Supply and Demand
Nov 1: The day started cool and sunny, but by afternoon it turned cold, wet and dreary. I brewed a pot of chocolate peppermint tea and watched the sheets of rain splash patterns on the big balcony. The last hay bales have been cleared from the fields and either squeezed into storage somewhere or sent by train to markets elsewhere in Equestria and Yakyakistan. Now that the buying frenzy is over, prices should drop soon and stay that way for a while, at least until demand picks up again in midwinter. Most ponies can't store enough hay to last all year in their homes and they go to the markets to replenish their small larders. Not everypony lives on a farm or in a giant stone tree-shaped stable.
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Breathing Technique
Nov 2: I went to visit Zecora today and I found the Everfree looking especially dreary. I stepped through the edge into a forest cold and misty, where most of the leaves have fallen off the trees and the ferns and forbs are limp and brown. Just beyond the Everfree, in the fields of Ponyville, yesterday's clouds have been cleared and the sunshine is bright and cheery. By the time I reached Zecora's forest home I was wet, chilled and a little bit miserable. Zecora welcomed me in with a rhyme and led me to her table where she pushed something hot and nourishing in front of my nose. I felt much better.
It's harvest time for Zecora too. Although she will collect specific plants in bloom during the summer, or others as they emerge in the spring, many of the plants she selects are best harvested now, when they are at their most potent. I'd dropped in on her while she was in the middle of sorting and preparing extracts and powders from several medicinal plants. I lent a hoof, stirring the tincture, grinding seeds and filling jars. She had me practice gaining focus through controlled breathing while engaged in processing the plants. That's a very useful skill and I need to do that more.
On my way home, I continued to practice concentrating on the rhythm of my breathing. During the moments I got it just right, the muted, cluttered forest appeared clearer, intricate and interconnected. Time slowed down and my hoofsteps became silent but sure in the slippery wet leaf litter. The chill did not bother me anymore.
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Breathe
Nov 3: I spent a good part of the day trying to master Zecora's technique of rhythmic breathing while engaged in other tasks. It was easier to do while she was there coaching me. I kept breathing too fast and getting light headed and dry mouthed. Now I'm exhausted.
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An Eye on the Sky
Nov 4: There are meteors zipping across the sky tonight. I've already seen quite a few and I'm going back out with a fresh pot of Zecora's chocolate peppermint spice tea to watch for wandering fireballs.
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A Scattering of Stars
Nov 5: Last night, the antics of the stars were pretty funny. Shortly after midnight, the bulk of the Taurids began streaking through the sky, especially around the Taurus the bull constellation. I think Taurus was feeling a little impatient last night with these shooting stars, buzzing around him like astral parasprites. They're much too fast to get swatted by his tail, although he did come close to hitting a fireball. So he moved, climbing high up overhead in the sky, causing other, smaller constellations to scatter.
It's a lot warmer out tonight. I've been reading by candlelight on the balcony. It's hard to find fireflies at this time of year.
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Limited Participant
Nov 6: I had a visit today from Prince Blueblood's attaché, Volte Halt. He was here to fill me in on the etiquette side of the conference, such as where I'm to sit, when I should expect to speak and who is to cover which talking points. It's all very formal and again I get the feeling I'm going to be eye candy while the Big Ponies do all the talking. Prince Blueblood got wind of my plan to sell tickets to my workshop and was "perplexed". I told Halt that I'd been informed that this is key to generating interest and legitimacy in what I had to to offer in the minds of the griffon citizenry. Halt said he'd get back to me.
I've noticed that Starlight is reading a lot of advanced books on magic. From past experience, I know she's adept at learning new spells. I expect that she's getting a nice repertoire, I should ask her sometime to show me what she's got.
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Champing At The Bits
Nov 7: I'm fat and fluffy in my winter coat, and starving too. By the Tree, you'd think winter starts next week and that my body plans on hibernating! If Prince Blueblood expects me to just sit there and look pretty, they better feed us well at the summit.
I'm ready as I'll ever be for the summit. I have my talking points for the round table discussion written out on flash cards. Collated, color coded and correlated by relevance to friendship and griffon interests, of course. My workshop on The Economy of Friendship, Facilitating Supply and Creating Markets Through Mutual Interest is going to be a fun challenge! Gabby will be there to keep me from ruffling any feathers and Spike will help me with collecting the entry fee bits and redistributing them as I "pay" griffons in the audience for right answers. I'm bringing fifty bits along just in case I need more.
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Guest Lecturer Engagement
Nov 8: Princess Celestia sent me a scroll asking if I'd like be a guest lecturer at her school. She would like me to give her students a quick overview of the history of enchanted objects in Equestria. Would I? Oh yes! I aced that subject when I was in school. The lecture is to take place two days after I get back from the Friendship Summit in Griffonstone, so I have plenty of time to prepare.
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Riding Off To The Friendship Summit
Nov 9: I'm ready for the Friendship Summit in Griffonstone and I'm about to head out the door with Spike. Starlight won't be coming with us, she says she has a backlog of books on magic that she has master, and she has pulled some pleasure reading on the history of bridleway musicals too.
Earlier today I helped Dash pack for the Daring Do convention. I lent Dash my copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone to get it signed by A. K. Yearling. She's very excited and I wish I could go with her.
It's a ways to Griffonstone so Spike and I are taking the overnight train. We will be meeting Prince Blueblood and Princess Celestia there. Prince Blueblood is already there orchestrating the preparation of the venue and Princess Celestia is flying in by chariot tomorrow. Gabby will meet me at the station and she will assist me and Spike at the summit. I hope I can handle her high energy optimism, but mare is she good at helping. I'll be back in three days.
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(The princess has gone to a summit. No, it does not involve skiing or tobogganing. It is not that kind of summit.)
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The Friendship Summit
Nov 12: Spike and I got back this afternoon from the two day Friendship Summit that was held in Griffonstone.
Day one we met Gabby on our arrival at the Griffonstone train station. We chose to take the scenic route and walk up Griffon Gorge to Griffonstone. We could have flown, with Gabby there to help carry our bags, but I wanted to savor the thrill of finally getting to see the fabled Griffonstone with my own eyes. Gabby said that griffons have been getting along better recently and that many have tidied up their nests, but I think Rainbow Dash was right, Griffonstone does look run down.
First we went to the old Griffonstone Palace, which is mostly in ruins. Spike and I left our bags in the room set aside for us and went to have breakfast with Princess Celestia and Prince Blueblood. After breakfast, Spike and Gabby ran off to take care of my workshop business while I went with the others on a pre-summit guided tour of Griffonstone. That cost me five bits, plus the bit for the fresh baked griffon scone. There were dilapidated buildings everywhere we went and the view of the Griffonstone Library books scattered about, unloved, caused me to forget to taste the scone. If I could just slip away from the tour for a while, I could sort those books and maybe straighten the shelves... Some other time. Then it was time for Princess Celestia to inaugurate the summit and for Prince Blueblood to make the opening remarks. A few more speeches and it was time for lunch. It was a buffet, so ponies and griffons could mingle while we ate, but all the griffons I met were more interested in eating than talking.
After lunch, I spent the afternoon sitting at a conference table between two bored griffons while further down the table both Princess Celestia and Prince Blueblood each appeared to be negotiating something with the griffons in their vicinity. I guess Ponyville and Friendship didn't hold much worth with those griffons. I didn't feel like paying for chitchat. So we sat in silence and waited for the next meal. I thought often of the Daring Do convention I was missing.
During supper, Spike and Gabby joined me at my table and brought me up to date on the state of my workshop. Gabby had already made a deal with Gilda and mailed an announcement advertising the workshop to every griffon household in Griffonstone. The deal was a joint venture: Gilda would sell the workshop tickets, keep twenty percent of the bits and honor the coupon for a discount on a scone for each ticket sold. That worked really well. Griffons apparently are attracted to discounts and Gilda sold a lot of scones, and a lot of tickets. So many tickets that the workshop is sold out. Gabby told me not to worry, all the sales are final, so, since the griffons can't get their money back for the tickets, they'll be at the workshop.
After supper, Prince Blueblood gave another speech, but nearly all of the griffons had gone home. Then I went to my room and reviewed my preparations for my workshop, but quietly, so Spike could sleep.
The next morning I was ready for my workshop and just as Gabby had predicted, every seat in the venue was filled. The workshop had a rough start. The griffons, not used to sitting so close together in an amphitheater, were squabbling so loudly I had trouble getting their attention. That was until I explained that there would be a quiz, that right answers were worth a bit, and wrong answers get you eliminated, which means you lose the chance at making any more bits. That got their attention. I gave my presentation, explained theory, cooperation, supply chain dynamics, mutualism, trust and friendship. The whole eight furlongs. Then I made them work for their bits. They had to get the theory right. They had to demonstrate their understanding by providing examples or hypothetical situations in which cooperation and friendship builds strength, opportunity and stability. When I finally "ran out of bits", the workshop was over. Class dismissed! It was a lot of fun, and I think the griffons got their money's worth.
Then it was back mingling, or in my case, being a wallflower, at the summit. Hopefully Princess Celestia and Prince Blueblood achieved something concrete.
There was one final summit dinner, during which Prince Blueblood made a prepared speech underlying the mutual benefit of friendship to Griffonstone and Equestria. Then dessert was served and five minutes later every griffon had left the hall. After saying goodbye to Princess Celestia and goodnight to Prince Blueblood, I went out for a walk to indulge in star gazing. I found an open space away from the braziers and candles of the palace. The constellations are a bit of a different mix here, but just after midnight several constellations scattered to make way as Taurus came galloping through, several meteors and a fireball in hot pursuit. That made my night.
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Stuffed
Nov 13: The winter squash harvest is in full swing in Ponyville and there are pumpkins everywhere in the market. Spike bought a few small ones and decided to make stuffed pumpkins -- raw pumpkin, seeds and all, stuffed with fresh alfalfa for lunch. A rich and decadent feast for fattening up ponies for sure! At least the seeds are good for what ails you, so if anypony asks, we are not bingeing on squash, we're healing our bodies.
Since we were going to have heartburn and gurgling innards anyway, we topped it off an hour later with chocolate cake from Sugarcube Corner. So now I'm drinking my way through a pot of mint tea, in hope that I'll avoid waking up in the middle of the night, bloated and in dire need of trotting ten times around Ponyville to settle my stomach. So far so good.
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I Did Not Miss a Plate
Nov 14: I survived stuffing myself on stuffed pumpkin! The only lasting effect was that I was less hungry this morning, so I just had a light breakfast of first cut timothy. Then I got back to work searching the literature for examples of enchanted objects. And then, around noon, the aroma of baking wafted into the library. I discovered that I was, once again, as hungry as a horse. Spike had baked a pumpkin cake and whipped up an apple butter icing for it.
We had pumpkin soup followed by pumpkin pot pie and a pumpkin, hay, lentil and mushroom goulash, washed down with pumpkin spice hot chocolate milk. The pumpkin cake was for dessert. I ate too much, again. We all went for a long walk after lunch to settle our stomachs. We really ought to have another potluck supper soon.
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Polishing Up
Nov 15: I think I've finished my literature search for enchanted objects in Equestria. I've written a pile of flash cards for my presentation and I have a whole pile of reference books bookmarked at illustrations of notable enchanted objects and the ponies who made them. Spike will be in charge of placing them on the overhead projector.
I was overdue for a good hooficure so I joined Rarity and Fluttershy at the spa. I want to look my best in front of Celestia's students! I thought about getting a Crystal Empire oil bath, but I don't want to leave an oil slick everywhere I stop in Canterlot. So I had a fragrant soak and I got my feathers waxed instead, without the glitter. I will be leaving for Canterlot tomorrow morning with Spike, and we'll catch the afternoon train back. I was going to color code the cards and bookmarks according to time, place and object tonight, and then order the reference books to match, but I got distracted by Starlight Glimmer's new repertoire of spells she's been learning. She had made a list of them and I'm impressed! We're going to have a spell casting match first thing tomorrow morning so she can show them off. Then I'm going to sort and color code my cards and materials.
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Fear Of Failing
Nov 16: Ugh, this place is a mess. The kitchen is a disaster area, the entrance hall is a swamp, and there is the smell of burnt cake everywhere. Starlight Glimmer had a bit of a magical mishap. The good news is that nopony got hurt, although my friends are probably going to have some pretty bad headaches tomorrow. The day had started out so well.
This morning, bright and early, Starlight Glimmer and I had a fun magic duel as a way for her to show me the spells she had been studying the most. She's very strong, and although she lacks a little in the delicate tuning of her spells, she's very good at cranking them out in quick succession and she has even been experimenting in combining some rather obscure spells. For instance, she showed me an innovative spell combination that allowed her to oscillate positions so fast that she seemed to be two places at once. That last one looked tiring and probably too hard to control to be useful. Sadly, the one part of her magic studies that she has been neglecting is the study of Friendship. She had her list of the spells she had mastered on hoof and I noticed the lack of completed friendship exercises and summaries of lessons experienced. So before Spike and I left for Canterlot, I asked her to complete a practical friendship activity, with the understanding that we'd discuss how it went when I got back this evening. Starlight Glimmer decided that to impress me, she would not tackle just one friendship lesson. She'd tackle five.
She invited our five Ponyville friends over, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack, with the object being to do something each of our friends enjoys doing. So all five friends arrived at the Friendship Castle and Starlight found herself with the problem of participating in five different incompatible activities at once in four different areas of the castle. That counts as following the form of a friendship lesson but with no real understanding of the intent of the lesson. She decided to solve this problem with magic, but not with the magic of friendship.
The magic of Friendship is the magic of cooperation, of understanding and of trust. It's a magic of synergy and quite different from the usual forceful, manipulative magic that we are taught in magic kindergarten. It's subtle and not something that you can glean by having five friends start five different projects and then leave them pretty much alone. Long story short, Starlight Glimmer, to get everpony to agree with her on what she felt would be the most efficient path to getting all five tasks completed simultaneously, cast a combination compulsion spell on my friends, and made them act like model employees. Thus, she did not learn anything about friendship, but I do hope that she learned to not turn ponies into meat puppets.
I had hoped that friendship would give her the support and confidence she needs to do something that she can be passionate about. She's good at studying and keen to show me that she's adept at magic, but I still don't see that confidence. It's that confidence that would have allowed her to relax with her friends and learn her friendship lessons one at a time. Instead, she tried to approach friendship as a chore, and she tried to do five chores at once by taking cooperation and teamwork out of the equation.
So I got home to six sopping wet ponies, five of which were in a spellbound trance, with rain clouds and smoke drifting down the halls, and wet furniture, pictures, cloth and spiders everywhere. The kitchen looks like a tornado blew through it, and then it caught fire. I managed to undo the compulsion spell so my friends could go home. All that because Starlight Glimmer was afraid to be less than perfect at something she's not naturally good at. Like sewing. And baking. Tomorrow, Starlight Glimmer is going to have to learn how to apologize to her friends. Tonight, I'm going to go out to watch for shooting stars. Then I'm going to bed.
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The Morning After The Night Before
Nov 17: Before starting cleaning up the mess she caused in the castle, Starlight Glimmer went out to apologize to our friends for the mess she made of their friendship. Her apology was accepted and true to form, our friends forgave her and volunteered to help her clean up the mess. Well, Pinkie was still sore about the ruined cakes, so her contribution was to bake another. It's not like Pinkie never ruined a recipe before, but Pinkie is rarely easy to fathom. The silver lining to the whole affair was that Starlight Glimmer unintentionally achieved what she had attempted the day before. Each friend concentrated their energies on the tasks they did best -- Rarity repaired some torn tapestries, Fluttershy rounded up and repatriated various creepy crawly critters to their lurking crevices and castle corridors, Dash cleared out the clouds, Applejack collected and sorted through her family photos, and Pinkie baked. Starlight spent time helping each of them, strengthening their friendships, and finally winning Pinkie's forgiveness. It took all day to finish the clean up, round up, fix up, bake up and so on. So out of hardship, several lessons on friendship got driven home. The last lesson was Rainbow Dash's to give: how to "chill-ax". Starlight might not have quite mastered that one.
Now it's time for me to "chill-ax", I think. My Astronomer's Almanac says the meteors are going to be at their most frisky in less than an hour from now. They should be frolicking around the lion constellation, Leo. If watching for shooting stars is fun and exciting, does it count as "chill-axing"?
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Autumn Treats
Nov 18: For supper we ate spaghetti squash. Not straight, Spike chopped them in half, loosened up the filamentous pulp in the rind and filled the halves with oats, fresh ground green alfalfa sauce and cubed carrot chunks. The oats were boiled until so soft and juicy that they pop when you bite them. I ate three of these half squashes, along with the sweet third cut hay they were served on. That was probably two too many. The fattening season is at a full gallop.
Nightmare Night is a big thing in Ponyville and already ponies everywhere have been decorating their houses. Earlier today when Spike and I went shopping at the bazaar, we picked up candy for Nightmare Night as well. Even though the castle is just outside of Ponyville, quite a few fillies and colts come knock on my door. My plan was to beat the last minute rush when all that's left for Nightmare Night treats are baby carrots, apples and sugar cubes, but I didn't want to stock up on candy too early; Spike would eat it all. We got dried sweet and sour cherries, candied dried crabapples dipped in chocolate, peppermint oil alfalfa cubes, rock sugar and a big basket of Pinkie's rock candies from Sugarcube Corner. The dried sweet and sour cherries are the best of the lot. If I wasn't so very stuffed with squash, I'd be tempted to snack on a few.
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Feeding The Fire Of Friendship
Nov 19: It was spaghetti squash for supper again, but this time as part of a first cut hay goulash. We still have a lot of squash in the pantry.
While I was buying rock candy yesterday, Pinkie and I discussed having a pot-luck supper. Today I received my rain-spattered invitation from Pinkie and it's official. We're getting together for a pot-luck supper tomorrow night and it will be here at the castle. Maybe we can cook up another of our squashes.
The supper will be another friendship lesson for Starlight Glimmer -- sharing food and dinner conversation strengthens friendship. This is one friendship lesson she won't miss.
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Friendly Conversation
Nov 20: I held the pot luck supper in the dining room so we could all eat together at the table and talk. After the adventure they'd had getting compelled by Starlight Glimmer and cleaning up the mess the next day, the timing was perfect for building on the momentum of Starlight's apology. Everypony had a lot to say and Starlight joined in. Success! Although I did feel a little left out, like an outsider looking in. Like Starlight Glimmer probably does most of the time. But soon we started talking about other things, such as what to do tomorrow evening.
It's Nightmare Night tomorrow in Ponyville and Starlight plans on sitting it out, but so does Fluttershy, although not for the same reasons. The rest of us are meeting up here after nightfall before heading out into town and to the Sweet Apple Acres corn maze.
I'm all set for Nightmare Night. Rarity has made a costume for me. It's a replica of an over-the-top star-chart dress that I had had her make for me way back when. That dress was to be for that first time we went to the Grand Galloping Gala, but fortunately Rarity had designed a much nicer dress that I wore instead. The original got destroyed with the Golden Oak Library and it wouldn't still fit anyway. I've grown a little bit taller since then, and there are also my wings to accommodate. Spike is going to be disguised as a dragon lord.
Because the castle is so far to the outskirts of Ponyville, we don't get as many candy seeking foals as the houses in town, especially after twilight. But we have to have some candy at the ready for the hardy few who do make the trek and today I went shopping for more sweets. Spike had eaten most of what we'd bought.
It was a fun, simple potluck supper. No games, just good friends, good food and conversation. Before everypony went home, we packed Fluttershy up with the leftovers, as much as she could carry, plus some sweets, to tide her and her critters through Nightmare Night.
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Who Is Mare Number One?
Nov 21: I have a lot of genre fiction in my library thanks to the books Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence sent me after the destruction of the Golden Oak Library. Many of the books are Hanoverian Romance novels and books in the Hardy Bays series and the like. I decided to move them downstairs to the reference section along with old outdated reference books on fashion, architecture, annual almanacs and old issues of magical publications. This way, there is more room for new books in the main library and the old books are in a place where it will be easy to find them. Starlight and Spike were there to help me carry. They wanted to know what was getting shelved where and why, and helping me is the easiest way to find out.
While we were joyfully shelving books, a letter arrived for Starlight Glimmer. It was a letter from the ponies of her village out in the desert, inviting her to a week-long Sunset Festival. Does that village even have a name yet? I can see Starlight's point of not naming the village in her quest for pony equality, but now? It's probably a case of social inertia. No name then, no name now. It's not like, in the desert, there are any other ponies asking you to remember the name of your village. "The Village". That reminds me of a series I read once, a quirky spy novel series about a master spy trapped in fake town. The story revolved around the mind games the ponies played on her in an attempt to find out what she knew. It was a strange series of books. On the back cover of each, "I am not a number, I'm a free mare!" was written in large font. I wonder if Starlight has read that series? Well, I hope she goes to the Sunset Festival. There are sure to be friendship lessons to be learned there!
It was Nightmare Night in Ponyville. While Starlight took care of distributing candy to the hardy few that came knocking after dark, the rest of us took to the streets of Ponyville. Spike and Pinkie joined a small herd of candy-questers and managed to track down and collect candy of their own before heading out to sacrifice some to the Nightmare Moon statue. Pinkie had teased her mane and tail until she looked like a big pink hairy ball of fluff with just enough of her muzzle sticking out to carry her candy pail. I don't know how she could see where she was going. Rainbow Dash was disguised as a gruesome zombie pegasus and Applejack was an eggplant creature with hooves. I saw Trixie disguised as herself, trotting off in the direction of the Nightmare Moon statue. Mayor Mare told me that Trixie was helping with the annual retelling of the Nightmare Moon legend by providing smoke and fireworks. A short time later, there were some nice fireworks lighting up the night sky around there. We missed the show. Oh well.
In town, the party was just starting. Everypony was dressed up in disguise and lining up for Nightmare Night games and dancing. Rarity looked like a rag doll, with her mane in ponytails and bows, red lipstick and painted crow's feet by her eyes. She had on a lovely quilted dress. That's probably going to turn up in her winter wear lineup. My star-map dress wasn't really made for bobbing for apples, and although I calculated the optimum force and angle, I wasn't too good at flicking beanbag spiders into the web target. When Spike and Pinkie got back, we dragged Dash and Applejack away from the catapults and went to the Sweet Apple Acres Corn maze. Then it was back to Ponyville for more dancing and prancing until Spike had eaten all his candy and had fallen asleep. I carried him home to bed.
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A Trixie Turn Of Events
Nov 22: Starlight called all of us to the Map Room this morning. When all had arrived, we squatted as best we could on our stone chairs to hear what she had to say. She told us about her invitation to her Village's Sunset Festival and she went on to say that she was considering not going because she's afraid of being rejected. She said it had given her a nightmare and Princess Luna had suggested that she come to us for advice. She can't imagine the Village ponies would ever want to see her again after what she had done to them and she was petrified by the thought that once there, she might revert to the control freak she had been before. We urged her to go and we recommend that she take a friend to help her overcome her fears. I hoped that she would chose me but instead she chose Trixie! I had to bite my tongue. Trixie sure has a knack for being in or near Ponyville when Starlight needs the support of a friend. OK, it only happened twice, but Trixie just ruffles my wing feathers.
They have already left and they are hoofing it to the Village, so Trixie can take her wagon. That will probably take them three days to get there, in which case they'll arrive on the eve of the first day of the week-long Sunset Festival. They could have taken the train. I would have taken the train. I would have liked to see what the Sunset Festival was about, although not with Trixie. Certainly not on a three day walk across Equestria with Trixie.
Spike has turned in already and there's a cold wind blowing on the balcony, so I think I'll call it a night too.
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A Call To Books
Nov 23: With all the space I've freed up on my shelves in the mane library, I'm ready to get new books! I'd like to go to Canterlot tomorrow to shop for books with Moondancer, but it's too short notice for a letter. There's the Haycartes route, but that can take a while before she notices me in her Treatise On Ponies and frankly, I still get panicked when I use that spell. So I went to have tea with Fluttershy and to talk about reference books. Long story short, Fluttershy has agreed to come book shopping in Canterlot with me tomorrow!
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We Went, We Saw, We Did A Little Shopping
Nov 24: I met Fluttershy at the train station this morning and by late morning the Friendship Express dropped us off in Canterlot. Our first stop was the research archives of the Physical Hippology and Archaeology department of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns to find Moondancer, down in subbasement D. She was hard at work puzzling together fragments of a crumpled scroll and looking like she'd been rolling in dust. We pulled her away from her work and off we went to hunt for books. She guided us to an academic bookstore with a strong animal husbandry and environmental studies stack, near the Cultural Hippology Museum. I could see for myself that there were still very long lineups to see the Epona Exhibit. I picked up a book on the daytime habits and habitat of the constellations and Fluttershy bought some husbandry manuals on waterfowl, bats and horned toad care, plus a key to the spiders of Equestria. Next we trotted over to Moondancer's favorite bookseller to see what was new and to pick up the book she had ordered on the potshard glyphs of the paleopony period. I found a few Proceedings from various Canterlot Conferences on the Advancement of Magic. Then we stopped for lunch at the restaurant favored by students from Celestia's School. There were mostly students eating there, which was not surprising, but I noticed this one old mare who came in right after we did and who chose a table near ours. She only ordered tea and she barely drank it the whole time we were there. I was famished and the hot and spicy grass turnip korma braised in coconut milk was delicious and not too expensive.
After lunch Moondancer left us to return to her scrolls and we went to a large general interest bookshop. Fluttershy bought several illustrated books from Neighpon. They're like the comic books Spike reads, only longer with more dialog and epic style stories. I told her that I have a lot of Hanoverian Romance novels she could borrow, or even keep. I bought a few novels by Pasture Ffjord and some of Hairy Thatchet's flying plate world books too.
By then it was time to return to the train station, so we paid for our books and went to catch the Express back to Ponyville.
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Revenge Of The Hay Burger
Nov 25: I think we're getting into a warm spell in Ponyville, at least warmer than it has been for the last little while, and the sunshine helps. The woods are beautiful, the fields are short and green and the harvest is slowly winding down. Soon it will be winter and the land will rest.
I took Spike to the Hay Burger for lunch, as a treat. The food is oily and salty, but at this time of year, it calls me. Then, for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, it kept on calling me, from the depths of my gurgling stomach. It took two pots of mint tea to quench that fire. I don't know how some ponies can eat there frequently, they must have cast iron stomachs. Now I'm hungry again. I think I'll go get some first cut hay from the pantry.
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Chillaxing In The Fields
Nov 26: It was really nice and warm today, nearly summer weather. It was so nice that I picked up a picnic blanket, a couple of Plate World books and a Proceedings from the Advancement of Magic and I let a thermal updraft carry me most of the way to a grassy knoll in the Western Pasture. I'd been lazily reading, sunning, and snacking on fresh grass when Fluttershy joined me. That was a surprise. She asked if it was OK to join me, that is, if I didn't mind, and then she spread another picnic blanket. Without another word, she pulled out a book of her own, one of those Neighponese comic books, and settled down to read. I'd barely turned a page when Rarity arrived, wearing a straw summer hat, sunglasses and levitating a chaise lounge. She had a saddlebag full of fashion magazines, a pair of scissors and a scrapbook. Obviously, something was up. I put down my book and asked Rarity how she and Fluttershy came to join me here, in the middle of a pasture. Rarity batted her eyelashes innocently and said, why, research darling, naturally. And she pointed a hoof at her magazines. I was not fooled, but as I was about to retort, I saw Applejack come trotting our way. Well, Applejack will tell me what's going on, and I got up to wait for her, ignoring Fluttershy and Rarity's stifled giggles.
Applejack had a picnic blanket and a pile of seed catalogs and a new issue of Poplar Mechanics. I was not surprised. I asked her straight out how it was that so many of my friends had taken to reading this morning and how they knew where to find me. Not that I wanted to be alone, I was happy to see them, just puzzled. Applejack spilled the beans: Rainbow Dash had spotted me sunning and chillaxing out in the field and she went down and told Pinkie Pie. Together Dash and Pinkie decided to round up the others and join me, unannounced. They told everypony to bring something to read. Mystery solved. I looked up and sure enough, a Rainbow-colored dot was streaking through the blue sky, straight for us. Below her, a bouncing pink pony had entered the pasture.
Dash brought a few Daring Do books, Pinkie a Party Pony Supply catalog and a cookbook by Mulia Mild. And a few tubs of ice cream! We had to eat that before it melted. So it was a surprise chillax picnic in the sun, with the ice cream helping with the chill part of the chillax, according to Pinkie. Dash, the authority on all things chillax, said not quite, but close enough. The rest of us just ate the ice cream. Then we settled down to read and soak up the fall sunshine. Dash had brought my copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone to return to me. She hadn't succeeded in getting it signed by A. K. Yearling for me, but that's understandable, what with her getting foalnapped by Dr. Caballeron and his henchponies while at the convention. That led her to tell us all again about her adventure with Daring Do and another fan pony, which is sure to be the subject of the next Daring Do book.
The evening chill starts early this time of year and since we weren't planning on camping out in the fields (I hadn't even planned on a "chillax" picnic), we picked up our things and headed home in the lengthening shadows of the afternoon. I made a detour to Sugarcube Corner to pick up a small tub of ice cream for Spike. Chocolate mint generously sprinkled with Pinkie's rock candy. Spike has probably already eaten the entire thing.
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Starless Night
Nov 27: We had another summery day today, even the insects seemed to feel like it was summer again. There were dragonflies flying every which way, bees buzzing around the purple asters and even butterflies swarming my balcony. It looked almost like they were trying to take off with my books, or at least read them. Hot weather, mad insects. Fluttershy must have been ecstatic.
Cloudsdale sent us a rain shower in the afternoon, and while that calmed the insects down, it was still warm out when the clouds ran dry. Ponyville is sparkling clean. The sky was still full of clouds this evening and even now they're still there. I don't know why Dash didn't clear them out before nightfall. Maybe she got called away for Wonderbolt duty. It's a shame about the clouds because Luna hasn't raised the moon yet. The night is so dark and peaceful, it would be perfect for looking at the fainter stars with my Double Bridle refractor telescope. It would be even better with the Lightbridle reflective telescope I saw in Canterlot in the scientific glassware boutique. The one with the trusstube Bobroanian "light bucket". A mare can own two telescopes, can't she? Well, Dash isn't going to go cloud busting after dark and I'm not going to clear them out. Somepony might need them for something. I'll find out what's up tomorrow. I left the balcony door open to let in the warm breeze. I won't be able to do that come winter.
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(Princess Twilight has no time for you right now. Come back later. Much later.)
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Foalnapped
Nov 30: My friends and the princesses were foalnapped by changelings while they slept! I was foalnapped from my bed here in the castle by changelings while I slept! My brother, my niece, Cadence, Spike... all twelve of us were paralyzed, restrained magically, cocooned and replaced, and nopony in Equestria was the wiser. Except for Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Spike's friend Thorax, Sunburst and Discord. Perhaps those butterflies that had been landing on my books knew as well. I don't know. I don't speak butterfly. I'm surprised that Owlowiscious didn't raise the alarm, or that Fluttershy's many animal companions didn't notice something was amiss, and that the changelings managed to catch all of us napping. Literally. I guess with Applejack that's not surprising, and I'm a pretty sound sleeper as well, I didn't hear a thing, but snatching Princess Luna without Princess Celestia noticing, that must have been tricky.
They smuggled us out of Equestria and into the Changeling Hive where Queen Chrysalis had us hung like trophies above her throne. I found myself powerless, fighting some kind of paralysis while floating upside down in green goo. I couldn't breath, I couldn't move, I could barely stay awake and I couldn't cast magic. It was hard to get my bearing in those brief moments of lucidity, but I could see that I was not the only cocooned pony there. Everything was too blurry to see who the other ponies were and I couldn't break free. I kept going unconscious.
We were trapped like that for at least thirty hours. Longer for Rainbow Dash, Princess Luna and Fluttershy. Meanwhile, changelings that looked and acted just like us had replaced all twelve of us. Apparently Queen Chrysalis and several of her drones worked together to raise and set the sun and moon. Unicorns, working in concert, did that task in the past. There are a lot of changelings and Queen Chrysalis's throne in the Hive absorbed pony magic, so that was probably a factor in their success. Queen Chrysalis's throne was carved out of an ancient stone monolith that had the property of neutralizing and absorbing pony magic, but that rock is no more, thanks to Starlight Glimmer and Thorax.
Smuggling us out of sleepy little Ponyville under the cover of darkness wasn't too hard for the changelings, but it was probably more of a challenge to smuggle Luna, Celestia, Cadence, Shining and Flurry Heart out of their cities. Starlight Glimmer said Luna succeeded in dreamwalking into her dream thanks to her recurring nightmare of being rejected by her Village ponies. Luna was probably in a transport to the changeling Hive at that point. It was Luna's warning that led Starlight and Trixie to peek through the door to the Map Room in time to see them using a grid of signature stones and to drop their disguises to talk to Queen Chrysalis. They were lucky to get away and even luckier to be found by the only friendly changeling in Equestria, Thorax. Then Discord joined them, which I guess was fortunate as well.
Discord, Trixie, Thorax and Starlight Glimmer, versus the changeling Hive, a throne that neutralizes and absorbs all but changeling magic, and its Queen. That was not an auspicious beginning. And they won! Thanks to teamwork, skill, some quick talking, Thorax's familiarity with the Hive and Starlight's long-shot deduction on the effect of sharing on changeling society, they made it. Queen Chrysalis and the throne got bombarded with so much love that the throne was smashed, the top of the hive was obliterated and we were broken free of the paralyzing goo-filled cocoons that held us.
Starlight and Thorax had reached the throne room only to get surrounded by Queen Chrysalis and a phalanx of drones. Discord and Trixie had already been cocooned. Neither Starlight nor Thorax had any idea on how to demolish, break or neutralize the ancient monolith throne. Starlight did try kicking it and hitting it with whatever she could find. That didn't work. She tried to undermine Queen Chrysalis' plan to rule Equestria by revealing that Thorax no longer starves now that he shares friendship freely. Starlight addressed the drones in the room, telling them that they could be free of starvation if they would just share love, like Thorax. Not surprisingly, Queen Chrysalis was not interested in fomenting dissent among her drones and no changeling volunteered to test the hypothesis. So that flopped. Queen Chrysalis turned her attention to Thorax, who was spit-glued to the floor. Queen Chrysalis proclaimed that she was going to drain Thorax to death (by starvation). Starlight came up with one last long-shot as she tried to at least buy some time. She told Thorax to give all his love to the Queen freely. Apparently no changeling has ever done such a thing in living memory. The blast of love knocked Queen Chrysalis back and Thorax underwent a metamorphosis into, well, something else. A higher form, an adult... regardless, it was impressive. Starlight jumped on the occasion to continue her pitch about how the changelings could become free from their insatiable hunger. This time there were takers. Or givers. A whole lot of giving. Queen Chrysalis was on her throne at that moment, and the intense blast of love from dozens of drones at once smashed the magic-sucking rock into rubble. We broke free of our paralyzing cells and found ourselves amid dozens of orange, green and blue changeling-sized entities. Only Queen Chrysalis was unchanged and not interested in metamorphosing. She ran off. Capturing her in her own lands without prior permission from the changeling governor(s) would have been bad for Equestrian diplomacy, so who knows where she ran off to.
We didn't go straight home. There were still quite a few changelings masquerading as us and other ponies in Equestria and we thought it best to give Thorax time to bring them in. Starlight had an idea where we could go in the meantime, and that was to her Village for the Sunset Festival that is still going on. We all spent the day there, having fun, eating (I was starving!) and catching up on what we missed. The royals left last evening, when it became clear that no changelings were moving the sun and moon, but the rest of us stayed in the Village overnight.
Discord snapped us home this morning, except for Starlight and Trixie. They're staying two more days until the end of festival. In Ponyville the changelings did a good job of fooling everypony and keeping our Ponyville tasks somewhat up to speed. Fluttershy's wards seemed to have been fed less than usual and they were frequently locked out of the cottage. Apparently Applejack burned a few pies while we were gone and Pinkie's sense of humor was off. Rarity is up to her haunches in overdue orders to fill. Dash was lucky that she wasn't on Wonderbolt duty while we were being replaced. The changelings left a mess behind here that we've mostly cleaned up. Before going to bed, Spike made sure all the doors and windows in the castle are shut.
It's good to be back.
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