//------------------------------// // Earth: 259 "Princess of the Hill" // Story: Equestria Unlimited // by Bateman66 //------------------------------// Earth #: 259 Codename: “Princess of the Hill” Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack stood vacantly along a small stretch of grass bordering the pavement. The stretch of grass was technically Twilight’s property considering it was in front of her new oak fence and the pavement was none other then the alley, prime hangout spot of Twilight and the gang. The four stood silently, all holding a can of Sweet Apple Acres Cider and occasionally taking a sip of the sweet juice every now and again. Twilight lifted her can to her mouth and took a sip. “Eyup” she casually called out, followed by Fluttershy’s returning “Eyup”, proceeded by Pinkie’s “Yup”, and finished off by Applejack’s “Mmm-hmm”. This was the ritual. The usual opener to any conversation the four friends had when doing anything that involved cider, the alley, and the evening. And of course, just as soon as the ritual had ended, Pinkie spoke up. “Hey Twilight, I heard Dashie got some new roofing tiles. Their supposed to be those new Weather-Tec ones that can absorb any moisture and shoot it back down to the ground. It sounds really neat!” Twilight took another sip of the cider before responding. “Why would Rainbow Dash need roofing tiles, she lives in the sky.” “Well” continued Pinkie, “She doesn’t want to keep on having clouds brush up against her house, chips off some of the already existing clouds.” Pinkie took another sip of cider. “There’s magnets in them no doubt, attracted to any other surface, ready to scratch and destroy anything we hold dear.” Fluttershy spoke up at this point, not even waiting to take another sip of her cider. “I wish clouds brushed up against my house. I would invite them in, and we’d have a nice dinner together, and I would even let them pet Angel.” Applejack responded to this in a casual manner. “Dang ole mare, I tell ya’ what mare, the dang ole shingles on the dang ole house go a’ flip ana’ floppin all aroun’ the dang ole place, mare itsa in like a win’ storm mare, like I tell ya’ what mare ain’t dang ole need for the shingles cause’ the dang ole things justa fly right off and dang ole kill somepony I tell ya’ what. Sad stuff mare.” The three other ponies nodded in sincere agreement, understanding everything Applejack had just said. “Well that’s what we tell ourselves, Applejack” concluded Twilight. Everypony got back to silently sipping the cider for the moment when Spike came sprinting up the road, a piece of parchment in his claws. “Twilight, Twilight!” the stubby little dragon called out, “I just this letter from Princess Celestia!” Spike skidded to a stop right in front of Twilight and quickly thrusted the letter to her face. He smiled up at her as she took it from his claws. Twilight unfurled the letter with her magic and began to read the letter aloud. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, it has recently come to my attention that you have surmounted many additional hours of work as Assailant Manager of the Ponyville Library. I am reluctant to announce that in order to keep in line with Federal Labor Laws, I have been mandatorily authorized to give you something that would assuredly make up for your overtime. It can be pretty much anything you want, as long as it’s in with the terms of agreement you signed eight years ago. I can’t find the document anywhere in my office so go crazy. Hey, I don’t make the rules but this seems fair enough. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.” Twilight put the letter down, partially in surprise and partially in confusion. “What does the Princess mean by this?” she asked aloud. “It means she’s gonna give you whatever you want Twilight!” responded Pinkie. “You have your boss by the tail and now it’s time to reel her in! If I were you, then I would most definitely ask for something important, something worthwhile. Maybe a space ship or a flying yacht.” “Dang it Pinkie, I don’t need a dang yacht!” Fluttershy spoke up at this. “Maybe you should ask for a year off work. Then we could hang out a lot more and I could have you over for dinner everyday that I’m not crying or serving Oreos and stale milk that night.” Pinkie Pie perked up at this idea. Applejack slowly shook her head in disbelief. “Dang ole mare, I tell ya’ what mare, outta go to the dang ole pinnacle, know what I’m sayin’, dang ole live free, or dang ole die hard, mare, be whatya wanna be, know what I’m sayin’.” Twilight smiled. “You know what Applejack? I’m going to do just that, exactly what I’d want to do. Thanks!” Twilight put down her can of cider and walked into her house with Spike trailing behind her. With Twilight now gone, the three began to converse again. “Darn shame with what Twilight’s doing to herself” said Pinkie. “Putting all her time into that work of hers, I bet she’ll just ask Princess Celestia for a book or something. We ought to do something.” “Like what?” asked Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie threw down her can to add dramatic effect. “We’re gonna throw her party! But not just any party, a party that will make her beg Celestia for more days off from work! And thus, be able to hang out with us even more.” “Dang ole mare, howya’ gonna dang ole’ make Twilight not wanna work, mare, she dang ole can’t stop I tell ya’ what.” Applejack’s skepticism meters were at an all time high with Pinkie’s plan. Pinkie nodded in agreement. “That might be true, but if we show her how much fun she can have on her work days…I think that’ll convince her.” Pinkie turned to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, do still have those sky diving tickets for you and one other?” “Yes, I do. I’ve been saving them in a special box whenever somepony offers to go with me. I’ve told you girls about it before but you’ve never seemed to-” “Excellent!” Continued Pinkie. “Since the skydiving is normally at ten thousand feet, if we rip each ticket in half, that’ll cover all of us to skydive from five thousand feet!” Pinkie turned her attention to Applejack. “Applejack, you still have the vintage Converga Convertible from last summer?” “Dang ole’ mare, I got da’ dang ole thing ready mare, I tell ya what.” “Perfect. And I still have my stock of fireworks and blasting caps. Of course I’ll have to add some extra magnesium so the fireworks can’t be affected by any psychoactive-alien influxes that occur when they’re above the tree line. But I can work that out later.” Pinkie looked at both Fluttershy and Applejack and then shouted. “Team, move out!” Pinkie took off sprinting towards her house and Applejack began to casually walk towards her house. Fluttershy stood there a moment and then shouted “I’ll run too!” and took off bolting towards her house.