Romance and the Fate of Equestria

I've started up a little Equestria Girls fic called "The Vice Principal in the Moon", if you're interested in that. That story, unlike this one, will probably end someday, so that might make it easier on you. But if you're already investing enough of your time in this, I won't be offended if you don't bother. It's just a little side project.

Chapter Fifty-One

Gilda absently counted coins on the counter of the place that had once been the Golden Thread store. The merchandise and all the shelves were completely gone, leaving only an assortment of gaudy wall decorations and a layer of dust that had accumulated with remarkable haste.

The feathers on the back of Gilda's neck stood on end at the sudden appearance of an enormous presence looming over her. Gilda swallowed and looked up in fear at an individual she had never seen before, but had dreaded meeting for a long time.

"Gilda, is it?" Princess Celestia said. "I don't think I've had the pleasure."

"Um… no, ma'am," Gilda said, trying to shrink down into the floor. "Can't say we've met."

Behind Celestia, the six pony friends filed one by one into the empty store and started spreading out, each choosing a different spot to sit down, lean, or simply stand.

"I hope you appreciate what good friends you have," Celestia said to Gilda.

"Oh, I do," Gilda said. "I most definitely do."

"Good. Because I truly wanted to know this secret of Golden Thread that you hold so dear, but I successfully managed to learn… nothing. For all the pains the association with your business may have caused them, they've retained their loyalty."

"And… you're cool with that?" Gilda said with disbelief.

"They're my most trusted subjects," Celestia said. "If they can't tell me, I don't need to know. That much, I can trust. But know that they're doing all of that for you. It's almost as if their loyalty to you outstrips the devotion they have for me…" She turned to the ponies. "Is that it, girls? Do you like Gilda more than you like me?"

Twilight stammered, and the others flinched and averted their gaze in fear.

Celestia laughed powerfully. "Ah, can you believe it, Gilda? I've been hanging out with them for three years now and they're still afraid of me. Can you imagine?"

"Oh, no way, who'd be scared of you?" Gilda muttered, still reeling with her own terror at seeing the princess in her shop.

"So, Gilda, in the interest of the financial well-being of your six business partners, what will become of your shop?" Celestia asked.

"I'm not quite sure yet," Gilda admitted quietly. "Though it just happens that Bangs, your apprentice over there, she's been teaching me how to bake these awesome pretzels. You want one?" She popped open the pretzel machine on the counter with a ding, revealing four of them freshly-baked.

Celestia licked her lips. "Oh, I'd like that very much."

Gilda wrapped one in paper and presented it to the princess. Celestia's magic aura wrapped around it, but Gilda gripped it tightly in her talon. "That'll be six bits," she said casually.

Twilight gasped. "Gilda!" she cried out.

"What?" Gilda said, amused. "She's the princess, you think she doesn't have six bits on her?"

"I do indeed," Celestia said, producing that amount and floating it to Gilda's waiting claw. Gilda bowed and gave her the pretzel.

"Bet you don't have to pay for things very often, do ya?" Gilda said contemptuously. "Makes no sense, rich folks getting free stuff. It's backwards. I find it morally disgusting."

"Gilda…" Twilight urged.

"Oh, I agree whole-heartedly," Celestia said. "I'm not fond of that paradigm, myself."

"I had a hunch you'd feel that way," Gilda said, nodding. "It's true what they say; you're all right."

Celestia chewed on her pretzel very slowly, savoring it. "Mmm… this was your idea, then, Twilight? A masterstroke, my sweet. I haven't enjoyed one of these since you moved out of the castle."

Twilight smiled, but it vanished quickly. "Princess… if I may ask… what's the reason for all of the pet names you've been giving me lately?"

Celestia tilted her head in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"It's just something you've been doing recently," Twilight said. "For the past few months, when you speak to me, you always call me your 'darling' or 'dearest' or 'beloved' or something along those lines. Why is that?"

"Oh," Celestia said. "Well, I suppose, it's become apparent to me lately that there's never been a pony I cared about as much as you, who so captured my heart and my spirit. There's never been another pony as special as you, Twilight, and there never will be. I needed some means of expressing how I feel for you, my child, and I chose the straightforward method. I hope you don't object."

Twilight didn't answer, only gave a slow, small smile.

Gilda came up alongside Rainbow Dash, who was leaning against the wall with her nose in a Daring Do book.

"I didn't know you were into Daring," Gilda said.

"Oh, it's my favorite series," Rainbow said. "Got me into reading in the first place… you familiar with her?"

"Oh yeah, big fan," Gilda said. "Which story is that?"

"This would be book five," Rainbow said seriously, frowning at the page. "I'm not too far into the story yet… who's this dude Cultiste, and why does he think he can take over Daring's crew and get them to follow his mission?"

"Oh yeah, Cultiste," Gilda said dreamily. "Awesome dude. Daring ends up marrying him, actually."

Her face and posture not changing at all, Rainbow threw the book against the opposite wall. The little conversation that was going on in the room went silent as all eyes turned to the book, then to Rainbow.

"Did… not… know that," she said through gritted teeth.

Gilda flinched. "Sorry," she said quietly, edging away.

Celestia gazed with interest upon the now skulking Rainbow Dash for a few moments more, before addressing the room at large. "So, are you girls excited for the arrival of the Bazaar?"

"Oh, extremely so!" Twilight said eagerly. "I've made a big plan. The six of us wait in the countryside west of Canterlot where it's supposed to pass, right? We get on there, and ride it past Ponyville and to the west until it nears the border. Then we get off in the vicinity of Applewood or Las Pegasus, and catch a train back home. About a two-week trip overall. What would you girls say to that?"

"I'd say, spoken like a pony who's never had a real job," Rainbow said dryly. "Not all of us can just skip town for two weeks whenever we want."

"I have a real job," Twilight said, offended. "I run the library."

"Yeah, and when you're away, your owl does it for you," Rainbow countered. "What does that tell you?"

Twilight scoffed. "If you're implying my job is so easy an owl could do it… that is so beyond not true. He's a very smart owl."

"Well, Rainbow Dash is right, that is a major flaw in your plan," Rarity said. "But perhaps when each work day is over, you could use that 'epic teleport' spell to take us there and back?"

"No!" Twilight said frantically. "No more epic teleport! That is a highly dangerous spell. I'm never doing it again unless it's an emergency of at least as much magnitude as the first time I used it."

"Does a retail emergency count?" Rarity said hopefully.

"No, Rarity. I need intimate familiarity with where I'm going, and even then, so much could go wrong. It's actually highly disturbing how much could go wrong. Plus, I kind of think that the spell triggered the depression that we're all going through."

Rarity smirked grimly. "Twilight, dear, I think we're all depressed because we all have reasons to be depressed…"

"Obviously," Twilight said. "But the spell, I think it, um… aggravated the, um, symptoms… of… of our brain chemistry…? It's really hard to explain, but trust me, I'm not just guessing here. I have reasons to suspect the epic teleport of being behind our depression."

"All right, well, I'm sure we'll work out a way to get the full Bazaar experience," Rarity said.

"I'm looking forward to it myself," Gilda interjected. "I think I'll go up there and sell everything that remains of Golden Thread."

"No you won't," Fluttershy said, in a lazy tone that almost gave the impression that she wasn't listening.

"No I won't," Gilda agreed instantly. She was silent for a moment, then said, "Um… just out of curiosity, why won't I?"

"Gilda, it's already gotten into the hooves of one band of international criminals," Fluttershy said calmly. "And that was just from selling it in Ponyville. And you want to sell it at the Bazaar? That's just asking for the creation of more overpowered villains like them, with even more ability to cause trouble all throughout the world. Please don't do something so foolish."

Gilda sighed. "All right… but then what do I do with the rest of the Thread if we're not selling it anymore? It's just taking up space."

"Keep it in storage," Fluttershy said. "There may come a time that we, the company, will find a true and noble purpose for it."

"Hmm… that actually sounds pretty solid," Gilda said thoughtfully. "Okay."

Celestia was looking at Fluttershy in mild surprise.

"What, did you think I was in charge?" Gilda said, smirking. "No way. I keep things running, sure, but Peeper here calls the shots."

"So I see," Celestia said, grinning. "Well, good for you, 'Peeper'. You should be proud of yourself. You've proven yourself capable of many things."

Fluttershy giggled.

"In all seriousness," Celestia said quietly, "Twilight wrote to me about the tragic end of your relationship. I confess I shed a few tears that night, even as I did for Twilight's loss. My heart bleeds with yours, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy nodded, her eyes closed. "Thank you, Princess."

Celestia sighed. "Traditionally, when the Bazaar comes by, I join their leaders for a banquet," she said. "I hope, at this point, that you six's invitation to the event goes without saying? It would honor me to see you there."

"Is something the matter, Princess?" Twilight asked, noting her downcast expression.

"Oh, I'm not at all looking forward to spending hours at a banquet when there's an earth-shattering storm right around the corner and I need to interpret what it means before it strikes," Celestia muttered.

"A storm?" Twilight whispered. "You said something about that before… but then… wait a minute!" she exclaimed, suddenly frantic. She ran right up to the princess and gazed up at her in shock. "Vorpal Blade stealing the crown jewels—that wasn't the storm? After it happened, I assumed that's what you'd been trying to foretell."

"Oh, heavens no," Celestia said. "That crime and all its accompanying actions may have meant a lot to you and to me… but in the grand scheme of things? He's just a pony who steals things. Not enough to cause the imbalance I'm anticipating, no matter how heavy the deed.

"However…" Celestia said slowly. "I did sense that the theft of the crown jewels actually did manage to tip the scales ever so slightly. That it even merits the tiniest mark on the fabric of the world suggests to me that Vorpal Blade and his cronies are very, very closely attached to the catalyst of the storm. That they were, if you will, the pre-storm."

Twilight shuddered.

"And I would love to explain what I'm talking about," Celestia said through a shudder of her own, "but I myself don't know any plainer than a few vague predictions of disastrous conflict. All I know is that the wind and the earth seem like they're shifting the wrong way, and that my blood… agh, my blood feels sticky and slow like syrup… it's been getting worse as weeks go by. I know it's trying to tell me something, I just don't know what it means."

Twilight bowed down, her horn inadvertently brushing against the princess' hooves. "Well, whatever you discover, be sure to inform us of the part we can play in averting this storm," she said. "I have your back, Princess."

Celestia motioned for Twilight to rise. When she did so, the princess pulled her student into an all-encompassing hug, wrapping first her long front legs then her massive wings around Twilight.

"I know you do, my love," she whispered. "It's why my dreams are peaceful every night."