//------------------------------// // Act 2, Chapter 2 // Story: All That Glitters... // by Comet Burst //------------------------------// The light blue pony sighed as she brushed a couple rogue strands of white hair out of her eyes as she trotted to the front door of her store. The mare's name was Pear Cut and she loved diamonds. On her flank rested three pear-shaped diamonds, representing her calling in life, selling diamond jewelry. Still, she sighed again as she passed the rows of glittering jewels, wondering why business was so slow. The Grand Galloping Gala was in a few days, meaning ponies were usually flocking to stores like hers to pretty themselves for the grand event. The thoughts weighed on her mind as she stood at the front door, ready to lock up. The lock had barely clicked into place as a pink hoof pushed on the door handle. Pear followed the hoof up curiously to see a set of icy blue eyes staring at her from underneath a mane of white and purple. "Excuse me," Pear began, "But we are---" "Wait!" the pony spoke, "I want to buy something!" Pear scrunched up her nose at that and said, "Sorry, but I said we're--" "I want that tiara!" the mare almost yelled over her, pointing her other hoof to the display window. Pear swept her eyes towards it to see the magnificent tiara gleaming in the light. "That one?" Pear asked curiously before turning back to her, "Sweetie, that's a thousand bit tiara. I doubt you could--" The golden gleam of a huge sum of bits made Pear stop talking. She had seen large amounts of bits before, but this was almost made her rub her eyes in disbelief. The pouch they were carried in betrayed the sheer amount the pony carried with her. "I have the bits, so let me buy it. Please?" the pink pony asked sweetly. "How? I mean, what the? What is this?" Pear stammered, unable to look away from the bag. "It's a magical bit bag. Protects from theft, stores enormous amounts and is light as a feather. Made by unicorns," the pony listed, her icy eyes starting to glitter. Pear finally looked away and smiled awkwardly to the pony. This mare could easily afford the tiara in the window, but she was just about to lock up. Glancing quickly behind herself, she saw there was still two minutes until the appointed time of closing. "Do come right in, miss ---?" Pear said with a rather large grin on her face, sweeping a hoof back. "Diamond. Diamond Tiara," the mare stated as she trotted in. "Oh, what a pretty name!" Pear complimented. The next day was a mess for the castle. This was to be the first Grand Galloping Gala to feature four princesses, an event everypony wanted to attend. While the Royal Guard dealt with the crowd outside, anxious to see Princess Celestia for a ticket, Spike fulfilled his duties as Twilight's assistant. Unluckily for him, it meant enduring a ruthless set of dress fittings from Rarity, which he wouldn't have minded so much if his relationship with Rarity wasn't as sour as a lime, followed by a couple of hours putting up streamers and party decorations with Pinkie and then baking with Applejack, all while still ferrying books for Twilight. Utterly exhausted, Spike hadn't realized that neither Diamond or Silver Spoon had shown up all day. With him distracted, it was easy for Diamond to sneak by him with her new tiara, gracefully wrapped up in a velvet lined box made of dark red wood. She had wanted to say hi to Spike, but once she thought he was free, the young drake was snatched away to help on yet another project. Diamond didn't like it, but she forgot all about that when she saw Silver Spoon. Both ponies were guests at Celestia's Castle since they were good friends of Spike. Diamond's room was closer to the bottom floor since her and Spike were nearly inseparable, mostly due to Diamond's persistence, while Silver Spoon was given a loft on top of a spire. Diamond felt a twinge of jealousy when she arrived at her room, but eagerly squealed and ran inside when Silver answered, wearing a new set of shimmering blue glasses. "Oh my Celestia! Those are so cool!" Diamond shouted as she examined Silver's face, which beamed with pride. "Yup, I got them for the Gala! Can you believe we got invited?!" Silver nearly shrieked, barely containing her excitement. "I know!" Diamond responded, "We finally get to go to the biggest party of the year!" Both ponies wrapped each other into a big hug and yelled happily as they jumped up and down. "We're going to the Gala! We're going to the Gala!" they sang in unison before separating. "So, what are you going to wear?" Silver asked excitedly. Diamond grinned slyly and lifted the red wood box she had carried in. Silver's purple eyes widened as she saw it. "Oooo. What's that?" she asked in a hushed voice. With her best friend's attention solely on her, Diamond reached out another hoof and opened the box's lid gently, nearly blinding Silver. Silver face went from one of awe to one of reverence as she saw what the box contained. A wonderfully made tiara gleamed in the light, sparkling like it was made of stars. The finely polished silver that held the many diamonds reflected with a mirror sheen, allowing Silver to see her own face in the facets. As impressive as the silver was, the gray mare's eyes sparkled as the diamonds caught her gaze. Each one was flawlessly cut and polished, reflecting at least twenty percent more light than they had taken in. The other impressive feature of the gemstones was the sheer number of them. It looked as if thousands of them resided in the silver, making it appear that the tiara was made solely of diamonds. "Woah..." was all Silver could mutter in response. The lid then slowly shut, hiding the luminous object away from Silver's gaze. Her eyes flicked up to Diamond, who wore a smug smile on her face. "Think Spike will like that?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "Will he like it?!" Silver repeated back incredulously, "Diamond, he may ask you to marry him when he sees that!" Diamond giggled, the thought tickling her mind. Her favorite memory of Spike was the look he gave her that day on the river bank, so the thought of him staring at her like that again made her feel warm and fuzzy. "Of course I would say no, Silver," Diamond replied, a small blush on her cheeks, "He would have to go through Daddy first." Silver giggled at that, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Oh, like you would say no, Diamond," she chuckled out. Blushing slightly more, Diamond changed the subject by telling her friend the dresses they ordered had arrived today, causing Silver to almost jump in the air in excitement. The next few hours was spent admiring the dresses after they had been retrieved from Diamond's room, trying them on, practicing make-up application, trying on the dresses, going over who they would meet, admiring the tiara some more, trying on the dresses with the tiara, practicing putting up their manes, admiring the tiara again and so on. At the train station on the other side of Canterlot, three young mares trotted from the train cabin onto the platform. One was bright yellow with a red mane complimented by a red ribbon and fiery orange eyes. Next to her stood an off-white unicorn with bright green eyes and a very long and curly purple and pink mane and tail, along with an orange pegasus with a purple mane. Together, the three mares grinned widely as they trotted over to a Royal Guard pegasus, who saluted them. "Misses Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?" he asked crisply. "That be us!" the yellow one, Applebloom, said in a happy, country tone. "If you would follow me, your carriage is waiting," the guard spoke before turning around and trotting away. The mares followed, excitedly chattering between themselves. "We're going to be at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Scootaloo hissed to them. "I know! Isn't this so exciting?!" Sweetie Belle asked back in a hushed tone, betraying no enthusiasm. "Yeah, this's gonna be great!" Applebloom responded in a slightly louder voice. "I can't believe your sister got us tickets, Sweetie!" Scootaloo said in the same tone as Applebloom. "Well, we did help her with the business for a while, so she said we earned it," Sweetie stated proudly, smiling from cheek to cheek. "Ah know! Still, this's excitin'!" Applebloom squealed as the trio exited the building. Outside, a gleaming golden carriage sat on the cobblestone street with the Royal Guard waiting for them. The three mares' eyes widened to the point of being borderline impossible when the guard spoke. "Ladies," he said, sweeping a hoof to the carriage. That day, the nameless Royal Guard learned a valuable lesson: Never stand in front of three overly-excited mares. As the carriage took off, the three ponies squealed and chatted among themselves some more. "Oh my Celestia, we get a carriage too?!" Sweetie asked, looking around in disbelief. "Well duh!" Scootaloo answered, "The tickets say we're honored guests of Princess Celestia herself!" Applebloom's smile faltered as she regarded Scootaloo with an unimpressed look. "Ya do know they all say that, right?" she asked glumly. Scootaloo stuck her tongue out at her before answering, "Yeah, sure. Ruin all the fun, Applebloom." Sighing to herself, Applebloom turned around and gazed out at the crowds of ponies in the street. So many differently colored ponies flooded stores all around the street, it was hard to believe that they all lived here. Shops posted sales in honor of the Grand Galloping Gala, offering some moderate price reductions. Applebloom, now a full time fix-it pony, found herself staring at a hardware store, offering a new set of steel tools at half price. Sweetie Belle, ignoring the ramblings of Scootaloo, watched with huge, shining eyes at the many dress stores around the city. Wonderful dresses of all colors and designs proudly stood in the store windows, each telling of the level of detail the tailors had put into them. Most of them were being sold rather quickly, since ponies removed them from the ponyquinns and replaced them with yet another fine dress. Sweetie imagined herself in one of them after another, singing on stage for hundreds of adoring ponies. Without realizing her friends were ignoring her, Scootaloo kept on talking about how cool it was to go to the Gala. She would get to hang out with Rainbow Dash, now an auxiliary member of the Wonderbolts, along with Spitfire, Soarin' and all the others. In her mind, Scootaloo thought they would instantly accept her as one of them, allowing her into the circle of Wonderbolts and eventually asking her to join. Back at the castle, Spike wearily walked between the corridors, carrying a large stack of books on the Gala. Twilight was under the impression she desperately needed to read up on the formal event she and her friends had ruined years earlier. As he trudged, his mind was elsewhere. He wondered what kind of gems they would have there and how he was going to resist eating those that the ponies would surely wear. The best of the best gems would be strung around necks, done up into manes and added to clothing, each more tempting than the last. His stomach gave a small gurgle as he entered the library. Eating pony food was alright for his needs, but gems were what his kind craved. While he had eaten some at the restaurant with Diamond and Silver, his appetite had grown with him, meaning he was still craving them. Setting the books down, Spike closed his eyes and concentrated for a minute on some hunger suppression techniques he had learned over the years. Twilight had theorized that his consumption of gems had nearly everything to do with his growth patterns, so he was allowed to have only a set amount every week, lest he became a huge and hungry dragon. Still, his stomach craved the gems. Spike gulped and opened his eyes, realizing that his techniques were losing their effect. He was hungry for gemstones and, if Spike knew one thing, suppressing instincts never ended well. Still, he picked up another stack of books and walked out, allowing his work to block out his craving. He hoped it would go away for a little while and, pretty soon, his stomach troubled him no longer.