//------------------------------// // Chapter 3- Sapphire Dog in the Boutique // Story: Trade Wind: Royal Tutor // by BlackBonitaCherry //------------------------------// After a long night, Rarity wished she could go back to sleep, but Titanium’s fussing had her sighing and rolling out of bed, turning on the lamp.  “Are you hungry?” she saw him staring out the window, face scrunched up and looking like he wanted to wail, “Hey now, don’t do that,” she picked him up, holding him against her neck and looking down as his face smoothed out and he cooed, burying his head in her mane. Smiling, she left the room and joined her roommates in the kitchen downstairs. Paris had her head on the table, a cup of hot tea steaming next to her paws while Ash stirred some sort of concoction on the stove. “That better be breakfast and not another potion Ash darling,” the zebra huffed,  “You make one potion in the kitchen, no one lets you forget it,” Paris snorted, “Considering that potion left us no resort but to eat out for a month, no one is going to forget that any time soon,” the only way they managed not to deplete their budget was the generosity of some of their friends and neighbors. The ones that did not care about what kind of creature they were anyways. Ash spooned out the contents into a large bowl, taking a separate bowl filled with different spices and butter that she poured right into the middle. “Ooh Genfo, it smells good,” the zebra nodded, taking her seat, the three, well four eating their portions in peace. Rarity alternated between her bowl and Titanium’s, making sure the colt was eating it and not throwing it for fun. He normally behaved at mealtimes, but sometimes felt the need to make things interesting for the three fashion designers. “Ah, the other five received tickets to the Festival as well in addition to the Gala,” Paris groaned, “Do not mention either of those to me, just thinking about the jobs in the future makes my paws ache,” Ash refilled the canine’s cup, giving her a look. “We should be glad for any work, remember? Suri Polomare will no doubt be making attempts to monopolize Gala orders again,” Rarity groaned. “Ugh, I can imagine her smug face bragging about receiving more orders,” the only consolation was the fact they banned the mare from doing Festival commissions after one too many comments. Though that did end up with a majority of similar thinking ponies going to her for commissions. Not that Rarity cared, the three of them have been able to manage the past two years, and they were kept busy enough that whatever Polimare’s schemes were did not work. She just wished the mare did not take out her frustration of fashion failure in Manehatten on them, or would at least stop trying to get their Boutique for her own. Or give up on getting their secret projects and pass them off as her design.  As graduates of WEU, Rarity, Ash, and Paris had their unique designs and were constantly working on new products incorporated with the knowledge that they obtained. Each of the Carousel Boutique ladies had a specialty they used to diversify and draw attention to their store.  Rarity, of course, specialized in outfits, both ones with and without jewels she finds with her special talent. Ash specializes in using potions and runes to create special effects on her work, most of which were hats, scarves, and saddlebags. Paris on the other paw created accessories, armor, and shoes for different species that proved popular. All three of them were also combining their special talents to make specialty items and were this close to perfecting shoes that had a permanent Cloud-Walking spell enchanted on them. Ash swallowed a piece and looked at Rarity, “I almost have the Titan fabric ready Rarity,” the unicorn clapped her hooves, “That’s great Darling! When we get all our current projects done we can get started on Nightwing Festival preparations and decide what kind of stand we are going to do,” it brought great publicity to their work and while she did not attend the last two times, the other two had. Paris’ head hit the table. “Ugh, kill me now,” Rarity rolled her eyes. “And you call me dramatic, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take Titanium out for a stroll and deliver something to the Mashs’,” she was waved off, Ash muttering under her breath about new potion ideas while Paris was still recovering from her two-week Designing Binge, bemoaning her allergies to cocoa beans and wishing for coffee. Dressing up Titanium in a little sailor outfit and ignoring his pout, Rarity checked to make sure he was secure in the stroller before pushing it. The market was set up by the time she was walking through, some ponies waving to her while others avoided looking in her direction. Paying it no mind, she thought over the Nightwing Festival and the reactions to the other Element Bearers receiving their invitations. Pinkie of course was excited and Fluttershy was thrilled to go to the event as well. Twilight seemed a bit interested, but also unsure about whether she wanted to go.  Applejack and Rainbow were the ones Rarity was a bit worried about because if they did end up going (the mandatory part seemed to irritate them) she was afraid they would say or do something that would mess up the event. Rainbow Dash was self-explanatory, while she knew the mare had some history with Trade Wind, her affiliation with Wind Scar would cause quite a stir with those who were affected by his actions. Applejack was just plain close-minded, and Rarity couldn’t help but lament how the Earth mare was being so stubborn in not getting used to how things were changing in Equestria. Granny Smith was used to it, and that was saying quite a bit. “Miss Rarity?” Moondancer appeared next to her, saddlebags filled with paper and a pen dangling from her ear. Her eyes fell on the colt and she nodded to him before joining Rarity in her stroll. “Is there something I can help you with Moondancer?” the white unicorn asked lightly, realizing that the other mare never revealed why they were in Ponyville. “I will be settling in Ponyville for a while during a project and have chosen an accommodation that needs a bit of work. But that is not why I’m here, in the future there might be a request for your Boutique to restore some old works, how confident are you in working with thousand-year-old tapestries,” Rarity stopped for a moment, staring at her, flicking one ear as she thought about it, “You might be surprised,” they reached the Pizzeria, but Rarity headed around to the back of the house where there were shouts and laughter. She opened the door to see an orange pegasus filly zooming down the stairs and hiding underneath a counter.  “She’s down here!” Caramel and Glaze flew down from the balcony overlooking the stairs, one going to the couch in the living room while the other flew into the kitchen. “Caramel, Glaze, what are you two doing?” Caramel cringed when she spotted Rarity, coming back into the kitchen, but her brother was unfazed. “Playing hide and tag with our cousin,” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Where are Reese and Carrot Mash?” “Setting up the restaurant,” the griffin replied before there was a triumphant cry from Caramel who dove underneath the counter, eliciting a yelp from her prey. She came back out with her cousin, the filly sulking as Caramel held up the ribbon that had been tied around one of her hooves. “Two out of three!” Scootaloo demanded, Caramel scoffed. “Sure, but remember, if you lose, your doing dishes tonight,” the filly scowled and grabbed the ribbon, tying it back around her leg. Caramel and Glaze turned away and started counting out loud, and Scootaloo rushed out of there just as the house started shaking. In alarm Rarity summoned Caramel and Glaze to her and summoned a shield, Moondancer ran out to grab Scootaloo as bookshelves shook and dishes fell from a cabinet onto the ground. “What is going on?” Rarity demanded, just as an Earth pony burst into the house, green eyes frantically looking behind him as he pulled a pale Reese in and slammed the door shut, his Cutie Mark that of a bowl of carrot mash with a baby spoon sticking out of it. “Stampede!” he gasped out, orange coat a bit pale as Moondancer came back with Scootaloo on her back. “What set them off this time?” Rarity questioned tiredly, it wasn’t the first time after all. “It wasn’t me!” Glaze protested, looking scared, Rarity rubbed his head, “I know that darling,” after what happened last time the cub was not going to do something like that again. Thankfully the shaking stopped and they all stepped out, seeing ponies cheering on Applejack and Winona as the cattle turned around and left. “Well, that was quite a day,” shaking her head, Rarity took out the wrapped package from her saddlebag and handed it over to Reese, “Here’s your order,” the griffin accepted it with wide eyes. “Oh! I didn’t expect it to be done so fast,” waving it off, the unicorn smiled at her, “It was fun to do,” compared to her other projects anyways. She saw Caramel and Glaze making faces at her son, the colt enjoying it and trying to imitate their expressions with great difficulty. Scootaloo hopped off of Moondancer as soon as her shield disappeared, thanking the unicorn and joining her cousins. “Well, we have to get back to prep now, our restaurant isn’t going to run itself, did you want to leave Titanium with Caramel and Glaze?” Caramel’s head popped up from the stroller, a gleam in her eyes, and Rarity struggled not to laugh. “Alright, the usual rates Caramel?” the cub nodded eagerly, taking the stroller from Rarity’s grasp and pushing it towards the back room, Glaze rolled his eyes. “Come on cousin, I’ll give you a crash course in Titan watching,” the pegasus followed him dutifully and Rarity sighed. “I do wish everyone would stop shortening his name,” and should she feel insulted that of all the little ones the twins have babysat, Titanium had a special name for his time? “I’m just glad you are still letting them watch him,” Reese stated as Rarity and Moondancer followed them out. “What do you mean? Have there been cancellations?” while the two were a bit rowdy, they were quite capable of looking after younger creatures, Caramel especially, and her motivations were all money-related. Carrot and Reese shared a look, “Let’s just say there have been quite a few parents unhappy with our deception,” mouthing the word, Rarity realized what they meant and smacked a hoof against her head. “Did they not understand what witness protection meant?” Reese let out a sigh. “Only a few,” Moondancer remained silent. ----------------------------------- Next morning Landing lightly outside the Castle of the Two Sisters, Trade Wind dissipated the wind around her and let out a breath. Each of her three sisters had ways of sensing her presence and it took careful planning to avoid getting noticed. Avoiding Pinkie’s senses was rather difficult and over the years she’s managed to find different ways to avoid her sister finding out she was near. In retaliation Pinkie, Pie learned how to correct those issues and could sense her from a city away. But luckily the Everfree Forest proved enough of a wild card that the party pony couldn’t keep track of everything. Fluttershy on the other hoof had creatures and her hearing to make hiding rather interesting, and Trade could only be thankful that there were no animals that Fluttershy knew in this area. Last but not least, Lyra and the pegasus decided not to think about it as she walked around the grounds of the castle.  Finding a good place to stop, she unhooked herself from her cart and retrieved four tripods, each one with a different stone representing a season from Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Diamond. It still amused her how the Jewel Dogs were represented no matter what, even if most of them did not know how to use magical runes. Setting the Emerald tripod in the north point of the castle, she took the other three and placed them on the other sides, making sure that they were not out of formation. Going back to her cart, she took out a case with rather clunky goggles inside, the aforementioned jewels embedded into the frames. A trunk further on her cart shivered as she got close, shaking against the restraints keeping it secure. “Calm down, we landed, I’m getting you out, honestly,” she undid the straps, throwing open the lid and revealing a typewriter that sprouted spider legs longer than her legs, crawling out of the cart and bending its legs up and down in a show of excitement. Slipping on the goggles, she motioned for the typewriter to follow, smiling a bit as it sprayed some ink in excitement. With the goggles on, she decided to start at the entrance of the castle, turning the dial on the left with the Emerald and Sapphire gems, her vision lighting up and revealing different networks going in and around the castle. Then turning the Ruby and Diamond one, she saw a red dot indicating the recording was on while a pale silver shimmer connected to the Typewriter, making it shudder. Taking that as her cue, she began her observations. “Looks like the enchantments in this place are close to fading, with the remaining magic I am guessing is located in the library to keep the books preserved,” turning the dial a bit more, she followed the Sapphire line as it appeared in some rooms but veered around others. The Emerald line highlighted all the living beings in the area and she tried not to twitch at how many were clustered together in the dungeons. Right, she’ll mark that for later. “The entrance room looks surprisingly intact, the sisters’ banners will need to be restored and the columns themselves do not look like they need a lot of work. I will have to talk to Princess Luna about whether she wants to keep them though.” she would be starting the tutoring sessions next week and would be presenting her findings to the Princess at the same time. But first, she needed to do a detailed plan for the castle itself. Going through every room in the castle, she made notes of the holes in the walls that needed to be filled or completely replaced. There were even sections of grass here and there that would need to be removed. The wind swirled around her, going through cracks and showing her different passageways not highlighted by the goggles, or triggers on the floor that she needed to avoid.  Eventually, she found an organ room, figured out that the organ itself activated different parts of the castle, and used her goggles and Blessing to write down every note and subsequent special effect.  After several hours she went back out for a lunch break, letting the typewriter rest and recharge itself. Slipping the goggles off, she blinked in the sun, feeling a slight headache coming on. Doing these kinds of projects has thankfully gotten easier, but we're still kind of draining. If it weren’t for these goggles it would have taken a much longer time. This was going to be a long week. -------------- Watching the exhausted Earth pony approach the stadium with baskets of apples on her back, Rarity pursed her lips, seeing the exhausted form and recalling several unpleasant memories. ‘This is not good’ she could only guess as to why Applejack was so exhausted, and it did not paint a pretty picture, at all. Her feelings worsened when she recalled what Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy said before the mare’s arrival. This is not going to go well. Thankfully Twilight took the initiative to talk to Applejack herself, so Rarity pulled the pink maned mares to the side for a private talk. “Is something wrong Rarity?” the unicorn glanced around to make sure no one was watching before looking back at them. “You saw her exhaustion right? Do you think it’s a good idea to have her help you two with your tasks?” Pinkie paused while Fluttershy frowned. “She did look tired, and some of the animals told me that she’s harvesting all by herself since Big Mac was injured-” Rarity felt her heart stop. “Is he alright?!” she grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders, staring into her startled eyes before realizing what she did and letting go, “I-i mean, it is surprising that a stallion of stature like M- Bic Mac got injured, it w-wasn’t serious I hope?” oh Celestia above please to tell her she was imagining the burning on her cheeks. “Um, he’s fine, just a mishap that I promised not to tell anyone,” Fluttershy answered, giving her a searching look that Rarity avoided, Pinkie’s grin was completely ignored. “Well, t-that’s good, anyway, I just thought I should warn the two of you, and if one of you wish to warn Rainbow Dash to go ahead,” though if the pegasus was outright ignorant to how exhausted the Earth pony was, that was on her. “Okie Dokie! I’ll keep a close eye on her!” Fluttershy nodded in addition to Pinkie’s answer and Rarity relaxed, waving goodbye to them and heading back to the Boutique, wishing she could throw herself into a volcano for reacting like that. Get yourself together, she told herself firmly, Big Mac is fine, if something serious happened you would find out, even if it was from a newspaper.  Oh well, she hoped he was recuperating from his injury at least, and not pushing himself trying to stop his sister. Celestia knows those Apples were of a solid, determined sort.  ---------- A knock brought Mac out of his thoughts, the stallion pushing away the family finance book to go answer the door. “Ah got it!” Applebloom beat him to it, throwing open the door and letting out a happy, “Hey Trade Wind!” the Earth pony stopped, watching his sister skipping back into the dining room with a familiar pegasus who waved at him in greeting, “Hey Big Mac, heard you got injured, was it serious?” Big Mac coughed, avoiding her gaze. He’d rather not get into the details of his injury at the moment. Applebloom was hopping around the older pony, babbling about random subjects and the harvest and news in the village, stopping and peering up at her with wide eyes. “Did you bring any souvenirs?” she asked eagerly, tail wagging, and Big Mac tried not to sigh as Trade Wind took out an apple-d pocketwatch, “Found this at an interesting market, figured you might want to” the pocketwatch disappeared from her hooves and there was a mad scramble up the stairs as Applebloom shouted her thanks and disappeared. “Sorry,” he offered, Trade waved it off. “It’s fine, here,” she gave him an abacus made of shells and his lips twitched, amused as he put it on a shelf next to another abacus made of different materials, “I also brought some picks for Applejack for her guitar and some cast iron pots for Granny Smith, came across a blacksmith that still makes stuff the way it was done in her youth, figured she might be interested,” she set those down with a small clunk, rubbing her head as she rolled her shoulders, “I don’t suppose you are busy or anything?” Big Mac hummed,  “What’s the project?” she put a hoof to her muzzle. “Secret, for now, calling everyone in a week for the run down but could use someone of your skills and knowledge, and I have a blank check,” a whistle had them turning to Granny Smith entering the living room. “Might as well, Big Mac here needs a new challenge, he’s been over our books looking for discrepancies I was tempted to write them in,” the stallion’s cheeks burned. She did not have to put it like that! Trade Wind’s eyes fell on a piece of equipment across the living room and she tapped a hoof against the floor, “Almost forgot, here’s the new enchantment gems for your radio,” Granny Smith eagerly grabbed them, going over and flipping the device over to replace the dull ones. “Good thing too was afraid Ah’d miss my favorite evening show,” Big Mac tried not to snort. Ever since their family received the radio three years ago, Granny Smith has been practically glued to it, enjoying the various radio broadcasts that have been popping up all over Equestria. When it wasn’t her it was Applebloom, the filly in awe about the device and tuning in to shows geared towards fillies her age.  Big Mac himself enjoyed a few of the shows and was tempted to get a new radio even if they were expensive. The only one who did not enjoy the device was Applejack, but her reasons were of the petty kind so he ignored it. She still bore a grudge against him for going to WEU and ‘abandoning’ their family when they needed him the most. Never mind receiving Granny Smith’s blessing nor the fact the Princess herself endorsed the school. It would be quite a while before she realized she was acting foolish, but he wouldn’t hold his breath quite yet. Trade Wind chuckled, ear flicking and turning to look back before sighing,  “Well, I have to go, got some more work to get done, ah, can you keep my presence here a secret? Make sure to relay that to Applebloom as well,” the two nodded and she disappeared out the door, away from the area where Applejack was still bucking. “Exactly how mad do you think her sisters are going to be,” Big Mac grimaced at Granny’s question. “With her or Garble?” has been the dragon’s roommate, he was quite familiar with the two’s relationship. And if anything happened, and if Trade Wind was avoiding letting anyone know. It was Garble’s fault. ------------------ Pinkie Pie glanced over her shoulder, reading out the recipe and watching the way out of it Applejack shook her head and rubbed her ear before going to the pantry and pulling out a bag of potato chips. When she added soda and worms to the mixture, Pinkie sighed and retrieved a spray bottle from her mane, appearing next to the mare and spraying her right in the muzzle, knocking her out cold. Giving the bowl a disgusted look and made to throw it out when she thought about it, “This might be something Spike’ll eat,” and maybe the griffin cubs as well, or maybe she’ll just let Spike have all of it. Carrot Mash was one of the ponies she did not want angry with her, and accidentally endangering his precious cubs would be the fastest way to get him angry. Just the memory of his anger when he realized Scootaloo was his niece and lived by herself made her shiver, the stallion’s brother was lucky he was not in Ponyville. Though how long that would be was still in the air. Tucking Applejack into a sleeping bag with a lavender-infused pillow (it’s a good thing her sleeping party supplies were still around) and a blindfold with a special ‘good dream’ enchantment, Pinkie put her safely in the corner just as Fluttershy came in, looking worried. “How bad?” she peered into the bowl and paled, accepting the apron Pinkie gave her, “Oh dear, it's a good thing you were able to stop her,” Pinkie nodded. “I do not even want to think about what would’ve happened if our customers ate that stuff,” they both shuddered, and Pinkie smiled at her Ranger sister, “Thanks for coming by to help, I’ll make time for your bunny census,” Fluttershy nodded. “Of course,” a green pop in front of them had Pinkie rushing to spray a startled Applejack in the face, making her fall back asleep with a loud snore. The two stared at a sheepish Lyra, the unicorn rubbing the back of her head. “Sorry, figured you could use some he-” she spotted the bowl and turned green, “B-be right back,” she disappeared down the hall to the restroom, the two cringing at the sounds that followed. “I’ll go put this away for Spike later,” Fluttershy nodded,  “Good idea,” Lyra came back, looking a bit better, and stopped over Applejack, horn glowing as a familiar harp lyre appeared and started playing while a bubble over the mare ensured that only she would be affected. “So, do you want my help or I go to Sweet Apple Acres?” Fluttershy and Pinkie shared looks, “Sweet Apple Acres,” they said in unison, Lyra winced. “Ouch, didn’t think my cooking was that bad,” but she left, levitating a snoring Applejack behind her.  Twilight spotted her as she approached the farm and her jaw dropped, “What are you doing?!” Lyra blinked at her. “Making sure she doesn’t poison villagers with her sleep-addled muffin recipe, worms, Twilight Sparkle, worms,” Twilight turned green. “Oh,” then she realized something, “Wait, why are you in Ponyville?” Lyra fell to the ground, “I live here,” she deadpanned. -------------------- Applejack woke up refreshed, their mind clear, and all the aches in her body from the constant applebucking gone. She was pissed. Bursting out of the house, she spotted hundreds of apples floating in a yellow aura while country music filled the air. Granny Smith was watching the spectacle, drinking through a straw while Big Mac was carefully pushing the apples into the barn. “What is going on here?!” Granny glanced back at her, “Awake are ya? Just waiting for the last of the apples to be harvested is all. Make sure you are separating the bad ones from the good ones,” she shouted in the direction of the music, and there was a brief pause before the line of apples separated into two.  This was joined by a familiar aura of light purple that had Applejack scowling, marching in that direction and seeing Twilight standing next to a mint green unicorn. “Twilight, ah told you I didn’t need help!” but it wasn’t Twilight who answered. “And what? We’re supposed to just let you poison others to keep your pride?’ Applejack frowned at her. “What are you talking about?” a tray of muffins floated in front of her, one split open so that the insides were shown to her. Rearing back, she gagged seeing the worm inside, and suddenly recalled what happened in the kitchen. “Wait, Pinkie was the one who knocked me out, but did I think earthworms in muffins was a good idea?” and she was going to give that party pony a good talking to about knocking her out like that. Not that it would do any good. “Now if you’ll excuse us,” Lyra floated the last of the apples in a bucket, picking it up and returning in the direction Applejack came from, the Earth mare spluttered. “That still did not give you a right to just do this!” she gestured to the farm, and Lyra glanced over her shoulder. “It does when Granny Smith asks a favor,” she placed the bucket on the ground next to the matriarch who patted her shoulder. “Thank you kindly Lyra, Twilight, feel free to help out in the future, though if my grandson is foolish enough to get himself injured as he did,” her brother looked away, and Applejack resisted the urge to stomp her hoof. “Granny, I cou-” “No you could not,” Granny’s sharp voice cut her off, red-orange eyes glaring at her, “learn how to manage your time and know when to ask for help, because this could’ve been a real disaster if you did something while exhausted,” Applejack flinched. “Yes ma’am.”  ----------------- Trade Wind collapsed on her cot, pulling a blanket over her form and trying to ignore the raging headache. Using those crystals took a lot out of her, but at least she was finally done. Now all she had to do was arrange tasks, get supplies ready, and see who was available to come to help out. Maybe she should message Zephyr first, with his sect still in ruins he was probably searching for some kind of work to do while it was being rebuilt. Coincidentally North Star magazine received a letter asking for help in flying from a particular pegasus filly, and if anyone could figure out how to help Scootaloo. It was Zephyr Breeze.