The Pony Guard (Season 4)

by MXCDarkHorse2020

Episode 25: Trade Ya!

If there was one thing worse that one or two friends rambling his or her mouth in Pinkie and Bunga’s case, it was four friends rambling courtesy of Timon and Pumbaa. It was so irritating that Kyoga had to borrow some of Twilight’s ear plugs in order to channel out their incessant chattering. Twilight didn’t mind, since she is trying to be a better friend in hearing her friends out a little more, at least to show that she still cares.

“Yes!” Pinkie squealed in delight. “Best day ever!”

“I know right!” Bunga exclaimed just when their train arrives at its destination allowing the Lion and Pony Guard to safely get off their ride. “We're all going to the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange!”

“I wonder if they have cool grubs to trade there!” Timon expressed his eagerness before catching his warthog snacking on them. “Pumbaa!” He scolded.

“What?”

“We’re supposed to wait until we find rare and exotic grubs here to trade for the grubs from Pride Lands without you eating them all!” Timon reminded.

“Oops! Sorry!” He gulped the last bite of food he already bit into.

“Ugh!” The meerkat face-palmed in response. “Just let me handle the grubs from this point forward, okay?”

Pumbaa sheepishly moved to do so before they both set out towards where the big event is set to take place.

“Oh, brother.” Ono rolled his eyes to side at the sight before floating down on Beshte’s back to continue talking with his friends. “Anyways…” He continued. “…I’m really looking forward to this event. It’d be interesting to see if there are any interesting new books to read out there.” He moved towards his bag of books that he brought to trade. “I just hope what I have is enough to trade for something that really catches my eye.”

“I’m sure you will, Ono.” Beshte assured.

“And I’m sure everyone will love seeing the Lion and Pony Guard here today!” Bunga stated already getting excited of their stay here.

“And that’s not the only thing that’s exciting…” Pinkie added before walking over to their prince and princess friends.

“That’s right!” Bunga remembered while wrapping his arm around his favorite friend’s neck. “We’re accompanying a prince and princesses on an official royal duty!”

While Kion shrugged, Twilight on the other hoof tried not show any interest in it. To her, it’s nothing but another mandated chore for her to handle to atone for her actions as Midnight Sparkle.

Pinkie taking notice of it still remained positive and certain that her fragile feelings will be spared this time around.

“Bunga, it’s not that big of a deal.” Kion said.

“No big deal! No big deal!” Bunga said very flabbergasted with what his friend voiced. “You’re a prince and she’s a princess for pony’s sake!”

“Maybe so…” Twilight said still not interested nor looking back while levitating her pile of books with her magic. “…but it’s a necessity and formality in order to ensure the trade goes on as fairly as possible…” She said while leading everyone on over to the cave tunnel leading up to Rainbow Falls. “…there always has to be a princess at the Exchange. Last year was Princess Cadance, this year it's me. And since this is the first year Pride Lands royalty is introduced it was most fitting to have Kion join me by my side since I'm going to be presiding over this event. And for that I thank you for being more than willing to accept my offer, Kion.”

"Of course." He smiled in return. "Anything to help you out when you need it, Twilight."

Despite smiling in response to his reassurance, Twilight still couldn't help but feel it's a burden to have to ask of him to assist her in this since she did to avoid taking up the role alone in front of a group of faces that have potential to give her disgusted and dirty looks from some ponies that she noticed when she was walking by throughout town ever since she returned to Ponyville.

None of them told her straight up out of fear that she'll retaliate but the message is clear to the mare who can only just press forward and continue on with her day without inciting a pointless argument and scene over it.

"At least the fillies from school weren't afraid of me..." She muttered to herself to which Bunga was close by enough to hear.

“Ah, come on, Twilight…” Bunga tried to attempt encourage her to be more enlightened about it. “…surely ponies would be excited to see you now that you’re…” Suddenly is glared at by everyone knowing exactly what he is going to say by bringing past regrets. “…a pony that everyone can trust to be here. Yeah!”

Twilight still turned ahead still not feeling very excited nor expecting a big welcome out of it while making their way through the tunnel. “Like I said, it's just a formality and I'm sure none of the other ponies will even notice I'm here.”

Just as said as they made it to the other side of the cave, she suddenly found herself greeted by a crowd of cheering ponies all gasping in excitement spreading confetti all over their surroundings. Two Pegasi ponies unveiled a banner showing an image of the alicorn princess just before the events that led to the Pride Lands being taken over supported by wooden poles, along with another banner showing an image of the lion prince himself.

“Wow, look over there, a princess!”

“And a prince!”

“Oh, this is amazing!”

Three of the ponies excitably expressed in front of the surprised duo with the alicorn being more stunned at the greeting she received while confetti rains down on them and their friends to which Ono blew off of his beak before he could sneeze.

Fuli took this moment to lean over to her pony friend with this to say while looking pretty amused. “Could be wrong, but I think they might've noticed.”

All Twilight could do for the moment was smile and laugh nervously in response. Clearly, she expected they would just shrug it off and carry on with their business feeling they still haven’t warmed up to her yet. But it sure wasn’t that case, today it was a full jam packed crowd and everyone was excited to see her and Kion today.

Twilight moved to walk ahead and press forward while avoiding eye contact with a forced smile and the others follow her. Bunga took the time to throw kisses and waves to the crowd thinking that they are praising the whole Guard near and far.

“Bunga!” Fuli scolded to which snapped the honey badger out of his fantasy before moving to catch up with the others.

“Doing okay, Twilight?” Kion asked after running up to her side after noticing of how uncomfortable she was back there.

“Uh-huh!” She nodded without glancing back. “Nice to see that ponies here actually are excited to see me.”

“Really?” He asked unsure whether she’s being sarcastic or not.

“No.” She said quietly while turning back briefly to make it clear she’s not excited about it.

“Right…” Kion acknowledged after remembering why. “…because you don’t feel you’ve done anything to deserve it.”

“Exactly! I don’t understand why ponies are cheering for me when I have done nothing to deserve any of this!” She voiced unable to comprehend this warm reception at all compared to the frightened or disdainful reactions back home.

“Maybe they’re just really trying to help you feel better about yourself with the hopes that you can come around and be the hero that saved all of Equestria from the threat of that mean lion who scarred and corrupted you into turning on us!” Pinkie rapidly suggested while rushing over to her.

While it makes sense, she remained unconvinced. “I don’t know about that but…”

Pinkie suddenly hugged her to try to get her to try to lighten up for the sake of everyone here. “Come on Twilight! Quit being a Miss Grumpy Pants and try showing us more of that smile of yours!” She encouraged while attempting force her lips to smile.

“But…”

“Pretty please with sugar on top?” She pleaded with buttoned up eyes and the biggest grin she could muster.

“I’ll try.” She sighed as she relented to which Pinkie hugged her in response to her reply while Twilight had to resist the urge to throw her off as tempting as it is since she is still not warmed up to hugs from Pinkie Pie yet.

Just on one of the nearby booths, Fluttershy and Beshte both spotted a very unique antique glass bunny depicted playing with Cupid’s bow and arrow along with another glass antique featuring two birds touching beak to beak behind a heart on a pedestal.

“Oh, my goodness!”

“Poa!”

“You said it.” Rarity returned while looking at herself in a mirror trying on a rose-colored hat. “The Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange is simply divine. You can get anything you want here!”

“If'n you got the goods to trade for it.” Applejack added as she pulled her wagon forward.

“You said it!” Beshte agreed while carrying a large boulder from the cart he was carrying with the high hopes of being able to get something out of it. “I just hope they something big enough to replace this.”

“For what?” Ono curiously asked before realizing. “Oh, no.” He covered his eyes with one of his wings. “Don’t tell you backed into the one of the ponies’ houses again.” Beshte looked aside in shame. “Hapana!” He groaned.

“How did that happen?” Kyoga curiously asked.

“He got distracted while helping me cart off some apples to somepony while we were in town.” Applejack explained on his friend’s behalf recalling the moment he backed into said pony’s house while he was trying to get a good look at something from afar...again.”

“It’s not my fault that there’s always a squirrel or bunny coming up on the middle of the road when it happened.” The hippo defended. “I was just giving him space...and a little admiration.”

“And you sure did…while getting right into another ponies home’s space.” Applejack recalled when Beshte got startled then looked back feeling mortified upon seeing that he wasn’t watching where he was going while backing up to admire the squirrel and bunny.

Beshte while trying not to think much about nearly backed into Spike who moved to dodge him before accidentally letting go of his mint-condition comic book.

“Wha? Nooo!” He screamed just when it was about to land in a pile of mud.

Thankfully, Twilight was quick to rescue it with her magic before that could happen.

“Phew!”

“Oops! Sorry, Spike!”

“Thanks, Twilight. Whew. One ding, nick or dent, and this Power Ponies comic book wouldn't be in perfect mint condition anymore. And if you want to trade for a mint comic, you gotta have a mint comic.” Spike said in relief before walking ahead with his prized possession in his claws.

Just then a crowd of ponies gathered around Twilight, along with Kion, murmuring in delight and fascinated upon seeing the princess and prince standing before them. One of them handed Kion a hand-made crown along with a red royal robe for him to wear, much to his confusion since he didn’t feel it was necessary to be treated as royalty over. Twilight, however, was flustered and sporting pink cheeks that she hid her face with her wings and galloped ahead. It was borderline too much for her at the time, since she clearly wasn’t expecting this kind of treatment beforehand. To her, she felt more unwanted praise being showered on her for something she has yet to earn herself.

“Oh, dear.” Kyoga said with pity for the alicorn just when Kion moves to catch up with them after accepting one of the ponies generous gift to him. “I guess a pony who's here on official princess business has to expect a little fussin'.”

“But all I'm supposed to do is settle disagreements over whether a trade is fair or not.” Twilight counter replied. “And since the rule is that a trade is fair as long as both ponies get what they want, there's never been a disagreement. So there's really no reason for anypony to treat me as anything special.”

“I don’t know.” Kion said. “From the looks of it they’re giving us quite a warm reception.”

His point was made pretty quickly when a white Pegasus filly with a light blue mane approached the alicorn princess. Unable to refuse a greeting when the pony is waggling her tail excitably, Twilight happily returned it. “Hi! Can I help you?” The filly pulled out a picture of the princess highly hoping for an autograph from her.

“How did she…?” Kion whispered.

“I don’t know.” Twilight whispered back before relenting towards the filly’s request with a sigh still unhappy just when another filly, one with a gray coat and a yellow mane similar to Derpy, approached Kion expecting the same signature Twilight’s giving her on a picture of him. Even if he found it slightly disturbing, Kion moved to do the same unable to say no to a cute face like hers.

Once the two fillies got their autographs, they both happily ran off with their autographed pictures in their grasp but not without catching Fuli snickering behind their backs.

“Sorry.” She apologized between giggles. “I couldn’t help it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes in response before moving to set up her table for the trade.

"Anyways..." Rainbow Dash said while floating over and flapping her wings very excited over something. "There's a pony here who's got a signed first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue, and I'm gonna get it! I've been able to get first editions of all of the Daring Do books, except this one! Nopony's ever put together a whole set, and I'm gonna be the first!" Her ears lowered when a sad thought occurred. "If it hasn't been traded yet... It's the only one in all of Equestria!"

"Oh no! I'd really hate to see you disappointed." Fluttershy voiced worry and pulled out a whistle from underneath her wing, with a wooden bear head on the front of it. "I did want to trade this bear call I've got for a bird whistle, but getting that book seems so important to you, so if you need me to help you first…"

"Normally I'd say I don't need any help, but you're right. This is really important. I've gotta get that book!"

“Can I come!” Bunga eagerly asked while jumping up and down.

“And since when are you a fan of books?!” Fuli inquired.

“I’m not. But I do like Daring Do and spending time with Rainbow Dash!”

“Oh, stop…” Rainbow playfully brushed off the flattery before grabbing both Bunga and Fluttershy and flying away in her pursuit of that prized book while the others wave goodbye.

“I think I’m going to go after them to make sure they don’t do anything they’ll regret.” Fuli declared.

“Knowing them, probably for the best.” Kyoga agreed just when the cheetah sprints off after the three. “Good luck!”

“Won’t need it!” She called back while running off ahead and without glancing back.

At the same time Applejack pulled her large brown bag from her wagon before setting off. “Well, I'm off to take a gander at some of the vintage stalls."

"Did you say vintage?" Rarity asked with a perked up smile while placing her saddle bag on her back before quickly galloping after Applejack with a keen interest in joining her and seeing what she too is looking at.

“Count me in!” Ono called after them with Beshte carrying his large boulder along with him.

“And me!”

"Why, old and rare items are so in style right now!" Rarity expressed before looking back at her saddle bag with a slightly worrying look. "I'm hoping to get a vintage item as well. I just hope I brought enough to trade."

"I know what you mean, Rarity." Applejack said knowing where she’s coming from.

“Question is what can we afford with what we have?” Ono wondered while eyeing his bag of books.

“Hmm…” Applejack tapped her chin in thought before thinking. “…maybe if we pool our trade stashes.”

“Huh?”

"Pool?"

Both Ono and Rarity asked curiously.

“Yeah!” Beshte got what she is proposing. “Combine our belongings so that we can all find something that we all like together!”

"That way, if one of us finds somethin' real valuable she or he can’t live without…"

Rarity gasped in realization, "She and he'll definitely be able to get it! Who could say no to exchanging a single object for such a huge assortment of items? Oh, yes! That is absolutely brilliant!"

“Well…” Ono gave it some quick thought. “…as long as we are all happy with it, I’m in.”

"Sounds like a deal to me!” Applejack declared.

Rarity was already liking this proposal. “I'm so glad to have friends like you guys!" She excitably expressed while tilting and leaning her head on Applejack.

"I feel the same way, Rarity." Applejack returned in kind with the same excited expression.

“Okay, okay…” Ono waved his wings around to get in between and separate them. “We have an idea of what to do with our belongings, how about we at least save the lovey-dovey stuff till after this is all over, or at least when I’m not around, okay?!” He then flew off ahead to scan for potential items worth getting. “Geesh! Lovebirds!”

“Well what are we waiting for?” Applejack turned to the unicorn paying no attention to the annoyed egret's comment before running ahead.

"Then let's go shopping!" Rarity declared before following after the others while Beshte tries to keep pace with his heavy-lifting.

With Kion and Kyoga’s help, Twilight organized the books on the table just when Pinkie Pie came by.

"Um, shouldn't your princessness be headed to the royal box seats?" Pinkie Pie asked Twilight, pointing her hoof towards where her designated royal chair is before turning to the lion with the red mane. “You too, Kion?”

Twilight was quick to assert it’s not necessary right now. "I may be the princess on duty, but I don't think that means I have to sit up there all alone doing nothing." Twilight replied as she placed the last book on the table. "Ever since I became a princess, Celestia's been sending me more books to read than ever. The library's overflowing."

“And that’s not even counting the one’s me, Kion, and Ono all have at home.” Kyoga said. “So no better time than now to do some spring cleaning.”

“Exactly!” Twilight agreed. “So I figured while we're here, I might as well trade away some books I don't need anymore."

“Mmm-hmm.” Pinkie nodded before spotting a stand selling tasty food. “Ooh! Cinnamon Buns!” She nearly drooled at the sight before turning back to her alicorn friend. “Come on Twilight! Let’s go!”

“Um…okay…” Twilight reluctantly agreed while finding herself being literally dragged along on over there. “…WHOA!”

“Don’t worry, Twilight.” Kion assured loud enough so she can hear. “We’ll watch over here until you get back!”

“Thanks!”

Meanwhile Rainbow Dash has finally tracked the book she had been looking for. “There it is!” She gasped with joy. “The first edition of Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue! It hasn't been traded yet!" She said while flapping her wings in a very excited manner. After seeing that she still has time, she was quick to make her proposal trade for the book in question with the vendor of the stand.

Said mare had a light yellow coat, a tangerine mane with light streaks on her tail. She was also wearing a safari outfit and hat and had three teddy bears as her cutie mark. The stand was filled with an assortment of adventure themed merchandise, such as safari clothing, old replicas of ancient legendary treasures and even a few hiking supplies.

Rainbow Dash got the mare’s attention as she spoke to the pony herself, "Lucky for you, because I've brought my most valuable possession to trade for it…" Rainbow Dash pulled out a rusty old item and placed it onto the table expecting a locked sale out of it. "My lucky horseshoe!"

The safari pony looked down at the object, before frowning at it. "I don't want it." she bluntly replied while pushing the horeshoe back on the other side of the table much to the rainbow haired Pegasus’s disappointed shock.

"What?!"

"It's just a rusty old horseshoe. That's not worth anything to me."

“Really?” Bunga questioned in a slightly challenging manner trying to wonder what could be more valuable than an aged horseshoe. “Then what would be more valuable enough to get you trade that book to us?”

“Nothing!” The mare stated to which Fuli tried to take the time to whisper to the honey badger warning him against doing something he’ll regret.

“Bunga…!”

“Relax, Fuli, I got this!” He assured before turning back to the mare he was attempting to negotiate with. “So seriously, what’s it going to take for you to trade us that book? Are you sure there’s nothing you want in return?”

“Nothing!” She repeated to which Rainbow sighed and passed out by falling onto her back. “Unless…” Rainbow Dash sat back up upon hearing that with a smile of hope sparked inside of her. "If, you can get me that."

The pony pointed her hoof to another stand nearby, run by a pony with a beard and had a gray colored coat with a red marking on his right eye, wearing chains and belts around his body. He was currently tightening his teeth trying to pull on a chain with his mouth in his efforts to tame said beast. The beast had brown fur and had two barking heads, looking like two different types of dogs. One head resembled a Saint Bernard while the other resembled a generic mutt. The Saint Bernard was taller than the other head, and both heads wore collars head was the tallest out of the two. Both heads wore collars and were snarling and drooling at the mouth. The tallest head broke a bone in two with its jaws.

Bunga, Fuli, and Rainbow Dash were left at a loss for words by the creature as evidenced by their jaw-dropped expressions at the sight of the dangerous creature in front of them.

"Aww, an Orthros! How cute!" Fluttershy remarked being the only one not afraid of the beast itself.

“Cute?!" Fuli turned to her like she is joking when she saw the taller head of the two snap a bone in half while the other head bares its teeth at them. “I’ve seen baboons and hydraxes cuter than that! Even the ones that don’t respect my personal space!”

"The pony running the ancient beasts stall doesn't want anything I've got." The safari pony explained. "But if you can get me the Orthros, I'll trade you the book for it."

Rainbow turned her eyes back on the Daring Do book, and all of her previous worries went away. She was determined to get it no matter what. "You got it!" She confidently stated.

“Are you sure there isn’t something else that’ll suffice?” Fuli attempted to reason with the safari pony still not fond of the idea of having to deal with someone that could tear her apart.

“Sorry lady, but that’s the terms of my offer. No Orthos, no deal!” She then teasingly said. “Unless you’re all too scared…”

“Of course not!” Bunga chimed in with his sense of bravery taking over. “We can get that no problem!”

Just when Rainbow ushers Bunga away from the stand while using his wing to wave goodbye to the safari pony the latter has this question to ask. "So how are we going to get that giant beast-like creature that she wants!”

"I don't know." Rainbow admitted but still wasn’t deterred. "But, somehow, we're gonna get that Orthros."

"Oh, boy." Fuli muttered to herself having a strong feeling that this wouldn’t end well.

Meanwhile, Rarity, Applejack, Ono, and Beshte were all looking around for something that sparked their interest. Yet Beshte was unsure of what any pony would be willing to trade for in exchange for the boulder. Normally, he’d ask for the girls for help but they are both very eager in wanting whatever vintage item that they deeply desire, he didn’t feel it was worth the trouble along with all of their tradable belongings.

“Oh, boy.” Ono remarked from up high while eyeing his bag of books. “If only there was something I could do.” As much as he wanted to get some vintage item out of all of this, he can’t help but feel his conscience is catching up here before flying over to his friend. “Need some help finding something?” He offered.

“Oh no, Ono, I’m fine really. I’m just trying to find something that’ll be able to fix the damage I did to that last pony’s house I accidentally broke in exchange for this huge rock I have.” He tried to insist otherwise.

“I think that can be arranged if you had some help.” Ono said still offering his book stash to compensate whatever the cost is.

“Oh no, Ono, I couldn’t possibly…”

But Ono wasn’t taking no for an answer here. “I insist. No way I’m letting a friend in mine live a life owing debt to somepony.”

“Well, okay…” He replied just when the egret flies over his shoulders.

From afar their two pony friends have heard their conversation. The two then felt sympathetic for their friend’s plight.

"Oh, dear." Rarity said with pity. "He just has no idea whether he’ll be able to get a valuable replacement for the damage he caused."

“He sure doesn’t and doesn’t want to feel like asking me for help feeling it would be me cleaning up his there mess. I mean I really wouldn’t mind helping him out.” He then pondered and then smiled. “Hey, maybe we can!” Rarity raised an eyebrow wondering what she’s thinking. “By pooling our trade stash together, we might be able to find a nice new vintage item to replacement the busted wall back in Ponyville."

Rarity liked the idea. “Ooh! I like the way you think.” But then thought. “But I thought we were going to let Beshte find what he needs on his own?”

“We are!” She replied before bringing her in for a whisper. “But to him we won’t be “helping” him out.”

“Oh, of course!” She now understood. “Who could say no to exchanging a single object for such a huge assortment of items? Oh, yes! That is absolutely brilliant! Let’s go shopping!” She then declared with the two ponies setting out to find the perfect replacement house for Beshte to be able to make it up to the pony who’s home he accidentally backed into.

Elsewhere, Twilight is currently having her lunch while walking through the snack area. A nice drink and a side of fries to go with her burger is fitting for lunch, or brunch since she is also helping herself to a cinnamon bun that Pinkie heavily insisted she try out and it was a good thing she did because it was really great. A warm pastry with warm cinnamon and icing fresh out of the oven is just the right thing needed to start off on a high note.

“See…” Pinkie said to her friend with a wink in an “I told you so manner.”“…I told you that you would love it.”

“Mmm…” Twilight agreed mid-bite. “…no kidding and like you said! This really tastes great!”

“Now you see why I love them so much!” Pinkie stated while hopping around with a tray of pastries on her head. “In fact….” She hands the tray to her alicorn friend. “…take these back to the stand with you so you and Kion can enjoy them together.”

“Oh, Pinkie, you really don’t have to do that…” Twilight tried to raise her hoof against taking the treats.

“I insist!” Pinkie shook her head refusing to take no for an answer. “Especially since you two will eventually have prince and princess duties to look forward to.”

“True…” She acknowledged. “…another task, another punishment.” She sighed obviously looking not thrilled of doing it.

Pinkie hopped over to her side after seeing this. “What’s the matter, Twilight! You’re not worried that more ponies are going to continue with the fussing are you?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s just…” She hesitated. “…I honestly don’t deserve any of this. I mean back in Ponyville, I expected to be welcomed with scorn and fear that would make me just wishing to just get through another day of fulfilling my punishment for my sins as Midnight Sparkle. But here, I being showered with praise near and far like I’m a hero that’s done something to actually deserve it.”

“Oooohhh…that…” Pinkie understood what her friend is talking about. “…well that’s probably because they felt really bad for you.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight failed to see how.

“I mean sure you were evil and have reason to be upset with your little Midnight Sparkle stunt and all, but they also had heard of how Scar betrayed you and casted you aside like you meant nothing to him.” Pinkie explained to which had the alicorn’s ears drooping in response. “So they thought instead of treating you like they hate you, they should try to throw her a warm welcome to help cheer her up.” Twilight’s ears perked up slightly. “Of course, I called them ahead to help them set things up for your arrival so they would have time to prepare to welcome you with the openest arms in Equestria.” She added to which had left the alicorn speechless by this gesture.

“Did you say openest?” Twilight asked after recovering from her brief moment of being stunned yet confused. “Because that’s not even a word.”

“Really?” Pinkie replied equally confused herself before randomly pulling out a dictionary Twilight had with her. “Huh? Oh well. Anyways Twilight…” She continued. "...they’re all just trying to help cheer you up like I would any day.” She then wrapped a hoof around the princess and showed her to the many faces giving her encouraging smiles. “Just look around, they are giving you big smiles because they know that you are not evil. They see you are a pony who is destined for greatness and that’s why you are still a princess in their books.”

Just then a random Pegasus filly came walking over to Twilight with a plush Twilight doll and an especially hand-crafted crown for her to wear today. Twilight was touched to see that she is gesturing to the book in her hand and had a quill pen hoping that she’ll trade her the dictionary in exchange for the crown she made her and sign her plush Twilight toy. Twilight gave the filly a genuine smile before signing the plush toy and handed her the book itself. In return the filly placed gently used her little hooves to place the crown on her head while moving to hug her around the neck to which Twilight returned by wrapping her hoof around her back in response while letting loose a few happy tears in the process.

And just like that Pinkie along with a filly for greatly believing in her both made her morning and gave her the encouragement needed to feel more comfortable when the ponies all started aweing and murmuring praise around her with the former seeing this as another job well done.

Meanwhile, Beshte is taking a look at some of the vintage stalls and is so far finding nothing that a large boulder will cover an interesting replacement. Even Ono’s keen sight without Rarity and Applejack’s searching around in their own hunt to secretly help out the Lion Guard’s Strongest with the solution.

After some searching around Rarity galloped towards her farm girl friend with some good news to share. "Oh, Applejack, I am so glad I found you."

"Me too!” Applejack expressed. “You're not gonna believe it!"

The two friends then spoke at the exact same time. "I found the absolutely perfect vintage item for Beshte, and all it's gonna cost is all our stuff!" The two ponies both widen their eyes in shock afer realizing what they both just said together. "Uh-oh."

"So, where is this absolutely perfect gift you want to trade everything we have for?" Rarity asked expecting a good answer out of it. Applejack led the unicorn to a nearby stand, where one item the country pony set her sights on. A nice refurbished wooden house with the pieces required to put it together easy to disassemble and reassemble with careful care and without nailing and cementing everything down.

"There!" Applejack pointed to said house with her hoof.

"Where?" Rarity asked still not having her eyes locked on to what her friend is talking about.

"Right there!" Applejack got her friend to see what she is looking at to which Rarity looked on pretty puzzled.

"But…that's an old wooden house."

"An old vintage wooden house!" Applejack corrected. "This here house is made of wood that’ll keep the ponies it’s housed in five degrees warmer than any normal house in Ponyville. They don't make em like they used to."

"I'm so glad you showed that to me, darling…" Rarity replied while levitating the toy back on the table leaving her friend surprised by the gesture finding it slightly off putting. "...because once you see what I've found, you won't want to waste our trade goods on that." Rarity said while leading Applejack to another stand nearby and showcased what she had found.

Like Applejack’s house proposal, it was a house made out of crystal with diamonds decorated on it. It was beautiful, elegant, and gorgeous fit for a very wealthy pony seeking a house of stylish perfection.

"Just look at this gorgeous vintage house! It’s one of a kind and made of very rich and endurable material and much more that than rustic old house over there."

Applejack examined the house and then glared at Rarity, as if the house has some familiar elements even though it was in better condition. “It looks exactly like the one you helped make when we were in Ponyville right down to the same fire ruby jewel Spike gave you on his birthday. Coming from the same house you helped construct when we were visiting the Crystal Empire for that Princess Summit."

“Correction, dear Applejack…” Rarity raised a hoof before pulling out her fire red ruby from her saddlebag. “…this is the one Spike gave me.” Applejack raised an eyebrow at her. “They may look the same, but I know that this is the one Spike gave me, and that’s what makes it so much more divine. That way said pony will now be living a more luxurious life under steel hard crystal."

“But wouldn’t it be more practical for a pony to be living in a home that’s more modest and fitting for a pony living a more simple life? Heck, if I switched those two rubies up, you wouldn't even know the difference!"

"Oh, don't be silly, of course I would." She interjected.

Applejack looked on unconvinced before moving back to their main issue. “Point being there ain’t no way we’re trading all of our stash on a house that’ll make a pony uncomfortable. Besides crystal material would make that poor pony an easy target of thieves just wanting to loot that home free of all of its valuables.”

“I'd say it's at least far more comfortable than that old bark of wood that is highly flammable.” Rarity retorted.

"It's not old, it's old-fashioned! Not to mention less likely to be vulnerable to thieves. Also crystal is flammable too, because it’ll melt in that there fire." Applejack argued back.

"But crystal will last longer than wood."

“Correction, Rarity. And wood happens to hold ponies inside five degrees warmer.”

The two ponies growled angrily at one another while getting into each other's faces. They both wanted to get Beshte house material that’ll settle his debt to society. Applejack's choice was rustic and more fitting in Ponyville, while Rarity's was made out of finer housing material and made of durable metal. Even when their friendship has improves since Twilight’s first sleepover, they still couldn't agree on everything.

Elsewhere, the Orthros was able to break apart the chain with their two mouths, while still tied up. Rainbow Dash, Fuli, and Bunga all gulped as they approached the beast. Even though Bunga himself is the bravest of the bunch, he was still pretty petrified of the idea of messing around with what they are about to face.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, was the only one who remained calm about it before approaching it. Even when it barked, ferociously at her, she didn’t flinch. She placed her hoof underneath the chin of the Saint Bernard, with both heads now feeling relaxed when Fluttershy rubbed underneath their chins. The former head was scratching the back of his fur while the other head had his tongue sticking out.

All while her friends watched very amazed with her. "Yes, such a good two-headed boy. Yes, you are!" She cooed when the creature waggled his tail.

“Once again she continues to impress me.” Fuli commented.

"No kidding.” Bunga agreed just when its current owner approached them.

"Okay, I can see you're busy, so I'll give it to you straight." Rainbow began as she pulled out her horseshoe with the high hopes he’ll hand it to them. "I need to trade this horseshoe for…that." she said, pointing to the Orthros.

"Nope." He answered with a shake of his head.

“Okay…” Fuli calmly said still trying to offer up room for negotiations. “…and what may I ask might it take for you to consider otherwise?”

“Well…Hey! Hey!” He began just when he noticed the Orthros snapping it’s jaws and chewing and shaking a tall lamp with both mouths. “Watch out for the lamp!" But the command came a little too late since the lamp that was attached to the pole flew and then broke and shattered when it hit the ground. "Well, I could use another lamp."

“Of course!” Bunga eagerly replied. “Just give us a few minutes, and we’ll be back with a new lamp even better than the old one.”

“Highly doubt it.” Fuli sarcastically quipped under her breath which did not go unheard by the honey badger standing next to her.

“Oh, relax, Fuli…” He waved it off. “…Surely there’s another lamp out there that can fit the bill.”

“Oh, yeah, like the lamps over there?”Fuli blankly gestured to a nearby lamp stand up ahead.

Said stall where they sold lamps…well…all greatly resembled the spirit of chaos himself.

“Whoa!” Bunga said very surprised to see that’s a thing now. “Guess Discord’s got a hot item right now.”

"Seriously?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed upon seeing them.

"They really do have everything at the Traders Exchange." Fluttershy commented.

Both Bunga and Rainbow both approached the pony running the stand. Said pony was a brown coated Pegasus pony with a black mane and tail with purple streaks and matching colored eyes, along with a sun-shaped cutie markh a cutie mark of a sun symbol, consisting of a pink circle surrounded by either triangles; four large, purple ones, and four small, light pink ones. His back were were on walking wheels, since he couldn't walk on them. The young airbender immediately got his attention.

"Can you trade a lamp for my friend's horseshoe so we can trade it for an Orthros and get a book?" The honey badger asked on behalf of his friend.

"No." He shook his head, making Bunga groan in an exaseperated manner while Rainbow dropped her jaw in response. "But I'd trade it for an antique chicken." He then offered.

“Okay…” Fuli said just going along with it before asking. “And where can we find this antique chicken you’re looking for?"

"Oh, I got all kinds of antique chicken statues." the owner of the antique chicken stall said to the group. "I got your blue hens, speckled grays, your-"

"Okay, cool!" Rainbow interrupted, having just about enough hearing it. "So will you trade one for a horseshoe so I can trade it for a lamp and then trade it for an Orthros so I can get my book?"

The tall pony with glasses pondered. "Well, lemme think... Uh, no."

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Bunga, and Fuli all groaned in disappointment. "Aww…"

"But I'd gladly trade one of my chickens for a crystal chalice." He offered.

Both Rainbow Dash and Bunga quickly made their way towards the crystal chalice stall, owned by a mare with bright blue eyes, pale yellow coat and light blue hair with white streaks. Fluttershy landed beside them a few moments latter alongside Fuli both as calm as the next pony in line.

Bunga placed his claws on his knees, trying to catch his breath, while Rainbow Dash spoke. "Hang on a sec." She took a deep breath before speaking, "We need a crystal chalice to trade for a chicken to trade for a lamp to trade for an Orthros. So what are you willing to trade for it?"

“Let me guess, something out of the ordinary?” Fuli asked seeing that there is always an unexpected catch to the deals here at this trade.

“Is there anything you’d be willing to trade for it?” Bunga asked like he doesn’t know what it’ll take to get this ongoing chain of deals to end.

"Actually, I could use a slightly rusty old horseshoe." the owner replied.

"Yeah, like where am I gonna find…” Rainbow remarked just when she realized. “…wait, I've got one of those!" Rainbow Dash pulled out the horseshoe and gave it to the pony, who in turn gave her the chalice.

“How about that?” Fuli said while nodding. “For once somepony’s willing to trade for it.”

“All right!” Bunga cheered as he leaped onto the table. “Now that’s what I’m talking about and now that we've got the chalice, this will be smooth sailing from here on in.”

"Do you really think so?" Fluttershy asked while Fuli looked on uneasy with Bunga being so close to the chalice.

"Of course!” Bunga was absolutely sure. “All we gotta do is bring this thing to the chicken stand and we are–" But the moment Bunga touched the crystal chalice…it began to fracture and broke into a million pieces right before their eyes. “Oops.” He meekly said after seeing what he just did.

“Well done Bunga…as always.” Fuli said while sitting down and then face-palmed herself with her front paws while both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy screamed in horror.

Back at the book stand, Twilight had just arrived back at the stand after having eaten. One of the generous vendors handed her a half dozen cinnamon buns as thanks for being here to oversee the whole Exchange. Even though she really wouldn’t have mind just enjoying and paying for her meal all together, that vendor wasn’t going to take no for an answer and she couldn’t break his heart in refusing his offer.

“Okay, now that that’s settled, I’m ready to get back to business.” Twilight said while carrying the piping hot treats in one of her front hooves. “Anything happen while I was gone.”

"Not much.”

“It was like nothing ever happened when your back was turned.”

“Okay.” Twilight accepted even though it would have been nice to be able to get some books traded out of all of that. Luck would have it a little gray-coated Pegasus filly came over to the stall with a broken quill in her mouth, made out of a red feather gesturing to all of the books she has at her stand. "You want me to trade all my books for a broken pen?" Twilight asked finding it surprising. The filly nodded her head in repsonse. Twilight, Kion, and Kyoga all exchanged looks for a second before looking on ready to accept that deal. They already more than enough books, the library really needs the free space, plus the library is on the verge of overflowing

“A bit dingy, but not a little strong glue won’t fix.” Kyoga said as she examined the broken quill pen.

“Very well…” Kion then said just when Twilight moved to accept her offering. "You got yourself a–"

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Pinkie Pie quickly arrived, coming in between them.

"I was trying to get rid of all the books I don't need anymore." Twilight answered like the mare is seeing this as a big deal.

Pinkie Pie looked at the broken pin in the filly's mouth. "For that? Do you reaaaaally want that?"

"Well, not really, but I'm running out of library space, so–" Twilight tried to explain that she really doesn’t care for anything she’s traded in return.

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed while jumping around frantically before clinging onto Kion’s body. "I can't believe that almost happened! But luckily, it didn't happen, thanks to me."

"What are you talking about?" Kion asked as he gently got the pony off of him.

“Everything was running just fine until you showed up.” Kyoga dryly remarked just when the pink pony pulled out a long scroll from above that underlined all the rules of the Exchange. “And where did you get that?” She expressed now looking baffled as she looks up to where that scroll came from.

"According to the rules of the Exchange, a trade is only fair if both ponies end up with something they want." She stated before senting the scroll back up, making it disappear just when Kyoga tilted her head upwards still trying to understand and make sense of the logic of what Pinkie just did. Twilight rolled her eyes in response to Pinkie’s rule statement just when she found her cheeks clapped together by the pony herself. "You can't break the rules!" She rushed off just when Twilight rubbed her cheek, trying to understand why she is making a big fuss over something so little.

"Did anypony see you do it? I don't think anypony saw!" Pinkie's eyes landed on the filly, who smiled and raised her hoof up in response. Pinkie gained up on the poor child, their noses touching. "But you're not gonna say anything, are you?!" Pinkie asked in an intimidating tone, which made the filly reel back in fear until the older pony started laughing. Switching from happy to angry in a matter of seconds. "Haha, I'm just kidding! Or am I?! Sometimes I can't even tell!"

“Pinkie!” Kion scolded while getting in between the two before turning back to the frightened filly while handing her a book while accepting her quill pen. “Here you go. You deserve at least one book out this.” He said with a smile.

“And we deeply apologize for Pinkie’s behavior.” Kyoga finished while smiling and handing her one of the cinnamon buns that Twilight had received from earlier today. The filly smiled in delight before munching on the pastry before walking away while starting to read her new book.

"Y'know, if you want to go check out the rest of the Exchange and trade whatever you brought…" Kion tried to say to her to try to get her to move along...

But Pinkie wasn’t about to let them be for now. "Nope, I just came to pony-watch! I'm not going anywhere. I won't let you make a mistake like that again!" Pinkie Pie zipped away and back, now sporting a carnie hat and bow tie, along with a fake mustache and a wooden podium, that had a hand-drawn image of Twilight on it. When Pinkie started speaking carnie style, a crowd of ponies were already attracted.

"Hey, everypony, step right up! Do not walk! Gallop over here for your chance to trade for authentic, one-of-a-kind, official princess merchandise!"

Twilight groaned as Kion and Kyoga both looked on in pity for the alicorn. Aall she just wants to do is just be able to clear some space in her library, but thanks to Pinkie Pie taking control, it seems it might not happen anymore.

Back at the chalice stand with very gentle hooves, Rainbow placed the last piece of the crystal chalice together. The group had their hair, fur, and wings all covered in tape and glue in their efforts to fix it. The lines of the cracks were still visible, with traces of glue still visible along with tape like it was a minimal effort in fixing it.

"Well, that took forever." Rainbow Dash commented feeling exhausted now.

"I just hope it looks okay." Fluttershy hopefully voiced.

“Well…” Bunga moved to pick up the chalice only to be stopped when Fuli placed a paw on his chest and sternly looked at him in the eyes while shaking her head to get him to refrain from doing so.

“I think I’ll handle it from here.” Fuli assertively stated before gently carrying it with her tail. “You’ve done enough for one day.”

She moved to carry it all the way back to the antique chicken stall, and placed it in front of the pony, who was currently polishing the statues. The group of four friends all anxiously looked on while the pony examines the chalice.

"This is perfect!" The pony said with an eager smile…right before he smashed the already pieced back together chalice with a hammer, much to the shock of the others.

“Seriously?” Fuli expressed with mild annoyance like she is going to snap. “We just worked her fur and tails off just to fix that and you’re still saying that’s perfect?!”

"Exactly! Perfect for the broken chalice mosaic I'm making!" The pony explained while gesturing them towards a painting of a mosaic of a chicken laying on a sofa, modeling.

“Whaaaaatttt……?” Bunga expressed very confused while tilting his head to the side.

As much as Fuli was clearly annoyed and agitated that all of that repair work was rendered unnecessary, she managed to just take some deep breaths in just like Cadance taught to Twilight before focusing on the big picture. Mainly, the antique chicken the pony has in store, so with that said and done the trade is complete and fair.

"Alright, so what kind of antique chicken do you want? I got speckled, brown, gray…"

"Oh no!” Rainbow realized with worry. “The pony we're supposed to trade the chicken statue to didn't tell us what kind he wanted!"

"It’s okay.” Fuli calmly reassured and gestured her to fly ahead to find . “Just fly back there and find out what he’s looking for.”

“Yeah! We’ll make sure no chicken get’s traded!” Bunga proudly declared before immediately giving one pony approaching the stand the stink-eye. “What are you looking at?!” The frightened pony quickly ran away feeling intimidated by the honey badger. “Yeah, that’s right!” He stated while pounding his fists together. “Nobody but nobody get’s past the Lion Guard’s Bravest!”

“Oh, boy.” Fuli muttered to herself while Fluttershy watched in concern as they waited for Rainbow Dash.

Back with Beshte and Ono, the former kept looking at housing material and houses and is still unsure of what he can do with what he has.

“So…” Ono spoke expecting an answer. “…anything affordable?”

“Uh, well…not really…” He answered while looking at areas where there’s plenty of valuable wood, bricks, stone, and crystal. “…I mean they have what I need, but I honestly don’t think this is going to cover it.”

“But of course it will!” Ono attempted to reason with his indecisive friend before admitting. “At least for one item.”

“I know.” Beshte said feeling guilty at his sole tradable item. “I just wish I had more to get a house.”

“Well we know these books can get some cement or nails, or other tools needed for whatever you need for said material you’d like to work with.” Ono brought up while eyeing his bag of goods. “But I’m afraid I can only help out with one with the proper item to work with.”

“Right.” Now Beshte is still unsure of what get. Wood and nails. Bricks and cement. Crystal and a welder. There were just so many choices he has for a pony he hardy knows and little way of knowing how he would feel the most comfortable in. If only if he wasn’t too ashamed to ask when he accidentally backed into it.

His friend however was there when it happened and from memory he remembered he had a brick house with cement plastered on every brick. And judging from the frustrated pony’s angry rant to Beshte he felt that the pony was already having it tough and would probably feel better if he had a new house sooner than later. So he decided it would be best to go back and ask for more books from Twilight’s stand so he can help him out some more.

“Surely Twilight wouldn’t mind since she really needs more space in her library.” He thought to himself before flying off. “Well keep thinking and I’ll be back.” He said to his friends before flying in the direction of the princess’s stand. But while on his way over he came across both Applejack and Rarity both crossing their arms and sitting away from each other and their tradeable goods and their ensuing argument got his attention.

"Since we can't get both, I will gladly allow you to make the trade to get Beshte the house you want. The old wooden one." She offered while pushing their belongings towards her.

"I don’t think so!" Applejack refused while pushing their stuff back towards Rarity, "You wanted to get him a house too so therefore you should be the one getting the house you think is best for the homeless pony."

“Please I insist.” Rarity returned in a passive aggressive tone. “I’d rather be the better friend here that not be one at all.”

"I'm an amazin' friend!" Applejack retorted. "And even if it’s something that has potential in melting away, you take our stash and so you can get Beshte the house."

"How dare you be so giving one. What kind of friend do you think I am? You are going to be the giving one!"

"No, you are!"

"No, you are!"

Back and forth, the two ponies constantly pushed the two stashes with their hooves as Ono watched from the skies.

“Oh, boy.” Ono rolled his eyes watching this. It was like Fuli said about their first sleepover all over again expect this time it was dealing with trying to get their friend a better gift to relieve him of the burden of making the house from scratch. Then a light bulb turned on in his head when he got an idea…

…an actual light bulb appeared from over his head courtesy of Derpy shining it over his head before flying away after seeing it work wonders when screwed into his new lamp.

"Hello!" Rainbow Dash cried out to the vendor, tapping her hoof impatiently while placing the requested statue on the table ready to trade. "We got the kind of chicken you asked for! Hello? Where's the pony running this joint?"

“On break." Fuli answered after noticing a nearby sign hanging off one of the polls holding the tent up.

"What?!" Rainbow Dash groaned before leading her group of friends on over to find the pony in question. No way, she was going to let more and more obstacles get in her of getting that book.

Back with Twilight, Kion, and Kyoga, Pinkie Pie had turned the alicorn’s stall into a auction session, with ponies all around eager to get their hooves on one of the princess's books.

“One would think that a simple trade session should be easy…” Kyoga began while they watch Pinkie draw a crowd.

“…but it’s not.” Twilight finished looking on unimpressed and uneasy with Pinkie feeling this is all absolutely necessary. “But what can you do?”

"These books made Twilight the princess she is. Before that, she was nothing – a big, fat zero!" Pinkie announced to everyone.

"Hey!" Twilight exclaimed feeling insulted by that remark.

"Then she read these books, and voila! Princess!" Pinkie continued as she removed her carnie hat, to reveal a golden crown underneath.

“Pretty sure you got your facts mixed up, Pinkie.” Kyoga commented.

“Nope.” She shook her head insisting otherwise. “It’s more like telling the ponies of why they should get them.” She then turned back to the crowd. “So who wants to start the bidding?"

The entire crowd of ponies all began calling out while offering their trading goods for the pony running the stand all while shouting out. "Me! Me! Me!"

Twilight however, didn’t want any of this before moving to walk up to the podium, raising her hoof towards to the crowd. "Uh, just a moment, please!" She said before pulling her friend aside. "Pinkie, I appreciate your help and all, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this. Nopony should trade for my books just because I'm a princess. I'm not better than anypony else!"

The crowd all stopped talking when they heard her say that. Even though Twilight is not the pony who’s all about expecting praise near and far, high on a pedestal, the ponies were only more interested in what Pinkie tells them in the name of advertising and commercialism.

Her words were enough to silence the crowd to which Pinkie turned to speak with the princess in a hushed tone into the princess's ear. "I know you're not better than everypony! Just leave this to me!" she shoved Twilight aside and went back to the bidding. "Did I mention that Princess Twilight got these books from Princess Celestia?"

"Whoa, wait, you don't mean–" A crystal pony eagerly asked.

"Oh, that's right! Double princess!" Pinkie Pie stated while placing on another crown on that resembled Celestia's right above the one she was already wearing. The crowd cheered and resumed their equally excited bidding as a result to which Twilight face and hoof palmed herself in response to all of this.

Kion moved to groan and mutter “Hevi Kabisa.” while Kyoga just slumped to the ground while burying her left front pow in her face at the pink pony’s antics.

“Good grief, it’s Flim and Flam all over again, only this time it’s a party pony advertising and running the show.”

“At least we know that it’s not run by a con-pony.” Kion commented back.

“True, true…” The lioness acknowledged. “…but still…”

“I know. I know.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed on the ground, just when Fuli arrived on the scene with her super speed with Bunga in tow. The cheetah took the time to clutch her stomach when it growled. "I don’t know what’s worse, running from a crazy crowd of ponies over tickets to a gala or running around all over this place for a never-ending string of deals?” She commented to the honey badger stepping off of her back.

“I’d say dealing with hunger!” Bunga stated with his stomach growling too. “And boy could I go for something to eat right now!”

But it looks like, it’ll have to wait since Rainbow has her eyes locked on trying to find the wheelchair bound pony.

"No time!" Rainbow exclaimed, her eyes still looking around for the wheelchair bound Pegasus pony until she finally saw him in the line, waiting to buy some food from the stand.

"There he is!" Rainbow stated while pointing in his direction before rushing off ahead to meet with him so he can try to resume negotiations with him. "Look, I know it's your break and all, but you've gotta open your stand so we can trade you for a lamp!"

The pony’s stomach rumbled. "Sorry, guys. Been trading all day. My belly's tellin' me it's time to eat an oatburger."

"Oh come on, please?"

"Pretty pretty please?" Fluttershy joined in on the pleading.

“Come on!” Bunga added with a friendly nudge before joining in on the same puppy-dog eyed pouting, complete with quivering lips and buttoned up eyes.

"Sorry, belly says 'no'." the pony still standing by his decision.

"But the Exchange ends at sundown!" Rainbow reminded him, pointing towards the sun that is starting to set.

"No!"

Seeing that he won’t open up until he’s gotten his food, she decided it was time to speed up the process after eyeing the long line of ponies at the stand waiting for their food in order to ensure that she can get what she wants in time.

"I've got an idea." Rainbow Dash said before leading the group away once again.

“I’m guessing this involves speedy service?” Fuli figured after seeing the long line of customers in front of them.

“Yep!” She replied without second thought before being the first to rush after her into the kitchen after catching onto her plan.

Once inside, Rainbow handed Fluttershy a spatula, Bunga the frying pan, and Fuli the buns, so they can help pick the pace up.

While surprised to see this, it turned into delight after seeing how much help they proved to be when more freshly made bags of oatburgers were efficiently produced in the process, especially when more ponies got to walk away with food they can enjoy.

"Next!" Rainbow called out to each and every pony in line while tossing Fluttershy more oatburger patties, which she cooked with the spatula, while Bunga helped cooked another batch. Once the patties were done cooking they both tossed the patties over to Rainbow and Fuli, who both took caught them when they landed on the buns, followed by it’s toppings before tossing them into the bags, which went into every customer’s hooves and then mouths, with every pony all smiling in delight upon receiving their food.

With the meal business taken care of, the four were finally able to give the Pegasus his chicken, then the Discord lamp to the owner of the Orthos, who smiled already liking his new lamp, allowing them to have the two-headed creature.

During the process, both Bunga and Fuli managed to get themselves oatburgers. Normally, Fuli wouldn’t consider the idea of eating food meant for ponies alone, but because they were both nearly starved to death out of all of this exchanging chaos throughout the day, she didn’t mind.

“Mmm, these are pretty good, wouldn’t you say so, Fuli?” Bunga said.

“Eh, food is food.” Fuli shrugged personally wishing that it remains unspoken. “Just try not to talk about, okay?”

“We're home free!" Rainbow Dash was declared just when getting pushed to the ground by the orthros, who slobbered all over her, drenching her mane and coat in drool. "As long as this thing doesn't drown us in slobber."

"Oh, he's just an affectionate little two-headed fellow. Aren't you, little boy?" Fluttershy said with affectionate and scratched the chins of the lovable two-headed creature.

“Uh-huh.” Fuli said still weary of the creature even when warm and friendly to her and the others. “Ugh!” She groaned when heavily licked by the creature.

Back with the two ponies at the vintage area stalls.

"No, I insist. You get him the house, 'cause that's the kind of tried and true friend I am." Applejack told her friend while pushing the stash back at her.

"Well! I am way too generous to let you out-friend me like that!” Rarity fired back just when Ono came flying by.

“Girls!”

“Ono?!”

“What are you doing?!"

"Trying to find Beshte the right house so he doesn't have to continue walking and worrying about it anymore."

"You are?!”

They all said speaking over each other’s mouths when speaking together.

“Okay, wait!” Ono quickly interrupted before this could continue. “Before anything else, I have an idea that might be able to solve all of our problems.”

“How?” Both the earth pony and unicorn asked in unison again. “Oops.” They giggled when they realized this.

“Oh, aren’t you two so cute when you’re together.” Ono teased to which had both ponies cheeks turning red in response to his snarky comment before listening into Ono’s idea to settle the matter once and for all.

Elsewhere, the group leading the orthros through the crowd, found themselves dealing with a tight time-framed situation. The safari pony is already packing her things and on the opposite side of the area of where they are all standing.

"We gotta hurry!" Rainbow urgently said as she tried to lead everyone through the crows, but with many ponies ready to head out, there was tough traffic to get by, making it impossible for them to navigate through it. Unable to fly ahead without the orthros required for said deal to happen, she now had to think of another way to get by this crowd. "We're never gonna get to the Daring Do stand through this crowd in time!" She face-hoofed herself upon seeing that the deal is now on the verge of making everything they went through all for nothing.

Fluttershy herself didn’t know what to do, but was still not about to see her friend have disappointment written all over her. After some quick thinking, she remembered the bear call whistle she had brought to trade. When she blew into it, it created the sound of a ferocious bear. Suddenly spooked, the ponies all hurried to duck for cover, including the safari pony hiding behind her stand.

Now that the path was clear, Rainbow Dash once again led the way over there while pulling it on the leash. But while doing so, Fluttershy dropped her bear call whistle, and was unable to retrieve it due to her hoof being tied to the end the leash in order to ensure the beast was tame.

"My bear call!" Fluttershy cried after it.

“We gotta go!" Rainbow said, not paying attention to what happened as she pulled the beast on over to the stand with Bunga’s help.

“Hang on!” Fuli replied with her eyes on the whistle. “Huwezi!”

“What?”

“Fuli?”

The two pulling the Orthoros up front expressed very confused before spotting the cheetah suddenly pull up right beside Fluttershy with her briefly lost whistle.

“Here you go!”

“Oh, goodness! Thanks!” Fluttershy said after looking on very surprised that she actually managed to retrieve it and so quickly to the point she was back in a blink of an eye. “Though you didn’t really have to do that. It was just a bear call. There's nothing I could have traded it for that's more valuable to me than Rainbow's happiness."

“It’s all right!” She shrugged it off with a proud smile for pulling it off. “Definitely worth it for a friend!”

“Aww.” Fluttershy was touched by this kind gesture.

“Aww…” Bunga repeated and gushed albeit somewhat mockingly before quickly turning his head back when Fuli caught him in the act and glared at him for it. “…Ehh…hee…hee…”

By then, Rainbow had finally managed to get the orthros in front of the stall. "Okay, the Exchange is almost over, but we did it. We traded a crystal chalice for an antique chicken…"

"And the chicken for a lamp…" Fluttershy added.

"And the lamp for an Orthros, just like you asked." Bunga finished just when he found himself licked by both heads. “Oh, stop it!” He playfully said to them.

"So there you go! Now where's my book?" Rainbow asked, now feeling that everything should be settled now.

At least until the mare who was visibly astonished that they actually did all of that. "Yeah, you know, the thing is... I don't really want an Orthros anymore." She said.

Rainbow's wings stopped flapping, yet her smile remained though frozen in shock. Bunga was jaw dropped and Fuli was left at a mix between being just shocked and mildly annoyed and agitated by that statement.

“What….?” Fuli said with a low growl just when Rainbow Dash groaned and fainted just after snapping out of her frozen shock. The orthro’s slobber was quick to wake her up. “…and you just decide now you don’t want it…” She calmly yet furiously spoke. “…after we went through all of that trade business…just to get you that BUCKING thing?!” She shouted the last two words while her face turned red with anger like she is about to burst into flames. Bunga frightened for once by his cheetah friend quickly moved backwards not wanting to get in the middle of this while Rainbow, Fluttershy, and the Orthros were all speechless by her outburst with the latter covering his eyes and whimpering in fear while dropping to the ground.

"Why…yes….” The safari pony said after regaining her composure to assert her decision on the matter. “…I've been watching that thing over at the ancient beast booth! It's crazy! I don't want one in my house!"

The Orthros didn’t take too kindly at that remark but put herself at ease when Fluttershy rubbed his chin to calm him down. "There, there, that's a good Orthros.” She kindly said to the now tame pet before turning back to the vendor. “You just have to know how to train them. With a little patient training and a big slobber mop, they can be a wonderful household pet."

The orthros proved the pony’s point by approaching the pony, who reeled back in still uneasy and feeling she’ll be attacked, but instead found herself licked by the two heads like a happy tame puppy. Upon seeing this display of affection had her previous fears fading away when she started to laugh from the ticklish licks. "Ha, ha, ha! All right, all right. I'll trade you."

"Yes!" Rainbow exclaimed now drooling just like the orthros when the safari pony pulled out her Daring Do book.

“And all it took was a little puppy dog affection from an actual dog.” Fuli whispered to Bunga who smiled eagerly as much as Rainbow Dash panting and drooling like them. “Bunga…”

“Yeah, Fuli!” He asked oblivious to the disgusted and deadpan expression from his friend.

“You can stop now.”

“Ookey-dookey!”

But the safari pony had a catch to the deal. "If she comes and stays with us in Manehattan until it's trained!" She said while pointing her hoof towards Fluttershy.

“What?!” Both Fuli and Bunga exclaimed in shock while Fluttershy was just stunned.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady!” Bunga quickly approached the pony while waving his arms. “Surely there’s gotta be another way because there’s no way she’s leaving us.”

“Can you think of another pony who can train an orthros?” The pony questioned while still eying the pony getting the most affection from the creature licking her yet still stunned to budge at the moment.

"Gosh, training an Orthros takes a long time. I'll probably be gone from Ponyville for... I don't even know how many moons!" Fluttershy expressed her concerns before turning to Rainbow Dash, the mare she spent the whole exchange with trying her hardest to help her get that book. To her one little word is all it takes to decide whether or not the whole string of events was all worth it or all for nothing and deep down she can’t bear to see her childhood friend unhappy in the end.

Before she could give her answer, Fuli quickly grabbed her on the shoulders in an effort to get her understand what this means for her. “Fluttershy, listen to me when I tell you that you are in no obligation to agree to this.” She then turns to Rainbow Dash still mind-drawn on the book she’s obsessed about. “Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash?! Seriously?!”

"I really don’t mind, Fuli. Really." Fluttershy insisted otherwise to which had even Bunga react in shock to that statement. "If it means Rainbow Dash is happy and gets what she wants then I’m happy."

"Fluttershy..."

"So we got a fair deal?" The safari pony asked like this is now or never for the deal to happen all while Bunga is waving his arms practically begging Rainbow Dash not to go through with it.

“No! No!” He pleaded on deaf ears.

"Of course it's a deal!" Rainbow Dash accepted and snatched the book without second thought much to Fuli’s jaw dropping horror while Bunga literally passes out in shock as she flew up into the air, laughing and flying fast to the point she left a rainbow trail behind while doing so. "Yeah-eah, whoo! I did it, I did it! Fluttershy, can you believe it?" She then sees Bunga has passed out. “Bunga?” She turns to Fuli. “Did he eat more of those knock out slugs again?”

“No he didn’t…” Fuli answered with a piercing glare while gesturing to the safari pony and Fluttershy leading the Orthros away. “…but if you take a fly up and see her, you’ll find out why.”

Rainbow was momentarily confused as she flew up, until she saw her walking alongside the mare due to the deal she made without thinking. It was there her confusion turned into saddened shame when she realized what she had just done.

"Oh, no! What did I do?!" Rainbow asked herself as she held the book close. Only now does she realize that some deals weren’t worth pursuing, especially since it meant she had just traded a friend away without even thinking of the consequences.

“Easy. You traded her away." Fuli remarked bluntly and harshly to show her clear disappointment towards the rainbow-maned Pegasus for her implusive decision.

"You traitor! How could you?!” Bunga yelled while standing up on his feet before placing his paws into his eyes to cry.

“Oooh….” Rainbow groaned at herself for making such a huge mistake without even thinking about it in her obsession over obtaining the book she spent the whole day desiring.

"Who's got something valuable enough to trade for Princess Twilight's princess books that she got from Princess Celestia? Did I say "princess"?" Pinkie Pie addressed the crowd still resuming her auction that she has set up. Yet through all of her efforts to sell them, it failed to sell one book in the process. Mainly, because of her approach made getting ponies to purchase them impossible.

"Over here, over here!" One unicorn called out while levitating a large ruby with his horn.

"Oh, come on!” Pinkie shook her head refusing it. “These are the books the princess would sit up with all night, with nothing to read by but the light of her own horn!" She said while briefly leaping onto the unamused alicorn. One pony rose up a green pony toy in an attempt to offer something to Pinkie’s liking. "Ooh, now that looks fun– but not fun enough! These are the books that made Twilight the princess she is!"

Twilight rolled her eyes in response while taking the time to along with both Kion and Kyoga had now took the time to read some of the books while Pinkie talks and runs her mouth like a salespony. During which they ended up coming across some pretty interesting stories while reading.

"So who's got what it takes to trade for them?" Pinkie Pie asked everyone, even though she had previously rejected every pony’s offering beforehoof.

"Well, when you put it like that…" One pony said before seeing that this is going nowhere before everypony decides to take their leave away from the stand.

"Wait, stop, come back! Uh, these books aren't that great…" She desperately pleaded with slight giggles even though none of them would hear her out anymore.

"Oh, yes, they are." Twilight said while rejoining her friend.

“No kidding!” Kion agreed.

Now Pinkie was confused. “But I thought you wanted to get rid of them!"

"None of those ponies had anything valuable enough to trade for my books. Not because these books belong to a princess, but because they helped make me who I am. Just like you said." She made her point by levitating one book from the table, with a special memory in mind from it. "This was the one I was reading the day Spike decided he owed Applejack and Ono a life debt."

Kion pulled another book from the table too. “And this one reminds me of the day when Twilight first introduced me into reading and that was after the first patrol when went through as a team."

Kyoga also pulled out another book from the table too. “And this reminds of the time when Twilight introduced me and Rainbow Dash to reading when I ended up in the hospital.”

Twilight held the book up to her chest. "I may not ever need to read these again, but that doesn't mean they don't have value."

"And amazingly despite your over the top methods of attempting to sell these books it actually worked wonders." Kyoga added.

“Because without it I would never have realized that by now.” Twilight finished

"I told you I'd take care of everything!" Pinkie proudly stated just when Twilight pulls her in for a hug for about the first time in a while.

But unfortunately the moment was cut short when Rainbow Dash quickly came flying down and landed right on the alicorn princess.

"Twilight! Kion! I need you two to say a trade wasn't fair! Fast!"

In just a few minutes, Twilight Sparkle and Kion both sat at the royal box seats while they were both wearing their crowns. Fuli and Bunga stood amongst the crowd of ponies that have gathered beside them as they watch as their royal friends settle the dispute. Rainbow Dash, the safari pony, Fluttershy and the orthros all stood before the princess. After discussing the trade itself, both Kion and Twilight gave everypony her final statement in the matter.

"We've heard what you both have to say, and I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but our hooves and paws are tied.”

“After all, you said it was a fair trade."

Rainbow briefly bowed her head in guilt before speaking up. “Yeah I said it, but I was wrong! I did want that book, a lot. I said I wanted it more than anything in all of Equestria. But there's no thing that's worth as much to me as a friend." Fluttershy smiled at her in response, who likewise smiled back. Throughout the whole day Fluttershy was always by her side ready to help her no matter what. It wasn’t until after today did she realize she overlooked her thoughts on the matter and nearly sold her out as a result of it. "I might have forgotten that for a little bit, but it's true. Which means there's no way this trade can be fair!"

"Oh, come on, that's…" The safari pony started to protest before smiling and tearing up feeling very touched inside. “…the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Okay, the trade's off!"

Everyone cheered happily as Rainbow Dash returned the book and moved to tackle hug her Pegasus friend to the ground, just when the orthros jumped on top of the both of them with both heads licked their faces.

Both Kion and Twilight nodded at each other with the latter holding up a gavel with her magic. “And with that, I declare this trial, and this year's Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange…”

“WAIT?” Both Timon and Pumbaa shouted while rushing over towards the two on their thrones. “We need you both to say a trade is unfair!” They both spoke in unison.

“About what?” Twilight asked with a weary expression knowing full well where this is headed.

“About what grubs here taste better.” Pumbaa explained. “Because you can't tell from the outside which are the really slimy ones!”

“Oh, no…” Kion muttered to Twilight who shared the same sentiment likewise.

“Slimy? Pumbaa, my corpulent compadre.” Timon corrected while holding up a grub and squeezed much to the other ponies cringing disgust, especially when he tossed it into his mouth. “It's the crunchy ones that make the meal!”

“Slimy!” Pumbaa argued.

“Crunchy!” Timon argued back.

“Slimy!”

“Crunchy!”

“Slimy!”

“Crunchy!”

“Slimy!”

“Crunchy!”

“Slimy!”

“Crunchy!”

“Slimy!”

“Crunchy!”

“Less filling!“

“Tastes good!”

“Less filling!”

“Tastes good!”

“Less filling!”

“Tastes good!“

“Less filling!“

“Tastes good!“

“Low fat!”

Both Kion and Twilight shifted their eyes towards each other just about done with this petty dispute with the latter banging her gavel to get them to stop bickering.

“Enough!” Kion called out to them who both stopped arguing. “Petty disputes over taste of bugs don’t count. Especially when you ate all the ones who never really traded.”

“Not to mention spit all over after taking a bite.” Kyoga whispered to the other friends standing by with even Bunga finding it a bit nasty himself.

“So with that…” Twilight then announced. “…this trail and exchange is now officially…over!” She banged her gavel to signal the end of the debate and the end of the Exchange where everyone cheers once more.

Bunga leaped in to embrace both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in a group hug feeling very relieved and excited that Fluttershy doesn’t have to go away after all. All and all, a nice resolution to the end of the day.

With the whole traders exchange over, it was finally nighttime in pony with everyone all happy with what they got out of it. Spike got a brand new mint edition comic, Bunga got a full bag of stuff, Fuli got a nice set out sweat bands for all four wrists, and Twilight still had her stash of books that she, Kion, Kyoga, and Ono all read together finding wonderful past memorites out of re-reading and reliving those past times together.

All and all, everyone (well expect for two grumpy friends refusing to see eye to eye with each other in the back of the train cart still bickering over what’s better tasting bugs and grubs.) was happy.

“Thanks again you guys.” Beshte said to Ono, Rarity, and Applejack.

“Oh it was nothing darling.” Rarity shrugged her hoof like it was no big deal.

“I’m serious.” Beshte insisted otherwise. “It sure takes guts to pool everything you had just to ensure that a new house will be made and delivered to that grumpy pony in the corner of Ponyville.”

“Well it sure wasn’t easy…” Applejack noted while looking aside feeling guilty over her and Rarity’s dispute episode from earlier. “…since we squabbled a little of what would actually be the best course of action for your little problem.”

“And for that we are really sorry you had to hear that, darling.” Rarity added.

“It’s okay. You were just trying to help.” Beshte accepted without much thought. “It can happen to anyone.”

“Speaking of helping…” Ono spoke up with two gift wrapped presents in tow. “…thanks to the two of you pitching in, I managed to use the books for the supplies I was going to trade to get you both these.”

Ono handed the two their presents who both quickly unwrapped them and unveiled two wonderful gifts that left them both star-struck in astonishment.

“Whoa!”

“Oh my…!”

“Yep!” Ono nodded. “A rusty pie tin great for fast cooking home famous apple pies and a new broach for you to wear around town.”

Needless to say both were left very touched by this gesture when they both admired their gifts

“Aww, shucks…”

“Aww, Ono…”

The unicorn and country pony could only smile and cry tears of heartfelt joy as they marveled at the gifts.

“I'll let you two lovebirds take your time to admire them.” Ono then teasingly said.

“WE’RE NOT LOVEBIRDS!” Both ponies shouted while flushing in embrassment with deeply red cheeks.

“Uh-huh.” Ono smirked at the flustered ponies who could barely look at each other without looking like they do love each other instead of viewing each other as really good friends.

“Well at least that proves who's the better friend." Applejack said feeling very humbled by the Guard’s Keenest of Sight.

Rainbow Dash interjected after having heard that from behind. "Oh, come on. You both gave up what you wanted to get something for someone who really needed it and Ono did something so that you both have something for each other as thanks! That's the coolest thing a friend can do. Trust me, I know." Rainbow added while winking at Fluttershy, Fuli, and Bunga as thanks for reminding her of that. Fuli and Bunga smirked back at her with the latter proudly and smugly crossing his arms in response to say "I told ya so."

"Hey, where's your double-doggie?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I traded it for something way better." Rainbow replied with Fluttershy presenting everyone a new bird call whistle.

She blew into it and the sound of it summoned a little bird inside the open train window.

“It sure was a shame that we had to let it go.” Bunga commented. “It would have gotten along well with Fluttershy’s friends at home.”

“Maybe, although I doubt that everyone would be comfortable around someone that can rip other’s heads off without someone to keep it in check.” Fuli countered gently.

“True…true…” Bunga accepted that knowing that it would have been inevitable without Fluttershy around to tame it.

During her rummaging around her stash, Twilight had something to share with her friend Rainbow Dash. “Well, what do you know? My copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue.” She presented said book that’s been around her library for quite some time. “It's just a beat up old paperback, not a one-of-a-kind first edition."

Rainbow Dash gasped with delight when the alicorn levitated towards her so she can read it. Even if it’s not what she was looking for, she’ll still take it anyday. "Even better, because I can read this one with all my friends!" She hugged Fluttershy when said that last part just when everyone all gathered around her with laughs and giggles when Rainbow opened up to start reading from the very beginning.

Even though things didn’t work out like they wanted to, they all learned very valuable lessons that proved to worth more than any fancy house, book, gem, or expensive accessory combined together. The golden lesson of important friendship reminders that’ll be treasured deep within their hearts.