//------------------------------// // Getting There! // Story: Battle of the Ballgowns // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// The journey through town was a familiar on, even if it was a little boring. The same old buildings, houses, and other useful things continued to roll past the window, an eternal parade of generic buildings and the odd tree here and there. The entire place seemed oddly comfortable yet bland. Canterlot, after all, was like any number of small towns in the United States or indeed anywhere else, being built to a standard layout and with little varation between the buildings. The car was currently rolling through the main commercial zone, full of the usual shops and businesses, with Sugarcube Corner being an old favourite haunt of many of the students of the high school, and some adults popped in after work or during lunch to enjoy a drink or a bite to eat of food. But it was far too late, far too late for now anyways. There was no time to stop, and they had to keep rolling. As the car rolled along boring streets and passed a park, Windy Whistles was one to suddenly speak with suddenness, shaking Scootaloo out of her thoughts and focusing her mind on what was actually going on around her, rather than the previous set of confusion she had been focusing on up to that point. "So, do you know what Diamond wants to do when you get there?" "No," Scootaloo replied. Wisely, she had chosen not to travel in all the extra finery, and was dressed as normal for the journey over. "She did give me a vague timetable of what would be happening and when, though." "Oh!" Windy said, focusing still upon the road, as indeed she should. "What was the timings?" "Well, once we've changed, we should be getting started, and the proceedings will last approximately two hours, if I recall correctly. Then, once those two hours are up, we'll dry off, and get changed back, and then proceed back home." Windy noted all of this in her head, it being irresponsible to write whilst driving. "Two hours from when we arrive. That works just fine." She then paused, though whether for dramatic effect or not was unclear, as this was a habit of hers whilst speaking. "So, any ideas of what challenges you'll be doing?" "No. I get the impression it's all supposed to be a bit of a secret, to ensure I can't gain an unfair advantage." "Please be careful," Windy said again, looking concerned. "I fear Diamond could try pulling a nasty trick. I know she's changed, allegedly, but just be careful. Keep an eye out for traps, tripwires, and other things that could hurt you." "Got it," Scootaloo said, and hopped out of the car as it stopped at the gates. Had she tried to get out whilst moving, she would have gained injuries for no readily obvious gain, and then she walked down the road to meet her destiny. But not her unity or duty, as this is not Bionicle. And onwards she went. Just out of town, about 5 miles to the south, lie a pair of large estates, each on opposite sides of the road. One of these estates was very large, at least 100 acres in total. It ran to the coast, and both east and west with green, landscaped gardens. In the centre of it all sat a vast country home, which was spread over 5 floors, and had more than 100 rooms, though nobody knew exactly why it had 100 rooms. This home and estate had belonged to an incredibly influential local family, there from Canterlot’s founding in the 1850s. That family had been the Milks, but now through marriage (which at times felt more like a business merger), the estate was now in the ownership of the Riches, who were somewhat ironically named until recently. On the other side of the road, there was an estate of similar size, with an equally large house. This estate had been owned by another family, the Cheeses. Sadly, the last of their line, Gruyere, had passed away 20 years ago, and the estate had been purchased by the Steel family, a line of steel barons from the north-eastern United States. In both estates, there were large sheds, and workshops, and a railway line that ran from one estate to the other, running under the road via a great double track tunnel. It soared over bridges, and through sweeping curves. But this railway was unusual. It was very small, as the rails were only 15 inches apart. This made it the smallest operating railway in California, but it was not always open. This is not that railway's story, however. Indeed, it plays no role whatsoever in our tale, and instead we cut to Scootaloo completing her walk down an extremely long driveway, lined with many trees that looked very old. The large trees were a pleasant sight to see, and Scootaloo imagined that in the days of yore, resting under their shade would've been quite nice. But she had no time to ponder over such nonsense, and soon found herself at the end of the path, facing the massive pile that loomed into the sky like a mountain. Naturally, Diamond Tiara was waiting outside, tapping her foot whilst Randolph, the family butler, had appeared with a silver tray, upon which a teapot sat, and two saucers and two cups. "I see you made it!" Diamond said finally. "I thought you'd gotten lost in the trees!" "Me? Lost? No way," Scootaloo said defiantly. "Shall we get moving?" "Cutting straight to the chase, eh?" Diamond snorted. "My, my, we have quite the competitive streak, eh? Randolph, what's the weather forecast for the day?" "The sun looks set to held, albeit with minor cloud and some small scatterings of grey skies," the butler replied, maintaining his composure throughout, not shifting a muscle. He seemed to be made of granite, much like everything else around here. "Right then, I'll let you get changed." Diamond snorted to herself. "I've got this one in the bag..."