Chapter 27
“Actually, ladies. There’s a rather simple explanation,” Discord announced with glee—or at least I think that’s what it was. He seemed to find everything amusing.
“Discord, what did you do?” Star asked, impatient.
Latte, meanwhile, seemed to back away, unsure of herself.
“Come now, no need for your normally-warranted accusations. I was merely uncovering what was already there, like an archaeologist delicately dusting off an ancient artifact.” Discord closed the distance between us and tickled my nose with some sort of brush, causing me to sneeze. Fortunately for him, his face mask served as a blast shield. Literally. As in it transformed into a blast shield to save him from my magically charged sneeze. Fortunately, it didn’t ricochet back on me as magic normally seemed to do around here.
Star sighed. “For all the buildup this will probably be quite a roundabout sort of explanation. Can you save it until we bring Alice back to the princesses?”
“But can you wait is the question! A secret this momentous to a mystery long-confounding. Surely the tantalizing truth tempts you.” This time Discord invaded Star’s personal space as he rambled on. The much smaller mare didn’t even blink and let her silence speak for itself.
Discord huffed. “Fine…”
“Hey, River, you’re back!” Squirt said with a slight smile as I hesitated in the doorway. “Latte said you had to go back to the castle for something.”
Awkwardly waving a hoof in greeting, I briefly found myself pondering pony ergonomics of all things. Squirt’s room was by no means large, but it could easily accommodate the four colts, a bed and a desk in a space that was smaller than the Spartan quarters I was used to. Come to think of it, ponies needed less food as well. Were their means of production scaled-down as well, or might this explain the relative prosperity I had seen?
“Oh, hi…” I finally remembered to say.
“Where’s dinner?” Daft Hat asked.
“They closed up early,” I explained. “There was an incident, and they messed up a lot of orders. The owner really took it personally I guess.”
“That’s too bad…” Squirt said.
“So, what are you guys doing?” I asked.
“I brought over the newest expansion to the Trolls series: Lava Troll Tribes,” Golden Thimble explained, gesturing to a mostly red board that took up most of the empty space in Squirt’s room. “We can deal you in—so to speak—if you want. I think we can come up with a reasonable amount of cards to give you.”
“Is this any different from what we played earlier?” I asked, somewhat underwhelmed.
Iron raised an eyebrow at me. “Trolls is a turn-based strategy game based on resource management, cooperation, and thinking ahead. Think chess but not adversarial in nature.”
“Oh, I see,” I said weakly. I was really out of my element here.
“I take it you’re not much of a gamer.” Iron remarked, practically reading my mind. After further consideration of what he had said, he added, “Not that it’s a bad thing, I mean, but normally Squirt doesn’t associate with those above our lowly nerd caste. How’d the two of you become friends anyway?”
Exchanging a look with Squirt, we instantly communicated mutual confusion by the question, each hoping the other would take up the gauntlet.
“It just sort of happened,” I hazarded.
“Yeah,” Squirt added, “Neither of us are big on the conformist objectives of the educational system. We kind of bonded over that.”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Iron Press said before turning his attention back to the game. “I’ll assign three dozen of my worker trolls to help Thimble’s village with the mining expedition. I’ll send my berserkers on a jungle expedition. And I’ll play my prosperity card on obsidian mining to end my turn.”
The game continued in that manner for a while, with them narrating their every action for my benefit. Most of the terminology still perplexed me, but I at least got a feel for how the game flowed from turn to turn. Honestly, it wasn’t as boring as expected. Though considering the alternative to returning to the party was becoming Twilight’s lab rat yet again, I wasn’t about to regret my choice in any case. Still, what I had learned from Discord lingered in the back of my mind.
Excusing myself, I walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind me. Using a stool intended for Squirt’s use, I brought myself to eye-level with the mirror and stared at the green-eyed filly in the mirror. I pulled the ring off my horn, and my image flickered before settling on my normal filly colors.
“I suppose I don’t really need this anymore…” I mumbled, idly turning the ring in my hooves. To prove it I closed my eyes, turning my attention inward and visualizing my desire. When I reopened my eyes, River Glade once more occupied the mirror.
“Weird…” I said softly to myself.
Latte, Star, Discord, the three princesses and myself were crammed into a small dining room. Discord flexed his claws and snapped his facemask for good measure. He said, “So now that everypony has gathered, do you want the short version, or the long version? Or the medium version? Or the medium-long version? Or the semi-medium-short-long version?”
“Discord, please,” Celestia said with a commanding tone. “While you’ve been playing games, I have been considering dozens of explanations, ranging from benign to catastrophic. Just get on with it, please.”
“You want short, then? Very well, I’ll give you short: hybridization.”
I couldn’t quite read Celestia’s reaction to this news.
“It would make some sense,” Luna said, “but I would have sought to rule out myriad other possibilities before arriving at such an obscure explanation.”
Twilight, meanwhile, got a hungry look in her eye. “Another instance of hybridized magic! Alice, that’s great! I’d been wondering when a new case would pop up! I need to tell the professor!”
Celestia motioned for her to halt and asked, “What else do you know, Discord? Can you tell us if her magic has any dangerous properties, or more importantly, what its nature is?”
Discord slithered in the air and directed his gaze towards me. “Gee, I wonder…” he said coyly. His quilt patches of color began to shuffle rapidly between every color imaginable, and for good measure he turned his beard pink again.
Was he implying…
“Wait. You don’t mean that I’m part draconequus, do you?”
Discord perfectly imitated a buzzer sound as he shook his head. “Close, but no cigar.”
Everypony else seemed to have reached the correct conclusion before me. I figured it out only about a second before Twilight spoke it aloud: “You mean her magic is partially hybridized with chaos magic.”
“We have a winner! Discord said, simultaneously making bell noises as he spoke.
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Celestia demanded.
“You didn’t ask,” Discord smugly said while shrugging.
Celestia glared at him intensely.
“This could be good, or this could be bad,” Twilight said, uncertain. “We have to run some tests!”
The sun princess took a moment to consider before nodding at me, her countenance apologetic. “As much as I hate to subject you to another round of tests, this isn’t a matter we can take lightly. We need to know more about the nature of the hybridization and how we can protect you from it.”
I looked down and away. The idea was hardly appealing, but I couldn’t muster an argument against it.
“Why the long face, my little pony,” Discord asked, invading my personal space yet again. “The specter of the Twilight Inquisition got you down?”
“What do you care?” I grumbled.
“Where are your manners? That’s no way to talk to someone who might be able to help you out.”
I looked up at him and gritted my teeth while starting to formulate an apology.
“Discord, if you know anything,” Celestia began, telegraphing a threat.
Discord shrunk down to the size of a housefly. “I did say ‘might,’” he said in a high, squeaky voice before snapping back to his normal size. “But in this case I happen to know. Observe!”
To his right, a massive jar of jelly beans appeared; on his left, an identical jar appeared that was filled with raisins.
“This is my magic,” Discord explained, pointing to the jar on the right, “While this”—Discord levitated the other jar right in front of my muzzle—”is yours.”
“I don’t understand,” Luna said. “You say this child possesses hybridized magic, but now you imply the opposite with entirely distinct representations.”
Discord smiled, rotating the jar around. “Look again.”
An awkward two minutes passed.
“Discord, if thou art pulling our legs on this matter—wait is that a jelly bean there in the middle?”
Twilight trotted up to the jar. “It is!”
Discord floated towards Luna, contorting himself into a pose of supplication. “You see! No tricks here.”
“So what you’re trying to say is that the hybridization is like a drop in the bucket?” Twilight asked.
“More or less,” Discord said.
Star sneered at him. “Why in Equestria would you use a black jelly bean in a jar of raisins! It adds nothing, makes it impossible to see and nopony even likes that flavor!”
Discord chuckled. “Oh my that is quite the clever gag. Alas, I can be afforded no credit; my magic tends to lean towards the comical of its own accord.”
“Enough with this foolishness,” Celestia said coldly.
I practically shuddered. I had seldom heard her speak in such a manner.
“What exactly do you know?” she demanded of him.
Apparently, this also rattled Discord as he continued meekly: “When we Draconequii are born, we have similarly low concentrations of our signature chaos magic.Changing our stripes— so to speak—is the first trick we ever learn. So to put it simply, Alice here has such a comparably feeble concentration of chaos magic that anything beyond a mere palette swap should be impossible for her. So it’s a nice party trick. Not much more than that.”
Discord entire body shriveled up and he spoke as if he were dying of heat stroke. “That dry enough for you?”
A heavy silence fell over the room.
“So you’re saying that it’s nothing much to worry about?” Latte asked innocently.
“Pretty much. I said it was a simple explanation. I never said it was anything consequential. Besides, if it were really important do you think I would have kept it to myself so long?”
“Yes!” All three princesses said in unison.
Discord’s eyes seemed to inflate as they filled with tears. He clicked his claws and a pair of windshield wipers swabbed his eyes. “Honestly, you sell out all of Equestria to a power-hungry demon one time…”
“Wait what?” I asked, regarding Discord with suspicion. Apparently, Twilight hadn’t been kidding before about the creature’s past misdeeds.
“Long story,” he said meekly.
A slight smile finally returned to Celestia’s face. “If that’s all there is, I see no reason to keep you from your party.” Her levity gradually spread to everypony in the room.
Star cleared her throat. “Hang on. Aren’t we forgetting something important?” Star asked. “Alice’s magical signature corresponds to an infant alicorn’s. Couldn’t her hybrid magic mature along with her?”
Twilight pitched in: “While magic does mature with the individual, a unicorn or alicorn’s magical spectrum remains essentially the same throughout life. As such, the ratio between pony magic and draconequus magic should remain constant, meaning that as her magic develops the chaos magic will remain relatively diluted. Although, I would have to examine her carbuncle again to be sure.”
“Which can wait,” Celestia said. “Assuming you want to return to the party, of course.”
“Yeah, I do,” I said, making my first and last contribution to the discussion. “It’s better than having everypony talking about how unique and special I am.”
Celestia looked on me with regret. “I’m sorry, Alice. I forgot to consider your feelings on this matter. Is there anything you would like to add?”
“Not particularly. But what I’m getting out of this is that I can change my colors. Is it something I can learn to do?”
“Oh, yes,” Discord said.
“So how do I do it?”
“It’s like riding a bike; you’ll never forget once you’ve done it a couple of times.”
“So how do I do it?”
“Well that’s easy! You just—you know. Shift your coloration? Yeah, it turns out to be one of those things that’s too simple to be put into words. Sorry.”
I sighed.
Fortunately I figured it out relatively quickly. Still there was one thing that bothered me. The princesses hadn’t brought it up, but deep down, I knew what all of this meant for me. Closing my eyes again, I concentrated on negating any sort of previous color change. When I felt the brief fuzzy sensation pass, I waited a second to confirm my fears
Pink.
I saw pink.
My natural mane color was pink.
Although my experience with this new ability was limited, I knew beyond a doubt that this was the truth of the matter. There was a subtle difference in mana. Once I was cognizant of it, I realized a subtle mana stream had been flowing inside me for weeks. With this blue and pink color scheme that manifested when I relaxed my new ability, the flow ceased.
I sighed.
However, before I could delve into self-pity, the whole matter became a laughable. Honestly, who would even care about what my “natural” mane color was; I could change it whenever I wanted and nopony would be the wiser!
With a bit of effort, I turned my mane scarlet again so I wouldn’t forget later on and have Celestia preaching to me about embracing my inner pinkness.
Although it was now redundant, I slipped my ring back over my horn. I wasn’t about to trust a magical ability I just learned about in order to keep my identity secret. With my pressing curiosity extinguished, I trotted to the door and swung it open.
Latte came into view, and I watched in concern as she nimbly dodged the door.
“Sorry about that. Although, I do question the wisdom of orienting the door as such…”
“You wouldn’t be the first,” Latte said, more amused than anything. All of us are just used to it the way it is I guess. Besides, it’s an opportunity to train our reflexes. Anyway, I was looking for you.”
“Oh?” I said
“Yeah, I have kind of a big favor to ask you. I was going to ask you on the way to Taco Power, but I didn’t want to downplay your concerns. Anyway, I wanted to catch you before dinner. Is now a good time?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Let’s not talk here,” she said, suddenly lowering her voice. “We can talk in our room.”
Not wanting to be nosy, I kept my eyes trained on Latte, but from what I glimpsed, the twins’ room was spotless. It was adorned with candles and a couple of paintings. Following the change of scenery, I once more asked, “Well, what did you want?”
“Well, it’s about Squirt,” she began. “You may not know this but his father, Short Stuff, is actually
a famous hoofball player.”
“Really? I never would have expected.”
“Yeah, we try not to bring it to ponies’ attention because we want privacy. He’s famous as one of the smallest stallions to be successful at the highest level of the sport. Advanced stats don’t really like him, but he still has many fans that love him and insist that he passes the eye-test.”
“Truth is I don’t know much about hoofball, so I have no idea what you’re getting at.”
“It’s not that important, actually. I was just trying to give some background. At any rate, the important part is that he has always wanted Squirt to be more active, while our mother has encouraged his more sedentary interests. Well, our stepfather saw opportunity in the newly grouped green activities at camp and convinced our mother to get Squirt some more exercise so he isn’t completely out-of-shape come camp time.”
I almost felt embarrassed. I had never wanted to know this much about the inner machinations of Squirt’s family. A game developer and a hoofball player certainly made an odd match, and I could see how the two different worlds might clash.
“How does this relate to me again?” I asked, feeling like I had been set to repeat.
“I’m getting there,” Latte said patiently. “What it basically comes down to is that we signed Squirt up for a youth soccer league.”
“Wow. Happy Cuteceanera, Squirt,” I snarked.
Latte seemed to go slightly pale. “Please don’t tell him right now. I don’t want to ruin his special day.
I nodded, still soured by the idea.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now, it’s not that we want to make him do something he’ll hate, so we were hoping he could join at the same time as a friend.”
“No,” I stated flatly.
Her eyes were pleading.
“I know exactly what you’re thinking,” I said incredulous. “You want me to join the league too.”
“Would you?” Latte begged.
“I don’t think so,” I said with negligible regret. “As much as I want to be helpful, you’re asking too much.” Latte’s ears drooped. “Besides, I’m a filly now,” I added to soften my rejection. “Do you really think nopony would notice if I played in the colts’ section?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
“You know, it wouldn’t be fair for colts and fillies to play in the same league. They’re built differently.”
“Oh, I see what you mean, Alice. Yes, sometimes the differences do impact sports. In hoofball, for instance, stallions have an advantage in being bigger and heavier. They’re not necessarily stronger, but having more mass really affects the game enough to justify separate mare leagues. In most other pony sports, though, there are separate sections for each tribe rather than gender.”
“Oh.” I smiled. “But aren’t I supposed to be an earth pony? How are we going to get me in the unicorn group?”
“Oh, ponyfeathers… I hadn’t thought of that. It’s hard to keep track of who knows what about you…”
“Tell me about it,” I said with a chuckle.
“Well I guess you can’t… help—” She smiled. “Well, maybe River Glade can’t participate, but I think we could come up with somepony else.” She giggled at her own cleverness.
I’m really not going to like this idea, am I?
After conspiring with Latte, I returned to see the climax of the trolls game. It was too late to let me start playing, but Squirt offered to let me sit behind him as he explained how the game worked in more depth. The main object was to achieve a golden age by creating a society that could last a thousand years. It was by no means easy because random disasters could foil the most well-laid plans. I found myself hanging on every word as Squirt explained it. While superficially resembling Ogres and Oubliettes, this game was much more focused on the endpoint. Sadly, by the time I had invested myself in the game it had already ended.
Squirt stretched out. “Well-played everypony. Now what should we play next?”
Squirt’s stomach growled and the other colts laughed. I found myself joining in automatically. I’d probably have cursed such a response if it weren’t human nature too, so I let it slide.
“After dinner that is,” Squirt corrected.
“How many different games do you guys play anyway?”
The others looked at me weird.
“You know, I’ve never counted,” Squirt said with a shrug. “Thanks to Mom, I’ve been playing games since I was very young. But what else would we do?”
“Yeah,” Daft Hat said.
“Good question,” I admitted.
“Boys, dinner time!” Table Top called from downstairs.
“All right!” Golden Thimble said. “Your mom’s the best cook, Squirt.”
“Yeah, she’s alright,” Squirt said, grinning.
Dinner did not disappoint. While Squirt had initially been disappointed that we returned empty-hooved, his mom had prepared his favorite lemon curry. Strangely, I wasn’t that much of a fan of it. It wasn’t enough to get a complaint from me, but the texture was just too unusual. While I still cleaned my plate, everypony nonetheless noticed that I asked for no seconds.
After our late dinner, we pulled out some comically small foal-sized sleeping bags. I surveyed Squirt’s room a bit more and noticed a faint, almost invisible imitation of his new cutie mark painted on his wall in several places. His room didn’t have much in the way of decoration, and it made for a nice touch. While laying down my sleeping bag, I noticed some sheets of paper on the ground below Squirt’s desk. The first page was titled “My Cutie Mark Poem,” and I was a bit too eager to turn over the second page in hopes of “accidentally” encountering some ideas I could steal. Sadly, the second page contained only the word “the” in the top-left corner.
I snorted. Squirt had had no more luck than myself on that bothersome assignment.
“What is it, River?” Iron asked.
I almost reflexively started to lie, but for some reason, I elected to go with the truth: “Oh, we have this dumb cutie mark poem we have to do. I’m completely stuck on it, and by the looks of this, Squirt’s having no more luck.”
“Oh that? Yeah, it’s a pretty standard assignment from what I gather. I’m sure it’ll sound like canned advice, but just be honest about what it means to you. After all, it’s not like the teacher is going to tell you that your interpretation is wrong. Just be honest.”
“But if the teacher’s not going to challenge us, couldn’t we just make up whatever we want?” Squirt asked coyly.
“You said it not me,” Iron responded amused.
The bedroom door opened, and Squirt’s mom stepped in. “Boys, make sure you’re in bed by”— she paused for dramatic effect—”whenever you feel like!” Giggling at her own joke, she shut the door softly.
“I dunno about you guys, but I’m kind of beat,” Daft Hat said.
“You sure you don’t want to play another game?” Thimble asked, somewhat disappointed.
Squirt yawned. “Actually, I agree with Hat. We can always play another game in the morning.”
“Me three,” Iron added. “We can still talk after we turn off the lights—about our hopes and dreams, about games, about our crushes...” The last item was clearly tongue-in-cheek.
Hat snorted. “What are we a bunch of fillies?”
I didn’t laugh, but the others’ response was also weak.
“Just kidding, Squirt, we won’t grill you on it,” Hat said. “Though, I am curious how’re things going with that filly you’ve got your eye on. What’s her name again? Starburst?”
What…
“It’s Stardust,” Squirt said. “And not much has changed: she still thinks I’m an antisocial loser.” Then realization dawned on him. “You won’t tell her, right River?”
“Of course I won’t.” I said, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Squirt of all ponies had a crush. I could almost say I was disappointed in him.
From there, gaming talk once more took over. I tried to follow along as yawns started to overtake the group. Despite being the least active in the conversation, I was the last to drift to sleep, leaving me to ponder the strangeness of participating in a pony sleepover. All in all, it wasn’t that bad.
The next day, we played another round of Trolls because players could easily depart midway through. It turned out that the others’ moms didn’t yank them away as early as expected, and everypony stayed. And I actually had a ton of fun. I made the mistake of focusing too heavily on my military technology such that when a social movement undercut it, I was severely hamstrung. Thankfully, Iron Press was able to hire my excess soldiers as mercenaries and crisis was averted. I actually enjoyed making mistakes my first run through. It felt good that my actions had consequences.
By the time I had started to enjoy the party though, Squirt’s friends had started to depart. Finally, it was just him and I, and it started to get awkward. I was grateful that Star arrived when she did. However, the moment I had gotten back to the castle I had already started to miss the party. To start, I had nothing to do! And to make things worse, just when I had come up with a few ideas to occupy myself, Twilight summoned me to spend the rest of the day injecting magic into a machine in order for her to ascertain the extent of my abilities.
Celestia fortunately intervened when Twilight kept me past my self-imposed bedtime. I was asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow. I must have been out cold because a maid or somepony else had apparently moved me after I had fallen asleep atop the covers.
Mustering all of my strength I triumphantly tipped over the heavy vermillion earth filly and pinned her to the ground. I wasn’t strong enough to keep her there, but the victory was mine nonetheless.
Stepping out of the ring, I stopped to catch my breath.
Bulwark trotted up behind me. “Wow, River! That was a really nice move you pulled off there. How does it work exactly?”
I shook my head and turned away from her. “You weren’t really trying, were you?”
“Sorry…” she said, guilt tinging her voice.
“It’s fine I guess,” I said, hoping to get her ears to perk up again. “A handicap makes sense, but I won’t ever feel satisfaction from a win obtained in this manner.
She put a hoof on my withers and patted me. “Holding back or not, I really was impressed by that feint you pulled off. I was convinced you had thrown your weight completely in the other direction!”
“Weighing as little as I do, I virtually have to catch you off-balance to have any sort of success. If you didn’t overcommit, even with all my strength, I doubt I could cause you to stumble.”
“Yeah… but I like a challenge myself,” she admitted. “I can’t fall into bad habits sparring with you after all.”
I pouted.
Bulwark smiled and patted me again. “So, do you think we could maybe get together this week?”
I actually wasn’t turned off by the idea, but I had gotten so used to making excuses that I offered one up before I knew what I was doing: ‘Probably not. I have a busy week. I got back from a cuteceanera yesterday. There’s Career Day, I have another party to go to tomorrow. Honestly, next weekend seems like such a long ways off at this point.”
Bulwark looked slightly disappointed, but she forced a smile to her face. “I can understand if you might be a bit reluctant to accept my invitation. After all, maybe dragging you to Maidens’ Paradise would be a bit much for a first time. I’ve thought about it quite a bit, and the worst thing I could do would be to push you into something you aren’t fully comfortable with.”
“I appreciate that,” I replied. “But actually, there’s something else I have to do on Saturday. I don’t know if I’ll even go at this point, but it’ll be a real pain if I do.”
Bulwark giggled. “I guess Star was wrong.”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, nothing,” she said, looking away guiltily.
“Now I’m even more curious,” I said, stomping a hoof. “Has Star been talking about me?”
“Well, she did encourage me to try and get you more involved. She said she was talking to Coffee Swirl about it, and she realized you weren’t very outgoing. Don’t get me wrong, though: I was going to invite you either way…”
I sighed. I wanted to be angrier, but I was normally more than satisfied with Star’s pseudo-guardianship of me that I let it slide.
“So what’s this thing you aren’t so excited about?” she asked.
“Well, it’s probably not going to happen, since I doubt Celestia would approve, but it involves adopting a disguise to go support a friend being forced into an activity he doesn’t want to do either. Long story really...”
She smiled. “That actually sounds kind of fun, but why would you need to go in disguise?”
“He’s a unicorn, while I’m supposed to be an earth pony. We can’t play in the same soccer league.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
“I guess I could, but that would make things harder to explain. More importantly, I don’t think he would like me going out of my way for him.”
“Well, I think you should only go it if you want to do it. I think you would be pretty good at it, but it’s up to you. Ask yourself what River Glade wants.”
“What I want?” I echoed. It was so simple, yet strangely I had never considered my own feelings in this. I had just assumed it was another bothersome obligation. Although, I had to admit there was a childish part of me that would automatically refuse just to assert some control over my life.
Taking this into consideration, I asked, “Are there any differences in this version of soccer?”
“What do you mean by, ‘this version?’” She asked, confused.
“Oh—uhh… I mean in Canterlot.”
That was close. I had forgotten that Bulwark wasn’t in on the ‘from another world’ thing.
Fortunately, she bought it..
“Not really. I mean I guess it’s one of the few cities that have enough ponies to have six different youth leagues.”
“Six?”
“Well, there’s two for each tribe. One for younger foals, and one for older colts and fillies. Usually it’s on basis of having a cutie mark, but there are exceptions.”
“Oh...” I paused as a thought occurred to me. “You seem to know a lot about it.”
She shrugged. “Not really. I used to play soccer at recess with some friends is all.”
As the silence became prolonged we each nervously chuckled to ourselves. I had all but gone on a date with this filly, so there was a lot of uncertainty in the air. I didn’t want her to think that I wanted to get away from her, but at the same time I didn’t want conversation to circle back around to our mingling.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” I said nervously, turning towards the water fountains.
“Wait!” She said with a bit too much emphasis, becoming meek when I turned around, surprised at the commanding tone. “Umm… I mean if you want to practice with me… I’d—I’d really like that.”
“Excuse me?” I replied, somewhat startled. She had been a little too forthcoming there.
She scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “I mean… I can help you as well—help you decide if you want to compete or not. The guards have a ball in storage that I know about.”
I tried not to flinch at the thought of another awkward mingling—though a lesser part of me didn’t mind the idea of another PBJ and hay. Shaking my head, I rummaged through my scattered thoughts in search of an excuse.
“We still have practice—”
“Oh don’t worry, River,” a passing guardsmare supplied. “We’re all but finished for the day. Nopony would mind if you two checked out early.”
“Thanks, Ocean!” Bulwark cheered, zoning in on me expectantly.
I felt a wisp of nervousness slowly whisk around my stomach. “Heh. I suppose I should probably tell you the real reason I think this whole thing is a bad idea.”
Taking a breath, I related to her the entire explanation about my hybridized magic. At certain points, I could tell she wasn’t following completely, but she was attentive throughout. When I had finished, she flashed me a smile.
“That won’t be a problem at all!” She said.
“Seriously? You think Celestia will be okay with me using this unproven new ability just to play soccer?”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I know! We can go ask her!”
“Wait! What!?”
“Come on!”
Sure enough, I found myself chasing the filly through the castle halls. Despite her size, she was considerably faster, though I did manage to keep her within sight. Midway through though, I started to slow down. After all, Celestia would surely side with me.
“Oh! Do Luna next!” Bulwark begged.
Without closing my eyes, I scrutinized my reflection and willed my mane and coat to Luna’s two-tone blue.
Celestia and Bulwark applauded.
“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this, and now we’re playing dress-up…”
“It’s just cool!” Bulwark cheered. “Oh, do me next.”
Without warning the door flung open, revealing a pair of pegasus guards.
“We’ve got trouble,” the stallion panted, clearly panicked. “A prison break. The Miser. Maniacal Laughter. They’re both gone.
“Are you serious?!” Celestia asked chagrined.
I didn’t know whether to be thankful or concerned by this development, but at least it got the attention away from me. Although, it did make me wonder how Maniacal Laughter escaped the first time.
I felt a piercing gaze and turned to the source. “Can I help you?” I asked the stallion.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” the guardspony replied, clearing his throat. “Carry on.”
“Well, as interesting as River’s ability is, Bulwark, I have more urgent matters to attend to,” Celestia said before turning her attention back on the guards. “Does anypony have any clues?”
“I think Richter said he saw some suspicious ponies leave the palace,” the guardsmare said.
“Take me to him.”
“Yes, Princess.” She bowed and the two of them took off down the hall.
Not wanting to stay alone with the off-putting stallion that remained, I slipped out of the room with Bulwark behind me.
Left alone, the guard chuckled to himself once the foal was out of earshot.
With a flicker of magic, The Miser shifted back into his customary pony form.
“A coincidence? Perhaps, but the Queen just might be interested in this pony child after all.”
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Story never lasts long enough. Is there any way we can clone you so we get twice as much story?
What is that bearlike thing in the picture?
8480258
I seem to recall his home planet was at war with an anthro race. Hard to remember completely, but I'm guessing it was one of them. I do recall at least some of them having horns and such.
So Alice is basically a pony changeling.
Coolio.
Loved the chapter. Interested to see what The Miser does and who the Queen is. When I spotted the word Queen in the sentence, I immediately thought of the changelings.
I'm looking forward to the Career Day, especially if it has Celestia come in for Alice. Also, looking forward to when Alice progresses further towards being an alicorn filly, such as having her grow her wings or having her stumble due to her weakening muscles. Part of why I love this fic so much is the slow, gradual process of the main character becoming more and more vulnerable as time goes on and how they respond to that. That's why I took an interest in Alice's age being -10 weeks initially.
If I can offer some advice, it'd probably help people follow your story better if at the head of your next chapter, you place a list of all your OC characters along with a short description of who they are and how they interact with Alice, such as how much they know about her. It'll also probably be helpful if you add on all the ponies Alice/Aron has been or is since it can get kind of confusing after a while keeping track of all the ponies who know Alice as someone else. I'm suggesting this because with the usual wait time between chapters, it's easy to forget who's who and who knows what when it comes to your OC characters.
8480363
I can only add to tis i hope the next chapter comes much faster out.
And i love this story!!!!
Bulwark's crush (which apparently hasn't diminished) is so unbelievably adorable. I adore that this story continues to get new chapters, it always makes my day when it does. And it's avoiding settling into a rut by constantly changing things around. I can really appreciate that.
I do wonder about Iron Jill's sleepover though. That has yet to happen, no? Alice has been to two sleepovers already, and each one was different. Iron Jill's would be as weird, I'm pretty sure.
Best Caboose voice...
But I like the black ones
Great chapter. Always enjoy the update.
Yes, apparently I can, But I didn't like it!
Lovely cliff hanger, but the wait kinda sucked. Still I am enjoying this story, the protagonist and all the little OCs, Keep it up!
In before he's not an Alicorn, he's a Changeling Queen.
There was this one time when my mom wanted me to try soccer. I took part in training once to never return again.
No closing quotation mark.
Carbuncles are utterly disgusting.
Opening quotation mark.
Oh no, too many separate identities can be an issue.
It's a good thing alicorns don't need to eat like 3 times as much like I have read in another story.
Hmmm, a Queen? Maybe The Miser is in league with Chrysalis. I wouldn't mind seeing her pop up.
8480324
I don't think so..
I think Alice is just Alicorn and have a bit chaos magic.
Celestia and Alice are too careless .. let some random guards see that Alice has the ability of change color.
Now.. Chrysalis will appear ...
And.. I am a little confuse ... what this PBJ mean ?
Does the PBJ mean.. a sandwich .. or about .. a kind of sex ?
8481399
I don't mean she's LITERALLY a pony changeling, I mean metaphorically. As in her powers give her the ability to basically mimic a changelings'
8480208
In the case of this chapter I think you're right to notice not enough has happened. I'll try to remedy this with a more timely update next time. I think I know where I want to go with it.
8480363
I actually have quite a bit of information saved for my OC ponies so I don't forget information like color schemes. I could definitely create something like that.
8480537
Technically the earlier one with the fillies wasn't quite a sleepover, but thanks to New Moon, it fit the traditional mold a bit better than Jill's will. Also, it makes me so happy that I can brighten your day as such.
8480645
8480469
Glad you enjoyed it.
8480941
Though it'd be a bit hard to not notice the needgto feed on emotion.
That'd be quite the twist
8481010
When I had to play soccer in Phys. Ed. I would touch the ball on purpose to get sent to timeout.
8481405
It's just a PBJ sandwich with added hay. Bulwark's family likes them. I could have been a bit clearer, but the Miser didn't see her ability, just some suspicion that two differently colored ponies have popped up.
8481934
aha, but he has ponies that love and care for him, so he'd not necessarily notice yet.
I think it's speaksfor you if i always have the feeling that the chapters are to short
I re read the chaper and my ha have some ideas to chare you see them below the line
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Na don't find anything biside the fact that i think Discord is a bit off... (yea cant find a bether way to suscribe it)
It might have leaked a little. It felt a bit more explanatory in a few small areas than it needed to be, but not to the point I couldn't enjoy the chapter. The way Latte went into the talk about the hoofball league certainly felt like she was just pushing everything along.
Also this:
Discord wouldn't need to click his claws (or paw for that matter) for something so small. Really kinda held me up there.
I mean, think about in the season 4 finale when he joked that his ears were burning and they were literally on fire. He didn't need to click anything to make that happen, it just did.
He only tends to do that when he feels like it.
8482462
8483019
Good to know. Writing Discord has always been a challenge for me. I'll try to improve of my portrayal if I can. Though as far as clicking his claws goes, I just wanted it to be like he was pressing a button.
And yes, I was a bit concerned that this chapter was exposition-heavy
.
So Alice can now change colors that is neat, I wonder if she could ask discord on how to change her gender at will even if it is superficial it would still be herself without relying on external magics.
Knowing stories like this I really can't wait for the moment when the truth comes out into the open (not usually the whole truth but most of it) I want to see how her class reacts to her real gender now, also when she becomes an alicorn will also be fun. I love Alicorn hie stories as there is so much you can do with the concept. as well as I love it when the protag turns into a child as its also very fun. You are an excellent author and I cant wait to read more
I hope the truth comes out soon, because it's kind of becoming a drag. It's not very believable how few ponies know Alice is a filly, and my suspension of disbelief falters more with each chapter.
Still, I am enjoying this story. It's very unique! The writing style is unlike anything I've read on this site bedore.
8484766
I hope so After all she toult practicly evrypony another story.
8485068
What do you mean she told everypony in another story?
all and all a great story and i look forward to more. I am still confused on the ages of the kids as I dont understand what you are doing with em.
8487790
ah. I also have to admit, I kinda am a little jealous of Aaron/Alice's situation, I would be totally happy if i suddenly woke up on Equis and was told i would be turning into an Alicorn.
8484737
Thanks for the kind words. The identity juggling is a bit of a challenge. Since I ended up creating so many aliases for Alice, I decided to just go all in and give her this ability so I can at least claim I'm being artistic
8484766
8485068
Ponies will start asking questions pretty soon. The next wave of ponies finding out is also due soon.
8488332
Turning into an alicorn is kinda awesome, so to compensate I tried to make a character who would be put off by being told they're special. When more ponies find out, it'll really start to show.
8488534
Well I guess, but I still think it will be much better when the bandaid gets ripped off
8490881
8490972
Would you believe me if I told you I came up with the idea for camp before the justification?
As for leaving Pink Diamond out to dry, I like to think River makes up for it by taking responsibility later on.
8491825
It could've been something contrived like "To promote the magic friendship~" or along those lines, now your universe will be counted among the myriad of AUs where peaceful, fun loving ponies become sex crazed monsters for a few days.
Oh well
8492673
But how many of the others are E-rated? That's the real reason I did it
8492995
True, and remains to be seen so long as the camping trip breezes on by without ever showing signs of it again
But the temptation to do so will be there
Alright, caught up with the chapters and for now still interested in what will happen next *Faves*
8496041
Its more the little things influenced by his cultural upbringing, such as his condemnation of the griffons for simply surviving the war. This would be easier to swallow if Aron, say, had a better sense of humor (dark or otherwise) or had something a little on the bright side to offset the constant brooding gloom that overhangs him. That isn't to say he is a bad character, even cardboard cutouts have their places set in great stories, but they don't often work well when they are set to carry not only the story (till they can evolve past their status), but the audience's perspective as well. The fact we have to spend so much time with Aron mostly serves to highlight his flaws as small fringe statements and thoughts build up in the reader's mind. Because Aron isn't an outright asshole, he's just part-time, but all the focus on him makes those flaws stand out all the more, especially since he's stressed all the time, out of his element, and just trying to cope.
P.S. That folder is my pride and shame, don't worry, its not a "so bad it's good" folder, its more for stories that in my opinion have a lot going for them but fall just short of greatness. To be honest, I feel bad putting stories in there, but you shouldn't, I applaud your commitment to your work and your response, more than I can say for myself.
Hmm... Trying to find a nice way to say ask this without sounding impatient... Will the next chapter for this fic be coming out in the next week or so?
8525292
I hope so! Momentum has been difficult to come by though...
8528055
All I have to say is, don't force it or it won't come out the way you like. We don't want a chapter that even the author doesn't like.
8528059
Good to know, but I'm actually pretty excited for this one. Just some rhymes tripped me up.
8528595
Oh... Awesome!!! Can't wait to read it!
8528595
*attempts to inject rhymes into your brain and fails*
Glad to see this story continued!
Ah yes, 'evil' villains
kneecap em, they tend to not want to do it anymore afterwards
Heh, with how so many ponies have disguises we wonder how soon it will be before changelings get involved...
Okay, that was kinda funny.
Smoking is bad for your health anyway.