Chapter 13
“Okay, Corbie… the teddy bears are having a picnic.” Twilight leaned forwards, one eyebrow raised, and she had a look of mock-seriousness upon her face. She waited, letting the moment build, and allowed just a little of her own inner playfulness to emerge. “Now, tell me, what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”
Without skipping a beat, Corbie clopped her two front hooves together and replied, “An apple!”
This of course earned a nod of approval from Applejack, who also sat on the floor, sitting in a rough circle with several others. Not far away, Spike was reading to Nuance, who appeared to be doing a little better today, but then again, it could have been the painkiller. Invoking as much drama as she could muster, Twilight turned to Rarity, drew in a deep breath, and asked her friend a question with as much seriousness as one might ask when inquiring about the meaning of life.
“Rarity, the teddy bears are having a picnic… now tell me, what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”
Lifting one well-hooficured hoof, Rarity began tapping her chin, no doubt trying to think of something suitable that the teddy bears could bring to their picnic that was not at all gauche. She sat for a time, causing Corbie to squirm, and Rainbow Dash as well. Seized with inspiration, she pulled her hoof away from her chin with a sweeping flourish and she batted her eyelashes at Twilight.
“Darling, the teddy bears bring apples and biscotti to the picnic!” Pleased with herself, Rarity’s barrel puffed out, due in no small part to the fact that this was the ideal form of competition; no effort, and perhaps more importantly, no sweating was involved.
“Flutter-butter-shy is next!” Corbie blurted out, and this caused Rainbow to groan.
“Nuts, I was gonna say cashews.” Rainbow let out a sigh and resigned herself to waiting.
“Flutter-butter-shy,” Twilight said, maintaining her serious mien, “what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”
“Oh… oh, I like this game… it’s non-confrontational.” A demure grin of pure bliss spread over her face, allowing Fluttershy’s radiant beauty to shine. “They bring an apple, some biscotti, and some cheese to the picnic.” The pegasus mare heaved a sigh of satisfaction, and added, “This sounds like this is going to be a nice picnic. I hope it stays that way.”
Lifting her head, Twilight glanced at Seville, who was hard at work on his papers. Even stranger was Pinkie Pie, who was helping him. Twilight figured that Pinkie would get bored soon enough. Her eye lingered for a moment before she returned her attention to the game, which really wasn’t a game, but an important exercise to teach Corbie the value of making and remembering lists. It was never too early to learn all about proper organisation and inventory management.
“Applejack—”
“Yeah, hun?”
“What do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”
“Oh come on!” Rainbow cried in exasperation. “I was gonna say doughnuts.”
“Dangit, Rainbow, now I can’t say that without lookin’ like I’m takin’ the easy way out!” Reaching over, Applejack gave the blue pegasus a hard shove, which tipped her right over onto Fluttershy, who began giggling while she held Rainbow up. “Yer a no good booger-licker, Rainbow Dash!”
Sticking out her tongue, Rarity made a disgusted sound while making a dismissive wave with her hoof. Corbie’s wings fluttered while she began giggling and she watched as Rainbow Dash tried to recover. In response to Applejack, Rainbow stuck out her tongue, bent it back around, and she was just about to lick her own nostril when Rarity made a shrill vocal objection:
“Rainbow Dash! Don’t you dare go mining for nose-gold in front of Corbie!”
Admonished, Rainbow slumped over, her ears drooped, and she sulked while slurping her tongue back in.
“I’m bringing me some apples, some biscotti, some cheese, and some dewberries.” Applejack cocked her eyebrow like a loaded gun and gave Rainbow Dash a sidelong glance. “And I ain’t sharing none of it with no booger-licker.”
“Noooo,” Rainbow whined, “now I have a hard letter. I can’t think of anything.”
“Rainbow Dash”—Twilight leaned in the direction of her dear friend— “what do the teddy bears bring to their picnic?”
“Ugh!” Rainbow squeezed her cheeks with her front hooves while leaning against Fluttershy, and she made the most ridiculous face ever. From over on the couch where he sat, Nuance burst out laughing, then did his best to contain himself while Rainbow continued smooshing her face like silly putty.
“Enchiladas, Rainbow—”
“Thanks, Pinkie!” Rainbow pulled her hooves away from her face and blurted out the list. “Apples, bananas, cheese, doughnuts, and enchiladas.” While she recited the list, Applejack facehoofed, Rarity cringed, Fluttershy meeped, and there was a rare, synchronised double facehoof from Pinkie Pie and Seville.
Corbie, who sat there blinking, was stunned. With a slow turn of her head, she glanced over at Rainbow Dash, her head bobbing up and down, and in a soft voice she spoke: “And Nuance says I’m stupid.”
Twilight, never one to miss an opportunity, also nodded her head. “What she said.”
Carrying a tray loaded down with food, Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath as she approached Radiance’s door. It was now lunchtime, and she had a hunch that Radiance might be ready to make peace, if not from hunger, then from boredom. She was more than willing to let him keep stewing for as long as he wanted, but she also had a sincere desire to help him, to make things better.
Upon reaching the door, she didn’t bother knocking, but just let herself in, following Applejack’s advice about establishing who was in charge. While the door opened, Radiance turned to stare at her, and from across the room, she could hear his stomach growling. The sound made her ears perk, an action that, which in turn, caused his ears to drop in submission.
“At ease, Private Radiance.” Twilight couldn’t help herself, she meant it more as a joke than actual teasing, but when she said it, she saw an unexpected reaction: Radiance stiffened and stood at attention, the exact opposite of what she wanted. This puzzled her as much as it amazed her, for being so small, so little, so young, the colt stood with a rigidity that would no doubt impress the sternest commanders.
And it was at that moment that Twilight’s intuition began screaming inside of her head, shouting, and cranking the alarm klaxxon. She almost dropped the tray and she felt the breath sucked out of her lungs. The sternest, meanest, most hardcore commander was Princess Luna—Luna, who had favoured Nuance from the time that he was born.
Twilight remembered the moment all too well, as she had been there, and the memory was like a dam breaking in her mind. Celestia was at her most vulnerable, and everypony who was anypony had been there in the event that something might use the opportunity to attack. The tension from that moment all those years ago still lingered in her mind, and she could recall everything quite well. Still wet and messy from birth, Nuance had been snatched away by Luna, and she had said, “We are going to teach you magic, little one, and one day, you will fight for Our great empire.”
Gosling of course, had gravitated to Corbie, saying that he was going to teach her how to be a pretty, pretty pegasus.
And Celestia had said the most puzzling thing not long after giving birth, when Radiance—still unnamed—was suckling: “You… I’m going to teach you the secret to making perfect wagon wheels, someday.”
The tray trembled, and Twilight engaged in a mighty battle to regain her composure while she stared at Radiance, who still stood at perfect attention, his neck bent at perfect regulation angle, as was his dock, and his spine was a straight, rigid rod that went from front to rear. Her intuition continued to howl even as Twilight struggled to hold it together, and she realised, she knew, no matter how perfect little Radiance was as a would-be soldier, he would never have Luna’s attention as a soldier, not until he was much, much older.
Not to mention that Luna was focused entirely too much on magic.
“I brought you some lunch,” Twilight said, her voice quavering, and she was unable to hide it. She tried not to think about how far Radiance might go to get Luna’s attention, to show that he was a perfect, capable little soldier. “I wish you’d relax, I was only kidding with what I said.”
“But I want to join the guard.” Radiance stood, unmoving, almost a statue.
“Why?” Twilight asked, sensing opportunity.
“My mothers and my father always tell me I’m special,” the colt responded, and then he swallowed once, a loud sound in the otherwise quiet room. “But it doesn’t mean anything.”
“Why doesn’t it mean anything?” Twilight somehow managed to set the tray down on the bed without knocking anything over or making something rattle. She felt a cold prickle down below, near her navel, and the inside of her thigh muscles quivered from the growing tension in her body. Something about Radiance’s statuesque posture bothered her a great deal.
“I want to earn it.” Radiance blinked once, and when his eyes opened they shimmered with tears. “I want my mothers to be proud of me like they are proud of their soldiers. That means something. I want it, and I will have it. I’ll do anything to get it.”
For Twilight, it was like a kick to the stomach. Sycophantic behaviour was a trait all too common in equines, the need to belong, to fit in, to be part of the herd, and something about it had always unhinged her. The ponies that didn’t have it were deviants, and she had quite a few deviants in her school as students. It was a trait that she treasured. In Radiance though, there was an obvious deep-seeded need to fit in, to belong, and to have his parents approval not as their son, but as a soldier.
It was terrifying, and Twilight’s innards constant clenching made it difficult to stand still.
There was nothing left to do but take advantage of it, and Twilight knew that she would be drowning her self-loathing with root beer and ice cream later. A bitter taste filled her mouth as she prepared to speak, and her skin crawled while she summoned forth her commanding nature as an alicorn.
“Well then, Private Radiance, you can start by following my orders.” While Twilight spoke, she saw the colt grow even stiffer, starchier, as if that was somehow possible. “As a princess, I command that you not strike your brother again—”
“But I—”
“You do not speak unless spoken to, Private!”
Radiance’s mouth snapped shut with so much force that his teeth clicked together.
“I command that you do not strike your brother again. That is an order. You are going to eat. Afterwards, you are going to come out of your room and you are going to be a model citizen. You will be on your best behaviour. You will do nothing to antagonise your brother, and you will do nothing that will make your sister cry.” Twilight cleared her throat, and felt as though she was about to choke on her own words. “Am I understood?”
There was no response from Radiance, who stood there, stiff, unmoving.
“Am I understood?” Twilight repeated, raising her voice.
“Yes, Princess, you are understood.” Radiance’s voice was now flat, submissive, and there was an undercurrent of pain to it that Twilight picked up on all too well. “I’ll be good, I promise.”
Racking her mind, Twilight dredged up everything she knew about guard training, and then she unloaded with the worst threat she could think of. “Fail me and it will mean demerits. I will deliver your parents a full and detailed report of all of your failings upon their return.” While she spoke, she saw Radiance’s seeming confidence shatter from the impact of her words. He slumped, his ears fell, his spine sagged, and he appeared to be absolutely terrified.
Watching the poor colt cringe, Twilight knew that she had him under complete and total control, in the worst way possible. It was, at best, a temporary measure, and one she hoped to undo as soon as possible. But for now, it was control over a rough, complicated situation. By removing one less thing to worry about, she had added a dozen more. Sighing, she added to her copious mental notes, keeping track of everything that she knew.
She wanted to hug him, to make him feel better, to comfort him, but princesses didn’t hug their soldiers. They were cool, aloof, distant, and for the most part, ignored their soldiers, unless there was something that warranted their attention. Instead, she gave Radiance a hard, commanding glare, hating herself as she did so.
“After you eat, you are going to apologise to Nuance and to Corbie as well for what you did.”
Twilight’s words made Radiance flinch as though he had been struck, and she felt a growing tightness in her barrel from her rising revulsion. Was this the right thing? Only time would tell. For now though, it was control, and control was needed. Nuance was still an uncontrolled element, and she hoped that she could find some way of managing his behaviour as well.
Of all of the ways of getting a foal to behave, this was the worst…
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And Radiance learns that being a soldier means doing the things you hate to do because your superiors gave you an order to do them.
No two foals respond the same Twilight you haven't learned that lesson yet. Its not ideal but now you have room to work and that's a start at least. Also you've gotten Nuance and Radiance to open up a little now that you know the issues better you can try to resolve them. NO one can fix something without knowing what's wrong
Huh. So Nuance was Luna's favourite, Radiance was Celestia's, and Corbie was Gosling's...
But Nuance's favourite parent is Celestia, Radiance's favourite parent is Luna, and Corbie's favourite is Gosling.
So both of the boys are fighting for each other's attention, which makes them horribly jealous of each other - which ramps up the antagonism between them. They're both acting out for the same reason, but their personalities are so very different that they behave very differently.
Corbie's a more normal foal because she actually has the attention from the parent that she wants, but she does still have a few problems, if I recall. Mostly centred around her appearance because she's not sure if she is living up to the pretty, pretty pegasus thing yet, and being upset about her brothers not getting along. Because she's more adjusted, no one's really paying that much attention to these less drastic, less dramatic issues.
Or at least it's something along those lines from what's been revealed so far.
8204274
You're not wrong...
8204274 Not sure about Radiance being Celestia's favorite. We know Naunce was Luna's. As for Gosling I think he just reletes better with Corbie sicne they are both Pegasi. It sounds like most of Goslings experiences before the guard was with other pegasus
I felt Twilight's pain during that last part. She's right, it is a temporary measure. It may make the issue disappear for now, but nothing's actually been resolved.
8204354
The only way it would actually long-term help is if making him do this from orders will cause him to reevaluate it.
But I don't think it's going to do that, and it's going to make it disappear for now but not fix it and make his other problems worse.
Jesus... These foals all have major issues, and their parents are generally too busy trying to stall the eventual apocalypse to be able to give them the care and attention they need.
Even assuming that Grogar is somehow able to be defeated and the world saved, those three will probably be well into adulthood, and thus their issues will become glaring personality flaws...
I'm not, at this juncture, unconvinced that Twilight's best course of action is to sue for custody.
At the very least, Nuance needs out of the palace, if only temporarily. He needs to go someplace where he can work on his magic, where he doesn't have to worry about his brother pounding on him, and most importantly, where nobody knows who he is. And clean start to developing his skills, and then a chance to go back and show off all the cool, useful things that he's learned.
On another hand, though, that might not actually be the solution. After all, he struggles with magic and isn't much interested in fighting, and here we have Luna all like, "I WILL TEACH YOU MAGIC AND YOU WILL BE A WARRIOR FOR GREAT JUSTICE." That's a lot of unnecessary pressure. And then there's Radiance, who is interested in being a warrior, but is apparently to be groomed as a tradespony. Neither one is being pushed into the role that they want, but into the role that will best serve the realm, for the good of Equestria.
I sincerely hope that once all this is brought to their attention, that none of them have the audacity to be surprised that fascism is becoming fashionable in Canterlot. Concerned, certainly, but not surprised: All things being considered, what right would they have?
They're leading by example.
8204186
"Hey mom, so about those wagon wheels?"
The problem with Radience is the birthright bestowed upon him. He never got a MAGNIFICENT Blessing when compared with his two siblings. He never really got the attention he craved and deserved compared to the other two is what I imagine. After all Corbie gets the "I will be the Spoiled Favorite". Nuance gets the whole "I will be a Champion of The Realm! I will have the Respect & Adoration of the Empire!" Meanwhile what does Radiance get? "I will give you the secret to Ultimate Wagon Wheels". Now if it was "I will give you the secrets to become a Master Craftsman/Wood Carver" or something else, that wouldn't be so bad.
I feel this is compounded with the extra attention that Nuance gets for getting in trouble so much. After all he has the constant reminder that he is a FAILURE to his Mother Luna, whom he was SUPPOSEd to become the Favorite of. Would Nuance want to become a great Warrior like Tarnished Teapot or even a powerful combatant like Twilight Sparkle who has her own legends? Maybe become Enshrined the way that a Nicker is? That is hard to say, and it's unclear that if he had a massive power boost, if he would go that route. As it stands he is lashing out do to his own bitter disappointments and failure. Which steals the attention away from Radiance, who resents him for getting so much attention, despite clearly feeling that he deserves so little.
Plus Radiance wants to KNOW that his parents love him. Not just "Oh well you're our son and we have to". He wants to know that he is LOVEd and that he is WORTHY of that Love. That he will be given his own Great Blessing or Life because of it. Not only that, but there's numerous reasons for him to think that he could get it by joining The Guard during a time of war. Even more so, since many of them WOULd have the extra time to give him the Love, Acceptance, etc. that he so desperately craves and clearly thinks he deserves. After all, considering how well behaved he is, why would he not? Furthermore, he sees how misbehavior is SUCCESSFULLY beaten out of the Soldiers, BUT he sees how his parents "Soft Love" approach utterly FAILS to improve the behavior of Nuance.
Honestly out of the two brothers, I have the most faith in Radiance. Then again I've always had very little tolerance for those people whose first instinct is to take their pain out on others, ESPECIALLY those weaker or unwilling to defend themselves.}
This is just my two cents on this fantastic story that just keeps getting better! No matter WHAT your opinion is I believe we can all safely say: Twilight REALLY has her work cut out for her @.@
8204650 Wagon wheels - something that only works well for a long time if all the parts fit together well.
8205095
Holy hell, I missed that significance. That's freakin' clever.
Well, Radiance's internal code is pretty terrible, ordering him to comply with an external code may be the only thing that works for a while. Maybe it'll sink in.
I can only feel Luna coming back and having foals in a while will upset this even more so.
Poor Nuance, wanting and groomed to have Magic, but lacking it.
Poor Radiance, wanting to be a soldier but not having that groomed for by parents.
Poor Corbie, wanting and learning to be a pretty Pegasus when she ain't exactly one.
These are the roots of their issues to an extent.
He wants to be a soldier, show him what it means, full days of pt, cleaning, pt, pt, cleaning, pt, cleaning, clean it again, pt, pt, pt, long boring watches, ptptptptptcleancleanitbetterptptpt.
So Twilight angrily refuses the idea of spanking Nuance, because let's face it, spanking is about using fear (of physical pain) to push a child in line.
But she'll use an even greater, more deeply-seated and far more damaging fear to keep Radiance from doing what he believed was correct, even if it was only in response to Nuance's willful provocation.
Twilight has some very serious issues herself.
8207897
Oh, that was bad. I like it.