//------------------------------// // The Gift // Story: The Gift // by Twilicorn //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle paced anxiously through the market, looking for that one special thing. You know what I mean, right? That thing that you always need and can never find. In her case, she was hunting for parchment. More specifically, parchment dying. To be extremely specific, a Parchment Dying booth that would cater to her every wish. "Spike? Have you seen ANY pink and purple parchment?" He shook his head, and Twilight stomped her foot angrily when she spotted a parchment-colouring stand. "Sir, can you make me a roll of parchment? I'd like it to be primarily purple, with some pink tied in some how, maybe spirals?" "That'll cost ya 40 bits," the old pony croaked, and Twilight jolted, just a bit. "40? Is that final, sir? A normal roll is only 15, I doubt the dye can be a whole 12 and a half bits each!" In response, he pointed to the nearby parchment dye stand, where each parchment bottle was 10 bits each. "I get payed 5 bits for my work. And dying is no easy job!" Twilight nodded and hoofed over the bits from her saddle bag. He nodded appreciatively, and set to work dying the parchment. "Now that that's out of the way, I need to make a secret purchase. Spike, why don't you go home and dust or something?" He shot her an angry glare before stomping home, when an idea popped in his head. "Are you buying me a gift?" He inquired eagerly, his eyes lighting up like a child at Christmas. "Sure, Spike!" She nodded, though this hadn't truly been what she was going to buy. Just another purchase she had to make, darn it. He skipped away, and she darted quickly to the jewelry stand. She inquired about the large, blue sapphire, and forked over the 100 bits. There, now Spike's out of the way. "Umm, Mister Jewelry sir? I'd like a custom done please. I have the gems," she continued, hoofing over a large, uncut blue topaz and a smaller line of yellow topaz. Whispering about what she wanted it done into and swearing him to secrecy, he agreed to the order. "A simple..." he checked his price list. Twilight had supplied the gems, so that put it at... "300 bits, or 250 since you bought that huge sapphire." She nodded gratefully. "And when will it be done?" "About an hour, ma'am." Twilight expressed her thanks, and walked back over to pick up her parchment. Thankfully, it was done, and she lifted it magically into her bag. The Parchment Dyer had been very artful, making it a lavender purple similar to her coat, and then adding pink highlights on the edges. She grinned, flipping an extra ten bits on the counter.Then, with nothing better to do, she went over to eat a daffodil sandwich. The sandwich was quite delicious, filled with daffodil petals on a light, almost pound cake style, bread. There was some sort of sauce on it that seemed to be honey, but a bit more sweet. Waving her foot, a waiter appeared, almost as though teleporting. "Sir, could you by any chance get me a lemonade? Actually, make that half lemonade, half ice tea, with one lemon and 4 ice cubes. Thank you," dismissed Twilight. She had always had an uncanny knack for being Rarity-esque when ordering food at restaurants. The waiter walked back up, carrying her strange drink, and set it down carefully. "Would you like the bill, madam?" "Yes, please sir. Oh, and I have a Restaurant Order Special card, which I believe gets me 10% off, correct?" The waiter nodded, and used his magic to pull the book forward. "Let's see... it would be 20 bits, but the discount...18 bits, thank you." Twilight nodded, then pulled out the bits and hoofed them over. He gave a polite nod, and she stood up just as the clock rang the hour's toll. The jeweler was done with her new jewelry, which had been artfully fashioned into a necklace. With a bounce in her step, she sprang off to Sugarcube Corner. When she finally got there, Pinkie was waiting, a smile huge on her face. She seemed overly excited, for no true apparent reason, but Twilight pressed on anyways. It was just Pinkie being Pinkie, right? "Hey Pinkie... um, there's something I want to tell you." She pulled the box holding the necklace out of her saddlebag, using magic to levitate it. "Yes Twilight?" She inquired eagerly, eyeing the gift hopefully. "Well, Pinkie... I like you. Not just as a friend, but as a crush." Her voice began rushing as she continued-"I know you probably hate me now, but I can't deny it, and either way I have this necklace for you I made it but not really me but I got the gems, and..." Tears pooled in her eyes as Pinkie looked at her, when suddenly Pinkie lit up. "Oh, Twilight, I like you too!" She leaned in, kissing her on the cheek. Fireworks seemed to erupt, and Twilight went into a daze, only broken when Pinkie removed herself. "And the necklace is beautiful!" Twilight beamed. The necklace was in the shape of the pink party pony's cutie mark, a balloon. Suddenly, a grin crept up on Pinkie's face. "April FOALS!" She yelled, jumping up. "You sure got me there, huh Twilight? At first I thought you were serious, and then I remembered what day it was, so I played along! And you were sooo shocked too! It was sooo funny! Can I keep the necklace?" Twilight nodded, dumbfounded, before letting out a small chuckle. "Yeah, great joke, huh? I... I've gotta go!" She exclaimed, running off to her library as a tear fell, marking the sidewalk by Sugarcube Corner. Spike, who had began walking back to the market to look for her, stopped as he saw her running by, and turned, waddling after as fast as his legs could carry him. "What's wrong Twi?" He inquired, sincerely worried for his number one employer. "Nothing Spike. Nothing! Here's your gift," she growled, pulling the gem out and tossing it to him. "Have a nice day." And with that, she ran to the Library, shutting herself in and surrounding herself with a large force field that glowed a dark red.