This story is a sequel to Mister Cook Goes to Canterlot
A Twin Canterlots story—last in Cook’s Tour; followed by Virga
“Cook, that’s the fanciest—and stuffiest—restaurant around here!” Sunset looked and sounded aghast. “What’ll I wear?”
I let my eyebrows rise. “This from one of the girls who magic up spiffy new ensembles every few weeks?”
By rights her glare should have reduced me to cinders. “That’s different and you know it. This isn’t even like a Rainbooms gig, where I can get away with something outrageous. Whatever it is must be pretty serious or you wouldn’t be so insistent—and evasive; don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
When I simply shrugged, she sighed in resignation. “Fine. I’ll talk to Rarity and see what we can come up with on my pitiful budget.”
Takes place during winter break of senior year—middle of season 6.
If he doesn't have a walrus mustache, I'm going to be a bit disappointed.
In any case, eagerly looking forward to seeing how this evening goes. It's sure to be one to remember.
Of candles and sealing wax, cabbages and kings.
Diplomatic missives, trade, and leaders. Or given heads of cabbages, and heads of governance, you could take it to imply diplomatic interactions on a more direct and personal manner?
English is a stenographic cryptologists savior and nightmare.
Did somepony say Talking Heads?!?
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Yes, I can see Sci-Twi’s objections falling on deaf ears, and her finally just shrugging with a sigh and going along with it.
. . . I think Ms. Stripes is intimidating enough even without a big bristly mustache. But it certainly would be striking.
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Pin Stripes is a veteran diplomat not at all above deliberately ambiguous or multifaceted phrasing.
Take it however you like.
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Oh, right, the Undersecretary. My bad.
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One of the finest music videos ever!
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How did I know you were going to beat me to that reference? And yeah, the whole "geodes" thing hurts my rock hound soul.
My, but did Google get a workout with this chapter. Did you go looking for obscure fashion terms, or did you just take the chance to use ones that you'd picked up elsewhere?
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Forget Twi, how does Pinky sleep at night knowing Maud and is around?
As the younger sibling of a gemologist, I shudder.
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Some of each! I did quite a bit of research in preparation for this story, but it built on existing knowledge. Cook, like me, has a genuine love of words; moreover, in his business, precise and accurate terminology can have a profound impact on the fates of nations. I am wallowing unabashedly in vocabulary.
Hmmmm
Ah, fancy food with smart dress. I have very faint memories that out of about 120 weddings I worked as the cameramans gopher, wearing my Grandads old 3 piece 2 button suit, Maybe half of them had receptions, and out of that, we actually got invited to eat at the tables at three of them. Once because of a cancel and the couple were nice enough to think of us.
Still, making up Sunsets papers as a transfer student or immigrant from a transitioned location is easier than trying to make up a whole bacground for her from scratch? Still a lot of paperwork, if only to cover the actual paperwork and origins?
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By this point, thanks to Cook and the princesses, Sunset has all the paperwork she needs for both public consumption and behind the scenes. It’s not her past or even present at issue here, though—it’s her future, as Cook hints at the end of the chapter.
Ninjas look like a parade of Pinkie Pies next to a certain class of waiter.
In any case, the groundwork's laid out. Sunset's here because... well, given her options, why wouldn't she be? But Undersecretary Stripes has only just begun to dig into what's on her plate, and she has very good cutlery.
You get used and even like veggies that can grow more than 6 months of the year and can store more than the rest of the time. The trick is induviduals being able to grow at least enough reliably year in year out without some armed idiot coming along and taking twice the excess so eventually all the peasants growing their food die of starvation and they get themselves killed by fighting the next door idiot thats done the same.
One reason for lots of work through school etc, is that exhausted people cant come up with new and intresting ways to mess up the balance sheet.
Symbolism!
Pulling out lethal weaponry against government employees is frowned upon, Sunset.
This is proving to be a major test of will. Likely by design. Undersecretary Stripes may be just as interested in finding Sunset's breaking point as any other data she's after.
>Magic works well at an individual level, but has difficulties going mass
I always figured this was the case, along with "the personal touch" being a significant element of enchantment and the crafting process.
Pin Stripes is a reasonable woman. I’m sure she wouldn’t do something so foolish as extraditing the world’s foremost authority on magic, a well-liked member of the community, and one-seventh of the planet’s main line of defense against malevolent stray magic. Sunset is staying, that much is certain; the only question is how Pin Stripes will justify it to herself and her superiors.
I think another factor against seeing the girls' families beyond particular individuals might just be the story format. Since the three half-hour specials, we haven't seen anything of substantial length that wasn't a bunch of shorts compiled together (with or without editing due to time constraints), and a short that's at longest ten minutes doesn't allow much story time. Consequently, I operate under the theory that the family dynamics for the Humane Six aren't much different from their pony counterparts, save for some minor differences (Dean Cadance is not likely to currently be Sci-Twi's in-law, for example). Though that does make the lack of appearances by any relatives of Sunset Shimmer all the more frustrating, and raises plenty of questions of its own.
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The problem with trying to extrapolate someone's intentions towards you is that you can never take an objective perspective. Sunset's fears may be coloring her deductions.
Fish and Cheese?
I think someone might have misheard something?
Careful there Sunset, you're sitting at a table with a dragon. And not one of those idiot reds, oh no. The kind that will consider a problem for as long as they like, because they have the time, and nothing can disturb them.
Good news Sunset, grande dame dragon likes you.
Excellent work of quiet, tense atmosphere. Plus some brilliant bits about Equestrian cuisine around the equinox. Thank you as always for a fantastic read.
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And now I'm imagining Pin Stripes, Torch's mother, who is approximately the size of a mountain range and checks in now and then to see how her granddaughter's handling Dragonlordship.
Ah, this is nice.
I've long toyed with the idea that even if Twilight had the option to just take the crown and go home, she still would've stayed to undo the damage Sunset had done, if only to heal the rift between her friends' counterparts and because it was the right thing to do. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks thusly.
Pin Stripe, played by Dame judy Dench?
Blitz bargain shopping could be a competitive sport, contestants juggling speed, economy and stylistic cohesiveness. Rarity would be a grandmaster.
If you want to watch how brutal competative shopping gets, just stand by the door when it opens at a church jumble sale.
At least, it used to, all the ones the last few years have been craft fairs etc.
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Garfield did it.
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Now there's an idea for a random comedy. Rarity (either one) becomes temporarily responsible for looking after a certain lazy orange tabby. They'd drive each other mad!
Glad I could help with the opening. I do love how you worked in the callback in the climactic moment of crisis. Thanks for a great epiprologue that demonstrates how Rarity could probably conquer the world if she put her mind to it. (To say nothing of Prim Hemline's implied hidden depths...)
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That would be AMAZING. Throw Opal and Fluttershy into the mix and pass the popcorn.
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Like all the others I’ve posted here on Fimfiction, I wrote the whole story by the seat of the pants. For the epiprologue (I like that) I did structure things a little by using a text file to keep track of how Rarity assigned items to the rest of the Mane Seven and Princess Twi, but I realized I had no answer for the trousers—and sash—when I got back to the Carousel Boutique! So it was pure happenstance, but a fortunate one, that allowed me to make the call-back. Bringing in Prim Hemline at that juncture arose out of the “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that” line and her admonition about the security system, but it became a real light-bulb moment. As for her hidden depths, well, let’s just say I liked the scenario presented in “Mending and Entering” by Bookish Delight.
And I’m sure Rarity will put her mind to conquering at least the fashion world.
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“Symbolism?” I, uh, really didn’t intend any, to be honest, so I don’t know what symbolism you had in mind.
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More her conclusions than her deductions, but that pretty much is it.
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Pin Stripes indeed can be a hard individual, but she’s not heartless; the hardness arises out of her awareness she is part of the shield protecting the people, especially the children, of her country. Sunset and friends genuinely do remind Pin of her grandchildren, so while she is ever vigilant, she’s willing to relax that a little for them—once she’s convinced she’s justified in doing so. My visualization of her doesn’t look much like Judi Dench, but if I had to cast a real actress for a live-action version, Dench would be a good choice. (If you’re wondering, Pin is shorter, heavier, and not quite as elderly, a bit more like Camryn Manheim as she appeared in Person of Interest.) I laughed in delight at the concept of Ember’s grandmother being Pin Stripes’ counterpart.
I wish I could take credit for the Equestrian dishes, but long-time friend and roommate Baron Engel invented them in his Equestria dreamscape. Of course, he and I hold similar views on world-building, including the importance of depth and detail.
Twilight sticking around instead of just grabbing the tiara and running has to be explained somehow, and this seemed the most plausible rationale. I will say, though, I also could see her realizing how readily the situation could devolve into a back-and-forth chase through the portal reminiscent of a comedy routine, but with deadly serious consequences.
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Back and forth chase through dimentions?
But Twilight has a Spike.
I am greatly disappointed at the lack of a chapter called Sand in the Vaseline.
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(Besides, I did want to maintain an E rating for this story.)
It is unfortunate there was no good place for that as a chapter title, yes.
Nice. It's just a touch tricky to write Sunset angry, because while it's true she'll take a bad idea and run with it, she won't do so in a straight line, which tends to distinguish her from most of her peers.
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Sunset really does seem to have a pretty short fuse, which is nicely consistent with her “bad girl” backstory. As for the rest of it, I certainly can’t disagree, though I’m not sure I’m following the logic completely.
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I have to confess I have no idea what that means.
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Sorry, really oblique distortion of a Monty Python sketch set up.