I am my own OC

by KittyrinnAiko

Chapter 26: The stone in the orchard. Part 2.

“What ya got there?” Granny asked coming up to us as we entered the farmyard a short time later. Cadance and Luna had decided to carry it with the branch across their backs as the three of us seemed the least affected by the stone's presence, and I was just too short for such a carry to work. Granny took one look at it and asked, “So what are you doing with a hunk of dragon poop?”

“Dragon poop?” I asked.

“Was it crusted over?” Granny asked.

“Ya.” Applejack replied. Granted that covered pretty much all geodes.

“Dragon poop.” Granny declared. “Taint worth no-then save maybe a couple of bits.”

“Not a thing? But it’s got an enchantment of some kind on it.” I protest.

“Ya, Ms Brightwing, and Ms Silvereagle just kind of lose focus when they look at it,” Applejack added.

“They’re pegasi and it’s all sparkly,” Granny explained. “You lot are still foals after all.”

“I ain’t no foal,” AJ protested. “Oh, whatever.”

“That true?” I asked giving our security a dirty look.

“Well...” Brightwing protested rather sheepishly.

“Now that I know, I’ve kind of lost interest.” Silvereagle offered, sounding rather sheepish.

“Sparklies is it?” I say in an accusatory tone. I can picture pegasi collecting bright stones just like many birds back in the human world did.

“Tell you what though, take that into Cutter, and he’ll as likely give you a couple of bits for it,” Granny said and started walking away.

“Granny if we can get bits for 'em, why don’t we try finding more?” Applejack asked.

“Cuz we are apple farmers, not rock farmers. I usually just stomp em into the ground.” And with that, she went back to whatever it was she was doing.

“I’m beginning to think you may be right about the pot of gold thing.” Sunset drolled.

“Pot of gold?” Apple Bloom asked.

“If Granny were to find a pot of gold she’d as likely put it back cuz she hadn’t earned it herself,” Applejack said in a dry tone.

“Well come on, let's go see if it’s worth anything.” Sunset suggested, and a moment later our group was on its way into town.

💎

“Welcome to my shop, how may we be of service to you?” Mr Cutter said as we entered. He wasn’t really much to look at, a pudgy little pegasus, though he’d a lustrous golden coat and a fiery mane and was probably quite the looker when he was younger. His smile faded as four foals entered the shop, but brightened slightly on seeing Applejack and Princess Cadance.

“We found this stone.” I offered while levitating the bucket up to the counter. “Granny Smith said it was just dragon poop, but that we might get a couple of bits for it.”

“Indeed...” He replied sounding a little bit skeptical. “Ah, you haven't touched it.” He exclaimed excitedly. His tone switching from night to day in an instant.

“Is that good?” Sunset asked.

“Good, yes, yes indeed. And Granny Smith is right in a way. It’s an excretion sometimes dropped by elderly dragons and often holds a considerable charge of magic. The issue is that if it’s hooved improperly, and you can translate that as touched in any way, or simply opened up wrong, it loses its charge.”

“Ah...” Scootaloo said softly. “And I nearly ruined it.”

“What did you use to remove the outer crust?” He asked curiously.

“My, um, shoe.” I offer sheepishly. He gave me an odd look, and I held up a hoof to show him. His eye’s widened on recognition of the material.

“That’ll do it,” Mr Cutter replied with an astonished smile.

“We thought it might have some dangerous enchantment on it.” Sunset offered.

“Not a bad rule to live by when encountering things with a magical charge.” Mr Cutter replied. “If you don’t know what it is, consider it dangerous until you know it’s not. And in this case, touching it spoils it. I get far too many who get all excited, and go and spoil it because they can’t keep their hooves off it.”

“I kind of learned that lesson the hard way recently. I got obsessed with something I had no business touching.” Sunset offered.

Mr Cutter took a calculating look at Sunset. “Ah, you must be Princess Sunset Shimmer. Princess Celestia’s daughter. So who was the lucky stud?”

“That’s kind of a state secret.” I offered while reminding myself that what he was saying wasn’t necessarily rude in this world. The truth was Princess Celestia wasn’t telling any pony, not even us. “Right off hoof, I’d say it’s something of a tradition being I’ve no idea who my father was either.”

“I think I can understand judging by some of the letters to the editor in the papers. Every pony’s untouchable paragon of virtue suddenly demonstrates to the world that she needs love just like every other mare.” Mr Cutter offered. “And you must be Princess Nova? I’ve seen you about town.”

“Indeed that I am,” I reply with a smile. His golden coat and fiery mane causing all manner of flags, bells, and whistles in the back of my mind to go crazy. I’ve no doubt my ears are doing the tango as the possibility waged war in my mind. Could this be Celestia’s stud?

We watched as he got out a padded box, and gently rolled the stone from the bucket to the box. “Now the way it works with a stone like this, I can give you a partial payment upfront based on what I think it’ll fetch at auction.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Cadance replied as the bucket was passed back to us with Applejack taking hold of it by the bail. Ya, that thing that’s wonderful for attaching to ropes and that thing humans have and most commonly called a handle, ya, it’s called a bail.

We were stunned when instead of just giving us some silver bits or even the more valuable gold bit which was worth ten of the silver bits, he pulled out a stack of the much larger gold coin, the Celestial Royal. These were each worth one hundred gold bits. He looked at us and chuckled.

“One that hasn’t been spoiled can fetch you a month's rent for a decent apartment in Canterlot.” He offered. “Also I’ll need signatures of the sellers and primary residence.”

💎

“The things we could buy with that money,” Rumble said as we headed out the door a few minutes later.

“We, are not buying anything,” I stated. “We are going to the bank.”

“So are we splitting this up?” Sunset asked.

“The way I see it every pony gets an equal share now and when the rest comes in,” I say.

“Now I appreciate that thought...” Applejack started.

“It came off Apple property.” I offered. “You and Bloom are getting a cut whether you want it or not. Least we end up being raked over the coals later on when the media finds out. I put every pony’s name on that their bill of sale save for Brightwing and Silvereagle because they said they weren’t allowed. Now I understand it’s a lot of money, that’s why we are going to the bank.” Brightwing had stopped me before I could put their names down and whispered that the rules prohibited them from taking a share. I’d be bringing it up to Princess Celestia. After all, it wasn’t like I needed the money any more than Sunset or Cadance needed it. Each of us was getting an allowance that was more than we knew what to do with. I don’t know what they’d been doing with theirs, but I’d been actively investing most of what I was receiving.

“But?” Apple Bloom protested. “I only agreed to go along because I only thought it’d be a couple of bits.”

“And that’s why the Rich family is rolling in bits off of Apple farm apples.” I scolded. “You found a bucket of gold and now you want to bury it again. By rights being it came off your family farm your whole family should get a share.”

“And I’ll get some too?” Rumble asked hopefully.

“It’ll take the squeeze off your tuition costs for Flight School.” I offered.

“I thought we were just doing flight camp?” Cadance asked.

“Rumble is going to be a Wonderbolt someday,” I said with a smile on my face.

“And here all I was thinking about was sweets,” Rumble said as he came to a sudden stop. He started up a moment later before he could be left behind.

“Rumble, you could buy the whole shop. - Applejack, we’ll put it in an account, and it can be a rainy day account. Or a lack of rain account.” I offered. “Think of it as a small safety net that Granny doesn’t need to know about.”

“That’s not a small amount.” Applejack protested.

“By chance have your parents told you what it costs to run a farm?” I ask.

“Um, not really no.” Applejack admitted. Apple Bloom didn’t have a clue either.

“I know I’m just a filly, but you should really ask your parents to show you what it takes to run a farm.”

I know in the show it seemed like they ran the place on a shoestring budget, but this was the real Equestria. A farm had things they needed to buy, like feed for animals, and equipment that needed maintenance. Other expenses included paying the weather team to water the apple orchards and paying hired hooves.

A short time later we filed into the bank.

“And how can we help you?” Asked a teller whose name tag said, Sunshine Daisy.

“We just sold a gem, and need to deposit the money into the bank.” I offered as Cadance plopped the bag onto the counter. “It’s to be split evenly, and my share can just go into Ms Lofty’s account. By any chance does Rumble have an education account?”

“Well, if he doesn’t I suppose we can set one up for him.” Sunshine offered while looking at the bag of gold coins.

“I’m to understand that I have a savings account for my educational needs.” Scootaloo offered. “I know I normally deposit to the main account, but I’d rather this went into my account.”

“Mrs Ladybug?!” Sunshine called on seeing how much money we’d just brought in.

This was going to require contacting adult guardians and or parents.

“We can speak for Miss Cadance, and Miss Sunset.” Brightwing offered.

“Not for me?” I asked.

“Only in an emergency, otherwise it’s got to be Ms Lofty or Ms Holiday. Right now not even your mom can vouch for you.” Silvereagle offered. “We are allowed to act as guardians in extenuating circumstances. That is to say, emergencies.”

“You can’t act in the capacity of a guardian in extenuating circumstances for me?” I ask.

“As you are fixed to give that money to Ms Lofty, no, and this doesn’t count as an emergency,” Brightwing explained.

“Ms Holiday is at work, and Lofty is probably out shopping right now,” I point out.

“Well if you were to put the money in your own account we could OK that.” Brightwing offered. “It’d be no different than the bank holding it until Ms Lofty or Ms Holiday could swing by the bank if you are going to insist on giving it to them. And we should probably find Ms Lofty for Scootaloo.”

“I don’t actually need any pony to make deposits,” Scootaloo pointed out. “I do it all the time.”

Scootaloo bringing in money orders sent by her parents had been happening so frequently the bank had never questioned it. The money went into the bank and the bank took out the monthly payments on the mortgage automatically so long as there was enough in the account. As to why this was going on it was because even when they were home most of their time was spent in Canterlot. They’d catch the train first thing in the morning and often didn’t return until late at night.

“Well, alright,” I replied, and then turned to the teller who’d been joined by two more mares, another Sunshine, Sunshine Rose, and Mrs Ladybug. “Can we do that?”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Offered a plump old stallion with a name tag that simply read ‘B Manager’ leading me to wonder if his name might actually be Branch Manager.

Mr B M looked mighty constipated. But in do course of time Lofty, and Applejack’s father were fetched and things got moving. We were joined a short time later by Rumble’s father who was grey like Rumble but with a blue and silver mixed mane and tail.

“Cloudchaser. What’s going on? Rumble, you aren’t in some kind of trouble are you?” He gave our escorts a wary eye.

“No dad, we made some money selling a gem,” Rumble informed him. “And Nova thought it’d be best to put it in the bank.”

“Nova, isn’t that the filly you’re keen on?” He asked teasing.

“Dad?!” Rumble protested.

“Well you are.” I teas.

“Can we focus please?” Rumble protested. He was so cute when he blushed.

“So how much are we talking about?” He asked as he walked up to the counter. The teller showed him the receipt for one hundred seventy-five bits. Between the five of us, we had eight hundred seventy-five bits and that had only been the down payment based on the estimated worth.

Mr Cloudchaser just sort of froze up for a bit, and then started going on about all the things he was going to buy.

“Nothing doing Mr!” I protested. “He needs that for his education expenses. That is not for you to fritter away on junk you don’t need!”

At this point he’d sat down and was backing away slowly with me in his face.

“And I concur,” Cadance added.

“You know, the word of an Alicorn Princess is kind of the law,” Brightwing whispered in his ear. “And you just got outvoted by two.”

“Alicorn?” Cloudchaser asked. Up to this point all he’d seen was my bitey teeth and eyes that were perhaps a bit more forward-focused than an ordinary pony.

“If only you had half Applejack’s hesitance to spend money.” I scolded as I lifted my wings and lit up my horn. This had him backpedaling even more.

“Ah, Nova?” Rumble asked not sure if he should protest or not.

“Rumble, he’s going to torpedo your future if he gets his way.” I protest going over to him.

“You know, you’re sounding a bit like my mom right now.” Rumble offered quietly. “Not that that’s a bad thing. I mean you’re kind of right. My dad has so little ambition my mom took my sister, my brother, and went to Clydesdale because she’d had enough of him spending every bit they made on things we didn’t really need.” He turned to his father. “Isn’t that right? - Nova thinks I could be a Wonderbolt.”

“Can, and will,” I say emphatically. “It’s just that having a little money in the bank will make it a little less of a struggle.”

“Wonderbolt?” Cloudchaser asked with mirth in his voice. “That’s a pipe dream son. Now a brand new outdoor char-broiler, that I can put to use. I can just taste the BBQ’d veggies now.”

“I’d say he’s got what it takes,” Silvereagle said as I look at Cloudchaser incredulous at what just came out of his mouth.

“Rumble, does he always think with his stomach?” I asked. This was no way for a relationship to start. In a way, I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was a pony.

“He does.” Applejack and Lofty reply at the same time.

I let out a sigh. I want that money to go towards his education. I also knew that grants and scholarships only went so far. “Very well,” I cast a glance to the bank staff making a motion that they write down what I have to say. “I Princess Nova Moon as grant'r of this shareth of the proceeds of the sale of the gem hath found while in the company of Applejack Brandy Apple, Apple Bloom Apple, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Sunset Shimmer, Scootaloo Shutter, while accompanied by Canterlot guards Ms Brightwing, and Ms Silvereagle, doth h'reby decree yond any shareth to behest given to and 'r did provide to one Rumble son of Cloudchaser who is't by virtue of his eke being presenteth at the findeth but having nay actual claimeth to hath said funds owing to nay legal contracteth 'r company having been f'rm'd grant an equal shareth conditionally for useth as educational funding to cov'r behoveful expenses above and beyond what standard educational funding wouldst normally cov'r with all expenses requiring an educat'r of valorous standing to signeth of on hath said expenses.

"Is the rest of the said company yet to be legally formed in accordance with this condition?”

“Aye.” Cadance offered with a bit of a smirk.

“I’ve no issue with seeing to it the money doesn’t get frittered away.” Applejack offered while giving me a funny look.

“Brandy?” Lofty asked with a smile.

“Yay or neigh Lofty?” Applejack scolded with a touch of annoyance.

“Well I don’t have a problem with it.” Lofty offered.

“I’m good too,” Rumble offered. “Living for the moment without a care for the future is no way to live.”

“Let Her Highness's declaration stand as witnessed here by ourselves and the bank staff.” Silver Eagle declared.

“But?” Cloudchaser protested.

“Mr Cloudchaser, the only ponies who have any legal claim to the funds are Princess Cadance, Princess Nova, and the Apple family,” Brightwing cautioned. “Princess Nova wants to secure the future of the colt she’s fond of, and you have no business interfering.”

I wasn’t too sure how legal any of that was, but if the ponies at the bank believed it, and Mr Cloudchaser believed it, that was good enough to secure Rumble’s future.

“I have one objection,” Spoke the voice of a mare none gathered knew.

We all turned to see Princess Luna with a golden-haired Wonderbolt, Spitfire, the two having just joined us. It took me but a moment to realize who she was.

“You’ll need to change Scootaloo’s family name to Supermarine.” Spitfire offered with a rather interesting and possibly even triumphal smile on her face.

Mom had a big smile too.

Scootaloo just looked at her with the most dumbfounded look a pony could ever have. I’ll have to admit I wasn’t much better and I doubt any pony else was either. A Wonderbolt had just walked into the bank and declared that Scootaloo’s family name was Supermarine. A Wonderbolt known as Supermarine Spitfire.

“Scootaloo, by any chance is she the reason you are obsessed with the Wonderbolts?” I asked. Nothing intelligible was coming out of Scootaloo’s mouth.

Spitfire walked up to Scootaloo and sat down on the floor to be on her level. “Your father has abandoned you for the last time. From now on, you will be living with me.” Scootaloo cast her gaze to Lofty.

“Scootaloo, it’s alright, she’s your mom,” Lofty offered. “Mane Allgood is just the mare your father married after he left Spitfire. By Celestia, I’ve been more of a mother to you than Mane ever was what with taking off and leaving you all the time.”

“Perhaps this’ll help,” Spitfire said and began singing softly. “Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye, Cheerio, here I go on my way. Not a tear but a cheer, make it gay, give me a smile I can keep all the while in my heart while I’m away till we meet once again you and I.”*

Music is a potent thing for drawing old memories from the depths they lay, and Spitfire’s little song had Scootaloo in Spitfire’s embrace, both had the waterworks going.

Author's Note:

*Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye' by Gracie Fields. In this context 'gay' means happy and light of heart. It did not have any connection to homosexuality. The word started being used as a sort of soft slur and eventually morphed into the word we know today. I'd like to think that in Equestria at least, the word still retains its original meaning in that it was never used as a slur. Never used to denigrate a part of the population. In my head, in an ideal world, no one is going to be bothered, threatened, or challenged by two individuals of the same gender having a loving relationship together. Anyone who's read any of my stories about Equestria will know by now that I have no problems with ponies herding. It's something real ponies do, and it's perfectly natural. And that means same sex partners. Take into consideration that the whole concept of one man one woman arose during a time when having multiple wives was seen as a status symbol. King Solomon had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines. Interesting that he is praised while the women are blamed for Solomon's leanings towards accepting the ideas and beliefs of others.

Spitfire... why yes, I am using the full historic name. Spitfire's family name being Supermarine just has a nice ring to it.

Comments

[PoneFluff]

Makes me wonder if spitfire has a sibling who works on boats called Seafire