When I returned inside, I wasn’t quite sure what had happened out there. Everything out on the balcony just kind of passed in a blur.
I was so focused on looking calm and relaxed and doing what Celestia told me to that I didn’t really pay attention to anything else.
“Easy. Breathe,” Celestia said from next to me, putting her wing across mine, slowly pushing them down. “Deep breaths.”
Swallowing, I nodded and closed my eyes, doing as she said. “Celestia?”
“Yes?”
“Never doing that again.”
“You never need to,” she promised and gave my ear a quick nuzzle. “Go rest. You’ll feel better tomorrow. I’ll talk to the press, you don’t need to be there for that.”
That sounded like a great idea. Actually, I had an even better idea, I was going to grab Swift and Cloud and then get completely fucking smashed.
Nodding, I looked up at her, giving her a small smile and a nuzzle. “Thank you.”
She gave me a quick hug with her wing before leaving. I sat down and closed my eyes. Calm. Relax. It’s over now.
Well, the worst part I think, at the very least. Stretching my wings, I gave them a flap before folding them again and opening my eyes. “Amber?”
“Yes, sir?” she answered just behind me and to the side.
I turned to smile at her. “How did I do?”
She smiled back. “I think you did fine, sir. You looked calm.”
“Thanks,” I said and then got up. “Mind going to ask Cloud if he wants to get fucking drunk? Swift is still outside the door, right?”
“Yes, sir.” She nodded and buzzed off out through the window.
Heading for the door, I pulled it open to spot Swift standing guard outside it. “Hey Swift.”
“Went well?”
I nodded and shrugged my wings. “I think so? Come on, let’s get drunk.”
He frowned. “Not sure I can, I’m on duty.”
“You have the next 24 hours off. If that won’t work, then you are hereby suspended for the next 24 hours,” I said. “Amber can cover for you.”
Swift flicked his ears and then nodded with a grin. “Hey, who am I to argue? As soon as she gets back, I’m off then. So, what are we drinking?”
“Expensive stuff.”
“Awesome.”
I nodded and started down the hallway. “Amber is off to find Cloud right now, see if he wants to join us. Come on, let’s see if we can find Sunset and Twilight too.”
Swift trotted up to move next to me. “Princess Twilight?”
“Yep. Maybe Skitter too if she is still with them.”
“I have the best job,” Swift said with a grin.
“No, your job sucks,” I countered with a grin. “You have the best friends. There is a difference.”
He seemed to consider that for a moment before he shook his head. “Nope. I’m pretty sure it’s my job.”
I just laughed and shook my head with a grin.
Man, I was already getting more relaxed. The question is where to go. Out into Canterlot was just out. The tower?
Yeah, the tower seemed like the best idea.
“..You do realize you are going to get it from Minuette for not telling her I was an alicorn, right?” I commented as we headed for the room where I knew they would be waiting.
“Oh yeah,” Swift answered with a small cringe. “Yeah, that’ll be a fun conversation.”
“Sorry.”
He shrugged. “Comes with the job. She knows I can’t tell her everything. Still, something like this… yeah, she’ll be pissed.”
I nodded and frowned. “To be honest, I should likely have told her myself. I’ll apologize to her later.”
Silver too. I really should have told her about it, she was one of the first ponies I got to know. Ah crap, now I felt bad.
Okay, I’d go talk to her tomorrow. Then stop by and apologize to Minuette on the way back.
Shaking my head, I pulled the door open with my magic. “Hey guys, you wa…”
I froze at the sight that greeted me before slowly and carefully closing the door again, as silently as I could. Not that anypony was likely to have noticed if I just slammed it shut.
Swift frowned at me. “What?”
Oh yeah, he had been on the other side of the door.
I shook my head. “Nopony there, they must have gone somewhere else. Knowing Twilight, all three went to the Library or something,” I said with a shrug. “Guess we have to make do without the eye candy.”
“Eh, happens,” he said with a shrug before he flicked his ear in thought. “…Do you have some cards? We should play cards.”
“Oh fuck no. One, you don’t have any money; two, I know better than to play with a pair of guard ponies! I have heard stories!”
“Oh, come on, we’d go easy on you! Besides, Cloud is awful at it! It’ll be fun!” he said with a grin as we headed towards the tower. “Did I ever tell you of the time that…”
I glanced back across my shoulder.
Wow.
That’s an image I wasn't going to forget anytime soon.
WHAT HAY JUST HAPPENED?
Can't wait for more!
8090498 He saw skitter 'getting it on'... LOL
Twilight and sunset i could see getting busy behind closed doors, but skitter too? Did not see that coming. Good on her.
Good heavens! Wonder what Page saw that made him so nervous.
Well that came out of left field. And REALLY seems off for all characters involved.
I'm assuming he walked in on Skitter + Twilight + Sunset, But that seems VERY fast for all three of them.
... lewd.
I approve.
At first, I thought he caught Sunset and Twilight in the act...but then Page said Skitter at the end...who is with Skitter????
Good job Skitter???
Skitter aww come on spill it will you, who was with her?????
Im guessing Skitters been Nippin' some necks. I gotta say, the harem seems to be moving along without Page ironically.
Whelp that irked me ..was hoping skitter hooked up with blank 1st ...they had a history....and her hooking up with those two 1st (no spoilers) just makes me hope in the end there all together. But *sigh* that was outta the blue kinda disappointing.
Now that's what I call a threesome. Menage a trois all the way baby!
8090530 considering he didn't go looking for the other two drinking suggestions I'm guessing the new couple (no spoilers..don't wanna say in case no one read that far yet.) and her were in that room together conducting bite reaction experiments *wink wink*
That's actually kinda crappy of them. There Page was on the verge of a panic attack, and they were waiting in the wings to be moral support, and they turned it into, hopefully only, a make out session?
Princess of Friendship, indeed.
8090561
Bite reaction? ...oh...oOoooooH!
No Skitter X Blank?
8090525 I know right I mean twi and sunset have been in a relationship for what two days and there all ready going at it and i could swear she had pink dreams after her date with blank before sunset asked her out that's like damn twi flighty much then you add skitter which was way out of nowhere I mean he faced chrysalis to get her back. I was this close to erasing my bookmark to this story ....this close... but due to his cover art I'm hoping they all end together.
When skitter bites she injects "love" energy, to a changling it's food/energy, to a pony it's a strong dose of Barry white+rockstar energy drink. Why didn't he warn them about the mental aspect of the nibbles?
8090624 That implies that Skitter just date raped a princess and her new marefriend. All in all that whole reveal is bad news.
8090581 Quasi date rape of a princess? Hmm, I think the tone of the reveal implies that I'm 'supposed' to root for it but I just don't think I do.
8090525 As others have pointed out its probably because of the changeling bite thing... So you know drug induced date rape, but everyone cheer 'you go girl' for Skitter is the tone it was presented.
I finally get a day off to be lazy at home, watch the rest of season 6 (finally), decide, what the hey, movie marathon so I can watch that new pony movie they made, and then this is the first thing I read after that.
Seriously, Hiver. You tease.
That's pretty horrible of them instead of being around to offer support to their friend. Not a fan of that, and the way Page reacts comes off as bad writing.
I find it hilarious how the comments are either about Blank witnessing Skitter 'getting it on' or about the bites she must have given him during the speech. Bet more than a few ponies are talking about the changeling princess giving Lord Page(or is it Prince now?) love bites.
Could this be construed that Skitter is kissing someone else? Is the implication definetly Twilight and Sunset?
WAIT! Was she with Celestia?!
I wonder if Amber will and Chider can get drunk.
8090548 sunsets gotta get herself a crown before it can be a royal ponypile.
"Page, I am so sorry for what we did!"
"What? Or whom?"
Oh sweet Celestia, you saw that?"
"Gonna be hard to forget, to be honest."
"Page, I am so sorry, I didn't expect it to be so potent and I didn't-"
"It's okay, Sparky, your in a new relationship. It's exciting and fresh. I remember when Luna and I were together for the first night it was magical, it's like that night went on forever.... cause it did. Celestia still gives us grief for that."
Well, while everyone is focused on the final scenes of this chapter, I'm just disappointed that we didn't get to see Celestia embarrass Page in front of the crowd.
8091059 I thought that too for a second but then why give up looking for twilight and sunset for drinks unless they were busy at the moment .... with skitter ... giggity giggity.
Sorry should have added this to a earlier post. I think she actually drained his negative emotions with the bite if I'm remembering right they can live off of other emotions but positive ones taste good while negative ones taste bad. I'm not saying she can't inject feelings too but I got the impression of his nerves calming down on the balcony not him getting peppy or happy. Aaaaaaaaaaaand we all know what twilight's like when it comes to new things to learn. I think the experiment could have got outta hand and one thing led to another if that's true then it's questionable concent .... maybe.....like getting high off of good emotions....but did she bite them thats the question were assuming she did...it coulda just been plain old no attachment friends with benefits sex..but I still think blank and skitter should a been together 1st they've been together way longer then twi or sunset.
In the previous chapter Skitter nipped Page and it had the effect of eliminating his worry and fear with the side effect of spiking his lust.
When Twilight asked about it, Page said "Ask her to show you if you like to know."
Pretty sure Twilight asked... Skitter said OK... and then Twilight jumped Sunset.
Was she railing a body pillow with Page/Luna's image on it?
Or did Twilight actually ask Skitter about what she did to page and now she has jumped Sunset's lady boner?
8091059 There are a lot of ways that could be interpreted, and none of them make all that much sense. A skitter/Celestia romance certainly seems like something that could be plausible as a surprise twist to the story, but I'm fairly sure Celestia is dealing with the press right now so that seems unlikely here. Something with Twilight and Sunset seems much more likely based on the "eye candy" comment and Twilight did express interest in that trick Skitter pulled earlier which could lead to some very bad decisions being made, but if that were the case I wouldn't expect Blank Page to be proud of Skitter since he knows how easily that can destroy relationships. I think the most likely outcome is that Skitter nipped Twilight as requested and then the situation devolved into an awkward mess with Twilight acting like a dog in heat, Skitter trying to keep Twilight from doing anything stupid, and Sunset being her usual unhelpful self by alternating between laughing at the chaos and egging Twilight on. That said, we really don't have enough information to draw any meaningful conclusions from so we'll just have to wait and hope that Hiver actually addresses this rather than brushing it off like some previous important points.
8091822 8091059 It could, alternately, be left as a Noodle Incident: unaddressed and ignored by the author and left to the fans. This, in some cases, leads to crazier things than the author him/herself could come up with, such as in the case of the trope namer.
8092333 That doesn't really work with something sexual in the very early stages of a relationship. Actions this early have a huge impact on the development of the relationship and pushing too fast can easily kill it so we at least need to know what generally happened to understand the development of the relationship.
This is quite possibly the first thing I don't like in the entire series. I say possibly because we don't Know for sure, but as 8091608 points out it is heavily implied. That Skitter bit Twi&Sunny at the beginning of the announcement (Effectively drugging them.) and they were having a threesome by the end of it.(So basically date rape.) Which is both unexpected and fairly disturbing.
To quote Blank Page Himself.
809064 I agree completely.
8092606 Why does everyone assume Skitter would not have explained when asked and not just gone nomnom? Anything that happened after would have been on request.
The Tower?!
cdn.meme.am/cache/images/folder699/600x600/14855699.jpg
(Sorry, feeling quite silly on pain meds... And on Guards wiht no money... maybe it might be safer for Page to invent "Magic; the addiction" or somesuch so he dont have to worry about losing poker money to guards ;)
8092666 I think one reason may be that Page has been bitten at least twice. And has never asked about it and because he hasn't asked we haven't seen.(ergo It has never been explained, not in depth at least.) Another reason might be that people tend to assume the worst. And rape is easily one of the worst.The assumption that Skitter did a bad comes naturally.
8092666 Because Twilight is presented as a normal and rational individual and is in a brand new relationship. Its far more likely that the weird non-pony that doesn't entirely get acceptable pony behavior would just bite her LIKE SHE JUST DID TO PAGE than Twilight to suddenly go "Yeah, I wanna be drugged then have a threesome with a total stranger".
The situation doesn't have a explanation that doesn't involve either rape by drugging or extreme OoC behavior from Twilight all for a gag.
8092776 After all its not like Skitter ask Page if he wanted to be drugged, why would she do differently for Twilight especially if the now drugged Page told her that if she wants to find out just have Skitter bite her.
8092666
I could have been more detailed in my posting.
I'd assume that Twilight asking Skitter about the nip would have started with asking what it's supposed to do and THEN asking to be nipped so she could experience it.
We know the effects are controllable, as Page clamped down on the lust portion immediately, leaving him with just the severely reduced fear and anxiety. Was Twilight unable to fight off the lust spike or did she choose not to? Did Sunset goad her into getting nipped hoping Twilight would jump her? There are a TON of questions we can ask about this whole situation, we'll have to wait and see how many the author answers in following chapters.
8092666 Also allow me to say when I noticed this story I went back an reread the entire series.(200,714 words at the moment.) And after having did that, I can safely say.(With everything fresh on my mind) I only found one thing I dislike...
That's actually an amazing accomplishment.
I have full confidence in both you and this story.
8092787 if someone is given a mind altering drug then you HAVE SEX with them it's rape. They are not in their right mind and unable to consent. So either Twilight randomly decided that she wanted to get drugged and have a threesome with her brand new marefriend and a stranger or they raped her. Both don't make sense in the context of the story.
good night everypony!
While I do agree the timing and execution with twi/sunset/skitter could have gone better, much better, I can actually see a reasonable progression that doesn't necessarily have to include date rape.
1) moral ambiguousness and lack consent aside, Skitter only ever resorted to the bite(at least to my recollection) when Page was a( doing something reckless and stupid or b( he was about to give himself a heart attack and/or high blood pressure at the announcement. Either case was for his well being . Add her earlier discomfort describing 'direct methods' of obtaining love and her vehemence against Chrysalis' methods means she's not likely to use this as anything but an emergency measure...or possibly answering informed (as far as she knows) consent.
2) it's been established that different emotions can affect changelings bodies and moods. Fear and despair causes sickness, happy and celebratory causes an adrenaline rush. It's not a far stretch to think that love wouldn't make one a bit heady and lacking in restraint the same as alcohol to a pony.
So here's my theory: Twilight got curious and asked what happened with Page. Sunset would likely be just as curious. After Skitter explained, Twilight and Sunset may have asked for a demonstration (all it did was add confidence and/or remove negative emotions for a short time, so where's the harm?). Not knowing about Twi and Sun's relationship, Skitter agrees. Twi and Sun lose inhibitions from the bite and Skitter is hit with the concentrated love from two mares in a committed relationship. Basically the same thing if a room of people tried to see what would happen if they each downed a bottle of tequila. Page's reaction to the whole thing was likely a planned event to take away tension or add surprise to his ordeal of dealing with his fears of public speaking.
That about right Hiver?
I do agree with others that the timing is a bit off since they are supposed to be focusing on supporting another friend. Still not quite as bad as so many thought it was at first glance.
8093818 Yep.