//------------------------------// // 6 - Holywood // Story: Gilded Lily // by Cosmic Cowboy //------------------------------// Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight Sparkle saw something move on her map of Ponyville. She checked the map carefully for its source, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She was about to turn away again when she saw it once more: a large blot in the hills west of town was shifting slightly. She smiled in slight relief when she realized what it was: her spell tracking the enchanted letter to Aurea Lillium. She had forgotten all about that project in the excitement of preparing for the storm. Her smile turned into a frown when she considered the mark’s location. It was well inside the storm’s radius, but there was nothing else marked there. There isn’t supposed to be anypony living there... “Hey Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked without looking up from the map. Rainbow trotted over to see what she was looking at. “What’s up?” “Are there any mailponies on the storm team?” Rainbow put a hoof to her mouth in thought. “There’s Ditzy Doo, of course, but she still hasn’t showed up yet. Ummm… there’s Special Delivery, I think. He’s the stallion over there with the red mane. That should be it. Why?” Twilight raised her head to look around the room for Special Delivery. When she saw him, she quickly called him over. “This spot here marks a letter I sent two days ago through Manehatten. Do you know who might have carried it out this far?” The stallion studied area around the spot for a moment. “Uhh… that looks like Ditzy Doo’s delivery area.” Twilight blanched. Rainbow Dash looked at her, still confused. “I don’t get it. What’s wrong?” Twilight looked to her with concern written all over her face. “I think we just found Ditzy Doo.” Special Delivery gave a worried grimace. “Making her route in a storm like this? Sounds like Ditzy to me.” Twilight nodded gravely. “The map-marking enchantment was only supposed to start when the envelope was open. So unless there’s a nationally-syndicated advice columnist squatting out in the hills… something else might have opened it.” Rainbow looked back and forth between their worried faces, and down at the jiggling dot on the map.”Wait, you mean Ditzy’s out there in this? We have to go get her!” Twilight didn’t answer her; she was too busy watching the map. The dot had jerked about an inch, and was now shaking erratically. All three ponies’ eyes widened in shock and an icy pit formed in their stomachs as the dot disappeared entirely. Lily braced her hooves against the trunk of the tree she had rolled into, and clamped her wings to her sides, hard. Squinting against the harsh, pelting rain, she frantically scanned the wreckage of her furniture amidst the ruined garden for signs of her errant mailmare. “Ditzy!” Lily yelled into the wind. She waited, but heard no response. Absurdly, she thought of all the times she had asked Ditzy Doo a question and had been ignored. She laughed to herself apprehensively. Now is not the time, Ditzy! Still, she fervently prayed that that was all that was keeping her only friend from answering her. Looking to her left, she saw something shift: her dining table. It was mostly intact and leaning against what looked like part of her coffee table. Looking closer, she could see movement in the space underneath the tabletop. Gritting her teeth, Lily began fighting her way over to it, leaning sideways into the wind. “Ditzy?” she asked again, lifting the table enough to crawl underneath. The gray mare looked up to her, blinking slowly. “Hey, Miss Lily,” she said weakly. “I hit my head.” Lily grimaced and hugged her clumsy friend tight to her chest. “You’ll be alright, Ditzy. Just hang on.” Looking back out at the raging storm and the pathetic remains of her home, Lily’s eyes started to moisten. “It’s all there is left to do.” After another hour of shivering under her broken table, Lily’s ears perked up at the sound of voices. “Ditzy Doo! Ditzy Doo!” Poking her head out from her shelter, Lily looked up into the rainy sky and saw the blurry forms of a team of pegasi pulling a solid-looking wagon through the rain, circling over the hills. Wincing at her stiff joints, she crawled out and shouted back. “Down here! Help!” More excited shouting came from the wagon team, and they angled down to land in Lily’s little valley. Lily wiped her tears away along with the rain in her face, as two paramedics ran from the wagon towards her. Sitting on a crystal bench and wrapped in a blanket, Lily shivered and looked around at the large crowd of concerned ponies in one of the castle’s large halls. Apparently, Pinkie Pie had come up with the idea to have a “Wait-Out-The-Storm-In-Twilight’s-New-Castle” housewarming/slumber party, and most of the town had shown up. A team of paramedics rushing the infamous Ditzy Doo and an unfamiliar blank-flanked mare out of the weather had caused quite a stir, and Lily was very tempted to hide her face under the blanket like a scared foal. She didn’t handle attention very well. The three fillies staring worriedly at her from a safe distance wasn’t helping, either. Lily looked up to see the new princess, Twilight Sparkle, approaching her. She wondered briefly if she was supposed to bow or not. Strangely, the princess looked even more shy than she was. “Um, hello!” she said, nervously chuckling. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Um, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I guess.” Lily raised an eyebrow and gave a spiritless chuckle of her own. “Yeah,” she said simply. Twilight seemed very wrong-footed. “Yes, well… You see, we found you with a letter I wrote…” Lily waited dispassionately for her to get to the point. “Actually, you see, I enchanted it to tell us where you… that is, where it was when it was opened, and…” Twilight paused to look at Lily’s expression, and frowned. “Umm, are you the author of Aurea Lillium?” Lily sighed. She had a feeling something like that was coming. “Yep, that’s me.” The awkward purple princess displayed a strange mix of emotions. Triumph seemed preeminent, closely followed by uncontrolled excitement and a large amount of guilt. Lily wondered about the combination. “Oh, well, um… it’s great to finally meet you. What’s your name?” Lily regarded her for a moment, then said, “Lily.” Twilight smiled genuinely. “Well, then, it’s great to meet you, Lily!” Lily hummed inconsequentially and looked down at her hooves. “I- I’m really sorry to hear about your home,” Twilight said with a sympathetic frown. Lily blinked as she was reminded of recent events. “Is Ditzy alright?” Twilight smiled softly. “She’s going to be fine. Just a small concussion.” “That’s good,” Lily said, relieved, as she looked back down at her hooves. Twilight’s eyes shifted a bit, then she asked, “Hey, Lily?” Lily hummed affirmatively again as she looked up at her. “Did you… happen to read the letter I sent?” Twilight asked, looking guilty again. “Which one was it?” “Um…” Twilight blushed. “The one from ‘Your Closest Follower’.” Lily raised her eyebrows as she remembered the large purple envelope. It had been one of the most insulting and accusatory letters she had ever received, and knowing that Twilight had been its author made her look at the princess in a new light. “...No.” Twilight looked greatly relieved, but still quite guilty. “It’s probably for the best. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote it.” She chuckled again, weakly. There was a long, awkward silence. Lily shifted uncomfortably on the hard bench, and Twilight’s eyes widened. Lily looked at her curiously, then down to what she was staring at. The blanket had moved, revealing her blank flank. Lily hurriedly covered it back up. Twilight looked at her in revelation. “You’re the one Applebloom was talking about,” she said, mostly to herself. Lily rolled her eyes. “I knew those fillies couldn’t keep a secret.” She looked back up to see Twilight still staring at her in wonder. “I’m an albino,” Lily explained. Twilight’s eyes lit up in realization. “Oh! Of course! If your coat has no pigment, no one could see your Cutie Mark, whether you got one or not!” Lily looked around for the most uninteresting thing she could devote all her attention to, looking utterly bored. “Yep.” Twilight seemed to suddenly realize how uncomfortable she must be making her guest eel. “I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean to bother you so much. With the letter and now this. Look, I wanted to let you know that you can stay here in the castle, if you want. I’ve definitely got enough room here for you.” Lily actually smiled a bit. “Thanks, your highness.” Twilight snorted. “You don’t have to call me that. Just ‘Twilight’ is fine.” “Okay. I will.” Twilight smiled warmly and started walking away, but paused as Lily spoke again. “And for the record, I’m not a foal molester.” Twilight hurried off, blushing. Lily smiled smugly to herself. The next day, long after the storm had run its course, Twilight and her friends were seated around a table at Sugar Cube Corner, reflecting on recent events and enjoying each other’s company. “So Lily was Aurea Lillium and the blank-flank pony Applebloom met?” Applejack asked Twilight. “That’s right. And it’s not that she never got her Cutie Mark, it’s just that it’s the same color as the rest of her coat, so you can’t see it. I’m sure she has one, but even she probably doesn’t know what it is.” Twilight answered thoughtfully. “Whew-ee! Twi, you wanna explain all this to Applebloom? Ah think the poor filly still thinks she’s gonna end up the same as Lily. She just hasn’t been the same since this all started.” “It’s been the same thing with Sweetie Belle, though until now I could never figure out just what was wrong,” Rarity added. “But even so, can you imagine living your whole life without knowing what it is that makes you truly special? It sounds absolutely horrid!” “Well I know I don’t need my Cutie Mark to tell me how much I love animals,” Fluttershy put in. “I think even if I never saw what my mark looked like, I would still be doing what I love today.” This was met by a chorus of affirmations. “So then what is her talent, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Telling random ponies how to fix their problems?” “Who knows?” Twilight replied with a smile. “Not every pony ends up making a living out of their special talent.” “Yeah!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “Look at you! Your Cutie Mark is about flying super duper fast, not weather management! And Rarity’s is three gems! What does that hafta do with dressmaking?” Rarity scowled at her. “Thank you for that, Pinkie Pie,” she said with a sniff. She paused and looked back at Pinkie curiously. “Wait, you knew all along, didn’t you? You made her a Pinkie Pie Promise, and that’s why you couldn’t tell the girls where she lived. Isn’t that right?” “Yep!” Pinkie Pie answered happily. “I’ve known Lily ever since I first moved to Ponyville. She didn’t get all hermit-y until a few years ago! She was always pretty cool to talk to, but she didn’t come to many of my parties. When she started writing her column, I wanted to tell everypony I knew about it, but she made me promise not to tell anyone it was her! I don’t know why anyone would want to keep everything a secret like that, though.” “Um, Pinkie?” Fluttershy spoke up. “Lily hasn’t released you from your promise, has she?” “Not yet!” “Then should you really be talking with us about it?” “Hmm,” Pinkie said thoughtfully, “I don’t think it’s much of a secret anymore. When everypony knows a secret about one of your friends, I think the right thing to do is to protect the truth instead of trying to keep a secret everypony already knows.” Her friends blinked at her. “Wow, Pinkie,” Fluttershy remarked, “that was kind of… profound.” “But I’m sure there aren’t that many ponies who know the truth about her,” Twilight observed. “Oh, everypony knows by now!” Pinkie said brightly. “Just listen!” Everyone at the table tilted their heads and listened curiously to the chatter in the sweet shop. “I remember Lily. I went to school with her. Strange filly. You know, now that I think about it, I think I remember somepony saying she would never have a Cutie Mark.” “You know what they’re saying about that Lily? She’s supposed to be the one who writes that advice column, what’s it called? Hang on a sec, I have it here… Aurea Lillium. Heh, with a name like that, it can’t be anyone else, can it?” “I haven’t seen her in years. She was always wearing something, so none of us ever saw her Cutie Mark. I thought she moved away. I think she used to write up advertisements for the Express.” “Wait, she’s been living out in the hills all this time? What a strange mare.” “I heard that they used an enchanted letter to find her in the storm, because she never comes into town. My brother delivers groceries to old mares and the type, and he says he’s been going to her place for years. She never wanted to chat, though, and he had no idea who she was beyond a name and address. Now they say she’s a famous journalist or some such, and that she has no Cutie Mark.” “My dad says she hasn’t left the new castle since she went in. Doesn’t talk to anypony, just sits in her room and does nothing all day. Weirdo.” “Land’s sakes,” Applejack said, “Ah reckon you’re right.” “Oh, the poor dear,” Rarity commented. “I can’t imagine it’s pleasant to have such slanderous talk circulating about oneself.” “But I don’t understand,” Twilight objected. “How do they all know about her and her column? We were the only ones who figured it out, and I was the only one she told.” Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Yeah, about that… Special Delivery can be a bit of a blabbermouth. I didn’t know you were gonna talk to him about all this secret stuff.” “Poor Lily…” Fluttershy said quietly. “Is it true she hasn’t left her room, Twilight?” Twilight looked sheepish. “Yeah… I gave her some books I thought she might like, so I guess that’s what she’s been doing this whole time. I’ve been meaning to talk to her, but our last talk ended on kind of a… kind of embarrassing note.” Applejack laid a hoof on her shoulder reassuringly. “That’s alright, sugarcube. You’re not the only one who can be a friend when one’s needed. We’ll all help cheer Lily up, and stop this gossipin’ to boot!” The six friends cheered their agreement, and then set about making plans. On the far side of Ponyville, in a clubhouse somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres, a similar problem was being discussed. “Did you see how miserable Lily looked?” Applebloom asked. “Miserable?” Sweetie Belle questioned. “I don’t know about that. Grumpy, sure, but ‘miserable’ is a bit extreme, don’t you think?” “Come on, Sweetie Belle, her house was just destroyed in the storm and now everypony in town is talking about her,” Scootaloo said. “Of course she’s miserable!” “She looked like ah felt at Diamond Tiara’s Cuteceanera, when everypony was laughin’ at me!” Applebloom observed. “But then we showed up!” Sweetie Belle cut in. “Yeah! What Lily needs the most right now is some friends who know what she’s going through!” Scootaloo declared. Applebloom turned her head up to the ceiling of the clubhouse and ran a hoof absently along the wood slats of the wall. “Hmm… most? Maybe not.” Suddenly she jumped to her hooves with a determined expression, and dashed out the front door. Her friends scrambled to follow her. “Applebloom! Where are you going?” Scootaloo yelled in confusion. “Ah have an idea! Ah need to talk to some ponies!”