Rebirth of Magic: The Misfit

by The Blue EM2

Can you Find it in Your Heart?

Well, it seems Zipp's negotiation plan worked.

We had been moved out of the prison cell, which was a nice change. The place was pretty soulless, and although a lot better than I suspected the prison would be when I arrived, having your own bed is an improvement over improvised or floor based cots.

And we certainly did have our own beds. Turns out the palace is so enormous they have entire wings with not much in them. They were leftovers from the days when the entire Royal Family lived in Zephyr Heights- not just the monarch and their immediate family, but the siblings of the monarch, as well as all the cousins and distant relations. Based on something I saw on the walls the extended family made up the bulk of the Dukes and Duchesses in Pegasus territory. Fascinating what you learn out here that the show never really touched upon. It left me wondering how many more secrets were waiting to be unearthed by explorers in this land.

Anyway, the extended family had long since moved out, and seeing as the current Royal Family residents here were just three ponies, these bits weren't used so much anymore. Household staff was housed further back in the building, but the other wings had been turned into other uses. One had been turned into an art gallery, containing the Queen's favourite paintings and photographs, and the other wing was guest space, used by visitors and guests of the Royal Family.

That apparently included us, or so it seemed.

We were each assigned our own room, and these rooms were pretty big. They seemed to go on forever! The rooms were painted nicely, with cream walls, and the usual wall decorations in gold and white. There were beds that would happily have housed two ponies, and a desk and chair. Each room also had a widescreen TV. Pretty luxurious for a guest room, I have to say. It reminded me of extremely high end hotels back in the human world that I would only have been able to stay at if I'd won the lottery. Or a competition. The two are remarkably similar. Funny how ending up as a pony allowed me to stay in a really well off place, eh?

Though, of course, this wasn't a holiday. We were still technically prisoners, just prisoners being held in very fancy cells. This was made clear to us at a banquet Queen Haven held as an act of kindness, or so she said. Personally, it felt more like she was showing off how wealthy the Pegasi are.

Seriously, who uses eating utensils made of gold? And all the medals and things the Queen and the Princesses were wearing made a lot of noise when they moved. I know Pipp and Zipp are honorary Colonels, but was the combination of medals and dresses that looked like something out of an Edwardian period drama really neccesary?

I guess that wasn't the real purpose, though. The real function was so the Queen could observe us. At least the food was good. No offense meant to Izzy, but after a day or two of microwave meals a fully cooked meal is certainly appreciated!

At least she concluded we weren't a threat, and we were given a little more freedom. We could wander around the Palace at leisure, but we couldn't leave it. We were to stay within the confines, which meant from the Parade Ground at the back to the lift at the front. Quite a big roaming ground.

I mean, her reasoning was pretty understandable. When Pipp had streamed our prescence over ZBS it had lead to panic in the streets. They didn't want a repeat of that- I mean, nopony wants mass panic.

The increased space was fine by me. Not only had pacing around a small cell gotten pretty boring after about five minutes, the palace itself was a gold mine! True, there were certain places we weren't allowed in, such as the Royal Suite or the Library. Although Izzy seemed a tad confused at some of these rules, I was more than happy to follow along with the Queen's wishes- I mean, it is her house, after all. And something in me made me think we hadn't exactly made the best first impression, so I was keen to get back into her good books.

I still had questions, of course, but those could wait as we headed to another room for cheese. I could sense Zipp wasn't having much fun, though. If her situation was anything like mine, having to suddenly adapt to very different clothing would be a pretty massive shock.

---

A few days of roaming the palace was a fun exercise. Much like the rooms, the palace never seemed to end, nor did it seem to have a logical floor plan. Bits and pieces seem to spiral off in lots of different directions, and there were numerous cases of doors that led nowhere or corridors that awkwardly stopped for no readily obvious reason. This merited further investigation, so I asked Zipp.

"Well," she said. "You need to remember this isn't so much one building as several buildings joined together. Previous Kings and Queens added their own bits and remodelled others to match architectural fashions of the day. The central core dates from about 900 years ago, but there are certain bits we don't really use all that much anymore."

"Such as?" I asked.

"The back bit. That was built to try and add extra living space for the Viscount of Winter Haven when he came to visit for the summer. Winter Haven gets very hot in summer, hence the name. However, the foundations weren't done properly and the back began to sink."

"Did it collapse?" I asked.

"No," Zipp answered. "But it makes moving around in there very difficult. As a result, it's rather like two houses joined to one another by a maze of corridors and stairways, with a courtyard in the middle for some reason. Each house has six floors, and because of the previously mentioned ground subsidence it gets very difficult to know which floor you're on."

"Does anypony live there now?"

"No. We mainly use it for storage. The servant's quarters are in the front bit." Zipp smiled. "And that's before we think about the maze of underground tunnels beneath this place!"

So, yes, turns out it's a rather strange building. Something in me wondered how much this lot cost to maintain, but I can imagine that the Royal Family is extremely good at giving back to the public, seeing as the populace seem to legitimately love them.

I even talked with Misty for a bit to try and figure out how she was here long before the Maretime Bay Day Festival and the Traditional Unicorn Sleepover. I suspected it was because of Opaline- and this confirmed the suspicion of many in the fanbase that she'd been doing things behind the scenes for a long time- but I wasn't able to get much concrete info.

If anything, the session itself left me with a couple of questions not for others, but for myself. Was this questioning helpful?

Don't get me wrong, it's good to be inquisitive, but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder if I was truly seeing the other ponies for who they were, or regarding them as interesting curious. I know in the movie Sunny has a bad habit of seeing the other races as curiosities rather than as individuals with lives and feelings of their own- then again, the only frame of reference she has for them is her own society's stereotypes and bigotry- so naturally I was worried I was doing the same thing. The world itself was also worth thinking about in that regard. Should I be trying to puzzle out every little detail of how G5 Equestria functioned, or should I simply enjoy myself and soak up the world as I went along? After all, I had been given an opportunity I thought I'd never get- to actually be in Equestria- and was determined not to waste it.

Phew. All that thinking does work up an appetite. I decided to head to the commissary to purchase some food before continuing with my thinking session. Zipp recommended the glazed cinnamon cakes to me. Huh. Didn't take her as a cinnamon pony.

I stopped, and the operator looked at me. "What will you be having today?" she asked, looking a bit gruff.

"One glazed cinnamon cake, please," I replied.

"That'll be 3.50," she replied.

I fished in my bag, pulled out a wallet, and placed the appropriate coins on the counter. The operator looked at me in confusion.

"What appears to be the problem?" I asked.

"Earth Pony Dollars are not legal tender in Pegasus territory," the operator replied. "You'll need to get these changed for pounds and pence."

Bother. Hadn't thought of that. Hopefully I'd be able to borrow some from Zipp and pay her back later.

Author's Note:

Many countries maintain the rank of Honorary Colonel. This is a civilian who is appointed to a ceremonial role for a regiment but have no actual authority over the unit. In Britain, this position is often given to members of the Royal Family, so I thought it would make sense to have something similar here too.

The banquet is loosely inspired by the concept of Indian watching, another concept used by the British to try and establish potential allies. The process worked by inviting Native Americans to formal events and watching how they reacted to different things. If they reacted positively, they were selected as potentials for alliances. The entire thing was, of course, rather problematic, and indicates here that Queen Haven isn't quite so above it all as she thinks she is.

The commentary on construction is based on many British stately homes. These were rarely planned as a single structure, but more cobbled together over the centuries. An excellent example is Dunvegan Castle in Scotland, which was started in the 13th Century and now comprises a chaotic mish-mash of architectural styles from the last 800 years.

The pounds and pennies bit is a nod to a comment made in Portrait of a Princess; Pipp's reference to 'pegasi money' implies pegasus territory has a separate currency to earth pony lands, which makes sense seeing as each bit of G5 Equestria appears to be a sovreign nation rather than a single country.

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

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Apologies for the delay, but a new chapter has just arrived.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks very much once again for getting the next chapter up. Definitely appreciated the reflections of "Sunny's" thoughts as well as the characterizations and future chapter set-up. Definitely really liked the observations on the improvements concerning the accommodations and food as well as "Zipp" discussing the reason for the way the palace is designed before the frustrations concerning the currency differences.

VERY definitely looking forward to more of this.

[The Blue EM2]

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Glad you enjoyed. Seeing as Sunny is naturally inquisitive it provides for ample opportunities for naturally incorporated worldbuilding (as well as reflect on what characters choose to leave out of their narration).

[shining paladin]

great chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[The Blue EM2]

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Glad you enjoyed.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Though, of course, this wasn't a holiday. We were still technically prisoners, just prisoners being held in very fancy cells. This was made clear to us at a banquet Queen Haven held as an act of kindness, or so she said. Personally, it felt more like she was showing off how wealthy the Pegasi are.

Agreed.

Seriously, who uses eating utensils made of gold? And all the medals and things the Queen and the Princesses were wearing made a lot of noise when they moved. I know Pipp and Zipp are honorary Colonels, but was the combination of medals and dresses that looked like something out of an Edwardian period drama really neccesary?

Guess some things are best left unanswered.

At least she concluded we weren't a threat, and we were given a little more freedom. We could wander around the Palace at leisure, but we couldn't leave it. We were to stay within the confines, which meant from the Parade Ground at the back to the lift at the front. Quite a big roaming ground.

Wow, that's surprisingly generous of her!

The increased space was fine by me. Not only had pacing around a small cell gotten pretty boring after about five minutes, the palace itself was a gold mine! True, there were certain places we weren't allowed in, such as the Royal Suite or the Library. Although Izzy seemed a tad confused at some of these rules, I was more than happy to follow along with the Queen's wishes- I mean, it is her house, after all. And something in me made me think we hadn't exactly made the best first impression, so I was keen to get back into her good books.

All but the library I can understand why.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to be inquisitive, but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder if I was truly seeing the other ponies for who they were, or regarding them as interesting curious. I know in the movie Sunny has a bad habit of seeing the other races as curiosities rather than as individuals with lives and feelings of their own- then again, the only frame of reference she has for them is her own society's stereotypes and bigotry- so naturally I was worried I was doing the same thing. The world itself was also worth thinking about in that regard. Should I be trying to puzzle out every little detail of how G5 Equestria functioned, or should I simply enjoy myself and soak up the world as I went along? After all, I had been given an opportunity I thought I'd never get- to actually be in Equestria- and was determined not to waste it.

I'd just enjoy it while it lasts.

[The Blue EM2]

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1. Probably. I mean, we British got into a similar habit.

2. Agreed.

3. It's in her best interests to avoid a war.

4. Huh.

5. Very true. Though I doubt Sunny's anywhere near close to popping her clogs.