//------------------------------// // Chapter 86; There's No Post On Sundays! // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// Star Shine hurried on his way to see Feather Quill again after quickly talking to Shining Armor. He hoped by the time he got back that Feather Quill would already have his own retraction ready and they could just add Scootaloo's little piece to the end of it and get it sent on it's way. He'd run the press himself if he had to to get it all sorted. He arrived at Feather Quill's house and, keeping to his polite ways even in times of crisis, knocked politely rather than just barge in. The door opened of it's own accord and Star Shine was a little confused to see nopony waiting on the other side of it. “I'm down in the basement!” a voice called, presumably from the basement. Star Shine looked around and saw a door set into the staircase leading upstairs. He opened it and found a set of stairs leading down. He headed down them and saw that the Ponyville Times was literally an in-house operation. It was good for Feather Quill that Ponyville was a relatively small town. There was a myriad of different equipment including a press in the middle of the room, a few desks with typewriters on them and another small desk on it's own against one wall. Feather Quill was sat at that desk with some papers in front of him., as well as a few more strewn around the place. They were mostly stories that never made it to print for some reason or another, or articles that needed to be scrapped due to errors. “Welcome back, how'd it go?” Feather Quill asked. Star Shine walked over to the desk and dropped the envelope down on to it. “I got Scoots to talk, that's all she had to say.” Star Shine said, indicating the envelope. Feather Quill opened it up and read the paper inside. “Oh...my...I had no idea she'd been through all of this...” Feather Quill said slowly as he read through it and took it all in. “I think she preferred it that way. She's going to get a lot of attention and pity she never wanted now.” Star Shine replied, sighing. He told himself that he had good reasons for never telling Rainbow Dash about his own home situation and what was happening was taken by him as proof that he was right to feel that way. He never wanted what Scootaloo was going to go through for himself. “Most likely yes, but it has to be done. I've no problem printing this, and I've already written my retraction. We can just put them together and get them sent out. You have anypony ready to deliver them?” Feather Quill asked. Star Shine had considered using the ponies gathered at the library to deliver things, and that was the option he was about to declare when suddenly something appeared above his head and dropped on to it, eventually falling down on to the table. It was a sealed letter. “What the...” Star Shine mumbled, rubbing his head where the letter hit him. He bit off the seal and rolled the letter out. Feather Quill watched curiously, opting to value Star Shine's privacy and not read the letter. It was clearly intended for him if it had hit him like that, even if neither of them really had a clue about where it came from or how it had reached them how it did. Star Shine, it's Shining Armor here. Well, Spike's writing (and sending -Spike) but that's not the point. The point is that Firefly, that's the name of Diamond Tiara's former guard by the way, has said that Diamond Tiara actually confessed to him that she was responsible for what happened. This is definitely more than enough. I'm summoning a few more of the guards and then I'm going to go to her house and search it, as well as bring her and her dad in. I can't do much, what with her being a little filly, but I'll do everything I can. If you have time, tell Feather Quill to hold off on whatever it is you're doing with him, he might be interested in this information. In any case, it shouldn't take too long until Diamond Tiara has a few unexpected visitors. Good luck with whatever it is you're planning. I don't think you'll want to miss this, so hurry it up! Oh, Spike, you might as well send a letter to Rainbow Dash telling her pretty much the same thing. I know she'll want to see it too. What? No, there's no point in writing that down really. You have? No matter, just send it. That's pretty much all there is to put, so you can send it whenever. Stop writing and send it already! The letter ended abruptly after that, implying that Spike had indeed stopped writing and sent it however he did without even signing it. Star Shine was giggling with glee by the time he finished reading. Everything was coming to a close and much quicker and easier than he imagined it could. “What was it about?” Feather Quill asked, more than a little confused about Star Shine's reaction. Whatever it was must have been some very good news. “Quick, put everything together and put it on the press. I'll print and deliver them myself if I have to. Shining Armor, captain of the royal guards and Prince of Equestria, is about to pay a visit to Diamond Tiara. I gotta be there.” Star Shine said hurriedly. He was unsure of what to do so after a little bit of rushing around the cramped room settled for standing by the press and waiting for Feather Quill to do something. “What?” Feather Quill said simply, stunned by what Star Shine had just said. “I'll explain as we work but get a move on! I need to get these printed and sent out. If there's any left I'll just hand them out at Diamond Tiara's house. I'm pretty sure there's going to be quite a crowd. Oh she'll get a taste of public humiliation...” Star Shine replied, still smiling gleefully. Feather Quill assembled everything they would need and put it on the press ready for Star Shine. Star Shine quickly got to work as soon as Feather Quill gave him a quick lesson in just what to do. As he worked he explained to Feather Quill what was going to happen to Diamond Tiara. “Will you be alright if I leave?” Feather Quill asked after Star Shine had done explaining. Star Shine nodded. “I should be alright yeah. You want to cover this?” Star Shine asked, taking a guess as to why Feather Quill wanted to leave. He expected as much. Feather Quill nodded and hunted around for his reporting equipment. “Yeah I'm going to get this personally. I'll take a few copies for myself if you're late or a crowd gathers early.” Feather Quill explained. He dropped all his stuff into a bag, grabbed a few copies of the retraction to put in there too, and put a messenger bag next to Star Shine. “Oh, that's a bag for you for when you deliver these.” Feather Quill explained. “Thanks, I guess I'll see you there then.” Star Shine replied. Feather Quill nodded and left Star Shine to his work. Star Shine stopped working again after about five minutes when it started to take a little too much of a toll on his body as he'd done it as fast as he could rather than take his time. Thankfully he'd already printed what should have been enough copies. He scooped them all in the bag and followed Feather Quill out of the door. *** Across town, in a cloud house in the sky, another note fell out of thin air and hit a different pony on top of their head. It hit Rainbow Dash on the muzzle on the way down and landed in the folds of the book she was holding. Rainbow Dash lifted the book up to let the letter fall out and Scootaloo caught it. “It's a letter.” Scootaloo said, stating the obvious. Rainbow Dash rubbed her muzzle while Scootaloo unfurled the letter and put it on the table. The pair of them leaned over to read it. To Rainbow Dash (and probably Scootaloo) Hi guys, it's Shining Armor here. Remember me? I heard Star Shine already paid you another visit today but I'm not sure how much he told you and there are some things we've only just learned. I'm telling you and him at the same time. We have her. That guy you sent turned out to be an incredible gift. Diamond Tiara confessed to him herself which is why he left. If it wasn't for you sending him, and for Star Shine asking me to question him, I don't think we'd have found this out. Great job Dash. Star Shine's really doing a lot of work too. He's not bad, I guess. In any case I'm also getting Celestia and Cadance to send me a few guards how they sent me, and together we're going to pay a small visit to Diamond Tiara to see what we can find. I got the feeling that you might want to see that yourself. If you would, then hurry on over. I don't want to delay this too much and I don't think you'd like that either. Until next time, Shining Armor. “You wanna go?” Rainbow Dash asked Scootaloo when they finished reading. Both of them were smiling brightly at the news but Scootaloo's was a little shaky. “I dunno...” Scootaloo admitted shakily. She fidgeted as she continued talking. “I do...but all those ponies...” she added. She didn't really want to go out in public just yet. She was still so scared about how everypony might react to her. “I won't make you do anything you don't wanna. I'd rather stay here with you if you'd like to stay.” Rainbow Dash replied. Scootaloo nuzzled up to Rainbow Dash and buried herself in Rainbow Dash's side. “At least it'll be over soon...” Rainbow Dash said, soothing Scootaloo.