New Pony Tales

by Gabriel LaVedier

The Sweetest Gift

Once, out on the prairie there was a great buffalo chief. He was wise and quite powerful, as he carefully managed his resources and produced many things that others eagerly bought. His tribe was very content and respected, yet the chief was upset.

He had produced several children in his time with his wife, but his eldest, who was to be the next chief, had never married. A chief was expected to marry and produce at least an heir to succeed him. The young bull, Resplendent Spirit, was a very handsome male. He was notably less muscular than the other bulls under the chief but made up for it by being a great shaman, whose command of mana flow was truly remarkable.

Resplendent was hesitant to marry, but not because he was selfish, which was the suspicion of many of the other bulls. He had watched his father's fortunes grow, and watched others come in to try and take advantage of it. His father had been too wise for them, but still he had seen greed and lies. He was afraid of any wife that would come forward, because they would want him for the power he would hold, mundane and magical.

Time did not make his father less demanding; if anything it made him more desperate to get his son wed. It was not because he was demanding or uncaring, it was because he loved his son and wished for the same happiness that he had found. He was also not unaware of his son's wandering eye. Though presented with fine buffalo maids his eye most often wandered to the pony mares that would come visiting. He knew what would be required.

In that land there had been no romance between buffalo and ponies, and it was a strange thing to them, however understood it may be in the wide world. Still, the chief believed it would be possible. He announced that he would have a gathering of mares for his son, but that his son would set the criteria for the mares he would choose.

Resplendent was well aware of the kind of mares that would show up. The kind that had come for his father. They would appreciate his future holdings, and think little of him, if they thought anything at all. They might even have his children, but all for gain, not for love. He had to ask for something that would make them reconsider even trying. So it was that his father made an announcement that those who would vie for his son's affection would have to bring, 'The sweetest and most precious gift in all the world.'

Three months later the time had arrived to bring the mares and their offerings. Resplendent noted, with some pleasure, there were not many mares there. He would not feel guilty about rejecting all of them and keeping their greed away. He knew they were greedy. They were all finely-dressed, standing out in the most gaudy fashion possible, and all of them had at least one retainer with them to help with their offering.

“Good day to you, honored Resplendent Spirit,” The first mare said, bowing deeply. She was a unicorn, as all the contenders seemed to be. “My name is Lady Glittering Jewels. And I present to you this.” She used her magic to take the cover off of a piece of very mish-mashed dessert. “Behold... The Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Mousse Eclairtopia. Constructed by five world-class chefs if has been made only twice, and has only ever been served to royalty. This piece is the only one that exists outside of the pony capital city.”

Resplendent tasted it carefully. An unusual flavor, but it was certainly well-made. “Yes, very good,” He said, before moving along.

The next mare looked very unusual. She was wearing a lab coat and had on a pair of goggled on. But, the lab coat was made of pure silk, and the goggled were made of gold and carved obsidian, held on with a silk ribbon. After taking a bow she said, “Good evening, Resplendent Spirit! My name is Doctor Steam Power, Duchess of Chillenfrost. And here is what you have sought.” She extracted a small dropper vial from within her coat. “This is the sweetest thing in all the world. I spent months gathering together all the different classes of sugar, natural and artificial, distilled them, refined them and combined them with a special chemical process to create this sweet liquid. One drop is worth more than ten times its weight in platinum and could sweeten almost as many gallons as it's molar number.”

Resplendent tasted as small of a drop as he could and nearly collapsed from the concentrated sweetness. Still he managed to stammer out, “Th-thank you. That was... new...”

So it went down the short line until he reached the end, where he found what could only be the worst of the lot. She was practically dripping with jewels and precious metal, and wearing a titanic dress of numerous expensive fabrics. She bowed deeply and looked up with a greedy gaze. “Greetings, most handsome Resplendent Spirit. My name is Marquise Aphrodite Evening. And I have this.” She pushed a maid forward with a covered plate.

The maid was a long and gangly earth pony in a golden tone with an amber mane. She was in a very ordinary gingham dress with a white apron. She removed the cover from the plate and held it up, wordlessly. There appeared to be a number of beautiful and bright gems on the plate. “What is this?” Resplendent asked.

Aphrodite nudged the silent maid, looking too involved in her own elegance to answer the question. The maid spoke softly, shyly, saying, “These are candy gems, formed by a magical process that mimic the exact process that the natural gems of these type would grow in despite the natural inclination of sugar growth. The flavors were perfectly extracted from fruits so the taste is exact. And, dragons were polled to give an impression of the actual taste of gems as they understood them. It is all locked in here.”

Resplendent gave one a half-hearted lick, but he did not taste a thing. He could only look at the awkward, retiring, gangly mare. “Who are you?” He asked, quietly.

“Oh, did you forget? Aphrod-” Aphrodite began.

“Quiet,” resplendent said, firmly. He looked down to the maid more directly. “Who are you?”

“I'm... I'm just a maid...” The mare said, almost as a mumbled whisper.

“Please, what is your name?” Resplendent came in closer.

Though she hesitated, seeming almost afraid she finally responded, “Peach Pit.”

The name danced like the prairie grass across Resplendent's ears, a smile crossing his features, the first real one of the evening. “Did you bring a gift?”

“E-excuse me?” Peach asked.

“Did you bring me a sweet and precious gift? None of these other mares have managed anything truly sweet and precious,” Resplendent said, pointedly ignoring the offended huff from Aphrodite.

“I have nothing. I am only a maid. A poor country mare who serves because I have nothing else,” Peach said, cringing down more, ashamed of her own commonness.

Resplendent came even closer, giving his warmest, most inviting smile. “You must have something. Something of your own that is sweet and precious,” He said, pouring all his gentle and soft tone into it.

Peach almost started to hyperventilate a little bit, unsure what she could do. She felt compelled to offer him something. Anything. Desperate, she leaned in and planed a kiss on his lips.

Peach Pit and Resplendent Spirit were married a day later, by the chief himself, who asked his son how he had chosen the mare that he had, out of all the others presented. His reply was, “She gave me the sweetest and most precious thing she had. All of herself.”

The two lived happily after that, and had many, many buffaponies together.

Comments

[DoubleCycloneX]

D'awww.

[Noble Cause]

Aaaaand dead of cute. That's rather adorkable, in a way.

[Kagitaar]

A cute little diversion, though I have to say not as compelling as the others.