Chapter 4: To The City
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were inside of their clubhouse on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres and all four of them were extremely excited. In three days' time they would be going to Las Pegasus with Gilda the Griffon. While they didn't know much about the brown and white griffon, they were certain that she'd let them have some fun. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Babs Seed waited while Sweetie Belle worked on new clothing for them. The unicorn filly wanted to make dresses that the foursome could wear to the casinos when they were staying in the city of Las Pegasus.
Sweetie Belle's hooves moved quickly as she worked to create the dresses for herself and her three friends. While it wasn't normal for them to wear clothes aside from their rock band outfits, the foursome agreed that they should look good when they entered the casino. They wanted to look their absolute best for their trip to Las Pegasus. The white unicorn filly kept working until the first dress was finished. She quickly gave it to Scootaloo and started to work on her second creation. When she was finished with Apple Bloom's dress she made one for Babs Seed and then focused on her own clothing. Once all four of the dresses were finished the foursome put them on and looked at themselves in a mirror that Sweetie Belle had gotten from Rarity. Each of them admired the way they looked in their new dresses.
"These are just like our rock band outfits." Scootaloo noted as she stared at the purple dress she was wearing with a smile growing on her face.
"Ah like it." Apple Bloom said happily as she admired her new outfit. "Ya did a great job on them Sweetie Belle."
"Yeah these dresses are cool." Babs Seed agreed as she looked at herself in the mirror and liked what she saw.
Sweetie Belle blushed a little bit and she thanked her friends for the compliments. Their dresses had been designed in the exact same way as their rock band outfits. Scootaloo's dress was a dark purple color with many light blue and pink triangles spread out on its surface. Apple Bloom's new dress was pitch black and it had many white stars decorating it. Babs Seed's dress was a bold red with many black skulls placed all over it. Sweetie Belle's dress was a hot pink sort of color with many light green stripes on it. The four fillies admired the way they looked in their dresses before they put them in their bags to bring to Las Pegasus. The foursome couldn't wait to get to the city. They had wanted to get there so badly and soon they would have their wish. Every one of them was extremely excited as they walked around town.
Gilda meanwhile was sitting inside of the cloud castle that she lived in with Rainbow Dash. The griffon was extremely excited about going to Las Pegasus but at the same time she was a bit nervous about the warnings that she had been given by Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack. All three of them had acted like this trip to Las Pegasus could result in disaster. Gilda just didn't understand what they were all so worried about. Sure it wouldn't be easy to take care of the foursome but they surely couldn't cause that much trouble. Gilda put her worries from her mind and instead focused on all of the fun she would have in Las Pegasus. A grin grew on the griffon's face as she imagined what it would be like to go to that city. This was going to be a fun week for her. She was definitely going to enjoy herself in the city of Las Pegasus. Gilda was very certain of that.
The next few days passed by rather quickly for the four fillies and Gilda. The wait wasn't as long as they had thought it would be and soon enough they woke up and went to the train station. Thankfully Gilda had gotten a room for them at a hotel so they didn't have anything to worry about. Gilda had packed her bags with some stuff to pass the time and she had brought along the bits she had saved from her job at the gym. The brown and white griffon had never gone gambling before so she was excited at trying it for the very first time. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were also extremely excited to try something new. While they weren't going to get a cutie mark in gambling, they were still excited about the whole concept even if they wouldn't be able to do it again for a good few years.
The group of five met at the train station with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Babs Seed's parents. They all waited for the train to pull into the station. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had made sure that they had the cards that they had gotten from Princess Celestia. If they didn't bring those then they wouldn't be able to go into the casinos. Soon enough the train arrived and the group of five got on board and found a compartment for themselves. They then all waved goodbye to their friends and families as the train pulled away from the train station in Ponyville and headed off to the city of Las Pegasus. The excitement started to build among the group of five. This was really it. The four fillies and Gilda were finally going to be able to go to the city of Las Pegasus.
The train ride to Las Pegasus was largely uneventful. Thankfully Gilda had brought along a deck of cards and she played multiple games of blackjack with the foursome. The Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to be as good at the card game as they could be by the time they arrived at Las Pegasus. After a couple games, Scootaloo pulled out a piece of paper and tried to think of some lyrics for the song she was writing for Rainbow Dash. Very few lines came to the mind of the orange pegasus filly and the few that did were immediately dismissed as lame or corny. After a couple fruitless minutes, Scootaloo gave up. She decided to work on the song when she got back to Ponyville. Scootaloo then went back to playing cards with the rest of the group.
An hour or two later, they had to admit that some of the fun was wearing off. The group of five was extremely excited to get to the city of Las Pegasus but the train ride was taking forever. Boredom was starting to set in and the five friends tried to do anything they could to amuse themselves. Unfortunately blackjack had lost a lot of its appeal after twenty or so games.
"I'm so bored." Scootaloo grumbled after she had gone over the twenty-one mark. She waited for the game to be over so that she could join in on the next one.
"Ah know Scoots." Apple Bloom replied. "Ah wish this train would hurry up."
"We've been on this train for hours." Sweetie Belle complained.
"How much longer till we get ta Las Pegasus?" Babs Seed asked.
"Probably another hour." Gilda said with a groan. She too was getting bored of playing blackjack without gambling and was really eager to reach the city of Las Pegasus. Blackjack was a fun card game but it lost a lot of its entertainment value when there wasn't any money riding on the game.
"Las Pegasus is gonna be awesome." Scootaloo declared with a grin on her face.
"Ah can't wait." Apple Bloom said as some excitement started to make its way back into her facial expression.
"This is going to be so much fun." Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
"Ah bet Gilda's as excited as we are." Babs Seed said as she looked at the griffon.
Gilda grinned at this statement as the next card game started. She dealt out the cards and waited for Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to make their moves. When she spoke her voice and expression were quite serious.
"Just remember." Gilda said in a very firm tone as she waited for Sweetie Belle to make her decision. "They left me in charge of ya. I wanna have fun just like you guys do but I'm not gonna go chasing you all around Las Pegasus. We're gonna stick together. If you don't like it then we'll just head right back home. Got it?"
The four fillies nodded and promised that they would stick together. They were extremely eager to have a lot of fun in Las Pegasus and they didn't want to ruin it by getting Gilda irritated. Gilda was satisfied with their promises and she looked just as eager to get to the city as the fillies did. The group of five could hardly wait for the train to arrive in the city of Las Pegasus. Finally the train started to slow down and it pulled to a stop in the Las Pegasus train station.
The group of five got off of the train and took a public chariot to their hotel. The ride to the hotel didn't take long and soon they found themselves staring at a very impressive looking building. They went inside and they were in awe of the place. While it wasn't as beautiful as the hotel they had stayed at in Canterlot, it was still a very impressive and good looking area. They approached the counter and were escorted to their room on the tenth floor of the building. The hotel staff unlocked the door and the group of five entered the room. Each of them received a key to the place and then the workers left them to their business.
The hotel room might not have been up to the same standard as the one in Canterlot but it was still spotless, clean, and well organized. The bold red couches sat in the main part of the room while the spotless shiny silver surfaces of the kitchen's appliances reflected the sunlight coming in from the huge glass window. The window was a single piece of clear clean glass which gave the group of five a very impressive view of the city below them. The hotel room didn't have a balcony but none of the five cared about that. Their hotel room contained two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Gilda took one bedroom which only had a single bed while The Cutie Mark Crusaders took the other bedroom which had two smaller beds. Just like the last time they had stayed in a hotel, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shared one of the beds while Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed shared the other one. The group of five unpacked all of their belongings and debated about which of the many casinos they would go to. Their reservations would only last them for a week so they needed to make the most out of it. Finally they decided on one of the casinos and after the four fillies put on their new dresses, they were walking out the doors of the hotel and they were off to see what gambling was really like.
