//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: In Which Battles Are Lost // Story: A Family Matter // by Bardsworth Brony //------------------------------// Sketch arrived at the front door of Carousel Boutique sweating and panting. He reached up and pounded on the door with a hoof and tried to catch his breath while he waited. The door opened with the help of Rarity's magic and she called in a sing-song voice from the other side of the boutique, "Come in!" Sketch entered, his chest still heaving a bit. "Rarity… I… you…" "Oh, Sketch!" the unicorn cried happily, moving away from a sewing machine. "I met your parents this morning! And what a meeting! Did you know that your father said-" "Yes," Sketch said, cutting her off and taking a deep breath. "I just talked to him. Rarity, you can't do business with my father." A look of absolute confusion crossed her face. "Why on Equestria not, darling?" "Look, I'm sure he told you all sorts of things you wanted to hear and I'm sure he buttered you up by buying a suit, but-" "He didn't just buy a suit, darling," Rarity said, her deep blue eyes practically on fire with excitement. "He's commissioning me to design him one! See, I've already started!" Her horn glowed and a large sheet of paper floated over. She had drawn Astor as she had seen him earlier, negotiation spectacles and all, and had designed a very modern and stylish suit coat in a charcoal color. "It's wonderful, Rarity, but-" "And he said that with the clientele that will be coming to Ponyville once it becomes a resort town, I'll be able to design and sell some of the foremost fashion designs in Equestria!" She was so giddy that she was practically dancing in place. "But you can't honestly think that-" "I simply must get back to work, darling," Rarity said, skipping back to the sewing machine. "I need to have this suit ready for your father before he leaves town." Sketch stood in place and watched the unicorn go back to work, all but forgetting her visitor as she hummed to herself and sorted through fabric scraps. It had happened; his father had gotten to her. He had seen it happen to ponies in the past after negotiations with Astor, but he had never before been close to somepony that it had happened to. His father was a master of telling ponies what they wanted to hear in order to get them on his side. And, with a sick feeling in his stomach, Sketch realized that Rarity was only the beginning. *** "What exactly does your father do for a living?" Twilight Sparkle asked after Sketch had related the recent events to her. "You've never actually mentioned that." "Mainly he owns two hotels, one in Whinnypeg and one in Manehattan," Sketch said, browsing a row of books without actually reading the titles. "But he does a number of other things on the side, including investing in businesses and loaning out money." "But wouldn't those things be of help to Ponyville?" Sketch stopped and looked into Twilight's violet eyes. "Have you ever heard of Horseshoe Crescent?" The unicorn frowned in thought. "Isn't that a luxury resort up near Vanhoover?" "It is now, but at one time it used to be a town just like Ponyville." "What?! How is that even possible?" "My father happened to it. I remember going there with him when I was younger, when it was still a small town. It had cheerful residents and family-run businesses, and a general sense of happiness to it. My father had the same idea then – to turn it into a resort town. He got everypony in town fired up about it, and they made the preparations and started bringing in visitors. Then, new businesses started to move in, driving the smaller businesses under. Soon, most of the shops and restaurants and even the residents were all transplanted from other cities. Then, my father partnered with another businesspony and they more or less bought the entire town in order to turn it into one large resort. After that was finished and the resort was doing well, my father sold his portion and was done with it. Nopony who had been an original resident of Horseshoe Crescent remained; they had all moved to other towns and cities." Twilight stood staring at Sketch with a horrified look on her face. "And he wants to do the same with Ponyville?" Sketch nodded. "We can't let that happen!" "We have to try to get everypony on our side, and that'll be difficult to do. My father is very persuasive when he meets somepony one-on-one, and it sounds like he plans on hitting as many Ponyville residents as he can to get them on his side." "Let me at least go talk to Rarity," Twilight said with a determined look in her eyes. "She'll listen to me. She has to." "I hope so," Sketch said in a low voice. He glanced at a clock on the wall and said, "I have to get over to the schoolhouse. Good luck, Twilight." Sketch walked out of the library, glad that he had at least one pony on his side, even if he had the sinking feeling that they'd be going up against most of the town once his father had been there long enough. *** Sketch galloped back to the library after his class. Twilight was waiting for him inside, a smile on her face. That gave him hope. "You talked to Rarity?" he asked with an eager tone. "Yes," Twilight said, and added, "And your father." Time seemed to stop for a moment, and when it started back up Sketch felt a thick dread rise from his gut. "And…?" "I think he really means to do something good for Ponyville, Sketch," Twilight said, firmly believing her words. "I mean, just take a look around town. After those fires, we need all the help we can get, and your father seems to know what he's doing." "What did he promise you?" Sketch asked, wanting to cut right to the point. "He said that he would put an addition onto the library and fill it with more books, books from around Equestria!" There was a twinkle in the unicorn's eyes when she spoke. "And he said he'd be willing to give me a grant towards researching any subject of my choosing!" "What?!" Sketch cried out. "But that doesn't even-" "It's going to be about magic of some sort, but I haven't decided just what specifically yet," Twilight continued, pacing around the perimeter of the library in thought. "Maybe continuing research that Starswirl the Bearded never finished. That's something I could never do on my own! "Twilight, what about-" "Or maybe I could research the creation of my own spells!" she practically shouted, a huge smile on her face. She continued talking to herself and Sketch knew he had lost another battle, a big one this time. He lowered his head and slowly left the library, the weight of defeat bearing down on him like wet blanket. "Sketch!" A voice behind him caused him to start and he turned to see Spike running towards him. "Twilight's been like that ever since she got back. I can barely talk to her!" "I know," Sketch sighed. "Do me a favor, will you, Spike?" The little dragon nodded. "Keep trying to get through to her. And whatever you do, stay away from my father. Promise?" "Will do," he saluted. There wasn't much that Spike could do, but Sketch could always hope. It might turn out, he thought grimly, that hoping is all I can do.