Canterlot Academy Trials

Back in Lee’s past…

The two had started to get along mostly in secret. Lee would often have to convince her parents that she was playing with friends that belonged to the nobility rather than a random peasant she quite literally found on the street. They did quite a lot together from practicing tai chi and even working on her garden, effectively disguising ‘Bullet’ as one of the palace workers.

“You like flowers too?” Lee asked.

“They can be used for lots of different things!” Yin Bei answered, “Medicine, paint, even kindling. The world of nature in general is very fascinating.”

“...I never would’ve guessed,” Lee muttered in awe. As it turned out, there were many things she was unfamiliar with due to having been sheltered by her parents for so long. The fact that flowers could be used for paint in particular was something she wanted to know more about.

However, before she could ask more, she was called into the palace by her father where he would have Lee meet with a monkey boy her age from a neighboring noble House in the region.

“Get along well with him,” he commanded as he pushed her towards the other primate--a ring-tailed lemur boy with a smug smile on his face.

“Charmed I’m sure,” the lemur boy took her hand and kissed it, causing Lee to react in disgust as she pulled it back. “Can’t resist me, can you? It’s fine. I know I’m the best guy around here.”

“...ew,” she muttered in disgust while glaring at him with murderous contempt in her eyes. Already she was turned off by this fellow noble’s arrogance which immediately tipped her off as to how he was raised.

But her father noticed this and practically forced her to agree. “...we need his family’s good fortune. Get along with him or face punishment.”

In the present…

“...yiiikes,” Spearklip muttered in disbelief from what she heard Lee recount, “So your father pretty much forced you into these arranged marriages? That’s disgusting! What about your mother? Please don’t tell me she agreed to this.”

Lee simply glanced at the zebra with a bored, almost defeated expression in silence which pretty much conveyed the answer that Spear was not hoping to hear, causing the zebra to react with an uncomfortable frown.

“...unfortunate,” she replied with a sigh, “Your mother sounds as if she was a part of the systematic balance, yet she wanted you to follow it like she did? Why?”

“For the ‘good of the House’” Lee mockingly added with airquotes from her fingers, “Allow me to explain further…”

As time went on, months passed. Then years. Lee would still continue to meet up with Bullet entirely in secret since he was now a member of their noble houses’s workforce. By the time they turned 17, Lee’s mother had noticed just how much time they had spent with each other. Given that her daughter was close to the age of maturity and all the other marriage proposals simply fell through due to lack of interest from both sides, Lee’s mother was adamant on making her daughter work to what she wanted.

“...my dear,” her mother chastised her, “I’ve noticed you’ve been speaking quite a lot with one of our field workers. Why?”

“Oh um…” Lee scratched the back of her head with a nervous smile on her face, “...I’ve just been giving him orders! Y-yes…that is is.”

“...very well. But don’t associate yourself too closely with the commonfolk,” the mother monkey insisted upon her daughter, “You have to be presentable for whichever man your father picks out for you. We have had far too many failed instances of marriage for you young lady. That stops soon.”

“...y-yeah…sure…” Was all Lee responded with. A less-than enthused mutter as her mother left the room.

“What was that about?” Bullet asked as he approached her, having planted a new row of lotus flowers--the Houses’ symbol plant.

“...nothing,” she shook her head, “...by the way, you don’t need to continue working so hard if you don’t want to, Yin Bei. It’s okay.”

Despite this, Bullet was more than happy. “Are you kidding? I’ve documented more than twenty types of hummingbirds around here while working! At this rate with the money I’m getting paid, I might actually be able to afford to go to school soon!”

Those words put a weak, flimsy smile on Lee’s face. She was determined to do all she could even if her parents didn’t approve of her choices. “...go to my room and I shall bring you some food. Okay?”

“Oh, yes ma’am!” he gave a dutiful salute, willing to follow his Lady’s orders.

In the present…

“I see…so it sounds as if Bullet was happy working for you as a peasant servant. You also seemed to adore his cheerful, calm demeanor above all else,” Spear used her deduction skills to rationalize Lee’s attraction to Bullet in their youth. “It was a far cry from the other proposals you had.”

“Yes!” Lee agreed vehemently, “All of the boys and men I were arranged with acted the exact same. Arrogant and selfish. Only thinking of me as an object…then there was the moment that nearly got him in trouble…”

“Talk to me about it,” Spear encouraged her, “I’m sure being in this new environment far away from home has presented communication challenges for you, but I’m here for you, Lee.”

“...thank you, Spear. In short, it went something like this…”

After Lee’s 18th birthday--which occurred not long after Bullet had also turned 18--she was officially deemed eligible for not only marriage, but sexual maturity as well. As a result, her parents started to arrange her with whoever they deemed ready for her…no matter the lack of manners.

“Nice to meet you, babe,” an ape man walked into her palace room and immediately forced her upon her bed, groping her breasts which caused her to let out an uncomfortable squeal.

“Ach! Get your mitts off of me you pervert!”

“Hey, your mom said you liked this stuff. After all, parents never lie about their kids wishes~”

“Dhhhg!” Furious, Lee punched the ape man dead in the face, knocking him off of her, followed by Bullet jumping in through the window.

“What’s going on in here?!”

The ape, not wanting to bring harm to a woman, would lash out at Bullet instead, “Stay out of this, you peasant!” and charged at him.

Bullet simply stepped aside, and allowed the ape to fall out of the open window…onto the open deck below where Lee’s parents were talking to the ape’s parents.

Both Bullet and Lee glanced down out of the window as all of the adults took notice of what happened.

“...Oh no,” Lee mumbled out of concern. “How will I explain this to them?”

“...” In his infinite wisdom, the young Bullet snapped his fingers and parroted a line he heard from a movie. “...It’s okay. We can simply say he wanted to catch some fresh air.”

“...” Lee glared at the monkey boy with narrowed eyes, causing him to react with a wide, dumb grin and a shrug of his shoulders.

“...or something like that?”

“HAHAHA!” Lee suddenly started laughing and had to wipe a tear from her eye, “...you’re such a dork. I love it. Did you get that from a movie or a book? And thank you for coming in to check on me…”

“...a movie…hehe…and it was no big deal, really,” he replied with a small blush.

“Please show it to me sometime.”

In the present…

“...Sounds like you loved him a lot after that,” Spear replied to that bit of Lee’s story with a smile, “And he does sound like a lovable guy with charm. The fact that he was willing to put himself in danger just to make sure you were okay is very noble of him. So what happened after that?”

Lee would answer with a nervous smile, “...Lots of…private time between me and him-”