//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Sisters 
// Story: The Menace of Canterlot 
// by The_Darker_Fonts 
//------------------------------//

“You’re finally back,” Amber Breeze exclaimed, rushing to wrap River Lily up in a wide hug.  Lily laughed a little at her younger sister’s excitement and relief as she felt her stomach groan with hunger.  It had been a long day, and as the sisters pulled apart, Lily set the papers in her hooves on the table.  Amber momentarily ignored them as she asked, “Where have you been all day?  I was worried you’d miss dinner!”
“Carrot soup again,” Lily teased, handing up her satchel on a hook by the dining table.  The cozy little house had that warm feeling to it as usual, snuggly on the corner of a Central Canterlot square, awash with the light of the city.  The kitchen was on the second floor, in a room with drawn curtains to give the sisters more privacy.  Though there was rarely anypony out at this time of the night anyways, the changeling attack yesterday left the streets completely empty, rendering the curtains useless tonight.  
“No, barley gravy on potatoes,” Amber replied with a smile, producing two baked potatoes from the oven and a small pot of the gravy.  Lily gave her sister a smile in return, taking the pot and setting it on a hot pad already set out.  Glancing at the papers, Amber tentatively asked, “What are they saying?”
“They’re all talking about the same thing,” Lily told her.  Picking up one of them, she showed her sister the front cover.  “‘Blue Knight Returns, Changelings Slaughtered in Canterlot Streets’.  Every one of them is the same.  Blue Knight returns, kills twenty-five changelings.  Changelings attack, Blue Knight kills twenty-five in explosive return.”
“How many did you buy,” Amber questioned, suddenly realizing just how much of the table was occupied by newspapers.
“Seven,” Lily admitted sheepishly.
“Sweet Celestia, how much did you spend,” Amber asked with exasperation.  
“Only fifteen bits,” she quickly protested.  “I got most of them from the garbage or from ponies about to throw theirs away.”
“Goodness gracious, Lily,” Amber sighed.  “Your obsession with that dangerous stallion is starting to really concern me.  I thought you’d gotten better in these past months.”
“To be fair, the Blue Knight has been missing for eight months,” Lily pointed out.  “I haven’t had much proof that he would ever take action again, especially after the East Street killing.  I mean, all of Canterlot turned against him-”
“Because he killed a stallion,” Amber interrupted.
“-and destroyed some houses,” Lily finished.  “He made a lot of mistakes that night, but unlike everypony else, I don’t think he feels remorse for killing that stallion, and I don’t blame him.  I mean, he was one of the two stallions that attempted to rob and rape me.  Stallions are dangerous.”
“But should they really lose their life for their misdeeds,” Amber asked with uncertainty.  Her eyes were staring at her potato, indecision clear.  Lily frowned.
This predicament was one that the entire city was facing, a question they had grappled with over the last months.  Even though the city didn’t know about her struggles with the mean duo of stallions,they did know them as the stallions who had been arrested then violently broken out.  They and the nameless white unicorn had been the source of speculation and fear since, knowing that while the Blue Knight was possibly dead, they were still out there.  The constables had, of course, insisted their efforts to find the stallions had been strenuous and extensive, but there was no evidence that they were close to finding them.
Lily was personally fine with it, because even though she knew the Blue Knight lived and would probably fight them as soon as they re-emerged, she doubted they would return until provoked.  The fact that the Blue Knight was alive hadn’t become known until his physical return yesterday during the attack, meaning that Lavender had also kept the Blue Knight’s survival a personal secret.  Lily had told Amber, however, as the only pony in the world she trusted and could confide in.  There was skepticism at first of course, mostly about how much the Blue Knight associated himself with Lily, but over time she had come to accept the strange coincidences.
“No, I don’t think they should,” Lily answered finally.  “But I’m not sad to see that stallion gone.  Something wrong was done that’s result was… for the better of Equestria.  We can’t change it, we won’t agree with it, but we can’t deny the result.” 
“And I guess you feel the same about the changelings,” Amber mumbled.
“I don’t know, really,” she shrugged, cutting into the steaming potato and pouring gravy over it.  “I mean, stories about changelings drawing little colts and fillies of their love are the next most discussed story in the news.  So many ponies were victims to drainings, with numbers in the hundreds.  They also destroyed homes, shops, and hurt ponies.  At the same time… twenty-five?  It’s an insane number.  I think it hints to the Blue Knight not being the stallion I thought he was.”
“The past eight months haven’t clued you in on that,” Amber questioned from across the table, raising a brow.  
“Well, the past eight months made me think he was in control of his violence and only accidentally killed that stallion, but now…” Lily trailed off, picking at her food.  Taking a bite, she thought for a minute, before concluding, “Now I’m worried that he may begin killing as the solution to any problem that Equestria faces, which isn’t at all the impression he gave me.”
“And what impression did he give you,” Amber asked.  Lily had told her sister before, but she recognized it was just Amber’s attempt at helping her, so she answered.
“I thought he was a tortured stallion who just made a mistake and was shunned for it.  It seems that was wrong.  He may have just been genuinely cold, cruel, and dismissive because he doesn’t care so much for anypony.  That’s what I’m afraid of, what the city itself is afraid of.  We’ve seen how powerful that stallion is, potentially a rogue alicorn with the ability to level entire streets.  Will he be the next threat the Elements have to face?”
“And you don’t want this stallion you considered a friend to turn out to be a villain,” Amber concluded with a nod.  Gesturing to the scattered newspapers, she said, “That’s why you went digging through the garbage to find these papers.”
“Yup,” Lily replied firmly, before shoveling another bite of dinner into her mouth.  Swallowing, she added, “And it’s why I’m going out tonight as well.  I’m going to look for him.”
“He’s not gonna be out tonight,” Amber told her frankly.  “I mean, if this stallion is as smart as everypony says, then he’ll know well enough that if he appears again, there will be panic.  Not to mention that everypony expects him to appear tonight.  The whole city is on edge, waiting for that stallion to make another brazen entry into the spotlight and take out more criminals.  The smart thing to do would be to wait, right?  Let the pot simmer down before adding to the heat.  Otherwise, it would boil over.  He might not just have the constables on his tail, but the Elements or even the Princesses!”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Lily admitted.  “I still want to look, just in case…”
“No, you aren’t,” Amber denied her softly.  Reaching across the table, she grabbed her sister’s hoof as she explained, “You’ve been draining yourself over where the Blue Knight might be hiding or if he had truly vanished for months now.  He’s returned, so you no longer have to worry about that.  Take tonight off and get some good sleep for once and figure things out tomorrow.”
Lily paused hesitantly, staring at her sister’s deep amber hoof.  She was supposed to be the more mature, smarter mare of the two of them, three years older.  Yet here her little sister was, giving her advice on a topic she had no real association to, just trying to help her older sister.  Lily felt ashamed for a second.  She shouldn’t be putting her little sister with this, especially with nopony else in Canterlot knowing what they did.  Besides, Amber was right.  Even if she did come across the Blue Knight, all he would do was dodge questions and give her curt orders.  There was no point in going out.
“Okay, I’ll stay home tonight,” she agreed with a small smile.  “Thanks sis.”
“Of course,” Amber replied with a wide beam.  “Can I expect to see you in the shop tomorrow as well?”
“Yeah, I better get back to running it,” Lily admitted sheepishly.  “With the whole changeling attack already being repaired, it’s probably best if I take charge again.  How was it today?”
“Well, I don’t want to brag too much, but today was our best-selling day ever,” her little sister exclaimed excitedly.  Sobering slightly, she explained, “It’s kinda awful, actually.  Ponies came in to buy flowers for their loved ones who were hurt or lost something in the attack.  I decided to sell everything at a third the price because it felt wrong to sell grieving, scared, or sad ponies flowers for their loved ones stuck in the hospital from a draining.  Well, word spread pretty quickly, and out store got absolutely flooded.  I think Chipper counted over seven hundred customers.  I had to call up Rosette and Jasmine Spice to help because we were getting so many ponies flowing through.”
“Wait a minute, seven hundred,” Lily asked, breathless.  
“At least,” Amber nodded with wide eyes.  “It’s pretty crazy.  We ran out of most stock because everypony seemed to just want our cheaper flowers.  Turns out, everypony else kept their prices the same.  Orchid’s Flower Shop on the Northeast End actually tried to raise prices.  We had ponies from all over Canterlot coming in.”
“Holy horseapples,” Lily exclaimed, feeling the excitement build in her.  Even with a third of the profits, it would still be more flowers than they had sold in the past month.  “How much?”
“We didn’t have time to count,” Amber replied with shining eyes.  “Lily, this changes everything for us!”
The mare nodded slowly, her brain running through all of the different possibilities they could do with the money.  While they had never been lacking money to live comfortably- heck, they lived in Central Canterlot- they had never been able to expand the business beyond cozy comfort.
“We’ll keep the prices at a third for the rest of the week,” Lily quickly stated.  “Don’t run any ads in the papers and don’t accept any funding from other organizations looking for money.  If news reporters come, all we tell them is that prices are low out of respect for those affected by the attack.  We’ll put up signs in the shop asking customers to be quiet out of respect.  Stock up on gladiolus, begonias, chrysanthemums, and healer’s mark, and choose one of them to be the main item we want to sell.  If we manage this right, we might be able to keep this lightning in the bottle while still doing good.”
“I like chrysanthemums,” Amber muttered.  “They’re the goodwill flowers and are pretty easy to draw.  I’ll get Chipper to sketch out a few possible posters for them and maybe look into if we can get a little chrysanthemum sign from Hammer across the street.  He’d probably love a little challenge before retirement.”
“Great idea,” Lily complimented, tapping her fork on the table as her mind raced.  “We’ll have to get a permit for it, but I think the sign will cement our business into this street and give ponies a place to look for.  We’ll begin running little ads in the Canterlot Sun and Paper Star at the start of next week, to see if we can retain customers and entice new ones.  Play our cards right and we’ll secure our business for at least another few years.”
“Wow,” Amber breathed, sitting back as Lily finished off the potato.  “Seems like we’re in quite an invincible position.  Chipper, Rosette, and Jasmine are all going to be over the moon about this.  Chipper might finally ask Rosette out!”
Lily giggled at the statement. “No way.  The poor stallion is about as confident as a filly in the Everfree Forest whenever he talks to her.  Gosh, if anything, this might be what gets Rosette to ask him out, she’ll be so fed up with his nonsense.”
The sisters laughed at their coworkers’ folly, the little bit of joy they could derive from their back and forth amplified by the warm food and light.  After several moments of silence, Lily gave her sister a small smirk as she asked, “And how are things between you and that handsome stallion across the block?”
Instantly, Amber’s confidence was washed away with a deep red blush, looking everything like a filly being asked about her cutie colt.  Lily couldn’t resist chuckling at the flustered mare, who stammered, “Th-th-things have been, um, well, y’know… Baker may have… um… stopped by.”
“Ooh, do tell,” Lily insisted, leaning on the table with her head propped up by her hooves.
“Um, no, I don’t think I will,” Amber replied, glancing away with an involuntary beam, her amber face still bright red.  “There’s not much to say anyways, I promise.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to get an update from Jasmine instead, then,” Lily resigned knowingly.
“Nope,” Amber snapped instantly standing up.  “That’s unfair!  You can’t just pull the Jasmine card!  You know she’ll just spew on and on about nonsense that didn’t really happen or exaggerate it!”
“But I’ll get an idea of what happened,” Lily pointed out with a smirk.  
“Fine fine fine,” Amber sighed, beet red.  Almost too quietly, she mumbled, “He may have kissed me goodbye…”
“Oh, now that’s just cute,” Lily gushed with a grin.  “I don’t know what you’re so worried about.  You’re acting like this is your first kiss.”
“It is,” Amber grumbled, still looking away from her sister as she burst out laughing.  
“Really,” Lily questioned, her eyes tearing up from laughter.  When she saw Amber bashfully nod, she exclaimed, “Sweet Celestia, for all of the fun we poke at Chipper and Rosette, you and Baker aren’t any better!  You two have been flirting since the first day you moved here and you’re telling me that today you two shared your first kiss?”
“Oh shut up, you haven’t had yours,” Amber shot back.  When her sister only smiled, her face dropped.  “No way.”
“Yup, when I was seventeen, with Spring,” Lily confirmed with a confident smile.
“But you told mom and dad-”
“-a lie,” Lily finished devilishly.  “I wasn’t going to tell mom and dad, they wouldn’t have let me go out with him again!”
“Wow,” Amber said, confused.  “Why didn’t you ever tell me?  Are we sisters or not?”
“It never came up, and after we decided to part, I didn’t really think about it much,” Lily shrugged.  “Nothing against you or anything.  It was kinda bad too.  I mean it bruised his snout because I rushed it.”  
“Hah, you didn’t even get tongue involved,” Amber exclaimed before snapping her mouth shut and covering it with both hooves, horrified.  
Staring at her sister with wide eyes, Lily held back a laugh as she teased, “That’s a little bit more than a kiss, sis.  If you two ever decide to, y’know, hook up, just do it at his place.  I’m happy for you and everything, but please leave me out of it.”
“Okay, and goodnight,” Amber agreed, rushing away as she added, “I need to go to bed before I embarrass myself more.”
“Love ya, night,” Lily called after her little sister, standing up as well to clear the table, smiling softly at herself.  Amber had arrived about two years ago, fresh from their parents’ farm near Vanhoover, and had taken naturally to big city life.  Of course, it helped that she was just a bubbly mare all around, a bright flower in a city looking for its beautiful little roses.  It also helped that she already had a stallion fancying her, and one she fancied back.  With any luck, Lily hoped to see them married by next year.  It would certainly keep her sister happy and maybe make her an aunt.  
Smiling at the thought, the dishes cleaned, she went to bed for the first time in months without even the thought of the Blue Knight.