“Court is now in session.”
The simple statement sent a ripple throughout the room as several ponies stood at attention, eyes brightening with alertness, and ears twitching. All gazes were now settled upon the high ruler of all Equestria, for the council was rather eager to weigh into the discussions that was about to go underway. All knew the issues that were about to be discussed and all knew which solution they’d prefer to see.
All but Sunset, who sat at the right hand of Celestia’s seat. Sunset Shimmer, being the princess's personal protege. Not that she particularly enjoyed coming to the council’s assembliesxd. There was no requirement of being at these meetings, so one would simply assume that if she didn’t enjoy showing up, she’d have clearly not bothered coming to any of them.
These ponies of course lacked the perspective of being in the highly competitive and manipulative dance that was of living in Canterlot, surrounded by thoroughbreds with prestige behind their name. Even if not all of them took the various seats on the council, with others going to some lesser known families, Sunset knew that if she wanted to make a name for herself, then she couldn’t sit back and simply let everything that centered around the nation slip beneath her notice, though it was a possibility. It’d be much easier to simply tune it all out, focus on her studies, and act like she didn’t care about the petty arguments between the council. Let all that pass around her, and focus on the one thing she enjoyed most: getting lost in the art of magic, and pretending nothing else existed.
Newsflash: she didn’t actually care that much, and would very much like to get lost like that. But she had to act like she cared, even if it was by making comments that had little impact on the discussion. Taking a side in the discussion would mean Sunset would have to take the time to actually go through each issue, sort out which side would benefit her the most, and go on from there. Which in all honestly, sounded like it was both a time-waster and something that would quickly exhaust her. No, Sunset was perfectly content being in the position she was now for the moment. She’d tackle the more difficult issues soon enough.
“Miss. Shimmer, would you care to weigh in the matter?” Soon enough being now it seemed. Preventing a scowl from crossing her face, Sunset focused her gaze on the stallion who spoke up, turquoise eyes meeting blue. Prince Blueblood, naturally enough. The sight of his smile - and faint smirk that couldn’t quite be concealed - was enough to make Sunset want to grind her teeth. Of course he of all ponies would do this to her. A pain in her side, that was what Blueblood was at these meetings. Always finding the perfect way to vex her. And almost always succeeding.
Sadly it appeared to be one of those times, for Sunset was more than a bit lost on where the discussion currently was at. While the council had tuned into the talk, Sunset had simply tuned out to focus on her own thoughts. A mistake she shouldn’t have made. Taking a moment to curse inwardly at herself, before clearing her throat. “The matter of… helping expand Saddle Row in order to breed more business in the southern district of Canterlot?”
After her statement, there was silence around the table - prompting Sunset’s gaze to dart away from Blueblood’s momentarily. None of them looked impressed, some even dismissive. And out of the corner of her left eye, she could clearly see a pitiful expression on Celestia’s face. Definitely not the correct thing to say then.
“No, Miss. Shimmer,” Blueblood said, his smile still on his face, though it seemed to lack the hidden smirk from before, instead morphing into something Sunset couldn’t quite recognize. “We have now actually moved to the discussion of the instating of a new house - Saddle Row was our last topic. Perhaps next time you’ll try to pay attention to the issues at hand?” The last statement ended in an almost taunt, as his gaze met hers levely.
She could feel herself burning underneath her yellow fur, hot from embarrassment, though Sunset actively refused to let that show on her face. “Perhaps if they’re worth my time,” She said cooly in response, before simply staring back at him, waiting for Blueblood to challenge her further on the issue. For a few more heartbeats, he continued to stare at her, giving a small nod, before turning back to the other council members, getting the discussion rolling again.
Sunset wished she could say she had paid any attention to the matter after that. But the feeling of being burned still lingered, and it made it all the harder to continue listening to the council’s talk.
Finally, Sunset was out of there and in the clear. It was like a weight had been lifted from her chest to be honest. After a quick apology to Celestia had been given out for her lack of discipline, Sunset had quickly made her way out of the chamber, almost before anyone else had left. The key word being there of course was almost. While Sunset had been quicker than most of the thoroughbreds, as many wanting to socialize after the matter and speak to each other would naturally stay behind. But even those without business Sunset had beat for the most part.
Naturally except for Blueblood of course, who Sunset was now coming upon. And of course, he had to have picked one of the roses that wrapped their way around the balcony, holding it in his magic, with that same smirking grin on his face as he faced Sunset. “Glad to see you’ve made it, Sunny, after that disastrous show in the council today. Have a rose?” Blueblood said, offering the rose with his pale yellow magic.
Oh, like that was going to fly. Almost immediately, Sunset scowled deeper, roughly taking the rose with her cyan-colored magic, and roughly throwing it off the balcony. “Don’t ‘Sunny’ me right now, Blueblood. What the hay was that back there?!” She said, lifting and pointing a hoof directly at him. “You made me look like a fool in front of the whole council and Celestia!”
“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Blueblood said, quickly brushing off the statement as he waved one hoof in the air dismissively. “It wasn’t even that big of a deal.” The small smile on his face was still there, the same lingering smirk as ever. Though it was… subdued. Just like the one back in the chamber.
And that meant it was time to take initiative to find out the meat of the problem. Not that she would have let such statement slide even if something deeper hadn’t been going on. Taking a few hoof-steps forward, she quickly pressed a hoof to his chest, turquoise eyes narrowing up at him as she did. “Tell me why you did that, Blue.”
“... Because you are a fool.” Well, Sunset certainly hadn’t been expecting that, as her ears quickly pressed against the sides of her head, hoof being removed from his chest as she took a step backward. Sensing that probably hadn’t done anything to calm the mare in front of him down, Blueblood sighed, now motioning for Sunset to sit where she stood, beside him by the balcony. “Not in the ways you’d think so.” He paused, before amending his statement. “Okay, maybe in some ways that you’d think, but that’s just part of the issue.”
A grumble escaped Sunset at the prompting, especially at the added on statement, though she didn’t argue further - for now, at any rate. Instead, she let out a breath of air that she had been holding, focusing on him carefully. “Then tell me, dear beloved, what exactly do you mean?”
“You wish to gain higher status, correct?” Blueblood prompted her. For a few moments, Sunset didn’t respond, before giving a reluctant nod of her head indicating that yes, that was definitely her wish. It had her been wish for a while. A while translating to roughly a few months after she had first been taken as an apprentice under Celestia’s care.
“Then you have to start working towards it now,” Blueblood continued, his voice firm as he looked into Sunset’s blue eyes. The warmth, while still there, had been temporarily cooled by the seriousness of his statement and demeanor. And that, out of everything else about this little meeting, caught her attention. There were times that Blueblood was serious. Very, even. But it was always accompanied by some kind of mirth and underlying happiness. The near lack of it made Sunset’s own tenseness feel ever more needed.
“What do you mean by that?” She asked, keeping her tone calm and collected as she spoke. “I thought we both agreed that the best possible way for me to rise in rankings and eventually become…” She trailed off, awkwardly tracing a hoof against the ground, before picking up where she left off. “... a princess was to keep up what I’ve been doing. Keep being the best apprentie to Celestia I can be. Slowly integrate myself closer into the rankings, before I’m accepted by both Celestia and the local thoroughbreds.”
“That was the plan.” Blueblood let out a sigh after the words had been said. “You need more than that though. Truly, you want to play things your way. You want to play your own games, get political power your own, unique way, but that doesn’t work.” His voice was soft. Almost as if talking to a child. Almost. But it still made the fury inside her blaze for a moment, though it settled a moment later. This was Blue. He may have been condensing, but it didn’t quite matter.
“So you’re saying I have to play along with their games?” Fine, he wanted to play the game of being level-headed? Then he’d get a level-headed mare also. “You know I’m not going to do that. If I’m going to take power, than I will do so in my own way. Their games are cunning, but not as cunning as anything that I’d come up with.” Her voice was firm as she spoke. Was she overestimating her own wiliness compared to theirs? Maybe so. But she knew how those snake-hearts worked. They didn’t know how astute she was on the other hand.
“… you know how we were talking about the implementation of a new thoroughbred house?”
“Yes?” Well, she was slightly taken aback by that statement. How was that connected? A new thoroughbred house had nothing to do with her! Well, perhaps. If it was initiated by someone that disliked her, that may be a problem. Was that the place that he was going for in this discussion?
“It is due to an adoption,” Blueblood said, passively looking on as Sunset wilted slightly. Of course. Of course it was. That was what this whole thing was about, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like she didn’t know Celestia did such things. For Blueblood himself had been adopted when he was but a colt as her niece. It was a thing Celestia did for ponies who didn’t have parents to take care of them which she saw potential in… which meant that no matter how much she wished for it to happen, she wasn’t included in such an equation.
“Normal. So, who’s the foal?” Sunset frowned, as she tried to push her own feelings away on the matter. She then zoned in on the disconnect between that and the subject at hoof. There had to be something more to this all than simply an adoption. “What do they have to do with any of this?”
“She’s not a foal.” Immediately, Sunset’s eyes widened as that statement, and without missing a beat, Blueblood continued. “She’s about your age, actually.”
“What?” She stiffened slightly. That was… unusual. Very unusual, actually. But Sunset could tell that wasn’t the end of the statement. “And?”
“She has a family. The reason she is adopted is because she’s an alicorn.”
No.
No, no, no. That was the word beating around her headspace, as she stared at Blueblood’s face, simply processing the information. It couldn’t be. It was impossible. How? “How?!” The world slipped from her mouth in the form of a shout, as she stomped her front left hoof hard onto the ground. She hadn’t even realized she had gotten up, as the fury she had temporarily repressed flared up again.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged simply, looking away from her. “You’d have to ask your mentor about it.” His voice was as calm as before. As indifferent as before. Sunset could feel her own ears folding back against her head, as she gave a small, rough nod.
“I will. But… why? Why do you think she did this for this random pony and not me?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, turning his gaze towards the horizon, outlined by trees. “But I have my own suspects. Which is why… I came out here to talk.” Still, his voice was cold.
“Well, the talk is over. I’m going to talk to Celestia now. See you later, Blueblood.” Her voice was curt and to the point as she spoke, though it had turned up sharply at the end. Not waiting another moment to reply, Sunset turned around, ending the conversation there.
She told herself it was simply to talk to Princess Celestia as soon as possible. And yes, in part, that was definitely half of the reason. But the other half…
Nothing was fine, but she could live with that fact for now. Information had to come first, and then she’d mend the problems using the information laid out in front of her. Just like she always did.
[br]
Or at least, she would have, if the data she had gotten hadn’t been so contradictory to what she had already heard. When Sunset faced Celestia with the information that Blueblood presented her, Sunset had expected the worse. Some snotty kid with too much money, too much power, and one who clearly didn’t deserve that. And in a way, that’s what Sunset wanted to see. She wanted to see that, so she shout about how unfair things were. How horrible the world was, and the ability to scorn her teacher and Blue at the same time.
To say the least, Sunset was disappointed, at least in that way. Prince Mi Amore Cadenza - or, Cadence, as she practically insisted on Sunset calling her, was none of those things. No, it was as if she lay on the complete other side of the spectrum from where the thoroughbreds lay. Kind, nurturing, humble. The Princess of Love, if what Celestia said was to be believed to be true. And Sunset did believe it. Not at first, but Sunset could see it. At first, Sunset had thought it to be a hidden mask for a more foul mare underneath. But Cadence was… nice. Too, nice, really.
Sunset could see why Celestia liked her. Sunset could see why Celestia had chosen this stranger mare over her. She wasn’t blind. She knew perfectly well that despite it or not, in some small way, Celestia had elevated Cadence to a seat above her, no matter what the older mare might have said. In the same way, Sunset wasn’t blind to Cadence’s genuine goodness, she also wasn’t blind to a slight when she saw it.
Sunset wished she could say she was furious. In a way, yes, she was mad. But instead… it felt like a cold dampness had flattened out the fire that usually burned in her chest, the determination that sparked there.
It was a horrible mix of feelings, and Sunset only knew of one pony who she could share that to. Or at least, she thought she could. But ever since that talk on the balcony, there had been silence on the end of the line. It was aggravating in a whole different way, to go two weeks of silence. Two weeks of absolute nothing. She hadn’t even seen Blueblood around the halls anywhere. It was if he was purposefully avoiding her.
He probably was. But why?
When the note came, carefully lodged between her door and its frame, she had been both ecstatic and irked. Ecstatic to see him naturally enough. Irked that he hadn’t just asked her to go to their balcony as always pony to pony instead of through a simple letter. Yet, it was enough to make her come.
So when she stepped on the balcony, and with that suave grin of his asked if she wanted tea, holding a pristine white cup out to her full of some exotic blend, Sunset had once again hadn’t been quite swept off her hooves. Instead, she took the cup, took a small sip, before… tossing it over the balcony, repeating the same process as two weeks ago.
“Is this going to be a thing from now on?” Blueblood said, looking over the edge innocently. “You throwing a temper tantrum, and tossing my gifts away like they’re nothing?”
“A temper tantrum huh?” Sunset asked flatly, as she sat down, not even bothering to get riled up. Not yet. Not until she got the info she wanted. Not until they had an actual discussion. “I guess that might happen to a pony when they’re ignored by their special somepony for two weeks.”
“... Point taken,” Blueblood said, before going to take another sip from his own cup.
“So why? Why did… you just cut me off like that?” Sunset said, her voice still flat. Not level. Not crisp, not cool. Not like his always went. Not the indifference she wished she could play up. No. Instead, her voice reflected the hollowness that she dearly wished she could hide.
“Did you learn anything?”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” She pointed out, ignoring his own. No, she didn’t want to dance around the issue. She wanted to get straight to the point.
“I wished for you to see your mistakes,” He said, still in that ever perfect position. “How you’re not plucking the strings to become what you want. The thing that would make the thoroughbreds really see us as eligible to truly be together.”
“... So, you want me to sell out?” Sunset said, the monotone staying. No fire behind the statement. Not yet. She was keeping it was repressed as she could. “You wish for me to become a perfect, little pony princess like Cadence, in order for the fake nobility, who doesn’t even hold any real power, to see us a fit to be a couple?”
“Yes.” His statement was simple. Sweet. Cold? Indifferent? No. Pleading, almost.
“You know that’s happening.”
“... I know.”
“Good.”
Sunset the turned towards her namesake. One last time here, huh? Well… fine.
At least she’d be able to live with thls.
