The Untrotted Path

by Luna Aeterna Solutae


Ticket Turmoil

From the moment Sunset opened her eyes, she knew it was just going to be one of those days. She rolled out of bed and all four hooves found the floor with a quiet click. Yawning widely, she trotted across the loft apartment to peer into Twilight's bedroom. Empty, the linens and bedspread taut enough to bounce a bit off.

She rubbed her face and slowly started down into the library. That was empty as well, the door even locked. In the small kitchen she found a cup of coffee and a covered plate. She peered under the lid and smelled buckwheat pancakes.

As she settled down to her breakfast, she found a note beneath the plate. She began to munch and sip, and tugged it free to read Spike's scrawling penmanship.

Mom,
Applejack asked if I would go out and help her pick a stand of Golden Delicious apples at the orchard.
-Twilight.

She let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Twilight still remained inside reading or researching on most days, but her new friends had a fairly good success rate at drawing her out.

She smiled and sipped her coffee, as she looked out the window. It was a gorgeous midsummer Tuesday.


Twilight was miserable. She was hot, she was tired, and she was outside of her comfort zone. But, one only had to twist their hooves into the yielding soil to feel the thrum of the Earth.

This place, these orchards and farmlands, had basked in joy and love for centuries. It was impossible to be unhappy here. The warmth traveled up her legs, the Earth singing with every step and washing away her weariness. She leaned forward, tugging with all her might at the traces of the cart she pulled behind her.

It had been hard, backbreaking work, but she felt better for having performed it without magic. She couldn't ever harvest as much as Applejack had, since the farmer had a couple dozen pounds of pure muscle and Earth pony magic over her, but the trees still responded to her touch and shook their payload loose.

Spike had scampered across the ground, gathering up the fruit that hadn't fallen into their bushel baskets, and had helped to load up the carts. Twilight smiled as she watched Applejack pull a short train of carts to her single one, the Golden Delicious apples sparkling like freshly minted bits.

“Ah can't thank you enough, Twi.”

Twilight sniggered as they neared the barn, where their load would be taken into the cellar. “I was happy to help. Mom keeps bugging me to leave the library and hang out with my friends. Plus, we did make that bet with Big McIntosh.”

Applejack let out one of her whooping, cackling laughs. “Whoo-ee, I can't wait to see him trot down Stirrup Street in one’a Granny's girdles.”

They lined the carts up in the barn, and Twilight blushed as her stomach growled noisily. Applejack chuckled as she helped her out of the traces.

“I guess it's about lunchtime. Granny should have somethin’ ready ta eat by now.”

As they left the barn, Spike retched and belched out a cloud of smoke, rubbing his nose in mild annoyance as it coalesced into a scroll. They looked at him with interest as he unfurled it and cleared his throat.

“Ahem… Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia Sol Invicta of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the twenty first day of Spring Moon in celebration of the Unification and the new Era of Harmony…” He shuffled the page in his claws, skipping the stuffy language. “Eh… yadda yadda… Oh, here. ...cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest.”

Twilight and Applejack shared an expression of shock, before Spike coughed up another cloud of smoke that formed into two gold-leafed tickets. Elaborate scrolling penwork labeled one “Dss Twilight Sparkle of Everfree”, the other simply “Guest”. Applejack gasped, and one could practically see the bit symbols in her eyes.

“Land sakes… if I had an apple stand set up, ponies would be chowin' our tasty vittles 'til the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, with all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up 'round here. We could replace that saggy old roof, and Big McIntosh could replace that saggy old plow, and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip!”

Twilight and Spike exchanged a look.

“Why, Ah'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala.”


Sunset paused in her self-appointed task of re-shelving books. She'd felt a disturbance. She glanced out the window, a migraine beginning to burn deep in her skull.

“Someone just said something really dumb.”


Twilight let out a breath and separated the “Guest” ticket, holding it in a sheath of telekinesis. “Oh, well in that case, would you like to--”

Anything she might have said was drowned out by the whicker of wings as Rainbow Dash slammed to the ground between them.

“Whoa! Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?”

Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her stomach growled and she began poking through the apples for a snack, trying to ignore the inane babble rising behind her. She loved her speedster friend, she really did, just whenever she opened her mouth Twilight could actually hear her brain cells committing suicide one by one.

She bit into an apple and turned around, chewing as the babble stopped. A nearby stump was playing host to a hoof-wrestle. She swallowed, and took another bite, chewing while watching the proceedings with some interest. Finally she cut in.

“Ahem. Girls, these are my tickets, I'll decide who gets it, thank you very much. Whoever has the best reason to go should get the ticket, don't you think?”

Which was exactly the wrong thing to say. It should have resulted in each of them calmly making their best arguments. Instead, they jostled to be the one about two inches off her snout, and shouted in her face. Really, they did actually have good reasons to get the ticket over the other. The problem is that Twilight couldn't see why the other shouldn't.

She slowly backed up as she polished off her apple. “I'm… gonna go. I'm going to think about it over lunch, and then I'll get back to you with my decision.”

They fell to arguing between themselves again as she sprinted off in the direction of the library. She might have been a full grown mare of fifteen, but in times of stress there was nothing quite like the safety and comfort of her mother.


The rest of the day ended up being just as awful as it had begun. Each of her friends that learned of the extra ticket all had good reasons they should go, and she couldn't decide between any of them.

Pinkie simply wished to attend the biggest party in all of Equestria. Rarity had a dream of her perfect fairytale ending. Fluttershy wanted to visit the Menagerie. Then they began to try and bribe her with showers of gifts and favors. Sunset had taken one glance at the growing argument and since her advice wasn't requested she shoved them back into the sunshine.

Then some random passersby learned of the ticket and it slowly evolved into a full town-wide riot.

Sunset watched Twilight sprint off ahead of a crowd of clamoring ponies, and turned on the remaining five with slowly building fury.

“It's definitely Tuesday. You five, in the library. Now.

The five mares shook at the same tones that had faced down Nightmare Moon without a shred of fear.


Sunset paced, and tried to remind herself that these were Twilight's friends. Smoke curled up from where her hooves touched the wood floor of the library, and her mane sparked every so often. She took a deep breath and faced the five staring at their hooves.

“So. Take it from the top, please. Slowly.”

Rarity cleared her throat and glanced along the row, apparently being elected spokespony. She stepped forth and scuffed a hoof. “This morning, Twilight received an announcement for the Gala, and two tickets. We… got a little carried away with our desires for the extra tickets. We overwhelmed the poor dear and… we feel just terrible.”

Sunset ground her hoof against her face to try and crush her migraine. “So I assume that each of you had good reasons.” She pointed at each in turn.

Applejack cleared her throat first. “Uh. Money.”
Rainbow had the decency to look ashamed. “Wonderbolts.”
Rarity rolled her polished hooves together in slow circles. “Prince Blueblood.”
Pinkie scuffed a hoof and muttered. “Party…”
Fluttershy practically whispered. “Animals…”

Sunset's migraine grew. “Okay. Those are all really stupid reasons. I'm going to explain why they're stupid and try not to lose my temper. Then we're going to find Twilight, and you're all going to apologize.”

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Applejack. The event is catered. At best we can talk to Celestia about Sweet Apple Acres getting on the catering list and some staffers so you can focus on networking and sales.

Rainbow Dash. I've been to a few Galas. The Wonderbolts generally don't “talk shop” there, and you'll be lucky to get a word in edgewise with everypony else trying to get their attention.

Rarity. He's gay.

Pinkie. The Gala is a formal event, not a rave. Unless you want to hang out with the snootiest ponies you can imagine, you will either not have fun or ruin the night for everypony else.

Fluttershy. The animals in the Menagerie are very skittish and do not approach ponies. You won't be able to interact with them and I can see you getting frustrated.”

Each pony managed to look more downtrodden and more like a kicked puppy than they had before, if such a thing was possible. Moping was interrupted by the snap-crackle of teleportation, and Twilight dazedly locked that infuriating front door and leaned against it.

”Apologize.”


Twilight turned to see her friends approaching, and Sunset fuming behind them. She shrank back slightly. “I can't decide, I just can't decide. It's important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you, and giving me gifts and doing me favors won't make any difference, because you're all my friends and I wanna make you all happy and I can't, I just can't!”

Applejack glanced over her shoulder at Sunset and scuffed a hoof. “Twilight, sugar, I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you, and if it helps, I don't want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. I won't feel bad, I promise.”

One by one, the others apologized for their behavior and expressed that they didn't want the ticket either. Sunset let out a deep breath and relaxed, moving to embrace Twilight.

“That was very big of all of you. I'm disappointed in you, Applejack, and you, Rarity. You're both twenty, you should know better. But I'm proud that you owned up to your mistake.”

She gently nuzzled Twilight. “Spike, take a letter. I think we've learned something we can share with Princess Luna.”

Twilight cleared her throat as Spike prepared to write. “Dear Princess Luna,
I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. If my friends can't all go, I don't wanna go either.”

Spike furled the scroll and sealed it, and sent it with a puff of flame. The five moved forward to press in close and nuzzle one another, and he gagged a bit.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. “Well wallop my withers, Spike. Isn't that just like a boy? Can't handle the least bit of sentiment.”

He waved a claw and closed his eyes as he belched out a tongue of flame and a curl of smoke. A scroll landed on the floor, and he puzzled over it for several seconds before handing it off to Sunset.

“Ah Luna doesn't have the tightest grip on Modern Ponish. She writes…”

”Duchess Twilight Sparkle of Everfree,
Mine intention was for thou to be accompanied by Sunset, or in the case that she doth acquire her own ticket by a date. We do not wish to break up thy herd, and have sent a replacement of eight tickets.”

Sunset barely contained her sniggering laughter. Twilight froze, and the rest slowly grew more flushed as she continued reading. Finally, she caught sight of their faces and erupted into cackling laughter.