Chapter 16
Rainbow Dash scampered off like a foal, not even flying, and Twilight found herself mystified. Why yes, the flighty pegasus did come down to earth on occasion, and even seemed to enjoy herself. Inside of the walled enclosure there were a number of open gardens and a collection of greenhouses, with everything being divided into sections by hedge walls. Near the entrance was a nice gazebo for resting, and next to the gazebo was a strongbox for donations.
When a young-looking pegasus mare dropped a few bits into the box, Twilight felt an immense feeling of pride that was almost overwhelming. Her ponies, for the most part, were good ones. Even Sly, for all of his antics, was a good pony. He just had trouble sitting still, or perhaps it was kinder to say that he had some excessive energy issues. Either way, Sly’s ability to run was impressive, as there were few creatures that could outrun Tarnished Teapot, marathon sprinter and known hard-to-catch trouble runner-awayer.
Of Dundee Donkey himself, there was no sign. Word had it that the donkey had plant growing magic that rivaled Tarnish’s, and Twilight very much wanted to see a demonstration. She saw a flash of black and white stripes, thought it was Zecora, but then realised it was a stallion. Curious—it seemed that Ponyville had visitors. She turned to say something, but most of her friends were already gone.
All that was left was Seville, Pinkie Pie, and Nuance. Where did her friends go and how did they vanish in such an inspired manner? Oh, Twilight knew what was going on. She knew exactly what was going on. Everypony had different interests that they just couldn’t be patient enough to wait and see together. She let out a huff and shook her head.
“Well,” Twilight said, looking at her companions, “I think it’s just us…”
Standing up on his tip-claws, Spike eyeballed the wooden sign and gave it a read. The Oligarch's Orchid, so named because it only blooms once every thirty years. With a slight turn of his head, he looked at the orchid itself, and saw no sign of a bloom. Just a big greenish-yellow bulb. For Spike, this wasn’t a big deal, not at all, just a mild disappointment. He made a mental note to inquire when the orchid would bloom next and thirty years was no great wait at all—for a dragon.
“I’m gonna be an old mare when that thing blooms again,” Applejack drawled. “I can’t see the point in having it when you have to wait so goldurn long for it to open up.” She looked down at Radiance, who was studying the flower with great interest, and then glanced over at Rarity and Fluttershy, who were speaking to one another in low voices. “I suppose it’s right pretty though, and maybe it’s worth waiting for.”
For a moment, Spike thought about saying, “That’s not long at all,” but he kept it to himself. He had no way of knowing when the orchid might bloom again, but if it were say, a twenty year wait, Radiance would be all grown up and maybe even married, Applejack would indeed be older, along with Rarity and Fluttershy. Of them all, Fluttershy was the oldest, though she didn’t show it. The only signs of her age that Spike could notice were the deep crinkled laugh lines in the corners of her eyes.
In fact, Fluttershy defied aging so well that Spike suspected that Discord might be up to something, but he kept his suspicions to himself and said nothing. It would be awful to make such an accusation about Discord. It would be wrong. It would be insulting to Fluttershy and Discord. The little dragon wondered how the Lord of Chaos was doing and he returned his attention to his friends.
It settled into Spike’s mind that there was no longer a race against time to spend precious moments with Twilight. She would no longer be gone in the blink of an eye. Because of the ink and its curious properties, Twilight would now be around in some form or another, and someday, a long, long time from now, Spike would get to spend time with her as an adult. They now had all of the time in the world.
They could watch the Oligarch’s Orchid bloom again, again, and again if they so desired.
“Dashie is off with Sumac, Pebble, Megara, and Corbie,” Pinkie said to Twilight with a sidelong glance. “Do you think we should be worried?”
Should they be worried? Probably. Was she worried? Not particularly. She stood in the cool shade beside the most picturesque pond she had ever seen, and Twilight just didn’t have it in her to worry about much of anything at the moment. The pond was full of koi, and Nuance was watching them with great fascination.
“I don’t get it,” Seville whispered to Twilight. “Nuance hates being outside. He can’t stand the royal gardens. But he’s enjoying himself right now, I’d bet my curly tail on it.”
“Well, yeah, silly, you’d get tired of seeing the same old patch of dirt day after day.” Pinkie Pie gave Seville a teasing grin, then turned to watch Nuance, who sat in the grass at the edge of the pond, wide-eyed, and enraptured. “Also, my tail is a whole lot curlier than yours, Mister Orange.” She gave her pink, cotton candy fluff a good shake for emphasis, and then was distracted by the sound of Nuance’s somewhat weak laughter.
“Bubbles,” the colt said to nopony in particular, and the koi, they were indeed blowing bubbles in the water. When a large frog plopped into the water, the colt’s head jerked to the left to have a better look.
Mindful of her tail, Twilight sat down in the damp, cool grass, and found it a pleasant, pleasing comfort against her rather warm backside, which she was doing her best not to think about. She was a small quadrupedal terrestrial mammal, and being such a creature, she had needs. Sitting down for a spell, as Applejack called it, was only one such need, and there were others.
“Look!”
She felt Nuance grab her leg, give it a tug, and Twilight peered at the what the colt was pointing at. She didn’t see anything but fish swimming, paddle bugs were skimming the surface, and the sunlight dappled the water as it shone down through the canopy of trees. It was beautiful though, and maybe that was the point. Trying a little harder, Twilight tried to put herself into Nuance’s mindset, how exciting the new things could be when you were small.
Pinkie Pie sat down on the other side of Nuance and made herself comfortable, while Seville sat down beside Twilight. Now, she felt nervous and weird, as he was sitting close enough to be touching. Why was this weird? They had slept in the same bed together. This shouldn’t be weird. They had been friends for a very long time. Gosling had introduced them, and had manipulated them into dancing together.
She turned to say something and Twilight found that her snoot almost bumped into Seville’s. A strange new tension made all of the muscles in her neck tense and she could feel Nuance squeezing her leg, a much needed distraction. Pulling her head back, she gave Seville and herself a little space, and then turned to look down at Nuance, who was looking up at her.
“Are you two going to kiss?” Nuance asked, sounding solemn and sincere.
“What is it with you and your sister wanting ponies to kiss?” Twilight saw the colt flinch a little from her words, so she gave him a reassuring nudge with her leg. “I just want to know. You can tell me, I won’t laugh. Haven’t I shown you kindness?” Her words struck home and she could see that the little unicorn was considering what she had said.
“When bad things happen,” Nuance said in a low whisper while his gaze focused on a nearby guard, “my parents don’t act like they love each other. They change… they act different. They act like soldiers, and they shout out commands, and they’re mean sounding, and everything is scary and tense and I don’t like it… but when the bad stuff is over, they kiss and they’re nice to each other and I can finally relax.”
“So you don’t like the shouting?” Twilight asked.
“No.” Nuance shook his head.
“Have you told somepony?” Twilight felt Seville breathing on her, which made her distracted.
“I told Cadance, and my parents, and Twilight Velvet, and they’ve all told me I need to learn how to cope.” Nuance’s voice became a bit more shrill, a bit more nasal, and the colt drew in a few shuddering deep breaths. “I can’t cope… I just can’t… my mama says I’m not trying hard enough, but I just can’t deal with all of the noise, the shouting, and the angry, scary voices.” The colt’s ears drooped. “I know my mother is sad because of how I am. I’m a big let down with everything I do… or can’t do.”
“Nuance, Celestia loves you—”
“Shut up, Seville, what do you know?” Nuance bit down on his lip for a moment—hard enough to draw blood—and then he continued, “She loves Rad… he’s the little soldier. He can cope. He does just fine when there is shouting and he follows orders and he’s always reminding me of how worthless and weak I am and how fragile I am if I can’t even deal with somepony shouting. I hate him… I hate him.”
Looking up, Twilight found herself staring into the eyes of Pinkie Pie, and she saw tears.
“They don’t know what it is like for me,” Nuance whined and it sounded as though his voice had become stretched thin. “Not even Corbie. When trouble starts, she runs to Daddy, and she clings to his leg, and she just somehow sticks it out because stupid pegasus ponies all flock together and I hate her too… and my dad… he’s always so proud of her for sticking together in times of trouble, and she’s always being praised for being a whiny crybaby, but not me. I hate her. I hate her so much.”
The gravity of Pinkie’s eyes had a powerful attraction, but Twilight somehow pulled her own gaze away so she could look at Nuance. His lip was bleeding—but only just a little—and rage was visible in his eyes. There was a terrifying anger there, an anger that Twilight had not thought possible in a foal.
“Nuance,” Seville said to the colt, and his voice had an uncharacteristic hardness, “the only time that Corbie is a ‘whiny crybaby’ is when you do something to hurt her. When the trouble happens, as you say, and she runs to Goose, she’s scared, but she’s not whining and she’s not crying.”
Nuance gritted his teeth together, and for a moment, Twilight thought that he might start shouting, but the little colt said nothing in return to Seville. She wondered what was going on, and she had a bit of concern for the harshness in Seville’s voice, but she suspected that there were factors she was unaware of, instructions, and no doubt a treatment plan of some sort laid out by Cadance.
One thing was certain: Nuance had just lied to her with as much ease as breathing.
There was no point in being angry, so she let it slide. Nuance was hurt, hurt in ways she did not yet understand, and he was bound to do things and say things that she didn’t like. When she turned her head around to look at Seville, she almost bumped snoots with him again, but this time, she wasn’t distracted.
“You were kinda harsh there, Seville.”
“Necessary,” Seville replied. “Cadance’s orders. Direct confrontation when he bends the truth, lies, or tells a fiblet. She seems to think that he’s getting better about it, but I haven’t seen it. Not yet.” The stallion’s ears sagged a bit, splaying out to the sides, and his head shook from side to side. “I don’t like doing it. I feel bad for the little guy.”
“Hmm.” Twilight returned her attention to Nuance, and found that he was staring into the pond once more, watching the fish. She decided it was best to let the issue drop for now, and maybe, just maybe, they could still have a nice time together. That was her sincere hope, at least.
Unbeknownst to Twilight Sparkle, the rocks were listening to every word spoken, and an unseen figure lurked in the nearby bushes. So distracted was she and so suffocated by the magic of the Grove that lurked within the botanical garden, that she failed to notice the uncurrent of strange, unfamiliar magic all around her. Hidden away, the unseen pony plotted.
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So the unseen figure is possibly a stone pony...
Stone ponies like earth ponies but talk to rocks and are stronger, right? Or am I remembering it wrong?
8221662
It's Pebble
Pebble is a great superspy. You can listen through rocks, like, dang.
8221662 Yes but so far only really Pebble talks extensively to them. While Maud is a Rock Pony she only talks to Boulder, which kudz mentioned (not sure if jokingly or not) is a changeling.
Pebble, the hero we deserve.
8221711
O_o Missed that...
8221735
Oh he mentioned this like... 4 months ago? Just before he made Dear Aggy.
I agree its likely Peeble but she's not only stone pony so kudz might give us a twist
I thought changelings were kind of insect. I had no idea they were a mineral.
8221867
Well it's canon that they can morph into rocks...
Thorax changed to a rock while hiding from Spike... It was more or less the size of Spike, but still a rock.
8221959
It explains so much!
Hmmmm...this COULd be a Changeling but then again it could be something else ENTIRELY. Curious and curiouser.
Also, I know understand and sympthize with Nuance better, though I still think he's a little shit for externalizing his pain onto others, ESPECIALLY his little sister.
Huh, wonder if Nuance has sensory problems regarding the noise. Some people just really cannot cope with certain stimuli. It's not a matter of trying or not.
Like squeaky balloons, ugh, that sound makes me nauseous.
Not pleased with Cadance or Velvet for just telling him to deal with it. You'd think that anyone who works with children would get that that just doesn't help, ever. Could be unreliable narrator on Nuance's part, though.
Still, the Royal Brood is growing up in the middle of military conditions. Some people aren't cut out for that kind of lifestyle, and if that person is a child, then you need to remove them from the environment that is harming them. Especially if they're ouright seeking help about it. I don't care who the parents are, but that's how you cook up serious mental health issues in the kids.
I get Cadance's thing about not tolerating the lying, but maybe targeting the reason why he's lying might be a good idea. He's feeling jealous towards the percieved confidence of his siblings + he's a big bundle of insecurity over his lack of magical ability, so he makes attempts at lying in order to garner sympathy/turn potential attention away from his siblings. This is a big red flag for emotional neglect - whether intentional or not. The Royal Family is struggling because Celestia, Luna and Gosling just don't have enough time to devote as much time to their foals as they need. Their work, which is emotionally draining, stressful, important and dangerous is bleeding over into the lives of the foals, who ideally shouldn't have to experience any of it until they're older, as they're not prepared for it mentally.
This break with Auntie Twilight is probably a very, very good thing for the family.
Hm, and that was Pebble listening, probably... Pebble's own home life has been along similar lines, what with who her parents are and all her own insecurites.
So far we know of one pony who can talk to any rock, and that's Pebble. Maud has a connection with the earth, but Pebble's special talent is speaking with stone.
I suspect that Celestia is going to be getting a stern talking to from her former student when she returns from the Grittish Isles.
Huh... I wonder if Nuance might become a druid someday. Relatively weak unicorn magic is something that Tarnish is also known for, and he seems to have taken a fascination with the botanical gardens.
8222282
A stern talking to?
Not so much.
Joining forces to tackle the problem together?
You betcha.
8222251
Now ask yourself, from what you know of these two characters, does this sound like something they would actually do?
Nuance isn't being entirely honest.
8222360
I could see a bit of both. I'm sure that Celestia has been trying very hard to do well by her children, but I could also see Twilight being a bit sharp with her after all that she has seen this past week, especially when she hasn't yet heard Celestia's perspective on the situation. That being said, they would absolutely band together to fix the problem one way or another. Compeers have each others backs.
8222373
Seeing as I have read stories with them in it... I called Red Flag the moment Nuance opened his mouth.
Fortunately so did Twilight. And Twilight is silent so she is being plotty.
8221711
I AM NOT A CHANGELING, i AM AN IGNEOUS BONONITE.🌚
this has turned it to a interesting puzzle.
and I love a good puzzle.