The B Team
Princess Twilight Sparkle. The idea was still alien to her. She had died and re-created herself - with ample help from Celestia, of course - but in most respects, she was the same pony she'd always been. This, though, was one of the big exceptions: the party after her coronation.
The coronation itself had been brief enough, and as big a deal as it was, she hadn't felt different. The party afterwards, though? She'd had the barest taste of this when she'd stood with Princess Celestia at the Grand Galloping Gala and received a neverending procession. It wasn't so much the duration, as that this time she was doing the receiving. She was the center of it all.
And the last pony came and went, and she went through the motions of the formal exit, and it was over. She was out of the room.
It took her ten seconds to realize that she was staring at the wall, and another two seconds to realize that if she waited another two seconds she'd have company. She couldn't deal with that, so she took one of those seconds to think of where to go, and a quarter of a second to teleport.
Her target was just out the window and in a facing window across the lawn: the library. Not the big room, but a cubby among the stacks, where she'd had a little home-away-from-home, years ago, before she'd been assigned her own library tower. She'd 'lived' there longer than she'd lived in Ponyville.
When she materialized, it wasn't quite familiar. Somepony else had moved in, of course. Books on art history, engineering, architecture stood where she'd once kept... well, everything, before she got her own little library. She idly rubbed her hoof across the spot on the rug charred by Spike's baby snores.
She looked around, just wanting to find something she hadn't read before, curl up, and read it.
"Why, it's you! When I saw the flash, I was worried."
That was one of the few voices that Twilight could take at that moment. She turned to the librarian and smiled. "Dew Point! Yup, it's me. And thanks for not calling me 'Princess'." She took a moment. "You, umm, were aware...?"
"Of course I saw. I couldn't be prouder."
"It's nice to know that somepony other than my closest friends still treats me the same as ever."
Dew Point winked and said, "Well, a little bit different. Remember when I bit your ear?"
Twilight Sparkle nodded, laughing. "Of course. I was trying to get a look in one of the special archives, and you hauled me out again."
"That wouldn't happen now."
"I imagine not." Twilight Sparkle replayed the incident in her head - she'd been speaking with Celestia as they walked to the library. She'd broken off to come to her cubby, then turned back to ask a question... and found Celestia going through the locked door in the least interesting room of the library - the census room, with its endless lists. And before she could get a nose in the door, Dew Point had clamped on to her ear and pulled her back. And she'd never found out what was in there.
"Hay, now I'd unlock it for you. Want a look?"
Twilight blinked. "Yes, please." It was one way to be sure she'd found something she hadn't read before, anyway.
Dew Point led the way, and in short order they were in the census room.
Twilight Sparkle hesitated. "Are you sure it's all right?"
"This room is a simple wooden door with no magical protection, and Celestia didn't change the lock. Just told me that no one who wasn't an alicorn princesses could go in. It was funny at the time, since the only other was a wee thing. But she started using it soon enough. And then when princess Luna came back, it was just a few months before she came by, and she seemed to wish she'd found out about it sooner. And Celestia was fine with those. So I'm sure it's all right."
Dew Point selected the right key from the keychain with her teeth, inserted it carefully, and turned the lock. Then she pulled the key out and stepped away. "Let me know when you're done so I can lock it up again."
Twilight acknowledged, stepped in, and closed the door behind her. There was a little bar on the door, but she left that in place.
The main contents of the room were six large filing cabinets, labelled by year. The earliest year was 665. The librarian implied that this room was set aside within Cadence's lifetime. If it's largely about matters long before then, that would be a little odd.
As she'd guessed, older material was sparse - one cabinet was sufficient to cover everything before 970.
She dove in, and found maps of Equestria. Old maps - the oldest drawer was not simply about 665, but full of material from that time. After a few minutes of gingerly reading the brittle pages, Twilight Sparkle determined that these were surveys made before Ponyville was founded - that area was circled and annotated every way imaginable except to indicate the presence of a town. Ponyville is around 300 years old, so these were probably for the land grant.
There was a big time gap once Ponyville had been founded, and the next entries were from 800, about a big new decennial magic competition. Twilight Sparkle had heard of it, but never participated - the 19th, in 980, had been the last one.
Some bio data on the various winners of that first competition came next. Then the second decennial competition, and information on its winners. That pattern held up to the back of the first drawer, covering the next hundred years, with a few bios of pegasi and earth ponies thrown in.
The front of the next drawer was concerned with, of all things, a study commissioned by Celestia on the social effects of clothing and jewelry. Then a study, similarly commissioned, on early foalhood development. Another magic competition, more bio data. A study on the psychological effects of earth pony fertility magic. More competitions.
Three of her grandparents were in one of them, all in the top 16. And their names were all underlined, and they had bios. They were not the only ponies so called-out, so she didn't think much of it at first, just a 'go us!'.
But she soon reached a single-page outline, penned by Celestia herself, headed, "Status of Preparations for the return of Nightmare Moon: 50 years out". The first part was various methods of creating social conditions likely to promote friendship.
The second part was simply labeled 'breeding'.
Twilight Sparkle swallowed.
The biggest sub-heading was magic, and it confirmed what she'd just begun to suspect - that the decennial competition had had a secret purpose. That explains why it stopped once I was born: no more point.
The subheadings listed numbers of tracked candidates for each pony type. Loyalty was marked out as most likely being pegasus material, but so was Laughter, leaving Kindness to the earth ponies. A closing note mentioned that, aside from magic, these characteristics were difficult to breed.
On the back was scrawled a note saying 'Re-create my earth powers -> Laughter ?' The entire next file drawer was filled with reports of earth ponies displaying unusual abilities. Twilight skimmed that, wondering what earth powers Celestia was referring to. She had obviously ended up with Pinkie Pie, but that said little about what she had been aiming for.
She closed that drawer and skipped ahead to the year she'd been admitted to the school for gifted unicorns. The year that she met the princess. Had the princess already known of her?
Soon, she found the relevant note. After giving the date, it read, "Cadence was correct about Twilight Sparkle. If anything, she understated. Shifting Milky Way to reserves."
Milky Way. I've heard of her, somewhere... where? Wait. I just met her in the receiving line. She seemed nice. It was good for something, I guess!
Twilight flipped forward through the folders and documents and found a large section about one Gallowaz Jimbleflanks living in Cloudsdale who was apparently a very funny colt from a very funny family, and was seriously considered for Laughter.
Another Laughter candidate was Jimmy Russell (what is with these weird names?), but he was found to be too cruel with his jokes.
Another mention of Milky Way. She was in Fillydelphia, studying in the second best magic school in Equestria, and was apparently happy to be doing the school proud, rather than disappointed not to be in the Canterlot academy.
Then Twilight skipped ahead to the days before the return of Nighmare Moon. There was a stapled bundle, already well-worn. Twilight Sparkle pulled it out. The front page was straightforward enough - it listed her friends and how Celestia would arrange for her to run into each of them. She skipped that part after reading Applejack and skimming Rarity.
The next few pages were a list of contingencies. In case Twiight Sparkle didn't like any of the other five. In case of loss of heart. In case of severe injury. In case Nightmare Moon turned or killed one of them. Some just said 'Fall back to B-team".
And on page 5 was the B-team: Roots Toots, earth pony, honesty. Emma Seff, unicorn, kindness. Gallowaz Jimbleflanks, pegasus, laughter. Mistral, pegasus, loyalty. Rose Glass, earth pony, generosity. Milky Way, unicorn, magic.
Aside from its sheer existence, Twilight Sparkle was struck by the presence of two stallions on the team - Roots and Gallowaz. How different would things have been if some of her friends had been male? She couldn't even say, really. She couldn't change the gender of any of her actual friends and end up with a real pony, and of course changing everything would change everything.
Then she came across a page of alternates - individual ponies who could be substituted in a pinch. I wonder who was rated as being almost as good friends...
"Rainbow Dash!?"
The pages almost made a sonic rainboom as she flipped back to the front page.
The A-team Loyalty was Curry Param, apparently the Ponyville postmistress and a smart cookie. What? I've never heard of her.
She stared for a long half minute, then frantically searched the files, looking for what had happened to Curry. A few pages in, Twilight found that she'd had a wing crushed by a falling aquarium three days before the summer sun celebration, and been transferred to a desk job in Manehattan. Cadence had written an alarmed note, but Celestia assured her that though Rainbow Dash was not necessarily the very best exemplar of loyalty, she was a good pony and would be a good friend and that was what really mattered the most.
Twilight Sparkle felt a little queasy. She put the files back in the drawers. She made sure everything was just as she'd found it. She opened the door. She'd half expected to see Princess Celestia there, watching, disappointed, but there was nothing.
She drifted out of the Census room.
Dew Point called out, "What's wrong?"
Twilight Sparkle blinked.
Dew Point pursed her lips, and then said, "Classified, alicorn princesses only, right?"
Twilight Sparkle nodded and didn't watch Dew Point reseal the room. As she walked out of the library, a wild energy took her. She accelerated down the empty hall. It was as if she wanted to deny that Rainbow Dash had ever been less than her friend, that there had ever been a chance she wouldn't be, by going fast.
The hall opened onto a balcony. On an impulse, she opened her wings and slammed them down with all the strength she could muster.
She was airborne. Again, again, again. The fact that she was succeeding in flying where before she'd hardly dared to try skittered across her brain but did not get much attention next to her desperate need to prove her own loyalty.
"Whoah, she's doing it! Way to go, Twi!" Rainbow Dash was right there alongside. "Just, uh, why don't you glide down now? Looks like you're wearing out, and we want you down, right?"
Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash, tears in her eyes. Rainbow Dash was here, and Rainbow Dash was her friend. That was what mattered.
She held out her wings steady. Now that she had Rainbow Dash in view, she seemed more real again, and her energy seeped away. And she had gained a great deal of height.
Rather than try to fly down, she pulled up into a wing stall.
"Twi, what're you doing? You can't fly like that!"
At the moment she was stationary, she teleported to the ground. And took a deep breath.
Rainbow Dash reached the ground slightly sooner than a falling rock would have. She looked Twilight Sparkle in the eyes, snorted as if about to chew her out, then giggled, and laughed.
Twilight Sparkle was not joining in. Instead, she reared up and hugged Rainbow Dash full force.
"Whoa, what's this for?"
Twilight Sparkle didn't answer at first. Rainbow Dash was real. Their friendship was real. What she'd discovered just meant that there were even more equally amazing ponies out there. A smile worthy of Pinkie Pie came across her as the other four caught up.
"Everything's going to be fine."
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I like the resolution in the end. No drama, but joy about the possibilities.
2413861
I might pick this up again, but it's at a decent ending right now and I have no plans.
I really liked this
Good story. I was getting slightly afraid near the end that it wouldn't have a happy ending (I really don't get MLP fanfic with sad endings...), but it recovered, and with just the right amount of conflict and tension too.
I also haven't read many alicorn-Twilight stories, since I feel like there's not enough base material for that in the show yet, but that wasn't a problem with this one.
Celestia Is such a manipulative bitch!
The only problem is your slight implication that Granny Smith is around 400 years old.
2415832
In Winter Wrapup, Twilight Sparkle says, "No Spike, Ponyville was started by Earth ponies, so for hundreds of years they've never used magic to clean up winter. It's traditional."
So she's at least, say, 175, bare minimum. At that point we know that ponies live way longer or the years are way shorter or some combination of the two. So I roughly doubled it to 340 and went with that.
Now, if you think she meant 'earth ponies' and not 'Ponyville', there are other reasons to think the years don't last as long as ours:
- Their yearly cycle clearly doesn't work like ours at all.
- Reunions happen 'every hundred moons' (for us, 8 1/3 years or so) and we've already seen 2 of them. Though the one in the opening episode could have been off-schedule and just for the Summer Sun Celebration, no one mentioned this being awfully soon after the last one, which suggests it wasn't all THAT much sooner than normal.
- It would explain the apparent age-stasis of the foals: if they've aged the scaled equivalent of half a year instead of 2 years, we wouldn't expect to see much of a difference.
2415227
She was doing what she had to do to make sure that Equestria had a capable defense against a deity-level threat. A bit of snooping is justified.
2419547
If you put it in that persepctive, a millenium shouldn't be long at all.
2420029
Proportionally speaking, it'd still be longer than the USA has existed to date. A fair hunk of time has elapsed.
I like that it was the manipulation of someone OTHER than her that caused Twilight angst.
Because, yes, the devotion between the Batmare (hint: NOT Luna) and her playing pieces is very much real. So why should the recently promoted pawn (although she was more like a knight or even rook even to begin with) flinch from the touch of the chessmaster?
I enjoyed this story.
It takes the idea that Celestia actually had more than a vague plan to send Twilight to Ponyville and hope she made friends and found the elements of harmony and shows the level of preparation and planning involved. I do like the idea that the Rainbow Dash statement, that she may not be the best 'Loyalty' she would, more importantly, be a good friend. That the harmony between the elements was more important than how well each fit the role.
There is no need for a follow-up story to this. It's well-written, very well thought-out and certainly pulls the reader in. Twilight is surprised at the level of manipulation needed to pull this sort of thing off, and in the end accepts the results. However I have to confess it might be an interesting tale in itself if the remaining members of the 'B Team' were to meet.
2619776
I obviously didn't include this in the story, but as I was imagining this, they met shortly after. Why go to such trouble to arrange ponies to be able to be epically good friends and then allow them to pass in the night?
2415832
I just realized I mucked up basic arithmetic. The 400 years is now 300 years. Not that it changes your point.
This was a joy to read and I believe the premise of Celestia farming candidates for the bearers ahead of time and the idea of a B-team is a fandom-classic, top-notch idea, and I feel you rightfully and brilliantly laced the timeline matching in there, but I think Twilight would have a much stronger, conflicted reaction to all of this. Would the same Twilight who went up everyone during her brothers wedding be so fearful in speaking her mind to Celestia about the possibility of her friends being artificial and possible friends being "relieved of their service"? And at the same time, the whole series of events allowed her to become an alicorn, so she has never been more grateful to Celestia. I definitely think this premise should be expanded into a sort of drama where the new Princess Twilight Sparkle learns about the sacrifices and necessities of ruling or something. Anyway, this is amazing as is and keep up the awesome work!