The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 54: Crystal Gathering

***Saturday, Day 48, midday***

Our journey through the crystal streets is relatively quiet for the most part. The whole ‘foreboding cloud of impending disaster’ we encountered had the effect of toning down any tourist-like thoughts we might have once had. Other than the occasional hungry glance from Spike, completely understandable since to him this is essentially a place made of food, everypony seems very nonchalant.

The exception is one alabaster mare as she marvels at absolutely everything. Her usual restrained persona makes way for what can only be described as gleeful awe, “It's gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!”

I chuckle quietly at this newer side to our refined friend while Applejack takes a more practical approach with the unicorn, “Focus, Rarity. We're here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery.”

Rainbow adds in with a bored tone, “Eh, I don't see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me.”

Blue adds in the final blow to Rarity’s buzz as he passes her, “Every place has a theme, this one just happens to be shiny.”

Their words have a profound effect on the seamstress as she immediately starts twitching and stuttering, “A- p- guh! Another old...! Just happens…!” She rushes quickly over to the other three, “Have you lost your minds? Look at the magni-” Suddenly the other three start laughing and hoofbumping as Rarity realizes she has just been lead on. She quickly clears her throat and calms down as the rest of us simply smile at her reaction, “Very funny.”

We enter one of the legs of the castle that leads to the throne room.

As soon as the last of us enter, I hear Twilight shout from the front, “Cadence!”

From the throne, a pink alicorn I recognize from the newspaper article about her royal wedding a few months back happily canters towards Twilight. The two quickly close and perform a little… dance I suppose one might call it, “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!”

The rest of us stand back and let the two have their moment. The princess cringes afterwards, revealing tired and sagging eyes from what looks like enormous fatigue, “One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance.”

Twilight raises a hoof, “Are you okay?”

Shining Armor walks up and answers for the mare I now remember is his wife, “Cadence has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra.”

Cadence tries to straighten up, “It's alright Shining Armor, I'm fine.”

Armor sees right through her, “She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade, well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen.”

A brief sense of unease can be felt just before Twilight answers, “That's why we're here.”

Applejack walks forward, head held high, “Why we're all here.”

The rest of us follow and make affirmative noises.

Armor’s voice reinforces how worried he is, “Well, with Cadence putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies.”

Suddenly Rarity bursts out with a level of excitement Pinkie would probably approve of in normal circumstances. She grabs her mane like a fangirl as she exclaims, “Crystal Ponies? Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?!” All of us staring at her inappropriate outburst gets through to her after a moment and she quickly tries to piece together her usual image, “Umm, hmm. Please continue.”

Armor does so, “But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the empire without having to use Cadence's magic.”

Sparkle suddenly gets an excited look, “A research paper!”

Shining Armor’s response reflects the unsaid thoughts of everypony, “Huh?”

The lavender unicorn only grows in eagerness as she continues, “That must be part of my test; to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you! This is gonna be great! I love research papers!”

Rainbow nudges Pinkie sarcastically, “Yeah, who doesn't?”

Being herself, the pink mare ignores the ‘sarcastic’ part, “Oh oh oh! Lemme guess! Is it Spike? Nono, Fluttershy! Rarity!” She pauses a moment after grabbing the named ponies, “Oh, I’ve got it!” She pulls me over, “Rhino!”

I try not to think about it too much and decide to just answer on reflex, “She is correct, give this mare a cupcake.”

The party mistress obliges by pulling a cupcake from her mane and chowing down on it while Twilight turns back to Armor, “Don’t worry, big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing.”

***

After a series of interviews with the sullen locals, I spot the group meeting spot as I head back with my findings. I arrive just as Rarity finishes her summary.

Twilight looks questioningly to me as I walk up, “How were the ponies you spoke with?”

I answer frankly, my mood a little down from being around so many dour ponies, “Uninformative and a bit depressing.”

The other stallions arrive in short time and give similar answers.

“Nope.”

“Nada.”

“Zip.”

“Zilch.”

As the last stallion delivers his report, I see Fluttershy walking up with a strange look on her face. Concerned that it might have been the ponies making her feel down as well, I walk over. Internally, I hope that I can cheer her up and that seeing her happy will inadvertently brighten my spirits as well.

I walk over to her and ask, “Hey Fluttershy, are you feeling alright?”

Instead of a response, her eyes simply widen and she dashes over to Twilight causing a slight pang in my heart just before she-

WHAT IN THE NAME OF LUNA?! But-but-but…

I stare open mouthed, eye twitching slightly as what I thought was my marefriend reveals itself to actually be Pinkie Pie in in a shockingly realistic Fluttershy costume. My mind tries and fails to grasp exactly what just happened as I sit staring at the now crumpled imitation of the yellow pegasus. A tap on my shoulder as gentle as a breeze causes me to look back into the concerned eyes of what appears to be my marefriend.

I continue simply looking at her with my shellshocked mind as she asks worriedly, “Rhino, are you okay?”

I only shift my eyes between the pony and the costume, still trying to get my thoughts in order.

Following my look, Fluttershy spots the disguise. Her face quickly becomes disturbed as she uses a hoof to fling the fabric away. My head is starting to get back into place as I watch the cause of its scramble gain some distance away from me. Fluttershy simply walks over to me and hugs me, which I return with a sigh of relief as I confirm that this time it is really her.

I open my eyes over her shoulder to see the others rapidly moving away from us towards some unknown destination. We quickly separate and head after them.

***

We arrive quickly at the natural habitat of the Twilight Sparkle, i.e. the library. As we walk in, the subject in question immediately adopts a tone and stance of absolute awe as she gasps out, “I just... I don't even know what to... There are no words.”

I mutter quietly to the few guys near me, “I believe ‘bibliophile’ might be a word for this.” A light snickering announces their agreement.

“Ahem.” A voice off to the side causes us all to turn and see an elderly crystal pony as she clears her throat, “May I help you?”

Twilight approaches her giddily, “Yes. We're looking for a book.”

“We have plenty of those.” The older mare deadpans, gesturing around.

You could almost see the sparkles in her eyes as Twilight responds, “You do. You really do.” She begins to twirl around on the spot as if in a dream.

Hydro remarks to Volt, “Wow, a library makes her go googly-eyed faster than you can.”

Atom pipes in from the back of the group, “Wonder if it makes her do anything else faster…”

Volt counters after a moment, “You guys better hope I never get in a position of power.”

Blue continues the ribbing session, “It would take magic for you to become royalty of any kind.”

The resulting silence from us is broken by Applejack as she approaches the older mare, “We're lookin' fer a history book. Somethin' that might tell us how the empire might've protected itself from danger back in the day.”

The librarian looks thoughtful as she responds, “Yes. Of course. History, history... Ah, yes.”

We smile at the prospect of information, but the smiles fade after a few moments of silence.

Twilight tries to be encouraging, “...which is where, exactly?”

The older mare looks around uncertainly, “I... I can't seem to remember. I'm not sure I actually work here.”

I could practically feel the resulting facehooves from Rainbow, Blue, and Atom.

Twilight starts leading us into the main area of the library as she calls back to the possible librarian, “We'll just take a look around. I'm sure we can find it on our own.”

The mare calls to us as we go deeper, “Let me know if you find anything.”

Pinkie bounces after us with a closing remark, “I like her!”

I still say they’re all depressing.

***

We all split up to search the shelves for anything potentially useful. While all of us have slightly different means of searching, the premise is the same: look randomly and hope we get lucky.

Not useful, not useful, fiction, fiction… Hmm, what’s this?

I levitate out an interesting book I had spotted.

Basics of Crystal Magic… never heard of it…

A sudden shout of “Yes!” derails my train of thought as I set the book on my back and rush over to where Twilight and the others are surrounding a book on the floor.

Twilight looks at the title, “History of the Crystal Empire. I just hope it has the answers we need.”

We quickly head towards the entrance of the library. As we pass the librarian, I show her the book I still have on my back and let her know I am taking it out. When she mentions again that she isn’t sure if she works there, I leave a note for her to put on the librarian’s desk so that the pony who is the one working here, whether it is her or not, will know.

Our short trip to the palace is highlighted by Twilight explaining to us what we will end up needing to do. In essence, it’s a fair meant to keep everypony happy. Now she just has to get the approval from the Princess and Armor and we are set.

***

We all relax in the conference room of the crystal palace as we wait for Twilight. Suddenly, I get a tingling feeling that lets me know of something coming. Magic is a mysterious thing, nopony really knows why, but all ponies have a certain magic within us that allows us to perform many spontaneous songs when circumstances are met. One can tell when a number is about to happen, and who has the chance to be involved, by who gets the tingle. It is also the last warning a pony gets if they wish to choose not to be a part of a song. It is with the warning tingle that all of us guys meet each other’s eyes and decide as a group that we do not feel particularly like partaking in this number, and excuse ourselves before we get caught in its wake.

***

Two hours later and the fair appears to be in full swing. I stretch a bit from where I have been helping Fluttershy with the ewe pens and the activity stalls near us. I walk over and give her a peck on her cheek as I ask if it’s alright for me to go around and check on the others to see if they are doing okay. She gives me the go ahead and tells me that she’ll contact me on the Gemini gems if she needs anything. I nod and pat my saddlebag to show her I have it with me.

I first take a quick run by the food court area of the fair. There are a variety of stalls in the area with everything from pies to corn to funnel cake. Two particular stalls are proving popular though.

The first is the desert stall run jointly by Pinkie and Blue. Pinkie runs the front while wearing a jester’s outfit to entertain the masses while Blue helps recommend items to those who haven’t decided. More often than not they end up going away with crystal chimicherrychongas… turns out if you enjoy something, you can sell it really well.

The second stall is different from the others in that it didn’t have food ready to simply be picked up when ponies decided they wanted it. Instead, this was a ‘made when you order it’ type of stall. The main attraction being Hydro acting as grillmaster and cooking of any sort of grilled fruit or vegetable a pony could ask for. Beyond the classic chef hat and tools, one could also see him wearing a grilling apron. While, he had originally wanted a ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron, a few words from AJ convinced him instead to wear his current apron, ‘The Cook is Taken.’

I note as I start heading towards the others that Hydro’s stand is getting quite popular as the only stand with hot fresh food. I resolve to send some help his way if I find somepony free.

I head towards what will be one of the biggest attractions of the fair next, the jousting arena. I arrive just as Volt and Atom are putting the final touches on the fence that separates the two competitor’s lanes. Atom proudly wears a set of crystal armor to signify his position as both an upcoming jouster and the pony in charge of the arena itself. He still refuses to remove his shades though. Volt, meanwhile, is more of a work pony that has been moving around wherever anypony else needs a hoof.

I rest on a hay bale for a moment as I chat lightly with the two for a few minutes before the jousting arena starts letting patrons into the stands. Soon enough, ponies start trickling in out of curiosity and excitement, so Volt and I make our way out. I mention to him that Hydro could use some help and he rushes off.

I smile as I look around. All the ponies seem to be in much happier spirits than they were earlier. Their coats seem closer to the crystal they are named after as well. It looks like we may pull this off after all.

As I look around, my eyes widen in alarm as I notice the blue sky flicker for a moment before turning into an angry orange.

Author's Note:

Special thanks to my newest pre/proofreader Hydro who also doubles as a retroactive reader helping me go back and clean up some of the earlier portions of this story.

Comments

[Atomic Vortex]

Crystal armour! Fuck yeah!
Jousting? FUCK YEAH!
Still got mah shades on? FUCK YEAH!!!!
XD

Awesome work as usual dude, and as ever, I look forward to moar!

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