Diplomatic Overtures

by Dave Bryant

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

Sunset and I landed on a pair of air mattresses zip-tied together, which certainly was an improvement over hard concrete. When we rose to our knees and looked around, we saw the dark and silent campus; even the street behind us and the suburban neighborhood across it were quiet at this hour. We’d assumed everyone would be home and probably asleep when we arrived so late, but under the unexpected mattresses was the huge red-and-white gingham picnic blanket Sunset’s friends habitually used.

On the lawn just off the walkway and plaza stood a mismatched pair of tents, one of which showed a dim glow through the fabric. On top of the plinth sprawled a snoring Pinkie Pie, who probably could sleep on a bed of nails. Sitting in lawn chairs on the pavement leading to the school’s front doors were Celestia and Luna, reading magazines with the aid of small book lights. The two principals looked up—the portal was not at all unobtrusive about announcing arrivals—and greeted us with muted enthusiasm. “Girls? Girls, they’re back,” Celestia added in a slightly louder voice.

The commotion that followed would have been funny under other circumstances. Well, no, it was just plain funny, but it also was heartwarming, to tell the truth. They tumbled out of the tents one after another to surround us and bombard us with questions. Applejack and Rainbow Dash helped us off the treacherous footing of the mattresses onto solid ground.

Sunset waved her arms and berated everyone indiscriminately, even the adults, for going to so much trouble, but her friends would have none of it. “We were worried, Sunset,” Twilight said humbly. “There was a lot riding on this meeting. We couldn’t stand the suspense.”

“And we did get Principal Celestia’s permission to remain on campus,” Rarity added primly.

Luna sighed. “She insisted on chaperoning them, which meant I had to as well.”

Fluttershy amended, “Well, really our parents insisted.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Give it up, Sunset. You know it won’t do any good anyway.”

Sunset deflated and lowered her arms. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. And I guess I should say thank you, shouldn’t I?”

“Yep!” Pinkie answered with a bobble-head nod.

“Does this mean we can go home?” Luna asked hopefully.

“Once we escort everyone off school grounds,” Celestia told her patiently. “Which we can do on our way back to the car.”

The mattresses and tents were packed away in a flurry of activity, during which I sent a brief message to the home office confirming the successful discharge of my duty and safe, if belated, return. When the whole gaggle reached the street, the principals turned over the duty of chaperone to me, which took me aback. A quick plebiscite decided the next step was to adjourn to the not-too-distant Sweet Shoppe, which still would be open for another hour, catering to the night-owl market. “Girls,” I groaned, “I’m beat, Sunset is beat, and all of you look beat.”

This swayed exactly nobody; even Twilight and Fluttershy refused to let us go without at least a summary of the day’s doings. I took off my slightly rumpled jacket and slung it over my shoulder; my retransformed bookbag hung once more from my other hand. Sunset’s suit also looked a bit the worse for wear, and Rarity clucked her tongue, but there was no permanent harm done.

So majority rule prevailed, and we repaired to the Sweet Shoppe for coffee all around and a debriefing. I refused to start, though, until arrangements were made to get them all back home. When most of them refused to pull out their phones, I pulled out mine and called every single household for pick-ups. Disappointed noises decried my perfidy, but I stood firm. Exhaustion helped.

One by one parents or older siblings appeared to reclaim their lost lambs, who invariably wailed they would miss the rest of my story. Only by swearing blood oaths I would make good the cliffhangers could they be budged, but at last only Sunset and I remained in the corner booth shortly before closing. We looked at each other wearily, and I mumbled, “I’ll call for a ride home. Let’s go.”

“Thanks, Cook.” She put a hand on my arm. “For everything. I needed to do that, didn’t I?”

“Sooner or later. And you’re welcome.”

With that, we rose to wait outside for our ride to our respective domiciles. I was in for a busy day tomorrow, full of conferences and reports—including this one—and I would need all the sleep I could get.

Author's Note:

It wasn’t until I got to the end I realized Cook had an ulterior motive, other than the courtesy visa, for making sure Sunset came along. But he did, apparently.

Comments

[RMWarPony]

well done sir

[Dave Bryant]

7788184
Thanks very much!

[Greatazuredragon]

Nice work, good job.

[Dave Bryant]

7839690
Yes it would.
C: “I can’t believe I’m writing this.”
L: “Really, sister? After everything that’s happened?”

And thanks very much!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Reasonable, well-researched diplomacy between the two worlds. I can't say for certain, but this may be a first for pony fiction. Excellently done, especially the balance of protocol and plot that kept the procedures proper without boring the audience.

(As for the whole "Twilight won't outlive her friends" thing, I've always taken it the other way. Just because she was the first among them to ascend doesn't mean she'll be the only one.)

In any case, thank you for another enjoyable entry in this continuity.

[Dave Bryant]

7840557
That’s an interesting perspective on the lifespan question, and one I hadn’t considered! You’re absolutely right; it’s a good point that hasn’t been ruled out, but based on Occam’s Razor and the likeliest path to be chosen by a scriptwriting team and a toy company, if I had to lay a bet I’d put it down on the side of mortality.
I try hard to stay within established canon, or at least within statements made by show staff, as much as I possibly can. If I absolutely have to extrapolate, I try to put myself in the heads of the scriptwriters and their corporate overseers and see things from their point of view. In general that means taking things at face value unless I have reason to do otherwise—for example, Princess Twi’s description of the post-defeat sirens as “harmless teenage girls”. Only as a last resort do I try to cobble together a completely original explanation for something. My hope is to maximize compatibility with existing canon and minimize the possibility future developments will scotch my efforts.
Thanks so much for your comments on the research and balance, too! I’m pleased to know they have, at least for some readers, hit the mark; indeed, part of my goal was to accomplish exactly what you describe, especially taking an unprecedented path.

[Dave Bryant]

8008632
That’s one of the reasons I figured the portal must not work exactly the way it initially was presented—there simply were too many discrepancies. More precisely, it must not work in the human world as initially presented. Even with the hand-waving explanation I came up with, the timing doesn’t work out exactly right, but it comes a lot closer.

[EchoWing]

Definitely a good story and a good entry into this little continuity. More folks need to read these!

[Dave Bryant]

8369808
Alicorn, derived from the Italian alicorno, is the traditional term for a unicorn horn and the substance of which it supposedly is composed. It originated in the Middle Ages, possibly as long ago as the thirteenth century, so it is a very old word with much history. The reinterpretation of the word to describe a winged unicorn dates back to the 1980s at the earliest, making it a very recent neologism.

[Dave Bryant]

8369915
That anecdote is based on The Journal of the Two Sisters, pages 106–107:

“As Luna and I had seen, six Unicorns are required for the task of raising and lowering the sun and moon every day and night. Star Swirl was always one of the six for both the rising and the setting. But it takes a powerful amount of magic, and what nopony told us was that the Unicorns who volunteer for the job can only withstand the task for a short period of time before their magic is completely depleted . . . forever. Star Swirl himself had been the only Unicorn with strong enough magic to withstand this process day in and day out, night after night. But ten other Unicorns constantly needed to offer up their magic as a sacrifice for all of Equestria. This morning they ran out of Unicorns with magical abilities and were unable to perform their task. When Star Swirl tried to lower the moon by himself, he was unable to, his magic was depleted, and his beard turned gray.”

[lazyreader19]

Finally caught up to all but the in progress installment of this series! It's such an addicting read and i love the detail that goes into it!

Thank you for the enjoyable read so far and i look forward to more!

[Dave Bryant]

8604418
Thanks very much for the compliment and for watching!

[Bugsydor]

My gripes on differing interpretations of canon and taste in world-building aside, this was good stuff. I hadn't seens stuff about diplomacy before, but you appear to have done a good job with it.

And it helps that I like Cook.

Thanks for writing this story, and the rest of the series.

[Dave Bryant]

8612881
You’re welcome! I’ve discovered I enjoy writing both Cook and, even more, Rose—though alas there isn’t as much scope for the latter.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

8415752
Have you heard the theory that referring to them (the ponies, not the horns) as alicorns is actually a corruption of alarcorn, meaning winged unicorn?

[Dave Bryant]

9135920
According to my research casein plastics appeared at the dawn of the twentieth century. As near as I can tell Lauren Faust based Equestria on the late nineteenth century—specifically the 1860s–1880s—which is a generation or two previous to that.

[Super Trampoline]

You also have a quite impressive vocabulary. I found myself having to look up words every chapter

[Antiquarian]

It wasn’t until I got to the end I realized Cook had an ulterior motive, other than the courtesy visa, for making sure Sunset came along. But he did, apparently.

Isn't it always fun when the characters tell you how to end a story? Well done, as always. I thoroughly enjoy your work.

[keroko]

10570603
Like that, yes.

[Ice Star]

He's certainly earned some rest!