Chapter 3: Diamond Dog in the Boutique

The smell of pancakes filled the air along with hay bacon and Trade Wind fought the urge to go back to sleep as she got out of the sleeping bag Rarity had lent her.

"Terribly sorry about not having a bed darling, I would have offered to share mine, but well," Rarity looked sheepish, having only a twin sized bed with Titanium's cot in the room. She would have gotten a queen sized one, but costs and room made it so that she had gotten cheaper and smaller furniture with part of her bedroom dedicated as a nursery. Apart from another bedroom on the second floor, there was a small bathroom, while on the first floor stood the workplace, kitchen, and laundry room. Then last was the basement which had been built in around two years ago that included another bathroom, several couches and a tunnel leading to the mining caves.

This was included because of the extra roommates Rarity found herself with when she left the Equestrian Western University two years ago and they offered to help out, having been her roommates and all.

As she entered the kitchen, Trade Wind called a greeting to the zebra manning the stove who greeted her in her native language before returning to the pancakes while the diamond dog at the table waved at her.

"What's up North, I mean Trade Wind," the Diamond Dog resembled a poodle with blue fur and brown eyes that had bags under them.

"Hey Paris, how are you and Ash doing living in Ponyville?" the Zebra arrived at the table with another batch of pancakes taking her spot at the small table,

"Took quite a while for them to warm up to us, especially with my stripes," the Zebra had grown out of her rhyming thing she had been known for in the university, no doubt because of how weird the other citizens thought of it.

"Are you the only zebra in town?" Trade thought this strange, having heard that Zecora moved into the Everfree just a few months ago.

"Well, there's another zebra but she only comes once a month, and the rest of the town refuses to listen to me about her motives being pure. I have tried over and over to convince them, and I am too afraid of going into the forest by myself," Ash said, a bit embarrassed, Paris rolled her eyes,

"You should have seen how they dealt with me in the beginning, it took forever to convince them I had some intelligence to be treated equally. If it wasn't for Rarity I would have moved out a long time ago," the poodle Diamond Dog dug into her pancakes, thankfully avoiding the chocolate chip ones this time.

Rarity entered a few minutes later with a giggling Titanium Rose floating behind her, setting him in his foal chair, she thanked Ash when the zebra handed her a plate with small pancakes which she cut into bite-sized pieces for the two-year-old.

"Mama!" Titan laughed at the sight of the fork enveloped by his mother's magic, sticking out his tongue in concentration as blue sparks emanated from his own head, trying to imitate her and Rarity smiled,

"Here comes the mining cart filled with strawberry jewels!" she made funny noises as she fed the two-year-old who soon started eating by himself, freeing her to eat her own food.

"Do you do that with him every morning?" Trade asked a bit bemused, he was two after all. Rarity turned a bit pink as she busied herself with her own breakfast,

"I do what I can to show him that I care, and I'm afraid he doesn't like the breaking of routine, especially breakfast time," the three residents of Canterlot Boutique shuddered as the fourth ate his food happily, Trade raised an eyebrow,

"Okay, thank-you for letting me stay the night, are you, girls, planning anything today?" having finished her breakfast first, Paris took the plates to the sink, leaving Ash to speak first,

"I have a large order of hats and scarves to finish today, oh Rarity, I finished that potion for your Titan fabric, its bottled up in the workroom's cabinet,"

"Thank-you darling, well for me, I have to finish a few orders myself, then I'll be finishing up the Titan fabric. Then I'm taking this little one for his playdate with Caramel and Glaze, the older ones absolutely adore playing with him, oh did you hear? Reese and Carrot Mash took in that filly Scootaloo from the orphanage, she's rooming with the two griffin cubs till they can get another room ready for her," that was a surprise to hear, and the blue pegasus made sure to keep her surprise hidden as Paris returned to the table.

"I've got to mine for some more gems, we ran low on sapphires yesterday and I'm on delivery duty today," the Diamond Dog sighed, "Yay if anyone tries to pet me," she grumbled, her two housemates taking it in stride.
"Oh, I forgot about taking you furniture shopping," Rarity started, Trade Wind waved her off,
"It's fine, I know your busy, I just want to see what my place looks like and put together an outline for the project," she had given a summary of it to Rarity the night before, the unicorn understandably apprehensive about her friend being in the Everfree Forest for that long.

Soon Trade Wind left after waving off attempts to help her with her shopping and finally made her way to the cottage.

She found it swept clean with the fridge full, a note from the mayor informing her that someone in her office had done it, and with a smile, she took in the one-room cottage with its small bathroom and kitchen, its perfect for someone her size.

Deciding she had put off enough time, she set down the books she grabbed from the library, packed some sandwiches, and took to the air over the Everfree Forest.

Finding the castle easily, she landed right in front of it and took out a camera which she used to take a picture of every angle of the outside. Then she took out two small round pearls which she placed on her glasses and several more pearls which she attached to her vest (finally noticing that one of her badges was missing and resolving to ask Fluttershy, it wasn't the first time Angel did it.) When that was done she entered through the front, finding the throne room first and took out her notebook, recording her observations and list of things that needed to be done, taking pictures when she was done. Then she went back to the entrance, turned around, and went right through the first door, carefully keeping her wings open a little to feel the air through the hallway. This prevented her from falling in several traps and also prevented the getting lost bit.

By the third right hallway, she was starting to feel a bit tired and thirsty so she took a break,

'This is going to take a while, isn't it?'

Ponyville the next week

"Wait, she's been missing the entire week?! So has Applejack," Rarity said after the award ceremony for the Earth mare was done.

"Maybe she's in Canterlot?" Twilight suggested, still concerned about Applejack, but Fluttershy shook her head,

"Lyra said that Princess Celestia sent a notice to stay in Ponyville for two weeks before she went up there, to get used to the town. You don't think she's still in the Castle of the Pony Sisters, do you?" concern welled up inside of her, and Rainbow Dash joined their group,

"She's not in the cottage, I just checked, looks like nopony has been in there several days at least, and the bed looks unused as well," she didn't voice the fact she thought 'Trade' Wind hightailed it out of there after seeing the castle, sounded like something her former sister would do.

"Oh no, not again, whenever she gets involved in a project, she tends to stick with it," Fluttershy explained, trying not to take offense at Rainbow's expression and Rarity confirmed it,

"I remember seeing her roommate Gabby having to drag her back to her room when she was on a research paper. She loses track of time when she's doing something, and if its in the Everfree, I'll go get Paris, maybe she can help track her scent," Fluttershy also went off to get her animals so Twilight went off to see Applejack since her other friends needed to find the blue pegasus, at least she knew where the Earth Pony was.

Trade Wind shook her head to ward off the sleepiness, she had only been to the cottage twice when the desire to get her layout finished first accompanied by the annoyance of traveling back and forth, and she decided camping in the castle was easier.

But now the blue pegasus was flying towards Twilight's library, shoulders slumped in her exhaustion, so she didn't see the blue missile till it was too late.

"Found her!" she heard a call before darkness took over.

She woke up in her cottage, taking a moment to orient herself before going into the living room where several familiar ponies were.

"Hey, your awake! See, she's fine," Rainbow stated to Fluttershy who gave her a stare, causing her to wilt as the yellow Pegasus approached Trade Wind who was rubbing her head,

"Why do I have a headache?" she wondered.

"Because Rainbow here thought it smart to tackle you out of the air instead of stopping you nicely, you look absolutely exhausted darling, have you been working yourself to exhaustion these past few days?" the mother in Rarity showed itself as she brushed Trade's mane away from her eyes.

"I'm fine, I camped at the castle so that I didn't have to go back and forth so much, but I finally finished what I needed to do," she stated.

"Good, because you are not going back into the forest till you are fully rested," knowing better than to argue, Trade took the soup Rainbow handed her and gulped it down.

"So what were you doing, and by yourself as well?" Rainbow Dash asked, Trade Wind asked for her glasses and vest and relieved to see them all intact, she took out a small globe thing which slots that she entered the pearls into.

"I walked throughout the entire castle with these," she took out one of her wings and placed it in a slit on the top. The globe glowed and an outline of the castle appeared,

"Woah!" smiling at her sis-Rainbow's exclamation, Trade focused, causing the castle to disappear as the throne room appeared,

"They are specially made by magic specialists in the field, it makes it much easier to plan what to do when you have this kind of visual model. The only downside is that you have to go through every inch, walk back and forth for accurate visuals, and walk very slowly. This is why it took me so long, apart from taking pictures and recording my notes on what needs to be done,"

"But couldn't you have done that based on this model?" Trade shook her head at Rarity's question.

"Not really, it presents an accurate 3-d of the place, but it doesn't show all the problems that are needed. Speaking of which, there are a bunch of banners and clothes that need to be looked at and restored if possible," she glanced at Rarity who gasped,

"Ooh! That would be marvelous," the unicorn clapped her hooves together, Fluttershy though still looked a bit upset.

"You still should have had someone be there in case you got caught in secret passageway or trapdoor, where's Pearl?" she demanded,

"Oh, she's with Master Po, her fire was getting out of control so he's been working with her these past few months,"

"And Garbel? What about him," the three saw Trade still for a second before she relaxed,

"Garbel's on a tour with a stunt group, he won't be here for a while," she stated and Fluttershy shook her head,

"What did he do Trade Wind," her ears fell back,

"Nothing, he didn't do anything, I'm going to go visit Granny Smith, I didn't last week so," she ran out of there, Fluttershy stopping Rainbow when she made to go after her,

"Fluttershy," Rarity's voice was flat, "Have your animals on the lookout for that dragon, and send a letter to Zephyr Breeze to contact him as soon as possible to invite him for a chat," her tone said it be anything but and Rainbow shivered a little as the young mother left the cottage.

"Uh, I know this sounds bad, but whose Garble and why is he so important," Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged looks,
"It's not something we prefer to tell those who don't know Trade Wind all that well," Rainbow flinched at
Rarity's words and looked away,

"Never mind," she flew out of there, Rarity biting her lip,

"Are we really going to go along with this charade?" Fluttershy ears were pinned back,

"I'm afraid so," it was up to Rainbow Dash if she wanted to get to know Trade Wind, because the younger pegasus was not going to force the issue with her ex-sister.

Trade Wind ran into Twilight who was leaving the Apple Farm with a peeved look on her face that disappeared when she caught sight of her,

"Trade Wind! Your okay," she said delighted and Trade Wind rubbed the back of her head,

"Sorry if I made anyone worry, what were you doing at Sweet Apple Acres?" she listened to Twilight's rants about Applejack and rubbed the back of her head with a grimace, "So similar to my problem but more physical then mental. Sorry, if she isn't going to listen to you, I don't see how I can get her to listen. Though maybe warn the ponies she's going to be helping this week so they can head off any disasters, sleep deprived ponies do the weirdest things. I ended up almost diving into a volcano before the other dragons realized I wasn't one of them and stopped me," looking horrified at that, Twilight ran past her to search for her other friends to talk with them.

Shrugging her shoulders, Trade entered the house, seeing Big Mac resting with a cast, greeting him and Apple Bloom who lit up at the sight of her,

"North Wind! Did you bring me something, huh huh?" the Earth filly looked really excited and Trade grinned as she took off her saddlebags she had put on before running out of her cottage.

"Well, I do have this apple shaped pocket watch, I don't know if it is interesting enough," it was snatched from her and Apple Bloom ran up the stairs cheering, causing Trade to laugh,

"You know, apart from her new pocket watch, she also has a compass, opera glasses, and one of those fancy eggs of yours, that must be the strangest collection I've ever seen," Granny Smith commented and Trade rubbed the back of her head,

"I'm just glad she doesn't seem to think them boring or anything, don't worry, I got the rest of you Apples something each. Here's your abacus Big Mac, its made from different seashells," the stallion accepted them with a quiet thanks and Trade turned to Granny Smith, "I didn't get a chance to give Applejack that music CD of the country singer she likes, but here's a pie tin I got from the last Rainbow Falls trading exchange," Granny Smith took it with some excitement,

"I almost lost hope about finding one of these, thank ye kindly, so what's this about you working in the Everfree for the next few months?" as Trade Wind talked with Granny Smith, Twilight had gathered all of her friends.

"She's doing it all by herself?!" Rainbow Dash flew into the air in her surprise, the others sharing it.

"Yes, I tried to talk to her about help, but she shut me down, thinking I was challenging her," those who lived in Ponyville the longest groaned, knowing the mare's stubbornness.

"Isn't she helping the three of you with something this week?" Rarity asked suddenly and Rainbow grimaced.

"Well I was going to have her help with my flying, but if she is that out of it, I really don't want to be at the mercy of a sleep-deprived Earth Pony. Maybe I can cancel it," Twilight shook her head.

"No, she'll find out what's happened and accuse me of arranging it. Have her still be there, but do what you can to minimize whatever damage she can cause. Especially you Pinkie with the baking, pay attention when she's helping you," the pink pony saluted and they dispersed.

"I hope that's enough," Twilight thought of Trade's words and shuddered, almost falling into a volcano indeed.

Rainbow placed pillows on either side of the platform with a sleeping scent on them and after a moment of thought, she shortened the height of the platform in case Applejack somehow landed on the right target. Applejack was late, but thankfully when she jumped down, she ended up on one of the pillows, took a whiff of their scent and was out like a light.

When she woke up, Rainbow passed it off as her passing out and asking if she's getting enough sleep, but the slightly rested Earth mare passed it off and left, no doubt to return to her applebucking.

When it was Pinkie's turn, she saw Applejack was mishearing what she was saying and switched out the mixing bowls saying the wrong ingredients had been added (keeping the bowl for evidence when Applejack was more aware) and were able to produce regular muffins. A tea infused milk made it so that Applejack fell asleep during baking time, unfortunately, she woke up only an hour later instead of several like Pinkie expected.

During the bunny census, Fluttershy had warned her bunnies and when Applejack started rounding them up like with the cows, the pegasus started humming a nursery song, her birds doing the same and it calmed down the bunnies. Winona was taken care of with a stare from Fluttershy and when Applejack stared down at her sitting dog, telling her to get up, the dog whined as his owner fell over asleep.

This time when Applejack woke up, it was in her house and to the sight of her friends doing the applebucking for her,

"Hey!" she called out, running down the stairs and out to where they were harvesting the trees, "I told you I didn't need help," she stomped her hoof, but Twilight wasn't moving.

"Look at your right," she pointed and Applejack saw the number of trees that were left, feeling her knees buckle, "Do you really think in your condition you could have pulled it off? Do you know the number of disasters we avoided because we knew you were exhausted? Pinkie, show her the bowl," Pinkie Pie showed her the bowl and Applejack reared back,

"What?" then she recalled what exactly she put in there and slumped, "Oh hayseed did I really think earthworms in muffins was a good idea?" then she realized something, "Wait, you three were trying to get me to fall asleep the whole time," she pointed at Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy,

"Well yeah, sleep deprived ponies aren't really up to thinking clearly when it comes to helping out with stunts,"

"Or baking,"

"Or rounding up bunnies who need a gentle approach," Fluttershy said, her voice firm and wincing at that, Applejack rubbed the back of her head,

"I didn't realize you girls were that worried about me, I'm sorry, next time, I will ask for help,"

"Oh good, no volcano diving," they all stared at a relieved Twilight who blushed at their stares, "Something Trade told me," Fluttershy's eyes widened,

"Wait, that actually happened! Trade Wind said that happened in a dream," Rarity shook her head,

"Leave the darling, right now let's get finished with these apple trees, Applejack, you better be resting your hooves, I already reserved a spot for you at the Spa, your escort is here now," Ash appeared and Applejack paled a bit, but stares from her friends made her walk with the zebra, no matter how reluctant she looked.

"So, what was that about Trade Wind trying to dive into a volcano?" Rainbow's voice revealed her interest.