A Week In The Life - Friday
Talk around the breakfast table centered on tomorrow’s trip to Earth to attend Yolanda’s graduation ceremony. While most were excited at the prospect of a rare trip to the world of humans, some had already made other plans for that day.
“Lacewing and I are going to Golden Syrup’s birthday party, remember, Dad?” Allura bluntly reminded me.
“Oh. Right. You’re excused,” I replied. Frankly, it had completely slipped my mind. My daughters’ social lives were expanding to have ever less to do with family and more with their circle of friends, as was the case with all children their age. As long as they did not cut their parents and siblings out completely, I tried to give them free rein.
“I don’t like being a human,” grumped Spotlight. “I miss having my wings and horn.” His coat color switched to dark blue and his mane to pale yellow which he tended to do when being recalcitrant for some reason. My youngest son had hues to suit all his moods which we had learned to read. He would never be able to play poker, that’s for sure. He could deliberately choose his color palette when he wanted to, but if he just let his mood dictate it, then it was a never-ending kaleidoscope of frequently mismatched chroma. It made Rarity cringe at times.
I looked over to Trixie and met my wife’s gaze. She nodded in unspoken agreement. Considering the nature of the event, we didn’t think that dragging along a sulky teenager was the best idea. “Alright. You can hang out with your friends instead,” I told the colt.
Spotlight grinned and his coat turned light blue and his mane red. “Thanks, Dad!”
“What about you?” I asked Verdant as he chomped through a bowl of fruit.
The batpony licked the juice off his lips before replying. “I like Yolanda – I want to go to her graduation.”
There came a snort from beside me as my batpony wife reacted to that. I struggled to conceal a smile. We both knew how much Verdant ‘liked’ my best friend’s daughter. It remained to be seen if Yoyo felt the same way.
Gemini spoke up without being asked. “It’s been a while since Crystal Shield and I have been to Earth. Should be fun.”
“No switching between genders,” I reminded them. We found out the hard way that Gemini’s dual nature was not hindered by turning into a human.
Gemini rolled their eyes. “D-a-a-d! That was only one time and ages ago!”
It had actually been a humorous situation but awkward to explain at the time. I intended to never let them forget it.
I didn’t bother asking Gallus or Smolder. Any time my griffon son was in Canterlot, he and his wife took every opportunity to do things together. And what with the dragoness’s need to get more familiar with the human world, Smolder was not going to let this occasion go to waste. I did have another question for Gallus though.
“Want to come with me to training this morning?”
The griffon grinned. “Who’s beating you up today? Crimson Boulder or Mama Penumbra?”
“Both probably,” I admitted.
“Wouldn’t miss it!”
I finished my fortifying breakfast. I was going to need it. I had grown proficient enough at unarmed combat that it took both the earth pony and the winged mare to keep me at my peak. Shining Armor would join my trainers occasionally so I wouldn’t get sloppy against magic attacks either. None of them took it easy on me and I would have been annoyed if they did. I spent too much time on a throne or behind a desk as it was. I intended to be able to fight to protect not only myself but also my family and every being that depended on their rulers to ensure their safety.
With age, Crimson had become slightly slower but more than made up for that with improved strike placement and technique. I knew he could hit just as hard but no longer needed to. That meant his stamina was better than it was ten years ago, much to my frustration.
As long as I had known her, Penny never made noise unless she chose to do so. Penny had been trying to learn the art of blending in with shadows and moving unobtrusively. Perhaps it was her sun-loving nature, but this batpony talent wasn’t coming easily. As a concession to her ongoing training, today’s lesson took place in the indoor sparring arena with over half the overhead lights turned off.
After several warm-up exercises and stretches, Penny and Crimson faced off against me on the practice field. I took my ready stance which they matched. “Begin,” I said.
Neither of them moved. I stewed in the sense of wrongness for a moment before I used my wings to propel myself to the right. Pain exploded at the base of my left wing. Without hesitation, I pivoted and swept low with my right wing. My new assailant jumped and I readied a buck to catch them when gravity brought them back down. Instead, I heard the flap of wings and saw a polearm descending toward my head. Out of options, I blocked it with my injured wing and grunted under the wave of pain.
Now with a half-second to react, I teleported back twenty feet so I could view all my attackers and raised a general-purpose shield.
Crimson threw up a forehoof. “Stop!”
While I could not see my third assailant, I could feel the air currents move which narrowed down their location. As I looked in that direction, a quarterstaff appeared in midair followed by a mouthful of white fangs. Colonel Dusky Wings dropped silently to the ground. “You are improving, Your Highness. Five years ago, you would be nursing a concussion. Your return strike was executed properly but not your best option.”
Penny threaded her training clubs through loops of her armor and returned to all fours. “Bonus points for wising up… eventually… and doing the right thing by using your magic. An unexpected attack requires an unexpected defense. Damn the unarmed combat rules.”
I considered. “Any reason why you stopped the sparring session, Crimson?”
He placed his padded spear on the ground and walked toward me. “Your left wing is dislocated.”
I stopped to look. Sure enough, the end of it dragged uselessly on the ground. “Huh! Would you look at that?” Couldn’t feel any pain, though. For that matter, my entire wing was numb. That lasted until Crimson Boulder popped it back into its socket. I had to canter around for several seconds to get the pain under control.
“We’re done for today’s session, Mark. I need you to rest your wing until the docs give you clearance to do more than furl it prettily to your side.”
I snorted then did my best impression of fluttering my eyelashes at him. “You think my wings are pretty?”
He turned away. “Not in the least. But I know how much you birdbrains invest ninety percent of your self-image into your primaries or wing membranes. Next week will be bladed weapons.”
Gallus and Smolder came up to my side. My adopted son gave me a very careful hug to avoid my injury. I returned it and said, “So what did you think? Fastest sparring lesson ever, right?”
He pulled back. “Dad, I didn’t even see him coming.”
Smolder smiled. “I did.”
Gallus turned to face her. “How?”
“Dragons live underground a good part of their lives, correct? We have a stronger affinity to darkness than you. Think about it. If any creature could sneak up on a dragon in their cave, our race would be extinct.”
Dusky Wings had finished putting away the sparring weapons and landed in front of the dragoness. “Is that a challenge?”
Smolder looked him up and down and tapped her chin with a talon. “Yes. The stakes are a flawless ruby and a mug of the finest beer.” The two shared a smile and a fist-to-hoof bump.
Gallus looked between the two then shrugged. “Still, was it fair to throw in a third attacker?”
I said, “That was a result of my long-standing orders. My situation awareness needs improving.”
Penny corrected me. “He meant to say, ‘Is terrible’.”
I shot her a look. “Which takes priority over a day’s sparring lessons. Years ago, I instructed Crimson to recruit whomever he needed to help me develop it.”
My batpony wife laughed. “That got amended to: ‘any time Mark is not attending to his foals.’ The Crystal Hive infiltrator Soundless Dusk found out my husband’s protective instincts both increased his perceptiveness and overrode his natural constraint. The ‘ling had to spend three weeks in a healing pod.”
Dusky Wings said, “In the Prince’s defense, I have to disagree with your assessment, Captain Penumbra. He has progressed from ‘rat shit abysmal’ to ‘just smells like shit.’ I have full confidence he will surpass you in time.” He gave her a wide grin.
Penny frowned and shot her oversized wings forward, only to have them pass through empty space. Again, I could sense the air disturbances where the Colonel had made his escape.
Smolder said, “Gallus and I need to head into the city to shop for a larger dining table. What do you plan to do with your extra time? Would you care to join us? Or will you visit the castle infirmary?”
I had picked up Trixie’s habit of fluffing my wings as I considered a question. I almost did so but caught myself. “No. At least not right now. I’m going to go see my wife early. We have a new clutch and I think they could use a bit of fatherly love.”
After another round of careful hugs, I headed for the entrance to the Canterlot hive. Penny pranced by my side. “Maybe someone will surprise you again. With luck, that will involve more tossing of changelings through walls. I missed the first time thanks to a doctor’s appointment. You did promise to make it up to me.”
“I remember no such thing! I distinctly remember promising only mango ice cream. I believe we are square and fair.” I protested.
“Blasphemy! Such debts of honor cannot be paid off with a mere dozen or two mango sundaes. You will simply have to do better, try harder, and feed me more mango ice cream in general.”
I sighed. Getting the last word with my wife was as rare as a blue moon… rarer, now that I had had the phenomenon explained to me by my newest herdmate. Maybe next time.
Penny and I traveled the now well-worn path to the Canterlot Hive atrium. I nodded to the griffon and unicorn guards at the entrance. They were just one layer of the defenses that protected the residents and those who worked here. Because spells and diseases existed that exclusively targeted changelings, every hive in Equestria had a contingent of military and medical personnel of other races. While I hoped ours would never be needed in an emergency, cooperation between species had reached the point that taking such precautions made sense to everyone involved.
The closest call had occurred many years ago when a disguised Queen Polistae from the plague dimension infiltrated ours. Changeling losses there had mirrored those of ponies, and the now-hiveless queen chose to challenge her counterpart for control of the Equestrian White Tail Woods Hive. Our dimension’s Polistae quibbled for two minutes without answering the challenge. At that point, the fast-reaction force of three squads of Equestrian Royal Guards, two squads of Red Changelings, Chrysalis, Twilight Sparkle, and myself arrived in the hive throne room via daggerscale portals. When our dimension’s Polistae asked if the would-be-usurper still wanted to make her challenge, the slack-jawed queen stared around the room and then broke down in tears.
Twilight Sparkle took charge of the emaciated and desperate queen. Her rehabilitation involved exposure to the many ways our dimension promoted Harmony between races including six months as the oldest student (by far) at Twilight’s School. After a year in our world, the restored queen apologized to our Queen Polistae who gifted her with two dozen drones. I understand they were all volunteers who relished the challenge of establishing a hive from scratch. When the queen returned to her dimension, our Equestria had another staunch ally. Once again, Twilight Sparkle’s mantra extolling the power of friendship had been proven correct.
Fortunately, nothing that dire met us on the way to Chrysalis’ private office. As there were no doors in the hive, I entered without knocking.
My changeling wife faced away from me, an open scroll held in her magic. When I approached, her ears swiveled backward as she hurriedly closed the scroll. She turned with wide eyes and a strained smile. “Husband! I am glad to see you so unexpectedly early!”
She gave me a quick peck on the cheek while trotting past me as her magic stowed the scroll into a drawer of her desk and closed it. “Come, my stallion. Our newest brood shall be overjoyed to see you and more importantly taste your sweet love.”
Chrysalis vanished into the hallway. Several seconds later, I heard her hoofsteps slow, stop, then return. She looked back through the entrance. “Husband? Let us not—”
“I recognize that scroll,” I said.
My changeling wife flinched while my batpony wife put on her ‘I’m guarding the entrance, don’t bother me’ stance. Entirely my responsibility to work out, then.
With a gentle hoof, I guided Chrysalis back to her desk. I said, “Please don’t hold back this part of your life from me.”
Her neck drooped. Her countenance was the direct opposite of her normal, confident self. “I… this is my burden to bear. I never wanted… I don’t want to trouble you with it.”
I pulled her into a wing hug. “Our herd is strongest when we support each other, dear. That includes your clueless stallion. Are you going to try to convince me that my other wives don’t know?”
A derisive snort escaped Penumbra, but no further comment.
After Chrysalis said nothing for several seconds, I said, “Please tell me why you were so distracted that you didn’t notice when I arrived.”
With a defeated sigh, my wife lit her horn. She extracted the scroll and unrolled it in front of the two of us. “You know that I made peace with the families of the thirty ponies that died during my invasion. To one family, I promised to read this scroll every week without fail. That way, I would never forget the consequences and pain brought about by my folly.”
I hugged her tighter, noticing that she had not relaxed one iota. “And?”
She tried to flap her wings in annoyance only to find that stymied by my embrace. “I have maintained my connections to the families that permit it, helping where I can. This is not an obligation I can fly away from.” She sighed. “I … did not want you to see me so weak. So … humbled.”
I lifted her chin with my forehoof to look her in the eyes. “Showing compassion and caring for ponies is not weakness, my love.”
Chrysalis closed her eyes and rested her forehead against mine. “I know,” she said.
After a couple of minutes, she rolled up the scroll and put it back in the drawer. “Come, my husband. Let me introduce you to one of those that I helped.”
Penumbra, Chrysalis, and I heard the class underway long before we reached the classroom.
“Who’s the bunny rabbit? All of us are! What do we do? Hop! Hop! Hop!”
We stopped in the opening of the room and saw a young earth pony mare bouncing along on her hind legs. She led the way around the outside of the space, her charge of twenty-odd young ‘lings dutifully bounding behind her. All had smiles on their faces as they chorused, “Hop! Hop! Hop!”
The teacher sunk low to the floor and scowled. “Who is the mean old cat? All of us are! What do we say? GGGGRRROOOWWWWLLLLL!”
Again, the students mimicked their teacher, “Groowwwwwllll!”
Chrysalis cleared her throat, causing all the young changelings to stare our way. Seconds later, Chrysalis and I had scads of love-leeches giggling as they hugged around every exposed limb. Even Penumbra earned a new decoration for her helmet and a passenger on her back.
My changeling queen strode into the room ignoring her new outerwear. I tried to do the same but found it difficult with my cargo shifting places and arguing constantly. Chrysalis said, “Professor Nutbar, let me introduce you to my husband, Prince Mark Wells.”
The tan mare with chocolate brown mane and tail curtseyed. “Oh, Sweet Celestia! I’m soooooo pleased to meet you, Your Highness!”
My wife continued. “The Professor is a recent graduate with a specialty in early ‘linghood development.”
Nutbar stood up and beamed. “Yup! As far back as I can remember, Miss Sally has helped me follow my dreams. Good thing my dreams are so gosh-darn cute!”
I quirked an eyebrow at the nickname but Chrysalis refused to meet my eye. Instead, she nodded to the teacher. “Thank you for taking such great care of our hive’s foals, Miss Nutbar.”
“Oh, you’re really so very welcome. And … sorry about the little rapscallions glomming onto you. They’re just the friendliest little bugs on all of Equus!”
“I thought we were scoundrels,” protested one nymph.
“No, we’re all scalawags!” cried another.
“Troublemakers!”
“Rascals!”
Their teacher cut off the bickering. “Hey! Tell me kiddos, would you like to hear A STORY!?”
The ‘ling on Penny’s head stood up. “Only if Daddy Mark reads it!”
The response came from all the remaining students at once. “YAY!”
Nutbar gave me a sheepish smile. “If you wouldn’t mind, kind sir?”
How could I refuse? After all, I was here to share some of my ample supply of love with my progeny.
I had to levitate myself to the carpeted open area of the classroom and then lie down slowly so noling would be stuck beneath me. I grabbed a familiar picture book from a nearby bookcase and opened it to the first page. “I’ll read to you the Adventure of Daring Do and the Missing Bowl of Morning Oats!” I got the expected laughs from the audience. I had chosen this book because of the many sound effects and voices I would have to create. Always a crowd-pleaser!
Later that morning, Chrysalis took Penny and me to visit the latest batch of grubs. The cute things had hatched only a week ago and were busy gobbling up a nutritious mash of mushrooms and root vegetables. They were also happy to wait their turn in line to get love-filled hugs from their sire. Afterward, they settled down for a nap and I joined them. Providing sustenance for three dozen small changelings throughout the morning took the strength right out of me.
Fortunately, an hour of rest improved my vitality. I took Chrysalis’ advice and left before the little grubs woke up. She confirmed that they would be just as hungry or even more so!
A full session with Equestria’s ministers was scheduled with all three triarchs after lunch.
A large proportion of our citizens had the impression that Trixie, Twilight, and I did everything that pertained to governing our nation. In reality, there weren’t enough hours in the day for us to accomplish half of that. Ministers were appointed who had the skills and mindset that best suited each area of the administration. Some were promoted from within the civil service, while others came from the ranks of the nobles. Even though I have a generally low opinion of most nobility, several notable exceptions earned their rank rather than reveled in it. Anyway, while we triarchs set policy and made the final decisions, these ministers put in the work required to facilitate those decisions and ensure everything ran smoothly. Major projects were carefully planned, procedures revised, and new problems addressed by the ministers and their staff long before they hit Twilight’s, Trixie’s, or my desk to be reviewed and either approved or sent back with a request for more data or revision.
But no one should operate in a vacuum, so the entire cabinet of ministers assembled regularly to discuss the state of their portfolios. This would not only keep everypony informed, but it would also sometimes unearth a previously unnoticed cross-portfolio problem. The ministers could also bring up subjects that were not directly in their purview but they felt needed to be addressed. The sessions were often dull, but occasionally there were some hot debates. Trixie was not slow to use a silencing spell when matters got too heated. It did serve to remind them that, no matter what their responsibility or feelings on the subject were, we three were in charge, not them. If they were going to start behaving like foals, we would treat them as such.
I might have given the impression that the ministers consisted of nothing but ponies. That had not been true for a long time. As the years passed, the Triarchs appointed more and more non-pony ministers. Two griffons, a minotaur, a hippogriff, an anthro unicorn, and two disguised changelings from Queen Polistae’s and Trochanter’s hives respectively were represented. The latter had been required to let we Triarchs know how their position would be affected by their allegiance to their queen, but were otherwise treated the same as any of the other ministers. Before giving Smolder a role to play in our future official contact with Earth, I had debated offering her a ministerial position. Not that I’m sure that she would have accepted it – she enjoyed being a thorn in the side of the nobles too much. One day, perhaps another dragon would join the cabinet, as might any of the other species in our growing empire.
When all the departments had made their reports, Flim and Flam were brought in to present their review of budgetary expenditures. The twins had been so effective at rooting out scams that they had been left with little to do, so I had set them as watchdogs on ministerial spending. This had two purposes. Ostensibly, they were ensuring that projects stayed on budget. However, each department was supposed to do that anyway and the Flim-Flam brothers only checked that they were following procedures correctly. The main reason for the oversight was to keep the ministers honest. No spending on unnecessary perks. No granting contracts to friends rather than the best supplier. And you better believe that the brothers could smell a bribe a mile away. The former scam artists took particular glee in taking down anyone who thought that they could scam them.
With old business out of the way, new business was addressed.
With the growth of the empire, so did the complexity of governing. History back on Earth had shown how empires had grown and fallen again and again. Twilight had tasked some of her hive’s changelings with researching the causes of those collapses with a view to recognizing the symptoms in ours, so that Equestria would remain stable despite its growth and changes in all fields. Celestia had consented to head up a team dedicated to addressing these problems. She was formally appointed as a regent with authority only exceeded by the Triarchs. This had the side benefit of giving Equestria a clear successor if anything happened to us Triarchs.
Next, Tempest Shadow gave a report on recent raids upon Saddle Arabia by Zebrican tribes bordering the kingdom. As signatories to an alliance with Equestria, they had formally requested assistance from the Triarchy. Tempest had assessed the situation and presented her findings and recommendations. A special task force was authorized to deal with the problem.
That led to further military business. We Triarchs had debated the ethics of sending peacekeeping forces to the Hermit Alicorn dimension due to the raids that had been made on the colonies that had been established there. We weren’t trying to take their world’s resources – only utilize unused land to set up mixed-species communities. The whole purpose of those colonies was to show the locals the benefits of living and working in harmony. A few of the locals wanted to join the settlements to enjoy its benefits. They were welcomed and assisted in getting started with their new lives. Every convert was one less fighting a ridiculous war with other races. However, the vast majority of the locals preferred to stay in the three segregated outposts. Their prejudiced views of the other races led to continued altercations with the newcomers. We did not want to respond with force, but when they had no qualms about killing innocent ponies, we decided to take action. The Ministry of Defense was directed to coordinate with General Crushing Blow to plan and execute a military peacekeeping action in that dimension.
That concluded business for the day and the ministers were dismissed. Not all sessions were as grave as this one had been. Usually, it was all pretty straightforward. After today’s session though, I was more than ready to start my weekend.
I normally spent either Saturday or Sunday in Ponyville being just one of the ponies… or at least as much as one such as an Equestrian ruler could be. It was great hanging out with friends and acquaintances, listening to the local gossip and sharing some from Canterlot. It helped keep me grounded. That had been one of Celestia’s problems when she had been the sole princess in charge – she simply did not have the time to socialize like that. She did a remarkably good job despite that handicap, but ponies still put her on a pedestal and even called her a goddess. Not so me. With few exceptions, the citizens of Ponyville treated me much like their neighbors – even more so since I now had family here. You see, I’m an Apple.
Okay, an honorary Apple, but Applejack herself had declared that I was a member of the clan after siring a filly for her and Rainbow Dash. That was only reinforced when the farmer mare sought a second foal and I obliged. This time it was a colt – an earth pony once more. I told Rainbow Dash that if she wanted a chance at a pegasus child, their third and final foal was going to be sired in her. I had more than kept my side of the deal.
Anyway, as I was family, Applejack expected (or pretty much demanded) that I come around for dinner at least once a month. Of course, the rest of my herd was invited too. The Apples had no problem catering to large crowds. In fact, the more the merrier, as far as they were concerned. Friday nights were when my herd would normally go out for dinner or the theater, so our gatherings at the Apple farm were normally held on those evenings. That was why I emerged from the portal in Twilight’s castle in the company of Trixie, Celestia, Loopy, and even Chrysalis. The changeling queen tried to tell me that she goes just to be able to feed on all the positive emotions at these gatherings. I think she’s fooling herself. Her wings sparkle extra brightly after these dinners.
All our children came with us, and Rarity met our group in the grand atrium to Friendship Castle. From there, we had a leisurely stroll to Sweet Apple Acres. No fancy carriages for the royal family today. Besides, it helped work up an appetite. We were quickly spotted by the Apple foals and they came tearing out of the yard to meet us. Breezy called out, “Uncle Mark’s here!” but her one-year-old brother didn’t speak yet. On the other hoof, Suncrisp Apple was ridiculously fast, quickly overtaking his sister and reaching me first to wrap his legs around one of mine, grinning up happily at me. Orchard Breeze soon took the other leg and I nuzzled them both.
Stallions who sired a foal but weren’t actually part of that herd were traditionally addressed as “Uncle”, which is not to say that Breezy didn’t know that I was her sire. Applejack was very down-to-earth about such matters and had no qualms about letting her foals know the truth. Between that and my frequent visits to the farm, the foals always made a beeline for me despite anyone who accompanied me. However, my wives soon got their chance at exchanging nose bumps and hugs with them. Suncrisp played around my legs as we proceeded to the farmhouse, threatening to trip me up but not quite ever doing so.
Rainbow met us on the porch, grinning happily at the sight of all of us. No sign of her Wonderbolts uniform but she was wearing a neckerchief that her wife had made for her. It looked quite… well… dashing.
“Welcome to Casa Manzana!” the pegasus proclaimed loudly. “Our house is your house. Come on in!”
Rainbow Dash had learned the Spanish word for apple from Rosa a while back and since then she had used it on occasions like this because: “It sounds fancy!”. In truth, it did seem to suit the place. It had grown considerably since the first time that I had visited the farm. With Big Mac, his wife Marble Pie, and their daughter Ruby also living here, additions had been made to the original homestead which had more than doubled its original size. The huge dining room was one of the changes, and why we weren’t going to have any problems seating everyone for the meal. But that was for later. The young foals stayed outside to play while the rest of us socialized. Applejack and Marble came out of the kitchen long enough to greet us before returning to their cooking.
The meal was served about a half hour later. My herd was liberally sprinkled among the Apples but almost inevitably Orchard Breeze ended up seated next to me. All during the meal, she excitedly told me about everything that happened to her since the last time we had seen each other. Based on her talent and passion for all types of plants, it was only a matter of time before she earned a suitable cutie mark. Over the years, I had learned a great deal about agriculture, trees, flowers, etc. This served the dual purposes of furthering my earth pony education and allowing my foal and I to have meaningful discussions about all aspects of the lives of plants.
A surprising amount can be squeezed into a young filly’s week, but I listened intently to all of it. I didn’t get as much time to spend with my daughter as I would like, so I always made the most of it. As for Suncrisp, he never stopped smiling and listening to us. He was a very quiet child but a happy one. According to Rainbow, he had exactly three speeds – canter, gallop, and asleep! The only wonder was that he managed to sit still through dinner – if you consider bouncing in his chair to be ‘sitting’.
Applejack frowned. “Suncrisp Apple! Ah need ya to sit still for one minute!”
The foal’s smile didn’t change, and his vibrations moved from his whole body to just his front hooves. The adorable thing was sure trying!
Rainbow Dash gave her wife a peck on the cheek. “Dear, he’s doing just fine.” She smiled at their little colt. “Go ahead, Scamp! Hop up and down as much as you want!”
The foal smiled wider and happily did so, now making audible thumping noises as he bounced in his seat.
Applejack gave Rainbow the stink eye. “His name is Suncrisp Apple, not Scamp. Where in tarnation does that come from anyhow?”
“Easy! ‘S’ for Sun, ‘C’ for Crisp, ‘A’ and ‘P’ for Apple.”
“An’ where does the ‘M’ come from?”
The pegasus mare swooped in for a kiss, “Mmmmmmmmm!”
Penny cracked up. “Should have seen that coming!”
It was stuff like this that made this dinner so wonderful and normal. There were no royals at the table – only members of the Apple Clan. We conversed, scolded, and joked just like any other family. And when dessert was finished, we cleaned up. Applejack and Marble had cooked, so it was up to others to clear the table, wash the dishes, pots, and pans, dry them, and then put them away. Three of us were drawn by lot and we set to work while the rest either went into the living room or outside to enjoy the evening. Somehow, Granny Smith’s name never got drawn. Thanks to Applejack’s complete lack of a poker face, it was never hard to guess when this happened and someone else found themselves ‘volunteered’. I drew the task of washer this occasion, but it still amused me remembering the first time that Chrysalis scored the job. You have never seen such a dignified pot-scrubber!
When that chore was completed, I went outside and started a game of frisbee with Scamp. Yeah, I liked the nickname. I figured I could tire him out while having fun. Turns out that he had seemingly boundless energy and I was the one who called it quits. The colt went and joined the others who were cavorting in the pond under the watchful gaze of Celestia. It was the end of a hot day, so it must have been very refreshing as well as fun splashing around in the water.
I settled down next to my wife to watch the foals at play. “Feel like having one of your own?” I asked her quietly.
The solar alicorn smiled softly. “One day. Not yet, but when the time is right.”
“Uh-huh. I have found that the right time tends to find you despite your plans.”
Celestia giggled like a filly. “Quite true. Nevertheless, my herd has enough to keep me happy for the moment. Besides, with Loopy intending to get pregnant, I believe one new foal at a time is best.”
“They do tend to keep you on your hooves, don’t they? Still, I have never regretted a single one of them.”
“Says the stallion who has fertilized hundreds of changeling eggs,” my wife replied with a smirk.
“Oh, hush, or I’ll tell your senior wife that you’re envious of her,” I said with a broad grin.
“I don’t think I could take the smugness.” Celestia leaned up against me and sighed happily. “No, I have nothing to be envious about. I already have more than I could have dreamed of before my sister and I got stranded in the other universe.”
I wrapped a wing around my mare. “Funny thing – same with me.”
# # # # # # # # #
Father's Day must be a real blowout for Mark! 
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She will eventually grow old and Mark stays eternal young after all.
Maybe add it as Penumbras jab?
Fun times all around ♡
Granny Smith must be old enough to be officially oldest mortal alive?
Now we need an image of a pile of Father's Day presents with just a horn and pair of wings sticking out....
Though I hope that Celestia gets on the mom train soon. She the only wife who hasn't gotten on the mom train despite the fact she had plenty of time.
11498393 would wings even be showing you got hundreds of changelings and at least a dozen or more foals I just wonder where the'd hold the father's day party if most of his offspring were to show up
11498329
Who says Granny Smith is mortal?
11498527
Because it would suck ass to be imortal, but still age...
Watch this and tell me if you think about the implications...
Sleepy maybe, Dopy certainly, but Grumpy?
I didnt think I was that bad.
I thought the big problems with Empires was that the recursive nature of the requirements of Bureacracy, according to more recent analysis, sugests the collapse starts to set in above about 2 million members of society, or the largest city states? Beyond that you haev to switch to tech or similar methods as humans just break down under the time response required for the load while constantly working just for their own intrests?
Flim and Flam really helped to stave off the collapse, but only for a while.
11485100
Just noticed this post. Can't remember my NNPS class... I know it was in 1994 though. ;) EMN3 here, you?
11498527
Iä! Iä! GrannySmith fhtagn!
Gotta keep it real. Juggling everyone has to be a challenge.
11498692
Why do you think the Apples grow the best apples in Equestria? Pinkie's not the only Eldritch Horror that lives in Ponyville.
11498690
MM2/SS, class 7903-11, S7G prototype.
Uncle Hymie was right about reactors, but got overruled about the civilian program.
Queen Trochanter? That's one I do not recognize. Which hive?
Is there even a father's day chapter
11499689
Trochanter is the sister of the Chrysalis from the universe where she married Shining Armor and Cadance. With no hive of her own, she petitioned to take over the abandoned hive in the Crystal Kingdom in Mark's world.
11500023
Thank you. My remembery strikes again. *sighs* Back to SLC today, full move to Texas next month.
More of a convention for him, these days.
Unrelated, about how long has it been since Mark first came to Equestria? Long enough to have kids and see them grow up for the most part, so somewhere around 20 years or so?
11500193
Yep, about twenty years.
11500186
I frequently have to remind myself about details of stories that I wrote years ago so that I don't trip myself up. Still get it wrong occasionally.
BTW, I'll be visiting Texas at the end of March.
11500219
Well, that's the price you pay for being a writer of fiction. As Abraham Lincoln once observed, "No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar." As fiction is a fancied up story similar in construction to a lie, it becomes hard to remember the details well enough to recall the story with absolute accuracy. That's the job of the fan. They breeze through our creations with enough enthusiasm to absorb details we had to pound out of our imagination with a ballpeen hammer. The bigger or more elaborate the story, the easier it becomes for the writer to let a detail or two slip by. Welcome to the facts of life... LOL!
11500793
As a co-writer and editor for Mark My Words, I perform a bunch of continuity-checking on the chapters as they are being crafted. Goldfur does the same on the sections I wrote.
On many occasions, changes are made to the chapter as it develops. Sections are added, deleted, revised, or moved to a later chapter.
Good chapter!
11500849
I know what you mean, though in my case I self-edit. Thankfully, I know the difference between their, there and they're as well as to, too and two, which naturally follows three. I'm rambling now... I think I'll take a nap. (Is it possible to take something that's incorporeal?)
11501491
The two tools I find invaluable for editing are Grammarly and my iPhone’s Spoken Content feature, in that order.
11503860
I only have my mind and about 40 years of writing experience to draw upon. Which is why my comments are occassionally acerbic and utterly incomprehensible. But what do I know... I'm writing about ponies. I suppose it allows me to corral my thoughts and engage in a stable trade.
11507499
Closest to that what I know is a pellet reactor. Technically one can let pellets to roll out of active zone. It's just that they aren't very effective.
I don't remeber why particular demon core prototype failed to separate, and thus simeone had litery to push it apart manually. Mechanism that does it, had failed or were threy glued together?
Where moving parts are involved, a point of failure is introduced. Control rods failed to drop. What if core segments fail to roll away?
11507593
The thing about having the segments designed to roll away is it CAN'T fail because the shut down relies on simple gravity.
The only thing keeping the segments together would be the break pads on the wheels beneath the reactor--you'd be talking about things like hundreds of massive train wheels, for one, just to support the weight. And with the shear mass of the reactor, it would actually be quite a challenge just keeping the segments stuck at the top of the underlying dome the thing would be sitting on.
But the instant you need them to roll apart, just unlock the breaks and it will be impossible to keep them from rolling apart.
And once they're at sufficient distance, the reaction shuts itself down simply because all the fuel is now outside the "critical density" zone. Then all you have to worry about is draining off the residual heat left in the core--and for that, there are plenty of high-pressure flexible piping systems that could handle that job.
Even if all the other system mentioned were to fail: inserting cadmium control rods, removing fuel pellets, and the cooling system--but once the reactor is no longer creating NEW heat and radiation, there is simply no longer a danger of a runaway reaction and/or a meltdown event.
Hell, even taking into account deliberate efforts to sabotage the reactor so it fails to roll apart would take such an engineering effort to overcome the physics behind the safety design, that any saboteurs would be quickly exposed well before they could ever succeed.
Ah, but now the nuclear clock clicks closer to midnight.
No, I'm not still continuing the reactor debate here.
I'm talking about the nukes that will be going off when Mark & Co go to "Earth" on Saturday and have to deal with whatever schemes from Ivana, her father, and any of the other likely dissatisfied suspects (Shariq, others?) who might be lurking nearby, ready to jump them.