Starlight gestured at the map. "So, I'm ready, but I also have an exciting idea to propose."
Sunburst softly blinked. "Um... Like?" He wasn't sure how much he wanted to hear about 'exciting new ideas' with an already risky procedure.
Starlight waggled a hoof at the map. "This is a literal force of harmony. It selected you once, and me. Ha... that was a time. Either way, it knows us."
"You're talking as if it was a thinking, living... thing." Sunburst hiked a dubious brow, raising a hoof to adjust his glasses.
"And Platinum isn't?" She rolled her eyes. "Just because it doesn't chat with us very often... ever... doesn't mean it's unaware. It clearly makes decisions and tries to do good. Let's have a little trust in the thing we hurl ourselves across Equestria at the behest of."
Starlight ran a hoof along the edge of the cutie map. "It's not only aware, but my bits are on it being frightfully powerful. At least, it would be scary if it wasn't also super nice. I mean, it spends all day looking for friendship problems for us to solve. This isn't what a bad thing does."
Sunburst nodded softly. "Right, I mean... sure, it helped us out by making us face a problem. I get that, but how does that relate to this?" He pointed up at his horn.
She reached up right past his hoof to poke his horn. "The entire idea is to make your horn more harmonious, so magic can flow through it better, and you'll be an even better agent for it. I think we should incorporate it into the process. It has more than enough magic to lend to the process, and I think once we... impress on it what we want, it'll be all for it."
Sunburst quirked a smile. "I'll owe the cutie map a favor then?"
Starlight shrugged at that. "I've heard of worse fates. You'd already go trotting off if it asked, wouldn't you?"
"Well, yeah..." He rubbed at a cheek a moment before standing up fully. "So, alright, what's the full plan? You're going to just ask it nicely?"
"I don't think it works like that." She hopped up onto Twilight's throne just to leap from there up onto the map's surface. "Hello down there. Would you like to do a bit of magic with me? It'll be fun, promise." The map did not reply, other than casually returning things to sight as her hooves stopped being pressed through them.
Sunburst smirked softly, watching Starlight. "No, I should think not, but you wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't already have an idea, so let's hear it."
Starlight tapped a hoof through the mountain that held the illusion of Canterlot. "I will perform the process right here. You'll lay down about where I'm standing and then we work. It'll know what we're doing as we do it, and it'll help if it approves, or give us a clear 'stop that' if what we're doing is unharmonious.
She shrugged with a little grin. "Maybe it'll toss a friendship problem at us the moment it decides, or new magic will join the effort. Either way, we get something out of it."
"Or... nothing happens?"
She leaned forward towards him. "Right, also possible, but then what did we lose? Nothing. Either way, it won't hurt anything. I feel pretty sure the map won't hurt a good pony like you, Sunburst."
"This is incredibly reckless." He reared up and put his forehooves atop the table, hauling himself up next to Starlight. "Exactly your style... I said I'd trust you, and that hasn't changed."
"Fantastic!" She brought her forehooves together with a smart clop. "Shall we begin? No time like the present."
He laughed nervously. "Did you get Twilight's permission for... this?"
"Just lay down right here." She gestured across the table. "Let us begin."
Stellar sat on a bench. Next to her was a royal princess of countless moon's age.
Platinum's eyes moved from one pony to the next as they walked past them. "What are we doing, precisely?"
"Research," gladly chimed Stellar. "Watch and listen. This is one way you can learn about the movements of the day." She inclined her head more subtly across the way. "Note that mare. She always arrives here about this time of day, waiting for another mare that seems to be a close friend."
Platinum looked across to the green unicorn that sat in a curious way for a pony. "I see her, but spying and gaping are hardly 'proper' sports, dear."
"Don't stare," softly cautioned Stellar with a little smile. "Just observe. Now, from when you're from, royals were the center of things, were they not?"
"They were," she sighed out. "This no longer seems to be the case."
"Au Contraire." She raised a hoof. "Lyra, dear, have you a moment?!"
Lyra perked up at her name and pointed at herself. When Stellar nodded, she slipped down and crossed the busy little road to get to them. "Hey Flare, what's shaking?"
Stellar gestured at her royal companion. "Remember that play you took part in? This is the Princess Platinum."
Lyra's eyes widened. "What?! No way!" She turned to Platinum, looking her over intently. "Woah... You may be telling the truth. Neat! Nice to meet you." She performed a sudden proper bow, rearing up to deliver a bipedal bow. "I'm Lyra Heartstrings. Not sure why you're in sleepy Ponyville, but we're happy to have a big name around if they're happy to be here."
Platinum smiled gently, her spirits lifting. "Thank you for the greeting. This is ... nice." A pony that actually treated her immediately like she was important? That was more than nice... "Tell me, what would you recommend in this village for royal taste, dear?"
"Woah, you sound a little like Rarity." She was smiling as she said it, implying it wasn't a bad thing. "Huh, royalty... You try the day spa out? It's pretty good."
"Funny you should mention her. I met her and she took me there immediately."
"Called it!" Lyra pumped a hoof with victory. "She's practically the town princess, if not for, you know, not actually being a princess, like you! That's pretty cool. Do you have a castle?"
Platinum's ears fell a little. "Alas, no... The family castle is long gone, renovated into... that." She pointed up at Canterlot high above.
Lyra turned to see what was being pointed at. "Seriously?! You know I'm from there, right. I lived there until I was an adult. There are way more royal-class things up there, let me tell you." She suddenly hopped up onto the bench next to Platinum and across from Stellar, sitting in her curious way. "It's nice to meet a fellow unicorn from the heights."
Platinum started to smile a little more. Stellar had pointed her directly at a potential friend. "I'd like to hear more about it, Miss Heartstrings." Her eyes fell to Lyra's cutie mark. "Are you a musician?"
"Sure am." A lyre appeared with a flash of magic, hovering over her head. It began to play a soft little tune, cheerful but subtle, not disturbing the conversation. "I'd love to perform for a princess. Tell me when you're available for a show and I'll gather up the other local musicians. There are more than a few of us around here. We'll put on a special show and put you in the first row."
Special seating?! Her smile was only growing. Platinum nodded gently. "You certainly know how to treat royalty... I think I... would be delighted to attend such a performance, especially one in my honor. How could I say no to that, darling? Yes, you gather your peers and we'll arrange a proper time." She glanced back at Stellar. "I presume you are already familiar with Miss Flare? You appeared to know her."
"Stellar? Yeah. She's relatively new to town, but we've chatted a few times." Lyra nodded firmly before reaching a hoof around the princess, not touching her, instead offering the hoof to Stellar.
Stellar met it with one of her own in a little clop. "Nice to see you. I had a feeling you might enjoy meeting Princess Platinum. Now, I am obliged to note that she isn't an acting princess."
"Pshhh, as if that matters." Lyra drew her hoof back and slapped both forehooves down on her knees. "She's a living historical figure and former princess of all us unicorns. A little respect is in order. I mean, I'm not usually 'big' on the whole royal 'thing', but hey, you deserve it."
Platinum inclined an ear at Lyra. "Are all your companion musicians unicorns as well?"
"Nah. This is mostly an earth pony town." She threw a hoof wide. "Your ears will be teased by the melodic wonder that is Octavia Melody. She plays the cello and is an earth pony and is super good at it. You'll love it. She's also very refined, so stick around, I bet you two will hit it right off."
Her friends kept suggesting more friends! Did she just need one to get the ball rolling, as it were... "I will see her. A cello, you said?"
"Can't miss it. She's the town's best cellist. She's also a great pony in general. We're buddies, bound by music." Her lyre softly twanged. "The best kind of bind there is, in my lonely opinion."
Platinum wondered how an earth pony could hope to play a cello competently, but she had the will to keep that question to herself. "I can't wait to see how she plays."
Stellar nudged Platinum softly. "Say, what is the story behind that? I had been meaning to ask." She pointed at the dangling large jewel around Platinum's neck. "It's glowing just a little."
"Just a little?" She looked down and gasped. It was alarmingly low! "I really need to keep a better eye on that..."
Lyra peered at it with equal curiosity. "What's the story behind that, or is it just a pretty thing? I mean, nothing wrong with a pretty thing on a pretty mare."
"Lyra, here you are." An earth pony trotted out of the crowd, eyes on Lyra. "I hope she isn't bothering you."
Stellar waved the thought away. "As if Lyra could bother me."
Platinum quirked an ear at the new pony. She somehow sounded like she was in a position of authority over Lyra... An earth pony? How did that... "We were discussing a mus--"
Lyra suddenly poked her dangling jewel. "You were telling us this story."
"Oh! Yes, of course dear." Platinum cleared her throat, not that she had mucus to build there like a living pony. "This holds my... power? It's like... the belly of a pony. Food, in the form of magic, goes here, to sustain me."
Bon Bon hiked a brow. "Curious... How do you get more magic then?"
"Princess Twilight and her assistants were quite thoughtful." Platinum nodded in soft appreciation. "Any pony can place their hoof on it and say 'Accord' to give a small portion of their own magic. Not enough to hurt, or even really be noticed."
Bon Bon suddenly touched it. "Accord." The glow at the bottom of the jewel became a little brighter. "Seems safe," she said with just a hint of distrust. "Lyra, we have an appointment to keep, let's be off."
"Oh? Yeah! Right. See you later, Platinum. We'll get that concert set up." Lyra hopped down beside Bon Bon. "Onwards!"
When they were gone, Stellar nudged her new friend. "Watching and listening can open whole new avenues of possibility."
"I see..." Platinum angled the jewel in her magic to see its glow. "Why do earth ponies feel compelled to give their magic without thought, or permission?"
"Bon Bon's just like that sometimes." Stellar shrugged softly. "She's much nicer when she's running her candy shop. I think all the sweets around her makes her sweeter by some form of osmosis."