He touched a hoof to his glasses, confused. That was strange. I didn't even get the chance to—
"Thank Celestia, there you are!"
He felt a sudden tug at his tail; twisting his neck around, he saw that Twilight has reappeared and elected to drag him by his tail. "We're late for the meeting! All of the other princesses are already in attendance, move it!"
He scrambled upright, letting Twilight drag him along. Shuffling through his cards, he noticed one was missing—the very last one. He panicked slightly as he tried to recall the contents.
Without warning, the dragging suddenly stopped and he rolled back onto Twilight, flipping up and over.
"Charming," came a voice from somewhere above him. He rubbed his neck as he looked as far up as he could through his own tail. A familiar blue mane danced in the wind.
"Princess Luna? You're here?"
Before she could answer, he felt another tug at his tail as he was drug a fair few feet and stood upright by Twilight's magic. He adjusted his glasses once more, noting that Luna seemed to be giggling to herself. By her side was another two alicorns that he didn't recognize; one was white and had a similarly flowing pale rainbow mane while the other was candy-pink with a static mane of vibrant assorted colors.
"Hello, Princess Twilight. It's been a while, hasn't it?" said the white one. "Cadance tells me that you two have been writing each other nonstop!"
"She kept going on and on about a certain somepony—" said who he presumed was Cadance. She was giving him a significant glance. "—who wear glasses and writes a lot and showed up by making a crater by a river. If the entrance was any indication..."
"He is not my coltfriend," asserted Twilight. "Yes, I let him stay at my old house for a while. And he saved my life from a coma-inducing cupcake three times my size once. And a dip in a frozen lake. ...And maybe an out-of-control crane once. And helped beat Chrysalis before she tried to take over Equestria again—"
"For somepony that isn't important to you, you sure are singing a lot of praise, Twilight," said Cadance.
Next to him, he could almost feel the heat of embarrassment radiating from her fur. "No, I really am not her coltfriend," said Pennaprose. "Um... Princess Cadance, right?"
"Yes, but lay the formalities dead. Call me Cadance."
"All right then. Cadance it is."
The white alicorn coughed. "I apologize, but your name is Pennaprose Lochflow, correct?"
His ears perked up. "Yes, I am."
She gave a slight bow. Beside him, Twilight gasped and hit the back of hit head, knocking his glasses off and acquainting him with the taste of dirt. His ears remained aboveground, as Twilight hissed, "That's Princess Celestia! Show some respect!"
He dug out his face, glancing around for his glasses for what felt like the third time today. Celestia tittered.
"As Cadance said, Twilight, forget the formalities for now," she said, looking directly at him. "I haven't had the chance to take some time to come to Ponyville since the hive reemergence incident, so I haven't gotten to properly thank you for removing the danger before it got too far. Luna saw it ahead of time, but when she did, I was already under Chrysalis's influence."
She gave a minor aside glance to a stallion he recognized as Shining Armor who was standing behind Cadance. "As noble as your efforts were, Shining... you still lost the trophy to this colt," she said in a warm, yet mocking tone. "I daresay your position is looking a little less stable."
Shining nervously laughed and tugged at the collar of his golden armor. He noted with a start that there were even more faces in the circle, each standing behind a different representative. Luna behind Celestia, Shining behind Cadance... but there was also a monocle-wearing unicorn in fancy clothing looking around nervously and standing a little ways away, much to his surprise...
"Gosthette? Is that you? Where have you been!" he asked.
He trotted up to a midnight blue pegasus, taller than most, who wore a sultry expression framed by an orange and white mane that he remembered.
"Eh? Pennaprose? That you?" she said as she turned to greet him. "How's it been?"
"I'd ask you that. After the first day out of the hospital, I heard you vanished," he countered. "Why though?"
She pouted and flapped her wings in an annoyed fashion. "Ponyville is just far too happy of a place for me to live right now. If I set up a house somewhere it would have to be in the Everfree Forest; with black magic and who cares whatever else! So I wandered around and eventually found Manehattan. It's no swamp, but it at least smells like one and no one bothers being friendly. Just my style."
He regarded her, trying to recall what she was like when he last saw her about a month ago. "You seem a lot nicer now. But if I'm understanding this right... you're a representative?"
"Vice-rep. Of Manehattan, obviously. The mad hatter Manehattan rep just disappeared somewhere without my seeing it."
"An ex-assassin, losing sight of her target? You're slipping, Goss," he chided.
She scowled at him, a much closer resemblance to his memory. "If you were any other pony right now, I'd be tempted to air drop you from five miles high."
He smiled. "I know. But nice seeing you again, Gosthette."
"Speaking of which—" interjected Twilight. "—how'd you get your glasses back? I thought I... hold on, where'd I put them?"
"The fake pair is in your left saddlebag, containing two screws, a microchip, eight megapixel camera, geo-pony locator, and was polished approximately two days, thirteen hours, fourty-eight minutes, and seven seconds ago. Oh, and a cherry bubblegum lollipop, if you want it."
As one, Twilight and Gosthette turned around. Behind them—somehow without Pennaprose noticing, despite his height—was Bassino.
"Excuse me? Who are you?" asked Twilight. "...and why—"
"I am Bassino Verrifik Azion, representative of Manehattan and vice representative of Las Pegasus. Head chairpony of the Foundation of Equestrian Science and Technology. A pleasure to meet the princesses of Equestria all in one place—" he said, taking a slight bow. "—but I'm sorry for disappearing like that! It's a horrible habit of mine."
He stared. The other princesses looked similarly shocked at his sudden appearance, despite being in the very center of the group. The monocle-wearing unicorn spoke up first. "Bassino, really! This is a business venture, not a picnic! Lollipops later!"
"Apologies, Fancy Pants," said Bassino. "But I already gave everypony one. In Cadance's mane, behind Luna's left ear, Celestia's right, Shining Armor's collar, up your—"
"Oh for the love of... fine!" sighed Fancy Pants. "Just get back over here...!"
He trotted over, letting his lab coat drag on the ground and giving him the appearance of gliding. He stood between Gosthette and Fancy Pants, looking rather nonplussed.
"Excuse me," asked Twilight. "But did you say you are both a representative and a vice representative? How—"
"Dear princess, Bassino's position as head chairpony of the FEST means he has a major hoof in the mega-rail program we are here to speak about to the residents of Ponyville," began Fancy Pants. "FEST was handed the responsibility of designing the rail system. As it will inevitably connect all five major settlements in a continuous and multi-track loop, it is his responsibility to speak for FEST. ...Of course, it is based in Manehattan. But Bassino also lives in Las Pegasus and works under me in a consultant position. I chose him to vice-represent."
"It will help speed things along," interjected Celestia. "As he has direct control of the project plus representing two of the five locations, well..."
Twilight nodded. "I see! Well then, I'm sorry for the affront, Bassino! I hope we can work well together!"
She extended a hoof and bowed. Bassino stared, tilting his head in confusion. "You did not affront, Princess. You were merely without the proper information pertaining to the subject, thus holding no blame in relation to it. If anything, I should apologize for much graver insult of giving you a cherry bubblegum instead of a raspberry one. I have heard it is your favorite?"
She looked up, equally confused. "What? How—?"
"Is it a graver affront? Or how did I know? On both counts, I have my sources and reasons," he said, bowing lower. "That reminds me... Miss Luna, I have need to speak to you about a separate matter after the ceremony, if it behooves you?"
She perked up, sharing in the confusion. "O-of course! But what—huh?"
When all eyes were on her, they turned back to Bassino. Or at least, where he was sitting. Gosthette put a hoof to her temple while Fancy Pants made a sound of exasperation.
"Damn that stallion!" he exclaimed. "He simply exists and disappears on a whim! A nightmare to hold accountable! How that buffoon holds a head chair position anywhere is beyond me...! Well, I best go and try to find him. E-excuse me, princesses."
Fancy stormed off back towards the stage, which was gathering a large crowd by now. A general murmur of curiosity was riding in the wind.
"Well," said Luna. "I had met him on separate occasions, but that was a little over a year ago. He wasn't so... odd as I remember."
"Needless to say, he was the one originally in charge of designing the current rail system," said Cadance. "I trust him."
She walked off in the direction of the stage. A crackling of the mike and Mayor Mare's voice rang into the air. They were a little too far to make out the exact words, but judging from the tone, Pennaprose guessed she was beginning to give her half of the speech.
He shuffled his cards back into order hurriedly. "Sorry, gotta go! See you after the ceremony, Twilight!"
He galloped off as she waved him off. Let's see here... okay, that point first, mention the reps, a little of this...
I can do this, he thought shakily. Just another speech. Breathe IN, breath out... "Hueck—!" Okay, maybe try not choking on your spit, Penni, that's a dumb thing to do. Phew...
He stuttered to a stop behind the curtain, shuffling through the cards and trying to catch his breath.
"Haven't been able to practice your bit for the audience, have you now?"
He looked up. Inexplicably, there was Bassino, calm as can be and looking at his cards curiously.
"I, uh..."
"No matter. From the looks of it, there isn't a terrible amount to memorize. But that is lazy of you? Have you not had this done for weeks now?"
"Eheheh..." said Pennaprose. "Not really. I wrote the Mayor's speech in the same day I got the assignment around a week ago, but I've been struggling to write a conclusion for me to present since. I managed to get a dream just last night that provided me with the last push I need to write it."
"Writing about a dream you say...?"
His gaze sharpened to a hawk-like preciseness; both of his pale silver eyes were fixed firmly on him. Another thing he noticed was that he was wearing frameless glasses with lenses so thin and immaculately polished that had a bit of sunlight not been reflecting off of one, he would not have seen them.
He hesitated a moment, unsure of what to say. Eventually, Bassino looked away at a rise in the crowd noise. "Ah ha. I believe that is your cue. Break your legs out there."
He glanced in panic at the curtain, then back. Bassino has managed to vanish into thin air again.
"As fleeting as a dream himself..."
He paused. The ever familiar feeling of words unbidden hit him, causing him to glance at his Cutie Mark: a pair of crossed quills. He thought he felt an electric tingle there.
Again and again, there are times when I speak without thinking, yet it feels exactly the right thing to say. I must ask Twilight more about the magic of Cutie Marks later...
He twisted his neck back, flipping through his note cards as he had.
It doesn't matter now, he thought. Time to do what I do best.
He stepped out onto the stage.