I opened my eyes and looked across the table at where Sunset was sitting, a book floating ahead of her. “Sunset?”

“Hmh?” she asked and looked up from it, turning the page. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks. How do you feel about griffons?”

That earned me a strange look. “…Does being cryptic come with the entire alicorn thing or something?”

I rolled my eyes. “I just found out I rather dislike them, is all,” I sighed and then explained to her what Luna told me.

“Oh… Sorry to hear that. I guess you have to make do with little old me,” she commented and smiled, fluttering her eyelashes at me.

I tossed a cookie at her. “It’s a state visit, not a vacation, I’m mostly bummed I can’t come along. I miss her.”

Sunset flicked an ear in thought before she finally nodded. “I know. Not like you could commandeer another airship or something. We don’t have enough of them.”

I nodded. Equestria only had like four of that class.

“So, what’s the plan when we get back to Canterlot? Starlight Glimmer?”

Considering that, I then shook my head. “No… not unless Celestia asks me to talk to her anyway. I plan to leave that entire thing to Twilight if possible.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Well, I plan to take a long, deep soak at the spa. There is one rather close to the castle,” Sunset said with a smile. “Expensive, but well worth it when I can afford it.”

Grinning at that, I nodded. “Well, you deserve it. Thanks for coming with, Sunny. You did a good job. Actually, bill it to me. I’ll pay this time.”

“Welcome and thanks!”

I shook my head. “I’m serious, Sunset. You are good, better than you used to be. As good as me… almost.”

“Almost my perfect tail!”

I grinned at her. “I seem to remember winning… almost every time. But less often than before… Apprentice.”

Sitting up from where she had been laying, Sunset stared at me. “What?”

“Congratulations, Apprentice. You are a Warmage.”

Sunset Shimmer just gaped at me. “I’m a what?”

“If you want to be,” I explained. “You helped take down a major threat to Equestria with Tirek.”

“I barely did anything but run in fear!”

“…And then you now defeated Starlight Glimmer,” I continued, ignoring her interruption. “Your training is going well, you are fast, accurate and powerful.”

Sunset just stared at me. “So you want me to join this special order? With only you in it?”

“Well, technically Luna is in charge. But it makes sense,” I said. “Equestria is under constant threat. Even with the Guard and the Elements, something more is needed. Why not breathe some life into an old idea? I discussed it with Luna, she thought it was a great idea.”

“So, you are just going to… what, rebuild the Jedi Order? And yes, I did notice you copied a lot for those books. You better hope the portal between universes never becomes public knowledge or you will be sued so hard.”

I shrugged. “Eh, fair enough. I think they are more adaptations than anything. But no. Honestly, at this point I’m mostly thinking that you are doing the work and learning the stuff, you might as well have the cloak. You have earned it from my point of view, especially for how you handled Starlight Glimmer. Luna agreed.”

Sunset swallowed and then nodded. “I… I… I need to think about it.”

“Do that,” I said with a smile. “Just remember that I would outrank you. Which means I can order you to fuck off when you are being a pain.”

She just stuck her tongue out at me. “Like you don’t already. How is that going for you?”

I just snorted and tossed one of the apples on the table at her. She caught it in her magic field with a grin. “So… What now?”

I shrugged. “Now we get to Canterlot and take a week of doing nothing.”

Sunset nodded, “Sounds nice,” and took a bite from the apple before she grinned. “Honestly, I didn’t think the entire ‘Warmage’ thing was real. I mean, I know it used to be a thing far in the past, but I always assumed starting it again was some kind of roleplay thing between you and Princess Luna.”

That was a lot closer to reality than I'd like her to know about. The main reason Luna did this was because she liked the uniform. The fact that it renewed a tradition was just a side effect.

Sunset stared at me. “…Seriously?”

“No!”

She giggled. “Seriously!? That’s why!? It really did start as some sort of roleplay thing!”

“… She likes the uniform,” I grumbled. Damn it, Sunset was getting way too good at reading me.

Sunset grinned at me and then looked out the window. “No worries, I’m not judging.”

I just sighed and leaned against the backrest.

“…Though, wouldn’t the cloak and belts get in the way when…”

“Freddy fucking Krueger, Sunset!”

She just grinned. “Oh come off it, you know I’m just teasing. It ‘does’ look good on you.”

I shook my head and sighed again. “I know. Could you just… tone it down a bit, okay?” I asked. “Please?”

“…Okay.”

We sat in silence for a moment before Sunset frowned. “Page?”

“Yeah?”

“…Sorry. I didn’t mean to… you know?”

“I know. I don’t really mind, it just gets a bit much from time to time, you know?”

“Sorry.”