Chapter 17
Something about the joy and the wonder that Nuance was experiencing was a balm to Twilight’s jangled nerves. So far on this day of discovery, she had found that she could fly faster than the speed of vomit, Seville was a terrible distraction, she still had the best friends that anypony could ask for, and much to her own dismay, she now felt a terrible dread over the fact that Rainbow Dash had vanished with precious, almost innocent little foals. What awful things might Rainbow teach them?
For some reason that she could not express, it was worrisome.
Just as Twilight’s thoughts were about to coalesce into something meaningful, she was distracted by Nuance yet again, and the little colt seemed to be having the time of his life as he squealed at the sight of the snaredragon plant. The plant, so named because of the snares it used to catch passing prey, was enough to drive Nuance into a state of excitement when it launched out a ‘tongue’ and caught a flying bug.
Twilight herself had never seen anything quite like it, and she too, settled in for a closer look, standing between Seville, who had Nuance on his back, and Pinkie Pie. Nuance was almost hanging off of Seville’s neck, just trying to get a closer look at the snaredragon as it pulled the bug into its thorny maw.
“We don’t have anything like this in the royal gardens,” Nuance said in a somewhat nasal voice that was shrill with excitement. “I thought this was going to be boring and horrible, but this is great!”
“Nuance…” Twilight began, and the single word she had spoken trailed off while she gathered her thoughts. “Nuance, how would you like to get out of Canterlot for a day or two and come and visit me? I mean, on a weekly basis. Not just you, but Corbie and Radiance too.”
“It would be better without them,” Nuance replied, his attention still focused on the snaredragon.
“Well, I think I could arrange for that.” Twilight took a deep breath and dredged the depths of her mind before she said, “I think it would be good for you to get out and see new things. Honestly though, I really do think that you, your brother, and your sister need to learn to stick together.” She did not say the rest of her words aloud, that he was going to need his siblings as he grew, and that all they had was each other. For now, she kept that to herself. Nuance didn’t need to be reminded of the troubles of growing up as royalty, he already knew, and Twilight didn’t want him to feel patronised.
“Twilight, you stay pretty busy, are you sure you can do this?” Pinkie Pie asked, and then she added, “I didn’t mean for that to sound bad, if it did… I’m just worried… I’ll be glad to help so you can make it happen!”
“I think I can make it happen.” Twilight watched as the bug struggled, not wanting to be digested in the thorny maw it found itself in. “My parents were very busy ponies… super busy. They were both working so hard to save the world, and I didn’t even know it. Cadance became my foalsitter, and my best friend, and we went on adventures together, and did things, and she always found time for me. I’d like to do something similar.”
“Twilight, you have an enormous workload with your school. I think things were a little different for Cadance, if you don’t mind me saying.” Seville gave Twilight a sidelong glance, but Twilight, focused on the last moments of the bug, did not see him. “And then there is all you do as a princess, and everything else.”
“Seville, what are you getting at?” Twilight asked.
“I’m just saying, don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” Seville replied, sounding hesitant and uncomfortable. He shuffled on his hooves, and his eyes narrowed. “Look, these three… when there are circumstances beyond what you can’t control, you shouldn’t make promises… these three, they’ve already had plenty of promises broken—”
Twilight seized upon these words, turned her head, and looked Seville right in the eye. “Is that what has happened?”
Seville knew that he had said too much, and he feared that he had broken his best friend’s trust. He could feel Nuance trembling against his neck, the little colt was shaking, and he knew, he knew that he had said too much. Hearing a gasp from Pinkie Pie, he thought about looking at her, but couldn’t. Pinkie had a thing about promises, and Seville wasn’t ready to be raked over the coals.
Yet, with the way Twilight was looking at him, it seemed as though it was going to happen anyway. A careless word had cost him, though how much remained to be determined. Even worse, he had violated his best friend’s trust, and that, more than anything else, bothered him right now.
“If it was anypony else,” Twilight said in a low voice that seemed far too calm for the situation, “I would be upset, but I understand. I understand everything. Celestia, Luna, and Gosling all live in a situation where promises are luxuries and sometimes, due to circumstance, must be broken. Nopony can control when a crisis pops up, or when something happens, there are just so many factors that they have no control over.”
Nuance snorted, and Seville wondered if it was from contempt.
“They are beset on all sides with problems,” Twilight continued, and her head nodded while her expression was one of understanding. “I know all three of those ponies quite well, and I know for certain that breaking a promise has to hurt them.”
“They don’t act like it hurts them.” Nuance spat out the words and his face contorted with rage, something that Seville did not see. “They’re always breaking promises. They’re always saying that they’re going to do this, or do that, or that this time things will be different, and I don’t believe them anymore when they tell me something.”
Seville’s ears drooped and he thought about all of the horrible repercussions that were bound to come about because of this. He might even be booted from his position of trust, and with good reason. His mouth went dry and without even realising he was doing it, he tucked his tail between his legs.
“Nuance, you probably don’t understand this, but your parents are stuck in a situation where they don’t always have control over everything that happens.” Twilight’s voice held a surprising gentleness and a soothing calm. “You and your parents actually have something in common, Nuance, and that is that all of you are in a rough situation where there is very little control over anything. I know how difficult it is to try and think about all of this, but if you tried really, really hard Nuance, I think you’re smart enough to see that you and your parents share some very similar circumstances. You know how frustrating it is to not have control over something, so you should be sympathetic to your parents.”
Seville felt Nuance slump against his neck and the little colt’s breathing quickened. As far as he knew, not even Cadance had tried this angle, and Twilight was in new territory, a new ocean of emotion just waiting to be discovered. Even though nothing was being said, Nuance was responding, Seville knew it because he knew Nuance. He wasn’t Nuance’s daddy, but he might as well be, as he’d been there from the beginning, and had stayed there for every moment, both wonderful and awful. When Nuance had said his first word, Seville had been there. When Nuance had been the first to take a few steps around the nursery and explore his world, Seville had been there, right behind the camera, watching.
“I think that is what being a prince or a princess is,” Pinkie Pie remarked, joining the conversation, and she sounded rather subdued. “A prince or a princess is a special sort of pony that can be put in a situation where they have no control and then they try to make the most of it. Twilight is really good at it, but I think that has more to do with her friends helping her when things get really bad.”
Again, Nuance snorted, and then asked, “Have you ever broken a promise?”
The words made Pinkie Pie slump and she appeared to deflate just a little. A few curls went limp, dangling down. Her blue eyes shimmered with tears for a moment, her nostrils quivered, and her ears bobbed up and down, unsure of where they wanted to be. Seeing her like this, Seville felt his heart being squeezed, and he suspected that he already knew her answer.
“Yeah,” Pinkie Pie replied, and her voice had none of its usual cheerfulness. “I once made a promise that I would wait… forever if I had to, for somepony that I loved. I waited and I waited, and then I broke that promise”—here, Pinkie paused and gave Seville a tearful look—“and then, I broke the promise completely. I stopped waiting and I had to take charge of my own happiness. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But I had to let go, because I was trying to hold on to a promise in a situation where I had no control.”
“That’s awful…”—Nuance breathed out the words, and he sounded sincere—“...I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Nuance.” Pinkie Pie sniffled and gave the colt a warm, sincere smile.
Seville was shocked and he didn’t know how to respond or what to say. For the first time in a long, long time, Nuance had just shown empathy to another pony, something he didn’t think was possible. He could feel Nuance against his neck, and the little colt’s barrel was hitching. Was he about to start crying? Seville feared the outcome.
First, Pinkie sat down, then extended her forelegs, and plucked Nuance from Seville’s withers. Nuance protested a bit, making a wordless whine, but then he gave up and allowed the moment to happen. Much to Seville’s surprise, Nuance seemed to be connecting with Pinkie Pie, and the terror over revealing the dreadful secret seemed to be subsiding just a little bit.
“You know, if Twilight gets into a situation where she can’t look after you,” Pinkie Pie said to Nuance while she held him, “I could do it. I don’t mind. I like foalsitting and help out Fluttershy all the time. You could get out of Canterlot and spend a day or two with me, if we can get these pesky guards to agree to it.”
“I like having the guards around,” Nuance admitted in a low whisper. “Scary things have happened. The guards make me feel safe.”
“I bet.” Pinkie Pie looked up and Seville could feel her eyes on him, on his neck, where one scar of many was. “Fortunately for you, I know some superheros that help me out and will help keep you safe.”
“Really?” Nuance sniffled and there was a look of keen interest in his eyes.
“Yeah…” Pinkie let out a dismissive huff and then laughed. “They don’t do much to keep their identities safe just yet. They all got together and saved Ponyville from some mud monsters.”
The seriousness and the solemnity of the moment was completely destroyed by Twilight Sparkle, who burst out laughing, big deep belly laughs. She was forced to sit down in the grass beside Seville, and she leaned up against him, almost howling with laughter. Seville didn’t know what was so funny, but he had heard a report during a morning briefing that Princess Flurry Heart had successfully proven herself as a princess during an incident in Ponyville.
“If Nuance hung out with the Wipe-Outs, Celestia would banish me to someplace awful.” Twilight managed to wheeze out the words while almost clinging to Seville for support. “You know, I’m almost tempted to set up a special play date just to see what would happen. Celestia would have conniption fits… you know… I think that’s exactly what all of you need, some time away from your mother. The Sun casts a powerful shadow, Nuance… trust me, this is something I know. I think you need to spend some time with ponies who aren’t royals… well, Flurry is a royal, but she doesn’t act like it the moment she is away from her mother and she gets with her friends. And that is exactly what you need… friends.”
Seville was quite surprised by what Nuance had to say: “I think I’d like to get out.”
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Nooo! Why would you say that?!
8230379
I like this image for reasons I can't quantify.
It would be nice to see a character in your stories make a joke and not have everyone react in gleeful hysterics. Maybe the joke could just stand on its own for once
8230460
Oh, that's happened.
Things have been going too well for too long
Paranoia intensifies
Of course, that is what Kudzu wants us to think!
Clearly, nothing will go wrong.
As someone who is fascinated by Venus fly traps, I thoroughly approve of nuance's interest in carnivorous plants. I sure bet tarnish could show him a thing or two .
Interesting chapter you'd think Nuance, Radiance, and Corbie would've met thier cousin Flurry but I can easily see how it might of not happened. Lets add in teh fact Twilight is talking about meeting her away from all the rules and expectations of the nobles and others watching for the slightest mis-step
8230525
Oh, they've met. Skyla kicked his plot, remember?
8230419 I have a clue.
That's George R.R Martin, author of Game of Thrones. So, it stands to reason that when the guy who made the Red Wedding says there's a shitstorm brewing, you know all hell's gonna break loose.
If you haven't seen/read Game of Thrones, I suggest you do. It's gloriously violent. Especially the Red Wedding I've just mentioned.
I literally can't describe the emotions I feel towards/about Nuance. That's some damn good writing right there.
8230403 Twilight Sparkle looked out from the balcony on her castle, with her head pointing slightly down and a thoughtful expression, but she was not reading a book. She was, it seemed to Seville, as if she was looking at nothing at all. He didn't want to ask, but eventually, he had to slip up next to her and say the words that most certainly would lead to disaster.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," said Twilight almost immediately. "It's just quiet. Too quiet." She paused for a moment as if waiting for an explosion in the distance. "It never gets this quiet unless something terrible is about to happen."
"Oh." Seville joined her in looking down into the quiet streets of Ponyville, lit in shades of gold and red by the setting sun. Finally, he opened his mouth again and said, "Don't worry. Nothing could possibly go wrong."
That earned him a fierce glare, but as it was not followed by explosions or fire, Twilight eventually responded, "At least we're not being invaded."
Still nothing happened, so Seville responded, "Good thing, too. I'm only a day away from retirement."
That earned a sniffle-snort from Twilight and a shake of her head. "Oh, you are so on. Ahem!" She held one hoof across her chest and announced in her best Royal fashion, "Nothing exciting ever happens in Ponyville."
"Of course not," said Seville. "We're perfectly safe here."
"Now I possess the ultimate power," announced Twilight with a growing giggle. "Nothing can stop me now!"
With both of them helpless from giggles, it took Spike a few minutes to gain their attention. He stood for a while in the doorway, holding a plunger, until the two of them were able to speak.
"The toilet's plugged up again and I can't get it unstuck," he announced. "Would Miss Ultimate Power or Mister Retirement care to take a plunge at it?"
8230603
Twilight discovers a shoggoth in the u-bend...
8230531
And I ponder if that was informal or formal situation. Though at least the Crystal Empire isn't a military encampment like Canterlot
*five-tailed white fox feverishly goes to riveting sheet-steel covers on every sewer grate, ponyhole,cover, and septic tank in all of Equestria, and takes down every oscillating cieling fan* No no no!!!!
This may be the way to get Nuance to behave. Take him out of the environment that makes him act out.
I love this. Twilight understands and Pinkie understands. Nuance just needed someone to understand, to care...
Oh Pinkie, making the world more full of joy.
Aye, it is calm but thar be a rumblin' on the horizon.
... huh. You know, yeah, I can see it: Just about the only thing worse than feeling like you have no control over your life is feeling like you can't count on the people around you.
Especially the ones you should be able to count on no matter what.
8230611
By Faust, not again!
8230603 8230611
KILL IT WITH FIRE!!
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Huh. If Nuance has stopped trusting his parents on account of broken promises, no wonder he doesn't believe it when he's told his parents love him.
This is a good plan. All three of them need to get out of Canterlot castle more regularly.
Ahhh, so lots of broken promises is also part of the problem. Another argument for visits to Ponyville where Pinkie monitors all significant promises.
The calm before Rainbow Dash and missing foals bring the storm.
8230575
Oh. I thought he was a generic sea-captainy-guy. Neat.
I've seen a little of Game of Thrones, and it's too violent and political from me. I can stand violence and politics if there's something else that gives it more substance (hence why Eigengrau is awesome), but without that, I just can't stand to watch it.
Seville is worrying a bit much. While broken promises do hurt friendships, long lasting ones of such caliber can often grant benefit of the doubt. Im sure Gosling won't be too hurt.