~~~~~~~Ponyville Public Park~~~~~~
The sun shone gloriously down upon the vast expanse of grass, strategically placed benches and trees, and artfully maintained fountains and lakes which made up the Ponyville park. It was a place worthy of any major city, built and maintained lovingly by a group of retired local mares who believed quite firmly in civic beautification. Tia had been impressed enough by it the first time she'd visited the town, but now the sight of the place left her breathless.
For in response to the crisis, the once wide-open park had become a centralized hub for relief aid. Those whose homes had been destroyed by the combination of the changeling attack and the subsequent magical detonation in the center of the town were now living amidst a miniature city of tents set up in the park. Hordes of foals dashed about the park, chasing and gaming with one another with no lack of childlike glee. Those adult ponies that were present - mostly younger mares and a smattering of older stallions - watched over the children collectively while they talked, performed chores, or went about their daily lives.
Lyra smiled at the sight of Tia staring into the park, Tia's eyes were bright with un-shed tears of pride for her ponies. This was Equestria as it always ought to be, Equestria at its very finest. All three tribes pitching in, banding together, linking hooves and building a brighter future for them all. This was the nation Tia had sought to build, and every time she saw it in action it reminded her about what she had been fighting for. "Pretty awesome, isn't it?" Lyra said softly, a faint smile on her face. "C'mon, Bon Bon's gonna be waiting for us." and off she trotted - Tia quickly scrambling to follow along in her wake.
Cries of greeting followed Lyra as she lightly jogged her way through the park. Tia was fast on her hooves, catching up after a moment and drawing no few curious smiles and waves of greeting herself. Lyra gave off cheeky grins and returned waves and pleasantries with many of those around them. Before long though, their goal came into sight as they approached one of the larger fountains of the park. Here, a makeshift market square had been built with all manner of small carts bearing foods and treats. One such cart was painted an eye-catching vivid pink and royal blue, to match the mane of the mare that stood behind it.
Lyra took off at the gallop and flung her hooves around the neck of Bon Bon, who let out a strangled laugh as a kiss was planted firmly on her cheek - Lyra dancing away before Bon Bon could get any revenge of her own. The confectioner looked up at Tia, who was trying her level best not to look embarrassed - and failing miserably. Canterlot nobles being so fastidious about sex has ruined me for an earth pony town like this. She thought with a soft mutter. Once upon a time, she'd been just as casual about it as these two were. "Well look who finally crawled out of bed!" Bon Bon declared with a saucy sort of grin. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Tia."
Tia gave the best smile that she could, trying to drain the nervousness out of her mind as more than a few ponies began to gather in the make-shift square. Lyra had hopped up onto the lip of the fountain and produced a beautiful golden lyre from somewhere on Bon Bon's cart. Bon Bon smiled and gestured for Tia to join her. "Lyra does concerts every day for the folks who've lost homes, now. She says it's the least she can do since she's not strong enough to help with rebuilding." Tia nodded softly, and shook her mane out gently. I have been a fool. These ponies need every bit of help they can get. Perhaps I can lend my magic to the task. Or perhaps I can tell them a tale or two! Doubtless she knew stories that none of these ponies had ever heard of. It might be fun to play storyteller to a big group of foals, like some sort of writ-large foalsitter...
Then, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Bon Bon leaning down next to her cart - carefully dolling out little paper wrapped bundles of candies to pairs of foals from a large box under her cart. She watched with quiet amazement as the earth pony gently rubbed the manes of the little foals and made sure they could carry the little care packages off. Most of them ran out into the crowd that had gathered around the fountain to their parents - or in the case of a disturbingly large number of them - to a big group of foals under the watchful eye of a matronly looking old mare.
Buckets of popped corn were being passed around as Lyra nestled her lyre into her lap and her horn softly glowed with a bright golden magic. She gestured at the strings with her hoof and they thrummed with a bright chord of sound that rolled over the audience. By the time Tia looked back, Bon Bon was leaning against her cart and smiling at Tia mysteriously. "They're just little sugar sweets with a bit of fruit flavoring. Nothing particularly fancy or difficult to make." She looked up into the audience with a soft smile. "It's the least I can do for them. Business has been surprisingly excellent, even since the attacks. I guess little things like a bit of chocolate seem that much more important when you nearly lose everything." Bon Bon gave off a soft laugh, and winked at Tia. "So, tell me a little bit more about yourself. How did you meet Twilight Sparkle?"
Tia blinked and licked her lips, her ears twitching with the sound of the surprisingly raucous little song Lyra was strumming across her instrument. Many in the audience were clapping their hooves to the rhythm as she played, and gave Tia a chance to bite her lip and think fast. She needed a story... something that was true enough, but not the whole truth. "Well.. I was a teacher of magic in Canterlot." There, that's certainly the truth! "I met her as a part of her studies in magic, before she left for Ponyville." Tia looked up, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her as those old beautiful memories flooded in. "I always knew she would go on to be something extraordinary, but I never imagined she'd go as far as she has." There. All of it absolutely true, if not the whole truth. Nicely improvised, Tia.
Bon Bon nodded, smiling and giving a little cheer as the ballad came to an end and another song started up. This time a young, sweet voice joined in the tune - telling the tale of a young adventurer who met his true love. Bon Bon spoke just loudly enough to be heard over the music, but not carry past her cart. "A teacher, hm? I've been wondering who else in town we could introduce you to, and I think I know just the mare." She grinned widely. "But we'll take you there later. What did you enjoy doing in your free time? I mean, If you had any. I'm well aware that teaching is often more than just a full time profession." Bon Bon chuckled, her voice rich in tones of understanding.
Tia couldn't help it, she smiled wryly. "You haven't the faintest idea. Sometimes I despaired of ever having a quiet moment to myself." Then she paused, wondering why it had become so much easier to talk to this mare. Maybe because the music was soothing, or perhaps she was not nearly as bad at this sort of thing as she'd thought. "I did enjoy watching the weather pony’s work sometimes." She admitted with a shy smile. "It was always fun to watch them build up a storm - like some kind of elaborate stage play - and set it off to spectacular effect." Tia giggled softly at the mental image the thought conjured up.
Bon Bon gently laughed and clapped her hooves together. "Oh, I think you're going to fit in around here better than you realize, Tia!" She proclaimed, as the audience burst into applause for the end of the song. The young white coated unicorn foal hopped up on the fountain edge and bowed with a big cheerful grin on her face. Tia applauded right along with them, and Bon Bon draped an arm across her shoulders, and said softly. "Welcome to Ponyville, Tia." she squeezed Tia's shoulders in a tight hug, and Tia felt a little spark of warmth bloom in her heart.
~~~~~~~~~
Captain Valiant Struggle took a deep suck of the tobacco smoke out of his pipe and huffed it out through his nose, enjoying the burning tickle of the nicotine as he did so. "Bloody hell, that girl sure didn't waste any time did she?" He grumbled as he sank back into his chair surrounding the Mayor's desk. "This ain't gonna go over too well with some'a our guards, Mayor." He pulled out his pipe and huffed out the last of the smoke from his lungs. "I know yer eager ta integrate, and I think it's right noble o' yeh, but it's gon' cause problems. I jus' wantcha ta' be aware o' that, Mayor." He finished with a decisive nod of his head, clamping the pipe back in his teeth.
Mayor Mare nodded cautiously, and turned to Dusty Parchment. "Miss Dusty. Your thoughts?" She said, proud of her ability to remain calm and unruffled in the face of this sudden problem. Not that the Mayor had any issue with the end to racial restriction laws, or those laws which unfairly prejudiced against those who worshipped as she did... She simply had hoped that her Queen would take a month or two to let things settle down before she threw them all into the whirlwind.
Dusty Parchment, the Mayor's right-hoof mare adjusted her spectacles and raked her hoof through her sand-colored mane. "Even with all the temporary residents in the city, Mayor - it ought to be fairly easy to distribute the decree in such a way that everypony can see it." She shook out the thick sheaf of papers which had accompanied the decree and a few other letters the Mayor had no intention of letting anypony else see. "I've gone over the legal wording here. It's actually pretty concise and direct for how these things go. It’s a butcher's cleaver of a decree too. Total end to all racially based laws which interfere with personal liberties, no exceptions."
Dusty paused, licking her lips and taking a drink of cool water before continuing. "Mind you, they've left in place a lot of other stuff - most notably the laws forbidding the use of ponies as a non-consensual food source. There's also a lot of compromise legislation in here which oughta keep us from getting over-run by anything in particular but..." She shrugged. "Basically, the gist of this whole thing is that the idea of Equestria as a pony-only nation is more or less dead. That's not going to poll well with the voters, Mayor."
Mayor Mare sighed gustily. "Cheerilee? Please tell me I have one positive opinion about this in the room?" She asked somewhat desperately, her eyes focusing on the prim look of her daughter. She's never approved of my work, but she also never told anypony either... The mayor thought, somewhat gloomily.
Cheerilee sighed and rubbed her chin. "Mayor, our educational program is already being taxed beyond the limits as it is. I can't imagine what an entirely new set of foals of different species might do to it. Personally? I'm right along with the others. This is a fine idea from a purely moral perspective. Freedom and Liberty for all is a fine battle cry for a new government to take up, but there will be problems." She gently tapped her hoof on the table. "However, I don't think they'll be quite as bad as Dusty seems to think, so long as we're very careful." She paused a moment, with both Captain Struggle and Dusty giving her an incredulous look.
Cheerilee grinned. "We actually have a unique opportunity that can help us. - right now, the town is in desperate need of aid. It's rebuilding, but slowly. We need more help if we want to get homes up before winter hits - and Canterlot has already sent all the aid it can spare. But if we had more hooves to add to the work..." She gestured her hoof in a circular motion. "Our local ponies will be much less likely to resent the newcomers. They'll be building their homes right alongside ours." She eyeballed the Mayor - who actually was slowly perking up with every word. "We'll need to have some way to encourage them to help of course."
Mayor Mare beamed at Cheerilee. Finally. I knew all those years of prepping her to take my place would bear fruit! "Marvelous idea, Cheery. Now..." She rubbed her hooves together eagerly. "How can we turn the germ of this idea into something workable by tomorrow morning?"
~~~~~A few hours later...~~~~~
It was almost noon by the time Lyra finally shook her hooves warily and called a halt to the concert. "Alright, that's enough for now, everypony!" She yelled out over the appreciative crowd, many of whom gave a rousing round of applause for her as the group of listeners began to break up. Tia felt a subtle tension start to drain out of her as the big crowd slowly dispersed back to their everyday chores and lives. The feeling brought about an odd thought - what was it that was so vexing her ability to simply... be herself around her ponies?
Whatever it was, she didn't have much time to contemplate her plight. Lyra had stowed her instrument under Bon Bon's cart, and the pair of them embraced one another tightly for a few lingering moments. Not for the first time, Tia envied two ponies for that closeness, that obvious intimacy and love. It was a feeling she could no longer risk, given how the course of events that would follow was as inevitable as the ebb and flow of the tides. Or is it? whispered a soft and familiar sounding voice in her ear, and Tia whipped her head around to seek out the source of the words - her eyes wildly searching the town square.... but no creature nor force presented itself as responsible.
By the time Tia regained her composure, the couple were looking at her with pitying eyes. A bright red blush crept up into her cheeks and she looked down, her hoof pawing at the grass. Oh, surely they think me some kind of deranged madpony now. Tia thought miserably. They were right, of course - she was a deranged madpony who had nearly let her own pride destroy everything she loved.
"I ah..." Tia started to speak, desperately searching for the words - and noticed her hoof starting to shake as she held it up. Tia stared at the hoof for a long second, before a creamy yellow one wrapped around it and squeezed comfortingly - Bon Bon's hoof. "I'm sorry, I thought I heard... someone. Someone familiar." Tia finished, lamely. Surely, that was even worse than being silent!
Yet a single look up into an understanding nod from the confectioner banished those doubting thoughts to the void, where they belonged. "We've all got our demons, Tia," Bon Bon said with a little smile. "We can’t help when they decide to haunt us." She squeezed Tia's hoof one more time... and Tia could not help but feel a little tingle when she finally let it go. A feeling of... loss that the touch was not there, but a new kind of gladness that the touch had been there in the first place. "You need some lunch, I think. A mare cannot live on muffins alone," Bon Bon proclaimed brightly.
A grey coated form zoomed over their heads, and cried out "Lies!" before zooming off into the distance - Prompting all three ponies sitting by the cart to burst into laughter, none moreso than Tia who felt her sides stitching up from the helpless giggling. For a few long moments, she forgot all of her worries and self-doubts, and simply let go of herself - and for the first time in a week, she could feel the gentle peace of Harmony within her soul. Tia's eyes widened, even as her mouth bubbled over with laughter and tried desperately to grab and hold on to that feeling with all of her might... only to have it slip away from her hooves.
But Harmony had not abandoned her, as she'd feared. It had not banished her from its sight. It simply was teaching her a little lesson, much in the same way that Luna and Twilight were trying to teach her a lesson. Perhaps it was time to cease being such a terrible student, and actually apply herself to learning. "That sounds wonderful, Bon Bon." Tia said, wiping away the tears of her laughter. "Lunch, that is. Not living on muffins alone." She corrected, and felt a little blush of embarrassment creep up into her cheeks "Oh, fie! I can't even speak straight!" She huffed out and stomped her hoof in childlike frustration.
Bon Bon had a broad, sly smile on her face and Lyra burst into another round of helpless laughter at the gesture. "Well then, let's lock up the cart and go see what sort of food we can shake loose, hmm?" She bumped her flank into Tia's, and winked cheekily at her. "Maybe we can help you meet some ponies who aren't completely mad like us, right Lyres?" Bon Bon growled as an aside at the still laughing unicorn, who waved her hoof from where she had collapsed to the ground in acknowledgement. Bon Bon sighed expressively, and rolled her eyes. "Come on, Tia. She can catch up."
~~~~~~~~~
Cheerilee sighed expressively as she was finally let out of that seemingly interminable meeting with her mother. Sometimes, having the Mayor for a parent was a good thing. Most days, it was a giant pain in the royal flank. Cheerilee thought mournfully of the pile of student paperwork she'd had yet to complete that day, and although she sincerely wished to simply go and get it done the rumble in her tummy warned her that if she decided to work before getting fed, she'd regret it later. The body did not care about the size of that paperwork stack, and Cheerilee carried on the proud family tradition of hating paperwork like a plague.
So she seized upon the excuse to simply fob it off for the moment, and trotted merrily down Mane street in search of something filling and delicious. Ideally, something that would also not take too much time out of her day, but she was flexible. All around her, the bustling work of restoring the city went on. Most of those houses too damaged to save had long been demolished, and now work-crews were scurrying about the place repairing foundations, putting up new wooden frames and engaging in one of the time-honored pastimes of the construction worker - slacking off.
Cheerilee could not help but eye the innumerable construction projects as she passed them by. Undoubtedly, a massive new influx of a worker population would make rebuilding a far easier task. Yet she couldn't help but wonder at the impossible changes that were happening so swiftly. The Mayor had declared the new Royal Decree would go out later that evening during dinnertime, to be read on every other street corner. Cheerilee knew that by this time tomorrow, there was going to be a great deal of conversation as to what this would all mean for Ponyville.
None of it would matter, either. Her mother was adamant that the only way Ponyville could survive now if through a massive influx of new taxpayers and citizens. Too many ponies had already moved away, and it was only the omnipresence of the temporary work crews that had concealed that fact. Cheerilee knew she was right, but even she worried about the future of her town under such conditions. Assurances of the Queens or not, Cheerilee believed in Harmony - and the teachings of Harmony she had grown up with had been very clear on their regard for creatures such as Changelings and Vamponies. A regard that was not positive in the slightest.
Still, she sighed. Only a fool does not grow with every new challenge life swings at them. Only a fool uses the past as an excuse to deny the future. If Twilight Sparkle, who had suffered more at the hooves of the changelings than most had, could come to accept them - then so could Cheerilee. Cheerilee smiled wistfully at the thought of the once retiring librarian. She would probably always harbor a little crush in her heart for her, even though such a thing was now impossible. If only... She sighed aloud, wondering at the perversity of the universe not for the first time that day. It had always seemed determined to deny her a real chance at love.
"Hey! Cheery! Just the pony I wanted to see!" Came the bright and unmistakable voice of Bon Bon, and Cheerilee looked up with a smile. As was usual, Bon Bon was not alone as she trotted down the street towards her - but very interestingly, she was not with Lyra for once. Cheerilee had heard a new pony had been selected to be the town librarian, but she had not known that pony had already arrived. "I want you to meet Tia Sunbeam, Cheery. Tia, this is our town's most superb teacher - Miss Cheerilee." Bon Bon said brightly, gesturing dramatically with a wave of her hoof.
Cheerilee took the moment to study Tia carefully, putting on her best professionally soothing smile as she did so. The young mare was gorgeous, and not just in the sense that her coat was flawlessly white and her violet eyes rather striking. She had the sleek and slim body of a model, but she was not completely soft - there was some muscle under that coat. She looked like an acrobat or a dancer, somepony with a history of keeping themselves in shape - which was a real rarity when it came to unicorns.
She was also giving off all the signs of somepony with a crippling social shyness to Cheery's professional eye. She's lost some sort of position or prestige, very recently. came back Cheerilee's initial thoughts, her eyes darting across the little signs Tia's body was giving off - analyzing that aristocratic bearing, that unconscious arrogance only one used to wielding power gave off. She is uncertain how to act around commoners. She's also been through some kind of severe emotional trauma that she hasn't entirely processed. Cheery's thoughts continued, flicking across Tia's nervous and unsteady hooves, and the way her eyes never looked straight at her.
As the sole schoolteacher in town, Cheerilee had been forced to teach herself how to see the signs of emotional and mental issues in her students. To do otherwise would have doomed untold young foals to bad home situations or an educational system vastly unprepared to help them. Tia was not the worst case she'd seen - not by a long shot - but she was still in a great deal of internal pain that she was working very hard to hide. She's not going to talk about it either, it's going to have to come out naturally. She's got an incredibly defensive posture going on there. She continued to think, extending her hoof with deliberate slowness and that soothing smile she'd cultivated over the years towards the young unicorn. "Pleasure to meet you, Tia." She said in her gentlest tones. Be nonthreatening. Project empathy and understanding - everypony feels safer around a teacher who they know wants to help them. She thought at herself, hoping for a positive reaction here.
Tia smiled tremulously back to her and shook her hoof softly, but firmly. Good, there's strength there. We can get her through this. Cheerilee's thoughts finished off confidently, her smile widening just a little. Sometimes, adults simply could not be cured of their ailments - they had lived with them for far too long to live any other way. Tia clearly did not fall into that category. "So, I presume we're knocking off for lunch then?" She quipped to Bon Bon, slipping a little closer to Tia and projecting her very best 'motherly protectiveness' body language. "I'm starving. I just got out of a meeting with the Mayor and all I've had for breakfast were a couple of donuts." She continued, taking the onus of declaring hunger off of Tia. That's the ticket, Cheery. She needs friends right now that can help her come out of that shell.
Tia nodded enthusiastically, and Bon Bon chuckled. "Well then, let's see what we can scrounge up then." She lifted her nose into the air and sniffed, then smiled slowly. "I smell Hayfries." She proclaimed with a grin. "And fried cheese sticks. Let's find out who's responsible for those and clean them out of them."