Unforeseen Consequences - Chapter 14

>The sun shone over the ever beautiful Canterlot with its tender warmth while clouds, white as pearls, gently cruised through the endless blue sky.
>From its colorful inhabitants, to the many pristine waterfalls, canals and streams that adorned the city, the city never ceased to irradiate life in a spectacular way.
>All of this was crowned by the castle that stood tall and proud over the city; the golden domes rivaled the sun itself in their light, while bystanders happily came and went through the powerful outer walls.
>A sense of peace and tranquility was expelled by the castle’s green gardens and its many flowers of all colors and shapes that happily danced at the rhythm of the soothing wind breeze.
>This almost other-worldly beauty was something that went beyond any book you've ever read and any dream you've ever dreamed. If only Eris could see this, man.
>Too bad that you couldn’t do anything more than to watch all of that beauty through a window; the reason? You were grounded, and it sucked.
>The room itself wasn’t bad, though; the thick, purple carpet that covered the floor was quite pleasant to your hooves, the mahogany drawers had some interesting-looking books and the round table placed in the middle of the room was short enough that you didn’t need those chairs to use it.
>No, the problem with the whole concept of being grounded was that you were locked up inside the room and to make things even better, you had to endure the company of a psycho bat filly that you hated.

>How much was this going to last? Who the heck knows? Moonlight, the scary mare who put you in this situation, said that the door wouldn’t open until your kinda new parents were done with their duties.
>To say that you were frustrated would be the biggest understatement of the century. You wanted to go out there and enjoy this awesome day, or explore the castle and find that fricking library.
>Instead you were walking in circles across the room, from the window to the door, from the door to the drawers and back to the window.
>It was absolutely maddening, and is not like the thought of escaping didn’t cross your mind, it’s just that the room was too high up to jump through the window, and you had nothing to lock-pick the door.
>This usually wouldn’t be much of a problem, but there was a bigger reason as to why you restrained yourself from escaping first chance: Luna and Celestia.
>Those two have been nothing but amazing, and the last thing you wanted to do was to disappoint them even more after they hear the news that you were grounded.
>You could just sit down and have a look at those books, after all, some of them had interesting titles, but you were just too agitated right now to focus on reading.
>There was at least some good news among all of this, though:  That filly, Cherrywood Bellemare… heh, what a funny name, man.
>Anyway, that girl completely ignored you once Moonlight closed the door. She just grabbed her saddlebag and poured its contents over the table.
>All this time Cherrywood has been using a pencil to jolted down who knows what on a weird purple notebook with some ghouls stickers plastered on the cover.

>However, after your 90th round through the room, Cherrywood placed the pencil on the table and shot you a mean glare, “Stop doing that! I’m trying to focus here!”
>You simply raised an eyebrow at her while continuing walking in circles.
“Do what?”
>Cherrywood frowned and pointed at you with a shaky hoof, “Bumbling around like a complete dummy! It’s dumb, and annoying, and I’ll break you in two if you don’t stop!”
>You finally stopped to point at the locked door with a swift motion of your own hoof.
“What the heck am I supposed to do then? We’ve been locked in this cage since forever!”
>After slamming her front hooves on the table, Cherrywood spread her bat-like wings and yelled out of the top of her lungs, “IT HAS ONLY BEEN FIFTEEN MINUTES!”
>You shrugged and continued walking, this time, to check on the drawers again.
“Yeah, but do you know what I could’ve done in that time? Frickin’ wonders, man!”
>Cherrywood’s face contorted in anger and displayed her little but very sharp-looking fangs, “*HISSS* I DON’T CARE! JUST STOP TROTTING AROUND, OKAY?!”
>She then plummeted back into her chair, and with a little sigh, she turned her attention back at that notebook, “Can’t focus on my stupid homework”.
>Oh, so that was what she was doing! Well, the next thing may be a stupid question, but it ain’t like you had anything better to do. So you tilted your head to a side and rose an eyebrow.
“Home…work? That’s the school stuff that ponies force you to do after school is over, right?”
>Cherrywood rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Duh! That’s how homework usually… well, works; didn’t you learn that at your school?”

>You scratched the back of your head and thought on what to say next. After all, you neither wanted to say that you haven’t stepped inside a classroom in a long time… nor reveal the reasons why.
“Well…uh…”
>A little smirk appeared on your face, the perfect excuse had just crossed your mind, one that not only would avoid any sort of questions about your past… or real parents, but also make you look awesome.
“Not really; I’m too cool for school, man!”
>The reaction wasn’t really what you expected: Unimpressed, Cherrywood shook her head and turned her gaze away from you, “That was dumb. You’re dumb.”
>She then returned to contemplate her notebook with utter contempt, and gave you a motion to get lost “Now shut up! Listening to you is just going to make ME dumb!”
>Feeling your pride hurt, you raised your chin in a pompous way and continuing your pace, only that this time, it was around the table that Cherrywood was sitting at.
“Oh, yeah?! I’ll do whatever I want and you can’t stop me!”
>However, you quickly stopped after a new idea hit you. Cherrywood had problems with her homework, and you earned a living by helping foals with those exact problems. Maybe you could help her… for a price, of course.
>That is, if that problem didn’t involve subjects that you had no knowledge of, things like history and politics of Equestria, geography, magic and basically anything that didn’t involve numbers and equations.


>On a much deeper thought, you had to keep a mental note on the subjects that you had to research once you find a stupid library. Things like: How Luna and Celestia came to power, what cities Equestria has, and how to perform magic.
>So much things to read about, and all of them would need to be put on hold because right now, you had to focus on an equally important thing: the sweet, sweet bits.
>After slowly approaching Cherrywood, and make sure to leave a safe distance, you asked in a more gentle tone.
“So… uh… what’s that homework about?”
>“Math…” defeated, Cherrywood dropped her head on her notebook and let out a heavy sigh, “I hate math and I hate these stupid equations!”
>Oh, baby! Finally, good news! Unless this world was so different from yours that even math didn’t work the same way.
>It ain’t like you had anything better to do, though, so you stood by Cherrywood’s side and started talking the same way you did with those street shows back at your old world.
“Well, I guess this is your lucky day then! As it turns out, I’m very good at math and for the low, low price of six bits, not only I will solve your homework in no-time, but you’ll also get a guaranteed A+! It’s a bargain if you ask me!”
>Your usual fee was actually two bits, thing is, you seriously didn’t like this girl so whatever, man.
>Cherrywood raised an eyebrow and looked at you with mistrust, “Good thing I didn’t ask you, because this totally sounds like a scam”.

>That was a very common answer, a sensible one too, no one would really believe your words at face value, and of course, you had developed a perfect hook for this situation.
>With a little chuckle and a warmer smile, you quickly moved a little closer to her, and gently poked her chest… maybe a bit more than necessary, but who could blame you? It was so fluffy, man!
“That sounds like a problem, luckily for us, I’m good at solving problems. Here’s the deal: I’ll solve the first two equations for free. If I get them wrong, you can buck my face and I’ll shut up for good, but if I get them right… then you pay for my full services. Simple, right?”
>Cherrywood quickly slapped your hoof away and raised an eyebrow, “Or I can just kick all your teeth in right now instead of having to deal with your dumb scams!”
>Now you were walking on thin ice. One mistake and not only you could kiss those bits goodbye, but the same would go for your teeth.
>You quickly placed your hoof around her fluffy neck, and quickly said your part before getting sucker sucker punched.
“Think about it, Cherrywood Bellemare…!”
>Cherrywood quickly pushed you away, her face was again contorted like a rabid dog, “*HISSSS* don’t call me Bellemare! I hate that name… and I hate you too!”
“I also hate you, but this ain’t a scam, because there’s no way for you to lose on this one! You either get rid of doing your homework or you kick my face. It’s a win-win!”
>Cherrywood stood silent for a couple seconds before letting out a tired sigh, “If I say yes, will you finally shut up?”

“100% guaranteed!”
>Cherrywood placed her notebook on the table and slid it to you. The first thing you noticed, besides the very stylized calligraphy in which the twenty or so math operations were written, was that they were quite easy.
>This didn’t mean that Cherrywood was stupid, though; only that your “street” experience with this stuff allowed you to solve them in an instant.
 “Let’s see… the results for the first two equations are 426.81 and 3.3060. I’m gonna tell you the steps you need to write so no one can tell about our deal, so pay attention, okay?”
>You proudly slid the notebook back to Cherrywood and told her everything she needed to jolt down on her notebook.
“There you go, man! Now you can’t say that I’m trying to scam you.”
>Once she finishing writing, Cherrywood spat out her pencil and looked at you with a bit of curiosity, “How?”
“I told you this was no scam, man! Now gimme that notebook so we can get this deal over with and not have to talk to each other ever again”.
>“Uh… yeah, about that…” Cherrywood’s eyes flickered from one side to the other and her expression became a little nervous, “Deal’s off. I don’t have any bits”.
“W-What?”
>“I’m grounded, remember? My mom took all my bits away! I also think I got the hang out of these equations, so yeah, no bits for you!”
“Oh, man, c’mon!”
>Cherrywood frowned before turning her gaze away from you, “It’s your fault for being so dumb and pushy!”

“I frickin’ hate you, you know that?!”
>“And I hate you too!” Cherrywood stuck her tongue before quickly turning her back at you and started writing on her notebook.
>Not wanting to deal with that girl anymore, you turned your back on her and crossed your forelegs in frustration.
>After a couple minutes of silence, you turned back to Cherrywood and scratched the back of your head.
“Hey, this is getting boring. Wanna escape this place?”
>While disappointing Luna and Celestia was certainly horrible, you’d physically die from boredom if you stayed in that room any longer.
>Cherrywood placed her notebook on the table and shrugged, “Meh, why not? I’m finished my stupid homework anyway. What do you have in mind, though?”
“Well, the first thing we gotta do is to deal with that locked door.”
>Cherrywood rolled her eyes and let out a small grunt, “That’s obvious, you knuckle-head dummy! I meant how we are going to open the door without a key!”
“You see, that’s very simple, we just have to… uh…”
>You tapped your chin and then started looking at every direction in search for an answer, or at least an idea.
>This is what brought your attention towards Cherrywood’s belongings that lied scattered on the table.
>Paper sheets, pencils painted with little ghosts, a couple of erasers, orange paperclips, scissors, rulers, a cutter, crayons, a couple notebooks and school books, a pocket-mirror, a lunchbox and a small book titled “ancient creatures of Equestria”.
>This obviously wasn’t much, but it was enough for you to come up with a solution for your immediate problems, as for the rest… that’d have to wait until you can see what you were dealing with.