//------------------------------// // 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.”
“Rainbow Dash, wake up!” the orange earth pony shook the shoulder of the sleeping pegasi. “Wake up.” “Dashie I need your help.” “Okay, I’m up, I’m up.” “They added a new event to the rodeo, and I’m not ready for it.” “So. You don’t have to compete in every event.” “The Apple family honor is on the line.” “What’s the event.” “Catching a greased pig.” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. “You’re family honor will probably do better off if you let that one slide.” “I have to do every event, if I want to get best in show.” “Best in show!” Dash pulled the covers over her head to try and give Applejack a hint. “Isn’t that a bit much. I mean c’mon AJ, you didn’t even get any blue ribbons last year.” Applejack gave Rainbow a cross stare. Dash had forgotten that her friend was still really sensitive about that. Rainbow tried to explain it away as still being half asleep. “Don’t you have pigs on the farm?” “Yes. The porkbelly’s; they’re a very nice family, dignified too, though a little snooty for folks who live in a muddy sty. Don’t tell them I said that.” “So you’ve never caught a greased pig before.” “Nope.” “Do you have a pig to practice with?” “Nope.” “Do you have a sty?” “Nope.” “So what are you planning to do, grease me up.” “Hmmm, If I can catch you, surely I can catch a pig.” “No way!” “We could just play wrestle in the back yard, that ought’a be practice enough.” “Well...” “And instead of grease we can use...” “I’m out.” Rainbow Dash got out of bed and poised to fly away. Fortunately Applejack knew how to appeal to Dashies competitive spirit. “What’s a matter Dashie, afraid I’ll beat you.” Rainbow Dash turned and steeled her gaze. “Let’s do this.” For about twenty minutes, Rainbow Dash would let Applejack get close, then leap off and fly out of reach. With each escape, AJ became more and more determined to pin the elusive pony. As usual Rainbow dash was showing off. Since she wouldn’t let AJ catch her, she couldn’t get any real practice in grappling, although they’d worked up enough of a sweat, that maybe they didn’t need any grease after all. Twinkle called from the window, “Girls, we’re off to the market to get some fresh herbs. Play all you want, just remember to wipe your feet off before you come in. “Thank you Mrs Sparkle.” Once that was out of the way, AJ redoubled her efforts to catch dash. She tried climbing a tree and leaping at her. She goaded her to come closer, then pounced. Through it all Rainbow boasted about being uncatchable. A pig couldn’t be nearly this frustrating. At this point Applejack didn’t care whether this was good training or not, she just wanted to catch her. Dash stood on the storm doors that provided a back entrance into the Sparkles basement storage room. She was waiting for AJ to come at her when she heard laughter in the distance. Was somepony laughing at her friend. Sure they must look ridiculous right now, but only Dash was allowed to do that. At that moment Applejack pounced. She would have pinned Rainbow Dash in a single motion, except that the wooden doors broke and the two ponies fell down a staircase, rolling across the store room floor, and hitting a stack of shelfs. The shelves began to wobble back and forth, looking like they might fall upon the two ponies. They struggled to get away, though tripped and faltered, as their bodies were tangled together. The shelves continued to wobble back and forth, each time looking like they may finally tip. One bottle fell The glass cracking on the floor. Ricochets of glass cut into Applejacks neck and she felt something chemical seep into the wounds. Finally the shelves stopped rocking and began to settle. The two ponies let out a collective sigh of relief. “Well that was close.” Said Rainbow Dash. At that moment the shelves just fell apart. They broke at the joints, which seemed to have familiar blue flowers growing between them. Then Rainbow Dash realized where the mysterious laughter had come from The flowers laughed as the shelves broke apart. Both ponies screamed. Fumes and pollen filled the room as chemical after chemical doused the two ponies. About an hour later, two foals emerged from the storeroom. Both were even smaller than the cmc. The first pony was a pegasus. Though tiny her wings were already big enough to support her in flight. her coat was an off white, barely blue at all. She basked in the sunlight and flicked her head to remove long volumes hair from her wide expressive pink eyes. Her hair was perfectly conditioned and free of split ends, with pink replacing red in a rainbow of colors. The second filly took longer on account of she could not fly up the stairs. Her eyes stung from the fumes of the room they had just left. She blinked a few times then they watered slightly. She examined herself having the most vague, yet frightening memory of being cut with glass. The colors of her mane and coat had reversed. Her yellow coat was perfect. Not only were there no cuts, but no blemishes of any sort. Her coat was smooth and soft. It certainly wasn’t the coat of somepony who ever did physical labour. The two stared at one another. They didn’t recognize one another, but they didn’t recognize themselves either. Both had only the vaguest notion that at least they were in this together. The yellow and orange filly wanted to wait, see if anyone came who recognized them. The rainbow filly was more adventurous. She wanted to go out and search for answers. Neither wanted to be separated, so what were they to do?