• Published 12th Jul 2015
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Sisters in All but Blood - scifipony



At Moon Dancer's Party, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lyra, and I realized that only we stood between a cursed Celestia, a conspiracy in Canterlot, and the coming of Nightmare Moon. Could we, with Shining's help, save Equestria?

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Chapter 4 - Ponyville Prep

Talking between chariots pulled through the sky in close formation proved challenging, and hard on the throat, but the short jaunt a few hundred feet above the red-bricked Ponyville Way road to the hamlet was long enough to decide who would do what. Ponyville consisted of about a thousand buildings in alpine stucco half-timbered style, with mostly thatched roofs, except for a few with red tiles or bronze sheathing. There were some multicolored tent-like structures, too. Immense farmlands and orchards surrounded the settlement, and followed along the Way as it curved east skirting the dark canopy of the Everfree Forest.

A poor pony with a scholarship didn't get to travel much. Ponyville looked a lot different than I had imagined it would from reading Quaint Towns of Equestria. A bit worn out and dusty to be entirely quaint, but that could be the stifling heat affecting me. From my aerial perspective, I saw the backs of ponies of every pastel color as they ran their errands and lent a bustling demeanor to what ought to have been a sleepy place. I saw cameras and flowered shirts: tourists here to witness Celestia raise the summer sun. A few ponies pulled carts with barrels, pots, or sacks labeled OATS that might be destined for the all-night parties tonight and the celebration tomorrow. Funny how from above you could see the cutie marks on both sides of a pony, like the rose on the flanks of a mare pulling cart of the sunflowers and gladioli.

My loaned transportation set down on the town's circular thoroughfare that was a browning well-munched lawn between the clock tower and the aging city hall. The paint looked fresh on the three-story round tower and north wing, but some of the gingerbread scrollwork was missing near the roof, which itself was missing plenty of red shingles, enough that it probably leaked. Great swaths of windows reflected the westering sun.

As Spike unloaded, I told our steeds, "Thank you, kind sirs. Are any of you off-duty after this? By my authority, I'd like to invite you to stay over for the celebration tomorrow." And so I added two more, albeit carriage guards, to my resources.

Looking around, I got only an impression of calm, as if nothing that I had imagined could happen here. What was special about Ponyville? Why might the Mare in the Moon return here? The town wasn't even a century old, far younger than the legend. Was Celestia compelled to come here? Again, why?

A gray-maned tan mare with a blue ribbon scroll cutie mark trotted down the steps towards us. She adjusted her half-glasses and green ascot as she said, "Do you bring news of the Princess?"

"She's not here?" Not in Canterlot. Not in Ponyville. Not good.

She gave a tired middle-aged sigh, then perked up her smile until her violet eyes glimmered. A politician, and not hiding it. "We have the finest accommodation booked so she can rest up for the morrow, far enough from the parties to be quiet but accessible. Excuse me," she raised a hoof. "I am Mayor Mare." She pronounced it Mar-eh, olden pony for the sea-like marks on the moon.

"Twilight Sparkle, ma'am," I said, levitating over my commission scroll for her to read.

The earth pony read it and quickly executed a perfect half-curtesy of an elected official to a royal. "Your Excellency."

Political address and peerage titles weren't high up on my study list. Despite infrequent visits with the princess, I avoided mingling with everypony above my station; with all my academics, I had no time for friends. I felt a nudge on my flank. Lunettes had butted her flank against mine. Apparently, I had frozen like a rabbit seeing a fox. She pointed her muzzle, twice.

"Uh, please, no titles. The princess just gave me a job; I'm nopony special." I rubbed my neck nervously as she released her curtesy.

"Miss Sparkle, then. How may I assist you?"

"We need a list of who's responsible for what, Madam Mayor. Spike?"

"Ahead of you, Twilight," he said, touching a red quill to his tongue. Dragon spit was a dark green. Mare stared at him, as did most on first sight of the little crystal-eater, but in a few minutes I had everypony organized and assigned tasks, until an extraordinarily loud gasp made us all turn and gape.

A wide-eyed plump pink pony with unnaturally curly hair gaped back, then galloped away with earth pony speed rivaling that of a downhill locomotive. Mare rolled her eyes and said, "That's our party events organizer, Pinkamena Pie. "

Mineutte saluted and galloped off, with the mayor shouting after her, "Sugarcube Corner, if you lose her!"

With Hearts trotting toward the convention space in the town hall with the mayor, Twinkie off to find the lead mare of the weather patrol, Harps searching for the music director's cottage, and Lunettes having volunteered to supervise Sweet Apple Acres Catering (because she insisted she could author a thesis on kitchen science after preparing her party), that left me having our stuff delivered to the library.

It proved to be a massive tree—a golden oak, in fact—green with lush growth on the outside, hollow and carved into comforting wooden rooms inside. Somepony had painted acanthus leaf scrolls, flowers, and hearts that warmed the already homey nook's walls and ceilings, matching the alpine decor of the town. I could love this well-stocked rustic library, very easily.

I set Spike to pulling all our cross-references from the shelves while I did what I do best, research! Soon the available space was littered with open books and weighed-down scrolls, and I had notes started in about five notebooks. Spike took care of turning away the handful of patrons that showed up during the afternoon, except one who somehow snuck by.

"Wha'cha doing?" came a voice.

I jumped my own height, shrieked, came down on a pile of folklore periodicals, slid over and landed on my side, stunned. I heard Spike chuckling. Blue eyes, set in a pink face with curly pink mane, swam into view deep well inside my personal space. I smelled bubblegum.

"Twilight Sparkle?"

"Pinkamena—?"

"Oh, you can call me Pinkie! Wha'cha doing?"

"Other than being scared witless and falling over, researching something very important: the Elements of Harmony. There's supposed to be a book here on loan from Canterlot library, but I can't find it, so I'm making do. Silence would be nice, since this is a library."

As I levered myself up, and found the book I was reading, Pinkie smiled and went to the shelves, browsing. Minutes later, while I was again concentrating, she dropped a tome in front of me with a bang. Once again I shrieked and scrambled away, only to land hard on my stomach.

"The Elements of Harmony, A Reference Guide," she said.

"Where did you find that?"

"It was under E," she sung, hopping around like an idiot kangaroo, inordinately happy with herself.

"Ughhh!"

"My bestest friend from kindergarten, Minuette, told me to come here and invite you to our Party 'Til Dawn party at Sugarcube Corner because she said you wouldn't come unless I invited you. So will you come, huh, your most excellent excellency-ness, huh, will you, huh?"

This was Ponyville's event Pony? I flipped to the plates in the middle of the book and saw a colorized etching of six gems set in a gold star broach reminiscent of my cutie mark. I sat up with new hope and decided to humor the mare. "I have some very important research to do here, to help the princess, but maybe a little bit later I'll stop by for 15, 20 minutes."

The library door slammed open, knocking aside Spike, who happened to have been standing there, chuckling. As he stumbled away, a big blue pegasus, wings flared, filled the doorway. She looked around and stated, "Awesome... if you're an egghead."

Twinkie trotted in behind the pegasus, her mane and tail a mass of poofed-up unruly pink curls. She said, "Twilight Sparkle." Sotto voce, she added, "I'll explain later."

"So you're here to protect the princess?" Magenta eyes examined me. Despite pegasi-light bones, she easily out massed me by 50%, all in rippling muscle. "Large power in a small, um, eh, horn." She chuckled. "Count me in! Not the book stuff, though." She reared, wings flared, shadowboxing and high-hoofing around the room. "You can rely on me in a pinch. Fastest thing on wings in these parts, hehe."

"Be at the City Hall thirty minutes before dawn, with your weather team."

"Roger that, Your Excellency, ma'am." She saluted and shot out the door, leaving a palpable afterimage of her rainbow tail before I could protest the title.

Pinky said, "Rainbow Dash is the best."

Lunettes dragged herself in next. She got five steps inside, kicked a few books out of the way, and flopped down on the floor. She almost looked pregnant. "Spike, get her some antacids." To her, I asked, "That bad?"

She had her dark square-rimmed glasses on, but when she moved a hoof, they fell on the floor. "No, no, no. No. I've eaten in some of the best ethnic dives in the Factory District, like at the Laughing Gryphon. This was some of the best down-home-style cooking I've ever had, and soup to nuts, all made from apples—the family name. I couldn't stop eating… A bad idea, in retrospect."

She put her chin on her legs and closed her eyes as a minty green pony appeared in the doorway, accompanied by a late-twenties pale yellow pony with a half-blue half-pink mane with a flip at the ends. She looked impeccably groomed, almost stylish. "This is Bon Bon, a T.A. from my first year at the university. She's a good friend, and she's volunteering to help out."

"Always in the service of the princess," the green-eyed mare said with an appropriate curtsey and a keen intelligence in her expression.

"Call me Twilight, please."

The mare nodded and said in a soprano voice, "And we brought someone else." She looked behind her.

"The music director," Harps clarified.

Looking around the edge of the door was a pretty yellow face with striking turquoise eyes. Pink hair flopped across her face. "If this isn't a good time?" she whispered. Her head was so low, I had the unmistakable impression she cowered outside.

Then she spotted Spike returning with a flask of antacid tablets. "It is a baby dragon!" With a yellow flare of lithe enormous wings, the pegasus burst into the room, knocking Harps into Bon Bon, who slid to the ground. Her hooves skidded to a halt just in front of Spike. Somehow, she missed touching one book or magazine.

The mare, by any standard, was tall. Taller than many stallions. Though not exactly thin, she exuded an elegant daintiness out-of-proportion to her near giant-size. She possessed natural good looks that made her handsome, not exactly classically beautiful; enough so that I suspected every stallion and most mares would eye her with differing degrees admiration and envy. She said in a sweet voice, "I've never seen a baby dragon before!" She hugged in her shoulders as if she were being physically hugged. Her eyes closed in bliss. "He's so cute."

Spike puffed out his chest. "Well, well, well!"

She gasped, and folded herself into a reclining position before him. "Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I, I just don't even know what to say!" She shuddered and closed her eyes in bliss again.

I sighed. "You, take it into the other room."

She was up. "Wait, wait. What's his name?"

"I'm called Spike."

"Hi, Spike. I'm Fluttershy. Wow—"

"You two. This is a library; the other room; now. Leave Moon Dancer the antacids."

As Lunettes crunched loudly on the medicine, our last missing friend arrived. Hearts cantered in, turned in a three-quarter pose and smiled. She wore a blowzy yellow sun dress that matched her lemony complexion, with frills and lace at all four legs, flowers on a white shirt bib. Similar purple, yellow, and red flowers adorned a floppy straw sun hat. "I couldn't resist, I mean literally, Rarity, the stage and event decorator insisted. She's got quite a boutique, nice as any I've seen in Canterlot."

"And her decorations?"

"Spectacular. More glitter than I'd prefer, but otherwise very tasteful and fitting for a state visit. Do you like it?" She preened.

"Lovely," I replied, turning away before rolling my eyes. I found myself, muzzle to muzzle with Pinkie Pie. "Time to hit the books, ladies."

Pinkie said, "And don't forget the Party 'Til Dawn party!" She held up a hoof to shield her voice and whispered, "You're going to need a map of the Everfree Forest," then trotted out from the building.

I shook my head and tapped the book about the Elements of Harmony. "Ladies, look at this."

Author's Note:

Another installment. I've written the sixth chapter now, and will begin polishing. Not sure if I can meet a daily schedule, but I'm trying.

Critique Requests. Any insights into plot holes I can fix would be great. See my other post author notes for guidelines.

Next: Nightmare Moon!