Summer's End (Morpheus) Part 2
The fair went beyond description, although ve will do our best to find the words to describe it. It is worth noting, however, that such words will be woefully inadequate. My trip to the fair was a magical experience, and sharing it via words alone feels awkward.
Perhaps you’d be willing to share in my memories, though. I know that for the most part we’ve tried to keep things strictly vocal, but certain events are simply too powerful to express that way.
A breeze tickled the inside of my fetlock cavities as I looked out on the fair. An assortment of stands with products ranging from the mundane to quite strange lined the area like makeshift walls.
Soups. Sandwiches. Funnel cakes. Cotton Candy. Carrot dogs. Pizza. Quiche. Lasagna. Even a griffon selling fish and chips. The food was any and everywhere, and simply the smell of such a mish-mash of delicacies was a reward all on its own—sans the stinky cheese stand, of course.
There were ball tosses, ring tosses, balloon pops, and firing ranges. Games of chance and games of skill. Eating contests that were followed by cramped seven-legged races. Scavenger hunts that found well-hidden cabers to toss. Shell games to find the balls for dunking tanks—of the water, pudding, and jello variety.
Puppet shows of both humble and Great and Powerful origins. Crystal balls that foretold that a retry was needed with tarot cards. Freak shows with inanimate objects advertised as feral changelings. An advice booth looked over by Webber, and kissing booths managed by the Echo triplets.
Carousels housing bumper carts that made me motion sick just looking at them.
A Round Up roller coaster—where the ride itself was the safety belt.
And the coup-de-gras, a large non-euclidean Ferris wheel ve had never seen the like of before—twisting and contorting through at least seven different dimensions, or so the sign said. It had stops throughout the entirety of the fair, and peaked so high ve could swear I would be able to touch the moon from it.
Meanwhile, emotions bombarded me from every direction. Happiness. Merriment. Joy. Some frustration. Great elation. Sweet, spicy, dry, and even tiny bits of sour—quickly turning to sugar when the adrenaline kicked in, full power. There was the taste of everything and the kitchen sink—that nasty, elusive, kitchen sink that ve could never properly codify as an emotion.
All that and more I couldn’t perceive. It slammed into my senses, overwhelming me with its grandeur. At some point I must have stumbled to the side, because Twilight was giggling like mad as she supported me, a wing over my back.
“Would you believe me if I said it was a work in progress?” The Princess staggered as her comment made me stumble again.
“What more could you possibly add?” I hissed, eyes darting about.
Twilight shrugged, rubbing her shoulder against mine. “Pinkie mentioned something about cannons to the moon last board meeting I was at.”
“Cannons… to… the… moon?” I chirped the most masculine of chirps. Definitely not so high pitched that they threatened to be imperceptible to even the changeling ear. “By the hive, I need to sit down.” The world was spinning. Perhaps more filters were needed.
No. No extra filters. I just needed to adapt. Filters were a crutch, and any other day I’d be fine.
“So…” I looked around as Twilight and I collapsed into a seat. “Five minutes in, and I’m already taking a break….”
“Actually, it was twenty.” Twilight was still giggling occasionally. “You kept trying to trace the path of the Ferris wheel as it plucked cars into and out of the x, y, and z axes onto the a, b, c, or d axes.”
“Yeah....” I turned my head back towards the Ferris wheel like a moth looks to a flame.
“Bad Mo!” Twilight thwapped me with a wing. “I just got you back. Don’t go zoning off again.”
“Alright! Alright!” I looked anywhere but the Ferris wheel. We were going to do that last anyways. “So what’s first?”
Twilight retrieved a checklist from the aether. “Carnival games.”
I grinned a very evil grin. “Oh, wonderful. Tell me, Twilight. How many objects can you manipulate at once?”
Twilight hummed in thought. “I’m not sure there’s a limit if don’t need to worry about finesse. I can just group a bunch of objects together and treat them as one ‘object’ for the purpose of lifting alone. My record for fine control is all the books in the Golden Oaks library, though, so at least five thousand four hundred sixty three—probably more since I’ve been getting stronger.” She tilted her head to the side. “Why do you ask?”
My grin grew. “Because I’m about to raise you an army.”
Standing, I found the myriad of sensations from the fair were no longer quite so overwhelming. My legs were still a little shaken, but I sauntered as best I could to the nearest game stand: a ball toss.
“How much?” I flashed a smile at the vendor, shrinking my fangs to lessen the fear response. A brief waft of sour milk filled the air, but the pony in charge held it in check rather nicely.
“Two tickets for three shots.” Flaring his cape, the orange unicorn revealed three small rubber meteors.
“Right…” I frowned. “Forgot to purchase tickets.”
“I didn’t!” Twilight smiled as she approached, waving her checklist for me to see. Below the first item of carnival games was a second checklist—a sublist—whose first item was ‘purchase tickets for carnival games.’
“Never change, Twilight.” I shook my head, chuckling as Twilight let me take the tickets. Turning back to the stand master, I ripped two tickets free from the bunch, and gave them to him.
“Wonderful!” The unicorn stood on his hind hooves, spreading his fore hooves in a grand sweeping gesture.
He levitated me the meteors, and I squinted at them. Non-uniform picks and craters marked the surface in a half-clever attempt to mess with the air resistance of the ball. It would have messed with most athletes subconscious calculations—hindering those who might have had an advantage.
Ve were not limited to subconscious calculations, though, and a burst of tremor sense through the balls told us everything ve needed to know—including the hidden composition of their interior. They were not a singular pieces of rubber, but rather had several other components of varying density inside to offset their center of gravity.
Beginning what calculations ve could do with information from the ball alone, I sent another burst of tremor sense to the bottles that were my target, and a small breeze traveled from me to the pins and back again as I gathered info on the state of the atmosphere between me and the pins.
My paranoia that he somehow tampered with the air was thankfully unfounded, yet it was difficult to narrow down the proper point I would need to impact the bottles on. Ve weren’t sure if it was intentional on the unicorns part, but most of our projected potential impact points for the ball would leave a bottle or two standing.
In the end, though, our simulations came through for us. I pulled back a hoof and threw—all the bottles scattering from a direct hit. Picking up the remaining two balls, ve repeated the process for the other stacks of bottles. Three balls. Three potential targets. Three prizes upon completion. It was simple math.
With the ringing of spilled bottles still in everypony’s ears, I turned to the stand master and held out a hoof. “Prizes please.”
He blinked, opening and closing his mouth several times. “I think you mean prize: singular.”
I frowned. “Really? That’s a horribly inefficient system. Your simply delaying the inevitable. Princess Twilight needs her army.” I plucked an enormous, orange, fluffy, stuffed sheep from the rack of prizes. It was the size of a small pony, and it's fur was so thick a foal could get lost in it. Levitating it to Twilight, I bowed. “Every army needs a general, Princess.”
Turning back to the orange unicorn, I handed him two more tickets. “F. Y. I. That was not a fluke. I will keep going until I clear you out. If you wish to expedite the process at any point, you need merely speak up.”
Several stand managers glared as they packed up their booths. The army of stuffed animals saluted their Princess—or they would have if Twilight bothered to play along. Instead, Twilight was staring at her minions as ponies passed by. Her face was scrunched, and her emotions were a confusing mish-mash of reactions that jumped between sweet cotton candy, spicy sweet-peppers, and a dry lemonade with a hint of wine.
“You know, when I was a filly, my brother used to spend almost his entire allowance when he took me to the Summer’s End Festival? Most of it went towards trying to win me and Cadance a prize.”
She sighed, and the wine grew a bit more distinctive and stronger—no longer mixed with the lemonade, but standing independent and full of mulled spices as she reminisced.
“He never won anything, no matter what kind of advice I gave. One year, I specifically studied all the physics involved to coach him, and he managed to win once, but he gave it to Cadance…. I was so mad that we almost had to leave the fair, which only made me feel worse when he gave me Smarty Pants the next day. You know, Shining hoof-stitched her for me because he didn’t want to risk another year of disappointment at the fair?”
I blinked, uncertain of how to deal with the situation. Twilight should have been happy, not… whatever this was…. Happy with a whole heap of side dishes? In an effort to buy time, ve let the first thing to come to mind out of my mouth. “Our data suggests you got Smarty Pants around age five…. That seems a little early for physics.”
She giggled. “Yeah, the fact that I studied doesn’t mean I actually understood anything at the time. I just thought I did, being five years old and all. There was this phase where I let all the talk of being a prodigy get to my head.”
She looked about her small army once more, sighing wistfully. “Now, we’re here, playing carnival games, and you’ve won me every prize from the last ten booths, and I can’t afford to keep them.”
I tsked. “What?! Why?! I won them all fair and square for you.”
“But these carnival games are designed for ponies, not changelings….” Twilight began levitating her prizes back to the stands, earning mostly grateful nods from their owners. The orange unicorn I’d cleaned out first merely continued to grumble—having to reopen everything he’d just packed up.
I looked to the ground and frowned. “Then why did you wait ten whole booths to stop me?”
“I’m sorry….” Her ears splayed back as she looked at me. Walking up, she lightly bumped the bridge of her muzzle into the bridge of mine. “I should have said something sooner, but I was really enjoying watching you go at it. I wanted to see if you could clear the carnival for me, honest, but I just can’t because it isn’t fair to the ponies running the stands or anypony else who wants to play.”
She gave a half-hearted grin. “Next year, I’ll make sure we have games for changelings to take part in.”
“Can she at least keep the General?” I looked to the orange unicorn.
He looked between Twilight, myself, and the massive, orange, sheep that had most likely been the main attraction to draw in crowds to his stand. He hadn’t had any other prizes nearly as big, and ve could classify all the minute outward signs of him having an internal struggle of some sort.
Finally, he exhaled mightily. “Fine…. As long as it’s alright with Twilight, I suppose the first three perfect throws do deserve an award.”
My eyes were two times larger than normal and growing by the time my head whipped back around to Twilight. I bit my chops just so—like Errant did—-and pouted, all while giving the tiniest, most pitiful, whimper.
Twilight averted her gaze, coughing violently. “Nope. No need for the face. Stop it.” She squirmed, sneaking a peak to find each eye taking up almost half of my head. “There’s absolutely no reason to bring out that horrifyingly adorable face. I’ll be happy to keep General Fluffmagedon.”
“Yes!” Instantly dropping the facade, I thrummed, wings chirping happily.
Twilight smiled, shaking her head. “Should I be worried that you’re so fixated on me keeping it? You aren’t normally so…” She trailed off, waving a hoof to try and articulate her thoughts.
“Ve’re trying not to worry. You know that.” I laughed. “I can afford a bit of nymphishness today, don’t you think?”
“I suppose.” Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Just remember that today’s supposed to be your day off. Your day off. I don’t want you to…” She clicked her tongue. “How to explain it?”
Her brow furrowed and she was silent for several moments—an island of contemplation in a sea of ponies. “Don’t… don’t stop being a prince just because you can. It’s a part of who you are, you know? I want you to have a day off and not worry, but, honestly, I’m worried you’ll take that to mean you should pretend to be someling you’re not.”
I bared my fangs in a grin. “I was silly and foal-like once, you know. I was a regular troublemaker as a nymph—still technically am if you count all the ways I frustrate the other lords.”
“You know what I mean.” She lightly slugged me before turning back to her checklist. “Ah, next is funnel cake!” She turned to her right, and began walking to the nearest directory.
I rubbed the spot she hit me and allowed ourself to wonder about the situation as I followed. Twilight was worried about me again, and the knowing stares several other ponies were giving us as we passed, left me feeling like butterflies were crawling about my stomach.
Ve wanted nothing more than to hide myself in the guise of Wicked Smooth, but I refused to let their stares get to me.
“Funnel cake!” A plate of crispy fried dough—still popping slightly with the traces of burning hot oil that were clinging to the pastry—was put before me so quickly I barely had time to stop. Looking up, I found the Pink Menace pronking in place as she offered both me and Twilight a plate.
“Pinkie!” Twilight smiled. “How did you know Mo and I were heading to the funnel cake stand?”
“Huuuuuuuuuuuh!” There was a long and overly dramatic gasp from the pink party pony. “I totally had no idea! I’ve just been wandering around sharing my funnel cake with ponies! If you were looking for me, then this must be destiny!”
“No, Pinkie.” Ve bit our chops, wondering if daring to question her madness was wise. “We were looking for the funnel cake stand, not you. You just happened to—”
“But I am the funnel cake stand!” She pulled a cart loaded with bubbling fryers from behind a flagpole. One of the timers dinged, and she removed a pastry only to eat it in one bite—pouring sugar and a vanilla ice cream bar down her throat almost as an afterthought. Holding out two ice cream bars, she smiled. “Want some for your own?”
I stared for a second before ve decided that asking Logic’s End where the cart came from would be folly, and I tentatively took the ice cream, pulling out the tickets Twilight had given me.
“Oh! No, no, no! I don’t take tickets.” The Enigma shook her head vehemently.
Twilight laughed as I slowly painfully began to hoof my plate back. “Don’t worry about paying her, Mo. Pinkie just kind of… does her own thing at these fairs.” She rubbed her horn. “Last year it was a giant game of laser tag. With unicorns as the armament of choice.
“Twilight won me the game!” Pinkie pushed my plate back towards me, and I hungrily took it.”
“Sounds intense.” I managed to respond before beginning to inhale my treat.
“Oh, it was.” Twilight’s tail twitched as she finished a bite. She was still running a hoof over her horn. “My horn and tail were sore for days afterward.”
“Mmmnf…” The crisp pastry flaked apart in my mouth, and I shuddered at the inequine perfection that was Pinkie’s pastries. Baked or fried, she knew her deserts.
“Ah… funnel cake.” Twilight licked her lips to rid herself of the last of the sugar. “Guess it’s time to move onto… the scavenger hunt….” She looked up from her checklist at me briefly. “Okay, maybe not. That’ll probably be the carnival games all over again…. That and I’m not sure either of us can toss the cabers they hid this year. We could— No. That poses the same problem. I saw what the freak shows were promoting, so they’re also a no. Oh! We could— Wait. Nevermind. They’re sold out by now. We’d have had to grab them the instant the fair opened. I suppose…”
“Twilight.” I popped another piece of funnel cake in my mouth, confident that she would neither stop nor realize I’d said anything until at least three more attempts were made.
Indeed, Twilight didn’t seem to hear, continuing to pace in her little circles. “We could go get our future read now, but I don’t want to run the risk of being told we’ll come back at three fifty-two like I have actually scheduled....”
“Oh! Oh! I know what you should do! Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie spun her friend about and pointed. Following her hoof, I audibly gulped. The Tunnel of Love—in all it’s heart-stopping glory—was only a few feet away, and it baffled us that I could have let mere funnel cake distract me such that I would miss the real smorgasbord of the fair.
Twilight merely scrunched her face in distaste. “No, Pinkie. Those rides are nothing but excuses for… well… you know….”
“Yeah, and?” Pinkie waggled her eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you and Mo like an excuse to you know?”
Twilight snorted. “I don’t think we—”
“I want to go….” I stared hungrily at the slowly simmering pot that held soup made of purest honey.
“What?” Twilight reared back. “Why would you want to— Oh!” Hoof met face. “You’re hungry, of course.”
“Ah….” Pinkie pouted, patting me on the withers consolingly. “You didn’t say you were still punishing him with no dessert because of the incident with the papers, Twilight.” Big, tear-filled, blue, eyes turned to pout at Twilight. “Don’t you think he’s suffered enough? I mean, what is it? Two weeks now with minimum rations? Either you were madder than I thought, or you just like to keep him whipped.”
I internally flinched at the images that came to mind from Pinkie’s choice of diction. Surely there was no way she meant that literally like Mother would, but her words were evocative.
“I— You think— Argh!” The sudden tingle of magenta sparkles were my only warning before I found myself being lifted off the ground. “I. Am. Not. Like. That.” Twilight glared at Pinkie but the Pink Puzzle just giggled.
“Sure you aren’t.” She winked at me with all the exaggerated slowness of a tortoise.
“I’m not!” Twilight ruffled her feathers. “I’ll even show you!”
She stomped up to the Tunnel of Love’s entrance, levitating me behind her. I felt everypony staring at me—all of them not quite sure whether they should be amused or bemused—and decided the best possible course of action was to just smile and wave.
Confidence did wonders in these sorts of situations.
“Ah, Twilight! I was wondering when I’d see you here. You and your coltfriend are the talk of the town these days.” A razzmatazz pegasus stallion managed the entrance with the most bedazzling scarlet mustache. If I hadn’t known better, I’d of thought him Snow Flurry’s brother.
Twilight smiled a smile only a predator could love. “Great! Then you know why I’m here.” She levitated far too many tickets over. “Make sure no reporters follow us.”
I heard the flash of a camera somewhere overhead, and I knew. There was no need for the reporters to follow us. The most damning of photographs had been taken. So many things could be construed from the massive bribe Twilight was giving the pegasus.
No. Wait. There was the distinctive crack of breaking plastic and the squeak of bending metal. A nervous squawk signaled the attempted flight of the reporter, and the deep thrum gave away Hera’s satisfaction that she got to hunt today.
Twilight—oblivious to the fact that Hera just saved her dignity—pulled me through the entrance and set me in the giant swan boat. The giant pink swan boat. The giant pink swan boat with a pony’s head. Okay. It was actually Cadance’s head. I couldn’t deny it. Even a little. We were going to slowly drift down dark tunnels seated on the back of the Princess of Love.
Ve had no idea why that was considered romantic. It was like she was watching me—judging me—and it would get real creepy real fast if I was actually here to snuggle with Twilight.
As it was, I was here for the food. Even at the loading dock, there were all sorts of appetizing appetizers—hints of what was to come in the air. The taste of flower blossoms lingered everywhere. All kinds of blooms. All kinds of crushes. A hint of honey here or there.
Meanwhile, Twilight sat next to me in the boat, mumbling to herself. I should have paid more attention to her, but I was admittedly almost drooling in anticipation. As I licked my chops, she looked at me, blushed, and looked down at the base of the boat.
“I’m going to regret getting annoyed at Pinkie, aren’t I?” She sighed.
“Most likely.” I thrummed.
“Everypony saw me drag you inside, didn’t they?” Her face scrunched.
“Most assuredly.” I nodded.
“And now they’re going to—” She finally looked at the head of the boat. “Sweet Celestia! Is that Cadance? What sane couple wants Cadance watching while they cuddle in the dark?”
“Ve’re sure your brother wouldn’t mind a second Cadance.” I flicked my wings, giving off the faintest chirp of amusement, but otherwise keeping my delivery deadpan.
Twilight thwapped me with a wing as we descended into the tunnel. “Seriously?”
I simply smiled in response, changing the subject before Twilight began to dig herself a hole. “You know, I could always link you to the hivemind for this. Aren’t you curious what so much mixed ambient love tastes like?”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh my gosh! I didn’t even think of that! This is the perfect learning opportunity!” With a fizzle and pop one of her notebooks appeared – primed with a quill and ink bottle.
The boat started to crawl forward, and I leaned forward resting my head atop hers to let my horn flicker to life. Ve had been fine-tuning this spell to be more pony friendly in our sleep for a while, and it showed—less setup time, easier to interpret sensations, lack of physical contact as a requirement during casting.
“Oh! It’s like a flower salad in my mouth! Daisies, lilies, roses, apple blossoms, orange blossoms, even peach and cherry blossoms! There are so many kinds of flowers dancing on my tongue! I can’t even identify them all!”
That was probably the deadly nightshade. There really wasn’t much reason for ponies to eat that. Admittedly, it was an odd flavor for a crush, but I wasn’t one to judge.
Still, it was expected that we cuddle throughout the ride, and a reporter might still follow us in. I wriggled slightly—shifting my body’s contours to make a seatback of sorts for her— and she looked at me, face scrunching as I leaned into her.
“For appearance’s sake,” I whispered into her ear.
That seemed to lessen her embarrassment, and she nodded before letting herself relax against me. The scritch-scratch of quill on paper filled the air, and the boat finally inched into the first tunnel. We were going to be here a long time if the whole ride was this speed.
“You know, this is really pretty.” Twilight hummed. “Flowers are falling through the air around us with sparkling little stars dancing between them.”
“It shouldn’t be that intense.” I thrummed. “I can set up a filter if you want.”
“No, no…. It’s fine.”
Twilight shook her head as we entered a small room meant to look like the beach. The smell of brine filled the air, and the wall and water was lit up in a myriad of oranges to simulate the sunset. Little toy boats tried to pretend at being sailboats out at sea, while a small patch of sand was to our right—complete with a towel and umbrella.
“Oooh… now I’m picking up the taste of honey!” She glanced about, head subtly shifting beneath my own, probably expecting a pitcher of the stuff to be flying about.
“It was there before, Twilight.” I chuckled. “Can you sample the different kinds? Or is it just honey to you?”
Twilight sniffed and stuck her tongue out to sample the air. “There’s honey clustered oats and apple pancakes drizzled in honey and I think that might be mead.”
“That’s pretty good.” I thrummed, letting some pride through the link. Her observation was spot on, although I sampled the air myself—tongue darting in and out—to see if there were any finer details she’d missed. There was a hint of leather in the air that both she and I had missed so far, but I wasn’t about to ask if she could taste the lust in the air.
“You know—” Twilight’s ear flicked, tickling the underside of my muzzle as I spoke “—the pancakes are from Applejack and Rainbow. Their love is very…” I hesitated, “...calling it familial feels like it would be doing a disservice to its depth, but the fact is family is a huge deal to Applejack. Ve believe that is reflected in it’s taste, which is why it’s such a homey flavor.”
“What about Rainbow Dash?” TwilIght’s ear flicked again, and I tried not to twitch from the sensation.
“Her love is much the same.” I closed my eyes so ve could think on how to explain. “That’s why there’s so much depth to it. They’re each so in synch with the other. Cadance and your brother were like that too. Both ends of their love were like a steel dipped blade dancing in a storm of rose petals – an endless romantic waltz in spring on a moonlit night.”
“Sounds poetic.” Twilight murmured, shifting slightly in her seat.
“Love is poetic.” The reply was automatic. “It’s a whirlwind of rules and behaviors that mean something different to everypony seeking it. For some, it’s a rich structured courtship. For others, it’s a casual fling without any binding laws. Still, others purposely disobey the rules to make their own, and some don’t even realize there are rules until it’s too late. In the end, everypony has their own rulebook for love—one need simply read it to write the perfect poem for them.”
I hesitated upon tasting Twilight’s appreciation for my words, but couldn’t stop from following through. “Mother used to say that….” I felt the appreciation sour. “I know she meant it in a more manipulative light, but it still feels like an appropriate summation, don’t you think?”
“I suppose….” Twilight squirmed in her seat slightly before coming to rest against me once more. We entered the darkened tunnel at the end of the room and sat in silence as we drifted to the next room.
There was a field waiting for us on the other side. I could smell the flowers as we passed them – drifting down a river through the middle of the room. Twilight was sniffing, no doubt trying to differentiate between the real flowers and the romance in the air.
“What do you think Rainbow and Applejack were doing in here?” Twilight finally restarted the conversation.
“What other couples do?” I shrugged. “Rainbow might be fine with bragging about the bedroom, but I’ve noticed she avoids certain forms of displaying affection in public. It wouldn’t surprise us if she came here with Applejack to get some privacy.”
Possibly something more, I left unsaid. The taste of leather and honey soaked pancakes was stronger now, suggesting the two were linked. Ve sincerely hoped that, if things had become physical between Rainbow and Applejack, they had not progressed too far. Twilight would be beyond disturbed at the idea that we might be in the same boat they were in, and such activities would have left an impression in the room the deed was done, if not on the boat itself. Twilight would probably notice the kind of filter I’d need to set up to block that, which—of course—meant she’d ask what I was doing and why.
“Hey. Is it just me, or do you taste something new in the air?” Twilight poked me with her hoof. Her wings tried to ruffle as she turned her head from side to side, ear flicking.
“There’s nothing there that wasn’t there before.” I tried a simple half truth, but the tickling sensation of feathers and ears betrayed me. I snorted, causing her to pull back for a second and squint up at me.
“That was a very changeling answer.” Her magic gripped my ear, jerking my head downward so I was forced to meet her gaze. “What aren’t you telling me? What am I tasting?”
I remained silent as we passed through the room, retreating behind my haws.
“Come on, Mo. You know I’m not going to let this go.” The orange disinfectant that was her curiosity concurred as she tried to dissect me with her gaze.
“You really don’t want to know.” Her skills of observation were for naught as I deployed a poker face so devoid of emotion a pony might think my carapace was stone.
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Her lips pursed in dissaproval, and I whimpered realizing there was no way out.
“Fine…. It’s—”
We entered the next room and I flinched at the sudden escalation of leather in the air. There was a low lying fog surrounding us, while the ceiling and walls were painted deep blue and had little lights denoting the stars in the sky. The faintest scent of sweat and musk filled the air—too small for a Twilight to detect, thankfully, but I knew she was about to be sensing other things.
“Oh. Eww… Now I can’t get the taste out of my mouth.” Twilight whined, glancing about. “Is that… Sunset Shimmer’s coat? Why is it raining— Sweet Celestia, Sunset wears leather! I’m tasting leather—like, as in the tanned hide of an animal! I’m tasting the tanned hide of an animal, and you told me that leather usually means lust! Things happened in this room! Possibly in this very boat!” Her horn glowed, and I suddenly felt remarkably fresh—much like I’d just taken a bath.
“Nope. Not enough. Can’t scrub the pictures in my head with a cantrip.” She crawled on top of me, trying to avoid touching the boat in any fashion. “I’m not sure if it’s worse or not that Applejack and Rainbow Dash might be responsible. The other option is some random couple I don’t know.”
I slowly shifted, trying to provide Twilight safety from the cootie infested room. This was the problem with some ponies preferring the risk of being caught, ve supposed. It could freak the catchee out and completely ruin the mood. I was simply glad that we were in a different boat. I couldn’t smell the deed on our transport, after all. I would have told Twilight as much, but she was clinging to me so tightly I knew she wouldn’t believe me.
And so we inched through the room, Twilight on top of me. She glanced about nervously, fidgeting and twitching occasionally. All things considered, she handled it rather well. Ve, honestly, expected much more rubbery embarrassment than she put out and as we entered the tunnel on the other side of the room, I nudged her to let her know it was time to get off, but she decided to cling even tighter.
“Twilight, seriously.” I sighed, canceling the spell. “If this is how you’re going to react to lust, I’m not going to cast this spell on you again. It’s an emotion that happens. Rainbow actually tastes of it a lot, and you know she doesn’t just throw herself at Applejack in front of us.”
I nudged her again. “Now calm down and snuggle up. We want ponies to think we’re a healthy couple. Imagine what ponies will think if we leave the ride like this—you on top of me.” She squeaked, quickly getting off and trying to lean against me like before. It was far less comfortable with her twitching every few seconds.
Eventually, however, she calmed down, and I got back to enjoying the meal.
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
1,023 users online
1,744,529 hits today, 2,280,440 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.®
Pinkie Pie got words for you, Twilight!
...I still don't really get it... Is the joke in the title that a Changeligs behaviour isn't constant?
Poor Twilight.
Here's hoping she still enjoyed the link overall, and that the two can have a great time at the rest of the fair.
8144610
I thought the love boat ride was brilliant. It just begs for jokes and irony-- the biggest example being Cadence as the maidenhead for the boat. And who's to say some reporter isn't lurking in the shadows to take a snap of the princess sprawled on top of the prince? Then again, it would not surprise me in the least to see changelings lounging behind the scenes as they nurse from the pony-provided eat-till-you-gag buffet.
Loved the link between Sunset Shimmer's coat and leather, given how Twilight would otherwise be unfamiliar with the smell of it.
It's "coup-de-grâce"
What you wrote basically means, depending on context, something like "Fatty Blow".
Which, being french, made me chuckle.
Also, this is what I had in mind during Pinkie's part
8144562
That is one interpretation, I suppose, although not the one I'm going for. It simply means changelings can change. they aren't bound to be evil soulless love sucking leeches.
A missing "I" between the marked words?
You're, as in "you are".
its
it's = it is
its = his, her
Also, obligatory Despicable Me joke at the 1st one.
Not as visible here, but 2nd "I" in Twilight's name is capitalised.
Can't wait for the next chapter. Also kinda booo at no kisses or even proper cuddles. :c
The tunnel of love here really had this aww, and eww in equal measure, and it was so fitting for things. She keeps pressing into learning about changelings, that morpheus has to found he can't really hide much from her in the way of things. And I'm loving that.
Honestly, I'm feeling like Changing Times is Twilight x Morpheus child. Maybe it was said? I don't know, but it just feels too good of an idea.
Oh, you have got to be kidding me. AppleDash? Seriously?
If there's one thing I can't stand in this fandom, it's shipping between members of the Main 6. This one is especially greivous because it's so cliche on top of that.
I suppose I can overlook it as long as it doesn't become too prominent. I wouldn't call it a deal-breaker; it's more like Strike One. This story isn't worth giving up just because of one thing that I don't like.
8151637
*shrugs*
It's cliche for a reason. It's something most members of the fandom can understand the reasoning behind if not support it. I mean, I don't really support shipping in general myself -- or rather I'm very wary of it and the pitfalls therein -- but it's a tool like any other. If the story needs a ship, you let a ship happen, and this is a story about creatures who literally eat love. Of course I'm going to need various relationships to show how they perceive love. AppleDash was merely the safest option -- safe precisely because it was so cliche.
8152682 Well, like I said, I'm not the kind of person who gives up on something just because of one thing that I don't like. It doesn't seem to be taking over the story, so I'm not too worried. A lot of people who insert ships often get sidetracked by them, but I don't see the signs of that here. I can tolerate it if it's critical to the main plot or if it's in the background.
Oh! Like at the wedding!
Whoops, somehow I read this and the next chapter out of order.
Giant creepy Cadance swan boat is creepy. Interesting use of the link spell, though.
8151637
So what if something is cliche? Lots of things are a cliche, and they are used because THEY WORK. I mean seriously, go read TV Tropes on your favorite so called Trope Free or Low Trope movie and/or TV show.
Not only that, but the author has played the Appledash shipping rather lightly. I mean sure we're told they are in love, and yes we HEAR of their lust, but all in all...the worst is told, NOT shown. What IS shown is pretty tame. Frankly what we are shown is FAR deeper between MorphLight.
Really I am enjoying the slow shipping. Also, I love how the author turned a big cliche ride, into one unique and hilarious experience.
I have a soundtrack for this one...
...not the one I usually post. This one is more relevant.
No worries, Mo; everyone loves some free food