"Day court is now in session. All hail her majesty, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
Dozens upon dozens of nobles waiting in the throne room bowed to Twilight as she flared her wings out with a calm smile, ready to start day court and help her ponies as best she could. Unfortunately, it was then that her eyes locked onto the one pony in the room who was not bowing. A very familiar, very unpredictable pony, who was too preoccupied staring off into space to realize that he was supposed to bow.
Arca stood in between a few very well-dressed ponies who, for the life of them, could not figure out how this wild-eyed stallion who looked like his mane had lost a fight with a hairdryer would ever be invited to the once a quarter, special nobility-only day court. They also wondered why none of the guards were coming over to confront him about not bowing to Twilight. Arca was thinking about other things, of course.
Right. So I need to, absolutely NEED to remember to petition the crown for replacing the glass bottles and flasks at the Alchemist's guild since they all broke when those colts snuck into the stockroom.
One of the guards bellowed out to the room. "Petitioner one, please step forward!" A mare stepped forward, and began talking to Twilight about some important investments her company was making, and the protections they'd need.
I wonder if the chemical composition of stained glass would alter the effects of potions if I used it instead of regular glass bottles? Whose idea was it to stain glass in the first place? I wonder if I can find that in the archives.
"Petitioner two, step forward!" Twilight smiled as she saw Rarity step up in front of her. The two exchanged pleasantries and a brief hug, before Twilight proceeded to grant Rarity's request for access to some hard-to-find fabrics for a project she'd been working on. Arca was still staring off into space.
Of course, the archives are a blast! There's so much to learn in there, I STILL haven't read it all. I should go check down there soon to see if there's anything fun I missed.
"Petitioner number twelve, please step forward!" Things were starting to move along as the nobility got into a rhythm, each having prepared their statements beforehand. This was a big chance, to have a request granted by the crown without any peasants around meant squeezing in a few things the common rabble wouldn't be fond of.
…of course, if I missed one thing, that probably means I missed like, twenty things. At least. I wonder if there's anything about potions related to cutie marks?
"Petitioner number twenty-three? Hello? Is there a representative from the royal alchemy guild here? Petitioner number twenty-three!"
Twilight let out a huff. "That's probably you-know-who. I'll take care of it. Arca? Arca?!"
Speaking of cutie marks, I wonder if there's any cute-ceñeras coming up. Wait, I can't plan for those. They just happen. I wonder if it originated in Marexico? It sounds like it did. That or somewhere else that speaks that language. Ooo, you know what I think of when I think of Marexico?
"ARCANE!" Twilight had stepped down from the throne, and walked up into Arca's face. That finally snapped him back to reality. "You're here for something, right? What are you here to ask the crown for?"
"I forget. But I do have a thing I want!"
Bunsen Burner, the current master of the Royal Alchemy Guild, paced back and forth in the main meeting room. "Perfect Measure, are you sure the train did not get delayed? I made sure to secure an early slot in day court for somepony to deliver our request. We've barely got enough glassware to keep the labs running, and we need to get that budget increase so we can get more."
Perfect Measure, Bunsen's secretary and an accomplished alchemist in her own right, nodded. "I gave the request to one of the newer secretaries. There's no possible way they could mess up going to day court and making a request. I hoofed it to Quick Mix myself."
"Wait, Quick Mix?" Another member of the higher-ups chimed in, sounding worried. "She had to go back to her dorm because she got sick from breakfast. She told me she handed an important paper to somepony on the committee who offered to go in her stead."
"The whole committee is here, though," Bunsen remarked, banging his hoof on his desk. "We've been here all day going over where we can move some funding around for repairs! The only member of the master's committee not here right now is-"
"...oh no."
There was a thick, still silence in the room as everypony processed what the implications of that statement was.
"ALOHA, MIS AMIGOS!"
And then the door to the meeting room swung open with way too much force. Arcane Catalyst trotted in, which was an impressive feat given that he was wearing a comically oversized sombrero that covered the upper half of his face. Also the wide brim of the sombrero was filled with salsa. Arca rattled a pair of maracas in his magic. "Who wants to PARTY HEARTY?"
A new record for simultaneous facehoofs from the guild committee was immediately reached. "Arcane. Did you just come from day court?"
"Yeah, Bunsen! Some apprentice was feeling sick, so I volunteered to deliver their message for them."
"And did you?"
"I think I got it right. We're having a global hat party, right?"
"Arcane… aren't you forgetting something?" Bunsen leaned in, trying to make Arca realize what he was supposed to be doing at day court.
"Oh. Oh! Oh right, I completely forgot! Here, Bunsen," Arca replied, placing the oversized sombrero on bunsen's head. "Hold this. I can't believe I forgot to ask the crown for chips to go with the salsa! I'll be back in like 6 hours, be careful not to spill it!" Before anypony else could get a word in, Ar a was out the door and galloping down the steps that would lead him to the lower floors, amd ultimately to the train station.
"...orders, Guild Master Bunsen?"
"Send a flare mail to Princess Celestia explaining what we actually wanted to petition the crown for. If Arca went to day court, she'll know he made a mistake. We all know how he gets when he has to sit in line."
"Anything else, sir?"
Bunsen lifted the sombrero slightly, looked at the other committee members, and groaned. "...alright, fine. Somepony go get some tortilla chips, no point letting this go to waste. I'm not wearing it while we eat, though."