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“What an amazing garden!” Cherry Blossom grinned, Shining Armor chuckling at her enthusiasm as they wandered through the Crystal Empire’s castle grounds. The area around the palace was covered in carefully placed greenery and flowers, making the mare “ooh” and “ah” over every new thing.
 
“We really appreciate you coming on such short notice, especially since Big Mac and Applejack weren’t able to make it. Your aunt recommended you highly to check on our newest plants and knows how much you love specialty flowers.” Shining led her to a row of small bushes, which were clearly just transferred into the soil not too long ago. “We want to make sure these stay as lively as possible, the flowers that grow are supposed to bloom just in time for my wife’s birthday.”
 
Cherry was already at work, lifting a drooping branch and observing the ground below them. “I promise, Your Majesty, I’ll help ya keep these at the best of health!”
 
“I have no doubt!” He smiled, turning his head as a guard came to fetch him for some business inside the castle. “I need to go for a bit, but I can come back to check on you later. Feel free to spend as much time as you like in the gardens!”
 
Focusing hard on the plants around her, the mare hardly noticed he had left until he was exiting the path, so she waved farewell and got down to business, asking a nearby gardener where she could find necessary supplies. They led her to a small shed near the side of the palace, where Cherry Blossom grabbed as many items as possible with her magic before trotting back to the bushes in question.
 
Before she knew it, she was covered in dirt and mud, and much more time had passed than she had planned for. Regardless of how much time it took, she was convinced these flower bushes would grow in as healthy as possible, and that’s all that mattered to her. A couple members of the court passed by her, whispering quietly to each other at the sight of the muddy unicorn and quickly turning away, as if to avoid getting any dirt on their own coats. Cherry paid them no mind, muttering quiet encouragements to the tended plants.
 
Cherry Blossom’s head lifted as she heard multiple ponies respectfully addressing someone as “Your Majesty”, assuming it was Shining Armor coming back to get on her progress. Deciding to meet him halfway and catch him in front of the castle, the mare quickly trotted over until she spotted that the one she was heading towards wasn’t the King Consort, but Crown Princess Persephone. This excited Cherry even more than before, bounding towards her.
 
“Persie!” She grinned, mud flying from her coat and hair as she hurried towards the princess. “I haven’t seen you in forever! Look how tall you are!”
 
Persephone, having turned to spot the one hurrying in her direction, immediately attempted to back up at the sight of the mud-covered pony. “Cherry, no!”
 
“Pony pile!” Cherry Blossom giggled, tackling the changeling to the ground in front of the palace. Now both of them were splattered with dirt, Persephone momentarily stunned into silence before letting out a handful of high-pitched “ews”.
 
“Cherry Blossom, I just went to the spa!” She whined, trying to right herself and fix her mussed mane at the same time, staring in disgust at her muddy legs. “Now I have to go back immediately!”
 
Lifting herself up as well, the unicorn shrugged, still trying to be playful. “Aw c’mon, Persie! We used to play in the dirt all the time, being dirty ain’t too bad!”
 
Persephone scoffed, trying to flick mud from her shoulder. “Playing on a farm as kids and being covered in mud on the way to an important meeting with my mother is different! I’m not some dirty gardener, I’m a princess!”
 
Cherry made a face, a frown appearing slowly. “Dirty gardener?” She looked down, accidentally smearing dirt across her cheek as she noticed others starting to stare at the interaction. “I just figured you’d be happy to see me, is all.”
 
“I don’t have time for this, Cherry. I’ll see you later.” The changeling princess hurried off, leaving the mare completely dumbfounded and others to hurry off as Shining Armor turned a corner from inside the gardens.
 
“Cherry, there you are! I was coming to check on you, but I didn’t see you with the other gardeners.” Noticing her expression, Shining paused and tilted his head. “Is everything alright?”
 
Her head shook, as if trying to ignore what had just happened, and she smiled. “Yup, everything’s great! Your plants should be fine, but I’ll come back to check in a few weeks. I should get to the train though, don’t want to miss the last one–”
 
Shining shook his head and raised a hoof, stopping her before she could hurry off. “You’re more than welcome to spend the night here, Cadence and I already made sure a spare room was set up for you if you needed it. And I’m sure everyone will be excited to see you again, it’s been so long since we’ve been able to visit Ponyville.”
 
“Oh, okay!” She followed him as he led her into the palace, hoping that Persephone wouldn’t bring up their run-in to her parents. It was bound to be an interesting night.