Blueblood

Ambrosia tilted her head, as she tried to fit Twilight's lesson inside her developing brain.  So, magic in trees... is the magic of Equestria... that was inside all ponies?  That... made sense.  Apple trees were what gave her family their magic, right?  The fruits were certainly magically good, so everything made perfect sense, actually!  "Tree magic, yeah!"  She raised her hooves in the air, proud that she 'got it'!

That little burst of confidence fueled her to get back to practicing her magic, screwing up her face again to light her horn.  Focus, focus... pretty pictures... on the paper... hold, tug.... lift....  Slowly, the page began to move.  Not so very high up, but enough to shift to the left, little more, little more... it over balanced, revealing the new picture as Amby's concentration dissipated into a shower of sparks, reflected in her shining eyes.  "I... I did it Auntie Twilight!"

Sugar Moonlight was probably not going to set a new stereotype for earth ponies... but if the next hornless visitor to Bridlewood started cracking remarks like that, the reputation was probably going to stick.  Although... Onyx wasn't sure if it had just been her own mood, or the effect of magic loss, but she had never seen relationships blossom between unicorns as quickly as the one between her and Sugar had.  It was interesting to think about....

"Sounds like a good idea.  Hopefully an adventurous visitor arrives soon."  The unicorn nodded, finishing her tea with a satisfied sigh.  "Ah... that's a lot better.  Well, the stuff's in the house, breakfast is in us, and it looks like you've got a job here!  That leaves you the rest of today and the weekend with me... was there anything you wanted to do or see?"

Most of the customers so far weren't paying much attention to Sky Sailing, which was fine.  He was there to help see chocolate, the chocolate was not there to attract audience members.  He did, however, transition from general ragtime noodling to actual songs; the Charlie Horse and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack seemed appropriate enough, and he sang softly along with the tune of the opening number,

"Who can take a sunrise,

Sprinkle it with dew?

Cover it with chocolate

And a miracle or two?

The Candy Mare can!

The candy mare can because she mixes it with love

And makes the world taste good..."

Maybe that would be a good radio ad idea, if Candy was thinking that would be a good idea.  Though, if Sky had known who had just trotted into the store, maybe he wouldn't have sung the lyrics.  Pathfinder was the sort of mare who, having no experience in musical theater, would take this song as some sort of secret signal to a chocolate-making cult aiming to flood all of Los Pegasus with hot cocoa or something.  But, everypony had to experience their first encounter with a crazy adventurer sometime!  

At least Glimmer was happy, listening to her dad play music and her mom feeding her candy.  She'd crash later, but for now she was a happy, giggly little filly!  More than a few customers were pausing in their browsing to coo over the cute little one, too.

The mention of her being granted 'devourment privileges' was stirring warm and gushy feelings all up in the unicorn mare, and only her training as a poet and public performer kept her from stammering as she replied, "Well, in that case, I hope to have a good dinner ready for you tonight~"

"Hey, get a room you two!"  the other customer called out half-jokingly, reminding Onyx sharply that they were not alone in the tea shop.

"Eep!"  She cried out in sudden realization and embarrassment, sinking her head muzzle deep into her own scarf as her already flushed face deepened its ruby tones.  "Your words are making my heart race; perhaps we should seek a more private space?"  

In the hopes of cooling herself down, she took in more tea, which was still a little too hot to calm her, darn it.  "Well, ah, there's rumors about hidden ruins deep in the woods here.  I don't know how much remains, but if traces of the old Equestria could be anywhere, maybe we should start close to home?"  Gloomy hoped the more sober subject would steer the flirty mare in front of her away from anything that would cause further exposure in public.  This just wasn't the sort of place one could do that sort of thing!

"Hmph!  It's good to see someone who appreciates a mare with standards!"  The tone which Spoiled spoke had rather more emphasis than she intended.  Indeed, what she considered proper standards for a mare of her ambitions was a bone of contention, and was at the root of why they weren't stopping at home.  She was in a mood of dissatisfaction, and all the instinct's driving Niil's own slips of the tongue must be sitting up and taking notice.  A matriarch was in a place to be swayed, if he would be so bold to venture his suggestions, and brave and overcome her objections.

Not that Mayor Rich knew of what passions she was calling forth to dally with, as she began to slide down the back of his neck towards his harness.  "I suppose it would be a long work.  Not only with the transformation, but a long while before any of the transformed were more than ponies piloting a sphinx's body.  I hope you are a patient cat in that respect."  Having reached the harness, she wrapped a cloak around herself before strapping in.  "I've only been up in the clouds once, but I remember the chill."  Settling in and making herself comfortable, she called out with mock imperiousness, "You may alight when ready."

Ambrosia blinked, that phrase turning little gears in her head.  She screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue in effort of recollection, before her eyes lit up with remembrance.  "Oooohhhh!  That's the tree the Elements grew on, like apples!"  Of course that's how Applejack would explain it to her little filly.  Details of appearance weren't covered, so she wouldn't have noticed any discrepancy between her mama's tales and the illustration.  "But... didn't you find the elements in a Castle?  How are they growing on the tree?  You can't put an apple back on a tree after it's fallen off."

Spoiled cast a glance back to the offered harness when it was mentioned.  "I don't feel unsteady now, but I think will take advantage of the offer when it comes time to fly, at least this time."  As an Earth Pony, distance from the ground was instinctually uncomfortable, and for all the refinement she sought to bring forward, her origin was no less rural than Applejack's... though considerably less wholesome.  Being named Spoiled Milk as a filly might well have been a bit of a warning sign to the world.

In the meantime, she was close enough to Niil's ear to easily converse, and found herself really wanting to take advantage of it.  "If it's all the same, I'd rather not stop by home.  If your servants don't know what the proper accommodations and accoutrements for a mare like me are, then I shall have to see exactly how ignorant they are before I issue any corrective communication; they will not learn and improve otherwise."  She spoke with firmness, and conviction, but that wasn't the real reason she didn't want to go back to Rich Manor right now.  If that was the only reason, after all, she'd be at home anyway...

"So, what I'm getting from you is that you're taking me out house-hunting."  She'd say, considering his reasoning.  "I suppose you want some advice on what sort of place you can take a sphinxess home to... provided any are found or made.  How are things with that, by the way?  The Prince hasn't been in communication with me on any progress."

Gloomy pictured a deep dive, if she could breathe water.  Down in the cool, dark depths, able to swim in an environment that actually mirrored the somber places she had gone to only in her poetry... "I would not weep to seek my muse in the deep..."  She nodded along, thinking more of art than of any social sciences.  She was happy, though, to see Sugar so excited.  "I only wish I could tell you where the spellbooks were to be found, that would free us from just dry ground."

Sugar's lick caused Onyx's face to scrunch, but not unpleasantly.  She had to smile at that, cracking a bit of a joke, "And here I though that it was pegasi who swooped down to devour poor helpless unicorns~"  She had to give a laugh at their old prejudices.  "Though, that would make a nice sequel, wouldn't it?  Sky Hunters versus the Sea Corns?"

Thankfully for Sky and Candy, the sounding board on the upright was, well, sound!  "Well, hopefully you don't mind your instruments smelling like your product."  Sky joked as he accepted the oil, softening the stiffened strings and lubricating the stuck parts.  A few minutes later, and he was ready to start playing, just as the first customers were starting to come into the store.

While normally he loved playing impromptu concerts, he was a little concerned about overshadowing his friend's opening day; plus the fact that a candy store was a store, not a concert venue.  It didn't make a good shopping experience to have a bunch of music-lovers clogging the aisles, though Candy would probably make bank on the concessions.  Actually, now that he thought about it... Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to clear some space for little impromptu old-time music shows?  Maybe with some piano reels or wurlitzers to fill in the gaps between live music.

Something to think about!  For now, Sky was noodling away at some ragtime, not a genre he often played,  Some of the more keen-eared customers might recognize bars from his more popular songs, but he wasn't putting in much more than that.

Onyx blinked as she listened to the plot synopsis of one of the canceled flicks.  "Oh... I... suppose that wouldn't be seen as nice..."  She paused, thinking through it.  "Though... honestly, I kind of still want to see it now?  If its crazy wrong about unicorns, I could laugh at it, and if its scary... we could hold each other."  She blushed a bit at the suggestion, but the idea for a date later... if they were ever back in a town showing movies, would be a good one.

Given that it was now her opportunity to offer encouragement, Gloomy reached out a hoof towards Sugar's chest in turn.  "I think you have the courage and skill buried deep inside, if you'll look to find it.  I'll be there with you all the way."  She smiled a bit wider, a playful twinkle in her eye, "If no other part you play, you can at least scream while dragged away!"

"Coooollll...."  There was no trace of irony in Ambrosia's affirmation.  She was a young filly at an age where everything a genuine Princess thought or did was cool by default.  If Princesses did books, then books were cool, QED.  She stared at the cover for a few minutes, dutifully finishing her apple slice and wiping her little hooves before beginning to turn the pages, looking at each page's pictures.  She was... just barely able to read at the most basic level.  At least she knew what letters were for, and how to sound them out.  But that took extreme concentration, and right now she was just focused on the magical illustrations.

"What's that?"  She pointed at something she didn't recognize, a tree that seemed to be made of crystal.  "It looks like a tree, but trees are made of wood!"

Niil's pitch was greeted with a signature raised brow from the mayoral mare, matching eye to eye as the sphinx lowered his head.  "Am I to understand that you believe a show of pomp and circumstance as to the nobility of old is sufficient to win two full days of my valuable time, away from something productive?"  She held her expression for a moment, before broadening into a smile.  "Compliments to your advisors sir, you will not stay single for long with that attitude."  She wasn't sure how that angle exactly slipped from her muzzle, but she shook it off as she mounted to the offered spot atop Niil's head.  She had seen Blueblood on occasion take this perch, and she fancied it suited her.  It certainly appealed to her to look down at the building that loomed so large in her imagination these days.

"Well, I will say, one can definitely see some sights from this angle."  She complimented, settling into her position.  "I'll take your word on the cleanliness of the trip, and if the accoutrements are good enough for royalty, I suppose I don't mind settling for them."  Spoiled knew that Niil liked it if she didn't give him too easy of a time about it, but truly was grateful to get away, having made the decision to go.

Haven indulged her daughter's more avian instincts, even helping her tuck the covers and pillows into a more bowl-like shape.  Though this was one of the common manifestations of nesting behavior, it was not the only one that pegasi practiced.  Some families preferred things like wall nooks and cubbyholes, mimicking tree-nesting birds.  It was just something they all did, though few talked about it...

Once the next was all done to their satisfaction, Haven climbed in beside Pipp, answering her peep with a coo as she nestled her smaller filly under her wing.  One's own foals always seemed small and cute in the mind of their parents, but little Pipp was likely to stay her size... probably for good, unless she got a late growth spurt.  Well, as much as it might embarrass her most days, until the day Pipp truly spread her wings and formed a nest with foals of her own, she would always be welcome to shelter from the world under mama's wings...

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!"

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."