//------------------------------//
// Act I: Lily Blossom 
// Story: 16 
// by AlwaysDressesInStyle 
//------------------------------//



Canterlot: sixteen years, one month, and eight days ago


I bounced through the snow, making it a game to leap from one of Mama’s hoofprints to the next.

“Come along, Lily.  This is important and we can’t be late.”

It’s not fair, there’s never enough time to play.  I trotted alongside her, doing my best not to splatter snow on her.  Because if we were going somewhere important, that meant we couldn’t arrive muddy or messy either.

I followed Mama all the way to a man…mansh… to a really big house.  We stood in front of the doors for a few minutes while Mama dried me off, combed my mane, and made me put on a fancy dress.  It was so pretty!  Then she combed her own mane, and rang the doorbell.  A stallion in a fancy suit answered the door, and then he led us to some other ponies sitting in a big room with a fireplace and a really soft carpet.  I really wanted to roll around on the carpet, but Mama wanted me to behave in front of these fancy ponies so I didn’t.

“Tiger Lily, I presume?”  The stallion who greeted her was tall and dressed even fancier than the first one.  And he wore glasses, but only over one of his eyes.  “Do take a seat.  I’m Shiny Diamond.  And this lovely young filly is?”

He looked at me and I squeaked in surprise.  “I’m Lily Blossom, sir.”  I curtseyed, just like Mama taught me to do when introducing myself.  “Charmed to meet you.”

“What fine manners you have, Miss Blossom.  Please take a seat.”

I blushed under his praise.  “Thank you.”  I curtseyed again and took a seat on one of the pillows.

Mama and the stallion started talking, but I couldn’t make sense of most of what they were talking about and instead looked around the room.  It was so big!  There was a golden chand…shan…really fancy light hanging from the ceiling.  There was a balcony all around the room, with doors upstairs that overlooked the room we were in.  One of them opened up and a filly my age popped out of the room.  She fluttered to the railing and looked down.  She spotted me and waved.  Should I wave back?  It’s polite, but would that rude to the fancy stallion in the room?  I decided to risk it and waved back.  She smiled at me and glided down to the room.  As she was flying down I got a good look at her – she was very pretty!  With a pure white coat, bright red hair, and a pretty purple dress, she looked elega…elephan…fancy.  Really fancy.

She tried to land next to me but skidded into the sofa instead.  With a crash, she bounced off the couch and landed on her back, legs askew.  I rushed over.  “Are you okay?”

She rolled over and wobbled to her hooves.  “I’m good.  I’m getting the hang of gliding, but I still need to work on my landings some more.  How about you?”

“I don’t fly a lot because I crash a lot.”

“You’ve gotta glide before you fly.  That’s what Daddy always says.”  She galloped up the stairs and launched herself off the balcony again.  Once more she glided down into the room, and once more she crash landed, rolling head over tail on the thick blue carpet.

“That makes sense.  But I don’t have a nice soft carpet to crash into.  Every time I hit the ground it’s cold and hard.”

She picked herself off the floor.  “Oh.  Yeah, that would be painful.  I’m Diamond Rose, by the way.”

“Lily Blossom.”  I curtseyed, and she giggled.

“Daddy!  Can Lily and I go play?”

“Sure thing, Rose.  Why don’t you go show her your room?”

“Good idea, Daddy!  Come on, follow me!”  And with that, she bounded out of the room and up the stairs.  I followed her as best as I could.  She was flaring her wings as she jumped up the stairs, and using them to help glide upstairs.  She was way better at gliding than I was.  But I guess going up and down these stairs every day would be great practice, so of course she’d be really good at it.

She led me to her room, but there was a mare in there.  “Hi Mommy!”

“Rose, sweetie, we have company so I expect you to be on your best behavior.  No more jumping off the balcony.”

“Awww, but I wanted to show her how to glide better!”

“You have all these toys and games in here.”

I looked around the room – her bedroom was huge!  She had a four-poster bed and shelves all around the room filled with dolls, stuffed animals, and toys of all kinds.  Rose’s mom wasn’t kidding – it was like stepping into a toy store!

Diamond Rose pulled a pair of dolls off the shelves, and a dollhouse, and we played with them.  She took the mare and hoofed me the stallion, and we pretended they were a married couple.  And then they had some foals, and we added a filly and a colt to the household.

“Why does your daddy only wear glasses over one eye?”

“That’s a monocle.”

“Oh.”  If that was supposed to explain it, it didn’t.  But I didn’t want her to think I was dumb, because that would be making a bad impress...impressing… because Mama wouldn’t be happy. 

Rose shoved her mare into my stallion, making them kiss.  Then she dropped another foal into the house.  Every time our ponies kissed she added another foal.  Soon we were up to ten.

“Isn’t that enough foals?”

She giggled.  “They’re a hoofful, all right.  I guess we’ll just have to hire a maid.”  She dropped another mare in the house.  “Oh!  And a butler and a chef.”  Two more stallions joined the household.  “And maybe a nanny.”  Another mare joined the very crowded dollhouse.

“I think we’re going to need a bigger house.”

She reached off the shelf and brought another dollhouse down.  “We’ll just buy the one next door.  There we go!  Now we have two houses.  One for the girls and one for the boys.”

Rose’s mom had stayed in Rose’s room the whole time, splayed out on the bed watching us.  Eventually she ushered us back to the drawing room.  We stepped out onto the landing, and I could see Rose open her wings.

Her mother moved to block her.  “No gliding.”

Rose stamped a hoof in frustration and snorted.  Then she trotted down the stairs, and I followed.  This time I was able to keep up with her easily.

“Rose, Lily, so nice of you to join us again.  Did you have fun playing?”

“Yes Daddy!”  Rose nuzzled her father.

I nodded.  “Me too.  Thank you!”

“That’s good to hear.  While the two of you were playing, your mother and I have come to an agreement.  Tiger Lily has taken a job here, and the two of you will be moving in immediately.”

I looked around the enormous house.  I get to live here?!?  This is a palace!







Canterlot: fifteen years, four months, and nineteen days ago


I was sitting on my bed doing homework when I heard a crash in the drawing room.  I left my alphabet practice behind and poked my head out of the room I shared with Mom.  Rose had once again been practicing her gliding by jumping off the second floor railing.  This time she’d crashed into an end table and destroyed a vase.  She was sprawled on her back right in the middle of the debris field, pieces of shattered pottery decorating her tail and stomach.

“Your mother always tells you no gliding in the house.”

“I wasn’t gliding!  I was flying.  Well, sorta.”  She looked at the mess.  “My parents are going to kill me.”

“Ya think?”

“I was so sure I’d stick the landing this time.”

“Just like last time, and the time before that, and the time before that…”

“I know, I know, I know.  Help me glue this thing back together.”

I laughed.  “Rose, do you see all the crackly little pieces and all the dust?  Dust, Rose.  We’re not gluing dust back into anything remotely resembling a vase.  Especially not in the thirty seconds or so we have until one of the staff members shows up.”

Diamond Rose flicked her tail, scattering more shards and dust on the floor.  It was then that I noticed she was bleeding.  “Come on, Rose.  Let’s get you patched up.”  I led her into the bathroom and grabbed a washrag.  I cleaned her scrapes and applied bandages.  I’d gotten very good at cleaning Rose’s wounds since I’d moved in.  At first I’d panicked and gotten my Mom, but I learned quickly from watching her.  I had to be a quick study, because Rose was always working on her flying.  To be fair her gliding was very good, and her flying was improving all the time.  It was the landings she was terrible with.

She looked absolutely miserable.  I hated seeing her like that.  It was then that the front door opened and Shiny Diamond stepped inside.  It didn’t take him long to find the crime scene.  “Diamond Lynn Rose!”

“I am soooooo dead.”  She trotted into the drawing room.  “Dad, I can explain…”

“It was me.”  I blurted it out without even thinking.

Both Diamonds turned to look at me.  Shiny Diamond cleared his throat.  “Miss Blossom, a moment of your time please.”  He opened the door to his study and motioned for me to go inside.

I gulped, but entered the large, ornate room.  He followed, closing the heavy wooden door behind him.  According to Rose, the room was soundproof.  She’d tried listening in on his conversations previously with no luck.  Nopony will hear my cries.

I whimpered as I laid down on the floor, and presented my flanks to Mr. Diamond.  I don’t know how hard he spanks, but this is probably going to hurt.

Mr. Diamond took a quick look at me as I cowered in his presence.  “I’m not going to spank you.  Just sit down and indulge me for a few minutes.  You know what I see when I look at you?”

“A bad filly who doesn’t listen and deserves to be punished?”

“Quite the opposite.  My daughter is covered in scrapes and bruises.  Yet when I look at you, I see a filly who doesn’t have a mark on her.  Instead, I see a loyal friend who’s willing to take the punishment for something she didn’t do.”

“You knew?”

“Of course I know who did it.  Maybe if Rose had showered, she might have washed the tiny shards out of her mane, but I still would’ve known.  Just like I also know I don’t keep anything of value in the drawing room because my daughter has a history of jumping off that railing to practice her flying.  It’s why I covered the hardwood floors with such thick carpeting.  More to the point, I’ve never seen you practice your flying even once.”

I stared at the floor.  “I’m not very good at flying, sir.  I got hurt a couple of times and decided I’d just stick to the ground instead.”

“Quitters never win in this life, Lily Blossom.  Look around you.  This opulent mansion?  All of these luxuries?  My grandfather worked hard to acquire all this.  My father worked hard to keep it and I’ve worked harder still to add to it.  We didn’t get rich by quitting because something was too hard.  Your mother’s never mentioned what happened to your father, and I’ve never asked.”  He held his hoof up to stop me from interrupting.  “And it’s really none of my business.  But I’m going to give you some fatherly advice: my daughter has the right idea.  She’s not happy that her flying is poor, so she keeps working on it.  She will, eventually, learn how to land without breaking things, and when she does, maybe I’ll start keeping things of value in the drawing room again.  But in the meantime, if you should start practicing your gliding, and just happen to break something, no harsh hoof of judgement is going to smack your hindquarters, understand?  We’re pegasi, and the sky is our dominion, our birthright.  To deny yourself that freedom would be a shame.”

“But Mrs. Diamond is always telling Rose not to glide in the house.”

“Yes, because my wife is a unicorn and hence never learned how to fly.  She’s more concerned that Rose might hurt herself.  Yet she’s way safer practicing in here over that soft carpet than she is outside on the hard, unforgiving ground.  Think about it – have you ever heard me yell at her to stop?”

“No.”

“Exactly.  I’ll let you in on a little secret: every pegasus hurts themselves learning to fly.  Nopony masters it on the first try.  Not even the Wonderbolts.  And I’d rather she breaks a hundred vases than even one bone.”  He sighed.  “However, in the interest of keeping up appearances, I’m afraid I must ask you to do me a favor and start crying.  Also, avoid sitting down for the rest of the evening.  Pretend I’ve throttled your hindquarters without mercy and that your rump is sore.  Perhaps that will guilt my daughter into admitting what she did.  I’m not disappointed in her for breaking the vase, but I’m very disappointed in her for letting you take for the blame for it.  I really thought I’d taught her better than that.”







Canterlot: fourteen years, nine months, and one day ago


I trotted through the drawing room on my way to the room I shared with Mom.  Much to my surprise Diamond Rose swooped down and nailed the landing perfectly.  On my back. 

“Aw yeah!  Four-point landing!”

“Get off!”  I sat down and Rose slid off my back and landed on the plush carpeting.

Rose huffed.  “You walk really smoothly and Daddy wants me to learn how to do that.  I’ll help you work on your flying if you’ll teach me how to be graceful.”  She dragged me up the stairs and pointed to the balcony.  “Jump with me.”

I stared down at the room below.  The carpeting was so thick Rose hadn’t even made a sound when I dumped her on the floor, and her father had suggested it was safer than trying to learn how to fly outside.  I gulped and leaped.

“Open your wings!  Open your wings!”

Soft carpeting or not, there was a thump when I landed.  Rose landed next to me.  “I think I know what you’re doing wrong.”  She opened her wings and fluttered them.  “You need to use these when you’re flying.  Otherwise it’s less flying and more falling.”

I stood up on shaky legs.  “That hurt way less than I expected it to.”

“This carpeting is great.  Now that you know that hitting it doesn’t hurt, how about we try again?”

“Okay.”  I was too stunned to argue, so I followed her up the stairs.

She flared her wings.  “Spread your wings like this.  Gliding is super easy.”

I followed her lead and leapt.  With my eyes closed, I didn’t even know the sofa was there until I hit it.

“That was a pretty good glide.  Your landings need a little work, but so do mine.  Keeping your eyes open will help with things like steering.”

I stood up less easily than last time.  As comfortable as the sofa was to sit on, it was decidedly not as soft to crash into.  “How about we work on your balance for a bit and come back to gliding?”

“Okay!”  Rose pranced in place.  “How do we do that?”

I grabbed a few books from the bookshelf and I heard her groan.  “Not reading.  I’m still learning my letters.”

“Not reading,” I repeated as I set the books on my head.  “We walk across the room with them balanced on our heads.”  I started walking toward the far wall.  “Head held high and straight.  Tilting it will result in the books falling.”

She made it two steps before the books fell, while I made it across the room and back without them falling off even once.  Rose straightened her head, threw her snout in the air, and set the books on top of her head.  They, of course, slid off the back of her head.

“Head straight.  Don’t put your nose in the air.”

We kept that up until she got frustrated, then we switched back to gliding.  After a few more attempts it ceased being scary and started being fun.  Though my landings made Rose’s look good in comparison.  Now I know why she’s always practicing…







Canterlot: twelve years, eight months, and six days ago


Diamond Rose was bored.

When recapping any given day’s adventures to an irate Shiny Diamond, those four words started most of them.

How Diamond could be bored when she had every toy she could ever want, all the games she could possibly play, and an indoor heated swimming pool she could use every day of the year was beyond me, yet Diamond Rose managed to get bored frequently.  The more bored Diamond Rose was, the more trouble we were guaranteed to end up in by the end of the day, like there was some sort of humorous correlation between ‘boredom’ and ‘mischief’.

Opulent wasn’t the word to describe the Diamonds’ residence.  The family embodied the very definition of affluenza – they were so wealthy it was sick.  Money was no object, which meant that the Diamonds had to show the entire world exactly that, with a huge mansion situated on acres of prime Canterlot property, an award-winning garden surrounding a statuary, and even a ponymade pond out back solely for the purpose of having a pair of swans floating around it.

The swans weren’t even a bonded pair – the Diamonds weren’t interested in having cygnets every year, so both swans were female.  One pink, one white, named Rouge and Blanc respectively.

In theory, the pond was supposed to be serene, tranquil.  In practice… swans might be beautiful, but they weren’t cooperative.

Despite having an indoor swimming pool, Diamond Rose wanted to play in the pond instead, specifically because of the swans.  As we approached, Blanc flared her wings to make herself look bigger, and Diamond mirrored her pose, extending her own wings.

I rolled my eyes as I watched them hissing at one another.  Diamond Rose has no finesse.

I broke the stalemate by throwing some bread to the swans.  Rouge happily gobbled up the impromptu meal, while Blanc kept a wary eye on Rose before nibbling at the pieces.  The bread was fresh out of the oven – there was no such thing as ‘stale’ in the Diamond household.  Except for the wine.  For some reason, nopony ever went through the wine cellar to get rid of all the expired bottles – some of them were more than a century out of date.

Then Diamond jumped into the pond and all Tartarus broke out.  I latched onto Diamond’s tail to try and stop her, but her momentum carried us both forward and into the water.  Feathers flew as the two swans took off.  Diamond took off after them while I stood in the pond spitting out water.

I swear that filly got dropped on her head as a foal. Repeatedly.  It was probably all those crash landings when she was learning how to fly.

With risk came reward – Diamond had been active in her flight training while I’d neglected it for far too long.  Once she was airborne, Diamond Rose was as graceful in the air as the swans she was ‘battling’ for air supremacy.  To her, it was a game.  To the swans, it was instinct to defend their territory.

I sat on the ground and watched their aerial acrobatics.  Diamond Rose never hurt the swans – she just wanted to play.  Blanc, however, was more than happy to nip at Diamond whenever she got too close.

Diamond eventually landed, covered in new scrapes, bruises, and missing some feathers.  I sighed.  Neither of us is getting dessert tonight.







Canterlot: eleven years, five months, and six days ago


Her Royal Highness was on vacation with her family, which left me to my own devices.  I had the run of the estate, for whatever little that was worth.  The thing I hated to admit to myself was that I was bored without Diamond Rose around.  I wasn’t allowed to invite any of my friends from school over, and none of them had seen fit to invite me over to their homes, either.

With nothing better to do I followed the gardener, Mr. Tree, around.  He’s a hulking earth pony stallion with a dark coat and rippling muscles.  Most of the mares on the staff swooned over him, and I could see why.  He most certainly fit the bill for tall, dark, and handsome.  Nopony knew his first name, but that was okay in a way – no puny first name could be sufficiently intimidating enough for a stallion like this.

Despite his gruff exterior, he was a big softie.  He spent a lot of his time volunteering down at the youth center, giving generously to the colts and fillies who had nothing.  And he was planting flowers, as if in open defiance of his macho appearance.   

“Any particular reason you’re following me around like a puppy?”

“I’m bored.”

“Ain’t nopony allowed to be bored on my shift.  Pick up one of those flowerpots and bring it over here.”  

I did so, because when Mr. Tree asks you to do something, you do it.  He slid the biodegradable pot into the ground, and packed the dirt down around it.  He dug another hole, and he didn’t need to ask a second time.  I had the next flower ready and waiting for him.

“I’m gonna dig the holes.  Think you can manage to plant the flowers and stamp the dirt down?”

“Yes sir!”  I saluted him.  “These are very pretty flowers.”

“Thank you.  I call it Pink Perfection.  It’s a hybrid lily I cultivated.”

“You grew these?”

He nodded.  “Just like those shimmering roses that are all around the property.  Roses that shimmer like a diamond.  I thought it was about time we had some lilies blossoming in the garden too.”

I blushed.  “Thank you.  You’re an amazing gardener, Mr. Tree.”

He kept digging holes and I kept planting flowers.  With the two of us working together, we finished well before lunch.  I stood up and wiped the sweat off my brow.  I never realized how much work went into gardening.

“Nice cutie mark.”

“Huh?”  I turned to look at my flank.  “Oh my gosh!  Cutie mark!”  I hopped around in circles around Mr. Tree.  “I got my cutie mark!”

“It’s right pretty.  We should go inside and celebrate.”

We went in through the kitchen and I immediately showed the household’s chef, Keen Bean, my new cutie mark.  She stomped her hooves on the kitchen tile in appreciation.  “This calls for a celebration!”

I dashed through the house, excitedly.  “Mom!  Mom!”

“What is it, sweetie?”

“I got my cutie mark!”  I turned around and shoved my flank in Mom’s face.

“That’s very nice sweetie.”  She calmly pushed me away from her.  “It’s very pretty.”

“My special talent is helpin’ Mr. Tree plant lilies!”

Mom chuckled.  “Working with lilies runs in the family, dear.”  She turned and presented her own cutie mark for my inspection.  Tiger daylilies, just as her name suggested.

“But daylilies aren’t real lilies, Mom.”

She sighed.  “Now you sound like your grandparents.  I was going to take you out for ice cream to celebrate, but if you’d rather make fun of me…”

“Nope!  Ice cream sounds better!”

I pulled Mom toward the door, but we got intercepted before we could leave.  Keen Bean and Mr. Tree were carrying a candle-bedecked cake and singing the traditional cuteceañera song.  We all sat down at the dining room table, the big one the Diamonds use, and enjoyed the cake.  Keen Bean even grabbed some ice cream from the freezer to go with it.

After we were done eating, we all went downstairs and enjoyed the indoor pool.  It’s not Baytona Beach, but it’s not a bad way to celebrate.







Canterlot: nine years, four months, and twenty-nine days ago


Diamond and I were excited. The newest princess was planning a summertime Friendship Festival – not in Ponyville, but right here in Canterlot. Preparations had been underway for weeks, and today was the big day.

There were few events that the Diamonds couldn’t get premium reserved seating for.  It was all a matter of greasing the right hooves with the requisite number of bits.  But the Friendship Festival was a different story entirely.  There were no seats to reserve, and no bits to change hooves. The entire festival was free, with carnival rides and games of skill and/or chance lining the streets and alleys of the city.  It meant that, for once, Diamond Rose actually had to get up early if she wanted to take part in the celebration.

Amazingly, she got out of bed early without me having to nag her into doing so.  She must be really excited.

Equestria had all but come to a stop for the three-day festival.  Mr. Tree escorted Rose and I to downtown Canterlot, where the festivities were beginning.  We started with the games, because the selection of prizes was best first thing, though ‘best’ was a bit of a misnomer.  Carnival prizes were notoriously cheap to begin with, but the prizes to be won here were even cheaper than normal since they were being provided for free.  Costume jewelry that looked more like leftover beads from Party Gras, plush Windy the Wendigo dolls that the stuffing was already coming out of, and assorted other baubles.

Not that the cheapness mattered.  It was fun winning the prizes, regardless.  The limit was one win per booth, and Diamond and I quickly won everything either of us were interested in.  We tossed rings, knocked down milk bottles with softballs, and even popped balloons with darts, winning the shoddy prizes easily.  Being early had its perks, and we were each able to get a Windy the Wendigo that wasn’t already in the process of self-destructing.  I had no expectations that the Flim-Flam Industries dolls would survive all day in our saddlebags, but all we could do was try.

Next we watched a magician’s stage show.  The Great and Powerful Trixie’s act was entertaining, even if it felt like it was more sleight of hoof than true magic.  She set off fireworks periodically throughout the show, generally whenever speaking her name, which I thought was a nice touch.  Unfortunately, the fireworks drew the attention of monsters, who quickly broke up the show.

A little hedgehog introduced himself as Grubber and announced that the Storm King had just claimed control of Canterlot, and further demanded that we all surrender immediately. Having lived through the changeling invasion, Tirek’s rampage, and other disasters, ponies opted to flee in all directions. 

The Storm King’s guards started trying to herd us all up.  Trixie tossed some smoke bombs to cover her tracks as she bolted away from the fracas. I wish she would’ve stayed – we could really use a great and powerful unicorn to take care of all these stormy monsters.

We huddled close to Mr. Tree as he kept himself between us and the guards.  “Girls, get out of here.”  Mr. Tree bucked one of the Storm Guards into another one, causing both of them to tumble away from us.

“Where?”

“Fly.  Get as far from Canterlot as you can.”

“But what about you?” I didn’t want to leave the powerful earth pony behind.

“I can handle myself. Now scoot!”  While he was distracted, five more of the monsters jumped on top of him.

Without Mr. Tree we didn’t stand a chance of fighting them, so we joined the thousands of pegasi that were evacuating the city.  Some of us even managed to get away…

…Diamond and I weren’t so lucky.

We followed Mr. Tree’s instructions and flew off, out of range of the ground bound Storm Guards. Their airships were faster than pegasi, but too big and unwieldy to effectively chase us down.

Diamond had been working on her flying since before I’d met her, back when we were both foals.  She would always be the stronger flyer of the two of us, and she took the lead.  My choices were to follow, or be left to my own devices – it was a no-brainer, and I did my best to keep up with her.

Rather than head straight for Cloudsdale, Diamond instead detoured to fly over our home. Unfortunately, both her mother and mine were being led out of the house by one of the Storm Guards.  Both were in chains, along with the rest of the household’s staff.  They hadn’t gotten Shiny Diamond, because he was in Las Pegasus on business.

Ignoring Mr. Tree’s instructions to fly to Cloudsdale, Diamond Rose started descending.  I started hyperventilating.  Oh gosh, do I keep going to Cloudsdale, or do I follow Diamond Rose?  She’s going to get caught.  Oh stars, I don’t want to go to Cloudsdale by myself.  Mom’s down there too.  I’d rather be with her in slavery than all alone but safe in a town I don’t know.

Diamond landed right in front of the Storm King.  “Let my Mommy go!”

“Awww, how precious. Little filly has come to rescue her mama.”

I landed next to Lily. “Let my Mom go too.”  This is stupid, this is stupid, oh stars, this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

“You’re robbing us!” Diamond puffed up her wings to look bigger than she was.  As if an indignant filly could intimidate a yeti or his monster guards.

“Robbery is such an awful word.  I prefer ‘looting’, or ‘pillaging’, or even ‘sacking’.  Those are the words they use when describing pirates, and everybody love pirates, am I right, mateys?  Yar, this be the life.  A pirate’s life.”  He grabbed Diamond and I by the scruffs of our necks as he took a closer look at us.

“What is with all you little horses being so flipping adorable?  Cutesy, pastel rainbow ponies.  I hate cute.” He tossed Diamond away; she didn’t have enough space to right herself, and hit the ground with a thud.

He handed me to one of the Storm Guards who grunted something unintelligible.

“No, Kurt, we’ve been through this before.”  He facepalmed.  “Why can’t you be like the other guards?  Creatures that talk are not food.”

There was more grunting from the one he’d called ‘Kurt’.

“Well, yes, I suppose with as young as she is, she would be really tender and succulent.”  Kurt grunted again and the Storm King continued, “No, I don’t know if they’re as sweet as they look.  Cute doesn’t always mean tasty.”  Kurt grunted and the Storm King raised an eyebrow.  “Really?  Always? I was unaware.”  The guard nodded enthusiastically.  “Aren’t you concerned about them being poisonous?  Bright colors are nature’s way of saying ‘don’t mess with me or you’ll regret it.’”

There was more grunting from Kurt and the Storm King put a hand to his chin.  “Look, I don’t want to see you eat her.  Tempest would also object, but she’s away chasing down that other pansy princess, and I’m about to leave this room…  So I guess as long as I don’t see anything…”  He made air quotes with his hands.  “‘Plausible deniability’ and all that.”

Diamond Rose sprang to her hooves and charged at the Storm King, bucking him for all she was worth. “Leave her alone!”  Mr. Tree could’ve bucked him clear across the room.  All Diamond managed to do was chip her own hoof polish.

“Ho, ho, ho, you’ve got spunk, kiddo!”  He picked Diamond back up.  “I hate spunk even more than I hate cute.  I was going to spare you and ransom you back to your parents since its obvious from your butt mark that your family’s rich, but if you want to join your friend in the kitchen, don’t let me stop you.”  He handed Diamond to Kurt, who still had a firm grip on me.  “Looks like she just volunteered to be dessert, Kurt.  Just do me a favor, make it look like an accident.  Er, no, never mind, nobody’s going to buy that.  Don’t leave any evidence.  That’ll work.  These two fillies just went missing.”  He closed the door behind him.

Only to open it a few seconds later.  “Oh, I almost forgot, you should totes boil them alive – it really locks in the flavor.” He closed the door again.  It opened three seconds later.  “And add some cinnamon – that’s the secret ingredient in just about everything.”  He slammed the door, and this time it stayed closed.

I gulped, the only sound I could make with the muzzle constricting my face.  Tears streamed down my cheeks as Kurt carried us to the kitchen.

He hummed a happy little tune as he searched for a pot big enough to boil us in.  In most households, that would be a challenge, but the Diamonds were rich.  Of course they had a pot big enough to fit a couple of fillies.  Never know when you might have to cook for forty ponies on short notice.

Once the pot was on the stove Kurt started chopping up vegetables and tossing them in: onions, peppers, the works.  Diamond was whimpering.  Thanks to her impulsiveness and inability to follow directions, we were about to be slow roasted in our own juices.

As Kurt was adding mushrooms to the pot, two Storm Guards kicked down the door and dragged him out of the kitchen.  Restrained, Diamond and I could do nothing but stand there watching.  The Diamonds’ house overlooked the Canterlot Cliffs, and Kurt was unceremoniously thrown over the edge by his fellow guards.

The Storm King strode into the kitchen.  “I hate when underlings argue with me.  When I say ‘don’t eat somebody’ I don’t expect to be debated on the subject.  Besides, you’re my slaves, not his.  Of course, nothing’s his anymore.  Not since his little accident a few moments ago.  He always was a little clumsy.  Oopsy.” He cackled evilly.  “Besides, I have just the job for two adorable, spunky little pegasuses that are full of so much energy.”

We’d been rescued from the literal frying pan only to be dumped into the proverbial fire.

“You know, I get it. A big scary monster invaded your home. I had the same problem recently – a little unicorn stowed away on my flagship.  She might not have been big or scary, but she was cute, and you both know how much I hate adorable things.  I could’ve forgiven her cuteness, but I have a policy when it comes to stowaways – they go overboard.  I don’t take kindly to others getting in my personal space.  So I get it, two scared little kids trying to protect their home and their loved ones.  I’m in your personal space.  But I am the big scary monster, and I get to do what I want, when I want.  Do you understand?”

With no way to talk, we both nodded.

“Good.  I can forgive your little kick, but only if you’re an obedient little pony from here on out.  Which leads me to your punishment…”

The guards who’d tossed Kurt to his doom harnessed Diamond and I to a chariot.  The Storm King climbed on and cracked a whip above us. “Mush, little ponies!  Or is it giddy-up?  Oh, who cares?  Just get going!  Come on, flap those pathetic little wings!”

Jerkily, Diamond and I got off the ground, the chariot rising with us thanks to our pegasus magic. That same magic kept it level behind us, even though Diamond and I had no formal training on flying in unison and continued getting in each other’s way.

“Oh, ho, ho!  I like!  This is the only way to travel!”

From our aerial perspective, we had a great view of Canterlot being sacked by the Storm Guards. Parts of the city were burning, and few buildings had escaped completely unscathed.

How could an entire invasion fleet sneak into Canterlot undetected? It’s not like the city’s on the coast, Canterlot’s completely landlocked.  How is that nopony in Equestria saw this coming?  I know everypony jokes about how useless the Royal Guards are, but are they really that incompetent?

What few pockets of resistance I could see were easily being overwhelmed by the superior forces of the Storm Guard.  You’d think that in a city this size, primarily comprised of unicorns, there’d be hundreds, if not thousands, of powerful mages. Even without the princesses, there’s no reason our city should be this defenseless. 

One of the fights caught my eye.  A coal-black stallion was clobbering Storm Guards, even though it was three-on-one. Mr. Tree is still free!  There’s still hope!

The Storm King directed us to Canterlot Castle, which he’d made his own base of operations during the invasion.  I’d seen the castle many times previously, but this was the closest I’d ever been to it. Sadly, it had seen better days. Stained glass littered the ground, and scorch marks decorated the towers.  The Storm King left us parked in the courtyard, and we weren’t even allowed to unhitch ourselves from the chariot.  The guards glared at us if we so much as shuffled our hooves.

Standing there next to Diamond Rose was frustrating and boring.  For once, even her inane chatter would’ve been preferable to the silence that our muzzles forced us into.  At least we were alive, which hadn’t been a sure thing just an hour previously.

We stood there for hours, surrounded by guards, with no possibility of escape.  We couldn’t see inside the castle, and there was no way for us to know what he’d done with the princesses.  Twilight Sparkle had obviously escaped, but the others had been petrified in onyx.  Canterlot had been attacked before – there’d been the changeling invasion, Tirek’s rampage, and of course the chaos caused by Discord when he escaped his stony imprisonment, but this was different.  The changelings had cocooned the princesses in order to feed off their love, Tirek had merely drained them of their magic, and Discord just tortured everypony in his own unique ways.  The Storm King’s minion had frozen the princesses solid, and Luna would’ve shattered had it not been for Princess Twilight’s quick thinking.  There was no way of knowing if the princesses were still intact inside the castle or not.

It was a terrifying proposition.  Ponies were resilient; the Storm King might’ve taken Canterlot, but his forces were too small to hold the entirety of Equestria.  The rest of the country would come for us, eventually.  Assuming he even stayed long enough to be challenged. From our vantage point, we had a great view of the Storm Guards looting the royal treasury.

It was quite possible he’d be gone, off to loot the next empire, by the time rescuers made it to Canterlot.  He didn’t seem overly interested in running things – there was no puppet government in place, just monsters putting ponies in chains.  With Cadence among the petrified, the Crystal Empire would be ripe for the picking.  What if he doesn’t unpetrify the princesses before he leaves?  What if he’s already shattered them?  What will we do?

Oh my gosh, what if he takes all of us with him to be his slaves? I don’t want to pull his chariot forever.

My introspection was broken as two Storm Guards flew over us and crashed against the side of the castle.

“I pity the foals who mess with my fillies!”

Half a dozen guards rushed Mr. Tree, but he tossed them away like it was nothing.  He picked up one of the fallen monsters and used him as a club against the others.  Half of the Storm Guards turned tail and ran.  The others experienced the worst beatings of their lives.  While big and intimidating looking, the Storm Guards were proving to be as ineffective as the Royal Guards.

When he was done mopping the floor with the last of the guards, Mr. Tree ripped the harnesses away from us and threw our muzzles to the ground.

“Come on, kids, we’ve got to get outta here.  Now!”  We didn’t need to be told twice.  Once we were a few blocks from the palace, he stopped us.  “Fly to Cloudsdale and don’t stop for anything.  Go!”  He swatted our flanks.

“But my Mom…”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll get her, Diamond.  And I’ll get Tiger Lily and the rest of the staff too.  You two focus on getting yourselves to safety and leave everything else to me. Now get!”

Diamond had learned a lesson from earlier, and this time we did as we were told, climbing high in the sky and away from the smoldering city we called home.

Once we arrived in Cloudsdale we were directed to the Wonderbolts Arena, which had been set up as a temporary shelter for refugees.





Hours later Mom came to get us.  Mr. Tree had managed to free her and the others, and they’d fled to Ponyville. Mr. Tree had stayed in Canterlot to rescue as many ponies as he could.

Canterlot had taken extensive damage and thousands of ponies had been captured.  Most had been at the festival, or lived close to the castle. Those further out had managed to flee, though it seemed as if the Storm King wasn’t worried about capturing as many of the citizens as possible.  He just wanted enough to claim as ‘spoils’ from the war.  Ponies he could use as manual labor for his next conquest – from what I’d overheard of the Storm King’s plotting, that was likely to be Grundleland.

Many of Ponyville’s citizens had been at the Friendship Festival, and as such there were a lot of ponies willing to open their doors to those of us displaced by the Storm King. Those who’d been there and escaped could relate, while those who had loved ones still among the missing were eager for any shred of news they could get.

Mom had arranged for us to stay with a pegasus named Flitter – she was on the Ponyville Weather Team, and she and her twin sister Cloudchaser had been the unlucky ones to have to stay behind and work while their coworkers went to the festival. After the attack, Cloudchaser, a Wonderbolts reservist, was called up to help repel the invasion.  Flitter was desperate for any news of her sister.  Unfortunately, none of us had seen her.  Mom had seen Spitfire among those chained up, which was disheartening.  But Cloudchaser had arrived in town well after the first wave of the invasion, and might have fared better than the team’s captain.

Diamond Rose had joined Mom and I.  Like me, she’d never spent time in a cloudhouse before and didn’t want to miss the opportunity.  Mrs. Diamond was probably thankful for the peace and quiet – as a unicorn, she couldn’t join us in the home in the sky.  My Mom took the couch, while Flitter put Diamond and I up in her sister’s room.

Cloudchaser’s room was decorated with Wonderbolts memorabilia, as was to be expected. Almost every pegasus had some sort of memento from the team, and she had much bigger connection to the group than most.

Flitter stood by the door, amused as we looked through the wall decorations.  Diamond Rose gasped.  “I met your sister at Baytona this year!  I really like her mane.”

Flitter chuckled. “She gets that a lot.”  She sighed.  “I just wish she hadn’t been up against such stiff competition.  Rainbow Dash mopped the floor with them.”

Diamond Rose blushed. “I wasn’t going to say it… but yeah, she kinda did.”

“Rainbow Dash is Ponyville’s Weather Manager, and she’s actually our boss.  She likes to boast that she can clear the sky in ten seconds flat. The thing is, she can back it up. If you were there this year, that means you met Thunderlane too.  He’s another of our coworkers.”

“Oh wow!”  Diamond was absolutely gushing.  “You work with a lot of talented ponies.  Did you try out for the ‘Bolts too?”

“Oh, no, definitely not.”

“Why not?” I asked.

Flitter looked out the window.  “We’ve still got some daylight left, come outside and I’ll show you.”

We followed her out the window as she explained that the Wonderbolts put a heavy emphasis on speed and precision flying.  She then started hovering, then zipped quickly to the right, turning instantly like the dragonflies decorating her flank.

“Flitting is fun, and definitely precise, but it isn’t exactly what the Wonderbolts consider exciting to watch.  But it comes in handy for my line of work.  I get the delicate tasks the others can’t do.”

“Can you teach me to do that?”  I’d never hope to come close to matching Diamond Rose’s speed, but maybe I could have my own flight tricks she couldn’t duplicate.

“I want to learn too!”

Of course she does.  I resisted the urge to groan.

Flitter was happy to show us her trick.  Diamond Rose was, as always, gung-ho to try it.  As was par for her course, she went into the turn flat out and spun out of control when she tried to quickly change directions.

“It’s not about speed. Other ponies go fast; I take life as it comes.  It’s so easy to rush through things, but where does it get you?  Five years later you wonder where all the time went, having never stopped to enjoy any of it.  Watch me again.”  Flitter flew forward at a reasonable clip of speed.  She slowed as she prepared to turn, then darted to the left, picking up speed rapidly.

Since I wasn’t as fast as Diamond, I didn’t have any problems slowing down before trying to turn quickly in another direction – my problem was lack of quick acceleration. I could turn quicker than Diamond, but I couldn’t dart like Flitter.  Diamond’s lack of finesse came back to bite her in the flank yet again.  Try as she might, she couldn’t turn on a tenth-bit. She slowed into a glide, then banked into a turn, but that wasn’t what she was trying to accomplish.  Every time she tried to turn fast she went out of control.

“Just keep practicing, girls.  You’ll get it eventually.”

No, we won’t.  Especially not Diamond.  I watched as she somersaulted past her turn and landed face first in a cloudbank.  I wasn’t doing much better, but at least I wasn’t crashing.

We continued practicing until it was dark.  At some point Mom had sprawled out in the clouds to watch us make fools of ourselves.

“The ‘Bolts are crazy if they don’t want you on their team.  That’s a lot harder than it looks.”  Diamond dusted herself off after her final crash landing of the evening.

Flitter smiled and patted her head.  “Thanks, sweetie.  But put me on an oval racecourse and I’m only average speed at best.  If they had obstacle courses, or tracks with lots of sharp left and right turns, I’d try out for the team.  But they don’t, and there’s no point in taking up a position that could be better filled by somepony with the talents their looking for. Ponies like Cloudy.”  She sighed and looked in the direction of Canterlot. We’d taken her mind off recent events for most of the afternoon, but there was no ignoring the smoke coming from the capital city on the distant mountain.

Quick, distract her.  “We can’t fly like you, but maybe you could teach us how to do our hair?”

Her face lit up and she squealed in excitement.  “I always wanted to have fillies so I could do their hair!”  She ushered us both back inside, practically bursting with anticipation. She spent an hour braiding my long, golden locks with ribbons.  I looked so adorable in the mirror.

Diamond Rose’s mane was shorter than mine, and Flitter opted to decorate it with one of her spare bows. Then she pulled out another ribbon and tied it to Diamond’s dock, to give her a tail bow as well.  It was a surprisingly good look for Diamond – it made her look cuter, without putting in hours of effort that would come undone in her next crash.

Then Flitter decided my tail needed ribbons to match my mane, and by the time she was done I looked like I’d gotten lost in a bow factory.

She giggled.  “Okay, maybe that’s a few too many bows after all.”

I couldn’t help but giggle too, and Diamond fell off the couch laughing at how ridiculous I looked.

Flitter started pulling the ribbons out of our hair.  There were tears trickling down her cheeks.  “Thanks.  I needed that.”

I nuzzled her. “Cloudy will come home.”

Diamond nodded. “She’s got too much spirit not to. She raced against Rainbow Dash despite knowing she had almost no hope of beating her.  That didn’t stop her, and neither will the stupid Storm King!”

Flitter smiled and tucked us into Cloudy’s bed.  Diamond snuggled against me and I cuddled her.

“Good night you two. Your mothers are really lucky to have such wonderful daughters.”







Canterlot: seven years, two months, and three days ago (takes place during Season 9, episodes 24/25: The Ending of the End)


Canterlot had always been a unicorn majority city, but that had never been a problem until recently.  Tensions were running high between the tribes, and there was an exodus of earth ponies and pegasi to surrounding communities, primarily Ponyville and Cloudsdale, respectively.

Shiny Diamond couldn’t abandon his business interests, while his wife was a unicorn who saw no reason to leave town.  Neither Rose nor I left the house anymore unless Mr. Tree escorted us.  Earth pony or not, nopony messed with Mr. Tree.

Eventually, Shiny decided that enough was enough and arranged for Rose’s mom to escort Diamond Rose and I to the airship station.  He’d already sent my Mom ahead to make arrangements for a place for us to stay in Cloudsdale.  

But it was already too late, a fact we learned as downtown Canterlot started burning.

“Riots.”

“No, it’s another siege.”  Rose had flown higher to take a better look.

I whimpered.  “I don’t want to end up in chains again.”

“It’s not the Storm King.  It’s Tirek.”

I shuddered.  “That’s even worse.  He’ll steal our magic.”

“No he won’t.  He’s headed toward the castle.  According to the evacuation plans set forth by the city after the last invasion, we’re supposed to head to the School for Gifted Unicorns to bunker down.”

Rose landed and we turned back in the direction we’d come.  It was only a few short blocks to Princess Celestia’s school, but the Unicorns only sign on the door indicated only one of us was welcome there.  Rose’s mom refused to abandon us, though I couldn’t help but wonder if she would’ve saved herself and left me to fend for myself if her daughter hadn’t been there.

“Let’s go home.”

Not having a better plan, Rose and I followed her mother.  We’d only made it a few blocks when we found our way blocked by the deposed changeling queen.  Chrysalis hissed at us and we tried to find a safe place to run to, but we were trapped.

“Bah.  You have nothing to offer me but fear.”  She changed forms to that of Princess Celestia.  “Since you wretched ponies love your princess so much, give her your love.  Love me, you worthless peons.”

With a pop we disappeared from where were standing.  I wanted to scream but I couldn’t.  I was frozen in place.  It only lasted a terrifying second before we materialized next to a lake high up the mountain.  I blinked as I reoriented myself.  “Who are you?”

“Snowcatcher.  There’s a cave further up the mountain.  Follow Dewdrop.”  Rose and her mother started trotting behind a blue unicorn mare, and I rushed to catch up.

“Why are you helping us?”

“Snowy and I are both half pegasus.  We attend the School for Gifted Unicorns, and we left in disgust when we saw they were only letting unicorns into the shelter.  Snowy came up with the idea to hide here and rescue our fellow outcasts.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”  I never would’ve expected Rose to ask that.

Dewdrop paused.  “Actually, maybe.  While Snowy and I may be part pegasus, neither of us has wings.  Would you mind scouting out an escape route for us?  If the Royal Guards lose the battle for Canterlot, we’re going to want to get as far away from town as we can.  Can you find us a safe route off the mountain?”

Rose nodded and hopped into the air.  For once, I followed her lead of my own free will.  We soared to the far side of the peak, out of the line of sight of the city and castle further down the mountain.  Trails were nonexistent and the cliffs were too steep.  It would be almost impossible to traverse.

The explosion shook the mountain below us.

“Mom!”  Diamond Rose hightailed it back towards where we’d left the rest of the evacuees.  I followed, but she was the better flyer and easily outpaced me.

Everyone was safe, but half of Canterlot Castle was gone.  There was a guard directing everypony into the cave, and Rose and I followed his lead.  Diamond Rose tearfully embraced her mom, while I stood there awkwardly, worried about my own Mom as I gazed on the chaos below us.  Who knows what Cloudsdale is like right now.

The fighting had moved on, away from Canterlot, and it was only a few hours later before we returned to town.  Incredibly, the city was mostly intact, including our home.  With the villainous trio defeated, solidarity between the tribes returned.  There was no longer any need to flee the city, and I flew to Cloudsdale to retrieve Mom.

There was something to be said for things returning to normal.  I’ll gladly take dull and boring if excitement means invasions and riots.







Canterlot: five years, nine months, and eleven days ago


“Happy Sweet Sixteen, sweetie.”  Mom smiled.  “It’s not much, but it’s the best I could do.”

I nuzzled Mom.  “It’s a day away from Diamond Rose.  We could have had this in a dumpster-filled alley behind Hayburger and I would’ve been happy.”  A bed and breakfast three blocks from home isn’t exactly the most exotic vacation destination.  It’s not Maris, Prance or Baytona Beach, or any of the other places the Diamonds go on vacation, but it’s something.  It’s not that I’m ungrateful for the hospitality they’ve shown us over the past decade, but the price it comes with is steep.  I lose a piece of myself every time I’m with Diamond Rose.  I can’t disagree with her.  I can’t tell her when she’s wrong.  I can’t even win a game if I’m playing against her.  I can’t be myself.

“If you want, I could quit.  I could find another job.”

I shook my head.  “No.  Dealing with Diamond Rose is… difficult, but not impossible.  She’s very set in her ways, and I don’t like or agree with most of the things she says or does.  As I get older, I need more time away from her.  I don’t know what went wrong.  We got along really well as fillies, but somewhere along the line she changed.  And while Rose isn’t my favorite pony to be around, her dad’s been nothing but nice to us.  Now that I’m sixteen, I was thinking maybe I’d pick up a part-time job somewhere.  It would be more time away from Diamond, and I’d be contributing.”

Mom sighed.  “Technically, you already have a job.  Shiny Diamond didn’t hire me for my services as a maid, he hired you to be Diamond’s friend.  Your earnings have been going into a bank account we set up for you.”

“And when, exactly, were you planning on telling me about this?”

“On your sixteenth birthday.  Uh, surprise?”

I stopped to really process that information.  It explained more than a few things.  “That’s horrible.”

“I’m sorry.  We thought it best to secure your future.  Had you had access to the funds as a filly, you likely would’ve spent it all on toys and candy.”

“What?  No, not that.  Paying somepony to be his daughter’s friend.  Rose is dreadfully unprepared for real life.  Everypony gives her everything she wants.  Nopony ever tells her when she’s wrong.  She’s never even lost a game.  How is she supposed to learn humility?  How’s she supposed to make friends when she doesn’t know how to be a friend?  She doesn’t have friends; she has yes ponies, us included.”

Mom shrugged.  “That’s her problem.  We’ve done what we were paid to do.”

Blah, I feel bad for Diamond Rose.  Blah.  On my birthday, nonetheless.  “Can we change the topic?”

“Sure, sweetie.  What do you want to do today to celebrate?”

“Let’s go shopping.  I want to buy things that don’t have ruffles or frills.”

We shopped for a few hours.  I got a few new dresses, some cheap jewelry, and a few new accessories.  With our budget, it was either blow it all on one moderately-priced item, or look for bargains and get a variety of things I might not like as much, but desperately needed.

When we were done, we headed to Hayburger for my party.  Mom had rented out the party room, normally reserved for foals, for the afternoon.  It wasn’t my first choice, but it was the only place Mom could afford, so we made do.  When we got there, my two best friends, Dazzleglow and Razzleberry Delight, were already waiting for us.  

“Your reservation got canceled.”

“What?  Why?”

Dazzleglow shrugged.  “They didn’t tell us.”

“But if you want, you can come back to my place.”  Razzleberry’s family, like mine, came from modest means.  But the pinkish-purple earth pony had a heart of gold.  “I made dessert.”

“Sounds good to me.  But maybe we should wait in case anypony else decides to come?”

“Nopony else is coming.”  Dazzleglow looked at her hooves.  “Hayburger isn’t exactly the place to be seen.”  She sighed.  “You know how it goes.”

I shrugged.  “It is what it is.  At least I’ve got my two besties in the whole world.”

They smiled, and I wrapped one wing around the unicorn and the other around earth pony as we trotted to Razzleberry’s parents’ house in the working class neighborhood of Canterlot.  The homes were crammed together tightly and there were no yards to landscape.  Razzleberry held the screen door open and I pushed the front door open.

“Surprise!”

I jumped back, fluttering to the ground.  As the light shone inside, I could see all my friends were there.  “Razzleberry, you little sneak!”  I tacklehugged her.

“I really did make dessert.”

I laughed.  “That explains the crowd.”

“Oh you.”  She shoved me off her.  “They’re here for you, and you know it.”

“Hi everyone.”  I blushed as ponies started singing Make A Wish (It’s Your Birthday).  There was a pile of gifts on the table, and Razzleberry’s signature razzleberry delight sitting front and center.  A delicious blend of raspberry and blackberry filling topped with vanilla ice cream and fresh berries.  I started drooling at the sight of it.

Friends.  Real friends.  I wish I got to spend more time with them.  It was a good wish, and I blew out the candles.







Canterlot: four years, eleven months, and twelve days ago


I slipped into the store, trying to attract as little attention to myself as possible.  Diamond’s birthday was coming up, and since her parents were throwing an epic Sweet 16 party for her, I needed to come up with a gift for her.  Her parents had even given me a large sum of money to go shopping with, and I’d spent it all on dresses that I despised.  The general rule of hoof was the more I hated it, the more she liked it.  Ruffles?  Frills?  Ick.  But she liked them, and I’d gotten really good at figuring out what she’d like.  While I hadn’t paid for those out of my own funds, those gifts would officially be coming from me.  I’d be paying for this one on my own, yet I wouldn’t be advertising the fact I was the giver of this particular present.

“First time shopping here, miss?”

I blushed.  “Is it obvious?”

“The trenchcoat and sunglasses are always a dead giveaway.  There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.  This is a perfectly respectable business.”

I took a look at the wares on display.  More specifically, the underwear on display.  “I’m looking for something frilly.  You probably hear this all the time, but I’m shopping for a friend.  I’ve been shopping with her enough times I have her measurements memorized.  She has a pure white coat, so she’ll look good in almost anything except for white and perhaps really pale pastels.  And she absolutely loves ruffles and frills.  As you can see, she has horrible taste.  What do you have that fits the bill?”

“Normally when ponies tell me they’re shopping for a friend I’m skeptical.  That’s a little too specific to be ‘discreetly shopping for yourself’ though taking your lover’s tastes into account is quite admirable.  Most of the time ponies just pick what they’d like to see their marefriend wearing.”

I flicked my tail.  “She’s not my marefriend.”  In all honesty I don’t know how I’d describe her.  ‘Friend’ isn’t really accurate either.  She annoys me constantly, and yet I don’t hate her.  Mostly I just pity her.  She lives in a bubble crafted by her father, while her mother considers her an accessory at best, and an annoyance at worst.  I’m the closest thing she has to a friend, and she’s completely out of touch with reality.  “If I’m really lucky, I’ll never have to see her wearing this.”  I paced around the store.  “She’s a spoiled brat and I have to do whatever she says.  I hate it.  Do you know what it’s like to have to constantly give in to the whims of some arrogant mare?”

She coughed and motioned to the store around us.  “I might have an idea.”

“Oh, right.  You work retail.  That was a stupid question.  I guess you’re used to pretentious snobs.”

“We do live in Canterlot.”

I sighed.  “Don’t remind me.  Someday I want to move someplace quiet.  Peaceful.  Someplace rustic like Ponyville, or better yet, out in the middle of nowhere like Appleloosa.”

“You’d eventually miss civilization.  Ponyville’s only a two-hour train ride away from here.  But Appleloosa?  Dodge Junction?  You’re talking a few days by train to get to a major population center.  Better be sure you want to be a hermit before committing to something crazy like that.”  She motioned to the racks of merchandise.  “You think a store like this could survive in Appleoosa or even Ponyville?  Ponies don’t wear clothes most of the time, so for something as niche as this, I have to live in a major metropolitan area, preferably one with a high median income.  As such, my choices are limited to Canterlot and Manehattan.”  She looked at my mark.  “Probably not much market for flowers on the frontier, either.”

I pondered that.  I have no idea what this cutie mark actually represents.  I’m not an earth pony.  I don’t have the gift for making lilies bloom anywhere I want them to.  “That’s true.”

She levitated over a bright red, lacey, frilly, silk teddy.  I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that.  “Perfect!  It even matches her hair.”  I hoofed her a sheet of paper.  “These are her measurements.”

She smiled as she started making alterations.  “Now that you’ve found the perfect gift, is there anything here that catches your fancy?  May as well browse while you wait.”

I should have expected that – she’s a salespony after all, and probably the owner of the shop at that.  “I don’t even have a coltfriend.”

“So?  It doesn’t have to be about pleasing somepony else.  Pick something that makes you feel sexy.  The clearance rack is by the door.  If anything catches your eye, I’ll throw it in for free with your other purchase.”

I’ve never understood the point of lingerie.  We don’t normally wear clothing.  Why would clothing make us appear more attractive?  Does it hide flaws?  But considering how much this gag gift is setting me back, I may as well get something for myself while I’m here.  The only thing on the clearance rack that worked well with my coloration was lacey and frilly.  Of course.  I tossed it on the counter and she smiled.

“Kinda frilly for somepony who hates frills.”

I blushed.  “Nothing else matches my coat color.”

She skimmed the rack and held up a few garments to me for a closer look.  Eventually she agreed with my assessment that this was the best choice, and rang me out.  She even gift wrapped the present for Rose.  I trotted out of Tori’s Secret with my purchase.  It’s lacey and frilly, and yet she’s going to absolutely hate it.







Canterlot: four years, eleven months, and seven days ago


Dress shopping with Diamond Rose.  The single most tedious waste of my time ever.  Our taste in clothing couldn’t be further apart, and she often selects her purchases based on how strongly I react negatively to a given outfit.  My hatred of all things frilly has only inspired her to dedicate herself to that particular fashion.

I personally prefer things that are subtle and understated.  Elegant, not ostentatious.  As I looked around the shop, my heart sank.  Everything I liked was on the clearance racks.  My worst nightmare had come true: frilly was actually in style.

It only got worse as Diamond Rose presented her selections to me.  They were all horrible.  I gave wings down after wings down.  Worst of all, I couldn’t find much in the store that I wouldn’t give a wings down to.  Rarity’s Boutique is known for being cutting edge, and that gave me a sense of dread for the upcoming fashion season.  Oh well, not my problem since I’m never invited to fancy parties.  At least Diamond Rose will be in style… for once.

Then Diamond started going through the clearance rack – that was unlike her, especially considering there was nothing even remotely frilly in there.  “You’re looking through the clearance rack?”

“Yeah.  Which one do you think looks best?”

I pointed to the one I liked best, knowing she’d hate it.  But she asked for my opinion, so I gave it to her.

“Perfect.”  She grabbed it and added it to her purchases.

“You’re actually taking one of my suggestions?”

She nodded, then asked if I was getting anything.  I shook my head and followed her to the fitting room.  I took a seat outside, ready to let her know how she looked.

Rose came out and twirled around, displaying the first dress in all its glory.  Sassy Saddles is a professional, and I couldn’t find any faults with the fitment, even if the dress itself wasn’t to my taste.  Wings up.  On the plus side, if ruffles and frills are in, it means I should start hitting the clearance outlets and thrift shops to keep an eye out for dresses I might like getting dumped because they’re out of style.

Dress number two actually looked good on Rose.  That’s the one I hated the most of the whole bunch when she picked it off the rack.  I better check my temperature when we get back to the house, I must not be feeling well.  I gave it two wings up.  “Rose, I was wrong about that one.  You look absolutely radiant.”

She paused by the mirror.  “This one is my favorite of the bunch too.  If you like it, it must really be special!”  She nodded at her reflection.  “Yup!  This is tonight’s party dress!”

Thrice more Rose paraded new dresses in front of me, but I barely paid attention to them except to give them the token wings up that they fit correctly.  Sassy levitated the final dress, the one I actually liked, and Diamond Rose shocked me.  “It’s for her.”

“But…but…but…”  I had no coherent response to that.  It was the first time Rose had ever gotten me something.

“I’d prefer it if you walked in, but if you insist...”  She headbutted me into the dressing room, and Sassy wasted no time taking my measurements.  “Happy really belated sweet sixteen.”

I thanked her.  The world continued on around me while my brain took a lengthy time out.  Eventually my brain started functioning again, but by that point we were already halfway home.  I was still wearing my new dress, and Sassy had done an impressive job making it fit just perfectly.  I guess that means going easier on the desserts tonight than originally planned.

We were a little late for the party, but so was everypony else.  We arrived at the same time as all of the guests, but ducked around to the kitchen entrance so we could avoid the line.  It wouldn’t do for the birthday girl to wait to get into her own party.

We emerged in the drawing room, and I took note of all the guests.  Is that Prince Blueblood?  Seriously?  I knew the Diamonds were rich, but this is ridiculous!  Diamond Rose, of course, made a beeline right for him.  I rolled my eyes.  Predictable.  While she went to make an undoubtedly poor first impression on the prince, I checked out the other eligible stallions.  The nice thing is, none of these ponies have any idea who the birthday girl is, let alone me, so nopony realizes I’m poor and hence don’t belong at a high society party.  Thanks to Diamond, I’m actually dressed appropriately for this occasion, and I’d be foolish to let it go to waste.

I should feel guilty for this…  But let’s face reality – at their income level these stallions want a trophy wife.  If they’re shallow enough that looks are the only thing that matters, I can be shallow enough to dig some gold.  The real question is am I pretty enough?  I found a quartet of bachelors by the refreshments.  As long as I’m being shallow, there’s not a looker in the bunch.  Oh well, it should make gold digging easier…

Since none of them were really jumping out at me, I just initiated a conversation with the nearest stallion.  He introduced himself, specifically by going into his parentage.  He got as far as his great-great-great-great grandparents before I excused myself to go get Diamond Rose.  I shuddered as I realized he could probably recite his heritage all the way back to some noble prior to the unification of the tribes.

“And this is the birthday girl, herself, Diamond Rose!”  I left her talking to ‘name every branch on his family tree’ and set my sights on the next stallion in line.  Rather than bore me with his lineage, stallion #2 regaled me with his balance sheet, or rather his parents’ balance sheet.  How many homes they owned, and where.  It was more of the same from the other two.  I looked around the opulent mansion that had been my home for most of my life.  If I wanted to live in such luxury as something other than live-in staff, this was the tradeoff.  Is it worth it?

“We don’t just own a beach house in Acapulcolt, we own all the beach houses there.  We go for two weeks every winter, and there’s nothing more annoying than a beach crowded with common rabble.  Now the beach is exclusive to only us and our guests.  You should join us next year.”

I’d absolutely love to go to Acapulcolt, but not with you.  I’m just common riffraff, you classist snob.  I held my tongue.  “A nice secluded beach sounds wonderfully romantic, but we’ve only just met.  Perhaps we should start with a dance before planning mutual vacations?”

He was as bad at dancing as he was at conversing.  It wasn’t long before I passed him to Diamond Rose and tried the next in line.  It’s actually possible to be more of a stuck up snob that’s woefully unprepared for the real world than Diamond Rose.  The next stallion was so underwhelming I didn’t even bother with the fourth.  I have more respect for myself than this.  I bailed and made for the refreshments.  The party guests may have been insufferable, but at least the host spared no expense.  Fancy new dress that’s perfectly tailored or not, the dessert table was calling me.  Death by chocolate?  There are worse ways to die.  Pretty much all of them.  I grabbed some of the triple chocolate dessert and started eating it as Shiny Diamond clinked on a glass to draw everypony’s attention.

“A toast to the birthday filly.  My little princess is growing up.  Happy sweet sixteen, sweetie.”  He motioned to a table piled high with presents.  “We all got you a little something.”

Oh stars.  The presents.  I completely forgot I got her that gag gift.  Guilt washed over me as I realized Rose had been nice to me today, even generous, buying me a dress on her own birthday.  Granted, it was from the clearance rack, but Diamond isn’t mean.  She’s abrasive, ignorant, and annoying, but not malicious.  I’m an awful pony.

Unlike me, Diamond didn’t bother to open the giftwrap carefully to save it for another use.  She shredded it in her enthusiasm, and the scraps of torn paper piled up on the floor at her hooves in a patchwork rainbow.  Sadly, most eyes in the room weren’t on the birthday girl.  Many had swarmed the buffet, while others were still jockeying for position around Blueblood.  I was partially relieved, and partially disappointed, when she failed to make a scene over the lingerie I’d picked out for her.  She just moved on to the next box as if nothing had happened.  Maybe she doesn’t hate it after all.

I was still lost in my thoughts when Shiny Diamond gave his daughter one last gift.  Unlike the others, it wasn’t wrapped.  She lifted the lid off the box and stuttered, “No way.”

“Way.  It’s the Rose of Cimarron, and it’s all yours now, sweetie.”

I blinked.  The Rose of Cimarron?  The massive pink diamond adorning her flank?  Are you crazy?!?  Yeah, he’s crazy all right.  Crazy rich.

Rose lost all interest in her party after that, staring at the diamond like a lover.  I sat next to her, knocking her out of her stupor the few times somepony showed an active interest in conversing with her.  Sadly, sitting there in silence was the most fun I had at the party.







Canterlot: four years, four months, and eighteen days ago


Razzleberry and I were hanging out at Sweetcream’s Scoopers.  Neither of us received much of an allowance, but we generally had enough money for ice cream once a week.

I’d started spending less time in the Diamond household – Diamond Rose could get on my nerves faster than a cat pouncing on a mouse.  While it might’ve technically been my ‘job’ to be Diamond’s friend, it wasn’t one I wanted. I wanted to live my own life, hanging out with my friends and trying to impress a handsome colt.  Or at least a rich one.  Unfortunately, I was at a disadvantage due to having wings instead of a horn.  Of course, if I’d had both wings and a horn, I’d have had more suitors than I could’ve ever dreamed of.

A pegasus and an earth pony sitting at an ice cream shop in Canterlot weren’t going to attract much attention, regardless of how cute we were.  Razzleberry had a more colorful mane than mine, but a huskier earth pony build than my dainty pegasus build.

I poked at my vanilla ice cream sundae.  I’d only had enough bits for a small, and I wanted to savor it as much as possible. Razzleberry had opted for black raspberry, to the surprise of nopony.  “You should start setting up at the Canterlot Faire.”

Razzleberry looked at me. “Hmn?” she asked, mouth full of ice cream.

“You should get a booth at the Canterlot Faire on weekends and sell your desserts.”

“That would be nice, but I don’t have enough bits to rent a booth.”

“The story of our lives.”

“You could teach poise and grace to pretentious unicorn fillies.”

“Ugh, I did that for Diamond Rose.  Once was enough.”

“She learned pretty well, so you must’ve done a good job.”

The irony wasn’t lost on me – despite my own working-class roots, my Mom had taught me how to behave like a Canterlot noble.  Diamond Rose, while not from a noble lineage, came from a wealthy family but was a stereotypical rough and tumble pegasus foal.  I’d had to teach her how to behave around adults, and she’d taught me how to fly. It was one of the few happy memories I had of Diamond Rose.  I can’t wait to rid myself of that stuck-up brat.

A large sundae was set in front of me.  Loaded with toppings and dripping with whipped cream, it looked fantastic.  It also looked fantastically expensive, and the meager bits in my saddlebag couldn’t hope to cover the purchase price.  “I think there’s been a mistake, miss.  I didn’t order this.”

“It’s compliments of that colt sitting at the table over there.”

Razzleberry picked up her dessert.  “I’ll just find another table.  Good luck!” She winked at me.

“Wait…”  She ignored my protest, and her seat was momentarily filled by the colt who’d purchased my ice cream.  I recognized him from school – Falling Star wasn’t somepony I’d spent much time interacting with, but he was certainly easier on the eyes than the nobles I’d met at Diamond’s Sweet 16.  Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination – he could’ve stood to lose a few pounds, but he wasn’t obese.

“M’lady.”  He took my hoof in his and gave it a quick kiss.

I giggled.  “No need to be fancy, I’m no noble.”

“Nor am I.  I’m just an average colt, in the company of a goddess.”

“Flatterer.  Tell me more.”

“Your eyes sparkle like amethyst, and your mane is as beautiful as the wind rippling through the amber fields of wheat outside Ponyville.”

I blushed.  He’s pouring it on thick, but I asked for it.  It was… nice… to hear somepony say nice things about me for once.  “I can’t eat this whole thing by myself. Would you like to share?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘no’, m’lady.”

Falling Star ended up eating more of it than I did, considering I’d had my own small dish as an appetizer… followed by a chaser of a newfound desire not to put on weight.  Gotta keep this colt’s attention.  Maybe one day I can move far away from Diamond Rose… and the invasion capital of Equestria she calls home.  I want to live someplace quiet, someplace nopony in their right mind would try to invade.







Canterlot: three years, eight months, and four days ago


I trotted down the street, thankful for the excuse to get away from her royal highness.  It was nearly prom time and she wanted to go, but couldn’t, and I was sick of hearing about it.  Boohoo, your parents spent a fortune tutoring you so you don’t go to some public school.  It also means you don’t get a prom, that’s the trade-off.

Ever since I’d started dating Falling Star I’d spent less time at the mansion.  The Diamonds were surprisingly okay with me spending less time with their daughter, but kept hinting that should I find any handsome, intelligent studs I should introduce them to Rose.  Not surprising, considering how well their own plans to introduce her to some suitable stallions had failed miserably.

I was still two blocks away from the ice cream shop we were meeting up at when I saw Falling Star standing in the road talking with Diamond Rose.  Why is she talking to my coltfriend?  I inserted myself between them.  “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Arranging my date for the prom.”

I resisted the urge to facehoof.  “You don’t even go to this school.”

Diamond Rose rolled her eyes.  “I know, right?  It’s so unfair.  In order to attend prom, I need an invitation from one of the students here.  I chose this guy.”

“That.  Is.  My.  Coltfriend.”

“He is?  He just told me he doesn’t love you.”

I turned to him.  “Is that true?”

“I… uh… I…”

“Oh, he likes you well enough.  But he doesn’t love you.  What does love matter anyway?  Ponies marry because they’re attracted to each other, or to improve their station in life.  He’s fairly handsome, and he’s richer than you.  He’s suitable.  I just want him to escort me for the night.  You go to the school; you can certainly invite somepony else if you so desire.”

I stared at her with my mouth agape as my brain processed the words my ears had heard.  I turned to Falling Star, giving him the absolute dirtiest glare I could manage.  “Is what she said true?”  He gulped and nodded.  My hoof shot out and slapped him across the face.  I looked at Rose and opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.  Instead, I growled in frustration.  Thankfully, I’m very good at not hitting Diamond Rose.  If I had a bit for every time I’d wanted to hit her over the years, I’d be as rich as she is.  Besides, there’s somepony else here I’m just as angry with, so I hit him again.  That done, I turned and galloped away.  I need to cry, and there’s no way in Tartarus I’m letting either of them see me do so.

I somehow managed to make it home with the tears blurring my vision.  I made a beeline for my room, locking the door behind me.  Once I was sure I could keep Diamond Rose out, I buried my head in my pillow and bawled for all I was worth.  I loved somepony who didn’t love me back.  What a fool I’ve been to believe he could ever love a mare like me.  I really thought he was better than that, but he’s just like those stuck up snobs that were at Diamond’s Sweet 16.  How could I have been so blind?  This is Canterlot.  Nopony loves anypony else, it’s all a game of who can marry the richest or the prettiest.  I don’t want to be the richest or the prettiest, I just want somepony to love me for who I am.

A knock on the door interrupted my pity party.  “Go away!”

A key turned in the lock a few minutes later and I thought Mom was going to come in.  Instead it was Rose.  “Lily.”

I should’ve figured she’d have a key to get in.  So much for privacy.  “What the hay, Diamond?  I want to be alone.  You just broke up my relationship.  What more do you want from me?”

She dismissed that with a wave of her hoof.  “As your best friend, I couldn’t stand to see you distraught.”

“You’re not my best friend.”

“Pish-posh.  Of course I am.”

I couldn’t help myself, I laughed at that.  “I’m your best friend, but you’re not mine.”

She laughed as well.  “Oh, you’re not my best friend.  I don’t even really consider you a friend.  More like an acquaintance.”

May as well press my luck.  I’ve got her undivided attention for once, may as well keep the epiphanies coming.  “If not me, who do you consider your best friend?”

“I don’t know.”

“Face it, Diamond.  Not only am I your best friend, I’m also your only friend.”  Ha!  Go on, talk yourself out of this one, I dare you!  Let’s see your logic for how you’re incredibly popular.

“I’m sorry.”  There was a pause as she reflected on things.  Apologizing was a new concept for her, and I guess she needed some time to work it all out in her head.  She finally added, “I’m a horrible pony.”

“Well, at least you admit it.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d really like to be alone right now.  I just dumped my coltfriend because of you.”

I felt the bed sag and then her wings and legs wrapped around me in an embrace.  I cried myself out as she lay there holding me.  Is this personal growth from Diamond Rose?







Canterlot: two years, eleven months, and seven days ago


Shiny Diamond pulled me aside on my eighteenth birthday.  “Lily, in another few months my daughter’s going to be eighteen, and your services will no longer be needed.”

I’m free!  I’m free at last!  That thought came to a screeching halt.  I have only hazy memories of a time before Mom and I lived here – as sad as it is, this is all I know.  Worse, I’m about to be kicked out.

“Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Well, Rose has it in her head that she wants to go to Earth.  From what I can tell, if you go through the portal, you agree to be gone for five years.  You and I both know she won’t last five minutes out in the real world, let alone five years, and that’s my own fault for sheltering her so much.  So I’ve got a little proposition for you: if you go to Earth with Rose, I’ll hire you on permanently.”

I blinked.  Earth, the place with all those icky hairless apes.  “You want me to go to Earth with Diamond Rose?  No way.  Not happening.”

“I’ll pay you.”  He scribbled a number on a piece of paper and slipped it to me.

My jaw tried to drop to the floor when I saw the figure.  What they hay, may as well push my luck.  “Double that, and add a zero to the end.  In front of the decimal point.”

“Done.”  He wrote out a check and hoofed it to me.  “In addition, I will provide you with an equal amount of spending money as I do for Diamond Rose.  I expect you to be able to budget your funds and by doing so, budget her funds as well.”

That’s a crazy amount of money – more than I could hope to earn in two decades.  It might make it worth putting up with Diamond Rose. It’s not like I haven’t been doing so my whole life anyway.  What’s another five years or so?  She’ll probably get bored and come home in two weeks.

“I worry that someday when I pass on, Diamond Rose will squander the entire family fortune and die poor.  She needs guidance.  She needs somepony she’ll listen to.”

I laughed.  “That ain’t me.”

“As hard as this may be to believe, she listens to you far more than she listens to her mother or me.”

That’s sad.  “My condolences.”

He chuckled.  “Perhaps I should be the one saying that to you.  She’ll be out of my hair for five years, but she’s going to be in yours that whole time.  I’m counting on you to keep her safe.  If anything bad happens to my baby, I will hold you responsible.”

I gulped.  “Uh, what are her plans once she’s on Earth?”

“She wants to go sightseeing.  She absolutely loves the idea of being the first pony to set eyes on all of Earth’s greatest attractions.  Knowing my daughter, I’m assuming she means shopping malls.”

I laughed.  “Probably.”

“You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you.  You’ll need to learn some languages, and the laws of any places the two of you plan on traveling.”  

I nodded absently.  What have I just gotten myself into?







Pine Barrens, New Jersey: today


Eyes closed, I sat on the bus in an aisle seat, because of course Diamond had to have the window seat.  Not that it mattered much to me, since I didn’t even want to be here on Earth in the first place.  She wants to see the sights, I just want a paycheck.

“Isn’t this exciting, Lily?”

“Not really.”  I stifled a yawn.  “It’s just a transport.  Like a pegasus chariot.  But enclosed.”  I let out an involuntary shudder.  “What do we do first?”

“I was thinking we’d get jobs.”

I blinked in surprise.  “Come again?”

“We need to find employment.  We can’t live off the paltry sum we got as a stipend to come here.  Especially not with how much I already spent.”

“What about all that money your dad specifically had converted to dollars for you?”

“I may have intentionally left it sitting on my bed at home.  I’m sure the bank will convert it back to bits for him.”

“What?  What?”

“I want to make my own way, Lily.  Everypony has done everything for me my whole life.  And don’t get me wrong, that’s awesome, but there’s more to life than that.  I’m my own mare, and I want to do things my way for once.”

My jaw dropped at her revelation.  “What happened to seeing the sights for the next five years?  You know, living like the heiress you are?”  Why didn’t you tell me that was your plan right from the start?!?

“I lied.  That was never my plan, but there’s no way my parents would’ve let me come here if they’d known I was planning on doing something crazy like earning a living.  If I’d tried this back in Canterlot, you know they’d have been checking up on me constantly.  Besides, if I get desperate, I can always write home and I know he’ll send me the money if I ask him to.  But the whole point of coming here was to do something with my life.  Succeed or fail, I want to control my own destiny for once.  Why’d you come with me anyway?  You were dead set against the idea right from the start.  Just wanted to see the sights?  Live it up for five years on my Dad’s bits?”

I had no reply to that.  That’s exactly what it looked like, and I wasn’t about to admit her dad was paying me to be here with her.

“Lily, it’s okay.  Dad offered to pay your way because he wanted somepony here to watch out for me.  He figured that the two of us together would be safer than me out on my own.  And what could be safer than working some mundane nine-to-five?”

“You’re crazy.  I mean, my respect for you just shot up a bunch of points, but Diamond, this is my life too.  You’ve had your whole life to live it up and travel exotic places.  This is the first vacation I’ve ever had.  And now it turns out it’s not going to be a vacation at all.”

“It means a lot that you came with me.  I promise we’ll take a vacation while we’re here.  A different one every year!  And I’ll even let you pick the first one!  We just need to earn a little money first.”

“This is a lot to take in.  I need a few minutes to think.”  I walked toward the rear of the bus.  There was a bathroom there, and it was the only place I could have privacy.  Looking at the flimsy door, it wouldn’t be soundproof, so I couldn’t let my internal screaming become external screaming, but at least it was someplace quiet to think.  I breathed in, holding the breath for four seconds.  I exhaled, again letting it go for a full four seconds.  I repeated this until I had completely calmed down.

As soon as my brain started thinking rationally again, inspiration struck immediately.  She has no work experience and no real skills.  She’ll end up working retail, and she’ll rage quit within hours of starting.  Then I’ll talk her into doing a little sightseeing to keep up appearances, so she has some pictures and souvenirs to show off, then convince her to go home early.  I bet Mr. Diamond would give me a nice bonus for bringing her home quicker than anticipated.  As soon as we stop, I need to do some research and find out what employers have the worst reputation and suggest she apply for jobs with them.  A plan so simple it’s brilliant!  It’s so simple, even Diamond Rose can’t mess it up.

I trotted back down the aisle and took my seat again.  “Hey Lily!  Guess what?”

“What Rose?”

“I got us jobs already!”

I could feel my blood pressure going up.  She’s going to be the death of me, I just know it.  “And how, exactly, did you do that?”

“There’s a mare on the bus looking for investors to start a hotel.  I signed us up.”

“Rose, Rose, Rose.  That’s probably a scam.”

“Oh.”  She seemed crestfallen at that idea.  “But she didn’t take my money.”

“Not yet, but mark my words, she probably will.  Yours, mine, and everypony else naïve enough to go in on this.”

“I’ll point her out once we get to the consulate.”

I nodded.  “All right.  As long as you didn’t give her any money, no harm done.”

I’m not even going to be able to let her out of my sight for a minute if I’m to keep her from getting hoodwinked.  Just look at her, she practically has ‘sucker’ written on her face in bright red block letters.







New York City, New York: today


Diamond got off the bus and immediately directed me to a blue unicorn with a snowflake cutie mark and pink hair.  Where have I seen her before?  “Um, hi.”

“Hi.”

“I’m Lily Blossom.  You were talking with Diamond Rose on the bus, and she volunteered my services for this hotel thing you’re starting.”

She nodded.  “That’s right.  I’m Snowcatcher.”  She looked down at the list hovering in her aura.  “I didn’t add you to the list officially yet.  I never count chickens before they’ve hatched.  Would you like to go in with all of us?  You’d be number nine.  By my calculations, I figure we need fifteen to twenty to succeed.”

“How much is the buy-in?”

“Your stipend.  If you have anything else with you, keep it.”

The stipend was a mere pittance compared to what Shiny Diamond had given me to cover expenses.  Still, I wasn’t keen on losing it, especially not within hours of crossing through the portal.  “I think I’m going to pass.  And Rose too.”

She frowned as she looked at her list.  “I understand, though I’d like to hear Diamond Rose speak for herself.”

“That’s fair.”  I waved Diamond over, as Snowcatcher turned to talk with another blue unicorn mare.  My eyes caught sight of the other mare’s cutie mark: an umbrella sheltering a pair of hearts.  Suddenly it all clicked.  These are the mares who saved our lives when Chrysalis was threatening us.  They’re heroes.  If I can’t trust them, who can I trust?  It was worth the gamble.  “Snowcatcher.”

“Yes?”

“We’re in.”

Her face lit up and she added my name to her list.  “Awesome!”

“And since I never got to say this a few years ago, thank you for saving our lives the day the Legion of Doom attacked.”

Snowcatcher looked from me to Diamond and back.  “So that’s why the two of you look so familiar!”

“Forgive her, she’s bad with names and faces.  I’m Dewdrop Dazzle.”  She held a hoof up for me to bump.

I returned the bump.  Rose will hate working for a hotel just as much as she would hate working retail.  I can still work with this.