My Life Sucks

Silver Spanner trotted around Sunset’s room before pausing in front of a glass case next to her bed that had a shiny crown sitting inside on a folded up blanket.

“Wow,” Silver Spanner muttered and Twinkleshine looked over. “She even has her own crown.”

“Well, yeah. I’ve seen her wear it a few times. Mostly during official royal business or around Equestria where she’s needed,” Twinkleshine commented and continued reading the books on Sunset’s shelf. “Hey Sunset?”

“Yeah?”

Sunset laid on her floor, her legs crossed as she continued to organize her painting supplies that was shoved in the corner of her room and she yawned, levitating her water bottle next to her.

“Since when were you interested in art?” Twinkleshine inquired and Sunset sat up. “There’s a lot of art books on the lower shelf. I also noticed you have your shelf organized by genre. Lots of history and action novels.”

“Since forever I guess, I don’t know. I like to paint. Moment of silence for the legends of art,” Sunset raised a hoof and the three sat in silence for a few moments. “Alright, moments over.”

Twinkleshine shrugged and sat down next to the window and she looked around at all the plushes and other stuffed animals in the room. And here she thought Lemon Hearts had a lot of stuffed animals. Nothing compared to how many Sunset had.

“How did everypony get their cutie marks?” Silver Spanner asked and the brown unicorn laid down on her stomach across from Sunset and Twinkleshine. “Twinkleshine, go.”

“I got it after I got my first telescope when I was five. I was using it one night and was looking at Neptune when I randomly got my cutie mark,” Twinkleshine jabbed a hoof at the three blue stars adorning her flanks. “And boom. I’m big into astronomy and all. That’s how Minuette and I met. We were in kindergarten, she’s annoyingly optimistic, by the way. We hit it off, she came over and wanted to use it. She accidentally broke it and that was the first time in my life I ever got angry and yelled at her to leave and never come back. She ran home crying and I vowed after to never get angry again or say anything that’ll hurt anyponys feelings.”

“Wow,” Silver Spanner said after a moment of silence. “You don’t seem like the angry yelling type.”

“I mellowed out as I got older. You’re turn.”

“Fixed the house radio when I was seven. Dad had been cursing up a storm, he went to go find the part he needed and it was under the couch. I put it on and boom, loud rock music. I glowed a light brown my wrench cutie mark appeared. I’ve always loved fixing stuff and tinkering around. Guess that was the lucky one, " Silver Spanner shrugged and looked at her own cutie mark. “That leaves Sunset. Spill.”

“Oh boy. I tried a spell on the edge of Canterlot, it didn’t work well. I kinda blew up something and set Canterlot on fire. It got put out and months later, I returned to the same spot as before to try again. This time, it worked and I teleported back to my room. I glowed a bright red and orange and got my cutie mark. The gold represents my achievements in life and the red is my ambition to my goals. Or fire, depending on who you ask.”

Twinkleshine hummed as she watched Sunset open the window. Everypony remembered that incident happening. And the three other times Sunset set something on fire or turned a building into rubble. Or random streamers that one time. Probably the weirdest was when she accidentally conjured up pink clouds raining chocolate milk. That was a weird afternoon for everypony.

Especially Celestia for some reason. According to rumors Twinkleshine heard, the Princess acted weird the entire day and stayed in doors after reassuring everypony the world wasn’t ending.

Sunset let out a loud whistle and Silver Spanner ducked as a red and orange bird flew inside.

“Uh you got a bird?”

“Phoenix technically, but yes, Philomena is classified as a bird. Quit showing off,” Sunset scowled as Philomena stood on her back and fluffed her wings. “She does that a lot. Figured this was as good as any other conversation starter. You two got pets?”

“Got a cat,” Twinkleshine raised a hoof and Silver Spanner shook her head.

“Well, not yet at least. My parents keep say they’ll get me a dog one day but it hasn’t happened yet. Dogs are expensive and so is living in Canterlot. At least the house was mysteriously paid off,” Silver Spanner scratched the back of her head. “Still don’t know why. Or who’s paying me to attend school here.”

Twinkleshine and Sunset both exchanged a confused look. Nopony got paid to attend the CSGU, not even Sunset and she was a Princess.

“Or well, paying my family. It’s really weird. My parents have refused more details, but I’ve listened to them talk to each other at night when they think I’m asleep. The horrors I’ve heard accidentally,” Silver Spanner shuddered. “Even they don’t know. Checks randomly appear on our doorstep.”

“Huh,” Sunset mused and she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes as Philomena jumped off her shoulder and flew over to Twinkleshines head before landing on her. “I guess she likes you.”

“I guess so. Who’s a cute little phoenix? You are.”

Philomena cawed and Sunset smiled slightly before turning back to Silver Spanner.

“That’s a bit weird.”

“I know.”

Sunset tapped a hoof against her chin. Celestia hadn’t told her anything about this. Sunset was pretty sure it wasn’t anypony at the school responsible. Celestia knew everything that went on at her school and was fairly strict when it came to her staff.

“Anyway,” Silver Spanner coughed into a hoof and glanced at Twinkleshine. “You seeing anypony? Half of the school is dating each other from what I’ve been hearing. So who you two got?”

“Oh, I’m not looking,” Twinkleshine waved a hoof and blushed. “Yet at least. I’m weighing my options. I’ve had a few colts ask, but I’ve turned them down. I don’t know anything about Lyra, Minuette or Lemon Hearts, so I can’t say there. Same with Twilight. Spike is interested in Moondancer, though according to Minuette. It’s kinda adorable, to be honest.”

“I’m not interested in dating. I’m too busy with stuff. And besides, not even my mom is dating anypony. I’ve never once seen her with a stallion or a mare. I did hear a rumor that Princess Cadence is interested in a royal guard but I’m sworn to secrecy,” Sunset zipped a hoof over her mouth. “Not that I see the Love Princess much. She stays in the Crystal Empire. But she’s nice, I like her. She’s apparently related to me somehow and I haven’t yet figured out how. Don’t really care to, honestly. I love all family. Even Blueblood and I want to strangle the heck out of him some days.”

The three shared a laugh as Philomena curled up on Twinkleshines head and her eyes rolled up briefly to look at her mane.

“Do you not curse?” Silver Spanner asked suddenly and Sunset looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “The entire short time I’ve known you, you’ve never sworn once. Even Twinkleshine curses more than any other Canterlotian other than Lyra and some royal guards.”

“I cursed once and the after effects were devastating, truly devastating,” Sunset shuddered and looked around. “Mom washed my mouth out with soap. And not the good smelling kind either. I said the H word.”

“The H word? Hell? Hay?” Twinkleshine asked and Sunset nodded solemnly.

“The second one. Mom was not happy. I was grounded for a week too. Not even she curses. If anypony here would, I thought it would be her. Her job is much tougher than anything I have going on.”

Sunset took a sip of her water and set it aside. The only ponies Sunset knew that cursed were Comet, Thunder, Cobalt, Angel Wings, Blue Ivy and Raven, surprisingly.

She didn’t necessarily care if ponies cursed around her. Freedom of speech and all that.

“Even if I didn’t like cursing, I’d still support ponies cursing. I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it,” Sunset shrugged and paused. “Unless you burn my mom’s flag or mine or Cadance’s or the Equestrian flag. Then you go the gallows for treason.”

The other two gulped and Sunset relaxed a bit, stroking Philomena from her spot.

“We haven’t executed ponies for treason in over a thousand years. I highly doubt we’d start now,” Twinkleshine mused and Silver Spanner found herself nodding in agreement. She was personally all for it if it was necessary, which she had a feeling would make most Canterlotians uncomfortable. But Silver Spanner was unapologetically herself. If anypony didn’t like that, their loss in her eyes.

“Yeah, true. So what now?” Sunset asked as she hugged a stuffed animal to her chest.

“Got any board games?” Silver Spanner suggested and Twinkleshine nudged her saddlebag she had put in the corner. “Whoever has the strongest accent goes first.”

The two both looked at her then looking at each other before looking back at her slowly.

“That would probably be you, if we’re going by non native Canterlot accent. You have a very cute country accent, especially when angry according to Twilight,” Twinkleshine commented casually and Sunset stifled a laugh. “If we’re going by accents as a whole, that would be me. I have a very noticeable Canterlot accent, even to me.”

Sunset agreed with that. Even if she hadn’t been introduced as a new student, Sunset would have immediately known Silver Spanner was new. Accents like the one she has isn’t common around Canterlot. It was like taking a pony from Whinnyappolis and shoving them into Manehatten. Sunset now idly wondered what would happen if she did that out of curiosity to watch.

“Accents in general so Twinkleshine goes first. What do you think my parents are doing with your mom right now?”

Sunset shrugged.

“Your guess is as good as mine, honestly.”

Sweetie Charm sat awkwardly on a couch next to her husband and across from Princess Celestia sipped her tea.

“You have a very lovely daughter,” Celestia commented with a large warm smile. “Very intelligent too. I’ve heard very good things from her teachers.”

“T-Thank you Princess Celestia,” Sweetie bowed her head and smiled slightly. “We’re very proud of her.”

“Celestia is fine here. We’re alone after all and our children are friends. It’s normal to be on a first name basis and besides, I hate always being referred to as Princess Celestia. I like whenever I get to be just Celestia.”

Sweetie and Oil looked at each other.

“Uhm okay.”

“So what made you decide on the CSGU? I read her file and read that she went to a school in Ponyville. Very good grades she had there as well. Ponyville has a fairly decent school, believe it or not,” Celestia tucked her tail under her as she took another sip of her tea.

“Uh well we got invited to send her there,” Oil Canvas answered and the stallion nuzzled Sweetie briefly. “It came directly from the school.”

“Come again?” Celestia raised an eyebrow and gave them confused looks. “You got a letter from my school?”

“Yeah. With keys to a paid off house and money every month to send her there. We assumed since it was your school that it came directly from you or from somepony with your sign off,” Sweetie added and Celestia frowned slightly as she set the cup down.

“I haven’t heard anything about this. I haven’t sent out any letters like that all year. It’s a pretty rare thing to have happen,” Celestia tapped a hoof against her chin. “Do you still have the letter?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s in the same in my room,” Oil answered and brushed his mane awkwardly with his hoof. “Why do you ask?”

“I’d like to see it. How much do you get for sending her to the CSGU?”

“Fifteen hundred bits,” Sweetie told her and Celestia raised an eyebrow. It may not seem like a lot to some, but add it up over twelve months until she turned eighteen and graduated, that was a lot of bits. And as much as Celestia would like to, she legally couldn’t use bits from the treasury on stuff like that. It was a law she had long since introduced to prevent other ponies that got elected into the government from abusing their position. “Is something wrong? I knew we should have never gone through with it. As much as we love Ponyville, it’s not that well catered to teaching unicorns. We just wanted her to have a decent education.”

Celestia examined them briefly and smiled slightly at them.

“Nothing is wrong,” Celestia settled on and they both relaxed visibly. “You two made the right decision. In the meantime, I’ll make some adjustments to the school in Ponyville for unicorns. Now, tell me what you two do for work?”

“Okay, since I moved five spaces, I knock Sunset back to her home,” Twinkleshine announced as she used her magic to move Sunset’s pawn back to her home and placed her own blue one in it’s spot. “I wonder who even decided to call this game Trouble in the first place.”

“Because they know that once I get my hooves on them, they’ll be in big trouble,” Sunset grumbled and she watched Silver Spanner push down on the plastic bubble with the encased dice. The popping sound was oddly satisfying, Sunset realized.

“Three, joy.”

“Can I ask a weird question?” Twinkleshine asked as Silver Spanner used her hoof to move her pawn and the mare rolled her hoof in the air in response. “Why do you prefer hooves over magic?”

“Earth pony town. It’s just easier for some things I’ve realized. Both my parents are earth ponies so I’ve always been a bit stronger physically than the normal unicorn. It makes being a mechanic way easier. Magic does help though with getting tools from far away that I’m too lazy to get up and grab.”

That checks out, Twinkleshine thought as she watched Sunset go next.

“What’s Ponyville like?”

“Depends on the day. One day it’s quiet, the next the town is having a random sing along,” Silver Spanner answered absent mindedly and she laid on her side ontop of her blanket. “Or getting ransacked by monsters. Last year we had a stampede of elk. That was an experience in itself.”

“What?”

“Yeah, wild shit. You get used to it. We all did in Ponyville,” Silver Spanner answered and looked at their shocked faces. “What?”

“How are you so.. ?” Sunset searched for the right word as she waved a hoof around in the air. Thankfully, Silver Spanner opted to finish her sentence forher.

“So nonchalant about it all?” Silver Spanner asked and the two nodded as she smirked. “Honestly, I just try to stay in my lane and out of the way of rouge crazy nature. To answer your question though, Ponyville is nice. We all know each other and such. Small town things.”

Sunset and Twinkleshine both idly wondered what it would be like to try living there. The two both always had a fondness for small towns they had realized earlier in the night. Silver Spanner always seemed to have a story for the pair to hear.

“I miss home,” Silver Spanner sighed. “Other than you two, I don’t really have any friends. Twilight seems nice. But still, Ponyville will always be my home. I don’t fit in well here. I’m always thinking ponies are making fun of me or my parents behind my back. And I hate when ponies do that.”

“I haven’t heard anything,” Twinkleshine shifted her weight and slid under her blankets. “Nopony really knows you. Heck, I didn’t till you sat at my table looking pretty uncomfortable.”

“Meh, fair point.”

Silver Spanner stifled a yawn and blinked, stretching out as she watched the board absentmindedly for a brief moment.

“Thanks for this.”

“For what?” Sunset asked and Silver Spanner gestured wildly around the room.

“Allowing me here. I’m having fun. It’s been a rough past week and a half so thanks. You two make this town seem way more bearable and I appreciate it,” Silver Spanner explained and clapped her hooves as Sunset won the game.

“Eh no bother. I’m having fun too,” Sunset answered and looked at Twinkleshine opening her eyes after a few moments of silence. “I’ll speak for her and say she is too. I think it’s time I go to sleep. Have a nice night, Silver Spanner. And thanks for coming in the first place.”

Silver Spanner watched her levitate Philomena onto a small bed in the corner under a blanket and the phoenix rolled over.

“Anytime.”

Silver Spanner watched the light shut off and the room turned dark with the exception of the moon shining through the curtains.

“Night.”

Sunset gave a soft snore and Silver Spanner shrugged it off as she hugged her stuffed dinosaur and pulled her blankets around her.

No amount of snoring would keep her from sleeping. She was more than used to noises helping her sleep. She did used to live near the Everfree, after all. But at least Sunset’s snoring wasn’t gonna potentially kill her.

That was major plus in her book, personally.