//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Cluster Whitefalls // Story: The Queen and I, Book 1: Ponies and Changelings // by SoloBrony //------------------------------// That was close! It's a good thing I had other reasons for wanting to visit Equestria, or she might have said no! Or worse, figured out that I want to throw her a party... I ran around the school a bit in search of Pinkie, before I realized she might still be at the school. I ran back to where I started only to see her come bouncing out of the front door towards me. “Heya Cheery!” “Pinkie! What were you doing in there? You didn't cause any trouble, did you?” Pinkie looked at me with a little shock. “Of course not! I was entertaining the kiddies while you were outside!” “Er... right. Nevermind. Chrysalis wasn't upset you were there?” “She just told me to get out and go find you!” Phew. That could have gone a lot worse! “... Soooo?” Pinkie interrupted my thoughts by leaning in to my face, all expectation. For a moment, I didn't even know what she was asking about. “Oh! Right! She said I can go!” “REALLY?! That's so great! I was really worried she wouldn't, and then you would be all sad and then this all wouldn'tworkoutbutitdid that's GREAT! So are you ready to go?!” “Ah, er... yes. I don't really have much of anything to pack. The train will take off in about an hour.” “Oh, that's perfect! You can show me around this spot while we wait, then! I've been suuuper curious about it, but I didn't want to ask because you seemed like you had a plan, and I didn't want to mess that up!” Well, she wasn't supposed to realize we were going on a guided tour... I guess I'm not very good at subterfuge. “What, Whitefalls? There's not a lot to show you, honestly. We've been kind of orbiting it this entire time, because all of the original clusters were built near it. It's sort of a... caste neutral ground, I guess. A no-ling's land.” “But there are buggies living here, too!” “Well... yes. I mean, the school is here! Every caste has at least one teacher here.” “Oo! That makes sense. But there seem to be an awful lot of houses for that! And I see a lot of buggies with different eye colors wandering around!” Pinkie had taken to bouncing through the town, and I was cantering alongside her. Whitefalls really was a very nice, quaint community. Chrysalis, I remembered, had always enjoyed it for its serenity and its general apolitical atmosphere. I liked denser clusters, with more 'lings wandering around for me to interact with, but Whitefalls was still a nice place. “Well, a lot of inter-caste married couples live here, since it's close to the primary clusters and is caste-neutral!” “Aww! That's so sweet! It's like a little accepting community for everybuggy! Oooh! It's just like Ponyville!” Pinkie was smiling really broadly, now, looking around. I wondered if ponies were really supposed to smile like that on a normal basis. It looked kind of manic. “You've mentioned Ponyville before. What's it like?” “That's where I live! I'm friends with everypony and everybuggy there! Ponyville has a lot of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, and it's a nice quiet little community!” “Ah... I see the relation to Whitefalls, then.” Everybuggy? The changelings on the exchange program are supposed to be staying in Canterlot and Manehattan. Hmm... I guess I'll just wait and see. “Oooh! That's what I saw from the clusters! That's so cool!” We had come to the massive underground waterfall that gave Whitefalls its name. “Ah, yes. The Whitefalls proper. This is where the Hive gets most of its water, which is why the original clusters were formed here.” I wonder if Chrysalis is okay... she seemed so grumpy earlier... I showed Pinkie around Whitefalls a bit more, though there wasn't much else of note to talk about. I hadn't taken her here on tour because I figured it wouldn't be interesting, but she seemed to like it better than any other cluster we had seen.  Maybe she and Chrysalis had something in common that I didn't get. “Hey, Cheery?” I started. Pinkie had suddenly stopped bouncing, and her voice sounded different. “W-... yes? What?” “You seem so sad. What's the matter?” “Oh... I'm not sad! I just have a lot on my mind, you know?” Queens don't get sad, anyway. Except for when their subjects come to harm! “Aww. Hey, I know you might have a lot of things to worry about, but remember, you're going to Equestria! We're going to do all KINDS of fun things together, and if you have ANY problems at all my others friends and I can help you!” Her friends would help me just because she asked them to? “Thanks, Pinkie. I'm sure it will be really great!” Pinkie suddenly zipped in front of me, standing on her hind legs to press her muzzle into mine so that our eyes nearly touched. I froze up in surprise. “You're saying that, but you're not feeeeeling it! Come on, Cheery! You're going to have a blast!” “Pinkie, I appreciate-” Trying to back up wasn't proving effective. She was just awkwardly walking forward on two hooves to stay with me. “Nope!” “But-” “Nuh-uh!” I found myself giggling a little, with Pinkie soon following suit. My laughter soon gave way, though, as I thought of what I had gotten myself into. Can I really expect that a changeling 'Queen' would ever be welcome in Equestrian lands...? “Cheery! Stop with the sad faces, remember; you're Going to Equestriaaa~!” Pinkie had broken into singsong, a wild smile on her face as she reared on two legs and swung her forehoof in a wide arc to accentuate her point. “I know, I just-” “Going to Equestriaaa~!” I giggled, and snorted in a most un-Queen-like manner. “Pinkie, I realize I'm going to Equestria-” “No, no! It's Going to Equestriaaa~!” “Heeheehee, fine! I realize I'm Going to Equestriaaa~!” “Do you really, though, Cheery?” And suddenly I found myself thinking about it. Not like I had before, worrying about what kinds of bad things might happen, but really thinking about Equestria, or perhaps thinking about Equestriaaa~, as Pinkie had put it. I closed my eyes, and I started thinking back to Chrysalis' memories of the land; while she may have had other things to focus on during her time there, she had paid close attention to the land, the society, and the culture of the ponies she had infiltrated. I found myself reinterpreting those memories with new-found wonder and excitement, and as images of that lovely place crossed my mind, I started to hear music. A soft, playful flute tune, teasing at my senses. I took my first deep breath of that imagined fresh air, and I opened my eyes. My imagination had replaced the familiar visage of Whitefalls with a beautiful green land, where ponies grazed and played. ~ (I took a pause) “In Equestria~!” I heard myself sing, the soft flute accenting my words. “Oh, in Equestria, I will see” “The sun! And the day! The foals at play;” “Rolling hills, and a deep blue sky! Water mills and apple pie!” “So many things quite new to me! It's my privilege to go and see!” ~ “Oh, I'm going to Equestriaaa~!” Pinkie, who had been watching with what I can best call nervous excited energy, suddenly joined in, singing at the same time but in a slightly lower, more accented harmony to mine;      “I'll see new sights and make new friends!” “You'll see new sights and make new friends!”  “I'll wish this trip would never end!” “I'll wish this trip would never end!”  “Oh, I'm going to Equestriaaa~!” “Oh, I'm going to Equestriaaa~!” “Going to Equestria, with Pinkieee~!” “Going to Equestria, with Cheeryy~!” ~  “In Equestria~!” “In Equestria~!”  “Oh, in Equestria, I will see” “Oh, in Equestria, I will see” “The moon! And the night! And the stars so bright;” “The moon! And the night! And the stars so bright;”  “Cobbled roads and warm street lights! Sailing boats and cool moonlight!” “Cobbled roads and warm street lights! Sailing boats and cool moonlight!” “Such amazing things to feel!” “Such amazing things to feel!” “Who could believe Equestria is real?” “Who could believe Equestria is real? I can! Heehee!” ~ “But of the ponies, I have some worries”                                                                “Talk to Pinkie, and they'll be gone in a hurry!” “You accept me, to my surprise”                                                  “Everypony will, once they give you a try!” “But will I seem a monster to their eyeees~”                                                                      “No way! You're a friend of Pinkie Pie's!” ~ I dropped out of my singing voice for a few moments, though the flute was still playing. “Really Pinkie? You mean that?” “Absotively! Everypony'll love having you around!” “I meant, you... I'm your friend?” Pinkie just gave me a big hug, and then broke away, both of us grinning like goofy foals. “Don't you forget it, Cheery!” I found myself relaxing, and as my gaze drifted upwards a bit, lost in thought, I heard the music swell, a violin coming in to accompany the flute. I lost myself on the current of that music for a few moments, like a leaf on the water. As the music came back down, I surprised myself by moving to sing again. ~ “Brilliant rainbows and thundering storms!” “Cabins and fires, to keep warm!” “Towering mountains and wide valleys!” “Looming buildings and narrow alleys!” “A mysterious land of splendor!” “It IS a place of so many wonders!” “The thought of going with you brings me a smile,” “And that makes me happy, all worth the while!” ~  “Oh, we're going to Equestriaaa~!” “Oh, we're going to Equestriaaa~!” “We'll see the sights and meet with friends!” “We'll see the sights and meet with friends!”  “In our hearts, it'll never end!” “In our hearts, it'll never end!”  “Oh, we're going to Equestriaaa~!” “Oh, we're going to Equestriaaa~!”  “Going to Equestria, together!” “Going to Equestria, together!” ~ Queens probably aren't supposed to skip to the train station like little nymphs, huh? But I did anyway.