//------------------------------// // It all started with... // Story: Two Adorable Fillies Lost In Canterlot // by Cyndaquil //------------------------------// “Now let’s see.” Applejack hoofed through the book of listed Canterlot adresses. “We got Spark, Sparklywinklyful; I don’t see no Sparkle.” “Are you sure that’s her last name?” “Now what sort of question is that. You think I don’t know Twilight’s last name?” “Well,” replied Rainbow Dash, “Her brother is Shining Armor, so it could be Twilight Sparkle Armor.” “Sparkle Armor! That’s just silly. Armor sparkles, it’s not made of sparkles, so it must be Shining Armor Sparkle; unless he took Cadence’s last name.” “It might not be either. Take your family for instance. You have Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, but they’re all Apples.” “Well Sparkle is Twilights last name, just like Pinkies last name is Pie and your last name is Dash.” “My last name isn’t Dash.” Before Applejack could follow up on that statement, another pony chimed in. “Are you looking for the Sparkles?” AppleJack and Rainbow Dash both turned to face a friendly looking unicorn. “Yes ma’am,” Applejack answered. “I know where their business is.” The ‘Sparkles Potion Shop’, it’s on Secretariat Avenue between the Star-Bucks and Colts Book Store.” “Thank you kindly ma’am.” Applejack tipped her hat in appreciation. Rainbow Dash also gave a gesture of appreciation, though it was so quick the unicorn was likely to have missed it. She was now urging Applejack to hurry. Applejack didn’t know what Rainbow Dash was in such a rush for, aside from how the pegasus was always in a rush. Perhaps she was just anxious to unload their cargo. Even in seed form, poison joke made her a little bit antsy. “Although,” said the unicorn, “I don’t see why you’d want to go there.” Secretariat Avenue turned out to be one of the longest streets in Canterlot, and the two ponies had already passed three Star-Bucks locations. Rainbow Dash was considering scouting ahead by air. Applejack turned to a nearby couple, deciding to ask for directions. “Howdy folks. Beg your pardon, but me and my friend here are a little lost. Would you happen to know where the Sparkles Magic Shop is. “Oh you don’t want to go there,” came Upper Crust’s haughty reply. “Such a dull little store. It has nothing of interest for young mares.” The yellow unicorn turned up her nose as she spoke. “Now I know this other shop on Icelandic lane, they have a callus remover you could desperately use, and maybe a shampoo for your friends split ends.” “Actually ma’am, we really do need to go to the Sparkles shop.” “Nonsense you’re wasting your time.” “Hey our friends parents own that shop, and what do you mean by split ends?” “Oh, I see. Well it’s another two intersections from here. Keep going straight.” Soon they were on there way. “The nerve of that woman. I don’t have split ends.” “I reckon you do.” “Well if I do they only make me look cooler.” “You think my callus’s are really noticeable?” “Yeah... I mean no.” Finally they made it to the shop. When they entered, Twilights mom was showing an elder mare how to apply her rheumatism cream. Upon seeing the two ponies her eyes lit up. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, welcome. Twinkle Sparkle was a white coated unicorn with a white and purple striped mane. The lavender of Twinkle’s mane matched Twilights coat better than her mane. Though she wore pearls and styled her hair in a manner becoming of a slightly older mare, one would never of guessed she could possibly have a daughter Twilights age. The most certain connection between mother and daughter was the similar, though not identical, star pattern that made up her cutie mark. “Howdy ma’am. hope we didn’t keep you waiting.” “Not at all.” Soon after they left the shop and made their way to Twilights family home. Twilights father led them to the downstairs lab / storage room. Applejack tossed the bag of assorted seeds next to a large stack of shelves. When she did this the shelf teetered slightly, and Rainbow Dash flew in to stabilize the unit. It contained nine rows, not unlike a book case. Oddly the bulkier items seemed to be stacked higher though each row was full with various potions and concoctions.” Twilights dad noticed that one leg had rotted to be a bit short. He found an old magazine and propped it underneath to stabilize the shelves. “I’ll have to fix that better when I have time,” Said he. Had his wife been there, she would know that this most likely meant he wouldn’t fix it at all. “Sorry about that,” Applejack insisted. “Quite alright. So how long are you girls staying in Canterlot.” “A week.” Rainbow Dash answered. “We came early so that Applejack wouldn’t be train lagged. The rodeo starts in two days.” “That’s right. You’re competing in the rodeo, aren’t you?” “Yes sir.” “And you,” he turned to face rainbow dash. “Ah, I’m just here to cheer her on.” Actually Rainbow Dash came to make sure it wasn’t a repeat of last years rodeo.” “Well it sure was nice of you girls to drop off those seed samples. We’ve been wanting to experiment with those unique Everfree forest plants for some time.” As they left the back store room, the breeze from the door blew a single seed of poison joke into the damp rotted wood of the shelves. The seed, having some fungal properties began to take root. They chatted for awhile. The Sparkles insisted they stay for dinner and sleep in the guest room. “Then this other lady said: ‘it has nothing of interest for young ladies,” Rainbow Dash did her best to mimic Upper Crusts haughty tone of voice. Sometimes it seemed like Rainbow Dash should have been the element of honesty. Applejack wouldn’t have even mentioned the incident. Twinkle and her husband just laughed. “Beg your pardon, but what’s that about.” “Well, I can’t deny our shop doesn’t have much for young ladies, at least not the ones who are in good health.” As if on cue, Twinkle continued her husbands explanation. “Now don’t worry girls. We do more than enough business to get by.” “In fact we should be raking it in soon, thanks to the baby boomers.” Mr Sparkle added. Twinkle gave a small chuckle, then continued. “Our store deals exclusively in medicine, and it caters to the elderly. We do okay, but all the other potion makers make a fortune. That’s because they sell youth and beauty products. In Canterlot there are laws whereby medicine cannot be overpriced, and skilled potion makers must dedicate 30% of there business to needed medicines in order to stay licensed. However, if you have a beauty product that works or even one that’s hard to prove doesn’t work, you can charge an arm and a leg for it. All the younger healthier shoppers go to other stores who tend to badmouth their competition. It’s no matter. They all come to us eventually.” He chuckled. “Why not sell a little of both. You got some moral objection or something?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Not moral exactly. It’s just a waste of time. You see, potions take a long time to make. Many of the herbs come from our own garden. Others we gather from the forests. They may need to be pressurized, decompressed, burned, frozen, smoked, cured, fermented, marinated, sung too, passed through a wild cats digestive system, sun ripened, marinated in mustard, pickled, caramelized, stewed, baked, salted, desalinated, jumped on, kneaded... “Okay I get the point.” “Anyway, potions take so long to make, we have to decide which potions are worth making. Sure we can charge absurd prices for youth and beauty products, but we’d rather spend out time on remedies that help ponies.” “So you’ve never made any of those youth or beauty potions.” “Well, actually we did, once.” Twilights father replied. “It was back when Twilight was first applying to Celestia’s magic academy. She was such a clever girl, we had no doubt she’d be accepted, but we never expected her to get a full scholarship, or become Celestia’s own apprentice.” “What’s that got to do with...” “Let them finish sugar cube.” Twinkle continued her husbands story. “We were afraid we wouldn’t have enough money to pay the tuition.” “Which the scholarship took care of.” “Yes, well, for awhile we worked late nights. We created a whole new line of products, experimental ones.” “Experimental products have to get approved by the licensing board. It’s a big hassle, so when Twi got the scholarship, they ended up sitting on a stack of shelves in our supply room.” “Really dear, you should have disposed of them properly.” “I thought you were still using them.” “What! Why I never.” “Ponies don’t stay as youthful and pretty as you are without a little help.” “Well maybe I tried some under eye cream and a dab of hand lotion, and... “You tried untested formula’s.” Rainbow asked in surprise. “They’re only illegal to sell dear.” That makes sense, she thought. Twilight experiments all the time, but she’s never talked about licenses. “Any side effects.” “The eye cream had one but I forget... Oh yeah, it causes memory loss.”