//------------------------------// // Royal Discussions // Story: The Royal Fillies REDUX // by blazikenking //------------------------------// I hummed something tuneless as I concentrated on building the pegasus wind warrior model in front of me. My levitation skills were still far behind practically every unicorn my age, but I’d made some very good progress. I was still limited to one fairly close object at a time for a few seconds, but I could at least put one Golem Block onto another before any wobbling started. Something Aunt Twilight said before vaguely echoed in my head, but I ignored it in favor of the pieces in front of me. Being able to move things in three dimensions was exciting, and I was even tripping up less often as well. If anything brought me down, it was my lack of progress on my wings, but that was a concern for later. A knock from the front door caught my attention. The sound of mom walking to answer it let me know I didn't have to worry about it, but I kept my ears focused in that direction. "Oh, hello." Mom sounded pleasantly surprised. "Hello, Cadence." The sound of Aunt Celestia's voice made me pause. "Are the girls in?" "Skyla's out with her herd of friends, but Inova's here. She's in her room if you two want to visit her." "We'd love to," Aunt Luna said. "I'd love to see what she's built. She's got enough pieces and the talent to make something unique." I stopped building and nervously glanced around my room in a panic, going between the stack of sets in the corner and the models that were on display. Every single one was built by following the instructions, and there were no custom builds. My mind began racing. "I haven't made anything original! I don't want to disappoint Aunt Luna! There's no time! What do I do? What do I do?"  There was a knock on my door. "Inova, may we come in?" Aunt Luna asked. "Y-yeah," I squeaked out. There was no escaping Aunt Luna's disappointment for me. I turned in my chair to face Aunt Luna and Aunt Celestia as they came in. "Wow," Aunt Celestia said, the top of her horn mere inches from the ceiling. "Cadence wasn't lying when she said Inova's room was neat and organized." "She's right there, sister," Aunt Luna said as she came in and looked around. "Hmm. . . I get the distinct impression that you like machinery, Inova." "Just a bit." Between the gears painted around the room, the ceiling light, most of the models I'd chosen to build, and the books I had, it was impossible to deny. I even kept the books from Apple Bloom on a shelf of their own. "It is a nice atmosphere," Aunt Celestia said as she sat on the rug. "How have you been? I heard you've got a good circle of friends now." I welcomed the new topic. "They're cool. We play Humans and Hostiles every Tuesday after school. Dad’s been playing with us too. It's lots of fun." "It's fun because you're playing it with your friends, right?" "Yeah.” Aunt Luna sat down next to Aunt Celestia. "I see you have your stack of unbuilt Golem sets." Her observation made me shrink away a bit. "Yeah. I haven't had time for all of them." "And you've got some very tastefully placed around the room." "Thanks." "Have you built anything of your own yet?" "No," I timidly answered as I tried to hide behind my chair back. "I like how they look and I don't want to take them apart. And I don't have time." She nodded. "I understand. Maybe I'll start sending you some duplicates so you have spare pieces to use." Her calm and understanding tone made me relax and realize I was worried over nothing. I was being a silly filly. "Luna, Inova already has a stack of unbuilt sets taller than she is," Aunt Celestia pointed out. "And if you do get her duplicate sets, she'll need somewhere to store the pieces." "Then I can personally fund further expansions to her room," Aunt Luna casually responded. "Or a whole new room dedicated to the blocks!" "No!" Mom called out from wherever she was in the house. "Oh darn. Well, back to the old drawing board." Aunt Celestia seemed to have a distant gaze for a few seconds. "Inova, when's the last time you opened your curtains? They're very dusty." I glanced up and saw the layer of dust she was talking about. "Uhm. . . I like keeping my curtains closed. And my desk is in front of them, so it's hard to get to them." "Telekinesis?" I turned to the build in progress, concentrated, and picked up the mostly assembled warrior. I managed to pick it up and move it around horizontally for most of a foot of distance before it fell back to the desk, thankfully without losing any pieces. “It’s a skill issue.” "That's concerning," Aunt Luna said. "Most unicorns your age can easily move more than one object at a time, but-" "Yeah, I know," I firmly stated. "I hear it all the time. I don't know why it's so difficult for me. Same with flight and hoof coordination. I'm setting new records every day on how long it takes to master those." I immediately wished I hadn't used as much of a snarky tone as I did. "Sarcasm is unbecoming of a Princess," Aunt Celestia said, seeming mostly unbothered by my little rant. “Especially with the recent progress you’ve made.” "Sorry." "Perhaps we need a new topic," Aunt Luna suggested. "Tell us about your Humans and Hostiles campaign. What's your character like?" I began happily talking about Queen Nova, including her debut against the pumpkin monsters and mad gardener, who had returned to cause trouble. Brooke had given me the Boost Buckle a few times, and every time it flew off, it hit her character on the way out. Such was the will of the dice. As Luna listened to Inova, Celestia quietly and gracefully left to find Cadence. "Cadence," she said when she found Cadence in the living room. "Celestia," Cadence said to Celestia. "I find Inova's attitude about her magic and such. . . Disconcerting. It worries me." Cadence gave Celestia the Motherly Look of Irritation (patent pending). "She's been working very hard on all of it. She knows her shortcomings in those areas better than anypony else. I have never seen anypony work like she has to succeed at something so basic with so little progress for so long, and she's been working on three of those things. She is fully aware of how far behind she is on magic, flight, and hoof coordination, but that's not stopping her." "I suppose it isn't. Is she still forgetting about her wings and horn?" Cadence's mood lightened a bit at the change of direction. "Only a couple times per month at most, and never during school. That problem is practically over. That said, she's still not using them as much as a normal pony, especially her wings." "She still flops?" "Every time. That, or she gets slack wings if they’re not closed. If she manages any lift, she gets scared. There's no middle ground on any of that yet." "As soon as that middle ground exists, she'll start making progress, I'm certain. How's her hoofwork?" "She still stumbles and trips above a light trot sometimes. A full gallop is still out of her range, but she’s getting there. Would you like some tea?” “I would be delighted.” As Cadence started on a quick magic assisted tea brewing, Celestia continued the conversation. “What about Skyla? How’s she doing?” “Her appetite is much more controlled now than before, and she has lots of friends. I don’t know how she keeps track of all of them, but if friendship numbers alone bolstered her magic level, she’d be unstoppable by now.” Celestia took a sip of the very good tea Cadence provided. “To an extent, the number of friends does bolster magic. If she remains on her current course managing all those friends, Skyla will be quite the Princess. Even more so if she forms deeper bonds.” “I’m sure both fillies will be amazing Princesses.” Cadence paused mid-sip as something clicked in her head. She set the tea down. “Celestia, has Luna told you about Twilight’s theories on Inova's troubles?” “We both heard her most recent theory, being that her first week of taking in no milk adversely affected part of her brain structure. We doubt that one to be true, but she’s taking the path of throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks.” “I’m sure she’ll come up with something.” “-And while Solaria did heal the mime’s legs after making him talk, she failed some important bits of the healing, and he’ll never be able to walk again,” I said.  “That’s. . . Quite the turn of events,” Aunt Luna warily replied from her spot on the corner sofa. “Why was the mime being interrogated again?” “He was the most recent attempt at getting Jester to pay taxes. I don’t know why Quick Quip decided to make a vendetta against tax collectors his character’s motivation, though.” “Perhaps he was merely being silly. He does seem rather silly from what you’ve told me.” “I swear he has a silly response, pun, or joke for everything. I just. . . I don’t know how he does it.” “Some ponies just have a natural talent for it.” Aunt Luna looked around the room for a bit. “Have you done anything with your friends aside from your game?” “We only play H&H on Tuesdays. Oh, we went to a playground at a park a few weeks ago. Girder sat at the top of a really long slide and pushed us down so we went really fast. We all gathered up top and he pushed us down all at once, and we ended up in a pony pile at the bottom. He slid down after us and landed on top.” “He’s the big colt in your group, right?” “Yep. Quick Quip groaned about his lap being hurt. Diamond started trying to help him, but when Sunflower started laughing at her, Diamond realized he’d gotten her again.” Aunt Luna smiled. “I did the same thing to Celestia a few years ago. She got back at me with a whoopee cushion on the throne. It triggered blasts of confetti around the throne room as well. One of the Bluebloods petitioned that night, and I set it off again as I refused his petition. I doubt he’ll try that one again.” I snickered at the scene in my head. “So. . . What was his petition?” “Well, this one goes back a few years to when he wanted to use crown funds to build an accordion factory. . .” Shining Armor and Skyla walked up to the front door, both worn out from the afternoon’s activities. He had volunteered to watch Skyla and most of her pegasus friends as they had fun flying around over the crystal fields. Predictably, watching and tracking a bunch of ten year olds that could fly was exhausting, along with creating obstacles out of shields to make things more interesting. The drain was mental and magical, but he still felt it in his body. Despite that, he felt great. Skyla’s wings were loosely folded up at her sides. Flying around and doing her best to avoid hitting anypony or anything had been tricky, and like nearly everypony else, she’d taken more than one hit, and just like the rest, she dusted herself off and got back in the air. The fun she’d had was well worth the exhaustion and mild pain. The two didn’t need to talk on the way home. They didn’t even stop for ice cream along the way. All they had on their minds was rest. Skyla practically forgot about her pain and tiredness when she saw who was visiting. “Aunt Celery!” Celestia gave an amused snort. “Skyla, when will you get it right?” Luna bumped Celestia’s shoulder. “She already did, Celery.” She turned to Shining. “And how are you, Prince Armor?” “Pretty good,” Shining said as he and Luna stepped outdoors and away from Skyla excitedly telling Princess Celery about the fun she had flying around. “What about you?” “I’m quite happy to be here. It’s good to see your family doing so well.” “Thank you. Not to brag, but Inova and Skyla are amazing fillies.” Luna scoffed. “Now you’re just spouting off facts. What would Twilight say if she heard you say that?” She and Shining suddenly got distant looks of worry at the question. “You know what, don’t answer that.” “Lecture mode,” Shining flatly stated in agreement. “So many charts.” “I can see the lines. . .” The duo snapped out of it. “Luna, I’m curious. Is it even possible for you or Celestia to have foals?” “Ah, foals.” Luna wistfully looked up to the Empire’s barrier. “We’ve tried many times with many stallions, but to no avail. The best theory we’ve heard is that you and Cadence could have foals because you sincerely love each other. Without that emotional connection, it may well be impossible to sire foals with alicorns.” Shining considered the theory. “That does make sense. By the way, did you try that idea I suggested?” “Putting a toll booth in the middle of a ballroom with all the snooty nobles and the Pants family?” A short bark of laughter escaped her. “Shining, it was hilarious! Everypony treated it like the only place to cross an imaginary line dividing the whole room. The nobles even enforced that line on each other without directions. And the best part: Discord was never there!” Shining couldn’t help but laugh at the story. He had to take a few breaths after calming down to recover. “That. . . That’s so stupid. Maybe you should set up more of them.” “As much as I’d like to put one in front of each of their estates, it would kill the novelty of the joke.” Luna glanced through a window, seeing Inova and Cadence talking about something. “Even if the snooty nobles are themselves a joke.” I walked with mom through the market as we picked up extra groceries for supper. Aunt Luna and Aunt Celestia’s visit was unplanned, so we weren’t prepared. “Inova, what do you think of lasagna for dinner?” Mom asked as she set some smaller groceries in my saddlebags. Her bags had some larger groceries in them. I didn’t have to think about it for long. “That sounds good. Can we have extra cheesey layers?” She sighed. “I suppose, but only because we have guests.” “Yes!” Extra cheese made lots of things better. “Inova!” A familiar voice called out as we approached the cheese stand. “Soapy!” I called back. Like me, she had some saddlebags on her with groceries in them. “Princess Cadence,” Mr. Slice cordially said. “Mr. Slice,” mom answered in kind. “How’s the pizzeria?” “Business is good. I just need to get some more cheese. Pizza just isn’t the same without it.” “Ha! That’s what we’re here for too. I’m making lasagna tonight.” The stallion behind the cheese stand looked between our groups with a smile. “Good thing I’ve got lots of it available. I don’t want another fight over what I’ve got.” “I remember that fight,” Mr. Slice said. “I made 50 bits on it.” “Why would ponies fight over cheese?” Soprano asked. “That doesn’t sound right.” “Soprano, some ponies can fight and argue over the pettiest things,” mom tiredly said. “To say they act like foals is actually insulting to the vast majority of foals. I’ve seen you and the rest of Inova’s friends settle disagreements in very mature ways.” “Even when we have to bonk Quick Quip,” I added. “In fact, he’s actually better than some of the ponies that petition us. He can at least make things funny.” The conversation died off as mom and Mr. Slice made their cheese purchases, then we went our separate ways.