Watching Us Watching Them

by Little Jackie Papercut

Day Five: Strange Animals

“You’re drooling, you know.”

Moondancer jolted out of her reverie, wiping her mouth. “It just looks so good,” she replied. The hot food displayed under a glass covering was tantalizing to her. “I’ve been eating dry oats for three days. I don’t have the money for anything else.”

“Really?” Beside her, Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t your parents give you some?”

“They’re, uh, saving it,” the Canterlot filly replied. “For the Sunrise Ceremony. Anyway, what have you got there?” She gestured toward the local’s bulging saddlebags.

“Oh, these? I do some part-time delivery work for the grocery. Mr. Greens had a delivery to make in the park,” she explained. “I should hurry, actually.”

“The park, huh?” Moondancer tilted her head to one side. “Mind if I tag… along…?” She trailed off, staring past Dinky.

The mauve filly glanced backward. She surveyed the crowd from one end to the other, then returned a questioning look to her guest.

Obligingly, Moondancer pointed at the mass of metal moving toward a nearby workshop. It walked on two solid hooves of ruddy orichalcum, clanking heavily against the road. Its body somewhat resembled a smallish minotaur, with a well-defined chest and a pair of muscled arms. Its head, on the other hoof, was pony-like in shape, with a rune engraved into its forehead and gems socketed where its eyes would have been.

“I didn’t know you had Sunforged around here,” she explained. “My mom used to work with them, but I never met one. It’s just surprising.”

“Oh, yeah.” Dinky turned and waved to the construct. “We’re all so used to seeing him around, I didn’t even think about how few ponies have met one. How are you today, Mountainhoof?”

The metallic being looked in the direction of the pair and returned a friendly wave. His stoic expression had been fixed on his face since its creation, yet he almost seemed to smile back. “Just getting a little tune-up,” he replied, with a rumble like stones grinding against each other.

A broadly built white pegasus stallion with a short black mane greeted him at the workshop door, with a younger mare and a small colt beside him, both lightly-colored with brown manes. “And what a tune it will be,” the stallion remarked, picking up a guitar that matched his cutie mark. He gave it a few strums.

Everypony needs a Sunforged

Something I have always said

Everypony needs a friend who’s got a—

“Dad, don’t.” The mare rested her hoof on his guitar. “We can’t afford the royalties.”

“Oh, right. Thanks, Zippy.” He patted her on the head. “Alright, walk this way.” He stepped inside, followed by his guest. The daughter rolled her eyes and joined them. The colt spotted the two unicorns and waved, before following his sister.

“Okay, enough quirky interludes,” Dinky declared. “We’ve got places to be.”

~#~#~#~

The fifth day of the Summer Sun Celebration was sometimes called Morning of the Dews. Traditionally, pegasi misted the streets every hour through midmorning. It was supposed to be symbolic of something, certainly, although as far as Moondancer was aware, nobody actually knew what that was.

She was going to have to look into all of these traditions once she got back to Canterlot. Sometimes she felt like she was missing a very intricate joke.

In the early afternoon, the ground had dried well enough, and the rain-cooled air felt relaxing on a pony’s coat. The park was abuzz with activity, as it was considered a good day for a picnic. It was to one of the spread-out blankets that Dinky’s delivery was due. This meal was for three ponies, two wearing full fencing gear and engaged in a match. Off to the side, a few other colts and fillies watched quietly.

Dinky looked to the bespectacled third pony, a gray earth filly with silvery hair, who greeted them with a nod. “You’re just in time. I’m pretty sure Apple Bloom is about to flip out.”

Sure enough, the yellow filly’s voice came from one of the fencers, who Moondancer now recognized by her mane and giant pink bow. “Ah don’t care what Rainbowshine said, ah’m not wearin’ that thing,” she declared, making a few inexpert lunges toward the other.

“Excuse me, Rainbowshine is a professional,” her companion objected. She responded with a flashy twirl away from the foil, her violet-and-white mane flaring out and then falling back into place, improbably perfect. “She even managed Silver’s mom’s election campaign. She knows about image, and she thinks we should match. What’s wrong with that?”

“You’ll have to excuse them,” the filly who greeted Dinky said. “You know how Diamond Tiara can be when she gets an idea.” She cleared her throat loudly. “Hey, you two, Dinky is here with the food,” she announced. “And we already all match, don’t we, Tiara? We’re, like, the only three fillies in town who even accessorize at all.” She gestured to the pearl necklace she wore.

Moondancer shot her guide a questioning look.

“They’re all the daughters of well-known local families,” Dinky explained quietly. “Apple Bloom’s family owns a lot of land, Diamond Tiara’s has money, and Silver Spoon’s is in politics. They kind of stick together, usually.”

Apple Bloom’s fencing partner turned her attention to their friend. She unclasped the straps on her mask and it fell away, somehow not disturbing the tiara that had been perched atop it, revealing an amused expression on her pale pink face.

“Well, that’s true, and we are good at it,” Tiara agreed. “Still, I don’t see why we shouldn’t update ourselves. Don’t you think we’d look cuter that way?”

The gray earth pony shrugged. “Well, if she doesn’t want to wear it, that’s up to her. Although I’m a little surprised too. I’d think she’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Apple Bloom removed her mask as well. “What’re you gettin’ at?”

“Oh, nothing,” Silver Spoon replied with a wink. “Just that it might help you with a certain something that I wouldn’t know anything about.”

The farmfilly looked nonplussed at the suggestion, but Tiara snickered a little. “Oh, right, I keep forgetting to ask. Are you going to—”

Whatever she was about to ask was cut off by the sound of a cheer from the audience. The trio turned toward the mass, and Moondancer followed their gaze.

There she caught a blur of motion as an orange-and-blue mass launched itself into the air from the handrail of a bridge. It hovered there for a split second, allowing a clear view of an orange pegasus filly holding onto a bar with her forehooves; the middle of the bar was connected to one end of a longer perpendicular bar, and at the other end was what looked like a roughly cut board with wheels attached. Device, filly and all began to spin and flip in midair, drawing oohs and aahs from the assembled.

Then the contraption began to plummet. The filly let go completely for a moment to pose dramatically as she fell, before the wheels finally touched down. It sped forward a short distance, then twisted hard to the right and ground to a stop right before the admirers.

With a great clamor, all the locals gathered around the performer, with the exception of the pink earth pony. She simply watched with a flat expression.

“Thank you, thank you,” the pegasus called out. “Just taking a spin on the latest in radical technology, the Scootaloo Board! You can pick one up for yourself at, uh…”

She trailed off as the device began to shake underneath her. A wheel popped off, and she was forced to step aside as the whole thing collapsed into a pile of parts.

“Ha!” Diamond Tiara called out, the crowd parting as she stepped forward. “Yes, by all means, get your rickety deathtraps from the worst inventor Ponyville has ever seen!”

The pegasus went rigid. “Don’t you dare,” she warned.

Across the bridge, Moondancer spotted Sweetie Belle charging to the scene. Even from a distance, the white unicorn looked alarmed.

“What happened?” Sweetie Belle asked breathlessly as she arrived.

“The board is…” The rider clenched her teeth. “A failure,” she admitted.

“So it’s perfectly fitting to name it after you,” Tiara taunted. Silver Spoon anxiously tapped her on the shoulder, but was ignored. “Your daddy must be so proud.”

“What the hay?” Apple Bloom shook her head. “Tiara, that’s too—”

“Hey!” Scootaloo stomped forward, over the remains of the board. “You can insult me all you want, but you don’t know anything about my dad, so leave him out of it or else!”

“Don’t do this, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle urged. Scootaloo waved her off.

“Or else what?” Tiara sneered. “You’re going to make even more noise? Maybe collapse in my direction?”

Apple Bloom snorted. “Ah guess y’all are just determined ta do somethin’ stupid,” she declared. She turned, scowling, and stormed past Moondancer and Dinky. “Ain’t gonna put up with this from either of ya,” she muttered before she was quite out of earshot.

The pink filly didn’t even notice. She raised a hoof and flicked Scootaloo’s dark purple mane. “Just more empty words. That’s all you’ve got. Go ahead, prove me wrong.”

That was all the invitation the pegasus needed. She sprang forward, hooves outstretched, and tackled the other.

Hooves flew, the two fillies trading blow for blow. Tiara rolled out from under her attacker and threw a kick that took Scootaloo off her feet. Scootaloo responded by practically bouncing into the air as she hit the ground, landing ready for a charge. A blow reached Tiara’s jaw, then Scootaloo’s stomach, and the air began to fill with indistinct shouts, of pain and anger from the combatants, of surprise from the crowd. Sweetie Belle glanced helplessly at Silver Spoon, who for her part looked mostly unsurprised.

In the melee, Scootaloo had managed to knock Tiara to the ground again, and pin her down. Just then, from somewhere above, someone shouted, “Hey! What’s going on here?!”

The onlookers collectively gasped. Scootaloo froze, seeming to lose all color, while Tiara just stared past her, up at the sky, her smug expression totally replaced with one of panic.

“Coach!” The pegasus filly was off of her opponent in an instant, and the earth pony climbed unsteadily to her hooves, trying to appear calm and collected despite the hoofmarks clear on her coat.

A pegasus landed before the two combatants, her mere presence seeming to send a shockwave through the park. She wore a blue-and-gold tracksuit and a military manecut, the conservative cropping doing nothing to diminish the distinctiveness of its wild coloration. Bright blue wings flared as she stared down at the fillies.

“Cadets!” She stamped one hoof. “Which one of you started this?”

The two seemed paralyzed with fear for a moment. Tiara sputtered uselessly, trying to figure out how to answer the question. Scootaloo, meanwhile, hung her head, trembling.

“I’m waiting!”

The pegasus filly took a deep breath, then stepped forward.

“I threw the first punch,” she declared. “I’m sorry.” She glanced back, wincing. “Sorry, Diamond Tiara.” She then knelt before the coach. “It’s my fault, Coach Dash.”

“How many times are you two going to have to learn this lesson?” the mare barked. “You know the drill. I’m going to contact your parents. Get yourselves looked at and report to the track in an hour.”

Everypony stood silently for a moment.

“Now move out! Before I put you both on ditch-digging duty!”

Startled into action, the two fillies nearly tripped over themselves as they hurried out of the circle of foals.

“And that’s about a normal day at the park,” Dinky commented as the coach took to the air.

Moondancer stared at her wide-eyed. “That’s normal?”

“Oh yeah. Scootaloo tries out her dad's inventions all the time. And Coach Rainbow Dash, well, there are stories about her and I don’t know which ones are true.” The local filly considered for a moment. “They say she can lift seven students, you know.”

Somehow that statistic seemed like a completely reasonable thing that must have been measured at some point.

“Anyway, I guess there’s nothing left to see here,” the blonde filly concluded. “Think we should try to catch up with Apple Bloom?”

“Yeah, I guess—”

“Wait a minute.”

Moondancer spared a glance to the source of the interruption. It was the earth pony trio’s gray filly.

“Can you come to the school with me in an hour?” she requested. “I need to check on Diamond Tiara, and I know you’re friends with Scootaloo.”

“I’m not sure I’d say that,” Dinky replied hesitantly.

“Scootaloo will listen to you, at least. And I need to ask her about something.”

“I think we should,” the Canterlotite suggested. “There’s something I want to see there, too.”

“It’s not those Seven Secrets Button was going on about, is it…?” Dinky asked cautiously.

Silver Spoon looked over Moondancer. “I don’t think we’ve met,” she commented, expression rather neutral. “Nice to see a new face. We can do introductions later. So, Dinky? How about it?”

The blonde snorted. “Fine,” she agreed. “I’ll talk to Scootaloo for you, but I can’t guarantee she’ll want anything to do with any of you.”

~#~#~#~

Time was pretty tight for Twilight Sparkle. Now that a plan was in place, she needed to use every last second to the fullest.

The next step was to meet with the local rangers, to arrange travel to the deer village. She was just passing through the crowded area around the park, on her way to their station, near the northern edge of town.

As she passed the local schoolteacher, and absentmindedly waved to her, she reflected on the past few days. Celestia liked routine, and followed roughly the same path every year, which was why Twilight had been so dismayed at her failure to find her shortly after arrival. After missing her despite making all haste at the bakery, the school, the library, and the amphitheater, she had concluded that Celestia was consciously altering her routine specifically to avoid being followed.

This, coupled with being specifically denied an audience with the princess, had led her to a dark place. She now trotted by that musician, grimacing at the memory of drowning the pain in ketchup and cheap soft drinks. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to be deterred. She could have used that time to get ahead.

Someone bumped into her, and she snapped out of her reverie in surprise. The pony was already hurrying off. It was the lieutenant, busy with his own preparations. At least she had allies. The entire Guard was now on high alert, prepared to defend Celestia from herself if need be. She resumed her path, resolving that the plan had to work. There were backup plans, but all made with the understanding that if the first plan failed, everyone might already be dead.

No, she had to protect everyone, be it Cheerilee, Vinyl Scratch, Flash Sentry, or Moondancer—

She halted midstep. Had she just walked past Moondancer? Whirling around, she scanned the street, certain she’d glimpsed the young unicorn. She spotted a trio of small figures slipping through the crowd to her right, and dashed in that direction.

“Official Canterlot business!” she called as she pushed through the throngs of ponies. She thought they must be just up ahead. The wall of ponies reacted sluggishly, but gradually allowed her through.

On the other side, she twisted around, trying to catch sight of the filly, but if Moondancer had been there, she was long gone by now. Instead, she found herself face-to-face with a small colt.

“Hi, Professor,” he said, waving jovially. “She’s not here right now, but could you wait a minute?”

“Um… sure?” Twilight was just confused enough to not see any particular reason to say no. At least the colt was polite. “Wait for what?”

“My sister. She went looking for you, even though I told her we should wait.”

This answer wasn't quite as helpful as she would have liked. “And why is she looking for me? How did you even know where I was?”

The colt shrugged, looking as though he thought nothing of the question.

“Pinkie Pie told us you’d be here.”

Twilight drew back in surprise. The strange pony she had met after arriving in town? Why would she know that?

“Pound!” The shout came from close by, and followed itself with a yellowish blur nearly slamming into the colt. The blur resolved into a filly who Twilight could guess was the colt’s sister. “You weren't supposed to tell her about Pinkie! That’s too dangerous!”

“And what exactly is dangerous for me to know about Pinkie Pie?” Twilight questioned.

The filly whirled to face her, and Twilight compared the two side-by-side. He was a creamy pegasus, and she a buttery unicorn. From context, and by the soft features they shared, they were almost certainly siblings, and they looked familiar; Twilight hadn't seen them before, but she might have met their parents.

“You shouldn’t know anything about her at all,” the filly insisted.

“She’s feyblooded, isn’t she?”

The filly glared, first at Twilight, then at her brother, who simply raised an eyebrow in response, then back at Twilight again. “Okay, what makes you say that?”

The professor shrugged. “My best friend is feyblooded, and Pinkie Pie has all the signs. Even so, I didn’t catch on until you made such a big deal about her. That’s mostly my own fault, though. So why were you so desperate to hide that from me?”

“We’re her apprentices,” Pound offered immediately. “We take that very seriously, but Pumpkin has a slightly different interpretation than I do.”

“Apprentices… to the Cakes’ apprentice?” As soon as she had said it, Twilight had an impression that a question she hadn’t asked was answered.

Now the two siblings exchanged a slightly bemused look. Pound nodded, Pumpkin shook her head, and soon they seemed to be deeply engrossed in a conversation comprised entirely of head-gestures.

Eventually, Pound jerked his head away and stated simply, “She’s not actually a baker. They call her that so nopony will question her teaching us. You know how ponies can get about fey. She’s actually training us to become—”

“That’s enough,” Pumpkin interjected. “Have you forgotten that we’re talking to the enemy?” She pointed an accusatory hoof at Twilight.

The professor reared back in surprise. “Me? What did I do?”

Pound sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I think my sister has the wrong idea. You see, Pinkie told us you would be coming. If her fey sight could tell her about you, then you must be important.”

“She also said,” Pumpkin added sternly, “that you would play a role in the events to come, but not the one you think you will. So whatever it is you were planning to do, now you’re warned, it can only make things worse.”

~#~#~#~

“Well, I’d say this effort was a complete success,” Silver Spoon remarked, tossing her friend a smirk.

“You think so? I'm pretty sure I lost that fight,” Diamond Tiara replied, stretching her legs.

“Oh, the fight, sure. I told you rivalries would get you in trouble. But I learned something from it.” Silver rolled a hoof toward the pegasus across the track, who was currently chatting with the unicorns. “The two of you should be friends.”

Her pink companion nodded along with the suggestion. “I see. You said she's from Canterlot, right? That could be useful to us. And a new player could...” A moment later, she realized who Silver had actually meant, and quickly shook her head. “Wait, what? Me, be friends with that overblown, hotheaded… pudgy idiot?”

“...you have a lot in common?” The gray filly shrugged. “I’m not saying you should do anything crazy, or even that I like her, just that you’re going to want her on your side sooner or later.”

Tiara groaned. She pouted and kicked the dirt petulantly. “After everything she’s put us through, do you really think ponies in our position should reach out to her?”

“I think,” Spoon replied, eyes glinting behind her glasses, “that you should have a little faith in my advice. Don’t forget, we met because of our parents, but I stick by you because you're my friend. Same with Apple Bloom. So at least think about trying it our way, okay?”

With that said, she paused to give her friend a moment to think. Then she turned and made her way over to Scootaloo.

The orange filly glared at her as she approached. She responded with a casual wave, and didn't stop. Scootaloo turned her attention rather pointedly to the unicorns.

“You made quite a scene today,” Silver said, ignoring the gesture equally pointedly.

“Yeah? So you want to get in my face now because I took a swing at your friend?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not at all. I just wanted to know how it felt.” Silver held up a perfectly pedicured hoof. “Call it curiosity. Fighting isn’t my thing.”

Moondancer blinked in confusion. “Wait, really? This is what you wanted to talk to her about? I figured you’d be, I don’t know, mad.”

The earth pony shook her head. “Mad isn’t my thing either. That’s more Scootaloo. What I am... is curious.”

A moment later, Scootaloo leaned back as Silver Spoon began inspecting her a little too closely. Eyes scanned, hooves prodded. The bespectacled filly even pried open Scootaloo’s mouth and looked inside.

“Diamond Tiara is right about one thing, at least. You really are out of shape,” Spoon commented.

“Hey, that’s none of your business!” the pegasus snarled, pushing the other filly away with a hoof. “What’s the big idea?”

Silver adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat, her posture straightening to the fullest formality any of them had ever seen. “Well, if you must know… telling you isn’t really my thing either. Sorry.” She didn't look particularly sorry. “But meet up with me at the Sunrise Ceremony, and everything will be clear.”

Comments

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Nice to see this updated again. :D Hmm, Apple Bloom friends with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in this universe? The reasons make sense. I like the Cake twins as Pinkie's fey apprentices, too. Curiouser and curiouser!

[ferret]

Egads are the ages mixed up in this! When NIghtmare Moon comes back, is she going to look like this?