2.
Locals and Locales – Part One
The whine of turbines on both sides of the Lumiere had almost fallen silent as Twilight brought the ship around the last corner of the Cloudwalker District and steered the airship into the Ponyville Port. When the clanking of the docking clamps signaled that the ship was secure, she shut down the engines completely and deactivated the console. After flying for nearly two hours and crossing so much distance, not only across the land itself but also vertically, seeing how Ponyville, like most of the isles in the sky, was about half again as high above sea level as Canterlot, she was happy to get up and stretch.
Going below deck and heading for the entry hatch, she met up with the other five, Sunset, Philomena and Spike had gone below deck at some point to avoid the searing sun. Had the Lumiere not been one of the fastest vessels in Equestria, they would only have arrived early the next day, but as it was, they had arrived in the late evening.
Well aware that very little preparation or research would be going on at this hour, the three unicorns decided to sleep aboard the ship and check on the preparations the next morning. What little reading time they could get in could easily be satisfied by the on board library no ship intended for a trio of scholars could be called complete without.
That the students of the Princess of Dreams would have a restful sleep went without saying and, after a quick breakfast courtesy of Sunset, the three departed the ship and walked out onto the pier.
Early as it was, the air so high up was still a bit more chilly than they were used to, but the three took it without complaint. Before they had even reached the end of the pier and set hoof on the island itself, they found a remarkably pink mare sitting in their path.
Everything about her was pink. From her coat to her mane to even the fabric of her clothes that, rather than white, were a very soft pink. The brilliant pink polka dot pattern rounded off the picture.
The moment the earth pony laid eyes on them, she gasped loudly, jumped her own height up into the air, defied physics by remaining there, as if frozen in time, for several seconds, then fell back to the ground, spun around and raced off deeper into the town.
"Well," Starlight finally ventured, "that happened."
"Anyway," Twilight spoke up, seeking comfort in what she knew best. "According to the list, we have four ponies to check on. But only two of them have set addresses. We'll be fastest if we split up. Have one of us take the two with addresses and one each for the two without."
"I'll take those with addresses," Starlight immediately piped up.
"Alright then," Twilight checked the list again, "that would be the banquet preparations at a place called Sweet Apple Acres." She looked up and took a quick look around before pointing a hoof towards the edge of town. "Assuming that's the orchard farm I saw on the way here that should be loosely that way. And the other one would be the musical arrangement at a place called Fluttershy's Cottage."
"I'll just head to the farm first, I'm sure they'll be able to give me directions. See you then."
While Starlight trotted off, followed by the invisible form of Ephemera, Sunset walked over to Twilight, looking over her shoulder at the list. "You take weather, I take decorations?"
"Sure, why not. Have fun."
Walking over one of the bridges that connected the various floating islands that made up the town, Starlight got a first look at the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. She took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of the farm's namesake. It truly was wonderful. The clean, high altitude air mixing with the earthy aroma of fertile farmland and the fresh scent of apples. She might have been in a hurry, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the atmosphere while she was here.
Following the path along the edge of one of the orchard islands she soon reached another bridge and crossed it to reach the island that held the main farm house as well as a barn, a large shed that probably housed the various machines used to tend the extensive orchards and a large gate that sat mostly flush with the ground. Starlight guessed that it probably covered a staircase leading either to a storage cellar or to a private airship dock on the underside of the island. Perhaps both.
A loud noise drew her attention away from the bright red buildings and to a small, adjacent island. Finding the bridge that led there, she followed the repeated noises to a small clearing among the trees that stood on the island. A pavilion stood at the center of the clearing, with a table at the center. The noises came from behind it.
Stepping around the structure, Starlight found an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane, wearing light clothes, clearly as much designed to hold off the sun as to let the sweat of hard, physical work escape. She trotted up to another tree, moving several wooden barrels to stand beneath it before stepping up to the tree, pushing off with her hind legs, spinning around on her forelegs and bucking the trunk of the tree, revealing the source of the noise Starlight had been hearing.
The apples falling from the tree into the barrels also explained the clattering noises she had started to hear as she got closer. Stepping out of the shadow of the pavilion, she cleared the rest of the distance between her and the farm mare. "Good morning. My name is Starlight Glimmer-"
The mare spun around and a smile came to her face when she spotted Starlight. She walked up to the unicorn, vigorously shaking hooves with her. "Well, howdy-doo, Miss Starlight, pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!"
"Right, friends. Well actually, I-"
"So what can I do you for?"
Hearing a feline chuckle from behind her and sensing her familiar's amusement through the bond they shared, Starlight turned around to the seemingly empty air behind her. "Oh quiet back there. Get your mind out of the gutter, Ephemera."
Applejack's slight blush when she recognized how her words could me misinterpreted quickly gave way to startled surprise when the prism wraith became visible behind Starlight. "What in tha wide sky of Equestria is that?!"
Starlight turned back to Applejack and followed her gaze back to her familiar. "Oh, that's Ephemera, my familiar. Don't worry, she looks more scary than she is. When she isn't invisible that is."
To demonstrate the truth behind Starlight's words, Ephemera came up alongside the unicorn, gently rubbing her head against her side. "See? She's quite cuddly once you get to know her, she's just a little shy around ponies she doesn't know, so she's usually invisible in public. But she seems to like you, normally it takes at least an hour before she trusts somepony enough to show herself."
Applejack still seemed slightly nervous as the large cat made her way over to her, but relaxed when she gently rubbed her muzzle against the pony's neck. "Huh, guess she really is a big softie. Well anyway, we've gone of course, ain't we? You were sayin'?"
"Oh right, I've been sent here by the princess to supervise the preparations for the Sky Light Festival. Your family is in charge of the food?"
"We sure as sugar are! Would ya care ta sample some?"
"Well as long as it doesn't take too long..."
"SOUP'S ON EVERYPONY!" Only her experience from the few times that Princess Luna had gotten so annoyed with the nobility that she had used something she called the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’ allowed Starlight to remain standing at the force of the mare's shout. As a veritable stampede of ponies streamed onto the island over the several bridges connecting it to other parts of the farm in various directions, Applejack turned back to Starlight, a twinkle in her eyes. "Now, why don't Ah introduce ya to the Apple Family..."
And she proceeded to do just that. In short order, Starlight was introduced to the members of the Apple Family. All of them. Each carrying some apple related food product or another, quickly forming a pile on the table in the pavilion. An invitation to brunch soon followed.
Despite a hungry gaze from Ephemera Starlight had been ready to decline until the Apples started fighting dirty. A swift application of weaponized cuteness later, courtesy of Applejack's younger sister, they convened around the table which surprisingly managed to seat all of them, though it was a little tight.
The Apples were eager to learn more about Starlight. She didn't mind answering their questions in between sampling some of everything. And she learned some interesting things herself. Aside from helping on with the trees, Applejack's main role on the orchard was apparently keeping the various machinery running smoothly.
She, it seemed, shared Starlight's enthusiasm for engineering. Her family, at least, claimed that any piece of broken equipment delivered to her usually came back working better than ever, sometimes with new features it didn't have before. Her father seemed especially impressed with her work. He had apparently taught her engineering when she was younger, but the young mare had long since outmatched anything he could teach.
As such, it didn't take long for her and Starlight to get into conversation.
"No way! You actually still have equipment with purely electrical engines here?"
"We do! Ah know they're practically antiques, but they work jus' fine. Ah make sure o' that. Sure, we've got some o' the newer models for the further out fields, but the old ones still work so why toss 'em out?"
Apple Bloom turned to her older brother. "You got any idea what they're goin' on about?"
"Nope"
"You know, I'm kinda surprised your family is so okay with using machines to help around the farm. Most old farming families are against that."
"Now listen here," Granny Smith spoke up. "We Apples believe in playin' to our strengths. We've got a simple rule. 'Never use a machine to do somethin' a pony can do better.' That's why we still buck our apples by hoof. But we ain't got no problem with usin' machines to haul 'em back to tha storage cellar."
Applejack chuckled. "When we export 'em to other islands, we'd be usin' machines anyway."
"Hey I'm not saying you shouldn't. I'm just a bit surprised. Most farming families I've heard of are either all for technology or all against it."
"Eh, one're stuck in the past and the other's've lost the personal touch. Without machines ta help ya just can't compete on the market these days," Bright McIntosh explained.
His wife nodded. "And if ya let 'em do everything for ya, there's nothing special 'bout yer produce, then everyone could grow it just as good. Ya need balance in these things."
Having sampled the last of the food, Starlight nodded. "Completely right. Now if you'll excuse me, I do still have a few more things to take care of. Could any of you perhaps point me in the direction of Fluttershy's Cottage?"
"Pretty much right across town on one of the lower islands 'neath the Cloudwalker District. Head back into town until yer at Town Hall. There's a staircase beside it that goes to the walkways in the Umbra district. Y'all can see it from there."
"Thank you."
"Mah pleasure, see y'all around town Miss Starlight."
"Sunset? What are you doing here?"
The mare in question turned towards the speaker, finding a familiar mint green unicorn. "Lyra! The princess sent the three of us to supervise preparations for the Festival. And you? Here for the official celebration as well?"
Lyra shook her head in bemusement. "You three really don't pay attention to anything other than your books, do you? I moved here two weeks ago. Why do you think I wasn't around Canterlot all this time?"
"Oh. We must've missed that."
Lyra gave Sunset a flat look. "At least tell me you didn't forget about Moon Dancer's party."
Sunset's face fell. "Ponyfeathers, we'll have to apologize to her later. Still, the princess specifically sent us here, not really much we could do about that."
"True, I suppose. Still, you've got preparations to supervise. Looking for anypony specific?"
"Yes actually. Do you happen to know where I can find Rarity?"
"Rarity? Hmm, let's see here. Last I remember she was hanging up decorations near the stage at the southern edge of town. White unicorn, curly purple mane, fabulous outfit, probably fretting about some detail of the decorations. You can't miss her."
"Thanks."
"No problem Sunny, see you around. You too Philomena, make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble."
Following Lyra's directions, Sunset quickly made her way to the southern edge of town. She soon saw the stage on a lower island, along with a unicorn mare that perfectly matched Lyra's description of Rarity.
Seeing no stairs to get to the lower island in sight, Sunset smirked. Out of her sisters, she had always been the middle one including in terms of their magic. Starlight had more power, while Twilight had less, Twilight's finesse was better while Starlight's was just a touch worse, but Sunset had them beat in terms of physical strength and agility. She'd always been the most athletic of the three.
She turned around and walked a few steps away from the edge. Turning back towards it she galloped towards it and jumped off, easily clearing the hoof rail and dropping to the island below. Lighting her horn, she cast a modified version of the spell that kept airships aloft to slow her descent, landing softly on her hooves. Turning back to the stage, she walked up to the white unicorn, marveling at the decorations.
Beyond the moon setting a few moments before the sunrise, rather than at the same time like on any other day, the main element of the Sky Light Festival, as the name implied, was the ceremonial lighting of the islands with all manner of lanterns. Each island had its own unique style or styles.
The Canterlot Museum of Cultural History had samples of almost every style. As such, Sunset had seen the local style before, but she found this year's rendition of the design to be especially tasteful. Ponyville's style of lantern was based on the fact that it had long since had an almost even split amongst its population into earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns and thestrals. As such the lanterns involved elements of each tribe's work.
The basic frame was made of wood, using classical earth pony methods, the lanterns held a special magical flame that burned without fuel in a beautiful sapphire blue, courtesy of the unicorns, pegasi added the magic that made the lanterns free floating and an enchantment by the thestrals added their control over shadow to the mix, ensuring that the lanterns themselves wouldn't cast one.
This year's rendition was smaller than any Sky Light Lantern Sunset had ever seen, but their numbers were all the more plentiful, it was everypony's responsibility to ensure their own houses and properties were decorated with the lanterns, especially those at the edge of the islands, most ponies hadn't hung up their lanterns yet, but if the stage was anything to go by, there would be many lanterns in Ponyville this year.
Refocusing on the pony before her, Sunset cleared her throat. "Good Morning-"
"Just a moment, please. I'm 'in the zone', as it were. Oh yes, here is perfect, is it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help you?" The unicorn turned around to look at Sunset, carefully taking in every detail about her. "Let me guess, Canterlot?" When Sunset nodded she simply smiled. "Yes, the style is unmistakable, some try to copy it, of course, but they never quite manage it, do they?”
She closed her eyes, swooning a little. "Ah, Canterlot. The glamor, the sophistication. Oh I've always dreamed of living there. Alas, I could never handle the heat that close to the surface."
Sunset came a few steps closer, chuckling lightly. She leaned in to quietly speak into the other mare's ear. "I'll let you in on a secret. Neither can I. That's why almost every piece of clothing sold in Canterlot has cooling charms on it."
Rarity gasped. "Really?"
"Really," Sunset replied with a smile.
"Sweet Luna, I never knew. Oh I wish I could manage such an enchantment, it would certainly help my business."
"You're a seamstress?"
"A fashionista at heart, darling. But, yes, I suppose, for the moment I'm just a small town seamstress."
"I could teach you, if you want. I know the charm." Assuming we're all still alive after tomorrow, she mentally added.
"Oh, you would? How wonderfully generous of you. But do tell, why did you want to talk to me?"
"Oh, right. I was sent by the princess to oversee preparations for the festival. I came here to check up on the decorations, but clearly that won't be a problem. I can see you have that well in hoof."
"Don't worry about a thing, darling. I'll make sure everything is in place before the Festival starts."