“Why six?” Sunny Day asked me curiously.
“I don’t know. Six is a good number. It is even, divisible by two or three. It seems as good as any,” I replied.
“Yeah but six! There are five Equestrias that are more… Equestria than us?”
We were hiding in one of the meeting rooms catching our breath. We’d had enough princesses for a lifetime. “I don’t think that is how it worked. It was mostly arbitrary. We’re Equestria Six from now on.”
Sunny poked her tongue out and asked, “How does Princess Pfft get to be Equestria Three?”
“I believe you’re overthinking this, Sunny. Who knows. Perhaps cosmically her Equestria was around before ours? At any rate, she is a willful princess and they seemed content for her to be three.”
“Fine, fine…” Sunny said and then looked back at me. “Now explain to me again how Twilight Sparkle is the Princess of the Night for Equestria Four.”
I took my helmet off and set it on the floor. “As best as I can tell Princess Luna wasn’t fitting in well so she traded her princesshood to Twilight Sparkle for help with her image.”
Sunny’s head tilted. “You can do that?”
“Not in this universe,” I replied with a grin. “Anyway, the individual meetings should be over soon and we’ll need to be back out there serving and whatnot soon. I figure we have another half hour to rest.” From my saddle bag I pulled out a canteen I’d brought and started drinking from it. Plain water, my favorite.
The unicorn’s tail swished and she took her helmet off. “Half an hour? That is perfect. Do you want to fool around?”
She had caught me by surprise again with her teasing. Unfortunately for her my mouth was full of water which I sprayed in shock directly into her face.
“So that’s a no, then?” Sunny asked as she tried to dry herself off.
“Yes, that is a no and I’m hoping you were kidding. Serves you right,” I said.
Sunny Day stuck her tongue out at me. “I was. I know you're committed. It is just fun to get a rise out of you… eh… eh?” She elbowed me lightly.
“How is it we entrust the safety of Princess Celestia to you?”
The mare wagged a hoof. “It is because I know when to be silly and when to be businesslike.”
“I see,” I said trying to keep a straight face. Finally I smiled. “Alright… if I take a nap do you promise not to molest me?”
“Mostly yes. Maybe just a little fondling but fine…” Sunny replied and then added, “But I’m going to nap too. So lean your back up against mine and I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”
“Deal!”
☾ ☼
“Prince Chand has invited us to visit his kingdom,” Princess Luna said to me.
My ears flicked and I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going to another Equestria. That was a security nightmare. “Us as in you and I or us as in you and Princess Celestia?”
“You and I. He was amused to find out you are Silent Knight,” the princess explained.
“Why?”
Princess Luna grinned and shook her head. “He would not say but promised that I would be equally amused. When this summit draws to a close I would like for you to put a trip on the books.”
“Will that be allowed?” I asked.
“Of course it… oh. A point well made, Silent Knight. Mark it tentative. Final language on the visitation agreement has not been approved. It should be acceptable as long as we don’t violate the sharing agreement.”
Mentally I was taking notes. “The sharing agreement was finalized?”
The princess frowned and nodded. “Yes. It has been determined that for the sake of all Equestrias no knowledge may be shared. As you know too much of that leads to links that are dangerous. This is disappointing for my sister and I but we were in the minority on the vote. There will be no sharing.”
“Alright… so we can go visit, look around, talk to ponies, but not share anything. That seems impossible to me.”
Princess Luna stroked her chin and replied, “Yes, yes it does. If you’ll excuse me I need to go bring that point up!” She hurried off into one of the meeting rooms leaving me to my own devices again.
Occasionally an alicorn would wander out for a treat before returning to their respecting meeting halls. There were always two sessions going with the group of alicorns split between them. Somehow Princess Pfft was in both. Magic.
One of the biggest surprises for me was seeing some of the ponies I knew in the form of alicorns from other realms. In particular Lady Cadence. We had two here: Pirate Princess Cadence and Non-Pirate Princess Cadence. The latter was currently over at the buffet. She’d arrived with a Princess Luna. That Princess Luna was the same size as our Princess Celestia and that Princess Cadence was the same size as our Princess Luna. If that sounds confusing it is.
I wandered over to the pink alicorn and cleared my throat. “Pardon me, Princess. Is everything to your liking? If there is something lacking I can go into the castle and find it.”
“Oh everything is lovely, Silent Knight,” she replied absently and then blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. You are Silent Knight here, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Princess, I am,” I replied, painfully curious how she knew me. The rules were still being laid out and even though I knew the other realms had no bearing on this one I was very interested in the other versions of myself.
She smiled and nodded. “Good. I feel safer then.” A donut levitated off the buffet and she nibbled on it. Then she squeaked, “Not that I don’t feel safe! You’re a gracious host. I’m so sorry!”
“No need to apologize, Princess. This is a strange situation for us all. I’m glad you feel safer, though. My counterpart and I are here to ensure your protection and that your needs are met. Our princesses thought it was best to only bring the two of us so that we could keep this all classified,” I explained.
Princess Cadence smiled, “Yes. Luna has always trusted you with secrets. Celestia, too, while she was alive. To be honest I was surprised you came to work for me but I’ve never been more secure.” The princess then groaned. “Not you. My Silent Knight. I’m sorry, I’m not good at this.”
I shook my head and smiled brightly. In my head the idea of Princess Celestia not being alive terrified me. It would have been rude to focus on that though. “Truly not a problem. If it were me… and again I have no knowledge of your world, I would imagine it would be out of my extreme dedication to Shining Armor. He made a big impression on me.”
She laughed and nodded. “Yes, my husband has that effect on ponies. At any rate I should be getting back into my meeting. Take care, Colonel.”
I sputtered, “Colonel!”
The pink alicorn cringed slightly and looked at my rank. “Oh I’m sorry! I really should go! Take care, Silent Knight!” With that she beat a hasty retreat.
Colonel! I was a colonel in her universe? What the hay! Now I was jealous of myself. That Silent Knight was years ahead of me… the jerk.
Rofl poor Silent Knight
Okay, it has to be said:
"I AM NOT A NUMBER! I AM A FREE MAN!!!"
I can only imagine an alicorn Crystal Wishes bumping into him. You know what, talk to Crystal about tha, I'm sure she would find that amusing.
Colonel Knight... kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? :P Good job Knighty!
Colonel. We saw the future.
Pirate Princess Cadance? Now that's some heavy stuff to take in... in imagination the pirate her always ends up in the offical marine not in the freelancer host...
Silent should have said 'yes' since this is just an outtake story...
Y'know who I want to see having a conversation? Princess Ferrel and Princess Pfft. It would be completely unintelligible to anyone else, and yet oh so hilarious to observe.
Another good one would be the drinking games of Pirate Celestia and Pirate Cadence. I bet Prince Chand would be good for a go at them too.
6582952
She ascended after writing the most romantic kiss in all the multiverse? (Yes, even more so than the one in the Princess Bride!)
6583301
She must be married to Shining Yarrmor.
Very interesting look into the other universes. Well, that's answers my question about Equestria 6!
That ending.
Aand I think I've figured which entertaining suprise is waiting at Prince Chand's place. (what's his name based on by the way?)
...
Now if I could just remember the artist and the author.
Then, there should be an Azurite and Crystal -
6583784 Nah, another story where the main character was called Mother Mare, and she resembled Fausticorn. I think the title of the story was called Mother Mare's Foal Tales or something like that.
Yeah screw that Silent whatshisface! Getting all ahead of himself and Silent Knight! Someone gotta put that guy in his place!
Silent Knight if you would be so kind?
Oh god, more pirate princesses. I am starting to get the distinct feeling that all the Celestias are going to be wearing eye patches before this is over.
Also, It's interesting to see Cadence getting herself mixed up with the different Silent Knights, although what she said and the fact that the only other Princess Cadence is a pirate does seem to suggest that the prime timeline is not represented here which is odd.
Do you know what would really disturb him? A luna who upon being questioned would say "yes dear".
6583913 Oh! Hah! That was one of my earliest stories here (*shudder*). I used this image as the cover art because, well, it seemed appropriate for the theme of reskinning fairy tales with My Little Pony. I was happy with a couple of them ("Pinkie and the Beast" in particular), but the fact that I wasn't going to continue the series made me feel awkward having it on my story list.
To clear up some confusion on who is who here:
EQ1 - Show Canon - "Mother Mare" (Lauren Faust Alicorn) / Celestia
EQ2 - Comic Canon - Celestia / Tall Luna
EQ3 - Ask Fluffle Puff - Fluffle Puff / Chryssi doll
EQ4 - Friendship is Witchcraft - Celestia / Twilight of the night
EQ5 - Dash Academy - Celestia / Luna (Didn't make it into the story)
EQ6 - Quill & Blade
EQ7 - Quill & Blade R63 - Guylestia / Dudena
EQ8 - Wing's Equestria - Celestia /Luna
EQ9 - Quill & Blade Alternate Universe - Elder Twilight Alicorn / Celestia
EQ10 - Quill & Blade Alternate Universe - Luna / Cadence
EQR - Quill & Blade Pirate Universe - Pirate Cadence / Pirate Celestia
EQ13 - Quill & Blade Alternate Universe - Ferrel
6584228 Yes, that would absolutely disturb him!
6584065 The show timeline is represented by Mother Mare (Fausticorn) and Princess Celestia. Each group only had two or less alicorns in attendance.
6583968 I know, right!
6583913 Mother Mare = Fausticorn more or less. It just seemed weird for her to say "call me Fausticorn."
6583816 The guylestia is Apollo and Chand comes from a lesser greek demi-god or spirit or something. I don't remember exactly how I found it and modified it to that. Essentially it is night.
6583534 Yes indeed! Equestria 6 via democracy.
6583502 You should be ashamed!
6583434 Silent is too loyal for that! Also yes... Princesses Ferrel and Pfft negotiating would be amazing.
6583301 We may have indeed! Only time will tell ;)
6583120 Yes, yes it does!
6582952 Crystal already runs his life enough! Her as alicorn? Oh my!
6582910 At least Pirate Celestia got a letter ;D
6582811 Agreed!
6584913 Even so, this is an alternate Q and B universe, you've stated as much, and the story is intended to be amusing for various reasons. I just thought it would be an interesting interaction if Silent were to come in contact with a Princess Crystal Wishes (which is also why I suggested you talk to Crystal about it and see what her input on the matter is). You could even have a scene where Silent asks Sunny how she missed something as glaring as that.
6584913 Hm, it seems odd to have the canon timeline represented by a character that does not seem to exist there, but whatever. It is far from the silliest thing to happen in this story.
Reading the last line I couldn't help but think of this.
6585788 Hahaha perfect fit!
6584985 It was meant to be an easily recognizable homage to the creator of the series in a story where the 4th wall is pretty weak. Considering there are a ton of Celestias and Lunas in attendance it seemed like a fun way to differentiate.
6584934 Well, at least for this story, it was 100% written before it was posted. There won't really be any changes made to it.
6584913 You think you fooled me... Not happening anytime soon.
6583502 I see you done there. it cracks me up...
6584873 Ah so that's where it came from.
Okay, I know you've got a lot on yarrr plates, but I be wantin' to see a story from this EQ:R / Quill&Blade Pirate universe now.
So in other words, Guy-Luna has also figured out that mares rule the world even when they don't outrank you.
I want to see this story.
Wait, wouldn't the Comic Princesses have...like...really, really compelling reasons to never, ever go mirror jumping unless the fabric of reality itself was at immediate "these shoggoths are eating everypony's faces" risk?
6584913 You might want to put that list in the author's note. it's liable to get lost down here.
Ok, so.
In Velvet Missteps, I identified Velvet Step's dimension of origin as Equestria-Sextus, because I liked the way it sounded. That was way back in late October.
Upon reading this for the first time just today, I discover that Velvet Step would have, if I were keeping to actual Q&B canon, come from Equestria Six.
I really don't know how to feel about this particular incident where, for just a few moments, you and I became brain-twins.
Maybe I'm your counterpart? Your less serious and successful counterpart? Yeah, that's the ticket....
This.
This is magnificent.
6801692 This Equestria iirc isn't the main QaB universe. So while this story takes place in Equestria 6, the main storyline does not.
this reminds me of a silly character named "Lethe" and her hapless partner "Hoplite" from two stories: "a slice of life" and "nurse Luna".
(at one point she challenges him to a game of strip poker...)