//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 // Story: Long Distance Friendship // by Drag Orion //------------------------------// “Such a lovely day,” Rarity declared as she walked through Canterlot, the day still young. “And with the sun positioned as it is, the lighting should be just right for passersby to marvel at my new line of early morning gowns that Sassy Saddles should have all set up by now.” As her boutique came into sight and she approached it, a huge dark shadow suddenly appeared and cast her whole boutique into darkness. “What in Equestria is going on?” snapped Rarity flabbergasted by this. Looking up, she quickly discovered the cause. High above, tied to one of the towers of Canterlot Castle was one of the Storm King’s zeppelins floating around at the mercy of the breeze and the last breeze had cause it to block out the sun right where Rarity’s boutique was. “Oh, no! This will not do at all!” Rushing to the door of the boutique, she pounded on it and called inside. “Sassie! Come out here this instant!” “Oh, Rarity, darling, what’s the matter?” she asked hurrying to open the door and saw the dark shadow over the boutique. “Oh, the wind blew that hideous thing in our light again.” “And has anything been done to take care of it?” asked Rarity. “I went straight to the castle to complain about it,” Sassie explained. “And I wasn’t the only one. Every business around has had that darn shadow over their store and we’ve all gone to protest.” “But I take it that it hasn’t gone well considering it’s still there,” she concluded. “Apparently, all space in the airship docks has been filled up by our own airships and more of the Storm King’s. Till they can find somewhere else to put it, we have no choice but to wait. I am really sorry, but this came from Princess Celestia, herself.” “Then we’ll just have to wait, I suppose,” sighed Rarity. “Maybe the lighting will be fine enough if we put evening wear in the windows, though that’d be a bit of a pain to keep switching it back and forth constantly depending on if the shadow is over us or not. Perhaps if we bring in some lighting that’d be a simpler solution.” “Then consider it done,” smiled Sassy. “I’ll get us some fabulous lighting and your dresses will shine even brighter than ever.” “Well, I’m glad that’s one problem down,” said Rarity with a bit of relief. Then she turned towards the two story bounce house a few meters from the boutique. “Now what about that?” “I don’t actually know,” she admitted. “That was here before I closed up shop last night. I didn’t get a chance to see who set it up, but I think there are ponies inside right now.” “And the reason you didn’t go in there and tell them to leave and take their bounce house with them?” she questioned. “The door was locked,” she answered baffling Rarity. “Locked?” she repeated. “But it’s a bounce house. How can the door be locked?” “Go see for yourself,” she insisted and Rarity did. She approached the front door of the bounce house and tried to open it, but just as Sassie Saddles explained to her it was locked tight as if it were a real door. “Very peculiar,” she admitted. “I’d normally expect this sort of tomfoolery from Pinkie Pie, but she isn’t-” The door opened and Pinkie Pie was on the other side. “Rarity?” asked Pinkie. “Oh, Pinkie,” gasped Rarity. “So you are behind the tomfoolery?” “What? No,” giggled Pinkie. “I’m not behind Tom Foolery. I’m in front of Cheese Sandwich.” “Don’t tell me,” Cheese Sandwich told her. “I never forget a party… uh… we met at Rainbow Dash’s birthaversary, right?” “Yes we did,” nodded Rarity. “But would you two mind telling me why you two are squatting in a bounce house in front of my boutique?” “Well, I didn’t have any place to spend the night and Cheese Sandwich offered to let me stay with him.” “That was very chivalrous of you, Mr. Sandwich,” Rarity told him. “Not a problem at all,” he replied as he reached for a plug connected to the bounce house and opened it. The air began to hiss out and it slowly began to deflate. “Uh, this might take a while,” he told them. “Why don’t you two go on ahead without me.” “Oh, no, that would be terribly impolite,” Rarity replied. “I don’t mind and it’d be rude to make you wait for me,” he admitted with a smile as it didn’t looked like the bounce house had deflated very much, if at all. “I’m probably gonna be heading out after this. Never know when my Cheesy Sense will tell me there’s another town that is in need of a party.” “Well, if you insist,” conceded Rarity as she made her way back into her boutique. “Come on Pinkie, you have to see some my latest designs. I just know they’ll be a huge hit. I might just be able to open a fourth store at this rate.” “You want to open another store?” asked Pinkie sounding surprised. “But you already have three. Do you really need more?” “But of course,” she answered. “It is in the nature of a business to grow in order to thrive. Why, I have more than tripled my business thanks to my stores here in Canterlot and Manehatten. Why if I keep going the name ‘Rarity’ will be synonymous with cutting edge fashion and fabulousness itself.” “That does sound… fabulous,” agreed Pinkie Pie. “But doesn’t it also keep you away from Ponyville and all your friends and family?” “It does, but only for a little while,” answered Rarity. “I mostly just go to ensure things are running smoothly and adhering to my standards and quality.” She stopped and gazed up at the giant eyesore floating in the sky. “Case and point, that hideous thing. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll figure out some way to get rid of that lighting obstructor.” “I’m just saying that if you open another store that will be more time you are away from home and then another will make it even longer. Pretty soon you’ll have so many stores that it’ll be like you’re never home and then when you finally do come home nobody will remember you and to make matters worse you won’t remember us either and then we’ll have to get to know each other all over again till you leave to check up on all your stores and we forget each other all over again!” “Pinkie! Please calm yourself,” cried Rarity shocked at her outburst. “Where is all this coming from? Why the sudden concern if I should start to open up more boutiques?” “It’s just that Mr. and Mrs. Cake were thinking about opening another bakery in Canterlot and having me take care of it.” “They are and right now?” questioned Rarity. “No offense, but do they have any idea what they are doing just sending you out here to handle that on your own?” “Actually, they were only considering it right now,” Pinkie explained. “I’m actually here on a friendship mission and thought to take a look around while I was here. At first I was really excited for it, but when I realized that I’d be away from Ponyville for a long time I started having second thoughts. Not being able to see my friends or celebrate the five hundred and eighty-seven holidays, birthdays, events, and festivals we have.” “That’s way more than one celebration per day,” commented Rarity. “And way more than we even have.” “I tend to make plenty up on the fly,” admitted Pinkie Pie. “And this is why it’s so hard. I don’t want to miss out and it’s not like I can be in two places at once.” “Yeah,” agreed Rarity. “That little endeavor didn’t work out. You’ll just have to schedule out your parties around it as best as you can and accept that sometimes you might have to make tough choices in what is more important. That is, if you still want to.” “I do, but I’m just not sure if I am the pony for the job anymore,” she admitted. “Like you said I don’t even know the first thing about any of this.” “You might not,” agreed Rarity. “But the Cakes didn’t choose you simply because you knew how, did they?” “No, they said I was like family and saw how responsible I had become since they first met me,” she replied. “How I helped them run Sugarcube Corner and how I’ve helped them take care of Pound and Pumpkin. It was like I was a part of the family like a wacky aunt or something.” “So, all that was fun to you,” figured Rarity. “More than fun,” smiled Pinkie. “It was like one big partypalooza. So many delicious treats made and eaten. So many fun and silly moments. All those parties that were thrown there like birthdays and Cutecineras. Or the day I finished secret constructing my secret party cave. I can’t imagine Sugarcube Corner without thinking back to all those wonderful memories.” “Then maybe that is the answer you are looking for,” stated Rarity. “Perhaps you don’t know about opening another bakery, but you do know how to make it a special experience for the ponies that come in there just like how I put all that quality and care into my boutiques and ensembles.” “You’re right!” exclaimed Pinkie getting excited. “That’s what I can do to help the Cakes and I’ve got lots of ideas. Rarity, I’m gonna need a full box of crayons, some glitter glue, pipe cleaners, some googly eyes, and paper. Lots and lots of paper.” “Well, I do have paper in the boutique and some rulers and pencils,” she replied. “Would that suffice?” Pinkie looked at her like what she said was crazier than anything she had said earlier. “Right… Well, how about you gather up everything you need and meet me back here. I’ve still got to take care of my business in the boutique, but I shouldn’t be long.” “Great plan,” agreed Pinkie Pie running off. “How are things going?” Cheese Sandwich asked as Pinkie ran by him. The bounce house had only shrank down about an inch lower than it had earlier. “Doing much better,” she answered. “Existential crisis taken care of.” “Great,” he replied and continued to wait and watched the bounce house. “Thank you,” said Saffron Masala to the mail pony as received a small stack of letters from him. After he took his leave, Saffron began looking through them and stopped at one. Turning to Rocky as he was getting some orders ready for some early morning customers, she called him over. “Looks like you’ve got a letter.” “A letter? Well, the only one I told where I am is April,” Rocky commented pausing from cooking to take a look at it. “Yup, it’s from her.” “What’s it say?” asked Saffron curiously as Rocky opened it up to read it. “Uh huh… mmhmm,” he mumbled while reading it. “Just her saying hello. Nothing much else. Let’s get back to cooking. We’ve got customers to take care of.” “Can I take a look?” she asked and with a bit of hesitation he handed it over for her to read. After taking a moment to read it over, she looked back at him. “This doesn’t look like nothing. If you need the day off to go then I want you to.” “I don’t need the to take off,” he replied. “I don’t need to go. It didn’t even mention going anywhere in the letter. And it’s not like I want to.” “Don’t you?” she asked. “I’ve finally started to actually like it here,” he sighed. “And now I just want to keep looking forward, alright? This is my home now.” “But Rocky,” she began to say as the pot of soup started bubbling over. “We’ll have to talk later,” Rocky replied actually sounding grateful for the interruption. He quickly reduced the heat and stirred the pot some more before taking a taste. “Yes, this is where I belong.”