Hey everycreature! What's up!?
So ever since I read and finished A Princess's Path by bluecatcinema, I was a bit disappointed he didn't go further into a few things or added some more scenarios for the story, not that the story's bad or anything, it's pretty great!One of the things I wished he done with the story was a chapter on Flurry having to be the year's official princess representative at the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange.
Now I probably should have asked bluecatcinema if it was okay to do this, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind.
Also, Moongleam does not belong to me, but to bluecatcinema!
It was early morning in the Crystal Empire, the sun just raising over the horizon as Princess Flurry Heart was in her bed, with the covers over her, covering her entire body and even her head as she wanted to sleep in. Ever since she wanted more responsibilities, her parents, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor had been sending her on lots of diplomatic missions, most of them have been easy going and she did have Moongleam to accompany her, but it was tiring just to travel back and forth.
As Flurry slept, a flugelhorn sounded right next to her as Flurry jumped up in fright, with her blankets still over her. Taking her blankets off, she saw a guard standing besides her bed.
"Your parents summon you to the throne room, my princess." The crystal guard announced.
"Yes, thank you very much…" Flurry rubbing one of her eyes as she was a bit annoyed having to be woken up in such a manner.
After the guard left and Flurry was able to make herself look presentable, since she had bedmane, she went to the throne room, where her parents were waiting for her.
"Mom, dad, where are you sending me now?" Flurry asked. "Couldn't this wait until morning?"
"I'm afraid not sweetie." Cadance replied. "You see I was supposed to go oversee this year's Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange tomorrow."
Flurry knew about that event, having gone with her mother when she was picked to be the princess of the year to oversee the trading and settle disputes. And while her mother was busy with the princess stuff there, she was free to roam around and glance at all the objects being traded, last time since she was old enough, she even traded some of her old toys for some books.
"However we just got word this morning that your great aunties Celestia and Luna had to move their visit tomorrow on account of events being moved in Canterlot." Shining Armor added.
"So you want me to be this year's princess at Rainbow Falls?" Flurry getting the hang of guessing what her parents were going to say next.
"If you think you can handle it that is." Cadance replied.
"Of course mom, it's not like I'm going to the dragon lands again." Flurry commented.
"Excellent and I'm guessing you want to bring Moongleam along with you." Shining Armor guessing as Flurry had to blush, giving her dad a visual answer. "I'll take that as a yes."
After her parents dismissed Flurry, Flurry went straight to Moongleam's house, a very familiar weird looking house that had a roof shaped like a wizard's hat. Flurry knocked on the front door as a light purple unicorn answered the door.
"Oh hello Flurry." The unicorn, Starlight Glimmer, greeted the teenage alicorn. "What brings you here?"
"Well my parents just told me that now I have to be this year's princess at the Rainbow Falls Trading Exchange and I was wondering if Moony wants to go with me." Flurry announced.
"Well that sounds wonderful, come on in." Starlight smiled and let Flurry in. "Moony, Flurry's here to see you!" Starlight called out.
"Coming!" Moongleam's voice answered back as hoofsteps were heard coming from upstairs to downstairs as a young early teenager unicorn appeared. "Hi Flurry, before you say anything, I'm guessing you have another assignment and want me to come along."
"You know me too well Moony." Flurry chuckled. "Yes, I want you to come with me to the Rainbow Falls for the traders exchange."
"Did you say the traders exchange?" Moongleam dropped her muzzle wide open.
"Sweetie, close up your muzzle before you catch flies." Starlight chuckled as Moongleam shook her head.
"Sorry mom." Moongleam apologized before answering Flurry. "And of course I want to go! This is the perfect opportunity to trade some of my old books for new ones!"
"Well we leave tomorrow so make sure you bring everything you want to trade." Flurry smiled, glad her friend was coming with her.
Tomorrow seemed like forever for Moongleam, but it did come eventually as morning came and Moongleam was all packed up and ready to go even before Flurry came to get her from her house in the morning.
"Oh this is so exciting!" Moongleam not being able to contain her happiness. "This is the first time I'm going to the traders exchange!"
"Take it easy Moony, we still have a train ride to get there." Flurry rolling her eyes at her friend as they waited for the Friendship Express to arrive at the station.
Once the Express arrived, the two friends boarded the train before it left the Crystal Empire. After a couple of hours of travel, the train clogging along the tracks, with Moongleam unable to hold herself down, the train arrived at Rainbow Falls, so called because the clouds made waterfalls of various colors which created rainbows.
"Wow…" Moongleam said amazed at the beauty of the place.
"You said it, certainly nothing like this back home." Flurry commented as well as the train stopped at the station.
As the two friends got off, they walked through the town, making their way to the exchange. As they trotted to the place where the exchange was, the two friends talked.
"So you're just going to sit and wait?" Moongleam asked.
"Well yeah, mostly." Flurry replied. "How about during lunch time I take a break and we can grab some hay burgers together."
"That sounds great." Moongleam replied. "And hopefully I'll be done with my trading by now and I can keep you company for the rest of the exchange."
"Thanks Moony." Flurry smiled. "You know I actually hope there's a dispute I have to solve, it'll make this trip more interesting and less boring."
Soon enough after walking through a natural tunnel, they came upon the exchange and as they arrived, a crowd was gathered to greet… Well they were expecting Princess Cadance and Flurry, having not gotten word of the last minute change in this year's princess.
"Oh, it's Princess Flurry Heart." One of the ponies said as every other pony was talking along themselves about this change.
"Yes, it's me, I'm sorry to say that my mother had to stay back home for some last minute changes there, but she sent me to be this year's princess." Flurry announced.
"Well right this way princess." A pony came up and bowed before leaving Flurry away to her seat reserved for the princess of the year.
"Oh, Moony are you going to be alright?" Flurry asked her friend as she was leaving.
"Don't worry, have fun." Moongleam winked, with Flurry rolling her eyes as she knew her friend was teasing her. "Now to trade my books." Moongleam told herself as she took out her dusty books she brought with her and started trotting through the exchange, looking for any vendors that sold books on her favorite subjects, magic and history.
It took awhile to find, being that there were all kinds of things being sold, from such things like mirrors to live animals. Eventually Moongleam found a stall with a stallion vendor who sold books on historical ponies, like Starswirl and Clover the Clever.
"Perfect!" Moongleam said as she trotted over to the vendor and looked at the books before eventually finding a book about Mistmane's travels after she gave up her beauty. "I don't have any books on Mistmane and it's in mint condition." Moongleam said to herself before speaking to the vendor. "Excuse me, but I would like to trade for this book please."
"What do you have to trade?" The stallion asked.
"A whole bunch of old books on historical ponies myself." Moongleam taking out the several books she brought with her, the books clearly showing their age as they had wrinkled and dusty covers, as well as browning pages, some pages even fell right out.
"Yeah, I don't think so." The vendor said.
"What?" Moongleam said as she was shocked. "But I'm trading several for just one."
"Yes, but I already have a lot of those kinds of books and plus why would I want books that are going to fall apart any minute?" The vendor making a point as he then saw what Moongleam had on one of her hooves. "But I will trade the book for that." The vendor pointing to what was on Moongleam's hoof.
"My bracelet?" Moongleam seeing what the vendor was pointing at.
Moongleam was wearing a very fancy little bracelet, complete with rubies and crystals, that Flurry made herself for her friend's 13th birthday, Moongleam always wore it, reminding her how much Flurry was a friend to her.
"I don't know…" Moongleam said uneasily.
"Well, if you don't want this book…" The vendor started, to guilt Moongleam into trading away the bracelet for the book.
Moongleam had to decide and well… She made the hard… and wrong choice.
"Okay, you have a deal." Moongleam said as she took off her bracelet and gave it to the vendor in exchange for the new book.
"Excellent, happy to do business." The vendor smiled as he took the bracelet.
Looking at her new book, she put it into her saddle bags, a bit heavier now since she still had all her old books she wasn't able to trade away. After doing that, she took a quick glance at the sun and she guessed it was by now lunch time, Flurry most likely waiting for her. Trotting over to the hay burger stand, she found Flurry waiting for her.
"Moony, took you long enough." Flurry teased. "So how did your trading go?"
"It went okay…" Moongleam said uneasily.
"Good. "Flurry not noticing her friend's behavior. "Now lets grab some lunch, just sitting around made me hungry."
After a very short wait in line, especially since other ponies insisted the princess go first, the two friends got their lunch and sat down at a table, of course there were ponies staring at Flurry.
"You know I could do without the staring." Flurry joked at Moongleam as Moongleam herself was a bit shaky. "Moony, you okay?" Flurry noticing her friend's attitude.
"Huh?" Moongleam looking up and seeing Flurry, the friend who gave the bracelet to her, that she just traded away. "Yeah… I'm okay… Listen Flurry after lunch I actually want to go look around some more, if that's okay with you."
"Yeah sure…" Flurry replied, a bit confused by her friend's behavior. "Just don't take too long, I want to spend some more time with you today."
After the two friends finished their lunch, Flurry went back to the princess's seat while Moongleam went back to the vendor that she gave her bracelet to. As Moongleam saw the vendor, admiring the fancy bracelet and most likely thinking how many bits he could get from it, Moongleam came up and made her presence known by coughing loudly.
"Oh…" The vendor said as he noticed Moongleam and turned to face her. "Come for another book to trade for?"
"Actually no." Moongleam answered. "I want to reverse the trade we made earlier."
"Sorry, no deal and I like this better than that book I gave to you." The vendor replied.
"But my friend, Princess Flurry Heart, made that for me for my 13th birthday, by herself." Moongleam pleaded.
"Oh… Well in that case…" The vendor acting like he was going to change his mind, but didn't. "The answer's still no, if this was made by a princess, it's going to be worth even more than I thought it would be."
Moongleam felt stupid for giving away the bracelet, but also very angry that the vendor wasn't going to accept a reverse trade and that anger dominated her as she then did the most stupid thing ever…
Meanwhile, Flurry was sitting at her seat, a little bored as no disputes were happening, occasionally a fan, wether young or old would come up to her for a picture or autograph. It was then that there was a commotion as a group of ponies came up to her seat.
"Princess, we have an issue." A pony in front of the group addressed Flurry.
"What is it?" Flurry asked, thankful that there was an issue now.
"We caught this young one attacking one of the vendors." The pony replied as he and some other ponies stepped aside to reveal the vendor and…
"Moongleam?" Flurry said, surprised, Moongleam not saying anything back, yet…
"Your highness." The vendor bowed. "Please tell your friend that trading away her bracelet for a book was a fair deal, she desired my book, I desired her bracelet, so the trade is fair."
"And I wanted to reverse the trade!" Moongleam shouted, still angry, but then began to shed a tear as she stepped froward towards her friend. "I'm sorry Flurry, I didn't know what I was thinking, I shouldn't have traded away your gift to me for a stupid book that I could have gotten anywhere, if you don't want to be my friend anymore, I understand."
Flurry thought about it, as a princess she had to have an unbiased view of issues towards both sides, but at the same time Moongleam was her friend and she looked really hurt and regretful for what she did. So after some thought Flurry made her decision about this issue.
"Since the trader wanted to reverse the trade with the vendor before the exchange would end at sunset, the vendor should reverse the trade no matter what if the trader seeks to do so." Flurry declared.
"But, princess…" The vendor started, but was stopped by Flurry.
"I have made my decision, the original items should be returned to their original owners." Flurry said a bit sternly to make her point clear.
"Yes princess." The vendor said in defeat as he returned Moongleam's bracelet to her, Moongleam giving back the new book.
As everypony then went back to their business, Moongleam was about leave too, only for Flurry to speak to her.
"Where do you think you're going?" Flurry asked, Moongleam turning around and seeing her friend with a smile on her face. "I thought you were going to give me company for the rest of the exchange."
Moongleam came up slowly, still ashamed at herself for what she did as she came next to Flurry.
"I'm sorry Flurry, I made a stupid decision and I promise to never do it again." Moongleam apologized.
"It's okay Moony, I forgive you, we all make stupid mistakes in our lives and I will still be your friend no matter what, even if you gave away the bracelet." Flurry reassured her friend.
"Thanks Flurry." Moongleam managed a smile.
"You're welcome." Flurry smiled.
As the exchange ended and the sun was beginning to set, everypony was packing up with the things they traded with each other and Flurry's task of being this year's princess at the exchange ended. As the sun was setting, casting an orange light over Rainbow Falls, the two friends trotted back to the train station for the trip back to the Crystal Empire, satisfied that the day ended on a good note.
"So, can we not tell my parents about what I did?" Moongleam asked Flurry.
"Of course, this day stays secret between the two of us." Flurry agreed. "However…"
"What?" Moongleam asked, curious what Flurry was about to say.
"Well, I didn't tell you, but I also did a little trading while we were apart…" Flurry said as she used her magic to take out a picture frame and a camera. "I traded some of my old mane curls from my younger years for these things and I thought I would take a picture of us together here for my room, but…"
Flurry then put her hoof around her friend, bringing her close and taking a picture, with the two smiling and the rainbow waterfalls in the background. After taking the picture, it came out of the camera, Flurry using her magic to dry it off before putting it in the picture frame and levitating it onto Moongleam's hoof.
"You take it." Flurry finished.
"Thanks Flurry, I'm going to keep this picture forever." Moongleam shedding a tear of joy now.
"You're welcome, but I'm keeping the camera." Flurry replied. "That's a fair deal right?" Flurry chuckled.
"Of course it is." Moongleam chuckled back as well as the two friends continued on to the train station to start their trip back home.
Well… I hope you all, especially bluecatcinema, enjoyed this! And go check out A Princess's Path, if you haven't already!
And with that…
See everycreature later!