Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap loaded the last of the Royal Families luggage into their hot air balloon, Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare stood before Celestia and Luna, smiles on their faces.
“Thank you again for choosing Costa Del Bronco for you vacation needs Princess. And despite the circumstances, we do hope that we’ll see you again next time you choose to take your vacaction.” Sunny Flare said with a bright smile.
“Its no worries at all Ms. Flare, things were a little unexpected but it did work out nicely and we did enjoy ourselves. We’ll be sure to let you know if and when we take our next vacation.” Celestia replied, Luna nodding in agreement beside her. Twilight and the others stood with Ocellus, Thorax, and a few of the other changelings saying their goodbyes as well.
“Take care of yourself Ocellus, you too Thorax. If you ever need any help, don’t be afraid to contact us. We’ll come running if you do, its the least we can do to return the favor.” Twilight said. Ocellus hugged Sweetie Belle and Spike tight a smile on her face,
“I’m gonna miss you guys, you’ve helped us sooo much. You’ll come back and visit again, right?” Ocellus asked.
“Of course we will! I’ll write letters every chance I get once we get back, Spike can even send them using his magic.” Sweetie replied, Spike nodding in agreement. Every pony had said their goodbyes and finally it was time to leave, the hot air balloon lifted off the ground and gently began to move eastward back towards Canterlot. Twilight had the map out as she sat between Sweetie Belle and Celestia,
“So it should take us about two days to get back home, with just enough time to get some last minute relaxation done before we have to get back to work.” Twilight explained. Sweetie Belle leaned over looking at the map and noticing they’d be passing by Ponyville again,
“Could we stop by Ponyville again? I wanted to see my friends again, and its on the way Twilight.” she asked. Twilight looked over the map thinking for a moment but then Luna spoke up.
“I don’t see any reason why not, I think it’d be a lovely way to end our vacation. Don’t you Twilight?” Luna said. Twilight was a bit unsure about altering the course and schedule she’d plotted out but at the same time she didn’t want to say no Sweetie Belle.
“Okay, I think we can make a quick stop. Canterlot can take care of itself for just a little bit longer.” she said as she gently pat Sweetie on the head with a smile.
A full day had passed and it was about noon when Twilight looked over the side of the balloon, below she could see the Everfree Forest, Apple Acres Farm, Ponyville, and lastly on the horizon was Canterlot.
“Hey! We're almost there, we should start to lower the balloon. We can land right outside of Apple Acres and say hello to Applejack before we head into town.” Twilight announced, Sweetie Belle and Spike quickly looked over the side of the balloon with Twilight smiles on their faces, Shining then began to let air out of the balloon to land the balloon. When they were finally on the ground Sweetie and Spike eagerly hopped out and rushed to the front gates of Apple Acres,
“Hey! Wait up you two! We’re supposed to stay together!” Sunset shouted as the others climbed out one at a time. Twilight and Cadence caught up to the two quick as they finally reached the front gates. They all looked around but didn’t see Applejack, Applebloom, or Big Mac anywhere nearby.
“Maybe...they’re in town?” Twilight asked, as they approached their house. Twilight knocked on the front door and a few seconds later the door opened to reveal Granny Smith,
“Oh well hi there Princesses, what brings y’all back out this way? Come fer some more Apple family hospitality?” she asked.
Twilight nodded in response, “Yup, we were also wondering where Applejack is. I didn’t see her anywhere out here.” Granny Smith pointed down the road towards the center of the town,
“She and Big Macintosh went into town, some city pony came into town the other day and now they’ve got every pony all riled up about something. Probably best if ya go see fer’ yerself.” she said. Twilight turned to face her family,
“Do you think we should check things out?” she asked.
“It’s probably nothing, but you all go on ahead. Luna and I will stay here, it might be best if we're not there to make a bigger scene.” Celestia said. Every pony nodded in agreement and they decided to head into Ponyville to see what was happening.
As the group made their way to the center of town they soon noticed the large crowd outside of the town hall.
“Wow, it looks like the whole town is out here. What’s going on?” Sunset asked as they approached. As they got closer Sweetie Belle and Spike saw Scootaloo standing near two older mares and called out to her.
“Scootaloo! Hey! It’s me!” the little orange filly and the mares beside her turned to look, and almost instantly Scootaloo’s face lit up with a smile.
“Sweetie Belle! You’re here! And you brought Spike! Maybe you can help us fix this!” she said as she ran over and hugged her friends.
Twilight and Sunset looked at one another puzzled before Twilight asked, “Fix what? Is something wrong?”
Scootaloo nodded and pointed towards the town hall, “Some pony is trying to destroy Ponyville!” she said, Twilight and the others were confused by her words but then one of the mares with her spoke up.
“Its a little more complicated than that Scootaloo. Hi, I’m Holiday and this is my wife Lofty, were Scootaloo’s guardians.” Twilight greeted the two back and then Holiday went on to explain what was happening to her. “A rich pony from Canterlot came into town two days ago, he’s planning on buying the land where the nearby gem stone caves are. Every pony in town is against it though, but he won’t listen to a word we say.” Holiday said.
“I don’t understand, if those caves are outside of town why does his buying the land mean anything?” Sunset asked.
“The problem is that he’d also be buying up half of the Everfree forest and the area where the train tracks leading towards Canterlot are at. Which means they’d have to redirect the train tracks while he strips the land for those stupid gems he wants so bad.” Lofty added. Every pony looked at the two mares in shock,
“And if that happens it would effect your best way of getting the local businesses to and from Canterlot wouldn’t it? You’d either have to take another train north or south first, or get their by hoof and wagon wouldn't it?” Cadence asked. Holiday and Lofty nodded in agreement,
“And that’d put a lot of local businesses that go back and forth to Canterlot in danger, maybe even out of business. So you can see why were all worried.” Holiday said. Twilight then stood up straight a confident smile,
“Don’t worry, we’ll go talk to this pony ourselves and see if we can’t change his mind.” Twilight said. Twilight and Cadence politely made their way to the front of the crowd, most of the ponies their watching in shock as two members of the House of Sun approached the town hall. Standing at the entrance was an older mare with a tan coat and white hair, a pair of glasses resting on her muzzle.
“Hi there, I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Princess Cadence. I was wondering if it’d be possible for us to talk to the stallion from Canterlot who’s been causing all this unrest.” Twilight asked, the older mare stood in shock and awe for a moment but then composed herself.
“Oh of course, Princess, um, right this way. Maybe you can convince him to listen to every pony here.” the mare said turning to open the door to the town hall. She guided Twilight and Cadence inside leading them to one of the offices near the back.
“I’ve been doing my best to try and keep every pony calm during all this, but it hasn’t been easy. A lot of the businesses in town rely on the trains to receive and deliver goods to and from Canterlot you see.” the mare explained.
“Have you explained that to him? Maybe he doesn’t understand the severity of what he’s doing.” Cadence said. The three reached the door to the office, and the mare paused to face them the look on her face being distraught.
“We’ve had almost every pony in town trying to explain this to him, but he only cares about the gem stone caverns and the bits he'd get from them. I hope you can convince him otherwise.” she said. Twilight and Cadence smiled at one another then looked back at the mare.
“I doubt there’s any pony who would be brave enough to tell us no.” Twilight said. The mare turned and pushed the office door open, inside the room was a long table with all the most important ponies in Ponyville sitting around the table, Twilight immediately recognizing Applejack among them. Then she looked at the far end of the table where two Canterlot soldiers stood along with a very familiar white unicorn who spoke up at the sight of Cadence and Twilight.
“Ah, Twilight, Cadence, so good to see you both. What brings you out here to this backwoods pony town?” he said. Twilight and Cadence stood in shock, both their mouths agape, before Twilight finally said the name of the stallion they were looking at.
“Blueblood?!”