Chapter 7
Saying that Celestia’s morning to that point had been unpleasant would have been much the same as saying that her sun was rather hot. Bboth statements were certainly true, yet still understated the situation rather severely. Admittedly it wasn’t the worst morning of her life, nor did it even rank in the hundred worst mornings she’d experienced, but that was hardly a fair comparison given all she’d experienced in her long life. And yet, looking out across the castle courtyard as she waited for the chariot bearing the Elements of Harmony to arrive, Celestia found that nothing that had occurred in the past few hours, not even the recently concluded educational nightmare, could keep a smile from her lips.
Thirty foot tall poles stood around the perimeter of the yard at regular intervals, poles that hadn’t been present the night before. Through the open gates, past the milling crowd of ponies watching the palace for any sign of the six mares pulled into her sister’s well-intentioned madness, the Princess of the Sun could see more of the grand poles stretching down the central boulevard leading to the castle. Grand, celebratory banners, twenty feet long and ten wide, hung from half of the supports, the bottom of each weighted to keep them from moving in the breeze.
It was not, however, the mere presence of hastily constructed banner supports which brought a soft smile to Celestia face; there were ponies dedicated to ‘dressing’ the city’s public spaces for both daily purposes and special occasions, and they trained for what the decorators styled as ‘emergency festivities.’ So, while it was gratifying to see how quickly her ponies had responded to Luna’s sudden announcement, it wasn’t as though it had been a spontaneous outpouring of effort by the average citizen upon hearing of the forthcoming weddings.
What touched her were the banners themselves. For a celebration which involved both ruling princesses, the banners normally used alternated between one with emblazoned with her cutie mark on a field of white, bordered by gold, and a silver-bounded field of deep blue adorned with Luna’s own mark. Simple and straightforward, and just ostentatious enough to instill a sense of gentle awe in their subjects.
Those were not the standards which were now on display. Instead, the poles which were not bare bore banners of white and lavender, split vertically down the middle and hung so that the white portion of the field was always nearer the castle. The device in the center of each standard was similarly split, and that is which made the Solar Princess smile despite herself as she looked at the sigil. On the lavender side of each banner was half of her sun, executed in fuchsia, while against the white field stood half a familiar six-pointed star executed in yellow, the two halves flush with each other.
Her desire to preclude the wedding notwithstanding, the symbolism was enough to melt her heart. And looking upon the public preparations was far less mentally taxing than the disturbingly thorough lesson she had endured with her sister.
Luna, standing to her sister’s right atop the grand landing overlooking the courtyard, looked upon the decorations with a slight frown. “I see no banners honoring my portion of the engagement,” she observed casually, though a touch of sadness lay under the observation.
“Well, to be fair, those banners have been sitting in the castle’s store rooms for years now, auntie,” Cadence helpfully pointed out from where she stood to the right of her adoptive aunts, having joined them to wait for the arrival of her former charge, while she also waited for the various ponies she had called upon to gather at the castle.
Luna glanced at the mare from the corner of her eye, still not entirely comfortable around the third alicorn. Besides her inexplicably rapid acceptance of Luna upon her return and her insistence upon treating the Princess of the Night as her aunt, she tended to be very… huggy. Under normal circumstances, that would have been no problem. Luna had actually quite enjoyed it initially, finding Cadence's displays of honest affection endearing. However, she had quickly come to realize that if the mare doing the hugging had a well-intentioned desire to spread love and tranquility and a magical aura which aided that desire, too many hugs could prove problematic. For most of her first week back, Cadence had been so thrilled that any prolonged contact had tended to send the Luna into a state of tranquil unconsciousness.
Celestia merely turned her gaze upwards, watching for the chariot, trying to ignore her niece’s comment lest her recently improved mood be shaken by the reminder that she had remained ignorant of her own eventual wedding for a decade while some of the supplies were being stored in her own castle.
“That, and the heralds are still arguing about how yours should look, Princess Luna,” Shining Armor added from his position to Celestia’s left, watching over the guards in the courtyard as he stood ready to serve his princesses in any capacity… and to greet his little sister. “They can’t seem to agree if it should be one banner representing all seven of you, or separate banners for each of your pairings. And beyond that, there’s further division among those favoring a single banner as to the design itself.” He sighed, once again wishing that the Office of the Royal Heralds wasn’t under the purview of the Royal Guard. It wasn’t that he particularly minded that one of the duties of the Captain of the Guard was to oversee their activities, but the ancient tradition which forbade him any actual authority over them did, on occasion, make his life more difficult. Usually in the form of one of the nobles barging into his office to complain about an embarrassing detail in one of the official genealogies, leaving him to explain that he had no control over the heralds, and that there was nothing he could do about the discovery that some long-dead ancestor’s fondness for tarts had been the origin of said noble’s lineage and had had nothing to do with a love of a particular dessert.
“I see,” Luna replied thoughtfully. The captain began to nod, relieved that Luna was so accepting of the situation, when the Princess of the Night’s horn began to glow, accompanied by a shimmering patch of air a foot from her face. As he watched, a translucent image began to appear; a small rectangle, the left half a dark sapphire, the right half a deep grey marked with half of a crescent moon, executed in white. Luna considered her work a moment before nodding.
“This is, as I recall, how such a banner should be made.” She gestured towards the ethereal banner, nodding to herself. “This styling was originally intended for use with members of the nobility who were the scions of more than one great line, but it shall serve for this situation. As taking a single color for my representation risks insulting one or more of the others, a neutral scheme shall be used. The other emblems shall be executed in midnight blue, as would be normal, placed equidistant from each other in descending order of rank.” She paused briefly, closing her eyes as she considered something. “I confess I’m uncertain what the order of rank would be for those without formal title, so I leave it to the current heralds to determine that using whatever criteria they judge appropriate.” She opened her eyes, looking past her sister to the shorter stallion. “Though I suggest they decide quickly,” she added, her smile halfway between pleasant and predatory.
Shining Armor opened his mouth to speak, closing it as he thought better of using the particular phrase he had in mind in the presence of the assembled princesses.
“We shall save you the question, Captain: the heraldic arts were not my creation,” she admitted with a playful smirk, much to Shining Armor’s surprise - considering the sundry other martial disciplines she’d already been revealed to have had a hoof in since her return, he’d been certain she was about to add another to the list. “Though we…I am responsible for the establishment of a formal office to oversee them, and free from the influence of squabbling nobles.” She sighed sadly, her head drooping ever so slightly. “Though I must confess, I find myself saddened that it sounds as though they have fallen prey to the same bureaucratic tendencies which infest so much in these times.”
The captain nodded slightly at the revelation, hopeful that the heralds might actually listen to her instructions, given the circumstances. “Sergeant Bulwark, relay Princess Luna’s instructions to the Office of the Royal Heralds; make it clear they come from her personally,” he ordered, neither turning to look at the guard he had named nor allowing himself a nod at the sound the earth pony he’d called on cantering off wordlessly. He had selected thirty of his most disciplined and skilled guards to serve as the escort for his sister and her friends. These were ponies who had dedicated their lives to the service of Equestria, not raw recruits that needed to be closely watched at every turn. The implication that he felt it necessary to look to ensure that any the assembled guards followed such a simple order was wasn’t simply unnecessary, it was borderline insulting.
Besides which, not looking back allowed him to keep his eyes focused on the early morning sky, scanning for any sign of the dark chariot Luna favored. Though in the end, carefully trained powers of observation once again lost out to divine senses, as Luna lifted a foreleg, pointing at a tiny spot in the distance. “There they are, sister,” she announced, still possessed of the regal bearing and tone as befit a princess, despite the foal-like excitement evident in her eyes. “Shall we greet them as they land?” she suggested, her wings already spread to carry her down to the courtyard.
The Princess of the Sun nodded, careful to suppress an amused chuckle as she unfurled her own wings. “I do have one suggestion, Luna,” she said, just as her younger sister was about to leap from the landing. “I think it would be best if we didn’t mention the… recent goings on in my chambers.” She kept her voice low and her words vague; the fewer ponies who knew about that particular experience, the better. Of course, she was acutely aware that a number of reputable news organizations, and a larger number of less reputable publications, would have the information soon regardless of her efforts, but that was no reason to make things any easier for them. “Best not give them any sense of pressure regarding those matters, yes?” Luna nodded solemnly, giving Celestia cause to smile inwardly, feeling herself gain a slightly firmer grasp of the situation as she and her sister propelled themselves over the railing with a single flap of their powerful wings.
Gliding the short distance down to the courtyard, her sister at her side, Cadence a short distance behind them, and Shining Armor and his guards descending the double staircases, Celestia spared another glance at the celebratory banners, and once again admired the look of white against lavender and appreciating the aesthetic appeal of her sun flush with Twilight’s star while she waited for the rapidly approaching chariot to arrive.
****
Twilight looked back at her friends nervously as the chariot rapidly approached its destination. Pinkie was, thankfully, asleep, or possibly comatose after coming down from the tremendous quantities of sugar she’d consumed the night before, while the others sat quietly, each lost to their own thoughts. She had spent most of the flight thinking up an ever-growing list of problems that might occur once they landed, but Glamour Poison’s presence on the small chariot hadn’t afforded her enough privacy to deal with any of those problems. At least, not without potentially embarrassing herself, her friends, or one of the princesses, depending on who the guard might talk to.
She was enormously thankful that they were landing in the castle courtyard and not one of the outlying platforms since it would, if nothing else, spare them the attention of the curious press and public that would have come from traveling through the city by hoof. She doubted that Fluttershy’s impromptu shrubbery disguise would have worked again in an urban environment, and she had no doubt that her timid friend wouldn’t handle the attention well. For that matter, she wasn’t sure she wanted that much attention on herself at present.
‘At least Rarity and Spike managed to calm Fluttershy down a bit…so that’s another problem solved. Only ninety-eight to go,’ she reflected, making a mental note to have a talk with Spike and thank him for being… relatively helpful, some of his comments aside, even going to far as to bear Fluttershy squeezing him in a crushing hug to reassure herself. Overall, he seemed to be taking the morning’s events in stride. ‘I mean, yeah, he’s not being impacted all that much, but still…’ She looked between her assistant and the focus of his affections over the past year, giving the young dragon a quick, appraising glance when he looked over at Rarity. ‘He’s either handling this situation very maturely, and needs to be commended… or he’s plotting something idiotic to sabotage things, and needs to be stopped.’ She furrowed her brow at the second half of that thought. ‘Probably needs to be stopped,’ she amended, adding his reaction to the list of problems to deal with.
With a small lurch, the chariot came to a stop above the far end of the courtyard, just past the wall which separated Canterlot Castle from the city itself. Though the gates were open and a large crowd had massed in the street, nopony seemed eager to test the string of guards keeping them at bay. As the chariot began its exceedingly slow, if smooth, vertical descent, a cheer went up from the assembled ponies, and numerous horns began to glow, cameras held aloft by varicolored auras, both commercial models and high-quality, professional versions equipped with telephoto lenses, waiting for a look at the royal fiancées. Normally, the implications of the large crowd would have unnerved Twilight, since it meant that either that the details of her letters to Celestia were less private than she had expected, or else that the crowd had been waiting for their eventual arrival without any knowledge of when that arrival would be. Neither option was particularly comforting.
To the eternal benefit of her continued sanity, a familiar shade of lavender off to the right caught her attention and her eyes, much like her mentor-turned-fiancée’s, were drawn to the newly hung banners. ‘Judging by the tone of her letters, Celestia found out about Luna’s announcements just a little before she warned me, and there’s no way she could have had those all made so quickly,’ she realized as she looked back over her shoulder, seeing that the banners extended both sides of the central boulevard.
‘How long has she been waiting for this?” she wondered, finding herself blinking back tears. ‘How long have I kept her waiting, alone, until I decided I was ready?’ Had she been alone, she would have hung her head and wept, ashamed by her own behavior, her own maddeningly impossible standards for herself. Had they been in private, she would have teleported to Celestia and thrown her forelegs around the princess’s neck, apologizing for making her wait.
But of course, nothing could be that simple. The guards were watching in the courtyard, the press from beyond the gate, and she was certain members of the nobility looked down from at least some of the windows overlooking the courtyard. She had to remain calm, remain dignified. She might not think she was ready, but she refused to embarrass herself or the princess, her princess, by giving anypony else cause to say so.
Maintaining that dignified demeanor was made no easier as she noticed Rarity was looking out over the courtyard and practically purring, her eyes fixed on the unicorn stallion waiting with the princesses for the chariot to land. “Goodness, he is quite the specimen, isn’t he?” she observed with a grin, encasing the guard’s ears in a harmless sound-filtering spell she found useful for herself when fitting a screaming foal. "Well-toned musculature and a noble bearing, but gentle eyes and a certain casual air about him. Oh my, yes. If I weren’t already engaged, I don’t think I should have minded spending some time with him. Properly chaperoned, of course.”
Applejack looked at the stallion in question, nodding after a brief pause. "Ah don't necessarily agree with you on much, Rarity, but Ah've got to admit he's a fine lookin' stallion." She nodded in both agreement and admiration. “He don’t look like he’s one of them fussy nobles, got himself born into a cushy job. And the trainin' for the royal guard is supposed to be real intensive. Bet he's got plenty of stamina, too. Probably not as much as an earth pony, but even still. Could really put that to use plowing the fields."
Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement, slapping her occasional rival on the back playfully. “So, AJ…you’re saying that you’d like him to plow your fields a little?” she teased, eliciting an unexpected, genteel titter from Rarity.
Applejack nodded wistfully, unphased by her friends’ random expressions of mirth. “More’n a little, Dash. Get another stallion out in the fields, we could expand ‘em, grow wheat, maybe sugar beets.” She nodded to herself, thinking about the increased income if the family could produce more of the ingredients for their baked goods themselves. “Ah mean, Big Mac’s no slouch, but he’s got his limits; Ah just know that a second stallion trying to plow the Apple plot would…”
She paused as she noticed that the blue pegasus had begun to stamp her hoof against the chariot’s floor, biting her lower lip to stop herself from laughing, and began to glare at Dash as she realized the source of her blue friend’s amusement before she turned away, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Dash, Ah’m trying to be serious here. Could you please try ta remember that you’re not the only pony here, that some of us still aren’t thrilled to be involved, and that we’d appreciate it if you could keep your head out of the gutter?”
Rainbow Dash had been expecting exasperation and annoyance, but the sense of defeat she’d provoked was an honest surprise. “Uh… sorry, Applejack. I was just kidding…” She paused, unsure what else she should say, or if she should even say anything. She craned her neck, looking past her friends at the armored stallion. “Uh… he does look like he’d be good in the fields… I guess? Looks like he’s got plenty of muscle on him, if nothing else. And not that terrible to look at, either, even if he doesn’t have wings… and, you know, he’s a he.” Applejack grudgingly nodded at the pegasus’ idea of an apology, still too bothered to apologize for her own overreaction.
Twilight pinched her eyes closed, finding herself sympathizing with Applejack on an entirely new level as her stomach continued attempting to register its violent disapproval of the current conversation. “Girls, that stallion you’re ogling is Captain of the Royal Guard,” she explained to them with a deep, calming breath. When nopony reacted, she sighed. “Remember how I told you my brother is Captain of the Royal Guard?” she reminded them all, looking quickly at her assistant, making sure Spike wasn’t openly amused by her newest discomfort. He wasn’t, though it was entirely possible that had less to do with any good sense he might possess and more to do with Fluttershy’s increasingly tight hold on him as the chariot grew closer to the ground.
“Of course, Twilight. Finding out your friend’s brother is one of the pony’s charged with ensuring the safety of the entire kingdom isn’t something one simply forgets,” Rarity reassured her, taking her eyes off the stallion and turning to face her friend with a sigh. “So, I imagine he must know this fellow quite well, then? They must work rather closely to ensure things run smoothly, and all that?”
“You could say that, Rarity. You could absolutely say my brother knows that stallion very well,” Twilight replied, surprised that Rarity wasn’t aware of the rank structure of the royal guard. Most of the time, the designer seemed to know as much, if not more, about Canterlot and its customs that Twilight, who’d actually lived most of her life in the castle, surrounded by the nobility. “My brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard, Rarity,” she elaborated dryly, attributing the gap in her friend’s knowledge to the lack of glamour normally associated with the guard. “There’s only one.”
Rarity’s face briefly became an image of immense discomfort, replaced almost immediately by an attempt at a look of casual disinterest; the attempt being spoiled somewhat by a slight tremor at the corners of her mouth and her sudden inability to look directly at anypony. She had spent hours practicing in front of a mirror, trying to emulate the air of refined boredom so many members of the upper class seemed to possess, to compensate for her own natural tendency towards the dramatic. She was, she thought, making progress, in affecting the look if not maintaining it, save for her eyes. No matter what she tried, her eyes continued to betray her, prompting the purchase of a pair of dark-tinted glasses. Glasses which she had, to her intense regret, neglected to bring.
“Ah. I see,” she said simply. “So then, we were just…”
“Ogling my brother, yes,” Twilight confirmed with equal simplicity. The confirmation hung heavy in the uncomfortable silence which followed.
“In mah defense, Ah wasn’t so much oglin’ him as Ah was thinkin’ how useful he’d be on the farm,” Applejack pointed out lamely, her cheeks slightly flushed. “Though Ah am sorry about that. Believe me, Ah know it’s not exactly comfortin’ to hear that kinda talk about your brother.” She shuddered, thankful that Pinkie was still asleep, and unable to provide any examples.
“And I wasn’t ogling him, either,” Rarity insisted, almost managing to sound genuinely indignant. “I was merely admiring him as a connoisseur of physical magnificence, and… stating how pleasant it should be to spend time in his company.”
“I was sorta ogling him,” Dash admitted casually. “But it doesn’t count when I do it.”
“Just forget about it,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “Applejack, you can give me tips for suppressing unpleasant mental images later, and we’ll call it even. Right now, though, there were a few things I wanted to talk to everypony about before we landed, and I hadn’t realized Rarity knew how to bend her magic to block sound this entire time.” Her voice rose in annoyance towards the end of the sentence, and she shot an annoyed look at the other unicorn. “You can show me that later, too. But anyway, before we land…”
Given the morning they’d been having, Twilight realized immediately after they left her mouth that the simple utterance of those three words would, by cosmic demand, occur just prior to the chariot’s wheels gently touching the paving stones of the courtyard. And, sure enough, the cosmos did not disappoint as the menacing-looking, if remarkably comfortable, conveyance came to rest, its frame shuddering minutely as it did.
That tiny tremor was, apparently, enough, as Pinkie’s eyes sprang open and she seemed to transition from the curled, sleeping position she’d been occupying to hopping excitedly without actually uncurling herself or standing. “Oh, goodie, we’re here,” she noted cheerfully, her mind apparently shifting from sleep to waking just as swiftly as her body. “Kind of boring that they brought us right to the castle, though. We could have had an awesome parade, lots of confetti and singing, maybe even some fireworks!” She crossed her eyes, muzzle scrunched up in thought as she stroked her chin, still bouncing on her three free hooves. “Oh well, plenty of time for that later.”
Twilight considered her options quickly, noticing peripherally that the royal party had begun to slowly approach the chariot, given her precious little time to try to preempt any of the plentiful potential problems she’d predicted during the flight. “Sorry, everypony, but there’s not really time to do this… gently,” she said, hopefully loud enough that the others would hear while still enough that her voice wouldn’t carry to the princesses. “While we’re with the princesses, just… try to stay calm, smile, and remember what we’re going to be dealing with. And remember, nopony is going to be in a position to deny any requests we might have, so…keep that in mind.”
She looked meaningfully at Fluttershy, who was still squeezing Spike close to her chest. “If things get to be too much, or you just want some time alone, just say so, and everypony will either leave you alone, or somepony else will make them leave you alone.” The pegasus nodded timidly, though she did at least loosen her hold on the baby dragon. As satisfied as she could be, Twilight nodded back. “Just don’t abuse it, okay? Keep the requests reasonable.”
She hadn’t intended to step out of the chariot until she’d received some indication that her friends understood her and, after a fashion, she didn’t. Instead, she simply found herself pulled through the air without stepping from the dark metal construct, supported by a crystalline blue aura. She was also upside-down and, relative her momentum, backwards, but somehow that seemed like less of a problem when she was being pulled through the air like a doll, all while an unknown number of ponies watched. Certainly not the grand, dignified entrance she’d always envisioned when she presented herself to Celestia as her betrothed, instead of her student. ‘Then again, nothing else has been going like I’d always planned when I thought about this day. Why should things change now?’ she thought ruefully. ‘At least Luna seems to be feeling playful. That has to be a good sign.’
Her third aerial journey of the morning was brief, and she found herself being flipped about to face the pony who’d plucked her from the chariot. But instead of the cyan she’d expected, Twilight found herself looking into a pair of dark purple eyes perched above a very wide smile.
“Good morning, ladybug,” Cadence said happily. From off to the side Twilight heard the very familiar sound of her mentor trying not to laugh, joined by the rather less familiar sound of Princess Luna making no such effort.
****
Shining Armor looked up at the bat-winged pegasi pulling the chariot, slightly annoyed that they were taking so long to perform such a simple task as a landing. True, a certain degree of caution was to be commended when the passengers were national heroes who were recently engaged to the Royal Sisters you were sworn to serve, but this was pushing it. “It’s a perfectly flat surface, in the royal castle, surrounded by the finest soldiers the guard has to offer, and watched over by three of the most powerful beings in the world,” he muttered to himself. “They couldn’t crash it at this point if they were actively trying.”
“Calm yourself, Captain. Given all that attention, can you truly fault them for being nervous, and thus overly cautious?” Celestia admonished playfully, smiling to herself as his face assumed the dour expression that the guards all seemed to think made them look stern and impressive. Unbeknownst to her loyal protectors, Celestia found it nearly indistinguishable from the expression she’d seen regularly a few centuries before, when the nobility had decided the new fashion would be to have raw, peeled ginger kept someplace ginger had absolutely no business being kept.
Granted, she’d never seen one of the guards collapse to the ground, weeping and cursing whoever had discovered ginger, but otherwise it was very similar.
“I don’t know, I tend to agree with Shin… I mean, Captain Armor,” Cadence offered, unable to keep a slight grin from her face, despite her best effort to remain solemn and dignified. “We’ve got quite a bit of planning to do for the big day. One wedding is hard enough, but we’ve got… somewhere between two and seven.” She squinted pensively at the thought, lips puckered as she contemplated the possibilities. “Really, that should be the first thing we decide. Is Luna marrying all six of them in one go, or individual pronouncements, and is Twilight marrying you both individually or together?” Her grin returned as she began to work at the logistics.
Celestia merely shook her head, leaving her niece to her thoughts. It was, on reflection, a bit like one of the logic puzzles she had posed to Twilight as a filly, just instead of trying to fill a four gallon jug using only a three and a five gallon measure, they were arranging entirely too many weddings in the most sensible fashion. Upon further reflection, that comparison wasn’t a particularly good one, but Celestia was too distracted remembering how her young student had scrunched her face up so adorably when she was solving those puzzles to care.
Her attention was drawn back from her reminiscence by a gentle tap on her right foreleg. “What do you expect has riled dear Twilight so, sister?” Luna asked, her voice gentle and relaxed, gesturing towards the chariot with her head. Celestia followed her sister’s gaze, noticing that her student did seem rather put upon. “Fair Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were looking rather intently at her brother the captain, and now she appears cross with them, while they look… well, two of them seem quite distressed.” The Princess of the Night’s wings twitched nervously as she cast a wary glance at the captain herself. “Think you that they perceive something we do not, Celestia?”
The princess of the sun shook her head , recognizing her student’s current mood. “Based on past experiences, sister, our dear Twilight’s friends, though aware that she had a brother, likely assumed he was similar to the rest of his family, and envisioned him as a slight stallion, focused on knowledge and magic, rather than a paragon of physical strength who, I am assured, is possessed of ‘rugged good-looks’ and ‘seethes with masculinity.’” She allowed herself another subtle smile as the captain leaned forward and looked at his marefriend, whose face was significantly pinker than was normal.
“It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that assumption left her and a mare she was close to in a… less than comfortable situation, would it, Cadence?” Celestia continued, relaxing as she playfully needled her niece. True, it might not have been the nicest thing she could have done, but it was her right as both princess and aunt to embarrass her niece when the situation was appropriate.
“Princess, could we not talk about that, please?” Shining asked, wincing slightly at the memory. “Thinking about it is… a little painful, honestly.” He frowned, looking away from Cadence.
“I said I was sorry!” Cadence protested. “A colt I’d never met before was walking away with the filly I was watching, promising her candy and fun! It seemed like a good idea at the time!”
“You have the strength of an earth pony,” he replied quietly, his eyes unfocused. “You don’t kick a stallion there unless you’re sure.”
“I more than made it up to you later!” she countered, her cheeks turning a brilliant shade of red as she realized what she’d just said.
“I believe that is all that needs to be said regarding that incident at present time,” Luna interrupted, her tone leaving no doubt that she wasn’t making a suggestion. “Contextually, then, you suspect, sister, fair Applejack and Rarity were admiring the good captain in a less than pure sense, the implications of which distressed our dear Twilight?” Celestia nodded. “So it seems likely that those two, at least, prefer stallions?”
“That seems the kind of thing you’ll have to ask them, Luna. Later, and in private; it can be a… complicated issue,” Celestia replied hurriedly, grateful that the bat-winged pegasi had finally landed with the chariot, sparing her having to provide a more detailed explanation. “First, though, it seems we should go and greet our guests.”
She took a step forward, beginning to slowly walk towards the chariot, her sister, niece, and captain a fraction of a second behind her. ‘Alright, just have to stay focused, and not let Cadence’s magic influence me to do anything regrettable,’ she thought to herself, doing her best to take a deep, steadying breath without anypony realizing she was taking a deep, steadying breath. ‘Just keep thinking back to when she was a filly, pure and innocent and earnest, and forget that, given her past actions, you could almost certainly ask her to do literally anything to satisfy you, and she’d happily comply.’
Unsurprisingly, that line of thought did little to help the Princess of the Sun’s concentration. ‘Failing that, if Cadence can’t control her magic, I can exile her to the frozen north for a few weeks. There’s nopony up there outside of the train depot for her to play merry hob with, and it’ll keep her away from the rest of us until this is all sorted out.’
“Sister, are we certain nothing is wrong?” Luna asked when the quartet had covered about a third of the distance between their starting position and the chariot. “Twilight still seems to be speaking quite intently, and the others seem to not be overly interested in Captain Armor at present.
“She’s probably just nervous, Princess,” Shining suggested reassuringly, listening to the synchronized hoofsteps behind them. He couldn’t explain it, but the sound of guards marching in unison always had a calming effect on him. “Lecturing helps her relax, even when it doesn’t necessarily make sense,” he elaborated, smiling as he thought back to a particularly memorable incident. “I remember one time, she was nervous about going to the doctor for a few shots, so she gave her Smarty Pants doll an hour-long lecture on the migratory patterns of fruit bats to calm herself down ahead of time.”
“But… fruit bats are non-migratory,” the princess pointed out, quite familiar with the subject since bats were, after all, generally creatures of the night, and thus part of her domain.
“Oh, I know. But she scheduled the lecture before she read up on the topic, and was too stubborn to change the subject afterwards.” His mouth split lop-sided grin. “It was hilarious to watch, really; just little Twiley complaining for an hour about how the bats didn’t migrate. She handed out a little booklet she’d made, in crayon, titled ‘Fruit Bats: Laziest of All Bats,’ she had a little illustration she drew of a bat just hanging from a tree with a ‘Lazy Bat’ caption…” He sighed wistfully as he recalled the scene, reasonably sure his mother had saved the booklet. “She was a crazy little filly. Still is, in a lot of ways. And I mean that in the nicest possible sense, of course.” He tilted his head, considering some of the contingency plans he had tucked away in his office. “For the most part.”
Cadence shook her head, a playful smile gracing her lips. “While I can’t speak for my dear aunts, Captain,” she began, a teasing lilt to her voice as she turned her muzzle up haughtily, “I, for one, don’t wish to wait an hour for your dear sister’s nerves to settle.” She glanced up and to her left, eyes gleaming mischievously as she looked at the elder princesses. “I used to have a trick for dealing with her when she was nervous; want me to give that a try?”
Celestia nodded slowly, reasonably certain she knew what ‘trick’ her niece had in mind. For good or ill, she’d found the ingrained response useful when Twilight had proven intractable during her studies. ‘Besides,’ she reasoned, ‘the less seriously everypony takes this, the easier it will be to derail it.’ For her part, Luna responded with a single stately bob of her head, lacking her sister’s inking of what was to come.
Shining Armor, lacking any doubt at what his marefriend was planning, altered his gait slightly, bearing him slightly further to the left of the group, hopefully beyond the initial range of his sister’s ire.
With a fillyish giggle, Cadence enveloped Twilight in her aura and unceremoniously snatched her from the chariot, pulling her towards the royal group without bothering to turn her towards them. The entire trip took barely two seconds, and Twilight was spun, upside down, to face her former foalsitter, who was smiling widely.
“Good morning, ladybug,” Cadence said happily, as Celestia choked back a laugh at Twilight’s shocked expression, and Luna began to chortle merrily at the sight. “Have you forgotten everything I told you about how rude it is to keep a princess waiting when she wants to see you?” she teased as the younger pony’s mouth worked independently of her brain, producing nothing so much as a series of incoherent gasps.
“Well done, young niece. I commend you for your directness,” Luna offered, laughing as she did. “Though I do find myself wondering, was it was strictly necessary for our affianced to be upside down while you carried her to us?”
“Oh, yes, Princess Luna, absolutely necessary,” she responded gravely. “Twilight kept three princesses waiting, which is triply rude; even more so when she’s going to be marrying two of those princesses. And the punishment for rude little fillies who keep princesses waiting is that they get levitated upside down.” She nodded to herself, still smiling. “I think we even wrote that down somewhere.
“Her logic is unassailable, sister, as is her memory,” Celestia agreed, nodding sagely as Twilight continued to sputter. “That being said, Cadence, I think it best to set her down. We’ve much to speak about, and her current, inverted state seems to have rendered that impossible. Besides..." She paused and gestured at the five ponies nervously approaching them, accompanied now by a trio of guards who had screwed their eyes shut, a preemptive gesture in the event the inverted mare’s tail shifted inopportunely, “I believe you’re worrying our other guests. And our guards.” She glanced to her left, where her captain was standing, eyeing his sister the same way one might consider a lit fuse. “And your coltfriend.”
With a chuckle, Cadence gently lowered Twilight to the ground, taking the time to reorient her so that she landed softly on her hooves. She steadied herself, staring at the stones beneath her hooves as she waited for the world to stop shifting uncomfortably. Hearing several sets of hoofsteps coming up behind her, she straightened, looking up into Cadences eyes with a stern frown. “I still don’t think it was necessary for you to actually issue a full royal decree giving you permission to carry me around like a doll, Princess Cadence,” she announced stiffly, fixing the mare before her with a withering gaze, which she held briefly before throwing her forelegs around her former foalsitter’s neck, nuzzling her playfully.
“You see?” Rarity announced, sounding terribly self-satisfied. “I told you she wasn’t some horrible monster you needed to rescue Twilight from.”
“Alright, Rarity, you were right, I didn’t need to fly in and kick her in the face to save Twilight,” Dash quietly admitted as the group came to a stop, watching the scene before her. “But I still say she could have been Twilight’s cruel governess who seemed all nice and pleasant, but was actually a sadistic monster who did unspeakable things to Twilight at night, and no one believed her when she tried to tell everypony,” she insisted, remembering the plot of a play she’d seen in certain, special theater, staged by actresses without certain reservations.
“Yes, Rainbow, it was absolutely possible, if the world operated like the plot to a cheap production enacted by even cheaper mares in a playhouse of ill-repute,” Rarity countered, her own voice low as well. “Now behave yourself, or I’ll personally drag you to productions of everything in Sound House’s oeuvre, and show you what theater should be. Hopefully it will counteract some of the nonsense you’ve subjected yourself to.”
“Well, would you have preferred the penalty was a spanking, ladybug?” Cadence asked, too focused on Twilight to pay any attention to the whispered conversation. Twilight giggled at the suggestion, while Celestia subtly channeled her magic, giving her coat a suffused glow which concealed her own blush nicely - unlike Cadence, she had heard Rainbow Dash’s suggested scenario, the imagery of which coupled with her niece’s joking suggestion and magic to leave the Princess of the Sun slightly flustered.
‘She’ll enjoy the north; there’s snow, and ice, and… well, there’s plenty to do with snow and ice,’ she reasoned, trying to distract herself from… well, herself with thoughts of Cadence frolicking happily in the icy wastes. ‘I’ll send her with some penguins from the south, let her use her magic on them, instead of me.’
Smiling, Luna noticed the slight glow emanating from her sister, and cleared her throat, drawing everypony’s attention to her. She beamed brightly as she looked out at her six saviors, most of them smiling back at her; Applejack’s smile seemed broadest of all, her lips quivering from the strain. Only Fluttershy lacked a smile, looking about nervously with Spike perched on her back. He was apparently trying to soothe her by gently stroking her mane while Rarity gently rubbed her friend’s foreleg.
Despite the shortness of their proper acquaintance, Luna had anticipated Fluttershy’s potential discomfort, a plan already in mind to put her at ease. “My friends, it gladdens me to see you again, even after such a short period away from you all. Except for you.” She paused and pointed at Rarity, who blanched impressively at the princess’s words, eyes wide in panic. “Not that it does not please me to see you again, of course. I merely mean that I’ve not seen you since the day you all bravely freed me from the darkness within,” she explained, wincing at Rarity's reaction. “It was suggested that attempting to wake you last evening would have been unwise, even for one of my station; you and my sister seem to have much in common in that regard.
“Regardless, it was pointed out to me earlier that I may have made something of a misstep, with regards to my plans.” At that, Celestia’s ears twitched slightly, hopes bolstered that Luna had realized that the unilateral proposal was a mistake. “It was pointed out to me that, in these modern times, many ponies…”
‘Oh, she listened,’ Celestia thought excitedly, mentally clapping like a filly given a bag of lollipops, ‘she listened, and now all I have to do is solve the issue with Twilight and all of this will be over and back to normal…”
“Sleep late, especially the morning after nocturnal festivities,” Luna finished her sentence, bringing her sister’s joyous train of thought grinding to a halt. “I admit, while it gladdens me to see ponies enjoying my night, I had not considered the necessary consequences of such enjoyment. Regardless, it was suggested to me that I likely deprived you of breakfast by sending my guards to retrieve you all so early, a gaffe I seek now to rectify.
“The palace chefs were instructed to prepare a grand meal for us all, that we might sit and eat as we begin our preparations. Worry not for your effects, for my guards will see them brought to the suites being readied for each of you,” she added, gesturing at the selection of fabric still piled on the chariot. “Now come, let us tarry here no longer, for there is much to accomplish in the days ahead!” Luna spun around far faster than a pony her size had any business being able to maneuver, her horn beginning to glow as she did.
Nodding to herself, the Princess of the Night enveloped Fluttershy in her magic, and pulled the nervous mare to her left side, where she draped a wing over the pegasus protectively, seeking to lessen the mare’s discomfort. “Worry not, dear Fluttershy, for no harm shall befall you while you are under my aegis,” she promised softly, lowering her voice and leaning her head down in an effort to seem warm and comforting.
Fluttershy was torn. On the one hoof, the personal protection of a princess did sound rather nice. After all, only two beings she knew of had ever openly flouted the princesses’ authority and risked their ire, and she’d ended up having to face both of them herself anyway. If Princess Luna was committed to protecting her, that could well mean she wouldn’t have to deal with being dragged off to face dragons, or cockatrices, or moderately insane photographers. This would, in her opinion, definitely be an improvement.
On the other hoof, there were two principal problems with that situation. The least pressing of those issues was that Twilight had been under the personal care of Princess Celestia for years, and hadn’t been spared facing large, potentially pony-eating dragons, among other life-threatening situations. The second, significantly larger flaw with the situation was that the particular princess offering her protection had previously tried to kill her. More than once. Yes, that had arguably been Nightmare Moon, not Princess Luna, and Fluttershy was too kind to hold a grudge regardless, but it was still a pertinent detail.
A detail which, in turn, led to the final salient thought racing through the timid mare’s mind. Specifically, it was almost certainly better to accept an offer of protection from somepony who might become an evil, world-destroying monster later on, than to reject that protection, and risk provoking her transformation into said evil, world-destroying monster yourself.
“That sounds… nice, Luna,” she said, having no difficulty speaking quietly and opting, as always, to take the path least likely to end in confrontation and potential maiming, despite her lingering discomfort at the feeling of Luna’s wing draped over her; it was a familiar gesture, usually reserved for family, close friends, and very intimate acquaintances. “But don’t feel that you have to put yourself out for me, either. I wouldn’t want to make myself a bother.”
Luna smirked, recalling her sister’s earlier recommendation, in that moment serving as a shining example of how a temporally displaced goddess with an incomplete understanding of modern idioms was far more hazardous that one with a complete lack of such knowledge. “I did not expect such bold words from such a gentle mare, dear Fluttershy” Luna teased quietly. “Let us have breakfast first, and we shall discuss what shall be ‘put out’ when, and by who, later, in private.” She winked at the now thoroughly confused pegasus. Satisfied with herself, Luna began to walk towards the castle, moving slowly so that Fluttershy could keep up despite her shorter legs.
Celestia matched her sister’s pace, reminding herself to have one of the stewards compile a list of disused buildings in the city, just as a contingency. After a few steps, she became aware of the sound of hoofsteps to her right, significantly quicker then Shining Armor’s stride would require, and closer than would have been appropriate for the Captain of the Guard. A quick glance showed what she had expected: her dear, sweet student, walking quickly to keep up, smiling up nervously at Celestia as her eyes occasionally glanced over at Luna and Fluttershy. Understanding followed quickly, and Celestia followed her sister’s example, draping her right wing over her student.
The gesture was familiar to them both. Celestia had often let Twilight rest close to her side on a winter day, the young filly shielded from the cold by her mentor’s wing. But it meant something entirely different in the current context, as did Twilight’s gentle rubbing of Celestia’s side with her cheek. ‘Then again, maybe it doesn’t,’ Celestia reflected sadly, thinking back to all the time she’d spent with her young pupil, all the affectionate nuzzles, the gentle stroking of leg with hoof. The nights that Celestia had let a small, purple filly, crying from a nightmare, sleep curled against her, mind and body both shielded by a living goddess.
‘I never tried to replace her mother, but… it was nice being motherly for a while,’ she thought, careful to maintain her outward composure. ‘How much of what I considered gestures of friendship did she take as something deeper? How can I fix this? How long can Twilight hold her breath for… wait, no! Stop that!’ She winced and turned her thoughts temporarily from her student, deciding instead to wonder how long it would take to procure a shipment of penguins to keep Cadence company.
Twilight resisted the urge to squirm beneath her mentor’s wing. ‘Just stay calm, Twilight,’ she urged herself, trying to focus on the soothing feel of her cheek against Celestia’s coat. ‘She was smiling and laughing and playful, so she’s probably not horribly disappointed in you right now. Just don’t do anything to change that, or give her a reason to reconsider the proposal, and you’ll be fine…ish. You’ll still have to deal with Luna, but that’ll be easier if you don’t make Celestia stop loving you.’
The other four mares, each of them having independently concluded that, all other issues aside, breakfast was an excellent idea, fell in behind the ruling princesses and their wing-draped friends, Shining Armor and Cadence flanking them. The captain and youngest princess had let themselves fall slightly behind out of respect.
Spike brought up the rear, his shorter legs forcing him to nearly jog to keep up with the others, grumbling unhappily at the consequences of having Fluttershy suddenly pulled out from underneath him. “She could have at least slowed me down a bit,” he muttered to himself, trying to rub the base of his sore tail without breaking stride. His failure in that regard was rather spectacular, somehow managing to entangle his tail in his legs, ending with him once again on the ground.
Clucking his tongue sympathetically, Shining Armor scooped Spike up with his magic, gently depositing the dragon on his back. “Easy there, little guy. Don’t want the princess to tie you up outside for misbehaving” he said, earning himself a playful smack on the back of the head from the dragon. The first time the two had met, years after Spike had hatched, Shining had been unaware that the dragon was sentient. Thinking Spike was simply his sister’s pet, Shining had patted him on the head, called him a good boy, and offered him a treat.
After his mane was extinguished, the erroneous assumption corrected, and apologies exchanged, the pair had become friendly. Unlike Spike’s rather complicated relationship with Twilight, the stallion and dragon had mostly remained simply friends, barring a rare occasion when Shining Armor found himself serving as the dragon’s principle male role model. He frowned melancholically, thinking how long it had been since he’d properly spoken to either Spike or Twilight, all of them so caught up in their own lives. That frown soon became an alarmed grimace as he remembered the last occasion he and his sister had really talked, and what had, or rather hadn’t, happened at the point.
Glancing nervously between his sister, still at Celestia’s side, and his marefriend, humming happily as she trotted along behind her aunts, he found himself immensely grateful for the guards he had assigned as escort, the guards who had formed a protective half-circle behind them as they mounted the double stairs leading back to the castle proper; the guard who would almost certainly be needed before the coming breakfast was concluded, to save him from his sister’s ire when she discovered what he’d forgotten to mention to her.
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Two quick apologies.
One, I am insanely sorry that this took so long to come out. Writer's block is a helluva thing sometimes.
Two...sorry if the ending seemed off. It...yeah, it got away from me. I'm going to go translate "It got away from me" into Latin. I say it enough on here, may as well be able to say it pretentiously.
Anyway, hope you enjoy, and hopefully the next chapter will be out more promptly.
UPDATE! Commence read!
Edit #1: "‘At least Rarity and Spike managed to calm Fluttershy down a bit…so that’s another problem solved. Only ninety-eight to go,’ she "
I got 99 problems and Flutter ain't one. (adding his reaction to the list of problems to deal with) Dis be the 99th problem
Edit #2: " How long can Twilight hold her breath for…wait, no! Stop that!’ "
I mean, I know Cadence is goddess of love and all, but that is just...
Oh good lord, how is Twilight going to react to SHining and Cadance being a couple? I expect explosively, and hilariously.
THis was just so perfect! More please!
love the story and Tia's plan's to send Cadence up north and ship her some penguins
Is it this: "Oh, hey, Twily, I forgot to mention... Cadence and I are getting married."?
Horray up dates
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE
2472218 I don' really know latin, but I think it could be "id de mê fugiébat" or
someany reordering that preserves de mê together.Oh boy.
Poor Tia, she is trying so hard to hold onto a semblance of normality. But as much as she's the Only Sane Mare, I'd say a part of her is quite happy with the prospect. Maybe someone has a few un-teacher-like feelings buried at the back of her mind, hmm? Just give in to the inevitable, it won't be so bad.
>or he’s plotting something idiotic to sabotage things, and needs to be stopped.
Well, the
womanmare he's in love with is getting married to someone else. I'd be surprised if he didn't try something.Also, someone needs to get Cadence a pet.
This is a really fun story, so far. Good times.
And then they all were wed.
Drinks all around!
Still one of my favourite ship-all-mares-together fics. Come to think of it, it's one of the only ship-all-mares-together fics I've ever read. That was actually great, too.
You have something wonderfully unique here, dear author!
The fruit bat thing was hilarious.
thet should be "I still think it was uncalled for" or "I still don't think it was called for".
situations
sapient
Pure concentrated awesomeness!
All those fantastic little things...
Shining being ogled by Rarity, AJ missing Rainbow Dash's double entendre...
Twilight's lecture on "the migratory patterns of fruit bats"...
Cadence's first meeting with Shining...
You had me giggling and laughing all the way through the chapter.
This is like watching a blindfolded clown juggle lit sticks of dynamite -- while riding a unicycle on a tightrope over a shark tank. You know it almost has to go horribly wrong, and are left wondering exactly how. And if/when it turns out all right, it's all the better because of it.
2472423
NOTHING. WILL. GO. WRONG.
aww shit shining, you are SO fucking dead!
2472642Sapient means aware of itself. By definition a dog is sapient. Sentient is the correct term.
on topic: update
2472879
Sorry, no. Sentient means self aware to the point of being able to form thoughts and interpret stimuli conscoiusly.
Sapient means able to think in abstracts rather than instincts.
I love how competent Shining Armor is in this, despite the overall ridiculousness and general hilarity.
Oh my, they're talking about Shining, aren't they.
Oh my. Oh my!
That is so goddamn adorable I nearly had a heart attack.
I'm somewhat confused about the bit towards the end with Luna and Rarity. Am I forgetting something that happened between the two of them?
2472896
It was in regards to Rarity not being in Luna Eclipsed.
I love Rainbow Dash in this chapter.
Absolutely brilliant.
'I was oogling him, but it's alright when I do it.'
I can't wait for Celestia to get Cadence removed from the picture and then discover that she actually does have feelings for Twilight.
2472949 Oh I get it now, thanks.
Hmm.. a lot of words for not much progress, if I am being honest. Hopefully the next chapter will be funnier.
I cannot wait to hear what Luna will do with Fluttershy after breakfast, and how the poor Pegasus will react
There are a number of missing, most particularly being , and most blatantly being Celestia's at one point. Fortunately, most of the words can be inferred from context.
2472218acording to Google, that would be "Illud a perambulaverunt me."
2472894Alright, but sentient is still appropriate for the context.
YAY UPDATE :D
...
Luna...
You... Languages... I just...
Oh dear.
The thing I love most about your story is that- although 99% of the time I can predict what's going to happen (by being genre savvy and an author myself,) either long term or short term- I have no idea what so ever about whats going to happen next in your story. None.
You keep me guessing in the best ways :D
twilight is like a shark; if you turn her upside-down and she goes completely paralyzed
cadence portrayal in this is absolutely hilarious by the way!
2473267
Again, no.
It's exactly what you said in your original reply but you had sentient and sapient reversed.
Almost every single living thing with a brain is sentient, being able to think about and interpret stimuli.
Only humans and possibly a few other species have sapience, being able to consider things in an abstract manner rather than simply cause, effect, instinct, and drives.
So a pet lizard would be sentient. An FiM dragon would be sapient.
I have seen one source(you) that give those definitions, and multiple sources giving the definitions I gave. I have also read multiple stories that have used sentient in this context, many of which were done by professional writers
So we are just going to have to agree that we both think the other is wrong and stop discussing this, okay?
I would like to thank you for remaining polite while stating your argument. That's a rare thing on the internet.
(none of the statements given in this comment were made with intent to offend.)
Yay it finally came out! I absolutely love this story and find it terribly amusing. Only noticed one thing though
"I still don’t think it was uncalled for"
Should probably be, I still think it was uncalled for, its a double negative the way it is.
I forgot how fucked Celestia was in this one. She should just send Luna and Cadence to the north with a box of penguins. Then marry her student because she is pretty much stuck with that one.
Nice chapter.
What you did there: I see it.
Quick Everypony, Ship Cadence with penguins. Write stories about her and penguins. Make it a meme like the whole Banana thing with Celestia.
This story never disappoints.
When the story mentioned filling that sixteen gallon jug of water I thought of Die Hard 2, but then realized how simple the solution was, awesome update as always!
2472717
Now where did I put that shutdown procedure chart?
Good chapter, but lots of typos. Like "For her part, responded with a single stately bob of her head, lacking her sister’s inking of what was to come." I'm pretty sure that should be For her part, Luna". There were a few other missing words.
Oh here's another "as he stood ready to serve his princesses in any…and to greet his little sister. " You need another word after "in any". It could be "way" or "capacity".
And here's one with an extra word: "but that was no reason to throw make things any easier for them." You don't need "throw" in there.
"and that there was nothing he could do about the discovery that some long-dead ancestor’s fondness for tarts but had been the origin of said noble’s lineage and had had nothing to do with a love of a particular dessert." Great line, but doesn't need the word "but" in it.
“I still don’t think it was uncalled for to actually issue a full royal decree giving you permission to carry me around like a doll, Princess Cadence,” This one should either be "I still think it was uncalled for" Or "I still don't think it was called for". As it is, your double negative cancels and equals approval.
But don't let all that distract you from the fact I quite enjoyed this update. I know the ending worried you but it honestly wasn't bad. Everyone walking into the palace with one person dropping foreshadowing is a fine place to end it.
Great chapter, I've been eagerly awaiting an update and this did not disappoint! Though I hope you don't send Cadence away, she's great fun! hmm I'm wondering will Chrysalis try to crash the part or maybe even show up as an open and uninvited guest intending to play it as a diplomatic thing (attending a fellow leaders wedding) so she can feed on the ambient love? Regardless this was an incredibly strong chapter, the "Hello Ladybug" scene was adorable as was the Twi bat lecture. Amusing background with SH & Spike and Luna protecting and misinterpreting Shy is and shall likely continue to be gold.. the Celestia Twi bits were equal parts sweet and hilarious, can't wait to see more!
It's now around 3:30 am where I'm at. One hour ago, I logged on to find a fic I faved and forgot about updated.
Curious, I re read it.
I'm now sitting outside my current house, having pissed off all the roommates with very loud laughter.
The only thing I can say is thank god Florida is moderately warm right now and also...
The laughter brought by this fic is worth the exile to the porch right now.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Not bad, although the part where Celestia mentions having Twilight deal with logic puzzles involving filling galleon-sized jugs does reinforce my own opinions of just how much magical power that little unicorn has. Most jugs are measured in gallons or litres, not in warships
This story ... so beautiful ...
no words ...
This is gonna blow up so hard in Celestia's face. I suspect there will be Twi tears before it's over.
2472218
First: Insanely sorry was particularly amusing to read considering your profile picture. It just worked.
Secondly: Illegitimi Non Carborundum is my personal favourite latin.
Thirdly: This is amazingly good comedy and I have a bagillian great ideas for how this could go, and am most willing to share if writer's block is an issue. I mean, I should be writing Sonnets, and I am, I just don't need to be nearly as healthy to think as I do to write.
I mean the brainstorming thing as a fun way, too, not as in this would be anything but your story, because I cannot stop laughing at your story, but-
Hahaha... Fruit Bats.
2475269 Thank you so much for pointing that out. I can't believe I didn't see that.
But I bet that those puzzles must have been expensive. I don't think that the galleons were useable after being stacked on top of each other.
Interesting, im still caught up by this little story you're weaving. Please continue soon.
Please and thank you
2472717
Eh, except an impending blowup that threatens to cause the weddings to collapse, which threatens to send Luna into a downward spiral, which threatens the return of Nightmare Moon, which threatens eternal night, which threatens the end of all life on the planet.
Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?
This may just be my brain being special, but I totally jumped straight to 'but a bitch ain't one.'
Also, this chapter (as usual) is playing to my absolute love of the madcap and implausible side of humor. I can already see the makings of a huge comedy of errors headed our way, and I'm so excited to see everything go down in hilariously unpredictable ways.
Also, Celestia's denial is freakin' adorable here. And her penguin plan is fantastic. I salute you, sir. My hats have been tipped in your general direction.