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A Celebration of the Summer Sun! (Ponyville Locals, Friendship School, Blueblood Household)


Blueblood

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"GAAAHHHH!"

 

A scream, simultaneously of panic and frustration, not unmixed with excitement, echoed down the halls of Ponyville's Crystal Castle.  The resident royalty had recently been switched; with Princess Twilight Sparkle taking over full rulership duties in Canterlot, Prince Blueblood had been tasked with looking over the Ponville Demense, as well as assume the position of Archancellor of the Friendship Academy.  It had taken some time for everything to be arranged on either end, with them both traveling between Ponyville and Canterlot trying to arrange everything.  But, finally, Blueblood was ready to complete the long-term move of themselves and their household to the tree-like crystal palace.  It was kind of an extended house sitting (castle-sitting?), but never let it be said there was no solidarity among Equestria's royalty!

 

 

It wasn't the move that was causing the erstwhile unicorn to expectorate his emotions so freely, however.  While packing up and transporting one's domicile was a legitimate source of stress (especially when one's domestic posse included a sphinx), it was the timing of the whole thing that was proving most unfortuitous.  For, his arrival day had coincided with the day of the Summer Sun celebration, as well as falling in between the spring and summer terms of the School of Friendship, typically when new students were signed up.  Not to mention, at some point a fundraiser for the School was planned for this period of time.  It had seemed like such a good idea to combine all three into one event... two weeks ago.

 

Internally cursing his past self for being so optimistic,  the flustered stallion stopped by a crystal wall to quickly check his reflection.  Blue and bloodshot eyes stared back, framed by locks of golden mane he brushed back and slipped under a doctoral tam.  He had his robes in the black and silver colors of the school uniform draped around his body, and he took a moment to arrange them.  Closing and rubbing his eyes, he took a deep breath.  The movers were still carting in boxes in the back, but the front hall and ballroom were fully arranged, so it wouldn't be too hard to play host.  He didn't expect too many socialites to show up on short notice all the way from Canterlot anyway, so this would mostly just be a local affair.  And the Ponyville crowd were much more tolerant of ad-hoc arrangements.  Heck, wasn't this where Pinkie Pie herself called home?  As averse as he was to... the more common "birthday party" like affairs she was famous for, were the mare to suddenly show up and take over Party Planning, Prince Blueblood wouldn't object.

*Relax, it's gonna be fine.  Open the doors, have the punch and snacks ready, and let who will come, come.*  Taking another deep breath with that resolution, he drew himself up, and walked proudly to the doors, triggering the magic that slid them open.  They would stay that way all day, and anypony, or any non-pony for that matter, who had school business, or just wanted to celebrate midsummer with the town, could come in!

 

"Welcome, one and all, to the... um, something-th Ponyville Summer Sun Celebration!"

 

Celestia help them all...

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Gallus wasn't the sort of griffon who spent a lot of time on the hard and noble tasks that involved his livelihood. He wasn't lazy per se but life had taught him to work as hard as he needed to work to do what he needed to do and not do a lick more work without getting paid for it. At least, that's what he liked to believe. The extra credit assignments he did he could always try and explain away. Library late at night, studying for a test? He was just hanging out with his friends. It was always easy to justify effort as selfishness and not have to confront the fact that deep down he really wanted to do well. That meant there would be expectations and he liked not having that weight around his neck.
 

It wasn't like he was interested in the Summer Sun Celebration or anything, nah. He wasn't here to be educated or learn anything. He certainly wouldn't appreciate anycreature trying to give him the scoop as to why it was so important to ponies across time to celebrate it.  He was just here for the party. He could never say no to the trappings of any Equestrian party and this one was gonna be held in a castle, so that meant extra room for partying. Yeah, that was why he was gonna go. Not to learn, or to see any of the new students, or see how the Chancellor was managing to cope with castle-sitting, or because he was curious just how many rooms were in the castle. He was going only for the free food and drink.

 

It was as good an incentive as any.

 

So he waited outside the castle door, hoping to see any of his friends show up. When the doors finally opened it was weird not to see the majestic and confident posture of Princess Twilight Sparkle welcoming visitors in, it was the decidedly less confident Prince Blueblood who half-bumbled his way through the invitation. Ponyville was nothing if not wiling to overlook flaws and mistakes however and the crowd cheered excitedly before starting to make their way inside. Gallus allowed himself to be taken in by the crush of creatures for a few moments before gaining flight over the crowd and making his way in that way. "Looks like you have this handled, Chancellor," Gallus offered evenly as he made his way inside. Playfully snide comment or an attempt at encouragement? Not even Gallus fully knew.

 


                                                                                                         bon_bon_post_banner_by_jaelachan-d5ld4da.png
 

 

 

 

Bon Bon didn't fully knew what to do either. She had been contacted as a possible vendor for the celebration very late in the process from her point of view. She didn't say no, of course. Outside of the castle on such a busy day? Big bits.


She'd be silly to say no. You never said no to an official celebration of a major holiday, even if you were invited to participate only two days before the event was supposed to take place. 
And you couldn't simply walk in there and offer up your normal wares to the celebrants, no. Not at all. You had to do something special, even if it was just for visual flair. So Bon Bon had worked her tail off to get Bon Bon's Bonbons ready for the party. And it showed. She looked like a hammered mess, mane frizzy and her apron so tightly wound on her she could swear it left lines. Her stand has a slight, multi-degree lean to it that only looked weird if you had working eyesight which Bon Bon didn't at the moment since she had been up for two days straight, working on a new recipe and getting her Celestia and sun themed treats just right. They looked good, unlike her. 

 

But hey, at least she was awake and open for business!

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Cloudy_Skies_edit.pngJasper_by_Rainbowfoxxie.pngiggy_small.png

        Cloudy Skies                  Jasper Dragon          Azure "Iggy" Ignine

 

It might surprise blueblood to see three figures walking towards hte celebration, partly because the group consisted of a Kirin, Hippogriff, and dragon, but even more so because the kirin had a gift wrapped in pastel summer colors with a large sparkling bow on top - something that was more than a little out of place at the festival...

 

The kirin grinned and nodded as they approached "Happy Summer Solstice, your majesty!" she said, clearly also not 100% sure how equestrian titles worked - which wasn't as suprising given the fact all three of them were from different lands "I'm afraid I didn't get a chance to really research the holiday before we arrived, its been a busy week, so we all assumed this was a summer version of the winder solstice festival!" she placed the gift down in front of blueblood as they made their way into the fairgrounds area around the castle.

 

If Blueblood decided to open the gift, he would find that it was a lamp in the shape of the sun... clearly the trinity had taken the name extremely literally... and while they weren't wrong they weren't entirely right either....

 

Once they were in the castle though, things changed quickly...

 

Iggy was shifting weight from one hoof to another as they ducked into an alcove, clearly excited

 

Cloudy sighed "Remember, Iggy, even if the castle is officially open, dont go sneaking around too much... I know not to bother telling you not to wander off..."

 

Iggy was grinning "Its so much more exciting when I dont have to keep an eye open for guards! maybe I'll even get lucky and find a book or test-tube that Princess Twilight forgot!"

 

The males shook their heads sadly at their kirin friend's obsession...

 

"right..." said cloudy "Jasper, keep an eye on her"

 

The dragon nodded, though he looked quite annoyed at the prospective of having to play foal-sitter to Iggy, he knew how excited she could get

 

it wasn't long before the kirin and dragon had vanished into the bowels of the palace, while Cloudy stayed out in the open to act as a distraction.

 

-----=====-----

 

 

EDIT_small changeling_3_by_frownfactory_dbdve5m-fullview.png

Fleeting Hope

 

Unfortunately, it wasn't the end of the afternoon's confusion for poor blueblood, only a few minutes later he would see, well... himself! a much scruffier version of himself atleast, mane astray, numerous small cuts on his body, and his clothing torn rush up to him "Thank goodness I found you! you have to run! the Toad Lord has returned and he's about to steal all the spoons in the city! its going to be disastrous!" after a few seconds the not-blueblood-pony giggled though and green fire washed over it to reveal the young changeling Fleeting hope "Suprise!" she said "...this is the day we're supposed to play a prank on somepony, isn't it?" she asked awkwardly "Equestrian history isn't by best subject..." Indeed, while Hope had made tremendous progress over the last year in coming out of her proverbial shell, she still was very awkward, and most of the progress seemed to be towards the adult teachers and staff - she still was very shy and quiet around students close to her own age.

 

Hope then noticed the gift that Iggy had left and gasped "Oh no, was I supposed to bring a gift too?!" she asked, quickly rummaging about in her bags and hastily tying an awkward bow around a large green mellon "Happy Summer Solstice, sir!" she said awkwardly as she placed it at his feet near the other gift.

 

-----=====-----

 

 

 
 
 
 
Spoiler

3495bb0b76bdbdde8d6adbcac8d98299-d57cxg0.png               Sweet Spike by CloudyGlow

Princess Twilight Sparkle         Spike the Dragon      

 

High above the castle floor, on one of the balconies that was sufficiently out of sight, two small flashes of magical energy erupted, revealing a somewhat large purple-cloaked pony and a notably smaller bipedal cloaked figure.

 

"Remind me again why we have to hide like this? I mean you know nearly everypony here, its not like we're sneaking into some secret fortress of ultimate evil or something" commented the smaller figure

 

the large figure sighed "because we dont want to disturb anything, remember we're only going to be here a little while, we have to get back in time for the main ceremony in canterlot"

 

"I still think your pranoia is getting the better of you" said the smaller figure as he pulled back the hood to reveal the familiar face of Spike

 

Quickly a purple glow pulled the hood back up though "we dont want to make a scene!"

 

"I think your paranoia has gotten much worse since you became high-princess" muttered spike "remember, these ponies are your friends, they're more likely to just wave and say 'Hey Twilight, good to see you!' than panic... they're not you" he smirked

 

The other figure sighed "I know spike, but I have a lot of responsibilities now... I just wanted to pop in and check on how things were going, now be quiet before we're noticed, and keep an eye on the magic mirror in case somepony decides to burst into the throne room while we're here"

 

Spile sighed and pulled back one of his sleeves to reveal a small mirror mounted to a band, looking not unlike a wristwatch, that showed an image of the canterlot throne room doors... One thing never changed, and that was twilight's backup-plans for backup-plans for backup-plans...

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'It never rains, but it pours.'

 

The remark was coined in reference to the weather in Seaddle, but Blueblood was about to see that the metaphorical application to Ponyville's response to any large social event.  Only time would tell whether the hastily-prepared shelter of the Prince's preparedness would spring a leak or not.  At the first 'raindrop' was one he had some degree of authority over.  Not that Gallus would ever dare publicly acknowledge deference to his Archancellor, but for all that, he was good griff.  Wouldn't go out of his way to make trouble if one told him just how much the trouble would trouble others.

"Well, I won't requisition you for volunteer labor, if that's what you're asking, Gallus."  He'd had a tendency, fairly early, to give out tasks for extra credit on a fairly liberal basis, but a talking-to from Applejack had dampened, though not wholly dammed, the flow of extra marks.  "I am expecting some new students, however, so please keep an eye out for your future classmates?  Some of them may have... little to no familiarity with Equestrian manners or customs.  I'm sure you can relate."

 

One such student was expected shortly, but before Blueblood could spare an eye for him, the clouds rained opened up depositing a big three-one sequence on his doorstep.  But ingrained hospitality kept the tiles in place upon the roof, and the Prince really needed to get his head out of this metaphor.  "And welcome!  I'm afraid I never caught your name."  He accepted the git with grace, but didn't open it immediately, instead putting it on a table marked "donations."  If nothing else, it would serve as a light fixture for the school, whenever the Prince got around to seeing what it was.

"This event isn't... quite the same a solstice celebration, or even the old Summer Sun celebration.  But I understand Ponyvillle still loves to hold a party this time every year, and I wanted the School of Friendship to be a part of town life."  Further explanation wasn't quite possible, as the group began to scatter, and a doppleganger of himself appeared before Blue!

 

The Prince's response... was a slow blink.  And a sigh of resignation.  It had been such a long day even by now, and this was just the sort of thing that would happen, wouldn't it?  Even the revelation that it was a momentarily confused changeling didn't really do much to improve his mood.  "No, you've mistaken today for the holiday I've repeatedly lobbied to remove from the calendar."  Immediately he regretted his his testy response, and quickly apologies.  "Sorry, but it's been a long day.  No, wait, that's not-  necessary..."  He wasn't quite able to prevent Fleeting Hope from giving him a melon.  Well, School funding donations were clearly off to a great start...

 

Chipper Banner.png

 

The perils of leaving the young unattended were often exaggerated, with concerned parents freaking out over what the big bad world would do to their precious foal.  But in Chipper Demise's case, one might be forgiven for harboring the opposite worry.  Oh, sure, he was friendly, outgoing, and cheerful, like any Equestrian pony, but that was a miracle running against his talents and upbringing.  Hence, his current guardian's decision that the School of Friendship was the exact education he would need for life.

 

And now, here he was, in Ponyville.  His presence was preceded and announced by a pair of raucous crows, flapping and settling on the edges of Bonbon's booth.  One of them was staring at her with beady red eyes, while the other took a curious peck at the candies.  "Cauw!  Caw!"  One called out, and the berobed colt answered.  "Aw sorry, I thought they were eyeballs.  They looked like them from a distance."  Trotting up to Bonbon, he explained, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.  "Eyeballs are Muginn's favorite treat. So when I saw a pile of sort-of white balls, I thought I'd give him a little snack.  So, uh, what are they?"

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Tiger Blood, the newest addition to Blueblood’s diverse group of guards, was currently spending his time leaning against a wall while he watched the crowd make their way inside. The uniform, while present, was about as little of it as he could get away with. He preferred mobility, that was why he never really wore armor. His chosen wall may not have been super close to Blueblood, but he was keeping an eye on the unicorn. He was technically on the job, he supposed, though he didn’t really expect any threats from Ponyville’s residents. 
 

The earth pony tilted his head slightly at the sight of another Blueblood, moving closer to the scene to hear better. He arrived just in time for the changeling to reveal herself and explain, earning a chuckle from him as Blueblood responded. And then the changeling gifted a melon, and Tiger’s chuckle turned into a snort of laughter that, to his credit, he tried to keep contained. 
 

“Hey, free food is free food, I wouldn’t turn it down.” He said as he approached fully and stopped near Blueblood. “Welcome to the party! Name’s Tiger Blood, what’s yours?” He asked the changeling, smiling over at her. 
 

———————

 

Kireina was reading a book about the holiday as she made her way towards the castle, trying to discover what was expected of the guests and what to expect in general from the event. Honestly, she should have read it earlier, but she had gotten a bit carried away with her newest bit of poetry, so here she was. Sighing to herself, she looked up at the sound of a voice asking what something was. Thankfully, that gave her plenty of warning to avoid running into a unicorn surrounded by birds, and she took to the air to get a better look at what he was questioning. 
 

“Those appear to be candies. Bonbons, I believe.” She spoke, hopefully getting it right. She wasn’t exactly an expert on foreign cuisine, after all, but those looked like them. Looking to the mare behind the counter though, she frowned at the sight of the disheveled pony. “Would you like some assistance, Miss? Perhaps some brushing, at least.”

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It only took Silverstream a few school functions in the main hall for her to gain a talent for snacking around the treat table. If only hippogriffs had cutie marks...

 

The Summer Sun Celebration was acknowledge by all hippogriffs but was never officially observed the way it is in Equestria. But no seaponies would ever ignore the invitation of a shindig that involved socializing and celebrating the elements of the universe that help keep everything together. It was always about the what and less about the why. This year, Silverstream got word of the party that would be happening at the Ponyville castle and decided to attend. Knowing that the archancellor would let the invitation extend to students at the school who weren't exactly official Ponyville residents, she knew that at the very least she would be able to lurk and socialize with other students who decided to do the same.

 

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She spotted Gallus once she was inside. "Gallus!" She screeched and waved. She zipped over to him. "Did you get a chance to see the food tables. Do they have those potato skins like the ones they had at the Feltock Fete? I don't think there is any dancing, so in case this ends up more boring than we thought, I brought our cards." She held up a packet of playing cards that were worn in from the several games the students would play during school dances and other less interesting functions. She immediately went to one of the snack tables and started plating herself some hors d'oeuvres. But then she noticed Bon Bon's bonbon table and realized that some of the food might require rare circular pieces of metal otherwise known as money. "Gallus, is this stuff not free?"

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((was trying to wait for Steel to post, but it looks like he's busy so...))

 

The changeling looked confused by blueblood's reaction, but before she could question him, the earth pony nearby spoke. She turned a little quiet but after a moment managed to say "I'm Hope. Its Nice to meet you, Mister Tiger's blood" her shyness was still very clear around ponies she wasn't familiar with. She may have been slowly coming out of her shell, but it was still just that - slow.

 

Meanwhile the Hyppogriff made his way back other towards blueblood "You need to relax, your majesty, things look like they're going well, I dont see anything missing - and only one broken vase in the hallway, and at least I haven't seen any monsters except for the skeleton peeking out from the closet --- probably best to leave it alone --- and from the small amount of smoke, there only seems to be one or two small fires so far. From what I hear, that's a successful party for this town" he nodded politely

 

-----=====-----

 

Spike cringed "Did he just say fire?"

 

"from the tiny amount of smoke, Its still small, Probably the kirin got too excited and her hooves scorched the carpet, let blueblood handle it. Remember spike, we're here to observe, not interfere" commented Twilight as she watched the unfolding scene

 

"...and I thought you cleaned the place out before you left, why is there still a skeleton hiding in a closet?" he asked, sitting down and pulling out a comic book to pass the time, pulling his hood back again, despite Twilight's insistence he keep it up.

 

"I did clear out all of mine, They like to move in to old castles, its a natural thing" commented Twilight "...though this castle isn't that old... keep an ear open if anyone finds more, there could be an infestation!" from the tone of her voice she was no doubt grinning under her hood

 

"heh, Only you would be excited about such a thing..." commented spike with a smile, his voice a mix of irritation and amusement, though more the latter than the former. 

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Bon Bon was taken aback by her first customer. It was a crow. Rave. Craven. Row. Birds, flappy, black as night. She briefly wondered why they would be interested in her wares and hiow they could pay and whether or not they were going to peck her eyes out when the master of the feathery poverty fly boys showed up. He was a cute little unicorn with a cheery attitude that made her spine shiver with far less than delight, just north of fear. He was creepy. He should be a clown. They verged on the same style of scaring her, even if after a moment or two (and a helpfully unhelpful explanation from him about his minions) that concern passed as she went into business mode. 

"They're bonbons," she replied dully. Then she shook her head and yawned, giving a small laugh. "Sorry, just a little tired. These are bonbons. Chocolate, made with the finest of ingredients that a mid-tier baker with a bank account and some gumption could muster, which isn't half bad if I say so myself. And I don't: I say they're really good," she said as she pulled out a sample. "Five bonbons for five bits, and take an extra one on the house for being my first customer of the day," she said with a smile as she noticed the true heroine of the world came up to her.

 

Any kirin that wanted to brush her was clearly the word's greatest hero. Bon Bon needed it. Her fur was matted with burned in sweat and her mane was a mess, not to mention her stringy tail. "You know what? You straighten this tail of mine out, a free bag of bonbons is in it for you," she said, only half-joking. She could seriously use the help right now, even if she wouldn't admit it in full. She wondered if this was part of some elaborate plan specifically designed to screw her out of sleep at the promise of great profit. 

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Gallus laughed. "I'll keep a look out for new students, Chancellor. You know me, leading everycreature as a paragon of virtue and all that," he said while shooting talon guns at his Chancellor confidently. Well, as confident as he could pretend. He wasn't sure he was really the type of student other students would want to emulate but he didn't think it would be a big deal. He could probably help teach them the really important lessons- like what professors you could take naps in during classes as long as you came with an excuse (Fluttershy), who you could half-tail and still do well (Fluttershy), and whose class you could skip if you say you wee trying to help some animals (Fluttershy). What could he say? There was a reason she was his favorite.

 

Speaking of favorites.
"Hey there Silverstream!" He said as he perked up, heading deeper into the castle. "Yeah some of this is free, some isn't. Just pay attention- I think all the pay vendors are outside. I think?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders. Though he couldn't say no to potato skins, scooping up some as he passed by a free stall with them and nudging her in their direction. "Cards, potato skins, and maybe a private room. What could be better?" He asked as he flew deeper into the castle, away from prying eyes- though mostly just so he could sneak around and see if there were any castle secrets he didn't know about. If they ran into any new students, all the better.

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Blueblood could only hope that Gallus would keep to his word, and stay out of trouble.    It was even odds on whether Silverstream would be a positive or negative influence on him in that respect; both of them were good at heart,  but Gallus' self-image combined with Silverstream's enthusiasm was a recipe for youthful hijinks.  

 

Of course, given the nature of this town, that could easily wind up being the least of his worries.  The new changeling and his guard were introducing themselves, and Tiger Blood was being quite friendly and open.  Just the kind of face that Blueblood wished for his household to present to the world.  The nascent smile on his face, however, did not so much fade as drain when Cloudy Skies returned with a report of 'minimal mayhem.'  Sucking in a breath through his teeth and trying to stave off a panic attack, the Prince emptied his lungs slowly, before filling then once again to speak, "Tiger Blood, would be so kind as to let Cloudy Skies here show you where the messes are being made?  Also, if meet any skeletons walking around, please disassemble them before they start harassing the guests."

 

A quick glance out towards the town, the first he'd been able to spare in a while, made him spy what he was pretty sure was a new student out by the vendor booths.  "Oh!  I think I spy one of the new enrollees.  Do you mind terribly if I excuse myself to welcome them personally?  I'll be back in a jiffy."

 

Chipper Banner.png

 

There were, in Bonbon's explication of her wares, several words that were quite new to Chipper.  "Choc-o-late?"  He repeated back slowy, head tilted like a puzzled dog.  "Caw-cau-co!"  One of his birds croaked in response, one so unhelpful as to not be worth translating.  The corvids were really disappointed at the lack of eyeballs.  "Now now, no need to be rude.  She's obviously worked very hard to make these, whatever they are.  The least we can do is spare a bit of loot for them!"  Hailing from the Southern Wilds of Whitescar and subsequently adopted by a caribou clan, Chipper was unfamiliar with bits, save in the context of... 'spoils of war', shall we say?  Nonetheless, adoption by a clan of traders rather than raiders gave him some allowance of shiny gold circles, of which he counted out five.

 

Once served with the treats, he popped one in his mouth... and then Bonbon would bear witness to a precious and magical sight, one she would not behold again until and unless she and Lyra ever had foals of their own: the expression of a colt trying chocolate for the very first time.  The exaggeratedly upbeat expression dropped like a set of armor after a battle, leaving an unguarded look of wide-eyed wonder upon his face.  "This... this is... amazing.  There's nothing like this back home, not even honeyfruits!"  Handling the rest of the bonbons more carefully, like the precious treasures they were to him, he slipped them into a pouch in his robe, taking care not to jostle or break them too much.
"Thank you, miss... what's your name?  Mine's Chipper; Chipper Demise!"

Edited by PrinceBlueblood
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“Hope, huh? That’s a pretty name.” Tiger smiled, giving a nod to the changeling before the hippogriff showed up and gave Blueblood a report. The earth pony chuckled as it finished, and he was given some instructions. 
 

“Right. I’ll get right on that, boss. Let’s go see these issues, Cloudy.” He nodded to Blueblood and Hope before letting Cloudy lead him off to see what he could do about what was going on. “So, where are these fires? We should deal with those first.”

 

——————————

 

Kireina nodded as the mare accepted her offer, turning to dig through her bag, and put the book away, and eventually coming back out with a brush in her hoof. Moving behind the counter, she decided to start with the part most visible and began brushing Bonbon’s mane. She would get to the tail eventually, once things were back in order up top. 
 

“My name is Kireina Hinode, it is a pleasure making your acquaintances.” She said, smiling politely at the two with her introduction. The longma fell silent after that, focusing on her task for a moment or so. She may not want to get her hooves dirty most of the time, but the state of the mare before her made her want to help. A pony must look their best, and clearly this pony needed a bit of help to get there. 
 

“What brings you here, Mr. Chipper? I do not believe I have seen you around town before.” She asked eventually, glancing between the brush job and the unicorn. 

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Hope smiled at the guard, blushing a little "thank you, your name's nice too - very fitting for a strong guard"

 

Cloudy nodded politely to blueblood "Of course, sire" he said as he started leading the earth pony away "I've not seen them yet but I smell them this way" he explained "I'm suprised you didn't smell them... maybe it's a hyppogriff thing... or maybe its because my friends burn so much food" he chuckled, hoping some humor would lighten the mood, though he sighed hard when they turned down a hallway "iggy..." he muttered under his breath

 

Indeed there were about a dozen small fires, about the size of a hoofprint... heading down the center of the carpet towards a display of some near-inexplicable gizmo that Twilight had left behind...

 

-----

 

Far above Twilight smiled "see spike, Blueblood has it under control. No need to interfere!" it was clear there was a tiny bit of nervousness about her though... it was starting... though she was a lot better about anxiety than she used to be... it would only be a matter of time if things went further downhill...

 

"how many times have we said 'under control' just before bedlam broke loose? you just jinxed us" he joked, though slightly worried this really was just the start...

 

-----

 

It wouldn't take long for Silver and Gallus to find some trouble... when they entered one of the unused rooms, they found an animated pony skeleton already in there, looking around as if searching for something. It didn't seem to be doing any damage though and, at least for now, completely ignored the two students.

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Bon Bon wanted to death-battle fight that damned crow. She wasn't sure what it said. She wasn't sure if it even said anything and the colt was just a little mad. Or a lot mad. She knew she was mad at the crow in any case for daring to insult her delicious and not very nutritious treats. Luckily that same colt had a very nice streak about him regardless of his craziness. She could deal with that. She was married to Lyra, after all. He paid for his bag of delicious bonbons as if he had never paid for anything before and found the concept amusing. The bits spent the same in the end and Bon Bon pulled the bits into her drawer as he took a bag and tried it, and what a thrill it was.

 

You didn't get to see a pony's first reaction to chocolate very often, unless they were your very own foal. And you never, ever got to see an older colt, a young stallion, trying it for the first time. That magical reaction had slowly left these shores as chocolate and candy became more and more commonplace. But seeing this little guy's expression of pure, incandescent joy was just the bright shining star of energy to jolt her out of any sleep-deprived doldrums that had ensnared her. She leaned down. "My name's Bon Bon," she winked, "just like the chocolate treat you're eating right now," she said as she ruffled his mane.

 

Speaking of manes, hers was being brushed. It wasn't as bad off as her tail but she figured it was still a giant, ugly mess of a thing today and she was pretty happy that it was being taken care of. She had never met kirin before and she had heard they could explode into a fiery apparition of destruction, but as long as she was here simply to keep Bon Bon presentable while she sold bonbons at Bon Bon's Bonbons and didn't burn her mane off, then she was better than okay in the spy-confectionery queen's book. Bon Bon had to stop herself from giving off a satisfied purr as the kirin worked. She normally didn't get this sort of attention unless Lyra was around. Hopefully she wasn't around. Lyra liked to make a scene, if only for fun.

 

"Thank ya kindly," Bon Bon said, pitching her voice and tone to match Ponyville's first citizen and Professor of...Honesty?...at the School of Friendship, tipping a nonexistent hat towards her. "Bonbons are certainly in yer future Miss Hinode," she continued with a smile. Indeed, the payment had already begun. She pulled a bag from under the counter and opened it, placing it on the edge of the stand, next to the Kirin (or as close as she could). One good turn deserved another!

(Gallus later)

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(Joint post that includes Hippo and SteelEagle in character responses. Made via Discord text chat)

 

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Silverstream carried a plate of snacks with her as she hovered alongside Gallus. The two were exploring the castle a little, hoping to find a secret room. However, most of everything they saw so far were empty rooms. "I wonder if we could spend a night in the castle. They probably wouldn't even notice!" Silverstream giggled.

She entered a room before Gallus and looked around. "Another empty room." Silverstream turned to exit the room, but stopped when she spotted a pony skeleton in the corner of the room, animated as if it were alive. She did a double take, and then dropped her snacks. She quickly zipped out of the door and planted herself against the wall in the hallway, giving Gallus a feared expression. "What... was that!?"

 

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Gallus snickered. "With all the chaos of the Chancellor doing this whole castle-sitting nonsense, I think we could get away with that really easy," he said as he flew over her to reach for a chip, tossing it into his mouth as he completed the loop to be on her other side. "And if we're caught, well, we'll say its for research. The Chancellor is a sucker for that," he laughed as he went to follow her into the room.

 

That failed as she shot out, spinning him in place. Such was the force of her exit that the plate of snacks was sent flying- and as he landed on the ground in confusion, the two cupcakes landed on his face, one on each eye. He sat up with a huff as he looked into the room. "Well, it looks like cupcakes because somegriff decided she..." he started as they slid off of his face, plunking onto the ground with a delicious thud. Then he saw the skeleton, and his throat got caught up in a gulp as he slowly started pushing himself up, his wings flaring up slowly.

 

"Uhhh...uhhh...Twilight's...umm, Twilight's Nightmare Night...thing?" He said haltingly, trying to remain brave even as he slowly started to back up towards Silverstream, back to her and front facing the door.


Silverstream encroached over Gallus as he stepped back to her in a guarding manner. She subconsciously accepted the stance he set as some kind of alpha protector, but she supported him by giving him the physical affirmation she knew the griffin secretly liked. One of her claws was set softly on his backside. "Twilight's? What if it's the new Headmare's? You know them well, are they into this kind of thing? Like even a as a joke?" Silverstream was amazed by almost everything she laid her eyes on, and was typically only fearful of things that harmed her emotionally or otherwise. A pony skeleton fell into a grey area where she felt curiously anxious about how it existed in the first place. Gallus and her had once been amazed at the sight of a picture of King Grover that seemed to be animated, but only became fearful of it when it started flying and chasing after them.

 

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His tail flickered nervously as she touched his backside, her warmth sending a quick shiver to his extremities that ended with a quickly squashed blush. "I...I mean maybe, I guess its possible...but I don't think so. At least, why have it hidden in a random room like this if it was supposed to be a joke?" He asked, the curious cat allowing his wandering mind to distract him from a primal fear. Skeletons belonged on the inside, not outside, and anytime he had seen a non-scholastically related skeleton it wasn't a good time. He found a chipped piece of crystal and picked it up, then threw it into the room, at his best approximation of where he thought the skeleton was.
"Hey! Hey, creepy skeleton thing! Just..stop what you're doing! Being c-creepy, stop it!"


The rock landed next to the skeleton. Silverstream peaked inside the room to see if Gallus hit it or not. She observed it careful. Fortunately, but still creepily, it seemed to be browsing a few old bookshelves and occasionally looking under furniture that had been stored there for space-saving. "What is it doing?" She asked out loud. "It's like it doesn't even know we're here. Oh! Maybe because it has no eyes so it can't see us!" Silverstream perked with brilliance but then dropped her excitement. "But then how does it know where things are?"

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

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"Bon Bon..."  Chipper Demise rolled the name over in his mouth just as he did its namesake.  He was committing both to memory, as this was an experience he did not want to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.  "I'll have to remember that.  You make these often, right?  I guess you would, since it's your name.  I got my name for being so happy, even among dead things!  There were a lot of them where I grew up, so much so that used up all my tears when I was little.  I had to be happy, 'cause otherwise, I'd feel nothing, and that's just like being dead!"  As he was speaking, his typical, slightly deranged mood began to reassert itself, but now both the mares would have a pretty good picture as to where it came from.  Ater all, 'Lots of dead things and no chocolate' had to describe one of the worst possible foalhoods for a unicorn.

 

"Kie-rayn-a Hee-no-day?"  The kirin's name sounded oddly upon the dark mage's tongue.  "You're not from around here, either?  Oh!  Are you enrolled in the Frienship School too?  My adoptive parents signed me up, since I was having such a hard time making friends back home-"  "CAW!"  "-that weren't birds, Huginn."  He turned his head to rebuke his corvid companion.  "Everybou looks at me weird back home, and doesn't talk to me.  I thought it was just because I wasn't a caribou like them, but I guess there's more to making friends than I thought.  Took me years to learn dark magic, so I guess that something like that has to be complicated, if Friendship is Magic too, right?"

 

~***~

 

"Good, good- wait, fires?  Fires?"  Blueblood had just been nodding on his way out the door, when the seriousness of the situation began to dawn fully upon him.  This wasn't just a mess, this was a disaster in the making!  By Faust, this town really was cursed!  For an instant, he was caught in a dilemma between his princely and has academic duties, before a last glance outside seemed to confirm that his new friendship student was already getting busy making friends.  Good, he could wait a little while longer.

 

"Gah, I'll have to have the servants fetch some buckets and- wait, where did Gallus and Silverstream go?"  With the way his day was going, their unaccounted-for absence worried him more than usually.  "On second thought, Tiger, I'll go with you; let the maids form a bucket brigade, I need to track down my lost students."

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Ponies had celebrations for EVERYTHING. Some made sense. There was Nightmare Nights, which was her favorite. Creatures could dress up in all kinds of costumes and there was free candy. The local movie theater also sold cheap tickets for fun old horror movies. Hearth’s Warming was also fun with the decorations, food and gifts. The movies were not as good, as most of them either one where the 'Gift Givers'  reindeers can't give out presents due to some silly excuse, or a movie where a busy business pony is too busy with business to handle his or hers kids and holiday demands!  Oh no! Will busy parent spend a day with his or hers kids or finish the deal with the Dinklebirds!? And there was also the stress over being an 'Hearthswarming Helper' and not doing a joke gift. Although Gallus did look really cute in his lederhosen that was two sizes to small.  Maybe slapping him on the but while shouting, "Tanz für mich Vogel junge!" might have been a bit too much.
 
There was also this 'Summer Sun Celebration' which was a thing. There was also a event going on in the castle. She knew her friends Silverstream and Gallus were here. Did they invite her to tag along? Nope. Hmm. They have been spending a good deal of time together. What could that mean?  She slowly entered the garish building. Did she smell fire? Could anything actually burn in this place? Everything was made of crystal! Even the toilets!
 
Well, there were at least potato skins. She liked those! Nice overcooked half a potato loaded with cheese, crispy hay sticks and sour cream! Yum! Now where were the others? Was she going to find her pals hiding in a room somewhere giving each other beak-smooches?
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  Cloudy Skies  

 

Cloudy was standing there waiting to see if Blueblood or the guard would make any connection to Iggy, hoping he wasn't going to have to make the first in a long line of apologies for his friend, but, knowing the most realistic option, was formulating said apology in his head as Blueblood also joined them at the scene of the small fires on the carpet near the display...

 

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MLP Skeleton

((I have a better, more cartoony, image somewhere, but, for now... >.<))

 

The Skeleton turned his head tot he chip of stone and after a moment its horn flowed a blue flame-like energy and picked up the crystal chip and put it inside the back of its skull where there was a nice pocket-like cavity. This meant that as it moved it now made a slight rattling sound, which was both slightly more comical and possibly slightly more terrifying. It then turned towards the two winged creatures, and as it did, inside those black eye-sockets, tiny blue flames appeared as it started at them, making it clear it could indeed see and hear them. It stared long and hard, as if it was trying to stare into their very souls, and it began walking towards Gallus and Silverstream at a slow, measured pace... or perhaps it was just its normal walking speed, one never knew with animated skeletons...

 

 

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“Well, those shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” Tiger hummed as he looked at the small fires. Luckily for Iggy, the earth pony didn’t know much of anything about the kirin, so they weren’t in his mind as suspects. Not that he was all that worried about who started them while they were still burning. Before he could do anything though, Blueblood joined them again and said something about missing students. 
 

“They probably just snuck off somewhere to have fun, but we can look for them if you want.” He nodded to Blueblood before giving a whistle to get the attention of one of the maids as they walked past the door. “Why don’t you get some others and take care of this while we track down some missing students. I’ll reward you later if you want.” Tiger said, winking at that last part before turning back towards Blueblood. 
 

“Where do you think we should search first, boss? You know them better than I do, especially since I’ve probably never met them.” He chuckled, shrugging to Cloudy and Blueblood. 
 

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Kireina looked over at the bag that was placed nearby, reaching over to grab one of the treats before she kept going. It gave her a distraction to not think too much about how Chipper was supposedly talking to birds, or how he just admitted to learning dark magic. 
 

“No, I am not from around here. My home is in Kyoma, a city in Neighpon. You are also correct that I am currently enrolled in the School of Friendship, so I suppose that means we shall be seeing more of each other.” She nodded to Chipper, stopping her work for a moment to examine it before eating another chocolate and getting to work on that tail. It was somewhat interesting to meet a pony that lived among the caribou, given their history with her home. 

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  • 1 month later...

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Gallus waited with baited breath, hoping against hope and delving deep into his overstuffed, overprimed sense of practiced stoicism. He wanted to save face in front of Silverstream but he didn't like skeletons, nope, not one bit. Once the skin came off it deserved to be in the ground, not walking around freaking out some flight birds. And for a small, blessed moment it seemed like the skeleton was content to sit there immobile and unmoving. He even felt confident enough to turn to Silverstream. "Heh, uhh, maybe we just overreacted?" He asked, hoping for validation of this creeping thought.

 

Silverstream felt mildly protected by the fluff of Gallus' blue feathers, but if she was outspokenly honest, the idea of it made her feel more protected that the actual soft nature of the griffin's feathery hide. For a friend like Gallus, it was always the stubborn resistance to ridicule that seemed to give others the idea that maybe he would stand up for his friends and slash ugly unpredictable enemies with his razor sharp claws. It also helped that she enjoyed the idea of giving him the satisfaction of having served a purpose beyond just being a friend.

She peeked in fear at the skeleton and noticed it's movements. It seemed to collect a stone inside its own head and looked back at the two with small kindling blue flames growing in its sockets. The moment it took a step forward, Silverstream began to freak. "It's coming this way!" She screeched in a whisper.

 

He allowed himself a moment of looking at her face and the way that her feathers curled around her beautiful eyes that he could never admit were a third as fetching as he believed they were. She was very fluffy but he knew better than most that fluff was never really a good sign. And then her chest fluff expanded and her eyes shrunk and her beautiful eyes were struck with panic and he turned around as she spoke.

Yep, it was going to eat them.
"Run! RUN ITS GONNA EAT US!" He screamed before he shot up, latched onto Silverstream, and started steaking outta there.

 

Gallus' raised his voice at Silverstream's suggestion and began contesting for the award for the scardiest cat in the world. In what seemed like less than a second, he grabbed her and began flying away. At first, Silverstream fell limp to make it easier for him to carry her away, but realized really quickly the error of the griffin's move. Her fear disappeared briefly in order to make a point. "You know I can fly too, right?"

 

Oh, right. He hadn't thought of that. He had just acted on instinct. He hadn't started trying to eat her so it wasn't totally on instinct but close enough. "Oh, right! Sorry!" He said as he let go of her so they could make their escape together. The entire time though he hadn't stopped flying and had also stopped paying any attention. This came back to bite him the moment after he let go of her as he careened into a pillar face first, feathers bursting from him dramatically as he wrapped around it.

 

"Gallus!" Silverstream screamed as she saw him become one with the crystalline pillar. It looked painful. For her, it was more anxious that with Gallus making his escape completely voided by his inability to avoid a stationary object, the skeleton would be no doubt trailing behind them looking to pick a bone with the two feathered creatures. She carefully tried to pull Gallus off the pillar and bring him back to cognition. "Come on, Gallus, quit messing around, it's gonna get us!"

 

He really wanted to get the number of the truck that had hit him but he realized that trucks only existed in those science fiction stories Sandbar liked reading ad that marble would be a bad material to use anyway. Then Silverstream's voice knocked him back into the waking world. He pushed himself off of the pillar and landed with a thud, almost falling on top of her. He rolled and shot back up. "Run- FLY!"

 

Silverstream leaned down to help him up and he screamed again. His adrenaline showing no signs of retreating. Silverstream beganing flying away with Gallus again but looked back to remind herself of her fear. But something was off. The skeleton was not running after them. In fact, it didn't seemed to be behind them at all. As far as she could tell, the skeleton hadn't even left the room yet. "Um, Gallus, is it even following us?"

 

He stopped midflight.
Huh, he hadn't considered that it wasn't as fast as they were, or even all that interested. "...I don't know, I hit my head. Wanna take the chance?"

 

Silverstream's question and Gallus' answer began to make her more and more curious about what this skeleton was all about. The fear was still there, but she had a layer of protection to prevent any issues that might arise should this walking set of pony bones decide to harm her, and it was known as a griffin. "Um, yeah, maybe we should just see. We can always fly away again if it tries to attack us," Silverstream strategically flew behind Gallus and started to slowly shove him towards the doorway they were previously peeking through.

 

He nodded, trying to look way more confident than he felt. It didn't matter though, he had tried to scream and run twice. Not very cool. "Yeah, uhh, I guess we can see. Just stay behind me," he said as if he had a choice, the hippogriff making sure to keep him in front.

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At the sound of Gallus' scream, likely too quiet to be heared over the din of the party, but amplified by the arched sealings around the pair clad in purple, Stilight was instantly to her feet "Gallous!" she exclaimed, a glow forming in her hood.

 

Spike, though, gently, but firmly, tugged on her cloak "Remember your own rule Twilight..." he said "One Scream in an otherwise calm and normal scene is probably a prank. We wait for two screams from the same creature, or three screams overall before we rush in like rabid giant furry snails. Don't forget that time Rainbow scared a pony and you accidentally smote her"

 

"I wouldn't call it smiting...." Twilight relaxed a little and giggled "but the look on rainbow's face...!" she smiled, sighing "what would I ever do without you spike?"

 

Spike just smiled as he sat back down to continue reading his comic

 

 

 

 

 

MLP Skeleton

Re-Animated Skeleton

(it doesn't have a name, so......)

 

The pair would likely be surprised that when they looked back down the dark hallway, the dry white silhouette of the skeleton had already made it to the pillar. It had seemed so slow back in the storage room when it was walking towards them, but somehow in only a couple moments it was almost to their location, as if it moved faster when they weren't looking!

 

The skeleton floated one of gallous' shed blue feathers off the ground around the pillar, just as before it seemed to mutter something slow and quiet, as it stared at the feather, the flames in its eye-sockets flickering between orange and blue, as if an outward manifestation of the skeleton thinking... or as close to thinking as an animated skeleton with no brain could come... after a couple seconds of this, it released the feather and let it float down to the ground. Was it simply not interested in the feather? Or was it coming after gallous and the feather had just allowed it to pick up the griffin's proverbial scent? it didn't seem to matter since the pair had returned willingly... The skeleton looked towards them and once again stumbled forward slowly and methodically, but this time much closer than it had been back in the storage room. As it neared them, they could finally hear what it was muttering... "...collect... collect... collect!"

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The maids, transported over from Platinum Manor in Canterlot, had grown used to their liege's funny little ways.  At this point, it was almost the ideal training for Ponyville-branded weirdness.  Almost.  In any case, there was no panic in their eyes as they formed a disciplined line from the nearest faucet to the flames, sending filled buckets down and empty buckets up as they snaked through the corridors, dousing each flame as they went.  However, as forgetful as Blueblood could be, the servants were not.  When they caught up with Iggy, the last bucket was going to be poured all over the small dragon...

 

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Prince was doing his level best to track down his stray students, which was to say, not very well.  Much as he didn't want to admit it, there was still a social distance between him and the students.  Something would have to be done in the future to bridge that gap.  Perhaps a tea party or two?  

As a point of fact, he caught up with a half-unexpected student on his way"Smolder!  Are you looking for your friends, or snacks?  Because the latter are back in the foyer, but I'm still looking for Gallus and Silver."  Not wanting to look totally clueless in front of Tiger Blood, he pursed his lips as he desperately tried to think.  "I believe they should be-"

 

"Run! RUN ITS GONNA EAT US!"

 

"-That way!"   He finished with considerably more confidence than he began, charging off in the direction where he heard Gallus's panicked cries.  Making decent enough time, they were able to catch a glimpse of the griff and hippogriff as they hid behind a crystal pillar.  "Hey, what are you doing back here?  Why were you shouting?"  He asked, in a loud tone that totally gave away that he hadn't yet noticed the boney boy that was in pursuit.

 

~***~

 

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All things considered, it was probably a pity that Chipper Demise wasn't in the Castle by now.  He was just the sort of colt who'd love to see a cute skeleton walking around the place!  Usually one had to go to so much trouble to get them animated; he certainly couldn't do it for a pony-sized one.  He would barely manage a crow, really.

Still, he was having a fine enough time, now that he had chocolate and a fellow student to talk to.  "Oooh, Neighpon?  One of the caribou bulls who dropped me off here talked a lot about that place.  Said it was pity there was so much bad blood between us, but that some cherish old enemies like old friends.  It's how they're like, really; if someone can always give you a really good fight, and the only kind of death you feel is worth it is in battle, well!  That really gives a new meaning to the word 'battle-buddy', Nyahah!"  He laughed, then shrugged.  "Still, never believed in that whole 'Valhalla' thing myself.  Dead in battle, dead in peace, dead all the same.  Much better to be alive; there's chocolate here!"

Edited by PrinceBlueblood
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  • 1 month later...

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Silverstream shook in place, inadvertently grabbing onto Gallus in order for her mind to cling to her reality. She heard it speak creepiness, but was brave enough to question it's purpose. "C-c-c-collect? Collect what!? Collect our souls!!?" Silverstream shouted. In her peripheral vision, she could see Prince Blueblood approaching them, asking what the shouting was for. "There's a skeleton trying to collect us!"

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