Changing Times’ Notes: It should be apparent that I prefer to focus these stories on the good side of changelings rather than the bad. That does not change the fact that some changelings are deplorable beings. Some changelings will never learn, and will always be threats. Some changelings shall lurk in the shadows, waiting to strike, as long as they live.
While it does not delve into the darker side of the rabbit hole, this report humbly reminds me that we must be prepared—just in case the worst happens.
Training the Troops: A Report by Prince Morpheus of House Sicadia
Despite the lack of assassination attempts since Wyrman—or maybe because of them—I found myself taking certain measures to protect Twilight during those times that Hera and I couldn’t be there. Twilight might not need saving in the traditional sense, but Wyrman had shown even she could be caught by surprise. Our primary concern was limited to finding such an attack before it happened so that she or her friends might have a chance to steal the initiative.
That is, of course, assuming they didn’t get blindsided by any acts of desperation again. Ve are still somewhat perplexed over how Twilight did such a good job unmasking Wyrman only to be caught unawares by his suicide gamble.
Cornered rats are capable of many things, after all.
Regardless, the first step I had taken was to order Spi to discreetly tail Twilight much like Hera tailed me. Alas, one watcher did not catch anything, and in time my paranoia returned. After some debate, ve decided to add Wyrman to this duty as well, and still, noling was found.
Thus it was, that I decided even more of a watchful eye was needed, but had I had no more infiltrators with me to help. Ve could have ordered several more to Ponyville, of course, but the most unexpectedly dastardly scheme came to us a few nights before our trip to the Crystal Empire.
Ve had spent the time beforehoof preparing to put it into motion, and—after the brief blip that was the Empire—I returned ready to make a potentially game changing move.
It was just before dawn, but ve were not surprised by the fact that Rainbow Dash was not within her home. There had only been a minuscule chance of finding her there, and I had only stopped by there as it was on the way to Applejack’s. Just in case, ve wanted to cover all our bases. As it was, Dash would likely either be at AJ’s or the farmer would know where her marefriend was.
My wings buzzed quietly as I—or rather Snow Flurry—lumbered through the air. To those below, I was naught but a pudgy, smiling, razzmatazz, pegasus, and ve liked it that way. Snow was a much less known face of mine, and ve did not want to attract the attention of any agents that might be lurking in Ponyville.
The winds carried me over Sweet Apple Acres, and as I landed in front of the homestead, I once more had to push my way through the miasma that formed from generations’ worth of Apple family love.
Knocking on the door, I shifted out of disguise and waited until the door opened to the familiar face of a gentle red giant. He stared at me—our usual wordless greetings passing between us—until he arched a brow.
“RD or mah sis?” He fiddled with the piece of hay he had stuck between his lips.
“Both, please.” I smiled.
“You in trouble?”
“Not exactly.”
“Better stay that way.”
“You have my word.”
He scrutinized me for a few more moments before turning to bellow up the stairs. “Sis! RD! You two got company!” He nodded to me and waved me inside. “Care for breakfast?”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”
Big Mac pulled another chair from the living room into the kitchen. “Ain’t imposing if Ah ask.”
Biting my chops, I hesitantly nodded. “I suppose I wouldn’t mind an apple or two. Nothing heavy—for me or the girls—although a big lunch would be nice. I don’t want them getting cramps mid-training, but they’ll deserve a reward after what I’m planning to do to them today.”
“Training?” The stallion tilted his head by the tiniest of margins. “Sis didn’t mention no training.”
I ran a hoof through my mane. “Yeah… she doesn’t exactly know about it. Don’t worry, though. The Echo triplets should be here soon to cover for her chores.”
“Ain’t the chores Ah’m worried about.” Big Mac snorted.
“What’s that about chores, Mac?” A scuffled looking Applejack came in with an equally scuffled Rainbow Dash. Based on the extra salty tang to Rainbow Dash’s scent, they had just had a rather… exciting night. The damp manes and coats suggested a rushed shower, but, even with that, there was a leftover hint of leather to their emotions.
“You don’t have any today.” For the sake of politeness, I pretended I couldn’t taste the leather in their apple pancakes. “The Echo triplets are taking your work for the day, AJ, while you and Dash come with me.”
“To do what?” Applejack arched her brow. “No offense, sugarcube, but ah ain’t gonna drop everything willy-nilly for you.”
I glanced between everypony, thoughts whirling. “Pinkie Promise not to tell?”
That earned a glare from Applejack and Rainbow. “Ah’d say we’re all plenty trustworthy enough to not need one.”
Big Mac simply whistled as he went from cabinet to cabinet, tossing me two apples and throwing together what appeared to be a light apple and walnut salad for Dash and AJ.
“Fair enough.” I shrugged. “It was a rather dirty move to invoke the Enigma, but ve need you to understand this must stay between us.”
I looked in the direction of Castle where Twilight was most assuredly sleeping off yet another study binge. “Ve do not trust the idea that Mother is running interference on the assassins meant for Twilight and me. Even if she is, she is liable to stop at any point in time simply to test my own capabilities. As such, Spi and Wyrman have already been assigned to tail her like Hera does me.”
Turning my gaze back to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I made sure to look them in the eyes. “That is not enough, however. Any changeling worth their salt invests in backup plans and redundancies. Ve believe that teaching you two the arts of tremor sense and wind sense—as well as some combat techniques—will add an unexpected and potentially unpredictable element to Twilight’s defense.”
“Does Twilight know she has a couple of stalkers?” Rainbow ruffled her wings and pretended to preen a feather to hide her agitation.
“No, she doesn’t, because I just know Twilight would be uncomfortable with the knowledge that she had a guard.” I flicked my wings. “Also, I can still taste your annoyance, Dash. Ve aren’t sure why you think you need to walk on eggshells around me recently, but I’d prefer you not try to hide it. Hive knows you didn’t have any problems being honest with your emotions when we first met.”
“I’m not annoyed! I was just worried that Twilight wouldn’t like it if she knew! Thanks for considering how she’d feel!” Rainbow’s preening intensified and I made sure to keep my gaze on Applejack.
The farmer looked at me with a casual-yet-calculating look that could give her brother a run for his money. “Ah’m sure she would, sugarcube, but ya should still tell her yer looking out for her.” She elbowed Rainbow. “And stop that! Yer making our guest mighty uncomfortable.”
Still whistling, Big Mac set the finished salads on the kitchen table. He arched an eyebrow at his sister, eyes shifting from her to me.
“Alright, alright.” Applejack sighed, slumping into her seat. “Big Mac is never going ta shut up about it if we don’t go with you. Still thinks we owe you for the concussion.” She pulled Rainbow into the chair beside her. “Just give us a moment ta scarf down break—”
There was a knock on the door, along with two quick message spells from the triplets. “We’re here. Can we seduce Macintosh, now?”
“—fast.” The farmer glared through the wall in the general direction of the door. “Ya mind getting that, Mac? They at least had the decency to knock before you sat down to.”
“I’ll get it.” I waved Big Mac towards his seat, set my apples on the table, and trotted into the hall. “It’s just the triplets, here for your chores.” Nothing else.
“Oh, and Rainbow!” I called over my shoulder. “I forgot to mention that you’re covered, too—not that you’d have much to do on such a bright, sunny, day, but Webber is coordinating things in your absence.” Trotting to the door, I opened it expecting to find the Echo triplets pulling out all the seduction stops.
“Howdy, y’all!”
Instead, a sea of orange and freckles met me as I opened the door.
“Not what ya were all expecting, Mah Lord?” The middle Applejack drawled
“Or is it exactly what ya wanted?” The outer two Applejacks giggled.
I stopped to stare so ve might take stock of the situation. “Ve assume you know better than to seduce Big Mac, then?”
“We had you going for a second, though, didn’t we?” There was a chorus of laughs.
“Yes, yes you did….” I sighed, massaging the bridge of my snout. “Although, ve shudder at the thought of what you were planning to do if Big Mac or Applejack opened the door. Just… just stay on the porch here until Big Mac comes to get you, then. And no playing jokes on him!”
Closing the door, I projected sweet reassurances through the door. They had tried not to show it, but I could taste the slightly sour undercurrent of their anxiety. Pranking a lord was completely unheard of back at the hive. Doing so, even here at an isolated location, must have taken a lot of their nerve.
I walked back into the kitchen and sat down. “They’ll be waiting for you on the porch, Mac.”
The stallion chewed and swallowed his mouthful of salad ponderously. “Eeyup.”
“Also—” I squirmed. “—please don’t get mad if they try to seduce you. I mean, they told me they were just joking, but they’re harvesters, so…” I bit into one of the apples I’d left behind and deposited the other in my corbiculae.
Big Mac took another bite, forestalling his answer once more. “Eeyup.”
“Yes you will? Or yes you won’t?”
Crunch. Chew. Swallow. “No reason to get mad, is there?”
“Harvesters can be a bit…” Ve hesitated. “...overwhelming when they set their sights on somepony like that.”
Finishing the last of his salad, Big Mac stood. Slowly collecting everypony’s bowls, he put them in the sink before tightening his yoke. “Can’t be any worse than the rest of Ponyville.”
“Both mares and stallions, regardless of which way their wind blows.” Rainbow waggled her eyebrows until Applejack slugged her in the shoulder.
“Ow!” She rubbed her shoulder and pouted in mock pain. “Like his chiseled abs hold a candle to your buns of steel.” She pecked her marefriend on the cheek. “Besides, he snores almost as loud as you do.”
Big Mac gave a rumbling sigh as he opened the window beside him with a practiced movement—approximatly a quarter of a second after Rainbow’s comment. It was almost too slow for Rainbow’s equally quick exit, but far faster than AJ could wind up her lasso. The entire scene—not even a full second in length—had been so in synch that one could easily think it was staged.
At least, ve had the first time I’d seen it.
With measured patience, Applejack lowered her lasso and sighed. “Ya know, if Ah just took a step to the left—”
A rainbow blur rushed back in and out, leaving a feather in Applejack’s mane.
“—Ah could trip her up when she does that? Ah love that gal, but she’s as predictable as the weather sometimes.”
I bit into the last of my apple, levitating the core into the garbage. “I would agree, but the saying kind of loses meaning when we’re right next to the Everfree, doesn’t it?”
“Nope.” Applejack plucked the feather free so she could bind it more securely with the band in her mane. “Living by the Everfree makes the saying just right.”
I thrummed. “Wise words, if ve’ve ever heard them.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were failing their first test rather horrendously.
Hera, Wyrman, and Lyra had been following us deeper and deeper into Whitetail Woods for the last fifteen minutes, and they hadn’t noticed yet—not even Lyra, who acted more pony than changeling and was only a harvester. Admittedly, ve had expected as much, but I had thought that maybe—just maybe—they would surprise us.
Levitating my map in front of me, I discreetly hid my message spell. “It’s a wash. Move in.”
A sudden, shrieking, buzz pierced the air as the ‘bear’ that had been lurking near us since we entered the woods burst into emerald flames. Applejack cringed at the auditory assault, while Rainbow outright collapsed. I, myself, knew it was coming, and I barely managed not to follow Applejack’s lead.
Hera leapt from the flames, a hulking behemoth of chitin and muscle. Charging the disoriented Applejack, she quickly pinned the farmer beneath her before she could gain any kind of leverage.
I tsked at the display. “Lesson one: expect the unexpected. Even changeling warriors—blunt and to the point as they are—will attempt to utilize any advantage they can.”
Hera ceased rubbing her wings together to make that hive-forsaken, unearthly, chirp, letting Applejack and Rainbow up. Her azure armor plates were thankfully devoid of their usual spikes—as I’d asked—but I could see she’d taken the initiative to repurpose them instead of removing them. Her ‘helmet’ now also ensconced her horn in a protective layer so thick that ve doubted anypony would be able to disrupt her spell casting with a mere flick to the horn. Even a buck to the head might not do it, depending on how many synthetic painkillers were pumping through her veins.
Saluting me, she ignored the glares coming from the two mares. “Lesson two: know your enemy, if possible. I was able to completely incapacitate Miss Dash—” a flash of heat and spice filled the air before she could manage a filter “—by utilizing her sensitivity to the wind sense.”
“Not cool, dude.” Rainbow rubbed at her ears with her hooves.
Hera hissed out a deep, echoing, thrumm, and I hastily interjected myself between them.
“Ladies. Ladies.” I tried to wave away their aggression. “No need to fight between lessons. You’ll be doing enough of that during class.” I smiled apologetically at AJ and Dash. “Don’t worry, though. When we’re done with you, you should be able to beat Hera seven times out of ten.”
Hera tsked, and I glared at her. “You know you can’t make up for their raw magical strength. Now lighten up before you go making enemies with the two Elements that took the longest for me to placate.”
The warrior bowed her head, suitably humbled, and stood off to the side behind me. Staring stoically into the distance, she dutifully waited for orders—probably simmering beneath her facade.
I shook my head and sighed at the sight of her standing stiff as a rock. This whole thing might send my progress with Hera back a few steps. Still, there wasn’t much I could do about that other than silently try to placate Hera with my dry, lemony-sweet, concerns.
I turned back to Applejack and Rainbow as I continued to silently sooth Hera. “Now I understand you two are agitated from those tests, but I needed to see where I had to begin.”
I gazed around the remnants of their battlefield, although calling it that was generous. “To put it bluntly, I’ve got my work cut out for me with you two, but, if you stick with me, it’ll be worth it. Once you know all the tricks we can throw at you, then you’ll be prepared to handle them, and you should easily be able to overwhelm any threats to Twilight or yourselves.”
I closed my eyes to thrum in thought. “Not only that, but you’ll be able to find said threats to Twilight and yourselves—which is honestly more important. With her kind of power, Twilight could probably handle an entire legion of changelings on her own, as long as she isn’t caught off guard. With her lack of fine control over her pegasus and earth pony magic, though, I can’t teach her the easiest ways to catch the kind of threats she really needs to be aware of.”
“Tests?” Rainbow looked around as Applejack silently arched an eyebrow at me. “As in, more than one? Are the woods completely full of changelings ready to jump out at us or something? Cuz that would be awesome!”
“The first test was if you noticed Hera.” I pulled out a checklist—encrypted with a basic cypher in case Rainbow tried to sneak a peak—and made a show of going over it. “The second was if you could take Hera. Unfortunately, it seems the changelings you faced at Canterlot were nothing but some of Mother’s conscripts. Ve had thought that maybe Mother had deemed you a high enough threat to merit her elite troops, but both she and her ego must have underestimated you.”
I tsked. “Regardless, more tests will be coming, but first I must teach you two the arts of tremorsense and wind sense. You two are simply at too much of a disadvantage without it, considering how easily Hera was making it for you two to notice her. She ambled into view no less than twenty-seven times as the exact same bear, and you didn’t once get suspicious.”
Walking around the two, I stopped behind Rainbow and poked her. “Wings out! Feel the wind in your feathers, and tell me what it whispers to you.”
“Uhh… Mo? This is a forest. Wind doesn’t really reach this deep.” There was a small whip crack as Rainbow flicked her tail at me, but she nonetheless spread her wings.
“The wind is just a metaphor.” I chuckled. “All of the atmosphere—the very air itself—is constantly speaking to you, much like the earth constantly speaks to Applejack. Normally with ponies, the conversation is one way, but you’ve proven you have what it takes to listen to the wind, Dash.”
With a flick of my wings, I crafted a small breeze, and sent a message through the air such that it avoided Rainbow’s ears yet traveled over her wings. “Ve’re confident both you and Applejack will learn to attune to your respective elements. Now, tell me what the wind says!”
Rainbow fidgeted for exactly ten seconds flat. “I don’t know, alright! How the hay do you listen to wind?! Can’t we just fight changelings?”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Have ya tried actually listening, hon? Ah’m pretty sure a little patience might go a long way.”
“Urgh….” Rainbow rolled her shoulders slowly and arduously—the weight of immeasurable boredom on her back. “It’s so boring to just stand here with my wings out, though. I used to hate when the teachers at flight camp did exercises like this.”
Okay, then…. Clearly, ve needed to reevaluate the traditional plan of approach. Infiltrator training probably wasn’t going to work with somepony who had the attention span of a filly. Perhaps something more nymph level was needed.
“Just try, Rainbow.” I was, thankfully, behind the pegasus still, so she didn’t see me baring my fangs in a predatory grin.
Applejack did, though, and she raised her eyebrow once more, but didn’t actually say anything. Rainbow fidgeted as she futilely tried to listen, and I counted to ten in my head. Just before the ten second mark, I twisted the breeze I was maintaining so that it blew past her ears.
“What was that?!” Her ears attempted to violently swat the air repeatedly.
“You tell me.” My grin threatened to decapitate me as I changed the message on the wind, staggering it such that she had to concentrate on multiple passes to catch it all. Ten seconds later, I sent the breeze past her ears again.
“Eye.” Rainbow’s neck was taut, and her wings were flared. “Ma. Moor. On.”
“You’re almost there!” I buzzed excitedly. “You just need to use your wings to read everything at once! Make the wind do your bidding!”
Rainbow’s temple throbbed as her she suddenly stopped fidgeting. Her feathers twitched in a manner far more cohesive and organized than before before she opened her mouth to scream in victory.
“I’m a moron!”
There was a moment of silence before I began to cackle. Rainbow soon joined me in laughing, and even Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Oh, I’m so getting you for that.” Rainbow slugged me in the shoulder.
“It worked didn’t it?” I bared my fangs in a grin and sent forth another breeze.
Her wings twitched and she blushed slightly. “How the hay do you know— What do you mean, ‘Castle is always watching?!’” Her wings flared, and her blush deepened—the taste of rubber fading into leather.
“Umm… Rainbow?” I chittered nervously. “I didn’t say anything about Castle.” Several messages to the watching Spi and Lyra—as well as a glance at the still stock still Hera—informed me that they hadn’t been involved.
Rainbow’s wings twitched again, and she rolled her eyes. “Sure, you didn’t—like how you didn’t just make a fat joke. Quit being immature! You’ve made your point already!”
Twitch.
“Oh, real nice. I bet you say that to all the girls in your ‘secret harem’ the papers are always going on about. You should know I don’t—”
Twitcha-twitch.
“Hey! I can use my shower head however I want, and I don’t appreciate you implying—”
Twitchity-twitch.
“I had to get the whipped cream out somehow! So what if it happened to—“
Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.
“Argh!”
There was a smacking sound as a wing hit my face.
Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.
“Rainbow!” Applejack stomped a hoof. “What in the hay is wrong with you?! Didn’t you just hear what Morpheus had to say?”
Rainbow sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “The wind was kind of distracting me. I’m guessing the fact that the laughter is still going on means that you stopped a while ago?”
“Yes.” I tentatively checked my cheek for cracks. “ I stopped after I first got you to listen. If you had bothered listening to me and not the wind past that point, you would have realized that. That brings us to the next lesson, however. Lesson three: the wind can be an enormous ass. You must learn to filter the useful info from the drivel.”
“Please let me beat her to a pulp for hitting you.” There was a piteous whine from Hera’s wings, and her composure momentarily broke. As she shifted weight from one hoof to the other, I could see her straining muscles in anticipation of a pounce she had to have known would never come.
“She just assaulted you again, and you’re just… just… argh!” With a vicious buzz and a hiss at Rainbow, she wordlessly expressed her thoughts on what I was doing before I sensed an even stronger filter clamp down over her—an emotional void in the world. Her distrust was the only emotion I could pick up from her—an extra bitter glare directed towards Rainbow as she forced herself back into a statuesque salute.
“Woah. Somepony needs a chill pill.” Rainbow began to hover around Hera, poking at her for a reaction. “Seriously, what’s your deal with me. You never lashed out before.”
“Hera is the epitome of discipline when she needs to be.” I tsked as I felt a small crack. “You haven’t seen her like this before because she usually bottles up her issues with you when you’re near. She does, however, take issue with how you treated me when I first arrived.”
Pulling some carapace cement from my corbiculae, I began to treat the mostly superficial wound. “Ve had assumed she would show just as much discipline here, but ve suppose the chance to vent on you in controlled conditions is causing her to slip.”
Grabbing Rainbow with my telekinesis, I dragged her away from the increasingly bitter and now blistering air around my loyal guard. “Also, stop that. You’re only making things worse. Hera needs to come to terms with you at her own pace, not with you trying to force a chill pill down her throat. Poking at her is liable to cause a repeat—albeit a reversed repeat—of what happened between you and me, and I’d rather avoid hospitalizing either of you with a concussion or worse.”
Definitely worse given Hera’s current state. That wing slap Rainbow gave me had to have been hard to leave a crack. Letting Hera see that was equivalent to poking an already angry wasp nest.
An enormous and enraged wasp nest with a queen the size of a small bear.
“Now, keep this pose and tell me everything the wind says to you, word for word! Ve’re sure you’ll eventually here about some of the… guests and presents I had scattered throughout the forest for today. Learn what that feels like so you can tune out the unimportant stuff.”
Still holding Rainbow in my telekinesis, I set her in a sturdy stance and forced her wings open just like those exercises from flight camp she hated so much. Sure, it was petty, and I felt a little guilty doing it, but I wanted to make sure Hera saw she wasn’t alone. I wouldn’t put up with antagonization from either her nor Rainbow while we were training.
“Eurgh….” Rainbow tried and failed to hold the pose.
I corrected her.
Several times.
“Now, Applejack.” I turned most of my attention to the thankfully level headed-farmer. She was being far more patient than ve had any right to expect. “I’m sorry for taking so long to get to you. Have you ever heard the earth speak to you? Ve don’t expect a yes, but I want to cover all the options. It’s an extremely rare talent among the hive, but working on your farm showed me just how differently we use our earth pony magic. For all ve know, what’s exceedingly rare for us might just be part and parcel for powerful earth ponies.”
“Ah don’t think so, sugarcube?” The farmer rolled her shoulders and poked at the ground. “And before ya ask, no, Ah ain’t ever heard of any earth ponies like that either. Some of the really old rock farm families might be able to do that, but if they can they’ve kept that secret for a mighty long time. Still, might explain that Pairing Stone Pinkie’s family mentioned.”
Great. Yet another mystery to never ask the Pink Menace about. Maybe if ve sent an agent to talk to the rest of her family…
I shook my head before our musings on the Enigma got the best of me. “Oh well. It was a long shot, ve weren’t sure I would be able to help you with that, even with our knowledge on the matter. Our memories on the subject are… confusing…. Most don’t translate well to changelings incapable of the feat—like me. Probably for the best, though. From our understanding, just because someling can hear the earth doesn’t mean it will talk to them, nor will it tell them what they want. Wind may be mischievous, but it is malleable. Earth likes to be as stubborn and silent as a rock.”
Looking back at Rainbow, I corrected her stance—only mildly paying attention to all the mundane drivel her wind sense was feeding her. Mostly jokes or obscene observations. Every once in awhile she’d claim to hear laughing over some pegasus crashing. When I was sure she’d stay in position for more than five seconds, I turned back to Applejack.
“If listening to the earth is out, though, ve are almost positive ve can teach you how to actively use tremorsense. Ve are a little worried you might not be able to read it—given your raw magical strength and the amount of input you might get back—but ve will cross that bridge when we reach it.”
Setting myself into a wide stance, I nodded appreciatively as Applejack copied me without needing to be told.
“Do note: ve are going off of our memories—not mine. I am not comfortable enough with tremorsense to teach it to you.”
Applejack arched an eyebrow but nodded without complaint, and I closed my eyes as ve considered how to start. The lesson would be good for me as well with any luck.
“Now the first thing to do is learn how to make the pulse. Ve want you to focus on a point within your chest roughly where your heart is. Can you do that?
“Eeyup.” Her response was slow and measured.
“Good. Now slowly move that point down your foreleg to the tip of your hoof. When it gets there, bring it back, moving at the same steady speed you took it there. Repeat this cycle—this rhythm—until your foreleg starts to tingle. Tell me when that happens.”
“Eeyup.”
There were several minutes of nothing but Rainbow rattling off the latest town gossip as she picked up a breeze coming from Rarity.
“Try to keep your feathers still. If you just let them twitch at every little breeze, you’ll never learn to read the wind.” The harsh fractured buzz of Hera’s voice had me glancing at her worriedly for a moment, but the rigid emotionless discipline to her form assured me of her intentions.
Hera snorted. “If you keep your feathers rigid for a moment after the wind hits, you’ll get a sense of how it’s trying to shape your wings—and thus what kind of messages it’s giving you. Yes, that’s right. I said messages. You’re getting a bunch at once and just rattling off the small stuff. Figure out how to differentiate between different whispers of wind, and you can ignore the messages you don’t want so you can actually hear what you’re listening for.”
I tried to smile gratefully to the warrior for playing nice, but she was avoiding looking straight at me.
“Ah think Ah got it.”
I internally sighed, turning my smile to Applejack instead. She hesitantly accepted it with one of her own.
“What now?”
“Now,” I closed my eyes again, “I want you to extend that feeling across your body. Start by alternating which foreleg you send your focus down, and, when you get a good rhythm going doing that, move on to splitting your focus down both forelegs at once. When you master that, do the same for all four legs at once, and—if you can manage to do that before I check on you again—try and push that feeling beyond your hooves.”
Silence—relatively speaking—descended upon us once more. Going through the exercise myself, I let myself get lost in the tingly sensation of pulsing down first one foreleg then another. It was a lot harder than I remembered, and I kept accidentally sending full pulses down all four hooves into the earth out of habit.
I lacked finesse, and it bothered me much more than I liked.
Still, I at least had the control to split my attention with the exercise and Rainbow Dash. Hera was proving her mettle once more by giving tips and advice. I could still taste the heated, bitter, air around her, but now it was driven—focused by a steel funnel of resolve.
And then, there was a spike of various oranges and cotton candy—curiosity, surprise, and the euphoria of something new.
“Woah, nelly!”
Beyond our wildest expectations for the day, Applejack managed to consciously pulse her magic through the earth. There was a slight ripple beneath my hooves as the massive wave of Applejack’s magic managed to warp the very earth, and the rustling creak of trees filled the air as they shifted their boughs instinctively toward the epicenter of the blast.
Then the pulse came back, and I stumbled at the raw information that spilled into my hooves without me asking. I nearly fainted as images of miles worth of terrain flashed through our mind’s eye.
The trees shuddered, and the earth rumbled, and ve quailed at the thought of what teaching this to Twilight might involve.
Finally, as the pulse returned to its point of origin, Applejack bucked and reared, jumping away from the ground like it was lava. A pained and terrified whinny tore its way from her throat before she crashed into earth, unconscious.
Ve stared into the distance, stuck attempting to parse the massive wave of information that was overwhelming my senses. I was vaguely aware that Rainbow had broken her posture to rush to her marefriend’s side, and I only had to correct her posture once or twice before I became aware enough to realize that was not helping.
“Woah, nelly, indeed….” I rolled my shoulders methodically. There was a cracking sound as all my plates popped, and—once I was suitably sure I wouldn’t collapse—I released my stabilization rods from both my fetlock cavities and the ground.
Wait. I had grounded myself? I hadn’t even felt myself deploy those amid the rush of information.
Blinking my haw a time or two, ve finally finished processing all the critical data, and quickly shoved the rest to the side so I could take stock of the situation. A frantic Rainbow Dash was half-nudging, half-nuzzling a mumbling, comatose Applejack, while Hera stood eerily still. Both the warrior and the farmer were no doubt stuck in the same dilemma I had been in. Spi and Lyra—still in hiding—were probably in a similar boat.
“Well, then…. It’d be best for us to figure out a counter to… whatever that was.” I wobbily waved at Applejack only slightly aware that nopony—or ling—was paying attention. “And I think we can all agree that the next step is teaching Applejack finesse.”
There was a series of clicks, clacks, and a piteous whistling chirp as the statue known as Hera collapsed in a heap on the ground. “By the Azure Veil, I feel like I just lost a fight with a mountain….” She blinked several times, and hissed—the sour taste of spoiled milk suddenly curdling the air around her. “Morpheus? Morpheus?! I can’t see you, Morpheus! The influx won’t stop!”
“Lyra is similarly incapacitated. I have regained control.” Two messages came in from Spi, one after the other.
“Assist Lyra with parsing data.” I silently fired back a reply. “I’ll take Hera and Applejack.”
Stepping up to Hera, I crossed my horn with hers and gently probed for a private connection. She acquiesced, and ve were once more assaulted by the data Applejack had harvested. Poking through what my most loyal friend had and hadn’t parsed, ve realized she had accidentally skipped some info that needed to be handled before the process could be safely sidelined. With a small tweak, ve corrected the issue, and Hera hissed once more as her field of view switched back to our local little slice of the woods.
Helping her up, I gave her a small hug. “I need you to restrain Rainbow if she decides to resist when ve’re helping Applejack.
“Affirmative.” There was a stoic nod from the warrior—the most microscopic of smiles curving up the corners of her mouth.
“What’d you do to her, you jerk?!” I was unceremoniously pushed to the side by Hera as a rainbow bullet shot at us with a whip crack.
Hera faced Dash’s onslaught head-on: literally. She caught the pegasus’ blow on her heavily reinforced horn, first deflecting her to the side. As Rainbow passed her, she deftly caught the pegasus’ tail in her telekinesis, and redirected her once more—straight into the ground. Quickly jumping onto her target, she used her extra weight to pin and restrain Rainbow, and she turned the grief-stricken mares head towards me as I got up as fast I could to skitter over to Applejack.
“I’d just love to say ve knew better than to expect anything else from you, but that would be petty and unprofessional.” Hera hissed into her prisoner’s ear. “In the same vein, right now your anger is incredibly petty and unprofessional. I know how much it hurts to see the one you care for the most in pain, but you know better than to doubt your friend by now. See that? See him trying to help Applejack?!”
Rainbow gave a strangled snort that transitioned into a sob, breathing heavily as she watched us work our magic. The connection had been made, but was muddied, and Applejack’s thoughts were sluggish compared to our own as she futilely tried to weather the avalanche of information.
A mountain of information continued to fall on her as her mind ran in circles trying to escape it all. Thousands of pieces of irrelevant information bombarded her like pebbles as she had to sidestep boulder after boulder of the big stuff. She wasn’t even trying to read the information, and was merely instinctually passing it around in an eternal feedback loop—forcing us to go through the monumental task of parsing the entire package.
It took a good fifteen minutes to manage all the critical info—to build the superstructure that would house all the nitty-gritty—and, when ve did so, ve miserably realized ve were forced to continue, as it seemed pony minds couldn’t pause the influx once it began like changelings could.
Another hour passed with nopony moving. Rainbow had calmed and was quietly sniffling into Hera’s chest, while Applejack continued to mumble incoherently before me. Hera sat without complaint, thrumming a nameless tune to comfort her current charge.
At some point, Spi and Lyra had shown up to help—as had Webber and the Echo triplets, who claimed to have felt the wave of magic all the way in Ponyville.
In the end, we all had to parse a detailed survey of a twenty mile radius that included a good section of the woods and most of Ponyville. We had discovered two infiltrators tailing us—certainly long gone—five infiltrators still in Ponyville that weren’t known members of the Everfree Hive, thirteen harvesters that Lyra vouched for as either being from the Everfree or from a neutral third-party hive, and one fellow lord who was most likely Mother despite the oddity of the readings.
Applejack was now gently snoring, having curled right up under Rainbows wing after it had been deemed safe to let the pegasus go.
“I am so sorry, Rainbow Dash.” Hanging my head, I kicked at the ground. “Ve didn’t expect this as an outcome even in our wildest projections.”
Rainbow nuzzled her marefriend, brushing her lips against Applejack’s forehead. “If anything, I’m the one who should be apologizing, flyboy. If I’d just stopped to think for a moment.”
“Your reaction was natural.” Hera tsked. “Do not beat yourself up for it. Merely ensure you do better next time.”
“Urgh….” Rainbow’s wings twitched restlessly, causing Applejack to wrap her tail more tightly with Rainbow’s own. “Does there even have to be a next time?”
“Yes.” I sighed. “What you two did here today only convinced me that ve were right to start training you. The amount of information you both picked up was staggering in both range and depth, and it takes an extremely well fed changeling to be able to emulate what you both stumbled onto with minor training. If ve can just figure out how to teach you both control… or maybe just teach you how to redirect your magic to a group of changelings to parse everything for you…”
Rainbow reached over to her other wing to preen a few feathers. The few she plucked were carefully inserted into Applejack’s mane before she turned back to me. “Whatever…. If it’s for Twilight, I’ll do it, but make sure you come up with something so that this doesn’t happen again.”
“Of course.” I bowed my head once more. “If I had known just how much a difference there would be in the scale of what you two could collect, I would have done that sooner.”
“Rainbow?” Applejack stirred. “You there, hon?”
“I’m here AJ.” Rainbow leaned over to nuzzle her special somepony.
“Good. Do me a favor, then, and slap Morpheus like the varmint he is. The only pony allowed to make me feel anywhere near that good is you.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Do… Do you mean you…?”
“Not quite, sugarcube, but it was pretty darn close when that wave came back and knocked me nine ways to Sunday.”
“Mmrgmf…” Rainbow snerked, trying and failing to hold in her laughter. “I guess you— Ha! Ahahaha! I guess you could say that— Ahahahahahahahaha! I can’t even get the joke out! It’s too funny as it is! Celestia, I was so worried, AJ.” As the pegasus pulled her lover into an increasingly long, tongue-filled, kiss, everyling sans Hera and I decided it was high time to vacate the premises before the budding taste of leather overwhelmed the lemony concern in the air and progressed past the point of no return.
“Ahem.” I coughed politely.
They failed to break apart.
“Ahem!” I tried much louder this time.
They still failed to respond.
“Ahem!” Hera coughed with a deep thrumming buzz—finally netting the attention of the two lovebirds.
“Thank you for stopping in time.” I droned in a deadpan. “Now, since AJ’s finally conscious, I need to run one last check on her to make sure everything is all fine. If you’d please refrain jumping each other until then, I’d greatly appreciate it.”
“Killjoy.” Rainbow snorted, standing and shaking herself like a dog. “I guess you got a point, though. Want me to grab Zecora?”
“If you’d please.” I hovered over Applejack, poking and prodding her. “Ve should have fixed everything, but it’s not like ve’ve ever performed a procedure like this on a pony before. Another opinion would be nice.”
“Got it!” There was a sudden lack of Dash as she rocketed into the air.
“And come back to the farm when you find her!” I shook a hoof at the retreating Rainbow. “At least that way, you two will have a room when we’re done!”
Could someone please spell out for me the joke that was so funny that Rainbow couldn't say it? Thank you.
8322635
You might say, 'The earth moved for her!'
We here at the Equestrian Geological Institute have put together a rough simulation of what occurred this day...
The previously aptly named 'tremor sense' doesn't do this effect justice. As such, we have named it the 'Seismic Location Resonance Pulse' (Or SLRP for short).
Unfortunately, all our instruments exploded upon the return wave.
8322635
There technically isn't one because I'm not that good at dirty jokes. I spent like a half hour trying to come up with a dirty joke of sufficient quality and failed...
Although in hindsight, she could have with gone a 'rock your world' joke, but that feels meh compared to what I'd expect from Rainbow in such a situation.
Your know , if Rainbow wasn't already in a ship in this universe , I would ship her with Hera so hard Mo himself wouldn't be able to process it.
8320903
Huh, that is one hell of a coincidence. I've seen it happen with little obvious things, but this might be the first time I've ever seen it with a major foundation of the plot. Based on your reply I'll give it a pass here, but I think you can understand why I would assume it was the plot being warped to match the show rather than a coincidence this big.
As for the shipping, I think you are conflating two different things here. I'm not saying they couldn't get together because passion is unpredictable and illogical so just about anyone can get together, I'm saying the relationship can't last because personality conflicts will tear it apart. In all honesty, given the prominence and aggression of the conflict at work here their relationship has already lasted longer than it really should have, so you may want to consider showing that inevitable explosion at some point in this fic. They have already served their purpose of showing changeling perception at this point so there's no need to keep them together, and there's a lot of storytelling potential in the way a relationship ends, especially if it is messy like this will be (and triply so because we get to see the changeling perspective on it).
As for this chapter, on the plus side, you are focusing more on the others which is a definite improvement, but Rainbow still feels too aggressive even if it isn't as bad as earlier. She shouldn't be getting that physically violent, just aggressively getting in people's faces and maybe giving a modest (i.e. enough to sting without really hurting and definitely not doing real damage) whack when someone does something exceptionally stupid. She's also missing a lot of her nuances and intelligence even though they should both be on full display here. The uncertainty in her relationship with Morpheus should be bringing out her more logical side to think through those social interactions as a problem to be solved rather than something to breeze through without thinking (this split is very obvious with the gala tickets where she first reacts, then steps back and thinks), and her inability to do anything for Applejack should be bringing out her self esteem issues and making her an emotional wreck like we saw in the Best Young Flyers Competition. Furthermore, she is more than smart enough to put two and two together and realize that AJ was the source of that tremor and that she must have had it worse than the prepared changelings since she also saw them lock up, so her response should have been asking them what AJ did and how to fix it, not attacking them.
8322955
Frankly, that would make a hell of a lot more sense than AJ. Hera also has that drive to improve which AJ completely lacks, and while fighting is something Rainbow is good at and takes pride in, it's not a core focus for her, especially the kind of highly lethal combat Hera focuses on, so there's enough difference there for Rainbow to not get destructively hyper-competitive with Hera like she does with AJ. When you throw in the fact that they are both loyal to a fault with major focuses on each half of the main couple to help them bond over that loyalty, there is absolutely a rock solid foundation for a lasting relationship there unlike the existing pairing which is doomed to tear itself apart sooner rather than later.
Holy shit that was some crazyness right there! Who knew that AJ was THAT powerful with Earth Sense? Though honestly "Earth" hardly does it justice.
I am amused at what the Wind was saying to Rainbow! Talk about mischief right there! <3
8323078
It's less of a coincidence than you think, mostly because it fell in the category of preplanned events that I had multiple plausible plans for. Chrysalis needed a way to fool the detection spell, stealing cutie marks was one such method I had considered. When Starlight showed up, it basically allowed me to implement it without it seeming far fetched. There's not even a guarantee she stole it from Starlight. She could have just as easily researched it on her own after hearing about the possibilty.
As to the Appledash, I don't want to get into too much of a debate over it, because -- as I've said -- it's really nothing more than a tool, but I think you're overestimating how competitive they are with each other nowadays. They've greatly matured as the show has gone on -- they rarely butt heads anymore and when they do it's very mild and friendly compared to before -- and the story is even further beyond the shows undefined timeframe. That said, this is the biggest argument for why I portray Rainbow too aggressively. I'm pulling from both early and late Rainbow Dash for the sake of story. The Buckball episode is a great example of this as they get really competitive, but instead of clashing they just reflect off each other to smother Fluttershy and Pinkie. Heck, they somehow aren't even the slightest bit jealous they aren't on the team, instead channeling their competitive streak to be the best trainers ever. That is a huge sign of how much they've turned their competitive streaks into a healthy aspect of their friendships.
I digress, though. I don't want it to sound like I'm defending the ship when it's more of a disagreement in how we both seem to perceive Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
8322955
I... I honestly don't know what to say to that.... That was not the first Hera ship I would have imagined. In fact... would you believe me if I said Hera potentially has feelings for Morpheus, but they haven't actualized because she doesn't believe changelings can fall in love? Go back and look at what she said this chapter when Rainbow charged Mo, and you'll hopefully see what I mean.
That isn't to say anything will happen, but it's a plot thread I've been laying seeds for on the off chance I decide to go through with it. There is some sense to the HeraXRainbow ship, though, I suppose.... I'll need to think on it and evaluate whether a break up would be a healthy thing for the story to look at or if it'd just add too much unnecessary drama and awkwardness between RD and AJ.
I really like the description of Hera's discombobulation. Applejack accidentally DDOSed the hive mind and left some changelings with sensory pointer errors.
You know, this really needs the Sex tag.
8323537
That would might for a really good last resort, if AJ learns how to do it repeatably.
Holy guacamole... if Twilight learns it, she'll probably be able to map all of Equestria... AND comprehend it!
I wonder how much of these techniques is known to the Sisters...
8323829
I've considered it, but don't want to be too hasty. I mean, there are moments it takes implications as far or farther than some of the other stories I've seen tagged both teen and sex, but I personally feel like that rarely happens -- although it has been happening more and more recently. Would you care to give your reasoning here? It would be more helpful than simply saying it needs the tag.
8324313
My opinion is that it doesn't need one, just yet anyway. I think the tag is for shown sex, rather then implied.
If you show it, then add the thing. If not, it doesn't need it.
8324313
If sex is a recurring plot point (and it is; you've said in the past the AppleDash is there to allow exposition of changeling reactions to sex in a way that's otherwise impossible), the tag is necessary.
8324373
No, that doesn't make a lot of sense, since showing sex would probably push the rating to Mature. The tags are not synonymous.
Wasn't is always "Sycadia"? My memory is bad, a typo, or retcon?
hear
And yet again it was a nice prospect to have 8 hours of sleep. And then I checked unread...
P.S. Unrelated to anything, it's been raining the whole damn day now. And some part of the night too, likely. Srsly, that's enough water! Stahp!
8323520
Eh, I guess that sort of works works on the first part, although it also brings up another problem. You really should be locking in at least your major plot points before you start to allow for proper foreshadowing and help you avoid creating plot holes because the same logic to why you shouldn't warp your story to incorporate new canon applies to changing other major plot points as well (although it isn't nearly as bad if it is your idea rather than something external).
As for the second, you are conflating bad writing with character development. Rainbow and AJ aren't avoiding fights because they have grown, they are avoiding fights because the shitty writers don't want them distracting from the Mary Sue of the day with silly things like actual characterization and meaningful interactions. If you don't believe me, just ask yourself when and why they changed and you'll see what I mean. You can label points and reasons for real developments like Rainbow becoming more accepting of books and other "egghead stuff" because it was actually shown, but the fights between AJ and Rainbow were just sort of dropped just like how Fluttershy lost the ability to take care of sick/injured animals because the writers were feeling too lazy to keep her consistent.
8325748
Uhh... I have no idea what you're talking about. Fluttershy is a whole separate issue. I mean, AJ and RD had an entire episode devoted to learning not to be too competitive first season. They didn't suddenly drop the competitive streak. It was most likely an overarching goal for their character development, because real friends aren't destructively competitive. In fact, the first two seasons are probably best summed up as the Mane 6 learning to be best friends rather than just friends. That's why the competitiveness between them leveled off to a healthy level later seasons. I mean, Rainbow Dash would never have been able to make Wonderbolt material in the show if she hadn't mellowed her competitive streak.
I feel like the lesson here is that whenever you are performing scientific experiments with any of the Bearers' natural abilities, whatever you think are controlled conditions are no such thing.
I'm not actually sure, that Twilight would be able to learn that seismic sense as effectively as AJ did.
She still didn't dabble much with the abilities and magic earth ponies posses, nor was she lectured on the matter or had shown any concern for it.
Learning that 'seismic sense' might as well be as hard or even harder for her than flying, at the beginning of season 4. Her 'catch me' performance with Flurry Heart in season 7 has shown though that she did improve greatly at flying, compared to back then.
Since this is taking place a few years later, I guess 'general flying' isn't really that much of a problem for her, in a sense of it being second nature to any pegasus. Still, she is no Rainbow Dash, or wonderbolt for that matter. It took her some time to manage flying like any pegasus could.
And that was while Rainbow Dash instructed her, routinely (gave her private lessons from time to time).
But her earth pony affinities? So far they have been neglected since her ascension.
While AJ had no idea about this 'sense' thing or that her passive 'earth pony magic' could be used in that way, she still had her whole life to practice her 'earth abilities' and affinities each and every day on the farm. She still does a lot with her hooves, while twilight levitates around everything, any chance she gets with her horn magic, not even bothering to use her hooves.
So feeling/sensing the ground with her hooves, shouldn't that be hard for her then?
I can imagine her accidentally jump starting her horn every time she would try, only to grunt in frustration every time it happens when she is trying.
The concept of this sense might also be too alien and estranged to her, as a unicorn born, to properly understand what she's supposed to do with her hooves and the ground.
In a sense of 'ground is made for walking, not talking' unicorn type of confusion.
Every failure in turn then, would make her increasingly frustrated more and more so until proper concentration isn't possible anymore. She'd have to take very long brakes from practicing, thus having a much harder time to succeed, where AJ just swiftly did.
At least, that's how I would imagine her training sessions would go.
8327670
True, but that's only half the reason to avoid teaching Twilight for now. The fact is alicorn capabilities far exceed standard ponies -- recall that while Mo had Applejack shatter a tree he was confident a full power kick from Twilight would level mountains -- so it'd be even harder to teach Twilight control here and control is what's most important. Granted, Mo wasn't expecting a twenty mile burst of info from Applejack either, but that would only reinforce the idea that teaching Twilight would be incredibly difficult compared to Applejack.
8325907
I brought up Fluttershy as another example of how the idiot writers are fucking up characters because it's really easy to see her randomly disappearing skills and impossible to argue that her loosing knowledge and abilities is some form of character growth. I could have brought up other characters too because the core problem is the current show staff, not the characters themselves, so it manifests just about everywhere. Bad writing kills everything else, and the show's writing has gone completely to shit in recent seasons so you cannot give them too much credence.
As for Rainbow and AJ, that growth needed to be shown to be actual growth and not derailment. Yes they did develop that some in season 1, but it is most certainly not something we saw them loose because loosing those competitive streaks would be a major character change. They explored it and grew some, but it was still very much there and a closer relationship will tend to bring problems like that out more when fights inevitably start.
Now, with all of that said, you completely ignored the second and more fundamental problem I mentioned. You can learn not to be as competitive, but you can't learn a different core personality and there's a huge conflict there. Applejack isn't ever going to start experimenting with her farm to see if she can make it better because that just isn't who she is. Similarly, Rainbow isn't ever going to say she is good enough and stop striving for improvement because that isn't who she is. Applejack values consistency and repeatable performance, while Rainbow values improvement above all else. That is a very fundamental difference in how they see the world, and there's no way either one of them is going to change because neither view is wrong. It also means that as they get more involved in each other's lives, they will start trying to project their own worldview onto the other, and that's going to make a huge mess. Rainbow is going to get emotionally invested in AJ's farm so she'll start trying to help improve it because that's a core part of who she is, and AJ is going to be furious because the failures which are an unavoidable part of that kind of experimentation process go against everything she believes in. That right there is a core personality clash, and while they can get along fine even as best friends without it being a problem because there is still some buffer room between them, if they try to really integrate into each other's lives it's going to completely blow up on them and there's nothing they can do to fix it. The closest they can come is to try to ignore the conflicts, but that requires them to go completely against the very core of their own beings which is just going to make them miserable and add a mountain of resentment to the inevitable failure of the relationship. At the end of the day, there's just no getting around the fact that this really is a no-win scenario if you are being true to their characters.
8328167
Look at it this way. A huge factor in determining the lifetime of relationships is fidelity, commitment, and devotion, and true love persists through thick and thin -- good and bad. Two of the most important core personality aspects of Applejack and Rainbow Dash respectively are their dependability and their loyalty. They pride themselves on standing by their friends and loved ones. If Rainbow and Applejack actually came to love each other, I doubt they'd let any of their differences get in the way. Applejack in particular appreciates family and unity, so despite any misgivings she'd probably have about Rainbow breaking tradition, she'd go the extra mile to compromise or at least make Rainbow realize why those traditions exist. And as you said before when you critiqued me, Rainbow isn't stupid. If Applejack makes an attempt to communicate, she's liable to at least listen so that her next improvements take the traditions into account.
8328235
I wasn't aware I was suddenly reading a Magical Girl anime...
But to be fair, Love and Justice hardly conquers all. You know what DOES conquer quite a bit?
Bullets.
And angry men. Lots of angry men.
But enough injecting cold cruel reality in that Rarity-esque vapid fantasy. Personally, the AJ RD ship in this story is little more than a distraction from the real fun. I've already poked D48 to tell him the sideshow act that is that ship isn't worth the argument. But he does make a point that in terms of personality, AJ and RD are not psychologically attuned to some kind of special soulmates relationship. Their core drives don't permit that, and are in fact, counter-active to each other. And I don't mean counter-active in the way 'opposites attract' that people like to think make perfect couples.
No, I'm talking the kind of counter act of 'my core life philosophy goes against the grain of everything you are to the point our habits are going to have us avoiding each other by year's end, lest we murder each other in our sleep' counter-act.
You can get a relationship out of this for a while. But no amount of small fight-and-make-up (with lots of angry hate-sex hidden in the background) is going to make this relationship somehow meet in the middle and be stable. AJ is a farmer, who likes routine, stability, and balance. RD is effectively a daredevil stunt flier who craves action, change, and thrills.
One can make an argument that they are 'good for' each other in that one counters the other. But this isn't simply their hobbies being opposed to mellow one and liven the other in small doses. To make a relationship with these two is to also consider that you are making their diatomically opposite lifestyles blend. If you want an example of how this works out, start looking at the spouses of career soldiers in the military. Especially while they're young. You are going to find that 'Love Conquers All' is a myth among myths.
The romance path for the AJ/RD ship here is likely going to follow that path. They'll have a few seasons of what looks like a good relationship, but RD's going to get bored after a while or feel anchored down, and AJ's going to want something more settled. At that point, it's going to get messy, And it would take the resources of turning that into its own stand-alone story to work through that to a point where you can say 'love Conquers All' and have anyone believe it.
Otherwise, it's a sideshow act and only serves to satisfy some shipping urge you probably have for them. Throughout the story I've just ignored it for the most part.
Contrapoint, the Twilight/Morpheus relationship seems more natural. They're both surprisingly alike, but different enough in how they think that they act as a soft foil to each other while still meshing. Alone, their nature is so neutral that it would likely take forever to point out they'd make a good couple. But just the slightest prod from Rarity is enough to make Morpheus entertain the idea. As the saying goes: "The avalanche has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
Of course, I'm waiting for the relationship to progress to the point where they acknowledge it, and only then so I can wait for Twilight to realize that if they go all the way, Chrysalis becomes her mother in law.
Chrysalis: Of course I say and do horrible things to you, Twilight dear. I'm LITERALLY your Evil Stepmother! What's a princess without the evil stepmother to dog her at every turn? Bonus points that I was queen... An EVIL queen.
8329285
PMing you to avoid more clutter in the comments. You may include D48 in this if you wish, but the lack of positivity in his comments is irrationally irritating me, so I don't trust myself to PM him politely. (There's a reason I ask for people to include specific positive examples when they critique me. You've provided a few positive comments for other chapters, so this is easier to say to you.)
Dammit. I caught up with the story. I just found this intriguing little story last week and now I have to wait for more updates. Well at least you seem to have some kind of schedule.
Channeling Stealth Mountain a bit here, I think you meant "sneak a peek".