why couldn’t Soarin let it go this one time? Why didn’t Sunny understand it would be just this one time? Wouldn’t it only be this one time? She wouldn’t ever see another mare again. She was a good pony.

“Can I do anything for you?”

My head shook. “I just want to be alone for a little while, okay?”

He nodded. “Sure, sure.”

“Spitfire told me to make sure you got enough sleep for practice tomorrow,” I mumbled.

“Oh, yeah. I guess I’ll go to bed early then. I don’t much feel like eating. Will I see you tomorrow?”

I just nodded.

“Okay, goodnight then.”

I waited until the bedroom door was closed before I got up. My legs were a bit wobbly but I left the fancy dorm room to chase after Sunny. There was still time to convince her to change her mind.

When I got outside I couldn’t find her. Granted there were tears in my eyes making it hard to see, but she must have left in a hurry. Either that or I’d been on the floor longer than I realized.

I galloped out to and through the gates to look around the streets. There were hardly any ponies out this late in the evening and a beautiful golden unicorn mare would certainly stand out.

Which way would she go home, Azurite? Think! The fastest route was probably down Mane Street and then a left on Whinny Way. Sunny didn’t always go that way though. Sometimes she took Paddock Parkway across to Tack Trail and then down Amble Avenue. Pick one, Azurite!

The indecision paralyzed me for a few precious moments before I started galloping down Mane Street. Sunny wasn’t there. She was gone.

Tears started falling steadily and sniffling was slowing me down. Either that or the sadness. My hooves gave up galloping and shifted to a trot as I passed the various storefronts common to the area. They were all familiar to me. Most of their lights were out. These stores all closed around seven.

I gave up on catching Sunny but went a bit further to stop in front of a large, white stone store. Off to the side was a small blue door just big enough for one pony at a time. I went through it and up the stairs that laid behind. At the top was a landing with two larger doors.

Resigning myself to defeat I knocked on the one with the big A.

The muffled sounds of confusion followed by a pony getting up and coming over was to be expected. Especially this late in the evening. The door opened and warm light spilled out into the hall.

A middle-aged mare with a lovely lavender coat looked down at me and gasped, “Azurite, sweetie, what’s wrong?”

I leapt forwards and threw my hooves around her. “Sunny broke up with me, Mom!” I managed to get out before the tears turned into sobbing.

“Oh no… I’m so sorry to hear that. Come in, honey, come in.”


♦♦♦


My parents are good, honest ponies. Dad is a jeweler, Mom is a florist, and I’m their marginally unstable filly. They’d wanted more foals but it just wasn’t meant to be. They only had me and late in life.

I sat on the soft tan couch holding a mug of hot chocolate in my magic. My mom was nestled next to me with a hoof around my shoulders. Even with her blue mane up in curlers she looked classy. When she was younger she’d been a jewelry model.

Dad was completely different. He was a tall, lanky unicorn stallion with sharp eyes and incredibly well-controlled magic. Even in his middle age neither his pale blue coat nor his blond mane had even a remote hint of grey. 

“Why would she break up with you, kitten?” he asked as he leaned towards me from his chair opposite the coffee table. “You’re a real catch.”

I just shook my head and sipped my hot chocolate.

Mom squeezed me and said, “Azurite said she was kind of wild. I knew mares like that back when I was her age. They didn’t really want to settle down and our little girl is the marrying type.”

That caused me to snort some of the hot liquid. The tears started again due to the combination of pain and my mom’s freaky intuition.

“I’m so sorry, dear!” She hugged me tighter. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Dad put in, “What about that nice stallion you were dating? What was his name? Snoring?”

“Soarin, dear. His name is Soarin,” my mother corrected. “Yes, what about him? You could consider that he might still be available. He certainly seemed to take the breakup well.”

My parents didn’t actually know about my situation. I’d been lying to them for months. They thought I’d picked Sunny, which they hadn’t loved, over Soarin. It wasn’t that they were against mares being together but they wanted grandfoals and never missed an opportunity to remind me. Plus I didn’t want to explain our little love triangle. I’m sure they’d accept it but it wasn’t typical.

“Maybe…” I mumbled softly, my head ducking.

Dad reached across the coffee table and softly set a hoof under my chin. “I’m sure this wasn’t your fault, kitten. Sometimes these things work out for the best. You know your mother turned me down three times before she said yes.”

“He wore me down,” Mom said.

“I wore her down!” Dad put in happily.

Mom softly laughed and nuzzled my mane. “And I’m glad he did. The years with him and with you have been wonderful. Love is tough, honey. It twists and turns but, in the end, it always seems to work out. Maybe you’re supposed to be with Sunny. Maybe you’re not. Only time will tell.”

I looped my hooves around my mother’s neck and nuzzled in tight. “Thank you. I just hope you’re right.”

“She usually is. Trust me, after 35 years of marriage I’ve learned that,” Dad said.

“Besides, you’re still young, sweetheart! You have plenty of time to find the right pony,” Mom added.

“Okay,” I whispered, my eyes buried against the crook of my mom’s neck. “Can I sleep here tonight?”

“Of course kitten. You don’t even have to ask. Your mother keeps your room exactly like you left it.”

That was good at least. Something in my life should stay the same.


♦♦♦


When I got to my office the next day I found the door unlocked and open. That was a security breach! I moved in to investigate and found Lieutenant Brook alone there.

He was peering into Mr. Peepers fish bowl. Wait, how did Mr. Peepers get here? Had Mr. Peepers broken into my office? No. That wouldn’t be possible. Or would it? He was a smart fish.

Mr. Peepers blew several bubbles and then swam a few laps around his bowl.

“Oh good morning, Azurite. I hope you don’t mind, I let Lieutenant Day into your office. She said you didn’t need a fish and plant sitter anymore and wanted to leave them here.”

Looking around I noticed that Plant, Plant, and Plant were also in the office in addition to Mr. Peepers and his basket of food and toys. I shook my head and fought back tears. Keep it together Azurite. “No sir, I don’t mind at all. Thank you.”

He nodded and smiled at Mr. Peepers. “He is really cute. I’ve never seen a fish with eyes so big.”

“Yeah, he is a good roommate. He doesn’t take much space, keeps a neat room, and isn’t very noisy,” I replied, forcing a little humor into my tone.

“Well, he is welcome here. Have a good day, Azurite.”

“Thank you, sir,” I responded before settling in behind my desk. “Oh, sir?”

Lieutenant Brook stopped in the door. “Yes?”

“I think I’m ready to give up the internal mail route. It probably should go to one of the newer ponies, right?”

He seemed to think about that a moment and then nodded. “Of course. A senior warrant officer carrying palace mail would be a bit odd. I’ll find another pony to do so, if you’re sure.”

“Yes sir, thank you sir,” I replied. Once he was gone I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “So that is it then?” I asked Mr. Clockerson.

“Tick, tock?”

I shook my head. “She gave up. Why shouldn’t I?”

“Tick, tick, ticky. Tiiiick!”

“What do you mean I’m stronger? I’m the smallest pony. If they wanted to make a decision then who am I to argue?”

Mr. Clockerson rolled his pointer. “Tick.”

“No!”

“Tick!”

“NO!”

“TICK!”

“Fine, I’ll fight! If you think that is best I’ll fight. I’ll go up and sort this out right now.”

“Tick, tock, tick.”

I got up and straightened my armor. “Right, I’m going. If she thinks she is just going to drop off my stuff without seeing me she has another thing coming.”

As bravely as I could I stormed out of my office, down the hall, up two flights of stairs, and across in Princess Celestia’s wing. When I got to Sunny’s office I knocked twice on the open door and went right inside. “Sunny, I—”

Sunny wasn’t alone. She was, in fact, with Silent Knight, Storm Rider, Iridescence, and that mean Miley Hooves. She lorded being taller over me.

“Warrant Officer Azurite, you’ll forgive me but I’m in a meeting right now,” Sunny said.

“Yes, ma’am. I apologize. Excuse me,” I replied as I back peddled out. The retreat to my office was hasty and without royal guard flare. When I got in I slammed the door and looked up at Mr. Clockerson.

“Your plan sucked!”

“Tick?”

“S. U. C. K. Sucked!”

“Tick, tock.”

“She was in a meeting and I made a fool of myself.”

“Tick, tick, tickity, tock.”

“Oh you’re not sorry. Look, I need to get to work. We’ll talk about this later,” I grumbled before going to the inbox and starting to work through the ponies. My love life might have been a wreck but I was still in line for a promotion. 

I was still working through my normal duties in addition to going through Silent Knight’s task with a fine tooth comb. Work was one retreat to keep my mind occupied, at least.


♦♦♦


Sunny was occupied every time I tried to see her. She had kept the brief words we’d exchanged professional and was always on her way somewhere. I’m not sure I’d ever heard her say “Warrant Officer Azurite” so much in one day.

It was almost like she was avoiding me. Either that or she was just really busy. That happened sometimes too. Still, I didn’t like it and by the time Mr. Clockerson pointed to five I was worn out and sick of trying.

Mr. Peepers and I locked my office and left the palace. I wasn’t sure if I should head to the dorm or my parents’ place. After a bit of indecision I split the difference and went to Sunridge Sweets. A treat was just what I needed.

The sun was setting and I hurried through the streets of Canterlot. Even this late in the day it was hot. That was just the nature of summer and it wasn’t thrilling to me. A dip in the Wonderbolts’ pool was in order but it would have to wait!

When I got to Sunridge Sweets I burst through the door. “Sunbeam!” I called.

Everypony in the place turned to stare at me. Evidently it was a busy afternoon and now they were all staring at the little unicorn that was currently levitating a fishbowl and running into stores yelling. Right, I knew that most places stayed open after royal guard business hours and, more importantly, that ponies were sometimes in them.

Sheepishly I cleared my throat and whispered, “Oh, excuse me.”

Mr. Pepper Ridge chuckled and replied, “She’s in the back. Why don’t you and your fish head back there?”

“Thank you,” I replied quickly before hurrying around the counter and past him. Mr. Peepers sloshed a bit and seemed interested in all of the wonderfully colorful sweets.

I found Sunbeam in the back room holding Red Velvet in one hoof while decorating cupcakes with another.

“Azurite? Well this is a surprise… well, maybe not a surprise. You’ve been here a lot lately. How about, this is a treat! What brings you by?”

“I need help…” My eyes shifted to the cupcakes. “...and a cupcake.”

Sunbeam looked confused. “Help? Are you in some kind of trouble, sugarlump? And why a cupcake?”

I shook my head. “I’m not in trouble trouble. I’m in relationship trouble. A whole lot more than before.” I levitated Mr. Peepers onto the counter and he immediately caught Red’s attention. “The cupcake is just for me… because, you know, yours are delicious and you’ve effectively surrounded me with sweets.”

The older mare laughed and offered me a cupcake. “Maybe you’d better sit down and explain this all to me slowly. Will you hold Red?”

After accepting the cupcake in my magic and the foal in my forelegs I settled at the table. “Sunny and Soarin talked. Like we’d sort of planned but it went a weird direction. They decided Sunny couldn’t be trusted and that I was better off with Soarin. Plus Sunny ducked me all day and last night I snuck out of Soarin’s and went to my parents’ house. So now one or both of them are mad at me and neither seems keen on going back to the status quo!”

About midway through my spiel Sunbeam stopped decorating and turned to listen intently. “They decided? What about your feelings?”

“They decided. They sort of decide most things because I’m indecisive. They said I could still go with Sunny but she snubbed me today. It’s like she doesn’t want me.”

“And you believe that?”

I shrugged and bounced Red a bit on my lap. “I don’t know. She won’t look at me and we never had a conversation.”

“Well it’s only been a day, dear. Maybe she’s upset still,” she pointed out.

“That is a good point. I’m still not sure what I want. What about Soarin, he—”

“Mom, I’m here,” Velvet Step said as she came in from the front. Her eyes fell on Mr. Peepers. “When did you get a fish?” Then they flicked to me and Red. “When did you get an Azurite?”

Sunbeam smiled. “Hello, sweetcake. Azurite is having more relationship trouble. She and her fish came to visit.”

“More trouble? Azurite, I haven’t known you long but this seems to be getting out of hoof. What’s up now?” Velvet asked before sitting across from me.

“Oh no, please sit down. Don’t help with the cupcakes,” Sunbeam said to no pony in particular before I explained the situation to Velvet.

“So, I don’t know what to do. What should I do?” I asked. 

Velvet nibbled on her lip. “Well, I’m not really an expert on romance. Shouldn’t you maybe tackle one at a time? Make sure Soarin isn’t upset with you?”

Sunbeam looked over her shoulder. “And give Sunny a few days to cool off.”

“That is pretty good advice. Both of you. I guess I’ll go deal with Soarin first. Then we can all figure out how to fix it between him and Sunny. Assuming she and I get fixed up, too.”

“We?” Velvet asked curiously.

Red wiggled in my lap and I nodded. “Yes, we. Do you really think I could do all of this on my own?”

Sunbeam and Velvet were silent. They exchanged glances as if trying to figure out a polite way to answer.

Velvet leaned closer and said, “You may want to invite your friend Sandy, too. Just in case we’re not enough.”

That made Sunbeam chuckle and shake her head. “Why don’t we all have brunch Saturday and see where you’re at?” she suggested.

I stood and gave Red to Velvet. “Alright, thank you both! I’m going to go home and see how Soarin is.”

“Good luck dear!” Sunbeam said as I hurried out to the front. 

“Your fish!” Velvet called.

Oh, Mr. Peepers was never going to let me hear the end of this.


♦♦♦


When I got home Soarin wasn’t there. That wasn’t really concerning, though, because he often practiced past when I get off work on a normal day. Things had been less normal lately because the Wonderbolts had an “All Equestria” tour coming up. Sunny and I had been invited to go, too. For me it meant using most of my vacation days but it was possible. Sunny probably couldn’t go normally. Who knew now?

Mr. Peepers swam laps around his bowl. He was scoping out the living room from his spot on the coffee table. To placate him for forgetting him I’d swapped out the little desert island for the diver pony. They’d been on-again, off-again dating for a while. Currently it was on.

Pink Pony sat with me on the couch while I waited. She’d been a comfort lately. “How are we going to get out of this one?” I asked her.

Unsurprisingly she didn’t seem to have the answers. She was a card player, not a therapist. She was planning to head out to Las Pegasus to make her fortune when I went on tour with Soarin.

I heard the door handle start to jiggle out in the foyer and my nerves kicked in immediately. Quickly I grabbed Pink Pony and held her to my chest, putting her between me and the opening to the foyer.

“Don’t be nervous, he won’t come at you,” I whispered in her ear.

The door finally opened and Soarin came into the foyer. He groaned softly and headed towards the bedroom before pausing, taking three steps back, and looking into the living room. “Azurite!”

I was still holding my breath. “Soarin!”

He turned and trotted over to the couch. Before he got halfway there I could smell him. Why do stallions smell! “When you weren’t here this morning I thought that you’d gone with Sunny.” His tone was even, guarded. Not angry or judgy, but also not warm. His eyes then caught Mr. Peepers. “Oh, maybe you did… but you and Mr. Peepers came back.”

“I went to my parents’ house. Sunny dropped Mr. Peepers and the Plant triplets off this morning before I got to work,” I said softly.

“She did? Well, they’re welcome to live here as long as Mr. Peepers pays his portion of the rent.” He was forcing a little bit of humor.

“Mr. Peepers isn’t very good with money.”

Soarin shrugged. “I guess you’ll just have to pay his way then. Assuming you’re staying.”

I squeezed Pink Pony against me and looked up at him. “I would like to stay. Sunny doesn’t seem to want me. I mean she just walked out of here last night and wouldn’t talk to me today. Even if she did you may be right about what would happen. I don’t want to mess up two relationships, though, so maybe I need to focus on this one right now.” The words hurt coming out. Not the idea of only focusing on Soarin. I was crazy about him. It was the cutting of the other that wounded deeply.

The stallion stepped a bit closer and nuzzled my cheek. “You’re not going to mess up our relationship. I know you have feelings for her still. It isn’t like I don’t either. Sunny’s just in a different place, ok? You can’t keep blaming yourself or feeling guilty for trying to come to terms with reality, Azurite.”

Reality sucked and I wanted a new topic. Time to change the subject. “You smell,” I told him pointedly.

Soarin smirked but he got the message. “Well, how about I go shower and you start making dinner?”

“That seems like a fair deal to me.”

He headed for the shower and I went to the kitchen. Cooking for two was going to be weird.
> 7. My New Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the giant stack of files I’d been given, only ten remained. They levitated into my outbox before I made my way from the lower level to Princess Luna’s wing. When I reached the lieutenant’s door I knocked a few times. 

“Come in,” came the stern stallion’s voice.

I pushed the door open with my hooves and came into the office. Silent Knight was sitting behind his desk looking over paperwork. His eyes lifted to me and he was alone, thankfully. I didn’t like that other pony from before.

“Warrant Officer Azurite?” There were bags under his eyes and he looked haggard.

“Yes, sir. I hope this isn’t an inconvenience.”

“No, not at all. Thank you. Anything I need to know?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, based on the request you gave me all the files have been returned properly to the archive. You’ll still probably want to be aware that an in-depth audit will find the records.” My eyes lifted to the shelves behind him. There were little airships on clear stands.

“Oh. Only in-depth? I suppose that is better than anticipated. And you didn’t break any rules?” he asked.

“No, sir. It was all done strictly to policy as written. You have toy ships?” my mouth asked without my brain’s permission.

Silent Knight’s ears flicked and he straightened. “Pardon?”

I pointed to the small airships. “You have a whole shelf of toy ships. You didn’t have anything in your office before.”

He turned to look back at them and then back to me. “They aren’t toys. They’re miniatures for wargames.”

“It’s okay, sir, I have a plush doll as big as me. Her name is Pink Pony. She’s a card shark.”

“They’re not toys, warrant officer. They’re to-scale approximations of the real things used to simulate combat. Can we talk about the files please?”

The toy airships looked really cool. They were painted beautifully and really did look like the real things. I blinked and focused back on the task at hand. “Of course, sir. All files logged out and immediately back in. All Ts have been crossed and Is have been dotted. Evidently this sort of work comes out now and then, according to Lieutenant Brook. He took you at your word.”

Silent Knight gave the slightest wince. “Of course he did. Thank you,” he said.

“Sure. Sir, may I ask you something?” 

Silent Knight frowned. “Is it about my airships?”

My head shook. “No, it is about Lieutenant Day. Have you seen her lately?”

He nodded. “I see her a few times a day.”

“How has she been?”

“She has been a less chipper than usual. For a normal pony I’d say it was average but she hasn’t been prancing. Why do you ask?”

I squirmed and shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Could you tell her I asked about her?”

Silent Knight nodded and replied, “Sure. You can’t talk to her yourself? Aren’t you two together?”

That was a difficult question. “We are… on a break? I don’t know. There is a lot going on and it is complicated. Plus she seems extra busy which I’m sure you know how that is. You look like you’re pretty tired too.”

The pegasus looked at me curiously for a moment. “I hope it works out.” He then caught my desire to change the subject. “There is no rest for the wicked,” he said with a light chuckle. It sounded a bit forced. “I’ll tell her. Thank you for this. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes, sir. Take care,” I said before leaving his office and heading back to mine.

When I got there Mr. Clockerson stretched his pointers a bit. “Tick, tick.”

“Yeah, I asked about her. Look I’m working on it. She won’t see me! I went up there three times yesterday and twice today.”

“Tick, tock.”

I shrugged, “I haven’t figured that part out yet. I’m sure I’ll be able to convince her that sticking to the relationship is the best thing for her and for us. Running around with different ponies can’t be that exciting.”

“Tick, tick, tickety, tock.”

“Hey, you chose to get married and this was your idea. There is no sense in getting cold pointers now! We’re in it.”

The clock simply stared down at me. I shrugged and went back to my usual tasks. I’d fallen a bit behind while working on the lieutenant’s secret project so it was time to get caught up. 


♦♦♦


Sunny was walking briskly down the hall towards Princess Celestia’s wing. I had to practically gallop to keep up.

“Sunny, wait. Just a minute please?”

Her eyes kept forward and she replied, “I’m really sorry, Warrant Officer Azurite, I can’t. I have a meeting with Princess Celestia that I have to get to.”

“Then we’ll walk and talk,” I said with a huff. She’d walk. I’d gallop.

“Alright,” she replied.

“I don’t think you’re making a good decision. I think you’re being too hard on yourself. We could all sit down and talk about it.”

Sunny turned left and I went wide trying to follow her. I bumped into a potted plant and had to stop to keep it from falling. Once that was achieved I chased her down.

She stopped outside of Princess Celestia’s office. “Soarin and I already talked,” she said, looking over my head. Turning, she set her hoof on the handle of the door. I put mine over hers and she froze.

“How can you just walk away? I thought I meant something to you,” I said quietly.

The golden mare briefly looked down at me and met my gaze. She didn’t look happy. Not like she was mad at me. She just looked unhappy or pained. “Azurite, I have a meeting. Please let go.”

I let her go and backed away from the door. Sunny disappeared inside. What had that look meant?


♦♦♦


“Are you alright, Azurite?” Soarin asked.

“Huh?” I replied.

Soarin came over and picked up the squishy green ball. “This literally just bounced off your face. We’re playing catch. You catch it with your hooves or I guess magic, just not your face.”

“I’m sorry, I got distracted.” I picked the ball up with my magic and tossed it into his face.

The stallion laughed and shook his head. “Let me explain this again. You stand here. I stand over there. Then we throw the ball back and forth. We catch it with our hooves. We can try again.” He trotted a bit further away and tossed the ball.

This time when it hit my face I felt it. Thankfully it was a pretty squishy ball. “Soarin, I’m not sure I want to play catch.”

He came over and picked up the ball. “Okay, what would you like to do? Puzzles?”

I looked at him. “You and Sunny really agreed? You didn’t scare her off or anything?”

Soarin blinked and took a step back. “Azurite, come on. Do you really think I’d do that?”

I shook my head. “No, not really. She won’t talk to me at work. I thought we’d at least be friends. It feels weird. Look, I’m sorry I keep bringing her up. You must think she’s all I think about.”

The stallion chuckled. “That isn’t true. You also spend a lot of time thinking about Pink Pony, Mr. Peepers, yourself, and other things. I am pretty sure I’m on that list, too. Look, it isn’t like I don’t think about her, too. We were all together for almost a year. You can’t just flip a switch and it’s gone.”

“You’re pretty smart for a stallion… although that is what I feel like she did.”

“Gee, thanks. I’m not sure why Sunny isn’t talking to you. Maybe you’d feel better if you talked about it? We can do that and a puzzle at the same time. What do you say?”

“That sounds nice. We can do the one with the fire ponies again.”

Soarin’s brow lifted. “We never finish that one. You get too… uh… eager once you can make them out.”

I winked at him. “Is that a problem?”

“No, but it doesn’t sound like therapy.”

“Physical therapy!”

We started walking home and Soarin looked down to me. “I’m not sure I’ll ever understand how your brain works.”


♦♦♦


“You know I’ve got your back partner,” Sandy said as we sat out in front of Sunridge Sweets having brunch. “I’m just not sure what we’re supposed to be doing.”

Sunbeam poured more sweet tea for everypony and said, “We’re supposed to be eating. Perhaps we’ll have more ideas once we’ve eaten.”

Velvet shook her head. “No disagreement here.”

I buttered and jammed a biscuit before starting to nibble on it. “You know, I hope we can still do this once all of the craziness is settled. I like spending time with all of you.”

Velvet shrugged. “I wasn’t sure about you at first and normally crazy romance schemes are really more of my roommate’s deal, but you’re alright.”

“Gee, thanks,” I replied around a mouthful of biscuit. 

“You’ll have to forgive Velvet, sweetie, she sometimes doesn’t know the difference between a compliment and an insult. You’re always welcome here,” Sunbeam replied while Velvet glared at her.

Sandy grinned a bit and shook her head. “You know I’ll be there for you regardless but it would be nice to expand our circle of friends.”

There were nods of agreement all around before we settled into more serious eating. Pepper Ridge had made biscuits and they did not disappoint. By the time I’d had three I was actually feeling far more positive about life.

“Alright, ladies. We know Sunny has been avoiding me and we know Soarin didn’t force her to do that. What can we do about it?”

Sandy pondered that a moment before replying, “Well, you can’t force a pony to talk to you and it is unlikely you’ll have success tricking her into another meeting.”

“Oh, that is true,” Sunbeam agreed.

Velvet tapped her chin. “Well, then if she won’t talk to Azurite, who will she talk to?”

“Possibly anypony else but certainly not about Azurite. Maybe we’re working the wrong angle,” Sandy said.

Sunbeam drummed on the table before looking up. “Well… Soarin and Sunny had a talk before and came to this agreement without you Azurite. You said he mentioned missing her too. What if we could arrange that again?”

“That… actually makes sense. How do we get them to talk?” Velvet replied.

“We trick them into a conference room at the palace and lock the doors!” I chimed in.

“No, you silly filly! That would be super stressful and too obvious. This is going to take a light hoof.” Sandy replied.

“Oh, good point. So what then?” I ask.

Velvet put in, “Well… what if Soarin thought Sunny wanted to reconsider and mend fences?”

“Why would he think that?” Sunbeam asked.

The pink mare steepled her hooves and put on a devious look. “We’re going to make him think that!”

Sandy’s brow arched and she asked, “I thought you said this more your roommate’s thing?”

“She must have rubbed off on me,” Velvet replied with a grin.

I wasn’t against the idea. Take me out of the equation and work on Sunny and Soarin. They’d see they missed each other and once they were back together I’d be in, too. “Well, alright then. Where do we start?”

“A cake,” Sunbeam said plainly. “We’ll bake him an I’m Sorry cake and send it in Sunny’s name.”

“Yes! Yes, that exactly!” I chimed in. I liked the idea and, frankly, it meant I got cake, too. “Then what?”

“We wait and see what happens next,” Sandy said. “You’re going to be our ears and eyes on the inside. One step at a time. This might be too soon, too. Maybe wait a week before we send the cake? See how it is received and then send something else? Cards, gifts, and things that can be delivered. Nothing that would require Sunny to physically be there and things that we could send without Azurite’s knowledge so that she would be equally surprised.”

Sunbeam lit up. “Oh, how fun! It will be like a spy game.” Her eyes went wide and she looked over at me. “I’m so sorry, Azurite, I didn’t mean this is a game.”

I waved a hoof. “It’s fine, you’re baking me an I’m sorry cake!”

We all laughed and then settled in to hammer out the details of our ingenious plan.


♦♦♦


I leaned up against Soarin, my forehooves wrapped around one of his. He was so handsome and kind. When I’d gotten home from work on Friday he was waiting on me all clean and fresh. We’d gone out to our favorite broccoli cafe for dinner. Soarin had ordered way too much. There was enough left for a whole meal for one pony. That had required a brief stop home to drop off the leftovers before we went on to the big outdoor ampitheatre so we could watch a show.

Now we were being lazy and taking a taxi back to the Wonderbolt campus. “You’re a good stallionfriend,” I said up at him.

He smiled and leaned over to nose me. “I thought we deserved a little distraction. You did well at the show.”

“Yeah, sitting in the back helps. Plenty of room to run away. It was neat, I’ve never seen the Canterpony Tales before. It was racier than I’d heard! Who knew olden ponies were so dirty?”

Soarin chuckled and shrugged. “It was no worse than what is in books these days. I’m glad you liked it, though.”

“I did!”

We pulled up at the campus and hopped off the taxi. Once Soarin had paid we made our way to the dorm room. There was a big white rectangular box sitting out in front of the door.

“What’s that?” he asked, heading over.

“A box!” I replied, since I knew what it really was and would have had to lie and I don’t lie well.

Soarin snorted and playfully rolled his eyes. “You’re not helpful.” he said before flipping the lid open. “Oh it’s a cake!” His expression then changed as he read the writing on it, “I’m sorry Soarin.”

I trotted up by his side. The cake was beautiful. It was the color of Sunny’s coat and the lettering was pristine in his blue. “It smells delicious.” Another lie averted! Well played Azurite.

“Yeah…” he replied, closing the top. He picked the cake up and gave it to me before opening the door. “At least we have dessert.”

We went in together. I made for the kitchen immediately, he headed to the living room. Maybe he’d feel the sorry more once he tasted the cake. Otherwise I was thinking this one was a miss. I made two plates and floated him the one that said Soarin.

“See, for you!”

“I do see that,” he replied before starting to eat. “Wow… this is really good.”

“Yeah it is from Sunridge Sweets!” I exclaimed. Oh stupid Azurite!

Soarin’s brow lifted. “How do you know that?”

Think quick Azurite. You know their taste? You recognize the hoofwriting? No! Quick, show him your flank. Move! Some part of me move.

“The box!” I blurted.

“Huh?”

“On the box. It’s on the box. I recognize the logo because Sandy and I go there after we fly kites.”

He nodded in understanding. “Oh right. I remember you telling me about the place.”

Note to self, destroy the box immediately or draw a logo on it. Well… not immediately. There was cake to be consumed. I’m sure I could keep one stallion out of the kitchen.

“I could use some milk,” he said, standing up.

“Ahl gif it!” I practically choked before getting up and rushing back into the kitchen.

Soarin looked at me like I was crazy, which in all fairness I am, but not for this. When I got into the kitchen I looked for a place to move the cake to. I surrounded the tasty treat in my magic and lifted it out of the box while I went to the fridge for milk. 

I got two glasses and started filling them while the cake circled precariously around my head looking for a hiding place. Why didn’t we have a cake tray? Are cake trays a real thing? 

“Azurite, do you need help?” Soarin called from the living room.

“No!” I cried, almost a little desperately.

I threw open the little drawer under the stove, pulled out a baking sheet, set the cake on it, and put both in the oven. Then I levitated both glasses of milk and grabbed the box. I squeezed it flat and slammed it into the trash. Only then did I realize that it did, in fact, have a giant Sunridge Sweets logo on it.

“Crabapples!” I shouted.

Soarin’s head eased slowly around the corner as if he were afraid. “Are you sure you don’t need help?”

The milk lazily made its way over to the stallion. “Nope, all fine.”

“Where is the cake?”

“In the oven.”

“You know what, I’m not even going to ask.”

> 8. My Trip For An Airship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin had not responded as well to the cake as I had hoped but it was Sunny’s first attempt after all. Well, sort of Sunny’s attempt anyway. We’d gone a full week and he hadn’t said a thing about it or tried to make contact with her. At least not to my knowledge.

Sunny was still on her ‘don’t speak to Azurite’ mission. It was starting to really hurt my feelings, too. I’d started avoiding her for the most part. It was easier not to see her than be Warrant Officer Azurite.

When I got into work there was a massive pile of files in my inbox and another two beside it. Another ruse from Silent Knight no doubt… well, some doubt. There wasn’t a note. Actually a lot of doubt. I remembered that he’d suddenly took sick and was out on medical leave. Officers in the palace had a tendency to do that. I wonder why?

I sat down and started to flip through the first one. This file belonged to a new guard right out of training. The second, third, fourth, and fifth were the same. I was part of the palace guard pony resources section. It was rare for us to see a lot of guards without experience.

“Who left these here?” I asked Mr. Clockerson. 

He stared down at me through his monocle and shrugged his pointers.

“You’re no help.” I got back up and walked out of my office and right into Lieutenant Brook’s breastplate. “Ow!”

“Oops… are you alright, Azurite?” he asked, stepping back.

My nose hurt but I seemed to be in one piece. “Yes, sir. I was coming to see you.”

He nodded. “Yes, I imagine you were after seeing your desk. It has been a crazy morning, this was the soonest I could get down here. Captain Akane from the Canterlot City Guard dropped by late yesterday and met with the major. Evidently the city guard is going to be increased by about 10%. That is far beyond what their pony resources sections can handle at the moment. So he asked for help which, as you can guess, means us.”

“Why are they adding that many guards, sir? That is a huge increase!”

Lieutenant Brook shrugged. “I don’t know. If I were to guess I’d say it has something to do with the fact that city has been attacked twice in two years. That is what I hope anyway.”

I squirmed. Canterlot had been crazy recently. When the changelings attacked I was still in warrant officer’s school. That fight I’d sat out. It happened so fast and ended just as quickly. Not that I would have been able to do much at that time. I was still in a bad place.

The second attack had come on suddenly but lasted almost a whole day. Superpowered cockatrices had assaulted the city and I’d been in the thick of that. To be honest I didn’t want to imagine another attack coming soon.

“I’m going to hope that, too,” I said. “A precaution, not an expectation. So basic onboarding?”

“Good idea. Easier on the brain that way,” he said before nodding. “Yeah, it isn’t exciting work but I know you can process faster than anypony else. I’ll even be working cases.”

My brow arched. “You, sir?”

He chuckled. “I still remember how. I just won’t finish as many as you do.”

I gave a confident nod. My job I was confident about. “Time to go earn that second bar then.”

“That’s the spirit. Come see me if you need anything.”

“Yes, sir!” I replied before heading back into my office.


♦♦♦


My eyes were getting tired. I hadn’t moved since lunch and it was an hour after I was supposed to go home. “Okay Mr. Clockerson, I’m punching out.”

“Tick, tock, tick,” he replied.

“Yeah, I’ll miss you, too. See you tomorrow!”

I got out of my armor and locked up before heading towards the stairs. On my way I caught a glimpse of Sunny as she went past one of the cross halls. She wasn’t in armor and that was the direction of the locker room.

When I got to the intersection I hesitated a moment before continuing on. Should I go after her? I should go after her. She’s not in uniform! No excuse. I’m going to go after her! One left turn later I was hot on Sunny’s trail.

I went down the hall to the locker room and peeked in the door. The light was on but no pony was inside. Although the sound of water running suggested where she was. I slipped inside and made my way over to the showers. Yup! One golden mare in one stall showering.

As quietly as I could I crept up behind her and into the stall. “Hi Sunny!”

“Ahhhh!” she screamed.

“Ahhhh!” I screamed.

Then she clocked me. I staggered a bit and fell onto my rump right outside of the stall. “Oww…”

“Serves you right sneaking up on ponies! What are you up to?!” asked a voice that was not Sunny’s.

My vision was finally starting to clear. All of the little stars disappeared. I gasped. “Oh Celestia, I am so sorry! I thought you were Lieutenant Day!”

The mare who was, to my credit, golden and red-maned peered at me. “Go figure that now mares would jump into the shower with her.”

There wasn’t much I could say other than: “Again, sorry. I’m just going to awkwardly leave now. Enjoy your shower.”

“Mmhmm,” she replied, turning back to the water.

Slowly I scooted away. My face had run into a lot of things today. I got up and hurried out before I managed to cause any other trouble.


♦♦♦


“Soarin?” I called after I finally let myself into the dorm room. Stupid keys. “Hello?”

The whole place was dark. He was probably still at practice even though I was late. I went about and started turning on a few lights and doing my meager chores. There weren’t many to do since we had a weekly maid service.

Pink Pony was settled on the couch so I joined her. Briefly I looked around before I took her in my hooves and rocked onto my back. Holding her over me I said, “I miss mare kisses.”

The plush’s muzzle pressed to mine and I giggled. “Okay, okay, I miss Sunny’s kisses. Yours are nice, too, though.”

I hugged Pink Pony against me and nuzzled my cheek with hers. She was soft and squishy. “I miss her smell, too, or when she’d nestle on top of me just like this.”

Two button eyes peered down at me sympathetically. “I knew you’d understand. I just really miss her. You never really got to know her.”

We snuggled a bit more and I was off in fantasy land in my head. Me and Sunny back at the beach, snuggling under an umbrella while Soarin fought off some crabs that had taken offense to our presence. The things we did that night… 

I never heard the door open or Soarin come home. He walked into the living room with no less than twelve balloons tied to his hoof. They floated above him with messages like, ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘Please forgive me,’ ‘You’re a stud,’ and ‘It isn’t contagious.’ His eyes found me and Pink Pony.

I gasped and stiffened. “It isn’t what it looks like!”

He blinked in confusion. “It looks like you’re snuggling with Pink Pony.”

“Okay it is, but it doesn’t mean anything!” I replied guiltily. My eyes caught Pink Pony’s. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Your snuggling means a lot. Don’t be cross.”

Pink Pony stared at me.

“Um… Azurite, are you alright? Hey… did you get into a fight?” Soarin asked as he came over to look down at me.

“What?” I asked in surprise. “What makes you think that?” He gently touched his hoof to a spot just below my right eye. When he did, it hurt! “Ow!”

The stallion peered closer. “You have a black eye. What happened?”

What happened? I snuck up on some twitchy palace guard! That is what. Why though? I couldn’t tell him that I had jumped into the shower with Sunny. Azurite you’ve been in a lot of sticky situations lately. Just tell him most of the truth.

“It wasn’t a fight. I accidentally scared a palace guard and she went all combat reflexes on me. Totally my fault.”

He looked skeptical and asked, “Then why do you look guilty?”

Carefully I set Pink Pony aside and looked up at him. “I didn’t want you to think I was cheating.”

The stallion stared at me more. “With the doll?”

“Yes? And Pink Pony isn’t a doll.”

He softly patted me on the head. “I can deal with it. All of it.”

The balloons finally caught my full attention. “Did you have trouble flying today? Is that why they tied balloons to you?”

Soarin laughed and then shook his head. “No, they’re apology balloons from Sunny.”

“Aww, that is sweet!” I replied.

The stallion untied the strings and then tied them to my hoof. “They’re just balloons,” he said before heading towards the kitchen. “I’m going to get you an ice pack and then get cleaned up. Do you want to go out to eat or would that be embarrassing?”

“Ice would be nice, thank you. Mmm, I’m not super ashamed and I do want noodles and broccoli,” I called after him.

While rummaging around in the kitchen he shouted back. “I know just the place.”

I listened to the sounds and looked up at the balloons. They were brightly colored and fun. The rummaging continued. I looked down at the strings, untied them, and tied them around Pink Pony’s hoof. “I’m sorry, I got scared. You mean the world to me.”

Pink Pony looked back, no judgment in her eyes.

We hugged and then I went after Soarin into the kitchen. “Do they deliver?” 

“Maybe? Why?”

“I would rather stay in and cuddle you. I had a really rough day and I’m feeling kind of low.”

He nodded and set the ice pack into my hooves. Soarin pressed a soft kiss to my nose and replied, “I’ll go pick it up and come back once I’m done showering.”

“You really know how to treat a filly,” I said.

Soarin just winked and went off to get cleaned up.


♦♦♦


“Wow, partner, she got you good!” Sandy said as she stared at my eye.

“Well, she was bigger than me and a palace guard. So, you know, there is that. Evidently punching unicorns comes natural to her.”

Sandy snorted as she tried to keep from laughing and held a hoof up. “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at your pain.”

I shook my head. “No, no, go ahead. I’m the stupid pony that jumped into the shower with a random mare.”

She hugged me and softly patted my back. “I always told you to keep your guard up.”

“Uh huh. Get it all out. Anything else?”

Sandy paused and settled back into her wheelchair a moment. “I guess she didn’t take a shining to you?”

My eyes rolled. “You really stretched for that one.”

“I do what I do. So are we going to go fly kites or what?” 

“Actually, I needed your help with something. An acquaintance of mine has been looking kind of rough lately and now he’s sick. He likes these little toy airships but I haven’t found them in any of the toy stores. Have you ever heard of anything like that?”

The mare’s head tilted. “Toy stores are full of toy airships. You couldn’t find any?”

“Not like his. His are really high quality looking. He says they’re for wargames.”

“Oh! One of the ponies I work with at the market talks about stuff like that all the time. There is a store he plays at, Crystal... something. Why don’t we see if they have anything?”

“It sounds like an adventure! Off to Crystal Something!”


♦♦♦


The day was dragging on slowly. I was excited to get to quitting time so I could go to Silent Knight’s place with the little wrapped package that was sitting on my desk. Normally I’d have gone first thing but sneaking off during work hours was out of the question. There were simply too many ponies to process.

“Would you hurry up!” I said to Mr. Clockerson.

I swear the minute pointer went backwards.

“Don’t you start with me!”

“Tick, tiiick, tiiiiiiiiick.”

“So help me, I’ll get up there and take your new monocle back!”

“Tick, tock! Tick, tock!”

I nodded. “And don’t you forget it.”

He finally moved his pointers in the right direction and I hopped out of my chair. My magic encircled the gift and I trotted proudly up to the main floor and out of the palace.

Sandy and I had used our whole day together looking for the right place. It hadn’t been easy either. Evidently most ponies were as perplexed as we were as to the difference between a toy store and a game store.

That store, once we’d eventually found it, was called the Crystal Delicacy. That was the easy part, however, as I’d been inundated by the proprietor with questions like “what faction,” “what size ship,” and other similar nonsense. I picked the one that looked the coolest to me.

I also learned that toy airships that are marketed as wargame pieces are a lot more expensive than I imagined they would be. That was alright though. I wanted to cheer the lieutenant up and maybe smooth out any awkwardness that may exist between us.

When I got to his quarters his door was open. A white and blue pegasus mare was coming out. She looked a lot like him but her mane was lighter. 

“Is Lieutenant Knight home?”

The mare blinked and looked down. “He isn’t… He’s staying with a friend. Can I help you?”

“Oh… well we work together and I heard he was sick. I brought him a gift,” I replied.

“That is very sweet of you. I’m his sister Winterspear. He’d probably like a visit.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Azurite. Is he coming home soon?”

She shook her head. “Not today, I thought he’d be better off separated from the other sick ponies. His friend is actually his fiancée. I can give you directions. I’d show you myself but I’ve got to go pick up my filly.”

His fiancée. Crystal Wishes. Yeah, I know where she lives. “Directions would be fine. You don’t look old enough to have a filly.” Woah, where did that come from?

Winterspear laughed and replied, “Thanks, but she isn’t mine mine. She’s… uh… well…” She looked at me a moment before shrugging. “She’s my marefriend’s little sister. We’re raising her.”

“That is nice of you! I don’t have any siblings.” Get to the point, Azurite. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at first impressions. If you point me in the right direction this awkward small talk could end.”

The mare laughed a bit more and went back inside for a moment. She returned with a scrap of paper. “Here is the address. Have a good evening.”

“You, too!” I chirped before heading over to Crystal Wishes’s place.

I knocked on the door. There was a brief wait before it opened. Velvet was standing there looking down at me.

“Hi Azurite!” Velvet said with a smile. “Omph!”

Crystal Wishes was suddenly by her side and had subtly elbowed her roommate.

“Oh, I mean, hi… uh… you,” Velvet corrected.

Further back in the condo I could see Silent Knight sitting on a pillow with a book in front of him. He eyed the mares curiously and then looked at me. Finally he shrugged, let it go, and said, “This is a surprise, Azurite.”

Crystal offered, “Won’t you come in? Azurite, was it?”

“It was. I didn’t mean to interrupt this… whatever this is,” I replied as I walked in.

Velvet gasped and pointed at my eye. “Did you get into a fight with Su— OW!”

Crystal Wishes looked innocently the other way, her hind hoof having stepped on Velvet’s.

“Crystal, I swear to Celestia I’ll—”

“You’re not interrupting. Come on Velvet, let’s go make a snack for our guest while she spends some time with Silent,” Crystal said before heading toward the kitchen.

As Crystal and Velvet made their way past me Velvet whispered, “Come tell me what happened later.”

My ears wiggled but I didn’t react otherwise. I just made my way to Silent Knight and landed the wrapped package in front of him. He didn’t look that different out of armor. Most ponies do. You take down the barrier and find out they’re just normal ponies.

Not him though. Even without the armor he was large and fit. The armor may have been off but his guard wasn’t. He looked every bit like the officer I knew… mostly. 

He also looked… vulnerable? He had a few scars around his ribs. Even in his white coat I could see them. Big ones. His eyes were heavy, too, like he wasn’t fully there. Physically he looked fit but... He looked like a stallion in peak health but something was off. Maybe he needed a hug?

Silent Knight looked at the box in surprise. “What is this?”

Focus, Azurite. Stop staring. “Well, you’ve been a little frowny lately and now you’re sick. I know the feeling. The frowny part. Plus I never really thanked you for saving me that one time or for treating me with respect around the palace. So I got you a gift. It is allowed under the gift regulations.”

“Frowny?” he asked, his brow arching.

“Yes, sir, frowny.”

The stallion shrugged at that and replied, “Alright. Thank you. Should I open it now?”

Of course! I was giddy to see if I’d done well. Open it, open it, open it! Calm down Azurite, play this cool. “If you’d like sir. I’m curious to see if I guessed right.”

Silent Knight nodded and carefully pulled the wrapping paper off the box. When he saw the colorful front panel he said, “Oh!”

“Oh?” I asked nervously.

“This is one of the newest figures. You must have been shopping recently. It’s great!”

“So you like it?”

He nodded. “Absolutely. It is a very thoughtful gift. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome! I didn’t know what I was doing. I just guessed.”

“You did well. I think I’ll name it The Azurite and paint the sails blue, if you’re okay with that.”

I’d never had a ship named after me. Neither a big one or a small one. “I’d love that! Thank you.”

“Consider it done,” he replied.

“Sir?” I asked.

He was staring at the back of the box. “Hmm?”

“Are you going to be well soon?”

Silent Knight looked up. “I hope so. I’ve been getting stronger every day. With any luck another day or two under Crystal’s care and I’ll be ready for anything.”

“That is good!”

He smiled at me. “Of course surprise visits also lift my spirits, so I’m sure that will help, too.”

I settled in front of him and nodded. “That is good. I hope it works out for you.”

“Me too. Why do you feel frowny?” he asked suddenly, going back to the start of the conversation.

“Me? Oh… well. It seems stupid compared to you being sick.”

“Try me?”

I squirmed and looked towards the door. “Sunny won’t talk to me.”

“Oh. I’m really sorry to hear that,” he said and it seemed genuine.

“Yeah… that is how things go I guess.” My ears folded back. “Oh. Well… maybe I should get going.”

“You don’t have to. Are you still with your friend Soarin?” he asked quietly.

Why was he asking about Soarin! How did he know about Soarin? “What! Uh, yeah, kinda. I should go. I think I should go.”

“Alright, drop in my office sometime. I’ll show you the airship when it’s done.”

“Okay. I’ll do that. See you later, sir!” Quickly I stood up and hurried out the door. “Bye Velvet, see you tomorrow!” I called without thinking.

Stupid Azurite! Oh well, I’m sure Crystal would fix it.


♦♦♦


Velvet peered at my eye through a ridiculously sized magnifying glass. “Wow! You got clobbered.”

I glared at her which caused her to gasp and lean back. Not because I was scary but because of the giant magnification of my glaring eye. “Yes, she did.”

The mare scrunched her nose and asked, “Any word on the Soarin talk to Sunny front since your Azurite talk to Sunny battle is going so badly?”

My head shook. “No, he doesn’t seem to be getting the message. A cake and balloons are nice but I guess he isn’t feeling it yet.”

Velvet sighed. “Stallions should just know what we mean! Clearly she wants to talk to him.”

“Clearly!” I repeated.

Velvet’s head tilted. “Wait, are we buying into our own subterfuge? She’s not actually sending these things is she?”

“No, we are.”

“Oh, okay. Well… I was going to go pick up Red for a trip to the park. Would you like to come?”

“I would! I want to pick Soarin up from training later but I’ve still got at least two hours.”

“Good! When we get to the bakery I’ll tell Mom you fought off a giant eagle or something and got a black eye.” 

I arched my brow. “Why would you do that?”

“Do you really want to explain to her that you jumped into a shower with a random mare thinking you’d surprise Sunny with some happy fun times?”

I felt myself flush all over and quickly shook my head.

“Giant eagle it is then!” Velvet chimed happily.
> 9. My Stallion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Velvet and I had spread out a blanket under one of the park’s biggest trees. I was familiar with it because it was Kite Mr. Peepers’ forbidden love. Red was currently exploring the borders of the great kingdom of Blanketopia. He was not allowed beyond them.

“So, Azurite, I kind of have a personal question for you,” Velvet started before corralling Red back towards the center of the blanket.

“Sure.”

She softly stroked the foal’s cream-colored mane. “I don’t really get relationships so forgive me for not understanding why you want to have two. Have you ever consider just letting Sunny go and sticking to Soarin? You two are happy, right?”

I scrunched my nose up and started immediately on the path to deny and chastise. “I—” What if she was right? Was I happy? I mean, life would certainly be easier. Most ponies only loved one other pony. Relationship-wise that is. “I don’t know. Soarin is an amazing pony. I’m actually shocked he hadn’t found somepony sooner. I mean he has his faults, but in general we’re a good pair. I’m certainly pretty happy.”

Red toddled over to me and threw his forehooves wide.

“Oh my goodness you’re so cute!” I picked him up and held him against me. “I just miss Sunny. Our relationship was different. She and I had something Soarin and I don’t. And vice versa of course.”

Velvet nodded and asked, “And there is no way you can get from Soarin or your friends what you got from Sunny? Keep in mind I’m not anti-Sunny here. I just want to make sure you’re looking at this from all angles.”

“I don’t really have friends,” I replied, bouncing Red a bit.

“Are you sure about that?” Velvet asked pointedly.

I hugged the foal softly and looked over his head at Velvet. Were we friends? “I guess I’m not. I don’t imagine you’d do all this for somepony you didn’t like. Would you?”

“Well… I might! You know… because of the guilt. That isn’t the case for you, though. I agreed because of the guilt but that isn’t why anymore. And I certainly wouldn’t let anypony play with Red out of guilt. To be honest you’re my first non-dance, non-Crystal’s-group friend. I guess you sort of overlap, though.”

“Thanks, Velvet. You’re my first non-Sandy, non-inanimate object, non-dating friend.” Red squirmed so I set him free to once again test the boundaries of Blanketopia.

“You’re welcome! Think about what I said though. You might find out that you already have what you want. If you try focusing on what you have instead of what you don’t have that might be better.”

I nodded and replied honestly, “I’ll consider it.”


♦♦♦


Sitting in the bleachers of the Wonderbolts’ training facility during the late summer is not as cool as you’d think. In fact it was the opposite. It was swelteringly hot. The sun was beating down on me and I was doing my best to keep cool under a giant floppy hat. I should have stayed in the park with Velvet and Red.

Soarin and the rest of the team practiced hard regardless of whether it was hot, cold, or inclement weather. Their dedication was impressive but I was ready for them to call it quits. I’d been off work for hours, played with a foal, raced over here, and they were still at it.

After a few more circuits around the course the team finally came to a landing. Spitfire was giving them a pep talk. Things had been tighter lately with a new Equestria tour looming. In a month or so Soarin would be gone traveling for a while. Wonderbolt tours pretty much hit every city. 

The team finally broke ranks and started trotting off the field. Fleetfoot paused when she saw me. “Well, if it isn’t Soarin’s little unislut. You look awfully sweaty. Did our show get your engine running?”

I yawned and waved a hoof at her. “Nice to see you, too, pegaskank. Keep trotting.”

She smiled up at me and winked before turning towards the showers.

“Oh wait!” I called. She looked back. “How’re things with your pony?”

“They’re going pretty well. He’s not military or anything so sometimes wires get crossed but he seems committed,” she replied.

I smiled. “Good, well, don’t let him slip through your hooves. You’re insufferable without him.”

Fleetfoot laughed. “You’re insufferable period.”

I waved a hoof. “Okay, bye bye! We’re done.”

As she passed behind the bleachers I looked back and called, “And yes, it was all you! You get my engine running! I’ll meet you in the showers.”

The pegasus laughed and kept on walking.

Soarin stretched as he walked up. “It isn’t like you to watch practice these days. You haven’t needed inspiration in a while.”

“Oh, I just thought it might be fun to watch instead of sitting up in the room alone. Even if it is super hot. I’m going to need a shower.”

The stallion wiggled his ears and grinned at me. “Oh yeah? Word on the street is that you like sharing showers.”

My face went hotter with embarrassment. I sputtered, “What? No! How did you hear about that?”

Soarin looked confused. “Hear about what? You were shouting it at Fleetfoot. Come along then, we’ll figure it out upstairs.”

“Oh. Right, yes.” I did as he asked and trotted along beside him. It was tough to see out from under my hat so I just followed his hooves. When we got to our room he groaned.

“What?” I asked, pulling the hat off. It only took a second to realize that my friends were possibly getting a bit out of hoof. The kitchen was filled with bouquets of flowers. Not one or two. No, a dozen bouquets which were, themselves, a dozen flowers. “Oh…”

The stallion went over and pulled the card off. He read it, sighed, and then gave it to me. “I’ll be in the shower when you’re ready.”

I looked at the card. Please forgive me. My heart won’t be soarin without you. -Sunny

They were trying. That was actually pretty clever. I set the card back down and started to trot to join Soarin in the shower. I wasn’t completely sure I wanted them to keep trying anymore, though. Velvet had a point. Maybe I didn’t need Sunny. She certainly didn’t seem to need me.

Perhaps it was time to focus on what I had… and what I had was a huge, hot, sweaty stallion waiting for me in the shower. I took a brief detour. My magic captured Pink Pony and I carefully flew her into the guest bedroom and shut the door. Then I went through the master bedroom to the bathroom we shared.

Soarin was already in the stall and wet. He certainly wouldn’t punch me in the face. At least I hoped not. Surprises are sometimes fun, though, and that gave me an idea. Carefully I hunched down and crawled between his back legs, letting my mane and back brush along his underside as I moved forwards.

“Woah!” he gasped in surprise.

I poked my head up between his forelegs. “Hi. I’m Azurite and I’ll be cleaning your underside today. You may want to hold onto something because you’re about to be shown a whole lot of appreciation for being such a good stallionfriend.”

He shivered in excitement and replied, “I’m not going to lie. It is times like this that I really appreciate how short you are.”

“Careful, buddy! Don’t ruin the moment,” I teased before looping back around and heading under. “Mind the horn!” I said before teasingly poking him in the belly. Then I set to work.

Yeah, for at least today I was going to focus on what I had. What I had right in front of me.


♦♦♦


Paperwork and files were everywhere. It looked like a mess but I had a system. It worked for me and most ponies knew to stay out of it. Guards had been transferred from all over Equestria. Others had been brought on fresh. It was a mess.

“Wow! This is a mess.”

I looked up. That wasn’t Mr. Clockerson’s voice. Turning towards the door my eyes fell on Sergeant Hooves. “It’s my mess. Don’t touch it,” I replied.

“I won’t. Sergeant Iridescence sent me down to fetch you.”

“Hmph. Sergeants don’t fetch warrant officers. If she wants me she should come herself instead of sending her little brute. I’m busy.”

Sergeant Hooves squeaked. “But it’s important!”

I looked over at her. “Are you going to tease me? I’m in no mood and I do outrank you.”

“I won’t tease you. It isn’t teasing anyway. It’s a fact. I’m bigger than you. You’re the littlest pony now.”

I crossed my forehooves. “Not leaving.”

She squeaked again. “I’m sorry! Please come?”

“Please come what?” I asked.

“Please come with me Warrant Officer Azurite, ma’am.”

“Fine! I need a break anyway.” I set the file I was working on down and carefully crawled out of the paperwork nest. After locking my door I nodded up at Sergeant Hooves. “Let’s go, sergeant.”

We walked together up to Princess Luna’s wing in silence. Sergeant Hooves was my nemesis in the palace. She used to be the smallest pony until she found me. She seemed to think it was okay to remind me constantly, too. It was mean! When we got to the first sergeant’s office she knocked.

“In,” came the reply.

First Sergeant Iridescence was sitting behind her desk looking at some forms. To her right was a pegasus mare in golden armor. Princess Celestia’s House Guard to be specific. One of Sunny’s. Don’t think about Sunny. Think about Soarin and the shower. NO! Don’t think about that right now. Later… later… 

“Thank you for coming up Azurite,” Iridescence said before nodding at Miley, “You can go back to whatever it was you were doing.”

“Supervising the cleanup of all that broken glass,” Sergeant Hooves chimed as she left.

“Broken glass?” I asked.

Iridescence nodded. “Yeah… I swear, the hours when he isn’t around things just don’t run as smooth. It’s like the whole palace is afraid of him and it all stays in line. I had guards escorting some work ponies who were putting stained glass in for Princess Luna’s wing remodeling. Somehow a bunch of birds flew in, knocked against the winches, and things went wrong. Now there is a thousand of bits worth of colored glass all over the place. It is a miracle no pony was hurt.”

I frowned. She meant Silent Knight when she said he. She was right, too. Everypony in the palace noticed when he wasn’t around. Especially now that he didn’t have a direct boss. “Sorry. What can I do for you? Please tell me you didn’t call me up here to clean up glass?”

“What? No.” Iridescence motioned to the side. “Do you know Dream Dancer?”

“Dream Dancer, guard first class, two sick days used, four vacation days. Born in Cloudsdale, attended…” I trailed when I found them staring at me. I forget sometimes that ponies are weirded out when you know a ton of facts about them from simple recall. “What I mean to say is no, we haven’t met. I worked her file, though. Nice to meet you.”

“Charmed,” Dream Dancer said softly. Somewhere under the gold armor I was pretty sure she was purple colored. A bit of light green mane stuck out here and there too.

“I’d like her to take over my old squad. She’s been with Lieutenant Day for a while and probably has more experience than the next two candidates put together. The problem is I really waited around on this. The position has been vacant for a while and I need her yesterday. Plus every PRO in this city seems to be quadruple booked.”

Ah, so they needed an expert! A Pony Resources Officer that could move mountains! An Azurite! Best to make her squirm… a little! “I see, and you thought you could just come to me?”

“I… uh… well yes. I know you’re the best and if anypony could do this it would be you.” She offered me the forms.

I took them from her and looked it over. “Mmm, go get Lieutenant Day to sign the transfer release first. That is your first step regardless. She has to let Dream Dancer go. Get Silent Knight to sign the receiving officer’s portion.”

That would handle the transfer but there was more to this. “Also, have Lieutenant Day file the promotion paperwork. Technically Silent Knight should do that but generally that is just a formality. No pony really cares. There is a legitimate position opened and this is a legitimate promotion. That will put that in motion sooner since I guess he isn’t in yet.”

Iridescence nodded. “Makes sense. She did my promotion paperwork actually. She’s the one that gave me Dream Dancer’s name. I highly doubt she’d suddenly deny her a promotion.”

“I’d hope not!” Dream Dancer chimed in.

“That still leaves my position though,” Iridescence said. “This receiving officer’s signature. It needs to be Silent Knight, right? Since this is permanent?” 

“Yeah… where is he, can’t you take the form over to him?” I asked.

“He’s at a doctor’s appointment. He said it may be a while.”

I huffed. “Okay, just leave it blank and have him come see me. I’ll do all of the paperwork in advance.”

Iridescence asked, “Really? You can do that?”

“I’m not supposed to but you asked for help and you’ve never called me short.”

“And I never will now!” Iridescence smiled.

“Besides, he’ll be in soon. No sense waiting on red tape.” I then turned and said, “Congratulations, Dream Dancer. Well done on your promotion. See you both later, I’ve got a ton of work to do. Drop the forms by.”

“Thanks, ma’am,” Dream Dancer said as I headed out.

Well, that was easy. Mostly by the book. I’d just have Silent Knight sign after the fact. Easy, easy. I could focus on that.

The other bits were up to Iridescence. As long she made sure Sunny did the other parts and, more importantly, I didn’t have to see her, we’d be in business.


♦♦♦


“So… you’re done with her?” Sandy asked from below.

“I don’t know,” I called as I climbed higher into the tree. “Mr. Peepers, I swear to Celestia if you don’t come down I’m going to set this tree on fire and let you burn!”

“Woah! Easy partner. Don’t trample on their forbidden love. Plus I’m pretty sure burning a tree in the middle of Canterlot City Park is a crime.”

“He’s just so stubborn. He ignores all the signs and won’t do right.”

“Are you talking about Mr. Peepers or Soarin?”

I stopped and looked down at her. “What does that mean?”

“Soarin is ignoring the apologies. He isn’t going to talk to Sunny. It sounds like you’re mad at him and not the kite.”

I finally caught a glimpse of the kite and wrapped it in my magic. Carefully I extracted it from the branches and dropped it down to Sandy. “I’m not mad at Soarin. I’m mad at Sunny. She—woah!”

The branch I was holding onto gave way and dropped me right out of the tree. I landed with a heavy thud a foot from Sandy. All of the wind escaped me and I gasped for air. “Could—” Deep breath. “—caught—” Deep breath. “—me.”

Sandy wheeled over and helped me up. “Yeah… no. Are you okay? Everything looks in the right place.”

I huffed and puffed a few more times. “I’m fine. I don’t know, Sandy. I’m angry at her for cutting me off and I’m kind of angry at him for not fixing it.”

“You know that isn’t fair, right? She hurt him, too. She’s not talking to either of you.”

“I know. I just feel off balance.”

Sandy grinned. “You feel off balance?” 

“Yes, I feel… oh come on! I just fell out of a tree. Have some sympathy.”

She giggled and softly ruffled my mane. “I’m sorry. Come on, Azurite. You’ve got a good stallion and me. Plus you seem to have made two new friends. That can’t be all bad, right? Focus on the positive.”

“I’d feel more positive if we went and got some treats. And you’re buying!”

Sandy winked. “Agreed. Plus we can tell the girls to cool it on the gifts and stuff. Come on. Get Mr. Peepers. He looks like he could use some work too. We can get some glue from my place.”

“Okay. Sooner or later you’re going to have to teach me how to properly fly a kite.”

“Only once the amusement of you losing yours wears off.”

“Great… thanks, pal.”


♦♦♦


A week later Soarin, Pink Pony, and I were sitting at the kitchen table playing cards. I was losing, like always. What was different tonight was that Pink Pony was beating Soarin. That was odd.

“So, I don’t want to stress you, but I would really like it if you could come on the tour with me. I know it would eat up almost all of your vacation, but I think a change of pace would be good. Plus the idea of you here alone slightly frightens me.”

I set down two cards. He pushed two more my way. “I agree. I’ll see what I can do. We’re still in a process nightmare. We have so many guards to take care of. I might have to join you a little later. To be honest, Pink Pony and I aren’t thrilled at the idea of being on this big campus alone without you either.”

Soarin looked over at Pink Pony. “Well… with as much money as she is winning, I’m not sure she’ll be alone. She could have any pony she wants.”

The two cards I got were a Princess of Moons and a Princess of Hearts. Finally, a good set. “She wants me. Pink Pony doesn’t have a wandering eye. And she wants to let you know she thinks it is sweet that you cook for her every night.”

“Oh… well that is good. You’re welcome, Pink Pony,” he said to her and then blinked. “When did I start talking to her, too?”

“Mmm, two weeks ago or so.”

“We really need to get out more.” He set his cards down. “Two knights, three fives.”

“Hah!” I squeaked in pleasure. “Three princesses, two tens! I win, I win!”

Pink Pony looked at me with sly eyes. My magic slowly flipped her cards. “Four Aces? She has four aces! How does she have four aces?”

Soarin just blinked. “Okay, we’re done playing cards. This is creeping me out.” He pushed all of the chips over to Pink Pony and then stood up. “Come on, we’re going to Ponyville.”

I bounced to my hooves. “Okay! Why?”

“Because I’m going to fly you into their hotel, face down the clerk, and rent a room by the hour. After dinner, of course. Since you’re a lady.”

Without giving him warning I leapt onto his back. “Forget being a lady! We’ll get take out. If you want to eat, you can eat it off me. To Ponyville!”

He laughed and as he started walking he said, “That sounds like something Sunny would say.” Then he immediately groaned. “I’m sorry. That was stupid.”

I looped my forehooves around his neck and nuzzled the back of his mane. “It’s fine. Look, let’s still go, okay? I am so happy to be with you but it never hurts to be reminded why you fell in love with a pony, right?”

He turned to look back at me and smiled. “No, it never does. Alright, come. We’ll get take out. I’ll get you a little drunk and then we’ll eat dinner off your belly.”

“Forget dinner! Let’s get cake frosting. There is zero chance we’re getting the security deposit for the room back.”

“Worth it!” Soarin cheered as he raced us out the door.
> 10. My Trip To The Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m sorry to hear that, sugarpie, but I understand. I really do. That is a very adult decision even if it is a really tough one,” Sunbeam said my way as she swirled frosting on a cookie that was larger than me. I wanted it. I’d wanted a lot of sweets lately. My hips were showing it too.

“Well… Velvet helped. She told me to focus on what I had.”

Velvet nodded. “Soarin is a pretty good catch by any pony’s standards. Plus you two are cute together.”

Sandy peered across the table. “Wait, how do you know that?”

“They came in and bought a whole bunch of cake frosting the other night. And I mean a whole bunch of frosting! And no cakes,” Velvet said pointedly.

My ears got hot and I quickly explained, “Yes! Cake! Cake frosting. For cake. Cake at home. Velvet, you promised not to tell!”

“I did not! My exact words were: I’m going to have fun with this later. And I think yours were me too!”

I squealed and covered my face while Sandy cackled in delight.

Sunbeam came and put her foreleg around me. She then stuck a cookie in my mouth, which helped, and said, “Don’t mind them, dear. What you do with that stud is your business… but seriously, good for you.”

“Noph helfing!” I said with a mouth full of cookie.

Velvet giggled and waved a hoof at me. “Oh come on, Azurite. We know you two do things. He’s a big studly athlete and you blush too much to not.”

I quickly shook my head. “Nope!”

Sandy cut in, “Azurite has never done anything, apparently. Other than play sports.”

“Yes. Sports!”

“Sports are fun. They’re an important part of a healthy relationship,” Sunbeam said as she went back to her decorating.

“Mom, gross! I’m right here.”

Sunbeam peered at Velvet. “And how do you imagine you got there? You’re not adopted and neither is your little brother.”

“And suddenly this isn’t fun anymore,” Velvet replied, her forelegs crossed. “So we’re done sending gifts?”

“I guess so,” I mumbled, suddenly feeling sad.

Sandy wheeled over and looped her forehooves around me. “It’s okay, partner. You’ll be fine. You’re making a well-reasoned decision.”

Velvet nodded.

Sunbeam sniffled and wiped her eyes. We all turned to look at her. “I’m sorry. Azurite just looks so sad. Like somepony stepped on her heart.”

“I’ll be okay. Soarin and I will be okay,” I said, doing my best to keep the tears in. I hoped it would be okay. Then they all embraced me. It was nice; it almost made it easier.

Hiding a sniffle I changed the subject. “So… who wants to see a Wonderbolts’ show? I get tickets and I think Red might like them. He’ll need a few ponies to keep an eye on him though. Since he is such a hooffull.”

“You don’t have to do that, sweetie,” Sunbeam said.

“No, but I’d like to spend some time doing something really fun with you all. Instead of talking about my relationship. Plus you get to watch some of the best athletes around wear tight uniforms. Trust me, it is worth it.”

Velvet cut in, “So when is the show? How tight?”

“How about this Friday? Is that too soon? And very, very tight.”

“Not for me. I happen to know Red is free, too,” Velvet replied.

“Sandy? Sunbeam?” I asked.

“Still beats bingo at the veteran hall,” Sandy said with a smile. She said that a lot but I’d never known for sure if she actually played bingo there.

Sunbeam nodded. “Of course, dear. We’ll all go have a fun little outing together!”

“Yay!” I cheered. This should be fun!


♦♦♦


Soarin was nestled on his back in the Wonderbolts’ lounge. I was settled on his chest peering down at him.

“I win!” I said.

“You win what?”

“I’m on top. I’m big pony. You’re defeated,” I explained.

Soarin looped his hooves around me and held me to his chest. “You didn’t knock me over. I laid on my back and you just hopped up here.”

“I don’t make the rules. You’re still defeated.”

The stallion chuckled. “Okay, I am defeated. What do you want?”

“Wonderbolts tickets!”

“Wonderbolts tickets? I dunno. They’re pretty expensive,” he said teasingly.

“Oh give her the tickets, Soarin. You fly better when she is watching,” Spitfire said from her spot on the couch. I’d kind of forgotten she was there when I jumped on Soarin. She was reading a Mares Monthly magazine.

Soarin chuckled and said, “Fine. One ticket.”

“No… four tickets and a ticket for Red.”

“Four tickets! And for Red! Who is Red?”

Spitfire turned a page. “Probably her new stallionfriend if you don’t cough up the tickets.”

“Not helping, captain. This is kind of a private conversation here.”

The pegasus mare peered at him. “Azurite hopped on you while I was over here. You don’t get private in my lounge!”

“Red is a foal!” I said, putting myself back in my own conversation. “A really super cute foal.”

“Okay, so four tickets for adult ponies and a ticket for a foal. I’m pretty sure foals are free.”

I nodded and then set my forehooves on his shoulders to hold him down. “And a jersey for each pony.”

Soarin snorted. “A jersey! I’m being fleeced here!”

“You’re defeated!” I reminded him.

He laughed and said, “Okay, five Soarin jerseys.”

“Nooooo. Four soarin jerseys and a Spitfire.”

Spitfire’s brow arched.

“For Red?” Soarin asked.

“No, for me!”

The stallion gasped and rolled over. He pinned me to the floor and said, “Little traitor. Who’s defeated now?”

“Mmm… Traitor? Or am I! I may be defeated. Maybe.”

“Maybe?” He asked.

I reached my forehoof out from under him and wiggled it towards Spitfire. “Tag in, tag in!”

Soarin blinked. “Wait, what?”

Spitfire slapped my hoof and jumped on Soarin, wrestling him down while he was too shocked to figure out what was going on.

“We’re on the same team!” he gasped out.

Spitfire shrugged. “Maybe… but she’s adorable. Besides, when somepony says tag in, you tag in! So you’ll get her the tickets and the jerseys and some snack coupons. Understand?”

I nosed his cheek. “Yeah! Snack coupons. So many snack coupons.”

Soarin laughed and nodded. “Fine… fine. I see how it is. You two conspire behind my back. What am I supposed to do?”

Spitfire got up and helped Soarin do the same. “Just remember that mares always come out on top. Azurite, why don’t you bring your friends backstage after the show? I don’t recall you ever inviting anypony so they must be special.”

“Yes, ma’am, they are. I’ll do that.”

“Sounds good. You two have fun. I’m going to cancel afternoon practice. I think everypony needs a break.”

Soarin blinked. “Works for me. I guess we have been working a bit hard. Well, Azurite, we just got a free afternoon. Can you get out of work?”

“Uh… yes! Why not! What do you want to do?”

Soarin waited until Spitfire had left the lounge. “Spend all afternoon indoors?”

“Oh, well… by all means! Let’s go.”


♦♦♦


“So this what being with a Wonderbolt is like?” Velvet asked curiously.

It was already the night of the show and Soarin had gotten us great tickets. Or, as I call them, Azurite-friendly tickets. Seats in one of the cordoned-off boxes high above the crowd.

The Canterlot Arena was packed, too. I tried not to think about that. There was just a ton of excitement around the new tour. The crowd was really getting into it. So was my crowd. My box was full of treats, Sunbeam, Velvet Step, and Sandy Shores. Of course we also had our special guest: Red Velvet.

Soarin had found a jersey to fit him, too. He looked adorable in it! He was also thrilled at the breakneck speeds at which the team was flying around the circuit.

“Not always. He’s pretty normal when he isn’t up there. I don’t come to a lot of the shows because of the crowd,” I finally replied to Velvet without thinking. Only Sandy truly knew how crazy I was when it came to this sort of thing.

The mauve and pink mare put her hoof around me. “I see. And are any of them single?”

“Uh… maybe Spitfire? I only know her, Fleetfoot, and Soarin.”

“I see…” Velvet repeated.

Sunbeam held tight to Red as he marveled at the spectacle above. “Sweetie, don’t be a gold digger. We raised you better than that.”

“I’m not, Mom! I might actually like one of them.”

Sandy chuckled at that and put in, “Might being the optimal word.”

Velvet huffed and then blinked. “Actually, what about you, Sandy. Are you seeing anypony? We’re usually pretty Azurite focused.”

My old partner ruffled my mane. “That’s okay. Azurite deserves a little focus. I go on the occasional date. I’m not sure I’m ready to think about settling down. Wouldn’t want to give an honest stallion the wrong impression. Plus I’m thinking of going into business for myself.”

I blinked. We hadn’t talked about that. Ever. “What kind of business?” I asked.

“Private detective. I’ve been missing it. Nothing dangerous. Missing items, that sort of thing.”

Sunbeam looked back. “I think that would be great. You were a detective before, right?”

“The best around,” I said.

Sandy flushed and waved a hoof. “No… Azurite just has rose-colored glasses there. I was pretty good but not the best.”

I huffed. “She closed more cases than any other detective in our unit and did so with me as her partner.”

Velvet just whistled. “Wow… she must be good, then.”

I glared at her.

“Anyway… yeah,” Sandy said. “I like the market but it isn’t exciting. I get around pretty well so why not help ponies?”

“I think you should. I’ll be your first client!” I chimed.

Sandy’s brow arched. “Alright… what is the case?”

“Find out how Pink Pony is so good at cards.”

“You want me to investigate your doll?”

“She isn’t a doll! And she wins! Too much! You come play her. You’ll see—” My attention was caught as the team flew over. They were getting towards the end. “Sunbeam, there is a big fireworks explosion coming up.”

“Oh, thank you, dear,” she replied before settling her forehooves over Red’s ears.

And then the explosion! As the team dove down from above streamers of fireworks shot past them going the opposite direction. They exploded into a thousand points of light and the crowd went wild! They were all on their hooves, stomping, cheering, and whistling.

It was an impressive finale for sure. Dangerous, too. The team had to trust the pyrotechnic ponies and stick to their routine. Still, the Wonderbolts were all about going big.

The arena lights dimmed and then went to their full brightness. In turn each team member was introduced and then headed off for the lockerroom.

“The crowd will thin out in a little while. Then we can go down and backstage… but uh… remember. Soarin can’t know about our meddling.”

“Agreed,” Sandy and Sunbeam replied before looking at Velvet.

“What?” Velvet asked, frowning.

“You can’t say anything!” I squeaked.

“I’m good at keeping secrets,” Velvet protested.

Sunbeam nodded. “Then you can keep this one.”


♦♦♦


I was wedged under Soarin’s wing and shaking as my friends mingled with the Wonderbolts. The crowd had been too much on the way down. The ponies hadn’t thinned as much as I’d hoped and a few times I’d ended up with several around me. It got really bad when I’d bumped into a pony on the way down but I’d held it together long enough to get to Soarin.

Of course now I didn’t want to freak out in front of the team or the girls. That would be embarrassing and make them think I was weird. 

Soarin had understood. He just eased a wing around me and pulled me close. It looked like the sort of thing a stallionfriend would do. I nuzzled his side. “I’ll be fine,” I said for the tenth time or so.

“You’ll be fine. The crowd is gone,” he repeated. “Your friends are nice.”

“Yeah… they are nice. They treat me well.”

He nodded. “How do you know the other two again?”

“We met at the bakery Sandy and I visit all the time.”

“Ah I see. Did you like the show?” he asked, trying to distract me more.

“Yes. It was very impressive. I’m ready to go home though. I want to go home.”

Soarin squeezed me and whispered. “Just a little longer and I’ll fly you out. Why don’t you say goodnight to your friends?”

“Walk me over there?” I asked.

He nodded and we awkwardly made our way to the group.

“And then there was cake everywhere!” Sunbeam exclaimed, yielding chuckles from everypony around.

Velvet smiled a very brittle smile. “Yay… Mom telling my foal stories in front of the Wonderbolts.”

“Come on, dear, it is funny!” Sunbeam said before catching sight of me. Her smile briefly faltered but she kept it up. “Oh… well, look at the time. Red should be in bed. Azurite, thank you so much for this. It was thrilling!”

“You’re welcome, I was glad we could do it,” I replied.

“Yeah, thank you, Azurite!” Velvet said before trying to hug me. That was impossible given my current position. She just patted my forehead. “See you later, okay?”

Sandy gave me a knowing look and said, “Take care, partner. I’ll get these ladies home.”

“Thank you, Sandy. Goodnight everypony,” I said before looking up at Soarin.

“Goodnight everypony. I need to… uh… do a few things. So… nice meeting you!” he said before looping his hooves around me and flying us straight over to our shared dorm room.

When we got through the door I collapsed on the living room floor, the shakes starting to get really bad.

Soarin came over and set a hoof on my back. “What do I do? Sunny was always better at this.”

I closed my eyes and tried to keep my teeth from chattering. “Just hold me. It will stop. The crowd got to me but it will stop.”

He nodded and looped all of his hooves around me, holding tight. I buried my head against his chest and tried to go through the steps Mindful Soul had taught me. Breathe, focus, something… something.

Soarin kept me close. He still smelled from the show. It was kind of stifling but he was trying. He was trying really hard but all I could focus on was Sunny being absent. She had a way of pulling back out of the panic. I missed Sunny. I wanted Sunny.

Where was Sunny?


♦♦♦


No matter how hard I worked the stacks of files never seemed to clear off my desk. The royal guard was really pushing it with all of these new ponies. Of course I wasn’t working my hardest. The weekend had exhausted me more than anything. I’d had fun but the panic was pretty bad.

Mr. Clockerson was feeling low, too. He was actually asleep on the job. Both of his pointers were drooping. I didn’t have the heart to wake him up.

“Azurite?” It was a strong, clear stallion’s voice.

My head bobbed up and my eyes flew open. “Hmm? Oh! Lieutenant! Sir.” I stood up. Silent Knight was standing over me.

“I’m sorry to have surprised you.”

Quickly I shook my head. “No, sir! I know it looked like I might have been sleeping just now but I wasn’t. I was resting my eyes. There are so many files.”

“It’s fine. Thank you for helping us with that sergeant problem.”

“Oh, no problem. It wasn’t a big thing. We got it done.”

He nodded and then eased the door shut. “I’m sorry I tried to force you into helping me before.”

Wait, did he just apologize? “It’s okay. I know you had something important to get done.”

“Yeah, sure. I’m sorry, still.” He offered a hoof. “I won’t do that to you again. Friends?”

This was weird. This was really weird. Tentatively I reached out and took the hoof. We shook. “Of course, sir.”

He nodded and opened the door. “The airship is done. Come up and see it sometime.”

“Yes, sir. Will do!” I replied, not sure what else to say.

“Very good, take care, Azurite. You look frowny,” he said as he walked out of my office.

When I was sure he was gone I looked up at Mr. Clockerson. He peaked back at me.

“What was that about?” I asked.

He simply shrugged.

“That was weird, right?”

“Tiiiiick.”

“I know! Okay, back to work. No more sleep for you.”

“Tick, tock!”

“Resting your eyes. Pff, what pony would believe that nonsense?”


♦♦♦


A few days later I was sitting on the couch reading a new romance novel, Her Silent Love. It wasn’t normally my sort of thing but this one just felt familiar. The characters were totally believable and I couldn’t put it down.

Soarin was in the kitchen making dinner. Usually we went out on Fridays but I’d been feeling very domestic lately. Very domestic after my failure at the show. Plus going out on Friday wasn’t just about eating. It was about Azurite not flipping her mane when being in a packed restaurant. That had been harder without Sunny. Soarin did his best but it wasn’t the same.

There was a knock at the door. I dropped my book and pretended to be asleep. There was another knock. 

“Azurite, are you going to get that?” Soarin called.

Snore, snore, snooze. Azurite is asleep and/or too lazy to get up. She also doesn’t want to deal with door ponies.

“Azurite? Oh…” he said before going over to the door and opening it.

“Hello. Hello. Hello!” Came a trio of voices. I peeked out of one eye and saw three ponies wearing vests and straw hats at our door.

“Hello?” Soarin replied.

One pony blew a small pitch pipe. “Da da, da da ta da! We are your singing telegram. We came at the request of your friend. Sunny. Sunny. Sunny! She’s sorr—”

Soarin shut the door on the ponies and shook his head. “I’m going to have to put a stop to this. I’m going to give her a piece of my mind on Monday.”

Who had sent those ponies? We’d agreed to quit. Oh no! Sunny would be blamed for our insanity!

“No!” I squeaked from my spot on the couch.

His brow arched. “Weren’t you sleeping?”

I pointed a hoof at the door. “The singing woke me up. You can’t go give her a piece of your mind!”

The stallion shook his head. “This is silly. She can’t keep acting like this. If she wanted to talk she should just come talk. All of this… I don’t know what this is! It’s a gimmick. It seems disingenuous. I’ll put a stop to it.”

“No! Please don’t. I’ll go see her. I’ll stop it. I promise.”

For a moment I thought he was on to me. His expression was a mix of confusion and annoyance. Soarin took a slow breath and replied, “Alright. You handle it. Set the table, I’m almost done with dinner.”

I got up and hurried into the kitchen. “Yes, sir!” I chimed, counting myself lucky to have gotten away with it. The last thing I wanted was for Soarin to be angry with me or to go storming into Sunny’s office for something she hadn’t done. My plan had backfired and now it was time to do damage control.

I didn’t actually have to talk to Sunny. I could just remind the girls to knock it off and this would be done. Easy. Azurite and Soarin happily ever after. What about Sunny though? Would she get her happily ever after? Probably not. She certainly hadn’t tried. She wouldn’t even talk to me. Why should I care about her?

The thought threatened tears. Why should I care? Because I loved her! You can’t just stop loving somepony because it is convenient. I finished with the table and looked at Soarin’s back. “I love you,” I told him.

He paused and looked back at me. “I love you, too. Are you alright? You look sad.”

“Just a little. I don’t understand how Sunny can’t feel like you and I do. I see your point about the gimmicks. I’ll tell her to leave us be.”

The stallion turned off the burner and lifted the pan from the heat. “Are you sure?”

“No, but I’ll try. The messages and stuff will stop, too.”

He nodded and put food onto our plates. He’d cooked too much again. It was subtle but I’d noticed we always seemed to end up with an extra portion these days. “Okay,” he said softly before sitting down. 
> 11. My New Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Lieutenant?” I called, hurrying down the hall after the purple-clad flank.

Silent Knight turned suddenly and I slid to the a stop right beside him. “Yes?” he asked, looking down at me.

Why are pegasi so big? Especially the stallions. Silent seemed particularly big and intimidating with his dark armor and stern demeanor. It took me a moment to find my train of thought. “I need a favor!”

“I suppose that is fair. What can I do for you?” he asked, his expression blank.

Wringing my hooves I asked, “Could you arrange a meeting for Lieutenant Day in your office?”

“I can. Why?”

“She has still been avoiding me and I really need to talk to her. She’ll come if you request her to do so. She won’t for me. I need to trap her.”

Silent Knight stood silently as if considering the proposition. “That seems dishonest.”

With a squeak I replied, “I know but it is for something important. Please? Please, sir! It is really important.”

He looked me over and I put on the biggest pleading eyes I could possibly manage. I had to get through this. I had to get it done. He was the only one who could help.

“Very well. I’ll set it up. Come by my office in an hour.”

“Yes, sir, thank you, sir!” I replied before hurrying off to my office to wait. An hour was going to seem like an eternity today.

I settled at my desk and started to go through the files that were on it. A bit of work would keep me busy. Keep me focused. I was about to have a fight with Sunny. A big fight where I told her to leave us alone forever.

Mr. Clockerson ticked quietly on, watching me work. 

I felt like he moved his pointers slower than normal but, eventually, an hour passed and I hurried up to Silent Knight’s office. When I got there the door was open. I peeked inside and found the stallion alone at his desk.

“Come in, Azurite. She’ll be here a quarter after the hour,” he said, somehow spotting me.

“Come in? With you? For a quarter hour alone?” I asked.

Silent Knight looked up from his paperwork. “Yes. Is there some problem with being with me?”

I eased my way in and over to his desk. After shaking my head, I replied, “There isn’t a problem. You just don’t…”

“I don’t, what?”

“You’re kind of scary, sir. All due respect!”

The lieutenant set his elbows on the desk and leaned forward to look at me. “First I was frowny and now I’m scary? Why do you say that?”

“I don’t know. You’re always so serious and lately you’ve been even more so than usual. Plus you were hanging out with that super scary chief warrant officer. Then you come to apologize and ask to be friends. I don’t know!”

His expression remained stoic and betrayed no emotion. He simply leaned back and nodded. “Fair enough. The chief is gone. It won’t happen again, as I said… and I’m only scary to the enemies of the crowns.”

“Yeah… I bet that is true,” I whispered.

The air in the room felt thick and the silence became awkward. I’d only been there a minute or so and we were already at odds. Silent Knight simply went back to whatever paperwork he was doing.

I sat in front of his desk with my back against it. That way I didn’t have to look at him. I didn’t want him to see me looking how I imagined I looked. Frightened, angry, distraught, a bundle of nerves.

“Silent Knight, do you know how busy I am? Why on Equestria do you need to see—” Sunny trailed when she came through the door and her eyes found me.

Behind the desk I heard the stallion get up. He walked around it and to the doorway. “Forgive me for deceiving you, Sunny. She said it was important enough to lie and I agreed with her enough to do it.” He then whispered something to her and finished with, “Talk to her.”

The golden mare looked to Silent Knight, back out the door, and finally just nodded. Once he had left she shut the door. “Azurite? What is all this about?” She wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes were over my head.

“You wouldn’t see me so I had to make him lie,” I explained, getting up.

Sunny’s head ducked a little and she replied, “Yes, I thought it would be easier that way.”

“It isn’t!” I shouted at her. 

Rage had bubbled up from nowhere. My voice stayed loud. Really loud.

“Do you know how hard that is for me? You drop off Mr. Peepers without a word? You won’t talk to me? You won’t even look at me. How can you not care! You callous crabapple!”

Sunny looked down at me with tears in her eyes. It took me aback. I was the one that cried, not her.

“Not easier for you!” she shouted back. “For me! Do you think I’m happy? I come to work early and stay late just so I don’t have to be alone with myself. For once I really connected with some ponies and then I screwed it up. I couldn’t see you because when I do you’re a constant reminder of how I ruined something amazing. You two are something I can’t have and you’re all I want. You have to stay away from me!”

I swallowed, tears starting to well in my eyes. “Why didn’t you come tell me or him!” My body trembled as I shouted at her in frustration. Pent of energy poured into it. Anger, confusion, hurt. It was all going.

“You’re better off with Soarin! He won’t walk all over you,” she replied before sniffling and wiping her eyes in an attempt to regain her composure.

As the tears trailed down my cheeks I stormed over to her. “I came here to tell you to leave us alone. To never bother us! Since you just walked away!” I poked her in the breastplate with a hoof. “... But I can’t! I can’t!”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and tugged her down to force her to look at me. “You’re not going to walk on me! You’re not going to cheat. Stop pretending like you are. You broke a promise but you didn’t cheat before.”

The words just kept coming out, loud and angry. “You’re just running because THAT is what is easier. It’s easier to sit alone and feel like you’re the broken little mare than to actually do something about it. Classic Azurite! You’re not me though, you’re better than that. Act like it.” Then I slapped her. I actually slapped Sunny. Not hard and it was also on the helmet… but I slapped her.

Sunny lifted a hoof and leaned back. For a moment in her eyes I saw the royal guard instincts kick in. That is when I knew I was going to die. Instead of murdering me, however, she just blinked and stared. “You… you slapped me!”

“Yes!” I screamed back at her. Then my voice dropped. “Please don’t kill me.”

Sunny softly chuckled and wiped her eyes. They were red. “For a minute there I was going to.”

“Yeah… don’t slap House Guards. Unless they’re being stupid.”

“Sure. Sure. Soarin, though. He isn’t as accommodating as you.”

“Yes he is! He is! He still cooks for you every time he makes dinner. I thought he was just hungry but there is always enough for three. You’re going to have to apologize and smooth it over. I’ll help you, but you have to have your heart in it. I can tell you want it but for some reason you don’t seem willing to fight. Why? This isn’t like you at all! Why am I not worth fighting for!”

The mare rubbed a hoof along the opposite foreleg. “You are! I just want you to be happy! You can be happy with Soarin.”

“No, Sunny, I’m not complete without you. I’ve been thinking about you, pretending Pink Pony was you, and I’ve even been sending apology gifts to Soarin in your name. I can’t just write you out because most other ponies just end up in a couple. That doesn’t work for me. I came here to tell you off and I still can’t stop loving you!”

She stood silently before forcing a bit of levity into her voice. “One pony just isn’t enough for you?”

I looped my hooves around her neck and hugged her tightly. The sound was excruciating as our armor collided and scrapped. “Not now that I know you’re here sad. I could never be happy again. Please, come home with me.”

Sunny hugged me back. It was tight and even through the metal I felt the warmth. “Okay,” she whispered.

The golden mare then let me go and wiped her eyes. “I still have a House Guard to run for the rest of the day though and I can’t do it looking like this. All you have to worry about is upsetting your clock.”

“Be nice to Mr. Clockerson. He was the one that convinced me to fight for you.”

Sunny turned and set a hoof on the door handle. She looked back at me and said as she pulled the door open, “We may need to talk to your therapist about all of these voices you hear.” Turning back she squawked in surprise.

Silent Knight was standing right outside.

“Were you listening the whole time?” she asked, dread creeping into her voice.

“You two were shouting… a lot. It was drawing undue attention. I stayed and kept other ponies away,” he replied.

“Why?” Sunny asked.

He looked at her, perplexed. “It was none of their business and might impact your career.”

“But you heard.”

Silent Knight shook his head. “Since when have I cared about what you do off duty or who you love? You’re my partner and a good officer but you’ve been slipping up lately and covering it up with extra hours. You’ve been sad, drunk, and not prancing. I notice that kind of thing.”

He reached out and softly patted her on the shoulder. “Since missing Azurite and Soarin seems to be why you’ve been down you’d better listen to her and fix whatever needs fixing. If I noticed a difference I’m sure other ponies would and I would personally be sad to see you promoted to some obscure command.”

Sunny’s head tilted and she asked, “You’re actually sweet under all of that dark armor and muscle, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Yes. Now get out of my office so I can do some work.”

“Of course,” Sunny said, cracking a smile. She lightly kissed his cheek, on the helmet of course, and hurried out.

Silent Knight came in and pointed a hoof. “You too, out please.”

“You know it's perfectly natural for thr—”

“Still not my business. Out!”

He didn’t have to tell me again. I hurried out and down to my office. That had not gone the way I’d expected it to. Not at all. All of our scheming and plans paled in comparison to just trapping her and talking. That never worked in the filly flicks! That just shows what those writers know.

♦♦♦


“Okay, so the plan is I’ll go in first, soften him up, and then you come in and we’ll sit down and talk. He thinks I was coming to break up with you forever. This is the opposite of that. I’m sure he’ll be happy but this is a surprise. A big surprise. A really big surprise and opposite of what I told him I was doing.” I said, having to trot fast to keep up with Sunny. She had longer legs and was walking with purpose.

“Okay?” I repeated. “Sunny?”

Sunny Day just kept on walking. She was looking more like her old self with every step. Determination was plastered on her face as she stormed the Wonderbolts’ campus like a hurricane coming up the coast.

“Hello? Sunny!” I called, chasing after her. “Sunny, wait! I told him I was going to give you the boot. He thinks you were sending gifts and making light of the situation!”

We reached the door to the dorm I was sharing with Soarin and she set her hoof on the handle, pushing it open.

“Wait, Sunny, wait!” I squeaked before wrapping my hooves around her waist and trying to hold her back.

As usual given that I’m fun sized and Sunny is a royal guard officer she just kept walking in, dragging me.

Soarin looked up in surprise from the couch. “What in Celestia’s name is this about?”

“We’re going to talk,” Sunny said forcefully while I dangled from her middle.

The stallion stood up and retorted, “We talked before.”

Sunny shook her head. “No, you and I talked. That isn’t we, that is us and ‘us’ grossly underestimated Azurite.”

I held onto Sunny and chirped, “This is not me softening him up!”

Soarin just stared at her. “Look, I appreciate that you sent all of those apologies but you’re completely missing the point.”

“My new belt sent all of those apologies. I haven’t lifted a hoof since we made the decision,” Sunny corrected.

“What?” He blinked in surprise before peering at me. “Azurite, why would you do that?”

I let go and flopped onto the floor. “Please don’t be mad! I wanted you to forgive her.”

“Why?” he asked.

“She isn’t over us,” Sunny said for me. “She isn’t happy.”

The stallion held up a hoof. “Let her answer. This is exactly why we made the decision we did. Azurite?”

“It isn’t that I’m not happy with you, I am. I love you, I honestly do. I just can’t be happy knowing she is miserable… I miss her.”

He blinked again and looked from me to Sunny. “What does she mean miserable?”

Sunny had her royal guard face on still. “Exactly what she says. I haven’t done anything but work since we called it quits. Evidently I wasn’t even doing that well. The moment I was on that date I knew I’d messed up royally. Instead of just acting like an adult I ran. I convinced myself that I was no good and ran because, as Azurite reminded me, that is just easier.”

Soarin rubbed his face with his hooves. “When we talked you said you didn’t think we should trust you.”

Sunny shook her head. “It was a stupid thing to say. I’m not denying I messed up. I did. Then I messed up again because I couldn’t face you or Azurite. Running is easier on the short term but long term it is painful. I made a mistake. I can’t fix the first one but I can fix the second.”

“And we all make mistakes and have to accept the consequences but it was just once in almost a year. They just danced and had dinner,” I put in quickly.

Soarin stood quietly looking from Sunny to me.

“Tell me you don’t miss me and we’ll figure something else out. Tell me you feel so strongly that I’m untrustworthy that you can’t try again. I can accept that but I need to hear it from you.”

The stallion shook his head. “I can’t tell you those things because I do miss you. I miss you a lot. It isn’t that simple though. This isn’t just about you and me. I can get past a little mistake. You slipped up, it happens. As much as I love you, though, I couldn’t stand the look on Azurite’s face. It was too painful.”

Sunny stiffened and then her expression changed. “You’re upset that I upset Azurite.”

He nodded and came over to loop a protective hoof around me. “Of course! I can handle a rocky road now and then but I love her too much to see her hurt over and over. You made one mistake, I can forgive that. Only a pony without a heart couldn’t. That isn’t the problem, though.”

Soarin sighed. “When you told me yourself you weren't to be trusted what else could I do? Not believe you? You’re you!”

The golden mare came over and nestled against us. “The same thing I would have done. Protect Azurite even if it meant being less happy.”

I blinked and looked between them. “Why?” 

Soarin and Sunny exchanged looks, the silence between us growing awkward.

“Do you both think I need to be protected? That I’m not able to function alone? I did before I met you two.”

Sunny leaned in and replied, “Yes, you did. Sometimes we just…”

“Underestimate you?” Soarin put in.

I crossed my forehooves and pouted. “Now I’m not sure if I should be happy because I think this means we’re all getting back together or angry because I’m some sort of little burden to you two.”

“You’re not a burden. You’re just little,” Soarin said.

“Fun-sized,” Sunny corrected.

I glared up at both of them. “New rule, this relationship cannot be built on protecting Azurite. It has to be built on love.”

“Agreed,” Soarin replied.

Sunny nodded. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry we sometimes treat you like a filly. There is only one more thing left to do.”

“What?” I asked.

“Apologize.” Sunny smiled weakly. “I’m sorry I broke my promise to the two of you. A date is a date even if nothing happened. I shouldn’t have been so flippant about it either.”

“I never should have listened to you. I should have put up more of a fight,” Soarin replied.

“Next time, if you do go all the way and cheat, cheat with a stallion,” I blurted out.

The pair blinked in surprise and Sunny said, “There won’t be a next time.”

“Why a stallion?” Soarin tilted his head.

I squirmed and stared at the floor. “It bothered me she picked a mare because it was like she was replacing me. I know she won’t replace you. Plus I went to go fight the mare and now we’re friends. Like really good friends. So as penance you all get to deal with that awkwardness.”

Soarin’s ears shot up. “Wait, what?”

“You’re friends?” Sunny gasped.

I huffed. “Look, I know you two have big fancy jobs and think I sit around here all day talking to things. That is only like half of what my day is. I have a life outside of that. If you like we can all sit down and I can explain the whole story.”

Soarin replied, “I’m pretty sure you’re going to have to.”

Sunny nodded. “Why don’t I go make dinner and we can hear all about Azurite’s tale, then?”

“No!” Soarin and I said at the same time.

Hastily I added, “You can go reheat some of the many leftover meals we need to eat through. I’ll go get my journal.”

The mare nodded and replied, “Sure, that makes sense. We wouldn’t want them to go to waste.”

“Exactly,” Soarin agreed before exchanging glances with me. Sunny was a terrible cook and I didn’t want our happy ending to get mixed in with food poisoning.


♦♦♦


The little bell that hung above the door jingled sweetly. “Welcome to Sapphire’s Hoard, how can I help you?” my dad called, looking up with his loupe still on. “Oh, hey, kitten. Not that I’m not happy to see you but shouldn’t you be at work?”

I wandered over, my horn lighting up to gently take the magnifying tool off of my father’s eye. “You shouldn’t stare through that all day and usually yes! I took a half day because I have something really important to do!”

My father crossed his lanky forelegs on the counter and leaned over to nuzzle me. “And what is that?”

“I am looking for something very special. Custom, of course, and it needs to include diamonds.”

“Oh?” he asked before teasing, “You know I don’t give discounts to family.”

“That is true but I happen to know you give cute fillies and mares a discount. So unless you want me to tell Mom I suggest you make an exception.”

He laughed and winked. “You are quite the negotiator. Your father must be really proud.”

“I like to think so. Can you help me?”

“Of course, miss, if you’ll just step over here I can show you all sorts of diamonds.”


♦♦♦


Alright Azurite, we’re going to do this. We are going to do this, right? Yes, we’re going to do this. They won’t think you’re weird. They care about you, you want them in your life forever, so it is time to be clear about it.

I took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked into Sunridge Sweets. Mr. Pepper Ridge was behind the counter and smiled when I came in.

“Hello, Azurite,” he said.

“Are they here?”

He smiled and nodded. “I set it up exactly how you asked. They’re in the back and don’t have any idea why."

I winked at him and went behind the counter. After he leaned down so I could kiss his cheek I said, “Thank you. Truly.”

“Any time,” he replied warmly.

My hooves didn’t immediately work when I looked at the door to the kitchen. This was a big step. I’d never done anything like this before. I fought down the tremors and finally went through.

Velvet Step, Sunbeam, and Sandy all looked my way from the table. None of them looked surprised at all to see me.

“Surprise?” I grinned sheepishly.

Sandy shook her head. “Sorry, Azurite, it was sort of obvious that you’d arranged this.”

Velvet nodded. “Even to me.”

Sunbeam lightly glared at her daughter and then smiled. “So, what is this all about sugarlump? Why so formal?”

I settled into a chair at the table and said, “So, it seems Sunny was really sad without me. I went to go tell her off but she had only been pretending to not care. It was rough on her. Then we talked to Soarin. It seemed he was more upset about me being upset than about her breaking her promise.”

Sandy’s head tilted. “Okay… you’re killing me, partner. What happened?”

I grinned. “We’re back together!”

The assembled mares cheered and drummed their hooves on the table.

“That is wonderful! A complete turn around!” Sunbeam exclaimed.

Velvet nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“So all's well that ends well?” Sandy asked.

“Yup, almost,” I replied.

“Almost?” Velvet raised her brow.

I looked at her and smiled. “Almost. Thanks to you.”

“Me?” Velvet replied. “What did I do?”

Sandy put in, “Besides taking Sunny out on date?”

Velvet huffed and corrected, “What did I do besides taking Sunny out on a date?”

“You were a great friend to me.” I shifted. “But I haven’t been a good friend to any of you. Over the last few weeks I’ve been so absorbed in the problems I was having with my relationship. Despite that all three of you stuck by me and put up with the whining, crying, and scheming. Why would you do that? Sandy, you were just my partner at work. Velvet, you were just the mare who got caught up in my drama. And Sunbeam… well you’re just a momma mare who saw a hurt filly.”

They all went to speak but I held up a hoof. “At least that is what I thought. I couldn’t see it at first but somehow I’d made friends without realizing it. I just sort of assumed that once this was over Velvet and Sunbeam would go their own way.”

“And me?” Sandy asked.

“I just kind of thought we were therapy buddies. That once our issues were worked out we’d part ways, too.”

“That is awfully sad, honey,” Sunbeam said.

“I know. I’ve never really had friends so you have to understand it was difficult to see. Velvet pointed it out to me the other day. Then when we were at the show I realized I rarely paid much attention to your lives and that is why I set this up. Friendship goes both ways.”

“I did do that,” Velvet said, nodding.

My magic flipped my saddlebag open and I levitated three small boxes out of it and set one in front of each of the mares. “I don’t want to go my own way. You’ve been my friends when I’ve been at my worst. I’d like you to be my friends when I’m at my best and I’d like to know about your problems and hopes.”

“That goes without saying Azurite,” Sandy said.

“Sandy is absolutely right,” Sunbeam agreed.

Velvet opened the little box immediately and gasped, “Holy Celestia, is this a diamond?”

The other mares blinked in surprise and pulled the lids of their boxes off.

“This looks an awful lot like a diamond to me,” Sandy replied.

“Oh, sugarlump, this is too much…” Sunbeam murmured as she lifted a cupcake-shaped pendant from the box. It was made of white gold with three small diamonds set in the top of the cupcake as sprinkles.

“They are diamonds. Just like the three of you.”

Sunbeam lightly wiped the corner of her eye. “Well, that is probably one of the sweetest things that has ever been said to me. Thank you so much, Azurite.” She reached over and hugged me.

Sandy admired her pendant. It was the seal of the city guard with a diamond in the center. “I guess I can’t call you partner anymore.”

“No,” I said happily. “Friend sounds good, though.”

“This was the best fight I was almost in,” Velvet said, slipping her open heart pendant around her neck. “I’d have been your friend either way but the bribe doesn’t hurt.”

We all laughed at that.

Sunbeam shook her head. “I swear she gets her mouth from her father.”

“I heard that,” Pepper Ridge called from out front.

I smiled up at Sunbeam. “Well, just think, if she hadn’t taken Sunny out on a date we’d have never been friends. So mouthy or not it all worked out. I just have one more question though. Who sent the singing ponies to Soarin’s place?”

The mares looked at me in confusion. “What singing ponies?” Velvet asked.

“The other night. A singing telegram showed up to apologize for Sunny after we all agreed to stop sending gifts. Who sent them?” I asked.

“Not me,” Sandy said.

“Me either,” Velvet put in.

Sunbeam shook her head when we all looked at her. “Nope.”

“Huh… well that is odd. Oh well. I’m glad somepony did. It made all the difference.”


♦♦♦


Mindful Soul sat quietly taking notes. When she finally set her pencil down she looked up at me. “That is quite a story. It sounds like you were on a rollercoaster for a few weeks. I’ll also be honest, you threw me for a loop there in the end. I wasn’t expecting you to go in that direction.”

“Sometimes things go wrong so that good things can result from them. That is what ponies say, isn’t it?” I asked.

“It is. I’m just more impressed that you were able to see it with all that was going on. Most ponies couldn’t do that and you can sometimes obsess over things.”

I gasped. “Me? Obsess? Never!”

She smiled. “Now, tell me, how do you feel about your relationship? Are you still stressing?” 

I shrugged. “I was and I don’t know. How should I feel?”

She shook her head. “I can’t say. Did you get what you want?”

“We’re all back together. Things are a little weird but it is smoothing out finally.”

“When you say weird…” she led.

“It is just… sometimes I think they’re only together because of me. Like they both feel bad for me.”

“Maybe they do,” she said evenly.

I squeaked, “Hey! You’re not supposed to say that.”

Mindful Soul softly chuckled and leaned back in her chair. “If I think it will help I can. Do you really think they’re together just because of you? You’re that special or you’re in such need of protectors?”

“Not helping my self esteem issues, doc,” I replied.

“I’m just helping you clarify. Listen, Azurite, I don’t know your partners. You never bring them. Perhaps their relationship together isn’t as strong as yours is with each of them. Perhaps it is even stronger. Regardless, you shouldn’t be focusing on why they’re together. You should focus on why you’re together.”

“So, if I am hearing you correctly you’re saying it will all end happily ever after immediately overnight?” I asked.

She looked at me over the rim of her glasses.

I smiled and said, “I get it. They need to work on their relationship and I need to believe I’m good enough.”

“That’s right. Now, are you three being intimate again?”

My hooves came up to protect me. “Woah, woah, woah! Where is this coming from?”

“Sooner or later you’re going to have to be adult about this. Now, are you three being intimate or is it still awkward after all that you explained?”

I took a deep breath and held it. 

She tapped her watch. “I’ve still got 30 minutes. We’ll see how long you last.”

My breath escaped and I grumbled, “At first it was weird. Sunny and I sort of… well… you know. When Soarin was at practice. We hadn’t been together in weeks so…” I waved my hoof.

“Of course. That is just the two of you though.”

“Yeah… we’ll work it out.” I huffed.

“A healthy relationship has intimacy. Keep that in mind.”

I wrinkled my nose and nodded. “Will do. Don’t you want to talk about my phobias or panics?”

Mindful Soul closed her notebook. “In time, yes. I think this is more important right now, though. We’ll take it one issue at a time, Azurite.”

I groaned, slumping forward. “I feel like I’m going to be in therapy forever.”

She chuckled. “Well, I do enjoy our little chats. Does it bother you that you’re in therapy?”

“I guess not. The royal guard says asking for help is not a sign of weakness but of strength. It just seems like I’m asking a lot. I know ponies who went through worse than I did and they’re still doing fine.”

The mare inclined her head and asked, “Oh? And how can you be certain?”

“Well… I can’t. I look at their files, though, and none of them read like mine.”

“Maybe they’re just not strong enough to ask for help,” she replied.

“You could be right. I guess we can’t know from just looking at some text.”

She smiled and nodded. “Now you’re getting there. It is easy to judge ourselves, Azurite. You’re a sensitive mare that just needs to work some things out but, on the whole, you’re pretty healthy. You excel at your job, you’re establishing good friendships, and you’ve managed to swing a relationship with two ponies. Always remember the positive things usually outweigh the negative.”

“I am good at my job. I’m going to get a promotion soon, too. I was on the selection list.”

“See, that is wonderful news. Tell me all about that.”


♦♦♦


My trot home was easy. Usually it was never easy after therapy. This time had been different. Life was good and it was going to be getting better.

After fumbling with the earth pony lock, per usual, I finally got in. The living room was empty and dark so I illuminated my horn. “Hello?” I asked softly.

Soarin and Sunny should have been home by now. Although where home was exactly was kind of up in the air. Then I heard it: a few soft giggles from the direction of the master bedroom.

I headed that way and poked my head inside. “Oh! Hi!” It came out more of a squeak.

Sunny and Soarin were in bed together. They were warming up for sports. All kinds of awkwardly contorted sports.

Sunny’s ears shot up. “Azurite! You were late… uh, I hope you don’t mind. Soarin and I were just in the mood.” For some reason she looked guilty. Soarin looked concerned.

My head shook and I smiled. “I don’t mind. It is kind of nice to see you two back to normal.” I pointed a hoof back to the living room. “Pink Pony and I can play cards if you two want to get reacclimated alone.”

Soarin snorted and the golden mare laughed. “Pink Pony can wait. Get over here.”

Casually I approached the bed, trying to look cool and not super eager. I was, though! It all hadn’t sunk in yet. A few days ago there had been a real risk that our three hearts would have been broken. I’d worked so hard to stop that, though, and ended up with what I wanted and a whole lot more. 

Now I had three diamonds to be there for me when things were tough. Mares that knew me for who I really was but weren’t my significant ponies. They were my friends. My first true friends! You can’t put a price on that.

Of course you also can’t put a price on a threesome with the two ponies you love the most in the world and my thoughts quickly shifted to that as Sunny grabbed me by the hoof and tugged me over. This was how life is supposed to be!