Chapter 11: Distribution
Dear Princess Cadance,
Yesterday Fluttershy told all of us about this years Grand Galloping Gala. She had told me a little about it on our date, but now that everyone was together she had an easier time explaining everything. Princess Celestia wants us all to help! Rarity is going to be making gowns for everyone, including Celestia and Luna and you! Twilight is organizing everything, of course. Applejack is working with Mr. and Mrs. Cake to cater the event, Pinkie Pie is setting up all of the decorations and events for the evening, Rainbow Dash is going to be the one to hand out the invitations and she's going to direct the Wonderbolts in spectacular stunts. I'm going to do a special performance with the animals from the Royal Gardens! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself!
About your last letter though, are you sure that is love? I mean...I feel like that about all of my friends. Or at least my close friends. When I first met each of them it was the same amazingly brilliant "hot flame" that, over the years, has simmered down. I always thought that was just my own personal...desires...getting overcome by a more meaningful friendship. I can't love them all, can I?
Your friend,
Fluttershy
Rarity closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. She sighed contently as the aroma of Gyokuro tea cleansed her mind and calmed her nerves. Her trip to Macintosh Hills- and subsequently the very end of the rail line- was a most distressing experience. Alone, in the far south of Equestria, Rarity had despaired at ever finding civilization again. Of course the work ponies down here were polite enough and they assured her that it would only take two or three days to get the train turned around for her- sooner, if they finished the turntable first- but it did little to assuage her worries.
Much to her surprise- and now to her delight- Rarity had found the most surprising temporary denizen of the rail line. Upper Crust, one of the residents from Canterlot itself, had found Rarity sulking under a pavilion- or what passed for one- and immediately invited her to her house. Rarity had been so surprised to see the wealthy unicorn that she had simply gawked for a few seconds.
"Um, Rarity?" Upper Crust asked, wincing uncomfortably. "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh! Oh but of course!" Rarity said, standing up quickly with a slightly embarrassed look on her face. "I'm terribly sorry, I must appear a shambles!"
"Oh hush now, its fine," Upper Crust said with a dismissive wave of her hoof, "We're out in the rugged country after all. A little dirt has to be expected. Come! We shall move this conversation inside. I'm not too fond of the warmth of the midday sun."
Rarity had followed Upper Crust while she ordered a couple of the workers to take Rarity's belongings for her. The house that Upper Crust was staying in was only slightly larger than the homes of the other work ponies in the area. Just like the others, it was built of logs hastily stacked together and the cracks between them patched over with mud. On the inside,however, the decor was far more to Rarity's liking. Expensive rugs, plush furniture, ornate tapestries, it was all rather heavenly. Then again, almost everything was heavenly compared to her imagining having to sleep on the ground while waiting for the train to be turned.
Taking a sip of the tea that her hostess offered, Rarity cleansed her palette and smiled. "Thank you again for your hospitality Upper Crust."
"The pleasure is mine to have such an exquisite guest," Upper Crust said, having just set down her own glass. "The workers are so boorish, it is simply wonderful to have someone of class to talk to."
"Oh but the pleasure is truly mine. I did not expect to find such luxurious accommodations this far from Canterlot. If I may beg your pardon, what is such a well to do mare doing out here?" This was the question that had been on Rarity's mind since Upper Crust had made herself known to Rarity out by what passed for a train station.
"My husband acquired the South Range Train Company a short bit ago," Upper Crust explained, "He was planning to come down here himself to oversee the renewal of the southern rail line. It was abandoned some time back because of a lack of funding and lack of ability to tunnel through the Hills at the time. But with my husband and myself backing the project, the rails can finally continue to the south."
"Do you intend to pass through the Badlands?" Rarity asked, knowing full well how dangerous they could be, what with all of the dragons living there.
"Of course," Upper Crust said, "But we have that figured out already. There's a chart somewhere with the construction crews that shows them a route through the Badlands where the dragon's won't so much as hear our trains, let alone see them. They tend not to bother with anything we do so long as we aren't disturbing them, so even if one happened to fly over a train it would more than likely ignore us. Plus," she leaned in and whispered, almost conspiratorially, "We plan to stash a certain number of gems on each train so that in the event of a dragon attack we can use them as leverage or distraction to allow the train to escape."
"Ahh," Rarity said, "That certainly is some prudent planning. Tell me, what comes after the Badlands?"
"I do not know, myself," Upper Crust said, "The largest difficulty at the moment is digging the tunnels through the Macintosh Hills. There are a frightful number of frightening creatures that inhabit them and we haven't the number of guards available to us to keep our construction ponies safe while doing their work." She sighed a little, looking downtrodden.
Rarity saw this as an opportunity to win some favor with the well-to-do pony. "If I may be so bold," She said, "But I like to think I have some...'pull'...with the Royal Guard." This was an understatement if ever there was one. Rarity, as one of the Elements of Harmony, had the ears of both of the Princesses of Equestria and the Princess of the Crystal Empire. Equestria owed her more than one debt of gratitude for her part in saving it several times. She had also been a guest in Canterlot Palace and attended Shining Armor's wedding. If anyone could make a request as simple as sending more guards south to help keep the ponies working on the railways there safe, Rarity could. "When I make it to Canterlot I could ask to speak to the Captain of the Guard or perhaps Princess Celestia herself and ask if any more guard ponies could be spared to send to you."
"Oh Rarity! Could you? Would you?" Upper Crust asked, her eyes bright with excitement. "That would mean oh so much to me! I would be indebted to you beyond constraint!"
"Oh please, stop," Rarity said, forcing a blush. She loved play-acting being humble. She was generous and would have done such a favor out of the kindness of her heart, but she enjoyed it when others knew of her splendor. "You don't have to do anything. I'm more than happy to do my part to help keep ponies safe."
"What a noble thing to say," Upper Crust said, lifting her teacup to Rarity. "A toast to the Element of Generosity." Rarity lifted her cup and clinked it gingerly against her hostess's cup, trying and failing to keep her smug smile from showing.
"You are such an astounding pony Rarity," Upper Crust said after sipping her part of the toast, "I can scarcely believe I was so obnoxious during our first encounter."
"Its quite alright," Rarity said, "Everyone makes mistakes. Even the most glamorous of us are no exception." She patted her mane with her hoof to emphasize the 'glamorous' of her sentence.
"My biggest mistake being not to recognize you for the brilliant, beautiful mare you are," Upper Crust said. She got up from her seat and moved around the table to sit on the couch beside Rarity. "So elegant, so creative, such lovely artwork in your dresses, so...beautiful." She slid a little closer when she said this, and Rarity noticed.
"Erm...thank you. You're so kind." She said, sliding a few inches away from Upper Crust.
"You know, Rarity," the wealthy mare said, sliding closer to Rarity again, "With the right backing, you could certainly open a boutique in Canterlot. Or Manehattan. In fact, with enough financial support I'm certain you could open a dress shop in every fashionably city in Equestria."
The idea caused Rarity's eyes to widen and her mouth to salivate, just a little, before she composed herself. "I'm certain I could, but that is quite a lot of money-"
"Money is no object to some ponies," Upper Crust cut her off. She let go of her teacup and put her hoof on Rarity's flank, just above her cutie mark. Rarity swallowed nervously. On the one hand, she could see where this was going and did not like the thought of it, but on the other hand, some of her dreams could come true.
"If you're offering to finance my work," Rarity said, setting her own cup down, "I really couldn't think to impose. That would be too generous."
"Its nothing, really," Upper Crust said, "Just one good friend helping another. I owe you so much after all." Her hoof slid down and touched Rarity's cutie mark. The white unicorn shut her eyes and shuddered a little. Touching another pony's cutie mark by accident was an almost daily matter. Touching one's mark on purpose, however, was usually reserved for intimate partners. "You really are very pretty," Upper Crust said, her tones soft and smooth as silk.
I wish Applejack were here, Rarity thought. Applejack's brazen, uncouth manner were exactly what was needed at the moment. Not only would her friend be blunt and quite clear about her feelings on the matter of someone touching her cutie mark, but she would never stand to let it happen to one of her friends. Despite their difference, Rarity and Applejack were the best of friends, and just imagining Applejack bucking Upper Crust into the wall for her forwardness was enough to make Rarity smile.
She hid the smile, however, lest Upper Crust get the wrong idea. Instead, she reached down with her own hoof and gently pushed Upper Crust's away. "I'm sorry, really, but...I'm not like...that." Rarity said. It wasn't the first time she had been propositioned in a not-so-subtle way, and it wouldn't be the last either. Rarity would normally have stopped it before the hoof grazed her flank, but Upper Crust was a woman of wealth and means. Insulting her unduly could be quite troublesome in the future. Rarity was practical after her beauty was taken care of, and she knew some of the unfortunate truths of the world.
"I never meant to imply..." Upper Crust said, her face still polite and casual but her entire demeanor changing. Rarity wasn't sure if there was a hurt expression in Upper Crust's eyes or irritation at being denied what she wanted. Either way, Rarity could only care so much before it became emotionally tedious and an overall pointless exercise.
The rest of the day, and the rest of Rarity's stay over the next several days, became socially standard by all measures. The two fabulous ponies spent most of the day inside, exchanging gossip and making new gossip, sipping tea and discussing various social topics that appealed to them both. Every now and then Upper Crust would make another pass at Rarity but the beautiful unicorn was always able to politely deflect the passes.
The day the train was finally turned Rarity packed her things. She bid farewell to Upper Crust and told her that as soon as she was in Canterlot she would speak to someone about sending more guards down. Neither said anything about Upper Crust's attempted indiscretions, and as far as Rarity was concerned they need never speak of them again. She looked forward to returning home, but first she still needed to go to Canterlot to see Fancypants and fulfill his order, which would now be over a week late.
The purple librarian wasn't expecting a package, mail, or visitor of any kind in the pre-dawn hours of Ponyville's morning. Unfortunately, a loud and insistent knocking at the front door to the library had woken her up and repeated itself at ten second intervals for over a minute before she was compelled to get out of bed. The temptation to teleport just outside the door and startle the hay out of whoever was the culprit of the obnoxious knocking was present in Twilight Sparkle's mind, but she was simply too tired and too good-morning-Zombie-Joe to concentrate on the spell.
In lieu of teleportation, she simply kicked her blankets off of her bed and rolled onto the floor. Standing up, she grumbled and descended the wooden stairs, eventually shouting "I'm coming!" when the knocking continued in its irritating pattern. The door to her bedroom opened with a flourish of magical energy and Twilight made her way down the stairs. The knocking had stopped, which was a good thing. Perhaps the culprit had run away at the sound of her angry morning voice and she could return to bed, though Twilight knew she would be even more irritated at getting out of bed at this time of day for no reason.
She opened the door partway and was surprised to see the shining golden armor of a Royal Guard.
Opening the entrance to the library complete, Twilight immediately went from partially awake to completely alert as adrenaline coursed through her veins. Royal Guards typically meant either Princess Celestia was going to come to Ponyville or there was an urgent matter that required Twilight to return to Canterlot immediately.
"Twilight Sparkle," one of the guards said. Twilight knew them both; Silver Wing and Gale Force. They were the fastest fliers on the Royal Guard and often sent as couriers for the Princess should speed be of essence. Though why Princess Celestia wouldn't just send a message through Spike like she normally did, Twilight couldn't hazard a guess.
"Yes?" Twilight asked, "Is something the matter."
"Classified." Gale Force said.
"Our orders are to deliver this to you," Silver Wing added, reaching under his wing and biting onto the brown twine of a package. He held it out to Twilight who took over managing the brown box with her levitation magic. She gingerly put it down in front of her before looking back up at the guards who had both already turned and were walking away from the library.
"Um, what is it?" Twilight asked.
"Classified!" Gale Force said over his shoulder. The two armored pegasai went as far as to be out from under the branches of the large tree that was the Ponyville Library and then took to the skies, heading in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.
Twilight looked down at the box after the guards had left If it was classified, then she shouldn't open it with the door wide open as it was, even though the darkness outside ensured that almost every pony in town was still asleep. Even so, Twilight closed the door and levitated the package over to a nearby table. With a quick twist of magical energy, the twine was removed and she opened the box.
The golden crown emblazoned with the magenta gem that shared a likeness to her cutie mark was the last thing Twilight had expected to see in the box. "The Element of Magic?" she asked the empty library. "Why would Princess Celestia send me this?"
Lifting the tiara with her magic, Twilight set it on her head and tilted her head a little from side to side. It still felt the same on her head. She went to the bathroom to look at it in the mirror, but as she analyzed its reflection the crown began to fade away.
"What?" She exclaimed as the Element of Magic vanished entirely. There was a brief purple flash of light around her irises, but she scarcely noticed. "Oh nononononono!" she said, crossing her eyes while trying to look at the top of her own head, blaming the mirror for an impossible feat. But it was true; the crown was gone. She ran back to the box to see if it teleported itself back to its original container, but it was gone.
"Spiiiiiiiiike!" she cried, running up to the bedroom. She needed to send a message to Celestia immediately!
Pinkie Pie was hopping up and down in place as the box was dropped by the pegasus. "Oooooooh! What is it what is it what is it?" she asked, her face close enough to the package that her nose was pressed up against it.
"Classified." one of the armored guards said before they left the front of Sugarcube Corner. That was good because the store would be opening in an hour or so since the sun was beginning to rise. Royal Guards tended to drive business away.
Pinkie picked up the box and was about to lose the door to the sweet shop when she saw Twilight running towards her. Pinkie Pie sighed softly, her eyes drawn to the beautiful purple unicorn. She still wanted to fix whatever was happening between her friend and her other friend Fluttershy, but she could tell that Twilight was here for something completely different. Her expression said it all.
"Mi Bwily" Pinkie tried to greet her friend with a mouthful of package. She put it down just as Twilight barreled into her. The two rolled across the floor before their bodies separated. The unicorn was the first to her feet and she ran over to the box.
"Hey! That's mine." Pinkie said with a concerned frown. The guards had made it sort of clear that she wasn't supposed to show anypony what was in the box, but Twilight wasn't just somepony, she was one of her best friends who gave her the amazing super special feeling.
The unicorn ripped the box open and used her magic to lift the necklace within the box up into the air. As Twilight had suspected, the pegasai were delivering the Elements to all of their wielders. She ran over to Pinkie Pie and said "Hold still!" before putting the necklace on her friend.
"Wow!" Pinkie said, looking down at the familiar necklace, "Why did I get this in the mail? Usually it just magically appears...or you find it in a book or something fun."
"Just wait," Twilight said, leaning in close and examining the necklace. Pinkie Pie held still for a bit. She didn't like to hold still, but she would for her friends. "Aha!" Twilight said suddenly after a few silent seconds. Pinkie Pie looked down at her chest and watched as the nearly transparent necklace vanished entirely.
"Oooooh, how'd you do that?" She asked Twilight. The unicorn was already staring into her eyes and, as expected, saw a brief flash of light blue light; similar to the light she had seen in her own eyes in the mirror a short while ago.
"I didn't do anything," Twilight said, stopping leaning her head in so close to Pinkie Pie, "I received my Element of Harmony from the Royal Guards also. I put it on and a few seconds later it vanished as well. I was so worried I sent a letter to the Princess telling her about it and then I came here as fast as I could to see if it happened to you also. If it happened to both of us then it might be nothing to worry about, or it might be something very very bad."
"Did the Princess write back yet?" Pinkie asked.
"Oh!" Twilight said, almost jumping through the roof, "I don't know! I should get back to the library and wait for her letter! Bye!"
The young pegasus winced as the soft tunes of her friend were interrupted by a sharp knocking at the door. Sweetie Bell was confused about who it was, but was far more upset that Octavia's performance was interrupted.
"Let me see who that is," Sweetie Bell said, "Probably someone looking for Rarity." She left Octavia up in the bedroom and listened to her music drift through the air and follow her down the stairs. With Rarity away on a trip Sweetie Bell was enjoying having the boutique to herself, but there were quite a few customers who came by and the chore of telling people that Rarity was out was an annoying price to play for her freedom.
"I'm sorry," Sweetie said when she opened the door, "But Rar-" She stopped talking when she found herself looking up at two tall, imposing armored pegasai.
"Is Rarity here?" Silver Wing asked the child.
"Uh..uh...n-no she's not," Sweetie Bell said, "She went to Canterlot. She, uh, she'll be back in a few days."
"See to it that she gets this." The pegasus said, dropping a package in front of Sweetie Bell. "Only Rarity can open it."
"What is it?" Sweetie asked.
"Classified," Gale Force said. The two guards left and Sweetie picked up the package and carried it up to Rarity's bedroom before returning to her own.
"Who was it?" Octavia asked.
"Two Royal Guards," Sweetie said while taking her seat, "They delivered something for Rarity."
"What was it?"
"They didn't say," Sweetie said, "I was going to open it, but..."
"Aww," Octavia said, walking away from her instrument. She nuzzled her cheek to Sweetie Bell, "You did the right thing."
Sweetie smiled and kissed Octavia's cheek, "Hey, let's practice our song again."
"Lets wait for Vinyl to wake up," Octavia said with a chuckle, "She needs to provide the beat."
Applejack normally didn't enjoy putting up with distractions and interruptions to her normal work schedule, but she'd grown increasingly used to it since Twilight had moved to Ponyville. Since then, there seemed to be something going on at least once a month to pull her away from whatever she was doing.
Today, for example, she was hitching her brother up to the plow so they could get to tilling the fields and begin their summer planting of radishes, peas and spinach when two pegasai landed right beside her. Normally a pegasus was courteous enough to land a distance away and announce their arrival. The two Royal Guards, however, were on a mission. They wouldn't tell her what was in the package and they wouldn't take it to the house to give to Granny Smith.
"We were told to give it to you directly. In your absence, we could give it to a relative."
"But Ahm kinda busy," Applejack said, "Ah can't be opening' no mail right now."
"We have to go," Silver Wind said, and with that he and Gale Force took off.
"Haybrained guards," Applejack muttered.
"Now don't be like that AJ," Big Mac said, "If the Princess sent it to ya its gotta be somethin' important."
"Y'all reckon ah should jus' drop what ahm doin' 'n open'r up?" Applejack asked sarcastically.
"Eyup," Big Mac said, "If y'all don't, I'll just call for Applebloom. Yah know she will."
"Someone say mah name?" Applebloom's voice perked up. The older ponies looked over their shoulders to see the youngest Apple sibling poking her head out from behind a pile of hay.
"You spyin' again?" Applejack asked, knowing the answer.
"Nuh-uh!" Applebloom protested, "Ah was lookin' fer mah loopty hoop." She said, lifting the metal circle up from behind the bale of hay she had been behind.
"Raght," Applejack said, rolling her eyes. She looked at Big Mac who returned the look with his normal, even stare and then sighed. "Fahn fahn, ah'll open it."
"Open what?" Applebloom asked, approaching her siblings with her favorite toy around her waist, but Appljack didn't answer. She just bit down o nthe paper and string of the package and pulled up while her strong hooves held the box down. It unwrapped easily and the top came off. Inside was a necklace she was familiar with.
"What in tarnashin?" She asked as she looked at it. Applebloom and Big Mac looked at it also.
"Whats that?" Applebloom asked.
"Its the Element o' Honesty," Applejack said, "But wah its here 'n not in the Vault in Canterlot ah can't say,"
"Put it on," Big Mac said, "Ah've always wanted ta see mah lil' sis when she's off savin' the world."
"Yeah!" Applebloom said.
"Ah shucks," Applejack said with a smile, "Y'all are embarassin' me." She said, but she was willing to humor them. She took off her stetson and put the necklace on then replaced her hat.
"Well?"
"Awesome!" Applebloom said.
"Eyup,"
"Ah'd better put this away," Applejack said, "Ah don' think anyone'd lahk me losin' it out here in the-" She stop talking when the expressions on her siblings' faces got her to turn her attention down to the necklace. It vanished.
"Well, that's convenient," Applejack said.
"Whats with yer eyes?" Applebloom asked.
"What?"
"They turned orange for a second." Applebloom said.
"Probably some of that fancy magic stuff," Applejack said with a shrug. She'd never really tried to understand magic or how the Elements of Harmony worked. They worked and that was enough for her. "Now lets get back tah work."
A beaten mare was laying on the floor of her cloud house when a knock came to her door. She jumped up to her feet; panic overcoming her. How long was she laying there? Where did Gilda and Iron Claw go? Were they back? The knock came again and Rainbow Dash took a step towards the door, but a sharp pain between her hind legs and in her chest reminded her of the ordeal she had just been through. The memories flooded back and she slumped to the floor again, tears running freely down her face, stinging the scratches on her cheek left by her 'friend'.
"Who..who is it?" she called.
"Royal Guards Silver Wing and Gale Force." Silver Wing called back through the door. "We need to give you something.
The absolute last thing Rainbow Dash wanted was to see or be seen by anypony right now. "Just...just leave it on the stoop," Rainbow Dash said. The 'stoop' was a typical enchanted slab of stone common to all pegasai cloud houses that allowed for mail to sit safely without falling down through the cloud.
"Its important that we give it directly to you." Silver Wing replied.
"I'm..I'm not decent," Dash said, which was more or less true. Various remaining fluids of her most recent visitors clung to her skin, having dried into crunchy shell-like splotches around different parts of her coat. Combined with the dried blood, there were few- if any- ponies who would even consider showing themselves in such a state.
There was some subdued muttering that Rainbow Dash couldn't quite understand. Apparently the one Royal Guard was talking to another. She hoped they would just leave her alone. Whatever they had, she really didn't care about it. If I'm lucky its something very very sharp. she thought despairingly.
"We will leave it on the stoop." Silver Wing called back through the door. "We have one more to deliver. We will come back this way to check that you have retrieved the package."
"Okay." Rainbow Dash said, forcing herself back up to her hooves so she could go get the damn box once they left. If it was gone they'd leave her alone. She waited another thirty seconds and then pulled the door open just a crack. No ponies outside in the morning sunlight. A package on the slab. She reached out and grabbed it, seeing her own hoof for the first time and the blood on it. With a sigh, she slowly pulled the package inside and shut the door. She took it over to a table and dropped the box on it before going back to her bedroom. She was about to crawl onto the bed, but the clouds still contained stains and terrible memories. Instead, she grabbed a tuft of cloud she had in the closet and laid back down on the floor. Hugging her security cloud, she closed her eyes and let the tears flow once more.
Visitors were always a nerve-wracking experience for Fluttershy. She never knew who exactly was at the door. Maybe it was Twilight! Oh no oh no oh no she thought with a sense of panic growing within her. I'm not ready for this I'm not ready for this she thought as she tried to figure what she wanted to say to her dear friend.
When she opened the door, Fluttershy was half relieved to see that it wasn't Twilight Sparkle, but also half alarmed that it was a pair of armored guards looking down at her with their normal intense yet passive gaze.
"Fluttershy," one said, lifting his wing and grabbing a package from under it. "From Princess Celestia." he said after dropping it at her hooves.
"Um..what-"
"Classified." Gale Force said. The two retreated from her now that the package was delivered and left. It had taken longer than they had thought and they were ready to go back to Canterlot for their real duties.
Fluttershy watched them leave and then took her package inside. Angel hopped up on the table and tossed a carrot on top of the box.
"No Angel," Fluttershy said, "I have to see what the Princess sent me."
The rabbit tapped its foot a few times then took the carrot and swatted her nose with it.
"Angel, can this please wait?" she asked. Another swat, this one to her eye. Fortunately Fluttershy closed her eye in time so there was no real harm done.
"Okay," she said, defeated. She would check the box as soon as she had seen to whatever it is that Angel wanted.