Reflecting Shieldby EvilhumourChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chpater FiveChapter 1Chapter One I closed my eyes, taking in the nice summer sun that was in the sky. I stretched out my entire body on the park bench, enjoying the gentle breeze in- “Excuse me ma’am, but you will need to move,” a voice drilled into my head, causing me to let out an annoyed sigh as I moved my head upright to look at the tin ponies that were bugging me. “You cannot stay on this bench, loitering like this.” “Oh bugger off,” I snapped, as I rolled my green eyes and fell to my hooves. Even though I was not exactly the tallest pony around, I knew how to appear big and terrifying to idiots and tin ponies alike. Edging close to them, I gave a bit of a twisted grin before shaking my mane out of my face when they backed up before I decided to be more level headed. “I know you buckers are just picking on me,” I grumbled as I looked at the other ponies laying around in the park. None of them were being asked to move along or anything but feh, wasn’t worth the effort on my day off. Still, I could feel myself getting angry and I couldn’t help myself snarking, “So congrats on pissing on my day, ya assholes!” as I began to walk off to my apartment. Only for the unicorn of the two tin ponies to snap a wall of magic in front of me. “Look ma’am, I don’t know who you are or what your issues with the Guards are, and I don’t care, but there is such a thing as an obscenity law and there are foals around,” he said as I turned around to glare at him. “And I give a buck of what you say because?” I growled out while kicking myself because getting smart mouthed with a tin pony was bucking stupid and I needed to calm the Tartarus down now before I said something really stupid. “Because we could bring you in for being a nuisance, Reflecting Shield,” the pegasus said with a smirk on his face, causing the blood to drain from my already whitish coat. The unicorn looked at his partner with confusion, but he clearly saw how off balanced I was now. “And we all know how much fun that would be, right?” “Go buck yourself sideways, you feather duster,” I snarled out, my heart thundering in my head. “I’ve done nothing wrong, so let me go!” “I don’t think so, Shield,” the pegasus said with an uglier look on his face. “My partner here hasn’t been told of you yet, but-” “Excuse me, what is going on?” a voice called out from behind us, causing the tin ponies to drop to the ground in a deep bow. I was seriously tempted to bolt but instead I just turned around to look at several special looking tin ponies parting away from a very tall and pink uni- Wait, she had wings-oh buck me sideways and smack my horn, it was a Princess! Gulping in fear, I started to back up when I felt the magical wall at my flanks. “Nothing, your highness,” the unicorn on the ground next to me said, eyes darting to me as he stood up. “Just dealing with a pony with a bit of a foul mo-” “Shiny?” the Princess interrupted, which caused me to blink in confusion. “Is that you?” “Huh?” Okay, this was getting a bit weird and even weirder as she started to walk up close to me. “Oh, sorry,” the Princess, Cadanza I think, or something similar, blushed as she placed a hoof to her chest. “You reminded me of my old husband, miss.” Well, if that wasn’t what every mare wanted to hear, that they looked like a stallion… “Uh, okay?” I squeaked out, not sure what exactly was going on here. She looked at me again, staring down into my eyes before shaking her head and looking at the tin ponies next to me. “What seems to be the problem?” “She was loitering on the park bench and spouting obscenities near the young, your highness,” the unicorn said. “Is that all?” she said with a smile, causing me to feel a bit of panic race across my chest. “I am sure that she did not mean it, right?” I knew enough to recognize when somepony was covering your flanks and how to lie well enough to make it believable. “That’s right,” I said with a bit too big of a smile on my face. Couldn’t tell if they knew how fake it was, but with the princess around me, I went all out due to my nerves being shot. The tin ponies all gave me a pointed look that caused me to roll my eyes as I quickly said, “Er, your highness.” “It is alright,” the Princess laughed, patting me on the shoulder which caused me to really bite my lip to stop myself from freaking out. “I prefer being treated like an average pony and being called ‘Cadance’ instead of everypony walking on eggshells and calling me ‘Your Highness’.” Her tone suggested she’d said all this before and nopony had listened to her then either. “Okay...” I trailed off, still very confused and uncomfortable about this whole thing. “You two are dismissed as I am sure she will be careful in the future,” the Princess said, turning her piercing eyes to the two guards next to me, with a look that I knew meant they’d better leave now or she’d kick up dust in Guard Garrison. Oh by Celestia’s sunny flanks, I hoped that they left now as I really didn’t want to deal with that headache. They looked at each other, gave Cadance a nod and me an angry stare, then marched off. I let out a sigh of relief before I noticed that she was still in front of me, looking right at me. “Uhhh…” I trailed off, feeling my face light up with a stupid blush. “I’m sorry, but there is so much of you that reminds me of my Shiny,” she said with a blush that caused me to blush even harder for some stupid reason. “Uh, thank you?” I said with a squeak that had Cadance chuckle softly. If she wasn’t a Princess and I wasn’t so scared, I think I’d sock her for laughing at me. “Excuse me, I haven’t gotten your name,” Cadance said with a disarming smile, getting her mirth under control. “Uhm… Shield,” I replied, trotting backwards to get some space from her. “Reflecting Shield.” Cadance’s nose flared as she let out a sharp breath. “...Alright, Miss… Shield. I’ll… well… stay out of trouble, alright?” Her voice had gotten strange, almost wistful while her eyes suddenly lost their teasing gleam. I nodded numbly as the Princess once again shot me a weird look that I couldn’t begin to understand and left with her guards, leaving me to once again to try and enjoy this pleasant day, although the meeting had really soured it and I was looking forward to getting back to my apartment so I could make sense of this day. Chapter 2Chapter Two As I walked down the paved streets of Ponyville, I did my best not to break out in a gallop or look over my shoulder. I could deal with tin ponies easily enough because I couldn’t care less about the buckers, but a Princess was enough to rattle my cage. Ignoring the shouts as I bumped into ponies, I reached into my saddlebag as I reached my apartment building, hoping that the monster wouldn’t- “Shield!” “Ah shitbuckbuck,” I swore, before I turned around to face my heavyset landlord, a mare ironically named Sweet Scent. Damn that mare could do to take a shower or jump into a lake once in a while! “What do you want?” “Rent,” she snarled as if she could really scare me. I’ve taken on scarier shit when I was half my age, and if I wanted to, I could easily knock her on her plot. Not many ponies thought I was that tough since I was a ‘dainty’ unicorn, snorting as I remembered that colt who tried to be clever when hitting on me, but they always were so shocked when the dirt met their face and my horn was still unlit. “You’re late.” “Horsefeathers,” I swore, as I continued to fumble around in my bag for my keys. “I paid you on time on Friday.” “No, you missed the extra rent!” she shouted in my ear, causing me to flinch as she invaded my personal space again. I did my best not to shove her off of me as I trotted up the staircase, with her right behind me. It became harder when she said, “It’s part of the contract you signed!” I looked over my shoulder and saw if I pushed her right now, she’d break her neck without a doubt. “We agreed to every first Friday, with no extra crap.” “Oh?” With shark-like teeth, she then moved in front of me and began to force me backwards, her hoof pressing into my chest. “We can go over the contra-” “Buck you, you ugly bitch,” I snarled as my special talent activated as I pushed her away. Using my magic, I grabbed my keys and unlocked the front door. “Here,” I shouted as I threw a good chunk of bits I had saved up at her. “Take your damn money and leave me alone!” I slammed the door in her face, leaning against it. I could faintly hear her chuckle to herself through the door as I did my best not to act like a little filly. Instead, I acted like a pissed off pony, stomping through my house to go to my angry wall. Standing in front of it, I spun around and began to kick it as I burned off some of my frustration. Sweet Scent hated when I did this, but I couldn’t afford a gym membership and I paid extra for this when I rented this place, so she kept mostly quiet about it. After kicking it for a few minutes, I spun around and began to punch it, with my hooves beginning to throb in pain. At times, I wished I was a griffin or something that could make a proper fist as I knew how much a fist could hurt. Still, after that light stress relief, I forced myself away as my hooves were starting to bleed and it was hell to clean up. With a grunt, I threw myself onto my sofa/bed and looked around my apartment. It was a complete dump; a single room with a crapper and a shower off to the side, but it was the best I could afford on my meager wages. And Scent was still ripping me off, I knew that much. Suddenly, I didn’t want to do anything more than just sleep. Still, I forced myself upright as I walked over to my bathroom and stepped into the shower to get the sweat off of me. Turning the taps with my hooves, I jumped as the water was ice cold. I swore, waiting for the water to begin to heat up, shaking my two tone mane out of my face. I should cut it as it was getting too long again, but I wasn’t going to go to a hairdresser to be lectured about how I should treat my mane or how I could keep the light teal hairs and the dark navy hairs separate from each other. Or that I could actually afford it… With that kick to my dying good mood, I washed my coat clean of sweat and I half-heartedly washed my mane before I was okay with it. Turning off the water, I stood in the stall before letting out a tired sigh. Reaching out with my hoof, I grabbed the towel and began to dry myself as I walked out of my bathroom to my fridge. Shaking my mane, I opened my nearly empty fridge to let out another depressed sigh. Thank Luna’s stars I got free food at work or I’d have starved a long time ago. Grabbing one of the few apples left, I moved the towel to my mane as I attempted to dry that mess. Taking a bite of the apple, I sat down on my sofa and pulled my blanket over myself. “Sweet buck, is this what my life is going to be?” I whined to myself, knowing how screwed up my life was and I was only twenty one years old. “No food, no money, no future, no nothing?” It was times like this I was almost tempted to try drinking but I’d sworn to myself that I’d never put myself in that situation, not even if I was home alone. Throwing the towel to the floor and setting my alarm to wake me up tomorrow, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. I didn’t know how long it took me but it was far too long. Chapter 3Chapter Three I woke up to a familiar screeching noise that had me wishing I could smash that damn alarm clock. Lunging out blindly only caused me to get tangled in my blanket, falling out of bed in the process. After silencing the blaring alarm, I let out a massive yawn before shaking myself in an attempt to wake up. Throwing the blanket to the ground and chucking the apple core near the garbage, I stretched out a bit before trying to decide what I should do on my second day off. With a noncommittal shrug, I grabbed my bits and decided to do some grocery shopping. Of course, when I opened my front door, I did not expect to see a Princess bending down in front of me. She might have said something nice, like hello or something like that but I didn’t know as I let out a squawk of surprise and did what I did whenever someone got too close to my face, and socked whomever it was in the face. Watching in horror as the Princess stumbled to the side, I realized that I had just punched a bucking Princess of Equestria. “Good morning to you as well, Miss Shield,” Cadance said, holding a hoof to her eye. “Do you wake up every morning and punch the first pony you see?” “I didn’t realize it was you,” I squeaked out, feeling an all-too-familiar surge of warmth to my face. “I… don’t like ponies getting close to me.” Turning, I raced to my freezer to get some ice for the Princess I just punched in the bucking face! “I’m so sorry, I just have a hard time not reacting negatively when somepony gets directly in my face.” “Miss Shield,” a voice behind me said, reminding that I was being too slow and I was rambling. “I’m sorry your highness,” I said again, somehow shifting through my empty freezer, my heart hammering in my head. No ice, so frozen bag of stuff? Did you give a Princess a bag of frozen peas or carrots when you punch a Princess in the fac- oh sweet Tartarus I was going to go to jail! “Miss Shield,” Cadance’s voice came again, firmer than before. Grabbing a bag of frozen whatever, I sheepishly turned around to see her sitting on my sofa/bed with a bag of ice in her magic aura. “I am alright Miss Shield, so you can calm down.” “Oh,” I said with a small voice. “Right. Magic. I forgot about that.” I then turned back around to toss my frozen… cabbages? back into my freezer before turning to the Princess in the room. “Yet you are an unicorn?” she said with a tilt of her head, showing how much of a shiner she had on her right eye. Thank Celestia’s flank I held back enough that I only punched her instead of trying to knock her out or something. “Yeah,” I said as I walked over to her, my sofa the only place to sit down besides the floor. “I tend not to use my magic, don’t want to get too dependent on it.” With that semi-lie out of my mouth, I looked at my messy room before I spat out some more words as I wished I had bothered to clean up. “Frankly, I could go days without really using it.” “An interesting approach,” she said with a light chuckle in her voice, which I guessed was meant to try and calm me. It did nothing of the sort, my heart screaming in my head as I sat next to her. “I take it that is why you are so deft at using your hooves so efficiently?” I think she said it with a teasing tone, the jamming beats in my ears were kinda blocking out other sounds. “Yes,” I said, twiddling my hooves in a bout of nerves. “That and my angry wall.” Why did I mention my angry wall? “Your angry wall?” she asked with a confused look on her face, blinking at me. Groaning as I rubbed my face, I pointed at my angry wall, pockmarked with my hooves’ imprints from all the times I’d bucked and punched it. “I use it to vent my anger since I can’t afford to go to the gym,” I said as I rubbed my foreleg, ignoring the other broken angry walls lying near the current angry wall I’d hammered in and wishing I’d thrown those out. “My,” Cadance puckered her lips together, staring at the abused wall thoughtfully.. “It seems you have a lot of anger for somepony so young.” “I’ve got my reasons,” I shrugged as I tried to push some garbage under my sofa with my hoof, before looking up and seeing Cadance smirk at me, causing me to feel another jolt of panic. “Sorry your highness about the mess. I don’t have anypony over, and I didn’t expect anypony to come here, and I know that this is a complete mess but I can’t do better and-” I was suddenly aware of a hoof pushing on my back, causing me to yelp in complete fright as it held me in place. “Breathe, Miss Shields,” Cadance said in my ear, leaning over me. “Breathe in, breathe out. In, out.” She spoke in a soft tone as she hovered over me, my mind racing to what my mom had told me. “Get off of me,” I snapped, shoving her to the side with my shoulder, my teal coloured magic helping me get the alicorn out of my personal space. Jumping to my hooves, I was barely able to restrain myself from lashing out at her but I really didn’t want to go to jail because I gave a Princess another black eye! Standing in front of my angry wall, I focused all of my pent-up frustration into a punch. Letting out a sigh of relief, I grabbed a nearby towel to wipe away the blood as I shot Cadance a guilty look. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t like ponies touching me.” It was very unusual for a herd species like ours to hate contact from our own kind, but I did not want to go into it. Thank you mom for giving me your baggage. ...Wow, I feel like utter crap now. “It’s alright, Miss Shield,” Cadance said, raising her hooves in an open manner as she looked at my hoof, still dripping in blood. “I am sorry that I made you upset.” “It’s okay,” I said as I walked back over to her, pressing the towel onto my hoof. “It just takes me a bit of time to let others get near me like you did and it just tripped something inside myself. You know, the old fight and flight instinct?” I said with a light chuckle, rubbing the back of my head before realizing I was using my bloody hoof. Oh great, I would need another shower. “I understand, Miss Shield,” Cadance chuckled again, maybe at me running the towel through my mane to try get rid of the blood or something else. “And may I say that I pity anypony that tries something with you.” You and me both, sister. “Um…” I said as it suddenly dawned on me that I’d yet to ask about the Princess in the room… and now I realized how bad a phrase that was. “I was about to head out to do some grocery shopping but Prince-er, Cadance, why are you here? And how do you know where I live?” That last one was really bugging me now, my mind really picking at it. “Oh, Little Bird told me,” she said with a coy smile on her face. “And I wanted to give you this.” She held up a sealed envelope before booping my nose with it. Covering my nose with my hooves, I look at the letter before deciding I need to steer this conversation in the right direction. “A little birdie?” I asked, turning the letter over in my hooves in a nervous fashion. “No, Little Bird told me where you lived as I asked him to make sure you got to your home safely,” Cadance said, nodding her head at a bucking massive tin pony that walked into my apartment - barely squeezing through the door and I’m pretty sure he took a coat of paint along the way in - as we had left the door wide open. He was in the colours of the Crystal Empire, with a heart as the centerpiece. He was a bat pony, or a thestral, or nox pony, or whatever the Tartarus they were calling themselves this week. Seriously, they were the only species alive that actually could not figure out what to call themselves. I swear I once heard them call themselves one kind of pony and everypony else a different kind of pony. Like pegasi were feathered ponies, unicorn were magic ponies - also horny, but that didn’t last long after a unicorn thrashed a bat pony and nearly started a street brawl, but that was a story for another day that I wasn’t entirely sure was true - and so on. “Wow, your parents were really off the mark when naming you,” I snarked at the tin pony. He simply offered me a smile that said he’d heard that line before and I felt a twinge of guilt for opening my mouth. But then again, he was a tin pony. “I have heard from the grapevine, Reflecting Shield, that you were hostile to the Guards,” he said, breathing down at me. Sweet buck he was tall, and maybe it wasn’t a good idea to snark at him. “Among… other things,” he finished, eyes briefly flicking towards Cadance. “And yet, Little Bird and Little Pebble refuse to say a word to me,” Cadance sighed playfully. “Something to do with the Guards themselves?” “Yeah,” I sighed, somewhat amazed that my past had reached the Crystal Empire as an equally tall and massive earth pony came into the room, glaring down at me. “So… again, why are you here? I mean, this was for here if I didn’t catch you but since you are here...” I trailed off awkwardly. “Well, Miss Shield, I was hoping to introduce you to somepony I know,” she said with another of her soft smiles. “As I did run into you,” she chuckled as she moved the ice away from her eye, causing both tin ponies to gasp a bit before glaring daggers at me. “Or your hoof as the case was, I hope that you can accompany me to meet my dear friend.” “Oh,” I said as excuses ran through my head. As always, the best lies were the ones that were true. “I can’t really just go, I mean, I just woke up and I am a complete mess, and I need to do my grocery shoppi-” “Miss Shield,” Cadance interrupted my rambling with a hoof reaching out to me before pulling back. “You look fine, even a bit cute right now with your ruffled-up mane, you seem alert enough and I can ask Little Pebble and Little Bird to stock your fridge while we are out.” Oh Tartarus, a fully stocked fridge? There was no way I could pass that up, even if it was only temporary. Doing my best to fight the blood racing to my face and stamping down the irritation that they probably thought that I couldn’t provide for myself, I licked my lips and nodded my head. “I guess that works, Cadance,” I said, getting to my hooves as my stomach grumbled. “Uh, thanks for this.” “No problem, Miss Shield,” Cadance said while looking at her two tin ponies before nodding at them to go ahead. With a grumble from Little Bird, Cadance said, “I am still an alicorn, my little ponies, and if Miss Shield does try something, I can defend myself. So please do as I asked.” I wanted to point out that I nearly knocked her on her plot with a single punch but that seemed like a horrible idea. With a stiff bow, both of her tin ponies left my apartment, leaving us alone. Looking over at the Princess, I saw she was standing upright now, with her eye covered up by her magic which was something I should look into learning how to do in the future. “Shall we?” she asked with a wing extended. With a bob of my head, I cast one last look around my apartment before following the princess out. Chapter 4Chapter Four I took a deep breath of the fresh morning air as we stepped out of my apartment. Letting the Princess go ahead of me, I made sure to lock my door. Trotting down the the stairs to catch up with her, I began to wonder who she was taking me to see. Who could be important enough for her to show me off? She had to know who I was, about my past. Was she going to be like those nobles that showed off a pony like me to her friends? “Um,” I said with a bit of hesitation in my voice. “How much do you know about me, Cadance?” “I know absolutely nothing about you,” she said with her head held high, still smiling. “As my fellow princesses have taught me: it is best to get to know a pony openly and properly before prying into their private lives.” “Ah good,” I said with a weak smile, passing by the restaurant I worked at. If my boss saw me now, I’d think he’d plotz or something. Maybe even fire me… “So is there anything you want to know about me?” “Oh, I don’t know,” she said with a tilt of her head before giggling. “How old are you, for starters?” “I’m twenty-one, your majesty; and you?” I asked without thinking, going into one of the most debated and talked about subjects ever. “Oh, please, I stopped aging when I was in my mid twenties and I only noticed when I was in my late forties.” Cadance shook her head with a light blush on her face. “I would actually need to check a calendar now to give you a proper answer.” “Wow,” I said, unable to think how old one must be to need a calendar to check their age. “That’s old!” Again, where was my mind when I said this stuff? What, was I going to say she looked good for a mom of her age next? “Oh please, I am the third youngest Princess and Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna still won’t tell me how old they are. Just that I need to create a forest fire when I give them their birthday cakes,” she started to snicker, making me feel better for laughing at that mental image. “Then again, one must first stop Celestia from just inhaling her cake.” That did it, I was laughing my plot off. Leaning against a building, I laughed at the mental image of the Princess Celestia sucking up cakes. Holding my sides as I did my best to get the laughter out of my body, I turned my head up to see Cadance smiling down at me, a hoof held out. “Oh horsefeathers, I haven’t laughed like that in ages,” I said as I got to my hooves, actually smiling, using the hoof to pull myself upright. “Thanks, Princess.” “It was my pleasure, Miss Shield,” she said as we started to walk again. “So may I ask you about your cutie mark?” Blinking, I looked at my odd shield cutie mark. “Eh, I know it looks weird, shields aren’t meant to be concave… convex? I can never remember which one is which,” I shook my head before I tried again. “I mean, I know shields aren’t meant to curve inwards but it does relate to my special talent perfectly.” “Oh?” She tilted her head. “Yeah,” I said with a bit of smugness. “I can take anything thrown at me and toss it right back.” “That sounds like a very powerful special talent, Miss Shield,” she said, eyes narrowing in thought. “What’s the limit? Physical? Mental? Magical?” “Mostly physical,” I replied. “I only once really got a magical toss back to work right for me and even then it was a fluke.” Please don’t ask, please don’t ask, please don’t ask… “Care to elaborate?” Cadance asked. “It’s personal, your highness,” I answered coldly, stepping back away from her. Cadance winced, “I’m sorry,” she said gently. “You’re not used to talking about yourself, especially around strangers. I’m…” she scrunched her nose and grumbled. “Can’t say sorry again… sorry, gah!” I stared at the Princess as she fumbled with her words before simply closing her mouth and puffing out her cheeks. Shaking my head, I did my best to move along the conversation. “It’s alright, your highness,” I said, slowly taking in our surroundings. We were in Old Ponyville, a really contradictory place. It was the richest part of the entire town, yet it looked like something from the past. The streets were just dirt pathways and some patches of old cobblestone. The buildings were so odd, leaning against each other with random specialized structures here and there. I recognized the original Carousel Boutique in the distance, my coworkers always jabbering about the latest fashion to come out of that clothing empire. Bleh. I was fine with my scarf and hat during the winter, thank you very much! Ignoring my mom’s old saying and real reason why I always rolled my eyes up at the Boutiques, we turned around the corner to reach the famed Golden Oaks Library. In the center of Old Ponyville was this massive tree turned into a library; but instead of normal ponies, it was staffed by tin ponies from Ponyville’s Princess for some reason. I did my best to step around the foals running around, with Cadance snickering as I had to jump over one that almost barreled into me. And of course, the most glaring oddity of Old Ponyville was the sparkling tree-castle-thing at the far end of the town, that a lot of Ponyville’s Princess tin ponies were marching around. To show that I wasn’t scared by them, I walked with my head held high, some of them glaring at me and some of them looking at me curiously. Following the Princess around to the back of the crystal tree castle thing, she stopped in front of a door and knocked on it. Chpater FiveChapter Five “Come on in, Cadance,” a voice called out. “I just got breakfast set up for your new friend; just hoping that she doesn’t have any allergies.” I was left so dumbfounded by what was happening that it took Princess Cadance nudging me to get an answer out. “Uh, no, your majes-” “Please, call me Twilight, I won’t take anything else,” the voice chided me, causing me to frown. I did not pout. “Okay… Miss Sparkle,” I said awkwardly, as I opened the door and stepped inside into a very cozy-looking kitchen covered with pictures of ponies doing things together. I easily recognized the Princess of Friendship and I suspected the rest of the mares shown were the fabled Elements of Harmony. And underneath them was the same purple pony interacting with other ponies that looked like them, maybe the children of her friends? Still, there were so many pictures that… I kinda felt a sadness from it all. That this was all she had left of them, pictures and memories. Looking away from what had to be a fake picture with her highness and a massive purple dragon, I spotted the Princess of Ponyville hovering over a countertop, with a number of books set up around her as her magic carried some vegetables over to her, while whatever she had already set up smelled wonderfully, causing my stomach to grumble. “Please take a seat; I’ll be with you in a moment,” the mare said, eyes focused on her task. Doing as I was told, I pulled out a chair with my hooves while Prin-buck, can’t keep calling her the Princess with two Princesses in the same room-Cadance used her magic to pull out her own chair. “That smells amazing, ma’am,” I said. All of a sudden a wooden spoon flew out to boop me lightly on the nose! “I said to call me Twilight, missy,” the mare lectured me, eyes still focused on the meal. “Need I remind you again?” The accursed spoon flew menacingly around my face, daring me to snark at it. “No ma-, er Twilight,” I said meekly. I was, however, strongly tempted to send the boop back to that spoon. See how it lik--why was I trying to pick a fight with a spoon? “That’s good and before you explode my cutlery with your glare, can I have your name as somepony forgot to mention such a thing?” the purple mare said with an amused tone as she flipped the page with her magic while stirring up the pan of heavenly smelling breakfast food. Cadance bumped her hooves together sheepishly before tilting her head to the side. “Didn’t you get my letter?” Twilight turned her head to glance at the mare before turning back. There was… something in her gaze that made me feel really sad and I realized that even with all the tin ponies, the so-called Princess of Friendship was very… lonely. My thoughts were distracted as Twilight let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “I know you’re trying to help set up that new message-delivery system, Cadance, but it’s not without its problems. I wish Spike was here but he’s off on one of his trips again.” “So there’s been no word on where he is?” Cadance asked, shooting me a glance that told me to hold my tongue. Twilight shook her head and her magic grabbed the food - a little roughly - and placed it in front of us. The aroma was almost enough to make me forget the conversation but I filed away that interesting tidbit about Twilight’s dragon to mull over later. “No,” Twilight said sadly before forcing a half-hearted smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “So, who are you and why did Cadance bring you to me?” she asked as she sat down before looking at me properly for the first time. Her eyes widened a bit, her tongue licking her lips before taking on an amused look on her face. “Oh, I see.” “See what?” I asked as I did my best not to just shove the food in my mouth, the hair on the back of my neck prickling up a bit. “You kinda look like my big brother did, when he was your age,” Twilight said with a somewhat sad but happy smile on her face. “I can show you a picture of him later, if you want, miss...?” “Reflecting Shield, ma-” I meeped as the spoon flew from the sink and booped me on the nose again. Okay, no one, not even a spoon boops my nose twice! Grabbing it with my hoof, I sent the boop back into the spoon, causing it to buckle ever so slightly. Smiling proudly at my victory, I heard light snickering before turning around to see Twilight looking at me with an at-ease smile. “I hope you learned your lesson, as I do need to get a new spoon now.” “Sure did, Twilight,” I said, really at ease with her. She was certainly more laid back than what I had expected from her. Taking another forkful of the meal, I had to hold back a squeal of joy as to not embarrass myself. My ears did flick a bit, though. Traitorous ears. “This is so good! I can’t remember the last time I had something as good as this!” “Thank you, but I’m not half as good as Pinkie Pie or Applejack were,” she said, rolling her eyes as she took a bite of her dish. “Of course, I was a bit preoccupied with my latest project, to be perfectly honest, so that stole some of my attention.” She then turned to me, holding out a tea kettle out. “Would you like some?” “Eh, sure,” I said, holding out my teacup out to her. Biting my lip as I tried to keep the cup steady in my hooves, I waited for the Princ-Twilight to finish pouring me a cup. “Thanks… so,” I said awkwardly, looking around the room. “You are working on a project?” I had heard of some the great projects that she had produced and I was kinda curious, kinda desperate to stall. “Yes, I am working on perfecting the changeling detection measures with a new field of science,” she said as tilted her head. “Through my research of genetic testing of ponies and changelings, I have discovered that the deoxyribonucleic acid present in each test subject I interviewed is individually designed for that pony or changeling, albeit with some replication within the acid in confirmed lineage. I am hoping to increase the availability and the precision of my latest work as you know that aether testing can be fooled if done with the correct spells and this is all going over your head, isn’t it?” “Yeah…” I said awkwardly. I don’t think I could even say half of those words, let alone understand the whole purpose of this. Weren’t changelings our friends now? “There’s still a need for it?” I asked, doing my best to recall all I had heard about this kind of stuff about the bugs. “I mean, didn’t your friends and you go stop that queen bug Crssys-Cree-” I trailed off, the name was really hard to say as my lips were not made to say bug names. “We did stop queen Chrysalis during the second changeling invasion, Reflecting, and we did manage to write up a treaty with her successor, but like every other race, there are good changelings and bad changelings,” Twilight said. “This is simply a precaution to prevent a potential issue from occurring.” “Ah, I get it, I guess,” I said shrugging, taking another bite of this breakfast. The look Twilight sent at me told me she knew I didn’t get it but she didn’t press the issue. Changelings didn’t even come into Equestria besides those who ran the emotion stations. “Is it because you cannot read or are you generally not that interested in global affairs that you don’t know about our current standings with the Changelings?” “Whoa, what!?” I spat out the food, coughing as I tried not to choke to death on it. “What the Tartarus makes you think I can’t read?” “Besides your reaction?” “Yeah!” I shouted, rubbing my throat. Who the hell asks a question like that? “Well to start, I know for a fact that most ponies will try to avoid contact with a princess instinctively, especially if they’ve done something that could be viewed as unpleasant,” Twilight said as she sipped her tea. “Like punching one in the face.” I paled, looking at Cadance who seemed equally surprised that Twilight knew this. “They will look for diversions and ways to escape the notice of a princess, to which the most logical choice of action in that state of mind would be to read the letter Cadance was leaving for you as to prolong the time you had to interact with my sister in-law. Had you read it, it would have asked you to meet with me on the following day. Luckily, I had some of my Guards warn me in advance of your sudden arrival so I could make you breakfast too.” “How do you I just didn’t read it because it’d be the wrong thing to do?” I frowned, my hooves pressed into the tablecloth. “You strike me as a mare that does not care for being right or wrong in front of other ponies, only doing what you feel is right,” Twilight answered serenely, a half smile on her face. “For instance, you are arguing with me to defend yourself while most ponies would be too scared to do so. I have little doubt that you would have opened the letter and read it while Cadance was at your kitchen table.” I shifted my eyes, ears folding backwards, wondering how could she read me so well… “Another point to the matter is that, once again, most ponies would not sit down at the table of two princesses, but instead take the opportunity to look at my pictures and read where they were taken, instead of observing them from afar. I could add onto this, pointing out your current body posture and what it tells me, but I know that it would be needlessly cruel to carry on,” she said, looking straight into my eyes despite my desire to drop my head and curl up into a ball. I let out a tiny sigh before steeling myself. “Yeah, you got it,” I muttered bitterly, sticking a forkful of the food into my mouth. It no longer tasted as good as before but I wasn’t going to pass up free food just like that. “I can’t read or write beyond my name and a few other bits.” I took a chance to look at them and saw that they were pitying me! Snorting, I glared at Twilight and asked, “So what, was this whole thing a show to you two? Some sort of game where you take a mare like me and ‘fix’ her up?” I placed my hooves on the table and leaned across it to stare down the princess with my mind yelling at myself for mouthing off like this! Buck anyone who tried to pity me but I couldn’t do this to the princesses! I didn’t want- “Of course not,” Twilight said, not even flinching - she was still looking at me calmly. “While I could easily teach you all that you need to know, I know that if a student is not willing to learn then it is a pointless gesture. Added to that, I doubt you would accept me or any other authority figure in educating yourself and that the practice you mentioned is a horrid and self centered act that I have done my best to squash after seeing the usual aftermaths when the patron abandons their charges.” She actually snarled at the last bit, her eyes narrowed in semi-anger. Blinking, I slunk back into my seat and let out a weak, “Oh.” I felt really awkward now, not sure what to do. Staring at my hooves, I shook my head and pushed myself up. “I’m sorry, but I think I lost my appetite or something.” “It is fine, my little pony,” Twilight said, going back to her calm and collected face as her horn lit up, levitating a piece of paper with her cutie mark on it and a few lines scribbled underneath it before passing it over to me. “This will identify you to my Guards if you ever wish or need to come back and I am not here.” “Wait, you’re actually giving me free run of your house-castle tree thing?” I asked, blinking in surprise. “I trust you are smart enough to realize that if you take anything of significant value, there will not be many places you could go that the Guards will not find you.” “Right, a former juvie like me doesn’t have much places to run to,” I muttered under my breath, only to remember that I was with princesses and they could hear stuff. My eyes snapped upwards as I tried to think of some way to get out of this situation. “It is perfectly fine, my little pony,” Twilight said, holding a teacup to her lips. “The past is the past and as you are an adult, your records are sealed and gone.” My ear flicked as that meant nothing to the rest of the Guards who made my life hell. “Thank you, Twilight,” I said with a nod of my head, a smile forming on my face. “You’re pretty cool.” “I do try my best, my little pony,” she smirked at me. “Now I believe that you wish to be leaving, Reflecting?” Either that mare was reading my mind, or my face was giving away more than I’d realized. “Yes,” I admitted. “I could use some time to think some more, and burn off a little excess energy while I’m at it.” “If you just want to run for a while, there’s a path through White Tail Woods,” Twilight told me. “I’ve found it’s very effective when I just want to get away.” “Thank you.” I stood up. “Both of you.” Then I headed for the door. After a moment, I paused. “Um, which way is it?” Both princesses exchanged glances, then Twilight’s horn lit up, levitating a sheet of paper and a quill over to her. As she concentrated for a moment, I saw the quill blurring over the paper, and then the entire thing lit up. Setting the quill aside, she hoofed the paper over to me. “This should show you the way,” she said. Looking over the paper, I saw it was a hurriedly drawn but still detailed sketch showing the roads that would lead me from Twilight’s front door to the woods she had named, which were some distance away but still close enough that I could easily get there on foot. Thanking her again, I headed out. It was late afternoon by the time I had finished my run and made it back to Ponyville, and I was feeling much better as I walked up to my front door. Sweatier and tireder, perhaps, but better than before. That feeling disappeared the instant I saw Sweet Scent standing outside with an ugly look on her face and my stuff on the curb. “You,” she said in a nasty tone, a hoof kicking my couch, “have been broken my rules again.” I groaned. “Why is my stuff out here?” “Had enough of you,” she barked. “No more. You out.” “What?!” I shouted, shoving my face into hers. “What the Tartarus are you talking about!?” “Important rule you signed; no ponies allowed in building,” she shoved me back. “You had not only early guest but several large stallions walking around. No good, Reflrecting, so you are out!” “Like I could have stopped them if I wanted,” I snapped. “I’m a civilian; they were tin ponies accompanying a princess, and I wasn’t even awake when they showed up outside my door!” “Like princess would ever see you,” she sneered. “Go own, take stuff and get out before I call Guards on you.” Growling at her, I grabbed my stuff that had been thrown into a cardboard box, tossed it onto my couch and began to drag it off. And backed right into somepony. Muttering a curse under my breath, I looked up to see Holy horseapples it was him again! “Need a hoof there, Reflecting?” Either Little Bird or Little Pebble asked me, looming over me. “I…” For a moment there, I was tempted to say no, but finally decided to give my pride a rest. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind.” He nodded sharply, and with a gesture to follow, he grabbed my couch. “If not for the princess finding out, I would have left a lot sooner,” he said to me as we began walking down the street. “She has her eye on you and I don’t need to lose my job because of you.” Snorting as I walked beside the towering Guard, I shot back him. “Wouldn’t expect any of you guys to be nice to me.” “For someone like you, never.” I snorted disgustedly, knowing exactly what he was referring to. Still, I was in no mood to remind him of the details, lest he decide it was worth it to just leave me here, and kept silent otherwise. I was still fuming over my ex-landlord’s behavior by the time we reached the castle at the end of the town, and barely noticed where we were until its door opened, revealing Princess Twilight once more. “Reflecting! I wasn’t expecting to see you again today-” Her eyes suddenly drifted to my couch, and she gave my escort a look. “Um, is there a particular reason you brought your furniture with you?” “My jerk of a landlord kicked me out,” I replied, shooting a look at the tin pony next to me. “‘Cause she saw these guys in the hall outside my apartment. And since there’s a no guests policy that-” I cut myself off before I said something incredibly profane and got myself into a lot of trouble. Twilight frowned. “That’s not right,” she said sternly. “Surely your rental contract would allow exceptions for unexpected guests, or Princesses and their Guards.” “I said about the same thing; she didn’t believe me about who they were,” I replied while also ignoring the fact I couldn’t have actually read the damn thing. “The one good thing is, I don’t have to put up with her and her crap anymore.” “But on the bad side, you don’t have an apartment anymore,” Twilight said. “That, at least, I can fix. Come on in, I’ll get you set up in one of the guest rooms.” If I’d been carrying anything then, I would have dropped it in surprise. “Really?” Twilight nodded. “I’ve got plenty of space, and to be honest, I wouldn’t mind having some company in here again,” she said. “It has been a long time since I last had anypony stay with me; my last student was Moon River, and she moved out about sixty years ago.” She then flicked her eyes to the tin pony scowling next to me. “Little Pebble, please take her belongings to the guest room.” He nodded stiffly, then headed up the stairs into the castle, Twilight moving aside to let him pass. Then, she gestured to me to come in too, though I saw her nose wrinkle a bit. “Come on, I’ll show you to the restroom,” she told me. “No offense intended, my little pony, but you really need a shower.” “Preaching to the choir here, Pri-er, Twilight,” I said. “I would have taken one first thing when I got back to my place if that… er, mare hadn’t been waiting outside for me.” Twilight’s eyes flashed for a moment, but then she shook it off and led me down the hall to the restroom. When she was done making sure I knew where everything was, she left me be, and I quickly got to work cleaning myself off. Nearly two hours later, I was ready to collapse. Twilight had been polite about it, but she had made it clear that she expected me to be clean when I was done, and had assured me that I would feel much better after a thorough cleaning. Consequently, I had taken far longer than I’d planned to, not only rinsing off but taking advantage of the brushes in the shower to give myself the deepest, hardest scrubbing I’d ever experienced to get all the dirt and grime out of my coat. And despite everything I felt about looking good, I actually felt goodish. By the time I was all dried off, Twilight had also finished preparing dinner, and it proved to be just as good as what she’d fixed earlier. After that, she’d shown me to my room, and I got yet another shock of the day: not only was my couch there (and looking much cleaner than it had earlier), but all my stuff was put away while it was clear that she hadn’t poked around. There was also some furniture I didn’t recognize, but I figured it had come with the room, which Twilight had confirmed when she’d seen my questioning look. Not the least of which was an actual bed, one like nothing I’d ever slept on before, even when I’d been living with my parents as a filly. After pointing a few other things out to me, Twilight left me with a cheerful “Good night, my little pony”, closing the door behind her. That was when everything I had been through that day finally sank in, and I promptly gave in to my non fighting instincts. Stumbling over to the bed, I pulled back the sheets and crawled into it. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 1Chapter One I closed my eyes, taking in the nice summer sun that was in the sky. I stretched out my entire body on the park bench, enjoying the gentle breeze in- “Excuse me ma’am, but you will need to move,” a voice drilled into my head, causing me to let out an annoyed sigh as I moved my head upright to look at the tin ponies that were bugging me. “You cannot stay on this bench, loitering like this.” “Oh bugger off,” I snapped, as I rolled my green eyes and fell to my hooves. Even though I was not exactly the tallest pony around, I knew how to appear big and terrifying to idiots and tin ponies alike. Edging close to them, I gave a bit of a twisted grin before shaking my mane out of my face when they backed up before I decided to be more level headed. “I know you buckers are just picking on me,” I grumbled as I looked at the other ponies laying around in the park. None of them were being asked to move along or anything but feh, wasn’t worth the effort on my day off. Still, I could feel myself getting angry and I couldn’t help myself snarking, “So congrats on pissing on my day, ya assholes!” as I began to walk off to my apartment. Only for the unicorn of the two tin ponies to snap a wall of magic in front of me. “Look ma’am, I don’t know who you are or what your issues with the Guards are, and I don’t care, but there is such a thing as an obscenity law and there are foals around,” he said as I turned around to glare at him. “And I give a buck of what you say because?” I growled out while kicking myself because getting smart mouthed with a tin pony was bucking stupid and I needed to calm the Tartarus down now before I said something really stupid. “Because we could bring you in for being a nuisance, Reflecting Shield,” the pegasus said with a smirk on his face, causing the blood to drain from my already whitish coat. The unicorn looked at his partner with confusion, but he clearly saw how off balanced I was now. “And we all know how much fun that would be, right?” “Go buck yourself sideways, you feather duster,” I snarled out, my heart thundering in my head. “I’ve done nothing wrong, so let me go!” “I don’t think so, Shield,” the pegasus said with an uglier look on his face. “My partner here hasn’t been told of you yet, but-” “Excuse me, what is going on?” a voice called out from behind us, causing the tin ponies to drop to the ground in a deep bow. I was seriously tempted to bolt but instead I just turned around to look at several special looking tin ponies parting away from a very tall and pink uni- Wait, she had wings-oh buck me sideways and smack my horn, it was a Princess! Gulping in fear, I started to back up when I felt the magical wall at my flanks. “Nothing, your highness,” the unicorn on the ground next to me said, eyes darting to me as he stood up. “Just dealing with a pony with a bit of a foul mo-” “Shiny?” the Princess interrupted, which caused me to blink in confusion. “Is that you?” “Huh?” Okay, this was getting a bit weird and even weirder as she started to walk up close to me. “Oh, sorry,” the Princess, Cadanza I think, or something similar, blushed as she placed a hoof to her chest. “You reminded me of my old husband, miss.” Well, if that wasn’t what every mare wanted to hear, that they looked like a stallion… “Uh, okay?” I squeaked out, not sure what exactly was going on here. She looked at me again, staring down into my eyes before shaking her head and looking at the tin ponies next to me. “What seems to be the problem?” “She was loitering on the park bench and spouting obscenities near the young, your highness,” the unicorn said. “Is that all?” she said with a smile, causing me to feel a bit of panic race across my chest. “I am sure that she did not mean it, right?” I knew enough to recognize when somepony was covering your flanks and how to lie well enough to make it believable. “That’s right,” I said with a bit too big of a smile on my face. Couldn’t tell if they knew how fake it was, but with the princess around me, I went all out due to my nerves being shot. The tin ponies all gave me a pointed look that caused me to roll my eyes as I quickly said, “Er, your highness.” “It is alright,” the Princess laughed, patting me on the shoulder which caused me to really bite my lip to stop myself from freaking out. “I prefer being treated like an average pony and being called ‘Cadance’ instead of everypony walking on eggshells and calling me ‘Your Highness’.” Her tone suggested she’d said all this before and nopony had listened to her then either. “Okay...” I trailed off, still very confused and uncomfortable about this whole thing. “You two are dismissed as I am sure she will be careful in the future,” the Princess said, turning her piercing eyes to the two guards next to me, with a look that I knew meant they’d better leave now or she’d kick up dust in Guard Garrison. Oh by Celestia’s sunny flanks, I hoped that they left now as I really didn’t want to deal with that headache. They looked at each other, gave Cadance a nod and me an angry stare, then marched off. I let out a sigh of relief before I noticed that she was still in front of me, looking right at me. “Uhhh…” I trailed off, feeling my face light up with a stupid blush. “I’m sorry, but there is so much of you that reminds me of my Shiny,” she said with a blush that caused me to blush even harder for some stupid reason. “Uh, thank you?” I said with a squeak that had Cadance chuckle softly. If she wasn’t a Princess and I wasn’t so scared, I think I’d sock her for laughing at me. “Excuse me, I haven’t gotten your name,” Cadance said with a disarming smile, getting her mirth under control. “Uhm… Shield,” I replied, trotting backwards to get some space from her. “Reflecting Shield.” Cadance’s nose flared as she let out a sharp breath. “...Alright, Miss… Shield. I’ll… well… stay out of trouble, alright?” Her voice had gotten strange, almost wistful while her eyes suddenly lost their teasing gleam. I nodded numbly as the Princess once again shot me a weird look that I couldn’t begin to understand and left with her guards, leaving me to once again to try and enjoy this pleasant day, although the meeting had really soured it and I was looking forward to getting back to my apartment so I could make sense of this day.
Chapter 2Chapter Two As I walked down the paved streets of Ponyville, I did my best not to break out in a gallop or look over my shoulder. I could deal with tin ponies easily enough because I couldn’t care less about the buckers, but a Princess was enough to rattle my cage. Ignoring the shouts as I bumped into ponies, I reached into my saddlebag as I reached my apartment building, hoping that the monster wouldn’t- “Shield!” “Ah shitbuckbuck,” I swore, before I turned around to face my heavyset landlord, a mare ironically named Sweet Scent. Damn that mare could do to take a shower or jump into a lake once in a while! “What do you want?” “Rent,” she snarled as if she could really scare me. I’ve taken on scarier shit when I was half my age, and if I wanted to, I could easily knock her on her plot. Not many ponies thought I was that tough since I was a ‘dainty’ unicorn, snorting as I remembered that colt who tried to be clever when hitting on me, but they always were so shocked when the dirt met their face and my horn was still unlit. “You’re late.” “Horsefeathers,” I swore, as I continued to fumble around in my bag for my keys. “I paid you on time on Friday.” “No, you missed the extra rent!” she shouted in my ear, causing me to flinch as she invaded my personal space again. I did my best not to shove her off of me as I trotted up the staircase, with her right behind me. It became harder when she said, “It’s part of the contract you signed!” I looked over my shoulder and saw if I pushed her right now, she’d break her neck without a doubt. “We agreed to every first Friday, with no extra crap.” “Oh?” With shark-like teeth, she then moved in front of me and began to force me backwards, her hoof pressing into my chest. “We can go over the contra-” “Buck you, you ugly bitch,” I snarled as my special talent activated as I pushed her away. Using my magic, I grabbed my keys and unlocked the front door. “Here,” I shouted as I threw a good chunk of bits I had saved up at her. “Take your damn money and leave me alone!” I slammed the door in her face, leaning against it. I could faintly hear her chuckle to herself through the door as I did my best not to act like a little filly. Instead, I acted like a pissed off pony, stomping through my house to go to my angry wall. Standing in front of it, I spun around and began to kick it as I burned off some of my frustration. Sweet Scent hated when I did this, but I couldn’t afford a gym membership and I paid extra for this when I rented this place, so she kept mostly quiet about it. After kicking it for a few minutes, I spun around and began to punch it, with my hooves beginning to throb in pain. At times, I wished I was a griffin or something that could make a proper fist as I knew how much a fist could hurt. Still, after that light stress relief, I forced myself away as my hooves were starting to bleed and it was hell to clean up. With a grunt, I threw myself onto my sofa/bed and looked around my apartment. It was a complete dump; a single room with a crapper and a shower off to the side, but it was the best I could afford on my meager wages. And Scent was still ripping me off, I knew that much. Suddenly, I didn’t want to do anything more than just sleep. Still, I forced myself upright as I walked over to my bathroom and stepped into the shower to get the sweat off of me. Turning the taps with my hooves, I jumped as the water was ice cold. I swore, waiting for the water to begin to heat up, shaking my two tone mane out of my face. I should cut it as it was getting too long again, but I wasn’t going to go to a hairdresser to be lectured about how I should treat my mane or how I could keep the light teal hairs and the dark navy hairs separate from each other. Or that I could actually afford it… With that kick to my dying good mood, I washed my coat clean of sweat and I half-heartedly washed my mane before I was okay with it. Turning off the water, I stood in the stall before letting out a tired sigh. Reaching out with my hoof, I grabbed the towel and began to dry myself as I walked out of my bathroom to my fridge. Shaking my mane, I opened my nearly empty fridge to let out another depressed sigh. Thank Luna’s stars I got free food at work or I’d have starved a long time ago. Grabbing one of the few apples left, I moved the towel to my mane as I attempted to dry that mess. Taking a bite of the apple, I sat down on my sofa and pulled my blanket over myself. “Sweet buck, is this what my life is going to be?” I whined to myself, knowing how screwed up my life was and I was only twenty one years old. “No food, no money, no future, no nothing?” It was times like this I was almost tempted to try drinking but I’d sworn to myself that I’d never put myself in that situation, not even if I was home alone. Throwing the towel to the floor and setting my alarm to wake me up tomorrow, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. I didn’t know how long it took me but it was far too long.
Chapter 3Chapter Three I woke up to a familiar screeching noise that had me wishing I could smash that damn alarm clock. Lunging out blindly only caused me to get tangled in my blanket, falling out of bed in the process. After silencing the blaring alarm, I let out a massive yawn before shaking myself in an attempt to wake up. Throwing the blanket to the ground and chucking the apple core near the garbage, I stretched out a bit before trying to decide what I should do on my second day off. With a noncommittal shrug, I grabbed my bits and decided to do some grocery shopping. Of course, when I opened my front door, I did not expect to see a Princess bending down in front of me. She might have said something nice, like hello or something like that but I didn’t know as I let out a squawk of surprise and did what I did whenever someone got too close to my face, and socked whomever it was in the face. Watching in horror as the Princess stumbled to the side, I realized that I had just punched a bucking Princess of Equestria. “Good morning to you as well, Miss Shield,” Cadance said, holding a hoof to her eye. “Do you wake up every morning and punch the first pony you see?” “I didn’t realize it was you,” I squeaked out, feeling an all-too-familiar surge of warmth to my face. “I… don’t like ponies getting close to me.” Turning, I raced to my freezer to get some ice for the Princess I just punched in the bucking face! “I’m so sorry, I just have a hard time not reacting negatively when somepony gets directly in my face.” “Miss Shield,” a voice behind me said, reminding that I was being too slow and I was rambling. “I’m sorry your highness,” I said again, somehow shifting through my empty freezer, my heart hammering in my head. No ice, so frozen bag of stuff? Did you give a Princess a bag of frozen peas or carrots when you punch a Princess in the fac- oh sweet Tartarus I was going to go to jail! “Miss Shield,” Cadance’s voice came again, firmer than before. Grabbing a bag of frozen whatever, I sheepishly turned around to see her sitting on my sofa/bed with a bag of ice in her magic aura. “I am alright Miss Shield, so you can calm down.” “Oh,” I said with a small voice. “Right. Magic. I forgot about that.” I then turned back around to toss my frozen… cabbages? back into my freezer before turning to the Princess in the room. “Yet you are an unicorn?” she said with a tilt of her head, showing how much of a shiner she had on her right eye. Thank Celestia’s flank I held back enough that I only punched her instead of trying to knock her out or something. “Yeah,” I said as I walked over to her, my sofa the only place to sit down besides the floor. “I tend not to use my magic, don’t want to get too dependent on it.” With that semi-lie out of my mouth, I looked at my messy room before I spat out some more words as I wished I had bothered to clean up. “Frankly, I could go days without really using it.” “An interesting approach,” she said with a light chuckle in her voice, which I guessed was meant to try and calm me. It did nothing of the sort, my heart screaming in my head as I sat next to her. “I take it that is why you are so deft at using your hooves so efficiently?” I think she said it with a teasing tone, the jamming beats in my ears were kinda blocking out other sounds. “Yes,” I said, twiddling my hooves in a bout of nerves. “That and my angry wall.” Why did I mention my angry wall? “Your angry wall?” she asked with a confused look on her face, blinking at me. Groaning as I rubbed my face, I pointed at my angry wall, pockmarked with my hooves’ imprints from all the times I’d bucked and punched it. “I use it to vent my anger since I can’t afford to go to the gym,” I said as I rubbed my foreleg, ignoring the other broken angry walls lying near the current angry wall I’d hammered in and wishing I’d thrown those out. “My,” Cadance puckered her lips together, staring at the abused wall thoughtfully.. “It seems you have a lot of anger for somepony so young.” “I’ve got my reasons,” I shrugged as I tried to push some garbage under my sofa with my hoof, before looking up and seeing Cadance smirk at me, causing me to feel another jolt of panic. “Sorry your highness about the mess. I don’t have anypony over, and I didn’t expect anypony to come here, and I know that this is a complete mess but I can’t do better and-” I was suddenly aware of a hoof pushing on my back, causing me to yelp in complete fright as it held me in place. “Breathe, Miss Shields,” Cadance said in my ear, leaning over me. “Breathe in, breathe out. In, out.” She spoke in a soft tone as she hovered over me, my mind racing to what my mom had told me. “Get off of me,” I snapped, shoving her to the side with my shoulder, my teal coloured magic helping me get the alicorn out of my personal space. Jumping to my hooves, I was barely able to restrain myself from lashing out at her but I really didn’t want to go to jail because I gave a Princess another black eye! Standing in front of my angry wall, I focused all of my pent-up frustration into a punch. Letting out a sigh of relief, I grabbed a nearby towel to wipe away the blood as I shot Cadance a guilty look. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t like ponies touching me.” It was very unusual for a herd species like ours to hate contact from our own kind, but I did not want to go into it. Thank you mom for giving me your baggage. ...Wow, I feel like utter crap now. “It’s alright, Miss Shield,” Cadance said, raising her hooves in an open manner as she looked at my hoof, still dripping in blood. “I am sorry that I made you upset.” “It’s okay,” I said as I walked back over to her, pressing the towel onto my hoof. “It just takes me a bit of time to let others get near me like you did and it just tripped something inside myself. You know, the old fight and flight instinct?” I said with a light chuckle, rubbing the back of my head before realizing I was using my bloody hoof. Oh great, I would need another shower. “I understand, Miss Shield,” Cadance chuckled again, maybe at me running the towel through my mane to try get rid of the blood or something else. “And may I say that I pity anypony that tries something with you.” You and me both, sister. “Um…” I said as it suddenly dawned on me that I’d yet to ask about the Princess in the room… and now I realized how bad a phrase that was. “I was about to head out to do some grocery shopping but Prince-er, Cadance, why are you here? And how do you know where I live?” That last one was really bugging me now, my mind really picking at it. “Oh, Little Bird told me,” she said with a coy smile on her face. “And I wanted to give you this.” She held up a sealed envelope before booping my nose with it. Covering my nose with my hooves, I look at the letter before deciding I need to steer this conversation in the right direction. “A little birdie?” I asked, turning the letter over in my hooves in a nervous fashion. “No, Little Bird told me where you lived as I asked him to make sure you got to your home safely,” Cadance said, nodding her head at a bucking massive tin pony that walked into my apartment - barely squeezing through the door and I’m pretty sure he took a coat of paint along the way in - as we had left the door wide open. He was in the colours of the Crystal Empire, with a heart as the centerpiece. He was a bat pony, or a thestral, or nox pony, or whatever the Tartarus they were calling themselves this week. Seriously, they were the only species alive that actually could not figure out what to call themselves. I swear I once heard them call themselves one kind of pony and everypony else a different kind of pony. Like pegasi were feathered ponies, unicorn were magic ponies - also horny, but that didn’t last long after a unicorn thrashed a bat pony and nearly started a street brawl, but that was a story for another day that I wasn’t entirely sure was true - and so on. “Wow, your parents were really off the mark when naming you,” I snarked at the tin pony. He simply offered me a smile that said he’d heard that line before and I felt a twinge of guilt for opening my mouth. But then again, he was a tin pony. “I have heard from the grapevine, Reflecting Shield, that you were hostile to the Guards,” he said, breathing down at me. Sweet buck he was tall, and maybe it wasn’t a good idea to snark at him. “Among… other things,” he finished, eyes briefly flicking towards Cadance. “And yet, Little Bird and Little Pebble refuse to say a word to me,” Cadance sighed playfully. “Something to do with the Guards themselves?” “Yeah,” I sighed, somewhat amazed that my past had reached the Crystal Empire as an equally tall and massive earth pony came into the room, glaring down at me. “So… again, why are you here? I mean, this was for here if I didn’t catch you but since you are here...” I trailed off awkwardly. “Well, Miss Shield, I was hoping to introduce you to somepony I know,” she said with another of her soft smiles. “As I did run into you,” she chuckled as she moved the ice away from her eye, causing both tin ponies to gasp a bit before glaring daggers at me. “Or your hoof as the case was, I hope that you can accompany me to meet my dear friend.” “Oh,” I said as excuses ran through my head. As always, the best lies were the ones that were true. “I can’t really just go, I mean, I just woke up and I am a complete mess, and I need to do my grocery shoppi-” “Miss Shield,” Cadance interrupted my rambling with a hoof reaching out to me before pulling back. “You look fine, even a bit cute right now with your ruffled-up mane, you seem alert enough and I can ask Little Pebble and Little Bird to stock your fridge while we are out.” Oh Tartarus, a fully stocked fridge? There was no way I could pass that up, even if it was only temporary. Doing my best to fight the blood racing to my face and stamping down the irritation that they probably thought that I couldn’t provide for myself, I licked my lips and nodded my head. “I guess that works, Cadance,” I said, getting to my hooves as my stomach grumbled. “Uh, thanks for this.” “No problem, Miss Shield,” Cadance said while looking at her two tin ponies before nodding at them to go ahead. With a grumble from Little Bird, Cadance said, “I am still an alicorn, my little ponies, and if Miss Shield does try something, I can defend myself. So please do as I asked.” I wanted to point out that I nearly knocked her on her plot with a single punch but that seemed like a horrible idea. With a stiff bow, both of her tin ponies left my apartment, leaving us alone. Looking over at the Princess, I saw she was standing upright now, with her eye covered up by her magic which was something I should look into learning how to do in the future. “Shall we?” she asked with a wing extended. With a bob of my head, I cast one last look around my apartment before following the princess out.
Chapter 4Chapter Four I took a deep breath of the fresh morning air as we stepped out of my apartment. Letting the Princess go ahead of me, I made sure to lock my door. Trotting down the the stairs to catch up with her, I began to wonder who she was taking me to see. Who could be important enough for her to show me off? She had to know who I was, about my past. Was she going to be like those nobles that showed off a pony like me to her friends? “Um,” I said with a bit of hesitation in my voice. “How much do you know about me, Cadance?” “I know absolutely nothing about you,” she said with her head held high, still smiling. “As my fellow princesses have taught me: it is best to get to know a pony openly and properly before prying into their private lives.” “Ah good,” I said with a weak smile, passing by the restaurant I worked at. If my boss saw me now, I’d think he’d plotz or something. Maybe even fire me… “So is there anything you want to know about me?” “Oh, I don’t know,” she said with a tilt of her head before giggling. “How old are you, for starters?” “I’m twenty-one, your majesty; and you?” I asked without thinking, going into one of the most debated and talked about subjects ever. “Oh, please, I stopped aging when I was in my mid twenties and I only noticed when I was in my late forties.” Cadance shook her head with a light blush on her face. “I would actually need to check a calendar now to give you a proper answer.” “Wow,” I said, unable to think how old one must be to need a calendar to check their age. “That’s old!” Again, where was my mind when I said this stuff? What, was I going to say she looked good for a mom of her age next? “Oh please, I am the third youngest Princess and Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna still won’t tell me how old they are. Just that I need to create a forest fire when I give them their birthday cakes,” she started to snicker, making me feel better for laughing at that mental image. “Then again, one must first stop Celestia from just inhaling her cake.” That did it, I was laughing my plot off. Leaning against a building, I laughed at the mental image of the Princess Celestia sucking up cakes. Holding my sides as I did my best to get the laughter out of my body, I turned my head up to see Cadance smiling down at me, a hoof held out. “Oh horsefeathers, I haven’t laughed like that in ages,” I said as I got to my hooves, actually smiling, using the hoof to pull myself upright. “Thanks, Princess.” “It was my pleasure, Miss Shield,” she said as we started to walk again. “So may I ask you about your cutie mark?” Blinking, I looked at my odd shield cutie mark. “Eh, I know it looks weird, shields aren’t meant to be concave… convex? I can never remember which one is which,” I shook my head before I tried again. “I mean, I know shields aren’t meant to curve inwards but it does relate to my special talent perfectly.” “Oh?” She tilted her head. “Yeah,” I said with a bit of smugness. “I can take anything thrown at me and toss it right back.” “That sounds like a very powerful special talent, Miss Shield,” she said, eyes narrowing in thought. “What’s the limit? Physical? Mental? Magical?” “Mostly physical,” I replied. “I only once really got a magical toss back to work right for me and even then it was a fluke.” Please don’t ask, please don’t ask, please don’t ask… “Care to elaborate?” Cadance asked. “It’s personal, your highness,” I answered coldly, stepping back away from her. Cadance winced, “I’m sorry,” she said gently. “You’re not used to talking about yourself, especially around strangers. I’m…” she scrunched her nose and grumbled. “Can’t say sorry again… sorry, gah!” I stared at the Princess as she fumbled with her words before simply closing her mouth and puffing out her cheeks. Shaking my head, I did my best to move along the conversation. “It’s alright, your highness,” I said, slowly taking in our surroundings. We were in Old Ponyville, a really contradictory place. It was the richest part of the entire town, yet it looked like something from the past. The streets were just dirt pathways and some patches of old cobblestone. The buildings were so odd, leaning against each other with random specialized structures here and there. I recognized the original Carousel Boutique in the distance, my coworkers always jabbering about the latest fashion to come out of that clothing empire. Bleh. I was fine with my scarf and hat during the winter, thank you very much! Ignoring my mom’s old saying and real reason why I always rolled my eyes up at the Boutiques, we turned around the corner to reach the famed Golden Oaks Library. In the center of Old Ponyville was this massive tree turned into a library; but instead of normal ponies, it was staffed by tin ponies from Ponyville’s Princess for some reason. I did my best to step around the foals running around, with Cadance snickering as I had to jump over one that almost barreled into me. And of course, the most glaring oddity of Old Ponyville was the sparkling tree-castle-thing at the far end of the town, that a lot of Ponyville’s Princess tin ponies were marching around. To show that I wasn’t scared by them, I walked with my head held high, some of them glaring at me and some of them looking at me curiously. Following the Princess around to the back of the crystal tree castle thing, she stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.
Chpater FiveChapter Five “Come on in, Cadance,” a voice called out. “I just got breakfast set up for your new friend; just hoping that she doesn’t have any allergies.” I was left so dumbfounded by what was happening that it took Princess Cadance nudging me to get an answer out. “Uh, no, your majes-” “Please, call me Twilight, I won’t take anything else,” the voice chided me, causing me to frown. I did not pout. “Okay… Miss Sparkle,” I said awkwardly, as I opened the door and stepped inside into a very cozy-looking kitchen covered with pictures of ponies doing things together. I easily recognized the Princess of Friendship and I suspected the rest of the mares shown were the fabled Elements of Harmony. And underneath them was the same purple pony interacting with other ponies that looked like them, maybe the children of her friends? Still, there were so many pictures that… I kinda felt a sadness from it all. That this was all she had left of them, pictures and memories. Looking away from what had to be a fake picture with her highness and a massive purple dragon, I spotted the Princess of Ponyville hovering over a countertop, with a number of books set up around her as her magic carried some vegetables over to her, while whatever she had already set up smelled wonderfully, causing my stomach to grumble. “Please take a seat; I’ll be with you in a moment,” the mare said, eyes focused on her task. Doing as I was told, I pulled out a chair with my hooves while Prin-buck, can’t keep calling her the Princess with two Princesses in the same room-Cadance used her magic to pull out her own chair. “That smells amazing, ma’am,” I said. All of a sudden a wooden spoon flew out to boop me lightly on the nose! “I said to call me Twilight, missy,” the mare lectured me, eyes still focused on the meal. “Need I remind you again?” The accursed spoon flew menacingly around my face, daring me to snark at it. “No ma-, er Twilight,” I said meekly. I was, however, strongly tempted to send the boop back to that spoon. See how it lik--why was I trying to pick a fight with a spoon? “That’s good and before you explode my cutlery with your glare, can I have your name as somepony forgot to mention such a thing?” the purple mare said with an amused tone as she flipped the page with her magic while stirring up the pan of heavenly smelling breakfast food. Cadance bumped her hooves together sheepishly before tilting her head to the side. “Didn’t you get my letter?” Twilight turned her head to glance at the mare before turning back. There was… something in her gaze that made me feel really sad and I realized that even with all the tin ponies, the so-called Princess of Friendship was very… lonely. My thoughts were distracted as Twilight let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “I know you’re trying to help set up that new message-delivery system, Cadance, but it’s not without its problems. I wish Spike was here but he’s off on one of his trips again.” “So there’s been no word on where he is?” Cadance asked, shooting me a glance that told me to hold my tongue. Twilight shook her head and her magic grabbed the food - a little roughly - and placed it in front of us. The aroma was almost enough to make me forget the conversation but I filed away that interesting tidbit about Twilight’s dragon to mull over later. “No,” Twilight said sadly before forcing a half-hearted smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “So, who are you and why did Cadance bring you to me?” she asked as she sat down before looking at me properly for the first time. Her eyes widened a bit, her tongue licking her lips before taking on an amused look on her face. “Oh, I see.” “See what?” I asked as I did my best not to just shove the food in my mouth, the hair on the back of my neck prickling up a bit. “You kinda look like my big brother did, when he was your age,” Twilight said with a somewhat sad but happy smile on her face. “I can show you a picture of him later, if you want, miss...?” “Reflecting Shield, ma-” I meeped as the spoon flew from the sink and booped me on the nose again. Okay, no one, not even a spoon boops my nose twice! Grabbing it with my hoof, I sent the boop back into the spoon, causing it to buckle ever so slightly. Smiling proudly at my victory, I heard light snickering before turning around to see Twilight looking at me with an at-ease smile. “I hope you learned your lesson, as I do need to get a new spoon now.” “Sure did, Twilight,” I said, really at ease with her. She was certainly more laid back than what I had expected from her. Taking another forkful of the meal, I had to hold back a squeal of joy as to not embarrass myself. My ears did flick a bit, though. Traitorous ears. “This is so good! I can’t remember the last time I had something as good as this!” “Thank you, but I’m not half as good as Pinkie Pie or Applejack were,” she said, rolling her eyes as she took a bite of her dish. “Of course, I was a bit preoccupied with my latest project, to be perfectly honest, so that stole some of my attention.” She then turned to me, holding out a tea kettle out. “Would you like some?” “Eh, sure,” I said, holding out my teacup out to her. Biting my lip as I tried to keep the cup steady in my hooves, I waited for the Princ-Twilight to finish pouring me a cup. “Thanks… so,” I said awkwardly, looking around the room. “You are working on a project?” I had heard of some the great projects that she had produced and I was kinda curious, kinda desperate to stall. “Yes, I am working on perfecting the changeling detection measures with a new field of science,” she said as tilted her head. “Through my research of genetic testing of ponies and changelings, I have discovered that the deoxyribonucleic acid present in each test subject I interviewed is individually designed for that pony or changeling, albeit with some replication within the acid in confirmed lineage. I am hoping to increase the availability and the precision of my latest work as you know that aether testing can be fooled if done with the correct spells and this is all going over your head, isn’t it?” “Yeah…” I said awkwardly. I don’t think I could even say half of those words, let alone understand the whole purpose of this. Weren’t changelings our friends now? “There’s still a need for it?” I asked, doing my best to recall all I had heard about this kind of stuff about the bugs. “I mean, didn’t your friends and you go stop that queen bug Crssys-Cree-” I trailed off, the name was really hard to say as my lips were not made to say bug names. “We did stop queen Chrysalis during the second changeling invasion, Reflecting, and we did manage to write up a treaty with her successor, but like every other race, there are good changelings and bad changelings,” Twilight said. “This is simply a precaution to prevent a potential issue from occurring.” “Ah, I get it, I guess,” I said shrugging, taking another bite of this breakfast. The look Twilight sent at me told me she knew I didn’t get it but she didn’t press the issue. Changelings didn’t even come into Equestria besides those who ran the emotion stations. “Is it because you cannot read or are you generally not that interested in global affairs that you don’t know about our current standings with the Changelings?” “Whoa, what!?” I spat out the food, coughing as I tried not to choke to death on it. “What the Tartarus makes you think I can’t read?” “Besides your reaction?” “Yeah!” I shouted, rubbing my throat. Who the hell asks a question like that? “Well to start, I know for a fact that most ponies will try to avoid contact with a princess instinctively, especially if they’ve done something that could be viewed as unpleasant,” Twilight said as she sipped her tea. “Like punching one in the face.” I paled, looking at Cadance who seemed equally surprised that Twilight knew this. “They will look for diversions and ways to escape the notice of a princess, to which the most logical choice of action in that state of mind would be to read the letter Cadance was leaving for you as to prolong the time you had to interact with my sister in-law. Had you read it, it would have asked you to meet with me on the following day. Luckily, I had some of my Guards warn me in advance of your sudden arrival so I could make you breakfast too.” “How do you I just didn’t read it because it’d be the wrong thing to do?” I frowned, my hooves pressed into the tablecloth. “You strike me as a mare that does not care for being right or wrong in front of other ponies, only doing what you feel is right,” Twilight answered serenely, a half smile on her face. “For instance, you are arguing with me to defend yourself while most ponies would be too scared to do so. I have little doubt that you would have opened the letter and read it while Cadance was at your kitchen table.” I shifted my eyes, ears folding backwards, wondering how could she read me so well… “Another point to the matter is that, once again, most ponies would not sit down at the table of two princesses, but instead take the opportunity to look at my pictures and read where they were taken, instead of observing them from afar. I could add onto this, pointing out your current body posture and what it tells me, but I know that it would be needlessly cruel to carry on,” she said, looking straight into my eyes despite my desire to drop my head and curl up into a ball. I let out a tiny sigh before steeling myself. “Yeah, you got it,” I muttered bitterly, sticking a forkful of the food into my mouth. It no longer tasted as good as before but I wasn’t going to pass up free food just like that. “I can’t read or write beyond my name and a few other bits.” I took a chance to look at them and saw that they were pitying me! Snorting, I glared at Twilight and asked, “So what, was this whole thing a show to you two? Some sort of game where you take a mare like me and ‘fix’ her up?” I placed my hooves on the table and leaned across it to stare down the princess with my mind yelling at myself for mouthing off like this! Buck anyone who tried to pity me but I couldn’t do this to the princesses! I didn’t want- “Of course not,” Twilight said, not even flinching - she was still looking at me calmly. “While I could easily teach you all that you need to know, I know that if a student is not willing to learn then it is a pointless gesture. Added to that, I doubt you would accept me or any other authority figure in educating yourself and that the practice you mentioned is a horrid and self centered act that I have done my best to squash after seeing the usual aftermaths when the patron abandons their charges.” She actually snarled at the last bit, her eyes narrowed in semi-anger. Blinking, I slunk back into my seat and let out a weak, “Oh.” I felt really awkward now, not sure what to do. Staring at my hooves, I shook my head and pushed myself up. “I’m sorry, but I think I lost my appetite or something.” “It is fine, my little pony,” Twilight said, going back to her calm and collected face as her horn lit up, levitating a piece of paper with her cutie mark on it and a few lines scribbled underneath it before passing it over to me. “This will identify you to my Guards if you ever wish or need to come back and I am not here.” “Wait, you’re actually giving me free run of your house-castle tree thing?” I asked, blinking in surprise. “I trust you are smart enough to realize that if you take anything of significant value, there will not be many places you could go that the Guards will not find you.” “Right, a former juvie like me doesn’t have much places to run to,” I muttered under my breath, only to remember that I was with princesses and they could hear stuff. My eyes snapped upwards as I tried to think of some way to get out of this situation. “It is perfectly fine, my little pony,” Twilight said, holding a teacup to her lips. “The past is the past and as you are an adult, your records are sealed and gone.” My ear flicked as that meant nothing to the rest of the Guards who made my life hell. “Thank you, Twilight,” I said with a nod of my head, a smile forming on my face. “You’re pretty cool.” “I do try my best, my little pony,” she smirked at me. “Now I believe that you wish to be leaving, Reflecting?” Either that mare was reading my mind, or my face was giving away more than I’d realized. “Yes,” I admitted. “I could use some time to think some more, and burn off a little excess energy while I’m at it.” “If you just want to run for a while, there’s a path through White Tail Woods,” Twilight told me. “I’ve found it’s very effective when I just want to get away.” “Thank you.” I stood up. “Both of you.” Then I headed for the door. After a moment, I paused. “Um, which way is it?” Both princesses exchanged glances, then Twilight’s horn lit up, levitating a sheet of paper and a quill over to her. As she concentrated for a moment, I saw the quill blurring over the paper, and then the entire thing lit up. Setting the quill aside, she hoofed the paper over to me. “This should show you the way,” she said. Looking over the paper, I saw it was a hurriedly drawn but still detailed sketch showing the roads that would lead me from Twilight’s front door to the woods she had named, which were some distance away but still close enough that I could easily get there on foot. Thanking her again, I headed out. It was late afternoon by the time I had finished my run and made it back to Ponyville, and I was feeling much better as I walked up to my front door. Sweatier and tireder, perhaps, but better than before. That feeling disappeared the instant I saw Sweet Scent standing outside with an ugly look on her face and my stuff on the curb. “You,” she said in a nasty tone, a hoof kicking my couch, “have been broken my rules again.” I groaned. “Why is my stuff out here?” “Had enough of you,” she barked. “No more. You out.” “What?!” I shouted, shoving my face into hers. “What the Tartarus are you talking about!?” “Important rule you signed; no ponies allowed in building,” she shoved me back. “You had not only early guest but several large stallions walking around. No good, Reflrecting, so you are out!” “Like I could have stopped them if I wanted,” I snapped. “I’m a civilian; they were tin ponies accompanying a princess, and I wasn’t even awake when they showed up outside my door!” “Like princess would ever see you,” she sneered. “Go own, take stuff and get out before I call Guards on you.” Growling at her, I grabbed my stuff that had been thrown into a cardboard box, tossed it onto my couch and began to drag it off. And backed right into somepony. Muttering a curse under my breath, I looked up to see Holy horseapples it was him again! “Need a hoof there, Reflecting?” Either Little Bird or Little Pebble asked me, looming over me. “I…” For a moment there, I was tempted to say no, but finally decided to give my pride a rest. “Yeah. I wouldn’t mind.” He nodded sharply, and with a gesture to follow, he grabbed my couch. “If not for the princess finding out, I would have left a lot sooner,” he said to me as we began walking down the street. “She has her eye on you and I don’t need to lose my job because of you.” Snorting as I walked beside the towering Guard, I shot back him. “Wouldn’t expect any of you guys to be nice to me.” “For someone like you, never.” I snorted disgustedly, knowing exactly what he was referring to. Still, I was in no mood to remind him of the details, lest he decide it was worth it to just leave me here, and kept silent otherwise. I was still fuming over my ex-landlord’s behavior by the time we reached the castle at the end of the town, and barely noticed where we were until its door opened, revealing Princess Twilight once more. “Reflecting! I wasn’t expecting to see you again today-” Her eyes suddenly drifted to my couch, and she gave my escort a look. “Um, is there a particular reason you brought your furniture with you?” “My jerk of a landlord kicked me out,” I replied, shooting a look at the tin pony next to me. “‘Cause she saw these guys in the hall outside my apartment. And since there’s a no guests policy that-” I cut myself off before I said something incredibly profane and got myself into a lot of trouble. Twilight frowned. “That’s not right,” she said sternly. “Surely your rental contract would allow exceptions for unexpected guests, or Princesses and their Guards.” “I said about the same thing; she didn’t believe me about who they were,” I replied while also ignoring the fact I couldn’t have actually read the damn thing. “The one good thing is, I don’t have to put up with her and her crap anymore.” “But on the bad side, you don’t have an apartment anymore,” Twilight said. “That, at least, I can fix. Come on in, I’ll get you set up in one of the guest rooms.” If I’d been carrying anything then, I would have dropped it in surprise. “Really?” Twilight nodded. “I’ve got plenty of space, and to be honest, I wouldn’t mind having some company in here again,” she said. “It has been a long time since I last had anypony stay with me; my last student was Moon River, and she moved out about sixty years ago.” She then flicked her eyes to the tin pony scowling next to me. “Little Pebble, please take her belongings to the guest room.” He nodded stiffly, then headed up the stairs into the castle, Twilight moving aside to let him pass. Then, she gestured to me to come in too, though I saw her nose wrinkle a bit. “Come on, I’ll show you to the restroom,” she told me. “No offense intended, my little pony, but you really need a shower.” “Preaching to the choir here, Pri-er, Twilight,” I said. “I would have taken one first thing when I got back to my place if that… er, mare hadn’t been waiting outside for me.” Twilight’s eyes flashed for a moment, but then she shook it off and led me down the hall to the restroom. When she was done making sure I knew where everything was, she left me be, and I quickly got to work cleaning myself off. Nearly two hours later, I was ready to collapse. Twilight had been polite about it, but she had made it clear that she expected me to be clean when I was done, and had assured me that I would feel much better after a thorough cleaning. Consequently, I had taken far longer than I’d planned to, not only rinsing off but taking advantage of the brushes in the shower to give myself the deepest, hardest scrubbing I’d ever experienced to get all the dirt and grime out of my coat. And despite everything I felt about looking good, I actually felt goodish. By the time I was all dried off, Twilight had also finished preparing dinner, and it proved to be just as good as what she’d fixed earlier. After that, she’d shown me to my room, and I got yet another shock of the day: not only was my couch there (and looking much cleaner than it had earlier), but all my stuff was put away while it was clear that she hadn’t poked around. There was also some furniture I didn’t recognize, but I figured it had come with the room, which Twilight had confirmed when she’d seen my questioning look. Not the least of which was an actual bed, one like nothing I’d ever slept on before, even when I’d been living with my parents as a filly. After pointing a few other things out to me, Twilight left me with a cheerful “Good night, my little pony”, closing the door behind her. That was when everything I had been through that day finally sank in, and I promptly gave in to my non fighting instincts. Stumbling over to the bed, I pulled back the sheets and crawled into it. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
