Blueblood

For a few seconds after the knocking Spoiled Rich sat up, blinking. Pulled from a stewing fit of spite at the umpteenth petition protesting her rezoning project, she had just been wondering what the most satisfying (and therefore most regrettable) way of venting her spleen would be. "Mmm, wha-? Oh, it's you." For Niilaavin, she could manage a smile, despite the work interruption. Getting up to open the window, she looked up at him, and sighed. "Oh, just come on a social visit, have you?" For a moment, she considered rejecting the sphinx's offer, protesting busyness... but she couldn't muster the heart. The sad truth of the matter was she had only come in because home brought too little comfort these days, and she had so narrow a circle of friends that she could not depend on short-notice socialization. Not that she would ever, ever admit that, of course, but Niilaavin's sudden interruption allowed her to depart her labors while saving face. "Well, after the slanders of mere status seeking that were slung in the election, I could hardly afford to look less than dutiful... but you're right, there's only so much that should be done for the sake of appearances." She sighed, rubbing her eyes in the certainty that bags were beginning to fill under them. Goddess, but she did not need the stress of inevitable aging on top of all of this. "Just what did you have in mind for this little 'weekend away', though? A regal lion you may be, but I have no interest in baking under the savannah sun!"

True to Twilight's suspicions, Ambrosia understood slightly less than half of her definition. There was one word, however, she latched onto. "Zappers sure is a silly pony! Hehehe, dork, dork!" It was clear that she was liking the sound of that name, and that the next time she and her brother met, she'd call him that, regardless of how well that moniker was received. Applejack may soon have reasons to have a few words with her friend... Her verbal fascinations were soon eclipsed, however, when Twilight showed her the magical picture book. Mama's books weren't so magical; she seemed to prefer older-fashioned illustrations, so this was the first time little Amby had seen anything like this. "Whoaw.... is that magic too, Princess?" While she was still at the age that she collected rather than pursued ambitions, 'Foal's book illustrator' had just been added to the set!

As Sugar placed her hoof on Gloomy/Onyx's chest, she felt a warmth blossom in her heart. She wasn't sure if this was more magic, or just love. Perhaps there really wasn't a difference; perhaps the magic of ponies came from love. Love of friends, family, significant others, the land itself... It appealed to the poet in her to think so, anyway. "Your words I do feel and know in my bones; I just think you go well with beautiful stones." They held hooves for a bit there, before the unicorn returned to her breakfast, fearing it would get cold. "I'll probably keep Gloomy as a stage name, for now; I just don't want to be confined when I perform, creatively." She sipped her tea, then topped it off from the pot. "Speaking of branching out... do you think there will be calls for unicorn or pegasus actors in earth pony movies? I saw that the posters in the theater were empty when I visited. They must be making a lot of new ones in a hurry..."

Very few in Ponyville would have called Spoiled Rich a mare of sweet disposition. Frankly, she had for most of her life had an attitude as sour as her maiden name of Spoiled Milk, and only a set of family crises and a burgeoning political career had done anything to dislodge those old habits in these past few years. The effort was genuine, but the stress was real. That, on top of the actual duties of the Mayor, were quite a burden on the mare. Additionally, her home life had been slowly cooling into a less and less restorative environment, leaving her with very few spoons for anypony that might happen to walk into her office. Her secretary in town hall, seeing trouble brewing, had gently nudged calendar items and appointments around to give Spoiled a free weekend, but in order to induce it, she would need backup. So, she had sent note to a prominent friend of hers. Surely, a sphinx would have little trouble convincing her to take a restorative weekend, right? Well, Ponyville could only hope, because Spoiled Rich had been scowling at the same document for the past three minutes, and if something didn't defuse her soon, she'd likely visit some unpleasantness upon the poor author...

Gloomy Sonnet had once heard that a good sign for a long-term relationship is how well you could stand watching your partner eat. And if this breakfast was any indication, she could happily sit across from Sugar every morning for years to come. And that would likely be the case, if they began working in the same place now. "I'm glad you like it." She replied, softly, a little smitten once more at that sparkling, blissful expression as she sipped her own tea. "Do you want to know something?" She asked after a bit and a bite, once the warm feelings had worked their way through her system. "Gloomy Sonnet... isn't the name I was born with. I took it after I got my talent... but I was called Onyx, when I was a little filly. I wonder if I should go back to that name... its going to be hard for me now to write sonnets that are gloomy!"

A... dork? Amby had never actually heard that word before. While Applejack had some colorful terminology for those ponies she didn't think quite measured up to a standard of common decency, she had lately taken efforts to watch her language around her kids. And with her not yet having started regular schooling, the schoolyard insults hadn't yet wormed their way into her vocabulary. "What's a dork?" She asked, with tilted head, holding on to a half-eaten apple slice. The books didn't spark much interest at first, not seeming to be any that mama read to her come bedtime, but hearing Twilight ask about them perked her right up. "Uh-huh, about Celestia and Luna and Cadence and... you! A lot about you!"

Once the pair of them were cleaned up, Haven got down, putting a wing around Pipp once again. Servants and treats aside... right now, she just wanted to be a mother with her little filly once more. Tomorrow, tomorrow... there were guard details, royal duties to resume, one interview to arrange and plethoras to refuse... but now, now was family nesting time. "The old nest, dear." She guided her up the old familiar stairs to the Royal Chambers.... how long had it been since anypony had slept here but her? Not since the last time Pipp was a little fuzzfeather ball. She wondered, idly, if the sisters would object too hard to her looking for a consort again... Later, later. Naps now.

Grateful have the dangerous thing mama warned her about out of her grasp, Ambrosia found herself paying more attention than usual to Twilight's own dexterous manipulation of a blade. She would be able to do the same, when she grew up; that was the first time the filly had been able to see the beginning and end of a journey of magical learning at once, and it was affecting her in ways she couldn't articulate fully yet... as much from hunger as an untrained vocabulary! "Mmm, that looks yummy, Princess!" Not yet confident enough in her magic to eat with it, she took a slice of fruit in her little hooves to much on, making a heart-melting picture of cuteness! "Momma calls me Amby, sometimes. You can too!"

"Windy!" Sky trotted over to give his wife a nuzzle and his daughter a tickle with his wing. "Better be careful then, if Glimmer gets into the candy we'll have to deal with her on a sugar rush!" He joked, but a hyper foal would probably not be a good-spirited gift for their friend's grand opening. Actually, that did bring up the question of what he could do about the place. He'd never worked in a shop before, though he had done a stint in the Cloudsdale cold storage. Upon hearing about the Piano, his eyes lit up. "Do I? It's what I do for a living! Well, keyboards mostly, but I can tune it..." His vest pocket had a tuning fork and some wire turners in it. Just in case; his dad had taught him to always be prepared. "Might take a minute; if it's been a long time since it was played, the strings might snap if they're worked too hard... got some oil?" With the proper tools and supplies, he headed over to the piano to start tuning it up, one scale and arpeggio at a time...

There it was! That sweet, sparkly smile that lit up Gloomy's formerly... gloomy world. She didn't want to see it disappear again. "Even if things do go awry in a hurry, I'll still be with you, no need to worry." Giving that one last bit of reassurance with a pat to her marefriend's hoof, she gave a smile to Alphabittle too, who was certainly helping in the 'cheer up Sugar Moonlight' mission. "Well, I'll let you settle in for a day or two; just moved in, I understand? Say, next Monday. I'll need the time to look over these," He raised the crystals in his hoof, "To give you more details. For now... they feel about as dense as clay, and slightly malleable, though I'd have to see if they retain that over time or grow more rigid. Suppleness is a good sign for polishing into gems, but cutting might not be the most efficient way to do it. I'll need a few days on my workbench to say for sure."

"You were already a great help before, this is just a little more." Gloomy reassured Sugar with a smile, which would have been a rare sight for Alphabittle, though her marefriend had seen quite a lot of the expressions she inspired in the unicorn already. For his part, the stallion was glad to see his old employee so happy, and felt assured in his mind that he'd done the right thing in sending her out to find a friend. "Oh, that's all right, everypony needs some time to fit in. Heck, Gloomy here had a lot of stage fright at first! Could barely mumble into the microphone. But I don't give up on anything that easy, whether it be ponies or puzzles!"

Seeing Caramel come down, confirming this confectionary as a Corn Clan caper... it made Sky smile. Family working together... it sparked in him once more the dream that little Glimmer would one day perform with him and Windy, making their show a true family act! The only worry he had was what sort of affect being a young performer would have on his daughter, growing up. He made a mental note to ask Golden Bit for some advice there, and put those thoughts away for more present questions. "Well, sweetness is kind of its own advertising... plus, I think Golden Bit might have done a couple of things to spread the word. She's that kind a mare." He chuckled, holding back a yawn. "Whooah, excuse me. I'm an insomniac normally, and having a little filly around the place doesn't do much to help one sleep, you know?" He joked a bit as he followed Candy into the storage room. "Hah, wow, thank you! That's generous; we'll try not to put you out of business. And yeah, it looks like Glimmer is going to follow in Windy's hoofsteps. She can sure put away the chocolates, especially now that she's back to dancing and can burn them off quick." He lowered his voice a bit, "Don't tell her I said this, but I don't mind when they stick around her flank." He blushed a bit to even say something like that out loud.

Alphabittle could sense Sugar's nervousness, but being a unicorn, he was more comfortable ancestrally with magic manifestations. "Well, if there's one thing I know about, it's crystals! I can take a look at these for you, and figure out what's what with them. And I have to say, as owner and operator of the Crystal Room Tea Shop, there's certainly a spot open on my staff for a mare who can hoof-make her own crystals!" He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring pat on the back, before taking up the multicolored crystal too. "Fascinating..." Seeing her dear friend so distressed, Gloomy had to try her own hoof at reassurance. "I don't see how it could hurt, as long as you are aware and alert. When it manifests you will know, because you can see and feel the glow."

At first, Ambrosia squinted at the knife, not sure why Twilight thought it was so different from other knives. Then, of course, Auntie Twily showed exactly why it was so different from other knives, and her eyes grew as big as the saucers before her. "Wow..." The little filly felt a shudder go through her hooves as she watched the blade flow over the alicorn's. It was a little much for her to take in, but it was certainly a memorable reminder of just how big a possibility space magic opened. Not that she would have phrased it that way, but she certainly felt it! She still wasn't certain, but if a Princess said it was ok, then surely it had to be, right? Mama would understand, surely... "Okay..." Amby said, still a little nervous as her horn lit up, giving the knife a trembling grasp as she brought it over to the apple. The cuts were... not perfect, and quite a few juicy slashes were cut into the skin before a slice was extracted. She didn't like the fact it looked so bad... but she did it, right? "There!" She hurriedly put the knife down after that, the nerves of doing something that mama had warned so strongly about getting to her.

A few minutes before Windy arrived, Sky Sailing drifted down beside the receiving door. The two of them had come separately, as Sky had to arrange some recording sessions with another artist earlier that day. His head was still full of the other's music, more mournful than what he himself would usually write, but very powerful all the same, bound to make an impact. For all that, though, the sky-blue stallion was glad enough that this was his next stop. A candy store was *just* the sort of place to drive the gloomies from his head, and the fact that he and his wife would be taking their little filly on her very first visit to one was just so... sweet! He gave a knock on the door to signal her. "Hey, Windy and Glimmer will be along in a few, I just had to fly over from the studio. Looks like you've got a some the attentions of the sweet teeth in town!"

If Twilight remembered anything from her very first day in Ponyville, it was that the Apple family could put away a meal twice the size of the average pony. 'Brunch' for them would be, at least in quantitative terms, a rare feast to a Canterlotian. And for all that Ambrosia was a unicorn, putting on unicorn airs... she was an Apple at heart. She'd take measured, elegant bites for sure... but there would be no leftovers. "Uhh... mama says I'm not old enough to use knives." The filly was giving the blade a leery eye. Like most parents, Applejack had put a little bit of steel in her filly's sense of morals by telling them tales of what could possibly result from improper and underaged handling of blades. Not that AJ had ever actually said that a knife could lash out independently like a snake and mark a guilty little filly with a scar to mark their disobedience... but it was altogether safer to act as if they did, right?

"I... don't know..." Gloomy was just as flabbergasted as Sugar, though still a bit too sanguine to be panicky. "I mean, there's a lot of strange stuff going on..." "Hah! Saved it!" Alphabittle, apparently not having yet noticed the little episode, came back with the tea, his mane looking as if it had just been steam-cleaned. "Ooh, what's this?" As a collector of crystals, the older stallion had quite an eye for them, and picked up the red one from the table, squinting at it. "Hmm... never seen any quite like this before..." He tapped it on the table, noting that it seemed to bend a little, before setting like plaster. "And I've never seen one do that before! Hm, did you just bring this in for me to take a look at? Or is this your idea of leaving a generous tip?"

Hearing that Sugar Moonlight planned to be there at her next performance wasn't at all surprising. Gloomy honestly felt more reassured than nervous; for all her somewhat subdued personality, the stage had become natural ground to her from long practice, and she'd be very surprised if the same wasn't true for Sugar. "I'm glad you will be there to hear, but to call it magic is a bit much here-" She began modestly, before feeling a rush of tingling energy that seemed to go from hooves to horn, and made the teapot steam and sing a full minute before Alphabittle expected it. He was surprised, but not near as much as the earth pony at the counter, who was now holding a soft crystal up to the light. The other customer, who had been playing against Alpha in a puzzle box contest, took one look and had his instincts take over. "Bing Bong!" He called out, before placing a hoof over his mouth, in a bit of embarrassment, as if he'd just let a curse word slip in front of a filly. Gloomy just sighed at that, facehoofing. "I guess... we're not done with surprises yet. But still, that's rather nice magic to get..."

Giving one last flourish to the final 'a' of her latest masterpiece, Ambrosia was giggling with delight and clopping her hooves together. Magic sure was fun when you could actually do stuff! Oh, wait, was Twilight saying something? Picnic? At the very mention of the word, the little filly's stomach gave a growl. She'd used more magic in the past hour than she had in the past year, which burned quite a bit more energy than she had anticipated. And that apply looked yummy. But then again, most apples grown here were, in fact, yummy, so that was normal. What wasn't normal was a picnic with a Princess! "Yes!" She gasped out, excited at all the grown-up looking cutlery. The books... were less exciting, but for an occasion like this, Amby would forgive most anything.

Alphabittle chuckled at hearing Sugar ape Gloomy's rhyming habits. "Well, she already seems to be rubbing off on you. I think you'll do alright together... anyway, I'll put on a pot of your favorite, Gloomy; Blackcurrant and Strawberry. Blueberry scones alright?" The unicorn mare nodded, and the stallion went to the back to get the treats ready. Gloomy sat back a bit, still somewhat amazed she'd gone so far to reveal their status, but now that she'd said it out loud... it was an increasingly comfortable reality to inhabit. Didn't hurt that the beautiful mare in question was right in front of her. "Yeah... I wonder... I'll probably rest from the journey tonight, but I'll be on that stage tomorrow night. Though being with you is simply bliss... there's a part of my work I truly miss." She hoped Sugar would understand; perhaps after a long enough break from modeling, she too would crave taking the stage again.

Alpha wasn't exactly one to pass judgment; attempting to fleece the first guest Bridlewood had in a long time and run her out of town when he saw she was an earth pony like Sugar Moonlight left him in the kind of glass house in which one should not throw stones. Dice might even have been tricky, but he wouldn't turn down a game of backgammon if offered... "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Moonlight." The stallion beamed at the pair of them. "Looks like you did find that friend you were looking for, Gloomy. I knew you would!" "Indeed... a bit more than a friend she is to me... but for now we'd like some scones and tea." Gloomy nodded, gently blushing as she took a seat at the counter. She hadn't planned until just then to introduce themselves as being... that close, but this wasn't a big town. Surely they were going to find out anyway, so best get ahead of things.

Gloomy shivered a bit at the sultry whisper. She had no doubt by now that things were most likely headed... there between the two of them, they'd just grown a bit too close over the journey for anything else to be the case. But, that was for later, as her stomach reminded her with its grumbles, breakfast now. The smell of tea and scones, mixed with jasmine and beeswax, hung about Alphabittle's Tea and Puzzle shop, and it smelled like a second home. "I think a lot of us were the same, growing up. Extroversion was something we had to work up to, and I wonder if that's why Alphabittle set up this shop. Grew up lonely, and wanted to always make sure he had ponies to play with. Even the bets he took on were just extra enticements at first. Don't expect to wager anything these days, though." She took a deep breath, and smiled as she pushed open the door, showing the shop proprietor himself engaged in a puzzle-solving contest with another unicorn. "He's got playmates enough now..." It was but a few seconds before Alphabittle slapped a finished cube back on the table. "Hah, no free cookie today, chum, try again tomorrow!" He good-naturedly chortled before looking up at the door. "Gloomy! You're looking... oddly sparkling today. Anything to do with your new friend here?" He gave her a knowing smile, causing Gloomy Sonnet to blush a bit. "A friend indeed I did find, a mare as pretty as she is kind. Sugar Moonlight is her name, modeling her source of fame." She hoped Sugar didn't mind the introduction, she had to think of a rhyme real quick!

"Yay!" The toy store! That wonderful place of... wonders! The source of her littlest tea set, and most of the dolls and stuffies that attended her regular afternoon sessions of pretend! Amby should have known the capoff to a wonderful day was a trip to that place, and Zappers would love it too. It was something both siblings held in common, at least. Speaking of Zappers, it looked like he was getting into a bit of the ol' rough and tumble with another colt. Amby gave an exaggerated sigh and tossed her mane back, fully intending to display the utter lack of patience fillies had for colts being colts, but her winged brother getting beanballed caused her to wince. "Is Zappers OK mama?" She called out, not at all alleviating the teasing Zap Apple was likely to get from his peers over nicknames... not that she would have stopped herself had she known!

Eagerly acting on the royal encouragement received, Ambrosia did try it again, producing a somewhat more legible version of her name each time. It was like... in her mind, she was holding a paintbrush, and each time the brush became a little lighter and more nimble. Not any easier after the third time, though, but she clearly had a grasp on it, as her expression shifted from amazed to confident. Twilight's next question broke her focus, sending her letters scattering in glittering shower of sparkles as she sat back down to think. "Um... like, I thought I felt something in my hooves once, but it was just ants, icky!" She shook her hooves in a phantom memory. "My shoulders did tingle, though. No bugs there." She reached back to tap the spot on her shoulders where her wings would have grown if she were a pegasus.

Haven had to admit, she didn't have very many names to mind. Avalanche was one, though; the snow-white stoic seemed a relic of an older, more courtly time. Yes, now that she thought about it, he would be perfect for watching over her little Petal, as well as keeping Vermillion in line. "Yes... red and white together would look good, and suit you, I think." She finished the last bite of her ice cream, wondering still how her daughter could put away twice as much in almost the same time. "Let's clean up a bit, and then take that nap. I think we both could use one now."