The Princess' New Bodyguard

Misty tried not to cry eating cupcakes. Opaline never let her eat sweets. Misty had to smuggle them in from outside and hide them with magic or some other trick. To eat one outside at a table, with full daylight on her horn and hundreds of eyes glazing past almost felt like a public speech. The armor hiding her face made it bearable. She wondered how so many other ponies were comfortable living like this.

Normal ponies probably didn’t think about it.

Even in constant streams of walking ponies, Hitch stood out. He flashed grins, and occasionally called names, at anypony who acknowledged him first. Misty swallowed a lick of frosting and straightened. He sat across from her in a white, plastic chair and rested his foreleg on the table.

“Guess you’ll stick out this year, Misty.” Hitch sighed.

“Uh, w-why?” Misty asked.

“No one else passed.” Hitch’s stare fell on the table. “Didn’t exactly meet our quota for the day.”

Misty would stick out no matter what, and there wasn’t anything she could’ve done about it. It would take time for her to be able to move when no one else was looking.

“You think we expect too much?” Hitch asked.

“What do you mean?” Misty asked.

“I mean, expecting ponies to just give up on something they want so badly. When it comes down to it, it’s the right thing to do, but sometimes I wonder if it’s really fair to ask that. They all worked hard to be here, and, I dunno…”

“Well… What kinds of tests were there?”

Hitch’s arm pulled off the table. “Plenty of little things. Pretending to drop some money and seeing if anyone returned it.” He rolled his neck and looked off towards the nearby seafront. “Among other things. One of them was just holding the door open for an older pony. We gave everyone who came here today their own chance. It’s hard to find nice ponies.”

Misty gulped. “I mean, I only helped because I understand what it feels like. I’m not actually a nice pony… And I’m sure there were nice ponies who were running today that wanted to help without giving up on their own dreams.”

Hitch looked up from the table and smiled. “You’ll have to try harder to convince me you’re not a nice pony. C’mon.” He stood. “Let’s get you settled.”

Misty followed.

From the very first step, Misty could see Maretime Palace at the top of the hill. Silence overlaid their hoof steps on the stone path up. With the palace’s golden spires, sunset cast a long shadow for them to follow. Misty couldn’t imagine how many sets of eyes could be watching them from within those walls. Nothing about this mission for her cutie mark would come easy.

This was enemy territory.

Along the final path to the gate, Hitch stopped and swung around.

“I’ll take you to the barracks and show you around,” Hitch said. “Then we start training.”

“Training?” Misty asked.

“It’s just stuff like where to stand, who to talk to. Rules.” He smiled. “I’m pretty good at explaining them. It’s mostly just showing you around.”

Hitch’s face dropped. His wide eyes fell out of focus.

“What is it?” Misty asked.

“I just remembered. I can’t tomorrow,” Hitch said. “Dah, there’s this whole parade thing I have to set up, and–” Hitch paused. “Hey, maybe you could help me out with it tomorrow?”

Misty’s lower lip twitched. “U-uuuh, I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“Don’t worry. It’s just one Mane Street, and I’ll be directing where everything goes. I could just use a hoof with some heavy lifting. That, and you’ll get the chance to see the Princess and everyone else.”

Misty had no idea where the Eclipse Amulet could be in Maretime Palace. Without Hitch to show her around, it would be like wandering a maze. She might as well take the easy options to get more intel; she’d let Hitch show her around the palace after, and use the parade to get a better view of what she was up against.

“Sure!” Misty said. “I’ll help.”

“Thanks Misty.” Hitch’s face relaxed. “You’re a lifesaver already.”

While the outer wall was ten times Misty’s height and topped with gold spikes, the gates themselves were the size of a large pony. Hitch waited in front of a row of black bars at the end of the path. A brown unicorn stallion walked towards them from the other side of the gate. Magic swirled around his horn and arched toward Misty between the bars. Misty’s horn started to tingle.

“What’s this?” Misty asked.

“It’s a spell,” Hitch said. “Once it’s placed on you, it lets you enter the palace. It’s a security measure.”

“O-oh. I see…”

The tingling stopped. Misty could tell a spell had been cast on her. In her mind, it felt like a key in a pocket. She could throw it away and get rid of it, but to study and copy it could take years. Spells as security measures were tricky. If the Eclipse Amulet was protected by a different spell, Misty’s mission could be impossible. Misty imagined only a few guards were allowed to know how to perform the spell protecting the palace; she wouldn’t be surprised if only Princess Starscout knew one for the amulet.

“So, what would happen if I didn’t have the spell?” Misty asked.

“It’s a sleeping spell,” Hitch answered, “so, you’d fall asleep after being inside the bounds for a minute or two. Anyone trying cunny business in the Palace wouldn’t have a ton of time to do it. Thanks, Reg.”

The unicorn stallion nodded. He opened the gate and stepped aside for them to walk through.

Artwork of flying pegasi and running earth ponies marched along the path forward. A dozen flights of carved, stone stairs led up to the Palace’s entrance. A pair of marble pillars raised a roof over the final set of stairs. The towers at the back of Maretime Palace shifted out of view as they drew near.

To Misty’s left and right, other small shacks had been set up. Guards patrolled around the outer wall from inside, as if that spell wouldn’t be enough. There seemed to be a healthy amount of security, from windows to pegasi guards in the air. With so many of them, fitting in might be easier than she thought.

“So, Misty,” Hitch said, “is that an old family set of armor you’ve got on?”

“It’s, a, uh, very old hoof-me-down. Is it okay?”

“Sure is. I’ll try and see what we can do about the wear. Izzy can probably take care of it fast.”

It would probably be best if Misty asked for a new set to blend in better, but she preferred this one. It kept more of herself hidden. That could help her chances.

“Thanks. It means a lot.”

Hitch guided Misty to the real front gates, the ones most ponies would only see the outside of. They weren’t as tall as the outer fences, but they came close. Paintings of earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns coming together around rivers, forests, and wide landscapes covered every inch of what would’ve otherwise been pure steel. Misty could turn her head up high enough to see the top without strain.

Hitch knocked on the gate like it were any other closed door. With a low groan, the gates pulled open.

Right at the start, Misty could see the ocean through a window at the end of a long hall. Stain glass windows depicted the Starscout Crest in wild colors. She felt their light bear down on her with every clanky step forward. Well-kept flowerbeds underlined each window in similar color schemes as the scenes they depicted.

Ponies like Misty weren’t supposed to be here.

Along the path forward, Hitch guided Misty past a pair of guards: a turquoise mare and a lavender stallion.

“Just one?” the mare asked quietly.

“Looks like ol’ Fleetfoot will try and stick it out another year then,” the stallion said.

“Looks like. Kinda disturbing how many people are failing this stuff. I mean, giving somepony their wallet back? Really?”

“There’s a reason that sappy stuff shouldn’t matter… But yeah, seriously, no one did that? Like…?”

Misty really had lucked out to get this far. From here on out, no mistakes.

Hitch turned them to the right down a different hallway at the halfway point. The beauty of the walls dialed back to a level that didn’t make Misty shake in her hooves, but they remained solid marble. After about three turns, she wouldn’t have been able to find her way back by herself. She had to learn the layout by heart before she could make any moves on the Eclipse Amulet. Even gathering information would be a risk otherwise.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Hitch said with his face turned back. “You okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah! I’m okay…”

“For where you’re staying for a bit, we’re heading to a lower level.”

Underground on a cliffside. Misty knew that Maretime Palace ran deep, but she could only guess how much space they had underneath it all. If the Eclipse Amulet were anywhere, it would be somewhere deep inside.

Hitch led to a spiral staircase down. Little lamps in divots on the walls held back total darkness. Misty poked every stair with one of her front hoofs before every step forward.

“Is it always this dark down here?” Misty asked.

“Not usually,” Hitch said. “Buuuut it’s still pretty dark. The rooms here are refurbished dungeons. From, a, uh… different time.”

“Do all of the guards stay down here?”

“No. We ran out of room upstairs because some of them were damaged. Magical mishaps. Getting the funds to fix the damage has been difficult. Sunny’s–” Hitch cleared his throat. “Uh, Princess Starscout has trouble getting people to listen to her budgetary ideas sometimes, even for basic things like that. This really should be temporary though.”

“So, there’s no one else down here?”

Hitch turned so Misty could see his smile. “I could have Captain Izzy stay down here with you. Sorry about the bad first impression. Most of the palace really is gorgeous. Figuring out what to do with this space down here is a pretty big discussion floating around.”

“It’s okay! I don’t mind.”

Misty didn’t mind at all. Dungeons meant security, so she had skipped past as many layers as of as possible with this cover. This was the best head-start she could ask for.

Hitch walked Misty down a stone hallway. Empty spaces were carved into the right wall in intervals. Each had a window that gave a view of the oceanfront outside. Metal nubs jutted out of the four corners where Misty imagined prison bars would’ve been.

At the end of the hall, Hitch swung a right. The space opened to a wide stairwell with a round area at the top. Two windows crisscrossed the orange light of sunset on pink carpeting. A simple bed and drawer were placed in the corner. A lavender curtain with the Starscout Crest hung in a thick bunch at the front corner. A silvery railing the curtain hung from curled across the room’s front.

Misty couldn’t tell what this room would’ve been used for in the past, but she certainly liked it now.

“Yeah,” Hitch breathed out. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I’ll ask about where we can move you tomorrow.”

“I actually really like it,” Misty said smiling. “I’ll be okay.”

Hitch’s face paused, then brightened. “Well, great! We’ll be working through the sunrise, so, I recommend getting some sleep.”

“Will do.”

Misty sauntered forward. The carpet felt plush under her legs. Her body weight almost seemed to ease up on her back. She touched the bed with the front of her hoof. It seemed softer than her own.

“Would you like me to have Captain Izzy come stay with you?” Hitch asked. “I could have another bed brought down.”

Misty whipped her head back. “Oh, no, I’ll be fine! I like, the uh, the privacy.” She stiffly nodded.

“Okay! Well, lemme know if you need anything.”

“Thanks. Good night.”

“Good night, Misty.”

Five minutes after Hitch left, Misty felt safe enough to take off her helmet and the rest of her armor with the curtains closed. A chill in the air ran down her spine. She could see why Hitch didn’t seem pleased about her having to stay here. Despite the dress-up, it was still a cave.

But she was used to worse.

Misty braided her mane into two thick plaits and settled under pink covers on the bed for the night. The bed gave her an angle to stare outside at the sea. Waves pulled back and forth, from the horizon all the way to the cliffs. She fell asleep to the swish of water against rocks.

“Misty?”

Misty fell out of her bed. She pulled the covers around herself and sat up.

Hitch’s foggy shadow remained on the other side of the curtain.

“Sorry,” Hitch spouted. “Didn’t mean to scare you. Uh, just fetching everyone to help set up for the parade. You feeling okay?”

“Yes!”

“Alright. I’ll wait for you at the end of the hall. Take your time. Not many of us are going, so, no pressure.”

“Gotcha.”

Misty raised a hoof to her throbbing head. Now that she was inside, she had a lot of work to do learning the palace interior. She doubted any tour would show her everything, especially about the Eclipse Amulet.

Misty undid her plaits, ran water through her mane, and put on her armor. It fit like yesterday, snug around her face like a disguise; no matter how nice Hitch was to her, she was still only showing him a disguise. Even Opaline didn’t like the pony behind it.

Just as Hitch said, he waited for her at the end of the hall. The stuffy, spiral staircase up smelled differently than the night before. Misty hadn’t expected how strong the scent of the ocean would be. Opaline’s candle collection didn’t do it justice. Misty wrinkled her nose every time they passed by another thin divot in the wall.

At the top of the stairwell, Hitch guided Misty back to the main hall. Sprout was waiting there, along with Captain Izzy. Misty expected there to be more, but given that it was volunteer work, she should’ve expected it. The others probably workeed hard enough already.

“Is all the stuff outside?” Hitch asked.

“All two billion pounds of it,” Sprout groaned out.

“Hey.” Hitch nudged Sprout’s side. “Good job. I’ll take the heavy lifting when we get there.”

Misty didn’t know what they were riding until they left the palace gates behind them.

Some kind of carriage-cart hybrid sat out on the grass. Wooden boxes were piled high in the back of it. A driver’s seat and passenger seat were spaced together in the front, but piles of boxes occupied two more passenger seats in the back. There wasn’t enough room for all of them.

Hitch frowned and walked a wide circle around the cart. The first morning light hadn’t risen over the treeline yet. Even still, Misty imagined Hitch didn’t want to have to take two trips.

“How about you two go on ahead and Misty and I can walk?” Izzy suggested. “Do you remember where all the cookware goes from last year?”

Hitch’s eyes scanned the boxes. “Yeah, I do. Are you two good?”

Izzy waited for Misty to answer.

“U-uh, yeah!” she said. “All good.”

Hitch smiled. “Okay. We’ll see you there.”

Hitch and Sprout took the cart and pulled off. Misty followed behind Izzy.

“You can walk next to me!” Izzy said with her head turned back.

“U-uh, sorry.”

Misty jogged up next to Izzy. She didn’t like walking with somepony she didn’t know without being able to see them fully. They could trip her or steal something from a saddlebag if she was wearing one. Did normal ponies trust each other that much?

“So, uh, what’s this parade for?” Misty asked.

“It’s to celebrate Unity Magic!” Izzy said. “Which ends up being about celebrating the Princess. So, sort of both. Or neither? Or is it everything? You’ll love it!”

“But is there anything we’re supposed to do after we set up?”

“Nah, not really. There’s no need to worry, Misty. This parade is just a small thing the Princess likes to use to raise awareness about issues in Maretime Bay. If you want, we can find a quiet spot to watch from after we set up.”

That sounded nice, but it wouldn’t help Misty blend in. “I’ll be fine helping with anything. What are you going to do?”

“Whatever the Princess asks for help with,” Izzy said, smiling. “I’ll know it’s for a good cause if she asks me.”

Misty didn’t respond. They all had a lot of faith in their Princess. She supposed that was part of the job,

Izzy quietly hummed to herself during their long walk. By the time Misty’s hooves tapped against the stone streets, the entire sky had lit up. Ponies bustled about. This time, thanks to walking with Izzy, they ducked out of Misty’s way instead of the other way around. The streamers and ribbons hanging between buildings remained from yesterday, but the rows of barries marking the previous day’s race had been swapped out with little shops on wheels.

Misty followed Izzy to the center of town.

Hitch and Sprout hustled around a gold-topped gazebo. They carried pots, pans, and metal trays to and from a line of waiting ponies. Based on their clothing, most of them were chefs. The Starscout Crest on a tan stallion’s apron led Misty to believe that they were all from the palace.

A podium had been set up for a pony to speak from. Izzy’s cart, freed from the mountain of boxes, rested from its journey next to a steel railing separating the road from a rocky path down to the beach. Hitch and Sprout bustled around between different tents and stands, speaking with their owners. Several of them were moved to carve out a clear path between the podium and Maretime Palace. Ponies with chalk drew lines across the brick street, followed by a wave of ponies

Ponies, ponies, ponies... Everywhere Misty looked there were more of them.

Izzy waltzed up to Hitch while he fumbled around with an Equestrian flag. “This is looking great, Hitch!” she said. “I guess you really did remember a lot from last year.”

“I try, Izzy,” he said, half-smiling. “The decorations for the streetlights is all you, though.”

“You got it! Let’s do it, Misty!”

“Uh, sure!” she sputtered out.

Izzy trotted off with bundled string lights floating behind her. Again, Misty followed her.

Slowly, Misty helped Izzy set up a long line of string lights between lampposts. While Izzy prettied up tying the lights to them, Misty made sure they were secure and grabbed a new set of lights whenever they needed one. By the time they finished, sunlight came out in full force. The string lights would probably be turned on at night. Misty made a note to ask what events would happen then.

The decorating continued through the morning. Every time Misty asked Izzy where to hang something, she was lost in thought and mumbling to herself. Before Misty could even hang a single banner by herself, Izzy snatched it away from her in her magic and hung it up herself without a thought. Misty wanted to help, but she knew she was only getting in the way. Instead of trying to talk, Misty ferried decorations from the pile of boxes as Izzy worked.

When they finished at noon, the street lights were coated in ribbons and rainbow flags. In the distance, Misty heard the sound of a slow-moving parade on the other side of town. Izzy finished hanging the last bow as a dense crowd. Her playful eyes finally focused on Misty again.

“Alright!” Izzy said. “We’ll wait by the podium.” She trotted past.

“Uh, by the podium?” Misty asked. “For the Princess?”

“Yup! We’ll be there while she gives her speech.”

“O-okay.”

Misty knew she’d see the princess eventually, but she didn’t feel ready. She barely had any intel on the Palace or how life as a guard was supposed to go. Back home, Misty was only used to seeing ponies in tiny amounts, much less talking to them. She wondered if everyone she met could tell.

Times like this, Misty was extra grateful for the helmet covering her face. Even being near the Princess herself, no one would notice if she were traded out for someone else. She could pull this off.

Hitch and Izzy took positions on the left and right side of the podium. Misty assumed they would be the closest, being Captains. She naturally followed and stood next to Izzy, who didn’t complain about where Misty placed herself. Together, they waited.

The parade approached them from straight on. Two lanes of musicians stirred up a clamor with different instruments. A dense crowd, solid as a brick wall, reached out their hooves and cheered on the performance. On top of parade wagons, ponies showcased different talents. Other ponies simply smiled and waved to the crowd. Misty guessed they were celebrities of some kind.

Given that the gazebo marked the end of the line, Misty wondered where the wagons would go after they finished. They rolled around the gazebo came to rest in a wide circle around them.

At the very end of the parade, a wagon dressed with bejeweled curtains slowly followed the path in front of it. A wave of quiet washed over the crowd in its wake. The crowd looked up with various faces; Misty saw everything from awe to fear. The same feelings started to well up in her.

An orange alicorn, with a deep lavender mane, golden wings like a phoenix, and an ethereal horn, kept her green eyes pointed forward. Her face fell into a flat, serene frown. Misty swallowed. She was used to being near an alicorn all the time. She could handle this.

Princess Starscout let the wagon carry her to the front of the gazebo and come to a clean stop. She stepped down two stairs to the ground level and walked behind the podium, taking position like a musician about to perform. She let her eyes wander over the crowd.

Up close, Misty could see yellow shadows on her eyelids. For some reason, she seemed tired.

“My fellow ponies…” the Princess spoke. “Today, we once again celebrate the soul of Maretime Bay, and all of Equestria. We celebrate unity, and the fruit it bears in our homes, families, relationships, and our lives. We live in a world with difficulties, but today, we all share in the joys of making it here another year.” She paused. “We have done well so far. But even on a day as joyous as today, there are members of our community who are in need. There are still calls to action to be made and answered. Our local food pantry is running dangerously low on pasta sauce.”

Misty blinked.

“We need volunteers,” the Princess declared. “We need ponies who will step forward and give the joy of today to those who would otherwise be left out, or it won’t be true unity. And as always, true unity is upheld by ponies who make the sacrifices and do the work to hold our bonds together. And today, that bond will appear as marinara and alfredo sauce on the plates of ponies who wouldn’t otherwise have it. For those looking to volunteer, Maritime Palace’s chefs have been assigned to oversee the process. They will direct you on what to do. Are there any questions?”

A cream filly in the front raised her hoof. “Why are they low on pasta sauce specifically?”

“U-um.” The Princess cleared her throat. “I have no idea… But, yes. Any more questions?”

Silence.

“Then today,” the Princess raised her voice, “let’s bring the marinara… I mean, the magic of unity to everyone!”

Short cheers erupted. Misty’s legs rumbled from the combined roar of so many ponies. The crowd turned into a buzzing horde, magnetized around the chef’s carts. The Princess began to smile at the unfolding scene, and all the chaos accompanying it.

“Captains,” the Princess said, “take time to relax. You did as well as usual this year. You,” she pointed a hoof at Misty, “come with me. I have errands to run.”

Misty’s heart started to race. From what she read, the Princess always needed to have at least one attending guard with her at all times. That meant Misty would be her only defense during a festival filled with ponies. She wasn’t trained for this.

“I can go with you if you want, Sunny,” Izzy said. “Misty here only arrived yesterday, and we still have work to do getting her comfortable at the Palace.”

The Princess’s eyes lit up. “Yesterday?”

Misty flinched under her gaze. The Princess was taller than her and smelled like a flower garden. Misty knew how powerful alicorns could be. She knew to be afraid.

“It won’t be anything stressful,” the Princess said. “Promise.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Misty said. “Um, I don’t know how to–”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hitch said. “Sunny can handle herself. You’ll be with her for, uh… appearance. No stress.”

If Opaline were here, she’d demand Misty to go with her for intel on these “errands.” This chance probably wouldn’t come often. Strategically, it was perfect.

Misty went along with it. “O-okay… Then I will go with you, Princess. Of course.”

The Princess turned. “Alright. This way.”

Izzy and Hitch nodded their encouragement. Misty smiled as she passed them, then her face fell. This would be tougher than she thought.

The Princess left the gazebo and began her walk down a side street without incident. Misty lingered close behind her right side, as protocol called for in the books she read.

Ponies on balconies waved down at the Princess. Whenever the Princess noticed them, she offered a smile and a short wave back. At street level, the ponies' reactions weren’t as strong as Misty thought they would be. A few younger ponies pointed and stared, but the faces of the adults simply brightened seeing the Princess. They must have seen her more often than Misty thought they would.

Misty’s presence seemed to deter the more excited ponies from swarming the Princess, yet she still felt comfortable invisibility in the way eyes glazed over her. She couldn’t tell who was protecting who.

“S-so, where are we going, Princess?” Misty asked.

The Princess’s eyes rolled from left to right. “Nowhere important.”

It seemed like the Princess didn’t want to say with so many ponies around. Misty would have to wait and find out.

After a few turns, the Princess turned down a narrow corridor with dumpsters, trash cans, and loose papers on the ground. No more than three ponies could fit walking side-by-side. Misty noticed white lines scratched into the brick walls on either side. The backs of air conditioners hummed over their heads.

The Princess stopped underneath a high window.

“Up here,” the Princess said. “C’mon.”

The Princess flew up to the window in a single bound, opened it, and slipped in. Misty looked around and hatched a plan to stack a trash can on a dumpster, but right before she got to work, something pushed up under her hooves. She felt herself going up.

A green vine grew out of the street and raised Misty to the window. Staying as still as possible, Misty still wobbled left and right. She wasn’t used to earth pony magic. Trying to reach out her hoof made her feel like she’d fall.

The Princess reached out and grabbed Misty’s foreleg. With a reassuring smile, she pulled Misty in with one tug.

Misty landed on all four hooves. Inside, they were surrounded by boxes and metallic shelves in darkness. Light from the window behind her highlighted dust particles hovering above the wood panel flooring. Misty turned and poked her head back out the window.

The bricks laid on the street reassembled and hid any sign of magic. As expected of an alicorn, the Princess’ magic was strong at every level. Misty pulled her head back inside and took a second look around.

“What is this place?” Misty asked.

“The spa,” the Princess answered. “This is their storage. We’re here for, uh… Maintenance.

Misty couldn’t guess why the Princess wouldn’t want anyone to find out about her going to a spa. It seemed normal. Misty knew it wasn’t her place to ask, but she wanted to.

Forget it. She needed to focus.

Misty followed the Princess through the maze of shelves and down a flight of stairs. At the bottom, the floor turned pink. Curtains blocked out a row of windows that would usually show the street in front of the building. A caramel pony sat in near darkness with a lamp on a desk and a book in her hooves.

“Uh… Hey…! Ruth,” the Princess greeted.

Ruth folded her book and smiled. “Welcome in, Princess.” She flipped a switch and the lights turned on.

Besides Ruth, the spa’s front lobby was otherwise empty. A vacuum cleaner and mop leaned against a corner one step away from the front door. A row of salon chairs was set up in front of mirrors. Piles of hair littered the floors near every chair except for one, furthest in the back.

“The usual today?” Ruth asked.

“Yes, please,” the Princess said. “I’m… I’m exhausted.”

Misty watched the Princess totter to the last chair. The Princess heaved as she sat down. Her stature, face, and eyes sagged all at once. Misty noticed hairs out of place in her mane. All at once, the Princess’ mask came off, and Misty saw a regular, tired pony sitting in her place.

Misty shuffled in place. She wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to stay. This spa visit seemed more private than an “errand.” She didn’t want to interrupt.

If Ruth saw Misty, she didn’t act like it; Ruth walked past her without a second glance, tilted Sunny’s spa chair back, and started on precision work on her elegant eyelashes. Misty sat in place and kept herself rigid. If they didn’t acknowledge her, she was doing something right.

A second mare walked out of a short doorway to a back room. Her mane dark purple mane and a fluffy set of wings bounced up and down at every step. Her hooves were painted a deep, shiny purple with a gold crown on each.

Not that Misty could be the best judge, but she was also short. Misty shuffled her hooves in place. She didn’t usually talk to ponies that were shorter than her. Opaline reminded Misty of how much she had to look down to see her every day.

“Hey Pipp,” the Princess’ voice chimed. “Thanks for agreeing.”

“It’s never a problem, Sunny,” Pipp said. “Thanks for substituting in today too, Ruth. After this, we could all use some R&R, y’know? I’ll order us some great pasta takeout.”

The Princess tiredly chuckled at that.

Misty recognized that pony now, and the name Pipp. She was royalty from Zephyr Heights. Maretme Bay didn’t contain the only royalty in Equestria. Misty bowed her head like she should have earlier. Pipp didn’t notice, sizing up Sunny’s face and setting off to work with a tiny razor.

A few silent minutes passed. Misty waited. Ruth and Pipp pulled Sunny’s purple mane out to full length. Misty watched the end of it swing back and forth over the tiled floor. Even unfinished, her mane had a natural sheen to it, like clean metal.

“You’ve got yourself a real careful one there, huh?” Pipp said softly.

Misty blinked. She’d been staring. “U-uh, I’m sorry?” she mumbled.

Pipp spared Misty a glance. “Oh, you’re fine. No worries.”

“May I ask a question?” Misty blurted.

“What is it?”

She inhaled a deep breath. “Um… why are you in a spa here if you could do this at the Palace?

Misty wouldn’t get any closer to the Eclipse Amulet if she only asked suspicious questions; she needed to ask plenty if she wanted to disguise the important ones.

“Oh, you must be new here,” Pipp said, smiling. “Yeah, Sunny calls it an errand, but really she’s just too shy to tell anyone that she needs to relax. Plus, I run this place, so I have all my stuff here.”

A Princess running a spa? Misty had never read about Princesses doing anything like that before.

“She helped volunteer to set up for the parade with Hitch and Izzy,” the Princess said. “I never caught her name?”

“Uh, M-Misty,” she said.

“Well, thank you for volunteering to help those two out, Misty,” Pipp said. “Would you mind giving me a razor from underneath that desk over there? It’s the biggest one in that bucket.”

Misty traced Pipp’s extended foreleg to find that Pipp was pointing at the front desk. “Sure,” Misty said.

Misty stood, walked over, and bent down. A second layer under the front desk was loaded with hairclips she didn’t recognize. The razor Pipp asked for was shaped more like a comb, complete with a handle and little fangs. Misty pulled it out from a glass bottle of other strange-looking razors and walked back over.

Misty gave Pipp the razor and stepped back. As Pipp stared at it in her hoof, her smile fell. She froze in place.

“Um, are you… okay?” Misty asked.

Pipp’s eyes locked onto Misty’s face. “Uh, Misty?” she said. “Lift up your hoof for me again.”

Misty did so.

Pipp’s neutral face turned sour. She sped towards Misty, snatched her hoof, and practically touched her nose to it. Misty pulled back on instinct.

“Ruth,” Pipp said. “Go to the back and bring the tools. Then set up for me. I’ll need the extra space to work.”

The Princess opened her closed eyes. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“It’s fine, Sunny,” Pipp said. “Ruth will take care of you. I just… can’t let anyone step in here and leave like this.”

Pipp looked at Misty with a terrifying warmth in her eyes. Misty curled her hoof against her chest. Looking at Pipp’s face, especially her soft, green eyes, became a difficulty. A knot in her stomach stuffed out her voice.

Ruth walked through the doorway to the back of the spa. After another deep stare, Pipp returned to Sunny’s side and worked for another few minutes. When Ruth returned, Pipp silently passed her the razor and hurried Misty to the same doorway.

The room in the back of the spa had been cleared out. Misty saw it as a break room, with a fridge and water container in the corner A foldable table and chairs were set aside against a wall. Over the carpet, a white mat was laid out in the middle of the room. On the mat, a black table with a head-shaped hole at the top stood idle.

Misty stalked in a short circle around the table and eyed it.

“Go ahead and lie down,” Pipp said, staring. “It’s okay,” her voice softened. “I got you.”

Royalty from Zephyr Heights were friends to the Equestrian crown. Opaline only cared about alicorns, but Misty’s research told her what type of control this different princess had. It would be best if Misty did anything Pipp told her to.

Misty pinched her lips together in a smile and laid down on her front. Her legs hung off either side of the table. The outside metal of her armor pushed against her chest. At the click of a button, the table’s height increased until Misty's hooves were at the height of Pipp’s eyes.

“So,” Pipp huffed, “Misty, don’t you have anyone to take you to get your hooves done? Family?”

Misty didn’t know if Opaline counted as family. “Oh, um… I don’t have family or anything like that.” She started to talk slower. Pip started to scrape at her hoof with a hook-shaped blade. “And I’m not… uh, royalty. I don’t get my hooves done.”

Pipp chuckled dryly. “U-uhm, like, everyone ever gets their hooves done? Whoever told you only royalty gets it?”

“No one…” Misty squeaked.

“Just for that, you’re getting the royal treatment today. Let me just…”

Pipp swapped the blade out for a massive pair of clippers.

“U-uhaaaauuuuh, what’s that?” Misty asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Pipp said. “Well, actually, it’s just that your hooves are out of shape and I need to put them back into shape, so… You don’t mind, do you?”

“N-no. Not at all, Princess.”

Pipp lowered her gaze and chuckled. “Just Pipp is fine.”

Misty cringed at every enormous cut Pipp made. She’d never been very attached to her hooves, but she should’ve thought ahead. Princesses and Palace goers would have high standards for looking nice. If she had handled her hooves ahead of time, she would’ve fit in better. She wondered how many other little mistakes she made before arriving.

After Pipp finished with her giant clippers, she took and grated the sides of Misty’s hooves like cheese. The rumble ran up each of Misty’s legs. From there, she returned to her tiny blade and chipped away at the bottom. The mat under the table darkened a shade from all of Misty’s hoof clippings.

“So, Misty, how long have you been with the Princess?”

“I, uh, started yesterday,” Misty answered.

“Really? Well, I could help you look spiffy for your new job then. How about I set you up to enjoy the festival tonight? You worked hard today.”

“Y-you don’t have to.”

“Oh, I don’t mind. In fact, I’d love to help out.”

By the time, Pipp finished, it looked like she lopped off one of Misty’s hooves and scattered it on the mat in shavings. Pipp lowered her eyes and checked each hoof individually before she walked back from the table, framed her view of Misty with her forelegs, and smiled.

“Alright!” Pipp said. “That is much better. So, how about you try walking on it and seeing how it feels?”

The table lowered. Misty pushed off the table and walked off of the mat. The pressure of her weight evened out under her hooves. She raised one to her nose to inspect it. The sides were smoothed out, and the bottom was cut into a cleaner shape. Misty never had the best balance. That could’ve just changed.

“This feels… good,” Misty said. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Pipp tilted her head and held a hoof to her chin. “Now, I can’t really get a good read on you with all that junk on…” Her face lit up. “I mean, uh, stuff. Here, you can set your stuff down in the corner.”

“Uh, I think I’m supposed to be wearing this armor and stuff…”

“Don’t worry,” she insisted. “I think I can make you look a bit more spiffy in that. I’m going to go check on Ruth, but when I’m back, I’ll get you more settled in.”

It wouldn’t be wise to turn down a kindness. For all Misty knew, this Princess could get angry if she turned her down. It’d be better not to risk anything. If her hooves ended up better, whatever else she had planned might not end up so bad.

Pipp walked out to the front of the spa and closed the door behind her. Misty took off her armor one piece at a time, leaving on the cloth layer underneath. If Pipp asked for that, she’d have to make up an excuse. Misty couldn’t let her or anyone else figure out that she didn’t have a cutie mark.

The door clicked. Pipp came back into the room and stopped.

“You’re so adorable…” Her eyes widened. “Oh my gooooosh, and your mane… You really know how to take care of it.”

Misty smiled and glanced to her left and right. Pipp’s eyes continuously jumped between looking at different points of Misty's head.

“Okay,” Pipp said. “Hitch came and is taking care of Sunny’s errands with her, so we have all day. Let’s do a facial, mane wash, clean shave, a hooficure, redo those two braids, and take a trip to the sauna.”

“Uh… That seems like a lot,” Misty said.

“Just wait till you see the results.”

After, Misty fell to the call of sleep. She couldn’t help it. Something about Pipp relaxed her. With he sauna’s heat still soaked into her skin, the little hums and scratch of a brush against her hooves serenaded her. She only woke up when the pleasant noises stopped.

Misty had ended up sitting in the same salon chair that the Princess used to be in. When she looked up in the mirror, she saw her hair freshly done and her face with warm colors. Each of her hooves were painted gold like her armor, topped by the Unity symbol Equestrian flag.

“Oh wow,” Misty said. “I don’t deserve this…”

“Sounds like you do to me,” she said. “He was only here for a few minutes, but Hitch told me all about this year’s most difficult test of character.”

“Anyone should help a pony in need.”

“I mean, of course. In theory. But it’s not easy. Sometimes to gain everything, you gotta give up everything. It can be tough, y’know?”

Mist couldn’tdeny that.

One piece at a time, Pipp refitted Misty’s armor and tied it back on. When she got to the helmet, she held it u in front of the mirror and frowned.

“Ugh, helmets are so last year…” Pipp said. “Do you really want to wear this?”

Misty frowned. “I, uh, like how it covers me. So ponies don’t look at me.”

In the mirror, Misty watched Pipp craft and display a fake smile. “Okay. How about we get you back to Sunny?”

“Okay.”

Pipp set the helmet back on Misty’s head. Even with how much of Misty it covered, she still looked a bit like a different pony underneath. Maybe she’d take off the helmet sometime, but not tonight. There were just too many ponies everywhere.

Pipp guided Misty to leave out the front door. Out on the street, the number of roaming ponies had doubled. The last red and pink of sunset drifted away over the ocean. Pipp strangled the building’s handle to get it to lock, breathed deep, laughed it off, and set off down the street. Misty followed.

The crowds formed into two lines moving in either direction. Misty did her best to keep track of Pipp’s tail; because of her height, the rest of her got covered by every pony that passed between them. The constant chatter and loud voices of young ponies heated up her ears.

When Misty estimated they were halfway back, the voices changed. Some are panicked. Pipp's tail started to lash out with every step.

“Is something wrong?” Misty asked, but her voice drowned in all the noise.

The amount of ponies around cleared out. Pipp broke out into a short jog in an open area. Misty followed.

The string lights on the street to the gazebo flickered on and off. Cuts exposed their copper wires, spitting sparks and embers in random directions. They snaked between lampposts and whipped the ground. In the middle of it all, a small, yellow pegasus, a child, dangled by her wing, tangled in a knot of string lights under a lampposts’ lightbulb. Her cries filled the air. Misty stopped along the edge of the crowd.

“What happened?” Pipp demanded.

A green stallion from behind raised his voice, “Princess! There was an accident! Someone needs to get her fast!”

Pipp looked up, stretched out her wings, and flew. She changed directions in short bursts, but the lights moved too fast to track. One of them slapped against her wing and sent her on a spiral back to the ground. She landed hard on her hooves with a little trail of steam from her feathers.

“I, like, totally can’t fly up there without my wings getting fried!” Pipp flared her wings and grit her teeth. “Ugh! Earth ponies!?”

A small group of earth ponies came together and stomped the ground. A vine burst up towards the top of the post.

The sparks lit the vine on fire. It seized and toppled over back onto the street. Nearby unicorns in the crowd started to shovel every water source they could find onto it, to quick success. The flames were out in seconds, but they didn’t make any progress.

“Where’s the power source!? Does anybody see?”

“There’s no time! She needs help now!”

The lamppost the child hung from was surrounded by sparking lights. It couldn’t be climbed directly. If Misty caught the wires in her magic, she risked making the unpredictable movements shift towards the child aor damaging the wires tangling her wing.. Misty needed a point of entry.

Misty saw a way: three of the empty wooden boxesboxes stacked together could make stairs. If she climbed up to the lamppost adjacent to the one the girl was trapped on, she could jump from it, above all the electrical chaos on the pole, and reach the child. If nothing changed, she could even get out the same way. She had to act.

Misty untied her armor. It’d weigh her down, and the metal probably wouldn’t be good news around eletrcity. She threw her helmet aside and ran. With a wave of her horn, Misty yanked boxes next to the adjacent lamppost and stacked them upside-down into two stairsteps. She hopped up each one, then made a final leap for the top. Her hooves coiled around the cold metal.

With a slight heave, Misty pulled herself up and balanced on the thin top. She revved herself up to jump to the top of the other post to reach the child.

“Whoa, Misty!” Pipp called. “H-hold on! What are you doing?”

Misty flew. She started to fall short before her forelegs wrapped around the pole. The tip of her tail grazed a wire before she pulled herself up.

Once on top of the post, Misty balanced on her hooves and walked across a metal curve to the edge, on top of the lightbulb. The child hung by her wing underneath her; her back legs barely dangled over the whipping wires below. Misty bent down, grabbed the child in her magic, and lifted her up to eye level.

The child was hyperventilating and sweating. Her lower jaw shook as she spoke, “The lights were flickered off, and I couldn’t see them, and–”

“It’s okay,” Misty said. “Stay still for me. I’m going to untangle you.”

“But b-my wing! It hurts! I can’t fly!”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let you go.”

Misty carefully pulled on the string lights to give more slack around around the child’s feathers. With a tug, Misty freed her. She slowly lowered the leftover tangleof wires back under them and turned.

The lights around the post Misty first climbed had started to sizzle and act up. Sparks and bolts trailed all the way up to the lightbulb and shattered it. The new electricityt blocked the exit Misty had planned. They were surrounded. Misty only saw a way out for the child. With her magic, she grabbed all of the strings lashing out above them and yanked them down.

“Pipp!” Misty called. “From above!” She pointed her hoof up.

Pipp got the message. She flew in a wide arc around all of the wires and went high. With Misty holding the cables down, Piipp was able to float in from above without getting scorched.

“Take her,” Misty said.

“What about you?” Pipp asked.

“Take her!”

Misty shoved the girl in Pipp’s a graps and pushed her back. up The cables started to slip out of her magic’s grip. Pipp flapped hard and took off before they ran out of control. With no other plans, Misty covered her head with her forelegs.

At least the child was out.

“Princess Starscout!” someone screamed. “Up there! Quick!”

Electric bolts crawled up the side of the post Misty hung onto. She let go of the post and hoped for the best.

A orange blur blocked out Misty’s vision. Her descent slowed to a steady, consistent pace. A legwrapped around her back and held firm. Around her, the wires smacked against a bright orange wall and bounced away.

The Princess had caught Misty and surrounded them both in a magic bubble. She lowered them boto to the grond with slow flaps of her fiery, golden wings.The wires limited how much the Princess could move, and the magic required a lot of effort to maintain under the amount of pressure.

“Hitch!” the Princess called. “One block to the left! Shut off the breaker!”

“Princess!” Misty shouted.

Misty ignited her horn to help. The magic bubble around them grew in size. The strain on Sunny’s face eased back into a cool focus. The sound of the impact from the jumping wires and sparks dulled. The reflections lit the Princess’ green eyes on fire. Every flap of her wings reinforced the barrier and brightened its glow.

The Princesss really was beautiful.

All at once, the wires stopped. Misty released her magic stop and groaned. Once the silence took hold, the Princess dispelled her barrier and looked around the newly dark Mane Street. Th only lights left came from phones and other little devices. It was over.

“That was a bit of a workout…” Sunny exhaled and started to smile. She caught her breath in seconds and smiled. “Whoo… You good?”

“Hheheh… Aah…” Misty’s body forced a gritty inhale. “Gh!”

Something told Misty to look down.

A black streak ran down Misty’s right foreleg. She wasn’t catching her breath. In fact, it was getting harder. Heat ran up her leg and turned into fire. Misty took the weight off of it, but it didn’t help. It burned and it wouldn’t stop.

“O-oh, that… Hngh!” her voice snapped. Tears started to stream down. “T-that hurts.”

The Princess’ outstretched leg kept Misty from collapsing.

“M-medic!” the Princess cried.