Chapter 33
The rest of the week passed in fairly predictable fashion. Most notably, I finally managed to convince Pink Diamond to take the paper bag off her head halfway through Wednesday. Even so, she avoided eye contact with most ponies for the rest of the week. And it certainly didn’t help that Annuity’s group never missed an opportunity to reference Tadfoals. I tried to point out that they knew an awfully lot about the books, but apparently the series was universally loved by foals under ten.
“River, would you come here please?” Fizzle prompted that Friday at last recess. Several foals giggled at me apparently being in trouble. A few even stuck around to see Fizzle mete out punishment, but she shooed them out.
This can’t be anything good.
Confirming my suspicions, she shoved a mostly blank piece of parchment in my face—my Cutie Mark poem. “Care to explain this?”
“I—isn’t it clear?” I asked somewhat timidly. “I don’t have a real cutie mark, so I can’t do the poem. I tried to come up with something, but nothing came to mind.”
“No cutie mark? Really? Well then, what’s that?” she asked condescendingly, pointing at my flank.
“This? It’s a fake. Princess Celestia made it for me, so I would fit in better. She was worried about me being teased.”
Fizzle took a moment to consider this before voicing her confusion. “But, it’s not unheard of for a foal as young as you are not to have a cutie mark. Squirt didn’t have his for the longest time. You wouldn’t have been alone.”
I shrugged. “I just went along with it. I knew I probably wouldn’t get my cutie mark anytime soon—maybe not ever.” I realized that I had a massive hole in my explanation to plug, so I went to work quickly. “I didn’t want to disappoint you—oh, and I didn’t want my secret to get out either.” I said trying to say as sincerely as I could.
Fizzle smirked. “Nice try, but I’m not going to overlook that you waited until turning in the assignment to tell me. You do know that I prepared alternate assignments for Beakington and Jill, right?”
I swallowed hard. Is she going to make me do two cutie mark poems? Write another song?
“So… What do you think your punishment should be, River?”
That was the last thing I had wanted her to ask.
I laughed nervously. “No sugar for a week?” I tried.
Fizzle gasped and hugged me suddenly. “Poor child, is that how you were brought up?! No, malnourishment should never be a punishment.”
Fizzle smiled. “Normally I would make you stay after class to write a make-up poem. However…” Fizzle hoofed me a paper. My eyes popped when they encountered what lay at the top of the page.
The paper was my career day report. In blue ink circled and underlined was my first ever A—an A+ even. Granted, on Rhod this grade didn’t exist, and praise was rare in general, but this didn’t detract from what I was feeling at all. I think I may have nearly cried. I had thought I would forever be a C+ student in Equestria.
“In view of your excellent career day write-up, I’ll give you a little more time to work on a make-up assignment.”
I finally lifted my gaze from the paper. “I don’t understand. This must be a mistake.”
“No, you did a really good job,” Fizzle said matter-of-factly. “You really learned a lot from watching Princess Celestia. Even more impressive were your thoughts on how she ruled. They were original and distinctly you. I’m really proud of you, River, you’ve come a long way.”
I nodded weakly. I was happy, even though it should have meant very little to me. “Thank you” was all I could manage.
“But still, I can’t exactly let you not do an assignment. What should I have you do for a make-up… hmm…” Fizzle said tapping her chin.
“I could write a poem on Squirt’s cutie mark instead?” I joked.
“Sure. You do that. Give it to me sometime next week, okay?”
My jaw dropped. Not just because she had actually taken the suggestion, but because of how well I had come out of the situation. A poem on Squirt’s cutie mark would be monumentally easier than writing about myself in any fashion.
“Wait a second—” I said, against my better judgment. “Wouldn’t it be rude to interpret Squirt’s cutie mark?”
Fizzle smiled mischievously. “That didn’t stop you before with your song.”
My pursed my lips as I realized. No wonder she didn’t like it..
“Enjoy recess, River.”
“Oh sure… thank you.”
I stood in the door frame with a stupid grin on my face.
A dodgeball then pelted me in the face.
It turned out that this hurts quite a bit more when your head is smaller than the ball.
“Sorry, River!” Zap shouted, scurrying to recover the ball.
The smile I wore quickly returned though, my muzzle still throbbing.
“All right, colts and fillies. This is the main debate chamber of the House of Ponies,” our tour guide said as we entered a large room with the sort of tiered seating that might be seen at a sports facility. The wood interior was of a variety I couldn’t place, but it had an impressive sheen to it. Each station was adapted to accommodate sitting or standing.
“Ponies from all over are chosen by their constituents. Does anypony know how many congressponies there are?”
New Moon raised her hoof and was immediately called on. “One-hundred twenty-three.”
“Very good. Now, you’ll notice that the room is divided into two sections. Although there are eleven political parties represented, the room is divided into caucuses instead. Ponies of the same party usually stick together, but each pony chooses to sit on the left side if they are leaning towards a nay-vote and the right if they are leaning towards a yea-vote.”
“I have a question,” said Perfect Cover.
“Absolutely” the perky tour guide mare replied.
“Why are there are only two sides? My mom always says that there are as many views as there are ponies.”
“Good question!” The guide responded with effusive enthusiasm. “While your mom is right, there’s no such thing as a maybe vote in the House of Ponies—or as it’s sometimes referred to, the HoP!”
A few of the exchange ponies laughed at this.
“Can you play bunny tag in the HoP?” Monocle asked.
“I don’t know what that is, actually,” the guide said. But for now, let’s move onto what’s important. For starters, what does the HoP actually do?”
There was a confused silence that persisted for several moments.
“Don’t they make laws?” Hail Stone offered.
The mare smiled. “Well, that’s true in the broadest sense, but not all laws are made by the HoP. For instance, the body of criminal law is usually decided by the princesses. It doesn’t end there, though. The HoP attempts to codify what the princesses have decided in the past. It doesn’t decide what’s against the law, but rather, it legislates regarding legal definitions and what penalties will be for breaking the law. Likewise, the HoP doesn’t usually decide what to spend money on, but they can create new taxes or otherwise alter how revenue is generated by the Equestrian government.”
I could see looks of confusion on the faces of the foals. I suspected my expression looked similar. Did the HoP make laws or not? It seemed like there were a lot of messy details as to what its role really was.
The mare kept talking, apparently oblivious to our lack of complete understanding. “That’s not even mentioning the most lawmaking role of the HoP. Can anypony tell me what that is?”
I immediately had an idea pop into my head. It took me a second to believe it, but the image of the concept quickly crystallized. Before I knew what I was doing, I raised my hoof.
“Yes!” the mare said, very pleased with my participation.
“Do the princesses tell the HoP when to make statutes?”
“Very good! Specifically, when there is a dispute the princesses hear, they usually interpret the law as it stands, informed with their incredible ethical foundation. However, when the facts are too far outside of the law as it’s written, it’s called a case of first impression. Basically, it means a new problem that the law doesn’t talk about. Rather than decide these cases of first impression, the princesses petition the HoP to write a new law to cover the novel scenario. To make this process work, however, the congressponies need to remain ignorant of the source of the dispute. If they know any ponies involved, or are otherwise invested in the matter they need to step away, or recuse themselves. The theory is that the congressponies should not know about the dispute they’re helping to decide.”
I looked at Trusty, who was acting as one of our chaperones, at the front of the pack. Even he was surprised at how talkative this mare was. She looked around at us and seemed to realize we weren’t as enthusiastic as she was.
She laughed nervously. “Sorry. I’m working on my political science degree, so I’m really passionate about this stuff.”
To my surprise, Cake Slice raised her hoof.
“Another question? All right!”
“Umm… we saw the princess hold court, and usually two ponies were arguing over something. They both wanted to make a good impression on the princess, so… umm… why wouldn’t they do that with the congressponies?”
“I’m not sure I understand the question…” the tour guide confessed.
Cake blushed. “Well, I guess what I’m trying to say is what happens if those ponies try to talk to the congressponies to tell them about their problem? That wouldn’t seem very fair.”
The mare smiled and put a hoof on Cake’s withers. “I see. That’s a very good question, and it’s a problem the HoP encountered in the past. For that reason, it’s against the law to tell a congresspony about a controversy they will have a role in deciding.”
“Oh, sorry about the dumb question…”
“Not at all!”
The mare took a breath.
“Now, you may have noticed the abandoned building next door. That was the House of Nobleponies. Originally, the legislature was bicameral, but concerns about corruption and class privilege led to its abolition. While the House of Nobles was more richly furnished, the House of Common Ponies was large enough to host everypony and became simply the House of Ponies…”
Without any catalyst in particular, I came to the realization that I was hanging on every word. Initially, I thought it was the mare’s presentation, but she struck me as not much more than just a well-informed fanfilly.
Is there something in the water here, or something? I shouldn’t be this interested!
The rest of the weekend served to improve my already good mood. The fun I had playing soccer during that Saturday’s practice was more understandable. It simply felt good to be good at something for once in Equestria. Although I was still behind those who had experience, I was head over hooves better than the beginners at least.
It was such a good time that I nearly forgot that I was supposed to be there for Squirt, who was having a real hard time of it. I saw him trip over the ball on several occasions, and some of the other foals started to tease him for it. This probably bothered me more than Squirt, and I rushed to his defense.
“What’s wrong, Lua? Do you liiiiike him? Hmmm?” One of the older fillies said.
I would have blushed, but I managed to calculate in a nanosecond that this would have been as good as an admission of guilt and kept my complexion free of red.
“As if!” I hissed. “Come on, Squirt, we’re doing ball-handling drills until you get the hang of it.”
“What are you? The coach?” Squirt snarked.
“Uhh… yeah… sorry. I got a little carried away there.”
Gradually, the crowd encircling us dispersed and spread out across the sprawling green field. Seeing that Squirt was not receptive at the moment to encouragement, I decided to practice on my own during the remainder of our half-hour lunch break. I realized if I wasn’t careful I would forget my mission and end up pursuing this new hobby for its own sake. I smiled to myself a second later, accepting that this wouldn’t be such a bad outcome.
At the end of the practice, Blue Horizon challenged me to a shootout, and it so happened that I was in the mood for it. In a testament to how hard both of us were trying, I only got three out of ten in; Blue Horizon made two. As I got the winning goal by her, the filly slammed her left hoof to the ground.
“Curses!” Horizon hissed. “Go ahead: gloat.”
I shrugged. “That’s not really my cup of tea.”
“But it’s what you’re supposed to do,” she whined.
“Okay, umm… haha I beat you. Nanananana I’m better than you,” I said as flatly as I possibly could.
Nevertheless, this seemed to rattle the unicorn.
“You know neither of us have really practiced as the goalie, right? I just guessed right one more time than you did,” I consoled.
“No, you won fair and square. But this is the last time you’ll beat me. Smell you later, Lua!”
Why does she always say that? I wondered, dumfounded.
Compared to the fun time that I had at soccer, the Junior Royal Guards was somewhat bland by comparison. I told Bulwark about Annuity’s birthday party, and to my surprise, she had actually been there. I didn’t know how she secured an invite, but she had had a good time. Apparently we had just never run into each other.
We were doing drills together when the topic of my “secret” about my gender came up.
“How many ponies know you’re a girl now?” She asked, a bit surprised I think. “Cause I don’t know if you can count it as a secret if that many know it.”
“Sure it’s a secret! I-it’s just an open one—now at least,” I grumbled.
“Gotta be honest. I’m kinda disappointed I’m not your only confidant anymore. Was sort of nice having a secret between the two of us. Y’know, something special that just we shared.”
“Well, it’s not like it’s the only reason we’re friends.” I said reflexively. “Would you like to come to the library with me after this?”
“Thanks but I can’t, I have some chores I have to do.”
Oddly enough, that disappointed me. “Well, I’ll see you at the play still, right?”
“Yep! I’m looking forward to it. Feeling nervous?”
Knowing Bulwark would be there made the play seem somewhat less troublesome.
The castle library was truly an amazing place. Comprising three storeys of books, its selection seemed endless. That Sunday afternoon, I found an entire section dedicated to engineering textbooks. Out of curiosity, I tried to read a few pages of one, but the level of difficulty was beyond my understanding.
I plopped the contents of my saddlebags on the checkout counter, and the librarian pony’s jaw dropped.
“You’ve already gone through all of that?” he asked in disbelief.
“Sure did. It’s not like any of these books were especially long after all,” I replied dismissively. “Anyway, I’d like to check-out all of these.”
“I like your enthusiasm, child, but the limit’s eight.”
My ears drooped on their own; I always hated it when they did that.
“Oh, well, that’s probably for the best. I’m right here after all, so I can just come back when I’m done. It’ll probably be a while, since it’s not like I have time to read all day.”
Wordlessly, I narrowed my selection down to eight. I was about two minutes into my deliberation before an unpleasant thought occurred to me.
What am I? Pink Diamond picking her camp activities?
That was enough motivation to push me into a spot decision.
“Excellent choices. You can leave the rest here; it’s what they pay me for. By the way, if you haven’t seen the posters, we’re running a book battle game. Compete against your friends to see who can read more. Get your guardian to sign off on your progress and win some neat prizes.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to bother Star with this.” And Celestia even less… “Besides, I don’t have any friends,” I added for good measure.
“That’s not true Alice. What about Thaumaturgical Spectacle or Squirt?“ asked a familiar voice.
“Oh, hi Twilight,” I said, disinterested. “They wouldn’t be interested is what I mean.”
Thaumaturgical might be.
Suddenly conscious of the full bookbag, I tried to quickly sneak away without Twilight seeing. And, naturally, my bookbag fell open, spilling its contents and making me feel dumb for even harboring hope of a perfect escape.
“Wow! That’s a lot of books. They limited you to eight, did they?”
“Yeah, it is a bit much. I may have grabbed some by mistake. I think I’ll put a couple back.”
“No,” Twilight insisted, “you made some good choices.” She paused for a moment and picked up a red one to examine. “Romance? I didn’t think you would like that sort of thing.”
“What!? I thought it was historical fiction!” I was instantly regretting making up excuses, as I genuinely wasn’t fibbing this time.
I turned to the librarian. “Do you know where I can put this back?”
“It’s not a bad thing, Alice. It’s actually a really good book. In my opinion, the historical elements overshadow the romance part of it anyway.”
“How do you know that?”
Twilight blushed. ”I may not be as much of a romantic as Rarity, but I’m a mare too. I still dream of finding a special somepony of my own someday.”
Just as I was about to pull away, Twilight gave me a million book recommendations before touching a nerve with an accurate assessment: “I’m so happy that you’ve given yourself permission to explore. I had a feeling reading wasn’t encouraged on your homeworld.”
“Thanks for the recommendations, Twilight, but I’d rather figure it out on my own. We’re different ponies after all.” I replied, focusing to remember as many of her recommendations as I could.
Twilight looked disappointed for a moment, but then smiled. “It’s good you’re going your own way,” she said.
By the look on her face there was more she was going to say. I scrutinized her for clues.
“Is something the matter, Alice?”
I averted my gaze. “Well, it looked like you wanted to say something else.”
“I was going to, but you probably wouldn’t like it.”
That stoked the fire of my curiosity. “Go on: tell me.”
She looked away.
“Well, it’s just that you’re still you, but with all the activities you’ve been up to, it’s almost like you’re a normal filly.”
This stung slightly, and once more, I looked away. “That wasn’t what I expected.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight quickly added. “But It doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I mean, if you’re enjoying life in Equestria, that can only be a good thing.”
“I like to think I’m still unorthodox. That’s part of the reason why I hang out with Squirt.”
Twilight smiled. “What I meant was that you’re finding your own way. Carving out your own individuality like foals your age do. I probably should have said foal from the start rather than filly.”
I still didn’t have a response to that.
“Oh no, I’m late!” Twilight gasped. “I’ve got a meeting with the professor. She’s got some new theories on how to preserve your memories and personality.”
I rolled my eyes. “Shouldn’t I be a part of this meeting?”
Twilight nodded. “Well, you could if you wanted to, but most of the discussion is high magic theory. Besides, these are mainly backup plans; I still trust Luna’s idea the most. Well, see you later, Alice.”
She was almost out of shouting distance before I realized something rather trivial.
“Hey, Twilight!”
She turned in place in the awkward fashion quadrupeds were stuck with. “Yes, River?”
“If you were on such a tight schedule, why’d you come here and not check anything out.”
Twilight smiled. “I just love being here. It’s almost like I can feel the melting pot of ideas by just being around books. I used to live in a library. I guess I miss it.”
She bid me farewell once more, and I was left pondering what she had told me. In truth, the last question was just to momentarily distract me from what she had said.
A normal filly, huh? That’s the last thing I thought I’d ever be.
My head was throbbing. Residual sparks of magic slowly fell from my horn, lazily fluttering to the floor like scraps of paper. I still found it weird that I could see my own horn if I looked up. It was strange that it was this thought that occupied me, but I couldn’t figure out why it didn’t bother me more. I supposed I had it covered up most of the time, but it still didn’t make sense to me.
“You… you did it!” Teaching Moment cheered, clapping his hooves together.
“Yeah… I guess I did,” I said faintly, as if realizing it myself for the first time. The resonance method was rather draining when coupled with the magic jammer, so it felt like something of a pyrrhic victory at first. It took a second, but a smile did come to my face—I had done it.
I sighed. “I still have a long way to go, though. I bet I won’t be able to do it again anytime soon.”
The stallion patted me on the back. “That’s okay. It’s just how it works. You do it once by accident, the next time comes a little easier, the third time even quicker and so on. You’ll be levitating objects around in no time at all!”
I took a deep breath. Look at that: more filly things—unicorn filly anyway.
As Twilight’s words echoed in my head, I continued coast through school week. There wasn’t too much to write home about: Fizzle’s enthusiasm wasn’t shared, Annuity and Pestle argued over who got to be Quarrel’s head, Pish and Posh were so quiet I forgot they existed. Just the usual. Though we tried, the AAA was unable to stop Annuity from continually poking at Pink Diamond’s emotional wounds. I felt we failed and resolved to put more attention and effort into it in the future.
And before I knew it, the day of the play had arrived.
Backstage in my princesswear, I shuffled my hooves as I nervously waited for my grand entrance. Peering past the curtain at a carefully calculated angle, I spotted Celestia, Luna and Twilight in the middle of the community theater’s seating. They had tried to make a subtle entrance, but given their stature as alicorns—literally in Celestia’s case—they were met with effusive bows and general deference. The ponies in the front row offered their seats to the princesses, and Celestia had to use all her skill in diplomacy to turn them down. Nonetheless, to their royal chagrin, the ponies around the three of them still spread out to give them an abundance of room.
I had expected the three of them; whom I hadn’t was Star Chart. Sitting next to Twilight, the pegasus mare was wearing a nice black dress and even had her mane up. Although I was sincerely flattered by this, it left me wondering if that other stallion, Midnight Oil, was in charge of me in order for Star be a spectator. With a quick turn of her head, Star almost locked eyes with me, so I quickly ducked back behind the curtain.
Suddenly self-conscious, I tuned back in to the action on stage. Windy Skies and Silver Lining were giving it their all. In a way they were lucky—for having small parts, for getting their moment in center stage, and also for the front-loaded nature of their parts. In a way, I envied them, but honestly it would have been embarrassing for ponies to come out solely to see me in a small role.
Windy and Lining were doing great, but I was mostly focused on my own anxiety. I had fought in a war, but I never had performed. I didn’t have any comparable experiences, as anyone not a designated leader on Rhod was expected to quietly blend in and do their job.
As our entrance stage-left drew near, Zephyr Zap appeared at my side. She looked fantastic in her lunar regalia. I had used my real horn, stubby as it was, as an anchor for a larger prop horn so I wasn’t sure how her fake horn was affixed, but it looked great. Going the extra mile, Zap had dyed her wings and mane blue. It may have been a misguided effort, however, as this emphasized how much the mock-up of Luna’s cutie mark clashed with the rest of Zap’s yellow coat.
“Nervous?” Zap whispered. “I know I am.”
“You?” I asked in mock disbelief. “You’re usually the center of attention. How can you be nervous?”
Zap forced a laugh. “I haven’t always been so outgoing. Believe it or not, it was Annuity that helped me a bit in that regard.”
“Annuity’s one thing, but I find it very hard to believe that you weren’t naturally gregarious.”
Zap smiled. “Ask Thaumaturgical if you don’t believe me. Oh! That’s our cue!”
I nearly jumped out of my fur at the suddenness. I shook like a wet dog, aiming to regain my composure, before trotting on stage beside Zap.
“Dearest Sister, how hath the journey treated thee?” Zap asked.
I took a deep breath and projected as best as I could. “The journey weighs more heavily on my mind than my body, little sister.”
“Perchance, art thou concerned with the matter of castigation?” Zap enunciated.
Wow. She’s really getting into the role. I have to try harder myself.
“You know me well indeed. By my very nature, I am inclined to forgive. Retribution will only cause the wounds of war to linger.”
“I understand thee, but other factors compel action! Our ponies demand decisive action, as many of their friends and herdmates have lost their lives.”
“Our ponies must come first, absolutely, but we mustn’t forget the griffins feel the same pain—loved ones lost in a conflict few desired. Compounding this with sanctions will only cause enmity to fester.”
I then began my first boring monologue, on export tariffs. It still struck me as an odd topic to be in a work of drama. I tried to sound interested as I voiced the introduction. Just before boredom set in, however, I noticed something strange.
Huh? What’s Quarrel doing here? He isn’t supposed to show up until later.
I tried to ignore the three fillies underneath the costume, but this proved extremely difficult. As my speech continued, Quarrel’s head with Annuity in it climbed up on me and curled around my neck. If it weren’t incredibly awkward, it might have been somewhat comfortable.
“Umm… although tariffs may have a protectionism effect in many situations, they—bwwware vwery evbective in promoting national eckwonomies.” I shot Annuity a quick look, but she kept the squeeze on my cheeks. Still, I tried not to let my royal composure falter and did my best to ignore Bubble Bauble’s snickering.
I wanted to break character and throw her off. I thought better of it, however, when I locked eyes with Bulwark, who had managed to get a seat in the front row. Granted, tickets weren’t exactly in demand—at least not until someone leaked Celestia’s plans to attend—but her effort still meant something to me.
That’s right: Bulwark actually enjoyed reading the play—the unabridged version at that! If anyone can enjoy this, it’s her.
“Furthermore, the tariffs will encourage our nations to branch out in industries in which we have grown excessively interdependent. This will not be a permanent state, as I sincerely believe that when free trade resumes, everyone will be better off with overall increased output. I am not proposing a blanket tariff, which I believe would be a mistake, because each of our nations have specialties; however…”
I heard the audience laugh. I would have looked side-to-side but kept my eyes on the speech. Annuity had acquired a feather from somewhere and used it to lightly tickle my nose. Sneezing as a pony was strangely a lot more powerful than I was used to. This time was no different, despite my efforts to stifle it. The gathered delegates tried to stay in character, but Mortar Strike ended up letting out a slight chortle. It spread to the others, resulting in a low hum of laughter resonating throughout the theater.
“Furthermor—hey!”
This time, any attempt to limit the audience’s outward amusement at my plight failed completely, as the strangeness of Annuity lifting up Quarrel’s head to blow in my ear struck a funny nerve.
I shook my head, disoriented. The audience laughed, thinking it was part of the show.
“My you ponies can sure be verbal,” Featherven said.
The stage directions indicated for him to interrupt me with that line at any moment he chooses, but his timing was much appreciated.
“Indeed, I much prefer a griffin’s directness,” Granite added.
Fortunately, my salvation appeared in the form of Fizzle’s head popping out from behind the curtain. Her orange magic enraptured the three fillies with the draconequus costume they were wearing, and she rolled the resulting ball of fillies off the stage. My eyes met hers and I nodded my thanks. With my experience with magic, I could appreciate how difficult that must have been to do.
“Umm… I hope you all will find this matter as compelling as do we,” I said meekly
Oh hey, that might be verbal irony. Maybe Fizzle did teach me something.
Turning the page in front of me, I launched into the most boring part of what was already a boring part. Celestia enumerated the amounts of each proposed tariff, and provided analysis supporting the proposal. It struck me as mostly filler.
The next scene featured me and the Eggnostic delegate. It was a simple bit of dialogue I felt fairly comfortable with. As I acted on autopilot, it dawned on me for the first time how polished and perfect every line from Celestia was. I got the sense that she would have to have had a team of writers following her around to sound like this.
I also began to appreciate some of the flaws of this play for our purposes. For one, there really weren’t enough parts for twenty-five students. As a result, Blueberry and Raspberry Citrus, for instance, were relegated for playing an assortment of tiny parts, such as the griffin servant.
Nevertheless, I tried to get into character as much as I could for this scene. When I started trying to genuinely react to Granite Hammer’s performance as the griffin delegate, I realized that she was trying her hardest too. She sounded logically convinced by what I was saying regarding soldiers’ welfare, but nevertheless managed to color her assent with her dislike of me.
Or is she acting? I know she’s part of Annuity’s group, but I don’t think I’ve done anything to make her dislike me personally.
I briefly felt ashamed for caring whether or not a filly liked me, but that was a slippery slope I was already descending, so I decided to let sleeping dogs lie for now. The scene ended with Quarrel swooping in and swapping out the proposal I left the Eggnostic delegate. With a single change, a mostly equitable division of funds became overwhelmingly favorable to the ponies.
I had a moment to take a breath, as it was then Zap’s turn to negotiate with the Featherven delegate. Zap and Daybreak’s discussion essentially devolved into a shouting match. Some overt threats were exchanged and the alicorn and griffin nearly came to blows.
Watching it play out, the scene felt fresher than the other ones so far. The moment I asked why I had an answer: we had rehearsed this scene the least and had discussed it even less. Naturally, that only raised more questions.
We did do Celestia’s scene with the Eggnostic quite a bit, so what gives?
The scenes mostly paralleled one another, so perhaps the playwright was just being dense. They both ended in Quarrel swapping the proposal out and the griffins were mad either way. It made little difference whether or not Celestia got a superficially better outcome.
A half-formed epiphany later, my eyes darted to the real versions of the alicorn sisters. Celestia wore a guilty expression. More telling, however, was a tearful Luna.
Celestia speaks in flawless Equish; Luna uses archaisms. Celestia is benevolent and all-knowing; Luna is pugnacious at times. Celestia is beloved by all; Luna is… less so. I think I know what’s going on here.
For the third time, however, I had to ask why.
This time, I had no answer.
Next came the first confrontation scene. In my opinion, it added a lot of credibility to the play. Whereas elsewhere the griffins were portrayed as a bit stupid, here they actually believed the sisters made an innocent typographical mistake—although the one Luna irritated had to be persuaded. I don’t know if it was part of a devious ploy, or just Quarrel’s incompetence, but the deer delegation portrayed by Style and Gilded Acres had received a correct version of proposal.
It was actually Gildeus who understood that the deer were being a bit timid about making their voices heard. While the deer might be offended by this, I respected that the playwright knew minotaurs could show such insight.
Then how did he get Luna so wrong?
“We are humbled by your forgiveness and hope we can extend the same to our poor scribes. Cutie mark expertise lends not to absolute mastery.”
That sort of rhymes but not quite. Is there a word for that?
The scene having mostly ended, Squirt, dressed amusingly similar to a ninja, wheeled in and rolled up the backdrop and, with the griffins’ help, rolled the conference table away.
“Then should nothing transpire we will reconvene on the morn’,” said Luna.
I then got another break from the action. It was Little Pinion and Beakington’s turn to have the spotlight. The two of them exchanged some concerns about the griffin state ceding territory. As they put it, they didn’t know if they would have a home to go back to when the war ended.
I hadn’t thought much of this scene, but seeing it acted out made it suddenly poignant.
“I… I can relate,” I said softly.
“What’s that, Sister?” asked Zap playfully.
“Oh, nothing.”
We then returned to the stage to give the princesses’ perspective on the drawing of the borders. Celestia and Luna are together in a room, and a page comes in to deliver some local rumors. Of course, Quarrel was the one behind these rumors, which were actually leaked information acquired by the draconequus. Raspberry Citrus played the page, and this chain of events was represented by Annuity whispering into Raspberry’s ear.
The interesting part came next. After the page reveals that there was internal conflict amongst the griffins about which territories to give up, Luna chimes in and proposes a divide and conquer strategy. Hearing that the griffins were under political pressure from multiple clans to preserve their respective capitals, Equestria, with patience could reach a favorable arrangement. I had thought Luna was primarily a foil for perfect Celestia. Yet, despite her initial reticence about the ethics of it, Celestia agrees that a weakened griffin state would help ward off future conflicts and might actually be the most attractive outcome for the griffins.
Quarrel’s trap set, the princesses played the negotiations masterfully. Reading about the conference I had thought the princesses fleeced the griffins, but they did nothing more than articulate the advantages of their proposal. Even the testy Featherven delegate found little to object to.
However, it was only when the deal was virtually done did Lord Torch, a nominal ally of the griffins during the war, dropped a bombshell regarding the ponies’ inside information regarding the griffins. The abridged version of the play had cut a scene where Quarrel had relayed this information while disguised as a young dragon clerk. This was probably a good thing because Thaumaturgical’s dragon costume had been difficult to make already, so I had no idea how we would have fit one over the Quarrel overlay.
“Is this true, Lord Torch?” Daybreak asked, itching for a fight.
“Have I given you any reason to doubt me?” Thaumaturgical bellowed.
He may not have many lines, but he’s really giving it his all.
“Tch! The indignity! I will not stand for this!” said Mortar Strike, pounding the table.
“Gentlemen, please calm down,” said Luna.
“Unlike you ponies we griffins do not stoop to such tactics. You can hardly be the voice of reason when traipsing around the shadows,” said Granite.
“Our page merely reported a rumor, which we were convinced was quickly becoming common knowledge. If it wasn’t supposed to get out, we apologize, but we simply had no way of knowing. It was never our intent to pull the wool over your eyes; we just tried to do what was the best for all of us. I, for one, still believe in the consensus we reached, and I sincerely hope you will accept our apology,” I pleaded.
“Deal? What deal?” said Granite. “Because that deal died the moment you ponies resorted to espionage.”
“Please do not let a mere misunderstanding prejudice all the progress we have made today,” Luna pleaded.
At this time, Annuity and the others entered stage-right and weaved in between the various delegates.
Come on, Fizzle. I know Quarrel’s supposed to roam free, but don’t just let Annuity do whatever she wants.
Thaumaturgical stood up in his chair to maximize his height for dramatic effect. Of course, this effectively did very little, but somehow it still sort of worked. “My patience is thinning, little ponies. Our support of your adversaries may have colored your perception of us, but we bear you no ill-will. However, dishonesty is something for which we nobledragons have no tolerance.”
Zephyr Zap’s wings jutted out, and I thought I even saw a hackle rise. “Dishonesty!? If anything, we have navigated masterfully through illusions and deceit, and you dare accuse us of being the dishonest ones?”
I rubbed Zap’s withers. “Sister, fall not into the pitfalls of pride. When faced with obstacles such as these, one’s mind must be as a tranquil stream, not a torrid, whitewater river.”
I looked down at my speech.
“Fellow delegates. I stand before you today as a representative of all ponykind. With that, I bear the bravery, the compassion and intellect, but also the blemishes, burdens and biases. My sister and I are not perfect ponies by any means.”
Quarrel squeezed between my chair and the table, tickling my nose with a feather. Although I closed my eyes and braced against the inevitable sneeze, it proved to be a false alarm.
“In good times and in bad, we are all citizens of the world. Each of us must do what we can to navigate our own challenges. I see today as a veritable microcosm of the trials and tribulations of the individual pony, dragon, griffin, deer and others. We mustn’t shy away from the challenges today brings, for our courageous citizens and soldiers have entrusted us with their hopes in the belief that we can channel their voice.” I looked down again to read. “Furthermore, add ⅔ cups vinegar and stir briskly for ten minutes, taking care not to—”
Had the audience not burst out in laughter, I wasn’t sure how quickly I would have realized what I was reading. In any event, what was now on the table in front of me was a recipe for Troughton hay dressing.
Annuity!
My face scrunched up.
“And… umm… the hopes of our citizens are very important—paramount, I mean. These hopes are the hopes of all ponies, griffins, minotaurs, deer, zebras, dragons, elk, yaks, treants, elves, coyotes and unicyclists. They are hopeful hopes that hope for what can be hoped for.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Annuity smirking beneath the draconequus head she was holding up.
I can’t let her win! But what to do?
I glanced at the audience members, who were wearing looks of confusion.
Clearing my throat, I decided to embrace the idea that had popped into my head. “Before continuing, I would like to take a moment to talk to you about friendship. Trite? Perhaps, but friendship is the steady hoof that guides the hearts of everyone. Friendship is both simple and profound. It is something born of happenstance between those of little familiarity with the world but can be difficult for the wisest of sages.”
Everyone at the conference table shot me strange looks.
“I propose that friendship can be conceptually understood in nine stages. The first: reliability. A friend you can rely on is a safety net in life. Metaphorically, it is someone you can trust to catch you when you fall—whether it be intentionally to foster the feeling of interdependence, or when one is struggling and needs a helping hoof. Of course, this extends beyond the obvious practical benefits of having a friend you can rely upon. It should be noted that knowing, in the back of one’s mind, that there is somepony there for you gives peace of mind. Thus, just by having such reliable ponies in one’s life improves the quality of one’s life, irrespective of the obvious tangible benefits of friendship.”
“Fourth: friendship can provide shared resources. These include both facts and knowledge, as well as second-degree connections and shared acquaintances …”
I turned to smile arrogantly at Annuity. I could do this all da—oh…
To my mild disappointment, the bronze filly was sound asleep under the draconequus costume. Popping out of the rear of filly conga line, Pestle Mix shook her head in disbelief. Her cool blue magic then enveloped the stolen cheat sheet and levitated it over the recipe before dropping it.
Smiling magnanimously at the audience, I rose a hoof to the ceiling. “But, I digress. The crystalized hopes of all beings are sacred gems that must inform our course of action. Will we tarnish them by lowering ourselves to accusations over frivolous mistakes and misunderstandings, or will we rise to occasion?”
And so, I went on, orating magnificently, but saying very little.
From there, I was in mostly familiar ground. The reveal of Quarrel’s meddling went off without a hitch. Pestle, Bubble and Annuity were in sync, and the three griffin delegates put on a great show of panic after shedding their griffin costumes and becoming ponies. The tension snowballed, and the other delegates made compelling cases for something to be done.
Finally, Luna and Celestia were alone for a moment.
“What ails you, Sister? The matter before us seems not complicated,” said Zap.
“Objectively you are correct, dearest sister. Still, a feeling of indebtedness to Quarrel persists,” I said.
“The others said it best: what once could be dismissed as trifling pranks constitute high crimes in wartime,” Zap responded.
“I know this well, but I cling still to happy memories. We’ve known Quarrel for so long. In good times and bad, he could always make us laugh. Recently, this has been valuable indeed, as it is we’ve had to say farewell to more friends than usual lately.”
Zap looked down. “I’m still mourning so many…”
“Indeed. Voluntarily parting with another is no easy matter,” I said with a long sigh. “Tell me: why do you think Quarrel did what he did today?”
“Certainly, no simple answer occurs to us. Quarrel has always loved ponies—in a doting fashion, rather than a romantic sense. Maybe we look to him as baby bunnies look to us—small and huggable.”
“A rare perspective on those such as we,” I said, bittersweet. “In a few millennia, we will see over even the largest of stallions with ease.” I sighed. “I grow weary. Let us rest a short while under that tree.”
On cue, Pink Diamond waddled onto the stage in her tree costume. Several apples, which had been taped to her head, fell off as she took her position. Being short, I could actually manage to get underneath her branches. Zap, on the other hand, struggled.
Luna and I continued our conversation until the fateful apple drop.
“I’ve got it! We do not have to seal Quarrel!” I exclaimed. “We can—ow!”
A second apple had dropped unexpectedly on my head. Then a third.
Like I said: “OW!”
Four more apples dropped on my head. I looked up at Pink Diamond, who threw her front hooves up in apology. But when another one dropped, I realized she was not at fault. Naturally, I glared at Annuity. However, the filly, for the first time since I had known her, had an expression suggesting pristine, white innocence.
Okay, this is getting weird.
As if attempting to raise the ante, I then heard shrill, childish laughter.
Looking towards the crowd, I saw bit purses and loose change congregating into the air and drifting towards the stage. Following its trajectory to the nexus, I saw an unfamiliar, orange-maned filly wearing an all-too-familiar purple and green costume. The filly did a backflip as hundreds of bits flew into her saddlebags.
“MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Omnimetal Magnet works 100% as expected! Excellent. EXCELLENT!”
Celestia took to the air and lit her horn, but the aura dissipated, as if blown away in the wind. A look of genuine terror trespassed on the princess’s countenance before she fell hard to floor, cushioned only by Luna.
“MWAHAHA! The OMM was just a warm-up. Introducing… FOAL’S PLAY!!!” the filly announced ham-handedly.
“Wha!? Who’s that?” Zephyr Zap asked, worried.
I shielded her with a foreleg, a token gesture that might have been comforting in different circumstances. Undeterred, Star and the small guard contingent present made a move on the stage, but a series of thuds was heard as they were stopped by what appeared to be an invisible wall.
“Hohohoho! With my Foal’s Play device, the magical aspects of adults are reduced to those of infants! And even foals with cutie marks will have difficulty—*oof!* Hey! What gives!? Can’t you see I’m monologuing here? OWWW! Okay, stop! I give! I give! Foals these days...”
Pinning the filly who was obviously a transformed Maniacal Laughter to the floor, I pressed my hoof on her withers in triumph.
Aspects schmaspects. It does you squat against somepony that doesn’t rely on them.
I looked to the audience and flashed a winning grin, earning applause.
Star flew to the stage to confirm the barrier was gone and signalled others to follow her.
I was under the impression that were it not for the guard contingent taking to the stage to arrest the villain, the audience would have never known this wasn’t some bizarre addition to the play.
Without warning, the lights cut out. I heard a familiar mare’s laugh. I kept my pin on the filly Maniacal Laughter, but she started to really squirm.
The stage lights came back on all at once, complemented by the daylight now streaming in. Crouched in the doorway was an adult Maniacal Laughter.
“Indeed everypony it is I! No smoke and mirrors; nothing up my sleeve!”
What!? Then how?
I looked down to see a confused Windy Skies caught in my headlock.
“Ow… not so rough, River…”
That’s… impossible. I never let her go. There was no chance to…
“After her!” Luna ordered, causing all the guardsponies present to turn around and dash outside in pursuit.
“River, would you mind letting me go?” Windy Skies asked, chuckling.
“Oh, sure... “ I said, relieving the pressure.
A nervous murmur of activity persisted for a quarter of an hour after that. The play delayed, everypony waited for the news. Star had drawn the short straw and broke the news that not only had they failed to capture the villainess, but apparently the device was gone too.
Some of the more inexperienced guards waited nervously for the princesses to mete out punishment.
“All right, stand down,” Celestia said, defeated. “Let these foals have their day in the sun. The play must go on.”
The play slowly crawled back to life after five minutes. We repeated the apple drop and this time I was able to share my epiphany with the audience: we didn’t have to seal Quarrel away after all; we could find a suitable dimension for him where he could live in peace.
“But, Sister, we know little of other worlds,” Zap protested. “If we choose the wrong world; one without a force of Harmony, Quarrel could become a capricious tyrant. The alternative is to find a world devoid of magic entirely, but that would likely kill him.”
I put a foreleg around Zap’s neck, which was difficult, given the height difference I was suddenly noticing.
“Luckily I have a secret weapon. Now, I believe we’ll find him perusing texts at the Maresailles library.”
“Of course I can help you, Princess,” Stardust said flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes and whipping her tail.
“Y—you truly believe we can locate a world that has a high Harmony level? It sounds like more of a mathematical quandary than one that would lend itself to magic theory.”
I didn’t know why Stardust was playing the part of Star Swirl this way. Apparently Fizzle had okayed it, but in rehearsal Stardust had not been nearly as exaggerated in her portrayal.
“Absolutely, dearest Celestia. A humble servant though I be, this problem is nothing for me. Take this flute and give Quarrel the boot. The magic is much similar to this charm, which I’ve enchanted to keep you from harm.”
Zap accepted the flute, while Stardust draped the simple ruby pendant Bubble made over my neck.
Stardust shook her hips. “Your call I’ll always heed, ready to fill your every need.”
“Uh… yeah, thanks,” I said, forgetting my line.
I felt blood rushing to my head, my heart racing. What is up with her? She didn’t even wear the beard we made her.
The confrontation scene started off seriously, but Quarrel defused a lot of that tension by summoning the tickling tree. I didn’t know how she did it, but Pink Diamond seemed very knowledgeable about ponies’ tickle spots.
“Quarrel, do you understand the dire consequences of your unhinged actions? The days when you could be careless with your magic have long passed,” I declared, trying to ward off residual giggles.
“Unhinged? Carolus?” Quarrel picked some stuffing from an ear, “Am I a taxonomist, or a loose door? Or maybe a singing door?” the three fillies said in sync.
“Quarrel, what you wrought at the conference against the griffins—that can’t keep happening. You nearly started a war anew. I know you—in your own words—like it when things turn into other things, but transformation magic is so rare that it can be traumatic,” said Zap.
“What do you mean, little Luna? I thought those stuffy griffins could use a little fur-lough.”
“That pun doesn’t even make sense. Griffins already have fur on their lower bod—”
Zap was cut off by Quarrel’s laughter.
“I should know better than to put too much thought to what that one says,” Zap said, bashful.
I cleared my throat. “Quarrel, the truth is that transformation magic isn’t well-understood. We know from firsthoof experience that it is temporary, but most believe it to be like the gaze of a cockatrice: an ailment of indefinite duration.”
“I’ve met a cockatrice thrice, but never thought twice.”
“Quarrel, this is no laughing matter!” Zap bellowed.
“This is your final warning: If you cannot take things serious now, we shall not be able to trust you ever to be measured and rational.”
“You can definitely trust me to be measured, princesses! I’m eleven feet, nineteen inches long, seven-foot two inches standing. I wear a mare’s size seven on my right foot and a stallion’s five on my left. My bust, waist and hip measurements are—”
I sighed. Not all of my exasperation was even an act. Annuity and Pestle were trying their best to be annoying, but Bubble Bauble was a natural. And her voice was high-pitched and grating.
“Luna,” I prompted.
Zap blew into the flute, while I pulled out some spell tags with runes on them and surrounded the two of us. Behind the stage, nearly the entire unicorn portion of the class and Ms. Fizzle focused their magic on Quarrel. The costume overlay jumped into the air and the three fillies went flying in three separate directions. I briefly felt a painful tug on my withers, as somepony tried to pull me out of the way, but I still collided with Annuity horn-to-horn. I winced at the pain, despite the crumpling fake horn taking most of the impact.
Dizzy, I walked in place a bit before the tape gave way and I lost my cardboard alicorn horn entirely.
After that, I had a nagging headache and felt fatigued overall. I wanted to do Celestia’s part justice, but it was difficult to stay invested for the conclusion of the play. I was relieved to sign the Treaty of Maresailles and be done with it.
“Good job, River!” Zap chirped.
“Oh, thanks you too,” I replied, rubbing my horn underneath my mane while I thought nopony was looking.
I looked around, and my colleagues were still full of energy. They were complimenting each other’s performances and pointing out their favorite parts.
I smiled subtly.
Maybe there’s something to be said about being a normal filly for a while. Nice not to have the fate of a world on your shoulders.
“River!” Celestia called out cheerfully.
All at once, my teacher and classmates bowed, as if automatons.
“Hey, what are you—owwwwww!” I cried out like a little girl.
Without warning Celestia had torn off the false cutie mark.
“Oh, that’s a shame, I thought for sure that performance would earn you a cutie mark,” Celestia whispered.
“What’s that about a cutie mark?” Pink Diamond asked, still in costume.
“Oh, nothing,” Celestia say with a very conspicuous smile. “You did an excellent job too!”
Filling the void of activity, Twilight stepped forward, energetic. “Wow, River! You really know a lot about friendship!”
Celestia and I locked eyes and shared a laugh.
My attention then wandered to Luna, and following her eyes, it seemed ponies averted their gazes the best they could.
“Princess Luna!” Zap chirped excitedly. “Can I have your autograph?”
Luna blushed. “The sentiment is mutual, young one” Luna said, modest. “That was a wonderful performance.
Zap’s wings buzzed happily.
I could hear the audience continuing to applaud and cheer.
They’re clapping too loudly for it to just be polite. After all, this play is pretty boring. Maybe it’s because of the princesses?
“Okay, everypony, time for the curtain call,” Fizzle prompted.
“Hey, Windy wake up,” Mortar Strike prompted, poking the sleeping filly.
The pegasus’s tiny wings jutted out, and she let out a catlike yawn. “Oh my! Sorry I couldn’t stay awake. You were really good, Mortar, at least what I saw anyway.”
“Nopony can blame you. That must have been frightening.”
“I thought I did pretty good, but batting leadoff has its challenges.”
Mortar looked confused, but their conversation was broken up by Fizzle’s foalherding.
The audience applauded again when our class took the stage.
Thaumaturgical’s Torch got a louder applause than most, despite his limited role.
A strange sort of itching, combined with a numbness that projected out of my body plagued my withers.
Man, hitting your horn can have strange side-effects.
Holding the draconequus costume above their heads, the trio of Pestle, Bubble and Annuity curtsied to a respectable ovation.
“It was obviously my performance they were applauding for,” Annuity boasted.
“As if!” Pestle responded, starting an argument that I quickly tuned out.
The strange sensations continued.
It’s these stupid wings. I thought, scratching over them before simply stripping the fake wings off. I had wanted to stay in costume, but I couldn’t take it anymore.
The applause faded to dead silence.
I sheepishly darted my eyes about.
“I wasn’t that bad, was I?”
I felt somepony’s magic part my bangs.
Zap broke the silence with various happy noises, jumping on me to initiate a hug.
I looked to my classmates, expecting expressions mirroring my own.
What I saw were mouths dropping… upon seeing my new wings. Silence reigned supreme, right up until Princess Luna assassinated it.
“Huzzah!!”
Crafty inhaled deeply as he strolled about the rooftop terrace. The clean air and greenery stood in stark contrast to the smog that enveloped the surrounding bifurcating skyscrapers. It was like an oasis of sorts.
Remembering, the young colt looked expectantly at the pressurized door. A moment passed and he sighed.
“Hey, Crafty!” his little sister shouted, causing him to nearly jump out of his fur. He glared at House, who returned a satisfied smile.
“House, how’d you get in here?” he asked in disbelief.
“Through the back door!” she replied cheerily, hitting him over the head with the obvious answer.
However, that’s not what Crafty had meant. When he had invited House to the terrace, it was more of a hypothetical than a genuine offer extended.
Mother… Crafty thought. He was old enough to realize that their parents had more than sufficient means to monitor their movements and activities. House would have never been able to break curfew without Domestic Anchor being complicit. Although they were part of different worlds, Crafty had nothing but respect for her.
Shame she ended up as a mare.
“So, what’d you want to show me?” House asked with a broad smile, completely oblivious to the matrimonial politics precipitated by her late-night adventure.
On a whim, Crafty tapped her horn just hard enough to get a sour reaction.
“That’s no fair, Crafty! If you had one, I’d at least be able to get you back!”
Crafty smiled wryly. “That’s what makes it so fun, little sis.”
Horns and wings were strange things. Research had turned up strange localized energy readings, but they still had no clue as to why some were born with such traits. The genetics checked out, but vestigial extremities seemed like prime candidates for evolution to iron out. Some took the initiative to remove them entirely. He knew the wings were especially time-consuming to take care of.
Honestly, what kind of strange species are we anyway?
“You still haven’t answered my question,” House prompted, impatient.
The aquamarine colt patted his sister on the head. “That I haven’t. Remember the probe I got for my birthday?”
“Yeah, I wanted one too, remember?”
He nodded somberly. House envied a lot of what he had. Maybe his other sisters felt the same but didn’t express it. He truly didn’t know and had no occasion to ask.
“Well, guess what? It’s made it all the way to the Praxis galaxy.”
“Ohh! Neato! Can you show me a feed of one of the inhabited planets? Probably just TF-94, since you just got there, huh?”
Crafty tried not to show how impressed he was. That private terraforming project was an obscure footnote. It would be a shame that she would be headed to etiquette school, where her smarts would be wasted.
The colt cracked a smile. “Actually, it’s been a couple weeks.”
House beamed. “You mean…”
“You got it!” Crafty responded. “We’ve got a clear view of Rhod!”
As Crafty noted this, the clear roof switched to the video feed of the desert planet. Words weren’t needed as the watched for the better part of an hour. Although the planet was barren, it had its natural beauty, if only because it was so different compared to their home.
“Crafty?”
“Yeah, Sis?”
“Why haven’t we seen any ponies?”
“That word doesn’t mean ‘beings,’ House,” Crafty scolded.
“But everypony—”
“I know everyone says it, but that doesn’t make it right!”
House nodded submissively, so Crafty changed the subject back. “You’re right: we haven’t seen any. Maybe they all died out. It would probably be news to most if true. We’ve got thousands of worlds within our purview. We’re bound to lose track of a few.”
House perked back up. “I’d love to visit Rhod sometime.”
Crafty shook his head. “You can’t. Even if it we weren’t waiting for them to return with the Share, you couldn’t go. After all, would we really want them to find out that their conquerors are now a bunch of ponies? I don’t think we ’would It’d be straight up embarrassing!”
“Stupid Quarrel!” House recited.
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Yay wings!
If she were here, irl, I would suggest Dragon's Pawn, Spellfire and The Diamond Age.
I though it was an interesting chapter, it felt more just acting out the scene, which is ironic seeing the that it was mostly a play, there wasn't much of a turmoil in the situation that I expected, which just further showed hoe much Alice has gotten used her predicament. I wonder who were those alicorn things that had arrived at Alice's home world, and I wonder his his kind were completely defeated at that point?
YES FINALLY!!!!
THANKS!!!!
PS: I hope Next part comes mutch faster, my personally hope would by Tomorrow or maybe on latest next week...
I am so excited whenever this story updates. Thank you so very much for continuing to work on it.
Only ponies would think that a jester-character role would work in a play, and unsurprisingly, it does! And it fit the designated bully ponies extremely well, I approve. I also approve of how Alice approached dealing with the Quarrel character and her looking deeper at various parts of the play. I'm sure there is quite a bit more there, especially for the Princesses to approve of that depiction to continue.
The villainous attack near the end of the play also fits, it's Harmony's way of keeping Alice engaged in that reoccurring conflict. As does the fact that Alice's wings are revealed so publicly at the worst possible time. Just like how Alice's swap to being a filly occurred during an embarrassing magic surge of Love.
As for Quarrel supposedly changing the conquering species of Rhod into ponies (probably with compulsions to use terms like everypony, though those are obviously resistible as Crafty shows), I fully approve, and it's just the kind of thing a powerful god-like trickster would do to mock the conquering race without destroying them. In short, it changes their bodies and perhaps starts to change their behaviour and outlook, but doesn't change their essential nature, though perhaps that is a recurring theme with transformations in any dimension. It puts their bizarre behavior into perspective, especially since they don't behave like ponies in Equestria except peripherally, and it is embarrassing.
Actually, I'd be more concerned about how Alice's former people (and siblings) would treat Alice if they knew their conquerors were ponies, now that she is one (even if they aren't the same civilization at all).
Ohhh wings are here!! Now things get... interesting.
Sneak... so where did you come from? Cheshire grin at the sisters. Well when a mommy alicorn has a few to many and the entire royal guard....
Hey at least quarrel gives you a choice either change species or change sex and species. XD
This story started good but has fallen short later. The ponies went from trying to discurage the change to helping facilitate it and alice went from fighting to keeping herself to fully accepting it. The character at the beginning may already be "dead" by now.
Huh.. ... well , and after I read this chapter , I think you write that for intention .
Bulwark ：Hey, she is mine!
So .. they are conquerors (maybe they were human?) , and Quarrel transformed them to ponies ?
And they will find Quarrel on Rhod.
Wings? WINGS! Are we finally going to get Alicorn Alice?
I am a bit confused about Rhod's universe now. I know Quarrel was sent there, but ponies were there as well and they conquered all the humans after the humans conquered a whole bunch of other worlds? How did the ponies (who don't seem to like wings or horns) beat an intergalactic human race?
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Nah, Quarrel turned the aliens into ponies.
I think I'm the only one to notice her horn being revealed...
...as her wings are popping into existence.
Filly alicorn River soo cute!
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I have a ton of ideas for once. I just need to pick out which ones should come first.
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As long as great readers like you stick around, I'll keep coming back
9325874
I have always been walking a tightrope with this fic. As my premise I tried to have a radical transformation take place, which the character is opposed to, without anyone acting unethically. It's a spectrum. If Alice were the princess of Cookie Court by now, I would say you would be absolutely right. If Aron never changed I would have narrative difficulties, and the story would be entirely about him moping. What I actually wrote is in the middle of those two arbitrary and simplistic extremes, but what I'm trying to say is there's room for plenty of disagreement. In any case, thank you for reading. If you won't be sticking around, I appreciate you giving me a chance.
9326519
It was the sleepover with Jill where they found out. I really need to post a summary somewhere.
I think I miss or forget something .
Alice's homeland , Rhod , does they fight against the.. anthro deer (or bear?) ?
Is... Alice's race on Rhod the same as Crafty's race (before they had been transformed) ?
If not.. , why Crafty call the planet Rhod?
If they are not same culture.. the odd that call the planet same name .. is low
(Forgive my mess problems , English is not my native language. )
9333980
No, Crafty does not belong to Alice's race or the race she fought.
The race that got turned into ponies was the one that defeated the humans and enslaved the Rhods long ago.
Phew, finally finished rereading everything. Another wonderful chapter, can wait for the next one! Also, I KNEW IT!! Alicorn reveal at the end of the play!
9336678
Thanks answer.
So.. people live on Rhod, do they remember some race from space conquer them ?
That is why they call the planet the same name , Rhod ?
I give up. The point of this story is beyond me.
DONE! To celebrate the new chapter i read the whole story again and now I can't wait to continou. Good job!
Snrrrk. Poor me.
!!!! OMG! Okay, now things are getting exciting.
Wait, so where is Quarrel at the moment anyways?
I'm not understanding shit, someone explain
Woah what a twist at the end.
11712565
House Keeper is in the same universe as Rhod, in fact, it is her very civilization that kept Rhods as slaves.
That universe is also the one Quarrel got sent to, turned these guys into ponies and is also the Great One of the Ayabnas