1 Lunchtime and mail
One of the many, many lingering aftereffects of Discord's return was the new fact that the Ponyville weekly chess club now had mailboxes that swapped mail with each other. When the mailmare came by with each day's mail, the letters she put in one of their mailboxes would show up in another.
In Manehatten, or even Canterlot, this would be a cause of wonder and/or fear. With a team of scholarly Unicorns sent out to study it with the intention of fixing and/or duplicating the effect. This being Ponyville, it was used as a reason for the six friends to get together for lunch every day to see who got whose mail and gossip. It even got the introverted loner of the six, who previously had only left her house for groceries and the weekly chess games, out of the house and socializing more. They hadn't needed to ask Fluttershy to visit the chess club meetings to translate barely heard squeaks for months!
Which, for this group of ponies and a few others, went a long way to show that pre-redemption Discord hadn't been all bad. The little hints of friendship assist here and there during the chaos were why a whole lot of ponies in Ponyville were willing to give him a chance. Once Twilight Sparkle had confirmed Discord being reformed officially, of course, even the ponies willing to give Discord a chance weren't going to take his unsupported word for anything. None of them wanted a return to the capitol of chaos insanity no matter how nice the lingering effects were. Though some of the larger incidents, such as Vinyl Scratch's and Octavia's houses merging together, would have been a legal nightmare to work out in any other town. Here in Ponyville they decided half the rent for only a 25% decrease in square footage was worth the unexpected roommate and became friends as time went on.
All was fine and peaceful (by Ponyville standards) (also except Tirek) until the early afternoon our story begins...
(Things will continue to be fine and peaceful [again, by Ponyville standards] after the story begins [probably]). It's just that before the story is the fixed certainty of the past and the story itself remains in the fixed uncertainty of the future)
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"Good afternoon, Orchid Blossom!" Cherry Blossom said to her sister as she trotted to the usual table at the fancy sandwich cafe.
"Hey, Cherry Blossom," Orchid Blossom said to her sister as she sat at the usual table at the fancy sandwich cafe.
"We the first ones to show up?" Cherry took the pile of mail from her saddlebag and placed it next to the pile already on the table.
"Yeah. Sandy got a visit from her Royal Bookness today. I saw her dealing with the questionnaire around the corner of her house."
"Better her than us. Just hope she doesn't have my mail. I should be getting a very important letter today!"
"Another response from your admirer?" Orchid leaned over the table to check her sister's pile of mail. "Drat. How come we never get each others?"
"From my mysterious secret admirer, yes." Cherry swooned. "Whoever it is has such the gift for sweet talk. They know just what to say to me." Cherry paused mid-swoon to glare at her sister. "It's not you, is it? I still remember that one time in high school...."
"For the last time, It's not me!" Orchid facehoofed in long-suffering frustration. "I did that once, for two letters, in high school. Get over it! Do we need to go to Twilight for another truth-spell interrogation?"
"Neeerrroooowm. Kaboom!" Were the sound effects not normally associated with a Pegasus drifting down from above to land in her usual seat across from the sisters. "Must be the day Cherry is getting another love letter."
The Blossom sisters paused their glaring to smile at the one Pegasus in the chess club. Both just a little jealous of the slender mare's body. Razor Sharp had the high burning metabolism to fuel her wings, but preferred to move through life at a gentle pace and therefore had never built up the muscles most dedicated fliers do. Which gave her the body, if not the matching magic aura, of a Unicorn supermodel. The sisters shared a sympathetic look. Neither of them were very powerful, Cherry worked at the train station moving cargo with the primarily Earth Pony crew, while Orchid sat behind a counter all day and liked having a second mid-afternoon lunch. So neither of them could claim slender as a defining trait.
"Oh, I guess I won't interrupt." Sharp said breezily while waving one wing with a pile of mail carefully balanced on top of it. "Guess I'm wrong, since she hasn't asked to see whose mail I got..."
"Gimme!" Cherry's magic surrounded the letters being waved at her. All of them getting torn open at once in an impressive display of magic.
"So! That clumsy weathermare, was staring at my mailbox from her door across the road again today when my mail arrived." Orchid politely ignored her sister's violent envelopicide.
"Oh, jeeze, again? She mumble something about it making no sense?" Sharp couldn't look away from Cherry's quick scan, discard, scan, toss, hunt through her mail. It reminded her of the sharks she had seen as a foal on the merchant ships with her parents.
"Nah, this time I'm pretty sure her mumble was the 'how am I not seeing anything?' category. Oh! Sandy got ambushed by the Royal Inquisition today. So she'll be running late."
"Oh thank Luna!" A fourth voice exclaimed as she collapsed in her usual chair next to Razor. "I saw the palace doors open and nearly sprinted the whole way in case she was lurking to get me!"
"Dawn, she cornered you last week. You are safe for at least a month." Razor reached over to stroke the exhausted mare's back with one hoof.
"She might have decided to switch schedules about who to question!" At that statement from Dawn Trader all four mares looked at her. Well, three mares looked at her and she blushed and looked at the table. "Okay, that was a tad paranoid of me. Sandy will understand. Her Royal Dimness has added a whole new section of questions about emotional states writing and waiting for replies. With a cross-referenced list of all the mail I've sent and received the week previous."
"Really? That's a bit of royal abuse I didn't expect from Twilight." Cherry was lovingly nuzzling the chosen piece of mail from her admirer.
"She hadn't looked at the list herself. Apparently the mail ponies were given orders to put together a anonymous numbered list for her with a matching itemized list for me." Dawn sighed as her chin rested on the table. "Something about avoiding observer bias in the test results."
"Now that sounds like her." Orchid smiled and waved to a waiter.
"So, another good letter?" Razor flapped to hover and tried to drift over the table to peek at the letter Cherry was continuing to cuddle.
"Yeah! Spill all the naughty details." Dawn Brilliance leaned over from her spot next to Orchid to peek as well.
Cherry's magic zipped the letter into her saddlebag as she giggled breathlessly. Then she the thought occurred to her that one pony at the table wasn't asking about her letter. She turned a glare at her sister.
"I know you like privacy!" Orchid yelled. "I did not write any of them!"
"Uh-huh. That's not how you acted when I was dating Tone Tuner." Cherry kept glaring. "You followed us on dates and still asked about what happened afterwards."
"It's! Not! Me!" Orchid was beyond the help of a facehoof so she slammed her face on the table and kept it there.
The weekly argument paused as the waiter came to their table to serve their drinks. Ice tea for each of the Blossom Sisters, hot chocolate for Razor Sharp (no matter the temperature), carrot juices for Opalescent Shine, and one grass smoothie for at the empty place for Sandy Shores.
"Thank you," Opalescent Shine said quietly.
Everyone at the table jumped. Even Cherry, though she didn't raise her head so it hit the table once again when gravity returned them all to their seats.
"Wha? Who? How?" Razor Sharp stared at the suddenly present Shine. The Pegasus hovered in the air to drift over to start brushing both hooves through the young Earth Pony's mane as if looking for a horn hidden in her bangs. "Okay, now I know you've got to be a unicorn in disguise. I know for a fact that it is impossible for you to get this close to Sugarcube Corner without us hearing Pinkie Pie, so you must have teleported."
Shines giggled, blushing as she tried to push Razor away from her search for a non-existent horn.
"I... Heehee! I asked Pinkie to not do the loud noises for me," Shines blushed and slowly sank into her chair as friendly amusement melted away as every nearby pony was looking at the slender Pegasus fooling around with the young Earth Pony. "Eep."
Terminal embarrassment was avoided by the interruption of a bright flash of royal purple light that delivered the sixth member of the group. Sandy Shores looked frazzled, mane literally smoking, and she was twitching with a unhinged expression.
"Um, Sandy..." Dawn was the first to break the stunned silence.
"I don't know what the ratio of fiction to non-fiction books I read before I got my tax notification paperwork!" Sandy shouted reflexively.
Dawn got up from her chair to trot over to give Sandy a hug. One hoof gently rubbing the other mare's mane.
"There, there. It's all over. You don't have to answer any more questions."
The rest of the group made sympathetic sounds as they sipped their drinks. All conversation on hold until the latest victim of royal scrutiny had recovered enough to sip at her own drink.
"So! All of us are here. Cherry was gotten hers, so lets divvy up the rest." Orchid smiled as she pushed her pile across the table. "I got yours today, Dawn."
"Oooh! My palace gossip magazines! Let's see who Princess Cadance is hooking up with this week."
Orchid sat back in her chair and blinked at the mail already in front of her stacked neatly from biggest envelopes on the bottom and smallest on top.
"Thank you Shine," Orchid said with a smile, but without looking at the shy mare.
Razor nabbed hers, pushing the last pile to Shines from her high position over the table as she did so.
"Ding. Ding. Ding." The Pegasus smiled as she hefted a thick legal sized envelope with the local royal crest on the front. "Looks like I hit the jackpot."
"Finally got the job at the palace?" Opalescent Shines smiled. "Congratulations."
"Yeah, well, its the only way I was going to get employed by royalty on my resume. The Canterlot palace window washers are all old servant families whose service goes back to before Ponyville was founded, and Luna likes those bat ponies for all her tasks."
"Who wouldn't?" Dawn smiled dreamily. "I'd love to have a couple of them hovering around my windows all the time."
"So, did the princess hire you herself? Might be just to pester you all day with questions." Sandy had not quite lost the haunted look in her eyes.
"I'm not a idiot. Went straight to the guy who knows whats what. Spike hooked me up." Razer grinned. "Everypony else was out of towners trying to get the prestige of serving royalty. Her Divine Purpleness threw out three applicants while I was hanging out with Spike talking about comic books."
"What kind of gems did you bribe him with?" Orchid asked with a grin.
"How dare you- Yeah, I got him some pearls from the eastern ocean. My parents had a really good harvest getting back from Zebrica."
"Neat! How long are they in Equestria? Are they going to visit? I love chatting with your mom about work." Dawn perked up as she sorted her letters into piles for business, personal, and unwanted. She had by far the most mail of the entire group.
"Another two weeks from yesterday. Apparently the new Zebrica truce has all the trading houses worked up so they are heading back right away. I'll let them know you want to see them."
"You Pegasus ponies are odd." Dawn shook her head as she started in on her pile of unwanted mail. "You should want to see them too. They are your parents."
"Nah. Spent enough time with 'em on the ship as a kid." Razor waved a hoof dismissively. She had just stuffed her mail into her saddlebag to open later. "Aaaanyway, you get something fun planned for today, Shines? Pinkie Pie said that she wasn't going to accept our usual order for cake to give you for the chess club birthday celebration tomorrow."
"Um. Yes." Opalescent Shines tried to hide behind her short mane. It was not effective. "I'm, um, I am having a birthday party and you are all invited if you want to come?"
For the second time at today's lunch the table went quiet. Though they knew better than to all stare at the shy pony.
"Of course we want to come!" Sandy exclaimed brightly.
"Duh." Cherry smiled. "Way to go, Shines. Anypony else going to be there?"
"Yes. Fluttershy said she would come, and Aloe, and um, mumble," She trailed into unheard mumbles for the last name.
"Oooh... Did you invite a colt? Someone you've got your eye on?" Cherry leaned into the table. "Come on, tell us who the mystery guest is that has you so flustered."
"*mumble mumble*," Shine tried to disappear into her chair.
Razor Sharp floated up from her chair to gently hover near Shines. The Pegasus bringing her head in close to catch the softly whispered name. When she caught it her wings froze in mid-flap. Falling the foot distance to the found, so shocked that she didn't porovide the massive impact sound effect she would normally say. Sandy responded by pushing the stiff Pegasus over. Pouting when the Pegasus fell quietly onto her side.
"Aww. I wanted to hear that cute goat sound." Sandy kept up her pout.
"They only do that when they are scared, silly." Orchid said with a smile. "I've got to get back to work. Lovely seeing you all. I'll be sure to bring a nice gift when I come to the party. Hope your mystery guest doesn't mind lots of attention."
"I am sure she will be fine." Shines whispered, but loud enough to hear.
Orchid got up from her seat, but lingered just long enough for the waiter to bring everypony's lunch. Her magic surrounded hers to take it with her as she left.
"So!" Razor sprang into the air. She floated over to her seat to settle down. "I won't spoil the surprise, but I have to know how the two of you met!"
"Well, um, it wasn't anything special." Shines fidgeted with her lettuce sandwich. "When I went to Canterlot two months ago to see Fluttershy defending her championship at the Quiet Game?"
"Oh, yeah!" Sandy perked up at that mention. "I heard about that. Fluttershy killed one of her opponents!"
"Um, no. He was already dead when the match started." Shines corrected softly.
"Ah man, that's not-" Sandy paused. "Wait, are you telling me Fluttershy won a round of the Quiet Game against a dead pony?"
"Um, yes?"
"Wow. I'm kind of impressed." Sandy nibbled on her daisy sandwich while pondering this new fact.
"A-anyway, one of my opponents in the amateur matches mentioned there was an open chess tournament at the palace that night." Shines didn't have much sandwich to fidget with, her little nibbles having worn it down bite by bite. "I've always wanted to see the palace, so I decided to enter."
"How did you do?" Cherry had already finished her sandwich and was slurping the last of her drink through her straw.
"Okay, I guess. The tournament was in honor of Princess Luna so it used old rules of chess, so it was kind of weird. I did get to the finals." Shines smiled brightly at that statement. "My first opponent in the finales beat me. The game did go on for a while and we got to talking, afterwards we were friends."
"Wow." Dawn used her magic to stack up everypony's empty plates. "I'm real proud of you, Shines. Happy to hear you made a new friend without anypony pushing you. What is she like?"
"Oh no," Razor spoke up. "We'll all meet her tonight. No spoilers. I got to go get a camera to capture every moment of the party. Woosh! Zoom!"
Razor Sharp flapped her wings just enough to get lift and lazily flew away, making soft super-speed sounds to herself as she drifted through town.
"I should be getting back to work as well," Cherry got up and waved to everypony. "See you all tonight!"
"So dawn," Sandy leaned over, almost falling out of her seat in her attempt to elbow her friend over the empty chair between them. "Is your brother sill doing the weekly bridge game with those other three royal guards? Twilight still doesn't seem to have connected the dots."
"Ugh," Dawn covered her face with both hooves. "Thank Luna she hasn't gotten so obsessed with genealogy that she researches everypony she knows. Yes, Glittering Helm is still doing the bridge game. Though it's once a month now with Shining Armor up north."
"Wait, your brother plays cards with the captain of the royal guard?" Shine's blinked with amazement. "Who are the other two?"
"Gleaming Shield and Polished Pauldron," Sandy grinned. "All four have younger sisters with likewise similar names to each other."
"Shush!" Dawn nearly knocked the table over in her rush to tackle Sandy into silence. "I don't need the trouble that would follow if her royal dimness figured that out!"
"Um, what am I missing?" Shines blinked in confusion at the pile of the two earth ponies next to her on the ground.
"I'll tell you later, someplace safe. It is pretty hilarious." Sandy got out from under Dawn.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Dawn grumbled, but with no real heat in it. "Time for me to get going. I'll be a little late, but I will show up at the party Shines."
The remaining two ponies finished their lunch in companionable quiet. Sandy leaving first, then Shines. Both had plenty do with the remainder of the day.