//------------------------------// // 35~The Ticket Castellan // Story: The Emperor Preserves // by Centurion Pike-Wall //------------------------------// "No", Spike said, tossing another apple behind him. "Nope. Nope." Anton sighed, rolling his shoulders. It had been almost a week since the return of Nightmare Moon, and all in all, a lot had returned to normal. The ability of this town to just keep pressing on after harsh circumstances was certainly a positive characteristic. The main difference was that Twilight Sparkle and her assistant remained in the town. She was walking behind him, a pair of baskets filled with apples along her own back. Spike sat in between them, picking through the apples and tossing out the ones of poor quality. "You don't have to toss out the ones that just have bruises or blemishes", Anton said. "If nothing else, I'll use them." "Oh, gotcha", Spike said, setting one of the Apples back down in the basket. Applejack looked over her shoulder, saying to Twilight, "Thank ya kindly, Twilight, fer helpin' me out. Ah bet Big Macintosh I could I could get all these golden delicious in the barn by lunchtime. If ah win, he's gonna walk down Stirrup Street in one 'a Grannies girdles!" Anton sighed, recalling the last time they had one of their bets. He still found burnt hair in his bunker sometimes. Twilight spoke past him, "No problem at all, Applejack. I'm glad the goal is lunchtime. All this hard work is making me hungry." "I know, right?", Spike said. "You've done nothing productive that couldn't be done at a later date, likely more efficiently", Anton said. "I'm still helping, aren't I?", Spike asked. Anton could almost feel the dirty look Twilight was giving him. The two of them hadn't interacted much since that fateful day. Seeing one another in passing, sharing looks when he was helping Bright Mac bring the early harvest into town. Even still, those interactions hadn't been the most positive. "Oh, lay off it, Aquila", Applejack said. "He is just a kid. 'Sides, he's helpin' in his own way. Like Apple Bloom when she peels Apples 'er Potatoes fer dinner." "If you say so", Aquila said. Before Twilight could bit off a retort, a loud growl emanated from her direction. Aquila turned, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, before turning to Twilight herself. She looked back at him, a hoof to her stomach. "I guess we'd better get some food." "Worm", Spike said, tossing out another apple. "Oh, this one is great!" Spike held a great apple above his head, easily as large as a small plate, perfectly smooth and bright red. "Oh Spike, that looks delicious", Twilight said, smiling. Seeming to ignore her, Spike brought the Apple up to his mouth. Before he could bite down on it, however, Anton grabbed it with his aura and yanked it away, ripping it from the small reptilian. Spike nearly slipped off of Twilight's back, holding on by grabbing ahold of her neck, causing Twilight to stumble forward. Anton placed the apple in one of his own baskets, telling him, "You were tasked with clearing out the bad ones, not eating the good ones." "That was hardly appropri-", Twilight began, only to be cut off by a loud burp from Spike. A jet of green fire shot out, sending Aquila jerking forward in alarm. However, the flame flowed up into the air, growing smaller and smaller before almost completely winking out. As it did, however, a scroll appeared, wrapped in a red ribbon with a golden clasp on the exterior. It fell towards the ground, Spike getting off of Twilight and grabbing it. "It's a letter from Princess Celestia", Twilight said, her anger at Anton forgotten. Spike removed the clasp and opened it up, clearing his throat before he began to read: "Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the 21st day of. Eh, yadda yadda yadda. Cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest." Both Applejack and Twilight looked at one another, eyes wide and wearing ear-to-ear smiles. "The Grand Galloping Gala!", they said in unison, bouncing up and down and cheering. Anton turned to Spike, who born an expression of either disgust or boredom. "The what?", he asked. "The Grand Galloping Gala", Spike said, his disgust now evident. "It's a big party Princess Celestia holds in the early spring. Next year, obviously. Big frou-frou Girly thing." "Oh, don't be such a sour puss, Spike", Twilight said. "A dance would be nice." "Nice?", Applejack asked. "It'd be more than nice! I'd love to go. Ah mean, land sakes, the opportunity! If ah could get a stand, ah could sell our treats 'til the Cows come home. Wah, wit' all the money ah could bring in, we could do some serious fixin' up 'round here. We could fix up the saggin' roof! Big Mac could replace that saggin' plow! Heck, we might even get enough ta pay fer Pa ta get surgery!" "Well, in that case", Twilight began, turning to Applejack. "Would you like to-" Anton looked up, seeing a shadow appear above the two of them. "Incoming!", he yelled, jumping forward and tackling the two mares to the ground. No sooner had the three of them landed in a heap, apples spilling everywhere, had Rainbow Dash slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. "Ow", Rainbow Dash said, groaning as she rolled onto her back. "Ow." "Are you ok, Rainbow?", Twilight asked, getting up and lowering down to her friend. "Yeah, I'm fine", Rainbow said, getting up and sharing the dirt from her wings. "Nothing's broken, and... I'm not bleeding or anything, am I?" "It's apple juice", Anton said, pulling a few chunks of crushed apple off of her back. Rainbow Dash nodded sheepishly, before turning back to Twilight. "So, we're talkin' about the Grand Galloping Gala, right?" "Uh... Yes?", Twilight said. Anton turned to Applejack, nodding to the baskets of Apples. "I'll get these in. After that, I need to go take care of some business in town. You know where to find me if you need me." "Gotcha, sugarcube", Applejack said, turning back to Twilight and Rainbow. Anton grabbed the baskets of the ground, including his own. Gathering all of the scattered Apples in his aura, he placed them back into the baskets and marched towards the barn, leaving the three mares and the reptilian behind him. +++++~+++++ "Thanks, Oak", Anton said, passing several bits to the older stallion. Burnt Oak nodded, smiling slightly. "No problem, Aquila. Though, I gotta ask. You live in a forest, so why are you comin' to me?" "It's less the wood itself and more the tinder", Aquila said, shaking the small metal tin. "The wood in the Everfree burns good, but getting it to start is a pain." "Every little convenience helps, I suppose", Burnt Oak said. "Alright, you have a good one." "Same", Anton said, heading away from his stall. A convenience. That is what it was; Burnt Oak didn't even need to say it for him to know what it was. He could easily make a suitable tinder from the things in the Forest. But, because it was more convenient to buy things from the Xenos, he did so. Just another sin added to his list of sources leading to his damnation. As he contemplated this, he suddenly ground to a halt. Twilight and Spike raced past him, running at full tilt. Anton turned, looking at them run away as fast as they could. As he did so, he heard a massive clamber of voices and slamming hooves behind him. He turned around just in time to be caught up in a stampede of townsfolk. Anton tried to wrestle free of the horde, moving left and right against the crowd in an attempt to break free. However, the shifting position of the ponies in relation to both him and the others in the crowd. Just as it seemed the physical barricade around him was starting to slow, it suddenly shifted direction, pulling him along. He tried to break away, yet he had to keep his legs moving with the crowd to avoid being crushed underneath the scores of other ponies. Finally, the crowd came to a halt. Those in the front were yapping about something, while those towards the back were trying to push their way to the front. Growling, Anton hastily opened up his holster. He yanked his laspistol free, pushing the barrel past the other ponies around him, and fired into the air. All around him, ponies scattered and ran. As they cleared, he was left standing alone, lowering his laspistol and sighing. He slid his laspistol back into its holster, looking up. Twilight and Spike sat, huddled against the wall of a building. Both of them showed faces slowly coming back from panic, breathing heavily. "Thank you, Aquila", Twilight said, letting out a relieved sigh. "For what?", he asked. "What was going on?" "The tickets", Spike said. "All of the girls want them." "For pretty good reasons, too", Twilight said. "And, since I only have the one extra, I can't invite all of them. If I give one of them the ticket, then the others will be upset!" Anton nodded slowly, looking at the two of them. They looked worn ragged, as if they had just completed the Rib-Breaker and a ten-kilometer run back to back. Anton closed the flap of his holster, before looking down at Spike. "Wait. Does your menial count?" "Spike is not a servant!", Twilight snapped. "He's my assistant, and-" "Wait", Spike interrupted. "What do you mean?" "You got two tickets. One is for yourself, obviously", Anton said. "But, would Spike need the other ticket, or could he come with you on your ticket?" "No. He would need the ticket too, same as anypony else", Twilight said. Anton replied, "Then just take him." "Then all of them would be upset!", Twilight said. "'The justice of your action is measured by the strength of your conviction'", Anton said. "If you can't bring all of them, then you have to commit to something. They might be less envious if you brought Spike instead of one of them, if nothing else." "Twilight?", Applejack said, drawing their gaze. She stood behind them, where the crowd stood not five minutes ago, along with Rainbow Dash and the rest of their friends. "We- Were we really doin' that much harm?" "I just... can't decide", Twilight said. "You're all my friends; even you, Aquila. If I brought one of you, the others would surely be disappointed, even if they didn't say so. And... I couldn't stand that." "It's alright, Sugarcube", Applejack said, offering a hoof to Twilight. "We didn't mean ta put so much pressure on ya. Ah'll be ok wit' whoever ya choose." "Same here, darling", Rarity said. "I didn't intend to force you to choose." "Yeah. Making your friends feel upset is the worst", Pinkie added. "I... Uh...", Rainbow began, before taking a deep breath. "I haven't perfected my moves yet anyway. It's cool." Twilight nodded, taking her own breath. "Spike, take a note."Dear Princess Celestia. I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala." "What!?", the others cried, making Anton cringe from the sudden noise. "If all my friends can't come, then I don't want to either", Twilight said. As Twilight finished, she handed Spike the tickets. He blew a gout of green flame of the note and the tickets, with them all of them disappearing just as the tickets had appeared this morning. "But now you won't be able to go", Fluttershy said. "It's fine", Twilight said. "I probably wouldn't be able to have too much fun without my friends, anyway." "Awww", the others said, closing in around Twilight in a group hug. Even Anton couldn't help but smile, legitimately smile. Even his disgust and hatred at the feeling of... affection? For these Xenos... Even it was pushed down, at least temporarily. "Hurk", Spike groaned, clutching his stomach. Anton turned to the reptilian, made a few more retching noises. "Are you alright?", Anton asked. Applejack giggled, asking, "Can't handle even a little sappy scene, eh Spike?" Before anyone else could say anything, even himself, Spike let out a loud belch. The green fire once again shot out, as well as another scroll bound in the golden clasp. "That was quick", Anton said. "Efficient." Spike unwrapped the scroll, reading it quickly before saying it out loud. "My most faithful student. Why didn't you just say so?" As he did, he pulled something from the base of the scroll; six small golden sheets of paper. "Six tickets!" "Now we can all go!", Twilight said. The girls all cheered, smiling and laughing. The cacophony of noise was broken through by a loud rumbling. All eyes fell on Twilight and her wriggling stomach. "Allow us to get you something to eat", Rarity said. "Our way of making it up to you." They headed out, chatting and discussing places to go. Soon, only Spike and Anton stood by themselves. "What about us?", Spike asked. "What?", Anton asked. Spike replied, "Don't we get tickets?" After he said that, he belched again, two more tickets popping out of the thin air and landing in Spikes claws. "And one for you. Please give the other to Aquila." "I guess we're expected to go now, huh?", Anton said. Spike blinked, before clearing his throat and saying, "I guess so, yeah."