"There you are!"
Morning Glory was surprised to hear those words from two different pairs of voices that she knew, and both at the same time. Looking towards the entryway to the throne room, she saw Flash Sentry standing beside Golden Glow, with a pony who could only be Galaxy standing a little ways behind. Both the filly and the young stallion looked at each other with surprise, and then both of them said, at the same time, "Jinx!"
"Jinx!"
"Jinx!"
"Jinx!"
They might have spent hours like that, trying to out-jinx the other, but Princess Celestia halted them both by clearing her throat meaningfully. Flash made to speak, then reconsidered, making a 'Go ahead' gesture to Goldie. With a grateful nod, she shot forward, Glory's book in tow. Hoofing it over, she said, "Here you go, autographed and everything. Sorry it took so long to get it to you. My mommy accidentally dropped the inkwell, and you wouldn't believe what we had to go through to get a replacement."
The way she made it sound, there might have been a battle with an army of trolls in that particular adventure. Still, Goldie's good cheer and enthusiasm were infectious, and Glory couldn't help but to smile as she accepted her book back. "Thank you," she said, gratefully.
Glory's instincts gave a small twinge, and she noticed that Galaxy, Goldie's mother, hadn't moved any nearer. Yet at the same time, she seemed to be watching Glory like a hawk, an unreadable expression on her face. There was something strange about that look, but Glory couldn't place it.
'Why do I keep noticing things like this?' Glory thought to herself, 'I was never this observant or insightful before. In fact, I wasn't even this observant or insightful last week!' After a moment's consideration, she wondered, 'Is it because I've got my hooves on the ground now, instead of in the clouds?'
After a moment, Galaxy looked over at Princesses Celestia and Luna, gave a small bow, and said, "Your majesties. Princess Luna, I understand you were planning on journeying to Cloudsdale?"
Celestia nodded, and Luna said, "Indeed. I was planning on departing with Morning Glory in a few minutes, via chariot."
Galaxy cleared her throat, and said, "That may not be the best course of action, your highness. It is already nearing mid afternoon, and even by wing, it can be a long journey to Cloudsdale and back. By the time you conclude your business in Cloudsdale and return, it will be late in the evening... and I doubt you've made any arrangements for your student's room and board yet."
Glory, listening in, considered what Galaxy was saying: It made a lot of sense, of course: It took Glory a week to make her way here on hoof, and while royal guards hauling a chariot could go quite quickly, it would still take time to complete what needed to be done in Cloudsdale, and make the journey back. If Glory went along, it would mean she'd not have an opportunity to be given anything resembling a tour of the castle, and she doubted that she'd have an easy time finding a glass of water or a restroom if she needed one during the night.
Still, those instincts were trembling now, almost whispering in her ear, 'She's up to something, she wouldn't have brought this up if she didn't already have a solution in mind.'
Princess Luna considered the unicorn's words for a moment, then admitted, "True. While a personal visit would ensure that things could be concluded swiftly, it would still be past nightfall before our business were concluded. I suppose that the journey could be delayed until tomorrow. And it would be a good idea to get a proper room set up for her, rather than just lodging her in whatever might be available at the moment." She pondered a moment, then asked, "But what to do for the young filly's room and board until proper lodging is arranged?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow, looking over at Galaxy. 'Celestia knows that Galaxy has something in mind,' Glory thought, 'but she's playing along, waiting to see where this goes...'
"I would be happy to provide a place for the young lady," Galaxy offered, smiling. "We have a guest room that has been well kept, and I suspect that Goldie would be glad to host a sleepover."
Glory's instincts didn't whisper, shout, or even ring alarm bells: They marched a parade, complete with floats and a marching band, inside of Glory's head. 'This is what she was after! This! This! THIS!!!'
'That's great,' Glory thought, 'but any idea why?'
Her instincts abruptly shut up, apparently unable to provide an answer.
Golden Glow grinned cheerfully, and said, "Oh, it'll be great! We'll have so much fun! And I'll introduce you to Cuddles! Oh, you'll love Cuddles!"
"A splendid idea," Luna agreed with a nod to Galaxy. "Very well, she can stay with you and your daughter for a day or two, while I arrange her quarters, as well as a few other minor issues."
Goldie squee'd, and Glory nearly did, herself. It was her first sleepover with her first real friend! How could she not be excited?
"Ah, before you make travel plans," Flash Sentry said, interrupting, "I have something to deliver that might save you a trip." He pulled out a parcel, and unwrapped it, showing a set of files and documents. "My aunt Butterbean runs the Cloudsdale orphanage, and she asked me to keep an eye on Glory while she made her way here. She also had these delivered to me here in the palace, via messenger. They're, um, adoption papers, and copies of Glory's files. She figured that odds were good that Glory'd end up being adopted by somepony by the end of the day." He cleared his throat and added, "Although I doubt she expected it to be royalty." With a small chuckle, he added, "But she wanted me to make sure that whoever adopted her got these. All you have to do is fill them out, have them notarized, and then take them with you when you go to Cloudsdale."
While Luna thanked Flash for the delivery, Glory couldn't help but notice that Galaxy had gone very still, and had an almost pained expression on her face...
---------------------------------
"What IS that?"
An hour later, Glory stood in the doorway of the home of Galaxy and Golden Glow, staring at the creature that had met the trio at the door. It was a lizard. A fairly big one, four-and-a-half hooves long, from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail, and colored black and white all over its scaly body.
"That's Cuddles!" Golden Glow said, cheering merrily. "He's my black and white tegu!"
"That is a lizard," Glory said, eyeing the creature with apprehension. She'd seen lizards in books, of course, but this was her first encounter with one, in the flesh, or scale, rather. She'd really wished that her first encounter with a lizard of any type had been with one that was smaller... say one that wasn't longer than she was tall, and heavier to boot. "How can a lizard be called Cuddles?"
The lizard abruptly sprung, latching on to Glory, and... began nuzzling against her, giving a noise that sounded suspiciously like a cat's purr. "That's how," Goldie said, giggling. "Black and white tegus are really smart, and really friendly. We're working on training him. He'll come when he's called, but he hasn't gotten roll over or fetch yet."
Glory was glad to have had taken off her dress and tiara, and had it put in a suitcase: The lizard's... affections might have torn the fabric. Still, while strange, being cuddled by a lizard wasn't a bad feeling...
After a moment, the lizard detached itself from Glory, and started on Goldie. Clearing her throat, Galaxy said, "Well, if you'll follow me, Glory, I'll show you where you can place your things, and then I'll give you the grand tour."
NEW CHAPTER UP!!!
I like the idea that contact with the ground results in Earth Pony magic making Glory's brain work faster. Rather clever.
6749723
Well, they're called earth ponies. I always figured that there was a reason for it.
Aren't ponies longer than they are tall? Or at least fairly close?
6749728
A five year old filly isn't four and a half feet tall, though. At least, not in Equestria.
6749723
Yeah, cause the positive attentions of the fey, the lunar and solar princesses, and mutha buckin' DISCORD wouldn't have any positive effects. Not to say that Morning Glory being ground bound ISN'T responsible for her sudden boost to mental acuity, but I'm leaning toward the mystical explanations rather than 'she thinks better with some grass underhoof'.
On the other hand, magical talking ponies, so who knows? I mean, aside from 6749708 ...
"Green Magnus the Stormcaller jumps up on the Dragons head!" The Player exlaimed as he places his figurine on the Tegu's head.
"The dragon is not pleased. He turns you into a rustmonster." The DM calmly answers as he removes the player's figure and replacing him with a dead grasshopper back down on the game mat.
"Well could be worse." The Player states with a shrug.
"Fool! The dragon eat rustmonsters!" The DM exlaims before cackling like mad.
*The Tegu on the table eats the grasshopper which now represented Magnus.*
Thus another colour of Magnus the Stormcaller dies yet again.
Thanks for bringing back that delicious memory. Now I have to see if I can't find that video.
Honestly, having the adoption papers on hand felt incredibly contrived. What, Butterbean just expected some stranger to randomly pick up an earth pony foal and take her home with them like a lost puppy? For real? I mean, okay, she's "sooooo cute" but this isn't like picking up a stray kitten or puppy and taking it home. This is somebody taking a FOAL into their lives. She just expected some random stranger to see her, decide she's cute and clever, and on that basis take her in? Really? Does that happen often in Equestria? People just randomly take in street children? There are far too many factors to consider there, though. Income, socioeconomic standing, space, temperament, time one might be able to devote to it vs. their career or job, quality of care one might provide, how the personalities might interact... I just don't buy it that she might just expect that Morning Glory can wander into a city and will be guaranteed to wander out with a parent. That doesn't seem like something that would realistically happen.
And she'd allow an adoption without first personally meeting whoever's doing the adopting? What if it's a creepy kid-fiddler or something? I mean, I guess you could say she trusts Flash's judgment but if she's really supposed to be the benevolent orphanage-runner you've claimed she is, then it seems out of character that she wouldn't want to meet them personally. This development makes her seem negligent and apathetic.
Plus, it removes any excuse to see them go to Cloudsdale, which, I'll admit, I was looking forward to. It would have been nice to ACTUALLY MEET Butterbean and see what kind of character she is for ourselves. Not to mention it would be a good character moment to see how Morning Glory interacts with the other orphans, deals with picking up and moving from the home she always knew to a new place, no matter how much better that new place promises to be. A bittersweet and introspective, yet hopeful moment where she's forced to leave behind everything she knows, the comfort of familiarity, and the familiar faces that surround her, as she moves on to a new chapter in her life. Honestly that feels like it'd be a good, powerful, important moment.
But no, we're just going to have Flash Sentry conveniently and improbably have the forms? Okay. Sure. Let's go with that.
6743163
I'm sorry. I was just trying to illustrate. >_<;
You'd just have to use a color picker that gives you the hex code 26 times.(not that hard to find) It couldn't be that bad unless you're being reeeally specific. Then again now that I think about it if you were to take 2 minutes on each one the whole process would take just under an hour... Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't be asking you to do this for a throwaway comment. You could probably keep the codes in a .txt file for when anyone ever asks a similar question though.
Is it just as bad when text is a solid color besides black, like when someone writes in blue pen or a hyperlink shows up, or do you compensate for it like eyes adjust to different lighting effects?
I'm getting a vibe that Galaxy's gonna be one of those snooty-behind-doors kinds of ponies. Curiouser and curiouser...
6749756
Kinda obvious at this point. Even more, I would be surprised if Celestia has not begun to conect dots:
" Let's see... A misterious orphan who was granted a superenchanted, extremely expensive Amulet to walk on clouds, plus has an ofuscation spell to avoid further investigations that not even friggin Discord can bypass. How many unicorns in my kingdom have the talent and resources to pull this u...wait! Why does my archmagus seem to be taking so much interest in Morning...?
6749773
I thought it was "for loose grammar".
That said, ironically, English's grammar isn't the problem. In fact, our grammar has done a very good job of remaining elegant and regular. It's our spelling and verb conjugations that are a mess.
First, English is a West Germanic language like Dutch and German, but, thanks to influence from settlers from Scandinavia (where North Germanic languages are spoken) on the isle of Great Britain, we have the "th" sounds that continental European languages generally lack.
Second, because of the Norman Occupation of 1066, the English lexicon is a fairly equal mix of germanic and corrupted latinate words. (Engish is also one of the only languages in the world to have separate words for live and cooked animals because "cow", "calf", "pig", "sheep", etc. are from the Old English spoken by the peasants who raised them and "beef", "veal", "pork", "mutton", etc. are from the Old Norman spoken by the nobles who only ever saw them cooked. For comparison, in modern French, they are bœuf, veau, porc, and mouton.)
For example, any word over a certain length in English is probably either from Old Norman or French (eg. parliament, brilliant, etc.) and we had a tendency to borrow only the feminine form (eg. "active" is the feminine of the French "actif", "matinee" is from "matinée" which the feminine of "matiné", etc.) and, for verbs, to take the third-person singular and use it as an infinitive to apply English grammar rules (I'm gapping on an example at the moment).
That's also why we use germanic days of the week (Thursday = Thor's day), but latinate month names (In French, janvier, fevrier, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, novembre, decembre), and why we call our planet The Earth (Urđ) rather than La Terre.
Third, we started standardizing our spelling at the worst possible time (during the middle of the great vowel shift that English and several other germanic languages underwent from the middle of the 14th century through to the end of the 18th century) and it doesn't help that the latin alphabet doesn't have enough letters to cover all of the sounds in the language.
6749887
6749756
I'm going to go one step further and suggest that time travel is involved. That is, Morning Glory will be responsible for convincing her mother to leave her younger self at the orphanage. There were signs in the first chapter that time travel was involved.
6749831
If time travel is involved, a note describing the future events to get the caretaker to allow the adoption sight unseen as well as the solo journey to Canterlot in the first place can be made.
6749831 I think the adoption papers he had were just the general info forms for things like name, DoB, address, income to see if you can support a child, and character references. They would still need to go to Cloudsdale for the interview and to get the adoption approved.
Shady McGalaxy is up to something...
SUSPICIOUS!
Extra special bonus points for a) using a lizard and b) using a lizard that I had not heard of an thus educating me.
6749729
One chap on our local forums once did some fairly complex calculations comparing pony size to that of other animals (e.g.) cows and such on screen and obtained a result that AJ is about the size of the smallest breeds of Shetland pony (about 28 inches tall). So an adult pony is probably not four and a half feet tall...!
6749913
The original was from James Nicoll:
The paraphrase was printed on a bumper sticker first, as far as I can tell, and it's frequently misattributed to Terry Pratchett:
All I can say is Glory had better watch her back around Galaxy, I doubt anything malevolent but it is obvious that it is NOT benevolent
6750063
Based on the Cheese Sandwich lineup in Pinkie Pride, Pinkie is approximately 6.12 hands high, Big Mac is approximately 8.88hh, and Princess Celestia is approximately 14.2hh. (1hh is 4in)
Of course, horses are measured from the ground to their withers (and quadrupeds in general are measured to an equivalent piece of anatomy near their shoulder), so the fact that Pinkie measures just barely over 2ft doesn't include the height granted by her neck and head.
A "pony" is any breed of horse whose average adult is less than 14.2hh, and more than 8.5hh (smaller than that is "miniature horse" territory). With some margin for error on my numbers, that puts the MLP characters on the low end of the "pony" categorization. They're little ponies!
6750164
Yep, that sounds about right - it's the same ballpark as the gentleman on my forum (what, +/- one hand (28" verses 24"), which is fairly reasonable considering it is emerical estimations) - said gentleman also was measuring to shoulder height.
They are indeed, little ponies.
(And I think we should just pause a moment to applaud the show staff for not only apparently having a fair idea of scale when they started, but sticking to it, such that independant empirical anaylsis can turn out so damn close, despite this being a cartoon where strict adherence to scale isn't one of the things that would necessarily be considered a priority.)
RACISM!
It updated! *SQUEEE*
Nice chapter. I'm really curious about Galaxy now, but I do have some theories pin-balling around in my head. I'm betting she's seeing something related to Glory's little Fae encounter. Possibly the protection spell Discord mentioned which I'm guessing is Fae related.
Keep up the great work; can't wait for more.
I think Galaxy is Glory's Mother.
6749831
It could have been prearranged by Celestia, y'know... perhaps Glory is a "Prophesied One". Or, perhaps they aren't even full adoption papers -- just preliminary paperwork to explore adoption. Or, perhaps she trusted that Flash Sentry would be able to find her a home. Maybe our dear foster's special talent is knowing when a child will find a family. There are simply too many variables to take into account.
And you don't know. Just because it doesn't happen in human society doesn't mean it doesn't happen in Equestrian society. I mean, just look at how close Rainbow and Scootaloo are. Nothing's confirmed, but Rainbow could be perceived to have adopted this little (presumed) orphan -- albeit as more of a sister, but still, the point stands...
Point is, Equestrian society doesn't necessarily reflect humanity in all aspects. Example being that the female half of the species seems dominant over the male half, a bassackwards comparison in all regards to our own (sad as it is that that's still the case). And because Equestrians seem to have a more herd-like mentality than humanity does, perhaps stray children DO get adopted off the streets daily.
The pacing here is starting to get really rushed. I'm not sure if the quality will remain high anymore.
6749986 Maybe she's a SPY!!
Goldie and Glory in a sleepover! Yay! That sounds fun!
I want a Tegu now...
6750572 I don't agree (yet). This is the eleventh chapter now, so some of the earlier set-up ought to be paying off by now. At the same time, it's not answering everything, and is even setting up new questions. Maybe it will start rushing too fast sooner or later, but that hasn't happened yet.
6750430
If Equestria is such a society where they are so concerned with the well being of the young that street children are plucked off the street and put into loving homes daily, why would there ever be a need for orphanages in the first place? They'd be in and out of there in no time.
And honestly, this still reeks of bullshit. I don't care what kind of society this is, bringing a child into a family is still a big decision. There's money to consider, how it will affect your time, background of the parent, how the personality of the child and its new parents will interact, medical and psychological issues to consider, and much, much more. Let's be unreasonably generous and say that Equestria is a society that helps families that adopt children enough so that money wouldn't be an issue. Let's also assume that there are no pedophiles, equine traffickers, degenerates, and evil stepmoms in this universe (this is an unreasonable and impossible assumption given that we have seen that there ARE bad ponies in this world in canon, but for the sake of this argument let's assume that Equestria is the perfect, boring, saccharine, sugar bowl utopia you suggest and everyone is Jesus).
There's still all the other factors you would have to consider. Time available to spend with the child. Proper background and personality for rearing a child in the first place. The fact that the child and the parent's personalities might clash. The ability to balance whatever job or career the parent has with bringing up the child. Medical and psychological issues that either the parent or the child might have that will make the process more difficult.
No, I'm sorry. I don't buy it. I don't buy that Butterbean could expect that Morning Glory might wander into Canterlot (a hive of stuffy, snooty nobles that would look down upon a scrawny, dirty, earth pony child in the first place), and would
a) meet a large enough number of strangers and
b) spend enough time with enough of them to make a personal connection and
c) be able to pick out one specific one that meets all the necessary above requirements to properly care for a child and
d) plan an adoption, lodgings, etc
ALL BY MERELY WANDERING AROUND A CITY FOR A FEW DAYS
Is it not clear how unlikely this is? It's just stupid. You're saying she'll find the needle in the haystack (and this IS a needle in a haystack scenario) just by randomly bumping into it. That among the hundreds or even thousands of faces that pass by silently in the day as you walk down the streets of a busy city, she'll make an emotional and personal connection with one of the paltry handful that you spend a few moments talking to. And then, after making that connection with 'Random Stranger no.A23L69B,' will be able to spend enough time with that one random somebody to realize that they meet all the necessary requirements, and they're both on board with the adoption and resulting environment.
No. Just no. The fact that that's basically what ended up happening in the story is irrelevant. It's a story, we, the readers, expect things that are out of the ordinary to happen (otherwise it doesn't tend to be a story worth telling). But the fact that one of the characters IN the story expected something so outlandish and unlikely and generally inconceivable to HAPPEN and then took steps to PREPARE for it, is contrived, unbelievable, lazy, and frankly, has managed to pull me right out of the story.
Seriously. After the last few incredibly filler-y chapters I was already a little annoyed but this is just slipshod.
The "Equestria is a different culture" card only goes so far. We've seen in the show that their society isn't actually so different from ours anyway, and while yes, there are MINOR differences (the generally female dominated part being one of them), they're not SO incredibly different and alien that this would ever make sense.
As for the "maybe it's her cutie mark" argument... I've never seen a cutie mark that basically grants a pony precognition, but I have less argument against that. That's an incredibly cheap cover up though. It's like saying 'a wizard did it.'
She knew this incredibly unlikely and outlandish series of events would happen because cutie marks. Don't ask questions. It's magic, we don't have to explain it.
6750572
I paradoxically both agree and disagree. For the past three chapters, this story has been spinning its wheels in filler. Meanwhile, this chapter, standing on its own, has managed to rush the story ahead, completely skipping potential important character moments and just jumping right into more filler, effectively rushing the story ahead, only to jump right back into wheel spinning.
We had the chapter where Morning Glory met Celestia. That was cool. I was into it. The story was still rolling along then.
Then we had a random flashback thrown into the middle of everything. Alright, it gave us a little bit of context for some of the story, but I would really like to move forward and see the adoption finalized or have a few more mothery/daughtery character moments with Luna or something.
Then we have a chapter with Discord. Cute and a little amusing, but let's get moving people. Oh we're just going to be silly for a bit? Alright, that's cool, but I'd like to see Morning Glory settle into the castle, meet the palace staff maybe, get ready for her upcoming training and education, or something.
Oh good we can finally do that adoption scene! That'll be cool to see! Oh wait! We're going to spend the chapter with Goldie and Flash being kooky and then we're going to SKIP THE ADOPTION SCENE THAT WILL MOVE THE STORY FORWARD ENTIRELY (behold, the "rushed part"). And now we're NOT going to have her explore the castle and learn the ropes of her new life and meet new people and prepare for her new training and education but HEY LET'S HAVE A SLEEPOVER. LOOK AT THE CUTE LITTLE LIZARD THING.
These last few chapters have been getting increasingly agitating, and the EXTREME contrivance that was the 'adoption papers' thing that I've mentioned in other comments did NOT help in the least. Honestly, this chapter has almost completely lost me.
6751543
Taking it a little seriously there, brah. I don't have the time or inclination to write constant essays back and forth. Let's agree to disagree and be done with it.
6751592
The only reason I'm 'taking it so seriously' is because I actually really like this story. I really love the character of Morning Glory and how savvy, clever, and dryly witty her character is, and I love the way she interacts with the more formal, traditional Luna. I also love the fact that they're both, in their own way, fishes out of water teaming up to take on the world. It's an excellent setup for a story with a lot of character development and great interaction moments.
That's why I'm so annoyed to see these contrivances and unbelievable happenstances suddenly cropping up, while simultaneously dodging potential plotlines that could lead to further explorations of these characters, as the story continues to spin its wheels.
6751654
Then enjoy it for what it is. Perhaps there's a logical explanation down the road -- and perhaps there isn't. As I said, perhaps it's as simple as Butterbean having the ability to know when it's time to let a child go, and when she will meet her true family. The story's barely started as it is. Give it a bit more time to develop before flying off the handle.
6751580
Yeah, you pretty much hit the nail on the head with all these comments. I wish this story was more consistent. Because I too feel that the original fic, and the first bits of this one, are exceptional.
As for an explanation as to why this is... maybe BN stopped outlining or something?
6751907
Or maybe you and the other commenters don't know the answers about how and why it's happening, and you are all jumping to conclusions. Has it really not occurred to any of you that there might be actual story-based reasons for these events that haven't been revealed yet? Let's wait and see rather than complain prematurely like this.
More?
Me Gusta
6751543
After reading it, I got the impression of a lie. You're right that the papers are incredibly convenient, but perhaps it's in Flash's interests as a way to keep her safe since everyone in the room felt something was up. After all, an illusion wouldn't be too far out of the question when earth ponies can learn magic.
On the other hand, would he have had the papers on him before he left? I'm not sure and right now I'm not inclined to go back and double check. Blank documents might make sense, but the entire situation about them seems suspiciously convenient.
So, there was scheming involved which, while from the start seemed bad, actually ended up making everyone happy. The world is ending!
Seriously though, I loved that little tidbit. Now just to find out why Galaxy looked pained when she learned of Glory's adoption by Luna. Glory's mom in secret?
Maybe I'm looking too much into it.
6751543 'Adoption papers' doesn't necessarily mean the documents required to finalize the adoption. It could just be the application to get the process started, which you have to fill out even before you go to meet the children. You don't think you can just walk into an orphanage as if it were a pet store, do you? You have to fill out forms before you're even let in the door.
Also, she could have her own form of 'Pinkie Sense' that let her know someone good was going to want to adopt her.
Great stuff. Thanks!
Oh right, Galaxy is secretly Glory's mother, isn't she? Or some other connection.
Or some other connection.I don't know why, but the second I read that line I thought, "Cuddles is something over ten stories tall, scaly, with lots of sharp bits, carnivorous, that inspires nightmares in anypony with a working survival instict, and Goldie has it wrapped around her little hoof."
Called it! Sorta.
Why couldn't it have been metric? scratch that, whose hooves was the hoof measure based on ?! Trouble Shoes?!
6805786 That's what I thought too! Well... not exactly. More like Fluffy, a clone of Cerberus.
i saw something like this in a silly comic strip called "Big Nate"...
i also get the impression that Galaxy is Morning Glory's real mother...