A Rich Everglow Adventure

by RadicalDishonesty

A Rich Uneasy Trip

Three ponies sat on the shore under the cloak of darkness, Dawn Crest having left them to fetch a sled. Filthy Rich stared up into the sky. It had been days since he saw the stars, and they dotted the unfamiliar sky. They filled the sky, denser than any night in Equestria, probably because of the oddly shaped moon, which was by far the most foreign part of the sky.

See, this moon wasn’t an actual circle, but more like a… small almost half circle oblong shape. The moon was a constant in the night sky of Equestria, bright and round, but this was only half large and much less bright.

So this sky, dark and filled with so many stars continued to mark this world as strange in so many ways. But it was still a beautiful sky. He supposed if he knew the stars better he could point out where the constellations were wrong, but he didn’t, so instead he just stared up into the unfamiliar sky and half-moon.

A warm form pressed to his side, as he stared up, and he heard a light sigh. He glanced down at the form of his wife, who seemed troubled. His arm went around her, pulling her close smiling. This world might be unfamiliar, but at least something is familiar. She smiled weakly, and laid her head on his shoulder.

How long had it been since he held her like this? He couldn’t clearly remember when she was last this affectionate. But, they’ve been through a lot this past week… and at least things were looking up now. He looked back down at her, in time to see her eyes flick to someone else, and he turned to see their new ally.

Who was pacing, and glancing at them, before going back to pacing.

Spoiled gave another sigh, clearly a little exaggerated, before clinging to him harder, and Filthy watched as the stallion on the beach’s expression turned pained before he turned away again, pacing still.

The warm feeling inside Filthy’s gut grew cold, as he watched the stallion wrestle with himself. Wrestle with himself as Spoiled put on an act of affection. In order to gain this mysterious stallion’s pity, looking like a vulnerable loving couple. Rather than two ponies who fought off their captors and couldn’t remember the last time they were this affectionate.

But he couldn’t pull away. They didn’t know what Dawn said, and they don’t know how trustworthy this stallion is, or if he was ready to turn them in. So he sat, cold and lonely, trapped in his wife’s embrace.

---

Shortly, a water sled led itself aside the shore, and Dawn Gleam surfaced, motioning them over. The stallion walked directly into the water, disappearing beneath the surface as well. Spoiled pulled herself up first, loading herself onto the sled, followed by Filthy, and it started pulling away from the shore and the accursed island, pulled by the two ponies that actually could.
Filthy Rich looked back at the island as they pulled away, and tried to put a smile on his face. “I’m not sure I can believe it…” he looked back at Spoiled.

“Believe what?”

“That we’re escaping this place… so soon, even. We were here for… what, only a week? I can’t believe our luck that nobody has noticed we’re leaving and we are on our way to the mainland already with no ponies chasing us… it feels unreal to think we won’t have to worry about this anymore.”

Spoiled Rich stretched, making a self pleased humming noise. “Yes, well, we’d be in what is probably worse if that stallion couldn’t be convinced. It was a calculated risk, but I read him correctly.”

Filthy Rich swallowed an objection, because she was right. This was a good plan, even if that other stallion was getting the short end of the deal, he was a slaver. One that, hopefully, had his better morals appealed to to convince him to help them escape.

“Besides,” she continued, “we had to leave as soon as possible. If we stay, then we become complacent. We would start to believe it would be impossible to leave… and then it would come true. We would trap ourselves in it.” She sat back down and chuffed. “Not to mention that the longer we stay the better they understand how to keep us there and get used to what we’re capable of.” She smiled a sly smile. “Fortunately, we didn’t quite know what we were capable of anyway, what with those powers of yours…”

“Not to mention Dawn Crest coming back for us.”

“Yes…” Spoiled looked away. “Of course.”

“And you thought she had abandoned us.” Filthy managed to crack a genuine smile.

Spoiled huffed, but smiled. “I suppose this is a rare chance where I am happy to admit I read somepony wrong.” She pointed at Filthy in warning. “Don’t get used to it.”

Filthy blurted out a laugh. “I’m sure I won’t, sweetheart.”

They fell into comfortable silence, as they looked out at the pale moonlight reflecting off of the waves. Filthy Rich, though, looked at his wife, and sidled up against her, pressing his side to hers. He was rewarded with her leaning her head on his shoulder, as the two of them watched the waves.

Filthy Smiled a genuine smile this time, and put an arm around his wife, his preemptive panic about her. This was his wife. He had known her for so many years. He couldn’t let their current arguments let him forget that.

He looked back up at the moon, the unfamiliar half moon, and sighed. “But even with this… we still don’t know what’s going to happen to us. We’re in a strange, unfamiliar world.”

No response came from his wife, although her shifting against him told him she was paying attention.

He followed with, “And then… we’ve been gone for a week, and that’s a week that Diamond Tiara has been alone.”

Aside him, he felt his wife tense up. “It has been… a whole week, hasn’t it? Without us there? It was so easy to get caught up in our troubles.”

They sat in silence, before Filthy piped up once more: “I suppose, for now, we can only hope her friends, or the good ponies of Ponyville, or even our staff, are up to the task of helping her out, even as we are in a situation like this.”

“I suppose so…”

---

There was a knock on the door, and Diamond Tiara opened her bleary eyes to her room. Natural light filtered through the windows, and the room still was filled with dolls and toys set neatly on shelves, dusty from disuse. She trudged over to the door, finding Randolph behind it.

He bowed low, and from beneath his feet, a tiny pony poked her head in, gasping in glee. “Oh my gosh look at all of it!” Tiny hooves scampered into the room, slipping past the aging butler and even Diamond Tiara, and started hopping around the room.

The little pale blue filly darted around the room. “Wow I’ve never been in this room.”

Diamond Tiara whirled around. “H-hey!”

“Settle down, Plaid,” Argyle Note’s voice came from behind Randolph, as he stepped out. “This is Diamond Tiara’s personal room, and you should not come barging in without permission.”

“Aww, but I wanted to see the dollhouses.” Plaid hung her shoulders down in a sulk.

Diamond Tiara sighed. “You can look but don’t touch.”

Plaid squealed happily, and pattered over to the dollhouse on the table in the room, starting to marvel at it.

Diamond Tiara stepped forward out of the room. “Hello, Mister Note.”

“Hello, Miss Tiara. How have you been?”

“Since just yesterday?” she said, her eyes half lidded.

“... Of course since yesterday.”

“Same as before,” she said, looking away. “Mother and Father are still missing. The staff is still here. I’m fine.”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re fine.”

“I’d be more fine if you could hurry up and find them.” Diamond Tiara stamped a tiny hoof on the ground. “You were there when Father disappeared!”

Argyle Note smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, Miss Tiara. There is practically nothing to go on. The princesses have sent investigators to the incident

“Well get Princess Twilight on it! She’s the princess of… you know… magicy smart stuff! She could figure it out.”

“We can’t just ask her to drop whatever she’s doing to help us.”

“We can and should.” Diamond Tiara nodded affirmatively. “It’s her job to be the big hero, and my mother and father need saving. Have you even tried to take it directly to Princess Twilight?”

“Of course. I was already told that she knew about this a few days ago.

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t count. You need to ask her directly for it.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.”

Diamond Tiara chuckled wryly. “Then you obviously haven’t done everything you can. Did you even know my father and mother? They knew how to get things done. And one part is taking it directly to Princess Twilight, so she cannot ignore me or put it off.” She affirmatively nodded. “You and I are going to take it directly to her. Today.”

Argyle furrowed his brow. “Actually, there was something else I wanted to do today.”

Diamond Tiara snapped her head to look at him. “Is it more important than finding mother and father?”

“Well, no but--”

“Then we should go to Twilight.” She looked up at Argyle with a determined expression. There would be no swaying her from this course.

Argyle sighed. “Fine. We can go to see Princess Twilight. But after that my family is coming into town for a lunch and I wanted to know if you were willing to come.”

Diamond Tiara strut forward, her nose up in the air. “I’m not sure how much time you’ll have for that once Princess Twilight is on the case for finding my parents. We will probably be in a flurry of actions that will take all afternoon, in order to find them.”

Argyle smiled, despite the brattiness, it belied a determined young girl, clearly her mother and father’s child. “Alright. Then we will go visit the princess first.” He leaned over into the room. “Plaid! We are going now.”

A dismayed cry came from the other room.

Author's Note:

A short chapter this time, to conclude this first arc. I considered drawing it out, but I think that our protagonists will have to be satisfied with winning only one fight then allowing some ponies to help them instead of a dramatic escape that burns down the camp or something.

Coming up next: Figuring out just exactly what the mainland is like. Travel through a land of danger with ponies they don't actually know very well begins.

Comments

[howard035]

Interesting. I find myself hoping that the Unnamed's scheme actually works and being kidnapped by fish ponies helps save the Rich's marriage.

Also, pretty sure I know what Argyle is plotting regarding Diamond Tiara. It's what Filthy probably would have wanted, if he was never coming back...

[MildCard]

Ahh, this story is so fun! I’m eager to see the mainland and what lies in store for our heroes.

It was good to see Diamond again and that she’s proactive in these troubling times. She’s a tough little filly!

That ending was very cute.