//------------------------------// // Ch.1 Reasons and Insight // Story: Seasonal shopping: ponies Vs. the Mall // by Nekobladen //------------------------------// A cool wind blew through the town of Ponyville; somewhere a colt shivers and leans against his mother body. Daily life doesn't change when the weather does; everypony still had a job to do. Scarves became a must have for every colt and filly, Rarity was just waving goodbye to her last costumer for the day. Today she had plans with her friends and could not be late; against her sides rested two thick saddle bags plump but not heavy, her insignia ingrained on their sides. With a farewell jingle from her doorbell she was off, the cool air brushed her beautiful white coat and her body shivered in response. Blue magic surrounded her right saddle bag, popping the top and allowing her recently costumed design scarf to float out; the moment it was securely around her neck she relaxed her body, now enjoying the winter season a little bit more comfortably. ----------------------------------------   Applejack felt restless being cooped up inside most of the winter, it wasn’t having time off that made the orange earth pony feel on edge. Her reasons for the dislike of the season were much deeper then that. Every year now when the snow fell and there were no apples to buck she had to focus on other chores, and every time she did it bothered her to see how run down everything around the farm had become. For the rest of the year she could distract herself with her trees; they always needed bucking. It was during this chill period when all she had to do was fix things did reality seem most cruel. The house, the barn, and every shed on the property all looked good on the surface but within their beams held doom. The orange earth pony loved working at the market selling her goods; the feeling of watching ponies enjoy her hard work gave her a warm feeling like nothing else. Perhaps this was why her home life seemed so unsettling now. The apple family was well known for selling cheap produce anypony could afford, but as times changed so did the currency. Time after time they had to skip on one last repair to this or buy lesser quality that, all in an attempt to make ends meet. It was during Applejack’s generation that times became unbearable and income was top priority, to bad she never saw it that way. With the mornings odd jobs done early she started the long trot to town to meet up with her friends, and hopefully an answer to her dilemma. -------------------------------------   Frost hugged the window seals around sugarcube corner, as it has been for the past many days. Inside of this friendly establishment noise and laughter filled the air; it was the usual sounds you’d expect from a small town bakery. Pinkie pie was in the kitchen helping Mr. Cake with the ovens while Mrs. Cake tended to the store front, it was warm in the kitchen but Pinkie could hardly notice. Today she was going to a new place in Ponyvile, somewhere new which housed delicacies from all over the world. All of her friends would be there, and thinking of it caused a few more accidents then normal. After the fourth batch of burned gingerbread pony cookies Pinkie knew it was time to go, she bid ado to the store and rushed off to the groups meeting place. --------------------------- High above the small town where the puffy clouds played, swooshed a rainbow blur. Rainbow dash glided from one cloud to another in blissful glee. For the past year near the edge of town a new building was being constructed, normally Dash wouldn’t pay much attention to construction sites but this one made her curious. She could always see Cloudsdale Pegasi fly out to it with clouds. The entire thing was covered in clouds so thick you couldn’t see the structure within, and Rainbow wanted to know why. Today when they visited this “Mall” they called it, she’d snoop around and learn all its secrets.   --------------------------------- Fluttershy was feeling anxious today, she was in her home pacing the floor back and forth trying to talk her self up for what she was about to do today. The mall’s construct had been interfering with her animal’s natural habitat, no one was harmed, and all the animals got new homes, but this was about space. Ponies didn’t use the rolling hills the mall was built upon but many animals used it for running around in, now the yellow mares house was a nature preserve with all of her little friend having no where else to play, they decided to use her home and yard as a playground. The animal loving pony couldn’t ask her friends to leave, the only thing she could think to do now was ask if the mall could spare some room. An idea she was not keen on completing, but maybe with all of her friends going to she might pull it off. --------------------------     A white sheet of paper held in place by purple magic was levitated in front of also purple unicorn; the feminine voice of Twilight Sparkle read the flayer once more. “The Grand opening of the 'Mall of Equestria' will open on Monday” her voice lowered to a mumble as she read over sections of information she already knew. Once her third review of the paper was finished she called down to her assistant baby dragon Spike. “I really wished you’d come with us Spike. Who knows how long these items will last! You might never get a chance to see an event like this again” Spike rolled his eyes at her while descending the stairs. Spike will never forget that day when Twilight asked him to join her for shopping in a canterlot department store. He had to wait while she tried on clothes, hold all the bags, smell all the perfumes, nothing manly or cool about it. Sure Twilight wasn’t the kind of girlie girl to spend all day looking at outfits now, but with five other uncertainties he wasn’t about to take the chance. “You know someone has to stay behind and keep the library open, besides I already got all my Hearts Warming shopping done early” the young dragon boosted. Twilight hugged her friend one last time before heading off, she could be gone all day and felt he might get lonely. “I know, and I’m sorry. You just don’t get many chances to come out with everyone, I had to offer”. The librarian mare hurried out the door to meet her friends, today she thought was going to be fun. The gang all found each other and walked along the path to the mall. They talked about the huge Ad campaign the mall had before it opened. Pegasi had shifted clouds around to write the malls name in the sky, and all the local papers had front page stories about it, Twilight showed off the one she had been reading earlier. They were even scheduling a fireworks display that night in honor of the holidays. They had all agreed to go shopping together and make a fun day out of what would surely have been a chore otherwise. ------------------------------------ Rarity levitated the custom scarves for everyone to wear, each one the same color scheme of its owners coat. There was snow on the ground and the breeze cool but with friendship in there hearts, and Celestia’s sun warming their bodies it hardly felt cold at all.                  As they approached, Pinkie Pie was the first to comment on the structure they were at last nearing. “Holy guacamoley! That place is huge!” Everypony looked up and up as every step made the large structure even bigger. “Oh my, as much as I was looking forward to spending the day with all of you. I’m not sure of spending it trotting up and down this place”, Rarity said with a notable worry in her voice. Rainbow Dash took to the skies to see the thing from a birds eye view. Even up here it was impressive, it was big enough to house five dragons easy, she thought. Rainbow glided back to her friends landing next to Rarity and placing a hoof on her back, deciding not to worry her friend more she tried shooing away her doubts. “Don’t worry so much! This place only looks big”.   Twilight too felt like reinsuring her friend, warming her smile to its utmost limits and looking forward calmly. “It’s a place of business rarity; they will have plenty of places to rest and eat. We won’t be running on our hooves all day, besides it will be so much fun I doubt we’ll even notice the fatigue”.                  The whole scene only got more impressive as they were finally at the main entrance. Ponies, griffins, even a diamond dog was seen pouring through all four of the spinning doorways. This 'Mall of Equestria' was a bigger deal then they thought if it was capable of bringing people outside of Ponyville to it. it took a bit of patience watching how everyone else made it through, but eventually they were all able to time it right and got flung inside. Expect for Fluttershy and Pinkie who got hung up in the large glass cylinder a few rotations. Some magic from Twilight saved her two friends; Fluttershy’s cheeks were turning green as she felt her stomach still looping and Pinkie pie was twirling in a cartoonish fashion eyes spinning around.                  Twilight trotted up to the large map display in front of them. “Hmm…this looks pretty simple, all the stores for clothes are in the east wing, nick knacks on the west, children’s up north, and  gadgets take up the south”. Applejack looked around them and noticed they were in a huge area surrounded by food merchants, but instead of carts like in the market place every vendor had a store front shop right in the walls. “hey Twi’ where on the map does it say we are?” she asked while still taking in the sight. “Let’s see…here, it’s called a food court. Seems like there are still some other eateries throughout the mall but this is like the more diverse section. Amazing! Although I wonder why there are so many little names everywhere, they can’t have stores just in the walkway…can they?” Twilight held a hoof to her chin in thought of this. Meanwhile no one noticed both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had disappeared.                  None of the four were hungry yet only having just arrived and with still so much to see they continued on, looking inside each of the stores as they pasted them. Everypony had a good look at the map before they left the food court and kept where they each wanted to go in mind: Rarity didn’t see anything eye catching and decided she would browse, Twilight wanted to look at the nick knacks for a snow globe, Applejack was curious if the hardwood stores had any decent prices for some equipment the farm needed, and Fluttershy saw they had an exotic animal store. They reached the central hub of the mall after an exhausting trot; relaxing on some benches they chose to rest and watch the ice skaters. Here in the Malls epicenter was an Olympic sized ice rink were both families and professions skated and enjoyed themselves. Twilight yawned and rested her head lower and lower till she was flat against the bench she had taken for herself, the purple mare thought back to the night before and how she didn’t sleep thinking of everything the mall had in store for them, eyes too heavy to hold on her mind drifted off, while the faint sounds of seasonal music played around her.