The Swarm

Mayor Mare propped her head up and briefly adjusted her glasses as she glanced at the unicorn spinning around in a chair in front of her.

“Are you having fun over there?” Mayor Mare asked dryly and Trixie nodded with a smug grin. “Well, I hate to interrupt, but I’m a busy mare. What can I do for you?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie requires a permit to set up a stage downtown. Your office is in charge of such things, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?” Mayor Mare echoed in confusion and Trixie gave a noncommittal grunt.

“Trixie doesn’t trust politician’s. They lie and don’t care about the public. They only care about lining their own pockets with bits at our expense. Now can she get her permit?”

“I suppose. Why don’t you ask Sunset? She usually goes over my head anyway,” Mayor Mare crossed her forelegs and Trixie paused for a moment.

“Sunset is sick with the flu so she’s closed for a few days. And she sent Trixie here. Trixie will take her permit. She already has her supplies and crews of ponies ready to work. It’ll be a big thing. More ponies to visit Ponyville,” Trixie waved her forelegs around and Mayor Mare immediately saw bits.

“I’m in. Let me get you the paperwork and we can get to work, shall we?” Mayor Mare asked cheerfully.

“Sure.”

“Ah, ah- achoo!” Sunset sneezed into a paper towel and shuddered, curling into a ball under her blankets as Derpy stuck a thermometer into her mouth.

“Bless you. One hundred and five degrees,” Derpy read aloud as she gave Sunset a concerned look. “Are you cold?”

“Very. Everything hurts,” Sunset moaned and wiped her nose with a tissue, blowing into it. “Aughhhhhhh.”

“I’ll bring you medicine. You’re staying in bed young lady,” Derpy insisted and Sunset groaned as a letter teleported above them and dropped onto Sunset’s lap.

“Dear Sunset Shimmer, I’m doing my annual visits of Equestrian cities and Ponyville is on the top of the list this year. Please be prepared for my visit. I will be here at the end of the week. With love, Celestia,” Sunset read aloud and groaned again as she sat up.

“Just what are you doing?” Derpy demanded and Sunset waggled the letter around.

“You heard me read the letter. I have to go prepare. This is the worst thing to ever happen,” Sunset coughed and her legs swayed.

“Not happening. You’re too sick. Get back in the bed,” Derpy ordered and Sunset gazed longingly at her bed. “Myself and the other five will get Ponyville set up for her visit. You rest and I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Okay,” Sunset relented and plopped back down on her bed, shivering as she pulled her blankets on top of her and Derpy draped a fourth one over her.

Derpy had expected more of a fight from Sunset if she was being honest. She guessed Sunset was feeling more under the weather than she was letting on.

“One of us will check on you each day. I’ll let Redheart know as well. Feel better Sunset. I love you,” Derpy nuzzled Sunset’s cheek as the unicorn gave a snore and Derpy smiled faintly. “Sleep well.”

Sunset gave a whinny in response and Derpy stifled a laugh.

“Princess Celestia is coming here?” Roseluck echoed and Derpy nodded. The four plus Derpy sat in her living room, Trixie laying on the hard wood floor lazily munching on peanut butter crackers. “Thought she would never come back after what happened the last time she was here.”

The five shuddered at the memories of the Summer Sun Celebration. But they did have a few good ones.

“But on the upside, we all became friends and better ponies because of it,” Derpy commented and wrapped a wing around Roseluck and Silverspeed with a smile.

“So what do we need?” Shoeshine asked and Derpy laid the letter Celestia had sent. “Okay, I gotcha. We should get a big banner saying Welcome Princess Celestia. I’ll get Berry and Golden on it. The kids could have some fun with it.”

“Aren’t they still grounded?” Silverspeed pointed out. Silver Spoon was still and Silverspeed didn’t plan on ending her grounding until two more months. At least.

“Well, yeah but even those two know how important a visit from the Princess is. They’ll let em help. We can always get the other town folk to help. Get the pegasi to make it a sunny day for the rest of the week.”

“The farmers will never go for that,” Roseluck shook her head and stretched out her legs. “Not even I will. This is our livelihood. Just a few days without rain will harm our crops and businesses. I refuse to be a part of that.”

“Well, we gotta come up with something,” Trixie cut in and they all looked at her. “Sunset is counting on us. I’m not interested in letting her down.”

“Give em something they want. Everypony wants something,” Silverspeed chimed in and shrugged. “I mean everypony. I think it’s best if Roseluck talks to the farmers. They might receive it better if it’s coming from us.”

“Hell no. I’m not going to destroy my fellow farmer ponies lives for a simple visit. Two of which, mind you, are your friends,” Roseluck shot back and stood up. “You go tell their kids why they are having bit issues. I refuse to be a part of this in any way.”

Roseluck stood up and trotted to the door, nudging Silverspeed out of the way with a scowl as she opened the door and left, slamming it behind her.

“They want us to what?” Strawberry Sunrise fumed as she, Applejack, Big Mac, Berry Punch, Cherry Berry, Roseluck’s sisters, Golden Harvest, Roma, Junebug, Golden Grape and Blossomforth sat around a tree at Sweet Apple Acres. “Not a chance in Tartarus.”

“Ah can’t believe this, but Ah agree with her,” Applejack nodded and scowled as Strawberry chewed on a strawberry.

“I’m not giving up my days of rain for anypony,” Roma chimed in and adjusted her apron with a growl. “If Rainbow Dash goes with this, I’ll write a angry letter to her boss. I’ll get that Skittle bitch fired.”

“Same here,” Golden Harvest added with an equally angry expression. “I have a daughter to worry about. So does Berry and Roma. This is ridiculous. I’ll straight up bar those four ponies from my stand.”

“Same,” Cherry Berry and Blossomforth chimed in with frowns. Blossomforth was a normally happy mare. Seeing her angry was enough to scare anypony away.

“Who cares if it’s Celestia coming to visit?” Strawberry asked and nopony raised a hoof. “Exactly. I don’t like the Apples one bit, but we gotta stick together in case something like this happens again. A Farmers Union. Flowers are considered food too so the Flower Trio, Blossomforth and Junebug can join to be represented. Because this right here is bullshit. This way we can support each other with bits or help with anything. We can also warn each other when the Weather Team and Rainbow Crash tries to screw us over. Like always.”

Blossomforth stiffened slightly. Even though she was a flower mare, she still worked on the weather team since she was a pegasus. She wasn’t too fond of how ponies talked about Rainbow Dash, but she grudgingly had to admit some times they were right about her laziness. But Rainbow helped out where it counted.

“And who leads us?” Golden Grape scoffed and glanced at Strawberry. “You?”

“Well, duh,” Strawberry Sunrise smirked and pressed a hoof against her chest, fluttering her wings slightly. “Who else? I’m the one with the most charisma and has the temper to get attention. No offense, but only Lily has a temper to rival me. The rest of you all are really nice, even the Apples.”

“Absolutely not,” Berry glared at her with the others, excluding Big Mac. “I vote Cherry is in charge or Big Mac.”

“W-w-why should your sister be in charge? That seems like a conflict of interest,” Junebug grumbled and folded her forelegs. “That’s not fair to the rest of us.”

The area descended into arguing and yelling as Big Mac watched with a frown and took a deep breath. Lily jammed her hoof into Applejacks chest and the two glared at each other.

“Enough,” Big Mac muttered softly. Even though he mostly spoke quietly, everypony stopped and stared. “Good. We co run it. Vote on issues and all that.”

“That just might work,” Roma conceded after a moment and picked up her cap that had fallen off in the yelling. “I approve.”

Everypony looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“Same,” Daisy sighed and the others chimed in their agreement, Strawberry a moment after. “We can use a room in town hall. And not a word to anypony about this. We can’t risk getting shut down. It’s us against them at this point.”

Roseluck hated that she agreed and she sighed, sitting down against the apple tree.

“I’ll talk to the Mayor. I’m sure her and I can come to an agreement,” Cherry Berry cracked her neck and scowled back towards Ponyville.

Roseluck decided it was better for her if she didn’t ask for further details.