//------------------------------// // 3 I Don't Know What That Is // Story: Lilly Valley & The Forty Year Old Blank Flank // by Cyndaquil //------------------------------// Twilight tried to make it clear to every-pony that they would not read Clive Cloppers, ‘Hare-Raiser - The Tartarus Bound Heart’ for their next book club meeting, only to have Strawberry Sunrise act indignantly, and tell her “just because you’re a princess doesn’t mean you can speak for every-pony here.” Strawberry Sunrise had no idea what that book was about, and really wanted a break from Daring Doo. “Why don’t we put it to a vote?” Starlight Glimmer suggested. Lily, of course, voted for Hare-Raiser. Twilight voted for Daring Doo. After Twilight whispered some plot detail in her ear, Strawberry turned beat red and voted for Daring Doo. “I vote for Daring Doo,” said Rainbow Dash. She spoke in her usual boastful manner. Merigold / Ms Harshwhinny chuckled a bit. She addressed everyone yet made her eye contact with Rainbow Dash. “I wil probably vote for Daring Doo.” She turned her eyes a bit, noticing that Lily seemed a bit disappointed. Merigold continued. “If even the adventurous Rainbow Dash is too scared to read this book, then what chance does a timid flower pony like me have.” “Scared!” Rainbow Dash seemed appalled by that statement. “I’m not scared. I’ll prove it. I’m changing my vote. I’ll read that book cover to cover.” Spoiled Rich voted for Daring Doo. “I read Daring Doo to my adorable daughter every night before bed.” Spoiled was holding a pot with one of Lily’s ‘special’ flowers, the same hybrid that her husband filled their home with. She took another large snort of the flowers pollen. “Her joy is my bliss.” Twilight eyed Lily, suspiciously. Lily just batted her eyes, innocently. Even though Rainbow Dash had changed her own vote, she still hoped the remainder of the ponies would cast their ballots for Daring Doo. She held up the Daring Doo book for Fluttershy, Rarity, and Starlight Glimmer to see, then raised and lowered her eyebrows in a gesture intended to signal to her remaining friends. When it cam to Rarity, and Fluttershy to vote, there was an awkward pause. “Darling, we all know what to expect for the next Daring Doo,” Rarity spoke with a hint of cattiness, she was a little tired of Daring Doo, “However, none of us have even heard of this Hare-Raiders.” “Hare-Raiser, The Tartarus Bound Heart.” “Rarity makes a good point,” Twilight admitted. It’s not fair if the voters are uninformed or misinformed.” “We don’t want to spoil the books either.” Fluttershy added. “So what do we do.” “We can read a ‘Shadow Spade’ book instead.” After a little back and forth, Twilight suggested that one pony give a spoiler free critique of each book. Rainbow Dash loved the idea, and insisted on going first. “Okay, the book I want to read is Daring Doo. Daring Doo is awesome. She goes on all kinds of adventures where she does all kinds of cool stuff. You learn things to, she goes to other countries, she does clever things to survive different dangers.” Next Rarity declared that it was her turn, even though no-pony realized her book was even in the running. “Shadow Spade, she solves mysteries, and looks fashionable doing it. Just look at the cover, how her extra wide brimmed fedora covers one eye to draw her with an air of mystique. See how her coat…” “Are you just going to talk about what she’s wearing.” Rainbow Dash interrupted. Rarity was visibly annoyed with the interruption. “Shadow Spade solves mysteries, and she does so by noticing the tiny details others miss. It’s about the interconnectedness of all things. Everything we say and do and feel weaves together like a tapestry, and if one pony tells a lie then a flaw occurs somewhere in the otherwise perfect stitching.” “You’re talking about clothes again.” Rarity stuck out her tongue at rainbow Dash. Finally it was Lily’s turn. Unfortunately for her, she’s more afraid of public speaking then Fluttershy. “She stepped before the ponies in the room. Hello every-pony. The book I want to ready is called, she looked at the cover, her hooves shaking slightly. Seeing how poorly it was going, Merigold decided to step in. “This book is a story about a passion, unlike any you have ever or will ever know.” Twilight couldn’t argue with that much. She new just what kind of passion was in this particular book. Marigold Merryweather continued. “Allow me to read you an excerpt” “Well, here he was. They could save each other, the way the poets promised lovers should. He was mystery, he was darkness, he was all she had dreamed of. And if she would only free him he would service her - oh yes - until her pleasure reached that threshold that, like all thresholds, was a place where the strong grew stronger, and the weak perished. Pleasure was pain there, and vice versa. And he knew it well enough to call it home.” Clive Clopper - Hare-Raiser, the Tartarus Bound Heart She spoke each line with a cadence and gravitas most narrators could only dream of. The ponies stood speechless. They decided to cast a silent ballot this time, and when it was over, don’t misunderstand, no story blew away the competition, and yet Hare-Raiser was the clear victor. It was Spoiled Rich who was the first to leave. She said she wanted an early start on supper, because she was preparing one of Diamond Tiara’s favourite meals. Spoiled took another snort of her flower. “Sometimes she helps me in the kitchen. We have so much fun together.” As Starlight Glimmer was getting ready to go, Ms Harshwhinny, still dressed as Marigold Merryweather, cautiously approached her. Still not recognizing this mare, and believing her to be somepony whom she’d only met today, Starlight assumed she was just a little shy. It was nice to have seen her express herself a bit in the book club meeting. “Excuse me, Ms Glimmer.” “Please call me Starlight.” “Starlight,” Marigold paused, “It’s just, well, I was surprised about some of you opinions at the club today. You see, I know a little bit about your past. “Oh that,” Starlight thought for a moment. She realized that maybe Marigold was still a little afraid of her, and that made her sad. “I meant what I said.” She lowered her head a bit. “I’m very grateful that Twilight forgave me. I can’t imagine where I would be, or what sorta mare I would still be if she hadn’t. Please don’t think I’m not grateful. It’s hard to say this to her, because we talk to each other like we’re just friends, like the past is completely behind us, and I was starting to feel like it was.” “I see.” “Recently I was reminded of another horrible thing I did. There is another pony out there who might never forgive me. I don’t have the right to be forgiven for what I did to her.” “So what are you going to do.” “Everything I can to make amends. Even if I’m never forgiven, I’ll do whatever in my power I can to fix my mistake and help her.” Marigold eyed the clock, noticing the time. “Okay then. I suppose you have to go meet her now. Don’t let me keep you.” “Oh she won’t be in town for another month.” “What? Are you sure?” “This pony lives in Canterlot, and travels all the time. She wouldn’t even talk to me directly, so she made an appointment through my friend Spike. I got the date off a letter.” Ms Harshwhinny remembered every detail of that letter. She was so nervous, her teeth chattered when she wrote it, ruining her normally impeccable penmanship. Did she make a mistake? “We’re meeting on August 7th.” Starlight Glimmer told her. That was it, Harshwhinny thought. The date was supposed to be July 8th. Normally she would write out the names of the months so that there could be no error, but on that letter she wrote numbers: year, month, day. In some towns it was custom to write the dates as year, day, month; a ridiculous practice by the way. She even knew that that was how it was done in that town for which Starlight was a cult leader. What was Harshwhinny to do? Should she reveal the truth, demand or beg to be helped sooner. “It was very nice talking to you Marigold. I hope we get to do this again before you leave.” Marigold just let her go. When Marigold returned to the cottage, Lily was cleaning up after the small tea party. Lily asked if Ms Harshwhinny had learned what she wanted to learn. She answered yes. “I suppose I should go find a hotel.” As she turned to leave, Lily spoke. Ms Harshwhinney half expected that she would invite her to stay. “Ms Harshwhinny, thanks for convincing every-pony to give my book a chance.” “Don’t thank me. I suppose the air here made me bold. I can’t deny there was a naughty fun in it. After my little bit of poetry, even that Fluttershy wanted to read a book that’s teeming with sado masochism.” Lily looked confused. “What is sado masochism? I don't know what that is.” “Lily, have you read the book?” “Not yet. I only have the free time to get through one book a week, and this one has been on my reading pile ever since I saw the movie.” “Oh, you saw the movie.” “Well, actually it was one of the later movies, so I don’t know what happens in the first book.” Ms Harshwhinny turned to leave. She stopped one last time to ask a question. “Lily, what do you think the Cenobites are?” Lily looked up from doing her dishes. “They’re bad guys who want to rule the world, right?” “Happy reading Lily!”