Casual-Tea of a Name felt like it should be far more crowded, but it was hardly busy at all. The morning was bitter, the first really bitterly cold day of the coming season, and Chartreuse could only guess that ponies had stayed home. Being a Canterlot pony, she didn’t find it all that bad, as Canterlot could suffer sub-zero temperatures even during the height of summer, if the weather felt like being moody.
The only thing colder than the day itself was Chalcedony’s attitude towards the Major.
Blind though she might be, Chalcedony stared at the Major, a wide, almost unblinking stare that was unsettling, if not downright uncanny. Chartreuse had cottoned onto why the blind filly was so openly hostile to Nomination’s mother; the crystal filly wanted a family more than anything and the Major had committed the unpardonable sin of being a bad mother.
Even worse, the stare seemed to be working, because the Major would not meet Chalcedony’s piercing gaze. Nomination was quite uncomfortable, and sitting between his mother and his friend, he squirmed a great deal while Chalcedony stared past him. The situation seemed bad, bleak, and felt as though it could devolve into actual violence if something were to set it off.
Chartreuse saw a side of her friend that she was uncomfortable with.
“I wanna know why,” Chalcedony said in icy tones, her first time speaking since their arrival.
“Why what?” the Major replied, knowing that she was the one being addressed.
“Why. You know why. Don’t you dare play stupid with me. Nom is my friend and he deserves better.”
Chartreuse’s stomach was now a butterfly gladiatorial arena and she could feel them in there, fighting one another to the death. Facing a bedroom full of shadowlings would be preferable to this. Getting lectured by Dim would be far more pleasant than this, even if he was in one of his fouler moods. Dim at his worst could at least be counted on to be informative, clear, and concise. This? This just felt murky.
“Major—OW! Chalcedony!” Having just been smacked by the blind filly, Nomination turned to look at her while rubbing his foreleg.
“She’s your Mom, Nom. Say it.”
Chartreuse’s eyes darted left, towards the Major, then right, towards Chalcedony, and then back to the left again. Poor Nomination appeared to be sweating in the middle. Even more curious, Chalcedony was glowing now, her radiance having manifested after smacking the poor colt on his leg and demanding that he call the Major ‘Mom.’ Perhaps this attitude was compelled by magic? Maybe Chalcedony wasn’t entirely to blame for her behaviour? It was fascinating to observe, but also terrible.
“She is my Mom, and I’ve said it in the past.” Nomination kept his voice down, but there was a hardness to it now that alarmed Chartreuse. “Major can also be affectionate.”
Jaw muscles clenching, Chalcedony shook her head from side to side, disagreeing.
“Look, things are different for a reason, okay?” Leaning against the table’s edge, the Major now turned to look right at Chalcedony, or appeared to be through her dark sunglasses. “You are an outsider and there are a great deal of facts that you are ignorant of. But things are the way they are for sound, logical reasons. I appreciate that you are a good friend to my son, but I grow weary of your impertinence.”
“So then, help me to understand so I can be a better friend to your son. Put up or shut up. Grow a pair of teats, tell me what is going on, or you can just fronk off.” Reaching out, Chalcedony slipped her forelegs around the colt beside her and pulled him away from his mother.
“This is stuff I’m going to have to explain to Nomination anyway at some point.” The Major sighed, defeated, and she hunched over the table. “I’ll give you a sitrep, just give me some time to sort everything out first, because there is a lot to try and go over to make an outsider understand. And given the nature of how things have changed regarding recent developments, it is probably for the best if you do understand a little of what is going on so that you can help my son.”
“That’s fair.” With these words, Chalcedony backed down and ceased to stare. Still holding her friend, she slumped over a bit, returning to being her more typical self, laid back and easy going.
Taking up a spoon, the Major went to prepare her tea and then froze, her spoon unmoving. This got Chartreuse’s attention and after a moment of study, the quick-minded filly had the reason sorted out. It became rather obvious that this mare had not prepared tea before, and might not have had tea before, because it was a complex social ritual. Therefore, it stood to reason that the Major might not understand the complexities.
“Allow me,” Chartreuse said while she pulled the spoon away from the Major. “How do you like your tea?”
“I have no idea,” the Major replied. “The table is so covered in… stuff. Things. How does a pony keep track of all of this… detritus?”
“We’ll keep it basic then.” Just like that, Chartreuse was a Canterlot pony once more, she became Rarity’s assistant, a filly with poise, grace, and fine manners. “A little cream, a little sugar, and maybe we’ll try different things to see what you like. If you like sweets, I recommend the eclairs.” She pointed at some pastries with the spoon she held. “There are also teacakes that aren’t quite as sweet.”
A hot cuppa was prepared in no time at all and then Chartreuse marvelled at the Major’s illusion. Dextrous primaries took the cup, held it, and she gave it a sniff, which made her nostrils flare. The glasses were an extraordinary trinket, practically a crown jewel of enchanted artifacts. Chartreuse felt that a wizard should have an appreciation of these things, because somepony had gone through an immense amount of effort to make this item.
No doubt, the Major had a grasping thumb and a central knuckle just like Nomination did, but the illusion was such that it appeared that she had agile, prehensile pegasus feathers. The complexity of it all was mind boggling and it reminded Chartreuse that her craft took many forms. Sunburst combined magic and knowledge. Dim combined magic and alchemy. Shining Armor used statecraft and command enhanced by helpful magic. Some enchanter had poured their soul along with their tremendous knowledge of illusion into a pair of sunglasses.
What would be her calling card?
What would she be known for?
Before her attention span was gone completely, Chartreuse tried to start up a conversation. “So my father works with the military, does he?”
“Sort of,” the Major grunted while sniffing her tea. “I can’t talk too much about it. There is a partnership of sorts, a spirit of cooperation. Your father works with the Wardens of Canterlot and there are times when certain cases spill over into the military. Inspector Le Feu is a hound… once he begins a case, it is all over for the perpetrator. It is only a matter of time before he gets his suspect. He will sniff them out and then sometimes, his suspects have valuable knowledge or information that is necessary for us to retrieve. Your father doesn’t take every case offered to him, but once he does take a case, results are guaranteed. He is the only pony I know with a one-hundred percent success rate.”
“But he does so by being selective about the cases he takes?” Chartreuse thought about her father’s methodical, over-cautious nature.
“Your father seems to know who can be caught and who can’t. Some criminals, you waste resources going after them, and they remain elusive. I don’t know how your father does it, to be honest. It’s like a gift.” The Major took a sip of tea, made a weird face, and then tried another sip. “Bleh, boiled weed water with lactations of lesser hooved mammals.”
Eyes darting to Nomination, Chartreuse saw that he was calming down, and she hoped that he was collecting his thoughts. He had a lot to tell the Major, his mother, and Chartreuse intended to make certain that he would be heard. But she would do it in a nice way, at least compared to Chalcedony.
Like her father, Chartreuse had found a fight that she knew she could win.
Across the table, Nomination began helping Chalcedony with her tea and was unaware when his mother turned to watch him. A careful caretaker, Nomination knew the routine and performed every step without cutting corners or hurrying. It was kindness put in action and a testament to his generous nature. For Chartreuse, it was comforting that his mother noticed.
Seeing the Major peer around her son to watch what he was doing was heartwarming.
“Nomination was raised in a communal nursery?” Chartreuse asked while she helped herself to an eclair.
“I was away,” the Major replied, her voice low, unsteady. “Sometimes for weeks or months at a time. When I was injured and reconstructed, I did not see Nomination for over a year.”
“And his father?” Chartreuse wondered what the injury was, but did not pry.
“He remains on the front lines in Zebrabwe, thwarting the Great Enemy. There he will remain until such a time that he is utterly and completely destroyed, or the Great Enemy has fallen.” The Major’s head turned for a moment and Chartreuse found herself being looked at.
After swallowing a nibble of eclair, Chartreuse said, “Though he was raised in very different circumstances, Nomination is a compassionate pony, quick to help others, and I have complete trust in him as my housemate. He was allowed to be Chalcedony’s assistant because of his dependable, trustworthy nature. Surely you can see the goodness in your son, the evidence of which being that he stays with us.”
“I am proud, and it makes what I have to do far easier, Miss Le Feu.”
Eyebrows furrowing, Chartreuse wondered what the Major meant by that, but did not press the issue, trusting that things would be sorted out soon enough. Like her father, she decided to pace her prey and allow things to happen. Content enough with the situation, she nibbled once more upon her sweet, sugary treat, and like the Major, watched as Nomination worked.
“Nomination… how… did… how did you learn all of this? Our caste was never one for social graces. I mean, we eat out of communal troughs and we forgo everything that isn’t vital or necessary. I am bewildered, but you seem quite comfortable. How is it that you have adapted?”
Caste? Chartreuse’s ears pricked whilst she wolfed down the remains of her eclair, an act that she was oblivious of. The always-hungry, ravenous, sweet-loving filly hidden within her was released, let go in a moment of distraction, and another eclair was lifted from the tray. She watched as Nomination finished, guided Chalcedony’s hoof to her teacup, and then he turned to face his mother.
“I had to embarrass myself and ask for help,” he said, his voice distressed and squeaky. “Instead of dividing and conquering the enemy, I seperated my problems into manageable groups and tackled them one by one. Finding myself in enemy territory that was outwardly hostile to me, I adapted and kept a low profile. Your lessons benefited me.”
“I never understood you, Nomination.” The Major’s voice was husky and little more than a raspy whisper while she spoke to her son. “You hoarded your choco-rations. The Command was certain that it was your draconic nature manifesting, and they worried. Our caste was meant to be free of possessions, our purpose was to weed out the greed that sometimes plagues our kind. But you… you just wanted to save your choco-rations for when you had your berry rations, so that you might combine them. All of us thought you were so strange, and we spoke of you and your strange quirks at length. Most of us did so fondly.”
“Mother…” Nomination breathed the word and he began to shake his head. “Mother, I feel that what I am about to say will only make it harder for you to understand me. I am ill-suited to continue the breeding program, as I cannot meet its objectives. “I…”—the colt paused, searching for the right words, and he stared down at the table, unable to look at his mother—“I cannot deal with violence, mother. It makes me ill. Queasy. Sick to my stomach. Also…”
At the moment, Nomination did indeed, look rather queasy, and gurgles could be heard emanating from his stomach. Chartreuse worried for him and wondered if he could keep going. Chalcedony was lapping up tea from her cup, but her ears were pivoted in Nomination’s direction.
“Mother, I’m pretty sure that I’m gay. I mean, I’m still sorting it all out, and there are confusing moments, like Chartreuse in a Fancy maid outfit, but I have an overwhelming attraction to colts. I am aware that these traits are undesirable, and I am so sorry, Mother. The sequence, your sequence, it ends with me. I am sorry for having done this to you.”
A decent chapter to enjoy after work, but god damn cliff hangers! At least it's not as bad as previous ones in this story ;)
Nom, sweetie, everything about this line of thought is WRONG. You are blameless; it is your mother's fault for having placed the weight of her expectations on you. That is her failing as a parent, made worse because when confronted with your Mark, she tried to re-interpret your mark. The sole authority of any pony's Cutie Mark is the pony who has that mark, because it is a visible reflection of their soul. Even without that pony-specific failing on her part, she still went into parenthood with preconceived expectations of what her child should be like, instead of accepting Nom for who and what he is. In trying to impose her own expectations on Nom, while ignoring what destiny itself said about his talents and place in the world, she has failed badly at being a parent.
8806819
Oh boy... you cast judgment without knowing everything involved.
8806819
Its almost like they are a completely different culture, a completely different species that we know very little about, and that they are a super predator surrounded by prey at all times. Maybe they have a reason for acting this way?
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It isn't even just that it's a different culture. The regulations they all follow are not in place just because they are culturally expected; they are a necessity. Nom, and everyone like him are, in essence, and endangered species. The regulations exist in order to make sure they are all able to survive long enough, and supply enough genetic diversity and numbers so that their genome can properly stabilize, and they can reach viability as a species.
The normal rules we apply to ponies do not, and for that matter, can not be applied to them without killing them all.
Oh my, she said " it makes what I have to do far easier...."
I think she knew he didn't fit amongst the dracoponies and is quite happy to allow him to stay. I think she is just happy she produced a good hearted pony, with the adorable comment about him and his rations. Disappointed he won't be following her into the family business? Maybe a little, but that's being a parent for you. As a mom myself I empathize.
Now the fact that he's gay might be something of a surprise....but you'd be surprised how often observant parents already know. Now she said she "never understood him" but that is a pretty common parental complaint too.
Of course this could go real dark real quick - with luck there is no Offing the Offspring what disappoints you gambit going on here.
8806819
This sentiment is incorrect for the situation.
Whatever inconveniences or sacrifices they have to make, even if they're forced on their own kind, are for the future. A future where entities like Nom won't have to make these sacrifices and can live like ponies do. The only reason we are so violently opposed to how Nom is being treated is because we've followed his perspective and he is submissive and sad, which naturally makes us protective of him. What about the Major? She went through all the same things they put on him, except he had the immense fortune of being allowed to break away from how strict she and his father have had it and still have it. Not by them, either, but by whatever oversight council or inquisitorial selection manages their species' evolution and social integration. Luna rides their people into the dirt, so they can be useful to Equestria, useful to her, to iron out the monster urges inside of them, and so they can earn meritorious achievement enough in the service of ponies that the ponies of Equestria will look past their chimeric monster nature and allow them into the herd.
No one's looked at the Major and said, "Oh no, she's had it even WORSE than he had it, even when she was a little filly-whelp." They point a finger at her and say she's the bad one even though no doubt she's been made into a weapon and little else for the sake of helping others and securing a future for her people. She, from what we know, is an even more affectionate mother than she was supposed to be. Based on what we know from some interaction with the Wardens that means she was the friggin' mother of the year. This is the problem with us judging other species' cultures based on our own ideals of right and wrong, especially one where a species isn't even a species yet, and is trying to appropriately become one. Does no one think cavemen were 'barbaric' according to our standards? Yet if they hadn't done what they did, not one of us would be here today - there would have been no future for the human race.
Ponies are scared of them. The night terrors are biological weapons. Psychic dragon-ponies built like living tanks. Without immense discipline they'd probably be preying on ponykind if left feral. So let's withhold judgment until we see what the Major has to say... unlike the badgering children who are not letting her get on with what is probably good news for Nom.
8806916
Hear, hear! Just what I've been saying all this time. Good on you.
I've been thinking about Chartreuse's reaction to the horrors of glimpsing into Tartarus, even for a moment, and the curious effects purifying her possessed leg has had. Mostly because it's making me damn curious about Sinister Dark.
From all that I have gather, Nom's traits are super valuable. Or at least for integrating his race with ponykind. That is probably what the kudzuhaiku has been going for from the beginning, but I am just slow. I also ship Chartreuse,Nom and random colt too maybe .
8806939
I agree, actually I seen no real reason for being hostile towards the Major. It doesn't mean that they shouldn't be helping Nom like they are. It just means that Major is doing her best and if she is willing to make changes when a better way is presented. She will become a big favorite of mine.
8806821
Dude. I literally cannot know the full situation until this story is complete. I can guess (& I would guess that something will happen/be revealed so as to render The Major less unsympathetic to Chalcedony, or even outright sympathetic), but the only one who knows for sure is you, the author. For the vast majority of everything, we cannot know the whole situation, simply because there's too much to know for us to ever hope to learn it all. And so, we tend to react based on what we do know, and sometimes we come to regret doing so once we learn more later. For stories like this (i.e. published one-chapter-at-a-time), there will always be people commenting on each specific chapter; commenters may leap to conclusions. That said, my reaction WAS fairly knee-jerk.
8806901
8806916
8806939
I was judging The Major by Pony cultural standards, but they ARE pony enough to get cutie marks. It's fairly well established just how revered Cutie Marks are in Pony Society, especially in 'verses like the Weed Verse, where (for example) Flicker Knicker was made head of a new militant order, as a teenager, almost entirely due to his having the "right" Mark (though his on-the-job performance at slaughtering rats certainly contributed to the decision). Yes, they aren't even properly a species yet. Yes, they have to follow harsh Regulations just to attempt to escape the status of Endangered. Yes, they need to maintain a harshly military mindset for nearly everything, both for the previous reason and to avoid antagonizing the Ponies whom they are sworn to protect. I acknowledge these and other points. That said, even if nothing else about their culture is remotely similar to Pony culture, I can't imagine that they would discard Ponies' reverence for Cutie Marks and their significance. It's quite literally a visible sign of one's soul/Destiny, something which should be respected even if it makes a mockery of your plans, hopes, & dreams. Even if it's a plan to help elevate your kind into true species status, you can't argue with Destiny, and in this instance Destiny has said Nope. Nomination can't be the only one of his kind to have a talent/temperament which doesn't fall in line with Regulations; they have to already have a means of dealing with situations like this, and given that they serve at Luna's pleasure, it has to be something which would be at least marginally acceptable to Pony sensibilities.
8807077
You've missed a good bit about how ponies are starting to realize they are more than their cutie marks, which is what you've based most of your rebuttal on. It doesn't matter how many others have Nomination's temperament: Unless the situation becomes more favorable from ponies towards night terrors, then they MUST become as inoffensive to ponies as possible while also showing ponies they are helpful and useful, or they will never become part of Equestria. Even by royal decree, it doesn't mean ponies will accept them. Not to mention the breeding programs are to make sure they can survive long enough to hopefully be accepted by ponies.
They are powerful but if the country grew too afraid of them the night terrors would be wiped out almost overnight. In the face of absolute annihilation coupled with potentially a very bright future, almost nothing is off the table. You say you accept these points - there is no 'but' involved, those points are the only points with our current knowledge. Survival of the whole triumphs over all.
8807073
The fact she's listening to these children at all, being open and candid with them, willing to try tea and sitting about in a restaurant shows us she's a very adaptive and more sociable dracopony than most, I think. She could have easily just turned up at the door and said her piece while completely ignoring Chalcedony attacking her, Charty's positive manipulations, and Nom's feelings - which is probably what she was trained to do. So yeah, I agree too.
8807089
...admittedly, I had forgotten that there are ponies in the Weed-verse who are starting to question the conventional unquestioning faith in Cutie Marks, though society-wide paradigm shifts do tend to take a generation or two to stick. I was trying to imply, though, that they wouldn't have Nom killed just for being gay/Marked as a Gourmet Chef/literally nauseated by violence, that they would have to have a non-violent way of addressing his inherently unavoidable deviance from Regulations. Given how...uncompromising Regulations seem to be otherwise, that's one area where they MUST have something approaching a compromise, simply because if they didn't, it'd be a tremendous risk to their species' collective PR should ponies find out. Building superb PR with ponies is vital to their survival, so it's something they'd have to address.
8807117
They do have a way of dealing with it nonviolently: Nom is debarred from the breeding program, along with the Major and, ostensibly, Nom’s sire as well.
There’s no point in taking further action.
i've some idea's how this could go, but i'm liking that Nom told is mom
This trio is rather adorable
8808250
Yes.
This is correct. Many things can be true.
Will they shut up and let the major talk? “I have something I need to discuss,” “it makes what I have to do far easier,” I mean come on! Patience wins wars people.