Rainbow Dash saw Fancy Pants from several feet away. The stallion, as prophesied, stood in the center of a wide, round gazebo. The structure was positioned at the southern crest of a hill, and much of the lush forests and rivers of Trottingham could be seen splayed out across the northern wilderness. Mountains stretched in the distance, piercing the bright blue sky and wispy clouds.
"Ah, there you are!" Fancy said, shaking Rainbow out of her thoughts. "Please, Miss Dash, join me if you will." He approached a table, telekinetically pouring a pitcher of yellow liquid into a glass of water.
"Uhm..." Rainbow drifted towards him. "I hate to sound like a broken record, but do you mind if I—"
"Hover?" Fancy raised an eyebrow over his monocle. "Not at all. You are a pegasus, after all. I've been told it's more comfortable than sitting for winged ponies."
"Heh..." Rainbow exhaled, relieved. "I guess you could say that."
He raised the glass towards her. "Lemonade?"
"Oh..." Rainbow patted the cantene in her apron's pouch. "I'm good on that front."
"Well, do forgive me for acting like a horse drawn to water." Fancy winked before taking a liberal sip. "I swear, I'm always terribly parched this time of year. I blame it on my mother's side. Legend has it that she was three-quarters Saddle Arabian."
"I... uh..." Rainbow squinted. "I don't see it, frankly."
"I doubt that you would. Not many ponies from Ponyville—or Cloudsdale for that matter—have ever been far out enough to see the desert sands of that kingdom, much less the equines who live there."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
Fancy Pants saw it. He stopped sipping and said, "What's that? Surprised that I pinpointed your home town?"
"Well, uhh... uhm..."
"It occurred to me just a minute or two ago." He smirked. "'Rainbow Dash.' Winner of the Best Young Fliers Competition last year."
Rainbow's pupils shrunk. She couldn't help but smirk. "Heh... yeah. That."
"It's not easy to live down the... what was it called?" He leaned back against the edge of the gazebo as he spoke above the twittering sound of songbirds. "The Sonic Rainboom? I've no idea what it entails, but from what every excitable pegasus diplomat has told me, it certainly sounds astounding."
"Wrong A-word, but I'll settle for it." Rainbow Dash nodded with a smirk. "I only pulled it off because I was trying to save a very close friend of mine."
"Hmmm. No doubt." Fancy Pants took another sip, paused, and said, "Miss Dash, I have to be frank with you, dear." His thin eyes rested on her. "I think that the idea of offering apple pies to the Granite Mountain Buffalo is the absolute most smashing plan I've heard in a long time."
Rainbow's jaw dropped. "But..." Her eyes darted to the manor and back to Fancy Pants. "But you said—"
"Please forgive the charade, but I assure you it was necessary to maintain a muted air of enthusiasm before my potential business partners." He twirled his glass of lemonade around with a sparkle of telekinesis. "The thing is, I can't say that I very well trust them..."
Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. "Huh...?!"
"Of all of the projects I've funded in my years, I dare say this Cloudstone Project is the riskiest." Fancy's jaw hung straight and serious. "It has many opponents. Pegasi? Oh, most naturally. It's already taken all of my charm and expertise to convince them that this is not a matter of plundering—which it isn't, but that's besides the point." He took a deep breath and said, "There are many who would think that the extraction and steam conversion of Cloudstone would greatly upset the balance of industry in Equestria. And they have every right to believe that, for it will." He gulped. "But for the better."
Rainbow hovered a bit closer. "You really believe so?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Fancy gave a proud smirk. "I've already done the rounds several times with my best financial advisors and analysts! The possibility of engineering condensed sources of steam could accelerate Equestrian technology by about fifty years overnight! It would create new jobs for both the educated and uneducated. What's more, it will vastly improve the state of pony living throughout the combined kingdoms. It's just that..." He hesitated.
"Just wh-what?"
"There is a reason ponies fear progress, Miss Dash. It takes sacrifice, and sacrifice is frightening to ponies too wrapped up in the present to ascertain the necessary benefits of the future. And my fellow business partners—the stallions whom you met just now—they are quite terribly afraid of progress."
"Then..." Rainbow blinked. "Why did you have them come here to talk to them about the Mountain Buffalo in the first place?"
"Quite simple." He drank the last of his lemonade and clapped the glass down. "I don't trust them."
"You think they're gonna try and stop this whole 'Cloudstone Project' thingy?"
"Oh, if only that were simple." Fancy Pants chuckled lightly. "I highly suspect half of them are determined to sabotage it."
"Sabotage?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "And you call them friends?"
"Absolutely."
"But—"
"They've done far too many benevolent things for me and my company for me to turn a blind eye to them." Fancy Pants paced around the gazebo. "Friendship is an odd thing, Miss Dash, especially in the business world. Once you attach currency to companionship, you find that money is thicker than integrity. I certainly wish this wasn't the case, but—when you get as rich as me—there's more at stake in making decisions than one's friendship." He shuffled to a stop, clearing his throat. "There are jobs. Families. Entire livelihoods. Do you understand?"
Rainbow bit her lip and nodded limply.
"So, as you can imagine, my hooves are rather bound. I can't do very much without falling under the scrutiny of those whom I am bound by. And, I'm afraid, that includes a risky venture such as forsaking the salt licks for apple pies at the drop of a hat, no matter how hard I believe in the matter."
"Then I don't get it..." Rainbow Dash shrugged in mid-air. "Why'd you need to see me? Why are we even talking about it?"
"Because..." He trotted slowly towards her, tilting his head up so that they stared eye-to-eye. "I still believe that there is a way. You've proven yourself to be quite the expert delivery pony. And, if I may be so bold, you appear to have some connections when it comes to apples. Not to mention, you have a great deal of experience from your adventure in Appleloosa alone..."
Rainbow squinted, her face wracked with thought. Suddenly, her body twitched. "Wait... are you saying that... th-that you want me to...?"
Fancy Pants took a deep breath. "If I had proof that the Granite Mountain Buffalo had a taste for apple desserts, then—well—the evidence would be an undeniable hint for the direction my business partners and I need to take. I'd have leverage to convince all the committees involved to fund apple trade. Gears would shift quite literally overnight, and I would be able to accelerate my Cloudstone Project into full force."
"But... you..." Rainbow thought aloud, "You can't afford to show your involvement with the matter, because it'd totally look like you were going behind your buddies' backs?"
"Indeed."
"Wouldn't they think that about you anyways? I mean, assuming that... assuming I—"
"Ah, yes. That would be a tricky situation. And here is where we both see the inevitable burden..." Fancy leaned back with a sigh, gazing at her gently. "The inevitable burden you would be carrying."
"Me?"
"If you presented the evidence of the buffalo's interest in apple trade—so that my partners and I could witness it for ourselves—well, it would look as though you actually took it upon yourself to make contact with the Mountain tribes, independently and stubbornly. Even still, it would be too ripe an opportunity for us to ignore." He smiled wickedly. "Wouldn't it?"
Rainbow's jaw went tight. "That's not very honest, though, is it?"
"No, Miss Dash." Fancy gently shook his head. "It is not."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip, but hesitated. She hovered close to the ceiling, rubbing her chin as her eyes wandered across the gazebo.
Eventually, Fancy spoke again, "I'm to assume that you don't live on an apple farm. Is that correct?"
"Huh? What?" Rainbow gave him a double-take. She gulped. "No. No, I don't."
"I didn't think as much," Fancy said with a nod. "You're a spry little mare, but I don't see the wear and tear of farm life on you. Not that I'm an expert, of course, but I've visited many an orchard in my days. They make for fine pony folk, equines of the earth, souls who are too bound by hard work and integrity to ever bother taking risky ventures like that which I'm proposing to you."
"So... if I get a sample of apple pies to the Granite Mountain Buffalo... and I get evidence that they love the stuff—" Rainbow Dash murmured aloud.
Fancy Pants held a hoof up. "And might I also assume that they're not even your apples?"
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, wincing. "No. No, they're not."
"A friend's, perhaps?" Fancy asked. "A friend with a farm?"
Rainbow took a deep breath. "Not just any farm." She frowned. "But the source for the best darn apples in all of Equestria."
"I have no doubt." Fancy nodded. "The moment you showed up—with as unorthodox an entrance as you made—I could tell there was a spirit of desperation about it." He brushed at a dusty swath of wooden paneling beside him. "I don't suppose this friend of yours has any prior business relations to Mr. Rich, whom I caught you casting a most nasty glare?"
Rainbow Dash said nothing.
"I thought as much. Filthy has been guilty of many things, the least of which is a rather unfortunate first name." Fancy chuckled to himself. "But, to a pony like him, breaking business relations has been a rather disturbing habit as of late. I do sympathize with him to some degree, though. He's rather young, as corporate moguls go, and he has a lot of pressure from his surviving relatives to salvage the forward momentum of his company. I think he has yet to see the reality of his more grim decisions raising its ugly head. Perhaps, if we work together, we can prove to the likes of him—and others—that some connections deserve not to be severed in the first place."
"And what makes you think that I've agreed to work for you?"
"Have put some thought into what you are doing here to begin with?" Fancy Pants asked. "Or why you snuck up on me and my partners in the first place? Miss Dash, you don't even run an apple farm. What profit do you seek to gain from even humoring anything I've talked about so far?"
Rainbow Dash slumped a bit in mid-hover. She sighed out her nostrils and muttered, "Look, if there's a way to make something out of the apples, I'm all for it. So can we leave it at that?"
Fancy Pants stared at her for a few seconds before saying, "It's loyalty such as this that I find sorely lacking in the business world today." He nodded slowly. "Yes. I would very much like to work with you, provided you are willing to weather the burden."
"I don't care, alright?" She glared. "Just bring it."
"Very well then." He stood up straight, adjusting his vest and monocle. "If you can bring a sample to the Granite Mountain, impress the buffalo, and bring back to me and my associates firm proof of the tribes' appreciation for the product, then you have my word that I will personally fund the farm that's responsible for producing said apples." He smirked. "Whoever may or may not be the owner." He winked.
Rainbow Dash's pupils shrank. Her apron flounced from the gunshots of her suddenly palpitating heart.
Fancy Pants strode past her. "And I'll also see about writing a strongly worded letter to Banner Company about their garish choice in employee uniforms." He stepped off the gazebo and headed for the mansion. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go entertain my friends. There's a good mare."
"Uh... yeah. Sure..." Rainbow nodded. She was alone. Her muzzle smiled wide... and then wider and wider and even wider.
In a blue blur, she thundered her way west, knocking the leaves off of hedges in the process.