Part 1, Side A
It was almost a month since Twilight Sparkle gained her wings. That was when Ivory Scroll realized that something was wrong. She had gone through her days as she always had, with cheer upon her face and Princess Celestia's light shining upon the world. Not a single thing had happened in Ponyville since then that was out of the ordinary. None of the duties for being Ponyville's Mayor-Mare had increased. The Mayor simply retained all her good spirits and warm politeness because it was habit and job alike.
It was only one morning when she paused over her afternoon coffee that she realized something. The sense was even fainter than a mare twice her age recalling she left the tea kettle on. There was no ceremony to the realization, no dramatics or cutting feeling. Instead, there was only the dullest realization that of everything to happen since Twilight Sparkle's latest surprise, she had not felt very much.
It was not that she had been feeling happy for Twilight, or even especially angry toward her. There was no quiet simmering of resentment. In fact, it was just like somepony had noticed Ivory Scroll had so much goodness in her and decided to scoop it out and borrow it for a while.
Unfortunately, they forgot to give it back.
...
Ivory was not the kind of pony to blame others. She didn't have to, not when she had little in the way of problems. The waving of a hoof, snipping of a ribbon, or calling of a town meeting was usually what was required in Ponyville. Before Twilight Sparkle, the worst possible problems all came from the Everfree Forest. Accidents could happen, and they could be deadly. It was not called Equestria's most dangerous forest for nothing. Timberwolves, ancient ruins, and the other leftovers of the divine were all perfectly natural plights within those deep, dark woods. Yet, most ponies didn't realize that there were other kinds of violent wildlife and other more mundane disasters that lurked there.
Quicksand was one of them, and it had claimed a couple ponies here and there. The sleepy little town had its newspapers publish the story for a short while, doing all the needed legwork to proclaim it a tragedy, and then things would return to normal faster than Applejack sold her fresh fritters on a Friday afternoon. That was the way of things, for ponies to turn up their muzzles away from the darkness the way a mouth turned up in the slimmest of smiles. To say one saw no evil was essential in being a pony and a politician. Everypony cared an awful lot about the next sunny day, so it was better to tell them that the month had twenty-seven scheduled days of sunshine instead of daring to acknowledge that four days of rain would be required.
It was better for Ivory to ignore the quicksand feeling in her chest, and in her life. Doctors were for ponies with broken bones and broken heads, and ponies who had broken heads weren't taken kindly to. There were special smiles, special ways to handle the kinds of ponies who mucked things up with gloom like the Everfree quicksand mucked up the forest. Ivory Scroll was not going to be one of those ponies. She did not see or tell anypony about her problem, because when your problem exceeded the bounds of friendship and polite conversation, it was unlikely that you had a problem. Ivory and everypony else had it drilled into her since forever that those were the kinds of situations when you likely were the problem. The kind meant for keeping quiet about in a nation of herd-creatures that thrived on everything but silence.
Besides, the quicksand feeling had nothing to draw on, and yet that feeling of nothing felt like it was sucking everything with it.
...
No genius was required to put together the puzzle of a problem that Ivory Scroll faced. It should have happened after the coronation, certainly. Mayor-Mare had just felt the slowness of quicksand over her life since Twilight Sparkle pranced off to Canterlot and Princess Celestia showed her off for the world to see. She smiled no less, and did no less of what she had to do to keep her town running. Because really, it was her town, and hers alone. That's how things should be. Her herd of ponies had selected her as the Mayor-Mare of Everfreeshire. She had decades of experience and all Twilight Sparkle could do was smile and wave.
She had seen that mare before, that young little thing. Twilight Sparkle was nothing more than the freshest purple grape thinking she could be wiser than a raisin. One did not declare a daisy-fresh filly barely over the age of majority a princess, yet Princess Celestia, the goddess most high, had done just that. Ivory Scroll was old enough to remember when Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was first brought to Canterlot, something certain ponies in Ponyville weren't even born for. That one had been paraded around like a favorite piece of silverware at pre-Summer Sun Celebration brunch for years. Only then was Equestria a nation of two princesses — led by an absolute queen in all but name, and her little mortal helper who supported and extended the former’s will.
Two princesses later, and Mayor-Mare finally felt the shadow over her.
...
It was nearing four months after Twilight Sparkle had been made untouchable via coronation when the visit happened. Princess Celestia came to Ponyville in a golden chariot no mere mortal could hope to stand beside. In a way, it was how their goddess often appeared before them — half of the times, she descended upon them unannounced. Yet, she was always with gold-armored guards and shining in full formality, no matter the occasion.
Mayor-Mare was half-asleep at her desk, wishing that she could come up with all the right words to send to the Mayor-Stallion of the next shire over. Her fountain pen was clutched in her mouth, and she bit at it with more pressure than normal, though that did nothing to make words come easier. It was like the quicksand had sucked all of that out of her too. Princess Celestia could have found her in any better way.
She didn't even knock; Princess Celestia never had to. Her guards opened the door for her, and they did not knock either. They bowed as the startled Ivory Scrolls looked up as far as she dared.
Her goddess was standing in the doorway.
All government buildings across Equestria had to be specially made to account for the stature of the sun goddess. Princess Luna was lucky. Though she was taller than any pony mare, she was not so tall that any drastic measures had to be taken for a door's frame.
Mayor-Mare could not have refused her, and could only bow her head modestly from her desk.
By the end of their meeting, Princess Celestia had declared all of Everfreeshire — a few villages and the rolling countryside bordering the Everfree Forest — as a principality within the Equestrian kingdom.
It was to go to none other than the newly-minted Princess Twilight Sparkle, the lesser of the two goddesses but the superior to the mere mayor.
And Ivory Scroll could never have refused her goddess.
...
Obsolescence managed to be horribly simple and complicated all at once. No longer was Ivory Scrolls the Mayor-Mare of the biggest settlement in the whole shire, subject to only the ascending authority of the Royal Guard, Princess Cadance, and the Royal Sisters — in that order. She was now less than the biggest of royal servants, Twilight Sparkle herself. There was no authority she could claim. Her duties were a trickle, and all her ponies began to look to their newest princess for guidance.
Ivory Scroll had always heard that if you struggle against quicksand, you will sink faster. Never did she expect to be engulfed by never resisting. Ponyville may be her herd, but Ivory was still no more than a mere member of the biggest herd of all. That herd was none other than the one whose every breath was dictated by Princess Celestia herself.
She never stopped treating Twilight Sparkle with kindness — to do so would be unfathomable — but Mayor-Mare was in a position that taught her so much, so easily.
Sincerity was not essential to kindness, nor had it ever been.
She regarded Twilight Sparkle with more kindness than there could be books in her new castle. Every pony was taught through the distant words and writings of Princess Celestia that destiny was to be submitted to, and Ivory was not an exception. Ivory did not insist that she had planned to lead town functions when Twilight put forth her interest in a greenhorn's bumble. When Twilight Sparkle confessed her anxieties over ribbon-cutting ceremonies, Mayor-Mare was trained in just what to say. Not once did she do anything more than passively bask in just how ever-inept her new lavender overlord was. Many times, Mayor-Mare wanted to furiously scribble a scroll to Princess Celestia — did she not see that Twilight Sparkle was ill-equipped for her new horseshoes? Did she need to record every critical look, every politely delivered observation that other visiting politicians confided in Ivory Scroll?
All the little mares in Ivory’s line of work came to a unanimous conclusion — Twilight Sparkle had decades of work ahead of her, minimum.
Of all the little mayors, only Ivory Scroll realized that her success was dependent on a world without a Princess Twilight Sparkle.
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Poggers
10650059
Yeah, I am. Thanks for recognizing that.
10640662
10482852
10650101
Why did you reply with no context to my own comment and a link to another one? That feels like a misclick.
O boy, the plot thickens
10650449
Yes, but does it dummy thiccen?
10650479
A story must contain at least three chapters of plot thickening before it can be considered dummy thicc.
Currently it is simply
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/232/046/190.gif
10650494
I accept this status, and I assure you that it only gets thiccer from here.
10650503
Noice
Interesting how timberwolves are categorized as "leftovers of the divine."
In any case... Yeah, hopefully Twilight helps shift the culture of mental health in Equestria in the coming years. Ignoring the problem doesn't solve it, and if anypony can help reduce the stigma, it's the Princess of Neuroses.
But that's a matter for the future. For now, there's the question of just what Ivory's going to do about everything worthwhile in life getting sucked out of her.
10650801
Going back over this, I'm not sure how to feel about the phrasing. Since you drew such focus to it, I'm not sure if how you're reading it is different from what I intended it to mean. Could you clarify how you interpreted it so I can decide whether or not it should be changed?
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/46544ec9-5ed3-4ec8-99bb-ab5eefa0f578/db7g2js-372c7508-5e4e-4189-b84f-585f54e298dd.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNDY1NDRlYzktNWVkMy00ZWM4LTk5YmItYWI1ZWVmYTBmNTc4XC9kYjdnMmpzLTM3MmM3NTA4LTVlNGUtNDE4OS1iODRmLTU4NWY1NGUyOThkZC5qcGcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9hZCJdfQ.AqJC45LgzcsTKa1cV34K8FK81PqYWr-zqJA2imSWf8o
That's what this horse is for. Unfortunately, some of my ideas with her that are more specifically focused on that idea are still in development and just generally in the status of upcoming/on the backburner. So, sorry I can't toss too many of them at you right now.
If you wanted them, that is.There are still plenty of chapters left! And over 6k words to go! I think. I can't count.
10651591
I'm kind of ashamed that Luna, Equestria's Royal Therapist (no, the other way around) never came to mind when I discussed alicorns and mental health.
As for the timberwolves, it's this sentence in particular:
That Oxford comma after "ancient ruins" tells me this is a three-item list, and thus ruins and wolves are both leftovers of the divine. And it's as reasonable an origin for the things as any other theory I've heard.
10651614
You're not the first one to forget poor best hoers.
I'm sure that there will be zero consequences whatsoever to this.
My apologies for not being clearer with my question. I meant in what sense did you gather them as being related to the divine: did you interpret them as being direct by-products or simply involved/there with them/something less direct? There was one particular sense I was going for, and depending on which one you took it to be, it's my fault for not being clearer.
10651628
Honestly, I hadn't thought too much about the details there. Your circus, your monkeys; I'm just in the audience. I'd figured you'd get to it if/when you got to it. Given how this story seems to be heading away from the Everfree, I just thought it was a neat tidbit that bore mentioning in my comment. Indeed, the fact that I didn't know the particulars was part of why I found it interesting.
10651648
...Okay, that's a good third option I hadn't considered. I've just always been a stickler for details and have gotten feedback on things like this in the past, so I'm trying to avert that kind of confusion. Especially, y'know, considering I've been going through a lot of older stuff and giving it the hugest fuckin' facelifts for print. Overall, I just want this to be a good reading experience, even in the stray details. My prereader/editor drew no attention to it, so I wasn't sure how much consideration it needed when you highlighted the sentence as interesting.
...As good as the tag combo can suggest, anyway.
Wow... Just... Wow!
This was a lot to take in...
I feel sorry for Mayor Mare, but at the same time it feels like I'm reading a villain's origin story...
10827829
Thank you so much! Honestly, maybe I should do something like that again. Villain origin stories are based as fuck.