E3: Equestrian Earth Expo

by Andrew Joshua Talon

Personal Care

E3: Equestrian Earth Expo

A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction

By Andrew J. Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fanbased work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro, and the reinvention of the lovely Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement is intended, please support the official release.

- - -

The demonstration the Pie Family had put on had made everypony split off into pairs: Twilight and Pinkie Pie had naturally gone to Maud and Cloudy Quartz, Dash had eagerly dragged Applejack off to see the rest of the Martial Arts section, and so Rarity and Fluttershy began wandering the expo without any destination in mind. The scents and smells of perfumes, foods, candles and so many other things filled the air, and Fluttershy was rather excited. Despite her nervousness.

"So Fluttershy, what was your part in this convention?" Rarity asked, as they passed by a stallion trying to sell his stand of utili-kilts-And sadly, not seeming to have much luck. Maybe Rarity would swing back around to see what she could do to help. If only to improve those drab colors.

"Oh, um, n-not much," she said softly. "I just asked Zecora and Treehugger to come, and invite their friends. Potion making is something a lot of Earth ponies and zebras have experience with. Home re-remedies, and that kind of thing," she said. "I also asked a friend of Treehugger's... Um, well, a friend of a friend. She's a stylist."

Rarity's ears perked up at that. "A stylist, you say?" She asked, intrigued. Fluttershy nodded with a smile, her mane and tail bouncing a bit.

"O-Oh yes," she said. "She did my mane and hair last time I saw her-"

"Do you know where her stand is?" Rarity inquired eagerly. Fluttershy nodded.

"Well of course, but it's over on the other side of the convention and-"

"WE'RE OFF!" Rarity declared, practically dragging Fluttershy along as she galloped like Nightmare Moon was after her rump.

As it turned out, Twilight had organized the convention in a very logical manner. The arenas were near the Martial Artist stands, tents and huts. The food stands were mostly concentrated around here, too. Various vendors and other demonstration areas were organized on the other side, meaning that to get to either side, you would have to go through the food sections. Not that Rarity was too concerned about that-She had gotten used to lots of cantering and galloping as an Element Bearer.

They found their way into a section of tents and stands that seem to have been designated for stylists, beauticians, perfume and shampoo makers, and every kind of home soap maker you could imagine. Amidst these, Treehugger was cheerfully selling 'herbal supplements', scented candles, and 'incense burners' (Rarity snorted-She wasn't fooled, she'd been to college). The green Earth pony mare looked up from watching a ladybug, and smiled with her usual vacant expression.

"Hey Fluttershy, hey Rarity," she greeted. Fluttershy beamed, an expression Rarity mirrored.

"Hello Treehugger! If it's not too much trouble, can you tell us where Medusa set up?"

"Sure," Treehugger said. She slowly pointed over at a stand across the way. There was a fox-like Abyssian queen giving a pony a tattoo. Treehugger's hoof slowly shifted to the stand next to it-This was an enclosed tent with a stylish sign over the entrance. It read simply:

Medusa Salon.

"Hm, good choice in font," Rarity observed. "And good printing. Unfortunate name, but it is memorable. The tent itself," she trotted over to it, examining the fabric, "is good quality. And designed to keep a breeze flowing." She beamed as Fluttershy trotted up next to her. "She has such a wonderful eye for detail! I can tell!" She pushed her way into the tent. "Hello?"

It was a simple but elegant salon inside-A single salon chair, with a dresser, mirror and shelves upon shelves of shampoos, conditioners, and hair potions artfully displayed. As well as numerous combs, brushes and other tools for beauty maintenance. It was well lit by glowing magic crystals arranged overhead. In the center of it all was a tall, turquoise furred Earth mare with a long, almost luminous royal purple mane. She wore a plain, black and dark blue smock. Her cutie mark was concealed underneath it. She was just cleaning off a few pairs of scissors, when she turned and caught sight of Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Hello Medusa," Fluttershy said.

She beamed happily, her dark red eyes crinkled with joy.

"Fluttershy!" She cried happily. She immediately wrapped her hooves around the skittish mare. "It's so wonderful to see you again! And you brought Miss Rarity!" She beamed like the sun. Fluttershy nodded, as Rarity smiled elegantly.

"Oh yes," Fluttershy said. "She was so eager to meet you, since you did such a good job on my mane and tail. Could you possibly fit her in?"

"I've seen what you've done for Fluttershy, and I just had to see for myself how you did it!" Rarity enthused. Medusa immediately guided Rarity to her salon chair, settling her in happily. The lights on the mirror lit up, illuminating the taller mare and her subject.

"As you can see," Medusa said with a sigh, "I'm a bit short on customers right now."

"That is unfortunate," Rarity said, in fellow small business owner sympathy. "Do you know why?"

Medusa shook her head. "I suppose it might be the name," she said.

"Well, it is rather unconventional, dear," Rarity said soothingly. "However did you get it, anyway?"

Medusa beamed. "I'm glad you asked!"

In an instant, Medusa's long, purple hair came to life-Rising like the tendrils of a dozen purple snakes! Rarity's eyes widened as the hairs seized numerous scissors, combs, brushes, and bottles of product, before going right to work on her mane.

"Ahhhwahhhaaa?!"

As Medusa's mane came in contact with her own, Rarity could feel warmth flooding through her scalp. Her own hair seemed to come alive, flowing like water in the air. Rarity was fascinated and slightly horrified at the amazing sight in her mirror as Medusa went about her work.

"Many ponies have the ability to move their mane or tail at will, if they focus at it," Medusa said conversationally, "but growing up, I had a real talent for it!" She stuck her tongue out at the corner of her mouth as she concentrated. Several locks of Rarity's mane rose up on their own, and the stylist cut them artfully. "I also could make other pony's hair come to life, if I pushed a little Earth magic into it. A lot of them were freaked out, but it lets me do so much more with it..."

She pulled the tendrils of her hair away, and the warmth vanished. Rarity stared in amazement at her beautifully, perfectly styled mane-A work she could do herself, naturally, but nowhere near as fast!

"So," Medusa said, her tendrils wavering a bit nervously, "what do you think?"

Rarity's smile nearly broke her face in two. "I think," she began, "I would like to hire you on for some fashion shows I'll be working in the next few months-If you're not too busy?"

Medusa gaped. "I... You mean it?" She asked. Rarity nodded.

"Darling, if you can do this for me, just imagine what you can do with a real challenge!" Rarity grinned. "What do you say?"

"I... Well I'd need to pack up my salon," Medua admitted. She looked around. "I managed to fit it into two trunks to get it here, so if you have room-"

"Dear," Rarity said gently, "if you're concerned about anything? Trust me. I'll handle it. And if anypony has a problem with how you do... Your work, they'll answer to me."

Medusa squealed, and hugged Rarity tightly. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

"URK!"

Fluttershy coughed.

"Um, Medusa? It might go better if you didn't choke Rarity with your hair?"

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" Medusa cried. Rarity chuckled, as soon as she could get her breath back.

"No harm done, darling..." She tilted her head. "Just out of curiosity, did you do any... Modeling?"

Medusa coughed. "Well... A friend of mine does work on the Power Ponies comic. He needed a reference model, and I needed the bits, so..." She shrugged. "I'm not much of a comic book fan. I got paid well so I wasn't complaining. Did he end up doing anything with it?"

Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged looks. Rather vivid memories of the Mane-Iac cackling as she held them hostage came to mind.

"You... Might say that," Rarity said dryly.

- - -

Rainbow Dash was beside herself with glee, hovering up and down for the sheer excitement filling her. Applejack kept up sedately, grinning up at her friend as they headed for the martial artists section.

“So cool, so cool,” Dash chanted. She shook her head and stared at Applejack. “How come you never told me about this?!”

“Well,” Applejack looked uncomfortable, “if we’re bein’ completely honest? It’s tradition not to tell anyone who ain’t an Earth pony.”

“What?” Dash asked in disbelief. “Why not?! This is so awesome!”

“Remember that part about pegasi tryin’ t’ conquer and enslave Earth ponies?” Applejack asked dryly. Dash scowled, crossing her front hooves.

“Yeah, but that hasn’t happened in-in ages! I mean, come on! I would never do anything like that!”

“Ah know, and ah agree with you,” Applejack said. “It don’t make no sense now.” She shook her head. “But a lot of Earth pony families have long memories and traditions of keepin’ quiet. Cause if you didn’t back in the distant past, you were givin’ away secrets that might get yer family enslaved-or worse.”

“How long could their memories be?” Dash huffed. “Only ponies around for that stuff would be Celestia and Luna. Anyway, come on! Are you doing anything for this convention?”

“Well,” Applejack smiled, “Big Mac’s gonna be doin’ some wrassling. Showin’ off some old school Earth Pony rasslin’ moves. Ain’t nopony can get away from ‘im once he’s got ya on the ground. And fer the mares, maybe he’ll be mud rasslin’ later… If yer interested?”

Dash flushed and looked aside. She huffed. “Maybe… If I’ve got nothing better to do,” she replied. Applejack chuckled.

“Anyhow. Ah might put in a few demonstrations,” she said. “Guess we’ll see how things go and-Oh!” She beamed as she saw a familiar aged nag, standing under a tree talking to two other mares. “Granny Smith!”

The aged mare looked over and beamed at her granddaughter. “Howdy Applejack!” She cried, waving back. Dash took a moment to study the two mares with her.

One was pale white, with a beautiful blonde mane in two ponytails, brown eyes, and a blue diamond on her forehead. The mare was admittedly, very beautiful, and had the cutie mark of a slug curling around a rod. A pale pony with a short black mane in a black kimono was at her side, a piglet in pearls on her back. The piglet was sleeping, as the younger mare looked around nervously.

"Howdy Golden Braid!” Applejack said cheerfully to the blonde mare. “Howdy Quiet! Heard you was in town!"

"Just for a medical demonstration,” the blonde mare said in a cool, seductive voice.. “Then it's off to Las Pegasus! I'm feeling lucky this time!" The mare grinned, her eyes filled with avarice. Quiet sighed, clearly resisting the urge to roll her own eyes.

"Honestly Lady Braid, half your debtors are in Las Pegasus!" Quiet said in a soft, warning tone. Golden Braid chuckled, shooting a confident grin back at her.

"They've never been able to get me faster than a day or so. Plenty of time to win enough money to keep them happy,” she replied. Granny Smith chuckled, clearly used to this pony’s antics.

"Yer gonna hang yerself with that line one of these days, ya know!"

"We could go together!” Golden Braid said, smiling confidently. “Make a weekend out of it, hm? Just like the old days?" She beamed at Applejack, wrapping a foreleg around her in a motherly way. “Or maybe your heroic, well connected, and very beautiful granddaughter could come along?”

“Why thank ya, Golden Braid,” Applejack said, sweet as her namesake. “That’s mighty kind of ya.”

“You’re very welcome,” Golden Braid replied. “So…?”

"Still not gonna give you a loan,” Applejack deadpanned. Golden Braid groaned.

"You're gonna be like that, huh… You take far too much after your grandmother, you know-Hm?” She started, looking up at the somewhat impatient Rainbow Dash. She grinned.

“Oh! Hello! Rainbow Dash, right? Pleasure to meet you too!"

"Oh, hey! I see my reputation precedes me!” Rainbow Dash replied. It wasn’t much flattery, but it was enough to mollify her for now. “So, who are you?"

The blonde mare chuckled.

"I'm Golden Braid-I'm a friend of the Apple Family's!" She said. Granny Smith nodded in agreement, hobbling up closer.

"We were foalhood friends!" Granny laughed. “Fer half of it. Other half we hated eachother!”

Golden Braid chuckled. “Yeah, well, you started it.”

“Hmph! Still on that story, eh?” Granny Smith huffed.

Both mares were completely unresponsive to Dash falling onto the ground. The cyan pegasus got back up, her mouth wide open.

"Wait, what?! Foalhood?!"

Rainbow Dash pointed at Golden Braid, who looked only a little older than Applejack. She then turned and pointed at Granny Smith, who was of course.. Granny Smith.

"That's impossible! There's no way you could be THAT old, lady!" She turned to Applejack, eyes wide. "Come on! This is a prank on me, fess up!"

Applejack just chuckled-The other mares were making similar sounds. Even Quiet, who had seemed so nice, was covering her mouth with her hoof as her pet pig snored on.

"Nope!” Applejack said, as Golden Braid beamed proudly. “Lady Braid is really that old."

Her beam became less proud as her eyebrow twitched, but it passed. Dash was still grasping for answers.

"But... But... How...?!"

"Why,” Granny Smith began, “Golden Braid is one o' the greatest pony healers ever!"

“Oh my, yes!” Quiet jumped in, adding to the praise. “She helped revolutionize healthcare a hundred and fifty years ago!"

Dash could swear the sound of her jaw hitting the ground could be heard clear in Yakyakistan.

"SHE'S THAT OLD?! WAIT!" Dash pointed at Granny Smith, again accusing. "YOU'RE THAT OLD?!"

Granny just chuckled, in a ‘you’re thinking like a filly, not a mare’ sort of way. "Sure am!"

"But... How,” Dash turned to the blonde, glaring in confusion. “Explain?"

"Pegasi schooling standards must be even worse nowadays,” Golden Braid sighed, as Quiet bit down a chuckle. “Here, I'll demonstrate. Granny?"

Granny pulled out a small apple cutting knife with her hoof from her walker, and gently sliced a line across her cheek. A bit of blood leaked out. Applejack winced, but Granny just looked at Golden Braid expectantly.

"All right..." Golden Braid held up a hoof, and pressed it onto Granny Smith's cheek. It began to glow gently, pulsing with life. Dash watched, utterly fasinated.

"You see,” Golden Braid explained, “Earth ponies can draw upon the life energy of the Earth beneath us. Then we can channel that energy into other creatures to heal them. Earth ponies in particular can use that energy to extend their life spans, and prevent themselves from succumbing to old age."

Granny Smith sighed happily as her cut sealed up, vanishing like she'd never hurt herself. She beamed at Golden Braid, and then looked over at Dash and Applejack.

"Lahk this,” the aged nag said.

She pressed her hooves against her own cheeks, and grimaced. In an instant, her wrinkles vanished, her withered form filled out, and standing before them was a young mare-No older than Applejack or Dash herself! Dash's jaw dropped, as Granny stretched out and groaned happily.

"HOLY HAYBALES!" Dash shouted. Applejack held a hoof in front of her mouth, shaking her head. They were getting a lot of attention: Usually that was fine with Dash, but she didn’t want to look like some ignorant filly in the middle of so many cool ponies. The pegasus calmed down, and focused on the miracle before her.

"Ahhh... Now that's the stuff! Thanks fer that, Braid!" Granny Smith said, in a smooth, sensual voice. She pushed away from her walker, and trotted in a circle. She swung her tail around, happy as could be. Golden Braid smiled warmly, a hint of sadness in her brown eyes.

"Not a problem, Granny,” Golden Braid said with complete sincerity. “I just wish it could last-"

Granny almost immediately reverted back to her aged form, like a balloon deflating. She managed to trot back to her walker, holding on tight as she sagged back into the form Dash was most familiar with. She felt Applejack wince, and couldn’t blame her.

“... longer,” Golden Braid finished quietly. Granny shook her head, back to her usual cheerful self.

“Ah well… Was nice while it lasted.” She looked up at Dash and Applejack. "When ah was around mah nineties... Ah shoot, maybe mah hundredth birthday? Ah couldn't really keep up anymore. It's lahk flexin' a muscle and holdin' it. It gits harder and harder t' do the older ya git…” She shot a mock glare over at Golden Braid, and lightly rapped her on the shoulder with her hoof. “Except fer this cheater!"

"Skinflint!” Golden Braid shot back, grinning merrily. She looked back at Dash and Applejack. “In any event, it takes a lot of training to maintain it indefinitely. I refined the family techniques and figured out how to stay in this form all the time. But it's not something everypony can learn." She smiled. “Still! My other techniques let Earth ponies do a lot of good for injured ponies. Unicorns can do complex surgery while an Earth pony is feeding the patient life energy, to name just one example.”

"Wait, so this is why Nurse Redheart is so touchy feely when she's treating me? Huh!" Rainbow Dash pondered this.

“That or she’s hopin' yer battin’ fer the other team,” Applejack snickered. Dash blushed.

“Shut up!”

Golden Braid laughed. “Oh! Redheart’s at work? Good! She's one of my students too. She's very good. But decided not to become my full time assistant-like Quiet." She gestured to the black maned mare. Quiet sighed, her eyes looking to the side harshly.

"That's because the job involves keeping you out of trouble more than learning anything,” she muttered. Golden Braid glared.

"What was that?" She asked dangerously. Quiet smiled, far too quickly.

"Oh, nothing! Nothing at all!” She said. Golden Braid kept glaring for a while, but she relented. Quiet breathed a sigh of relief. Another thought occurred to Rainbow Dash, and she found herself with more questions and not being frustrated about it!

A very new experience, to be sure.

"So... Wait. If Earth ponies can move life energy into other ponies, can they also pull it back out?"

Golden Braid sighed, suddenly looking much older. Like painful memories were hiding behind her eyes.

"Unfortunately, yes. There have always been a few Earth ponies who drained other ponies for their life energy-In order to stave off old age, live forever, or just because they loved it. Like a bunch of vamponies." She shook her head in disgust.

Dash blinked. It couldn’t be that simple. Sure, she'd been on adventures with Daring Do but this...?

"You're joking…” The ancient mares didn’t break. “You're not joking."

Dash felt Granny’s walker poke her in the back. She looked over her shoulder. The aged mare was looming over her, a hungry look in her eyes as her hooves shook above Rainbow’s mane.

"In fact... Ah'm feelin'... A mite peckish…” She began ominously. Dash gulped, and tried to move, but both Golden Braid and Applejack put their hooves on her shoulders. They felt like they were made of solid iron! Both of them were just so strong!

“Peckish... fer yer youth!" Granny cried.

“HUH?!” Dash gasped.

"Feed mah granny, Daaaash!" Applejack moaned.

"AAHHH!" Dash cried. “CUT IT OUT!”

Everypony all laughed. The pressure was lifted. Dash blushed, and glared around at all the Earth mares as she caught her breath.

"Oh I'm going to get you all back for this. Just you wait!" She threatened.

“Ah look forward to it,” Applejack said with a grin.

- - -

After that little bit of humiliation, the rainbow haired pegasus mare squeezed through a crowd around the exhibition pavilion. Her friends were somewhere behind her, but with this being a demonstration that included flying, she wanted to get as close as she could. Peering out from among the small sea of bodies, she could see somepony across from a massive banded wood mock up of a hunched over ogre. He was a Pegasus with a nicked ear, and he breathed deeply on the mat in the center of a large cleared space well surrounded by a no fly zone, one encircled by numerous other elevated targets and training dummies. For moments nothing happened, then a spark of lighting peeled out from under the Pegasus’ dark coat, one thread of bright blue, then another, and another, the white of his mane and tail flattening and slimming down as more and more lighting played over him, then it stopped for a heartbeat.

“HA!”

In an eyeblink the male Pegasus was across the cleared space with a loud echoing *crack* hoof having crushed through the dummies front shoulder joint an arc of blue highlighting for a moment just where the Pegasus had come up to impact the joint, the limb falling away, and then he was continuing on past it, wings beating fiercely as he wheeled around again and-

“HA!!”

*KACRACK* the hip joints was scored through this time as he sped past again wings leaving a trail of glowing blue.

“HAAA!!!”

Rainbow Dash tried to lean closer past the rope stanchions, her eyes raptly following the first Pegasus martial artist she’d found at the expo, “Whoa… What’s he doing?….”

Both fore-hooves this time crashed into the dummies chest, caving it in, the Pegasus quickly backing off again as the dummy had started to tip over. The black coated Pegasus wasn’t done though, taking to the air with strong wing-beats, dashing to each target and cleaving through it with a single hoof or wing strike, weaving around imaginary spell fire. Until finally he arced over the last dummy and dropped like a stone, curling into ball that was coated in more of those glowing blue arms and ripping strait through the dummy and the floating cloud stand it had been set on.

The Pegasus uncurled and landed heavily on all four hooves with knees bent, but quickly brought himself up to standing, his face serious and disciplined, but it was quickly overtaken by a grin.

“That was Arc Blade everypony! Thanks for your time!”

The male Pegasus trotted from the exposition area to the hoof stomped applause of his audience as stage ponies swarmed out to set up the area for the next martial artist.

“Arc Blade...” Rainbow had to find out more about that, it had looked so cool!

By the time Dash made it through the crowd, things going much faster when the no fly zone was lifted and she could take to the air.

She finally found the wayward demonstrator standing around with a few other ponies at a concession table, a big mug of water in one hoof that had been half drained already. Rainbow pressed forward as the other two ponies moved over to some small snacks, "Hey!"

"Hmm? Oh sorry I'll get out of the way of the water."

Rainbow followed him as he back up so she could look him in the eyes. "No, not that, Arc Blade! You said that was Arc Blade and I need to learn that! It was so cool!"

“Oh… uh, sorry I’m not really taking students just yet-.”

“No no you can’t say no!” Dash didn’t quite take him by the front of one of his shoulders and shake him, but it was a near thing. “It was so cool! I’ll do anything!- Well...” She looked him over for a moment and came to a decision, a hoof reaching up to tug slightly at her mane and the smallest of smiles curling on her lips. “Anything.”

The Stallion was staring at her now for a long moment. “...All right, my ‘anything’ if you give up, you can’t start again. Arc Blade needs a lot of focus and dedication.”

Rainbow was so elated she let him go and grinned. “All right! This is gonna be great you’re not going to regret this!”

The male Pegasus nodded and set his water mug aside, holding up a hoof to her, “My name is Vorpal.”

Dash eagerly took the offered limb and shook it.

Vorpal waited a beat, “And you are?….”

She froze, “You… don’t know who I am?”

The stallion’s head tilted to the side, “No... Should I?”

Rainbow just stared at him slack jawed, and Vorpal got more fidgety as things got more awkward, then the mare seized his shoulders again with manic strength and started to shake him.

“HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM?!”

Just a few steps away Applejack couldn't hold it in any more and started to guffaw.

- - -

Author's Note:

Golden Braid is heavily based on of Tsunade from "Naruto" of course. "Tsunade" means "A mooring rope" in Japanese, so "Golden Braid" sounded like a good pony name for her. Shizune of course means "quiet", so that explains her name. Golden Braid's cutie mark is the Rod of Asclepius, a worldwide symbol of medicine and healing.

Naturally, Medusa is based upon the Mane-iac.

Vorpal's section (and Vorpal himself) was written by Valiant. He is the first contributor to this project and his art will be expanded upon later in the story.

All of these abilities are based on either abilities seen in the Tails of Equestria RPG (which I recommend you read or at least try-It's a lot of fun!) or in the show itself.

This is just to whet your appetites as the main story is soon to begin. So hold on to your plots, things are going to get bumpy quite soon...

Comments

[BlankJRM]

I approve of Medusa.

[Booster Spice]

Shes a Maniac, Maniac, and she will do your hair.

The Earth ponies living longer through planetary energy flows, gives a whole range of lifespans possible, as negatives mean its like childhood ifection loss, or even infertility, in tat eggs that lose energy dont grow in the first place and so those varients dont propagate except for extreme circumstances? gives explanations for Pinkie as well, where she doest tie so much into the energy of the World, but the energy that Underlies Reality?

According to the global map of Equestria, unless thay have a 50% Pacific ocean, theres a lot more land are and so countries for cities and races to exist?

So many more places to check, such exhibition.

[i_am_the_jam]

Capillomancy and biomancy, very good!!!