It has been eight years since she got her Cutie Mark and North now Trade Wind is ready.
It has been eight years since she got her Cutie Mark and North, now Trade Wind, is ready. To avoid the plot. Too bad there are those with other ideas. "Trade Wind! I want to hire you to rebuild the Castle of the Two Sisters." "..." "Oh, and I would like for you to tutor Luna as well." "..." "As a job, and favor, of course." "..." Oh, shards.
Luna did not know what to think when a Guard interrupted her and Tia’s dinner to inform them of a ‘Trade Wind’ waking up.
Or the fact that her sister immediately put down the cake she’d been eyeing, packed away the food, and ordered the guard not to let anyone follow after them before taking her down a secret passage in the pantry.
The passage itself was roomy, and allowed her to walk next to her sister who was going at a rather fast pace down the spiraling stairs, the only lights from a bioluminescent crystal in the ceiling.
“Who is this Trade Wind sister?” in the four days since her return they had introduced her to a lot of ponies and non-ponies and she’d been working on catching up on a thousand years of events.
But Trade Wind was never brought up,
“She’s someone I hope you get along with, and she was the one who suggested the speech therapist you’ve been talking to,” Luna blinked, following her sister down another corner and trying not to yelp when they were suddenly sliding down.
“We see, and does she also have something to do with you not being present for my return?” her sister paused in enjoying the slide, and Luna huffed, “I do hope you realize I did not forget everything I did as Nightmare Moon, you might have had Equestria fooled with Mi Amore Cadenza disguised as you,” even her possessed self had been in a rage over it, “But I sensed you using your Blessing, you know, the one you said you never wanted to resort to, including against me,” every one was also under the impression she was responsible for the night lasting longer than it should.
But the fact was that Celestia was on the other side of Equus using her sun for whatever battle she was at.
Nightmare Moon was very close to forgetting about the Elements of Harmony and seeing what her sister found more important.
The slide entered a rainbow-lit hall, different colored gems with runes carved into them catching her eye and she made a mental note to look at them later as they came to the end. Flaring her wings to prevent herself from crashing, she caught up with her sister who was deep in thought
After a moment, Celestia sighed,
“She wasn’t responsible, but she and a few others were present, and do not think I didn’t consider your return important. I wanted to be there, someone however thought it would be the perfect time to take advantage,” the corridor suddenly became uncomfortably warm and she cleared her throat, snapping her sister who coughed, the fire on her mane going out, an embarrassed blush on her face, “Anyways, they are rather regretting their ill-timing, and Twilight Sparkle and her new friends managed to wield the Elements of Harmony to free you,” yes, Luna meant to ask about that.
“About the Element-” “Oh we’re here!” Celestia interrupted, a smile forming as she pushed open an onyx door with the phases of the moon on it, ignoring Luna’s glare as they found themselves in what appeared to be an infirmary.
There were at least ten different beds, all but two had their curtains thrown open, and at least four of the beds were occupied.
On the first bed was a griffin with hawk features and a lion’s body, bandages around his midriff and left hind leg. He was purring under the ministrations of a pale white Nocturne who was using the fingers on the edge of his wings to run back and forth on the griffin’s neck. The Nocturne himself had a hoof in a sling and a neck brace but didn’t seem to have any trouble helping the injured griffin relax. He had even pushed his cot right against the other one and was lying sideways to avoid turning his neck.
Turning away with red cheeks, Luna caught sight of the third cot, a blue female dragon lying back with both her legs supported and one of the horns on her head broken off. She was reading a comic with dragons printed on the front but glanced at them with red eyes and nodded before turning another page.
“Princess Ember,” Celestia’s greeting stopped Luna from bristling at the lack of address, as did the white wing touching her own, and when she saw the wiring around the dragon’s muzzle and realized she must’ve broken it and thus was unable to talk.
The fourth bed had a green pegasus with a pale yellow mane, bandages around his head, and one of his wings bandaged while the other, Luna’s eyes widened, was not a pegasus wing at all, but one made of metal with sharp dark blue edges ending in very sharp points curving inward. His Cutie Mark was one she recognized as a Yin-Yang symbol though with different colors. The outside of the Mark a golden brown with the left side an olive green, an orange feather in the middle, while the other side was gold with green clouds. He was fast asleep and her sister seemed sad at the sight of him, stopping by his cot and staring at the fake wing.
What confused Luna was the fact the stallion was asleep and not awake as the Guard said.
“Is this not Trade Wind?” Luna’s whisper caught the attention of the others and there was a yelp from the white Nocturne who fell out of his bed and was struggling to his hooves, trying to bow to her while the griffin’s eyes shot open and upon seeing the Nocturne, tried leaning down to help him.
A golden glow enveloped them both and the Nocturne was safely put back on the cot while the griffin was forced to stay on his own.
“No need for bowing,” her sister stated, but the Nocturne didn’t look convinced, staring at her with wide awed eyes that made her a bit uncomfortable, realizing she was still in her small state.
He didn’t seem to care though.
A Nocturne in a nurse’s outfit came out from one of the curtained-off beds, bowing to them and holding a clipboard in one of her wings.
“Trade Wind is here your Highness,” she removed the curtain and Luna had to pause at the sight.
The mare’s wounds didn’t seem that serious, but that was not what she was staring at.
It was the fact the mare was trying to sneak out the window above her bed that got her attention.
As well as the mare’s appearance.
A chuckle caught her off guard, as did Celestia’s next sentence,
“I will tell your sisters of you escaping the hospital wing, again,” the pegasus stiffened, slowing turning towards them, dark blue eyes meeting her own before the mare sighed, wind surrounding her form and carrying her back to the bed.
“Your a Wind user,” Luna stated, surprised, getting a nod as Trade Wind tried to find a comfortable position but winced, and she saw the bandages around her barrel as well as both her wings.
“Yes, my name is Trade Wind, your Highness, I would bow but,” she gestured to herself, and Luna blinked.
“Oh, that’s fine, why were you trying to leave the care of the Hospital Wing?” that got a sheepish smile.
“I don’t suppose you can forget seeing me do that?” she shook her head at the same time as Celestia, making the younger mare bow her head, “Right, um, did you need something, Celestia?” Luna’s mouth dropped open.
“You dare address our sister without an address?” her voice rose a little, echoing throughout the room but the foolish mare just blinked.
“Kind of hard to treat her with formality after eight years of her and my master riling each other up and getting into petty arguments and challenges,” “And who is your master?” Luna demanded, getting a raised eyebrow and confused expression.
“Wait, you haven’t run into Master Po yet?” ‘Po?’ Luna thought about the name, brow furrowing, before whirling on her sister who was looking away from her with red cheeks.
“That green lizard,” ‘hey’ the blue dragon cried indignantly, “took on a pony apprentice? You’ve been fighting with him,” “It’s not fighting,” Celestia said weakly, “And this is not why I brought you down here,” she did not want to pursue the subject and Luna glowered at her for a moment before turning back to the mare.
“Be that as it may, you should be addressing your rulers with the proper address,” the mare smiled.
“Of course Princess Luna, your Highness?” she directed the last part to Celestia who coughed.
“Right, well, as you can see the Elements of Harmony were successful,” Trade nodded, and Luna was surprised to see the relief on the mare’s expression, wondering about it before her sister continued, “Twilight is currently getting situated in Ponyville along with the others, and I have arranged for her to send study friendship while there and to send me letters,” this wasn’t news to Luna, but why did the pegasus have to hear about it?
“And the Elements of Harmony are in the castle?” Trade Wind asked, tilting her head, ear flicking, appearing as if she was listening to something none of them could hear.
“Yes, and I advise against going on the third floor if you wish for the usual not to happen,” this conversation was raising more and more questions.
“Alright, and?” the both of them looked at the taller alicorn who had a secretive smile on her face.
“The Elements themselves were found in our old Castle, and it has occurred to me that I do not remember what else is in that place. If you recall an incident from, I want to say three years ago, that castle has quite a few artifacts that had been left unattended, and I’d rather no one else take advantage of the ruins,” Trade Wind froze at the word ruins, a look of dread appearing on her face.
“Uh, Princ-” to Luna’s shock, her sister interrupted her, a bright smile on her face,
“Which is why I would like to hire you and your expertise in restoring the castle, with Luna’s input of course,” ‘wait for hers?!’ “The castle will be hers to do with as she wishes, and I expect it to be finished by the time the Grand Galloping Gala comes around,” the mare was pale now.
“S-so you want me to go to Ponyville?” she asked in a tone of resignation, but Celestia shook her head.
“I wish for you to make your headquarters here in Canterlot so that you can tutor my sister in between the restoration project,” there was a moment of silence broken by choking and an annoyed sigh from the nurse before she went to slap the griffin on the back, a grape shooting out of his mouth and hitting the only dragon in the room on the forehead.
“Sister/Princess?!” both her and Trade Wind shouted/asked in disbelief, and Luna raised a hoof, the mare going silent as she glared at Celestia, all of them ignoring the dragon who had taken a the grape and thrown it right back at the griffin, hitting him in the eye.
“Sister, I am perfectly fine studying on my own,” she insisted, “I do not understand why I would need to get a tutor,” Trade Wind didn’t voice her objection, and her older sister eyed them, still smiling.
“That’s not what I want her to tutor you in, and Trade Wind, while I understand your misgivings about going to Ponyville, I can think of no one but you to fulfill the duty. I am aware of your graduation and recent events being fresh, but I also know that you enjoy restoring ruins,” a groggy voice cut in,
“Just accept it North, you were planning on restoring the castle anyways, now you’ll have permission,” the green pegasus was sitting upon his bed, swaying from side to side and looking like he was having trouble focusing on them. The griffin shook his head, looking a mix of amused and concerned as he watched him.
“Dude, it’s Trade now,” the injured Nocturne’s sentence was met with a ‘hm?’ before the stallion looked down at himself with a frown, patting his bed as if he was searching for something.
“Sword, where’s sword,” he raised his hoof only for his head to lean forward, a snore escaping before he snapped awake and sleepily said, “Sujing,” hoof still raised as the sounds of clattering made everyone duck before a sword flew out of nowhere, smacking into the stallion’s face and knocking him onto his back, out cold.
The sword fell down on the cat right next to the stallion and there were a few snickers from the other cots before North sighed.
“Well, he’s right, I had it planned, just a few years from now, when I had the money,” Celestia laughed.
“Oh, well, I’m glad to save you the trouble of buying the castle like you did with certain other landmarks,” she sounded really amused, “I’ll arrange for a blank check to use for all the funds, and I do expect you to hire some ponies in Ponyville, some of your fellow University graduates are there after all,” a tied up scroll appeared which she set next to the pegasus. “Feel free to use this when you finally leave the Hospital Wing, with Nurse Lumen’s permission of course,” the Nocturne sniffed, giving the mare a stern glare that had her wilting on her bed.
Having said all she wanted, she turned to the other pegasus who was still out could and sighed,
“When Zephyr Breeze is awake and aware, please send notice,” and then they were leaving, Luna glancing back at the patients once more before the door slammed shut behind them.
----------------------------------
“Someone’s going to be busy,” Trade Wind’s ears flattened against her head at the teasing tone, and she huffed at the griffin,
“Shut it Reed, you and Ghost aren’t getting out of this,” she warned, shooting a glare at Ember who had her own amused expression, “Ready to put your glass blowing skills to the test,” the amused expression melted. The dragon raised her claws to sign, looking annoyed at her own wired jaw.
“I actually want to return to the Dragon Lands, I can send Gar-” she cut herself off, “Shoot, sorry Wind,” Trade Wind forced a smile on her face, trying to ignore the tightening in her chest.
“Ah, Garble stated not to involve him in any future projects, kind of took himself off the list for future endeavors,” among other things, which No- Trade did not want to think about.
Ember rubbed her head, wincing at the feel of the broken horn before signing again.
“Right, I can make a trip to get some of that special volcanic sand, though what would we need glass for? New windows?” Trade thought about it.
“I’ll do a run through first and get back to you guys in a month, everyone’s energy and wounds should be recovered by then,” she would need to get herself settled in Canterlot anyways, maybe in that new apartment building built in StarDusk Town? Then it would be a matter of recruiting specialists in Canterlot and arranging letters to those she knew would be interested in working for the project.
Ember nodded, before frowning,
“Right, my mind is a bit foggy, whose doing the Nightwing Festival this year?” Ghost Pepper raised his non-injured hoof. “The Nocturne tribe is, we’re hosting it in those caverns in the West near the University, you know, the one under the ocean? They should be sending out envelopes any day now, and it’s going to be far better than the previous ones,” he boasted, North threw a wadded up paper at him.
“There’s only been two so far,” she pointed out dryly, “And the last one went pretty well,” Ember rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, compared to the first Festival anyways, I’m still surprised they agreed to keep it running,” Trade shuddered at the memories.
It was going to be quite a while before they let the griffins throw the Festival, again.
“Me too,” she spotted her saddle bag across the hospital wing and it shot towards her, coming to a stop and spilling over, an empty scroll rolling out along with one of her never-ending quills.
“Show-off,” Zephyr muttered but when she glanced up his eyes were still closed.
Shaking her head, the pegasus started writing, mind whirling with the recent conversation and the dread building up inside of her.
So much for going back to the Temple, or her lighthouse.
These past eight years had gone by so slowly she feared the time for Nightmare Moon’s return would never come.
She feared the Elements of Harmony not being formed to defeat the corrupted alicorn.
But they put those fears to rest, and now all she had to worry about were upcoming threats to Equestria.
Threats she was unable to help with for various reasons that she could not say to anyone.
Not even her sisters.
No doubt they were still upset about not being allowed to visit anyone in the Hospital Wing, but Princess Celestia wanted to keep recent events under lock and key.
She was even gracious enough to leave a letter by her bed for her to read so that she didn’t panic upon waking up.
At least Trade Wind no longer had to worry about Lyra and Pinkie Pie guilt tripping her into going to Ponyville.
No, wait, she still had to avoid them.
And Rainbow Dash.
And Twilight Sparkle.
Though the latter two for very different reasons.
The only relief she could find was the fact that Rainbow Dash managed to still be the Element of Loyalty despite everything that has happened.
Now hopefully the Mane Six could still have the same closeness they had in the show. Even if Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash did not become pranking buddies, her pink sister would at least make an effort to get along with the Wonderbolts fan.
Right?
Not like she could interfere anyway, she was going to do her job and avoid everyone as much as she can.
Because if she didn’t, a certain dragon is going to die.
Speaking of, the Wind swirled and formed a heart and she paled as a pink Alicorn burst into the room, narrowing in on her.
“Reed and Ghost Pepper eloped after graduation and Zephyr was their officiant,” she blurted out, the alicorn actually stopping in her approach, head turning slowly on the couple that blanched, Reed shooting her a betrayed glance while Ghost gulped.
“H-hey Professor Amore,” the Nocturne greeted shakily, “What’s up?” smoke emitted from her nostrils, horn flaring.
“You eloped?!” her enraged tone followed Trade Wind as she left the guys to their punishment, slipping out through the window as Nurse Lumen got distracted from the scene.
Serves them right for not inviting anyone to their wedding.
Trade Wind was still miffed that they chose Zephyr over her as the officiant. They’re the reason she got the license ever since she saw them making out in one of the school’s many closets.
Oh well, she’ll keep it renewed.
Maybe the Alicorn of Love would make them do another wedding, and Trade Wind would definitely throw her name in as the officiant.
“TRADE WIND!” or the Alicorn would realize she escaped and go after her.
Luckily for her, she knew every inch of this place, and she soon found herself out in the fresh air near a stadium that had a closed sign hanging from it.
Oh right, it’s evening, she’ll need to hide somewhere till Cadance gave up searching for her.
Which is not going to happen anytime soon.
As she searched for a place to stay for the night, Trade Wind thought about Ponyville and wondered how much she missed canon wise.
What episode were they on anyways? It’s only been four days, right?
As the sun rose over the trees of the Everfree Forest, the residents of Ranger Fluttershy’s Home and Rescue center woke up. Next to the cottage that has been around for decades and was built by the previous tenant was a yurt that was just as big if not bigger than the Ranger’s home. A large form emerged from the yurt, a sleepy growl leaving its mouth as it ambled on over to the mailbox.
Designed by the mare’s friends, the mailbox was rather unique in the fact there were four different mailboxes for the residents, each one representing the four animals on Fluttershy’s Cutie Mark faced in different directions.
The top mailbox was shaped like a heart with a pink design and blue butterflies over it and contained the mail sent through the Ponyville post office. The one on the right is shaped like a pumpkin, blue with pink bats, and received mail from the Nocturne tribes like notices and flyers were sent, either by a Nocturne post-pony or through the use of the special runes etched into a sapphire on top of the mailbox, allowing any mail addressed to the pegasus to appear through magic.
The largest mailbox was on the left in the shape of a beehive with a yellow design and pink and blue stripes on it apart from the pink bear paw print on the front. It was also located on top of a barrel-shaped dropbox and had a similar design to the Nocturne mailbox, though both Ponyville Post can also be delivered to it like packages.
Last but not least was shaped like a lantern, and where the pegasus received all mail from her family, including her sisters, two of which were in Ponyville.
The other one was somewhere but still sent the mail.
A squeaking sound caught the bear’s attention, dark eyes looking down the path where a gray pegasus was pulling along a mail cart, humming cheerfully underneath her breath as she approached the cottage.
“Hey Harry!” the pegasus stopped, waving at the bear as she detached herself and took out several envelopes and a package, flying over to put them in the respective mailboxes, dropping the box directly in the bear’s waiting paws.
“There you go, been waiting for that one huh?” she asked as the animal eagerly tore into the box and pulled out a large jar of honey, “Well, I have to go, see you later,” the bear grunted, mouth already in the honey and giggling, she returned to her cart, checking the glasses over her eyes before flying off.
“Oh shoot, I missed her,” despite being muzzle deep in honey, Harry looked at the unicorn who was staring after the pegasus in dismay, “I meant to catch up with Derpy to make sure those glasses are still working and charged, I’ll have to check on her later,” blue eyes glanced at him and she smiled, amused, “Enjoying your honey Harry?” pulling his muzzle out, he licked the honey off his nose, nodding towards her, “That’s good, heard you guys had a rough night,” he lifted a paw in a so-so motion and she sighed, “Well, I’m going in to speak with your Ranger,” she saw the gems glowing on the mailbox and bit her lip, “Is it alright if I bring her mail into her? I promise not to open any,” that got her a searching look before the bear turned and went back into the yurt, no doubt going back to sleep till Fluttershy wakes him.
Rarity stared after the animal before taking a deep breath.
Right, she’ll take that as a yes.
Using her magic, she opened all four boxes and retrieved the mail, making sure not to mix the envelopes as she walked towards the cottage, trying to steal herself.
She’d been putting this off too long, and after some thinking, she decided out of the three, Fluttershy was the one most likely to hear her out.
And maybe not bite her hair off.
The door opened once she was within knocking distance, slit blue eyes meeting her own, the owner’s pink mane tied back by three barrettes to keep her long hair out of her eyes on both sides. Each one had its design, one with a balloon, the second with a lyre harp, and the third one by itself on her other side with a jeweled egg.
The bat-winged Pegasus gave her a blank look, not revealing her thoughts to Rarity’s presence, which made the unicorn sweat.
“Rarity,” the simple greeting had her swallowing, lips drawing back into a nervous smile.
“I’m sorry for coming in unannounced, but I would like to talk to you about something, as you’ve probably heard earlier,” it was easy to forget the mare had hearing as good as any natural-born Nocturne.
Then again, having been classmates with several creatures with exceptional hearing, Rarity should not have been surprised.
A white bunny hopped pink mane, beady black eyes staring at her, paws crossed over the green vest the animal was wearing.
“Good morning Angel,” she greeted. The bunny huffed and hopped off Fluttershy’s head, disappearing somewhere as her fellow bearer stepped aside to let her in. Bowing her head in thanks, the fashionista entered, spotting an open North Star magazine on the Ranger’s dining table. She also spotted previous issues all stacked together on one of the two bookcases in the living room.
The second bookcase was filled with books on animals and emergency first-aid, with the bottom shelf containing the Ranger rule book and regulations. In between the two cases were a wall of framed photos, newspaper articles, and Fluttershy’s Diploma from Veterinary school. There was even a certificate giving her the authority to be a Ranger and Rarity saw the date of renewal was a few years from the present.
“I’m surprised that none of your awards are here,” she’d seen plenty of articles praising the pegasus for her Ranger work and of the various misadventures she’s been in with the other three of the SpicySweet Quartet.
She still doesn’t know who came up with that name.
Fluttershy cleared her throat, looking embarrassed,
“I did not want to show them off, so my family took them and are displaying them in their own respective homes,” Rarity hummed, spotting a few ribbons pinned to the side of the bookcases and could not help but laugh.
“I see you did the same with theirs,” the fact Pinkie won a Baking competition did not surprise her, neither did Lyra’s music award. Even Trade Wind’s Spicy Eating contest ribbon was on there and she snorted.
Everyone who knew the scholar was aware of her spice tolerance, as well as her insistence on mixing spice with sweet.
The chocolate curry buns the Cakes produce resulted from that, and to everyone’s surprise, were quite the hit.
Granny Smith ended up eating five before Applejack found out and tried banning her from them.
Even though the Cakes themselves did mild to deathly spicy and provided complimentary milk with the buns.
The Apple family matriarch gave them up, though Rarity was sure the old mare got her own little smuggling thing going on with Pinkie Pie, and was even eating meat without her grandchildren knowing.
Fluttershy relaxed, looking at the ribbons, and touching her hoof on one with Zephyr’s name, it was one he’d won at one of those Martial Arts tournaments, and below the ribbon was a skateboard ribbon with Frost printed on it.
“Yes, some of them may be silly, but it’s fun to have, what did you want to talk about?” she directed her to the dining table and used the fingers at the end of her wings to pick up a steaming teapot and pour it into two cups.
Placing the mail in a pile on an empty chair, Rarity took her seat and held the cup in her hooves, enjoying the warmth the hot tea gave as Fluttershy took her seat.
“I was wondering if you’d heard from Trade Wind,” the pegasus paused in picking up her own cup and furrowed her brow.
“May I ask why?” Rarity tried to reassure herself it was Fluttershy and let out a breath.
“Well, as you know, the rest of the first class of Western University just graduated, and while she never expressed her post-graduation plans, Trade Wind herself seemed like she would disappear off some long trip to an as of yet undiscovered cave, or find ruins to explore and restore. Considering what recently happened, I was hoping to get her advice, well, her expertise on magical artifacts,” Fluttershy looked down at her mail and picking it up, sorted through it, but her ears were pointing towards her, so Rarity continued, reaching into her saddlebag, “I also received this in the mail, and I know she’s on the board, but I wasn’t sure if she was going to be there,” pulling out a dark blue envelope, she turned it over, revealing a wax seal with a crescent moon on it.
Fluttershy looked up blinking from an orange envelope in her hooves, turning it upside down and three envelopes fell out, one a light blue with Trade Wind’s Cutie Mark, a red one with a Crescent Moon and three stars around it, while the last one was a complete replica of the one Rarity had.
“Oh, you have an envelope as well,” Fluttershy looked confused,
“But I thought only graduates and those who buy the tickets receive these envelopes,” Rarity gave a helpless shrug.
“I’m still surprised I’m considered a graduate despite everything,” the Kindness bearer frowned at her.
“Rarity, you deserve your Diploma, and Fancy Pants himself offered to let you return to the school anytime,” Rarity smiled bitterly.
“I didn’t want to return while a certain student was still there, and it was either create a scandal forcing them to leave or just leaving myself,” she’d been so stupid in school, letting herself get carried away by the glamor and promise of rising high into the world.
And she crashed so hard she was still in shock over it two years later.
“Trade Wind’s forgiven you Rarity,” her shoulders stiffened at those words and she was surprised to find tears rolling down her cheeks and into her cup.
“Oh, I’m sorry I,” a handkerchief pressed itself against her cheek, wiping away her tears as a warm wing wrapped around her shoulders.
“Your okay Rarity,” Fluttershy’s voice was warm and the unicorn found herself almost breaking down but she held herself back.
She wasn’t here to cry dammit.
“It’s fine, I’m fine, thank you, darling,” the wing didn’t move but she didn’t ask the pegasus to remove it either, “Anyways, I don’t suppose that letter says whether she’s visiting?” Fluttershy grabbed the letter and opened it, Rarity waiting patiently as she took a sip of tea.
A soft ‘oh’ made her place it back down and she saw Fluttershy grabbing the red envelope, slit it open, and reading that letter.
Then she looked at Rarity, eyes wide,
“Princess Celestia contracted Trade Wind to restore the Castle of the Two Sisters,” Rarity almost fell off the chair.
“Really? Does that mean she’s moving to Ponyville then?” she didn’t know whether to be nervous or excited.
Fluttershy took another look at her sister’s letter and her face fell.
“No, she’s staying in Canterlot because of another job and will only be coming down for one or two nights every week,” Rarity sighed.
“Well, that’s better than not coming at all, isn’t it? What does the red letter say?” “It’s from the representative of the group she’s sending down, a recent graduate of Celestia’s School for Unicorns whose good with magic and research. Oh, she’s going to be here tomorrow morning and is asking for a guide around Ponyville so she could meet with Mayor Mare to arrange accommodations,” Rarity furrowed her brow.
“What’s this mare’s name?” Fluttershy scrolled to the bottom.
“Moondancer.”
The moment the front door closed, Fluttershy narrowed her eyes and glanced at the ceiling,
“You two can come out now, she’s gone,” a shimmer appeared on the ceiling before a green unicorn dropped to the ground, while a pink figure wiggled out of one of the bat houses she had in her cottage.
“Hehe, how did you know?” Lyra asked, cringing at her look, Pinkie hiding behind her to avoid Fluttershy’s disapproving look.
Pointing a wing at her ear, Fluttershy left them with that realization, going back to the table and sighing,
“Why don’t we do our morning tea and talk before Twilight gets here,” Lyra blinked.
“Uh, why is she coming here?” their party sister giggled.
“She’s been spending a day with each of us to get to know us better! I was yesterday, Rainbow Dash was the day before, and Rarity was first, I think. Fluttershy is today and Applejack is tomorrow!” the unicorn looked taken aback, before shaking her head.
“Wow, that’s more than she did in Canterlot,” if she sounded bitter they did not point it out, taking their seats and looking at the letters that were sent.
Fluttershy retrieved the letters and gave them a Look.
“Are you two giving Rarity a hard time still?” Lyra avoided her gaze while Pinkie Pie shook her head.
“Of course not! I just check on her now and again to make sure she’s doing okay and offer one of my special cupcakes!” the unicorn shrunk when Fluttershy turned her full attention on her.
“W-well, I m-might be turning her fabrics a different shade now and then, but that’s it!” she insisted, compared to two, technically three years ago, she’s left the other unicorn alone!
“Stop that,” Fluttershy ordered, looking stern, “Rarity is doing what she can to maintain her shop with her fellow owners, and they work as hard as they can to maintain their client base with Suri Polomare giving them issues,” Lyra grimaced.
“Okay, I will, it’s just, what happened in University,” Fluttershy cut her off.
“Trade Wind forgave her for her actions, and we have no right to punish her for something we weren’t there to witness. None of us chose to attend WEU with Trade Wind, remember?” Pinkie Pie slumped over her teacup.
“Yeah, it wasn’t a fun decision, but Limestone attended, so it all turned out okay,” Fluttershy hummed in agreement.
“Zephyr enjoyed his time there as well, but anyway, I am surprised Rarity only came here to ask after Trade Wind,” the other two got what she meant and frowned.
“Yeah, I was kind of hoping she wanted to talk about what happened with the Elements,” Lyra shivered, remembering that night.
No one apart from her sisters might not have known she was there, but she was, and she saw what happened that night.
“Should we tell Trade Wind?” she questioned, getting their attention, “You know how worried she was about the Elements not working, if we tell her what happened, would she take it the wrong way?” Pinkie Pie sighed.
“I know, but shouldn’t we tell her anyway? She kind of implied the fact we’ll need them again in the future,” Fluttershy winced.
“We’ll just have to wait for her to come to Ponyville before talking to her then,” Lyra wanted to ask something but the pegasus waved her hoof, shushing them, ears twitching towards the door.
“Twilight’s here,” she walked to the door as a knock appeared, and the two went upstairs to avoid being seen.
Lyra was still a bit miffed with the fact that Twilight Sparkle was putting far more effort into her friendships here in Ponyville than she did in Canterlot.
Then again, she might never have considered her classmates friends, and Lyra was surprised at the hurt she felt.
Oh well, maybe she could actually hang out with Twilight as friends now that the mare knows how important friendship is.
Whether the mare realized how strained things were between her new friends would be something to think about in the future.
Because next time, the Elements of Harmony might not even work let alone activate.
And the last thing Lyra wanted was Trade Wind thinking it was her fault and leaving to hide from the ‘plot’.
Waking up just before Celestia rose the sun was not how Spike wanted to start his day, but ever since Twilight made friends, saved Equestria, and moved to Ponyville, everything had changed.
Now she was eager to improve her friendship with the others and had done a single activity with each pony this past week to get to know them better (and to probably have something to report to the princess.)
On the first day, they visited Rarity at her boutique and were surprised to find out that she did not live by herself. Upon knocking on the door, it wasn't Rarity who answered but a giant blue poodle in a fancy outfit who gave them a once over, looking bored.
"You two must be Twilight Sparkle and Spike," the two stared, "Well, are you coming in or not?” Twilight jumped and went in,
“Sorry, Rarity didn’t say anything-” “About having roommates? Heard you guys met at the Summer Sun Celebration, Ash and I were out doing delivers when everything occurred. But yeah, we run this shop with Rarity,” she closed the door and turned to them, “I'm Paris, Rarity is upstairs," she disappeared into a back room before they could ask her anything else, the sounds of whirring and a hissing sound reaching their ears.
"Okay, that was weird,” Spike muttered, sure he’d seen Ruby Dogs and the odd Sapphire dog here and there in Canterlot, but he’d never expected to run into one in Ponyville. Twilight furrowed her brow, looking like she wanted to ask something when a zebra descended the stairs, gold hoops on each ear as she glanced at them.
"Hello, I am Ash, welcome to Canterlot Boutique, hope your visit is unique," with that greeting she disappeared into a separate room from her roommate. Deciding to put off the weird encounters, the two went up the stairs and went to an open door to a room with mannequins where Rarity was working on a dress.
"Um, hi Rarity," the unicorn looked up and Spike felt his heart beat faster as she smiled and flipped her mane out of her eye.
"Twilight darling, and Spike! Welcome to my Boutique, I trust that Ash and Paris didn't give you a hard time when you saw them?" Spike spoke up, hearts in his eyes as Rarity put finishing touches on the dress while still looking at them.
"We were surprised to see them here, and I don’t remember seeing them at the Summer Sun Celebration,” Twilight gave him a look, “Paris just said they were making deliveries,” the unicorn reminded him, his cheeks turned red.
“But didn’t she mean deliveries in Ponyville? Wouldn’t we have still seen them?” Rarity gave a small laugh as she put down her sewing equipment,
“Our little Boutique makes deliveries to other towns, they were rather relieved to have missed everything, the panic in other towns was bad enough,” she shook her head, “Now, what did you want to do today?” Twilight faltered.
“Um, lunch?” she asked slowly, looking unsure, Spike resisted the urge to slap his face, didn’t she do a research binge the night before about activities around Ponyville?
Did she just forget all of it? Rarity didn’t seem to mind, suggesting a nice eatery and lamenting about a certain restaurant being closed at the moment while the owner was in Canterlot. They had a nice lunch, chatting about different things, and touched upon a subject that made Twilight tense.
“Wait, you’re a graduate of WEU?” Spike asked in surprise, hay fries in his claw as Rarity nodded, looking sheepish,
“Yes, it’s where I met Ash and Paris, the three of us were the only ones into fashion and we were roommates as well. Took quite a while for us to get used to one another, North no Trade Wind, was a great help in that,” the sandwich in Twilight’s aura froze and Spike gave her a wary look, clearing his throat,
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, do you know why she chose Trade as her new name?” Rarity thought about it,
“Well I could guess but it is probably something to ask her yourself, do not know where she is at the moment but she does visit Ponyville occasionally,” Twilight twitched, a hair springing up from her mane.
“S-she does?” Spike sighed.
Great.
After their lunch, Rarity had to go off somewhere, citing a prior appointment, and Twilight ended up brooding in the library for the rest of the day.
The next day was spent with Rainbow Dash who took them to her favorite chill-out spot after she was done with weather duties and Spike spent the entire time swimming while Twilight read from a book.
This of course did not make sense to Rainbow Dash,
"You’re supposed to be chillaxing! Not studying," she told Twilight who looked up from her book of physics,
"But I am chil-" she stumbled over the word, "laxing, reading is what I do for fun," Rainbow Dash shook her head and got out of her seat,
"Come on, we're going swimming egghead, get your head out of the books, what good can keeping your head in books do anyways?" Spike thought he heard a bitter tone in the mare's voice but shook it off as Twilight hesitantly entered the water, only to shriek as Rainbow splashed her with a wave of her wings. Luckily whatever sour mood Twilight ended up in disappeared by that time, but Spike knew it was a matter of time before someone else brought up the elephant in the room.
On the third day, they went to Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie lived, and worked with Mr. and Mrs. Cake to see the Element of Laughter's bedroom.
It looked like some cut and pasted four different rooms together, each one with a different design and theme. One corner was filled with the color pink with streamers and balloons everywhere, another corner was the complete opposite with a fancy-looking table and a formal dining set spread out. The third corner had a black and white theme with big chess pieces and other board games piled on top of one another. The last corner looked like a jungle with fake grass that felt too real and a picnic blanket set out. Pinkie claimed to change the theme every week, and when Spike asked about her bed she pointed at the ceiling where a hammock was hanging with blankets and pillows almost spilling out.
They ended up looking at photographs of ponies in town, photographs of when he and Twilight came to town which had only happened three days before, then there were the photographs of Pinkie's family that she kept on a night table next to her really pink bed.
Her sisters looked kind of drab with their dark colors compared to Pinkie Pie, was she adopted or something? Only a warning glance from Twilight kept him blurting that question out, though it was the non-pony in the photo that he questioned instead.
"Who's that?" he pointed a claw at what looked like a raven crossed with a panther standing solemnly next to her sister Marble with blue eyes. Pinkie joined them and smiled when she saw the picture, blue eyes twinkling.
"Oh, that's my baby brother Ganache! He came to our family eight years ago as a baby cub and he's been a big part of our family since!" Pinkie obviously felt pride as she bragged about her little griffin brother, bursting into song about how he wanted to change his name to Onyx when he was five years old.
"His full name is Ganache Onyx Pie! I like to call him Nachy for short!" Twilight looked interested as she looked at the photo.
"You don't hear much of pony/griffin families," she mused aloud, Pinkie tilted her head, looking confused.
"What do you mean silly? There's one here in Ponyville!" she zipped to a wall next to the window with a map of the village, pictures of ponies overlaid on most of the shops and restaurants. She pointed a hoof at the end near the outskirts where a dome-shaped building with Pizza Cub was located, a picture of a family of four, an orange stallion and a griffin with two cubs. "That's Carrot Mash and Reese! Reese is a griffin who came to Ponyville several years ago and moved in with Carrot who was already taking care of two griffin cubs, their names are Caramel and Glaze," her eyes brightened as she looked out the window, spotting the orange earth pony walking along the road with a small pegasus filly carrying a suitcase and scooter, "There's Carrot right now with his niece Scootaloo!" she leaned out and waved furiously, "HI CARROT MASH, HI SCOOTALOO!" the pegasus filly jumped but the stallion smiled and waved back, completely unfazed. The filly looked in their direction with wide eyes but waved back before they disappeared down the road, Pinkie Pie pulling back with a small hum, “I’ll have to remember to do a party for Scootaloo, her cub cousins are all interested in meeting her.”
"Wait, so he already had griffin cubs when this Reese came to town, not Reese herself?" Twilight looked so confused, and Spike wasn’t much better.
"Oh! Right, around ten years ago, Reese and four eggs were on the black market but they escaped and after Reese hatched the eggs, they had to separate to prevent the bad guys from finding them. Reese went to Canterlot, Glaze and Caramel here in Ponyville, Ganache to my family, and Frost the fourth one to Fluttershy's family in Cloudsdale!" Twilight and Spike looked at Pinkie in horror.
"Black Market?" Twilight squeaked, Pinkie looked at them confused,
“Uh, you do know about Wind Scar right? Being in the palace and all, and Princess Celestia’s student?” Spike shuddered,
“You mean that insane stallion?” he had the fortune of never running into the stallion, only heard stories and read articles about what the pegasus did.
He never wanted to run into him, ever.
Twilight on the other hoof looked sheepish,
“I sort of heard about him, but I was focused on my studies,” Pinkie tilted her head.
“Okie-dokie, but be careful about mentioning him in front of the cubs, they’ve had their own run-ins with him and are still recovering from the experience. Oh! How are you settling in the library?” she set out some tea and desserts at the table, and Twilight eagerly took a bite, Spike enjoying the gem-encrusted tart she gave him and wondering if she had anymore. It was rare to get sweets like this, the chefs at Canterlot Palace rarely baked these kinds of sweets.
“It’s going great! There are so many interesting books and they’ve been helpful to my studies,” Pinkie paused in sipping her tea, giving Twilight a weird look.
“That’s good and all, but have you had any trouble acclimating to your librarian duties? With Skywishes retiring there were some events that needed to be put off. I mean, some ponies have been going to Town Hall for their book clubs, but they do like going to the Golden Oaks library. Are you planning on opening it up for the public this week?” Twilight blinked, taken aback.
“Oh, I didn’t think about that, it’s fine, I’ll just have Spike look after the library, I still have to meet with our other friends,” Spike grimaced but didn’t protest, he was used to looking after Twilight’s bookcases in her tower, the library wouldn’t be any different.
Even if he wanted to get to know the other Elements at least before being saddled with chores. Pinkie saw his expression and frowned, and to his surprise managed to persuade Twilight into letting him finish the week with her instead of staying at the library. On their way out, he spotted a picture with a familiar blue pegasus peeking out from behind another frame, wearing glasses and sitting with three very familiar-looking fillies, but a pink hoof pushed it out of sight and she gave him a shushing motion and a sapphire encrusted cupcake to keep him quiet. Not that it stopped Twilight Sparkle from seeing a picture of the pegasus down in the bakery with a number of spicy sweets attributed to her on a list.
The unicorn froze, staring at the picture, and Mrs. Cake came out in time to spot her,
“Oh, are you interested in the Spicy-Sweet challenge? If you want to try any of them just let us know alright? We also received a new shipment of Volcano Peppers in from the Dragon Lands if you wish to have a go! Of course you’ll have to sign a form, they are very spicy and not many ponies have the spice tolerance she does. You know, it’s been awhile since she came to this shop, you know her don’t you, being the Princess’ student?” Twilight twitched, a fake smile appearing on her face.
“Um, sort of,” Pinkie Pie had a hoof to her face as the unicorn hurried out of the bakery without looking back. Accidentally being left behind, Spike shook his head and looked at the confused Mrs. Cake.
“Can I try those Volcano Peppers with uh,” he glanced at the list, scratching his cheek, “Cherry and Peanut Butter Mousse?” the baker smiled.
“Sure thing, be right back, Pinkie can you get the form?” the Element of Laughter nodded and ran to get it, and Spike spent around thirty minutes before Twilight finally came back and dragged him home. Which was too bad because he was just about to ask for an order form for some Volcano Pepper Jelly, because it was really good and meshed well with peanut butter.
Then yesterday they visited Fluttershy's cottage and the discovery that she was an important Ranger almost blew his mind. He thought her Cutie Mark meant she was good at treating injured or sick animals. When both of them first saw her, Twilight had been shocked while he was interested to see a Nocturne in Ponyville. The ones that moved to Canterlot tended to stay out of sight, and he was aware of them building a settlement somewhere near the city. But she admitted to being a born Pegasus who was turned into a Nocturne due to a malicious unicorn with no cure available. But she reassured them that she had gotten used to her new form and didn’t mind it as much.
She took them on a tour of her home, including a basement in her cottage and two rooms she explained were recently constructed before taking them to the yurt.
The yurt had Harry the Bear, different bats and birds in the wings, a couple of dogs, and to their shock, the manticore from before was there!
"Um, Fluttershy?" Twilight pointed at the manticore who was curled up asleep, Fluttershy looked sheepish,
"Well, when I told Harry here about him, he went into the forest and brought Manny back who expressed interest in being part of my rescue task force. I'm putting him through a trial period once he passes his medical exams," Spike watched with wide eyes as the pegasus walked over to the manticore in his bed and fluffed some pillows for him, pouring more water into a trough.
"He went into the forest by himself?" Twilight exclaimed, looking at the uninjured bear who was licking honey out of a jar.
"Well yes, he goes in there all the time, he is one of my rescue animals for the Everfree after all," Fluttershy said clearly, before an alarm sounded throughout the hut, waking up 'Manny' who started growling and making all the other animals tense.
Twilight and Spike blocked their ears at the ringing sound but Fluttershy's eyes hardened as she pulled a hard hat out of nowhere and whistled,
Several bats flew out and landed on her back, each wearing an orange vest with 'RESCUE' on it, and Angel came in with his own vest, hopping on her helmet.
"Sorry you two, duty calls," she flew out an opening in the ceiling that had not been in there before and Twilight and Spike looked at each other.
"Did that just happen," Twilight looked concerned about whatever that alarm could mean, but Spike had to stop her from going after the pegasus.
"She's a trained Ranger Twilight," he insisted, "It's her job, not ours," he managed to convince her in the end by reminding her of her promise to help Applejack in the morning.
Which led to him waking up at this horrible hour and having to make breakfast as her assistant,
Apparently, she did not sleep all that well last night if the dark circles under them were any indication,
"Ooh, what if Fluttershy got hurt, or trapped, or," Spike stopped her by shoving pancakes into her mouth along with a cup of coffee.
"Eat Twilight, we can ask her today about it, maybe Applejack might know what happened," she brightened up around her chewing and quickly swallowed, summoning another stack to her mouth and him onto her back.
"Let's go!" he tried to stop her but she ran out the library door and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack was setting out buckets and carts when they appeared and looked surprised to see them arriving so early,
"Ah, did I give you the wrong time? Ah thought ah said seven, not six," Twilight rubbed her head,
"Sorry, I couldn't sleep last night, I was with Fluttershy yesterday and," Applejack made an understanding noise,
"Did that alarm bell of hers go off and she and some of her critters disappear?" Twilight nodded, "Don't you worry none, she dealt with the crisis last night and last Ah heard she was sleeping it off this morning," the unicorn breathed out in relief.
"That's great news! Um, do you know what happened?" Applejack's face darkened,
"Some fools decided they were going to go mountain climbing at night with faulty equipment and ended up trapped in an avalanche. Fluttershy ended up spending hours searching for them, one of them was lucky they were a pegasus otherwise they would have completely frozen in the snow," Twilight shivered.
"I never thought Fluttershy would be the kind of pony to do things like that," Applejack gave a strained chuckle,
"Yeah, she's shy around strangers and in general, but she takes her rescue duties seriously and we're all plumb thankful she decided to make her home in Ponyville," she looked towards the trees, "Ready to help me win this bet against mah brother?" Twilight grinned,
"Yes!" Spike spent the entire time on her back because how else was he going to get the apples down? He didn't have the strength to do that, and barely any apples fell on the ground for him to pick up either.
Considering he didn't eat breakfast, his stomach was rumbling several hours later around noon as they exited the orchard with the apples, and he began looking through them for a real juicy one. Of course, maybe he shouldn't have been throwing them if the glare Twilight was giving him was any indication,
"Spike, you didn't do anything!" the unicorn scolded him when he complained about his stomach, he huffed before pulling out a really big and juicy apple, "Wow," Twilight's stomach rumbled as he stuffed it into his mouth. He felt a little guilt at the look on her face, but she did make him miss breakfast this morning.
Then the familiar feeling of something coming up his throat appeared and fire spewed out of his mouth, revealing a scroll with the familiar seal of Celestia.
It all went downhill from there.
Twilight and Applejack got excited about tickets to the Gala but before Twilight could offer Applejack a ticket (because hey, it's not like he wasn't there or anything even if he didn't want to go!) Rainbow Dash appeared.
Apparently, she'd been using one of the apple trees as a napping place, and she tried to convince Twilight to give her the ticket so that she could see her idols the Wonderbolts at the Gala.
Then she and Applejack got into an argument over who deserved the ticket, and Twilight cut them off,
"Girls! These are my tickets and I get to decide who gets them, so the one with the better reason gets to go," to be honest, Spike thinks Applejack had the better reason.
Unfortunately Twilight seemed to think that Rainbow's reason had the same amount of importance as Applejack's which confused the young dragon but she was new at taking friendship seriously (maybe he should remind her about Moondancer and the others?)
They made it into town without incident, then Pinkie dove out of Sugarcube Corner and crashed into them, sending the tickets flying and landing on her face.
"Aaah! Bats, bats on my face, HELP!" she ran around, making the tickets fall on the ground, then she took a closer look at them and stars appeared in her eyes, “Ooh, I haven’t been to the Grand Galloping Gala in a while! Can I come?” Twilight opened her mouth to reply when a new voice popped up.
"Ooh, are those tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?" a talon darted in his vision and took the tickets and he cried out as something flew over him and landed on the roof of Sugarcube Corner.
"Hey! Those aren't yours," he called up to the griffin cub smirking down at him, her golden osprey head and amber eyes a perfect blend with her lion body.
"How much are you going to pay to get them back?" he could tell it was a girl but he didn't know if this was Caramel or Glaze.
"Give them back please," Twilight said firmly, the cub leaned on her side and propped her head on the claw not holding the tickets.
"Give me his lunch sack," the unicorn's jaw dropped at that.
"What?" she sputtered, the ticket thief shrugged,
"Don't dragons eat jewels for food? He must have some lying around," Spike clenched his fists, he wasn't going to give his own food supply to this brat!
He opened his mouth to shout at her when a familiar voice spoke up, their tone almost reminding him of Twilight's mom in the manner they addressed the cub.
"Young lady! Get down here right now and give those tickets back or I will go to Reese and Carrot Mash and have you grounded," Rarity appeared next to them, her face set in the same kind of expression Twilight Velvet always used when he misbehaved.
"Come on Rarity! Your ruining my fun," however the cub's confidence had shaken and she was sitting upright on the roof,
"Fluttershy dear, would you like to add a few words?" that seemed to make the cub pale as the yellow pegasus landed beside her on the roof, a frown on her face.
"Now Caramel," the female bowed her head and flew down, giving the tickets back to Spike and mumbling an apology at a prod from Fluttershy.
"It's fine," Spike said grudgingly, the cub lifted her head a bit and turned to Fluttershy who had a scary look on her face.
"Aunt Fluttershy," the cub began but cringed as the yellow pegasus raised an eyebrow.
"Today as I recall is your music lessons and I doubt you finished them this early," Caramel shrunk, "I will make sure both Carrot and Reese find out and that you will be writing lines at my place," she shrunk even more, "Under Angel's supervision," now she looked terrified.
"Yes Aunty Fluttershy, sorry Rarity," she passed the unicorn and disappeared down the road.
"Wow Fluttershy," the pegasus blushed at Twilight's words,
"I've had a hoof in raising her these past few years so I know how to get her to behave," Rarity let out an aggravated sigh.
"Best I can do is intimidate her, guess I need to work on it," Fluttershy rushed to assure the mare,
"You were doing great Rarity," Spike agreed with that,
"You reminded me of Twilight's mom, the resemblance was almost eerie," Twilight hissed a warning at him but surprisingly Rarity didn't get offended, instead she looked rather touched.
"Thank-you Spike, good to know I do have the air after all," she turned to Twilight, "Have fun at the Gala you two," Pinkie chose that moment to hop in.
"But Twilight's taking me!" Rarity looked taken aback at that, as did Fluttershy who gave the younger mare a frown that had the Earth Pony smiling sheepishly.
"You want to go to the Gala?" the fashionista said this slowly, as if not believing it, Pinkie beamed as she confirmed it, "Darling, exactly what do you think happens at a Gala?" Spike rushed to interject when Rainbow appeared.
"Wait just a moment," Twilight gasped at her entrance before frowning,
"Rainbow Dash, were you following me?" the pegasus said no quickly before nodding,
"Yes, well I can't let a goody-two-shoes like you just give the ticket away like that!" then Applejack appeared and got into an argument with Rainbow Dash while Pinkie slunk over to Fluttershy with pleading eyes, but the mare looked away, making her wilt.
Rarity surprisingly did not join in on the arguing, her eyes spotting the clock tower and widening.
"Fluttershy darling," the pegasus watching the fight hummed, "You might want to check the time," the pegasus did and gasped,
"Oh no! I have to get to the train station, goodbye!" she ran off with Pinkie right behind her and Rarity looked at the two arguing mares disapprovingly as Twilight cringed in the background.
"You two, QUIET!" she barked, they fell silent, "Now, Twilight is the one who owns the tickets, so I suggest instead of acting like foals, that you let her come to the decision on her own without making her tear her own mane out," Rainbow crossed her hooves.
"You're just acting like that because you want the ticket for yourself," Rarity scoffed and rolled her eyes,
"Please," she turned to Twilight, "I'm off Twilight, see you and Spike later," she left and Spike felt some disappointment pool in his stomach.
"I hate it when she pulls the 'Mom' act, just because," Applejack shushed Rainbow quickly, leaving him and Twilight to look at them oddly,
"We'll leave you to lunch then," they all disappeared and when Twilight shot a questioning look at Spike he shrugged, how should he know what they are talking about?
------------
Fluttershy looked around the train station with wide eyes, stamping her hooves nervously as she searched for the mare sent by Trade Wind. Pinkie bounced up and down beside her, a bright grin on her face,
“Do you think she’ll like the party I’m going to throw her? Ooh should I do it in the library again or at Sugarcube Corner?” Fluttershy shook her head,
“Maybe ask if they want a party first,” she suggested, giving her sister a look who froze as previous incidents came to mind.
“Oh, I’ll ask her first then, sorry, I’m just excited about meeting a new pony and the possibility of Trade Wind coming to town. I mean, I know we aren’t supposed to freely admit our relation with her which is still weird, but it’s been awhile since we saw her,” Fluttershy nodded, the whistle of the train catching her attention as it pulled away from the station.
Wait, had they missed the unicorn?
A polite cough had both of them turning to a unicorn with a red and purple mane in a similar style to Twilight with bushy eyebrows and glasses in front of purple eyes and a yellow coat as described in the letter.
"Fluttershy I presume?" the two shook hooves politely, the unicorn giving Pinkie a nod that the mare returned, "Trade Wind informed me that you would be showing me around Ponyville and helping arrange the accommodations," Fluttershy gave a small nod.
"Yes, we'll be going to Town Hall first to talk to Mayor Mare about where you’ll live, then we’ll be heading to the library for you to deliver something?” she trailed off as the unicorn adjusted her glasses.
“Trade Wind did entrust me with this task, and she’s advised me not to mention her by name?” Fluttershy nodded turning and walking out of the station with the unicorn right next to her.
“If at all possible,” she still didn’t like the fact that Trade Wind decided not to visit Ponyville regularly since Rainbow Dash moved in, but at least she didn’t drop off the face of Equuis.
-----
Drying off in Rarity's boutique after that rain shower felt heavenly, even if Twilight dreaded the fact her friend might try her hoof at winning her favor for the ticket.
But Rarity didn't do any of that, instead, she brought out some tea and tea sandwiches which Twilight stared at with wide eyes before slowly taking a bite, Spike had no such reservations. He chowed down and swallowed, smiling at Rarity with that lovesick grin he’s had since he first saw her.
"So, what's your reason for wanting the ticket?" Rarity stared at Spike blankly for a moment before realization hit her.
"Oh you mean the ticket for the," she paused, "Gala," her ears fell back a bit, "Who doesn't want to go to the Gala right?" she laughed nervously but Twilight was surprised.
"Wait you don't want to go?" of all ponies she expected to not be interested in the Gala, Rarity was not one of them. The unicorn waved a hoof,
"Well, it's a matter of enjoying that kind of event, but not those attending it, in fact," the cries of a foal filled the air and Rarity gasped, "Oh dear, coming my darling," she gave them a brief apology before disappearing up the stairs and curiosity had Twilight and Spike climbing the stairs.
What they saw at the top had Spike's jaw-dropping while Twilight froze,
"Mommy's here, shush, I know you hate the rain little one," Rarity was rocking a small colt in her hooves, humming a song under her breath as teary dark blue eyes opened from a dark pink face. A dark purple mane with blond streaks fell over his face as he calmed under Rarity's attention.
"Um, Rarity," the white unicorn shushed them for a moment before putting the colt back into a bed that Twilight noticed was on the other side of Rarity's bed with raised bars. Turning on some music, she motioned for the two of them to leave the room, shutting the door behind her,
"Was that your brother?" Spike asked hesitantly, Rarity gave him a sympathetic smile,
"My son actually," Twilight barely caught the now unconscious Spike as he fainted from the news,
'Well, that's the end of that crush' she thought, placing him on her back and following Rarity back down.
"So," she trailed off, Rarity sighed,
"I meant to tell you sooner, but never found the right time," she laid down on her couch and Twilight took a seat as well, "His name is Titanium Rose and I gave birth to him two years ago.” the other unicorn bit her lip.
"The father-" she got cut off.
"Is not in the picture," Rarity's tone was cold and Twilight shivered at the dark look in the unicorn's eyes before it disappeared.
"Sorry," she bowed her head, a hoof was placed on her shoulder, Rarity giving her an apologetic smile.
"It's fine, I just appreciate that you aren't giving a negative reaction," Twilight shook her head furiously.
"Why would I do that? It's obvious that you care for him very much," that got her a smile.
"I do," Twilight thought about something and wondered if she should question Applejack and Rainbow Dash's words earlier, but she felt scared about Rarity's own reaction.
Then her stomach rumbled again and Twilight chuckled sheepishly,
"Guess my belly still wants something to eat," in the next moment she was outside again with Applejack grinning at her with a cart full of apple treats, and she gulped at the expectant look on the Earth pony’s face.
"I can't decide right now Applejack," she summoned Spike and called into the Boutique, "See you later Rarity, guess I'll take Spike home then," she heard Rarity's reply and ran towards the library, her sanctuary.
Unfortunately, word got out about her having an extra ticket, and in the next instant she found herself being overrun by ponies asking to be her plus one.
---------------------------------
Fluttershy stood next to Mayor Mare while Moondancer and Pinkie Pie searched through different deeds. Well Moondancer was searching, Pinkie Pie was being chased by the mayor’s assistant, Silver Quill as she grabbed deed after deed, blabbering about new party venues or a new community center.
“Ooh! Maybe a branch of North Star magazine!” the assistant blanched and put on even more speed,
“No! The paperwork for that alone! Stop trying to buy new buildings!” Fluttershy didn’t stop the Element of Laughter, enjoying the show while feeling a bit vindicative that this mare was having trouble. Mayor Mare was ignoring it as well, talking to Fluttershy about upcoming events and agreeing to putting a sign on the nearby mountain warning hikers.
“As soon as those ponies are recovered I’ll arrange for them to be sent to a safety course, would twenty hours work?” the pegasus thought about it.
“I would suggest forty instead,” it was one thing to go up a building with a few supplies and new at hiking, it was another to just go on a whim with no supplies at all. Half of her duties as Ranger of Ponyville happened to be stopping ponies from their own foolishness.
Moondancer joined them, a deed in her aura that she showed to them
“I would like to stay here,” Mayor Mare looked at the deed and an unreadable expression crossed her face,
"Oh, that one, that's a bit of a fixer-upper," she tried to warn them, Moondancer looked unconcerned,
"I know several spells to help with fixing it up, and it’s the only other one near the Everfree to reduce traveling time between the house and the castle," she explained, Fluttershy glanced at it,
“That’s close to my place, I can arrange for some of my animals to help if that’s alright,” she suggested, the unicorn nodded as she handed something to Mayor Mare.
“Here’s the blank check from the castle, we’ll arrange for any needed funds and a meeting for recruitment,” the politician accepted it with a gleam in her eye, looking excited. Pinkie Pie joined them just as loud voices were heard outside the building. Exchanging looks, the ponies went to th door and peered out at the crowd chasing after a panicking Twilight and Spike. Mayor Mare stared at the scene with wide eyes while Fluttershy and Pinkie exchanged glances.
Moondancer took one look at Twilight and scowled,
“Let’s go ahead and stop the chase, I want to get this over with,” she marched ahead, her horn lighting up and causing a few crackers that startled the crowd, who then saw Fluttershy standing there with an unimpressed look on her face. Several animals appeared around her, landing on the roof of the Town Hall or perching on her back with piercing eyes.
“Go home,” the pegasus stated, staring at all of them before they turned and left with ashamed expressions. A shocked Twilight was dragged into the library where Rainbow Dash and Applejack were tied up, Rarity standing over them with a frown.
“Hello darling, I believe these two,” she glared at them, “Have something to say,” Applejack glowered at her.
“This wasn’t necessa-” “When someone who prides herself on being so honest tries resorting to bribery,” her eyes narrowed, “it is.” The Earth pony flinched, looking at Twilight.
“Sorry Twilight, I got so gungho about the Grand Galloping Gala, I didn’t think about how you felt,” the ropes disappeared and she got up, stepping away from Rarity who raised her eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was still struggling against the ropes, looking like she wanted to bite them off.
“Rainbow Dash,” she said in a sing-song tone, Rainbow stilled, seeing the looks on everyone else’s faces before she slumped,
“Fine, I’m sorry too, whatever decision you have about the Gala is up to you,” Twilight let out a breath, smiling.
“Thank-you,” she took the two tickets out and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia, sending them back by Spike, who ended up spitting out a new letter with six new tickets.
“My dearest student, why didn’t you say so?” the tickets floated towards everyone, Pinkie taking hers with glee along with Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack.
Fluttershy and Rarity eyed theirs a bit differently.
Does this mean she expects all six of us to go to the Gala?" Fluttershy sighed,
"I guess I can always talk to one of my former mentors," they were looked at with confusion, Rarity in particular.
"Wait, you don't actually want to go to the Gala, you Rarity?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief, the white mare gave her a look,
"In case you didn't know, a certain noble was a student at WEU and let's just say I've been to several of the functions, and don't want to experience it again," she shuddered, Moondancer blinked and took out a letter from her saddlebag,
"I actually have a letter for you regarding a new reason for you to attend," she gave it to the unicorn who unfolded it and gave it a brief once over, an unreadable expression appearing.
"Guess I will be going after all," she announced, burning the letter up in her magic, just as Twilight’s stomach rumbled.
“I don’t suppose we can celebrate over a meal? Moondancer do you want to come,” the unicorn gave her a cool look.
“Only because I have business with you six, but after that I have somewhere else to be,” her cold tone took Twilight aback as they all went out, the Element of Magic looking a bit hurt at her former classmate’s tone.
Spike barely took a step out when he received another letter from the Princess with his own ticket, and with a smile on his face, hurried to keep up with the ponies.
They ended up going to Pizza Cub on the outskirts of town and the group of eight took their seats at one of the large booths, Rarity, Pinkie, Moondancer, and Fluttershy on one side; and Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, and Spike on the other.
“So what did you want to talk to us about?” Rarity looked at Moondancer who was rummaging in her saddlebag, brushing her mane back when it fell over her eyes. The unicorn looked tempted for a moment before tearing her gaze away to pick up the menu.
“And can you make it quick?” Rainbow said, “I’m starving,” clearly there was something else she wanted to say, but a look from Fluttershy silenced her and she flipped open a menu with a huff.
Twilight looked a bit uncomfortable but looked over her menu, quickly eyeing the options before deciding on what she wanted while Spike let out an exclamation.
“Hey, they have a ruby pizza on here!” Rarity chuckled.
“Well, the occasional dragon passes through, and some of the other restaurants also have gem food,” Spike’s mouth dropped open and he stared at her.
“Dragons have been here?” the white unicorn gave a nod and flagged down the waiter, which turned out to be a female griffin, wearing an apron with the restaurant’s name as she walked over them.
“We’ll have a Dragon Claw special for Spike here, and two,” her eyes cut to Pinkie and a hungry Twilight, “Make that four pizzas, the first one Ash’s special, second the Triple Green, third the Mushroom lovers, and for the fourth? Make that a triple cheese,” the waiter nodded and walked away with their order, Rarity turning to the others to meet accusing stares, “You're telling me you would have ordered something different?” the stares looked away and she raised an eyebrow at Moondancer who was holding six envelopes in her hooves, “You do realize I already have one of those correct? As does Fluttershy,” the others looked to see what she meant, and while Pinkie Pie let out an excited gasp, Twilight looked confused and both Applejack and Rainbow Dash grimaced.
“Are those tickets to the Nightwing Festival?!” she clapped her hooves excitedly, vibrating in her seat.
“Nightwing Festival?” Twilight questioned while Applejack groaned.
“Can Ah refuse?” Fluttershy shushed them and turned to the unicorn.
“Go ahead Moondancer,” giving her a curt nod, Moondancer unrolled a scroll and read aloud.
“As thanks for freeing the Princess of the Night, the Nocturne have officially invited the Bearers of Harmony to participate in the Nightwing Festival as honored guests at the Royal Table,” she passed out the envelopes, giving the sixth envelope to a surprised Spike, “And since Fluttershy already has one, here’s yours,” the dragon accepted the envelope with wide eyes, “As for you Rarity, this is merely an invitation by the Festival’s committee. They hope you will attend after missing the first two Festivals,” She turned to the others, “I will tell you this, these tickets are an honor, and refusing them because you are uncomfortable with the hosts will not be accepted,” Applejack opened her mouth to protest but Pinkie Pie spoke over her.
“Ooh, the Nightwing Festival! I’m so excited to meet new ponies and finally get to go, the last two years were very busy!” Twilight finally cut back in as the pizza was set before them.
“What is the Nightwing Festival?” her desire for knowledge overrode her hunger, for the moment. Moondancer rolled her eyes, getting a slice for herself and cutting into it.
“I’m surprised you don’t know about it considering Princess Celestia herself attended the Festival in the past,” Twilight blushed in embarrassment.
“I-I, was busy with my studies,” she said, before shaking her head, “But what is it?” Rarity took her turn to speak.
“The Nightwing Festival is hosted by the Dragons, Griffins, and Nocturne and is a new celebration created by the students of WEU to foster better cultural relations between the different species. Of course, for the other students, we have separate celebrations still in the works, but the Nightwing Festival was agreed on and each of the hosts involved has it in their lands. The Dragons held the first one on one of their islands and the griffins? Well, it was more of a pegasus/griffin effort as the griffins wanted to charge a lot of bits just to entertain the idea of being hosts. Now I believe it is the Nocturne’s turn and will be held in one of their Underground Cities,” she looked to Moondancer for answers, who pushed up her glasses again.
“Yes, the event itself lasts several days and there are various competitions that are held, there is also a parade and a dance at the end of it. I should also say this, in matching the name of the Festival, attendees not born with wings will be required to create their own wings as a sort of costume. Those with wings will be required to wear masks that they have created and there will be contests judging the best ones.” Twilight finished chewing her second slice, eyes wide with the information she just received.
“Wow, I can’t wait to attend with all of you,” she smiled at her new friends, some of them smiling back, though Applejack looked unsure.
“Uh, are ya’ll sure about this?” but the others were caught up in the excitement and she sighed, sinking down in her seat.
After a long night, Rarity wished she could go back to sleep, but Titanium’s fussing had her sighing and rolling out of bed, turning on the lamp.
“Are you hungry?” she saw him staring out the window, face scrunched up and looking like he wanted to wail, “Hey now, don’t do that,” she picked him up, holding him against her neck and looking down as his face smoothed out and he cooed, burying his head in her mane. Smiling, she left the room and joined her roommates in the kitchen downstairs.
Paris had her head on the table, a cup of hot tea steaming next to her paws while Ash stirred some sort of concoction on the stove.
“That better be breakfast and not another potion Ash darling,” the zebra huffed,
“You make one potion in the kitchen, no one lets you forget it,” Paris snorted,
“Considering that potion left us no resort but to eat out for a month, no one is going to forget that any time soon,” the only way they managed not to deplete their budget was the generosity of some of their friends and neighbors.
The ones that did not care about what kind of creature they were anyways. Ash spooned out the contents into a large bowl, taking a separate bowl filled with different spices and butter that she poured right into the middle.
“Ooh Genfo, it smells good,” the zebra nodded, taking her seat, the three, well four eating their portions in peace. Rarity alternated between her bowl and Titanium’s, making sure the colt was eating it and not throwing it for fun. He normally behaved at mealtimes, but sometimes felt the need to make things interesting for the three fashion designers.
“Ah, the other five received tickets to the Festival as well in addition to the Gala,” Paris groaned,
“Do not mention either of those to me, just thinking about the jobs in the future makes my paws ache,” Ash refilled the canine’s cup, giving her a look.
“We should be glad for any work, remember? Suri Polomare will no doubt be making attempts to monopolize Gala orders again,” Rarity groaned.
“Ugh, I can imagine her smug face bragging about receiving more orders,” the only consolation was the fact they banned the mare from doing Festival commissions after one too many comments. Though that did end up with a majority of similar thinking ponies going to her for commissions.
Not that Rarity cared, the three of them have been able to manage the past two years, and they were kept busy enough that whatever Polimare’s schemes were did not work.
She just wished the mare did not take out her frustration of fashion failure in Manehatten on them, or would at least stop trying to get their Boutique for her own.
Or give up on getting their secret projects and pass them off as her design.
As graduates of WEU, Rarity, Ash, and Paris had their unique designs and were constantly working on new products incorporated with the knowledge that they obtained.
Each of the Carousel Boutique ladies had a specialty they used to diversify and draw attention to their store.
Rarity, of course, specialized in outfits, both ones with and without jewels she finds with her special talent.
Ash specializes in using potions and runes to create special effects on her work, most of which were hats, scarves, and saddlebags.
Paris on the other paw created accessories, armor, and shoes for different species that proved popular.
All three of them were also combining their special talents to make specialty items and were this close to perfecting shoes that had a permanent Cloud-Walking spell enchanted on them. Ash swallowed a piece and looked at Rarity,
“I almost have the Titan fabric ready Rarity,” the unicorn clapped her hooves,
“That’s great Darling! When we get all our current projects done we can get started on Nightwing Festival preparations and decide what kind of stand we are going to do,” it brought great publicity to their work and while she did not attend the last two times, the other two had.
Paris’ head hit the table.
“Ugh, kill me now,” Rarity rolled her eyes.
“And you call me dramatic, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go take Titanium out for a stroll and deliver something to the Mashs’,” she was waved off, Ash muttering under her breath about new potion ideas while Paris was still recovering from her two-week Designing Binge, bemoaning her allergies to cocoa beans and wishing for coffee.
Dressing up Titanium in a little sailor outfit and ignoring his pout, Rarity checked to make sure he was secure in the stroller before pushing it. The market was set up by the time she was walking through, some ponies waving to her while others avoided looking in her direction. Paying it no mind, she thought over the Nightwing Festival and the reactions to the other Element Bearers receiving their invitations.
Pinkie of course was excited and Fluttershy was thrilled to go to the event as well. Twilight seemed a bit interested, but also unsure about whether she wanted to go.
Applejack and Rainbow were the ones Rarity was a bit worried about because if they did end up going (the mandatory part seemed to irritate them) she was afraid they would say or do something that would mess up the event.
Rainbow Dash was self-explanatory, while she knew the mare had some history with Trade Wind, her affiliation with Wind Scar would cause quite a stir with those who were affected by his actions.
Applejack was just plain close-minded, and Rarity couldn’t help but lament how the Earth mare was being so stubborn in not getting used to how things were changing in Equestria.
Granny Smith was used to it, and that was saying quite a bit.
“Miss Rarity?” Moondancer appeared next to her, saddlebags filled with paper and a pen dangling from her ear. Her eyes fell on the colt and she nodded to him before joining Rarity in her stroll.
“Is there something I can help you with Moondancer?” the white unicorn asked lightly, realizing that the other mare never revealed why they were in Ponyville.
“I will be settling in Ponyville for a while during a project and have chosen an accommodation that needs a bit of work. But that is not why I’m here, in the future there might be a request for your Boutique to restore some old works, how confident are you in working with thousand-year-old tapestries,” Rarity stopped for a moment, staring at her, flicking one ear as she thought about it,
“You might be surprised,” they reached the Pizzeria, but Rarity headed around to the back of the house where there were shouts and laughter. She opened the door to see an orange pegasus filly zooming down the stairs and hiding underneath a counter.
“She’s down here!” Caramel and Glaze flew down from the balcony overlooking the stairs, one going to the couch in the living room while the other flew into the kitchen.
“Caramel, Glaze, what are you two doing?” Caramel cringed when she spotted Rarity, coming back into the kitchen, but her brother was unfazed.
“Playing hide and tag with our cousin,” Rarity raised an eyebrow.
“Where are Reese and Carrot Mash?” “Setting up the restaurant,” the griffin replied before there was a triumphant cry from Caramel who dove underneath the counter, eliciting a yelp from her prey.
She came back out with her cousin, the filly sulking as Caramel held up the ribbon that had been tied around one of her hooves.
“Two out of three!” Scootaloo demanded, Caramel scoffed.
“Sure, but remember, if you lose, your doing dishes tonight,” the filly scowled and grabbed the ribbon, tying it back around her leg. Caramel and Glaze turned away and started counting out loud, and Scootaloo rushed out of there just as the house started shaking.
In alarm Rarity summoned Caramel and Glaze to her and summoned a shield, Moondancer ran out to grab Scootaloo as bookshelves shook and dishes fell from a cabinet onto the ground.
“What is going on?” Rarity demanded, just as an Earth pony burst into the house, green eyes frantically looking behind him as he pulled a pale Reese in and slammed the door shut, his Cutie Mark that of a bowl of carrot mash with a baby spoon sticking out of it.
“Stampede!” he gasped out, orange coat a bit pale as Moondancer came back with Scootaloo on her back.
“What set them off this time?” Rarity questioned tiredly, it wasn’t the first time after all.
“I know that darling,” after what happened last time the cub was not going to do something like that again.
Thankfully the shaking stopped and they all stepped out, seeing ponies cheering on Applejack and Winona as the cattle turned around and left.
“Well, that was quite a day,” shaking her head, Rarity took out the wrapped package from her saddlebag and handed it over to Reese, “Here’s your order,” the griffin accepted it with wide eyes.
“Oh! I didn’t expect it to be done so fast,” waving it off, the unicorn smiled at her,
“It was fun to do,” compared to her other projects anyways.
She saw Caramel and Glaze making faces at her son, the colt enjoying it and trying to imitate their expressions with great difficulty. Scootaloo hopped off of Moondancer as soon as her shield disappeared, thanking the unicorn and joining her cousins.
“Well, we have to get back to prep now, our restaurant isn’t going to run itself, did you want to leave Titanium with Caramel and Glaze?” Caramel’s head popped up from the stroller, a gleam in her eyes, and Rarity struggled not to laugh.
“Alright, the usual rates Caramel?” the cub nodded eagerly, taking the stroller from Rarity’s grasp and pushing it towards the back room, Glaze rolled his eyes.
“Come on cousin, I’ll give you a crash course in Titan watching,” the pegasus followed him dutifully and Rarity sighed.
“I do wish everyone would stop shortening his name,” and should she feel insulted that of all the little ones the twins have babysat, Titanium had a special name for his time?
“I’m just glad you are still letting them watch him,” Reese stated as Rarity and Moondancer followed them out.
“What do you mean? Have there been cancellations?” while the two were a bit rowdy, they were quite capable of looking after younger creatures, Caramel especially, and her motivations were all money-related.
Carrot and Reese shared a look,
“Let’s just say there have been quite a few parents unhappy with our deception,” mouthing the word, Rarity realized what they meant and smacked a hoof against her head.
“Did they not understand what witness protection meant?” Reese let out a sigh.
“Only a few,” Moondancer remained silent.
-----------------------------------
Next morning
Landing lightly outside the Castle of the Two Sisters, Trade Wind dissipated the wind around her and let out a breath. Each of her three sisters had ways of sensing her presence and it took careful planning to avoid getting noticed.
Avoiding Pinkie’s senses was rather difficult and over the years she’s managed to find different ways to avoid her sister finding out she was near. In retaliation Pinkie, Pie learned how to correct those issues and could sense her from a city away.
But luckily the Everfree Forest proved enough of a wild card that the party pony couldn’t keep track of everything.
Fluttershy on the other hoof had creatures and her hearing to make hiding rather interesting, and Trade could only be thankful that there were no animals that Fluttershy knew in this area.
Last but not least, Lyra and the pegasus decided not to think about it as she walked around the grounds of the castle.
Finding a good place to stop, she unhooked herself from her cart and retrieved four tripods, each one with a different stone representing a season from Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, and Diamond.
It still amused her how the Jewel Dogs were represented no matter what, even if most of them did not know how to use magical runes.
Setting the Emerald tripod in the north point of the castle, she took the other three and placed them on the other sides, making sure that they were not out of formation. Going back to her cart, she took out a case with rather clunky goggles inside, the aforementioned jewels embedded into the frames. A trunk further on her cart shivered as she got close, shaking against the restraints keeping it secure.
“Calm down, we landed, I’m getting you out, honestly,” she undid the straps, throwing open the lid and revealing a typewriter that sprouted spider legs longer than her legs, crawling out of the cart and bending its legs up and down in a show of excitement. Slipping on the goggles, she motioned for the typewriter to follow, smiling a bit as it sprayed some ink in excitement.
With the goggles on, she decided to start at the entrance of the castle, turning the dial on the left with the Emerald and Sapphire gems, her vision lighting up and revealing different networks going in and around the castle. Then turning the Ruby and Diamond one, she saw a red dot indicating the recording was on while a pale silver shimmer connected to the Typewriter, making it shudder.
Taking that as her cue, she began her observations.
“Looks like the enchantments in this place are close to fading, with the remaining magic I am guessing is located in the library to keep the books preserved,” turning the dial a bit more, she followed the Sapphire line as it appeared in some rooms but veered around others. The Emerald line highlighted all the living beings in the area and she tried not to twitch at how many were clustered together in the dungeons.
Right, she’ll mark that for later.
“The entrance room looks surprisingly intact, the sisters’ banners will need to be restored and the columns themselves do not look like they need a lot of work. I will have to talk to Princess Luna about whether she wants to keep them though.” she would be starting the tutoring sessions next week and would be presenting her findings to the Princess at the same time.
But first, she needed to do a detailed plan for the castle itself.
Going through every room in the castle, she made notes of the holes in the walls that needed to be filled or completely replaced. There were even sections of grass here and there that would need to be removed. The wind swirled around her, going through cracks and showing her different passageways not highlighted by the goggles, or triggers on the floor that she needed to avoid.
Eventually, she found an organ room, figured out that the organ itself activated different parts of the castle, and used her goggles and Blessing to write down every note and subsequent special effect.
After several hours she went back out for a lunch break, letting the typewriter rest and recharge itself. Slipping the goggles off, she blinked in the sun, feeling a slight headache coming on.
Doing these kinds of projects has thankfully gotten easier, but we're still kind of draining. If it weren’t for these goggles it would have taken a much longer time.
This was going to be a long week.
--------------
Watching the exhausted Earth pony approach the stadium with baskets of apples on her back, Rarity pursed her lips, seeing the exhausted form and recalling several unpleasant memories.
‘This is not good’ she could only guess as to why Applejack was so exhausted, and it did not paint a pretty picture, at all.
Her feelings worsened when she recalled what Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy said before the mare’s arrival.
This is not going to go well.
Thankfully Twilight took the initiative to talk to Applejack herself, so Rarity pulled the pink maned mares to the side for a private talk.
“Is something wrong Rarity?” the unicorn glanced around to make sure no one was watching before looking back at them.
“You saw her exhaustion right? Do you think it’s a good idea to have her help you two with your tasks?” Pinkie paused while Fluttershy frowned.
“She did look tired, and some of the animals told me that she’s harvesting all by herself since Big Mac was injured-” Rarity felt her heart stop.
“Is he alright?!” she grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders, staring into her startled eyes before realizing what she did and letting go, “I-i mean, it is surprising that a stallion of stature like M- Bic Mac got injured, it w-wasn’t serious I hope?” oh Celestia above please to tell her she was imagining the burning on her cheeks.
“Um, he’s fine, just a mishap that I promised not to tell anyone,” Fluttershy answered, giving her a searching look that Rarity avoided, Pinkie’s grin was completely ignored.
“Well, t-that’s good, anyway, I just thought I should warn the two of you, and if one of you wish to warn Rainbow Dash to go ahead,” though if the pegasus was outright ignorant to how exhausted the Earth pony was, that was on her.
“Okie Dokie! I’ll keep a close eye on her!” Fluttershy nodded in addition to Pinkie’s answer and Rarity relaxed, waving goodbye to them and heading back to the Boutique, wishing she could throw herself into a volcano for reacting like that.
Get yourself together, she told herself firmly, Big Mac is fine, if something serious happened you would find out, even if it was from a newspaper.
Oh well, she hoped he was recuperating from his injury at least, and not pushing himself trying to stop his sister.
Celestia knows those Apples were of a solid, determined sort.
----------
A knock brought Mac out of his thoughts, the stallion pushing away the family finance book to go answer the door.
“Ah got it!” Applebloom beat him to it, throwing open the door and letting out a happy, “Hey Trade Wind!” the Earth pony stopped, watching his sister skipping back into the dining room with a familiar pegasus who waved at him in greeting,
“Hey Big Mac, heard you got injured, was it serious?” Big Mac coughed, avoiding her gaze.
He’d rather not get into the details of his injury at the moment. Applebloom was hopping around the older pony, babbling about random subjects and the harvest and news in the village, stopping and peering up at her with wide eyes.
“Did you bring any souvenirs?” she asked eagerly, tail wagging, and Big Mac tried not to sigh as Trade Wind took out an apple-d pocketwatch,
“Found this at an interesting market, figured you might want to” the pocketwatch disappeared from her hooves and there was a mad scramble up the stairs as Applebloom shouted her thanks and disappeared.
“Sorry,” he offered, Trade waved it off.
“It’s fine, here,” she gave him an abacus made of shells and his lips twitched, amused as he put it on a shelf next to another abacus made of different materials, “I also brought some picks for Applejack for her guitar and some cast iron pots for Granny Smith, came across a blacksmith that still makes stuff the way it was done in her youth, figured she might be interested,” she set those down with a small clunk, rubbing her head as she rolled her shoulders, “I don’t suppose you are busy or anything?” Big Mac hummed,
“What’s the project?” she put a hoof to her muzzle.
“Secret, for now, calling everyone in a week for the run down but could use someone of your skills and knowledge, and I have a blank check,” a whistle had them turning to Granny Smith entering the living room.
“Might as well, Big Mac here needs a new challenge, he’s been over our books looking for discrepancies I was tempted to write them in,” the stallion’s cheeks burned.
She did not have to put it like that!
Trade Wind’s eyes fell on a piece of equipment across the living room and she tapped a hoof against the floor,
“Almost forgot, here’s the new enchantment gems for your radio,” Granny Smith eagerly grabbed them, going over and flipping the device over to replace the dull ones.
“Good thing too was afraid Ah’d miss my favorite evening show,” Big Mac tried not to snort. Ever since their family received the radio three years ago, Granny Smith has been practically glued to it, enjoying the various radio broadcasts that have been popping up all over Equestria.
When it wasn’t her it was Applebloom, the filly in awe about the device and tuning in to shows geared towards fillies her age.
Big Mac himself enjoyed a few of the shows and was tempted to get a new radio even if they were expensive.
The only one who did not enjoy the device was Applejack, but her reasons were of the petty kind so he ignored it. She still bore a grudge against him for going to WEU and ‘abandoning’ their family when they needed him the most.
Never mind receiving Granny Smith’s blessing nor the fact the Princess herself endorsed the school. It would be quite a while before she realized she was acting foolish, but he wouldn’t hold his breath quite yet.
Trade Wind chuckled, ear flicking and turning to look back before sighing,
“Well, I have to go, got some more work to get done, ah, can you keep my presence here a secret? Make sure to relay that to Applebloom as well,” the two nodded and she disappeared out the door, away from the area where Applejack was still bucking.
“Exactly how mad do you think her sisters are going to be,” Big Mac grimaced at Granny’s question.
“With her or Garble?” has been the dragon’s roommate, he was quite familiar with the two’s relationship.
And if anything happened, and if Trade Wind was avoiding letting anyone know.
It was Garble’s fault.
------------------
Pinkie Pie glanced over her shoulder, reading out the recipe and watching the way out of it Applejack shook her head and rubbed her ear before going to the pantry and pulling out a bag of potato chips. When she added soda and worms to the mixture, Pinkie sighed and retrieved a spray bottle from her mane, appearing next to the mare and spraying her right in the muzzle, knocking her out cold.
Giving the bowl a disgusted look and made to throw it out when she thought about it,
“This might be something Spike’ll eat,” and maybe the griffin cubs as well, or maybe she’ll just let Spike have all of it.
Carrot Mash was one of the ponies she did not want angry with her, and accidentally endangering his precious cubs would be the fastest way to get him angry.
Just the memory of his anger when he realized Scootaloo was his niece and lived by herself made her shiver, the stallion’s brother was lucky he was not in Ponyville.
Though how long that would be was still in the air.
Tucking Applejack into a sleeping bag with a lavender-infused pillow (it’s a good thing her sleeping party supplies were still around) and a blindfold with a special ‘good dream’ enchantment, Pinkie put her safely in the corner just as Fluttershy came in, looking worried.
“How bad?” she peered into the bowl and paled, accepting the apron Pinkie gave her, “Oh dear, it's a good thing you were able to stop her,” Pinkie nodded.
“I do not even want to think about what would’ve happened if our customers ate that stuff,” they both shuddered, and Pinkie smiled at her Ranger sister, “Thanks for coming by to help, I’ll make time for your bunny census,” Fluttershy nodded.
“Of course,” a green pop in front of them had Pinkie rushing to spray a startled Applejack in the face, making her fall back asleep with a loud snore. The two stared at a sheepish Lyra, the unicorn rubbing the back of her head.
“Sorry, figured you could use some he-” she spotted the bowl and turned green, “B-be right back,” she disappeared down the hall to the restroom, the two cringing at the sounds that followed.
“I’ll go put this away for Spike later,” Fluttershy nodded,
“Good idea,” Lyra came back, looking a bit better, and stopped over Applejack, horn glowing as a familiar harp lyre appeared and started playing while a bubble over the mare ensured that only she would be affected.
“So, do you want my help or I go to Sweet Apple Acres?” Fluttershy and Pinkie shared looks,
“Sweet Apple Acres,” they said in unison, Lyra winced.
“Ouch, didn’t think my cooking was that bad,” but she left, levitating a snoring Applejack behind her.
Twilight spotted her as she approached the farm and her jaw dropped,
“What are you doing?!” Lyra blinked at her.
“Making sure she doesn’t poison villagers with her sleep-addled muffin recipe, worms, Twilight Sparkle, worms,” Twilight turned green.
“Oh,” then she realized something, “Wait, why are you in Ponyville?” Lyra fell to the ground,
“I live here,” she deadpanned.
--------------------
Applejack woke up refreshed, their mind clear, and all the aches in her body from the constant applebucking gone.
She was pissed.
Bursting out of the house, she spotted hundreds of apples floating in a yellow aura while country music filled the air.
Granny Smith was watching the spectacle, drinking through a straw while Big Mac was carefully pushing the apples into the barn.
“What is going on here?!” Granny glanced back at her,
“Awake are ya? Just waiting for the last of the apples to be harvested is all. Make sure you are separating the bad ones from the good ones,” she shouted in the direction of the music, and there was a brief pause before the line of apples separated into two.
This was joined by a familiar aura of light purple that had Applejack scowling, marching in that direction and seeing Twilight standing next to a mint green unicorn.
“Twilight, ah told you I didn’t need help!” but it wasn’t Twilight who answered.
“And what? We’re supposed to just let you poison others to keep your pride?’ Applejack frowned at her.
“What are you talking about?” a tray of muffins floated in front of her, one split open so that the insides were shown to her. Rearing back, she gagged seeing the worm inside, and suddenly recalled what happened in the kitchen.
“Wait, Pinkie was the one who knocked me out, but did I think earthworms in muffins was a good idea?” and she was going to give that party pony a good talking to about knocking her out like that.
Not that it would do any good.
“Now if you’ll excuse us,” Lyra floated the last of the apples in a bucket, picking it up and returning in the direction Applejack came from, the Earth mare spluttered.
“That still did not give you a right to just do this!” she gestured to the farm, and Lyra glanced over her shoulder.
“It does when Granny Smith asks a favor,” she placed the bucket on the ground next to the matriarch who patted her shoulder.
“Thank you kindly Lyra, Twilight, feel free to help out in the future, though if my grandson is foolish enough to get himself injured as he did,” her brother looked away, and Applejack resisted the urge to stomp her hoof.
“Granny, I cou-” “No you could not,” Granny’s sharp voice cut her off, red-orange eyes glaring at her, “learn how to manage your time and know when to ask for help, because this could’ve been a real disaster if you did something while exhausted,” Applejack flinched.
“Yes ma’am.”
-----------------
Trade Wind collapsed on her cot, pulling a blanket over her form and trying to ignore the raging headache.
Using those crystals took a lot out of her, but at least she was finally done.
Now all she had to do was arrange tasks, get supplies ready, and see who was available to come to help out.
Maybe she should message Zephyr first, with his sect still in ruins he was probably searching for some kind of work to do while it was being rebuilt. Coincidentally North Star magazine received a letter asking for help in flying from a particular pegasus filly, and if anyone could figure out how to help Scootaloo.
Closing his suitcase with a final click, Zephyr glanced around his now bare bedroom, the only things left were posters he foolishly hung up when he was a colt and never had the energy to pull down.
Putting a hoof over the image of the Wonderbolts, he tore it down with a dismissive sniff and rolled it up into a crumpled wad that he dropped onto the floor. There was no point in throwing it away when this house was going to be torn down.
“Brother?” a timid voice had him looking down into the blue eyes of a griffin cub, his dove-like head tilting shyly while his pink talons clicked against one another, “D-do you think she’ll like me?” knowing who he was talking about, Zephyr ruffled his feathered head.
“She’s your cousin, of course, she will, your adorable,” he said with a teasing smile, getting a pout in return.
“Am not,” Frost protested, before looking uncertain, “She won’t care I’m a griffin right?” smile stiffening, Zephyr pulled his baby brother against him in reassurance.
“No, she won’t,” eyes narrowing, he glared at the wall, thinking about the jerks in Cloudsdale and the ones responsible for Frost’s insecurity.
“Okay, I’m going to check on my cloud boards! I finished hers last night!” that said he ran out and Zephyr shook his head, reaching out to grab the suitcase in his wing and paused at seeing the extended metal wing.
Right, still not used to it. Picking up the suitcase, he shut the door behind him and descended the stairs, seeing his parents finishing up their own packing in the kitchen. All the other boxes had been put outside for the movers to pack, and his own cart was hopefully not being neglected in the wrong one.
Thinking about how much he had to take with him was a headache, and he almost regretted refusing Trade’s offer to use one of her storage compartments. The offer was nice, but knowing her, his luggage would somehow end up gaining sentience.
The letters from his former teachers were proof of that as they struggled to settle in the place Trade arranged for them.
Thinking of the sect dampened his mood a bit, the memory of its destruction haunting in his memory as it was in his nightmares.
“Zephyr?” a yellow hoof touched his left cheek, right below the scars across his eye, and he saw his mother’s worried expression, “Are you alright?” her eyes fell to his fake wing and the other scars, the tears appearing making him sigh.
“I’m fine Mom, just reminiscing is all,” she removed her hoof, still looking sad, so he leaned down to nuzzle her cheek, “Just think about how tomorrow morning you’ll be hoof deep while wrestling with nature,” his mother laughed, the sadness dissipating as she clapped her hooves together.
“Oh can you just imagine it? I’ve seen pictures of the place but nothing does it justice, to think I’ll be paid to tend the orchard,” anger threatened to rise up again but he pushed it down, smiling at his mom.
She should’ve been allowed to garden years ago, instead of forced to practicing her talent as a hobby while working in the snowflake factory.
“And Dad will be busy designing his own cloud buildings,” a light chuckle came from his other mild-mannered parent, the stallion looking embarrassed.
“I’m a bit embarrassed about the opportunity, I’m sure there are others who could do it better than I can,” Zephyr sighed.
“Dad, your doing it again, and no, no one’s done as much cloud architecture as you have, even if a pegasus wants to move somewhere and get their own house, Cloudsdale has that house in a bottle,” he rolled his eyes, recalling the picture of Rainbow Dash’s new house. Far be it from the pegasus to actually get a house on the ground, “You designed a skating rink for Frost and his cousins, did that favor for Trade Wind, helped build that flying stadium in Canterlot, and even did a few projects for the Nocturnes. Fancy Pants offered the job to you because he knew you would be the perfect fit,” his dad’s face was completely red, ducking underneath the table in the hopes that Zephyr would ignore him.
“Please stop, I’m not comfortable with that kind of praise,” a crash had them whirling around, and Zephyr caught the white blur that was his brother who had a panicked expression on his face,
“I can’t find the cloud boards! I had them in a special box so I could find them easily but it isn’t there-” he was breathing fast, eyes wide and Zephyr put a hoof on his beak, taking a deep breath that the younger male copied, before letting out a breath. After doing it for several times, he walked over to the windows with his brother still clinging to him and pointed out to the cart.
“I took it out for you earlier this morning when you were getting your comic book collection, figured I would save you the trip,” his brother looked at the bright blue box outside, back at him, then buried his now red face in his neck.
Mom cooed, reaching for the camera around her neck to take pictures while Dad peeked out from the table to smile at them.
Zephyr gave them a deadpanned look,
“You realize the movers are charging you by the hour right? And no doubt others have seen the boxes and might be spreading the news. We all want to be gone by the time the well-wishers come remember?” his parents glanced at the clock, blanched, and hurried to finish their packing. Shaking his head, he went outside to where the movers were lounging against the cart, one sipping a bottle of cold lemonade while the other was chewing something with steam coming out of his ears.
“Technically we aren’t charging by the hour,” Reed stated, Zephyr rolled his eyes upward.
“Why is it that you have better hearing than your sonar husband?” the griffin shrugged,
“When it comes to money us griffins always have sharp ears,” Zephyr twitched, trying not to deadpan, he could believe it, but it was still ridiculous.
"Thanks for doing this you two," Zephyr told them, eyeing Ghost Pepper, "Are you trying to increase your spicy tolerance for the next Spice cook-out? You do realize no one can beat Trade Wind in that, right?" the Nocturne had a stubborn look on his face while his husband rolled his eyes.
"Ugh, I've been trying to tell him that, but he has some sort of 'pride' in living up to his name and he's been chewing Volcano peppers for the last five hours!" Zephyr face-hoofed.
"And you just let him do it?” he asked, the griffin scoffed,
“Like I could stop him, though he’s going to find himself on the couch tonight,” Zephyr ducked as chewed up pieces of pepper shot passed his head, bat winged-pony chugging a glass of chocolate milk before glaring at his partner.
“You didn’t say anything about that before,” he protested, Reed rolled his eyes,
“Should have been obvious, you know what happens when you get too many spice in your system,” Ghost Pepper leaned in with a smirk.
“Yes I do-” his head was smacked into the cloud, Reed’s claws clenched into a fist before he turned away from him to glance at Zephyr’s cart.
"You going to need help flying that to Ponyville?" they filled the cart with various luggage and boxes, and with his prothetic wing still settling, Zephyr couldn’t fly quite yet.
"We're dividing up the load in a hot air balloon and Gabby'll be taking the cart down," Reed smirked, raising an eyebrow.
“So how’s it going with her anyway?” keeping his mouth shut, the pegasus set down his luggage and went back into the house, ignoring their snickers. Ghost Pepper got up from the cloud, rubbing his head and staring after the pegasus.
“Dude still hasn’t confessed huh?” Reed shook his head, looking frustrated, “Idiot should really confess soon, I have a bet riding on him,” “You have a bet on everybody,” Ghost told him dryly, “You bet on us,” “And I won didn’t I?” the griffin chuckled, making him turn pink and send the other a playful glare.
They stopped upon seeing Frost peering at them from the Shy’s soon to be ex-doorway, the cub watching them and looking hesitant to approach.
“Hey cub! You excited about moving in with your sister?” he slowly approached them, nodding shyly, Ghost Pepper gave him an encouraging look, “I’m sure you’ll have lots of fun, and there is the Graphic Library to think about,” he lit up at that. “Yes! I heard from Glaze that they added a few more shelves and I uh-,” he shrunk down, “I would like to see it,” he said in a soft voice.
“And you will,” a kind voice stated as a griffin landed in front of them, gray-blue coat and turquoise eyes crinkled in a smile,
“Hey Gabby,” Frost greeted softly, almost drowned out by the older male’s greetings. She smiled cheerfully.
“I got the balloon for you and Zephyr set up, and I’ll be right down with the cart, is everything else ready for Mr. and Mrs. Shy?” the couple came out as she asked this, Zephyr following close behind and locking the door, throwing the key into the surrounding clouds. The family hugged one another goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Shy looking like they were going to cry while Frost was sniffing. Reed and Pepper helped them settle into the cart, securing the luggage in the back and attaching themselves to the front. Frost watched his parents take off with tears going down his cheeks, clinging to his brother’s left hoof.
"Can we visit them over Hearth's Warming?" Frost asked with a pleading gaze.
"Why not," they visited the Pie's last year for Hearth's Warming, and before that was Ponyville with Reese's family.
Whispers reached the ears and any excitement Frost showed died down as the words became clear.
"I heard the youngest went into a tantrum and attacked his brother,"
"How can they let him stay with them?"
"And his relationship with the female griffin should be illegal!" all they ignored these words, even as Frost climbed onto Zephyr’s back and hid in his yellow mane to hide from their looks.
They arrived at the hot air balloon and stepping in gingerly, he grabbed the suitcase Gabby tossed him in his mouth and placed it in the basket.
When it was almost at its limit, Gabby took a step back and attached the cart to herself,
"See you down there okay?" she received their nods and disappeared through the clouds,
"Alright, come on Frosted Flake, let's get this balloon down to Ponyville," Frost beamed as his brother gestured to the device responsible for lighting the fire that lifted up the balloon and went to the lever.
"Ready!" the rope tying the balloon to the Cloudsdale docks was released and Zephyr turned his back on Cloudsdale to stare at the Equestrian ground below.
'Goodbye and good riddance' he thought to himself.
Trade Wind snorted awake, her blue eyes blearily opening against the unwanted morning light, as well as the unamused griffin staring at her.
"Oh, hey Gabby," seeing no cause for alarm, she went back to sleep and threw a wing over her face, curling even tighter into a ball.
A gust of wind blew her off her perch and she flailed a bit, almost losing her balance if not for grabbing the vine above her head in her mouth.
When she was sure she was stable, she let go and dropped down on her hooves, giving her old dormmate an unamused expression.
"What was that for?" Gabby had her arms crossed and her 'I'm disappointed in you look'.
"You know, I can understand not telling your sister’s about your arrival to prevent a certain dragon’s demise, but maybe give notice to someone about your whereabouts. Moondancer had no idea if you were still here or in Canterlot,” the griffin looked at her cart which was still parked in front of the castle, “And the point of you building that thing was to sleep in it, not in trees,” Trade rubbed her head.
"I was getting a head start on all of the cleanings up and making a safe path through the forest for the non-flyers, I'm pretty sure I sent her a note,” Gabby sighed.
"Like you sent a note the last few times you were project-focused?" Trade thought back to it and grimaced.
"Did I write it in a strange language again?" she had gotten into the bad habit of doing that to prevent others from reading her work (an issue she really needed to work through but she's been really busy so she had no idea how.) Unfortunately, she forgot she didn't have to do it in her notes.
"Let's get back to town for the meeting," Trade furrowed her brow.
"Meeting?" her lost tone did not make Gabby's mood any better.
"The one at the Town Hall where you are supposed to be going over the project with all of the volunteers and the assigned professionals? The one you sent an invite for a week ago?" seeing that she was still out of it, Gabby revealed her secret weapon.
Steam came out of the canteen, the scent of the contents reaching the researcher, who leaned towards it, sniffing with hopeful eyes. Giving it over, Gabby watched her friend gulp down the contents and let them do their work.
Moments later the two were flying towards town, one with wide eyes and muttering under her breath about any last minute changes while the former made sure she didn't crash through any trees in her charged up state.
'Well, I wonder how she'll react when I say she still has five hours?' it was still early morning after all.
The moment they touched down in Ponyville, Frost hopped out of the basket and ran full speed towards Pizza Cub, his cloud board bouncing on his back.
"Frost! Hold up, we still need to," Zephyr watched his brother disappear with dismay, "See Fluttershy," a giggle caught his attention and he turned to see Fluttershy in her Ranger gear and Harry the Bear standing next to her.
"He'll be fine Zephyr, I'll see him later, Pinkie no doubt wants to plan a party for the three of you," Zephyr saw her eyes fall down to his prosthetic wing and the scars, and put on a fake smile.
"Well can't wait for that, how have you been sis?" his sister's expression made him cringe, she looked halfway between crying and anger, "It looks worse than it is," he assured her, she didn’t look convinced, ‘Trust me, the one who did this is in a worst place,” he shuddered.
He never wanted to know what a black hole close-up looked like, and never wants to see one ever again.
An angry Princess Celestia is something he doesn’t wish on anyone.
"I want to know the full story later okay?" he really did not want to, but sooner or later Princess Celestia would give him the clearance, and his sister was a Bearer of an Aspect now after all.
"Alright," he gave a grin to the bear standing back, "What's up Harry? Here for the honey?" the bear dropped on all fours and nudged him with his head, "Yeah yeah, its in the cart that Gabby brought, so you'll have to be a bit patient for a while longer," the bear growled at him, he gave it a challenging look, "I could always give the honey to Angel," the growling stopped as the bear tried to do a pleading face instead.
"Okay you two, enough, Harry, why don't you go pick up your order at Sugarcubes Corner, Zephyr, you come with me to the cottage for some tea before the meeting you didn’t elaborate on," knowing not to argue, the two did as she said.
Zephyr looked back in the direction his brother went in with a concerned expression before following after his sister, he'll check on Frost later.
'I just hope his new sister will get along with him'
---------
Scootaloo tried not to fidget as Reese prepared a midday lunch for them,
"Is it really alright for us to leave while she's doing this?" she asked Glaze, who closed the sports magazine he was reading,
"It's fine, Frost no doubt wants to show off his present to you as soon as possible, and we'll be eating out at the park anyways," another thing she had to get used to,
"H-how many cousins do yo- we have?" she stumbled in her sentence, but he pretended not to notice as he thought about it,
"Well, excluding the Carrot-Reese trio," he winked at her, she tried not to flush in embarrassment, "We have Ganache Onyx Pie who is Auntie Pinkie Pie's sister, and Frost Shy who is Auntie Fluttershy's brother who as we said, is moving to Ponyville with Uncle Zeph," then he paused and furrowed his brow, turning to their guardian, "Hey Reese,
do the Po twins count?" before Scootaloo could ask about the 'twins', there was a fast knocking on the door and a voice calling to be let in.
"How about letting your cousin in, and yes, they do," with that question answered, she turned back to the food and Scootaloo joined her cousin on his way to open the door.
She'd seen pictures of Frost before, of the entire griffin egg quartet, but it was kind of different seeing him face to face.
'Wow, his talons look even pinker than Pinkie's hair' said the cub paused as his eyes met hers and he shuffled his front paws, opening his beak before closing it a couple of times.
"Ugh, we're going out for the walk Reese!" Caramel pushed them out through the door, "Frost, Scootaloo, Scootaloo, Frost," whatever excitement she caught from him earlier seemed to disappear as he shuffled alongside them, peeking up at her before staring at the floor, "Seriously Frost, she's our cousin! No need to get shy about it," when he still didn't respond, Caramel huffed, "Okay, Scootaloo, Frost's gift for you is," pink talon's covered her beak.
"I want to tell her!" Frost insisted, Glaze shook his head,
"Then go dude," Frost turned red when he saw Scootaloo was still staring at him and he was turning to them, almost walking backward.
"W-well, Caramel and Glaze said they got the stadium created, a-and I thought that, since they had them I had to get you one. It's not much, and I'm not good at making them but," watching her 'relative’ in bemusement, Scootaloo didn't see the collision till it was too late.
Her and Frost bumped into something and fell down,
"Oof," she shook her head and looked up, stiffening at the sight of the griffin in front of her, one that she didn't recognize who had an angry look on her face.
"Watch where you're going!" she scolded them. Scootaloo tried to call up her bravado, but the anger coming from the female made her nervous. Frost wasn't doing any better.
"I'm s-sorry," he was drawing into himself, something that she pounced on.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mocked, "Ugh, I heard there were cubs being raised by ponies, but a sissy like you should never have hatched." Scootaloo felt indignation on his behalf.
"He said he was sorry," she said defensively, the griffin sneered before taking a deep breath and roaring in their faces.
"Go away losers!" she shouted, Scootaloo saw Frost's eyes fill with tears as he ran away, and she went after him but a claw on her shoulder stopped her.
"Glaze has it," Caramel nodded to their brother who was already flying after her, "Come on, we have other business to attend to," the mean griffin had disappeared and Scootaloo wanted to know what they were supposed to do when Caramel dragged her to a table where a familiar Earth pony mare was frowning, her normally poofy mane flat and the table under her hooves was cracking.
"Auntie Pinkie, can you help us?" Scootaloo gulped as the mare’s focus turned to them, feeling the need to run away.
Wait, aunt?
---------
The Meeting Hall connected to the Town Hall was new, built only a year before and used for meetings for a council of business owners throughout Ponyville. The council was created to go ovr new agendas and to cover laws placed by the Royal Capital. The PTA tried holding meetings there, but were firmly directed to the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Spoiled Rich had not been pleased.
The Meeting hall had a large conference room with a U-shaped table and two side rooms, one was storage and the other was a kitchenette. Bathrooms were in the building next door and deemed not important to add to the structure.
For this meeting, only a few of the shop owners had been called to attend.
Mayor Mare of course
Carrot Cake from Sugarcube Corner.
Reese from Pizza Cub
Burnt Oak the Wood Pony
Big Mac from Sweet Apple Acres
Oat Bun of the Hayburger
Filthy Rich of Barnyard Bargains
Rarity of Canterlot Boutique
Time Turner (not a business owner but respected scientist)
Derpy Hooves from the Mail Office who also had a side business in selling Muffins
And there were a few guests from out of town.
Limestone of the Pie Family- Zephyr Breeze- and Moondancer.
Zephyr stormed into the conference room, taking a seat next to Big Mac who had one of his accounting books open and an abacus on the side.
"Frost?" the Earth pony inquired,
"Yeah, Gilda, Rainbow's old friend made a comeback," the pegasus had a furious look on his face, "Pinkie Pie threw a party for the griffon around this time, so Fluttershy went to confront her," the apple farmer grunted as the rest of the group came in.
Rarity took a seat on the opposite side, the unicorn's eyes meeting Big Mac's before turning away, causing him to deflate.
Yeah, Zephyr did not want to touch that issue at all, even if he did feel some sympathy for his fellow WEU graduate.
After the unicorn of the fashion trio came Limestone, Mayor Mare came in with her secretary, taking the spot at the head of the table and behind them were Trade Wind and Gabby.
"Hello everybody," Trade Wind's greeting was returned with a few 'good afternoon's’ from the stunned attendees.
“Trade Wind!” Rarity called out in surprise, blinking as the pegasus sauntered in, “I did not even know you were in Ponyville,” he reformer classmate shrugged, setting a table in the middle of the open space of the table.
“I’m kind of keeping it low-key, so please do not tell anyone i’m here alright,” the unicorn frowned while Zephyr and Big Mac exchanged glances.
“Alright, but what is this meeting about?” “I’m getting to that,” Trade Wind pressed a button, an allusion of the Castle of the Two Sisters appearing. Gasps from those not from WEU made the former students smile.
“It’s been awhile since i’ve seen that,” Zephyr stated, looking nostalgic, “Remember the stadium?” Big Mac snorted, earning them a look from the blue pegasus before she turned to the rest of the members.
“As everyone is aware, Princess Luna has recently returned to Equestria, and as a result of her return, Princess Celestia has decided to hire a team to restore the castle according to her sister’s vision. I went through it a week ago and explored all the nooks and crannies,” Rarity’s brow furrowed, Trade Wind had been here that long? Without any of her sister’s noticing?
Trade Wind touched the image and expanded it, showing the dilapidated bridge the six had to go across.
“I want to start with the bridge, Limestone, I need you to create a stone bridge with the toughest rocks you have that can be enchanted, I’ll send you a few pictures of the bridges Princess Luna likes,” the rock farmer accepted the folder handed to her with a stiff nod, “I also calculated the damage and walls that will need repairing, but I will leave the stonework for you to decide. Next is the cleaning and layout, I got most of the webs out with the wind but the grime and other stuff were too old to deal with,” Zephyr’s ears flattened, knowing where this was going and not liking it.
He hated cleaning.
"Um excuse me, I don't mean to sound rude, but why are we here?" Mr. Cake inquired, a bit nervously at being the center of attention.
"Oh, sorry, we'll be doing long hours and its only natural that we'll need catering for the workers. You don't need to deliver the food yourselves, but I thought you'd like to be aware of what is going on. We'll be using your services and Oat Bun’s as well as those from the Apple family and other farmers in Ponyville. There will also be some provisions sent from the Nocturne clans," that did not seem to garner positive attention from everyone which was noticed. Trade Wind gestured to Gabby to turn off the projector and her gaze seemed to include everyone as she cleared her throat.
“Before I continue, dragons and Nocturnes, as well as griffins and other non-ponies, have been mingling with Equestria for years now, get over it already,” Zephyr saw Rarity swallow her laughter but couldn’t help his own snort.
"Miss Wind," Mayor Mare was silenced as whatever amusement Trade Wind had vanished completely, instead there was a icy no-tolerant expression.
'The General' Zephyr had experienced this side of Trade Wind several times, and each time he wished he wasn't in the room.
"For the past eight years, there have been attempts made by the crown and several others to include not just Nocturne, but other races that live within Equestria. If any of you read North Star magazine or kept yourselves up to date on the efforts made by the WEU teachers and students, you will know that there is no reason for you to fear other races. They have isolated the Nocturne race for the past thousand years for various reasons, but they deserve to have a place in society as much as the next creature with a heartbeat. Princess Luna is their sovereign to whom they have declared their loyalty, with Princess Celestia behind her. Now, since this project is to build a castle for the Princess of the Moon, you should not be surprised that they want to honor their princess by helping out. So yes, there will be Nocturne coming into town, and possibly quite frequently. No, they do not drink blood, they are not allergic to garlic, and frankly, Ponyville should present a better front in tolerating other races. Or are you forgetting how Equestria was founded?" that silenced them.
"I agree," Filthy Rich stood up from his seat, the Earth stallion straightening his posture, "I've had the pleasure of meeting a few of these nocturnal ponies myself and have managed to establish contracts with them. I'm also proud to admit that Barnyard Bargain's will be opening a shop within Hollow Shades," he nodded to Rarity, "And might I add that in their two years in this village, Rarity’s business partners have done nothing and the years that griffins have lived, no serious incidents beyond what our own residents have done happened?" he sat down again.
"Thank you Mr. Rich," Trade Wind locked eyes with Mayor Mare, "I know you are concerned with your citizen's opinions, but if there are any issues, or attempted sabotage of the project, I'm sure Princess Cadance or Princess Celestia would love to speak with them," the mayor gulped before adjusting her glasses.
"T-that won't be necessary," Big Mac chose this time to speak up as well.
"As a member of one of the founding families of Ponyville, I speak for my Granny who has expressed an interest in new story buddies," there were some uneasy chuckles and some genuine ones.
"Even Canterlot is treating the new species better," was Limestone’s contribution, nonchalantly glancing at her hooves and ignoring the stares.
After that, it only took thirty minutes to wrap up the meeting with a reminder to check the schedule before they dispersed.
Zephyr hurried passed Trade Wind who had been stopped by Mr. Rich for a chat, trying to rush as fast as he could to Sugarcube Corner without aggravating his injuries.
When he arrived, it was to the sight of his sister staring down Gilda at the doorway, no kindness or gentleness at all in her expression.
'She's been hanging around Trade Wind too much' seriously, did Trade all teach her sisters how to do the scary look?!
One hour earlier
Fluttershy entered the cafe, a frown on her face as she weaved around the partygoers and decorations to stand in the corner.
"You can come out now," she lifted her wing to reveal Frost who was clinging to her mane, "It's fine, she's not here yet," she tried to coax her brother out before being interrupted.
"Hey Fluttershy! So, have you met this friend of Rainbow Dash yet?" Twilight asked her, Spike next to her with a cup of punch.
"Oh, yes, but I'll tell you about that later Twilight," her eyes fell on Spike and an idea came to mind, "Spike, would you like to meet my little brother Frost?" the grip on her mane tightened but she didn't pay it any mind as the little dragon blinked.
"Um sure, where is he?" Fluttershy turned so that they could see the white cub clinging to her, his eyes shut as his head was buried in her mane.
"Frost, do you want to greet Spike? He's a dragon you know," that got Frost to open his eyes, and he stared at Twilight's assistant who gave a nervous wave.
"Hi," Spike glanced at Twilight for help but the unicorn merely smiled and pushed him forward.
Frost slowly got down from his sister's back and peeked at Spike from beneath his feather bangs.
"H-hello," he said softly, wings shuffling nervously.
Fluttershy could see Twilight was about to comment on how cute her brother was and getting her attention, shook her head and did a zipping motion with her mouth.
"Frost, Spike here is a fan of comics, but I'm sure he's read none created by dragons," Spike's eyes widened.
"There are comics drawn by dragons?!" Frost widened his eyes as well.
"So, you don't know about the Steam Dragon series?" Spike shook his head and as the two got into a conversation centering around comics, Fluttershy and Twilight watched them with smiles.
"So your brothers are living with you now?" Fluttershy nodded.
"Zephyr is part of the project and with my parents moving, we thought it best that Frost continue his schooling among familiar faces." she tilted her head at Twilight, "Is Spike going to be starting school once summer ends?" Twilight blinked, a bit bewildered.
"No, he's my assistant," Fluttershy frowned at the unicorn.
"He's also still a child who needs to be surrounded by those his age, you don't expect him to do all of your work at the library do you?" Twilight sputtered, clearly caught unawares by the turn of the conversation.
Luckily, Pinkie Pie was there to change the subject,
"Hey, Fluttershy! Twilight, thanks for coming to the party," Caramel and Scootaloo were with her, and Fluttershy spotted Glaze chowing down lemon drops near the front of the party.
"Pinkie Pie, about this party for Gilda," Pinkie rubbed Fluttershy's mane.
"Don't worry about a thing Fluttershy, Auntie Pinkie Pie is going to take care of anything," Fluttershy saw the way Pinkie glanced at the young ones beneath them so didn't feel annoyed.
"Thanks, Pinkie," Twilight looked a little lost as to what they were talking about but couldn't ask as the guest of the hour entered the cafe with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie went to greet them.
"At a meeting for Town Hall I believe, he didn’t exactly elaborate. A whistling sound caught their attention and they saw Gilda running to dunk her head in a barrel.
"Hah, pepper in the lemon drop," Caramel snickered, she and Scootaloo exchanging a look that made Fluttershy suspicious.
"Girls?" her inquiring town made Caramel wince a bit, Scootaloo just blinked up at her innocently.
Things did not go well with Gilda as time went on, and it soon became apparent that she was losing her temper bit by bit.
The tail on the pony was the last straw, and when Fluttershy saw the way Rainbow's expression hardened at her old friend's words, she knew it was her time.
"Fine, if you're going to side with these weaklings, then I'm leaving!" Gilda turned, only to see a vaguely familiar yellow pegasus, "Get out of my way loser," she snarled, ready to tear into the mare with her talons.
"No," was the reply and then the mare's eyes sharpened and Gilda felt her entire being freeze, "I can understand being frustrated by pranks, and I can understand that you are uneasy in an unfamiliar environment. But what I cannot forgive is you yelling at an innocent for accidentally bumping into you and making them cry," Fluttershy stepped forward and Gilda stepped back, "I always knew you were a bully, but to make a cub cry for fun is downright cruel," she took another step, making Gilda step back further, "So, before you leave, I want you to turn around and apologize to everyone you were cruel to, including Frost," without control, Gilda found hersel turning around to see the white cub she scared off earlier next to what looked like a baby dragon.
"You!" she growled, making the cub flinch and hide beneath his claws, but the orange pegasus filly and the other two cubs got in front of him.
"Not on our watch you stupid villain," the female cub's haunches were raised, and her brother was in a crouch, glaring at her.
"What can you do to me," Gilda managed in her paralysis, the pegasus filly smirked and threw up a ball, turning and bucking it to the ceiling, making a popping noise as a strange liquid covered Gilda, filling her nostrils with a rotten smell.
"Ugh!" her paralysis was broken and she growled, "You little," she charged at them when a green hoof entered her line of sight and she somehow found herself pinned to the floor, her wings at an odd angle.
"And this is how you take down a raging griffin," then she found herself being spun multiple times, "And this is how you say goodbye," with surprising force she was pushed out of there into the street, "Goodbye!" the door slammed shut in her face and she struggled to her feet.
"I'm outta here," she tried to fly but her wings weren't responding and she was forced to limp out of Ponyville.
Inside Sugarcube Corner, Frost was beaming at his siblings,
"Thank you guys," Caramel scoffed.
"The only one allowed to make you cry is me," she stated, Glaze rolled his eyes, looking up at Fluttershy who joined them.
"Sorry for ruining your scolding Auntie Fluttershy," the pegasus shook her head.
"It was too much to hope that she would apologize, but Gilda has always been like that," Rainbow approached the group, looking a bit perturbed.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy gave the blue mare a surprisingly dry look.
"Should I repeat the numerous times you were told of Gilda's actions and passed them off as nothing serious? I only waited to scold Gilda because I wasn't sure whether you would take her side," Rainbow's mouth dropped.
"You said she made Frost cry! I wouldn't have been surprised that you scolded her," she tried to defend herself, Fluttershy looked tired.
"Before or after coming to Ponyville," Rainbow realized what she was getting at and flinched back as if slapped.
"Fluttershy," the pegasus let her brother climb on her back and Zephyr blocked Rainbow from approaching her.
"We're glad you didn't side with your friend again this time, but you can't say it hasn't been coming with what you've let your friends get away with in the past," the group left, leaving the party on a silent note.
"Rainbow?" Twilight watched the Element of Loyalty bow her head.
“I’m going home, I don’t feel well,” she left, leaving the remaining Elements to exchange awkward looks.
Luna’s eyebrow twitched, the alicorn doing all she can to not blast the unicorn in front of her. She could understand Sister’s desire to have Trade Wind tutor her, and why she arranged for a speech tutor as well.
What she could not understand is why this stallion was chosen to tutor her as well.
“As you can see here Princess, we unicorns have improved life in this city and have made great strides towards improving life throughout all of Equestria. Our progress has halted at certain points, but we are doing our best to deal with the disruptive elements throughout the land,” Luna frowned.
“And what exactly are these disruptive elements?” the unicorn faltered, smile falling before grinning even wider.
“We’ll get to that later Your Highness, now we must cover Magical History,” a whistling sound caught her attention and she sensed something approaching the room they were in with fast speed.
“Your Highness are you listening?” she gave him a sharp look.
“Watch how you address us,” he twitched,
“I am just doing what I can to help you-” the doors on the balcony shuddered, the knobs turning down and opening as the approaching figure came even closer.
“Is that, Trade Wind?” the stallion stiffened, blanching as the pegasus flew in through the now open balcony, landing with a sharp thud, bowing to Luna.
“Sorry for my tardiness your Highness, I was somewhat, detained,” then her sharp, blue eyes turned to the unicorn, lips pulling back into a frown, “Hello Runescape, care to tell me how you entered the palace without permission?” he straightened, glowering at her.
“I have an invitation from Prince Blueblood himse-” “Prince Blueblood does not own the castle, Princess Celestia does, and how the two of you thought you could get away with this is rather surprising,” frowning, Luna stared at her so-called unicorn tutor.
“You are not my tutor?” “Your Highness if you were to learn from him, you would end up offending every single non-unicorn throughout Equestria, and alienate the Nocturne as well if he had his way,” the alicorn scowled.
“We see,” the stallion stammered, backing away as she took one step forward,
“Y-your Highness, this is just a misunder-” “GUARDS!” she bellowed, shaking the room and bringing in several Royal Guards, “Detain that unicorn! Throw him into the dungeon!” they ran in and tackled him, putting a restraint on his horn and dragging him kicking and screaming out of the room.
A hiss of the fire dragged her attention to where the pegasus was dropping a bunch of books and scrolls into the flames.
“Pro-unicorn propaganda,” was the simple reply, she huffed.
“We are glad that he is not our tutor, he was growing rather tiresome and we did not want to offend our sister by questioning her choices,” Trade Wind hummed, taking out her saddlebag,
“Rather than question, you can always talk about the stallion at the supper table and the different subjects that he showed to you. Along with the books that he wants you to read, and the rest could’ve been taken care of,” Luna narrowed her eyes.
“Your a shrewd one aren’t you?” that got her a secret smile, “You can say that Your Highness, now, are you ready for the session?” “We still do not understand why this is necessary, we know Haycart’s Method, have been using it since we have arrived to learn what has gone on in the past thousand years,” and gaining quite the headache as well.
“I’m not here to tutor you on subjects you can learn in books your Highness,” “Then why are you here?” she interrupted, confused, Trade Wind quirked her lips up.
“Well that depends on how our sessions go, now I’m going to ask you a set of questions to determine what we will be covering,” she took out a scroll, unrolling the top of it while Luna reluctantly settled on a lounge chair, “Now, between going to a theater or going to a derby race, which one do you prefer?” Luna blinked.
“Is this necessary?” “Your Highness,” the alicorn groaned.
“Fine, while a race sounds interesting, I’d rather fly in one, but I would prefer going to the theater,” there had been a few plays in her time and she was quite curious about what kind of ones there are now.
“Good, now list your preferred tastes in order of sweet, salted, sour, bitter, and umami,” the alicorn felt that this was going to be a very strange tutoring session.
But Celly recommended her so she would go along with the silliness.
For now.
“Is this safe?” Spike asked, staring at the cloud with wide eyes and gulping, his clawed feet on board Frost lent him.
“It’s fun!” Scootaloo cheered, wings buzzing as she zoomed around the rink, shooting into the air and bouncing off a cloud, using the momentum to reach a ramp that went back down into the rink in loops.
“Come on Scales!” something pushed him and he fell with a yelp as the board tilted down into the rink.
“Caramel!” Glaze’s loud voice reached his ears as he flailed, trying to maintain his balance and avoid the laughing orange filly who had been just as nervous as him.
Ten Minutes Ago.
Seeing a wall up ahead, he tried turning and ended up falling onto his face with an oomph, the board flying out from his feet and crashing into Scootaloo who let out a ‘Woah’ as she too, lost her balance.
“A-are you t-two okay?” Frost flew down to them, fretting as they got up.
“Yeah, luckily I’m a dragon so even if it wasn’t a cloud I wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” he accepted the talons held out to him, pulling himself up as Glaze joined them, followed by a pouting Caramel as he helped Scootaloo up.
“This place is wicked! I’ve been in Ponyville for years and never even knew it existed,” she said in amazement, cranking her head back to look at the rings floating in the air and the different ramps throughout the ‘skating stadium’ floating in the sky.
“Our Uncle Shy built this, he even disguised it as a house and we have it registered with Mayor Mare too. Since Rainbow Dash also has a cloud house it’s not that big of an issue. If others found out about this place, they’ll swarm it like ants and try to claim it for themselves. There’s even a barrier that stops others from coming in without an invitation,” Glaze stated proudly, Spike blinked.
“And you invited me? But I just met you guys!” “Yeah and? Frost likes you so it's fine,” the griffin turned red, glaring, well more like pouting, at his cousin who stuck her tongue out.
“Yeah, and one of the only agreements we have on this place is everyone has to agree to whoever anyone wants to invite. If you want to invite someone but the others do not agree, then they cannot come in,” “Huh, has that happened yet?” he asked, seeing the look aimed at the only female griffin of the three.
“It’s not like Diamond Tiara would have enjoyed skating anyways, even if Rarity cast the cloud-walking spell on her,” she grumbled, “And now she states she isn’t my friend,” “Good, she was a brat, and you were only her friend because she’s rich,” “Hey, you don’t have to go that far,” Scootaloo cried out, glaring at him, but Caramel stared at the floor.
“No, he’s kind of right,” the filly gaped at her, but Spike wasn’t surprised.
This cub had tried to hold a ticket ransom in exchange for his lunchbox, though he did not have a lunchbox.
“W-why don’t we call it quits? I heard from Brother that Aunt Trixie is coming to town,” “Wait she is?” the twins cried out, shocked, “Why didn’t you say that earlier Frost?” Caramel demanded, making the cub shrink into himself.
“Because she’s not supposed to be here for another thirty minutes,” he whispered, looking scared, Glaze smacked Caramel.
“Knock it off sis, we can still meet with her, and I’m sure Junior will be excited to meet you,” “Hmph,” she stalked off, picking up her green and gold snowboard and flying through one of the exits.
“Whose Trixie?” Spike asked, picking up the loaned board and handing it to Frost who hung it up on the wall with a few others, Scootaloo also put hers up, having been told it only works on clouds and snow.
“She’s a unicorn who attended WEU with Brother, she’s a traveling performer whose a master at illusion and magic tricks like Hoofdini himself.” “Traveling performer?” he asked, interested, Glaze turned to answer them, flying beside the small air balloon connected to the rink, the three boarding it (Frost wasn’t a very good flyer apparently.)
“Yeah, she performs tricks for the audience and riles them up with stories of her travels to keep them interested. She might also brag a bit, but that’s how a stage magician is supposed to act, I’m guessing you’ve never been to one before?” Spike shook his head, Canterlot was not known for ‘stage magic.’
“No, but you also said she was an illusionist?” “Yeah, it was how she got into the school, her illusions impressed the school board and she was the second female unicorn to be accepted into the school. The first is Rarity,” he added when Spike opened his mouth.
He closed it.
“Oh, does she still attend then?” “Yeah, she’ll go back in the fall, but seeing as it's summer she goes around doing her performances, I got a message from Hollow Shades that the residents there enjoyed her performance. She managed to fool their hearing to the point they thought there were twittermites approaching their town.” Spike froze.
“Aren’t they on the other side of Equestria?” “Yes, yes they are,” huh, maybe Twilight would like to see the performance.
So long as Trade Wind isn’t brought up.
Speaking of which,
“Spike!” Twilight approached them as she landed, a frown on her face, “Where were you? I have spells I need to work on but you weren’t around,” the dragon winced.
“I left you a note that I was going to hang out with Frost!” “Yes but that was hours ago, now come on, I have a few spells I want to work on and I need you there,” Spike looked alarmed.
“But a show pony is appearing in Ponyville! She’s supposed to be good at magic!” Twilight paused, frowning, luckily Rarity appeared.
She had a stroller in front of her, a sleepy colt staring at them with half-lidded eyes, his blonde and purple mane covered by a small-cap.
“Hello all, Twilight, do you want to come to see the show as well? I know it must be difficult sorting through all the orders but you must take a break from library work,” the purple mare flinched.
“Orders?” she asked, weakly, Rarity gave her a confused look.
“Yes, haven’t you been receiving request forms for new books in the library to order? You have received your library budget, haven’t you? I know the Knitting Circle is looking forward to the latest Pattern and Design Magazine, and the Mystery Club has been waiting for the latest installment of the Fangs and Talons mystery series. Oh, have you looked at the proposal for the audio section? They’ve recently come out with recording crystals, and if you have a radio you can insert the crystal into a slot to record your favorite show before taking it out. I know they do special audio readings of famous books, and I’m quite partial to the Shadow Spade adaptation. The mare they have for Spade is delightful!” Twilight looked overwhelmed while Spike gave her a side glance, puzzled.
He had remembered Twilight receiving bits in the mail, but the mare ended up spending it on study supplies and magic books. As Celestia’s student it's what she’s always done and nothing was wrong with that, but he didn’t think about the fact she was also now the librarian and had new duties.
“Is all of that important?” Twilight stammered, “They could buy the books and magazines in stores right?” the fashionista gave her a concerned glance.
“Are you alright? And why wouldn’t it be? That is the duty of the library, always has been. Well, I’m going to the show, feel free to come,” Spike slipped away with Frost and the others, not waiting for Twilight to recover.
“That explains why there have been no new books in the library, and I’m guessing there’s nothing new in the comic section?” Spike rubbed his head, feeling awkward.
“Twilight moved the comics to the basement to make room for her magic books,” he didn’t mind because he could read them on his own time, but he’s pretty sure he wasn’t the only comic reader in Ponyville.
Frost looked disappointed,
“Oh, I was hoping to visit the library to look at them,” Spike scratched his cheek, feeling sheepish even though it technically wasn’t his fault.
“Just go to the Comic Vault,” Caramel said impatiently, Glaze snapped his talons,
“That’s true, that is always kept up to date,” feeling even more confused, Spike exchanged glances with Scootaloo who shrugged, not knowing what they were talking about either.
“What’s the Comic Vault?” he asked, wondering if he would regret asking.
---------------------
Rarity made sure Titanium Rose was comfortable before greeting Zephyr and Gabby, the latter immediately leaning over the stroller and cooing at the colt.
“Everything alright?” the green pegasus asked, Rarity frowned.
“I’m not sure, I came across Twilight scolding Spike for not being in the library to help with her magic studies, and when I inquired about new books for the library she kind of shut down?” she couldn’t understand why,
“Ah, well from what I understand she’s been studying her whole life,” “So has Trade Wind,” she pointed out, but the pegasus waved, “Yes but that mare has also been involved in more real-world stuff and the working class. Twilight on the other hand only knows about studying magic and recently friendship. She probably even isn’t aware that she should be doing both library work and apprenticeship work,” it made sense, but she did not like it all that much.
“I wonder how she’s going to manage when Spike goes to school,” she saw the grimace on his face and frowned, “What?”
“According to Fluttershy she has no intentions of Spike attending school since he is her assistant and doesn’t need to go,” feeling thrown, Rarity gaped at him.
“B-but he’s a young dragon, underage, and going to school would be good for him,” “He would have to search outside of Ponyville though,” Zephyr said dryly, Gabby frowning sadly as Rarity looked between them.
“What do you mean?” “Ponyville Schoolhouse sent letters to Carrot Mash and Reese, telling them that the cubs are no longer allowed to attend the school on the grounds of the teacher being unqualified to teach them,” anger boiled in her chest, her eyes widening in rage.
“The EEA?” she gritted through her teeth, they both nodded, “And what about the Teaching Every Creatures Certificate, surely Cheerilee would do it, Fancy Pants promised the funding to any school threatened by those bigots,” she said incredulously.
“She doesn’t want to risk it,” an angry voice stated, Reese, stopping by her and nodding to the other two, “I’ve been talking with that coward all summer and she feels that even with a Certificate, she would be unable to teach Caramel and Glaze. That it wouldn’t be fair to the other students,” Rarity found herself growling and took several deep breaths.
“Have you been able to find alternatives?” she asked, worried, Reese let out a breath.
“I’m trying, but there are not many schools near here, and homeschooling them isn’t possible either. I could contact a few tutors, and have them teach in the community center, but the fees alone,” she sighed, “Thankfully Scootaloo can still attend, even if I do not feel comfortable with her being taught by Cheerilee or getting bullies for having griffins for cousins.” Rarity thought about it.
“Have you asked Trade Wind? Knowing her she’ll have a solution tomorrow morning if not tonight,” Reese looked around, checking for certain manes among the crowd before leaning in.
“She’s not in the Castle, she’s back in Canterlot and will be there a few days, Moondancer is in charge at the moment,” she whispered in a low voice, and Rarity hummed. If Lyra was here she could ask the mare to send a letter, but unfortunately, the musician was on air at the moment. Considering enrollment was a time of the essence, they needed to contact the mare as soon as possible. A mailbox would be preferable, but is the mare in her house or on that ‘secret job’ that she is not telling anyone about?
Spotting Spike, she waved to him, getting his and the other’s attention.
“Spike, I wonder if you can send a message to Princess Celestia real quick, for me,” the dragon blinked.
“Uh sure,” at that moment the show started and she smiled at the dragon, summoning a scroll and quill to herself.
“I’ll give it to you after the show, alright?” “Sure,” fireworks shot from both sides of the stage, spinning and zooming around the crowd, leaving them in awe as the colorful sparks flew through the air. Then the fireworks appeared over the stage and crashed against one another, startling everyone as a bright flash appeared.
Then it went away, revealing Trixie in her caped glory, picking up her hat and bowing with a dramatic flourish.
Hooves stamped against the ground, but Rarity frowned, eyeing the stage and realizing something was amiss.
Where was Junior?
“Greetings everyone, I am the Mysterious and Illustrious Trixie, Illusionist Extraordinaire and purveyor of shock and awe! Tonight you will all be witness to the bending of reality and learn to question your senses as I give you a show you will never forget!” her horn glowed and light emitted from her, forming two clones, one winking while the other spun a hat in her hoof, “Your mind will be bewitched and your senses muddled-” Rarity raised her hoof,
“Objection!” she called out, startling everyone who stared at her, Zephyr and Gabby were already laughing, “I call copyright,” Trixie narrowed her eyes,
“And why is that?” “Because those are words Professor Cora uses in her potions class, you cannot use them as an illusionist!” Rarity accused, Trixie sputtered.
“Well is it my fault she had a way with words?” she demanded, almost pouting, “Fine, how about this, To be or not to be-” “That’s from our literature class,” Gabby called out, giggling, Trixie groaned,
“Honestly, can’t a mare do this show in peace without being called out for quoting?” Zephyr smirked.
“It depends, has your improv improved any?” “Has your dancing,” she shot back, causing laughter among a few of the audience.
Rarity shook her head, chuckling, seeing one of the illusionary clones wink at her.
This would be fun, wouldn’t it?
---------------------------
They were almost near the end of the checklist, any cautiousness from Luna disappearing as she became invested in the questions and found them rather enjoyable.
Celestia of course chose the time to come in when Trade Wind was asking Luna about embarrassing moments she could recall with her sister.
“You know, when I asked you to be her tutor, it wasn’t so you could gain embarrassing info on me,” her sister stated dryly, a scroll floating in her magic as Trade grinned at her.
“Considering everything Master Po has told me, I wanted to get a better picture from a non-biased source,” Luna snorted, surprising herself while Celly pouted, grumbling, ‘non-biased my ass’ under her breath.
“Is there a reason your here sister?” the alicorn gave the scroll to Trade Wind, looking amused.
“Spike sent me a letter from Rarity addressed to you,” Trade Wind unrolled it and her face darkened at the contents.
“Reese needs help searching for a school for the twins, and possibly Frost as well,” she read further while Luna gave Celestia searching look, getting a shaking head and frown in return, “She’s also asking about schooling for Spike, since Twilight isn’t interested,” she turned the letter over, brow furrowing, “Huh, Spike added a post it asking if he needed to attend schooling as well. Your Highness, does Twilight not know about the Education Bill that was passed?” Celestia rubbed her head.
“I thought she did, Spike managed with tutors in the castle, and I thought he would attend the schoolhouse, but if Caramel and Glaze are no longer allowed. The EEA is becoming a pain again,” she sighed, “You would think after their constant losses throughout the years they would drop this xenophobic nonsense, we literally had to create an entirely new Educational Association so that they could no longer threaten the Accreditation of the WEU and Equestrian schools welcoming non-pony students. Luckily the authority of this new Association is being recognized, but most of the schools still operate in fear and ban those the EEA does not approve,” Luna scowled.
“Abolish this organization then,” “I would if I could, but it was built by Starswirl himself, and therefore holds protections. I wish I had seen this sooner,” she sighed, looking exhausted, Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder.
“Well this should be easy enough,” Trade Wind commented, breaking the solemn atmosphere, writing into a new scroll, “There’s a school in StarDusk that is still accepting students, and while it would take a while to set up a teleportation network between Ponyville and here, there are a pair of flyers I know who would enjoy the extra work. This should be enough till after the Grand Galloping Gala, at which point we can either do the transportation spell or,” she glanced at Princess Luna who blinked, “Princess Luna, how adverse would you be to a small school being included into the castle,” the alicorn thought about it.
“Tis sounds like an interesting idea,” she stated, in fact it sounded more appealing than anything else she could think of.
“Wonderful! I’ll go talk to Twilight Velvet and Night Light, by the way, have you seen Cadance? I haven’t seen her in the Castle at all today,” Trade twitched and looked to the side.
“Oh, not sure,” Tia did not look convinced,
“You can’t avoid her forever you know,” the pegasus gave her a raised eyebrow.
“And you are not getting out of the List with Princess Luna you realize?” ‘List?’ Luna saw her sister pale and beat a hasty retreat.
“Just remembered I have court, bye!” the doors slammed behind her.
“Do we need to know what this list is?” Trade Wind waved her hoof,
“Nothing to worry about till later, Princess Celestia is being overdramatic,” Luna sighed.
“She can be like that sometimes,” she agreed, before eyeing the list, “What is the next question?” her tutor grinned.
“If you were to get into a fight with the Dragon Lord, how would you humiliate him?” her own blue eyes glinted.
“It depends, is that loud, pompous Torch still in charge?” “Oh yes,” was the answer, the Princess of the Night gave a dark laugh,
“We have the perfect plan for one like that.”
“I have the perfect plan!” Snips stated, marching off towards the forest, Snails trailing right behind him.
“Is it another Woo Caramel plan?” the colt stopped and turned bright red, whirling on him.
“No!” his high pitch voice became even higher, “We’re going to find an Urse Major and once we bring it to Ponyville, we can see real magic!” it was so boring in Ponyville! The only magic they learned was the ones taught by their parents.
When Twilight Sparkle moved to town Snips had been hoping for something, considering she was the Princess’ personal student, but when she wasn’t with her friends she was in the library doing something or other.
He almost gave up hope when Trixie appeared in town and did her show, and he wished to see even more of that magic.
Too bad she went with that unicorn Rarity his mom always mutters about with the news that she would be leaving the next morning.
If he wanted to see more awesome magic, he needed to bring out the big guns.
“One of the Ranger animals,” Snails suddenly stated, pointing ahead, Snips smirked, bringing out a bag from his pocket.
‘I got this,” his mom always used this to put him to sleep after all.
The bear walking along the trail turned and growled at them warningly, only for the bag thrown against its face to open, sending it to sleep with the scent.
“Yes!” Snips ran passed it, calling to Snails to hurry up.
The upcoming magic show was going to be epic!
---------
Laughing, Trixie accepted another cookie from Rarity, dipping it into the spicy tea and taking a bite, speaking once she swallowed.
“If you thought they were sappy when they were ‘courting’ you should see them now, Professor Cora and Professor Oak are practically inseparable!” Paris huffed.
“Still wish they’d hired us for the wedding though-” Ash swatted her,
“And you know that if anyone was going to do it, it would be Crescent Spiral, and the dress she designed was gorgeous,” “It was,” Rarity agreed, looking rueful, “I wish we could have attended, just sending a gift didn’t seem enough,” Trixie hummed,
“They wanted a small wedding after all, not many could attend, and there were worries of wedding crashers from those not pleased with the union,” “Princess Cadance herself blessed it, with her magic,” Rarity rubbed her forehead, “I’m getting a headache, I don’t suppose there’s anything else? Where’s Junior?” Trixie stiffened, getting their attention, “Trixie?” the unicorn sighed.
“About Jun-” a roar interrupted them, the boutique shaking around them as the growling and sounds of screaming reached their ears.
The four ran out of the Boutique, Trixie gaping at the Ursa Minor appearing in town,
“What the?” two colts approached them, and vaguely recognizing them from her earlier audience, she frowned as they hid behind her.
“Go on Trixie! Defeat the Ursa Major!” she blanched.
“Are you serious? That is not a Major at all, that’s a baby! If I do anything to it the mother would eviscerate me!” she had seen a Major once.
Never again.
“Eh, that’s not an Ursa Major?” the taller one asked stupidly, the shorter one frowned.
“Why does that matter? Just defeat it with your awesome magic!” Trixie glared at him.
“In case you didn’t hear-” a crunching sound made her freeze and she slowly turned to where the large cub was already walking away.
After having crushed her trailer to a pancake.
A heart wrenching scream echoed through the air, and it took her a moment to realize it was her as she ran to the ruins, horn lighting up as she desperately searched through the wreckage.
“No no no,” tears blurring her eyes, she threw plank after plank, trying to recall where the spot was that she needed to get to but finding it difficult through her panic.
“Trixie, Trixie! What’s wrong,” “J-junior,” she gasped, “Junior’s in ther-” Rarity looked horrified, horn lighting up,
“Why was he in the trailer by himself? Is he sick?” she shook her head, crying,
“S-statue, stuck, couldn’t fix him,” “Get Limestone and Pinkie now!” Rarity told her business partners who ran off, before turning to help Trixie with the rubbish.
Trixie vaguely heard that Twilight unicorn asking her for help, but she ignored her, intent on finding her charge and dreading what she could find.
Seeing a gray ear, she lunged, freeing the space around it and bursting into sobs as she saw the crumbled statue of Junior, scattered around the floor.
A dark gray hoof appeared in her vision, a familiar sharp voice saying something to Rarity on her other side before all the pieces were enveloped in a blue glow and taken out of the rubble.
“We got him Trixie,” Limestone told her, “Oi Sword boy, get over here!” Zephyr joined them, and the three started working on putting the statue together, a grim Pinkie appearing as well, eyes narrowed as she used her Blessing to guide them.
A wing wrapped around her side and she leaned into a feathered chest, Gabby rubbing her mane to help her calm down.
“We just wanted to see some awesome magic!” the protest reached her ears and flicking an ear, she slowly turned to the two colts being reprimanded by a crowd of ponies, that purple unicorn glaring down at them.
“Really? Then I’ll show you magic,” she stated, horn glowing, and in disbelief the showmare watched mustaches appearing on the colts mouths, who proceeded to marvel over them.
“Are you kidding me?!” her exclamation shot through the air, anger and despair in her as she marched over to the startled unicorn, “These colts endanger everyone, and you punish them by rewarding them with a party trick?!” the a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane appeared.
“Hey! If you hadn’t lied about the Ursa Major-” “She wasn’t lying about the Ursa Major,” Gabby stated, scowling, “She used Illusion magic to lure it away from a town and back into its cave, and she shouldn’t be blamed for what those two,” she pointed at the idiots, “Decided to do, and what I’m wondering is why you are allowed to decide their punishment, when you are not the Mayor or their parents,” Twilight took a step back.
“W-well that is-” “She took care of the Ursa didn’t she?” and there was an Earth Pony, Mac’s little sister she believed, stepping in, “More than you did,” she directed this to Trixie who trembled, burning with rage.
“I want the Mayor and those colts parents’ here now,” she stated in a cold voice, “Before I decide to take these colts to court for creatureslaughter,” “And I would be there as well,” a stern voice stated, Fluttershy flying down and giving the frightened colts a stare that made them gulp, “Because foolish acts or not, knocking out one of my Ranger animals? Leaving them dangerously close to the path the Ursa Major went down? If they had died you would be held responsible,” the pudgy colt blanched.
“B-but h-how else would we have gotten to the cave?” “You wouldn’t have!” Fluttershy said sharply, “And Snails, that internship your parents tried asking me for, is not going to happen,” Pinkie stood next to her, glaring at the ringleader of the two.
“And you will not be allowed near any of my parties mister, either of you,” the two started crying, ponies protesting, and the rainbow maned pegasus landed on the ground, gaping at them.
“Come on, your animal didn’t get hurt Fluttershy, and creatureslaughter? No one got hurt, your making a fuss over a statue,” Trixie growled,
“Junior isn’t a statue yo-” “Mama?” the small voice had her whirling around and running to where Rarity, Zephyr, and Limestone were stepping away from a small gargoyle looking around himself in confusion, wings tight against his back.
“Junior!” she scooped him up into a hug, nuzzling him as he accepted it with confused happiness, tail swaying.
Calming down, she turned back and gave the ponies a glare, showing the small creature in her hooves that moments ago had been a statue.
“You are lucky,” she told the colts, whose parents had just arrived, “Because if they had been unable to put him back together, you would have to face the justice of the Gargoyle nation, and they don’t have an age limit,” her dark promise had the adults paling, the Mayor in particular, “Now, shall we discuss their punishment or not?” the mare swallowed.
“This is troubling,” Celestia sighed, catching the attention of her dinner guests as she put the letter down.
“What’s wrong Sister?” Luna asked, fork gathering as many noodles as she could with great concentration.
“It seems rather than a friendship lesson, my student is worried about the reactions of Trixie to her decision,”
“Decision about what?” Trade Wind asked, watching Luna who was pouring parmesan on her mound of spaghetti and bringing it to her mouth.
“The punishment for two colts responsible for waking an Ursa Minor and bringing it to town,” the fork dropped to the plate with a loud splat, sending red sauce and parmesan everywhere as Luna gave her sister an incredulous look.
“Come again?” she asked, blinking several times, Trade Wind put a hoof to her head,
“Let me guess, Snips and Snails?” Celestia nodded,
“Apparently they wanted to see ‘awesome magic’,” the pegasus groaned.
“Oh honestly, wait, didn’t Fluttershy post a Rescue animal to guard that part of the forest?” Celestia scowled.
“They knocked it out with sleeping powder,” the two blue mares froze, horror on their faces.
“So not only did these foolish colts risk destruction to their own village, they also knocked out one of their protectors?” “That is not the only thing,” Celestia stated grimly, “In the rampage of the Ursa Minor, it stepped onto Trixie Lulamoon’s trailer, destroying it along with Junior who had been a statue. Junior is a Gargoyle,” she added upon Luna’s confused expression, raising a hoof when Trade made to leave the table, “Junior is fine now, with the help of Limestone and a few others they put him back together,” the pegasus collapsed back into her chair, pale with both horror and relief.
“A Gargoyle, in Equestria?” Luna’s question was understandable and Trade Wind rubbed her head, sighing.
“A story we’ll get to in the sessions your Highness, the context of which won’t be understood without learning other things first,” she explained when the Princess looked like she wanted to protest.
“We see, what punishment did your student decide,” Trade Wind grimaced, already having a guess and Celestia sighed.
“That’s just it,” she said, “Even if she helped put the Ursa Minor back before it caused more damage, that does not give her the right to the decision. Which is probably why Miss Lulamoon got so angry with her. Because apparently to punish the colts Twilight used the Mustache trick on them,” Luna opened her mouth, closed it, then tilted her head.
“Did she cause the mustache to grow over their eyes and blind them?” “No,” “Out of their noses to block their breathing,” “No Luna,” “Hideous mustaches?” the alicorn tried again, “Wrong again, normal mustaches that they enjoyed,” Princess Luna leaned back, glancing at Trade Wind, looking puzzled.
“Has the idea of punishment changed throughout the years? We fail to see how that would make the colts learn their lesson. Plus as you said she didn’t have the authority,”
“No, and she feels upset that she was called out for it. This in addition to the letter from Spike and Miss Rarity makes me worry. Trade Wind,” her voice stopped the pegasus from slipping away, giving the eighteen-year-old an unamused look which got her a sheepish one in return, “Your thoughts please,” “Your Highness I don’t-” “And be as blunt as possible,” Princess Celestia stated firmly.
Trade Wind flinched, giving her and Luna an uncertain look before sighing.
“Alright, your Highness-” “ahem,” “Celestia, when you sent Twilight to Ponyville and gave her the library to use as her new home, did you tell her that part of her duties was to manage the library?” Celestia tilted her head.
“Well, no, but I figured after how Twilight managed the books in the Tower, it would be alright,” “Unfortunately I think you need to be a bit more clear with her, considering the time since she’s joined the village, the library hasn’t ordered any new books or resumed its previous events that had been under the previous librarian. I have received letters from Granny Smith herself complaining about having to go all the way to the Town Hall for her Quilting Club, and some complaints about the stock aisle not being updated. Then there is, well, the comment Twilight made about Spike being her assistant and not attending school. Pinkie expanded on that somewhat, sending me a message about Twilight wanting Spike to look after the library while she met with her friends. While Spike is capable of looking after himself, he is still not yet ten years old and managing the library is not something he should have to do. I understand that Twilight Sparkle has studies that she needs to do, but she also has responsibilities, and once Spike attends school (because he does need to attend school), she will have to learn how to cook for herself as well,” Celestia narrowed her eyes, realizing that there was something Trade Wind wanted to say but the pegasus stopped herself from doing so.
“Spit it out Trade Wind,” “I just do not feel comfortable about the fact Twilight treats Spike as an assistant and nothing more. I’ve also come across him putting away books she took down, and while she can use her magic to take them down, he has to climb a ladder to put them back. While you did have good intentions of putting her somewhere with a lot of books, it might be best if you appoint an assistant librarian who can help with her duties. The book ones I mean, not the chores,” Celestia thought about it.
“You have a point, and I fear I will have to tell her that her decisions regarding these two colts were wrong. Actions have their consequences after all,” Trade Wind nodded, looking at her plate and lifting something up when she stiffened and flew out.
“Tra-” the doors blew open, cutting Celestia off as a panting Cadance with mussed hair and twigs in her mane came in.
“Transporting me to the Minotaur lands was a dirty trick Trade Wind! (Even if the wedding ceremony was lovely.)” but the pegasus was nowhere to be seen, chair pushed back and plate empty. Letting out a humph, Cadence looked around, growling under her breath as she took a seat at the table.
“Is that where you were Cadance?” Celestia asked, dipping her garlic bread into the red sauce.
“Yes,” steam was emitting from her mane, “I found a letter in my mailbox, opened it, and somehow found myself transported all the way over there in the middle of a wedding party. I flew back,” she was seething, “If she thinks she can hide from me forever she has another thing coming!” Celestia sweatdropped.
“I see,” did she want to know how Trade Wind figured out how to booby-trap letters? Or should she stay away from this topic? The thought of using it on Po was tempting, maybe next time he’ll think twice about interrupting Day Court with another one of his ridiculous requests. Or yet another unwanted critique about Equestrian cuisine.
Something to consider.
After she messaged Twilight back of course, though the subject of an assistant librarian will be shelved for now.
No need to stress her student and cause her to panic at the wrong conclusion any further.
------------
Trade Wind checked to make sure that Cadance wasn’t following before closing her curtains and collapsing onto her hammock.
That was close, the Alicorn got even faster than before.
Maybe she should send her into space next time?
Anything to avoid the interrogation she knows is going to take place at the Alicorn’s hooves. Right now she’d rather worry about the implications of the changes to canon, changes that were throwing everything into disarray.
Fluttershy’s Ranger status and Nocturne accessories. Her brother (s)
Pinkie Pie’s control over her Blessing. Her brother
Lyra…
Rarity’s business partners
And her son.
That last part still shook her to this day, and it took everything in Trade Wind not to leave Equestria to go caving in other countries.
Applejack was a bit concerning, her attitude towards Big Mac and the Mash family concerned Trade Wind who avoided the mare when she could because of the former’s obsession with ‘tradition’ and the like.
The mare had never forgiven Big Mac for ‘abandoning’ their family to attend a school like WEU, and she and Rarity shared a strange animosity towards one another that was worse than the show.
She had a feeling about the reason but didn’t want to make things worse.
They were bad enough already.
Rainbow Dash was unknown, so much happened over the years with Wind Scar, Trade’s former parents, and her estranged sister that their relationship was pretty nonexistent.
She knew that was why Pinkie decided not to make Rainbow her pranking buddy, the Earth mare being friendly with the pegasus but nothing more than that.
Fluttershy wasn’t any better, the pegasus having her own grudge against the rainbow-maned pegasus and feeling guilty about it at the same time.
Lyra straight out wanted to magic all the hair off of her but Trade Wind stopped her, several times.
Then there was Twilight Sparkle.
Letting out a deep sigh, Trade Wind turned so that she was facing the wall where a map of Equestria’s caves was painted on the wallpaper.
She should have known at the beginning that Master Po and Celestia would wind up dragging Twilight and her into their little tiff with one another.
Trade did what she could not to let it bother her, but Twilight, unfortunately, did not do the same. Her rigid personality and hero-worship of powerful unicorns like Starswirl the Bearded led to some close-minded opinions spouted by the historical figure.
She even had the chance to attend WEU as a way to expand her horizons but refused it on the grounds that she wanted the rigid curriculum of Celestia’s School and did not feel comfortable attending a school where the teachers were free to teach what they want.
Especially the Magic Teachers which were constantly changing every year.
Trade Wind wondered if they would ever have a teacher who would last beyond the first year, she especially liked the third-year teacher.
Even if no one else remembered him.
But with the changes in the world, to the canon itself, Trade did not realize what was wrong with the original till it was staring at her right in the face.
In the show, Twilight had Spike as her assistant who cooked, cleaned, put away books, watched the library, and transcribed for her. That one episode where he got a claw cramp was not as funny now that she realized how young he was.
But even though Spike was raised by ponies, he was still a member of the Dragon race and fell under the new Bill. If he wanted to continue being Twilight’s assistant, then he needed to finish school and get a degree, and she should be able to manage the library by herself till then.
Right?
Another thing that bothered her about the library, but she had a big enough headache and did not want to think about it anymore.
“Tomorrow morning I’ll arrange for the cubs and Spike’s registration in the school,” she muttered out loud, eyelids closing, “and I need to make sure the bridge constr-” her eyes closed as sleep overcame her.
The wind settled around her, the whispers it brought going into a low murmur as they let the Wielder rest.
When she woke up the message would be delivered, but for now they would let her sleep.
Finishing her letter with a flourish, Celestia sent it off with her magic as Luna came into the throne room, reading a book in her aura.
“Sister, this book on new treatises with the different creatures in Celestia,” “Oh that,” the alicorn chuckled, looking sheepish, “Interesting isn’t it?” her sister gave her an unamused look.
“There’s one in here about a Debate Battle with Sapphire Dogs and an actual battle with Ruby Dogs for negotiations?” Celestia winced, remembering that one.
“Technically the Debate Battle is still one, they just have to talk while fighting,” among the four Jewel Dog tribes, the Sapphire ones were the scholarly one, at least in terms of speech and mining methods. The Ruby tribe was known for their hunting and battle skills, while the Diamond Dogs were somewhat tolerated but disliked by the others.
The Emerald Tribe were still missing, they were alive, Ruffalo could tell that much, but they were somewhere on Equis that he could not reach.
The fact enraged him as much as it worried Celestia, as she vaguely recalled the Emerald tribe having an ability not shared by their fellow Jewel Dogs. An ability that for the life of her she did not remember but knew could be dangerous if they ever so much as thought about turning it against Equestria.
She would talk to Luna about it, but it also meant telling her sister that Ruffalo was in Equestria and that conversation was one she wanted to put off as much as possible till the Alicorn was ready. Her reaction to the Jewel Dogs being separated into four different tribes had been bad enough.
Luna frowned, turning the book to the beginning and pointing at the first page.
“This treatise about dealing with the different creatures, it says only an appointed ambassador could meet with them?” “Yes, it was actually one of the goals for WEU, and most if not all the recent graduates have been named ambassadors for different tribes. If there is an issue that we need dealt with, they are sent in to deal with it,” Luna hummed.
“We see, the letter you just sent, was that to Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia smiled, nodding.
“Yes, I wrote to her about the dragon smoke coming from the mountain and asked her to meet with Trade Wind so that they could deal with it together. I figured it would be a good time for her to see what a dragon ambassador does,” her sister’s brow furrowed.
“Weren’t we not supposed to reveal the fact that Trade Wind is in Ponyville?” Celestia raised a hoof before lowering it.
“Ah,” it should be fine, right?
------------------------------------------------
Spike escaped as fast as he could, leaving while Twilight was still staring blankly at the wall while the incriminating letter lay on the table where he dropped it.
He was not going to stick around for that outburst.
It was bad enough when she received that reply from Princess Celestia about the Trixie incident and became depressed when it wasn’t what she wanted to hear (the additional letter about Spike’s admission to the StarDusk Academy and Twilight neglecting her duties as the town librarian had been a hard blow to the unicorn who had immediately written back to the Princess declining the need for an ‘assistant’ librarian who could do all the work while she focused on her studies.)
Yeah, Spike did not want to be around at the moment, especially if the unicorn decided to leave a long list of chores for him to finish while she went off to deal with the dragon.
Hopefully, the number of chores shrink when he starts school.
Speaking of which,
“Hey, Spike!” Frost and the other griffin cubs were sitting around a table in the pizza restaurant, Caramel working on a sheet on the table while Glaze filled out a coloring page. Frost had cards in his talons that caught Spike’s interest, the dragon sitting next to him to get a closer look. Scootaloo was nowhere to be found, then he remembered the pegasus was visiting her aunts on a weekend trip and would be back in the morning.
“What kind of cards are those?” he’s learned over the few weeks that Frost was just as avid a gamer and comic fan as he was, though quieter about it.
Frost ducked his head shyly as he showed them to him,
“They’re Golem Trading card, showing all the golems created throughout history with different attack and defense points,” Spike spotted one that looked familiar and blinked,
“I saw that one in the Canterlot Garden,” he stated, surprised, grabbing it to get a closer look while Caramel groaned.
“Come on you two, we have to choose all of our supplies, not geek out over yet another trading card game,” Glaze rolled his eyes, throwing a crayon at her head that made her glare at him.
“Leave them alone Caramel, Spike just got here, and we’re only looking at the magazines till Uncle Zeph picks us up,” the other griffin huffed and took out a pile of magazines with different covers.
She placed two next to one another and two more at the top, and Spike wasn’t at all surprised to see North Star was one of the magazines. The other three were a book catalog, what looked like a fashion one with bags and attire on it, the fourth had StarDusk printed on the top and showed a picture of the school.
It was a dark blue school in what looked like a cavern, looking much bigger than the Ponyville Schoolhouse but smaller than Celestia’s School.
“Right, we need to take a look at the classes offered and then choose our extracurriculars, though the expense,” Caramel had a notebook and abacus out, looking serious.
“Yeah, uh, I’m kind of excited to attend school and all, but this is a Nocturne school right? So are we supposed to attend classes at night?” they all looked at him, making him nervous, “What?” the StarDusk magazine was shoved in his face, talons tapping at one passage in particular and he read it.
“Oh,” apparently it was a 24-hour school with both day and night students.
“Nocturns won’t be the only students, there will no doubt be some griffins, ponies who did not want to attend normal schools, zebras, maybe even Jewel Dogs and Dragons,” Spike perked up at that.
Dragons?
“Probably not our eggcousins though, that school in Fillydelphia seems to be enough for them,” “Eggcousins?” “Dragons hatched from the eggs that were kidnapped along with ours to be sold on the black market,” Glaze commented, Spike, gaped at him.
“Seriously?” “Hello,” Caramel’s annoyed tone stopped the dragon from asking his next question and reluctantly sitting down, he waited for her to open the magazine.
She gave them another look before opening the magazine,
“Alright, we have the General Classes: History, Math, Science, Language Arts, Music, P.E. and the Extracurricular ones like: Ancient Magic, Economics, Martial Arts, Foreign Language, Theatre, and Gaming,” huh, that sounded interesting.
When they were done looking through the classes they went to the Book Catalogue to find what books they needed.
“Wait, these books are already set in bundles according to year, the only thing we have to worry about is looking at the books for the Extracurriculars,” “Actually we can just get the Extracurricular bundle,” Caramel stated, pointing at it in the corner, Glaze spluttered.
“But we’re not going to all of the Extracurriculars, isn’t it a waste of bits?” he demanded, Frost and Spike blinked when she pointed at them.
“No doubt they’ll attend several of the classes, and rather than pay ten or twenty bits per book, we can get the bundle for eighty bits if we combine our allowance. I’ll sign up for Economics and Foreign Language, you no doubt will take the Martial Arts and Theatre, and these two will end up in Gaming and Ancient Magic,” Spike frowned.
“Why would I want to join Ancient Magic?” “Because for RPG and Game nerds like you two, learning Ancient Magic is one of the things you end up learning anyways, plus the teacher is apparently the creator of those Golem trading cards. He uses his knowledge to make them,” Frost’s eyes widened.
“He teaches there?” he squeaked, feathers popping out in his excitement. Spike however realized Caramel just won her argument.
Glaze knew it as well if his exasperated sigh was any indication.
“Fine, we’ll put in twenty bits each, and Caramel and I always share our school books so it shouldn’t be an issue.” Spike thought about it,
“That should be enough, I got my allowance this morning,” along with the letter.
They looked at the North Star magazine next, which listed different events throughout the Nocturne settlements and an update on the town being built near the WEU University. Frost ended up squeaking when he saw a picture of his parents in the magazine, his mom holding a spade in her hooves while his dad was wearing a helmet and leaning over a table with a blueprint on it.
“I can’t wait till that island is done,” Caramel stated, eyes gleaming, “Especially the tomato section,” “We have tomatoes,” Glaze reminded her annoyed, but she gave him a pointed look.
“Not the Waxing Tomatoes,” Spike wanted to ask what a ‘Waxing Tomato’ was when they were interrupted.
“I see you four are hard at work,” said an amused Zephyr appearing at their table and startling Spike who dropped the school bag magazine in his claws. Another griffin, Gabby, giggled from behind the pegasus as she waved to them.
“Hello Brother,” Frost greeted, hugging him, the pegasus laughed and ruffled his feathered head,
“Come on, we got a free day ahead of us so we can spend it getting all of your school supplies while Gabby and I gather some stuff for the project,” the four followed the two out of the restaurant, the smoke in the distance making the stallion frown as he stared at it, “Whoever started that fire is going to be in a lot of trouble when Fluttershy gets a hold of them,” something about that did not sound right, and Spike felt a pit in his stomach as he corrected the stallion.
“That’s not a fire, that’s from a dragon,” “Huh, that makes more s- wait, how did you know that?” Zephyr asked, sounding a bit alarmed, Spike swallowed, seeing Gabby’s look of dread.
“Didn’t Twilight tell you when she went to get Trade Wind to talk to the dragon? Like Princess Celestia asked her to in the letter?” his voice trailed off and there was a moment of silence as the two stared at him.
“Gabby,” “On it, come on you four,” the griffin nodded to Zephyr who flew off, his metal wing shining in the sun and a serious expression on his face.
Spike’s claws clenched,
“Twilight didn’t get Trade Wind, did she?” Gabby gave a solemn shake of her head, “This is bad, isn’t it?” the griffin did not reply but Spike knew it was.
Oh Celestia what has Twilight done?
-----------------
The wind tugged at her wing again, reminding her of its message and she sighed, feeling a bit irritated.
“I know, I will ask her,” the sender of the message was taking too many liberties with her permission to use the wind to contact her.
He could ask Pinkie herself, but Trade Wind knew she could not refuse, it was annoying, but she couldn’t.
Trade Wind looked over the bridge construction, nodding to Limestone as the Earth Pony fastened the last brick into place. The bridge glowed with the runes carved into each individual piece, a green shine washing over it before it dulled, no signs of the runes in place.
“Right, that bridge is done, how’s the path coming along?” Limestone glanced at the pile of stones to the side, all with carved runes to avoid being affected by the Forest’s wild magic.
“Should be able to get them installed later tonight, and the roof pieces are almost done,” “Good, and the pillars?” “Ready for the morning,” Trade Wind let out a sigh, good, things were on track. The Carousel Boutique trio already had all the tapestries and rugs in their possession and were working on restoring them, and Ember sent her a letter confirming the sizes of the windows and how many she would need.
Ghost Pepper and his husband were familiarizing themselves with the route between Ponyville and StarDusk, stretching their wings and doing a few errands in the Nocturne settlement at the same time.
Moondancer was setting all the boxes into crates and was working on restoring the shelves and clearing out any unwanted creatures.
Zephyr Breeze and Gabby were supposed to take the quartet of non-ponies for school shopping while also searching for ingredients for a special potion to use for cleaning.
Or, she frowned, seeing the pegasus flying towards them, he should be anyways.
“Zephyr, what happened, did you forget something,” she asked as he landed in front of her, looking serious.
“There’s a dragon breathing smoke and Twilight went to deal with it by herself, apparently she was supposed to take you with her,” Trade Wind froze.
“What?” not waiting for an answer she was already in the sky, wings spread wide with Zephyr right behind her.
If it had been the original world, the canon one, she would not have worried because they did manage to deal with the dragon.
But this was a slightly different Equestria with different rules,
And dealing with the dragon was not Twilight’s job.
It was hers.
‘What are you thinking Sparkle?’ she thought, eyes narrowed and anger in her veins.
-------------
Twilight wasn’t thinking at all, she was trying not to as they climbed up the mountain. Because if she did it would bring up the guilt of omitting the truth from her friends.
“I wasn’t even aware of you being an ambassador Twilight,” Rarity commented, startling her out of her thoughts.
“What? Oh yes, that-” “Of course she is, she’s the Princess’s personal student,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, Twilight let out an inward sigh of relief, she hated lying.
“Yes, and Fluttershy I need you with me when we get there,” the Ranger blinked, taken aback as she looked up from talking to the chipmunk on her hoof.
“What for?” “Well with your talent for animals I figured it would be a breeze for you to deal with that dragon!” she continued walking, not realizing half of their party stopped till Applejack was looking over her shoulder annoyed.
“What are you three doing?” Twilight turned her head, seeing Rarity looking like she could not believe her ears while Pinkie was avoiding her gaze and Fluttershy was frozen.
“Please tell me she did not just say that, please tell me she did not just say that,” Rarity rubbed her ears while muttering,
“Uh Rarity?” they were almost to the cave and Twilight saw Pinkie taking several steps back,
“Come on you three, snap out of it,” Rainbow Dash said impatiently, Rarity did snap out of it, though in the next moment Twilight was flinching at the flick to her horn.
“Hey!” “Are you sure you are an ambassador?” Rarity asked, suddenly serious, eyes narrowed, “Because no offense darling what you just said is the highest of insults and I am glad that Spike was not here to hear you say such a thing,” Twilight spluttered.
“What? I just figured that Fluttershy-” “I’m a Ranger, not a Dragon Ambassador Twilight,” the pegasus stated sternly, “and I would have expected someone who was taught by Princess Celestia to have known better,” flinching back, Twilight felt herself panicking at the disapproval from three of her friends.
Why? She thought it had been a good plan, why were they acting as if she had done something wrong? It was Trixie all over again.
“Well she always did refuse to take proper diplomatic lessons,” a cold voice reached their ears, sending cold shivers down her spine and she tried summoning her magic, “I’ll make this quick,” only for a pressure from above to pin her to the ground, her magic snuffed out.
“Twilight!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash cried out, but the other three remained silent as four blue hooves landed in front of her without making a sound, soon followed by another.
“Rarity, Fluttershy, prevent those two from interfering, Zephyr, ask Pinkie for any ingredient you need for the remedy. I’ll be right back,” and those hooves disappeared.
The pressure remained, Twilight struggling to fight against it but found that she could not.
Trade Wind had defeated her.
Again.
“Let me go Rarity!” Applejack’s voice shouted from her right, “That North Wind had no business doing that-” “She did,” was the cold reply, “In fact, things are now making sense in a way I rather wish they did not, and for your information, that mare’s name is Trade Wind. The actual Dragon Ambassador, who I am guessing was actually supposed to be with us from the start Zephyr?” “You heard right, got a rather distressed young dragon who was unaware that the letter from Princess Celestia was ignored,” “It wasn’t ignored!” Rainbow Dash protested, “Twilight has every right to deal with the dragon, she did not need help from that North Wind,” the distaste in her tone was the same as before, though she quickly realized her error, “Wait I-” the sound of hoof smacking flesh made Twilight flinch again.
“So it was you who persuaded her into this,” Fluttershy said quietly, a resigned tone making the flyer fall silent, “And here I thought you finally grew up, but it seems you have not,” it was all going wrong. All of her friends were fighting with one another, half of them were disappointed in her.
What was Princess Celestia’s reaction going to be?
“Zephyr, do you have the ingredients?” “Yep, here you go,” “Thank-you,” there was a grinding sound and a swirl before the pegasus returned to the cave.
And Twilight was still pinned to the ground.
“Twilight, did you lie?” Applejack asked, Twilight closed her eyes.
“I-i didn’t really, I just figured the fastest way to deal with the dragon was to go to it,” “Fastest?” Zephyr interrupted her, almost mocking, “Trade Wind was in the Forbidden Forest and all you needed to do was go over there to get her,” “Wait, Trade Wind is in the Forbidden Forest?” Pinkie Pie asked in surprise, there was a moment of awkward silence.
“Huh looks like the smoke is going away,” “Zephyr Breeze,” Fluttershy was now mad at him and Twilight felt the pressure on her disappear but there was the feeling of something around her horn, warning her as Trade Wind appeared right in front of her.
The cold expression that haunted her was directed right at her, and Twilight hated how helpless she felt as the pegasus looked at her as if she was insignificant.
Like she was stupid and unable to match to the other.
“You know, there are many things I wish to say, but at this moment it is taking everything not to let my anger at you show. I will leave the lecture to Princess Celestia as you take everything she says as gospel, or at least, I thought you did,” Twilight swallowed.
“The Dragon,” “Will be sleeping here for the next one hundred years with no issue,” she was mercilessly cut off, “The remedy I gave him cleared up his system and he will be able to sleep without worrying about choking the atmosphere. He had a permit for sleeping here before you say anything Miss Dash,” a growl came from the Wonderbolt fan, “Rarity, could you arrange for a barrier to be placed to ward off treasure seekers, I’d rather not have to worry about more ponies thinking they can deal with dragons like its nothing.” the unicorn stepped next to Twilight, not looking at her.
“Of course, but Trade Wind,” the pegasus was turning away, “Where’s the necklace Garble gave you?” her wings paused and there was a sharp intake from the stallion behind her.
“Ah, that? It did not suit me so I gave it back to him,” she replied, “Before I forget, Pinkie Pie? I need to put in an order for an Ultra Sweet Sugar Volcano Lava Surprise,” “Layers?” the party pony asked seriously, getting a slight smirk, “Ten,” “Okie-dokie, and would there be any Earl Grey with that?” “Ceylon please,” and she flew off.
“Well, that’s me gone too, have fun dealing with this,” Zephyr waved and flew off.
Rarity tapped her hoof,
“I don’t suppose you have any Silver Needle Pinkie?” she turned away from Twilight, not even giving her a glance.
That just made the unicorn feel worse.
“Yep! Fluttershy is Lemon tea okay?” “Of course, and we’ll get some Mint tea as well,” and the three left.
“Ah have no idea what that was about,” Applejack started, staring at her and Rainbow Dash, looking displeased, “Not really happy with how that pegasus just swept in like that, but ah expect an explanation,” Twilight bowed her head.
“No doubt Princess Celestia will want one as well,” and she had no idea how she was going to explain it either.
Once again her life had been upended, and once again it was because of Trade Wind.
Over the years their group had come up with different codewords for meetings without others finding out. Trade Wind ended up using an alternate at this at WEU, which is how Rarity ended up realizing what she was talking about and asked for an invite to this meeting as well. Trade Wind still wasn’t looking forward to the coming conversation. At least Lyra’s Radio Studio was sound proof. “Alright Trade Wind, time to come clean, talk,” glancing at her sworn sister’s faces, Trade Wind shot a beseeching look at Rarity and Zephyr who turned away from her. Traitors. “Clean about what exactly?” her attempt to deflect failed as Fluttershy frowned at her. “You’ve been in Ponyville for a month now, working on a project that none of us knew about apart from what Zephyr and Limestone leaked to us. Plus, Rarity said you are not wearing a necklace that Garble gave you,” Trade Wind shot the unicorn an evil eye who blinked innocently, sipping her tea with grace and purposeful ignorance. “Look, I told you before that I did-” “You did not want to run into Twilight or Rainbow Dash,” Lyra interrupted, frowning, “And I get Rainbow Dash, but why Twilight?” Pinkie nodded, pointing at her. “Yeah, why did she ignore Princess Celestia’s letter to take you with her to deal with the dragon? And why did you attack her like that? Wasn’t pinning her against the ground a bit excessive?” Trade Wind knew this would be asked. She just wasn’t sure if she wanted to explain it. But after another look at their eyes, she sighed, “It’s our teachers’ fault,” she stated, waving her hoof at their unimpressed looks, “It’s true! Okay, you know how Princess Celestia and Master Po act when they are in the same room together? Shooting insults or breaking into fights?” her teacher knew exactly what buttons to push that would end up with Princess Celestia putting whatever meetings she had to a halt to ‘deal’ with him. Ironically whatever nobles that were supposed to meet with her ended up dropping their agendas or giving in to a bill that they wanted to change. This is probably why Princess Celestia kept doing it. No one wanted to see her anger directed toward them. No one. “You mean their flirting?” Lyra deadpanned, Trade Wind cleared her throat, not denying it but not wanting to confirm it either. “Well, it’s like this,” this was going to be very awkward to explain. If only the Princess was here to do it, but no, she was having a ‘talk’ with Twilight Sparkle. She did not envy the unicorn. ------------ Princess Celestia stared at her student who was doing her best to blend in with the floor, tears in her eyes. “Do you want to tell me what you were thinking when you decided to ignore my letter and risk breaking the treaty we signed with the dragons?” Twilight flinched, withdrawing even further, and Celestia sighed, “Do you hate Trade Wind that much?” and there was that glare, the anger the mare held towards the pegasus that Celestia wished was not there. She blamed herself for Twilight’s animosity towards Trade Wind, but she honestly thought the unicorn would be beyond this, that saving Equestria would bolster her student’s confidence. Turns out she was wrong.
Twilight saw her expression and the glare disappeared, turning into a sulk, “Twilight Sparkle,” the unicorn swallowed. “I could have dealt with the dragon myself, I’m your student-” “And that gives you authority?” she interrupted, frowning, “Twilight, if you had taken the diplomatic classes and gone to the assemblies I arranged with dragon representatives, I would have appointed you as an ambassador. But you wanted to focus your studies on magic and refused any social interaction. You displayed no interest on the subject,” purple cheeks turning red, Twilight still evaded her gaze, “Or is the sole reason you did such a thing was that I asked you to bring Trade Wind?” a mutter came from her student and she sighed, “Twilight,” the unicorn looked up at her. “Why did you give her the task of restoring the castle?” she blurted out, taking Celestia aback. “I’m sorry?” she blinked, but it seems whatever was holding Twilight back burst open,
“I was already in Ponyville, I’m your personal student, and I’ve been to the Castle, why did you choose Trade Wind to restore it instead of me? Why is it when you have private meetings you always ask Trade Wind to attend but tell me to study? Why do you trust her more than me? She humiliated me in front of my friends, friends that listen to her and apparently knew her longer. Everyone trusts Trade Wind more than they trust me-” Celestia raised a hoof, “Humiliated you? What do you mean?” Twilight grimaced. “She used her pegasus magic to pin me to the mountain and made it difficult for me to use my magic,” Celestia frowned, realizing the unicorn did not say Blessing. Was she still refusing to acknowledge their existence? If it wasn’t for that stupid book Starswirl wrote. Realizing her thoughts were drifting, Celestia looked at her student again, “Was this before you entered the cave?” “Yes,” “And the first time you two saw one another in a while?” Twilight hesitated. “....Yes,” the alicorn frowned. “Twilight,” the unicorn looked at her, “From what I understand, Trade Wind acted in a fast and swift manner,” she opened her mouth, no doubt to protest but Celestia did not let her, “Did you think I would forget the arrangement?” Twilight flinched. -------- “Arrangement?” Fluttershy asked, worried, “What arrangement?” Trade Wind grimaced, downing her tea and trying to think about how she should word it. “Someone a few years ago expressed their concern to Princess Celestia about Twilight Sparkle’s focus on theory rather than practical and her lack of offense and defense,” “Was that someone you?” Lyra’s dry tone made her twitch but she went on, “And considering our teacher’s competitive natures with one another, they decided to make an arrangement. Every time Twilight and I run into each other we have to duel. Of course, this can only be done when we are a distance from civilization, but the first one pinned for more than three seconds loses,” “When you pinned Twilight, you said you would make it quick,” Fluttershy realized, eyes going soft, “Oh Trade Wind, did you?” the pegasus rubbed her head. “Yes I drew them out in the past, eventually defeating her but she could tell I was going easy on her.” It probably did not help that she told the magic prodigy to look at non-Starswirl magic books to study from because sticking with Starswirl was not going to get her anywhere. And she might have told her that Starswirl was a xenophobic asshole who did not deserve the reverence of anyone and should be erased from the magic hall of fame. The following fight ended up nearly destroying the maze if Trade Wind hadn’t cut off her magic attacks and pinned her to the ground.
She probably should not have been so blunt, but if Twilight was going to be the Alicorn of Magic in this ever-changing world, she did not want the unicorn limiting herself just because of what Starswirl wrote a thousand years ago. “I do not mean to sound rude, but darling, it would have been easier if you went all out from the beginning,” Rarity had a point but Trade shook her head, grimacing. “It was meant to be a duel to show off our skills, what we were learning underneath our respective teachers. When we first started and she found out it was a magic dual, Twilight asked why since I was a pegasus,” there was a moment of silence. Rarity looking exasperated while Pinkie and Fluttershy shared looks with one another, Zephyr rolled his eyes. “She is a Starswirl fanatic,” Lyra sighed, not surprised, “Which I’m guessing you insulted at one point, I know how blunt you can be,” Trade winced. “Guilty as charged, that first match I just used the wind (that unicorn passed it off as regular pegasus magic) to push her back or throw stuff at her. This ended up drawing out our duel for several hours till she ran out of magic and could not cast anymore. Master Po and Princess Celestia were not pleased with me but did not tell me till after our fourth duel that I was to go all out. So I did during the fifth time we dueled, using my Blessing to cut off her magic and it caused her to have a panic attack when she could not draw on it and I ended up pinning her with my hooves.” Her Blessing had grown over the past eight years, and one of its skills was letting her cut through magic (something she guessed was a result of that botched ritual.) Master Po had been very thorough in testing out what it could cut through in their training and beating her down to the ground. To make sure she did not get a big head of course, and sometimes Princess Celestia or Master Ruffalo would join in as well. Trade Wind inwardly shivered as she continued.
“She tried accusing me of using runes or some sort of magical artifact to render her magic useless. Trying to explain my Blessing to her proved fruitless when she used Starswirl as a point of reference,” which is how she ended up insulting the ‘oh so powerful unicorn.’ “So I just left it as is and said she would need to learn how to get around such things anyways and continued ‘cheating’ in each and every duel. Usually, I let it last maybe five or ten minutes when we run into each other, but today I just, didn’t want to humor her,” a snort interrupted her explanation. “You took her down in one second, that is more than just not humoring her,” Zephyr stated, amused, Trade frowned at him. “Says the stallion who prefers dancing around duels rather than using his sword hilt to knock his opponents down,” she shot back, recalling his own duels at the University with some of the more arrogant students like Blueblood.
Especially Blueblood.
“Hey, that’s an entirely different thing,” the stallion claimed, smirking as he cut a piece of cake before turning to look at the room behind them, “So, is no one going to come in at any point? Aren’t there a bunch of shows for you to do?” he directed this to Lyra who shrugged. “I record shows in advance for times like this, right now everyone is listening to the new episode of the ‘Bard of Whistle’, are they going to be surprised when they realize that-” “Uh uh, nope, I’m still catching up, do not spoil anything,” Zephyr glared at her in warning, Lyra snorted. “Whatever you wish,” “Alright can we get back to the conversation at hand?” Rarity cut in, tapping a hoof on the table in irritation, “Look, I get that Twilight might have some issues with you, but surely if you tell her why you could-” she was already shaking her head. “Enough ponies are already aware, and I cannot tell anymore. This is why I did not want to go to Ponyville, and why I asked you girls not to mention me to her,” she directed this to her sisters, “I was hoping after Nightmare Moon she might take her magical combat more seriously and loosen up with friends, but unfortunately that seems to not be happening. There is also the matter of her librarian duties, I did suggest Princess Celestia hire an assistant if Twilight wanted to just focus on her studies-” “Hopefully Princess Celestia does not mention that to her,” yeah, Trade Wind hopes for that as well. With Spike attending school, Twilight was going to be learning a lot of new skills she should have had years ago. Hopefully without blaming Trade Wind for it.
Again. “Anyways, I am sorry, my appearance disrupted your group, and my ordering you around to pin down Applejack and Rainbow Dash probably didn’t help,” Rarity huffed. “Darling, I was already at odds with Applejack, this did not change anything, and I’m not surprised you had Fluttershy take care of Rainbow Dash. Who, I am suspecting, is responsible for talking Twilight into her little plan,” right. “I’ll talk to her,” Fluttershy suddenly said, surprising Trade Wind before she could suggest herself, “Trade Wind, you cannot for obvious reasons, Pinkie would prank her, and Lyra,” she sighed, ignoring Lyra’s indignant ‘hey!’ “I’ll see what is going on, and depending on the results, I’ll tell you what is happening,” Trade Wind sighed. “I suppose that’s fair,” she sipped her tea and stiffened when the looks in their eyes changed. “Now, about Garble,” oh shards. ----------------- Twilight saw Spike looking around his new room with wide eyes and swallowed, trying not to let him see how upset she was. She couldn’t blame him for alerting Zephyr and in turn Trade Wind, it did not occur to him that she would do what she did. Even going so far as to ignore Princess Celestia because she did not like the alicorn’s orders. He never understood her stance on Trade Wind, no one did.
Princess Celestia even refused her request to get rid of the arrangement, stating that she wanted Twilight to figure out how to get passed the pegasus’ ability to ‘cut’ through her magic. She even added that the reason she didn’t have Twilight in charge of the restoration was because of her lack of experience and that she did not want the unicorn overwhelmed with both her studies and her role as the town librarian.
Speaking of libraries, she did not even know it was possible to expand the tree till Princess Celestia used her magic to create an additional room for Spike along with a desk and bed. When she asked after the spell the Princess informed her that she would need to know every spell contained throughout the library in order to weave the necessary magic.
“I will also be splitting your account, one side meant for your studies and the other meant for the library itself.” the numbers were shown to her and Twilight winced, with these numbers it would be almost impossible to get the ingredients she needed for her experiments. And how was she going to get new books as well? “Don’t I get a separate check from the mayor herself for maintaining the library and another one for my role as your student?” she asked, Celestia raised an eyebrow.
“Twilight, the payment for your role is included in that divide, and if you wish to raise money for the library there is a list of events you can do in the library’s archives. If you are worried about not having enough books for studying, you can always use your library card from Canterlot and have five books delivered,” “Only five?” she protested, going quiet at the quelling book, “Yes, only five. Also, if you wish to practice your magic in combat, you can always ask some of your friends, Rarity I understand is quite the duelist,” she left before Twilight could ask her anything.
The purple unicorn blinked, several times, Rarity, a duelist? And why was the Princess so insistent on her doing combat? She didn’t need it for wielding the Element of Magic. A thought came to mind of her wieldiing it against Trade Wind in a duel and she shook it off, no way, she wasn’t going to cheat. She’ll figure out how the younger mare is cutting off her magic, she was bound to find it in one of Starswirl’s books. The Starswirl the Bearded Wing in Canterlot should have what she needed, and she would definitely win the next duel.
“They could not have warned us?” Zephyr asked in irritation, using his magic to create a cloud umbrella over the library, “Forbidden Forest or not if they are going to create storm they should’ve at least given a heads up,” they still had not finished with the roof for the castle and many of their supplies were scattered around, so having them rained on was not ideal.
“It’s fine if we direct the rain towards the underground river beneath the castle,” Trade Wind told him, his question of ‘there’s an underground river’ going unanswered as a dragon wing shaped out of wind formed over the castle, the edge of it drilling into the ground to create a direct hole to the river.
“Please tell me you mean the sewer,” Zephyr pleaded, following her to the large desk in the middle of the room where Moondancer was arranging the books and putting new covers over them to help with the new filing system.
“Oh no, the sewer is on a different level that does not go anywhere because of the enchantments originally meant to deal with the waste. The underground river is below the sewer,” the green pegasus frowned.
“How exactly do you know this? This was not on the original plans you gave us,” Trade Wind blinked at him.
“Do you really want me to tell you?” well that ominous, Zephyr’s ears flattened.
“Never mind,” he could see the glint in her eyes and wanted no part of it.
It was bad enough she dodged the interrogation about Garble and managed to escape, leaving Zephyr to be questioned by his sister and the others.
The only thing he could tell them was that the two had broken up, right before graduation.
He did not know the reason, despite being Garble’s roommate throughout University and a witness to the two dancing around one another before finally confessing and dating at the start of their third year.
Yet, for some strange reason, at the beginning of their fourth year, he noticed a strange tension between the two that escalated in their senior year and ended up with the two breaking up. He had tried asking Garble about it but nearly got his head ripped off for being nosey. Trade Wind appeared unaffected by it, but when it came to showing her emotions there were only a few individuals she showed them to.
But if she does not think it is worth talking about she would push it away somewhere and ‘deem’ it unimportant.
Zephyr just wished she decided to tell them everything instead of dodging the question.
Did she really think saying, “Garble and I had a mutual break-up,” before hightailing out of there was a good idea?
“So how is Frost doing?” coming back to awareness, he picked up one of the finished books, seeing the spine and setting it on a pile with similar markings as he thought about how to answer her question.
“Alright, I’m glad he and Spike hit it off, though that is probably because both of them are comic book and board game geeks,” he saw her raised eyebrow and grinned, “I say that in the nicest way of course,” she rolled her eyes, “He is kind of nervous about attending this new school but it helps that his cousins and Spike would be there as well, better than not knowing anyone,” and the crackdown on bullying was even more strict in Nocturne Schools so he did not have to worry about that either.
Frost did not deal with bullies well.
And that was before they found out he was actually a griffin cub and not a pony.
“They’re having a sleepover right?” Zephyr nodded,
“Yeah, Fluttershy has them in the soundproof basement so he doesn’t get spooked by the storm clouds, Frost wanted to try out some games that he hasn’t been able to, and Harry is staying down there as their third player along with Manny,” yes he did think it was strange animals could play games.
But they were Fluttershy’s animals, so he ignored it.
“That’s good, oh hold on there,” she stopped Moondancer reaching for one of the untouched books, taking it into one wing and using the other to poke at the spine.
Before they could ask what she was doing, there was a screech as a glowing worm shot out of the spine, revealing needle-like teeth as it opened wide to bite her muzzle off. It stopped in midair, motionless for a moment, before falling to the floor split in half.
“Bookworm,” she offered when they stared at her, “Would not have reacted well with the new enchantments,” and she set the book back down, the cover itself going from a tan color back to its black one, “I’m going to go see how the underground river is doing,” and she walked out. Zephyr stared up at the wing still covering the castle, back towards the disappearing pegasus, and sighed.
“I want to be jealous, but considering how difficult she had in controlling it in the first place I’m not,” he had his sword anyways.
Moondancer put the new cover on that book and picked up a sheet on the table.
“She gave me these runes to look at for installing onto the shelves, but I am concerned about how they might mash with the spells on the spine. I’ve never seen these before,” she sounded aggravated about that and ooh, this was a familiar subject.
“If you want to know the mechanics behind the runes, you can ask any of the Carousel Boutique trio, they’re well versed in runes. You could ask Trade Wind, but her understanding of runes lies in reading them and listening to them,” she blinked at him.
“Listening?” Zephyr nodded, keeping the serious expression on his face and after a moment she sighed, “Alright, I’ll go find Rarity then,” another boom of thunder reminded them of the situation and she sat back in her seat, “After I finish putting the new covers on.” Zephyr would offer his help, but dealing with Enchanted objects was not his thing.
“Right, I’m going to go deal with the room of doom that we opened behind that one panel,” she waved him off, and he went to the scary-looking archway leading to steps that went towards the middle of the room.
They should probably ask what Princess Luna wanted to do with it, but he wanted to make sure there were no surprises.
Whistling out loud, he felt the connection to his sword light up as it flew to him from where it had been resting on a smooth stone after he polished it.
The symbols on it glowed as he walked in, ready to strike at any monsters or traps that Zephyr would encounter.
At least Moondancer hadn’t pushed about seeing Rarity, it would mean the unicorn running into Twilight, and he knows she did not want to do with that.
He did not begrudge the fashionista talking to the magical prodigy, because it definitely could not be Fluttershy or PInkie.
-----------------
Of the three of them who liked Trade Wind, Rarity knew she was the wisest choice in talking with Twilight. Pinkie did not reveal it often but her temper ran deep into the vindictive side when it came to those close to her, and Fluttershy already stated she would talk to Rainbow Dash.
Technically that left Applejack to talk to, but Rarity definitely was not going to be the one to do it.
Entering the Golden Oaks library, Rarity made sure that Titanium Rose was nestled comfortably in his stroller, spotting Twilight reading some papers with hair springing up from her mane.
“Darling,” the unicorn jumped, dropping the papers and looking up at her.
“Oh Rarity! Is something wrong?” Rarity set her son down and helped pick up the pictures, Twilight going silent as she did so.
“Are you here to scold me as well?” a boom of thunder had her jumping but Rarity took out some runes from her bag and placed them in a small formation around the room, rendering the eroom silent.
“There, while I can’t perform a silence bubble, these runes do come in handy, and I’m not here to scold you. Princess Celestia already has, I just want to make sure this does not repeat itself if another situation were to come up,” lying down on the floor, she gestured for the mare to join her which she did, reluctantly, “Has Spike settled into his new room?” Twilight’s ears flattened.
“Yes, and I get it, I’m a horrible pony to him,” “That’s not what I was saying,” Rarity stated, raising an eyebrow and the unicorn shut her mouth, looking a bit sullen, “Darling, I can understand you are the type to have a routine and that some things might have seemed okay to you but to others are not. When we saw Spike with you, I’m afraid to say we assumed he was your adopted brother, and made some hasty assumptions. While I am surprised Lord Po himself overlooked a dragon in indentured service, if it went on this long-” Twilight was pale.
“Spike isn’t an indentured servant!” she protested, “He was my assistant, and my adopted brother?” she trailed off uncertainly, Rarity sighed.
“When did you start having him write your letters?” “When he could hold a quill, but he insisted on doing it, he said he wanted to make himself useful-” “And why would a 9, 10 year old dragon need to do that? If he was a foal would you have treated him the same?” she wanted the unicorn to understand.
“But my letters to the princess, he’s the onl-” “We can set up an instant-mailbox connecting to the Princess’ personal chambers,” Rarity informed her, “You can write the letter yourself and put it in, and if the princess needs to contact you she’ll send the letters straight through and you will receive it,” “Oh, and everyone got upset about him not attending school-” “Which is what puzzles me, Twilight, you are one who highly values schooling, is there any reason you believe Spike does not deserve it?” they ended up talking for several hours, mostly about Spike and Twilight not knowing what she was going to do with him gone.
Apparently she had just found the papers left behind by the librarian and was trying to figure out the spells used for the books.
“What are the spells for? Wear and tear, mold?” Rarity giggled, taking out half a row of books, setting them on the floor, then pressed a rune on the side.
The shelf and books glowed before returning to their previous spots on the shelf.
“It also works on late books, though rather sparingly as we discovered books do not like being summoned through the wall,” Twilight was gaping at the shelf.
‘Why doesn’t the Canterlot Library have something like this?” she asked, Rarity cleared her throat, feeling a bit awkward. She really did not want to have to say it out loud.
“Well, the spellwork itself hasn’t been approved of by the Guild, even though there are libraries throughout Equestria that have the system,” ‘mostly Nocturne’ ones but she did not say it out loud, “And the one that did most of the work on it was a non-unicorn so it would not be approved,” it was a stupid reason.
“Oh, but runes are magic?” Rarity gave Twilight a deadpan stare.
“Runes and Enchantment were created by non-ponies and have different branches, we’re not the only species that has magic you know,” she got a nervous giggle and groaned.
This was going to be yet another long conversation, wasn’t it?
“Do you have everything? Books, hat, notebooks, quills?” Spike rolled his eyes as Twilight continued fretting, adjusting the strap in his grasp while she looked over the school list for the 100th time.
Sure he was glad she finally accepted him leaving for school five days a week, but now she was in the perfectionist mode and he ended up having to put back books that weren’t even in the curriculum.
Though he did not tell her that.
“I’ll be fine, they have a school store there and Shining Armor helped me set up an account for cases of emergency,” she stopped and stared at him.
“Shining Armor?” they were near the outskirts of town and he was surprised to see no one out and about on such a clear day.
Then again, it was six in the morning.
“Yeah, he does rotation shifts with the Nocturne Guard and is quite familiar with StarDusk Town,” he also frequents an RPG shop there but made Spike promise not to tell her or anyone else.
“Oh,” she was silent for a moment, looking around them and frowned, “Strange, I thought the market stalls set up around this time,” he shrugged, spotting Caramel, Glaze, and Frost with their guardians gathered together at a post he was pretty sure had not been there before.
It had a white and orange sign with a Nocturne and Griffin Wing on either side curled towards one another.
Frost saw him and lit up, opening his beak when he saw Twilight and shrunk back, hiding behind Zephyr who sighed.
Twilight had a hurt expression on her face but Spike wasn’t all that surprised, the last time Frost had seen them was when the unicorn got mad at him, and the dragon learned pretty easily that the cub hated confrontation.
Reese nodded to them,
“Good morning, Carrot Mash would be here, but he has to get prep ready,” Caramel rolled her eyes.
“You mean cry in the kitchen where no one can see him,” Glaze flicked her beak.
“Give him some dignity please,” he muttered, “We’re just lucky that he didn’t decide to come with and cling to us while crying,” Spike did not see how that would give the pony more dignity, but oh well.
“Wow, everyone’s here! Good Morning,” a large shadow appeared over their head and a griffin and Nocturne landed in front of them, a large caravan attached to them. There were several round windows on each side and the back of it had a large door on it. “Everyone head on in, and make sure to put your seatbelts on, we don’t plan on slowing down when we lift off,” Spike hurried in, taking a seat in the middle row, Frost joining him while Caramel sat in the front and Glaze claimed a seat for himself in the back.
Seeing Twilight outside the window, he waved to her with a smile before the caravan jerked and moved forward, feeling his stomach drop as the flyers took to the air.
At least the seats were more comfortable than the ones the Royal Guards fly around.
-----------
Twilight watched the caravan disappear and sighed, well, that’s that.
“Back to work for me,” Zephyr muttered, “See you two around,” Twilight stopped him.
“Where’s Fluttershy?” the pegasus stopped and turned to look at her,
“Oh, Sis said bye to him last night before going to a Ranger seminar, they hold it once a month and this year its in Fillydelphia so she had to take the late night train,” she hadn’t known that.
“She didn’t say anything,” she muttered, feeling hurt, did Fluttershy not see her as a friend anymore?
“Uh,” Zephyr looked awkward, “It’s actually a last-minute thing, they always change the location and time so usually Fluttershy just sends out letters before she leaves.” that really did not make Twilight feel better but at least she had a reason for it.
Zephyr flew off and Twilight walked down the road, thinking to herself. She’s had a lot of conversations with a few ponies over the last week, Princess Celestia, Rarity.
Before she left, Rarity had warned her against taking anything Rainbow Dash and Applejack said about Trade Wind with a grain of salt.
(“Applejack sees Trade Wind as a bad influence on her family just because Granny Smith goes against her ‘advice’, and Rainbow Dash has no room bad mouthing Trade Wind at all, you could ask her, but if she tries blustering or saying something stupid, just tell her that Trade Wind is not North Wind anymore, and that she’s lucky Trade Wind never pressed charges against her.”) There were a few other words about her own feelings towards the Pegasus but Twilight was relieved when Rarity did not push too far.
Though her comment about Trade Wind specifically avoiding going into Ponyville because she knew Twilight was there struck a nerve. As well as the fact that she knew nothing about the Pegasus’ past.
The unicorn could admit that she knew nothing about Trade Wind beyond the fact she was the first apprentice of the dragon Po who had a really strange relationship with Princess Celestia. That she had a hoof in Nocturnes and other non-ponies streaming into Equestria and Canterlot in particular.
And that she thought Starswirl the Bearded was overrated and a jealous, magic hoarding hack.
Feeling her magic building up, Twilight forced herself to calm down just in time for a ‘pssst’ to reach her ears.
Looking around, she spotted a pink hoof waving at her from the bakery and Pinkie’s head popped up.
“Come on! Before he gets you!” and popped back down. Twilight blinked uncertainly before hopping into the dark bakery.
The door was slammed shut and lights turned on, a confused Rarity being pinned to the ground by Lyra with Rainbow Dash and Applejack there as well, Applebloom at her hooves. The former gave her an awkward wave while the latter gave her a look before turning away, making her wilt.
The Earth Pony had not forgiven her at all, had she?
“So, what are we doing here?” she asked uncertainly, Lyra slouched over, earning an indignant yelp from Rarity,
“Avoiding the convict leaving the Everfree Forest,” the unicorn frowned.
“Convict?” Rarity pushed up and Lyra rolled off with a yelp, the fashionista huffing and pointing at the window where Twilight peeked through at a tall hooded figure walking through town.
“When you say convict?” she trailed off, Rarity sighed.
“Honestly I wouldn’t be going along with this, but,” a wind outside blew the cloak away, the material lifting away to reveal bat wings, but something seemed off.
“A Nocturne? But I thought you were used to them,” she asked, Rarity sighed,
“I am, but you don’t see any fingers on his right wing, right? That means he committed a grave sin against the Nocturne Tribes and was convicted for it,” Twilight reared back.
“Seriously?” she knew the bat-winged ponies had different laws of justice, but that?
“Plus, he lives in the Everfree Forest! Do you know how crazy that is?!” Rainbow Dash waved both hooves.
Twilight looked at Pinkie who had her eyes narrowed at the Nocturne, a surprisingly dark look in her eyes that scared her.
“Uh, Pinkie?” the dark look disappeared and Pinkie beamed at her.
“Yes Twilight?” the unicorn wondered if she misread the Earth Pony, surely the Element of Laughter would never have that expression on her face, right?
What was going on?
-----------
Trade Wind paused in opening the coffee shop, seeing a familiar figure sitting at one of the tables.
“Professor Cora!” the zebra looked up, smiling,
“My former student, how are you?” Trade Wind kept the door open, waiting for her companion to step through before entering.
“Alright, is it okay if we sit with her?” she asked the pegasus next to her who gave a silent nod, their dark blue mane tied back over an even darker blue coat. Their Cutie Mark was that of a Dream Catcher with a moon and several stars hanging from it.
Trade Wind took a seat across from the zebra raising her hoof to get the attention of the waiter as the other pegasus joined her.
“Oh, this is Dream Catcher, Professor, Dream Catcher, this is Professor Cora, she teaches Potions at WEU,” Dream Catcher gave a short nod with her head that Core returned, chuckling.
“It is actually Zecora, but my students insisted on a nickname, and somehow I ended up with Cora. I’m glad I managed to catch you Trade Wind,” the waiter came and ordering the sample tray of every coffee, Trade Wind showed Dream Catcher the menu as she frowned at the apothecary.
“Is something wrong? You usually send a letter,” Professor Cora sighed, turning serious.
“It’s about Silver Tongue,” Trade paused, feeling herself stiffen at the name,
“What about him?” she asked coldly, startling Dream Catcher and making Cora sigh sadly.
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“Applebloom!” the filly winced at her sister’s voice, crouching down as she stared at the Nocturne going deeper into the forest, his ash grey coat making it easy to spot him among the trees. He had shed his coat by the time he got into the Everfree, and she spotted his green eyes before he went into the forest.
Seeing a field of blue flowers, she almost stepped in when her sister finally caught up.
“Applebloom!” she was grabbed, her sister stepping into the field and catching the Nocturne’s attention.
He gave them a look and rolled his eyes,
“Idiots,” Applejack bristled.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” she demanded, the others running ahead, though Lyra spotted the flowers and made a move to stop in her tracks along with Rarity who had blanched, only for Pinkie to ruin their attempts by crashing into them.
His wings bristled but his expression was still blank,
“Keep a better eye on your sister,” Applebloom could feel her sister’s fear and anger and inwardly sighed, great.
“Y-you stay away from her!” Rainbow Dash joined her in yelling at the Nocturne who turned and left.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, I need to make a bath immediately,” Rarity muttered, getting out of the flowers, “You dears need to take ones as well, I suggest going to the Spa to do so, Poison Joke is annoying,” Applebloom looked at the pretty flowers and frowned.
Poison Joke huh?
--------------
“You know about his past, and that my husband is his uncle,” Professor Cora began, Trade Wind nodded, shifting the tray so that Dream could grab another cup, the ‘pegasus’ was enjoying the taste testing so far and was enjoying all the bitter sweets the shop had.
“When he finished his apprenticeship with me, I asked where he wanted to go and he surprised me upon saying the Everfree. But he did point out to me that I had planned on going there before my professorship and no one was there to study the flora there. So we both agreed to sending him there, and you remember us talking to you about it,” Trade Wind did, she hadn’t been happy about it, but the Everfree did need an expert alchemist, and Professor Cora was happy with her current job.
Sure there had been a panic a few years ago when she realized the wise zebra was teaching at their school instead of going to the Everfree, but she had reassured herself that in time the zebra would end up where she was in canon.
Then she fell in love with Judge Oak and the two got married so that plan went out the window.
But of all equines to substitute her, Silver Tongue was not what she expected, or wanted.
“Yes, and I even told (warned) Fluttershy that he would be moving to the Everfree,” because she did not want the pegasus caught off guard when the Nocturne eventually approached her.
“And that is the issue, it’s been several months, if not half a year since his relocation to the Everfree, and his progress only talks of his studies in the forest. He hasn’t said anything about whether he has approached Miss Fluttershy, and I’m worried about whether he’s been able to get along with the villagers,” sipping her Tartarus Black Coffee, Trade Wind flicked an ear.
“Fluttershy hasn’t said anything to me either,” her sister spent a lot of years trying to get over the trauma of that time, and she knows the thought of that Nocturne living so close is terrifying, but when she asked whether Fluttershy wanted to the stallion not to come, the pegasus told her it was fine.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen nor heard the stallion when she was in the Everfree, and the wind was oddly silent about the Nocturne.
“Who is this Silver Tongue?” Dream Catcher suddenly asked, getting an uneasy look from Zecora but Trade Wind gave her a nod.
“He’s my nephew, and when he was young he was very angry towards non-Nocturnes. Ended up joining a group calling themselves Thestrals,” Dream Catcher stiffened and Trade Wind carefully laid a hoof on her wing calming her down, “They caused mayhem in the nearby settlement, and when they came across a transformed Fluttershy, they decided to use her for their own means,” Dream Catcher was vibrating at this point and Trade Wind hurriedly got up.
“Sorry Professor Cora, too much coffee, I’ll see you later, and I’ll talk to Silver when I have the chance, alright?” she left some bits to cover the bill and hurried out with her seething companion. She took her to the large stadium in Canterlot with a dome over it and threw bits into a counter as they entered.
“Two for the extreme course,” she told the vendor who took one look at the angry pegasus by her side and quickly pressed a button. The course lit up and hoops came into existence, moving around in different ways, each one glowing with two different colors.
“How good is your flying?” dark blue eyes glanced at her, the mare still looking angry but she smirked.
“Enough,” and she shot up without warning, Trade Wind rolled her eyes and spread her wings, taking off as well.
Its a good thing she learned how to fly without the large wings of wind, otherwise this would be difficult.
She did not want to break the arena, again.
Two hours later Dream Catcher was much calmer but was still frowning as they sipped slushies at the stadium’s drink stand.
“So the unicorn responsible for Miss Fluttershy,” “Is the one who tried tutoring you,” Trade Wind replied, stirring the straw in her cup, “What I do not understand is why Silver Tongue is having so many issues, I know he has some reservations about being in a town like Ponyville, but it shouldn’t be that difficult to meet up with Flutter-” she stopped and thought about it, “Unless someone else is interfering,” and she has a good idea of who it was.
-----------------------------
Twilight felt really embarrassed as the Spa Ponies put in the formula, Rarity giving her, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash looks. Pinkie she had already glared at, the Earth Mare turning away from her with an innocent look.
Lyra was paddling around the bathtub, humming to herself and making splashes that forced Twilight to shield herself.
Then the spa doors burst open, “Pinkie Pie and Lyra Heartstrings!” the two stiffened and paled, and Twilight froze as Trade Wind came in, looking very annoyed with the Nocturne next to her looking like he wanted to be anywhere else.
“Well, looks like I got to go-” Pinkie Pie tried escaping but let out a squeal when the water she was in turned to ice, Lyra yelping as her limbs were frozen together.
“I-i forgot you could d-do t-that,” she chattered, giving a nervous smile to the pegasus who was pursing her lips, “W-what’s up Trade W-wind?”
“What’s up?” she asked slowly, taking another step forward, “What’s up? Do you know how visited me in Canterlot yesterday?” “Headmaster Fancy Pants?” Lyra tried, shrinking when Trade Wind’s face became even fiercer.
“No, Professor Cora, who expressed her worries that her nephew was not being well received in Ponyville and hadn’t written her any letters beyond his research, stay here Silver,” she said suddenly, turning to the Nocturne who paused in his backing out.
“I have some venom to harve-” “Fluttershy will be back any moment and I’ve asked her to come here,” Pinkie and Lyra broke their icy prisons and jumped out with panicked expressions, while Rarity was mouthing something to herself.
“Nephew? Nocturne, wait, your Judge Oak’s nephew?” Silver sniffed.
“I am,” Rarity narrowed her eyes.
“The same nephew responsible for Fluttershy’s trauma years ago and a former member of the radical ‘Thestral’ group,” the Nocturne didn’t flinch, raising his wings.
“You’ve seen this haven’t you?” only the fingers on his right wing were gone, but the one on the left wing was still there.
“Silver Tongue has served his time for his actions and completed an apprenticeship with Professor Cora herself. He’s using the Everfree to get his Master’s and he is also a herpatologist who will be raising reptiles and amphibians in a private enclosure. Silver deals with rare species and is contracted to the Alchemy Society to produce potions and anti-venom for them every month. Though it could be difficult to get ingredients if everytime he comes into town everyone leaves,” she said the last part pointedly, staring at the pink pony looking away from her, the unicorn next to her was staring in the other direction, and Twilight couldn’t take her eyes off the scene.
It was rather strange to see Trade Wind directing the cold attitude to others.
Did make her feel a bit better though, it meant she wasn’t the only one the pegasus lectured.
“Pinkie, Lyra, do the both of you have something to say to Silver Tongue?” the two flinched but said nothing, Trade rubbed her head, “Right, just so you know, Fluttershy is quite aware of his presence here, and has been waiting patiently for him to come visit her when I first informed her of his presence,” Pinkie and Lyra gaped.
“What? You can’t let the two of them meet,” Pinkie protested, Lyra nodded,
“What if he does something that triggers-” “I do believe I’m old enough to have grown passed that Lyra,” Fluttershy’s voice reached them, the pegasus-turned-Nocturne entering the Spa and looking at Silver who had frozen, standing so still it looked like he wasn’t breathing. The yellow mare took a deep breath and stepped towards him, “Silver Tongue, right? Come on, we can have that talk at the Pizza Cub, I heard they had some fresh mushrooms from Hollow Shades along with some boiled snails,” Twilight turned green, but kept her mouth shut as the two left, Pinkie and Lyra bolting after them only to be stopped by Trade Wind.
“No,” “But-” “Fluttershy has the right to hear him out, remember the pact?” the two drooped, “Carrot Mash is there, and Zephyr is having lunch there with Gabby and a few of the other workers,” that made them look better and Applejack finally spoke.
“So what exactly happened? I don’t feel right knowing somepony like that is near Ponyville, near mah sister,” Applebloom covered her muzzle with her ribbon as Trade Wind looked at Applejack.
“Like I said, he served his time, you have no right to judge him, the only one allowed to do so is Fluttershy herself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I might as well get some more Castle work done, Pinkie Pie, Lyra, with me,” they gulped but followed after her.
“Well that’s that, I’ll ask Fluttershy how the talk turned out tomorrow, honestly I’m just relieved he isn’t a fugitive,” Rarity said, looking relieved, before realizing something, “Wait, I still don’t know what happened with Garble, ooh, Darlings wait for me!” and she ran out, leaving just the three of them.
The only ones not in the know.
Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and climbed out, her wings back to normal.
“I have some training to do, see ya,” and she left. Twilight saw Applejack getting ready to leave and swallowed,
“Applejack?” the Earth pony stopped, “Can we talk, for a minute please?” green eyes looked back at her.
“Fine, Applebloom go back home,” the filly hurried out after a quick nod, and they went over to the hooficure section, Twilight settling back as Applejack did the same.
“So, about what happened with the dragon-” she began.
After two hours of talking with Lyra and Pinkie Pie about how unimpressed she was with their antics while catching up with castle rebuilding, Trade Wind quickly flew back to Canterlot.
She had her other job to work on.
Spotting the dark blue Pegasus waiting for her at the train station, she landed quickly and gave her an apologetic smile.
“Sorry about that Dream Catcher, I know I said the whole weekend but-” Dream Catcher shook her head.
“Tis fine, what is the next ‘lesson?’” “That’s up to you. Did you pick any restaurants or activities from the bundle I gave you?” the older ‘pegasus’ thought about it.
“We-I saw something about a spicy restaurant near the StarDusk entrance, one that served ‘tacos’?” oh, Trade knew exactly what she was referring to and smiled.
“Let’s go then, shouldn’t take long,” they flew there, none of the royal guards stopping them since they were briefed the previous morning on who Dream Catcher really was. Entering the restaurant, Trade Wind found a table near the kitchen which had an open window so that diners could see into the kitchen.
Trade after conferring with her 'student', ordered the ten tacos (rice, beans, cheese and oat filling) platter and the spiciest sauce they had on the menu, and she saw the other’s shock upon seeing the Nocturne chef in the kitchen. She knew it was a surprise, but this particular restaurant had opened before the construction of the town when Nocturnes first started moving to Equestria’s capital city.
"They are known for their Ghost Peppers, if you keep staring they might mistake it for something else," the black pegasus blushed and settled within her chair.
"So how big is the Nocturne presence within Canterlot?" Dream Catcher questioned as a Nocturne waiter who knew Trade Wind came out with her order,
"Thanks, Spice Rice," the Nocturne saluted with a wing and returned to the kitchens to take out the next order, "Growing, over the past 8 years they slowly trickled into Canterlot and some opened up shop, others joined the library or Royal Guard (no doubt waiting for their Moon Princess to return.) the rest after a while returned home or to other towns or decided to start building StarDusk. This restaurant is six years old, but its popular among young ponies looking to test their endurance in spiciness," she nodded to a corner with different sauces, from mild cheerful looking faces to really red faces with x’s on their face. "Those range from mild to realllly spicy, care to test your endurance," the dark pegasus returned the look.
"Thy Challenge has been accepted," she stated darkly, not one to turn down this kind of challenge.
A white pegasus entered the cafe, heading straight towards the table where the two pegasus had their heads on the table, each having a taco left with the spiciest sauce on the menu.
"Is this what you two have been doing since Trade Wind came back?" the pegasus asked with dismay,
"Nay! This is merely the beginning, I have learned a good amount of things about Canterlot and the surrounding areas, but excuse me as I prove my superiority with the strongest tolerance in this challenge," the white pegasus dropped her head as her sister with steam still coming out of her ears, reached for the taco to dip it in the sauce.
She exited and returned with two pegasus guards, who picked them up and, ignoring their protests, had them taken back to the palace.
Upon reaching the balcony of the room they did their sessions in, she dropped the illusion of being a pegasus and stared at the now blue Alicorn and the blue pegasus who was reaching for the sauce that one of them had pocketed along with the remaining tacos.
"No, while I admire that you are more outspoken Luna, that spiciness is even above the Ghost Peppers, and if Trade here is feeling the heat, you know it is not something to continue eating. You were down after eating nine tacos, and it wasn't because of being full, how about instead you two rest for a bit and watch that video you prepared for the rest of the afternoon." Trade when her face wasn't red from the spiciness, blushed with embarrassment.
"Sorry Princess," she turned to Princess Luna who also looked embarrassed, "We can still go to that club you mentioned," the Alicorn lit up and nodded. Celestia shook her head and closed the door, but she was smiling, it was nice to see her sister and one of her favorite researchers getting along so well, though it made her slightly envious,
'Hm, maybe I can convince Cadance to handle a day's work while I go out with my sister, I really want to try that flying arena' the Alicorn of Love needed more political experience anyways.
Luna watched Trade set up the projector and place a white sheet on the wall,
"This method of storytelling is still new to me, what are we watching?" Trade finished putting the projector in and smiled at Luna,
"Something familiar," she placed the reel in and the Night Princess was shocked when on the screen an entire group of Nocturne appeared on screen with dragons flying in the background.
"Welcome to the first Nightwing Festival," Trade's voice was behind the camera, "Now in two years they prophesied that the Princess of the Night is returning, what does everyone want to say when she does?" there was a chorus of "Welcome Back Princess Luna!" tears came the Alicorn's eyes as she watched the video of different interviews and the amount of culture the Nocturne had.
"But what if it hadn't been me that returned, but Nightmare Moon?" she whispered, Trade lied down next to her,
"But that did not happen, and they are looking forward to seeing you coming to the Nightwing Festival this year as the VIP," the mare raised her head.
"VIP?"
"Very Important Princess," Luna cried taking the handkerchief the pegasus handed her with thanks and blowing into it.
"If you knew about the prophecy, why didn't you say anything?" Trade gave her a small smile.
"Everyone knew about it. Some paid it no mind, others thought that there were those in power that had plans on how to handle the situation. I knew that there were still the Elements of Harmony and the time would come for the new Bearers to come claim them, and none of them were me, so like the Nocturne, I waited instead. So, as the VIP, you'll be one judge on the panel for most of the contests. They haven't really declared what they were yet, but one of them that is most popular is the Wing Decorating Contest. Any pony or species without wings can create their own wings, from magic or materials is up to them, and whoever comes up with the most beautiful gets to sit with the Princess and the 'Queen' at the front of the parade," Luna's eyes shrunk.
"Parade?" she asked, Trade grinned,
"Yep, and its up to the Princess on what the float looks like, want to see the Princess Floats from the last two years?" that got Luna's interest as Trade pulled out the album and the two spent the rest of the day giggling over some of the pictures from the last two albums.
"And this is when Lyra decided to create wings made from musical notes and somehow she cast a spell that had everyone dancing and breaking into song for two whole hours! She wasn't even invited, she snuck in and got herself drunk," Trade was giggling, Luna was still laughing at the picture of her sister doing the chicken dance to comment.
"You said this Queen gets chosen from biting into a cake, are Alicorns eligible?" Trade tapped her chin,
"Well, the other two didn't get it in their slices of cakes, the first year I know a Minotaur got it and was 'King' of the Nightwing Parade, the second year was a griffin. Huh, no ponies have one it yet, are you interested?" she asked but Luna shook her head,
"I am already royalty, and Princess of the Night, it would not be fair to ruin the chance for someone to get the privilege," Trade hummed,
"Okay, but if it does happen there is no point in saying no, I don't even know why they decided to go with Queen or King, kind of presumptuous with having a visiting Princess," Luna nodded even as she frowned.
"Isn't there a princess among the dragons? Why hasn't she been chosen as a VIP?" Trade shrugged,
"Probably because dragons and Nocturnes are primarily in charge of it, plus she's been in school the last two years, and this year the Nocturnes really wanted you as the VIP for the reveal of the new discoveries," this caused a blush to rise on the older mare's cheeks.
"Shall we head towards the nightclub you were talking about?" Trade grinned.
"Yeah, hope you are ready to dance till you drop," Princess Luna scoffed,
"I will take that challenge," unfortunately they were only there for a few hours before Sunny Days had to go get them from the flying arena, Dream Catcher obviously drunk as she tried to outfly her sister.
"I thought you guys had high alcohol tolerance," Trade muttered apologetically as she and Sunny flew after Dream Catcher.
"Maybe in full power, but Luna was always a bit of a lightweight. I thought you two would be at the nightclub. Why are you two here?" Trade grimaced.
"She found out that a bunch of pegasuses was trying to beat her record and felt she needed to beat her previous one to prevent anyone else from doing it," Sunny groaned.
"Oh, of course, you wait down there, I'll make sure she does nothing," Trade flew down and waited on the floor as Sunny attempted to catch the very drunk 'pegasus' who gave a loud shout whenever she was almost caught and sped up even more. This got to the point that two rings, one orange and the other blue were above her,
'Oh, I hope she doesn't have her version of the Sonic Rainboom' but her fears were unfounded as Dream passed out in one of the loops and she flew up to help Sunny get her out,
"Well, I can say for certain that she'll fit right in with others her 'age'. At least I got to fly with her. You up for some pizza while she sleeps it off?" this got a nod.
In the morning Princess Luna found herself on a very plushy floor with two bodies lying next to her and an annoyed pink Alicorn glaring down at them, well more like Trade Wind.
"Did you three have another wild night without me?" she asked with disbelief, the large pizza box in the corner and various half-eaten cakes telling the story.
"Lower thy voice down, thee head feels as if they pierced a chisel into it," Princess Celestia woke up as well, blushing at Cadance's look.
"You should not be annoyed, it was Trade Wind's idea," she pointed at the blue pegasus who was still out cold, leaving the Love Princess to shake her head.
"Another one of her unorthodox teaching methods. I don't recall her tutoring others like this," Celestia gave her version of a dry look.
"I wanted her to teach my sister about modern culture and what she missed over the past thousand years, which is a bit different from those who grew up in this age. Yes, it is rather unorthodox, but Luna is having a lot of fun, which is more than I can ask for," Cadance's ears dropped.
"Sorry aunty, I'm still worried she's overdoing it with Luna," Celestia frowned,
"To avoid her own problems, you mean?" Luna came over at that point, having used magic for her hangover so that she was more coherent,
"She slipped last night about what was bothering her," she raised a hoof at their interested looks, "I can tell no more than yes it does involve this dragon called Garble, she made me swear a Pinkie Promise not to tell anything beyond that," Princess Celestia sighed,
"Of course that puts a stop to it," Cadance grimaced.
"Yeah, even I know what happens to those who break a Pinkie Promise, I just wish she could open up about it, I'm the Princess of Love and seeing her in this state physically hurts," this earned her looks, "I'm the Princess of Love remember? Its just something I can sense, and if she told you that she's dealing with it, I'm afraid it is not working," Luna bowed her head,
"Last night I tried to get her to turn her current opinion on her situation, but she is convinced that it will just go away," Cadance got a determined look on her face.
"I'm going to go see those who might have a clue, and haven't sworn a Pinkie Promise," she disappeared in a flash of pink.
"I should probably raise the Sun now," Celestia went off, leaving Luna who bit her lip, she was still too weak to handle the moon.
"Thanks for not telling," Trade's voice spoke up, and she glanced at the blue Pegasus.
"There is no need for thanks, but are you sure?" she stopped at the sad smile.
"Yes, I am, it should have never happened in the first place, I'm just sorry that Cadance is pained by it, I did not realize that part of being the Princess of Love was like that. But she has to know this is something she cannot do, so, remember anything from last night?" the Princess of the Night blushed,
"Did we really fall asleep in a hoop?" she said with embarrassment, darkening at the snicker that came from her tutor.
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Cadance teleported (and she is very happy that she can teleport now!) to Ponyville, finding the party planner with Lyra and Fluttershy, the latter speaking to them in a low voice and looking very unhappy.
Lyra spotted her first.
“Oh hey Princess Bang-Bang What’s up?” Cadence resisted the urge to dye the unicorn’s hair into her most hated color.
“I’m here on important business,” she landed and looked at Pinkie Pie who was sulking from whatever Fluttershy talked to her about, “I don’t suppose there’s a loophole in Pinkie Promise.” instantly her hair flattened and the pink pony growled at her, sinking into the ground as if it was quick sand.
The Alicorn watched her disappear with pop and sighed.
“I’m going to take that as a no,” and she was not going to admit how creeped out she was.
“I am sick and tired of those W.E.U Students getting in our way!” the sparks from the unicorn’s horn lit one of the nearby curtains on fire and there was a groan and another flash before the water fell from above to snuff it out. A hiss went around the room, the smoke from the now-dead fire creating an unpleasant smell in the nostrils of the unicorns and single pegasus.
Blueblood gave the one responsible a look, raising a hoof to his horn before thinking twice about it. Showing exasperation would do nothing but lower his esteem in their eyes if it wasn’t too low already.
Instead, his raised hoof turned and stomped on the podium in front of him, right onto the newest issue of North Star magazine. The paper wrinkled right in the middle, dampening the otherwise loud thump that echoed around them.
“Knock it off, we’ve already gone over this, patience,” but all he got is a derisive laugh, Lord Bit Magnate tossing his head back, his trademark sneer on his face.
“Says the one who failed, you were at that University for four years and none of the plans went right, instead, Princess Celestia herself got it in her head to rob the E.E.A of its sole duty to Education by allowing a second Board of Education to be created! Now there are schools popping up all over Equestria with these invaders attending and being allowed to keep jobs in industries meant for US ponies! Even top universities are accepting the accreditation of these usurpers and our hold is weakening,” his words stirred the others into voicing their own opinions and agreements, Prince Blueblood narrowing his eyes at the noble, wishing he didn’t have to be in this meeting, no matter how much his wealth is needed for the cause.
“You do not have to remind me of my failures!” it is bad enough that Auntie refused to let him call her that anymore, besides that she threatened to remove his title and replace his family with another more noble one. “I did everything I could to shut it down. But need I remind those of you who sought to interfere in the school without notice, what happened?” some of them averted their ways, the stares from the other committee members focusing in on them.
“It is not like anything happening at the University would’ve affected the alliance Her Highness has with those Dragons and Diamond Dogs. Even those Thestrals wouldn’t have taken the failure of the University as an excuse to leave Canterlot. They built an entire town underneath!” former Royal Guard Captain Jewel Lance huffed, stomping her hoof, “And most of us lost our jobs to them as well, just because they can stay awake at night,” she mocked, even though Blueblood was pretty sure she lost her job for being a Wind Scar sympathizer.
Not that he was going to say it out loud. In unspoken agreement, they had never used the now Enemy of Equestria as a reason or motive for new members.
Most reasons revolved around the students themselves, including North Wind.
“Not even our plan to get Princess Luna on our side worked! If that accursed North Wind hadn’t appeared to chase away our Royal Magician, she would’ve realized what her sister is doing and put a stop to it,” Blueblood’s eye twitched.
Did Rune have to refer to himself in the third person like that? He himself knew how foolish the plan was, but they all insisted. But the plan to chase off North Wind with those attackers had been a waste of time.
When he found out which idiot ordered that.
“We are getting off-topic!” Chancellor Neighsay stated, looking unimpressed from his seat, “I have been informed that the future threats facing Equestria are all non-ponies, and this change Equestria is going through will make it harder to defend against them. There is even a rumor that the Elements of Harmony themselves might not be enough,” the air froze, and even Blueblood felt terror go down his spine. Everyone knew that because the Elements had chosen ponies, it meant that the Elements of Harmony agreed only ponies should defend (anything pointed out about the Thestral in the group was pushed aside, as she was originally a Pegasus.)
But if the Elements of Harmony would not be enough, it might fall to others to defend Equestria, and if they were any of the non-ponies; things might not recover.
Ponies might respect them and reject the ideals of the original Equestria.
And Blueblood did not want that to happen.
“You’ve done enough, you are the threat to Equestria, not its defender,” the unwanted words zipped through his brain and he gritted his teeth.
She was wrong; he was not, and he was going to prove it.
To Aunt- Princess Celestia and all of Equestria.
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Filthy Rich sorted through the mail, as he always did when it arrived, finding it rather soothing despite what his wife thought. She preferred their employees (servants in her eyes) did it and only gave them the important parts, but he liked to feel the envelopes himself and make sure he missed nothing.
He always paid his bills on time so the only mail he got was from his other businesses and potential trade from other villages. Sometimes invitations or flyers also made their way in there and they tempted him to get a similar mailbox that Ranger Fluttershy had.
But not just yet.
Putting aside Diamond Tiara’s North Star subscription along with the newest flyer for their Crystal Radio listing the shows of the week (he smiled when Diamond Tiara popped out from under the table, grabbed her mail, and ran out the room.) He tried not to sigh seeing the newest issue of that awful E.E.A. magazine that his wife religiously read.
It was called Starswirl Weekly and boasted information about research and the latest about news, but he read it once and felt disgusted by the contents and how they excluded the ‘non-approved’ writers.
Just the thought of reading the magazine again made him shudder, and he put aside his own North Star magazine to read, the business sections were always interesting. Then he came upon the black envelope with the navy blue Crescent on it.
Oh, good it came.
“Are those the tickets for the Nightwing Festival?” his wife’s voice greeted his ears, her upturned nose appearing over his shoulder, “Hopefully this year it is better than the horrible one last year,” Filthy flinched.
He’d been putting this conversation off.
“Actually, there is only one ticket in here,” he stated, she stilled.
“Pardon?” he let out a breath, sweat rolling down his muzzle.
“The only one going to the Nightwing Festival is me because of my business,” they were also opening up the Hundred Orchard and putting up a booth, so he wanted to gain a trade contract as fast as possible.
“Only you? Where’s mine?” she demanded, looking upset, “Did you only buy one for yourself?” Filthy Rich shook his head, why is she offended when all she spoke about that Festival was how uncouth it is?
“You say that, but you hated going to the festival,” he reminded her, a memory of her dragging her hooves last time and her every attempt to make him miss the airship to the Festival. Attempts that failed because of the convenient timing of other travelers who offered to take them along (and bring half of his wife’s luggage with them, leaving the other half to be taken home.)
Spoiled Rich sniffed, glaring at the single ticket as if it offended her, which he knew it had.
“Doesn’t mean I would not go to support you dear,” she patted his hoof with her own but it did not move him.
“Even if I wanted to buy a ticket for you I could not,” he stated, bracing himself, “Your blacklisted from the Festival,” his butler wisely retreated from the room, shutting the door as his wife took in the news.
“BLACKLISTED? FOR WHAT?” Her voice shook the vases round them and he watched resigned as one of them tipped over and fell to the floor. The shattering sound made him wince, as did seeing the thousands of pieces across the floor.
Looks like he’ll be hiring an Art Restorer, again. He likes that vase.
“Did you think after your actions at this past Festival you would be allowed at the next one?” his nervousness gave way to annoyance, getting up from his chair and towering over her, face stern, “That after you insulted all the other creatures, destroyed several booths on ‘accident’ and conspired with your fellow council to search out the ‘rot’ that you would be allowed back? I’m lucky that they even let me submit a booth request and invitation this year. If I could I would bring Diamond Tiara with me to experience it, but their age limit prevents me from doing so- and do not think I ‘m unaware of what you are trying to teach our DAUGHTER!” her mouth closed, looking scared and he tried not to find glee in that, “I saw every single thing you have done, and I swear if our daughter emulates even a fraction of your horrible personality, I will cut off your allowance and make sure you are completely banned from the PTA. And if you want even a single thing, put the effort into it!” he accepted her desire to be a at home mother, but clearly she wasn’t even doing her motherly duties.
The embarrassment when Trade Wind pulled him aside and point blank told him about what his wife was up to came to mind, and he couldn’t fault her for warning him about the effects the mare was having on Diamond Tiara.
The pressure she put the filly through to get a Cutie Mark was bad enough.
All the blood drained from her face,
“Darling-” “Am I clear?” he interrupted, staring her down, not softening an inch, she looked at the floor,
“Yes dear,” she said grudgingly, he slipped the black envelope into the pocket of his tie.
“Good, now if you’ll excuse me, I want to make sure that I have everything ready for this year’s booth,” he might even open a branch in the new city under Canterlot, which would be a big boon.
Maybe he can go there with Diamond Tiara someday, ask Trade Wind to give a tour as his daughter admired the pegasus.
The walls of the dining room shook from the force of the front door slamming shut, and he sighed. He should probably inform all the shopkeepers to restrict his wife’s purchases.
Restrict her to only one item under a certain amount.
Maybe he should write to Trade Wind, ask for her advice, because so far she’s been the only one to pointblank tell him the truth of his wife.
No one else has.
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Trade Wind sneezed into a convenient handkerchief, grabbing it from the air and glancing at the one across from her,
“Thanks, I didn’t even know that was going to happen,” had someone been talking about her?
“No problem, but I must repeat my question, when are you coming back?” she winced, looking at the bowl of soup.
“I’m not sure, the project is taking up my time-” “We understand that but your presence is required-” “And I understand that! But you know it’s not so easy as popping over there for a night or two, things require my attention and if I were to step a hoof in there, I wouldn’t be able to leave for a week let alone a month. I love being there, but things happen,” her companion sighed.
“I know, but can you please think about getting that project done as soon as possible? The Temple is getting restless,” that’s an understatement.
“I know,” the wind was always tugging at her to go back or relaying messages about things going on, “The project should be done before the Grand Galloping Gala, and I believe I should be free two days before and five days after, just in time for the Festival,” she disliked going to the Gala anyway. “Will that work?” it was silent for a moment but she let the other think about it while sipping her tea.
“It should, but remember we are on a timeline, and if you wish for things to follow events from the original story, you must follow the plan,” her wings sagged.
“Yes I am aware, I’ve been doing what I can on my off-hours, and am constantly receiving reports from the Wind,” and getting quite the headache doing it.
“That’s all we ask,” in the next moment the seat across from her was empty and they left her alone with the pizza.
Her brows furrowed,
“That jerk left me with the bill!” she twitched, she’ll get back at them later.
Hopefully Lyra was having a better lunch with Twilight and stopping her from panicking about Celestia’s visit.
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“Oh, there’s so much to do-” “Twilight” “I need to get at least twenty cakes-” “Twilight Sparkle,” “And the town needs to be looked through, oh the signs, I need to make signs!” Lyra lost patience and silenced the other unicorn with a flute.
“Knock it off and calm down Sparkle, Remember, Princess Celestia specifically said not to make a big deal out of her visit and to have a “small gathering” in the private room at the Town Hall. The only ones going to be there are you, Spike, and the other Elements, That. Is. It. Got it?” Twilight took off the silencing spell, eyeing the hovering flute.
“I still can’t figure out how you do that,” she muttered, almost pouting, “But what if there isn’t enough food-” “All the restaurants here have special menus reserved for the Princess or any royals with big appetites, things will be fine. You sent a card to them all right?” “Um, yes I did,” “Then things are fine, Mayor Mare knows not to make a fuss about the Princess’ arrival, this is only to be a private gathering so she can get to know your friends better. Reese and Carrot Mash are even preparing the special Alicorn Pizza and will have it sent straight to the hall,” that seemed to work, Twilight finally relaxed.
“Alright, thanks Lyra,” the musician shrugged.
“It’s fine, so how have you been adjusting to doing chores?” she teased, Twilight’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m doing fine-” “Are you using magic while reading books?” the purple mage looked away, Lyra shook her head, “How many brooms broke?” ears flattened against her head, Twilight muttered something, “Well?” “Three alright? But I fixed them up!”
“And food? Your not always eating out are you?” the dragon sitting at the booth behind them snorted.
“Considering the amount of bags of takeout, she’s not really cooking at all,” Twilight turned red,
“Spike!” the dragon ignored her embarrassed cry, Lyra peering over the booth to see him and the griffin trio sitting together, a board in between them and Glaze shaking dice in his talons.
Something about the game looked familiar to her but she shook her head, right now talking to Twilight is the plan, nothing else.
“How about asking your friends to help you learn to cook? Even making sandwiches would help,” and it would probably help with keeping to the budget. Twilight nibbled at her slice, tapping a hoof against the table, her eyes trained on the checklist she’d drawn up as soon as Princess Celestia sent her the letter.
“It’s fine! I haven’t found it yet but I’m sure there are plenty of cooking spells in a book some- what?” Lyra wanted to groan, she’s not getting the point at all, is she?
“Twilight, not everything has to be done with magic, take this chance to learn how to be independent from it. It’s not always a good thing to be ready to solve things with magic,” Twilight huffed,
“You silenced me with magic,” “Because I didn’t bring any duct tape,” was her dry reply, silencing her. “But I know how to cook and do chores,” Bon Bon wasn’t exactly fond of her using magic around their house/sweet shop. Plus Lyra was limiting herself to five spells a day (not counting emergencies of course.) “And I can even play music with my hooves or mouth the normal way.” Spike popped his head up, holding onto the red cushion of the booth to keep his balance.
“It’s no use, Twilight is too used to using her magic,” the unicorn glared at him.
“Because I need to train it! My special talent is Magic Spike,” his slitted green eyes had a deadpan look in them.
“You scored thirty on Equus Quest,” Lyra choked on her lemon tea, moving it away as she beat her chest, trying to clear her airways. Twilight’s face glowed a cherry red, her eyes averting from the musician’s own look of disbelief.
“Thirty?!” Equus Quest was an adventure game that tested your knowledge and measured just how dependant you are on magic. The authors of the game had created it out of spite to poke fun at unicorns, the higher your score, the worse you were. There were three different quests with multiple branches depending on which token you used, Music, Runes, Spells, Potions, Weapons, or Diplomacy. You were technically supposed to have an equal score of all six tokens, but there are those who rely on certain tokens more than others. The higher your score in one area, the lower your score actually is.
And to get thirty points in Magic, meant Twilight used nothing but magic.
“It’s just a game,” Twilight protested weakly, Spike rolled his eyes.
“You did ‘Change of Diet’ for the Parasprite Invasion on the Heart Flower Quest instead of listening to my advice about the music token,” Lyra’s eye twitched.
“You know ‘Change of Diet’ spell is actually considered a forbidden one unless absolutely necessary right? Polka Music is the only way to deal with them,” her words had Twilight face planting onto the table.
“Why?’ came the plaintive mutter, Lyra could hear the pout.
But right now she was doing what she could to keep smiling, because the Change of Diet spell is one of her least favorite ones in all the world.
“Alright, why don’t we finish up those plans for the visit that doesn’t end up with you corralling everyone in Ponyville for it?” she wanted to continue the ‘independent’ conversation about cooking and cleaning, but maybe she’s not the one to persuade Princess Celestia’s apprentice.
