//------------------------------// // Plans // Story: A Three Foal Wish // by Seeking Dusk //------------------------------// ~Silver~ There was silence in the library. Proud and Flare stared at Silver, the former looking confused, the latter bearing an expression of resignation. Neither one said anything though. “So… is no one going to ask?” Silver said as the moments stretched on, the only sound being the wind rustling the branches outside. Still no response from the others in the room though. Silver sighed as they continued to ignore the invitation. “You guys are no fun.” “If you say so,” Flare smiled. “So what’s the idea?” “No sense of drama,” Silver muttered before opening the book and scanning the table of contents. “Even if the show isn’t the direct translation of everything that happened, will happen today, we can at least follow it as a guide, agreed?” “Right. Twilight gets sent to Ponyville, meets the other members of the Mane 6 while going about her duties as Coordinator, gets a huge Pinkie Party, goes to the forest with the rest of the cast and finds the elements after facing the challenges Nightmare Moon sets,” Proud responded. It had been one of his favourite episodes, and he remembered a lot more about it that some of the others. “Is this Mare on the Moon?” Flare asked, tilting his head as he tried to read the book Silver had open upside down. “Yes and Yes,” Silver responded. “We can’t risk directly crossing Twilight, not when she has a timeline, as far as we know. But we can be her… Guardian Angels, I suppose. Work around her events to make sure they happen. Most importantly; meeting the rest of the Mane 6.” “Fluttershy in the park, Rarity in town hall decorating, Applejack at her farm, Pinkie Pie in the street and Rainbow Dash by the bridge,” Proud recalled. “And I suppose you have an idea of how to pull it off, don’t you?” “You bet I do! And it’s wonderfully complex and intricate,” Silver said, dropping to his haunches and rubbing his hooves together, attempting an evil chuckle. It didn’t come out quite as well as he intended, and it only made his brothers roll their eyes. “Wouldn’t that make it easier for it all to go wrong?” Flare pointed out. “Moderately complex and less intricate than it could have been, but that doesn’t sound quite as cool,” Silver shrugged. He had finished reading the short version of the story. It was a book on several myths and legends from around Equestria, and looked like it would actually be pretty entertaining to read, so he slipped it into his saddlebags. “Phase 1: making sure the book Elements of Harmony is under ‘E’ so Pinkie can find it later. Phase 7 involves making sure it stays there during the party. Phase 2 takes care of itself. Applejack is on her farm for her reunion and banquet preparations, so we can’t affect that, and Phase 3 is Pinkie Pie… And Pinkie pie…” His voice trailed off. “Is Pinkie Pie?” Proud supplied with a little smirk. “And aren’t you going out of order here?” “Pretty much,” Silver shrugged. He looked over at Flare, who looked like he was contemplating something. “What?” “Rarity, Rainbow and Fluttershy. How are we going to get those?” he asked. “Rarity is at Town Hall. We need to get there to grab maps. Twilight meets Fluttershy in the park on the way here from Rarity’s place. She meets Rainbow on the bridge between the farm and the Town Hall. Basically… considering Twilight’s nature and the fact that she is new to the town, she’s likely going to take the direct routes between each place. I need the maps Time Turner mentioned to properly plan out phases 4, 5 and 6. Oh, and some stationary to keep track with. You two on board?” “I’m in,” Flare said, nodding. “We can get papers at the sofa store.” “How do you remember all that?” Proud asked, a faint look of wonder in his eyes as Silver finished outlining his idea. “I’m the fan theorist. It’s what I do,” Silver replied. “Twilight gets to town in time for Brunch, and considering the Apple’s strong farmer tradition, we should have another hour or two before she gets into town.” Silver noticed Proud’s look again and grinned. “Theorist.” Searching the library for the book took longer than they would have liked, largely in part because they were preteen kids. They never really had a need to go to Equestrian libraries before, and only Silver had any real knowledge of the local organization system. In the end, they beat their heads against the wall because it was already under ‘E’ and none of them thought to check there. They stopped by Quills and Sofas, getting a notebook, ink and a quill for Silver to sketch his notes with, then directions to the Town Hall so they could secure a few maps and make the final touches on Silver’s plan. They were most of the way to the Town Hall when Flare flapped a wing at them to get their attention, pointing to the sky. “Hey, look there!” A large shape approached the city, drawn by the wing power and magic of the pair of flapping shapes hitched to the front. It could only be the royal carriage bearing Twilight to the town. “We’re going to have to hustle,” Silver said, realizing the plan now had what could be a deadline. ---------- “I didn’t think this through,” Silver muttered, having given up trying to operate the quill with his magic. They had claimed a secluded nook and were using it for their scheming. It was clear Silver needed more practice to get his sloppy horn writing better. Since then, he resorted to mouth writing, which wasn’t the easiest with a quill. When he finally spat it out, there were still bits of feather in his mouth and teeth. The maps themselves were marked, circles labelled with their phases, notes crowded on the margins holding a bit more detail. It had since risen to eleven phases. “Okay… we are going to have to split up,” Silver said, rubbing his tongue against his teeth in an attempt to get the strands of it. He directed their attention to the map. “The bridge is here and the park is way over here.” he pointed to a point relatively close to where they were, and another further north. “Proud would probably be able to get their faster, but he can’t read maps,” Silver started. “Hey!” Proud protested. “I’m fully qualified with GPS!” “So you’ll have to take that one Flare,” Silver continued, as if Proud hadn’t said anything. “Make sure Fluttershy is in the park.” “Fine,” Flare sighed, not sounding all that enthused about it. “Do you know where she is now?” “Er… no. Good Luck?” Silver said. He moved on as Flare stared incredulously at him. “Proud, you’ll have to hang around here and delay Rarity so she doesn’t finish the decorations before Twilight gets here. Do whatever you can to keep her around.” “Sure, what about you?” Proud asked. “And where am I supposed to find Fluttershy?” Flare added. “Check her cottage,” Silver said, rolling his eyes. He couldn’t think of everything. “And I’m going to check on Rainbow.” "Awww... why do you get to check and see Rainbow first?" Proud pouted. “Because you can’t read a map! Now go keep Rarity around!” Silver pushed Proud in the right direction as they broke to do their parts. “We’ll meet at the library when we are done with this part.” ---------- Silver was pretty good at talking big. Daine was as well, for that matter. The combined bluffing abilities of both sides allowed him to cover up the fact that he had no idea how to manage the Twilight/Rainbow interaction. One of them was in the sky, somewhere, for buck’s sake. He winced. The swearing reflex was getting annoying, even to him. Still, it wasn’t hard to make it seem like he knew what he was doing, and it wasn’t like it was hard to pull something over on his brothers anyway. Besides, it was easy for that little conundrum to be lost in the other parts of his plan. “Gah!” he yelled, startling the ponies nearby before he absently and mechanically trotted along the path. He pulled out the map and scanned it again. There wasn’t much breathing room between the Bridge and the Town Hall. He’d probably only have one shot at making sure this happened. “Foresight and foreknowledge is more trouble than it’s worth,” he muttered. Distracted as he was by his thoughts and keeping the map levitated, he inevitably caught his hoof on the uneven ground and stumbled. In all honesty; he wasn’t the most balanced of colts. True, he could catch himself from a fall easily enough, but that mostly developed from the fact that he stumbled so often. In this case, his magic slipped, the levitation spell discharging in a small bolt of green energy that shot out from his horn, trailing sparks as it flew through the air. Silver was actually impressed with the distance it got; clearing the river and landing flank of the unfortunate teal stallion that washing windows with a hose. “HORSEAPPLES!” The yelp carried all the way back to Silver, who quickly ducked behind a wagon to stay out of sight. The stallion continued making threats, though Silver couldn’t quite make out what they were. Great, turning a levitation spell into a weak combat spell. I really need to get a better handle on my magic, Silver fumed to himself. “Wow, kid. That was a pretty awesome prank,” a mare laughed from above him. “Hey! That was an acci… dent…” Silver said, trailing off when he looked up into the pink eyes of Rainbow Dash, lounging on a cloud that drifted at roof level. “Whatever. It was a bit weak, but still sorta awesome.” She hugged her cloud and flapped her wings, maneuvering it so it was closer to his level. “I don’t remember seeing you around town before. I’m Rainbow Dash. Fastest Flier in Equestria and best prankster in Ponyville.” Seriously? Rainbow Dash was here? No matter, Silver wasn’t about to look a buck his blessings. Now, if only he could control his impulses… “What makes you think you’re the best prankster in town?” “Because I’m awesome, duh,” Rainbow countered, rolling her eyes as if it were obvious. “So because you say you are? That’s pretty weak,” Silver snorted. “Watch it, kid,” Rainbow warned, jabbing a hoof at him before she started bragging. “Don’t make me prove it to you. I could out prank you with both wings and two hooves tied.” Silver stuck his tongue out at her. “Show off!” “If I wanted to show off, I’d pull some of my tricks. I’m Wonderbolt Material!” Rainbow kicked off from her cloud flexing her muscles. “Watch this!” With a powerful flap, she shot off, a rainbow trail following her as she flew loops around the Town Hall, weaving in and out of the pillars; her multicoloured trail forming a complex, though fading, pattern that surrounding the building, the display glittering on the windows, the flags snapped taunt from her high speed passage. Once she reached the peak, she made forced herself into a steep climb, flaring her wings several dozen hooves high. She sudden pressure flipped her, and she was suddenly in equally steep dive, pulling out at the very last moment to skim across the ground at a barely controlled speed, shooting past Silver, the slip stream dragging him off his feet and snatching her cloud, towing it behind her. “Hey!” Silver protested, scrabbling for a bit before he got his hooves under him. He looked around in time to see Rainbow crash into a certain lavender unicorn as she made her way down the road, knocking her into a puddle of mud that formed when the window washer tossed his hose in surprise. Silver had a blank look on his face for a while. “Did I… just finish phase 3?” ---------- ~Proud~ “I still don’t see what maps and directions have to do with meeting Rainbow,” Proud muttered as he pushed the door to the large meeting room open. “He just wants to keep the cool parts to himself. I’ll bet that- Wow!” His mutterings died as he beheld the magic that was done on the room. Completely mundane magic, but it was still dazzling. The room, at its bare minimum, was probably nice, the wood panelling on the walls and the large windows both well made, but what was done to it is what really made it stand out. Around the room a few mares and stallions worked. Only six of them; two pegasi draping multicoloured ribbons and streamers between pillars, the unicorn and earth ponies working on setting up the decorations on the lower level. Directing them all was a white unicorn with a flowing purple mane oversaw their activities, her critical eye watching their every action. “No, no, no, dear!” she called out to one of the pegasi in the rafters. Her horn lit up and a light blue glow pulled the yellow streamer from the stallion’s grip. “That yellow will never work there! Do take the red one instead. It simply will not do to have the Princess thinking that we lack sophistication here in Ponyville!” “Fine,” the stallion said with a weary sigh, flying off to change colours. Proud grinned. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. He trotted over to her. “Excuse me, miss.” Rarity looked down at him, and he gave her his most brilliant smile. “Oh, just Rarity is fine. Is there something I can help you with today?” “I want to help decorating,” Proud said, deciding to go with the obvious. Besides, he really did want to help with the decorations. “My aunt told me and my brothers to have fun, and I want to help make it look good for the Princess.” Rarity gave him contemplative look. Proud dug deep and turned on the cute eyes. Her will wavered. “Oh, very well. I simply cannot say no to such an adorable stallion.” Soon enough, Proud found himself putting ribbons around the tables that would later hold the desserts and hooving over streamers and ribbons of various colours to the two pegasi doing the roof décor. He didn’t think he was doing it exactly right, and Rarity’s outburst soon confirmed it. “Whatever are you thinking?” Rarity suddenly screeched. “That shade of blue around those hangings? Somepony would have to be mad to put those together!” The pegasus covered his eyes with a hoof. “Look, miss…” “Just Rarity, dear,” she said sweetly. “Just… are you sure all this is necessary?” “Of course it is!” Rarity said, her eyes wide and panicky. “Can you imagine the scandal if the Princess arrives and finds anything less than perfection! Think of the scandal! I would never live it down!” Rarity had brought her foreleg up to her forehead and half swooned. Her dramatics were attracting the attention of everypony in the room. The second pegasus flew down to look at her. “You won’t never live it down?” “Er… what I meant to say was that Ponyville will never live it down,” she amended hastily. She cleared her throat and quickly put herself together again. “Now, this decore is reminiscent of the largest bash held in Manehattan this year. Princess Celestia was present, of course, and her keen eye would surely notice if just one ribbon, one streamer were out of place! We have to make sure this room is Absolutely Perfect!” The other members of the decorating team groaned, not looking forward to the effort this would take. As Rarity started pulling out and sorting even more materials, Proud looked around the room. He wasn’t a fashion expert and only had one outfit in his wardrobe, but he had a question. “Miss Rarity, why would you want it too look like Manehattan? I thought this was Ponyville.” “Of course it is, dear,” Rarity said, a trace bit absently. “But Manehattan is a trendsetter. It wouldn’t do for use to fall behind.” “But we want to look like Ponyville, don’t we?” Proud pressed. “Yes, but… I…” Rarity dropped the shimmering purple material, likely a curtain, she had been examining. Her eyes shined and she clapped her hooves together. “I-de-a!” she declared suddenly. The glow of her magic spread across the room, engulfing numerous items and pulling them down. “What!” the other unicorn in the room protested. “We just put those up!” “No! Those will not do! Not one bit! I was a fool to try and mimic the fashion set by Manehattan! No, this celebration will set a fashion all of its own! The news will be abuzz with these designs!” She giggled to herself as she quickly redid the decorations in the room, the other ponies present suddenly unimportant as she took over. “I don’t think she needs us anymore,” the pegasus mare commented. “I guess not,” an earth pony agreed. “We should probably find something else to help with for the day.” Ascent rippled through the group as they slowly trickled out, leaving Rarity to her art. Proud backed against the wall, uncertain as to how to progress from that point. He tried calling out to her a few times, but she was too distracted. When he found himself wrapped up prettily with a ribbon and bow that went nicely with his coat, he gave up. “Silver’s gonna be upset that this didn’t work…” Proud sighed, trying to get the girly bow from around his neck. “Hello?” someone called from the door. “The Princess sent me to check on the decoration.” Proud stared as Twilight walked into the room. He quickly darted for the side entrance before he pounced her with questions and probably a fancolt hug. On the other hand; he managed to hold Rarity up until Twilight got there! ---------- ~Flare~ Sometimes he seriously wondered if Silver was out to get him. Between the needling, the teasing and stunts like this, it was hard not to. Then again, Silver was merciless in teasing and needling Proud too. He was just that kind of pony. Flare sighed and made his way to Fluttershy’s cottage anyway. Silver’s plan made sense, for the most part, and he didn’t see any reason to go against it. Aside from the issue of locating Fluttershy in the town. Her home wasn’t hard to find, fortunately. Seeing that it qualified as the local wildlife shelter and one of the emergency veterinary clinics, and was the closest home to the Everfree, it was both clearly marked on the map as well as known enough with the locals that it was easy to be pointed in the right direction. Her cottage was impressive. She had a large amount of acreage on her property, each tree generously hung with animal shelters. The cottage itself was sitting on a small hillock, the green roof concept making it seem as if it grew from it naturally. The stream that meandered across her land, bending to meet the path so a bridge was called for, only cemented the idyllic air it held. Flare nervously eyed the birds that watched him, chirping comments as he knocked on the door. When he didn’t get a response he knocked again. A few moments passed before the door opened. Only, no meek yellow pegasus greeted him, instead a white rabbit glared up at him. Flare jumped back, wings fluttering and he meeped. Angel; the most cantankerous rabbit in Equestria. He swallowed his initial reaction and gave the rabbit a nervous smile. “Um, hi. Is Fluttershy home?” Angel narrowed his eyes at him and gave him an appraising once over before shaking his head. “Do you know where she is?” Flare asked him. Angel was still for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. “Great! Can you tell me?” The bunny raised an eyebrow at him. “Um… show me?” Flare fumbled with his saddlebag and pulled out the map. Unfolding it, he held it out so the bunny could get at it. Angel sighed and jabbed a point on the map before hopping back inside and closing the door with a slam. “Nice guy,” Flare sighed. Well, at least he had a place to look. The park Angel pointed out wasn’t exactly nearby, being on the other side of town, to be honest. He wasn’t exactly sure of the time table they were working with, but it wasn’t a huge one. Rather than have her birds practice at her home, Fluttershy had taken them to the animal park instead. It was the thrilling of birdsong that let him know he was in the right place and he spotted her, gently directing the birds, perched on branches, their chests all puffed out as they sang. It was actually pretty nice, hearing the melodious cries of a dozen or so birds melded into a choir. He stood still for a while to listen, but shook himself from that state in short order. Right now, he need to get figure out a way to get Fluttershy to the park Silver figured she would cross Twilight. It wasn’t too far away, but he wasn’t quite sure how to pull off convincing her to go there. He hid behind a bush and ran a few ideas through his head. “Maybe I can just ask her,” Flare murmured as he peeked through the bush, trying to find a good angle to watch from, hoping he didn’t look too creepy. He jumped when the birds scattered, startled by something outside his field of vision. Wait, didn't that happen when... “Wow, that sounded amazing!” a cheerful voice said. “I’m so sorry for scaring your birds though.” “No way…” Flare said softly. He shifted to get a better look. Yep. Twilight Sparkle. He checked the map Silver made. This wasn't the right park, but here she was anyway. He scowled and stuffed the map back in his saddlebag and backed away from the scene so he could make it to the library before Twilight and Fluttershy did. “Your plan sucks, Silver…”