Blueblood

It took about a minute or two for the little filly to recognize the significance of what was happening right now, filled as her head was with dreams of the future, pride in her abilities, and the normal flittiness of foals her age. But soon enough orange-mama's loving care herded her attention to the little patch of earth that in a very real way would be her very own. No matter where her future took her, to a runway, a true Princess' throne, or maybe just to the marriage-house of a lucky S.O., her roots would be in Sweet Apple Acres. Therefore, to Applejack's question, there was only one answer. "Ambrosia! That's my name, that's my apple!" She beamed in excitement, eager to see her namesake give forth it's branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruit!

It was some mark of the providence that watched over the little fillies of Equestria that at least one of Amby's momma's heard her plaintive cries, and came in to snuggle her. The little unicorn didn't want to do or say anything, just have a good cry safe in blue mama's arms. It was all just too much for her night now. "I dunno where Zappers is... *sniff* I dunno where owange mamma is... wahhhh...."

Love to see you, pink! Friendly neighborhood modmin here. Still not home from folks yet, so can't really give the guided tour on the site, but I'll shoot you a PM when I get home and can work from a laptop rather than a phone!

Rating the dietary regime of her initial chosen career, Ambrosia could only give a solid "Ech!" out of ten. It wasn't fair, why did wearing pretty dresses always come with needing to eat nasty food? The little filly had little conception of perverse incentives for the beauty industry, but she'd have a word or two for them too once she did! She was adorable because she was Ambrosia Apple, and she didn't need some set of silly snobs to tell her otherwise! On that note, the pair then came across the number one encourager of Amby's opinion of herself, her mama! Always wanting to get back to work, despite the lingering effects of... that day. Someday, in the future, an older Ambrosia would need some therapy to deal with the repression and trauma of seeing such a strong pillar in her life so weak and hurt... but for now, the happiness of fillyhood was not yet dimmed. "No mess, mama! I'm not a colt, I'm a clean little filly!" She was sure, that if Zappers was a unicorn instead of her, he'd leave every practice room every bit as messy as his bedroom!

"Oh?" Khaz smiled at the kiss, compound eyes twinkling with humor and delight. "Best save those for days when you don't have anything to say when your little lovebug asks 'How was work today, dear?'" Had the tone not been in jest, Yù might have thought the suggestion of future domesticity presumptuous. All the same, it would be useful just to put the idea out there to float; Kahz wasn't sure where or how this relationship could possibly end up, but it couldn't hurt to explore possibilities... Returning to the meal, he pointed out an option. "Sushi Ship for two; if you've got an appetite, that's one of the best sampler platters in down. Comes on a neat-looking wooden boat too!"

Despite her real concern for her brother, the silly question he asked couldn't help but make her laugh. Silly, silly big brother, with no stripes he didn't look anything like a zebra. In fact, the only thing he had in common with zebras was that his name started with a Z. Hm, that would make it pretty fun to say. "Zappy Zebra!" She called out delightedly, unthinkingly setting in motion the first prank Zap Apple would ever be the victim of by his friends at a sleepover, where they'd paint him with stripes. But that was the future, the present was lunchtime. "Yay, lunch! I'm hungry!" Apples never turned up to the table without an appetite, and petite cute unicorn she may have been, Ambrosia was still an apple through and through.

"Yes, Auntie." Amby giggled a little at Twilight's characterization of orange-mama, though the next apple she did pick up was with her hooves. Couldn't be too careful; the little filly loved her mama after all, and didn't want to make her crazy. Plus, a little filly holding a big apple was adorable, and she did want to look adorable whenever possible. The little note about diet, though, caused Ambrosia to gasp in an oxygen-sucking way that she must have learned from watching Rarity at some point. "Not even candy apples?" She asked, in a plaintive tone that would have made any grown-up heart melt (and Applejack's swell with pride). Surely Auntie Twilight couldn't mean no candy apples though; apples were good for you after all, mama said so!

Sufficiently relieved that Pathfinder had departed the store with no greater incident than bringing in his whole family for a group hug, a thing which pegasi did fairly well, Sky was able to hand off Glimmer to Windy. Their daughter was starting to get to a point where they should move her to a quieter place for a nap. For himself, the stallion played his quieter songs on the upright piano, not one to revel in loud noise himself. "It's good to see Candy's store is doing so well for the opening." Sky smiled, accepting the offer of taffy alongside Windy, as he nodded towards Golden helping out at the register. "Here's hoping its a good sign, though having every day like be like this in a store I worked at would make me shed feathers!" Indeed, without Icy helping with crowd control and Golden at the register, things could easily spiral out of control. Thankfully, nothing but an adorable little zebra filly was taking up Candy's attention for now... The next customer through the door would be an exceptionally well-dressed young stallion, suited well to a Canterlot club, even in the hot tourist sun of Los Pegasus. For all that, the monocled lavender unicorn kept a cool disposition as he breezed through the door like a smoke ring. "Ah, capital place this! The cry goes round the castle walls, the candies of old, of our ancestor's sweet memories, come alive again like the King of Ravens in our hour of need! The bastion of sweet teeth are relieved of siege...." His appearance and casual loquaciousness would be somewhat familiar to Ice Storm, if she had ever met Prince Blueblood's personal secretary before, as this was he. Wordsworth Psmith, a young noble of not too high nor too rich a birth to be above earning his keep with a little labor in service to a public official in a private capacity. But what was he doing here?

Being the sort of pony she was, Ambrosia was likely to care about appearances far, far after she had ceased to be young. Starting early, never stopping, much like her Auntie Rarity in a way. Hopefully that would not be the cause of gossip concerning her ancestry later on down the line... But for now, she trotted in the sun as happy as any apple, even using her magic to pick up an apple alongside Twilight Sparkle. "Look, I can do that too!" She beamed, able to lift the lighter and less-resistant fruit easier than the rock inside the basement. The alicorn would note, however, the sigh of relief once she let it go, and the disinclination to pick up another. Practice took a bit out of her, it seemed. "Uh..." Amby stopped to consider the Princess' question. What did she want to be when she grew up? What sort of job entailed looking pretty, being admired, and wearing beautiful dresses? She was almost ready to say a Princess, but the book momma had read to her was pretty clear that Princesses were also expected to don battle armor and vanquish the forces of evil on occasion, which was not her kind of style at all. Thankfully, time enough at Carousel Boutique had cued her into the perfect alternative career path. "A model for Auntie Rarity! She makes the best dresses!"

Ambrosia giggled at the idea of teleporting her brother into a lake. Zappers could be a bit of a stinker at times, in more ways than one, so it would be nice to join mama among the ranks of ponies who could force him to take a bath. "No, I haven't Auntie Twilight. But he does stink sometimes! Especially after his flight exercises, his wingpits are P.U.!" No doubt Twilight could say a thing or two about stinky wingpits herself; not that Amby would ever even think of Princesses having stinky wingpits, but they happened, all the same. Just one more of those things that made them ponies still at the end of the day. "Going outside? Let's go outside!" The little unicorn popped up, excited to take a walk with the Princess. As cool as it was to receive lessons from Twilight, she needed everypony to know she was receiving lessons from Twilight, which meant she needed to get out into public with her!

"Uh-huh!" Ambrosia nodded eagerly at Twilight's question. She had been reading the beautiful picture books that the Princess had left, sometimes even without mommy's help! Though, that usually meant only understanding half the words to look at the pretty pictures, but that volume's place was now secure in the 'beloved foalhood possessions' category for her! It was about then that her instructor called her attention back to the rock she was still levitating in her magic. And, all at once, she seemed to realize that she was doing something that should take a lot of energy, and she felt it. "Oh? Oof!" The rock wobbled in her grip, then clattered to the floor. Interesting... it seemed her unconscious maintenance was more steady than her conscious maintenance. A bit like how breathing and walking went better if you didn't think about it. Made sense, given her heritage; a lot of her magical potential was still physical in its way, and would work more like the body than the brain.

"Of the words that shiver down my spine, the strongest are these... you are mine." Onyx had to end with a whisper on that kiss to her cheek, for much the same reason the kiss was restricted to that area! Matters would broaden soon enough, but the pair of them needed to get out of the public view! Thankfully, her treehouse was not far, and she managed to lead Sugar there without incident, barging through the door with somewhat less than poetic elegance. It... would be considerably later in the day before either were out and about again!

The Apple, as they said, never falls far from the tree. "They" in this case being almost every single member of the Apple family that came before Ambrosia. While she was no farmer, not by inclination, her bred-in work ethic had found its outlet at last! Not that great wizardry was in her future, but greatness of some kind was sure to come to the determined and the beautiful! Right now, though, Ambrosia was just happy to have lifted the rock. Sighing with relief, she pulled a corner of the blanket draping her bed to wipe her brow, not with magic yet. As much homework as she had done, it wasn't quite second nature to her to use magic for everything just yet... "Tired, but good!" Ambrosia managed a smile, refreshed from the cooling of the sweat of her brow... along with the tea that had gone cold in her cup. A refreshing sip and she was feeling right as rain! Which was especially interesting, as she had seemingly neglected to put the rock *down*....

There are few perfect moments that a pony experiences in their life, and this, for Onyx, was one of them. It felt like embers of warmth kindled sometime before in her heart finally blazed to life, driving away the last of a gloomy fog that had settled over her soul. Were Sugar Moonlight able to see her aura, it would be glowing brighter than ever before. Even poets could be lost for words, or feel that silence was the best punctuation to a scene. Onyx would feel this way... but that compliment from her marefriend deserved reciprocation. "I feel a little guilty then, because I seem to have stolen away the most beautiful thing about Maretime Bay while I roamed." She held her position, letting Sugar nuzzle into her neck, before leaning down to whisper, "But if that's how you really feel... perhaps we should be headed back home~"

As Pathfinder brought out each increasingly unlikely item in an attempt to locate legal tender in her saddlebag, Sky Sailing couldn't help himself from accompanying each of them with an appropriate little musical sting... though he did stumble on a couple of the notes when she brought out that fanfic. It was just as well; 'Bow-chicka-bow-wow' did not sound good on an upright piano... Blushing profusely, he nodded in agreement at Windy's characterization of the rings, "I've always admired adventure stories, but I hardly ever see myself in them... after all, what do I need to go through ancient dungeons for, when I have right now more than I could ever ask for?" He gave the loving glance of a newlywed over at his wife, while his daughter just laughed at the silly pony. "Clown, clown! Heehehehee!" With all the candor of the extremely young, Glimmer did not mince words on how seriously most folks were taking Pathfinder's antics... aside from, you know, the bombs. She was a little too young to understand that. Sensing that the sugar rush his little filly was going through had just about peaked, Sky started into a slower-tempoed cover of his hit song 'Fireflies' to start winding her down, whispering to Candy, "I'm not the pony to ask; I'm just a blue-collar colt from a factory town that made it big. The whole city's kinda crazy to me, you know?"

"Okay, Bu-bye Auntie Twilight! I'll practice hard!" Ambrosia waved good-bye to her new teacher, feeling immensely pleased and proud to have taken her first steps on her journey of learning magic. Did Zappers feel this good when Blue-mama took him flying for the first time? Probably; every pony had something that made them special, and true happiness was felt in pursuing that to its fullest potential. Lucky Ambrosia had two things like that, her magic and her cuteness! She was going to be the most adorable little magician ever! ~***~ "Hnrrggghhhh...." Two weeks later, Ambrosia was feeling neither cute, nor powerful. Sweat wasn't cute at all, her ringlets were downright floppy now, but the rock was just so heavy! "Nghaaaaahhh...." Why couldn't she just decorate it, make it all sparkly and pretty? Then it might actually be worth holding up! "Mmmmm-cha!" With one final burst of effort, panting, Ambrosia was able to hold the weighted magic stone about two inches up in the air. One half-inch higher than last week! "Ha.... huh... how's that?"

"Rasha... RaSha..." Spoiled echoed his words softly, attempting to replicate the distinction. Care in one's speech was a mark of refinement, and she would like to be able to converse at least partially in Niilaavin's native tongue. At least, for such things as pony speech had no specific terms for. It also helped distract her from the implications of what those words actually were. She was a socially aware mare, sharply aware, and knew that closeness that breached family lines like that, without involving the whole family, were trouble. It would be one thing if both Filthy and Diamond Tiara were as good a friend to the sphinx as spoiled; that would just make him an honorary 'uncle'. But this? This was verging on outright courtship, of a married mare! "Tyr... yes that one is easier." She admitted, noting the presence of those on the docks. Were they far enough away from Ponyville that none would recognize her? It depended; enthusiasts for the hobby would travel far to fish. "So is that where the whole riddle thing came from? More verbosity misinterpreted, rather than a love of games as such?" Closer to the public, she wanted to steer the conversation away from danger, for now. Riddles were a safe bet, even if for anypony else she'd find them slightly tiresome.

Oh, that smile... even the sharpness of the great sphinx's teeth only added a dangerous edge that sharpened his attractiveness. "There is a very short list of living beings who I would even allow to talk my ears off, and of that list you may well be the only one to whose every word I would listen." With such flattering compliments as Niilaavin was giving her, Spoiled only felt it right to return some of her own. This sort of exchange... how long had it been since she had felt something like this? She could only think back to when she and Filthy were courting, and even then her mood had been tinged with a cynical, materially-minded grift. And maybe that's where it had all gone wrong, at the beginning... Hearing Niilaavin explain the word Rasha... the word's definition a somewhat different picture than the metaphors he used. And that little phrase in his native tongue... what was it about that which sent shivers up her spine? She had always been a cat person, she supposed... "I would say, that almost sounds like the word 'friend' in Equestrian, but that might perhaps be too weak a term. One does not share a den with mere friends unless certain benefits are involved, and it sounds as if a Rasha would offer those." This was getting close to dangerous territory now, and so close to the lake too, but Spoiled was... not exactly caring anymore. She couldn't explain it, it was as if her emotions had completely obscured her plans for the future. For perhaps the first time in her life, she was living in the present moment, and not the prelude to the future.

Some years ago, Gloomy Sonnet would actually wonder if the trees really did look out for each other, or if each of them were locked in a silent, slow, and deadly battle for water, earth and sunlight. And maybe, in the future, when her mood was down, she might return to those thoughts once more. But right now? In the light of the glade, as the sun sparkled over Sugar Moonlight's mane and coat, Onyx believed the best of the world, returning her marefriend's nuzzle. "Hm, yes, fate..." The unicorn mare wasn't sure how long they would be alone, but in this one, perfect moment, she honestly was starting to not care. Or even notice the world around her, for that matter. All that mattered was the beautiful earth pony in front of her, just within kissing range. Those glamourous lips called for her own, and she moved in to answer, simultaneously lifting the long edge of her scarf up to drape around the back of Sugar's neck...

Ambrosia beamed at Twilight, her little filly brain totally disregarding any suspicion of duplicity or mixed emotions. "Nuh-uh, I feel fine!" This would be an early sign of what would become clear in later years; Ambrosia would never be able to summon all that much power at once, but would be able to sustain that amount of power indefinitely. Probably came from taking after AJ's side of the family, for all that she was a unicorn. Then, as if to make a proud moment even prouder, Applejack herself came in to admire her hornwork. "Yup, I did it!" Little Amby, of course, had no idea what the runes meant, but knew what sort of answer was likely to get the best response. "It says... I love you!" That was... not all that far from what it literally said. Loving ponies did that sort of thing to each other.

"My strength truly is worthy of carrying you..." Did males know how powerful their words could be? Spoiled had to wonder, given how few times she could count on a deliberate compliment from a stallion landing well, compared to how their offhand remarks (or lack thereof) affected her. Maybe they were creatures of instinct more that thought. Maybe everypony was, and there was nothing really wrong in letting herself be carried off by them just as much as the Sphinx was carrying her. And Niil had such a pleasant voice too, she felt she could listen to him talk on just about anything. "Hm? Well, in general, I would much prefer to discuss the origins of your blood than mine. My background is a humble one, and I've little desire to relive my younger years. In specific... that word you used, Rasha? I don't recall you ever explaining what it means." She thought she knew, though; could guess its definition and meaning. And while their talks were still private... Wait, wait, what was she thinking? Was it the altitude of thin air? Her better self, the one concerned with fidelity, propriety, and actually maintaining her political career thrashed against her impulsive, adventurous soul-half, maintaining her suppressive lid once more... but there were cracks in the pottery now. Cracks that Niil could exploit... or accidentally smash with an offhand comment.

Ambrosia could indeed not understand much of what was written in Twilight's little lesson plan. But some of those Runic symbols looked pretty! Thinking back to when she had written her name up on the wall, the little filly decided to see if she could make the symbols she saw appear up on the wall. Less familiar than normal letters, the illusion of writing looked clumsy upon the wall, but soon enough she was able to reproduce one, two, then three of the letters at once! More or less chosen at random, so only Twilight knew what they were spelling. And, well, she would know, actually, as by the time she got back, Amby had gotten up to six of them at once, in sparkly gel-pen colors too! "Lookie Auntie Twilight!" She said proudly, beaming as the alicorn entered.

Hearing Sugar speak of her nightmare caused Gloomy to draw closer to her, eventually pressing right up against her side for comfort, tail intertwined. "I promise I will not, as long as my mind remains whole, you will have pride of place within it. Memory, the key to persistence through time, the only way a relationship could grow... like these trees." The last line was poetry of a kind, even though it didn't rhyme. Perhaps soon Gloomy Sonnet would be writing in a new meter. For all that, though, Onyx didn't feel like lingering in the gloom for long, and she directed them to a spot past the orchard, a glade where the sun shone brighter than usual. This was where the flowers grew, those that needed the sunlight normally taken up by the canopy. Sugar would even be able to see Izzy's tree house from here; not exactly a surprise that the unicorn was occupying one of the brighter pieces of real estate. "Hm, nopony else here? I would have thought that we'd meet someone on a picnic."

The antics of Pathfinder were so attention-grabbing that even a performer like Sky Sailing had to put his ivory-tickling feathers on autopilot to track the pegasus. Just to make sure that she wasn't about to do anything wild like knock over a shelf or something! And while no such destructive whim was acted upon, he did observe her put Windy in a bit of an awkward spot. Both feeling for his wife's position, and honestly too secure in her love to feel all that jealous, he gave a little nod when she silently asked permission to give Candy Corn a kiss, just as a friend, you know? The poor shopkeeper was obviously flustered by that, and Sky couldn't help but be amused. One's first kiss always seemed to have that effect. For himself, he reserved a wry smile for when Pathfinder gave him a wave. "You're not exactly wrong about them being cute together, but one of those mares is my wife, just so you know." He lifted a wing to show the gold band that marked him as a taken stallion; Windy wore a similar on on her own. His other wing stretched out to catch hold of Glimmer as she followed Aunt Candy with the caramel apples, his music given a pause as he and his daughter enjoyed their treats.

Of course her mothers would be proud! Orange-mama was always proud of her filly, since she was the cutest in the world, after all. And blue-mama would think her new skills were 'Awesome!' No higher praise could be imagined! Besides the Princess of Magic saying she was doing great, of course. Which she just did! Huzzah! "Alright!" Amby called back to Twilight as she departed, too engrossed in the picture book now to notice any other. Such pretty pictures, with princesses moving about, showing off what they could do. Ooh, this one was lighting up a dark cave, full of crystals! Could she do that? Maybe she could... Ambrosia Apple sat back, face screwed up in concentration as she pulled her curls away from her horn. Concentrating once more on summoning up the energy she felt inside, she drew it up to the tippy-top of her horn, picturing a ball of light. It sparked, fizzling, then... took shape. It was hard to see it in the daylight, but she was sure of it! A glowing orb! Giggling with delight, she dismissed it, feeling a rush of shivers down her spine as she did so. Boy, what a rush... wait, what was that sticking out of Twilight's bag?