The Price of Citizenship

by Colgate is best pony

Epilogue: What Rarity Did for Two Years

ECY 1009.6
Ponyville, Home

Applejack slunk further into the hot tub as Rarity answered Twilight’s question.

“. . .two years of back pay, times one and a half for two years of being in a hazard zone, of course, plus the tax breaks, plus the interest on what I had put away after selling the Boutique. And besides, with the Macintosh Act passing, I was able to buy it all back for pennies on the dollar. Only the best for our returning heroes, right?”

Twilight was not convinced.

“But Rarity, that still doesn’t explain how you were able to buy the entire Aloe and Lotus company! You own half the spas in equestria by now!”

Pinkie Pie surfaced in between the two and removed her snorkel.

“Plus two Spas on Celestium!”

Rarity giggled as Pinkie dove back beneath the surface.

“Well, I suppose I forgot to mention the bounty. . .”

Twilight’s eyebrows rose.

“Bounty?”

“Yes, it seems that our glorious leadership decided that the production of gems in deep space would go a lot smoother if the ponies doing the actual work got a cut of the action.”

“How much of a cut are we talking?”

“Twilight, you know a lady doesn’t discuss such things! Especially after the somewhat . . . unladylike negotiations we miners had to go through!”

Twilight did not appear amused. Rarity blushed.

“. . . or I suppose I could just tell you. We got twenty percent.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up.

“Twenty percent!”

Rarity nonchalantly examined her hoof.

“Yes, darling. We could have gotten more, you know, but there was a war on, after all. And don’t give me that look. I found the gem that powered the new Luna, you know.”

Twilight facehooved and sunk beneath the water. Rarity and Applejack shared a glance and a laugh. Rarity leaned back against the wall of the hot tub.

“Rainbow Dash, are you sure you don’t want to join us? The water is absolutely perfect for those frazzled feathers of yours.”

A relaxed voice answered her.

“No thanks, Rarity. You know the water makes my wing feel funny.”

Applejack climbed up to get a view of her friend, who was receiving a massage at the base of the tub.

“Dash, you sure? You know I’m not much into the whole spa routine, but whatever Rarity has got in here is . . .”

Rainbow glared at Applejack, causing her to cease talking and to sink back into the tub. A second later, though, Rainbow’s facade broke, and she burst into a laugh.

“That’s alright, AJ. I gotta get rolling soon anyway. Fluttershy needs help teaching the new hatchlings how to not crash into things. Why she wants somepony as awesome as me, I have no idea, but I said I’d help.”

“How is she? I haven’t been out there in a few days.”

“She’s good. She’s gained most of the weight back, and the animals are starting to return.”

Applejack smiled and sunk into the water once more, feeling utterly content.

“And she likes my idea.”

Applejack rose quickly from the water.

“No!”

“Yep. She thinks Daring Deux is a great name for my new ship.”

“You’re not naming my ship. . .”

“. . . my ship.”

“. . . you’re not naming any ship after a fictional character, and you’re certainly not going to do it in ‘fancy!’”

“It’s called french, and it is an actual language, I’ll have you know.”

Applejack jumped out of the tub and grabbed her Stetson.

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

The two ponies glared at each other, faces inches apart. Rarity broke the silence.

“Girls, I’ll not have you fighting in my spa. . .”

The frown on Applejack’s face retreated. Rainbow Dash followed suit, and before Rarity had time to finish her sentence, the two were on the floor laughing. Pinkie joined them for no reason discernible to anypony but herself.

----

Later that evening, Twilight and Applejack strode through Sweet Apple Acres. The setting sun reminded Applejack of something she had forgotten.

“Twi, I can’t thank you enough for getting the Princess to give us the farm back. . .”

“Nonsense, Applejack. Even if Big Mac hadn’t saved her, Celestia would have given your farm back. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Still, we’re all mighty grateful.”

“Don’t worry about it, AJ!”

The two continued in silence.

“How is he, by the way?”

“Mac? He’s fine. His term is up in a few months, just in time for cider season. They want him to come back, but six months as ‘emergency civilian consul’ is quite enough for my brother. How’s Shining doing?”

“He’s fine as well. They’ve only just cleared the final Antaran vessels from orbit, so he’ll be supervising their disposal fairly soon. I don’t know how he managed to get over ten thousand brain dead Antarans into cages and back to their own planet, but he did it somehow. I just hope he can get back to Cadance soon. Even alicorns have biological clocks, you know.”

Applejack laughed.

“I have to get back to Spike,” said Twilight, who turned to leave. “See you tomorrow!”

Applejack bid her goodnight and watched Twilight trot back to town. The unicorn had relaxed quite a bit over the past few months, but the occasional eye twitch still bothered Applejack. On the whole, though, she was content with her friends progress. Celestia was right-- not being able to read anything but comedies for six weeks had definitely calmed the mare down.

Applejack hurried back to the farmhouse. Apple Bloom had promised to earn her “Appleloosan Fajita making” cutie mark by the end of the day, and her older sister expected to be either spending the night cleaning dishes or waking up at dawn the next day to buy new ones.

She would not have had it any other way.

Comments

[totallynotabrony]

Daring Deux
I've said it before, but I really enjoyed this story. It's also impressive how far you've come since the beginning. Love to see more from you.

[ElJorro]

We didn't see spike at all...