Kindness, Seduction, and Cake

Twilight walked nervously into Canterlot castle. She’d done a good job banishing Nightmare Moon's control over Luna and restoring the alicorn, but the wording over Celestia's letter telling her to make great haste to the capital made her worry. It was very formal, even for the princess. It seemed like both an emergency and an invitation. Would it be a small party to celebrate her accomplishment or something worse?

“Greetings your majesty,” Twilight said as she bowed her head in front of Celestia's throne. Celestia nodded back and gave her a motherly smile.

“I'm glad you have finally arrived, Twilight…” Celestia’s words seemed to drift as she appeared a bit lost in deep thought, so much so that there was a long silence as she stared blankly at the mare beneath her, which caused Twilight to do a fake cough to bring her back to attention.

“Oh, yes, I'm very sorry. My mind has been drifting off lately, I've had a lot to think about with my sister returning and your friends… saving us with the Elements of Harmony!” Celestia stammered out. She didn't want Twilight to know just how long she planned this, or how long it took her to find five other ponies who fit the role to bear the Elements.

“So… why am I here?” Twilight asked in a confused tone.

“Yes, you are here today because you are no longer just my pupil anymore Twilight, you are now an Element bearer, and with that title you will be a… rather large target for Equestria’s enemies as well. So I am assigning you a guard to protect you, I hope you don't see this as an invasion of privacy, Twilight. I just want to make sure you are not in any danger.” Just as she finished speaking a white unicorn mare wearing gold painted steel amor stepped out from the hallway to greet Twilight.

“Cake, at your service ma’am.” She removed her helmet and bowed to Twilight before levitating it back on. She spoke in a smooth but also rough tone, like she was either tired or very annoyed.

“Uhh, are you sure about this, Princess?” Twilight asked in a worried tone.

“Do not worry Twilight, Cake here is one of my finest guards, I'm sure that you two will warm up to each other in time.”

“Well, I guess… is that all, Princess?” Making friends was outside Twilight's comfort zone and she had just made five last night, now she was going to be trailed by a muscles for brain guard, and sleeping in a new house. How could it get worse for her?

“I'm sorry I had to make you come all the way to Canterlot Twilight, but I thought it might help with the transition a bit more instead of just dropping Cake here on your doorstep. How is the library by the way?”

“It's great…” Twilight said in a tired tone. “If that is all Princess, I should get going and catch the next chariot back to ponyville…”

Celestia sighed. She knew this would take some getting used to for Twilight, but it was better to have her safe and annoyed than unprotected. “Have a safe trip Twilight, I'll be looking forward to your friendship report!” she said with a wink.

“Goodbye Princess…” Twilight said as she began making her way to the door as Cake trotted behind her.

It was a long flight, thirty minutes with not only Spike asking question after question of how it went but also being shoved beside her new foalsitter made Twilight exhausted. When she finally got off the wagon and back into the library, she was happy to find that Fluttershy was there waiting for her, covering her face with her mane and looking just as timid as she was when they first met.

“Hello Fluttershy, what can I help you with today?” Twilight said in a sarcastic tone.

“I was, um- just wondering what happened in Canterlot?” Fluttershy asked.

“It went great!” Twilight brushed past her and went straight up the stairs and into her bed.

Spike walked over to Fluttershy and began to fill her in as Cake got a sense of her surroundings. Books as far as the eye could see and a bitchy noble pony with no history of hard work, she was just as miserable as Twilight. She had hoped joining the Guard would give her life meaning and excitement, not guarding a library...

“So that's her over there, name’s Cake!” Spike told Fluttershy

“Just... Cake?” Fluttershy asked.

“I think so, Twilight didn't respond when I asked her, and I didnt really… you know, want to ask Cake about it,” Spike said a bit cowardly.

“She is a bit scary,” Fluttershy said softly.

“Permission to sleep as well ma’am?” Cake asked, she didn't want to stand guard at the door all day and figured sleeping would at least pass the time.

“Sure,” was all Twilight said as she rolled over and got comfortable.

Cake took off her helmet, her long mish-mashed mane of multiple colors unraveled in a mess of unbrushed chaos, she laid it on the table and took off the rest of her armor. By the time she had it all removed she looked about a foot shorter, and much less muscular than the guards Spike and Twilight had been used to seeing. In fact she was about six inches shorter than the average pony, especially weird since she was a guard where height was almost the defining factor.

“Wow, is it just me or did she shrink, a lot?” Spike asked Fluttershy, who nodded.

“Well, I guess I should get going then, goodbye Spike,” Fluttershy said as she began to leave.

“See ya Fluttershy.” Spike waved goodbye before shutting the door. Cake had carefully placed down all of her armor and was sitting in a chair dozing off.

“We , uh, have a guest bed you can use,” Spike said nervously to Cake.

“Oh, I uh, thought that was your bed…” Cake said confused looking at Spike.

“I sleep in a basket, actually, it's more comfortable than it sounds,.” Spike confessed.

“Well, you do you little dude,” Cake said as she got up and began to climb the stairs up to the bed. Twilight peeked out from the covers, a bit surprised at how unguard-like the mare was. Cake lay down in the bed and began trying to sleep, but after trying and trying she just gave up and decided to look out the window at Ponyville.

“Not a very interesting place, is it?” Twilight said. Cake raised her ears a bit surprised the mare wasn't asleep.

“It's better than Appleoosa ma’am,” Cake said, making Twilight roll her eyes.

“I, um, order you to stop being so… formal, just call me Twilight and speak like a pony,” Twilight said annoyed.

“Ok, thanks!” Cake said, relieved to not be forced to be so stiff all the time around the mare.

“I guess we are stuck with each other, might as well make the best out of it.” The sun began to set and the streets of Ponyville became empty, leaving the ponies with nothing to do but stare at each other.

"So, how did you do it?" Cake asked, intrigued about how a random unicorn was able to defeat a corrupted alicorn.

"It's a long story, let's just say the magic of friendship is more powerful than dark magic," Twilight answered.

Spike crawled up the stairs and began to get ready for bed himself, curled up in his basket. Twilight tucked him in and smiled.

"Friendship? So how many ponies are in the Elements of Harmony?" Cake asked.

"Did Celestia not give you a full report? There’s six, including me, and we all share a different role in what could be defined as 'the perfect friendship'."

Cake nodded in approval. "The magic of friendship is prevalent all throughout Equestria’s past, so It makes sense."

Twilight sighed. "I just don't understand why I would be chosen for such a role by the Elements, I get that my cutie mark is magic but… I've never been one for friends."

Cake nodded understanding how that felt. "It was hard making friends growing up in Appleoosa. With a town population of… one hundred and eight of them are children, four are older than you are and four are younger, never got along with any of them."

"I was around plenty of kids growing up, but I never got along with them myself. I was always reading, and studying; Celestia kept me busy with my studies and I had no reason to desire friendships."

The sun had set and the moon began to rise over the now deserted Ponyville, stars filled the sky raised by Luna for the first time in 1000 years.

"It's such a lovely night, I'm not very tired to be honest…" Twilight said as she pressed her back against the frame of the bed. "I think I will go for a walk."

"Then I will have to join you ma'am, should I get my armor?"
Cake asked, unprofessionally.

"Of course not, let's go, I want to see the moon rise." Twilight carefully slipped out of bed and walked downstairs with Cake following her. Together they walked out of the library and out into the empty Ponyville streets, guided by the moonlight and stars above.

"This place is nothing like Canterlot, much more peaceful and the ponies here don't make noise all night," Cake commented.

"I agree, last night I was so surprised by the lack of construction or carts. I thought there was a curfew, I read an entire book on Ponyville law only to find out that not every place in Equestria stays up all night."

"You read an entire book on law in one night?" Cake asked baffled.

"It's uh… well I read a lot so it's easy for me to do," Twilight answered.

"I couldn't read a chapter of that junk in a week, and here you are doing it in one night," Cake teased.

"Well you don't get to be the Princess’s pupil by NOT reading, do you?" Twilight retorted.

They made it to the park and sat down on one of the benches, Twilight lay down while Cake opted to sit up, only the sound of the fresh summer winds brushing against the trees greeted them.

They sat there for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet, watching the moon glide through space as stars danced about in the midnight sky.

"Well, we've been out here long enough and I'm getting cold, let's get back." Twilight sighed as she got up and began to walk in the direction of the library.

"Yeah, I could use a good night's sleep."

After they returned and got comfortable, they fell asleep as moonlight passed through the window and onto their beds, greeting them into the dream realm and sending their minds through the empty hours of the night.