Chapter 3 The Colt With The Golden Horn
The next morning, Twilight realized it was 5 more days until Celestia's big day and there was still a huge amount of work to be done. When she got up, she found a note from Spike, he was gone down to the Town Hall to fill in more positions. It was 9:30 in the morning and Twilight knew she had to get up but figured she'd stay in bed for another half hour. Her sub-conscience didn't like the thought of being "tardy", so she got up anyway. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash left one of her more responsible ponies in charge, while she went down to visit Rarity. Rarity's progress was going slowly but surely. She'd be moving much faster but she spent most of the time gabbing about Bradshaw Buckingham. Buckingham never let his charm down. He was told to keep Rarity completely infatuated in order for him to execute his plan properly. No one was aware of his odd cutie mark yet due to his bag he wore over both sides of his flank, no one even questioned it. Rainbow Dash and Spike were both curious about this pony's identity. Something about him seemed... secretive. When Rainbow got to Carousel Boutique it didn't surprise her to see that Rarity was talking away to Bradshaw. "Hey Rarity." Said Rainbow.
Rarity was slightly startled. "Oh...Hello Rainbow Dash. Can I help you?"
"Oh No. I was just stopping by that's all." Rainbow said.
"Oh How lovely I'd love to have some more company. Oops Beg my pardon. Rainbow Dash, this is Bradshaw Buckingham. He's come all the way from New Buck City to participate in preparing for the Princess's party." Rarity explained.
The dashing southern colt replied. "Pleased to make your acquaintance Ms. Dash."
"I'm sure you are." Said Rainbow as she gave a curious glance at him. "Uhh Rarity, could I speak to you outside for a minute?" Rainbow asked.
"Of course Rainbow. Please excuse me Mr. Buckingham won't you?" She asked.
"You go right along Ms. Rarity." Said Buckingham with a smile.
Rainbow lead Rarity outside. "Rarity, you're supposed to be preparing for Princess Celestia's birthday party, not practicing your charm on other ponies. Especially with one you just met." Rainbow said.
"Oh Dashy, there's nothing wrong with a little chit chat now and again. Especially with a colt that...Dashing." Said Rarity.
"Well--" Said Dash before being cut off by Rarity.
She explained. "You know, last night was probably the best night I've ever had. We talked all night! Well...I did a lot of the talking. You know before he left to go back to his hotel...He kissed my hoof again and asked me to be his date for Princess Celestia's party..."
Rainbow was dumbfounded. "...And you said no, right?"
"What are you kidding? Just LOOK at him. That chiseled jaw, flowing white mane, those stern proud legs...He looks just like my Prince!" Rarity said as she daydreamed.
"Yeah and we all remember what happened last time you found your Prince." Grumbled Rainbow.
"Look, I'm positive about this one. He's an actual gentlecolt. He's not like that excuse for a Prince, Blueblood, that I fell for. Have faith dear Rainbow. I have found the one." Rarity assured.
Dash rolled her eyes. "Ok whatever. Uhh I gotta go so I'll catch you later."
"As do I, I still have many more suits to deliver. Bye-bye!" Rarity waved as she went back inside.
-----
Rainbow Dash shook her head and flew off. She'd decided she would go and talk to Twilight about Rarity's excessive affection for Bradshaw Buckingham. She was disappointed to find that Twilight had already left to make her rounds to check on the groups. So she figured she'd go check with Applejack. It's not very often that she's NOT at the farm bucking apples. Especially when she's managing the other ponies in bucking. Rainbow swooped over Sweet Apple Acres and after finding Applejack, landed next to her. The orange pony was hollering away at her volunteers. "Hey all you ponies over there! I better start seein some buckin' or ya'll be on dish washin' duty! We gotta lot of pots n pans needin' washing!"
Rainbow landed and approached her. "Hey AJ, what's up?"
Applejack glanced over and smiled. "Hey Rainbow, just orderin some lazy fillies round, how 'bout you Rainbow, whats you doin?" She asked.
"Just got back from Rarity's." Dash said. "I heard she accepted Buckingham's invitation to be his escort at the party..."
Applejack sighed and facehoofed. "I knew that would happen. Well it's gonna be impossible to change her mind so we'll just have to hope fer the best. Hey you hungry?"
Rainbow's stomach grumbled and she laughed. "Maybe."
Applejack laughed. "Well come on in then. I need a good taste-tester." She looked over toward the lazy ponies that hadn't been doing anything. "When I come back I better see apples in those crates!"
They were trotting into the house when all of a sudden, Applejack seen somepony galloping in from the road. As the pony neared, they could see that he was a colt. A yellow stallion with a brown mane. When he was much closer they seen that he was a unicorn on account of his horn, and seen his eyes were a subtle red. He wore a white cape over his back and had an air of intelligence about him. "Do one of you know where I can find a pony named Applejack?" He asked.
Applejack walked toward him. "Howdy, I'm Applejack. Are you here for buckin?"
"Uh Yeah, that purple dragon at the Town Hall directed me here." He said.
"Hmmm...You sounds like your from around here but I've never seen ya before. You must've come in from outta town right?" AJ asked.
He nodded. "You got it. I'm from Canterlot. The names Comet."
"Well it's a pleasure to meet ya Comet. Were gettin ready fer dinner now so you can start buckin away at those tree's over there. Not like those ponies are doin any of it." Said Applejack.
He glanced over. "Those? That's it? Ok give me second."
Comet trotted over and right away without very much effort, bucked the tree's with ease and sure enough, all the apples fell out of the tree. Rainbow and Applejack were surprised, but Applejack was shocked the most. One by one he would buck the apples right out. The constant knocking alerted Big Macintosh who was working down in the apple celler. He came up and was just as impressed as Dash and Applejack were. The ponies who were previously lazing around, watched in amazement of the apples falling from each tree with one shot. There had been at least 27 tree's around the vacinity of the barn. Comet had bucked every last apple out of them. Everyponies jaw dropped. "I think he's a keeper..." Said Applejack.
Big Mac replied. "Eeyup!"
"Wow that was so, awesome!" Said Rainbow.
Applejack looked over at the other ponies who were still in shock. She chuckled. "Guess there's nothin left for you guys to do but wash the dishes. Let's move it, cmon!"
The disiplined ponies leered at Comet with jealousy. Comet grinned right back at them. "Is there anything else I can do?" He asked.
Big Mac answered. "Eeyup. I could use some help movin some apple crates around in the celler."
"No problem. Lets get to it." Said Comet.
Rainbow and Applejack went inside the house and Big Mac lead Comet down into the apple celler. When they got down there, there were a ton of apple crates needing transporting. "Now I want you to help me move all these crates on the left wall outside. Were gonna need them for the catoring." Said Big Mac.
"Sure thing. But first...Could you help me with something?" Comet asked.
"Eeyup. What is it?"
Comet approached Big Macintosh. "Could you see if there's anything in my eyes? I think a piece of dirt got in it."
Big Mac looked into Comets eyes. "I don't see nothin..."
"Loooook closer." He said.
The red colt gazed and focused into Comets eyes. Suddenly Comet's horn sparked a bright flash and his eyes turned into a hypnotic gate. Big Macintosh was so focused, he was sucked into an inescapable trance. Comet immediately took advantage of this and spoke with a clear, solid voice. "Big Macintosh. This coming saturday will be Princess Celestia's birthday. On that day when I say the words ("silent knight") you will be subjected to my every command until I release you...Say yes."
Big Mac was still in a trance and therefore unwillingly accepted the command. "Eeyup!"
"Ok, when I countdown from 5, you will awaken and continue your work. You will forget the fact I asked you to look into my eyes. Do you understand?" Comet said.
"Eeyup!"
Comet began to countdown. "5...4...3...2...1.." Comet broke his spell, Big Macintosh awoke perplexed.
"...What happened?" Asked Big Mac.
"I didn't notice anything." Comet said.
Big Mac shook his head and shrugged it off. They proceeded in moving the apple crates up the celler. Comet expressed a very mischievous smirk.
-----
Later on, Twilight came by to see how Applejack was coming along. She noticed Applejack was just leaving her house and ran to catch up with her. "Hey AJ. How is work coming along?"
"Oh Howdy Twilight. We've finished our apple buckin." She said.
Twilight looked puzzled. "Already? How could you get that much bucking done in just a couple days?"
Applejack laughed. "All the thanks goes to a certain volunteer we got this mornin."
"Great! Who is it?" Twilight asked.
Applejack shouted out. "Comet! Cmon over here!"
The golden pony soon came trotting along. "Did you call for me Ms. Applejack?"
"Comet...This is Twilight Sparkle, she's the head-organizer for the party. And Twilight this is Comet. One of the best buckers I've ever seen."
"Hello Ms. Sparkle. I've heard a lot about you." Said Comet.
"Pleased to meet you, and pleased to see you've become such an asset on the farm." Twilight said.
Applejack remembered. "Oh and Twilight? You may wanna keep yer eye on Rarity. Rainbow Dash came by here this mornin and told me that Rarity was bein' escorted to the party by Mr. Buckingham."
Twilight grunted. "Oh I knew this would happen. Well there's no stopping her now, maybe it'll work out. All we can do is wait and see. But lets not talk about that now. Thanks to you Comet, we are now ahead of schedule. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are coming along well too! And from what I see in the amount of tourism and the clear skies, I don't see any faults with Rainbow's work. Lets just hope Rarity doesn't get too sucked in by Bradshaw. We have 5 days left so lets get to it!" Applejack agreed and high-hoofed Twilight.
-----
As the next few days went on, Fluttershy's choir improved greatly. Infact, because there was so many ponies who signed up. Her little bird choir had turned into a spectacular full fledged Equestrian Orchestra. Rainbow Dash never quit (she usually never quit at anything), thanks to the abundance of Pegasus ponies which mostly resided in Cloudsdale, the skies were staying clear (with the exception of a scheduled day of rain on wednesday), and the tourism was flourishing. Applejack had lots of time to spare but decided not to slack off. Comet was a great help through most of the apple treats that were being baked for Celestia's birthday. Applejack also put together some festive pony games that the guests could all play (with some advice from Pinkie Pie). Speaking of Pinkie Pie, her crowd was busy making baked goods for the celebration and Scootaloo was even starting to pick up on it. Pinkie's new recipe had become a big hit and she decided she'd make an especially decorated batch, just for her majesty from Pinkie and the Cake's. Despite Mr. Buckingham's company, Rarity was eventually able to get her clients satisfied. But the big help went to the ponies who delivered them personally throughout Equestria. Rarity had finsihed picking out the decorations and thursday night, went to Canterlot with a few volunteers to decorate the Palace's front lawn and part of the Royal Garden with spectacular taste. Rarity was also falling much deeper in love with Bradshaw Buckingham as the days passed. Spike helped Twilight finish off her check-list, but of the spare time he had, spent most of it in the library. Spike was busy there looking up the name "Buckingham", but couldn't find anything to answer his questions. He knew he had heard that name before, and he still had over half the library to go through. But he was determined and wouldn't stop until every book was thouroughly checked. Twilight was working harder then ever. She had ordered a blimp from Canterlot to come down and board guests for the party. She had her ceremonial dedication speech written for Princess Celestia finished. All that was left for her to do was to make sure everypony was maintaining their work and were always ahead of schedule. Everything was perfect.
-----
Friday evening, in a dark alley of Ponyville, Bradshaw was waiting. He peered down at the end of the alley behind him. He seen the figure of a Unicorn. His horn had a golden sparkle. Bradshaw grinned. "Is there anyone around?" He asked.
"No one." Said the shadow-shrouded pony.
"Have you done what he has asked?" Asked Bradshaw.
As the pony trotted out of the darkness into the moonlight, the golden horn sparkled and the light revealed Comets form. "Everything has gone according to plan. Nopony has knowledge of our true existence. All we have to do now is to
await for his next report. He will take care of the rest."
Bradshaw's grin switched to a smile. "Looks like those fools won't know what hit em. Thanks to Ms. Rarity I'm going to have an all access pass."
"And I have impressed them all so much I'm even getting an award dedicated to my work. Little do they know I used my skillful magic to pick the apples, simultaniously as I hit each tree. What gullible idiots!" Comet laughed.
An incoming voice then spoke through Buckingham's watch. "Have you both fulfilled your duties?"
"Everything's done sir. I've got Ms. Rarity's trust and Comet here has operation: silent knight, ready for deployment." Spoke Bradshaw.
"Splendid. All that's left now is the execution. Bradshaw you got the letter I sent you right?" The dashing voice asked.
"I received the plans, yes." Bradshaw replied.
"Excellent. Comet I told you of it before I sent you. You remember right?"
"I got it sir." Said Comet.
The voice assured. "Our time has come gentlecolts. Tomorrow at 1300 hours we will strike with the final phase of our operation. The rebellion shall begin and the kingdom will fall. I've waited a long time for this opportunity and I'd rather not see it get bucked up. You two got that? Don't buck up or it's your heads." He laughed. "I think I'll make a wonderful dictator..." The anonymous one then ended the communication.
"Ready?" Said Comet.
"Ready..." Bradshaw replied.
They parted ways for the night before they stirred up any suspision.
-----
The next morning, Twilight woke as early as 6am to prepare and to get Spike and herself into their formal attire for the afternoon. She had decided to use the same dress she wore to the Gala. She had to go around to insure her 5 other friends were up and ready for their trip up to Canterlot. Luckily, to her relief, when she left the library, she seen them trotting down the road to her place. Big Mac, Comet and Buckingham accompanied them. Pinkie bounced up excited as ever to Twilight. "HEY TWILIGHT! YOU READY FOR THE PRINCESS'S BIG DAY?!"
Twilight laughed. "Yes Pinkie, calm down. You girls all ready to go up to Canterlot? I have our ride waiting."
Applejack replied. "You betcha! Cmon ya'll lets get goin."
Twilight was about to shut the door behind her when she noticed Spike was still inside. "Spike are you coming?"
"Yeah I'll be along in a minute, I just have to grab a book."
"OK, hurry up. we don't want to be late."
Spike grabbed the "New Buck City Ponies Of History Almanac" and an along to join the others. They got to the town square where the Cantorlot Airship was ready to take them up to Celestia's Palace. Comet and Bradshaw looked at each other and nodded while the other's weren't looking. They enter the ship and flew off to Canterlot. On their way up, Spike had time to sit down with the book he took from the library. He still could not find anything on a Buckingham but still read on, refusing to put the book down. Twilight was going over her notes frantically, making sure that every little detail was to perfection. Rarity was still gabbing away to her date, and Fluttershy was looking over the symphony she wrote during he past few days. Rainbow Dash was gazing at the Wonderbolts who were outside the ship, rehersing their performances for the Princess. Pinkie and Applejack were discussing how to go about setting up the food. And upon their arrival they were greeted by Princess Celestia personally, who was at the gates of her Palace. "Hello Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student. I welcome you and your wonderful friends to my Palace. We still have a couple hours before our guests arrive and I'd like to do a bit of catching up. Come along inside, all of you."
"Thank you very much and happy birthday Princess." Twilight said as they all bowed before entering the Palace.
-----
As the next couple of hours went by, the guests started to pull in. Fluttershy set up the orchestra and began a soft song to welcome the them. Pinkie, Applejack and Big Mac spread out all the baked goods on tables while Rarity fixed up some of the decorations. Rainbow Dash stayed in the sky directing the Pegasi where to go as Twilight and Celestia were going over the plans for the party. Comet and Buckingham were keeping to themselves. Trying not to draw attention. When everything was finally ready, it was about time to open the gates to welcome the guests. Princess Celestia was impressed and appreciative of all of Twilight and her friend's hard work.
The party was going perfectly according to plan. The Wonderbolts performed their show, Fluttershy wowed the crowd with her fantastic symphony and Applejack and Pinkie Pie's treats were satisfyingly delectable. Rainbow kept the skies sunny and cleared, and Twilight was soon ready to give her speech. Rarity was gossiping with some of the other guests. And Spike was still examining his book to find that name, though he was starting to get towards the end of the book, still nothing.
When it was finally time for Twilight to address the crowd, a horn was sounded to get everyponies full attention. There was a high balcony where Twilight was to deliver her speech. She stepped up on the podium that was set up and spoke loud and clearly. "Today my fellow Equestrians, we celebrate one of the most festive of days. First of all, I would like to extend a special thanks to one of our visitors, if it weren't for him none of this would've worked out this perfectly. On behalf of me, the Mayor of Ponyville and Princess Celestia. I present our honorary guest, Comet, with this medal of honor."
Comet appeared from behind the curtain door on to the balcony and accepted his award and then stepped to the side. He looked down at the crowd and once again nodded to Buckingham. He nodded back. They were both in position. Without Rarity noticing, Bradshaw slipped to the back of the crowd near the front gate. He took off the bag that hid his cutie mark. It was now exposed but nopony noticed yet. Meanwhile Spike comes across a page in his book "New Buck City's Most Infamous Con-artists", he is reluctant to finally find a similar name..."Diamond Bradshaw Buckingway, New Buck City's most successful and richest jewel thief in history." It was said that he had committed over 200 high end robberies in the city. 3 of which earned him over 1 million bits. It was also said thanks to a tip, they were able to snag him before his next big robbery. He was in taken to a Canterlot court where he was held on trial for over 50 million bits. He was convicted and banished from Equestria. "It is believed he has changed his name to something similar since then." Spike then nervously turned the page and there was a picture of him. A tall, brown, white maned pony. Spike then felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He knew he had to get Twilight's attention but the crowd was too big to get through. He looked all around and then seen Bradshaw with a devious look in his eyes. "Oh No...He's going to do something" Spike thought to himself.
"Now without further adieu.." Twilight said.
"Oh No!" Said Spike.
Buckingham spoke into his watch. "Ok sir, on my count...5..."
Comet removed his cape. Also exposing his cutie mark which was the same one as Buckinghams. Twilight continued. "I proudly present to all of Equestria!"
Bradshaw continued to countdown. "4..."
"The ruler of our entire and most cherished land!"
"3..."
"The reason our sun rises every morning!"
"2..."
"Our beloved, Princess Celestia!"
"1..."
Princess Celestia appeared from behind the curtain and waved to the crowd. The crowd erupted with an extrodinary, anticipated applause.
"...Now!"
[...To be continued]