//------------------------------// // Chilled Hearts // Story: Dames of the Tea Table: Silver Sabbatical // by Kipakuta //------------------------------// "This is much better than having to go to another one of those stupid little rich pony parties." A white, pink-maned unicorn commented, leaning back against a river rock. Across the river from her, a lime green unicorn with a darker green mane, nodded in agreement. "Forgive me a moment of indiscretion, Bouton." The green unicorn began, using the alias she devised. "But I found it a little flattering that some of the farmers flirted with us." Bouton smiled, sweeping back part of her wet mane. "As a model, I'm used to it, but I'm sure it must be a compliment for you that they admired your looks, dear Lemon." The head of an coral orange pony suddenly breached the river surface between the two unicorns, startling them. "What's a model?" The strange pony asked. Bouton quickly scrambled up onto the rock, while Lemon angrily slapped water at the intrusive pony. "Get out of here you pervert!" The orange pony raised a forelimb to block the water. Lemon and Bouton stared in shock at the pony's raised limb. "You-you're a-" Lemon sputtered. "Go on, say it." The pony challenged, waving the limb. "Sea pony?!" Bouton stated in disbelief. The orange pony pointed her flippered foreleg at Bouton. "We prefer the term 'Merae.'" She used her flipper to sweep back her dark green mane. "So what are you doing spying on us?" Lemon challenged. The merpony looked towards Lemon. "I was actually heading upriver when I noticed you two talking." Bouton eased back into the water. "How long were you listening?" The merpony glided over to settle next to the white unicorn. "Not long Bouton." She replied with a mischievous grin. "And how do you know my name?" "Sound travels well underwater." The merpony replied. "My name's Coral Ice." "Are all Merae as intrusive as you, Coral?" Lemon asked. Coral dove underwater, giving a flip of her tail-fin in Lemon's direction. She swam to the bottom of the river, then churned the mud, causing it to cloud the water. "Oh now she's gonna pout." Lemon snarked. She looked to Bouton. Bouton tapped the surface of the water with a hoof. "We're sorry." Coral remained submerged. "Come back up Coral. Please." Lemon tried pleading. "I didn't mean to insult your kind." A few seconds later, Coral surfaced next to Lemon. "Apology shooping accepted." Coral said as she embraced Lemon. The green unicorn patted the merpony on the side. Coral released her, then settled on a submerged rock next to her. "Forgive us for being rude." Bouton began, "But we've never seen a merae before. Some ponies think that your kind are a myth." Coral chuckled. "Most Merae keep to the open waters and depths. A few pods risk lairing near your shooping coastal cities." Lemon rubbed the back of her own neck with a hoof. "Why haven't you tried integrating yourself with the rest of us?" "A lot of your shooping surface cities are impossible to get to." Coral replied. "Some places we can't shooping get to because of tall waterfalls, or a shooping obstacle we can't get past, or they're not next to a river where we can shooping get to it." "That's an interesting word you keep using." Bouton commented. Coral glided through the water over to her. "What, shooping?" "Yes. What does it mean?" Bouton asked, half-suspecting a particular definition. Coral snuggled up against Bouton. "I'll tell you what it means, if you tell me what 'Model' means." "Deal." Bouton replied. Coral gestured with her flippers. "'Shooping' is how Merae stay connected. It's our hello, our goodbye. It's how we ease tensions and rouse passions. The first thing we do when we wake up, and the last thing we do before we go to sleep. It binds us together and helps us survive. It's a body thing, a mind thing, a soul thing." "I'm guessing it's some kind of casual intimacy." Bouton mused. Coral smiled to Bouton. "Would you like to try it?" Bouton shook her head. "Thank you, but I'm no Merae." Coral looked over to Lemon. The green unicorn shook her head. "Apologies, Miss Ice, but we already have stallions that we love and cherish." "I understand." Coral replied. "Devotion to a single shooping pony is one of your surface dwelling customs." "Has anypony ever taken up your offer, Miss Ice?" Lemon inquired. "Many ponies here have, but not ones that are already shooping partnered with another pony." She replied. Coral turned back to Bouton. "Now, please tell me about models." - - - "You surface dwellers have such interesting customs." The coral colored pony stated with a smirk. "I've heard about wearing clothing for comfort and practical reasons, but to wear clothing as a display of another pony's talent? Why the shoop don't they wear it themselves if they're so shooping proud of their skills?" Bouton twirled a hoof as she spoke. "The reason they hire ponies to display their clothes, is because they want ponies who look good wearing the clothing." She thought for a moment. "Let's say an anglerflish tries disgusing itself as a koi. Doesn't matter how good his skills are, nopony's gonna take him seriously." Coral laughed. "So it's about their shooping appearance." She swept her flipper along the side of her head. "And what about the shooping dressmaker, Bouton? If she won't wear her own work, what the shoop does she wear?" "Usually she wears a business suit." Bouton replied. "It makes her own appearance less prominent, and keeps the attention on the models." "Do you think I could shooping model for waterproof clothing?" Bouton examined Coral closely. The dark color of her mane provided some contrast, and the flippers on the end of her forelegs might have potential for showing off soft leg coverings. From the hips forward, she'd make a fairly decent model, needing only a few touch-ups. The tail however, was a particularly unique feature. Where most ponies had four legs and a short narrow tail with long hair, seaponies or 'Merae' as they called themselves, had long bodies that tapered gradually ending in a broad flat horizontal fin. "Coral Ice, I think you'd be a test of skill for any dressmaker." The Mer looked down to herself, then laughed. "Yeah, What the shoop was I thinking?" Coral Ice splashed the river surface with her tail. "Fancy clothing is shooping useless in the depths. And other shooping ponies can't wear clothing that's made for our body shape." Bouton patted Coral's shoulder. "But if there were a market for Merae fashion, you'd make a great model." "Shoop yeah!" Coral cheered. "And what about you? Certainly you don't spend your days sitting in the river like this." Lemon inquired. "The pod has an arrangement with the shooping surface dwellers that live here." Coral gestured around. "We bring up kelp, old coral, discarded shells and other shooping stuff for them to use, we also help with sea and river transport, and making shooping deliveries." "And what does The Patron do for you in return?" Lemon pressed. "Surely you don't work for free." "There are certain shooping luxuries that we can't make for ourselves." Coral replied. She wriggled over close to the green unicorn. "Things like shooping books would be ruined in water. Most lights don't shooping work, and land plants don't grow in salt water." "So what you get, are specially made items that won't get ruined by water?" Lemon asked. Coral nodded. "Yep. If you'd like, I can show you our shooping cave." She pointed a flipper downriver. " It's about twelve fathoms out and thirty five fathoms down." "I don't know if we could survive that without scuba gear, or water breathing magic." Lemon replied. Coral shrugged. "Well shoop." She muttered. "Here's me thinking unicorns can do every shooping thing with their magic." "Most unicorns only know a few spells to help with their jobs." Lemon explained. "For example.some of the spells I know are: 'Magic Grip,' 'Repair,' 'Memory,' and 'Create Fire.'" Those are spells I use every day to help my Lady." "Don't the Merae have their own magic?" Bouton inquired. "Yeah. We control the shooping water." Coral replied. "Mostly we make it flow faster around ourselves to speed up our swimming. We can also make currents to move things through the water." "So it's like an aquatic version of 'Magic Grip.'" Bouton mused. "But it doesn't work well above the surface." Coral replied. "It's hard to push water up against the pull of gravity. That's also why we can't swim up tall waterfalls." "I imagine that it must be rather difficult to move about on land." Lemon added. "Even in a wheelchair." Coral climbed up onto the riverbank then settled on the sun-warmed grass. "Just like you need special equipment to move about in the waters." Lemon got out of the water, followed by Bouton. "It's been nice talking with you, Coral." The green unicorn stated. "But I think we should get going." Coral waved. "Alright, shoop ya later." Bouton blushed and giggled, hiding her mouth with a hoof. Coral smiled, then stretched out to bask. Lemon and Bouton dried themselves off, then followed a path leading inland. - - - A short while later, they noticed a few clusters of tents on one side of the river. Ponies were busy moving supplies, setting up tables, pegasi were arranging clouds. Curious, Lemon and Bouton trotted over. "It looks rather busy over here." Bouton stated. "Planning a party?" A cyan colored earth pony looked up from a clipboard. "We're organizing the wedding for The Patron's daughter." "Toola?" Lemon asked. The earth pony nodded. Bouton turned to her friend. "Wait, she had a ring on her horn last night." Lemon rubbed one of her ears. "That's right. It had some fancy gems in it. And didn't Cheerilee have an engagement bracelet as well?" Realization came to Lemon and Bouton. "They're engaged-" "-To each-other." "Oh My Luna!" They said together. Lemon looked to the earth pony. "Where is Patron Gilbert?" The earth pony snickered. "You see that big green tent over there?" He motioned towards a cluster. "He's in there?" Lemon asked. The earth pony nodded. "Thank you." She blurted before dashing off. As she circled around to the front of the tent, Lemon noticed a small line outside, where ponies and a gryphon were waiting. Standing watch at the entrance were Jasper and the big blue pony that she had met the previous night. Lemon joined the line, then took time to gaze about. The tent clusters were arranged in an arc around one side of an open air amphitheater. At one side of the central stage area, she saw Starsong helping with setting up instruments. The stone benches around the stage were set on a shallow slope, spaced out to allow ponies to pass between the rows without crowding seated ponies or stepping on hooves. One bench at the edge of the seating area was right on the riverbank. Lemon guessed that it was placed there to allow the Merae to join in as part of the audience. Long red carpets lined the central aisle-ways between the seats. The large green tent that she waited next to, was set up at the head of one such aisle-way. All but one of the other aisle-ways had unbarred access to allow ponies to walk in easily. The remaining aisle-way was taken up by a large yellow tent, and had another small line of ponies waiting in front. "Judging by the look of things, you'd think a Princess was getting married." Bouton commented, as she joined her companion. "Bouton, is your cutie mark covered?" The white unicorn looked to her flank. "Half-covered. Why?" Lemon pointed to the gold tent on the other side of the seating area. "Do you recognize those ponies in front of the gold tent?" "Yes. Twilight Sparkle and Rarity." Bouton replied. "Wait, Rarity!?" She did a double-take. Bouton reached back to pull her swimsuit further over her cutiemark. "Assuming that's the tent for Cheerilee and her family. I recall something about Twilight befriending Cheerilee out of a shared love of learning." Lemon mused. "And Rarity is trying to get her name out there in the fashion industry, but where are the other four Elements of Harmony?" "Maybe I can ask Lady Cynthia to disguise my cutiemark, then we can mingle more freely." Bouton replied. Lemon gave a glance to the gryphon further up in the line. "It seems that they're not the only celebriponies here. There's Gustave, and we saw Donut Joe earlier." - - - The dark grey gryphon paid little attention to the two mares who were chatting away a few paces back. He was more focused on what he was going to say to Gilbert. "Patron LaRoulette, I am honored and grateful, that you have invited me into your home, on the wedding day of your daughter." He said to himself. "I hope their first foal is a feminine foal." He took a deep breath and began again. At both the green and gold tents, ponies would be escorted in one at a time. Inside, they would sign their names, then present either a gift, or a promise of service to be done at a time of Toola's or Cheerilee's choosing. After one pony left, another would be invited inside. "Gustave LeGrande?" The large blue earth pony called. Gustave entered the green tent and wrote his name in the open ledger that rested on a table to one side of the entrance. Gilbert and Aurelina rested on cushions on one side of the tent, while Toola sat on the other side, next to a table that held gifts. "Patron LaRoulette." The gryphon began, addressing the green unicorn. "I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter's, wedding...on this, the wedding...day of your daughter's wedding." He smiled nervously, seeing Aurelina and Toola smirk slightly. Gilbert's expression remained unchanged. "And may their first filly, be a feminine foal." Gustave removed a pink pastry box from his back, placing on the table along with the other gifts. "I present this, a signature box of my eclairs." He took a few steps back. "Thank you Gustave." Toola stated. She opened the box, and sampled one of the eclairs. "This pastry speaks to me." She began. "It tells me about how you make your filling fresh daily. How you knead the dough by claw. How you carefully time the cooking process." Gustave grinned. "Thank you, Concierge Antonia. Your discerning palate does justice to my skills." He approached Gilbert and held out a talon. Gilbert extended his hoof. "I thank you as well, for your continued sponsorship of my bakery." He said, shaking the unicorn's hoof with both of his talons. "Mr LeGrande." Gilbert replied. "A cafe such as yours is a benefit to both Cheval L'Honneur and the City of Canterlot." Gustave stepped back and bowed, draping one wing across his chest to act as a cape. "Patron LaRoulette. I'm going to leave you now, because I know you are very busy." - - - After Gustave exited, the large blue earth pony looked to the two mares who were at the head of the line. "May I have your names?" "Oh yes." The white unicorn mare addressed the stallion. "Bouton Rose and Lemon Meringue." The earth pony looked to Jasper who read over a clipboard, then shook his head. "Please wait here a moment." The stallion commanded before entering the tent. He bowed to The Patron. "Patron Gilbert. They're not on the list, but Bouton Rose and Lemon Meringue would like an audience." Gilbert looked to Aurelina and Toola. "I have no objections." "Neither do I." Aurelina added. "They were a delight to read for." "I would very much welcome their presence." Toola stated. "Show them in, Lanzenreiter." Gilbert ordered. He nodded then stepped outside. "The Patron has agreed to see you both." Lanzenreiter said to the two mares outside. Lemon and Bouton entered. "Ladies, welcome." Gilbert greeted them. "Would you care to sign in?" He asked, surrounding the ledger with a green aura. Bouton signed their names, while Lemon addressed The Patron. "First off, I'd like to thank you for the wonderful tour this morning." Lemon began. "It was rather educational, learning about how the family became so wealthy and influential." "Yes, The Las Pegasus thing." Gilbert waved the issue off. "What you heard is mostly true. We did finance the law process, but not only for our own benefit." He tipped his hat. "There's nothing illegal about giving generously to the police and politicians. It allows them to do their job better, which is making sure problem ponies don't get out of hoof, correct?" "I see your point Patron, but that's not why we're here." The green unicorn mare took a step forward. "Much like how you act as a Patron for business, my Lady considers herself a Matron for romantic love." Gilbert smiled. "So this wedding would be an affirmation of your Lady's ideals?" "Let them watch, father." Toola cut in. "If they want to witness the love that Cheerilee and I share, then I welcome their gaze." She grinned smugly. "Un argia mundu.*" "Then it's settled." Gilbert proclaimed. "The three of you are invited. Return here when the sun touches the horizon." "Thank you, Patron LaRoulette." Lemon replied. She and Bouton bowed, then left the tent. - - - "Announcing Her Royal Highness Princess Luna, Head of the House of Night, Sovereign of the Order of the Starry Night, Grand Mobile Element of the Lunar Orb, Joint Diarch of the Principality of Equestria, and Grand Duke Consort Bad Apple!" A bat-winged guard dressed in silvery armor addressed the assembled crowd. Two ponies entered the archway and posed as some ponies raised cameras to take pictures. Luna wore a blue and silver dress with billowed sleeves, a long flared skirt, and a ruffled collar that encircled her neck. Grand Duke Bad Apple was a caramel colored earth pony stallion, with a black mane slicked back with an apple scented gel. His ensemble was a white shirt with a black suitjacket. On his head was a white derby with a red hatband clasped with a crest that matched his cutiemark, an apple with a missing wedge, and a green-tinged interior. Once they were finished with the photo session, the Princess and the Duke mingled with the the crowd. Luna was on her way to the punch bowl when she felt something pressing lightly on her hoof. She lifted it up to inspect it, but found nothing amiss. Turning her attention back to her surroundings, Luna found herself alone in a silvery gray void. "No!" Luna opened her eyes, and the image of a green unicorn mare came into focus. "Your Majesty, Did I wake you up at a bad time?" She asked, passing over a tissue. Luna accepted it and soaked up the tears that had run down her cheeks. "Dear sweet Lime." She began. "I cannot fault thee for thy lack of oneiric awareness." She slid out of bed, then stretched. "Twas a marvelous but ephemeral fantasy that I wish to someday experience in the physical." "Was it the one where you were catapulting suitors over the castle walls again?" Lime inquired. Luna hid her smirk with a hoof. "Nay, t'was about Him." Lime nodded in understanding. "Can't get him out of your head?" Lime asked. "I did see him in the library last night, while my glamour was present." "Curious." Lime replied. "I wonder if he'll be at the wedding tonight." "How now? A wedding you say." Luna grinned. "That is certainly worthy of the Dames presence. Perchance are you willing to use thy chip to buy seats for the three of us?" "Didn't need to." Lime replied. "When I mentioned your interest in romantic love, his daughter, Toola, was happy to have us at her wedding." "So it is Toola Roola's wedding that we shall be attending." Luna altered her appearance to become Cynthia. "And whom doth she wed?" "Cheerilee." "Thou doth jest!" "Nope." Lime smiled widely. "They both had engagement bands, with gems that matched each-others colors." Cynthia thought for a moment. "Aye, now I recall." She started sorting through her clothes. "And to think Celestia convinced me to leave my most formal dress back at the castle." - - - * A light to the world