Svetlana
We sit in a Starbucks in the New York Exchange watching people hurry to and fro across the busy concourse. Beside me is Svetlana, a severe looking woman with a large, beak-like nose and a ropy scar that runs down her face and neck before disappearing beneath her fur-lined jacket. Despite the fact it is twenty degrees out and sunny, she shows no sign of overheating and, indeed, has a large cup of black coffee before her.
“So, it's a story you want?” Svet says, drumming her fingers on the table. It makes a very metallic rattle and I realise that her left arm is robotic. “How about I tell you how I lost my wing in a battle to the death with a forty foot long dragon?”
“Well, I’d prefer a true story.”
“Ha!” She slaps the table. “About time someone called me on that. Let me tell you, that dragon’s been getting bigger for years and people still eat it up.” She rolls her eyes. Well, eye. One sits dead in its socket, clearly a glass replica. “Honestly, people still believe gryphons are barbarians from beyond the frontiers of Equestria, or something. Morons.”
“Let's be fair, I would have believed a twenty foot dragon,” I reply, smiling. “But if you don’t want to say–”
“I don’t.”
“–then I won’t force you.” I tap my pen against my notebook. “So, why Earth?”
There’s a mechanical whine as Svetlana crosses her arms across her chest. “What’s it to you?” she demands, glowering at me.
“About the cost of a coffee,” I shoot straight back.
“Urgh, fine, that gets you at least half a story.” She purses her lips, glowering off into the middle distance. “Earth? Well, Earth isn’t Equestria. That’s what makes it great. You know where you stand with humanity, they’re a simple bunch who know what they want and then get it. There’s no namby-pamby waltzing around agonising over friendship and feelings. They see, they strike, they get. It’s all about being a predator, not prey. I never thought I’d find that outside of Gryphon Stone.”
“It sounds like you’re a convert.”
“Hell yeah,” Svetlana says, beaming. “This is New York, home of capitalism. Where Wall Street rules the world. Peace and love? Nah. Try, how much for an hour? That’s why this place is great. I came to New York with nothing but a gold bit smuggled in my crop. Five years on and I’ve got a swanky apartment, eat steak every night and have a dozen people running at my beck and call. Back in Equestria I was a charity case, a cripple. I literally had filly scouts knocking on my door to see if there was anything I needed done around the house. Here.” Her eye sparkles. “Here I have it all.”
I frown. “So, what is it that you do?”
“Imports and exports,” she says, with a blasé toss of the head. A moment later she fixes me with a piercing glare. “And don’t think that means smuggling, I’ve got a lawyer to stick on people who make that kind of insinuation. I’m a legitimate businesswoman.”
There is not a trace of irony in her voice, which I consider to be a remarkable achievement. “So, you ship across the portal?”
“Yep, all sorts of things. Of course the damn governments on both sides have a list of rules as long as my arm stopping all the good stuff getting through, like gold and gems, but we've snuck all sorts of stuff through the legal cracks. It was my boys that got the first lump of platinum through the portal, and half the book was written to keep us from making a killing in arbitrage.”
She grimaces. “They don't let us get away with that kind of fast talking these days, though, so we have to play within the rules. Takes all the fun out of it, but hell, we’re still making a killing. Humans can't get enough of enchanted gadgets, even if it's just a little fire starting spell. Likewise ponies go crazy for anything electronic. We sell so many iPads I’m looking into making our own knockoff. Turns out ‘PonyPad’ is trademarked by some games developer already, but I’m sure I can pay some soft-livered creative type to come up with something.”
“It sounds like you’ve found your niche.”
“Hell yeah.“ Svetlana beams. “I’ve got money. I’ve got my arm back.” She hefts the bionic limb. “And I’ve got respect.”
“And,” I begin, hesitantly. “You still travel to Equestria?”
Her face falls. “More than I’d like. I have to dump the arm of course, the disguise spell freaks out when I go through wearing it, which is a pain in the ass. I must yell at Sparkle next time she tries to dress me down actually, and get her to fix that.”
“Nothing you miss?” I ask, trying to affect an innocent air.
“Oh, don’t even start with that shit,” Svetlana snaps, glowering at me. “You’re asking me about my wings. Well, guess what, this–” She points at the scar. “–didn’t just cost me a foreleg. Now the ponies, they’re all about the sympathy. When I tell them about the forty foot dragon, they tell me how sorry they are for my loss and how terrible it must be. Bunch of fucking whiners. They’ve got all this magic, they’ve got immortals, but I’m not a pony so they don’t know how to fix a fucking thing. They did nothing!”
Svetlana’s hand hits the table with a bang and I leap in surprise. A leonine growl escapes her throat. “So no, Miss Sandy, I don’t miss anything about Equestria. There’s no dreams of open skies or silver lined clouds waiting for me. On Earth I may still be a cripple, but humans don’t let themselves be defined by their injuries. I’m happy.”
“Are you?” The woman’s voice is soft and melodious but it is her presence that draws the eye. She’s unnaturally tall, with waist length blond hair and is wearing a light grey business suit that seems to shine under the florescent lights. She is radiant, in a very literal sense. Just being in her presence seems to brighten the world and I can feel the heat and life pouring from her in soft waves.
Her name is Celestia.
“Oh shit,” Svetlana mutters. “Look, I didn’t mean–”
“I don’t care. Leave.” Celestia silences her with a word. Svetlana is gone before I can even blink, not even pausing to take her coffee. Celestia sits in the vacant chair.
“Hello, Sandy. It is good to see you again.” If she is indeed glad to see me, it does not show on her face which is fixed in a serene smile.
“Wish I could say the same,” I reply, closing my notebook and setting it on the table between us. “I seem to recall threats of fiery death if I ever showed my face again.”
Celestia blanches. “Yes, that was a little rash of me.”
“Eh, it was a long time ago,” I say, glancing around to see if there’s any cover I can duck into to avoid immolation. Alas, there is not. “I’m over it.”
“You don’t have to be afraid, Sandy,” Celestia says, spreading open her hands. “I bare you no ill will and this is neutral ground. You are safe.”
“Fine...” I say, at long last. “You found me quickly. I thought I’d have at least another hour before Twilight figured out what had happened.”
“She surprises even me sometimes.” Celestia’s smile is warm and the world shines along with her. “Of course, you did stop to interview someone, which helped.”
I shrug. “It’s a weakness of mine. I’m writing a book, you see.”
“Still?”
“It’s not the kind of book you ever finish writing. There’s always more stories out there, more than you ever imagined.”
Celestia winces. “Sandy, I know we last left off on a poor note.”
“You promised to consume me in fires so hot that even a phoenix would perish,” I cut in. “It left an impression.”
“In my defence, you threatened Equestria.”
I roll my eyes. “No. I said, ‘if you carry on as you are the sun will never again rise on your little nation’. Given Luna’s little incident occurred just twenty years later I can’t say I was wrong.”
“Ah.” She lets out a tiny sigh. “In that case you have my apologies, again. I was... overprotective of my little ponies in those days.”
“That implies that you aren’t now,” I say, shaking my head. “Then again, I guess the sun isn’t known for its changing ways. Perhaps if you’d listened to your sister now and again Equestria wouldn’t have grown so stagnant.”
“Peaceful,” Celestia corrects.
I shrug. “Same difference. I gave you every opportunity to see what was over the horizon. To explore beyond the little empire you called Equestria. You turned me down, and look what happened.”
A frown mars Celestia’s serene look. “We found Harmony.”
“Heh. Funny, I thought it was only when you started fighting the monsters rather than just sealing them away that Equestria began to bloom. Or maybe that was just because Twilight has a little more nerve than old Star Swirl. She actually thought to explore my mirror.”
“Your mirror almost killed Star Swirl,” Celestia shoots back.
“Almost. Roads are dangerous things, Celestia, but well worth travelling. Then again, Star Swirl never could appreciate something he didn’t have a hoof in building.”
She tuts and shakes her head, as if chiding a child. “You haven’t changed at all, have you, Sandy? Our little ponies are far more precious than you can imagine, to risk them so lightly is–”
“I think we’ve had this argument before,” I cut in, holding up a hand. “It's no more interesting this time around. If you’re going to do nothing but make veiled threats, then I have better ways to spend my time.”
For just an instant the gentle warmth of Celestia’s aura goes white hot, but she takes a deep breath and forced it down. “As you wish, Sandy. But–” She holds up a finger. “–If you are not going to work with Equestria, then you must promise not to work against us.”
“I just collect stories, Tia,” I say, scowling. “You don’t have anything to fear from me.”
“And if you decide to, yet again, reveal Equestria to another world?”
“Ha!” It takes me a moment, and a severe glare, to realise that Celestia is serious. “Oh, you really think I had anything to do with that? No, I just made the mirror. The path your little ponies took was entirely up to them. Perhaps they’re more adventurous than you like to think.”
She sighs. “Sandy. When I checked last your portal stood on a little island just off of Europe, not in an American school.”
“Eh, so I moved things around a little,” I say, shrugging. “I wasn’t the one who pushed their student through. I wasn’t the one who drew attention to Equestria. I wasn’t the one who built the Exchanges.”
“But you carved the road,” Celestia cut in, arching an eyebrow at me. “Paraphrasing, ‘I didn’t pull the trigger, but I still killed her’. You have no idea of the harm you could have wrought by your actions, Sandy.”
“Maybe not, but I knew full well what would have happened if I stood still. You have no idea of the good that has come, and will come, from all this.” I slide my notebook across the table and smile. “Perhaps you’d like to see.”
Celestia makes no move to take it. “You had no right.”
“Nor do you.” I stand. “So are we done here? I’ve got a flight to San Francisco booked in a couple of hours.”
“I... yes, I suppose we are.” Celestia sighs. “Before you go. I want you to know that you can come home if you wish.”
I roll my eyes. “I live on the road, Celestia. There’s too much to see to tie yourself down to one place.”
“The last time you said that you made the mirror portal,” she points out. “Please don’t make another, Equestria has barely survived meeting humanity.”
“Oh Celestia,” I say, chuckling. “Whatever makes you think I only made one mirror?”
Her eyes go wide and she leaps to her feet. But, too late. I was already long gone.
Hey all. Thank you very much for reading Interviews at the Canterlot Exchange. I've been asked in the comments but wanted to say offically that, if anyone wants to take this setting and add their own stories they are more than welcome. All I ask is you link back to this story 
Want to see any of these characters expanded? Vote for your favourite here.
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Well, my guess was wrong.
Ugh, I just can't stand to see Celestia as this "Harmony equals no change" pony. I always saw her as some pony who subtly moves things forwards, so subtly that those she's moving don't even realize it. But whatever, just a pet peeve of mine.
More than 1 mirror portal? OR IS THERE!?!?!?
Celestia should've expected it because ONE mirror seems tame...
Awesome, things are getting juicy
Whelp, I loved how each chapter had a counterpart in another chapter. Like Svetlana and Terry (Both moved to chase economic opportunity) , Neutronium and Hazy (pretty obvious there), and I dare say Roger and Celestia (Both fret over letting their charges go) . I do hope that both Matt and Roger get expanded chapters.
Svetlana was right. A cup of coffee only bought half a story.
It's a shame, Celestia's (and by extension Twilight's) stances in this matter. No risk, bubble kingdom if they had their way.
(I'm still a tad miffed at the very self-centered attitude, mind you. The only thing that matters to Celestia is how precious her little ponies are. Except, humans also become ponies upon going to Equestria)
I have an interpretation from this of events, does anyone else share it?
Sandy is an Alicorn, along with Celestia and Luna.
Celestia and Sandy had different ideals on how to manage Equestia, and had frequent arguments over which direction they think Equestria should go, and Sandy created the mirror, and let Starswirl have it. After Starswirl was almost killed exploring it, he then used it as a dumping grounds for various people that they didn't want around Equestria. Celestia and Sandy had a huge falling out over this, and Sandy disappeared due to some poorly worded statement from Celestia about not showing her face ever again.
Shortly thereafter, Luna had her episode and become Nightmare Moon, where she was banished to the moon. Celestia had effectively sent away the only two ponies who could understand her and keep her company. In her solitude and regret over the years, she resolved to fix the problem with her sister and, if she saw Sandy again, to at least attempt to rebuild the bridge between them.
However, when Celestia went to confront Sandy this time, Sandy showed that the bridge was still very well burnt, and unless Celestia was willing to make a concession, refused to mend the divide. Celestia wasn't willing to make a concession, as her position hadn't changed. But until now, she didn't realize that Sandy had probably not just disappeared for all this time, but had also created a lot more opportunities (mirrors) for Equestria to interact with different worlds and different people, all outside of Celestia's control, precisely because Celestia had cut all ties to her.
Sandy, in her own way, is very much the ideal of an Alicorn rebel, and like Celestia she takes her duties to Equestria very seriously. It's just, her duties are to lay the groundwork for Equestria to experience change, instead of Celestia's duties to 'protect' Equestria. She also seems to take special interest in all interactions, especially going in both directions. Not just Equestrians, but those who visit and become in Equestrians in turn because of it.
Will Sandy and Celestia ever mend the divide between them? It's hard to say, since Sandy seems absolutely committed to her cause, probably even more-so now that she has stories spurring her on than before. On the other hoof, Celestia, while she is obviously working hard to not blow up at Sandy, still has a very controlling attitude towards her little ponies, and believes they must be coddled, even now.
This was an AWESOME and very unexpected chapter! Dang...
... ... I wonder what Luna would have to say...
Also, new speculation: Sandy is a nickname referring to the sands of time.
6850499
A very interesting analysis, with only one thing I disagree with.
I think Sandy is a draconequus.
Such a, well, chaotic domain as travel. The perception manipulation. Blinking away into thin air...
Why Celestia and Twilight think she's only bringing trouble, but could be very useful if 'she got her horse apples together.'
Small difference, of course, but I do think it fits far better with what we've got shown.
6850716
I associate that species with snapping talons, and to my recollection there was no hint of that at all. I call her an Alicorn, but really that is in lieu of any other species that would fit better. We've also only heard her perceived as pony tribes this far. If she were referred to as a Griffon once I'd be more willing to entertain it.
Plus it's hard to imagine Celestia inviting anything but another pony to come back home. Sorry, she just gives that vibe. Can you see her making the same offer to Discord?
Wow. This Celestia comes across as rather condescending. Is nobody going to comment on her treatment of Svetlana?
That sounds rather dismissive to me. Sort of "How can you be happy here?" Not to mention the way she just drives the former gryphon away without a second thought, let alone an apology.
Yeah, that's real friendly and harmonious. "You're less than the dirt beneath my hooves. Get out of here before I take the effort of noticing you." I'll admit, that is a very Royal mindset. But somehow I can't see her treating one of her ponies in such a fashion...
6850731
Well, Celestia did set out an (so far mostly successful if rocky) attempt to redeem Discord.
A year or so after his last rampage, and while he was safely locked in stone nonetheless.
So... Yeah. I could easily imagine Celestia trying to smooth the waves to have another immortal in her corner. Again, not only Discord, but she did the same thing with Nightmare Moon/Luna as well instead of, say, reinforcing the seals on the moon.
Hey, the straw poll has no option for Sandy! For a character whose personality we mostly saw through her choice of interview questions, I found her utterly fascinating.
All of the interviewees were interesting too. My favourite was definitely Roger Smith though. His story was just really sweet. The idea of a flying holiday was pretty brilliant too. I can definitely imagine it being really popular!
Hazey Hooves and Neutronium were also really neat for the way they contrasted, both looking at the advantages of the other culture.
Sandy reminds me of Destiny from the Sandman series especially with the book.
Perhaps her full name is the Sandmare?
“I bare you no ill will" -- bear
You also have a misspelled fluorescent.
6850421
I agree completely, but on the flipside "Celestia as Harmony equals no change" makes for an excellent well-meaning antagonist. It's believable, even if it's an interpretation that's contrary to the show.
6850733 Well, on the other hand, Svetlana just insulted her and Equetria's governement as well as admiting that she was happy to be a legal pain in the ass.
I suppose Celestia get the rigth to be upseted.
Pleasant as ever, Celestia, good going. Shout down the cripple for being unhappy with your apathetic policies, why don't you.
Yeah, Celestia doesn't really end up looking too good there. Given the whole thing with Twilight, this might be another situation where what you wanted to say isn't what I pick up from it, but personally, I think all her counterpoints just end up looking horribly, horribly weak. She might as well have done nothing but sit there stuttering for all the effective statements she makes against what is, for all we've seen, nothing but an unquestionable boon to the majority of people on either side of the portal. She's been holding her people - and apparently, yet again, her people only, if the griffon is anything to go from - by their hand-analogues for millennia and finds herself nothing but outraged when it's questioned if her people ever even needed or really wanted to be saved from themselves like that.
Life is like an airplane: if you stop moving forward, you die. Celestia is too comfortable in her position and too stuck in her vision of what the world should be to actually cope with it as it is. It's no wonder her world is leaving her behind.
6850968
And why shouldn't she? She had absolutely no reason to be fond or happy about Equestria. It gave her nothing but patronizing attitudes and sermons about a friendship she apparently never wanted. Why should she say nice things about it? This is the same Celestia that threatened Sandy for pointing out what would happen to Luna if she continued as she was - clearly neither the sharpest knife in the drawer nor too appreciative of outsiders in general.
6851034
Not really. You can move forward and still die. You can stop and find balance and survive.
Progress for the sake of progress is never a good thing. More so in the context of a finite universe. There is alway a limit.
I cannot contradict this, but if you wan't to "humanize" Celestia, you have to accept that she is just as flawed as any other. There is no wrong in this situation. All concerned parties were mostly rigth. But the way to hell is paved with good will.
6851034
6850733
I have the feeling they have met before, and Celestia doesn´t approve Svetlana´s business (she is a smuggler, albeit one operating in the grey side of the law).
This said, I understand Svetlana´s attitude perfectly. Cripples don´t want to be pitied, but being treated as equals and the means to stand up on their own... two things no equestrian ever gave to her.
6851054
I can honestly only roll my eyes at the part about a finite universe. We're not talking about a race of super-transhumans running into the problem of there being literally nothing left in existence they haven't already seen yet.
Also, history proves you wrong there. We have hundreds of examples of what happens with a culture when it stagnates and stops striving to improve itself: it grows decadent, self-involved and is eventually swallowed up by a society that didn't make this mistake. Equestria would always have met something like humanity eventually, it's unavoidable. Sooner or later, they would have run into an enemy who can't be stopped by rainbow friendship lasers. Life doesn't stop and wait for you, no matter how satisfied with yourself you currently are.
6851060
You know, I can see that having happened, actually. Fair point there.
6851074
Sandy pretty much states she knows that outcome, and actively worked againt it by creating the portals... and maybe leaving around a clue or two about them in Canterlot´s archives.
By the way, I could almost heard Sandy´s laugh in the end : "Do you hear that, Celestia? That is the sound of inevitability"
6851105
Time waits for no man, as they say - and apparently no sun-horse princess either.
6851074
Never said that this particular setting fully reached its limit, but in the end, there is a limit.
And sometime, you run out of resources needed to move further. See Easter Island.
Or maybe even War of World. There is a thing such as going too far.
A few of these, but not hundreds.
Anyway, when you start to go into decadence, you are regressing. It is not balance.
If we are talking about a large scale, the yes, there will always be changes. However you can integrate these change and balance things out.
Only if there is indeed something else outside
6851117
Nope, literally hundreds. Possibly thousands more across history. Every single little Amazon rainforest tribe who got swallowed by land development? That's another society that found a comfortable "balance" and got stuck in the stone age while the world moved on without it. You are not going to make a successful case for endless, never-changing stagnation here, no matter what you say. That kind of thing is only possible in a closed-off, lonely world where nothing else changes either.
6851131 And pray tell, how many of these were decadent?
6851154
That was an "OR" statement, not an "AND" statement. Clearly, that part only applies to societies that are at the height of their power and can afford to do so. Doesn't invalidate the rest of it.
6851165 I misunderstood you then, I suppose the "and" was what misleaded me
Anyway, it is still interesting to see that these civilization are still there today, none of the "ever going forward" type of society managed that. Heck! Even our occidental society is declining. And yet we have made moving forward the base of our systems.
6851189
No offense, but that's one of those statements that I can really only laugh over. Western society is declining? In what sense? We're freer, richer, healthier, more well fed and more technologically advanced than ever. There is nothing meaningfully declining there. The reason all the older nations and social forms don't exist anymore is because progress replaced them with something that was different and, on the whole, usually better in some way.
No nation today can say about itself that it has 3000+ years of unbroken national history, but despite all of that, the descendants of the people back then are the ones who live there now. We have a cultural line of transmission that goes back to Ancient Greece and farther. Some parts of it broke down and some others were replaced, but on the whole? Progressing and flourishing because of it is exactly what we've done.
6851237 Well it is a fun debate. Had it in class in college.
Your points are valid and yet:
-The birth rate is alarmingly low and still declining. Thus, the population is aging and the productivity fell.
-As a whole, our society is decadent. Leisure and recreation are taking a huge part of our life. Bad nutrition is epidemic and there is a tendency to de-valuate study outside of pure pratical fields.
-The occidental economic strenght is very low comapred to what it once was, non-occidental economy (oriental, mainly) are raising and we are dependent of them.
-As a whole the influence and control of the occident is not as much as it once was.
-Despite how large and advanced the millitary is, occident struggle to win war. Vietnam, Afganistan, Ethiopia, Irak, the whole ordeal with Al-Qaïda and ISIS...
So yes, it's still big and seem strong, but yet it is also weakening.
Oh, very interesting and more questions then answer. I like it!
I really hope you open up this setting, I think I could have some fun with it. :)
6851316
Those are some very petty things to make a claim about the decline of an entire cultural circle of well over 2 billion people over. You also can't really expect a post-war boom economy to last forever. As to the last... well, that's rather less a struggle of the occident and rather more a struggle of the US in the face of the misgivings of most of the occident. Hardly much to judge anything by.
Her survival instincts aren't the best are they? Let's annoy the extremely powerfull being who has already tjretaned you with imolation in the past. What could go wrong?
...wonder how Celesti-AI would react to ponies already being real... it would probably be interesting.
Right, I'm way behind on the comments as Mondays are really busy for me. I'll try and clear through these when I get a chance.
6844825 Fair enough, though I don' think you'd get away with the plot without adding a fair amount of comedy. The whole concept of a spring break getting genderflipped is just absurd to begin with so it has to be played for laughs at some level. That said, there's no reason why it can have a few serious plotlines, but its never going to be a wholly serious drama.
6845782 Glad you're enjoying yourself. Hope you liked the final chapters.
6846404 Yeah, personally I think Twilight has the most sensible attitude to the whole situation. Lyra's worked, but there's so many ways it could have gone horribly wrong that its hard to justify without the benefit of hindsight.
6846408 Dun dun dun!
6846503 It's great to hear you're having fun. I'm always worried that this kind of thing is a very serious topic for some people and very much in need of respect, but still needs to impact the story somewhat. To answer your question, I always see Equestria as blurring the idea that your physical identity is written in stone, magical transformations just open up too many options for it to be totally fixed. That said, gender and form is such a complex issue and so tied into how you see the world that I can't imagine it would ever go away even if shapeshifting at a snap of the fingers (or whatever) becomes a thing.
6846535 Well it has its advantages. For one thing, you don't have to figure out new limbs/senses. The other tribes have a bit more wow factor though, I'll admit.
6846554 Ooo, good precognition there.
A Brilliant finale to a wonderful story. I like how the questions of progress & how these 2 societies would effect each other was brought up & sure, the ways the 2 interact (magic/science, voluntary/involuntary shapeshifting, etc.) brings up questions about the way each society is structured & how individuals within them choose to live their lives, but my 2 cents is that its much better that those questions be asked & answers found rather than them being swept under the rug, & if more mirrors & other worlds are found later down the line then the combined viewpoints & talents of Earth & Equestria will be far more able to deal with them then either could alone.
6851054 Have to disagree on this statement Celestia's entire conversation paints large warning flags around her as an individual.The Smothering Mother archetype really suits her here
and considering here position that is not the type of individual you want in a seat of power. As C.S. Lewis said
6857491
Also, why does Celestia point Sandy has no idea about how specials are the ponies? She is a fellow alicorn, for Faust sake!
Turns out ‘PonyPad’ is trademarked by some games developer already, but I’m sure I can pay some soft-livered creative type to come up with something.”
~Chuckles~ Of course i would catch that! i see somepony else caught it also. Hmm... And i must say, i do not like this version of celestia either.
6850421 The mastermind idea for Celestia is always a popular one, but it's one I stuggle to find believable much of the time. Sure, I can see Celestia always working behind the scenes to improve things, but the idea that she's always improving things suggests a truly supernatural abilitie to predict the future. Celestia I'm sure has a plan and she hopes it is the right one, but I can't see even an imortal ruler planning out a thousand years in advance and that plan having any bearing to reality by the end. Celestia tries, but against the sheer weight of time even a goddess can only make do and try and work to the best foresable future. Sometimes that best choice at the time is the wrong one in hindsight.
6850435 Well, only two planets to explore gets boring after the first couple centuries
6850482 Huh, you know I hadn't spotted the Roger/Celestia one myself, good eye. Glad you enjoyed reading.
6850485 It's very true and one of the things I highlight to differentiate between ponies and humans. Ponies don't seem to spread wonders out, instead they build new ones wherever they can, whereas humans prefer to pick one great solution and run with it.
6850489 Guess we'll have to see if the readers want her back.
6850499 I'm giving that one 99/100, which is a great feeling as an author.
One thing that you might have missed, however, is how both Celestia and Sandy are trying to patch things up in the end. They both fail, Sandy wants Celestia to admit she was wrong and Celestia wants Sandy to toe the line, neither of which is going to happen. But there's an effort on both sides to find some middle ground, and that's a world of difference from their positions a thousand years ago. Celestia is coming out of her shell somewhat, after all if she hadn't allowed it the Exchanges would never have been built, and Sandy is doubting herself, otherwise she would never have bothered finding out if her decision was actually a success.
6850649 Until it's written in the story its not offical, but I always had Sandy's full name as: Sandy Hooves, alicorn of Travelers, but the Sands of Time would have been a good reference. Great to hear you enjoyed the story
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6858746
Years upon years of literary analysis in English class have finally paid off in horse words. Though I am a little surprised that I caught one you didn't.
Let's see if I can list the others off that popped to mind.
1: Thomas and Matt. Both were stuck in Equestria in a form they did not like, but have grown (or in Matt's case, on the way to grow) comfortable with their form
2: Terry and Svetlana. Both are gryphonesses that moved for economic opportunity and gained new limbs in the process.
3: Rainbow Dash, Bon Bon, Lyra, and Twilight seem to be on a spectrum. Lyra and Twilight strike me as Idealists in the sense that they both hold an overly optimistic/pessimistic view of how the portals first opened. Bon Bon and Rainbow Dash both strike me as the more realist counterparts to their friends. BB & RD both have reservations about the portals, but accept they are open and make the best of them. (This is the flimsiest connection I have, TBH)
6858746 I never thought of her as someone who knew or could anticipate everything, but I certainly don't see her as someone who would want to keep things unchanging. I mean, it's hard for me to believe she didn't have some idea of what would happen when she sent Twilight Starswirl's unfinished spell.
What happened with Sunset Shimmer in this universe?
After thinking about this story it occurred to me to wonder if, after her meeting with her, Celestia is going to inform Twilight about Sandy? Twilight would undoubtedly be curious after her meeting with this mysterious being, so would Celestia explain who she is & their shared history?
That's not to say that any future stories you may write about this concept will address that of course. Just that I don't think Celestia should (or will) leave Twilight in the dark about her. Twilight needs to know why she isn't (or is) a threat & why Twilight shouldn't (or should) pursue her.
I'm surprised no one has commented on how hypocritical Svetlana is.
Gryphon society is based on a predatory mindset, and Svetlana hated it because, as a cripple, she just didn't have the tools to compete in that society.
Pony society is based on sympathy, and Svetlana hated it because ponies treated her as someone to help, thus implying that she was weak and helpless.
Human society is, according to Svetlana, just as predatory as Gryphon society, but uses different tools (money, cunning, and business/legal savvy). As soon as she could, Svetlana lords it over her newfound business empire, being rude, abrasive, insulting, and condescending to practically everyone else. She practically boasts over the fact that she has people waiting on her, preemptively threatens Sandy with legal action, and treats even the simplest of conversations as a ruthless business deal.
Then Celestia comes in and treats Svetlana as a lion would treat a pesky mouse (predator and prey) and Svetlana can't backpedal fast enough. And the irony is that this is exactly what Svetlana asked for: a predator who offers no sympathy if you are weak or crippled, and just takes what she wants.
In other words, Celestia acted human, and Svetlana can't even see that an aggressive and predatory Celestia is exactly the kind of thing that Svetlana wants to be, nor does she make the connection that it's kind of scary.
It's funny but I can't help but think that Sandy didn't mention where said mirrors are either.
Very interesting story you've got here. Wasn't really a massive fan of Celestias characterization at the end but the rest of the interviews and stories you told here were nicely done indeed. Thanks very much for sharing.
This is good.
I like this.
I want more of this.
this is pretty poggers of a story, thank you for writing it
Sandy: Entropy by any other name does nothing to change the nature of what it is or accomplishes.
I regret waiting so long to read this story, it was excellent. I thought it would just be little anecdotes as a small world building project, but you managed a small narrative as well, and it was really interesting. You brought up some great topics, like how each world has people who focus so much on the negatives that they completely overlook what's great. That's something I recognize myself guilty of as well, though I can't fathom the extent. I love this, it's great work.