//------------------------------// // Fillies' Day Out // Story: Golly Interrupted // by Golly4Ever //------------------------------// The breakfast table was long and narrow. Princess Cadance sat at one end while the two fillies sat across from each other in the middle. The seat at the far end, reserved for the patriarch of the family, was vacant. A vast assortment of fresh fruits and pastries were arranged on the table, presented on fancy dishes. Cozy sat and just stared at it all, eyes wide and mouth open, drooling. "This is nothing, Cozy," said Flurry Heart. "You should see the royal breakfast Auntie and Spike get!" "I've seen their lunch. I can't imagine what they do with all the food that doesn't get eaten," said Cozy. "What's that dear?" called out Cadance from her end of the table. "Oh, nothing, mom!" called back Flurry Heart, their voices echoing in the vastness of the oversized room. There were smiles all around as the three ate. "So what are you two fillies going to do today?" asked Cadance. "What, mom?" called back Flurry. "Your plans! What are they?" asked Cadance, louder. "Oh! I thought we'd do some exploring maybe," replied Flurry. "On our way back to Ponyville." "That sounds nice, dear! Maybe you could find someplace neat to explore on your way back to Ponyville." "That's what I said!" "What's dead?" "Nothing, Mom!" Cozy watched the distant exchange between the two carry on as she ate. "Flurry, why don't we just sit closer?" * * * "Now you fillies stay out of trouble!" encouraged Cadance. They were standing on Flurry's balcony, getting ready to take off for the day. Flurry had donned her dark hooded cloak and unmarked traveler's saddlebags. Cozy had saddlebags of her own, each was packed with various supplies they might want or need throughout the day. "I'll try mom," said Flurry with an innocent smile. "Your dad is probably on his way back by now and will be home soon, so you better get going if you want to leave now." Cozy looked from Flurry to Cadance and back. "Yes, mom." replied Flurry. "And remember, Flurry, you're still a princess. You represent the Crystal Empire, and us as a family and as leaders. It's important you behave yourself out there!" "Yes, mom..." "I love you!" "I love you too, mom." "And Flurry?" "Yes, mom?" "Have fun!" "Yes, mom." "You too, Cozy. It was very nice having you over. Please feel welcome anytime you are invited." Cozy smiled and replied, kneeling lightly, "Thank you." "Can we go now, mom?" asked Flurry, impatiently. "Just one more thing!" "What is it, mom?" Cadance scooped Flurry up in an all-encompassing hug, wrapping her up with her wings. "I love you!" "Mom!" yelped Flurry. "I love you too..." she said quickly in a low voice. Flurry teleported out of her mother's grasp and appeared beside Cozy. She had one last nuzzling with her mother before turning to Cozy, "Ok, let's fly. Hurry!" They took to the air and off for the day they went flying side by side over the terrain. "Your mom seems really nice," commented Cozy. "Yeah, I guess." "Really. My mom-- I mean, Astral. She's not my mom. I know that. I mean..." Cozy continued flying in silence. "She doesn't... I mean, I don't..." "I know, what you mean," said Flurry as they flew together, side by side. Cozy nodded, continuing to remain silent in thought. * * * They flew a large spiral pattern circling outwards from the castle at the center of the empire to the edge through the protective dome into the bite of the frozen northern air. Their path then continued south, straight a little ways before the two touched down in the snow just outside the protective layer surrounding a familiar settlement. Flurry folded her wings back, the two cloth flaps sewn onto the back of her cloak draping over and hiding them well. "Here again?" asked Cozy. They stepped through the force field, out of the cold and into the outpost settlement proper. "Yep!" said Flurry, enthusiastically. "I never take a trip without stopping here first!" Cozy looked around. It looked very different during the daytime. Without any passing storm, it was also quite warm on the 'inside' as well. Travelers roamed around while others had set up tables to display their wares. It was a mix of all types: Ponies, griffins, dragons, hippogryphs and others, each coexisting in peace and commerce. "First things first," said Flurry. "Pay our dues?" asked Cozy. "I didn't bring any bits with me." "It's ok. This trip is on me!" They walked to the fountain in the center of town. Some of the regulars recognized Flurry, offering a polite nod and a smile, others vocalized their welcomes with delight. Cozy watched as she and Flurry walked down the main path. "They know who you are?" "Oh, yeah. Just about everypony here knows." "And they don't bow?" Flurry waved the notion off with a hoof. "Nah. We're all equal here." They reached the fountain. Cozy looked over the edge into it at the scattered bits lying on the bottom as they cast shimmering golden and silver reflections through the water up onto her face. Flurry tilted her horn forward, giving the fountain a charge as the protective shield it emitted began to glow brighter and brighter. A settlement pony called out to them, "Easy there, Ms. Flurry! You don't want to make it so strong nopony can get in or out, now!" Flurry abruptly cut her feed to the fountain with a sheepish giggle. "Sorry!" she called back. Cozy looked up at Flurry, "I think some of us are more equal than others." * * * Cozy and Flurry walked together through the marketplace portion of the settlement. Every now and then, Flurry would stop at a vendor and sort through the pile of items on the table, or bins. "So, why do you like to come here all the time? What is it we're here for?" asked Cozy. "The food!" replied Flurry, with excitement. "In dusty old boxes?" asked Cozy, scrunching up her nose as she turned a few trinkets over, a small cloud of dust puffing out of the box as the items inside mixed. Flurry laughed, "Oh! No. Here I'm just looking for little interesting things and stuff. I meant like that jerky stuff the Griffins sell or the bowls of stuff like we had last time. Doesn't it just hit the spot?" asked Flurry, poking at Cozy's side close to her belly. Cozy batted Flurry's hoof away. "It does," she replied. "Ahh!" said Flurry, pulling out a small amber gem with her hoof. It was wrapped around the ends with wire as if to contain whatever it may hold. She cupped it as best as she could in her hooves, peaking at it with an eye up close. "Does it glow?" asked Cozy. "I can't tell. I want it, though." She put the gem aside and continued to shuffle through the box, exciting more dust in the process. Cozy sneezed. "What will you do with it?" "I don't know." Flurry pulled out a small wooden box. It was very dark in color and intricately carved with highlights decorated in gold leafing. There was a simple latch on the front with a wide hinge on the back. Inside was thick red felt padding. It could be a treasure chest, or even a coffin of sorts, were it quite a bit larger. She held both the box and the gem up to the vendor who sat in the back of the tent, keeping a watchful eye over her tables. She looked the items over before announcing to Flurry, "Thirty bits." Flurry frowned, countering "Twenty bits!" The vendor scoffed at Flurry's offer. "Forty bits!" "Ok, thirty bits then," agreed Flurry, dejectedly. "Thirty? I said Forty," corrected the Vendor. Flurry felt a tugging on her cloak. She looked down to see Cozy shaking her head at her. "It's ok, Cozy. I got this." Cozy shook her head at Flurry harder. "Just walk away," she whispered to her. Flurry hesitated before putting the items down. They exited the tent, out of view and outside of earshot. "What's wrong, Cozy? I really wanted that box and that fancy rock. They weren't that expensive." "Gimmy your bits," said Cozy. "Why?" "I can get you a better deal," she replied. "You really don't have to. Forty bits really isn't much to a pony like me." "I know that. But she knows that too. It's not about the bits, it's about the principle, now," Cozy held her hoof up to Flurry. Flurry grabbed a hoof full of bits from her stash. "No, no... This should be enough," said Cozy, taking a smaller hoof full of bits from Flurry. "That's all? What are you going to do?" "My thing, of course!" smiled Cozy, getting into character. "You're not going to threaten or steal from her, are you? You don't want enemies in a place like this." "Golly, no! Just wait here. I'll be right back." Cozy took the bits and trotted her way back into the tent. A short while later, Cozy returned with a wire-wrapped gem in her teeth and a small intricately carved box balancing on her head. "What? How'd did- What?" blinked Flurry in disbelief. Cozy smiled as Flurry took the items. She placed the gem inside the box with her hoof while holding the box in her magic. "I have a way with words, and with ponies too," smiled Cozy. "Here, I also got you this," she said as she reached into her own saddlebag, pulling out a pouch of empty corked vials. "What are these for?" asked Flurry. "I don't know," replied Cozy. "It seemed like something you would want from here, though." "Yeah. How did I miss them?" "You didn't. I made her sweeten the deal, so she pulled those from the back where she keeps her new stuff she hasn't gone through yet." "I didn't give you all that many bits, though?" "What can I say? I'm good." Cozy was beaming with pride. "Yes, you are," agreed Flurry as she pat Cozy on her head. "You know what? I think it's food time!" "Ok!" "Come on, there's a Hedgehog out here that sells something called 'mocetta' or something. I don't know what it is, but you gotta try it!" "You don't know what you're eating here?" "Yeah. Never ask what the food here is. If it's good, it's good." * * * "Golly!" "I know! Right?" Cozy and Flurry sat on a log near the edge of the outpost settlement, eating a bowl of ...something. They weren't quite sure of what exactly it was, they just knew it was the best bowl of chunks of stuff in a thick soupy carrier they ever had. "So Flurry, what are we doing today?" "I don't know. Maybe explore a cave I heard of. It's somewhere deep in a forest near Ponyville. Cozy slurped the last of the contents from her bowl. "The Everfree?" asked Cozy, wiping her mouth with the back of her hoof. "Oh, no. Just a regular forest. One where the brambles are thickest." Flurry looked up in thought trying to remember the stories she had heard. "Yeah?" asked Cozy, setting her bowl down as she curiously looked at Flurry. "Yeah. I think I might have found a use for these vials you got me." The sudden blaring of a loud horn sounded through the settlement briefly, gaining the attention of everypony present. Flurry quickly turned her head towards the center of town. "Oh no," she whispered. "What? What is it?" asked Cozy. Flurry hopped up, leaving her bowl on the ground by the log. She motioned for Cozy to be quiet, and to follow her as she quietly approached a narrow gap between two vendor tarps that had formed a wall. She carefully put her eye up to the gap and peeked through. "Flurry. What was that sound?" asked Cozy quietly. She was beginning to worry. "Trouble," whispered back Flurry, not looking away from the small gap. "Trouble?!?" asked Cozy in a louder whisper. "Yeah, now shush!" hissed Flurry. Cozy shut her mouth, crouching as low as she could, squeezing her way under Flurry while also trying to get a peek through the gap at what was going on. "Visitors, and not very welcome ones too." "Who?" asked Cozy, quietly. "I don't know yet. I can't see them." The settlement was eerily quiet. Several of the vendors had hastily wrapped up their entire displays into tight bundles, stashing them away onto their carts or locked into their caravans, leaving the tents empty and deserted. Flurry spotted at the edge of her view a crystal pony, armored in gold trim. There were two of them she could tell as they slowly walked their way through the aisles. They were flanked by a white unicorn with a blue mane, and lighter blue streaks; a starred shield for a cutie mark. Cozy felt Flurry's body tensing up over her. "What is it? What do you see?" she whispered. "It's... It's..." The group of three unwelcome guests stopped in full view of Flurry from her hiding spot while the unicorn stepped up, loudly announcing to everycreature, "I have come for my beloved daughter, Princess Flurry Heart. I've turned a blind eye to the existence of this place and her frequent visits on her many... outings for a long time now, much longer than this place has ever deserved." "...Father," uttered Flurry, so quiet that Cozy almost didn't hear it. Shining Armor continued, "It would be very unfortunate if I were to hear that one of you might be hiding her from me." "You don't rule here!" called out a pony, hiding himself behind cover. Shining snapped his gaze towards the direction of the defiant voice. "That may be true, but neither does any of the governing bodies that rule the different lands that you all come from. This place isn't even on any map. Nopony knows it's here. I did not come to cause trouble, but I hear that in a place like this, once ignited... trouble, tends to spread like wildfire." Flurry looked down at Cozy. She could feel her shaking as her wings rubbed on Flurry's belly. "We gotta get outta here," she quietly whispered. "I've put them all in danger." The various vendors kept their heads down, not daring to make eye contact with Shining, while some travelers looked on and others quietly went on about their business. Shining stopped right in front of Flurry's gap, looking around. Flurry held her breath; she could nearly smell him, he was so close. He put his eye up to the opening, only a foot higher than the top of Flurry's horn. He only saw into the campgrounds, where a couple of crystal guards were poking through tents and sleeping bags. Shining poked his hoof through the gap to widen it, barely missing the tip of Flurry's horn. "Sir!" shouted a guard. "Yes, what is it?" replied Shining, pulling his hoof back and turning away from the hole. A guard was holding a small artifact over the fountain. It glowed brightly, changing color as he held it closer to the structure. Shining approached, "What do you have for me?" The guard turned to Shining, "She's definitely been here. Very recently." Shining smirked before turning to face the vendors, and speaking up. "Flurry Heart, dear. It's time to come home. Your mother worries and I miss you. This is no place for a young princess." There was a flash of Pink light from behind the marketplace area accompanied by a poofing sound. "Very well. We will talk later," said Shining in a low voice. He cleared his throat in preparation to make one final announcement. Raising his voice, he once again addressed the small settlement, "You all will be wise to be more careful who you choose to welcome here so freely. You never know when it could mean trouble." Shining turned and bucked hard at the fountain, crushing some of its more intricately detailed features, and knocking it over. The protective shield it was providing to the outpost abruptly ceased and dissipated into the atmosphere. A chill immediately set into the air as light snow began to fall. Shining nodded to his guards and began to stroll out of the settlement towards the Crystal Empire. A guard blew a whistle, calling the others in from throughout the area, signaling that it was time to go. The townsponies fumed as they watched in silent anger as Shining and his guards went off into the distance. A few of them rushed up to the fountain to inspect the damage caused to it. They quickly worked to fix the fountain's centerpiece upright. In doing so the settlement 's protective shield returned, but it was much weaker than before. "Hopefully it's just lost energy and can be refilled." said a pony. A few unicorns were already rushing up to give it a charge. "Poor mare. I wish her well," said another settlement dweller. "We all do," said yet another.