//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Making Friends and Concerns // Story: Pearlwort, Unintentional Villain // by Halira //------------------------------// Biblo and I retired to our room early that night. We didn't do much sleeping though. Starlight had been completely successful in transferring over the traits to me that Biblo had picked up from her nurse. I had wondered what it was going to be like to just gain new aspects to myself, all at once, from somepony else. Biblo did this all the time, but for me it was a new experience. Would it be weird? Would it feel disorienting suddenly feeling completely differently about something? Turns out it felt natural, it was part of me now, and I couldn't imagine not feeling that way. The old me would have been very uncomfortable with these types of feelings, the new me was an entirely different creature, and I couldn't be happier. The feeling in this case was a strong desire to have lots and lots of sex with my fiancee. A feeling that Biblo had in equal measure for me. There was no shyness or discomfort to the feeling, it was bold and demanded satisfaction. We both gave that shared feeling satisfaction at length for most of the evening, until we finally passed out from exhaustion. It had been the first time for both of us, or at least the first time I would remember, and I lost count of how many times we added to that first before sleep finally claimed us. *** I awoke the next morning before the sun was up. Biblo was snuggled asleep against me with a contented smile on her face. She was still glowing brightly from hours before, and I wondered how I managed to fall asleep at all with her giving off so much light. Maybe investing in a sleep mask would be a good idea. The odor of sex was still heavy on us, and there were dried juices in each of our coats. Baths were definitely in order before we left our room for the day. The prospect of just spending the day together in the room was an attractive one, but there were things that needed doing. I didn't disturb her from her sleep, or move from my position, for some time. I didn't want to break the peaceful look on her face, and I enjoyed the feeling of her beside me. I laid there just enjoying her presence for around an hour before deciding that we were going to have to get motivated for the day. I gave her nuzzles against her neck and head to wake her. She giggled a bit and wrapped her foreleg around my neck, not bothering to open her eyes. She found my ear with her muzzle and nibbled lightly on it. This was not helping motivate us to get up out of bed at all. "Sweetie, we need to get up," I nickered to her, returning a quick nibble to her neck, which ellicited another giggle from her. "We can't just be lazy ponies in bed all day." "Who said anything about being lazy," she said with a michievious smirk, as she finally opened her eyes. "I think we can be very active while in bed. Didn't we demonstrate that last night? We could have another workout now if you forgot about it already, I certainly don't mind." "I would love to," I admitted with a smile, but then sighed. "But Sunset is going to insist on me doing more exercise, and I need to save energy for that, and we also have something else that needs to be done." "Sunset can stuff it for a day," she snorted, then took on a confused look. "What else do we need to be doing today? I really am drawing a blank on that." "We do want to be married, right?" I grinned at her. "That usually involves a ceremony or something, we might want to make some arrangements for that." She sat up quickly and blinked several times. She looked at me, then looked at herself. I saw her taking a few sniffs as well. She was starting to take in that we weren't exactly decent at the moment. "Pony feathers!" She cursed. "I can't believe I let that, of all things, slip my mind. I was so caught up in enjoying finally getting to physically have you, that I forgot about everything else." "Well, I won't complain to much about you being distracted," I said as I nuzzled her neck again. She turned her head and gave me a kiss. I was enjoying this new touchy-feely aspect of myself. "But I suppose we need to do some planning," she said resignedly. "Lets go out on the balcony to watch the sun rise. We can talk about what we want to do for the wedding. We haven't talked together about that yet." We pulled ourselves from the bed and made our way to the balcony. Biblo produced each of our pipes which we lit up in hopes that the drug would help calm at least some of our sexual energy for the time being. We could just make out the early light of the sun in the distance. "I wonder what my parents will say when they see me again," Biblo mused beside me, shaping her smoke into the vague shapes of a changling and a stallion. She was getting better at the shaping, and the forms were much more defined than they had been when she first showed me. "I would assume you would want to invite them to the wedding," I replied back. I shaped out my cutie mark and Biblo's cutie mark next to one another with my own smoke. "I want to, but I don't think I want to wait long enough for them to arrive," she said as she considered. "I want this wedding to happen as soon as possible. There is no point in waiting, we both are sure we want to spend our lives together." "Is that going to make things awkward with them later?" I asked her. "Everything is going to be awkward when I see them again later," Biblo lamented. "It isn't going to be just that I got married without telling them. I am not the same mare I was when I left home. I am trying to imagine how the conversation will go. Hi mom and dad, I am back for a visit. By the way I got married, I am capable of killing whole groups of trained guards, started smoking, and I am perfectly fine with the idea of eating a fallen opponent. Oh, and did I mention I almost died at the first place I went, but that is okay because I am immortal now. How are you two doing? Awkward doesn't begin to describe how that is going to go," she took a long draw from her pipe in an attempt to relieve stress. "Well, it could be worse," I replied. She looked at me like I sprouted a second head. "How could it be worse?" She asked crossly. "You could tell them about how you assaulted three different Alicorns," I replied jokingly. "Oh yeah! How could I forget that?" She rolled her eyes and snorted. "But it was only two, so I guess that's better." "No, it was three," I replied back. "You are forgetting Sunset. She beat you soundly, but you still tried to assault her." Biblo looked at me with a growing look of horror. Then she turned her head, and laid it down on the railing of the balcony, letting off a long sigh. "I am so screwed," she said miserably. "Yes," I said with a purr. "We made sure of that at length last night." She smacked my side with one of her hooves, but let out a laugh. "You are so incorrigible right now," she chortled. "You got all those naughty feelings without having to try to learn to keep them in check, like I had to do. I am trying very hard to be serious right now, and you are making that really difficult. Can you try to be serious with me? What are we going to have to do to get you to behave?" "It is an interesting roll reversal," I mused. "I have a lot more sympathy for your older more bubbly self now. It's hard keeping myself in check." "Are you saying I have gotten boring?" She asked in an overdramatic pouty whine. She gave me a duck lip pout and puppy dog eyes. "You are anything but boring Sweetie," I replied back with a grin. "I would say more mature, more adult, occasionally more scary, and a lot more sexy." She tried to restrain a laugh while taking a draw from her pipe, and ended up choking on her smoke. She cleared herself of the fumes and kept laughing. Then she gave me a hug and kiss. "You are getting better at the compliments my precious Pearl," she laughed with a smile. "We will figure out how to deal with my parents when the time comes. I have you, and that is all that matters. But let's get to talking about the wedding, like we are supposed to be doing. Listen to your mature, adult, and sexy wife-to-be, before she is forced to get scary." "Alright," I said with a resigned laugh. "So who are we inviting? It isn't like we have a lot of friends, at least I don't. And I don't have any family to invite so we will be going without any family from either side." "Well, we are immortals, we should probably invite all the Alicorns," Biblo said after consideration. "And that Patina mare too. Hot Sticks is without question. That seems like a pretty good guest list." "All the Alicorns?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit presumptuous? We haven't even met most of them yet." "We will get around to it," she replied dismissively. "But if we are going to be around all that time do you want to hear for several centuries about how you snubbed a pony from being invited? It is just good sense to invite them." Her eyes got a little wide. "Um, I think I might have absorbed something from Starlight Glimmer," she gasped. "I am not sure when or how, but that felt like something she would think. I was thinking about the politics of it, that whole time I was giving that list." "We really need to get you trained with Sunset," I groaned. "Next thing you know you will be absorbing things from Hot Sticks." She blushed, turned to hide her face, and took another long draw. "What did you absorb?" I asked with a groan. Dreading what the answer would turn out to be. "Nothing bad," she replied innocently, turning to look out at the now rising sun. "We know how this works," I said sternly to her. "You don't think anything you absorb is bad after you absorb it." She gave a huff and turned back to me. "Well, it wasn't bad at all in this case," she said defensively, crossing her forelegs against the railing, with her pipe held in the grip of one her fetlocks. "I think I just picked up some of his vocabulary, so now I am a little more verbose." "Okay, you are right," I said with a bit of relief. "That doesn't seem like such a bad thing. It's funny, I was worried you were going to gain his incessant drive to get every pony hooked on his pipe weed." "Probably not," she answered back cryptically, again looking away. "Biblo!" I exclaimed with frustration. "I don't know for sure," she replied again defensively. "It hasn't really come up. So I have no idea. Plus, would it be so bad if I did? I would be helping some poor village's economy." "We are definitely setting you up with a schedule of training ,with Sunset, starting today," I said as I banged my head softly, but repeatedly, against the balcony rail. *** I was searching around the temple for Hot Sticks and eventually found him in the dining hall. I went over to talk to him without grabbing any food. I had just eaten here with Biblo about an hour before. "You look like a mare on a mission," Hot Sticks observed as I came up and took a seat opposite him. "Where is Biblo? I figured you two would be inseparable today. Actually, I expected you two to keep sequestered to your room for the full day, given how intimate you were getting in public yesterday." "It was a temptation," I admitted. "There was plenty of activity with us last night. However, we have things that we need to get done, so any more of that will have to wait for later." "By the way," I continued. "This might make me sound like a jealous partner, but please keep from touching my fiancee. At least until she has control of her absorbing ability." "Did she absorb something from me?" Hot Sticks inquired. "She definitely picked up a lot of your vocabulary," I replied back. "Which I didn't think she could do. That isn't a feeling or a personality trait. She might have picked up some other things, I'm not sure." He looked at me for a long moment considering what I had told him. Maybe he was debating asking what else I suspected she might have absorbed. "Are you sure she picked up vocabulary from me, and she didn't just already know it before?" He asked me in a serious tone. "She has been doing a great deal of reading, she could have picked it up there" "She was fairly certain she absorbed it from you," I answered him. "She seemed to be embarrassed that she had done it. If she had picked it up on her own, reading, I would think she would have been more proud of it." "That is extremely troubling," he said with a sigh. "Perhaps you two should talk to the Crusaders about her absorbing talent, and bring Sunset or Starlight Glimmer with you. That is not just absorbing personality traits, that is absorbing knowledge. Her empathic ability and absorbing talent might be harmless independently of one another, but combined they seem to be adding up to abilities far greater than the sum of their parts. For her own sake I would recommend she start taking seriously the Alicorns concerns about her, and have some concerns herself. Hopefully between the Crusaders and a powerful empath they can figure out the extent of what those abilities are capable of, and help her limit their use." "Well, she is with Sunset right now, trying to start training on control," I said. "I kind of insisted when I realized this morning that she had been absorbing more than I thought from others." "I would still go have a talk to the Crusaders, they are still here in the temple," Hot Sticks insisted. "This is more than just empathic ability, even the enhanced ability that Crystal Ponies of her type don't do this. It will take more than just another empath to figure out what is going on with her." "I needed to talk to some Alicorns anyway," I said, getting back to my hooves. "We are trying to plan out for the wedding. We want it to happen soon, and getting a guest list together. Yes, you are invited." "I would hope I would be," Hot Sticks laughed. "You are moving really fast. Not even a month of knowing one another and planning out your wedding? How soon are you planning this wedding to be?" "Um, soon," I replied unsure how to answer. "As soon as we can is really the best answer I can give for right now. We do want to have a ceremony, I am not sure what all we have to do. I never really expected to ever get married. It has been fast, but we are sure we want to do this." "Well, I have never gotten married, so I won't be much help to you," Hot Sticks said wistfully. "All I suppose you technically need is someone official to conduct the ceremony, and some witnesses. Beyond that you likely want to have something nice to wear, and a small party afterward for your guests. Talk to the Crusaders or Sunset about it, Alicorns have to have lots of experience officiating weddings." I looked myself over. I had never worn anything but my life pack or a saddle bag. I guessed that a dress would be appropriate, but I had no clue about what to even look for in a dress. Thestrals rarely wore clothes even on formal occasions, with the exception of those in the Lunar Guard, and even those were just their uniforms. I hadn't ever seen Biblo wear anything than a saddle bag either, but maybe she had more experience with clothes than me. "I'll ask the Crusaders for suggestions on that when I go to talk to them," I finally replied back. "I'll catch up with you again later, it is going to be a busy day." I waved goodbye and left the dining hall. *** I was escorted to the Crusaders room by some of Meadowbrook's acolytes. Still the same room as before, but it was in an area of the temple that you weren't allowed to just wander in. My immortal status didn't give me a free pass to do so, and I doubt that any of these ponies actually knew of my status anyway. When I entered into the room I found the Crusaders, only this time they were Thestrals, same coloring as always. "Can you...um, change to different forms than that? Please." I asked with a shiver. Having them all being Thestrals was just creepy for some reason. They all looked at each other and shrugged. They glowed brightly for a moment and the next moment three Pegasus mares, again of the same colors, sat in the room. "We didn't mean to upset you," the yellow Pegasus who was clearly Bloom said to me. "We were just wanting to try out The steam forms for a while," Scoots continued. "We were kind of inspired by the whole trial," Sweetie finished the apology. That ordered speaking would continue to be weird no matter what. I sincerely hoped Biblo and I never started doing that. "That's okay," I replied with a sigh. "It is just kind of weird still dealing with Thestrals, even ones that aren't real Thestrals." They exchanged concerned glances between each other before turning back to me. I looked to Bloom, knowing she would be the one to speak next. "Did the memory removal not work properly?" She asked, voice filled with concern. "No, it worked fine. I just think other Thestrals will always make me a little nervous. I didn't have the best dealings with my tribe growing up," I explained, and then turned to Scoots. I could adjust to their speaking. "That's sad to hear," Bloom decided to continue. I guess she wasn't done talking. "We will try to be more considerate in the future," Sweetie picked up the thought. Alright, I either I had imagined the pattern before, or they were deliberately messing with me. I looked at them one at a time and hung my head in frustration at my failure to figure out the trio. "So what do we owe the honor of the visit?" Bloom started speaking again, continuing to do away with the pattern. "Was I imagining the fact you three were talking in a particular order last time I talked to you, or are you just playing a game on me now?" I blurted out, ignoring the question. "We have no idea what you are talking about," the three said in chorus. My eye twitched, and I just stared for a moment. They watched me for a moment and then all of them just broke down laughing. "You weren't imagining things," Scoots finally spoke up, still laughing at my expense. "We do that on purpose when trying to act all mighty and powerful," Bloom continued the explaination. "And we can fall into doing it automatically sometimes, without thinking," Sweetie kept the explanation going. "But there is no real order to how we speak," Scoots said with a smile. "You should see your face though, it is hilarious," laughed Bloom. I decided not to push them on the fact they still seemed to be continuing one another's thoughts and sentences. "So again," Scoots spoke up, "What can we help you with? We doubt this is a social visit." "Two things actually," I replied, deciding to get straight to the point. "First, Biblo might need to have you help her figure out her cutie mark and what it is doing. I know you are all concerned about her. I am starting to get concerned as well about her absorbing. Sunset is going to help her on the empath end of things, but we might want some help figuring out the cutie mark end. Hot Sticks seems to think it is a combination of the cutie mark plus being an empath that makes her absorb as much as she does." "We thought that was already understood with her," Sweetie replied back to me with a hint of confusion. "Why do you need us to confirm what you already know?" "Because she seems to be absorbing more types of things now," I said with frustration. "She literally expanded her vocabulary by absorbing it from Hot Sticks, that is not what she has been doing to this point." They looked at each other again. I didn't know if they were somehow silently communicating with one another, or if this was just the same silent body language any other pony would do. "We can look into it," Sweetie finally replied to me. "Whenever she wants to meet with us, just let us know. You said you had two reasons for coming by. What's the other reason?" I blushed a bit, not knowing how to ask. "Well, you see, Biblo and I are planning to get married. She is off training with Sunset right now, and I am supposed to be making arrangements for that. Except I really don't have a clue what I am doing. Could you three possibly help me figure out what to do?" They smiled as one. Again, creepy. "Sure thing," Bloom answered. "What have you decided on so far?" "Well, I we came up with a tentative guest list. That is about it," I said with some embarassment. They looked at one another again, raising eyebrows at one another as they did. "Okay..that's a start we suppose," Scoots said with some apprehension. "How about what is the date for the wedding, where do you want it held, who you want officiating it, what tribal style, where are you wanting the after party, what are your vows, what will you be wearing, will you be planning a honeymoon, what kind of music do you want played, who do you want making the wedding cake, how are you inviting your guests, when are you meeting her family, who is going to do your makeup, who is going to do your manes and tails, how are you paying for all this, and will there be a wedding contract?" My eyes got larger with each thing she listed off. There was much more than I imagined involved with a wedding. What in the world was a wedding contract? There were different styles of weddings, based on tribe? How much was all this going to end up costing? I needed to have my mane, tail, and makeup done--and I needed separate ponies for each of those? I had never worn makeup in my life, just as I hadn't worn any clothes. I might be free of what was causing me to be a nervous wreck before, but I think I might have just been introduced to something new to take its place. I just laid down on the floor in a fetal position and cried. It was the only reasonable reaction as far as I was concerned. I heard the Crusaders collectively sigh, followed by hoovesteps over to my location. "I am guessing that is a sign you haven't considered any of this," I heard Bloom say above me. "There there, it isn't that bad. We will do you a favor and help you figure this out." I looked up at the orange Alicorn-Pegasus with hopeful eyes. "Now," she began. "How long is your guest list?" "We were going to invite all of the Alicorns, Patina, and Hot Sticks," I replied back quickly. Proud to have that answer ready to give. "Alright," she smiled back. "We can definitely help with that. Normally it would be silly to be inviting Alicorns to a wedding, but you and Biblo get a free pass on that since you are immortals. We will get the word out to them. I think since you are inviting all of them it would be proper to have Twilight officiate the wedding." "I am not sure," I said timidly. "Having the Twilight Princess officiate seems kind of overdoing it don't you think?" "And inviting every Alicorn to the wedding isn't?" She asked me back with mirth. "And you should probably get used to referring to her as Twilight, I highly doubt she is going to want you being all formal with her, any more than the rest of us do." "Okay." "Now," she continued. "We are going to need somewhere large and private since you have such an exclusive, and important, guest list. I am sure there is somewhere appropriate for holding a wedding inside the Tree, and I am sure Twilight will oblige you using it. So, that knocks another thing off the list." I nodded, starting to feel better. "As for food," she kept going. "Pinkie Pie will be overjoyed to take care of that, as well as decorations, and she will likely also figure out the music and any other entertainment for you. Parties are kind of her thing, and she almost never attends a party that she didn't plan herself. She will likely even cover all the costs." This was looking to be easier and easier by the moment. I found myself starting to smile. "Next thing we can do to help is with the dresses," Scoots said, only to be cut off by Sweetie swelling. "Oh! I need to get Rarity right away!" Sweetie said and promptly vanished into thin air. "Oh no you don't!" Scoots said towards the vacant spot Sweetie had just occupied. Then Scoots vanished as well. Bloom just sat there, shaking her head sadly. "I am sorry for this," she said sighing. "Those two are very attached to two different designers, and those designers are very..well you'll see in a minute." A moment later there were several flashes as several ponies teleported into the room. The other two Crusaders were back and with them came Pinkie Pie and two Alicorns I didn't know the names for. The one that was next to Sweetie was Suprisingly plain looking, white furred, with purple mane done up in a bun. The one that showed up with Scoots was dressed a blue furred, with a mane that was literally a rainbow of color done in very complicated curls, wearing a fair amount of makeup, and a very sheer black dress which you could actually see through. The white one held a proud posture, the blue one looked like she was strutting. The cutie marks on them consisted of three gems of some sort on the white one's flank, and blue had a cloud with a lightning bolt done in rainbow colors. "Allow me to introduce my sister, Rarity," Sweetie said, proudly gesturing to the white Alicorn. Rarity smiled and gave a light bow of her head. "And let me introduce to you the most beautiful of all ponis, Rainbow Dash!" Scoots excitedly gestured to the blue. Rainbow Dash just posed as she was introduced. Rarity gave the rainbow named Alicorn a disparaging look and then rolled her eyes. "Charmed, I am pleased to meet you darling," Rainbow Dash said with a voice that spoke of high sophistication. She gave me a warm smile. "We are pleased to get to finally meet you face to face dear," Rarity said softly after her. She had a more businesslike tone to her. See also smiled pleasantly at me. "You already know me, I am just here for the show," Pinkie announced. "And because you were talking about me helping you with setting up a party! I would love too!" The Crusaders all looked to one another and as a chorus spoke. "Did you go get Pinkie?" They asked each other all at once. They then went a little wide eyed and shook their heads resignedly, with mutters among them about not questioning it. "I would be happy to design wedding dresses for you and you bride to be," Rarity said to me cheerfully. She then extended a foreleg to me for a hoofshake "We haven't been properly introduced, we know each others' names, but a proper introduction is still preferable. I am Rarity, Alicorn of Generosity, Patron of Charity, and clothing designer." "I'm Pearlwort, but you can call me Pearl," I smiled as I extended my own foreleg and shook hooves with her. "I don't have any titles." "We will have to come up with some for you darling," Rainbow Dash chimed in, offering her own hoof in greeting. "How you present yourself is very important. You want ponies to know they are dealing with an exceptional mare when they meet you, that is how you get ahead in life. Pleased to make your acquaintance at last. I am Rainbow Dash, Alicorn of Loyalty, Patron of Competition, and always the best looking pony in the room, but just Rainbow will do." "Preening peacock," Rarity muttered. "Glad to meet you Rainbow," I said, picking up a bit more of the friction between the two. "You aren't going to offer your services as well?" Rarity asked Rainbow with a raised eyebrow. "I will let you handle Pearl's dress and overall appearance happily dear," Rainbow replied back to her coyly. "And I will take care of Bibulous Bottom myself. I am sure you will do a breathtaking job with her, and it will make the fact I have made our Crystal Pony friend so much more a wonder to behold all the sweeter." "Not everything has to be a competition!" Rarity scolded Rainbow. "Of course it does," Rainbow laughed back at her with a smile. "Everything in life is another opportunity to prove to the world your the best, or at least great, as I clearly am the best." "You are a strutting diva peacock!" Rarity snapped back in response. They devolved quickly into insults for one another while every other pony just watched. I was startled when Pinkie teleported herself next to me with a box of popcorn in one of her fetlocks. She offered me a piece with a smile. "I'll tell you a secret," Pinkie whispered to me, as I accepted the popcorn. "Rarity used to be the one that always dressed up, and acted more diva-like, a long time ago. And Rainbow was a bit of a tomboy, who barely bothered with her appearance. When they both ascended to Alicorns Rainbow got depressed, she had always thrived on showing off her physical prowess and speed, but as an Alicorn she couldn't compete in activities against regular ponies anymore. Rarity got Rainbow into showing off her beauty, in an attempt to help her friend find a new outlet, all the while Rarity became less concerned about her own beauty as she focused on others. Rainbow over time became the big diva instead. Rarity gave Rainbow a way to shine, and Rainbow is Rarity's greatest accomplishment in bringing out the beauty of another. So, don't let their squabbling fool you, they actually care about each other a lot." I looked at the two arguing Alicorns, they didn't look like they cared too much for one another, of course Alicorns are all crazy, so who could really tell. Maybe I was going crazy too, I was sitting there with a pink Alicorn, eating popcorn as I watched. At the very least, the wedding arrangements seemed like they could fall into place quickly, now that we had muliple Alicorns eager to help out. I contentedly tossed another piece of popcorn into my mouth.