Shining Armor looked down from his throne, trying to make his expression as dignified as possible. He stared at the pony in a guard’s armour standing in front of him and furrowed his eyebrows before clearing his throat.

“You probably wonder why I called you,” he said.

Flash smirked. “How long have you been waiting to say that?” he asked.

“Been a while,” Shining chuckled, but soon he returned to his official expression. “The thing is, I have a new task for you.”

“I hope it’s not cleaning the dungeon again,” Flash said. “Last time we found Sombra’s old torture chamber, complete with some insane old pony who’d been locked there for the last thousand years.”

“Oh, this should be much easier,” Shining replied. “As you know, Flurry Heart turned sixteen recently…”

“Oh, I know.” Flash nodded. “After the party, the cleaning staff went on strike. I had to drag at least ten absurdly rich teenagers out of the castle, and the less we say about Twilight, the better.”

Shining shuddered. “Well, about that…”

“Twilight?”

“No, teenagers,” Shining replied. “I’ve recently noticed that some of the ponies from my daughter’s entourage aren’t what I’d call trustworthy.”

Flash furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Colts, specifically,” Shining said.

“Ah.” Flash nodded. “Should I go to them with a baton, fly with them out of the town and make them go back through the snow and blizzard?” He stood at attention. “Just to teach them a lesson, I mean.”

“I don’t think it will be necessary,” Shining replied. “Remember that most of them come from the most noble families of the Empire. You need to be careful. Diplomacy and all that.”

Flash saluted. “Of course!”

Cadance looked into the mirror and fixed her crown. She examined the tips of her wings and levitated a comb, moving it along her mane and tail. Sunburst watched it in awe while trying not to suffocate in the perfume-laden atmosphere of the boudoir. Cadance swished her tail and turned to Sunburst, smiling at him.

“So, how’s Flurry doing?” she asked.

“She’s having a bit of trouble with equations,” Sunburst replied. “But she has a great understanding of complex magic theories. The thing is–”

“No bad influences?” Cadance smirked.

“Well, I’d say that some of the fillies-in-waiting are getting a bit, umm… frivolous,” Sunburst said. “Rough Diamond keeps disrupting the lessons. Not to mention the guards. I think their presence may be a bit, umm… distracting.”

“And what do you think, why is that?” Cadance asked.

Sunburst shrugged. “I don’t know, but if I were to guess, I’d say that those big, armed stallions and the thought of violence… It’s not easy to think about maths when someone’s waving a spear around.”

Cadance raised her eyebrows. “Well, anyway, how’s Starlight? I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Good, I guess,” Sunburst replied. “Although she’s been getting frustrated recently for some reason. Her recent letters were rather unsubtle. Not to mention that she’s still salty because I came back here to take care of Flurry’s education. She mentioned something about a useless vice-principal who’s never home when she’s cold and–”

“Okay then.” Cadance sighed. “So it never occured to you.”

“What?” Sunburst asked.

“I mean, you’ll be great in your new job,” Cadance replied.

“I’m getting a new job?” Sunburst furrowed his eyebrows. “Another one?”

Cadance nodded, levitating a bottle of rose-scented perfume. “Precisely. You’ll keep an eye on any stallion around my daughter. Focusing especially on young and handsome ones. I’ve heard Prince Pristine Emerald–”

“If I were to be honest, I’d say that his wit isn’t exactly on par with his, umm… physical quantities,” Sunburst said. “Speaking of bad influences, I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep him around Flurry.”

“That’s why your new task is to keep him and other colts away from Flurry,” Cadance replied. “That is, until she’s ready.”

“So, I’m supposed to be a chaperone now?” Sunburst asked.

Cadance nodded. “Not so oblivious after all… But yes, you’re going to be Flurry’s chaperone. Any questions?”

“Why?” Sunburst asked. “I mean, as a Princess of Love–”

“– I should be glad that my daughter is going through adolescence?” Cadance smirked. “Well, that’s definitely a good thing. But as a mother and a sensible mare… Remember when Flurry was a baby and nearly destroyed the Crystal Empire with her powers?”

“Well, she learned to control them now,” Sunburst replied. “I’d even dare to say they improved and one day she may even beat her aunt’s achievements.”

“Exactly,” Cadance said, a faint smirk still adorning her face. “And now imagine what will my hormonally unstable daughter do with her perfectly controlled, improved powers when some ass with the brain the size of a seashell breaks her heart. Can you see that, Sunburst?”

Sunburst froze. “I guess I’ll take that job,” he stammered.

The wooden, leather-covered club hit the shield with a loud thud. Flurry spun in place, levitating the club and trying to land a hit on Rough Diamond, who covered her head with a shield. Still fighting, they waltzed across the room, stray hits breaking one of the lamps and an old, ugly vase Cadance had put there. Rough Diamond jumped over the couch, suddenly gaining an upper hoof and unleashing a storm of club swings.

Flurry backed off, throwing the shield at her opponent; Rough Diamond just blocked it with her club. She was, however, less lucky when Flurry threw her club at her; it bounced off her helmet stunning her for a split second and causing her magic to falter.

Flurry smirked, retreating to the fireplace and levitating an old rapier with a silver handle, adorned with gems. She swung it at Rough Diamond who blocked the blow with one of the cushions lying on the couch, causing feathers to fly around everywhere. Flurry spun again, preparing another blow.

The rapier bounced in her magic field when the blade hit a dagger Rough Diamond was levitating. Flurry furrowed her eyebrows and attacked, pushing Rough Diamond out of the room.

In the corridor, she realised she’d made a mistake. There were a lot of antique weapons hanging on the walls near her room and soon she had to duck when a battle axe flew above her head, leaving a large gash in the crystal column behind her. Another blow just snapped Flurry’s rapier in half, so she grabbed some random scimitar off the wall and charged.

Rough Diamond wasn’t prepared for resistance and backed off, trying to scare Flurry away with wide swings. Still, Flurry chased her to the dining room, spinning the scimitar madly with her magic. Rough Diamond raised the axe, accidentally embedding it in the table. Flurry smirked, but instead of trying to get it out, Rough Diamond just fired her magic up, dropping a tapestry hanging from the ceiling on Flurry’s head.

It took Flurry a while to free herself from the fabric. When she did, she saw that Rough Diamond found a guisarme and charged with it, letting out a battle cry. Flurry dodged, slipping on the tiles and landed in front of the kitchen door. She blasted it open with her magic and, seeing that Rough Diamond was still running at her with a guisarme, she opened a cutlery cabinet, levitating all the forks, knives, and spoons she found inside, ready to throw them at the enemy.

Rough Diamond stopped, conjuring a magic shield. Flurry’s magic exploded against it, sending the torrent of cutlery around; knives and forks pierced the walls, tables, and a cutting board some young cook used to shield himself. The guisarme snapped in half, hit with a frying pan.

“Whoa,” Rough Diamond muttered when the last teaspoon hit the floor. “Were you trying to stab me full of holes?”

“No more than you tried to give me another hole I don’t really need.” Flurry smirked. “That was a good one.”

“Yeah.” Rough Diamond dropped the remains of her poleaxe and removed her helmet. She was a milky-white crystal unicorn who’d recently grew quite a few inches, but her weight didn’t quite catch up yet, giving her a somewhat emaciated look. “Guess the servants will be pissed.” She pointed at the cook, who kept watching the knife embedded in a thick piece of wood, inches from his face. Suddenly, his magic faltered and he passed out.

“Oh, come on, it’s just a few misplaced things,” Flurry replied, looking around. She was slightly shorter and pudgier than Rough Diamond, giving her better coordination. “And the cutlery cabinet. And a few holes in the walls…”

“And your room is full of feathers.” Rough Diamond shrugged. “At least we didn’t light anything on fire this time.”

“Yeah,” Flurry said. “We’d better go before the guards notice.”

Flurry Heart’s room was big and full of strange things. When she turned sixteen, ponies from the whole world sent her gifts. A flying carpet from the citizens of Somnambula was lying on the floor – while Shining Armor had no idea why’d an alicorn princess need a flying carpet, Flurry quickly proved him wrong, taking Rough Diamond for a ride which ended in damaging the roof of one of the houses in the Empire. The room also had a lot of posters of popular bands and musicians, as well as a caricature of King Sombra wearing thick-rimmed glasses and saying, “Come to the Dork Side”. Books and comics were scattered everywhere, along with dresses and some random weapons.

Flurry was sitting on her bed, playing an old, oddly-looking guitar she’d gotten from auntie Starlight. It was one of the gifts she enjoyed the most – much more than the present she got from the Griffonstone leader, Grampa Gruff, which was an “orphaned” griffon egg. While Cadance protested that trading griffon eggs was illegal in Equestria, Gruff pointed out that he wasn’t selling it to them. Thus, the egg was currently waiting to hatch in the incubator.

“So, what are we gonna do tonight?” Rough Diamond asked. “I guess we’re not welcome in the kitchen anymore, so there goes raiding the fridge.”

“I think the guards finished training,” Flurry replied. “We can invite Pristine Emerald and a few others and play Diplomacy or something…”

“Diplomacy?” Rough Diamond raised her eyebrows. “I thought you wanted to date this guy, not to murder him.”

“Yeah, he’s bad at this anyway,” Flurry said. “No challenge at all.”

“And he’s an idiot.” Rough Diamond shrugged. “How about we watch some movie? I think Precious Gem has the new Equestrian Pie.”

“Is it as dumb as the previous one?” Flurry asked.

“I think so.”

“Great.” Flurry got up from the couch. “Let’s find her.”

They walked out of Flurry’s room and walked across the corridors to the library.

It wasn’t often mentioned in the official news and stories from the palace, but it was actually full of foals and teenagers. Children of the staff, servants, fillies-in-waiting, some orphans Cadance was helping… Precious Gem was actually one of them; she moved into the palace library when she was three after her parents died in a blizzard. Now she was seventeen, had a long, greasy mane, thick glasses resembling bottle bottoms, and the knowledge of every book in the library, especially those cursed by King Sombra. She’d also seen every movie in Equestria, or so she claimed; she usually watched them in one of the cozy reading rooms, where she kept her projector.

“Greetings, your highness,” Precious Gem said, trying to fix her mane. Flurry often wondered how could a crystal pony make it look so messy, but Precious Gem somehow managed to do that.

“Stop your highnessing me, or I’ll have you beheaded,” Flurry muttered. “Actually, can I even behead ponies?”

“The pre-Sombra code says the heir or heiress apparent can only behead her subject for high treason, when her parents are away or otherwise unable to do so,” Precious Gem recited, somehow keeping a straight face. “It’s actually a really old code. It says that the official title of the heiress apparent of the Crystal Empire is the Duchess of Chalcedonya. Of course, the Duchy of Chalcedonya is currently buried under thousands of tons of ice, so–”

“You’d better start digging.” Rough Diamond chuckled, poking Flurry. “Maybe you’ll find out that you have some frozen subjects.”

“The code also says the royal harem of the heir shall be no greater than any of her parents’.” Precious Gem smirked.

“Wait, I have a harem?” Flurry raised her eyebrows.

“You don’t,” Rough Diamond said. “The exact size of your parents’ harem is zero and yours shall be no greater.”

“Eh, there must be some way around,” Flurry said. “I’d finally have some choice rather than having to listen to this imbecile, Pristine Emerald. He recently spent an hour talking to me about fishing. We don’t even have any pond to fish in!”

“Yeah, that’s dumb.” Rough Diamond shrugged. “Can we finally watch that movie?”

Author's Notes:

Well, what could possibly go wrong?