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Rainbow Unicorn: The Ticket Matter

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Chapter 11: Daisies and Donuts

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Hold still, Flowershy told herself. Just hold still a little longer. It's almost there. Almost. She continued to watch the cute little jackalope that was moving toward her.

Admittedly, her time in the garden had not quite gone as she had imagined. The flowers were pretty, and the few fruit bearing plants she could find were tasty, but the animals were a bit more skittish than she had been expecting. Seeing as this was a garden right next to the castle, Flowershy had thought that most of them would be used to ponies visiting them most of the time. Instead, everything she met since Mister Snake left had pretty much run away from her the moment they saw her.

It was quite a surprise to have any animal run away from her, let alone so many. Her first instinct had been to start chasing after them. It took an effort to stop, reminding herself that doing so would only make matters worse. If she chased them, that would just scare them more.

So she was trying the patient method, and it was quite honestly driving her insane. She knew it was the best method to deal with skittish animals -- it was the best way to deal with her too if she thought about it -- but she did not want to simply stand still and wait. She wanted to hug, cuddle, and pet each and every one of the cute little creatures.

Now, one of them was finally approaching. Flowershy had to clench her jaw to keep from squealing out in excitement. One of her legs was shaking with excitement. She had to keep waiting. If she moved to fast to soon, it would just run off again. Just a little closer, then she would be able to reach out and--

A twig snapped, causing the jackalope to bolt away.

"No!" Flowershy shouted after it. "Come back."

Alas, it did no good. It was gone, vanishing into the bushes with a flash of its fluffy white tail. Ears pinned back and teeth bared, she turned to glare in the direction of the original twig snap that had scared the creature away.

An old mule was walking by, dressed in overalls and a tattered edged straw hat. He was walking past, humming to himself contentedly as he went. It seemed to Flowershy that he was completely oblivious to her being there, or that he had just ruined her petting a jackalope when it was so close.

A pang of guilt shot through her chest. It was wrong of her to get mad at at the groundskeeper. He had no way of knowing that she was trying to get the animals closer, or that he was going to scare one of them away. More than likely, he was probably not even aware that she was here. It was his job to take care of this place and make certain it looked proper. He was probably here all the time.

Which would mean that he would probably have a good idea on how to help her get the animals calm and adjusted enough for her to meet them properly.

"Uhm, excuse me, sir?" she called out, getting the mule's attention. "I was wondering if you could help me, if you're not too busy."

"Sure thing," the mule said as he turned to the yellow earth pony mare. "What can I do for you, miss?"

*****

"Booorrrriiiing," Pinkie Pie groaned out before slamming her head against the table. "I can't take it anymore." She popped her head up, turning to look at the others with wide, pleading eyes. "If I don't get to do something fun soon, I'm going to explode."

"Now keep it together, sugar cube," Applejack said gently, wrapping a wing around Pinkie Pie. "I'm sure that things will be picking up any moment now." She then turned to face Rainbow Burst.

"Please tell me that you do have something coming up soon to entertain her," Applejack pleaded. "I really don't want to have to deal with another Pinkie Pie explosion."

"Well I-- wait." Rainbow turned and looked at the two, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Does she like actually explode if she gets to bored or something?"

Applejack shifted, pulling away from Pinkie Pie some. A grimace passed her face as she took off her hat and rubbed the back of her head. One ear flickered as her eyes looked away, turning slightly glassy. With a sigh, she looked back toward Rainbow Burst.

"I'm sure it's something you've seen a time or two with other unicorns. Where they have a magical surge and just let it out without meaning to."

"Yeah," Rainbow Burst replied, "when we're young and learning how to control it. Normally by the time most are out of elementary school, they have it under control."

"And most of the time, Pinkie does too," Applejack stated. "It's just that... well... She's a bit of a hyper mare as you may have noticed. So she tends to have a hard time staying still for very long, especially when there's nothing to keep her attention. When she's bored and doesn't do anything for too long--"

"I can't take it anymore!" Pinkie Pie shouted. There was a bright flash of pink magic filling the room. There was also the sound of a balloon popping followed by a noisemaker being blown. As the magic faded, the room was covered in streamers, confetti and glitter.

"As you can see," Applejack said calmly as she shook the aftermath of the explosion from her mane, "it don't do no harm to anypony. It just kinda creates a big ol' mess to clean up."

"That was kind of awesome," Rainbow Burst stated. Her eyes were wide as she looked around, studying the result of Pinkie's magical explosion. She could see Twilight laughing at her brother, who was flapping the streamers from his wings. Meanwhile, Rarity was gently picking pieces of confetti off of Princess Luna, who seemed fascinated by the streamer that had wrapped itself around her horn. it was kind of interesting that neither of the mares from Ponyville seemed the least bit surprised by the sudden party supply explosion.

"You feeling better now?" Applejack asked, turning to Pinkie Pie again.

"A little," Pinkie answered as she sat back up. "But I'm still bored. There has to be something for us to do."

"Tell you what," Rainbow said as she got up. "You go and tell the band to play whatever song you want, provided they know it. I'm going to see if I can find Spike and what's taking him so long with that surprise."

"Woohoo!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced off toward the stage. She grinned as she headed toward it, jumping right up onto the stage.

Before Rainbow Burst had reached the door, the tune the band had been playing had changed. Instead of some classical ensemble piece, they were playing The Pony Poky. That caused her to chuckle. It also made her want to stay, if only to see how Princess Luna would react to such a song and dance number.

Instead, she continued to make her way through the castle halls, working her way first toward their rooms, then toward the entrance if necessary. Hopefully she would not have to go that far. Even if he took his time, Spike should be on his way back already. If she was lucky, she would find him in no time. If not, she would have to go look for him.

Maybe she should have tried to create that dragon tracking spell that Spike used to joke about.

"Rainbow," a voice said, causing Rainbow Burst to stop. "We were just coming to see you."

Walking toward her was Princess Celestia, with Spike by her side. The princess' horn glowed with magic, as she held a donut in it near her mouth.

"I was actually coming to look for Spike," Rainbow said. "The others are bored and ready for their surprise."

"Okay," Spike said as he started walking. "I'll get these to them right away."

"Wait," Rainbow called out, causing him stop right where he was. Using her magic, she grabbed two of the donuts from the box. "Okay go ahead. Oh, wait one more second."

She turned to Celestia and asked, "Has Princess Luna had any of these yet?"

"Not that I am aware of," Princess Celestia replied, taking another bite of her own.

"Well, make sure that she gets one before the others," Rainbow told Spike. "Make sure you watch her closely too. I want to know how she reacts when she tries one of these babies for the first time."

"I'll see what I can do," Spike responded as he continued his way down the hallway.

After he was gone, Rainbow Burst turned back to Princess Celestia.

"Are you coming to join us too?"

"As much as I would love to," Princess Celestia said with a smile, "I'm afraid I must decline. There are still many matters for me to attend to, including preparations for a visit from my niece."

Rainbow Burst took a bite of her donut, but said nothing. She was aware of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess Celestia's niece. The two of them had even met a little, even made some small talk, but never really got to know each other. Princess Cadenza seemed alright. Definitely not as snobby as Prince Blueblood. At the time, Rainbow found her a little too "girly" for her liking.

"I was just stopping by to see how things were going," Princess Celestia stated, "and to give you these."

Pulling out six golden tickets with her magic, she held them out toward Rainbow Burst.

"The two tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala you returned," Princess Celestia announced. "Plus, four additional ones so that all five of your friends will be able to go." She held the tickets out toward Rainbow. "I already gave Spike his. I know he wouldn't want to be left out, even if he denies wanting to go."

Blinking in surprise, Rainbow Burst took a hold of the tickets in her magic as she felt Celestia's let them go. Pulling them closer, she stared at them. Six tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala. One for her and each of her friends.

"You mean you had these tickets waiting?"

"That is correct," Celestia said, giving a nod. She took another bite of her donut.

"By the moon!" a booming voice echoed through the hall. "These 'dough nuts' are the most amazing things I have eaten since my return! We desire more!"

"It seems that my sister enjoyed the donut very much," Princess Celestia stated with a grin.

"If you had these for me, why didn't you simply send them to me in the first place?" Rainbow asked.

"Several reasons," Princess Celestia answered. "One of which is that I recall a certain young unicorn filly who always got annoyed when I made assumptions about what she wanted, even if it turned out that said assumptions were correct."

"...Right..." Rainbow's ears pulled back as she flushed slightly. It was true. Several times Princess Celestia had basically decided something for Rainbow Burst without talking to her about it, even if it was what she had wanted. At least once, Rainbow had denied something out of sheer spite. Celestia had found it rather amusing, but it had at made the point clear that Rainbow wanted to be involved in certain choices when it came to her own life. Even if it was about decor, food, or clothing.

"Admittedly, I was also curious if you would ask," Celestia added. "Or if you had plans to go with a specific pony." She smirked. "Perhaps a certain stallion or mare that caught your eye romantically." One of her eyebrows raised up as she studied her student, whose face was turner redder.

"I just moved out there," Rainbow blurted out. "I barely know the ponies in there that I'm now friends with. I really haven't had time to get interested in any ponies like that."

"Really?" Celestia asked. "Because I believe that one of your friends has an older brother who I am told is quite striking."

"If you think that, why don't you date him?" Rainbow asked before she even realized that she had opened her mouth.

Princess Celestia pulled back, eyes going wide in surprise. She stared at Rainbow a moment. Her eyes narrowed and lips pursed. Reaching up a hoof, she tapped it against her chin and let out a small hum.

"Perhaps I shall," she responded. "It has been quite a while since I have had the company of a royal consort. Plus, it would be quite amusing to see the nobility's reaction to their princess dating a farmer."

Rainbow's jaw fell open as she stared at Celestia, eyes wide. The image of Princess Celestia out on a date with Big Macintosh now filled her mind's eye.

"It's weird imagining you dating anypony," Rainbow admitted.

"Yes," Celestia said with a sigh. "An unfortunate consequence of my position and image. A great many ponies see me as something above such desires and intimacy and companionship." She reached out a wing and pulled Rainbow Burst into a hug. "That is why I enjoy that you are so willing to speak your mind to and about me when I am around. It helps me keep a little more humble."

With a smile, Rainbow reached out and hugged the princess back.

Next Chapter: Morning Troubles Estimated time remaining: 10 Minutes
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