//------------------------------// // Ponyville Adventures // Story: Royal Blue // by iDeltaVelocity //------------------------------// Royal Blue Chapter 4: Ponyville Adventure Sweetheart and Filthy Rich listened attentively to their daughter’s story while Royal Blue ate the food that’d been set out for her. They had trouble wrapping their heads around what Diamond Tiara told them. It just didn’t seem all that believable when she explained it. Filthy Rich turned his gaze to Blue. The Double had a pile of mashed potatoes in her mouth as she eagerly cleaned off her plate. “Let me see if I understand this correctly. She’s basically a… magic pony?” “She’s not a unicorn, if that’s what you’re thinking,” said Diamond Tiara. “I don’t remember everything Miss Twilight told me, but she’s supposed to have a parallel personality or something.” “I think we’ll have to ask Twilight about it in the morning,” said Sweetheart. Filthy Rich nodded in agreement. He didn’t want to wake up in the morning to see something happening to Diamond as a side-effect to the spell; and being Princess Celestia’s personal protege, Twilight would probably know a lot more about it than they did. Sweetheart glanced at the Double, who just finished eating her food. “What’s your name, dear?” “Royal-” the filly burped, “-Royal Blue. Diamond Tiara gave me the name.” “Well, Royal Blue, you’re more than welcomed to stay with us. We can make up the guest room, if you like.” Blue smiled at the proposal. “Thank you. I’d like that. Diamond Tiara’s room was getting a bit messy, anyway.” Sweetheart agreed with her. She lost count of all the times she told Diamond to clean her room. The filly in question rolled her eyes at it, though. They did not need to keep reminding her about it. She would get to it, eventually. Just not today. Or tomorrow. Possibly next weekend if she wasn’t with Silver Spoon. Filthy Rich glanced over at the clock. It was already 11:00pm. Time sure does fly, he thought. “It’s almost time for bed, you two. Blue-” he looked at the filly, “-we’ll get the guest room made up while you wait down here. On Monday, we can go and get your registered for Miss Cheerilee’s class.” Royal Blue nodded as he and Sweetheart climbed upstairs, leaving her alone with Diamond. She twiddled her hooves at the silence that lingered between the two. There wasn’t really much for them to talk about, aside from what tomorrow might bring. “So…” she spoke up, wanting to strike up a conversation. “I guess since we’re living together, that makes us sisters, right?” “I guess,” said Diamond. “Well, step-sisters, technically.” Blue squeed, pulling in her twin for a hug. “So what should we do now? Can we play hide-and-seek? Play video games again? Or maybe we can--” Diamond Tiara yawned, pushing herself away. “Actually, Blue, dad’s right. It’s getting pretty late. I’m gonna head off to bed.” She hopped off her chair and headed upstairs for her room. “O-Okay, ” Blue called after her. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then!” The night went by uneventfully. Filthy Rich had woken up at night to check on Diamond Tiara and Royal Blue to see if any side-effects had taken place during the hour. He was relieved to find that nothing had happened to them. When morning finally came around, he decided to head out, making his way through town to the library where Twilight resided in. He found it very convenient that she lived in town. He knocked on the door once arriving, and after waiting a few minutes, it was answered by the unicorn she sought out. He found it very convenient that she resided in town. She had her saddlebags on; she was probably about to leave before he came by. “Sorry to bother you,” said Rich, “but I need your help.” “Sure thing.” Twilight stepped aside, inviting him in. “What do you need?” “It’s about my daughter.” “Is this about the Double?” Twilight asked. “I want to know more about the spell, specifically if there are any side-effects from it.” Twilight went over and grabbed a large book off one of the shelves. It was full of a number of spells passed down over the course of generations, a small few of which had already been mastered by the unicorn. She opened it and flipped through each page until she came across the spell in question. It was the same one that was on the scroll she showed to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon the day before. She skimmed through the texts on the page, trying to find any indication of a side-effect in the spell. Her third read-through, however, failed to bring any results. “I’m sorry, Mister Filt-” she stopped herself when the stallion glared at her, “-I mean, Mister Rich, but I can’t find anything about side-effects.” “Are you sure you can find anything?” Rich asked. Twilight closed the book. “There’s really nothing here. I’m sorry. It’s possible that details could’ve been lost over time. I could do more research on it, if you like.” Although it wouldn’t completely erase his concern, he would have to take it for now. He was confident, though; Twilight would pull through. “Thanks. That’d help.” Diamond Tiara did say about showing Royal Blue the town this morning. Blue was excited for this, primarily about getting to spend an entire day with her twin. Ponyville was obviously much bigger than what she had seen so far, and Blue could only imagine what they might find. “First thing’s first,” said Diamond, “we’re going by Silver Spoon’s house. And then we’ll get you more situated around here. After you nearly got lost trying to find your way to Sugarcube Corner yesterday, I figured it would be smart to make sure you know the basic layout of Ponyville.” As Royal Blue continued to follow, listening anxiously to everything Diamond Tiara was telling her, a wonderful smell passed through her nose. She followed it, looking in the direction it was coming from, until she caught sight of a very delicious treat in the distance. A plate of cookies was set out in the open on a kiosk. A familiar smell told her that they were chocolate chip. She felt her mouth beginning to water as she trotted closer to the cookies, the smell intensifying with each step she took. “Then after that, we’ll take you over to--” Diamond Tiara stopped when she realised Royal Blue wasn’t following. Instead she noticed her Double standing in front of a baker’s kiosk and quickly made her way over, clearly frustrated with being ignored like this. “Blue, what’re you doing? This is important. You have to pay attention.” “Can I have a cookie first? Pretty please~?” Blue put on her best innocent face, flashing her twin a smile in attempt to goad her into buying at least one of the baked goods. Diamond Tiara countered with a look on her own, wanting to get on with the makeshift tour. In the end, however, she caved. Sighing, she looked up at the vendor. “How much?” “Eh, how ‘bout two on the house, kid?” He passed two cookies towards Royal Blue and Diamond Tiara. The Double eagerly bit into her treat before finally following her mentor. As much as she was irritated at the trick that was pulled on her--one that she used on a regular basis, no less--Diamond Tiara had to admire her skill. Blue pulled it off brilliantly. She felt a piece of paper crumple under her hoof and looked down to see that she had stepped on a poster. She picked it up; the front bared the picture of a horseshoe with a trio of stars lined up above it, and underneath was a picture of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Blue took a quick glance at it. “What is it?” “Looks like some sort of contest.” Diamond Tiara read the information. “Iron Pony Competition; Come and see Applejack take on Rainbow Dash in a series of spectacular events. Location: Sweet Apple Acres.” “A contest? That sounds like fun,” said Blue. “Can we go?” “As if.” Diamond Tiara dropped the poster and continued on. “Seems like a dumb competition, anyway.” “Oh, come on! It’ll be fun!” Blue tried to convince her twin. Watching the Iron Pony Competition could have been a great way for them to bond. “You won’t know if you don’t at least try.” Diamond Tiara was still uninterested at the proposal. Blue galloped in front of her to block her path. “Okay. What’s it gonna take to get you to go?” “Why’re you so bent on going?” “Because it'd be fun. And I wanna watch it with you,” said Blue. “So can we go? Please? Pretty please? With a strawberry on top? Covered in fudge-” “Alright!” Diamond Tiara would have to postpone their tour wait until later. She couldn’t find herself saying no, unless she wanted Blue to nag her about it the entire time. “Since you really want to go to this thing, we’ll go. But we’re stopping by Silver Spoon’s house, first.” A pair of hooves wrapped around Diamond’s neck as Royal Blue pulled her into a hug. They continued on their way to Silver Spoon’s house; Royal Blue would not stop talking about the Iron Pony Competition, regardless of how much Diamond Tiara tried to ignore her. They eventually arrived at Silver Spoon’s house. The three-story brick manor was almost as big as Diamond Tiara’s, although there seemed to be a bit more beauty put into the front yard than what they saw at home. They went passed the front, trotting down the stone path over towards the front door. Diamond knocked on it, and soon enough, it was opened up by the metallic gray filly in question. “Hey, Di. I was just about to come over.” Silver Spoon stepped outside, closing the door behind her. “What brings you two around here?” “We’re going over by Sweet Apple Acres,” Diamond Tiara told her. She raised an eyebrow. “For what?” “Some competition that’s being held over there. Blue really wants to go, and I promised I’d take her. So, are you coming?” “Sure.” Silver Spoon nodded. “That sounds like fun.” “Then what’re we waiting for?” Royal Blue grabbed the both of them, pulling them off the porch, and sprinted towards the gate, telling them to hurry up all the while. It didn’t take long for them to catch up to her; Blue was standing by the front gate. She had no idea where Sweet Apple Acres was. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon guided her through town. She would not stop talking about the Iron Pony Competition, saying how fun it was that the three of them were going to watch it together. They noticed posters hanging across town, all of them mentioning the contest in Sweet Apple Acres. It must have been really well-known over town. The trio finally arrived at the orchard; they could hear cheering from the front gates as they trotted down the dirt path and saw a large crowd of ponies off in the distance, gathered further into the farm. A large scoreboard had been set, and it was maintained by a yellow pegasus with a wavy pink mane. “It looks like the entire town’s here,” said Silver Spoon. She didn’t expect one small competition to garner the attention of everyone in Ponyville. She even saw a few cheerleaders performing. They made their way over, pushing to the front of the crowd to catch a better sight of the competition. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were trotting through a small pond of mud, each pony having a group of chicks on their backs, though it seemed like the ones on Applejack were getting irritated as mud splashed on their feathers. They anxiously jumped ship, hopping onto Rainbow Dash’s back. She had her wings spread open, keeping the chicks clean as she made her way to the end of the mud pond. The crowd cheered as their winner was announced; Rainbow hovered off the ground, giving victory poses as the ponies called her name. Royal Blue joined in, cheering Rainbow’s name along with every pony in the area. She looked over at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Wasn’t that awesome?” “They were just galloping through the mud,” said Diamond Tiara. “And we didn’t even get to see all of it,” Silver added. “But it was awesome, right? You have to admit it was kinda cool!” Blue let out a squee as she stared at them. Diamond Tiara glanced at Silver Spoon. “Sure~, Blue. Now can we go?” “We can’t leave!” Blue replied with urgency present in her voice. “The contest isn’t even over yet. Come on, Tiara, you promised.” “Alright, alright. Okay.” Diamond Tiara sighed again. “We’ll stay, but only for one more event.” The trio followed the crowd to another section of the farm where another one of the events was being held. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were competing to see who could do the most push ups. Rainbow managed to get the upper hand, using her wings to gain leverage for the win. Despite what Diamond Tiara said earlier, the three of them decided to stay and witness the other remaining events. There were not that many left in the Iron Pony Competition, and Diamond Tiara slowly found herself enjoying the show in contrast to her earlier thoughts. Rainbow Dash seemed to be gaining more ground as she slowly began catching up with Applejack. Before long, the two ponies were tied for the lead. Diamond Tiara left a few bits on the merchant’s kiosk after purchasing snacks for her, Silver Spoon, and Royal Blue. They were waiting patiently for the next event to start. It looked like the last one before either mare would be crowned the Iron Pony. “What do you girls think of the competition so far?” asked Silver Spoon. “It’s amazing! I’m so glad we came,” said Royal Blue. Diamond Tiara took a sip of her juice box and gave a shrug. “Eh… It’s alright. Nothing spectacular or anything.” “Oh, come on, Di.” Royal Blue gave her a playful nudge on her shoulder. “You love it here. I know you do.” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, trying to ignore her Double. Blue was right on it, though. Diamond never figured she would grow an interest in the Iron Pony Competition, despite what she said before coming to the farm. Silver Spoon tapped her shoulder and pointed over to her right. “Pest at two o’clock,” she whispered. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sat together on a log a little way a little ways off, enjoying the ongoing competition that was going on. Diamond Tiara gave a half-smile when she saw them. She still had the memory of when they upstaged her at her own cute-ceañera etched into her mind. “If you ask me, I think it’s time for a little payback.” They started towards the three fillies, though not before Royal Blue hurried to block their path. Diamond Tiara moved to get past her with no avail.“Get out of the way.” “No.” Blue blocked her for the seventh time, preventing her from continuing on with her mission. “Don’t go. Please.” “What’s your problem?” asked Diamond. “I don’t want to see you hurt again?” Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow. “What do you--?” “Back at your cute-ceañera after they yelled at you, you looked so sad. And I’ll never be able to get that image out of my head. We came here to have fun, not pick a fight. So can we please do that?” She gave Diamond a pair of big eyes for the third time. “Please? This is will is the last time I'll say please. I promise.” Diamond Tiara opened her mouth, but closed it again. She looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders and back at Royal Blue. She still seemed bent on keeping Tiara from going through with it. “Fine,” Diamond finally said. “You’re right. We’re not gonna start a scene.” Blue flashed a cheerful smile. “Really? So… I’m right?” “That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Tiara placed her arm around Blue. “We’re not gonna mess with them this time. I promise. Tomorrow, maybe. But today, it’s just gonna be me, you, and Silver Spoon.” “Yeah!” They noticed the crowd moving towards another part of the farm, following after Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “The next competition’s about to start,” said Royal Blue. “Let’s go!” She grabbed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and pulled her along with the crowd. With the last event over, the Iron Pony Competition came to an exciting close. In the end, Rainbow Dash had been crowned the champion over a disgruntled Applejack. The farmpony did not take her loss passively, though, accusing her pegasus rival of cheating the entire time. The standoff concluded with them challenging one another to a race, during the Running of the Leaves. Royal Blue trotted alongside Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they departed from Sweet Apple Acres amongst the rapidly depleting crowd. Rainbow Dash flew overhead, leaving a rainbow trail behind as she zoomed across the blue sky. “That was fun,” said Blue. “Can we see the Running of the Leaves next?” “Maybe,” replied Diamond Tiara, putting more emphasis on the word. “Only if we’re not busy. I already had to change a bunch of our plans just so we can see that competition like you wanted.” “Oh… Sorry.” Blue laughed innocently. Diamond Tiara put a hoof around her shoulder. “It’s not your fault,” she said. I’m glad you had fun, at least.” “I sure did!” Blue wrapped her hooves around both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Thanks for taking me, you two. It was a blast seeing the competition when we could.” “Don’t mention it,” said Silver Spoon. “And,” Blue continued, “that purple dragon I saw there was kinda cute.” Silver and Diamond Tiara gave questioning glances at each other as Royal Blue trotted past them. “Purple dragon?” Diamond inquired. Royal Blue nodded and grinned sheepishly, looking back at the fillies behind her. “Yeah. I don’t know why, but for some reason, I kept getting this strange feeling in my gut whenever I saw him.” She took a moment to think on it, but shrugged it off in the end. She figured it was nothing serious as she cantered down the street, humming a tune to herself. Diamond Tiara was left staring after her, almost unable to produce any words. “Is she really…?” “Honestly, I don’t think she notices, herself,” Silver Spoon stated. “Come on. We better catch up to her before she gets too far. We don’t want her getting lost, do we?” “You’re right,” Tiara said in agreement.