//------------------------------// // Dealing With Problems is Harder than Ignoring Them // Story: The New Life of a Winning Pony // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// I spent the next couple of days being supremely lazy. Rainbow had already offered me some pretty open-ended maternity leave, and it gave me an excuse to not go to work and run into Blossom. Dealing with more relationship drama was just ... no. I’d had enough. While I enjoyed a couple days to rest and recover, the rest of the world kept on spinning without me. Fluttershy had gone ahead with her protest, and from what I’d seen from a distance a small platoon of nature lovers had now more-or-less camped out in front of Twilight’s palace. Things seemed to be peaceful so far, but with the big visit from the Archon happening tomorrow that could still change. I’m sure Twilight was trying as hard as possible to get rid of them before they caused a diplomatic incident. Meanwhile, I had much more immediate concerns. When I came downstairs for breakfast that morning, I found a strange and yet somewhat appealing sight. Two Lyras. Well, not exactly two of them—one had a set of pegasus wings instead of a horn. Lyra grinned and waved at me while the pegasus continued chewing her way through a bag of potato chips. “Oh, hey Cloud. You’re up just in time to meet my insane mutant clone. She broke out of the lab again, and we’re just waiting for the science guys to come recapture her.” I groaned and rubbed the last bits of sleep out of my eyes. “That’s a joke, right?” Pega-Lyra grinned and cocked her head to the side. “Who? Lyra? Well, she’s pretty goofy, but it might be just a bit mean to call her a joke. She’s entirely capable of being serious when she puts her mind to it. Which admittedly isn’t often.” Lyra grumpily pouted at her clone’s words, but shook it off a second later. “Yes, it’s a joke. She’s definitely insane and probably should be locked up in a lab somewhere, but she’s not a clone. She’s just my sister, Skyra.” “You don’t have a sister,” I answered automatically. After a couple seconds, I figured out what was probably going on. “But you do have a cousin...” “Strumming is my cousin,” Lyra agreed, shooting a smirk at her pegasus self. “But she’s lame and boring. Skyra here is pretty cool.” ‘Skyra’ shot her an unamused flat look. “I’m a little torn here. On the one hoof, you’re blatantly lying, and as a government worker I hate seeing that kind of competition; on the other, I think encouraging your silliness could be fun.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes at the back-and-forth. “Okay, I’m starting to wonder if Star and Storm broke out body paint and are pulling a really elaborate prank on me.” It was pretty rare for them to set aside the sibling rivalry for long enough to team up, but when they did… The pony who I was now ninety five percent sure was Strumming Heartstrings grinned and shook her head. “Nope, I’m real! At least, I think I’m real. Didn’t one of those philosophers do a whole thing about how if you think you’re real, you are real? Cogito ergo sum, as they put it in Old Unicornian.” She tsked and shook her head, poking Lyra with a wingtip. “Though really cuz, you should’ve told me you had a second partner. Nice work. Though I gotta take points off for you knocking her up without giving her a ring—I thought you have more class than that.” Lyra blinked in shock, taking an instinctive half-step back from the kitchen table. “I-I did not knock her up!” “Oh.” Strumming grinned and nodded understandingly. “So that’s Bonsie’s bun in the oven? So what did you do to mess up so bad that your SO is knocking up another mare instead of you? Did you leave the toilet seat up?” “The toilet seat? That—but—doesn’t even make any—” Lyra snorted and shook her head. “No, it’s not Bon Bon’s kid either. Cloud’s just a friend.” I grinned at Strumming. “I think I we’re going to get along brilliantly.” Lyra’s eyes widened, and she started worriedly looking between myself and her cousin. “No you won’t. You won’t like her at all once you get to know her. She’s ... uh ... old. And she goes away a lot. And, most importantly of all, she isn’t as minty as me.” “‘Old’?!” Strumming repeated incredulously. “I’m not old, I’m experienced!” Lyra scoffed. “Is that what they’re calling it now? You’re so ancient I should buy you a walker for your next birthday.” She trotted over to stand right next to her cousin. “See? With a proper side-by-side, you can spot all the wrinkles she has that I don’t, and how her mane isn’t quite as mint-green as mine because she’s old and has grey hairs. Not to mention I’m magic, and she’s not. Ergo, I am the superior pony. It’s just logical.” “You left out my awesome scar.” Strumming lifted up a wing, showing off a small patch of white fur on her side. “Lyra doesn’t get scars, because she’s safe and boring. As for the rest of it…” She scoffed and poked her cousin. “Better watch yourself. We look enough alike that this is probably a sneak preview of what you’re going to end up as when you get my age. So just remember, anything you say about me might end up bouncing back to you.” I grinned at both of them. “Getting old isn’t that bad for you two. One advantage of your manes already having that white stripe, it’ll be harder to tell when your hair starts fading.” Lyra rolled her eyes and waved both our comments away. “Bah, you’re both ridiculous. I’ll be young and beautiful forever—the mints preserve me. Anyway Cloud, you’ve probably already guessed that she’s my cousin Strumming, not my secret sister. I’d still say you should stick with calling her Skyra; it’s catchier and more fitting.” Strumming scoffed. “Skyra. Because I should be named after you despite the fact that I was born a long time before you. If anything, you should be called Strumhorn. Saying I ought to be named after you is just narcissistic.” She smirked and patted Lyra’s head. “Admittedly, you’re a terribly lovable narcissist.” “A narcissist?” Lyra repeated. “When am I ever a narcissist?” She puffed her chest out and placed a proud hoof over her heart. “I can’t be a narcissist, I have too much love to give to other ponies.” “You do realize that going on about how great and loving you are doesn’t do much to dispel the idea that you’re a bit narcissistic, right?” Strumming grinned and poked her cousin. “Anyway, I guess you being such a soft touch is why you have the plus one with plus one in your house?” “Right!” Lyra grinned, happy to be back in comfortable territory. “Cloud’s been going through some stuff and needed somewhere to relax for a few days.” She trotted over and gave me a quick nuzzle. “Hey, sweetie. You sleep well?” “Yeah, good as I ever did.” I stretched my wings out. “Still had to get up three times in the night, but I’m almost used to that by now.” Strumming snickered. “Look at you Lyra, being all sweet and nurturing. You sure the kid’s not yours?” She shrugged. “If you two’ve been having an illicit love affair or just three-waying it I’m not one to judge.” Lyra scowled and snatched away Strumming’s bag of chips. “No more crisps for you until you take that back. Saying I’d cheat on Bons, even as a joke … not cool, Skyra.” Strumming immediately threw up her hooves in surrender. “Okay, okay, my bad on that one. Just leave the crisps out of this. They’re so young and innocent…” Lyra thought it over for a moment, the nodded and handed the chips back. “All is forgiven … if you have another bag for me.” “‘Course I do.” Strumming reached into her saddlebags and pulled out another bag of chips, which she tossed to Lyra. Her eyes flicked over to me, and she pulled out another. “So, you got me all curious now. Trade you bag of crisps for your story?” I took the bag of chips, stowing it away for later. I liked potato chips just fine, but they weren’t exactly breakfast food. “Well … fair warning, my story’s kind of a long one.” Strumming grinned and leaned back in her chair. “Then you better get started. Otherwise I’ll be an old, old mare, by the time you’re done. At least according to Lyra.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t mind long stories, as long as as they’re not boring stories. Or one of those stories where everything hits a natural and satisfying end point, and then it just keeps on going. Or the ones where you can tell the author ran out of ideas and is just making things up as they go to try and keep everything moving. Or mysteries where you can tell they didn’t have any answers, so they’re just making up lots of random clues without thinking about how it’s all supposed to tie back together and make sense in the end. Those are the worst. The whole point of a mystery is that everything should make sense and you realize all the clues you missed once you know who the bad guy is. Reminds me of this one story I read once where—” Lyra sighed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t get her going, Cloud. She loves rambling on about everything and nothing almost as much as she loves being weird just to get a rise out of ponies.” “That’s what I do. I say weird stuff and I think way too much. I had to get something when you stole all the music genes of the family.” Strumming grinned and shrugged. “Yes, you stole them from me years before you were born. You’re sneaky that way.” Lyra chuckled and shook her head. “Oh come on, I haven’t stolen all of them. I’m sure you could do music if you really wanted to. Though knowing you, it’d probably be some really weird experimental thing that you only did to see how much it would mess with ponies’ heads.” A mischievous grin split Strumming’s face. “I admit, it would be a lot of fun to crank out some utterly meaningless nonsense, then watch a bunch of scholars tie themselves in knots writing super-serious papers talking about all the hidden meanings and symbolism.” She wrapped a wing around her cousin. “Though really, it’s okay that I’m not a music pony. I did get the brains, after all.” Lyra scoffed. “See what I mean, Cloud? You can’t keep this crazy pony on topic.” “I’m on the topics that I wanna discuss,” Strumming answered breezily. “It’s not my fault if it's not what you wanna talk about. I’m not a mind-reader. Anyway, preggo-mare, what gives with you hanging around mooching off my cousin?” “I’m not mooching,” I grumbled under my breath. “Anyway, you know that big protest thing going on? My ... um...” I couldn’t quite figure out what exactly to call Fluttershy. Just saying she was my girlfriend sounded a bit shallow, but we weren’t married or engaged or anything. In the end, I settled on just fancier word for girlfriend, to make it sound more serious “My paramour is kinda ... leading it.” “Ooooh,” Strumming nodded. “Lemme guess, you don’t agree with what the missus is doing?” I grimaced and nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Big surprise, the ex-guardpony from a Guard family isn’t wild about an anti-Guard protest. My cousin’s in charge of Twilight’s guards, so … yeah, it kinda feels she’s protesting against my family, not just the Guard in general. Especially since the ponies who came to Ponyville for the whole thing seem to be a mix of nature-lovers and ones who just hate the Guard on principle.” Lyra gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. “Yeah, Fluttershy’s putting Cloud in a pretty rough spot with all this. Makes things real awkward and stressful for her, and neither of those is good for her or the baby.” She frowned. “Really, you’d think she would know not to do that kind of thing to Cloud in her condition.” I frowned and waved off Lyra’s grumbling. “She’s just standing up for what she believes in. I can’t ask her to stop doing that just because it might make things slightly awkward for me.” Strumming looked between the two of us, nodding thoughtfully. “So you’re kinda stuck between wanting to support your babymama and wishing that she stood up for beliefs that weren’t so stupid?” Strumming shrugged and sneaked away one of Lyra’s chips, despite still having a few left in her own bag. “You would think ponies would be happy that somepony is keeping all the big, scary monsters away. Of course, that would be the sensible and logical thing to do, and ponies are neither of those things.” Lyra shrugged and nibbled on her snack, seemingly oblivious to her cousin’s thievery. “Yeah … I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what Fluttershy’s trying to achieve with this. I can’t say I agree with it if she just wants us to leave those poor pony-eating monsters alone.” She frowned and rubbed the back of her neck. “I guess I’m biased though. I mean, between what happened back in Canterlot during the royal wedding, and some other stuff…” I nodded along. “I actually took some classes to qualify for the Long Patrol back in West Hoof, so I know how they operate. I’m pretty sure those classes didn’t turn me into a crazed critter-slaying monster who rampages around the forest killing innocent bunnies or whatever it is Eepy thinks the Patrol is going to do.” Strumming shrugged. “Sounds like it’s just one of those issues where you’ll have to agree to disagree then. All you can do it draw the line with her and leave it at that.” Lyra frowned and shook her head. “I’m not sure it’s that simple, Skyra. Fluttershy really isn’t the sort of pony to organized a huge public protest. I mean, she’s not as much of a nervous wreck as she was a couple years back, but she’s still … she’s not exactly a socializer. I kinda have to wonder if there’s more going on.” Strumming nodded. “Probably is, yeah. It’s pretty rare to see anything with a single simple clear-cut motive. Doesn’t change the facts: unless you plan on having Cloud hide out at your place until the kid’s born, she’s going to have to confront her protest-happy babymama sooner or later. Kinda ruins a romance when you’re so scared of your SO that you’re hiding from her.” “I’m not hiding,” I corrected. “I’m just staying with a friend until things cool down.” “Exactly.” Lyra gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with relaxing for a few days and coming back with a clearer head.” “Yeah, sure.” Strumming looked both of us over. “So how much longer do you plan on hiding here? Until the protest is over? Except I doubt the princess will cave after one demonstration, so you can bet your Fluttershy’s still gonna be going on about it. And if she does end up winning, it’ll probably encourage her to get involved in the next tree-hugging contest or whatever it is hippies do in their spare time.” “I’m sure Fluttershy won’t turn into a crazy activist just because she got her way one time.” I sighed and shook my head. “Honestly, even doing this once is a bit unusual.” “That’s a good point.” Lyra frowned to herself. “A peaceful protest I can imagine just fine. But to interrupt something Twilight is working for? That’s not like her. I don’t suppose she’s been acting weirdly before this whole thing started? You know, being absent for long stretches of time, not knowing things Fluttershy really ought to know…” “Uh, not really. Just her normal self.” I gave Lyra a quick reassuring pat on the back. “I’m pretty sure she hasn’t been replaced by a changeling or anything. I think this just kind of built up a lot more momentum than she ever planned for, and now it’s hard for her to back down. She’d hate to disappoint Tree Hugger and her other friends.” Strumming blinked, then grinned. “Wait, did you just say one of the protest leaders is named Tree Hugger? Wow, her parents doomed her from birth.” Lyra nodded thoughtfully, a slight smirk on her face from Strumming’s interjection. “Okay, getting stuck between two friends she doesn’t want to upset seems a lot more like something Fluttershy’d fall into. I think, when you’re ready, you might just be the pony she needs to pull her out of the hole she’s dug herself into.” She gave my belly a quick rub. “You can remind her what’s really important here.” Strumming chuckled. “Ah, good old peer pressure. The oil that gets you to do things you don’t want to do and know you probably shouldn’t. Reminds me of this one time in college where...” She trailed off and chuckled. “Well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I was able to dispose of all the evidence, and nothing was ever proven.” Lyra snorted. “Sounds like a story I’ll need to ask Dad about. Anyway, you got any actual useful advice, Skyra? Or did you just drop by to steal all my chips?” Strumming puffed up her chest. “I’ll have you know I’m here on official business. Gotta keep the boss-mare happy and make sure everything’s shipshape before she comes to town. Lucky for me, you live here.” She shifted her attention back to me. “Anyway, you gotta stand up for what you believe in. If she doesn't agree with you, then you just have to agree to disagree.” I shuffled uncertainly. “But ... I really don’t like disagreeing with Eepy.” Strumming raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?” I tried to think of the best way to explain it. “She’s … sensitive. Not really good at asserting herself. I don’t want it too seem like I’m smacking her down just when she’s really starting to feel sure of herself. I mean, just because I don’t agree with what she’s doing doesn’t mean I should stop supporting her, but it’s a little tricky to disagree while still supporting her.” “Ah.” Strumming nodded knowingly. “I see how it is. She’s normally the doormat, wallflower, or some other architectural decoration metaphor. So now you’re doormatting yourself to make sure that she doesn’t doormat herself?” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s a vicious cycle of preemptively knuckling down and letting the other one run roughshod over you.” Lyra pointedly cleared her throat. “I think what my loony cousin was trying to get at with all her word vomit is that relationships are built on compromise. What you’re doing right now is just avoiding the situation entirely. It’s okay to do that for a bit to get your head together, especially with your plus one, but that’s not a solution. Eventually you need to pluck up the courage to work things out with the pony you love, even if it might get messy for a bit, because your love is more important than anything in the world.” She nodded adamantly, sounding much more serious than she usually did. “It’s not a one-sided deal, it’s equal. You can’t go walking around on eggshells all the time, afraid you’ll hurt Fluttershy’s feelings if you don’t go along with every little thing she says.” I sighed and nodded along. “I know that.” “Knowing it’s one thing, doing it’s another,” Strumming pointed out. “Sooner or later, you gotta stop hiding in your friend’s house and go talk to her.” She smirked, then added. “Ponies will spread rumors. I gotta worry about my poor cousin’s honor and reputation.” Lyra blinked, then frowned. “I hate it when you’re right. Skyra has a point: the longer you put this off, the harder it’ll be to deal with. You have to confront Fluttershy at some point, and if you want my advice you should do it sooner rather than later.” Lyra wasn’t the only one who hated when ponies told her something she didn’t want to admit was correct. “Okay, fine, you guys are completely right. I’ll go talk to her.” “Well of course we’re right.” Strumming buffed a hoof on her chest. “I thought it went without saying. Hey Lyra, does your buddy always go around stating the obvious?” “It’s been known to happen,” Lyra smirked and gave her cousin a hoof bump. “There’s a good reason we’re Lyra and Strumming Heartstrings. I am an awesome expert at all things related to love. And music. I’m multi-talented that way.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, make sure talk to her alone. Relationship stuff is kinda private.” “Besides, you don’t wanna embarrass her in front of all her tree hugging friends, like Tree Hugger.” Strumming smirked. “If you’re right, that’s part of why she’s doing the whole big protest thing is because her friends are invested in it…” “Right, right.” Hopefully getting her away from the crowd wouldn’t be too hard. “And no procrastinating,” Lyra added in firmly. “The longer you stew this over, the more stress will build up…” She gave my bloated stomach another quick pat. “We want you to keep up that healthy maternal glow of yours.” “Exactly.” Strumming stretched out her wings. “Anyway, since you’re a family friend, the advice is free. Normally I charge a lot. Maybe just … I dunno, name the kid after me or something.” “No offense, but I don’t see that happening.” She shrugged my refusal away. “No worries. I’d kinda feel sorry for any kid named after me anyway. Not that Strumming Kicker would be the worst name in the world, but it’s not great either. Besides, it wasn’t really altruism on my part. All of this was part of my convoluted master plan to get rid of the protesters before the boss-mare shows up.” She slowly steepled her hooves over her mouth. “It all went just as planned. Truly, I am an evil genius mastermind brimming with manipulation and cunning plans nopony sees coming.” “Or you’re just making all that up,” Lyra shot back. “Also a distinct possibility,” Strumming shot back with a smirk. “So who is this new boss of yours anyway?” Lyra asked. “I never heard of an Archon of Freeport or anything.” “Boss-mare is pretty awesome.” Strumming gave us a couple seconds to chew that over, then added, “She started off as a bit of a hothead, and I didn’t make the best first impression, but now she’s cool and we’re cool.” Lyra cocked her head to the side. “So she’s a hothead … yet she’s cool.” “Was a hothead,” Strumming corrected. “In any case, she’s a mare of contradictions. I could maybe see about introducing you, just make sure you take a shower and don’t embarrass me or anything. I have a reputation as an awesome genius mastermind to uphold, and I can’t have you cramping my style.” A particularly mischievous grin lit up Lyra’s face. “Well now that you’ve mentioned it…” Strumming let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “I think instead of warning her off I probably just inspired her. I might be modestly doomed. Oh alas. Oh woe is me. Woe. Woe, I say.” She let that sit for a moment, then shrugged. “Boss-mare has to put up with me, I doubt Lyra can shock her.” Lyra smirked at her. “Challenge accepted.” Strumming smirked right back. “Mwa. Ha. Ha. You played right into my hooves again.” I snorted and shook my head, once more reminded of how Star and Storm bounced off each other. It was probably one of the hidden benefits of being so old I’d missed out on a lot of Alula’s childhood. We’d never really developed much of a sibling rivalry. Maybe I would’ve had something like that with Storm, if not for Star becoming her most hated eternal rival and nemesis. In either case, I knew enough about that sort of back and forth to know I didn’t want to be in the middle of it. “Well, thanks for the talk.” Lyra gave me a quick hug, taking care to avoid the baby bump. “Always happy to help! No running off just yet though, somepony needs a big breakfast since she’s eating for two.” Strumming grinned and nodded along. “Yep! Lets feed whatever strange craving that foalbump is giving you before we give you a pat to the rump to send you on your way.” She paused, then amended, “As long as it’s not something really weird like mixing up ketchup, mayo, and mustard into a multi-colored slop, then putting that on green beans. Because that’s just gross, and would ruin my appetite. If you knew how much of a snacker I am, you’d know that’s terrible.” “Just thinking about it isn’t doing me any favors.” I cleared my throat. “So … pancakes sound good.” “Just pancakes?” Strumming prodded. “I thought you preggo ponies were supposed to want weird crazy food combos. Pancakes are just so normal.” I thought it over for a bit. “Hmm, maybe with some strawberries? And I’m pretty sure I’ve got some vinegar leftover…” Strumming grinned. “Now we’re talking.” After a strange yet satisfying breakfast, I headed out to do something I really didn’t want to do. Well, more like I spent a couple minutes trying to think up a good enough excuse to not do it, then finally stopped being a coward and got to it. It’s not like the protest and my issues with Eepy would magically go away if I ignored them hard enough. I should know, I had a lot of experience with trying to pretending things that made me uncomfortable didn’t exist. I’d barely gotten out the door when I spotted something just a bit suspicious: a roughly pony-sized cloud hovering suspiciously near Lyra’s house. I grinned and pulled together a bit of moisture, packing it into a walnut-sized patch of fog. Then I chucked it at the offending cloud. As I’d suspected might happen, when the cloud blew away it revealed the most awesomely colorful pegasus in Ponyville. What I hadn’t been ready for was the fact that she was in the middle of her morning nap when I did that. “Oh, horseapples.” Thankfully, Rainbow’s flying instincts kicked in and her wings snapped open as soon as she went into freefall. Her landing wasn’t exactly graceful, but she got all four hooves safely on the ground. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes, then glowered at me. “Nice wakeup call, butthead. What’d you do that for?” My ears wilted. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were asleep.” Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “S’fine. I’d kick your butt, but…” She nodded to my swollen belly. “Anyway, how you doing? Heard you got into a fight with ‘Shy. Wanted to check up on you, but Harpbutt wouldn’t let me in. She said I’d stress you out.” Rainbow snorted and tossed her head, making it quite clear exactly what she thought of that. “Fluttershy’s been worried about you. Just wanted to know if you were okay.” “Right.” I took a deep breath. “Well, I was actually on my way to go see her, so…” “Cool.” Rainbow circled around me, her eyes lingering on my preggo-belly. “Looks like you’re doing okay. You better be taking good care of my future godkid. Is Lyra feeding you alright? I bet she has way too much junk food around, and you need the healthy stuff. She didn’t make you sleep on the couch or anything, did she? You need a proper bed, or you won’t get good enough rest for the baby. You still have trouble with your hooves swelling? What about—” “I’m fine,” I assured her with an indulgent smile. Rainbow was just way too cute when she was being a nurturing worrywart. “So … everything going okay with Eepy? The protest hasn’t been crazy or anything?” “Nope.” Rainbow shrugged. “Mostly just kinda annoying. Everything around the palace is clogged up with hippies, and they’ve come up with some of the dumbest chants ever. I’m thinking of buying some headphones and just wearing them all the time. It’s gotta be better than hearing that ‘something’s gotta go’ thing one more time. I mean, I guess it’s cool that they’re standing up for what they believe in and stuff, but do they have to be so annoying about it?” “Well, now I know what I have to look forward to.” I took a deep breath. “Wish me luck.” “Luck,” Rainbow said flatly. “I’d come with you but I don’t wanna.” “Your loyalty truly inspires me,” I deadpanned. I headed off in the general direction of the protest. One advantage to Twilight’s giant crystal treehouse palace thing, it was easy to find from anywhere in Ponyville. Sure enough, the place now had a couple dozen nature-lovers and activists crowded around the entrance, waving signs and generally being a nuisance. Sure enough, Fluttershy was right in the middle of it all. I couldn’t help but smile when I spotted her sign. ‘Please reconsider your position on preserving the natural beauty of the Everfree Forest.’ Only Fluttershy would start a protest campaign with ‘please.’ Tree Hugger was right next to her, sitting down and working her way through a plate of brownies while clumsily strumming a guitar and singing a bit off-key: We love the trees, and we love the land. We love nature and everything green. Imagine a forest where everything's peaceful. All of nature living together in harmony. All we are are saying is give trees a chance Why oh why can’t the trees be our friends? Yup, Hippie central. And I was going in. I just had to hope they hadn’t converted Fluttershy to their wicked, all-natural ways. Just the thought of what it could do to her cooking alone … I couldn’t live on a diet of strictly organic vegan food. Thankfully, Fluttershy saw me before they could subvert her to their hippie ways. She smiled nervously, her sign dropping her side as she trotted over to me, apologizing when she bumped into one of her fellow protestors. “Cloud!” She gave me a hug, but quickly backed off. “Are you okay? I was so worried, but then Blossomforth said I should give you space, and there was so much work to be done, but I really wanted to see you, but Tree Hugger said I needed to give you your space too, and—” I gently put a hoof over her lips and shushed her before she could spend the next fifteen minutes worrying and fussing over me.. “I’m fine, Eepy.” I took a deep breath, then slowly looked over the protest. “So, how’s it going?” “Oh!” Her eyes cut back to her fellow demonstrators, and she remembered to lift her sign back up. “It’s, um, going. Honestly, it was kinda scary at first. There’s just so many ponies, and it’s so loud at times, and there’s so much going on…” She took a deep breath. “But I think I’m getting used to it. It’s kind of exciting, really.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, so I settled on neutral polite interest. “Glad to hear that everything’s going well.” Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “No word from Twilight yet, but I like to think we’re making a difference. We’re getting the word out, at least.” “Yeah, you’ve definitely gotten everypony’s attention.” A lot of that attention wasn’t exactly positive, but I’ve always heard there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Peace beads clacking together heralded the arrival of Tree Hugger. “Hey again. Cloud.” She stared at me blankly for several seconds, as if she was trying to remember something. Finally, she settled on, “Uh, it is Cloud, right?” “Right.” Fluttershy delicately cleared her throat. “You met a few days ago at my home, Tree Hugger. Though I suppose it wasn’t for very long…” Tree nodded along. “Excellent, yeah. Always glad to have someone else here to help out the cause.” She grabbed one of the spare signs and was halfway to offering it to me when she paused, blinking slowly. “Oh, right, so you're probably not for this. It's all groovy. You gotta be who you are, right? Sorry about blanking on you, met a lot of righteous ponies since we started this up.” She stared down at the signs. “I gotta find a better way to align us with the forest than by using stuff made out of the forest someday.” “Gotcha,” I mumbled, mostly just so I could say something to acknowledge her and end the odd conversation. I was really here for Fluttershy. “Eepy, you got a bit? Got some stuff I’d like to talk to you about.” “Of course.” She shot an apologetic look Tree’s way. “Um, I hope you don’t mind if I leave for a bit. It’s just…” Tree Hugger nodded understandingly, giving her a very relaxed smile. “It’s all good, sister. Gotta settle things with your soulmate, so see to the body for a bit. I know you’re here in spirit. I’ll be sending lots of good vibes both your ways, okay?” “Thank you.” Fluttershy smiled at her, so evidently whatever Tree Hugger had said was nice. “I’ll be back once I’m done talking with Cloud, assuming she doesn’t need anything. If something comes up, I'll, um, send a message or something. Sorry…” Tree put a reassuring hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m all for advancing the cause, but you gotta take care of your soulmate too, especially when she’s carrying. Take however long you need.” She turned about and got back to the protest, though the uniquely funky smell that seemed to follow her everywhere took a lot longer to leave. I cleared my throat. “Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” “Oh, right. Um…” She looked over the crowd, biting her lip. “I guess we could always go home, but I’d hate to make you walk all that way. I wouldn’t want to impose on any of our friends, especially with everything else that’s been going on. I know they’re trying to avoid looking like they’re taking sides in my disagreement with Twilight. Maybe we could fly up to a cloud? Wait, no, I don’t want you flying too high in your condition…” I sighed and rolled my eyes. I could still fly well enough, if a bit slower and more carefully than I used to. However, nopony else seemed to believe that. “You get the cloud, and I’ll fly up with it underneath me for support. Does that work for you?” “That should work. Give me a minute.” She headed up and grabbed the biggest, softest, fluffiest cloud she could find. “Here we are. Up you go, nice and gentle. Be careful not to trip.” I settled onto the cloud, and Eepy joined me a second later. With two sets of wings we got into the air without any trouble, and soon we were high enough up to be safe any eavesdroppers. Just to be safe, I pulled off a bit of the cloud to give us a quick little fog bank. It wouldn’t stop anyone who really wanted to spy on us, but it would make a pretty clear signal to any casual passers-by that we wanted our privacy. Fluttershy coughed softly. “So…” One of her hooves scraped along the top of the cloud, and she couldn’t meet my eyes. “I guess we have some things to talk about.” I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Yeah. We do. You wanna start, or—” “I’d like to, if you don’t mind.” Fluttershy smiled apologetically, and I nodded my permission. “Thank you. I wanted to, um, I’m sorry for some of the things I said. I didn’t mean to insult you or the Guard, and I certainly didn’t want it to sound like you not joining the Guard meant that we wouldn’t have…” She sighed and shook her head. “I was so worried about my animal friends getting hurt that I said some things I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.” I gave her a quick hug. “I figured it was something like that once I calmed down a bit. Still needed to hear you say it, though. Thanks.” Fluttershy hesitated and bit her lip. “Um, there was maybe one other reason I got a little upset with you. It’s just, I really wanted your support for what I was doing. This means a lot to me, so when I realized you didn’t agree with me…” Despite all the talk from Lyra and her cousin about standing up for myself, I still flinched when I saw Eepy’s lip trembling. “I’m sorry. I just…” She put a gentle hoof on my lips. “Cloud, just because you’re my special somepony doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything I say, or apologize for having your own opinion. I should have realized this would bother you, and I was putting you in a difficult position. I was so focused on what I wanted that I didn’t think enough about you.” I gave her another hug. “It’s okay. I know what it’s like to get so passionate about something or wrapped up in what you’re doing that you lose focus.” Fluttershy bit her lip and slowly nodded. “Still, I shouldn’t have—I don’t want to fight with you. It hurts, and I love you too much.” “Same here, Eeps.” I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. When that one went well, I opted for a second, and took my time with it. Things escalated pretty quickly from there, which made me very happy I’d had the foresight to set up a privacy screen. Once we’d finished up, Fluttershy was cuddled up against me, one hoof gently rubbing my swollen belly. Thankfully, that hadn’t gotten in the way of the festivities. She smiled up at me. “So … I guess this means we’ve made up?” “Yeah, I’d say so.” I gave her a kiss on cheek, feeling quite happy with myself. Make-up sex was the best. Not quite good enough to be worth the fight that had to come before it, but it was a pretty close thing. “Sorry.” “I’m sorry too.” She shifted around, resting her cheek on my chest. “I hope everything’s been alright with Lyra and Bon Bon.” “They’ve been pretty great,” I assured her. “But I’m looking forward to coming home.” Fluttershy smiled. “I know it’ll be very nice to have you back. Home … it’s felt very empty without you there.” “It will be nice to be back in my own bed.” Especially since it would mean not sleeping alone anymore. I’d gotten used to having Eepy and Blossom there. It kept my bed very warm and fuzzy, and gave me two ponies for snuggles. The guest bedroom at Lyra’s didn’t have that. I mean, maybe I could’ve tried to talk Lyra and Bon Bon into snuggling with me, but it wouldn’t have been the same. And not just because they weren’t pegasi. I smiles and slowly ran a hoof down Fluttershy’s mane. “That settles the thing with us. Just leaves…” My eyes flicked down towards the palace. Fluttershy bit her lip, then slowly shook her head. “Cloud, I’m sorry, but I can’t stop the protest just because it makes you uncomfortable. This is really important to me.” “I know it is, sweetie.” I took her hoof in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’s … I don’t want it to seem like I’m not on your side or anything, but do you want my honest opinion?” She took a deep breath, then slowly nodded. “It would probably be best if I knew how you felt. I’m sure Applejack would say something about how facing the unpleasant truth is a lot better than hiding from it.” That sounded about like Applejack, except she would’ve explained it with some sort of farming metaphor none of us would’ve understood. However, Applejack wasn’t here to regale us with stories about greased pigs and how they symbolically represented our problems, so I had to make do with normal words. “I think you should’ve taken Twilight’s offer when she first brought it up, instead of starting all this.” Fluttershy blinked in shock. “You do? But why? They’re going to cut into the forest, and some of my friends might get hurt.” I nodded along. “Twilight would never deliberately hurt an innocent. I’m sure you know that. The only way she would ever hurt someone who doesn’t deserve it is by accident or ignorance. In other words the best way to make sure that doesn’t happen is for you to be involved. Tell them what trees they can cut down without causing any trouble for the local wildlife, and which ones need to be protected.” She slowly nodded along. “That does make sense. But what if they want to do something that might get some of the animals hurt? What am I supposed to do then?” “Show them a better way,” I suggested. “I took some Long Patrol classes at West Hoof, and they definitely like to know about ways to deal with animals that don’t involve fighting. I remember the first day of class, when our SI told us all that if the only reason we wanted to be in the Patrol was to fight monsters, we didn’t belong there. The Patrols job isn’t to fight monsters, it’s to save lives. I bet the Patrol would love to hear your ideas on how to handle things peacefully. They might even spread whatever you could teach them to other units.” I was perhaps being a bit optimistic with that assessment. The Patrol certainly liked nonviolent solutions when they worked, but I suspected they might get a little tired of Fluttershy’s conflict resolution advice once she got to the section on pleading, begging, and beseeching. However, no sense in mentioning that when I was trying to sell Eepy on the idea. She probably already suspected I was trying to put an optimistic spin on it, judging by her next question. “Are you sure they would listen to me? I’ve heard some of the things that’ve been said about everypony at the protest, and it doesn’t sound like they respect our opinion very much.” If I was honest, she probably was going to get a much frostier reception thanks to the protest, but there was no fixing that. “Twilight wasn’t offering you a consultant fee just so she could ignore all your advice. If she tells them to listen, they will.” Fluttershy got up and started pacing back and forth as best she could on our relatively small cloud. “Oh I don't know. This is a big responsibility. What if I mess up? What if I give somepony bad advice, or if something goes wrong because I can’t convince them to listen to me?” I put my hooves on her shoulders to stop her before her pacing started wearing into our cloud. “I have faith in you. I know you’ll do your best, and I’ve seen your best—it’s pretty amazing. Even if you’re not perfect, you’ll accomplish a lot more by trying to help.” “That makes sense.” She took a couple deep, calming breaths “But do you think Twilight will still be offering the consultation position? Her eyes flicked down to the small crowd of ponies gathered around Twilight palace. “She's probably very mad at me about all of this. She might not want my advice anymore.” “Twilight’s one of you best friends,” I pointed out. “She not going to throw that away just because you two had a disagreement. Not after everything you’ve been through together. Maybe you’ll need to talk it out for a bit, but I’m sure you could manage.” “That’s true.” She hesitated again, her eyes flicking back down the protest she’d helped organize. “But what would I tell everypony else? They’ve all given me a lot of help with this.” “Tell them the truth.” Or at least, a somewhat carefully presented version of the truth. “Tell them that as a results of the protest you talked with Twilight, and now she’s making you a special consultant for how the Guard handles the Everfree. They’ll get advice from you about how to handle the creatures of the Everfree and ask you about any major policies.” She bit her lip again, but very slowly started to nod. “That might work. I think. Maybe.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I guess … I guess maybe I should try to talk to Twilight and see if she’d be okay with that?” I smiled and wrapped a wing around her. “I think that would be a good idea.” She sighed softly. “Alright then, I’ll try that. It’s not like Twilight will do anything worse than just say no, right?” She seemed a bit uncertain about that, so I gave her an encouraging nod. Twilight wasn’t going to hate Fluttershy and stop being her friend for suggesting a compromise. My encouragement seemed to bolster Eepy up, at least, and she smiled at me. “Plus it will make you feel better. That’s good too.” I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. “Eepy … Fluttershy, I don’t want you doing this just to keep me happy. I want you to stand up for what you believe in, even if it's not what I believe in. You should only take the deal if it’s what you want.” She frowned thoughtfully. “But I don’t want you feeling stressed.” She reached out to slowly stroke my belly. “And I want what’s best for everyone. I know it’s important to stand up for what I believe in, but I also know Twilight’s upset with me because of this. It’s … I never wanted to embarrass her or make her look like a bad princess. I just want to make sure all the creatures of the Everfree are safe. Even the ones that scare a lot of ponies.” She took a deep breath, then kissed my cheek. “So, yes. I’ll go talk to Twilight, and try to find something that can work. I’ll help you back to the ground first, though. Actually, is there anything else you need before I do that? Or do you want to come to the castle and talk to Twilight with me?” I shook my head. “I’m fine, and I think you two probably need to talk it out yourselves. This is kind of between the two of you, and I’m not sure I’d be the best moderator. Kinda hard to stay neutral when I’m in love with you.” She grinned and kissed my cheek. “That is a good point.” I smirked and teasingly nudged her. “Besides, that way I can wait in one of the palace’s other rooms and make Spike cook lots of special food for me while you and Twilight do all the hard work of talking things out. I think that’s best for everypony.” Fluttershy giggled and poked me in the ribs. “Or at least what’s best for you.” I grinned and put my head on her shoulders. “Well, everypony keeps worrying about my health and happiness, since I’m pregnant and all. So really, I’m doing you all a favor by avoiding stress and eating well. It’s letting everypony around me relax and stop worrying. Plus Spike likes helping out and being useful. I’m doing it for all of you, not just for me.” Eepy snorted softly. “I’m sure any day now, Rarity will say that you’re the one who should’ve gotten the Element of Generosity, not her.” I blinked. “Fluttershy … was that sarcasm?” She gasped softly, putting her hooves over her mouth. “Oh, sorry. Was it too much?” I chuckled and wrapped a wing around her. “Nah, it was perfect.” I kissed her cheek again. “Look at you. Organizing a counter-culture protest and making sarcastic jokes. You really have come a long way. I’m proud of you.” She beamed and leaned against me. “Thank you.” She hesitated a moment, then quickly amended, “Um, that wasn’t sarcasm. I really do mean it. Sorry, I’m still getting used to this.” I snorted, and before long it had turned into full-blown laughter. “Oh, Fluttershy…” After a couple hours of grueling negotiation, Fluttershy and Twilight walked out of her conference room. They were both smiling, which I figured was probably a good sign, but it never hurt to make sure. “You good?” “We’re good.” Fluttershy confirmed. She smiled at Twilight, then glanced out the window. “Um, I should probably go let everypony know they don’t need to protest against you any more. I’ll have some of my friends clean up any mess they might have made on your lawn. Sorry.” Twilight smiled and nodded. “It’s alright, Fluttershy. I’m just glad we’ve gotten everything else cleared up.” “Me too.” Eepy glanced my way and bit her lip. “Um, it might take me a while to do all of that. Will you be alright going home on your own? I think Blossom’s working right now, but if you want I could go find her and see if she can walk you home.” I sighed and rolled my eyes. “You know I can still walk perfectly well on my own, don’t you? I know I’ve been away for a couple days, but I haven’t forgotten how to get to our place.” Fluttershy’s wings wilted. “Oh, of course. I just … I wanted to make sure you were safe. If you accidently tripped and fell down on the way back, or if anything happened to you and the baby because I wasn’t being careful enough, I would feel awful. I didn’t mean to smother you.” Ouch. Time to feel guilty. Stupid pregnancy hormones. “I know, Eepy. Just tired of being treated like I’m a delicate little flower who’ll miscarry if somepony on the other side of town sneezes too hard or something.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Actually, there were a couple things I wanted to talk to Cloud about first. Maybe I could have Spike make some of those nachos you like, and once we finish up I could have Cloud walk with him? He’s just a baby dragon, so I’d feel better with Cloud there to keep an eye on him.” “That works for me.” I knew Twilight was just exploiting a technicality to salve my pride, but I could roll with it. I wasn’t being escorted home because I was a big slow bloated pony who couldn’t take care of herself, I was just looking out for the innocent helpless dragon. Totally different. “Alright then.” Fluttershy gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you when you get back.” “Can’t wait.” I watched Fluttershy as she trotted off, taking a moment to admire her. I really was lucky to snag somepony as great as Eepy. Once she was out of sight I turned my attention back to the cute nerdy princess. “So, what’s up Twilight?” Twilight smiled adorably. “Well, first off I wanted to thank you. Fluttershy said you helped convince her to settle things with me. I certainly won’t mind having all the protesters off my front lawn before the Archon shows up.” I waved her thanks off. “My reasons were entirely selfish.” “I don’t believe that.” She gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. “You’re a good pony Cloud. At times very immature pony with a terrible sense of humor and an overactive sex drive, but still a good pony.” She cleared her throat. “Which … actually kind of goes into the other thing I wanted to talk about. This whole incident has shown that there are a lot of potential complications with bringing in my new guards, and maybe we should have somepony to help smooth all those problems over. And … well, you did do a pretty good job of helping take care of this protest before it became an even bigger PR disaster.” I blinked as I realized what was going on. “Um … are you offering me a job, Twilight?” She coughed, and a bit of a nervous blush colored her cheeks. “Yes. I mean, Rainbow said you weren’t completely happy with the weather service, and I imagine that with Blossomforth getting promoted it could make things a bit awkward for you. I’m not sure what their rules are, but  having a kid with your supervisor could cause some issues. Maybe a new job would be better for you, and … well, you’re very qualified. You’ve lived in Ponyville for years and know everypony here, and you’ve got the background to help out with my Guard too. Storm said you took a lot of the same classes she did while you were at West Hoof, so you could even help some with the Patrol. Plus it’s a job that would be a bit easier on you once you get further along. The weather service really isn’t a good job for a pony who can’t fly.” Oh. Huh. A new job? Working for Twilight? And with the Guard? That was … that was big. Real big. I wasn’t incredibly eager to leave the weather service, but I’d never been all that attached to it. It was mostly just a job I could get easily that paid the bills. I cleared my throat. “Do you mind if I take a bit to think about it?” I asked, shuffling in place. “Just, you know, a new job is a big deal. I should probably run it by Blossom and Eepy before I make any decisions too.” Twilight smiled and nodded. “Of course, that’s fine. Just maybe let me know sometime in the next week or so? If you’re not interested, I do need to start looking for somepony else before any more problems come up.” That made sense. I should probably get a bit more information before making a decision. “So what exactly would I be doing? What sort of pay are you offering? What about benefits? Sick days? And of course, the maternity leave rules are highly relevant…” Twilight’s smile widened a bit. “I read in one of my books about negotiation that if somepony wants to start talking about the details, that means they’ve already accepted the general idea. Does that mean you do want the job?” I took a deep breath and framed my answer carefully. “You’ve gotten my attention, but I’ll need more information before I know for sure. So…” We got down to serious negotiations.