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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
ipso-amore
"One's the family business; the other's my talent," she explains. "I can communicate with anyone and anything. So it just makes sense that I should be the one to count them all."
ipso-amore
"Statistics. Records. If there's a hundred new bunnies born every year for three years and then one year it's only fifty, that probably means something's affecting the bunnies, and it might be a good idea to find out what. Things like that."
ipso-amore
"Bunny depletion can be a big problem!" agrees Cordy. "Here we go."
Just outside the farmhouse, a neatly arranged grid of trestle tables stand covered in neatly arranged food. Clarity might be relieved to note that not all of it appears cherry-based. The table nearest to the house has a clipboard hanging on a short string from one end; Cordy gestures at it with a hoof. It has a chart of all the available kinds of food, with projected and actual quantities recorded; there are three fewer cherry tartlets than the goal of 50, but all other discrepancies are positive. Only two rows at the bottom remain unfilled: cherry chocolate truffles (goal amount: 80), and chocolate chip muffins (goal amount: 60).
Just outside the farmhouse, a neatly arranged grid of trestle tables stand covered in neatly arranged food. Clarity might be relieved to note that not all of it appears cherry-based. The table nearest to the house has a clipboard hanging on a short string from one end; Cordy gestures at it with a hoof. It has a chart of all the available kinds of food, with projected and actual quantities recorded; there are three fewer cherry tartlets than the goal of 50, but all other discrepancies are positive. Only two rows at the bottom remain unfilled: cherry chocolate truffles (goal amount: 80), and chocolate chip muffins (goal amount: 60).
allcomplete
Clarity peers at the checklist. "The muffins and truffles will be finished by the time the celebration starts, yes?" Spinach salad, daisy sandwiches, watercress fritters, biscuits, looks good. Drat, now she's hungry.
ipso-amore
"Yep. The last batch of muffins is in, and my aunt is working on the truffles. I was just getting Seb's report on how Streak and the birds are doing with their rehearsals, by the way, and everything seems to be coming along fine there."
ipso-amore
"In a sense! Silver Streak helped with the cooking earlier, and I introduced her to the choir and got everybody started."
allcomplete
"I'm glad to hear they're doing well, though I'll still want to look in on them personally. Is it all right if I sample one of the extra cherry danishes?"
allcomplete
Clarity levitates a cherry danish and bites it.
"Well, this is excellent. If everything else is to the same standard of quality then you've more than met expectations on this."
"Well, this is excellent. If everything else is to the same standard of quality then you've more than met expectations on this."
ipso-amore
"I know where to find the best cooks," says Cordy. "Did that list come with a map, or would you like directions to the rehearsal?"
ipso-amore
Cordy nods. "If you head back to the road and turn left, away from Ponyville, then keep on going down the main road until you see a side road on your right opposite a pond on your left, rehearsals should be a little ways down that side road. I can get that written down for you if you prefer."
allcomplete
"I've got it," says Clarity, who always has a pencil and a notebook on her. "Back to the road, left, side road on the right opposite a pond. Thank you very much. Can I have a spare carrot slaw to go?"
allcomplete
And so Clarity waves and floats a carrot slaw in its little bell pepper bowl from its friends and trots off back to the road, where she turns left, turns right, and proceeds onward from there. While munching both slaw and bowl.
clearthestorm
As she turns onto the indicated side road, the sound of music becomes faintly audible. A little ways along, it is less faint - birds singing, to the accompaniment of an expertly played violin.
The rehearsals are taking place at a stately old tree just past a low hill; the birds perch in the branches, while a grey pegasus with a bi-coloured silver mane sits beneath the tree and plays her violin. This must be Silver Streak. She's very good.
The rehearsals are taking place at a stately old tree just past a low hill; the birds perch in the branches, while a grey pegasus with a bi-coloured silver mane sits beneath the tree and plays her violin. This must be Silver Streak. She's very good.
allcomplete
Rather than interrupt the music, Clarity waits nearby to listen to the song. It's very pretty and the mood is appropriate for the celebration. (Her slaw is gone now, so there are no impolite munching noises.)
clearthestorm
The song concludes. The pegasus sets down her violin and turns to Clarity.
"Good afternoon," she says.
"Good afternoon," she says.
allcomplete
"Hello. I'm Clarity Bell, and the Princess sent me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. It sounds like you have everything handled, music-wise?"
clearthestorm
"Entirely," she agrees. "It seems you have inspected the food already; what remains on your itinerary?"
allcomplete
Clarity looks down at her front to see if there are crumbs or bits of dressing in her fur, but sees nothing. "Uh? ...Next I'm planning to look in on the decorations, to give whoever's clearing the sky extra time to get it done before I'm breathing down their mane." She peers up at the sky; it's not exactly crowded with clouds, but it doesn't look cleared.