To Kill a Songbird

Songbird and Rose fell into a simple routine after a few days together. Songbird arrived at Rose's dorm approximately ten minutes before her first class of the day. Rose would then complain about how early it was, while begrudgingly getting the books she needed. They would go to class while Songbird stood right inside the doorway to assess any possible threats. All of Rose's morning classes went like this until they had a break for lunch. After lunch, Rose had free time to study or leave campus.

During lunch of their fourth day, an especially confrontational unicorn tried to pick a fight with Rose.

The day was nice. The weather ponies sure have outdone themselves today thought Rose as she looked at the familiar surroundings. The courtyard students and school faculty used for meals was bathed in sunlight. Ponies were already coming out from the secondary school building. The green turf felt soft beneath Rose's hooves as she trotted over to her usual spot in the corner, Songbird following close behind. She sat, enjoying the rustle of leaves and soft chatter of ponies while she opened the latest Daring Do novel.

A hoof slamming on the table tore Rose's attention away from her book. She sighed while marking her place. Glancing at her guard, she wondered why Songbird didn't tell her somepony was coming towards them. Only then did she notice somepony had magicked her wings to her side and her mouth closed. Rude.

"Honestly, you'd think somepony could get some peace around here," grumbled Rose. The mass of yellow and green fur with a horn, appropriately named Lemon Tart, practically growled. "I knew you were dimwitted, but I didn't realize you were dumb enough to attack one of Luna's house guards."

"You keep your smart mouth shut, if you knew what was good for you," said Lemon. "Just 'cause you're Princess Luna's student, you think you can do whatever you want, and that includes cheating off my test in charms class," she finished.

Rose rolled her eyes with so much sass, she could've killed an alicorn. "And why, pray tell, would I cheat off of you? It's not like you have particularly good grades," Rose stated bluntly. "What good would it do to bring down my near perfect grades?" She sat back down, considering the spat over. That wasn't a good idea. Faster than she could react, Lemon's hoof came up to her side and knocked her off the bench she had been sitting on.

Going with the momentum, Rose rolled onto the grass before springing back up and striking a defiant pose. "Wow, Lemon. It's like you want to be expelled." Everypony in the courtyard fell silent at this point. Fights were rare, and most ended in one of the princesses having to break it up. "Do you enjoy torturing smaller students? Of course, you should know this pretty pony packs a pretty hard punch," Rose taunted while nonchalantly inspecting her hoof.

Songbird was furious. The blue of her coat was turning purple with red hot anger coursing through her veins. All she could do was make grunting noises and hope Rose noticed. Not that she notices anything but herself she thought bitterly.

"Please release my guard."

Lemon scowled at that. "Why should I, pip squeak? What are you gonna do if I don't?"

Letting out an irritated sigh, Rose lit up her horn. A large yellow blur went soaring into the air, accompanied with a high pitched squeal. Lemon's grip on Songbird fell away as she went higher and higher. "Huh. I didn't think I could get her that high."

"Rose!" barked Songbird. "You can't just throw ponies into the sky when they don't do what you want!"

"She had you pinned! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Call one of the princesses, a guard, somepony!"

"Oh, like a guard could do anything. You did a great job, by the way," Rose countered sarcastically. Lemon was still held in the air 30 feet above the ground.

Throwing Rose a dirty look, Songbird flew up to where Lemon was floating in an attempt to get her down. "Rose, let her go! You're going to get into more trouble if you don't!" she yelled down. A yelp escaped Lemon as Rose dropped her hold on her. Songbird caught the bulky unicorn and had a very choppy descent. "Geeze, if you keep thrashing around like this, I'm gonna drop you," she said.

Once they safely landed, Songbird turned around only to face Princess Celestia.

"Uh oh."