Aurora finished writing the letters to the various parties and sent them out, using Spike for some and the postal service for others.
The fastest reply came from Princess Celestia, as she used the Spike channel, which basically allowed for real-time online communication.
Unfortunately, Spike was still too young and could only remember one delivery address: Canterlot Castle. Otherwise, Aurora would have loved to have him burn the letters for Aster and Iris along with the others.
In her letter, Celestia praised Aurora's creative idea regarding the magic fitting mirror and expressed strong support for their proposal to collaborate on creating magic items. She also didn't forget to mention that if they encountered any technical difficulties, they could ask her for help at any time.
She also took the opportunity to remind them not to forget to pay their taxes.
Of course, as law-abiding ponies, how could they possibly forget their most basic obligations as citizens?
Reasonable tax avoidance is a separate matter.
The reply from Iris also came quickly. After all, they lived in the same city, and Iris had invested a lot of attention in this project; she replied almost immediately after receiving the letter.
She agreed to Aurora's suggestion to meet for a detailed discussion and politely left it to Aurora to decide the time and place.
Since she had to wait for Aster to borrow a pony to help with the business, Aurora planned to wait for her father's reply before giving Iris an answer.
Because Aster had returned to work in Manhattan after Hearths Warming Eve, even an express letter would take several days to travel back and forth. Therefore, Aurora was not in a hurry to finish these trivial matters immediately, but instead focused on doing a good job on their project.
However, several days passed, and Aurora still hadn't received a reply from her father.
But she did wait for her father to arrive in person.
"Does Mom know you skipped work and snuck back here?"
"Don't tell your mother, I beg you."
"...You're the boss, you call the shots."
In short, this wasn't exactly a common occurrence between parent and child.
Aurora never expected to see a real-life version of "Meeting cancelled, I'm going to pick them up."
And the one being "picked up" was herself; the reason behind this warmed her heart.
The only one who probably felt a chill in her heart was poor Miss Iris.
However, with her father by her side, Aurora didn't need to worry about business matters. She only needed to drink coffee on the side to pass the time and occasionally lighten the mood, as Aster's work persona was far too oppressive.
Fortunately, Iris was an honest pony to begin with. Aster didn't make things difficult for her, and after going through the normal procedures and finalizing the subsequent cooperation plan, Aurora and Iris signed the documents, and they adjourned the meeting on relatively friendly terms.
Along with Aster, an Earth Pony craftsman had come from Manhattan to Canterlot; he had been hired to custom-make glasses for Aurora.
It was because finding a skilled non-Unicorn craftsman in Canterlot was too difficult that Aurora hadn't asked her mother for help, but instead looked further afield to her father in Manhattan.
Because he was afraid that staying in Canterlot for too long would expose him, Aster hurried back to Manhattan after helping his daughter handle the troublesome matters.
However, this was Canterlot, where nobles gathered, and the flow of gossip here was no less efficient than the local village rumor mill. Aster didn't actually think Meteora knew nothing about it, did he?
Don't underestimate her intelligence network!
But then again, these were just things between a married couple; what did it have to do with Aurora?
A kid should act like a kid, so she chose to sell Aster out to avoid being caught in the crossfire when things came to light later.
'Goodbye, Father, and my cowardice.'
The "little cotton-padded jacket" that wasn't very considerate to begin with had ultimately become the signal axe that overwhelmed her father.
With the troublesome matters resolved, Aurora devoted the rest of her time to the magic fitting mirror project.
The daily coursework at the School for Gifted Unicorns was not heavy, leaving students with plenty of free time to exercise their initiative.
Even though not all students spent this time studying, it was just right for the three of them.
Ever since she read that book on non-magical skills in Ponyville last time, Sunset Shimmer had developed a keen interest in skills outside of magic. While polishing the full-length mirror, she used the craftsman tips she had learned from the book. Although she was a bit unaccustomed to it because she was a Unicorn, the results were quite impressive.
During breaks, Sunset Shimmer would use scrap materials to practice, avoiding mistakes when she started working on the real thing.
"If only I had a pair of 'hands'..."
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"