Chapter 4
There are many grand and high class places in Equestria. Places where the rich and the fancy spend their time with others like them.
And in Equestria, that place would have to be Canterlot.
Situated on the side of a mountain, it is the hub of fancy and high class ponies, who mostly spend their time shopping or trying to get ponies to invest in their company.
It is also where Princess Celestia rules over Equestria. Her castle is in full view of the city, and from the mountain she can see over all of her subjects. It is also where she raises the sun in the morning and lowers it at night.
But she is joined also by her sister Princess Luna. As princess of the night, she guards Equestria while the ponies sleep through the darkness.
It almost seemed like nothing could overshadow all of this.
But something could, and something did.
*************************
There is a place in Canterlot called the “Upper Sector”. This was where everypony that was rich and powerful stayed. The houses that lined the street were large and elegant. Each had a large iron gate at the front, and spectacular gardens leading up to the front steps.
It was on one of these streets that a large crowd had gathered. They stood in front of the largest house in the sector. It had large iron gates wrapping around the grounds, with bushes planted on the outside. The front yard was clean and had a walkway up to the large wooden doors. Columns where placed around the house, giving it even more splendor.
The crowd was stuck behind the iron gates, but there was commotion coming from inside.
*************************
Inside the house, another crowd of ponies were standing in the entrance hall. It had large white walls with pictures of beautiful mares and handsome stallions. A large staircase stood at the end, which lead two ways to the rooms upstairs. A few plants stood in areas around the room.
The ponies in the crowd had cameras, notepads and pens, as well as microphones. They were all facing towards the stairs, where a stallion, a mare, and a young filly stood in front of the stairs.
The stallion was a light brown earth pony with a black mane which was styled back. He wore a white collar and a red tie with a dollar symbol on it. Three bags of money were his cutie mark.
The mare was a light blue earth pony with a purple mane with a white streak running through it. She wore a purple jacket, and had an engagement ring in a box as her cutie mark.
The filly was a light pink earth pony with a dark purple mane with a white streak running through it. A tiara sat on her head, and it was also her cutie mark. But the filly was also holding something in her hoof. A golden piece of paper that read: GOLDEN TICKET.
“Diamond Tiara, that’s a wonderful name. But could you spell that for us please” shouted a reporter with a notepad in his hoof.
“Why of course. D-I-A-M-O-N-D T-I-A-R-A, Diamond Tiara” said the filly.
The pony quickly wrote that down, that others did the same.
“Diamond Tiara, would you mind telling us how you found the Golden Ticket” asked a unicorn.
But before Diamond Tiara could say anything, the stallion next to her interrupted. “I’d actually be very glad to answer that particular question for you” he said with a smile.
“But wouldn’t Diamond Tiara know about getting the ticket Filthy” said the unicorn.
The stallion cleared his throat “Mr. Rich will do just fine. And this isn’t the case, right sweet heart” he said, looking at Diamond.
Diamond looked uneasy for a second, but then flashed a smile. “Of course daddy” she said.
Mr. Rich turned back to the crowd. “You see as soon as my precious Diamond told me she had to have one of these Golden Tickets, I started buying up all the Pinkie Bars I could lay my hoofs on. Thousands of them, actually hundreds of thousands. But it was going to be difficult for Diamond to get through all those bars. So I simply did what any high business pony would do at this stage: use what you have available.”
“And that’s exactly what I did. I own three businesses’ here in Canterlot, and one specializes in manufacturing goods for the common pony. The workforce that builds each machine are all unicorns, which was perfect for my needs.”
One Week Ago
Mr. Rich walked along the gantry walkways above a large factory floor. The room was large enough to hold a size fifteen air ship, and conveyors spanned the distance. Along the sides of the conveyors where tables where pairs of three unicorns were sitting.
Mr. Rich walked up to a large podium on the walkway, and then the mic was turned on.
Mr. Rich cleared his throat “Morning fillies and gentlecolts, I have some urgent news to give you. Until further notice you will no longer be building the normal machines that you make every day. Instead you shall be pealing the wrappers off these Pinkie Bars as they come down the conveyor. You are to search for one of Pinkie’s Golden Tickets. If the bar you open does not contain one, put is back on the conveyor and move on to the next one. The pony that finds the Golden Ticket will get a one hundred bonus in their pay. Good luck, and let the conveyors roll” he said.
Suddenly the conveyors sprang into life, and soon piles and piles of Pinkie Bars were coming along with them. And it wasn’t long before the unicorns were using their magic to tear open the bars.
“Three days went by and we had no luck, it was terrible. My little Diamond got more and more upset each day” said Mr. Rich.
“Where’s My Golden Ticket, I Want My Golden Ticket” asked Diamond, stomping her hoof on the ground.
“We’re searching as fast as we can right now dear. We’ll get it to you as soon as possible” said Mr. Rich.
“BUT I WANT IT NOW!” screamed Diamond Tiara.
Present Day
“And as you can tell I just hated to see my little girl feeling unhappy like that. I vowed I would keep up the search until I could give her what she wanted. And just a few days later, one of my unicorns found a Golden Ticket. My little girl was so happy to have one, you should have seen the look on her face” said Mr. Rich.
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, but continued to smile for the camera.
That was the story that her dad had told her they were going to tell. He didn’t want his whole search for the ticket to look like a waste of time, so they made up a new one. Diamond still remembered how she really found the ticket.
Two Days Ago
Diamond Tiara was walking back and forth across her room. It was large enough to hold a good fifty ponies and still have enough leg room. The walls were all painted pink, and the bed was so large you could hold a fancy dinner on it.
Diamond had a glare on her face, and moved from looking at her bedroom door to the large window, then back again.
“Why hasn’t daddy found my Golden Ticket yet? He has a whole factory floor of ponies looking for it, and five days later they still haven’t found it. And somepony else has already found the first ticket. I WANTED IT TO BE ME” she said, screaming the last part.
“Well, what do you think” she asked, turning to a pony who was sitting on a cushion near the middle of the room. The pony was a dark gray mare with a light gray mane, which was tied in a brad at the end. She had a silver spoon as a cutie mark, and wore a set of blue glasses and a fine pearl necklace.
Next to the pony was a pile of opened Pinkie Bars, and six non-open ones sat on the other side. She continued to open them, and didn’t look up.
“I think you should be happy your dad’s doing this for you. You could be like me and have to do it all by yourself. My family bought the bars, but then said I had to open them myself. You have an army of unicorns looking for yours; count yourself lucky” said the pony, still not looking up as she opened two more bars (both with no ticket) then tossed them in the pile.
“I know Silver Spoon, but I want my ticket now! I’m just so angry and sad” said Diamond as she continued to walk back and forth.
“Why not do something to make you feel better, that’s what I usually do when I get angry” said Silver Spoon as she opened another empty bar. Now there was only one left.
“Your right, I could always do what most mares do when they get upset” said Diamond.
Then just as Silver Spoon was reaching for the last bar, Diamond walked past and swiped it up, not even looking down as she walked toward the door.
“Drown my sorrows in Chocolate” she said.
Silver Spoon looked sadly at her. “But that one was…oh never mind. I can just get my dad to but more” she said.
“Good, because I need this” said Diamond, ripping off one end as she did so. But before she took a bite, something flashed across her face.
Diamond looked down, and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.
Sitting above the chocolate was a gold piece of paper. And on the front read “GOLDEN TICEKT”.
Diamond was speechless for a minute, but then she pulled out the ticket and jumped as high as she could. “I FOUND IT! I FOUND THE GOLDEN TICKET” she screamed.
Silver Spoon turned to her, mouth hanging open like it was broken. “You found the Golden Ticket, in the bar that I was about to open” she said.
“BUT YOU DIDN’T OPEN IT, I DID! AND NOW I GET TO GO TO THE FACTORY! WAIT UNTIL EVERONE HEARS ABOUT THIS” she screamed. And with one last jump into the air, she ran to the door, flung it open, and raced out.
*************************
Present Day
Back at the Apple Farm, Apple Bloom was sitting next to the radio with Granny Smith.
“And that’s how she found the Golden Ticket. Now that’s all we have from our sources right now, but don’t you worry we’ll be back just as soon as we can. Until then we’re going to kick things over to our mane mare Vinyl Scratch for your music. Take it away Vinyl” said the reporter.
“Hey everypone, this is D.J. Pon-3 bringing you the latest music that’s hot and tripping. Here’s the latest from Sapphire Shores’ newest album…” said Vinyl.
“That girls even worse than the fat one. The foal with the ticket, not the music one” said Granny, making sure Apple Bloom understood.
Apple Bloom huffed “Well I don’t think that’s very fair. She didn’t find the ticket herself. She resorted to others to find it” she said.
“Don’t worry kido, she’s spoiled. And nothing good comes from being a spoiled foal. Although I do believe she deserves a good kick in the flanks” said Granny.
Apple Bloom chuckled, and Granny Smith did the same.
They were laughing so hard they didn’t notice Applejack and Big Mac walk in. Both were wearing saddlebags that were stuffed full of items.
“What are you two laughing about” asked Applejack.
Apple Bloom and Granny looked over at the two.
“Oh, it’s nothing. We were just talking about stuff” said Apple Bloom, still letting a few giggles escape her.
“By the way, were have you two been. You didn’t tell us you were leaving” said Granny.
“We had to go out and get some supplies, that’s all Granny” said Applejack.
“We seem to be going to the stores a lot these days” said Apple Bloom.
“Blame the writer” said Big Mac.
“What was that” asked Granny.
“Nothing” said Big Mac.
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Anyway, there is something we wanted to say to you Apple Bloom” she said.
Apple Bloom looked nervous. “Whatever it was I didn’t do it” she said.
“No, it’s nothing bad. You see when we were out, we talked about how you haven’t been able to search for a Golden Ticket like everyone else. And we thought you should at least have one shot to find it before we can decide on anything” said Applejack, and she reached back into her saddlebag. “So in exchange for reducing our amount of cabbage, we bought you this.”
Apple Bloom watched as Applejack took something from the saddlebag and placed in front of the foal. It was a chocolate bar, but not just any chocolate bar. With its party background wrapper and curly letters, there was only one thing it could be: A Pinkie Bar.
“Well, what are ya waiting for, Open It” said Applejack.
Apple Bloom rubbed her hoof. “I…I don’t know. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow” she said nervously.
“Girl for the past two weeks you’ve been saying that the moment you get a Pinkie Bar you’re going to rip it open. Now one’s right in front of you and you don’t even want to touch it? You won’t know you’re a winner until you open it, so go ahead and do it” said Granny.
Apple Bloom looked at the three family members, then down at the bar. Slowly, she reached out and pulled it towards her. She took a deep breath, then began to peal the paper away from the right end, doing the same to the left. Now all that was left was to rip the paper off.
“Now Apple Bloom, you mustn’t be disappointed if you don’t, you know, get the ticket” said Applejack.
“And remember, whatever happens you’ll still have the chocolate” said Big Mac.
Apple Bloom took a deep breath, and then pulled at the wrapper with all of her might. The wrapper flew off and landed on the floor next to her.
After staying quiet for a second, she looked down at the bar.
Nothing. Nothing but chocolate.
The family stood in silence for a moment, with nopony saying a word.
“Well, that’s that. Nothing more we can do about it” said Granny, looking sadly at the plain bar.
“Sorry Apple Bloom, but look on the bright side. You still got the chocolate, like Big Mac said” commented Applejack, with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“Yeah” said Apple Bloom sadly.
“Well we gotta go put some stuff away. You enjoy yourself” said Applejack. Then she and Big Mac walked out of the room.
Apple Bloom took the bar and gave it a good look over.
“Well, not much to do now. Over the lips, between the gums, look out stomach, her she comes” said Apple Bloom. And then she took a large bite out of the bar.
She began to feel better.