21. Evaluations, Stations, and Recommendations - Part Two
Letters From a Little Princess Monster
Evaluations, Stations, and Recommendations - Part Two
Princess Celestia stood by the train platform and chatted with the young unicorn students as they began to show up in anticipation of their evaluator’s arrival on the morning train. It was so relaxing to see their bright, shining faces and listen to their joyful stories of childhood and living life to the limit. Her life at the castle seemed so stressful by comparison as countries and nations fought for ‘proper’ recognition of each other, while here the little ponies were happy catching frogs and digging for worms (or at least the colts).
Even the constant bitter competition that seemed to be ingrained into the entire mountain of Canterlot was missing in the older townsponies here. They were happy to come up for a few minutes to greet her and welcome her to town, sparing a few moments to look at Twilight Sparkle sleeping at her hooves, giving a soft and knowing smile, and then returning to their normal morning routine afterwards. The entire town seemed to have accepted Twilight just the way she was, and even when Zecora and Tallgrass stopped by for a brief and alliterative favor from her, neither of them attracted any more attention than if they had both been any other parents of a small school filly.
Despite the constantly stated desire of the unicorn nobility to expand her School for Gifted Unicorns to ten times its size, she knew only a small fraction of young unicorns could benefit more from the special attention by trained teachers than would thrive better at home with their own parents and family. Even when she was training Trixie, at times late at night when her student was in the middle of learning some intricate incantation, she would turn her head and just stare off into the direction of Neigh Orleans, lost in thought. Her parents and family had never moved to the mountains of Canterlot, preferring to remain just a few feet above (and sometimes below) sea level in their comfortable home. They certainly would have been able to provide more love and attention than Celestia ever did due to the distractions of rule and politics. In a way it was good that Trixie had such a violent reaction to politics, although Prince Blueblood’s tail might argue the point. If her student had become distracted with the false faces of political intrigue, she might never have been able to accept the honest friendship of this small town, and if Luna had been freed, it would have only been at a terrible cost.
The twitch of dreams disturbed the small sleeping alicorn in front of her, shuddering once as her little hooves moved in the rhythm of running. It must have been pure torture for Zecora every time Twilight had gone out into the Everfree Forest to confront her pain. Those memories were too strong to endure all at once, and compared with her peaceful, loving family, they made such a stark contrast that it was no wonder she did not want to face them.
Trust in Harmony.
The words came out of a memory of her own, making Celestia abruptly aware of the way she was running one gentle hoof through Twilight’s tangled mane and wondering if the new alicorn would have been better off reborn without memory of her pain and previous life. Celestia had spoken the words so often to others, but for a moment it seemed as if somepony had whispered them into her ear for a change. Unanchored regrets were a quagmire of lost souls, sucking at the hooves and tugging one in the direction of only more darkness. Luna had been freed, Twilight Sparkle had been saved, and more impossibly, all of the ponies she had talked to this morning had positive things to say about Trixie. It was a time of celebration, a time of joy, a time for—
“Cake, Your Highness?”
Celestia shook off her musing to look into the happy grin of a pink pony carrying a piece of fluffy white cake. The plate was paper, the cake glistening with sugar and vanilla, and the pony could only be…
“Good morning, Pinkie Pie.” Taking the cake in her magic, Celestia nodded. “Thank you very much.”
“Thank you Princess! I had a double left hoof itch tail twitch this morning that said I was going to need extra, extra cake today, and I didn’t want you to miss out, since you said you’re headed to Fillydelphia and Baltimare for a few days.”
“Yes, they had a few appointments that I just had to be present for, but I’m sure Princess Luna will have everything in Canterlot under control when I get back.” Celestia took a bite of cake and luxuriated in the flavor. “Wedding cake?”
“Yep!”
There had been quite a number of town residents who had shown up this morning with cushions or blankets to spread out on the grass, and one large banner that announced a welcome to both Princess Celestia and Green Grass. Although she was expecting something along this line due to Zecora and Tallgrass’ request earlier, it made her uncomfortably aware of yesterday’s embarrassing events, and the green pony responsible for them. A great deal of thought went into her next question, as well as a few more bites of cake. “Who?”
“I’m not sure, but my hoof is still itching, so it must be pretty big. Or I stepped in something.” Pinkie Pie held a spotless hoof up and examined it in the morning sunshine.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
The morning train from Canterlot pulled into the Ponyville station much the same as it always had, with a squeal of brake shoes and the puff of depleted steam trickling along the platform, but the usual tramp of exiting hooves did not resound through the station. Instead, there was a tense silence as dozens of nervous male faces took every single inch of window space to peer out at the sunlit platform, empty except for a few of the local young ponies…
And a smiling Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria.
If guilt were a tangible substance, a veritable tidal wave would have coursed out of the doors and windows of the train. Celestia’s sister had been saved from eternal darkness and insanity by the five innocent young mares (and Trixie) in this town, and now as each stallion thought about their own intentions towards one or more of those mares, they also considered just how the mighty Princess of the Sun might react to their romantic advances.
In unison, most of the stallions on board the train opened their wallets and looked for the conductor in order to buy tickets for a round trip back to Canterlot.
Almost all of them. There were three exceptions.
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
A warm hoof gently nudged the sleeping Monster, and as she yawned herself awake, she could feel the gentle magical touch of Princess Celestia arranging her red cloak over her little filly wings. Sweetie Belle and Oz had explained several concepts last night like ‘enhancing’ and ‘complementing’ that allowed ponies to change the way others saw them, and she still was working her mind around the idea. It seemed that adult unicorns looked at every part of each other, from the way their hooves were shined to their horn polish, just to get an idea of what kind of pony was underneath, and on the other hoof, the look-ees used a vast variety of chemicals and ‘things’ to either hide or enhance portions of their own selves. It did not explain the serpent, who spent a great amount of time on his elegant mane even though there were no other serpents in the area to impress, but it made her look at other ponies in a completely different way.
The image something projected was often not the real pony inside, and sometimes seemed to be a projection of a symbol, like Rarity’s store was a symbol of the dresses inside, or Sugarcube Corner’s outward appearance ‘advertised’ the contents inside. Trixie wore her hat and cape so that other ponies who saw her would automatically think of her as Great and Powerful, while Zecora wore her rings as a symbol of her status among zebras, and Celestia her gold thingies as a sign of her princessness. Even though the gold thingies were not the original thingies she wore before Nightmare Moon, they were displayed symbols of her authority, much as Rarity’s false eyelashes and Fluttershy’s tail extensions were hidden symbols of their attempts to attract a stallion.
It felt a little weird to look at the train and see that many eyes looking back, but all of them seemed to be looking a few feet over her head, which made the attention much more bearable. Once she had realized the red cape she had received from her friends was a ‘thing’ to hide her wings from silly adults who would stare at her as if they were symbols of her own princessness, the deception made a lot more sense. The cape was just a more-polite symbol than her cardboard box, used with the honest intention of diverting attention until someday in the future when she would be comfortable with it. When she first moved to Ponyville with mom, she thought that day would never arrive, but the friendly town had calmed her nerves and welcomed her and mom like they were… home.
“Good morning, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia from above her, making Monster twist to look straight up at the underside of her chin. “I thought I would stay just long enough for you to meet the instructor who will be giving you the school evaluation today. He’s a well-respected member of the educational community who several of your friends know already from his previous evaluation visits. There are a few little idiosyncrasies about him that may cause some issues, but on the whole, I consider him to be—”
Before the door to the passenger car had even rolled all the way open, a faded green pony leapt out of the opening. With a spring like a panicked gazelle, he dashed across the train platform in their direction, calling out, “Princess Celestia! Will you—”
There was a powerful surge of magic from Celestia, creating thick golden chains of magic that wrapped themselves around all four of the stallion’s green limbs and his body. With a crash of magically created steel, the round ball of chains surrounding him clattered into a massive jingling heap a few paces away. Undaunted and still wearing his odd hat, the stallion stuck his head out of his imprisoning chains with his mouth open to speak when Celestia added a golden zipper around his muzzle.
The spell seemed fascinating even though it was highly excessive in Monster’s opinion, at least inside the peaceful town, but perhaps this was the way princesses greeted over-enthusiastic ponies, and Monster remained very still to observe. The stallion’s eyes were white with fear, looking so much like a panicked herbivore trying to escape from a crocodile that Monster took a moment to look behind him, but only saw two other older unicorn stallions trotting in their direction with looks of mixed concern.
“Your Highness,” called out the less-aged of the two, dropping to one spotless white knee on the train platform and bowing with his raspberry-colored mane flopping forward, revealing a few thin spots that age or stress had caused. “I beg you, please do not take offense at my son’s actions. He is young and foolish, and under great pressure from his upcoming wedding tomorrow.”
“Really?” There was a humorous note to Celestia’s voice that made Monster’s ears perk up, and she watched as Princess Celestia turned to the chained stallion with a broad, warm smile. “I had no idea my sister had accepted your proposal, Lord Green Grass. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to our family.”
The chained stallion could barely move his head, but he looked between his father and Celestia several times in confusion before shaking his head.
Celestia asked, “You are the one who proposed to my sister a few days ago, correct?” At his rapid nod, she continued, “And you have heard of the story The Prince With The Wandering Eye, correct? I believe it was the basis for the Legend of the Headless Horsepony.”
This time there was a distinct pause before a much more subdued head nod that barely made his chains clink.
Celestia held a hoof to her face as she gasped, turning a slight shade of pink. “Lord Green Grass, you weren’t considering proposing to me before Luna had responded to your request, were you?”
The chained stallion lifted his head as if he were going to nod, but after a moment of looking at Celestia, gently wagged his head back and forth, looking much like he was considering just how much he liked his head and its current placement. With a faint poof, the zipper over his mouth vanished, giving him a chance to lick his dry lips while shifting uncomfortably in his ball of magical chains.
“Good morning, Princess Celestia?”
Celestia smiled back, as radiant and beatific as the dawn. “Good morning Lord Green Grass. Baron Chrysanthemum. Friday.”
Monster had not even seen the servant named Friday kneel at the side of the green pony in chains, but the elderly unicorn looked up with sparkling topaz eyes glittering in the sunlight. His sharp gaze only passed Celestia’s eyes once before focusing on Monster exclusively, with a smile that was just as warm and friendly as the Princess of the Sun but concealing just as much. There was a peculiar mottling to his mink-tan coat that looked somewhat similar to Pipsqueak, cut off by the sharp lines of a black suit tailored so tightly to his body as if to be a second skin, a considerable contrast to Green Grass’ lumpy vest or his father’s tie and collar combination that had no pockets at all. All of their clothes seemed to be symbols of some sort, but without context, all Monster could do was to sit and silently observe their actions.
The other little school unicorns in the area were keeping a respectful distance, partially from respect for Princess Celestia and partially due to her rough treatment of their teacher. As the servant returned to the train to retrieve their bags, Celestia made the magical chains around Green Grass vanish and took a step backwards.
“My apologies for not staying longer, Lord Green Grass, but I must be off to Baltimare in order to stay on my rather tight schedule. Before I go, allow me to introduce your new student, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this is Lord Green Grass. He will be doing the magical skills evaluation for you today.”
The skinny green stallion took an unencumbered step forward and extended a hoof in a considerably more cautious fashion than his previous dash forward. “I’m pleased to meet you, Twilight Sparkle.” While Monster stood there and sniffed his hoof, wondering just what she was supposed to do with it, he continued, “You have an interesting name, Twilight. As I recall, Night Light and Twilight Velvet have a daughter with the same name.”
Monster looked up with a sharp intake of breath and tried not to take a step backwards to the comforting presence of Celestia, managing to cringe only slightly away from his innocent gaze. “Dad. Mom.”
“Lord Green Grass, didn’t you read the student profiles I sent you?” asked Celestia from behind her.
The green pony did not look up at her words, but continued to look Monster straight in the eyes. He had very nice blue eyes, she determined, and a comforting smile that fit over his face like a well-worn mask. She screwed up her courage and stepped forward, placing a dusty hoof on his chest. A warmth from within him flowed out like a deep river, far different than any unicorn she had ever encountered, but there were snags and snarls blocking that flow that he had placed there himself. “Different,” she said, cocking her head to one side and studying his face. Deep lines under his eyes showed recent exposure to severe stress, and there were subtle indications that his heavy frame had once been considerably more chubby before some trauma had melted that fat away, and most of the muscle too. Still, powerful corded tendons below his loose skin trembled at her touch, and caused a haunted flicker of his eyes in his father’s direction.
One green hoof gently touched hers, pressing it away from him and back onto the ground. “No touching,” he admonished with a slow shake of his head. “It’s one of the rules.” Looking up at Celestia, he added in a rather short fashion, “I prefer to get to know my students personally rather than read what others think of them. Besides, this is the last student evaluation I’ll ever wind up doing. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be Lord Green Grass of Marshon with Lady Swamp Flower of Marshon, drinking tea and doing whatever proper unicorn nobility do all day.” He finished by swishing a hoof through the air in a manner that reminded Monster of Rarity.
“You still should not overlook your responsibilities,” said Celestia. “It is not every day a simple Youth Educational Specialist is selected to conduct an evaluation of magical progress—” her voice grew slightly colder “—by a Princess of Equestria.”
Green Grass rolled his eyes and shrugged, apparently oblivious to Celestia’s veiled threat. “So if I don’t get them all done by tonight, are you going to make me stay after school and miss the train home?”
“Yes.” Celestia’s voice was considerably warmer and the teacher stopped abruptly at her word, being very careful not to show his face to his father. Monster glanced between the two of them, trying to figure out just what was hiding behind their symbols when Baron Chrysanthemum stood up with his ears pinned almost flat against his skull and his lips drawn into a thin line.
“Princess Celestia! My son is getting married tomorrow.”
“He has an evaluation to complete. His responsibilities to me come first.”
“This is quite unfair, Your Highness. Do you know how long we have tried to get him properly wed?”
“Five years, three months, five days, two hours and seventeen minutes,” replied Celestia in a voice that could have frozen water. “Counting from the time I first heard you had attempted to marry him off to the Widow Daelia Daffodil.”
“Who’s that?” whispered Monster into Green Grass’ ear as Celestia and Baron Chrysanthemum discussed the upcoming wedding.
“A very old mare,” replied Green Grass, lowering his head to give a quiet whisper back. “She was older than my mother.” He looked around the open area next to the train station and asked in a lower voice as not to disturb the arguing elders, “So why are there so many ponies out this morning?”
Monster looked at the Ponyville residents arranged in loose array around the train station on cushions and blankets like there was some sort of show planned. “Don’t know. Yesterday there was a—”
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
The roar of fireworks erupting into the air yanked Celestia’s attention to the back of the train where a constant streaming burst of sparks and explosions were chain-firing into the morning sky. Despite the noise, she could have continued her conversation with Baron Chrysanthemum at the cost of his eardrums, but she was more worried about the way Twilight had fairly launched herself at Green Grass’ right front leg and was clamped onto it more solidly than the magical chains she had placed there earlier.
It was fascinating to see the way the rest of her little ponies instinctively reacted when startled. Baron Chrysanthemum had instantly jumped to place his body between his son and the commotion, Friday Haystings had lit his horn and was scanning the area for threats just as his training had taught him, and Green Grass…
The skinny green colt had immediately sat down to put one reassuring foreleg around Twilight’s back, patting gently while whispering something into her ear. Whatever it was made Twilight’s sides twitch in an involuntary giggle, and a small portion of that unreasoned panic that had spasmed through her young body at the first explosion drained away. She even smiled in the understated way that Celestia was still getting used to.
Celestia moved to the baron’s side, taking a few moments to just stand and enjoy the accidental display of pyrotechnics until the continuous roar died down to a few leftover pops. It was a motion of practiced theatre, drawing the attention of any of the train passengers away from the touching scene of awkward young teacher and frightened younger student, and allowing her time to think.
“Lord Green Grass,” she started once his father had turned and opened his mouth to continue his argument. “In order to save precious time from both of our schedules, I am giving you my full and complete authority over the educational evaluation today. You may have as long as you need to finish the evaluation to your satisfaction, regardless—” Celestia leaned on the word with substantial force as Baron Chrysanthemum reddened and opened his mouth again “—of any distractions.” She turned to face the young colt who still had Twilight clinging to his leg, although not with nearly the panic-stricken focus of before. “I would hope the evaluation can be completed in a timely manner, as not to disturb your upcoming nuptials, but if you deem it necessary, I will understand.”
“I… understand, Your Highness.” The colt seemed self conscious of his foreleg around Twilight, and pulled it back, making a fair attempt at a bow.
Celestia turned to Twilight with a quick wink. “Now, Twilight, I really should get going, unless you need me to stay.”
“N-no,” she stammered, trying so hard to smile that she hissed a little when she was talking. “I’ll be fine.”
“Very well, then.” Spreading her wings, Celestia ascended up into the morning sky in a playful half-roll, turning and heading towards Baltimare with long, slow wingstrokes. The ponies of the town fell away below her, from the residents packing up their chairs and cushions now that the show was over, to two adult unicorns in the middle of the smoking fireworks launch area lecturing two very small unicorns who were covered in soot. She continued to climb as the train pulled away from the station, leveling out for the long peaceful silence of her flight, without a single—
“Princess? You’ve got some mail. Did you want me to put it in the normal flight to Canterlot or do you want to pick it up now?”
Without breaking her stride, Celestia looked to her right where a grey pegasus in a postal carrier uniform was keeping pace with her, although not without some strain. She took the letters as the carrier pulled them out of her saddlebags, using her magic to tuck them away in her petryal for later. “Thank you, Miss…”
“Doo, Your Highnessness. I saw you with Twilight and Greenie so I dashed over to the office and checked the morning Canterlot run. Did you have any letters that need to go out? I’ve got some stamps if you need them.”
How the walleyed mailmare managed to fly straight with her head turned around and rooting around in her saddlebags was a mystery to Celestia, but the name triggered a memory from one of the previous Summer Sun Celebrations spent in Ponyville. “You have a daughter named Dinky Doo, as I recall. Is she going to be evaluated too?”
“Yeah! She’s really, really smart. She told me all kind of things about your student Trixie and Twilight and the other students last night. You’re really lucky to have somepony like her. There they are!” Ditzy pulled a roll of stamps out of her bag, looked at Celestia shaking her head, and stuffed them back in the bag unused. “Well, I better get back to my route. See you later, Princess!” The mailmare made a quick loop and flew back in the direction of Ponyville, calling over her shoulder as she faded into the distance. “Don’t worry about the test. Our daughters will do just fine.”
It took Celestia until she was just beginning to descend to Baltimare before it soaked in.
“Wait. Our daughters?”
~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~
This was only the third time the wisp had traveled across the frozen void between home and the small cold place filled with fragile life, and it considered the trip with worry as it flew. None of the other wisps had ever left their comfortable home to cross the empty void even once, and the urge would never even occur to them. Long ago, when the first cry of pain had caught the wisp by surprise on a particularly high flight, it had been curious, and reached to see what had called out. It did not expect to be captured, held in bonds stronger than the magnetic lines of force it danced across, and had been stunned to find its captor was another creature far different than itself. There had been so much pain in the times since then, but it had seen marvelous things beyond the experience of any of its kind. The other wisps were fascinated by the stories it shared of wild beasts, thinking cold creatures, and knowledge placed on material objects that would burst into flame at the slightest touch. It seemed strange beyond thought that something so fragile was used to tell the stories the strange creatures passed on from one to another, but it had watched the striped one read to Flower for hours from the flammable pages, and had been entranced by the events they told.
The cold place grew near, and the wisp slowed its flight in thought. The ‘buks’ were not the only thing that would burst into flames at its touch. Descending from the sky in its normal form would hurt the cold creatures, but it had seen other cold creatures who could fly, so it compressed its form, drawing away the heat of its home to form cold flesh and feathers as it fell through the air. There were so many choices to make in choosing the form of a cold creatures, but it picked one that had seemed like its own thoughts, compressing its blazing spark inside as protection from the frigid environment.
A second problem was not so easily solved. Tia.
It drifted down on the same path it had taken many cycles ago, looking at the cold stones and plants that made up the city stuck to the side of the mountain. There was something familiar over there, and it curved its wings to descend closer until it circled around the top of a large tower, seeming more bulky and thick than what it remembered. Flower had torn the stones of the tower apart in her pain, but these cold creatures had rebuilt it, thicker and stronger than before. The concept of building something was still new to the wisp, but to improve it afterwards was fascinating. It drifted across the city on the rise of warm evening air, turning in huge curves to take in the entire sight. The place was covered with the intelligent creatures, all communicating and respirating and even consuming subsistence, but none of them were Tia.
A golden tower adorned with symbols that were supposed to represent the sun attracted its flight, even though the carved symbols were as cold and lifeless as the rest of the stones. If Tia was in the city, she would be here, high above the cold creatures where the sun could properly caress her. The wisp in pony form glided lower, finally putting its ‘hooves’ on the ground as it approached the entrance to the golden tower.
And the wisp promptly fell on its face.
* * *
The two Royal Guards standing at the southern postern gate of the castle remained in their immobile stance, but talked out of the corners of their mouth to each other with the skill only seen in older guards or professional ventriloquists.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day.”
“What, Rainbow Dash doing a faceplant at the castle? According to the newspapers, she’s single, you know.”
The sky-blue pony in question struggled on the ground for a few moments, her legs and wings stuck out in different directions. Finally, with a look of extreme concentration, she placed her hooves down on the stone one at a time, rising up to a wobbly standing position to look at the closed gate into the castle and the two guards.
“I don’t think that’s Rainbow Dash, unless she somehow gained flaming eyes since the newspaper photo.”
“Really?” The second guard concentrated on his horn, blinking twice before taking a step to one side and opening the door with his magic. “Stand back, featherbrain. It’s a Category 17.”
“Oh, of course.” The first guard stepped back and watched the progress of the wobbling pegasus as she left a trail of molten hoofprints up the stairs and in through the door. Once the wave of baking heat had died down, the first guard reached inside his armor and brought out a small book, hoofing through it with a mumbled, “Seventeen, seventeen…”
“It’s after sixteen,” prompted his partner. “Did you happen to notice the Royal Accoutrements sitting on her, well, its back?”
“Naah, I was watching her wings. She’s got a really nice set of primaries. Wouldn’t mind preening those bad—” The guard’s hoof fell on the entry for Category 17 in the Abbreviated Equestrian Royal Guard Manual of Codes and Signals and traced down as he read. “Extradimensional or extraplanar elemental creature of infinite power in disguise. May be bearing gifts. Observe at distance and treat with respect. Huh. Do you have any idea what subcategory she is? Since you’re the senior guard, you get to fill out the paperwork.”
The second guard produced a whistle and blew a short series of tweets into it before turning back to his partner. “I think you misread that section. I’m responsible for making sure the paperwork is filled out. And I can delegate that responsibility.”
~~*~~
The tower brought another obstacle to the wisp in pony form that it had never encountered on its own, and it paused to examine the construction. Once it had formulated an approach, climbing the stairs took every single bit of its concentration, one wobbly hoof at a time, with a short pause in the middle of its climb to concentrate its fire even deeper into the cold creature it was partially transformed into so that it would not damage the cold stones of the structure any further. By the time it reached the top of the stairs, it was moving with the smooth gait of an experienced stair-climber, although it stopped once it reached a golden door set with the symbol it had begun to understand represented the sun.
Doors were tricky things. It took considerable pawing and biting at the doorknob to open the door without damage, but the room beyond was worth the effort. It was filled with things. Wonderful things.
The wisp in pony form hid its fire even deeper at the sight of so many ‘buks’ crammed together into disorganized rows, along with more mysterious objects that it had ever imagined existed in the entire cold world. It walked among them, peering and touching everything it could, lost in thought until it rounded a corner and heard an inquisitive noise from a beautiful bird with plumage that fairly blazed with the colors of the sun.
Stats
Page generated in 0.037 seconds
Total duration
1,023 users online
1,559,321 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I consider the Abbreviated Equestrian Royal Guard Manual of Codes and Signals to be much like the Junior Woodchuck's Guide.
I have a feeling that Philharmona is going to become the wisps best friend...
I love the wisp. I can't wait to read about its encounter with Philamina
The fact that there's a section in the guard manual for stuff like this...
"A canterlot noble who is actually as noble as one of his station should be? Oh what shall I ever do?"
MOAR MONSTER DAWWWNESS!!!!!
Aaand yep that book has everything listed in it.
At least it's not the Earl of Pine Valley's daughter.
Great
4194047 Considering the fact that he proposed to both Luna AND nearly did the same to Celestia to try to get out of this marriage, I have a feeling this mare is much, much, MUCH worse than Lady Bee Tress, daughter of the Earl of Pine Valley.
I always love watching Greenie interact with Twilight (and this time around there was no water bucket involved in their first meeting lol). Keeping an eye out now for the next chapter.
Seriously, how do you do it? Yesterday I read through this entire story just for fun, come home from a sucky day at work and find this chapter waiting in my inbox. Perfect timing. Yay for Green Grass being a good tutor and comforting Twilight when Trixie's fireworks exploded... again. Why do I get the idea OZ was involved????
Celestia's interaction with Ditzy was great, I can just see Ditzy delivering the mail and helping Celestia out with some issue when she accidentally crashes into Celestia's study. 
I want to read that guide, it sounds very interesting. I can't wait to see what happens with the wisp and Philharmona.
4193758 I think that might be Twilight, it was apparently bound to her for a long time. But Philharmona will probably be teaching it how to keep from burning everything it comes near.
4194070 I forgot about that aspect... Green Grass is willing to risk anything to get out of this marriage. I can totally see him hoping the view is nice from the moon when he went to 'propose' to Luna. But Celestia sure put his father in his place! She basically gave him free reign to take as long as he wants in the evaluation. GENIUS!!! And if the Bride to Be comes looking for her Husband... well sic the unicorns of the class on her to drive her off.
So many OCs, how do you manage to keep track of all of them?
Also I am really liking this Wisp character. Though I still don't entirely understand what this thing looks like in pony form.
Want more Monster. Need more Monster.
I'm not usually fond of too much heterosexuality in my pony, but OCs in this set of fics have been great so far, so I'll deal.
(While the focus at the moment seems much more slice-of-life, I still wanna see Monster unleash on something. Or, to be more true to her current behaviour, to evaluate the meanie's behaviour in her wonderfully broken manner, and then fix them.)
4194499
She looks like Rainbow Dash, with 'flaming eyes'.
>>ShadowBrony I think it took on the form of Rainbow Dash. The Wisp has the ability to disguise itself as anypony/thing (Extradimensional or extraplanar elemental creature of infinite power in disguise.)
4194092 Philomena.......lol.
4194602 Would you settle for the baron? I plan on Monster giving him a 'tour' of her previous home.
4194092 I manage it by not having a life. And Peter, my editor, who spots things and inspires brilliance.
4194070 Oh, she's not that bad. She just likes butterflies. A lot. A whole lot. Really. Every minute of the day.
4194047 Well, have you ever heard the phrase "She drives me crazy?" She did. But he's much better now.
4193778 The only problem I've got with the wisp story is that I don't have the times of day synchronized quite right in the snippets I put in.
4193758 Well, technically, wisp has a few thousand friends back at home just exactly like it.
Okay... I see how it is... You're trying to trick us all into thinking that the wedding is going to change into Twilight x ... whatever that colt's name was again, when in reality, Tallgrass is going to propose to Zecora! I see through your shenanigans!
Greengrass is from the traveling tutor right?
edit: just realised you were the author of tha too so i guess he actually is
I look forward to seeing the Coronal Wisp and Philomena gleefully begin interacting with the guards. Philomena, of course, likely knows all about the rulings, and would be planning to make use of the Wisp's naivety to get as much pranking supplies as possible before 'Tia finds out and puts a stop to things.
It will be glorious.
4194882
... Okay, that would be pretty freaking amazing.
"and this is where i slaughtered an entire hive of changlings. with fire"
"Gah?"
"and this is where i shattered space-time to free princess luna from her corruption"
"...Gah?"
"on another topic you are making mr green marry someone he doesnt want to and this makes me very very sad"
"oh you fainted was it something i said?"
4196112
I want to see this!
4194882 Considering there are to goddesses who can choose when the sun and moon rise and set... the lack of time synchronization is understandable. Plus, the Wisp is technically light incarnate... so lots of time to it might be no time to ponies.
Poor Greengrass, he always seems to be running on around -5 karma, at least prior to meeting Twilight. Afterwards it seems to vary between -10 and somewhere north of 100.
Huh, looks like the evaluation is going to accidentally take more than one day. Actually, considering Greenie's special talent, it might work out for the best for Twilight if his evaluation accidentally ends up continuing indefinitely.
Rainbow Wisp is best wisp.
I see "Trust in Harmony," and I can't help but picture the phrase minted on every bit.
The idea of horn polish gave me pause for a moment, but if they file them, I suppose it's only logical. I wonder if there are blends that enhance magic. Or ones that look so good, vain unicorns are willing to put up with how they impede magic. Or ones that alter aura color...
What? Magic offers a lot of options, even in the world of cosmetics.
I can't help but wonder if The Prince With The Wandering Eye involves one of Ditzy's ancestors. Possibly. It's not like eye disorders are relegated to one bloodline.
Speaking of Ditzy, it seems she flies better when she doesn't look where she's going. Makes sense to me.
In any case, great chapter. The wisp was especially funny. I do look forward to its reaction to a phoenix. Especially given Philomena's mischievous streak.
more
we need more Monster
! please?
4196962 Actually The Prince With the Wandering Eye is a totally fictional story about a prince who met a princess and was so struck by love that he proposed that very evening. The princess said she would consider his proposal for three weeks, and the two parted. The next day, the prince met another princess, even more beautiful than the first, and was so smitten that he immediately proposed to her. Well, eventually the two sisters compared notes, and... Did I mention the Legend of the Headless Horsepony? Eventually this will go into my Foals Tales - Stories of the Night Pegasi series, once I get the kinks out of it. Writing fairy tales is a lot harder than it looks.
4195756 Tia's away for a few days. When the princess is away, the phoenixes will... (whistles)
4195673 Yes I am, but this tutor is not quite the same character as in TTatL. It's a little distracting because I'm writing "The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam" more or less at the same time I'm writing this, and the two stories go in *totally* opposite directions.
4196661 Nope, the evaluation will be done by the evening. Peep Sprout is the hardest one to get properly graded, though.
Ditzy Doo, the first (and only) pony to unintentionally troll the princess!
4194882
Introduce her to Fluttershy, then, because she has butterflies as a cutie mark. They'd either become best of friends, or she'd decide she's not too fond of stallions after all...
4194204 Well, of course! She had one mom and that was nice; two moms is even better; why not go for three?
Its Green Grass. HUZZAH!
The game. Celestia is better at it than you are.
I love the guards. Why do the guards always seem so much more awesome in fanfic than on the show?
Sun-bird meet sun-spirit/fairy thing. Have a good time, and try not to burn the place down
I don't remember who Green Grass is.
So, will Tia date the flaming chicken?
You referenced accoutrements, as in wickerty accoutrements.
Bro team pill - the end of Allan
YOU ARE MORE THAN A HERO TO ME RIGHT NOW!!!
peytral
4213857
That's because the show uses them as background place holders for the mood rarely do we actually see them doing anything positive or negative. I did like they're appearance during twilight's time loop episode where guard didn't bother questioning the insane looking mare and said "hey twilight"
7756095
Really makes you wonder how many times Twilight carried out midnight raids of the library and archives when she was attending Celestia's school, doesn't it?
I bet the tail extensions were Rarity's idea, Fluttershy is not the outgoing type.
I like these guards. They’re almost as good as the ones in...I forget the name of the story, but it has Ragar the Necromancer. Damnably hilarious.
8465713
The answer is yes.