Reunification
The doors to the Night Guard training room were big, dark, and imposing. The two Night Guards standing outside them with raised spears only made the room look more off limits. And, lastly, the crossed, reddish swords above the doors added that extra touch that would make sure no rational pony would go into that room without a good reason.
But foals weren’t rational, as Cheerilee learned anew every day. So, with a deep breath to bolster her courage, she pushed the door open and entered the room.
The Night Guard training room, or at least this one, was about the size of a standard basketball court and was filled with various courses and machines. Near the entrance, Cheerilee saw a few Night Guards working out on a weight lifting machine while a tall one barked orders and insults at them. There was a long passage with spikes and wires strewn throughout it, forcing the pegasus passing through it to zigzag around to avoid hitting them all. And, in the back of the room, there was a large rock climbing wall.
There was, of course, an orange pegasus foal about a third of the way up the wall.
Scootaloo was on a harness and had a helmet, yes, but still. She was about a third of the way up a massive climbing wall. A very dfficult climbing wall, from the looks of it. And were those… boulders, perched on top of it?
“SCOOTALOO!” cried out Cheerilee. “SCOOTALOO, GET DOWN HERE!”
“Wow!” said Featherweight, going for his camera. “That’s awesome!”
Scootaloo seemed to distantly hear Cheerilee, and she turned her head so she could look at her teacher. “Miss Cheerilee, Miss Cheerilee!” she yelled. “Look at me! Look how high up I am!”
The chaperones raced over, dodging around the Night Guards that trotted up and asked them what they were doing. “Who’s in charge of the climbing wall?” yelled Cheerilee.
“None of us are using it, so I think he is,” said a Guard, pointing upwards. “Hey, Baron!”
Cheerilee noticed, on closer inspection, that there was a brown earth pony following Scootaloo up the wall. He glanced down. “Oh! You must be Miss Cheerilee!” he called down, brightly. “I’m Baron Mounty Max. Scootaloo told me all about you!”
Cheerilee attempted to control her temper. “Yes, well, I—“
“I think it’s great that there are teachers who want to encourage their student’s passions to this extent!” Mounty smiled. “My teachers always got mad at me when they caught me climbing on stuff.”
“…er, what?” asked Cheerilee.
“The Guards let me climb here in exchange for lessons for the newbies. I was just getting started when Sergeant Smiles brought in Scootaloo there.” Scootaloo, in the process of climbing to a higher rock, pried one hoof off the rocks to wave at the adults in response to her name. “And she said that she really wanted to climb the wall, and you, her chaperone, wanted her to do it too! How could I say ‘no’ to that? So I got her into the safety gear, and up we went!”
“She told you that I wanted her to climb the wall,” said Cheerilee
“Yep!”
“And you believed her.”
“Well… just look at her.” Mounty smiled. “I don’t think such an obviously sweet and innocent foal would lie or say something she wasn’t sure was true.”
Scootaloo turned to look down again, beaming and looking for all the world like a pure and honest foal.
Cheerilee forced herself to turn away from Scootaloo’s cute, shining eyes before she was hypnotized into giving Scootaloo a gold star and an ice cream cone. “In any event, the field trip is just about over,” she managed. “Could you please get Scootaloo down?”
“Aww!” complained Scootaloo. “But I wanna get to the top!”
“Sorry, kid,” said Mounty. “You should listen to your teacher. Come on. Kick off like I showed you.”
Scootaloo kicked off from the wall, swinging over space and supported just by the rope. Cheerilee opened her mouth to scream, but then the belaying pony began to lower Scootaloo. In moment, Scootaloo was on the ground (although Mounty still got down first just by scampering down the wall.)
“That was awesome!” said Scootaloo. “Thanks, Baron Max!”
Before Max could say anything else, Cheerilee marched over to him. “You should be ashamed of yourself,” she snapped. “Letting a child take part in such a dangerous activity.”
“But the boulders weren’t even primed. And she had all the safety gear—“
“What if she’d gotten hurt?” demanded Cheerilee. “Heavy Roller! Do you have anything to say to this noble who sent your daughter up that wall?”
Heavy Roller thought for a few moments, looking like he was having trouble deciding on what to say. “You’re the one who got her outfitted to climb the wall?”
“Well, yeah…” Mounty looked down. “I’m sorry if I screwed up. I’m still new, and—“
Heavy Roller threw his forelegs out and embrace Mounty. “You convinced her to wear safety gear!”
Cheerilee stared, as did Mounty. “Huh?” they both said.
“I had to beg her for hours to get her to wear a helmet on her scooter! She still hasn’t put seatbelts in her wagon! She wanted to go swimming in Snake Bite Bog without even taking snake repellant! But you got her to wear a helmet and a harness before doing something dangerous! That’s incredible!”
“Of course!” said Mounty, recovering some of his cheer. “Safety first. Hey, Scootaloo, you’re going to put seatbelts in that wagon, right?”
“Yes, sir!” chirped Scootaloo. “Because if I stay safe, I won’t get hurt, and then I can keep doing AWESOME things! But if I get hurt I’ll have to spend days or weeks in the hospital and I won’t be able to do anything cool!”
“Exactly!” said Mounty.
“I might even install emergency brakes on the scooter, and—“ began Scootaloo.
“That’s – that’s amazing!” interrupted Heavy Roller, hugging Mounty all the tighter.
“Can’t… breathe…” interjected Mounty. Heavy’s hug seemed to be straining the limits of Mounty’s ribcage.
Heavy Roller finally released Mounty. “Thank you! If you ever need any wagon related favors—“
“Alright, alright,” said Applejack. “Ah love a happy reunion, but we still got six foals AWOL. Been a pleasure, Baron, but—“
“Oh, I understand completely. Have a good day!” chirped Mounty, before turning and climbing up the rock wall as easily as he might walk across a flat surface.
Cheerilee sighed as she looked at Heavy Roller and Scootaloo embracing. She hadn't even gotten to yell at Mounty Max. Sometimes, she wondered how Trixie dealt with the Court on a daily basis without going mad. “Applejack is right. We need to find the others.”
“Miss Cheerilee?” asked Scootaloo, climbing up on her father’s back. “Can I come back some time and climb the whole wall?”
“Scootaloo, what you did was incredibly risky and—“
“But it’s my Mom’s wall! She designed it, and I want to prove that I’m good enough for it, and…” She paused. “I’m sorry I climbed it when I shouldn’t, but I just wanted to… to…” She couldn’t seem to finish.
Cheerilee frowned. She hadn’t known that detail. “…Scootaloo, I know you love your mother very much. But…”
Scootaloo’s eyes began to water.
“…I will ask Trixie, and some of my Canterlot friends, to talk to the Night Guards that they know. I’m sure many of them have stories about Nocturne they’d be happy to share with you. You could even present those stories at a Family Appreciation Day.”
Scootaloo brightened. “Really? When?”
When you get out of detention, which at this rate will be just before you graduate college, Cheerilee thought but did not say. She was still upset with Scootaloo, but that conversation could wait until later, after Scootaloo had some time to process her discovery. So she just said, “Soon enough. Now, please rejoin your classmates.”
“Ah thought there were two foals here,” said Applejack. “Where’s the second?”
“Oh,” said Scootaloo. “Diamond Tiara was making fun of a Guard’s armor and saying it was ugly, so the Guards said she’d ‘volunteered’ herself to help her with a drill.” She paused. “Hey, Miss Cheerilee? What does ‘ballast’ mean?”
Before Cheerilee could answer, she heard a scream, and turned in time to see a pegasus diving right for the ground with a pink foal tied to her back.
“Oh,” said Scootaloo. “So that’s what it means.”
A quick application of a lasso later, the chaperones and fifteen foals left the Night Guard training room. “Now what?” asked Heavy Roller, still letting Scootaloo ride on his back. “Where are the others?”
“I don’t know,” said Cheerilee.
“Excuse me? I’m looking for a Blackcherry Lee Punch?”
Cheerilee turned to see a new pony approaching her. “That’s me. How can I help you?”
The newcomer had a yellow coat and a needle for a cutie mark. He bowed. “My name is Tiptop Tailor. Princess Luna has sent me to find you.”
Cheerilee had a sinking feeling. “…to tell me that the Element of Laughter is needed to liven up a room?” she tried, weakly.
“Er, no. To tell you that some of your charges seem to have broken in to her wardrobe.”
As Cheerilee ran with the others towards the wardrobe chamber, she tried not to panic. But she couldn’t help wondering what Luna’s most likely reaction would be.
”Foals!” Luna roared. “You have defiled the Royal Wardrobe! You have wrinkled the Royal Dresses, stained the Royal Blouses, and creased the Royal Hats! And that isn’t even mentioning what you did to the Royal Socks!”
The foals cringed. Cheerilee cringed too, helpless before Luna’s fury.
“Such a crime merits banishment!”
Applejack nudged Cheerilee. “Hey, calm down, Sugarcube,” she said. “Don’t worry. Luna likes foals, remember?”
Cheerilee nodded. That was true…
”But I couldn’t possibly banish such cute and innocent foals!” Luna concluded, smiling suddenly and patting one of them on the head.
Cheerilee let out a sigh of relief.
“Instead, I shall banish their negligent teacher! I shall send her to a far away land, where teachers are expected to teach strictly according to tests and ensure that all students think exactly the same way! Where there are no art classes or extracurriculars! Where teachers are required to give five hours of homework a night to toughen their charges!”
Cheerilee’s lip trembled. “Will I be allowed to love and care for my students?”
“No! In that land, they believe that caring for students weakens them!”
“Noooo!” cried Cheerilee.
Applejack blinked as Cheerilee sped up, outdistancing her. “Uh, Cheerilee, it ain’t a race! Wait up!”
“I can’t be banished there! I’m too nice a teacher!”
“Huh?” asked Applejack. But Cheerilee was already racing down the hall.
Cheerilee burst into the room. “I’m so sorry!” she cried out, bending into a bow as she ran. “I—“
Unfortunately, running while bowing was difficult. Cheerilee tripped and went sprawling into a large rack of dresses.
“Woah there!” Applejack quickly lassoed it right before it fell over, as Heavy Roller ran to help the teacher up. “Careful!” (The Guards, meanwhile, stopped short with the other foals just outside the room).
“Miss Cheerilee? Are you okay?”
The chaperones turned to see Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. They were both wearing little page outfits: sharp white shirts, black vests, and dapper hats. Behind them was Luna, looking quite amused.
“I’m fine, girls. Princess!” Cheerilee bowed low, this time doing so without tripping. “I’m sorry!”
“Think nothing of it,” said Luna. “I understand that foals can be rambunctious.” She smiled. “That said… Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, why don’t you tell Miss Cheerilee what you learned today?”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “It’s wrong to try on clothes that aren’t yours, even if they’re really beautiful. We shouldn’t have done it. We told Princess Luna we’re very sorry.” Apple Bloom nodded.
“And what are you doing to make it right?” asked Luna.
“Since we liked her clothes so much, Luna wanted us ta test out the new page uniforms fer the pageant she’s having put on next month,” said Apple Bloom. “Makin’ sure they look good on normal foals, an’ we can move in ‘em, an’ stuff.”
“They’re a little stiff in the knees,” said Apple Bloom. “But they’re still real nice.” She smiled. “Thanks fer lettin’ us try ‘em on, Princess – with permission too.”
Luna smiled broadly. “And the other thing?”
“If the other foals think Apple Bloom or I have a really nice piece of jewelry or dress or something, we’ll let them try it on too,” said Sweetie Belle.
Luna nodded. “I think that’s fair. Don’t you, Cheerilee?”
Relieved at not being banished to a heartless land, Cheerilee could only nod. “Thank you for your wisdom and understanding.”
Luna seemed amused by that. “Of course. Now… I, as it runs out, have some government business to attend to. The ambassador of Tapira is almost here.” With a soft ‘pop’, the clothes vanished off of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and a beautiful blue dress appeared on Luna. “Can you find your own way out?”
“Yes,” said Cheerilee. “As soon as we recover the rest of our foals.”
“I’ll ask the staff to look for them,” said Luna. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” She vanished into a blue cloud.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at each other, and then said, as one, “WOW!”
“That was awesome!” said Sweetie Belle.
“Totally!” said Apple Bloom.
“You got to see the princess?” called Scootaloo from outside. “That’s almost as cool as what I did!”
“No, it’s cooler!” yelled Sweetie Belle.
“You don’t even know what I did!”
“I—“
“Girls!” yelled Cheerilee. The last thing she needed was for the foals to begin comparing adventures, as the loser (and all the other foals) would probably want to go have bigger adventures so they could win the next round of arguments. “We will discuss these adventures… oh believe me, we’ll discuss them… but first, I think we should recover the rest of the class. Now, does anypony have any idea where Dinky, Snails, and Twist are?”
“Probably the most inconvenient place possible,” joked Applejack.
“For them, since they’re all related to the Elements, that’d be Greengrass’s quarters,” said Cheerilee. “But I don’t think they’d be… foolish enough to go there.”
“Did you say Greengrass?” Snips asked. He was jumping about in excitement. “Snails told me that he wanted to see Greengrass while we were here!”
“…what? Why?” Cheerilee asked, stupefied.
“His sister said that Greengrass is a complete monster, and he wanted to see a real monster!” Snips grins. “He guessed that Greengrass has three heads, and fangs, and claws, and he breaths fire!”
“Cool!” yelled a few of the foals.
“Can we see the monster Greengrass?” asked Featherweight, in as sweet a voice as he could muster.
“No!” said Cheerilee. “I – okay, look. I will go see if anypony is with Greengrass. Applejack, stay with the foals and Heavy Roller, make sure they don’t wander off.”
“Check,” said Applejack.
“Hey!” said Heavy Roller.
Cheerilee ignored this. It was time to see the Duke.
As Cheerilee ran, she tried not to panic. She tried not to think of what horrible scheme of the Duke’s was being unleashed at that very moment.
”Bwahaha!” Duke Greengrass laughed. “Now that I have the Ponyville foals in my power, nothing is out of my reach!”
“What will you do to us?” cried Dinky, from within her tiny cage.
“I will turn you into horrible brats! I will make you ignore your parents, teachers, and sisters! I will get you to feed your homework to dogs and sell your textbooks for gumdrop money! I’ll induce you to get tattoos and dye your mane plaid!” He twirled the mustache that had appeared from nowhere on his face.
“But why?” begged Twist. “What will this accomplish?”
“Because you’ll teach your friends what I show you! Soon, every foal in Ponyville will be a jerk! And once that’s done, I will perform a political maneuver so complicated and intricate your foolish minds could never grasp it! After that, it’s only a matter of time before I rule Ponvyille!”
Dinky thought. “Is the political maneuver you telling the Court that Ponyville is raising foals badly, since the foals are all meanies, so you need to step in and fix things?”
Greengrass paused. “…well, it doesn’t sound as complicated and intricate when you say it like that.” He grabbed a large crystal from a nearby table. “Behold, the jerkification jewel! One glance at this and you’ll think that obeying adults is for ‘squares!’”
He moved the jewel closer and closer to Dinky…
Fortunately, Cheerilee reached the Duke’s quarters before that thought ran its course. Breathing heavily, she took a moment to gather herself and listened through the door.
“Oh no!” Dinky yelled. “That’s horrible!”
“That’s awful!” said Twist.
“That’s a DISASTER!” added Snails.
Cheerilee didn’t bother knocking. She brought up her hoof, recalled one of the fundamental moves from the Iron Hoof studies she’d mastered long ago, and slammed the hoof into the door. It crashed back on its hinges with a bang. “Greengrass! Hold it right there!”
Greengrass turned and stared at her. “But the turn’s almost over!” he said, sounding almost like a foal himself.
Cheerilee blinked. Dinky, Snails, and Twist – all looking recently washed but with a few flecks of mud still lingering in their coats and manes – were sitting around a table with Greengrass. A boardgame was set up on the table. It looked like Diplomacy, a game Cheerilee recognized from college.
“Huh?” managed Cheerilee.
“What’s going on?” demanded the teacher. “Are you playing Diplomacy? With Duke Greengrass?”
“Yeah!” said Twist. “And he just announced that he’s moving into Caballeria! If he gets that, he’ll be able to strike at the heart of the Foal Alliance!”
“Oh no!” added Snails.
“Foal Alliance?” asked Cheerilee.
Greengrass nodded. “I tried to get at least one of them to take my side, but they all wanted to team up against me for some reason. Fortunately, for a player of my caliber even fighting three on one is no difficulty!”
“You were going to lose three turns ago, until Snails forgot to move,” pointed out Dinky.
“Forgot… or did I trick him into not moving?”
“No, I just forgot!” said Snails, oblivious to all else.
Cheerilee shook her head. “Try again. What’s going on here, Greengrass?”
“I found three foals hiding in my room,” said Greengrass. “I couldn’t very well turn them out into the castle; they might get into trouble.”
“I definitely would get into trouble!” said Snails.
“Incidentally,” said Greengrass. “Speaking of that. There is the matter of where, exactly, they were hiding.”
Dinky blushed. “Er… we tried to hide in Mr. Greengrass’s big box of mud. And we got all muddy. Sorry, Mr. Greengrass.”
“Big box of mud?” Cheerilee looked at the box. “Uh… okay. I’ll go with that. I suppose they washed up then, Duke.”
Greengrass nodded. “Of course. Also, as I was bereft of my secretary today, I sent for a page to tell the Guards to find you, although it appears that the page isn't as... efficient as my normal employee. In the meantime, once they were done cleaning up, I had to come up with something for them to do. I didn’t want to distract them with candy or chocolate, since it might spoil their appetites, so I dug out a board game.”
“Can’t we stay a little longer?” asked Twist. “This is fun!”
“No. We need to get back to Ponyville.” I need to chain some of you to your desks, Cheerilee added in her head. She turned to Greengrass. “Uh… thanks. For looking after them.”
Greengrass waved this off. “No problem. After all, there’s no reason to bring foals into politics. Have a good day, Cheerilee.”
“Oh, oh!” said Snails as the trio of foals began to leave. “Mr. Greengrass? Before we leave, can you breathe fire?”
“…what?” asked the Duke.
“But all monsters can breathe fire, and my sister says you’re a complete—“ Snails began, but then Cheerilee put a hoof over his mouth. “Mmmf!”
“We need to go. Bye!” said Cheerilee, pushing the foals out of the room.
“But—“ began Twist.
“I said, bye!”
“Er… bye?” said Greengrass.
Cheerilee groaned on the train home.
“I am never doing that again,” she muttered. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and would probably never be allowed into the castle with a foal in the foreseeable future. She’d be lucky if they even let her in for the Gala. Plus, they were hours late thanks to having to stop for the castle-wide foal search, so the parents would likely be angry at her. Sometimes she wished there were more weekend and vacation days…
“Miss Cheerilee?”
Cheerilee opened her eyes to see Dinky and the other wayward foals looking at her.
“We’re really sorry,” said Dinky, bowing. The others did so behind her. “We shouldn’t have wandered off, and put you through all that.”
Before Cheerilee could say anything, they approached her and hugged her. Cheerilee couldn’t help but smile. “I suppose some of it was our fault, for not watching you closely enough. But I do hope you pay more attention next time.”
“When’s next time?” asked Snails.
A few years, give or take, thought Cheerilee. But she wasn’t angry. She patted Snails on the head, who smiled goofily. “We’ll see.”
“Can we make it up to you somehow?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Just promise to try to stay together better in the future,” said Cheerilee. “Follow my instructions, and those of other chaperones. We just want to keep you safe.”
"An' watch out fer each other, make sure nopony's gettin' lost," said Applejack. "Help us help ya."
“And don't sneak away,” said Heavy Roller. “Even if, um, the adult in charge gets distracted.”
“We promise!” said Apple Bloom.
“Cross our hearts!” said Scootaloo.
“We swear!” said Snails.
“Sure,” grumbled Diamond Tiara, whose mane and coat still looked windswept.
Cheerilee grinned. “Thank you.” She looked at the shining faces of her class and felt a sense of peace. It was moments like this, where she saw how good her foals were and how much they wanted to grow into smart, capable, and compassionate adults, that made everything worthwhile.
And it was thus that she drifted calmly off to sleep.
Snails looked at Dinky. “Do you think I should tell her Snips and Truffle Muncher and I already ate all the snacks for the ride back?” he asked.
Dinky paused. “Um… maybe now’s not the best time.”
“Oh.” He paused. “Do you think she’d mind if Snips and I had a ‘see how far you can stick your head out the window contest?’
“Yes.”
“Do you think—“
“I think Miss Cheerilee would be happy,” said Dinky, “If we just sat in our seats quietly and didn’t do anything else.”
“That’s no fun…” said Snails. “But… I guess if it would make her happy, it’s the right thing to do.”
Dinky followed Snails and sat across from him, taking the aisle seat next to Scootaloo. “Well, that was… interesting,” she said.
Scootaloo nodded.” I’m going to get to learn more about what my Mom did in the Guards.” She grinned. “Miss Cheerilee is the best teacher ever.”
“And she wasn’t even that mad at me for trying on Luna’s dresses,” said Sweetie Belle, from one seat down.
Dinky nodded. “She’s a really good teacher. We should do something to thank her for being so understanding.”
The foals looked at each other, smiles slowly spreading over their faces.
Cheerilee entered her classroom the next morning, feeling rested and happy. She was ready to face the day. “Good morning, class! I… um…”
Staring her in the face was a gigantic heart-shaped piece of construction paper, thoroughly covered with glitter, lace, ribbon, and paint. And standing around the heart were twenty smiling foals.
“WE LOVE YOU, MISS CHEERILEE!” yelled her class.
Cheerilee grinned. “And I love you too!”
The foals rushed forward, and Cheerilee eagerly hugged them. And then she paused.
“…how many of you are still covered in superglue?”
There was a pause.
"Can anypony break away from this cluster?"
There was a brief flurry of struggle, which accomplished nothing.
“Alright, class, let’s all try to hop to the solvent on the counter…”
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So that’s the story!
I guess I’ll put in some random stuff that got deleted, in case anyone cares:
1. Originally, the story ended with the foals realizing that Applejack had been left behind, and then deciding not to wake and disturb Cheerilee. I cut it because I felt like Cheerilee deserved at least a somewhat happy ending.
2. There was a bit with Greengrass that was cut:
Anywho, I thought this went against the idea tha Greengrass has limits and wouldn’t target foals, so I redacted it.
3. There was also going to be an epilogue where Cheerilee goes back to Canterlot because the Guards Trixie contacted to write about Nocturne (the two who she keeps running into when she wants to get into the castle) refused to do it, because Trixie was the one asking. Cheerilee tracked them down and shamed them into helping; when one still didn’t want to and tried to throw her out, Cheerilee deployed her iron hoof skills until the Guard cried uncle and agreed to write down stories about Nocturne. I cut it, because while it might be fun to watch Cheerilee using ninja skills on jerk guards, I didn’t think this story was the right place to do it.
4. In the original version of the story that I wrote long ago, there were going to be more meetings with nobles. Fisher and Puissance would both be involved (with Fisher winding up just giving the foals some magic toys to play with while he did his work, and Puissance being impressed by Silver Spoon's appraisal talent), as would Octavia. The one scene I kind of wish I didn't need to cut was the adults worrying that Bebop would play for Octavia, and Octavia would dislike it enough that she'd use her position as Court Musician to sentence Bebop to practicing more in Ponyville. This of course would mean the adults would have pounding drums going on a lot more often, which in turn made them panic. (Of course, it turns out that Octavia isn't quite as high strung as that, and instead just politely listens to Bebop's drum solo before the adults find her and take her away).
that was the best Lverse story, ever...of all time
Well, this was a fun story, although we never did find out what the deal with that mud was for...
Gotta say I loved the whole thing from beginning to end, and not even Greengrass could ruin things for me. Congratulations, G&C2. You've restored my faith in the Lunaverse. 
This whole story was adorable! Again, I love the way you write foals. The whole story just flows so well as a story about children. The relationship between Cheerilee and the kids is really sweet, and it's lovely how much they look up to Cheerilee even though they get themselves into trouble. Cheerilee's panicky imagination was hilarious, and it's nice to see Applejack when she's not worried about the farm. Great to see Greengrass being decent, too.
Also, playing Diplomacy with foals must be hard. If they were older, then they'd be able to grasp the idea that they're supposed to plot against each other, and strive to be the only winner rather than sharing victory between three of them, and thus Greengrass would be able to turn one or two of them to his side. As it is, his political skills are basically useless. Awkward.
Quite a nice story from quite a few different perspectives. Well done.
Bwuhahahahahahahaha!
Good Guy... Greengrass?
Wonderful story!
1720518
So for all intents and purposes they were playing two-player Diplomacy? Hmm...if I recall correctly that plays out as basically the Great War. One player plays as Russia, England, and France (Triple Entant), and the other player plays as Germany, Austria, and Turkey (Triple Alliance), and the game starts in 1914. Italy is neutral in 1914, but then in 1915 a coin is flipped and Italy joins either the Entant or the Alliance.
So...I guess my question is: did Greengrass play as Entant or Alliance, and which side did Italy end up joining?
oh, I love this story so much. And I like the idea that Nocturne actually designed the rock wall. I never would have thought of that, but it makes so much sense.
And the way Heavy Roller acted was pure gold.
someone should make a story where Scootaloo conquers the wall....which reminds me, shouldn't Scoot be asking Cheerilee and Heavy Roller if she can go back and climb the wall?
1720691 The mud was most likely for his garden.
Anyway cute story. Kinda bummed that Blueblood is now only one step away from being the type of villian to literally steal candy from babies, but otherwise no complaints.
1720691: Woohoo! I guess I'll finally get an 'excellent' if you continue doing your Lunaverse reviews then. :-D
And yeah, the mud was for his garden. I couldn't think of a way to put it in without giving a section that was from Greengrass's perspective (since the garden is his biggest secret and he wouldn't tell anyone else that he has it), and I didn't want to do that because it would break up the flow.
1720706: Glad you liked it! Working out how the foals both care deeply for Cheerilee and can drive her crazy at times was one of the more entertaining parts of the story. And I like the idea that, as exasperated as Cheerilee can get at times, she loves them back very dearly.
1720901>>1720986, Glad you liked it too! :-)
1721211: I... don't know much about Diplomacy. :-) And I had figured that the Equestrian version would have a different configuration of countries and such anyway that wouldn't map well to ours.
1721417: I think it'd be very cute for there to be an S2 or S3 or something story where Scootaloo, having trained fairly extensively in rock climbing, returns and conquers the wall. Glad you liked the Scootaloo/Nocturne/Roller stuff.
1723992: Well, Blueblood's a jerk. Here, the M-verse, and everywhere else. I think it's a contractual requirement. :-)
Super Glue Hug is Best Hug.
I love that it's common enough the Ceerilee has solvent on her desk.
Oh no, Greengrass has gotten these innocent foals ensnared in the foul grasp of politics! What dastardly scheme will the fiend think of next?
Also, that's a great ending.
Oh, god. That was so funny and heartwarming.
The end, though. The end... Neigh-perfect. 
I'm honestly torn as to which part about this I liked best; the chapter and the story at large were full of great moments. But probably my top three are Mounty Max being Mount Max, Luna's bemusement, and Greengrass being the good guy for once. All in all a good story!
1748325: Glad you enjoyed!
Dem creased royal hats. Great story.
1785319...
...
Why is it, every time I express my distaste with how Blueblood is mostly portrayed as both douchey and stupid indirectly, does it end up being turned into a joke? Does
not get across the idea that "I am not amused", or something?
That was a great story. I really liked the part where DT got the S*!^ scared out of her by the guard she insulted
I m amused.
That was ADORABLE!
I especially loved the "safety gear" bit, it was hilarious.
So cute! I loved it!
This isboth hilarious, and cute, especially the last part.
I'm still sad that the awesome fic of Cheers and Trixie getting the Guards to share their stories of Nocturne for Family Appreciation day. Seriously that would be the most feels inducing L!Verse fic ever. But nopony's picked it up and ran with it.
4160836
What TFS episode is that from.
5188654
Christmas Tree of Might.
5217150
Sweet! I'll have to watch that soon. Thank you
.
1724390
Oh, and here I thought the mud was for (wait for it) Political mudslinging!
Nice!
Fun and short, aperfect chaser for a fun episode from the maneverse.
Here is the live read
1720518
"You".
At the end of sentences it's a bit complicated. It all depends on the tone of the sentence/paragraph. In this case, she's speaking casually yet formally. Speaking in a more mature manner, so she should say "Help us help you.".
8349404
Actually 'ya' is appropriate. At least when writing in a Southern dialect (both from myself and other Southerners I know use 'ya' when speaking.).
It might read weird for people who aren't used to reading Southern dialects in written form. But ya is right. A good Southern dialect thread can actually be found in the LunaVerse threads.