My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

86. Let's trade!

Once again, Star Twinkle and his friends, which included Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Steel Hammer, were on their way to Rainbow Falls. But this time it wasn't because they wanted to qualify for the upcoming Equestria Games. Today, they wanted to attend the so-called "Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange".

The Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange was a meet up of various ponies who would bring things with them that they wanted to trade away. Since there were so many different ponies meeting at that place, the variety of items that you could find there was enormousness, which is why the group decided to bring various things to trade with them so that they could exchange them for something else that they may want.

But of course, that was not the only reason why they visited that event. At the exchange, at least one princess has to be present, and since Twilight was now a princess as well, it was her turn now.

When the group left the train, all they had to do was to walk through a short cave to reach the Exchange spot and although everypony was a little excited about this, Pinkie Pie was clearly the most excited.

"Yes! Best day ever!" She squealed across the cave in her excitement. "We're all going to the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange! And not just going – we're accompanying a princess on an official royal duty!" She added, referring to Twilight's role in all of this.

But Twilight smiled and stayed modest. "Please, it's not that big of a deal. There always has to be a princess at the Exchange. Last year was Princess Cadance, this year it's me. It's just a formality. I'm sure none of the other ponies will even notice I'm here," she said calmly while she walked towards the exit of the cave.

But...as soon as the group was outside of the cave, with Twilight being in front of everypony, confetti began to rain from the sky and loud cheering could be heard. It all came from a big crowd of ponies who were already waiting for Twilight to arrive at the Traders Exchange, much to her surprise.

"Could be wrong, but I think they might've noticed," Applejack whispered to Twilight who could only laugh nervously after a welcome like this.

What followed was a whole bunch of ponies who walked up to Twilight in admiration. Some of them even asked for an autograph. Of course, Twilight felt a little awkward about all this and shortly explained that she had still somewhere to be so she was quickly left alone again.

It was times like this, where Star Twinkle was happy to not be royalty because then he would be the center of attention like this as well. He had enough from the attention that he already received from the ponies in the Crystal Empire. Luckily, he was ignored by those ponies, even if some of them kept close to Twilight and therefore, indirectly, to her friends.

After it was only the original group of ponies, and one dragon, left again, they all decided to finally enter the Exchange. There were, as expected, many ponies who either set up a tent or a little shop to showcase all the stuff that they wanted to trade. The group took the chance to check out what was already offered by some of the ponies nearby. There were a lot of things offered by all kinds of ponies, some things more valuable than the other. But it didn't really matter how valuable something was as long as somepony was willing to trade it for something else.

The girls were already looking around for that very special item that they wanted to trade. Fluttershy, for example, already looked at a little statue of a bunny. "Oh, my goodness!" She said as soon as she further inspected the little statue.

"You said it," Rarity said, who was busy trying on some fancy hats already. "The Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange is simply divine. You can get anything you want here!" She added before she actually went ahead and exchanged one of her hats for the one that she was trying on.

"If'n you got the goods to trade for it," Applejack pointed out.

"Exactly!" Steel Hammer said as he caught up with the group again after he walked off to somewhere with nopony actually noticing it. "That is why you bring as much stuff as possible so that you can ensure to get everything you want in this place!" He then pulled out a little wrench. "Like this!"

"A wrench? You trade something for a wrench?" Star Twinkle asked, fully knowing that Steel Hammer probably had enough of those back in Ponyville, in his workshop.

"What? This one just called out to me!" He said before he opened his saddlebag to put away the wrench. "Let me put it right here, next to that...wrench..." he said confused as he pulled out a wrench that looked exactly like the one he just traded. "Darn..." he said after his mistake.

Luckily, Star Twinkle brought his own stuff to trade and he intended to not exchange it for some random stuff, but rather stuff that he could use. He still had no idea what that would be yet though, unlike everybody else who seemed to have a goal in mind here.

Spike, for example, had a comic book with him and planned to trade it for another one. For that, he had made sure that the comic book was well protected inside of a plastic bag. "You sure you want to trade that Power Pony comic away?" Steel Hammer asked, as a concerned comic book fan himself but Spike only nodded and was eager to do exactly that. "Just make sure that it isn't damaged though or else, it will lose a lot of value," he advised.

"I know, I know!" Spike replied. "One ding, nick or dent, and this Power Ponies comic book wouldn't be in perfect mint condition anymore. And if you want to trade for a mint comic, you gotta have a mint comic," he explained as he held it close in his claws and not letting his eyes wander off from it.

As they were all discussing where to go next, a crowd of ponies already gathered around them again. Of course, the reason for their visit was Twilight again, who in response ran away and hid her face.

"Very professional..." Star Twinkle said as he watched the princess running away from the crowd.

"I guess a pony who's here on official princess business has to expect a little fussin'," Applejack figured.

"Poor Twilight," Star Twinkle said. Just imagining being her at this moment was a real nightmare for Star Twinkle.

But unlike him, Twilight didn't let herself be bothered by this and quickly went back to her calm and modest nature. "But all I'm supposed to do is settle disagreements over whether a trade is fair or not. And since the rule is that a trade is fair as long as both ponies get what they want, there's never been a disagreement. So there's really no reason for anypony to treat me as anything special," she explained.

But Star Twinkle figured that there had to be at least one case before where this happened, meaning that her presence here must have a reason. But before Star Twinkle could put more thought into this, Rainbow Dash came back from her little scouting of what some ponies had to offer in this exchange.

She seemed rather happy about something and quickly shared what she found out. "There's a pony here who's got a signed first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue, and I'm gonna get it! I've been able to get first editions of all of the Daring Do books, except this one! Nopony's ever put together a whole set, and I'm gonna be the first! If it hasn't been traded yet... It's the only one in all of Equestria!" She said in her excitement.

It was to be expected that Rainbow Dash was getting highly excited whenever it came to anything Daring Do related and from the looks of it, coming here already paid out for her.

"Oh no! I'd really hate to see you disappointed," Fluttershy said after she saw how important this was for Rainbow Dash. She then pulled out a little flute with a bear head at the end of it. "I did want to trade this bear call I've got for a bird whistle, but getting that book seems so important to you, so if you need me to help you first..." she offered to which Rainbow Dash quickly accepted.

"Normally I'd say I don't need any help, but you're right. This is really important. I've gotta get that book!" Rainbow Dash said, determined to get this first edition book. She quickly grabbed hold of Fluttershy and they both left to look for that Daring Do book.

Seeing Rainbow Dash that determined, caused Applejack to get into the trading as well so she took out her saddlebag from the cart that she was carrying behind her before. "Well, I'm off to take a gander at some of the vintage stalls," she said before she went off to look for some trades.

Rarity was, for some reason, excited to hear this. "Did you say vintage?" She said before she grabbed her saddlebag as well and quickly followed Applejack. "Hold on! I'm coming with you!"

For Star Twinkle, it was a little surprising to see Rarity excited about this. Normally, she would go crazy about modern and new stuff and not the old one. There had to be a good reason that was somehow related to fashion so of course, Star Twinkle didn't know about it.

Spike also left with his Comic Book, in order to trade it away. This only left Star Twinkle, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Steel Hammer. But instead of walking away as well, Twilight was actually placing some books on a table. Pinkie Pie quickly picked up on this and asked Twilight why she did that instead of sitting in some kind of royal box seat somewhere.

"I may be the princess on duty, but I don't think that means I have to sit up there all alone doing nothing," she explained while she continued to place her books to offer them for a trade. "Ever since I became a princess, Celestia's been sending me more books to read than ever. The library's overflowing, so I figured while we're here, I might as well trade away some books I don't need anymore,"

She basically went into this with the same mentally as Star Twinkle. She just wanted to part with stuff that was no longer needed and might as well get something in return for it. It actually didn't take long until a little pony walked up to Twilight with a first offer.

But Twilight hesitated about that offer at first. "You want me to trade all my books for a broken pen?" She asked towards the little pony who replied with a nod while holding that pen in its mouth. Twilight didn't really want a broken pen and at first thought about not agreeing with this deal but she remembered that she didn't come here to get new stuff but to get rid of her old books. Eventually, she agreed to the deal so that she could give away her books. "Alright, fine. You got yourself a–"

But as soon as she was about to agree to that deal, Pinkie Pie interrupted. "Stop! What are you doing?!" She asked in shock and confusion which Twilight didn't really know where it came from.

"I was trying to get rid of all the books I don't need anymore," Twilight replied.

"For that?" Pinkie Pie asked while she pointed to the broken pen that the little pony was still holding. "Do you reaaaaally want that?" She then asked.

"Well, not really," Twilight openly admitted. "But I'm running out of library space, so–" she tried to explain before she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie again.

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!" She repeated in relief. "I can't believe that almost happened! But luckily, it didn't happen, thanks to me," she said proudly as if what she just did was preventing something terrible.

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked confused, still not getting what Pinkie Pie was getting so shocked about.

Pinkie Pie then explained her reasoning. "According to the rules of the Exchange, a trade is only fair if both ponies end up with something they want. You can't break the rules! Did anypony see you do it? I don't think anypony saw!" She asked. It was as if Twilight was about to do a terrible crime if Pinkie Pie wasn't around. It was ridiculous. The mare then walked towards the little filly who was, like everypony else, a little confused about Pinkie Pie's behavior. "But you're not gonna say anything, are you?!" She said in an almost threatening tone to the poor filly. "Haha, I'm just kidding!" She then said in her usual cheerful tone. "Or am I?!" She then said, switching back to a more threatening tone again which scared the little filly again. "Sometimes I can't even tell!" She then said again in a more cheerful tone. Seeing Pinkie Pie shift from scary to happy, however, was too much for the little filly so she ran away to get out of there.

Twilight didn't exactly like how Pinkie Pie reacted to this whole situation and wanted to prevent further damage. "Y'know, if you want to go check out the rest of the Exchange and trade whatever you brought..." she said in an obvious attempt to get rid of Pinkie Pie before she would do something to further get in Twilight's way to get rid of her books.

But it didn't work. "Nope, I just came to pony-watch! I'm not going anywhere. I won't let you make a mistake like that again!" She said, determined to stay at Twilight's side the whole time, much to Twilight's dislike who was groaning in frustration just thinking about that.

Star Twinkle felt a little bad for Twilight, but again, he was happy that he was not in her skin right now and just moved away before Pinkie Pie decided to take care of his trading actions. He was quickly followed by Steel Hammer who seemed rather excited just now. "Well, looks like it's just us now!" Steel Hammer said as he put his leg around Star Twinkle. "How about we take a look around here?"

"Sure..." Star Twinkle replied. This was the reason why he came here in the first place. He looked at the saddlebag that he was carrying around. "I'm not sure what I want to trade but I brought a lot of things so I should be able to get something,"

"Let's change that then, shall we?" Steel Hammer suggested as he leads the way with Star Twinkle following close behind.

A little later...

The two stallions were rather aimlessly wandering through the area and without looking out for something special. However, that didn't stop Steel Hammer to trade literally everything for anything.

"Look! Look!" He said after he came back from another trade. This time, he had a rather strange device with him, which looked like some kind of cooking tool.

Star Twinkle tried his best to figure out what that thing was but he had no idea. "What is that?" He finally asked after giving up.

Steel Hammer explained. "It's a bread machine!" He said before he opened it up. "See? Those are triangles!" He said after pointing towards the form inside of the machine. "I can now make triangle-shaped bread!" He said excitedly as if this was literally the best trade that he ever made.

"Uh...nice?" Star Twinkle replied confused. He didn't quite know if should ask why Steel Hammer wanted to have triangle-shaped bread since he looked so happy right now.

Steel Hammer then put away the machine in his saddlebag. "Did you trade anything yet?" He asked.

"No," Star Twinkle replied almost frustrated. "I just don't know what I want out of all those things..." he added while he scanned his eyes through the tents of everypony. "If I want to make a trade, then it at least should be something worthwhile,"

"That is exactly the problem!" Steel Hammer then said.

"What?" Star Twinkle replied confused.

Steel Hammer then explained further. "Don't think about what you could get. You don't need that stuff anymore so it doesn't matter what you trade it for. You have the chance to actually get something for that stuff so just take that chance!" Steel Hammer advised, further trying to get Star Twinkle into a trading mood.

Star Twinkle actually thought about those words for a moment. "You know what, you're right! I should-"

But as soon as Steel Hammer spotted something in the distance, he got distracted and switched his attention towards it instead. "Oh! A teacup!" He simply said before he walked away to trade something for it.

Star Twinkle just continued without Steel Hammer and decided to get on his way to trade some of his stuff away. He didn't really like to trade away all his stuff for one object like Twilight because he thought that this would be a huge waste but then he remembered what Steel Hammer said.

"Maybe he is right...Maybe I should just pick something and decide to trade. All the stuff that I have with me is something that I no longer need or decided to part with after all. It doesn't matter what I come home with! The next pony I'll see, I will trade something with it!" He said, determined to make those words true. But then his belly began to grumble because of a lack of food inside of it. "...Right after I get something to eat!" He added before he looked for a tent with somepony to who was offering some food.

It didn't take long until he came across a tent where a pony sold some delicious looking bread that looked like as if it came right out of the oven. Star Twinkle wasn't really picky at the moment and seeing those freshly made bread didn't make his decision really hard to get one of those now.

The mare put one fresh bread on the counter and Star Twinkle got really hungry as soon as he saw it. "Here you go!" The mare said with a smile on her face. Star Twinkle pulled out a bit in order to pay but the mare quickly picked up on that and refused. "Sorry, I came here to trade," she said to hint at Star Twinkle that he should offer her something in return for that bread.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Star Twinkle replied after he remembered where he was here. The stallion opened his saddlebag and took a look inside of it. "Let's see..." he said while he looked inside to figure out what could be a good trade. "How about this?" He then said before he presented a light green scarf.

"Not interested..." the mare instantly replied.

Star Twinkle was disappointed to hear this but he quickly grabbed something else to offer. "This?" He asked once he showed the mare a piggy bank.

"Nope," the mare replied in disinterest.

Star Twinkle released a slight sigh but he once again looked into his saddlebag and grabbed something else out of it. "And this?" He asked while he pulled out a wooden toy sword that he made a long time ago.

"Uh uh," the mare replied, not accepting this offer as well.

By now, Star Twinkle lowered his eyebrows in frustration. "Then what do you want?" He straight out asked so that he could avoid all this to finally get the bread that was still right in front of him.

The mare tipped her chin a few times and looked up to think. She then had a smile on her face after she got something that she wanted in mind. "I would like to have a red and white colored umbrella," she simply said.

"A red and white-colored umbrella?" Star Twinkle asked in a rather bothered tone. "Does it have to be this combination? Because I think I have one with another color packed in here somewhere..." he explained before he looked inside his saddlebag to find it again.

But he was quickly interrupted by the mare. "I'm afraid, that won't do it! I want a red and white colored one," she demanded.

Needless to say, Star Twinkle didn't like to hear this and almost groaned loudly in his frustration but he managed to keep that inside. "You know, if you want somepony to take your bread, then you should consider being a little more flexible, don't you think?" The stallion said, in an attempt to take care of this situation without much more work.

The mare, once more, tapped her chin to think. "Nah..." she then replied, much to Star Twinkle's dislike.

The stallion just decided to leave without a word and with an empty stomach. The stubbornness of this mare was something that he really didn't want to deal with right now, even if it meant that he had to go on without that delicious bread.

"Steel Hammer should have talked to her instead, then she would at least consider taking something that I offered her..." he complained, in order to let off some steam. "As if I walk through the whole trade exchange to find one specific thing to get another specific thing. I mean, who would be that desperate and..."

But irony came right in form of Rainbow Dash, who flew right up to the stallion with a desperate look on her face. "Star Twinkle! I need a crystal chalice to trade for a chicken to trade for a lamp to trade for an Orthros!" She said, much to Star Twinkle's confusion who couldn't even keep up at first what this was all about. "Do you have any of those?" She asked.

"What? No! And what is an Orthros?" Star Twinkle asked in his confusion.

"It's an adorable two-headed dog," Fluttershy explained who was slowly approaching the two ponies now.

"A two-headed dog? Why do you want something like that?" Star Twinkle asked towards Rainbow Dash confused.

The mare quickly explained. "Because the pony, who is trading the Daring Do book, wants one! But the pony who had an Orthros wants a lamp and the pony with the lamps wants a chicken statue and the pony with the chicken statue wants a crystal chalice!" She quickly listed up, which was still going a little too fast for Star Twinkle's taste. "So do you have any of those things?" She asked once more, only this time she grabbed the stallion by his cheeks out of her frustration.

"No, I don't!" Star Twinkle replied before he freed himself from the crazy mare.

Rainbow Dash didn't even waste one more second and just vanished again, probably to look for any of those items now. Fluttershy didn't seem too bothered by this and followed Rainbow Dash to help her get that book. "It's been a busy day so far," she said before she was gone as well.

"Clearly..." Star Twinkle said to himself after that encounter. Of course, Rainbow Dash would turn the world around when it came to something that she really wanted but for Star Twinkle it just sounded like a huge bother.

But the stallion didn't want to give up this easily and looked further for another tent that would have something to eat on it. He finally came across another pony who was offering some delicious looking pies. Star Twinkle didn't know what flavor those were and he didn't care much either because it was edible, which was enough reason for him to get one of those.

But again, things didn't look too good. Star Twinkle showed all of his stuff to the stallion that sold the pies so that he would pick something to trade so that Star Twinkle wouldn't have to show everything separately. However, the offer that the stallion made to him, surprised him.

"I'll give you one for half of your stuff,"

"What? Half of my stuff for one pie?" Star Twinkle replied almost offended.

"You want this pie don't you?" The stallion asked, making it look as if Star Twinkle was the one who was making the wrong decision now.

"I'm not giving you half of my stuff for one pie!" Star Twinkle simply said, which only caused the stallion in front of him to shrug his shoulders in response. After that Star Twinkle just left and gave up on this more than unfair trade. It reminded him of the trade that Twilight was about to accept before Pinkie Pie stopped her. "Half of my stuff for one pie, that's ridiculous who would agree to something like that?" He complained.

But, once again, life was proving him wrong again. "Star Twinkle!" Two female voices then said angrily, which revealed to be Rarity and Applejack who both looked a little mad. The stallion was not sure why they were acting like this and just hoped that whatever bothered them wasn't directed towards him.

"Star Twinkle, tell Rarity what good of a friend I am and make her accept the gift that I want to trade my stuff for!" Applejack said.

"What?" Star Twinkle replied confused.

"No!" Rarity protested. "Star Twinkle, go ahead and say that Applejack should accept the generous gift that I am offering her by trading all our stuff for!" She said.

"Huh?" Star Twinkle replied in his confusion.

The two mares then stared at each other angrily. They both explained the situation to him. Applejack wanted a pie tin and Rarity wanted a brooch but the problem was that they had to trade all their combined stuff for one of those. This already sounded like a pretty stupid deal for Star Twinkle and seeing those two argue about something like this was upsetting him a little. It just proved how this whole trade exchange was getting into everyponies head.

Instead of hearing what Star Twinkle had to say to all this, the mares continued to argue.

"Well, since we can't both get what we want, I will be the better friend. You take our trade goods and get what you want," Rarity insisted.

"I'm an amazin' friend! So even though it's for somethin' that don't seem valuable at all, you take our stash," Applejack insisted in return.

"How dare you let me get what I want. What kind of friend do you think I am? You are going to get what you want!" Rarity replied offended.

"No, you are!" Applejack replied angrily.

"No, you are!" Rarity replied angrily.

They both stared each other down and continued to be stubborn but since they couldn't come to a conclusion on their own, they turned their heads towards Star Twinkle to ask him again.

"Huh?" Both Rarity and Applejack said as soon as they turned their heads around to see how Star Twinkle was nowhere to be found anymore, much to the two mare's dislike.

Star Twinkle was already far away from the two mares at this point. He couldn't deal with a problem that didn't even make remotely any sense to him. Not only did they both wanted to give up all their stuff for one thing but they also wanted to trade it for something that the other wanted while refusing to trade it for something that they wanted. The more time he was spending in this exchange, the more the thought that it was driving everypony crazy. And he didn't want to spend his time with crazy.

By now, Star Twinkle wondered where Steel Hammer was during all this time so he decided to look for him. He quickly found him in front of another trade tent. As soon as Star Twinkle was walking closer towards the stallion, Steel Hammer turned around with and revealed a whole bread in his mouth that he was munching on now.

"You got to be kidding me..." Star Twinkle mumbled to himself out of hunger after seeing Steel Hammer munching on a bread that almost looked exactly like the one that he almost traded for.

Steel Hammer took a little break from eating. "Hey, there! Look what I got," he said before he showed Star Twinkle a little snow globe with a little house inside of it that was covered by snow. "Pretty neat huh? Only had to trade half of my stuff for that," he said with a victorious smile on his face as if he just made a deal of a lifetime.

Seeing Steel Hammer waving a snow globe that he got from giving away half of his stuff made Star Twinkle actually wonder how the Iron Hammer was still in business but he had other concerns at the very moment. "And where did you got that bread from?" He asked out of his desperation to get something to eat.

Steel Hammer explained. "This? I got that one from a mare, who was trading a whole bunch of them, wanted to have a red and white colored umbrella for it," he said, not noticing how Star Twinkle didn't want to hear this at all now.

"Lucky you..." Star Twinkle said with a deadpan expression on his face.

"Want one too?" Steel Hammer then said, much to Star Twinkle's confusion who had his eyes wide open now. "I had two of those umbrellas so I decided to get two pieces of bread," he explained casually, not realizing how much Star Twinkle wanted one now.

"You're a lifesaver!" Star Twinkle said in gratitude before he took the bread to finally get something to eat.

Steel Hammer took the opportunity to ask Star Twinkle about his trading progress, only to find out that there was none. This bothered Steel Hammer a little. "Did you even try to trade something?" He asked to which Star Twinkle only shrugged his shoulders in response. "Come on, Star Twinkle!" He added in disappointment.

"I'm trying, okay? I just happened to meet the wrong ponies so far...besides, I'm starting to think that everypony is going crazy," Star Twinkle said, judging from everything that he witnessed this far.

But Steel Hammer thought Star Twinkle just overreacted. "You are imagining things," he said with a smile on his face.

Shortly after, their conversation was brought to hold after they saw a crowd of ponies walking past them in excitement. Steel Hammer stopped one of those ponies and asked what this was all about.

"Princess Twilight is trading the books that made her into a princess! I have to get one of those!" The pony explained before leaving the two stallions alone again.

The two stallions looked at each other confused and had a really weird feeling about all this. They chose to return to Twilight to see what was going on at Twilight's location but Star Twinkle had a really good idea what could have led to this and after walking back to Twilight, it proved to be right.

"Only one pony at a time!" Pinkie Pie said in front of a massive crowd of pony that assembled in front of Twilight's stand. The pink party pony was equipped with a fake mustache and a bow tie and practically took over Twilight's trade spot. "These books made Twilight the princess she is. Before that, she was nothing – a big, fat zero!" She explained.

"Hey!" Twilight said offended by that sentence.

Pinkie Pie continued to advertise the books, however, "Then she read these books, and voila! Princess! So who wants to start the bidding?"

The crowd quickly started to say their offers after Pinkie Pie's words but Twilight dragged her away from the spot for a second in order to talk with her and hopefully stop all this before it would get more out of hoof-like this.

"Pinkie, I appreciate your help and all, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this. Nopony should trade for my books just because I'm a princess. I'm not better than anypony else!" She said, saying the last sentence loud enough so that the crowd could hear it as well.

Everypony seemed to be affected by these words a little, even Pinkie Pie who assured that she understood what Twilight was saying. "I know you're not better than everypony! Just leave this to me!" She said before she turned towards the crowd again and pushed Twilight out of the spotlight. "Did I mention that Princess Twilight got these books from Princess Celestia?" She then said, completely misunderstanding what Twilight actually wanted at this very moment.

Hearing that only further pumped the crowd up more to get some of Twilight's books after hearing that they were previously Celestia's. Owning a book that two princesses owned before was definitely enough to get even the last pony interested in them.

"Who's got something valuable enough to trade for Princess Twilight's princess books that she got from Princess Celestia? Did I say "princess"?" Pinkie Pie said to get the crowd even more interested in Twilight's books.

Star Twinkle and even Steel Hammer felt as if Pinkie Pie was taking this a little too far. Twilight was calling the two over to her, she definitely wanted their help at this very moment. It was also obvious that she felt very uncomfortable that Pinkie Pie was using her name as a princess to trade away her books.

"And what are we supposed to do?" Star Twinkle asked confused.

"Just talk with her or something! I already tried and it didn't work!" She said frustrated.

Star Twinkle was not sure if he could convince Pinkie Pie to stop all this though because the mare was really caught up in all this trading. In fact, she was declining every single offer because she felt as if those things that other ponies offered here weren't worth any of Twilight's books.

"Oh, come on! These are the books the princess would sit up with all night, with nothing to read by but the light of her own horn! These are the books that made Twilight the princess she is! So who's got what it takes to trade for them?" The mare said after refusing two more offers from the crowd.

Pinkie Pie expected more offers to come in her direction, especially after she made sure to let everypony know about how those books belonged to Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia. It was starting to sound ridiculous. She made those books sound like as if nothing was as valuable as them, making it hard for anypony to think about something that they could offer.

Eventually, that was exactly what made Pinkie Pie's efforts crumble...

"Well, when you put it like that..." one pony in the crowd said before he left the scene after he figured that there was no chance for him to trade anything for Twilight's books. Shortly after, he was followed by more and more ponies who all came to the same conclusion and left.

Pinkie Pie quickly realized that the crowd was getting smaller and smaller and started to realize that her plan to trade Twilight's books away failed. "Wait, stop, come back! Uh, these books aren't that great..." she said followed by a nervous giggle but unfortunately for her, it was already too late and everypony was gone.

This only left, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer on the scene, the latter three being a little relieved of how this situation ended.

"Good job, Star Twinkle!" Steel Hammer said, even though Star Twinkle didn't even talk with the mare at all.

Star Twinkle could answer that but he remained quiet since he was also glad how everything ended to his and Twilight's favor. Pinkie Pie, however, was not happy at all and felt as if she let Twilight down and just let her head sink accompanied by a frown on her face.

"I just wanted everypony to know how amazing your books are," she said, apologizing to Twilight how everything turned out in the end.

Twilight's answer then surprised Pinkie Pie. "Oh, yes, they are," she said before she looked over to her books.

Star Twinkle too, was surprised by that. "Didn't you want to get rid of them though?" He asked confused.

Twilight started to explain. "None of those ponies had anything valuable enough to trade for my books. Not because these books belong to a princess, but because they helped make me who I am. Just like Pinkie Pie said," she then showed off some of her books and shared a story about each of them and how they remembered her about important events of the past. "And this one reminds me of the day I got it – which was the day I met you," she said towards Pinkie Pie while she presented one more of her books. "I may not ever need to read these again, but that doesn't mean they don't have value. I realize that now, thanks to you, Pinkie," she said with a smile on her face.

Pinkie Pie simply took it the way it was now and smiled as well. "I told you I'd take care of everything!"

Star Twinkle took the situation as it was as well. Twilight maybe came here for nothing if she didn't want to trade away her books anymore but at least she wasn't involved in any unfair trade and gained almost nothing of it. On top of that, she didn't even have to take care of an unfair trade that took place somewhere in this exchange.

But as soon as Star Twinkle thought that, life proved him wrong one more again...

Rainbow Dash came flying towards Twilight and knocked her to the ground in her unknown frustration, much to everyponies confusion. "Twilight! I need you to say a trade wasn't fair! Fast!" Rainbow Dash begged for some reason...

"Wow...today, the irony is really proving me wrong," Star Twinkle thought as if there was some hidden force that wanted to joke around with him somewhere out there.

"What happened?" Twilight asked confused.

Rainbow Dash struggled a little to explain the situation. "Well...you see...I managed to get my hooves on the Daring Do book that I wanted in exchange for an Orthros...but..."

"What is an Orthros?" Steel Hammer asked confused in the middle of Rainbow Dash's explanation.

But Star Twinkle told him that he would explain this later and that he should listen to Rainbow Dash for now because what she was about to tell them really seemed to be important.

"You see..." Rainbow Dash continued a little hesitantly. "The Orthros was a little to difficult to deal with...so the mare with the book wanted something else..."

"And that was?" Twilight asked.

After a long pause, Rainbow Dash explained what that other thing was...

"Fluttershy..."

"What!?" Star Twinkle and Twilight replied in shock.

"Yes, I know that was wrong! Which is why I need you to help me Twilight!" Rainbow Dash begged once more.

Star Twinkle quickly pointed out the obvious question. "Can you even do that? I mean trading somepony else away?" He asked, trying to open up some options.

Rainbow Dash, explained, that Fluttershy was only supposed to stay with the other pony until the Orthros was fully trained. Apparently, that takes a long time, meaning that Fluttershy would have to leave Ponyville for quite a while.

After listening to those details, Twilight gave her first opinion on this matter. "The only rule in this trading exchange is that both ponies had to agree to the trade, this makes things a little hard...I need to hear the other pony's story in order to get an answer," she explained before she asked everypony to follow her so that she could officially decide what to do.

A little later...

To make Twilight's decision official, she had to sit on a little throne, in front of everypony to announce what she had come up with. The mare, who was trading away the book confirmed that Rainbow Dash agreed to the trade and things ended up as Twilight feared.

"I've heard what you both have to say, and I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but my hooves are tied. You said it was a fair trade," Twilight said.

She didn't like to come to this conclusion but there were no rules broken in this trade so there was not really anything that Twilight could do, even if she was a princess.

Rainbow Dash Didn't like to hear this at all, not to mention, Fluttershy who was standing next to the mare that she was supposed to spend time with. Star Twinkle blamed Rainbow Dash for this outcome and couldn't help but to look at her in disappointment. Something that the mare quickly noticed.

Then suddenly, the mare said what she thought about all of this. "Yeah, I said it, but I was wrong! I did want that book, a lot. I said I wanted it more than anything in all of Equestria," she said before she looked over to her friend Fluttershy, who didn't have a single hint of dislike towards Rainbow Dash even after all this. "But there's nothing that's worth as much to me as a friend. I might have forgotten that for a little bit, but it's true. Which means there's no way this trade can be fair!" She demanded.

"Oh, come on, that's..." the mare who traded the book for Fluttershy said before she broke out in tears. "The sweetest thing I've ever heard. Okay, the trade's off!" She then said, calling off the trade and "returning" Fluttershy again who was quickly hugged by Rainbow Dash and even the Orthros who also returned to her as well.

The crowd cheered after seeing things turning out well again and Twilight only had to end the exchange because it was actually about to be over now, meaning that the group had to return to the train station soon. They all agreed to meet there in an hour, which gave them all the time to do some more trading but they all agreed to not trade any pony away this time.

Later inside of the train...

The group went inside the train one by one. Star Twinkle, Steel Hammer, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike were already sitting on their seats, Applejack and Rarity, however, came in last and decided to sit next to each other, despite showing some awkwardness towards each other. They were probably arguing with each other still. Star Twinkle was about to go over to them to see if he could talk to them, after all, he was the only one who witnessed how they were in a little fight before.

But then Rarity levitated a little rusty pie tin over to Applejack, who was highly surprised by this gesture. "I know it's not the pie tin you were after, but I hope you like it. It's the rustiest piece of junk I could get," she said.

Applejack was happy to see how Rarity was doing that for her so she decided to give her something as well. "Well, I took my half of our stash and got you this!" She said before she pulled out a little brooch in front of Rarity. "Applejack: And I know you're gonna love it, 'cause you already have a bunch of ones that look exactly the same sittin' in the drawer doin' nothin'," she said jokingly, which caused Rarity to hug the mare in return for this gift.

Star Twinkle still decided to walk over to those two after he figured that things must have returned to normal now. "I guess, you both a fine again?" He asked.

"You bet!" Rarity replied happily

"Also..." Applejack added. "That should settle it once and for all which of us is the better friend," she said as if she wanted to start things all over again.

Rainbow Dash overheard all of this and decided to put her opinion into all of this. "Oh, come on! You both gave up what you wanted to get something for each other! That's the coolest thing a friend can do. Trust me, I know," she said before she grinned over to Fluttershy, obviously referring to what happened earlier today.

Again, Fluttershy didn't seem to show any grudge against Rainbow Dash and what she almost did to her, in fact, she seemed really happy that everything turned out well, just like everypony else.

"That reminds me..." Star Twinkle said after he realized that something was still a little off. "What happened to your two-headed dog?"

Rainbow Dash gave a quick answer and pointed towards Fluttershy "I traded it for something way better,"

Moments later, Fluttershy blew into a little bird whistle, causing some birds to appear that landed on her hoof. She seemed to enjoy that whistle that Rainbow Dash got her.

Things seemed to have settled down on all ends so Star Twinkle sat down on his seat with Steel Hammer next to him who gave Star Twinkle a weird look. So of course, Star Twinkle had to ask what was wrong with him.

Steel Hammer quickly got to the point. "Knowing you, you probably didn't trade anything till the bitter end, huh?" He said with some disappointment in his voice.

But to Steel Hammer's surprise, Star Twinkle smiled happily. "I wouldn't say that," he simply said before he showed Steel Hammer what he managed to trade.

"Oh, nice!" Steel Hammer said impressed after taking a look at the object in Star Twinkle's hoof.

Later, inside Star Twinkle's house...

"Aaand...done! I hope you like it!" Star Twinkle said excitedly.

The thing that he managed to trade was a new fishbowl for Comet, which was slightly bigger than the one before.

Comet didn't move an inch inside the water...

"Ha! I knew you would like it!" Star Twinkle said happily after seeing how happy Comet was by this new fishbowl. "And I only had to trade everything that I brought for it!" He said with a grin on his face.

Comet didn't react in response...

Star Twinkle then turned off the lights and went to sleep with the thought that Comet was enjoying his new fishbowl. And that made trading all his stuff away totally worthwhile.

Author's Note:

This time it took two weeks again to which I apologize. It was a pretty busy week all around. Luckily, I got this chapter out now and I hope you enjoyed it because I think it was a little rushed after looking through it again. I really would like to not do that for the last chapters of Season 4 because they are supposed to be the highlight of this season and I want to make sure that it will leave some kind of impact to you all.

With that said, I still hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will tune in the next chapter.

Also please consider leaving a review or some other kind of feedback and make sure to follow me or this story to always be up to date with everything that I upload.

With that said...
See you all in the next chapter.
Bye Bye ^^.

Reading Order:

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 1 + 2(Chapter 1 - 53)

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Diary of The Storm Wings

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 3(Chapter 54 - 65)

Equestria Girls - The Legend of Friendship

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship - Outcasts

My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship Season 4(Chapter 66 - 91)