Interruption - N of an Era
“I don’t even know where to start,” Twilight Sparkle sat in the basement lab of the Golden Oak Library, hooves raised above her typewriter. She knew she should be writing a report, but for now ‘Dear Princess Celestia’ sat alone at the top of the page. “This one’s been going on for months!”
“Longer than that,” Pinkie Pie shook her head, “Remember last year at harvest time, Applejack had us all chasing round because she thought Big Mac was a dopant? Did the whole harvest in one night?”
“Oh,” Twilight blinked, and realised that all the clues had been there, if they’d just known what to look for. “More than a year then, isn’t Applebuck Season next week?”
“I’ll have to make them some special cookies, to give her the energy to get out of hospital in time.”
“Was that somebody at the door?” Spike’s ears perked up, and he leapt from his perch on a high shelf and went to see who was visiting. He quickly found a folded letter slipped under the door at the top of the stairs, and picked it up to read the single word pencilled on the front. “Hey, Twilight! We’ve got a letter, says it’s a confession. Should I bring it down?”
“Of all the…” Twilight muttered, and then closed her eyes for an instant. A pink flash, and she was standing at the front door of the library.
“You should apologise in person,” she declaimed. “A letter says you don’t really mean it. And Applejack isn’t even here. You wanted to get this over with while she’s still in hospital, because you know she’ll be angrier than any of us?”
“Umm… I guess…” the voice that answered was quavering with nerves, maybe even as quiet as Fluttershy’s normal tone. But it wasn’t the voice Twilight had been expecting. She looked into the main room of the Library, where Apple Bloom had come almost far enough to make her escape.
“Come on. Would you like tea? We’re just about to write up my Dopant Report for Princess Celestia. Were you just delivering a letter, or is there something you need to apologise for?”
“I… kind of apologised already. But I caused trouble for you as well, so I think you should know the truth. I think we’re all coming clean with our secrets now, so… I just don’t want to tell AJ, I think she’d kill me.”
A few minutes later, there were six ponies sitting around the little table in the lab, and a baby dragon watching them from the top of a bookshelf. It wasn’t the usual six ponies, but almost the next best thing. And Apple Bloom could finally come clean about the secret that had been weighing on her mind for so long. She’d told Big Mac long ago, and he’d forgiven her. And just this morning she’d told Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who had understood her nerves. So now it was time to tell the only other ponies in town who would understand.
“In school, it’s super competitive. Everypony wants to be the best, and when Diamond Tiara announced her cute-ceañera, it was like the rest of us were second-class classmates. And we all wanted to get our cutie marks as soon as possible, right? We would have done anything, and it came back to bite us in the rump. But a week or two before, there was a different game that everypony wanted to jump on the bandwagon for, and I’m sure the grownups never knew about that one. Because we were stealing.”
“I think I know this story,” Rarity cut into the awkward silence, trying to keep any judgement out of her voice. “I heard something from one of my clients, who’d had to speak very sternly to her son. I considered asking Sweetie Belle about it at the time, but then I thought she wouldn’t get carried along with some colts’ game. Go on, you can tell us.”
“Well, Rumble had these magazines. He said he found them under his brother’s bed, and he was super embarrassed about them being there. It’s like, Rumble can do anything he wants, because as long as he knows the secret he can get his big brother to cover for him. He was the most popular colt in school for a while. And… a fair few colts went sneaking into their brothers’ rooms hoping to find something similar.
“So that’s the deal. I thought it would be like a game, something to joke about. I didn’t think Big Mac would have any books he was embarrassed about, and boy was I wrong there. But I also found this case full of Gaia Memories. It must have been when he’d just started, because there was some notes in there as well, the kind of ponies who might be tempted by each one. I knew it was a secret, I wasn’t sure if it was something I could use to get favours out of my brother, but I thought it was worth a try. So I took one, and that’s when he started locking his room. Then Scootaloo was getting so upset that she couldn’t fly yet, and we were all singled out by the kids who’d got their cutie marks, I didn’t know what it was going to do.”
She was almost crying now. Twilight didn’t know what to say, so it was down to Spike to be the wise one for once. He jumped down to offer Apple Bloom a hug, which seemed to comfort her without the need for words. Fluttershy and Rarity were the next to come around the table, starting a group hug that soon included all of them. As the huddle broke up, Apple Bloom could manage a weak smile.
“Thank you,” she said, “I wanted to tell you sooner, but I’d seen how much trouble Rumble got in when he actually shared somepony else’s secret. And it was family, I couldn’t hurt Big Mac if he said there was a reason it had to be secret. I had to keep it secret, that I hurt my friends so much. We’ve still got these scars…”
“They’ll heal,” Twilight offered what comfort she could. “Everypony does the wrong thing sometimes when they’re young. It’s how we learn. And your mistake wasn’t all bad. Because we know now that the Gaia Memory’s connector can change over time to look like a real cutie mark; and that it changes more quickly in the young. That might help us to recognise a dopant we would otherwise have dismissed. So… I know you feel bad, but remember there’s always a silver lining. And that true friends will always see the good in you.”
“No more secrets,” Apple Bloom promised, and that was enough to get a cheer from everypony.
“That could be the moral of the story,” Twilight said with a smile, “Now, I really need to get to writing this report. Maybe you can help me get the facts in order, make sure we’re not missing anything?” But before she even put hooves to keys, Spike gave a small belch of fire and a letter appeared in front of him.
“Oh no, the Princesses must be angry that my report is late!” Twilight went from calm to panic in zero seconds flat, “What does she say?”
“My faithful student…” Spike skimmed over the document, “… events to shape the future … diplomatic pressure … reveal what has been secret … a joining of … dawn of a new era … Huh‽”
“Spike?”
“You need to book a ticket to Canterlot to discuss some arrangements, it’s super vague. And clear a weekend in your calendar for the end of next month. I –” he was interrupted as Twilight’s magic snatched the scroll from his claws.
“Oh wow,” Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked down the letter. She realised she was babbling a little, but she was surprised enough that the words just had to come out “I’m not sure why it’s important or why she’s inviting us, she doesn’t even say who, but I think this is a wedding invitation!”
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Okay, I was NOT expecting that reveal of Justice, though I thought it was him following AJ that night a while back outside the armour!
I figured that one of <Raito>'s siblings would be Taboo and abduct her at somepoint, so that hunch paid off. That and one of said siblings would try and use Justice and his family after... THAT wake-up scene! XD
8033931 I've been trying to drop hints, but never sure if it's too vague or too heavy-handed.
Glad to see you've been enjoying the story enough to stick with it so far :)
I've got the K, E, and C episodes written, but I think 27 needs a bit of editing to remove unnecessary exposition, and a friend who's been helping me with editing is a bit busy at the moment (and given that my future depends on it, I have to give priority to my for-sale projects). Also have a spin-off "movie" at about 90% edited; which will take place somewhere between 28 and 40 in the timeline.
Okay. I've caught up on everything that's currently available. So nobody gets spoiled, I'll be using the black-out bars.
My suspicions of <The Museum> are slowly becoming true. Here's what I speculate so far, with confirmations as I go:
Big Bad Terror: Maud or Cloudy Quartz. From the way the "head of the family" spoke, it makes me think that Igneous and Cloudy have passed away, so Maud is our best bet.
Taboo: Limestone (Confirmed). I thought of this after reading Chapter 25, and it was revealed soon after.
Claydoll: Marble. She's the only one out of the remaining unconfirmed Pie Sisters that this fits with, considering what I know about W.
Smilodon: Boulder. Because we need something lighthearted after all this drama.
True Gaia Memory: Pinkie (Confirmed). It's been rather obvious since the first usage of the Gaia Library that Pinkie was Philip's stand-in, thus leading me on to believe that the rest of the Pies were The Museum's stand-in.
I like how you told us the powers that Kamen Rider Harmony is going to get later on. Though I as-of-yet fail to understand why Eternal and Xtreme are in that list. I honestly believed that Xtreme was going to have a stand-in for Harmony's usage, but nope! Just like with Joker being out of place, so is Xtreme. And they have....a Double Memory. A Legend Rider item. That's gonna have to stew in my brain for a while.
Lastly, the usage of Nightmare Moon. Keep in mind, I've only read the first half of what's planned, so I may be WAY off here. But as far as I can tell, Nightmare Moon's been a pretty pointless addition to the fic. She gets set up as this big bad recurring villain, she reappears after a bit....and she helps out after what's essentially Twilight smacking her over the back of the head and telling her to get over her pettiness so they can focus on the bigger problem at hoof.
Again, I may be WAY off here. But Nightmare Moon has, as far as I can tell right now, been absolutely pointless. I can't tell if this is clever misinformation or something else.
8526249
I've started heading a bit further away from the canon plot in later chapters, so it doesn't get too predictable. It seems like a tough balancing act. Also including a little more MLP plot in the mix (as you could probably guess from the ending of this one). A good part of the final arc is a set of 6 stories that don't draw directly from W, but I think would have to happen if there was a Kamen Rider show with a team of 6. It's hard to know if I've misjudged it; that's maybe one reason I'm so nervous about releasing the next chapter, and still waiting for my proofreader to get around to them.
Nightmare Moon was a tough one. When I started on this, I wasn't expecting to actually do a whole series. And some of the first comments I got said it's unsatisfying because Luna isn't redeemed. So she becomes like the first-arc villain, then gets a kind of redemption.
She was useful because she shows the reader that there isn't such a clear distinction between the Elements and other Memories. She's also showed up a few times in little scenes with Celestia; giving the audience a some foreshadowing I couldn't find another way to show. It's not the best way to do it, but it seemed to fit. A way to reveal a little bit of the princesses' history, while Celestia still (for some reason) isn't being honest with Twilight.
And I completely forgot about Smilodon … not sure how I managed that.
8526798
Yeah. With a project as big as this, I can expect some things to fall through the cracks. And by no means am I trying to dissuade you from continuing. I was just bringing up a point I thought was worth pointing out. I still look forward to whatever's coming next. And who knows? Maybe something cool will come of those things.
8526833
I'm just realising how long it's been since I posted a new chapter here. I really want to start sharing them again, but I know they need some editing, and chapter 27 is probably the one I'm having most trouble doing myself.
Care to take a look over a couple of draft chapters? Or know anyone who's good at structure editing? My current editor seems to have skipped bits of it; and is batter at spelling/grammar than story flow and pacing the release of information.
The big problem is that I've got the Princesses giving a huge wad of exposition in chapter 27. I know Celestia should be holding back most of the information, because she still doesn't trust at least one of the Champions. Luna is more open, but I'm sure they've had a huge argument behind the scenes about what is and is not okay to share. So I need to cut bits out of that scene so that there's enough information for Twilight to think she understands why they're being sent to the Crystal Empire; there's enough for the reader to have some guesses about what's really going on; and that the big reveals of Tirek and the Eternal Dopant won't seem like it's coming out of the blue. I think most of the information that Celestia should really be keeping to herself is revealed over the course of the story in the next 6 episodes (and partly in the movie). But I want to confirm there's nothing missing before I cut it out. That's really hard to do, because I've got the story in my head, so I might not notice if there's parts that are never explained.
8609855
Hey! Good to see you back after so long!
As to your question? I'm not sure. While I'd love to do some editing work for you, I'm in question as to my own sense of pacing. This is usually where this FAQ post would get some use.