Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Awkward subjects will be brought to light today.

Early Morning

My face is still swollen, and the beginnings of a truly hideous bruise are forming around the inch-long cut Shining Armor left on my cheek. I'm very careful when washing my face; I put some antiseptic ointment on the cut and bandage it back up after I shower.

When I go down for breakfast, everybody is wincing as they look at my bandaged face. "How bad does it hurt?" Twilight asks.

"Eh. I'll manage."

"I'm so, so sorry about—"

"Twilight...it's alright," I say.

"No it's not!" Twilight says. "My brother shouldn't have..." She sighs. "I just don't know what's gotten into him lately..." Tears fill her eyes. "He...he isn't like this. Really. He's always been..." She looks down. "Something's wrong. This isn't like him at all." She looks up sharply. "Do you think...do you think it has something do to with..." She looks around, then leans in and whispers, "Zodiac?"

I frown. "I don't think so," I say. "From what I've seen, it's only gossip and rumor-mongering that make people here in Canterlot act like assholes. If...if he was keeping up with half the shit kids are saying at school, he'd...he'd have started doing stuff like this before I even got here."

Twilight sighs. "Then what is it?"

"He probably just really hates my guts for some reason," I say, shrugging.

Morning

My jacked-up face causes a lot of stir as soon as I walk into the building. I can only imagine what kind of rumors are flying around already.

During second period, I'm called out of class by Principal Celestia.

I'm almost to the office when Cadance comes running in the opposite direction. Not far behind her is Twilight.

I walk into the office to find both Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna waiting for me. Celestia raises an eyebrow as Cadance and Twilight follow me in. "Twilight Sparkle," Vice-Principal Luna says, "you were not called to the office."

"If you called Flash for what I think you called him for, I need to be here," Twilight says.

Celestia frowns. "You appear to have been fighting, Flash."

"Actually, he was punched in the face," Cadance says. "By my husband. I saw it happen."

Celestia tilts her head. "Shining Armor did this?"

"He sure did," Twilight says.

Celestia and Luna share a look. "He neglected to mention that," Luna says.

Celestia shrugs, then turns her attention to me. "It's come to our attention that you living in the Applewood Dorm may not be in the best interests of the other residents."

"That's ridiculous!" Twilight says. "Flash is our friend! None of us have any problems with him!"

"According to what I've been told by Shining Armor, he's prone to making inappropriate advances on female residents, and not respecting the boundaries of privacy."

Cadance laughs. "Oh. My God. He's really pushing this that far?"

Celestia frowns. "Nurse Cadance...you are the manager of the dorm in question. Would you mind shedding some light on this matter?"

"Gladly," Cadance says. "First off, Flash is a complete gentleman. And that's not always easy when some of the girls in the dorm...are a bit careless."

"Cadance!" Twilight says, flushing.

"Second, Flash has never once gone into one of the girls' rooms without permission, and even then, I'm only aware of him ever having actually been in Twilight's room."

"And that was just when I was sick and asked him to walk my dog," Twilight says. "Usually, it's us going into his room." She pauses. "That didn't help, did it?"

"Not particularly, no," Luna says.

Cadance pats Twilight on the shoulder. "The girls have pretty much decided, and I believe he has tried to discourage this, that Flash's room is come-as-you-please. Even so, the girl who's in there most often is Twilight, and that's because they're dating."

"And we're not...doing anything in there," Twilight says. "I just...like to spend time alone with him when I can."

Celestia's eyes soften. "Understandable."

"If somewhat inappropriate," Luna says with a mild frown.

Twilight ducks her head.

"If I may," Cadance says, "who's allowed to be where in Applewood Dorm is at my discretion, and since I trust the two of them, I allow it."

"You're right...you do have discretion over the house rules," Celestia says. She steeples her hands in front of her. "Still, I'm forced to wonder precisely what has led to Shining Armor's request to evict Flash from the dorm. Although I think I'm starting to get the picture."

Cadance frowns. "This is actually my fault," she says. "Or at least, part of it is. Shiny and I are having...marital problems at the moment. He's been angry and tense for a while now."

"He's taking it out on Flash because he's my boyfriend," Twilight says. "And after I chewed him out for that last night, I can't believe he had the nerve to pull a stunt like this."

Luna and Celestia exchange a glance. "I see," Celestia says. "So...Shining Armor assaulted you?" she asks me.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Assaulting a student is a severe infraction," Luna says, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes. "Why was this not reported immediately, Nurse Cadance?"

"Because he's still my husband, and Twilight's brother...even if he's being a complete asshole right now." Cadance sighs. "I don't want Shining Armor to be in trouble over this...none of us do. Right, Flash?"

I shake my head. "I get where he's coming from. Sure, I'm pissed, but I can take a punch."

"Still, this cannot go unchecked," Luna says. "Sister? What do you think?"

Celestia frowns. "Under the circumstances...I'm not certain what to do."

There's a long, tense moment of silence.

"Umm...may I make a suggestion?" Twilight offers.

"You may," Celestia says.

"Well...Cadance actually moved out of the manager's apartment some time ago," she says. "She's been living in the dorm itself for a couple of weeks now."

Celestia blinks. "It's that bad?" she asks.

"I'm trying to force an apology out of him," Cadance says.

"Oh my."

Twilight clears her throat. "Right, so...how about this...instead of doing what you'd normally do under the circumstances, because none of us want my brother to lose his job...how about forbidding him from entering the student resident areas of the dorm until he pulls his head out of his butt?"

Luna lets out a snort. Celestia raises an eyebrow. "Interesting. Cadance?"

"It'd get the point across," Cadance says. "Besides, he really shouldn't be in the dorm in the first place. Some of the girls...well..." She coughs.

Celestia's other eyebrow goes up. "Maybe we should be considering moving Mr. Sentry out of that dorm..."

"No!" Twilight cries hurriedly. When the adults all look at her, she blushes furiously. "I-I mean...there's no need for that," she says. "Besides, it's not his fault a couple of the girls wander around naked sometimes." Her blush intensifies. "It's not like...they care if he sees, either."

Luna loses her composure and lets out a giggle I would never expect from such a stern woman. "Oh my...that certainly reminds me of you back in college, Celie!"

Hey, thanks, I really needed that mental image!

Celestia gives Cadance a pained look. "Please don't let your dorm get too out of control," she says.

Cadance smiles. "I promise, aside from my husband's little temper tantrum, Applewood is exactly the right amount of out of control."

Luna doubles over laughing.

Celestia groans in irritation. "Alright, fine," she says. "Effective immediately, Shining Armor is prohibited entry to the dorm proper and all student resident areas. I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear ANY of what I heard here today. You two, please return to class."

Twilight and I leave very quickly. "Well that was embarrassing," Twilight says.

"For everybody," I say. "I wonder if her legs were that long when she was in college..."

Twilight punches me in the shoulder. "Pervert!"

"Oh, like you weren't thinking it too."

Twilight stops short, her face pale. "Uhh..." She coughs. "...alright, I'll admit, I had the same mental image." She ducks her head.

I wrap an arm around her shoulders. "We'll have to do some digging on the Internet later," I say. "For now, we'd better get back to class."

"Y-yeah..."

Lunch

The girls all look tense and anxious when Twilight and I join them for lunch.

"Did...did Principal Celestia kick you out of the dorm?" Pinkie asks.

"Nah," I say. "But she did ban Coach from the dorm."

"Oh, phew," Pinkie says. "I'm glad."

"What do you mean banned him from the dorm?" Rainbow asks.

"It means he'll still be living in the manager's apartment, but he can't enter the dorm itself," Twilight says.

"It was Twilight's idea," I say. "If she hadn't come up with that, they'd have fired him for hitting me."

"So it's safe to be naked in the dorm again?" Pinkie asks.

Twilight stares at her. "Excuse me? Since when have you cared about that?"

"Also, please don't start walking around naked," Fluttershy says.

"So, Flash...you have a tennis match tomorrow, right?" Rarity asks loudly.

"Yeah," I say. "I'd almost forgotten about that..."

After School

Practice is intense. The coach spends half the practice yelling and berating us like a drill sergeant. At the end of practice, she tells us to meet at the front of the school at eight in the morning to take the bus to Hoofington.

Coco walks up to me as I'm leaving. "Good luck tomorrow," she says.

"Thanks." I head back to the dorm, tired.

Evening

When I walk into the dorm, Twilight and Cadance are sitting in the lounge.

"Hey Flash, I went grocery shopping for you," Twilight says. "I restocked all the stuff we ate up the other night."

"Thanks, Twilight." I look at Cadance. "How'd he take the news?"

She rolls her eyes. "He came by the nurse's office after school and announced he's going out of town for the weekend and won't be back until Monday morning."

"That means he's going home to Mom and Dad to pout," Twilight says, shaking her head. "I hope they knock some sense into him."

"So, are you guys coming out to Hoofington tomorrow for the matches?" I ask.

"Of course we are!" Twilight says. "We're all coming. Well, except Pinkie. She's working. But I'll be recording it for her!"

"Good," I say. "I could use some support. I've never been on a sports team before, let alone in an actual match against another school."

Twilight gets up and hugs me. "You'll be fine," she says, kissing me.

Pinkie returns at dinnertime. "Hey guys," she says. "Listen...Mr. Cake said to tell you all that he'll be paying you for working at Sugar Cube Corner on the thirteenth of next month. He says he's really sorry it'll be so long, but money's really tight right now. I'm not even getting paid this month!"

"That's quite alright," Rarity says. "We understand...having a baby costs a lot of money. Having twins...must be ever so much more expensive."

Pinkie flounces over to sit next to me. "So, excited about tomorrow?" she asks.

"Mostly nervous," I say.

"Yeah, I can see that," Pinkie says. "Don't worry, you'll be alright." She gives me a sly smile. "Wanna cop a good luck feel?"

"Pinkiiiiiie," Twilight growls.

Rarity coughs. "I do believe it would be inappropriate for Flash to fondle anyone he isn't presently dating," she says.

"Awww," Pinkie pouts.

After dinner, Twilight and I spend some time relaxing. She's obviously still upset about either her brother, or Pinkie, or both.

To distract her, I enlist her help in searching the web for old college photos of Principal Celestia. After almost an hour's searching, we manage to find some spring break photos of Celestia and Luna. Celestia, for her part, was wearing an indecently skimpy string bikini that day.

Holy crap, her legs were always that long...

"Stop drooling," Twilight says, slapping me upside the head. She shakes her head. "School's gonna be awkward for a while after seeing that..."

I have to agree. Wow.