Generations-Chapter 16
Generations-Chapter 16Sweetsong and Waterfire approached Dream Valley close to noon the following day. As she began to recognize her surroundings, her spirits lifted for she knew every step brought her closer and closer to home. Waterfire could see and feel her excitement, and although this wasn't his home, he started to feel energized as well and quickened his pace, anxious to get to Ponyville.
As they entered the town, Sweetsong smiled and waved to a few familiar faces and introduced Waterfire. Everyone was very welcoming to him, and he seemed much more open and talkative than normal. He felt completely comfortable and at ease in this new town with Sweetsong standing next to him. It surprised him that he wasn't nervous in the least with these strangers.
Sweetsong looked up at him and watched him tell her friends about The Enchanted Forest and their other stories. She felt so proud of him and this transformation, but it was more than that. She felt proud to be with him. Everyone was seeing her, Sweetsong, with an incredibly handsome, smart, and friendly stallion. News traveled fast that they were back in town, and Sweetsong reveled in being the center of attention...for the moment. After all, it had never happened to her before.
It took them several hours to make the twenty minute walk to her house because they kept getting stopped by someone new, and kept retelling the same stories. But neither pony minded. They were just as excited about the events of the past few months as the ponies hearing it for the first time.
When they finally reached her house, Sweetsong showed Waterfire around, and unpacked a few things. After relaxing a few minutes, she picked up the mail. She thumbed uninterestedly though the pile of bills and junkmail, when her eyes suddenly lit up.
"A letter from Wysteria!" She exclaimed as she tore open the envelope. Waterfire watched as her eyes moved left and right excitedly across the page. He smiled to himself: she was so cute with little things like that. He was embarrassed when she suddenly looked up from the letter and caught his eyes, but she didn't seem to notice his reflections.
"She and Bowtie are married, and they're traveling here for their honeymoon. It's a good thing we got back when we did; they'll be here in two days!"
"Oh, wonderful! I’d love to see both of them again."
Sweetsong’s eyes danced, "I have an idea. Let's throw them a wedding reception!"
Waterfire raised his brows doubtfully, "How are you going to organize a wedding reception in just two days?"
"We'll get the whole town involved. It'll be a reception, welcome home, and surprise party all in one! Trust me, I know how to spread the word! C’mon." Sweetsong turned heel and lead the way to Amberlocks' Salon.
Later that afternoon, Waterfire was taking a tour of the castle with Moondancer. Sweetsong was discussing business with Royal Ribbon. She wanted to use the castle as the location for the reception, and get the plans in place for it.
Waterfire was extremely impressed with the castle. He'd seen the grounds, the kitchens, the ballroom where the reception would take place, the dining room, the wine cellar, and about ten of the bedrooms. He stopped at ten because Moondancer informed him there were well over a hundred. The nice thing was that despite how large the castle was, everything seemed clean and fresh, not dusty and musty like you'd expect. All-in-all, he thought it was magnificent. There was nothing like this on Butterfly Island.
Moondancer walked him to the library, the last room for him to see. He was supposed to meet Sweetsong in here when she was done with Royal Ribbon. Waterfire thanked Moondancer for the tour and pushed the door open.
He was immediately impressed with the size and grandeur of the room. It took his breath away as he looked up at the seemingly endless number of books. As he collected himself, he noticed Sweetsong at one of the tables, surrounded by four or five books lying open. She had his back to him, and hadn't heard him come in.
He walked up quietly behind her, leaned in and cleared his throat loudly. Just as he expected, she jumped about a mile. He couldn’t help but laugh.
'Don’t do that!" She knocked him in the shoulder with her hoof. He kept laughing for a moment until he saw her turn back to the books with a serious face. She was obviously not in a joking mood, and he knew something was wrong.
"Royal Ribbon said no to the party?" he asked gently. He felt badly now for startling her.
"No, she thought it was a wonderful idea. As a matter of fact, she took charge and wanted to do most of the planning herself."
Waterfire paused before he spoke again, "So then, what's the matter?"
Sweetsong sighed and looked at him now. "I've been thinking about what's happened over the past few days, especially with Twilight and Barnacle and the dreams we had about them." Waterfire nodded uncomfortably. This is the first they had spoken about the dreams since that day. Sweetsong continued, "I found myself focusing on how Majesty reacted to the marriage, and great division among the classes at that time, so I decided to look it up. I found a law book dating back to that time." Sweetsong quoted the book, "'Shortly after her son's tragic death, Queen Majesty passed a law that forbade any ponies to travel to other towns, or intermingle among the classes.'"
Waterfire looked concerned, but wasn't entirely sure where Sweetsong was going with this. Sweetsong noticed his confusion, "Don't you understand? Majesty blamed Twilight for the death of Barnacle. And since Twilight, or her family at least, had traveled from the Snowy Mountains, Majesty outlawed travel altogether. And today, even though we're not held under those laws anymore, ponies are just so used to not traveling that they refuse to do so."
Now Waterfire understood. Despite all the friends they'd made on their adventures, no one was willing to take a chance and visit Dream Valley. The law was so old that nobody even remembered it existing, but it had become so ingrained in their daily lives that thought of traveling was impossible.
Sweetsong continued, "What really bothers me is not just the lack of traveling, but the theory behind it. It's obvious the law was put on the books out of revenge, but it wasn't Twilight's fault! It was Majesty's. If she had been loving and accepting of Barnacle's choice of wife, they never would have left town and none of it would have happened. But she was so hung up on classes and aristocracy and who was eligible, that she couldn't see past Twilight's 'position in life'. This law didn't solve anything: it just divided the ponies more, and it was that very division that Majesty objected to in the first place. So all she managed to do was make things worse." Sweetsong hung her head and spoke softly, "Barnacle and Twilight died tragically becuase of a lack of love and acceptance. What are our tragic consequences today if the world still lives that way and refuses to come together?" Waterfire gave her an encouraging hug, but said nothing. Even he didn’t know the answer to that one.
The following day, most of the town was at the castle helping to prepare for the party. Everyone pitched in and helped clean the whole castle top to bottom. Sweetsong had always thought the castle was very clean, but now with everyone's help, the place truly shined. Meadowbrook, who was known for her gardening skills, lead a team of ponies to plant flowers around the castle and tend the grounds. Golden Delicious and his wife planned out the feast, and asked help from anyone that knew how to cook. Frilly Frocks, who had an eye for decorating as well as fashion, oversaw the decorating of the ballroom for the big event.
Sweetsong was busily hanging streamers in the ballroom, her worries of yesterday not gone, but pushed to the back of her mind for the moment. She was not going to let them ruin the party, or Wysteria's big day. As she stood high up on the ladder, she heard a small voice from below her.
"Sweetsong?" She turned to see Sparkleworks standing at the foot of the ladder, with Daisy Jo and Serendipity behind her. "We wanted to know if we could help," she asked tentatively.
Sweetsong rolled her eyes and sighed, "And how are Rainbow Dash and Spring Parade involved?"
"Oh, we don’t hang around them anymore," Daisy Jo piped in. "They’re a couple losers." Sweetsong was shocked to hear this, especially from Daisy Jo, who used to worship the ground Rainbow Dash walked on.
Sparkleworks explained, "We felt really badly about the accident with you a couple months ago. They really crossed the line with that one, and none of us want to be a part of their schemes anymore. We wanted to try and make it up to you by helping out."
"We'll do whatever you need us to do!" Daisy Jo continued enthusiastically.
"Yeah," Serendipity added in true side-kick form. It was pathetic; no one ever accused her of having something important to say.
"Alright, well why don't you take over for me? I've got to run to the store and get some more supplies." Sweetsong climbed down the ladder, and watched the three get to work. She trotted over to Frilly Frocks to let her know of the change, and ask her to keep a strict eye on them.
"Oh, they won't be a problem. They've really turned a new corner and haven't done any pranks since that time with you." It made Sweetsong feel better to hear that from someone outside the trio. "In fact, even Rainbow Dash and Spring Parade haven't caused trouble for months. I don’t know if it's because they've matured any, or if they're just tired of it without the girls around to take the fall." Sweetsong nodded; it sounded like things were going much better in Ponyville.
Later, as she walked out of the store with bags of supplies, she noticed Waterfire in one of the side alleys talking to two other ponies. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be helping to build a new stage for the ballroom.
As she approached the group, she realized the other two ponies were none other than Rainbow Dash and Spring Parade. Immediately, her guard was up. The three of them were speaking in low voices, just above a whisper. She could hear them talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. Suddenly Rainbow Dash noticed her and cleared his voice loudly.
"Oh, hi Sweetsong!" He said loudly. Spring Parade and Waterfire turned to her with wide eyes. The three of them looked at each other carefully, and then back to her once more.
"Hey Sweetsong," Waterfire said cheerfully with a big smile. He trotted up to her and put his arm around her.
"What’s going on?" She asked suspiciously.
"I just met these two nice stallions here, and they wanted to help out with the party tomarrow." Rainbow Dash and Spring Parade nodded in agreement. "It seems that Spring Parade has an interest in music, so I told him he could DJ for us. And Rainbow Dash can help with the lighting since he’s so familiar with the catwalk."
'Yeah from all the pranks he's pulled up there,' she thought to herself. "That sounds great. Look forward to seeing you two there," she said aloud. "Waterfire, will you walk me back to the castle?"
"Sure," the two waved goodbye and trotted off in that direction.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Sweetsong dragged him over to the side of the street. "What is wrong with you?" She whispered between clenched teeth.
Waterfire shrugged. "What?" He asked innocently.
"Haven't you heard about them? Those are the two pranksters of the town. They're going to ruin everything!"
"I have heard about them, and from what everyone says, they've given up all those pranks." Waterfire tried to pacify her, but she just continued to shake her head. "Sweetsong, we do need someone to help out with lights and music, and they asked to be involved. Besides, everyone else in the town is in on this party. If we isolate them, it'll just make them desperate. Remember what you said last night about love and acceptance..."
"Hmph!" Sweetsong turned her head away from him. She couldn't believe he was going to use that against her now. It made her even angrier that she knew he was right. "Fine," she said reluctantly. "But if they screw up, I'm holding you responsible." She poked him in the chest with her hoof.
He just laughed, "They're not going to screw up or pull a prank or anything. Everything's going to be great, and Wysteria and Bowtie will have a wonderful reception. Now let's get back there and finish setting up."
She smiled and turned toward the castle with him. But as they walked, something still just didn’t feel right about the whole situation.