Ask the Mares, finished! · 12:08am Jan 17th, 2016
Holy. Crap. That took evenings from Monday, when I started queuing the first submissions, until this morning. Naturally, I worked and so on, but my evenings? The only free time I didn't spend on these was dinner and necessary chores (finances, that kind of thing). This is straight from Tumblr, with a few corrections for quotation marks that somehow got backwards, typos, and so on, except that where I used italics on Tumblr, they're not here. Because, sadly, FimFiction's text editor isn't advanced enough to pick it up, and going back through to find every italicized word is a huge pain (I actually highlight them while writing chapters, to ease that pain.)
Before I go in character here, I’d like to take this moment to thank Fable Wright. All responses from Shimmering Scales are coming from him, as she’s his character. I’m touching them up to fit my writing style and the voice I’ve given Shimmer in Smoke, but he’s actually providing the answer.And while I’m thanking him, because I don’t do so publicly often enough, I’d like to thank him for his work editing, encouraging me, helping to make Smoke better in general, and being a friend. I actually kind of shut him out of Smoke a bit–I’m very territorial about it, and he’d help more if I let him. Despite that, I’d like everyone who’s been reading the story to consider what chapters before The Scenographer were like, and chapters after. The difference in polish, quality, and frequency of errors, is Fable. Thanks, Fable. It’s possible Smoke would’ve been shitcanned by now if not for you.
Edit: That moment when you forget to paste in the entire content of the post. Ugh.
Pirouette and the mares sit in a row across The Tall Tail’s stage, some looking completely at home, others nervously fidgeting, and still others quite bored. Done Deal is visible behind his bar, and Tall Order is distributing refreshments to you and anypony else here to ask questions at this special (inexplicably not top secret) affair.
At last, the house lights dim and Pirouette, mistress of the stage, steps forward. “Welcome, everypony, to ‘Ask the Mares!’ This is a bit of a strange situation for us–much as I’m at home up here, it’s usually song and dance or a little light comedy. Bear with us if we’re a little out of sorts at first, but we’ll be sure to get everypony’s questions answered. Let’s start with one for everypony, so nopony gets to claim she was first…” Pirouette shoots a quick glare at Deep Tissue, whose innocent whistling is spoiled entirely by the grin on her face.
Pirouette continues. “Somepony asked, ‘Several of you have experienced physical changes due to the smoke. Now if you could choose a physical change to happen to you, what would it be? Also if you could physically change Done, what would it be?’
“As for me, I’m perfectly happy just to have my youth back! I’ve never had any complaints about my looks, and never been unhappy with them, so really, smoothing out the lines and shining up my coat again is plenty. As for Done? I’ve known him since he was as young as the girls up here. Wouldn’t change a thing.” Several ponies look toward the back, and you follow their gazes to find Done looking rather pleased with himself. Back on stage, Pirouette sighs. “Great. Now his head’s going to get big. Let’s go down the line here.”
Exposé rolls her eyes before answering. “This is ridiculous. I don’t need any changes. Done’s dick should be smaller though!”
As various mares on stage and ponies in the audience snicker or blush at the testy pegasus’ blunt answer, Bruises leans over to her looking confused and whispers in her ear. Whatever she said causes Exposé’s ears to snap wide open and she begins to shout.
“I do not need to be any taller! I’m just fine the way I am!”
Bruises blinks and scratches her ear, unfazed by her fillyfriend’s loudness. “But you said–”
Into the air and flapping a foot above her seat, Expose yells even more loudly. “N-never mind what I said! Next pony!” and drops back to her seat with a thump, glaring at the floor.
“Next pony” is Bruises herself. “Uhh… I already got changed the most. I don’t need anymore. Might be nice to not be so big sometimes, but it’s great when I get to protect Boss or the girls! Aaaand… Um, actually I wouldn’t mind if Boss were bigger. Kinda been a while, and he’s really, really good, but I have to clamp down hard, and–ooh!” Swatted by Exposé’s wing, Bruises realizes she’s said more than enough, and, blushing, falls silent.
Continuing down the line, Shimmering Scales speaks. “I’d want a snake tail! No doubt about it! Not just on my plot of course; I mean like Mistress Lamia from Power Ponies! Can you imagine the sexy?” Shimmer becomes more and more animated as she speaks, no doubt excited by the thought. “And climbing up the stage rigging would be easier, and I wouldn’t need a stool to see over high things… practical and pleasurable! For Mr. Deal? Huh. Um… never thought about it, buuut… I’d make him more sensitive. Sides, flanks, thighs, just under his forelegs… and a couple of secret places only I know just how to tweak.” Shimmer’s expression had become mischievous, but suddenly takes a bit of a frustrated look as she adds, “I don’t really need to mess with his looks; I just want to make him squirm in bed more. He’s not exactly imaginative there, and with just one thing I can handle to please him, I run out of options way, way too soon.” Finishing, Shimmer sits rather suddenly, looking just a bit nervous. You crane your neck to find Done Deal staring at her with a raised eyebrow and an unreadable expression.
Amber hops up with a flap of her wings to stand on her seat. “I’d just like not to need such thick glasses. And maybe be a bit slimmer. Casting directors are awful. Mr. Deal… maybe he should go to a casting director. They could tell him how to look to get every mare chasing him. He’d probably like that.” Amber lowers herself back into her seat before bouncing up again just as Jade opened her mouth. “Oh. And longer wings. Because… because.” Amber sits again, as Jade looks around to see if anypony else will interrupt.
Jade doesn’t bother to stand. “I just want to be how Mr. Deal needs me.” The bright green of Jade’s body sparkles a bit as she shrugs. “If I’m useful, that’s good. And Mr. Deal is fine.” With nothing more to add, Jade returns to her silence as Shimmering Scales sighs in her direction.
Peach Pit is next, and where Jade sat silently, Peach flaps up, dropping back to her seat the way Amber had, but with a critical difference. As Peach drops, her dress is tossed up by the air, revealing her unusually large teats, and the inch-wide golden ring in each. Her grin at the slack jaws of several ponies in the room is the only indication she realizes what she’s done. “I just want to look however’s going to catch Done’s eye. Bigger, longer, shinier… taller or more muscley if that’s what he wants–”
“–it’s not,” Bruises interjects sadly,
“it doesn’t matter. He’s perfect. I just want him to make me the best mare he’s ever seen.” Peach ignores the exasperated expressions of the mares with her on stage, and Pirouette’s shaking head. Her answer isn’t for them, or you for that matter. It’s for a certain gray stallion behind the bar, who avoids an accusing glare or two from the stage carefully.
Deep Tissue raises a hoof and tosses her long bangs away from her eye before addressing the audience. “Some of us aren’t that easy, even if we’re in love. If Done wants to change my looks, I might think about it, but really, I do a decent job making sure he’s got nothing to worry about. I’m happy the way I am. She’s right about Done though–he’s just fine. Well. Maybe a little more muscle tone wouldn’t hurt.”
Deep’s calm self-assurance is obviously nurtured regularly. The audience’s gaze lingers on the beautiful mare longer than any other, and several ponies had had their eyes on her before she began speaking.
“Wouldn’t even get rid of that extra pound left from the ice cream binge, hm?”
Deep’s calm expression doesn’t change even as her horn lights to yank the chair from beneath Day Planner for her deadpan barb.
Day’s answer is delayed a moment as she gets back to her hooves, the faint smirk on her face telling anypony that the fall was worth it. She retakes her seat calmly. “If Mr. Deal were to change me, I think I would like my mane longer. I can’t wear it past this bob without splitting. The bob suits me, but I know Mr. Deal’s tastes. Turning him on a bit faster would benefit us both.”
“If you’d wear that suit…” Deep folds her front legs; this is not a new topic for the sisters.
“I’ll wear it, Deep, I’ll wear it! On my terms.”
Deep and Day whisper at each other as Primavera’s turn comes, the second half of the question forgotten. “Do… I really have to answer this?” Primavera, looks more than a little uncomfortable. “I…” Making out her dark blush is a trivial affair; this is no mean feat for the normally intimidating chef. “I’d like to be able to take him into my th-throat farther. And… he could be red…”
Strawberry Frosting leans over to pat Primavera’s shoulder as the other mares on stage recover from their shock. When Primavera sighs and raises her head, Strawberry gives her own answer. “I’d… oh Celestia, you’re right, Primavera… I’d like to be a little… deeper. And Mr. Deal could match, longer. Maybe thicker…”
Day nods and ignores Strawberry’s discomfort. “That would be a good change for Mr. Deal.” Perhaps then he wouldn’t have to work so hard when I want it rougher. Strawberry’s faint nod is almost imperceptible.
Pirouette takes to her hooves again, eager to get the crowds eyes off the humiliated mares on the far side of the stage. “And that’s all of us! So, next question!”
Pirouette opens the next envelope in the box by her chair. Is it yours?
Pirouette looks up from the envelope. “Wonderful. Somepony wants to start a fight.” She turns to face Deep Tissue. “If you thought of Done’s mares as competition, how would you rank them in terms of how threatening they are to your position at the top?”
Deep smiles, and if anything acts too relaxed. “That’s a big if! As much as I hate to say it… her.” Deep Tissue points a hoof at Peach Pit, who puffs up her wings angrily before blinking and realizing she’s actually been complimented. “Done’s set her up a bit. Obviously he likes what he’s done with her, and obviously she’ll do anything for him. If anypony is as serious about Done as I am, it’s her. Next is Shimmering Scales. She’s not bad looking, and she’s clever. Poor Done might fall for a trick and end up married! You’d be next, Pirouette, if you ever come off the big sis thing with everypony. You’ve known him forever, after all. Hm…” Deep reclines and taps her lips with a hoof. “Really, the rest of you don’t worry me much.” Deep shrugs. “Well, Day could bully him into something, but… we’d share.”
Day’s lips curl into a faint smile. “He’s harder to get in line than you think, Deep. But I’d say we could work something out.”
The eyes on stage that had glared at Deep for her dismissiveness pop wide open at the sudden realization that Day is even interested.
Pirouette reaches for the next envelope, opens it, and raises her eyebrows in surprise. “Exposé! What the… “Tsuntsun, or deredere?’” It’s obvious Pirouette has no idea what she’s just read, but Exposé’s eyes widen, then narrow. She stomps her way to Pirouette, ignoring the audience and Bruises’ plea for her to come back, and snatches the page from a very startled Pirouette’s hooves.
The tiny pegasus growls as she looks at the page. “This doesn’t say… alright, who’s the funny pony?” Wisely, no pony in the audience speaks. When Exposé launches herself into the air over the audience, presumably to somehow suss out the guilty party, Bruises’ horn glows, and she’s pulled back to her seat, struggling the whole way. At last, Bruises manages to calm her down, only to have to start over as somepony in the audience rather loudly whispers, “One hundred percent tsun, zero percent dere.”
Pirouette hurriedly reaches for the next envelope to try to move past Exposé’s squawking.
Pirouette smiles as she realizes that the next question is for Jade. “This one’s yours, Jade. You don’t talk about yourself enough!” Jade cocks her head and blinks, apparently unsure why she would. “Let’s see… oh no.” Pirouette sighs. “They want to know if you’ve taken any interesting photos lately, Jade…”
Jade’s expression brightens, and she quickly rushes up the stairs without a word. Pirouette takes off after her, yelling, “Jade! Bright Jade, you get back here right now! No! Bad!” The audience’s laughter drowns out a rather loud facehoof from behind the bar.
Before anypony thinks to take Pirouette’s place and continue the Q&A, a thunder of hooves is heard on the stairs again–Jade is rushing down, with Pirouette too far behind to stop her, and in Jade’s mouth is a large frame. Once Jade is front and center on the stage, she sets the frame down, right in front of you, and the laughter dies instantly as numerous stallions gasp at the photo. Obviously taken in the club’s dressing room, a pair of young dancers stand facing tail to tail, each with a hind leg lifted toward the camera, held high and symmetrically displaying… well, everything.
“This is Mr. Deal’s favorite right now, but he changes his mind a lot. I don’t think he’s had sex with them, sin–oof!”
Jade is tackled by Pirouette and dragged off stage, the photo still held in her hooves as she slides along the floor, tail in Pirouette’s mouth. Moments later, both ponies return, ears laid back, and retake their places.
Pirouette angrily picks up the next envelope as she warns Jade, “We will discuss that photo later!” Her eyes turn toward the back of the room, where Done Deal is nowhere to be found, and she raises her voice. “Don’t think you’re getting out of it, Done!”
Pirouette drops to her seat with an audible thump. “Please, please let this next one be normal.”
Pirouette blinks in surprise at the envelope. “Huh! Hey, Tall Order! Put down the tray and come on up! You’ve got a question!”
No less surprised than Pirouette, Tall Order heads to the stage and lays down the tray of snacks he’d been offering patrons before climbing up awkwardly. Taking a spot next to Pirouette, where he wouldn’t block the view of any mare, the stately gentlecolt waits to be asked his question.
“’From all of Done’s girls, if you had to pick two that you’d like to see in a relationship and aren’t already, who would they be? Removing both mares in that pairing from the pool, who would your second choice be?’ Kind of refreshing to think of one of these girls with… well, not Done.”
Tall Order shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t know most of them well, and it’s completely inappropriate to answer this, but I’d certainly be happy to see Primavera with anypony who makes her happy. Strawberry Frosting seems to, but I can’t imagine Primavera actually… involved. Other than those two? I truly don’t know. Perhaps you and Day Planner? You seem like you’d appreciate somepony who works hard.”
Pirouette and Day Planner take one look at each other and crack up. Without a word, they make it quite clear how absurd they find the notion, and Tall Order shrugs again before returning to snack duty. You crane your neck to follow him as he heads to the back of the audience and see that Done has returned, and seems to be considering something uncharacteristically seriously…
As Pirouette and Day’s laughter ebbs, Pirouette reaches for the next envelope and a smile grows from ear to ear. “This is more like it. Done! Get up here! You’ve got a question too!”
Done approaches warily, not having forgotten the trouble he’s in thanks to Jade’s photo–even if it was an especially nice one. He takes the stage, eyes on Pirouette the whole time. When he finally turns to face the audience, Pirouette swiftly smacks him upside the head. “Don’t think you don’t deserve it, Done!”
Continuing without letting Done object, Pirouette reads, “If you were a mare, would you therefore be surrounded by a collection of attractive, handsome stallions?”
Done blinks, initially startled, then laughs. It’s a fun question after all, and not going to start another quarrel. “Honestly? I don’t know. If I felt the way about them I feel about mares, probably. On the other hoof, I sure wouldn’t want to end up pregnant. Or with a mane full of, well, stallion goo.”
He turns to Pirouette, who’s stifling laughter. “Stallion goo, Done? Get off this stage, grownups only!”
Done sticks his tongue out at Pirouette as he walks away, then quickly turns to yank her tail before jumping down and running to the back of the room. As the audience snickers, Done sits, front legs folded. "Sorry. Not a grown up, after all!”
Shaking her head, Pirouette reaches for the next envelope. “I’m going to have a phobia of letters before the night’s over, I just know it…”
Pirouette looks relieved as she reads the next question. “You’re a good girl Parapet. You won’t make this difficult!”
Bruises smiles at being told she’s good, and waits for her question.
“Do you work out still, or at all? What do you think of Done’s abilities? Do you want him to change something or someone, and if so, in what way?”
Bruises smiled broadly. “Nope! Never have to work out! I never did before, either. I wasn’t very strong, but magic lifting is real easy! See?”
Without warning, Bruises lifted six of the tables on the show floor–as well as the ponies seated at them. “Easy!” A few dull thunks sounded as Bruises lowered the furniture and guests back to the floor, almost as gently as she’d lifted them. “Now I can lift almost as much just with my body! It’s fun! I just wish ponies were… a little nicer sometimes.”
Exposé quietly stroked Bruises side with a wing while looking the other direction, and Bruises picked up again. “Um… about the boss? I did kinda say earlier. It’d be nice if he were, you know… bigger. Besides that? I think it’d be nice if he used his smoke on lots and lots more pretty girls. We’re all happy now, and I have friends! Everypony should work for him! Then they’d all be happy and nice.”
The expressions on the faces of both the audience and participants are a mixed bag. Some smile at Bruises’ sweet, endearing nature. Others frown, not sure they like the idea of joining Done’s “family.” Still others look on the big mare with pity that she has such a dream.
Pirouette opens the next envelope and gives Jade a sidelong glance. “Well, this one should be safe. Jade, What’s the best part of working for Done?”
Jade smiles brightly as she answers with total confidence, “He cares about me! He lets me take care of him and do things for him, even when I’m sure he’d just do them himself if I were gone. Like giving him his toothbrush. Just because it makes me happy, he lets me do things, even if he doesn’t need me. I’m not nearly so scared of being useless now, because I know he’ll use me anyway, or find something for me to do! If he didn’t care, he’d just have me get out of the way. I sleep much, much better, now.”
The smile on Pirouette’s face is unmistakably forced. Hers isn’t the only one. If Jade notices, she doesn’t seem to care. Why should she, after all? Mr. Deal wanted her to answer questions today. She’s being useful.
Looking rather tense, Pirouette opens the next envelope, and a smile spreads across her muzzle. “Deep and Day, ‘Let’s say you had a role reversal. Deep was actually the strict, snarky secretary, and Day is the sultry vixen masseuse. What would a normal day in the office sound like for each of you?”
Deep Tissue immediately smiles. “Sultry vixen? I like this one.”
Day Planner shakes her head. “No, that’s me now.” Day clears her throat and impersonates her sister. Sort of. “Done, if you don’t quit squirming, I’m going to massage even harder. Until you can’t get away.” Day stretches out her tongue, licking some imaginary body part left up to the laughing audience.
Deep Tissue giggles, then puts on a stern face and drapes herself over a very startled Bruises. “Mr. Deal, if you don’t get this paperwork Done, I might only buck you twice today…” Bruises’ eyes bulge and her face flushes as the sisters look at each other for only a second before collapsing into gales of laughter. Day Planner rises again far more quickly than Deep and blushes slightly at her own informality. “We’d be terrible at it. Fired within a week, I’m sure. Deep can’t even organize her socks.”
Deep, still laughing, works her way back into her seat. “And you have never had a date that wasn’t a double!”
Day sighs in response, but doesn’t look too stung. “Good thing I don’t need them anymore.”
Relieved at having finally had a question go right, Pirouette reaches for the next envelope. Done Deal, you note as you look back, appears to be wiping a cold sweat from his forehead.
Pirouette opens the next envelope, obviously hoping for a repeat of the last question, and sighs. “Parapet, ‘Expose’s up for a three-way with another of the girls. Who–”
Bruises’ head snaps to face Pirouette so suddenly her mane flips around her neck. “She is?! Exposé, you never–”
Bruises is interrupted as abruptly as Pirouette had been. “No! It’s just a question, Parapet!” Angrily, Exposé turns to the audience, wings at their full span. “What is wrong with you ponies! Stop putting ideas in her head!”
Bruises blinks, and a slightly sad expression forms on her face. “…we can’t?”
“No! No other girls, Para…pet.” Bruises’ head hung slightly, and Exposé’s shouting dies quickly. “Don’t give me that look… we don’t…” Her wings sank as she looked at Bruises’ disappointed expression, and Exposé mumbles barely loudly enough to be heard. “… I pick. That’s your answer. ‘The one Exposé says.’”
Bruises’ acceptance is just as energetic as Exposé’s refusal had been a moment before. “The one she picks! That’ll be fine!”
As mares on stage look at each other uneasily, hoping they won’t be the one Exposé subjects to the now-inevitable three-way, Pirouette smiles at Bruises. Her head shakes as she reaches for the next envelope, but she seems a little pleased by something.
Pirouette opens the next envelope and her ears flatten against her head. “’Give us some gossip from the dancing girls! How are they talking about Done Deal and his sex life?’ How? Loudly and non-stop, that’s how. Especially since a couple of them realized what happened after the party Done threw us. I believe you saw their picture earlier. In fact… Jade, go bring that back. I changed my mind. That picture–only that picture–can stay on stage tonight.”
As Jade runs off to get the photograph again, a groan can be heard from the bar, and Pirouette’s ears return to their normal position. “They’re arguing, honestly. Some of them believe those two, that Done’s a big flirt with everypony but me, and that we have an exclusive thing. Some of them are closer to the truth, and think he’s gotten awfully frisky lately.” Pirouette grins in amusement as she continues. “And several are absolutely convinced that it’s all an act and he’s gay to the core.”
The groan from the bar doesn’t repeat. Instead, there’s an audible thump, and turning in your seat reveals Done Deal, muzzle and forehead on the bar.
“Of course, he’s not all they gossip about,” Pirouette adds. “Dancers are a chatty bunch. My girls gab about everything. If you’ve heard gossip about it, no matter what it is, I guarantee you they yak about it too.”
Pirouette opens another question, stretching a bit as she does. “I’m not used to sitting still so long, especially on stage! Let’s see… ‘Peach! Oh. We all know the answer to this one, but for the ponies out there, ‘If Done asked you to come live with him on a secluded island, just the two of you, would you do it?’”
Deep Tissue’s eyes roll just as quickly as Peach Pit’s light up. Adjusting herself on her seat, Peach’s wings twitch excitedly. “Of course! That would be wonderful! We’d need some way back to civilization now and then of course, to buy things, and so our foals can see what cities are like, but oh, it’d be heaven!” Peach Pit squirms a little her seat and exhales heavily.
Ears laid back, Deep Tissue mutters, “Somepony get a bucket of ice water and get her mind back to reality. It’ll never happen, Peach! Even if I weren’t around, Done’s a city boy! He’s got no use for islands in the middle of nowhere!”
Peach Pit sniffs disdainfully. “A penthouse for two downtown would be just as nice.”
“Girls, play nice, or I’ll tell Done to put you both on timeout. And you know he would.” Pirouette crumples the previous question and throws it aside, visibly annoyed, but Peach and Deep bite their tongues, and she’s able to continue.
“Oh, now I know somepony’s trying to start trouble. You’re not funny, whoever you are.” Pirouette crumples the page with the unread question and tosses it aside. Unfortunately, it stops at Bruises’ hooves, and curiosity wins the day.
Bruises starts reading slowly while Pirouette is digging for another question. “Deep Ti–tissue. Being the best looking mare in the group, don’t you feel like you deserve more time with Done?”
Deep’s smile is directed pointedly at Peach. “Of course I do! And I know Done would like to spend more time with me too, but he does have to keep everypony else happy, and he’s got an awfully big… heart.”
The audience snickers a bit at Deep’s rather blunt innuendo.
“He’s changed something about quite a few of us, and left me alone altogether. Well. Maybe a tiny push, but nothing big. It’s just a matter of time.”
Deep’s calm smile seems to cause Peach to grind her teeth. “And not making him hate you again?”
Deep Tissue’s smile vanishes and she’s on her hooves in an instant. “What was that?”
Peach drops from her seat to the stage, wings fluffed. “You heard me!”
Before Pirouette can intervene, Done’s voice calls from the bar, “If you two aren’t in your seats and behaved by the count of three, the next time either of you get any, it’ll be a Hearthswarming Eve gift–and it’s January.”
In a heartbeat, both mares are in their seats, expressions somewhere between chastised and horrified. It lasts only a moment, though–daggers are glared mere moments later.
“Thank you, Done,” Pirouette sighs as she opens another question. “Looks like you’re not the only one acting like a foal tonight.”
Deep sniffs and looks away. Peach Pit alone seems ashamed.
“Please no more nonsense, please no more nonsense…” Pirouette opens the next question with more than a little apprehension, and stares at it. “…what? Al…right… Done. If Shimmer came to work with a princess on a leash, how would you react?”
In the back of the room, there’s coughing and sputtering as Done chokes on his cider. “What?”
“That’s what I said!”
“Baffled at the mere prospect, Done scratches his head for a moment. “I’d probably assume she was playing a prank on me, and had gotten some tall, dark pegasus actress, or maybe a pink one, and stuck a costume horn on her. If it really Luna or Cadence though? After the heart attack, I would absolutely panic! The other two princesses [Remember, Smoke takes place before Twilight is crowned.] aren’t going to take well to having their sister, aunt, or niece somehow made a pet! They’d total the place in a minute!”
Done calmed a bit and added, “If it was an actress though… Depending on how the prank played out, Shimmer might get to pick her scenario for the three of us…”
As Pirouette opens the next question, her frustration melts. “Oh, here we go. This makes all the nonsense worthwhile! “Pirouette, what’s the most embarrassing thing Done’s done over the years?”
Done’s voice floats up from the back. “Don’t do it…”
Pirouette’s grin is nothing short of wicked. “That’s easy. One of the showers in the changing room had a leak, and Done was working to fix it. The problem was with a valve in the wall, and this was early enough that it wasn’t completely cheap of Done to try to skip a plumber. We weren’t as big then. Anyway, he had a wall panel open, and…”
“Pirouette…”
“And was working on the pipes, or trying to, and bam! It starts spraying him in the face, full blast! He jerks his head back, hits it on a stud, falls forward, and ends up with his head stuck in the wall, soaking wet with ice water, and the girls come in for rehearsal to find him still like that, hollering like crazy, with his plot up in the air! They started drawing on it with makeup before he got angry enough to seriously threaten to fire somepony!
“I will get you for this, Pirouette. Don’t think Shimmer wouldn’t prank you for the right price!”
Shimmer blinks, not quite prepared to be put on the spot. Before she can answer, a soft voice comes from beside her. “Bidding war.”
You and the rest of the audience look to see the nearly forgotten Amber Glow nodding sagely. “It’s the only way.”
Pirouette reaches slowly for a new question, eager to move on.
Pirouette opens another question. “’Shimmering, mind telling us how you want to see the city change (with or without Done Deal’s influencing it.)? Real or fantasy, it’d just be fun to hear what you think.’ This should be interesting. Shimmer?”
Shimmer needs surprisingly little time to consider–has she been giving thought to this already? “So many ideas! Umm… it’d be nice to get more diverse around here, for one. Centaurs, monsterponies, more minotaurs… maybe some dragons, even! I bet they’d be good in banking.
“For real, though? “Mostly do a redesign on a couple of bad neighborhoods. I’m positive that the reason oldtown is now gang territory is a lack of thoroughfare, and I don’t think the crooked streets are any coincidence there.” Maybe some kind of underground mass transportation? I’ve also heard some off-the-wall theories about using energy to send information, like sound! Imagine, like horse code, but with music, or voices! I’d definitely want to invest in something like that!”
The expressions on the faces of several ponies near you are total disbelief. Others appear interested, and still others are simply baffled.
“I’d definitely build a college for magic students. Make Manehattan a center for culture, capital, and casting! Other than that… trade agreements with the minotaurs, try to start some real diplomacy with centaurs and dragons, and generally try to stop the stagnation going around.”
A pony here and there actually applauds Shimmer’s answer. Mostly, though, it seems that ponies in the audience are confused. Ahead of her time, or out of her head? Only time will tell.
Pirouette looks relieved as she unfolds the envelope’s contents. “’To Pirouette and Day. What was the Tall Tail like back when it was just you and the girls?’ Ah, a sane one! Don’t get me wrong. I still love my job, and the girls Done’s brought in are good ponies, when they’re not butting heads.” Pirouette’s glances at Deep, Peach Pit, and Exposé are met with an innocent smile, downcast eyes, and a clear “hmph!” “The old days were great too, though. Lots slower paced, no ‘excitement’ from trouble like Trotties, no constant stream of new mares in and out. Imagine any old cabaret, make it classier, the dancers prettier, and the boss more caring. That’s what it was like.”
“You’re not getting out of trouble for telling that story, Pirouette.” Done’s front legs are crossed resting on the bar. He’s still not amused.
“I wasn’t trying to, you big caring cretin.” Pirouette is certainly no longer intimidated, if she ever was.
Day Planner speaks up. “I’m afraid it was less pleasant for me. I’d only been here six months before Mr. Deal returned from the Crystal Empire, and while working conditions were perfectly reasonable, I was here for the chance to dance.” Day sighed. “I was a fool, really. A… certain injury…” made it impossible for me to ever really move like a dancer must.”
Primavera looks at the floor guiltily. Not knowing the circumstances, a number of stallions in the crowd look sympathetic. Day continues. “It was all just busywork until Mr. Deal smoked me. It’s true–he took away part of who I was. But that part was holding me back. I was miserable, and certain that I could dance someday. Now I feel like that same work is meaningful. I don’t have any interest in dancing anymore, and that’s for the best. I feel like a whole pony again, and I hadn’t since I was hurt. Mr. Deal may not give us any say in being ‘his,’ but I’m just as sincere as anypony up here when I say I’m glad to be.”
Looking back, you note that the crankiness has left Done’s expression.
Pirouette opens a new question. “’Day Planner, when are you going to have…’ oh for–really?” Pirouette rolls her eyes. “We’re back to these. ‘When are you going to have that threesome with your sister and Done?’”
Day Planner smirks and Deep Tissue glances at her sidelong. “As soon as Mr. Deal can satisfy me by myself without getting winded, I’ll pencil it in.”
Deep Tissue laughs, but shakes her head. “No, no, sis, you’ve got it wrong! You wear him out, then I handle him while he’s limp and knead him just right so only a certain part’s not. We can do that–”
Done’s voice comes from behind the bar again. “Tomorrow at six, before the show.”
Deep Tissue blinks in surprise, but Day Planner already has a copy of Done’s schedule out to scribble in the date. “Done, Mr. Deal.”
Pirouette groans and holds the bag of questions out to Exposé. “You try. I keep pulling horrible questions.”
Exposé reaches into the bag, but her grumbling is plain. “Can’t get a good question when they’re all written by perverts…”
Exposé holds the page like a rotten banana peel before deigning to look at it. “Oh, great. It’s for me. ‘Exposé, you’ve seen a lot I would imagine, to be as ‘dreaded’ as you are. Maybe infamous would be a better term.’ Oh, come on, I’m not that bad!” Exposé reads more quickly, eager to be finished. “’What do you think of Done Deal now that you’ve gotten to know him more, and what do you think he’ll do with his powers?’
“Isn’t it obvious? He’ll get half of Manehattan pregnant.” Exposé clams up until she looks to her right and sees Bruises staring at her silently. “…Fine. He’s… a pervert of the worst kind, but… he cares about us, like everypony says, and…” Exposé studies the floor as she continues. “…and he’s not awful in bed… The city could do worse. Already has, really. Bucking mayor.”
Bruises hugs Exposé, and she’s right back to noisy squawking as Pirouette takes back the bag of questions.
Pirouette faces Deep Tissue and reads. “’Deep Tissue: What exactly happened that got you fired from your last job? Do you enjoy having your own parlor and being your own boss?’”
Deep Tissue glances past the audience–once again, she’s addressing Done, at least at first. “I didn’t always have such… good taste in stallions. I got canned for flirting with the wrong pony, simple as that. He told his wife, and she happened to be one of my boss’s bridge buddies. Next morning, pink slip. Quick as that.
“I do like working for Done in my parlor, but don’t get me wrong, honey. I work for him. I run the place, but he owns it. I know how to keep him happy though, and I don’t just mean after hours. When I can’t get fired for it and he knows I’m all his? A little flirting is great for business.”
Pirouette rolls her eyes and pulls out another question. “For me. ‘How old are you?’ Honestly! You never ask a lady her age!”
“Ladies don’t embarrass their best friends and bosses, I hear, either.” Nope. Done still hasn’t let that go.
Pirouette sighs sharply. “Alright, alright, I earned that; I’ll answer it. I’m fifty-four. Like I said, I’ve never had any reason to complain about my looks. I barely looked forty when Done got the smoke, but in this biz? Looking thirty can kill a career. Done kept me on the stage five years after I offered to stay backstage, but nopony does this work in their fifties. Not unless it’s that weird granny bar on the east side, anyway.” Pirouette sighed again. “I looked forty, but after the smoke? Well, you tell me.”
There’s a general murmur in the audience. The most common ages you hear are twenty-two to twenty-six. Not one voice seems to think Pirouette looks a day over twenty-eight, and the redheaded mare crosses her front legs smugly. “It’s not so bad being dropped back into your prime. Sure can’t risk meeting anypony from the old casinos, though. Let’s see… next!”
Pirouette visibly tenses as she looks at the page, then relaxes again. “Oh, this one is safe. ‘Deep Tissue, how’s your relationship with Day been up until now?’”
Deep smiles, a cheerful smile with no hint of her usual seduction. “Day and I are crazy close. Have been our whole lives! Sisters fight, sure, but she always made sure I got good enough grades and didn’t humiliate myself chasing after some stupid colt, and I made sure she never once sat at the nerd table or stood on the outside looking in at a party.”
“Even if she did usually drag me to the parties.” Day has a hint of a smile on her muzzle. “And she’s leaving out the part about being horribly, horribly shy until she was f–mph!”
Day Planner is quickly silenced as the paper with the question is magically yanked from Pirouette’s hooves, wadded, and stuffed in her mouth.
“Heh...eh hehe, N-next question!” The words are no sooner out of Deep’s muzzle than she’s hissing at her sister too quietly for you to hear. While the sisters argue, Pirouette pulls another question.
Pirouette continues. Finally, the bag seems to be getting a bit lighter, though there are still more than a handful of questions remaining. “Done, for you. ‘With your reaction to Pirouette about foals, how are you expecting them not to get pregnant after creaming–’ ugh, creaming? ‘…after creaming your mares?’”
Without approaching the stage, Done gives Pirouette a perplexed look. “Did you…?”
Pirouette shakes her head. “I wouldn’t!”
With knitted eyebrows, Done grumbles, “…I’ll have to look for holes in the wall… anyway. It’s not really about foals. It’s about foals with Pirouette. She’s my best friend. If one of the other girls ends up that way, well, I can’t say I’ll be a great father, but she’ll be provided for. I won’t be absent, even if I’m not a normal dad.”
Peach Pit peers down at her belly and sighs.
“Anyway, it’d just be weird with Pirouette. It’d make a mess of a ten-year-long friendship. With her, it’d be a nightmare, and not because I don’t care about her. The opposite.”
Pirouette pulls the next question with a silly smile on her muzzle.
“Let’s see…” Pirouette fishes around in the bag a bit before pulling out the next question. “For Shimmer. ‘How excited are you that Celestia’s Light Theater is going to be renovated? Any daydreaming about when the day is finally there?’”
“Excited! I’m busy working for Done now, but I’d love to do some special occasions there! And seeing a big building become great again! Wonderful! It’s… not really in the best neighborhood right now, though, so I’m going to wait a bit on the daydreaming. I have got plans for special effects, though! I’ve got a nice big book on safe pyrotechnics and everything!”
Pirouette casts a meaningful glance at Done at the mention of pyrotechnics, and he nods. You have very little doubt The Tall Tail will never see those pyrotechnics, whether Shimmer wants to or not.
Pirouette grabs a new question before Shimmer can expand on her planned use of fire. “Parapet, you have another. ‘What was your early life like? Your working life?’”
Bruises immediately looks unhappy. “It… um, it was crappy. Ponies who are all dark like me get picked on a lot. I guess it’s getting better since Princess Luna came back, but being a filly was no fun at all. Nopony liked me, an’ I kept getting in trouble for hurting them when they were mean. When I grew up, I was just mad at everypony all the time. I threw stuff, yelled at them… I was a horrible–can… I have a different question, please?” They’re hard to see from the audience, but you notice the beginnings of tears in Bruises’ eyes.
Pirouette nods, but she can hardly search through the sack for another question just for Parapet, and with no idea ready… “Uh… do you like blueberries?”
Bruises cocks her head and blinks away the start of her tears. “Blueberries?” She looks past the audience. “Boss?”
Done shrugs. “Primavera, do you…?”
The chef nods. “I’ll be right back, Mr. Deal.” Off she goes through the audience to her restaurant next door.
Pirouette blinks, amazed Bruises doesn’t know the answer. “I’ll ask another question while we wait, okay, Parapet?”
With the prospect of a new snack on the way, Bruises is perfectly content to wait.
Pirouette pulls out a replacement question for her replacement question. “Day Planner, ‘What was your room like growing up?’”
Day shrugs. “Exactly what most of you would expect, really. The reason Mr. Deal made secretary work my life is because I am, honestly, excellent at it. My room was always immaculate, and thoroughly organized.”
Deep Tissue grins. “She’s not kidding. It was so organized her kink drawer was alphabetized!”
The audience laughs, but Day waves a hoof dismissively. “Don’t be absurd. I only started alphabetizing them a year ago. When I was a teen, they were only sorted by type.”
The audience laughs, assuming it’s another joke, but Deep Tissue, who knows her sister so well, is less sure…
As the laughter dies down, Primavera returns, a small basket of blueberries balanced on her head as she retakes the stage and approaches Bruises.
Pirouette smiles encouragingly. “There you go, Parapet! Try ‘em!”
Cheerfully, Bruises telekinetically lifts the small basket and dumps it into her mouth in a single bite, as Exposé facehoofs at the lack of manners.
“I thiiiink… strawberries are better. But these are also nice!”
Smiles appear here and there in the crowd and on stage. It’s hard not to like Bruises, somehow.
Pirouette opens the next question, glances at it, and sighs. “Fresh off Parapet being sweet, we get something like this. ‘Jade, do you think Done should smoke anypony else as much as you? How much do you think the smoke could change you if used heavily and regularly?’”
Several mares on stage look uncomfortable, and the audience seems split between distaste and hiding excitement at the notion. Jade just seems contemplative.
“I’m not sure he should smoke anypony as much as me, but as long as I’m still useful, then he should do what he wants. I think we’d get underhoof though. I hate being away from Mr. Deal long, and another mare who wants to follow him around and help would need her own things to do, and take up room. If he smoked three or four more? We’d all have nothing to do, and we’d be miserable.
Are you imagining it, or does Shimmering Scales seem a little relieved?
“For me though? I really don’t know how much I would change. I don’t know how his power works at all. I’d probably be more attached to him than I already am though. I’m practically a blanket at night as it is. When he’s not with another mare, anyway.”
Pirouette quickly grabs the next question, eager to move on, but casts her eyes to the ceiling in frustration before reading aloud. “Done. If you could change yourself with the smoke, how would you do so?”
The whole audience twists in their seats to face Done at the bar. His response is nonchalant. “Who says I can’t? Haven’t needed to, haven’t tried.” The grey stallion shrugs. “If I’m gonna change myself, there should be a reason for it. For the most part, I’m okay. I’m not amazing looking like some of my girls, but I’m not shabby. I’m not too short or too tall. If I were going to test, I might try granting Strawberry and Day’s request, make my…self a little bigger, but really, why risk something going wrong? I know I can change other ponies. Not a big risk there. Me? For all I know, it’d fall right off.”
Amber mutters quietly, “Damnation and salvation of a thousand mares…”
Pirouette pulls out the next question, her expression hinting that she agreed with Amber more than she let on. “Oh, for me. ‘How do I think Done’s changed, and how has he stayed the same? How much does he need to change the city?’
“The big change is obvious. He never used to chase pretty mares, and he really didn’t even date much before. He took care of us, and this club, and that was kind of his life. He’s constantly rutting somepony now, but he does still take good care of us. He’s been hurt more than once trying to get rid of troublemakers, and I’ve never seen one of my girls hit a rough patch without suddenly earning a “performance” bonus. I don’t think any of his girls, or any of mine, will ever have an unpaid bill if he can help it. He’s a better listener than he acts like he is, too. Of course, over the years, that’s had some of my girls thinking he’d make a good husband.“ Pirouette sighs. “To be honest, I used to think so too, but now? I’m not sure he’ll ever settle down.”
“As for the city? He needs to change a lot. The guards in our ward aren’t shabby, but out in the slums? Good luck. They’re for sale, cheap. Our alderponies aren’t much better, and if our taxes are doing much good fixing the problems, I’m not seeing it. Power or no power, I’d put Done on a throne for a couple years and let him have his way fixing this town. He couldn’t make it any worse, and I’m certain he cares enough to make it better.”
Pirouette pulls out the next question and blinks. “Folks, one to a card… oh well. Shimmer, all three are for you. ‘What’s your favorite dessert?’
Shimmer stands and points a direction. “Out by my old theater, there’s a cafe called the Silk Rose. Little layer cakes there, chocolate mousse between layers of rich dark chocolate, and strawberries with every slice. They’re the best things I’ve ever had! I used to get them all the time, but working here… it’s out of the way. Special occasions only. I miss it, but the new job is so worth it!”
As Shimmer spoke, Bruises began to look agitated, and whispered to Exposé, whose barely audible “Later!” marks the transition from Shimmer’s first question to her second.
Pirouette nods and reads the next question. “What do you do when you’re not trying to seduce Done?” Several ponies look confused–of all the mares on stage, only Exposé and Primavera seem to have put less effort into that goal. Shimmer simply answers.
“Tinker! Store bought things only go so far. If you want a unique prop or rigging, you make it yourself! Or pay somepony I suppose, but I make them. Lower costs, higher paychecks, and lots of time to pl–er, think. It’s not just stage props. Costumes for conventions and, uh… ‘toys’ are nice changes of pace.” Shimmer looks a bit embarrassed at the mention of her toys–Day Planner, however, makes a note to herself and tucks her pad away again, silently.
Pirouette sighs at yet more implications of sex, and asks the final question on the card: “What do you see in Done?”
Shimmer’s answer is immediate, and her excitement grows as she speaks, leading her to talk faster as she goes. “Potential! If you think about it, and I mean really think, not just go with the whole good versus evil thing, you realize a lot of comic book villains, the bad guys with superpowers…kinda have a point! They can rule, make lives better for ponies, make huge progress in science and culture. They just have all these problems with superheroes keeping them from making a difference. Now we’ve got a budding supervillain, good intentions, and no nemesis to get in the way! I just have to stick around and keep him frooo…mmmake sure everything goes right! Sometimes even surprise him!”
You look back for Done’s reaction, and his eyebrow is raised again, but this time he looks interested. Nice save, Shimmer!
Looking vaguely unsettled, Pirouette pulls out the next question. The bag is finally starting to look nearly empty, but there are at least a few more in there! “Oh no.” Pirouette sighs and looks worn out. “Please act your age, you two.” The remark is clearly directed at Peach Pit and Deep Tissue. “Peach, if you could change anything more about yourself and/or Done, physically or mentally, what would you do, and why?”
Peach Pit smiles. “I’d make ‘em bigger again. He was trying to keep them from being a problem, but if I can change us both… I just make him tell me how big he likes them and do it–then make him love me enough for wedding bells, so I know we’ll be together, and I won’t have to regret it!”
Deep Tissue shrugs. “Eh. I can’t even be mad. I’d get him to marry me too. Without balloons, of course.”
“…that could’ve gone worse.” Pirouette opens the next question and winces. “Uh, Done? It’s for you, and… personal. Should I…?” Even Pirouette dances around this topic. What could it be?
Done sighs heavily and heads to the stage, taking the question from Pirouette without a word. “Okay. Normally we’d be skipping this, but I’ll make an exception.” He looks to the girls on stage. “You guys, I don’t want you making a big deal out of it, okay?”
Returning his focus to the crowd, Done begins to explain. “The question’s about my family. My mom, siblings, what I did before this. I’m not an only child. I had an older sister, and of course I had parents. Dad worked a lot, drank a bit. Honestly, he wasn’t really a bad parent. In the end, he was better than Mom. He bucking stayed until I was out of school. The fighting started early. Didn’t even have my cutie mark and Mom and Dad would go at it while sis and I tried to find a quiet spot in the house.
“Mom threatened to leave, sis and I started fighting, Mom stayed to keep us from fighting but blamed Dad for that, too. Mom threatened to leave, I got sick, Mom stayed. Eventually, she didn’t stay anymore. No idea what happened to her, but it wrecked me.” Done takes a deep breath. “Dad was sort of around still, but he was pretty crushed too, and work still kept him busy. There was always food on the table though, and tuition was paid for my sister and me.
“I finished school, and I was going to start a business. Things had been tense between my sister and and me since Mom left, and when she found out I planned on starting a nightclub, she vamoosed too. Dad gave me my inheritance early. Between that and a loan I got lucky on, I was able to get this building and get started. Pirouette didn’t open with me though. She showed up a few years later, when I got to the point that I knew I needed a real choreographer.”
Done looks rather… well, miserable. Pirouette kisses him on the cheek and shoos him offstage, and Done is clearly grateful to be chased off for once. “I showed up when this place was running and paying bills, but not getting real traction. The business was going perfectly, employees were happy, there were regulars–but the shows weren’t drawing ponies in droves. I’d been out of work long enough to be about on my last bit, or I would never have tried for another showmare job. I wanted ballet–I wanted to finally live my cutie mark. Three months here, though, and any idea of going was out the window. Shows were shaping up with my experience, even though I wasn’t in charge, and Done knew it. He gave me the choreographer job. My ‘rival’ here was a bit sore, but she didn’t want to try to beat what I’d put on. Knew she couldn’t. That oughta about cover ancient history I think.”
Pirouette remains in a somber mood as she opens the next question, but as soon as she sees it, she facehoofs. “Well, back to this stuff. ‘Done, have you had to soundproof your bedroom? Before or after complaints came in?’
Done doesn’t share Pirouette’s frustration; he laughs and looks like he needed it, badly. “It’s actually not soundproofed at all. Most of the girls aren’t that loud, I’m not that loud, and we’re in a commercial part of town. Closest apartments are three blocks away. Primavera’s the only business we share a wall with, and we close later at night, so they’re gone before the moaning starts. In the morning, they don’t serve breakfast, so it’d just be my girls or their cooking staff doing prep.”
Primavera speaks up. “Actually, I had soundproofing done before I opened Primavera. I didn’t want my guests disturbed by the racket from the shows.”
Done nods at Primavera. “That too.”
Pirouette opens the next question. “Day, Deep, you don’t mind sharing Done, and you’re rather eager about a potential threesome with him. Have you two fooled around with each other before?”
Day Planner and Deep Tissue both stifle laughs before Day answers. “Not at all. We’re both straight, though considering Parapet is a lesbian apart from her interest in Done, it seems he can keep that from mattering if there’s enough smoke involved. But no, we’re not interested in each other in that sense. It’s simply that if a means exists by which to get in bed with Done… well, I think I speak for every pony on this stage when I say we’d be willing to bend our rules a bit. Whether he’s that good or the smoke makes us want it more, other stallions simply aren’t an appealing prospect once you’re ‘his.’”
Deep Tissue nods. “Although, Day and I are close enough that it’d be less weird than throwing some other mare up here in the mix, I think.”
“It would.” Day Planner returns her sisters nod. “And we both want different things from him. You want a relationship. I just want to see stars.”
Pirouette rubbed at her eyes as she reached for the question bag. “Don’t encourage them, Day…”
“Another one about changing ponies?” Pirouette sighs. “‘Shimmer, if Done changed the appearances of the other mares the more extreme way he changed yours and Bru–Parapet’s, what do you think they would look best as or with. Do you think he should?”
Shimmer scans the mares with whom she shared the stage, eyeing each critically. “Let’s see… Too many changes like ours and it’s going to get us caught and spoil the party. With that in mind… Exposé could be sturdier. Parapet and Done have to be hard on her–”
Exposé pops up in her chair, wings fluffed, only to be pulled into a bear hug by Bruises, whose massive body reduces the pegasus’ objections to muffled noise.
“–and Peach’s and Deep’s heads are big enough without more changes. Nothing there.” In unison, Peach and Deep look at each other, then Shimmer, before narrowing their eyes.
“Amber could use a bit more commanding stature, though. I think part of why she’s passed up for parts is because she’s not pretty enough for the stage.” As Shimmer continued, Amber watched her closely, her expression utterly unreadable. “Bigger, more streamlined, maybe more refined features to make her a stage magnet.
“Primavera could do with softer features, and while Strawberry pulls off the maid look well, that’s nothing compared to a body sculpted to the uniform.” Primavera frowns and pulls a compact from a saddlebag to examine her face as Strawberry looks down at her body, patting it here and there.
“Jade would probably want to be a bit transparent; something tells me she’d love watching Done pull in and out of her, even without the photo opportunities. Day’s pretty enough that she doesn’t need anything else, aaaand… that about covers it!
As Shimmer finishes, she looks around again, realizing suddenly how many pairs of eyes are on her, and how few look very happy.
Pirouette sighs and tries to keep things rolling, muttering, “Sure know how to work a room, Shimmer…”
“Done, this one’s for you. Not many left. ‘Since you know your power can affect objects and ponies alike, have you considered testing it on objects, and how they in turn affect ponies?’“
Done stays behind the bar. “I dunno, seems like the champagne and those speakers at Starlight were tests. I mean, I could smoke a flower and have some mare eat it or something, but it’s guesswork. What if I find out smoked flowers are some horrible poison? The smoke does what I want it to when I use it on ponies, unless I lose control, like Bruises. With things, at least so far, I have no say. I don’t like losing the control. Suppose that’s equal reasons to test and not to test, really.
Pirouette moves on, opens the next to last question, and laughs. “This is for all of us. ‘Done appears to have gone insane. He’s lost all language recognition, he’s pecking at the ground with his face, and he tries to walk on his hind legs while flapping his forelegs and making clucking noises. How do you respond to this unexpected development?’”
After a little initial giggling, the mares seem to form groups. Peach, Pirouette, Jade, and Strawberry join ranks. “We’d keep taking care of him. Somepony has to. It should be somepony who loves him.” Strawberry blushes–whether or not she’d ever mentioned loving Done, it was apparent that she hadn’t been prepared for that little addition to their statement.
Day, Deep, Amber, Exposé, and Primavera form the second group. “We’d… try to move on. I imagine we’d visit. It’s not like we don’t care about Done, but… what kind of life is that?”
Finally, Shimmer and Bruises form the last group. Shimmer’s answer is to the point: “I’d look for a nearby chicken who seemed to be unusually aware and probably very frustrated. I bet that’d be the real Done.”
Bruises nods. “Gotta save the boss!”
“Alright, last one!” After some of the quarreling and near fights, Pirouette’s relief is unmistakable. “‘A question for all the mares: if they were to ask any of the other mares out on a date, who would it be and why?’”
Unsurprisingly, Exposé and Bruises scoot toward each other. The prickly pegasus doesn’t offer much explanation. “Done put us together, and… it works. So of course.”
The next pair to answer, after shrugging at each other, are Deep and Day. “Don’t get too excited. Our ‘date’ would probably just be Deep dragging me out shopping again. Like we said, we’re only interested in Done.
Peach Pit looks around a bit morosely. “Pirouette? You’ve been welcoming, and I could probably learn stuff about Done…”
Pirouette smiles in return. “Can’t have the fledgling left alone, can we?” Peach Pit’s gratitude is unmistakable as Pirouette continues. “Don’t worry, sweetie. The others’ll get to know you before long.”
Amber shrugs. “I’m only here for Done. Probably something he did to me.”
Shimmer looks back and forth between Deep and Day before announcing, I’d ask both Deep and Day. Deep can carry a conversation, and Day can match wits. It’d be fun!”
Deep and Day’s surprise is visible. “Sorry, Shimmer. We could do lunch or something, but a date? Not into mares.”
Shimmer shrugs. “Why do you think I haven’t asked?”
Deep prods her sister’s side with a hoof. “We’d just be hanging out too. You need to hang out with more ponies, Day.” Day Planner rolls her eyes, but doesn’t argue.
Finally, Primavera and Strawberry glance at each other, the former far more uncomfortably than the latter. “I… guess it’s us?”
Strawberry smiles and pats her worried friend’s withers. “It’d be fine. We’d find things to do.”
At last, the Q&A is over. “That’s it, everypony!” Pirouette trots to the center of the stage. “It ran a bit longer than expected, and we sure got a mix of questions, but I hope everypony enjoyed it. If you want something a little more exciting, a handful of my girls volunteered for a short show, and Done and Jade will be offering drinks at the bar. Goodnight!”
Hmm this feels like a huge wall of text; perhaps separate each question with a horizontal line, indent each paragraph start and add a horizontal line between them. No idea how much can be done with fimfic's bbcode formatting though.
[ hr ] test:
3692692
Can't indent, but I can put horizontal rules in at some point.
3693157
Horizontal breaks between each question would certainly improve readability.
I thought this was super great and it really feels like you put a lot of effort in to it, thanks a lot.
3696977
A lot of time more than a lot of effort, but yeah, it was a bit of work. Also more fun for me than churning out a chapter, so that was good. Thanks for the questions, those of you who sent them!