35: Collecting the Sun
Chapter 35
I think I’m starting to really hate carriage rides, even more than before. There’s nothing wrong with them in principle, it’s just that every time I’m on one, there’s this ever-present dread of reaching the destination.
For the current carriage dragging me along, there was actually two stops to worry about. The first of which being the one in Pony Town, where we were collecting Princess Celestia.
She wasn’t hard to find and it didn’t take long to get her on board. Her current demeanour one of sheer disappointment, as she stared straight ahead. One that was completely different to when we first found her waiting, surrounded by celebrating ponies.
In an attempt to ease the tension Sunny’s displeasure was causing, Loony once again tried to re-establish a friendly conversation. “So, Sister. Thou appeared to have been enjoying thyself.”
That earned my best friend a ghostly smile. “Of course, I set up one of Ponyville’s greatest parties. The little ones all seemed very appreciative and even allowed me to partake in many of their games.” She really did seem to be happy upon our arrival. She didn’t even bat an eye lid when Pinkie popped out of her Spine with a poof of confetti. The ponies around her surely did. Wonder what they must have thought? It might have been pretty interesting to deal with, if the news we were bringing wasn’t so grave.
The mood of the Sun quickly soured once again, as she too was brought back to the present. “Shame that this day had to be marred by your little adventure.”
Those words brought a little defensiveness to my navy friend, causing her to create a small barrier between the two siblings with her wings. “Thou art aware ‘twas not entirely Our fault, Yes?” I’m sensing some blame sharing here. She really seemed to have forgiven me for the forced unclothing then reclothing earlier thing. It was still an interesting talking to though.
“Oh, I know there were some factors outside of your control,” Celestia said a little sympathetically, using a hoof to gently push Luna’s wing out of the way. An act which I barely noticed, due to how Celestia briefly looked in my direction when she mentioned those outside factors. What was I supposed to do? Let those cows kill Loony? Never. They go first every time.
“We are aware. The minotaur’s challenged us to an honour duel. It would have been a betrayal of Equestria’s honour had We not accepted it,” Luna said a little too boldly for my liking. Honour doesn’t matter if it’s going to kill you. As Sunny continued to gaze at her sister with a look a mother would give a child who’d made a mistake, Loony clearly felt the need for some back up. “Eclipse, tell her there was no other way.” As she spoke, she pointed a hoof in my direction, likely to somehow ensure I agreed.
“Erm, there was no other way?” My parroting of her words only caused my friend to sigh in disappointment and Celestia to shake her head. “I mean, I didn’t really know what was going on.” What does she want from me? I’m not going to lie to Sunny, just to side with her.
“A fact that is quite evident,” Celestia reproached before sitting up to her full height, “let me enlighten you. Both of you.”
“Me? Sister, We were well aware of the situation and had it perfectly in hoof,” Loony began to protest, before being silenced by a raised hoof. That probably wouldn’t have worked if she’d been 100% certain she was correct. Instead, the usually boisterous pegacorn let out a slight murmur, before waiting for her sister to continue.
Looking steadily between the two of us, Celestia cleared her throat and evenly said, “for the past 800 years, the kingdom of Taurus has desired a small section of land belonging by right to Equestria.” That’s a pretty long time for creatures that don’t seem to live that long. Then again, maybe they have people like Celestia and Luna.
“Every 50 years or so, the current reigning monarch of their country will attempt to claim this land as a matter of ‘honour’,” Celestia continued like she was talking to a class. Besides the air quotes around the word honour.
That seemed to hit a note with my close friend. “Wait, so thou hast dealt with this matter numerous times in the past? By the very laws of Taurus, they should lose the right to challenge us,” Loony interrupted, a slight hint of anger starting to surface through her guilt.
Celestia seemed to take the interruption in stride, even nodding to confirm my friend’s statement correct. “That is true, if I were to take them up on the so-called duel for territory. However, in the past I have always sent them bits in recompense, which has been more than sufficient to settle the deed for another 50 years.” Taking a moment to scratch her chin in thought, she continued to say, “from the strangely regular time frame of each challenge, it appears to somehow have become a base part of their culture for their rulers to challenge us.” Huh, it seems Celestia might actually blame the cows at least a little then. She probably has some animosity towards their protection racket.
“Wait, so they’ve essentially black mailed Equestria for 800years?” I couldn’t help the surprise that leaked into my tone. It is pretty shocking that one of the most powerful nations in the world would let itself be blackmailed. Then again, how powerful is Equestria? Are we big or small? Our army seems quite tiny from what I’ve seen.
Rather surprisingly, my words actually caused the ancient pegacorn to laugh warmly. “No, I do not see it that way. They practically need to do it, due to how favourable the trade deals they have given us are. Without this strange ritual of theirs, Equestria would almost certainly take them for all their bits.” Suppose Sunny is a pretty decent diplomat most of the time.
“Sister, art thou saying this entire situation is a farse to gain Equestria more favourable trade deals from Taurus?” the eye brow raise was so evident in Loony’s words.
The impromptu education session seemed to be vastly improving Celestia’s mood, as she tilted her head in thought, “not a farse sister. Just letting our allies feel like they are getting something over on us for once.” This mood improvement seemed to sour ever so slightly as she turned to look at the fast-moving countryside and contemplatively said, “I wonder how actually accepting that honour duel and then interrupting it will affect things.” Probably not in a good way.
Can’t believe this had to happen the one-time Sunny wasn’t there to sort it out. It would’ve been so much better if we’d had a little warning. Wait a second, I remember a letter from Taurus coming in complaining about some land claims. I put it on Loony’s desk… while she was complaining about not wanting to do paperwork. Dammit Luna… and dammit me. Really should have made sure she looked at that. This is why people shouldn’t have a weird smoke creature as an assistant without giving them a little training first.
Before the flying death trap’s atmosphere could return to its awkward state, Loony’s horn flashed blue causing a strange portal looking thing to appear. As I stared intrigued at the magical display, she reached a hoof into the blue glow and somehow pulled out a few of the pictures we’d previously developed. “Look sister, We took some pictures of thou setting up the party,” she said in an attempt to bring about another, more pleasant, distraction.
A distraction which Sunny eagerly grabbed onto with both fore hooves and began eagerly looking through. “Oh, very nice,” she approved on viewing the three of us in aprons. A wide smile gracing her lips at the happy memory. That was until her eyes took in the entirety of her past self’s appearance. “Do I still have cake in my mane?” She uttered in a slightly worried tone, while rubbing a hoof through her mane.
“Only a little,” I said in a friendly manner, eliciting a subdued laugh from the pegacorn.
Something that was ruined by Luna casually mentioning, “sister, the cake is the least of thy appearance’s problems.”
Celestia’s head tilted at her sister’s words, before she carefully inquired, “what do you mean by that? Is there something on my face?”
Now the horrendous issue of the minotaur diplomacy wasn’t at the forefront of Celestia’s mind, it seemed Luna had decided now was the best time to point out Sunny’s current state, and she really was in a slight state as well. Well, one that was probably not going to be very good for the upcoming meeting, if the previous hot headedness of the minotaurs was anything to go by.
“Maybe I could show you? Hang on,” I said, while gathering some of my surrounding mist. Seeing as I can form pretty much any object out of myself, including the very shiny tiara of one Luna diarch, it shouldn’t be too hard to make a mirror. It’s practically the same material as the tiara, just flat to prevent a fun house effect.
As my mist coalesced into the desired object, both princesses looked upon it with interest, likely wondering what I was doing. Maybe I should have described it to them first? Ah, they’re smart enough to figure it out.
The moment the object materialised into a floating hoof mirror; Luna eagerly gripped it in her fore hoof to gaze at her own reflection. Despite the fact it was clearly made for her sister, who clearly held back a sigh when it was snatched away. “Eclipse, ‘tis a wonderful design and solid silver as well,” she remarked as she gazed at the slight flowery pattern flowing around it, apparently not actually looking at herself. “Thou art full of talents.” Well, it’s pretty easy to do that kind of thing when it’s made out of me. Thought I may as well.
A quick throat clear from the sun ended the moon’s inspection of my mirror’s design, causing her to look in the intended recipient’s direction. Celestia, with a kind smile held out a hoof and asked, “if you would be so kind, could I perchance borrow your new mirror sister?”
“Of course sister, ‘tis only fair,” Luna replied as she practically threw the mirror into her sister’s waiting hoof. The slightest tint of red to her face as a moment of realization played out in her mind.
“Thank you sister, and thank you Eclipse. Your both very… thoughtful,” the intended recipient began before once again being distracted from the goings on. This time by what my mirror revealed to her and what me and Luna had been completely ignoring. It was weirdly easy to do when it felt like so much was on the line.
The image my mirror possessed was that of a very inquisitive alicorn, who’s eyes thoroughly darted from side to side. This image revealed to Sunny the expected cake and sprinkles spread throughout her mane, but it also showed so much more. Her mane for starters was still styled in an homage to the pink pony who’d guided her through the party. The styling prompted Celestia to look behind her at her usually flowing tail, which similarly matched the stylings of Pinkie, but there was yet more. Around her tail, were numerous small pieces of tape in a variety of different colours. Tape which she began to unceremoniously peel off without explanation.
It was quite a strange display to be honest and it had me intrigued. The act also seemed to peek Luna’s interest as well. “Erm, sister. What actually happened to thou?” Literally anything could’ve happened. Pinkie Pie is an incredibly spontaneous and eccentric individual. She might have just thought it’d be funny to put tape on herself. It’s possible not even Celestia knows why.
Or maybe she did, as each piece of tape seemed to cause her to smile a little bit more. “Well sister, as I said before, the little ones let me take part in their games. One of which was pin the tail on the pony.” She said as if it explained why she was covered in tape.
“And that’s why you’re covered in tape?” I asked a little incredulously.
“Well, when the idea to play was put forward, the target they chose looked a bit like me. So, for some reason I thought it would be more entertaining to stand in for it,” Celestia said while continuing to remove the multicoloured tape. “Normally, I would never volunteer for such a thing, but Pinkie was quite erm… persuasive.” That’s one way to describe someone having complete control of your actions. “Arguably, the idea was a sound one, due to the gusto with which each pony took part. Even if it did lead to one unintentionally pulling my tail.” The final comment was uttered alongside the removal of tape from her tail’s tip.
That game sounds incredibly boring if it normally only consists of simply marking where a pony’s tail should go. Then again, from the way some of those pieces of tape are on Celestia’s legs, it seems like regular ponies might actually struggle with anatomy. Or maybe she was just too tall for them?
“We see, that does sound like an interesting method to interact with Our ponies. We are surprised they were willing to approach thy royal posterior,” Loony replied with just a hint of veiled jealousy.
“I’m sure they’d have gladly stuck tape to you if you’d suggested it.” I casually mentioned to continue lightening the mood. “Why not ask the night guard? They’d probably love to play.”
That gained me a light giggle from the royal pegacorn. “Thy suggestion is intriguing, but Our guards may think it strange if We request they touch our behind. ‘Tis not really an act We would wish to encourage either.” Hmm, maybe she just liked the idea that ponies went near Celestia of their own accord? She then leaned towards me and whispered in a joking manner, “thou on the other hoof can play such a game later if it is thy wish.”
“If you think it’d be fun. You may want to explain the rules of this game a bit though. It seems a little straight forward at the moment. I know where your tail goes,” I warmly replied. A slight worry did start to air within my helmet at this. While everyone’s mood was clearly improving, maybe we were getting a bit off topic from the upcoming travesty again. A plan of action for when we arrive may have been needed, but I didn’t want to be the one to ruin the mood. Besides, the party’s events were quite distracting to me as well.
My words seemed to cause one of Luna’s patented blushes, before she returned the matter back to Celestia’s party hangover. “Ahem, so, sister, what about thy new lipstick?” It felt strangely like she was trying to change the subject. Even if she now felt the need to pull me nearer with a wing.
Clearly too distracted to hear Luna’s whispers by the removal of one final piece of tape, Celestia turned back to my mirror, which I’d kept floating in place for her to use. Her magenta eyes gazed down at her mouth, seeming to trace the edges where a strange red substance marked her white fur. With a quick lick of her cheek, Celestia surmised, “hm, that must be from the pie eating competition.”
“Thou consumed pies… competitively?” There was a touch of amazement in my favoured pegacorns voice.
“Oh yes. Applejack had a large supply available, which I may have chosen to purchase in its entirety.” The Sun said with a small amount of embarrassment. “It was quite a strange decision, but it was quite the pleasant surprise when I… ahem Pinkie used them for the competition.”
“Sooo, Pinkie forced you to eat a large number of Apple pies? That seems like it would’ve been pretty awful.” This is why I’d never just possess someone without a very good reason. You can make them do anything no matter what they choose. That must have been terrible for Sunny, especially for her diet.
A light giggle escaped Celestia at my words. “Actually, she started slacking on the fifth pie, but I managed to keep going using my horn, despite the protests.”
“Wait, so Pinkie was the one who was practically force fed?” This still seems like a terrible situation. Poor Pinkie.
“It really was a strange experience to have my hooves try to hold the pie back, while my magic kept me going,” Celestia said in thought, clearly not thinking about my final two words. “It is hard to describe the simultaneous feeling of not wanting to do something and desperately trying your best anyway.”
“Does that mean thou were successful in thine attempts to achieve victory?” Luna said, clearly interested in the important questions.
A warm smile from Celestia’s licked cleaner face met her in response. “Of course I won. Our ponies could not keep up with the appetite of an alicorn. You should have seen their faces when I pranced onto the podium.” Well, if Pinkie could still make Celestia prance, she probably wasn’t that unhappy with the pie eating.
After a quick spell to clean up the, dragged through a party backwards pegacorn, the remainder of our trip was spent with Celestia enlightening us to the excitement that was her first successfully thrown party. She even made a further joke about her diet, by saying how she’d figured out a work around. A whole cake is just one slice, if you don’t cut it. It seemed Pinkie hadn’t really taught the Sun anything good.
At least she wasn’t stressing out over the upcoming meeting anymore. Maybe it would have been a good idea to stress a little more.
Stats
Page generated in 0.032 seconds
Total duration
1,055 users online
1,673,770 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Filler is fine. Though I don't have much to comment on here, it was still humorous to read.
Still wanna find out more about the duel and what the minotaurs think now.
Well, I can see the direction this is going. Hopefully Eclipse realizes before he accidentally says something overtly lewd.
11566996
We'll be seeing those friendly bulls very soon. :)
11567111
Ah, you know Eclipse. They'd never say anything lewd intentionally.
Celestia this issue is on you by the fact you failed to let Luna know about this.
My golly goodness, this entire debacle because of poor communication.
I also feel like him om-nomming the enchanted swords is probably going to be something of a problem from a negotiation standpoint, possibly even moreso than giving a shocking number of minotaurs magical exhaustion.
You'd think Celestia would have it as a tradition with a canned response before even getting to her hooves (or Luna/Eclipse's in this unfortunate case). Then again, how else are bizarre traditions revealed for their underlying insanity?
Seems someone has received her first real taste of power exchange! 🥳 Look out, world, it is the dawn of a new Celestia!
Of course Luna would want her would-be significant other to touch her, but slightly interesting in how she seems to rate the different forms of intimate contact. Perhaps she just hasn't realized what it means that Eclipse has literally been inside her.... ☺️ and poor Eclipse is still innocent and clueless.
11567452
11567552
Yeah, the sisters should really talk more.
11568411
I've never really thought about how to portray the open zipper's appearance in this story. It'd probably look quite cartoony though being in pony land. That was what I went for in my other story anyways.
It probably leads to some sort of separate reality, as inside it clearly isn't any of the messy stuff that should be there. Not sure Celestia could contain an abyss though. Bright angelic sunlight seems more like it.
Ahhh a pallet cleanser chapter, nice
11568862
Isn't that a shade of pink? I think magenta sounds better, but it is pink... right?
11569016
Looked again. Turns out we both are right.
Celestias eyes have both magenta and pink, sorry
Imma correct it, thanks for pointing it out.
Yeah, I don't think the minotaurs are going to be too happy with Eclipse, especially that one he shredded like cheese.
So, a cake is one slice if it's not cut... well, she's not wrong.
i.imgflip.com/66y3tv.jpg
11570632
My goodness! He's right! Off to the cake store.
11569335
Only thing Eclipses did wrong was put paperwork on Lunas desk. Luna is out of date with how this event plays out. The minotaurs never straightened out how thing's have changed and I've said it already but to have a leader or anyone for that matter separated and alone in there territory is dishonorable. Plus it sounds like a threat. Yes we shall settle this but you must come alone or else!
11573007
I didn't say that he did anything wrong.
I said I don't think they're going to like him.
11573294
There's not many creatures that like him in general. So nothing new there.
There are a lot of ups and downs to the story, Twilight’s treatment of Eclipse really irked me especially, but the humor is refreshing light-hearted.
Many of the original story elements used are very nice, but the constant back & forth with Eclipse's pronouns gives me a small headache. Mental whiplash I suppose. 🤒
I only really have two big critiques in that, one, the story advances rather quickly between everything.
And two, that Eclipse seems to be used by his friends extensively for their own amusement. It feels conflicting with how the story has them act otherwise.
And I reached the end for now. Great story so far, I will keep an eye on it.
PS: Sorry for flooding your in-box with my comments. I simply really liked the story…
11574294
I think your evaluation is quite accurate. My biggest problem has always been getting the pacing right. Sometimes things seem to take forever and others it goes too quick. Still need that happy middle ground.
I do need to sort out the character personalities a bit as well. There are a couple things that sort of come out of nowhere. That chapter with Twilight for example, wasn't very liked by many people.
Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed enough to get through what I've written so far. There's still more to come. :)
11575889
I think you've commented on more chapters in a few days than anyone else has over the years. Phew, 26 times. Wow. 😄
Glad you like it that much.
11576020
Funny. I‘m rather a quiet person IRL. XD
11594046
It won't be as bad if you don't mention cadance's ability in sensing eclipse's.
And you also mention changeling's magic blocker, which can block even magic of discord completely. The protaganist looked like he's pretty much a being of pure magic, he should also be affacted more.
If I were to write something like this and still keep the main plot wholely intact, there are many options I can took to distract reader from the main plot:
1.make changelings more cartoonish and comedic. You can get always with stupid stuffs if it's cartoonish. mlp:fim is your proof.
2.have the protaganist suffer from tireness or some kind of mental aliment. Indicating that his body is barely keep itself together. You can add drunkard jokes here too.
3.let's protaganist jabbing with other changelings. Maybe an overbearing skitter's maid or assistant?
4.'humanized' changelings to add mellow drama. Like having the protaganist see starved drones arguing about who got feed.
11594104
Ah, I think there was a bit of misinterpretation. Cadance is supposed to be sensing Celestia's love for her ponies, not Eclipse's. Eclipse doesn't really love ponies they don't know. Shining Armor stopped them as he thought they could all be changelings in disguise. Maybe that needs to be a bit more clear? I'm thinking you're referring to chapter 14 for this part.
Edit: Oh wait, I found the part you were referring to. Whoops, forgot about that. I thought it fit quite nicely at the time of writing.
I like those suggestions and did try the last one in small parts by letting Eclipse see snip bits of the bugs everyday life in chapter 12.
Also, there is a reason why Eclipse was immune to the magic suppressing throne as well. Mainly due to how their abilities work. It'll be mentioned again in a few chapters time. (After a few annoying chapters that I'm regretting a bit)
Pretty sure that Pie Apple competition just set Celestias diat back a lot...
Wow, on one hand, I feel like from what we've seen, Luna and Eclipse had just busted a major political tradition and ruined everything in relations ot Taurus. On the other, based on what Celestia said, and how nonchalant she talks about it, seems like she'd practically made Taurus a satellite state of Equestria. It really opens my eye on how Celestia is a diplomat, through and through, despite her seeming personal aloofness.
Royal sister slice of life is highly entertaining.
Eclipse Plushies shall rise in numbers and snuggeling them all