Evenfall

by Yinglung

Chapter 4 – The Gutter of Glamour

Author's Note:

Might as well upload everything I have now!

The Golden Oak Library was empty today. Its new custodian, Twilight Sparkle, stuck an apologetic note on the door to explain that she’s away on a task.

Instead, the purple pony and her dragon was walking around on the sprawling apple plantation that was Sweet Apple Acres. If any other ponies saw Twilight now, they might think that the student of the Princess had gone a bit of nuts. That’s because she’s walking all over the orchard and casting random bouts of magic. She even occasionally leaned in to smell the soil, grinning and grimacing alternatively

Twilight stood up and sighed, “So much to do and so little time. I might hire a substitute librarian if I haven’t have to worry that my book organization will be messed up.”

“Why do we need to do this anyway?” Spike groaned, “Harvesting apples I can understand, but mucking around the dirt? There aren’t even gems buried under all this gunk.”

Before Twilight could again explain to Spike about soil quality and agriculture and bore the dragon out of his head, Applejack trotted towards them from across the orchard.

“Heya sugarcube, how’s things out here?” Applejack asked with interest.

“The soil is really good, it drains well and it’s good for a wide range of plant varieties.”

Twilight glanced at Applejack, “Not that you’d follow my suggestion if I tell you to just plant some roses instead or something.”

“Heck naw, I ain’t called Applejack for nothin’. Mah granny knew a good land for apples when she saw it.” Applejack said proudly. “So what’s the problem?”

“The apple orchard is basically a monoculture. Soil exhaustion is an inevitable occur--” Twilight’s lecture was interrupted by a loud burp of Spike, who produced a letter in the midst of his green flame.

Spike grabbed the letter and looked at the mares. When he saw their nods of approval, he cleared his throat and read its content, “Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce The Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the 21st day of, eh, yadda yadda yadda, cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest.”

Applejack smirked, “Still usin’ that title and style in a letter to her student, eh?”

But Twilight merely smiled, “Well, it’s a cookie-cutter invitation. She can’t help it.”

Spike asked, “So there are two places. Who’s gonna attend it besides Twilight?”

“What ‘bout you yourself, Spike? You’re Twilight’s dearest dragon after all.” Applejack grinned.

Just as Spike was going to respond, he suddenly burped out something more from his mouth. They were the two golden tickets mentioned in the letter.

“Couldn’t she just send them in one go?” Twilight scoffed, and then said to Spike, “So, does it please the gentledrake to attend the Grand Gala?”

“No, not even a teeny weensy bit. I don't want any of that girly frilly frou-frou nonsense.” Spike said with a long face.

“Not even with Rarity?” Applejack teased.

Spike’s eyes went wide, as he considered the distinct possibility to dance with the love of his dream in the grandest gala of the realm. But then he realized something and glumly said. “That’s not possible! We only have two tickets and Twilight’s got the other one.”

“Well, we can always ask for more.” Twilight plainly stated, “It’s not like we haven’t just saved Equestria from one of her worst villains.”

“Darn right you’re.” Applejack laughed heartily, and Spike’s hope to dance with Rarity re-ignited in his heart.

“So what’re you planning to do at the Gala, Applejack?” Twilight asked, “… Uh, if we got the extra tickets of course.”

“I’ve been fixin’ to renovate the farm, it’s long overdue.” Applejack said, “We can even expand it further. I fancied that parcel of bald across the river for a long time, but we haven’t got nearly enough bits to buy it.”

“That piece of land, isn’t it owned by the new Duke of Lower Canterlot?” Twilight said.

“An’ do ya know who that was? It’s Prince Blueblood!” Applejack laughed.

“Yikes, no wonder it’s so exorbitantly expensive then.” Twilight shook her head.

“Right. So I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout marketin’ our apples in the capital and earnin’ some big bits. The Gala might be a good place to meet rich and influential ponies. That’s also why I’ve asked you to sample our fields and give us some advice on how to modernize the Acres.”

“I see, I’ll try my best to help then.” Twilight said.

“Mind ya, Big Mac’s not too happy wit this. He still thinks that pulling plough is the way to go, and my suggestions are way too expensive and fanciful. Like my ideas of trademarkin’ and nice packagin’. Well, I never!” Applejack rolled her eyes and mocked in an upper-class accent, “Wait till he hear about the tractors!”

“Well, you have to introduce things to him s—” Twilight said.

Suddenly, a cyan pony appeared from the gaps of the clouds and crash-landed in the middle of the talking mares, causing mud to splatter everywhere.

Rainbow Dash moaned, “I thought I could control this.” She looked to Spike and the other mares, “Talking about anything exciting?”

“Yes, the Princess has sent us invitations to the Grand Galloping Gala.” Twilight replied.

“Um…” Rainbow hesitated for a moment, but then she glanced at the purple dragon and immediately said, “… Oh yeah! This will be a great chance to meet the Wonderbolts! Perhaps they would recognize my talents!” She recited, but couldn’t quite convince even herself as she knew what the Gala was actually like.

“That’d be great, Rainbow,” Twilight smiled, “But we only have one more ticket.”

“Pfft, just go to the Princess and ask for more. How hard’s that?” Rainbow said, “It’s not like we need to fight for that sorry piece of paper in order to go to Gala.”

“Why’s everypony so sure about getting the extra tickets?” Spike wondered aloud.

“We’re heroes of Equestria now, why wouldn’t the Princess want to show us some hospitality?” Applejack smiled.

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The group trotted towards the town to gather their friends and tell them the news. They eventually arrived at the bakery Pinkie Pie worked at, the Sugarcube Corner.

They walked through the front door, and were greeted by a cerulean mare. “Dearie me, welcome to the Sugarcube Corner! What can I do you for?”

“Good day, Mrs. Cake. We’re looking for Pinkie Pie, we have some good news to tell her.” Twilight smiled politely.

“That’s great! You must be the new friend Pinkie Pie’s kept bringing up. She’s just upstairs in her room, you may go right in.” Mrs. Cake warmly replied.

They trotted up to Pinkie’s room and found the party pony wearing a goggle and tinkering with some sort of scrap parts on her workbench. “Oh hi everypony! What’s up? Oh! Is there a party that I didn’t know of yet?” Pinkie turned and asked excitedly.

“Not really, but hey inventor, what’s you messing with on your desk?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

“Oh it’s just a part of my party cannon. I’m adding some parts to it for extra storage and to let it shoot streamers and balloons with different colors at different times of the day! And oh, I’m still figuring out how to, but I want to add a remote control antenna, and also a punch fountain, and–”

Pinkie Pie continued on, when Applejack interrupted her, “That’s great and all, but hey sugarcube, you wanna go to the Grand Galloping Gala?”

“Oh oh! I had always wanted to do a party gig in the big cities again for a long time!” Pinkie grinned, “I hope that I can lighten up those gloomy glumsy formal noble ponies with some appropriate performance.”

“It’s all good, Pinkie, but we have to get enough tickets for the Gala first, as we only have two. Only then we can see if the Princesses let us decide on the particulars of the Gala.”

“No problemo! So what are we waiting for, let’s go find Rarity and Fluttershy and tell them the, um, good news!”

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The group again moved, this time to Rarity’s boutique across the town. When they finally arrived at the Carousel Boutique, they noticed a distinct lack of sounds from the weaving machines that were commonplace in the home of the fashion designer.

Then all of a sudden, something seemed to have exploded inside. Smoke billowed from the edge of the window. Spike and the mares looked at each other in alarm. Applejack bucked open the door and the group ran into the boutique. Among the dark smoke, they saw a mare and a filly, their white coats darkened by the soot. They trotted nearer, and found Rarity and her little sister, Sweetie Belle, standing and coughing at the oven in their small kitchen.

The mares sighed, it was just a failed kitchen operation.

Rarity noticed her friends who have just entered, and greeted, “Um, hello girls, hello Spike,” She nodded at her friend and the little dragon, “I was just teaching Sweetie Belle to cook, when there was suddenly a … slight kitchen malfunction, please kindly don’t mind us.” She smiled awkwardly.

Sweetie Belle looked at her sister nervously. Rarity turned to the apprehensive filly and cooed gently, “Oh, my dear Sweetie Belle, don’t worry, I’m not going to punish you. Accidents happen and we just have to deal with them.”

Sweetie Belle was surprised at her sister’s gentleness, and hugged her sister in a loving embrace, which earned an ‘aww’ from the on-looking Pinkie.

Rarity turned to the group, and asked, “So, what’s that brought all of you to my fabulous residence?”

Twilight leaned in and whispered, “… The Gala.”

Rarity’s face turned a strange shade of red and green, as she was reminded of what her charming stallion prince would turn out to be. She was rather hesitant and fearful of being humiliated, so she spluttered and said, “Um, I’d be glad to go, but, uh, I don’t have a dancing partner yet.”

Spike’s eyes lit up, her goddess was not taken yet. “In this case, Rarity… Uh, would you, uh…” Spike stuttered.

Twilight poked the back of the dragon and whispered to Spike, “Go ahead and tell her, I promise you she’d say yes!”

“… dance with me in the Gala!” Spike yelled, which surprised both Rarity and Sweetie Belle, who wasn’t aware of the content of their conversation yet.

“What Ga—” Sweetie Belle chirped but was interrupted by Rarity, “Why, I’ll be most glad to dance with you, Spike. We’ll just have to rehearse and go through the etiquette of dancing in the balls.” Rarity chuckled, “Hope this wouldn’t bore you too much.”

“Not at all, Rarity. With you… my life is at its fullest every second.” Spike smiled.

“Hey lover-boy, your one-liner has improved.” Rainbow Dash teased.

“We still need to tell Fluttershy and then write the letter for extra tickets, so let’s go shall we?” Twilight implored.

Rarity looked to the devastated kitchen, and shook her head, “I’ll pass this time. I still have an un-fabulous situation to tackle.” She turned to Sweetie Belle, “Be a dear Sweetie, go grab me the cleaning cloth from the closet, please? And girls, Spike, see you when you’re done!”

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The group promptly galloped towards the small cottage where Fluttershy lived. However, on the road to her house, they’ve spotted the yellow mare in the middle of the Ponyville market, buying some pellets for her animals.

“Here’s eight bits, thank you… Eep!” Fluttershy yelped, “Oh, hi girls, is there anything I can help you?”

“Oh, we just want to tell you that the Gala’s coming and invite you to go.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh my, that would be … most kind of the Princess to send us the invitation.” Fluttershy said, then winced at the prospects of meeting so many ponies and not having a great time with the animals in the Royal Garden. She didn’t really have a particular strong reason to go, as she was not interested at the glamor or becoming a model for the viewing pleasure of Canterlot high society.

But since her friends would certainly go, she would have to go as well, and with their foresight she hoped that the Gala would not be as disastrous as in their visions. Also, even though she was far from comfortable with the idea, but making friends with upper-class ponies will certainly further their cause in eventually shaping Equestria according to Twilight… the ancient tome’s ambitions. “Um, I will go with you girls, I think.” She said quietly.

“Done! Five more tickets confirmed.” Twilight said, as she took out a paper and a quill from her saddlebag and tell Spike, “Please dear Spike, help me write a, uh, friendship report to the Princess.”

Twilight scratched her head and thought about a way to frame this relatively peaceful day into some sort of lesson, “Um…

Dear Princess Celestia,

I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can be a sad state of affairs. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”

Spike’s eyes bulged when he heard Twilight’s words, “What? You’re returning the tickets? I thought you were going to ask for more!”

“Don’t worry Spike, this might’ve been some sort of test of friendship as Princess Celestia want to see me how I deal with six friends plus you with only two golden tickets. Now, although my friends are all dears and not lusting after the tickets like some crazy hyenas, I still need find some way to urge the Princess indirectly in order to show that I handled the situation well and get the seven tickets.” Twilight explained, “Or the whole thing is just a clerical error. Either way, we’ll be getting our tickets regardless.”

“…Twilight, you’re one weird mare I tell you.” Spike sighed and sent the letter through his magic fire. Then, just as Twilight predicted, five more tickets and a short explanatory note appeared in his next bout of green fire.

“See? Now we’re on our way to the Gala,” Twilight grinned, “Go tell the mare of your dream that you two will be dancing in Canterlot soon.”