The Cost of Duty

by PingSquirrel

Chapter 3: The Party

“Here I am, waiting again. It was to be expected, but at least it is entertaining. After that visit with the soldier, these foals threw themselves into their interests, with no desire short of being the best at what they do. It’s really quite inspiring to watch unfold.”

~ Excerpt from The Journal of the Unknown, Entry 9, Paragraph 1~

***

One year, Eight Months later

“Honestly, Celerity, this wouldn’t be half as hard as you are making this out to be if you’d just stop squirming for at least two seconds and let me work,” Quick Stitch complained. He had been the tailor that passed through Ferrier’s Creek for years to work on the clothing of the better off, but the one client that the pale blue unicorn hated most was Celerity. She cared nothing of his craft and had no sense of style and no matter what he made for the young mare, she’d end up destroying it.

The sound of stitches ripping came out from the corner where Celerity was changing into his latest creation and he sighed in pain. He had wanted to design for royalty that understood elegance and beauty. Even a rich merchant that understood and enjoyed the finer things in life. Anything but this stout, muscle-bound mare that looked more like a tiny stallion, rather than a small mare. “It ripped again,” she duly said, as she held up the remains of the torn dress and saddle. Once again, he made it too narrow around her midsection, and she, rather than warn him, tried to just pull it on anyways. The light fabric didn’t even stand a chance against her.

“Are you doing this on purpose?” he said, biting his tongue so he wouldn’t swear. Her father paid well, making putting up with this mare worth it. Barely.

“You’re being paid material and time, so it’s no loss for you. Just fix the stitch and get this over with,” she said right back. Normally, she wasn’t this rude, but if there was one thing she hated, it was this exact sort of thing. He scooped the clothing from the green mare and left with an exasperated sigh.

Once she was sure he was gone, Celerity made it to the window and peeked through it. “Alright. He’s gone again. You there, Spellbound?” she whispered into the nearest bush and sure enough, the stallion poked his head out with a goofy grin.

“Were you expecting anypony else? You know, if you just let him work, he’d get done quicker,” he pointed out, as he stood on his rear hooves so he could lean partially through the window. Celerity couldn’t possibly make that sort of stretch, but Spellbound had grown a lot more than she ever did. While he grew taller and leaner, she just got thicker. She probably had her training to blame for her complete and utter lack of a ladylike figure.

She wrinkled her nose at him and shook his head. “And do this all at once? It’s bad enough I had to grow out my mane for this stupid thing. It keeps getting in my eyes,” she said, brushing back that lime mane of hers. It could just barely reach her eyes, but it wasn’t that short spike that it was two years ago.

He just rolled his eyes at his friend, and smiled. “Your dad just wants you to try. I know you still don’t want to, but you’re running out of time. So, maybe you should just go along with this at least a bit, just in case things don’t work out?”

“I really hate parties with dad’s friends,” she replied flatly, before she turned about, going to a mirror. “Ever since there was a chance I might get to be a duchess, they’ve been sucking up to me at every chance they get. It just gets worse at these parties.”

“I know,” Spellbound droned, having heard that before. “At least its the last time, eh?”

She sighed and smiled at the thought. It would be the last time she’d have to hear their false platitudes from the other barons, but even better than that was she wouldn’t have to speak again to the inane and vapid daughters that they had. “Yeah.”

From the hall, there was the sounds of hooves on stone and Celerity gave Spellbound a hard shove back, sending him right back into the bush with a yelp. “The party starts just after dark. You’ll be able to slip in the servants’ door,” she instructed quickly. After baring several of these dinner parties alone, she decided she will have a friend by her side this time, and made plans to sneak him in to join her.

She turned around to see Quick Stitch there with a pastel yellow dress, and with a sigh, she stepped up to accept her fate She spent the next hour at his mercy, being fitted into that dress and being slathered in make-up in an effort to make that squamish face of hers look at least a little feminine. Everything from creams, powders and dyes were applied to her and she hated every layer more than the last. By the time that the unicorn was done with her, he was exhausted and she was entirely out of patience for him.

“At last,” he sputtered as he looked at the results. It wasn’t his best work, but there was only so much he could do with a mare like her. With one last focusing of his magic, he lifted the mirror and turned it towards Celerity.

She looked at her reflection and huffed. With so much on her face, she just looked fake, but it was a passable fake that might get her through the night. “It’s alright,” she replied to the stallion, and he just scowled in annoyance, “The dress is tight, and I swear, this stuff is making me smell like I was in a flower garden explosion.”

That was about all the abuse he was prepared to take from her, and Quick just replied, “Let’s present you to your father, and then, we can both put this entirely behind us.”

“That’s the best idea I heard from you all day,” she said back quickly, before she walked out the door in a hurry that didn’t give the unicorn time to criticize her and lack of finesse in how she moved. Instead, she hurried along, making the unicorn nearly gallop to keep up to what she considered a leisurely pace to the main floor, where she saw her father still commanding the house servants to make some last minute changes to the how furniture was arranged around the manor.

Copper Crown’s ears perked and he turned to his daughter and the panting unicorn who staggered up beside her. “Excellent, Celerity! You look absolutely wonderful! You outdid yourself this time, Stitch! My filly looks like a lovely young mare, thanks to you.”

The tailor bowed to the baron with much relief and pride. “Thank you. I only aim to please, sir,” he replied. All Celerity heard was a covert insult, but she brushed it off. She was used to it and wasn’t about to let another little barb like that get to her. She did huff in annoyance.

“Now, Celerity, why don’t you relax in the front room and greet the guests. They’re all very eager to wish you luck on your upcoming trip,” Crown said to his daughter, “And, I’m sure your friends will be insanely jealous.”

“My upcoming trip?” she asked with her brow furrowed with concern, “I’m not supposed to go for a few months yet.”

“I know the plan was to leave as soon as the fall harvest was done, but, if we can get you familiar with the court, and the Duke. You need every advantage we can give you, and you’ll do best if he had time to know you,” her father said in his matter of fact way. “We will be setting out in two weeks.”

“I don’t want any advantages,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” he asked, but his daughter was already stomping off to the front room so she could wait as she was asked. If she simply stood up front as she was asked, it would be simpler for all the ponies involved.

At least, there wasn’t time for her to grow bored before the guests started arriving, which was a relief for both her and her father. She didn’t want to be bored, and her father didn’t want to her have the chance to ruin her dress by running off to another one of her ‘adventures’. The first guest that arrived was an odd unicorn dressed in a heavy coat that was massive explosion of overly bright colours that totally drowned out his own grey-brown coat and mane. She knew who he was by name, and yet knew little of the pony. He was the sort that had the youthful exuberance of a pony that was barely beyond adulthood, and yet, acted with all the calculation of an old schemer.

As soon as he stepped in the door, Copper crown stopped his relentless efforts to get ready for the gathering and straight into his social mode. “Ah, Tipped Scales! My friend!” he called as he quickly moved to the door with a house-servant who dutifully took that garish coat from the pony. “It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you.”

“Indeed! It’s good to see you, too. I’d never miss wishing your daughter luck before she left.” Tipped Scales with a nod in her direction to address her. Celerity didn’t need to be an experienced socialite to see that Tipped Scales was already angling for future considerations in his dealings with her. Normally, the merchant pony would come in to conduct business with her father, but this time he was giving her his attention. In fact, maybe he was giving her too much of it. His grey eyes ran over her in a very quick and appraising sort of way, and she swore she felt the slithering path they left over her body. The half smile he gave her afterwards just made her ears pin back out of revolt. “My my, take a little dirt off the hooves and throw in a pretty frock, and you make a lovely mare, Honourable Celerity. I’m sure the Duke will be smitten by you.”

“It’s very kind of you to say that, sir,” she replied with the required bow to the merchant, but she never took her eyes off of him for an instant. “Welcome to our home.”

“Please! The pleasure is mine,” Tipped replied as he stepped around her, but she didn’t miss how close he stepped while moving by her, but she bit her tongue. The soon she could get away from the stallion, the better, but she couldn’t just leave, or she’d never hear the end of it from her father.

With her best forced smile, but her skin was still prickling from how he had looked at her. “How has your business been?” she asked entirely in a pro-forma way. She really didn’t care one way or another.

“It goes wonderfully, Honourable Celerity. I’ve purchased the rights to several new trading routes to Zebrica and the Gryphon lands. I even found all new wagons and carriages to run them. It’s been a very profitable venture this summer,” he said as he gestured to a window and both Copper and Celerity could see a several of the new wagons parked up front with the crews milling around them and tending to them. The trader’s personal carriage stood out the most because it was every bit as loud as his coat.

“Well, yours is very unique,” Celerity said dryly. It was about the nicest thing she could think to say about the stallion’s acquisition.

“Isn’t it, though? I think it’s a holdout about being jealous of other ponies and their colours when I was just a young colt. And, it works. There’s never a question about where to find me when I’m on the road,” he said.

“Your ponies aren’t intending to join us at this party, are they?” Copper Crown asked in concern.

The merchant looked shocked that the suggestion of bringing common ponies into the Baron’s home was an insult. “Would I ever do that to you and your home? No, not at all. They are just some employees I picked up to help me stay comfortable on the long trip back to Canterlot.”

“Oh, thank Celestia. They’d likely eat everything and get mud on everything,” he said as he looked over the motley crew. “They look like nothing but brigands and drunks.”

“They are, but they get the job done. The secret is never pay them until they get you there, and carry very little cash on yourself. They stay a lot more loyal when they are broke,” Tipped Scales replied with a chuckle.

Just passed the crew a carriage pulled up, and a pair of ponies stepped out of it. They were obvious nobels thanks to the fineries that they wore. “Seems more guests are coming. Celerity. Why don’t you stay at the door and greet them as they come in? You’re the guest of honour after all, and I’m sure they all wish a chance to speak with you.”

This was her chance to get away from her father’s friend, and she leapt at the chance. “Of course, Father. You go and enjoy yourself with your friend, and leave the door to me,” she said with a nearly legitimate smile forced onto her face.

“That sounds like a marvelous idea,” Tipped said quickly, “Come on, Crown. I brought some gifts for you sample like that fifty-year old cognac I picked up when I went to the east coast. It’s like drinking silk.”

The stallions left for the sitting room, talking to each other as they went, leaving Celerity at the door alone. This was the first time she was trusted to this role, but if it meant getting away from that merchant, it was worth it. With that goal in mind, she turned to the the door, and prepared herself to greet everypony that came through it with all the forced enthusiasm she could manage.

* ** * ** * ** *

Two hours later and many tiresome encounters later, the flow of guests into the house had nearly stopped, so Celerity dared to slide away from the door. By this time, the party was in full swing, with several families gathered in the house. The sound of chatter and laughter of ponies filled the entire building, as they milled and socialised, while the small string quartet played to help them all relax. Celerity didn’t really care to see any of the ponies now. She was very tired of being congratulated by those that clearly only wanted favours down the road or feared retribution. Only one mare was honest enough to be blunt and directly ask for an introduction to a pony in the upper court. After so many phony smiles and false compliments from the guests, she took this blunt openness as refreshing and offered to do just that if the opportunity arose.

The trek from the front hall, through the bustling gathering of ponies, and to the dining room was longer than she expected, but when she got there, she quickly gathered up all the food and drink she wanted. Her father didn’t spare any expense for this party when it came to the drink and food, and he even got those fried honey and grain cakes that she loved so much. It didn’t take long for Celerity to load a plate up full of them, and start wandering towards the kitchen where she thought she’d find her friend. Knowing Spellbound, he slipped in as soon as Scales walked through the door, and had been waiting for her with the rest of the servants. While her father didn’t like him, the house staff had no issues with him.

“So, you’re going to try and be presentable enough for Duke Hightower?” sneered a young pegasus mare at Celerity before she got to the kitchen. “You know you don’t stand a chance, right?”

The dish in her mouth made it impossible for her to respond directly, but she hoped the eye-roll would speak for itself. The powder blue pegasus was named Argenta and was the daughter of one of neighboring nobles and was roughly the same age as Celerity. For how many similarities they shared, they were nothing alike. She knew all this because she was forced to ‘play’ with her several times as she grew while their parents visited, but they were simply too different to enjoy each others company. It usually ended in Argenta insulting her for all her brutish ways.

“Yeah, gagging yourself is probably the best idea you’ve had in years, Celerity. That way, you won’t go on about dueling and stupid things like that,” she continued without an effort to hide any of her disdain for Celerity.

Finally, Celerity found a flat surface to put the plate down on a close by table, and she turned to her antagonist. “What do you want?”

“Nothing from you. I’m just letting you know that you’re going to fail entirely, so you won’t feel too surprised when you get kicked back here,” she said smugly before flicking her mane back with a disgusting amount of smugness.

A dozen different ideas ran through Celerity’s head on how to respond to this. A particular favourite involved taking Argenta to the stream and holding her head under it until the bubbles stopped, but she suspected that would be frowned upon. Instead, she went the more diplomatic route, and with a shrug, she replied, “Whatever.”

The lack of reaction caught the snobbish mare off-guard, and Celerity took this as her chance to leave. If only the one pony that she wanted to see didn’t find her at that moment.

“Oh, there you are, Celerity! You’re a hard mare to find,” Spellbound called out as he wormed his way through the crowd to his friend. Since they last saw each other, he had slicked his mane back, and polished is horn and hooves to a mirror shine. He even dressed for the occasion with his red coat and blue blue cravat that were made to work with his own natural colours. He looked like he belonged in this sort of crowd far more than Celerity. When he finally worked his way through, he turned to Argenta and smiled wide. “And, who’s the lovely mare that is keeping you company?”

Celerity put her hoof to her face and winced. She knew what he was going to do already and she was powerless to stop it.

“I’m the Honourable Argenta,” the noble mare replied, holding up her hoof and Spellbound wasted in no time in lifting it and placing a kiss to it. “I thought I knew all the local nobles, but evidently you been in hiding.”

“I’m Spellbound. By both your name and your eyes,” he replied, while Celerity choked on the incredible corniness of the line, and Spellbound dutifully ignored her. “But, I’m not normally privy to these sorts of events, so it’s really no fault of yours that you haven’t the good fortune of meeting me before now.”

“Yeah, he’s here to see me, so if you could move along,” Celerity interjected quickly to try and end this before it got wildly out of control. She already saw what he was doing, and frankly, she found it embarrassing for the entirety of her gender to see him ‘in action’ because it did work.

“Why would anypony like him be here to see you?” snipped Argenta. As far as she was concerned, there was simply no way for a handsome stallion like Spellbound would ever spend an instant with the walking social faux pas that was Celerity.

The green earth pony was used to this sort of thing, and was about to answer honestly that he was simply a friend of hers, when Spellbound cut in. He stepped up, and brushes his hoof on the lapel of his jacket. “Well, if you must know, I am Celerity’s private tutor in all matters of science, literature and history.”

“You? You don’t seem any older than us,” she pointed out without an effort to hide her suspicions at this point. “I’m starting to think that she snuck you in so she would have somepony to make her look good.”

He chuckled softly. “Very astute, but that doesn’t preclude me from being an expert in any field of study that catches my attention. My current hobby is studying Gryphon literature, for example.”

Celerity had to choke a laugh down. She knew why he had the ‘sudden interest’ in that, and it wasn’t because it was any sort of scholarly pursuit on his part. A shipment of books on the subject arrived instead of books on “glyphic” history. There was simply no stopping his ranting about how incompetent the ponies that shipped his order were for two whole days.

The other mare quirked an eyebrow, and looked more incredulous than anything else. “Gryphon literature? I wasn’t aware the savages can even write.”

“Oh, quite the opposite, actually. They have a very rich oral and written tradition, though getting them to share it with ponies is problematic. But, I digress, would you like to hear a particular favourite poem of mine, Honourable Argenta? For some reason, it came to mind in your presence,” he said.

The mare nodded and leaned in with interest so she wouldn’t miss it over the din of the rest of the party.

Spellbound took a deep breath to help him prepare and when he spoke again, his voice was harsh, foreign, and had a quality not unlike a cat’s hiss. Every syllable was insistent and sharp to the ear, and yet, something about the inflection made it clear that what he said wasn’t meant to be threatening.

“Esk salvil, an stek,

As av’i ensk savrika

Kel Skiva en av nisk”

By the end, he was smiling rather wide, because he had coaxed the mare rather close to him. “Gryphonic is such a beautiful language, isn’t it? You can really feel the intention of the words, even if you don’t know what they mean.”

“What did you just say, Mister Spellbound?” Argenta said. Celerity was much less curious about it; she had little interest in the specifics of her friend’s studies or his blatant flirting.

Spellbound looked rather proud of himself, and addressed the interested party directly. “Well, it was an haiku written about one hundred and fifteen years ago from the a local prince in the frozen north to his betrothed. You have to keep in mind that gryphons have nearly forty different words for ‘hunt’ with varied connotations and denotations, so their poetry doesn’t always translate well, but if I were to take a run at it, it would go something like.” As he prepared his thoughts, he inched somewhat closer to the smitten mare.

“In silence, you pounce

I am stricken in all ways,

The Huntress of my Heart”

“It sounds a little over the top, even for the gryphons,” Celerity said, as she was clearly not moved by the poetry. If anything, she was close to rolling her eyes in disdain for how hard he was trying to impress Argenta. How could any self-respecting mare could ever fall for such a thing was beyond her.

Argenta was very much the opposite, with her cheeks bearing a red flush in them, and every time she made eye contact with the young stallion, it would only grow brighter and more pronounced. “Do you know more?”

“Oh, of course I do. I’m also a published researcher in the Canterlot Journal of Arcana and Physical Sciences for my work on arcane battery theory,” he said proudly.

It was about then, Celerity decided to try and ground the stallion again. “Was that for the experiment that burned your tail off or the one that nearly blew up your house?” she asked flatly.

Spellbound didn’t even miss a beat. “Well, when you have limited resources, and goals as lofty as mine, you have to take even the setbacks as successes too, in that you learn what doesn’t work. And, I cannot be that far off the mark in my theories because Starswirl responded to my paper directly in the latest edition. Just got the new journal today, though I shouldn’t brag too much. I have much work to do, even if I have impressed a pony like him,” he replied in earnest to his friend.

“Alright. I’m impressed that you got noticed, but please don’t try and explain it. I really don’t think we would understand anything about it,” she admitted.

“Actually, I was asking if you knew anymore of that poetry,” Argent interrupted and Celerity already saw where this was going. Of course, she did appreciate the idea of having the obnoxious mare busy for the rest of evening, but that meant she couldn’t snark about the boring party with her friend.

“Of course, I know more, but my collection is at my home. You can join me soon, but I do have to talk to my student first. So, why don’t you go and get yourself a drink of wine, and we’ll meet on the dance floor, Honourable Argenta,” he suggested with his charming smile on his face.

“That’s a wonderful suggestion. I’ll hope to see you again soon,” she said, “Celerity. Mister Spellbound.” She bowed to the both of them, though Celerity could help but notice that the bow to her was markedly shorter. After that, she turned and took her leave, vanishing into the milling ponies in the room.

“Really? Her?” Celerity asked with her brow furrowed with concern for her friend. “She’s a total ass, and doesn’t even try to hide it. And, with the poetry? Are you just turning into a walking cliché or something?”

“Did you see that flank and wingspan? How could I pass that up?” he pointed out, and even punctuated it with an approving hum. It didn’t take him long to descend to a very casual tone with his friend.

She rolled her eyes. “I guess. She’s the wrong gender for me to care, and well, she’s a horrible brat. At least tell me that was actually gryphonic you said back there, and you weren’t making things up.”

“You wound me! How could you accuse me of deceit?” he said with his hoof over his heart.

“Because, I know you. I swear, you’re getting worse,” she muttered and coupled her words with a disapproving shake of her head.

“Worse, or better?” he returned with a sly grin painted on his face, and Celerity couldn’t help but laugh. “I did want to tell you that Starswirl really did respond to my paper, and wanted to expand on my experiments on magical refraction.”

“So, it was the one that set your tail on fire!” she giggled.

“Oh, shut up. You’re never going to let me live that one down, are you?”

“Ask again in about, I don’t know, two hundred years?” It was nothing but good-natured teasing.

“I’ll make a note of it, but, until then, I’ll think I’ll continue to be excited by the letter that came with the journal,” he said, trying to bait his friend into asking directly.

“What did it say?” she huffed, as if the question was some great task.

“It was from Starswirl himself! I can scarcely believe it, but it came with the Royal Court’s. He wants to meet me and discuss my ideas in person! It’s like a dream come true!” he said, with a great effort to keep from prancing in place.

She hugged him, getting a few of the surrounding ponies to glance their way. After all, it wasn’t proper, but she was far happier with him than worried about what they might think. “Oh, I’m so happy for you! Do you know when?” she asked quickly.

“No details on that just yet, but he gave an address to keep up correspondence with him, and I fully intend to. At least, until I can get the cash together to actually get to Canterlot. I hope my dad won’t be too upset with me leaving when that happens, but it will give him an excuse to stop with the long distance flights and hire a younger pony.”

“Maybe, if everything works out, we’ll both end up living in Canterlot,” she pointed out. “It’d be nice to have somepony familiar in the city.”

“You can get me a room in your villa to save a few bits, too.”

“Not likely, Spellbound. If I end up as a Duchess, and that’s a big ‘if’, I’m going to charge you rent, just for the pain of watching you flirt tonight,” she retorted, “And, if I end up in the Dawn Guard, I’ll be assigned living quarters.”

“Damn. I had to ask, at least,” he said.

“And, I had to say no,” she replied, “Now, you run along to your ‘date’.”

“Really? We only just caught up. I thought we could chat some more.”

“Father still doesn’t like you very much, and I don’t want you getting in any sort of trouble if he catches you. At least, if you’re with her, she’ll get revealed as a floozy,” Celerity replied, “And, besides, I’ve already talked to every other pony in here already; I’m pretty much burnt out on chatting. You’ll see me at the circle tomorrow. I promise.”

“Well, if you say so. Be warned though, it might be a late morning for me,” he said as he caught a glimpse of his mark through the crowd, and flashed her a bright smile, “Wish me luck.”

“You’re a role model for all the aspiring marizers out there,” Celerity replied dryly, and with that, he made his way to Argenta, leaving Celerity alone in the crowd. She was quick to find herself a secluded corner in the front room where she could be seen, but was out of the way so, no pony would come looking for her, nor would they feel like the had to interact with her. With her honey-grain cakes at hoof, a comfortable pillow to lay on, and nopony coming to talk to her, her evening was looking better and better.

* ** * ** * ** *

Later that night...

The moon was high in the sky in the perfectly clear night sky, and the party was slowly winding down with some leaving to their carriages and getting ferried home. And slipping out with this slow trickle of ponies was Spellbound and his ‘date’. Neither of them were walking a straight line, and they were giggling at the bad and bawdy jokes they passed between them while they walked for Spellbound’s home. They didn’t escape the notice of a group of four ponies that were standing by one of Tipped Scales’ wagons.

“Is that him, boss?” sniveled one voice from a spot, out of sight.

“Wasn’t he supposed to be alone?” rumbled another voice.

“Should we git ‘im now?” drawled a third.

There was a pause for contemplation. “We’ll wait until he’s alone, so keep an eye on him,” responded a calculated and calm voice.

“Right, boss!” answered the first three.

“And, remember; keep this simple. We aren’t getting paid enough for complications. Now, you two get going. And you’re with me.”

Two shadows began following the young pair, using the dark of the night as cover. The boss already could count the cash they were about to earn once they had their mark, and the thought of those stacks of bits made him smile and chuckle.

Comments

[PingSquirrel]

I'm back! Woo.

Thanks for yout time guys