> Azure Days
>  by Anzel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1. Tea Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot, the jewel of Equestria. That is what the pony scholars have called it for decades. At least, I think it is. Maybe not. Honestly, I didn’t pay a lot of attention back when I was in school. It wasn’t my thing.

What was my thing was living, working, and having fun in Canterlot. For me, it is the best city in the kingdom, and I’d already lived in a couple of others during my life.

Some ponies prefer the modern cities like Manehattan and Baltimare with their tall, sleek buildings. Others like the cottages and country living of Tall Tale and Vanhoover. If you ask me, though, the old-world charm of Canterlot just can’t be beat.

Who would have imagined that ponies would literally build a city right on the face of a mountain and, over hundreds of years, all agree to never change its architectural style? It was like living in history and, in this city, history was always being made.

That was because Canterlot was where you’d find the Royal Palace, seat of Equestrian power, and home to the alicorns. That is alicorn with an ‘S’. Until recently we’d only had the one, but after the last Summer Sun Celebration, things changed. Now we had two, and it was my job to help defend them. I am—

“Lieutenant Day!” came a firm and familiar voice from off to the side.

I quickly turned and snapped to attention, my eyes meeting the stern, steel grey ones of Vice Colonel Glamour. As far as unicorn officers went, she was one of the toughest. It was her mental fortitude and demeanor that commanded respect, not her physical prowess. She was tall, lanky, and attractive. Those are not the qualities a pony imagines when it comes to great warriors.

“Yes, ma’am!” I replied.

Glamour approached me, her pink-and-white mane in a bun so tight I was sure the pain of it was what made her so cranky. “You’re staring off into space again. Do you think the Royal Guard employs you to just stand here and stare off this wall? I can find fillies that will do that.”

My left eye started to twitch slightly beneath the rim of my golden helmet as smart-mouthed responses fluttered through my mind. Glamour did not appreciate those so, as carefully as I could, I replied, “Yes, ma’am. As the section commander responsible for this wall during these hours, it was my understanding that I was meant to remain here and scan the horizon for possible threats.”

The vice colonel’s lips pressed into a thin smile. We stared at each other a moment before she gave a subtle, begrudging nod. “Very well. Just ensure that your staring doesn’t turn into daydreaming. I need you alert. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am, understood!” I replied sharply.

“Carry on,” she said as she trotted by me.

For an uptight, spindly unicorn, Glamour had a nice rump. It wasn’t as full and nice as mine, but it was certainly worth the risk of getting caught to sneak a peek. It served her right, too! She frequently wore a uniform instead of armor, and that left the flank exposed. A good guard never exposed her flank to anypony other than friendlies.

As I stared at the cream-colored hind end that was growing increasingly distant from me, I sensed a presence approaching me from the other side. When I looked, it was Radiant Orchid, a sergeant in Princess Celestia’s House Guard. She was also an acquaintance of mine.

“You’re going to get caught doing that one day,” Radiant said, but there wasn’t a lot of conviction in her voice.

I shrugged. “Probably so, but when it does happen, it will be because the booty is so amazing that I won’t even by sly about it. That will be worth it. Anyway, what’s up, pink stuff?”

Radiant just shook her head. “Very mature. If you weren’t a lieutenant, I wouldn’t put up with your snarky mouth.”

“Yes, you would. You like me,” I said with a grin. Who needed maturity? These ponies were too stuffy.

“Don’t be so sure about that. You hardly know me.” Radiant sighed. “As far as to the question of ‘what is up,’ the princess has requested to have tea with you when your shift ends. I’m still not sure what she sees in you, but you always seem to amuse her. I guess that is your talent.”

My ears wiggled. “She sees a pony that knows when to let her mane down and just have fun around her. All of the rest of you treat her like some sort of living goddess that needs to be put up on a shelf.”

The older mare’s brow arched beneath the rim of her helmet. “You do realize she basically is and that high shelf keeps her safe, right?”

I shrugged. “And she’s also a pony. You can tell her that I’ll be there, but she is cutting into my date time. I’ll expect it to be worth my while.”

Radiant Orchid abruptly turned around and started walking off, muttering, “I’m not telling her that.”

“Yes, you will! Yes, you will! I haven’t dismissed you, Sergeant! That’s an order!” I called after her.

The mare was already gone, leaving me alone with my own guards, who softly chuckled and pretended as if the whole scene hadn’t happened. They were accustomed to my antics, but they also knew that when I meant business, it was business time.

Business time didn’t come to my command too often. Generally, the worst we ever saw was a drunk pegasus flying too close to the wall. One time, a gryphon tourist group had flocked to one of the towers I oversaw. It had looked like a small invasion and we’d reacted accordingly. All in all, the misunderstanding led to ruffled feathers and hurt feelings.

In an effort to avoid an international incident, Princess Celestia herself had come out to smooth their angry beaks. She set them up with a private tour of the palace and even gave them a gift card for the palace souvenir shop. 

“Psst!”

The princess was super nice like that but, in my opinion, we’d done our jobs correctly. When twenty-seven gryphons storm a tower, that looks an awful lot like an attack! Sure, they’d had cameras and autograph books, but they should have gone through the gate.

“Psst! Lieutenant!”

I mean, really! Surely even foreign tourists would know that you can’t just fly up to a palace. That b—

A pair of hooves grabbed my cheeks and turned my head down into the courtyard. “Get out of your head, girl, there he is!”

The not-exactly-professional address had come from my secretly favorite guard: Ice Blossom. She and I had gotten close. Probably closer than a supervisor should with a subordinate, but I couldn’t help it. She was fun.

In this instance, Sergeant Ice Blossom was doing an unofficial duty I’d assigned her: looking out for Silent Knight and making sure we got to watch him cross the courtyard to and from the gym.

When it came to stallions, he wasn’t the brightest or most socially accomplished. In fact, the few times we’d crossed paths, he’d only recognized me as a lieutenant, not the hot and eligible mare that I was. I wasn’t being subtle, either. Whenever I saw him, I’d prance by and shake my rump, but he never seemed to notice.

That didn’t stop Ice Blossom and I from looking, though. Whatever he lacked in mental acuity and social skills, he made up for in his body. The stallion practically lived in the gym, forging his heavy form into a perfect instrument of guardly goodness.

“I didn’t realize they made armor that large,” Ice Blossom whispered.

“Me either,” I whispered back. “He really is a big fella. I wish he was bright enough to catch a clue.”

Ice Blossom lightly pushed me with a turquoise hoof. “Move over, LT, he’s an enlisted pony. We’re not for you. Now, me? The brass isn’t going to mind if I happen to accidentally drop my head and come to a quick stop in front of him.”

Technically, she was correct. The Royal Guard didn’t exactly appreciate it when officers dated enlisted ponies. However, Silent Knight didn’t report to me, and I didn’t exactly want to date him in the traditional sense.

“Hush and let me enjoy this,” I hissed.

The big white stallion had clearly just finished his workout. I could tell even though he had his armor on. After a good round of physical training, he had a subtle swagger that we’d picked up on. Silent Knight would march his way across the courtyard, oblivious to the fact that almost every mare and some of the stallions were ogling him.

“It really is a shame he’s so dense,” Ice Blossom breathed wistfully.

“Yeah, well, you can’t get everything in a pony. Perhaps you should be less subtle?”

Ice Blossom turned to me with a smirk. “LT, I told him I was a dirty filly and invited him to take a shower with me. We ended up in the guard showers talking about the proper way to avoid the mud on the obstacle course. I’d have been furious if it hadn’t actually shaved six seconds off my time.”

My nose wrinkled as I tried not to laugh. “I’ll have to send him a thank-you note. Okay, the show’s over, go back to work.”

“Yes, ma’am!” she replied before hurrying off.

Yes, life was going quite well for me. A good command, plenty of eye candy, and a date now and then. It was for those reasons that I always had a bounce in my step and wiggle in my booty. That was how I patrolled for the remainder of my shift: bounce, wiggle, patrol, repeat!

That might not be the style for other officers, but for me it was a signature and I enjoyed all the looks it earned. It was all just part of the job. After all, nopony asks about paperwork when they’re busy staring at your rump.

I did my paperwork, too, but that was the least fun part of my day, so I usually tried to do it last before I handed off the wall to the lieutenant in command of the second shift. Today was no exception as I procrastinated on the paperwork until I couldn’t anymore.

That took up the rest of my work hours so when I finished that and handed over command of the wall, I trotted out of the office and on my way. The air was starting to get crisp and cool in the city. This high up in the mountain, it always felt like we were half a season ahead.

I left the wall, headed for the basement, and took a quick shower in the locker room. It wouldn’t be right to show up to tea mussed up and sweaty from standing in the sun for nine hours or so.

There was a certain level of mare care I did no matter what! First, wash the coat and mane. After that I’d throw on a little coat glitter, some makeup, and style my mane and tail into perfect form.

Only once all of that was done would I head up to Princess Celestia’s wing of the palace and make my way to her office.

As I trotted down the hallway towards the large wooden door, one of the golden-clad house guards toned, “Pass, please.”

“It’s me, Lieutenant Sunny Day, you know that. She invited me,” I replied, keeping a fake smile on my face.

The guard let out a slow sigh. “I know, Lieutenant. Pass, please.”

Bureaucracy bothered me. There wasn’t any point to this other than a guard following a checklist. I grumbled and reached into my small bag to pull out the badge. “Here you are.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he said in a monotone voice before pushing the door open for me.

“Yup!” I tried to sound chipper but it took effort. There was no booty shaking for him as I walked into Princess Celestia’s office.

The princess was settled at her coffee table, looking down at a scroll she had spread out. Her sparkling, multicolored mane flowed in a non-existent wind as she went about what was otherwise a mundane activity. I really needed to learn that spell.

My horn lit and I used my own spell to shut the door behind me. It slammed harder than I’d intended and that resulted in a raised eyebrow from the princess.

“Something the matter, my little student?”

“Your guards are still treating me like some sort of threat and it makes me grumpy,” I huffed as I settled onto the pillow on the opposite side of her table. “Also, I’m not your little student!”

Princess Celestia tittered, her eyes falling back to the parchment in front of her. “They’re doing their job Sunny, you should understand that.” Though she kept her head down, her ears were focused on me. “I’m hurt. You don’t think of me as a teacher anymore?”

I set my hooves on the parchment and turned it around so that I could see what it was. Before I could read a single word, it was encircled in the glow of golden magic and gently pulled away.

“That isn’t for you, nosy,” the princess said before tapping on my nose with her hoof.

“I know, but you were paying it more attention than me and I’m like a cat. You just can’t do that to me,” I explained before setting my chin on the table. “And no, I don’t really see you as a teacher anymore. We haven’t had any lessons lately, just tea.”

The princess took a long breath and peered down at me. “Why did I invite you to tea again?”

“Because nopony else is brave enough to tell you like it is, or that you’ve got a spot on your coat, or that you’re not that great at poetry. Also, if this is tea, you’ve forgotten the most important part. I have no tea!”

Princess Celestia briefly looked down at her white coat and rolled her eyes when she realized I was kidding. She then tapped her chin with her hoof while her horn illuminated again, floating her favorite tea set towards us. “No, I’m not sure that is the reason. Please, try again.”

“Could it be that you think I’m cute? You must admit that I’m pretty cute. More than cute, I’m hot!” I lifted my head and drummed my hooves on the table as a teacup and saucer landed in front of me.

With a heavy sigh, the princess started pouring tea for me. “No, that definitely isn’t it. I know plenty of attractive ponies. In fact, I know the most attractive ponies in the whole kingdom.”

My jaw went slack and I gasped.

That yielded another laugh from the princess before she levitated two sugar cubes into my teacup. “Oh, don’t be so vain, Sunny. Surely you’re concerned with more than what ponies think of your looks.”

“Have you met me!” I squeaked before capturing the cup in my magic and bringing it to my mouth.

The tea was wonderful. Princess Celestia literally made the best tea of any pony I’d ever met. She had years of experience and each cup warmed the body and the spirit.

After a sip, I went on, “I’m a young mare in the prime of her life. I care. I care a lot! Surely you were a young mare at some point?” I paused, then leaned in. “Wait, were you ever a young mare? How old are you, anyway?”

A wry smile crossed the princess’s lips. “And you really think that is an appropriate question to ask me, your sovereign?”

I smiled slyly over the rim of my cup and scrunched my nose. “I think it is. If you wanted inappropriate, I could ask you when was the last time you snuggled a stallion.”

“You could ask, that is true. But that is none of your business. Just like my age. Suffice to say that I am old enough but not too old to remember what it is like to be a young mare.”

“Then you should understand,” I huffed before enjoying more of the delectable tea.

“You’re quite the cut-up today. In all seriousness, I would be sad if you didn’t think of me as your teacher. After all, there is so much more you could learn if you wanted to pursue the magical arts. It is clear that there is something special about you.”

That had to be the oldest, lamest pickup line I’d ever heard. I set one hoof on the table and leaned in just a bit, letting my voice drop. “I see. So, you want me to be your student?”

The princess nodded. “Yes, I thought that point was obvious.”

“And I’d wear a little student’s uniform?” I asked, grinning slyly. “Perhaps a blouse and a skirt? Some socks?” 

Princess Celestia’s brow arched. “We don’t have a required uniform, but if you wanted to do that, it would be fine.”

Fine. Yes. I saw what she was after. “And if I was bad, you’d spank me with a ruler?”

“Sunny Day, you know very well that I don’t allow that kind of punishment in my school. That is ba— Oh, Sunny, no!” The princess sighed before setting a hoof on my forehead and pushing me back. “I’m being serious!”

“So, this isn’t a fantasy that we’re going to play out together?” I asked with a toothy grin.

“Not at all! The only fantasy is that I thought you might take your gift seriously and want to pursue it.” She huffed. “Do you really not want to?”

I shook my head. “Not right now, no. I’m happy being a royal guard and, besides, you know what kind of student I was.”

The princess idly stroked her chin with a hoof. “As I recall, a very dedicated and hardworking one after you got serious. One of my more tenacious ones, even if you didn’t get to enjoy the exact success you wanted. You did graduate from my school after all.”

She had me there. When the princess had been working with me, I’d been far better. I bit my lip and then shrugged. “I hope you won’t think less of me, but I’m just not interested right now. I mean, a thing happened, I used my gift, I saved you, and that is that. Maybe that’s all it was for?”

Princess Celestia shook her head. “We’ll never know if we don’t explore it, but it is your choice. I do have three requests of you, however, and I want you to take them seriously.”

I settled back onto my rump. “Three? What do I get if I do them?”

“My appreciation,” she said incredulously. “Is that not enough?”

“I mean, maybe. What does appreciation even mean? Is that like a back rub or a ‘get out of jail free’ card from a princess? I’m just saying, you want me to do some things for you and it is only fair that I get something. I mean, unless they’re little things.”

The princess’s ears twitched ever so slightly. Was I finally getting on her nerves? She was so patient, I had been wondering what her limit might be.

Finally, she said, “Yes, that is fair. I consider them little things. Perhaps you should find out what they are before demanding payment?”

“Deal!”

“Fine. First, I want you to stop one behavior. Could you please stop screaming ‘Ahhh, Nightmare Moon!’ every time Princess Luna walks by?” To emphasize her point, the princess threw her forehooves up and wiggled them.

I gasped. “What? Why! That’s our thing. She loves that!”

Princess Celestia’s head tilted. “What gave you that impression? She doesn’t love it at all! It hurts her feelings.”

Idly, I twiddled forehooves. “I just assumed if she didn’t like it, she’d smite me. I mean, after all, she’s Nightmare Moon.”

The princess took a slow, deep breath, her ear twitching again. “No, Sunny. She is Princess Luna, my little sister. How would you feel if every time a pony saw you, they screamed ‘Ahhh, Ms. Thunder Moon!’?”

You do one calendar and nopony ever lets you forget it. My nose scrunched. “Point taken. Fine, I’ll do that one for free, since it hurts her feelings and all.”

“Thank you. Item two. If you happen to see any more miasma or anything similar, you’ll come tell me immediately? Especially if it is anywhere near my sister.”

Spotting miasma was the special talent the princess had been talking about. For some reason, I seemed to be able to see evil… at least, I think it was evil. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good, since it had trapped Princess Celestia in a bubble and tried to take over the kingdom.

That wasn’t a fair ask, though, since it was almost the opposite of thing one! “You want me to spy on Nightmare Moon?!”

Princess Celestia’s wings ruffled. “I want nothing of the sorts! I said if you see miasma and if you see it around her, let me know! I didn’t suggest that I want you to go looking for it.”

“Fine!" I squawked.

“And she’s Princess Luna, not Nightmare Moon!”

Oops. That was going to be a hard habit to break. “Fine!”

"Fine," the princess repeated before staring at me, a thin little smile playing at her lips.

"What?"

"Third, you're going to forgive me."

My eyes narrowed. "For what?"

Princess Celestia's eyebrow arched and she grinned. "I thought you might enjoy a little school reunion. I also assumed you would agree to being my student again."

Reunion? I hadn't had a lot of friends at school. All of my friends were from Canterlot’s club and bar scene. Did she mean Apple Polish, my school advisor?

As if the moment had been set up in advance, the door to the office swung open and an annoying, familiar purple unicorn mare trotted in cheerfully. "Hello-o! I'm here!"

Twilight Sparkle! She invited Twilight Sparkle? Me and my rival in the same room? Miss snooty pants herself? The princess owed me big for this one!

"Hello, my faithful student! Thank you for coming on such short notice,” the princess said, then motioned a hoof at me. “Look who is here."

Twilight Sparkle turned to me and, for a moment, I could see the confusion in her perfect purple eyes. Her head titled and then she lit up. "Oh, of course! Sunny Dawn, from school!" she cheered before hurrying over and hugging me.

Sunny Dawn? Sunny Dawn! She knew exactly who I was. We’d gone to school together. We’d even hung out a little bit. We’d played spin the bottle together. I wouldn’t let her see she’d gotten to me, though.

My nose wrinkled and I corrected, "Sunny Day."

"Right, I'm sorry! My face was always in a book,” she replied, then added in a tone I didn’t care for, “I'm sure you know what that is like."

No, I really didn't! I kept my face buried in much more interesting places. I tried to keep my usual upbeat attitude in place as I tried to squirm out of her grip. She refused to let me go. "Studying, sure, sure. It seems Princess Celestia set up this little reunion for us, although I'm not completely certain why."

Princess Celestia nodded. "That I did. Twilight, did you know that Sunny Day is one of the most powerful fire unicorns I've seen in over a generation? I thought she might want to develop those and some more specific talents. Seeing as you're studying friendship and I am busy with Princess Luna's return, I was hoping she might want to learn with you.”

Twilight Sparkle gasped and squeezed me tighter. "You want to be study buddies? I would never have guessed that you were so powerful! All I remember is you chasing around stallions."

I set my hoof on Twilight’s chest and finally pushed her away from me. She'd never guess! Stuck up, snooty, know it all! "No, I don't really want to be and yes, I am very powerful. Lots of fire magic. So much fire magic! But I'm a royal guard now, a fact the princess may have overlooked when she tried to enroll me in Twilight class. I’m not destined to be a wizard."

"Oh, well, that's a shame," Twilight replied, seemingly let down. Seemingly because she couldn't actually be upset about not working with me. We weren't friends, after all. We barely knew each other aside from me being constantly compared to how great she was by our teachers.

"Yes, I seemingly forgot that,” the princess said, shooting me a look. “Rather, I set it aside because I felt you might want to try other avenues of success. It doesn't appear you do, however, so the three of us could enjoy a lovely tea time together instead."

Twilight Sparkle softly chuckled and settled herself down at the table. "That sounds like the Sunny I remember! She always followed her own path. Tea would be lovely. And after that I can go visit my brother! He hasn't been sending any letters lately. It's like he's forgotten about me."

'That sounds like Sunny,' I mocked in my head. Little miss 'super special Twilight Sparkle.' Little miss 'Why can't you be like Twilight Sparkle!' Bah.

Wait, brother? Her parents copulated twice? Impossible! I blinked. "Who's your brother again?"

The purple mare waved a hoof at me and laughed. "Come on, Sunny, don't be silly! It's Shining Armor, you remember that!" She levitated her tea up and took a sip. "He's my best friend! He was always around at school."

No, that didn't make sense. Shining Armor was a stud! Twilight's brother was a dorky, dopey, gangly stallion that—wait, it was unlikely there would be two Shining Armors! That meant he was a dorky stallion who’d grown up hot. And he probably still acted like a dork. And was susceptible to the wiles of a hot mare like a dork.

My forehooves idly rubbed together as a plan coalesced in my mind. "Oh, yes, I do remember him."

Princess Celestia cleared her throat. "Yes, Sunny works under him in this very palace."

Yes, working under him was exactly what Sunny would do. Him and his marefriend together, if I had my way. That way, the next time Twilight got uppity with me, I could yell, 'Oh, yeah! Well, I'm the gal that works your brother's horn!'

"Sunny?" There was a purple hoof waving in front of my face. "Hello!"

"Wha?" I blinked, losing track of my plans to sweet talk my way into Shining Armor's bed.

"Did you want to go with me to see my brother?" Twilight asked.

I shook my head. "Oh, thank you, but not today. I have some plans. I'm heading over to the Mare Contraire to visit my friends."

Twilight’s ears wiggled. “Mare Contraire? What kind of place is that? Is it fun?”

A slow, evil grin spread across my lips. “It is certainly fun. It’s a dance club and bar for mares.”

“I love to dance!” Twilight clapped her hooves. “Maybe I’ll drop by after I see Shining.”

Princess Celestia glanced at me over the rim of her tea cup as if to ask, ‘what are you up to?’

“You should totally do that Twilight, you might make some new friends,” I said doing my best to keep a straight face.

The princess cleared her throat. “Yes, as long as it is a safe place for a pony to be.”

I waved a hoof. “Of course it’s perfectly safe! Actually, I’m going to head over there now.” I set my teacup down and stood up. “Thank you for tea, Princess. I’m sorry that I’m being stubborn about learning, but I’d just really like to focus on my career with the Royal Guard. Nice seeing you, too, Twilight.”

That last part was a bit of a fib. I still intended to defeat her in our rivalry.

“It was nice to see you again, Sunny!” Twilight said cheerfully. Fake cheerfully, I bet!

“That is alright, Sunny,” the princess said with a soft smile. “I would never want you to do something you didn’t have your heart in. To further your studies, you’d have to want it. Nonetheless, I shall see you again soon.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I replied before bowing. Tea with the princess was nice and all, but it was time to head off to my real evening plans: picking up mares at the Mare Contraire.
> 2. My First Day Of School
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the haze of sleep and warmth, I heard the voice of a gentle siren: “Azurite, sweetie, it is time to get up.”

Get up? Why would I get up when it was warm and cozy? I was a bed burrito, wrapped up in my blankets and snuggled up with O.C. Topus, the plush octopus. He had eight arms, which meant he could give four hugs at once. It was already cold outside even though summer wasn’t even over, and I had no desire to venture out into it.

I felt the sheets gently slide away from my shoulders under the force of magic. A soft hoof stroked my cheek. “Honey, you have school today.”

School? School was boring. And easy. Too easy. I rolled onto my back and straightened out all four hooves into the air. “Am sick, cannot go. Cough, cough.”

My mother made a soft tsk sound. “Azurite, you don’t have to go if you don’t feel up to it. I understand you’re still healing, but I thought you wanted this.”

Wanted this? School, bleh! Who wanted to get up for school? School just leads to a job and a job leads to— My head shook quickly as I chased the thought away. The fog within my mind slowly cleared.

“Warrant Officer school!” I squealed.

“Yes, honey. Warrant Officer school,” my mom repeated. She stroked my mane and looked down at me with her big, beautiful eyes. It hurt looking into them. I could see all the fear and worry beneath the warmth. Mom never wanted me to be a Royal Guard, and after the incident at the Summer Sun Celebration, she’d have been thrilled if I never went back.

“If it’s what you want, sweetie—” she started softly before pressing her forehead to mine. “But if you want to do something else, I’ll help you with that. Retired or not, the name Azalea Azure might still mean enough to get you into modeling. Or you can work with your father in the shop.”

Running away certainly would be easy. It was something I thought about every day. I looped my hooves around my mom and held her tight. “I know, Momma. Mindful Soul says I need to face this, though, and I’m going to help ponies. This is what I want.”

My mom heaved a soft sigh before leaning back and smiling at me. “Then you best hurry up. You don’t want to be late.”

She was right about that. Being late for a Royal Guard school was a bad idea. I rolled out of bed and gave a lanky stretch  while my mom fussed over my mane with her magic. Her previous career as a jewelry model and her current career as a florist gave her a talent for styling, and the Guard standards were very exact.

We worked together for about ten minutes. She did my mane and I put on the white-and-blue uniform that was typical for any pony in a Central Command Royal Guard training program. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was less suffocating than wearing my armor. I hadn’t done that since the incident.

Momma patted my cheek. “Okay, go get them. Your father has breakfast for you, and he’ll walk you to class if you need him to.”

My dad would walk me anywhere if I needed him to, and I kind of did, but I also knew I shouldn’t let him. Mindful Soul said I needed to stop doing that or else I wouldn’t get better.

I wanted to hug her tightly, but that would mess up my uniform. I kissed her cheek instead and hurried out of my old room and into the den. My dad was sitting in his easy chair, reading the newspaper. He was in really good shape for a pony his age, but he lounged about like an old stallion.

“Good morning, kitten,” he said warmly from over the rim of his paper. “Fresh toast with blueberry preserves for breakfast. Oh, and a big glass of orange juice to give you energy. It’s on the table in the kitchen. I know you’re going to do great today!”

“Thank you, Daddy,” I replied before going into the kitchen and settling at the table to munch on the toast.

He’d spread the preserves on it in the shape of a smiling face. He always did things like that. Both him and my mom. It might seem silly that they were treating their adult daughter like a foal but the truth was, I liked it. I’d always liked it. I liked it more now.

While I sipped at the orange juice, I heard the paper rustle behind me and then the sound of a pocket watch opening. “I think you’d best hit the road, kitten. You’re not far from the school, but you want to make the best impression you can. New phase today, right?”

“Yes, sir! I’m excited, too. We’re learning about retirement accounts and coding, and all sorts of neat things,” I explained before shoving the rest of the toast into my mouth and standing up. “Buh bye!”

Rushing took away my opportunity to ask him to walk me to school. I barely heard him call “Bye, dear!” after me as I hurried out of the apartment, down the stairs, through the little door beside the shop, and out into the streets of Canterlot.

It was too early for the area to be busy since none of the shops would be open for at least another hour. Before everypony got up was one of the two best times to be outside. After they went to bed was the other.

My heart started pounding as I glanced up and down the street. Maybe I should have asked him just one more time. No, Azurite, you can do this! As long as there were no crowds, I was usually okay, but I wasn’t going to risk it by going slow.

I trotted as quickly as I could to the Royal Guard Academy while fighting the urge to break into a full gallop. My heartbeat didn’t slow down until I went through the gate, crossed the parade ground, entered the school, found my classroom, and slid into my seat. There were a few other ponies already there, some of which I recognized from the earlier phases of training.

Warrant Officer school is different from regular schools. The first phase was very general and everypony learned the same things. Then you moved on to one of a few broad professions. From there, you got to pick a specialization or two to become an expert in.

My broad goal was to be a pony resource officer. I wanted to help other royal guards with their careers and benefits. After that, I was thinking about specializing in retirement benefits. Helping ponies plan for their futures seemed like a good idea, and I’d learned a lot of how to do that from my dad already. He worked because he loved it, not because he had to.

“Good morning, everypony,” called a voice from the front of the room.

When I looked up, I realized I’d been staring off into space for a good ten or so minutes and hadn’t noticed the classroom fill up. Now there was an older mare standing in front of the chalk board.

“Good morning,” we all parroted back, standing up.

“Welcome to PRO Ed. I see a lot of familiar faces, but I realize that some of you came from other general education programs. My name is Chief Warrant Officer Fine Print, and I’ll be starting you down the path to become the best pony resource officers the Royal Guard has to offer.”

She almost smiled. Almost. “We’ve got a lot to cover in a very short time, so all I ask is that you work your hardest and if you get behind, we’ll work on it in the evenings. Be seated.” 

We did so while she turned away from us, picked up the chalk in her mouth, and started to write. I watched as the brown bun her mane was pulled into bobbed up and down, back and forth. She was making a high-level list of tasks.

When she finished, she turned back to us. “Why become a PRO? It isn’t a glorious job! You’re not going to stand out. In fact, you’re going to spend most of your time in an office doing paperwork alone.”

In an office alone? That sounded great!

“In fact, some royal guards may even look at you and wonder why you’re even in armor. They might not understand why you’re even there, but that doesn’t matter. You are there… we are there… because we have to be. It is our privilege to wear the armor and serve our peers as they serve the crown.” Chief Print punctuated point by slapping one forehoof into the other.

That’s right! We were the backbone of the Royal Guard. Well, we would be if we passed. I would pass! Probably.

She glanced around with her big green eyes. They were like those of a hungry cat. “Now, let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves and why we want to be here.”

What? No! Why? Why did they always do this? I wanted to be a pony that sat in an office and did paperwork. I started to sink lower into my desk, willing Chief Print to overlook me.

She started pointing her caramel-colored hoof at ponies who would pop up, give their name, and some tidbit about themselves. I didn’t hear any of it. My heart was starting to race, and I could feel my face start to flush. The room was getting hotter. And smaller. Were there more ponies suddenly?

“Next,” Chief Print said.

I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was petrified.

“Excuse me, you’re up,” the pony next to me whispered.

Yup, that’s me, thank you, I know! I’m up! Up, body, stand up.

“I said, next,” Chief Print called.

I wiggled my rump back and forth in the desk until it found the edge of the seat and I tumbled out onto the floor. My hooves shook as I pushed myself up and replied in a squeaky voice, “Guard Azurite. I want to help retire ponies.”

Chief Print blinked. “I assume you mean help ponies with their retirement?”

My head flopped up and down quickly.

“Very good, next.”

I collapsed back into my seat, my whole body shaking. Help retire ponies? What a stupid thing to say! It was like the cheesy horror novels where the baddy ‘retires’ ponies for good. The chief was going to think I was slow.

The rest of the ponies finished their introductions and we moved on to the lecture. It took an hour for me to calm down. After that, I was able to start paying attention and taking notes. I desperately wanted to learn the material. It was super interesting, I just really didn’t want to be put on the spot again.

We worked for a few hours more before Chief Print set her chalk down and said, “That’s lunch. I’ll see everypony back here at exactly 13:15. Guard Azurite, could you stay a moment please?”

Why! What had I done? “Yes, ma’am,” I replied as clearly as I could before flopping around my desk and making my way to the front of the classroom.

Once all of the other students were gone, Chief Print lowered her head to be on eye level with me. A lot of ponies did that. It was upsetting. I am short and petite. Okay, okay, I’m filly-sized, but they could at least talk to me like an adult. Which I am.

“Guard Azurite, you seem nervous. Is there something wrong?”

“No, ma’am. Nothing is wrong. I’m just nervous by nature. I don’t deal well with being put on the spot or speaking in front of ponies,” I explained, leaving out the details as to why. I didn’t want another pony feeling sorry for me and treating me different just because of one traumatic event.

She nodded. “That is understandable, a lot of ponies in our line of work are more introverted. You do know that you will have to deal with ponies, though? You’ll have to help them with their paperwork, their concerns, and their questions.”

“Yes, ma’am! I’m fine one on one. I promise you I’ll be good at it. I was great with ponies on patrol.”

She held up a hoof. “You don’t have to convince me, Azurite. I only evaluate you on the course material. I just wanted to give you a little advice is all. Now, why don’t you go enjoy lunch? I’ll see you for the afternoon session.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I said once again before trotting out of the classroom and hurrying to the fillies’ room.

As soon as I was in one of the stalls, I took a deep breath. That’s when I realized my face was wet. I’d been crying? When had that happened? I wiped my eyes and sighed.

I hadn’t always been so skittish. Less than six months ago, I’d been very outgoing and bouncy. All of the craziness that happened at the Summer Sun Celebration had changed me. It had changed a lot of ponies, but it hit me hard.

I set my hoof on the stall wall and took deep, slow breaths. “You can do this Azurite,” I whispered to myself. “This is what You want. You can do this.” I repeated the mantra over and over.

Mindful Soul had taught me rescue breathing and self-affirmation. Do it enough and eventually you’d get control of your mind.

The technique worked some of the time and prevailed eventually. Once I’d calmed down, I hurried over to the dining facility and grabbed a quick lunch: fried eggplant and noodles. It wasn’t bad. More importantly, it was served fast enough so that I could eat and get back to my desk in time.

Chief Print did a quick count of ponies and then went back to the board. “Alright, everypony, for this afternoon we’re going to start on the exciting topic of resource classification. Until you master this material, we can’t really cover anything else.”

Resource classification was exciting! We had tons of documents to go through that represented different parts of a pony’s record. Those were the resources we worked on. Was it a retirement plan? Would that be tax deductible? I knew a lot about taxes since I did them for my fa—

Chief Print’s voice cut into my musings. “Guard Azurite, if a fellow guard came to you and asked who they should talk to about their RG214, what advice would you give?” 

Without a moment’s hesitation, I chirped, “A doctor! Why would anypony want to leave the Guard?”

Several ponies around me chuckled until Chief Print held up her hoof.

“Fair, but if they were sure?”

I tapped my hoof on my desk. “They could start with any PRO, really. If they were concerned about their potential status, they could speak to a legal advisor. If they’d already left the Royal Guard, they’d have to speak to veteran’s affairs.”

Chief Print smiled, turned around, and started writing a summary of what I’d said on the board as she replied, “Great answers. Each one correct for a different situation and illustrates the point that no situation has a single right answer. That is why we have to learn not only to read the regulations, but how to apply them to a specific situation. That means listening to our clients and their needs.”

Why was it when it came to schoolwork, I could just answer right away without fear? It hadn’t even crossed my mind to be scared. She wanted to know something factual and I just rattled it off correctly. My whole life should be like that!

“They’ll always point you in a direction,” Chief Print continued, “but they’ll need your guidance to get to exactly where they want to go. It is a balance that you must always keep in mind. Now, let’s move on. We’re going to start with active duty classification. Open your books to chapter three.”

While the chief went over the chapter, I sat in rapture, taking in all of the wisdom she had to offer. Fine Print knew what she was talking about and it was a pleasure to hear her speak.

Eventually, she drew to a close and stretched. “Alright, I see a lot of eyes glazing over. That is enough for today. You’re all dismissed.”

Everypony stood up and shuffled out of the room. I followed along behind them, but several were headed towards base housing. Most ponies in the class weren’t local and would be staying in long-term dorms. I was lucky. I always got to go home to my parents.

Today, however, I had to make a little stop by the medical center. Okay, so it wasn’t really a little stop. It was more like an hour-long stop to see my therapist. We met on Mondays and every other Friday. Sometimes more.

Luckily for me, the medical center was not far from the academy. In fact, most of the Royal Guard facilities in Canterlot were all centrally located near the palace. Some were even in the palace! In this case, where I needed to go was close enough that I barely had to cross any streets with ponies to get there.

I trotted into the waiting room and found that today all the patient seats were open. Usually there was a pony or two there.

“Hi, Azurite!” the receptionist chimed cheerfully.

“Hi, GV,” I replied, unable to match her excitement. GV stood for Good Vibes, but she said it was cooler if everypony called her GV. She was that kind of pony. I looked around and asked, “Where is Buttersquash?”

GV looked down at her list and then back up to me. “No appointment today. Perhaps his session schedule or frequency changed. I can’t really say.” 

Buttersquash was kind of my friend. We didn’t hang out or anything, but he and I talked in the waiting room. He didn’t see the same pony as me, but our schedules were the same. He was younger than me and was struggling with the loss of his father.

“Oh, alright,” I said before taking a seat. “Well, if you see him, please tell him I asked about him.”

“You’ve got it, AB!” Good replied.

She called me AB, short for AzuButt. It was her cutesy name for me. We all had cutesy names that were assigned and then abbreviated. It wasn’t part of our therapy or anything; it was just how Good did her job.

“Any plans this weekend, AB?”

And this was why I needed Buttersquash. He was an expert Good deflector. Plus, when he and I talked, she largely left us alone. I wasn’t good at dealing with all of her questions and energy on my own.

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know yet, it’s only Monday. Do you already have plans?” Why would I ask that? Why would I extend this conversation!

“You betcha I do!” Good squealed in delight. “I’m going to reorganize my cactus plants, paint my wall, and go rock climbing!”

“That sounds nice,” I said softly before picking up the Haylights Magazine and flipping to the puzzles.

“You have no idea! It’s going to be so wonderful.” She then continued on with a long explanation of what kind of cactus plants she had and how she was going to categorize them.

Mercifully, the door opened and my therapist, Mindful Soul, stuck her head out. I dropped the magazine, our eyes met, and she said the five words that would set me free: “Azurite, I’m ready for you.”

I hopped up and hurried over. “Hi, it’s me, I’m here! See you, GV!” I called as we ducked into the hall and went down into her office.

“Was she overwhelming you again?” Mindful Soul asked before I could even pick out a doll.

“Uh huh,” I muttered as I looked over the different plush dolls in the cute pink-and-white castle that they lived in. It was a replica of what ponies said ancient castles used to look like.

This one was smaller and made of wood, though. My favorite doll was there: a royal blue unicorn mare with a mane like mine. Once I had her snuggled in my hooves and I’d settled on the light blue pillow I preferred, I looked up at Mindful Soul.

She was always so well put together. Her white mane was always styled a perfect, chin-length bob that never had a single hair out of place. And on top of that, her purple coat was totally flawless. I couldn’t believe anypony naturally looked like she did. I sometimes wondered if she felt like she had to put on an image for the ponies that saw her.

“I can see you’re settled, so we’ll start easy,” Mindful Soul said before setting down her notebook and levitating up a smaller one. It flipped open with ease and she pressed on. “When we spoke last Friday, you stated Mr. Peepers was in a tiff again with Diver Pony. How is their relationship after the weekend?”

“Yes, Mr. Peepers felt that Diver Pony didn’t share enough enthusiasm about his desire to start a bubble tea stand. He believes that mates should support each other. Things were tense on Saturday, but when I left they looked like they were working it out.”

I winced slightly as soon as the words left my mouth. Darn it, she’d fooled me again. I could see the gears turning in her head.

She took some more notes in the journal she kept for Mr. Peepers. With the fluidity of a dancer, she opened up my journal and started writing. “Left, you say? You left Saturday? Where did you go?”

“Home,” I muttered softly.

Her ear flicked. “You mean to your parent’s condo?”

“Yes, home. Where I grew up!” I replied, hugging my doll tighter.

“I understand. Did you have an issue, or were you nervous about your upcoming rotation?”

My head quickly shook. “No issue! No explosion! Just nerves and my parents live closer to the campus. It was easier. I could sleep a little more, commute through less ponies, and start off on the right hoof.”

“That is perfectly understandable. Your parents are an excellent resource for you,” she replied in her even, non-judgmental but non-supportive tone. “We just want to make sure you don’t rely on them for everything. You’re not a filly and they’re not a crutch.”

“I know, I’ve been going home less,” I replied honestly. “I left Mr. Peepers at the apartment because I’d have to go back to take care of him. I won’t abandon him.”

“Smart thinking. Mr. Peepers is quite persnickety in his old age. He needs to be fed on time the way he likes. At least that is what my notes say.”

I waved a hoof. “He isn’t that old, but your memory is right on the bits. Mr. Peepers is exactly that way. So, I’m going to march home after our appointment and take care of him.”

Mindful Soul took a few notes. “Azurite, he’s eight years old. He’s a senior finizen.” Her tone didn’t change. She didn’t even look up from her pad.

“Did… Did you just make a joke? Oh my goodness, that was amazing!” I squeaked before laughing.

“I’m trying it out. That one was easy.”

“You should keep at it,” I replied before settling down.

Mindful Soul was helpful, but she always made me feel on edge. She was never judgmental, but at the same time she kind of was. She was this super amazing therapist pony that seemed too flawless. I wanted to be like her, but I knew I never would.

She nodded. “I’ll work on a routine. Now, let’s talk about this new phase and how you’re going to approach it. Tell me about your first day of class.”

Yay! That was something I actually wanted to talk about. “It was great! You’ll never believe what I learned.”
> 3. Unexpected Dates
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn’t even prime time and the Mare Contraire was already starting to fill up. I wasn’t surprised, given it was one of Canterlot’s best known fillyfooler bars. It was my favorite place to find a nice mare to snuggle up with. It was also where my fam—

“Look out, everypony, the Royal Guard is here!” Dolly snickered from behind the bar as I walked through the door. “She’s going to arrest us for minor infractions!”

Emerald Eyes called, “Quick, Lollypop, flush all of the knockoff Celestia dolls! We can’t have the gift shop gumshoe catching us with the goods.”

“On it, chief!” Lollypop squeaked before rushing towards the back room.

I settled onto a stool next to a unicorn mare with an orange coat before looking at Emerald in confusion. “Where is she going?”

Emerald had her forelegs on the bar trying to look. “To be honest, I don’t know. She’s either really committed to taking instruction, or Dolly has been running a knockoff souvenir stand out of the back.”

Dolly set a glass of sangria in front of me and asked, “How was your day, Sunny?” She then idly flicked her eyes from me to the mare next to me. That was our secret ‘take a look’ move.

When it came to ponies, Dolly was the best kind. She was my bartender, mentor, sort-of mother, and wingmare. She’d seen something in me when I’d first moved to Canterlot, took me in, and taught me responsibility. The added benefit of all that time together meant Dolly knew exactly what kind of mare I liked.

I’m a pretty smooth operator and didn’t really need an assist, but if Dolly wanted me to look, I was going to look. Casually, I levitated my drink and sipped it while glancing at the mirror behind the bar.

The mare was older than me by a few years, but not quite Dolly’s age. She was a fiery orange color and had a short, very conservative, yellow-and-red mane. The bangs framed her face and the look was completed with dark-rimmed glasses. What was Dolly thinking? This gal wasn’t my type at all. She was probably a librarian or a soccer mom.

Now the mare next to her? Absolutely. She was a petite, cotton-candy-pink unicorn with delicate features. Her mane had been braided into two pigtails, each one a mix of red and purple. Her accessory was far cuter, too. It was a fuzzy scarf tied around her neck. That was my type. Maybe that was who Dolly meant?

“Oh, it was a pretty easy day. I did my job, made sure the giftshop was safe, and had tea with the princess. The usual,” I explained louder than I normally would, noticing the mares next to me glancing my way.

Dolly snorted and waved a hoof, then stood upright and wiggled herself into a proper stance. “Oh, my day was so easy!” she said in her imitation Sunny voice. “I just hobnob with the princess. Look at me!”

Lollypop trotted back, covered in sweat. “Okay Emerald, the stuff is gone.”

Emerald looked over at Dolly nervously before asking. “What stuff, Pop?”

Lollypop gave an extremely exaggerated wink and a knowing nod. “Exactly. What stuff!” She then went around behind the bar while Emerald hurried off in a panic.

“Is this place always so weird?” the orange mare next to me asked.

I looked over and nodded. “It is. That’s part of the charm. It’s drinks, fillies, and comedy in one.”

The mare lightly tapped her hoof to her chin. “My, my. How odd. And you spend a lot of time here? Since you seem to be familiar with the happenings.”

I’d pegged her right. She was one of those stuck-up type mares that come into the club to look around all judgmental-like. Usually they were from the nicer neighborhoods.

I smiled. “I do. In fact, I used to work here. We had a lot of fun. If you let your hair down, you might too. You and your… friend there?”

“Wife,” she corrected. The other mare looked around her, smiled, and waved.

For some reason, the orange mare was familiar to me now that I was really looking at her. “Ah I see. So what brings you two out today?”

Orange smirked slightly and just stared at me a moment. I stared back. I was excellent at staring. Finally, she replied, “We’re looking for somepony special.”

“Oh,” I said without thinking. Oh indeed! Soccer mom and her wifey were looking to add a little spice to their relationship? This had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting. “I like to think I’m somepony special,” I said smoothly before sipping my drink.

Pink held a hoof up to her muzzle and softly giggled.

The orange mare’s ear flicked and her head tilted. She took a soft breath and leaned closer. “I see. So you think you’re mare enough for the two of us?”

“Girl, you don’t even know!” I replied, full of bravado.

She looked over her shoulder. “What do you think, Fuzzy?”

The mare leaned on the bar, set her hooves under her chin, and smiled. “Well, as long as she is cool with the incest, I’m game.”

Yes! Wait. Incest? Wait. Fuzzy? Wait. Incest! I squinted and peered at the orange mare. She squinted and peered right back. Then I gasped. “Cheerful? Cheerful Sun!”

Cheerful laughed and leaned back. “Yes, ‘tis I, your older sibling,” she said theatrically before continuing in her normal voice. “It only took you hitting on me and offering a threesome to figure it out. I feel so loved.”

Dolly grinned and set a glass of wine in front of Cheerful and Fuzzy. “Don’t take it personal, girls. She’s not the sharpest spoon in the drawer. She thinks back to front.”

I glared at Dolly, then at Cheerful. “Hey, it isn’t my fault. I haven’t seen you in years! I haven’t even met Fuzzy there!”

Cheerful replied with her usual deadpan snark, “I’m aware. You ignored all my invitations. You didn’t RSVP to the wedding. Mom said the only way to see you was to show up at this bar. Looks like she was correct.”

Emerald trotted back out of the back room. “Lollypop, you absolute maniac, it took me forever to get Mango out of that box.” She then saw me and Cheerful. “Aww, did I miss Sunny try to pick up her sister?”

“Yes,” Dolly replied.

“No!” I protested.

“Lollypop, you come here right now!” Emerald barked before rushing behind the bar.

“You’ll never catch me!” Lollypop squealed before leaping over the bar and galloping out of the front door, yelling on her way out, “That will teach Mango to sleep on the job!”

Fuzzy looked from me to Dolly and then back. “Is this like a show? Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Fuzzy Yarn. We’ve never met but I’ve seen all of your foal pictures,” she said, offering me a hoof.

As we shook, I groaned. “Mom’s doing, I’m sure. Believe it or not, this is not a show and it is pretty normal.”

“I’m not surprised,” Cheerful said. “Mom told me about the stunt she and Dolly pulled on you. This is pretty consistent with that. Besides, she said you were still easy to tease. You used to get really upset as a filly.”

“I’m excitable, not upsetable!” I corrected before eyeing her. “So, you two are just here to see me?”

“Yes, of course. I wanted you to meet my wife. I know we’re not that close, but you’re always going to be my little sister. We’re here for a couple of nights to spend some time with you before moving on to Manehatten.”

“And tour the palace,” Fuzzy slipped in.

“And tour the palace,” Cheerful repeated.

I stuck my tongue out. “You can at least buy a girl dinner before you take advantage of her.”

Cheerful wiggled on her stool, sitting up straight. “I’ll have you know we don’t need Sunny Day’s help to get a tour of the palace. I already have our tickets. We just thought perhaps you’d like to go with us since our time together is pretty short.”

Tour the palace? I’d been working there for a while. What could I possibly see that I didn’t already know? At the same time, this was my sister trying to reach out to me. The adult thing to do would be to go. “On one condition.”

Cheerful’s brow raised. “I didn’t realize we had to negotiate just to have your attention, but go on.”

“I want to smooch the bride on the cheek, since I missed my opportunity at the wedding,” I said.

Cheerful set her hoof on her face. “That’s up to Fuzzy. I’m not selling my wife.”

Fuzzy giggled and poked Cheerful. “Come on, sweetie, she’s just being silly. Of course you can smooch my cheek, Sunny. After all, we’re sisters now, and clearly you’re into that sort of thing.”

Dolly and Emerald, who were ignoring the rest of the bar just to watch us, both burst out laughing.

I could feel the heat in my cheeks. My whole face was red. I’d been outmaneuvered by my sister-in-law in my own bar! With as much dignity as I could muster, I asked, “When did you want to go?”

Cheerful had a little smirk on her face. I think that was her version of a smile. “How about tomorrow around lunch? Do you get a lunch break? I honestly don’t know anything about your job.”

“I do, so I’ll take a longer lunch.” I'd do that and work it out so they had a private tour. I knew a mare that could help and if I was going to go on a palace tour, being with just these two would be enough. I didn’t need a whole tourist group.

“That would be really nice!” Fuzzy said happily.

“Agreed,” Cheerful replied before slipping off her stool. “Alright, we’re going to head to the hotel. I’m sure you have prowling to do.”

Dolly batted a hoof and interjected, “You know she does! If she can get her cool back after what Fuzzy did to her.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” I lied rather obviously, my face turning red again.

Fuzzy Yarn laughed softly and slipped down after Cheerful. She leaned over, kissed my cheek, and the two of them trotted out.

“See you tomorrow,” Cheerful called, leaving me there flushed and embarrassed.

My sangria fluttered off the bar and to my mouth before I downed the whole thing. The empty glass then flew its way into the wash sink. “Well, that was a thing.”

Dolly winked at me. “Yes, yes it was. I’d say a priceless thing.”

“You set me up!”

“You bet I did. We’ve met! We’ve been friends for years! Why would you expect anything different now?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I replied before tapping the bar. Emerald brought me another sangria. 

Mango wandered out from the back room looking disheveled. “Hi,” she chirped.

“Hi,” I replied before going back to glaring at Dolly.

She just grinned and moved down the bar to help some other ponies. More mares were starting to show up and fill the place. 

Emerald reached over to pat my hoof. “How’s work, filly?”

This was an opportunity to change the subject, so I took it. Emerald teased me too, but she usually let me have a little dignity. “Things have been great, honestly. I’m finally where I’m meant to be. That wall and my ponies are amazing.”

Emerald smiled and winked. “Good. You know we may tease you, but we couldn’t be any more proud. You were a great sodajerk but you’re an even better guard.”

I slipped my hooves over Emerald’s and gave them a squeeze. “Thank you.”

“Now, even though I’m not usually one to support your catty habits, I couldn’t help but notice there is a mare at the end of the bar that has been eyeing you since the moment you came in,” Emerald whispered.

My grip on her tightened. “Emerald, if this is another member of my family, so help me I will find a reason to arrest you.”

The older mare laughed and pulled her hoof free. “It’s on the up and up. The light grey pegasus at the end there.”

When I turned my head to look, there was a flash of cream-colored mane as the mare quickly looked away to make it less obvious she was staring. She’d failed horribly.

“Well, my night is back on track then,” I said to Emerald before hopping off my stool. It was show time. I straightened to my full height, tossed my mane, and started to trot down the bar. With each step my rump bounced just enough to turn some heads.

When I got closer, the mare looked back at me and squeaked in surprise. She had pretty silver eyes that were hidden beneath her bangs.

“Hi there,” I said. “I couldn’t help but noticing you looking my way.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude, Lieutenant,” she stammered in reply.

Lieutenant? How did she know my rank? I offered her a hoof. “I didn’t take it as rude. Would you like to dance? That way I could get to know you better since you seem to know me.”

The pegasus mare set her hoof on mine and I helped her off the stool. She was taller than me but she wasn’t holding herself with confidence, so her eyes ended up being lower than mine.

I led her out onto the dance floor and asked, “How about we start with your name? Although, if you like I can call you something corny all night like cute stuff, babe, honey, or slagathor.”

Her nose wrinkled as she snorted a cute little laugh. “Slagathor?”

“Slagathor it is!” I teased before I started to bounce up and down to the rhythm of the song.

“Please no! My name is Almond Mist,” she said, hesitantly matching my groove. “Actually, to be perfectly honest, it is Lieutenant Almond Mist. We both work at the palace.”

Almond Mist? Did I know that name? No. I did not. She wasn’t in any of the meetings I was in, so that meant she wasn’t in my company. She might have been part of the same cohort. 

“It’s okay that you don’t know who I am,” she said, cutting into my confusion.

I reached out and stroked her cheek. “I’m sorry that I don’t. I know we’re not part of the same company. Where do you work?”

The mare shivered and smiled. “Records. You’ve probably come into the office a hundred times and never noticed me. I’ve been trying to work up the courage to talk to you, but never managed it.”

Records! That checked out. Those ponies were almost universally nerdy, quiet, and shy. Not as a stereotype for their job field. I just meant the ones in our records department. “What changed tonight?”

Almond Mist bounced in time with the music and flushed. “About four drinks.”

“Liquid courage!” I teased before bumping up against her. “Alright then, you’ve got me talking. Are you sure I’m the sort of mare you want to get to know? I’ve got quite a reputation.”

She nodded, “Yes, that you’re easy.” She then squealed and covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry,” she squeaked behind her hoof. 

I laughed. She looked so embarrassed it was priceless. Eagerly I nodded. “Yes, that reputation. Loose, easy, and any other word you’d use. It’s all true. I’m not the kind of girl you take home to your parents. I’m the kind you take home for an evening.”

The mare nibbled on her lip. “That is what I want,” she replied with what I assumed was alcohol-based courage.

That was an interesting proposition from a shy mare. The song we’d been dancing to came to an end, so I took her hoof in mine and led her over to one of the booths. “Oh yeah? That’s really what you’d like?”

She nodded, slipping into the booth. “Uh huh.”

I settled my chin on my hoof. “Do tell. A girl like you?”

She scrunched her face up. “Yes!” she blurted and quickly brought her hoof up to her lips. “Sorry. Yes. Everypony just assumes I’m this perfect little filly. I can have a wild side, too. I figured you’d understand.”

Almond Mist was the repressed librarian type and her tight pony tail was about to come down. My tail swished beneath the table and I looped a hoof around her. “I understand perfectly. Now, we both have duty tomorrow, so yours, mine, or the desk in your office?”

The mare’s breath caught, and she set both her hooves on my chest. “My desk, right now!”

Sold! I grabbed her hoof and pulled her up. “Let’s go!”

In my entire life, I don’t think I’d closed the distance between the bar and the palace so quickly. From an outsider looking in, it probably looked like we had an emergency. We’d both thrown our passes in the gate guard’s face and hurried into the administration building.

While Almond Mist fumbled with the keys to the records office, I kissed the back of her neck. That led to a soft gasp from her before she finally got the door open and we rushed inside. She literally flew to her desk. All I could do was chase after her.

“This one is mine!” she huffed, splaying her front half across it. 

There wasn’t a more obvious signal than that, so I threw myself wholly into what I did best. From there, things got very hot, heavy, and sweaty.

I wasn’t sure how long we’d been together before we’d fallen behind the desk. That didn’t stop us, of course; it just briefly knocked the wind out of me. Almond had apologized, I’d just pressed my lips back to hers, and she went bananas. That girl had a lot of repression to work out.

We were an hour or so in before she froze and stuck her hoof over my mouth. It was kinky enough. I wiggled under her, but then saw her ears were straight up. That was when I focused, too. She’d somehow caught the sound of keys jingling. That was followed by the door opening.

“Hello? Who is in here?” came a voice that I recognized. A voice that I really wished I didn’t recognize.

Almond popped right up. “Me, ma’am!”

“Lieutenant Mist, what are you doing here so late? And in the dark?” the voice of Vice Colonel Glamour asked.

I tried not to move but Almond’s rump was right by my face, so I nuzzled it.

“Ma’am! I had something to do on my desk,” she replied sharply while her coat puffed up in the back.

“In the dark, Lieutenant?”

“I didn’t notice ma’am. I was in such a hurry to do it I just got right to it.”

The lights then flipped on. “You’re such a dedicated officer, Mist. Next time, be sure you at least turn the lights on. Your eyes will wear out if you aren’t careful. And don’t work all night.”

“Yes, ma’am! Thank you, ma’am!” Almond replied. Her eyes tracked motion and then I heard the door close. She breathed a sigh of relief. I, sensing we were now safe, stuck my muzzle up against her belly, causing her to squeal.

She tumbled over and started to giggle. “By Celestia. I can’t believe I got out of that!”

I waved a hoof. “Don’t worry, if we’d been caught, I’d have told her I seduced you. She’d believe that.”

Almond peered down at me as her giggles faded. “Why would you do that?”

“No sense in both of us getting in trouble. You finally had your big night of irresponsibility and if it went bad, you might not show up at the bar again and paw me like a pent-up lioness.”

She swatted my face. “I’m not— Okay, you know what, I am. I’ve never done anything remotely like this, but I loved every minute of it.”

I rested on my back and grinned. “Good. So, has the moment passed or do you want to go again?”

Almond Mist bit her lip, briefly looked at the door, and then flopped down on top of me. Another round it was, then!
> 4. My Everyday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the outside, my ground level apartment looked barely lived in. The windows were dark, the stoop was unswept, and the mail slot was stuffed full. In fairness to my apartment, it really was unlived in. I mostly only came in to check on Mr. Peepers and sleep if I could. That was hard to do, though.

I unlocked the door with my magic, pulled it open, and unloaded the mailbox on the back side of it. I’d been ignoring that chore for days. The envelopes flew over to a stack of other unopened mail and gracefully landed on top of it.

“Tomorrow,” I lied to myself before heading over to the big fishbowl that dominated my kitchen table.

Mr. Peepers swam over to me and peered out into the darkness. I reached out to the lights with my magic and turned them on, and he gave me a rather disgruntled look.

“I’m sorry I’m late. There was a crowd on the way here and I had to go the long way to avoid it.”

He just stared at me and blew two bubbles.

“Don’t be so judgmental,” I whispered before grabbing his food and tipping some over into his bowl.

With dignity and grace, he swam to the top to start on his dinner. I settled at the table across from him and pulled mine out of the bag. I’d picked up a salad from the restaurant on the corner while I was hiding from the crowd. We ate together in relative silence.

Diver Pony was facing away from me… and that was never a good sign.

“Did you two have a fight again? When I left yesterday, I thought things were looking up.”

Mr. Peepers blew two bubbles, then three, then six. Diver Pony just sat there in silence.

With a sigh, I munched on my salad. “Are you sure you want me to put the bubble chest in? Is it really worth going that far?”

Six more bubbles.

“Fine, but not until after dinner! I want you to really think this through,” I said before poking at my meal with little interest. They’d gotten the order wrong in my favor. There were three cookies in the bag that I hadn’t ordered.

Everything was quiet other than the bubbler in Mr. Peeper’s tank. That kept the water fresh and safe for him. My apartment was always quiet. It never had the subtle noises of my parents moving around doing their thing. I really didn’t like it.

Mindful Soul said I needed to keep it, though. Adult ponies lived on their own. Living with my parents wouldn’t help with my recovery. It would just lead to more regression. At least that is what she said.

I looked around at the violet walls. They were duller than normal, and I could see dust on the windowsills. “When was the last time I cleaned this place?”

Truthfully, I had no idea and didn’t want to think about it. Instead, I finished my salad and went to Mr. Peeper’s toy box. I pulled out the bubble chest and brought it over. “Now, you’re sure?”

Mr. Peepers swam a circle around the bowl, never making eye contact with Diver Pony.

“Alright, I think this is a mistake, but this is your life.” As carefully as I could, I pulled Diver Pony out of the bowl and set him aside. Then I used my magic to ease the bubble chest in, then hooked it up to the bubbler.

As soon as the lid filled up with enough bubbles, it would open and release them. Mr. Peepers gleefully swam back and forth through them as if showing off for Diver Pony, clearly punishing him.

I leaned close to the little pony figure and whispered, “Don’t worry, in a day or two he’ll forgive you. I honestly don’t know why you put up with this. He is so high maintenance.”

Diver Pony didn’t make any comment to me. He was the sort of pony that kept to himself. Mr. Peepers was the only creature that could bring him out of his shell.

I cleaned Diver Pony off and set him in his special case to ensure he would stay safe and crisp. After that, I started to tidy up my apartment a little bit. “Be an adult, Azurite.”

The sun was starting to go down outside and that meant darkness. My magic flared and started lighting every single one of the remaining unicorn lanterns in my home. By the time I’d finished, the inside was brighter than when the sun was out.

Mr. Peepers was still swirling around the bubble chest. That was his daily fitness routine. He was worried that if he didn’t do it, he’d lose his figure. Vain fish.

I glanced at the door and thought about going home, but I forced myself to look away. “No, Azurite. Let’s at least try to sleep here.”

My blanket and pillows were already on the couch, so I hopped up on there and curled up. It wouldn’t be so bad to sleep here. I used to live here, the lease was in my name, and I paid the bills. At least I used to.

The apartment was so quiet. The soft bubbling from Mr. Peepers bowl provided little comfort. I closed my eyes and pulled my blanket tightly around myself. If I could just keep my head clear, I could sleep. Sleep in my own apartment like an adult.

Just like an adult, big pony. I wasn’t a filly. 

“The sun will be coming up soon,” somepony said.

“This is the best night of the year!” another voice called.

I could hear ponies celebrating around me, but with my eyes shut tightly I couldn’t see it. There was a party going on that seemed familiar but also wrong. I opened my eyes and found myself out in the street. This was Canterlot for sure, but it was totally dark. There were no stars in the sky and the moon was huge. Why was this familiar? 

All around me ponies were celebrating. The streets were packed full of mares and stallions drinking, snacking, and dancing. At my side was another pony, but her form was blurry. I did my best to focus on her, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t handle seeing her.

When I turned away from her, the smiling ponies in the street had changed their expression to sneers of anger. They were all staring threateningly at me with glowing red eyes. It was happening again!

“No… stay back!”

They didn’t stay back. They pressed in all around me and the other pony. I could feel their hot breath against my coat. “BACK!” I screamed.

Why was this happening? Why! I had to escape. It was time to run! When I turned away, I bumped into the blurry pony. She was doing her best to fight off the horrible red-eyed ponies. They were pressing closer and closer. It was hard to breathe. There were just too many bodies around me.

Then it happened. It always happened this way. A large pony smashed the back of the pony with me, knocking her to the ground. The sound of bones breaking resonated over and over in my ears. Several other ponies then leapt on top of her while she screamed in pain and begged them to stop.

I felt it as my magic encircled the hilt of my sword and drew it from its hidden scabbard. Don’t do it. Don’t. Stop, Azurite. Stop!

“SANDY!” I screamed as the sword rushed forwards. Hot liquid sprayed over my face and hooves and then I fell.

My stomach leapt into my throat as I tumbled down, down, down, and down endlessly. Then the impact came. I was on the floor of my living room, panting and squirming while my heart raced.

It was the same old dream. My recurring nightmare of the Summer Sun festival that had ruined my life. Ruined her life.

It was still dark outside, and my clock showed it was barely after 04:00. That meant I had a few hours to myself before it was time for class again. I pulled my pillow down and hugged it against my chest while I tried to slow my breathing down.

Rescue breathing Azurite. Inhale, one, two, three. Hold, one, two, three. Exhale, one, two, three.

Mr. Peepers was looking down at me from the table with concern.

“I’ll be okay,” I whispered without meaning it. “I’ll be okay. I’ll be okay.”

He swam in a quick circle and then stopped to look at me again.

I huffed as the tremors started to slow down. “No, I’m not going to run home. I don’t want to wake my parents up this late. It was just a nightmare. I’ll just distract myself until class.”

The large stack of mail loomed tall on the table beside my couch. That was as good a distraction as anything else. I grabbed it clumsily with my magic and toppled it down onto the floor with me.

A clear majority of it was advertisements for marecare products. A year or so back, I’d accidentally signed up for a mailing list and there was no apparent way to unsubscribe regardless of how many letters I’d written. I’d even considered going to the source and arresting everypony for harassment. That was still on my to-do list.

Those pieces went right into my recycling bin. A bin that was already overflowing. When was the last time I’d taken it out?

With the quality of the mail I was getting, leaving a ton of it unopened might not have been immature after all. I flipped through a few more items before something caught my eye: The Joy of Painting with Happy Tree. It was a class at the local art school.

Mindful Soul had been harping that I needed to get out and do things. She said hobbies with other ponies would help me. Happy Tree looked like a pony to me. A tall, lanky stallion with a big fuzzy mane. If I enrolled in a painting class, perhaps she’d leave me alone. About that, anyway.

“Not many ponies go to classes, right?” I asked Mr. Peepers.

He swam upwards in a tight spiral before shooting out of the water. From there, he looped and dove back down below the surface.

“It’s a start! Not everypony can be as outgoing as you.”

Mr. Peepers blew five bubbles.

“Yes, fine, I’ll sign up right now if you drop that judgmental tone,” I said before flipping through the accompanying pamphlet for details. The next class was this Friday. All a pony had to do was show up with the required supplies.

This Friday, I was going to go learn to paint after class and after my therapy appointment. Maybe.

Mr. Peepers bubbled.

“Fine! I’m going, I’m going!”

That seemed to be the right answer, because he moved over to the bubble chest to enjoy the jets.

My heart had slowed down enough to where I could get up. I dragged myself into the kitchen to make breakfast. If I ate and left now, I could work out at the Royal Guard complex and be in class early.

Despite my special status with the Royal Guard, I still had to maintain an appropriate fitness level. Galloping wasn’t a bad way to do that. It also exhausted me and made it hard to think.

Once I had made toast, covered it in jam, and forced it down, the time was almost 05:00. I peeked out the window by the door. Canterlot was dark.

“Dark,” I muttered as I trotted in place. “Gotta go to school. But dark. Grrr, regular ponies can go out at night. I should, too. Come on, Azurite, just step outside and go.”

I opened the door with magic and peered outside. It was still dark. That didn’t surprise me, but it was all I could notice. My hooves started to shake as I contemplated my options. Finally, I snatched my saddlebag off the floor and streaked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind me.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

My hooves clacked on the stone streets of Canterlot as I rushed frantically towards the Royal Guard campus.

There were almost no ponies outside, and I knew the ones that I passed stopped to stare at me. A pony streaking through the city early in the morning while squealing was probably an odd sight. They didn’t understand, and I wasn’t going to stop to explain it.

The gates to the Royal Guard campus appeared ahead of me. I was almost there. When I got close enough to see the sentries standing outside, I slowed down to a trot and tried to act like my chest wasn’t heaving.

“Morning,” I huffed.

“Good morning,” one of the guards replied, giving me a sideways look.

Ponies were always looking at me funny. Sometimes, it hurt my feelings. Most of the time, I didn’t care. Today was a day when I didn’t care.

One of the neat things about royal guards is that they were around no matter what day of the week it is or what hour of the day. At 05:00, the gym was packed. Crowds bothered me, but not when everypony was a guard. Guards protected each other. We always looked after our own.

I tossed my saddlebag onto a bench and headed for the treadmills. There were a couple left open, so I hopped on and started to gallop. This was my more controlled and professional gallop than the one I’d done in the streets of Canterlot. The frantic screaming part I kept to myself.

Exercise was one of the few times where I could generally keep out of my head. Just look at the poster on the wall in front of the treadmills and gallop. Gallop like there was no yesterday and no tomorrow. The only thing that mattered was my hooves hitting the belt and pushing forwards.

That was what I did until I couldn’t anymore. My body just wouldn’t keep going. I slowed to a walk so I could cool down.

Ponies continued to come and go as I worked out, and I recognized some of them from my class. Others were unfamiliar, but that didn’t matter, because they were all Royal Guards and they took care of their own. Even their small, skittish, blue own.

They’d come through when I was at my absolute worst. My wits end. Ponies that knew me might think I was there now, but I had been much, much worse. At least now I could relatively function on my own.

I hopped off the treadmill and headed into the showers. It was time to get clean, spruce up my coat, and then iron my uniform. The campus had all the facilities a guard would ever need and part of me wanted to move here. 

Mindful Soul had said no to that, too. Well, she hadn’t actually said no so much as just looked at me and said, ‘I highly advise against that. You’d just make yourself a prisoner within the walls.’ She was probably right. Miss Smartyhooves.

The water felt good as it hit me. Unlike most of the other guards, my head barely made it over the stall wall so at the wrong angle it might look like the place was unoccupied with the water on. Inevitably, a mare would wander in and try to turn it off. That happened a lot. It was a large majority of my social interaction.

“Occupied,” I said softly as the door jiggled. 

“Oops, sorry!”

It happened a lot.

My shower didn’t take long, just enough to get squeaky clean and then get out. While my coat and mane dried, I worked on my uniform. The ritual of doing so always made me feel calm. Actually, almost anything Royal Guard-related made me feel calm. It was purposeful and methodical. I liked both of those things. That was why I liked paperwork.

Paperwork was like a puzzle: find all the pieces of information, put them together, and create something that helps a pony. You could do it by luck, but if you had a method, it was easier. I’d always been good at puzzles and putting little pieces together. I’d helped my dad with watches and jewelry. 

Now I’d take those skills and put them to use to make other pony’s lives better. My life might not be great, but theirs could be. If I worked hard enough, if I tried my best, I could help them. That was all I wanted to do: help ponies.

I’d help ponies like they’d helped me.
> 5. A Tour to Remember
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of hooves shuffling about and soft giggling drew me out of my stupor. The world was bright and my whole body was stiff. Where in Equestria was I?

At my side, there was a soft squeak as Almond Mist woke up and nuzzled my shoulder. It was sweet for about a second before she completely froze. Then there was a panicked look on her face and her head shot up.

“Oww!” she squealed as she crashed into the underside of her desk. There were a few giggles from the world above.

“Sunny, did we fall asleep here?” she hissed at me.

“Seems like,” I whispered back, as I looked at the records department from hoof level.

“How can I possibly explain this! I’m doomed,” she breathed.

I nosed her cheek. “Leave it to me.” With all of the confidence in the kingdom, I slinked out from under her desk and stood up. Everypony in the room looked my way with various expressions. Some had knowing grins. Others looked clueless. I smiled at them all and waved. “Good morning, Records!”

A few ponies giggled and offered cheeky greetings in return.

It was in that moment I realized I had no idea how to make this look like anything other than two ponies that had slept under a desk together. Two ponies with matted coats, wild manes, and guilty faces. It would probably take months for Almond Mist to live this down. "I've... uh... inspected under this desk and have determined there are no threats."

While I contemplated what to say next, Almond stood up beside me, kissed my cheek and said calmly, “Thank you for the lovely evening, Sunny. Perhaps next time we should leave the palace instead of staying here to save bits. I’m off to breakfast.” Her tone was cool and confident. I hadn’t expected that at all.

That worked for me. “Yes, sorry about that. Next time I won’t spend all my bits on… stuff.” I trotted out after her while the others stared on in confusion.

When we were down the hall and out of earshot Almond sat down and breathed out long and slowly. “Well, this is not my finest moment career-wise.”

“If it makes you feel any better, this is not my lowest moment career-wise,” I replied.

She looked me in the eyes, her nose scrunched up cutely, and then she started to laugh. I did, too. Mostly because I wasn’t kidding. I’d been a calendar girl, after all. I’d also been caught in similar situations once or thrice.

After some good giggles, she sighed and stood up. “Alright, well, thank you for a fun night. I’m going to get showered and start work. Let’s do this again someday, but not in the palace, alright?”

“Sounds good to me!” I chimed before giving her a light kiss. “Later toots!”

We went our separate ways after that. I hurried down to the showers and started to get cleaned up. I was going to be due on the wall very soon and as much as I was a goof-off, I wasn’t going to mess up my career by being late.

Being caught with a mare in a place we shouldn’t be was one thing. That was a slap on the hoof. Being negligent in my duty was a whole different situation!

Once I was cleaned up, I went to my locker, put on my armor, and headed up to the wall. My section was already starting to show up to relieve the third shift. I trotted into the office and smiled at Lieutenant Snap.

He was sitting behind the desk, one eye open and the other half closed. His head tilted and he muttered, “Morning, Day.”

“Good morning. Anything to report?”

Ginger Snap got up and limped around to me. “Not a thing. I’m going to bed,” he said grumpily on his way out.

He was always grumpy for some reason. That wasn’t something I’d looked into yet. We barely exchanged any words and when it came to stallions, he wasn’t my type. He was short, stocky, and always had that half-asleep look.

I could figure him out some other day. For now, it was time to do paperwork. That was one of the required portions of my job. It was my least favorite part, too, but certainly better than being out in Baltimare taking comment cards. That had been my whole life at my previous post.

After an hour or so of work, my eyes started to glaze over. I leaned back in the chair and started to get settled right when the door opened and Ice Blossom poked her head in. “It’s time, get up!”

“Ma’am! Get up, ma’am!” I corrected while getting up as fast as I could and hurrying to the door.

Both Ice Blossom and I trotted out onto the wall to look down into the yard. Right on time, Silent Knight came out of the service hall and was making his way towards the palace.

“He works out more than anypony I know. Does he ever miss a PT?” Ice Blossom asked.

“Not as far as I know, but some days we’re off. We could consider hiring spies,” I replied as I watched the big stallion disappear into the palace.

Ice Blossom grinned. “Well, that was fun. How was your evening?”

I lightly shooed her towards the wall. “Not now, you’ve got work to do and I need to get back to paperwork.”

“Aww, alright, LT. I’ll get to it!” Ice Blossom stuck out her tongue before trotting off down the parapet.

Getting too close with your subordinates could be a problem for an officer. I knew I was way too close with Ice Blossom because instead of sending her off to do her job, I really wanted to tell her about Almond Mist. Why was I like that?

Instead of indulging that impulse, I went and did what I was supposed to do: my job. There were reports to read and file, leave requests to approve, schedules to write, and everything else that required my signature.

Just before midday, there was a knock on the door and one of my guards stuck his head in. “LT, the giftshop has sent word that a Cheerful Sun and Fuzzy Yarn are there asking after you.”

“What? Why?” I replied before it dawned on me that, before my little tryst, I’d agreed to take a tour with them. “Nevermind, I remember. I’m going to take a long lunch. First Sergeant Skittles is in command until I get back.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied and trotted off. I trailed along behind him a bit and then marched down the stairs and over into the gift shop.

The palace was a popular tourist attraction for ponies even during the week. I’d always imagined that at lunch time on a work day the shop would be quiet, but it never was. Today it was as busy as normal with ponies lining up for the morning tours or shopping for souvenirs.

Two of the staff ponies were doing their best to keep up with the crowd and help them with merchandise. They didn’t report to me, but we all knew each other since I was responsible for keeping the place secure.

It took me a moment to sift through the crowd before I saw a familiar face.

Fuzzy Yarn was looking at the various Princess Celestia plush dolls and the recently delivered Princess Luna ones. All of the Celestia ones were larger, which wasn’t just because she was in reality. I think it had something to do with the perception that she wasn’t equal to her sister.

“Hi Sunny, look how fancy you are in that armor!” Fuzzy said as her attention shifted to me.

“Thank you, I see you wore your own armor today, too.” She was wearing a sweater that was clearly hoof knit. It wasn’t the kind you bought in stores. It was the sort of thing a grandmother would make for you.

Fuzzy waved a hoof. “Oh, this? This was the first thing your sister ever made for me once I showed her how. I figured since today was special I’d wear it.”

Cheerful Sun knitting completely checked out. That is what I expected out of her. That and being visible, which she currently wasn’t. “Where is she, anyway? My guard told me you both were here.”

“Fillies room. She said she didn’t want to get halfway into the tour and need to go.”

That checked out too. Cheerful had been out of the house before my tenth summer but we’d been together long enough for me to know she was a scheduled, perfectionist, inflexible, occasionally mean, and snar—

“Alright, I’m ready,” Cheerful said as she came out of the restrooms. 

I sighed when I saw her. She was in a conservative black dress that was more suited for the boardroom than a palace tour. “So, Sis, is that what we’re wearing today?”

Cheerful set her hoof on her chest. “Of course, I’m in the palace. What else would I wear? I’m not a farmpony. Not that I have anything against farmponies. Their attire is just not appropriate for this occasion.”

Fuzzy grinned behind Cheerful and shrugged. “Okay, can we get started? I’m extremely excited!”

My sister shook her head. “Our tour doesn’t begin for another hour, sweetie, I just wanted to make certain we weren’t late. Especially Sunny. No offense, of course.”

She totally meant offense. I tried not to give her the satisfaction of seeing me react.

“Oh, I see. I guess for we can catch up with Sunny while we wait,” Fuzzy said, clearly doing that thing I see ponies in relationships do. The thing where they’re clearly annoyed but they love their spouse, so they bury it deep inside. Then, eventually, at a more appropriate time something else sets it off and it explodes out. Not that I’ve seen that part before, since that would require a relationship lasting long enough.

I was clearly annoyed and less eager to hide it. “None taken,” I lied as I leaned against the cash wrap, which led to a subtle but exasperated sigh from the cashier. She was a nice pony in general but now I was taking up space that customers might need. That was her problem though, not mine.

The gift shop wasn’t exactly where I liked to spend my time. It was small, for one thing. Whoever built it probably never imagined the palace would become a big draw for tourists. I also didn’t like it because it was built to resemble the nice interior of the palace but was filled with items almost anypony could afford. It was a weird combination that put me off for some irrational reason.

One oddity I noticed while I looked around was the fact a whole glass cabinet was covered in a thick, black velvet cloth that had been hung from the ceiling. The last time I'd been here that had been the display case for fine palace china. That was one of the more popular items with the wealthy ponies.

While I tried to figure out the display, I said absently, “Yes, there is so much catching up with Sunny to do. For example, I have no idea what you two do for bits. Fuzzy, are you like a knitting superstar on the professional knitting circuit?” Why was the cabinet covered up? Had somepony broken it and not reported it to me? This was something I'd need to investigate later.

Fuzzy laughed, turning back to me and obviously stuffing those feelings from before down. “No, I was injured last year in a freak knitting needle accident. It cut my career short. Thankfully, your sister is doing pretty well with her career.”

It was surprising that Cheerful had ended up with Fuzzy Yarn. She was genuinely funny instead of a stick in the mud. “And what is that career? Let me guess! She’s a professional wet blanket! She sits around the schools on Fridays and hoses down all of the fillies and colts with cold water when they head home.”

“Ha, ha, ha.” Cheerful said without any mirth. “I’ll have you know that I am, in fact, the vice principal of our local arts school.” 

My ear flicked. I could have made a hundred jokes about my sister and her job. Instead, I just smiled and shrugged. “I’m impressed. A vice principal at your age. Aren’t most ponies still teaching then?”

“Yes. Thank you for recognizing that. You’re doing quite well yourself. A Royal Guard lieutenant is impressive.”

“And a palace guard too!” I put in.

Fuzzy smiled and leaned in closer to me. “Any chance you can move our tour up then, Miss Palace Guard?”

I took my helmet off and set it on the counter. The mare working the cash register leaned back as if to say ‘good luck with that’ or perhaps it was ‘get this out of my way.’ 

“Unfortunately, right now I’m not really a guard. I’m just a tourist like you. Although, I did use my pull to do a little something for you two. Our tour is going to be a private one. Just the three of us.”

“That is a lovely gesture,” Cheerful said.

“Wow, that will be neat!” Fuzzy added in.

“I’m glad you two like the idea. We’ll have a different guide than everypony else and take a different path so we’re not stepping over the hooves of the other group,” I explained.

My sister and Fuzzy seemed happy enough with that idea, so we made small talk for a bit before two tour guides showed up.

“Hello ponies, my name is Trail Blazer and I’ll be in charge of group Kiwi. If you have a Kiwi ticket, please meet me right outside of the gift shop,” Trail Blazer said while waving a little green flag with a brown circle.

A second flag, a white one with a pink bird on it waved. “Group Flamingo, hi there! I’m Rockette Facts and I’ll be your leader. We can meet over here by Lieutenant Day, the gift shop security commander.” Her tone was a bit colder than I remembered.

Rockette trotted over to me and waved the pink and white flag right in my face. “Right here please!”

I snorted and swatted the flag. “Come on Roxy, you know it is just three of us.”

“Please save all questions for the end of the tour,” she said without looking at me.

Cheerful Sun and Fuzzy Yarn came over. My sister offered up two tickets. “Hello there Rockette, we’re you’re tour group.”

Roxy took their tickets and put them in her pocket. “My list said three ponies. Anypony else?”

“Right here,” I said as the flag hit me in the face again.

“Ticket, please!”

“You know I’m on this tour,” I replied, my eyes narrowing.

“Ticket!”

With a grumble, I picked up my helmet and fished the ticket out of it. I offered it to her.

Roxy snatched it out of my magic and beamed. “Alright then, let’s get moving. If you three will follow me, we’ll get started!” She turned quick and slapped me in the face with the flag before trotting out of the back entrance.

Cheerful Sun smiled and followed behind her. “I like her already.”

Fuzzy waited a step behind before falling in beside me. “I’m sensing that you and Rockette have history?”

“A bit, yes,” I replied. The way I remembered it, it was a great history.

“She slept with my stallionfriend!" Roxy chimed before coming to a stop and pointing a hoof out to the left. "Oh, and if you’ll all look to the left you can see the main foyer. Fun fact, this is not the original palace entrance. It was constructed five decades ago to accommodate the growth of the Grand Galloping Gala and the traditional entry dance.”

“You were there, Roxy. It was your idea,” I said matter-of-factly. She had invited me! I had no idea she was angry about that. Why would she be?

We trotted along the columns that supported the length of the foyer, made a left and went up the first line of stairs.

“And if you look to your right through the windows you can see the famous Equestrian Gardens. There you can see Princess Celestia's award winning rose bushes. Fun fact, she tends them herself! Additional fact, Sunny ‘All the Way’ Day is correct, but I invited her to sleep with me while my stallion watched. Not to sleep with him after I was asleep,” Roxy said, still using her touring voice.

Fuzzy giggled, her cheeks turning bright red.

“’All the Way Day’? Why am I not surprised?” Cheerful muttered. “I can see this tour is going to go about as well as expected with anything my sister puts together.”

My nose scrunched. She made it sound bad when she said it like that. ‘All the Way Day’ was what the jealous ponies in the palace called me. Jealous like my sister. Cheerful was the least correctly named pony I'd ever met! There was nothing cheerful or fun about her! We walked further down the hall.

Roxy trotted along the rich red carpet until we found ourselves in front of a large set of doors. She shoved them open, startling the royal guards on the other side. "Behold, the most well-known part of the palace. The hall of stained glass. This features great moments throughout Equestrian history. Yay."

This tour was getting out of hoof and if I didn't do something, Cheerful would never let me live it down. I cleared my throat. “Roxy, I get it, I crossed a line, but please don’t act like you just went to sleep. You passed out because I rocked your world and, in my defense, I didn’t know the rules. That stipulation wasn’t set upfront and he didn't say anything.”

Fuzzy gasped.

Roxy came to a complete stop and whipped around. I ducked the flag as it shot past my face. She lifted a hoof and wagged it in my face. “You know what? You know what!”

“Oh, dear, do tell us what,” Fuzzy breathed, leaning in.

The hoof wagged once more before it dropped. “You’re not wrong. I wasn’t clear about that, but I’m still upset. You didn’t even apologize.”

“I didn’t realize you were mad!” I protested.

“How could you not!” Roxy squawked.

I set my hoof to my face. “I’m really sorry, Roxy. I hope you know I’d never do anything to upset you on purpose. You were asleep, we weren’t, so we just got frisky. I’ll never do it again.”

Roxy sighed and brushed her raven mane out of her eyes. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t be mad at you for rules you didn’t know about. I know you wouldn’t do something mean on purpose. It's just, I was so upset! It felt like you betrayed my trust on purpose.”

“I didn’t! I betrayed it out of ignorance and being awake,” I said. Then I did the only thing I could think of. I offered her a hug.

Roxy slipped into my hooves immediately and we hugged tightly.

"Unbelievable," I heard Cheerful say.

“Aww, it is so sweet to see ponies working through their problems and making up,” came a flowery soft voice, followed by gentle hoof clapping. I knew that voice.

Fuzzy, Cheerful, Roxy and, I turned around slowly to find Princess Celestia, Radiant Orchid, and two house guards behind us.

My sister and her wife gasped and immediately threw themselves down in a low bow.

“Oh, hi, Princess!” I said, letting Roxy go so she could bow too.

Cheerful sputtered, “’Hi, Princess’? Are you daft, Sunny? Princess Celestia, I am terribly sorry for my sister’s casual manners, inappropriate familiarity, and rudeness. She’s young and foolish. Please don’t punish her too harshly.”

The princess softly laughed. Orchid smirked. The house guards rolled their eyes, subtly.

“Your sister's casual manner is quite common,” Princess Celestia tittered. “And, as far as rudeness goes, this is respectful for Sunny. Just yesterday she was accusing me of not knowing she is a royal guard.”

Cheerful’s jaw dropped and she gasped. “Wait, you actually know Sunny, Princess?”

The alicorn tilted her head. “Yes, of course. We have tea once or twice a week. We share stories. She’s the only pony I’ve met in over five hundred years that casually says things to me like ‘Princess, I had the best threeway last weekend.’”

That was it! I'd tried to be an adult, but my sister was getting on my nerves. My eyes narrowed. “Cheerful, I told you I spend time with the princess in the few letters I'd sent.”

“I thought you were exaggerating! You exaggerated a lot when you were a foal. We literally just learned what you did to Roxy, why should I treat you any differently?”

“I was a foal! I’m an adult now. I don’t make up things like being friends with the princess. She’s a really great pony and we get along,” I said, trying to hide the anger I was feeling. It was lucky I was in armor because the hairs of my coat were bristling.

“Girls,” Radiant Orchid said in a very motherly tone.

Cheerful snorted. “Adult my rump. You’re just an older, immature filly now! You just cat around and probably breeze through your job! Minimal effort for minimal output.”

It was at that moment it took all of my effort not to zap her with a heat lance. “You don’t know anything about me or my job! You never have! I’m responsible! In fact, I need to get back to work. Roxy, why don’t you finish the tour with these two, I’m just going to stay here with the princess and make sure she gets wherever she is going safely.”

Cheerful tipped her nose up in the air. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea, Rockette. This tour will be better without her.”

Roxy looked from me to her and back. She finally shrugged. “If that is the way you feel... it’s your bits. If you two will follow me, I’ll take you to the guest wing and show you the lovely suites available for palace visitors.

As Roxy and Cheerful trotted off, Fuzzy stopped. She looked over her shoulder and gave me a weak wave before following after the other two.

Princess Celestia set her hoof on my shoulder. “Family is complicated,” she said softly.

I wanted to shake off her hoof out of anger, but at the same time, I appreciated the gesture. “We’re barely family.”

“Perhaps that is the issue your sister is trying to solve?”

“She has a weird way of going about it,” I snarked.

Radiant Orchid idly poked me. “As much as I see this is an important moment, the princess is late for a meeting. Perhaps you two could discuss this later at a more appropriate time in a less inappropriate place?”

Princess Celestia smiled and replied, “I suppose so. Oh, but give me a second to tell Sunny about her ticket! Let's brighten her mood a bit.”

“My ticket? For what?” I asked, my train of thought derailing from smooshing my sister.

“To the Wonderbolts show in Canterlot this Friday. I felt guilty after forcing you to meet with Twilight about studies without your consent. Let me make it up to you.”

That was an extremely sweet gesture. Completely dull since I didn't care about watching pegasi fly around in circles, but it was the thought that counted. “That’s nice of you, Princess. You didn’t have to do that, though, I’m just going to take my frustration out on Twilight later.”

Princess Celestia laughed and waved a hoof. “Oh, you and your jokes.”

Right, jokes. I was still going to seduce her brother and his marefriend and then throw it in Twilight’s stupid, nerdy-hot, dumb face.

“I’d rather you go to the show, though. I happen to know that a certain pony who used to be in the D squadron is now in the B squadron and this will be his first official performance. Perhaps he’d like to see a familiar face in the VIP box?”

My ears perked. “By a certain pony, do you mean Soarin?”

“I do.”

And suddenly this went from a lame gift to an amazing one. I grinned brightly, completely forgetting about why I was upset. Soarin was a super stud and we had history. Sweaty, roll-in-the-sheets history. “Then I accept your apology and ticket!”

“Princess, we really do have to go,” Radiant Orchid said.

“Yes, of course. See my staff for your ticket, Sunny. Let's have tea tomorrow.” The princess smiled at me as she and her guards trotted off.

I clapped my hooves together and contemplated how awesome my weekend was going to be. Soarin didn’t even know what he was getting into. As soon as I was off-shift, I was going to run out and get a skirt, some leggings, and a new blouse. All the more to enhance my image.

I turned and started towards my post. Why had I been in here again? Oh, right! My sister! I’d have to deal with that, too. Later, though. After work, when she stopped being snippy. For now, I was going to go back to work and fantasize for the next hour or two. That was a good use of time!
> 6. My Art Class
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a tough week. Most weeks were tough, but this one had been tougher. I’d consciously decided to stay in my apartment every night. That meant nightmares, barely sleeping enough hours, and having to listen to Mr. Peepers complain about his relationship.

School, while desirable, had been very difficult. We were covering a lot of material in a short period of time. It was pushing me and all the other students to the limit. That was part of the goal of the instructors though. Being a Pony Resource Officer wasn’t going to be a cake walk.

All of that led up to my Friday appointment with Mindful Soul. The waiting room had been empty again so nopony saved me from Good Vibes. I had to tell her about the art class and she just went on and on about how she wanted to buy my paintings and put them up in her house. She was exhausting.

On the positive side, Mindful Soul was happy I’d stayed home, even if I was fried. She was pleased I was joining the art class. She was even interested to hear that Mr. Peepers and Diver Pony were back on. Which they were! For now, anyway…

I thought it was all going so well until she recommended, again, that I go see Sandy. There was zero chance of that. Sandy had been permanently hurt because I was too scared to act sooner. If I’d been faster, she’d still be able to walk. Facing her was not happening.

We’d worked through the rest of the appointment, I’d spent an hour in the bathroom crying afterwards, and now it was time to figure out how I was going to get across town to the art school. It was Friday night in Canterlot, so the streets were full of ponies. Crowds of ponies. Lots and lots of ponies.

“Mom and Dad’s place is closer,” I muttered as I peeked out of the medical annex at the streets.

Mindful Soul’s voice echoed in my mind. ‘I’m proud of you Azurite, you seem to be making progress this week.’

“Why do I even care about her praise!” I asked loudly.

“Beats me,” a stallion replied as he trotted out and into the street like it was such an easy thing to do.

There was a dusty bookstore about a block down that was usually empty. I darted out of the annex and rushed to the store. I slipped inside, causing the little bell to jingle.

“Hello, welcome to the Reading Room,” the familiar clerk behind the counter said in his usual cheerful voice. His green eyes then focused on me and he added, “Oh hey. Traveling again, I see?”

I nodded without looking away from the window. “Yeah, there are a lot of ponies out tonight”

“Alrighty, well, hide as long as you need. We have hot tea in the back with the book club. You really should consider joining. Call if you need something!”

“Thank you!” I squeaked absently as I pressed my face to the glass to look out.

There were still plenty of ponies roaming here and there. The next stop was Happy Farm. It was my mom’s favorite salad bar.

The door flew open under the power of my magic as I prepared my escape. I waited until there were fewer ponies to pass before shooting out and galloping a block or so to the Happy Farm. As I neared the door, it was clear there was a line out into the street.

“Crowd? Crowd!” I gasped before taking a sudden sharp left and sprinting further down the street. My mind went blank as I tried to remember all of my safe spots. This wasn’t the plan. It wasn’t the plan at all!

Streets signs were a blur as I kept galloping in the general direction of the art school. “This is a mistake! This is a mistake!” I huffed before taking a sudden right to avoid another group of ponies hanging out on a street corner.

Directly ahead of me was the large Wonderbolt stadium and it was completely lit up. Beams of multi-colored lights shot up into the sky making it very clear that there was going to be a show tonight.

I slid to a stop and stared in horror as I found myself in the middle of throngs of ponies streaming towards the gates. My heart skipped a beat and my breath caught. Why was this happening to me?

Rescue breathing! Do rescue breathing. In. One, one, four out two six hold one three. No. Ponies brushed past me as they kept moving.

A big grey stallion nearly knocked me over. A green filly told me she was excited to see Soarin. A lanky yellow-and-orange mare was baring down on me, clearly not paying attention. She was going to run right into me before my brain finally got in line with my body and I bolted.

Instead of galloping with or against the crowd, I zipped horizontally through it. I ducked under tall ponies, juked around medium ones, and leapt over small ones until I reached an alley. Once there, I reoriented myself as best I could and rushed to the art school. It wasn’t far from the stadium.

When I saw the sign out in front of the big, yellow building, the tightness in my chest started to relax. Where it had been, however, trepidation filled the void. What if the class was full? What if the ponies were mean? What if I couldn't paint well and the teacher kicked me out?

I took a deep breath and trotted inside. The building was quiet and calm at that time of day. The main hall had a couple of ponies inside and they were going to the various continuing-education classes. I went down to the Dalmatian classroom and poked my head through the door.

There were ten or so easels set up facing the front of the room. Every one of them had a pony behind it getting ready for class. No room left. Oh well, I tried! I could go home now.

Just as I started to turn, a light brown stallion head popped out from beside the doorframe. He had a large, dark brown mane that looked like a manicured shrubbery. “Well hello there,” he said in a soft voice.

“Hi,” I squeaked in surprise.

“Are you here for class?” he asked, smiling.

“Oh, I… I was," I stammered. "It looks like it is full, so I’ll just go.”

The stallion’s head tilted and he walked out of the classroom. He was taller and lankier than the picture on the book. “You don’t have to go, friend. I’ve never turned a pony away before and I won’t start now. We’ll just have everypony else scooch over and set up another easel. Please, join us?”

His voice was so smooth and calming. He spoke carefully, as if choosing every word, and offered me his hoof. I wanted to take it, but I was also nervous.

Happy Tree saw my hesitation and smiled. “If you come inside, I’ll introduce you to my squirrel, Peapod. He’s a big fan of unicorns and blue is his favorite color.”

A squirrel? I like squirrels. I set my hoof into his and he took it with a gentle squeeze as he asked, “What’s your name? I’m Happy Tree.”

“Azurite,” I replied as we trotted in.

All of the other ponies were looking at us. It would have made me uncomfortable, but they were all smiling. Not fake, forced smiles, but genuine ones.

Soft chittering caught my attention and I turned to the easel that was set up at the head of the class. An adorable red squirrel with tufted ears was standing at the top talking to me. He looked my way with big eyes. Eyes like Mr. Peepers.

“That is Peapod, and he is my assistant. I’ll go get an easel set up for you and we’ll get started. Would that be alright?”

“That would be great,” I replied, feeling oddly comfortable and peaceful.

While that went on in the background, I trotted up to Peapod. He carefully wound his way down the back of the easel and crossed the tile floor to me. He climbed my hoof, then my mane, and nestled by my horn, chittering the whole time.

I giggled. “Aww, thank you. I like you, too.”

There was more squeaks and chittering.

“Yes, I’m here to paint. To reduce stress.”

“That is a wonderful reason to paint,” came the soft voice that did not belong to Peapod. “You’re all set, Azurite. If you’d like to take your place, I’ll start.”

I turned and saw my designated spot between two mares. “Okay.”  I reached up to get Peapod, but he squeaked and leaned out of the way of my hoof.

Happy Tree chuckled. “It’s okay, take him with you. It seems he wants to assist a different pony today. That’s perfectly fine. He can make his own decisions.”

That was fine with me. Peapod barely weighed anything, and he was nestled between my ears, telling me about painting.

“Alright, ponies, you should have everything you need at your station," Happy Tree said before turning to his canvas. "An easel with canvas, paint thinner, a pallet, lots of paint colors, and some brushes. Those are just tools, though. The most important piece is your imagination.

“You see, painting is personal. You can follow me exactly and still not end up with exactly the same image and that is a beautiful thing. Let’s start together, shall we? Pick up your background brush, please. That is the large one.”

I reached out with my magic and picked up a brush. I’d never painted in my life, not since hoof painting as a foal. For all I knew I had zero artistic talent.

“Today, we’re going to paint a scene from our minds. Imagine you’re standing at the base of Alicorn Spire looking up at it. Not the side with Canterlot, the opposite one. See the sun beyond it, rising on the horizon. Close your eyes and fix the vision in your mind.”

Envision it? I closed my eyes and tried to focus on that. The mountain, the world beyond, and the sun. I could see it! It was vivid, like it was really there.

“Is that sun golden? Perhaps it is red. Do you have it? Wonderful. Open your eyes again and dip your brush into the midnight black and put it on the mixing pallet. Swirl it in some titanium white to build a beautiful grey on the very ends of the bristles. Now tap it to the canvas like so.”

Happy Tree gently pressed the edge of his brush to the center of the canvas and started to make a jagged line diagonally down by bouncing it with small taps. His technique sounded like a soft scratching as he worked out some sort of line that vaguely resembled peaks.

My brush made the same movements, but for some reason my line smudged and didn’t flow right. “Oops…”

Peapod chittered soothingly.

“Remember, there are no mistakes. Only happy accidents. If your line doesn’t look like mine, that is just fine. If your mountain is different that is fine. We all see the world differently. Now, let’s start drawing in some background. Switch to your pallet knife,” Happy Tree said as he picked up a tool that looked like a chisel but slimmer.

Happy Tree scooped some grey paint on it, mixed it with a light blue, and then smeared it on the canvas. It looked like a horrible blotch. 

“Now let’s see. I like to have more blue in my mountains. Perhaps you prefer green. Take this paint right up to the base of your line and draw it down with the flat of the knife, just like this.”

Holding the knife in my magic, I started to do the same as he was showing. Peapod chittered quietly, guiding me as I worked. A quick look around confirmed that all of our canvases just looked like a mess. I didn’t see the mountain from my mind.

“Great work so far, ponies. Let’s go back to our background brush, dip it in the paint thinner and then beat the dickens out of it,” he said cheerfully before dipping the brush and beating it back and forth against one of the legs of the easel.

A lot of the ponies in the room grinned as they did the same. I tried it, too, and it was more fun than I’d imagined.

“Let’s get some titanium white, alizarin crimson, and yellow ochre. You want to layer the paint on the brush as best you can. If it mixes, that is fine. Now we’re just going to brush back and forth over the canvas above our mountain line to build a beautiful sunset… or perhaps a sunrise. That’s up to your imagination,” Happy Tree toned in his soft, soothing voice.

My brush slowly went back and forth like he’d instructed. Peapod held onto my horn and helped direct my magic as we worked together in harmony. All of the tension from my trek over started to melt from my heart and into my hooves. 

All that existed were my canvas, my brush, and the soothing tones of Peapod and Happy Tree. The image came alive the more I worked at it. Alicorn Spire was tall, jutting, and purple-grey. It went from nothing but a blob of paint to a vague resemblance.

Then there was the sunrise. It was big, bold, and far brighter than the lower portion of my canvas. I’d chosen to use a lot more of the yellow. I wanted it light and soft, not angry and red. There was orange too, though, near the top.

Happy Tree's voice cut through my content fugue state. “Alright, friends, I’m afraid for tonight that is our time. We must let other ponies have a turn in the room. Let’s work together to clean up and we can meet back next Friday if you like. I know Peapod and I will be here.”

“Was that already an hour?” I asked aloud.

The mare nearest me, a purple pegasus, giggled as she cleaned up her station. “It was, isn’t he amazing?”

“Yes,” was all I replied as I did my own cleaning. He’d taken me out of my head for a full hour. That was amazing! More than amazing, even!

Peapod carefully climbed down my mane and hopped off onto the floor. He chittered at me and then bounced off.

“See you next week, too.” I smiled after him, then levitated my canvas off the easel and set it on my back.

Happy Tree clapped his hooves. “Thank you, everypony. Remember, please, if you have the ability to pay, please drop your bits into the school’s collection box near the office. If you can’t, that is fine, too.”

Pay? I hadn’t thought about that, I had bits and he totally earned them. I looked back at the purple mare and whispered, “Hey, how much is the class? I didn’t even consider it.”

She waved a hoof. “Don’t sweat that. It isn’t listed because there isn’t an official price. Happy Tree believes in paying what you can and are willing to. Some weeks I pay more because I got more tips. Some weeks it's less when I miss a shift.”

“Oh, okay.” I frowned a little before finishing my clean up. That wasn’t helpful at all. What did an art class cost? How much was canvas, paint, and his time? What if I paid an insultingly low amount?

The hair of my coat stood up as I tried to determine what was fair. Art class should cost more than lunch. Should it cost as much as dinner? More? How much was a film? Films didn’t have supplies?

“Uh… sorry, I just need to…” a pony said as she tried to squeeze by me to drop bits into the box. When had I gotten to the box? I moved out of the way so she could drop her payment.

I opened my saddlebag and fished out two silver, twenty-bit pieces and dropped them into the box. Surely that would cover art supplies? I’d have to do some research.

With a new but somewhat shaky sense of calm, I took a deep breath and poked my head out of the school’s main entrance. The streets were still fairly busy, but I could hear the Wonderbolts show echoing in the distance. While that was still going, there would be a lot of ponies there.

I could avoid the stadium and head to my parents’ home. Not because I was scared, but because it was Friday and we always had dinner together. That was a normal thing! Truthfully, I was also scared and exhausted from my week at home.

Once most of the ponies in the class had left the school, I trotted out into the street and kept close to the buildings. I headed south, which was a longer route, but it kept me far from the stadium. Who knew when the show would let out? If there was one thing I was sure of, I never wanted to be anywhere near a Wonderbolts show. Those were not for Azurites.

The rest of my trip home was mercifully uneventful. I went from safe place to safe place, greeting ponies, and hiding when necessary. Eventually, I made it to my Dad's shop, Sapphire’s Hoard, and went inside.

“Well, hello, kitten! You’re running a little late, aren’t you? Hope you didn’t have any trouble,” my father said as he looked back at the large grandfather clock that was nestled by the rear door.

I came over and sat my hooves on the counter before standing on my hind legs and stretching up toward him. “No, Daddy. I went to a painting class.”

“A painting class?” he repeated as he leaned across the counter and rubbed his nose against mine. “Well, look at you Miss Poncasso. Did you have fun, sweetie?”

“I did! The instructor was amazing, and he has a squirrel named Peapod. I’m going to go back next Friday.”  No matter how bad things got, I always felt safe with my dad.

“That makes me so happy to hear. It truly does. Now, do you want to help an old pony close up shop for the evening? I imagine your mother will have dinner almost ready.”

“You bet!” I replied before scampering behind the counter and using my magic to slide open all of the small doors behind the displays.

My father trotted over to the safe and put in the code. Two to the left, twenty to the right, five to the left: my birthday.

“Alright, little girl, fly them in,” he called.

“Okay, here they come!” One at a time, I encircled the black velvet trays with my magic and flew them from the display into the safe. They stacked perfectly and filled it up. After the last one went in, he closed the door.

“Great job, kitten,” my father praised, making me feel warm and fuzzy inside. We’d been doing this since I was first able to use magic. It wasn’t much of a feat, but he always made it seem like I was doing the impossible.

We went out the front door and he locked up, then we went to narrow staircase beside the store to head up to the living quarters above. My father opened the door to our home and moved out of the way for me to go by. He was a gentlepony like that.

He commented as we entered the warm and cozy space, “Oh, by the way, my brother Emerald is going to be visiting tomorrow and Aurum is coming with him. Won’t it be nice to see your cousin?” 

Emerald and Aurum? I hadn’t seen them in over a year! “Yeah, it will! I don’t have any plans, so maybe Aurum and I can hang out.”

“That will be lovely. Maybe you two can watch the shop for a couple of hours? I’d love to take Emerald over to the club. If that is okay, kitten. I don’t want you to stress over it.”

I waved a hoof. “Daddy, I know how to run the store. You two go have fun.”

My father slipped his hoof around me and pulled me close in a hug before we headed into the kitchen and the smell of a delightful meal. He smiled down at me. “That’s my girl. Always there when I need her.”

I barely did anything for him. He’d done everything for me, and I was so glad to have him and my mom. They were the best parents ever.
> 7. The Big Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

'You're an irresponsible, inconsiderate mess!'

That was what Cheerful had said to me before she left with Fuzzy. I'd tried to apologize. I had, but I wasn't sure why I needed to. She was the one that was making assumptions about me.

'Why can't you just act like a responsible adult? How is it even possible you have a job like you do?' 

What a rude thing to say! I was great at my job! I'd worked hard to get that job! Dolly had invested a ton of time into me and I'd earned what I had. I'd ear—

I crashed into the stallion in front of me. He turned and looked over his shoulder as I exclaimed, “Oops, sorry!”

"No problem," was his reply before he started trotting forwards again. The whole street was full of ponies, all of us heading to the Wonderbolt's Stadium.

Cheerful and Fuzzy had left a few days ago, and yet I couldn't get the fight out of my mind. I just kept going over it again and again, thinking about what I should have said.

It was just like when I was little. She always outmaneuvered me.

'Next time you come visit your mom, let me know,’ Fuzzy had whispered. ‘I'll make sure Cheerful and I come, too.' She was a sweetheart. Too good for my sister!

Next time I saw Cheerful, I'd show her what it meant to deal with a royal guard. I'd punch her right in the snoot! I’d—

A little blue blur shot past me, screaming at the top of its lungs.

"What in Equestria was that!" I gasped, looking around but unable to pinpoint where it went or what it even was.

"Beats me, maybe a Wonderbolts preshow?" a stallion off to my left replied.

"Maybe. Weird, but okay," I muttered before smoothing out my new skirt and blouse. Preshow or not, I wanted to make certain I looked extremely appetizing to Soarin. At an event like this, there would probably be plenty of mares trying to grab his attention.

As I got closer to the stadium, it became obvious just how many ponies were going to be watching. The lines to get in went on forever. I wonder if that would make Soarin nervous. He’d been in the reserve squadron for a while. Did they really prepare a pony for something like this?

I’d find out soon enough. The line was moving quickly and it wouldn’t be long before I reached the front.

“Ticket please,” the ticket-taker said to me.

“Here you go,” I replied, offering the one Princess Celestia’s assistant Raven had given me.

He accepted it, looked at it, looked at me, and held up a hoof. “Just a minute please.” He trotted over to another ticket-taker and they started talking back and forth. They then went over to another pony and talked to him before they all came back.

The newest pony, a short, stubby, green fellow asked, “Where did you get this ticket, miss?”

Oh, this would be fun. Time for a humble brag. “Princess Celestia’s assistant gave it to me.”

All three blinked. “Alright… are you sure?”

Humble bragging wasn’t fun when they looked at me like I was crazy. “Am I sure? Yes! I think I’d remember if Raven gave me a ticket or not. Is there a problem here?”

“Oh, no, miss. There is probably not any problem. It’s just… well you see… this ticket is for Princess Celestia’s box. Surely you see why it would be odd for a pony other than her to show up with it.”

“I can see your point but let me ask you this. What would be more likely? Me breaking into the palace, past the gate guards, past the palace guards, past the house guards, and stealing it… or her just giving it to me because we’re friends?”

The three stallions blinked at that. The looked at each other, had an unspoken conversation with their eyes, and then the first stallion smiled. “Right this way, miss!”

“Thank you,” I replied as the ticket-taker led me to a valet who in turn led me to the royal box. When the princess had said VIP, she wasn’t kidding.

The box itself was an impressive sight. The floor was covered in the same plush red carpet that was used for the rugs in the palace, and both the wall and ceiling were painted the same mauve shade as the throne room.

That was all good and well, but the most exciting part was the throne. The princess literally had a smaller version of her throne here at the stadium! I sat right down on it. Sure, there were two chairs to the right and one to the left, but what sort of lame pony would use those?

“Ladies and gentleponies, fillies and colts,” a voice boomed all around me, “our show will be starting in fifteen minutes, so please find your way to your seats.”

All around me the stadium started to fill in. I’d been to a few of Soarin’s practices and some of the smaller shows he was part of, but it had never been like this. One of the bronze placards in the venue had boasted that it could hold seventy-five hundred ponies. That was an insane amount of ponies to have in one place, and tonight it looked like the house would be full.

“Hi, um, hello? I was told a pony was here?” came a soft voice from behind the throne.

I set my hooves on the arm and craned around to look back. There was a brown-coated elderly unicorn mare in a red jacket with a matching hat resting on her red mane. “Hi, yes I’m here.”

“Sitting in the throne, I see. Would you like any refreshment from the cart? I have pumpkin juice, coffee, water, and hot chocolate. For treats, I have popcorn, fizzy candy, birthday cake, and taffy.”

“Oh, hot chocolate sounds great. It is a little chilly in here. That and…” I blinked. “Did you say birthday cake?”

“I did.”

“Whose birthday is it?”

She smiled and shook her head. “Nopony, but I’ve found the princess enjoys a piece of cake now and then, and birthday seems to be her favorite.” The mare then started to pour my hot chocolate.

Oh, I was going to file that information away for sure. “You learn something new every day. I think I’d rather have popcorn though, if that’s okay with you.”

“Fine with me, sweetie,” she replied before offering me the mug in her magic.

While I accepted that, she started to scoop popcorn into a small bucket. “If you need anything else just ring the bell.” She bowed her head, then ducked out and shut the door behind her.

Just as I started sipping at my drink, all the lights went out and the voice boomed again. “Ladies and gentleponies, fillies and colts, welcome to our show! Tonight, we are proud to display the aerial precision of your hometown Canterlot Wonderbolts!”

A streak of golden light shot up from the stadium floor before exploding in a shower of blue, green, yellow, and orange stars. They lit up the darkness just as five ponies dove down from the clouds high above Alicorn Spire.

The entire crowd went wild, stomping and cheering. My heart started to beat faster as I caught myself getting drawn into the show. Perhaps this would be more than ponies just flying in circles.

Over the next hour, those five ponies—including Soarin—spun, drove, flew through circles of fire, and performed all sorts of crazy tricks. I was on the edge of my throne the whole time. I’d barely even touched the popcorn when the lights came back up at the end.

I jumped to my hooves and started to stomp as loudly as I could. The crowd, unsurprisingly, did the same. All of the energy really got me going, to be honest. It would be a miracle if I didn’t jump Soarin the moment I saw him.

Raven had said my VIP ticket would get me into the special meet-and-greet after the show and I was totally going to take advantage of that.

While the ponies below started to make their way out, I saw myself down the multiple sets of stairs into the area below the stadium. The various valets pointed me in the right direction until I found a small group of ponies waiting in line to meet the Wonderbolts.

“If everypony would line up, please, we’ll get started. I promise you’ll all get a chance to meet the team,” one of the staffers said before herding us into line.

For such a small group of ponies, the line seemed like it was going to take forever. It was full of fillies and colts and the Wonderbolt team was taking their time to speak to every one of them. That was really sweet, but it wasn’t putting me closer to Soarin.

Each time we took a step forwards, I bounced up, trying to catch his eye. He was too focused on the ponies in front of him, though. That just gave me more time to stare at his super tight suit that hugged all of those big, sexy muscles.

I trotted in place as one particular colt took forever to move on. Come on, come on, come on, come on! When he finally finished, I breathed a sigh of relief. The line was starting to shorten.

“You’re next, miss,” the pony at the head of the line said.

“Thank you,” I replied before smoothing my blouse and skirt again. This was going to be tricky. Soarin wasn’t alone, unfortunately; there were four other ponies with him.

“Okay, miss. Go ahead.”

Without hesitation, I straightened up to my full height and pranced over. Prance, jiggle, swish. That certainly drew some attention.

The pony in the middle started to greet me. “Well, hello—”

“Sunny!” Soarin exclaimed, finally recognizing me. He pulled me close into a hug. A big, sweaty, I’ve-just -been-flying-for-hours hug. Well, so much for the blouse.

“Hey! I came to see you,” I replied.

The other ponies chuckled and the violet mare next to him asked, “Just him?”

“Don’t be like that,” Soarin said with a grin. “Sunny and I go way back. She liked me before I was even on the D squadron.”

Yes, the D I was interested in had nothing to do with his squadron. Making sure he got a smell of my perfume, I nuzzled his cheek. “That’s right! You were all wonderful though. I was blown away by the performance.”

“Glad to hear that, we may not be the Equestrian Wonderbolts, but we try to ensure our show is impressive,” the middle one said. He was big for a pegasus, bigger than Soarin but not as handsome.

I giggled. “Well, I don’t want to take too much of your time. There are still colts and fillies who’d love to see you. Before I go though, Soarin I’m local so would you be free tonight? To catch up, of course.”

“Ooooh,” the violet mare teased.

Soarin’s ears shot up. “Gee, Sunny I’d love that! I… uh, I can’t tonight. This was my first show and we have some hazing— I mean, traditions to do afterwards. Are you free next Friday?”

What? My lower lip tried to stick out in a pout but I stopped it in its place. Keep it together, Sunny! You shouldn’t have assumed he’d be free. I kissed his cheek. “Friday is fine! I’ll pick you up at the stadiums main entrance around seven, alright?”

“Deal!”

“Bye, everypony!” I called before trotting off.

Great, now I had a sweat-soaked blouse and no date tonight. I had put all of my eggs in one basket. 

I trotted up the ramp that led out of the stadium’s service area. It was frustrating that Soarin wasn’t available immediately, but I understood. He was playing the career game. We would still catch up soon. Catch up and roll around in the bed.

In the meantime, he’d gotten me all worked up and then left me twisting in the wind. It was time to find an alternative target for the evening. That meant heading to the Mare for some good old-fashioned ho—

A sudden burst of blue light grabbed my attention. It was followed by a small pop and several golden sparkles.

“Come, ponies! Come and see the Great and Powerful Trixie perform her Wonderbolts After Show! Be stunned and amazed,” called a voice from beyond the crowed. A voice I knew well even if I hadn’t heard it a long time.

I started to push my way towards it.

“Stop, ponies! Do not trot by. You’re giving up on a show of the lifetime!” Trixie called, a slight edge to her tone.

After pushing past a stallion, I finally got a glimpse of her. She looked different from the last time I’d seen her. She was far skinnier, and her mane didn’t have the usual volume and flow. In fact, it looked fairly unkept. Despite that, she was still attractive and I was still frustrated! 

“Trixie? Trixie, what are you doing out here? When did you get to Canterlot?” I asked, a mixture of confusion and excitement filling me.

She turned towards me, shock written across her face. For a second, she was speechless before finding a voice again. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has come to Canterlot to share her show! These ponies are here to see her, even if they continue to steam out of the stadium and refuse to stop and watch.”

There weren’t many ponies that had stopped to watch, just an orderly flow leaving that occasionally glanced her way. This was probably the smallest crowd I’d ever seen for her act and, as I studied her, I noticed her cape and hat were dingy. What was going on? She’d be mortified with such a tiny crowd. I had to get her out of this.

With a feigned sigh, I asked, “And does Trixie have a Canterlot open-air performance license? You know you need one here.”

Trixie’s hoof went to her heart and she gasped dramatically. Now that was the Trixie I knew. “Is that all Sunny Day cares about? She sees Trixie for the first time in who knows how long and that is what she thinks about? Not the moments she shared with Trixie the Magnificent? Is Sunny Day no more than a royal guard?”

Most of the ponies nearby turned to move on.

“It’s the law, Trixie! The permits are only like five bits,” I called back, approaching her so that we could lower our voices.

The mare threw her forehooves in the air and waved them. “Only five bits? How devious that the mares in charge of this city would demand such tribute from Trixie. Now tell me, where is the Sunny Day she knew? The one with the soft lips. None of this license this, license that! Why does Sunny Day care so much about it!”

She was shouting, loudly, and that was drawing some attention. It was also making it a lot harder for me to do what I needed to.

“Sunny Day cares because she swore an oath to uphold the— gah, now you have me doing it too.” I grabbed her hoof and tugged her closer to me. “Trixie, you can’t perform here without a license! Let’s go,” I said softly.

With a huff, she snatched her hoof back and pushed me away. “Trixie refuses! Trixie will not be harassed! She will not go with you, Royal Guard!”

My eyes narrowed. “Trixie will not refuse! Trixie will come with me if she knows what is good for her. Trixie cannot legally perform here,” I growled. She was starting to get to me. I paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

Keeping my tone soft and my voice low, I said, “In fact, I’m betting the only place that Trixie can perform in this town without causing a problem is my bedroom.”

Trixie gasped and threw a hoof out towards me, pointing accusingly. “What has befallen us when Sunny Day dares to abuse her power? She threatens the easily victimized Trixie for her dubious purposes? Is this what Trixie may expect of the law here?”

As quickly as I could, I threw my hoof over her mouth. “I’m off duty! I’m trying to be your friend and get you out of here! And the last time we did this dance, you liked my dubious purposes. You liked them so much that you kept coming back for more. Do you want to wait here until an on-duty guard arrests you, or do you want to come back to my place?”

She opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it. With a soft sigh, she ducked her head and said, “Trixie would prefer to sleep in a bed over a cell,” she replied before offering her hoof.

I didn’t want to tell her that the maximum penalty for performing without a license, after repeat offenses, was only fifty bits. Now I could take her home, toss her into my bed, and put her mouth to better use. “That is a smart decision. I have a great bed at home.”

We trotted together, following the flow of the crowd. She was silent, which was not like her. Softly, I asked, “So… when did you get actually get to Canterlot?”

Trixie cleared her throat. “Only a week or so ago. Trixie did not have much luck in Manehatten. Her show was not popular.”

“Not popular? You were doing pretty decent in Baltimare when I left.”

Her nose scrunched and she murmured, “Yes, but Trixie could not book big venues, so she spent her savings on a larger one in Manehatten. She needed props and assistants. She needed many things. Ponies did not choose to see her show, and so…”

“And so?” I asked.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is currently without financial backing.”

Broke. She was broke. That explained a lot.

That was not a fun place to be. I’d been there, but I’d decided to work hard and dig my way out of the hole I was in. That and I’d won a bunch of bits in a casino due to dumb luck. Trixie was the kind of mare that was too hardheaded to listen.

I asked, “Did ponies not enjoy the act?”

Trixie’s head dropped a bit from its normal highly held position. “They do not seem to notice Trixie’s theater. They wanted real magic, not illusion and fireworks. Rent could not be made and we closed down. Then it was time to try Canterlot. Trixie thought performing outside of a Wonderbolts show might be a good idea.”

I sighed and shook my head. “It might be, but those places are always patrolled by royal guards to keep order. If you’re going to do that, you really need the license.” I tried not to focus on the fact my friend was in a really rough patch as we continued to trot to my place. I wanted to focus on what we’d do in bed.

“Yes, yes. Sunny Day has made this clear, but when Trixie earns five bits, she shan’t spend it on a license. She shall buy a new cape to ensure her show appears more impressive! A pony must spend money to make money.”

Yikes. “Where have you been staying? If you don’t have five bits, that is.”

She looked away from me and mumbled something.

“What is that?”

She mumbled again.

“Trixie?”

“Fine!” she barked. “Trixie has been staying at the home for destitute ponies. Is this what Sunny Day wishes to hear? They give her a warm bed, three meals a day, and try to help her find a job.”

“The home for destitute ponies? That’s not so bad, though. They’re really nice there,” I said having almost no experience with that department. Their job was to take in ponies with bad luck or that needed some help. They would then ensure they got job training and find placements for them. It wasn’t glorious, but put set ponies on the path to success.

“No, they are most kind, but it is not befitting a unicorn of Trixie’s status. If her family knew where she was, they would be mortified. And that is why we shall not speak of this again! Trixie does not need charity. Trixie just needs ponies to watch her act.”

Always somepony else’s fault. I squeezed her hoof. “Alright. Well, let’s talk about something else. Are you still loud in bed?” That was smooth.

Trixie squawked in surprise at the sudden and dramatic change of topic. She turned pink. “Trixie is not loud! Sunny Day is loud!”

She was right about that, but so was I. “Trixie is very loud!”

“Trixie is not! She is the Great and Powerful Trixie. Trixie the Magnificent. Trixie the Master of Illusion.”

“Trixie the Multiple-Orgasmic,” I snuck in.

“Yes, Trixie the Multiple-Orgasmic.” Her ears shot up and her eyes went wide. “No! Sunny Day, you are a dirty pony.”

“Yes, I am. That is my place up there.”

Trixie peered ahead and nodded. “This place is most befitting.”

Was that a compliment? Or a Canterlot compliment, where it was actually backhoofed? “Oh, well, thank you,” I replied uncertainly before taking her up the stairs and stopping outside the door. “This is the charm I use to lock my door,” I added before showing it to her. “You may stay for as long as you like, provided you don’t get upset about me bringing other ponies home. You also have to help out with the chores.”

She gasped. “Chores?”

“Chores or I’m tossing you out,” I said firmly before pushing the door open.

After a brief pause, she tipped her nose in the air and declared, “Trixie does not do windows!”

I swatted her rump. “Deal, now get inside.” What had I done? Trixie was fun in small doses, but I’d just invited her to live with me without thinking. Why?

She trotted in while I followed behind her. Deep down, I knew why. It was all Dolly’s fault. ‘When we can help, we should. When it is within our power, we are obligated to.’ Stupid ethical upbringing.
> 8. My Cousin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The smell of prench toast tickled at my nose, cutting through the haze of the first good night’s sleep I’d had in a week. I was in my bed. Not the bed in my apartment. My bed! The one at my parent’s flat. The best bed ever.

I got up slowly, enjoying the rested feeling. Once I’d soaked up as much of that bliss as I could, I did what royal guards did in the morning: I made the bed, perfectly. It was a ritual that helped me. It was something I could control.

Once the sheets were perfect, the pillows were in their place, and all was as it should be, I set O. C. Topus in the middle so he could keep an eye on my room.

It was time for a shower! If I was going to hang out with Aurum and run the shop, I needed to look my best, not like some half-crazed pony that spent her nights galloping through the streets trying find safe havens.

I’d always had a little bathroom in my parent’s flat to myself. That was one of the perks of having older, more established parents. They were able to give me things my aunts and uncles couldn’t give their foals.

Uncle Emerald was the oldest of the three on my father’s side and Aurum was his only foal. He’d had her at a more conventional age. Well… about my age, actually. Maybe a little older. That was a crazy thought. It was something to consider while I waited for the water to heat up.

Or not. It was better not to consider that at all. Instead, I imagined what Mr. Peepers and Diver Pony’s children would look like.

Eventually the water running over my hoof turned hot, so I slipped inside and just stood there, letting it hit my head and wash down onto my back. Unlike the locker room at the campus, nopony would try to get in my stall here.

Aurum was my cousin, but she was old enough to be my mom. In fact, she had a son that was only three summers younger than me. When I was growing up, despite her and Emerald and their family living far away, she always took the time to write and visit me.

“Why haven’t we talked in so long?” I asked aloud as I started to work manewash into the long hairs of my mane.

She’d sent flowers and notes after my incident. She’d wanted to come, but Quartz had been going through a rough patch, too. That had hurt my feelings, but I tried not to hold it against her. I had my parents to help me, and I guess Quartz needed his mom. That made sense, but jealousy is irrational.

I finished up and spent some extra time working on my mane. Yes, I was a mess, but I didn’t need to look like it for my favorite cousin. She should get to see the Azurite she remembered. Not the new mess of one that took her place.

After some drying, brushing, and a dab of makeup, I looked just right. When I got down to breakfast, Mom was just setting the prench toast on the table.

“Good morning sweetheart. You look rather chipper. How did you sleep last night?”

My dad was sitting at the other side of the table, his paper up. It ruffled warmly in greeting. “Good morning, pumpkin.”

“Hi Daddy, hi Momma. I slept very well,” I replied, settling into my place at the table.

“Good! A good night’s sleep does a pony well. Of course, so does their mom’s prench toast, right?” My mom flew a plate over to land it in front of me. A second one zoomed around my father’s head before landing out of sight behind his paper.

“Thank you, dear,” he replied before setting the paper down. “That Wonderbolts show last night was sold out. Evidently, they’ve brought on some new talent to the Canterlot team that can rival the Equestrian one.”

My mother followed her own plate over as she sat down. “Is that so? Perhaps you and I should go sometime.”

That was not for me, and I was glad my mother didn’t include me in the statement. I started to eat but then stopped. “When will Uncle Emerald and Cousin Aurum arrive?”

Dad looked over at the clock. “I’m willing to bet he’ll drag himself up the stairs and knock in about twenty minutes.”

Mom’s ears wiggled and she chuckled as prench toast flew over to her mouth.

I looked between them, my brow furrowed. “What am I missing?”

“Your uncle’s watch has been off by twenty minutes for the last three years,” my father said with a grin, “but he absolutely refuses to let me look at it. He swears up and down it’s correct, but it isn’t. We were supposed to meet here for breakfast, so they’ll be twenty minutes late. I bet you two nose kisses.”

“Deal!” I chimed before going back to breakfast, watching the clock.

At exactly twenty minutes past the hour, there was a knock on the door. Daddy looked up and winked. “Why don’t you go let them in, sweetie?”

“Will do!” I replied before getting up, paying two nose kisses, and trotting over to the door. My horn blazed brightly as I pulled it open with excitement.

“Uncle Emerald! Cousin Aurum!” I squealed when I saw them. Yes, I’d already known it was them, but it was still exciting. I hadn’t seen them in so long.

Uncle Emerald hadn’t changed a bit. He was still tall and lanky, just like dad. He had big, expressive eyes, also just like dad, although his were gold instead of violet. The only major difference was the fact that instead of blue, his coat was emerald green and his mane was honey-brown instead of blond.

“If it isn’t my favorite niece! What a wonderful surprise,” Emerald replied, wrapping his forelegs around me.

I gave him a tight hug, looking over his shoulder to Aurum. Unlike her father, she had changed some. The biggest was her mane. When I’d seen her last it was all the way down to her hooves. Now it barely went past her chin and had been styled with an undercut. It was a dramatic shift in her look!

“Hi there, little cousin,” Aurum said with a wink.

Aurum, unlike most ponies, was allowed to call me little. She got a special pass.

Uncle Emerald let me go and smiled. “I’ll just going to pop in and steal a kiss from that pretty mother of yours.”

“You go get her!” I teased as he trotted past. Once he was gone, more words spilled out. “Aurum, your mane!”

She grinned and flipped the platinum locks. “What do you think? Is it too much?”

My head shook quickly. “No, you look amazing! I’m just stunned. It used to be as long as I am tall.”

Aurum nodded. “That’s true. My stylist convinced me this would be easier to maintain, which is true, and show off my coat more. She said it would make the gold pop. I’m not exactly sure what that means but the time I save in the shower is worth it.” She chuckled.

“Well, I’ve always thought you were beautiful! I guess now you’re beautiful, and you pop,” I replied before nestling in for a hug.

She slipped a hoof around my back. “I’m so pleased to see you, Azurite. I wish I could have been here sooner. We’ve got a lot going on back home with mom getting up there in age and Quartz being… well… a rump.”

“A rump?” I asked, peering up at her while still holding on.

“It’s a long story. He and I just aren’t seeing eye to eye on his ambitions, and he’s taking it out on everypony. Let’s not worry about that, though. I came to get a break. Let’s talk about you!”

If she needed a break, that was fine with me. I was the sort of pony that hated when others pried when I didn’t want them to. “Fair enough. Mom made prench toast. Would you like breakfast? We can catch up once we open the store. Dad and Uncle Emerald are going to the Moose Club today.”

Aurum sighed, rolled her eyes, and then smiled. “I knew those old birds were up to something. Alright, let’s eat quick and go continue the family tradition of selling shiny objects to ponies!”

“You bet!”

Breakfast with my family was usually pretty lowkey and quiet. My mom and dad share a lot of little secrets and jokes. Uncle Emerald and Dad weren’t that way. They were far more animated together than apart.

“Just let me look at it, you stubborn old mule,” my dad said to Uncle Emerald.

“Are you, my little brother and former apprentice, suggesting that I can’t fix my own watch?” Uncle Emerald asked, his voice raising. He wasn’t actually angry; this was just part of the game.

My father’s hoof thrust accusingly out at Emerald. “Ah hah! You admit that it needs fixing. Checkmate.”

Uncle Emerald’s eyes narrowed. “I did nothing of the sorts! Aurum, tell this senile old stallion I didn’t do that.”

Aurum stuffed prench toast into her mouth and said something that was impossible to understand.

“There you have it, the girls never lie to us!” Emerald put in.

Sapphire laughed and stood up. “Who’s the senile old stallion now? Mares always have their secrets. Come on, we’re going to be late to the club if we don’t get a move on.”

Emerald grinned and stood up. “Alright, alright. Thank you for a lovely breakfast, Azalea. If you ever decide to leave this old coot, let me know.”

My mom laughed and waved a hoof at him.

The two stallions then left for the club. Both of them ruffled my mane on the way out.

Aurum finished her plate and asked, “Should we get to work, Azurite?”

“Yes, I think we should.” I tipped my nose in the air. “We need to be more mature than the stallions and show them what collaboration looks like.”

Momma grinned. “Alright, girls, don’t be too successful. You’ll hurt your fathers’ pride. See you for lunch.”

“Yes, Momma,” I replied before Aurum and I trotted downstairs and opened the shop. We got everything out of the safe and opened for business.

Once we were behind the counter, Aurum said delicately, “You’re looking well, Azurite. I’m happy about that. I know you’ve been through a rough time.”

We were cutting straight to the chase, it seemed. I shrugged and smiled. “Good days and bad. Today is a good day.”

“More good than bad?” she asked.

“More average to below average than good. More good than bad,” I replied, looking away gratefully when the chimes on the door jingled and a pony came in.

“Oh, where is Mr. Sapphire?” the light pink mare asked.

“He’s off today, I’m his daughter Azurite. Welcome to Sapphire’s Hoard, how can I help you?”

The mare trotted over and pulled two rings out of her saddlebag. “I bought these from your father years ago. They’re my favorite pieces. He cleans them for me. Can you do that?”

Could I clean rings? Could an octopus give four hugs? Could a fish fall in love with a diver pony? Could Celestia raise the sun? I grinned. “Yes, ma’am. That was one of the first things he ever taught me.”

“Lovely! Well, I’ll just run a few errands and come back for them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied before taking the first ring up into my magic and holding it steady. Keeping something levitating while switching to another spell wasn’t easy for me, but this particular combination was one I’d done hundreds of times.

With a bit of will, I pushed energy through the levitation spell to start scrubbing the metal so close that the eye couldn’t even see that small. It would be a slow process to get everything off, but at Sapphire’s Hoard we didn’t do things halfway. My father had a reputation to uphold.

Aurum’s hoof found my shoulder. “Azurite, I don’t mean to pry. I’m just asking because I worry. Our parents are great, but they’re... well, you know. They would keep us as foals until they couldn’t, if it were possible. Are you getting the help you need?”

The ring wavered as I lost focus. My eyes narrowed at it, and it lifted once again and the cleaning continued. “I’m trying, Aurum, really. I go to therapy a lot. Yesterday, I went to this painting class and that seemed to help. The mare running my case says it will take a while.”

She nodded and leaned against the counter. “I’m glad to hear that, but what about your quality of life? Do you have any friends? Are you seeing any stallions? And don’t be smart with me, little cousin. I mean dates, not looking at them.”

Without warning, my tongue poked out at her. It was an instinct. The ring spun briefly in my magical grip as I continued to break away even the smallest dirt particle, making it shine like the day it was made. “Not really and no. I’ve never had a lot of friends anyway, so that isn’t new. Actually, I’ve never had a lot of stallionfriends, either. The status quo is about the same.”

Aurum cleared her throat and picked up a cloth in her magic. She slowly flew it up and down the glass cases, cleaning them. “I was thinking that making some friends would be a good idea. A support network, right? And you want to have a stallionfriend, don’t you? I mean, or a marefriend! Azurite, you know I don’t care, if that is what this is about?”

She came into focus beyond the ring. I slowly lowered it down onto a velvet pillow before picking up the other. “No! I mean, no that isn’t what this is about. I do want one. Some day. Either, I really don’t care.

“I just don’t know how to do that and the idea of it, right now, on top of just trying to feel normal, scares me. I can’t even walk around in the street without panicking. How am I supposed to make friends or have a relationship?”

“I understand that. I mean, no, I don’t understand how you feel, but I mean I get your logic,” Aurum said, her back to me and her voice dropping low. “My concern is that you’re going to put yourself in a fuzzy little cage and by the time you get out, you’ll have missed some of the best parts of your life, and I don’t want that for you. I want you to have everything, Azurite. You deserve it.”

The second ring landed, and I trotted over to her and set a hoof on her shoulder. “Aurum, are you alright?”

She wiped her eyes and turned down to loop a hoof over my shoulders. “No, I’m worried for you, and I’m feeling like a hypocrite because I can’t even get my own life together.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, nuzzling her neck.

“I’m not sure why I haven’t told you, yet. I told myself it was so I wouldn’t add another burden to your pile, but I think I was just frightened about what you’d think. Like you’d think I was a failure.”

My brow furrowed. “A failure? What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“As a mother and a wife. Azurite, Quartz is so cold towards me, and as for Ocean Wave and I—” She inhaled sharply, her voice stifled by a soft sob as she pressed her forehead to mine.

“Aurum?” I whispered.

“He… He left me.”

WHAT! My small hooves looped around Aurum and I squeezed her tightly. What could I say to that? Nothing! Keep your mouth shut, Azurite. Hug her, hold her!

Aurum softly cried against me before she pulled back and wiped her eyes. She lowered herself to the floor behind the counter. “I’ve been living with Mom and Dad since just before you were hurt. I’ve been in my own fuzzy cage.”

She lifted her hoof and set it on my heart. “Azurite, promise me you’ll get better. You can’t live upstairs forever, hiding from the world. I’ve been doing it and it isn’t getting better. It’s just delaying the inevitable. I’m going to have to go back out again. We both have to.”

I could feel my jaw hanging slack. Aurum was alone? She was living at home, too? How could Ocean Wave do that to her? Where was he? Could I punch him in the snoot?

“Azurite, please,” she whispered.

Tears were starting to streak down my cheeks. “Yes, I promise. I promise you, Aurum, but you have to promise me the same thing! You’ll get better, too. We’ll do it together!”

She wiped her eyes and replied softly, “Yes, maybe we should.”

Then it dawned on me. We should. “Aurum, move in with me. Just for a little while. Move here, get away. I have a place, I never use the bedroom. I sleep on the couch. If you were there, I’d come home more. Please?”

Aurum’s head titled. “Azurite that is sweet, but this is so sudden.”

“Who cares! You’re like a sister or a mom to me,” I said, wiping my tears and sniffling. “I’ll never be cold to you. I’ll never leave you. I’ll never treat you like Uncle Emerald, though, and you won’t treat me like Daddy and Momma. Please? We will be our support network. Family.”

My cousin looked left and then right. Her face shifted to one of resolution and she nodded. “Yes. Yes, you’re right, of course. For a little while. Long enough to get on my hooves. I can work for Uncle Sapphire while you go to school.”

“Exactly! Daddy could use the help. After all, he thought I was going to take this place over before I joined the Royal Guard.”

Aurum stood up and pulled me to my hooves. “Okay. We’re going to do this. Me and you.”

I squealed, “Yes, we are!”

“Yes, we are.” She sniffled, pulled several tissues out of the box on the counter and started to clean up her face. Then she started to clean up mine. “For now, we should probably make sure the store is okay. I’ll never get a job here if you and I can’t manage it for more than an hour without breaking down.”

I was going to have a roommate. A great roommate. One who was wiping my face. I grabbed the tissue from her and teasingly poked her. “No fuzzy cage.”

She waved a hoof. “Sorry, habit! Why don’t you get to cleaning up that ring before our customer comes back? I’ll keep cleaning up over here.”

“Good idea!” I replied before picking the second ring up and focusing on it. That was going to be a lot harder now that I was full of excitement. My coat was tingling. Aurum and I were going to be seeing each other a lot. She would be a friend. She would understand.

I could help her while she helped me! Together we could get through our own issues. Mindful Soul would be thrilled. Maybe Aurum should see her, too? Did she have a therapist? Did she want one?

The ring dropped out of my magic and bounced on the counter. “Eek!” was all I could get out as it started to roll down the counter. Little flashes chased after it before snatching it up just before it fell. “Whew…”

“What was that,” Aurum asked.

“Nothing, nothing!”

I pulled the ring back to me and put all of my focus into the cleaning spell. That was what I needed to do right now: clean the ring, make it perfect for the customer, and think about the future after that. It was a future that looked brighter, and that made me happy.
> 9. Trixie Entitlements
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the sun came up and spilled in between the blinds of my bedroom window, I was instantly awake. Sleeping in was a lot easier before the Royal Guard. Regardless of how crazy a previous night had been, I was up with the sun. Even on Saturday.

Trixie, who was snoring next to me, was apparently not that way. She was on her back, a pillow hugged to her chest, and filling the apartment with noise.

I rolled over and flopped off the bed. What had I done? I’d just invited her to move in with me without thinking it through. What kind of pony did that?

Oh, wait… Diddle and Dilly were those kind of ponies. They’d done the exact same for me. At the same time, they’d only given me a place to live, and for some reason I’d offered help as well as shelter. What had I gotten myself into? She needed my help, but she also needed some rules, and she didn’t do rules well.

That was something for me to consider while I showered off and got ready for the day. How could I get her to behave and start doing what she was supposed to?

Realization struck me, as it usually did in the shower. “Dolly!” I exclaimed as the water was splashing in my face. That is who I needed. She fixed me up, so I was certain she could handle Trixie.

I finished cleaning myself up, put my mane in a ponytail, and then went back into the bedroom. “Trixie, wake up.”

Trixie grumbled something and rolled over on her side, turning her back to me.

“Trixie, it’s time to get up,” I said, poking her blue rump lightly.

“Trixie does not get up until lunch is served,” she muttered.

By Celestia, I wasn’t as patient as Dolly. “Trixie will be lucky if she gets lunch, much less lunch being served! Now get up and make the bed. I’m going to go see a friend who might be able to help you.”

She grumbled at me again and didn’t move. So I set both hooves on her back and shoved her out of bed.

That yielded a squeal and a small thump. Trixie then popped up on the other side of the bed, wide-eyed in shock. “Sunny Day dares to kick Trixie out of the bed?”

“Sunny Day— I mean, yes, I dare! You’re being a brat and I’m trying to help you,” I replied before continuing in my lieutenant’s voice. “Get up, make the bed, get cleaned up, and then you can make yourself at home. Have something to eat and see about getting your costume mended.”

Trixie huffed and stuck her nose in the air. I glared at her and she glared right back at me. It was a contest of wills. We stood like that before I intensified my stare, and that was when she broke and started to make the bed.

“Thank you. I’ll be back in a bit,” I said before heading out a little quicker than necessary. I could already tell this was going to be a challenge for me. That was the only thing running through my head as I trotted over to the Mare Contraire.

The bar wasn’t open at this time of day, and if you didn’t already know it was there, a pony could easily mistake it for an abandoned building. Dolly had always kept the windows blacked out so that she could run any sort of light show inside regardless of the time of night.

If it wasn’t for the sign painted over the door and the huge word-of-mouth advertising, this place wouldn’t draw any attention. Certainly not mine.

I used my key to unlock the front door and went inside. All of the lights were off and nopony was in yet. That wasn’t unexpected, since Saturday morning was for sleeping. They’d all come after lunch to prep for the evening.

The Mare Contraire had always been my home away from home. It wasn’t just the place I prowled for mares. It had been where I got my first real job, where I learned responsibility, and where I grew up.

I trotted around behind the bar and start to wash glasses. This had been my first role and I’d hated washing glasses at first. It was such a menial, mindless job. Important, but still menial. It had been a test from Dolly to see if I was serious or not. She’d watched me the whole time.

Did I wash fast enough? Did I have any pride in it? Did I do just enough to get by? I’d eventually taken it very seriously. I’d washed carefully and figured out tricks to do it faster without sacrificing quality. It was a skill I still had, and the attention to detail I’d learned doing it helped me in the Royal Guard.

There weren’t many dirty glasses left from Friday. Dolly never allowed the staff to leave a lot of work undone. Some was okay, though; she wasn’t a tyrant.

When I’d finished that chore, I pulled out the bucket and mop and started working on the floors. Always start behind the bar, work your way out, and go from entrance to back door. That way, you could hang out in the employee lounge while the floor dried.

I was about halfway done before I caught sight of a Dolly leaning against the doorframe to the lounge. “Good morning, Sunny. Don’t take this as a lack of gratitude but I feel obligated to remind you that you don’t work here.”

“I know, but I was here. What was I going to do, sit in the dark until you showed up? That would have been a waste of time. How was last night?”

Dolly waved a hoof at me and replied, “Normal Friday night. How was your night?”

“Frustrating,” I grumbled. “I went to the Wonderbolts show and enjoyed it, but Soarin wasn’t free. He can’t see me until next weekend which is fine. I just got myself all worked up.”

“Right, right. And that is why you’re here cleaning my bar and waking me up?”

I kept mopping and shook my head. “Nope. I did something nice, but impulsive and stupid.”

Dolly rubbed her hooves together, grinning almost maniacally. “Do tell.”

“It isn’t like you’re thinking,” I said without irritation in my voice. I couldn’t blame her for assuming the worst. She knew me too well. “Do you remember that show pony I told you about? The mare Trixie?”

Her grin lost its edge. “Vaguely?”

“Well, she’s down on her luck,” I explained as I finished up the mopping. “Majorly down on her luck. To put it simply, she’s completely broke. I felt bad so without thinking I invited her to stay with me until she gets on her hooves.” I bumped my flank against Dolly to push her out of my way and into the lounge. My rump is a multi-purpose tool.

Dolly laughed as she swatted at me. “You could have just asked me to move! Anyway, that sounds like a nice thing to do, so what’s the problem?”

I leaned the mop against the door frame and turned to face her. “She’s a high-maintenance mare that has never worked an honest day in her life, and I’m not certain she’ll ever grow up and move out.”

“A high-maintenance mare that has never worked a day in her life. Why does that sound familiar?” Dolly asked, rubbing her chin.

“Yes, I know, I know! One day, you’re going to have to also remember that I’ve been successful for a while now. You have to understand, though, if you think I was rough, Trixie is twice as bad. She’s entitled! I wasn’t entitled.”

Dolly trotted over and pressed her head against mine. “You’re very successful, filly. I’m hugely proud of you. And you’re right, you weren’t entitled, just stubborn. This is still a good thing you’ve done and I’m proud of you. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, and I’m here to help you.”

I looped a hoof around her shoulders and smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear! Will you help me do to her what you did to me?”

“Did to you? Did to you!” She pushed me away. “I helped you! I taught you!”

With a laugh, I waved a hoof. “Don’t give it if you can’t take it, Momma Bear.”

She huffed. “Alright, point taken. Seriously, though, you just need to show her what is right and teach by example. A little tough love here and there. And a lot of patience.”

I bit my lip. “That’s my problem, I don’t have your patience. She wouldn’t get up this morning, so I shoved her out of the bed.”

Dolly tried to smother her laughter with a hoof. “A bit of advice?”

“Please! That is literally why I’m here!”

“You can’t sleep with your student. She’ll get confused between mentor Sunny and moaner Sunny.”

I slapped my hoof over my eyes. “Right, right, I knew that. So, I’ve got an uppity, self-entitled mare in my condo and I can’t even shut her up by stuffing her mouth somewhere fun.”

That netted a snicker from Dolly. “Yup!”

“Okay, fine. Can I ask you two huge favors?”

Dolly’s brow lifted. “Filly, this is your project.”

“I can’t take her to work with me, but I have an idea that might work for a pony like her. She wants to be a performer. You allow ponies to perform here now and then. This is what I’m thinking: in exchange for you letting her perform Monday night and Saturday afternoon, she has to wash glasses.”

“Monday night and Saturday afternoon? Those would be the worst times for a show. Almost nopony would see her,” Dolly replied before tapping her chin. “Oh, I see… start humble, work on her act. Eventually, if she does a good job, let her have a show at a better time.”

“Yes, exactly. You watch her, I’ll mentor her. We’re a sexy mother-daughter mentoring pair!”

Dolly’s nose wiggled. “As weird as that mental image is, I’ll do it. Just let me be the one to tell Emerald and Lollypop. It’s been a while since we’ve had a fixer-upper.” She grinned. “Actually, it’s been since you were here.”

“Oh, come on, Mango still works here!”

She shook her head. “No, there is no fixing Mango up. She’s exactly what she is and will always be right there. We’ve accepted that.”

My mouth opened to retort but then closed. I lifted a hoof and then just put it down. “Okay, that checks out. Well, I’m not going home yet. What needs doing around here?”

Dolly looked around a bit, humming in thought. “Do you remember how to do an alcohol inventory? I was going to do it Monday morning, but if you really want to, it would be a help. I’m going to go take a bubble bath and do my mane.”

“Absolutely, I’ll get right to it!” I took two steps back out into the bar before stopping. “Wait, bubble bath and mane? What’s the occasion?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “What do you think? My brilliant student has already done half of my morning work and is about to take care of my Monday tasks. Do you know how rare it is I get time off? I’m taking advantage of it. If you want to earn some bonus points, you can open, too.”

I grinned and winked at her. “You know what, I will. Why don’t you take off until the evening? You’re going to help me with Trixie, so the least I can do is give you half a day’s peace.”

“Sold!” Dolly called before dashing up the spiral staircase at the back of the lounge that led to her apartment.

It was time for me to put all my experience and training to use and get the bar ready to go for the afternoon crowd. Step one was the alcohol inventory. It wasn’t a bad job; in fact, it had a lot in common with making sure none of my guards had lost any pieces of their armor or a weapon. Celestia help the pony that lost a weapon.

I sat behind the bar checking all of the bottles, how full they were, and what Dolly still had left in the liquor cabinet. Then it was onto the wine, beer, and ciders.

By the time I was done, I heard a key rattling in the front door. It opened and Emerald Eyes trotted in. She stopped to look at me in surprise. “Well hello Sunny, are you robbing us?”

“Now I would have assumed the head bartender and assistant manager would know the difference between a burglary and free labor.” I tipped my nose in the air. “By the way, a robbery is when a pony holds you up and takes your stuff. When they just steal from you when you’re gone, that is a burglary.”

“Wouldn’t this then be a burglary that has turned into a robbery?” She closed the door and pulled her auburn mane up, tying it off with a ribbon.

“That is a possibility.” I returned my attention to the last case of cider. “It depends on if I flee the scene or then rob you too.”

Emerald’s bright green eyes flicked around the bar. “Did you do all of this?”

“And the alcohol inventory,” I chirped, floating the clipboard back into the office. “I thought Dolly could use an afternoon off. I’m going to help you open, too. She’ll be back for the evening shift.”

“This whole responsible Sunny Day scenario is really weird,” she said before trotting behind the bar and looking around again. “Everything’s done. What am I going to do?”

I motioned at the cash register. “I didn’t want to mess with the bits, so I didn’t count it down. You can do that and then relax. Who’s working the afternoon shift?”

Emerald went to start on the cash register but stopped briefly to grab a ‘Mare Contraire’ t-shirt and pull it down over her blueberry-colored coat. “Cherry and Mango. And, I guess, you.”

“Great! Well, you do your thing, I’m going to go raid Dolly’s icebox since I haven’t had lunch. I’ll be down before we open, alright?”

The mare waved me off. “Yes, go burgle her icebox. If you need me, I’m going to read my stories once I finish this.”

“Yup! Enjoy that steamy mare-on-mare ‘romance’ novel,” I called, heading up to Dolly’s place.

I happily burgled her ice box and enjoyed a rather lovely fruit plate while I listened to her sing in the tub. That was something I was going to use against her later. Once I’d had my fill, I came back down and played cards with Emerald and Cherry until Mango showed up five minutes to open.

“Hi,” she said before coming around behind the bar, pulling her t-shirt on, and getting to her station.

“Alright, Cherry, open it up,” Emerald said. She then reached under the counter, pulled out a t-shirt like hers, and tossed it to me.

I caught it in my magic and levitated it closer to examine it. “What’s this?” When I’d worked in the bar, we hadn’t worn a uniform. About a year later, Dolly and Emerald decided that branding was a good idea and got shirts with ‘Mare Contraire’ logos on the fronts. Maybe they had extras just in case?

Emerald winked at me. “Come on, Sunny, just because you have a different job doesn’t mean you aren’t always part of this team. Do you really think Dolly didn’t have a shirt made for you?”

“Aww, that is so sweet of her!” I wiggled into it without further ado. It was extra tight but still my size, just the way I liked it.

Cherry unlocked the front door, pulled it open, and called, “Alright, ladies, come on in!”

A few mares trotted in pairs or groups. The early crowd was almost never the sort that was on the prowl. They were out to have a drink in a great atmosphere and enjoy a good time.

The one oddity was the silver-coated royal guard that came in wearing her armor. She looked around as if she was looking for somepony specifically. She was, of course, and as soon as she saw me, she headed right over.

“Hey, Melody,” I said with a smile. Melody was a good friend of mine. We didn’t see each other as much as we used to due to our schedules, but that didn’t change how I felt about her.

She pulled her helmet off and shook out her short, violet mane. “Hey, Sunny. Did you know there is a mare in your condo?”

“Slightly taller than me, light blue coat, silver mane, big mouth?”

Melody snorted and grinned. “Yes, that was her. When I asked where you were, she said, and keep in mind this is a direct quote, ‘Trixie does not know where the yellow-rumped tyrant is.’”

Yellow-rumped tyrant! Oh, I’d show her a tyrant when I got home. “Sounds about right. I made her make the bed, Celestia forbid. How’d you know I was here?”

“Really? Come on, Sunny. Your section doesn’t work Saturday or Sunday and you weren’t at home. I’m not saying you’re predictable, but basically, if you’re not at work or at home, this is the next likely place.”

I wiggled my ears, trying not to laugh. “There is a reason you’re Detective Sergeant Ward and I’m just a dumb wall guard.”

Melody snorted. “A Canterlot Castle Wall Commander. I think we can both agree that’s a bit higher on the career ladder, Lieutenant.”

I wagged a hoof at her. “See, that is where you’re wrong. You do more for regular ponies than I do. Now, we can compete about whose job is lower, but I’m currently wearing a super tight t-shirt and working in a bar on my day off. You’ve clearly made better life choices. So, can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you, but point to you, then. Speaking of choices though, that’s why I was looking for you,” Melody said before pulling out a letter and offering it to me.

“What’s this?” I asked before taking the paper in my magic and pulling it open.

Detective Sergeant Melodic Ward

After a thorough review of your record and achievements, the admissions board has deemed you an excellent candidate for the Western Equestrian Officer’s Candidate Academy. This board is also under the opinion that you would be highly successful in the Detective Inspector program should you choose to pursue it.

We eagerly look forward to hearing your decision regarding the next step for your career and hope to see you at the start of our next term.

Sincerely, Colonel Wood

I let the letter drift down to the bar and looked up at her. “A commission? Melody, you didn’t even tell me you were looking at this!”

She rubbed her hooves together nervously. “I know, I know! It’s just that once Strong Wing was transferred, things felt a little weird. The three of us have always been a group, and I don’t want to leave you. Plus, honestly, I didn’t know if this was going to work out. I didn’t want to say anything until it was real. Now it is! What should I do?”

My ears shot up. She was considering giving up a huge opportunity because of me? What a great friend! Foolish, though. “What should you do? Who are you? The Melodic Ward I know would know exactly what to do! They’re offering you a commission and they’re letting you train at the best investigation academy in the entire kingdom. It’s even better than the one here! Melody, you have to go!”

“But what about my life here?”

“It’ll still be here! Look, I had to go to Baltimare for my commission. It was rough, I missed everypony, but look what happened as a result. Melody, you’re looking at being the commanding officer for a detective unit if you do this. Isn’t that your dream?”

“You won’t be mad?” she asked, fixing her gaze on me.

“Mad? Are you crazy? No! I’ll miss you like crazy, but I’m not going to be mad.” I kept my voice as upbeat as a could. This was a thrilling opportunity, but I really would miss her. “Proud is the right word! You take this, do your best, get that commission and you come back here when you can and run the whole detective cohort.”

Melody was one of my few true friends, like Dolly. She wasn’t a bed buddy. We had a deep, genuine bond that went back to when I was younger. Still, this opportunity was huge for her. There was zero room for me to be anything but positive and supportive.

Her expression shifted from doubt to excitement and she tapped her hoof on the bar. “Well, if I have your blessing, then let’s have a drink to celebrate?”

“Now you’re talking!” I replied before going to get a bottle of champagne. This was cause for celebration for sure.

It also gave me a moment’s pause. Strong had taken a promotion. Melody was going to get a commission and move on to a new role.

What was I doing? I had my wall. And I loved it. Should I be looking out for something new, too?

Well, that was future Sunny’s problem. For now, it was time to celebrate!
> 10. My Typewriter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The Intermodal Typewriter is a marvel of earth pony technology,” Chief Print droned on and on. “It speeds the pace at which we can complete paperwork for our customers. Everypony here will need to master it to continue in this program.”

I stared down at the ugly, two-paddled device in front of me. This was the third day we were hearing about how great it was. I set my hooves on the circular pads and started typing on the page, filling in the fields. For an earth pony or a pegasus, this thing was probably useful. Not for me!

“I expect everypony to complete six files before the end of the day. All must be completed with the typewriter. That includes you, unicorns!” Print called as she paced back and forth like a caged tiger. It was like she knew what I was thinking!

My left hoof pressed down on the left paddle to shift the characters on the right, but it wouldn’t go down. I pressed again, harder. It still wouldn’t go down. I stood up and put all my weight on the paddle and yet nothing.

Chief Print was over immediately. She never missed anything. “Problem, Guard Azurite?”

“The left paddle won’t go down,” I replied.

“Step aside, please. Let me try,” she ordered. Before I could completely get out of her way, she started jamming down on the paddle with her significantly larger hoof. It didn’t budge.

She snorted and tipped her nose. “Alright, Guard. It is time to adapt and overcome. Take this down to IT support and get it fixed. You’ll have to stay late to finish your cases.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied quickly. Why was a broken typewriter my fault? I could have finished six cases with my horn in an eighth of the time.

I grabbed the evil device with a levitation spell and pulled it off the desk. It immediately dipped in my magic and I had to pour more energy into it. “Whoa!”

“Yes, they’re heavier than they look,” Print said. “IT support is down in the basement, try not to dawdle.”

What an annoyance. The Royal Guard should have provided me with a working typewriter, not one that hated cute ponies. I floated the beast ahead of me and down the stairs as I trotted along behind it. It took more energy than I thought it would to keep the stupid thing aloft.

The basement had narrow halls that went off in multiple directions. “Where in Equestria is this place?” I muttered before something cheerful and yellow caught my attention.

On the wall was a sign designed to look like a honeybee. It was pointing off to the right and read ‘IT Busy Bees this way.’ “Well, you sure are cute!” I told the sign before following the direction it pointed.

He wasn’t the only one, either. I had to find three more before finally reaching the department. The door was open so I trotted in, the typewriter barely floating off the ground at that point.

There were eight or so cubes with ponies sitting in them. They all had a typewriter or two and were working diligently. At the head of the room was a long bar and a single pony sat behind it, looking down at a notebook.

He was a lanky-looking, white-coated stallion with silver-rimmed glasses. When I dropped the typewriter on the counter in front of him, he looked up at it and then at me. “Oh, hello there! How can I help you?”

“I’m in the PRO class upstairs and this typewriter won’t work,” I replied.

His head tilted and he peered at it curiously, his short brown mane flopping to the side. It was pretty mundane other than a shock of blue in the front. “I see. So, do you have a service ticket?”

“A service ticket? No, it just broke. How do I get a ticket?”

He smiled and pointed to a typewriter on a pedestal to the left. “You just type one up there.”

My eyes narrowed and I trotted up to the counter. It was taller than I’d guessed and took some work for me to stand on my hindlegs and peer over the edge at him. “I’m upstairs learning how to use one. How am I supposed to use one to type a ticket if I don’t know how to type?”

“Fair point. How about I just type one up for you?” he asked, standing up.

Whoa, he was a tall string bean, more legs than body. My head tilted back so I could look up at him. “Yes, please.”

“Glad to help,” he replied before going over to the ticket typewriter and quickly generating one. He then handed it to me. “Here you are. We’ll have your typewriter ready by the end of the week.”

I grabbed the ticket in my magic. “Thank you that will— wait, what! No, no, no, no, no, no, sir! I’m upstairs in class right now. I have to finish cases today and I’m not allowed to do it by pencil. Please, isn’t there something you can do?”

The stallion tapped his hoof and then trotted around behind the counter. “We don’t keep a lot of typewriters in inventory. They’re expensive, but I can give you this loaner.” He reached down and pulled out another machine and set it in front of me.

Instead of a shiny black finish, it was dull and green. It looked like it had been used for more years than typewriters had existed.

“She doesn’t look like much, but she works,” he said confidently.

A beat-up typewriter? “I’ll take it!” I replied before grabbing it in my magic. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” he called after me but I was already galloping back into the hall and following the bees to the stairs.

I slid into the classroom, dropped my new typewriter on my desk, and went back to fighting through my cases.

“Welcome back, Guard Azurite,” Print said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” I called idly before starting to work. The paddles on this machine moved easier. They were well worn in. Finally, a break!

Chief Print stalked up and down the rows of desks, peering over our shoulders. “Misaligned. Start again,” she said to one student who begrudgingly pulled the paper out.

When she drew close to me, I slowed down to make sure everything looked right. I knew this form like I knew every scale on Mr. Peepers. It was just about ensuring the typing lined up.

“Hmm,” I heard over my shoulder.

“Ma’am?” I asked, hiding the nerves that were suddenly filling me.

“You coded that as six alpha,” she said.

What? Where? Coded what! My eyes scanned the exposed page until I found it. I read it over quickly and then remembered why. “Yes, ma’am. In the narrative paragraph of the case, it said this pony had adopted his younger brother.”

All around me I heard typing stop and eyes started to shift towards me. A few more shifted down to the case files.

Chief Print picked up my example file and flipped through it. Her lips pressed tightly together. “It doesn’t list any dependents in form six.”

That was true, but it was in the narrative. I wiggled in my chair before replying, “Yes, ma’am, but I took that to mean the example had included an intentional error to test our knowledge. Ponies make mistakes in their forms all the time, right?

“Maybe this pony didn’t even know his adopted brother is a dependent? Shouldn’t I take the reality of his situation into account versus just looking at the form he filled out and blindly assuming he did it right?”

My file dropped back onto my desk and Chief Print nodded. “Yes, Guard Azurite, that is exactly right. Well done. Everypony else, we’d best hope your work took this into consideration, too.”

There was a moment of silence before I heard paper being pulled out of typewriters and shuffling about. Oops. I hadn’t intended to make things harder on everypony else.

Print trotted on to the next pony, leaving me alone to continue working through my cases. Pony files were more than just documents to me. I really wanted to help them and to do that I had to know who they were. Just like Lieutenant Example Guard here.

Why had he adopted his little brother? How old was his brother now? What had happened to their parents? Those were important questions and it could make a big difference on what services they received if I did the paperwork wrong.

These were pony’s lives we were responsible for! Well, in this case, this wasn’t a real pony, but someday it would be!

Class ended a couple of hours later, but I was still working due to my typewriter malfunction. Everypony else had been dismissed.

Chief Print paused at the door and looked over at me. “You impressed me today, Azurite. Well done. Close the room when you’re done.”

“Yes, ma’am! Thank you, ma’am!” I replied as I focused on Sergeant Retiring Soon Guard’s file.

That task took another hour or so before I finally finished up. Typing was not for me. It may have been efficient for other ponies but I preferred the feeling of a pencil in my magic. Thankfully that was an option after I graduated. Typewriters weren’t mandatory.

I gathered my things, closed the classroom, and darted from safe place to safe place until I reached my apartment.

There was a special delivery letter on my floor when I opened my door. I grabbed it in my magic and read over the envelope. It was from Aurum! She’d left on Sunday to go back home and pack her things. It was a little odd that she’d send a letter so soon. Maybe she just wanted to know when I’d be ready for her, which was immediately!

I eagerly pulled the strip to open the envelope and tugged the note out.

Dear Cousin Azurite

After dad and I arrived home and I started packing, I gave myself a moment to think things over. I’m concerned that in my moment of weakness, you reacted in your usual kindhearted way and made an offer in haste.

“No, I didn’t!”

You have your own problems to deal with and me bringing mine to you seems unfair, especially if your offer was one made in the heat of the moment to a beloved, crying cousin.

“No, it wasn’t!”

Perhaps we should think this over a bit more before I upend your entire life. What do you think?

I tossed the letter down and went over to my small desk. “I think you’re being silly. Isn’t she being silly, Peepers?”

Mr. Peepers swam three laps around his bowl and then blew a bubble.

“Exactly.” I levitated some of my light blue stationary out of the drawer and started writing my reply.

“Dear Cousin Aurum. It was a pleasure to see you and Uncle Emerald this past weekend. You cannot begin to understand how meaningful and important that experience was for me.”

I looked up at Mr. Peepers. He was staring at me.

“Yes, I have to talk as I write it! If it doesn’t sound good out loud, it won’t sound good when she reads it, okay?”

He blinked his big eyes and then turned his back on me to sit on his bubble chest.

“That’s what I thought,” I said before going back to my letter.

“I’m eagerly awaiting your arrival as soon as you can manage it. Please let me know when that will be. I’d be happy to see you as early as this coming weekend if that is possible. In the evenings, I’ve been cleaning out the bedroom so you can have your privacy.

“The closet is empty and I even bought new sheets for the bed. I’ve moved my wardrobe out into the living room. Mr. Peepers was not pleased with that.”

Several groups of bubbles caught my attention.

“What? You weren’t!”

He swam to the top of the bowl and blew more bubbles.

“Why shouldn’t I say that? She’s going to be living with us. It isn’t like this is private business. I’m just stating a fact.”

Mr. Peepers blew one more bubble and returned to this chest.

“As I was saying, Mr. Peepers was not pleased with that, but he is excited about you joining us. I’m beyond thrilled myself. This is going to be so great, Aurum. I know this is what is going to help us both. I can’t wait to show you all around Canterlot. At least, the best I can.”

“With love, Cousin Azurite.”

Now I had to get the letter into her hooves immediately. That meant braving the outside in the evening. “Wednesday night shouldn’t be so bad,” I told Plant. He didn’t reply; he never did.

I gripped my letter tightly and pushed the door open. It was already dark and the chill was setting in. “I hate this time of year,” I muttered before trotting nervously out into the street.

There weren’t many ponies around. Most were likely in their homes enjoying hot chocolate and blankets. That was all the same to me. Let them be away from where I was going to be.

The Royal Equestrian Mail Service office wasn’t far from my apartment. I’d been there often enough to send important letters. A pony with a case like mine had to do a lot of paperwork. Mailing it was just easier than going to the veteran’s hospital.

I buttoned my uniform coat up, took a deep breath, and darted out into the street. “Hurry, hurry, hurry,” I huffed as I half-trotted half-galloped down the block and then up a side street. When I popped out on the next avenue up, I made a right and went down to the REMS office.

There was a short line inside so I got into it and waited nervously. Why did there have to be a line? Why weren’t these ponies making hot chocolate at home? Didn’t they realize that lines were scary?

They were social traps filled with ponies that had no idea they were tormenting me. The door opened and a pony stepped in behind me. No! Oh, no. The trap was closing in.

Physically, I could leave at any time. All I had to do was just turn and walk out. Just walk out, Azurite. If I did that, though, would they think I was weird?

‘What was wrong with that little mare? Can’t she just stand in line? Is she too important? The line isn’t that long.’

I could feel sweat trailing down the back of my neck and getting under my uniform. It was itchy. This wasn’t good. My hooves started to shake and I knew I’d bolt soon. I’d bolt right out of there.

My eyes dropped to the letter to Aurum. No, I had to send it. This had to go to her! Fall apart later, Azurite. Stand in this trap and mail your letter!

“This needs to go to my son in Baltimare,” an older stallion was saying to the pony behind the counter.

“Yes, sir. We can do that. I just need his address.”

“He lives in Baltimare,” the older stallion repeated.

“I understand that, sir. Do you have his street address?” The attendant asked.

How was this happening? It was Wednesday night in late fall. Shouldn’t this pony be asleep already? I had to watch the two of them dance around until finally the older pony produced a letter that had a return address on it. It was agonizing. My courage was being tested every second.

After two quicker customers, it was finally my turn.

The attendant leaned over the counter to look down at me. “Hi there, how may I help you?”

I stood on my hindlegs and put my letter on the counter. “I need this to arrive at my cousin’s home tomorrow,” I gasped.

“Overnight shipping? Absolutely. It’s a little pricy, though. Could it go two-day?”

I dug around in my saddlebag and dropped a bag of bits on the table. “Nope, she needs it tomorrow.”

“Alright, miss. Please fill out this form and I’ll get started. We do have a Royal Guard discount, so that will help you out a little.”

The form was already under my hoof as I filled in the boxes. The sooner I did that, the sooner I could get home. “Great news, just take what you need out of the bag,” I replied distractedly.

“Okay then.” He picked up the bag and started sorting through the bits inside.

I finished up all of the fields on the form and pushed it back to him. “All done.”

He nodded and took it. “Thank you. You’re all set, let me just give you a receipt.” He typed on a small typewriter that wasn’t anything like the one I had and pulled out a slim piece of paper to give me. “Here you go. She’ll get it tomorrow by sundown.”

“Great, thank you!” I replied before swiping my bag of bits and rushing out of the office with as much dignity as I could. Now it was even later thanks to ‘I don’t know my son’s address’ McGuffin.

The night was scary for me still. It wasn’t the darkness so much as the memories it brought back. The Summer Sun Celebration had been one long event that resulted in my partner being permanently injured. 

Actually, we’d both been injured. Hers was physical. Mine was different. I’d had to do something awful to save her. Something I should have done sooner but wished I’d never had to do. Ponies shouldn’t do what I did. It was unnatural.

I shivered and tried to push those thoughts away. Mindful Soul said thinking like that wouldn’t be fruitful. Sometimes ponies do have to… to do the thing I did. My whole body went cold other than the warmth I could still feel on my forehooves. It had never gone away.

That night, when the other guards had finally responded, I just kept washing them over and over. It never comes off.

No, I didn’t want to think about it anymore. When I finally looked up, I wasn’t familiar with my surroundings. This was not a part of Canterlot I knew.

“Where am I?” I whispered. This was what happened when I got in my head while trotting.

There were a few ponies around me going about their evening. Were they nice ponies? Most ponies were nice, but you just never knew.

I trotted a while longer before spotting a royal guard standing under a streetlight. He looked like a nice sort of stallion and his coat was a soothing, pale yellow. “Hi, excuse me,” I called to him.

He turned and then smiled. It was a little goofy. He wasn’t one of those tough-as-nails patrol guards. He was more like… well, like me. At least in looks. Plus, he was a unicorn, too. “Hello there. Lovely evening, isn’t it?” His eyes dropped to my uniform and then he added, “Going somewhere fancy tonight? I wasn’t aware of any functions.”

Most guards only wore their uniform for special events. Otherwise, you wore your armor unless you were in a few different fields. I shook my head. “Oh, no. I mean, maybe. I don’t know. I’m in warrant officer school here, that’s why I’m dressed like this.”

“Ah, I see. You must be one sharp pony, then. You’ll be the youngest warrant officer I’ve ever seen!”

“I’m normal age!” I squeaked.

His ears perked up. “Oh, sorry about that. You look young. Either way, good for you!”

“No, it’s fine. I know I look different than most guards.” I shifted from one hoof to the other, glancing around. “On that note, and as embarrassing as this is, could you walk me home? I’m actually lost.”

He smiled. “Oh sure! You’re here for school, why would you be embarrassed?”

Idly I twiddled my hooves. “I live here. I’m still lost though. I don’t get out much. I’m Azurite— er, Guard Azurite.”

“Nice to meet you, and don’t be embarrassed. This city is huge and confusing with all of the tiers, twists, and turns. Guard Honeybun, by the way, potentially on your neighborhood patrol. Now, let’s get you home, alright? What’s your address?”

I rattled it off and he nodded. “I know exactly where that is. You’re not too far but I am sad to say that you have a different patrol over there. Let’s go, alright?”

“Yes, please!” I replied before we started trotting side by side.

After a few steps, he glanced down at me and asked, “What kind of warrant officer are you going to be?”

“I want to be a Pony Resources Officer. Helping fellow guards is a dream of mine. Some helped me out not long ago and they were amazing. It would be great to return the favor,” I explained, finding it strangely easy to talk to him.

Honeybun’s horn lit and shined ahead of us, lighting the street up so we could see. “Now that is a lovely sentiment. Good for you!”

“What about you? Do you want to stay in patrol for your career?”

“Absolutely! I want to do it for a few years and make sergeant. Eventually, I want to mentor rookies. There was a great pony back in Baltimare that did that for me. He turned me around when I was floundering.

“That was when I knew the Royal Guard was the right place for me. They could have just let me fail and washed me out, but they sent their best mentor to help.”

“It really is a great job,” I replied, smiling. The buildings around us started to look familiar. I knew where I was! I set my hoof on his foreleg. “Honeybun, I can get home from here. I don’t want to take you too far away from your patrol route. Somepony might need real help.”

He looked down at me. “Are you sure? I don’t mind.”

I shook my head. “No, seriously, it’s fine. Thank you for taking me this far, okay?”

“Absolutely. Drop by my route anytime, alright?”

“Alright,” I replied before waving him off and starting to head home.

After walking with him for a while, the night didn’t seem so scary. There was a pony or two around, but they were minding their business. It wasn’t so much Honeybun himself as his story. He was right: the Guard helped its own.

No matter how long it took, they were going to help me get better. One step at a time. Tonight, I’d walk myself home. Tomorrow? Perhaps a restaurant during rush hour.

“Okay, probably not tomorrow. Don’t be crazy, Azurite,” I said before turning down my street and heading home.
> 11. Horrible Houseguests
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Friday afternoon and I should have been a lot more excited than I was. Tonight was the night I’d set my date with Soarin, but that was later. Right now, I was trotting to have tea with Princess Celestia. For the average pony, they’d call that a pretty amazing day.

I should have, too, but I was exhausted. Trixie was turning out to be a bigger pain in my rump than I had ever been in Dolly’s. She’d taken the offer and, to her credit, did wash glasses. But she whined about it the whole time.

Her shows were going alright and entertaining the few mares that were at the bar, but she kept begging Dolly and I to give her better time slots.

“Do a good job on these and stop whining about glasses and I might!” I shouted at a random blue mare who just happened to be walking the opposite way.

She squeaked, quickly made a right turn, and hurried off down the hall.

“Sorry!” I yelled back without feeling sorry. It felt good to shout a bit. It felt good to not be patient and understanding. What little chill I possessed had long since melted. It had melted so much that I’d taken leave for the last two hours of my shift to avoid throttling First Sergeant Skittles for a minor paperwork mistake. Poor Skittles.

With any luck, Princess Celestia would be free and she could give me some guidance. She taught ponies all of the time; surely she had ponies as annoying as Trixie at her school.

The worst part about our situation was that I couldn’t even shut her up with a kiss anymore. How long had we been at this? Three years? Two? I paused to count on my hoof. “A couple of days,” I muttered. It would take more than that for her to change. I probably wasn’t being fair.

I made the turn into Princess Celestia’s wing and spotted a familiar orange stallion in gold armor coming my way. He bobbed his head in a nod. “Lieutenant Day, coming to visit our princess?”

“Yes, sir,” I replied even though we were the same rank. Astral Dyke was a lieutenant, just like me, but he was the commander of Princess Celestia’s House Guard. That was one of the most desirable commands in all of Equestria. You just couldn’t be a slouch and get that job. You had to know ponies.

He waved a hoof. “Astral is fine. You’re early, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir. I mean, yes. Rough week. I thought if she was free, I could use the extra time,” I explained, idly looking him over. He didn’t really do it for me. That isn’t to say he wasn’t fit or anything, he just didn’t stand out in any way.

Astral paused and looked up as if going through something in his head. “I believe she is just spending time with Lady Cadence. It isn’t an official meeting, so as long as she doesn’t throw you out, I don’t see a problem with it. If you’ll excuse me, I’m needed upstairs.” Without another word, he headed off.

That suited me fine. He’d given me plenty of information. Princess Celestia was free and she was currently with the fittest rump in the entire palace. I’d always worked hard on my body, but I’d never been what ponies would call a delicate-featured mare.

Lady Cadence was a rare breed in numerous ways. She didn’t look like a common unicorn: her legs were skinnier, she was taller, and her hind end was perky and tight. She was the kind of mare I’d gladly sell Diddle to just to have one night with.

When I reached the door to Princess Celestia’s study, the guards beside it looked up. I groaned inside. I knew the one nearest to me. Well, I didn’t know him. I recognized him. He was the smug silver pegasus that always said—

“Pass, please.”

Yes, that. Wait. Again? What wasn’t he getting? He was one of those guards that was too by the book.

“You know who I am!” I snapped.

He sighed, like he always did, and said, “Lieutenant, I know. We all know who you are, but think of it this way: I have no idea what you did this week. Perhaps you went on an alcohol-fueled bender and burned down an orphanage. The result of which was you losing your pass.

“So please, ma’am, with all due respect, can you just take the two seconds necessary to show me your pass so I can let you in and we can stop doing this?”

My eyes narrowed, and I leaned in so close that my nose bumped his. “What is your name?”

Without missing a beat or any display of fear, he replied, “Storm Rider, ma’am. Sergeant Storm Rider.”

I pulled my helmet off and showed him the pass that I’d stuck to the inside. “I think I kind of like you now,” I said before stepping back. “Now open the door!”

Storm Rider smirked and did exactly that before he waved me through with his wing.

Princess Celestia was sitting on her large pillow, her eyes showing surprise when I trotted through.

“Hi, what’s up?” I asked before I caught sight of Lady Cadence. She had a very large and very obvious engagement ring on her horn. I gasped, “No way!”

The ring quickly flew off and into Lady Cadence’s saddlebag. “Oh, hello there… you.”

Princess Celestia motioned a hoof at me. “Cadence, this is my friend, Sunny Day. She works for Shining Armor. She’s also quite early for tea.”

I took my helmet off and sat it on the table near the entry. “Nice to officially meet you, Lady Cadence! Speaking of Shining Armor, it seems like he bought you a little gift?”

“Oh, that? A gift?” Lady Cadence sputtered. “I mean, you see, it’s complicated.”

The princess sighed and patted Cadence on the shoulder. “You’re no good at lying, I’m afraid. We’ll just have to expand the circle of trust a little bit.”

“I’m game. What are we lying about?” I asked eagerly. This was fun! Lady Cadence looked very cute when she was blushing and stammering.

Her horn lit once again and Cadence brought the ring back out. “About this, and our engagement.”

I grinned. “So you are engaged!”

“Shhh!” Princess Celestia covered her eyes with a hoof. “Sunny, please!”

I looked from one mare to the other and tilted my head. “I don’t get it. Shouldn’t we be excited about this?”

Lady Cadence nodded happily. “Oh yes! I’m thrilled beyond explanation. We’re just not telling many ponies yet.”

My head bobbed in a slow nod. No, wait, that didn’t make sense. “How come?”

The princess stood up and trotted over to her tea set. She started the kettle and peered back at me. “Cadence would like the luxury of not being a celebrity for as long as possible. Surely you realize that once word gets out that there will be a royal wedding, ponies are going to get excited.”

“Yes,” Cadence added, “and I’d like to avoid as much of that as possible. I don’t begrudge ponies celebrating and having fun, but I’d like for this to just be for us for a little while.”

Honestly, I’d forgotten that Lady Cadence was technically a noble. She was the descendant of some famous pony somewhere and then adopted by the princess. Shining Armor was also from a fine unicorn line and the Captain of the Canterlot Guard. “Alright, I see your point. Sorry for shouting, I was just a little excited.”

The princess chuckled and started to set her coffee table for tea. “Yes, and so too will many other ponies when we announce the date.”

“When is that?” I asked, making my way over to sit.

“About a week before Hearts and Hooves day,” Cadence said sheepishly.

“Oh, that’s reasonable. So a year and a quarter or so to plan?”

Cadence bit her lip. “No?”

“Wait, you mean this year!” I squawked.

“Sunny!” the princess hissed.

“Sorry! This is a big deal, though. That’s, like, four moons away. I don’t even have a dress!”

Cadence smiled shyly, her cheeks flushing. “I know, but I don’t want a long engagement. I don’t want a big elaborate wedding. The kingdom can celebrate outside, but inside, I just want my friends and family. Which, please don’t take offense, as a pony I just met, you don’t fall into that category and won’t need a dress.”

It figured a sweet, hot, delicate unicorn like Cadence would feel that way. I didn’t know her more than looking at her rump, but the rumor mill said she was polite and down to earth. “None taken, and I don’t blame you. I certainly wouldn’t want my wedding turned into some big politicized event if I could help it. I’ll still probably get a dress, though. There are bound to be parties.”

Princess Celestia levitated the tea set over and started pouring. “Yes, that is exactly what we want to avoid within reason. We’re going to announce the engagement and the date in a week or so. That will largely limit the mania.

“Cadence can plan in peace, and we’ll come up with a nice compromise. A private ceremony with a public celebration. Everypony wins. Providing we can keep this a secret. You can do that, can’t you, Sunny?”

My nose wiggled. She was suggesting I was a gossip! Which, I was, but it hurt more coming from her. I crossed my forelegs. “Of course I can! I would never upset a classy mare like Lady Cadence. Even though when Dolly finds out after the fact I knew and didn’t tell her, she may disown me. Is there an insurance plan for that?”

Cadence reached out and set a soft pink hoof on my foreleg. “That is so sweet of you. Thank you, Sunny.”

The second she touched me, I felt a tingly rush from my foreleg to my heart. It was a tingle all over my body and not just in the adult pony way. She was genuinely sweet and I felt like I’d been injected with sugar. “My pleasure, and I’m sorry for interrupting your private moment. I was in a foul mood and came early to whine.”

Princess Celestia’s ears shot up. “You, a foul mood? That isn’t like you at all. What’s happened?”

I waved a hoof. “No, no, don’t worry about it. This was about Lady Cadence and I barged in unannounced. Also, just a little tip, if you’re being secretive, maybe tell the door guards not to just admit ponies.”

Lady Cadence softly giggled. As she did, her nose crinkled up in the cutest way. Shining Armor was the luckiest stallion alive, and not just because one day he’d get to have a threesome with me and his wife. Should I start to position for that now? It would be easier if she suggested it since I was his subordinate.

I’d certainly be subordinate to him. Cadence struck me as the type of pony that would be at the bottom of our little pile. That meant a nice Sunny sandwich.

“No, please, Sunny, do share,” Cadence said. “If you’re going to keep my secret, the least we can do is hear about your strife.”

“Agreed,” the princess added before glancing up at her door as if pondering something. Had she really not considered my suggestion prior?

I glanced between them. “Well, if you’re sure?”

“We are,” Cadence replied, proving she was starting to invest in me. Sweet!

“Alright then,” I started before explaining the whole Trixie situation. Princess Celestia was accustomed to my habit of providing more intimate details and after the third ‘oh my’ from Lady Cadence, I had to reign in it. If a threesome was going to happen, she was not going to be the avenue in. I’d managed to turn her coat from pink to red.

I brought the story to a close and huffed, “So you see, we can’t be that kind of friend right now. I’m not infinitely patient like you, Princess. I don’t know what to do! She’s just so spoiled!”

Princess Celestia sipped her tea, seemingly considering the situation. Or how to fix the niece I’d just broken. It was hard to tell; she had a great poker face.

Lady Cadence looked over at me and asked, “Can you not just show her she is being selfish and that you’re trying desperately to help her? Surely she’d see that and not want to put you out more than necessary.”

Sweet crickets, I was going to jump her right then and there. She was like a dove. “I’m trying my best, but I’m not sure she’s seeing what I’m trying to show her.”

The princess, dipped her tea cup just a moment and looked me in the eyes. “Have you tried punching her in the snoot?”

Cadence gasped, “Auntie!”

I couldn’t help but cackle. Whatever remnant of a foul mood I’d had was gone.

Princess Celestia grinned and motioned with a hoof. “The first piece of advice I give you is that example there. Know your audience. I’d never actually advocate you punching a pony but you, Sunny, laughed heartily at the image and it brightened your eyes again.”

Lady Cadence looked relieved and settled back. “And in this instance, I was not your audience.”

“Correct. I treat you and Sunny very differently, just as I must treat her differently from Twilight Sparkle.”

At the mere mention of the name, I felt myself frown.

“You see, Twilight Sparkle lacked the social skills and ability to bond easily with others. Sunny, by contrast, is the opposite. To assist Twilight, I sent her away. I removed her from her element. That is how she has progressed so far,” the princess explained. Hearing that I had something Twilight didn’t made me smile.

“And then when it came to dealing with Sunny, she needed somepony that believed in her and gave her direct attention instead of trying to force her into the mold of somepony else. She made the most progress when we focused less on what everypony else did and more on what she did.”

I blinked. “I thought you were just nice.”

“Oh, I am nice, but that doesn’t mean I’m not calculating as well, Sunny. I’m not just your friend or princess. I’m an educator, and I take that role as seriously as any other. I saw a pony with great potential floundering in our system. You were bordering on quitting.

“You needed a different kind of education, and we provided that. Some might have thought that foolish and that you were just lazy. That proved incorrect. When I gave you the chance to take the easy way out, you refused. That was when I knew I needed to invest even more in you for additional success.”

I suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy again. “And you did.”

“I did. Now, from what you’ve said, this Trixie of yours craves attention. She wants to be the talk of the town. Show her how good works, politeness, and kindness get her there. Just because washing glasses molded you doesn’t mean it will mold her.”

Every word she said made perfect sense. I just shook my head in awe. “You’re really good at this.”

The princess smiled. “I hope so. These are ponies’ lives we’re trying to better. Of course, in the end, you can try punching her in the snoot if all else fails.”

We all laughed then. She didn’t mean it, but I filed that away in the ‘just in case’ folder. I rarely got to see Princess Celestia’s silly side but I liked it. I liked it a lot!

I also liked Lady Cadence the more we talked. She was such a sweetheart, the kind of pony that you take home to mom. Unfortunately, that meant she wasn’t the sort of pony you just took out for a night and left in the morning.

Now she wasn’t just a fine rump, but a real pony. That meant my plan to sleep with Shining Armor was off. It wouldn’t be ethical to mess with their relationship just to upset Twilight. I didn’t want to end up in another situation like I’d been in with Roxy.

I’d just have to find some other way to upset Twilight. Could I sleep with her? Would that be worth it? Every time she opened her mouth, I’d remind her of where it had been? She wasn’t bad looking, even for a nerdy pony.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t noticed she was cute. The problem was that everypony else was trying to push me to be like her, just like the princess had said. At the same time, Twilight had snubbed me more than once, so she kind of deserved whatever punishment I eventually settled on.

“More tea?” Princess Celestia asked, pulling me back to the present.

“Yes, please,” I replied, focusing back at the topic at hoof. It was something about cake toppers when I’d zoned out.

The small talk continued on for an hour before I realized it was time for me to head off for my date with Soarin. When I saw the clock on the mantle, I stood up and set my tea on the table.“Oh! I’m going to be late. I’m sorry, girls, I really need to go. This has been great, though!”

Lady Cadence softly giggled and repeated, “’Girl’s. She really does treat you like a pony, auntie.”

Princess Celestia nodded. “I think that is why I like her. I think, anyway.” She smiled at me. “Have fun on your date, Sunny.”

“And thank you for facilitating it!” I replied to the princess before trotting out the door. As I went by the guards, I motioned at them. “Next time, maybe knock before you let me in. I caught those two snogging.”

“What!” Storm Rider replied in horror, but it was too late. I’d already turned the corner on my quick trot to the exit.

That would teach him and solve a problem! It was a shame I’d been so distracted with my time with Princess Celestia and Lady Cadence. They were a delight but I’d given up any chance I had of sprucing up. Instead of a tight shirt and some coat glitter, I was going to be meeting Soarin in my armor.

It wasn’t a big issue on the whole. Whatever I was wearing, he was just going to pull off before tossing me onto the bed. Still, a mare wanted to look her best for an old friend!

When I arrived at the stadium, he was standing outside in his perfectly pressed naval uniform. I saw a nearby group of mares looking his way but, in general, they seemed to be leaving him alone. Without the Wonderbolts flight suit, maybe they didn’t know who he was.

He also hadn’t seen me yet either. I took a moment to straighten my armor, shine it up, and get my gait just right. As I approached, I made sure to prance and shake my rump. “Hey, sailor. Know where a guard can get a ride around here?”

Soarin’s ears wiggled and he turned my way, smiling brightly. “Hey there! I never expected you to show up in armor.”

I closed the ground and kissed his cheek. “I was held up at the palace, so I didn’t get to change for you and doll up. Sorry about that.”

“No, don’t apologize! You look great in armor. I’ve always thought that. So, where are we going?”

I fluttered my lashes. “Up to you: my place or yours? I’m happy either way!”

Soarin’s smile dropped slightly. “Oh.”

“Oh?” I repeated nervously.

He waved a hoof. “No, no! I just thought this was more like a… you know…  we haven’t seen each other in a while!”

What was he getting at? Wait… “You mean, like a date?”

“Yes! Like a date instead of just, you know…”

“Playing ‘mount the mare’?” I snuck in with a grin.

His ears turned bright red and he nodded. “Yes, yes, a date! I know what we used to do and that is fun, too. I just feel like I’d like to get caught up and to know you better. Now that I’m on the Canterlot Squadron, I’ll be around more and we can actually spend time together.”

Oh boy, why were stallions so emotional? This sounded a bit like a relationship and he knew I didn’t really do that. That was just leading ponies along without a payoff. It might be just a temporary thing, though, since we hadn’t seen each other in a while.

“I hear you,” I said cautiously. “Well, I’m always happy to see more of you. Why don’t we go somewhere quiet, get something nice to eat, and chat for a while? After that, we can see a film or a play, if we can find anything that isn’t sold out.”

He nodded. “That all sounds great! Say, do you like hummus? I know this great place on the far side of town that you wouldn’t believe. On the outside, it’s a normal, standard Canterlot-architected building, but on the inside, it is shaped like a chickpea.

“All of the vegetables are from hanging gardens here in Canterlot, and the bread is made down in Ponyville and brought up daily. You’re going to be hard pressed to find something as good as this anywhere else.”

How was the inside shaped like a chickpea? What did that even mean? What did half of those words mean! I usually ate in the palace dining facility. If not there, then a Hungry Mare. What was hummus again? A sauce? “Oh, okay, let’s go there, then.”

“Great! Come on, I’ll show you the way. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to lately? You look great,” he prattled. “Canterlot has clearly been good to you. It’s just so nice to see somepony that isn’t competing with me for a squadron slot or trying to get close to me because I’m a Wonderbolt.”

My nose wiggled. “I’m trying to get close to you because we’re friends,” I teased before pushing on. “Well, I’m a palace guard, which I think you know. I spend most of my days doing paperwork and watching my guards. I like it. It works for me. It’s what I want to do.”

“Passion is important,” he replied cheerfully.

Yes! Yes, it is! That was exactly what I was after. Heavy breathing, sweaty passion. Hopefully later. Until then, it was time to try and remember what a normal date was like.
> 12. My System
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I was a little filly, a royal guard called Sergeant Sweets came to my class to teach us about being safe. It’s been years, but I still can close my eyes and see how she looked.

Her armor was golden and polished to the point we could see our little faces in it. The crest of her helmet was large, pristine, and alternated between blue and white. I realize now it wasn’t regulation, but she had the most beautiful blonde mane that spilled out from under the rim.

She had big green eyes and a clear voice. I’d hung on every word as she told us what to do if we got separated from our parents.

“Always remember to stay calm, girls. Look at your surroundings and see if you can spot a royal guard like me. If you can, go to her and tell her you’ve lost your parents. If you can’t, don’t stray far from where you are.

“The most effective place to be is exactly where you got lost. Adult ponies will retrace their steps to find you. Don’t hide, even if you’re scared. But, if for some reason the area isn’t safe, you’re better off leaving it.”

Once I’d seen Sergeant Sweets, my whole life changed. Instead of planning to be a jeweler like my dad, I wanted to be a guard. I wanted to teach fillies about staying in one place. I wanted to help fillies that lost their parents. I wanted to look like her, sound like her, and be her!

Not once did I ever imagine I’d be up to my chest in mud, trying to reach a rope hanging over my head.

“Guard Azurite!” Chief Print yelled. “PRO or not, you must complete this course and pass your physical fitness test to complete this phase. This may be a practice run, but you need to get moving!”

I bet Sergeant Sweets never had to do this course. In fact, Sergeant Sweets may not have even been a real royal guard! That would be a file I’d be looking for… if I graduated.

When I graduated. When is what Mindful Soul always said, not if.

I turned around and slowly slogged back out of the mud pit and onto the solid dirt. This time I’d take a longer gallop before jumping.

“Move it!” Chief Print yelled again, startling me.

I screamed before taking off and leaping for the rope. I caught it, swung to the other side, and fell off. My landing may not have been perfect or even good but I’d finished the next to last obstacle.

As I trotted up to the climbing wall I couldn’t help but recall the first time I’d seen it as a cadet. “My old friend… you won’t best me!” I yelled at it.

“Less talk, more climb!”

Let’s see you climb it! The wall was three times my height, maybe more. I’d learned a trick before to help petite ponies with it, and I was as petite as adult ponies came.

Instead of going at the wall head on, I started my charge at a slight angle and leapt forwards. My hindhooves caught the support that jutted out and then I sprung up to the top, locking my forelegs there. Then I dangled.

And dangled while I tried to catch the top with my hindhoof.

Scrape. Dangle. Scrape. Dangle. Scrape. Scrape. Then I finally got it! I used the leverage to pull myself to the top before carefully dangling off the back side and dropping down.

Chief Print looked down at her stopwatch. “Not great, Guard Azurite.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I completed it, though. I’m not looking to join in the lowest time competition.” 

“I sure hope not,” she said before turning to the class. “Alright, hit the showers, everypony. That is it. I’d say have a good weekend but I’d actually recommend a lot of you study instead. This rotation won’t last much longer and some of you are lagging behind.”

That was a lovely sentiment. What a sour way to end a week. We all started to trudge to the showers. Some ponies were muddier than others. I was at least eighty-five percent mud, and I wasn’t about to mess up my bathroom right before Aurum moved in. I’d stay and wash off for as long as it took.

Once I was in the locker room, I trotted into a stall, turned the water on, and started to let it work its magic. A hot shower could relax my tension and get rid of the mud at the same time. It would also prepare me for having to get home on a Friday night. Ponies loved to go out on Friday.

The water hit my mane and strung it all out over my face. Whatever style I had left was gone now. It might be time to go to the salon. I wouldn’t want Aurum to think I’d gotten lazy.

“Uh, excuse me.”

It was clear I’d need a lot of shampoo and marecare product to work all of the gunk out of my coat.

“Hi? Pardon me?”

Why did they always put mud under the rope? Was that necessary? When was I ever going to be on patrol and somepony would shout, ‘Guard Azurite, please help me, but to get here you’re going to have to swing over this mud pit’? Never!

“Hello?”

Seriously, I hadn’t been a patrol guard for very long, but I’d never even seen a rope in Canterlot. Was that something the rest of Equestria used a lot of? Were ropes strung up for ponies to swing on? I pushed my mane out of my face.

And found myself staring into the orange eyes of a big purple stallion. I did the only sensical thing any pony would do. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

He winced and pulled his head back a bit. “Sorry! You weren’t responding!”

I shrieked, “You’re in my shower!”

“You weren’t responding!” he repeated before lifting his head all the way. He had his forelegs on the rim of the stall, standing on the other side.

“I’m in the shower! I was showering! Who talks to ponies in the shower? What? What is it? Is the locker room on fire?”

He blinked a few times. “Oh, um… sorry. You usually just leave so fast every day I can never catch you. In here, you’re sort of boxed in.”

Boxed in? What did he mean by that? Was this a trap? The stalls weren’t huge, but they’d never felt like a trap before. Only ponies boxed me in. No, he wasn’t going to take showers from me!

If I hadn’t been completely soaked, my coat would have bristled. “That sounds horrible! Who are you? I’m a royal guard! Don’t make me arrest you. I’m a student of Iron Hoof and not afraid to use it!” That last part was a lie, but he didn’t know that.

The stallion threw a hoof up. “No, no, no! It isn’t like that. We’re in the same class! You sit in front of me.”

“I do?”

“Yes!”

“What do you want!” I shouted again.

“I need a tutor. I’m not going to pass if I don’t get help, and you’re the smartest pony in class. You know all the answers. You figure stuff out that the chief didn’t see. Please, I’m sorry I scared you, but please help me. If I just knew a little of what you knew, I could pass.”

The water was still hitting me in the head as I stared up at him in confusion. He wanted help? Nopony ever asked me for help. I was good in class, but they never cared to talk to me about it.

“Please? I promise I won’t take much time,” he asked again, his voice ringing with desperation.

Ponies never asked me for things. It wouldn’t be hard to help him. He looked so pitiful, too. He was a pitiful, peeping, purple plum. “Oh, fine. Can I finish my shower first?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes, of course!”

I waved my hoof in a circle. “And could you not watch, please? Like, maybe you could go sit over on the bench or something?”

“Sure, sure!” he replied before backing away from my stall.

Helping ponies was what I wanted to do. Tutoring was helping ponies. I also needed to get home and get things ready for Aurum. This was a tricky situation.

I finished my shower and wrapped myself in one towel while I levitated another around my mane.

When I peeked out of the stall, the stallion was sitting on the bench exactly where I’d told him to be. Now that I could see him better, he didn’t look so scary. In fact, he looked pretty much like most royal guard stallions. He was fit, although kind of skinny, and his lavender-and-white mane was cut short.

All and all, without him being in the shower with me, he looked harmless. Actually, he looked downright nervous, so I pushed the door open and trotted up to him. “Hi, I’m going to give you a pass on the whole shower invasion thing before and just start fresh. I’m Azurite.”

“Thank you so much. Macaron, nice to meet you, too.”

I smiled. I already felt safer. Nopony with the name Macaron could be bad. “Okay, so you want help? With what?”

The stallion idly rubbed his forehooves together, then replied with a nervous grin, “Everything?”

Everything? Everything! I was going to painting class! I was going to clean up more for Aurum. I had a life to live! “Oh, okay, everything then.”

His eyes went wide. “You’ll help me?”

“Yes, we’re both royal guards. What else am I supposed to do? But we can’t do everything tonight. We can do, like, one thing,” I muttered. It was going to be dark when we were done. I was braving the dark for him. Stupid, accommodating Azurite.

“Thank you so much! I really appreciate this. If I can ever do anything for you, just name it!” Macaron rambled on as we trotted together back to the academic buildings.

It wasn’t hard to find a study room on Friday afternoon. Ponies with better sense were already out and about having fun.

We settled down at the table. This was a problem of paperwork and time. At least mentally. It was time to figure out how to best solve this challenge. “Okay, we don’t have enough time left in the rotation to cover everything. I need you to dig deep and figure out the three things you’re struggling with the most. 

“If we can work on those and make you an expert in two of them, then hopefully you can combine that with what you’re good at and get by into the next rotation. Does that make sense?”

Macaron nodded emphatically. “Yes!”

“So…” I asked, holding a hoof out to him.

“So?”

“What are you worst at!” I squeaked.

“Oh! Sorry. I’m bad at coding. After that, I’d say it is tied between form knowledge and retirement calculations.”

If he was bad at coding, he was in bad shape. That was the foundation for everything else in the rotation. At the same time, if I could improve him there, perhaps he’d succeed at everything else. “Let’s start with coding, then. Do you have all your notes?”

He nodded, dug through his saddlebag, and pulled out an orange notebook. He pushed it over to me and I pulled it open with my magic.

What I saw inside horrified me. I had to summon up all of my inner strength to avoid immediately vomiting. 

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I set a hoof on my belly and tried to look away from the disorganized mess in front of me. Nothing made sense. He had notes written haphazardly all over the place.

“There are lines on the paper for a reason,” I gasped before covering my mouth with a hoof. Bile, I could taste bile! How could a pony live like this?

“I have a system!” he said in protest, snatching his notebook back.

My horn lit again, grabbing the notebook and pulling it from his hooves. “You better explain it to me quick!”

“I will, but don’t judge me!” He frowned before leaning over to point at something. “Everything Chief says I write down straight and then I spin my own thoughts off that. That way I can remember what I thought when she said it.”

I tapped the page. “Okay, when she explained how to process a 1054 delta, you wrote cookies, mayonnaise, and lemons. How does that work with the system? Is it code?”

His head shook. “No, that is what I needed from the store that day.”

Something inside my body broke and boiling lava rushed up into my chest. I grabbed his cheeks with my hooves and pulled him down to look at me. “So help me, if you don’t start making sense this minute, I will toss this notebook off the mountain.”

Macaron looked at me in terror. “Pick a different one!”

I let him go and looked back at the notebook. And read off, “Like that one time back home with the dirt and turnips.”

“See, now, that one is clear. She was talking about something I didn’t get, which was exactly like back home when I was looking for turnips but the dirt was wrong.”

“You… You took a note to show you didn’t understand?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, so I could research it later.”

My hoof curled into a tight ball. Rescue breathing, Azurite. In one, two, three. Hold one, two, three. Exhale one, two, three. “Okay, let’s just set this aside,” I whispered before pulling out my notebook. “For the sake of time, I’ll teach you out of my notebook.”

“Sure, if that makes it easier for you, let’s do it. I can’t imagine your notes are much b— by Celestia, are you a living printing press?” He gasped as I laid out my notebook in front of him.

“No, but I’m very good at notes,” I explained, only a little proud. Okay, a lot proud. I love my notes. “Now, we’re going to start at coding. You’ll see here that I take my notes in black. When a key word or term I think is important comes up, I write it in light blue. When a term comes up I know is critical, I write it in azure. In the terms section of my notebook, I have this all defined.”

Macaron reached towards the notebook, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging agape.

I slapped his hoof. “No! You read from over there. I don’t want your system to infect it. Now, let’s get to work.”

“Okay, okay!” he whimpered, rubbing his forehoof.

For the following three hours, I went through coding with Macaron and explained it to him the best I could. While I did that, I made him take new notes, not copy mine. When he started off on his word tangents, I stopped him.

If he was confused, instead of taking a note he was confused, we just covered the topic until he got it. It was a tricky thing, but in time we started to get each other.

Macaron leaned back, stretched his forelegs, and yawned. “Okay, I understand more than I ever did, but I’m getting so tired I can’t see straight.”

“Yeah, that happens. Done for tonight then?”

“Yes. Thank you so much, Azurite. You’re a life saver. Can we do this again next Monday night? Please?”

I rubbed my chin. “I have a doctor’s appointment, but we can after that if you’re fine with it. We can meet at this restaurant near my apartment. Is that fine?”

“You’re the teacher. You tell me when and where, and I’ll be there! Whatever is convenient for you.”

That was a good point. I pulled his notebook over, wrote the address of the restaurant down, and then under that the time for an hour after I’d be done with Mindful Soul.

“See you then,” I said, pushing the notebook back to him.

“Absolutely! Thank you again. You’re going to make an awesome PRO.” Macaron smiled before heading off.

I sat there and hugged my notebook. It was such a simple little statement, but it made me feel good. I was going to be a great PRO. It almost made up for the fact that I’d missed my painting class.

Hopefully Happy Tree and Peapod would forgive me. They probably would. They definitely would.

It was time to get going, so I trotted out into the darkness and sighed. I was tired from the tutoring. Almost too tired to put up with my body shaking and getting sweaty. Getting home just felt easier. Maybe I was still riding the high of what Macaron had said. Maybe I was getting better. Who could tell?

I turned a corner and hurried down an alley before popping out on my street. There weren’t many ponies around, and that was just fine by me.

When I trotted down to my door, I used my magic to unlock it and went inside. I wasn’t three steps in before I came to a complete stop. Somepony had been in my apartment. Things were not exactly where I left them.

Plant had moved a bit. That was impossible. Or was it? I looked down at plant. “Did you move?”

Plant didn’t answer. Plant never answered.

There was a gift next to Mr. Peeper’s bowl, and he was staring at it intently. I trotted over and asked, “Did someone bring you a gift?”

Mr. Peepers blew four bubbles.

“For me? How do you know?”

He circled his bowl and headed down to the bottom, pointing himself at a note.

“Oh, well, yeah, I guess if you read the note you’d know. Now, we know it’s fine if you read my mail but just a reminder, that is a crime. I wouldn’t want you to go to a jail bowl,” I said idly before picking up the note and reading it.

Cousin Azurite. I decided to come early after receiving your letter. Your sincerity was touching and I couldn’t wait to move in.

Forgive me for letting myself in. Knowing you so well, your lock charm was easy to decipher. I’m going to go do some shopping so that we have groceries for the week. I noticed your icebox was empty.

This gift is a token of my appreciation. See you soon.

Aurum

“She’s here? Already? I haven’t cleaned up enough!” I squealed.

Without another thought, I started rushing around the living room, cleaning up everything I could. Anything that was out of place was immediately rearranged.

When I burst into the bedroom, I found that her bags were already unpacked and she’d even put out a few things. One caught my eye in particular: a plush flamingo on her bed.

“Cute!” I galloped back out and into the kitchen to start cleaning there.

My magic grabbed a sponge, wet it, and started going to town all over the counters. Mr. Peepers did nothing but sit in his bowl and blow bubbles at me.

“Don’t just float there! Straighten up your rocks! Wipe down the bubble chest! Clean up the palm tree,” I ordered while I ran the sweeper over the floor.

More bubbles were blown and he came to the top of the water. While I cleaned, he started flapping his tail, splashing droplets onto the table.

“No! Bad fish, stop that!” I hurried over to start wiping up his mess.

He came down to my eye level and blew more bubbles at me.

“What? What do you want?”

Five bubbles, then four. I followed his glance over to the gift.

“You think I should open it before she gets home?”

One bubble.

“Because if she wanted me to wait, she wouldn’t have left a note?”

One bubble.

“But the place is a mess!”

Six bubbles, a spin, a circle, and three bubbles.

“Okay, yes, I guess she has already seen it. Fine, let’s see what is in here,” I said before sitting down at the table and pulling the box over. It was large as far as gifts go. It took two hooves to hold it while I pulled the top off with my levitation magic.

Standing up straight inside was a square pillow. I pulled it out to look at it. The backside was blue, just like my coat. The front was white, but it had been hoofstitched. In arched letters, it read: ‘Azurite and Aurum’s Place.’

Under that was a cute graphic of a little blue pony and a larger silver one. “It’s perfect,” I said before hugging it to my chest.

I had a roommate. A real roommate. One that loved me and knew me. One that I didn’t have to be awkward around. Well, no more awkward than normal. What a wonderful gift.

My heart started slowing down and I just hugged the pillow. “I bet she made this herself,” I told Mr. Peepers. He didn’t hear me. He’d finally gone to straighten up his rocks.

“What a good day,” I whispered.
> 13. Wedding Jitters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Trixie Lulamoon! If you don’t get in here and clean this bathroom, I’m going to set your cape on fire!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. It would be a miracle if a neighbor didn’t make a noise complaint.

My bathroom was wrecked. There was water on the floor, the counter, the wall and— “How did you get water on the ceiling!”

There were silver mane hairs everywhere. Makeup, everywhere! Everything EVERYWHERE!

Trixie burst through the door. “Do not dare set Trixie’s cape on fire! She just bought it with the meager bits she has slaved for this last month. I… I mean, she will clean this all up! Sunny Day should go.” She set her hooves on my rump and pushing me out.

“I need to shower!” I shrieked, my voice starting to go hoarse.

“Sunny Day should shower at work in her fancy Royal Guard work castle place. Trixie will clean the bathroom and do all of the chores on her chore board. Just stop yelling, please!”

I planted my forehooves, making it difficult for her to keep pushing me. “Did you just say please?”

She blinked and looked around. “No?”

“Yes, yes, you did,” I replied.

“Trixie did not!”

I turned and patted her on the cheek. “Good girl. Now, why did you wreck the bathroom in the first place?”

The pale blue mare tipped her nose up. “Dolly has allowed Trixie to perform during prime time tonight. She got overly excited.”

My composure started to return and I set a hoof on her chest. “Trixie, that’s great. I’m sorry I yelled. Please clean up the bathroom and do your chores. I’ll see you at the show tonight.”

Trixie gasped and shook her head. “No! Sunny Day must not come!”

She didn’t want me there? That honestly stung a bit. “Why not!”

Trixie twiddled her hooves. “It might not go well. Trixie does not want you to see her fail.”

Oh. That made more sense than her not wanting me to be a part of her life. My head tilted to the side. “Why would you fail?”

“Trixie always fails when she gets a big opportunity,” she muttered.

Is this what it was going to be like raising foals? That was another reason not to have any! If I wasn’t careful, I’d be late for work, and that wasn’t acceptable. At the same time, Trixie was my friend. My annoying and hot but currently inappropriate to touch friend.

“Now you listen to me,” I said in my stern Royal Guard voice. “You’ve been practicing the same show for about a month during the regular hours. I’ve seen it. It’s a good set. If you stick to that, it will go great.”

“But this is a prime spot. Shouldn’t Trixie take it to the next level?”

“Not yet! Dolly and I put you in those time slots so you could master the routine. Do what you know and then once that goes well, you can ramp it up. One step at a time. Alright?”

Trixie nodded. “Alright. Trixie will do as you instruct.”

“Good. I will be at the show, but I need to go to work. Clean up this mess and head to the Mare early. I’m sure Dolly could use some help, and she might even have advice for you.”

“Trixie will!” she replied with a little attitude.

I ignored it. I had to. It was time to get to work and a little sass from Trixie was better than normal. And, if the bathroom wasn’t clean when I got home, I’d have the joy of using my largest heat bolt to obliterate her cape.

On my trek through the city, I was amazed at how many royal wedding banners and advertisements there were. It had only been announced a week ago and ponies were already latching on. Cadence had been right. Poor filly.

As stressful as that must have been for her, it was also a stressful time to be a member of the Palace Guard. Due to all the overeager ponies coming to glimpse a peek, we’d had to start scheduling extra shifts. Thank goodness the wedding would be over in three months or so. A year of this would have been miserable.

When I arrived at the main gates, there was a crowd of ponies with cameras taking pictures of anything and everything. It took some effort, but I pushed my way through to the gate guards. I showed them my pass and they let me through.

“What a mess,” I muttered once I was in the locker room.

“You look fine,” a passing mare said to me.

“No, I… nevermind.” I trotted into one of the stalls and turned the shower on. Cold water hit me hard and forced me to retreat right up against the door. “Gah!”

I reached out with my magic and surrounded the showerhead. Carefully, I poured some of my heat spell into it, forcing the water temperature up faster than it would on its own. Once it was Sunny appropriate, I got back under it. The hot water was never slow in my condo.

My fight and pep talk with Trixie had taken more time than I’d budgeted, so I had to keep everything short. A quick body wash, one mane shampoo, and a rinse. That was good enough for now.

Once I was out, I did what any sensible mare in my position would do. Instead of styling my mane, I just pulled it up, tied a ribbon around it, and stuffed it under my helmet. Regulation approved!

It was time to head up to the wall, and I found many of my ponies going the same direction. I hit the top of the stairs, made a left, and headed into the office.

Lieutenant Ginger Snap was grumbling below his breath as he worked on his daily log.

I leaned against the desk in a friendly, casual way. “Hey, Snap, how is it?”

He grunted, shook his head, and then shoved the log over at me.

I pulled it over and started reading through it. Seven contacts with pegasi tourists. “Seven? That has to be a record!”

“Uh-huh. Your problem now.” Snap muttered, getting up and limping out.

“Alright, thanks, love you too!” I called after him before slumping down into the chair and starting my paperwork.

After about a half hour, Ice Blossom poked her head in. “Morning, boss! Any minute until Silent Knight starts his march. You best hurry!”

I waved her off with a hoof. “Can’t today, we’ve got too much going on. Be sure you focus less on stallions and more on the wall today.”

Ice Blossom snorted. “Yes, ma’am. I hope this wedding is over soon. I want to go back to looking at hot guys together.”

“A few more months and we’re back. For now, let’s just be the professionals we are, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am. No worries. I’ll pass the word around not to look at rumps,” Ice Blossom said before ducking back out.

It wasn’t five minutes before there was a knock at the door, breaking my concentration. “What!”

Radiant Orchid pulled the door open and eased up against the frame with a smug little smile. “My, my, my. Has something gotten under your skin, Lieutenant?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No. I’m just a little put out. I’ve got a mare living with me that is a pain in my rump and all of these tourists are making work crazy.” I leaned back and looked at her with pleading eyes. “I heard that you have fillies. How do you not just throw them out into the street?”

“Well, for starters, my fillies are actual fillies,” she replied, chuckling. “If I were to turn them out in the street, that would likely result in my arrest or, at least, my husband being extremely angry. With that said, fillies are a challenge, especially my girls. They’re both like me. My poor husband has to leave the house every so often just to hide out.”

“Yeah? Poor fella. How’d you two meet anyway?”

“He parked his wagon in an illegal zone, so I ticketed him. He gave me the saddest look I’d ever seen and there was just something about him.” She gave a soft, happy sigh.

“So you let him off?”

Orchid’s nose scrunched and her eyes narrowed. “Are you kidding me? No! I wrote him that ticket and another one for trying to bribe me with that pitiful look. Then I asked him out on a date.”

I sputtered into laughter. “Whoa, cold blooded!”

“Duty is duty. Plus, I had to set expectations. I’m not the kind of gal that wants a stallion to run her life. I wanted to run his! Anyway, I’m sure you’ll do fine. Or you can just kick the mare out. She’s probably an adult and one of your bed buddies. I don’t know, you’re a weird one and I don’t want to get too deep in your weeds.”

“She is an adult, but not currently a bed buddy. I’m trying to help her straighten her life out, but she’s kind of a rump. We’ll see how that goes. Anyway, what’s up, pink stuff?”

“Good for you, didn’t really need to know.” She waved a hoof. “The boss wants to have tea. After your shift, of course.”

I nodded. “Sure, I’ll be there, but I do have to leave at a reasonable time. My little girl has her first big-time show tonight.”

Orchid’s brow arched. “Pole dancing?”

“What? No! She’s an illusionist,” I replied, laughing. She may have been short with me sometimes, but her comedy game was always good.

"What, does she make your tongue dis— no, you know what, you're not bringing me down to your level. I'll tell Princess Celestia that you said yes but you're limited on time.” She paused, then gave me a wary look. “Where's the show? Maybe I'll drop by."

"Mare Contraire. You're certainly welcome. This is her first prime-time performance and she's really nervous."

Orchid's head tilted. "Do you just expect I'll know where that is?"

"What, young Orchid never tried a little filly-on-filly?" I asked, grinning. She was right, of course. The Mare Contraire wasn't a Canterlot landmark or anything. It was a quiet place that kept a low profile.

"I'm still young Orchid, for the record, and no. Mares don't do it for me. I want a big dumb stallion. Give me directions if you want me to show up."

I pulled out a blank contact report and wrote down the address and some directions from the palace. "What about a smart stallion?" I asked as I offered the paper in my magic.

Orchid grabbed it and stuck it in her bag. "Nope, I prefer the dumb ones. See you later," she said before turning around and leaving.

"I didn't dismiss you! I'm a lieutenant, you're not!" I shouted after her. She was already gone, though, so I just settled back in the chair and continued to do my paperwork.

There was a lot more to do when we were actually getting contacts. Even if they were little innocent contacts. Every single one had to be documented fully. We had to issue the pony a paper notice. Most of the time it was just a warning. Occasionally it was a citation.

Lieutenant Snap's night shift had dealt with seven contacts. What would my shift be like? Ten? Twenty? It was going to be a crazy day.

I wrapped up the turnover log and went out to patrol the wall. As I walked down the parapet, I peered over the stone fortifications. There were tons of ponies in the streets looking up at the castle. I could see reporters, tourists, and curious passersby. 

Ice Blossom had her forehooves up on the battlement with her head pitched over the side.

"Sergeant, something down there?" I asked when I came over.

"Uh... yes, ma'am. I believe there are two stallions cosplaying as Shining Armor, kissing," she replied without looking up at me.

When had discipline gotten so lax? … was a question I'd figure that out later, because this was something I wanted to see. I trotted closer to lean over the edge.

Sure enough, there were two stallions down below kissing in what appeared to be a fake wedding. We weren't talking a chaste kiss, either. They were going at it pretty heavy.

"Hot, right?" Ice Blossom asked.

"Yes, but get back to work! You're supposed to be watching out not down," I ordered before pulling my head back and trotting on. It was lucky I'd done so, too, because Vice Colonel Glamour was coming my way.

"Something of interest to report, Lieutenant?" she asked as she closed the distance between us.

"Lieutenant Snap reports seven contacts last shift,” I reported sharply. “None yet this shift. There appears to be a fictional wedding going on at the base of the wall."

"Fictional wedding?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, ma'am. They appear to be acting out their version of the wedding."

The vice colonel shook her head. "Very well. We'll leave that to the patrol units. Keep your guards sharp today. I imagine we're going to have quite the morning."

"Yes, ma'am," I repeated, standing aside as she went by. If she was out checking on everypony, I was going to do the same.

First, I checked the whole length of wall section I was responsible for. While I was doing that, I ducked into each tower to make sure the guards inside were keeping their eyes on the windows. I even ordered the net throwers to be uncovered.

Then I headed down to the gift shop. It was a scene of pure chaos, as every tour for the next six months was sold out. The whole place was filled with ponies, and the store manager was doing her best to keep the crowds in check.

"I'll order some extra guards to come help," I shouted at her.

She waved at me and wiggled her hooves by her ear, indicating she couldn’t hear me.

“I’ll send you more guards!” I shouted louder.

“Yes!” she squealed back while wiggling her hooves, this time indicating her desperation.

I’d already had to place a guard at the china cabinet. That was where the Cadence and Shining Armor commemorative dining sets were being displayed. They were the hottest item in town and even normally nice ponies were being a bit pushy about getting some.

Why did the words commemorative, rare, limited time, and collectable turn ponies into whack jobs? I turned around quickly to walk out and bumped into a silver mare and her blue filly.

"Terribly sorry, ma'am, miss," I said before hurrying around them and out the door.

They called something after me, but there was no time for a discussion. I'd apologized and now I had to figure out a way to get some ponies down to help without thinning out my wall too much.

"Sergeant Ice Blossom," I called as I reached the top of the steps.

She bounced to attention. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Take one pony from each tower and go assume command of the gift shop. It’s turning into a real nightmare down there. I want to see lines and order, understood?"

"On it, Lieutenant," she replied before rushing off to do what I'd asked.

Now I was down a sergeant and almost a full squad. I'd have to patrol, but I also needed to fill out the log about what I'd done. "Log then walk," I muttered as I hurried back to the office and got to work.

I hadn't been going for two minutes before there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I called.

A large bouquet of yellow begonias, orange chrysanthemums, and foal's breath came floating through the door with one of my guards behind it.

"What in Equestria is this?"

The guard shrugged. "Delivery for you, ma'am. Gate guards brought it up and I'm bringing it to you." He settled it on the desk.

"Dismissed," I muttered, waving him off and looking at the flowers. On most days, I'd have been thrilled. This was a huge display of affection. The question was, from who?

"I don't have time for this," I said to nopony. When had I started talking to myself?

I went back to my log, but the flowers were just too hard to ignore. Somepony had gone to a lot of trouble to try and match my coat and mane. A minute wouldn't hurt. I pulled the card off.

Sunny

These last few weeks together have been wonderful. I've enjoyed spending more time with you. Consider these a token of my affection and an invitation for us to take the next step.

Yours, Soarin

Oh. Oh, this was not good timing. Soarin knew I didn't take next steps, right? We'd talked about this! We'd talked about it a lot! I wasn't trying to play around with his feelings. We got together, had some fun, and then did our own thing.

I'd been doing my own thing while we'd been doing our thing. Was he not? No, he knew me! I didn't have time for this!

I tossed the card onto the desk and trotted out to go on patrol again. Why did everypony want to rush into serious relationships? That was for older ponies, like Radiant Orchid.

"Stop, stop there!" I heard somepony shouting. When I turned around, a pegasus with a camera was hovering over the wall, snapping pictures. My guards were responding as expected.

I slowly made my way towards them. It was best to let my guards do their job. My interference wouldn't add any value and may make it seem like I didn't have faith in them.

"Sir, please land here," the guard ordered and the pegasus did so.

The pegasus pouted. "I just wanted to get a picture!"

"We understand, but we can't have ponies flying over the walls as they see fit,” he explained. “Please go to the front gate and sign up for one of the tours if you want to get unobstructed pictures. They are adding new, photo-only tours to the list and those aren't sold out."

He was doing a good job. I'd have to make a note of that.

"Really? Okay, sorry to cause trouble!"

The guard smiled and nodded. "We all make mistakes. Now there is no citation for this, but I do have to give you a written warning and log it, so please don't do this again."

They didn't need me for this, so I turned around and went back to patrolling. We'd log the contact and move on with life. No big deal. 

My guards were good at what they did and I was a decent commander. When I reached the end of the wall, I stopped and peered down at the gift shop.

Ice Blossom had whipped everypony into shape. She had three lines going in, two coming out, and found rope dividers. She was a cut up but, like me, when it was time to work, it was time to work. We might just make it through this day after all.
> 14. My Scary Tour
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Aurum! Aurum! Aurum!” I chanted happily as I trotted a circle around my cousin.

Aurum just laughed as she walked to our kitchen table, levitating two plates of fruit-glazed pancakes. “Come on, Azurite, it isn’t that great.”

I slipped up onto my chair and eased closer to the table. “Isn’t that great? What other pony is lucky enough to have a cousin cook breakfast for her five days a week? Do you realize you’ve never sent me off to class once without something good to eat?”

The plate landed and she sat down. “Have I really?”

“You really have! A month’s worth of breakfasts and about half as many dinners,” I replied before scooping up the top pancake in my magic, rolling it up, and stuffing half of it in my mouth.

She laughed and pointed at my place setting. “I brought out the silverware for a reason! As far as breakfasts and dinners go, it’s the least I can do. You won’t take rent. You do more than half of the chores. You let me have the bedroom. What is a girl supposed to do to show her appreciation?”

“Breahfash?” I said around my mouth full of pancake. I let the rest of it settle back to the plate and snagged my silverware. We were being fancy it seemed.

“Yes, breakfast!” Her nose wriggled before she started to eat, too. “Or whatever you said. It really isn’t a big deal.”

“It means a lot to me.” I cut the half-eaten pancake up into small pieces.

Aurum smiled and softly shook her head. “You’ve always been such a good girl. Do you know that? Always sweet, always polite. When you were a foal, you weren’t any trouble. I’ll be honest, I was so scared for your parents. Unlike everypony else in the family, they had you so late. After all, I was just old enough to have foals when you were born. And yet there you were. Sweet, small, and well-behaved.”

I munched on my pancakes and contemplated that. Mom and Dad had waited a very long time to have a foal. Aurum had been more of an aunt than a cousin when I was little. Finally, I shrugged. “I think I was just raised well.”

“Maybe so. I wish all young ponies were as well-mannered as you. Now, I don’t want to rush you, but you will need to leave for class soon. What is it this week, depreciating assets? Capital expenses?”

I wasn’t going to be late! She didn’t know that yet, though. “No, I’m not that kind of pony! This week is dental plans, I think. Thankfully, there isn’t a lot of information here. The Royal Guard just uses a slightly different plan than the one you use.”

“Oh yeah, how come?” Aurum asked.

“Because…” I trailed. My head tilted. “I don’t know! I hope to know at the end of the week. Then I’ll tell you and you’ll know, too!”

She laughed, shaking her head.

“Oh! I have a surprise for you!” I chirped happily while levitating an envelope that had been inconspicuously left near my pile of mail. It fluttered over and landed in front of her.

“A surprise? After I just said you already do too much?” she asked before picking it up and opening it. Her eyes got big and her ears stood right up. “A palace tour! Azurite, they’re sold out! How did you get a palace tour? Wait, this says today? What about class?”

“I’m a royal guard! They opened up some additional tours and reserved a few as a gift to royal guards and their families. I know how much you’ve wanted to go since they announced the wedding,” I explained.

Aurum flushed and held the tickets to her chest. “You’re so sweet little cousin! You didn’t answer all of my questions though. What about class?”

“Oh, right, that! I’m super far ahead and even though I don’t know dental plans I’ll just stay late tomorrow and catch up. I asked the instructor if I could miss a day. Normally they don’t do that, but she said in my case it was allowed,” I explained.

“So we’re going to the palace today?”

“Yup! After this wonderful breakfast, of course.” I chimed.

“Well of course. In that case, relax and eat slowly,” she said before doing just that. Midway through chewing, her head popped up and she looked right at me. “Is this a good idea?”

Huh? Of course it was! She wanted to go. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Azurite, I’m floored by this gesture. Isn’t this asking a lot of you?”

“No, the tickets weren’t that expensive,” I replied.

Her head shook. “No, sweetie. There are going to be other ponies on this tour. The palace is going to be crowded. Are you sure this is a good idea? I don’t want you doing something like this just for me.”

Oh… When I’d bought the tickets, I hadn’t thought about that. In fact, until this moment, I hadn’t thought about that at all. I just wanted Aurum to get her tour and be happy. Now I was starting to feel the creeping sensation in my belly. “Uh…”

She reached out to take one of my hooves in hers. “It’s okay, we don’t have to go. Just the fact you’d even do this for me is so sweet.”

No, that wasn’t right. Why did I have to be like this? I closed my eyes tight and shook my head. “No, we’re going. We’re going to go and I’m going to be normal. Just like every other normal pony.”

The sound of her chair shifting caught my ear and I felt her at my side. She looped a hoof around me and squeezed me tight. “You are normal, Azurite. You’re as normal as me or anypony else. You just have phobias brought on by real trauma. That isn’t your fault.”

My breath caught as I took it. I kept my eyes closed tight, willing myself not to cry but I could feel the warmth of tears already. “I know. I just wish it never happened,” I whispered.

“Me too, but it did. We can’t wish it away, we have to work at it. Isn’t that what Mindful Soul says?”

“Yes,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

“Then we’ll work on it. Now, come on, let’s eat breakfast and enjoy the day. We don’t have to go on the tour to have fun.”

I set a hoof over hers and shook my head. “No, I want to go. There will be royal guards everywhere. If I get upset, we’ll leave. Let’s at least try, okay? I want you to have the tour.”

Aurum seemed uncertain. She just held onto me for a few more moments before saying, “Alright, we’ll try. Don’t stay for my sake, though. If you get upset, we’ll leave immediately.” Her last statement was resolute. She was going into mom mode.

“Okay, well, enough tears,” I said while wiping my eyes. “Let’s eat and then go have fun.” I could do this for her. I could keep it together for one day. It wasn’t even one day, one little tour. Three hours, tops? I could do that.

She seemed reluctant to let me go but did so after a soft stroke of my mane. “Alright, that sounds good.”

We went back to eating breakfast. I wasn’t as excited as I had been before. Deep down, I was filled with dread. I wanted Aurum to be happy. I wanted to be normal. But I was walking right into the things that scared me the most. Mindful Soul would have been proud, but what did she know?

Aurum tried to distract me by talking about the silly things my dad did at the store during the day. She’d been working two days with him there and two days with Mom over at the florist shop. It was all part-time, but it made her happy.

It helped a bit. My parents always acted a bit more like adults and less like parents when I wasn’t around, and Aurum had a good story or two.

After we’d finished eating and put away the dishes, it was time to head off to the palace.

Aurum and I trotted literally side by side through the streets of Canterlot. It made me feel better when I bumped up against her. That way I knew she was there.

My heart started to beat faster the closer we got to the castle gate and, when it came into view, somepony gasped. It was me, I gasped.

The gate was a madhouse. There were at least a hundred ponies trying to get glimpses inside. Some were looking, others were taking pictures, and a few were getting dangerously close to the line of royal guards outside of it.

“It’s okay,” Aurum said softly, setting a hoof on my back. “It’s clear on the other side, we just have to get in that line over there between the ropes.” She pointed a hoof to a well-organized line outside of one of the small, pony-sized doors adjacent to the gate.

“Uh huh,” I whispered as my eyes darted back and forth, picking out ways to run away.

Aurum led me to the back of the line where a royal guard was standing.

“Hello, ladies,” he said in a friendly voice. “This line is for palace tours. Do you have tickets?”

“We sure do!” I heard Aurum say. I couldn’t see anything because once we’d stopped, I buried my face against her side. That way I couldn’t see all of the ponies milling about.

“She’s shy,” came Aurum’s voice again.

“That’s alright, we cater to all ponies, shy or not. I hope she’s not too shy, because Princess Celestia does occasionally show up on these tours.”

“Oh, my. How exciting,” Aurum breathed.

The line moved slowly, which was excruciating for me. There was only a velvet rope between us and an unruly horde of ponies. I kept close to Aurum as we slowly moved up the queue. She kept a forehoof over my shoulders, protecting me.

With each step, I counted down in my head. Three hours. Two hours, fifty-nine minutes. Just make it through and then it’s over. It would be over soon and we could go home. Eventually it was our turn to go through the door.

“Alright, everypony, come on through,” another guard called before waving us all in.

The courtyard was breathtakingly large, and our group was quite small by comparison. Aurum had been right: once we were past the insanity of the gate, things were peaceful inside. Maybe this wouldn’t be so horrible after all.

My desire to bolt for the nearest exit started to subside, leaving a more subtle, unsettled feeling instead. That was an improvement, and the group was only twelve ponies in all, so that was manageable.

We’d been corralled into a roped-off area opposite of the palace’s lavish main entry. The large Prench doors that led into the foyer were beautifully carved with a sun on the left and a moon on the right.

I was so interested in them I almost didn’t notice the earth pony trotting over and holding a white flag with a flamingo on it. That caught my attention, because it was Aurum’s favorite animal. She even slept with a plush one!

His name was Flamingle the flamingo and I just knew he’d get along with O.C. Topus. Of course, O.C. was still living with my parents. Just in case.

“Hello, everypony!” the pony called with a cheerful, peppy voice. “I’m Rockette Facts and I’m going to be your tour guide today. Before we get started, I just need to go over a couple of rules that may be new to you if you’ve been on a tour before.”

She blew her short pink bangs out of her eyes and went on. “The first rule is that you absolutely cannot stray from the tour group. If you can’t see my flag, you’re going to have a bad time. If one of the royal guards finds you outside of my flag radius, you’ll be escorted out of the palace.

“The second rule is that we won’t be able to stay in the gift shop for as long as you’d like. When the tour completes, you’ll have half an hour to shop. Then the next tour will have a turn. Sorry about that but it is out of my hooves.”

Only half an hour to shop? That was an odd rule. Were ponies taking too long? What was that all about?

“The third rule—and this is a big one—you might see some construction inside. That’s because we’re doing some remodels and expansions for Princess Luna. Please resist the temptation to peek, as her guards are a lot less fun than Princess Celestia’s!”

Rockette then clapped her hooves. “Alright, that’s it! Follow me everypony,” she said before leading the way to the front doors. The two palace guards that were flanking the doors lit their magic in perfect sync and drew them open. It was an impressive display.

“Ooooh,” Aurum whispered when we trotted inside. Her eyes were large as she looked around the magnificent foyer, taking in the rich pink-tinted marble floor, plush red carpet, gold-wood wainscoting, and magnificent pillars.

“Breathtaking, isn’t it?” Rockette was trotting backwards so she could face us while she walked and talked. “A bit of trivia for you ponies. This foyer was not the original palace entry. In fact, it isn’t even the second entry. The palace has grown and changed over the last few centuries. When ponies began to sing their way to the Grand Galloping Gala and shift into the receiving line, Princess Celestia decided a bigger space was needed.”

Aurum looked over at me. “Do you have Gala tickets in that little bag of yours, too?”

“If only!” I squeaked as we all trotted up the stairs at the back of the foyer.

As we wandered through a few sitting rooms and halls, Rockette continued to talk about the history of the palace. Eventually, we ended up in front of a pair of Prench doors much like the ones that led into the palace.

“Okay, ponies, get those cameras ready. This is what you’ve all been waiting for,” She turned to the royal guards stationed at the flanks. “Hit it, girls!”

Much like out front, the two ponies pulled the doors open with perfect choreography. The sight beyond them resulted in gasps from everypony, even myself.

On the other side was the Hall of Stained Glass. The hall itself was quite simple. It was just more of the same marble and stone. It was the windows that ran along the back palace wall that made it one of the wonders of Equestria.

“Yes, behold the Hall of Stained Glass! Each of these magnificent masterpieces was assembled by one of Equestria’s greatest artisans under the guidance of Princess Celestia herself,” Rockette explained as she continued to walk backwards. “Each one depicts a famous event in our history. They tell the story of our modern kingdom!”

We were all staring, mouths agape when a clear voice cut through the grandeur. “I think you’re giving me a bit too much credit, Rockette. All I did was provide the theme and some general notes.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it: the endlessly flowing and sparkling, multi-colored mane. There was only one pony living or dead that had a mane like that. Princess Celestia! I squawked and darted under Aurum before falling to the floor.

Everypony else bowed low. Aurum did her best, essentially sitting on me with her chest resting on my head.

“Who’s to say what actually happened, Princess? None of us were there,” Rockette replied cheerfully, bowing.

The princess actually giggled. “I was there, I’m telling you what happened!”

“Who’s to say?” Rockette said once more with a wink.

Princess Celestia waved a hoof at her and then turned to look at us. “Welcome to the palace, my little ponies. I apologize for interrupting your tour. We were just passing through.”

We? We who? I peeked out from Aurum’s chest fluff to see Lady Cadence beside the princess. “Eep!” It just squeaked out, but the Princess totally heard it.

The magnificent, beautiful, perfect, and entirely too tall alicorn peered down at Aurum and me. “Is she alright?”

Aurum eagerly nodded. “Oh, yes, Princess. She’s just a little shy and overwhelmed by this treat.”

“I see. Well it is a treat to have little ponies in this palace,” the princes said softly before bowing her head and briefly touching her horn to where mine poked out from below Aurum. The moment she did, I felt magical energy ripple along it and into my body. It was warm… It was wonderful.

“You’re most welcome here.,” the princess said with a smile. “All of you are. Now, please excuse us. We have some wedding details to attend.”

And just like that, they were gone.

Everypony stood and Aurum helped me up. I could see she wanted to giggle but she held it in. I wasn’t mad at all. The princess had touched me with her horn and it made me feel calm.

“How cool is that! Come on ponies, we have more tour left!” Rockette waved her flamingo flag and led us on.

After that, the rest of the tour was nothing but a blur. I couldn’t pay attention. I couldn’t listen. All I could think about was how I felt. I felt great! I felt brave! I felt… normal! She’d touched me for a fraction of a second and I’d felt normal. It was a relief.

A blissful relief. What had she done? Was it a spell? Was it part of her magical energy? Would I feel this way forever? Even if it was only temporary, it was worth it. I stuck next to Aurum and just enjoyed that feeling.

Rockette stopped and turned to us. “Alright, everypony, thank you for being so great and following the rules. Who’s ready to hit the gift shop?”

“Me!” numerous voices answered.

That pulled me out of my head. We all trotted out of the palace entrance and made our way over to the gift shop. When I saw it, that feeling of relief started to drain.

Rockette’s ears flattened to the sides. “What is going on here?”

There were ponies everywhere. They were spilling out into the courtyard, and that was just what we could see.

“Let me go figure this out. They should be gone by now! Everypony stay right here,” Rockette called before trotting towards the wall of bodies.

“We don’t have to shop Azurite,” Aurum whispered.

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. I’m okay. I won’t go in. Maybe Rockette will get them all to leave anyway?”

“Maybe,” Aurum replied hopefully.

Rockette was gone for about ten minutes before trotting back over. “Okay, ponies, it’s a mess. Evidently, they lost track of which ponies are on which tour, and the lines are so long the whole thirty-minute rule is falling part. At this point, it is shop at your own risk. I’ll be right over here. Good luck!”

Aurum and I shuffled closer to the sea of ponies. I took one look at it, snorted, and declared, “Yeah, I’m not going in.”

“No problem! Will you be okay out here by yourself?”

“Oh yeah, I’ll go stand by that royal guard over there?” I said, pointing to one off to the side.

“That’s a good idea. Why don’t you go—ooph!”

A yellow-coated unicorn guard had turned around too quickly and bumped into both Aurum and me. Her armor was so brightly polished it was like looking at the sun. She looked down and said shortly and without sincerity, “Terribly sorry, ma'am, miss,” before rushing off.

“Hey, you, apologize right!” I squeaked after her, suddenly finding a voice. Tall ponies always tried to walk over me and I could stand that, but bumping into Aurum was just not right. Especially for a royal guard. She should know better!

She was already gone, though. I huffed, looked up at Aurum. “Are you alright?”

Her nose wrinkled and she nodded. “Yes, just a little bump, although that armor didn’t feel great. She should be more careful!”

“Yes, she should. She’s probably just upset about the lack of order, but that’s no reason to take it out on us. Anyway… you go shop, I’ll be over there.”

“Well, if you’re sure, I’ll just go nose about. Don’t leave that guard’s side so I’ll know where to find you,” Aurum instructed in her mom voice.

I liked her mom voice. “I’ll be there!”

We went our separate ways: Aurum into the belly of the beast and me to go sit next to a guard that was stationed at the bottom of the wall. His eyes tracked me as I approached but he didn’t say anything.

I pointed at the flamingo flag Rockette was holding. “I’m still in sight of my tour guide, I’m just not going into that crazy place. If it’s all the same to you, I’m more comfortable here.”

“Suits me,” he said without looking down.

“Is it always like this in the palace?”

His head shook. “No, miss. This is new. It’s normally busy, but this is a nightmare. A lot is changing. A new princess, a wedding, and all that.”

“I see. Well, maybe someday I’ll work here, too. I’m in PRO school right now,” I muttered. “I’m hoping to be first in my class so I’ll have the best assignment choice. Perhaps the City Guard could use me.”

He briefly looked down and then hurriedly turned his eyes back up. “Aim for the top,” was his only reply.

Aim for the top? The palace was one of the best places a pony could work when it came to prestige. It seemed like too crazy a place for a pony like me, though. But… perhaps I’d see the princess again and she could do that horn trick. That would be nice.

Maybe this would be the place for me after all.
> 15. Trixie the Uncertain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The office door opened and Lieutenant Daisy trotted in. Her brow arched behind her dark rimmed glasses. “You look worn out, Day.”

I turned the logbook around and pushed it towards her. “Twelve contacts at the wall, and then there was a small riot in the gift shop. The tours are all off schedule and the 30-minute rule has failed. I’m actually surprised to see you because I didn’t even realize it was time for shift change.”

Daisy moved over to the chair opposite mine and sat down. She ran her hoof along the log. “This is amazing. We might need to request additional guards if this keeps up.”

“You’re right about that but I imagine all the other sections are in the same boat as us,” I said as I got up and started to gather my things.

“Doesn’t hurt to ask. I relieve you, ma’am. See you tomorrow,” she said formally. Scarlet Daisy was by the book. Unlike Ginger Snap. I always wondered how their mornings went.

“True. I stand relieved.” When I got out onto the battlements I called, “Lieutenant Daisy has the wall.” There was an acknowledgement by the guards around me and that was that. I was off to the palace to visit with Princess Celestia.

I was making my way down one of the back halls when Lady Cadence came out from one of the side doors and turned my way.

When we were in speaking distance, I smiled at her. “Hello, Lady Cadence, it‘s good to see you again.”

She paused and looked at me curiously before replying, “Oh, yes. Yes, it is. Nice to see you too, that is.”

Had she forgotten who I was? We’d spent over an hour together! More than that. “So, do you believe all of this craziness over your wedding?”

Lady Cadence shrugged. “Is it not appropriate? An occasion such as this should be celebrated. I think it is wonderful that all of these ponies want to share their affection for me. The more, the better.”

Maybe I was the pony that had forgotten who the other was supposed to be! Wasn’t that the exact opposite of what she’d said before? I tried to keep smiling. “Yeah, I can see your point.” I cleared my throat. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to visit the princess.”

She nodded and tipped her nose in the air. “You are excused.” And then she just trotted on.

“That was weird,” I muttered as I turned the corner, went down the hall, and ended up at Princess Celestia’s office. As usual, Sergeant Storm Rider was outside the door with one of his subordinates.

Before he could even say a word, I pulled out my pass and levitated it in front of his eyes. “I’m in no mood today! Door, please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, knocking on the door loudly three times and then pulling it open for me. He learned! “Have a nice visit.”

“Thank you. Be glad you’re not a palace guard right now. It’s a nightmare out there.”

Storm Rider grinned briefly. “I tackled a pony today that managed to get inside. Be glad you’re not the palace guard officer in charge of the section that let that one get by.”

I winced. “Oh, ouch. Was it really necessary to tackle him?”

He shook his head. “No, but I wasn’t going to take the chance. Nopony gets that close to her while I’m standing here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I walked through the open door and as it started to shut behind me, I whispered at him, “I’m going to boop her nose. Try to stop me!”

“What!” he shout just as I magically shut the door in his face.

I took my helmet off and set it on the entry table. Princess Celestia was looking at me over the rim of some reading glasses, a scroll levitated in her magic.

“Why are you wearing those?” I asked. “Aren’t you an immortal pony with perfect everything?”

“I like to try new things. How do they make me look?” She brought the scroll down so I could see her face.

I set one hoof on her coffee table and leaned in close to peer at them. “Well, let me get a good look. Come closer?”

The princess leaned in so I set my hoof on her nose. “Boop.”

Her head tilted and she smiled. “Is that all I’m going to get out of you?”

“No, you look good with them, but not in the ‘I’m a smart pony’ way.” I settled back against the soft cushions. “In fact, I’d say they give you more of the sexy secretary look.”

She frowned briefly.

“What? You knew I was going to say something like that.”

“Oh, I did. What bothers me is that Raven said the same thing, which is most vexing. Evidently, if I wear anything different, I’m being a ‘sexy something’.”

“Well, that only makes sense, right? We have certain things we’re expected to wear. You wear a crown, I wear armor. Anything else we put on is meant to attract attention. We dress up to get looks. So when I see an immortal—”

“Ageless,” she interrupted.

“Pardon?”

“I’m not immortal. I’m Ageless.”

I sat up straight. “What’s the difference?”

“An immortal is a creature that cannot die. An ageless simply does not age. Though it would be difficult to achieve, I most certainly can be killed. Thus, my House Guard.”

“Really? I thought they were just there to keep ponies from bothering you so much that you couldn’t do your job.”

Princess Celestia laughed and shook her head. “No! Well, I mean yes. That too. I love my ponies but there has to be some boundary. Make no mistake, my House Guard and even you are there to protect me from violence.

“I am an alicorn and I am ageless. I am also a powerful sorceress, but I am not immortal or eternal. At some point, I may cease to be. For now, I’d prefer to just be me and not a sexy version of something.”

My nose wiggled. “I already took my job seriously, but now I’m going to have to take it more so. I didn’t realize I was also protecting you from harm.”

“Well, you are.” Her head tilted to the side. “How about some tea?”

“That would be lovely. Say, while you brew that, I just saw Lady Cadence. She was different than last time. She suddenly wants more ponies to pay attention? What happened to the small, quiet wedding?”

The princess’s tea set was floating by and setting itself up on the coffee table. “I suppose all brides have the right to change their mind. Her decision was sudden, I’ll admit, but that is her right.”

“I suppose so. I’ve never even thought about it,” I replied as I watched the kettle swirl about, heated by magic. It then tipped over, pouring through the infuser, and drained into my mug.

“You’ve never thought about your own wedding?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Not interested.”

“Not that I am judging, but when you were a filly, did you play pretend? If so, was it not about weddings and the like? Most fillies at least imagine or play at a wedding,” she said as she finished off the preparation.

“Well, my mother is an actress, so most of the time I was in her theatre watching her,” I mused while I sipped my tea. “Most of my games were me fantasizing about going on from there to become a big celebrity. Mom even called me her little star back then. And you know I don’t have a dad, so I never saw any of that romance stuff. It was just the plays and the work.”

The tea was outstanding as always. Hundreds of years of practice just couldn’t be beat.

“That speaks volumes in explaining the background that resulted in an exceptional pony like you,” the princess said before sipping at her own tea.

I grinned. “Exceptional? You think I’m exceptional?”

“Of course. Most things about you are an exception to the usual.”

My hoof wagged at her. “I see what you did there.”

“Do you? Are you sure? Would you see it clearer with my sexy secretary glasses?” They levitated off her snout and flew onto my face.

“Ha ha ha,” I said dully. “Actually though that is a pretty decent joke for you.”

“For me? What do you mean by that?” She frowned.

“Oh come on, don’t be upset. Look, you’re a wonderful pony. I mean the pony part of you, not the ageless alicorn sorceress thing. Despite that, your humor is a bit… well… I’m going to guess four hundred years old. I appreciate it, but I’m not going to laugh about it later.”

She tipped her nose in the air. “How rude!”

“You’re the one that taught us to be honest!”

She grimaced and peered at me. “Rude and honest are two different things, Sunny. Perhaps my humor is just too subtle for you.”

“Sure, sure. We’ll just have to agree to disagree.” I picked up a biscuit and nibbled on it. “Hey, tell me something?”

Her brow arched. “What do you want to know?”

“Besides tea with me, what do you do for fun?”

“Oh, you think this is what I do for fun?”

Another biscuit flew its way lazily to my mouth. “Uh -huh.”

“I see. We’re at that stage now where we open up a bit more about each other? Although I shudder to think what more you could open up about.”

With a swish of my tail, I leaned forwards and said with a grin, “If you don’t share, I’ll just have to.”

The princess leaned back and took a long breath in. “You’re a devious little pony. Fine, if you must know, I enjoy reading more than anything.”

It took all of my effort not to roll my eyes. “With all due respect, Princess, everypony in this kingdom knows that reading is your favorite thing to do. Tell me something I don’t know!”

Her nose wiggled and she set a hoof on her chin.

I just stared back at her.

“I like to take showers in waterfalls,” she said softly.

Oh, that was priceless. I couldn’t help but grin. “That is amazing. So you just sneak out, hop in a waterfall, and have at it? Is it the part about showering in public view? Naughty!”

She gasped and her ears shot up. “No! Bad, Sunny. It isn’t like that at all. There is just an amazing experience. I know of some hidden glades with perfect pools of crystal water. As the river crashes down from above, it displays a rainbow in the spray.

“I’m surrounded by peace, calm, and nature. The bird songs, the chittering of creatures, and even the fish swimming by. It makes me feel like I’m a part of the world once more instead of being a princess cooped up in a castle.”

Oh. This actually wasn’t a priceless joke worthy of mockery. It was a beautiful sentiment. “So, you really do just want to be a pony sometimes?”

“Of course, I thought you understood that better than most.”

“Well I assumed! I just wasn’t sure. Now I’m sure!”

She smiled. “Indeed. Now, tell me something about you that everypony in the kingdom doesn’t know.”

“That’s a tough one. Not because I like keeping secrets, but because I don’t. Let’s see,” I said as I pondered. Then it hit me. My nose scrunched up.

In an immediate reaction, the princess leaned forwards. “Oh yes, the look on your face tells me this is going to be good.”

After glancing at the door to make certain it was shut, I ran my hooves through my mane and whispered, “I actually like that ponies call me Miss Thunder. I regret that stupid calendar, but I love the attention.”

The princess chuckled softly and her horn lit. She opened the door of her desk and flew a small bundle out of it. When it landed on my lap, I realized immediately it was the calendar I’d appeared in. “Would you sign mine?”

How could I be mad when I’d just told her I wasn’t really? A pen flew over and poked at my nose.

“Sign it,” she whispered.

I snatched the pen, flipped to Thunder Moon, and started to sign right on my rump. “Where did you even get this?”

With an evil little giggle, she replied, “Orchid.”

“I’m going to make her life miserable,” I muttered before offering the calendar back. “Why did you keep it?”

The princess idly flipped through it. “I keep all of the publications that feature my students. Granted, this is the first time I’ve ever had something like this from one. Was this peer reviewed?”

I huffed and stood up. “Yes, yes it was! In fact, I suspect it has been reviewed quite a lot.”

Princess Celestia started laughing at that. She kept her hoof in front of her lips, though, to keep it reined in.

“Well then, I’m glad I could amuse you,” I huffed again. “I actually do need to head out, though. A friend of mine is performing at the Mare Contraire. I’d invite you, but that would be a fiasco right now. Unless you have some way to sneak in?”

Her brow arched. “What if I did? Are you just trying to trick me into coming to a mare bar?”

I shook my head. “No, in this one case, I’m legitimately not. My friend Trixie is doing her first prime time performance and… well… I’m proud of her.”

“That is so sweet of you Sunny. As much as I would love to attend, I’m afraid tonight would not be possible. Give her my best.”

“Will do! And Princess, I don’t think it is silly you bathe in waterfalls. In fact, that was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever learned from you. Keep trying to be a pony, that is my favorite thing about you,” I said as I gathered up my things and put my helmet on.

Princess Celestia’s cheeks flushed slightly. “Thank you. That is probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I shrugged. “It happens occasionally. Thank you for tea and our time together. See you soon.”

“Until next time, Sunny,” she called after me as I stepped out into the hall and exchanged glances with Storm Rider.

“You’ll never know if I did it or not,” I whispered before trotting off.

The palace was still busy and I did my best to avoid every tour, pony, and unwanted attention I could. With all of the happenings, it was perfectly believable that some senior officer would snatch me up and put me to work. I didn’t want that tonight. Trixie may have said she didn’t want me there but deep down, I knew she did.

When I reached the gate it was pure chaos. I took my helmet off and stuffed it haphazardly into my saddle bag. It barely fit and the crest was poking out from under the flap. It was enough of a disguise to get me past the sentries and all of the crazy ponies trying to get in. 

Once I was further away from the palace, the city mostly went back to normal. At least until I got to the neighborhood that was home to the Mare and several other night life establishments.

The bar was already busy when I approached the main door. There was a chalkboard outside with a crude drawing of Trixie on it. ‘Tonight, be amazed by the master illusionist Trixie the Magnificent.’ Subtle. She wasn’t an artist, but maybe she didn’t need to be.

Trixie’s advertisement seemed to be grabbing the attention of ponies that were walking by. Perhaps she knew what she was doing. I crept through the crowd and around behind the bar where Dolly and Emerald were already hard at work.

“It’s like the weekend in here,” I said.

Dolly beamed. “Yes, evidently ponies like illusionists! If you don’t mind, can you put your shirt on and cover until Mango shows up?”

Yes, that was exactly what I wanted to do after my day: work a second job. I wasn’t going to say no to Dolly, though, so I awkwardly removed my armor behind the bar. That yielded a few whistles and cat calls. The place was just too busy to know where they’d come from, otherwise I may have had myself a date to Trixie’s show.

I stowed my armor, pulled on my shirt, and went to work. “Is Trixie at least here yet?”

Emerald snorted. “She’s been here for hours pacing back in forth in her ’dressing room,’” she said while making air quotes with her forehooves.

“Is she nervous?”

Dolly nodded. “Excruciatingly. She was washing glasses but she kept dropping them. Once she’d broken the sixth one, I sent her back there again. I’ve honestly never seen her like this. It almost makes her seem...”

“Normal? Like a regular pony? Not entitled?”  I poured two ciders for a pair of stallions sitting at the end of the bar.

“Yes, but said in a politer way,” Dolly replied before picking up a shaker and mixing a cocktail.

“Here you go, fellas,” I said in passing as I levitated the ciders down, then looked back to Dolly. “Should I go talk to her?”

Dolly shrugged. “Maybe? Maybe not. She’s an odd one. Right now, I need you to mix four cherry fizzy drinks.”

Cherry fizzy drinks. I could do that. It would be easier than giving a pep talk to Trixie, so that was the task I set myself to. Not that I was afraid. I was just nervous. After all, Trixie might fail and then what? She’d been so sad before.

For the time being, I focused on the fizzy drinks. That was something I was very good at, so I made them and kept at it while orders came in.

After about an hour, Mango trotted through the crowd and around the bar. She pulled her t-shirt on and looked at me. “Hi.”

“Hi,” I replied before starting a vanilla-and-orange fizzy.

Emerald came our way. “You’re late! What is your excuse?”

Mango’s head tilted. “Coffee.”

“Not enough or too much?” Emerald asked, pushing the green mare towards a group of thirsty ponies.

“Coffee, coffee, coffeeeeee!” was all I heard Mango say.

Dolly waved a hoof at me. “Better go check on your girl. She goes on in an hour.”

“Right!” I finished the last drink I was making, then started towards the back room.

Getting there, however, was not easy with how packed the place was. This was a weekend crowd and then some. Perhaps Dolly should investigate more live entertainment.

I went through the ‘Employees Only’ door and quickly closed it behind me. The lounge was empty, but I could see light under the bottom of the bathroom door, so I knocked. “Trixie, it’s me.”

“Please go away. Trixie does not need you.” Her voice was not convincing at all as it wavered more than once.

“You know, I don’t think I’m going to go. I think Trixie does need me and is just too stubborn to ask,” I said against the wood.

“Trixie is not stubborn!” the mare called back. “Sunny Day is stubborn with her chore board and rules and keeping the show like it is.”

“Open the door, Trixie.”

“Never!”

At that point, I just turned the handle and it opened. As I pushed it, I said, “In the future, you should lock the door. Now—oh, my…” I trailed.

Trixie was sprawled on the floor. Her mane was a mess and there were lines down her cheeks where her mascara had run. She threw her forehooves over her face. “Don’t look!”

What I was seeing is what the Contemporary Equestrian Common Dictionary defined as a hot mess. I trotted over and sat down next to her. “Hey now, I’m here to help you out. Now, tell me what this is all about?”

“Trixie has a real second chance! Trixie has never had a second chance. If Trixie blows this, then it means she isn’t that magnificent,” she muttered as she moved her head to rest against my leg.

“Yet,” I said while I started to brush a knot out of her mane.

“Yet what?”

“It means Trixie isn’t that magnificent, yet,” I said as I did my best to put her usual style together. “You’re so extreme. Being famous and magnificent takes time. You know this routine. The show will be great and even if it isn’t, you’ll get another chance. Very few ponies get things right the first or even the second time.”

“How does Sunny Day know that?”

“Sunny Day’s first command was horrible, but I wasn’t ready for the one I have now. In fact, I got exactly what I was ready for. I hadn’t taken my training that seriously, and I ignored a friend that tried to help me. So when everypony else got a good assignment, I didn’t. The amount of effort I put in resulted in exactly what I got out.”

Trixie pushed herself up to sit in front of me while I continued to work on her mane. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof. “What did you do to get where you are?”

“I endured for as long as I could. Then I got angry. I started watching ponies that were better at my job than me. I learned from them and emulated their behavior. Eventually, I got my shot.

“Now, let’s get you cleaned up and ready. This is your first prime-time performance of many. The truth is, Trixie, the house may be packed, but one good show isn’t going to make you magnificent. You only get to be magnificent if you continuously delight.” I winked. “Kind of like me in bed.”

Trixie set her hoof on my chest. “Sunny Day is magnificent in bed.” She then leaned in close and kissed me.

It was a warm, passionate, and very real kiss. I melted in a second before begrudgingly setting a hoof on her shoulder and pushing her back. “Wait, wait, wait! We talked about this. I can’t be your mentor and lover.”

She set her lips into a prefect pout. “Trixie is full of nervous energy and feeling genuinely grateful. Make an exception? Please?”

Dolly would not approve… But forget Dolly, she was out front with a ton of ponies! She wouldn’t even know.

I grabbed Trixie and pulled her up off the bathroom floor. “Yes, but not in here. Come on, let’s go up to Dolly’s room!”

Breaking this rule would be later Sunny’s problem. Let her deal with it!
> 16. My Day After
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun had gone down over an hour ago, but that didn’t bother me at all. Not just because we were safely in our apartment, but because my anxiety levels had dropped dramatically for the whole day. They’d been so low that Aurum and I had done errands after the palace tour.

We’d done most of our shopping in the district where my dad’s shop was, which meant a lot of talking to ponies who had known me since I was ‘this high.’ Even the few short jokes that were leveled at me hadn’t dampened my mood.

Aurum had insisted that we get a cake to celebrate a great day, and I wasn’t about to tell her no. She’d then further decided that we would have a party, which was also fine with me.

After a stop by my parent’s place to pick up an honored guest, we’d headed home. Now I was setting the table while Aurum got ready.

“Alright, does everypony have their hats?” I asked, looking around the table. They did, of course. We’d even gone to the extra effort to find the right sizes for each one of them.

As the newest member of the Plush Party Gang, Flamingle was sitting at the head of the table with a bright orange hat on.

O.C. Topus sat to her right and had on a black hat with purple frills. He was, after all, a gentlepony… well, a gentlepus.

I had my hat, too. I was sitting on the other side of O.C., eyeing the big, beautiful cake that Aurum had picked out. She had good taste. On the surface, it looked like nothing more than a normal sheet cake with white frosting and smiling yellow faces. Beneath all those cute little smiles, however, was the real gold.

Mrs. Domino’s bakery had been a family favorite for years. She figured out a way to layer sheet cakes just right to create a dream of flavors. First it was vanilla, then chocolate, then strawberry, then a layer of buttercream, followed by another vanilla, and finally a subtle rose-infused vanilla layer.

Each layer was thin, too. Nopony knew how she managed to do it, but when you cut into it and saw all of those layers, it was a masterpiece.

“I’m ready!” Aurum called cheerfully as she trotted out of the bedroom in a fancy, shimmering black gown.

“Whoa!” I squeaked.

She crossed the living room and winked. “I see I’ve still got it. Now, let’s see here. Hat, hat, hat, and… uh… Azurite, how did you get a little hat on Mr. Peepers? And Diver Pony?”

How did I? That should be obvious! Also, I was glad that Mr. Peepers and Diver Pony were back together. It was about time.

“You know, the usual way you get fish to put on hats?”

Mr. Peepers blew two bubbles and swam a lap around Diver Pony.

Aurum inhaled softly and then laughed. “Fine, keep your secret. Let me just sit down here.”

She slipped into the seat across from me and set her forehooves on the table. “Azurite, I want to say thank you so much for the tickets. Today was amazing. That was something I have dreamed of doing my whole life.”

I could feel my face flush and I waved at hoof at her. “It’s no big deal! I wanted you to enjoy it.”

Aurum shook her head. “It is a big deal. You’re an extremely thoughtful pony. I also want to say that I’m proud of you. You handled yourself well in a situation that I know challenges you. You decided you wanted to do it and you did. Kudos!”

I shrugged, looking down at my hooves. “It helped that you and other royal guards were there.”

“I’m sure that is true, but we can only help so much. You had to do it yourself. This party is in honor of Azurite taking a step forwards in her goal of getting back to the status quo!” Aurum cheered before capturing the cake knife in her levitation spell.

“I’ll certainly eat cake to that!” I replied.

Mr. Peepers blew so many bubbles in approval before easing himself up to the edge of the bowl and poking his lips out.

Aurum delicately sliced two perfectly sized pieces out of the cake and served them. Once I had mine, I used my magic to break off a tiny piece. That one I flew over to Mr. Peepers. He gratefully accepted it before diving back down.

Once I’d done that, it was my turn to enjoy. I loaded up my fork and flew it into my mouth. This wasn’t the sort of cake you chewed. You just held it in your mouth and let it melt. All of the flavors came through. One by one, and sometimes mingling.

“I can’t believe how good this cake is,” Aurum practically purred.

“Mrs. Domino knows how to do it right.” I stuffed another bite into my mouth.

Aurum nodded. “Maybe I should go work with her and learn the secret!”

That would have been a great idea, if it was possible. “She’s very particular about that. Mom made the mistake of asking for a recipe one time and Mrs. Domino went on and on about guild secrets and only training apprentices.”

“I could be an apprentice for this! What’s another career? I’m young enough,” Aurum teased.

“Well, that is true. Say, why do you have that gown? Not that I don’t like it. You look wonderful. I’m just a little surprised by it.”

“Oh, this old thing? Darling, I’ve had this forever,” She teased as she waved a dismissive hoof.

After a brief pause, she looked back and forth and then leaned in. “I know this is going to sound silly, but let a girl dream. When I was packing up to move here and heading down to the royal post office, I saw it in a store window. It just called to me and I thought, ‘what if I get invited to the Grand Galloping Gala? I’d need a dress like that.’ So, I bought it. It is impulsive, I know, but at the time it is what I felt like I needed.”

“I don’t think that is silly. It looks like it was made for you!”

She eagerly agreed, “Yes! Yes, it seemed like that. I tried it on, it fit perfectly, and I just couldn’t say no.”

“Well, maybe you’ll get an invite to the Gala?”

Her brow arched. “Is that a hint that you have a way to do that?”

Quickly, I shook my head. “Nope, a tour is one thing. Gala tickets are really hard to come by. You need to know somepony or be somepony that has recently achieved something notable. I don’t think attending a tour without freaking out qualifies as notable.”

Aurum’s eyes softened and she set her hooves on her chest. “It is notable for us. So let’s enjoy our cake.”

She was the best cousin ever. My fork flew up in a salute. “Okay!”

The next hour wasn’t what I’d call a pretty sight. Our delicate cake eating eventually turned into voracious cake consuming. We ate half of the beast before giving up and putting it in the ice box.

Aurum then went to bed to, as she put it, ‘lay belly up and reflect on the bad choices she’d just made.’

I had settled on the couch with O.C. Topus and started working on a puzzle book. It was the kind that really made you think about how pieces fit together. It kept me focused.

All I had to do was figure out how to twist the cube into the triangle. It should have been easy. This was a basic puzzle. I just needed… needed to—

“Azurite?” Aurum asked curiously, her hoof settled on my shoulder.

“Hmm?” I murmured.

She smiled. “You were asleep.”

Everything did feel warm and cozy. I wasn’t sleeping, though. “No, I was just doing my puzzle book.”

Aurum shook her head. “The one on the floor there? I think you slept all night. It’s morning. You’d best get showered and ready for class.”

I stretched and looked around to see sun pouring in through the windows. “Huh, I guess I did,” I mumbled before slipping off the couch. When was the last time I’d slept all night? Even at my parent’s house, I usually woke up once or twice.

“I’ll get started on breakfast. Toast and jam okay?”

“After a quarter of a cake, that sounds great.” I was so comfortable. Class could wait, right? No. My hooves eventually decided to cooperate and took me into the shower. 

I got cleaned up, put my uniform on, and then went back to settle down at the table.

Aurum had laid out a simple spread of breads and preserves. “It isn’t much, but I wasn’t sure we could handle anything else this morning. Be sure to drink a lot of water.”

“No, it’s perfect,” I replied, still somewhat marveling at the fact I’d slept and, now that I was awake, I felt a lot better than usual. We ate in relative silence before I said goodbye and headed to class.

The journey was a blur. I didn’t pay any mind to anypony else wandering around. I just arrived, went to the classroom, and settled in my seat. Was this what it felt like to be normal?

Chief Print came in a little while later, carrying her bag. Her eyes immediately found me and she said, “Guard Azurite, welcome back. I hope you’re ready to play catch-up today.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m actually more ready today than most days!”

She paused briefly before setting her bag down and nodding. “Good. In that case, come get yesterday’s work and start on that while the rest of the class funnels in.”

“Yes, ma’am!” I said once more before getting out of my seat and heading up to her desk. She pulled out a few bundles of paper and offered them to me. 

I took them and headed back to my desk. She’d left a cover sheet on each one with a brief explanation of the assignment. It was a basic Royal Guard dental plan and included how to fill out the form for a pony. It all looked very self-explanatory, but it wasn’t evident how their plan was different from a regular pony’s.

More ponies started to arrive while I worked at the forms. Whoever had put it together was an artist. Taking the data out of the case file and putting it in was just a matter of making sure the data matched.

“Alright, everypony,” Chief Print started. “I’m sure you were all thrilled to fill out your basic dental forms yesterday. Today, we’re going to learn about selecting dependents and Royal Guard-specific requirements.”

I levitated the work to the basket under my desk and brought out my notebook. The chief did not tolerate ponies working while she lectured.

“Now, as a royal guard, you may know that your spouse, children, and parents are all entitled to care at Royal Guard medical facilities. This includes dental. One of our jobs is to ensure we clearly identify each dependent and let our customers know their options.

“You see, most know about spouse and children. A vast amount don’t realize they can cover their parents, too. It is wholly up to the pony, but they should be informed. Some will prefer to use our medical facilities while others want to go the civilian route. We don’t steer, we just make the options known and explain them as best we’re able.”

That was something I could tell Aurum! Royal Guards had an RG dental plan because that allowed them to go to RG medical facilities. They’d just need to be enrolled in the specialist plan.

“Additionally, royal guards have specific requirements that civilian ponies don’t. I’m sure you all remember those bright white letters that show up twice a year? Remember, those cleanings and evaluations are mandatory for us. We must be in the best of health and that includes our teeth and mouths.”

Oh yeah. Those were mandatory. I’d had to try three different dentists until I found one with small enough hooves to work on me. The hygienist was a unicorn, at least.

“Alright, I’m going to pass out six cases to each of you. Today is a special treat, too: these are real ponies. Real sister and brother guards. The palace pony resource department is down some ponies and behind, so a friend of mine asked if I could help.

“Do your best, be diligent, and remember: if you mess these up, you might be messing with a pony’s life.”

A few ponies gasped, and then the class went dead silent.

Chief Print cracked a smile. It wasn’t something she did much. I didn’t like it. It was frightening. “I’m just kidding, I’m going to check over every single one of these before I dare give them back. If you mess up, however, that will take me longer and make me cranky. You don’t want me to be cranky.”

More silence.

The chief went about handing out the cases. When she gave me mine, I just stared at them.

This was it. This is what I’d come here to do. If I did these right, then I would be one step closer to being a real Pony Resources Officer. It was time to shine!

“Alright, before you all dive in, please flip over to page six of the form packets. Let’s go over this together so you know what all of the options mean.” She picked up the chalk and started to diagram on the board.

It was enthralling for me. A full night’s sleep and then the opportunity to do real work. What could have been cooler? Nothing!

The lecture went on for about two hours before Chief Print clapped her forehooves together. “Let’s get to work. If you have questions, I’m here. Please bring me each file as you complete it. I’d prefer to have less done correctly than more done wrong.”

I flipped open the first file. Sergeant Windchaser. This would be an annual renewal for… her. She was a mare. Wow, she’d been in the Guard for over three decades. She could retire anytime she wanted!

A husband, three sons, her mother, and one grandfoal that she’d adopted. They were all covered by her benefits. She knew the system, it seemed. All I would have to do was carefully transcribe everything and make a note that the grandfoal was her dependent, not the dependent of one of her sons.

It took effort not to flip through everything else. This was her whole file, but we were just doing dental. Somepony else would probably work through it. It was the time of year for annual renewals and check-in paperwork.

I flipped a page. “Wow!” Somepony exclaimed out loud. It was me. I was that pony. Why was I always that pony?

“What was that, Guard Azurite?” Chief Print called.

“Oh, nothing, ma’am! Sorry,” I replied before looking back down. Sergeant Windchaser was part of Princess Luna’s House Guard! They hadn’t even existed that long. I only knew about them because I’d seen one while I was sitting outside of the gift shop. The ones Rockette had said were ‘less fun.’

The guard I’d sat beside had subtly pointed him out. A mean-looking stallion in dark armor marching across the courtyard. He was frighteningly large and moved purposefully. I’d hate to be anypony that crossed him. I bet Windchaser was his boss!

This was so cool! My first ever real file was somepony important, and I was going to help her. If I did, could I get Aurum a ticket to the Gala? No! Silly Azurite, focus. Do the job!

We all sat working diligently. Occasionally, a pony would stand up and take a completed file to the chief. Most of the time, that worked out. Sometimes she’d call them back to point something out. At one point, she lobbed a wad of paper at Macaron to display her displeasure in his work.

He was getting better, but he was a slow learner. We’d have to have a few more study sessions after hours.

The clock above Chief Print eventually chimed, letting us know it was the end of the day. A few ponies got up and left. Some of us didn’t. I was only on the fourth file and I wasn’t leaving until they were all complete. After all, this wasn’t classwork. This was an opportunity.

When I finally finished the file I was on and took it to Chief Print, she said, “Thank you, Guard Azurite, you may go.”

“Are you going to leave, ma’am?” I asked her.

She shook her head. “No, I am doing a friend a favor. I need to finish these.”

“Then I’ll go finish the rest of the work assigned to me,” I said before trotting back to my desk and starting on the fifth file. The chief didn’t say anything, but she did give me a brief glance that read like approval.

Macaron was one of the other ponies staying late. He had only turned in two files and was working hard on his third. He seemed unwilling to give up, and I respected that.

It took me another half hour to finish the last two files. I took those up to the chief together. She glanced them over, then said, “Alright, now you may go.”

I looked back over at Macaron and then to her. “Actually, ma’am, I think I have a friend who needs a favor, too. I’m going to go help him… unless you object.”

Chief Print raised an eyebrow. “It’s your free time. It is good to see guards looking out for each other, though.”

“That is what we do, ma’am,” I said before going over to Macaron. “Hey buddy, want some help?”

He looked up with wide eyes. He’d been so focused on his tasks he hadn’t noticed me. “Yes, please!”

“Okay, let’s work on this together, then,” I said as I pulled my chair over to him. He’d mostly done the form right, but I could already tell this was going to be a long evening.

Long, but fulfilling. I was really helping ponies… it felt amazing.
> 17. Strike Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn’t matter what day of the week it was; the palace was currently the place to be. We’d cited a record number of ponies and I would have thought that after that, things would calm down. Things should have calmed down! After all, didn’t ponies have jobs? I had a job!

Lieutenant Daisy pushed the door to the office open and wandered in with a mug in her hoof. “Day.”

“Hey, Daisy. Seven contacts to report, but I’m pleased to say the gift shop is fine. The tour guides have figured it out,” I said while pushing the log towards her.

She sat down and sipped from the mug. “Alright. Your girl Roxie get it all together?”

I blinked. “My ‘girl’? What does that mean?”

Daisy’s eyes came up off the log to look at me. “Aren’t you two a thing?”

“A thing? No! Where did you hear that?”

“In the shower,” she replied dully before going back to the log.

“We’re just friends.”

“Mmhmm,” she muttered. “I relieve you, ma’am.”

My eyes narrowed. “I stand relieved, ma’am.” As I trotted out, I called, “Lieutenant Daisy has the wall!”

Roxie and I had never been a thing. The rumor mill needed to get its story straight!

I turned the corner quickly and took two steps before coming to a sudden stop to snap to attention. Shining Armor was coming down the hall in my direction, dressed in his Captain of the Canterlot Guard’s armor.

It was purple and gold, a throwback from the last time Princess Luna had been around. At least, that was what I’d been told now that Princess Luna was back. Suddenly little things here and there around the palace were related to her. Princess Celestia had included them in the designs. Maybe she assumed Luna would return? Assumed or hoped.

When Shining Armor approached, his eyes seemed slightly glazed over and as he went by, he didn’t even acknowledge me.

“Sir?”

He stopped and blinked at me. “Oh? Sorry, Lieutenant. I was in my head. Carry on.” Then he was off.

That was weird. He probably had a lot of stress with his job and the wedding. Still, it wasn’t like him to ignore ponies. Especially me. Even if our mythical threesome was no longer fate, I was still hot. Ponies should look!

We were both in uniform, though, so running after him wouldn’t have been a great idea. I just went back to the direction I was going, but as I passed an open office, something pink caught my eye.

It was a perfect pink rump, actually. Lady Cadence’s rump. She was just standing there staring at a map of the city.

I poked my head in. “Planning your wedding procession?”

She jumped in surprise and whirled on me, her horn lighting up in what I thought was green energy. It quickly dispersed when she saw me. “What! I’m sorry, you startled me. No… I mean, yes. Yes, that exactly. A procession through the city when the big day comes.”

Whatever warmth that had been in her voice the previous times we’d met was gone. She sounded so cool, so short.

“Right. Sorry about that. I just saw a familiar—” Don’t say rump. “Face and thought I’d say hello.”

Lady Cadence trotted over to the doorway. “Yes, thank you. Hello. If you’ll excuse me, I have some duties to attend.” Her magic took hold of the door and slowly pushed it closed. Right into my face.

I had heard that becoming a bride sometimes turned the nicest ponies into monsters, but I hadn’t believed it. I rubbed my nose and headed on my way. There were more important things to do than deal with than rogue brides. Tonight was a date with Soarin.

A Monday night date, but a date regardless. With any luck, we’d go back to his place, since Trixie was still squatting in mine. At the same time, that might be a bad idea. Soarin was kicking off relationship vibes and that wasn’t where I wanted to be.

It wasn’t that Soarin wasn’t relationship material; he absolutely was. I was the one that wasn’t. He was looking for a pony to get serious with and for some reason he thought that was me. That was wishful thinking on a good day! Settling down for a monogamous relationship was a big step in a pony’s life, and it was one I wasn’t willing to take. One day, maybe, but not today. Not next week, either.

The thoughts that were really plaguing me was that I might have to break things off with him in the short term to spare his feelings in the long run. I didn’t want to, though. I liked being with him, I just wasn’t ready to commit to him or anypony. Was it wrong to want to be selfish and enjoy being young before settling down?

When I arrived at my apartment and let myself in, the place was clean and tidy. Trixie had figured out that if she kept her spaces neat, I wouldn’t be upset. If I wasn’t upset, I wouldn’t yell. And if I didn’t yell, she didn’t have to hear me yell.

“Trixie?” I called.

“Trixie is in the bedroom!”

That was a good place for a Trixie to be. Now that I was being less of a mentor, I was allowing myself to be a bit more of a hookup partner. I poked my head through the doorway to hopefully catch her waiting for me.

“Really?” I asked with a sigh. Trixie was belly up, on the bed, lying on top of what I assumed were all her earnings. There wasn’t an insignificant amount, either.

“Trixie is enjoying the success that you and Dolly have helped her build! Come wriggle in bits with her!”

Bits weren’t really my thing but they meant a lot to her, so I trotted over, hopped onto the bed, and flopped over beside her. “You’ve got a lot of bits here. Where did they all come from?”

“Trixie just said! From you and Dolly. Dolly pays Trixie now for her shows. Fans fill her tip jar! Trixie is becoming financially independent.” She wriggled closer. “Are you having your date tonight?”

“I am, but I’m worried about it,” I explained. “I think Soarin wants to be more than just friends with benefits.”

“Isn’t that good? Isn’t he a stud?”

I bit my lip and hiked my shoulders in a shrug before rolling over to look at her. “For most ponies it would be. I’m just not into that yet. Are you looking to settle down?”

Trixie shook her head. “No! Trixie seeks fame and fortune first. Love can come later.”

“Exactly! I want to be a royal guard and try out a lot of ponies first. So how do I express that to him without hurting him?”

“I duh nuh,” Trixie toned before wiggling about on her bits.

I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thank you. I’m going to get cleaned up for my date. What are you going to do tonight?”

Trixie’s head poked up and she replied, “Pretty much this.”

That brought a chuckle up in me. I reached over patted her nose. “Okay, have fun with that.”

My pre-date ritual was something I rarely deviated from if I could help it. I always began with a nice lukewarm shower. Some ponies don’t know this, but if the water is too hot it can damage your mane, so when I planned to shampoo I always used lukewarm water.

Shampooing was part of the ritual. Once that was done and I was clean, I’d hop out and dry myself off completely. That was so I could apply coat and mane glitter. Everypony loved glitter and a sparkling Sunny was more appetizing.

Once I was glittered it was time to decide on a mane style. A bun said serious business. Flowing said flirty. Short meant anything could happen and pig tails were pretty much an attempt to look younger. For the date I had in mind with Soarin I was just going to leave it long and down.

I trotted out into the bedroom and over to my closet. Trixie was still wiggling back and forth on her bits. Good for her! I pulled out a light blue t-shirt that matched Soarin’s coat and pulled it on. “How do I look?” I asked.

Trixie sat up and looked me over. “It would be enough to get me into your bed.”

“You’re already in my bed,” I teased.

“It would be enough to get Trixie to push her bits off the bed,” she amended.

“That is good! Don’t wait up tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow I hope!”

“You get him!” Trixie called after me as I headed out, her words punctuated by the sound of jingling bits.

The streets of Canterlot were almost empty on Monday evenings during the later moons. There wasn’t much going on in the way of night life and the neighborhood I lived in was almost entirely that. It was easy to get over to the restaurant that Soarin had picked out for us to meet at.

It was a place called Sweet Peas. I think I’d vaguely mentioned I liked snow peas, and this was apparently the best place in town to get them. For Canterlot, it was one of the newer restaurants that went slightly against the traditional architecture and building materials that were common.

The building, as a whole, was white stone, of course. Anything less would have been a scandal. Where the owner had pushed the limit was on the porch. Nestled under the traditional balcony above and behind the all-too-common columns was rustic wood floors and a red brick wall.

Soarin waved a hoof from where he was sitting. “Hey!”

“Hey!” I called back before trotting up and sitting across from him. Eating outside at this time of year would normally be silly, but there were several small firepits blazing around the area, keeping it cozy.

He stared at me a moment and blinked. “You look awesome!”

“Me? Oh, come now, you’ve seen me like this before,” I teased. Him noticing was exactly what I wanted. Why go to all of the trouble if your date never said anything?

Soarin flushed. “Well, yeah, but not that shirt. You just look great, is all.”

“I wore it for you,” I replied, picking up a menu. “Is this the snow pea place?”

The stallion’s cheeks were still flushed through his light blue coat. He seemed happy to have a change of subject. “Yes, yes it is! Everything here is brought in daily from Ponyville. Nothing is ever frozen.”

Idly, I glanced down the menu before spotting a snow pea and mixed vegetable dish. It was served over brown rice. That was good enough for me. “That sounds nice. I haven’t really spent much time in Ponyville even though it’s so close. I know a lot of the food comes from there. Well, at least you tell me it does.”

Soarin nodded. “A lot of ponies that live here don’t go there. For me, it isn’t so bad. I just fly down and back when I want something from the farmers market. For you, it would be a hassle. Anyway, I was hoping we could talk about us tonight.”

Red alert! Red alert! We hadn’t even started dinner yet. “I mean… yes, sure. Tonight. Sometime tonight. Maybe not before dinner? Wouldn’t you like to eat first?”

“Well, it is kind of important. Maybe we co—”

“Good evening!” a lime green mare mercifully interrupted. “Can I get you started with some drinks?”

Saved by the waitress. “Yes please. I’d like a water and a glass of sangria.”

Soarin blinked and then nodded. “Yes, thank you. I’d like a water too.”

“Okie dokie, I’ll be right back!” She said before wandering off.

“Anyway, I was hoping we could talk about the direction of our relationship,” Soarin continued on, clearly not willing to let me off the hook. We’d been doing this dance a while now and it looked like the tune was coming to an end.

This was going to be an awkward dinner. I drummed my forehooves on the table. “Okay.”

He leaned across the table, trying to look me in the eyes. “I know this makes you uncomfortable.”

“Very!” I squeaked.

“Right, right. That is what I don’t really get. We’re good together, aren’t we? I mean, we’ve known each other for, what? Almost two years? Off and on at least.”

I quickly nodded. “Oh yes, we are. It’s just. Oh…” 

The waitress came back over with our drinks. “Here we are. Do you know what you want to order for dinner?”

“I’ll have the snow pea and mixed vegetables please. With the brown rice,” I said before levitating my sangria up and taking a long pull from it.

In the background while I tried to figure out my feelings, I was vaguely aware of Soarin ordering. How could I make him understand?

Once the waitress was gone, Soarin looked back to me. “You were saying?” 

“I was, right. So, listen. You’re totally on track with us in what you said. We are good together. We have been for a while. There isn’t anything about you as an individual that puts me off for being more serious. I know this is going to sound cliché, but it really is me.

“You can call it immaturity, selfishness, or just being different, but I’m really not interested in moving forward with anypony right now. I’d tried to warn you that I wasn’t the mare you take home to mom, and I still feel that way.

“At least for now. I can’t say what will happen tomorrow. If that means you’re hurt or upset or don’t want to see me, I completely understand and don’t blame you at all. You have every right to be. I just have to be sure I’m not lying to you.”

Soarin leaned back in his chair and held up a hoof. “I know you warned me. Call it naiveté, but I was kind of hoping I could change that. I mean, not change it! Just… I guess overcome it? Look, I’m not mad, but I do think that we’re moving in different directions and that bothers me. I really like you!”

I wanted to move away from this conversation as fast as I could. “That’s fair, and I really like you, too! What does that mean, though? I think it would be better if I understood.” Soarin was the only stallion I’d been seeing consistently lately. It would be odd if he wanted to go his separate way altogether. Not just odd, sad.

It wasn’t something I actually wanted. In fact, the idea of it soured my stomach slightly. At the same time, I couldn’t lie to him and just pretend I wanted what he wanted.

Soarin sat quietly for a moment before his shoulders hunched in a shrug. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to think about it. I like what we have, I want more, and you don’t. I’m not sure what that means yet or even how to compromise.”

“Okay,” I said softly, settling back in my chair.

We sat in silence until the waitress brought our food. “Here we are!” She set the dishes in front of us. “Are you okay, miss? Was your sangria not good?” 

I forced a smile and shook my head. “No, it’s fine. Thank you.”

“Alright then, I’ll just leave you two be,” she said before backing off.

This was awkward. Painfully awkward. I reached out with my magic to snare my fork and idly poked at my meal. “How is work?” I asked, unable to let the wordless meal go any longer.

“It’s going well. I’ve been told I have what it takes to make the big league if I keep my head down and work hard.”

“Isn’t that a huge deal? Especially after so recently making the Canterlot Squad?”

Soarin nodded. “It is, actually. They say I’m a natural and have the right work ethic.”

“I’m not surprised. You’re not what I think of when I think of celebrities. It’s never seemed to be about the fame and attention for you. You just want to be the best at what you do, right?”

“Yes. Yes, that is exactly it. It’s just, if I’m going to do something. I want to give it my best,” he explained. “I want to take it as far as I can. If nopony ever watches that is fine. It’s about being the best me I can for me.”

I smiled and nibbled on my vegetables. “I admire you.”

He shrugged. “You could do it, too, if you tried.”

“But I don’t, that’s the big difference. You’re motivated, dedicated, and more mature than me.”

“That’s for sure,” Soarin muttered.

My eyes narrowed. “Huh?”

He shook his head and said. “Nothing, I’m sorry that was rude. I’m just a bit…”

“A bit what? Answer carefully,” I snapped, setting my fork down.

“I guess, disappointed? Feeling trapped? I don’t want to give up on us, but I don’t want to be strung along for years if it isn’t going anywhere.”

My face suddenly felt hot and I barked back, “Now hold on a minute! I’m not stringing you along. I’m trying to be honest and upfront with you. This isn’t some sort of thing where I’m dating you and holding out for another pony.”

A few of the other patrons looked our way. Canterlot was like that. Ponies always wanted to be up on the latest gossip.

Soarin held up both of his hooves. “No, I know. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just hurt and saying stupid things. Let’s just be adults, okay?”

That was it! I couldn’t stand hearing it from him. “Adults, huh? I’m not an adult? You’re not an adult! Being hurt doesn’t give you a license to say stupid things, especially when I’m trying my best to be honest. Stupid things still hurt me!” It just slipped out of my mouth. I got up and pushed my plate away. “I’m going to go. Let’s just talk about this when you calm down!” I then sneered, “Like adults.”

“Wait, Sunny, don’t go,” Soarin said, standing up.

“I think I should.” I levitated some bits out from under my shirt and dropped them on the table. “So you know I’m not just in this for a free meal.”

Before he could reply, I trotted off down the street with my meanest face on. I didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t want to hear about how I was immature or how he was sorry. All I wanted to do in the moment was be angry.

I stomped my way down the street without much consideration for my direction. The further I got away from Soarin, the better I felt. Storming off usually had that effect. 

There also wasn’t much point in going home. Trixie would just be rolling around on her bits and I didn’t want to ruin her happy with my bad date. I was angry, frustrated, and not going to get what I wanted, so it was better that I just kept storming around until I was calm.

My hooves took me down a tier and to the center of lower Canterlot. By the time I realized how far I’d gone, I was walking along a tall stone wall in an unfamiliar district.

I looked around in confusion. Even for a Monday night, the street was barren. Oddly so. Not that I was worried about being out alone at night. Real life wasn’t like the scary tales that ponies sometimes write.

The fire in my belly was starting to go out as I idly trotted along the wall. Eventually, I came to a pair of big red doors, one of which was open.

A tall, pristine white unicorn with a flowing blonde mane was standing in the opening, peering out. We made eye contact and, as I went by, she just stared at me intensely. It was hard to say what was going on in her head. The large blue eyes almost had a blank quality to them.

“See something you like?” I called at her, tired of being a spectacle.

She didn’t respond immediately. There was only the blank stare. Then she blinked, and I saw recognition in her eyes.

“Now is not the time.” She turned and stepped back through the doorway, the big red doors closing behind her.

What was that about? I stomped my hooves as I stormed away from there. Not the time for what? Was I too immature for that, too?

My aimless trotting eventually gave way to aimless meandering which in turn gave way to me laying down on the side of the road. What was I doing? Soarin was right to be upset. It wasn’t fair for me to want him but not want him.

Why had I been so sensitive and defensive? Because he’d treated me like Cheerful, but he couldn’t have known that would set me off. If I hadn’t been so hotheaded, we could have talked things over and figured some stuff out. What did I do instead? I just stormed off and took myself down to where weird ponies stared at me. Just like a stupid, immature filly.

Soarin would probably never talk to me again, and that realization felt like a pressure on my chest. I didn’t want to lose him! I closed my eyes tightly to try and stop the tears from forming. I didn’t cry over stallions. I never cried over stallions!

The first tear rolled down my cheek, followed quickly by a second.

Well, I guess there had to be a first time for everything.
> 18. My Friend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hi, AB!” Good Vibes called the moment I walked into the waiting room.

“Hi, GV,” I replied, taking off my sunglasses, coat, hat, and scarf. “How did you know I was me?”

Good Vibes happily drummed on the desk. “Well, it is time for your appointment and you’re still the shortest adult pony I know. It just seemed obvious!”

“Obvious, huh?” I mused as I marked disguise off my list of things to do to try and avoid Good Vibes. I settled down into my usual chair and picked up a magazine. The cover had a big photo of Lady Cadence and Shining Armor on it.

“Aren’t they dreamy?” Good Vibes asked.

Truthfully, I hadn’t paid them much attention. There was so much going on in my life that the marriage of two ponies I didn’t know didn’t matter. It would be easier to just agree though, so I nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“I’ve read that magazine cover to cover ten times now! It has a lot of speculation about what the wedding day will be like. I love weddings! I can’t wait to have my own,” Good Vibes prattled on while I tried my best to read the magazine.

I might not have cared, but Aurum might enjoy some gossip or information about the wedding itself. She was sort of like that. Not as much as Good Vibes, though.

The door beside the desk opened and Mindful Soul stuck her head out. “Azurite, I’m ready.”

“Okay,” I replied cheerfully before trotting after her, dropping the magazine in front of Good Vibes as I did. Maybe she’d read it again. Either way, our little interaction was mercifully over now.

In the scheme of therapist offices, Mindful Soul had one of the better ones. It wasn’t just the fact that she let me hold plush ponies while we talked or the lack of a desk between us. It had more to do with the air.

It’s hard to describe, but the air just felt calming. Something was different in the room. It might have been the high windows, the tall ceiling, or just the fact she projected a lot of confidence. I wasn’t sure, but I liked it.

Mindful Soul settled down on a pillow and flipped through her notebook. She waited for me to pick my plush and sit down before she started. “Since Aurum has been here, you’ve seemed calmer and more at ease. Are you certain you’re still progressing on your own?”

“I am! I’ve been living in my apartment, going to class, and she and I go places,” I explained while I held onto the plush. “I feel like if she comes with me, it’s easier to go to crowded places. I’d never go alone so I think she is doing far more good than harm.”

“I agree, I just want to be thorough and ask. Your reaction says a lot. I’m glad she could come and be with you. Are you finding being out in public and or crowded places easier?”

That was something to think about. I had been panicking less during grocery trips and traveling to and from school. “I actually think I am. With and without Aurum. She is getting me out, so I’m reacclimating to being out. If that makes sense.”

“It does. She’s not enabling hiding behavior,” Mindful Soul said before taking a few notes. “She’s providing aid in getting you out. That is good news and I encourage you to keep doing that. Test your boundaries but do so with Aurum.”

“Can do,” I replied before brushing my hoof over the plush’s mane. It had sparkles in it and I liked that a lot. They made sparkles for real pony manes. Maybe I should get some.

“Now, tell me about school. How is that going?”

That was one of the few topics more exciting than mane sparkles. “School is going great! I’m number one in my class and I’m a tutor for another pony. He’s been behind, but I’m pulling him up as best I can. With any luck, he’ll make it to the next rotation.”

Mindful took a few notes. “How will you feel if he doesn’t make it?”

“Huh?” I asked, thrown off track by the question.

“If your student doesn’t make the cut. How will that make you feel?”

That wasn’t something I’d considered. “I’m not sure? I don’t want to sound careless, but I’m not sure I’ll feel much of anything. He’s just a pony I’m helping because he asked.” Was that bad? Had I just said something bad?

She took a few more notes. Yup, probably bad. “So you wouldn’t classify him as a friend?”

“What? No, I guess I wouldn’t. He’s just a guy I go to school with is all. We don’t have anything in common besides that. I barely know his name,” I explained. I’d think that should be obvious but suddenly I wasn’t sure.

Mindful Soul scribbled something down. I didn’t like how many notes she was taking on this line of questioning. “Did it occur to you that he might want to be friends?”

I hugged the plush tightly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. I shook my head no. “He wanted help.”

“I’m certain that is true. Do you not want to be friends with him for some reason?”

With a shrug, I replied, “I don’t know. He doesn’t seem like my type of pony.”

She took notes. She always took notes. “What is your type of pony, then? What would you like to do with a friend?”

That wasn’t something I thought about that often. “I’m not really sure. I never had a lot of friends before, I don’t know why after would be that different.”

“Just because it was one way before doesn’t mean that was a healthy habit. I’m not trying to just return you to the state you existed in. My duty is to treat you as a whole. Let’s try this a different way. Why are you and Aurum friends?”

“We’re family, not friends,” I replied.

Mindful Soul took some notes and then looked up at me. “Really? You don’t think she is your friend?”

“I mean, I guess she is? Family is more than friends, though, right?” I asked, but even I heard the uncertainty in my voice.

“I suppose in some cases. What do you like about her?”

“Well, she’s nice to me. We get along very well. She likes stuffed animals too. We both like puzzle books. I can talk to her without being ashamed.”

“Ashamed,” Mindful Soul repeated while taking notes. This had taken a bad turn. “And you can’t talk to other ponies like that?”

“This is some pretty private stuff. I’m not sure I want just anypony knowing my business.”

The unicorn smiled at me. “I don’t disagree, but the idea of friendship is that you let them in a little at first and then work your way up to talking about your inner feelings. You don’t start there. You also have nothing to be ashamed of. It is acceptable to feel that way, but I must stress that you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“That’s fair, I guess. Easing ponies in, but I just haven’t met any ponies I really like yet. Isn’t that okay too? Do I just have to randomly make friends because ponies think it’s better to have friends?”

Mindful Soul jotted something down. “No, I apologize if that is how I came across. I merely meant you should consider making some friends. Perhaps you could be friends with Happy Tree or Peapod. For now, though, let me change the subject.”

Thank goodness. “Yes, please.”

“What about dating? Have you thought about looking for ponies to date? That is a big part of life, too.”

How was that better! I rapidly shook my head. “Nope. Not ready for that.”

“How about Aurum?”

My ears shot up. “Aurum? Isn’t dating your cousin a bit archaic? Like marrying off stallions to form alliances between clans?”

Mindful Soul’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. “Azurite, I meant is she dating. Not that you’d date her.”

“Oh! Uh, no. She isn’t. She doesn’t even talk about it, to be honest.”

“Let me ask you this. Do you only talk to her about your problems?”

I bit my lip before replying, “Maybe? Mostly?”

“And Aurum is your family. More than a friend?”

“Yeah…” I didn’t like where she was going with this.

“Perhaps to help yourself, you should consider helping her some? Talk to her about how she is feeling? She’s made a big move coming here to be with you in your time of need. What about her son? What about her divorce? What about her?”

I took a deep breath and wiggled back into the pillow I was nestled in. “That sounds like a hard conversation.”

“Yes, yes it does. It would be good for you both, though,” Mindful Soul said before shutting her notebook. “Now, you’re doing better. I’m happy about that and proud of you. Keep going to school, but consider expanding your social circle. Take up some time for Aurum as well. Focus on her issues to give you clarity on your own.”

Normally when Mindful Soul said I was doing better and that she was proud of me, I felt good. Unfortunately, this session hadn’t been normal. She may not have known or intended to do it, but she’d held a mirror up in a way that I didn’t like. Had I just been using Aurum?

“Thank you,” I said, getting up to leave. “See you later?”

“As often as you like,” she replied.

“Okay, probably Friday, then,” I said before trotting out into the waiting room. How would I face Aurum?

“All done AB? I was just chatting up your cousin about the magazine,” Good Vibes said while leaning over the desk to peer at me.

“What?” I asked in surprise as I found myself literally facing Aurum.

She smiled brightly at me. “I hope you don’t mind. I had some errands out this way and I thought we could walk home together.”

I shook my head quickly, “Don’t mind. Bye, GV.”

“Bye, you two!”

We trotted out into the hall together, and she asked cheerfully, “Good session?”

“Yeah.” No. Not at all.

Her ears wiggled. “Everything alright, Azurite?”

How did she know? I squirmed. “Uh, maybe, but can we go home before we talk about it?”

She tried to keep her expression even, but I could see some worry in her eyes. “Of course, sure! Let’s go.”

The walk home was awkward and almost painful. Memories of how I’d just dumped my baggage on Aurum kept replying in my mind. Had I asked her about her son Quartz even once? Had I talked about her feelings? If I did, I didn’t remember it! Why couldn’t I remember it? I remembered everything!

By the time we got to the apartment, I could feel my hooves quivering. The shakes were starting to work their way up to my body.

Aurum opened the door and let me in. As soon as she came in behind me, she asked, “Azurite, sweetie, what’s the matter?”

Without hesitation, I threw my hooves around her and hugged her tight. “I’m so sorry!” I managed to get out before the tears started falling.

Her hooves looped around me and she sat back. “Sorry? For what? Azurite, what’s going on?”

I sniffled and buried my eyes against her chest so I wouldn’t have to look at her. “I’m a bad friend,” I whimpered.

“What? Who said that? Did that therapist say that? Do I need to go back there and stomp her hoof?” Aurum said with a resolve that told me she would.

“No! Don’t do that. She didn’t say anything of the sort, but it is true,” I muttered, leaning back a little.

“Now how is that true?” Aurum asked, ducking her head to find my eyes.

“I never ask about you! It’s always just my problems and you just listen endlessly, help endlessly, and I just keep taking more and more.”

Aurum’s lips pressed tightly together. She shook her head before pressing her forehead to mine. “Now that isn’t true. Not one word of it. You brought me into your home, you gave me the bedroom, and you plan activities for me. You’re a great friend!”

“But I don’t ask you about your feelings!”

She chuckled and rubbed my back. “No, I suppose you don’t, but ponies express love and affection in different ways. You show more than you say and that is fine. There isn’t any one correct way to do it.”

I held onto her and softly rubbed my cheek against her chest. “Still, you can talk to me about… you know, stuff. Stuff like Quartz.”

Aurum stiffened and her hoof paused in its stroking. She took a deep breath and then continued. “I know I can, but don’t worry about that. He hasn’t responded to any of my letters. I guess he hasn’t noticed I’m gone.”

“No, I’m sure he has! He is young and he just needs time!” I squeaked, looking up at her.

She laughed softly and set her hoof under my chin. “You’re so sweet. You do realize he’s only a summer younger than you, right?”

“Yeah, like I said, he is young! Young ponies like us make foolish mistakes all the time,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

It worked enough to make Aurum smile and that made me feel better. She kissed my nose. “Well then I have hope, don’t I?”

“Yes! Write him every day. Badger him into noticing. That is what ponies respond to, right? Nagging?” I asked.

“Maybe. You know what, it might make me feel better if I talked about it a little. If you really are willing?”

“I am! I promise,” I squeaked.

She let me go with a final stroke of my mane and then went over to sit on the couch. “I blame myself, mostly. Ocean Wave and I haven’t really gotten along for the last few summers. That wasn’t something I kept from Quartz. In fact, I made it more obvious than I should.

“Ocean Wave thought we should keep it quiet and that’s what he did. I was more vocal. You think young ponies make mistakes? So do slightly older ponies. I think Quartz blames me for the relationship falling apart because I’m the one he saw acting out.”

I settled onto the floor. “Surely he knows that isn’t true, though.”

Aurum shrugged. “Deep down, sure? It doesn’t make it hurt less. And even though he is an adult, he shouldn’t have been a part of that.”

What would Mindful Soul say here? I had to think like her. “Have you tried telling him that?” That seemed about right.

“How could I do that? It was hard enough to say it to you. Can you imagine admitting to your child that you were completely wrong and that you ruined everything?” she asked, her hoof on her heart.

Hmm, now what would Mindful Say? Something profound. Something hard to hear but correct. My head titled. “In my opinion, you didn’t ruin everything. You feel as if you made a mistake. Quartz might feel that way, too,” I rambled. It seemed right. “Shouldn’t you try to tell him how you feel? Not what you did?”

Aurum bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling.

“I mean, you don’t have to! I’m just trying to tell you what I think Mindful Soul would tell me,” I admitted hurriedly.

She shook her head. “No, it’s good advice. My letters have all been casual. I’ve been talking around the issue completely. To be honest, if you read them, you’d hardly know anything happened. Maybe it’s time for me to be more direct?”

“Only if you think so. I’m not a licensed therapist. I’m just a frequent customer.”

Aurum snickered and winked at me. “So noted. I guess I better write another letter. A more specific one. Assuming you’re okay? You’re not still beating yourself up in your head right now, are you?”

I waved my hoof at her. “I’m not, it’s empty right now. I’m fine! Totally fine. You do you.”

“Alright then, I’ll be in the bedroom if you need me,” she said before hopping up and wandering off.

That left me with free time. Free time to settle on the couch and study. Studying would help me get past the residual feelings that I was a bad friend even though Aurum said I wasn’t.

Studying would also help me get over the fear that I’d just sent Aurum to her doom. What if Quartz did blame her and told her so? This could go so wrong. Mindful Soul made this look easy.

Yes, focusing on my books would be the best thing to do. Mathematically speaking, I couldn’t not pass the rotation. All I had to do was show up, put my name on the test, and leave. Not that I would ever do that!

My ranking in the class was more than just a source of pride. The better your rank when you graduate, the better your posting. Pony Resource Officers were needed all over Equestria. My special medical waiver meant I wouldn’t be sent far from Canterlot, but I wanted to earn my way here legitimately, not because of that.

There were also a lot of posts in Canterlot. They ranged from the PRO that worked for a local patrol division to ones that processed paperwork in the palace. That meant there was a reason to keep going hard.

That and the pride. I had pride, too.

After I finished, there would only be one rotation left. I didn’t even know exactly what mine would be. Chief Print would make some recommendations and I’d pick one. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for my specialty yet. Not exactly, anyway.

All I knew is that I wanted to help ponies as much as I could. There wasn’t a specific role for that, but I was certain an answer would come to me when the chief laid out options. That would make it a multiple-choice test, and those were the easiest.

I started flipping through the course material. After about half an hour, I realized that it was all familiar to me. Not just familiar, but almost to the point where I could spout it off word for word. Perhaps studying wasn’t the right use of my time. I set the book aside and nestled O.C. Topus on top of it.

“You learn that, you’ll need a job someday, too,” I told him before I reached for my puzzle book. As I did, something caught my eye. There was a small easel with a canvas on it standing off to the side in the kitchen.

Where had it come from? Was it Aurum’s? Did she paint and not tell me? I’d have to ask her later for sure, when things settled down. Maybe she’d let me borrow it sometimes.

I shifted my attention back to the puzzle book in my hooves. I didn’t have this book memorized. It was the kind where you had to match all of the numbers in the squares. I enjoyed that sort of thing since it resulted in perfectly lined-up boxes.

This was one of the highest-level books ponies made. According to the cover, it was created by a mare with two doctoral degrees. We’ll see how good she was!

It turned out she was really good. I’d barely made it through the first puzzle before I wanted to chuck it across the room. Glaring at the cover, I muttered, “Who are you, Doctor Bubblegum? Why are you so good at puzzles?”

“What’s that Azurite?” Aurum said as she wandered out of the bedroom.

I lifted my book and shook it at her. “Doctor Bubblegum. She writes these books. Who is she? Why is she so good at puzzles? These are super hard!”

Aurum blinked. “Isn’t that good?” 

“Well, yeah! I still just want to meet her someday. Anyway, are you already done with your letter?”

She nodded and held it up. “I’m going to the post office right now to drop it off. I want it to go first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll go with you,” I replied before hopping up.

“Are you sure? It’s getting pretty dark out there.”

“I’ll be fine. We’ll be together and I thought you might want some company. I’ll even hold your hoof if you like,” I said, offering mine up.

Aurum laughed and took it before the two of us walked out. 

Canterlot was quiet on a Monday night. The street lamps were already glowing and there weren’t many ponies out and about. Aurum and I held hooves as we walked down the block towards the local post office. As we got closer her grip tightened.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said softly.

“I really hope so. What if he just ignores this one too?”

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained?” I parroted off.

Aurum snickered softly. “Is that something Mindful Soul would say?”

“I don’t think so. She’s not big on colloquialisms, but I still think there has to be some truth there, right? I mean, isn’t it something ponies have been saying forever?”

“Yes, I think so. It’s more geared towards financial advice than relationships I believe,” Aurum replied as we turned the corner and went down another street.

The post office was halfway down the block on the right. We stopped outside of the door and she looked through the glass.

“So this is it,” I said, still holding onto her hoof.

“Yes, yes it is.”

She took a breath, let my hoof go, and went through the door.

I shuffled off to the side so other ponies could get in and out of the door if they wanted to. I didn’t anticipate any, really, because it was almost closing time.

Aurum was inside for about ten minutes before she came out looking a bit pale.

“Done?”

She nodded. “Yes. Dropped off, overnight paid for, and they tell me he’ll probably have it before sundown tomorrow. Now it’s just going to be an excruciating wait.”

I offered her my hoof and she took it without hesitation. On our way home, I gave it a squeeze and she returned it. It was odd to see Aurum so quiet and without her usual confidence, but I understood. This was Quartz. This was her son. Truthfully, this was the most important pony in the entire world to her.

My mother and father would do anything for me. They always had. Aurum was no different. That is what made our family so special and so wonderful.

Aurum had been here for me while I recovered, and now I was going to be there for her.

“You know what we need?” I asked.

Her head tilted. “What’s that?”

“Ice cream. Loads of ice cream.”

Aurum’s nose wrinkled, and she laughed. “Oh yeah? And you’re going to take me to get ice cream at night in the cold season?”

“If it were just me, absolutely not. For you, though, I’ll move this mountain if it helps any,” I replied with a confidence I actually felt. “We’re family, we’re friends, and we’re there for each other. Let’s go get ice cream.”

Her ear flicked and she smiled brightly. “Well, alright then. Let’s go get ice cream.”

We started to head to the ice cream parlor together in relative silence. I didn’t want to push her to talk. I knew how hard that was, but then I realized I had a question. “Hey, Aurum?”

“Yes?”

“There was an easel in the kitchen.”

“Oh! Yes, I’m so sorry, I got caught up in you being upset and then me being upset. I know you haven’t gotten to go to art class as much as you want, so I got you your very own easel for home. You can paint when you want.”

She’d done that for me? I looked up at her. “Hey, Aurum?”

“Yes?”

“Did you know you’re the best friend I’ve ever had and that I love you?”

She smiled and came to a stop. “I did, but it’s nice to hear.”

“I’ll tell you more often, I promise,” I said before giving her a quick hug. “But let’s keep going, though. I want to get you ice cream, not make us cry!”

Aurum tapped my nose with a hoof. “Good thinking. Come on, let’s get to it!”
> 19. Tiny Castles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All hooves meetings, in general, are largely useless. Instead of our leaders taking two minutes to update each of us on the information we need, their leaders pull all of the officers together during some odd hour and cram us into the briefing room.

Nine times out of ten, the briefing is just a chance for the big wigs to talk to a crowd and feel good about themselves. Occasionally, something interesting comes out that we get to find out before everypony else. That is the tenth time.

This meeting was about the royal wedding. Again. For over a month, we’d heard about nothing but the royal wedding, the extra contacts, the fact that ponies were going bonkers, and that we’d be busy. We had been busy.

I was personally glad for that. Being busy kept my mind off the fact that Soarin and I had only talked twice in the same amount of time and it was kind of awkward on both occasions. He clearly didn’t know what to say, and I was still feeling stupid for what I’d done. So I did what any mare would do: I made an excuse both times and ran off before things got too deep.

Work also kept my mind off the fact that Trixie was growing in popularity, had her own money, and was now paying a pony to do her chores on the chore board in my apartment. She, of course, referred to it as ‘our’ apartment now.

At the head of the room, the door opened and Captain Armor walked in with Vice Colonel Glamour in tow. We all stood to attention.

When he reached the podium, he waved a hoof and we sat. “Thank you all for coming. Not that you had a choice.”

We all fake chuckled. Bleh. That was a part of the job I didn’t enjoy, pretending to laugh at bad jokes our superiors made. Honesty was a better policy.

“I know it is Friday and some of you will be starting your weekends soon so I want to keep this brief,” Shining Armor went on. “Please keep the information I am about to share a secret as we are not yet able to discern the credibility of it.”

And just like that all of the ears in the room perked up. Secret information? Credibility? Those weren’t generally wedding words.

“As inconceivable as it may be, I recently received a letter threatening the security of Canterlot. It does not specify in what way or when, but this is the sort of thing that we can’t overlook. Especially with a big event coming up that would be a prime target.

“This may be a prank. It may be a statement. We’re not sure. All we know is that it is a threat and whoever made it had the ability to slip into my office unnoticed. As such, we’re looking internally first. You are not to disseminate this information yet, but I want you to heighten your security even more.”

Heighten security more? With what resources?

One of the cohort commanders cleared his throat. “Captain, a question, please?”

Shining Armor nodded. “Of course.”

“We’re already spread thin, sir. My section leaders are screaming. Is Command going to give us any help at all on this?”

I’m glad he asked! I certainly wasn’t going to open my mouth.

“Right. The answer is yes. We’re going to use the wedding as cover. It is causing more tourism than expected and that fact is headlining all of the papers. We’ve sent out orders to bring in city guards from around the kingdom to help with the city guard here.

“The Canterlot city guards from the palace precinct will assist with the wall patrols. The wall patrols will assist with the palace security, and the palace security will tighten the perimeter of the VIP areas.”

Lieutenant Astral Dyke cleared his throat and stood up. “But no additional ponies for the House Guards, sir?”

“That would be too obvious for now. I’m still working on getting you more ponies for Princess Luna’s Guard. In the meantime, you’re going to have to make do with Windchaser and her ponies,” Shining Armor explained.

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Dyke replied before sitting.

“Alright, that is all from me. Colonel?” Shining Armor said as he looked to vice colonel Glamour.

“As mentioned, you are not to share these details with your ponies yet. One of them may be the culprit. We are going to strengthen the pass requirements for the palace. Being in uniform is no longer enough. You are to order your guards to challenge any pony not wearing a badge, this includes friends and superiors.

“All guard, support, and staff ponies will need to display their badge at all times. That includes you. Don’t keep your pass in your helmet, wear it on your collar where it will be easy to see.”

That was oddly specific. How did she know about my helmet pass? This was going to be highly annoying.

“Keep an eye out for anything odd. Remember, if you see something, say something. That is all.”

Shining Armor gave a resolute nod and waved a hoof. “Dismissed.”

We all waited for them to file out before the murmuring started. A threat against the city was a highly unusual event. A threat dropped off in the office of the Captain of the Canterlot Guard was even harder to believe. It was probably a really bad joke, but we couldn’t take it that way.

It was also good we’d be getting some help. I needed it. We all did.

I pulled my helmet off and retrieved my pass. Mine was different than most of my peers. They had access to their work areas and logical extensions of them. My pass was full access to everything but Princess Luna’s area. I didn’t want that anyway.

My access wasn’t really something I wanted to advertise as I didn’t want ponies thinking I had my job because the princess and I were friends. It was a factor of it, sure, but only because I’d helped her during the last attack on the city.

What a weird thing. We’d been attacked. That was a first in who knows how long. Now we were being threatened? What was going on! I lingered in the briefing for a while to listen to the gossip but nopony knew much of anything. It was all speculation which meant it was time to get going.

Once my pass was affixed to where it needed to be, I headed off towards Princess Celestia’s wing. I didn’t have an appointment, but I wanted to talk to her about my situation with Soarin. She would probably have some good advice.

While I wasn’t interested in ponies reading too much into my all-access badge, I did take advantage of it and decided it would be faster to cut through the command area to get back to the living area of the palace faster.

I was going through that area when things got weird. The whole place was oddly quiet. It was as if no business was being conducted and, in this area, that was never the case.

Usually there were guards at their posts and aides were coming and going. None of that was happening right now. Even if all the officers were in another meeting, there should have been ponies at the security checkpoints.

This was very weird. Not just weird, but wrong. I narrowed my eyes and concentrated as hard as I could on trying to detect anything abnormal. I wasn’t sure how the ability worked. During the Summer Sun Celebration, I’d just been able to see the dark energy all around.

That wasn’t happening now. There didn’t appear to be any miasma present and that was what made ponies act odd during the festival when Nightmare Moon returned.

I cautiously crept down the hall, my coat standing on end. Whether I could see the miasma or not, this felt wrong. It was almost as if something was in the air. Either that or I was imagining a situation that wasn’t real.

At the end of the hall was Shining Armor’s office. Maybe everypony was in there? I needed to let him know something was going on.

As I got closer to the door, it opened and Lady Cadence trotted out. When she saw me her eyes went wide. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, I was just passing through! Then I noticed all of the guards were gone and… and wait! What are you doing here?” I demanded back.

She tipped her nose up. “My husband-to-be works here and I was looking for him, obviously.”

“Is he in there?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. She sounded different somehow.

“He is not, so now I am going to find him,” she said before trotting past me.

I held out a hoof and set it on her chest, stopping her.

She hissed. “You dare touch me?”

“Where is your pass?”

“My what? Don’t be silly! You know who I am. Everypony knows who I am!”

“New rules. Everypony has a pass. Where is yours?”

Lady Cadence swatted my hoof off her chest. “I don’t have a clue, but I can assure you I won’t be needing it after I talk to Shining Armor about you. You… what is your name again?”

“Sunny Day. You go tell him I challenged you for a pass,” I replied before glaring. Whatever pony I’d met seemed long gone, and I didn’t like this one. If I’d known back then that she was like this, I would never have wanted to sleep with her.

She stormed off in the direction I’d come, leaving me alone. I opened Shining Armor’s door and peeked in. There wasn’t anypony inside. Everything looked normal, and I wasn’t about to go in without permission.

I pulled the door closed and continued on my way. When I took the small bridge that linked the palace and supporting areas, Shining Armor just happened to be coming my way. I stopped and stood to attention. “Captain, a word, please?”

He plotted forwards as if he hadn’t heard me, his eyes staring off into space.

“Captain!”

Shining Armor blinked and focused his attention on me. “Yes? What is it, Lieutenant?”

“I thought you should know that the guards in the command area are not at their posts. No pony is. The whole place is empty. The only pony I saw as I passed through was Lady Cadence.”

His ears shot up. “Empty? How? I was just there. Thank you, lieutenant. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Should I go with you, sir?”

He shook his head. “No, thank you. I’m sure there is just some sort of misunderstanding. Carry on.”

“But, sir, I can help. I’ll just—”

“Lieutenant, if somepony other than your commander came into your unit and started poking around, what would be your reaction? In your case, what if it was a sergeant? I appreciate your enthusiasm and initiative, but you may end up causing more harm than good. Carry on.”

My nostrils flared in annoyance. He was right, but I didn’t like it. What was a lieutenant from the wall guard going to do? I didn’t want to let him go alone though. Not that I had the choice. I stiffened, threw my chest out, and nodded. “Understood, sir! Go get ‘em.”

He nodded. “You can be assured I will,” he responded before marching off resolutely.

I waited for him to be gone before deflating. If I was a major or somepony higher up, I could have gone too. Being a wall guard commander was great, but it might have been time to start thinking about my career plans.

That would go on the list of things to do after dealing with my Soarin situation and maybe just before figuring out how to get Trixie’s ego to deflate slightly. Maybe Princess Celestia could help with that too.

With one more look over my shoulder in the direction Shining Armor went, I continued on my trek to see the princess. When I arrived, Sergeant Storm Rider was standing guard. “Pass, ma’am.”

I pointed to where it was on my collar. “It’s right here. This is as pass as my pass gets.”

He shook his head and said in a dull tone, “No, ma’am. The new pass. The special Princess access pass. New regulation.”

“What? No there isn’t! I was just in a meeting not long ago. There was no mention of new passes!” I said louder than I intended.

Storm Rider stroked his chin. “Is that so? Did they specifically mention that there wasn’t a new pass to see the princess?”

“What? No! They just ordered us to wear our pass on our collar at all times. No new passes! What is your game?”

The guard at the opposite side of the door was staring at us with his eyes wide.

Storm Rider grinned brightly. It was probably the first time I’d seen him truly smile. “Come on, LT. You came up with your pass on. We had a good thing going here. You changed the game, so I played along.”

I stiffened. “There is no new pass, is there?”

“No, ma’am,” Storm Rider replied.

“I’m in uniform! I could have you written up for lying to an officer!”

He nodded sagely. “You could, but you also may have admitted to maybe assaulting the princess not too long ago and I let that slide.”

As wound up as I was, I did see the humor in it. “We’ll call it even. I won’t write you up because it was just a harmless prank.”

“Why thank you, ma’am. I hope you have a good day. You look a bit strung out,” he said before knocking loudly three times and then pulling the door open.

“I am, I need her advice,” I replied before starting to trot passed. As I got halfway through I stopped and turned around. “I like you.”

“I like you too, Lieutenant,” he replied.

“Okay, we’re friends now then. That’s an order.”

“Doesn’t work that way, but alright. I’m in.”

That was good news at least. It was nice having a pal in the Guard that wasn’t a direct subordinate. Storm Rider was a pretty good pony. I should invite him out for drinks at some point just to get to know him better.

Just drinks, though. Sometimes it was better not to diddle where you dallied. Hopefully he wasn’t expecting diddling. That was a potential later, though. Now it was time to deal with my current problems head on!

“Oh, Sunny, I didn’t expect you today,” Princess Celestia called from her desk.

That was a fairly rare occurrence for me to see her working. As I looked over, however, I realized she wasn’t really working.

The princess’s desk was covered with about a million popsicle sticks and she was building some sort of castle out of them. “Hi… no, I thought I’d drop in for some advice if you’re free. I can’t tell if you’re free, though. That doesn’t exactly look like business of the realm.”

Princess Celestia flew two sticks together and then started to glue them. “Not exactly. I’m building a castle so that I can show my Fillies and Colts Magic Introduction class what is possible using levitation only. Their assignment will be to work in pairs to build famous buildings in town with their magic alone. Won’t that be cute?”

I took my helmet off and set it aside as I trotted over to her construction area. “Yes, it will. Do you always make your own projects? I thought some staff pony would do that.”

Her head bobbed up. “Sunny Day, surely you know me better than that! I take all of my classes very seriously. The other teachers do their own work, so why shouldn’t I?”

“Because in addition to being a teacher, you’re also the pony responsible for running the entire kingdom? That’s kind of a big deal,” I said, seemingly stating the obvious.

“Your point is well made, but a great leader does her best to lead by example. My goal is to inspire my students and staff alike. If you’re going to talk the talk, you’d best trot the trot,” she said before bringing her newly combined sticks down to the castle wall.

“You continue to amaze me,” I replied, welling up with pride in my sovereign.

The princess smiled. “Well, thank you. Now, you needed advice? Would you mind if I kept working on this while we talked?”

“Yes. No. I mean, yes advice. No, I don’t mind. Can I help or does it all have to be done by you?”

“You can help, just be sure you use your levitation skills only. Now, what kind of advice can I provide?”

“Relationship advice. You know I was sort of seeing Soarin, right? That stallion you sort of had a hoof in putting me back together with,” I started before picking up two sticks in my magic and going after the glue.

“The Wonderbolt, yes. I’ve seen him perform. He’s quite good,” she replied as she concentrated on more sticks.

“Right, him. So, we had a pretty ugly disagreement about a month ago and ever since things have been cold between us. He wanted to take our relationship further than I was willing,” I explained.

Princess Celestia’s eyebrow arched and her head popped up from behind the tiny castle. “He was pressuring you into a sexual escapade you weren’t comfortable with? I took him as a, what do you call it? A ‘vanilla’ pony. To be honest, it must have been pretty far off the beaten path for you to refuse. No offense.”

All at once my ears, cheeks, face and the back of my neck got hot. It took a lot to embarrass me but she’d done it quite expertly.

“What? No!” I squealed in protest. “Princess, I realize I talk a lot about my love life, but this isn’t like that. He’s a good, honest, sweet pony! He wanted us to move from casual partners to something more concrete. Like exclusive dating or marriage or the worst thing ever, meeting his parents!”

“Oh yes, that makes far more sense!” the princess replied, which only led to me feeling more embarrassed.

“Yeah, so he wants more, I don’t! At least, I think I don’t. Our fight was bad and after it I felt awful. I’ve been in a funk. I want him but I don’t want what he wants and now I’m not even sure we’re friends. What do I do?”

The princess softly landed her glue and popsicle sticks. “Sunny, this is a very difficult situation. I can give you advice, but I can’t promise you it will work. We’re talking about matters of the heart here. There are no hard and fast rules. No books with instructions.”

“I know, but I need something. Anything! I don’t want him to be hurt. I want to at least be friends. He’s a good pony and he deserves good things, but I can’t pretend to want something I don’t. That will just end up worse, won’t it?”

She nodded. “Be true to yourself. When you talked to him, did you try to explain why you feel the way you do?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know why I feel the way I do. It made him feel like he wasn’t good enough or that I didn’t really like him. I guess. It isn’t him though! It isn’t anypony. I’m just not ready to get serious. I like having the freedom to be me.

“If I see some mare or stallion that catches my fancy, I want to be able to engage them without it being a crisis of conscious. I can’t do that while I’m with a pony. That just isn’t me. My eyes wander, though! A lot! Why would I put a pony in a situation to be hurt even more? To be betrayed?”

Princess Celestia picked up her popsicle sticks again. “I don’t know that you need my advice. You’re making a very mature argument. It is logical. Soarin is responding with feelings, however. Logic and feelings can sometimes be in conflict.”

“You seem to be the only pony who thinks I’m mature,” I muttered, feeling the hairs of my coat stand up. “First Cheerful says I’m just a big filly. Then he had the audacity to say I was immature at dinner. That’s what set me off.”

The sticks that were floating in my magic started to glow red before bursting into a small flame. Princess Celestia turned towards them, blew them out, and then carefully pulled them away from my magic.

“Sunny Day, you are an immature pony in some ways. In others you are not and that is perfectly fine. Nothing is absolute, but I am concerned this is setting off your temper.”

“I feel like ponies aren’t taking me serious for what I’ve accomplished, and that makes me mad. It is like when everypony constantly compared me to Twilight. Only this time it is some random strawmare that doesn’t even exist.” I picked up two more sticks. These two didn’t burst into flames.

Princess Celestia moved hers down to start building up the model. “You’re going to have to decide for yourself on what that means. Some ponies hide their immaturities. Others embrace and even celebrate them. Only you can choose for you.”

I wrinkled my nose and glued the sticks together. “Thank you. Homework for me, yay! You know, I actually really like working with you.”

The princess smiled. “I enjoy working with you, too. I’m sure together we’ll make a great team.”

“I think so too, but can we go back to Soarin for a moment while we do? How do I be less logical and more feeling when it comes to him?”

“That is a tough question. Try putting yourself in his position. Imagine if you felt the way about him he feels about you. Or rather, imagine how he feels about the relationship, not the pony. Pretend to be him and then say what you think would make you understand. Does that make sense?”

That sounded difficult but it was probably the exact thing I should do. “It makes sense. It’s a challenge and I don’t mind that. Alright, I’m going to try. I’ll go see him this weekend after I think this all over.”

The princess nodded. “I hope it works out for the both of you.”

“Me, too. So, I have an hour or two free before I need to be at the Mare Contraire. Do you want a levitation buddy? Since you expect your fillies and colts to do this in pairs?”

“If it isn’t an inconvenience to you, I’d be glad for the help.”

“You help me, I help you! Now, do we have a plan for this thing?”

Princess Celestia nodded. “Oh yes, if you look to my tack board, I drew it up there.”

I looked over and just blinked. The little castle I was seeing was a gate house. The gate house to a massive castle with a giant, elaborate keep in the middle. “Princess…” 

“Yes, I may be going a little overboard, but I find this soothing. Come on. You build wall sections while I work on this, alright? There’s only twenty or so!” 

The price of advice was evidently going into model making. On the scheme of things it wasn’t horrible, but she really was overdoing this. The fillies and colts would probably spend the whole class trying to play with it.

If it was what she wanted, though, it was what I was going to do. I pulled over a bundle of the sticks and started to figure out how I was going to do it. “Alright then. Walls it is!”

We worked together in silence for a while before something tugged at my memory. “Say…” 

“Yes?” she replied without looking up.

“Have you noticed Lady Cadence acting any differently lately?” I asked cautiously.

The princess was focused on carefully building a window. “We haven’t spent a lot of time together as of late. She’s been very busy with her wedding planning, which I think is testing her temper.”

That was an understatement. “Right. So, I’ve run into her a few times and she’s seemed different to me. Certainly not her normal sweet self. Have you thought about maybe checking up on her?”

Princess Celestia looked up. “How do you mean?”

“I don’t know? Just making sure she’s still herself?”

“Sunny, that is an odd thing to say. What are you suggesting?” 

I shook my head. “I don’t really know. She just feels different to me. I saw her today and she was almost hostile towards me. That seems out of character.”

The princess let her sticks glide down again. “Did you see anything around her? Like you did that night?”

“No, I didn’t. Believe me, I looked.”

The sticks floated back up. “That is good. Thank you for letting me know. I’ll see about spending more time with her. Perhaps she could use some advice.”

That was a relief. I nodded. “Yes, Princess. I think anypony planning a huge wedding could benefit from your advice.”

She softly chuckled. “I’m not so sure. I haven’t been a bride in hundreds of years.”

My sticks fell out of the air and clattered onto the desk. “Wait, you’re married? Were married?”

Princess Celestia’s ears shot up. “Oh my, is that Raven calling me? Look at the time! See you later, Sunny! Finish up those walls before you leave, please.” She hopped up and hurried out, leaving me alone.

“What!” I squawked after her.

What was going on!
> 20. My Cousin Once Removed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’ve all worked hard this rotation and it is unfortunate that not all of you will be moving forwards,” Chief Print started. “This program is not easy and there is no shame in having to repeat it. We’ll get you all through in time. For today, however, I want to focus on what is next.”

“This has been a challenging rotation given all of the fanfare around Canterlot. We’ve barely done any example work. Instead, we’ve been running like an actual PRO unit and that is impressive. You’ve done the job.

“It is time to say goodbye to some of you as you move onto your final rotation elsewhere. Let me start by congratulating Guard Azurite for being number one in this group. You’ll have your pick of specialization rotation. On a personal note, I also want to thank you for all the extra hours you’ve put in helping me with this case load.

“You’re a wonderful pony that shines brighter than the mo—”

BANG!

I screamed before falling off the couch.

“Azurite, I’m so sorry!” Aurum said as she rushed over to help me up. “Were you sleeping already?”

I blinked in confusion. “I guess I fell asleep. I was having that great dream again.”

Aurum chuckled and rubbed my mane. “The one where Chief Print goes on and on about how great you are?”

“Yes! Would it have killed her to say more than ‘Good job, Guard Azurite, you’re first in the rotation,’ and move on?”

“Well, you were first in the rotation. That is pretty great, right?” 

I nodded. “Yes, yes. I know. Anyway, what was that loud noise?”

Aurum flushed. “I was too aggressive with the door when I came in. It slammed, I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t like Aurum to slam the door, but she’d been on edge lately. Actually, longer than lately. She’d been on edge for almost a month.

I set my hoof on hers. “Still no response?”

She shook her head.

“Give him time, alright? I know this is difficult for you but you took a big step and that is great.”

She squeezed my hoof. “I know. I do. I’m just so frustrated. I sent him letters that were superficial, he ignored them. I sent him a letter that was heartfelt, he ignores it. I’m not a terrible mother, Azurite! I didn’t do anything to deserve this!”

The pain in her voice was so obvious it sent a chill down my spine. I reared up and threw my hooves around her neck. “No, you aren’t and no, you don’t! You’re a good pony. You’re a great pony and mother! You’ve been so helpful to me all my life. This is just a rough patch. That’s what Mindful would say. Would you like me to see if she’ll see you?”

Aurum looped her hoof around my back and held me. “No, no, thank you. I’m just upset and hurt. Should I go see him? Just show up at his door? What do you think?”

What did I think? I had no idea! I wasn’t a professional. “I think that I support you regardless of the decision you make. I’m not Quartz or a mom so I honestly don’t know.”

She took a deep breath and nodded against me. “That’s fair. I’ll give it a few more days.” She let me go and ruffled my mane. “Alright, dinner and then bed. You’ve got to finish up your last rotation.”

“Yes, I do! I hope I made the right choice.”

Aurum grinned. “Well, I’m not a royal guard or a pony resources officer, but I’m confident you did and I support you.”

Despite having the best scores in the class and having the choice of any specialization, I’d chosen to be a generalist. Typically, they processed the basic paperwork and for the more in-depth items, they’d refer a pony to the right specialist.

My thinking was that, by being a generalist, I’d still get to be a first point of contact for ponies. Then, if I learned everything really well, I’d never need to refer a client out. That was my goal.

It also meant this last rotation would be my easiest. Generalists were expected to know a little something about every field but not be an expert in any. That already described me. I just hoped I was making a good decision for my career.

“Azurite?” Aurum said, looking me in the eyes and waving a hoof.

“Hmm?”

“Dinner and then bed sweetie. Are you alright?”

“Sorry, still fretting! What’s for dinner?”

Aurum ruffled my mane. “Don’t fret. We’re having stew-fu.” 

My nose wrinkled. “What is stew-fu?”

“Tofu stew. I read the recipe in a magazine and figured it was at least worth trying. Worst case, we load it into a catapult and hurl it from the mountain. You’re a royal guard, you can get a catapult, right?”

“Probably? You’d be shocked at what you can achieve with a notebook or a clip board. That and a little confidence,” I replied before hopping off the couch and settling up at the table. 

Aurum ladled out stew into our bowls. It looked like milky water and smelled like nothing. “Oh, did I mention one of your friends dropped by the shop today?”

A friend of mine? I didn’t have any friends. “Who?”

“He said his name was Macaron and that you two went to school together,” she replied.

My ears wiggled. “Oh, Macaron? He was in my class at warrant officer school. I had no idea he’d look me up. What did he want?”

Aurum replied, “Not much, just to say hello, I guess. He said he was sorry you two weren’t going to be in the same class anymore. Did something happen?”

“Nothing happened per se. Not really. Macaron just didn’t score high enough to move on. He also didn’t score low enough to wash out, so they’re going to keep him for another rotation. Then he’ll likely move up. He’s got a lot of heart,” I explained. That was a nice way of saying a pony wasn’t the sharpest spoon in the woodshed.

“Oh, well that makes sense. He talked you up and said you were great. I just agreed and told him I’d let you know he stopped in. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to get together with him.”

“I don’t know. Maybe?” I mused as I sipped on the tasteless stew. “He’s not a bad pony but I only know him from school. Maybe I’ll look him up later. For now I just want to focus on graduating. I’m so close! All I have to do is keep it together for a little longer.”

“Right, right. I’m sure you’ll be top of your class again…” she trailed after taking a bite of stew. Her nose gave the slightest flare.

I took another sip and then bit into what I hoped was a tofu cube.

“Azurite?” Aurum asked.

“Hmm?”

“This is awful, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t call it awful, no. I’d call it aggressively mediocre.” 

Aurum started to laugh, and her ears wiggled. “Aggressively mediocre? Where did you learn that?”

Mr. Peepers swam a fast lap in his bowl, blowing several bubbles. I pointed at him.

“And where did you learn that, Mr. Peepers?” she then asked.

He swam one lap and briefly hopped out of the water before swirling around diver pony.

Aurum looked my way. “What did he say?”

“He picked it up at a party with diver pony last week. It was one of his coworkers that said it,” I replied as I set my spoon down.

“Oh, I see. That— wait, what? Mr. Peepers’s coworker or diver pony’s?”

Mr. Peepers blew four bubbles.

“Mr. Peepers’s coworker.”

“Ah, yes, that makes more sense. Wait, no it doesn’t! When did Mr. Peepers get a job?” Aurum asked, suddenly quite concerned. “Where does he work? How does he get there?”

I could feel my brow furrow. “Of course, he has a job. How else would he be able to pay his share of the rent?”

Mr. Peepers bubbled responsibly.

Aurum’s jaw went slack. She worked it a few times before asking. “Where?”

“Down at the aquarium, of course. He’s a tour guide.”

My cousin sat upright in her chair. “Now I know you’re pulling my tail, Azurite. You explain ho—”

There was a knock at the door.

“Are you expecting anypony?” I asked.

Aurum shook her head no.

“Mr. Peepers?”

He bubbled no.

“Well, must be for me then,” I replied, getting up and trotting over. My horn illuminated and I pushed energy through it to grab the handle and pull the door open. When I saw the pony on the other side, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “Quartz!”

I heard Aurum gasp from the other side of the room and repeat, “Quartz?”

“Hi,” the stallion said sheepishly.

I hadn’t seen him in years, but I recognized him right away. Mostly because Aurum had a picture of him on the table by the door that she looked at every time she left. He hadn’t changed much from it.

He was the same height, which was annoyingly a lot taller than me. His coat was the same rosy pink color and his mane matched uncle Emerald’s honey colored one perfectly. At least when uncle Emerald had been a younger stallion.

Aurum slipped up beside me. So close that our flanks were touching. I didn’t say anything, I just a set my forehoof on her shoulder.

“Quartz,” Aurum said softly, moisture beading in the corner of her eyes. “Hello, son.”

“Hi, mom,” he said, his eyes not meeting hers.

“What brings you here?” She asked, reaching out a hoof to gently touch his cheek.

The younger stallion turned his head, pressing softly into the touch. “I got your letter. I’ve been thinking about it. A lot.”

“Oh?” Aurum replied, her hoof freezing in place.

The moment was painfully tense. I had no idea what I should be doing, so I just stood there against Aurum.

“Yeah. I mean, yes. When you and Dad were struggling, you just seemed so angry. It just seemed like you were antagonizing him. I didn’t realize that he was hiding his side.”

Aurum just nodded, her hooves trembling.

“I’m so sorry, Mom,” Quartz said before sweeping her up into a hug, parting me from her side.

I shouldn’t have minded. He should hug his mom but him suddenly swooping in and literally getting between us rubbed me wrong. Aurum was my roommate. My cousin.

Aurum held onto Quartz and stroked his back. “It’s okay. It’s fine. I know it was so hard on you. I’m so sorry, Quartz. I really am.”

They held onto each other and I backed up, giving them space. “Aurum, um, would you like to invite Quartz in?” I said softly.

“Hmm? Oh! Yes, of course. Come in, please,” Aurum said, pulling away from the hug just long enough for Quartz to follow her inside.

I shut the door with my magic and then the three of us just stared at each other awkwardly.

Aurum eventually motioned to me. “Quartz, you remember your cousin Azurite, right? I know it has been a while since you’ve seen her. She’s been so kind to me. She took me in, encouraged me to write you, and has really helped me get through this.”

Quartz gave a non-committal nod. “I do, although I remember her being larger.”

A short joke? Only Aurum was allowed to do that! Two slights in less than ten minutes!

Aurum shook her head. “Well, I do suppose you were a colt then. I guess she’d seem taller. She’s just the right size, though. Would you like something to eat? We have—” She looked over at the stew-fu. “To go pick something up.”

“I can go get it!” I squeaked in surprise. Why would I offer to go get food at night, alone? “So that you can spend some time with Quartz,” I kept saying. Although I really sort of wanted to just get out of the awkward moment.

“Are you sure, Azurite?” Aurum asked, suddenly directing all her attention back to me. It was marvelous.

No, I wasn’t sure at all. In fact, I was suddenly feeling quite threatened. Quartz showing up was a huge deal! What did that mean for Aurum? What did that mean for us? What did that mean for me?

“I’ll be fine, I’ll just go to the place on the corner,” I said, half lying. Mostly lying.

She stared me down, as if trying to see if I was serious. “To the café at the end of the block and right back,” she ordered.

“Right. Yes, ma’am!” I said before waving and going to the front door. At least that felt normal.

As I opened it, Aurum was already hugging Quartz again. It was selfish. It was petty. It was even foolish, but another twinge of jealousy shot through me.

Instead of dwelling, I focused my attention on the task in front of me. I trotted out into the Canterlot evening and pulled the door closed behind me. It was cold. Not emotionally, but just because it was winter. It was emotionally cold though too, actually.

There weren’t a lot of ponies wandering about and those that were had scarves on. I should have grabbed one but I hadn’t, and I certainly wasn’t going back in right away.

Keeping myself close to the buildings, I trotted down my street to the little café on the corner. Any thoughts of panicking had been overridden by fear of the future.

I stood outside for a bit, staring at the door while I considered everything. Nothing was going to change immediately, right? Probably not. They weren’t just going to speed off into the night. Try to calm down, Azurite. 

The door opened and the hostess that was always there smiled down at me. “Hi there, Azurite. Come in out of the cold, we’re still open. Is it just you tonight? All alone? Dine in or take out?”

“Hmm, yeah, just me. Take out, please,” I replied as I shuffled in.

“Alright, one Azurite and I assume Aurum special, coming right up! Unless…” she chimed before turning back to look at me.

“Yeah, that’s right. Oh wait, we have a guest. Can we get one more meal?”

The hostess paused and then flipped open a notebook. “Certainly! What would she like?”

What would Quartz like? I didn’t really know him. All I knew was that he’d been a jerk to my favorite cousin and now he was back apologizing, they were hugging, and it was like nothing ever happened. That was good, right? Yes, it was good!

“I guess a second Aurum special, please.”

“You’ve got it!” the hostess said before trotting off.

I settled onto the waiting bench and hugged myself lightly. Was everything going to change again? We’d just gotten into a good rhythm. No, Azurite, you’re being selfish! This is what Mindful Soul was talking about. It can’t all be about me.

What was best for Aurum? Wouldn’t being with her son be better? It certainly would be for her. Being separated from him was obviously hurting her and that was bad. Very bad. I never wanted Aurum to hurt!

Of course, I needed her, too. She’d know that and wouldn’t just leave me, would she? No! Aurum would never do that. She’d make sure I was alright, no matter what.

It still felt like she was going to leave. That was something I’d known would happen eventually, but eventually was supposed to be a while away. Like fifty summers from now or at least like twenty or so. That wasn’t unreasonable, was it? Especially considering Quartz had been a jerk.

That’s not fair, Azu, we don’t know the whole picture. Still, I wanted things to stay the same but Aurum had to live her life, too. I was just hoping for more… perhaps a summer or two would have been nice. But if she did leave, I’d still have my parents and Mindful Soul. They weren’t the same, though. Aurum was special.

“Azurite, your food is ready,” the hostess said before setting it down beside me. “Will you be paying in bits or should I add it to your tab?”

“Hmm? Oops, I didn’t bring my bag. Can you put it in the tab please?”

She nodded and grinned. “Sure! I’ll be sure to put a big tip for myself. You know, unless you want to get a cup of coffee sometime instead?”

“Sounds good to me, you earned the tip,” I said idly before circling the food with my magic and trotting out. What was I going to do about Aurum and I?

“Oh… okay then,” a voice called after me. 

The street just blew by as I trotted down to my apartment. I absently opened the door and trotted in. Should I have done that? This was my apartment! Why wouldn’t I?

Aurum and Quartz were sitting at the table. He was in the chair across from mine. The one we only used when my parents came to visit. Usually my father sat there. It was kind of his chair. I didn’t love the idea of Quartz being in it. Him and his stupid being Aurum’s son self.

“Everything go alright, Azurite?” Aurum asked.

I levitated the food over and settled it on the table. “Things were fine. I had to put it on our tab. I forgot my bits. Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright! Why don’t we eat while it is still hot?” Aurum then started to pull the boxes out of the bag and landed them in front of each of us.

I looked over at Quartz. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t think to ask what you wanted, so I ordered what Aurum normally gets.” And you’d best like it!

Quartz’s cheeks flushed and he waved a hoof. “No, no, that’s cool. Anything is fine. Thank you for inviting me into your home. You’re a good cousin. Mom has been telling me about all the things you’ve done for her. Thank you.”

What had Aurum been telling him? I’d literally just been fighting with myself over being jealous about him coming into our life. I hadn’t done anything for her!

“She’s done a lot for me. I think I got the better end of the deal,” I replied before opening my box and pulling out the plate of steamed vegetables over rice.

There was also a slice of cake nestled inside. Mine always came with cake no matter what I got. Aurum’s never did.

Aurum softly laughed and waved a hoof at me. “We’re family. We were here for each other when we were needed. And this is the important part: we always will be. Let’s just agree to that, okay?”

Was that a hint to me? A secret affirmation? Always was a good word. She wasn’t going to leave! I quickly nodded. “Okay, agreed!” I felt some relief. Aurum was good at dealing with me. She probably knew what I was thinking.

Hopefully she couldn’t read minds, though, because I’d called her son a jerk. Oh! I’d done that at the restaurant, but not here. Now she’d know, though. Sorry, Aurum!
> 21. Selling Trixie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I got to the Mare Contraire, there was already a line outside of the door. Had this happened before? It had. It had been happening more and more now, though.

“Pardon me, excuse me, royal guard coming through!” I called as worked my way past the mares at the front of the line and into the club.

When I got inside, I found Mango standing there wearing a tight black shirt and dark sunglasses. “Hey, baby.”

“Hi,” I replied before trying to trot past. She lifted up a hoof and set it against my chest.

“What? What are you, a bouncer now? Move!” I ordered as I briefly looked past her.

Dolly had adjusted to our new reality and changed the club into a venue. The dance floor had been reduced to half the size, several booths had been converted into a stage, and area just beyond the bar was now home to rows of seats that were brought in on show nights. They were all filled.

There were small standing tables all around the main area, facing the front… and those were crowded, too. I tried to push past Mango, but she shook her head. “Oh, no, no, no!”

“Mango, let her past or so help me I’ll fire you again!” Dolly shouted from behind the bar.

“Okay, buh-bye!” Mango chirped before removing her hoof.

I trotted over to the bar and looked at Dolly. “Really? You let her be a bouncer?”

Dolly shrugged. “Believe it or not, she’s very good at it. Besides, it means she is doing less harm back here.”

“Why don’t you fire her then! I mean for real this time?”

“Oh come on, she isn’t that bad.”

I looked at her.

Dolly looked back.

We continued to stare at each other.

Finally, Dolly sighed. “Okay, I feel bad. She’s been with me forever, she doesn’t ask for much, and where else would she work?”

“It’s your bits,” I replied before tapping the bar. “Sangria please. Big glass.”

Dolly started to fix my drink, her brow rising. “Long day? You didn’t even change before you came in.”

“Yeah, there is this whole crazy thing at the palace. We…” I trailed off. I couldn’t tell Dolly anything. It was all confidential information that she didn’t need to know. She was also a huge gossip.

That was also precisely why she was now eyeing me like a hungry predator. “Hmm?”

I leaned in close. “We’re going to have to bring guards in from outside of the city due to the wedding. It’s getting that out of control.”

Dolly snorted and looked clearly disappointed. She dropped my drink in front of me. “Tell me something that isn’t obvious.”

“Princess Celestia likes to make popsicle stick castles,” I muttered, sipping my drink.

“I’d believe that.” Dolly turned from me to an older pegasus mare two stools down. “What can I get you, toots?”

“White wine spritzer, please,” she replied before looking my way. “Are you the real security tonight? Besides the green thing at the door?”

I chuckled. “Green thing is tougher than she looks. No, I just didn’t get a chance to change after work. I’m a friend of the talent.”

The mare gave a knowing nod, her short black-and-pink mane bobbing. “I see! Well, that is nice. I’ve been hearing about this Trixie the Magnificent all over Canterlot and I just had to come see her myself.”

Dolly brought the mare her drink and sat it down. “Well our Trixie brings ponies in every night. We’re less of a club and more of a theatre now. I guess.”

“Oh, are you her agent, too?” the mare asked.

With a snort, Dolly replied, “No, I’m her manager. I guess Sunny there is her agent.”

The mare’s brow rose. “A royal guard and a talent agent? That is an odd combination.”

“You have no idea,” I replied before draining my sangria. My glass floated over to Dolly and bumped her cheek repeatedly until she swatted at it and grabbed it in her magic.

“I get it, Sunny! Give me a minute. I have a lot of real customers!”

I put a hoof to my chest in mock offense. “Hey, I pay the same bits they do!”

“Sure, sure. As if you don’t enjoy the employee disc—”

The lights suddenly went out and everypony cheered. It was showtime.

Several smaller lights behind the bar popped on. They were subtle, soft blue, but not distracting. That was how the staff kept working.

At the head of the room, a single light burst into life, casting a pure silver beam down onto the stage. Then there was a sudden puff of smoke and Trixie appeared, dressed in her purple hat and cloak.

“Good evening, mares, fillies, stallions, and colts! Tonight, you shall witness illusions the likes of which you have never dreamed! I, Trixie the Magnificent, welcome you to the Mare Contraire and our mystifying show!”

Several small fireworks erupted from behind the stage and popped before Trixie as she threw her signature cloak open. I’d had to beg the fire marshal to allow that.

Everypony stomped and cheered.

Trixie pranced to the front of the stage. That was a move she’d stolen from me, but nopony pranced better than Sunny Day the Pranceificent.

“Trixie the Magnificent has many talents beyond mere magic. For instance, did you know she could read a pretty mare’s mind?” Trixie started before scanning the front row. “You, there. The pretty mare with the honey mane, would you come closer?”

There were giggles and chuckles in the room. Stallions came to the show, but Trixie had geared it for Dolly’s normal clientele. That, and Trixie preferred pretty mares, and the one that trotted up was certainly that.

“What is your name?” Trixie asked.

“I’m Bee,” the mare replied sheepishly.

“What a cute name. Tell me, Bee, do you know how to play poker?”

Bee shook her head. “No.”

Trixie grinned brightly and looked right at the crowd. “Great! My favorite kind of girl. Drop by my room later and we’ll play.”

Everypony laughed.

The older mare near me looked over and said, “She has quite the stage presence.”

“Oh yeah,” I replied. “She’s been practicing a lot.”

“Now, Bee, Trixie is going to give you a deck of cards. She wants you to pick one out. Any one at all. Whichever one you like best. Just pick it out, write your name on the front side with this pen, and slip it back in, okay? Oh, and whatever you do, don’t let Trixie see! She prefers to read your mind.” Trixie levitated both a deck of cards and a pen towards Bee.

Bee giggled and nodded eagerly. She took the deck, sorted through it, found a card, and signed it.

“Great! Now Trixie just going to shuffle all of the cards ten times,” Trixie said before doing just that in her magic. While she was shuffling, she asked, “Bee, do you know what a royal flush is?”

“No,” Bee replied.

Trixie happily clapped her hooves. “It is the best poker hand you can get. You see it requires an ace, a princess, a governor, a knight, and a ten of the same suit. It is extremely rare. Now, Bee, Trixie wants you to take the deck back and pull out any ten cards you like. Just pull them out and toss them on the ground.”

The deck flew back to Bee and she carefully chose ten cards before tossing them down and offering the deck back to Trixie.

“Ponies, we know a royal flush is hard enough to assemble. Imagine doing that after a cute mare just took ten of your cards and threw them aside! What if she got all of the princesses? What if she threw away her card? Who knows? Trixie the Magnificent, that is who!”

With a theatric flare, Trixie thrust her hoof out to Bee. “Come, Bee, join me on stage!”

Bee sheepishly took the hoof and Trixie helped her up. “Now for the magic,” Trixie said cheerfully, taking the deck into her hoof and offered it to Bee. “A kiss of the deck if you please.”

“Should I?” Bee asked sweetly.

“Trixie is afraid the magic won’t work without it.”

Bee giggled again and kissed the deck.

“Very good!” Trixie said before holding the deck and swirling her hoof over it. “Now, it is time, Bee. Time to find your card! Trixie has already set it perfectly in this deck. All she needs you to do is draw the first four off the top and show them to everypony.”

Bee nodded and reached for the deck. Before she could touch it, Trixie pulled it away and Bee squeaked, “Oh!”

Trixie grinned. “Sorry, before you draw, Trixie has to read your mind. After all, you chose a heart, didn’t you?”

Bee gasped! “Yes!”  The crowd happily stomped.

“And you picked the biggest number in the deck, didn’t you, Bee?”

“Yes! Celestia’s sun, yes! I picked the ten!” Bee squealed in delight.

Trixie then offered the deck back. “Please draw the first four cards, one at a time and show the audience.”

Bee’s hoof reached out with excitement. She pulled the first card off the top.

“Ace of hearts!” Trixie called.

Bee drew again.

“Princess of hearts!”

And again Bee drew.

“Governor of hearts!” Trixie’s voice lifted, ever more excited.

The crowd was going wild at that point, knowing what was coming next.

When Bee pulled the fourth card, showing the knight of hearts, the room was practically quivering with anticipation.

Trixie just grinned and held the deck out. “What do you think, ponies? Has Trixie done it? Is this Bee’s card?” she asked as she carefully levitated it up, keeping the back to everypony.

“Yes! Yes!” they called.

“Show us!” they shouted.

The lights went to a soft pink and Trixie sidled close to Bee before turning the card around, showing that it was, in fact, the ten of hearts with Bee’s name on it.

The Mare Contraire exploded with cheers.

“That is one hay of a trick!” the older mare near me commented as she clapped her forehooves.

“Yes, she had to work on that one for months,” I commented, setting my hoof on the bar. I still didn’t understand how it worked, either. She’d shown me six times. It seemed like magic to me, but it wasn’t.

“Thank you, Bee, for being such a great assistant,” Trixie said before kissing Bee on the cheek. “Everypony cheer for Bee!”

They did so. Loudly! 

The only reason I showed up anymore was to support Trixie. The bar had long since become too noisy and packed for me to even enjoy. Still, it was great to see her hit her stride.

While the show continued in the background, the mare we’d been talking to shifted her attention to me. “Tell me, girls, aren’t you worried somepony is going to swoop in here and hire her?”

Dolly snorted. “Look, I’m proud of that filly. If she gets to be more successful, that’s fine with me. Plus, honestly, this has been great for business, but it is wearing me and my staff out.”

I tapped my hoof on the bar. “Agreed. She needs a bigger venue that‘s geared for this.”

The mare clapped her forehooves together. “That is what I was hoping you’d say. Ladies, here is my card,” she trailed before pulling it out and sliding it over to me.

Dolly snatched it up in her magic before I could get to it. “Madam Anneau, Traveling Wonders?”

“Yes, you see, I look for the best acts I can find. Comedy, magic, thrills, you name it and I seek out those that perfect it. Then I sign them on for my tour. We go city to city and play the biggest venues every season. I’m filling out some spots for my latest.

“A lot of the ponies I sign are so good they normally only make one or two tours before they go solo, so I’m always out looking and let me tell you, Trixie is a perfect fit.”

“So you’re saying you want to offer Trixie a job?” I asked.

Madam Anneau shook her head. “No, I want to sign her act. You are her agent, right? You should know how this works.”

Dolly laughed and waved a hoof. “We’re not a real agent and manager. We’re just playing the part to help her find her footing. So, signing her, what does that mean?”

The mare’s eyes twinkled briefly before she replied eagerly, “It means she owns her act, but may only perform it exclusively with me for the season. I cover all of her expenses and arrangements and she gets a percentage of the ticket sales. Her agent and manager would get a portion of that too, of course.”

“Of course,” I replied. I didn’t really want Trixie’s bits. I just wanted her to be successful and, more importantly, to leave my condo.

Dolly shook her head. “No deal.”

Madam Anneau and I looked over at her in surprise.

“It’s not a good deal for our girl,” Dolly explained. “Forgive me. Madam Anneau. but we don’t know you or your tour. We don’t know what your gross sales are. Does she get a portion of the tickets before or after your expenses? If a show doesn’t sell well does she have to perform unpaid? I may not know show business. but I know regular business.”

Dolly was awesome. No doubt about that.

Madam Anneau grinned. “I can see you’re a shrewd mare. We would work all of that out in the contract. but I can tell you I treat my acts fairly. First and foremost, they can never go unpaid because I’m paying full room, board, and transportation whether the show sells or not. They’re guaranteed that for the whole tour. That incentivizes me to advertise and publicize to the best of my ability.”

I looked back to Dolly. I was going to keep my mouth shut.

Dolly nodded. “Yes, yes. it does. You certainly have bits at stake in that case. Of course, you’re also signing ponies exclusively to you. If you’re willing to hire Trixie, others may be. I also know how much she makes per performance here.”

It was decent, but not that much. I knew that, too, but I could tell Dolly was negotiating hard.

“And I know how much extra business she brings in, which results in her getting a share of our profits.”

That was a slight stretch, although Trixie did get tip share for her shows.

“I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” Madam Anneau replied smoothly. “My shows are almost always sold out and the performers play the biggest venues. One season of exclusivity leads to huge opportunities that she’d never get in this bar. No offense, of course.”

Dolly shook her head. “None taken. We’re not set up for this. I know that.”

Madam Anneau nodded. “Agreed. So, one season, room, board, and travel. 5% of ticket sales and I’ll throw in a small weekly stipend for her to have pocket money. You can work out how much of her 5% you get with her.”

“We’re talking in the same ballpark now,” Dolly started before she leaned against the bar all cool like. “6% of gross ticket sales, in writing, the small stipend, a room of her own—not shared—board, travel and you have to put her name on the marque. It can be on the bottom, but it has to be legible.”

The mare idly reached up and tugged at her own ear, eyeing Dolly and then looking up to where Trixie was on stage.

Trixie was halfway through one of her larger tricks that involved ‘crushing’ a mare with a giant stone cat. She’d said it was symbolic.

The silence drug on and it was starting to get to me. I just looked back and forth as Madam Anneau and Dolly stared each other down.

Finally, Anneau thrust out a hoof. “Deal.”

Dolly bumped it. “You won’t regret it. She’s a good girl, and her act is amazing. You haven’t even seen the finale yet.”

Madam Anneau grinned. “Oh, I have. This is the fourth time I’ve been here. I just had to play the part of the amazed spectator.”

“Clever girl,” Dolly grinned before turning. “I’m going to get some champagne.”

Once she was gone, Anneau said to me, “Your friend is a great negotiator.”

“Yup, the best. You know, she basically raised me and helped me get Trixie where she is today. In the end, though, it’s all Trixie. She doesn’t buy any of her tricks. She makes them up herself.” As I said that, there was an explosion behind me. It didn’t even startle me anymore.

Trixie exploded, disappeared, and the show was more or less over. There was just one final part. Everypony was stomping and looking around with anticipation of where she’d gone.

Without warning, a big pink puff of smoke shot up from behind the bar right in front of me. Trixie popped out, the spotlight fell on her, and the room went wild.

“Thank you, everypony! That is my show tonight. Please stay for the drinks and tip well. The staff of the Mare Contraire are so kind to host us, so let’s show them love!”

“Hey, Trixie,” I said while everypony stomped and cheered. I motioned to Anneau. “This is Madam Anneau. Dolly sold you to her.”

Confusion crossed Trixie’s face as she tried to figure out if I was kidding. That happened just as Dolly returned with the champagne and four glasses.

“Dolly, did you sell Trixie to this mare?” Trixie demanded.

Dolly just laughed and set the bottle down. “In a manner of speaking, yes. Yes, I did, but you’re going to love it. Let me tell you all about your good fortune.”

I just leaned back to listen. Dolly had a great way of explaining things, and this was good news. My long day was starting to melt off me. Trixie was getting a great opportunity, I was getting my apartment back, and there was booze to drink.

All in all, it was going to be a fun evening, even if somepony had messed around with the lighting so much that pink light seemed to ooze in through the blacked-out windows and doors. I’d talk with the girls about that later. For now, this was all about Trixie.
> 22. My Pink Problem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was late. At least, late for me. Aurum and Quartz were still catching up on everything that had happened in the last few months. They were talking about it while sitting on the couch. My bedroom, more or less.

Interrupting them just seemed rude. Being in the room also felt awkward. I wanted to both be there and not be there. Despite all of Aurum’s assurances at dinner that we’d all look after each other, I still felt like I was suddenly an outsider.

Those were feelings I couldn’t express out loud. What kind of friend would I be if I was upset that a mother and son were reunited? An awful one!

It would have been better if they’d been reunited in Aurum’s bedroom, though. At least then I could have had my couch! I’d go to sleep and when I woke up, they’d be all talked out. Or talked out enough. 

When I was certain the two of them were too caught up in the moment to notice, I stole a glance at Mr. Peepers. He looked back at me and blew an equally put out bubble. It was past his bedtime, too. He and I both went to bed early so we could be up early.

I didn’t have class the next day, so they weren’t really inconveniencing me other than the fact that I was being denied four hugs from O. C. Topus. I was also tired and starting to get cranky.

With a soft huff, I settled my forelegs on the windowsill and looked out into the night. Canterlot was relatively quiet and the street lanterns cast a warm, golden glow from their unicorn magic. A few ponies walked here in there, wrapped in their scarves and coats.

There hadn’t been any snow yet, but it wouldn’t be long before the weather team started in on that. I’d need to get some new boots. My old ones were showing their age and the cute little whale that was painted on the side was starting to come off.

Had I always been so obsessed with sea life? When was the last time I’d even been to the ocean? I should go to the be— “Youch!” I shouted when a bright pink light burst through my window and right into my eyes.

Aurum was immediately up and over to me. “Azurite, are you okay! What in Equestria was that?”

I swatted away the spots and then looked out the window again. The night sky had disappeared only to be replaced by a pink, translucent sheen. “I’m not sure, but look at that!”

Aurum and Quartz both pressed up against the glass to peer out.

This was a big deal. Something had happened! Were ponies going crazy outside? I pulled my gaze down from the sky only to find the few ponies out were just looking up in confusion and pointing. They didn’t know any more than I did, but at least they weren’t panicking. Should we be panicking?

“What do we do?” Quartz asked.

Aurum looked between him and I. “We wait here until the authorities tell us what to do,” she said with certainty.

She was right. I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. Nopony was freaking out. The authorities would let us know what to do. The Royal Guard would— I sat up straight. Yes, the Royal Guard would know, and I was a royal guard.

I was the authorities. I wanted to be a scared filly right then and hide under a blanket, but in my heart, I knew what I had to do.

My body moved automatically as I turned from the window and went over to my drawers. When I pulled the bottom one open and levitated out the folded uniform, Aurum called out to me.

“Azurite, what are you doing?”

“I’m getting dressed,” I replied as I started to pull my uniform on. Why are we doing this, Azu?

“I see that. That isn’t what I meant. What are you up to?”

“I’m a royal guard. I’m getting dressed so I can report in. They’ll need everypony they can get their hooves on for whatever this is,” I explained as I tried to keep my magic steady enough to button my tunic. It was hard to focus.

Aurum trotted over and set a hoof on my shoulder. “Azurite, you’re right. You are a royal guard. A royal guard on medical leave pending retraining.”

“Right, a royal guard,” I repeated, without looking up at her. If I did that, she’d know I was scared. This could be exactly like last time. It could be worse than last time.

“Azurite, look at me,” Aurum said in her mom voice.

I shook my head no. “I need to go.”

She hooked her hoof under my chin to tilt my head up. When our eyes met, hers softened. She leaned down and pressed her forehead to mine. “You don’t have to do this.”

Warm tears pooled at the corners of my eyes. “I do have to, Aurum. I’m a royal guard. If I don’t go now, will I ever go? Will I always just be the one guard that hides in her apartment waiting for the other guards to do the work?”

“You can go when you’re stronger,” she whispered.

My hoof was shaking but I lifted it and set it on her chest. “Aurum, I might be scared. I might be off mentally. I might talk to fish. I might be a lot of things, but I don’t think I’m a coward. I would rather go out there, panic, and fail than be here wishing. Please, let me go.”

She hooked her hoof around my back and squeezed me tightly up against her chest. “Oh, Azurite, I’m so proud of you.”

I hugged her back and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. It was warm and safe there. It would be easier to stay but I was a royal guard. I had to go, scared or not.

We broke the embrace and I wiped my eyes. “I want you two to stay here until you hear from somepony officially that it is safe to go out.”

“Okay,” Aurum said softly.

I pointed at hoof at Mr. Peepers. “And you, you stay in, too.”

He bubbled in response.

On the way to the door, I looked over at Quartz. “Keep your mom safe, don’t let her chase after me,” I ordered firmly.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

Then I went outside into the dark, alone. All alone without a partner. That was alright, though. I was going to be surrounded by royal guards soon. Soon would be good. Immediately would be better.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. This was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay. Central command would be the best place to report in without a regular unit. I started off in that direction, keeping to the side of the street and close to the buildings.

When I hit Mane Street, I was relieved to find ponies in uniform or armor trotting in the same direction. Others weren’t dressed yet, but it was clear they were guards. The pair in front of me clearly had a military swagger.

“What do you think is going on, boss?” the mare that wasn’t that much taller than me asked her partner. He was an unnecessarily large pegasus stallion. I wasn’t even aware they made ponies that big. 

His gaze was focused straight ahead as he replied. “Some kind of magic outside of my understanding, but the alarm bells aren’t ringing, so it must be minor. We’ll check in and find out.”

That confirmed they were guards and what he’d said hadn’t crossed my mind. There weren’t any alarm bells. When something was a major emergency, they rang all across the city. Loud bells. Just like during the Summer Sun Celebration.

With a vigorous shake of my head, I chased that memory away. At least the big brute was right. No bells meant no imminent threat to life. For all I knew, I’d check in and be sent home. That would be nice. The less time I spent standing around, the less likely it would be the others would notice I was shaking.

Each hoof step towards command was excruciating. Minor emergency or not, going back to work was frightening. It is what I had to do, though. It is what I needed to do! I was a royal guard first and a wreck of a pony second.

When we drew closer to central command, there was already a large group of ponies sorting themselves out. Crowds normally bothered me, but not when it was other royal guards. They’d do whatever it took to protect me.

“City guards, thank you for coming, but please head to your precincts for instruction!” a young-looking lieutenant was calling from the top of a wagon.

Opposite him was a major waving ponies forwards, “Palace guards, command staff, and other central ponies, please come this way.”

I guess I fell into the category of other central ponies, so I started to trot towards her. As I drew closer, the line came to a sudden halt and I heard some loud discussion from the head of it.

After a minute or two, I peeked around the pony in front of me to see what was going on. There was a yellow mare in disheveled gold armor arguing with the gate guard.

“I hash to sheck in!” she blurted.

“Ma’am, please, you’re drunk, you can’t check in!”

The yellow mare poked a hoof at the pony, her hoofguard falling off. “I wash osh duty! No duty tomorrow! Then thish bubble! Checking in!” 

The pony picked up her hoofguard and awkwardly tried to put it back on her. “Lieutenant, I appreciate that, but you’re barely in uniform.”

“Ish enough! I losh my helmet!” she said way too loudly. Her helmet was literally sitting on her rump. A shapely rump at that.

The major trotted over. “What is going on? What’s the hold up, Sergeant?”

“This lieutenant is—”

“Lewtenish Day!” the mare cut in

“Lieutenant Day is drunk and trying to check in,” the sergeant said.

She needed to get her big, dumb, drunk rump out of the way. Standing in the line outside of the walls wasn’t helping my nerves. She was so inconsiderate!

The major took the lieutenant by the collar of her armor and pulled her to the side. “Carry on, Sergeant, I’ll get the lieutenant in form.”

“Mah form ish perfect!” she wailed as she was tugged off.

With that done, the line was moving again. When my turn came, the sergeant looked down at me in confusion.

I stood as tall as I could. “Guard Azurite reporting!”

He blinked at me and looked at my uniform. “Guard or trainee?”

“Guard Azurite, formerly of the City Guard, currently a soon-to-be graduate of the Warrant Officer school. Reporting!” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

“Ah, I see. Thank you for coming. I don’t have any specific instructions for unassigned guards yet. If you’ll just go inside and head to that area over there, please,” he said, pointing to where a group of clearly mismatched guards were loitering.

Some wore armor from other cities. Others were in various uniforms. We were the mismatched and misfit. We’d just shown up as per protocol. Somepony in command would figure out what to do with us later.

“Howdy there,” a lean, black-and-brown speckled stallion in a stetson hat called as I approached.

“Hi? Howdy!” I replied and immediately felt silly.

He grinned down at me. “Welcome to the Irregulars, missy.”

Irregulars? “Huh?” was all I managed.

A pegasus mare in a formal Baltimare Guard uniform waved a wing at me. “Don’t mind Paco, he’s decided to name this group. Nopony else is really buying it.”

“Paco’s Irregulars, and yes they are,” Paco said proudly.

The other ponies in the crowd gave various non-committal shrugs.

Paco’s Irregulars was certainly not any sort of sanctioned unit. At least I didn’t think so. Surely the Guard wouldn’t allow that some random pony to just form a unit? 

The pegasus set her red-feathered wing across my back. “See, Paco, you’ve just confused another one. She’s just standing there trying to figure out if you’re serious or not.”

Paco brushed his hoof across his chest. “I’m as serious as a heart attack, Bloom. Seeing as I’m the most senior pony here, it’s my duty to organize this show.”

“Most senior?” I asked, finally finding my voice.

He nodded. “Yep, you bet! I’m a master sergeant. Unlike some other pony, I just didn’t reckon I’d need my uniform when I was on leave.”

My nose wrinkled. He was a senior non-commissioned officer. Most of the ones I’d met were grouchy and serious. Paco didn’t seem like that. Was he really a master sergeant? Even if he was, he wasn’t technically the most senior now that I’d arrived. I’d be graduating no matter what. Which meant—

“I’m a warrant officer,” I blurted out.

“What’s that now?” Paco asked in surprise as he pushed his hat up.

“Warrant Officer Azurite. That’s me,” I chimed. Why was I lying? What was I doing?

Bloom—I think that was her name—pulled her wing back to her side and looked me over in confusion. She then shrugged. “Nice to meet you, Azurite. First Sergeant Rose Bloom. What sort of warrant officer are you?”

Paco took his hat off and held it to his chest. “Don’t tell us! Let us guess? You’re a foal care warrant?”

“Paco, be nice!” Bloom hissed. Her tone wasn’t one two ponies who barely knew each other would use, either.

Foal care! There was no such thing as a foal care warrant. Was he making fun of me? That wasn’t appropriate for an NCO to do with a warrant officer. I lifted a hoof to give him a piece of my mind, but then something struck me as odd.

Paco and Bloom didn’t seem like two ponies that had just met. In fact, they seemed really close. Was this whole thing some sort of joke or setup? “Do you two know each other from before tonight?”

At that point, Paco pulled his hat down over his eyes. “Now, where are you getting an idea like that? We’re playing guess the warrant.”

“You’re from somewhere out west, clearly,” I explained, “and Rose Bloom is obviously from Baltimare but the way you two are interacting really doesn’t match two ponies that barely know each other. I’m really good with details. That is why I’m a warrant officer.”

Paco muttered, “You must be one of them fancy detective warrants.”

I wasn’t, but I liked the sound of that. Not that warrant officers usually became detectives. I shifted to Rose Bloom. “So, I’m right, right? You two know each other.”

Bloom’s cheeks turned pink. “You could say that. We’re both took leave to visit Canterlot so we could get married. Today. This was literally our wedding night.”

My ears shot up. “You got married today? Today, today? Congratulations!” I squealed.

Paco took his hat off and waved it at me. “Shhhh, girl. Bring it down.”

“Aren’t you happy?” I asked a little too loudly before lowering my voice. “I mean, aren’t you?” This was amazing! They’d just been married, that was beautiful.

“Is a cactus prickly? Of course, but we don’t want the Guard getting funny ideas like not letting us help tonight just because it is our special day. This looks serious.”

Rose Bloom nodded firmly. “Yes. Wedding night or not. Pink bubble in my bridal suite window or not. We’re royal guards first and newlywed ponies second.”

That was something I understood. Even with all of my fears I’d responded, and I was glad I’d done so. Just being around other guards was giving me confidence. If these two had just got married. Wait, had she said her wedding suite?

“You were already in your suite? Were you two—”

“Alright, everypony, listen up!” a gruff voice called from over my shoulder. 

We all turned and stood at attention as soon as we saw the voice was from an older pony with a major’s pin on his armor. “I appreciate you checking in. I’m going to take all of your names and ranks and send a note to your superior that you did so.”

“But…” Paco said.

“But you can go home, this is a precautionary shield spell in advance of the wedding. The Captain of the Canterlot Guard saw it fit to erect it just as notice was going out. The how and why are above my pay grade.

“At any rate, there is no present threat or emergency. This is just one of those things that looks frightening, but it was really just a matter of word not getting out soon enough. The newspapers are already getting the story ready to run. You can read about it in the morning headline.”

Rose Bloom and Paco exchanged brief glances, smiled, and then smiled a bit more. Too much more.

The major then took all of our names and dismissed us. The flow of ponies from the central command was now going the opposite direction. I started to relax. There wasn’t going to be any sort of big fight. No ponies were going to get hurt.

I wasn’t going to have to use force on somepony again. Thank all the stars for that. Now all I had to do was get home, but the streets were busy now. The spell had brought out the curious ponies. They were busy looking up, pointing, and talking about how pretty a color pink was.

Pink was pretty, but blue was far superior. If they were looking up, though, they weren’t looking at me and that made it easier to keep my emotions in check. The high from being a guard again, however briefly, was starting to wear off and the broken pony was coming back.

One positive outcome was that I was more sure than ever that I wanted to get back to work. That might give me some normalcy instead of sitting in fear, thinking about what was to come. It was a shame it was only Friday.

I wouldn’t have another class until Monday, and now I had to deal with the fact that Quartz was here. Life was going to change in some way, and I wasn’t sure I liked that.

Fear ruled so much of my life. Fear of crowds. Fear of the dark. Fear of having to be violent. Fear that Quartz was going to take Aurum away. Fear that Aurum would let him. I was getting feared out. Maybe I should go see Mindful Soul before Monday? She usually took weekend appointments on short notice if it was an emergency. This kind of was.

As I approached my apartment, the lights were all on inside and out. I could see Aurum staring through the window. She wasn’t looking up; she was looking out. The moment she saw me, she moved away and threw open the door.

“Azurite!” she called out into the cold night.

I picked up the pace, trotted quicker, and closed the distance between us. “I’m home, everything is fine!”

Without another word, Aurum pulled me into a tight hug against herself, burying my face in her soft coat. “I was so worried, but I’m so proud of you.” I could hear her heart beating quickly. She was really upset.

“It’s okay, really. It’s just a precaution,” I said, suddenly not worrying about myself and instead trying to soothe her fears.

“Good, good. Come inside. It’s cold out here. Let’s get you some hot chocolate and some nice socks. I made up the couch for you and sent Quartz on into the bedroom. He can sleep in the bed and, if you don’t mind, we can share your couch. At least tonight?”

Maybe I’d been overreacting before. Aurum wasn’t just going to up and leave if she felt like this. My hooves tingled with warmth and I squeezed her. “I’d like that. Thank you, Aurum.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied.

We could deal with change tomorrow. At least tonight, it would just be Aurum and me.
> 23. Soaring Regrets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun poured menacingly through an open window, hitting me right in the eyes. My vision was blurry, my head was pounding, and I was cold. I stretched a hoof out trying to close the shades, but they were too far away.

Where was I? The room looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t see straight and it was upside down. No, that was me. I was on my back with my head hanging off a bed.

Opposite from where I was looking, I heard a door open and hoofsteps approaching.

“Are you awake?” a familiar voice asked.

I lifted my head and immediately regretted it. The dull pounding quickly turned into an explosion of pain that further blurred my vision. “Owww! Yes. Oww,” I whispered.

“Easy there, you were really drunk last night,” the voice said again. It was masculine and nice.

My vision cleared up enough for me to realize it was Soarin. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and looking at me with concern.

There was a glass of water in his hoof, which he offered me. “Drink this, you’re dehydrated.”

I drew in the magic around me and focused it on a levitation spell. That immediately failed and sent another wave of pain through my head. “Oww!” I then thrust out a hoof at the glass and missed. It instead landed on Soarin’s foreleg.

“Okay, let me help you,” he said softly before setting one hoof under my head to lift it slowly. He then helped me drink.

I drained the whole glass like I’d never had water before in my life. “How did I get here?” I asked, realizing even in the stupor I was in that this was a very odd and unlikely place for me to be.

Soarin cleared his throat. “That is a funny story. Well, it‘s funny to me. It wasn’t funny last night and there may or may not be a reprimand coming your way. We’ll see.”

Reprimand? What was he talking about? “Wha?”

The stallion got up, refilled the water from a pitcher, and returned. “Take these and then drink this,” he said, setting two little pills on my lips.

I opened my mouth, captured the pills with my tongue, and he helped me wash them down.

“You were drunk,” he started.

“’member that.”

“And the shield spell went off.”

What shield spell? “No clue.”

“And like a good royal guard, you went to report in. You got confused and instead of going to the palace, you went to Central Command. Drunk,” he went on before patting my hoof.

Had I done that? That did sound vaguely familiar. Or at least believable. “Okay,” I replied. Me going to the wrong place wasn’t that funny.

“Well, when you got there, you evidently were stopped at the gate but were quite insistent that it was your duty to check in. A major appreciated your dedication and pulled you away to try and sober you up. Now this is a second hoof account, but evidently you didn’t take kindly to his help, bit him just above the hoofguard, and ran off into the courtyard.”

“Huh?”

“Logically at that point he was miffed and felt you would be better off just spending the night in the pokey until you sobered up. He sent four guards after you. That was around the time I arrived to check in.”

None of this was clicking. The last thing I remembered was drinking with Dolly, Trixie, and whats-her-name. Madam Amataco. With all the power I had in my body, I rolled over onto my side. The room did too, which forced me to cover my mouth with both hooves.

Soarin quickly grabbed a trash can and set it within my reach. “Easy, easy!”

The wave of nausea passed, and I took a deep breath through my nose. “Okay.”

“You sure?”

I nodded.

“Alright, well, you gave those four quite a fight. They chased you for a while, hoping you’d tire yourself out and just lay down. After it was clear that that wasn’t going to happen, they got serious. Unfortunately, so did you.

“You galloped across the yard, leapt over some hedges, tore through the dining facility, jumped out an open window, and then rushed the gate guards from the inside. They were not prepared for that.”

“I’m amazing,” I wheezed. 

“No kidding. Luckily, some time while you were in the dining facility, they’d released everypony and issued the all clear, so there wasn’t much of a crowd. I spotted you when you were making your grand escape.”

So I’d gotten away with it!

“You’d have gotten away cleanly if you hadn’t been screaming that you were Lieutenant Day and they needed to respect you.”

“Oops.” I should have been more worried, but my head hurt.

“Yeah, big oops. Anyway, I told the major I’d catch you and take care of you. At that point you were already outside the gates and he was done. So I swooped down, picked you up, and flew you home,” he explained.

“I didn’t fight you too?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. You screamed ‘wheeeee’ and that I was the best stallion in the world—which I did appreciate.”

That sounded like me. I blinked and then looked around. “Wait, this isn’t my home.”

Soarin nodded. “Right. When I got you home, you didn’t know how to unlock your door. Also, even from outside, I could hear somepony screaming, ‘Yes, Bee, yes, Bee, yes, Bee,’ over and over, so I was concerned you’d moved and didn’t want to deal with whatever was going on inside.”

I’d told Trixie she was loud in bed! “That’s my roommate, Trixie.”

“Oh, well… At that point I wasn’t comfortable just leaving you there. You were really drunk, so I brought you here. When we got in, you tried to seduce me, tripped over a floor pillow, and face planted into my carpet. So, I carried you in and put you to bed. Now we’re here.”

He was so sweet. I reached out a hoof and set it on his. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, you’d do the same for me if I ever managed to get as drunk as that. Not that I’m sure I could."

I shook my head, and I hoped he understood how hard that was. “No, not for that. I mean, yes that, too, but for before. I acted like a complete idiot and I’m sorry. You are a classy stallion. I did that to you and you still took care of me.”

Soarin idly rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof. “Well, I really like you and you were bad off.”

“I don’t want to stop seeing you,” I thought.  Soarin blinked at me in surprise and I realized that no, I had blurted that out loud.

“Well, things are complicated now. I don’t want to stop either, but I’m also not really excited about just being whatever it is I am now.”

“Fair,” I muttered while my alcohol-addled brain tried to work right. “I’ll stop seeing other stallions,” was what it came up with.

His brow arched. “And that is better?”

My hoof flailed at his. “I’m trying! I’m making a commitment. No other stallions, just you and mares. I’ll give up zebras, too.”

“You’re still drunk,” he said, patting my flailing hoof.

My head shook again, almost blinding me with pain. “No, I’m sober enough. No other stallions and if I’m seriously dating a mare, I’ll tell you.”

He paused and shrugged. “Like I said, things are complicated now.”

I poked at him with a hoof, missing. “Listen, listen. How much are you going to travel when you make it to the Kingdom Wonderbolts? Half the year? More?”

That sudden change of topic clearly had him confused. “Probably more than half. Why?”

“Okay, follow me. We’re married. You’re going to be all over Equestria without me. I’m not giving up my career for you, no offense.”

He looked more confused than ever. “Sunny, what in the world are you talking about?”

“Hyoh… hyno… hypothetically. You’re at a show, some hot little mare wants you, and then what?” I asked before doing my best Soarin voice, “Sorry, my wife is back home and even though we’re only together a third of the year and the only hoof that has touched me in months is my own, I’m turning down this awesome potential experience.”

Soarin blinked at me, then started to relax as he nodded. “I think I’m following?”

I propped myself up on a hoof so I could look him in the eyes. “I’m not going to get mad if you roll around with that mare. I don’t want you to feel guilty or have a crisis of conscious about it, either. I just want you to go for it and have fun. I would still know you’d come home to me. Can you put yourself in my shoes and see that? Just for a second?”

His head tilted and he then nodded. “I hadn’t thought about it that way. I’ll concede your point at least makes sense.”

Thank you, Princess Celestia! Her advice had come through. “Yes, thank you. We can date seriously, but flings are okay. If one of us wants to date somepony else, we talk about it. Is that enough for you?”

“Can I think about it?”

“Of course! Think all you want,” I said before I felt something hot in my chest. Was that passion? A sudden desire to just be with him alone. Could it be? Could this be lo— I fell over, grabbed the trash can and vomited violently into it.

Soarin nestled in behind me and pulled my mane back. “Yeah, I’m just going to put this conversation on hold for now and we’ll talk about it again when I’m completely sure you’re in your right mind and aren’t about to die.”

Most of my vomiting was painful, dry heaves. When I stopped doing that, Soarin got up, brought me another glass of water, and helped me drink it.

“You really are the best stallion ever,” I murmured before sucking down a second glass.

“I’m just doing what anypony would do for a friend.”

I reached out and smooshed my hoof against his face. “Noooo, I think you liiiike me,” I teased.

Soarin chuckled and took my hoof in his. “Yes, I’ve been saying that for a while now. It is good to see you’re starting to come back to your normal self. Let’s get some more water in you, though. Then maybe some toast. You don’t have duty today, do you?”

“That sounds nice. I’m just going to prop myself up here,” I said before wiggling off the edge of the bed and into the center. Soarin had a nice bed. Certainly, nicer than the average officer of his rank. Being a Wonderbolt came with a lot of perks.

“Duty? Anything? No? I guess it isn’t that important right now. I’ll get you some more water and start on that toast. Do you need the trash can?”

I shook my head. “No, I think I’m done.”

“Okay,” he replied before trotting off.

Soarin’s bedroom had always felt more like a hotel than a home to me. He’d traveled so much in the past that it was barely personalized. There were a few family photos, some medals, and a trophy but that was it.

He was on the Canterlot squad now which meant he was there more often but this was only a stepping stone to the main Wonderbolts. Once that happened he’d barely be here, which had helped me with my point.

My argument had been pretty solid. If we were together we wouldn’t see each other a ton once he was at that place in life. I was as loyal as mares came, but the idea of spending over half the year being celibate just seemed too foreign of a concept. Maybe he’d see that too.

“Alright Sunny, here we go,” he said before trotting back in, carrying a small tray. It had a glass of water with both a lemon and lime wedge in it, a plate of toast piled high, and a single rose in a small vase. He looked so adorable. If he’d been in a maid’s outfit, it would have been perfect.

“Awwww.” It just slipped out.

Soarin’s cheeks turned pink. “Well, I know this isn’t the normal sort of situation for breakfast in bed, but why do anything halfway?”

“Thank you. Really. Thank you so much,” I said as he set the tray down beside me.

With whatever dexterity I had, I captured the water with both hooves and drank it all down, enjoying the citrusy taste. There was also something else. Mint?

“And I’m just going to go refill the pitcher,” he said before leaving to do so.

That gave me time to eat the toast in the least ladylike manner. It would help stabilize my stomach and get rid of the woozy feeling. I crammed each slice down as fast as I could. We were having a moment and I needed to get back to my best face as soon as I could.

When Soarin came back, he blinked. “Did you eat all of that toast.”

“Yesh,” I choked out around the dry bread, then threw my hooves out towards the pitcher.

“I’ve seen you drunk before, but never this drunk, what happened last night?” he asked as he refilled my glass. I drained it immediately and he filled it again.

“Trixie had a big show at the Mare Contraire last night and a talent scout was there. We signed her to a big deal that will get her out touring Equestria. It’s a huge career move for her and it means I won’t have a roommate again.”

“Oh, that is great news on both accounts!” He tilted his head. “Now, just a question here and this isn’t a trick. Trixie is your roommate, but didn’t you tell me you were sleeping with her? At least in the past? I’m just confused why you’re glad she’s going?”

That was a complex set of questions. “Kind of, it’s like this,” I started before laying out the whole situation from Baltimare up until last night.

Soarin just listened and nodded along. When I finished, he gave a big sigh. “That must have been hard for you. Helping her out, trying to make her a better pony, but also not sleeping with her.”

The way he’d said it was genuine, not judgmental like Cheerful would have been. I shrugged. “Dolly knows best and she’s right. How can you mentor a pony and be her lover? Anyway, I’ll miss her, but I’m proud of what she’s accomplished.

“Plus, honestly, a live-in lover is a big commitment and Trixie is absolutely not the marrying type. I know it sounds weird coming from me. You’d think two ponies like us being under the same roof would be perfect. but it really isn’t.”

“No, I see what you’re getting at. Which reminds me. Did you mean what you said earlier, or was that just the pain and woozies?”

In this state I wasn’t able to keep my poker face so when my ears shot up I couldn’t stop them. “Which part?”

“The part about only seriously dating me.”

“Oh, I’m serious. If that is what you need to feel like I’m at least somewhat committed, I can do that. Although I want to be clear, if you find somepony else to date or I happen to, we should talk about that. I guess I’m talking exclusivity in seriousness? Flings are okay.”

He nodded and idly rubbed his chin. “I appreciate that you’re trying to meet me halfway. I want to be clear about that.”

“But…” I put in.

He shifted uncomfortably. “But full disclosure on something first.”

I blinked. “Yeah?”

“After you ran off, I was hurt. Shortly after, I started dating somepony on my team. We’re kind of still seeing each other, but it isn’t exclusive. Is that okay? I don’t want you to think I’m a hypocrite.”

My nose wrinkled and I poked him. “Don’t.” Poke. “Date.” Poke. “Coworkers. I certainly don’t care, but that is just a bad idea in general.”

“You’re not exactly in a position to give career advice. You bit a superior office last night and led guards on a medium-speed chase through restricted areas. Besides, I’m sure it will be fine. You’re really okay with it, though?”

Point, Soarin. It was my turn to be the funny one. “Yes, I’ve been saying that a while now,” I sing-songed.

He chuckled. “You’re impossible. I guess we have a deal, then.” 

“Yup!” I’d done it! We weren’t going to go our separate ways. Now I just had to be more communicative about my actions was all. I grabbed more of the citrus water and downed it. That and the toast helped wash the icky taste out of my mouth.

Soarin flopped down next to me. “Good. If it is all the same to you, I think I’m worn out when it comes to serious talk. Let’s change it up. You’re at the palace every day. What is the deal with this wedding?”

Ugh, I started to feel ill again. Why did he have to pick that? “It’s a nightmare. Lady Cadence is a bridezilla, everypony is treating this like a moment of historical significance, and the whole seat of power has become a spectacle. I’m glad we’re going to get it over with in less than a month. We just need to get those two hitched and move on.”

“That sounds awful. Say, you don’t have a date for the wedding yet, do you?”

“A what now?” I replied in surprise.

“A date. You know, somepony to go with?”

I blinked. “Do you think I was invited to the wedding?”

“Were you not? Aren’t you friends with the princess?”

“I mean I am… what the hay! I never thought about that. Why wasn’t I invited?”

Soarin shrugged.

“I’m going to give her a piece of my mind. I mean, I don’t want to go, but a filly likes to be asked. What’s wrong with me? At least get me a seat in the back,” I muttered before standing straight up. That quickly proved to be a mistake. I got woozy and fell over onto Soarin.

He caught me in his big, strong, muscled forelegs.

“Oh,” I whispered.

His cheeks turned pink again. “Really?”

“Really,” I replied before looping my forelegs around his back and pulling him down into a kiss. We hadn’t been together in a while and I was going to take full advantage of the situation. It was good to be back together.
> 24. My Perfectly Normal Saturday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

O.C. Topus had me wrapped up in four hugs when I woke up, so I hugged him back. I was pretty sure I’d fallen asleep snuggled up with Aurum, but she wasn’t with me on the couch now.

The sounds of somepony softly rattling around in the kitchen caught my attention and I poked my head over the arm of the couch to see who it was.

Aurum was already making breakfast and as far as I could tell the sun wasn’t even up yet. “Good morning,” I said.

She looked back over at me and smiled. “Good morning, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nope, just the normal me waking up thing,” I replied, curling my hooves under my chin.

“Good. You had a big night last night. Anything special you’d like for breakfast?”

“Anything is fine with me,” I said before nestling back down with O.C.

The door to the bedroom opened and Quartz walked out. Right, he was here. I’d kind of forgotten that already.

“Morning,” he said with a big yawn.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Aurum said. “Have a seat, breakfast will be ready soon.”

Quartz waved at me. “Morning,” he offered while settling into a seat at the table.

“Morning,” I replied before following suit.

We didn’t say anything to each other while Aurum cooked. I just kept an eye on Mr. Peepers as he kept an eye on Quartz. He clearly wasn’t sure about him.

Plates of pancakes floated their way out of the kitchenette and onto the table in front of us. They were followed by forks, knives, fruit, and syrup. Last to the table was Aurum herself.

She was grinning happily as she looked from me to Quartz and back. “I know this is going to sound sappy and I know there is work to do, but I’m just happy the three of us can have a meal together.”

“Me too,” I replied. I didn’t really care whether or not Quartz was there but him being so made Aurum happy and that made me happy.

I started to eat, feeling self-conscious. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say or do. Luckily eating was a perfectly acceptable option.

Aurum looked over at Quartz. “How long were you planning to be in town? I’m so glad you decided to come.”

Quartz shifted in his seat. “Well, to be honest, I don’t have any hard plans. I just wanted to be with you and I was kind of hoping I could crash here.”

Mr. Peepers blew disapproving bubbles. I shot him a look; he shot one back.

“Oh! Well that is a lovely thing to hear. That is really up to Azurite, though. It is her apartment after all. She’s been generous and let me live here,” Aurum said, putting it on me. Why would she do that?

Both of them turned to me. My mouth was full of pancake. I swallowed hard and waved a hoof. There was zero chance I could say anything but yes. “It’s fine with me. We might need to do some reorganizing though. This place is mostly designed around one or two ponies and a fish.”

Mr. Peepers turned his back on everypony and blew three bubbles.

Aurum tapped a hoof on the table. “That is true. Maybe I should look at getting my own place?”

“Please don’t!” I squealed rather suddenly. Aurum moving out was not what I wanted at all. Bringing my voice down, I added hastily, “We’re all family, we can make it work. Why spend more bits?”

“If that is how you really feel,” Aurum said.

“I do! We’ll just work it out.”

“Thank you,” Quartz put in.

Aurum nodded and looked around. “Well, I guess today I’m going to go shopping, then. I’ll see about getting Quartz a cot. We can put that in the bedroom so he doesn’t encroach on your space. Azurite, I’ll get you some nice curtains to hang over the couch. You can have a canopy couch like a fancy noble lady of old.”

My nose wiggled at that and I laughed. “Really?”

She shrugged. “Why not? You need your own space and privacy. It will be fun! We can hang them together. I’ll find some with an ocean theme.”

“That sounds great. I’d li— wait, why ocean?”

Aurum’s lips pursed. “Well, I just sort of assumed that was your favorite thing still. It always was when you were little. You have Mr. Peepers, O.C. Topus, and several other sea- and ocean-related creatures. Would you prefer something else?”

I shook my head. “No, not at all. I’m just starting to realize that I’m a beach pony. Maybe we should move to the outer banks?”

“Fine with me. We’ll have to find jobs, though. You could be a lifeguard.” Aurum winked before going back to breakfast.

Quartz looked between us before his eyes shifted to his mom. “She’s too small.”

What a jerk!

Aurum held up a hoof. “Sweetie, she isn’t small. She’s petite, and we were just playing. If you’re going to live here, you have to learn that Azurite and I like to imagine a lot of fantastical things. Just roll with it.”

He nodded. “Oh, okay. Sorry, Azurite.”

“That’s okay,” I replied before biting into a pancake while glaring behind their backs.

“Okay, after breakfast, Quartz and I will go shopping. Azurite, you can have your privacy. Do you have anything official that needs doing today? Was there any outcome of last night we need to be aware of?”

We hadn’t really discussed much about last night. Aurum had been so worried we’d just cuddled and fell asleep. “It was just a precaution for the wedding. I think the papers were a day behind or something. As far as I was informed, we just go on like normal.”

“Well that is good. They really should warn ponies though!” Aurum pointed out.

“They should,” Quartz added like a little parrot.

“It certainly would have spared me some fear, but honestly Aurum I felt great when I got there. It was like things were starting to get back to normal,” I explained.

Aurum picked up her plate and took it to the kitchen. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe jumping into action is what you needed.”

“Maybe so,” I mused.

In a few minutes, Aurum had the whole table cleaned up. “Alright, Quartz, let’s hit the road. We’ve got a lot of shopping to do. It’ll be a good chance for me to catch up on your life.”

“See you later,” I called to them as they walked out.

Once they were gone I looked at Mr. Peepers. “Now what?”

He swam a lazy circle and bubbled a few times.

“I couldn’t not invite him! That would have devastated Aurum and she’s been so good to us both. Don’t act like you don’t love having her here.”

Mr. Peepers bubbled in a non-committal way, but it was clear by his tone he did like Aurum.

“You’re no help. What should I do? I’m feeling pretty good after last night. At least when it comes to being out. It seems like every time I go lately, I generally do fine. Perhaps I’m more scared of the idea than the reality?”

He bubbled six times, then three, then eleven.

I nodded slowly. “That is deep. Maybe I should go talk to Mindful Soul, though? She might be able to build off that.”

Mr. Peepers bubbled twice, turning his back on me.

“Look, I’m sorry that you never finished your education, but you can’t just act like your advice is on the same level as hers, okay? I already told you I’d pay for you to go back to the university.”

He didn’t respond. That was a sore subject. He always wanted to do things on his own. He was the proudest and most stubborn fish I knew.

“I’m sorry I brought it up. I’m going to go out for a bit now. See you later.”

Mr. Peepers didn’t give me a second thought as I bundled up in my scarf, hat, and boots. I pulled the door open and peeked out.

There were ponies in the street going about their business, but there weren’t any collections of them that resembled crowds.

I stepped out, took a deep breath, and pulled the door shut. Walking around town was something I could do. We can do this, Azurite! It was as easy as filling out a W7 form with a trainee.

Breathing properly was a big part of doing anything scary. In, one, two, three. Hold, one, two, three. Exhale, one, two, three. And repeat over and over as I kept to the side of the road and trotted down one tier of the city and to the neighborhoods on the side opposite of mine.

Cliffside was an older neighborhood, but it was clearly well loved. All of the small houses were immaculately groomed and cared for. Each one had a small yard out for their owners to putter around in.

At the corner of a four-way intersection, there was crisp looking, white stone house with an owl statue sitting on the front porch. I went to the door and knocked.

It wasn’t long before the door opened and Mindful Soul looked out. “Azurite, hello there. What can I do for you?”

“I was hoping you had a weekend appointment free,” I said.

“Is it an emergency?”

I shook my head. It really wasn’t. Patients were really only supposed to go to her for emergencies. “Not really.”

Mindful Soul nodded. “That’s fine, I still have time. Come in, please.”

I trotted into her house and looked around. I’d never actually been inside before. I just knew what the outside looked like because of the pictures she’d shown me. That, and I had her address.

The living room was wide open. She didn’t have any large furniture at all. There were an assortment of plush sitting pillows, a low coffee table, and a few scattered end tables. One wall was dominated by a massive fireplace and mantel. The one opposite that had a small writing desk.

There were doors into other rooms, but I wasn’t going to go exploring. Mindful Soul motioned. “Make yourself at home. Would you like something warm to drink? It is getting cold out there.”

“I would love some hot chocolate if you have any,” I replied while I took my boots off by the door and trotted over to settle onto a big pillow. There were no plushes to hold, so I held my hat instead.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” she said, trotting off through the door that likely led to the kitchen.

It was kind odd being in Mindful Soul’s home. She was such a force in the office that I forgot she was also a pony with things outside of there. It was also weird getting to see who she was. Her walls, for instance, were painted a soft shade of yellow. Almost like peach color.

There were photos hung that showed her with what I assumed were family members. Although, they couldn’t all be because a few had signatures on them. Did she like hanging out with celebrities?

Mindful Soul returned, carrying a mug of hot chocolate. “Here you are.”

I took it in my magic and floated it over to me. She’d put marshmallows and sprinkles in it. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome,” she replied before sitting across from me. “It is the kind of day for that. Now, what brings you to my house if it isn’t an emergency? It must be serious.”

“Yeah, it is. You saw the shield spell that is surrounding the city?” I asked before sipping at my mug. It was nice. Warm and nice.

She nodded. “I did. It was a surprise for me, I imagine it was for you, too?”

“It was, but the thing is, I did what I thought I should do. I put on my uniform and went to report in.”

Mindful wasn’t taking any notes. She didn’t even have a notebook. I felt like she would normally take a note here. “How was that experience?”

“I was very scared but the idea of hiding at home felt far worse than that. Aurum was worried about me, but I was determined I had to go and that she had to stay.”

“And you went.”

I sipped and then nodded. “I went. I went all the way, I checked in, I waited, and when they released me, I went home.”

Mindful nodded and said, “Good for you. You challenged yourself and you succeeded. At least it sounds like that is what you’re telling me. Although you have come to see me on a Saturday.”

“You’re right, I did. It made me feel good too. I wasn’t as stressed when I went home. I think I might be ready to go back to work.”

“That is good news. I do need to point out you already have, though. Your warrant officer school is your assignment now. Are you saying you want to return to patrol duty?”

My head shook quickly. “Nope, no! Sorry, I’m being weird. I just mean I’m ready to graduate and go to work. I think being out and doing the job like I’m supposed to will feel better than just doing class. Does that make sense?”

“It does. You’ll be realizing your desire to help ponies.”

“Exactly!” I chirped.

Mindful Soul bobbed her head. “Good. Now, it is still Saturday and you’re still in my home. Not that you’re unwelcome, I just know you wouldn’t be here if something wasn’t on your mind.”

She read me too well and I had been dancing around the issue. “The spell wasn’t the only thing that happened last night. Quartz showed up.”

“Ah, I see. Now that is serious. How did that go for Aurum?” 

“I’d say very well. He actually apologized, and they’re trying to patch things up,” I explained.

Mindful Soul smiled, which was a bit odd. I didn’t see her do that a lot and when she did, it was always weird. She was so analytical and almost cold normally. “I’m happy to hear that. Aurum has struggled. Now, tell me, how does that make you feel?”

My nose wrinkled. “He came without any plan and just wants to live with us. Out of the blue, he showed up! Aurum said it was up to me and I couldn’t say no! Not that I wanted to, but I wanted to! I said yes for her.”

“Do you feel threatened by Quartz?”

“Yes, very much! Like he is going to take Aurum away! He was mean, I was nice, he just shows up and I’m alone again!”

“That is normal,” Mindful Soul said.

“What?” Normal? Me?

“What you’re feeling is normal. This has less to do with what happened to you and more who we are as ponies. You love Aurum very much. She’s special to you. This has nothing to do with Quartz. It could just as easily be a stallion that wanted to date her, or even a job that would take her someplace else.

“Hearing me say this may not make the feelings any different, but I wanted you to know that this was absolutely normal. You’re behaving just like almost anypony would.”

I was? I almost never behaved like almost anypony. “Am I not being a bad friend for feeling like that? Isn’t it best that Aurum and Quartz have their relationship?”

“Without knowing their relationship, I can’t say for sure but statistically speaking, yes. It is better for them to have their relationship than not. As for you, the answer is very much no. You are allowed to have thoughts and fears.

“In the end, even though it was barely a choice, you said yes. You thought about what was best for Aurum and not what was best for Azurite.”

I sipped at the warm chocolate and then inhaled its wonderful scent. “What if I did it so that she wouldn’t go with him?”

“You made a choice that met their needs and yours. If they agreed to stay, then that is their choice. You’re allowed to have thoughts and fears about this. I would also recommend talking to Aurum about them, too. Just tell her you’re feeling vulnerable. If I know her half as well as I imagine I do, she’s not going to abandon you.”

I tried to imagine Aurum abandoning me. It was a scary thought and I didn’t like it, but I also struggled to really see it happening outside of my imagination. It was hard to picture her doing anything mean, honestly. Finally, I whispered, “She’d never do that.”

“Then you just have to convince the inner you of that,” Mindful Soul replied.

“You make pretty good hot chocolate and you’re an awesome therapist.”

“I do my best.”

I finished the chocolate and set the mug down on the coffee table. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“I truly don’t mind at all.”

“Well then, can I ask you something that is wholly unrelated to therapy?”

Mindful Soul’s head tilted slightly. “Of course.”

“Aurum and Quartz are out shopping, and I honestly don’t want to just go home and do a puzzle book. I’m also not feeling confident enough to just brave Canterlot alone. Are you free? Can we be friends for a day? Like, what do you do for fun?”

She smiled. “Azurite, we can be friends in general. Now, there have to be boundaries, but we can be friends. As far as my plans, I was going to do some seamstress work. Would that interest you at all? I have three nieces that are going to be in a school play next weekend, so costumes must be made. My sister is, unfortunately, sewing challenged.”

My ears perked at that. “Oh, that sounds neat! My mom never sewed much, but I’m really good with small bits and things. I can at least provide another set of hooves and a horn. What are your nieces going to be?”

Mindful Soul stood up and motioned to the door next to the one where she went into the kitchen. “This way to my crafts room. They’re going to be little bees and I can’t wait to see their play.”

We trotted off together. I hadn’t planed on making bee costumes today, but it seemed like more fun than being alone with an angry Mr. Peepers. It also felt good to know that I was being normal. I just had to ensure I was doing the best for Aurum while also taking care of me. I could do that!
> 25. The Bells Of Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was almost over. Today was finally the day that Shining Armor and Pinkzilla were going to be wed, and we could go back to being a normal city with a normal castle that wasn’t the hottest tourist attraction in Equestria.

I couldn’t wait. My job had been exhausting with all of the extra work from the looky-loos. That and the Royal Guard service hours I’d had to do as punishment for biting that major… and breaking a window… and destroying a hedge… and the other things they pinned on me. I’m pretty sure that ice cream was already gone when I got in there.

On the plus side, Soarin and I were seeing each other again when I was free, which wasn’t often due to the whole drunk Sunny incident. Still, when we were together, it was nice. He was less focused on our future and more on his future as a Wonderbolt.

Trixie had left on her tour, which meant my apartment was just mine again. That was a delight. I would miss her, but she was always a pony that was better in small doses. Hopefully she’d make a name for herself on the road!

Dolly was grateful, too, because the Mare Contraire was now back to just being a bar for mares that wanted to find mares. Things were looking up. We just had to get past this stupid, overblown, ridiculous, wedding. Now all that I had to—

Twilight Sparkle darted out into the courtyard from a random palace service entrance. She’d been rushing around like that for the last two days, rapidly losing her mind. At least, that was what it looked like from my spot on the wall.

She was clearly upset for some reason, and that gave me endless amusement. The moment she’d arrived, the craziness started and she’d been in a snit. According to her, nopony had informed her about Shining Armor’s wedding. For a pony as smart as she was alleged to be, she’d have to be pretty dense not to notice all of the advertisement, celebrations, and merchandise.

Living in Ponyville was no excuse. The wedding planner had literally hung a huge banner off the side of Alicorn Spire that could be seen for kilometers.

No, Little Miss Perfect had just kept her nose in a book. She had no right to be mad at her brother and Cadence Clearly-Mean-Not-Good-Pony.

There was a soft pushing at my snout.

“Hey, hey, Lieutenant. Hello?” Ice Blossom said as she continued to press her armored hoof against my face.

I swatted it away. “What!”

Her nose wrinkled as she giggled. “You’ve been standing here staring at that purple mare bouncing to and from various places for too long. Don’t you have, like, work to do? I mean, there is a royal wedding going on today. Shouldn’t you be ordering us around?”

“Sergeant Blossom, you’re being entirely too familiar,” I said before turning to face her. “I suppose I should do some work, though. I’m going to go fill out the log.”

“Yes, ma’am, you do that!” she chimed happily as I turned to go do exactly that.

I settled at the shared desk and started going through our contacts and other happenings. Admittedly, things had been easier since more guards had started showing up. That, combined with the shield bubble, really put a damper on out-of-town tourism. As a result, things were more than manageable. We weren’t back to normal but at least some ponies had been deterred.

Command had given me two additional squads for my area. They were drawn from the City Guard, but they were more than capable of helping us do our jobs. I’d stationed one squad in and around the gift shop and set the other on the wall.

That left me free wall guards to man the net throwers. We hadn’t had to use them, but I’d decided I wanted them ready to go. All I needed was some crazy pegasus swooping over my portion of the wall and somehow crashing the wedding.

“Not happening,” I muttered to myself.

As I flipped through the log from the morning shift, I caught a note about some sort of large bug bouncing off the shield. That was odd, sure, but didn’t seem to be any cause for real alarm. Odd things had been coming out of the Everfree Forest lately, and Canterlot wasn’t that far from it.

The log was normal otherwise. Other than a higher than pre-wedding announcement but lower than post-wedding announcement amount of contacts. That was our new normal. Hopefully, after today, everything would go back to the old normal.

Shining Armor and Lady Cadence would be gone on their honeymoon and, with any luck, he wouldn’t get her pregnant immediately. A royal foal would probably be worse than a royal wedding.

The office door opened, and Ice Blossom stuck her head in. “Hey, uh, LT, you might want to come out here.”

I got up and put my helmet on. “What now?”

“I’m not sure what,” she replied.

That was never a good sign. I trotted out and looked around. Everything was normal and quiet. Nothing seemed out of place… except the fact that every guard around me was looking straight up, gawking.

I followed their gaze and did the same. The barrier was being bombarded by hundreds of large bugs. Black, carapace-covered bugs with fluttering translucent wings.

“Lieutenant, what in Equestria are those?” Ice Blossom asked.

“I don’t know. In fact, I don’t have the slightest idea,” I replied as I narrowed my eyes. Focus, Sunny. Focus. There wasn’t any miasma anywhere, was there? No, at least not any that I could see.

“What do we do?” Ice Blossom whispered.

What do we do? Why was she asking me? Oh, right, I was the officer in charge of this section of the wall. “Arm the net throwers immediately, get the crossbows, and somepony find a big fly swatter!” I ordered loudly. “I don’t know what these things are, but if they happen to get in, we’ll be ready for them.”

That seemed to snap everypony out of the haze of confusion. All around the castle grounds, I heard other officers starting to call out orders.

Ice Blossom was busy loading her crossbow when she looked over at me. I could see it in her eyes: she was afraid. This was not normal. This was not normal at all. Hundreds of bugs swarming the palace?

“We’ll be fine. Everything is going to be okay as long as the barrier ho—Oh, f—”

The barrier suddenly shattered into a million shards of magical energy. The second it did, the bugs rained down on us.

I wasn’t sure if they actually had the intent to do harm, but I wasn’t going to find out. They were flying at us aggressively.

“Fire! Fire right now!” I shouted.

Ice Blossom squawked in surprise and dropped her crossbow off the side of the wall. A few nets burst from the towers, catching several bugs and sending them tumbling to the ground.

Beyond that, an uncoordinated array of bolts flew up to greet them. Most seemed to clatter off the carapace. Those that hit wings did knock the bugs from the sky.

A second after that, they were all over us. It was sudden, it was violent, and it was terrifying.

One of the bugs landed on Ice Blossom and grabbed her around the waist.

“Oh no you don’t!” I shouted before drawing in magical energy and focusing it at my horn. The first blast was meant to be a warning, but when it struck the creature, it was enough to singe him and send him packing.

The instant that bug was gone, two more were in his place, flying right at me. I zapped the one on the left before taking a clumsy swing of my hoof at the one on the right. He collided with me and knocked me onto my rump.

Ice Blossom appeared behind him and started hitting him in the back with her helmet.

“Where is your sword!” I shouted at her.

The bug hissed and turned to look back. When he did, I punched him right in the jaw. He fell off me and, before he could get up, Blossom knocked him unconscious with her helmet.

She looked down at him defiantly and shouted, “I forgot it at home!” Then she thrust her hoof out to me.

I took it and she pulled me up. When I looked around, the battle was not going well for our side. The bugs were everywhere, and I could see that many windows into the palace were broken.

“Secure the towers! Keep the nets going!” I ordered before pulling the office door open. “Get in there and get my spear,” I told Blossom before drawing my sword.

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied before putting her helmet on and skittering in.

Just as she did, one of the bugs came swooping after her. I slammed the door and let him crash into it. He flopped onto the wall, dazed. “You’re going to have a horrible morning tomorrow,” I told him before smashing his head with the hilt of my sword.

“Where is that giant flyswatter!” I shouted as confidently as I could. From there, I jumped up onto the battlement and started firing heat lances at the endless swarm of invaders.

We weren’t making any dent in their numbers. All around the courtyard, I could see guards and palace staff trapped in some kind of webbing. At least, I hoped it was webbing.

Blossom burst out of the office, tripped over the unconscious bug, and promptly threw my spear over the wall into the courtyard.

“You are so fired if we survive this!”

“If!” she squeaked before taking her helmet off and using it to bludgeon another bug. 

“When!” I quickly corrected before ducking my head and zapping another bug that was flying towards one of my towers.

“Lieutenant, we need some kind of plan here! We’re just sitting ducks,” one of my other sergeants yelled from further down the wall before he bucked one of the bugs off it.

He was right. We weren’t acting like a section. We were all just doing what it took to stay upright. This was an ambush. The enemy was relying wholly on the element of surprise, but they hadn’t taken us down in the initial assault. We could shift this.

“Everypony listen up! Help your squad mates and fall back to the towers. Get inside, bar the door, and engage from the safety of the machicolations and arrow loops,” I ordered before starting to move to the nearest tower.

My section started acting together at that point. Sergeants were regaining control and starting to move their ponies into a fighting retreat.

The bugs seemed to react to that and were trying to get between my ponies and the doors. That was proving unsuccessful. When they got close, crossbow bolts, nets, and magic bolts burst out of the protected windows of the tower.

We were doing it. We were getting the upper hoof! If I could just get to the tower, we’d be fine. They didn’t have any kind of siege equipment.

“Lieutenant, help!” somepony shouted and I turned to follow the voice.

It had come from one of the city guards. A mare I barely knew. She was standing between two of the bugs. I turned to blast one but just as I charged up, its form burst into green flames and suddenly I was looking at two of the mares.

Then a third, all yelling for help

“What!”

All around us, they were transforming into ponies. Not just any ponies, my ponies!

“Close the tower doors! Close them now!” I ordered. Another surprise. Another ambush! “Everypony else out here, we’re on our own.”

“Uh, Lieutenant, what now?” Ice Blossom asked.

“Yeah what now?” a second Ice Blossom asked.

The fighting had slowed down. The bugs were taking advantage of the confusion to get closer to us. We’d be assaulted by our friends.

“You have two seconds to convince me you’re the real Ice Blossom before I heat lance you both,” I growled.

“Lieutenant! Please don’t blast me!” the first one said.

“I like wang!” the second one shouted, so I blasted the first one.

The real Ice Blossom hurried over and pressed herself up against me. “Okay, that is only going to work once. From now on, I’m going to get lewder and lewder until they don’t even know what I’m talking about. Have you ever heard of a Phillydephia Frisking?”

“No, do I want to?” I asked before charging my horn and blasting a bug that hadn’t changed yet. The moment I did it, my vision briefly went blurry. I wasn’t going to be able to keep expending magical energy.

Ice Blossom shook her head. “You totally do not. Seriously, though, what do we do? I’m scared.”

She was scared? I was scared! “We back ourselves up against the tower door and stay put until we get either orders or until…” 

“Until what?” she asked.

With our flanks pressed together, we started backing up. I held my sword out and swished it in the general direction of the bugs. Until what, Sunny? Until somepony that was better at this took care of it! Who would that be?

“The Army!” I squeaked suddenly.

“What?” Ice Blossom asked.

“We just have to hold out until the Army arrives. This is a full-scale attack. Those ponies will see it, come up here, and put a hurt on these things,” I lied. “Army ponies fight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We just have to hold on for a little while longer.”

I didn’t know where the nearest Army unit was. I didn’t know if anypony knew we were under attack. All I knew was that I had to keep hope alive.

For the moment, the bugs were keeping away from us as we bumped into the tower. All of my towers were continuing to dole out punishment to anything foolish enough to get close. It was at that moment I finally realized the alarm bells were ringing.

Those would be heard up and down the spire. We might actually be lucky enough to receive some help from the Army after all.

“Lieutenant?” a voice said from the other side of the door.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“Should we let you in?”

“Probably not. I could be one of those bugs.”

The voice on the other side fell silent. After a minute, it called back, “But wouldn’t saying that mean you’re not a bug?”

“Would you stop analyzing this and just follow the order!” I snapped. “Keep the door shut and barred. Protect us as best you can, but don’t let those things in under any circumstance.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Ice Blossom nodded. “You tell them, LT. Of course, you just doomed us, but I’m quite motivated by your fierce attitude.”

“You’re not helping,” I muttered as I tried to figure out what we would do next. Several ponies that looked like guards started approaching us. None of them were duplicates, but their expressions told me they weren’t friendly.

“What do we do?” Blossom whispered.

I forced magical energy into my horn as I drew it in from the world around me. “It’s us or them today, Blossom, and I can promise you, it won’t be us.”
> 26. My Bug Problem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bliss. This was bliss. After a week or so of generalist classes, my instructors had felt like they were a waste for me. Two of them had, in fact, repeatedly tried to talk me out of being a generalist. Even in the face of all that pressure, I stuck to my decision. Being a first line for ponies is what I wanted to do. My heart was set on it.

Once everypony else had accepted that, they still felt like the classes were a waste. In the Royal Guard’s infinite wisdom, it was decided that an internship as a generalist with a generalist would be better. The problem with that was that internships didn’t exist, so they just decided to assign me to an actual PRO and help her do her work.

Of all the ponies to supervise me, it was the one I expected the least. Chief Print! She was still helping out with the palace backlog and now I was, too. She’d teach her classes while I sat at a desk beside her and worked on files.

It was perfect! I hadn’t even graduated yet and I was already doing what I had set out to do. I was loving it, too. So much so, I’d almost stopped worrying about the giant pink bubble that had cut Canterlot off from the rest of the world.

Sure, it was just a precaution, but you don’t ask a massively powerful unicorn to shield a whole city unless there is an actual risk. The newspapers had downplayed the whole thing, but I knew better. In my entire life and that of my father’s, this had never happened.

We’d discussed it over brunch the Sunday after it went up. He said it was bad for business. I said it was bad for staying alive. Aurum said I was overreacting, but she respected my opinion. Mom said she’d protect me, and Quartz just sat there chewing. He was more like his father than our side of the family.

“Guard Azurite,” Chief Print said to me. Always Guard Azurite! Never Azurite.

“Yes, ma’am?” I replied, looking up from a beneficiary declaration form.

“That will be all for today, you can go home,” she said as she stated putting the files away.

I looked up at the clock. The day wasn’t even half over. “Ma’am?”

“Was I unclear? You can go. You’re dismissed,” the chief replied.

“No, ma’am, you weren’t unclear. I’m just confused. We have a lot of work hours left in the day,” I said, not keeping my mouth shut like I should have. It would be best not to screw this internship up, Azurite!

“That’s true, but if you read your memos, you’d have noticed that today is only a half day due to the royal wedding. It has been declared a holiday for all but essential roles. Catching up on old files is not an essential role.

“Pack your bag, lock up your work, and go home and do whatever it is you do for fun. I am going to assume that you don’t do paperwork at home?”

My ears wiggled. “No, I have a fish. I mostly talk to him.” Why did I say that!

“Good. Everypony needs a friend. Go home and talk to your fish. I’m going to head up to the palace,” she said.

“Business, ma’am?”

The chief shook her head. “No, I’m going to the wedding and if you don’t hurry up, I’m going to be late.”

That was a surprise! I quickly shoved the files I’d been working on into my desk drawer and locked it. Then I locked the file cabinet that had been brought in for me. “Done!” I chimed before scooting out the door and waiting for her.

Chief Print came out and locked up.

“Do you know the couple?” I couldn’t help blurting out.

“Not well, no. Captain Armor and I worked together briefly. My friend, however, knows him quite well and I’m her plus one. See you tomorrow bright and early,” she said before heading off.

If only I could be somepony’s plus one. I’d pass my plus oneship to Aurum and let her go. She really wanted to! This was the event of the year! Perhaps even the decade! The century? Who knows!

I trotted out onto the street and started to head home. Canterlot wasn’t overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle. The streets were pretty empty. On occasion, I’d pass by a pony that was staring off into space, but that wasn’t my problem.

The more groups of ponies looked away from me, the better. It didn’t feel so nerve wracking when they were distracted and in small groups. Going to and from places during the day was getting easier and easier. My thoughts were usually occupied with work and that helped.

When I reached the street corner to turn down my road, I noticed several ponies standing around and looking up. That was happening more than usual, but this was even more than that. What were they seeing? I stopped and did the same.

On the other side of the large pink barrier was a swarm of hornets. Big black hornets with stingers on their heads.

“What are those?” a mare asked the stallion she was with.

“No idea,” he replied. “Maybe that’s why they put the shield up? To stop the infestation?”

She shrugged. “Maybe so. As long as they stay out there.”

That was for sure. Just looking at their shiny black bodies made the hair of my coat stand on end. I started trotting faster towards my apartment. This was putting a cramp in my good mood. Bugs bothered me on a good day. Giant bugs, though? Who knew they even existed?

As I got closer to home, I saw that the door was open and Aurum was standing just outside with her eyes on the sky.

“Hey, Aurum,” I called when I got closer.

“Hey, Azurite. Do you know what is going on up there?” she asked, glancing down at me.

“No, this is the first I’ve seen. I’m guessing that’s why the barrier is there. Maybe it is some kind of bug migration season.”

Aurum nodded slowly. “It wasn’t in the papers. Do you think we’re safe?”

That was another question I didn’t know the answer to. “I think so? I guess so? They’re up there and we’re down here. We should probably stay inside, though. Where is Quartz?”

“He went shopping in old town. I’m worried. Maybe we should go there, get him, and huddle in with Uncle Sapphire and Aunt Azalea?” Aurum suggested nervously.

Mom and Dad would probably be nervous about this too. We should probably shelter in place but Aurum had a good point. The sooner we made a decision the better. With a resolute nod, I said, “I’ll get Mr. Peepers and we’ll go.”

Aurum looked like she might argue for a moment, but then nodded.

I went inside, grabbed Mr. Peeper’s travel bowl, and scooped him and his water up in my magic. Once he was safely inside, I put the lid on and sealed it. He blew a few bubbles at me.

“Yes, we’re going to visit Mom and Dad, okay? I wouldn’t use the lid if you didn’t like to jump out and go do your own thing.”

Mr. Peeper’s big eyes rolled.

“It isn’t my fault you can’t breathe on land!” I said before levitating his bowl onto my back and securing it to my bag. Then I went back out, locked the door, and nodded at Aurum. “Let’s get moving.”

“Alright,” she replied, her eyes flicking upwards frequently.

My parents didn’t live that far from me in the scheme of things. Just a tier up and into the middle of town. It was an older, mature shopping district that had been around long before my family had moved in.

The trip was terrifying every step of the way. Ponies everywhere were looking up and gossiping. More seemed curious than afraid. We were being bombarded by giant bugs! How was that not scary? It wasn’t like crowds scary though. It was the kind of scary that made your coat crawl. Whenever I saw bugs, I could feel them on me even though they weren’t.

“Maybe it has to do with the wedding?” I overheard a random stallion saying.

Yes! Yes, that is what every fine lady wants on her wedding day: icky bugs. Oh darling, instead of doves, let’s release a swarm of angry hornets to sting the guests. We’ll save a massive sum of bits on the food and drink budget.

Aurum’s tail lashed and she looked back at me. “We’re almost there, but I just realized this was a stupid idea.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, coming to a stop.

“Quartz might not think to go to your parent’s house,” she muttered. “He doesn’t really know them. What if he went home a different way? We’ll be here and he’ll be there.”

“We can go back,” I suggested but didn’t really want to do.

Aurum shook her head. “No, we need to think about your parents, and we’ve come all of this way. Quartz will be fine, he’s a smart boy.”

In my experience, Quartz was not exactly the smartest boy. In the brief time he’d been with us, he’d gotten his hoof stuck in the peanut butter jar twice and his mouth in the jelly once. The stars knew he didn’t get that from our side of the family.

Those were thoughts I shouldn’t voice, so just I nodded in agreement. “He is. He also might think about the family shop after all. If he were back home, wouldn’t he go to Uncle Emerald’s?”

“He would, and you’re right, he does know about Uncle Sapphire’s store. Let’s just hope he thinks that way. We should push on.”

We should! The sooner we were inside, the better. “Yeah, okay, let’s go.”

The moment I took a step, a shriek off to my side startled me and caused me to almost tip over.

Aurum threw her hoof out to stabilize me. “What is going on!” 

“Look!” somepony shouted.

Our gazes shifted upwards at the same time. The shield had shattered and the bugs were swarming into the city.

Aurum grabbed my hoof in hers and started pulling me. If she was afraid, she wasn’t showing it. I held onto her and did my best to keep up. Her legs were so much longer.

All around us I could hear the alarm bells echoing off the walls of the buildings. They were so loud it hurt my ears.

Without warning, Aurum suddenly slid to a stop. I crashed into her side and lost my bearings.

“Stay back!” she shouted defiantly.

I blinked away the shock and peered out from under Aurum. There were several of the black bugs standing in our way.

They started to stalk towards us. The looks on their weird, creepy bug faces were not pleasant at all. There were at least six that I could see.

I held onto Aurum and she yelled, “Don’t come any closer! I know how to fight!”

That wasn’t true at all. Aurum was in retail. She knew how to haggle, maybe. My grip on her hoof tightened and nervous energy started to well up inside me. I pulled in all of the magical energy that was around us as fast as I could.

When they were only a body length or so away, I screamed and forced all of the magic into my horn that I could. There was a soft pop and I felt myself being pulled along extremely fast. Aurum was clinging to my hoof as we sailed through reality.

We reappeared well beyond them. I was dazed and disoriented. Teleporting was the most complex spell I knew.

“Azurite, that was amazing!” Aurum said before grabbing me and tugging me along.

“Yeah,” I replied as my head bobbled to the side. That had taken almost all my magical reserve and sapped my physical strength. It was mostly up to Aurum to get us to safety.

She pulled me along, huffing and puffing as we galloped across town. The storefronts I saw zip past me were familiar. That was good, we were almost there. We could get to my parents’ house and hide behind a locked door.

Aurum slowed down and pressed herself against the side of a building. We were one right turn away from my parents’ street. She peaked around the corner. “Okay, I see two of those things. Do you think we can fight them off?”

Fight them off? What sort of pony was Aurum! “What do you mean?”

“You know, fight them. You’re a royal guard, you know how to fight, right?”

Technically, I had passed basic combat training. Particularly when it came to subduing and such. I hadn’t even thought about it since the Summer Sun Celebration. “Uh, yeah. You’re not a guard, though.”

Aurum snorted. “Don’t you worry about me. Those things are between me and my son. Plus, I did six months of cardio buck boxing after Quartz was born to get my figure back. Let’s just hope they underestimate us.”

We were going to fight giant bugs? That was insanity. She was crazy! I ducked under her and peeked too. There were only two. One for each of us. They looked super icky, though. I bit my lip before mumbling, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. We can do this. Let’s just walk out around the corner, look scared, and draw them in. That will be easy because I’m very, very scared. Then when they assume we’re too frightened to fight, assuming we’re not, we just whack them.”

Aurum looked impressed. “That training clearly gave you a tactical mind. Alright, let’s do this.”

Yup, let’s just walk out in front of the giant bugs attacking the city. That will work.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Aurum stepped out, took one look at the bugs, and screamed. It wasn’t her real scream. It was a good fake one, though. It scared me enough to scream too before I tumbled out.

From over my shoulder, I could hear Mr. Peepers angrily bubbling.

The two bugs turned towards us and started stalking down the street, their ugly translucent wings fluttering.

“They have fangs,” I whimpered.

Aurum fell back onto her rump and held her chest. “They’re so terrifying! I can’t move!” she said louder than normal. She wasn’t a great actor, but the bugs were buying it.

When they got closer, she rolled over onto her belly and crouched down. “Don’t hurt us!”

What was going on! What was I going to do? How do you fight a bug?

When the pair reached us, Aurum rocked forwards and yelled, “Buck it and buck it! Buck it real good!” Her back legs shot out from under her and caught the bug right in the chin. He flew up into the air and landed with a heavy thud.

The other bug and I were both shocked. His jaw opened in surprise, so I did the only thing I knew to do. I punched him as hard as I could.

Pain shot up through my foreleg after I did it and I could have sworn I saw little birds go by.

It hadn’t been enough to knock the bug out. Instead, it just hissed at me with a big, ugly tongue poking out.

Aurum got up to help but the second she did, the thing burst into green flames, blinding me briefly. When I could see again, it looked exactly like me.

I was staring at myself! Only this thing had to have been smaller than I was. I was short, but not that short. It stuck its now-my-looking tongue out at me and blew a raspberry.

“What in the kingdom!” Aurum squeaked, stunned into inaction.

It was taunting me! The bug wasn’t just some bug! It was a smart bug that was taunting me. The fear started drain out of my hooves and as the things tongue fluttered at me, my face went hot.

“I’m the little pony!” I bellowed before surging forwards and tackling the sham me. It wasn’t expecting that at all.

Using my training, I managed to get it on its back so that I could wrap my hind hooves around its barrel. Then I started punching it in the face as hard as I could. “Don’t taunt me!” I shouted as I continued to land blows.

All of my fears and insecurities welled up inside of me. I was tired of being scared! I was tired of struggling to go out! I was tired of being weak! Rage flowed into my hooves as I punched the me-bug over and over.

Aurum set her hoof on my shoulder and started tugging me. “Azurite. Shhh! Azurite, please stop yelling. He’s unconscious. You got him.”

I hit the thing one more time before Aurum managed to pull me off.

“Uh oh,” she said softly.

More of the bugs were landing all around us. My little show might have attracted attention.

“Oops,” I muttered.

“Yeah, that’s okay. You probably needed to get that out. Any other bright ideas? I’m not sure these are going to fall for the distressed ponies. Not after seeing you go ballistic on their friend.”

We were being surrounded, which was a shame. We’d almost made it. A block or two down the street and we’d have been inside. Now we were trapped.

“Azurite? Any ideas? Please?” Aurum asked nervously.

I didn’t have any. It was an angry crowd pressing in on me. It was happening again! It was just like before and as Aurum shook me, I started to shut down.
> In A Days Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot was in complete disarray. The black carapace bugs kept raining down on us and seemingly my section of wall in particular. That may have been because we were putting up strong resistance, but no matter how many we captured in nets, shot with crossbows, or zapped, more just came.

It also didn’t help that Ice Blossom and I were backed into a corner, trapped outside of the towers, and facing down what looked like other royal guards.

“LT, I’m getting tired here and there isn’t much left of my helmet,” Blossom said before slumping back against the tower’s door. “Are you sure they can’t just let us in?”

“Blossom, I don’t know who is who and that area has to stay secure. It is one of the few places those stupid pests haven’t gotten into yet. We just need to hold out longer,” I replied, knowing I was pushing my body to the limits, too. That was a fact I hid.

She nodded and forcefully threw her helmet into the face of an approaching guard. He went down without much fanfare and I snatched the helmet up in my magic and returned it to her.

Where was our relief? Was anypony coming? We’d been fighting for what seemed like hours. It probably wasn’t anywhere close to that, but it felt like it. All of the exercising and practicing. All of the galloping and dancing. None of it really prepared me for a drawn-out battle.

Two bugs flew down towards us, not even bothering to pretend to be ponies. I ducked my head and pointed my horn right at them. With as much care as I could, I pulled in magic from around me and focused it. A wide beam burst out from the tip, but when it hit the pair, they only slowed down.  

“Uh oh,” Ice Blossom squeaked before throwing her helmet in their direction. It missed massively and just sailed down into the courtyard. It probably ended up with my spear.

The guards in the tower had run out of crossbow bolts so they were throwing whatever they had available. I saw a plate adorned with Shining Armor’s face sail by.

“Get ready!” I told Blossom, bracing myself to go hoof to hoof with the bugs.

Just as they were about to smash into me, I felt a massive surge of magic. From within the heart of the palace, a burst of energy spread out, catching all of the bugs in its path. 

When it washed over me, it felt warm. It made me think of my relationship with Dolly and my mom. Loving, fun, and kind. It knocked the bugs off course and carried them away. The fake ponies went, too. Whatever the spell was, it didn’t work on the real thing.

“Oh, thank Celestia,” Ice Blossom said before collapsing onto the battlement.

All around us, ponies started to cheer.

It was over, we’d won! Well, we’d held out long enough for a powerful unicorn to win, but I’d take it. The guards around me started celebrating but that is when I noticed a lot of them were hurt. Some were down.

The area was a mess. I wasn’t sure we were out of danger yet and it would be too risky to let our guard down. As much as it pained me, it was time to act like the officer I was.

The manual and all the training I’d had started to play through my mind. What did you do after a battle? There hadn’t been a lot about it. Battles simply didn’t happen! Especially not to royal guards. Still, there was enough to get me going. Take control of the situation, assess the damage, prepare for another attack, and hold your post.

Standing up to my full height, I shouted, “Sergeants, report in immediately. Let’s get the wounded triaged. We don’t know how long that barrier is going to last. I want this wall secured!”

I waved a hoof at Ice Blossom. “Go find your squad and check in.”

“Yes, ma’am!” she replied before hurrying off.

Once she was gone I allowed myself a sigh of relief and a moment of weakness. That had been scary. In the moment I’d relied on my training and power but now that it was done things were shifting. The adrenaline was wearing off and I was feeling weak.

Sergeant Rice hurried over to me. “Ma’am, my whole squad is accounted for. Three with minor wounds, one serious.”

“Assign two of the guards with the minor wounds as litter carriers and get that pony to the hospital immediately,” I ordered.

“Ma’am!” he said before rushing off. After he did, I reached under my armor and pulled a small notebook from the pouch hidden there. I wrote down the squad and the wounded.

Not long after, Sergeant Butterbrew limped up. His right foreleg was clearly broken. It just hung limp but he was acting as if he wasn’t in pain. “Lieutenant, all ponies accounted for. Six minor wounds, no serious.”

“No serious?”

He shook his head. “None, ma’am.”

“Sergeant Butterbrew, are you going to make me point out that your leg is broken?”

He looked down at it. “I wouldn’t call a broken leg more than a minor wound, ma’am.”

Butterbrew, Butterbrew, Butterbrew. He was as tough as they came. “Do any of your other minor wounds have broken limbs?”

“No, ma’am!”

I wrote it down in my notebook. “Sergeant, assign an acting squad leader and limp your way to the hospital. That’s an order.”

“If it’s an order, ma’am! If those beasties come back before I do, save me a few.” He saluted before limping off.

One by one, my sergeants and the temporary ones that had been assigned to me for the wedding showed up and made their reports. They were all similar: lots of minor wounds with some serious. Mercifully, there were no fatalities. There were two missing in action, though. We’d have to sort that out.

“I want the net throwers reloaded!” I ordered. “Sergeant Skittles, get somepony down to the armory to grab as many crossbow bolts as we can get. I want to be ready for the next wave!”

“I see your section of the wall held,” came the familiar voice of Vice Colonel Glamour. She was making the rounds, assessing the state of the castle.

I snapped to attention. “Yes, ma’am! We weren’t about to let go. Although with them flying and coming from above, I’m not sure what we did qualifies as keeping them out.”

The vice colonel shrugged. “You did your duty as expected. Give me your numbers, please.”

Without missing a beat, I rattled off the figures from the notebook.

“Good. You kept your head about you. Not everypony did,” she said flatly. “I’m glad to know that the princess’s faith in you was not misplaced. Carry on, Lieutenant. Prepare for another assault but I can assure you it will not come.”

“Ma’am? Are you sure?”

“I am. The leader of the creatures, a queen of some sort, has been sent far from our kingdom through the Captain’s magic. Without her, they’re likely to be uncoordinated. At least so Princess Celestia says. Evidently, she’s run into changelings before.”

“Changelings? Is that what they are?”

“So she says and so I believe. Believe or not, however, prepare for another assault. She is not often wrong, but if she were to be, we’d be ill equipped in our current state. We’ve sent for the nearest battalion of the Army. They’ll arrive shortly. Until then, carry on.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied before turning back to my duty.

I didn’t recall hearing about changelings in my magical creatures’ class. Although in all fairness to the instructor of that class, I slept through most of it and spent the rest of it looking at the minotaur drawings. They had huge w—

“Where do you want these supplies, Lieutenant?” some guard I didn’t know asked me. He had a load of bolts, bandages, rations, and other things we’d need.

“Divide them among the towers. We’re going to hold up in those. The bugs couldn’t get in them.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I shifted my attention to the city itself. There were some fires burning but for the most part it looked in good shape. I’m sure ponies would be shaken up over the whole thing. First Nightmare Moon and now Changelings.

Things had been odd lately.

I’d have to check in on Dolly and the girls as soon as I was relieved, which would be a while. It was unlikely that we’d be released until our relief arrived. Perhaps even longer while everything was sorted out. That was going to be a slow process. 

“Everypony be sure you drink water! Draw supplies from the towers!” I ordered before taking my own advice. We’d have a hard time fighting off another assault like the first, but the element of surprise was gone.

After that, I spent a couple of hours moving my ponies around, taking stock of what supplies we had, and ensuring our standard posts were covered. Battle or not, we were still responsible for the security of the position.

Ice Blossom trotted up and leaned against the battlement, looking out. “When is the relief coming?”

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“When will you know?”

“I don’t know,” I repeated.

“Have you heard the rumors yet?”

I looked over to her. “What rumors?”

“I heard from Yams who heard from Chocolate, who overheard Major Cinnamon that Princess Celestia was captured again in the fighting. Do you believe that?”

“I don’t think that could be true, right? I mean, these things were normal bugs. They weren’t some dark magic, mythical moon princess.”

Ice Blossom shrugged. “Maybe. Major Cinnamon doesn’t normally exaggerate, though.”

That was true, but Yams did, and Chocolate was just a parrot for Yams.

“Oh, and I did hear the bugs got to Princess Luna,” Blossom added. “They didn’t capture her, but they got to her and messed up one of her guards pretty badly.”

“Who’d you hear that from?”

“Sergeant Skittles heard it from somepony while he was helping get supplies.”

Lieutenant Dyke had been responsible for both princesses. It seemed like he may have been a screw-up based on the rumor mills.

It wasn’t long after that before Major Cinnamon and a few other officers made the rounds of the wall. They were trying to make us feel like we hadn’t been woefully unprepared and surprised. They were doing a poor job of it too.

We’d won, sure, but overall, our response had been weak. Not mine, of course. I’d not given up a single tower or my wall. The palace had been breached, though, and that was an embarrassment all around. There would be some changes coming and some trouble for some ponies.

On the topic of trouble, I noticed that Radiant Orchid was out on the battlement and heading my way.

“Hey, kid,” Radiant Orchid called as she reached me.

“It’s lieutenant, Sergeant,” I replied, in no mood for her dismissive nature.

“Alright. Hey, Lieutenant Sergeant.”

I took a deep breath, trying not to say anything short. “What do you want pink stuff?”

“I don’t want anything, but the boss wants a word,” she said before motioning towards the palace.

“You’re kidding, right? You know I can’t leave here.”

“Orders from the top. Put a sergeant in charge and let’s get going. Don’t keep Captain Armor waiting.”

Captain Armor? “Why did he send you? You don’t normally run errands for him.”

“I do for now. Come on, let’s go,” Orchid said before turning and starting to walk away.

“Sergeant Ice Blossom, you have the wall. Command wants to see me,” I called before following after Orchid.

If Sergeant Orchid had been in any of the combat she didn’t show it. Her house guard armor was still shiny, and I couldn’t even see a scratch on her. For all I knew she was some sort of combat savant or she’d been hiding.

“I heard they got to the princesses,” I said.

“I heard that too,” she replied without looking back.

“Weren’t you there?”

“For one of them, yeah.”

“Are you trying to be as short with me as possible?”

Radiant Orchid came to a stop and looked back at me. “Lieutenant, with all due respect, you talk a lot and you aren’t much for the rules. I don’t care for it but in the past it hasn’t mattered. You’ve got your command and it is far from me.

“All I had to deal with was you being Princess Celestia’s friend. She sends me, we have our little verbal war, and then we get on with our life. The sad thing about this is that I’m pretty sure you could be better if you wanted to.

“I’ve been around long enough to read a pony’s character pretty well. I think under all of that makeup and custom armor is a fine officer, but you spend your time staring at rumps and gossiping with a sergeant.”

That was it. She’d pushed me to the end of my patience. I’d just defended my wall to the best of my ability, and she had the audacity to lecture me! “Now you listen here!”

“I’m going to pass on that. We’re here,” Orchid said before pushing a side door open and motioning. “In.”

My wrath was replaced by confusion. Where were we? This wasn’t any kind of grand hall. There was no command section here. We were just in some obscure part of the palace. Was this a prank? I glared at her as I walked past. She trotted in behind me.

It took less than two seconds to read the room and realize this was not a prank. It was not a prank at all. I’d just been shown into some small, insignificant meeting room. The kind you found all over the place for impromptu chats.

This one was full of significant ponies. Princess Celestia was sitting on a big pillow behind an overturned table. She had her wing resting protectively over a very rough looking Lady Cadence. She had no makeup, dark bags under her eyes, and her coat was filthy. She didn’t look like a bride; she looked like me after a two-day bender.

Twilight Sparkle was with them, resting protectively on the other side of Lady Cadence. She looked out of sorts and kind of dirty, too. That wasn’t unexpected though, she never knew how to dress or primp.

The whole set was completed by Captain Armor. The expression on his face was not pleasant. It was the angriest one I’ve ever seen him have. What had I done?

“Uh, what’s going on?” I asked dumbly while trying not to feel overwhelmingly intimidated.

“Lieutenant Day, delivered as ordered, sir.” Orchid said from behind me.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” Shining Armor said before he looked at me. “Lieutenant Day, thank you for coming.”

“I didn’t really have a choice, but you’re welcome,” I replied and immediately cringed. What a stupid thing to say to an angry officer.

He smirked and passively ground a hoof into the floor. “Right, let me get down to this if you’ll keep your comments to the end. Lieutenant Dyke grossly failed in his responsibilities and has been sacked. As of now, both house guards are reporting directly to me.”

I gawked. The rumors were true!

Captain Armor went on, “I don’t know you well, Lieutenant. You received your current command due to your extraordinary service during the Summer Sun Celebration. Beyond that, by all accounts, you’ve done what you’re supposed to do with that command. By the same token, I don’t believe you’ve stood out as exemplary.”

What was this meeting about? Hadn’t I done a good job today and in the months I’d been in command? This was ridiculous! “Sir, I did a good job out there today! I didn’t lose a pony or a tower!”

He held his hoof up. “I know, I’m sure you did. I’m not saying you didn’t.”

“It sure feels that way!” I snapped before quickly adding, “Sir.”

After a deep breath, he said, “Lieutenant, everypony here has had a rough day so I’m going to politely ask you to bring the indignation down a level and cut me some slack. Alright?”

Politely, huh? I guess that was polite. Maybe I wasn’t in trouble? “Yes, sir. I’m sorry. A lot of my ponies were hurt doing their duty and I’m on edge.”

“Understood. Now, to be clear, you’re here at the request of Princess Celestia,” he pressed on.

I looked over at her and she gave me a warm nod.

“As mentioned, the commander of Princess Celestia’s House Guard failed miserably today. His protection was inadequate and, worse, when he was needed most, he froze up and was unable to perform his duty. A sergeant had to take command of Princess Luna’s security, and Orchid and Storm Rider did the same for Princess Celestia.”

“Oh,” was all I could say. That was horrible. Astral Dyke was a coward?

Shining Armor cut into my musings. “You’re a capable enough officer. I’ve seen that myself and your superiors have said as much. I also hear you’re rough around the edges. Sergeant Orchid there thinks you’re immature and while Sergeant Storm Rider likes you, he also thinks you’re immature.”

What a lovely thing to say about me! Had these ponies all met Cheerful Sun?

“I can’t say for sure either way. All I know is that you’re a young officer without much of a career, yet. In spite of that and in light of our recent failings at picking appropriate commanders, we’re going to try something wholly different. Princess Celestia has urged me—”

“Strongly urged you,” the princess chimed in.

Shining Armor briefly glanced back. “Strongly urged me to make you the commander of her house guard.”

“You’ll be more fun,” the princess added.

“What?” the word just tumbled out of my mouth. How had we gone from insulting me to putting me in charge of Princess Celestia’s security?

“I want you to be my guard commander, Sunny,” Princess Celestia said.

“I’m not qualified!” I squeaked.

“That is what I keep saying,” Sergeant Orchid said from behind me.

“She can’t be any worse than the others, Orchid,” Princess Celestia said. “I’m tired of being foal sat by the sons and daughters of important ponies. They do it for a year or so just so they say they did and move on. I want somepony that will stick around and build a rapport with me.

“My Guard commander should be close to me like Raven. Besides, if you can’t spare one of Equestria’s finest military minds, Sunny will do.”

“Thank you?” I replied.

Shining Armor brought his hoof to his forehead and rubbed it in a small circle. “Alright, enough! This is a Royal Guard decision, I’m the commander. With all due respect, Princess, please stay out of this.”

Princess Celestia huffed and settled her chin on Lady Cadence’s head.

“I am willing to offer you the command on a provisional basis. Do you want the job or not?” Shining Armor asked.

Did I? I did, right? This was the best command for a junior officer in the entire kingdom. It had mostly been ceremonial in the past, which was why all of the fancy ponies got the assignment. That wasn’t going to work anymore after two major security issues. They’d need a real officer. Was I a real officer?

I couldn’t be that bad at it, right? I’d protected my wall and kept my ponies alive. I’d been through some serious fights in my life. It was also what the Princess wanted. I’d already turned down her offer to be my teacher and mentor. If I turned this down, it would be another insult. This was a good middle ground.

“Lieutenant…” Shining Armor prompted.

The other ponies didn’t think I could do this, though. They were just going along with the princess for now until she wasn’t upset. That is what provisional meant. I shook my head. “No, sir.”

Shining Armor blinked. “What? What do you mean, no?”

Princess Celestia’s head perked up. “Sunny?”

It was my time to shine and use the skills Dolly gave me. “No, as in, I don’t want to be the provisional commander. I’ll accept the commander role, but I’m not going to take the job and lose it in a couple of months because somepony in command decides this was a bad idea. I’m sorry, sir, that is a bad deal.

“I mean this with all the respect in the world for you, but if you want change, you have to commit to it. The last two officers in this role lost the princess. Clearly, we weren’t doing things right. You and Orchid and my superiors and my sister may all think I’m an immature screwup, but my file doesn’t read that way.

“I’ve got a big mouth and I might mess around some, but when it comes to my job, I don’t. So if I’m taking this role, I want the real role and I want it my way. Whatever we’ve been doing in the past is done. Things will change if you pick me. So again, I have to say no, sir.”

Radiant Orchid chimed in, “Works for me.”

Shining Armor shot her a look. “Bold move, Lieutenant.”

I shook my head. “Not really, sir. I legitimately don’t want it if it’s a crippled, provisional role that is going to be more of the same. I’m happy on my wall. I’ll go back there, show I’m great, and move on.”

Princess Celestia started slowly clapping her forehooves together.

Everypony looked at her and Lady Cadence looked up, set a hoof over Princess Celestia’s, and whispered, “No, Auntie. Not right now.”

All of the attention then fell back on me. Shining Armor rubbed his forehead. “You’re a frustrating pony.”

“I’m sorry, sir. At least I know you’re taking me seriously because if you weren’t, you’d have already thrown me out.”

Shining Armor looked back at Princess Celestia. “You’re certain?”

“Very. I trust her as much as I trust Twilight.”

Yes! She’d said that right in front of Twilight! That made it all worthwhile.

“Very well. I accept then. Lieutenant Day, you’ll be commander. Obviously if you underperform we’ll make adjustments. You also understand that given our current situation, I will personally be keeping an eye on you and the new commander of Princess Luna’s House Guard?”

“Crystal clear, sir. I’m not afraid of the scrutiny but, as mentioned, changes will be made,” I replied firmly.

“Of course. It is your command. And in that regard, allow me to congratulate you on it. We’ll swear you in later. We have too much going on now. I want you to go take command of the House Guard, build a perimeter, and once you do, we’ll move the princess back to her quarters. Until then, I’m not letting her out of my sight.”

“Yes, sir! Before I go, though, I have a question.”

“Yes?” he replied, trying and failing not to sound put out.

“What happened to Lady Cadence, why is Twilight Sparkle here, and what about my wall? Those ponies need me.” Given my new station, I should know these things!

Shining Armor looked back at his wife and the princess. Lady Cadence had fallen asleep. “She’d been ponynapped some time back. Months, perhaps, and dropped into a deep cavern inside of Alicorn Spire. It was her own tenacity that kept her alive.

“As for Twilight, she was one of two ponies who truly noticed something was off with Cadence. She kept investigating and ultimately found and freed her.”

Twilight chimed in, “I just knew it wasn’t her!”

Suck up.

“Who was the other pony?” I asked.

Princess Celestia chuckled. “Come now, Sunny. You know it was you.”

I did, but I wanted somepony to say it in front of Twilight. When I glanced her way, she didn’t look that upset. She was feigning concern over Lady Cadence.

“Right, right. And my current command?” I asked.

Shining Armor shook his head. “They’ll be fine. I’ll get one of the other shift lieutenants to cover. Go assume command of your new unit and get them straightened out.”

I stiffened to attention. “Yes, sir!”

“Dismissed,” he replied.

That was it then. I was the commander of Princess Celestia’s House Guard. Just like that. I trotted out of the room while Radiant Orchid followed me. Once the door closed behind us, I just stood there.

“Orders, ma’am?” she said dryly.

“I don’t know yet, pink stuff, but I’m going to figure it out fast. Now, take me to the unit because I have no idea where it is.”

“Aye, ma’am,” she replied before trotting off.

I fell in behind her. Even though this might not have been how I wanted to earn such a prestigious command, I was happy about it. Happy enough to prance, subtly, and hope Radiant Orchid couldn’t see it.
> 28. My Militia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aurum pressed up against me and asked nervously, “Azurite, are you still with me? I could really use some sort of royal guard idea right now.”

The anger had drained through me and leaked out of my hooves after the adrenaline ebbed and I realized we were about to be completely overwhelmed. That was setting off every anxiety in my head. There were a ton of bugs now. Six, eight, ten? Too many.

Combat was not my specialty. All I knew was some self-defense stuff which evidently worked well. “We need to retreat,” I said with confidence. Not that I was confident. I was just confident that running away was the right answer. I was excellent at running away.

Aurum nodded. “Good plan, we’re surrounded, though, so do you think you can teleport us again? I can’t do that spell. I couldn’t even teleport the toothpick in class.”

It amazed me at how calm Aurum could stay. I was shaking from tail to ears. “Maybe? Take my hoof and hold on tight!”

She did just that. We clasp each other, and I started to draw in magic from all around us.

Teleporting was a very hard spell. It was the height of my ability. I started to concentrate. What had Miss Bitweather said again? See yourself where you want to be. Close your eyes, picture it, draw the magic in and—

“Azurite, not to rush you but I really think you need to do the spell right now!”

“Not helping!” I squeaked as my eyes tightened. Imagine the other side of the street. See the store. Be outside the store. Be outside the store. Be out—

There was a shriek of surprise and my concentration fell apart. Had they hurt Aurum? No, it was one of the bugs!

Ponies were attacking them from all around. Not royal guards, but regular ponies. Wait… not regular ponies. The best ponies!

“Stay away from my girls, you ruffians!” my father shouted before smashing one of the bugs upside the head with a large clock pendulum that he was levitating in his magic.

Quartz tackled one of the others without a moment of hesitation.

There were other ponies, too! The business owners from the street. They’d formed some sort of militia and were fighting off the bugs. Even my mom was there! She was spraying them with the mister she used at the greenhouse to stun the bad bugs before she’d sweep them up and take them outside.

It was amazing to watch and whatever fear I had was immediately replaced with pride. I turned and punched the nearest bug right in the head. “Yeah! You listen to my daddy!” I sneered before pulling my hoof back and shaking it. That had hurt.

Aurum then bucked the same bug before looking at me. “We need to work on your fight lingo.”

“I’m not a fighter, don’t judge me!” I squeaked.

More of the black carapace fiends started to flutter over to help their friends.

“Girls, come along! We all need to get back into shelter. Come on everypony!” my father called so that was what we did.

As the street started to fill with attackers, the merchants and spouses of the area hurried to where they’d fortified the outside of the hardware store.

Mr. Hammerhoof was standing on a short wooden barricade waving a Canterlot flag. Where in the kingdom had he gotten a flag?

All of the ponies crawled over the barricade and started to pick up their improvised weapons: hammers, rakes, shovels, and the like.

My mother started to check Aurum and me over. “Are you two okay? Did they hurt you?”

I shook my head. “No, ma’am. Aurum kept me safe,” I replied before being fully wrapped in a hug.

Aurum snorted. “No, she kept me safe.” Her head then turned to Quartz. He was manning the barricade but kept glancing back at her. “I’m fine, son, don’t worry about me.”

“Here they come, lasses! Make ready!” Mr. Hammerhoof’s voice boomed.

On the barricade, the ponies with shovels and rakes leveled them out. The ones behind it started to prepare what looked like water balloons.

“Let ‘em go!”

The various ponies hurled their balloons over the fortification right at the bugs. When they hit, they burst into some kind of sticky yellow goop. I hurried over and looked. “What is that?”

My father grinned. “Industrial adhesive. Remember that time your mother accidentally broke great aunt Tealeaf’s prized vase and I glued it back together before she could notice? It’s like that, but ten times as strong.”

Sure enough, the bugs that had been hit were not thrilled. Their wings were stuck to their sides, their hooves to the ground, their flanks to their friends’ flanks. It was a mess. Those that hadn’t been hit were looking less certain about taking us on.

I turned to the ponies that were squeezing tubes of adhesive into the balloons. “Can I help?”

“That would be great, dearie,” an older mare I didn’t recognize replied.

They seemed to have a good process going, but with unicorn magic it would be easier. I lifted one of the balloons up, poked an adhesive tube into the end, and started to squeeze it out.

“Where did all of these balloons come from, anyway?” I asked, realizing rather suddenly that I was calm. The fear and worry of being in a battle didn’t seem to be that bad when among my family and friends. It was kind of like being with the Guard.

My mother laughed and waved a hoof. “It is Sadie’s birthday today. They were for her party.”

The older mare, Sadie, beamed. “This is a hoot! None of the other girls at the bingo hall will believe this.”

“They’re coming again!” Mr. Hammerhoof called.

Aurum said, “Azurite, balloon please!”

“You got it!” I levitated it over to her and she hurried up onto the barricade next to Quartz. Rather quickly, she hurled the balloon out and then cheered. She must have hit her mark.

Mom and several of the others also tossed balloons. I’d hate to be the pony that would have to clean the streets after this.

“Oh, by the way, Sadie, I’ve got a cake for you in the ice box. Once all of this nonsense is over, don’t let me forget. I’d hate for it to go to waste. Domino baked it for you specifically,” my mother said casually before filling another balloon.

As my mom spoke, this felt less like a battle and more like an outing. I was really starting to have fun. So much so I finally noticed the angry bubbling coming from my back.

“Oh, Peepers!” I squeaked before turning and levitating his bowl down onto the ground.

He swam so many circles before coming up to the lid and blowing bubbles at it.

“No, you can’t come out and fight. The balloons are too big for you to throw,” I said softly.

Mr. Peepers bubbled indignantly.

“The shovels are too heavy.”

He bubbled so fast it was almost incoherent.

“Look, I’m sorry! I know you want to do your part. Maybe in this particular situation your part is to sit here and be a lookout? Okay? You bubble if one of the things gets past our flank. Right?” That seemed like a safe job.

Mr. Peepers accepted that and calmed down, so I levitated his bowl to the corner where he could keep an eye on things.

He’d be safe enough there, but I wished I’d had his helmet. That couldn’t be helped, so I returned to filling balloons.

The fight continued for another ten minutes or so before my horn started to tingle. A huge rush of magical energy was coming.

All of the unicorns’ heads popped up and a wave of pink energy poured over us. When it did, it swept the bugs along with it, hurling them from the city. When it hit me, the magical wave felt like love and affection. It pushed away fear and insecurity, leaving behind just warmth.

“Well, how about that,” my father said before climbing down from the barricade and slipping a hoof around my mom. His horn then lit, encircled me, and pulled me over so I could be at his other side.

Sadie clapped her hooves together. “Well, that was a hoot and a half. Best birthday in years!”

Quartz and Aurum were hugging. As were so many other ponies.

I nestled against my dad’s side. We could have been hurt. We might have even been captured or killed. Who knew what the bugs were after? Despite that, none of the others seemed to be worried about that. They were just happy.

Shouldn’t I be happy, too, or should I freak out about this?

As if he knew what was going on in my head, my father leaned down and kissed me at the base of my horn. Okay, I’d be happy.

“Hello there!” a voice called from beyond the barricade.

Mr. Hammerhoof shouted back, “Hello, lads!”

We turned to see the tops of Royal Guard plumage just above the barricade. “Is everypony alright? Any injuries?” one of them asked.

“Not at all. We gave those buggies the ole heave ho! They’ll know better than to bring their shenanigans to the midtown shopping district again,” Mr. Hammerhoof replied.

“Glad to hear that. It looks like you put up quite the fight. We’ll be doing the rounds. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

As they trotted away, I nuzzled my dad and then slipped out of his grip. “I’ve got to go.”

My mother’s ear flicked. “Go where?”

I motioned beyond the barricade. “To work. I’m a royal guard. Ponies are going to need help. You’re all fine, but some ponies may not be.”

“But, kitten,” my father started. We exchanged glances and I did my best to put on a face of determination. He shut his mouth and stroked my cheek. “I understand, go do your duty. Just be careful, please?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I said obediently before hugging him and then my mother.

As I went to the barricade, I stopped by Aurum. “Can you take care of Mr. Peepers?”

Aurum ruffled my mane. “No, but I’ll let him take care of Quartz and I.”

That was smart. Mr. Peepers was crafty and cranky. “Good plan. I’ll see you at home soon, okay?”

“Okay, see you then. Be safe, Azurite,” Aurum said.

“Will do!” I hopped down off the barricade and headed towards Central Command. There wouldn’t be time to go home and get my uniform. I’d just show up and do what I could to help.

When I arrived, numerous other off-duty ponies were getting organized. I trotted up to a big group that was huddled around a City Guard lieutenant. He was blue, kind of like me, but darker. I liked blue ponies!

“Listen up, ponies. The dirty bugs may be long gone, but the palace is preparing for a second attack. The Army has also been summoned. Our job is search and rescue for now. The worst of the fighting was on the palace grounds, but there are bound to be numerous casualties out in the city.

“Obviously that means a lot of scared citizens and we have to ensure their safety. Show confidence to give them confidence. Take them by the hoof if necessary. Report to your regular units even if it isn’t your shift. Dismissed.”

The others started heading off in various directions. I trotted up to the lieutenant. “Excuse me, sir?”

He looked around briefly before looking down at me. “Yes, little miss?”

Little miss, huh? “I need an assignment,” I replied.

He smiled. “Well, I’d go find your filly scout leader. I’m sure she’ll be organizing a response, too.”

Filly scout? Did I look like a filly scout! I cleared my throat. “No, Lieutenant, I’m not a filly scout! I’m a royal guard! Just like you!”

“You’re what, now?” he asked, his head tilting. “What unit?”

“I don’t have one. I’m in warrant officer school but won’t graduate for a couple of weeks. I can help though, sir! I was a city guard at the start of my career. This is an all-hooves mission, right? Let me help!”

He didn’t seem convinced. “I admire your tenacity, but are you sure about this? What’s your name?”

“Soon-to-be-Warrant Officer Azurite,” I replied firmly.

He snorted softly. “Alright, soon-to-be-but-not-yet-a-Warrant Officer Azurite, today you’re going to be my partner. We’ll work together until I’m certain about you. Plus, nopony should go alone out there. We’re going to go walk the section of town my precinct covers.

“Before we go, though, you need some armor. We have some suits in storage that the trainees use. They might be big but if you’re going to be out there, you have to look the part. Otherwise, other ponies might wrongly accuse you of being a filly scout, too.”

Armor? I hadn’t worn armor in a long time. Was I ready for that? I guess he wasn’t giving me a choice, so I offered him a hoof. “Yes, sir, Lieutenant… uh? Who are you supposed to be again?”

“I’m supposed to be Lieutenant Surestrike, but I often question that,” he replied before bumping my hoof.

“Nice to meet ya! Also, in full disclosure, I was a filly scout first class,” I said.

“I’m not surprised. You look the type,” he replied blandly as he started to trot towards the nearby precinct building.

“Because I’m little?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. It is because you galloped over without any armor, unit, or assignment and begged me to let you help. That’s filly scout first class material. I’m betting that is common behavior for you, too?”

For me? No, I was a wreck of a pony. All I did was hide from crowds, hide from the dark, and hide from what happened.

“I’m even willing to bet a week’s salary that when the bugs started dropping, you didn’t run and hide in the nearest place. You had other ponies on your mind and went for them,” Surestrike continued as he trotted up the stairs and pushed the door open.

He was right about that. In the moment it hadn’t felt that way, though. We were out looking for Quartz and trying to get to my parents. I could have hid in my apartment, but I didn’t. “Yeah.” I still wanted to hide. I didn’t, though. I never hid when it came to the important stuff. Maybe I wasn’t such a wreck?

“There you go. Filly scout first class,” he said before pointing at a door. “That is the storeroom. Just go in there and put on whatever fits and be quick about it. I’ve got important things to do.”

“Yeah… I mean yes, sir. Will do,” I replied before going in nervously. The room was long and narrow with shelves on either side. Every single one had armor that had been unceremoniously piled up without any arrangement. It was awful. It needed a pony like me to organize it, not wear it. That would have to wait, though.

Ponies needed me out in the city. They needed me now, if I could just convince myself to put the armor on. It wouldn’t be confining. It wouldn’t remind me of what happened to Sandy and me. Now, it would remind me that I was helping. Right? Sure, Azurite, sure!

“Get a move on, not-yet-a-Warrant Officer Azurite,” Surestrike called from outside the door.

“Right!” I shouted back, shocking myself out of the hypnosis. As quickly as I could, I found the smallest breastplate, helmet, and hoofguards I could and put them on. It wasn’t so bad. In fact, it felt kind of good. I was a royal guard and we wore armor.

When I stomped my way out of the room, his eyebrow arched. “When you were a city guard, did they make armor in your size?”

“Nope, special order, let’s go,” I replied.

“Alright, after you,” he said before pushing the precinct door open.

As I marched back out into the city, wearing armor for the first time since that night, I didn’t feel as afraid as normal. In fact, I felt brave. I could do this. We’d help ponies, then I’d graduate and get to work on organizing pony files. Today, though, I’d help where I could.

“Ready?” Surestrike asked.

“Yes, I most certainly am,” I replied.
> 29. Settling In For The duration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sat behind a large, hardwood desk, quietly drumming my hooves as I looked around my office. Unlike a normal lieutenant that had to share workspace, I had a private place of my own. It had the desk, a couch, a couple of bookshelves, some seats for guests, and a window. That was a big adjustment from the little shack that was out on the wall.

This space was for me to hold my ‘big important meetings’ in. Meetings that I really didn’t have. For the most part in the month I’d been in command, I’d just met with Raven here. Raven and Shining Armor. It was unnecessarily quiet, and I missed gossiping with Ice Blossom. There was no gossiping or stallion-watching here.

A knock at my open door pulled my attention back to the world around me. Radiant Orchid looked inside. “Lieutenant, a word, if you have time?”

I had time. Time was something I had a lot of. Most of my responsibility was looking at the princess’s schedule and ensuring she had appropriate protection for the various meetings. That had been hard to do initially because the unit was built wrong. That was something I was fixing.

“Of course, come in, please,” I replied.

Orchid trotted up to my desk and stood at attention.

It was just the two of us but she’d stopped being lax about protocol now that I was in command. “At ease. What’s on your mind?”

She relaxed her stance slightly. “Ma’am, I hope you won’t take this personally, but Captain Armor mentioned he was looking for new sergeants for Princess Luna’s Guard and I volunteered.”

My ear flicked. I’d heard he was doing that but hadn’t expected any of my ponies to jump ship. Although this wasn’t big surprise. “Do you feel the grass is greener there?”

“No, ma’am. Actually, I don’t. I feel like they are going to need more help and some outsider isn’t going to do it. You’ve got Storm Rider here, you don’t need me, too. And, in all honesty, you and I don’t exactly gel. I figure this is the easiest for us all.”

She was right about that. At the same time, I felt a bit down. I stood and walked around from behind the unnecessarily large desk to offer her a hoof. “You may not believe this, but I’m sorry to see you go. You’re right, though, they need a pony like you. I heard they made that big oaf over there Sergeant.”

Sergeant Orchid bumped my hoof. “You heard right. He’s very by the book, and that is my style. He’ll need some guidance though, as you say. Thank you, ma’am. I wish you the best of luck. I’m certain you’ll do better than the last few commanders.”

That wasn’t a high bar but I took the compliment. “Thank you. Please make a list of a few ponies you’d feel would be best to fill your role. Keeping my style in mind, I suppose.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll have it immediately,” she replied.

“Dismissed then. Good luck to you and please send Storm Rider over.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Orchid repeated before she left. 

I sat back down behind my desk and drummed on it. Now I needed another sergeant. I’d already hired two new ones as part of my strategy to reorganize the House Guard into a proper section with more realistic coverage. The traditional system may have worked well for pomp and ceremony, but it sucked when it came to actual protection.

Orchid had also unknowingly made a decision for me. One that I’d been struggling with. Despite us not seeing eye to eye, I had never doubted her as guard.

Storm Rider knocked on my door. “Ma’am, Orchid said you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, come in, and at ease,” I ordered all at once before adding, “I assume you know she’s transferring?”

He nodded. “I tried to talk her out of it. I told her it was a mistake and that you were better than you looked.”

An insult already? What I had learned quickly was that when Storm Rider said it, he didn’t mean it as an insult. He had my sense of humor. “Yes, thank you for your glowing endorsement.”

“Yes, Lieutenant. You know I’ve got your back.” He cracked a small smile. “At any rate, she was determined, and once she sets her mind to something, it’s done.”

“Isn’t that the truth,” I replied before opening my desk drawer and pulling out a small wooden box. I set it on the table and pushed it over towards him. “This is yours.”

He trotted over and scooped it up. “Well, ma’am, I’m flattered, but I don’t think we can get married. Regulations and all.”

“I’ll probably never recover from this rejection, but why don’t you go ahead and open it up?”

Storm Rider did so and his head tilted. “Huh. Really?”

“Unless you know somepony better?”

He motioned. “Orchid, but I guess she’s gone, so I’ll take it,” he replied before pulling the First Sergeant pin out of the box and putting it in place of the one he had on. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“You’re welcome. You’ve earned it, and I need your expertise. First Sergeant Skittles didn’t invest a lot of time in training me. I expect you to do better. I also need you to help me with this transition. A new lieutenant, all new sergeants, and some new faces is going to frighten everypony else.”

Storm Rider nodded. “Yes, and just so I’m clear, may I ask why we’re doing this? Not that I’m against it, I just want to have the right answer.”

It was a smart question. I motioned out the window. “Like it or not, the world has changed. We went about a thousand years without any fuss. Now we’re not even able to make it one without the princess being captured… twice.

“The time of this unit being ceremonial is over. I realize we looked the best, showed the best, and allegedly were the best, but at the end of the day, there were shortcomings.”

The stallion idly flicked his wings. “I’d like to argue, but the facts are concrete.”

“Don’t take it personally. You did what you were taught to do. Now you get a chance to lead the change. To do that, we need to act like any other security detail. More coverage, more shifts, and more responsible parties.

“That means I take nine hours, you take nine hours, and the next senior sergeant takes the other nine. It also means breaking out the two squads into three, filling the gaps with new ponies, and decreasing our coverage area. Let the palace guards handle more. They have a ton of bodies.”

Storm Rider nodded. “So we take the oath a lot more seriously.”

“I was hoping most of you were before. Swearing to give up your life for hers is something you shouldn’t take lightly.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied before looking out my door. “I guess the world had to change sooner or later.”

“I suppose so. Congratulations on your promotion. I expect a new example schedule on my desk by the end of day. You’re dismissed.”

“Will do, ma’am,” Storm Rider said before trotting out.

Yes, I was a real commander now. Lieutenant or not, I had an important job and I wasn’t going to fail at it. Every piece and function had to be as close to perfect as I could get it. No beast or creature or long-banished once-evil-now-good sister was going to get the princess on my watch. That was why I kept a close eye on everything, far more than the last commander. He left everything to the sergeants and they just did what they’d been trained to do. 

I was going to be a far more active and participating officer just like I’d been on the wall. That meant looking at all of the paperwork, checking behind the sergeants, and actively patrolling. Trusting only your own eyes was something Sergeant Power had taught me while I was shadowing him back in Baltimare.

My office wasn’t far from Princess Celestia’s, so I walked that distance, inspecting the guards on the way. When I reached her door, I took a moment to look the two over that were keeping vigil there. They seemed good enough. I knocked three times before letting myself in.

Princess Celestia was sitting behind her desk reading a scroll. “Hello, Sunny,” she said absently.

“Hello, Princess. I didn’t have anything to do in my office so I came to do nothing in your office if that is alright with you,” I explained before seating myself on one of her large pillows.

“Oh, that is fine. I’m just going over the annual budget that parliament sent over. I could use a little distraction. This is one of the parts of being princess I dislike,” she explained before setting the scroll down.

Sometimes I forgot she actually ran our kingdom. Parliament and local governments did most of the day to day work but Princess Celestia had to approve the major stuff. “Why don’t you dump it on Princess Luna? She has to do something too, right and you’re the senior princess?” I asked.

“I can’t just dump this on her. She’s—” the princess stopped midsentence, tilted her head and then started back. “She’s going to need some responsibilities and what could be a better way to learn? Good job Sunny. I will give it to her!

“I am not senior princess though. There is no such thing. We’re equals. I want to be absolutely clear about that. This is wholly educational,” Princess Celestia said.

I nodded along. “Of course, of course. So now that you’re free, what do you want to do? Wanna make out?”

Princess Celestia tittered and shook her head. “No, thank you, though. What is the saying? Don’t mack where you work?”

That was a rule I’d broken repeatedly. “Yeah, I suppose that might be inappropriate. How about we go take a shower in a waterfall? I can arrange the security.”

“That does sound fun, but what about my afternoon classes?”

My nose wrinkled. “You do so much stuff! How did you ever have time to have tea with me?”

The princess stood and trotted out from behind her desk. Her mane flowed endlessly behind her reminding me once again I needed to ask her about that spell. “I made time for you, Sunny. I’ve always liked you and to my mind, our friendship was important enough to ensure there was time on my schedule.”

I flopped over onto my side, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. “I’m not always great at expressing my feelings appropriately and without innuendo, so I’m just going to say that if you’re trying to get me into your bed, I would rate you highly successful on your comment card.”

The princess settled on the pillow in front of me and set her hooves on mine. “You’re welcome. Do you like your new job?”

“It’s pretty cool. I like being able to keep an eye on you now that I really understand you need being looked after,” I explained honestly. “I can promise you that on my watch you’re never going to be taken. I’m not here for show.”

“I know, and that is why I chose you. Now, I have a small confession to make. A while back you asked me what I liked to do for fun. There was one more thing.”

My hooves gripped hers tighter and I leaned closer. This was going to be amazing. “What is it? You can tell me! I won’t even tell Dolly, I swear.”

Princess Celestia winked at me. “I like to play little harmless pranks. Would you like to do a prank with me?”

“Yes! Please, right now!” I blurted out.

The princess happily clapped her hooves. “Hurray! What should we do?”

Was she leaving it up to me? This was brilliant. “How about you send Twilight a letter and tell her she’s going to have to finish next month’s schedule early?”

“You know I don’t want to help contribute to this rivalry between you and Twilight,” the princess said but I could see the corners of her lips pulling into a grin.

“But you’re going to do this one thing because you know it is an awesome prank?”

She nodded. “Yes, yes, I am, but this also counts as your birthday present!” 

“Deal!” I squeaked before rubbing my hooves together. This would be awesome. Changing Twilight Sparkle’s schedule in any way would mess with her so bad! If only I could see the look on her face.

Princess Celestia floated a piece of parchment between us and started to write out the letter. I pointed a hoof at it. “Change that to make it sound like you’re in a bind and need it for something.”

“Excellent idea!” the princess replied.

We worked on it a few moments before she rolled the parchment into a scroll and sent it off. Idly she rubbed her hooves together. “And now we wait.”

I glanced at the clock. It was nearing my planned time to check on my sergeants. They’d each show up at my office, and if I wasn’t there, that would not be a good start to the new regime. “Let me know how it goes,” I said before getting up.

The princess looked surprised. “And where are you going?”

“I have to do my job, but I’ll come back when I’m off. As much as I’d like to goof off more, I realize that I need to be a responsible adult.”

“That is very mature. I’ll see you later then,” the princess said, a little pride creeping into her voice. That made me feel good.

“Yes, you will! We’re having a slumber party tonight,” I called as I trotted out of the door. Before she could respond, I shut it with my magic. With that done, I pranced my way down the hall to my office. A pony didn’t have to be stuffy to do this job. A little fun could be mixed in.

When I reached my office, the mail carrier had just dropped off my memos, mail, and other official documents. The wall didn’t get mail service but Lieutenant Sunny Day, Commander of Princess Celestia’s House Guard did!

She got mail service, but not mail, because nopony had anything to say to her usually. “Trixie has been gone a while and I still occasionally slip into the third person,” I muttered as I sat behind my desk and pulled the stack over to go through it.

Memo, memo, memo, critical order, memo, and a letter! That was exciting until I read the return label. Mrs. Cheerful Sun and Mrs. Fuzzy Yarn. I pulled the letter out, sighing to myself already.

Dear Sunny

Our mom has written to let me know about your most recent success. To be honest I was surprised.

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Condescending and you’re not even here!”

Fuzzy felt that wasn’t fair and pointed out your many positive qualities and that the Royal Guard does not randomly put ponies into important positions.

“Thank you, Fuzzy, I’ll incest you any time you like.”

To be honest, we had a long argument about it. In the end she prevailed as she often does. Never marry a fierce debater. As I want to be the bigger mare, I would like to extend my congratulations to you. You’ve achieved something few ponies could ever hope to do and I am proud for you.

This was the worst apology letter ever.

I know you will do well in this new role and I wish you all the success you’re capable of.

Your sister, Cheerful Sun

Literally the worst apology letter ever written by a pony. She didn’t even say she was wrong or that she was sorry! There was a second page. A lecture, perhaps? I flipped to that one.

Sunny, your sister worked really hard on this. She’s trying to say she is sorry and that you’re not immature in regards to your career. She lacks the capability to do that at this time, but I’ll keep working on it.

As we are now family and I find you hilarious, I don’t want to go years without being able to see you. Please be the actual bigger pony and write her. Give her some kind of win.

Fuzzy

P.S. She does not know I slipped this into the letter.

I quietly snickered and hugged the letter against my chest. Fuzzy was amazing. How she ever fell for my sister I’d never know. Perhaps they were just great together in bed.

“Alright, Fuzzy, for you I can be the bigger pony,” I mused before leaning back. How about that? Cheerful Sun was trying to tell me I wasn’t a screw up. Amazing.

It seemed like the world had changed after all. My sister was coming around, I was going to spend more time with Princess Celestia without having to be at school, and I had the job of my dreams. All it took was hard work, focusing on what was important, and knowing the princess! 

Life was going well. Now all I had to do was keep doing the right thing and proving to everypony else that I could do my job. That was a task I had no intention of screwing up or slouching on. Princess Celestia needed to be protected but also allowed to have fun.

I knew without a doubt that I was the best pony for that job and that knowledge gave me confidence. This was exactly where I was meant to be, so I intended to make the most of it.
> 30. My Calling
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It is with great pleasure that I present to you the graduates of class 512,” the commandant said from the stage in front of us.

“The ponies here today are not just royal guards, they are the Royal Guards’ guards. They will be the mares and stallions that take care of their siblings. They will be the ones that ensure that service is as rewarding as promised. They are our PROs. Please stomp your hooves!”

The crowd did just that. They stomped their hooves, cheered, and in a few cases waved embarrassing signs. Thankfully, my family knew how to act at a solemn occasion.

“Friends and family, I ask that you be extra proud of your loved ones today. In these trying times, I believe we’ll need our pony resource officers more than we ever have before. It is very rare that we have a class that responded to an attack on our city.

“And yet, when the changelings attacked, these ponies did just that. Every pony you see here responded without fail. They ran towards danger. They ran to their fellow pony. That is who they are. That is why they have chosen this profession.

“That is why when I say it is an honor to be presiding over this graduation, I feel it far more than usual. I can truly say this is one of the finest classes ever to pass through this academy.”

A warm feeling started to well up inside me. It took all of my effort not to get up and cheer. I was proud! Proud of myself. Proud of the ponies around me.

“I have a charge for you, Class 512. You have set your bar very high, so I must ask you to keep it there. When you receive your orders, I want you to go out into the world and be the best you can. Make those around you the best they can be. Thrive and help them to thrive and then, after you have years of experience, come back here and take over for me.”

We were almost there. It was so close I could feel it!

The commandant paused for a moment to look us over. She smiled and finally gave a nod. “Mares and stallions of class 512, I officially confirm you as graduates. Attention!”

We all quickly stood up and snapped to attention.

“For the last time, you are dismissed!”

I stomped my hooves gleefully! All of the ponies around me did the same and cheered. That was it! We were warrant officers. We were also pony resource officers! Today was the day I’d been waiting for. 

Everypony started to file out of their chairs and make their way over to their families. The whole parade crowd was one big celebration. I just stood by and took it all in. This was amazing. Despite what had happened to me, I’d persevered and pushed myself through with the help of my family.

Mom, Dad, Aurum, and Quartz were waiting for me, so I didn’t want to savor the feeling too long. I trotted over to them and beamed.

“You did it, kitten,” my father said to me, practically bursting with pride. His chest was jutting out so far he looked like a rooster about to crow.

“What a lovely speech that was,” my mother said, daintily dabbing the corner of her eyes. “I’m so proud of you, sweetheart.”

“Thank you,” I said happily.

Aurum hopped off the bench and wrapped her hooves around me tight. “You are, without a doubt, my favorite cousin and certainly the most successful one!”

“Aww, Aurum!” I squeaked.

Quartz looked around and then asked, “I’m sorry, I’m new at this whole Royal Guard thing. So what happens next? They didn’t call your name. They didn’t give you a diploma. What’s going on?”

I squeezed Aurum and set my chin on her shoulder. “Oh, well, see, we’re already royal guards, so this ceremony is a bit lower key. Next up is we pin my rank on and then, in a few days to a week, my orders will arrive by courier. Once that happens, I’ll be off to wherever I’m going and then I’ll start my new job!”

“I see. That is interesting, but you don’t even know what your job is?” Quartz asked.

My mother shook her head. “Not yet, dear. Although this part is my favorite. Sweetie, who gets to pin you this time?”

Aurum let me go. “This time?”

Daddy, still filled with pride, nodded. “Oh, yes. You see, when she first graduated the academy and became a royal guard, she asked me to pin her rank pin on.”

Mom then added, “And when she made first class, I got to pin her.”

“You’ve both had a turn,” I said tapping my hoof to my chin. Would my parents understand if I let Aurum do it?

“Well, I think it is a father’s duty,” my dad said. “Especially with my daughter becoming a warrant officer.”

My mother set her hoof on his shoulder. “Sapphire, I think Azurite should decide. After all, we’ve both had a turn…” she trailed before winking at me.

Of all the moms in Equestria, mine knew how to read a room. I hugged Aurum again. “I want you to do it.”

Aurum gasped. “Me?”

I nodded and sat back. “Yes, please?”

Dad deflated a little but smiled. “I suppose that is fair. Aurum should get a turn. When she makes senior warrant officer, though, it will be my turn again.”

“Hey, what about me?” Quartz asked.

“I’m sorry, my boy, I’ll make an exception for your mother, but you’re on your own!” Daddy said with a chuckle.

Aurum wringed her hooves. “Are you sure you want me to do it?”

“Yes!” I squeaked.

My mother came down from the bleachers, levitating a small wooden box in front of her. “Here you are, Aurum, it’s really quite simple. You just take this little pin and put it on her uniform collar. It is a small gesture with a great meaning.”

She then used her magic to open the box, revealing a gleaming silver pin. It was one diagonal bar over a horizontal one. It was perfectly proportioned and far shinier than the standard ones.

“I hope you like it, sweetie,” my father called. He’d made all of my rank pins. That was the perk of having a jeweler for a father.

Aurum carefully wrapped the pin her magic and brought it up to my collar. Once it was there, she actually took it in her hooves and affixed it. “I’m really honored, Azurite,” she whispered.

I set my hoof on her chest. “Thank you for being here for me this year. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

She smiled and shook her head slowly. “You could have, I promise you that… but I’m glad I could make it easier. I’m so proud of you.”

I stood up and threw my hooves around her in another hug, emotions swelling up inside me. We held each other tightly.

At least until somepony cleared their throat behind us.

When I glanced back, it was Chief Print. I squeaked in surprise and shoved Aurum over, who in turn squeaked in shock.

I snapped to attention. “Chief Print!”

She trotted closer and nodded down at me. “Warrant Officer Azurite. You have a lovely family.”

Aurum pulled herself up, rubbing her side. “Thank you,” she said before glaring at me. “Azurite, would you like to introduce us?”

“Oh, sure! Chief Print, this is my cousin Aurum, her son Quartz, my father Sapphire, and my mother Azalea Azure! And everyone else, this is Chief Print, the head instructor.”

“Charmed,” my father said.

“You’ve done wonders for our daughter,” my mother added.

“I’m pretty sure you’re the one she is most afraid of,” Aurum said with a grin.

With a quick whip of my tail, I swatted her.

“Hey!”

Chief Print softly laughed. “Yes, well, if they’re not afraid of me I’m not doing a good job. Now, I do apologize for intruding upon your celebrations, but I have something for you.”

“For me?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes, for you.” She offered me a plain yellow envelope.

“What is it?” I asked, taking it carefully in my magic and pulling it over.

“Open it and see,” she replied.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied before turning the flap up and peaking inside. It was some papers so I pulled them out and started reading them. It was general royal guard stuff. It looked like orders. ‘Hereby this’ and ‘Warrant Officer Azurite’ that assigned to—

My back legs gave out and I flopped down, just staring at the words on the paper.

“Azurite, sweetie, are you okay?” came my mother’s voice full of concern.

“Kitten? What is it?” my dad asked.

Aurum put her hoof on my shoulder, reading over it. She gasped. “They assigned her to the palace! She’s going to work in the royal palace!”

I looked up at Chief Print in confusion. “How? How do you have my orders so fast? The palace?”

“Warrant Officer Azurite, I have trained a lot of ponies in my career. Few of them both care as much as you, nor are they as good at this as you are. Forgive me for saying so, but you were wasted as a city guard. You have a talent for documentation the likes of which I might only see a few times in my career.

“I was not going to see you languish in some lesser posting simply because you are new. You have already processed paperwork for ponies in the palace. That helped my friend. Now, you’ll go work for him.”

I was going to work in the palace. In the palace and in Canterlot! “Thank you! Thank you so much!” I squealed.

She shook her head. “No, no thanks needed. You earned this. Don’t let me down. I can assure you, I will be watching.”

My eyes went wide and I stammered, “Y-Yes ma’am! I won’t!”

“Good. Enjoy your day today. You start in a month. Be ready; the palace may be glamorous but there is a lot of work to be done there,” Chief Print said before smiling to my family. “A pleasure to meet you all. Good day.”

“And a good day to you,” my father replied absently before trotting closer and pressing his head against mine. “My daughter is going to work in the palace,” he said, swelling with pride again.

“What a lovely surprise,” my mother said before using her magic to lift me onto my hooves and close my mouth from where I was obviously gawking in surprise.

Aurum took me by the hoof. “Okay, we have a little party set up for you at the shop. Let’s get going and celebrate!”

“Agreed,” my father replied.

I was only vaguely aware of Aurum and my mother helping me leave the parade ground. What Chief Print had done was massive. Ponies did not simply start in the palace. They got there through hard work and references.

Had I really done that well? I’d been good at school for sure, but she said it was my calling. Was it? Was I going to live up to her expectations? Would I meet the princess? That would be terrifying!

“Azurite, would you like some punch?” Aurum asked, her face about two centimeters from mine.

“Hmm?”

“Punch, would you like some punch?”

I blinked. “Yes, but they don’t have punch here.”

Aurum softly giggled and leaned back before floating a glass full of red liquid in front of me. “We’re in your dad’s shop.”

“What?” I asked before looking around. She was right. I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the shop. There were banners hung everywhere and a bunch of balloons on the counters.

All of my parent’s neighbors were crowded inside, shaking my father’s hoof, eating cake, and talking.

I took the punch and sipped it. It was, without a doubt, my mom’s special holiday recipe. That also happened to be the best punch in Equestria. She’d figured out a way to keep it sweet, but not too sweet while retaining all of the citrus, strawberry, and cherry flavors.

“Everypony on the block came to congratulate you,” Aurum said as she grinned.

“As in they already have or that is what they’re going to do?” I asked, getting my bearings again.

“Most already have. You’re evidently trained well enough to thank them even when you’re up in your head. How is it up there? Are you okay?”

“I am. I’m a little overwhelmed. A little worried what will happen when I actually go back to work. Other than that brief stint with the changelings, I haven’t really tried to be a guard in a while.”

Aurum patted me on the head. “You’re strong, little cousin. You’ll struggle but you’ll succeed beyond your own expectations.”

“Thank you,” I replied, sipping my drink.

“So…” Aurum trailed.

“So?” 

“I know this is a party and I don’t want to ruin it any, but I figure since you got some great news it will make getting some not as great news easier. Right?”

I tilted my head. “I guess?”

She shrugged and took my hoof in hers. “Please don’t take this as an insult. I think it is time I got my own place, but before you get worried, I mean right here in Canterlot. Close to you! Your apartment wasn’t meant for three ponies and a fish.”

Was that all? I guess I could see how she’d think that would upset me. Actually, when Quartz had shown up, that had upset me. She was right to worry. I didn’t feel upset, though. I squeezed her hoof. “You’re right and, to be honest, as much as I love you, I won’t mind having a bedroom again. Mr. Peepers snores like you wouldn’t believe.”

Aurum laughed and grinned. “I’m glad you understand. Will you help me find a place?”

“Of course!”

“Good. One more thing. Quartz wants to go back east for a little while to take care of his affairs before he permanently moves here. That might take a few months. Can you get along without me for a little bit? I’d like to be there for him but I’m not going to abandon you.”

Now she was going to leave? Was she going to come back? What if she got comfortable there and decided to just stay! Easy Azu, easy! Just tell her not to go! She won’t go if you don’t want her to. I bit my lip and forced the corners of my lips up into what must have been a frightful smile.

“I’m sensing this is stressing you,” Aurum said softly.

My head started bobbing up and down in an instinctive yes. “No, no, I’m fine.”

“You’re an awful liar,” Aurum giggled.

“Okay, I’m terrified! You should go though. You’re coming back, right?” I asked, sounding a little desperate.

Aurum squeezed my hoof. “Yes, I’m going to come back, I promise!”

“Okay, okay. Yes, you should totally go. I’m going to be fine. Mom and Dad are here. I’ll have my new job. It’s going to be fine,” I said as convincingly as I could.

She nodded. “Alright, well, don’t worry, I’m going to come back. Please, let’s enjoy your party, alright?”

I stuffed all of the creepy, crawly, unhappy feelings down into my gut and smiled at her. “Yes, I’m going to work at the palace,” I said softly.

Aurum shook her head. “No, you’re going to work at the palace!” she said louder.

I giggled. “Yes! I’m going to work at the palace!” I shouted.

All of the ponies in the room turned towards me.

My father grinned brightly and waved a hoof in my direction. “Yes, you are, peanut! You’re going to be working there. Congratulations!”

“Congratulations!” my parents’ friends and neighbors shouted excitedly and I was starting to feel the joy again.

I’d be okay without Aurum for a little while. I’d be great, even. I was about to start the career of my dreams. I was going to help fellow royal guards. “I’m a PRO!” I cheered.

It had been a rough year, but now I knew everything in my life was about to change, and that was alright for me.