Spread the Wealth [Ended]

[Hippo]

As Arrow's plan to properly set the mood was foiled by Maximillian and his bottomless pockets, Arrow was disappointed in how unphased Max really was. This was a tough pony to crack. Still hiding from behind the grand piano where nopony could see her, Arrow sighted the map that Max held up with his tamed magic. Arrow was disgusted by the rich pony's confidence and the simple fact that the ponies were starting to warm up to the ideas that he was explaining.

But Arrow had yet another idea. She grunted and pained as she levitated the pencil she had the best she could. If she was to subliminally get their attention, she could write her ideas on the map for the other ponies to see her desire for pony flight school in Appleloosa. However, Arrow's magic left much to be desired, and lifting the lightweight pencil took every bit of concentration she had, which was lacking already. Eventually, she was able to bring the pencil towards the map almost as if a ghost was about to write something. But just as she tried to start writing, the corner of her eye caught the glimpse of the giant wooden chandelier that hung above where they were sitting at. At this moment, her concentration broke and the pencil began flying around randomly, poking a few holes in the map and whizzing by the ponies' ears before finally falling to the ground, the magic left. Startled, Arrow Plain retreated to a hidden spot farther away from their table to avoid detection. But for now, their concern of what just happened was no matter to her. She just wanted to give that chandelier a try. She pondered a moment as the commotion in the establishment settled.

[Mojo]

"Wish ya didn't have ta skeedaddle off like this, Miss Honeythread, but we understand," Sheriff Silverstar said, tipping her hat to the departing mare.

"We'll let you know how this turns out," added Louise LaMare, watching Honeythread leave. The Sheriff examined the map carefully, listening to Madam Bistro's suggestions.

"Yur right about havin' to negoiate with the Buffalo fer that thar parcel of land. But I don't think it's a good idea to git Diamond Dogs to do any diggin' fer us. Them rascals ain't trustworthy, and furthermone.." the Sheriff's words were interrupted by Arrow Plane's out of control 'flying pencil' as it buzzed by the Sheriff's head, knocking his hat off his head.

"DUCK AND COVER, EVERYPONY!" Sheriff Silverstar shouted as he ducked down and pushed Louise down to the floor and under the table. "MADAM BISTRO! MR. ROCKEFILLY! LOOK OUT!"

The flying pencil continued its random rebounding course inside the room.

[Bannhammer]

Max was about ready to open the floor for questions, but a pencil zoomed in and caused quite the disturbance. The sheriff shouted out a warning and helped Mrs LaMare get down for safety. The projectile punctured his map and zoomed about the room. The Rockefilly didn't move, instead he just followed the pencil around with his eyes, waiting to take it out. Maximilian lit up his horn and quickly froze the writing utensil mid-air.

Upset, Maximilian shouted out so that everypony present could hear him and his anger.

"Would the pony who so rudely wishes to sabotage this meeting please show themselves?!"

To accentuate his point, he flung the pencil downwards so it embedded itself deep into the table.

"It ruined my map!"

[Boss_Hoss1]

Madam Bistro screamed and ducked under the nearest table as the pencil flew around.

She came out when Maximillian finally caught it and clopped her hooves in applause "Good show!"

The mocha mare blinked in surprise , seeing max make his point in a solid walnut table, punching the pencil in like it was balsa wood.

She narrowed her eyes,looking around the room. "I have my suspicions, Mr. Maximillian..."

Bistro hoped the young filly would come out on her own, before the sherrif and Louise had to.

[Hippo]

((OOC: You ponies move fast, lol))

Arrow was stunned by Maximilian's anger. As his handle completely fell off, Arrow ducked for her own cover to stay out of sight. There was no way she was going to come out at his demand. And seeing as how he totally snapped, Arrow could see the emotional breakdown that was brewing inside the rich pony. She had him right where she wanted. Wanting to try to see a way to climb up on top of the chandelier to see if it would make a good flight launch, Arrow waited for the unrest to settle before attempting such a daring, and quite immature, attempt at flying. Arrow felt no consequence. Even if she fell, it would only be the 15th time this week.

[Mojo]

"What in tarnation jist happened here?" Sheriff Silverstar asked. "Now, maybe I don't know a whole lot about some things in this here world, but I DO know pencils jist don't take off and go flyin' around a room by themselves!"

"Somepony must've done this," added Louise LaMare. "But why? How?"

"I got a sneaky feelin' I know who's the hombre that done this," the Sheriff snorted as his eyes began to roam all over the room. "ARROW PLANE! I know you done this! Come on out here and take yur medicine!"

[Bannhammer]

"That filly from earlier? She did this?"

Maximilian steamed some more and looked around, hoping to catch the little culprit and give her a good talking too.

"Sheriff, I hope this sort of thing is not the norm out west, even in Manehattan the young foals have manners."

"Young Lady, do not make me come looking for you! I'm trying to get some business done, an I don't have time for games!"

The Rockefilly snorted and continued looking for the unicorn. This was really getting on his nerves, and he didn't know how much longer he could put up with having his business interrupted.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Madam Bistro looked around the room. Being an earth pony, she of course did not think to look up.

She gazed around, one eye twitching like Rarity "Come on out, Arrow Plain. Really, honey. This is very important to the town, and we do not want to upset the nice unicorn any further..." She ended, with a worried gaze at the embedded pencil in the table.

She looked at Maximillain. "I assure you Mr. Rockefilly, every community has a unique foal that does all kind of silly things, and I am afraid she is as big in her efforts as the landcape she plays in. I've seen my share in Manehattan when I was a foal myself. The other foals I have met here tend to be better behaved."

[Hippo]

As the search for Arrow Plain had almost become building-wide, Arrow Plain decided to make a mad dash for the closest vertical support beam and climbed up to the first horizontal beam that ran across the entire building and was the main support for the chandelier above the pony group's table. When she reached the top of the support beam, she knowingly became in plain sight and shouted, "I am the Silent Storm, and with my powers from within, I shall fly into the night!" She looked at the chandelier which was now just a giant leap down from where she was standing, and gave a look of determination as she licked her lips. "Let's get dangerous!"

Jumping from her position, she made a stretch for the chandelier. Her plan was to use the chandelier's swinging momentum to propel her further into the air. But, as she fell to the chandelier, she was just short of the chandelier's base and fell underneath it, hooking her black costume on the chandelier's hooks. As the chandelier began swinging because of Arrow's added momentum, she squealed as she tried to gain control. She even started flapping her hooves in hopes that she would tread air. But instead, she just swung with the weight of the chandelier. She was like a giant pony ornament hanging from a festive holiday tree.

As the chandelier slowed its swinging, Arrow regained her composure and looked down at the ponies who were fully attentive to what she was doing. She was in trouble and she knew it. So, Arrow decided to go ahead and say everything she wanted to say. "Gee, it sure is too bad I haven't learned to fly yet. Otherwise, this would have never happened." Arrow gleamed at Maximilian hoping that her point would process in the adult ponies.

[Mojo]

Sheriff Silverstar and Louise LaMare, along with all the others in the room, watched in amazement, bewilderment and stunned fascination at the actions of the 'disguised' Arrow Plain. The two ponies gasped when the unicorn filly made her 'leap' from the ceiling before getting hooked by the chandelier. As she swung back and forth on the structure, Sheriff Silverstar's face went from stern, to smiling and then.... to ... laughter. He couldn't help himself! The scene was SO hilarious, the mustached stallion burst out laughing at the unfortunate fate of the sneaky filly.

"I do declare that this here's the funniest thing I never did saw!" the Sheriff giggled before breaking out into high pitched laughing.

"Sorry little lady," Louise said, trying to keep a straight face. "We'll help get you down. Sheriff... SHERIFF!!! Stop laughing and help Arrow Plain!"

After laughing a few moments more, Sheriff Silverstar found a long folding ladder and climbed up to retrieve the wayward mare.

"Young lady, you are in more trouble now than you've EVER been." he whispered sternly as he gently grabbed the collar of her costume by his teeth and began to carry her down the ladder.

[Bannhammer]

Max was fuming at the sight of the young filly dangling from the chandelier. He was about to express his anger in very loud words, but the laughter of the others stopped him before he could start. Maximilian's scowl slowly softened to a frown, and went even further away from bitterness that it ended up as a wide smile. He didn't laugh, public outcries of any sort were uncouth and inappropriate. The Rockefilly instead spoke something inaudible to himself and made his way over to the sheriff who now held the smaller pony firmly in his mouth.

The socialite wasn't exactly pleased about all of this, but he knew that yelling and shouting would do absolutely nothing to help the situation. Maximilian put his anger aside and spoke softly, masking the slight annoyance he felt with kind words.

"Young lady, I see that you are quite dedicated to the idea of a flight school for non pegasi. However, I believe that more... conventional methods of discussion would be appropriate. Instead of trying to grab my attention with poor music and flying pencils, how about you just ask me politely? Once I'm done with the present business, I'd be more than happy to talk with you about this."

Max looked around, nodding at the ponies around him.

[Boss_Hoss1]

"I am the Silent Storm, and with my powers from within, I shall fly into the night!"

Madam Bistro went wide eyed and looked up, seeing the unicorn foal in some kind of flashy black costume like a superpony comic. "Oh Dear Celestia, child! How did you... Oh Be careful!"

She shrieked as the foal jumped, apparently trying to swing across the room but instead caught her costume on the Chandelier.

Her heart pounded faster than a quadruple brew espresso could achieve as she stayed near in case she had to help catch the silly filly.

Suddenly Sherrif Silverstar started laughing. That was so outrageous, so Absurd! The filly was in danger, and hanging like a piniata and... well... she was so stressed out having all this happen in front of Mr. Rockefilly, the laughter was breaking up her tension.

It was like a crack in a dam, all her tension rushing out in sudden laughter. Bistro grabbed a menu, in leu of a Manehattanite dress fan, and held it before her face as she laughed until she cried.

She sat down as the filly was delivered safely to the ground by the Sherrif and wiped her eyes while their host spoke to the filly.

Having composed herself, she ahems politely, even if she cannot stop smiling. "We are so sorry for the interruption, Mr. Maximillain. Oh yes, where were we?... Tunnel to Rockwington I believe?"

[Hippo]

Arrow was aware of the funny. Everypony was laughing. Everypony except the pony she had been trying to crack this whole time. In all of her days of being a runt, she had never before seen such resilience out of a pony. Maximilian was such a grouch and seemed unphased by everything she had thrown at him. At this point Arrow was almost ready to admit defeat. When a stern, but laughing, Sheriff grabbed her by the suit to help her down, Arrow was going to play the innocence card and just apologize to the money pony.

However, to Arrow's surprise, Maximilian set down his own new set of dialog before Arrow could unleash hers. When Max asked her why she was being so troublesome and implied a more 'conventional' way of promoting her ideas, Arrow sparked up again and saw her door of opportunity finally crack open. Despite being in trouble, causing the eating establishment some minor damage costs, ruining the attention of the meeting, and being in trouble by Sheriff Silverstar, again, Arrow ignored the situations for the one thing she cared most about--proposing the idea for a flight school for non-pegasus ponies.

"Oh! Oh! Really! You want me to propose my ideas? AND YOU'LL LISTEN!? That sounds great, let's start now! I wanna start by saying..." Arrow looked back at the pony with a shiny star badge who still had her by the collar. His eyes were teary from laughing, but they were angled inwardly, nonetheless. "Um, actually, it can wait until tomorrow. You can come to the schoolhouse tomorrow during recess and we have a big meeting about it. Oh! And I can bring my friends and stuff. It'll be great!" Arrow gave a superpony pose in her excitement. Being suspended by the law's mouth was the only reason why she was able to do it.

[Mojo]

"MMm mmmrrr mmmooo mmmufffy!" Sheriff Silverstar grunted, still holding Arrow Plain's collar in his mouth.

"What was that, Sheriff?" Louise LaMare asked. The question immediately caused the mustached stallion to open his mouth, dropping the troublesome filly to the floor.

"I SAID, you are so lucky, and I was talkin' to Arrow Plain here!" the Sheriff said before looking down at the yellow unicorn filly. "Oops! Surry bout that, kid."

[Bannhammer]

Max nodded at the sheriff and the small filly. He would deal with her afterwards. The rich  stallion returned his attention to Madame Bistro.

"Yes, a tunnel right from Appleoosa from Rockwington. It'll have to go right through the mountains, but it's possible."

"I'll be hiring the best engineers there are, and the cost will be worth it. We'll be trading directly with the gryffons."

He slowly trotted back to the table and smiled.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Madam Bistro nickered in relief that things seemed to be going much better at least for the moment.

She looked thoughtful, likely being the only pony in the room besides Max aware of how much room and logistics this might entail, having built her buisness following the railroad after getting her degree in business.

"I think we of the Town Councel will be very busy with you and those enginers of yours in the coming weeks, trying to figure out where to house all the workers and material and trying not to irk the Buffalo in the process. Perhaps expanding south of town? And will the projects be done at the same time or will you be using one to fund the other after completion and trade starts flowing?"

[Hippo]

Arrow was way ahead of herself. But to her surprise, everypony seemed content on continuing their conversation, after what Arrow thought was a truce came from Maximilian on talking with her about opening a flight school. And somehow, it looked like even the Sheriff had forgotten about Arrow's so called punishment for the sake of the adult pony conversation. This was her chance to sneak out before any true act of discipline handouts came to fruition. Arrow tiptoed towards the door in her now ripped sneak suit which gave soft clip-clops on the wooden floor.

[Mojo]

"Well, this here's sure been an interestin' meetin', ya gotta admit!" Sheriff Silverstar said, trying to put his 'best face' forward for the rich city stallion. Meanwhile, Louise LaMare watched Arrow Plain slowly retreating and followed her outside.

"Arrow Plain, please wait up!" the brown Pegasus Mare neighed as she galloped up to her. "I just want to talk to you, dear. You seem to feel very strongly about a flying school. As a Pegasus myself, I think it'd be a marvelous idea. Haven't seen too many Pegasi here in Appleoosa, but if want to see more Pegasus families settle here, a flight school for young foals sounds like a good idea."

[Bannhammer]

"It sure has, Sheriff, it sure has..."

Maximilian coughed a few times and tapped the table. "Well, Madame, I can take personal responsibility for anypony who comes here for work. We would just need some temporary quarters set up for them. Alternatively, we could build onto the local hotels and make them bigger. They'll fit all the ponies that come to work and anypony who comes here afterwards for business or just to visit.

Maximilian took a deep breath and poked his ruined map, sliding it along the table. "The line from Appleoosa to Stalliongrad will be done first. I wouldn't connect Rockwington to us if there wasn't another line to ensure that we can get products to them. If i build the tunnel first, it's essentially a one way line, because we don't have much to trade on our own."

"However, I'll be sending ponies out to scout the mountains for Diamond dogs and to get topographical charts to see where the line should go."

"Once the first line is complete, or at least once it's close, we can start the more arduous task of building through the mountains. The profits from the first line, along with the assistance of other investors, will make the second task far easier than it would be if we went for simultaneous construction."

The rich Stallion nodded a few times and looked up at the ponies around the table. "This is a very important time for Appleoosa, for Stalliongrad, for Rockwington... It's an important time for the world. We have the opportunity to link our countries together. This is our chance."

"I'll refrain from getting too dramatic, but I finally feel like we can do something amazing. I'd be honored and humbled to work with the fine ponies of Appleoosa to do it."

[Boss_Hoss1]

The mocha mare nodded "Very well. Either plan for the workers or some of both will help us keep the peace with the Buffalo. We will need a dedicated weather patrol or dig more wells though. Our water resources are thin enough as you can imagine."

She glanced around and saw the unicorn filly sneak out the door and drew breath to point this out.

Miss LaMare following her out the door let her breath easier.

Her ears perked at a thought! She will definitely need to expand the bed and breakfast into a full hotel to keep up with the other hotels in town. And she will need to double her stock of coffees for the forseeable future, which means more trips to Hoofington and Gallopicus... This was going to be a very busy time for her indeed...

[Hippo]

Arrow was startled midstep as Louise shouted at her to get her before she left. Arrow felt she had succeeded in her attempts to get Max's undivided attention, and was wanting to get home in time before she got in trouble with her parents. After all, she was still in her room cleaning as far as they were concerned. Arrow listened anxiously as Louise complimented her concern, but dropped her expression when Louise used the word 'pegasus'. Arrow wasn't wanting a school for pegasus ponies. They have those in Cloudsdale. She wanted a flight school for non-pegasi; a school that would dedicate the upbringing of flightless ponies and tackle the improbabilities that incur when trying to get an earth pony to stay in the air under their own power.

"Oh... yeah. A flight school for pegasus ponies... Um. Actually I was talking more about a flight school for fillies like me!" As her voice cracked, Arrow jumped at her statement to enforce her point. She gave a cute smile as she did it. "Anyways, I need to get back home before Mrs. Trails finds out I'm not cle... ...eee... eeeaning the food off my plate." Arrow smiled huge in her attempt to avoid detection. "You know, from dinner? You know, that eating you do at night? Yeah. So, uh, I gotta go! See ya!" Arrow began quickly shuffling her little legs down the dusty road that was blackened by the now starlight sky.

[Mojo]

As Louise LaMare watched Arrow Plane trot off into the night, the brown Pegasus mare sighed.

"I love that filly's spunk! Reminds me of me at that age."

Meanwhile, back in the dining hall, Sheriff Silverstar nodded and smiled at the words of the wealthy stallion.

"And we here in Appleoosa certainly wanna work with ya on such a grand and fer reachin' project! We have plenty to offer the outside world. Madam Bistro's got some good idears too! Now, let's git back to eatin' this fine meal!"

[Bannhammer]

"Madame Bistro, as a member of the community, you can count on me to offer assistance when needed. Don't be afraid to visit me, I'm always willing to lend a helping hoof, or bit."

The rich Stallion looked at the small amount of ponies in the room and grabbed his glass, holding it aloft.

"That's a fantastic idea, Sheriff, but first..."

"The ponies told me I was a foal for coming here, they said that the ponies in Appleoosa would never understand what I was trying to do, much less accept it. They have no clue how wrong they are. This isn't about me and my project, this is about US and OUR town. This is about Appleoosa and trying to let everypony know just what kind of a town this is!"

"A toast... for progress, for the settlement, for the brave, for the tough, ..."

Maximilian lifted the drink as high as he could. "FOR APPLEOOSA!"

[Boss_Hoss1]

Madam Bistro smiled and nodded as Max gave his reassurances and an open invitation to speak to him at need for help or funding. "I thank you for that, Mr Rockefilly, and I will indeed do so in the coming weeks."

Bistro smiled as she listened to the Sherrif, but then Max gave a toast that firmly cemented his place as a new neighbor and not a petty wannabe Wild West novel villan.

She raised her glass with a hoof in agreement, then looked around at the others of the town councel and grinned.

"Yes, FOR APPLEOOSA! May Celestia shine on us!"

[Hippo]

Arrow reached the backyard of her home. The bedsheets still tied together trailed the vertical trek back up to the window of her bedroom. Using her legs and her teeth, she lifted herself up to the window and climbed back into her room.

"ARROW!!!" Mrs. Trails yelled from downstairs. Arrow gulped and panicked at the realization that they may have realized she was gone. She would be grounded for sure. Arrow quickly ran outside her room to the top of the stairs. She paused as she realized her partially torn sneak suit was still on. With a few tugs from her mouth, she stripped herself of the suit and ran down to the base of the staircase.

"I am very disappointed." Mrs. Trails expressed her concern as she brought dinner leftovers to the kitchen counter, but not in the way Arrow had initially thought. "I thought you'd be able to finish cleaning your room before supper, but I guess I was wrong." Arrow gave a relieved sigh.

Arrow's idea of winning was not doing the opposite of what ponies told her. Instead, she just wanted to do something even more drastically daring so that when she did get into her initial trouble, it would only be a lost battle. Arrow, with all of her dreams of flying and adventuring, was not worried about losing the battle. She wanted to win the war.