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Clarity Bell needs to see the Princess as soon as possible.
Usually she'd put comparatively little stock in millennium-old legends, but this is a primary source, and the authors made some correct predictions on other matters, and the translator is good, and she double-checked to make sure the page numbers matched up so no one has been pranking her with inserted extra leaves. And the prediction is fairly dire.
And it's rather short notice.
Clarity tucks the book into a saddlebag and trots up to the main section of the palace. She can usually get an audience fairly quickly; Celestia has taken a particular interest in her since her admission to the School for Gifted Unicorns. This day is no exception. In fact, the guards usher her in even quicker than she'd usually expect.
"Princess, I have something urgent to tell you," Clarity says, mid-bow.
"Oh? What is it, Clarity?" inquires Celestia.
"I've found a prediction stating that on the longest day of the thousandth year -"
"Clarity," sighs Celestia.
Clarity grits her teeth; she's never told Celestia not to interrupt her. You can't tell the princess that. "Yes, Princess?"
"I have the utmost respect for your diligence at your studies, but you've got to take your nose out of those dusty old books now and again," says Celestia with a warm half-chuckle. "There's more to a young pony's life than studying. You're in the prime of your life, you're coming up on the end of what you can learn from school -"
Clarity stands up on all fours, no longer bowing, jaw slightly open.
"And," continues the Princess, "you need to make some friends. I worry about you all alone, you know. Weren't you invited to that party - who was it, Moondancer?"
"Yes, I was invited, but I barely know her," says Clarity.
"Perhaps the ponies around Canterlot just aren't clicking with you. You know what," says Celestia, as though seized with sudden inspiration. "I'm going to give you a job to do."
"...a job, Princess? But what about the longest day of the thousandth -"
"Clarity," says Celestia again, and Clarity shuts her mouth. "Don't you worry about it. I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. It's being held in Ponyville this year. I'll arrange a carriage for you. Pack your things, you leave in two hours."
"I..." Clarity can't really gainsay her. "Yes, Princess."
Celestia smiles.
Clarity bows again, and leaves, and packs.
-
She's in the air, drawn with her luggage in her carriage by someone in good condition for a long-distance flight - they're still working on that train line.
She steps onto the main street of Ponyville, laden with all her possessions in her saddlebags, and levitates her to-do list in front of her nose.
"Okay," she sighs to herself, peering at the first item. Clarity is pretty sure Celestia has read every book in the palace library at least once; probably she investigated the danger well in advance and dismissed it. (But Clarity will be staying in a library while she's in Ponyville, so she'll have a chance to double-check and find corroborations once she checks out the Summer Sun Celebration preparations.)
"First," Clarity mutters, "banquet preparations. Cheery Cherry Orchard."
allcomplete
joyfulnoise
A dragon - a small dragon, just shy of pony-sized, only taller because he stands on two feet - ambles past a vegetable stall into view, and spots Clarity, and double-takes.
"Whoa, a new pony!" he exclaims. His look of startlement transforms into a grin; he presumably can't help the moderate amount of fang involved. "Hi, new pony! What's your name? Where you from? What're you doing here? I'm Joy. I know everypony!"
"Whoa, a new pony!" he exclaims. His look of startlement transforms into a grin; he presumably can't help the moderate amount of fang involved. "Hi, new pony! What's your name? Where you from? What're you doing here? I'm Joy. I know everypony!"
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"...My name is Clarity Bell. The Princess sent me here to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration." She rolls up the to-do list and tucks it into her saddlebag; it doesn't exactly have a map.
joyfulnoise
"It's nice to meet you!" he says earnestly. "I'm helping Guiding Star with the decorations. Well, I was, I'm on lunch break. Spare me a ruby? I'm kidding, I can find 'em myself. Who-all are you supposed to talk to, do you know? I could introduce you!"
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"...Er. The first thing on my list is finding Cheery Cherry Orchard to see how the food is coming along."
joyfulnoise
"Oh, sure, I know where that is!" says the (apparently very excitable) dragon. "Lemme show you! Crash and Cordy are great, I bet you'll get along. It's really easy to get along with Cherry Cordial."
joyfulnoise
"This way!" He commences leading her down the street, towards the edge of town. "It's not far. And they have the best cherry pie in all of Equestria. So you're from Canterlot? Me too! Well, I grew up there, anyway. I live here now." He gestures around at the buildings of Ponyville. "I like it here, but sometimes I miss seeing new ponies every day. So I'm sorry if I'm coming on a little strong here. If you want me to slow down the constant yammering, just say."
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"I'm from Canterlot, yes. I don't mind you talking, but I'm not sure why my presence is so exciting just because I haven't been here before."
joyfulnoise
"Well, you're new," he explains. "So I don't know you. So you're interesting! I like not knowing things, it means I get to find them out."
joyfulnoise
"So? Maybe I won't find out a lot, and maybe it won't be that useful after you go back, but neither of those is the point. I'm very journey-over-destination that way."
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"Okay," says, Clarity. "Up to you. I don't know what you want to know, though."
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"Well, I'm her student, and she seemed to think I needed a job to break up my routine or something, and this was one she had going spare."
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"Magic, principally, although occasionally she suggests other things for me to study, anything from geography to history to astronomy."
joyfulnoise
He giggles. "You know, it's funny, but not everypony manages to figure that one out. What's something fun you've learned?"
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"I can teleport! There's a range limit and I have to see or know details about where I'm going, or I'd have gotten all the way to the orchard myself without the carriage, but I can do it under the right conditions and I'm working on those constraints."
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"There's also a little problem with momentum - it's more complicated to cast the spell if I'm moving and I can't land with momentum attached to me at all. Obviously Celestia can teleport any way she likes, but it's a worthwhile exercise to figure out the details myself as long as I don't need to do particularly sophisticated teleporting for some kind of emergency."
joyfulnoise
He smiles.
"Orchard's just down the road!" he says, pointing - there are indeed cherry trees coming into view around the next bend.
"Orchard's just down the road!" he says, pointing - there are indeed cherry trees coming into view around the next bend.