Chapters Prologue: Pegasus Mare in Canterlot Castle
Prologue: Mare in Canterlot Castle
A week after the Summer Sun Celebration and all of Equestria was abuzz, Nightmare Moon, thought to be a pony's tale, had been real . No one knows what exactly went on that night apart from those in Ponyville who bore witness to her return as first Nightmare Moon, then Princess Luna hours later.
The knowledge of there being a third alicorn whose dominion was over the moon and dreams startled some, others were relieved, as it meant somepony existed to help with their nightmares. After all, for the past thousand years Princess Celestia had been the one raising the sun and moon, mutters about what this meant for the rest of Equestria and whether she was actually needed got silenced.
Thousands of ponies flooded Canterlot during the entire week, demanding answers and trying to get a glimpse of the alicorn that had been hidden in the palace. There were also demands to see the ones who freed the princess from being Nightmare Moon, most notably among the nobles who thought more of the power needed for that kind of thing and whether they could obtain it for themselves.
"HEAR ME ALL OF EQUESTRIA," her voice resounded throughout the entire country, "PRINCESS LUNA IS MY SISTER AND IF ANYPONY FEELS THE NEED TO CONTEST HER RIGHT, THEY HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME! THOSE WHO CHALLENGE MY WORD CAN COME AND FACE ME DOWN THEMSELVES," naturally nopony wanted to go against Princess Celestia and they stopped visiting.
Now those who entered the palace were ones that had business in court or who worked there, only invited guests were allowed past the gate and a list was given to the gate guards every morning with only ten names. Apparently Princess Celestia decided as a reminder that ultimately the ponies needed to learn how to control themselves, they would have to reserve their spot in the courts to speak.
Naturally when a pegasus pony wearing a green vest and glasses approached the gates, some of the nobility passing by expected the guard ponies to bar her. But a brief inspection and check of the mare's Cutie Mark had them waving her through, to the snobs' disbelief that such a young pegasus had been allowed in when reservations were being restricted heavily among them.
The halls were noticeably absent as the pegasus made her way through, it used to be that a line of ponies would be waiting for their chance to petition to Princess Celestia, but recent developments cut the numbers down.
Something that was reassuring to the multi-blue pegasus who stopped at the end of the hall in front of two guards.
"Trade Wind here to see Princess Celestia, I received a summons," she told the guard at the door to the Princess' throne room and he checked his list (this was to prevent false visitors) before his horn lit up and the doors opened outwards.
The two alicorns inside stopped their conversation as she came in and the older one smiled as the younger stared a bit confused.
"North-oh sorry, its Trade Wind now isn't it? I'm so glad you could make it on such short notice," gesturing for her to come closer, Princess Celestia touched her sister's wings reassuringly at her nervous expression.
"Good morning Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," she gave a brief bow, "Yes, I'm surprised word reached so quickly to the palace, I only got it several weeks ago and afterwards everything got really busy,"
"Yes, the first graduating class turned out splendidly, I'm proud of what your generation was able to accomplish, even if there were some bumps along the way. Luna this is Trade Wind, she actually earned her Cutie Mark eight years ago in this very throne room, in fact, you've been reading her articles the past week,"
"But those said a 'North Star' wrote them," the blue alicorn said a bit confused and Celestia laughed.
"Yes, that was Fancy Pant's idea, unfortunately the idea of a pegasus scholar still takes some getting used to. She's actually the reason behind our current alliance with the Nocturne ponies and Dragons," Trade's cheeks turned a bit pink at the praise and Luna's expression.
"I don't mean to be rude but you summoned me for a reason?" chuckling sheepishly, Princess Celestia coughed,
"Right, as you are aware, the Elements of Harmony were found in the Castle of the Two Sisters and used to restore my sister to her former self. I am sure your friend Fluttershy informed you of the particulars using Lyra's spell," the blue mare nodded, "Honestly, while I do have lovely memories of that place, it also serves as a place of my failure to help my sister,"
"Sister!" Luna protested but Celestia nuzzled her cheek to quiet her before continuing,
"I was planning on my student working on it in the future when she's progressed enough in her studies. But your group's work over the past few years on other structures gave me hope that possibly it could be done much sooner. So I have two tasks for you to accomplish before the next Grand Galloping Gala," Trade Wind straightened, "I want you to restore the Castle, do an inventory of everything inside of it, and I want you to tutor my sister," Trade Wind blinked several times, seeing the shocked look on Luna's face, and tried to gather her bearings.
"How do you want me to do that?"
"Obviously you will have a lot on your plate with just the castle and finding others to help you with it, but on the weekends I would like you to come up here to Canterlot and teach Luna what has happened the past thousand years. Luna's magic is still depleted, so she will not be able to raise the moon for quite a while or access the dream realm, which is why I am asking you to do this," knowing it wasn't actually a request, Trade bowed her head.
"I'll do my best your highness,"
"See that you do, now I believe you have some planning to do," she dismissed the young mare and as soon as the doors closed, Princess Luna appeared in front of her.
"A tutor Celly?!" she almost shouted and the Sun Princess waved a hoof,
"Trust me, if I hadn't already chosen her, the nobles would have tried to chose another tutor who would teach you the wrong things. I trust Trade Wind to teach you fairly and with responsibility, and yes, I know she is young, but those North Star articles are over 9 years old, she is 18 now," the Moon Princess widened her eyes.
"She's been writing since she was a filly?"
"Actually, some of those articles were written when she was even younger than that, Fancy Pants found her notes in his niece's room and published them himself. Also, I expect you to put as much effort as possible catching up, a lot has happened, and I'm sure Trade Wind won't mind arranging a meet up with the Nocturne tribes,"
"I don't know, what if,"
"They've missed you Luna, don't ever doubt that," the two sisters spent the rest of the day just being near one another, relishing their reunion after so long of being apart.
As Trade Wind exited the castle, she took a deep breath,
"Ok, looks like I am going to live in Ponyville after all," hayseed, she really did not want to be involved in the plot this early. Once she had graduated, she expected to be allowed to do her research and help Fancy Pants with the development project.
Looks like it would have to be in a list of things to complete, again, and she had to find new ponies to help with the restoration since her group disbanded to their respective homes across Equestria.
Guilt still ate away at her at some of the things that were different from the storyline, after all those griffin cubs still lived in Ponyville, and Rarity's situation never ceased to make her feel guilty. Her presence had changed so much, and she was scared that not much of the plot would be accurate.
For eighteen years she has been in this world, and she cannot tell whether what she did ruined so much, after all, how can she predict what happens when several backstories of the Mane Six themselves had changed. What if Twilight doesn't learn the correct lessons she needs to learn? What if Trade messed up Twilight's destiny of becoming an alicorn, it was something she always found herself afraid of, why she had tried so hard to find someplace else to stay and immerse herself in a five maybe ten year research trip till whatever was canon passed.
But Princess Celestia ordered her to do this, so she must resign herself to doing what the princess had asked.
This meant living near Rainbow Dash who she had not seen in years, ever since finishing at Cloudsdale High School (the last and only consensus she ever had with her parents.)
When she changed her name, she made sure any and all records listing her as North Wind were erased, including her relation to her birth family.
Author's Note
Alright, while I'm doing this story, I will be doing a side story of North Wind, now Trade Wind's time in the University mentioned at the end of my first story and at the beginning of this one.
I'm still thinking of how to make the other story sound believable while matching with this one, and it will only have a total of 12 chapters. Two for prologue and epilogue, and ten for the five years she spent there, two for each year.
Chapter 1: Bunny in the Cottage
Stepping off the Friendship Express, Trade shuffled her wings and adjusted her glasses, she knew she had to get started on lodgings and find out where to go from there, but she knew greeting those she called friends was important.
Knowing that Fluttershy would be delighted to see her (no matter that she attended the graduation party), the graduate took off towards the direction she knew the cottage to be in.
It had been a relief, knowing despite her different talent and education background, Fluttershy still lived in the same cottage as canon. As a designated Rescue Pony of Ponyville, Fluttershy's ability with animals let her deal with lost ponies in the surrounding area or have her animals do security checks for some of the businesses. Any pony who saw the badge on Fluttershy's saddlebag knew to go to her if they needed to, it had done a lot of wonders for Fluttershy's confidence, even if she remained the same kind and sweet pony that she was.
Reaching the cottage, Trade shook her head at the new additions to it, she knew Fluttershy needed the room (she had bought it off the previous owner who had moved to the Ponyville Retirement home.) considering all of the animals she owned. She also did an animal rescue center and kept them in her cottage with her, taking care of them till they are better and sending them off. The extra room had been added for guests (Zephyr Breeze designed it and claimed dibs for his own visits) and considering her occupation, the mayor had granted it.
"Hey North Wind!" a chirpy voice said and she watched Derpy the mail mare fly in front of her, a smile on her face, her eyes (both of them) staring at her.
"Hey Derpy," she frowned, "'You know, you can have your name changed now that you got your eyes fixed," the other pegasus giggled.
"Oh, I know that! But I kind of like it," she admitted and Trade shook her head.
"Fine, but you know, sometimes I miss your eyes, they gave you a sort of cuddly, cute factor," laughing at the grey mare's red cheeks she leaned forward, "I'm sure a certain Earth Pony would agree with me, and now that I think of it, maybe the cuddly factor hasn't disappeared yet," she eyed the now completely red mare who gave her a quick wave and flew off in a hurry.
Smiling to herself, she knew those who watched the show loved Derpy for her clumsiness and such, but when she found the solution to help her, she took it.
She wasn't going to leave someone like that who needed it, she knew how hard it was for the mare to hold a job with her coordination so off like that.
Taking the mail the mail mare left in the box, she came to the door and knocked on it swiftly,
"Coming!" blue eyes peeked out as the door opened and a delighted gasp sounded as Fluttershy flew at Trade, wrapping her in a hug, "North Wind! I'm so glad you came to visit me!" she was interrupted by a tapping on her hoof and looked down to see Angel pointing at her hooves around North's neck who was turning paler by the minute, "Oh no," she let go, North taking in a deep breath, "Oh I'm so sorry," Trade waved her off,
"It's fine Fluttershy, though maybe I should look into your pantries to see what your eating for that kind of strength," giggling at her friend's words, the Element of Kindness let her in, accepting her mail with a smile of thanks.
As they sat down, the yellow pegasus gasped,
"I forgot, you go by Trade Wind now right? I'm sorry,"
"It's fine Fluttershy, it'll take a while for everyone to get used to calling me by that name."
"Oh, okay, are you here in Ponyville because of what happened?"
"Somewhat, you know how I became part of a group that researches and help restore ancient ruins around the world?"
"Yes, you did a thesis project didn't you?"
"Yeah, its why I was at the school for two more years studying under one of the professors. Well, Princess Celestia wants me to restore the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters before the next Grand Galloping Gala," Fluttershy gasped,
"But that's half a year away!" then she coughed, "I mean, that's a wonderful opportunity, is she assigning helpers?" Trade Wind grimaced.
"No, trust me, she said I was in charge of choosing who joins the project, and Prince Blueblood is definitely not joining it, I still want to punish him in the worst way possible," the normally nice mare frowned at her friend's words.
"Yes, I want to say some things to him as well," then she looked concerned, "Is Fancy Pants still wanting you for that secret project?" she said this in a low voice which for her was almost a whisper.
"Of course, but considering I graduated this past late spring, he wants me to do whatever the Princess wants me to do, get some socializing done before I'm fully immersed into the project. Speaking of socializing," she reached into her saddlebags and handed Fluttershy a ticket, "Here's a ticket to the annual Nightwing Festival, the last two times were so successful they are doing it a third time, and this year Princess Luna is going to be the VIP," the yellow Pegasus eyes widened.
"I've never been there before," she accepted the ticket with a grateful smile, "But what about Lyra?"
"After crashing the one last year?" North asked dryly, causing the other Pegasus to wince at the reminder, "No, she'll have to settle for going to the Grand Galloping Gala. I'm inviting you because I thought you would be interested to see the Pepper Bats that are going to be released this year,"
"Pepper bats?" the delight in that voice made her smile,
"Yeah, they were named because their main diet is peppers and they have a defense mechanism where they release a spray from their mouths, you know like pepper spray? I'll tell you later, I just came to greet you and say I'm heading to town hall to inform the mayor about my reason for being here and to inquire about anyone who can help me with the restoration. I don't suppose you know where Lyra is?" after another hug the two parted, Angel, watching them as he did a thing with his ears at Trade Wind who pointed at her eyes before back at him.
"I'm watching you Bunny of Tartarus,"
"Trade Wind!" Fluttershy gasped but Angel seemed delighted by the nickname and puffed his chest proudly, making his owner drop her head and Trade laugh as she flew away.
"Oh, what am I going to do with you two," Fluttershy sighed, before scolding Angel as he held up one of the buttons he snagged from Trade Wind's vest, "Naughty bunny!" the door shut.
Chapter 2- Pegasus in Town Hall
Chapter 2: Pegasus in Town Hall
"Are you absolutely sure you want to go ahead with this project? It is the Everfree Forest," Mayor Mare asked, a bit concerned as she led Trade Wind to the archives.
"Since the Princess is the one who ordered it, I have to, besides, it sounds like an interesting project. Can you think of anyone who would be willing to go with me and help with the castle? I would not mind if I had to bring back any banners or clothes for Rarity or someone else to restore them with. But since we are restoring it, I was thinking of putting some modern plumbing and lights," the Mayor tapped her chin in thought.
"While I am uneasy about sending ponies into the forest, I do know some of them made it, why don't you call on Twilight and her friends?"
"That's not a bad idea, except I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a stonemason, I can always contact the Pie family," she hummed, "Well I will be doing a survey of the place first and make a list of experts I need to consult with. The princess hasn't told me what she wants to do with the place, so all I am going to do is get it in tip-top shape. I will only be here during the weekdays, on weekends I'll be in Canterlot reporting progress to the Princess," they entered and she went towards the deeds, "Now, you said there was a small cottage near the part of the forest that the castle resides in?"
"Oh yes, we've kept up with repairing it and all, but it is very small," looking over the deed and blueprints of the place, Trade Wind gave the mayor a small smile.
"Its perfect, I'm only going to be here a short while, and this way I don't have to room with anyone who'll be disturbed by me going and leaving,"
"You keeping saying anyone, not anypony," Mayor Mare stated and Trade rubbed the back of her head,
"Well, being in a school with other races, you kind of learn to say one instead of pony to avoid misunderstandings,"
"I see, I should probably start saying that as well, considering we have a griffin, Minotaur, and even a Diamond Dog living among us,"
"Speaking of which, how is Gussy? I heard that she accepted a contract out of town?" she had received a letter from her former roommate about getting hired as soon as she settled within Ponyville, having only stayed for summers before.
"Yes, that town of Appleloosa needed someone with her expertise to help with the rest of the construction," Trade hummed in thought at that,
"Yeah, well I'll get out of your mane, here's the money for the deed," she dropped a small sack of bits which the mayor pocketed and they shook on it.
Placing the deed and blueprint in her saddlebag, Trade Wind exited Town Hall and was about to make her way to the cottage when she paused and headed towards the library instead.
'Might as well see about any history books I can use for teaching Princess Luna' she needed a refresher course anyhow.
Seeing a bunch of mares wandering around looking, she raised an eyebrow, seeing Lyra who was with her roommate Bon Bon as they looked around, another surprising thing about canon staying the same. The unicorn had spent only three years at the music college before she took an opportunity for a traveling musical group and somehow ended up in Ponyville (it made Trade curious about how canon Lyra ended up in Ponyville.)
"Lyra Heartstrings, what are you doing," the mint mare lit up and hugged her,
"Hey Trade Wind, oh, just looking for Twilight to ask her about the ticket she has to the Grand Galloping Gala," Trade's face fell into a deadpan.
"You mean the event where your uncle sends you and your mom tickets to every year?" the mint unicorn laughed sheepishly.
"Ok, so I was doing it because everyone else was doing it," she admitted as Bon Bon looked at her betrayed.
"You have one and you didn't tell me?!"
"I was going to surprise you tonight when we returned to the house," the Earth Pony shook her head and left, Lyra raising a hoof before lowering it with a sigh, "Well now I'm in trouble," teeth bit her ear and she yelped as she found herself yanked along the path, "Trade Wind! Let me go," she was dragged the entire way to the library and when the door opened, she was pushed in, landing on the floor.
"Lyra! What are you doing here," Twilight exclaimed, the rest of the Main Six behind her also startled at the entrance.
"H-hey ya Twilight," she said weakly, feeling the coldness emanating from her, apparently Trade's abilities in intimidation only increased over the years.
"Lyra Heartstrings, tell Twilight Sparkle your sorry for chasing her for no good reason," Trade Wind had that cold tone and she gulped, staring up at the confused unicorn whose friends were all behind her,
"Sorry Twilight, I shouldn't have gone along with everypony else and chase after you, considering I already had a ticket, and I should have helped stop them as well," the unicorn blinked several times as she processed this
"You had a ticket?" she stated blankly and Lyra flinched when a yellow pegasus stood in front of her.
"Lyra Heartstrings," whimpering at Fluttershy's tone, Lyra lit up her horn, played a familiar tune and disappeared.
"Bon Bon's calling me, got to go," her voice sounded outside the door as she ran away.
"I forgot she can teleport," Trade's voice brought the Element of Magic back as she blinked rapidly.
"I didn't know Lyra could teleport,"
"She's been doing it for years," the blue mare rubbed her head, "Anyways, I'm sorry about her doing that to you, sometimes I have no idea what that mare is thinking," a white coat appeared in her vision as Rarity hugged her.
"How are you doing darling, I didn't even know you were coming, so sorry I couldn't make your graduation," Trade patted Rarity with a bewildered look, surprised at the greeting, after all, they had not exactly been all that close during University.
"Wait, what are you doing here!" was Rainbow Dash's exclamation, confusing those who did not know the two were related, Trade Wind gave her a cool stare.
"Just receiving tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala! Where I can meet the Wonderbolts," she declared and Trade Wind tilted her head,
"That's nice, hey Twilight, do you have any new editions of Equestrian History here? I have a tutoring job that I need it for," Rainbow dropped to the ground at the lack of reaction and huffed to herself with a pout, causing Applejack who noticed to roll her eyes.
"Uh I think so, actually we were going out to have some supper, do you want to come with us? Princess Celestia said she hired you for a project?" Twilight's stomach chose to accompany her question and she blushed.
"Its fine, I'm supposed to see to my cottage after this, and I want to get a head start on-" Rarity chose that moment to light up her horn, enveloping Trade's tail in her magic.
"You'll have the rest of the week to do that, and since its so late I insist on you staying with me tonight so that we can have an early start on furnishing your cottage," she trotted ahead of the group, Trade blinking in bemusement as she was dragged along.
"Has she been getting herding lessons from Lyra or something?" she asked Fluttershy as she was dragged along, the yellow Pegasus giggled behind her hoof while Twilight looked a bit concerned.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"I'm used to it, I'm surprised you are surprised by it though, I thought for sure Lyra would do her whole stopping you from over studying thing by making you fall asleep or drag you through the air in her magic," the purple unicorn's eye twitched.
"She does that to you too? She did that to me and Moondancer," she said annoyed and Pinkie Pie jumped next to them.
"Whose Moondancer, a friend in Canterlot?" Twilight raised her hoof to speak, then slowly lowered it,
"Oh, I haven't really contacted anypony from Canterlot in a while, hehe," Spike spoke up at this point,
"Actually there was a party the day before we came here that was thrown by Moondancer, but we ended up not going because she got obsessed with Nightmare Moon and stopping her, I never even gave the present I had for her." Twilight blushed at her friends' gazes.
"I'll message them later," she promised, Trade eyed the group as Rarity lifted her over the doorway of the diner and deposited her in a booth.
"So, Fluttershy told me a bit about what happened with Nightmare Moon, but I figure the rest of you have more to add in?" Rainbow took that chance to boast about her part in it, the other five adding their own parts with Pinkie finishing up.
"And our Elements matched our Cutie Marks, I got a blue balloon, Applejack got an orange apple, Rainbow Dash got a red lightning, Rarity got a purple diamond, Twilight got a magenta colored star in crown form, and Fluttershy got a pink bat!" Trade looked at Fluttershy who blushed.
"A pink bat huh? Guess it decided to choose one of the pink animals on your Cutie Mark, the Nocturne should find that interesting," Fluttershy's cheeks darkened.
"Uh, you aren't going to call any of them here are you?" Applejack asked, a bit concerned and Trade and Rarity frowned.
"Why, what is wrong with Nocturne ponies Applejack? I was in school with several of them, and they were very nice,"
"I just don't feel comfortable because of all the rumors surrounding them," that got Trade to narrow her eyes.
"What rumors? The previous ones were supposed to be squashed years ago, and hasn't the Ponyville Library received any current books on each of the Equestrian races? I know for a fact that some of the Apple Clan live in Hollow Shades, and Nocturnes are one of the best customers in those parts. Hasn't Big Mac told you anything about his roommate he had, you know Waxing Crescent?" Applejack's ears folded.
"Oh, I might have blocked out that part, I just remember how bad my family had it when the Vampire Fruit Bats," she got cut off by Fluttershy.
"The Vampire Fruit Bats are completely different and should not be considered to have any similarities with Nocturne ponies, the latter pay for their apples, they don't steal," Twilight watched the debate with interest while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie made use of the distraction to eat most of the pizza that had been placed.
Noticing what they were doing, Trade Wind made a point of taking out a jar of white and red peppers which she placed on a third of the pizza, then took a slice for herself, not that it stopped Pinkie who grabbed one of the pepper slices and bit into it.
Her entire face turned red and she gulped down a full glass of water,
"SPICY!" then she went right back to eating it. Twilight looked at the slices dubiously before taking a plain one and eating it, Rarity, however, followed Pinkie's example and took one, earning strange looks from the others.
"What? My roommates have the strangest tastes, do you have any idea how many times I've found my ice cream has been switched with mixtures of the stuff? I've acquired the taste of it you can say, is this Crescent Ghost Pepper?" she asked glancing at it and Trade nodded,
"Crescent Spiral sent me some, and the red is the new Lava Chili Peppers grown by some of the dragons, they reaaaallllyyyy like spicy foods, uh Miss Dash, they are really spicy," she warned as Dash took the jar and poured it over her hay fries.
"I can take it!" she boasted and Trade winced as she dumped the entire thing in her mouth, quickly digging another jar out and jumping over the table when Rainbow Dash turned pale instead of red.
"Open her mouth," she told Pinkie who appeared behind the slowly whitening pegasus, pouring the jar contents into her mouth.
Slowly the color returned and Rainbow Dash was left gasping,
"What was that!" she accepted milk from Fluttershy with thanks and Rarity winced in sympathy.
"Like I said darling, its an acquired taste, having both of those peppers together without building an immunity to spiciness can lead to rather interesting results. Those are said to be the spiciest peppers in all of Equestria," Rainbow Dash took several deep breaths as she tried to cool off her tongue.
"What's in that jar you gave me?" she asked Trade Wind who rolled it around,
"Chocolate pudding with a dash of extra sugar," she added on seeing their faces, "I've been eating sweet and spicy for years, so I know how to get rid of the hotness on the tongue real fast. Here, eat some breadsticks," she pushed it towards Rainbow, those who hadn't eaten the peppers eyed them wearily.
"So ya'll aren't the least bit curious about the Grand Galloping Gala? You barely reacted when Rainbow told ya," Applejack commented, Trade Wind shrugged,
"I've been to one in the past, but I'm more interested in the Nightwing Festival," Rarity gasped,
"Oh, are you going this year? I was so disappointed when I couldn't attend last year because of that dreadful cold, but this year I can," she squealed excitedly, "I still remember going to my first Nightwing Festival, the charm, the entertainment," the rest at the table stared at them.
"Are you talking about that shindig that Big Mac keeps going to in the spring?" Applejack asked, a bit weary, "He invited me once but I wasn't so keen on it," she eyed Fluttershy cautiously who realized where she was going and sighed,
"Just because its run by Nocturnes and Dragons, doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it," the pegasus scolded her, Spike dropped his own slice of pizza,
"Dragons?" he asked excitedly, Twilight also looked interested,
"What's a Nightwing Festival?" she asked, Rainbow also looked curious, Pinkie snuck in another spicy slice while they weren't looking.
"It was started around two years ago by Dragons and Nocturnes to be as big an event as the Grand Galloping Gala, with more entertainment and less ponce to it of course," Trade started, "The first time they held it near the Dragon Isles, then the second year they had it in the Nocturne Cave in the Bad Lands. This year is pretty special, they are going to be holding it in the caves in the former Undiscovered West. It lasts three days, the first is introductions and starting entertainment with a special cake served, and whoever gets a slice with a unique object is crowned the Queen of the Nightwing Festival and gets to be in the leading parade float on the third day with the visiting alicorn. We also had Princess Cadance our first year, and I believe Princess Celestia came last year, this year is going to be Princess Luna. There is also a flying performance by dragons, Nocturnes, griffins, and anyone else that wants to participate. Also for those with non wings, there is a condition," the non-pegasus (bar Rarity and Pinkie) stared at her, "You have to attend wearing fake wings, whether formed by magic or any material, whoever has the most elaborate ones win a free ticket to a performance of the Night Talons," Pinkie gasped dramatically.
"I've always wanted to go to one of those," she exclaimed, "What are Night Talons," everyone face-hoofed.
"They are the dragon-griffin-Nocturne- and possibly pegasus answer to the Wonderbolts," Rainbow's jaw dropped.
"What!" Spike looked awed,
"Woah," then he looked glum, "I wish I can go," Twilight and those not with a ticket expressed similar sentiments, except Applejack.
"Oh," Fluttershy looked guilty, "I guess I know what you feel then Twilight," she held up a blue ticket with a wing on it, Rarity smiled guiltily as well.
"Sorry darling, but its something all the former students of the Equestrian University receive, I'm guessing Fluttershy is your plus one," she directed this to Trade Wind who nodded,
"Yes, there will be plenty of opportunities to get a ticket, actually, I believe the Nocturne chief elder prepared something, since you six did help free their Princess, after all, he already knows Rarity got hers," there were sounds of realization at what she meant. Trade took out an envelope and cutting it open, she took out five tickets, handing out four to those who didn't receive one, and the fifth to Spike who held onto it eagerly,
"Wait, if you knew, why did you give me your plus one ticket?" Fluttershy asked, a bit puzzled but Trade shrugged,
"I wasn't sure if they were tickets to the Nightwing Festival or to the next Night Talon performance, he's a bit eccentric," she said this with a roll of her eyes.
"Can I go Twilight? Can I?" Spike looked at his 'sister' with wide eyes, she smiled,
"Sure thing Spike, thanks, Trade Wind," the pegasus waved it off,
"I was just the deliverer, now that Pinkie finished off the third pizza," there were glares sent at the pink pony who smiled innocently back at them, "I should be heading to the cottage now, though there is somepony I've been wanting to see for a while," she cast a glance at Rarity who caught it and smiled.
"Well we better get going then," that was the invitation for everyone else to pay up and leave.
Rarity took Trade Wind with her and they stopped at a building with the picture of a meteor with a smiling face on it, once inside they caught sight of the female griffin manning the counter.
"Hello Reese, sorry about the long wait," Rarity told the brown Griffin with some guilt who waved her off,
"I don't mind, I heard all about the commotion today, and it is a late day here at the daycare, he's right back there, fell asleep after playing with Caramel and Glaze. Hey Carrot, Rarity's here for the little one," an Earth Pony came from the back holding a little colt with a pink coat and a purple with the blonde-streaked mane. Opening his eyes revealed a similar shade of blue to Rarity who cooed as she took him,
"How's my Titanium Rose, Mommy's sorry for being late," she placed him in the carrier Reese handed her and the two trotted back out.
"Does Twilight know about Titan yet?" Rarity scoffed as they went on,
"Of course, I told her after the Nightmare Moon debacle, I'm not ashamed of my little colt, no matter my parents wanted to pass him off as a little brother (just because he has the same coat color as my mother!) I gave birth to him, so I should have a choice how he is raised," she saw the look on her friend's face and calmed down, "I know what you meant, its only been a week after all, yes, everyone in the group knows. But of course I didn't tell them about who the father is, that's going to take a while longer," she sighed sadly.
"I thought Big Mac offered to step in?" Rarity's face turned red and she almost stumbled if it weren't for the pegasus steadying her,
"O-oh yes, h-he did, but I knew how his family would take it, and while the proposal was nice and um, his heart was in the right place. I didn't want him doing that just to make me feel comfortable, its not fair on either of us," Trade Wind saw how flustered she was and smirked,
"So, your saying you have no interest in accepting his proposal now if he did ask?" she teased, making the unicorn turn even redder.
"Why whatever are you saying darling," laughing nervously, the unicorn opened her door and let Trade in who shook her head at the denial.
'Looks like this might take a while' she thought.
Chapter 3- Sapphire Dog in the Boutique
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.
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,
"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.
Chapter 4- Pegasus at Meeting Hall
Chapter 4: Pegasus in the Everfree
Fluttershy watched the balloon as it descended and ran forward to greet the occupants,
"Zephyr, Gabby! How are you two?" Gabby hugged Fluttershy happily, the griffin wearing a large saddle bag on either side of her.
"Hey sis!" Zephyr hopped out, his bandaged wings explaining the reason for the balloon as he greeted her, "I received your letter, and here I am," he said dramatically, hoof pointing to the sky as a third figure jumped out.
"Big sister," the white griffin cub tackled her happily, Fluttershy cooed at him,
"Hey Frost, how's my little dove?" the cub blushed in embarrassment, where if anyone else had called him that he would have growled and tackled them.
"Fluttershy, don't call me that," he whined, he got enough ribbing about his delicate features at home!
"Will you three be alright staying in my cottage? Gabby can room with me if she wants to, unless your planning on staying in the cottage with Trade Wind," Zephyr rubbed the back of his head,
"Nah, I'll be staying with you sis, me and Frost, Gabby said she wanted to stay with Trade Wind, help look after the cottage." Gabby nodded at his words,
"Yes, I even accepted a part-time job as one of the mail workers while Zephyr helps out with the interior decorating for the project. I will also be helping fly back any heavy antiques that Trade Wind needs, I'm not much help in anything else I'm afraid," she admitted, but Zephyr wrapped his hoof around her neck,
"Come on Gabby, your multi-talented in a lot of things, remember how fast you mastered carpentry just because you wanted to help out?" the griffin blushed at his words.
"Thank-you, um, you can move your hoof now," Zephyr coughed as he did so, and Fluttershy giggled at her brother's expression.
"So, do I want to know why the two of you arrived together?" she giggled even harder at their darkening faces, Frost rolling his eyes,
"They've been acting like this the entire time, you'd think after being partners in the same business they'd be comfortable with each other by now," the griffin cub spotted something in the distance, "Hey I see Caramel and Glaze, see ya!" he darted off, Fluttershy calling out to him to ask one of the adults to take him to her house before she turned to the two in front of her.
"So how was your stay in Griffin Stone," Fluttershy asked as she walked with the two to her house,
"Well, apart from Gabby, every other griffin treated me with distrust and kept asking for bits for the smallest things. I tried to learn as much as I could about their culture to understand how to help them with the whole zen thing. But we didn't have enough funds and none of them were interested in sending their young ones to Wing Chun summer camp. I'd say Gabby's stay in Cloudsdale was an itsy bit better, minus the charging bit," Gabby agreed with him on that point,
"It was nice to talk with someone who didn't treat me with disdain, though I wish more griffins were accepting and receptive to new ideas on how to improve our community," the griffin said sadly, Fluttershy gave a sad smile,
"Reese is still here if you are interested in talking with her, she's been in Ponyville for the past four years doing her daycare business with Carrot Mash, so the citizens of the town are used to the sight of griffins. And since Wind Scar was arrested so soon as well as his cohorts, the cubs didn't have to disguise themselves anymore either, so everyone knows they are griffins," not that all of the citizens accepted them, there were a few close-minded individuals that thought only ponies can live in the town, not other species.
"That does make me feel better," Gabby declared, cheering up, though they all jumped at the sound of lightning outside Town Hall. The sound of laughing had them looking at a scene where Spike was hiccuping on the ground with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash who was on a cloud were laughing,
"Oh dear, it seems Pinkie finally recruited Rainbow Dash for her pranking," Fluttershy watched Spike's fire come out as he hiccuped, sending all the scrolls he had just gotten up in flames. Zephyr went ahead of her and knelt before him,
"Okay little guy, take a deep breath and count to ten," he fished a bottle of water from his bag and gave it to Spike to gulp down, "Here," he turned to Pinkie and Rainbow with a frown, seeing that Pinkie was now hiccuping as well from the scare Rainbow gave her, "You know how dangerous it is to give a dragon the hiccups? Those scrolls don't look all that cheap either, do you want to send a note to Princess Celestia about sending those scrolls back? The amount looked pretty big," Spike stood up and glanced at the single scroll that survived his hiccups,
"Yeah, otherwise Twilight won't be very happy about paying for more of them," that got Pinkie and Rainbow to calm down.
"Sorry Spike, if I had known you'd end up breathing fire," Pinkie said, feeling chastised, Spike waved it off,
"I'm always up for a good laugh, uh, do you have anything for indigestion? Those are a lot of scrolls Princess Celestia will be sending back," he wrote a quick letter to her explaining what happened on a small piece of paper and sent it off.
"I do have something, I had a dragon roommate who overused his fire gut several times as he showed off, here," he dropped some yellow drops in Spike's claws, "It is not the same considering you are literally coughing out scrolls, but it should help with the aching and burning." Spike gazed up at him with awe.
"You had a dragon roommate?" he said with wide eyes.
"And a minotaur," Rainbow realized something,
"Wait, you were the other pegasus representative for the University?" Zephyr nodded, "But, I thought the entrance was really exclusive, how'd you get in," he rolled his eyes,
"Yeah there were a few that got in based on certain reasons, but the rest of us had to enter by writing an essay," Gabby nodded next to him,
"I mostly got in because none of the other griffins wanted to enter, but it was still a great experience for me, I decided to enter business with Zephyr here in interior decorating and the practice of Feng Shui (can't think of a pony version.)" that earned her confused expressions.
"What's Feng Shui?" Rainbow asked and Fluttershy was the one who explained,
"Its a way of arranging one's environment that results in harmony, Zephyr also does Wing Chun lessons on the side to help one with wings exercise their body to its fullest potential, he's also versed in the Earth Pony and Unicorn one as well Pinkie Pie," the Earth mare gasped,
"Ooh, that sounds so exciting, but right now I have plenty of ideas for pranks that Rainbow Dash and I can do, see ya!" they dashed off, leaving the four there as Spike started coughing out the accidentally sent scrolls.
"Thank goodness, she sent all of them back," he said with some relief, popping in two of the yellow drops to ease the burning in his throat and stomach, Gabby appeared next to him, holding some of the scrolls,
"Why don't I help you deliver them to the library while Zephyr and Fluttershy catch up some more," the two went off, Spike asking Gabby if she knew any dragons as well
"Come on sis, let's go," Fluttershy took Zephyr to Trade's cottage, filling him in, and gave him a small map that Trade had given her.
"Trade Wind's working in the throne room today, cleaning up debris and putting them in different piles, she spent last week mapping out the entire place with those Pearls your group designed a few years ago. There are pictures of the interior but I know you like to be there yourself to see what you want to do," Zephyr agreed with her,
"So, it's only a kilometer in that direction? See you tonight sis," he accepted a picnic basket she prepared and almost flew up when he remembered his wings and settled for walking instead.
Walking through one of the scariest forests in Equestria was terrifying for those not used to it, but being in Griffin Stone and with his time as part of Trade Wind's group lent him the comfort of being in these unknown parts.
Arriving at the castle took some time, and he had to marvel at the amount of damage that it sustained over the last thousand years, this was going to be tricky.
"Hey Trade Wind, your interior decorator is here!" he stepped in and gasped, "What are you doing?!" he stopped her from taking down the tapestries, "You have to be careful with those, they are heavy! I can't help you because of my wing, but maybe you should be searching for lighter banners.
"I am stronger than I look remember," she said, voice quiet, and he had a good reason why,
"Garble told me you haven't contacted him since graduation," he saw her flinch, "Did something happen that I don't know about?"
"Of course not, I just figured since he's going on tour and everything that he didn't want to be distracted with some letters, this is very important to him, so," she was not going to get into this with Garble's roommate.
"You do know he might stop by Ponyville sometime, look, whatever has happened, you need to talk with him, you two endured a lot at the University with everything that happened with Blueblood. You are not ending your friendship with him are you?" Trade Wind stopped fiddling with the cart filled with smaller tapestries and old clothes.
"No, I just needed time to step back and think, please, I had Fluttershy summon you here so that you can help with the castle, nothing else okay?" seeing how uncomfortable she looked, he stopped his questioning and they continued taking down the other tapestries.
Gabby joined them later in the day and helped take the cart back to Ponyville, placing it in front of Rarity's where Ash and Paris helped put it in the basement,
"We'll get started on this tonight, thanks for the chance," Ash stated, looking at the tapestries with awe, Paris was the same.
"I don't suppose you need someone to look at the rocks in the place or sniff out strange scents?" Trade smiled.
"Actually, apart from Zephyr Breeze, I also invited someone from the Pie family for the stone masonry, but if you find you have time you can come as well. I have a list of professionals needed to give to Mayor Mare who'll do an announcement and post them on the Town Board in Town Hall. She's doing the announcement tomorrow, hopefully, there will be enough ponies interested in doing extra jobs, the budget Princess Celestia set for it is pretty generous, speaking of budget, guess I'll visit Big Mac and ask if he wants to help with the accounting part of it. See you gals later," she parted from Zephyr and Gabby who were going to Fluttershy's for dinner and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres.
She stopped at the entrance, staring at all of the painted apples and watched as Pinkie and Rainbow ran past her with painting supplies, Applejack throwing apples at them,
"I'm guessing the unholy union finally happened," she commented to the Earth mare who rolled her eyes,
"They are just lucky the paint washes off so easily, but it is going to take forever washing all of these apples one by one, well, Apple Bloom did say she wanted to help out more. Sorry, what were you here for?"
"I wanted to see if Big Mac was interested in helping out with the castle project, he's very good with accounting and I thought he might want to keep track of the expenses, he'll receive a commission for it," she added when Applejack opened her mouth.
"Huh, that's a different matter, I know he has a Certificate of being an Accountant, but he hasn't really been using it apart from keeping track of our own books. Since Applebucking season is over, he should have time for it, he loves looking over numbers, sure go ahead." thanking Applejack, Trade entered the Apple's household, seeing a napping Granny Smith and finding Big Mac in the living room going over the books.
"Hey Big Mac, got a second?" he set down his quill,
"Eeyup."
Frost and his 'siblings' were talking with one another, Frost especially excited about Scootaloo being a new sister and her skills with a scooter,
"I've been trying to get Fluttershy or Zephyr to let me do skating, or at least maybe cart racing, but I have to wait till I'm older, a scooter is still cool tho-" he was cut off as he bumped into something and he saw Caramel, Glaze, and Scootaloo look a bit worried, which worried him as well even as he turned to the pony he bumped into, "Sorry about that! I wasn't-" he was cut off by glaring yellow eyes of an unfamiliar griffin who while she looked surprised at seeing griffin cubs in Ponyville, looked more annoyed than surprise.
"I'm walking here!" she snarled at him and he felt tears coming to his eyes,
"I-i'm sorry, I was-" his voice squeaked, he hated it when that happened,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mocked, "Watch where you're going freak! What are you a dove lion combo? This is what a real griffin is," and she roared right in his face.
"Frost!" his siblings cried out as he stood frozen under the onslaught before tears came to his eyes and he flew off, sobbing as he searched for his big sister Fluttershy.
"Ugh, must have been raised by ponies to be so pathetic," Gilda scoffed, leaving herself, the two griffin cubs and filly staring after her,
"I can't believe she just did that, it was only an accident," Scootaloo huffed, it wasn't Frost's fault he was busy telling her about something that sounded cool!
"Look there's Pinkie Pie, maybe she'll know of a way to get back at the mean lady," Caramel approached the pink pony who had a scowl on her face as she stared after the spot Gilda had been.
"Auntie Pinkie Pie, we need your help," Glaze stated, his wings ruffled.
When the welcome party for Gilda came, Trade Wind was meeting with Madame Mayor, Big Mac at her side as they went over their figures,
"Rarity and her fellow seamstresses agreed on doing it for half their normal price and the chance of having their names get the credit. The Pie Family is sending a stonemason for help restoring the castle and providing material. Derpy Do and the Cakes said so long as we provide money for ingredients, they would cater to all the workers. We will also be raising money by providing articles of our progress in the North Star magazine, and the princesses agreed to let us provide pictures of what is going on. A librarian or archivist isn't needed because I'll be recording all the books that are listed, and Princess Cadance will be coming over to deal with any of the forbidden magic books not needed. Twilight Sparkle expressed interest in seeing the books, but I'll need to clear it with Princess Celestia just in case. Time Turner is going to check all the timepieces and use his scientific knowledge on how to include any pipes and other odds and ends." they all looked up at the sound of a faint roar that came from Sugarcube Corner, the mayor frowned.
"I do hope no one is giving Caramel and Glaze a hard time, again, Reese can be very protective,"
"I don't think that was Reese," Trade pointed out the window at an unfamiliar griffin to the other two but familiar to her fly out of the place, "Looks like Gilda lost her cool," she said with some satisfaction, at least now Rainbow knew the truth about her friend.
"Gilda? That griffin Pinkie threw a party for? The same one I have an incident report for roaring at the cubs in public?" the Mayor frowned, she adored those little griffin cubs and hearing about Frost being driven to crying (he was getting better at not crying at everything, but this was definitely going to be a setback.)
"Yep," Trade knew it had been Fluttershy who ran away crying in the show, having been the one to bump into Gilda while guiding the ducks (something that didn't happen here because Fluttershy had done that earlier with Zephyr.)
They left Town Hall, Big Mac heading back to the farm while Mayor Mare went on her lunch break, and Trade Wind headed towards the party, maybe she could ask for one of those spicy lemon drops Pinkie Pie makes?
Several Minutes Before
Frost was cuddled next to Fluttershy who gave him a cupcake,
"Wait here a moment little dove," she comforted him, they had hidden in the corner of the room, Fluttershy letting Pinkie do whatever she needed first before the pegasus would go up to confront the griffin about roaring at her little brother.
So when Rainbow Dash was scolding Gilda for ruining the party, Fluttershy stood in the doorway to stop the griffin from leaving, which everypony noticed.
Gilda turned to go but found a yellow pegasus stopping her, one she recognized from flight camp,
"Move it, weakling," she growled, but Fluttershy straightened and stared , freezing Gilda in her tracks,
"The next time you bump into a child, I expect you to accept their apologies and not make them cry. " her gaze kept Gilda where she was, "So I want you to turn around, approach my little brother, and say you are sorry for roaring at him," she made Gilda back up all the way to the back where Frost was watching with wide eyes.
"I-i don't need to," Gilda struggled to look away from the yellow pegasus who merely narrowed her eyes,
"Now!" she said sharply and Gilda forced back the whimper as she turned around to the white griffin who was staring with wide eyes,
"I'm sorry for roaring at you and not accepting your apology," she forced out, and the moment she felt herself free she flew out of there, she was not going to stay here a moment longer, no matter Rainbow had told her about her loser sister being in town.
Chapter 5- Alicorn in Tea Room
Chapter 5: Alicorn in the Tea Room
"So when Pinkie Pie tried to tell Twilight about Gilda being a jerk, Twilight here in all her infinite wisdom of knowing friendship for two weeks, immediately assumed Pinkie was jealous?" Trade said with a dry tone, Twilight ducking her head,
"When you put it like that," Pinkie shrugged, not at all bothered,
"Its fine, we're all still learning, and I guess I could have been more clear about Gilda, I just thought the party would improve her attitude," the Mane Six were in the library, Trade taking notes on history topics to talk about with Princess Luna (not that she was telling who it was.)
"Yes, its important to be clear about it, though it also helps to have evidence, otherwise you wind up accused of being a liar and jealous," she rolled her eyes, causing Rainbow to flinch a bit, something the others noticed.
"You okay Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked the weather pony looked away,
"I have to get going to Canterlot, see you on Monday," she left the library before the others could stop her, Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash,
"What in the hay was that all about," Rainbow didn't answer the apple farmer's question, grumbling under her breath and flying out Twilight's window, the opposite direction the other blue pegasus had gone.
"Are those two in an argument or something? How do they know each other?" Twilight questioned, Rarity coughed,
"They went to Cloudsdale High together, Rainbow Dash was among the athletes which were the majority, Trade Wind was part of the 1% percent interested in academics, from what I heard they butted heads alot over it," she offered as an explanation,
'There is also the fact her parents are part of the reason the two siblings do not speak with one another' she thought in chagrin, she hoped the two got to talk real soon about it.
As soon as she reached the castle, Trade was escorted to a tea room, though she encountered a little resistance outside of it,
"Move Blueblood," she stated coldly, the unicorn prince sneered at her,
"I took the liberty of hiring my own tutor for my Auntie Luna, she doesn't need to listen to a pegasus tutor who wasn't top of her graduating class," Trade narrowed her eyes,
"You and I both know why that didn't happen, now move, or I will tell your Aunt the truth about what happened on that Nightmare Night and what you did," the unicorn paled and gave her a glare before he disappeared. Though when Trade tried the door it was locked and when knocking didn't produce anything she flew out the window and landed on the balcony outside the tea room. A familiar looking unicorn was speaking with Princess Luna and eyebrow twitching, Trade Wind gave the balcony doors several sharp knocks. The Alicorn saw her and opened the doors with her magic, the unicorn on the other hand paled,
"What are you doing here?" he hissed but she entered, bowed to the Princess, opened the doors to the hallway and with one move, kicked him out of there,
"That's better, I apologize for not being here earlier your Highness, I received a note saying the time had been moved to ten," then she saw the books laid out and her lips firmed, "Excuse me for a moment," she took the books, tossed them in the air, and bucked them into the unicorn's face when he got up and locked the door.
"'You are rather violent," Princess Luna observed, though she was secretly relieved, that unicorn had been getting on her nerves and while she doubted Celestia would change her mind about the tutoring, the Moon Princess had agreed to have the tutor her 'nephew' sent as good faith.
"I apologize for that, but that unicorn should not be allowed to have any position in the castle, I have no idea why Prince Blueblood employed him, but it can't be for a good reason. Oh, don't tell Twilight Sparkle I kicked books at someone, even if they were the worst books imaginable to help you, ugh, there was a reason they were banned from being used by the public. It was written by a noble extolling the uprightness of unicorns and glossing over history to give them a favorable light while other races weren't so favorably seen. Now, I've been looking at the history books that have been recently updated, but I also know we do not have a lot of time, are there any subjects you've been reading up on over the past few weeks?" Luna blinked a few times, taken aback at how relaxed the mare was in her presence.
"I've been mostly focusing on the political scene here in Canterlot, and looking into how Nightmare Moon was perceived all these years," the Alicorn admitted, ears going back at remembering her time as Nightmare Moon.
"I see," seeing where this was going, Trade Wind tapped her chin a couple of times, she's done this tutoring thing before, but never for an Alicorn whose missed the last thousand years before, but it should be easier than tutoring a Diamond Dog.
"You represent the Moon and Night stars correct?" the Alicorn nodded glumly, "So what music would you say best represents what you represent?" Princess Luna looked confused at where the questioning was going but thought about it,
"I'm not sure, I've always enjoyed Classical Music but I never thought about what kind I'd represent, I haven't even heard of any new music styles in the last thousand years. But why is thou question important when ye are supposed to be catching me up on Equestrian History?" but Trade asked her another question,
"Well if you are not sure, how about what music best represents your sister as the Princess of the Sun?" this took quite a while of thought but Princess Luna nodded and gave a small smile,
"I would think a kind of upbeat music, with that hip-hop I've been hearing about from her bedroom at night," marking down her answers, Trade Wind looked at a different item on her list and looked up,
"What kind of cuisine fits your image do you say?" bewildered but not offended, Princess Luna admitted that she always enjoyed drinking a glass of wine with toasted garlic bread and a plate of spaghetti,
"It is not very refined and all, but I do enjoy it, though I admit to being partial to seafood as well. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how much that's developed, but the Canterlot chefs always prepare these dishes that are more catered for those obsessed with calories and the like. I'm pretty sure if it was up to my sister she would enjoy having cake every meal," they continued in this vein for so long that night fell upon them and Princess Celestia found the two conversing about what kind of School Subjects each pony represented, summoning the list to her and reading over it silently.
"Well back then they didn't have an established educational center for everypony and the two of us had tutors, but I was always the one best with the Mathematics and Astronomy, Celestia always slipped all the financial papers into my paperwork when I wasn't looking," she rolled her eyes, "But Philosophy was something she used to ring circles around everypony, she so loved seeing the looks on her subjects faces when they didn't understand what she was saying at all, but I would say her worst subject was Anc-" a wing covered her snout,
"Well this sounds like a lively discussion," Princess Celestia said brightly, "Though I must say that of the cuisine I represent, it is not just cakes you know, why don't you write pizza down there, or pancakes," Luna frowned,
"What is pizza?" the two other mares shared a look and Celestia winked,
"I'll be right back," she disappeared outside the window and the two stared after her before Luna attempted to continue what she was going to say before, but found that for some reason her tongue was stuck,
"Ooh, I hate it when she does that," the blue mare stomped her hoof as she huffed,
"I'm actually surprised you were able to speak more normally with me, I heard back then it was required for royalty to speak in a loud voice, and you barely slipped back into your ancient speak," blushing a bit, Luna coughed,
"My sister told me about the Canterlot Voice being thrown out a few centuries ago when I asked about why she wanted me to speak in a normal tone with you. She also felt it prudent for me to do a course on common speak with one of my new Nocturne guards during the two weeks you were in Ponyville, a combination of memory and imitation magic and it was quite easy to do," Trade hummed in thought,
"Well, I think I gathered enough information on what we should be covering each weekend, and you say you can cover the whole political thing by looking through your sister's notes?" the Alicorn nodded just as Celestia returned with a box,
"They were still open," she said delighted, placing the large box, "I got the Alicorn sized one," Trade Wind deadpanned at the two-foot long box,
"Right," she said slowly, can three ponies even eat that much pizza by themselves.
Flipping open the lid, Luna stared at the tomatoes and spinach decorating the top and the amount of cheese on it,
"Sister, are you sure this is enough to satisfy our appetites?" the question caused Trade Wind to barely facehoof, how large were these Alicorn appetites?
Halfway through the supper, a scroll appeared in a burst of fire, almost dropping on Celestia's slice of pizza but she took it in her magic, reading through it briefly.
"Is that another Friendship report?" Princess Luna asked interested as Celestia smiled,
"Yes, Twilight had an interesting run-in with a unicorn named Trixie and some colts caused an Ursa Minor to rampage through Ponyville," Trade's ear twitched while Luna frowned,
"An Ursa Minor? I hope they returned it to its mother before she went looking for it, this pizza is very filling," Luna rolled up the rest of her slice and bit into it.
Staring at her own half eaten sliced, Trade wondered if there was a to go box she could take home.
"So how are the lessons going?" Celestia asked upon finishing her third slice, "This list is rather interesting," she poked it with her hoof at the list of questions and answers for each one.
"Rather fine, a little hiccup with Blueblood at the beginning I'm afraid," the Sun Princess looked apologetic.
"I'm sorry, I made it clear that you were my chosen tutor, what unicorn did he try to slip in as my sister's tutor?" she took a sip of tea as Trade Wind answered,
"Black Runes," the tea spewed across the table, Celestia coughing a bit as her sister rushed to her side,
"WHAT! That unicorn was banned from the castle," she exclaimed, "How did Blueblood get him past my guards?" the princess saw her sister's expression and calmed down, "Sorry for my outburst, but Black Runes has proven he has no regard towards how he uses his magic and especially after the events at Equestrian Western University. The fact Blueblood somehow has him in his employ is worrying, I trust the matter was settled quickly?" she directed this to Trade Wind who nodded.
"Yes, I kicked him out as soon as I saw him, as well as those pompous books he had with him, that was after I had to enter from the balcony when knocking on the door provided no answer. Blueblood left easily enough when I threatened to tell you about Nightmare Night," Celestia rolled her eyes,
"I already know what happened, does he honestly think I'm unaware of anything that went on while he was there? I had hopes for him maturing away from Canterlot, but unfortunately his attitude seems to be permanent," Luna frowned at her sister's words,
"What did happen at this Equestrian Western University?" her curiosity was eating her up,
"We do have the rest of the weekend," Trade Wind observed, Celestia stared at the pizza box,
"I think I'll go get us another pizza, ooh and maybe some cake!" Trade's eyebrow twitched as she thought about it,
"I don't suppose you know a spell that makes digestion faster," she asked Princess Luna dryly, who gave her a sympathetic look.
"No, but I do know the kitchen has some tea for that," hopefully Celestia remembers that their third party isn't an Alicorn.
Thankfully that wasn't much of an issue, as when Celestia returned, it was with a familiar pink Alicorn that greeted them,
"Hey!" then she narrowed her eyes at Trade Wind, horn glowing, "Is something wrong?" realizing what happened, Trade Wind groaned,
"Nothing you can fix Cadance," she warned the Love Princess who huffed,
"Really, because I have no idea how you are walking around with that hanging onto you," Trade Wind looked unamused.
"Maybe I'll ask Princess Luna if she wants to help with the magical books at the Castle of the Two Sisters instead," Celestia stopped the conversation.
"My little pegasus, is something wrong?" she asked concerned, Trade Wind grimaced.
"I'm sorry your highness, but it is nothing that can be solved except with time and logical thought," she smiled bitterly, "Anyways, let's get started on that pizza," she took a slice, ignoring Cadance whispering to Celestia and Luna in the background.
"Well, I'm sorry but I am still not feeling up to helping with dark magic books, which I do know the castle contains, so Cadance will have to be the one to help you," the Princess of the Night tapped her chin, "Do you remember what books are in that castle Sister?" she asked, but received a shaken head.
"I do not, I left the entire library behind when they built Canterlot, which in hindsight wasn't a very good idea, but I wasn't really feeling up to it at the time," the tallest alicorn admitted, Cadance threw a wing over the Pegasus.
"Which means we'll have plenty of time to talk together about your problems!" Trade's ears fell.
'Crap' she just knew the subject would not be dropped, now what was she going to do?
Chapter 6- Aftermath of ATR
Chapter 6: Pegasus on the Mountain
Chapter 6: Pegasus on the Mountain
As Twilight finished her briefing on the fact Princess Celestia was sending them to deal with the dragon, Fluttershy felt worry creep in,
“Um, Twilight, are you sure Princess Celestia wanted us to deal with it and not someone else?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes,
“The Princess obviously thinks we will be able to handle it, come on Fluttershy don’t be scared of going up there,” the yellow Pegasus frowned at her friend in disapproval.
“I just think it would be wise to have someone who is an expert on dragons to come with at least, none of us are equipped to deal with a fully grown dragon,” but it was obvious they weren’t going to listen to her and she returned to her cottage with a grim air, something her brother noticed as he was preparing breakfast on his day off from the castle restoration (they were getting all the necessary stones and wood in for fixing it up before any interior stuff could be done.)
“Something wrong Sis?” Frost looked up from his cereal in concern as Fluttershy told them about the dragon and how her friends were sent to deal with it, Zephyr winced.
“How about after you leave I’ll go ahead and tell Trade Wind, and she can catch up with you,” Fluttershy breathed out in relief.
“Sounds like a plan,” she put on her saddlebags and made sure her Rescue Pony badge was visible before she set out to join the other five.
Twilight and the others stood to wait in front of the library as she came up and Rainbow Dash flew into the air,
“Okay she’s arrived let’s go!” she was about to fly off when a cleared throat caught her attention as Fluttershy stood in the group,
“I need to check everypony’s bags before we go, Twilight,” she nudged the purple unicorn who looked confused but showed her the contents as Rainbow groaned impatiently,
“We don’t have time for this!” her exclamation was ignored as Fluttershy took out several books which she handed Spike to Twilight’s protest,
“Spike, do you think you can take these back with you, if you need help with the animals just ask Harry politely to keep them under control,” she nodded to the bear who gave a soft grunt, then she turned to Twilight and took out a water bottle and nutrition bar from her own saddlebags, placing them in the unicorn’s things.
“When you are going up a mountain it is important to make sure you stay hydrated and don’t lose any energy.” She checked the rest of their bags, taking out the cupcakes Pinkie had put in hers and replacing them with the bars and water bottles.
When she was done she returned to the front and cleared her throat again,
“Now, it can be very dangerous up there on the mountain, so I need all of you to pay attention to where you are walking and be very quiet as we get closer to the top, Rainbow Dash you will have to walk with the rest of us,” the Pegasus grumbled but landed on her hooves, Twilight staring flabbergasted at the normally shy pony which Applejack noticed as they started walking,
“Surprising ain’t it,” she commented, Twilight nodded with wide eyes, “She is the Rescue Pony of Ponyville, she may be shy in other occasions, but when she’s in her element she gets more confident. The whole Everfree thing was a different matter for her,” Pinkie Pie while still pouting about her cupcakes being thrown out, piped up,
“Yeah! She knows a whole lot about animals and using them in rescue operations, and she’s part of the mountaineering and caving club,” Applejack raised an eyebrow,
“We don’t have a mountaineering and caving club,” she stated, Pinkie gave her a sly glance,
“That you know of,” Rainbow joined their conversation,
“I thought she would be at least a little scared,” she commented, Rarity gave her a look,
“Darling, you realize that during her Rescue Pony yearlong seminar they had to go on a bunch of mountains and scary places right? I’m pretty sure if she had a fear of mountains she got over it a long time ago,” the rainbow-maned Pegasus muttered to herself as they continued along.
When they reached the base of the mountain Twilight took out the map but Fluttershy took it, shaking her head at Twilight’s protests,
“I know the way up, Twilight,” she stayed ahead of them as they went up the mountain, some of them marveling at how confident she was now while others were still a bit surprised.
Castle of the Pony Sisters
Trade Wind got down from the rafters with the bucket full of dirty water, even after all the cleaning they did, there were still spots being found.
Maud came in with the second order of the stones, placing them with the others in the corner of the room that still had a roof.
“Looking good Maud,” she told her, receiving a slow nod as the mare went back out, and the Pegasus got ready to haul the stones to the first part of the castle they were restoring when Zephyr flew in, “Um Zephyr, you know you have today off right?” she saw his expression and tensed, “What’s wrong?” he explained the situation and she turned grim, “Right, I’ll be going then, make sure to tell the others,” she flew off and Zephyr turned to the other workers who were coming in for their lunch break.
"Where's the Boss?" Paris asked, walking back in with Maud with the next order of stones,
"Seems Princess Celestia sent her student and friends to deal with a dragon problem," Paris paused in placing the stones to give him a look,
"Are you talking about Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight? I know only one of that group went to the University, a second one has sort of met dragons because of Trade Wind, but the rest?" she shook her head, "Did she send for Trade Wind as well? That would make more sense," his silence spoke words, making her bow her head, "Your princess is weird," she informed the ponies before walking over to the food cart that Gabby and Derpy had brought from Sugarcube Corner, "Any muffins left? Preferably without chocolate?" Derpy smiled and produced a whole tray of blueberry ones, "That's what I'm talking about!" the Diamond Dog cheered.
"My sister has never met a dragon, apart from Spike," Maud stated in a bland tone, but only those that knew her detected the worry she held for her overactive sister.
"Maybe they will be able to deal with it, they did help defeat Nightmare Moon after all," Gabby suggested, Zephyr gave her a wry grin.
"'Let's hope." 'Hopefully, Rainbow Dash doesn't do anything reckless' he could imagine the older blue pegasus losing her patience if talking it over did not work.
Upon reaching the cave the Mane Six got ready to go in despite Fluttershy’s insistence that they wait a bit,
“I might have led you up the mountain, but this is a delicate matter that we need to deal with,” but Twilight was determined to go in and Fluttershy lowered her head as she went in with her, resigned to it.
Predictably the dragon wasn’t impressed with Twilight and the two ran out amidst the cloud of smoke he breathed at them.
“Well that didn’t work,” Rarity decided to go in then and Fluttershy sighed when the unicorn came out with a glum look muttering about how she almost had that jewel.
Then Pinkie went in with the weirdest getup but she too was chased out, finally, Rainbow Dash lost patience.
“That’s it, my turn,” she got ready to fly in when Trade Wind appeared in front of her, looking unamused, “North Wind! What are you doing here? Get out of the way, I need to teach that dragon he can’t sleep where he wants,” but she yelped when Trade instead grabbed her by the ears and dragged her back down.
“Watch her,” she told Fluttershy before turning and walking into the cave.
The Mane Six waited, most of them apart from Fluttershy and Rarity expecting her to be chased out as well, except she came out just as the cloud of smoke stopped,
“I gave him a medicine for the smoke so he should be okay now,” Rainbow’s jaw dropped.
“What?! We are supposed to be kicking him out, not letting him stay, he has no right!” a scroll appeared on her face which she took, “What’s this?”
“A letter of permission for him to take residence within Equestria and sleep where he wants so long as he doesn’t endanger any of the citizens doing so. He already filled out all of the paperwork letting him stay in the cave, and was quite contrite when I reminded him that his smoke was considered a danger to the citizens. So long as he isn’t causing any trouble and is sleeping peacefully everything should be okay, also we might need to do some sort of barrier to prevent those interested in challenging the dragon or stealing his hoard,” she shot a look at Rarity who had the grace to be sheepish, “But other than that, there’s no reason to kick him out,” Twilight spluttered,
“But the Princess!”
“Said she wanted you to deal with the situation, not kick the dragon out, I wish she had at least considered sending a letter to another dragon delegate. No offense but just because you are the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony doesn’t automatically qualify you for every threat to Equestria, especially if you have no knowledge on how to deal with it if the threat is purely accidental. Anyways, thanks for sending Zephyr Fluttershy, who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped Rainbow from attacking him, and its Trade Wind, not North Wind Miss Dash,” the older Pegasus grumbled to herself the entire way down, the rest of them lost in their own thoughts.
“Hey Trade Wind, thank-you,” Twilight entered the library with the others, leaving Trade to shrug and fly off back to the castle, she had work to do.
Twilight was lost in thought as she went over the conversation she had with Fluttershy about her experience dealing with mountains,
“Spike, take a letter,” she couldn’t wait to tell Princess Celestia what she had learned about today!
Chapter 7- Pegasus on the Mountain
Chapter 7: Foal in the Library
Twilight fidgeted a bit as she took turns glancing at her book and the scene in front of her, it got to the point that the pony she was watching sighed,
"If you have something to say," blushing at getting caught, Twilight shut her book,
"I was wondering if I could have a turn with him?" she asked quietly, blue eyes watched her for a moment before the foal was placed in her hooves.
"He's very fussy about unfamiliar ponies," the pegasus warned her, Twilight nodded quickly as she carefully adjusted him and sat back,
"You know, its been more than a month since I've come here and this is the first time I'm holding him," she said in a small voice, "I mean, Rarity told me about him and some of the others took hooves in helping raise him, but it sounds so strange to think of someone my age with a foal. Does that make sense?" she asked Trade Wind who patted the snoozing foal on the head, causing him to coo in his sleep.
"I'm guessing you are rather curious about who the father is and whether I know him?" she asked lightly, the purple unicorn looked sheepish at the question even as she admitted to it, "It is not for me to tell you, when Rarity feels up to it she will just know that the father lost any right he had to Titanium years ago. Now, are you done looking over the reports for the restoration?" caught off guard by the change in subject, the Element of Magic coughed as she gathered her thoughts.
"Yes, it is rather remarkable, you have a list of every book in the library of that castle, some that haven't been in print for centuries! But there are a lot of black lines," Twilight commented a bit puzzled but Trade waved her off,
"That's because some of those books ended up having curses on them or contained dark magic," seeing her alarm, Trade assured her, "We had an alicorn with us to deal with those books," Twilight blinked puzzled.
"Which one?"
"Princess Cadance," the unicorn jumped to her hooves,
"Cadance was here?! Why didn't anyone tell me? She was my foalsitter," she added the last part at the raised eyebrow.
"Well, she was going to come into Ponyville when we came across a particular book that she immediately had packaged up and flew off to take it to Princess Celestia. Considering it had its own room with booby traps, it must have been pretty important, she's actually coming back next week to help move all the books we packed up to store in a storage locker on the outskirts of Ponyville," Twilight pouted,
"Not here?" she asked before looking at the notebook she had been reading, the hundreds of names listing books and amended her statement, "Never mind," the night would have gone on splendidly with Trade going by Rarity's boutique to drop Titan off and Twilight finishing her reading when there was a clap of thunder, waking up the unicorn toddler whose face scrunched up in displeasure as he started to wail, the two trying to calm him down.
"Do you know how to calm him down!" Twilight cried, Trade gave her a look as she rocked the colt back and forth in her hooves,
"What about that spell you used for the Ursa Minor that Lyra raved to me about?" the purple unicorn blushed a bit at the reminder before shaking her head,
"That was different, it was outside and I'm pretty sure Rarity doesn't want me lifting him in my magic, oh! I'll get some milk ready, she went to get the foal bag by the door before she looked out her window and exclaimed, "What are Rarity and Applejack still doing out there!" she threw the door open and called out for them in a loud voice to Titan's protests as he grew louder, Twilight looked sheepish at the annoyed Trade Wind.
Rarity rushed in, took one look at her son and was over there fussing as she sung softly to him, leaving Trade free who grabbed a bucket and towels for a muddy Applejack,
"Thank ye kindly, what's going on?" Applejack stared at Rarity holding Titanium as he calmed down, eyes closing as he fell into a restful sleep.
"Thunder woke him up, he didn't react all that well to it, or to the loud noises," she glanced at Twilight wryly who apologized in a small voice,
"Sorry, I was concerned about Rarity and Applejack being in the rain and forgot for a moment," Trade shrugged,
"Never mind then, but why were the two of you in the rain?" there was a noticeable tension when she said this, but Twilight suddenly clapped her hooves,
"I know! Since we are all here and the storm might go on for a while, how about a sleepover," Applejack's ears pinned back, Rarity stopped humming.
"Uh, nice idea Sugarcube, but I got to get back to the farm," she opened the door only to jump back at the sight of lightning in the distance, "On second thought, let's do this," Twilight squealed quietly with glee and ran to get a book which was revealed to be about sleepovers.
Placing Titanium on a pile of pillows, Rarity helped Twilight set up the first activity while Applejack and Trade Wind stood back,
"You know, for somepony who hates being in mud, you are sure covering yourself with it," Applejack glared at Rarity who ignored her as she plastered the green mud on Twilight's face.
"Are you joining in too Trade Wind?" Twilight asked but Rarity waved her hoof,
"Unfortunately while the dear is used to mining and such in all manners of earth, we've learned there's an ingredient that does not react all that well with her, sorry darling, I don't have ingredients for that other mask," she told Trade Wind, the pegasus shrugged,
"It's fine, hey Twilight can I read that?" she pointed to the slumber party book, Twilight nodded enthusiastically before Rarity asked her to stop so she could put the cucumbers on.
Trade Wind flipped through it, looking at the chapter list and skimming through information as she waited for the girls to be done with their mud masks.
Then a blue glow enveloped her and she found her hair brushed and curlers being put in, but she ignored the sensation as she went through the book, taking mental notes and trying not to laugh at some of the things in there, then they were removed and it was time for scary stories.
"I'm surprised you haven't read the book before, you've done a tone of articles on a lot of subjects," Twilight stated when the pegasus shut it to join them, she received a wink.
"I was already aware what went on slumber parties, and felt that there was no need to read up on these kinds of books, but there are several things missing in this," the unicorn gasped,
"Like what?" at this point Rarity and Applejack were glaring at one another, trading insults of 'scary' stories but were actually of the other, Trade pointed to them,
"Like what to do if you have friends who are in a quarrel, that doesn't very end well in a sleepover, especially if they are ruining basic stuff like how to do ghost stories. If you haven't noticed they are both kind of bringing the slumber party down with their feud," Twilight's ears went back.
"I've noticed," she said quietly, "But maybe we can carry it on with our own ghost stories," she turned wide purple eyes on Trade Wind who grimaced,
"You want me to do one too don't you?" Twilight smiled with stars in her eyes.
"But me first, I want to save yours for last," the unicorn appeared among the arguing friends and started her story of the 'Headless Horse'.
Overall it was a rather good story, even if Twilight went into too much detail, she did wind up scaring the cider out of Applejack and Rarity (Titanium had a silence bubble that blocked sounds outside but if he woke up they would know.)
"Okay, your turn!" Twilight turned to Trade Wind, looking eager but also hesitant, "I don't suppose you'll tell us about the Rainbow Factory story?" Rarity and Applejack stopped their bickering and stared,
"Uh sugarcube-" Applejack warned but Trade gave a small smile, she knew why Twilight would be interested.
"I do not really mind telling you about it, but I warn you it is not a very good one, so if you want me to do a different story, tell me now," the other two looked uncomfortable but they were too interested so the pegasus made herself comfortable and started.
"A thousand years ago, rainbows were made differently, but after the end of the Discordian Era, any knowledge of how they were made faded away and pegasus scrambled to find out a way to be able to create Rainbows. Celestia herself made sure it was a top priority, but after the banishment of Nightmare Moon she lost interest in overlooking the project and entrusted it to some of the top Pegasus and unicorn mages in the country. It got to the point where they almost gave up, were it not for an incident that gave them the ideas on how to produce rainbows," her voice was quiet, but the other three were watching with wide eyes, "There was a filly by the name of Aurora Lights who while diving to save her sibling, performed a Sonic Rainboom, creating a rainbow that spread throughout all of Equestria," that story always was in her nightmares and she did not leave it out.
"This gathered the attention of those in the Rainbow Factory project and they invited her to see how it was possible, and it was literally a rainbow mine for them. They figured out that every pegasus while young had a unique energy only special to them before they grew up and matured. None of the other adult pegasus had the same kind, but no one could figure out how to harness the magic in a legal way, till one night, it came to them," her voice turned dark, "Why should they care how they harvest the energy to make rainbows so long as they could? A scientist came up with the Pegasus Device," the tone she said this in created a shiver down their spines, "It harvested the energy from fillies and colts, but left them in the unfortunate manner of a half-life, but then something strange seemed to happen to those whose energy was only depleted halfway. In fact, something strange happened to those who worked in the Rainbow Factory, every time they harvested a filly or colt, it was like any guilt, any horror, it festered inside and instead, they started feeling the pleasure of it. Some would say their ways turned red as this continued, and those who survived grew to be emotionless and even more sadistic than those who condemned them to their half lives. Of course, concerns were raised when the fillies and colts were in public, and it was growing rather difficult figuring out what to do with those that did not survive, so they added to the factory, and decided to harvest the bodies of the foals themselves.
As years went by, they started singling out the colts and fillies whose flying prowess weren't as great as the others, they created a test that all Pegasus were required to take. If you did not pass, your parents took you out of town and dropped you off at the Rainbow Factory with other fillies and colts that did not pass. None that came in never went out, and the souls of all those murdered for the 'greater good' of producing rainbows wander throughout the halls of the Rainbow Factory and if one finds themselves near a rainbow, they notice a strange smell," she approached the trio slowly, "Of blood! she shrieked, startling them all into shrieks themselves and Twilight hurriedly turned on the lights.
"You and Twilight are going to give meh a heart attack," Applejack gasped, Rarity was in agreement with the mare, which was a surprise, Twilight was staring at Trade Wind,
"Fluttershy said you relived that nightmare every night for years, is that what really happens?" she asked quietly, Trade sighed,
"Yes and more, be lucky all you get is a story of it and not it happening around you, or to you, do you want to hear the song?" there was a haunted look in her eyes and the trio hurriedly shook their heads.
"No thanks, darling!"
"Ahm good!"
"Let's start smores!" the purple unicorn ran to the kitchen for the ingredients while Trade drank from a glass of water to soothe her throat.
"And I thought that story about the stallion with the hook was scary," Rarity groaned, "I'm definitely going to have nightmares now," she shot a pout at Trade who shrugged.
"You all agreed, I was going to do the Phantom Stallion of the Opera which isn't as scary, just sort of sad in the end," she looked up when Twilight returned with the stuff to make smores and they began making them.
Of course, then Rarity and Applejack started up again with Rarity talking about making smores neatly and Applejack eating the one she just made, resulting in another squabble.
"Here, so long as you enjoy eating them its fine," Trade handed Twilight one she just made and the unicorn thanked her, eating it in one bite and checked it off the list.
"Now the next item on the list is Truth or Dare," she stated, and when it looked the other two weren't going to do this game by the rules either, Trade Wind shook her head and went over to the pillows where Titanium blinked sleepily at her,
"Want to see Mama?" she asked quietly upon lifting him from the bubble and he laughed as she carried him back to the unicorn and an earth pony, depositing him in Rarity's startled hooves.
"Darling!" Rarity's protest was cut off when Trade pushed up her glasses and an icy aura surrounded her, Applejack gulped.
"You two are going to sit there for the entirety of this discussion, and we are going to talk in quiet tones so that we can resolve whatever you two are arguing about, is that clear?" any attempt to speak was caught off by her glare and she made Applejack sit next to Rarity, "Twilight, would you like to take notes as we do this?" she asked the unicorn who agreed, taking out a clipboard and quill,
"Ready!" she declared, and the pegasus turned to the two.
"Now please explain what started this whole argument in the first place? Applejack," she nodded to the Earth Pony who shot Rarity a smug look, but an increase in the cold aura dropped it.
"We were supposed to be preparing for the storm and take down all the loose branches, but this here neat freak decided to spruce them up instead. Then when it did start raining we tried to find shelter but she refused to get under a bench because of mud! She's so nitpicky about everything, she doesn't think about why its so important," Trade nodded and pointed to Rarity.
"I just thought it was a shame to create such a huge mess and thought the sticks could use up a nice touch, and I wasn't going to hide under a bench in the storm, in mud," Rarity huffed.
"I see, Rarity do you know why the branches are taken down and such?" the unicorn shook her head, "Its because loose branches can be a danger in such a big storm, they get loose and end up breaking someone's window or hurting someone who finds themselves out in the storm." the unicorn stared at the floor in chastisement, "Applejack," the earth pony froze under the younger mare's gaze, "You know for a fact that Rarity likes things neat and that she has a compulsive desire to keep things in order, and it can be trying when you have different opinions about things, but it is also necessary to have patience about another pony's personality. This is about both of you, you two have been in Ponyville for how long and just now you two get in a fight about each other's ideas. Now I gather in the morning both of you might have thought over it better and apologized, but you two are in a slumber party in someone else's house, so isn't it better to have put whatever hard feelings aside in order to be gracious guests? Instead of telling a ghost story, you two insulted each other in a roundabout way, and in truth or dare, it is customary to ask if they want truth or dare and then ask them a question or dare them to do something, not say 'truths' about the other pony," the two mares shared a look before looking at Twilight who was writing the last words in.
"Gee, Ahm sorry about arguing during your first sleepover Twilight and almost ruining it, and ahm sorry about insulting you Rarity, we're two different ponies, and I should have been more clear with you about why it was important instead of yelling at ya," Rarity looked at Titanium who returned it with wide eyes,
"Ooh, I'm sorry too Twilight, and I'm sorry Applejack for not being a good helper, I let my need for neatness ruin it, I should have looked at it from your perspective instead of getting all defensive, I don't suppose we can start the game all over?" she asked, Applejack nodding next to her, Twilight smiled.
"That'd be great! Uh, how do we do it normally?" an empty bottle was placed between them,
"Spin and whoever it lands on we ask truth or dare," Trade explained and they played it for thirty minutes before finishing the night with a pillow fight that Trade got ganged up on by the other three when she kept dodging and getting all three of them.
As they all settled for the night, Trade looked out at the tree outside where a branch removed by Zephyr and Gabby before the storm started was,
'At least that wasn't a problem' she'd rather not get covered in dirt and rain.
Chapter 8- Aftermath of PonM
Chapter 8: Pegasus in the Coffee Shop
Looking up at the sign, the dark pegasus shuffled her navy blue wings, her Cutie Mark that of a dream catcher in a white and black color.
"Are ye sure that tis alright for us to do this?" she asked the blue pegasus next to her with concern, blue eyes worried, but Trade gave her a small smile.
"It's fine, your sister has done this ton of times herself without anyone finding out," the darker blue pegasus rolled her eyes,
"Sunny Days is not original," she complained quietly, following the researcher into the shop, one of many that existed throughout Canterlot.
"Samples of all the coffee drinks you have in the smallest cups," that earned a raised eyebrow but nonetheless the unicorn's horn glowed as she prepared the orders.
"Sister said drinking too much coffee would be detrimental to our health and not productive in you teaching me," protested 'Dream Catcher' as they waited for their order,
"That's why I chose this place, they only do ten different coffees, all of them the most common, and it is why I decided to do it in small cups for a sample testing. You said you were interested in the different drinks that are popular among ponies of today and this is the best way to experience them," she took the tray with the twenty small cups (ten for her and ten for 'Dream Catcher') with a smile of thanks and they grabbed a table in the corner.
"And it is bad to drink this concoction at night?" the older 'pegasus' questioned, Trade nodded,
"It contains caffeine which when drunk before sleep can mess with the internal clock, and drinking it directly after waking up isn't really good either, not that its stopped others from doing so. Here, the first is Espresso," she nudged it towards the disguised Princess of the Night who took a sip, holding it in her hooves as using magic would alert others.
As she tasted the coffee, Trade gave a history lesson on the development of coffee, recording Dream's reactions at some of the coffee's flavors.
An hour later they exited the coffee shop, Dream Catcher twitching a bit at all the caffeine, unused to consuming coffee, Trade sympathized.
"There's an obstacle course for runners and flyers on the outskirts of Canterlot, I'm kind of curious to see how good of a flyer you are," the pegasus scoffed.
"You will find that I am no slouch in that department," they approached the stadium that had been built for athletes and signed up for one of the difficult flight courses.
Lasers spread throughout the gym and they each put on a vest that would record how many times they touched one of the lasers and also record how many of the two dozen hoops they flew through without their wings touching the rims.
Dream Catcher seemed to enjoy dodging all of the lasers as she went through the obstacle course, Trade Wind a close second behind her. It took them a solid time of twenty minutes to complete the ten laps to the shock of some of the personnel as it normally took at least an hour to finish for others (though the Wonderbolts hadn't done it yet.)
"That was exhilarating, I wish to do it again!" but Dream Catcher had used up all the energy given to her by the coffee and Trade Wind suggested lunch so they stopped at a taco restaurant (the Moon Princess found she enjoyed the spiciness of the cuisine, funnily enough, Celestia barely had tolerance for spicy food, which Luna had confided amongst giggles during the pizza fest several weeks ago.)
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 Dream Catcher was shocked to see a Nocturne in the kitchen.
"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, "Not that large, but 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. This restaurant is only two years old, but its popularity among young ponies looking to test their endurance in spiciness," she nodded to a corner with different sauces, "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 all day?" the pegasus asked with dismay,
"Nay! This is merely our lunch break, 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 were placed 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.
"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 spiciness, you know it is not something to continue eating. You were down after eating nine tacos, and it wasn't due to 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 I wanted to take you to tonight," 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 it is 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, even more, 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 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 decided to wait instead. So, as the VIP, you'll be one of the judges 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 doesn't do anything," 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,
"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 a chisel was pierced 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 the past thousand years, that 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 ears dropped.
"Sorry aunty, I'm still a bit 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.
It took Cadance a while to find where the Mane Six were, but she eventually found them in the Spa, two zebras and an Earth Filly with them,
"Spike, get ready to send the- Cadance!" Twilight called out in surprise, jumping out of the bath and they did the customary greeting before she straightened, "What happened, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the look on her face.
"Its nice to see you Twilight, but I'm here to see Rarity and Fluttershy, and possibly anyone else who knows about Trade Wind and Garble." her gaze stopped at Pinkie, "I don't suppose there is an out for a Pinkie Promise?" the Earth Pony narrowed her eyes and hissed, slowly disappearing into the bath, "Thought not," then she spoke the question she wanted to ask, "Why are all of you here and why is Applejack in a tiny tub?" Ash rolled her eyes.
"They finally saw that just because a zebra lives in the Everfree does not mean they are up to no good," there were blushes around,
"Uh," Princess Cadance raised an eyebrow at the blushing Twilight,
"Poison Joke," with an 'ah' of realization, Cadance shook her head,
"Sorry lost track, Rarity, Fluttershy, any comments?" she asked in desperation, the unicorn and pegasus shared concerned looks.
"No darling, I'm as lost as you," Fluttershy nodded,
"Me too, all I know is that she refuses to even speak about Garble, and he's her best dragon friend, his wing is even part of her Cutie Mark," she blushed at their wide eyed stares, "Well it is the same color as the inside of his wings," she sunk into the water, hoping for the staring to stop.
"That makes it even worse!" Cadance cried out, Twilight staring at her in alarm.
"Why are you so concerned about this? What's wrong with Trade Wind and Garble? I remember seeing him that day she got her Cutie Mark, but not much else," with a sigh, Cadance explained her 'love' sense, and what she was feeling from the pegasus.
Rainbow listened in with a frown,
"Hold on! Are you saying she fell in love with a dragon? Is that even, you know, legal," Spike dropped his scroll,
"Hey!" he glared at the pegasus who looked abashed,
"Sorry Spike, but you do realize the size difference between a pony and dragon, is like really big right?" an annoyed voice cut in,
"Yes, it is, and while I appreciate you feeling sorry for me, and I am sorry it is causing you pain, my issues are mine, and I will deal with it as I see fit. Alright?" Trade Wind was back and she wasn't very happy that Cadance was going behind her back like this.
"But!" the pink alicorn pouted, "Fine," she bowed her head, "See you at the library Twilight," Trade shook her head once she was gone.
"Look, ignore what she said," she was bowled over by a bawling Pinkie Pie and sighed, this was going to take a while.
Chapter 11- Zebra in Coffee Shop
Chapter 10: Pegasus in the Dungeons
"I can't believe we still have to do the dungeons!" Zephyr groaned, staring at the numerous cells that they found beneath the castle, "We can just lock them away," he suggested hopefully but a look from Trade Wind made him sigh, "Fine, but I'm doing this under protest," the blue pegasus gave the rest of the group an apologetic look.
"Sorry, but it wasn't safe till now to even come down here, it was only until we were finished stabilizing the top and removing those stones were we able to even come down here. Plus there was that whole star spider and rat infestation that had to be dealt with," she shot a glance at Zephyr who had not reacted all that well and it had taken some combined effort to calm him down.
"Not to mention the dark magic that had sealed everything shut, along with some really ancient magic," one of the only unicorns of their group commented, pushing up her glasses.
"Yeah, its a good thing we had you here to help to detect all of them, thanks for accepting the offer to be a part of the team Moondancer," the Canterlot unicorn blushed a bit.
"I only did it because of the books rumored to be here and how it would look on my resume," she muttered to herself, Trade smiled as she took out a bucket from the cart and filled it with water. Lyra had assured her all those months ago that Moondancer was just as much of a researcher of magic as Twilight was, and it would be better for the unicorn to get involved in these kinds of projects.
"Well this place isn't going to clean itself, and no, we can't call Lyra to do it because using magic of any kind is a bad idea in a dungeon meant to contain all sorts," she started on the first cell, dumping the water and started scrubbing, the others going in with her to start on the walls or take out the cell doors that had centuries of rust on them.
They had finished cleaning the first one and were halfway through the second when a particular shortage came up,
"I thought we put in orders for a months supply of cleaning potions and soup," Trade frowned, staring into the empty crate, Time Turner rubbed the back of his head,
"I ended up using some of the potions for the pipes and cleaning out all of the clocks," Derpy looked sheepish as well,
"The stained glass windows were really dirty after the storm," others muttered about their own spontaneous cleaning and Trade shook her head.
"Well we can't go on cleaning like this without the potions to get rid of the worst grime, so I guess we'll be stopping in the dungeons today," she stopped them from leaving with a look, "I said the dungeons, we'll send two of you to get more soap while we start work on the greenhouses that were recently repaired, there are a lot of plants that need planting and runes to stop frost and other stuff from getting in need to be inscribed." Zephyr put his hooves together in prayer to be on of the two ponies to go to town but Trade ignored his posturing as she looked at Moondancer, "How about you and Gabby go Moondancer, I know you haven't been going into Ponyville all that much, and while I know Twilight agreed to let you stay over, study sessions don't count," the unicorn blushed a bit while Gabby nodded,
"I still have the list for all of the potions, I'll go ask Zecora to prepare some as we leave the forest, come on Moondancer," she flew off and Moondancer was indecisive for a moment before she followed.
"I'm not good with, plants," Maud's voice sounded and Trade rubbed the back of her head,
"Actually, this is on the request of Princess Luna, but have you heard of a rock garden?" the Earth mare blinked slowly and nodded.
With Gabby and Moondancer
"I still can't believe the opportunity I was given just because Lyra knows me, we don't even talk all that much," Moondancer straightened her ponytail that Zephyr had given her on the first day to help keep it out of the way ('and not in that style!')
"A lot of opportunities appear like that because of connections, its why socialization is so important, of course making friends to make connections isn't all that good either, but no reason to not make friends either. How are you and Twilight doing?" Moondancer adjusted her glasses,
"Alright, she keeps apologizing about missing my party, but I guess I can't really fault her since Princess Celestia did send her those books and she did send her to Ponyville. Of course she keeps trying to include me on some of her friend's activities, but I'm not really interested. I mean, they are her friends, but they are not mine," Moondancer looked really uncomfortable at this admission, but Gabby nodded in understanding,
"Yes, I can understand that, I don't really get along with some of Zephyr's friends since we don't have the same interests, but there's a truce not to fight or anything and to at least go along with what he wants to do. Do you have any friends back in Canterlot?" Moondancer opened her mouth to reply when they came upon an odd sight.
"Why is Pinkie Pie ducking and hiding in the bushes?" Moondancer asked, but having been friends with some of the Ponyville citizens, Gabby realized what it meant,
"Twitchy tail!" she looked around the sky urgently, earning a baffled look from the Canterlot native,
"What are you talking about-" she paused at the sight of a frog landing on Twilight's face, realizing the unicorn must have gone up to Pinkie Pie in her curiosity.
"Whenever Pinkie Pie's tail twitches, it means something is going to fall from the sky," she nodded at the look shot her way, "I know it does not make sense, but over the years there have been a lot of instances where Pinkie's Pinkie sense has come in handy." Moondancer shot another look back at them to still see Pinkie's tail twitching before Twilight fell into a ditch.
"It might be some kind of Earth Pony ability, there have been recorded instances in several books about unexplained talents of Earth Ponies that don't make sense," she contemplated this as her stomach let out a loud rumble, her cheeks turning red, but then Gabby's stomach let out a loud roar.
"Well, I'm sure Trade Wind won't mind if we put in an order for sandwiches an hour early and eat while we wait, come on, Sugarcube Corner is around the corner," Gabby snickered at the deadpan look, "Sorry, couldn't resist," they entered the shop and met Mr. Cake at the counter.
"Well hello Gabby, here for anything special?" Carrot Cake had taken a bit of getting used to the non-ponies of Ponyville, but at least Gabby's kind nature and helpfulness eased some of the anxiety he felt at the talons she had.
"Yeah, an order of your special sandwiches, you do still have jam left over right?" she asked anxiously, Carrot nodded,
"We sure do, Cup Cake just made some a week ago, how many?" Gabby thought about it.
"It might be till dinner time, so possibly thirty, ooh and some of those banana bars as well, that's it for the Castle order, Moondancer is there anything you'd like to eat for lunch?" the unicorn went over the selections.
"I'll have the strawberry jelly and peanut butter triple decker with a shake of peanut butter and blueberries," nodding cheerfully at the order, Mr. Cake recorded it before glancing at Gabby who pointed at a large pretzel in the case.
"I'll have the Titan pretzel," there was silence as ponies turned to stare and Mr. Cake blinked rapidly.
"Are you sure? Pinkie Pie created it with unknown ingredients after all," Gabby nodded eagerly and the stallion sighed, "Oh well," he bent and grunted as he lifted the pretzel up and carefully placed it on a plate, his wife coming out with a glass of water and Moondancer's order.
The duo sat in a corner, the studious unicorn staring at the three pound pretzel that was steaming suspiciously despite not having come out of the oven.
"That kind of looks ominous," she observed, but the griffin didn't look deterred.
"My old roommate that wasn't Trade Wind recommended it, and I promised to try it when I could," she cut into it with her talon, releasing some sort of cheese mixed with an orange sauce, "Ooh it looks good!" the griffin proceeded to chow down, some of the patrons staring at her being unaffected by one of the spiciest foods on the Cake's menu that rated a caution sign for customers.
'I'm starting to think everyone that went to that university has high tolerance for spicy foods' Moondancer thought to herself, having seen Trade Wind eat Lava peppers like they were nothing.
"Gabby! Moondancer!" a familiar voice sounded, a mint unicorn plopping in one of the last two empty seats at their table, "Hey you guys, what's up? Over her Bon Bon!" she waved to an Earth pony mare that did not look all that pleased by her choice of table.
"Lyra we can always sit somewhere else you know," she told her roommate who waved a hoof,
"Naw! We'll be fine, these two are cool, I can't believe your actually enjoying that! I tried doing it with Bon Bon once but the heat got to me," she admitted sheepishly, "Even after spending years with a spicy connoisseur, my tolerance is still a bit low, I don't know how she does it," Bon Bon rolled her eyes,
"Probably because she's a freak," she muttered under her breath, unfortunately both Lyra and Gabby had good hearing,
"What did you say?" normally one of the gentlest and nicest griffins around, even Gabby had points where her inner griffin threatened to come out, and this Earth Pony just triggered it.
Startled at being overheard, Bon Bon lifted her nose,
"All I'm saying is Trade Wind is not a normal pegasus, I don't know why Princess Celestia is fond of her so much," the former secret agent bit out, Lyra frowned,
"There is nothing wrong with Trade Wind, Bon Bon, why are you so against her?" the Earth mare slammed her hooves into the table.
"She glows in the dark Lyra! You think I don't know about that? Not to mention a pegasus should not have the abilities she does, nor the knowledge," it had frustrated her entire organization how a civilian had been able to get into places they couldn't, "She should have submitted herself for scientific examination years ago," she spat, Gabby snapped.
The mare found herself thrown to the ground as the griffin glared at her with swirling orange instead of the blue she normally had, signalling her rage,
"How dare you say that about Trade Wind! You have no idea what she has been through, so don't you dare say she's a freak!" Gabby's voice started to growl and Bon Bon got up, her own face twisted into a scowl,
"She is!" the mare insisted, "And so are you! Ponyville is for ponies, not abominations like you and the others," Lyra gasped at her roommate's words, feeling hurt that the friend she trusted was like the rest of those ponies who didn't get along with non-ponies. Tears filled her eyes as she lit her horn and put the two to sleep,
She stood staring at her roommate, heart breaking into little pieces as tears fell down her cheeks,
"Lyra?" Moondancer asked uncertainly, uncomfortable seeing the normally confident mare cry.
"I'll be okay, you take Gabby to where you guys need to go, I'll take Bon Bon home," her ears fell, "And pack up my stuff," she left before her friend could stop her.
The other patrons shared looks, some of them shocked that the normally gentle griffin had lost her cool, but they were more shocked the Earth mare actually thought like that.
An hour later Gabby woke up in a cart next to the packaged sandwiches and a box of potions, the magical aura pulling the cart telling her who was doing it,
"Your awake?" Moondancer asked lightly, walking beside the cart and staring straight ahead, Gabby grimaced,
"Sorry I lost my temper like that, its just, Trade Wind was my roommate for three whole years before I graduated to start a business with Zephyr while she stayed an extra two years for a research project. So much happened during our school that I know Trade Wind's personality and ideals inside and out, she does not deserve to be called a freak!" the griffin huffed, hopping out of the cart and attaching herself to it to lighten the load.
"Bon Bon said she glowed in the dark?" Moondancer asked carefully, having not seen it for herself which was quite strange since they had been in the castle for several months.
"Yes, an incident as a filly had her falling into strange glowing pools, two different ones, she's found different ways to conceal it over the years, and I'm pretty sure her family is still in the dark about it," she then remembered how loud Bon-Bon had been and thought that Rainbow Dash might hear about it soon.
"Well that would explain the glowing, but what other stuff can Trade do that is so strange?" having only known the pegasus for a short time, Moondancer was a bit perplexed.
"Ever read North Star magazine?" at the nod she grinned, "All of them are written by Trade Wind herself, apart from the fashion and gardening articles," the unicorn's jaw dropped.
"But most of those are first-hand accounts of various activities like cave exploring, surfing, and even skiing, none of them mentioning the use of wings as part of it," Gabby shrugged.
"Yeah, she was determined to get her Cutie Mark in cave exploring or mining and made sure not to use her wings at all, even in the dangerous parts. But I'm pretty sure Bon Bon is unaware of North Star and Trade Wind being the same pony, what she was talking about was probably Trade's ability to fly without the use of pegasus magic," Moondancer almost stumbled,
"But that's impossible!" she spluttered, "Only dragons, griffins and Nocturne ponies can fly without the use of magic, Pegasus, however, don't have the necessary wing muscles to accomplish that," she rubbed her glasses in confusion as Gabby chuckled,
"Yeah, that was my thought when I realized it, but again, when she was a filly, Trade met a dragon that trained her and made her fly under her own strength out of a cavern impervious to pegasus magic. So basically, all that Bon Bon claims about her, she earned through hard work or a complete accident," Moondancer was lost in thought as they approached the castle again. The group was outside weeding the courtyard, some of them going back and forth in the greenhouse with buckets of dust and unneeded dirt, and others inscribing something on little panels.
"Ooh, lunch!" Zephyr dropped his broom and flew over, rubbing his hooves together in anticipation, causing Gabby to giggle while Moondancer rolled her eyes.
Trade set down her own broom and walked over,
"How was your trip into Ponyville?" she questioned casually, the two shared a look,
"Pinkie sense?" were the words that came out of Moondancer's mouth, and Trade broke out into a grin,
"Oh did you witness that? I've been witness myself actually," Moondancer nodded before the thought of asking about Bon Bon's reaction to Trade Wind popped up again,
"So, I hear you do a lot of research," she winced, not the question she wanted to ask!
"Did Gabby tell you about that then? Yeah, my Cutie Mark kind of symbolizes my gift in that aspect," she pointed at the knowledge symbol on the egg, Moondancer glanced at it in curiosity.
"That's an interesting Cutie Mark, what do the diamonds and star mean?" Trade shrugged,
"I have no clue, they just appeared with the rest," the mare with the Crescent Cutie Mark shook off her curiosity about that and tried again,
"Do you know the truth about Pinkie Sense?" there was something strange about the answering grin.
Once the day ended, Trade volunteered to take Moondancer back to the library while Gabby went with Zephyr to Fluttershy's place to play with Frost.
"I'm guessing something else happened in town today?" jumping at the question, the unicorn looked guilty,
"You might want to visit Lyra and stop her from leaving Ponyville," she gulped at the raised eyebrow, "Apparently her roommate Bon Bon had some opinions that pushed Gabby over the edge and made Lyra cry," the pegasus sighed,
"I see, while I can understand her frustration, there is nothing for me to do about Bon Bon who has made it pretty clear that she will not change her feelings about me. But if Lyra wants to leave Ponyville, it is up to her, not me as it is Lyra's life." they entered the library to see Twilight wearing an umbrella hat with Pinkie, Spike himself looking a bit spooked as he came down the stairs,
"Hey Pinkie looks like it didn't take all that long to win Twilight over about your Pinkie sense," Trade commented, making the Earth pony beam,
"I know! It took me by surprise too, it was a real doozy!" the pink mare hopped out to return home, Moondancer entering the kitchen for a drink, leaving Twilight and Trade Wind alone.
"So you knew about it?" Twilight asked the pegasus, wondering if she had been driven to research Pinkie's abilities the way she did.
"Well yes, North Star did an article on Earth Pony abilities a few years ago, have fun," she left, leaving Twilight with a twitching eye,
"There's an article!" her voice boomed throughout Ponyville, Trade snickering to herself as she went on home.
'If she had only consulted other areas instead of her equipment, oh well' not like it would matter anyway.
Author's Note
I'm doing the episodes a bit out of order, moving Fall Weather friends and Winter Wrap up down the list a bit. Not sure if I'll do Party of One till season two (considering her birthday is in May!
Chapter 12- Aftermath of ZiCS
Chapter 11: Nocturne in Ponyville
Carousel Boutique prided itself on excellent customer service, unique fashion services, and efficient delivery and stock.
Of course a Diamond Dog and a Zebra being the new residents caused quite a stir among the ponyfolk of Ponyville and Mayor Mare herself after receiving several complaints from some of the 'upstanding' citizens, went to interview them herself. She had been shocked at how apologetic they were at not getting their citizenship once they arrived and had seen how they interacted with Rarity and her foal. The obvious care the trio showed one another and knowledge the two brought to Ponyville convinced her to let them stay and she held a meeting telling the shop owners the same thing.
Paris established herself as a jewelry maker among the trio, also specializing in saddlebags and accessories, occasionally going with Rarity or on her own to gather jewels for different orders. She was also the delivery girl, going out of Ponyville to the nearest towns with packages and come back with ingredients the other two needed.
Ash dabbled in potions, hats, and scarves, she knew over a hundred different ways to color her current project and her knowledge on hats was only surpassed by the true professionals in the field.
Rarity of course had her special gem finding spell and unique fashion sense she used to create dresses and other outfits, collaborating with the other two when necessary but most of the time they each had their separate areas that they did.
Of course with the Grand Galloping Gala and the Night wing Festival coming up, orders were coming in quickly and being the only Boutique in Ponyville had quite a few ponies getting over their initial wariness towards the non-pony workers in order to get their work done.
"Ooh, I hope that seashell order comes in soon, its been weeks since the last one and I'm almost out," Rarity stared at the shelf where she kept the seashells in dismay, stopping at the sound of a coo and a smile appeared on her face as she went over to a playpen where her son was playing with his claw and hoof-sown dolls.
"Hey Titanium, Mommy's going to the Grand Galloping Gala sweetie, and she's going to make her own dress that will knock the socks off of those stuck up elite," he giggled at the face she made and she nuzzled him with affection before going back to her design and preparing the ponykin for her dress.
Downstairs Ash looked up at the sound of the door and smiled upon recognizing Applejack and Twilight,
"I just need Rarity to fix this button for me, its my Gala dress," she stated, Ash eyed the outfit with a raised eyebrow.
"I see, are you also here to place your order for the Nightwing Festival," Twilight looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?" the zebra sighed, glancing at Applejack.
"Your brother did this the last two years, you realize you have to do the same," the farmer's eyes widened.
"Ooh that, huh, didn't realize I had to do it, I've always seen him put it together himself," Ash nodded,
"Yes, generally you are supposed to design them yourself, but you also have to take into account the rules and regulations that go with it, and you have to order the supplies from an established boutique or clothing store. There are also rules against using your magic, after last years incident they have become very strict on what you are supposed to do in creating your wings. So, are there any jewels or gems you need to order, or do you just want to choose the wire outline of your wings? They each come with a function that let's you open and close your wings so that you don't have to worry about bumping into anything with them. You can choose between pegasus, dragon, nocturne, and some ponies even chose griffin or fairy wings," Twilight hummed, Applejack looking a bit overwhelmed,
"Well, I'm sure Spike would want the dragon kind and in a show of solidarity I'll do the same, and well, I don't know about gems, do you have something that resembles scales or anything?" Ash took out some forms.
"Here are forms you can fill out with information on ingredients, and while they might be in the shape of the kind you chose, you are welcome to using material not normally found on wings, someone used streamers last year," the two took the forms with them upstairs, leaving Ash to return to her work.
Paris was on a delivery run and would be coming back with the new wire sets that they needed to make for the ponies needing them. The two already had their own wings designed and set off to the side, and they planned on making sure Rarity had time to make hers,
"Oh, I should probably mention that the events being held at the Festival were announced," with a shrug she finished the hat she had been working on and glancing at the clock, decided to leave a note for Rarity before leaving, she had time to deliver before her lunch break ended.
On the other side of Ponyville, two females, a griffin and a pegasus, stared at the lump on their couch, the pale green hair peeking out from the blanket a reminder of who it was.
"How long has she been like this?" Gabby asked Trade Wind, staring at the lump on their couch, green hairs sticking out from beneath a comforter.
"Too long," was her response as she approached the unicorn, stared down at her with soft eyes, and ripped the blanket off, causing the musician to fall to the ground with an oomph.
"Ow! Trade Wind!" Lyra glared at her, the deep bags under her eyes a testament to the sleepless nights she had been experiencing,
"We're getting our dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, come on, our personal designer will be here any moment," any irritation disappeared at that sentence.
"Crescent Spiral is coming here?" Lyra looked herself over and dove into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
"That took care of that," the sole pegasus of the cottage stated satisfied, her griffin friend looked bemused,
"That's all it took?" the question made Trade shrug,
"Last time Lyra went to Crescent Spiral for a fitting and not in the perfect health, let's just say the Nocturne was very thorough in driving the point home, I've already booked a spa appointment where Crescent will be meeting us. Oh! They are supposed to be coming out with the scheduled events for the Festival soon, are you and Zephyr teaming up again?" a depressed aura suddenly appeared in the room and she looked at the usually bubbly griffin startled, "Uh Gabby, did something happen?" the griffin sniffed,
"No, nothing just some creative differences is all," Trade grimaced,
"Oh, one of those, was it for the castle or one of your guy's side projects?" Gabby scuffed at the floor with her claw and looked sheepish at the scratch mark she left and the look on her roommate's face,
"It was for one of the greenhouses you wanted done, Zephyr got into one of his idea sessions and I had to remind him that we had a budget and it shouldn't be too extravagant. He said it was a castle for a princess and a budget shouldn't matter, we could always dip into our private fund, and you know I had to stop him there," Trade sighed, no matter how mature Zephyr had gotten, there were still parts of him that remained of the spoiled colt he had been.
"I know what you mean, but that shouldn't have been a fight to begin with, Big Mac is in charge of the accounts and has the authority to say no to Zephyr. If we use outside funds for a budget Princess Celestia herself set, that is going to lead to questions about what we've been spending the money on." Gabby sighed,
"I know, I tried to bring that up with him," later as they were in the spa, Lyra listened to what happened and frowned,
"Is everyone of us having a bad week? First I ended my friendship with Bon Bon because of her prejudiced attitude, Trade Wind is still festering from whatever argument she had with Garble," she ignored the glacial glare, glad they were in the hot tub or she would have frozen over, "And now Gabby got into an argument with her boyfriend," the griffin turned red and sunk beneath the water, muttering about how they weren't that way.
"Ok first of all, Gabby its obvious about the two of you, secondly Lyra, there was no argument between me and Garble, and thirdly, I know ending a friendship is hard, but technically she was like that from the beginning and some friends do have to overlook prejudices," Lyra scoffed,
"She got Gabby mad enough to tackle her to the ground!" she protested, the griffin sinking even deeper into the water.
"Well if it got the gentlest griffin around to lose her temper, I'd say it was well deserved," a familiar voice stated, Lyra eeped and dunked beneath the water, double checking her coat. A bemused Nocturne stared at the bubbles on the surface for a moment before raising an eyebrow at Trade Wind, "Something I said?" the pegasus laughed,
"Just making sure she's perfect for the fitting," the Nocturne ahhed and shrugged,
"We still have time to get everything else done," she eyed Trade's mane, "And someone's hair," the blue mare sighed,
"Saw that coming," a visit did not go by without Crescent Spiral getting after her for not taking care of her hair properly. She didn't see the point of using both shampoo and conditioner each time and she liked having her hair short to decrease the amount of time she needed to look after it each morning.
They returned to the cabin once their spa appointment was done to see boxes in front and a note at the top which Trade read,
"Ash delivered our hats and scarves we requested for the Nightwing Festival, and she also forwarded the packet detailing all the events they are going to be having," her eyes lit up with excitement, Trade quickly brought the boxes inside and while Gabby and Lyra had their fitting for the dresses, she was looking over her own packet. To save time the mail ponies delivered all of the necessary packets to the Boutique and Ash and Paris were in charge of handing them out to the necessary beings.
"They are doing a cart race, and Gabby they are having a glass blowing contest," surprisingly it was a popular art among the dragons, since their fire kind of helped in that kind of instance. Gabby, not being a dragon had to rely on equipment to produce her fire, but she was talented in the art of glass and pottery and had a head for making unique items that relaxed the ones who buy them.
"Goody!" Gabby sounded delighted before a squeak escaped at the punishing prick from Crescent for moving, Lyra was off to the side eyeing the packets with a pout on her lips.
"I still wish I could go," she sighed, before shrinking under their combined stares, "Alright alright! I know, my wings were beautiful," she muttered this part to herself, adding out loud, "At least we can spend time together at the Gala, I'm so glad you decided to come after all Trade," the pegasus set down her packet,
"I promised Princess Celestia that I would come to the castle and provide her sister company," Crescent paused and turned to stare at Trade Wind.
"You have permission to see Princess Luna?" she asked in a near whisper, eyes wide, Trade shrugged,
"You are free to come with me, I'm sure she wouldn't min-" she was bowled over by an enthusiastic Nocturne.
"That would be great! I have a lot of questions for the Night Princess and I know she's coming to the Night Wing Festival but I never thought I would be able to meet her myself! This means I absolutely have to get the best supplies for my dress to impress her, and for yours as well," she gasped in horror, "I still need to make my delivery to Rarity! I'll be right back," she zipped out, the rest of the occupants staring after her,
"You mentioned Princess Luna on purpose to prolong your fitting," Lyra accused Trade who picked her packet back up.
"Do you have proof?" the statement made Lyra's eye twitch as her horn glowed and the measuring tape flew around Trade Wind who froze as she was lifted into the air, glaring at her unicorn friend, "Put me down Lyra Heartstrings," the musician smirked.
"I think not, let's get you fitted," Trade eyed the measuring tapes with trepidation as they zoomed in, not at all enthused about what was about to happen.
When Crescent returned, it was to see Trade rubbing her throat and drinking cold water with Gabby scolding a sheepish Lyra in the corner,
"Do I want to know?" the silence made her groan, "'Well never mind then, would anyone like to tell me what's up with the so-called Mane Six? I went there to see Rarity and saw the rest of the Mane 6 making corrections to dresses that by all rights did not need any. I don't suppose you can go see what's going on Trade?" the pegasus blinked several times,
"Hold on, since when is it my duty to check on those six?" she asked bewildered, but somehow found herself in front of Carousel Boutique, "Seriously Lyra? She has way too much fun with that teleportation spell," she grumbled to herself, opening the door and giving a greeting to Ash who was watching Titanium before heading up the stairs.
She opened the door, took one look at the dresses that had been 'corrected' by the five with a miserable Rarity on the side and sighed as she overheard Spike's announcement about Hoity Toity seeing the dresses.
"Spike, go to Hoity Toity and tell him that the fashion show is cancelled, because they are not going out in these dresses," she stated bluntly, the five staring at her in shock while Rarity looked torn between relieved and worried.
"Now hold on a minute! What's wrong with these here dresses, they are perfect!" Applejack objected and Trade gave her a deadpan look.
"For Nightmare Night maybe, but to the Grand Galloping Gala? I'm not going to let you damage Rarity's reputation with dresses you lot thought were 'cool' or 'perfect'. Fluttershy, can you honestly tell me you would actually wear a nest in your mane to one of the largest social gatherings of the year?" the yellow pegasus took another look at her dress and a blush appeared on her cheeks.
"Saying that it would damage Rarity's reputation is a bit much," Twilight said hesitantly, Trade sighed.
"How about putting on both dresses Rarity made you and see which one actually looks nice," they all went into the changing rooms and Rarity approached her,
"Thanks darling-" Trade cut her off,
"Rarity, its sweet of you to think of the whole 'customer is always right thing', but there is also the whole thinking ahead and others asking where they got their dresses from and getting the wrong idea. Plus there is also the fact none of these ponies do what you do for a living," Rarity laughed,
"There you go again, you were always scolding us with a reasonable argument back in University, I know I should not let them get away with that kind of thing and if I had let them go to the Gala or Celestia forbid do that fashion show with Hoity Toity himself seeing," she shuddered,
"Glad I could help, now you can finish your own dress, and maybe design your 'wings'?" Rarity's eyes widened,
"I completely forgot about that! And the packets are here as well, I need to reserve my spot for the pepper bat reveal and pick a seat for the flying show! And our fashionista group is doing our own parade," she started hyperventilating and Trade saw a familiar red coat outside the door,
"Hey Big Mac, are you here for your order?" Rarity stiffened in the corner of her eye as the Earth stallion came in,
"Eeyup," he responded catching Rarity's eye, the two staring at one another before realizing what they were doing and looking away,
"Well thanks for your help darling, Crescent Spiral made her delivery yesterday and Ash informed me that you already received your outfit for the Festival, I'll probably end up visiting you or Fluttershy while I'm doing my wings, make them look authentic and all," Trade waved goodbye and left, shaking her head as she exited the Boutique.
'Why do I find myself involved in these types of situations, and why is it everypony else seems to think I have the solutions to the issue?' she really hoped Twilight still learned the lessons she needed to, but its not like she could say no either. Maybe she should at least minimize damage at the Gala without ruining Princess Celestia's fun? No, she was pretty sure the Alicorn planned on sneaking off to Donut Joe's no matter the outcome, or end up challenging Luna in the arena, the two have been doing it several times together in their 'citizen' disguises. Frankly Trade thought they should build an arena for Alicorns, or at least a level for them to make it more fun for the three Alicorn princesses in existence (Cadance looked really tempted to fly with them during one of their briefing sessions.)
'Better get back to work though' there was still a lot of work to be done on the castle after all.
Chapter 13: Pegasus Incognito
Chapter 12: Pegasus among the Leaves
When Scootaloo woke up, it was to see slitted cat eyes and puffed up feathers staring at her, upside down.
"Caramel!" Glaze scolded his sister who was on the floor laughing, he sighed and went to help his pegasus sister up.
"I'm going down for breakfast," Scootaloo left the two to whatever argument and made her way downstairs, passing the rooms used for the daycare and heading straight towards the dining/family room that was connected to the kitchen. There were a total of four rooms for daycare, one room where they were dropped off and played games or slept, one room for a snack, the third for lessons and crafts, and the fourth room where all the foals under the age of two stayed.
It had been a huge adjustment, moving from the orphanage into a house full of griffins and only one other pony, there were a lot of things to get used to in the past few months.
"Scootaloo, good morning," Reese greeted her, the chocolate covered griffin was at the stove, the smell of eggs and meat filled the air and Scootaloo struggled to maintain a normal expression.
"Morning," she took a seat at the small dining table where Carrot Mash was looking through the newspaper, the couple took turns every morning on who cooks and who set the table, this morning was no different.
"I heard shouting upstairs, did Caramel do her thing again?" Carrot asked and Scootaloo grimaced,
"I wish she would stop, my bumps have new bumps," she rubbed the back of her head, the orange coated Earth pony sighed,
"I'll talk with her," he promised but they both know the griffin cub would still do it. Caramel and Glaze came down just as Reese set the food out. Scrambled eggs with cheese and sliced carrots in a bowl was in the middle, a bowl of rice next to it and two different plates of bacon, one made from hay the other from a pig. The griffins ate from the latter while Carrot and Scootaloo chose the non-meaty option.
"You know, bacon is not that bad," Caramel mentioned, but Scootaloo shook her head,
"I've seen pigs, I don't want to eat them," she shuddered, Reese shot her griffin charge a look,
"Great," she grumbled.
The daycare opened at nine so by eight thirty all the dishes were washed and put away and the children were allowed to live the house to wander around, it not being a school day and all.
"You okay Scootaloo?" Glaze asked, seeing the expression on his sister's face.
"You know that we are half eagle and half lion, meat, of course, is going to be a part of our diet, but we aren't pushing it on you for no reason. Pegasus ponies need to eat meat, especially seafood, it's very important they have it in their diet," Scootaloo shook her head,
"Then why didn't she just say that instead of insisting I do it?" she demanded and Caramel appeared on her right, giving her a look,
"Because she didn't think she needed to, don't they serve fish at the orphanage to the pegasus there?" Glaze glared but his sister with talons ignored him as Scootaloo thought it over.
"Not really, we just eat what ponies normally eat, I've never seen fish on the dining table before," Caramel groaned.
"Of course, I'm guessing none of the staff were pegasus either," she shook her head, "Alright, let's go talk to an expert," Scootaloo thought about it.
"Rainbow Dash?!" she gasped in realization, excitement building, but was shot down at the dismissive gesture from the female cub.
"No, Trade Wind of course, and maybe Gabby or Zephyr, come on," they ran all the way to the cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, Scootaloo feeling a bit anxious because of how close it was to the Everfree Forest, but her siblings went ahead without any care so she forced herself to follow them.
They knocked on the door several times before Gabby answered it, blinking sleepily at all of them,
"Hey you guys, what's going on?" she asked, Glaze, stepped forward,
"Sorry for waking you Aunt Gabby, do you know where Trade Wind is?" the gentle griffin frowned,
"'I think she went over to Sweet Apple Acres, something about an appointment with Big Mac, she's been over there every day this past week," Caramel gasped,
"You don't think they are in a relationship do you?!" she stopped at the stares, "What?"
"Please don't jump to conclusions, those two are never going to happen, Trade Wind has said so herself she plans on setting him and-" she stopped and noticed their interested expressions, coughing, "Well look at the time, I think the post office where my part-time job is is calling me!" she zoomed off, leaving the door open.
"Well that was a bust," Caramel said, "Who wants to go to Sugarcube Corner?" she was grabbed and dragged behind them.
"Sweet Apple Acres," Glaze reminded her, huffing at her brother, Caramel crossed her arms as they dragged her all the way across town to Sweet Apple Acres.
On the way there they caught sight of other ponies going in the same direction and exchanged confused expressions.
"Is Sweet Apple Acres putting on an event and we haven't heard about it?" Glaze flew into the air to see what was going on while Caramel stayed down with Scootaloo.
Seeing her sister's longing expression as she stared at their brother, Caramel nudged her,
"I've seen foals my age flying for years, and I can't even get off the ground," she had always been made fun of, being called a flightless pegasus in the orphanage and prospective parents had always passed her by, not wanting to deal with her at all.
"Hey, one way or another we are going to get you flying," her wings briefly touched Scootaloo's before moving away as Glaze came back, a bemused expression on his face,
"There's an Iron Pony contest, between Applejack and Rainbow Dash," and it was only the two of them again.
"Wow, that was as fast as she was on the scooter, I had almost forgotten she's a big fan of Rainbow Dash," Glaze shot his sister a dry look and flew off to catch up to the excited pegasus filly.
They found the rest of the Mane Six sitting in the bleachers, Twilight with a whistle and clipboard designating her as the referee and Fluttershy at the scoreboard. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were watching at the bottom, Titan in a baby carriage next to Rarity.
"Hello darlings, somehow Applejack and Rainbow Dash started this competition, ponies who heard about it came as well. If you are not here for the competition?" she left the question hanging, Glaze answered,
"We came looking for Trade Wind to ask her a question, but then Scootaloo heard about this so I'm guessing we have to wait for the entire thing to be over," he nodded to Scootaloo who was leaning against a fence, watching the proceedings with excitement.
"Oh! Trade Wind is in the barn with Big Mac, hey Rarity, why don't I watch Titan while you take them there," the unicorn spluttered as Pinkie disappeared with the foal, white coat turning pink as she looked at the interested gazes of the cubs, she was going to get back at Pinkie Pie for this!
"Oh fine, let's go," she led them away from the competition towards the large red barn where the sounds of hammering and sawing were.
"What are they doing in there," Caramel muttered pushing aside the door, her and Glaze gaped while Rarity looked exasperated.
"Are you two seriously renewing this?" she thought they got over it in high school!
On the left side of the barn was an apple red cart with four large wheels and a half apple with cider and zap apple jam on the sides. Big Mac was doing final touch ups on it and seemed to be making benches of some sort inside of it, his coat was covered in paint and he paused at the sound of the door opening.
Trade Wind was working on her own cart that had her Cutie Mark and seashells along the sides and it was painted a deep blue color.
"Hey Rarity," the pegasus greeted her with a small smile, pushing up her glasses before returning to attaching the harness to the cart.
"What are you two up to?" the unicorn demanded, the two cart builders looked sheepish.
"Why is he up here?" Glaze poked his brother several times, causing him to twitch before annoyed blue eyes opened with a glare causing him to freeze (he thought it was only an inherited trait!)
"I was taking my nap." his voice was deep and the cubs backed away, paling and shivering in fear,
"You look busy, bye!" they flew down and hid under Trade Wind's carriage, shaking like leaves.
"'Your racing in the Running of the Leaves tomorrow?" Rarity was asking the two, a blush on her cheeks as she tried to ignore Big Mac's gaze.
"Yes, Fluttershy is participating with us, her cart is drying over there with the animals," she nodded to the back of the barn where a yellow cart with pink bats and butterflies with blue paws and fireflies, it was smaller and looked lighter than the other two.
"You got Fluttershy in on this?" Rarity stared at them in disbelief, but Trade looked unfazed this time.
*sigh* "So long as you don't go too fast," Titan enjoyed it the last time he got a cart ride, she wouldn't mind doing it with him this time.
"Great, so you two will ride with Big Mac, Pinkie Pie will be announcing in her weather balloon again, Twilight said she was interested in running, um Applejack and Rainbow Dash will also be in the race. Gabby is part of the refreshment crew with Zephyr, I don't suppose you know anyone who'd be interested in a cart ride?" at this point, Caramel and Glaze appeared in front of her with wide grins,
"We want to!" they chorused, a soft me too! coming from the upper loft.
"I'll see what I can do," Rarity had a good idea about it.
Next Morning
"Yeah, well it is not like we are not at fault either, we got so excited by the carts and stuff that we totally forgot, come on, we can ask her on the way," they arrived at the starting line where ponies were staring at the carts in interest. Big Mac was stretching himself onto the side while Trade Wind and Fluttershy were doing it on the other one.
"We're here!" Caramel and Glaze looked between the carts in concentration, "Which one do we go on?" Glaze muttered, feeling a bit conflicted about it. Red hair popped up as a filly with a yellow coat peered at them with orange-red eyes.
"Well Ahm riding with my brother, Rarity, and Titan, we got the room for one more, oh I'm Applebloom," she added not recognizing Scootaloo who introduced herself in return.
"Hm, I know Frost is going to pick Fluttershy to ride with and a griffin cub per cart is a good idea, I'll go with Big Mac," Glaze hopped in and took a seat next to Applebloom.
"Guess that means we're with Trade Wind, looks like there's already a filly for Fluttershy's cart," Caramel pointed at the small unicorn filly chatting with an excited Frost, both stopped talking at their approach.
"Hey Caramel, hey Scootaloo, are you riding in one of the carts today as well?" Scootaloo nodded,
"Yeah, hey Sweetie Belle, back in town again?" she'd seen the filly around a few times but with her parents living in a different town, it was rare that she got to see her.
"Yep, Mom and Dad are on another one of their trips and I'm staying with Rarity for a while until they come back, I would ride with them, except Big Mac kind of likes to go fast sometimes. Do either of you want to join us?" she questioned but they shook their heads,
"Nah, one griffin cub per cart will make it interesting, and we have some questions for Trade Wind anyways, come on Taloo, let's go," the pegasus followed after her with an annoyed expression.
"I said not to call me that!" they entered the blue cart and made themselves comfortable before the race could start.
Rainbow and Applejack arrived and stared at the carts with different expressions,
"Hold on, I thought this was a running of the leaves thing, why are there carts here?" Rainbow demanded while Applejack sighed,
"Ooh boy, this is going to be interesting, Big Mac hasn't been racing for a while but he looks mighty excited," he was even wearing one of those helmets that had bottles on either side, "So that's where some of the extra cider went," she huffed, deciding not to get into it with her brother and went to get a number, thoughts on beating Rainbow Dash in a fair race.
The three with the carts were in the back of the group and all of the passengers got in,
"I promised I would, she hates cart rides," nodding in understanding, Trade attached the harness and stretched out her wings before folding them.
"Hey Trade Wind?" Caramel asked after Scootaloo nudged her, glaring at the orange filly, "Eating meat is good for pegasus right? It's not bad or anything?" Trade Wind hummed,
"I assume this has to do Scootaloo not eating any meat and such?" the silence was telling, "Despite our mostly vegetarian diet, there are other things that help us strengthen our bodies. For pegasus eating fish is the best thing to do as it strengthens our wing muscles with the right vitamins, other meats like chicken or pork can also help in a way depending on what you do with it. But if it freaks you out, I'd suggest just sticking with the fish," the race started and once the other racers ran she started trotting,
"Aren't you going to run?" Scootaloo asked, a bit disappointed even as she thought over the mare's words.
"'Not until the racers in front are way ahead of us, we're not racing them but each other and it'll be kind of dangerous for us with carts to try and get past them. Don't worry, we'll speed up when the time comes," there was the shuttering of the camera as Paris took pictures and the girls oohed at their surroundings.
"So do you eat pork?" Scootaloo asked,
"I do,"
"And it doesn't freak you out?"
"Nope,"
"But why pigs are cute," there was a shudder from their guide.
"No, they are not, pigs deserve to be meat," Paris snorted as Trade went into a rant under her breath,
"Great, you got her started, she really hates pigs," she informed the two, settling down for a brief break before she would start up again.
Frost and Sweetie Belle enjoyed their ride, the filly looking awed at the colorful leaves while Frost let the wind brush against his feathers,
"Are you two having fun?" Fluttershy was behind Big Mac and Trade Wind who despite going slow still got ahead of her, not like the yellow pegasus minded.
"Yeah, this is pretty cool, I didn't know you were a cart racer," Fluttershy giggled.
"Well I'm not normally, but this is a good way to build muscle and I was preparing on making a rescue cart for my rounds," especially one that didn't break down because of a wrong turn. Being a rescue pony was hard work and sometimes required a strength beyond hers,
"Do you think I'm old enough to do the Rescue Seminar, they are accepting griffins now right?" Frost asked anxiously, he so wanted to be like his big sister, no offense to Zephyr but the only thing he's interested in learning from his big brother is Wing Chun.
"I'm afraid they raised the regulations, you'll have to wait till you've graduated general school and do a vetting process under one of the instructors. It seems there have been those taking advantage of the seminar to do things not very nice to other ponies. The age limit has also been decided at age 13," Frost groaned,
"That's not fair! You were twelve when you did it and Trade Wind was 10 when she was with you, and she graduated early. So even if I skip grades I won't be able to do it, I'll have to wait five years!" he was only 8 and a half!
"Wow, it must be cool being a Rescue Pony," Sweetie Belle thought out loud, Fluttershy hummed,
"Its a noble occupation, but one must think about their reasons for being a rescue pony, I had a whole year to think about if I wanted to be a rescue pony or not once I got my Cutie Mark. Trade Wind helped me discover how to do it," she said warmly, Sweetie Belle glanced at the pegasus flank and sighed,
"I wish I had my Cutie Mark," she said miserably, Frost patted her on the shoulder,
"Griffins don't get Cutie Marks," he reminded her and she shuddered,
"I don't know whether to feel sorry about that," she said apologetically, not able to imagine the possibilities of not getting a Cutie Mark.
Apple Bloom switched her attention from the view to the cart,
"I didn't know you were this good at carpentry Big Mac, this cart is pretty well made," she saw his ears flick in interest,
"Thanks," he said simply, Rarity smiled,
"Actually his interest in building carts came from when his family built Trade Wind a cart to take with her, Fluttershy, and Lyra to the Rescue training. Of course, the whole racing thing didn't come up until University when it got suggested as a sport, do you know the first race your brother did he had put so many extra touches on his cart it ended up sinking into mud," Applebloom giggled,
"Aren't you supposed to be good at math?" she asked her brother amused, noting in interest how his ears were redder than before.
"Sorry Big Mac, but I'm sure Applebloom would be interested in hearing about the University and what her older brother had been up to while he attended," Applebloom looked eager, Glaze a step behind her as he too wanted to hear about the school.
"Oh! Isn't it true you had a Wonderbolt as one of the P.E. teachers? Or that a dragon was the chef in the kitchen, Big Mac only wrote short letters about it," she pouted, very interested in learning about her brother's school, maybe she could go there?
About halfway through Big Mac suddenly broke into a run, Trade Wind and Fluttershy doing the same as well. The occupants held tight at the sudden speed, though with Sweetie Belle and Frost, Fluttershy had only increased her speed half as much as the other two.
They ran all the way to the finish line, passing a rising dust cloud with orange and blue hooves and passing the finish line, the fillies and cubs cheering with raised hooves/claws.
"Let's do that again!" Glaze rolled his eyes at Caramel's shout and hopped out of the cart, helping Applebloom get down and doing the same with Rarity who had Titan in her magical aura.
"Thank you darling, and thank you, Big Mac, it was a lovely ride," the Earth Pony blushed at the compliment and went to the nearest refreshment stand, completely forgetting to detach the cart as ponies hopped out of the way.
"You two going to kiss yet?" Rarity turned completely red and spun around to Trade Wind who was giving her a grin, a knowing twinkle in her eyes.
"Mind your own business, your imagining things, oh would you look at the time let's go, Sweetie Belle, dinner should be ready soon," the filly yelped as she was picked up in her sister's aura and they took off.
"Nice try Trade Wind, but it's going to take more than that to get them to budge," Lyra said amused, her own number still on her Cutie Mark.
"Yeah, I know," Trade watched Princess Celestia approach Applejack and Rainbow Dash and almost jumped at a poke on her shoulder.
"That was quite a race," a familiar voice stated and she turned to Dream Catcher who looked kind of nervous, "I don't suppose we could add cart racing to the lessons?" Trade Wind smiled.
Chapter 10- Pegasus in Library
Chapter 9: Parasprite in the Cottage
After two weeks of constant castle repairs with the brief weekend tutoring of Luna, combined with dodging questions about what Princess Cadance (she really wished the mare had minded her own business, love sense or not), all Trade wanted to do was sleep for a day before her next weekend session with the alicorn.
Don't get her wrong, she enjoyed talking and showing the out of date princess all the wonderful things of the modern age, but the method she used tired her out, and most of the time she had to rein in 'Dream Catcher' from overdoing something. They had spent last Sunday going through that flying arena at least a hundred times, and her wings still felt it days later.
'But today I'm sleeping and relaxing' nothing was going to ruin her down time.
Buzzing caught her attention and she swatted the bug away, trying to settle back into bed when she felt several small bodies settle on hers and her eyes shot open, seeing round balls with big eyes and wings. Now everyone else would see them as cute and want to cuddle, Trade's response? Lighting them on fire with her makeshift flame thrower of hair spray and lighter.
Once all the ones in her room were ash, she exited to see more of them and a frantic Gabby trying to gather them all,
"Gabby," her voice started out quietly, making the female griffin flinch, "Why are there PARASPRITES IN THE COTTAGE!" she shrunk under her gaze.
"I got one from Fluttershy," she admitted catching the hair spray can and flame thrower,
"Torch them, they are made of chaotic magic, they are not real creatures," she added at the griffin's horrified look. She stepped outside the cottage, raising a hoof to block the suns' rays, it looked close to noon and she frowned, how did she not notice the parasprites before?
Shaking her head, she flew towards town as fast as she could, searching for a particular unicorn that could help deal with this crisis.
Staring at her eaten cake with dismay, Lyra felt the tears build up only for a familiar pegasus to appear in her sight,
"Lyra! Get Pinkie, Octavia, and Vinyl Scratch and summon as many instruments as you cand, go!" recognizing the commanding tone, Lyra nodded and waved goodbye to Bon Bon before she ran off.
"Lyra!" Bon Bon protested, but the unicorn did not stop and she groaned, "She's always doing what that pegasus tells her," she grumbled under her breath, stomping away.
Trade flew off as she searched for some way to stop them from eating everything when she caught sight of Twilight's horn glowing and a nasty pit formed in her stomach.
"FLUTTERSHY STOP HER!" she cried out increasing her speed but it was too late, Twilight's spell had already spread throughout Ponyville.
"There! Ah-" Twilight was bowled over as Trade couldn't stop her charge in time.
"Are you nuts!" the pegasus shouted at her and she frowned,
"I stopped them from eating all of the food," she protested, Trade scoffed,
"When you use a spell to change a creatures diet, magical or otherwise, they always end up eating something else!" she pointed at the Parasprite that had eaten the basket, Twilight's ears fell down.
"Oh no," she groaned, Trade scowled at her.
"Where is Pinkie Pie," she questioned, but Twilight waved her off,
"I don't have time for this! I need to find some way to stop these creatures!" she struggled to get up only to be poked in the chest quite hard.
"You have done enough Twilight Sparkle, now unless you know how to summon instruments with your magic, sit here, and do nothing," Trade's voice had gone quiet and cold, Twilight gulped.
"Hey! Don't talk to her like that," Rainbow defended the purple unicorn, but she was ignored as Trade's ears flicked back and she sighed with relief,
"Looks like Lyra found them," the others were about to question her when what sounded like an orchestra went throughout the town, freezing all of them as the four mares appeared. Pinkie was wearing all sorts of instruments while Lyra's horn was almost blinding as she played over ten different instruments with her magic. Octavia was playing a cello on small stage being carried by Vinyl's magic who was at the same time recording and playing music in accompaniment. The parasprites all gathered behind them and followed the music playing ponies who led them out of Ponyville into the Everfree Forest.
They came back just as Princess Celestia landed, but were told that creatures had appeared in Fillydelphia and the princess was on her way to stop them, though not before she had Twilight give the friendship report she had learned today.
As the chariot pulled away, Octavia put down her cello with a sigh,
"That was a rather interesting experience, never thought I would play music to stop those creatures from destroying the town," Vinyl shrugged and made some noise with her dj set, "Yes I know you had fun doing this kind of thing, I did to, too bad our lunch was eaten during that infestation, though I do recall some delightful sandwiches that are still in the fridge," her unicorn friend did a hoof bump in the air as Trade approached them.
"Thanks for your help," Octavia smiled at her,
"Well if Lyra is running at me screaming to get my cello and play on your orders, of course I would do it, although, I did hear a rumor of an interesting organ in the Everfree Castle?" Trade nodded,
"Yes, playing certain keys activates certain trap doors, you four are welcome to come and see the room thanks to your hard work today," Pinkie whooped.
"Yes! Organ party! I'm going to go return these instruments now, but you have to show me that trick again Lyra! I didn't know you could play that many instruments," the green unicorn looked bashful.
"My magic centers around music, I'm still working on it, but I can summon up to twenty different instruments if I know them inside and out," a wing settled over her shoulders and she felt a shudder, "Yes Trade Wind?" her voice did not squeak.
"I don't suppose you've improved your cleaning magic," the pegasus questioned, Lyra's shoulders slumped.
"Yes, I did," Trade gave her a grin,
"Good, then teach Twilight all of them, because she's going to be repairing Ponyville with Fluttershy," Twilight and Fluttershy startled.
"By ourselves?! But," she stopped when Trade turned to her,
"I'm not trying to be too harsh, but it is never a good idea to force your magic onto a creature to change their diet, destroy them yes, because Parasprites fall under magical constructs that are 'virus' and if you had done that I would not complain. But if you ever use your magic to manipulate a creature's diet or a thought process, you will be forced to do remedial studies, got it," she stared the unicorn down who scuffed the dirt,
"Right," Twilight looked ashamed and Fluttershy eeped when the attention was turned to her,
"Fluttershy, you are the Rescue Pony in Ponyville, if you see a creature you do not recognize near the Everfree Forest, you do not take it into Ponyville, nor do you ignore the signs of it multiplying over and over again. Summon all of your animal friends and have them clean up the debris, luckily the four came before too much of Ponyville was devoured, otherwise you two would be getting a crash course in carpentry work. Now if you do not mind, I was hoping for a relaxing day to sleep before my trip to Canterlot tomorrow, good night," she turned and trotted off, leaving them in the dust.
"She didn't have to be so harsh about it," Rainbow muttered before she stared at a shivering Lyra, "What the hay's the matter with you! She didn't even scold you," the green unicorn chuckled nervously.
"Just memories of her doing the scolding in the past, she's very scary," she whispered this to herself before stopping and staring at Twilight, "Ready for a crash course in repair work Twilight?" the purple unicorn nodded slowly.
The Next Day
"I can see why you are frustrated, but they were not aware of what these creatures were," Luna pointed out as Trade sipped from her cup, causing the young mare to sigh.
"I realize that, but it also does not excuse Fluttershy from not exercising the duties she had trained in, even after realizing what they represented, she still kept one, causing even more problems from everyone. I'm glad they learned their listen about listening to their friends because of Pinkie Pie, but I just wonder if Ash had been present instead of doing potions work with Zecora in the Everfree, whether things might have turned out differently. I know you feel beholden to Twilight and her friends for freeing you, but she needs to learn when its appropriate to use her magic and when it isn't, especially with that OCD attitude of hers. Magiholics Anonymous would have been helpful in this regard," the alicorn raised an eyebrow,
"What's this Magiholics Anonymous?" blushing when she realized the mare had heard her, Trade coughed into her fist,
"Its something that has been festering in my mind the past few years after seeing those who use magic or potions for stupid reasons that result in various disasters. You know how there are 'Anonymous' for those addicted to alcohol or interventions if someone gets too obsessed with something," she waited for the princess to nod slowly before continuing, "Well, I thought that a group for those who feel that using magic for everything is the only solution would be helpful. They can be with those who have similar issues and could talk about why they are obsessed with using their magic this way or don't see anything wrong with how they are using their magic. Its not limited to unicorns either, I mean pegasus have their weather magic and there are plenty who probably use their powers for 'pranks' or reckless stunts, and Earth ponies do potions or get obsessed with magical artifacts, I assume you read about Silver Goblet?" Luna nodded, an interested gleam in her eye, "Okay, there are also other races that have their own magic, I know Nocturnes have some sort of magic that they don't tell others about, Zebras with potions like Earth Ponies, dragons with their fire, and anyone else who finds themselves using too much magic for not the right reasons. I tried writing a proposal up and taking it to Princess Celestia, but I've been so busy these past years with other projects and anyone whose heard me talking about it always seem dubious," her ears fell flat, "Sorry, its stupid," but Luna was interested,
"Have you tried speaking to our sister about it?" Trade shook her head, "Then we shall call on her for this discussion," she paused, "I do not suppose I qualify to be a member," she raised a hoof at Trade's protest, "I have seen the errors of my ways, but I feel it will be a good experience for both me and other ponies who need others who understand them. Plus, if Twilight Sparkle somehow finds herself in this group, it would be quite interesting," the two shared a wry smile.
Princess Celestia loved the idea, though she was a bit put out that Twilight Sparkle was written down as a future member,
"She's not that bad!" she protested, Trade Wind shook her head,
"No offense your highness, but Twilight has an obsession with keeping things in a certain way, and goes out of control when it doesn't fit what she wants. Her talent may be magic, but she also needs to learn that it can't be an ingrained response to use if something does not go her way. Has she ever been late with an assignment in school?" the white alicorn shook her head, "And what would happen if she realized she was late on an assignment?" Celestia looked puzzled.
"But she is not in school anymore, she does not have any assignments apart from her independent studies and friendship lessons," Trade nodded,
"Yes, and she's been sending you a letter per week so far correct? Have you specified whether she needs to write to you every week about a friendship lesson?" the princess raised a hoof and froze, but she lowered it in thought.
"If she has concerns she can send them to me and I can correct her, but I do not think she will overreact like you suggest and cause a magical incident," Trade dropped the subject, it was obvious there would be no changing the princess' mind unless she was right there with proof.
'But if Twilight does end up freaking out, then its straight to the MA for her' was her thought.
