Chapter 1 - The French Mare
Some ponies wish for power, some others just want true love, but a majority of them strive for money. This majority of ponies are really clever to have chosen to achieve for such thing; yet, they’re at the same time really stupid. They’re clever because they know that having money, being rich, makes it easier to get true love, and power. And they’re stupid to choose such thing, because, when they finally get to have the money they wanted so much, they’ll end up discovering that what they found at first was just an illusion created by the same thing they had achieved before, and such illusion will end up disappearing just like their wealth.
However, no matter what those ponies want to achieve for, they all want just one thing on their lives: Happiness. It is sad that no one is able to be happy in this life, that you might end up dying without really having enjoyed your life on Equestria, or that you might be achieving for something that you don’t even know if it will make you happy.
You must be wondering what the introduction is for, and why does it try to be so deep. I don’t know it either, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, I think I can work with that introduction, so don’t worry.
Our protagonist, whose name is on the title of this story, achieves for money, like the majority of ponies, however, she is not greedy, as she wants money for very different reasons than most of the majority of ponies who have chosen to achieve some day of having great amount of money. Stuffed Croissant, our protagonist, wants such money to keep herself happy, but for different reasons that you might or might not be thinking of. The reasons about such happiness will be revealed later, in the story. For now, let’s just continue with Stuffed Croissant’s introduction, and obviously, her story.
Every place in Equestria has their flaws and their virtues. Let’s take Ponyville, for example, it’s a really happy and energetic town, and it’s the one most ponies have visited at least once in their life, however, Ponyville still lacks from important events, like the Wonderbolts or The Grand Galloping Gala. Ponyville residents are still as happy as they can be, though. And just like everything in Equestria has their flaws and virtues, they also have their population. But let’s get to the point, since we’re kinda missing the point of the story here.
Where our protagonist lived, was the worst place for her kind, Canterlot.
The big city, called Canterlot, was home of many rich ponies. You’d expect that somepony who achieves for money would like it there, since that somepony would be able to steal, or gain profit from these other ponies, but no, she wasn’t a thief. Rich ponies weren’t really kind either, or well, most of them weren’t really kind. And Stuffed Croissant, was a really kind, and really poor pony, who lived in the outskirts of Canterlot, where the most poor lived.
Stuffed Croissant started her day like she normally does every day, by baking. She got the ingredients ready; the flour, the fruit, the sugar, everything. She prepared everything really early in the morning, being really careful not to wake up her parents. To say the truth, having the job of both baking the pastries and selling them was a really hard job for such a pony her age, having 16 years, but she still accepted.
While she was preparing some pies, a blue stallion appeared by the door. He was walking slowly, as he wasn’t as young as he used to be, and he had his mane already beginning to turn into a silver white. The old stallion’s voice had a slight touch of French accent. “Daughter of mine,” he began, “how’re you doing with the baking? You sure you don’t need help with them, today? ”
The teenage mare turned her head towards her dad, and smiled. “I’m pretty sure I am baking everything here correctly,” she answered, with a more noticeable French accent than her dad. “Besides, you know how much I like the scent of freshly baked pies in the morning.”
“So do I, Stuffy,” agreed the stallion. “But don’t you think it’s a bit early for baking? It’s nearly 5 AM,” he grunted.
“I’m really sorry, did I wake you up?” she asked, a bit worried that she might’ve woken her father up.
“Oh, no, don’t worry about that. I was just asking,” he answered, smiling. “Just answer my question.”
“Well, you know I usually take a really long time to bring the food home, right?” her father nodded. “That will change today, I promise!” she said, smiling confidently. “You see, if I wake up earlier, and bake really fast, but still with care, I might be able to come back for lunch!”
“You know you don’t really have to do that, you know,” her father answered. “I mean, we don’t really want you to be tired at work because of you taking care of us. You paying pretty much everything in the house is enough for us.”
“Of course it’s not enough, I need to do more!”
“Well, if it makes you happy…” her father said, with a tone of sadness on his voice.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, getting the pastries out of the oven, and placing the pies she was preparing inside it.
“It’s just that… well…” he muttered. “It’s nothing.”
“Well, if you say so. Would you two want something to eat for when you wake up again? I can spare a couple of pies from here, if you want.”
“No, thanks.” Her father answered, smiling. “I’m sure we would feel a bit better if we ate something else.”
“Oh, do you want me to bring you two breakfast? I can do that.”
“No, thanks, Stuffed, we can cook and bake for ourselves. You should really go to work right now. Have you even had breakfast?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Umm…” Stuffed smiled at her father nervously. “Not really, but I’ll find something to eat on the way.” Her father looked at her with disapproval. “Can you help me carry these things to the cart?”
“If you promise to never go to work with an empty stomach again,” he ordered.
Both Stuffed Croissant and her father went outside, just to look at a big, mobile stand that belonged to Stuffed. They placed all the pastries on such stand, even the ones Stuffed was cooking a while ago. Stuffed then took a rope and tied it around her. With a “thanks dad”, Stuffed began pulling the stand towards the main streets of Canterlot, hoping that she would end up getting enough money today to keep everything in order tomorrow.
When Stuffed got to the Central Square of Canterlot, she admired the scenery that was around her, the big buildings that belonged to the ponies who lived there, the big boutiques and shops that sold stuff that was both really expensive, and really elegant, the ponies who were walking by; that stared at her whenever she passed by; and finally, in the distance, the big Canterlot Castle, that belonged to Princess Celestia, who raised the sun, and used to raise the moon sometime.
It was really a shame that she couldn’t explore more of Canterlot in her free time, as her usual spot where she placed her stand was far away from the Central Square, and most ponies who buy her pastries know she’s there because she places the stand there, and they never ask for her name, or remember how she looks. She sighed upon remembering this, and just kept walking.
Finally, she got to her usual spot, in a less crowded street of Canterlot, really far away from Canterlot Square. She quickly prepared the stand, to show as much pastries as possible, and waited for somepony to come by…
“Excuse me?” spoke a unicorn, who was looking at Stuffed putting everything in order. “Those pastries look really good!” he said, with a wide smile on his face.
“Oh, these?” she asked, blushing. “They’re nothing, really,” she giggled nervously.
“How much are they?” he asked, getting a wallet out of his saddlebag. “I’m sure I can pay it.”
“10 bits for the muffins, 15 for the cakes,” she answered, smiling. The stallion dropped his wallet and opened his mouth widely, in surprise. “Is that too much, sir? I can make a discount, how about 10 for the cakes?”
“That’s still really expensive!” he exclaimed. “I even tried complimenting you!”
“So?” Stuffed groaned. “Complimenting someone doesn’t mean they’ll give you discounts all the time.”
The unicorn simply turned around. “You’d wish for somepony like me to buy your dirty and ugly food.” And with that, he walked away. Stuffed simply stuck her tongue at him, when he wasn’t looking, and then looked at the apparently empty street. Maybe he was right; she should’ve at least sold him a muffin…
“Wow, that didn’t look so well,” commented a colt, who was just behind Stuffed Croissant. Stuffed just turned around and stared at him. He was a light blue unicorn with blond, neatly brushed hair and tail. Without any doubt, he was surely a rich colt, who would surely be carrying at least 10 bits.
“Excuse me, but, who gave you the permission to be behind me? Were you planning to steal one of my pastries? Because if that was the case, I’m afraid I’ll have to either hit you on the face, or ask you nicely for it,” she said, partially joking and partially threatening him.
“Umm…” he mumbled, while he paid attention to the threaten part. “Can I ask for a muffin, please? I think I can afford it,” he said, walking towards the other side of the stand.
Stuffed thought about it. “I’ll give it to you for 5 bits, if you promise me two things.” The colt was confused, but he nodded. “First of all, promise me that if you like it, you’ll never tell anyone about the discount, and you’ll buy another one.”
“Sure, I mean, if it’s worth it.”
“Second, promise me you’ll stay here for a bit more, while you finish your muffin,” she added, smiling. The colt just nodded, and gave her 5 bits, and Stuffed gave him the best muffin she had, just to be safe.
“Why do you need me here?” the colt asked, a bit confused, while looking at his muffin. “Do you really want to know if I’ll like the muffin or not?”
“Yes, I would also like a little company around here, too,” she smiled. “Besides, you don’t seem like the rest of ponies who walk by here, hoping to see extremely decorated cakes, or mildly sweet muffins,” she joked.
“Whoa,” the colt exclaimed, upon biting the muffin. “What’s the flavor of the muffin?”
“I really would like to know, I think it was cherry,” she answered, raising an eyebrow. “Why? Don’t tell me you’re allergic to cherry, because if that’s the case I don’t have any money right now and I’m extremely so-“
“No, stop your worries,” he ordered. “This muffin is really great! Are you sure this costs 5 bits?”
“10, remember I gave you a discount.”
“Whatever, I want to buy three of them right now, full price.” Stuffed Croissant was so surprised and happy in this exact moment, that she just stood there, looking at the colt. “You there?” he asked.
“Umm… right now!” She quickly got the rest of muffins out of her stand and gave them to the colt. The colt just gave her 30 bits, and finished his muffin, just to begin eating another one. “Wait, are you going to eat all of them?”
“Of course. I mean, they’re really good, and I don’t really get the opportunity to eat things such as these from where I come from.”
“You mean your parents don’t let you eat these things?”
“Umm… yes, that!” he answered, a bit nervous. “Oh well, I think I should go back home.” The colt began walking nervously towards where he came from, but was stopped by a voice.
“Wait!” yelled Stuffed Croissant. “Before you go, what’s your name?” she asked, in case she needed to know her customer’s name.
“Oh, it’s Pure Gold. I know it’s a typical name for someone from Canterlot but…” he didn’t really find anything to complete such thing, so he decided to ask something. “Are you always here, by the way?”
“Uh, yea, I’m always around these parts, just try looking for me, you’ll find the blue mare with the big stand. My name is Stuffed Croissant, if you’d like to know.”
“Oh, that’s a really nice name, are you from Canterlot?” he wondered, since her name wasn’t really Canterlot-ish. “I mean, I know it’s the name of a baker, probably but-“
“Yes, it’s my name,” she interrupted him, smiling. “Shouldn’t you be getting home? You seemed to be really in a hurry a while ago, but you just kept on talking to me.”
“If you really want me to go I’ll go,” he said, with a confident grin. “Au revoir, then, Stuffed Croissant!” he chuckled, as he trotted away from Stuffed.
“Hey!” she yelled to him, giggling. “Are you making fun of me? I’ll put dirt in the next muffin you but from me!” she threatened him, jokingly.
A stallion who was just passing by heard that thing, and decided not to buy anything from that mare anymore. He just ran towards another direction, but he was noticed by Stuffed. “Hey! Don’t go, I was just joking!” she yelled at him, but it was too late, the stallion was already out of sight.
Stuffed Croissant let out a deep sigh. At least she had earned some money from a colt who bought her pastries, and he asked for her name. Stuffed really didn’t like imagining like that colt was going to become her friend, but she really couldn’t stop it. He was really nice, and he was rich, what else would she wish for? Stuffed yawned. Maybe her father was right, she should’ve slept more, and maybe eaten something when she woke up…
A loud grumbling noise came from her empty stomach. Yes, should've definitely eaten something before actually leaving her house.
Some ponies achieve for power, some others achieve for true love… but our protagonist here cares for none of those things, as he has money, and money gives you pretty much all those things anyways.
However, he still wished for happiness. He looked at himself on the mirror, wearing his elegant suit that he despised with all his might, but that his family forced him to wear since he was a resident of Canterlot, where the looks you give are more important than what you really are on the inside. Sometimes he missed the old life that he used to have, when he wasn’t as rich as he was now, but… well, he had to get used to it. Maybe something interesting will happen today.
He went out of his home, which was a gigantic mansion, compared to the houses from Ponyville, or the outskirts of Canterlot, where most poor ponies use to live, but was really small compared to places like the Canterlot Castle, home of princess Celestia and Luna. He really thinks that what happened at that Royal Wedding could’ve gone better, and he would’ve wished he didn’t have to hide from those Changelings that day, as it was really dangerous to even go outside alone for the next couple of days. On his way to the Central Square, he ended up in an empty street of Canterlot, or well, a barely empty street, since there were two ponies talking.
Our protagonist, whose name was Pure Gold, decided to see what was happening between those two, however, when he got close enough, all he could hear was that the unicorn didn’t want to buy the other pony’s stuff. He decided to take a peek at what she was offering. It seemed like she was selling pastries.
“Wow, that didn’t look so well,” he mentioned. The pony on front of him, which was an earth pony, unlike him who was a unicorn, turned around and stared at him. He decided to back away from the pony. To say the truth, she didn’t look so bad, if you ignore the fact that she didn’t have any kind of formal clothes, or looked rich at all. Definitely, she was a different pony than him.
“Excuse me, but, who gave you the permission to be behind me? Were you planning to steal one of my pastries? Because if that was the case, I’m afraid I’ll have to either hit you on the face, or ask you nicely for it,” she spoke, with a weird, French accent. Pure Gold stopped, not sure about if he should calm down and talk to this pony, or run away. He decided to stay with her, and explain to her what he was doing, if she takes it badly, he can just run away.
“Umm…” he mumbled. His voice reflected the little fear he felt when looking at her, since he actually threatened him. “Can I ask for a muffin, please? I think I can afford it,” he added, as he walked towards the front of the stand. The girl in front of him seemed to take her time thinking about the question.
“I’ll give it to you for 5 bits, if you promise me two things.” Pure Gold was confused, as he tried to think what these two promises were. He decided to nod, as it couldn’t be that bad. “First of all, promise me that if you like it, you’ll never tell anyone about the discount, and you’ll buy another one.”
He got even more confused, since a discount like that was really good to not tell everypony else. “Sure, I mean, if it’s worth it,” he agreed.
“Second, promise me you’ll stay here for a bit more, while you finish your muffin,” she added, with a smile on her face. Pure Gold just wondered if this mare was hitting on him for some reason, but then avoided thinking about it and just nodded, giving her 5 bits, and receiving a muffin.
“Why do you need me here?” he asked, as he looked at his muffin, trying to figure out why did it originally cost so much, or why did she gave it to him for such a low price. He didn’t find an answer for neither of his questions. “Do you really want to know if I’ll like the muffin or not?”
“Yes, I would also like a little company around here, too,” she commented, still smiling. “Besides, you don’t seem like the rest of ponies who walk by here, hoping to see extremely decorated cakes, or mildly sweet muffins,” she joked. Pure Gold understood what she was talking about, since he was living with a rich family, and he hated the ponies that acted like that, too.
After looking at the muffin for some more seconds, Pure Gold bit the muffin. The flavor of the muffin was on his mouth. It was a complicated flavor, if he had to put it in such a way. He guessed it was cherry, but maybe it was something else. The consistence of the pastry was so soft that it melted in his toungue. The delicate baking determined how cooked the muffin itself was, and it was perfect in that way. After all of this in just a taste, just one thing could escape from his mouth: ““Whoa. What’s the flavor of the muffin?”
“I really would like to know, I think it was cherry,” she answered, raising an eyebrow at his reaction. “Why? Don’t tell me you’re allergic to cherry, because if that’s the case, I don’t have any money right now and I’m extremely so-“
“No, stop your worries,” he interrupted her, feeling that she was going to enter a state of extreme nervousness if he did not talk. “This muffin is really great! Are you sure this costs 5 bits?”
“10, remember I gave you a discount,” she reminded him.
“Whatever, I want to buy three of them right now, full price.” He was risking a lot here, but he still insisted. The mare looked surprised, and happy, however, she did not move at all. “You there?” he asked, worrying.
“Umm… right now!” she woke up from her trance, as she brought all the muffins outside, for some reason. Pure Gold finished his muffin, took three more muffins, and then paid the mare. After all of this, he just began eating another muffin. He wasn’t hungry, but he wanted to keep eating those things. “Wait, are you going to eat all of them?” she asked.
“Of course. I mean, they’re really good, and I don’t really get the opportunity to eat things such as these from where I come from,” he revealed. The mare stared at him, looking really confused.
“You mean your parents don’t let you eat these things?”
Pure Gold realized what he just said, and luckily, the mare didn’t really think about such thing. “Umm… yes, that!” he said, nervously. “Oh well, I think I should go back home,” he lied, as he turned around and decided to head home. He wasn’t going to risk revealing more about him after that.
“Wait!” a voice spoke, stopping him and making him turn around. “Before you go, what’s your name?”
“Oh, it’s Pure Gold.” He mentally let out a sigh of relief, thankful that she didn’t ask something else other than his name. “I know it’s a typical name for someone from Canterlot but…” He stood there, silent, for two seconds, with nothing else to complete the sentence. Hoping that the mare didn’t notice, he changed subject. “Are you always here, by the way?” That seemed to work.
“Uh, yea, I’m always around these parts,” she began. Pure Gold felt happy to know that she was going to be there next time he needed a muffin. “Just try looking for me, you’ll find the blue mare with the big stand. My name is Stuffed Croissant, if you’d like to know.”
“Oh, that’s a really nice name, are you from Canterlot?” Pure Gold asked, as such name wasn’t really Canterlot-ish. “I mean, I know it’s the name of a baker, probably but-“ He was interrupted by her.
“Yes, it’s my name,” she said, smiling. “Shouldn’t you be getting home?” Pure Gold mentally facehoofed. “You seemed to be really in a hurry a while ago, but you just kept on talking to me.”
“If you really want me to go I’ll go,” he joked, trying to look as confident as possible. “Au revoir, then, Stuffed Croissant!” He chuckled after saying that, hoping that he didn’t insult her in any way, as he trotted towards home.
“Hey!” she yelled to him, giggling. “Are you making fun of me? I’ll put dirt in the next muffin you but from me!” she joked. Pure Gold just kept trotting. He could hear something else, but he didn’t really pay attention to it. He just kept eating his muffins.
When he finally finished his muffins, Pure Gold realized he was already home, with his mother welcoming him at the door. He ignored her and headed upstairs, to his room. When he got there, he took off all his clothes, and lied in bed. He didn’t really know what he wanted to do outside, however, he was still really bored, and he already decided to not talk to the girl again, since it was dangerous after what he already said to her.
He could maybe sleep, and when he wakes up, enough time would’ve happened for her to forget what he had said, and he could go back and keep talking to her. He didn’t know why he wanted to talk to her so badly, but did however knew that they had shared thoughts about Canterlot residents, and that was enough for him to like someone.
And so, he closed his eyes, and as he tried to sleep, he was suddenly woken up by a yelling, coming from the kitchen, indicating that it was already time for lunch. He didn’t know that time passed so quickly, or that it was already time for lunch, but he couldn’t stay in his room, so he quickly headed towards the kitchen.
Upon getting there, he just sat down, and his mother levitated a plate containing plenty of food enough to feed an adult stallion twice, or so it seemed for Pure Gold, because he was somehow full after eating four muffins. He found himself staring at the food, not even levitating the fork or trying to eat even just one part of what was just in front of him. His mother, of course, noticed this.
“Pure Gold, what’s wrong? You haven’t even touched your food, or your fork, not even your drink. Pure Gold didn’t even know that there was a full glass of lemonade just next to his plate. He decided to not say anything, and try eating, really slowly. “Pure Gold, answer my question.”
“I’m alright, mom. I’m just not hungry,” he answered. “Can you save this for dinner?” His mother shook her head. “Wait, why not?”
“Because you probably ate something outside, and it’s unhealthy for you,” she said, disappointed. Pure Gold had to admit that his mother was right. “Now tell me what you did when you went outside.”
“Uh…” Pure Gold felt like he was blushing, though he didn’t know why he was blushing. “I talked to a girl and she gave me muffins.” His mother raised an eyebrow, surprised.
“Wait, you mean you talked to a girl and she gave you free muffins?” she frowned.
“No, I mean… how do I put it? I talked to a girl who sells muffins, I bought some muffins and then we talked for a bit more.” His mother let out a sigh of relief.
“I thought that you actually accepted something free. Free things always have something wrong with them, remember that.” Pure Gold nodded, even if he didn’t agree to what his mother was saying. “And was it a cute mare?”
“Mom!” he yelled, angrily. “You know I’ll never get a girl like this!” He got up, and then headed to his room, locking it as he closed the door behind him.
As he finally got away from his mother, he sighed, unhappy with what he had to do to avoid such conversation. Faking anger was not hard at all, he just, for some reason, felt bad when he did so. Pure Gold lied in bed, and tried to sleep, just to find out that he couldn’t sleep anymore. He sat on his bed, thinking about what was wrong, but to no avail, as he couldn’t even think of something that was wrong with his life. He went to the window and looked outside.
There, he saw a lot of rich unicorns walking down the street. With a growl, he shoot a small spark to one of them, startling the unicorn and making him walk faster. Pure Gold chuckled, this was fun, but he couldn’t do it all the time, no matter how fun it is, because eventually one of them will look up and notice that the unicorn from the mansion in front of them is the culprit of what he suddenly felt.
He sighed, and then lied on bed again, decided to wait until enough time had passed for him to visit the funny accent girl. For now, he will just stare at the ceiling, thinking about his past life, and what has changed about it.
And of course, we will not reveal such kind of information at the moment.
Author's Note
I'm sorry for all the repeating in this Chapter. I tried to make it less boring by adding more stuff to it.
If you dislike this, I'm extremely sorry, it's not planned to happen again in the story.
