Forever Foal

by Mystic Sunrise

That Time of Year

Twilight sighed as she looked down at her latest list, a list of all the towns and cities in Equestria. "Some days, Spike. I wonder how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna did this every year. There are just so many places to choose from."

Spike rolled his eyes, looking at his own list. "Probably helped that they did this for so long." He smiled up at her. "Come on, Twilight. You've totally got this. The Choosing Ceremony is in a week. Do you know which one you'll preside over yet?"

Twilight shook her head with a groan. "No. I can't do it in Ponyville since I did it last year. Canterlot gets it far too much. I need to spread this around. It is not fair to the other cities and towns of Equestria."

Spike nodded. That was true. He sighed as saw the letter underneath his current list. "And you've got another angry letter from the Politically Correct and Social Justice Warriors groups. Same dribble as last time."

Twilight shook her head. "Spike. What have I said about calling them that? They have every right to send in what they want. Within reason of course."

Spike chuckled. "Yeah, well. That's what they're calling themselves now, actually. I don't know why you put up with them. All they've got going for themselves are that they're really vocal about what they want. And won't take no for an answer."

Twilight chuckled as well. That was true. And if she was being honest, she would rather deal with Discord all day, every day, for a week, than deal with the groups. At least he was funny. Not that she would ever tell him that of course. Oh no. She would never hear the end of it.

Never.

Sighing, she went back to her list, still no closer to a choice. There were several things a prospective location had to have for the Ruling Princess to attend the Choosing herself. It can't have been chosen two years in a row, and it had to be a place where all three pony tribes lived together.

That had eliminated Cloudsdale early on since it was a Pegasus-only city, and Canterlot had hosted the sisters last year, so it was off as well. But that still left many places to choose from. Ponyville was still an option since she hadn't been the Ruler of Equestria last year. But it did not feel right for some reason.

Spike blinked as he came to the bottom of his page. "Oh, and you've got somepony here to see you, Twilight. He said it was important."

Twilight was surprised by this bit of news. "Spike. I told Raven that I was not to be disturbed during this time. This is too important. Can't this wait till tomorrow?"

Her assistant shook his head. "Rumble won't take no for answer, Twilight. You know how he is."

Twilight blinked. She had not expected that. Spike was right though. The young Pegasus was known for being as stubborn as they came. Maybe even more so now that he was Frozen if that was possible.

At that moment, a Door Guard stuck his head into the room. "Your Highness? Rumble is awaiting you."

Twilight rubbed her snout with a sigh. She could not get away from this, could she? But maybe this was the break that she had needed. "Send him in, Steel Wing."

The Pegasus nodded, before opening the door fully and letting in the colt in question. Aside from the sparkling blue sapphire that was firmly and securely clasped around his neck, he had not changed from the last time the pair had seen him. He bowed as he came to the foot of Twilight's throne. "Your highness."

Twilight chuckled. "Rumble. We have known each other for some time now. I have told you more times than I care to count that you do not need to call me that."

Ruble shook his head as he stood up. "It is only proper, princess. And miss Cheerilee is being even more of a stickler for it now than she used to be if that is possible. Or maybe she is doing to me because I am Frozen and that I did not listen to her last year."

Twilight sighed. She had heard this argument before between the two. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Rumble? Ponyville is okay, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "As okay as it will ever be. It has been quiet since you moved back to Canterlot. Or maybe it is because the Cutie Mark Crusaders are teaching at the School now, and it is much a lot safer to go outside during the day."

Spike giggle-snorted, while Twilight shook her head. "Oh, come now, you two. They were never that bad. Yes, it took them a long time to finally find their true purpose. Longer than it should have. But they never did anything too bad. No matter what someponies think."

Rumble shook his head. The princess was living in a fantasy if she thought that was the case. But that was beside the point. "That's not why I am here, however. I assume you have heard the fuss someponies are making about Frozen Foals and everything that goes with them?"

Twilight nodded irritably, rubbing her snout. "As much as I want to say no, Rumble. I have. As annoying as they are, there is nothing I can do about them. They have a right to their opinions and to express them. Anything short of violence is still legal." Her brows rose. "Have they done anything that I have not heard about?"

He shook his head. "Unless you count annoying the horseapples out of everyone else in Ponyville? No. Miss Cheerilee is possibly the most vocal of the group, but she has not done anything more than trying to talk any colt or filly she can out of accepting. I do not know if she has or not. No one knows who is being picked."

Spike tapped his chin. "Isn't she somepony who rejected the offer when she was a filly?"

Twilight nodded. "She is, Spike. One of the few who ever have. Any foal chosen has the choice of rejecting the offer. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna made sure of that when they first started all of this."

Rumble scratched his chin. This had been on his mind for some time now. "Why did they start it anyway, Princess Twilight? I have never gotten a chance to ask them before."

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "It had something to do with their own immortality, Rumble. They can have children of course. But unless by some chance they are born an alicorn, they would have passed away in time. I think this was a way for them to never have to deal with that kind of pain. In a roundabout way."

Rumble considered this. It made sense in a way. While the sisters had never truly been mothers in the traditional sense, they were mothers to every Frozen Foal in Equestria in this way. "I understand, I think. But I am worried about the next Ceremony. Miss Cheerilee said they were going to try and disrupt it or stop it outright in some way. "Enough is enough, Rumble" is how she told me."

Twilight frowned. She did not like the sound of that. "How many support her, Rumble?"

He shrugged. "Enough. Not the whole town, thankfully, but more than a few think the same things as she does. I hope I'm wrong, though."

Twilight's frown grew. It was never that simple in her eyes. This did not bode well. "I see. Thank you, Rumble. This has given me much to think about. And made a choice much easier for me going forward."

Rumble frowned. He wanted to ask what the princess meant by that. But the look in her eyes said that he would find out soon enough, and a part of him was worried what that might mean. Bowing once more, he retraced his steps, the Door Guard closing the door behind him with a concerned look.

Spike watched him go with a worried look of his own before turning back to Twilight. "Twilight?"

Twilight's frown had turned thoughtful for a moment before she responded. "Spike. I know now which Ceremony I will preside over next week. I do not care what it looks like."

Author's Note:

As I said before, this is totally and 100% inspired by Forever Young by Trick Question. It's not the same universe since they did ask me to make sure that it wasn't. So now it's an inspiration.

How the magic works, and who's gotten it before is the same to an extent, hence why Rumble is a Frozen Foal. But so much else is different. I just won't say what just yet. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Trick Question]

100% inspired by this story.

I had no idea this had just been published. I was wondering for a few minutes why I just received a bunch of downvotes on Forever Young all at the same time.

[Mystic Sunrise]

11077949
Sorry about that. Plus I didn't know if you cared to know or not if this was out. Trying to keep this as separate as I can from yours while making clear the inspiration came from.

[Trick Question]

11077961
It's fine. You did nothing wrong and were under no obligation (in my opinion) to tell me.

[Leanansidhe]

Interesting premise. Ill have to try reading both yours and the inspiration in the morning

[ibanix]

What’s with all the downvotes, did the author piss someone off?

[Mix-up]

I did like the original story a lot, despite wishing it had expanded further on the theme of being trap in a foals body for centuries and the consequences that comes with it, but also the marginal 'benefit of having a living pony from the different eras of the past explain how life was like in those days. I would wonder. While I did like the slightly creepy foalcon undertone or the original, I can certainly life without it, and might allow to better explore different aspects that there frozen foals do with their lives if they benefit from a stipend from the crown and don't actually have jobs, I would wonder if a lot of them actually work at the castle as part of the staff like pagers, messengers, announcers for the cute factor, and that they don't have to always be looking for foals to take those roles; I would guess a lot of them prefer to work there because unlike the rest of Equestria it's almost a static point in time when Celetia ruled where she kept things as they always were, or at least their idealized version of who it was. I wonder if S.MI.L.E.S. have their own Frozen foals as spies, and investigators, or just staff for their secret missions and such. I wonder if a lot of frozen foals were foalnapped over the ages, as curiosities by rich beings or kingdoms or experimented, in futile attempts to unlock the secrets of the process.

Personally, I think this is a choice that a foal is asked to make for this is horrible because they don't have the reasoning skills to really weigh in on what the choice means as they aren't of age.

[Mystic Sunrise]

11078204
Hate from the source story spilling over probably. And people just being triggered about me making fun of the PC and SJW crowd possible. Like I could care what the haters think anyway.

11078320
We do not speak of that thing BonBon used to be a part of around here. I despise it above anything else from the show. Canon or not. So no comment on it.

The rest is open for sure. No real idea. The foalcon from the original will be addressed in the next chapter.