//------------------------------// // -47- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// “I’ve got your back boss lady.” Whispered the smiling Greta as she took position next to Rarity for greeting Princess Celestia, the princess seemed to smile at them happily as they approached. “I hear congratulations are in order Baroness Belle.” This is the polite opening given by Princess Celestia, Rarity and Greta both bowed to her together. “I didn’t know she was a baroness.” Tilting her head at the newly labeled noble and attracting attention to her, it quickly became apparent that Twilight should have gone to Rarity for a dress. She looked like a dork in the one she was wearing; it didn’t seem like Celestia cared about how she looked though. “I wasn’t until a few minutes ago when Greta announced me as being as such. I was quite surprised personally that my friend here would go to such lengths to make me sound greater than I am.” She had only been a lower class noble for few minutes, but Rarity felt great about it. “Is it even legal that she can declare herself a noble princess?” Twilight looked up to Celestia who smiled at her and chuckled. “Actually yes, provided she is the owner of an industry and has enough land to declare a barony.” It was a cute maneuver and Celestia didn’t think Rarity was a bad mare; in fact Rarity was a breath of fresh air compared to all the other nobles. A noble she could talk to aside from Fancy and Fleur who only brought serious business to her when it came to their little circle. She knew that Rarity ‘Baroness’ Belle had no ulterior motives, plus she wasn’t immediately asking for anything from Celestia or trying to curry favor from her immediately. “I own my own business where I have cornered the market on specialized EVA suit creation and I can create just about any other form of fashionable clothing as well as generate fresh ideas at the same time. Plus I could be in the entertainment industry soon because of some of the recent crew members I’ve hired on are looking to be performers aside from assisting the workings of my estate; on top of the ones I already have like Greta here that can sell her services in the repair and maintenance of smaller ships. If possible I might be able to run a hotel out of my ship provided I can keep my assets secured.” In fact Rarity was beginning to think of her own little business empire might be budding into something more than she could handle. “I have a carrier cruiser hybrid that can hold at least three hundred people. I’m sure you’re aware of its size. Are my holdings truly enough for me to declare myself as being a noble princess?” “Actually yes, your ship and business are the very reasons why you can be considered a barony. Albeit a very small barony at that, you are in fact a baroness should you seek out the title. Being a baroness in the way you announced yourself means you basically own a country, which comes with some benefits and in equal amounts some drawbacks.” Not that Celestia was going to tell Rarity all the ins and outs of it, the mare was smart and could figure it out on her own. “However you are already considered allied with Equestria, may your estate and nation of Shining Jewel be prosperous.” “Could you explain to me why it is even possible in more detail Celestia?” Twilight wanted more information and she gave Celestia a pleading look and big eyes that were hungry for knowledge. “Well I imagine you know this already, but my sister Luna owns her own state on the side while being a part of Equestria. I believe you know of the Lunar Republic?” Here Celestia smiled a bit, her sister was a silly pony and had her own country that was under her rule specifically. “Luna is the leader of the Lunar Republic which consists of a flotilla of spaceships and a small moon base, she hardly manages them at all but I hear they’re doing quite well for themselves given they make their own decisions with Luna having the final say. Whoever wishes to be part of the Lunar Republic, they are under Luna’s rule specifically and the laws her country employs should they be citizens of it. This does not mean they can get away with anything; they can be counted as citizens of Equestria as long as they are within the planets airspace and are subject to not only Equestrian law but Lunar Republic laws as well. I have no jurisdiction on them otherwise, even if I share a jurisdiction with Luna here.” “Well it’s nice to know my barony didn’t end before it began, shall we go in Lady Greta of ‘Han Gar’ and enjoy ourselves?” Rarity snorted at calling the Shining Jewels hangar that, but it was Greta’s decision to call it that. “Of course we shall Baroness Belle, might I say you look lovely this evening and I thank you for my dress as well. You are such a kind individual.” Speaking with a soft tone of voice and a silly smile Greta followed behind Rarity; she stopped and turned to Celestia. “Thanks for making the boss lady’s evening, because the rest of it is bound to go downhill from there.” “I do what I can for my ponies and their wonderful friends; she has such a good one in you.” The griffon continued on and Celestia smiled after them, maybe tonight wouldn’t be so horrible. She turned to her next guests and her face went blank much to Twilight’s worry. “Now introducing to the princess, Lady Tree Hugger high tier SNUGGLES member and Plentiful Rear Thorax ambassador of Pony and Changeling relations.” The stallion barked and the two stepped forward, one looking around nervously and the other with what looked like a drug induced smile on her face. “Hello and blessings to you Bright Goddess. How are you? You will soon eat something that will taste delicious.” Tree Hugger greeted congenially with a shivering and whimpering Thorax next to her. She was not only here as a plus one, but was also working as a SNUGGLES member by providing some very much needed help and psychological support for Thorax. “Be calm, you will be alright tonight. I will see to it peacefully see that you are not bothered, do you need me to cleanse your chakras again?” “No, I’ll be fine. I didn’t exactly thank you for doing previously. So thank you, your neighs are quite calming.” A slightly less jittery Thorax coughed into his hoof and bowed to Celestia, he asked Tree Hugger to go with him. She didn’t show any signs of being attracted to him and he was obviously thankful for that. “Princess, I hope that our races will always be able to cooperate.” “I too wish that as well Thorax; have a pleasant evening with your plus one. It is nice to see you again Tree Hugger.” Celestia received a nod of acknowledgement from the odd Earth Pony before the two set off together. “Did Thorax seem kind of off to you?” It felt like something was wrong with him to Twilight, then again she often missed a lot of details about other people and though that was usually the case she noticed Thorax seemed different this time. “Well aside from the fact that he just successfully smuggled a gun past my guards, then no, nothing out of the ordinary for him.” Celestia knew Thorax had a few problems keeping mares and stallions away from him; maybe Tree Hugger was the solution to his dilemma and survival tonight. “That does signal to me that Chrysalis suspects trouble, also that my guards might not be enough to prevent a catastrophe with so few samurai still left in Canterlot. It seems that the plans of The Hands of Midas have been partially successful with whatever it is they aim to ultimately achieve.” “Announcing Discord Lord of Chaos and Duke of Disaster, accompanying him is the graceful and beautiful Lady Flutter Felicity Shy high tier SNUGGLES member and friend to all animals.” The stallion finished his announcement with a shudder of fear as the lord of random walked by, the stallions trumpet turned into a fish and slapped him across the face with its tail before biting his horn and turning back into an instrument that he now found attached to his horn. The stallions shifted uncomfortably as his horn tooted when he tried to use magic. Now the distraction master walking towards Celestia had arrived, somebody would have to be completely stupid to attack the gala with Discord around. Provided that he was actually able to do something helpful to protect pony lives, his date was normal in comparison to him looking like a cross between a yellow sponge, a polar bear and a Rastafarian soccer player. Anyone who saw him would definitely have their gaze drawn towards his current appearance; it wasn’t hard to guess that he was doing it on purpose. “It is nice to meet you Lady Fluttershy, I’ve heard quite a bit about you. Your kindness is welcome in these halls whenever you wish to visit, though I think the palace gardens are more your speed.” Celestia was trying to ignore the elephant in the room, because Discord was now a large pink elephant with weasel parts and enlarged bat wings. Discord huffed bit, but didn’t say anything. “Thank you Princess Celestia, it is very nice to meet you too.” Fluttershy’s elegance kind of outshone her dress by several bounds and her dress was quite nice. After they walked off Celestia let out a sigh, maybe this gala wouldn’t be so boring. There were plenty of interesting characters here already; this might even be a fun gala… for once. A guard made his way up to the princess and she leaned down to hear what he had to say, she nodded after he was done. She looked about to make sure there weren’t any guests coming at the moment and then she turned about, much to Twilight’s confusion as she tilted her head. “Grope Fondly, Tit Elation, please come out as I have need of your services.” At Celestia’s behest two Changelings quickly peeled themselves from the walls where they had camouflaged themselves perfectly. Only their heat and genetic signatures could be found on a scanner and that would have been one of the few things that could have given them away aside from their smell. “I need you two to pose as me and Twilight for a while; I hear there is something of a gift in my bedroom that I might want to look into. Come along Twilight, I may need your skills to see if this is a trap or not.” The two changelings lit up in a flash of green fire and there was now two perfect doubles of Twilight and Celestia, they took up position and the Twilight one started talking about magical theory as dryly as possibly. Celestia really liked having doppelgangers on the payroll, a body double always helped her get away from the more boring parts of life she could actively avoid now. - “It looks like the party is in full swing down there.” Opal commented lightly and then turned her attention to the hangar where she saw Gilda sleeping on top of her mostly complete creation, there were a few snags here and there but it was operational. Lightning Dust was relaxing and eating her fill having woken up recently after helping Gilda test her baby out. “Yes, it is. Now Opal, I’m aware that there might be trouble so I’m allowing you to keep an eye on it while we talk about your feelings.” Vera was quickly becoming accustomed to being a psychologist. “Can we not and say we did?” The look Opal received was not a hopeful one. “Fine, I’ll talk. I just want you to promise me that you won’t try to rewrite my mind.” “I can say without a doubt that I won’t, because I wouldn’t even know where to begin to even do that.” Sure it might have been a bit hard to keep her in sight, but Vera wanted to have this discussion with Opal for a while now. “Let’s start off with a slightly complicated question, what would you do if Rarity was to disappear? Also I don’t mean die before you ask, just gone all of the sudden and you couldn’t find her easily.” - Celestia stopped and stared at the large bowl of ice cream that was being magically preserved in her room and she entered cautiously with Twilight at her side. First order of business was to scan the room for any traps there were none that she could see on the floor or any of the walls. She looked at the ice cream covered in chocolate, strawberry and pineapple syrup, from what she could see of the ice cream it was her favorite flavor of ice cream. Anybody that knew Celestia long enough would know that birthday cake ice cream tended to be one of her favorite flavors of ice cream. “Do you think it’s a trap Celestia?” Twilight politely closed the door behind her while turning to the princess. Both Twilight and Celestia missed a flash of magic as the door and the wall next to the door glowed slightly with magical runes that did nothing alone. When the door closed however, it completed a magical circuit that would prevent the room from being opened for a few hours. This meant that all the exits were sealed off and not just the door itself, nothing could leave or enter the room now. “I don’t know Twilight, which is why I’m going to find out.” Sitting next to the large bowl of ice cream were two clean spoons on a napkin and there was a card that just said ‘please share’, Celestia moved up to the Ice Cream just sitting on her night stand and scanned it with magic. Next to the bowl were three mostly empty bottles of syrup. It was all being kept cool by a spell, but there were no other spells around it specifically and the magical spell would wear off as soon as something physically penetrated it. She scanned it with her magic and found no poisonous, toxic or venomous substances involved with said ice cream which made it very tempting to just eat it. “Twilight I need a second opinion scan the ice cream and tell me if there is anything amiss.” Twilight came forward and did so, she found nothing amiss and the spell preserving the ice cream wasn’t all too strong either. “There’s nothing wrong with it Princess, it’s a perfectly normal bowl of ice cream.” Twilight had scanned it as thoroughly as Celestia did; nothing came up as being unusual about the bowl of ice cream. “Judging by the sugary bits here and there it’s birthday cake flavored… don’t you really like that flavor?” “Yes and that is exactly why I find this suspect. Try some, if something happens to you, you can be assured that I will do everything I can to save you.” When Celestia said that she was being quite honest with herself, she would do anything to save Twilight if this proved to be a trap. If not then it was a tasty treat someone whipped up for her on the most boring night of the year. “Okay, Celestia, I trust you with my life.” Loyalty was definitely an area where Twilight shined, neither of the two realized where this was going. Twilight tentatively picked up a spoon in her magic and nothing happened, she scooped the spoon into the ice cream and the preservation spell went away leaving no magic in the ice cream at all. Twilight ate her first by and she hummed happily. “Oh my goodness this tastes delicious, you have to try it Celestia.” “Well okay then, it couldn’t hurt.” Celestia decided to try some after nothing bad happened to Twilight after a minute and several more spoonfuls of the ice cream, Celestia took the other spoon and dipped it into the ice cream she brought it up to her mouth and took in the creamy goodness. It tasted divinely, it was the perfect mixture of ice cream and cake, though there was something funny or off about the taste to Celestia. She ignored it for the time being. “Well this is quite good. Whoever did this should be praised for their forethought to give me a snack instead of having to stand round all night greeting every single person that comes to the gala, I can’t lie that I find that to be the most boring thing I do every year. Even paperwork is more interesting than that.” As she continued eating from her half of the huge bowl, Celestia started to feel a bit weird and her tongue was beginning to tingle a bit. In fact her gaze started to drift to Twilight more and more, after a moment she started to recognize that something was horribly wrong with her. “Twilight, can you taste everything in this ice cream?” Celestia continued to eat it even knowing something was wrong with the flavor of it, it was almost like she was addicted to it. Getting a nod, Celestia decided to ask a very pertinent question and was trying not to panic the sexy mare. Oh goodness, did she just seriously think that? Yes, Twilight was adorable; she’d look really good on the bed right about now and covered in several syrups. “What do you taste in the ice cream Twilight? There’s a particular flavor that seems odd to me.” Celestia had her suspicions and she hoped she was wrong, because if what she was feeling right now was correct then she had been drugged. If she was drugged, then it was in a way that didn’t affect normal ponies and only Alicorns. There were only a few methods that could have possibly done that if it were true. If she were right and she so hoped she wasn’t, then Twilight was in imminent danger from her and she wondered what Twilight would do if she suddenly raised her tail to get a look. Okay it was getting worse now; her loins were beginning to heat up and she so dearly hoped it was not what she thought it was. “Chocolate, pineapple, strawberry, the ice cream itself and… I think what tastes like banana syrup mixed in with all the other stuff. Funny I don’t see that syrup bottle here.” That was when Twilight saw the sudden panic cross Celestia’s face, it had happened at the word banana. “Celestia are you okay? Is something wrong?” “I’m perfectly fine Twilight; I just need to go to the bathroom real quick.” Celestia smiled at Twilight in a friendly manner as she made her way towards the bathroom door to open it, only to see a magical seal and freeze. Her pupils shrunk before dilating slightly. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no this couldn’t be happening, not when she was on bananas of all things! Especially not when she was in the same room as Twilight which was even worse! She hoped Twilight could forgive her after this. “It appears we are trapped for a time Twilight, I suggest we finish the ice cream to let it not go to waste and then we can… excuse me but I’m about to go a bit crazy Twilight.” “How crazy Celestia, what’s wrong?” Seeing the funny if adoring looks coming from her mentor, Twilight knew that something was up but she didn’t exactly know what was going on as she continued eating. There wasn’t much left and Celestia did say they should continue eating it. “It seems as if the ice cream was drugged with a particular substance, a substance that is normal and common to ponies. You are about to get a crash course in what said substance does to Alicorns. In fact, let us make this a fun lesson shall we.” Here a lazy smile crossed Celestia’s face as she was slowly losing control of her mind and it was getting far worse by the second, she put her hoof on twilight and started to slowly slide it down the mares back causing her to back away at the sensual nature of the action. “I would like it to be a hooves on experience, so if you could come sit down with me on the bed.” “Um, okay… what is this substance that you were drugged with and how come I’m not affected? What does it do exactly?” Twilight said as she sat down on Celestia’s bed feeling a bit nervous and Celestia took a seat next to her throwing a wing around her and rubbing her belly which made her blush. She had already some ideas as to what the drug might be doing given Celestia’s sudden tendency to caress and touch. She was getting a sinking feeling that she shouldn’t have sat down on the bed with Celestia looking at her like this, in fact that feeling was growing worse by the second. “The substance I’ve been drugged with is known as a banana, a common yellow fruit which is peeled and the insides are eaten. You see…” Celestia wrapped her hooves tightly around Twilight holding her in place and it wasn’t like the poor mare any place to run to anyway to escape the princess. “It has a very particular effect as being a highly potent aphrodisiac for Alicorns, unfortunately for you I can no longer hold myself back. An Alicorn who has eaten a banana is very hard to pry off once they get started, as you are about to find out.” Twilight’s eyes widened at the implications of what was just said and her pupils shrunk to dots as she immediately tried to escape Celestia’s hooves, but it was already too late for her and Celestia had a good grip on her as she pulled her down onto the bed. Twilight tried to cast something and failed because she suddenly felt Celestia’s mouth on her horn sucking out the magic flowing through it and the tongue was slowly rubbing up and down it the shaft. Twilight’s mind went blank as she tried to process the situation she now found herself in. Oh goddess is this really happening? Wait she was technically with a goddess so… where were those hooves going and why did that feel so right to her?! - To start off Rarity managed to talk to a few ponies and none of them seemed upset with her or her low noble status, but she wasn’t making any headway into having many friends. She did spy a pony that seemed to be a highlight so far and made her way over to him to see that he was with a tall mare that was recognized as a model, a model in both fashion and raw beauty. Greta was at least happy that the snack table was well served and she was proving to attract a lot of stallions to herself and a few mares as well, her lithe form and the dress upon it did make for a rather attractive griffon. “Hello there, I do believe you are Lord Fancy Pants I take it? You’re lovely and gorgeous friend here must be Lady Fleur De Lis as well. I am Rarity Belle, baroness of the Shining Jewel estate and entrepreneur, mostly in the fashion industry as my own personal business.” Rarity could only guess that he was considering he had a monocle and blue mane, he had a small mustache and looked incredibly suave. The mare next to him could be recognized by anyone, pink mane with various shades of the color and a nice white as snow fur, long legs and dainty hooves. “It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Rarity.” The stallion bowed in a gentle stallion manner. “Charmed I’m sure, but then again I’ve charm many a mare or stallion.” Fleur leaned on Fancy’s back with a sweet smile on her face directed at Rarity that looked almost hungry. “Everyone but me my dear, I’m certainly making you work for it.” Fancy smiled back at her and she blushed vibrantly. “Then again you like to work for it and hard. You just might get a herd out of me yet my lovely flower.” “Are you currently in the mood to talk business?” Rarity didn’t want to bother the two too much and she still hadn’t seen a nice stallion or her target Blueblood yet. “Not yet, but the night is still early. Though I’m quite interested to hear what you’ve accomplished in the fashion industry later.” Polite as ever Fancy kissed Rarity’s hoof and then motioned for Fleur to get off his back. She did so looking a bit sad that she couldn’t recline on him any longer. “It has been a pleasure to meet someone like you Ms. Belle; you would be the fresh blood the nobility sorely needs though I don’t think they’d be as welcoming as I am. I’m sorry, but I have my rounds to make as does Fleur hers. We have some circles to play around in before we can get to the business that will be prevalent tonight let me assure you. I believe you’re quite new to this, so take my advice as you will. I suggest you go listen around and gather information on how this all works, you’ll never know what you might hear if your ears are open and try not to draw attention to yourself in an unbecoming manner. Not every noble is as friendly as me or nearly as forgiving. Most importantly be sure to steer absolutely clear of Jet Set and Upper Crust. They’d eat you alive socially and I’m not joking, they have a habit of hunting fresh nobles and tearing them down. So be careful and we’ll see you later to talk business, provided you aren’t run off by the dogs that call themselves nobles.” “Okay then, I’ll be sure to be careful.” Well that was another bust for Rarity’s night, as the two went their separate directions leaving Rarity by herself. They were obviously quite knowledgeable and knew what to expect from the Grand Galloping Galas they’ve possibly been to before. She decided to move to a nearby group and just listen. “My daughter Lyra is such a card, she believes she’s in love with some commoner.” Some polite laughter was heard here and Rarity stayed silent. She was going to find another group to move to after a minute of listening in on the conversation; this mare was a complete jerk to her daughter with some of the things she was saying. “How can my daughter think she will ever be happy with such a low born pony of the dirt? My daughter being happy with a pathetic mud wallowing pony that makes candy for a living, why that’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!” It didn’t take long for Rarity to figure out why Fancy Pants offered the advice he did, she was quickly learning which groups would be somewhat beneficial to her and or which groups she didn’t want to be near at all. So far she was finding out a lot from all these groups, mostly that it would be hard for her to be a part of any of them without forcing pleasantries at one point or another. There were a few friendly ponies in each of them, but there were also jerks that the friendly ponies smiled at and got along with or at least seemed to. Apparently if you were to listen carefully you could even find cues where you can join in to start up a new conversation, continue the topic or even change it. In fact there were many topic changes depending on whether or not a pony wanted to discuss something. Also there were a few thinly veiled racist slurs here against Changelings, Pegasi, Earth Ponies and many other species that happened to be in this very room. These comments were never spoken near one who would be rightly upset by them, but the comments certainly existed just out of earshot. Rarity was even beginning to dislike this event she dreamed of visiting so much. She still had the rest of the night to turn things around and was beginning to waver on that ever happening, so she started looking for her prince charming in earnest.