Ponies would talk.

It was one of their chief pastimes. Gossip had a long and storied tradition in Equestria, far predating the nation's own founding. Seldom would a rumor born in one corner of the country ever fail to reach the other corner by the time the next train came around. Secrets were spilled in hushed voices beneath shaded alcoves. Juicy tidbits were shared with giggles over coffee. Scandalous headlines adorned newsstands.

Anything ponies found worth talking about, they talked about. And they kept talking about it until it was no longer worth talking about, at which point they always found something new to talk about.

These days, Twilight Sparkle was worth talking about.

How mysterious, how sudden the young mare's rise to prominence. Had you ever even heard of her before a couple years ago? Did you know Celestia even had a protege? No, wait, wasn't she tutoring some other, orange-coated filly a while back? Whatever happened to her?

And so it went.

How powerful do you suppose the Princess of Magic must be? They say she fights monsters that not even Celestia could challenge. She tamed an Ursa Major; a whole town saw her do it. Then she used it to trample Discord. That's not true, everypony knows Discord is still on the loose. I bet she's working for him; that's how she got so powerful. No, she got her power from dabbling in dark magic, from what I heard. No, she got her power by taking it from Nightmare Moon.

Ponies talked and talked, and Twilight Sparkle became an ancient spirit sent to test Equestria's virtue, and a changeling usurper come for Celestia's throne, and everything else in between. But of all the things she reportedly was, and of all the things she supposedly did, there was one aspect to Twilight Sparkle that ponies loved talking about above all else.

She certainly is close with her friends, isn't she? Have you ever seen the princess without at least one or two of them at her side?

It's not what you think; they're her secret bodyguards. The yellow one threw a dragon off a mountain for her once. I hear they were all trained in secret by Celestia's special forces.

Bodyguards or no, she is awfully close with them, don't you think? I don't know how things are in Ponyville, but where I'm from, ponies don't usually get so touchy-feely unless there's something going on with them. Not to judge, of course. But have you ever seen her with any colts? What about that one stallion, he was Captain of the Guard for a while? No, you're thinking of her brother and Princess Cadance. I heard she married him to be closer to Princess Twilight.

It's not like there's never been all-mare herds out there, right? I think we should be happy for her. Look, I don't usually have a problem with this sort of thing, but she's a princess. She should behave more professionally. What kind of example is she setting for the foals?

Ponies talked, and Twilight Sparkle heard some parts of it, missed some parts, and deliberately ignored other parts. She didn't let it bother her, because at the end of the day, she knew she had friends with whom talking wasn't necessary. A hug, a nuzzle, even just a little smile was enough to convey everything she needed to tell them. At the end of the day, Princess Twilight Sparkle fell asleep surrounded by the wordless bliss of a friendship that needed no explanation.

Ponies would talk. Let them talk.

The prompt: Ponies talk.

Special rule: You cannot use quotation marks “ ”.

This is a thirty minute writing prompt, meaning you have thirty minutes to finish your story from the time you start writing. You may take as much time as you wish to think, plan, or outline before you begin, but once the first word is on the page, the timer begins. When you are finished, post your story to this thread, and in the tradition of the TMP mods of yore I will read and give it a comment when I can.

Traditionally, TMP prompts would have a six to eight-hour window in which to submit, but for these legacy prompts, there will be no limit after the prompt is up. Go ahead and post something a year from now, if you like. Just bear in mind that I'm less likely to respond with feedback to anything submitted more than a week or so after the prompt. Good luck!

4300322

I saw that omnishipping up there!

Anyway this didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but it works well enough. Written before today's episode sorta made the huge house thing canon

Rainbow Dash zipped from place to place around her cloud home, patching up spots almost at random. It was more fun this way, rather than laying it all out egghead style and trying to come up with some plan and everything. But her house was coming together great! She added more spots to split the falling pools of liquid rainbow, and knocked out a few more holes for windows, before zipping around and forming up another set of cloud pillars.

Her house had always been way too big for one pony, and even more so for Rainbow Dash. She only even used like two rooms. But she was trying to be a Wonderbolt, and having a big, flashy house was a good start. That's why she was adding another wing to it today, with the leftover clouds from the storm yesterday. Yeah, her house was stupidly big, and ponies were going to talk about it.

But that's why she did it. Let 'em talk, they'd only be showing her how awesome her house was, and that just meant that Rainbow Dash must be awesome too.

Rainbow Dash burned through the weather work in a flash. No pony in Equestria could do her job faster than she could. Sure there were better weather ponies, ones that were better at fixing up clouds or laying out storms. But for cloudbusting nopony even came close. She put a little flair into it as she went from cloud to cloud, kicking away the remnants of yesterday's rain. She could hear them down below, the earth ponies and unicorns of Ponyville pointing and staring in awe at her flips and kicks.

Time to really make it stick!

Rainbow moved faster, added more loops, and did that one thing with her tail so she'd leave that rainbow behind her as she flew. In no time the sky was clear aside from her skywriting DASH across it, and she put a little more force into it as she bolted away, the cheers and stamping hooves of the gathered crowd behind her ringing in her ears.

Yeah, that might have been overdoing it. But she was the best, and that means she gets to show off now and then.

But that's also why she decided to do her training on the other side of town. You know, let some other ponies see all her awesomeness for themselves.

Thanks to Mayor Mare's insistence, she had to keep her training higher off of the ground now. Less carts and buildings being crashed into way up here. But that also meant it was harder for the ponies below to see her. That was fine too, it just made it better when they saw her anyway.

Her stunt training had gotten better and better over time. She remembered being so proud of what she could do when Twilight first showed up, and how she'd thought the Wonderbolts would swoon at her Buccaneer Blitz and stuff like that. Ha! That hadn't be anything. Now she turned tighter loops in the sky, sparks and lightning shaking from her wings as she twisted into corkscrews and looped again back through her own contrail. The wind rushed through her mane, and the ground blurred past her as she dove and spun, lighting up the sky with her slick moves and amazing stunts.

Yeah, those dots down there in the streets had to be ponies staring up in awe. That yellow one was probably Fluttershy, and that meant the white one next to her was probably Rarity. Ha! Rainbow's friends knew who the best flier in Equestria was! She was the fastest, the most athletic, the bravest, and the all-around best pony, and she knew it.

Rainbow dipped down a few hundred feet, and then bolted up quickly. Faint cheers and stamping from below tickled at the edges of her hearing over the roar of the wind and the pumping of her pulse as she pushed herself to the limit. Then all sound blasted away in all directions as the Sonic Rainboom exploded around her. This high up there was no way it would wreck anything, but those ponies down there would be talking about the rainboom, and the pegasus who made it, for weeks!

But she should still probably avoid the mayor for a few days.

As Rainbow flew over Ponyville, just leisurely stretching her wings after her workout, she heard a ringing bell from below. Yeah, time for one last thing.

Rainbow Dash landed, her hooves on the ground for the first time in hours. Little colts and fillies all poured out of the schoolhouse in groups of two or three, laughing and free for the day. The group that Dash was waiting for was near last, but the little orange pegasus filly lit up when she saw her. Scootaloo rushed her goodbyes with her friends, trying to look cool with a hoof-bump before galloping over to Rainbow. The other Crusaders just grinned at her, but didn't say anything to mess up her faked image.

But nah, Scootaloo was pretty cool, even if she tried too hard to fake it sometimes.

In no time, Rainbow Dash was back up in the air, this time with Scootaloo standing on her back. The little filly's wings were spread, and she laughed and cheered as Rainbow flew them through the air. Rainbow wasn't doing tricks this time, she wasn't bolting at a million miles an hour or busting clouds. She was just flying, and Scoots was happier than any of those other ponies had been before. The filly's parents probably didn't really like her being flown out over the Everfree, but there weren't any clouds left over Ponyville today, so what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

As Rainbow sat on the little tuft of cloud next to Scootaloo, she couldn't help but grin at the filly's excited retelling of her attempts at getting a cutie mark. Rainbow Dash had gotten hers pretty early, so she'd never had to work at finding out what she wanted. But Scoots was always trying all these different things and having fun with her friends. It was pretty awesome.

While Scootaloo was acting out her story about parasprite taming, Rainbow Dash just laughed and cheered her on. She'd spent the whole day being awesome, showing other ponies how amazing a pegasus could be, and giving the whole town something to talk about for days and days. But the best part of Rainbow's day was just letting her little sister feel like she was flying, and hearing about her awesome crusading and adventures too.

Scootaloo hugged Rainbow around the withers, grinning and telling her she was the best sister ever.

Rainbow hugged the filly back, and mussed up her mane. Yeah, this was better than the whole town cheering, better than ten Rainbooms. Showing off was cool and all, but making her sister smile is how Rainbow really knew she was the best.

4300322
Legacy Prompt No.32, Untitled by KwirkyJ

I don't want to rise. I know the sun is already dipping, her attempt to bring me to stir, but I do not wish it.

She can manage, besides.

It is warm and safe and dark here, under my covers. My breath passes through the fine weave of threads, and it makes me giddy (but not too giddy, lest I wake fully). Focus on that, and not the rustling and voices beyond... outside. I like how the fibers tickle my nose.

What do they think of me, the servants? I wish I could know. Do they trust me? Do they wish me to disappear? Do they fear me? Better that I disappear, I am sure of it -- to have one beloved princess, as all they have ever known, and be done with the matter.

In, out. In, out. In, hold... out.

Oh, they are knocking again.

In, hold... hold...

Maybe if I hold long enough, I will pass out.

...Out.

She will be here soon, I am sure of it. They will tell her, and she will knock, and call my name, and open the door unbidden and prod me in my sanctum of cloth. She will argue, then whisper, then plead, then, if I have given any sign, she will tear away this feeble cloister and assault me in means most dire and drive me to defend my ribs from prying hooves and feather-tips. And if I give no sign...

Or does she simply humor me? She must know I am awake. What does she say when she instructs the servants to leave me? What does she say to herself?

In, hold...

Yes, I am in here. No, you can't come in.

...Out.

You're coming in, anyway, aren't you.

In, hold...

I don't wish to rise, sister. You do it for me, just like you always have.

...Tell me you love me, please.

Author's Note:
To misapply a quote from Wallace and Gromit: "The bounce has gone from his bungee."

4300322

I say this every week I think, but I feel like I'm off my game. Boo! Still posting this anyway though.

Fluttershy hummed along with the birds as she lead them across the peaceful meadows on the outskirts of Ponyville. She liked birds. Birds were pretty, they sang beautifully, and they were very rarely judgmental of anypony. Unlike other ponies.

Ponies sang as well, and they were often quite pretty. But ponies talked.

Fluttershy had found out very early in life just how much ponies liked to talk. In school, in Cloudsdale, she had always been a bit of a weak flier. When she was a foal, she would ride on her mother's back from place to place, when the other fillies her age were all bumbling around in the air, figuring out their wings. In school, the other ponies had always said such nasty things about her. Every adult pony told her to just ignore them, and that it would go away in time. It hadn't.

But despite how horrible it had been, having ponies always taunting and gossiping about her, it had lead to her meeting one of her best friends, Rainbow Dash. Rainbow had seen other ponies picking on her, and had thought that defending her would be awesome, like one of the heroes in old stories. In a very real way, Rainbow Dash was every bit the hero she had pictured herself being. Fluttershy had still been teased after Rainbow started defending her, of course, but just knowing that somepony was there for her made it much, much easier.

Then, Fluttershy had fallen off of a cloud, and she was only saved at the last moment, by an unlikely cloud of butterflies.

At first, the ground seemed to be a kind of heaven. The animals she found herself surrounded by didn't judge her, they didn't laugh at her or tease her. Even when Rainbow Dash had flown down from Cloudsdale in a panic, half-expecting to find Fluttershy dead, Fluttershy had managed to stand up for herself and insist that she was staying on the ground, and not going back to Cloudsdale. Rainbow visited from time to time after, but she had her own schooling up in Cloudsdale still, and soon she was off to weather college and disappeared for a while.

But, Fluttershy soon discovered, ponies on the ground liked to talk as well.

She couldn't build a house on her own, and animals, for all their virtues, couldn't build a house suitable for a pony either. Fluttershy had some difficulty getting any ponies to help build her a cottage so close to the forest. But that was the best place, if she wanted her animals to be able to visit their friends that lived in the Everfree, even if it was a bit scary to live there. Fluttershy quickly found that being the weird, shy pegasus that lived at the edge of the widely feared Everfree Forest alone with a bunch of animals, made her a topic for gossip and rumor again. Whenever she was in town for food or other supplies, she always heard the other ponies chattering behind their hooves: snatches of conversation about her being a witch, or a spy, or any number of other crazy things.

But at least here on the ground, there were other things to talk about. Like the sudden appearance of a bright pink earth pony filly, only a year younger than Fluttershy, who had arrived and moved into the local bakery.

Fluttershy managed to avoid this pony for a few weeks thanks to her remote home. But eventually, the pink pony showed up in her cottage, all pep and smiles and laughter.

After only an hour or two, Fluttershy realized that trying to avoid Pinkie was only making things worse. All ponies liked to talk, but talking and laughing and playing seemed to be all that Pinkie Pie did. Even if it was a little embarrassing how loud she was, Pinkie wasn't really mean, and she never seemed to gossip or make up lies about anypony. Fluttershy still kept to herself, though now she found herself being dragged to occasional parties in town, no matter how often she told Pinkie that she didn't want to party.

Pinkie's parties were fun, in a sort of way. They were always kept festive and light, and Fluttershy did enjoy seeing all the other ponies happily dancing and laughing, even if she didn't do so herself. Fluttershy even began having smaller, quieter parties herself, with her animal friends. They didn't talk, but it was still fun, in a quiet, subdued manner.

It was while she was at one of Pinkie's loud parties, with Fluttershy carefully standing behind a counter in such a way that it was difficult for any other pony to see her, that she met another future friend. This future friend at first, however, seemed to be a hysterical white unicorn that quite literally pulled Fluttershy away from the party to fit increasingly glittery dresses onto her so-called simply divine body, and to perform ever more excessive treatments on her absolutely perfect mane.

Rarity, as Fluttershy later found this unicorn was named, brushed off all of Fluttershy's quiet, polite objections with praise and adulation.

Rarity was the first pony that Fluttershy ever used The Stare on.

Once she had calmed down a bit, Rarity turned out to be a wonderful friend. She did like to talk, rather a lot, and always about herself. But that was okay, because Fluttershy found that all she needed to do was interject quietly now and again, with prompts to continue, and Rarity was happy with her. The apology for her initial excitement had been a paid visit to the spa, and that quickly became a routine for the two.

Rainbow Dash had even moved to Ponyville a few months ago, though she was terribly busy with the weather patrol now, and had her own friends among the pegasus ponies in town.

Despite hearing all about high society from Rarity, and despite being dragged to parties now and again, Fluttershy still felt... lonely. All the other ponies seemed to talk too much, they were too loud and they all acted like they had all known how to talk to other ponies their entire lives. Her animal friends seemed to be the only ones who understood how hard it could be for her to talk to other ponies, and how hard it could be to make friends with them.

But tonight, she was going to be going to a big party, with the entire town. It wasn't even Pinkie's idea. Fluttershy was going on her own. She was even going to be part of the festivities. Fluttershy knew that eventually she would meet somepony who would understand what it was like to grow up without any real friends of her own. Somepony who could help her figure out how to get past some of her insecurities, and build a real group of friends. Friends she could really be herself around.

Fluttershy carefully and softly chided the bluejay who was off-key. Tonight was the Summer Sun Celebration, after all, and everything had to be perfect. She was so wrapped up in her training of her animal friends, she didn't even hear the awkward, nearly friendless purple unicorn that came trotting up behind her.

But then that pony talked, and Fluttershy's life was changed forever.

4306311 You know, this makes quite a lot of sense as to why Rainbow has such an unnecessarily large, extravagant house. Because she lives by the Rule of Awesome, and ponies will see it and talk about how awesome she is. Really, just copy and paste that sentence to explain just about anything Rainbow Dash does.

You follow the spirit of the prompt very well, but I'm afraid I will have to dock you points because you slipped up and used quotation marks:

Rainbow moved faster, added more loops, and did that one thing with her tail so she'd leave that rainbow behind her as she flew. In no time the sky was clear aside from her skywriting "DASH" across it, and she put a little more force into it as she bolted away, the cheers and stamping hooves of the gathered crowd behind her ringing in her ears.

And then towards the end, we get some adorable Scootalove. Aww.

4312552 Aw, Luna!

This story keeps dancing around the line between just staying in bed out of stubbornness and having serious issues that really, really ought to be worked out. Either way, Luna needs a hug. An assault of feather-tips to the ribs couldn't hurt, either.

The connection to the prompt is maybe a little shaky - though I do see shades of it in the mentions of the servants and what they must think of her - but this is so well-written that I don't really care.

Good job!

4315493 You do say that almost every week, and almost every week you're wrong. This is great.

I always love your Fluttershy. You do such a wonderful job every time of showing her insecurities, the way her mind works around her fears. I love your use of the prompt here to illustrate the reasons why Fluttershy prefers time with animals over times with other ponies. She is such a fully-realized character in your stories.

I really enjoyed how Rarity is the first pony she ever used the Stare on. It's a great callback to the fact that Rarity is the one who brings it up when it's first introduced in the show.

Applejack's absence is the only flaw I can think of. The fact that Fluttershy has an introduction to everypony else except her, while logically a perfectly reasonable possibility, feels a bit unsymmetrical.

But then I loved the setup to the series premier at the end. That final line is just so good.

4315655 Welcome! If I follow my cross-website username changes correctly, I do believe you're the lovely Lady who started this all, are you not? It's an honor!

I didn't expect to see Big Mac for this prompt, but then maybe I should have. This is an interesting little glimpse into his character. The importance of music to him, how it serves him where talking can't.

I like his friendship with Maud Pie. It's cute, especially his mention of how, "I ain't really a rock." Then they become pen-pals. It seemed like that was going to be another avenue for Mac to get around his trouble with words, but the time limit left it not quite as explored as the music. Oh, well.

All in all, a pretty good character piece.

4300322 Here's mine!

Legacy Prompt #32: On Route

Ditzy Doo loved her job. Most of the time, anyways. She didn’t like how it kept her from seeing her daughter off to school in the mornings, and money was always a little tight, but it wasn’t the end of the world. It was one of the only professions that Ditzy could think of where her incredible memory was a real advantage. And sure, she might have been a little clumsy, or slower than the other mailponies thanks to her eyes, but she still loved her job.

But that didn’t stop ponies from talking. And because Ditzy went over many parts of Ponyville every day, she heard them. Another thing that she didn’t particularly like about her job. She could hear them saying how it was a wonder that she hadn’t been fired yet, the half-hearted objections from other ponies that she was just trying her best to provide for Dinky and that it surely wasn’t her fault about her eyes (which was true. Ditzy couldn’t remember how her eyes had gotten misaligned. All she could remember was anger and something blue moving very fast. And lots of yelling). She’d only dropped that load with the piano and anvil that one time, and that job had been a favour to a friend. And she hadn’t misdelivered the mail in months-she could name at least four other mailponies who regularly mixed up some of their mail.

But gossip was a fickle thing, and ponies had a habit of remembering the bad things a little easier than the good. And Ditzy had made more than a few mistakes. She’d always apologised, and done her best to clean up after her mess, but sometimes that didn’t help.
It was another clear morning in Ponyville, and Ditzy was on her usual round when she heard them. It was the usual joking (and entirely unoriginal) set of insults regarding her and her flying ability, and how they should all duck before she went out of control again. Her flying style might have been a little unsteady, but she hadn’t crashed into anything for the last seven months, which was a new personal record. Rainbow Dash crashed more often than Ditzy did, but nopony mocked her for it these days.

But as Ditzy flew over the ponies insulting and making fun of her, she heard a scratchy voice start yelling at them. With some difficulty, she glanced down, and saw Rainbow Dash glaring at two pegasi and pointing at the sky, telling them to get back to their actual weather duties. Ditzy refocused her eyes on the horizon with a smile, knowing that Rainbow Dash was standing up for her. But then again, Rainbow Dash had always been super-supportive to Ditzy, the incident with the town hall that one time being the sole exception.

As Ditzy flew on, over the market place, she saw and heard Carrot Top defending her from a pair of bullies, tossing the week-old carrots at them like darts. She saw the occasional pony glance up at her, and give her a wave. Pinkie Pie tossed a muffin up so that all Ditzy had to do was open her mouth at the right time and bite down on it. She knew that ponies would talk about her, and her sometimes lacklustre and shaky flying, or her eyes, but most days, it didn’t bother her.

Because Ditzy had the most wonderful daughter she could ever ask for, and she knew that her boss liked her work more than most ponies with perfectly aligned eyes and perfectly coordinated limbs, and she knew that she had friends who would stand up for her.

And so Ditzy smiled, and sailed over the top of the ponies talking below her.

4316010

You follow the spirit of the prompt very well, but I'm afraid I will have to dock you points because you slipped up and used quotation marks:

Dangit. I didn't even notice. I'll have to just deftly go back and remove those.

4300322

Legacy Prompt 32: Talk

Ponies talk.

I don't mean they gab, or they gossip (although just between the two of us, both of those are true as well). I just mean they talk. It's what they do.

Okay, let's see if I can put it in perspective. You know the Diamond Dogs, right? Mangy things, live underground? Diamond Dogs dig. It's the same thing.

Or how about the Griffons? You know, cat on the wing? Oh-so-irritatingly-noble code of martial valor and all the nonsense that goes with that? Griffons fight the same way Ponies talk.

Oh, for... do I have to spell it out? I. T. Apostrophe. S. Space. T. H... you know what, forget that. It's what they do, their go-to response for, well, everything.

Rabbits got into your garden? Go talk to them, presumably through the yellow one.

Angry neighbors coming for you with pitchforks? Either talk to them, or talk to the guards and have the guards talk to them.

Twisted monstrosity from beyond the edge of time and space? Try to talk it down. Only bother to take further steps if-slash-when that fails.

(Please note that this is about ponies in general; specific ponies sometimes rise above the urge to jaw at problems, although they often resort to other, equally predictable, equally boring, methods. Rainbow Dash, for example, needs to realize that Punch It In The Jaw is eventually going to fail her.)

So yes, Ponies talk. Of course, I can't really blame them for that little character failure. It's all part and parcel of being trapped under Harmony's banner, same as having to manually run the environment. Live for a while in Harmony's trap, with everyone else marching along to her tinny little tune - it'd be enough to break anybody. I mean, even Celestia - when I remember her better days, and think about what she's been turned into... A quote-princess-unquote, a urgh... diplomat...

And nobody's immune. Even that little echo of myself I left down there, a gift to help lighten up their lives and make everything more exciting - they've even broken him to Harmony's traces. Almost managed to snag me, even, before I managed to cut the bond between the two of us.

Oh, you've finally figured it out, I see. Very good. Yes, I'm him, or rather, he's a part of me. Discord, the real, primal one, at your... not service, but I'm not sure what else goes right there.

And one more thing. Remember how I said Ponies talk?

Well, I act.

They won't know what hit them.

4300322

Of course ponies would talk.

As somepony making a name for herself in the world of fashion, ponies are always talking about me—good or bad. It's something I've become used to by now.

But poor Fluttershy never asked for any of this! It was readily apparent after her stint as a model that she would never fit into such a cutthroat business. Or fit into such a culture. She's far too gentle. Ponies like her only get hurt when ponies talk.

I suppose it's my fault. Fluttershy is my friend. She trusted me to keep it secret when she confessed her crush on me. Oh, this whole thing never would have happened if not for the kiss!

One moment, the poor dear is a muttering, clumsy mess, unable to form a coherent thought without tugging on her mane or shuffling her hooves against the cafe floor. The very next instant, I lean in to better make out what she's saying, and her lips are on mine!

Of course ponies saw. And of course they'd talk. Two of the Elements of Harmony, Equestria's heroes (not to toot my own horn, mind you), and one of them already a name being discussed in those same circles? How could they not? The whole thing no doubt made simply the juiciest bit of gossip in weeks! It certainly was a tasty enough morsel to still be discussed even now.

I must admit, in hindsight, it didn't help things that I walked out. I did mutter something about needing some time, but for appearance's sake, it must have looked simply horrid. A pony of my standing abandoning a friend who was willing to be so open? Honestly, I do think I deserve everything I got.

But Fluttershy... Fluttershy did nothing to deserve the sorts of things being said about her. Ponies with nothing better to do than to slander such an innocent and kind pony have implied that somehow she wasn't good enough for me, that even I, one of her closest friends, wouldn't so much as give her a chance. They've said the same thing about her modeling career, implying that she wasn't pretty enough to be a model, that her plain, unadorned look and manner failed to impress Ms. Finish.

I know she's taken it awfully hard. It has been days since I've last seen her, and that was before the talk got really nasty. Knowing her, she's likely curled up in bed. I'm sure even her animals are worried.

My heart aches at the very thought. I absolutely must make things right again.

I knock on her front door. There is no response. Animals stir, claws scratch at the floor, birds chirp... but nopony arrives at the door.

I try the front door and find it to be unlocked. Hesitantly, I wander inside to find the house as full of animals as ever. The sight comforts me, even if the smell doesn't. (Unfortunately, a house full of animals does not do much for the nose. Well, not as much as it does to the stomach.) Conspicuously, there is no yellow pegasus amidst the chaos. Nor, actually, the embodiment of chaos himself. The bunny—Angel, I believe his name is—is there, however. He scowls at me, then hops off to the bedroom. I follow.

There, curled up beneath the blankets, is Fluttershy. Or I presume she's there. It's hard to tell, since all I see is a pony-shaped lump.

Discord stands beside the bed. His eyes widen as he sees me. I hold a hoof to my lips, and I gesture toward the door. He pouts, but after I repeat the motion, he complies.

Biting my lip, I slowly peel back the blanket. Fluttershy blinks, then stares up at me. Her red-rimmed eyes are still moist. I would be impressed by how long she had been crying had I not had a few such fits of my own within my lifetime.

I take a deep breath... and let it out. What do I even say? Do I apologize for walking out? For not having the decency to give her some explanation of how I feel? Should I mention what ponies are saying because of that?

Her eyes look up at me, wavering, then dart away. She's scared. What pony wouldn't be after what she has gone through? But it is now that I know just how to apologize.

I lean down, wrapping my hoof behind her neck. The distance closes between us before our lips meet.

Her eyes widen, and I feel her gasp. She stares back, before hesitantly leaning against me, returning the kiss. I close my eyes.

There's no need for words. The message has been received. I'm sorry. And... I think I love you, too.

Let the ponies talk. They'll say what they want and make up whatever lies they feel like sharing. We'll just hold each other close in quiet moments like this.

As I rest my head on her chest and feel the steady beating of her heart, I find myself looking up at her. She wraps her hooves around me, a soft smile on her face. Maybe this will work out or maybe it won't, but in this moment, I know I have made my friend very happy.

And that is something worth talking about.

4300322

Ponies would talk. Ponies always talked. And if there was one thing ponies loved to talk about more than anything else, it was the love life of other ponies.

Once upon a time, Twilight Sparkle hadn’t been a part of this talking. She’d been a scholarly mare known throughout Equestria as Celestia’s student, but the princess had kept her under watch carefully throughout the years, and so nopony had been able to really talk about her. Some whispers and murmurs had rippled through when she had made the journey to Ponyville and had been named a bearer of the one of the Elements, but that was fine; that was to be expected.

But then Twilight became a princess—a single princess, not married like Cadance and without appearing as untouchable as Celestia or Luna. And quite suddenly, the purple pony found that when ponies talked about love lives, they really talked about love lives.

And oh, there was no end to the rumors. Spending as much time as she did with her five best friends, saving the world and experiencing things she shared with nopony else, sooner or later somepony would ask questions. Becoming a princess had only turned the whispering into a shouting match. It didn’t take long for the press to devolve into a bitter argument about which mare had won Princess Twilight’s favor.

That wasn’t getting into the ponies that believed Celestia had spent the last few years grooming Twilight to be her bride, or even one better—that somehow the whole incident with Nightmare Moon had been a plot for Twilight to end up wed to Luna. That one made absolutely no sense no matter how she looked at it, and usually left her scratching her head instead of laughing.

Then there were the other ponies: ponies from her youth in Canterlot that knew of her foalsitting years with Princess Cadance, and of her close relationship with her older brother. In the best case scenario, many ponies gossiped that Cadance had her as a lover on the side, or had been aiming for both siblings when she’d married the Captain of the Guard. They all had a good, long laugh over that.

There were still other ponies who believed she had—or wanted to have—a relationship with her brother. Twilight found she couldn’t even laugh at that.

Still, for the most part beyond laughter and sharing it with friends and plain old grinding her teeth when a few comments hit a little too close to home for comfort, the youngest princess did her best to ignore it. Ponies would talk. There would always be some rumor about her love life going on, until the day she either died alone and unloved (as per speculation) or ended up married, at which point the talk would turn to picking apart her spouse.

Dying alone and unloved was frankly impossible by Twilight’s calculations, but she’d learned long ago never to argue with the reporters when they wrote or said things like that. All it gave her was a huge headache.

There was one place Twilight could always go, though. When the talking became too much, when the pain in her head became too great and some words couldn’t be ignored no matter how hard she tried, there was one place the princess knew she could go. It was easy to reach; all she needed was her book and an open portal.

There was one place Twilight could always go, where nopony talked. Mostly, because in that place, there were no talking ponies.

As Twilight stumbled through the portal and right into warm, waiting arms, she knew there would never be ponies talking about this; not unless her fillyfriend—girlfriend, that was the proper human term—decided to ever come back through the portal to Equestria. But that was still off at some unspeakable point in the future, and for now Twilight was content to just smile up at loving cyan eyes as Sunset held her to steady her.

Ponies would talk. Ponies always talked. And if there was one thing ponies loved to talk about more than anything else, it was the love life of other ponies.

And to the princess, the greatest irony in the world was that for all the talk going on in her world about whether or not she would find love, the one place she’d managed to find it was in a world where nobody would talk about it.

4316487 The gossip machine does tend to pick on those who are a little bit different. Good thing Ditzy has good friends to stand up for her. I like the mental image of Carrot Top (*cough* Golden Harvest *cough*) throwing carrots like darts. I could see that being a thing in the show.

4322061 Ooh, I like this one! I'm not typically a fan of Discord, but this monologue has a really nice, subtly sinister vibe to it that I really dig. This is a really lovely use of the prompt that gets away from the gossip-related meaning of it to instead assert that talking is the default state for ponies, as opposed to what other races in Equestria do.

I also like the cheeky little work-around on the quotation mark ban present in this line:

A quote-princess-unquote

It's almost as if Discord himself is aware of the restrictions on his monologue, and is doing his best to poke fun at it. Quite meta. I like.

4350301 Augh! Really adorable and moderately angsty Flarity shipping! My one (okay, one of many) mortal weakness! I am slain!

...

Seriously, this is really, really nice. Rarity's voice in this rings true. The emotions, the context, the characterization... there are so many elements to this that work just right and come together so very well.

There's only one very mild flaw in the middle, where it switches from Rarity monologuing about what happened and how ponies are gossiping about it, to telling us what Rarity is doing in the present, and there is just a bit of present-tense disorientation. In a larger story, some more time editing and fine-tuning should smooth that transition out.

But this is such a lovely little story. When it got to the part, 'There's no need for words,' I grinned so wide, because it ties the events of the story together, and it references the prompt, and does everything so well.

Excellent job.

4354980 Aww! This is very cute.

I like how ponies' speculation on Twilight's love-life reflects the FimFic shipping community. With the exception, of course, that we also ship SunLight here while most ponies in Equestria have never heard of Sunset Shimmer.

I also like the various reactions Twilight has to each of the rumors about her. Although, if you were to do it over again, a bit more variation from 'laughed' and 'too absurd to even laugh' would be good.

The ending ties it all together very nicely. Not only does Twilight's relationship with Sunset take her somewhere where she won't be talked about, (though if she keeps to her world-saving ways, she may wind up with the same problem on that side of the portal as well!) but even if they do talk there, they're not ponies. A two-pronged fit to the prompt!

Unless I've missed it, I believe this is your first time writing for us here at TMP, so welcome! I won't usually take so long to get around to feedback, but it's been a busy couple of weeks for me. I hope to see more from you in the future!

4360692
I don't think I could ask for much higher praise on something I wrote in about half an hour.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out as well. The tense issues are something I didn't even have time to consider while I was writing it, but as you said, I could smooth that out later, should I choose to expand this. (Which I'm thinking I might do. I've wanted to do Flarity, and I think this one turned out nicely. Something about Flarity just... fit, in my mind. I think I might have to ditch the challenge of not using quotes if I do expand it, though.)

I'm glad Rarity's voice was solid. I'm not usually the best Rarity writer around, so to hear that I nailed her voice is very reassuring.

Also, I spent probably five minutes just staring at the screen, wondering how I could tie in the prompt to the ending. Then it hit me all at once, as inspiration tends to do.

4360739

First, thanks for the feedback! And yeah I'm new here, I was browsing around the group and it looked interesting, so I thought I'd join it and give a few prompts a shot. It's definitely a fun little writing exercise, and the half hour time limit makes it all the more interesting.

And yeah, if I ever do it over again or expand on it I want to fix that bit. I was kind of going for a recurring theme, but once I looked back on it I realized it just seemed like I couldn't think of more words to use to describe laughing. Ah well, live and learn for the next prompt, and it was a cool challenge all the same, so thank you very much for the feedback once again! I'm glad that you enjoyed it, that minor hiccup aside.

This was by far my most interesting idea however it is not at it's full potential. I still appreciate the inspiration. I may work on this later.