Unsung

"And so I'm sending you to Baltimare to supervise the preparations for this year's Summer Sun celebration. I wahhn hu tmmmph mmh mmhmph."

Did you know that if you pack air at just the right density in just the right places, you can mute a princess?

"Ssnhseh Shhmer."

It's common knowledge, but this is my first time trying it out.

"..."

Eight spots. One large one a hoof and a half in front of me, five behind me near the wall, and two against the ceiling. Celestia is looking at the one in front of me. She looks mad.

"And by the way, Sunset Shimmer, I'm cancelling your lessons for the next week." Her voice rang through my ears, as if she were shouting from both sides of me. My concentration shatters, and all of the air pockets dissolve. I shake my head and am only a little annoyed. I'm such a pushover.

"Oh please, I'll be done and back within a day. Nopony will even know I'm gone." Because I'm just that good.

"And that's precisely the problem. I've noticed that in your two years here in the castle you've put very little effort into meeting other ponies." Is she really going to lecture me on my social habits? "There's more to a young pony's life than studying, and so I'm sending you to Baltimare with," wait, the celebration is in four days, she must have something else for me to do, "a second task."

I can see where this is going. I appreciate the trust, Princess, but high class gatherings really aren't for me. I start to form the eight air pockets again, plus two for my ears.

"I want you..." Why is she getting louder?

"To make..." She's somehow turning my mufflers into amplifiers.

"Some friends."

...

Pause, one, two, three, four... five, six. Is she stuck? I might as well ask.

"What am I making them do?"