Manehatten II
You could get food easily in Manehattan, as long as you had the bits, but most of it was terrible, at least in Applejack's opinion. It lacked the care that either home-cooked meals or the chefs in Canterlot could provide. Still, food was food, so she sat munching on an oatburger on a park bench, trying not to taste it.
It was easy enough, she had other things on her mind.
"Twi... why'd ya take Trixie up on her offer?"
The unicorn looked at her wife with an odd look. "Why wouldn't we? We can't go to Vanhoover until tomorrow morning. We might as well take in some culture until then."
"Yeah, but Trixie? Have you forgotten what she did ta us?"
Twilight shook her head. "You know that it was the Amulet that made Trixie act like this. Before she left, Princess Celestia put her under so many scanning spells I thought she was going to get magical sickness. There's no more dark energy in her. And if you're talking about the Ursa Minor, you know that was Snips and Snails’s fault more than hers."
"Twi... you weren't there. You didn't have to work fer her, doin' all these insane demands from 'er an' gettin' yer belly tickled if ya refused."
"Applejack... you know how lucky you were to get off with just tickling? I looked up the Amulet after it was over. There were stories of ponies who crucified anypony who stood against them... as well as a few other things that I can't tell you about without feeling sick." Indeed, her purple coat turned a bit green. "If her punishments were only that, I think that's a sign that the Amulet couldn't corrupt her bad enough."
"What if she had kept it on?"
"...Maybe," she admitted. "We don't really understand how the Amulet works. But ponies who only had it for a week were far worse than her."
"I... I guess," Applejack mumbled. "'Cept fer Snips an' Snails, she left the foals alone... mostly."
Twilight nodded. "See? Not that bad."
"I guess. Still wasn't fun..."
"...Are you mad that I took Trixie up on her invitation?"
"...A bit. Look, I know it weren't her fault... not entirely, anyway, but seein' her after everythin' ain't gonna be pleasant."
"Maybe it'll be better than you think. In fact, it might be just what you need."
Celestia's Sun lowered as Rarity and Blueblood entered the carriage from the palace to their usual restaurant.
"Now then, are you sure there will be no alcohol?"
Blueblood just grinned. "Aww, what, can't handle waking up to..."
His lips were squeezed shut by Rarity's magic. "I'll give you another black eye. I swear it."
Blueblood waited until Rarity released him before speaking. "That's a threatening statement to a member of nobility. I think that's good for another day of community service."
Rarity tried to keep a straight face. She knew by now that getting angry at Blueblood would only encourage him, so she kept her voice even. "And what, pray tell, would you have me do? The changelings will be caught in a week."
Blueblood grinned, and it was the kind that had nothing good behind it. "Maybe we can try the maid thing..."
Rarity lost her composure. "You... you!"
"Relax, I'm kidding," he said. "...Unless, of course, you want to..."
"You pig!" She turned and looked out the window, crossing her forelegs.
Blueblood chuckled. "You know, Auntie says your friends are in Manehattan right now."
That actually got Rarity to look back at him. "What? What if they try to find me there? That could cause this whole thing to fall apart..."
"I doubt they will. Given they they still don't know that you know about the wedding," both Blueblood and Rarity snickered, "and they'll likely want to keep it secret as long as they can. Besides, we have the cover story with you here, remember?"
"Yes... that's right. Why are they in Manehattan, anyhow?"
"They're interviewing that pony that got her hooves on the Alicorn Amulet a few months back... Trixie, I think her name was."
"Trixie?" That was a surprise. She was about to ask how Blueblood knew about her, but stopped. His job was dealing with potential security threats, of course he'd know about something like that. "What is she doing down there?"
"Some sort of show or other," Blueblood brushed off. "She's not my department."
"Well, I hope they're having more fun than I am."
Rarity regretted that statement when she saw Blueblood grinning. "Aw, is my company..."
A hoof inserted itself into Blueblood's mouth. "Finish that and I will give you one."
As soon as the hoof was removed, he spoke. "Hmm, a little pain for a lovely maid... sounds like a fair trade."
She scoffed, deciding it was best not to feed the fire.
"And Luna put up that one just a few nights ago," Spike said pointing to a cluster of stars. "It's supposed to be the great warrior Silver Sword."
Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon looked up at the cluster. "It looks so beautiful," the latter filly mused.
"It's my turn for the telescope!" Apple Bloom called, trying to shove Diamond Tiara away from Twilight's custom made tool.
"Blank flanks don't get a turn," the pink filly said, pushing into her at the side.
By now, their four companions had learned to tune out their arguing, though Spike was keeping a close eye on the telescope to make sure the pair didn't break it. "And to the right is the original Ursa Major."
"The original?" Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow at that.
"Twilight told me that all the Ursa Majors on Equus were brought down from the stars by NightMare Moon when she started to stand up to her sister."
"So they're like the Timberwolves?" Silver Spoon asked. "They were made from the magic run off from Celestia and NightMare Moon's fight." The other looked at her. "What? I pay attention in class."
"Well, kind of," Spike said, "The Timberwolves were made by magic. The Ursas already existed, and were brought down from the sky."
"You're a nerd," Diamond Tiara said. Then, remembering that beating Apple Bloom counted on her being on his good side, she added, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Spike rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. He just looked back up at the stars.
"Did Twilight teach you all this?"
"Yeah," Spike answered Sweetie's question without thinking. Then decided to go on. "When I was real little she had astronomy class. She'd bring me along on all her stargazing. She always told me everything she saw. I thought it was cool back then."
Scootaloo cocked an eyebrow. "Back then?"
Spike shrugged. "Once astronomy class ended, we kind of stopped doing it. We'd seen all the stars... Luna wasn't around to make any more back then, so it got kind of dull."
"Then what did you do for fun?"
"Read comic books while Twilight worked. Of course, when those ran out I had to settle for textbooks... which could be cool, if I found something good enough."
"Didn't you and Twi hang out at all after that?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yeah. I became her assistant, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but didn't the two of you just have fun?"
"I doubt it," Diamond Tiara said. "No offense Spike, but your mom’s way too much of a bookworm. Has she ever even had a coltfriend?"
Spike blushed. "Twilight's not my mom," he said, his words coming out incoherently from his fluster. "And no... she kissed Blueblood and Moondancer, but that was it."
"You're lucky," Diamond Tiara said, "your mom wasn't like mine, running off with some Canterlot stallion..."
Apple Bloom and the others looked at her, Silver Spoon was a bit surprised that she brought it up. "I... I'm sorry..."
"Peh," she scoffed, returning to looking through the telescope. She spoke as if discussing the weather. "She was just a gold digger who married Dad since he had bits. She hated me for not having a horn, anyway. I was actually glad to see her gone. Well... I didn't like Dad being so depressed, but it needed to happen. He needed to see how bad she was."
Everypony (and Spike) was silent for a moment. "Well... um..." Spike stumbled. "Twilight was hard to live with sometimes, but she's a good pony, and I was happy to help her. I doubt she'd... do that."
"Hmm?" Diamond Tiara tore herself off of the telescope.
"You know... run off with..."
"Oh, I know that. Anypony who would move to here from Canterlot can't care about money. I was talking about her being duped by some peasant."
"Could that really happen?" Scootaloo looked skeptical.
"Oh, it can," Silver Spoon said. "Mom made sure to marry a stallion in her money bracket because of that.”
"Well, look on the bright side, Spike," Apple Bloom said. "If Twi stays married to Applejack, that won't be a problem."
"Wait what?" Diamond Tiara said, now curious.
Spike shot Apple Bloom a glare, but it was Scootaloo who spoke. "Twilight and Applejack got smashed and married each other a few nights ago."
Silence.
Then, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hit the ground laughing.
Rainbow Dash approached Fluttershy's cottage in a simple dress that Rarity had made for her long ago and given as a birthday present, just in case. She was holding a bouquet of flowers in one hoof, something that she made sure Fluttershy would find pretty.
She didn't see Angel on the limb of a tree just above her. Grinning, he lifted up a jar that was filled with honey that he had snatched from that dumb bear. He popped the top and dripped the sticky substance down. His aim was true, and it sprinkled the top of the flowers. Rainbow Dash didn’t notice.
She knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Fluttershy answered, wearing a stunning white dress. “Oh, h-hello, Rainbow. You know you don’t have to knock.”
“I know, but I wanted to surprise you,” she said. She started to pull the flowers out from behind her back.
Angel was doing the same with another jar, this one full of bees. Grinning, he loosened the lid just enough, then dropped it toward the ground, making sure it landed just out of their sight.
The glass didn’t shatter, Angel had dropped it too small a distance for that. But the top popped off, and the bees went free. And in their freedom, they went right for what they considered the safest source: the smell of honey.
“What the?” Rainbow Dash tossed the bouquet in surprise. Then, realizing that they were bees, she moved to shield Fluttershy from them.
She missed because Fluttershy flew up to catch the discarded flowers, a happy gasp escaping her lips. “Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash, this is perfect!”
Before Rainbow Dash could respond, her fillyfriend flew up toward the backyard, the bees following.
Seconds later, she returned to the still stunned Rainbow Dash. The flowers were gone, but she was happy. “I’ve been meaning to get some bees to the flowers in my backyard. They’ll attract others in their hive, and now they’ll be pollinated!”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Uh... you like them?”
Fluttershy nodded. “You’re so sweet! Oh, you beautiful mare!”
And she kissed her. Deeply.
Angel looked down, his jaw hanging. How could that go so wrong? His teeth and fists clenched. Oh, Rainbow Dash was going to pay for this.
He turned to march in, but stopped.
Now that they had their bearings together, they remembered who put them in that jar in the first place.
<Um... I know you’re all upset but... Ow! Ow! OW!>
Spike packed up the telescope, ignoring Diamond Tiara’s protest that she wasn’t finished. “It’s Apple Bloom’s curfew. Time to go home.”
“But you didn’t pick one of us,” Silver Spoon said.
“You noticed,” Spike said with no emotion.
“You can just tell us tomorrow,” Sweetie said.
Diamond Tiara stepped up. “Oh no! I’m not letting Apple Bloom get alone time with him. She’ll bribe him or something.”
“I will not!” Apple Bloom said.
“Look,” Spike said, “unless you want to throw a slumber party or something, we’re out of luck.”
Spike’s claw instantly went up to his mouth. His eyes widened, and his irises shrunk.
The fillies looked at each other.
“You know,” Scootaloo said, “Twilight did want him to spend time with us.”
Applejack blew a few strands of her mane out of her face. Twilight sighed and used her magic to readjust her wife’s hair.
“Twi, why’d I hafta get my mane done? And why no hat?”
“I told you, we have box seats for an evening show. We might not have dresses, but I want us to look like we dressed up.”
Applejack sighed. She hated having her mane out of a ponytail. But she refused to let Twilight spend any money on her for more hair decorations, so her mane hung loose. The hotel had a few complimentary hair care products, and against her will her hair was straightened for the evening.
Twilight hardly had to change, mainly because she picked a manestyle that was both easy and worked for a formal look. Still, she was wearing earrings, stars as close to the ones Rarity made her for the Gala as she could find. She had considered makeup, but she was as adverse to it as Applejack was.
“Look, it’s a two-hour show, then Trixie wants to take us out to dinner. I think we can handle being dressed up for that long.”
Applejack sighed. Trixie’s theater was in view. “I guess. Here goes nothing.”
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I... I really wanto to know who Spike would choose.
I think that's "had".
And "said".
Should... I find the fact that Angel got some comeuppance that funny...?
Aww, man!!! I LOVE this series. It's so good, I can't wait for the next chapter!
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw242_medium.jpg
Interesting to see how deep AJ's grudge against Trixie goes.
I think that if Blueblood keeps up with the sexual harassment, he's likely to have his own stretch of community service coming. Served under Rarity, it would likely be a never ending cycle between those two.
Spike's time with the fillies is proving both cute and providing some nice back story. I'm curious to see where it's going. Of course, if Twilight is anything like his mom or big sister, then kissing Apple Bloom is like kissing his sister now.
Entertaining as always.
I love Spike's interaction with the girls.
Oh Angel . . .
~The lizardman knows that you knew that someone would do this
4307084 Yes. Yes you should.
I hope the next chapter is longer.... way, way longer...
This story is brilliant. Keep up the good work!
Good lord...I can hardly wait to see that slumber party. Diamond and Silver trying to be civil with the Crusaders all night (Silver seemed to be doing well, though, I like that) is going to be hilarious.
And I hope AJ is able to see past Trixie's past - I could so see a point where Twilight drags her into the bathroom and compares Trixie with the Alicorn Amulet to Luna and Rarity under the influence of Nightmare (assuming you're using comic canon), and asking if the only reason AJ's giving Trixie a hard time is because she isn't her friend, and how can she ever be one if she won't give her a chance - and make up.
And I hope Celestia and/or Luna give Blueblood some comeuppance regarding how he's treating Rarity. Seriously, there are - or should be - rules regarding how he treats someone doing community service, and if she draws a line he should get in trouble for crossing it so many times.
4307142
...we really should have.
Oh Spike, you are sooo doomed
Aww! Twilight is acting like a real wife would!
4307084 Yep. Because I know that I did.
'Cause that's what he gets for trying to come between RD and 'Shy.
"When I was real little she had astrology class. So, Twilight had a class learning about fortune telling? I don't think you mean what you write.
Astrology consists of several systems of divination[1] based on the premise that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world. Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the Indians, Chinese, and Mayans developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations
Not to be confused with Astronomy, the scientific study of celestial objects.
Astronomy is a natural science that is the study of celestial objects (such as moons, planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies), the physics, chemistry, and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth, including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic microwave background radiation. A related but distinct subject, cosmology, is concerned with studying the universe as a whole.[1]
By the way, no offense meant with my last post. I love your story!!!!!!
Sleepover?
Spike gets all the ladies
th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/092/7/1/spike_in_fez_by_crusierpl-d4upfj2.png
Ah, laser guided karma at its best.
Oops. Heh, being Spike is suffering.
Very well done and I wonder if others will tease the two that they are in a date or Trixie have something special plan for our unicorn.
At least you got it right two lines later
4307029 Thank you.
4307142 Yeah, I already got that on Skype from my editor... you're too late!
4307204 Writing Blueblood is hard. He needs to be just enough of a sleazeball that you'd get why Rarity hates him, but at the same time I'm trying to make him likable. Well, keep reading, you'll see what happens.
4307575, 4307683 Yes, that was a typo.
4307768
You aren't the only one to do that typo, and at least you knew the difference
Happens to the best of us
I am still absolutely loving your Blueblood and the CMC's interactions with DT and SP (hooray for initials!) are wonderful.
4307204
That's a bit more than comic canon, it's Word of God, too. Long before the comics started, Lauren Faust had answered a question on that subject saying that Luna's (weakness of character) had caused her to fall prey to a powerful spiritual entity known as The Nightmare, feeding off her negative emotions and teenage angst to turn her into a genocidal monster that would have frozen the world in Eternal Night had Celestia not chosen to make the sacrifice for the greater good.
I also like how Silver Spoon's characterized here. I always felt like she was more of a 'minion' than a bitch like Tiara. Like Tiara was her only friend, and she had to act like her to be accepted by her.
4308169
I was talking about Rarity falling victim to it as comic canon. That only happened in the comics, and she did do some pretty dreadful things.
good
Spike and the CMC continue to be adorable, Rarity and Blueblood continue to be far more enjoyable than one tends to expect of these belligerent sexual tension plots, RD and Fluttershy are adorable, it's always good to see Angel get comeuppance, and our main couple...
I don't have anything to say.
ObSpellcheck:
You probably meant "I'd".
"As close to" was probably a holdover from an earlier draft. I assume you meant "like" or "resembling", in context.
Nitpicks aside, watching Rarity get tsundere for Blueblood is very amusing! I look forward to future chapters. Thanks for writing this fic!
The Harem Aura is strong with Spike.
The interest the girls have for spike must be related to is....DRAGON BALLS!
you know...to make a wish....
4309218 Boo!
4308195
Oh I know. Just pointing out the Nightmare was actually intended to be fully-canon from the beginning. But our horrific censorship overlords for season one swatted the valiant Faust and told her no, it would scare the target audience. Etc. Reminds me to go see about reading the comics.
You know, I think I actually despise this Blueblood more than his canon version. At least there he has being a moron for an excuse. Here, he's an asshole knowingly and for the fun of it. I'd have broken all four of his legs by now. Christ, what a fucking waste of perfectly good oxygen.
Ahh, another fantastic chapter. As much as I hope that things between AJ and Trixie will be settled, I actually would like to see some good come of the time that Diamond and Silver are spending with the CMC and Spike more. Hopefully they'll realize that they can actually get along together, and at the very least be friendly if not actually friends.
If dt and ss aren't careful, they're gonna become friends with the cmc without noticing it
So, Angel gets his Karmic justice, the Spike Harem continues its story and Applejack learns that, whatever Trixie did under the Amulet's control, it's chicken-feed compared to what it's done through its hosts in times past. Which, perhaps, might show that Trixie has a core of good in her that isn't easily overcome. Okay, so she was mean to Snips and Snails but, given the trouble they caused her, I don't think anypony really thought that this was an injustice.
I just love the conversation between the Crusaders, the Snobby Duo and Spike. What's the bet that they'll end up as best friends and the whole 'filly crush' thing will be soon forgotten. Until they all grow up, of course; then all bets are off!
4309697
I dunno, trolling a known gold-digger seems pretty appropriate.
4307084 Yes. Yes you should
This still awesome
Yeah, no.
I've heard those arguments attempting to justify Trixie's actions before, and no.
For a start, even if we grant the premise that Trixie was less affected by the amulet for some reason (which seems a touch contrived, and I'd have thought the corruption would take more than a week to complete, but hey!) and ignoring some of the nastier things she did (forcing two children to drag a cart without wheels, no matter what they've done, is beyond the pail, and I doubt she was holding that whip for aesthetics)... even ignoring all that, she still actively sought out the amulet for the express purpose of "revenge" against Twilight, despite Twilight having done nothing wrong. And, frankly, I do not believe that she would be unaware of the corrupting influence of the amulet, given its one of the first things any book or info about it seems to say. So maybe most of the nastiness came for the amulet's corruption, but it was corruption that she allowed to happen, and for an already-corrupt reason.
And as for Snips and Snails being the ones responsible for the Ursa Major incident... perhaps, but a) at least they have stupidity as an excuse and b) that doesn't absolve Trixie of blame - the situation was still a direct result of her actions. Again, ignoring any other arguments against her (and, indeed, arguments for her), she presented herself as being able to protect people when she was not. It didn't have to be an Ursa - again ignoring just how monster-prone Ponyville is, it could have been a house fire, a flood, a bad storm... people would expect her to be able to help and she wouldn't be able to. It's like if I told everyone I had a nuclear bunker capable of holding my entire town, then admitting I was lying as the bombs dropped. Perhaps not to that extent (although...) but it's still wrong!
Now, though I am sure to get some arguments about this, I want to say a) that I am enjoying the story immensely so far and b) that I am not against Trixie's involvement in the story in this way.
Saying Twilight forgives Trixie? Fine!
Saying Trixie is trying to redeem herself? No problem!
Saying Trixie never did anything wrong in the first place? That is not only incorrect, but undermines said redemption.
Sorry, rant over.
4310617 Uh, I was never trying to say that Trixie was never in the wrong, just that she's not as bad as Applejack's making her out to be. Calm down.
4310650
Okay, fair enough!
I do apologize for the aggressive tone of my comment, it's just that I see so many such arguments trying to explain away Trixie's actions that it's kind of hard to tell at points. Still, shouldn't have been so... ranticular.
So... sorry!
4310707 Relax, I totally get it. In my first draft of Post Nuptials, just bringing up that Flim & Flam were conponies got these whole arguments about how they were legitimate businessponies and the Apples were idiots who cheated to screw them over. So I totally get hating that.
4310360
Known to who, exactly? Oh right, absolutely no one. Spare me the bullshit justifications please.
4311224
You mean besides going straight for the prince because of his status in society (prince), money (prince once again), and what could benefit her business (princely connections) and not really caring much about his personality up until she knew he was a complete tool?
I actually like Rarity, I just think the Gala was just her worst moment in the entire show due to it being very...anti-generous, and very out of character for her, and in this story he knows and called her out on it, if you had read through. So you might want to take a chill pill there.
4309873 its so down its go up again!
4308957 "Girls, there's an easy way to settle this. Everyone take a number ... "
*were
... I'd? We'd? Not sure what the first word should have been.
4312839
The time I remember her back in season one, where her greed caused issues with the Dragon.
Also from her 'dream sequence', has her talking mostly about his handsome looks, how upon marriage she would become a princess "Upon marrying him".
While not as Greed based as I had remembered, she still married him for his looks, so it's still rather superficial.
But yes you were right, I had looked back and saw nothing of greed based thoughts towards the gala (Cept maybe the princess thought) and so I retract that statement since it was incorrect.
Not overly surprised about this. Though the end result would be the same no matter who it was, I'd think that it'd take longer for some and shorter for others.
...well, apologies for the loss (not that we really NEED to apologize for such a mare), but that still doesn't excuse your bullying, young filly.
Just what you deserved, Angel. Now stop getting in the way of Shy's happiness.
Just what you deserved, too. Only this is gonna be far funnier.
I wonder who gets to be the mare in his hand, compared to the ones draped on the sides. Spike the Swag Dragon will awaken, then.
4307105 No. Just...no.
4307029
Obviously Scootaloo is the only right choice.
Nice going Spike (I say with about a 50/50 mix of sarcasm and seriousness).