Anachronistic Pastimes
I thought that this whole world was like a blast from the past, but this was truly a sight I’ve not seen a very long time.
I can’t believe they do jousts for festivals! Well, a pony version of it at least. Jousting fell in popularity in favor of random gun dueling in the middle of street just before it was banned altogether. Here it seems they didn’t get to the murdery point so it’s just hitting themselves with very long sticks as they run against each other.
I mean its fun I suppose… I think? At least the little ones are enjoying it as well as their children. I’ve never jousted myself of course. While I like to play with my children, I really see no point in the competitive side of sports and such. There is enough competition in life as it is to add more to the mix, but I can’t say that the skills that they learn thanks to it are not useful!
“What a shame. It seems that last year’s champion is still on top of her game. I would’ve liked to see another pony on the top but at least she’s as sharp as ever with her lance. What do you think, Shining?” Cadance asked her husband, a small smile on her face.
“It seems her guard training is paying off. Since I invited her after the last tournament she’s been improving by leaps and bounds. I hope that Captain Stout will take her under his wing and train her in command too,” he declared with a pensive frown on his face, “I can’t keep training them personally with the increased workload that comes with a throne, you know?”
“I know, love,” Cadance replied, giving her husband a loving kiss. Ah… young love… “And what do you think, Gaia? Are you enjoying yourself?” she asked. Hm… was I?
“Why I think I am, dear! It’s been some time since I’ve seen some serious rough play between creatures. Nothing bad about a couple of small bruises if they aren’t intentionally given, you know?” I told them with a small smile on my face, “It’s just that competitive nature of everything coming into fruition and it’s in good fun. You should’ve seen the dinosaurs, my dears. Imagine dragons without wings decking it out with all their might!” I explained, just excited to talk about some of the most interesting creatures on my world. They both looked at each other with curious expressions.
“It sounds exciting and terrifying if I’m honest,” conceded Shining as he returned his eyes to the ponies charging at each other… Ouch, that smarts for sure…
“It probably is for small and young creatures like ponies,” I stated, earning some curious looks from both the young monarchs and some cute crystal guards. Those… Eyes! These creatures weaponized cuteness… “What? Your civilization it’s less than five thousand years for sure!”
“Twily always said that there were sprawling civilizations before Equestria that covered vast portions of terrain of modern countries, not including the known pre-classical era realms,” started Shining, adopting a proper teaching posture. So formal! “And while there are no documents from their era regarding their existence, all the ruins still decorating the world are testament enough of their cultures, with murals and temples that preserve within their walls treasures that modern archaeologists still find to this day,” he recited, making all of us look at him surprised.
Holy moly! That’s some memory!
“You are siblings after all…” I muttered, surprised. He quickly looked nervously to his wife, who just giggled at him.
“A-Anyway… Long story short… we don’t really know. For all the ruins still appearing left and right and being unearthed all around the world we can’t date ruins older than three thousand years… any kind of ruins at all. Maybe we are not looking where we are supposed to, but…”
“Your gut tells you that something fishy is going on, right?” I finished for him, getting a nod from the white unicorn, “It really sounds strange. Sadly, I can’t use my powers to see the past. I can only see what there is now and I can’t get very precise with it…” What can be done about this? I’m curious too but I’m no digger! Well… not one that keeps the things in one piece. Hm… Oh! “I’ll ask my son if he knows of something that can be useful for this. Maybe he can help your archaeologists with this! I may be on vacation but I think he will have no trouble with that.”
“That would be wonderful… but please let’s just leave that for later. Now let’s just enjoy the jousting. They are going to finish soon and we need to proclaim a victor. I can’t wait for the traditional song and dance contest! It’s the best part!” Cadance said as she pranced in place. Shining chuckled at his wife and he pulled her into a loving embrace.
“Would you like to be on the dance competition?” he asked her with a husky tone, earning a sly smirk from the pink princess. Oh my, I think they will be going for a baby at this rate…
“Why yes of course my daring husband. We will show them how royalty dances” she replied with the same tone as him. Yep… definitely going for children right there. I can tell, I know these things.
“I like some music, but the zoo visit after that has all my attention and curiosity. Mammals are still a mystery and a novelty to me,” I said, making them look as if I grew another head.
“Really?” both asked at the same time.
“Yes, really. You don’t have any trilobozoans either, and that’s one of the big animal families back home, so there’s that,” I told them, nodding to myself. Different evolution paths provide different animals and plants… and fungi. Geez I don’t even want to start with those…
“What are… trilobozoans?” asked Shining just as the cheering of the spectators almost deafened all of us after a particularly good strike.
“Why they are one of the strangest and most peculiar creatures. You see, trilobozoa means three-lobed animals. This means they have tri-radial symmetry, unlike us,” I started to explain, and from their expressions they were absolutely mystified by the descriptions of these animals.
Yes! I didn’t lose my story-teller touch after all these years! Time to pull all the stops!
As I continued to explain young Luna finally appeared, bringing some snacks and drinks with her magic.
“Finally! I can’t believe how many ponies were backing up the food stands. By the stars… so… did I miss anything?” she asked while taking a sip of some kind of soda.
The crystal ponies were known for being some of the most party-prone creatures of the known world by Equestria. Maybe this started as a necessity since they need to recharge the Crystal Heart periodically to keep the arctic cold out of the city, but they sure took this as an opportunity to enjoy life at its fullest, and it showed.
The crystal monarchs were astounded on how accepting the populace was of the new alicorn, but they believed that after disappearing for a millennium a new princess is just another drop in the whole ocean of new things that flooded the empire after its return.
It was still endearing to see them interacting with Gaia and the animals, who were at the moment surrounding her. The smallest ones were even running up and down Gaia’s back. The adult ponies were just conversing with her, apparently trading some information regarding fauna and flora. Strangely it seemed as if one of the alicorns was not enjoying herself if her frown was anything to go by.
“Say auntie, you look pretty serious now. Are you not enjoying the festival?” asked a concerned Cadance. Luna just shook her head before answering the question.
“I enjoyed it, believe me. It’s one of the things that lingers from the past that makes me feel at home. The music, the games… While I didn’t use to partake in them, I did saw many of them and enjoyed by what they were: an opportunity to leave the troubles behind for a day. Back in my time it was a very much appreciated reprieve from the all too common strife that ponykind used to endure,” the lunar princess explained as she looked at Gaia kept playing with the foals and creatures, “Don’t worry, my dear niece. I’m just overworking myself again.”
“Just try to relax as Gaia does. You and aunt Celestia don’t take any off time so you should seize the opportunity to recharge your batteries as they say,” the love princess said as she nudged her aunt, making her chuckle, “Shining is even organizing everything regarding our reservations for tonight. It will be fine, you’ll see.”
“I’ll try to be more relaxed, niece,” the moon princess conceded. Cadance nodded and smiled.
“That’s all I can hope for,” the pink alicorn simply said before tapping her chin in thought, “I must admit that Shining and i were wondering if you had any plans regarding the next stop for Gaia’s journey after the Empire.”
“Well, I was thinking of-“
“So! While it’s been a blast, I’m afraid that I’m already a little hungry. Next activity was a dinner at the Heart plaza and then another dance or something, right?” Gaia interrupted, appearing out of nowhere and making Cadance and Luna jump a little bit.
“W-Well, I don’t see any problem with that. Did you like the animals at the petting zoo?” the pink princess asked to the enthusiastic mare.
“Of course! They are a very specialized kind of mammal that can only be found here. And they are so cute and fluffy!” the green mare said as they started to walk towards the palace, “I’ve never seen a sheep before today and I can’t imagine what kind of adaption is producing this… how is it? Ah! This wool of theirs! Truly fascinating.”
“There are also sheep outside the empire, but they lack that crystalline aspect that make the local population so famous all over the world,” Luna explained as she looked suspiciously at Gaia’s wings, “They can produce wool in an array of colors but their wool can be also tinted to use it for clothes, after being properly handled of course.”
“So… you cut their wool and then use it to put it on you? Weird…” she stated, ruffling her wings as if repositioning them, and making Luna frown a bit. Cadance in the meantime was laughing at Gaia’s words.
“Don’t be silly! You’ve seen our dresses back in Canterlot, and you can see some clothing on crystal ponies here as well. After being processed they can be carefully threaded and used for more complex utilities like clothes, carpets and all manners of textiles. We are no caveponies!” Cadance elaborated, trying to not giggle at the mental picture of her wearing raw wool as her royal dress.
“Gaia, drop them,” Luna stated with a deadpan expression. Gaia tried to look anywhere but at Luna.
“Drop what?”
“The ewes. I just saw some sparkly wool under your left wing. Come on, drop them,” the moon princess demanded, earning a sigh and some sad bleats from Gaia’s wings.
“Busted… well, off you go, girls,” she simply said as three crystal ewes were delicately put on the ground by Gaia as she opened her wings. As soon as they were all free from the green alicorn they looked sadly at her and ran back to the zoo. In the meantime, Cadance and Luna were looking at her with bemused expressions.
“Were you trying to smuggle some crystal sheep out of the Empire?” Cadance asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, of course not my dear. Smuggling is such a dirty word… and it assumes I recognize frontiers, but nature knows no bounds!” she said, getting astonished looks from both princesses. Suddenly Gaia started to look very thoughtful, “Well, maybe some bounds because moving creatures from their habitat can have catastrophic consequences… extinction events are ‘natural’ when some creatures stagnate with their adaptions, sure, but it’s such an ugly affair…” she rambled, earning horrified looks from the equestrians. She tried to play it cool and laughed, “Don’t look at me like that, dears. And don’t worry, even if I managed to move a couple of ewes, since they were all female, they wouldn’t be able to destroy anything…” she continued, barely reassuring the princesses, “Alright, so towards the food!” she finalized, skipping towards the plaza.
“For all the motherly tones she can be pretty morbid sometimes,” Cadance commented as they walked behind Gaia.
“You forgot, dear niece, that the wilderness of the Everfree and the untamed lands is a harsh place, and while Gaia is a loving and nurturing soul, she also has a wilder side. She stated that she is in fact the very planet she lives on, a planet where the weather strikes on creatures without control but not without measure… at least that’s what I can glean from my conversations with her,” Luna explained, “She also doesn’t pull any punches when she talks, and while we maybe squeamish talking about it… Death it’s just part of life, a fact that Gaia had to come to terms with long before we ponies even existed.”
“…And how do you know that, Luna?” the crystal princess asked with seriousness. Luna just looked at the setting sun with an unreadable expression. “… Auntie?”
“Even somepony like Gaia has their own nightmares, my dear niece, and as anypony suffering from such terrors they need our support to heal. They may endure in silence, but they also call for help in the same way.”
As both equestrian princesses continued their walk, the youngest one couldn’t help but think about Gaia’s love for life along the words and actions of the ancient mare, because she knew that with love also comes the heartache.
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gaia is a hell of a women i will say that
wicked
I wonder if it's sinking in to the Princess yet, exactly what it MEANS to be able to talk to such an ancient being.
sigh
you certainly are painting gaia as pure mother nature. she loves all of her children, but she accepts that shit happens and sometimes her children get wiped off of the face of the planet, while others continue to thrive and survive. she probably has the attitude of, enjoy things while they are here, because they might disappear at any moment.
Please do NOT stop! If you finish the story, I might start reading it! /jk
Gaia would be an awesome party buddy to hang out with, girl enjoys life and is pretty free spirited. But she ain't no delicate flower that tries to sugar coat things either.
Just gotta watch her when you take her to zoos or pet stores of any sort....=w=
Words of wisdom right there.
Poor Luna, on vacation with the future mother-in-law.
glad to see an update. I've enjoyed it immensely.
9436323
but there are no ponies on gaia's planet. just gaia herself and Prometheus
This is quite a good story. Definitely recommended
Shining and I
out
9454842
The first part of your comment made me think of a certain bit of ribbing I used to get growing up
Sweetie Belle: "Hey Sis, Me and Applebloom were wonderin'..."
Rarity: "my dear sister, are you implying that Applebloom is mean?"
Sweetie Belle: "What? No Applebloom isn't mean."
Rarity: "Well that's what you said, "mean Applebloom..."
Sweetie Belle: "arrgh...Applebloom and I were wondering..." "happy now?"
Rarity: "much better darling."
Now wouldn't that be hilarious
Another heartwarming chapter.