The vast soundstage reverberated with the sounds of friendly chatter and pleased laughter from those gathered within it, familiar ponies and humans grouped together on a number of chairs, cushions and the odd sofa. Just apart from all of them with a bottle of water held in one arm of his folding chair was Quiver Quill. He took a second to look over a number of cards on a nearby music stand before calling out, “Okay everyone, we ready to get this Q and A session underway?”
A general chorus of agreement rang out, with the human and pony versions of Rainbow Dash being especially vocal. “Bring it!”
“Oh, I’m almost literally beside myself with excitement!” The two Rarities giggled to themselves at the mare’s remark before she prompted, “Come along, darling, let’s start these questions off.”
“Alright then!” The stallion looked to the stand and began reading. “This first batch of questions comes from Final Legend Zero, and is primarily for the ponies among us. First one is for the Ponyville branch of the Apple family. ‘Back in Season 2 of the show, it was established that, in addition to apple trees, you also grow corn on your farm. Is that also a cash crop for you, or is it for your own consumption?'”
“Dang, we got us an easy one.” As her siblings laughed amongst themselves, Applejack sat up and answered, “We grow plenty a’ things at Sweet Apple Acres aside from apples, corn included. They ain’t a cash crop, though. They’re mostly fer our eatin’ and fer the livestock we raise, the pigs ‘n chickens.”
“Mostly the chickens, though.” Granny Smith smoothly rocked back and forth in her chair as she noted, “Pigs’ll eat jes’ about anythin’, after all. Still, ah’ll be the first ta’ admit, we don’t eat apples and nuthin’ but apples. We’d get sick of ‘em otherwise.”
Quiver managed a shrug. “Sounds about right, if you consider my dad’s cooking.” He then shuffled through the sheets and noted, “Next are questions for Rainbow Dash.”
The prismatic-maned pegasus cackled gleefully. “Awesome! Lay ‘em on me!”
“First he asks, ‘Just how fast do you need to fly in order to trigger a Sonic Rainboom? And is pulling it off a matter of pure speed, or is there some magical component to it?'”
“Oh yeah.” She turned nervous and admitted, “Tell you the truth, I really don’t know all the eggheady stuff for that. Twilight did some work on it and tried to explain it, but it kinda went over my head. I definitely broke the sound barrier when I did it, though.”
“Based on my math, the minimum threshold for a Sonic Rainboom is Mach One; you can see a Mach cone form whenever she pulls one off. But there’s a lot more to it than just sheer speed; there’s a magical component to it as well.” Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash and noted, “I like to think that you being able to do it is tied into your status as the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, considering the first two times you performed it were for the sake of your friends rather than yourself. Otherwise, the Wonderbolts would be pulling them off at every show they put on instead of just talking about them in the handbook.”
“Considering recent experiences, loyalty might well be in short supply with their organization.” Rarity regarded her hooves with mixed feelings as she remarked, “A shame the same doesn’t go for glass jaws.”
Sunrunner politely hid her muzzle at that remark as Quiver continued, “Last question for Dash. ‘Also, if it isn’t too much of a sore spot for you, could you share whether there was any fallout over…’” He narrowed his eyes as he gazed upon his friends and finished, “‘…over the Mare-Do-Well incident that we didn’t see in the episode?'”
The collected bearers all looked horribly sheepish at that question, though Dash looked the least sheepish. “Yeah, not a good moment for any of us.” She tried her best to look as small as possible as she noted, “I mean, yeah, I was getting a big head, I get that…”
“But that hardly changes the fact that the actions taken were beyond the pale.” Luna regarded one hoof and noted, “I’m afraid that we cannot elaborate too much, as there are spoilers involved, but suffice it to say that there have been some repercussions for that incident which have yet to be explored.”
“And that it’s taken a while for most of the hurt to go away.” The pegasus shrugged. “And a lot of other things happening besides.”
“Well, here’s hoping history doesn’t repeat.” Quiver went to the next question. “Okay, moving on. Questions for Pinkie Pie.” The party pony turned gleeful as he continued, “Okay, first one. ‘Since it’s been established that sixth senses run in your family, can anyone else in your family also see past the fourth wall, or is it just you?’”
“Oh, it’s just me and my sisters, but I think I’m the one who gets the most use out of hers. Limestone only really gets hers triggered whenever somepony does something on the farm she doesn’t approve of, and Maud’s tends to apply whenever any of us gets hurt or put in immediate danger.” She rubbed her chin and noted, “Marble’s, though…well, she kinda promised me not to talk about it until she was ready.”
Quiver nodded. “Moving onto the second question then. ‘Regarding your party cave, is the slide the only way in or out? Or is there an alternate way out for anyone who might accidentally stumble upon it and lack your physics-defying capabilities?’”
“Oh, there’s definitely an alternate way in and out!” Pinkie grinned as she held up a set of blueprints depicting Sugar Cube Corner and pointed to the section marked ‘Party Cave’. “Y’see, when I put the party cave together, I carved it out from beneath the building’s already-existing storm cellar! There’s a small, out-of-the-way staircase leading up to the cellar proper, and that in turn has a staircase leading up into Sugar Cube Corner!” She looked to her friends and noted, “I gotta show it to you guys before too long, just in case I need help with a future party.”
“Nice feat of engineering there, Pinkie.”
A shrug. “I might not be a rock farmer by trade, but I know a thing or two about reinforcing a foundation. Plus I consulted a few ponies who worked in construction.”
“Works for me.” Quiver grinned as he went on to the next question. “Alright, these next questions are for Fluttershy.”
“Me?” The yellow pegasus took a nervous gulp before straightening herself out. “Okay, I think I can answer a few questions.”
“Take your time.” The stallion’s gaze moved to the question before him as he read it aloud. “‘First, something that’s bugged me since Season 1. I know that your job involves taking care of animals. But what, exactly, is your job? What is it you do that you’re being paid for, and who is it that’s paying you?’”
“Oh!” Suddenly much more at ease, Fluttershy smiled and explained, “Well, the town officially has me on staff as a wildlife conservation officer. Not only am I helping to conserve local habitats for the ponies in Ponyville, but I also get to look after the local animal populations and aid other creatures, both sapient and non-sapient. It’s a big job, but I enjoy it.” She beamed and giggled as she added, “And being able to talk to all the cute little critters helps so much.”
“That’s also why Fluttershy was the one in charge when the Breezies passed through Ponyville.” Twilight paused. “Will pass through Ponyville.” She frowned and slumped. “I hate it when I have tense trouble.”
A light laugh echoed around the group before Quiver continued, “Alright, we’ve still got more for Fluttershy here. ‘On a different note, since the show is quite inconsistent regarding the details, I have some questions about your Stare. First, what exactly is it? Is it just a very intimidating glare, or is there some mind control component to it? If the latter, then does it work on sapient creatures? And is it completely involuntary, or are you able to use it at will? Or is it that you can only use it in certain scenarios, but you control whether you use it in said scenarios?'”
“Oh dear…” Her anxieties came right back to the surface as Fluttershy considered her answer. “Truthfully, I don’t know the full truth about my Stare. I only really came to be aware of it as I got older and gained more confidence in myself, specifically after I received my Cutie Mark. The closest I’ve ever found to a non-unicorn or non-alicorn performing something like it are some old stories about thestrals.”
“There are tales of old where thestrals are said to have hypnotic powers,” Luna explained. “There is truth to the myths, but such powers are rare; I’ve yet to meet a thestral with such talents in the modern era, with Fluttershy coming closest to what the stories describe.”
“It works by triggering a fear response in those who experience it, at least with non-sapient creatures. With fully sapient ones, it triggers a guilt response, usually in combination with what I say. It’s not completely involuntary, but whether or not I can use it depends entirely upon my mental state at the time. It takes a fair amount of willpower to use successfully, and even then, it can fail if the creature isn’t sufficiently frightened or the sapient being has no sense of guilt for their actions.” She quietly amended, “That’s why it didn’t work on Discord at first. No guilt for his actions. But he’s getting better about that.”
“One can only hope. Next question, this time for Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance.” Quiver took a second to clear his throat before he read out the query. “‘What, exactly, is the Crystal Empire’s status in relation to Equestria? Is it an allied nation? A vassal state? A province of Equestria? Also, why is it called an empire if it only consists of one city?’”
Celestia smiled. “The Crystal Empire was one of the founding provinces of Equestria, though the Empire itself predates the founding of Equestria by several years. The name was initially part of an effort by Princess Amore to discourage invasion, at least until she or those working with her could conceive of better means to defend the Empire beyond the Crystal Heart and psychological deterrents.”
“Ya’ll gotta admit, callin’ somethin’ an ‘empire’ sounds a whole lot more impressive than callin’ somethin’ a ‘kingdom’, even if it’s misleadin’.” Applejack rubbed her chin thoughtfully and admitted, “Mind you, if’n it hadn’t become part of Equestria, then once she was of age, Amore would’ve been forced to call herself an ‘empress’. Becomin’ part of a bigger nation was probably a relief for her in more ways than one.”
“I’m glad that she did myself. I’m fine with the title of ‘princess’, but being called ‘Empress Cadenza’ would be way too much for me.” Cadance maintained a sheepish look even as she continued eating her tub of ice cream.
Quiver opted to move on from that comment as swiftly as possible. “Alright then, now we’ve got questions for Twilight.” He looked to her and read off, “‘This is probably a sensitive topic for you, but if you’re up to it, I have a couple questions about the Smarty Pants incident. First, from where or from whom did you learn the Want-It-Need-It Spell?’”
The young princess suddenly turned pale, then shrank down in embarrassment. “Oh dear…”
Celestia subtly cleared her throat. “Twilight learned the spell from me. In fact, any mental manipulation spell she might be aware of is because I either told her where to find it or taught it to her myself, for the purposes of being able to undo the spell. That she didn’t undo it herself is an indicator of how panicked she was at the time.” She looked to Twilight and said, “Very unneeded panic, but given how I seemed to breed anxiety after anxiety into her as time passed in the official version of events, perhaps that wasn’t surprising. And the second question?”
“‘Second, after you…’” Quiver turned uncomfortable as he looked upon Twilight. “Well, after the spell was cast on the Smarty Pants doll, Twilight commented that the spell ‘works every time’. Direct quote. ‘How, exactly, have you established that?’”
Twilight managed an embarrassed squeak. “I tested it with non-sapient animals. That time in Ponyville was the first and only time that I used it on sapient beings, I promise.”
A yellow wing found itself draped over her form as Fluttershy comforted her. “It’s alright, Twilight. We know you feel bad about it. But I hope that you’ve never done it since.” At the shaking of her friend’s head, she smiled. “Good.”
“I’ll second that. Anyway, one last question for you. ‘What is the relationship between Twilight and Spike in this AU’?”
“Kinda obvious, isn’t it?” Spike wrapped a claw around one of Twilight’s hooves as he noted, “Twilight’s like a big sister to me, even if it isn’t official.”
A wing was wrapped around him in return as Twilight assured him, “And you’re definitely a little brother to me, Spike.”
“One last question from Final Legend Zero, a question for Celestia and Luna now. ‘In the show, even now, Celestia is the only one who has a throne in Canterlot Palace. Is this the state of affairs in the Quiververse as well, or does Luna have a throne there as well?’”
“I like this reader.” Luna smirked at her sister and noted, “They ask the important questions.”
Celestia smirked right back. “Indeed they do.” It faded to a polite smile as the elder alicorn elaborated. “The palace is currently undergoing some minor renovations in order to include a new throne for Luna, to more properly reflect her status as my equal in affairs of state. They would have been done much sooner, but budgeting the necessary funding was not easy.”
“Attempting to wrangle something out of the government is difficult even for us, unfortunately.” The younger of the two sisters frowned as she groused, “It took the recent invasion by changelings for them to even consider our recent proposals to increase military spending and expand the Royal Guard, and even that has gone slowly, despite Equestria having another province in need of defending in addition to several threats to its national security within the last year.”
“And that’s ignoring all of the idiots who either think that we don’t need a military or that we shouldn’t have one or that what we’ve got is enough.” Quiver groaned. “Sorry, but the more I see in the press like that despite all the evidence to the contrary…”
Celestia smiled gently. “We understand. Now, I understand that there were others that had questions?”
“Yes. I also have questions from diablo4000, though not as many.” Quiver looked to the cards and read off. “First question is to Sunset. ‘What are your thoughts on the Anon-A-Miss plot? A lot of people complain about it and everyone being so out of character, though some say it’s because the timing was bad. If placed before Rainbow Rocks, it would’ve made more sense.’”
Groans of varying levels sounded out among the Rainbooms. The human Rarity rubbed her temples and wondered aloud, “That story is going to be an albatross about our necks for the rest of our lives, isn’t it?”
“Easy, Rarity.” Sunset sat up and answered, “A story like that was probably inevitable. How the story was executed, however, is probably the biggest problem people have with it. Bullying in general, and that includes cyberbullying, is something that does need attention paid to it, but the way the story handled things was poor. About the only good thing that I can say about it is that it did help to paint me in a sympathetic light.” She smirked and added, “But yes, if it had taken place before ‘Rainbow Rocks’, it would have made far more sense. Hence why our version was placed there.”
“As the author’s explained again and again and again…” Quiver groaned again. “And for Principal Celestia, ‘Are you happy being in a role where you’re able to help out the characters more? Such as getting a certain therapist’s help in the story?’”
“Yes, very much so.” The principal sighed and admitted, “The official materials have done a lot to paint me, Luna and other authority figures in the human-based stories as being useless, whether by accident or on purpose. Being able to avert that and actively help out, hell, actually having something to do in the story, is a good thing for me. I only wish that I’d been more effective at it in this version, but alas…” She shrugged. “And it was good to get said therapist into the story.”
“Especially for said therapist,” Radiant Hope noted with a grin. “Being part of this story has been wonderful for me, especially given the promises of things to come, and I’m looking forward to more.”
“Well, that answered the next question.” Quiver moved onto another and said, “Now, for the CMC, ‘do you find it difficult to play the story of Anon-A-Miss and its aftermath? How are you handling it?’”
The human Crusaders were nestled with their counterparts, and all of them looked nervous, Apple Bloom most of all. “Yeah, that story ain’t a proud moment fer us neither. But no, it wasn’t easy fer us to play.”
“Yeah, believe it or not, we get on great with Sunset off the set.” Scootaloo gave the fire-haired girl an encouraging smile. “Really made our apology scene easy to play.”
“And hopefully we never have to do anything like that again.” Sweetie Belle looked about anxiously, then asked, “Anyone see the ‘spoilers’ lady?”
General responses in the negative answered her as Quiver moved to another question. “Okay, last one. For the Rainbooms, the CMCs, Flash Sentry, Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, and their counterparts. Have any of you read any of the fanfics based on the Anon-A-Miss story?” He looked up and said, “And that’s paraphrasing.”
Another chorus of negative responses sounded off as Vice Principal Luna explained, “I can safely say that none of us have read any of the other Anon-A-Miss fanfics out there, though I imagine some are probably very good.”
“Partly we’re tryin’ to avoid spoilers, partly it’s because they ain’t our universe,” the human Applejack explained. “And that’s ignorin’ how busy we are to begin with. Plus, Ah don’t think any of us are eager to relive anythin’ associated with that story.”
Agreement sounded among them, and Quiver went to one last card. “Okay, finally, we have one question from RQK. ‘To any and all ponies that would like to answer this, what are your thoughts on that strange mare you saw? Furthermore, what about that second Twilight? In this instance with the Nightmare, she seemed to insinuate that you might have otherwise failed had she not stepped in. How does that make you feel? How does the prospect of having failed in some other instance of these events feel to you?’”
“Well, it obviously was not only ponies who saw Crystal Faire or the second Twilight, but I think we all understand what is meant by the question.” Murmured agreement chorused around her as Princess Luna continued, “I think we can all agree that their presence was a welcome one, though I’m not pleased at the notion that we would have failed without her assistance.”
“I know I’m not.” Twilight’s head hung low in shame as she admitted, “I like to think we would have won either way, but…”
“But there’s no way to know, and it’s just as well we don’t have to find out.” Sunset gave Twilight a comforting hug. “But I like to think that her presence turned a fifty-fifty chance of survival into a certain chance of survival.”
The human Applejack grinned. “Ask me to choose between either of those odds, and Ah’ll take the second one any day.”
“No argument from me.” Quiver put aside the questions. “Well, that’s it for now. Here’s hoping that future ones are just as illuminating…” He gave Twilight an apologetic look and noted, “And maybe less painful.”