The Equestrian Venture

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Twenty Eight: She's Been Waiting

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Eight: She’s Still Waiting
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The train pulled in slowly to Ponyville station, and everypony was thankful to finally be back in a place full of life. The battle had worn hard on them but now that it was over, and that they were home, they could finally rest. The trio stepped out of the train smiling as the bright sun warmed their bodies and lifted their hearts. It was nice to be home.

“Welcome back everyone,” Celestia said.

Rita’s eyes shot wide at the sight of the giant princess amongst a nervous crowd of tiny ponies. Fluttershy and Rarity stood by her side looking quite out of place. Rarity walked up and gave Spike a hug which he returned gratefully, Fluttershy did the same to Rita. Trixie growled before stepping forward.

“Are you expecting a report from Trixie now?” Trixie asked bitterly.

Celestia looked taken aback for a moment before grabbing hold of the situation and giving a stern expression to Trixie. “Only if you wish to give one.”

Trixie turned her head and began walking away while saying, “Twilight and Rita can do it. I’m going to sleep.”

Celestia watched Trixie leave for a moment before turning towards Twilight and asking, “What was that about?”

Twilight began digging at the wooden platform with a hoof while avoiding eye contact. “She lost her friends to the dragon in the initial assault. I’m surprised that she’s held out as long as she did… I don’t think that I’d have that kind of strength if I lost any of my friends.”

Celestia hung her head and frowned. “I didn’t know that things had gotten so bad. Maybe there is something I can do for her.”

Rita pulled away from Fluttershy’s embrace. “Give her time to rest. That’s about all we can do for now… but Twilight was right about her. She’s strong, and she was able to lead the unicorns without fail until the final battle when things got difficult. Even then she still managed to save ponies in the middle of battle, even though it could have cost her life.”

Celestia closed her eyes with a thoughtful look on her face. After a moment she spoke quietly, “Hmm… maybe she’ll succeed after all.”

“Succeed at what?” Twilight asked.

Celestia opened her eyes and gave Twilight a gentle smile. “Oh it’s nothing to concern yourself with, Twilight.”

“Okay,” Twilight said before trotting along. “I’ll start working on my report, and I’ll have Spike give it to you as soon as possible.”

“Before you go home, could you pick up some more of those delightful cheesy treats that you had?” Celestia asked.

Twilight raised an eye brow and said in a confused tone, “Um… sure.” Twilight looked at Spike and said, “Come on, Spike. I’m going to need your help.”

Spike gave a sad look to Rarity but then quickly smiled again and said, “I’ll see you tonight.” He then turned and walked away with Twilight Sparkle.

Fluttershy quickly and quietly whispered into Rita’s ear. “Celestia has been staying at Twilight’s ever since you left. I don’t know why she hasn’t gone back to Canterlot yet, but ponies are very worried about her being here.”

Rita raised her arms above her head and stretched before saying, “Yeah, that’s kinda weird. But she can do whatever she wants.”

Celestia gave a kind smile to Rita and asked, “Would you like to spend some time with me? I’d like to get to know you better.”

Rita gave a short yawn before saying, “That sounds like fun.”

“Actually, darling, you might want to apologize to Pinkie Pie first. I don’t know what you did, but she has been very upset with you for a few days now,” Rarity explained.

Rita gave a confused look to Rarity for a moment while trying to figure out why Pinkie would be mad. The only thing she could think of was the fact that she didn’t invite Pinkie to fight the dragon, in fact she had been in such a rush to get going that she missed her chance to even say good bye to the pink pony. Rita nodded and said, “Sure, I don’t want her to be mad at me after all.”

***

Later on at The Sugarcube Corner a very angry Pinkie Pie sat in one of the booths while glaring at Rita from across the table. Rita looked back towards the door and saw Celestia standing outside the window waiting for her. Rita folded her arms and looked back at Pinkie Pie.

“So… what’s up?” Rita asked.

“What’s up? What’s up? I’ll tell you what’s up. You left town for three whole days, and you didn’t even tell me that you were leaving, that is what’s up!” Pinkie Pie snapped.

Rita groaned and covered her face with her hand. “That’s all.”

“What do you mean ‘that’s all’, that is a HUGE deal!”

“I’m sorry. I guess I should have told you. I was in a rush though, and unlike Spike, I didn’t get any time to say goodbye,” Rita said.

“I have been worried to death over you, I mean what if you didn’t come back home? What would I do if you were gone? Huh, do you have an answer for that?” Pinkie demanded.

Rita stood silently for a moment before letting out a sigh and saying, “You’re right. I’m sorry that I did this to you. If Fluttershy wouldn’t have kept me stuck at home for so long, I would have been able to tell you.”

“This discussion isn’t over, Rita. I need you to understand how much it hurts me when ponies abandon me like this,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Now hold on a second, I never abandoned you. I just forgot to tell you that I was going on an adventure,” Rita defended.

“Oh so now you forgot? Which is it, Rita? Did you not tell me because you didn’t have time, or because you forgot too?”

Rita was beginning to get frustrated, she had a hard time seeing how one little mistake like this could make somepony so angry. Rita turned around and said, “Look I already apologized, what more do you want?”

“I want us to become official,” Pinkie Pie said.

Rita looked back at her and tilted her head to the side before asking, “What does that mean?”

“I want everypony to know that we’re more than friends. We can tell them together if you like,” Pinkie Pie explained.

Rita thought about this for a moment, if we did tell everyone, would it be a good thing, or a bad one. Surely they wouldn’t hate either of us for this, but would they actually accept this. Hell even I don’t know if I accept this yet, it’s still weird to think about. I mean it’s not like me and Estella, I used to freak out if Estella was gone for longer than a few hours…

“Pinkie,” Rita asked, “What were you doing while I was gone?”

“I was either crying, or fuming, or I don’t know. Why does that matter?” Pinkie said.

Rita walked over to Pinkie’s side of the booth and wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s waist. Rita pulled herself into a tight hug with her face against Pinkie’s chest. At first Pinkie refused, but after a moment Pinkie couldn’t help but to return the embrace. Rita began stroking Pinkie’s back as she said, “I’m so sorry that I did this to you. I didn’t realize how much I meant to you… if you really want us to come out to everypony than I won’t argue. Okay?”

Pinkie smiled softly and said, “I wasn’t really that mad… but thank you. I would like it if we let everypony know about us.”

Rita didn’t want to pull away from the warm soft embrace of Pinkie’s but she had to go and entertain Celestia. Whatever the giant princess wanted, it sounded like it could prove entertaining. Rita looked into Pinkie’s giant blue eyes and saw the love that was held for her there. Rita’s heart went a flutter and her cheeks began warming up before she could force herself to look away and say, “I have to hang with Celestia. I’ll come back and we’ll do something fun soon, I promise.”

“You better,” Pinkie Pie said. After a moment she added, “I missed you, Rita.”

“I missed you too,” Rita said. Now Rita faced towards the door, it was time to do whatever the princess had wanted to. Hopefully the princess had something fun planned.

***

They walked through the town together for a while in silence, the giant princess, and the tiny human. Everypony who saw the pair instantly straightened up and attempted to look as polite as they possibly could. It was a little unnerving just how fast the ponies would change from being relaxed to being stiffened up like statues in the presence of their beloved princess.

“I give it two weeks,” Celestia said calmly as they walked down the main road.

“Two weeks for what?” Rita inclined.

“Two weeks before they get used to my presence here,” Celestia explained.

Rita stayed silent for a moment wondering if she should really ask, but she just shrugged and asked anyway, “What makes you want to stay here for a whole two weeks, don’t you have a kingdom to run?”

“They will be fine without me for a few weeks, or months… or longer if I should feel the need. Beside the fact that I have chosen a capable council to run most of the kingdom, my little sister has shown her ability to rule in my stead. In fact I have played with the idea of just leaving the entire place to her once or twice, but after the initial shock and fun wore off, I’m afraid that she would grow to hate me again if I did something so brash,” Celestia explained. After she finished she lowered her head down to a patch of flowers and sniffed at them. As she watched Celestia’s graceful movements Rita began to realize just how careful this giant of a pony was with every single movement.

Rita, still keeping a few feet of distance, walked to the flower patch and kneeled down as well. The flowers were of some unknown bread to Rita, they were red with green tips and looked lovely. As Rita plucked one and sniffed it, she watched Celestia sniff the flower bed again. Rita enjoyed the smell, but she wasn’t sure why Celestia would just stop and admire some flowers, it seemed to her like this was to peaceful and laid back for a ruler of a country to do. When Celestia ate one of the flowers Rita realized that she wasn’t just admiring them, she was having a snack.

“So… does it taste good?” Rita asked.

“Hmm, it’s not as sweet as I had imagined. This reminds me of Twilight though,” Celestia said.

“Oh?” Rita inquired.

“She might be a little upset after she sees the state her pantry is in,” Celestia explained.

“Why? Did you eat something she likes?”

“Yes, while I was staying at her castle for a few days I might have eaten something she loves… actually I might have eaten everything ,” Celestia said with the slightest blush.

“No, you couldn’t have. I’m sure that you left something for her,” Rita said, figuring Celestia was telling a joke.

“No I ate everything. I am a lot bigger then her after all, and I had thought that she would’ve had more food for her servants… but then I remembered that Twilight does not have servants,” Celestia explained.

Rita face palmed and said, “Wow, and here I thought that she was going to be upset about the cheesy whatever’s.”

“Oh those were quite good, I don’t know where she had gotten them, but those tiny bars of orange cheesiness were absolutely delightful. I would like to know where she acquired them, it was like a candy bar made of cheese,” Celestia said her eyes glossing over as though she was day dreaming about the fabled cheese.

Rita laughed a little and said, “Wow, I kinda like you. I mean sure you’re a giant monster of a pony, but you are seriously pretty cool.”

“Thank you,” Celestia said with a smile. “Again another complement that I have not heard before, cool. May I ask you something more serious?”

“Shoot for it.”

“Have you heard about the Ark, the Aether Generator, or of Rainbow Myst Syndrome?” Celestia asked.

“Um… no. Should I have?” Rita asked.

“No, not yet anyway. Let us be off then,” Celestia said before standing up.

Rita stood up as well and folded her arms. That was an odd series of questions for the princess to ask of her, and the way she said ‘not yet’. Rita wanted to know more, and so she opened her mouth to ask. Celestia looked at Rita with a playful expression and said, “Do you wish to ride me over to Twilight’s castle? I know that she would never approve of such a thing, and so it could prove entertaining to watch her as ponies like to say, blow a gasket.”

Rita was suddenly grinning from ear to ear. Rita simply nodded, and after being lifted on to Celestia’s back via magic, the two set off towards Twilight’s. This was going to be most insanely funny thing she would ever do to the purple alicorn, and Rita knew exactly what to say when she got there.

Comments

[Amethyst Blade]

That cover art....young human girl have beard?