Daring Do brings a mysterious statue to Twilight and Spike on the offchance they might be able to help
Daring Do has found a broken, ancient statue or Idol and based on the only legible script she could find has brought it to Ponyville in search of Spike's assistance. What follows is outside the norm, both by her standards and those of Ponyville.
Will contain: Age Regression (but only in one chapter, part of the narrative), Multiple penises (Spike is a dragon after all), Breast enhancement, Ass enhancement, Kinky moments in an ancient temple, and variety of other fetishes as the story progresses. Read at your own peril.
Daring took a look at her map, if she had managed to chart the map right then this was the area of a lost temple the natives talked about and did their darndest to avoid entering for some reason, it was a skill she had mixed feelings about picking up. Of course, she had to draw the map up from scratch, she was more worried about proper conversion to the real world. What confused her was the fact they didn’t avoid the temple altogether, just had not ever entered it in generations for some reason they wouldn’t share. What was more vexing, at least to her, was the fact said natives did this same ritual twice a year, both times seemed to coincide with what she believed might be estrus cycles for some reason.
As she looked at the chart in her hands, which she had to create from oral traditions of the culture in this area, she realized how empty her adventures really were now. Without all the villains she had faced before, the traps ceasing to be challenging, and adventures themselves ceasing to have the appeal they did just a few years prior, it was abundantly clear her sense of adventure was almost completely tapped out.
She was starting to feel the effects of her age, she was already pushing sixty and feeling closer to eighty. As fun as her adventures had been in the past, her reflexes were starting to feel sluggish. Despite all the things that led to her own body working against her, Daring Do had reached the point that she was starting to admit her limits had more say now than they used to.
This temple was going to be her last adventure, which meant the book she wrote around it would be the end of the Daring Do books, she would pass the torch on to the next generation. Daring was actually excited for the potential start of her life as a civilian with no having to go out and face ancient threats for the off chance of finding a potentially dangerous artifact that needs to be locked away. It was a look in on just one more artifact, how much trouble could it be?
This was not what Spike had anticipated, it was almost the twentieth anniversary of him and Twilight moving to Ponyville. And here he was staring at the pony known as Daring Do, one of the most accomplished pony adventurers in the past century. The most problematic part, she barely looked like she could do anything her books had stated she had. He felt the need to ask her about this, but the artifact on the table between them held precedence over all other matters. It had writing in an ancient script, a style of writing that unfamiliar even to the Legends of Equestria.
So far, the only part that was fully translated of the script scrawling across the artifact, a brokenly incomplete statue no bigger than one of his palms, was something about a dragon’s flames restoring what is lost. Spike didn’t like this, he was used to doing things for ponies a lot but this just seemed ridiculous. Never mind the fact he finally had broken things off with Rarity almost a decade prior, he couldn’t believe it took him that long to see that his one-sided crush was going nowhere in regards to the elegant white unicorn mare. Thankfully, Rarity had stopped trying to chase ponies of noble birth and settled for dating, and eventually marrying, Thunderlane, of all ponies. Needless to say, almost everyone had been surprised, but the wedding had been lovely and Spike had graciously declined and chose to opt out of being at the event, he was still trying to get over the fact he didn’t really love Rarity at the time.
So now, here he was, with Twilight next to him looking somewhere between excited and distraught, having to belch fire on the remnants of an artifact he had never seen before. Spike would have been all for using his fire to help any pony that asked, but this was an artifact that was so old it made the Legends of Equestria look like foals, the thought of that image did make Spike give a silent chuckle for a fraction of a second. But he really didn’t want have to do this.
“Just to be absolutely sure,” said Spike, in his now deeper baritone sounding voice, “you want me to spit some of my flames onto an artifact on the off chance that the whole thing could be restored. I hope you’ll forgive my apprehension here, but I really don’t want to potentially damage the artifact in question.”
“Then you can just set your flame to something small, on a slow burn of sorts,” said Daring Do, whom Spike had to be let in on the secret of at the start of all this, “and just touch your flame to the statue, minimal damage and we don’t have to worry about it all getting burnt beyond recognition.”
Spike gave a heavy sigh, “Twilight said the same thing, I’m just worried about somepony coming in and interrupting us at the wrong time, some of Twilight’s friends have a habit of doing that.”
“He does have a point there,” said Twilight, “and if he gets startled doing such delicate work things could spiral out pretty fast. Frankly, I’m surprised they haven’t come and burst in on us already, it’s been over an hour since you arrived in Ponyville and Rainbow hasn’t burst in with one of her excitement outbursts, usually, she’d do so within the first few minutes.”
“Oh, she got that done just as I arrived,” said Daring, “I guess I forgot to tell you. Also, the pink one said something about a party to celebrate my visit later tonight.”
“Well, if that’s all out of the way already,” said Twilight, “Spike, please begin.”
Spike gave another sigh, he still had his doubts about things but still lit up a small flame from his lips and leaned in to tap the flame to the artifact, once he got close enough to tap the flame to the object h noticed some drops of fresh blood on one of the inner almost jagged pieces of the artifact. The moment the flame touched the artifact it lit up in a flame that was a mix of Spike’s flame color and Daring’s coat color before settling down as the complete work. The artifact was now whole, not showing any signs of damage but still showing its age with coloration. Spike immediately recognized the figure, thanks to his numerous trips to the Dragonlands to learn about the culture of his kind from Ember. The statue before them was Zelshirska, the ancient dragon goddess of fertility. Dragons had once had a society that practiced worshipping a pantheon of deities, but over time they abandoned the practice in favor of the more straightforward and worldly approaches of the Dragonlords and various other draconic leaders and rulers. But what was confusing was the fact it was old pony script upon the statue, mixed with an older version of one of the draconic scripts.
The figure of the statue was a lithe dragoness with hints of curves that made it seem as if she was shifting to a more voluptuous state, even with the faded coloration one could tell she was meant to be colored pearl and silver and platinum. She had no wings, but looked as if she could fly without them. Her fangs and claws were the color and appearance of pearl and her spines had colored platinum with a hint of emerald and ruby. The eyes of the statue were uncut emeralds that the statue had been seemingly formed around. It was clear whoever had made the statue had put a lot of care and respect into the product.
“I know this figure,” said Spike as he pulled back and admired the piece, “she’s an ancient fertility goddess dragons used to worship before their abandonment of such religions. But the script about the piece is definitely an ancient pony writing. So that begs the question, why would ponies put emphasis on an ancient draconic deity? And why this one? She reigned over fertility, and I’ve been told she was described as being selectively erotic in personality.” Daring had to hold back a laugh at the blush that seemed to appear on Twilight’s face, it was clear the purple alicorn had picked up on the implications. Daring herself didn’t mind the explanation too much, she actually felt a kind of excitement she hadn’t in a very long time.
“Well, I guess you’ll be joining me on a return to the site then,” said Daring, “maybe some of the clues will be there.” She did her best to hide her smile, but had her suspicions that she was doing a terrible job of it.
Spike let out a groan, he didn’t like where this was going. Something hit him at that moment, “I noticed fresh blood on the piece before it restored, care to explain that.” He and Twilight turned their gaze and full attention toward the adventurer pegasus.
Both Spike and Twilight were actually startled when they looked at Daring, mostly because the markers of her advanced age were gone. Said dark yellow mare now looked like she was in her late twenties or early thirties, with her body looking a bit attractive to Spike. Her whole body seemed well-toned, to a level most professional athletes weren’t entirely at.
“Oh, nothing serious,” said Daring, seemingly not noticing the surprise of her hosts, “just pricked myself on the piece while I was examining it. Hope that’s not a problem.” Spike did a slight shake of his head to clear it while Twilight did her best to hid her surprise, which was actually pretty good this time.
“No, it’s just that from what I was told about Zelshirska, the fertility goddess we currently have a representation of, is that couples that those were hoping to have success in bearing offspring, sometimes with numerous failed attempts, would give up something personal to her representations in hopes of gaining her attention and favor so they could have offspring. A dragon’s flame is considered very personal, it’s a sort of thing that is tied to who we are, and blood is something very personal, it informs on who you are and the lineage you belong to. It’s possible we might have inadvertently drawn her attention, assuming she is real to some degree, and the place you found her representation could be a temple or some other place of power for a divine entity.”
Daring suddenly picked up on the implications but rather than feeling nervous she felt excited, in more ways than one. If what Spike had told her was true, which she suspected was indeed the case, then that would mean she had found a site where ponies had dedicated themselves to the worship of at least one non-pony entity. Of course, if it was entirely dedicated to this Zelshirska that would mean it was a fertility temple. The very idea of finding ritual chambers dedicated to making love was exhilarating, mostly because the majority of ritual chambers she had encountered involved something malicious or trying to kill her, usually both. A ritual chamber dedicated to potentially massive sexual orgies was a welcome change of pace, and made her feel a little sexually excited.
Of course, she had yet to realize she had a much more youthful form. It would probably be a while until she did notice, Spike was curious how she would react upon that realization. Regardless, he was sure the moment would be memorable.
It had been some time since she had dealt with the likes of Ahuizotl and Dr. Caballeron in such a manner that their threats would not be an issue for quite some time, it had been chronicled in what she had penned as the penultimate book in the series. The event had somehow managed to trap them in a pocket dimension designed specifically for holding criminals that were too dangerous for ordinary incarceration, with a few added bonuses. Daring was starting to feel her age, and could see some of her foes were as well, but after the event that trapped them away, she had started feeling a little more energetic, stronger and flexible.
Chances were things were still worse for Daring, despite how frisky she had been in her teen years she had never actually been with anyone before her adventures. The greatest secret she kept, the one thing she kept out of her books no matter what, was the fact she was actually a virgin, at least until she found herself as part of a few primitive rituals where she was an unwilling participant. For some reason, she felt as if all the damage to her insides, especially the kind sexually related had been undone. There had been that time she had dedicated some of her ova to clinics to help ponies with birthing problems, but that had been before she started writing her books and chances were no one knew due to the anonymity policy of such places.
Twilight seemed oblivious, especially with her statement of, “Well then, you two better get to it. I expect a full report of the whole expedition, complete with maps of the facility as complete as you can make them, please name what you think they are if at all possible.” With that she floated a book over to Daring, “this is a copy of the most complete set of translations for the language found on the statue,” Daring took in in her hands, mostly to distract from the horny blush she was sporting in regards to her...partner. “And I think it would be best if you took a copy of the artifact with you, it might prove useful.” With that, she used a modified version of the copying spell Starlight had used for the friendship journal to create a duplicate of the artifact and floated it over to Spike.
“Twilight, we haven’t even begun preparing for the trip yet,” said Spike, “she hasn’t even mentioned how long the trip could be.”
“The structure is a twelve-day hike from the nearest train station,” said Daring, she knew it would take some time to prepare and it had been rather hard to find her potential exit. Which ironically enough, had nothing to do with the natives of the area and almost everything to do with the environment and terrain.
To Daring, Spike seemed like a bit of a worrywart, but chances were that had more to do with the fact he lived with a princess. She couldn’t help wondering if having him would even be a good idea, he seemed more the type to accidentally find trouble than know how to get out of it. And for some reason after the idol had been restored, she was starting to have less-than family friendly thoughts about him. She hoped it wasn’t something that would negatively impact anything.
The language on the idol had looked like an older dialect of the pony language but further examination showed it was actually a mix of old Ponish mixed with a completely different language’s script. The mix of unrelated languages was odd, Twilight decided to call in as many of Equestria’s top linguists as she could. Seeing as it was an old dragon religious figure, Spike offered to send a call out to Ember and see if she could help with the puzzle.
Spike wanted to postpone the expedition as much as possible, Daring did seem to be in a hurry. After several hours they decided to turn in, the experts Twilight had called in wouldn’t be in for a few days and Ember had yet to respond to his call. Just as he was getting ready to direct Daring to a guest room, something Twilight insisted on, he got a response from Ember saying that she would be over before the week was out.
With them all waiting a few days Spike decided to show Daring to the room Twilight had decided on for her. As he led her up the stairs Daring said, “I haven’t felt as good as I do right now in a long time, my limbs and back don’t feel the cramps I’ve been feeling for the past couple years now.”
Without even thinking, Spike automatically said, “probably has something to do with the statue restoring your youth, probably had something to do with your blood on the statue.” As soon as she finished he realized what had just said.
“I’m what???!!!” Daring said in surprise, “How young?”
“It looks like the statue’s restoration restored you to how you were in your late twenties or early thirties,” said Spike as evenly as he could, “you’ll no doubt want to inspect yourself at the earliest convenience, I would recommend you do that in privacy away from potentially prying eyes. Twilight probably is working on how to bring this matter to the other princesses. It’ll be a few days before potential experts arrive to inspect the idol, I recommend you work on something that resembles an official report before they get here after getting some rest.”
Daring was doing her best to keep to the corners and out of everypony’s way, which was harder than she would have liked thanks to a certain Pink party pony that was overly excitable and didn’t seem to take the hints Daring had been dropping for the past hour. What was even worse, at least in Daring’s opinion, was a certain white unicorn with a purple mane done in a stylized corkscrew wanted to know how Daring managed to look so fit and young. And to top things off, Daring was more interested in getting to her room and filling out the recommended report Twilight had suggested so she could hit the hay with very few things on her mind.
Thankfully, the dragon idol was safely tucked away in a place nopony would see it before Daring and Twilight were ready. Daring didn’t know where it was being stashed, she also had no intention of know that for the next few hours. As per usual, Rainbow Dash was having fangirl moment in proximity to her every few minutes, usually when she went to get another drink or snack. While Daring did find such things cute, that was only when she wasn’t on an adventure or waiting on experts that could assist her. Daring was waiting on experts, the only thing that had come close to lifting her mood was when Spike had informed her Dragonlord Ember would be arriving to inspect the idol by week’s end.
Looking around Daring spotted a number of celebrities, all of whom either made Ponyville their home or made claim to coming from the small town. Rainbow Dash was a Wonderbolt, and had made captain when Spitfire retired ten years ago. The Apple clan were always in the news the past few years, especially with Apple Bloom’s establishing of the Great Apple building inspection service, before then there had been no uniform construction standards and it was entirely up to the standards of each individual community or individual. Scootaloo was a safety instructor when not showing off why she was the latest hot daredevil. Sweetie Belle was the latest big music star, who also almost exclusively wore Rarity’s designs when on the stage. There was also a pony she had only heard about before, Marble Pie, married with foals to Pony called Big Macintosh and from the looks of her they were expecting another. Big Mac was also confirmed to have another wife, Sugar Belle, who didn’t seem to be present at the event. The Wonderbolt known as Soarin was married with foals to the pony known as Applejack, said orange mare looked like she might be carrying another foal as well.
Daring wondered what it was about earth ponies and big families, it was a tradition she didn’t fully understand. Daring herself had an older sibling, said sibling had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Daring missed her older sister, Star Log, and had often dreamed at length with her about going on adventures all over the world together when they were fillies. It had actually been Star’s disappearance that had accelerated her adventuring plans, and her main reason for writing the Daring Do series the way she had.
The plan had been Star would chart the maps and write the stories while keeping an adventure log while Daring did the stuff like navigate and disarm the traps, they had been two sides of the same coin for most of their lives. Star was only two years older than Daring, and was the more cautious of the two. After all her years of adventuring, Daring still hadn’t found any concrete leads on where Star was, the best she had managed was finding circumstantial evidence on why she was probably taken. Daring hated admitting it, but her failure at learning the whereabouts of her sister was her greatest shame.
Daring avoided parties of this kind, when she could, because of the memories they evoked. Her sister may have been a bit of a bookworm but she was also eager to be part of the party, usually dragging Daring along for the ride. The fact that this was exactly the kind of party Star would be most happy in only served to further sour Daring’s mood, she had even gone record telling the Pink one parties made her feel dour. Said pink mare just laughed it off and gave a comment about her just not being to the right party. Daring had never mentioned her sister in any of the Daring Do books, formally. If you knew where and how to look you would find messages to her sister, many of which used nicknames from when they were fillies, but only if you used the cipher for the special code the two had created for hiding messages from their parents and bullies. She had hidden those letters to her sister in every book, hoping that at least one message would get a response.
It wasn’t until the party was winding down that the Pink one finally bothered to ask, “Why were you so glum? This was supposed to be your party.”
“Because someone very special to me loved these sorts of parties, she disappeared a long time ago and I haven’t been able to learn anything about her whereabouts. Being surrounded by parties like this just makes me think about how she would be here and then I just start missing her all over again. Her disappearance is the one mystery I haven’t been able to solve, no matter how hard I tried.”
“But you don’t let onto that in the books,” said Twilight, “at least it doesn’t look that way.”
Daring chuckled, “And won’t, to the casual eye. Every single one of my stories has letters and messages to her, but they’re all in a code that we made up back when we were still talking about going on adventures together,” she gave a smirk, “you’ll never find a cipher for it among my belongings, she and I kept it out of sight and only in our minds. The only ones who can read the secret messages are me and her, and that’s not going to change in the foreseeable future.”
“Okay, that’s both cool and depressing,” said Rainbow Dash. “Just who was she? What was her name? I’m sure Twilight and the other princesses could at least find something that you missed.”
Daring gave a heavy sigh, “Her name was Star Log, she’s...my big sister.”
Twilight and her friends all stared in surprise at Daring, Spike nearly dropped the overloaded plates he was balancing in each hand and on his tail. “You never mention any siblings in your stories or biography,” Twilight chose to broach diplomatically.
“It’s something I deliberately omitted in my works,” said Daring, “the only time I did mention her was in the unpublished sample work I submitted as a means for earning my publishing rights, the publishers said they enjoyed it but asked me to omit the part about looking for someone missing in my life.”
“Why?” Inquired Twilight, she felt that bit would have brought a bit more depth to why Daring was so prone to antisocial tendencies and a little cranky.
“Some nonsense about it being depressing, they wanted the stories to only have stuff that boarded on heavier stuff for high stakes scenes like escaping traps or fighting the villains. No room for a tragic motivation that explains why I have a preference for working alone.”
“Do they still have the unpublished manuscript?” Said Twilight and Rainbow simultaneously.
“If it hasn’t been used for kindling or thrown in a shredder to go out with the trash, chances are they keep it in a vault or have already auctioned it off,” said Daring, “probably worth a small fortune these days.”
“That’s an understatement,” said Twilight, “unpublished works from famous authors tend to be so rare that it’s rumored that they would put most Canterlot nobility in debt.”
“In fact,” Rainbow, catching Twilight a little off guard, “the more intense the celebrity status of the author the more the product’s base value can be, chances are they’re waiting for your final official work to be sold before they make a go at auctioning it off.”
“It’s not really illegal,” said Twilight, “a little ethically and morally gray, but not outright villainous. Although,” she started tapping her chin, “if an extremely high profile client were to make a generously tempting offer for it they might consider selling to them before their planned auction. I’ll bring everything we’ve discussed up with the other princesses, along with current events. At the very least you should get closure before going into retirement.”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow, “and you might want to omit the whole part about the statue restoring you to your prime thing, somepony might try to do something stupid in relation to it.”
“I suppose you’re right on that,” said Daring, “besides, after this adventure, I’m retiring from the adventurer game. I guess you could call this last story my Magnum Opus, it’s the final book in the series. Any stories after this will be strictly up to the fans and the next generation, I have no doubt the villains I trapped in that ancient prison will find a way out eventually.”
“We’ll all probably be too busy or old to take care of that when it happens,” said Twilight, “setting our sights on bringing in the new generation sounds like a good idea, some of us have already gotten a bit of a head start.”
Daring decided she might as well open up to Twilight, Spike, and their friends, she felt as if she really needed to get it all of her chest. Daring decided to start with her foalhood, a point her unpublished piece didn’t even come close to touching. Daring didn’t think she was all that good of a storyteller, Star Log was much better than her if you were to ask. The pretend adventures, the creation of their own special secret code, their talks about plans for the future, Daring told it all with an air of nostalgia mixed with reverence.
At this same time, all the foals of Twilight’s friends were fast asleep, it was way past their bedtimes and thankfully it was the weekend. Twilight was still dating someone, hopefully, they would be tying the knot in a few months, she felt like she was really missing out on parenting.
Daring managed to drag herself to bed, feeling lighter and heavier at the same time. Daring only had one desire, what came after she got into her bed. The thought of sharing her bed with Spike briefly flashed into her mind before she banished it with a shake of her head, if her mind was going to things like that then she really was more tired than she thought. Daring hadn’t felt this hot and heavy since she was a teenager in her first estrus, only now it was all being directed toward a single individual instead of every male she set her gaze upon.
Daring hoped this would be out of her way when she woke up in the morning. Twilight insisted she rest in proper sleep attire. Daring didn’t see the point to it all, she’d slept in daytime attire all the time on her adventures. Her admission to such things made the one known as Rarity nearly faint and practically fly to her boutique, which was officially closed at the time, and make a nightgown just for Daring’s exclusive use. Daring herself had been dragged along by said white unicorn, much to her surprise.
Being told to strip, rather forcefully, also was not something she was used to dealing with. Morally dubious dealers in ancient artifacts, easy, but dealing with a fashionista, that was one puzzle she didn’t quite know how to solve. Rarity spent a good seven minutes to measure her with her tape measuring Daring’s dimensions, all of them. After just twenty minutes, not even a full half hour, Rarity had put her through over a dozen different styles with over a dozen different fabrics, each. How the white unicorn could do something like that was a mystery to her, one that even her greatest aid couldn’t help her solve.
Just dealing with all those ponies, especially the time after the party, had tired Daring out. She was looking forward to sleep, unless the so-called Princess of the Night decided to pester her in her sleep. Slipping into her room with the nightgown on, she really didn’t have any choice in the matter, she sat down at the desk and managed to write up a twenty-six-page official-looking report. She hadn’t done anything like that in years, but was surprised at how little rust there actually was to filling out the report.
After filling out the report she slipped into bed and off to sleep, or so she thought. What waited for her was something she hadn’t anticipated, something she really hadn’t expected to see after she closed her eyes. The other surprises weren’t very pleasant either, but at least she was feeling refreshed through the whole thing.
A voluptuous dragoness, that looked suspiciously similar to the idol, met her in her sleep. “Do not worry, young one,” said the dragoness in a voice that had a bit of a sensual tone to it, “I am merely here to talk. You are currently outside the dreamscape, this is the domain I call home.”
It was at this moment Daring noticed she was completely naked from head to hoof, she was both embarrassed and not embarrassed at the same time. The feeling was odd to Daring, but she had not really been that conscious of her body in this sort of manner before. Her perky B-Cup breasts weren’t likely to draw the attention of most stallions, she even remembered a few times her breast size actually resulted in others mistaking her for a really androgynous stallion. She needed answers, this dragoness probably had the closest thing to them. “Alright, maybe we should see what you’re after,” said Daring in a sexy sounding version of her old voice, she blinked a few times, “starting with what is going on with me.”
“The ritual of restoration isn’t something you can just do, it has certain requirements that must be met depending on which deity you are talking about. In your case you stumbled into it with partial information, it requires the offering of blood from one who seeks and the flame of one who assists when you’re talking about me and mine. You unintentionally offered up your blood to the ritual, which actually intensifies it for some reason. As for what’s happening to you, your body is changing to meet the physical desires of the dragon that assisted you. It’s my little way of saying thank you. I haven’t had any worshippers for centuries, but have managed to remain.”
“How?”
The dragoness smiled and Daring noticed that the voluptuousness of the dragon’s form was not just in her bust line, it was in every part of her figure from the torso down. The dragoness had a set of generously large breasts, something that had clearly been lacking from her idol for some reason. Due to the dragon’s size converting their size to pony standards would be tricky at best, but based on her size in comparison to her body they were comparable to GG-Cup sized breasts, “I was once a mortal dragon, as were my sisters. Our domains were not seen of as being of great importance to dragons, thus we were relegated to the position of lesser deities. Amusingly, around the time your nation was founded some ponies seeking a sense of direction and purpose in their lives found our discarded idols from the dragons who also carelessly dropped our names in a language the ponies could understand,” she smiled, her smile was sultry and evocative, “they had no idea what they were actually saying, they were actually sleepwalking and my sister used the opportunity to bring us to those who would likely respect us more.”
“That explains how your idol was found in old ruins near Equestria’s border, but not my question.”
“I needed to set the stage for you, child,” said the dragoness with a smirk, “my old heart is now an artifact of great importance to the place you call the Crystal Empire.”
“The Crystal Heart,” said Daring, “but that amplifies the feelings of love from the ponies that direct their energies towards it and projects a shield that protects against the forces of unrestricted nature. Spike said you were a fertility deity, that doesn’t add up. Unless... there’s info regarding you that’s been lost to time.”
“Very good, that’s exactly it,” she said with another sultry smile, “I reigned over Fertility, Relationships, and Knowledge in my time. Dragons cared little for the last two and only mildly for the first part, it’s no wonder their only surviving records of me say I’m just a fertility goddess. My sisters reigned over the Sun and Moon respectively. She who reigned over the sun, Solmirashi, also reigned over Justice, Agriculture, Truth, and Politics. As you can guess, dragons didn’t really care much for Justice or Truth, more practical for them to pray to one of the four Vengeance gods. Of the three dozen deities dragons once worshipped, my sisters and I were the only goddesses.”
“And relegated to minor positions of power in the divine hierarchy,” said Daring, “wait you said your sisters reigned over the Sun and Moon, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have that power.”
“Just as a prayer to the Crystal Heart sustains me, the difference to Celestia and Luna allows my sisters to continue to exist, but only in a state of suspended animation for now. They felt their power waning rapidly, when they sensed the presence of the royal sisters having similar power to their own they embedded portions of their essence into them, as long as Celestia and Luna live so too do Solmirashi and Chandra. Chandra reigned over the Moon, Dreams, Art, Crafting, and Language.
“So pieces of your sisters’ personalities and abilities are also present in the Royal Sisters. You three enjoyed much more prestige among ponies because your domains were more in line with them. I’m surprised there wasn’t much talk about you all in the accounts from the pre-alicorn era.”
“They were more like a secret society, the tribes were all still working towards being on good terms with each other. Our pony worshippers gathered in secret and referred to each other in a manner that disguised their names, they only knew each other by those names. They didn’t want to let it be known they were worshipping non-pony entities.
“I suppose that makes more sense than most theories about that time,” said Daring. “But why would you want to have ponies worship you in the first place?”
“The three of us didn’t care who worshipped us, so long as they asked for our advice and took our edicts to heart. Despite being dragon deities our edicts actually came out sounding more pony, not surprising when you took into account what we were like back in our mortal days. The three of us all advocated for peaceful relations with other races. We tried our best to introduce dragons to the very concepts that became part of our domains. I don’t know how we ascended to being deities, it’s something we still haven’t been able to figure out or build a proper theory around. The three of us just did our best to be as selfless as possible, we actually managed to push back our own greed. We just wanted to make the lives of other dragons better, initially. Somewhere along the way our desire to make lives more meaningful for dragons expanded into a desire to enrich the lives of all the other sapient and sentient beings around us.”
“That’s a lovely sentiment and all, and really engaging history lesson. But that doesn’t explain my changes.”
“Don’t worry, you’re keeping your athletic body, it’s just going to be getting a little sexier in some very distinct ways. Like I said, you’re changing to be more in line with Spike’s ideal figure. That one is an interesting case, he’s a dragon but sexually attracted to ponies. I tweaked your body a bit, in addition to having a form that has heavy shades of his vision of the ideal mare you’ve also been given the ability to bear the offspring of dragons more effectively.”
“And I suppose your directing our sexual urges towards each other is your idea of a subtle push.”
“When they need to take more than a hint, yes. Spike is a special kind of dragon, as you probably know, but his extended fascination with the unicorn known as Rarity for an extended period of time has stunted his ability to recognize sexual attraction towards other females. The boy practically blew his chance with Ember, despite her being less-than-subtle in her advances toward him ten years ago.”
“Wait, you’ve been watching him that long?”
“And you even longer, along with some other figures in Equestria. You would not believe what it took get Cadance and Shining Armor together. Of course, Flurry Heart is another matter, nineteen years old and already a heartthrob for many a stallion, too bad they don’t realize she prefers mares at the moment.”
“How and why?”
“My former pony followers established a rather unique link with me, it gave me the ability to watch them and their loved ones from where I am now. My sisters would be able to do something similar in regards to Celestia and Luna if they were still awake.”
“And this effect carried on to their descendants,” said Daring, “Which means I’m descended from one of your followers?”
“Well, yes and no,” said Zelshirska, Daring finally remembered her name, it was so outside what she was used to in terms of names. “You’re the descendant of the loved one of a loved one of one of my followers, during those times such a union for ponies in his position would have been taken poorly and possibly ruined both their lives. But the connection was still formed, thus allowing me to follow that line. Mi Amore Cadenza is special case, she’s from the line that first formed a connection with my former heart, the Sparkle line are descended from unicorns that only chose to worship me in a desire to get a better understanding of dragon culture, their drive to understand what they are unfamiliar with has been passed down through the generations. I really didn’t have the ability to peer in on any of the families of Twilight’s close friends before she made the connection, but once she did I was able to look in on all those ponies as well.”
“So, you haven’t been subtly manipulating our history behind the scenes?”
“I might have done so a few centuries ago, but it’s only been recently my power has returned to the point I can do things like this. I have a question for you, Daring.”
“Go on.”
“You should take your time thinking it over before giving your answer, would you like to be my new High Priestess?”
“I’ll think about it, but I’m going to want to be talking about…”
“Which we will get to, another time. But know this, I haven’t been able to do something like this for thousands of years, the restoration ritual gave me a short burst of energy. It’ll probably only last a few days, mortal time, time in this domain passes differently.”
The first thing to surprise Daring when she got up the following morning, aside from a delightful looking breakfast on the bedside table, was the sight of Starswirl the Bearded looking over a copy of her official report along with a look at the original idol and the copy Twilight had made. Along with Starswirl, Twilight and Starlight Glimmer were looking over the report as well, that explained how they got the report and how there were multiple copies. To even more surprise, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were there, surprisingly enough not reading over the report.
Celestia was dressed in her usual white robes with golden regalia, Luna was in a more old-fashioned star-themed dress with her silver regalia. Twilight was in what many would just call a cute librarian look, with what looked like platinum regalia spread around her with only the crown portion on her head at a lopsided angle, giving the impression that she was both unused to such adornments and that she found the attire restrictive. Starswirl’s attire was immensely outdated, even though it was likely made by Rarity in bulk for him, it gave off the impression he had raided a museum for a style that was easily over thousand years out of date.
The attire of the dozen or so other experts strewn about the facility were dressed in seemed to be business casual attire, these experts were from all the tribes, with a surprising bulk actually being earth ponies. Daring looked down at herself, she was still in the sleeping attire Twilight’s friend had provided her. The surprise from her vantage point almost made her forget that she was heading to wash up in the restroom, she really needed a shower after the weird experience she had after falling asleep.
When she got to the door decided to knock at the door a few times, to her embarrassment Spike answered on the other side of the closed door, “I’ll be out in a few minutes, just finishing up my morning routine.” She almost panicked, that meant Spike had just gotten up as well.
It was also at this moment Daring noticed a bit more weight on her chest than usual, she hoped she something hadn’t caused to make her sleeping attire get tight around some part of her body again. Looking down, she noticed that her bust line was a bit bigger. She blinked, looked up at the ceiling to try and get her bearings, looked back down and confirmed her breasts had indeed been enhanced in size some way. She was now staring at a pair of rather luscious looking D-Cup sized breasts under her sleepwear. How had she jumped from nearly flat to something so obvious to notice at almost any angle? And why was she just noticing this sort of thing now?
The sound of a knock wasn’t all that much of a surprise to Spike, seeing as how long he’d shared a residence with a mare. He just gave one of his usual responses, besides he was almost done. Spike had a figure that made him look like a slightly buff teenager, the unique compact muscles present in his variety of dragon allowed him to have a much more sleek look. Spike just hated that he didn’t have a few bulging muscles, even earth pony males like Big Macintosh had those around their arms and legs.
He was finishing up drying off his lustrous, smoothly rough, and very sleek scales when the sound of Daring Do’s voice, with a slightly more sensual tone for some reason, crossed the threshold, “I really need to use the restroom now, I just got a feeling of greater urgency a moment ago.”
Spike felt his rods go to half-mast almost immediately, usually, it was just one that showed excitement but something about Daring’s voice brought both to the same position at the same time. Spike could feel the spiny ridges on the shafts of his cocks aching to feel the pleasure that voice seemed to be inviting. Down boys, this isn’t the time or place for that sort of thing. Spike was starting to feel nervous, even more so when he remembered only bringing a pair of boxers and pants into the restroom with him on some misguided notion he would have plenty of time to get to his room and leisurely choose a shirt before any of the mares in the house got a good look at him. Now, one of those very mares was literally on the other side of the door, this was what he would call a worst-case scenario.
Spike was no stranger to having females be the dominant force in his life, most of his life had been just that. But this was the first time he felt like letting a mare dominate him in any way she wanted, he did a quick shake of his head to clear it of such thoughts. He barely knew Daring Do, the real one. His only experience with Daring before all this started was through her books, he recalled her mentioning secret messages were hidden in all the books but the only way to find them was with a cipher she had helped her sister develop ages ago. Nopony could keep a code like that running as long as Daring did without a physical copy of the cipher, maybe the cipher was cleverly hidden somewhere that was easy for Daring to find it but disguised well enough that it would escape suspicion.
Spike knew what he would be doing today after he made sure everything was packed. But before all that, he would have to get his penises down. For most ponies, and probably dragons, that was probably easy, seeing as you usually just had to think of family or friends that had something about their features to kill your mood, Spike had almost no one in his immediate set of ponies and dragons he knew that would do that. It took him some time to come to terms with, but Twilight and all her friends were not something he could look at to soften his cocks. Same held true with most of their families, even Granny Smith had a quality to her he would rather not think about.
Looking down, he was glad his boners were gone. Spike had learned that he needed a roundabout way of thinking to bring his erections down, if he thought about anyone in his life directly he would start thinking about all the things that made them physically attractive. He used to not mind it when he was younger, but now that he was more matured it was something hard to ignore.
Princess Celestia was one of the worst cases for him, he saw her as more of a mother than most ponies and she had the sentiment of him being the closest thing to her for most of his life, she even had a discreet legal document that showed him as her adoptive son. Even though she had been missing for most of his early life, Princess Luna was an incredible aunt to him and always got a delight when he referred to her as such. The less said about how attractive looking Twilight and her mom were the better, he didn’t even want to think about his “sister” and her mother that way. Similar sentiments were shared regarding Twilight’s friends, Rarity had been a fixation of his during his younger years and he tried to avoid thinking about Sweetie Belle like that as well. Thankfully Starlight Glimmer had moved out, he really didn’t want to think about her figure due to it being so similar to Twilight’s.
He could feel one of his rods starting to swell again, he really had to stop thinking about why it was a bad idea to think about certain things. He quickly finished wiping off his scales and threw on his pants and underwear, almost putting them on wrong in both order and location in his rush. After he got them on he tossed the towel on over his upper body, after spreading it about and having part cover his head it left him with his midriff still showing along with part of his chest.
Thinking about it, it was better than nothing when it came to potentially sexy mare seeing him, even Daring Do had physical features that he was starting to find sexy. When he opened the door, the sight of Daring made him rush to his room at a speed that would impress Rainbow Dash. He hoped she hadn't seen much.
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Daring had only seen Spike for a moment when he opened the door, which turned out to be a sight that made her feel tingly for a split second. She suddenly realized she didn’t have a towel or bathrobe and completely forgotten a fresh change of clothes. Daring rushed to her room to grab a change of clothes, which were mysteriously placed on a well-made bed that she swore she hadn’t just left a mess when left it earlier. Next to the change of clothes were a folded towel resting on top of a folded bathrobe.
Daring would wonder about that later, she needed a cleansing shower to take her mind off the previous night. Once she got back to the bathroom she locked the door, she didn’t want anyone wandering in on her while she was occupied. Once that was taken care of she set her clothes, towel, and bathrobe on the counter before removing her sleeping attire.
Once her nightgown was off, in pile on the floor Daring saw that it really was true that her breasts had ballooned to their new default size, she had thought somepony had snuck into her room and stuffed some sort of padding over her breasts to give the impression her bust line had grown over the night as some sort of prank.
Daring felt she really needed to clear her head, a shower with the frigidity and force of a waterfall would definitely wake her up. The chances of a shower having those features, even if it was in a castle, was next to nonexistent. The moment she entered the shower she noticed it had an opening in the wall above her head that looked more like a cut in the wall than shower nozzle, she also noticed the door had closed behind her and there was no sign of levers or knobs for adjusting the flow of water. All she saw was a crystal panel where such things would likely be placed, she thought nothing of it and just figured it was some new sort of magic control system. Twilight Sparkle was a princess that was known for being a little eccentric and prone to trying some of the newest developments in her own home. Daring placed her palm on the crystal and jokingly said, “What are the chances this thing can replicate the feeling of a frigid waterfall, because I feel like I really need one now."
The next thing Daring knew she was bombarded with exactly what she asked for, which was immediately followed by her scream of shocked surprise that practically rang through the castle. Chances were everyone in the castle heard her rather undignified response to the shower. Almost fifteen minutes later, mostly having to do with her fighting the water to get to the panel to deactivate the water’s flow, the water was off and Daring was about as soaked as she would have been on one of her adventures that involved a waterfall. She would have words with the Princess of Friendship, probably very loud ones, when she was more presentable.
After a thorough drying off Daring tried to pull her clothes on, finding her underpants and shorts a little tight with her bra and shirt unable to fit entirely. There were few things Daring hated more than getting a new outfit, especially when the attire she had at the moment was still serviceable. Rarity would probably be very happy, the adventuring mare wouldn’t though. Daring found the white unicorn’s personality grating and endearing at the same time, much to her great annoyance. She decided her best option for something resembling modesty in the princess’s castle was to wrap the bathrobe about herself, the overly large size of the bath garment worked to her favor in regards to covering up her chest. She quickly tied a loose knot into the belt to ensure the robe stayed the way it was. She gave a little sigh as she reached for the door, her coming interactions would likely not be socially pleasant.
The moment she opened the door she saw Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Rarity all with worried looks on their faces. The first words out of Daring’s mouth were, “And the reason nopony bothered to warn me about the shower was? Well, you better have a good excuse.”
Twilight gave a sheepish look while the rest of the group moved to make it so the door was no longer crowded. “I guess we forgot to give you warning about this,” said Twilight, “mostly because the castle seems to have a mind of its own at times. The new shower structure for the castle was one I was theorizing about five years ago, everypony in the area was warned about it about two months after. If it makes you feel any better, Spike and I both had similar responses the first few weeks it was around, it took us almost a month to get used to the whole thing. It made all the papers a few months after that, I’m guessing you didn’t get a chances to read any of those from around that time.”
“Wait, the castle has a mind of its own?” said Daring in surprise.
“More or less,” said Spike in his surprisingly sexy baritone voice, Daring started to feel a little warm in her more private areas for a moment, “the castle was given to Twilight by the Tree of Harmony. It has an intense link to Twilight and her friends, which is why their thrones around the map have changed every now and then as time went on. I used to have mini-throne next to Twilight’s, but that got removed around the time I was closer to her size.” Now that she looked at him Spike did look a bit bigger than the average pony, she’d actually wouldn’t be surprised if he matched Princess Celestia for height.
“Okay then,” said Daring, “Um, Rarity, was it? It looks like I’m going to need an entirely new wardrobe, my pants are a little tight and my shirts don’t fit anymore.”
“Always glad to help, darling,” said the purple maned white unicorn, “any preferences?”
“My attire just needs to be able to take a punishing, comfort isn’t really necessary. My clothes just need to be able to resist tearing, I’ve had it happen more times than I care to admit out on my expeditions. Just keep the aesthetics the same as my usual look, maybe add a few more pockets. I didn’t see you on my way to this room,” she turned her attention to Rainbow and Fluttershy, “same with the both of you.”
“Oh, um,” said Fluttershy, “I was here to take a look at Owlowiscious, he’s been around a bit longer than an owl normally would.”
“That bird’s almost as tenacious as Twilight,” snarked Spike under his breath.
The comment earned him pointed stares from Twilight and Fluttershy. Rainbow picked up the explanation, “I was here to discuss some show plans Twilight wrote up. Rares is here because of your lack of wardrobe, she said it in a bit more flowery manner.”
“Refined, darling,” Rarity retorted, “you have over a dozen copies of three different outfits, with exception of those five dress uniforms and three actual dresses.”
“My dressing habits aren’t your concern,” retorted Rainbow.
“Actually, they are. Especially when I’m the one who either had to repair them or outright made them,” said Rarity, “also, we have a guest and should be a bit more respectful to her.”
“Don’t mind me,” said Daring, “it’s preferable to most of the other fights that have happened around me, especially when it gave me the opportunity to escape a pretty bad situation. Now, give me some space. I’ll be in my room if you need me, seeing as walking around somepony else’s places or town topless is rather ill-advised.”
Spike looked visibly heated when the image came, clearly, unbidden to his mind. Daring was having mixed feelings about being a sex symbol, it was unfamiliar and unnerving but also exciting and empowering. Next time she saw that dragoness she would have a lot to say, on more than she anticipated.
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The one thing Spike really didn’t want to think about was what a mare looked like in different attire, mostly because he developed a bit of an outfit fetish regarding mares due to his overly long crush on Rarity, but the thought of a mare with only half an outfit was easily second on the list of things he really didn’t want to think about. Now he was picturing Daring Do, of all ponies, topless around the castle and town, his face wasn’t just heating if his groin had anything say about it. Two semi-boners with both dicks in one day, that was a new record he didn’t want to contemplate at the moment. Thankfully, none of the mares around him seemed to notice the bulging tent in his pants.
Rarity was more excited about basically making Daring an entirely new outfit from scratch, Spike immediately redirected himself towards his room to avoid hearing Rarity talk about making custom undergarments. There were a lot of things Spike wanted to stop thinking about, a mare in lingerie was pretty high on that list. Once again an unbidden image of Daring in scandalous attire came to him, this time she was in black and indigo lingerie. He hated how good he thought she looked in it, thankfully he was in his room before the image had come to him.
Spike quickly locked his door after closing it and tried to get his members soft again, to no effect. He hated that he’d have to be jacking off to a mare without her consent, especially one he had a great deal of respect for. Spike had always told himself if Daring Do had turned out be real and was even half as impressive as she was in the books they would have his deepest respects, then he found out all the stories written down were true with only a little embellishment.
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“So,” said Daring, noticing the sultriness of her voice somehow toned itself down on its own, “who messed with my room for the time I was waiting at the door without any of the necessities for a morning ritual in civilization?”
“Was everything neat and tidy with exactly what you thought you would need?” inquired Twilight.
“Yes,” said Daring with a hint of confusion in her voice.
“Probably Pinkie,” said Fluttershy, finally joining the conversation, Daring noticed how well the yellow pegasus’s attire obscured her form.
“She’s pretty random,” said Rainbow, “and some of the things she does can come off as a little unnerving. But chances are she’s the one who got everything set up for you in your room in the short amount of time you were away from it.”
“Alright,” said Daring, “how about we get this out of the way, I think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will want to have a chat with me, soon as possible. Rarity, I’ll swing by your establishment after my meeting with the princesses.” I just want to be out of here already, why does everything have to be so problematic now?
After Daring made her way to Celestia and Luna they gestured for her sit, they probably expected this to last a while. Soon as she was seated Luna immediately launched into the first discussion topic, “You could not be found in the dream realm last night, despite my attempts. Care to explain this?”
Right into the tough questions, Daring pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment and took a deep breath, “I got pulled in to have a chat with an ancient dragon goddess, she had a lot to say. She said something about the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire once being hers, something about how a bit the power of her sisters is with the two of you and keeping them from fading away but not really awake at the moment, an…”
“We’ll get to the part about the Crystal Heart later,” said Celestia cutting her off, for the normally respectful Celestia to cut a pony off meant she saw something of great importance that needed immediate addressing, “what do you mean when you say we carry the power of her sisters?”
“She didn’t go into detail,” said Daring, “but apparently they all had their power waning at an intense rate. She was better buffed against it because of the power being sent to her from the Crystal Heart, but her sisters weren’t so lucky. Just like the two of you, they reigned over the Sun and Moon, while their power was waning they felt the presence of your awakening to the power over the Sun and Moon so they sent a portion of their essence into you as a means of not fading away. But because of the lack of energy being sent to them, they’ve been in a deep sleep since around that time. The dragon goddess I spoke with last night was in better shape because of Crystal Heart and a restoration ritual that Spike and I accidentally performed that more directly linked me to her. She also said something about watching the progress of some pony bloodlines, which was made possible because of her old pony worshipers. She also made a few comments about subtlety influencing the development of some relationships.”
“We have the essence of ancient dragon deities mixed with our natural magics?” inquired Luna, likely choosing to disregard the rest until later, “we will not expect a report on this, but a complete account as you can of your interactions with her would be much appreciated.”
“She said the three reigned over certain domains that were of greater importance to ponies than dragons, thus were relegated to minor roles within the standings of the ancient dragon pantheon. The first one that she said reigned over the Sun also reigned over Justice and Agriculture.” Daring Continued.
“Well, I am quite good in dealing with the legal system and have quite the green thumb,” said Celestia with some amusement.
Picking up again, with a polite cough, Daring said, “The one that reigned over the Moon also held dominion over Dreams and Art.”
“It would seem, sister,” said Luna, “I picked up a bit more from our ‘donors’ than you.” This was followed by a bit more playful banter between the sisters, during which Daring excused herself and made her way to Rarity’s place of business. She had her progress slowed by Starswirl and some of Equestria’s notable modern scholars inquiring for further details regarding her report, she respectfully told them that she would talk to them about the matters length at a later time but had urgent business to attend to.
Thankfully, she didn’t get any weird or odd looks as she passed through town. Unfortunately, her experience once in the store was less enjoyable. Rarity’s babbling to herself, as she moved around a naked Daring on a literal pedestal didn’t help much. She really just wanted to leave and get this all behind her, this would probably be a bit more endearing and less annoying once she was retired.
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Spike had finally managed to soften his rods again, although he had to spend a few minutes thoroughly cleaning his wall afterward. Thankfully, it was a blank space of his wall he ended up splattering his semen on. With that out of his way he began packing for the long hike, Daring said it would take over a week to just get to the destination.
Spike just wanted to leave already, fewer chances to potentially embarrass himself around Daring where the ponies he knew far too well for his liking at the moment. Daring seemed to be acting awkward around him as well, she probably just wanted to get this whole thing over as well.
Spike was not having a good morning, he almost showed off his form to a mare he didn’t know all that well, messed up a portion of his wall with his splooge, and now was finding almost all his shirts had been shredded by what looked like cat claws. Looks like Rarity’s still looking for an excuse for us to talk at length. I would recognize her cat’s claw marks anywhere, what’s with her naming cats with a gem theme?
After Opalescence had passed on Rarity had gotten a new cat, this time she was orange furred and named Citrine Jump. Unlike Opal, Citrine was far more energetic and took a more active interest in the world around her. Citrine even seemed to actually put some visible care into her interactions with Rarity. Opal was far more passive in her displays of affection, Citrine was far more active. Spike didn’t understand why Rarity insisted on getting a cat, it was like she was trying to have herself a few steps shy of being a loony cat lady. He knew Rarity’s cat was responsible because he could see the cat hair on all the shredded clothes, he figured Twilight decided he needed an intervention when it came to his relationship with Rarity.
Spike loved his sister, dearly, but there were times he just didn’t get why she did things. Twilight was dating now, her attempts at subtly getting Spike out of the castles were so obvious to him that she might well have been waving a big, flashing neon sign telling him to get out of the castle. The problems with her plans were he didn’t have anywhere of consequence to go, he wasn’t in any romantic relationships and didn’t have a place to call his own for a temporary period of time.
Spike decided to focus on something else, his current line of thought was starting to depress him. The fact the restored idol had regressed Daring Do’s physical age to near his was a bit of a surprise, but it was an ancient artifact and who knew what sort of magics were tied up with it. Chances were it was some kind of lost magic, that would definitely get Twilight giddy as a filly on Hearth’s Warming. Nope, nope, nope, get your mind away from Twilight now, we don’t want to get back into trying to have a pity party for ourselves. Spike gave a chuckle, Pinkie would probably insist on coordinating any party he was trying to have alone, no matter what kind it actually was.
Assuming that was true, the restored idol restoring Daring Do to somewhere around her prime, why was she also undergoing a steady transition from her usual look to something more akin to what he thought was hot? Something wasn’t adding up, he felt like he needed to find some key puzzle pieces to get a better look at the picture.
Spike was in conflict, he wanted to just have things mostly remain as they were but he also wanted drastically change things up in his life. Spike wanted to remain living with Twilight, but he also wanted to have a place that he could call his own. He didn’t want to get over his crush from his youth, but he wanted to actually move on from his infatuation with Rarity.
Ember had tried to take his mind off of his then obsession with Rarity, but he had just blown off all her attempts at trying to be a good friend and nothing more. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had tried to cheer him up and take his mind off Rarity early on but he was too interested in moping at the time. Those three eventually gave up, stating they just weren’t equipped to help him at the time.
Spike was confused, his mind kept jumping back to Daring Do for some reason. When he had met her she was clearly athletically built, had a nimble frame and an almost negligible bust line. But now her body had a similar build, she actually looked for flexible now, and her bust line had jumped up to around the size of most unicorns he knew. Not to mention, her plot used to be noticeably smaller than it was now.
Spike kind of felt like a horny teenager around Daring, which led to him feeling really awkward and embarrassed around her. Her voice had almost given him a full double boner that morning, no mare had managed to get both his shafts to react like that before. He wanted to so bad to get naughty, in a fun way, with her. He found himself fighting himself at almost every turn when it came to Daring Do, made all the more problematic from the extreme emotions many dragons were prone to during the phase of their maturation that Spike was currently in.
Spike just wanted to get this whole ordeal over, chances were Daring did too. Once it was over Spike would request the princesses, all of them, find him a nice big open space away from everyone else so he could just spend his time surrounded by nothing but his collections and try and fade into obscurity. Recent events had forced him to accelerate his timetable, more than he was willing to divulge.
Daring couldn’t believe how much her prep work had been set back, how could anypony work on attire for nine hours with almost no breaks and not feel tired? Nine hours, Daring had spent almost all of it with nothing on beyond the test outfits, and even those weren’t on her for more than a couple of minutes. Daring had been fine with stallion type underpants, she’d been wearing them for years, but Rarity would have none of that. Panties, seriously, were not her style. Daring Do took the tomcolt style to an extreme even Rainbow hadn’t gone, her formal attire before all this was just her same outfit with a much higher thread count and quality.
Rarity had nearly bowled Daring over when she admitted all that, so in addition a collection of outfits that could basically dress an army of her she also had to stand around in the lingerie Rarity had made from scratch just for her as the white unicorn made her five formal dresses that were clearly designed to show off her figure to anypony that wasn’t blind. So now, Daring was heading back to the castle with a set of overly large shopping bags, also custom made by Rarity for her, filled with her new garments along with her wearing her wearing one of her new informal outfits, with a set of her custom undergarments beneath it all.
Daring wasn’t really one for these sorts of undergarments, she usually would forego undergarments when in the field since they would usually get removed by some nutcase trying to use her body for some esoteric ritual or just the environment in general as she moved through regions and areas that were clearly designed to kill lesser ponies. And to make matters worse, she couldn’t fit into some of the places she used to due to her new figure.
As soon as she got back to her room she would begin packing for the trip, maybe if they were lucky she could cut the hike by a few days. The fact that Princess Twilight Sparkle was insisting she take Spike with her on the return trip was a little irksome, but still understandable. Spike was more knowledgeable about dragon things, and she had brought back the idol of an ancient dragon deity. The fact she was going to be going to a potential Fertility temple started to excite her in a way she wasn’t used to, her bosom felt warm and lighter than she thought they could be when she thought of spending an extended period time with Spike. Damn that dragoness, getting her hot and heavy for the very dragon she would be traveling with.
As she was about to get the castle door it opened to reveal a shirtless Spike with an annoyed look on his face and a small collection of what seemed to be rags of different colors in one of his arms, she started thinking he looked cute with that determined look in his eye. She also started thinking about how nummy his figure was.
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Spike was not happy, his unshredded shirts were all ones that he kept around but no longer fit him for various reasons. The only reason he kept them in his wardrobe anymore was nostalgia, on the plus side some of them might be able to fit somepony with a noticeably lighter frame than him. A few unbidden thoughts of Daring Do in his old shirts came to his mind as he thought about that, he shook his head to clear it.
Spike was angry with Rarity, it would do him no good to lose his focus. On his way out he saw Daring with what looked like overstuffed shopping bags, likely Rarity’s fault, on her way in. She was in something that looked similar to her usual attire, just darker shade with her cutie mark on the shoulders and right breast region of the shirt. The aesthetic would likely follow through to the rear of the shorts, which she filled out really good. No, bad Spike, you’re angry with Rarity not trying to catch risque glances of Twilight’s guest. Spike really didn’t like how his mind seemed to be wandering as of late.
When he arrived at Carousel Boutique it seemed Rarity had been expecting him, made all the more evident by her statement, “So good to see you again, darling. I was actually expecting you a bit earlier, you just missed Daring’s little fashion show.”
“Looks like you overloaded her,” said Spike, “I just passed her on my way in.”
“Well, she needed an entirely new wardrobe, which included some genuine formal attire.”
Spike let out a heavy sigh, “Rares,” she perked at the use of her old nickname, “you went and overdid it again, you have a problem with that. On another note,” he presented his torn shirts, “was it really necessary to have your cat shred all shirts that still fit me? Don’t try to deny it, I found her hair on all of the torn articles of clothing.”
“I’ll get on making you some new shirts as soon as possible, Spikey.” Spike perked at the use of her old nickname for him, he hadn’t heard that particular nickname in what felt like ages. Standing on the pedestal while Rarity worked her special brand of magic, Spike almost found himself chuckling as the fashionista got right back into talking to herself as she got to work on measuring him and making his new clothing. “Any preferences I should know about?” inquired Rarity as she finished taking down notes on his new measurements.
“You already know what my preferences are, they haven’t really changed since you last measured me. Although, I’ll probably need some expedition outfits. Twilight has me going with Daring to investigate the temple in which she found the artifact she brought back with her. I noticed her figure is a bit more defined than it was when she started getting settled in yesterday, did she tell you why that is?”
“Sadly, no,” huffed Rarity, “how am I supposed to engage in gossip regarding her when she won’t give me some juicy tidbits, all good gossip needs some pieces of fact to act as a base.”
“I’m surprised you’re still so interested in gossip, seeing as how you’re married with a foal already. Speaking of which, how is your little girl these days?”
“Aubretia Glide... she’s visiting the Apples for the weekend, she’ll be back this afternoon. At least, I hope so. That filly seems to channel the old Rainbow Dash sometimes.”
“I can see how that would be annoying, I just need a dozen or so standard shirts.”
“Of this I am aware,” said Rarity, “but if we’re making you traveling attire I’ll have to your waist and everything below again.”
Spike groaned as he took off his pants, thankfully his underpants were doing some semblance of protecting what was left of his modesty. Rarity started to measure the dimensions of Spike’s lower region when the bell above the door jingled. Then the sound of an eight-year-old filly with a voice that reminded Spike of Sweetie Belle’s primary school days entered the room, “Mom, just how busy are you?”
“Helping an old friend prepare for a trip they’re going on soon, dear,” responded Rarity, “he’s currently not publicly presentable, it will be a while before that happens.”
The sound of young pony hooves could be heard as a pegasus filly with coat color that matched Rarity’s mane and silvery blue mane entered the room in a black and green riding dress, “Sorry about not being back sooner, Mister Soarin gave me a ride over,” it was at this point Spike and Rarity noticed a bandage on the filly’s left wing indicating some sort of damage.
“Is it serious?” Spike asked in a gentle tone.
“No, just a sprain from bumping into the doorframe at the wrong angle," said Aubretia, "I wasn’t watching where I was going in the excitement to get outside yesterday after lunch, they said I should be ‘right as rain’ by this time tomorrow.”
“Good to hear, dear,” said Rarity with a smile, “think you could get a bolt of the black fabric with a fireproofing spell for me?”
“Sure,” said the Aubretia, “should I get a bolt of the green and blue as well?”
“That would be lovely, thank you,” said Rarity. It was at this point Spike realized he would be here for a while, especially with Rarity and her daughter drawing out the visiting time. Spike wasn’t going to be happy, especially since Ember had finally arrived and wanted to spend some time with him.
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The first thing to meet Daring, oddly enough, was a well-endowed dragoness with blue scales, her bust size was an E-cup. Said dragoness introduced herself as Dragonlord Ember, and attire was more akin to a set of plate armor than actual clothing. Ember seemed to be drawing a number of stares, but she seemed to not really care about that for some reason.
“So, you’re Daring Do,” said the dragoness after she introduced herself, “I expected a bit less from such an old idol, you look like you’re pretty close to how you probably were in your prime. How did it feel to have your youth restored?”
“I didn’t notice it until Spike pointed out,” said Daring, “all I really noticed was some the pains and aches I’ve had the past few years seemed to be gone. Is there a reason you are meeting me here?”
“I just wanted to meet the pony responsible for finding such an intact tool of worship from the history of dragons.”
“Actually, from the looks of the temple it was in, it was actually ponies worshiping her. I also got dragged into a conversation with her last night, it was an interesting experience.”
“Wait, you actually met her? She’s real?” the two made their way to some empty seats
“Very much so,” said Daring with a hint of annoyance in her voice, “she apparently gained enough energy from restoration ritual Spike and I inadvertently performed to actually do that sort of thing for a short period of time, she also thought it would be amusing to give me a more voluptuous body and direct the sexual desires of myself and Spike towards each other.”
Ember snickered, “That sounds like she’s a bit of trickster. Spike needs to get over his obsession with Rarity, he’s only partially done that, he needs to go the whole way. I find it somewhat amusing and gratifying that literal divine intervention is being instituted in his life. When it comes to things like this, he’s a bit too dense for anything short of that to work. And I guess she also wanted to ‘reward’ you, I guess the best way to think of was giving you a sexy body.”
Daring elected to keep quiet about the offer to be Zelshirska’s highest ranking Priestess. She didn’t think it mattered that the dragons knew about her having the first interaction with one of their ancient deities after so many years, but she did figure it was currently for the best if she omitted most information from what they knew she had at her disposal.
“Did she say anything else?” The pony scholars started gathering around them, likely hoping to get tidbits for their research. Even Twilight seemed to be getting ahead of herself with the research, seeing as she was the closest scholar to them.
“Not much, something about how she and her sisters were the only goddesses in a pantheon that had a few dozen deities,” Ember showed some displeasure at that news, “also, she gave me an open invite to be her priestess, I’m still mulling over that one. She also alluded to potentially having the answer to a question that I’ve been chasing for a very long time.”
“Sounds like you’re going to be busy.”
“Yes, I am, now if you will excuse me,” Daring got up with her bags, “I have to go pack for the return expedition, I’ll fill out a report that I will hand over to the princesses afterward. Which, in the spirit of continued amicable relations between our two nations, they will likely hand you a copy of.”
“With some parts that are clearly omitted,” said Ember with an eye roll, “if I were in the same position I would as well.”
Daring excused herself, with her bags, and headed to her room to begin packing for her trip. She had a lot to pack, clothes, food provisions, a small camping set, her archaeologist kit, and a few other items of note. Daring was annoyed with her new features, immensely. A noticeable bust, a bigger plot, and wider hips were all contributing to her annoyance. Thankfully, she didn’t have full hourglass figure just yet, her waist was the same it had been when she was younger, said waist was a rather toned from her regular activities to keep in shape. That all said, she was pretty sure that her waist wasn’t what many would call ‘model quality’ or anything of similar frivolousness.
Even in her early years, when her sister had still been around, she was the kind of filly that didn’t really like things clearly defined as feminine, she was much more geared towards defined masculine things. Here clothes from when she was filly looked more like something you would get a colt, she liked to roughhouse over spending time on the porch talking about the latest gossip, and preferred doing things over writing them down. Star Log had some of those same properties, but she actually enjoyed the more feminine activities and attire more than Daring ever did. Star Log was always excited to meet new ponies, she used every opportunity in their younger days to drag Daring to parties so they could meet new ponies.
Daring Chuckled to herself as she set her bags down and thought about her sister, and all the good times they had. Star Log was energetic and outgoing like Pinkie Pie, was studious and academic like Twilight Sparkle, had her finger on the pulse of fashion like Rarity, was a bit too soft-spoken like Fluttershy and as honorable and upright as ponies like Soarin or most of Equestria’s Royal Guard. Daring was a major contrast to her sister in terms of personality, but in a way that complimented her sister. In those early days, she was brash like the younger Rainbow Dash, stubborn but dependable like Applejack, and very protective of her older sister. Despite Star Log being three years older than her, Daring and Star actually were similar height for most of their time together.
Star Log had some pretty unhealthy eating habits, especially when she was engrossed in something that interested her, which usually was a scientific journal or mystery novel. It was actually Daring’s proclamations in those early days that she would be a great adventurer that had Star Log stating she would be the one to document all those incredible adventures and share them with the world. Those where the idea for the Daring Do book series came from, but before they could implement any of it Star Log had just vanished like a wisp on the wind without even a note giving a clue as to her condition or whereabouts. It was that disappearance that had kickstarted Daring’s adventures the following year.
She quickly realized she would need funds to continue the adventuring life as she made discoveries and tried to find the one pony that meant more to her than anything else, thus the moniker she created for herself and beginning of the Daring Do book series as Equestria knew about came to be. Her moniker of A.K. Yearling was a bit of a joke and nod at the same time, pulled from her the names of her parents and the fact she had been a yearling when she talked about the plans for the series with her sister.
Daring hadn’t even noticed how she had practically overstuffed her travel bag while reminiscing.
_________________________________________________
Spike was now heading home, in his new “Power Ponies” shirt and pants from that morning, with a few bags of new attire. Rarity went overboard, again. She hadn’t just made him new shirts and expedition wear, she had also made him a bunch of new casual wear pants and four formal suits.
Spike was not happy, he just wanted to get out of the shop as fast as possible. That turned into a massive pipe dream almost as soon as Rarity’s daughter had arrived. Chances were all the guests at the castle were calling it a night, even Ember.
Spike was surprised to see Twilight and Ember chatting together at the table with cups of tea between them when he got back to the castle. Twilight seemed to know exactly how to destroy his chances at legitimate excuses, seeing as the bags were immediately teleported from his claws. “Don’t worry,” said Twilight, “they’re already in your room, you can get to packing after you spend some time with us.”
Spike let out a groan, he just wanted to get all packed and ready to go so he could get things out of the way, then get back and complain about his lack of having a space all his own. But right now, he had to have a “chat” with two females for who knows how long. “Just make it quick, I want to get this task Twilight practically forced on me out of the way.”
“Sorry, but you’re the only one I can trust with this task, everyone else just has too many responsibilities to drop and go on this errand. We all know Rainbow Dash would more than love to do so, but things aren’t like they were those first few years we started living in Ponyville.”
“This is an important undertaking for both Equestria and the Dragonlands,” said Ember, “Daring Do recovered an artifact that is of great importance to the cultural history of dragonkind, as the representative of dragons to Equestria the task Twilight called upon you to perform is one I would as well.”
“Glad to know you both are on the same page with this,” said Spike, “but the sooner we get on this the sooner it gets done.” With that he headed up to his room, muttering under his breath how the meeting he just ended up getting in and out of was mostly pointless. Once he was in his room he started packing for the trip, to keep things simple he tried to keep it to only one overnight bag.
Spike’s packing attempts went about as well as Daring’s, which basically means he ended up overstuffing his bag for some reason. Spike really didn’t want to start taking packing cues from Rarity, that could prove problematic.
He carefully emptied his bag and got out two spares and began packing again, he’d see how much of his bags his plans actually had him filling up and work out from there. After that, he would hit the hay and hope for the best tomorrow. He really hoped things went well, also that he didn’t have any weird dreams. He did not want to have any potentially embarrassing chats with Luna, especially if they turned out to contain content that wasn’t entirely family friendly.
The expedition was finally starting, Daring and Spike both looked unhappy as they waited for the first train of the day. Beside them were two travel bags for each of them, a camping set for each of them, a large travel case of bottled water, a large case of energy bars, a small case of books Twilight had insisted they take along for the ride (Spike had managed to negotiate down from something that would clearly put them over several weight limits), and the magical duplicate of the idol Twilight had made for them the day before.
Celestia, Luna, and Twilight actually managed to arrange for a private car for the two of them going to their starting point for the expedition, also making the offer to do the same with the return trip if the two decided to send word back ahead of time. Spike had mixed feeling about all this, more than he was willing to admit. On one hand, they wouldn’t have to deal with any potentially embarrassing moments on the train, on the other hand, the two would be stuck in the same confined space as each other and if things decided to get odd there would be no incentives to restrain themselves. It was almost like they were trying to get the two of them to be a couple, Spike wouldn’t be surprised if Cadance was in on the plot as well.
Thinking about all that made Spike’s gaze wander towards Daring’s rear, he started getting thoughts of massaging and spanking that somewhat meaty plot. He shook his head to clear it, job first then find a private place to fantasize about things that were likely not going to happen. He just had to keep a level head about him, they were just going to investigate a temple that had held the idol of an ancient draconic deity. A deity that was known for being a sex symbol, inducing the ability to bear offspring, and having a rather erotic nature.
Everything started to click, something had happened to him and Daring when they somehow restored the idol. For Spike it was far more subtle, just being attracted to the one pony that had contact with the artifact immediately before him, the same pony that had admitted to accidentally getting a little blood on the artifact while retrieving it. Daring’s changes were more evident; her figure taking on a much more erotic form, drawing his sexual interest, being the image of his personal fantasies. In short, some sort of magic was at work here, a magic that was very old and not seen in the modern era. It couldn’t be an actual deity pulling the strings, right? Sure, alicorns had divine tier magical power and abilities but they were very rare magical cases.
Spike just hoped nothing weird happened on the train. The sound of the train’s whistle announced its approach, Spike had an ominous feeling that he and Daring were being watched by someone. He hoped everything turned out alright.
______________________________________________
Daring was starting to feel nervous, mostly because she had found herself with far more bags than usual waiting at the train station. Daring had been on trains plenty of times, her trip from the temple to civilization was a tricky one. What she had failed to mention was the fact the train ride would add another six days onto the journey, with a journey this long she was thankful the princesses had decided to give them a fully furnished private train car.
Curiously, Zelshirska hadn’t pulled her from the dream realm for a further conversation the previous night, chances were Princess Luna had managed to tie the dragoness up with a meeting and would not permit any others to be involved. Daring quietly snickered to herself, there was a very good chance Princess Luna wouldn’t be in her chosen attire during the meeting. That line of thought got Daring imagining Princess Luna in the nude, the night princess’s figure was definitely something that Daring’s unasked for ‘gifts’ from the dragon goddess couldn’t compete with, same held true Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance.
None of that was surprising, even Twilight Sparkle was getting to the point nopony could compete with her looks. Alicorns were just on a completely different level than other ponies, in many ways. Daring started wondering what she would be like as an alicorn, the thought had never really crossed her mind before.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the train whistle being quite nearby, the train managed to stop with the private car that had been reserved for her and Spike stopping right in front of them. The two of them quickly gathered up everything and loaded it into their car before sitting down and trying to relax.
Spike’s way to try and relax was to pull out a Power Ponies comic and do his best to read it, chances were he would get through the thing before lunch rolled around. For Daring it was working on the manuscript for her final story in the series, she was used to having to omit some things but never before had she found she had to do so on such a grand scale. A good fifth of the story needed to be omitted or altered this time around, before then the most she had found herself having to omit or alter was just under a tenth of everything, that meant she was doing over twice as much as before to keep certain things out.
First of all, she had to change the kind of deity it was. She was still keeping it a dragon deity but she was going to change it to a Knowledge deity instead, which wasn’t far off considering what Zelshirska had shared with her. Secondly, she needed to change the deities name, she didn’t want anypony who might actually know the truth about Zelshirska and want to use the power of her idol for less reputable purposes. Thirdly, she was going to have to find a way to tie her novel counterpart’s interactions with the deity into the story in a way that didn’t come off as too much of a plot convenience.
Thinking about the word plot also caused her to think about all the “naughty” things Spike would do to hers. She shook her head to try and clear it, she needed to focus on the matter at hand. Unfortunately, there was actually more than one of those and some of those matters involved her getting potentially emotionally involved with the very dragon that she was sharing a car with.
Daring decided to get a little shuteye, she had actually had a hard time sleeping the night before. She just hoped nothing crazy happened while she was out. But before she could sleep, Spike had to sate his curiosity.
“How long will the train ride be?” Spike inquired.
“A few days,” said Daring, “I hope you brought enough to keep your interest during idle moments such as this.”
“Not really, just enough to hold my attention for a few hours. You really should have warned me ahead of time.”
“I would have, but we both had so many menial errands to run that we really didn’t have time to talk about this sort of thing. And the few times we were alone we both found ourselves feeling so awkward that one or both of us felt the need to part ways without so much as a word.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that,” said Spike with a bit of annoyance regarding the truth of her statement. With that, Daring fell asleep in her chair.
_______________________________
She must be more tired than I thought, thought Spike, and it doesn’t help that I’m finding her sleeping slouch cute, what is wrong with me?
Spike did not like how his mind was wandering towards Daring Do. After five hours, during which Daring was still sleeping, Spike had literally gone through all of his materials to keep busy. He took a look at the manuscript for the final Daring Do novel, which had about a dozen notes on and around it stating that it was to not be touched or looked at without permission.
Spike chuckled to himself, mostly thinking of how Twilight and Rainbow Dash react to this situation. Twilight would be in conflict because it’s a book still being written and her personal need to follow the rules and wishes of others whenever appropriate. Twilight had admitted after the Zeppelin Incident, as they had come to call it, she was more wary about deals she made, much to the annoyance of several business ponies that came to her over the years with propositions. Rainbow Dash would likely just disregard the notes and go straight to reading, that was before she was put in a position of command. The old Rainbow would definitely do that, the current Rainbow was actually a pretty big stickler rules and regulations. Before joining the Wonderbolts she thought those things were just something to hold back ponies from doing things, she still held the opinion that some did just that, but she had learned most of those rules and regulations were there for the safety and benefit of the populace and make sure ponies didn’t hurt themselves to severely.
_________________________________________________
At about hour six of Daring’s decision to sleep she finally woke up. Spike was still very much awake, most likely due to his needing to be of use to Twilight whenever she asked it of him. Daring felt an urge, one she didn’t want to suppress. She trotted right up to Spike and sat on his lap in a way that caused her breasts to press against his chest, she could feel his body reacting. The thought of triggering an erection in the dragon was actually sending a shiver of delight down her spine.
A little known secret Daring had when she was a teenager, before her sister disappeared without a trace, was the fact she once had a dragon fetish. She thought she had outgrown that little kink, but apparently, Zelshirska decided to revive it and slowly crank it into overdrive. Spike stared at her with surprise as their eyes were almost perfectly lined up, she licked her lips erotically before sensually leaning closer to his face. Daring had never kissed anyone on the mouth before, Spike was going to be her first and she was going to her best to make the experience as memorable as possible.
When his mouth was in the process of opening is when she struck, with a quickness and precision that it surprised Spike even more. She made the kiss on his lips an amazingly sensual one somehow, she had never kissed anyone before yet she somehow knew how to make the kiss amazing from start to finish.
___________________________________
When Daring forced her tongue into his mouth, in the most stimulating way possible, calling what Spike found his tongue was doing with Daring’s “wrestling” would be an understatement of the highest order. It was like their tongues were dancing to an unheard, yet incredibly erotic, rhythm. His forked tongue and her amazingly articulate pony tongue seemed to go through different dances every few seconds with an unheard series of tempos. What’s more, his boners were going into overtime. If he was right any moment she would notice his half-mast rods...and there it was a smile of surprise and erotic delight, while she continued to tongue him. It was almost as if he was interacting with someone entirely different, yet not.
Daring was stimulating him in ways that aroused his sexual side, but she seemed to be waiting for a moment to take it to doing all this with no clothing on. Spike had never been so grateful for having articles of clothing blocking the advance of another before, he was also cursing himself for not trying to remove clothing when Daring had done that erotic lip lick.
As things were now, Spike didn’t want to take off his shirt, or Daring’s, for fear that once their kiss was ended they would never experience the sensation again. The way she kissed made him think she had clearly done this before, or at least had practiced in some manner or way. In addition to that, the way she had her bosom pressed against his chest was enticing but still very comfortable. Daring hadn’t had a bust like this a few days ago, so how did she know exactly how to press herself to him in such a way?
Spike really didn’t care at the moment, he just wanted to see how long the kiss went. Maybe, if they were lucky (he mentally snickered at the choice of wording), they would actually end up making or breaking a record regarding the length of a kiss, he was totally going to ask Twilight about the kissing record thing.
Daring couldn’t believe what she just did, she’d just given a dragon she had known for all of three days her first kiss. And to make things worse, she’d done it in such a shameless manner. Daring usually didn’t care about things like that, but this was different somehow. Next time she saw Zelshirska she would have a lot to say, she hadn’t even shared her secret infatuation with dragons with her own sister.
They were still kissing, without coming up for air, and it had been almost two hours. What was more problematic, Spike had started to messaging her plot, and she really liked it. Before either of them knew it, he was also fondling her left breast. Daring didn’t dare move out from the kiss, it was too enjoyable. But his massaging her plot and fondling her breast were both causing her elicit erotic moans.
She could feel his twin penises hardening under his attire, she had no idea why that sexually excited her so much she felt the need to give an erotic twist to her surprised smile. The only thing that would make this better, possibly for both of them, as if they weren’t in any clothes at all.
After another three hours, during which Spike alternated between massaging her plot and bosom with his surprisingly gentle clawed hands they both final broke form the kiss. A five-hour long kiss, which she had initiated despite having no kissing experience prior. “Was that as good for you as it was for me?” Daring said in a sensual voice.
“Yeah,” said Spike with a bit of disappointment in his voice, likely that it had ended, “and it ran pretty long too, that kiss had a lot of passion in it. You must be really experienced.”
“Actually, that was my first kiss, ever. I think something was guiding me in how to do that somehow, I feel like this is a prelude to something but I’m not sure what.”
“You had this notion about you that you want me to take things further, but I’m not quite ready for that yet.”
****************************************
The rest of the train ride was awkward, with both wanting to have another kissing marathon but not wanting to make a go at it again. The only thing of note was Spike sending a letter to Princess Cadance about wanting to know how long the longest kiss on record was, he initially had the plan of sending it to Twilight but decided that Cadance was the best authority for that sort of thing.
Cadance seemed to see through the question to what Spike was really after and sent a question of her own asking who it was Spike was crushing on. Spike felt embarrassed but decided to tell Cadance about the whole series of experiences with Daring Do, omitting some parts he didn’t want get into. Among the things he omitted was the erotic build up to the five-hour kiss, but completely told the juicy details of the kiss and its total length.
He also mentioned in his letter his reluctance to try for a repeat performance, despite his deep desire to do just that. When he got the return letter Cadance just said she was proud of him for finding somepony special. Spike sent a retort that he had only known her for a few days, he also mentioned her admission about giving him her first kiss.
Cadance’s response to him was something along the lines of that all being even better, along with something about them being a perfect match. She also made a quip about having met Daring Do once or twice, along with stating Twilight had told her about some things that had happened in the past few days. Cadance was eager to see the more youthful Daring Do, she also made a comment about how Flurry Heart was excited to meet Daring as well and was already prepping some Daring Do outfits for the whole royal family of the Crystal Empire.
The fact Spike couldn’t keep the letters away from Daring, no matter how hard he tried, was a testament to his adorably awkward side as much as it was to Daring’s surprisingly effective sneaking skills. Daring had her suspicions about her rather accelerated relationship with Spike, mostly having to do with her prior interaction with a certain ancient dragon goddess, but it wasn’t until she read Cadance’s letters to Spike regarding his growing relationship with Daring that she realized she really was having romantic feelings for Spike.
Daring remembered reading and finding lore stating that in the distant past, long before the concept of nations was even an idea in the minds of ponies, stating that many ponies had the natural ability to know exactly who their mates truly were, usually being led by the call of their own magic to their intended partner. Daring had also come to suspect that something similar existed for dragons, the ability to know almost immediately who their true mate was.
The notion was amusingly romantic, but for the most part, it was conjecture based on old works from the early days of writing. The accounts were likely written by ponies who were trying to make those primitive days more enticing in their boring lives. It was in the nature of sapient beings to romanticize earlier times, even if they were proven through lots of evidence to be terrible.
Spike was an oddity as far as dragons were concerned, being both hatched through pony magic and raised among ponies. This became so ingrained in his sense of identity he actually considered some of the most powerful and influential ponies in Equestria family members. Daring Do was a bit of an oddity as far as ponies were concerned, her general tendency towards loner behavior and outright refusal of most of what passed for standard Equestrian social norms meant she actually had more in common with dragons on a social and intellectual level. However, her antisocial tendencies were more of a result of her dedication to searching for answers regarding the loss of her sister many years ago.
Spike was noticeably younger, having a more picturesque growing up phase than many ponies. Daring had a much more standard upbringing, only entering into the series of events that led to her now-iconic personality traits during her teenage years. Spike hadn’t really had anything resembling those hardships, merely growing up as the only dragon among ponies in place that quickly became established as a place where things out of the ordinary happened on a regular basis for several years.
Spike didn’t understand her pain, but he was in a unique position to be able to more accurately imagine it.
After six days the train finally arrived at the destination Daring said was the starting point for their hike, Spike predictably groaned as they got all their supplies from luggage storage. Due to his greater physical abilities, he was forced into carrying most of the supplies along with his personal gear. Daring was no slouch when it came to strength, she was carrying the crate of energy bars and replica idol along with her personal effects. But Spike had to carry the books and water in addition to his personal effects, an annoyance he grumbled about for the first forty minutes of the hike. Coincidently, the time they arrived at the station was the early morning just before sunrise.
Thankfully as dusk began to settle Daring had them stop and find a reasonably open area to set up camp. Spike started a fire in a pit he dug out with his own claws after he managed to erect his tent and place everything he carried with him in it, seeing as he could just breathe fire, starting a campfire wasn’t much of an issue for him. Unfortunately for him, Daring walking around was a massive distraction, especially with her declaration that she preferred to sleep in the nude and asking if he had a sleeping mask or some other kind of blindfolding item to act as a guard against witnessing such things.
Spike’s main problem was the fact he wanted to see a naked Daring, very much so. Add to that, the way she was moving around with much more pronounced sexy gait than when he first met her and he had himself a real temptation he would be more than glad to give into with no regrets. He wanted very much to tap that plot and hear her scream in pleasure from his very touch, so much so that his letters to Celestia, Luna, and Cadance all asked for help keeping his urges more in check, he was very worried that at some point his greed would take the wheel and he would no longer be in conscious control of his body. Celestia sent him a note enchanted to have thirty seconds of any sound they wished, which had its entirety of her laughing hysterically. Celestia apparently thought it hilarious he was having trouble keeping things under wraps with Daring when it came to sexual attraction, the fact she had told him outright this was likely to be a twelve-day hike did not bode well for him.
When he woke up the next morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise, he heard the telltale sound of a pony splashing in water nearby, likely Daring bathing. The thought of seeing Daring in the buff, dripping wet from her bath, came unbidden to Spike and he felt his double boner rising again. Why did almost everything about Daring Do have to be outrageously sexy to him now? He had never thought of Daring Do like this, he’d never used any of the Daring Do Books as clopping material.
Spike hoped the next ten days or so weren’t going to be torture, he felt like some higher power was testing him for some reason. Whatever higher power got a kick out of his torment was a jerk of the highest order, if him being tortured was just a byproduct of their actual attempts it would be more forgivable. He looked over to see the idol replica staring at him with its eyes of literal gems and said, “I bet you’re getting a kick out of this, why can’t you just tell me what you want from me? If you have been talking with Daring, which I doubt, then why hasn’t she passed on any messages to me?”
The statue didn’t respond, not that he had expected as much. Just as he was getting ready to go back in his tent to grab a towel then wait for Daring so he could ask where the bathing site was, he saw a completely naked and wet Daring approaching the campsite. Spike could feel the drool building up in his mouth, her breasts weren’t just perky like he felt on the train during that rather intimate makeout session on the train, they were practically lively orbs of desire that he could almost hear beckoning him to come and do all manner of naughty things to them.
And to think, this was technically the second day of the hike. Spike quickly ducked into his tent before Daring noticed him looking at her, Spike could feel his self-restraint being assaulted. It would probably be non-existent by the time they even got to their destination.
After waiting a few minutes after he had seen Daring approaching the camp, in all her unmitigated glory, he approached her tent and asked her if she knew where a good place to bathe was, with a casual drop of hearing her splashing in the water earlier. What followed next pushed his self-control to its limit, in more than a few ways.
Daring came up to the entrance of her tent with a sexy smirk that had Spike suspecting he had been found out, in only her shorts and no top. Spike could feel his boners getting hard again, her abundantly ripe fruits were literally on display before him and he was afraid of what would happen if he tried to touch them without the barrier of cloth that shielded them during his last encounter with them. She then told him the directions, while making movements that drew attention to her bouncing, juicy, and super sexy mammaries. They actually looked like they might be bigger than when they started the journey, but that was crazy talk.
Spike thanked her and hurried to the pool Daring pointed out. When he got in he noticed it felt a lot purer than he had anticipated, almost as if something had cleansed it before he got there. After he was all washed up and dressed he returned to camp and they got to getting the whole place down and filling in the firepit. Then, once again, they were hiking through the trail Daring had set for them to follow. Eating energy bars for meals while on the go, all of which tasted like stale peanut butter and oats to Spike.
They did the same thing that they had done the day before, the following morning followed the same notes as the day before, almost exactly. In fact, the cycle kept going for the entire hike until the day arrived at the temple. Why did this mare have to task him so? And why did he find it so darn sexy? It was almost like she was trying to give him an excuse to “punish” her, but that was just crazy.
Just what was Daring up to? Why? And why did he find almost all her motions incredibly sexy?
Daring once again found herself in the strange void of Zelshirska, once again finding herself completely devoid of any articles of clothing. She was less embarrassed this time around, being far more driven by a need to have some very poignant questions answered. Her driving need for the first question hadn’t changed since Zelshirska had mentioned watching her line.
“Sorry for the wait,” said Zelshirska as she seemed to materialize before Daring, this time with a set of breasts comparable to K-Cup sized breasts, it seemed she also decided to give herself a set of second breasts that were comparable to J-Cup sized breasts. This all seemed to come together to form an even more voluptuous figure on the dragoness. “I got dragged into a meeting with the alicorn you call Princess Luna that lasted a bit longer than anticipated, mostly having to do with her wishing to learn more about Chandra and where she could find physical evidence of her. Sadly, I wasn’t much help for her in that regard.”
“I had a feeling something like that would happen after I let Princess Luna know about our last meeting,” said Daring in a flat tone, “I have a few questions for you to answer before I make my decision on your offer.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from one of your distinct lineage,” said Zelshirska with a knowing smirk, it was clear she had an idea of what the first set of questions would be.
“What can you tell me about the whereabouts of Star Log?”
“Not as much as you’re hoping, I’m afraid. She left my range of observation around the same time you noticed her disappearance. All I know for sure is she was sketching some of the older modeled ships in the harbor of the community the two of you were staying at when some individuals of less moral fiber decided to stuff her in a bag and haul her onto a ship that they had likely stolen. Sea Raiders is what they called them in the olden days, but I believe the term in your common vernacular is something else entirely.”
“My sister was ponynapped by pirates, how did the harbor patrol not catch them? No, wait, don’t answer that, I already know. They were on the take, they were paid to look the other way when those individuals were in the area. Have you shared this with Princess Luna?”
“She inquired about it, and I answered in much the same way I did with you, the only difference is that she decided to take her leave after I gave her that information.”
“Can you tell me about the ones that took her? What they looked like, their verbal tics, their choice of attire.”
“All mostly useless now, especially since they were wearing masks from a bygone era that had enough power to obscure my perception of them in my weakened state. I did my best to influence your sister in a way to give her a better fighting chance, but it didn’t turn out well. If I had the level power I have now back then I would have gladly expended its bulk to keep her from harm. But as things are, I have only been able to subtly influence things within the bounds of Equestria for the past few centuries. My level of power took a major blow when Sombra caused the Crystal Empire to disappear for a thousand years, and another notable hit when the pony now known as Flurry Heart unintentionally shattered my former heart.”
“I was wondering about that, how is it your heart became the Crystal Heart?”
“The heart of any dragon can become a crystal heart, they just have to be extremely selfless. Truth be told, my former heart has a design much different than when I passed, something about the magic of the area caused its form to take what all the ponies know today in the time between when I passed on from the mortal realm and when ponies found it.”
“So time is a factor in form,” said Daring with a contemplative look. “Why do I have a larger bust size, larger plot and curvier figure?”
“A little thank you gift for granting me a bit more power than I’ve had in a long time, it’s also a primer for my offer. Whether you choose to accept or deny my offer you will still have it and your choice will not negatively affect your current figure.”
“What exactly would I get if I were to take up your offer?”
“A more voluptuous body, for one,” Daring would usually turn that sort of thing down, but since she was retiring from the adventuring game anyway she was a bit more open to the idea, also getting a taste of how it is to have a sexy figure was kind of intoxicating to her, which caused her to actually consider a more voluptuous figure being something to go for, “the ability to tap into my power whenever you wish, within restrictions I set upon you. But the part that will likely most appeal to you is the longevity and slower aging.”
“So, what’s the catch?”
“Not much, as my High Priestess I’ll be able to use your body as a conduit, which includes inhabiting you as an avatar for short periods of time, you’ll have full recollection of everything that I did while using you as an avatar. Most deities aren’t as nice, usually taking possession of the being that acts as their avatar and basically causing blackouts in their memories for the length of time they are an avatar.”
“Do you know what happened with me and Spike on the train? I’ve never been so shameless before.”
“Nothing much, your desires just got a little out of control, that’s partially my fault. I kind of lowered your inhibitions towards those sorts of things for the period of time all the way up to a few moments after you finished your kiss. As for the kiss itself, I had nothing to do with that, that was all you. Although, your kissing skill might have gotten a bit of a boost from some of my residual energies running around in your system from when I gave you a sexy body as thanks.”
“A bit, I practically acted like a seductress in the time leading up to the kiss, you’re saying that was mostly me?”
“Surprisingly, yes. It’s one of the reasons I offered to make you my High Priestess instead offering to be a priestess. Something about your natural magic is highly compatible with my own magical energies, it’s probably why you’re having bursts of eroticism in close proximity to Spike.”
“If I accept your offer will I be able to keep such behaviors better in check?”
“Yes and no, as my High Priestess your magics will be entwined with mine in a way that isn’t usually seen in the mortal realm. Your first few days will actually have you experiencing a heightened sex drive, which is why traditionally when my new High Priestesses were announced there was usually a sexual orgy that lasted most of the day, it was designed to get those sexual urges down to a more manageable level. Of course, that was when my worshippers numbered in the hundreds of thousands, for you it will only be one partner and intercourse will likely last several days. I recommend you drink lots of revitalizing fluids, like most of that fresh water you brought with you.”
“Is there a way to shorten it?”
“If you and your partner bathe in holy water for several days it might be enough to drop your time of extended intercourse down by a slightly noticeable margin. But to get holy water you need to be a properly ordained priestess, which as a goddess I can do by the time you wake up.”
“You know what, your offer doesn’t sound too bad. Do your followers have to give you offerings?”
“Prayers are usually all I really need, but I won’t accept blood offerings of any kind. I might be a dragon but I abhor the taking of life, especially the unnecessary kind, that probably also factored into why dragons chose to relegate me to a minor role.”
“Alright, I’ll be your High Priestess, besides I’m gonna need something to keep myself occupied once the final Daring Do book is published.”
“Excellent, your first task will be to increase my following, after you take care of what you need to with Spike.”
“Before we finish up here,” said Daring, “you’ve been watching Spike his entire life, how much of his infatuation with Rarity was your work?”
“None, I actually tried to steer him away from that overly long crush, I tried redirecting him towards her younger sister and the other fillies around the town. But that’s to be expected, I haven’t had the ability really influence dragons for far too long. I only recently regained the ability to influence dragons, like him. I took his respect for you and made it follow the proper progression towards romantic and sexual desires for you.”
*********************************
Daring woke up early that morning, she somehow knew instinctively the direction of a water source for bathing in. Using the holy powers her new priestess status granted her she blessed the waters and made them holy before bathing in them, after climbing out she blessed the waters another time.
After she got out of the water she noticed her bustline had enlarged again, she wanted to make her new bust size a bit of a surprise to Spike so she used her natural pegasus magic to keep her breast size close to the same it had been on the ride up. As she approached the camp she could sense Spike’s attention being on her as she drew near, she chose to pretend she hadn’t noticed, it would make things more fun that way. Spike’s awkward asking for the direction of the bathing pool was adorable, she couldn’t help having a little fun at his expense.
Daring was having trouble keeping her bust at a size that worked with her attire, everything was a little tight around her bosom, and she wasn’t used to using her natural magic to reduce her bustline. A little discomfort was going to be worth what was coming; her sexy smirk was hidden from Spike as she led him to the temple from the camp they set up a short ways off from the temple. Holding the idol replica, she knew instinctively what to do for a particular ritual, one that would help bring out Spike’s kinkier tendencies. Of course, the ritual would also do a few other things, like reveal the actual size of her bust.
Both she and Spike were in their expedition attire; she snickered to herself about how it would not be on them for long. Daring had actually been told the ritual by Zelshirska the night before, one that the dragon goddess had found most amusing in her time.
Chances were Spike was a little confused by her bust size, and would be even more once she finished setting up. Daring made sure Spike had the water and energy bars were within a reasonably close proximity to them, which he took to mean at the edge of the temple. Once they got started on this things would get interesting, very interesting. She told him it would be for the best if the crates were in the temple during their time there.
Just before heading to the temple Daring had Spike send a letter saying where she and Star Log had been living when she disappeared along with the circumstances around them. She then had him haul the crates to the temple, he didn’t ask why and probably had his own ideas about why he had to do so. Daring also got a bit of kick out of Spike doing what she asked, especially when she got glimpses of him without a shirt.
First thing Daring had Spike do once they were in the temple, which was remarkably well preserved for some reason, was have him wait in what she now knew as the ceremonial chamber, she had suspected as much when she had first found the artifact. Of course, at the time, she didn’t think she would be returning the way she was now.
Before continuing she had him bring the crates into the temple and prop them up at a space between the pedestal and the ritual chamber, which had sets of four columns suspiciously close to each other as if they were trying to imitate a wall. Looking around, it could be seen; the dividing repeated that aesthetic several times all around the area. The columns were more square than circular, although they did have rounded bases and tops. Spike was likely wondering about all that, but once she was finished with the beginnings of the ritual, he would be focused on something else entirely.
Daring licked her lips erotically, as well as subconsciously, as she made sure everything was ready for the ritual before she placed the idol and began positioning it. She would have to set the idol in twelve different positions, with the last position facing the ritual chamber.
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Spike watched Daring as she oriented the statue, he figured she was trying to determine the right way to have it face for her to try recreating a ritual they knew almost nothing about. Twilight’s books had come in handy, some of them actually detailed some ancient dragon rituals that were likely to have been used here with the idol.
During his observation he came to a startling revelation, she didn’t just look more prominent because of her bustline. Daring had gradually been increasing heightwise during their trek; he only hadn’t noticed it due to her “other” attractive qualities. But now that he thought about it, their heights were almost on par. When this whole thing started, she was just a little taller than Rainbow Dash, but that only brought her crown to about the same height as his lower chest. If he had been his current height when Twilight was a unicorn she would have been about there, her growth spurt when she ascended to alicorn put her eye level with his neck as of present. Princess Luna had her eye level with his mouth as of recent events, and he was actually a few inches shorter than Celestia. Cadance was just tall enough to have her head comfortably rest in the crook of his neck, much to the amusement of both Shining and Flurry. Flurry herself, now a legal adult of nineteen, only came up to about the center of his chest.
Of course, all thoughts about what the ritual would ultimately entail ended about forty minutes later when he found himself, literally, missing the outfit he had been wearing when they entered the temple. Daring half sauntered/half sashayed her way to him, also entirely in the nude. Spike wanted to say something, but it got caught in his throat as he saw Daring’s bust balloon from DDs to an H-Cup as she approached him. She had a sexy smirk that left no room for doubt she knew exactly what had happened. And for the first time in his life, Spike really didn’t care about the why when it came to the mare.
Spike could feel his penises getting hard, in almost no time he already had a pair of fully erected dragon dicks ready to go. “Just what kind of ritual did you do?” Spike inquired, also thinking that was his best choice of question under the circumstances.
“Just a little ritual to remove the attire of everyone in the complex, which just means you and me at the moment,” said Daring in a much more lusciously sexy voice than before. “You see, some recent events have made me very, very horny and I need my partner to drill and pound me back to a more manageable level.”
Spike realized what she was getting at; Daring wanted the two of them to have sexual intercourse, probably over an extended period of time. Thinking about it for a few seconds, Spike realized he was a little more than okay with that. After all, he had imagining getting in Daring’s pants since idol had been restored back in Ponyville. Now, she was telling him to go through with actually fucking her.
Spike was apprehensive, while wanted to do just that they were in an ancient temple, he didn’t want to defile it. “Are you sure this is where we should be doing that sort of thing? I mean, we are in a temple dedicated to an ancient goddess.”
“A goddess who is said to have reigned over fertility,” said Daring in her new sultry voice, Spike almost lost his load at that. Daring continued to advance, “This temple was erected in her honor, this ritual chamber was where the new priestesses and newly promoted priestesses engaged in sexual orgies to celebrate their positions in the faith. Celebrations, I might add, that lasted hours. I decided to take up Zelshirska’s offer, and it made it necessary to use this chamber. So, let’s see how long you can go with me. This is the reason I had the provisions brought in so close; chances are we might be needing them in the foreseeable future.”
Spike didn’t understand all of it, but he got enough of a gist to it to just go with it. He approached Daring and rammed her up against the wall-like columns that she had somehow managed to place behind her, slightly forcefully strategically, he heard the columns shiver but couldn’t hear any telltale sounds of cracking. Spike slid his rods into Daring, penetrating both her vagina and plot at the same time. He could feel his penis spines, which ironically were dull as a cotton ball, folding into Daring and feeling her body stimulate him in a manner that even his wet dreams fell short of emulating.
Spike knew he would be getting his twin, twenty-one inch long, dicks wet at some point, just not quite like this. The setup was ritualistic, and Daring even said this was all part of some religious ritual. He really didn’t care, he just wanted to keep going as long as she would let him, he would deal with the consequences later.
___________________________________________
Daring felt herself get slammed up against the columns as if Spike were forcing her up against a wall during sex, both his penises slid right into her wet and willing body. Each stud on his penises was like a bump of pure ecstasy moving deeper into her body. She could feel every inch of him moving further and further.
Daring was more than a little surprised she could take Spike was all the way up to the hilt, seeing as his twin rods were more significant than any ponies had a right to be. The most prominent a stallion could get regarding length was 18 inches, Spike’s monster cocks were each over twenty by the way they felt inside her. It was at this point Daring started thinking about how Spike’s twin rods were all hers and nopony else was allowed to have them.
Spike was pounding her with just enough force to keep her against the columns but not hurt her, her extremely lively and juicy looking breasts bouncing with energy during the whole thing was probably factor to the continued rhythm Spike was doing with their bodies. Daring’s screams and moans of pleasure during that early portion were perhaps a factor in his continued sexual approach to her.
Before either of them knew it, they were on the floor with Daring on top of Spike kissing him with such passion that the dancing their tongues did made the five-hour kiss they did on the train look like foals just learning the craft. The erotic dance of their tongues as they screwed each other caused both to moan erotically in each other’s mouth.
Daring could feel Spike releasing his load inside of her as they kissed, it sprayed all over the inside of her womb. She was pretty sure she had just gotten pregnant, Daring didn’t feel very worried by it, she was actually pretty excited. She had never really gotten to try her hand at motherhood, something she had regretted the past couple of decades. Daring had recently found herself wishing to pass her torch of adventure to the new generation; personally, the most direct way for that would be to have foals herself.
Before she knew it she had ended the kiss that lasted who knew how long and was screaming, “Yes, fill me with your seed, you marvelous drake, give me foals like none other. Make me pregnant with your progeny, let us show them what a true union of dragon and pony looks like.”
Spike just growled with ecstasy and continued to pump her. He was only partially aware of what he was doing, he had somehow found himself between his usual self and greed self. If he remembered any of this, he would have to ask Twilight for assistance in figuring it out.
Spike didn’t know how long it had been; chances were Daring didn’t either. When he finally snapped back to reality, the ambient light told him it was either sunset or sunrise, and to think they were still going at it with this sexual ritual. Speaking of which, Spike felt the presence of one of his dicks in Daring’s mouth, the softness of her lips and inner structure of her mouth was erotically stimulating.
When Spike looked down, he saw Daring Do happily sucking his massive joystick while also orienting the other at her body for some reason. He could feel another set of loads building up; he had completely lost track of how often he had been letting loose his spooge. Chances were he had impregnated Daring, and he vaguely recalled her screaming something about wanting that very thing in the throes of ecstasy.
When his loads were unleashed he was treated to a sight he would have never imagined, that he found extremely hot. Daring gulping down his cum while making sure his cum covered her front, starting with the top of her massive juggs going all the way in an enormous ellipse that ended in a way to make it look like she was showing off her waist as if she was wearing some partially formed belly shirt that was incredibly erotic. It was almost like she had tried, and deliberately failed, to make a sensual bikini.
Spike only had one question that escaped his mouth, “Why did you do that?”
“You already marked my insides,” said Daring in a sultry voice followed by an erotic lick of her lips, “it’s only fair you mark my outside as well.”
Spike lost awareness after that, waking up in the midst of taking Daring from behind with her arms braced against a set of the wall-like columns and breasts shaking with a sexy rhythm as he pounded her. He felt thirsty, really thirsty, but he didn’t want to stop drilling Daring. He slapped her plot in frustration, causing her elicit an erotic moan.
____________________________________
Daring thought she had seen one cycle of sunset and sunrise but wasn’t sure due to the extreme ecstasy flooding her system. At one point she had gulped Spike’s cum while also spraying it across most of her front, which she only vaguely recalled doing.
When Spike asked her why she had done it she had said something about him marking her inside and out; she was still only vaguely aware of what she was saying and doing. The only things she seemed entirely focused on were sexually pleasing Spike and the taste of his semen in her mouth, in addition to its intoxicating musky scent it had a burning sweet feel in her mouth. The sensation burned like cinnamon, was sweeter than honey, felt richer than chocolate could ever be, had a saltiness that was more enjoyable than a bag of nuts and had an aftertaste that reminded her of honey mixed with chocolate and salty caramel.
The musk of his semen was beyond intoxicating; it had all her favorite scents. It smelled like honeyed apples coated in a mix of rich dark chocolate and salty caramel with a hint of cinnamon. Before she knew what she was doing she was riding his rods again, the pleasure they induced made ecstasy seem inadequate, and she was intimately kissing him again. Their bodies danced around the room to an unheard melody while their tongues danced to an entirely different erotic tune.
This room ceased to be the ancient temple’s ritual chamber; it was her private dancehall with Spike. A place they were free to dance the way they had always wanted, regardless of what anypony else said. Before she knew it, her legs were wrapped around his waist as they continued to move about the room in their erotic dance. As they continued around the room she could feel Spike wiping some of his spunk off her breast, an act that also felt like he was delightfully rough in fondling it.
_________________________________________
Spike couldn’t believe the ravenousness of Daring’s sexual behavior, and he also couldn’t believe how hot he thought it was. Before he knew it, she had her legs wrapped around his waist and was kissing him with an erotic passion; his legs danced around the room while his cocks were firmly rooted in her, with their tongues dancing around their mouths. Almost instinctively, Spike wiped some of his splooge from her right breast, an act that caused an erotic moan from her in his mouth. As if she knew what he was going ask, she broke their immensely intimate kiss and licked his cream of the hand presented her and gulped it down; he shot a load from each of his rods at the sight. He repeated the process with her left breast, to the exact same response.
_______________________________________
After another load release inside her Daring felt Spike pull out, she really didn’t want that in her euphoric state. That is until he started sucking on one breast while fondling the other, her pleasure shot so far that her bliss brought her to the point of a hazy clarity. Daring didn’t know how, seeing as this was not something pegasi could do and she had not been informed she should be able to do with her new priestess status, but she realized she could fill her juggs with milk.
Daring filled her breasts with rich, creamy milk and watched in bliss as Spike tried to drink it up. Spike was alternating between her breasts, trying to down as much of her fresh fluid as possible. It was as if Daring was in a state of transcended bliss.
Suddenly Daring heard the voice of Zelshirska say, “Well, I’ve never had any priestess ever do that trick, I’m glad you accepted my offer. Your reasons why are of no real concern to me, but this is probably the most intense anointing ritual I’ve seen in ages, seeing as you’ve been at it for the past four days. I’m surprised neither of you is feeling dehydrated, considering how long you’ve been at it without a break. You’re going to be downing a lot of water when this is over. You more than him, since you’re literally feeding him a drink. I didn’t expect you to give me this much energy over such a short amount of time. I look forward to your next endeavor as my liaison to the mortal realm.”
It was shortly after this that Daring seemingly blacked out. She could still feel Spike against her as she slipped into a world of black.
********************************************
Daring came to in the middle of downing a bottle of water, a quick look around her as she drank told her that she had downed five bottles prior. She spotted Spike a short ways off from her, in a small nest of water bottles and energy bar wrappers. Looking at her hooves, Daring noticed a moderately sized pile of wrappers for the energy bars they had brought intermingled with a few more water bottles in proximity to herself. That was probably the best first time having sex the two had ever had, likely to be their best sex ever, pity they mostly remembered it in pieces.
Daring suddenly realized she was still lactating, she hadn’t figured out how to turn her milk production off. She could hear Zelshirska laughing in all corners of her head; the dragon goddess apparently thought this was hilarious. Looking down at herself, Daring noticed her front was mostly cleared of Spike’s spunk. She could still smell the intoxicating aroma of his spunk, but it wasn’t driving her to wild acts of sex anymore.
Well, since she was the new High Priestess of a fertility goddess and had just consummated with Spike she figured they were now officially married, she’d tell him on the ride home.
_____________________________________________
Spike felt like he had a hangover, the small nest of water bottles and energy bars made him feel like he had probably gone a little too far. That was one fantastic way to lose your virginity, even if he could only remember pieces of the whole thing. Looking over at Daring, he saw he hadn’t been hallucinating, she really was taller and genuinely did have a pair of H-Cups on her chest. An image of her massaging his poles with her massive juggs flashed through his head, followed by a scene of him double nipple fucking her massive mammaries for a few seconds before getting sprayed out by her milk.
Looking over at the ritual chamber he saw puddles of cum in some places, pools of her milk in others and two corners had puddles composed of cum and her milk. They had used the chamber for its intended purpose, which didn’t stop him from wanting to clean it despite having nothing to clean it with.
For a moment he entertained the idea of having Daring going through the whole chamber cleaning it with her tongue, he shook the thought from his mind. That would be a waste of her tongue, it would ruin the incredible kisses she gives, Spike thought. “How long did we go at it?” inquired Spike as he picked up his nest of trash and moved to drop it in one of the crates.
“Five or six days, I think,” said Daring, shuffling all her trash into the nearest crate as well, “we kind of lost track of time in the throes of passion.”
“I’ll say, you were really ravenous. Of course, it was in the best way possible. I didn’t know pegasi could do that milk thing with their breasts; I know they can have some measure of control over their breast size using their natural magics.”
“Pegasi can’t do the thing with breast milk,” said Daring, “it seems to be an ability I acquired due to my agreement with Zelshirska. That crazy dragoness is laughing at me right now.”
It took Spike a moment for to let it sink in, Daring’s more dramatic changes had come from a deal with Zelshirska. Spike wondered what her reasoning for it could be; he had a good idea why he was her partner. He was suddenly fearing the repercussions, if not from Daring then several of the other mares in his life.
Spike had sent word to Twilight that they needed to have a ride home, he also firmly insisted they have a private car again. Spike felt goofy, in a really good way, when his mind jumped back to Daring pressing her tatas against his chest. It wasn’t often a pegasus had abnormally large breasts as their default, the only other one he could think of was Fluttershy, and even she had a smaller default bustline than Daring currently had.
Spike had just engaged in sexual relations with Daring Do, in a sort of sex marathon he was both hoping and dreading would occur again at some point in the future. It would be a while before their ride was ready, thankfully they had a multi-day hike while that happened. Daring was still very much a mare of action, she probably wouldn’t faze out of that for a while, and didn’t like having nothing to do.
They decided that they’d just put all their gear and equipment in Daring’s former tent, which seemed reasonable considering what they just finished getting through. Daring and Spike were now sharing a tent, resulting in them having several rounds of sex in the morning to wake each other up and just before going to sleep, sometimes falling asleep while in the middle of intercourse with one another. Thankfully, their rounds of sex usually lasted between twenty minutes to an hour, occasionally going up to two hours. And bathing usually consisted of the two together instead of separate, which also had a tendency to include three to twelve minutes of fornicating with each other.
But hey, there were less enjoyable ways to spend a ten-day hike back to civilization. Surprisingly, they still managed to beat the train to the station. Daring was having real trouble keeping her tatas contained, mostly due to a combination of just letting them hang loose with her going completely topless (of which Spike very much approved) around the camp and just being unused to using her pegasus magic to reduce her bust size.
Almost as soon as they were fully loaded into the train car and had its door closed Daring removed her top and let her default breasts hang free as she went through the rest of her work on the ride back, after pulling Spike into another ten-minute erotic kiss before getting down to work. She allowed Spike to look over the unfinished manuscript while she wrote the newer pieces, his assistance proved almost as rewarding as he felt inside her. Before long she was done with Daring Do and the Dragon Totem, Daring decided the title having idol would probably prompt the artist to draw something so suggestive that they’d hold the book’s release back on until the image was changed but by having the word “totem” the artist would be able to draw something that could get on the shelves in the time Daring wanted it to. In the story, she introduced a little dragon assistant, a preferable change on Spike’s part that he outright insisted upon. The story, of course, ended with Daring Do retiring from the life due to personal complications.
Of course, if they found out she was physically half her real age all over again there would be no end the series, Daring very much wanted the set with her as the star to end. She was all tapped out in the adventuring department; she wanted to devote herself to the next phase of her life. Which, amusingly enough, was trying to revive the worship of an ancient dragon goddess while also trying to raise a family.
Daring felt like she was letting down her sister, but she had spent most of her life looking for clues that could tell her the whereabouts of Star Log. Besides, Star would have told her to stop and devote herself to other pursuits. She would have felt it an even more significant failing to betray her sister’s spirit and memory than she let on. In a way, the events triggered by the idol had given her the chance to live up to an ideal her sister set. Daring was headed into a new life, one that really started to get up and go with the effects of the ritual.
Daring could tell she was pregnant, but she wouldn’t be showing for a few more weeks. She liked the idea of being a mother, hoping to be able to pass the torch to a worthy successor. Daring still missed her sister and would do everything she could to learn about her whereabouts, but she also had to try and live her life in a way her sister would have wanted her to. Daring chuckled to herself as she passed the last of her manuscript to Spike for him to proofread, Star Log would have probably gotten her to stop long before now and have them playing consultant to whoever it was that was that succeeded them hunting treasures.
_______________________________________
Surprisingly, neither of them tried for sex on the train. The long train ride was passed by their recollecting of what they did during the ritual and lot of erotic kissing. Spike really liked Daring’s sensual kisses, the way their tongues danced with each other really turned him on. Aside from kissing Daring he also played with her breasts and plot, at her insistence, during the ride back to Ponyville.
When they neared Ponyville Daring made herself more socially acceptable, much to Spike’s annoyed amusement. The thought of Daring telling Rarity she needed a new wardrobe then spilling out her massive juggs before the fashionista brought a smile to Spike’s face with an amused chuckle.
Also on the ride down, both of them filed “official” reports to give the princesses, along with “unofficial” reports to give them as well. Spike got a kick out of the unofficial reports, mostly because he saw it as an excuse to talk about his recent sexual encounters in detail and make his family feel a little uneasy. With occasional erotic kissing breaks, they kept their meals within arm’s reach so as to not interrupt their writing flows.
“Oh, and before I forget,” said Daring, not looking up from her writing, “we’re basically married now.”
“Well if we weren’t my whole family would insist on it, especially with how much intercourse we had,” responded Spike, “besides, being the priestess of an ancient deity probably gives you that rite.”
“Actually,” Daring said nonchalantly, “I’m her new High Priestess.” Spike almost ruined the parchment he was using to write a letter to Celestia giving a very brief overview of the expedition.
“But you told everypony she offered you the chance to be one of her new priestesses.”
“Technically, that is true,” said Daring with a saucy tone, that Spike was sure had been paired with an equally saucy smirk, but he wouldn’t know for sure since he was focusing his sight on his work. “I just left out the part of the offer for being her highest ranking priestess.”
When the train pulled into the station it was a bit of a surprise Twilight, and her friends were there, as were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. It wasn’t until they were securely in one of the private chambers of the castle that Cadance said, “I want all the juicy details, tell me everything.”
“I doubt you want to know the details of a week-long sex marathon that also served as the ending point of my virginity,” snarked Spike, “or the numerous erotic kisses Daring gave me on the train to and from our destination.” As predicted Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity all had their faces go to scarlet then crimson in embarrassment.
“Maybe we should look at the reports,” said Twilight in an attempt to get away from the embarrassing matters.
“Official or Unofficial?” Daring queried with an amused smirk, still feeling constrained from what Spike could see.
“What’s the difference?” Rainbow inquired.
“The official report is the one to be released to the populace while the unofficial is more detailed with things that are best kept from the populace,” said Daring, Spike noticed a bit of a saucy smirk on her face when she provided that info.
Cadance and Luna requested a look at the unofficial report while Twilight and Celestia requested the official report. For Twilight it was to cut down on the potential mental scarring, the less she knew about Spike’s potential sexual escapades, the better. Celestia took the official reports more in line with the fact she would likely be handing out their copies; she was far more interested in the unofficial reports. Of course, what Celestia really wanted to know got blurted by an ecstatic Cadance a few minutes into reading.
“She went at it with you that long?” Cadance said with a kind of glee that scared Twilight so much that the violet alicorn was confused on whether she should go red from embarrassment or white with fear, and managing to do a miraculous job of both at the same time, making her go amusingly pink as Cadance for a moment. “Shining could never go that long, even with a little help from me during some of our more intimate moments.”
“Okay, wow,” said Rainbow, “it sounds like they went at it a long time. How long did they go at it?”
“As far as we can tell,” said Spike, “somewhere between five and eight days, with no breaks.”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide as she looked between the two several moments before saying, “Most of my partners can’t even go at it with me for more than an hour and a half, the longest being just under three hours.”
“That sounds like our wake up and good night routine on the way to the station,” said Daring with no sense of shame at the admission.
“Oh, come on,” exclaimed Rainbow, “not only is Daring Do one of the most awesome ponies ever to be out there, but now I have to find out Spike is awesome in the sack, repeatedly, with no signs of slowing down. So unfair! I could have tapped that before all this, and circumstances conspired against me. I could have had the most awesome intimate moments, ever.”
Desperately wanting to switch subjects Twilight said, “Speaking of which, where are Shiny and Flurry?”
“Back home, I ‘insisted’ Shining give Flurry some self-defense lessons today, but they’ll be in tomorrow. I thought the train for these two,” she gestured to Spike and Daring, “wouldn’t get in until tomorrow, I thought I’d have some free time to connect with Twilight while we waited. Also, Daring, you have got to teach me your kissing technique, I haven’t heard of a kiss this lively before.”
Daring turned her attention to Spike, “Would you take offense?”
“I’m not sure,” said Spike, clearly picking up on what Daring was implying, “Cadance is family, and that causes some moral dilemmas in this sort of situation, but there’s a side of me screaming for you to go for it. I’m just worried it will be too awkward, for Twi and me.”
“Oh, it’s going to be a lot more than that,” said Daring with a sexy smirk and saucy tone, this caused Spike’s barriers to crumble and give her a thumbs up.
“What did she mean by…” Twilight started but stopped when Daring came right up to Cadance and gave her a three-minute long kiss, full mouth, and tongue, “oh dear, Celestia, I really don’t know how to feel about this.” Everyone else just stared at the two in surprise, except Rainbow who instead gave a holler that sounded between victory and excitement of a different sort, followed by a double fist pump.
“Well,” said Cadance when they came out of the kiss, “thanks for the experience, I think I know what to do with that. Spike wasn’t joking; it really was like our tongues were dancing to some unheard song.” Twilight started to get hot with embarrassment, her sister-in-law just got kissed by one of her favorite novel characters, and it was full force reality and not some saucy fanfiction she had stashed under her bed, of course in her 'totally-hypothetical-story' the kiss didn’t last nearly as long.
“Twilight probably got off on that more you think,” said Spike with a smirk, “she had a small collection of self-written ‘Princesses of Equestria’ fanfiction stashed under her bed. One of which involved a romantic subplot between Cadance and Daring Do, granted she wrote that story about a month after the Tree of Harmony gave her the castle…”
“Spike,” yelled Twilight in embarrassed frustration, “you weren’t supposed to tell anypony about that.” Twilight was now sporting a scarlet blush that took over her entire head and horn. “Besides, it’s not like you two are married.”
“Actually,” said Luna and Celestia at the same time.
Luna chose to defer to her older sister, Celestia graciously nodded to her younger sister before continuing. “According to these reports they technically are, seeing as Daring took up Zelshirska’s offer to be her High Priestess a few days prior to the ritual she and Spike performed completely without the clothing they arrived at the temple in.”
Luna chuckled before filling in the blanks, “According to Daring’s documentation their ritualistic intercourse would usually last about a day, but that was with a small congregation of followers joining in, for them it was about a week, and she went into extensive detail about everything she recalls from the event. Of course, she also experienced another increase in breast size on the hike up.”
“How much?” Inquired Rarity, “I’m sure it wasn’t all that great, seeing as last time she admitted to going from a B-Cup to a DD-Cup after the idol was restored.”
As a response, Daring just tore off her top and let her new H-Cups do the talking for her. Twilight and her friends, along with Cadance just gawked for a few minutes, Celestia and Luna were surprisingly smirking along with Spike. “Yeah, I tapped that, a lot,” said Spike while everyone else just stared.
His statement pulled Twilight out of her state of surprise to go, “Ew, gross, I did not need to hear that, I do not want to think about anything sexual my little brother has been up to. Wait, how did I not noticed this? Daring Do is also taller.”
“Probably as part of the series of arrangements to make her a more compatible with Spike,” said Celestia, “it’s not often a pegasus grows to such height,” seemingly undistracted by Daring’s bosom. Of course, Celestia has the most significant bust in Equestria, and her M-Cups were often a source of envy for many a unicorn or earth pony. Luna wasn’t far behind with her marvelously luscious L-Cups, easily surpassing the bust size of most unicorns and earth ponies. Cadance was the one with the third most abundant bustline with her impressive K-Cups, she sometimes joked their cup size was because of all the kissing involved with her talent. But Twilight had yet to become such a source of envy by her subjects. Her figure was barely changed from the time she was a unicorn, and her bustline had only jumped from the C-Cups she sported as a unicorn to a set of FFF-Cups, giving her a slightly more prominent bustline than that sported Fleur Dis Lee in her prime.
“Well, I’m just surprised her attire managed to fit so well, given all the changes her body recently went through,” said Rarity.
“I decided to forgo the undergarments,” said Daring in a teasing voice, this caused Twilight and Fluttershy to go red with Rarity doing her best to hide her discomfort behind a polite cough, Rainbow Dash just smirked, and Applejack did a facepalm.
Once again Daring was in the buff on the pedestal in Carousel Boutique, this time she more comfortable with her figure. Rarity was somewhere between annoyed and impressed as she took Daring’s new measurements. After taking all Daring's measurements down, while muttering about dramatic body shifts being only something only changelings should be capable of, Rarity asked her usual question about what her customer wanted concerning aesthetics, Daring’s answer gave her more than a little pause.
“I’m going to need three different sets of attire,” said Daring, already making the fashionista uneasy and excited at the same time, “casual, formal, and ceremonial. Since it would be too much of a hassle to for the attire to be concealing the Formal and Casual attire will have to be strategically revealing, with the formal attire being more appropriate for high society functions.” “Very reasonable,” said Rarity, “and the casual attire will be a bit more free in what is revealing, seeing as you want to show off as much of figure as possible.”
“A correct association,” said Daring, “feel free to put my mark on the casual attire anywhere you deem appropriate, but the formal and ceremonial attire will require Zelshirska’s mark to be placed on them, I am technically the new face of the faith.”
“Also understandable,” said Rarity, “what about the ceremonial attire?” It was at this point her daughter had returned home and entered the workroom to see how she could assist her mother, which meant there was no way for her little angel to unhear what Daring said next.
“It’s going to need to be extra revealing, likely bordering on a fetishwear motif.”
“I don’t know what kind of ceremonies you’re going to be doing, but they’ll definitely draw a crowd,” said Rarity’s daughter, “I might even consider joining up.”
“You’re definitely not old enough for even seeing those sorts of ceremonies, let alone participating in any,” said Rarity in chastising tone to her daughter. “Ms. Do made an agreement with an ancient dragon deity, and I think her agreement opened her up for being a bit more scandalous than anticipated.”
“Well,” said Daring, “considering she is a fertility deity, ceremonial attire that shows off the female figure while enticing males is well within the purview of her clergy.”
“But to shamelessly objectify your own body,” said Rarity, “willingly, is going a bit too far.”
“Well,” said Daring, “that’s not quite accurate, it only seems that way because of the cultural expectations and norms you’ve been raised with. The ceremonial attire follows different sort of societal expectations; it also has more to do with the fact many of the more notable ceremonies could potentially involve sexual orgies, clothing is just an accessory at that point. The less likely the ceremonial garb is to be ruined during that time the better. Although, I anticipate very few will be wearing anything at all by that time.”
Rarity and her daughter both went scarlet at the thought, “You would shamelessly do that sort of thing in the middle of town?” Rarity said with indignation.
“Well, not any of the currently established communities,” said Daring, “it would be more reasonable, practical, and convenient to have an entire town built around the faith. I’m sure Spike is laying out the groundwork and hammering out the starting details with the princesses now.”
“I’m not sure they would go for a town where public indecency is the norm.”
“It’s all a matter of what you believe is socially acceptable,” said Daring, “I found myself in the buff quite often on my adventures.”
“Yes,” said Rarity, “most of which time was spent away from an established populace.”
“Details,” said Daring, “minor details. I say that because I did find some communities out in the wilds where clothes really were considered barely more than an accessory, in fact, the ponies I got directions to the temple from the first time were a bit like that. Establishing a community around such things would allow for a means of observation for those interested in study and chance at experience for those interested in practicing. We’re going to have to find a good place for it though, hence why Spike is likely starting the discussion.”
“I can’t believe somepony asked mom to effectively make them a large order of fetish attire,” said Aubretia, “I’m not going to let her live it down anytime soon.”
Rarity just groaned, in a less than ladylike fashion, and just went to work on the designs, the sooner she got this out of the way the sooner she could make a go at putting it behind her. She then remembered a part of their conversation, “Just what is Zelshirka’s mark?”
Daring didn’t even have to think about it, mostly because it was practically stamped into her mind the moment she became a priestess, “A pair of intertwined dragon tails that have their spaces between make a heart formation and what looks like a rolled up scroll at the point where their tips part ways. The tails are coming in an upward direction.”
“Oh, thank you,” said Rarity, “we can do a lot with this sigil,” after making a legible sketch of the mark in question she passed off to her daughter, who showed great delight in being given the responsibility of handling something so important. “But seriously, you want your ceremonial attire to look like fetishwear? That seems a bit,” Rarity paused for a few seconds, looking for the right tactful word, “ostentatious.”
“It’s actually more of a template for the ceremonial attire. The ceremonial attire is meant to display the female figure in a way that is open and empowering while fully displaying the glory of physical form itself. So yes, having my bosom hanging free for all to see is probably a bit more risque than one might expect but it’s mostly for sermons, ceremonies, and religious events. Those religious events and ceremonies are mostly lost to time, so we’ll be doing our best to create new ones in the spirit of the faith if we can’t find any that we can somehow recreate.”
“I’m just worried about the kinds of ponies you’ll have running around in a place like that, given your admission that the attire will usually lean towards revealing.”
“There might even be cases where attire is omitted entirely by some residents. As I said, one of the tenants that is to be expressed is comfort in one’s own body.” Daring tactically decide to omit that she was going to have a rule that only those who were of the priestesses would be the only ones permitted to wear attire, and remarkably revealing at that, during sermons and religious events. In other words, churchgoers would be required to attend services without any clothes.
Spike had figured he would be discussing having a private open space to just be himself; he just hadn’t thought it would evolve into talking about establishing a new town. He and Daring hadn’t really discussed the idea, but he figured it was a logical step now that she was a priestess to a deity whose presence hadn’t really been felt for ages. Spike snickered mentally at the thought of a clothing store that catered to the customers with attire that would likely get them arrested in any other part of the country. He had a few ideas he’d have run by Daring, but he could at least lay the groundwork.
The first thing they needed to find was a mass of land that nopony was using or had claim to, preferably in a location that none of the princesses would object to. Chances were anywhere unconcealed would earn a vote against the site from Twilight, the rest were hard to say much on really. Celestia was pretty open to where ponies wanted to build new communities, so long as their claims didn’t clash too fiercely with another party. Luna was always up for new communities springing up, especially if there were foals she could shower adoration on. Cadance would likely not object, so long as it was a place ponies could enjoy the forming of intimate bonds with each other.
Spike figured Luna and Cadance would get the biggest kick out of the community, mostly because it would not have the same societal expectations found in most of Equestria. Celestia probably wouldn’t have a problem with a new kind of community like that either. His real problem was getting Twilight to go for it in a manner that didn’t cause her to impose massive restrictions on the town. Besides, he was just the guy pitching the idea; Daring was the one who would have a more detailed plan.
After gathering his thoughts, and the princesses around a conference table, Spike said, “Seeing as Daring has made a rather dramatic life choice, which we have yet to learn more details on, chances are she is at least considering trying to build a community around her new religious doctrines. It would probably be in Equestria’s best interest to provide a safe place and materials to start the whole thing. Think of it as a social experiment, the revival of a lost religion and a community built around it. Granted, some of the societal obligations and expectations would be a little different but that’s kind of the point of social experiments.”
Twilight let out a sigh before saying, “While I am interested in exploring this social experiment, I also have concerns about just what kind of culture shock it might induce. If visiting dignitaries happen to visit the site, upon their request, and are not properly warned beforehand we could have an international incident on our hands faster than we think. And that’s not even taking into account of somepony unfamiliar with the establishment of the community just blundering in a lost and/or confused state.”
“I appreciate your concerns, Twilight,” said Celestia, “they are valid, but we don’t want to isolate the community too much. Doing so might leave them at a disadvantage should some terrible incident come to pass in the area we set them down. By the same token, we can not leave them too close for the observation of neighboring communities since some of the practices they could employ may very well clash with the sensibilities of some of the more influential members of those communities. That all said, I am very eager to see what a community built around this dragon goddess could be like.”
“Freedom of expression is always of great importance,” said Luna, “it is what allows ponies to discover themselves and their talents. Seeing a community that does not follow within the accepted norms of Equestria’s communities is something I am very interested in seeing for myself.”
“This dragon goddess is very much similar to myself in some regards,” said Cadance, “maybe placing it near the Crystal Empire would be a good choice.”
“I’m pretty sure she’ll want somewhere that won’t be inhospitable for ponies most of the time,” said Spike, “and placing it in the Crystal Empire might a bit of a problem. Seeing as we will likely want the community to have minimal outside interference or reliance for the first few years. Maybe placing it in the forest just shy of the Frozen North, that way it’s close the Crystal Empire and out of sight for most of Equestria, with the added bonus of having some raw materials readily available.”
“That could work,” said Cadance, “as an extra precaution only the Crystal Empire would have an express lane to the community; since I am recommending observation of the community fall mainly to the Crystal Empire.”
“Now, wait just a moment,” said Twilight, “why do you get prime rights to the new community? Spike has lived with me the longest, and legally he’s registered as Celestia’s son. Either one of us could be a better pick.”
“You’re still getting used to governing more than Ponyville and its surrounding area,” said Celestia, “while Luna and I have pressing concerns with Equestria as a whole. Cadance has admitted more than a few times that the Crystal Empire is more than capable of running itself with minimal input from the royal family. Not to mention, Spike will be a founding member of this new community, and he is seen as a significant figure in the Crystal Empire.”
“Besides,” said Cadance, “it’s mainly an express rail, it’s main duty will be to ship goods and services to and from the Crystal Empire, and having one railway in and out of the community will help with the early security concerns. We’ll be able to screen ponies going to and from the Community on their way to Equestria as a whole, which will allow us to help them remember what’s socially acceptable at home and abroad. Not to mention, this faith would also see the Crystal Heart as an important artifact. Having the community have a direct line to the Crystal Empire just makes more sense.”
Twilight heaved another sigh, “I know, it’s just frustrating that Spike is moving out of the castle. After living with him for so long, it kind of feels like he’s leaving me.”
“You knew it was bound to happen sooner or later,” said Luna, “at least this way you’ll be able to keep track of where he is. What you should be more concerned about is what Daring plans to name the community, we’re pretty sure it will make a few ponies confused or even blush.”
“She’s right you know,” said Spike, “on both accounts. I was actually planning on talking with all of you of finding my own personal space, but this whole Daring thing came up, and as a result, this makes things more engaging for all of us. When everything is ironed out things will get interesting, Daring will probably put out a call for anypony interested in giving the faith a shot. Oh, and before I forget, Daring and I are both pretty sure she’s pregnant now.”
An excitedly energetic squee erupted from Cadance’s mouth, it seemed she was more than a little excited at the possibility of babies. Resuming a more composed stature, but still sporting a massive grin of joy, Cadance said, “So, the establishment of the community is also a place for Daring and you to raise your foals together. Won’t that distract from her other duties?”
“Surprisingly, No,” said Spike, “she wouldn’t be much of an advocate for a fertility goddess without a few ‘examples’ to show potential followers. She’s also really looking forward to motherhood, says her old adventuring life caused the opportunity to slip away once and she doesn’t intend to let it repeat into a pattern.”
“Opportunities of the nature Daring has experienced do not happen all too often,” said Luna, “they have a way of making one reconsider their priorities.”
“Well that’s all fine and good,” huffed Twilight, with a hidden smile of her own, “we should probably lay the groundwork for the rules concerning the way we deal with as much of the negative backlash that is sure to come. And that’s not even taking into account the things we’re going to have to work on before all this gets started, like the events surrounding her decision to have her alias retire and disappear, there are massive legal repercussions we will definitely have to deal with.”
“Not to mention her publishers will likely not want to end the series, it’s one of their most profitable.” Said Luna, “of course that style of distribution has been on the decline the past few years, but ponies established in that business before the trend shift want to hold on to their established business as much as possible.”
“True,” said Twilight, “and having the series end would force them to look for other options, I’m sure Daring herself is agonizing on how to cut it all off. She’ll want the continued royalties on the series, it’s basically her personal funds and will likely go a long way towards a down payment on some of the first facilities for the community she is planning.”
Daring looked over her manuscript; it had been proofread by Spike and Twilight a dozen times, officially. Unofficially Rainbow Dash had read through the document fifteen times. Her biggest problem was how to word things, so her publisher didn’t come looking for ‘A.K. Yearling’ when all was said and done. She could just have official reports of her passing on after finishing the manuscript, but then she wouldn’t the royalties from the finished product’s sale.
Thankfully, Ponyville’s park was an excellent place for a pony to gather their thoughts, especially since there were very few ponies in the park. To her delighted surprise, ponies in this town didn’t really care who she was, or just didn’t recognize her thanks to the considerable changes she had gone through since finding the idol. Despite the relaxing atmosphere the park presented, Daring still had a nearly impossible time getting her mind off her worries. If there was one thing Daring knew about the publishing house that produced and distributed copies of her work, it was they weren’t above trying to take a more significant cut when they thought they could get away with it. She had, thankfully, established a series of bylines in her contract with them that stated if they ever tried to stiff her they were legally liable for what came next, but that would be voided if they were under the assumption she was deceased.
Daring had been using the gains she got from the book series to finance her expeditions, while also keeping a little in reserve for emergencies. Just as she used a pseudonym as an author, she also used an alias with her bank, a moniker that the publishers were probably partially aware of. As a means of keeping things less traceable by those she had built up antagonistic relations with on her journeys she got all of her proceeds sent to a mailbox under an alias with the one it was written to kept blank, the publishers thought she was being paranoid when it all started. They were less concerned with that and saw it was basically their best selling series.
They had even tried investigating “A.K. Yearling” to find out how their checks to her were being handled, and Daring had caught onto the dozen or so private investigators they had sent to spy on her pretty early on. She had fun giving the PIs the runaround, even if it was annoying most of the time, a few times were even dull.
To make matters worse, Daring couldn’t just show up at the facility and announce the series was officially over, especially given her new figure. Daring hated that she had to rely on others to do this particular legwork, but she had little choice in the matter. Princess Twilight would probably be the best option for this endeavor, given her closeness to Daring at for the time being and understanding of codes and systems that most ponies took little to no interest in. Princess Celestia would probably be another good choice, but given her almost nonexistent rapport with the Alicorn of the Sun and the fact that said alicorn was busy ruling over Equestria most of the time that didn’t seem like a good option.
Daring hoped that when Twilight went to speak with the publishers things didn’t get too out of hand; chances were Twilight would probably try and negotiate for ownership of her unpublished manuscript the publishers likely still had somewhere.
This situation was going to be tricky. As long as everypony stuck to the script they should be fine, Twilight was very good at adhering to a script. Thankfully, Daring had thought enough ahead to provide Twilight with a, surprisingly long, list of potential responses the publishers might have. Daring needed as much of clean break from her A.K. Yearling persona as possible, while still managing to get some new income from the last official book in the series.
If the publishers didn’t adhere to her terms, then she had actually prepared a form that had all the legal power to remove the publishers from their hold on the series. If they weren’t will to accept that this was the final book by A.K. Yearling, then she’d just turn over the rights to one of the princesses.
The princesses being in on why she was redirecting everything was as much of a help as it was a hindrance. But desperate times called for drastic measures. The publishing house Daring used wouldn’t relinquish one of their leading money makers so easily; Daring had even informed them with her last book that the one to follow would be the final novel of the official series. Chances are they wouldn’t care that the next Daring Do book was fully intended by the author to be the last, considering how she chose to end said book.
Daring couldn’t come face to face with them now as A.K. Yearling, even if she could disguise her age with cunning makeup work she wouldn’t be able to hide her new figure. While Daring as she was now was one to want to show off her form at almost any given opportunity, this was one case when her former figure was required.
Zelshirska was very much aware of the dilemma she had put Daring in, but it was against the rules of the divine to revoke gifts given to mortals if they have yet to violate their terms of agreement. Daring was just beginning her mission; it was poor form to take back what was given before they could actually start with their mission statement. Daring and Zelshirska needed some new options.
It was at around this time Pinking was bouncing by, her tight yellow shorts did an excellent job of emphasizing her toned partially bubbly rear, and her surprisingly loose fitting sky blue shirt did the same for her bosom. Her mark stamped firmly on the right rear bumper and left breast of her attire.
“Hey Dary, whatcha doin’?” said Pinkie in her usual cheery voice.
Daring sighed in annoyance, “I’m trying to figure out how to cut ties with the publishing house while still getting the royalties for the final book in the series. I just know they’re going to want a face to face with ‘A.K. Yearling’ but I can’t exactly do so with my new figure, I barely look like the old me at this point. My new frame is barely enough to support my new assets properly, but I’ve surprisingly not had any back issues since they grew the first or second times, it’s almost as if something about my anatomy finds my new funbags not worth noticing.”
“Maybe one of your bonuses was a divine gift not to suffer ill effects associated with changes to your figure, anything else we should know?”
“I’m pretty sure Spike knocked me up, I can practically feel myself growing pregnant. It’ll probably be a few weeks before I start showing, and a few months before it’s more evident.”
Pinkie got a little giddy; it wasn’t very often she got a warning about when foals were going to be born. These were extra special foals, not just because they were foals of a pony and dragon but because they were going to be Spike’s. The fact that the mother-to-be happened to be Daring Do was just a little bonus in Pinkie’s mind, and her friends got top billing when it came to her priorities, always.
Pinkie had actually read the unofficial report a couple dozen times, by both Daring and Spike. Daring’s new attire for the day was a pair of blue shorts and a form-fitting green shirt; it was evident she didn’t have a bra but did at least did have panties. It was also apparent her clothing was more of a rush job, which meant it was something Rarity threw together for Daring to wear while she worked on the real attire. Most ponies wouldn’t notice, but Pinkie certainly did, that Daring was more than a little uncomfortable in her attire.
“So,” said Pinkie, “that’s the manuscript for the next, and last, Daring Do book.”
“Yeah,” said Daring with a bit of annoyance, “Spike and Twilight did some proofreading to make sure the wording wasn’t too confusing, Rainbow Dash snuck a few peaks at the unpublished work as well, but I’m still worried.”
“How come?”
“Chances are the publishers are going to want a face to face with ‘A.K. Yearling’, which is something I can’t exactly give them in my current state. I can’t exactly throw on my guise and trot right in for that sort of thing; my new figure kind makes that a bit more than tricky.”
“Ooh, good point,” said Pinkie, suddenly getting a lite serious, “and negotiating through proxy is also not something that doesn’t tend to bode well… What if you had Twilight help with that, she’s a genius in the ways of magic.”
“I was actually thinking about how she would be the most likely candidate for liaison, seeing as my current figure prevents me from being able to dawn my guise for a face to face properly and pegasus magic can’t really help me in this case.”
“I’m sure Twi knows a spell that can help, and if not she can probably find one to do the job. Because you’re right, it would be best if ‘A.K. Yearling’ did a face to face with them and explained everything, it would help you to take care of some other things you need to handle.”
“I think I’ll go see her in a bit; Spike wanted some alone time with Twilight and the other princesses.”
“You need to take your mind off the heavy stuff for a bit; it’ll help ya clear your head. Could you do that thing you did with Cadance with me?”
“Why?”
“Because I like making ponies happy, and sometimes a genuinely good kiss can do that.”
“In other words, you want to spice things up with your coltfriend.”
“Ya caught me,” said Pinkie with a sheepish grin.
“I suppose,” said Daring. She walked right up to Pinkie and gave her a two-minute long intimate kiss, with no break. When the kiss ended Daring said, “Thanks for the help, Pinkie.”
“No problem,” said Pinkie, with a goofy grin on her face, “you really know how to kiss, and the lessons are pretty involved as well.”
Daring just shook her head as she stashed the manuscript in her sidebag at her left side, which was ironically made for her by Rarity and her daughter while she and Spike were out of town.
******************************************
A few hours later Daring was back at the castle, with Spike, Twilight, and Cadance. The first thing that happened when she got there was a surprise, and slightly uncomfortable, hug from a pink alicorn in a sky blue dress. Princess Cadance was babbling something about babies, Daring just let her get it out of her system. After the nearly five-minute excited rant, Cadance finished off with, “Have any names decided yet?”
“It’s still a little early for that,” said Daring, “besides, I’m just going to go with whatever comes to mind when the little darlings pop out. We don’t know how many we could have, considering there’s very little information regarding pony/dragon hybrids. What I have managed to find on such things are documentations dating back to before the initial reign of the Royal Sisters, and even those are mostly illegible. For all we know, I could end up having one foal or triplets. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have business to discuss with Twilight.”
“Oh, sorry,” said Cadance.
Daring gave a shallow sigh and said, “If you want to be there for the conversation feel free to join.”
She found Twilight in the library, amusingly reading a book on cartography, Daring cleared her throat in a loud manner to get the alicorn’s attention, “Oh, Daring,” said Twilight, “what can I help you with?”
“I’m going to need your help talking with my publishers, seeing as my anatomy has drastically changed I’m going to need quite a bit of help, and you know I’m really not one to ask for help all that often. I’ve been thinking on this almost all day, and just now came to a decision that I’m going to genuinely require your assistance. Your friend Pinkie was a bit of help on that as well.”
“I’m always happy to help,” Twilight, “you’re thinking you might need some face time with the board of the publishing house, right?”
“That’s the gist of it, but my current figure makes that a bit more trying than it should be.”
“Perfectly understandable, I think I might have access to a spell that could help. But the spell in question would only last a few days under normal circumstances; chances are we might have only a few hours due to the fact divine energies literally changed you. Which you will be channeling more regularly as part of your services in the future, I'm going to want some notes on how that works. I’m guessing you’re coming to me means you can’t use any of that divine magic to help you in this situation.”
“I practiced a bit, but I couldn’t drop my assets less than thirty percent, and even then I could only hold it for about nine minutes. I think that had more to do with who I was near, that being Spike at the time. I think I can control the form of my body based on the desires of others around me, but I really haven’t tested that theory yet.”
“We’ll get to analyzing that theory later, right now we need to work on a plan of attack for your publishers. Grand Tales Press is no joke; they turned into one of the industry giants, thanks in part to the fact their company won distribution rights for the Daring Do series. Why did you go with them anyway?”
“They were the most conveniently available for me at the time, and they put in a byline about having exclusive rights to Daring Do series,” said Daring, “I was young and stupid then, I didn’t bother to read the fine print in those days. And by the time I did bother with such things I was already locked in so tight legally that all attempts to negotiate my contract met with minimal success, if any at all.”
“Okay, the first thing we’ll need is a copy of your most recent contract. They might be good, but every legally binding contract has some errors that can be found and taken advantage of if you know how and where to look.”
“I’ll get right on that as soon as I can,” said Daring, “seeing as my copy of the contract is in a safety deposit box in Manehattan. Under normal circumstance, it would be a bank official and me, but as a princess, you can take charge of handling the other key, the fewer ponies that know me as my aliases see me like this for the time being, the better. I’ll come out with the truth once we have the new town’s primary structures are taken care of."
Daring didn’t have another dream meeting with Zelshirska in the night between her prior day and the new one. The first thing she saw, aside from the attractive dragon she was partnered with (she had been moved to Spike’s room shortly after her meeting with Twilight), was a pile of folded new clothes made by Rarity with a note saying what each article of clothing was. There was also a small stack of boxes with another letter from Rarity telling her all the different kinds of undergarments that had been made to accommodate her new figure. The notes also went on to say they were made from the same type of stretchy yet durable fabric used in making pegasus clothing; Rarity had modified the formula slightly so as to better take into account Daring’s new figure and the fact she was likely expecting.
After reading the notes with a smile, Daring decided to go with a pair of lacy green lingerie which was then followed by a pair of sky blue pants and a sandy black shirt with her mark on it. After taking a warm shower, during which she took extra care of her assets, and mane and tail, she did a careful towel off and put her new outfit on with care.
On the way down she heard an unfamiliar male and female voice, but due to having some water still in her ears, which she did her best to knock out after hearing the voices, she couldn’t make out what they had said. She then heard Twilight say, “She’s gone through a few dramatic changes, we’ve got the base of a plan for a little project that Cadance is more than willing to help with.”
“Oh, and I put a lot of work into the Daring Do outfits for mom, dad and me,” came the unfamiliar female voice, it sounded like she was in her late teen or early twenties, “now you’re saying she’s not going to go on amazing adventures anymore.”
“Well, Daring Do is getting on with age,” came the unfamiliar male voice, this caused Daring to mentally chuckle at the thought due to what the idol had done to her. “Not to mention, the adventurer life has a way of taking its toll on the body, it’s the same way with the Royal Guard lifestyle. The physical punishments we put ourselves through on a regular basis have a tendency to wear our bodies down; chances are that wear and tear is more pronounced for adventurer ponies than that of the Royal Guards.”
“You’re not wrong there,” said Daring stepping into the room that was occupied by Twilight and her family, “even though I’m in my mid-sixties the past few years have made it feel closer to my late-eighties or early-nineties. That is, until fairly recently when we had an interesting encounter with some ancient magic.”
Twilight, in a green skirt and blue t-shirt with her insignia on them, decided to pick up from there, “We managed to restore an old idol Daring found using what little of an old language we could make out, apparently when we used Spike’s flame to test what the remnants of the idol said on them it restored her body to its prime along with the idol to how it was before it became a ruined relic. Of course, her further changes came with the making of a deal with the dragon goddess the idol represented. We sent the original to the Canterlot Archaeological Society for further study and examination, from what I’ve gathered in the reports they also decided to bring in some of the Pillars to see if they could give any insight on how things were in the days of early Equestria.”
“Why is that?” asked a light pink alicorn with a violet mane that had blue streaks in it, Daring just noticed how she had a horn and wings. She was wearing a navy blue t-shirt and indigo cargo shorts with the emblem of a pink-tinted crystal heart surrounded by seven violet stars. She also had an ample bosom that looked like it might be trying to compete with Twilight’s, and was slightly winning, but amusingly nowhere near competing with Daring’s new assets.
“Because, Flurry,” said Twilight, “Daring’s interactions with that dragon goddess informed us that some ponies in those early days actually turned their attention to the worship of three draconic goddesses. The one Daring made a deal with claims the Crystal Heart that now sits within the Crystal Empire used to be her heart when she was mortal and somehow left her body behind when she ascended.”
“How does that work?” said the white unicorn that Daring hadn’t been formally introduced to yet. He was in a blue shirt with green pants that sported a blue pendant shaped shield with a pink star inside and three white stars above it.
“Well, Shining,” said Cadance, finally deciding to put in her voice during the conversation, she was in a sky blue dress that sported her mark, “according to Daring’s report, when a dragon is genuinely selfless their heart becomes a crystalline gem-like material when they pass on. But due to general nature of dragons, this is an extremely rare event. From what we’ve been able to gather, chances are the same could happen to Spike when his time comes.”
“Her name is Zelshirska,” said Daring picking up where the others left off, “and her sisters actually had similar roles to Celestia and Luna. She also claims that around the time the Crystal Heart was first discovered and its abilities were uncovered by the ponies that we now know as the founders of Crystal Empire, worship of the three by dragons was beginning to decline. Their worship was rapidly dwindling around the time Celestia and Luna discovered their talents and earned their cutie marks. She even claims during that early period, where it is believed ponies are more open to the magic around them, that her sisters embedded some of their essences in the Royal Sisters so that they wouldn’t fade away. Instead, they’re just in a really deep sleep.”
“Daring says that Zelshirska was reinforced against this fading effect because of the energy ponies willing give up to the Crystal Heart,” said Cadance. “This has mostly to do with how the Crystal Heart still has a mystic connection with her since it not only used to be her physical heart but also the emotions we give up to it coincide with one of the domains she presides over.”
“She presides over love?” said Flurry with dancing eyes.
“No,” said Daring, “but your guess isn’t too far off. She presides over Connections, Knowledge, and Fertility. In other words, she presides over what some would call love and friendship as well as the forces that make it possible for new life to be born, including foals, and learning.”
“Oh, I guess ancient dragon concepts don’t fully translate over to ponies,” said Shining.
“True,” said Twilight, “but we’re working on a plan to observe the revival of the faith, Daring’s deal makes her the first of the new priestesses for the faith. And as such, she needs to have a body that best exemplifies the properties of Zelshirka’s power.”
“Apparently that means giving me a sexy body that can potentially rival an alicorn,” said Daring. “Did either of you get to the part about Spike’s involvement in all this?”
“Nope,” said Cadance, “we wanted to let you handle that one.” Twilight just nodded.
“I think it would be easier to just let them read the report,” said Daring, “the unofficial one.”
Twilight groaned, she was hoping those particular reports would stay locked in an underground safe where they could never see the light of day again. Cadance wasn’t quite as restrained as her sister-in-law and just magicked up copies of the reports in question before her husband and daughter; she clearly didn’t think the potential mental scarring of her daughter was much of a problem. And she apparently just liked seeing her husband be in a position that made him feel a little uncomfortable.
Amusingly enough, Flurry had a similar reaction to Cadance on her reading, “Ooh, I hope my partner can go a long time like that when I finally get one.”
“You, young mare,” said Shining, “should definitely not be talking like that. I don’t mind you thinking of such things; all ponies get that sort of thing in their head one way or another, I’ll even let it slide with whatever hidden written works you have, but we do not talk about such things in the open like that, it usually makes ponies uncomfortable.”
“Usually being the operative word,” said Daring, “we’re working on establishing a community built around the faith. I understand Spike worked on laying the opening piece; we still need to work on the specifics.”
“Then it’s good Shiny and Flurry are here,” Flurry Heart giggled at her aunt’s nickname for her father, “considering Cadance is the one who offered that the Crystal Empire provide some oversight on the project. She suggested the forested area just south of the frozen north; I don’t think it has an official name.”
“Some of the older records I’ve found in the area marked it as the Green Diamond Weald," said Daring.
“How did it get that name?” Twilight inquired.
“I’m not entirely sure,” said Daring, “but I suspect it was named for a Pony by the name of Green Diamond, likely a crystal pony, who decided to wander south of the Frozen North. Although, I think the pony had plans to cultivate the area for some reason but plans fell through. From what I’ve been able to gather about the area, something always seems to interfere with attempts at cultivating area for any means. There’s a good chance the Weald might have similar properties to the Everfree Forest.”
“Well,” said Flurry, “I know what mom and dad will be up to while you’re out, they wouldn’t let me near a place like that before they made sure it was some manner of safe beforehand.”
“Well,” said Twilight, “Daring and I have some prep work to go through before we head on down to talk with her publishers.”
“Her dimensions are a bit more than I anticipated,” said Flurry with a giggle.
“As I stated before,” said Twilight, “she’s gone through a few changes in the past few days.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” said Daring with a chuckle, “I used to be a natural B-Cup, which meant my chest was actually pretty flat, and my plot was also quite a bit smaller than it is now. When we restored the idol, my plot and chest got a bit of an upgrade at the same time my body restored to its prime. My current figure became more pronounced after I made my little deal with Zelshirska on the way to the temple with Spike in tow, although I don't know why she had to give me such a massive bustline.”
“It was an interesting ride, to be sure,” said Spike as he entered in a black pair of shorts and violet t-shirt, “we shared our first kiss on the train, and it was a doozy of a kiss.”
“Considering that I practically did it on instinct and it lasted for about five minutes, I would have to agree,” said Daring. “I don’t know what came over me, but I just had a compulsion to kiss him that I didn’t really want to stop.”
“Probably Zelshirska showing you what you’d be in for if you took her up on her offer,” said Spike, “I’ve read ancient deities liked to do that sort of thing, so mortals were less resistant to their offers.”
“Well, it worked,” said Daring, “she also sort of manipulated you into loving me.”
“I suspected so,” said Spike with an annoyed sigh, “I’m going to have words with her about my little obsession with Rarity.”
“Actually, she claims that was all you. She told me she actually tried to move you away from that relationship, but her ability to exert influence on you at the time was too weak to really do anything. It wasn’t until recently she’s been able to tweak your connections to others. And really, she just set up the paths and watched you do the rest of the work.”
“I’m still annoyed that she influenced my emotions, but I’m more annoyed with myself for not being able to get out of my infatuation with Rarity sooner, and I can’t even blame any ponies or dragon deities for it either.” He rested his head in his hands.
“So, will you be joining Cadance and Shining in their investigation of the potential future-site of the town? Twilight and myself in talking with the publishers?”
“I think I’ll hang around here with Flurry,” said Spike, “we’ll act as a communication hub between all parties, I’m sure I can pull some of Twi’s friends in for help if we really need it.”
“So, we’re like central command here,” said Flurry, “this castle is the main relay point.”
“More or less,” said Spike, “since all the princesses have knowledge of how to send messages through my dragon fire, it makes sense I would act as a central point of communication. I think having Flurry’s help collating the data, when needed, will be of great assistance. It also would enable us to work on some other things from a distance.”
“Makes sense,” said Daring, “besides we can’t really start laying out the basic town design plan without seeing terrain and environment it’s supposed to go up in.”
“If everything checks out we’ll give you coordinates,” said Shining.
“It’s just a cursory look, anyway,” said Cadance, “Daring said problems start when you actually begin to try cultivating the area. Daring, what did those reports you managed to glean say anyway?”
“They were pretty degraded,” said Daring, “from what I was able to gather, problems starting either when harvesting the wood in the area began or the bringing in of equipment for digging or construction. So, in short, it will be perfectly safe so long as you don’t try doing anything to potentially harm the woodland. Although, that would make building a community in the area rather tricky.”
“But they were projects undertaken by ponies,” said Cadance in a voice that said her words were half statement and half question.
“That is correct,” said Daring, she blinked a bit having just caught on to what Cadance was implying, “none of the reports mentioned dragons being part of the crews. But I doubt having dragons do the work will have a different effect.”
“We could try and see,” said Twilight, “after we take care of our errands you and I will be returning here to pick Spike up then head to the site that’s been picked. It’s possible we’re overlooking something, and a dragon’s senses might tell us what.”
After a few trial runs of a glamour spell Twilight had in mind they found that the enchantment only held onto Daring for about four to six hours. They had spent a few days making their plans of attack, in addition to corresponding with Celestia and Luna about everything that would be going down. The diarchs of Equestria had requested they be kept apprised of what was going on with the events in question.
Now Daring and Twilight were on a seven-hour train ride to Manehattan to see about looking over her contract. They had decided they would just use the glamour and have the bank handle things in the usual way, and Twilight was also curious about this other alias Daring Do had mentioned. Twilight decided to reserve a private room on the train, being a princess has some functional advantages at times.
“So, tell me,” said Twilight as they entered the fourth hour of their ride, “Why do you have a safety deposit box in the bank we’re headed to under a different alias?”
“The disconnect, mostly,” said Daring, “I became pretty paranoid about personal documentation after my first encounter with some of the more morally lacking ponies out there. I also had an incident where the publishers fabricated an incident where my first agreement with them ‘went missing’ for about a week, I found it in a hidden compartment in the waiting area behind an image of the company CFO. I started insisting on having my own copy and made sure that as part of our agreement that I would always get a copy forwarded to a particular address, an address that happens to be a PO box number right across from the bank.”
“So, we’re actually visiting the PO box before the bank, that’s actually pretty clever. I take, you made it legally binding.”
“I was there when it was written into the contract, and made it mandatory that all future renditions have it as well. They thought I was making a minor fuss over such ‘an unimportant’ byline. To me, it was one of the most important; it helps me check and see if they’re trying to pull one over on me.”
“Because when they write up the new contract they’re still under the obligations of the old one,” said Twilight with a smile on her face, “by making sure certain bylines are repeated through each iteration, and required among them, you’re able to ensure they stick to their portion of the script.”
“Yup, there’s a certain way distributors like to go about doing things, even the less scrupulous ones. By limiting their options in their own legally binding documents, I’m able to exert some measure of control on how things can play out. And if they have a dramatically different version of the agreement than me when I go to visit I can call foul because I always check the PO box before going to see them.”
“And by checking the older version against the newer version you can make sure they were keeping up their end of the deal, but I’m guessing it’s getting harder each time.”
“Yeah, they keep on throwing in legal jargon at seemingly random intervals in places where they think they can get away with it. Thankfully, I thought ahead to that eventuality and got into the habit of reading up on the latest law books when I have enough free time.”
“Which isn’t as much as you would like, I’d wager,” said Twilight with a shake of her head and a shallow sigh, “thankfully, I’m more than well versed in all the latest legal codes.”
“I’ll bet, you probably wrote a few.”
“Indeed,” Twilight said with a smile, “in fact, I recently made sure that some critical legal codes pertaining to what we’re about to deal with got instituted in the legal system. Which means that some of the tactics they’ve employed are no longer legally viable. If a publishing house wants to remain in business, they have to be sure to do so within the bounds of the law, if they don’t then they risk being shut down by the government.”
**************************
Daring had her key on her for the box, which meant they didn’t have to deal with anyone. Daring’s box number was D23, Twilight thanked the stars it wasn’t a numbering sequence that could be jokingly referred to as a word. In the box was a manila envelope, which happened to contain a supposedly updated version of the contract. Daring let Twilight hold and read it as they made their way to the bank, during which time Twilight threw the glamour over Daring.
The bank was very polite, and Twilight learned the alias Daring used in the bank was ‘Navigation Point,’ and her lockbox was numbered S15. Twilight mentally groaned, Daring’s lockbox number was something that could be potentially read as a word, but in a way, she thought it was sweet when she took Daring’s speaking of her past into account.
After the bank official helped remove the box from its shelf and left Daring opened the container, and they looked inside. An older looking version of the agreement was seen. Daring let Twilight look over both versions and compare them to each other; she was more versed in legal wording. It took almost an hour for Twilight to make her comparison, which happened to involve her writing down a few things on a notepad she had brought in her bag.
The blue-clad violet alicorn let out a sigh when she was done. "The byline you talked about is in the older one, but nowhere to be found in the new one. They tried to hide it under a paragraph of unnecessary jargon that has more to do with tax code than literature rights. But that’s not the end of it, they’re trying to make it look like you agreed a thirty percent reduction in royalties and there’s a line in here about agreeing to a set number of Daring Do book that goes to three more than would be after the latest book is published. In fact, they’re claiming they had a meeting with you about this the same day you brought the idol to my castle; they actually refer to the event as that very date. Do you have any of the older versions of the agreement?”
“Box G62,” said Daring, “under the same name. And I have backup copies in a bank in Canterlot under the same name as well, I wanted to go with a different alias, but Princess Celestia timed her visit to the bank to be at the same time as me, she clearly knew about the alias because she addressed me as such.”
“That does sound like the Princess,” said Twilight with a giggle, “since you have duplicates of the prior copies in Canterlot I’ll just let the princesses handle that. It looks like we’re going to Canterlot next.”
“More likely, Princess Celestia is just going to come and get herself involved, discreetly. Our next stop is the publishing house, which is in Hippocampus.”
“Um, they don’t call it that anymore. That town got renamed Silver Port over three decades ago.”
Daring let out a deep sigh, “I know, I just refer to it as such out of habit. It’s where Star Log and I were living when she disappeared; I chose the publishing house because they were in that town, I never really wanted to be far from the place that holds so many memories for me. Star Log had insisted our first place be by the sea, but after she disappeared prolonged exposure to that sort of environment started to ache inside me.”
“Which is why your address under your writing alias lives so far from everything,” said Twilight finally getting it, “you want to be as far as possible from the place that brings in bad memories.”
**********************************
It was in the lobby, with the legal agreements in Daring’s hold that Twilight sent a message to Celestia and Luna. The trains didn’t have any scheduled stops to their destination, so Twilight decided to just book two tickets back to Ponyville. Besides, they could fly to their destination if needed, or she could just teleport them there. Regardless, Twilight wanted to get more input on the matter from other ponies.
Surprisingly Luna and Celestia were waiting for them at the station. Celestia was also holding Twilight’s letter in plain view. Unlike usual, neither was in regalia. In fact, it looked like nopony at the station even recognized them, or noticed the items in their hold. When they got off the train, before Twilight could say anything Celestia said, “Don’t say a word, either of you, we’ll explain at the castle.” Just taking what Celestia, who was in a sky blue dress, told them at her word they just followed behind her and Luna, who was in a midnight green dress.
After they were through the doors of the castle Twilight finally said, “What’s with all the secrecy? And why didn’t anypony recognize you at the station?”
“Actually, they didn’t notice us at all,” said Luna with a smirk, “because the only ones that could see us there were the two of you. As to why, I’ll let my sister explain.”
“Somepony tried to break into Ms. Do’s Canterlot lockbox,” said Celestia, “it was amusingly the same day I got your letter about the idol. I actually decided to check up on her holdings…”
“She kind of strong-armed me into making the lockbox a shared investment with her,” said Daring, “I was a little apprehensive about it at first but then realized the benefit of having a ruler of Equestria share my safe holdings.”
“And it was a good thing my sister managed to convince her,” said Luna, “it turns out somepony tried to gain access to the box by claiming to be a proxy of the crown.”
“I’ve taken the time to familiarize myself with all the castle staff that have duties that can potentially take them outside the castle, the pony in question had what looked like authentication papers that were all in order. Except for two minor things.”
Luna started chuckling next her sister, which only prompted Twilight to say, “What?”
“The perpetrator had a traced copy of my signature, almost unnoticeable, and claims that they were a pony that they clearly weren’t. The pony had documentation claiming they were a palace courier known as Gale Stride. To their credit, they were competent enough to know that Gale Stride was a pegasus mare but neglected to anticipate my sister or I would have had personally met the mare.”
“The pony in question is a one Silver Voice,” said Luna, “she works for a company that specializes in information retrieval and corporate sabotage. Nothing they offer as a service is considered illegal, yet, but some of the means they utilize are in legally gray areas and occasionally potentially illegal.”
“Impersonating castle staff isn’t illegal, so long as you don’t do so on royal grounds,” said Twilight, “ethically questionable and somewhat legally nebulous but not quite against the law. It’s when they start pretending to do things that require the approval of the crown or actually impersonating castle staff on the grounds that they start getting into trouble.”
“Exactly,” said Celestia, “they were apparently unaware of a few facts at the time.”
“Like the fact, the entire bank, despite being a government-run facility that would normally be considered a separate entity from the royal grounds is technically also considered castle grounds as long as you have at least one publicly known active holding with another pony?” Daring inquired with a smirk, “that ruling’s been on the books for the past thirty years.”
“But not publicly known,” said Twilight, “most law firms, even some of the more notable ones, are unaware of the legal proceedings for a princess and private citizen sharing a holding or account at a bank.”
“And since ms. Do shares a lockbox at the bank in question with my sister,” said Luna, “that ruling is in full force.”
“They were trying to get at the lockbox,” said Daring, “but why?”
“Unknown,” said Celestia, “as part of their practice their records don’t outright refer to those who hire them, they’re all given misleading codenames. In this case, the one they have recorded as employing them is referred to Caring Lumber.”
Daring facepalmed, “A lumber company that went under forty years ago because of financial difficulties, they were a small company that only lasted about six or seven years before being put in a situation that forced them to disband. Not a lot of ponies remember them, and very few businesses around today had any interaction with them. They’re one of the forgotten wood harvesting companies now; you’d be hard-pressed to find anypony that remembers them today.”
Celestia gave a smile at what Daring had to say, Twilight inquired, “Then how do you know of them?”
“They had an associate company that made paper, they rounded up all the wood pulp from their projects and shipped it in bags to a company called Waste Not Paper. They actually made the paper my sample manuscript is written on, after Caring Lumber went under they rebranded themselves as Memoire Paper. I actually heard about Caring Lumber from them, when I bought my first batch of paper from them they were in the middle of their last deal with Caring Lumber as it was going under and they were insistent on telling the story to anypony that would listen to them. I actually have my first memoir page mention both.”
“So, the unpublished Daring Do novel also makes mention of them,” said Twilight, “Grand Tales Press is starting to seem like the likely culprits, but since they can’t be tied without a doubt to a third party that will make things harder to find incriminating evidence. But why would they want to go after your backlog of legal agreements?”
“They’re likely going to try taking me to court over agreements I never agreed to, since I usually spend time in locations without any associates it would usually be pretty easy doctor things in their favor. But since the dates they chose to cite actually did involve me interacting with ponies, in an official capacity, they painted themselves into a corner. They’re trying to cover their bungling up with fake legal documents written in a manner to give them a greater advantage. I’m no expert on legal proceedings, but I’m pretty sure that sort of thing is illegal.”
“It is,” said all three princesses at once.
“It’s made worse if their official documents don’t match up with yours,” said Twilight, “the courts would usually side with the company since their official documents are used as a base comparison. But that becomes harder for them when the one they plan on filing a lawsuit against keeps a backlog of previous agreements going back more than six years.”
“They insisted on ‘renewing’ our contract every five years. I guess they figured I would just be throwing the old agreements away after a certain number of years, but that doesn’t answer a crucial question. Why now?”
“Because of new legal codes that have been put in place the past three years,” said Twilight, they headed to the library and took a seat there. At this point, Daring noticed Spike and Flurry in what looked like a command center crafted out of some rather large tomes, notebooks, and a few tables. “The new legal codes require companies to have legal documentation that matches or exceeds physical evidence of the agreement to who they have an agreement with. Chances are, they probably only have copies for the past four or five regarding your legal agreements. They probably thought you would only have two or three of the more recent copies and tossed the rest; they didn’t think you would hold onto every copy you had.”
“And my backlog has somewhere closer to a couple dozen, I can see why they’re desperate. They’re worried about all their goes at chipping away at our agreement coming to light. We’ll probably need the idol, the real one, as material evidence during the court case if it gets that far.”
“Thankfully I keep full documented evidence of all my encounters with ponies, I even had Spike take a photo of your arrival with the broken idol.”
“I figured the flash when I stepped into your castle was something like that, also the after photo you insisted on before we left.”
“I might have tried a few attempts at discreet photos of what the idol did to you afterwards,” said Twilight, tapping her index fingers together like she was feeling guilty.
“I’m going to want some copies of those,” said Daring, “I’d probably have done the same thing in your position. Besides, they’ll make good physical evidence if things get that far. Of course, some of the other things that happened after are going to have to be brought to light as well. I’d rather avoid things coming out during a legal battle, it could have an immensely adverse set of consequences on my new mission statement.”
“You’re probably right about that,” said Celestia, “slogging through the legal system has a way of ruining good causes and elevating less socially desirable ones.”
“Not to mention the emotional toll they often put on the families of those involved,” said Luna, “if it does come out to a court case, then chances are Twilight and Spike would both be forced into participating as material witnesses. Which would, in turn, put undue stress on her parents, Shining Armor, Cadance, and Flurry Heart.”
They spent a few more hours in discussion before Celestia and Luna left. Right now, all they had were suspicions and circumstantial evidence. But Daring still had every intention of this being her last book in the series. Of course, chances were she’d probably be making a go at writing some religious documents to help anyone interested better understand the faith. She had no intention of stepping on anypony’s hooves, but it was likely she would still end up mentioning all three of the dragon goddess sisters a few times over the course of the works.
With their chat with Celestia and Luna wrapped up, giving Daring a few good ideas on how to go forward, and the trains still running, Daring and Twilight head on down to deal with her publishers. Spike and Flurry were doing their job of acting as the coordinators, as such, they sent notice to Shining and Cadance about what transpired at the castle.
Daring decided since they were already there to hand Celestia her latest copy of the legal agreement and tell her she had full rights to read through her backlog copies of the legal contracts. She wanted to be thorough in the investigation into just how legal her supposedly legally binding agreements really were. She really didn’t think much of it before, mostly because was out finding and securing artifacts that could mean the safety of Equestria if not the world, but recent events had forced her to reconsider a few things. She also wanted to tie up as many loose ends to her prior life before diving fully into running the faith, and by default clergy, of Zelshirka.
Of course, the trans still weren’t running to their destination. In fact, after a quick check, Twilight found that no trains would be going there for almost a month. Twilight decided to just speed things up, after making sure Daring had everything she needed she cast the glamour on her and teleported them to their destination.
The building that housed Grand Tales Press didn’t look all that impressive; it actually looked a little rundown from the outside. Not what one would expect from a publishing house that was responsible for one of the most popular adventure series in the nation. Twilight suspected the inside would look far more impressive; she also had suspicions that a good portion of the proceeds from the Daring Do series was being spent elsewhere. Of course, she couldn’t be sure without a look at their books, and that was assuming they didn’t file false reports in their own records.
After the stunts that were being pulled the last month or so, Twilight wouldn’t be surprised to find false records masquerading as the real ones. But still, it looked like Daring’s declaration that this would be the last book in the series prompted some of the more questionable actions on the publisher’s part. Twilight would love to look at Daring’s backlog of legal agreements, but she could wait on that a bit to take a look at those. Getting a read on Daring’s publishers came first, Daring could make all the claims in the world about them, but without her own impressions of them, Twilight couldn’t correctly make her own read on them. She had gotten better at being able to tell when somepony she interacted with was faking it over the years.
Despite her generally abrasive personality when they first met, Daring was a genuinely honest pony. Of course, after she was affected by the idol she went through a few personality changes, that somehow managed to make Twilight feel more than a little uncomfortable a few times, but was more of the familial awkward kind of embarrassed than the legal or political sort. Daring was still a bit rough around the edges, but she was a getting less abrasive as things went on.
Of course, chances were she would be pretty abrasive in the subsequent interactions. Just What kind of relationship did Daring have with her publishers? From the sounds of it, she didn’t have a high opinion of them, not mention her statement about being restricted in her options thanks her legal agreement and an inability to get out of it. With the changing of the guard, so to speak, one would think Daring would at least catch a break.
When they entered the lobby Twilight saw something that was more along the lines of what she expected, the room was well furnished in her opinion. Of course, if Rarity saw the room chances were she would cringe. Just because it was decently equipped didn’t mean it was well-maintained, at most, it was kept to the bare minimum for a properly cared for room. It seemed they were slacking off at the bar set for keeping their most public face indoors maintained. It was seeming as if Daring’s opinion of them was at least somewhat justified.
The walls were adorned with framed pictures of prior and current high ranking staff members, nothing unusual about that. Daring went right over to the image of a pony by the name of Fiscal Choice and started tapping around it before giving an annoyed sigh and literally moving a section the wall with the picture in a left-oriented downward sliding door by pressing a point to the right of the wall above the image, revealing a hidden compartment.
Twilight figured this was the hidden compartment Daring had mentioned with her first genuine problem with the publishing house that started her distrust towards them, showing further justification to the young alicorn’s eyes. Inside the cavity was a collection of small strongboxes with old dial style combination locks. Almost reflexively Daring turned the dials to the proper codes after two or three failed attempts and handed the opened boxes Twilight.
Intrigued Twilight looked inside the opened boxes only to find further annoyance, every single piece in the boxes were in-house memos giving suggestions on how to cheat their authors within their own contracts. Twilight knew these wouldn't be admissible in a court of law, no matter who presented them, if they were presented before the court without the proper legal proceeding beforehand. She would place an inquiry to the Equestrian Proper Business Ministry for this company when she got home. After reading through a few and setting them back as she found them and closing the boxes again, she passed them back to Daring, who promptly returned them to the cavity precisely as she found them before closing the door on the crevice.
The fact they would go out of their way to install something like that, in their own lobby no less, was a severe point against the publishers. Just as much of a tally against them was the egregious fact they had in-house memos giving notes on how to stiff the authors they had under their roof. Twilight suddenly realized they might realize that Daring showed the secret chamber to her, reaching into her bag she sent a message that immediately sent a notice to Spike and Flurry telling them to forward a particular set of notes to Celestia and Luna. With any luck, the investigators would show up for a “surprise” inspection and find the evidence of Grand Tale’s less than ethical business practices.
The two then sat down in one of the seemingly plush, but only marginally comfortable chairs after Daring hit the button that was supposed to ring up the receptionist. This was one of their first real tests, how long it took the receptionist to respond when they weren’t visually available at their post. After a half hour waiting, another tick against them, a very meek looking unicorn mare with a festive red mane and holly green coat appeared.
“Sorry for the wait,” the receptionist said a tone so meek that Fluttershy and Coco Pommel both seemed far more assertive on their usual days.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” said Twilight, “might I inquire your name and the reason you took so long to respond?”
The mare looked a little nervous, she took a look at Daring before moving her attention back to Twilight, “Um,” she paused for a little over a full minute, “I’m Holly Belle, and the reason I’m so late is because I’m also used as a secretary around the office. They say there’s not enough room in the budget to afford a full-time receptionist and secretary. I wasn’t even supposed to be here this long… I was sent here by a temp agency; I was supposed to be out of everypony’s manes two months ago. They said something about liking me so much they thought would be best to keep around as a more permanent member. Well actually, they used the word ‘fixture,’ I don’t like this. They keep me around a bit too long, and nopony bothers to adjust my pay accordingly. Oh, I’m sorry, I’m rambling. I kind of do that when I’m nervous, which is a lot lately.”
“It’s fine,” said Daring, surprising the mare and Twilight, especially since she was using her prior abrasive voice, “I’ve been working with these jokers for decades. They’ve been trying to skimp on our agreement for as long as I’ve known them, even with them changing out new ponies three times to keep ponies at their peak. Three generations of jerks, mostly because I still haven’t been able to get more favorable outcomes for me. Did they lock you in with a contract that severely restricts your options?”
“Um, yes,” said Holly, “and I’m only permitted to discuss such things with other contract holders, according to article nine-section six-subjection-four.” Twilight gave the mare an interested look.
“You remembered that offhand,” said Twilight, “that’s genuinely impressive.”
“I wanted to be a legislative or legal secretary, but I wanted to get some experience in the workforce before applying to such things in earnest,” she suddenly realized Twilight was an alicorn, “oh, um, forgive me for wasting your time, princess.”
“Not at all,” said Twilight, “Ms. Yearling just came to me for assistance in making sure her latest work transitions more smoothly, along with a few legal questions, she admits to feeling a bit burned out on the series and intends to retire from being an author after this last book. She just wants to make sure all the legal proceedings follow the course they’re supposed. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a look at your contract as well; we need to make sure that every business is keeping to the legal obligations they have.”
“Oh, um,” Holly started wringing her hands together while she talked, “they made sure to make me a copy, but they put it in the company safe, they said something about not wanting it getting lost since I don’t really have a readily available safety deposit.”
Twilight frowned, the whole point of a pony having a copy is so they could compare it against the other, by putting the copy in a place they control at their insistence the publisher was already in violation of one of their agreements.
Unknown to Daring and Holly, Twilight was using a magical audio recorder to provide physical evidence of all this. She didn’t think she would really need it, but given Daring’s less than amicable opinion of her publishers Twilight thought would be safer to err on the side of caution. Of course, she didn’t switch it on discreetly until she had heard the receptionist approaching. Turning it on had been a right call, seeing what Holly had said wasn’t provoked out of her. The mare had volunteered the information freely, even if they were found mostly innocent of Daring’s accusations Holly’s admission of their choice of legal actions would definitely warrant the investigation that she was asking Celestia and Luna to call on the publishers during her visit.
____________________________________
Daring couldn’t help feeling sorry for Holly Belle, mostly because she remembered being in the exact same situation. The only real difference was Holly lacked any sort of real assertive properties, which was probably why they decided to keep her. It’s easier to control somepony when they lack the will to genuinely fight back.
What made things worse, this publishing house was still up to its tricks from when she first had to deal with them. How it was possible for three generations of members to continue the same methods of being complete jerks, if not utter dicks, was a generational accomplishment of the lowest order and highest moronicism Daring had ever encountered. While a company not changing its policies could be admirable, in this case, it was just dicks being pricks. Not once in the history of the publishing house, which predated Daring herself by only about a score, had anypony within its higher echelons been a mare, it was always all stallions.
It seemed the highest powers in the nation being mares wasn’t enough incentive to deter their chauvinistic tendencies and policies. Now they were following a mare who was incredibly meek, and probably socially and mentally abused but to docile to fight back if she did realize it. Daring then came to an unnerving thought, what if all the issues she was having with these publishers was because she was a mare?
Daring leaned in towards Twilight as they moved through hallway and whispered her suspicions to her, in summary. She’d share her full doubts where it was a guarantee the publishers couldn’t hear her. Daring just wanted to get this whole thing over with, but now she felt a need for a rescue operation for poor Holly Belle.
Holly Belle finally finished leading them to the Main Editor’s office and got the door for them; Daring couldn’t tell if she was just being courteous or had explicitly been “instructed” to get the door for whomever she was with. Inside was new pony to her, as was evident by the shiningly new nameplate with pointless gold trim and lettering.
“Ah, Ms. Yearling,” said a young earth pony stallion with mahogany fur and a fire orange mane, so young he would have probably been in diapers when Twilight and her friends had come to visit Daring that first time. “It’s so good to meet you; I’ve heard wonderful things about you.”
“Stow the false platitudes,” said Daring in her distinctive not-so-friendly tone.
“Still have that unfriendly personality I see.”
_______________________________________________
Twilight opted to wait at the door, with Holly Belle. The other mare was looking extremely nervous; she was likely fidgeting uneasily based on some idea that Twilight would have joined “Yearling” in entering the stallion’s office. Glancing at the nameplate, which she saw was gaudy, she imagined Rarity gagging at its sight and the other princesses ordering it to be destroyed via extraction of each of its different materials to be used for more fitting projects.
Instead of the standard copper plate, this one was actually silver, and the intricate border work and naming font were done in gold. Twilight suspected she had a clearer idea of where most of the proceeds from the Daring Do series were going now. It wasn’t uncommon for high ranking executives to have nameplates like this, but that was big corporations that were practically spread out all over the nation. The name on the plate read “Page Block,” that was a rather odd name for a book pony if you asked her. She could hear Daring arguing with the pony inside in a voice that was as abrasive as it was aggressive, she giggled to herself at how Daring was moving away from those tendencies, but it was good to see that Daring hadn’t completely forgotten her ability to deal with ponies she had a great disdain for.
She heard what was a pretty good cue to join in the conversation and went to see what she could do to smooth things out. Just as she was turning around, she got a response back from Celestia and Luna, as well as Cadance and Shining Armor to her mild surprise, that the investigation team was less than ten minutes out. Twilight nodded to herself and stashed the scroll in her bag as she continued into the office.
“What seems to be the problem here?” Twilight said innocently as she entered the room.
Page Block noticeably stiffened, chances were he wasn’t expecting this. “Princess, what a pleasant surprise,” he said, with very forced grin, that almost made Twilight actually want to retch at its sight. That was a minor accomplishment, especially when you considered she usually felt that sort of thing around the more narcissistic ponies found in Canterlot.
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Daring noticed how the stallion she was “talking” with went rigid the moment he became aware of the alicorn that had just entered the room, it was as if he was afraid of something to the point of paralysis. Considering what Holly had said about her contract, probably a lot. Daring wasn’t sure of a lot of things, but she knew darn well that having a copy of your legal agreement was next to useless if the ones you made a deal with had control of your copy. It seemed the publishers were more morally bankrupt than she thought, looks it was time to get the show on.
“I have here,” said Daring in her Yearling voice, “my final draft for the finale to the Daring Do series. This is the final book in the series,” she tapped her bag to emphasize its proximity, “but due to an unforeseen legal issue pertaining to the latest version of our agreement you won’t be getting it ready for the presses just yet.” Daring further emphasized this with a death glare at the stallion, “get your head of legal in here right now, this just became his only priority.”
Page Block gulped, visibly. He was sure the princess in the room was mainly here for intimidation purposes, he was confident that she wouldn’t have much input on the proceedings. He wasn’t sure of what Yearling had caught in the latest legal agreement that would have her using harsh words, but he was sure that everything was sounder for the company than she was letting on. His grandfather had impressed on him the importance of making the client feel important while turning the screws and milking them for all they were worth.
Yearling’s book series about the adventuring mare known as Daring Do was always a top seller; he didn’t believe her when she said she was going to be tapped out with this latest book. A.K. Yearling was their premiere money maker; there was no way he would let this golden goose get away from him before she was on her deathbed. When artists and authors kicked the bucket that’s when sales on their work skyrocketed, they needed to keep the publishing rights to the Daring Do series until the very end.
Were their business practices unethical? Probably, were their business practices illegal? Not to his knowledge, his best friend was the head of the legal department and assured him everything they did thus far had yet to fall into the realm of legally wrong. Well, except for the copy of the contract for their new secretary/receptionist but he was assured that they could talk around that should the issue come up. The next scheduled business inspection by the government was still three months out; they had plenty of time to secure all the potentially incriminating evidence in an off-site facility that would be difficult to trace back to anyone in the company and place decoy materials to satisfy the need for secrecy. A few well placed, and slightly out of date, porno mags always seemed to do the trick with the secret compartments if they happened to be found, and could easily be explained away as to why they were in a secret compartment in the facility.
A.K. Yearling was a whale for the company in terms of what she provided, the first legal agreement blunder with her showed they had to be far more careful and have a different approach in dealing with her than any other client. She’d been with them for almost fifty years, thanks mostly to the fact her contract locked her into continued exclusivity with them. But it looked like that was about to change, and they weren’t going to have as much say this time around.
“Holly, could you retrieve Legal File for us,” said Page, “and make it quick, you need to impress on him the urgency of this.” The delightfully timid mare gave several shy, yet vigorous, nods before heading down to File’s office.
Seven minutes later, she took five minutes more than he would have liked, Legal File was in the room and stiffened when he saw who was in the room with them.
Page gave a polite cough to pull his friend out of his trance and bring him up to speed, “Ms. Yearling found something in her latest update to the legal agreement she wishes to discuss.”
“I checked, nine times, and found everything in order with current standing legal codes,” said File in his usual refined Upper Manehattan voice.
“Well, I wasn’t sure,” said Yearling, “so I brought it to Princess Twilight, it worked out as a good decision because I required her assistant’s aid on some of the parts of my latest work.”
=========================================
While technically accurate, Daring moved a few things around and chose careful wording to infer it all had to do with the book. Twilight was probably as versed in legal code as this new pony in front of her; she had also written a few of the new ones he should be aware of. Twilight hated it when ponies were incompetent in the job they claimed was their calling in life, it told her they didn’t understand their duties all that well.
“And I’m glad Ms. Yearling did,” said Twilight, “she also provided me a copy of the agreement prior, and I found several articles that appeared integral to the document in the prior one missing or drastically altered. While I know this in itself isn’t much of an alarm, several lines Ms. Yearling insisted remain in all iterations of her agreement were missing from the latest version. And that’s not even counting the falsified testimonies you have cited and dated for events where she was in fact holding meeting with me and the other princesses, to make such a blunder in an official legal document is a tremendous offense of the client agreements that all businesses must adhere to.”
Both stallions went white as a sheet in terror; they hadn’t counted on expert witnesses in the form the highest powers in the nation being able to call them out on their bid for control.
“To make sure there weren’t any other legally questionable events in our agreements,” continued Daring, “we saw fit to allow the other princesses full access to my backlog in addition to leaving the copy you sent me in their care to analyze, thoroughly. We should be hearing back from them in a few days; they said something like this was high priority.”
Both stallions gulped, while Daring wasn’t entirely accurate, it was true that she let Princess Celestia know she was free to look through Daring’s entire backlogs of legal agreements along with the latest copy of the legal agreement they had sent her before they had departed for the publishing house.
Chances are they knew if the princesses had access to Daring’s backlog they would probably skip the trial, if there were grounds for one, and go straight to shutting down the company and placing all executive officers in prison for questionable business practices.
“Oh, and by the way,” said Twilight, “Holly Belle, sweet mare, rambled something about you having her copy of her legal agreement with you in your care.” The violet alicorn gave a pointed glare; her business casual-looking attire had more the appearance of a combat suit when combined with her disapproving stare.
“Well, you see…” File was cut off by Twilight.
“That’s highly illegal, and has been for the past seventy years,” continued Twilight, “that alone could get your business a suspension on its license.” As if on cue ponies in the Business Inspection Ministry’s attire entered the room.
Daring tapped Page on the shoulder and seemed to space out for a moment before heading over to an overly large, and garishly opulent, painting of the company’s founders and moved it aside to reveal a trot-in vault. With what looked like a practiced memory she turned the five dials to the appropriate numbers and pulled the handle to open said vault.
*******************************************
Daring didn’t know how she did it, but she knew everything Page Block did regarding the company the moment she tapped his shoulder to make a show of her condolences. She literally had all his knowledge, including where to find his most incriminating things. She was particularly disturbed at the knowledge that he had commissioned a pornographic painting of the novel version of Daring Do bound in a compromising position which he kept hanging over his chair in a secret room of his house that he used to escape his wife when he wanted to do things out of sight of her. The fact he had found somepony foolish enough to actually marry him was also something that bothered her; chances were he had a divorce in his coming future.
Then it hit her, Zelshirska had said one of her domains was Knowledge. That meant she could obtain, and possibly pass on, info through just touching someone else if she willed it. Thankfully, none of the info pertaining to Page’s sexual history had transferred to her; she would have felt exceedingly dirty if that had been the case. Daring trotted over to Twilight and tapped her on the shoulder to transfer all the info she had gotten from Page she knew was useful regarding the investigation. She also did it to some of the investigators to give them a nudge in the right direction and open the appropriate locks with as little issue as possible.
Daring mentally snickered to herself, if she had had an ability like this half her problems in the field could have been avoided. But then again, she probably wouldn’t have bothered with the whole adventure that led to her bring the broken idol before Twilight in the first place. As her mother was fond of saying, "Everything happens for a reason, but we don't always know what it could be until much later." She hadn’t thought about her parents in a long time, when Star Log had vanished they would have been devastated. Daring had tried working with law enforcement to learn her sister's whereabouts for the first year or so in the wake of Star Log’s disappearance; she left to begin her life as an adventurer after that. She'd go visit them when things settled down; she had a lot to say to them.
To think there were ponies out there that stayed within Equestria’s borders that passed down their unethical behaviors through the generations made her sick, and that she had actually been doing business with such ponies for as long as she did disgusted her to no end. She had spent almost her entire life dealing with ponies of dubious moral character out in the field and thwarted them at every opportunity. But to think the publishing house she had chosen more for proximity to something she felt sentimental attachment towards was helmed by the same kind of ponies made her feel like her attempts to keep everyone safe, while she sought out answers, a bit shy of a wasted effort.
But there was something that still annoyed her; thankfully she had passed all that information along to Twilight. From the looks of things, her stories would be getting distributed by a new publishing house. Daring didn’t mind, as long as her stories remained mostly intact. She decided to head over to the company’s head of the legal department and learn what she could from him, the same way she had Page Block.
Twilight was more than a little relieved when the inspection team arrived, and was surprised when Daring tapped her arm causing a rapid flow of information to surge through her for a few seconds. Among the data flow was a few things she was unhappy about, chief among them was the fact they literally had an official from the Inspection Ministry in their pocket. Paying off government officials had always been a dangerous legal offense, even more so with her due to her relations.
She noticed Daring give the head of Legal a firm grip as he tried to make an unseen retreat, the pegasus mare’s gaze hardened a moment after she came in contact with him. Twilight then saw Daring expertly pass along the info to some of the investigation team by tapping them on the back or shoulder as she moved, she had touched six in total. Two of the investigation team turned their attention to one of the ponies investigating but had been curiously skipped by Daring as she passed and went over to hold the stallion in question in another room. Twilight figured that was the investigation pony that was leaking info to this company, or at least closely associated with the leak. The others went to investigate the legal office.
Daring took this time to make her leave; the glamour was reaching its end point anyway. On her way out she told Twilight where she would be waiting. Twilight nodded to the mare and went to speak with a member of the team real quick.
After Daring had departed the building, giving what looked like a reassuring pat on the shoulder Holly Belle on her way out, Twilight gave a quirk of a smile when saw Holly look to the ponies in the office with surprise and disgust. After watching Holly for a few seconds, she went to speak with a member of the investigation team.
“Are you in charge of the investigation here?” Twilight inquired to the mare nearest to her, whom coincidentally was also one of the ponies Daring had discreetly fed some info too.
“Yes ma’am,” said the mare with a salute and bow, “I am Stern Guardian. I was part of the Royal Guard program before Princess Luna saw fit to transfer me here, keeping this bunch in order is almost a full-time job in and of itself,” she quirked a smile, “what can we do for you, princess?”
“Not much,” said Twilight, “I would just like to see a copy of your report when you’re done here, and would like to know why a member of your team is being held isolated from the rest of the group.”
“You, and the other princesses, will have a full copy of our findings, official and otherwise. As for the team member who is isolated, we have a feeling he might be more than a little connected to some of the members of this business. Prior reports on this business mentioned almost nothing of half the things we’ve uncovered already, and the secret compartments we did know about didn’t have what the prior reports recorded. We suspect somepony in the Ministry has been leaking our inspection schedule, which is intended only to be known to those within the Ministry and the princesses themselves if they should ask.”
“It’s possible the leak could go further,” said Twilight with a stern face, “they could have also been using their ‘contact’ to discreetly spy on the competition using the Ministry’s resources.”
“I hadn’t considered that, I’ll pass along your concerns to my superiors, along with any evidence we find that could potentially justify such feelings. I’m aware you likely have a busy schedule, good day, princess.”
Twilight nodded to the pony and made a go to leave, on her way out she noticed a pony having a deceptively simple looking discussion with Holly Belle in another room, it seemed they had taken her personality into account with their investigation method.
Outside Twilight found Daring where she said she would be. “Everything mostly accounted for?” Inquired Daring.
“Yeah,” said Twilight, “looks like they’ll be investigating possible leaks in addition to their thorough search of the premises. How did you do that little knowledge acquisition and sharing trick?”
“Just another little talent I came to realize recently,” said Daring, “the kind that comes from my agreement with a certain divine being. I guess channeling her power allows for that sort of thing, you have to remember she is a dragon goddess.”
“And dragons aren’t known for sharing info willingly, but they are known to engage in close quarters combat. An ability to gather and share knowledge from physical contact does make some sort of sense. I just hope you can have some measure of control over it in time, that’s a potentially problematic ability.”
“No worries, I should have some idea of how to manage it by this time tomorrow, that’s how it was when I learned I could control my own lactation cycle.”
“Please, let’s not talk about that sort of thing, I feel uneasy with openly discussing potentially kinky stuff.”
“Have any thoughts before we head out,” inquired Daring.
“I think once she is no longer required for the investigation I’ll invite Holly Belle to the castle to be my new assistant; Spike was going to need to train someone to take his place eventually.”
With that, the two teleported back to the castle. Hopefully what was found over the course of the investigation would clear up a few things. But to think, a company that was getting away with so much for so long did make the blood of both mares boil a little, for very different reasons. Twilight decided one of the first things she would do when she got home was set up a new publishing house, and with Daring’s permission, redistribute the Daring Do series. She was sure Daring had copies of her original manuscripts for the stories somewhere, most publishers had a habit of editing the books they put out for the populace. As a result, the raw documents were the kind of material subject to the least amount of change and only had changes from the authors themselves.
Twilight apparently didn’t want to leave things up to any of the existing publishing houses, the day after they got back she started working on starting a new publishing house. Cadance and Shining reported no problems when they got back; they would lead Daring the clearing when she was ready to go and see it. As predicted, Spike and Flurry had gotten into the “command center” thing so intensely they were using code words and phrases until they fell asleep, and kept going half the night judging by the way Spike was talking in his sleep.
Twilight had told Daring she had recorded everything from the moment she started to hear Holly’s approach to just after they returned home. She said after the Ministry did a little house cleaning she would turn over the recording she took. Looked like Twilight had good business instincts, that would help her with her latest project. Of course, Daring had a mission given to her that she needed to follow.
Granted, said mission was resurrecting worship of an ancient draconic deity but it would be a nice change of focus for Daring, and the side benefits were more than worth any discomfort. A youthful body, sexy figure, and extra abilities not really seen amongst non-unicorns, and there were all really significant benefits. Keeping her athletic build, which was attained through years of treasure hunting, was also a nice touch.
Daring was checking her supplies; she was already showered and dressed. Daring anticipated moving through some underbrush, so she had opted to go with shorts and a black t-shirt, which bore both her mark and that of Zelshirska. Rarity decided to add the dragon goddess’s mark to some of Daring’s new casual attire, babbling something about aesthetics when she passed the new attire to Daring.
Rarity’s daughter had an expressed interest in both trying the faith and living in the new community; Rarity tried shooting down both by expressing she was still in primary school. It seemed Rarity was in a losing battle with her own daughter about what was best for the filly, the ivory unicorn mare was convinced her daughter wasn’t old enough to make her own proper decisions, only to get a shot in the heart (figuratively) from her daughter when she pointed out how her own mother was at least a year younger than her when she discovered her talent and dedicated her pursuits towards fashion. A grumbling Rarity was far more amusing to Daring than she was willing to openly admit.
Daring’s bag was old and worn, and chances are it would spill the contents inside any day now. She was actually checking to see how everything fit during her inventory when Aubretia Glide came in and placed a much more beautiful looking bag on top of Daring’s old one. “Mom noticed your bag was threatening to fall apart almost any day now,” said Aubretia, “she decided to make it both functional and fashionable, with greater internal storage capacity.”
“How did she do that,” Inquired Daring.
“She used the same kind of material as your clothes, in addition to making it forty-five percent larger than your current bag. She wants to make sure you don’t end up misrepresenting; she says it would likely ruin your mission efforts.”
Daring took a look at the new bag; it had her mark on the lower section with Zelshirska’s mark acting as a clasp. A feel of the metal told her it was brass but had been polished to the point it was almost like gold. Daring gave a tiny smile and said, “Tell Rarity I am appreciative and will do my best to make sure its condition isn’t ruined too much.”
“Will do,” said Aubretia.
“Looks like I’ll have to repack,” continued Daring, then jokingly said, “give your mom a good sock in the shoulder for me and tell her it’s from me when you get the chance.”
“You got it,” said Aubretia before she skipped out of the complex.
******************************
It was almost a half hour later, and Daring managed to move all her things into the new bag, when Spike walked in to see her just finishing up. He thanked everything in the heavens when he caught a glimpse of Daring’s Valentine heart shaped rear as she bent over from a standing position to pick up her old bag.
Daring turned around with a smirk that told him she was well aware of that little viewing she had given him, Spike really felt like he gotten busted with his hand in the cookie jar.
In a desperate attempt to pull focus away from him he said, “Do you have everything you know you’ll need?”
“I’m pretty sure,” said Daring, “and I also packed a few things I think I might require as well. Do you have everything you need?”
“Yep, and reminded Twilight you wanted to get Fluttershy for this little excursion, care to explain that one?”
“I have a suspicion,” said Daring, which sounded a little cryptic, “so, I want to prepare for as much as possible. Besides, we might require Fluttershy’s abilities for this endeavor. Not much is genuinely recorded about the Weald, everything I’ve managed to unearth is more rumor than anything else. And Twilight’s library wasn’t much help, almost none of her resources talked about mentioned the Weald.”
“At least we have some recorded information about the Everfree Forest,” said Twilight as she came in, “the fact there’s a woodland with no actual recorded data on it is as disconcerting as it is fascinating. The town you’re trying to build could also act a waypoint for studying the area as well; I just wish we knew more about the place. Well, I’m off to see what I can do about bringing Flutters along.”
“I’m sure she won’t take much convincing,” said Daring with a smirk as she secured her bag, “she did say she likes meeting new animals, and we really don’t know what kind of wildlife the Weald has. With a little luck, she’ll meet some new animals she hasn’t seen anywhere else. I just hope, that if she does, they’re non-hostile toward us.”
“I’ll be sure to pass along your message about the wildlife in the area to Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “after all, you are right about her and new animals. Spike, are you all prepped for the trip?”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t need a whole lot,” said Spike, “just a few changes of clothes and a handful of spare writing utensils for everyone.”
“Well, I might need some spare drawing paper, pencils, pens, quills, ink, a sharpening tool, extra rope, maybe a grappling hook, and we’ll all need some snacks and drinks,” said Daring as she ticked off everything. “We might be out there for a while and you did volunteer to carry the spares along with everything you’re packing for the trip. Not to mention, since I will be doing some rough sketches of what the starting complexes for the town could be like, I could really do with my partner carrying some spare materials for all that.”
“Oh no,” said Spike playfully, “I think I just married a variant of my sister, this is sounding decidedly less fun.”
“There’s nothing wrong with having an organized pony around to keep you on track,” said Twilight with a giggle.
Spike figured Twilight was recalling the first time she spent Nightmare Night as Daring Do, but that was when he was newly hatched, so he didn’t remember that time very well.
****************************************
One train ride later got Daring, along with Spike and Twilight and Fluttershy, meeting Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart to take them the rest of the way. This had mostly to do with the fact the Weald didn’t have any tracks or stations close enough to it to just get out and go, something Daring knew that the princesses were likely discussing and would welcome input from Daring herself.
The hike itself took a few hours; something Daring was very used to thanks to her prior occupation. Spike, Twilight, and Flurry not so much. The fliers weren’t permitted to fly, mostly because they needed to know the path from the ground. They would probably need to find a right place for the train station during the planning stage for the town. Daring noticed she had a lot to do, but was excited for the challenge more than anything else. Everyone was dressed for the hike in proper attire, even if Daring, Fluttershy, and Cadance had their shirts seeming like they was threatening to come apart around their bosoms.
After about two and a half hours of hiking, during which everyone other than Daring and Shining Armor needed to have a few short stops to rest, they finally arrived at the clearing Cadance and Shining Armor had found. To the surprise of Daring, Spike, Fluttershy and Twilight it was big enough to hold a community the size of Ponyville, maybe a bit larger.
Daring decided it was time to test a theory, one she hadn’t shared her thoughts on with anyone there. It was time to see what was really going on in the Weald. Daring reached into one of the additional bags she had insisted Spike bring along and pulled out some pieces of a tool that once fully assembled, from the three sections it was composed of, showed itself to be a long-handled ax, with only one sharp end. She then passed it to Spike and said, “You’re physically the strongest here, how about you do the honors of helping us find out what is happening around here. Just pick a tree and swing. If Twilight and Cadance wouldn’t mind, could you put up a magical net to catch anything that isn’t those of us here? Prince Consort Shining Armor…”
“Please don’t use my full title, just call me ‘Shining Armor’ or ‘Shining’ from now on,” Shining replied in a way that cut Daring off.
“Shining, if you would prep to contain anything we catch in the magical net, that would most appreciated. Fluttershy, the reason you were asked to join us is to assist in dealing with any creatures that might crop up during this time.”
“Oh, I’m always happy to help,” said Fluttershy, “and I’m delighted you asked me to come along to help with this.”
“So, you suspect the problems that you found about this place might have to do with some of the animals that call this place home,” said Twilight, “care to share further before we continue?”
“I think it has to do with a certain creature that has a reputation for being hardly seen while also causing problems with equipment,” replied Daring, “hence why Spike is holding a collapsible ax. Twilight, if you would be so kind to put a tracking spell on the each of the ax’s pieces, it would be most appreciated.”
“Of course,” said Twilight, “before we go further we need to see what the deal with the Weald is.” With that, she cast her tracking spell on each of the pieces of the ax. Then she and Cadance cast their magical ‘net’ with Twilight placing something similar in the air around them and Cadance extending it a few feet into the ground.
“Alright,” said Cadance, “think we’re ready. Is everyone ready?”
“Always,” said Shining, “this mystery has gone on far too long!”
Daring motioned to Spike that he could continue, he took his position at a tree a few feet away and gave a mighty swing, the moment his swing connected with the tree the ax was missing its head. Looking around they couldn’t see any sign of where the ax head was. Twilight lit up her tracking spell and led the way towards what might be their quarry.
After about a half hour of following spell in an eastward direction, they came to what looked like an undisturbed tree in the middle of the forest. Daring reached into her bag and produced a trenching shovel, the moment it was out of her bag Twilight placed another of her tracking spells on it. When Daring went to dig the shovel’s head disappeared from her tool before it even had a chance to delve into the earth. Twilight lit up her spell on the shovel and found her intended target three feet from the tree they were standing by, but not in a visible location.
The fact there was a creature that could slip through the magical nets cast by two alicorns was both fascinating and disconcerting. Flurry pointed up into the branches, when the rest of the party looked up they found not only the missing ax head but a wide variety of tool pieces from just about every era.
____________________________________
Twilight noticed the branches spread out almost six feet at the sides in virtually every direction. When she moved around the tree, she found the shovel’s head in the branches. “Just what is going on? This doesn’t make any sense,” said Twilight, “what put these items here? How did they manage such a feat? Why here?”
______________________________
Daring just answered Twilight’s question by tapping around the tree, almost as if she was expecting to find a hollow portion of the tree. After a few minutes of knocking at the wood she found a pitch change so subtle the other ponies present, and Spike, didn’t notice it. To everyone’s surprise she actually, and genuinely, slid a piece of the tree away and reached in and grabbed something, her eyes flashed for a fraction of a second, before she brought up the strange creature.
The creature was about sixteen inches tall and looked like a cross between a jackrabbit and bull terrier with webbed digits on its hands and feet with a mouth full of sharp teeth. It was also dressed in a blue top hat, green trousers (that looked like they were just shy of being overalls), and red jacket.
“Everyone,” said Daring, “this is Al, he’s a gremlin. Also, the reason I had us all make such elaborate preparations. They’re inventive little pests, and happen to live in rather elaborate burrows beneath the ground. This tree is the central hub for the tunnels and part of it has been hollowed out.”
“I’ve read some mentions of them,” said Twilight, “they’re creatures believed to be nonexistent, a convenient excuse for why equipment breaks down. I didn’t expect to actually see one, ever.”
“Fluttershy,” said Daring as she handed the gremlin to the yellow pegasus, “could you talk with him? We need to make some arrangements to ensure him and his associates don’t continue to cause us any further issues.”
“Of course,” said Fluttershy as she accepted the small creature in her open hands, Al made a move to try and leave but stopped when he saw how Fluttershy was looking at him. He started chittering in what sounded like a mix of rabbit and dog barking; it took a few minutes for Fluttershy to get used to the creature's language, on account she was so unfamiliar with it. “He wants to know what we plan to do with the forest. He also says he doesn’t want their tunnels to be disturbed.”
“We just want to build a town in the clearing area,” said Daring, “I’m willing to concede all forest east of the clearing area for his kind to use as they wish, but chances are as the town grows we might have to expand north, south, and west.”
Fluttershy chittered with the creature for a few minutes before Fluttershy said, “He thinks his troupe will allow it, provided you keep your end of the agreement.”
“We’ll even outline the agreement in the town charter,” said Daring, “but we’ll likely have to explain the reasoning to all ponies that choose to make the area their home or place of business.”
“Most ponies won’t accept that the ‘agreement with gremlins’ thing,” said Twilight, “we’re going to have to have verifiable proof that gremlins are real, would one of his troupe be willing to come back to Ponyville? They would remain with Fluttershy during their stay and she could act as an intermediary during the research period. Of course, they would have to be on their best behavior, that means no messing with equipment without permission during their stay.”
Fluttershy chittered with the gremlin for a few more minutes and it chittered back a rather long stream, “He’s not sure, he’s pleased you’re asking about a member of the troupe being interested in leaving the area for another, he also finds the terms amicable. He’ll go and talk with the troupe leader.” She set the creature down and it scurried away to a well-hidden tunnel hole next to the tree.
“All right,” said Daring, “how about Fluttershy and Shining stay here, Fluttershy to liaise the gremlins and Shining to keep her safe in case things get a little too scary. The rest of us will head back the clearing to get started on outlining a town layout.”
With that, the rest group left Shining and Fluttershy to deal with their portion while the rest of the team headed back to the clearing. Daring was thankful she thought ahead to bring items that weren’t all that hard to replace and she could easily get by without. If they had taken her machete that would have been a whole other story, of course, she had since dedicated it to a museum after she finished the penultimate of her book series.
Daring had over a dozen rough drafts of a town charter, what made Twilight uneasy was the name Daring had picked out. Every single draft of a town charter and starting layout all had the name “Fetish” in big and bold letters that were underlined. Spike just laughed when he saw the town name, and Cadance showed no sign of having problems with the town’s name, neither did Celestia or Luna. Twilight was well aware of the meanings for the word, all of them, but she also knew how in the modern era that word had more than a few sexual implications, hence her hangup on the name Daring had chosen for the town.
Her starting layouts for the town were of interest, almost enough to help distract from the name. Every draft of the town layout had a temple, which would also act as the town hall, at the center. The temple would also serve as a housing complex for Daring and Spike, along whatever foals they ended up having and some of the acolytes seeking to have a position as a priestess.
Twilight had genuinely gotten more than a little uncomfortable with Daring and Spike being around her, and temporarily set them up in a townhouse. Twilight told Daring outright that she just didn’t want to deal with Spike in “Honeymoon mode” because it kind of creeped her out. Daring was given an office, with a drawing table, at the townhouse and was told by Twilight to show her best sketches to Cadance and Shining Armor, and maybe Flurry Heart too, when she could.
Daring smiled at her latest layout; the temple took up a good portion of the center of the clearing with a large bathhouse effectively across the street from it. She also had another bathhouse at the edge of the agreed upon border for the gremlins, and a third at the southernmost point the clearing. The central bathhouse was the largest, but she wanted to have more than one communal meeting point that could potentially make the residents feel closer, she also wanted to have as many relaxed environments as possible.
The bathhouses had another good point; they effectively made personal areas optional instead of mandatory. Granted, the logistics of maintaining the bathhouses was a bit more than most ponies, especially politically minded ones, were used to dealing with. By making the bathhouses open to the public, at almost all hours, it also allowed ponies to bath at their leisure. Most modern ponies weren’t used to communal bathing, but historical records from eras that predated Equestria showed that communal bathing was a way of life for ponies.
Spike out running errands, which meant Daring had the whole place herself. It didn’t really matter; she had been focused entirely on the town layout plans since breakfast was finished, during which she joked about Spike having his own restaurant. Although, their shower play after getting up was a little fun. Of course, this was routine she had gone through the past few days as well.
Daring’s focus on her task was intense she didn’t even notice somepony was in the complex until it was too late, the layout she was working on literally pulled out from her workstation while she was thinking of what to add in. It was this point she heard papers ruffling; she had made over a dozen drafts with only about nine actually being something she was proud of. Turning around she saw Cadance leafing through the drafts.
“These are all very nice,” said Cadance without looking away from the sheets, “I especially like the idea for communal bathing areas.”
“Thanks,” said Daring, unsure of how to really proceed, “I thought having areas for the whole community, and visitors, to wash up might help ponies feel less physically conscious around each other. There would obviously be sections for stallions and mares to bath separately, but I’m thinking of discarding that in the larger bathing area. In fact, I'm thinking of doing away with divided bathing areas in the facilities altogether.”
“A truly mixed bath,” said Cadance with a mischievous grin, “I like it,” she then turned her attention to Daring’s latest layout, “and I think this particular layout is probably for the best. A large genuinely communal bathing area with separate smaller bathing areas for the more conscious individuals. Given any thought there?"
“I thought the eastern bath could be a stallions only bathing area while the southern one could be a mares only bathing area, having bathhouses designated for each gender might make guests feel a bit more comfortable.”
“That seems reasonable,” said Cadance, “plus it would force visitors to see more of the community and how it operates. I like how you have the guest housing facility set up in close proximity to the central structure...what exactly is it supposed to be?”
“The temple complex,” said Daring, “it will also act as the town hall and housing for several parties. Namely, the High Priestess, her family, and acolytes in training to become priestesses.”
“So in other words, it will be your home and place of business for both political and religious purposes,” said Cadance with a head quirk, “that would adequately explain why it is so big.”
“The real problem is getting enough circulating water for the bathhouses,” said Daring with a sigh, “just one would be a tremendous effort, but I’ve planned for three. And without an abundantly ready source of water to flow through the structures, they’re nothing more than pretty looking facilities with empty tubs or a great place for collecting stagnant water.”
“I think we can help with that,” said Cadance with a smile, “and I might just use your bathhouses as a template for setting up one in the Crystal Empire. Ponies need reasons to be happy, and a place to socialize without the worries of the outside world can be that. I read over your bathing rules for the bathhouses; I especially liked rule one.”
“If I remember correctly,” said Daring in contemplation, “rule one is ‘leave all attire and concerns at the door’ with rule two stating you are free to speak openly about all subjects with your bathing partners without fear of severe repercussions.”
“Yes, and you only have five rules for the bathing establishments, all of which as simple as they are reasonable.”
“Nice to hear, but that doesn’t solve the logistical problems for the bathhouses.”
“Just let Auntie Celestia, Auntie Luna, Twilight and myself worry about that,” said Cadance with a smile. “I also like how you set it up so the station is is in the northeasternmost corner of the clearing, it keeps the station just far enough away from the rest of the town to be feasible while also making it so anyone who arrives that way or wishes to leave that way needs to pass through quite a bit of the town if they want to save time.”
“Honestly, I just put it there so it would have a minor impact on the community's development,” said Daring as she pretended to search for another sheet of parchment to get back to work, “besides, I didn’t intend for you to see all of the layouts I sketched, just the most complete ones.”
“That is the main reason I’m here,” said Cadance with a worried look, it’s been nine days since our visit to the clearing and the only time you genuinely got outside was when Twilight moved you and Spike out here seven days ago,” she emphasized the word ‘seven’ like it was serious. “I’m thankful it hasn’t been longer, that would really be a problem, but for a once very active pony to be cooped up in a room for days isn’t very healthy.”
“It’s happened to me before,” retorted Daring, “the main difference here is that I can leave the complex anytime I want, of the six cases where I was cooped up by others,” she emphasized the number six, almost as if she was mocking the pink alicorn’s concern, “all of the rooms I was confined to were considerably less spacious than this,” she gestured to the room.”
“I know, I read your books,” said Cadance with a deadpan voice, “and the manuscripts that were used for them, and your personal notes relating each book. Twilight is really focused on the formation of this new publishing house; she wants to make sure everything is in order before it is properly established. Republishing your books will be a good start, I suppose, but publishing both your latest story and the story that actually predates the first book might be what takes it to where it needs to go.”
“Has she always been like that?”
“Intent on doing things the right way? No, she used to be mainly focused on doing things the way they were prescribed without hesitation. But a few years ago she learned to question the efficiency of what she is asked to do and looks for how to improve it. As for what’s happening with her friends, I’m happy you found a new project to involve Fluttershy in, she’s been needing more things to help take her mind off of her pet dilemma.”
“I’m not sure I follow,” said Daring.
“Her pet, Angel Bunny, passed on about four years ago and she’s been partially blaming herself, even though he passed on due to advanced age. He had a few offspring with another lopine Fluttershy was taking care of, but she didn’t want to sully his legacy by taking on one of his children as a pet. She’s been looking around for a few animals to help fill the void, but nothing has really felt right to her. Having those three gremlins around here house is helping keep her mind on something a bit more positive, to which we're all thankful.”
“Frankly, I’m surprised there were multiple takers of the offer. I think, maybe, some of the gremlins in the area we’re going to be working in want to form a new troupe somewhere else.”
“I thought as much myself,” said Cadance with a grin, “but this,” she held up Daring’s latest plan up, “is an excellent template to work with, I’m approving it now. I’ll show this to Shining and Flurry, then you and Spike can help us work on how to improve the overall design, but I like how you have one of the structures acting as a marker for how far the town is permitted to go in the easterly direction.”
“I suppose you also find it amusing that I made it a bathhouse as well?”
“Of course, you seem to have a gift for this sort of thing.”
“Not really,” said Daring, “I just want to do right by my duties. The lack of a report regarding the time my sister disappeared is disconcerting, but I still want to try living up to her memory.”
“A beautiful sentiment, did Zelshirka say anything about me or Shiny? We’ve been so busy with other things I didn’t bother to ask about it, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”
“She said something about improving the chances you and Shining Armor would get together, some of Twilight’s ancestors were among her earliest pony followers and she’s been watching their line to the best of her abilities. She’s able to follow you because of the unique connection you have with the Crystal Heart, which means she’s been keeping an eye on Flurry Heart for as long as she’s been around.”
“Well, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about all that,” said Cadance with a slight frown, “I’ll have to talk to Shining and Flurry about this.”
“I figured you would, any other reasons you’re here?”
“Twilight is worried about you, but she doesn’t want to come barging in on you either. She asked me to come and check up on you; it’s also a good excuse for looking at what you have planned for this town you’re designing.” Cadance took another look at Daring’s latest layout, “with the temple acting as your home and town hall you’ve effectively condensed where everypony needs to go if they have to talk to you about various matters. The bathhouses act as a relaxed communal meeting place. You even have the placement of the school near the main bathhouse, which allows caregivers an excuse to wash their foals right after school in addition to allowing them to better deepen their bonds with each other. I like how you’re thinking of having a turnstile and loop near the station to make things easier for returns to the Crystal Empire. Frankly, it looks like you’ve got all the big details taken care of already. We can just use this layout as is, let the rest of us worry about the more minute details. I’m going to have this copied off so Twilight can keep one for her records and we can keep a copy while you keep the original.”
“Honestly, I just sort of drew it all out as a sort of reflex. I think my new divine patron might have had something to do with a lot of this. I just wanted to have a temple, a school, a train station, and a bathhouse, along with a few homes for ponies that want to try moving in. I think the latest designs were a few things getting away from me, and more of an extension of the ideas Zelshirska has.”
“You can’t give her credit for this.”
“I’m not, the idea for the town is all me. She just made some suggestions and used my body as a conduit to show her ideas on how to improve the idea. We exist in a mutual relationship; she can do far more than usual with me acting as a bridge of sorts. And she gives me a few added benefits for maintaining the pact, some of which I have yet to reveal to anypony. Spike says I’m like a character made manifest from O&O; I’m just letting him have his fun on account I’m not entirely familiar with what he’s talking about.”
“Well, now that we have all that taken care of, it’s time for you to go outside, young lady. You’ve been cooping yourself up in this place far too long.” With that Cadance Dragged Daring out of the house in her magic, when the sunlight of early noon hit Daring’s eyes she winced. Still, in Cadance’s magic, she was dragged through the town to one of the town’s restaurants and placed at one of the outdoor tables before Cadance waved a waitress over and began ordering dishes and drinks, not even waiting for Daring’s responses.
It was clear Cadance had plans for a long conversation with Daring. Daring herself felt tired and refreshed in the open air of the daylight; she guessed she really had been in the house a bit too long. Once the food and drinks arrived chances were Cadance would get down to what she really wanted to talk about, Daring was dreading what was to come.
Somehow Daring and Spike found themselves in the Crystal Empire. As usual, Spike was practically mobbed by his adoring fans, much to Daring’s very obvious amusement. Cadance sent guards to take Daring and Spike where they needed to go, which for Spike meant a meeting with Shining Armor at the castle and for Daring it was a meeting with Flurry Heart near the Crystal Heart.
Flurry ushered her over before taking her to a more secluded area, growing up in the Crystal Empire meant she was able to find all those lovely lesser-known regions that even many of the residents weren’t fully aware of. Once they were alone, the first question Flurry had was, “How do you know you’re pregnant with Spike’s foal?”
Daring blinked a few times in confused admiration for the young mare before smirking and saying, “I’m guessing your parents said something along the lines of it’s my thing to explain.” Flurry nodded a few times; Daring sighed before continuing, “I know I’m carrying his progeny because of a few different reasons. The first one isn’t very obvious but provides some context, due to my prior occupation I tended to have a rather erratic estrus cycle and didn’t feel much intensity due to the seclusion I usually found myself in. Thankfully, it never seemed to be happening when I encountered the villains I usually faced back then.”
“I can see what you meant by the opening statement,” said Flurry, “but it doesn’t quite come close to answering my question.”
“I’m getting there,” said Daring, she was mildly amused by Flurry’s impatience in the story, mostly because it reminded Daring of herself in her younger days. “My body became more compatible with dragon anatomy when I made my deal with Zelshirska. Apparently, being bestowed power by her gave me the ability to be perfectly compatible with dragons and ponies, or maybe that was always the case, and she just ramped up my body’s fertility to the point that pregnancy would be assured.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” said Flurry, “you also have the ability to control your body’s lactation system as well, according to your report.”
“Yes, and Spike was a little greedy the first time around, not that I minded it much. Although, he did come close to making it uncomfortable with his teeth a few times during his suckling of my teats.”
Flurry giggled at the image of her “Uncle Spike” imitating a baby, which was made all the more amusing when she pictured Daring playing the part of an annoyed “mother” dealing with a difficult child. She was looking forward to alone time with Daring, she really hadn’t gotten to do so during their prior meetings, mostly because they coincided with “important” meetings. Her mother was busy figuring out the best logistical approach to Daring’s new town, both she and Flurry had a laughing contest for a good half hour while her father just stood there with an intense blush asking if there was any way to convince Daring to change the name of the town to something that wasn’t such a potentially massive sexual innuendo.
Flurry’s mom shot down the proposal the moment her father had finished it; she was more than happy to leave the proposed name as is. She even wrote up a royal declaration that sent out to Ponyville and Canterlot stating that only Daring or one of her station could name communities the way that she had this first one, all had sent back a proclamation of agreement without hesitation. Luna had even offered the services of one of her most promising students from her school of the arts.
Princess Luna’s School of Artistic Harmony had gone up when Flurry was six, and quickly become the go to school for ponies with artistic talents or intention of developing artistic abilities. Flurry had visited the facility with her aunt Twilight two years after it had gone up, the school was magnificent, having apparently been designed by Luna herself in addition to her overseeing every stage of the construction. So as to not directly compete with Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the school was not built in Canterlot, Luna wanted a more picturesque environment for the academy and decided to set it up in Rainbow Falls. It wasn’t uncommon to see students plying their creations around the town and going the extra mile in trading various nick knacks for new project materials during the Traders’ Exchange.
Flurry knew all this because her aunt took her to the trading event during that time, and she had traded a small collection of crystal buttons, she had kind of started hoarding when she couldn’t find the owners of the buttons after a week. Her first Daring Do explorer’s hat and had actually been gotten as her prize from one of the fashion students at the school because of that trade.
Now that she thought about it, she and that mare did act like penpals three or four times a year, but then stopped keeping in touch. She wondered if she could convince that mare to take a jab at setting up shop in a town that was going to have some very different sort of cultural norms. She didn’t know the mare’s address, seeing as she was a student and Flurry had never bothered to ask what her more permanent residence might be. Although, she still did keep in touch with Silk Ribbon somehow, Flurry just chalked it up to having really talented mailponies. Silk, as she preferred to be called at times, was a pony that was used to having her family move around a lot because of the business her parents were in, she had wanted a more rooted lifestyle and signed up for Luna’s school the moment she got a chance to visit it. But that was all Flurry really knew about Silk’s personal life.
Flurry wanted to focus on connecting with Daring, not remembering ponies that she barely knew but wanted to be closer to. “You know,” said Daring, which thankfully snapped Flurry out of her reverie, “I used to be a pretty impatient young mare myself.”
“Really? Wait, I remember hearing you had an older sister.”
“Star Log,” said Daring with a reminiscent smile, “she was my balancing force in so many ways. I was rambunctious and a bit of a firecracker when we were fillies, while she was overly cautious and rather slow in showing her passion. The two of us were as close as siblings could be in those days, maybe even closer. When we were in our mid-teens, she and I decided to be an adventuring duo, with me doing all the major work and her being the author that followed me everywhere. I got my compass rose mark just a few weeks after she got her night themed chart and book with a star fountain pen and wave quill. She always did like her books, but she liked recording things more. Both of us were excellent navigators after we got our marks, but for different reasons.”
“The Daring Do series was supposed to be her work, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, she was supposed to be my partner through it all, without her my rough edges got a little more prickly. The main reason I started my adventurer's life when I did was to look for clues regarding her, I waited a whole year for the law ponies to give me a lead but it never happened, which prompted me to go looking her on my own.”
“And the pseudonym of A.K. Yearling?”
“A bit of an in-joke on the part of my sister and I. Our mom’s name started with an A, and our dad’s started with a K. To the two of us the letters are a way of remembering our parents, we lost them a couple of years before she disappeared, it was actually a week before the anniversary of their deaths.”
“Um, what happened? If I may be so bold?”
“They were helping the local fire ponies with a rather big problem, they were reserve volunteers for the fire department. They always wanted to do as much good for the community as they could. They managed to get a small herd of foals out of a burning building before they were trapped inside, autopsy reports they shared with use said they were taken by smoke inhalation before the heat roasted them.”
“Yikes! At least, they went out the way they wanted to, helping ponies.”
“Yeah, but they never really set any obviously high standards for us. Dad didn’t seem to mind there were no colts around, he would often joke that I was halfway to being a colt myself. But at the end of the day, we were both mommy’s fillies, as the saying goes.”
“Really? What was your mom like?”
“Pretty similar to your grandma Velvet, I’ve only heard about her personality so far, but from what I have heard she and my mom were cut from the same cloth.”
“Does that mean your dad was like my grandpa Night Light?”
“Oh, heavens, no,” said Daring with a subdued but hearty laugh, “my dad and your grandfather probably would just barely be able to tolerate each other. He and mom couldn’t figure out where Star Log got her orderly tendencies, she was even more of a neat freak than your aunt Twilight, which I’m sure your wonder is even possible.” Daring had her there, it was pretty hard for Flurry to imagine a pony more organized than her aunt Twilight. “No, my dad was just barely organized, calling him a packrat is bit closer to the truth than most would realize. He had all his personal and work spaces looking like a complete disaster but somehow knew exactly what was where in the cluttered nightmare of a space, much like an actual packrat.”
Flurry giggled at the thought of her grandfather meeting Daring’s dad, “You’re right, grandad would just barely tolerate him.”
“And what makes all the more amusing is my dad’s laid back and chill attitude, his name wasn’t Keen Tone for nothing.”
Flurry’s eyes went wide, “The music composer? He was said to be a little eccentric; his musical theories are used as the foundations for all modern music principles. You’re saying he was your dad?”
“Huh, I never thought of it that way,” said Daring, “I knew he was a composer, but everything he turned in was just barely enough to cover his needs.”
“But records show he wasn’t officially married to anypony.”
“He and mom were married through common law, they didn’t advertise it and didn’t make any statements about it, I doubt it would even show up in background checks from most ponies, even the outstanding ones.”
“But he was a unicorn, and you’re a pegasus.”
“I get that from my mom; Star is a unicorn though. Mom was the only pony that could really do more than tolerate dad, she was professional weather pony, but she didn’t really have a place to call her own or anything other than two bags full of clothes. She was good at her job, but lacked the organizational skill set to be a head weather pony. She also didn’t have any aspirations beyond being able to help others. Her name was Astra Showers, a rather odd name but she had a big heart. Dad offered her a place to stay when she was in town after she told him she was conflicted about where to stay, next thing either of them knew it had been over a decade together and they were expecting my sister.”
“That’s so sweet, I’m sure mom would love to hear the whole story.”
“Which I can’t really provide,” said Daring, “everything I just told you is everything I know about them. Well, aside from their coat colors and cutie marks but a look at their personal data will tell you that.”
“But wait, if you really are a child of Keen Tone that means you and your sister are legally entitled to everything he left behind. Of course, nopony knows where his will is.”
“Let me guess; it’s because they can’t make sense of any of his workspaces and don’t want to disturb any of them out of respect for him as a respected individual?”
“Um, yes.”
“I think I know just where to look; I haven’t been back there since before the funeral.”
“Aunt Twilight is going to want to come along for that, although she’s going to be torn between respecting a great Equestrian mind and organizing the place.”
“You’ll want to come along for the show; I take it.”
“It’s always fun seeing Aunt Twilight having a crisis of that sort of nature.”
“You and your mom have a very distinct sense of humor!”
“We are our parents, as the saying goes,” said Flurry with a laugh, “I take after my mom more than my dad, but I still have some of his quirks.”
“Oh, is that so?” Daring said with a smirk as she got up from her position, Flurry was confused.
Her confusion only mounted when Daring somehow managed to sneak up behind her and give her bosom a quick fondle. “Hey, that wasn’t funny. Amusing, but not funny.”
“Depends on who you ask,” said Daring with a smirk, “I’m sure your mom would get kick out of her about that.”
“Yeah, she kind of would,” said Flurry with a smirk. Both mares just laughed and got to talking with each other in earnest. Daring really hadn’t had this kind of talk for many years, as was evident in the way she seemed to fall into the chat like an old habit but fumbled a bit like someone out of practice. Flurry Heart thought it would be okay to refer to her as “auntie” after this; she had insisted to her parents that she have some time alone with Daring and was glad she had managed to get just that. Although, she wasn’t sure of how to feel about draconic deity watching over her from another realm. Although, the thought of her aunt Twilight freaking out at this knowledge and trying to find a way to mitigate observation from an otherworldly entity did sound amusing.
Daring couldn’t understand what she was doing on a balcony, which happened to be big enough to host a “small” dinner party, with Cadance and an impressive lunch spread. What was worse, she had barely gotten a short greeting in with Spike before Flurry whispered something into her mother’s ear that prompted the pink alicorn to “insist” that she spend some private time with Daring, after a quick stop off at the medical wing to get a blood sample. Daring had her suspicions about what was coming next.
“Keen Tone wasn’t known for his social tendencies, something you clearly share,” started Cadance after twelve minutes of awkward silence, during which time a number crystal castle staff set the private dining area for the two, "but we still need to investigate your claims.”
“I figured as much when you ‘insisted’ Shining and Spike spend quality time together by requesting the profiles of Keen Tone and Astra Showers,” said Daring. “I’m not one to make baseless stories; you know this pretty well. I suppose you’re also sending out requests for the guest list for their funerals and pictures to help substantiate the claims. I would do the same in your position.”
“Yes, and I also want to discuss that with you a bit as well. Nopony really knows what either of those two were like in their private lives, if everything you said is true that means you at least have some ideas of what their private lives were like. You’re right about Astra, she was an amazing weather pony but lacked the ability to be a leader. Although, many of her ideas regarding weather are used to improve weather practices in our modern era. She was a meteorological genius, and was just as gifted in the field of astronomy. She knew the night sky better than anypony in her day, and her understanding of wild weather has just recently been formally recognized by weather experts.”
“Were some of the wild storm cloud fragments she had stashed in jars still around when ponies searched the house? Of course chances are they were in her special compartment in the basement.”
Cadance blinked a few times, “The knowledge of storm cloud fragments in a room behind a cabinet in the basement of Keen Tone’s home wasn’t released to the public, we’re still trying to figure out what the cloud fragments were doing there.”
“Yep, that would be mom’s ‘lab’ in the basement,” said Daring with a smirk. “She always told us we weren’t allowed down there when we were little, but after we got our marks she showed us what was going on down there,” Daring gave a chuckle, “we both gasped when she told us they were pieces of wild storm clouds.”
Cadance looked at Daring in surprise, “Did she say why she was keeping it all hidden?”
“Yeah, she said something along the lines of her research not being officially recognized and not wanting to get in trouble before Equestria was ready. My thoughts, she was just afraid of what other ponies would say about it all. I’m sure Princess Celestia would have been willing to spend some time at least to hear her out on her research and theories, but when I asked her about it, she said she just didn’t want to bother the princess with her silly hobby. Although, it seems she knew just how to contain the pieces for an extended period of time, that’s an accomplishment in itself.”
“Yes, it is. We would all like to study the jars, but all the ones we’ve found are either broken or occupied.”
“I think I can help you there,” said Daring, “she said exactly what to do if a pony of your station asked about the whereabouts of her jars.”
“What did she say to do?”
“Let me see, how did that go again?” Daring tapped her head and massaged her temple for a bit before saying, “oh right, she said to ‘listen to the melody of the clouds, the song of the twelve most frequent will lead you to what you seek.’ She then went on to say that if you can’t make sense of the riddle or follow the instructions that you aren’t worthy of knowing where she keeps her ‘special jars’ of course, she also gave them an official name as well.”
“What did she call them?”
“She called them ‘Storm Bottles’ for some reason, although some of her the oldest pieces of her collection looked like they were in soda bottles.”
“How many?”
“Fifteen, I think that those are the key to the riddle. I think mom also knew this kind of conversation would happen, but I suspect she thought it would be with Princess Celestia.”
“That does make sense; Auntie Celestia was the only known alicorn in your mom’s time. And it does make sense that somepony else would have that space for their personal use, we just didn’t think it could possibly be Astra Showers.”
“It’ll probably take a few hours to confirm everything,” said Daring, “of course,” she got a little melancholy, “it would go faster and better if they were still around.”
“It would also help if we knew who their legal advisors were or where to find copies of their wills.”
“I’m pretty sure mom would keep her will with her spare jars, possibly even in one of them since they were so good at keep conditions inside from changing.”
“That does make a lot of sense, keeping potentially important documents in a place protected from changes in the world around them. And if the wills, either individually or together, name you and your sister it will be a bit of proof you’re related. But the blood comparison test we’re running will be the most conclusive proof. But since the practice is extremely new in our modern era we’re forced to send the sample all the way out to Canterlot to have Equestria’s top experts on genetics run the test, at best we’ll only have a day or two before they send us back the results.”
“Which I’m sure Celestia and Luna are also interested in,” said Daring with a sage nod, “we really weren’t big on record keeping at home, Star Log was the organized one among us.” Suddenly something hit Daring, “She said she bought a warehouse for all the keepsakes from the amazing adventures we would be having, one that’s in Canterlot. She wanted the place to be well protected, and Canterlot’s Warehouse District is one of the most well-guarded regions of the city, only the castle and elite housing districts have higher security. The security in the area is so tight that nopony has been able to run any potentially illegal acts in the area since it went up two hundred years ago.”
“Seems like your sister knew when to plan ahead quite some time before you,” said Cadance, “did she tell you which one? I could have auntie Celestia, and auntie Luna check it out.”
“She said ‘I like it because it subtly uses our first initials’ so I’m sure I know how it’s configured. She always said I was the one to lead, so it’s probably in D block and S converted into a number is 19. But if she decided to go in order of our births then it would be S4. We’ll have to check both D19 and S4 to know for sure, and I’m guessing I’ll have to be there. She would have likely had likely left a little in-joke between the two of us somewhere out of the way but in plain sight to confirm it’s the right place.”
“Sounds like your sister really liked puzzles.”
“She and I created our own cipher when we were little, mostly because we wanted our own secret code. We didn’t really need one with our parents the way they were; it was just something that we decided to do as fillies and kept doing for years after. I actually used that same cipher to leave little messages for her in the Daring Do novels; I made sure to use words for the books that the publishers wouldn’t want to omit so that I could leave the messages to her without them being messed with.”
“But they weren’t the messages you wanted to leave her, were they?”
“No, and you can tell by just reading the transcripts of the stories.”
“Well, Twilight’s going to want to know the key to that cipher and the messages you want to hide so she can institute them, she also gets excited about that sort of thing.”
“I know, I’m still trying to decide if I should share that info with her. Like I said, I shared that as a sort of secret code with Star Log. If she were still with me today chances are things would have gone very differently in my life, I probably wouldn’t even be close to where I am today.”
“Or maybe you would, and your sister would have been offered a position with auntie Luna after she returned. Her name compliments auntie Luna, and she sounds like she would have made an excellent record keeper or personal assistant.”
“If she had been offered that sort of job she would have insisted I get one of my own as part of the deal, one in which I could spend time with her whenever she needed me. She would probably have also insisted the two of us share a living space, at least until one of us ended up in a serious relationship.”
“I’ll talk with my aunts about the warehouse, seems you’re really getting around these days. Twilight’s probably tearing her mane out trying to figure out what your cipher is; you’ll probably end up telling her what it’s like soon.”
“I suppose, but I’ll let her squirm a little more. There’s a lot of emotion tied up in keeping it exclusive, but since you all are technically family and I don’t want the knowledge to be lost, I’ll probably end up telling you all how it works in the near future.”
“I’m sure Shining will like that, as a Royal Guard one of the hardest things is having code that the opposition knows how to break. Your code with your sister has gone all these years without anypony breaking it.”
“Mom and dad came close a few times,” said Daring with a chuckle, “but they didn’t crack it, they probably did figure it out and just decided to let us think it went unsolved by ponies that weren’t Star and me.”
“Sounds like parents to me,” said Cadance. “We really didn’t know much about your family, except maybe Auntie Celestia, and you really didn’t share any personal information about yourself until after you brought Zelshirska’s idol back with you the first time.”
“I felt it wasn’t anypony’s business knowing my genuine past at the time, the biography for the books is something that my sister and I came up with. We actually kicked around the idea of the author’s name actually being a pseudonym, and the author name of A.K. Yearling is a bit of an in-joke between Star Log and me, I left her a lot of hints in the hopes she would find her way back by now. I effectively gave up on having a family before the events that Zelshirska’s idol kicked off; I was too focused on finding answers and stopping others from misusing artifacts to even entertain having a family. It’s been ages since I visited the graves of my parents, last time I was there I left some carnations and a note in a plastic bag with all the things I was sorry to them for.”
“Why carnations? What color?”
“They were mom’s favorite flower, another one of her hobbies was learning the language of flowers. Carnations were her favorite because of all the different things they could represent. I left them both bouquets of pink and red carnations; mom said the reds were the most melancholy because they told somepony your heart was aching for them but the pinks were telling somepony that no matter what you would never forget them.”
“The kind of messages you would want to share with those you lost,” said Cadance sagely, “and until you find concrete proof of your sister’s state you don’t want to move forward with anything related to her?”
“Yes, I probably need to do a lot of cleaning when I get back to that place with so many early memories.”
“Well, that’s enough heavy stuff for one day. You’re supposed to be here for happier; it almost feels like you are trying to bring yourself down. I hear you managed to make Rarity feel a bit uncomfortable in regards to attire, not an easy feat.”
Daring gave a mischievous grin before, “I told her the ceremonial garb would be using fetishwear as a template, what really took it over the top was her daughter expressing interest in being involved in the faith.”
“She’s eight,” said Cadance with minor annoyance.
“I think she mostly said it to get a rise out of her mom; she’ll probably wait another ten years before moving to the town. Of course, I’m assuming she’ll keep her interest in the faith up until then. But based on her show of interest now, that’s all I can do at the moment. Flurry mentioned getting back in contact with somepony she used to know, a mare who was studying fashion at Luna’s school.”
“Luna established an art school in Rainbow Falls a few years ago, in case you were unaware, and it’s proved very popular since it first opened its doors. It’s been up for the past thirteen years now; it has the same sort of refined prestige that Celestia’s school does.”
“Celestia’s school was only intended for training unicorns, Luna’s accepted ponies of all the tribes into her school.”
“Well, Canterlot is mostly populated by unicorns, and she didn’t want to rile up the nobility at the time, she really needed their support when she established the school.”
“And by the time she could change it to something more inclusive without issue it was already too late?”
“Yep, because of modern elitist philosophies among many of the Canterlot unicorns at the time Luna decided to choose a place a bit more rustic, the official reasoning she gave was that she didn’t want her school coming into immediate competition with Celestia’s.”
“But unofficially she just wanted someplace that wouldn’t have the nobility breathing down her neck,” said Daring catching on, “she probably also didn’t want to infringe on the territories of the other princesses.”
“Yep, which meant Ponyville and the Crystal Empire were out. Twilight put a lot of effort into improving the education of Poniville’s populace after Luna’s school went up. Last I checked, she’s been working on a number of projects to improve things for ponies.”
“Yeah, after the debacle with my prior publishers she turned her attention towards starting her own publishing house, she said something about not trusting any of the currently established publishers before the Business Ministry did some serious house cleaning.”
“Well, she has a lot of respect for literature and doesn’t take kindly to anyone abusing the written word, she’s even scolded me and Celestia on it few times,” Cadance gave an amused chuckle, “but she immediately apologized afterward, babbling about how she was being out of turn. We didn’t mind, and we were just happy she was so passionate about something. Honestly, I was practically betting she’d have her own publishing house up already. I guess, she just needed something to push her towards that sort of thing. Will You be keeping your pseudonym for the books with publishing change?”
“Yes, I will. Although, I think my introductory story might end up being published, which means Daring Do volume zero will be made available to the public, my prior publishers kept that story locked away for some reason. Probably wanted a rare, one of a kind volume to auction off after news of A.K. Yearling kicking the bucket reached them, I was pretty close to that before the whole idol situation happened.”
“Youth restored and touched up extra sexy,” said Cadance with a hearty chuckle, “sounds like something out of a foal’s tale that got a more ‘mature’ makeover.”
“I suppose some mares would like that to happen to them; I would have just been happy having the vitality of my younger days restored to me for a few months.”
“But instead you got all that plus the stamina and sexual energy to go fuck a dragon for days. I have to admit, when I read that part I was slightly jealous for a few minutes.”
“We still go at it in the early mornings,” said Daring with a show of mock shame, “although, it’s immensely toned down from what we would like to do with each other. We need to adhere to the communal expectations of such things for such things. While I would really enjoy just sauntering around town with barely anything on,” Cadance giggled at the mental image, “I know I’d get slammed with a Public Indecency charge and fine, I know it’s basically the same with every other community of Equestria. It’s not going to quite be that way with the community I’m trying to build.”
“A pony could walk around in nothing but a hat for all you care,” said Cadance with a giggle. “In order to keep on eye on as much as possible and make sure things don’t get too out of control Flurry will be acting as a liaison with the Crystal Empire for the first year or so, she actually insisted she be given the opportunity.”
“She probably just wants to test just what she can get away with,” said Daring with a smirk, “seeing as how she was under a very public eye for almost every moment she was outside the castles.”
“Well, there’s that too,” said Cadance with a smirk. “I noticed you have some unmarked open-air facilities positioned around the town, I’m assuming they’re some sort of gazebo you want ponies to use on special occasions.”
“Something like that,” said Daring with a saucy smirk, “I’ll explain their function to the town’s residents. I want to be careful with what is said about the town’s specifics for the time being on the off chance some of that information ends up leaking to the masses before we’re ready to announce the details officially. On that note, how are your inquiries into making the bathing facilities functional?”
“Annoyingly slow,” said Cadance with a huff, “research on the pre-Equestrian era shows such facilities were used by ponies but fell out of favor for unknown reasons, back then they just diverted streams and rivers through selected areas and let them flow downstream to reconnect with the outside waterways. Of course, they also used a variety of spells and charms to keep the bathing area as close to comfortably warm as possible. With modern technology we don’t need to do such things anymore, almost all that we need to do can be used without the use of magic.”
“I was aware of some of that stuff regarding the pre-Equestrian era,” said Daring, “but thus far, I haven’t found any reason why they abandoned communal bathing eras ages before our understanding of personal territory had a foundation.”
“Well, if any ponies can find the answers it’s probably you and Twilight.”
The Funny Thing About the Most Romantic Time of the Year
Daring couldn’t believe it; it was already Hearts and Hooves Day. Of course, if she’d bothered to actually read a calendar she would have probably not been surprised. To make matters more interesting, Daring was with Spike in the Crystal Empire. What had surprised her when she woke up, aside from Spike bringing her a five-course spread for breakfast in bed, was the news that Princess Celestia actually had well-preserved mane samples of both her parents to use for comparison.
It was no wonder Cadance was confident of the genetic testing; Daring had known the tests needed somepony to test them against. She just hadn’t expected Princess Celestia, of all ponies, to have a way of being able to do that without disturbing their graves. What surprised the princesses, Cadance and Twilight included, was the fact Daring’s claims were spot on. The very idea that one of Equestria’s greatest explorers was the foal of two of Equestria’s lesser acknowledged innovators was more than a little surprising.
A few hours after they got the results back Twilight came up to spend some family time with everyone, her surprise when she found the document confirming the results was so amusing Cadance, and Spike couldn’t resist getting it on film a few times. Cameras had made some fantastic leaps over the past few years, thanks in part to Twilight’s minor obsession with improving things. Daring made a joke about Twilight having missed the opportunity to have a tech company at her disposal that sent Twilight herself into super planning mode. Apparently making plans for her own publishing house wasn’t enough of a challenge, and her reaction to Daring’s joking statement sent a wave of chuckles through the rest of the family.
Before either of them knew it Cadance and Shining Armor, along with Flurry Heart, had practically shoved them out the door with a small sack of bits telling them to have fun. Before that happened, Daring had been dragged to the royal tailor’s place and come out in a pink knee-length dress that had her mark on it with Flurry holding onto a bag that contained her clothes from earlier. When Daring had tried to retrieve the bag from the younger mare she was told she would have to wait until after dinner. For the first time in a very long time, Daring made a pouting face.
She hadn’t made such a face since the time her mother decided to put dye in the shampoos that she and Star Log had used when they were much younger, things only got worse when Cadance used a camera to catch the image on film and made a compliment about Daring having a cute pouting face. Both Cadance and Flurry went around singing about how Daring was more adorable than she let on all the way back to the castle. When Spike finally saw Daring in the carnation pink dress he just stared at her in surprise, Shining would have gawked with his mouth open if his wife and daughter hadn’t been there to give him a few good smacks.
While it was true Daring had a sexy body now, something about a more official romantic attire seemed to elevate her looks to a point that hadn’t been considered before. And now, she and Spike were practically forced to spend the whole day going about like an official couple. This was made a bit more tricky by the fact crowds virtually congregated around Spike, even after all these years, whenever somepony noticed him.
_________________________
Spike found this year a bit more amusing, especially after Daring challenged every mare that came within twenty feet of Spike to fight her. Something that took the crystal ponies over an hour to realize meant she and Spike were trying to have a romantic time together despite the fact both had said as much but had only gotten looks of fascination. Now, with Daring’s open challenge to anypony that potentially obstructed them, they were getting a hint that the two wanted to go about without being hindered. Of course, this still didn’t stop lines from forming on either side of them to observe almost every action they did. When Spike and Daring made a few comments about getting lunch at around noon the two had been literally picked up by the mass of groupies following the two around and plunked down in front of the fanciest dining establishment in the Crystal Empire, the owner of which said they were free to order anything off the menu free of charge.
Out of frustration Daring just grabbed Spike and dragged him to a fast food establishment, making good on her promise to deck anypony that got in her way as she went. Spike found it incredibly hot, more than he probably had a right to think. He remembered some of his talks with Ember telling him about how dragons prized physical capabilities over all else for generations, hence why her father had arranged things the way he did in the challenge for the scepter. On some fundamental level dragons, at least the ones that lived around Equestria and its borders, had an instinctual attraction towards others that were physically capable or seemed to exude an immense level of power. Daring was doing both right now, and Spike thought of her being at her hottest in this moment.
He remembered the other night at dinner Cadance had made a comment about Daring being a firecracker in her youth; it looked she might have had a few fireworks left in storage from back then. Thinking back, he came to the realization he’d seen some of her fireworks before. He silently chuckled at the thought of their offspring carrying on that tradition.
“I don’t want anything fancy,” said Daring with frustration as she tossed another couple that intentionally got in her way as she pulled Spike along, “I just want something cheap and tasty.”
“I would just like to say, you are at your hottest right now,” said Spike with a goofy grin, which Daring didn’t see due to looking the opposite direction at the moment. “And I’m sorry about all this, the Crystal Empire sees me as some amazing hero. Here I have some serious celebrity power.”
“Yeah, and your fan club is going to get decked by your new ‘wife’ if they don’t ease up on the groupie act!” Daring said with fervor.
“Is it true?” Came the voice of some random mare that he couldn’t see despite being tall enough to see well over the surprisingly large herd of ponies.
“Um, yeah,” said Spike, “we kind of unintentionally ended up as lifemates when we tried out an ancient ritual we had less than basic info on.” It wasn’t quite the truth, but close enough to it to suit their needs.
“Praise be to the Crystal Heart,” came the voice a stallion from somewhere, “we learned about this on Hearts and Hooves Day, truly this day is more magical than any time before.”
At that moment both Spike and Daring froze up for a moment, suddenly the two being forced out until dinner coupled with the fact Cadance and Shining were excited to have Twilight and Flurry out of the castle became far more apparent. Apparently, both them weren’t entirely aware of what day it was, which was something that Cadance decided to take full advantage of.
_______________________
Almost as soon as they heard Spike’s confirmation, the entire flow of the crowd changed. Next thing Daring knew she and Spike were in a park surrounded by crystal flowers with three crystal ponies setting down just as many separate picnic baskets, which were actually two substantial picnic baskets and a large bento box that clearly had four chambers. A quick look at what was beneath them showed a blanket that was far too ornate for being used as a tool to picnic on. After all that the crowd retreated a good sixty feet and the sounds of ponies setting up to take amateur pictures and video of their favorite celebs could be heard. Daring let out an annoyed sigh, which coincided with a camera flash that irked her further.
“Okay, three things to remember for next year.”
“Check the calendar, make sure no visits bring us close to the Crystal Empire on Hearts and Hooves Day,” said Spike as he ticked things off on his digits, “and what’s the third?”
“Make sure somepony doesn’t further invade our privacy. I have plans for you,” she brought her face so close they almost touched then gave him one of her erotic kisses, this one last a good three minutes, “got it?”
“Yes ma’am,” said Spike, “I think our watchers are enjoying the show, especially the part with the kiss.”
“Probably going to be all over the front page of the morning edition tomorrow. Now, I’m usually wary of food given to me by other ponies. Seeing as I’ve nearly fallen prey to unscrupulous individuals that tried to drug me through food and drink, which they or their subordinates tried giving me.”
“Oh, come on,” said Spike with a goofy grin, “they’re mostly harmless,” he took the lid off one of the bento style lunch box that was between to large looking picnic baskets. Inside were a variety of sandwiches and carefully placed collection of fruits and vegetables that made out his face and head, “Although, there are times where it can get a little unnerving. I get the feeling they planned to try getting me alone for these but decided to alter the plan after your comment about us being married. I’m not sure if that was a good call or not at the moment.” He reached in and grabbed a random sandwich and chewed on it for a bit.
_____________________________
Since Spike got such a kick out of cooking, thanks in part to him having to learn the skills very early on because of Twilight’s personality in those early days, and the fact Twi’s mom, who also had the name Twilight amusingly enough. Not to mention, Princess Celestia insisted on him trying and using high-quality food for most of his early life, Spike had developed a refined palate that could tell just how good the food was.
What he tasted of the sandwich, which appeared to be a crystal daisy and crocus sandwich, was that it was subpar. The flowers weren’t as fresh as they could have been and the bread was a little undercooked. He was dealing with novice cooking, something that was a bit of pet peeve for him. The food decoration was excellent, practically a work of art unto itself. But the actual cooking part of the whole set was lacking on the most basic of levels; Spike wasn’t happy.
“Although, I can appreciate your point of view,” said Spike as he set the rest of the sandwich down next to him and put the lid back on the box. “It looked nice but was subpar, all the food needed a bit more attention before it was even considered for consumption. The bread wasn’t baked all the way through, it was far too doughy for the function it was used for, and the flowers weren’t at the level of health they should have been for use in a dish of any kind.” The mare in the crowd who had set the box down in front of the two looked nervous, almost as if she was expecting some sort of retribution for failing to perform basic cooking.
“And I’m guessing the rest of this spread is going to be potentially equally as lacking,” said Daring. She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, Daring turned the crowd and said, “We thank you for your thoughtfulness, but it seems you need to put a little more patience and practice in before you can provide something worthy of his praise.” The crowd seemed to take her word choice well; she turned to Spike, “How about we head to the castle and you commandeer the kitchen to make us a proper lunch?”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Spike, “time to see what the Crystal Empire has for us to work with.”
**********************
Twelve minutes later they were back at the castle, and the kitchen staff was more than happy to let Spike have their usual workspace all to himself for a few minutes. Also, they thanked Spike for giving them some additional free time to spend with their loved ones on this day. After a few minutes of prep work, which thankfully involved Spike’s definition of proper ingredients, he had made a small stack of sandwiches and a small bowl of salad for the to of them. The sandwiches were to share, and maybe let a passerby snag if they felt the need, while the bowls were prepped for the two of them.
On his way out of the kitchen with the sandwiches, Spike snagged a passing maid and requested she tell whoever had the duty to bring him and Daring a bottle of white wine. The flowers and bread he used didn’t work well with red wine, at least that’s what Celestia had told him quite a few times when she had decided to have wine with a similar set of sandwiches. Spike was aware a red wine would probably look better for the holiday, but he preferred to do away with aesthetics at the moment. He’d had enough of aesthetics for their own sake for the day, mostly because the situations he and Daring had just barely managed to escape.
_____________________________
Daring was feeling ravenous for food; she could “eat” Spike later. She was just beginning to get a sandwich from the pile when one of the castle’s maids brought a bottle of white wine in a very crystal looking bottle, with a pair of very crystal looking wine glasses. Spike thanked the maid and didn’t bother with bottle opener she offered him, he actually motioned for the maid to return the opener to its storage, and used his tail to pop the cork from the bottle and pour them both some of the very shiny white wine, calling it sparkling would be a tremendous understatement.
Daring managed to suppress a giggle, with the cork on his tail’s tip Spike looked a little comical in his indigo suit with a pink shirt and green tie. All of which did nothing to “de-masculate” him. But adding a wine cork to the tip of his tail somehow made him look comedic. Spike seemed to realize the how silly he looked with a wine cork on his tail and carefully pulled the cork off, transforming his image from one of comedy to one of class.
Daring was just starting to bite a sandwich with Spike reaching for a sandwich the flash of a camera caught Daring’s eye. With the sandwich still in her hold and mouth, Daring turned her head to see Twilight and Flurry both with a new looking camera. The camera looked more like an ellipse that had Twilight’s mark for the flash and what looked like one of Pinkie’s balloons for the lens.
“Something you’ve been working on with your friends, I see,” said Daring after she finished the first bite of her sandwich.
“Yep,” said Twilight with a smirk, “we’ve been going all over town trying these little beauties out.”
“Wait, there’s more than one?” Spike said with shock with his sandwich inches from his face; the cork was still in his other hand for some reason.
Flurry produced a similarly designed camera, the only differences being the flash modeled after one of Rarity’s diamonds and lens modeled after one of Applejack’s apples. “Auntie Twilight and I have been having a ball taking pictures of couples all over the Crystal Empire, only you two and my parents were left. And I have to say, your photos are probably going to be the best. It was like a romantic comedy when you had that cork on your tail but when you took it off it turned into a romantic drama, either one works for me. I know mom is going to enjoy those photos.”
“Indeed I will,” came Cadance’s voice as the cameras were pulled out of the hold of Twilight and Flurry by Cadance’s magic. “I’m sorry to say, Twilight,” she continued, “you won’t be taking pictures of me or Shining with these anytime soon,” she floated a sandwich from the stack to her mouth and took a bite, “delicious, you do good work in the kitchen, Spike. I think that bottle of wine you’re sharing with Daring should do as a downpayment.”
***************************************
Dinner was beyond awkward, Flurry and Twilight looked like they were sulking while Cadance and Shining were reviewing the pictures Twilight and Flurry had taken throughout the day. Cadance’s giggling and commenting on the cuteness of every image with Daring and Spike in them, while also showing the now thoroughly embarrassed couple, wasn’t helping matters either.
Things were only worse for Daring because she could hear Zelshirska laughing in her head, mostly about the aspects of the modern era she found amusing. A snickering dragon goddess in one’s head was not something anyone should hear during a meal. Her attempts at “special” time with Spike already felt like they were going to be ruined, for the first time since her changes Daring worried what the future would hold.
It had been ages since Daring had been to the town she had grown up, Melody Brook, and she was feeling a little nervous. Things weren’t being helped by the fact Flurry, Twilight, and Luna were all accompanying are along with her and Spike on this visit. This wasn’t just the place she and her sister had grown up; it was also the place they had laid their parents to rest. Daring and Star had actually placed their parents in a secluded spot of the area, the funerals had actually omitted the caskets because of this. Daring and Star had done so because it was stated in the letters their parents had left them to read for when they passed on.
Now Daring was going to be on the hunt for the wills of her parents, one last “adventure” before the rest of her life could move forward. Daring was just thankful for anything to take her mind off the annoyance that had been Hearts and Hooves Day a few days prior, anything to hold the embarrassment at bay. Things weren’t made much easier with Flurry now referring to her as “auntie” the day after Hearts and Hooves; this was brought on by the papers referencing her statement that she and Spike were married despite the fact that Flurry had literally read the report stating that Daring and Spike were now officially married.
“Could you explain why you decided to start calling me that now,” said Daring in a teasingly annoyed tone after the sixteenth time Flurry called her by her new nickname on the train ride.
“I didn’t want to start before the public got wind of it all,” said Flurry with a giggle.
“Sorry, just not used to be called something like that. If my sister were still around and had foals of her own I probably wouldn’t think of it as being so weird,” said Daring.
“My sister is looking into the events that happened during the time of her disappearance,” said Luna, “it appears your sister wasn’t the first, several ponies reported loved ones going missing over an extended period of time. It seems somepony in charge at the local law office decided not to file any of them in an official report, the pony in question was hunted down by my elite guard and brought to Canterlot to face his judgment. My sister will be handling that, personally.”
“Most ponies think Princess Celestia is extremely lenient,” said Twilight, “mostly because of her warm and inviting way of dealing with most situations. They’re very wrong; when the Princess goes into her ‘disapproving mother’ state ponies have been known to require professional help to help mitigate the potential psychological issues that come with it. A pony being interrogated by her in that state is likely to crack, even if they had a low opinion of their own parental figures.”
“Sister hasn’t shared most of what she has learned, seeing as we managed to find him a few days before Hearts and Hooves. Although, all of his accommodations and awards that he did manage to obtain during his time of service were revoked and returned to the Castle in Canterlot. As new information comes in his records will be adjusted to reflect the information, but suffice to say he was not the upstanding citizen he showed himself as in the presence of others.”
“I’m guessing he was being bribed by pirates that made the waters around the area their unofficial territory,” said Daring.
“No confirmation as of yet,” said Luna, “but an apt assessment. Do you know of any rogues that made the area their home, aside from your prior publishers?”
“Nothing particularly stands out,” said Daring, scratching her head, “but Star Log and I did hear a rumor that a pony named Privateer and his crew had made the waters outside the bay their territory about six decades before we moved there. It’s possible the descendants of his crew call those waters home and have been playing the part of pirate for generations. Now, what was his crew known as again?” Daring massaged her temples in thought, “oh yes, Privateer’s crew was known as the For Hire Pirates, they would hire themselves out as oceanic mercenaries for any job, they didn’t care what the job was as long as they got a substantial payment for their services.”
“That wasn’t his real name,” said Twilight, “just the one he assumed out on the waters. I remember reading about him a few years back, turns out he was from a noble family that was disgraced so thoroughly they were all barred from even getting close to Canterlot for five generations, he was a colt when that happened. At the time he was actually known as Guild Coffer, his family managed most of Canterlot’s finances along with that of various high profile ponies around the country at the time. Although it was discovered during his father’s running of the family business that they had been guilty of embezzlement on a grand scale for almost ten generations. Princess Celestia was certain the unscrupulous behavior was passed down in the family’s training, thus she felt that even Coffer was potentially guilty by the sheer fact he had been learning to take over the family business as soon as he was old enough to pick up on counting money.”
“Sounds a bit harsh,” said Flurry, “but I guess when you’re family has been cheating the crown for generations a little harshness is required.”
“They did more than that, their revealed actions resulted in Equestria’s Finance Ministry being given a more noticeable power when it comes to inspection of personal finances and the creation of the Better Business Ministry.”
“Didn’t they just go through a massive house cleaning?” Inquired Daring.
“Yep,” said Twilight, “and they’re hard at work going through every connection of the businesses that were found guilty, but they haven’t found anything conclusive yet. Even if the companies had a silent partner or phantom holdings, the Business Ministry will find them. My bet, at least one of the more ‘entitled’ Noble families was responsible for all those messes, it definitely seems their sort of thing.”
“You would know, Auntie Twilight,” said Flurry, “you grew up there.”
“Indeed,” said Twilight, “there’s been a cultural shift since a few years before the time Princess Luna returned, one several of the Canterlot Nobility are unwilling to acknowledge. This town Daring is starting is another milestone for that movement.”
“If they’re not careful the rug will get pulled out from under them,” said Daring, earning chuckles from her traveling companions, “and they’ll all be left in the dust as the next era rises from its foundations. Who knows, maybe someday this nation’s governing system will turn away from the one in place now. The Class system is a cultural artifact that has been falling apart for some time now; sometimes artifacts need to break apart for a culture to move forward.”
“That sounds pretty out of character coming from you,” said Twilight.
“I always think it’s a shame and waste when an artifact is destroyed but doesn’t mean I don’t recognize when such actions are possibly required. Artifacts can be dangerous, even if they have no magic to them. That’s why I think it’s best they remain out of the reach of ponies of questionable morality.”
With her last words, the train made the feeling it was pulling into the station. Their destination didn’t have a station of its own, something Twilight and the other princesses decided to rectify in the coming days; but was almost a reasonable distance from the station.
************************************
A three-hour trot from the station finally brought them to their destination. It was hard to believe two of Equestria’s underrated innovators had raised Daring Do and her sister, even more astounding was where they raised her. The town was more of a hamlet, and its aesthetic placed its founding around the same time as Ponyville.
The community was the kind of picturesque view one envisioned for raising foals. There were some woodlands a ways off from the edge of the town, a babbling brook (likely how the town earned its name) flowing along the center of the hamlet, the newest looking houses had the appearance of something from a century back, and the roadway through the community was paved with cobblestones.
Twilight was having a giddy moment next to everyone, they all decided to just ignore her so long as she didn’t try to do something too embarrassing. That policy was taken to its limit when they came to the house Daring had grown up in.
The house was unremarkable looking, aside from being a starry green color and two stories with a basement it was pretty unassuming in appearance. One would think the home of a pony of some musical profession would at least integrate some music-themed aspect into its design. However, the structure did not show any sort of personalized indicators as to tell you who called the facility home.
Twilight continued having her moment, much to the amused annoyance of everyone there, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” which apparently meant channeling some Pinkie as her opener, “this is where they lived, this is where they worked...”
“This is where my sister and I spent our foalhoods,” said Daring cutting Twilight off from further excited chattering, “please try to show some decorum, especially because the memories are still strong here. After we search the house and its grounds we’ll be going to pay our respects to my parents.”
“Wait, they’re official burial site is…” said Twilight.
“A ruse, and when mom and dad kicked the bucket they had instructions that came to sis and me a few days after they met their demise. Those instructions said they didn’t want their ‘genuine’ burial sites known to the public, so we buried them in a quiet little place that we all liked around these parts. I’m guessing they were aware of how well-known they were becoming at the time and didn’t want their place of final rest disturbed; their ‘official’ burial sites are nothing more than empty caskets.”
“Yes, sister did mention something like that,” said Luna. “Personally, I’m saddened that such great minds weren’t noticed much earlier during their time.”
“They probably would have,” said Daring, “they just didn’t think their passion projects were worth bothering anypony about.”
“Their projects of passion proved to change the very way we see our world,” said Luna, “it is sad to hear they did not wish to share them with anypony.”
“Why is that?” Twilight inquired.
“This is something they didn’t really want anypony knowing, outside of family,” said Daring, her traveling companions chuckled, “early on in their careers they helped some ponies with their projects, and only asked that they be mentioned as having assisted with the work. They gave some immense contributions despite being rather fresh to the profession, but when the time came, the ponies they had helped claimed sole ownership of all the work, including the parts that mom and dad had put into them. Mom helped redesign the equipment used for crafting snowflakes; you’ll notice a lot of those early sketch designs have her distinctive flair when compared to images she’s drawn up in her notes.”
“Which we haven’t been able to find thus far,” said Flurry.
Daring rolled her eyes before continuing, “Dad helped streamline the way orchestral music happens now, he even wrote a thesis on how to do so for his final project towards his career, the evaluation pony that graded the paper implemented those very alterations a few months later and claimed it was all his idea. The very thing that should have catapulted dad into a more seen light was used by another more affluent pony who claimed it was an idea of his that just suddenly came to him.”
“If that’s true then where’s the proof,” said Twilight with a skeptical look, “if he really did write such a thesis then it should have a copy in Equestria’s grand musical archives, but no such paper can be found. I know, I’ve been through all of Equestria’s major archives.”
As an answer Daring went over to a desk in the office, which was so littered with papers, it could be barely be made out and pulled open a hidden cabinet door that Twilight knew wasn’t in any of the reports. The sound of documents being gathered could be heard before Daring was seen with a small stack of papers in her hands shutting the hidden door with her hoof and waltzing back to Twilight. “Before you go citing plagiarism codes, take a look at the dates,” said Daring before just handing them to Twilight and heading off to the basement.
Twilight took a look at the dates, feeling a little giddy when she realized it was indeed older writing from the ponies in question. Her jaw dropped when she read the date on a thesis she had never heard of before, “How to Make Orchestral Music More Engaging and Smoother” followed by Keen Tone’s signature marking him as the author. What was more surprising was the fact Daring had been a little vague, the date showed it was written half a year before a pony known Stage Sound seemingly revolutionized orchestral music overnight. What was worse, the papers after that were a series of claim forms stating in no uncertain terms that Stage’s claims were plagiaristic and that Keen Tone just wanted his name in the byline, there were nine of them, and all were marked with a “Claim Discredited” stamp. And what made it all worse was Keen Tone had genuinely filled and filed the forms better than any of the known professionals of that era, complete with showing in detail a comparison of dates of when everything happened. There were even copies of the counterclaims stating that Keen Tone, despite the thesis getting a perfect score, was the one responsible for the plagiaristic behavior. Stage Sound’s counterclaims were sloppy and incomplete; it looked like he only got a pass because of the fact he was a well-known member of the musical elite.
What made Twilight’s blood boil most was the fact that none of this, even these plagiarism claims and counterclaims, were in any of the official records. It was looking like Stage had bribed somepony to keep it all off the record. Stage Sound was still around, and still very much a member of the elite. He was quite old, a few decades older than Daring at the very least, and only known to make occasional appearances, usually at a major music award or christening of a new music-themed building in Canterlot.
By all rights, Keen Tone’s thesis alone should have launched him into a spotlight that allowed him to show everypony just how brilliant his mind was regarding music. In a sense, he should have been elevated to a rank similar to that of well-respected ponies in Canterlot. Instead, he was left forgotten until years after he passed on.
Twilight moved onto the papers beneath all the claims and couldn’t help smiling; it was a previously unheard of song called “My Little Log and Compass” that actually ran on for nine pages, it was basically written to be a symphony in its own right, if not just an extra long song. This song right here was proof of Daring's claims, it was a song written by her father celebrating his daughters getting their marks. A song that, in all likelihood, had only been heard by Daring’s immediate family. But chances were that wasn’t the case in the slightest, chances are it had sat in this house all these years without a single musician getting a chance to play it.
After that Twilight found something that made her gasp, it was a rough draft of the note Daring had mentioned, she could tell because of all the words that were struck through in motion meant to cross them out. It really did say everything Daring had claimed it did. Twilight suspected half the stack in her hand deserved to be in a museum at this point.
Twilight gasped again when she found what was beneath the note; it was Keen Tone’s will. Daring had inadvertently handed it to her in an effort to show the violet alicorn the truth. Feeling it told Twilight it was well protected in the off chance the hiding place had been compromised, the will was in an early version of a plastic sleeve.
“Come on Twi,” said Spike, “what’s taking you so long? The rest of us are already getting ready to look for the ‘Storm Bottles’ Daring talked about.”
“Sorry Spike,” said Twilight, “I got lost in some reading material Daring gave me,” Spike could only snicker, that sounded just like Twilight to him, “and could you please not treat something serious as a joke. Her attempts to show me something about Keen Tone’s early days in the profession resulted in me actually holding his will, which I got to after going through some things that need be brought to Celestia’s attention.”
“Huzzah,” came the voice of Luna, “she was every bit the musical genius as her mate,” Twilight and Spike facepalmed, Luna had gotten much better with her speech (having dropped using the royal “we” a year or so before she established her school) but there were still times she slipped into her old speaking habits and word choices, like moments of extreme excitement.
“We better go see what the damage is,” said Twilight as she took the time to carefully place the materials Daring had gotten for her in her bag.
With that Twilight and Spike headed into the Basement.
*******************************
Luna was beyond excited, not only had they found the original Storm Bottles (which she was seriously thinking of bringing back to her school to go in a specially designed case in her office), mostly because of the tune the clouds seemed to “sing” when you took the time to listen.
“Ms. Do, where can We find this ‘Sacred Tree of the Falls’?”
“Come again?” Daring said with confusion, “I don’t quite follow.”
“The melody of the clouds you mentioned is an old tune of mine that I crafted for ponies in my teen years; a song now called the Sacred Tree of the Falls.”
“Oh, um,” said Daring, “there’s a waterfall nearby with a tree near the water’s edge, mom used to joke about it being holy ground because of how it always seemed to drive away all the malicious forces whenever she went there. Actually, it’s pretty close to where we placed mom and dad.”
It was during Daring’s last sentence that Twilight and Spike entered the room. “So, what did we miss?” Twilight said as casually as she could.
“Auntie Luna recognized the song the clouds played after making a comment about wanting to take the bottles back to her school with her,” said Flurry, “then she got really excited when she realized what the song was.”
“We heard,” said Spike, “and most of the conversation that followed on our way down.”
“Daring I have some news for you,” said Twilight, “you’re probably going want to be sitting down for this.”
Daring moved to the only chair in the room, one she had told Luna was where her mother had sat for countless hours running her experiments. Astra Showers should have been one of Equestria’s premier weather specialists, by the sheer fact, she had managed to capture and contain pieces of weather clouds so efficiently.
After Daring was seated Twilight said, “There were quite a few different pieces of work in the pile you gave me, the two that stuck out the most were the fact that one of them was his will and the other was a song he wrote celebrating his fillies getting their marks.”
Daring blinked a bit, then started crying a bit as she said, “We both thought him telling us that was a joke, we giggled like fillies are prone to at that age at his proclamation.”
“I’m going to turn over all these papers to Princess Celestia; she needs to see them all.”
“After we go to where mom hid her will and go and pay respects to my parents,” said Daring.
*******************************
When they arrived at the falls, which were about a half hour’s trot from town and through some mildly foreboding terrain, everypony save Daring just gasped at the beauty. If Luna had known about the location of such an unspoiled grandeur, she would have probably considered placing her school here. But if she had chances are they would have probably cut down the very tree they were coming to see. The tree itself was gorgeous, a solitary peach tree that explicitly said it was placed here by somepony. What was most surprising was that none of the seeds of the fruit had taken root around the area, it was almost as if the tree itself didn’t want its offspring to spoil the majesty of its surroundings.
Daring pointed to the peach tree and said, “Mom would always sit on the side facing the falls, she always came here if she needed to clear her head. Dad would come out here occasionally to see if he could get any inspiration from the region, at least three of the songs he wrote had their genesis here. Star Log and I would come out here every summer and weekend during the school year to stargaze. Star would sometimes talk about old stories involving the stars she managed to find at a library somewhere. One night we saw a pair of shooting stars passing by side by side, we didn’t make a wish, but that was the first time we made a promise to always included each other in our adventures whenever possible. It was a promise that we followed through on until she disappeared.”
“I find it poetic,” said Luna, “forming a pact under a pair of shooting stars.”
With that, they headed to the location Daring had mentioned. Daring gave a chuckle when they got to the place she had indicated. “What’s so funny? Did you just remember a joke your mom said a long time ago?” Flurry Heart asked.
“Nothing like that,” said Daring. “I just realized how she knew that either I or Star would be right here doing this, the melody from the other bottled clouds hints at what we need to do next." The other mares looked her as if expecting to continue, “the rest of the clouds inspired dad to write a song titled ‘You Won’t Phase Me’ on one of the occasions he came down to check on mom.”
Twilight blinked a few times before saying, “That’s one of Princess Celestia’s most requested songs when we have a live band.”
“Yes, my sister does seem to favor that song, she says something about it having a natural harmony no other melody can match. I suspect she knew it was one of Keen Tone’s works, even if she didn’t let on. I thought some of the notes in the clouds my focus was off sounded familiar.”
Flurry, however, had picked up on the implications of song’s title at their location and used her magic to reach down and pull up an almost jar-like Storm Bottle with what looked like carefully rolled up papers inside. “I believe,” said Flurry, “this is what we came here for,” she then looked around a bit, “I’m going to talk to mom about putting up a little vacation home here, it’s a great place to unwind.”
“Considering two of Equestria’s greatest unsung minds thought so,” said Twilight, “I’m inclined to agree.” Twilight then turned Daring, “I have something to discuss with you in private, so after this excursion is over and we’re back home we’ll go someplace we can’t be disturbed and chat.”
Twilight then used a spell of her own design for peering through solid objects, she had been looking forward to properly field testing the charm, and found several other jars that had what looked like notebooks in them. Unlike Flurry, she discreetly teleported the containers with journals into her bag.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Daring with a smile. “Mom and dad are this way,” she began leading the other ponies down a not easily seen path. Flurry placed the glass container in her bag before continuing after everyone else as they followed Daring. Things felt like they were cheerful yet somber.
****************************************
Almost twelve minutes later Daring had led her guests into a shallow cave; there were two small piles of rocks acting as grave markers with pairs of stones at the top having the names “Keen Tone” and “Astra Showers” written in chalk stone upon them. Twilight felt a need to say something when she saw the simple graves, but nothing she could think of did what she was looking the justice it deserved. The graves were so simple and ordinary looking, and out of the way, that nopony would guess to the significance of the ponies buried there. These graves were elegant in their simplicity, a reminder that true greatness can come from the most unlikely of sources and can only genuinely be achieved by one’s own merits.
The only words spoken were by Daring. And she kept it brief, although she showed relief that the site didn’t quite need to be maintained yet, “Hi, mom, dad. I know it’s been a while, I’ve been pretty busy, and I didn’t want to relive old wounds. Things are changing, pretty quickly for me now. I would say more, but I want it to be a bit of surprise, you two always said surprises from Star and me were the best gifts you could ever have.”
And with that, and everyone else giving their own silent messages to the two graves they made their way back out. The entire trot to the station, and train ride, there was sort of understanding peaceful silence among them.
Zelshirska was at a strange place of a deity, she could exert her influence in a more pronounced way than before but was bored out of her skull, calling it boredom would be and cataclysmic understatement. It wasn’t often divine entities like her were bored to such an extent, they usually passed the time by playing games with each other that tended to involve the mortal world.
But that was the problem, her sisters were in no condition to play any games with her, and her one confirmed follower was in the middle of coordinating the erection, the dragon goddess giggled a bit at the choice of wording, of a community in Zelshirska’s honor. It had been ages since anything like that had happened, and never had she seen something on such an ambitious scale. Dragon’s weren’t known for building structures in their few communities they dwelled within, and the few ponies that once followed her edicts and teachings had only kept within small slices of existing communities.
This would be her first town actually dedicated primarily to her, and everything about it was something she genuinely approved of. A massive central bathing facility within spitting distance of the main temple, a temple that had its very architecture modeled after her insignia; there were also additional communal bathing facilities for the more prudish residents or visitors. Restraint was all good and reasonable, she respected any entity’s ability, and need, to show restraint, but that did not mean she approved of sexually repressing oneself for the sake of some misconceived notion of a moral high ground.
She admired the pony called Rarity; the white unicorn mare was willing to cater to the stylistic whims of others and not act too judgemental while being rather vocal about things she was passionate or disdainful towards. Things got a bit more amusing when Rarity’s own daughter, an eight-year-old, made a comment about wanting to be part of the new community Daring Do was working on putting together. Zelshirka knew that having at least one fashion minded resident would prove beneficial to the town, if not its immediate residents.
Zelshirska could feel herself fading in the thousand years the Crystal Heart was missing, and actually felt the pain of her heart literally shattering when an infant Flurry Heart did literally that. Time always had a different sort of flow for divine beings, but at the same time, they were aware of how time flowed in the mortal realm. For Zelshirska the feeling of disconnect while she tried to exert her influence with immensely diminished power over the decades was akin to a torture so great the brief time the Crystal Heart was shattered almost seemed dulled.
The restoration of her idol from an age long past was a bit of surprise, one she was more than willing to have a little fun with. The line Astra Showers descended from had one of her more amusing pony worshippers, a pegasus known as Thunder Scutum (at least that was what she was sure he was called. It had been a long time, and there were times where she had trouble remembering the names of her most faithful and/or more interesting followers), and as such made it possible for Zelshirska to watch over the young fillies she had, Star Log and Daring Do, almost at the moment of their conception.
Both young fillies, and later mares, were interesting to watch. In her early years Star Log had actually caught glimpses of Zelshirska and her realm but seemed to lose the connection as she grew older, but Daring was different far and away from her sister. For some reason, despite having a lack of open similarities to Zelshirska, her personal aura always resonated with Zelshirska’s energies, it was almost as if someone had written a destiny to link the two that the dragon goddess was mostly unaware of until the moment the idol was restored.
Daring had a dedication to her family and duties that was commendable. Daring dedicated her life to finding lost treasures, as well as clues to the whereabouts of her sister. Those two were close as could be in their younger days, even making plans that involved each other when it came to the future. Daring had very little in the way of social skills, which her chosen life path did almost nothing to improve.
Star Log and Daring Do were almost two halves of each other, or seemed to be at times. Star Log had been the more socially capable, but lacked the courage to try new things, and Daring Do was socially lacking while being more than brave enough to try new things and meet challenges. Star Log seemed to borrow some of her sister’s courage when she dragged said sister along to more social events. Daring made a show of not liking it, while keeping hidden smiles that her sister was being more outgoing.
Zelshirska got some enjoyment out of the antics of the siblings, of course, the same could true for Twilight and her elder brother. Zelshirska wouldn’t admit it, but she always got more enjoyment out of sibling interactions and couples than anything else. That all said, she was still very disappointed in the fillies (who were now mares) that thought it was a good idea to force a relationship with love poison (even if they had thought it was a love potion at the time).
Zelshirska was never approving of spells and concoctions that forced emotions or mental states, spells, and brews that brought such things to light were all perfectly acceptable, but those sorts of things that forced or overlayed feelings and/or mental states were something she found disdainful. In fact, thinking about such things left things tended to leave a bad taste in her mouth for an extended period.
At least thinking about all this stuff was distracting her from her bor… and it was back, with a vengeance. Zelshirska was so bored, bored, bored, bored, bored. Making things so justice would fall into place for Daring was reaching too far into her sister’s domain, and the one thing deities were in agreement on was not encroaching on the domains of each other when the other can’t retaliate.
It looked like her boredom would keep droning on for some time, she wanted to have some fun. Without a broader follower base, Zelshirska wouldn’t be able to do very much. She wanted to find Star Log but for some reason said pony was beyond the range of her powers or ability to watch the mortal world. This frustrated Zelshirska to many ends, Star Log was just as viable an entity for her watch over as her sister. Whatever happened to Star Log, and wherever she was, there was something blocking her from being watched by a divine entity.
Maybe she could pique Twilight’s interest in the matter and have her look into it, if Zelshirska had an idea of what was blocking her she could figure out ways to circumvent them. The problem was the fact Twilight was now an alicorn, that particular kind of pony was more sensitive to outside forces influencing them. Maybe a little help from Spike and Daring was in order, the genesis of an idea popped into the dragon goddess’s head and she started getting to working on the plan.
Looks like she found something to alleviate some of her boredom, for a short time anyway. This would take some prep work, not that she minded. Daring was easy; she could just use her as a temporary vessel, there would probably be a bit more of an issue in convincing Spike to go along with it all. Then something hit her; she could just use Daring to lay it all on the line with Twilight, she’d been thinking about how to deal with ponies as if they were dragons. Their cultures were decidedly different, Zelshirska was so far out of the loop that she almost made a tactical error. Chances were she still was, but that was a risk she would just have to take.
She barely got to see anything pertaining to Shining Armor and Cadance dating, and even less when they were engaged in sexual intercourse. She literally didn’t know about Twilight Velvet and Night Light having sex until Shining Armor popped on down the line, she barely got any knowledge of the action that led to Twilight Sparkle. Point is, her connections had been flickering about for decades now, it was only after Daring inadvertently formed a more tangible bond with her that she was able to put all the pieces together.
She had felt she needed to influence Shining and Cadance’s relationship towards a lasting romantic one, but hadn’t genuinely understood why that notion was there until Daring had restored her idol. At first, she thought she was trying to keep herself occupied so as to not fall into some sort of slumber, but the truth was she felt she needed them together so that her former heart could be restored to some semblance of its glory. She needed the Crystal Heart to have new energies flowing into it; it was the only thing at the time keeping her from fading away.
Twilight Sparkle was a prodigy of magic and research, without Zelshirka’s interference, and her skills were now needed to help the dragon goddess. Daring needed closure on her sister, closure that Zelshirska couldn’t provide at the moment. With Twilight’s help maybe that could come closer to being rectified.
Daring had been asked to come up to Canterlot with all they had acquired, mostly to help with anything the princesses thought might come up and partially to go through the list of what they would need for the town. Of course, they would need architects and construction workers, but there were other professions that would need to be called on for Daring’s project. They would need plumbing experts to help with bathing facilities and primary homes, maybe some artisans to help make everything look more appealing, a pony with good animals skills (like Fluttershy) after it was all up, and a small host of other professions would be needed to be called upon.
So now, here she was, separate from her lifemate for the time being. It seemed less than ethical ponies were coming out of the woodwork these days. Daring’s publishers, evidence pointing to her father’s mentor, and who knows what Twilight would find in her mother’s personal accounts. On the train ride back to Ponyville Twilight had revealed she had discovered some of the personal diaries of Astra Showers and had every intention of reading them when she got the time to do so.
Daring was surprised by her current line of thinking; she had never really considered what she could be like with a life partner before. Of course, before the idol’s restoration, she had been focused on either her career as an adventurer, her writing career, finding her sister, or some amalgam of the three. She still wasn’t giving up on finding evidence regarding her sister’s whereabouts, but with her life of adventure and writing basically brought to an end she still needed something to occupy her time. Growing a family and helping revive something lost seemed like an excellent way to occupy her time.
She had put so much focus on finding Star Log alone that she hadn’t genuinely allowed others to take up the task in any way before. Now, she was putting her trust into the princesses to find clues regarding her family; it seemed every member of her family had a profound impact on Equestria and its culture. Daring had a photo in a locket of her sister, along with one of herself, from when they were fillies; the images had been taken with an ancient camera and were not of the best quality. She kept the locket in the same lockbox that contained all the backups of her prior contractual agreements.
Daring blinked a bit; she had entrusted Princess Celestia with retrieving them, something the princess was a bit too happy about doing herself. When she entered the conference hall the princesses requested she report to she found out why she had such an uneasy feeling beforehand, one of the first things she saw when she entered the chamber was both portraits expanded to lifesize on the wall directly across from the door completely touched up and accurately colored. They had actually gotten Star Log’s night blue coat in the right shade and her dusky indigo mane in the proper tone as well.
Luna was waiting for her in the room and gently closed the doors behind Daring with her magic. “Worry not,” said Luna, “these images will be brought down when our meeting concludes. Of course, you and your sister being as pretty as you were cute at that age is remarkable. It is most fortuitous you had these images in such a safe place, how did we do with the image restoration and update?”
“You got her colors flawlessly,” said Daring with her eyes beginning to mist up a bit, “even her midnight violet eyes are properly shaded.”
“Well, I always did have a knack for the arts, no matter what they might be. And I must confess, I would have loved to meet your sister.”
Daring gave a chuckle, “She would have adored you too, maybe even made an offer to be your personal assistant. Star Log and I were supposed to be a team; she’s family which means I’ll never stop giving up hope on her.”
“Sister would have to agree with that sentiment,” said Luna with a curt nod, “as to our inquiries regarding your sister, it would seem more ponies need to be punished for their dereliction of duty, Sister was not pleased by that. Fear not, we shall continue the endeavor into finding the whereabouts of your kin. How fares Twilight Sparkle?”
“Giddy as a filly on her birthday,” said Daring with a chuckle, “she found some of mom’s old personal accounts and decided she needed a little quality time with them. She also said something about sending some of the Storm Bottles to Canterlot and Cloudsdale when she has all the diaries freed and enough empty containers to deliver.”
“I must insist the older versions, which still have clouds within them, be made available for my personal use, I find their tunes fascinating and wish to keep them close as an inspiration to other ponies.”
“Alright, enough of all that,” said Daring with a shake of her head, “we’re here to discuss the town I’m making a go at establishing.”
“Quite right,” said Luna with a chuckle, “Tia is more occupied than she was anticipating, she will be joining us when she has the time to do so.”
“So you’ll likely just be giving her a few files on everything that goes on here,” said Daring with a hint of amusement. “Have either of you worked out your considerations to assist in the project?”
“Yes,” said Luna gesturing to a small collection folders and dossiers before her on the table, “Celestia’s picks are all ponies with an excellent track record in the planning and building of structures and plumbing. My choices are more in line with skilled individuals that have a bit of an artistic appreciation and tendency to get a sense of fervor for their work. And these,” she hefted up an attache case colored like her coat with her mark upon it, and floated it in her magic towards Daring, “are dossiers on every specialist we believe could be needed for your project that my sister and I haven’t picked out.”
“Sorting through all of them could take hours, possibly days,” said Daring, “which makes picking those of interest tricky.”
“Which is why my sister had a full team of ponies sort them into piles according to her specifications while compiling the information for us. A project such as this came close to happening a few times, but in each of those prior cases, we already knew exactly who we wanted for the project. This is something a little different, and we probably should have had dossiers for all our prospective experts regardless of circumstances well before the point you mentioned your idea for this project.”
Daring just gave her an understanding nod and flipped the briefcase open and began going through the files; it helped that she had an idea of the kind of ponies working this project. She wasn’t really one for social interaction, hence one of the reasons she primarily did things alone in her prior occupation. This town idea she was going with was an entirely different thing for her; she didn’t even know prompted it.
__________________________________
At around that same time Spike was helping to train Twilight’s new assistants, something he was both happy and angry about. He was happy about the training of Twilight’s new assistants because it meant he wouldn’t have to keep close to Twilight as much as he used to, he was angry about it all because it was falling primarily on him to train the individuals that would be taking over his former position. Spike wanted to be helping Daring with her project; it would be considerably more interesting than the task he had at his disposal now.
There were five individuals all brought in to take up his old mantle, Twilight felt that with her increased socio-political status it would be best for her to have multiple assistants. The first he noticed was a young changeling who identified herself as Mandible, she was a limey-blue color and had a surprisingly chipper personality. There was unicorn mare that referred to herself as Holly Belle, stating that once she was no longer an individual of interest to an investigation regarding her former employers she was to report the Castle of Friendship, she also seemed to be jumpier than Fluttershy had been over twenty years ago. A young dragoness, about the same age and size Spike himself, had been when he first moved to Ponyville, with pink scales and cotton candy blue spines that called herself Thrash, she also seemed to be incredibly irked with the look of someone being forced to attend. A young yack that called himself Ivan. And the final applicant was a young earth pony filly named Jade Arrow; she had a coat that resembled her name’s first part and a tail and mane that resembled gold and bronze.
All of them were in white jumpsuits that had them numbered in accordance to order of application, Twilight’s idea, and were currently filling out questionnaires and personality tests in one of the meeting halls. The fact Spike had to be there to look over the results, and grade them, just made him more irked. From what he could see most of the applicants wouldn’t make the cut, he was also pretty sure Jade Arrow was a pony that was from the Crystal Empire and was only there as a way of getting closer to the hero of the Crystal Empire.
After almost an hour of boredom so intense Spike was ready to beat his head against the wall, he would have read a book to pass the time if it weren’t for the fact he’d already read through Twilight’s entire library several times before then.
Of course, he had read over all the books on architecture and structural engineering a few dozen more times after Daring had announced her plans for a new town, chances are he was pretty close to the next best thing to an expert on those matters now.
Questionnaires were to see just how much of the duties that were being asked of them they knew, which is why all the questions were either essays or multiple choice. The personality tests were just so they could get a baseline of what applicants coming in were like, personalities have a tendency to change with time and various other factors. The fact that Twilight was the one responsible for basically writing all this up herself, quite some time ago, was a testament to her preparedness. She had known for years Spike would likely leave her side for other things, these forms the applicants were filling out were just the first step in a multi-part evaluation of who was best suited to taking over Spike’s position.
Spike would be handling the practical abilities portion, something he both looked forward to and dreaded. It wasn’t often Spike felt a conflict of duties, but it seemed they were getting more and more severe when he and Daring became lifemates and were separated for extended periods of time. Dragons mated for life, something he had brushed off and thought of as not worth considering in his younger days as something that wasn’t worth thinking about or mentioning. Now he knew why, when a dragon's mated they developed a mystic connection to their partners that caused them to prioritize their lifemate over all else.
These conflicts of duty were due to his prioritizing issues. He prioritized finishing up his work as Twilight’s assistant but was also prioritizing following through on Daring’s plans. At the moment they were only slightly in conflict, hence why he was able to perform his current duties. Of course, he nearly wanted to tear Twilight apart when she said she wanted to gather data on Spike’s current anatomical features; it was quite apparent his instincts to that to imply a level of intimacy that was only to between lifemates.
“Alright, I actually got through things ahead of schedule,” came Twilight’s voice, while Spike was still waiting for them to complete the written portion. The violet alicorn turned the corner to see a very bored looking Spike, her outfit couldn’t scream LIBRARIAN loud enough, especially because of the reading glasses perched on her muzzle. “Oh, hey Spike. How are things?”
“I just finished recording down the applicants a little while ago, and they’re taking the written portion of the application process now,” Spike nearly droned in a bored voice. “None of them have brought out a completed work yet, I told them there’s no time limit and to triple check their answers.”
“Good,” said Twilight, “I’ve got everything for the day out of the way, and few things I wasn’t expecting to get to until later this week are finished up too. I’m still waiting on the blood test results though. Oh, and it and Princess Celestia sent a notice that Daring’s test result came back positive regarding her parentage.”
“In her defense, her parents were pretty below others' notice until a few years ago, and a pony merely claiming the parentage wouldn’t be so intimately familiar with the house they resided in. Claiming both as parents would be even rarer, not to mention claims of having a sibling.”
“True, it seems Keen Tone was organized as me when he was younger, but the event that caused him to be taken advantage of resulted in him deciding he didn’t need to be so orderly in his organizing. Also, only his genuine family would be familiar with his packrat inspired organization process. It’s actually an ingenious way of securing your work; it only looked like a disorganized mess. Packrats actually know where everything they stored is. Daring mentioned her sister was seemingly the most orderly of them all.”
“She also said they used to joke about not knowing where she got it from, which means they knew exactly where those tendencies came from. She really wants to get some sort of resolution regarding Star Log, no matter what that might be.”
“I would like to have at least a chance to talk to Star Log once; there’s so much I want to talk to her about.”
“I’ll bet,” said Spike, “Daring’s in Canterlot with the princesses right now.”
“You just had to remind me,” quipped Twilight, “well, I’m off to my lab to work on some projects. Let me know about the most promising applicants with your report.”
“Will do,” said Spike with a salute.
_____________________________________________
“Well, at least I got a good start on things,” said Daring with exhaustion in her voice. It had only been three hours and she had only gotten two ponies chosen for her select group. Now she was having lunch in the conference room with both princess, and had barely touched her food.
“I know it’s daunting,” said Celestia, “but this is one of the things that comes with the project you proposed. Frankly, we’re all excited over this.”
“Indeed,” said Luna, “it is not often something of such ambition comes along. The teams we’ve selected for this project are looking forward to working on all this, especially my select corp.”
“The presence of a public bathing facility isn’t something seen all too often in Equestria,” said Celestia, “especially on the kind of scale your town will have.”
“Some of the sources I’ve uncovered over my time of adventuring indicated that during a period of time in the pre-Equestrian era public bathing facilities were common among pony communities. Of course, that was during the transition from a nomadic lifestyle to the more stationary communities we enjoy today. And their methodology for creating such establishments was pretty simplistic.”
“How simple?” Inquired Celestia.
“They diverted pieces of streams and rivers,” said Daring as she took a half-hearted bite of her salad, “to what were effectively artificial pools then used unicorn magic to heat the water and had another channel leading back to the source stream take the dirtied water downstream.”
“Well, with modern innovations in technology and magic we won’t have to worry about something so crude,” said Celestia, “as effective as it was. Maybe after they’re done building your town, I’ll commission a public bathing facility for Canterlot.”
“I too will probably commission such an establishment for the area around my school,” said Luna, “and we will both probably recommend Ponyville establish such a structure as well.”
“With so many experts in the same area it might actually go up faster than anticipated,” said Daring, “although, I’m worried about running to issues like an unwillingness to listen to suggestions. In my experience, experts often tend to believe their insights on the matters pertaining to projects are the only genuinely valid ones.”
“An issue we will deal with when the time comes,” Celestia, “for it is a truly valid one to consider.”
“The reason being,” said Luna, “we cannot usually know who is a detriment to the project before they are involved. We have done our best in choosing individuals that have an excellent service record or reputation for cooperating with others.”
“On other matters,” said Celestia, clearly deciding a change of subject was needed, “checking on your familial claims proved more trying than anticipated. I actually did manage to keep some samples of Astra and Keen’s manes,” Daring looked at her with surprise, “it was back when they were much younger and I just happened to encounter them.” Celestia gave her a smile, “they were both lost at the time, an old tracking spell that’s now fallen out of favor, for the most part, required pieces of their manes.”
“They didn’t tell Star Log or me about this,” said Daring.
“I was masquerading as another pony, a habit of mine from time to time,” stated Celestia, “the same holds true for Luna, it’s a way for us judge how ponies are when not aware of being in our presence. I placed those mane pieces in a spell that suspended their states; I guess I had a feeling they would be needed at a later date. However, it took longer than anticipated due to a factor you mentioned but was disregarded at the time; you are indeed pregnant. The unique foal you’re carrying is far enough along to indicate you are actually bearing a foal but not quite along enough for us to determine any of the particulars.”
“I am looking forward to your motherhood,” said Luna.
“Mostly because she wants to spend time with the foal,” said Celestia, “my sister has always adored foals.”
“Thankfully,” said Luna, “this new community you are working towards will mean heightened security for your offspring. Because of the fact, all of Equestria’s rulers have a vested interest in the community it will be potentially harder for individuals of questionable to make it so any of foals in the town seemingly disappear.”
Daring stabbed into her salad again and brought up another dossier to read, “I just hope this community will be viable enough to continue on past the initial point of interest,” she flipped open the folder and started reading with an annoyed sigh.
_______________________________________
Spike didn’t like the looks of what he had before him, all the applicants had finished the written portion and awaited his evaluations regarding their answers. That wasn’t the main problem at the moment; he was grading the papers while they worked on the second portion. The practical application wasn’t going very well.
So far, Holly and Mandi were showing some progress, the rest of the applicants were showing a complete lack of understanding the filing system for a library. Twilight said she wanted at least three assistants to ensure the monstrous workload she had often saddled Spike with wasn’t so daunting, but what he had to work with at the moment was very underwhelming.
Mandible, whom he had taken t calling Mandi, were his best bets, for all the good it would do him or Twilight. Mandi was more than eager to please, seemed to have just the right level of confidence and seemed to know her way around an archive, but her written portion was showing some barely passable scores. Holly, however, was showing much better results on the written scores and was excelling at the practical portion of the exam, but her confidence and sense of self-worth were worrying to him.
Something hit Spike; Twilight didn’t have any planned or running projects, what possible reason could she have for being in the lab? Spike took a look at his stopwatch; he decided to put all the applicants on a timer, it was almost up. “Alright everyone, you have one minute and nine seconds to complete this portion of the practical exam,” Spike a declared over the intercom system Twilight had installed in the library a few years prior.
When the time was up Spike inspected each of the areas the applicants were in charge of, Jade’s portion of the library was more of a mess than anything else which was a definite point against her. In fact, the only sections that still looked like something Twilight would approve of belonged to the territories he had dictated to Mandi and Holly. Spike gave an annoyed sigh, before he could say anything Thrash said, “So, how we do?”
“In all honesty,” said Spike, “terribly, the only ones with any points to their name are Holly Belle and Mandible. The rest of you didn’t quite match up on the written portion and it looks more like you all were trying to make a nest out of the books with varying degrees of success, the only ones that seem to actually know how a library’s system works are our two point leaders. There are four more portions to the practical application portion of this exam, and if any of you laggers fail another two then you’re out of the running. Now, this portion isn’t going to be graded and the chance of earning points is minuscule but necessary before we move on to the next portion of the evaluations. Mandible, you and Holly Belle will be a team of supervisors to ensure the rest of these ‘slackers’ have everything put away the proper way, if they manage to do it in a neat and orderly fashion I might consider providing them some points to keep their flanks from getting roasted in this endeavor. While you’re handling that, I’m going to go and check on our princess. And don’t even think about leaving this library without permission, we’ll know if you do.”
Spike’s warning wasn’t an empty boast either, each of the applicants had been given an ID card to indicate they were being evaluated for a position at Twilight’s castle, cards that were enchanted to never be lost or stolen in addition to having enchantments that allowed both Spike and Twilight to monitor their activities remotely. Maybe being trusted with a bit of authority while he was out would help Holly get some confidence, Mandi seemed to defer to her in the library when Spike wasn’t an option.
Spike went to check on Twilight; it took a few minutes to get to her lab and access it. “Hey Twi,” Spike hollered as he entered the area, “what are you up to in here, you didn’t tell me about any projects that require your lab.”
“Oh, nothing much,” came Twilight’s voice as he descended the steps. “Just working on a model version of the town Daring drew up,” Spike finally arrived in the main area of the lab and came up next Twilight, “I thought looking at a mini mockup might be a good way to hash out any needed changes but this layout she provided is actually pretty good. Now, I don’t know the designs she has formalized but I do have some ideas of designs she’s considering.”
It really was a miniature version of the town Daring had proposed, complete with mini versions of Spike and Daring next to the central structure. “Are you going to present this to Daring and the other princesses?” Spike inquired
“Yep,” said Twilight, “this way they’ll have something more tangible to work with in deciding the configuration for everything.”
Spike took a closer look at the model town. The temple structure, which was modeled after Zelshirska’s mark, was at the center of it all, the school building was at the edge of the residential area and almost next to the main bathhouse, the school building was modeled after that of Ponyville’s schoolhouse. The houses for the residential district seemed to be modeled after those in the Crystal Empire. On the other side of the temple was the commercial district, the primary place for businesses and casual selling of wares. The three bathhouses were represented by models of the schools of Celestia and Luna, and a mockup for one of the designs for Twilight’s university that was still in the planning stages.
“Maybe before you further on this, you should ask Daring about the designs for the structures in the community,” said Spike, “I think somepony might get the wrong idea looking at this mockup.”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Twilight, “how are the applicants doing.”
“Overall, horrendous,” said Spike with a visible wince of pain, “only two managed to get passing grades thus far, I initiated the third practical test when I came to check on you.”
“Good, if they knew we were watching them they’d be uneasy. Did you...”
“Give the warning about their movements being monitored, yes, but I didn’t mention the extra bits.”
“Let’s see how the recruits are doing,” said Twilight as she lit up her horn to create a viewing screen. The signs weren’t looking as promising as she had hoped, even after Spike had given his report. “It looks like most of them made a mess of the library.”
“That was before I came to check on you,” said Spike, “the only ones that didn’t make a mess of things were Holly Belle and Mandible.”
“I know who Holly Bell is,” said Twilight, “I invited her here for this. I’m guessing Mandible is the changeling.”
“Correct,” said Spike, “she did best on the written portion, but Holly did best on the first practical application part of the test. The rest didn’t manage a passing grade on either,” he passed her the personality tests with their results, “and their personality results aren’t much better, but in the case of our passing grade candidates, you and your friends can help adjust their personality to something a bit less problematic. Holly Belle seems to have it the worst; she’s so lacking in assertiveness that the others could seriously take advantage of her. Although I did observe that despite her excellent sense of confidence, Mandible chose to defer to Holly in the library, chances are she does have some potential to be a bit more authoritative when the situation demands it.”
What they were seeing wasn’t putting a whole lot of hope in Twilight, Holly was the best authority for managing the library but her lack of confidence was holding her back, even with Mandible’s supportive approach to her fellow applicant. Of the five applicants, two were trying to push their luck. Thrash was trying to intimidate the others into doing her own work, a definite mark against her. And Ivan was having a conflict of interest due to his unfamiliarity with the library’s filing system and the typical perfectionist behavior Yacks were known for, to the point of literally tearing all the books in the shelves he was organizing and starting over from scratch whenever he was told two books needed to switch places or a book’s orientation was off.
“What warning did you give them?” Inquired Twilight as she pulled her hands down over her face.
“If they got two more failing grades they were out,” said Spike, “although, it looks like we won’t even get to the next stage before that happens. I’m a little worried; I was hoping that at least one other applicant would have something resembling passing marks.”
“You and me both,” said Twilight with a sigh, “I don’t think we’ll need the rest of the test, as much as it pains me to say. Looks like Holly Belle and Mandible are our winning applicants, stars have mercy on us all.”
“I’ve been privately referring to Mandible as Mandi; I haven’t openly referred to her as that just yet,” said Spike, “just thought you might like to know.”
“Thanks, Spike,” said Twilight with a smile, “that helps, we should get the other applicants out and get our ‘winning’ applicants’ training underway as soon as possible.”
“Agreed, it’s driving me nuts being away from Daring for so long.” Twilight took out a notebook and started taking notes, Spike just rolled his eyes.
Twilight had sent the bulk of the jars she had unearthed to Canterlot and Cloudsdale after getting the personal accounts out of them, but kept three for her own personal study. The items Daring had referred to as Storm Bottles were an incredible feat of work, Astra Showers was known as a weather expert but she also had a talent for glassblowing. Nopony really knew what her cutie mark was, mostly because Astra Showers had a habit of covering it up when out and about in addition not liking to display it for some reason. Keen Tone’s mark was on his grave marker at his burial site, a set of six different notes flowing along three pieces of sheet music, but Astra’s mark was suspiciously missing. Upon asking about it Daring provided a copy of the final requests of Keen Tone and Astra Showers, in which she specifically asked nopony be permitted to see her mark on her memorials of any kind.
Reading through Astra’s personal accounts Twilight had finally found it, and it was definitely something Rainbow Dash would approve of. Astra’s mark was a bottle and two of jars that each held one of three weather items. Maybe it was the cloud in a jar on her cutie mark that inspired her work on the Storm Bottles. Astra’s mark had literal lightning in a bottle next to a cloud in a jar and wind in the other jar. Once she found the mark she started looking through the genealogy records for a pony with that mark, which ran her into an annoying block. She sent a copy of her findings to Princess Celestia, hoping her old mentor might have better luck.
Since Daring was not available for questioning Twilight would have to wait, she realized that not once had Daring been asked details regarding the marks of her parents. Keen Tone’s was a lesser known mark until a few years prior, at least in the academic world, and ponies were still debating over what Astra Showers had for her mark. Twilight had finally found definitive proof to end the debate, and it was from the best source on the subject. Daring had been in Canterlot for the past two days, and Spike wasn’t happy he was not with her. Of all the applicants the best scores were from Mandible and Holly Belle, Jade Arrow had barely gotten passing grades after the sorting debacle that was the first test of practical abilities. Turned out Jade was good at a disadvantage due to her lack of discovering a talent yet.
Twilight wasn’t opposed to helping ponies discover their talents, she just wished Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were around to help with this. Normally, Apple Bloom would be on hand for something of this nature, but the last Twilight checked she was going around to various family properties and helping to improve on them while giving them a touchup. Not to mention, Sweetie Belle was on her music tour, which meant her next visit home might be too brief, and Scootaloo was busy with her traveling athletics training, and nopony knew when she would be getting back.
Besides, all the applicants were Spike’s problem for the moment. Twilight was more interested in spending some quality time with the diaries of Astra Showers; she’d send them to the other princesses to read later. Of course, due to the project that centered around getting her new assistants the castle’s library was out of the question. Actually, the whole of the castle was probably out of the question. Now, where to go in town without being randomly disturbed? It would have to be somewhere marginally safe from the weather, she doubted Rainbow would let her crash at her place for a few hours just so that a few diaries could be read.
Speaking of, the very mare she was just thinking about intruded on Twilight’s private thinking session. “Hey Twi, thought I’d drop by to check on things here. It looks like you’ve got Spike pretty busy for the day.”
“Yeah,” said Twilight, “the applicants are mostly not turning out as we hoped.”
“Bummer, what ya doing in here?”
“Trying to think of the best place to read these diaries, they were all written by Astra Showers.”
Rainbow looked at her with surprise, “Isn’t she the mare that was looked over until recently that also happened to be Equestria’s most underappreciated weather expert?”
“Yep,” said Twilight, “and I recently got confirmation from Princess Celestia that she also happened to be Daring Do’s biological mother. Daring has even mentioned growing up with her.”
Rainbow blinked at her friend a few times before saying, “So, these are all personal accounts written by Daring Do’s mother?”
“Yes,” said Twilight, “but as far as I can tell it all pertains to her research regarding weather. Also, please don’t play with the jars, they were made by Astra Showers to specifically hold in weather phenomena.”
“She was that much of a genius? Pegasi have been trying to develop effective ways of containing pieces of weather for ages, and there're no official accounts of any sort of success beyond an hour if we’re lucky.”
“Daring, and Atra’s notes, call these items Storm Bottles, and…”
“That’s an awesome name, I’m totally going to name one of my foals that when I get around to having some,” said Rainbow.
Twilight huffed with annoyance and picked up where she was interrupted, “And the units we first encountered had been holding pieces of wild weather for years, not a single one of the Storm Bottles had an imperfection that allowed the weather inside to get out. You should know, the lab they were found in was a house that belonged to the lesser-known musical expert Keen Tone. Who, by the way, is confirmed to be Daring’s biological father.”
“But he was an eggheaded unicorn,” said Rainbow with surprise.
“And Daring’s older sister also happened to be a unicorn,” said Twilight, “in addition to being the one pony she’s practically spent her whole adventuring career trying to find. Star Log, that’s the name of Daring’s sister if you missed it, was the one pony she made plans with before her life of adventure. The Daring Do book series was supposed to be a collaboration between Star and Daring; she’s been doing all she can to get some clue about Star Log’s whereabouts.”
“No wonder she’s so abrasive, I would be too if I spent decades looking for my sibling with no definite leads or clues. So, these are the notes Daring’s mom was working on, I guess I could help you out a bit. I am a bit more versed in the weather lingo than you, and I have a free weekend.”
“What?” Twilight said in surprise.
“It’s the first day of the weekend, you really have lost track of time.”
“But Daring went to Canterlot to see the princesses at the middle of the week, Spike and I were sure she would have her business concluded by now.”
“Must be serious if she’s been gone for days.”
“And that’s not even the worst of it, Spike gets antsy every hour he’s not in close proximity to Daring, after this much time it’s a miracle he hasn’t gone on a rampage through the town and countryside all the way to Canterlot.”
“That you know of,” said Rainbow with a snicker, “but don’t worry, last I saw him, he was evaluating the cleaning work of your recruits. How many applicants did you have you have earlier this week?”
“Five, and only two were getting passing grades.”
“Well, I saw Spike overseeing a dozen applicants doing some sort of organizing competition in the library.”
“We got more applicants?” Twilight gave a sigh of discontent, “I just hope they aren’t as messy as the ones that got here earlier.”
“That bad?”
“Yeah, the only two that earned full passing marks were a young changeling named Mandible and a unicorn Mare I met on our trip to Daring’s old publisher.”
“The nervous-looking green unicorn that was working the front desk you had us install for the library a few years ago?”
“Yes, her name is Holly Belle. Although, she seems to have self-worth issues that are similar to how Fluttershy used to be.”
“Flutters might of had a lot of confidence issues in the past,” said Rainbow, “but Holly Belle puts all Fluttershy’s moments to shame. How did that happen?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with how her prior employers exploited her. I’m having the temp agency she was part of investigated to see how they could make such an immense oversight regarding the social and mental well-being of those they were responsible.”
“Yeesh, on to other things. How’s the whole town project of Daring’s coming along?”
“Still in the early stages, they’re still planning and looking into who are the best specialists for the job. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have chosen some specialists and are having Daring do the same, Cadance is making sure the best materials from the Crystal Empire are part of this project. While they’ll be using local wood when and where it is advised the rest will be building materials provided by the Crystal Empire, Cadance wanted to assemble a team for the project as well but she realized how difficult it would be, especially with her position.”
“So, she just sent down dossiers for everypony to look through,” said Rainbow as she leafed through the diary in her hands.” She came across an image of a massive lodestone; she knew it was massive because of the image showing it half the size of a pony. “Um, Twi, did you find any lodestones in her lab?”
“No,” said Twilight in surprise, “why?”
“She has a theory her that says a lodestone charged by a lightning bolt could potentially draw in large magnetically sensitive items, I think she was trying to work a way to pull potentially dangerous debris from the ground with minimal effort, looks like she decided to scrap the lodestone plan though.”
“Does she explain why?”
“Something about not being fit for use in or near populated areas, she has a few notes here on the kinds of collateral damage that sort of thing could do based on her small-scale tests. She has a note here saying it's too dangerous, and another note saying processed metal that’s been magnetically charged could be worse.”
“Why would she be looking into lodestones in the first place?”
“She has a theory that magnetic fields can have an influence on extreme weather conditions, she doesn’t go into any further detail on that. Looks like she was looking into ways to apply magnetic fields in multiple aspects of life before testing the theory on any weather patterns. All it says here is she got the idea by seeing a wild lightning storm repeatedly strike a ridge made of lodestone and nothing else.”
“Well, that’s something. But I doubt magnetic fields would have much of an effect on any weather patterns. Lightning rods attract electricity and safely transfer it to the ground with guide cables, I’m guessing she got her idea before their use became a bit more widespread in Equestria. Although, it is an interesting theory. We’ll be able to test the theory in a secure environment once we figure out how she made her storm bottles.” She continued to leaf through her copy.
The sound of Rainbow leafing stopped, followed by the sound of Rainbow coming over, “Twi, Take a look at this,” said Rainbow as she handed an old photo, that was in surprisingly good condition to the violet alicorn. Twilight took the photo in her magic and stared at it, her surprise almost caused her magic to lose its grip on the photo. Within the old black and white photo were a pegasus mare, a unicorn stallion, a unicorn filly and a pegasus filly. The stallion was clearly Keen Tone, which was further substantiated by the fact his shirt bore his mark upon it. The pegasus mare was clearly Astra Showers, made all the more clear to Twilight by the shirt writing out “Proud Mother” in an art that resembled clouds. The pegasus filly was most definitely Daring, made clear by the adorable pith helmet she was wearing. Which meant the unicorn filly was Star Log, she was holding a book with its spine facing the camera, the book read “Basics of Astrocartography,” in addition the way she was holding the book looked strangely familiar to how Twilight was at that age.
But all that wasn’t what surprised her; it was the reflection of the one taking the picture in the dish cabinet behind them. The reflection she saw was a younger version of her mother, which meant Twilight Velvet had known the truth about Daring from the start. Twilight facepalmed, she hadn’t even considered asking her mother about things regarding Daring Do. Maybe Princess Celestia had, but to think somepony who could give further insight on Daring Do was literally within reach of her was annoying in that it had escaped her suppositions. The very idea that Daring Do’s older sister was similar to herself at that age was both endearing and surprising.
But why that book, there must be a reason. Twilight flipped the picture over to see if the back could give her any further leads, all she saw was a date and what looked like a set of random numbers. As she was setting it down, she remembered reading about Ottendorf Ciphers, a type of code that uses written materials as the key texts. Feeling she had no time to lose she yelled, “Spike, do we have a copy of ‘Basics of Astrocartography’ in our library?”
“Alright everyone, you heard the princess, see if that book is here," came Spike’s voice before he was seen exiting the library. Coming over and sitting next to Twilight he said, “Thanks, I was trying to figure out a way to test their ability to navigate the library after it had been newly organized.”
Twilight chuckled as she wrote down everything on the back of the picture on a piece of loose leaf paper, “I made the request because of this,” she handed him the photo.
“Daring looks so cute,” said Spike, “and I’m guessing the unicorn filly with her nose in the book is Star Log, looks like the two of you would have gotten along pretty great.”
“Take a look at the book,” said Twilight, “and I mean a really good look.”
“It’s the book you requested,” said Spike after inspecting the portion of the image he had been asked to examine, “looks like a printing from seventy years ago, Daring said she was a little over sixty years old when the whole incident with Zelshirska’s idol started. That would mean Daring was around ten when the photo was taken, and the book was only a few years old. Twilight, if you think the book might be a cipher key you’re going to have to verify the version you have is from the same year as the one Daring’s sister is reading.”
“How could you tell what year the book was?” Rainbow asked in confusion.
“There’s more than one way to tell the age of a book,” said Spike, “I practically grew up in a library thanks to Twilight, which means I was able to pick up on some of the nuances associated with publication dates and book covers.”
“Oh, good catch,” said Twilight with excitement, “I didn’t think to take the publication date into consideration, but new printings of older books tend to make adjustments to the wording, usually minor corrections.”
“But we’re talking about an entry-level book for astrocartography,” said Spike with almost as much enthusiasm as Twilight.
“Which means newer techniques for the practice would get incorporated into each new printing,” Twilight slapped her head just under her horn, “I missed something so basic,” she started giggling when she realized she used a word in the book to explain her lack of noticing things.
“I’ll never get the egghead jokes the two of you make,” said Rainbow, “all I did was find an old photo.”
“An old photo that might give us a hint regarding the rest of Astra’s work,” said Twilight.
“Sure her work is a tremendous legacy,” said Rainbow Dash, “but you’re forgetting she had at least two other legacies.” Twilight looked her prismatically maned friend with confusion, but Spike only smiled. “Come on egghead, you’re thinking only in terms of academics, that’s pretty narrow if you ask me.”
“Her daughters,” said Spike with insight, once again causing Twilight to smack herself, “children are always the legacy of their parents, whether they believe so or not.”
“We’ve still been looking into where your egg came from, and why somepony thought it would be a good idea to use as a testing material for an entrance exam,” said Twilight.
“Is that what Celestia told you? I’m surprised you haven’t learned about it already,” said Spike.
“What? Where did your egg come from?” Said Twilight and Rainbow in unison.
“They found my egg in the catacombs beneath Canterlot over a hundred years ago, dragon eggs can lay dormant for decades or centuries before they hatch, but they need the right catalyst. As to why someopony thought it would be a good idea to use my egg for an entrance exam, that was a clerical error on the school’s part. My egg was actually supposed to go to a classroom where they were learning about different creatures across Equestria; the examiners didn’t say anything because the eggs of more common types of dragons throughout Equestria had been used in the past. They were under the assumption my egg was from a more common stock than what it really was. The ponies involved in it all got a reprimand and lecture from Princess Celestia later that day because of it all. And the examiners got a stern lecture on paying attention on recognizing inventory.”
“When did you find out all of this?” Inquired Twilight.
“Four years ago,” said Spike nonchalantly, “the way Princess Celestia told it to me made it sound like she informed you of all this. She even made a comment about sending you a letter explaining all if it in a whole lot more detail than I provided, but she sent it through regular mail services because she wanted to have the conversation she had with me.”
“Oh, it must have gotten misplaced during delivery,” said Twilight with a bit of annoyance, “I wonder where it got sent.”
“Wow, never thought I would be the one to say that you were getting sidetracked,” said Rainbow. “We’re looking through Astra’s notes, it might be a while before they find your book.”
“And chances are the publication date won’t match,” whined Twilight, “and that’s assuming the book is the key to the cipher, but there has to be a reason that book was in the picture.”
“Daring could tell us,” said Spike, “after she gets in, Celestia and Luna can’t keep her much longer. If I’m a squirming mess when not putting energy into calming myself, just think of what she could be like with her personality.”
“He has a point there,” said Rainbow. “I wonder what her mom would say.”
“Something about the two being good for each other,” said Twilight as she went back to her reading, “I came across a section of her notes that talked about what she would like to say to her daughters if she were still around. Astra Showers may have been a professional weather pony but that’s not entirely where her talent lied, she was also highly gifted in the art of making glassware.”
“Wait, that means she used her talent to make the Storm Bottles herself,” said Rainbow in awe. “If that is true, she must of had a workshop for doing her glasswork. She might have even been responsible for making all of the windows at the place she shared with Keen Tone.”
Twilight blinked a bit, then something dawned on her, “What if she’s the one responsible for storm-resistant windows? If she is then chances are ponies have been using her work without realizing it. This bears looking into, but after we’ve made it through these journals.”
“You sent her dad’s thesis to Celestia, right,” said Spike as he picked up a journal and began to leaf through it.
“Um, no,” said Twilight, “I haven’t even copied it yet, I’ve just been familiarizing myself with his writing.”
Spike gave her a stern look as he said, “Given what you’ve just realized here, do you really think that was smart? Celestia would want to know about that piece of work, seeing as it revolutionized music in Equestria as we know it.”
“Good point,” said Twilight, setting the diary she was reading down, “I’ll go and copy it and send the copy to Celestia right away.”
Rainbow just laughed at the sight of the Princess of Friendship getting scolded by her assistant.
It had taken longer than she would have liked, but Daring finally managed to pick her team. The moment she returned to Ponyville Spike had her wrapped up in a hug that was surprisingly gentle for how intense it was, and covered with a lot of kisses for several minutes before letting her go. The whole time, Twilight was in the background taking notes. The most prominent surprise, amusingly enough, was the group of five individuals acting as Twilight’s assistants-in-training; a changeling, a unicorn, a pair of earth ponies that appeared to be twins, and a pegasus. The unicorn was familiar; the rest weren’t.
After the teams were set Cadance got to work setting up the rail line that would lead to the town’s site. Amusingly, the first task of the teams was to build the train station, which actually did start getting Celestia’s picks in trouble. Daring chose to model the station after a sleeping dragon, with the tail and neck and head acting as ramps. Luna’s team were excited, Daring’s team was eager, and Celestia’s team was already butting heads with Daring.
It had taken a few weeks for the rail line to get set up, during that time Daring was already starting to show signs of her pregnancy. And that was the first problem, the team Celestia had chosen were of the belief that a pregnant mare was unfit to direct the project, despite the fact Daring had brought Spike along and had clearly stated that he would be the acting overseer. Celestia’s team were also insistent that Daring’s plan wasn’t viable for a train station on the grounds that such a thing wasn’t done. It really seemed Celestia’s team were of the mindset their way was the only viable way, Spike actually had to strongarm them into doing the job the.
Afterwards, Daring decided the best plan was to break the teams up to do different tasks, all while keeping a running tab of who was being the most difficult to work with. Luna’s team was given the main bathhouse, a duty they were more than excited to get to work on. Daring got her team working on the schoolhouse and residential district, and thanks to the surprising abundance of crystal ponies in it they were more than eager to impress Spike. While Celestia’s team were given the job of working on the temple complex, mostly because Daring figured their experience on working on highrises in Manehattan and complexes in Canterlot would be a good fit for the project.
Daring’s team was more than happy to be doing their work, especially since Daring had provided them with a basic idea of building design and layout. Luna’s team was more than eager to do their tasks, mostly because Daring and Spike had both stated that once the complex was completed, they would be allowed to add their own little flourishes, so long as they matched up with rest of the town's aesthetics. The main problem was Celestia’s team, which was quickly gaining a high number of strikes against them.
Celestia’s choices were actually standing around arguing over Daring’s building design for the temple, even going as far as to make fun of her understanding of architecture. Daring quickly set them straight on their misconceptions through the very act of rambling off everything she had learned about architecture from her prior occupation, which actually managed to shock the team into a point of having no rebuttal.
After returning to her post of observing and coordinating, with help from Spike, she went back to writing down the issues they had begun to experience. The fact that Celestia’s choices were being so problematic was a bit annoying, but would ultimately see some sort of remedy in the foreseeable future. Daring had chosen to model the temple after Zelshirka’s mark, the upper levels were intended as living quarters.
The schoolhouse went up rather quickly; Daring had chosen to make the structure heartshaped in design to keep with the aesthetic of the temple, and match up with that of the Crystal Empire and Cadance. The main bathhouse was also going up rather quickly, and she also heard the plumbing work for all the structures was going well. Sadly, the temple was not going up all that fast, or at all.
After only about an hour of working for the team Celestia had picked were standing around chatting like old homemakers, Daring was pretty sure the homemakers would be actually doing more than these idiots. She directed Spike to see about correcting the error. When he came back almost an hour later they were just barely getting back to work, he gave a sigh of annoyance when he got back to Daring.
“What's the damage?” Daring inquired.
“They thought they were just supposed to start the foundation of the complex then wait for the other teams to come and help out, I explained why all the teams were assigned different builds and that the temple was their job because of the expertise they had regarding highrise buildings. It looks like Celestia’s crack team is just a bunch of ponies that have their profiles filled in to look impressive.”
“I would have to agree,” said Daring as she showed Spike her list of points against. A list that was showing the most grievous offenders were Celestia’s picks.”
“She’s usually much better with her choices of pony,” said Spike, “but everyone makes mistakes from time to time.”
“I’m not arguing that,” she groaned, “we’ve been out here for most of the day, most of which has seen the larger complexes get partially done,” she tore out the pages detailing who was causing issues and handed it to Spike. “Would you be a sweetheart and get all this to Princess Cadance ahead of us, we can send copies to the rest later.”
“Sure, Cadance did win the right for the place to be under her extended jurisdiction.” He took the sheets and sent them through his magical fire, “And done; she should be getting it all now. I’m sure she’ll have a few choice words for Celestia about her picks.” They both looked out at the residential area and smiled, almost half the houses that were planned were already up.
“Alright,” Daring hollered, “this is a reminder, the first day’s work ends at sundown. Make the necessary preparations for securing your work sites for the night.”
“You heard the boss mare,” Spike bellowed, a few pointed groans from Celestia’s team were heard, earning pointed glares from everyone else in the clearing, “clean up your work sites, make the required actions to minimize disturbance, and get ready to head back for the night.”
*******************************
“Seriously, I cannot believe those jerks,” Cadance half huffed and growled, “Auntie Celestia is usually much better with her choices.”
“I said the same thing,” said Spike, “are you sure you should be working yourself up like this.”
“He has a point,” said Shining Armor, “the doctor said you’re carrying again. It’s not healthy for the foal for you to be in such a tizzy.”
“I know,” groaned Cadance, “I just feel like I should be showing my displeasure about this whole thing. I mean, we expected a few dissenters in a project like this, seeing as this is something well out of the comfort zones of those working on it.”
“Yes, that is true,” said Daring. “But the other teams were excited about getting outside their comfort zones, looks like Celestia will be going over a new list for this project.”
“Well,” said Flurry Heart, “this just serves as a reminder that sometimes profiles are doctored to make ponies look better, and we can’t just go on recommendations that are written.”
________________________________________
Meanwhile, in Canterlot
“Every. Single. One. Luna,” huffed Celestia as she destroyed a variety of clay targets at the Royal Guard practiced range, on the highest difficulty. The only ponies present were Celestia, Luna, their personal assistants, and three guards for each. Celestia’s guards just stared in fascinated horror as Celestia casually made every guard record amount to insignificant in her fit of frustration.
Luna said nothing and just released another set of fifty targets, all of which exploded into clouds of clay dust the moment they entered Celestia’s line of sight. After Celestia destroyed another six sets of targets, Luna merely asked, “How many more do you need to get through before a more thorough look through the dossiers?”
“We’ll probably be here another hour,” said Celestia in an irked voice as she casually blew up another set of clay targets.”
“Oh good,” said her assistant, Dawn Quill, an orange and green colored unicorn mare, “we’ll be ahead of schedule for the first time in a while, I marked you down here for another two and half hours of ‘therapy’, I hope that wasn’t too presumptuous, Princess.”
“Not at all,” said Celestia as she took out another set of targets, “but if I'm slated to be here longer, maybe extend my prior statement by forty-five minutes.”
“Of course, your majesty,” said Dawn Quill.
“What of our schedule?” Luna asked her aid, Constellation Watch.
“You have another hour and a half before your next appointment for the night, princess,” said the thestral mare.
“Excellent,” said Luna, who then magicked up her copy of the problematic acts performed by ponies on the teams for Daring’s project. “I’m pleasantly surprised, members of other teams just have minor complaints, complaints that can easily be rectified either on the job or with the proper course for a few days.”
“I will take the fall for this one, Princess,” said Dawn, “I should have been more thorough in my screening.”
“No, we’re both to blame for this one,” said Celestia, “I was the one who okayed your choices without looking in further, it was just such a busy time for us.”
“I’ll clear your afternoon,” said Dawn, “and we’ll go about this again the proper way.”
“It might take more than an afternoon for this,” said Celestia, “we might be at it for an additional day or two.”
“Not to worry, I’ll move all the non-critical demands to later dates, only the most pressing matters won’t be moved. Hopefully, this will work before the more pressing matters approach.”
Daring stared at what was supposed to be an application form for the town, all it looked like to her was a pointlessly long questionnaire. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and one of Equestria’s most prominent bibliophiles, had written up the thirty-two-page monstrosity that Daring was now trying to leaf through. There was screening for potential problem residents, overshooting the mark, and whatever this behemoth of paper was. Daring was not very happy with what she had before here, she was hoping for an acceptable distraction so she could politely refuse Twilight’s overly massive application.
As if the universe wanted to cause her problems Twilight trotted in with a mug of coffee, “So, what are your thoughts?” Twilight inquired after a sip from her mug that proudly proclaimed her as the book lover she was. Her nightgown looked like it was one massive yellowed scroll on an old kind of parchment, made all the more amusing by the slipper-like hoof cozies that were modeled after ancient writing tablets.
“All the questions seem to be relevant, if a bit overly daunting for most ponies,” said Daring diplomatically, “the only real problem I can see is that it’s too long. Filling something like this out would feel like writing down pieces in an ad-lib novel, at best. At most, the application should be five pages. Preferably two to four pages.” Daring was in a maternity gown that was green and blue, she also looked a little uncomfortable in it.
Twilight blinked a few times before saying, “Well, that is a valid criticism. I do have a tendency to get a little carried away on some projects. By the way, thanks for the rough sketches for all the facilities in the community, it helped me draw up a more accurate mockup.”
“I’m thinking we’ll need it for a more accurate visual aide,” said Daring, “especially with the near fiasco that was Princess Celestia’s prior picks. Before you say it, you and Spike have already given me that assurance a half dozen times, each. We all make mistakes, Twilight, leaders just have to hope theirs don’t turn into something problematic for the majority of those they govern. So, in a way, we’re lucky it’s just this small group of ponies.”
“But it brings up a much larger issue,” huffed Twilight as she took the excessively long admission form from Daring in her magic, “That problem being the fact that service reports can’t be trusted.”
“Well, just not the ones with glow recommendations from ‘elite’ ponies,” said Daring as she rubbed her abdomen, her baby bump already showing to a point that thinking she had just put on some weight through fat was no longer a viable excuse. “All things considered, it’s just one team. We can easily replace them with a more appropriate group. But that still doesn’t entirely excuse the fact that a team not suited to working on such a large scale experiment was put in as part of the teams that would be establishing the foundations.” Daring let out an annoyed groan.
“They were the ones you assigned to build the temple.”
“Yep, the slackers barely did any work, and were the only ones to openly challenge Spike and myself on the work. Luna’s team was far more interested in the artistic merits of the project to really care, and the team I picked out conveniently ended up with some super fans of Spike. I didn’t know it at the time, they didn’t say anything about it when I gave them an interview. They did mention a rumor about him being married and wanting to confirm it themselves, but I decided to let him do the explaining on that one. Needless to say, when they showed up and he effectively confirmed we are an official couple they had a less than professional moment for a few minutes.”
“Which you happened to write down in your report.”
“If they want to have a fan moment they can do it on their own time,” said Daring teasingly, “the looks on their faces was priceless when I told them who I am, and how everything they learned at the job site was to be kept confidential until they are informed otherwise.”
“That’s probably tearing them up inside.”
“Not really, they just asked for an opportunity for taking some pictures and autographs, some even asked for those involving Spike and me together.”
“In other words, they were good sports about it, what about the rest.”
“They’re still in the dark about things.”
“Well, given how much Celestia’s crack team proved to not be up to the task, I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I suppose I should head back there,” said Daring after a few minute of silence.
“The town’s site,” said Twilight, “Celestia’s former team has been removed from the project, she’s still working on finding their replacements.”
“No,” said Daring, “I have a very special account at a bank in Canterlot, one I shared with my sister before she disappeared. We were so green at the time we made it, mom and dad thought it was cute.”
“Why?”
“The names on the account are DD and SL, I’m keeping some very special momentoes there. I think it’s time I pulled them out of the vault, it’s been ages since I checked on them.”
“I’ll send word to Princess Luna, she’s handling things while Celestia corrects her mistake.” With that, she floated a piece of blank paper and clipboard over along with an ink pen and ink well and started writing, when she finished the note disappeared in a flash of light.
****************************************
It seemed Celestia decided to take a break from her combing dossiers, which was probably a good idea, and join them at the bank. Daring was feeling uneasy, mostly because of security password she hadn’t used in years. The password that was marginally embarrassing for anypony over the age of nine, Spike was also there along with Twilight and Princess Luna.
Daring looked around, the bank seemed as opulent as she remembered it, just in a different way from when she had last visited it. This bank was a few blocks down from the one she used for business purposes.
“Hello and welcome to the Canterlot Star Bank, to what do we owe the pleasure?” The pony who greeted them was a sky blue unicorn with ocean green mane, her name tag identified her as ‘Delta Anchor’, one look at the name made Daring and company wonder about the poor mare’s parents a bit.
Daring made a polite cough before saying, “Yes I’m here to access safety deposit box 374, if I recall correctly we chose to use a password instead of the standard PIN for identification purposes.”
Delta opened a filing cabinet that was behind the desk and began sifting through it until she pulled up the appropriate file. Opening it she looked through it and said, “That is correct,” as she closed it and returned it with her amber colored magic. “It also lists that two ponies as the holders, which one are you?”
“DD,” said Daring, she could hear Spike, Twilight, and Celestia holding back giggles and snickers, Daring couldn’t help thinking if they were laughing now then they would be rolling on the floor once they heard the password. “I’m aware once the password is recited it will go to the next one on the list, the file said we had a few dozen, right?”
“Seventy-six,” said Delta with a perplexed look, it wasn’t often that so many passwords were arranged in advance for a single account. Twilight and Celestia looked at her like they wanted to gawk.
Daring did a polite throat-clearing exercise before saying, “The silly pegasus carries a wand proclaiming she’s a unicorn while the little unicorn prances about with flight goggles claiming she’s a pegasus, and thus both say ‘Wiggly Woggly Dutily Do’,” Daring said with a straight face, but she could feel every single one of her companions wanting to laugh out loud hard. “After you help get the box out could you have the employee leave my companions and myself?” Delta looked over at Celestia, who was holding her composure and gestured to the half dozen guards that had followed her, some of which looked like they were having trouble maintaining their own composure.
“I suppose, seeing as the princesses did bring their own security,” said Delta. “Follow me.”
After a few minutes she got the designated box out and left Daring and her companions, the moment she was out of earshot all of her companions broke into hysterical laughter. “That’s right, let all out,” said Daring as she popped the box open, “for your information, Star Log and I were seven when we made all those passwords. I haven’t been here in over thirty years, I’m pretty sure the teller was an infant the last time I was here.”
“Sorry,” said Twilight as she regained her composure, “it’s just the password sounded so not you and more like something Pinkie would say.”
A “Snrk” was heard from Celestia and Spike as they continued to giggle like schoolchildren. Daring gave Luna and Twilight a worried look, both were also still chuckling.
When the case opened Daring smiled and pulled up a very old looking notebook, and set to the side. It read “Daring Do and Star Log: Secret of the Waterfall” and was clearly written in what appeared to be the stylings of a an early grade schooler. The next item she pulled out she hugged to her chest, which had undergone some noticeable growth since her last visit, before bringing it to her muzzle and lightly kissing the distinctly old, well loved and well cared for toy.
“What’s that?” Luna inquired as Daring performed her cute ritual with the plush star.
“This,” said Daring turning around to reveal a green plushy star, which she promptly turned around to reveal a smiling face on with two blue buttons for eyes and yellow thread for a mouth, “is Astro, my sister’s favorite toy when we were growing up. Even as we grew older she would take him everywhere, after she nearly lost him at school she stopped taking him with her when going to the school or shopping. He was the one thing she treasured more than anything else, she always had a hard time sleeping without him.”
“That is so adorable,” said Luna, “may I?”
“I suppose,” said Daring, “just treat him with care.” Luna gently pulled the plush star to her in her magic, Twilight carefully pulled the foalish book over to her in her magic. Spike and Daring just rolled their eyes and said nothing regarding Twilight’s choice. Daring went back to pulling items from the box, the next thing she pulled out was an orange plush cat with green buttons for eyes and black stitching for a mouth. “Well, hello, Gingersnap,” said Daring Do as she pulled the plush into a cuddling hug for almost a full minute. An act that actually made her look adorable to all who were there with her.
“Gingersnap?” Spike said in surprise, “Why you call him that?”
“Her,” Daring corrected, “she was my favorite toy when I was a filly, I put her here when Star and I moved into our first place together.” She placed the toy cat down next to her, the condition was excellent, the toy showed very few little damage or fading. Without a word Luna floated Gingersnap over to her.
“Why did you name her that?” Spike inquired as he watched the toy float over to Luna.
“They were my favorite treat when I got her, and I was five at the time.”
“These are excellent quality, not a stitch out of place,” said Luna, “where did you get them?”
“We had an elderly mare in the neighborhood all the foals called ‘Grammy’ but we never took the time to learn her real name. Come to think of it, I can barely remember her mark. None of us ever did discover who her real grandfoal was, but we didn’t think it really mattered. She visited the houses of all the foals in the area, there weren’t that many in those days. Only four homes had foals in them, and we all got little plush companions.”
“I think a look at the records from the time should help with that,” said Celestia as she eyed the cat and star in her sister’s hold, “Twilight, would you like to handle that, or should I leave it to Luna?”
“I think I can handle it,” said Twilight, “Besides, Daring still needs to write up the town’s manifesto, once that’s done I can get to writing up a proper screening application.”
“Unlike that twenty plus page monstrosity you gave me to look over a few hours ago,” Daring retorted.
“Yeah, that’s completely on me,” said Twilight as she began to crack open the book.
“That might not be up to your standards,” said Daring, “it was the first story my sister wrote.”
“And yet it has thiry pages,” said Twilight after a quick look at the book’s side, “most first works have trouble getting past nine, especially at such a young age.”
“It was the first time our ‘adventure’ was recorded, chances are you won’t find much beyond typical spelling and grammatical errors for that time.”
Twilight seemed to ignore the warnings and continue on to actually reading it, much to Daring’s amused annoyance. Deciding to switch gears she returned to the box and made a change of conversation, “How are the investigations into Star’s disappearance?”
“Thirty ponies forcibly retired due to incompetence, nineteen dishonorably discharged, seven promotions based on verifiable evidence, and a few dozen extra unanswered questions,” said Luna as she continued her inspection of the plush toys.
“I didn’t think it would be that bad,” said Daring, “I figured at most it would be a small handful of corrupt law officers, some of which were actually being bribed.”
“Several of those cases were just that,” said Celestia, now choosing to speak, “but more than were anticipated just kept on doing things like that because they were led to believe it was a tradition that should not be infringed on and just followed through. It’s clear standards for all Equestria’s communities need to be improved to ensure such a thing does not continue.”
“We ran into something similar regarding Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts,” said Twilight as she leafed through the book literally written by a foal, “I wasn’t there but got told about it after the fact. In that case, the perpetrator of the incident was appropriately punished and the guards involved in the incident were suitably reprimanded.”
“It was more than that,” Celestia said with a cross of her arms under her buxom chest, “they were all sent back to the training grounds and had to run the hardest course, five times, and attend class on proper procedures for the better part of a month.”
“All with docked pay,” said Luna as she returned the plush toys to Daring, “we also raised the standards for graduation by a considerable margin.” Luna then decided to redirect the conversation, “What do you want to do about the idol?”
“Hold onto it for now,” said Daring, "once we’re all moved in I will personally come to get it, and if that is not possible then I will send Spike to do so. Anypony else that claims to be a proxy coming to retrieve it will not be permitted access, it’s me or Spike or they go away empty-handed.”
“A good policy,” said Spike, “also, did anyone tell you that you look adorable cuddling ‘Gingersnap’?”
“Yes, my parents and sister,” said Daring as she sifted through the rest of the box, “it’s been ages since I had even seen her. I might give her to our foal, make her a sort of heirloom.”
“Maybe wait until the foal has some control on her abilities, there might be unforeseeable side effects to being part dragon.”
“Good call,” said Daring as she pulled up a pair of old family photos, these ones were of her had her parents as foals with the ponies she had been told were her grandparents. “I never met my grandparents, on either side, they passed on before I was born. These might help in tracing my lineage, I think it’s best to know where I come from.”
Luna took the photos in her magic and stared at them, “It looks like they both grew up in a nurturing environment, none of the expressions seem to be false.”
“Is that everything in the box?” Twilight inquired.
“There are the charm bracelets Star Log and I wore for my tenth birthday and an old quill dad said he wanted us to hold onto until the right moment, he said it was an old family heirloom that was more something we were just looking after than anything else.” She lifted the items out of the box and Luna gasped.
“That’s my old golden owl quill, I spent ages doing calligraphy and art with it. I entrusted it too… we need to trace your father’s lineage posthaste.”
Spike and Daring Spending Time with the Princesses
Now that the shenanigans of Spike and Twilight had been toned down, Daring could finally get actually writing the town manifesto. The sooner the better, Celestia insisted on seeing a copy of the rough draft at the get together she made mandatory for Daring and Spike. Of course, it was also mandatory for Twilight, Cadance and Flurry Heart for some reason. Luna’s participation was optional, but chances were she would be there regardless.
When she was barely finished with the manifesto she was practically forced into a new formal dress, which also acted as a maternity dress, and was pulled from the room into entry space. It was during the checklist ritual, which she found rather amusing on most days, that she spoke up, “Did you both forget I have a rough draft of the down manifesto on my desk?”
“You finished the rough draft already,” said Twilight with a hint of surprise.
“Just barely,” said Daring, “the ink is still drying on the most recent parts.”
“I’ll get it,” said Spike, “I know how to handle freshly inked documents without irreparably damaging or smudging them.” With that he got up and headed for Daring’s room.
“Do I really have to wear this? I’m not all that fond of this sort of thing,” said Daring with annoyance, a few less than enjoyable memories beginning to bubble to the surface.
“Mom’s insistence,” said Twilight, “she’ll be there too. Care to explain your aversion to dresses?”
“I’ll save that for when I meet your mother,” said Daring, “less repetition. I’ll explain it to Rarity after we get this event out of the way.” Spike returned with the manifesto carefully rolled up. “Alright, let’s get this whole thing out of the way.”
“Don’t like social gatherings,” said Twilight as she lit up her horn to teleport all three of them.
“No, I just see the whole gathering a pointless waste of time, energy and resources. I don’t like wasted resources.”
“Good to know,” said Twilight as she finished activating her spell, group teleportations were always a bit tricky.
*****************************************
The first thing Daring experienced when they arrived at their destination was light gray coated unicorn mare hugging her rather tightly, followed by her saying, “Welcome to the family, I can’t wait for your new foal to be born. Have yo…”
“Mom,” Twilight chastised the mare, “too soon, way too soon. They don’t even know it it’s a colt or filly yet.”
“And I plan on keeping the surprise up to when the baby is born,” said Daring, “makes it a bit more exciting, and I’m more a fan of unplanned naming.”
“We can work with that,” said a blue unicorn stallion, “I’m terribly sorry about Velvet, she gets excited when new members get added.”
“Mom, why didn’t you mention you knew her when she was a foal, I had to find out from a picture of all things,” Twilight produced the picture in questions and said, “if you direct your attention to the reflection in the dish cabinet, you’ll noticed somepony familiar.”
“That does look like a younger version of you, dear,” said the blue stallion, “it must have been back when you thought being a photographer’s aid was much more exciting.”
“The only exciting part was that time his film accidentally combusted because he left it too close to the fire,” huffed Velvet, “one of the less thought out ideas of my life.” She took a look at the photo in question and said, “Yep, that’s me alright,” she then moved her attention to the ponies in the photo. “The photographer was an old friend of Keen Tone’s, from back when they were in primary school together, and is the only known photographer to get a picture of Keen’s family.”
“That’s my sister there,” said Daring pointing to the filly reading a book in the photo, then pointing to the other filly, “and that’s me.”
Velvet blinked a bit, before saying, “Night, I think you just won the bet.”
“You had a bet going?” Twilight said with surprise.
“Not by choice,” said Night, “it was Princess Celestia’s insistence.”
“Speaking of which,” said Velvet, “we should get going, the princesses are waiting for us.”
“Let’s get this over with,” said Daring in an annoyed voice.
“She doesn’t like having resources or time wasted,” said Spike and Night and Velvet led them down a series of halls.
“I have a feeling once the baby comes along her stance on that will get bit more lenient,” said Velvet as they continued down the halls, Her dark blue skirt flowing a bit in her wake. Night just chuckled in his green suit at his wife’s antics.
*****************************
After twenty minutes of nearly disorienting halls, Daring had dealt with worse, they finally came to a large open air garden. In the garden were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, with Celestia in a forest green dress and Luna in a twilight indigo dress. Twilight rolled her eyes, discreetly, as she sauntered into the area in her sea blue dress.
Also there were Cadance and Flurry Heart. Cadance was in a sky blue dress while Flurry was in an orchid pink dress. Both looked amused by the sight that was before them, Flurry more than her mother.
Daring was not looking very happy with the turn of events as she entered the area, with Spike in his deep blue suit shortly behind her. Celestia waved the two over, and Spike all but dragged Daring over to the alabaster alicorn and her midnight blue sister. “Everyone else knows, I think it’s time we shared,” said Celestia.
Daring gave the waiting alicorns a confused look. “You’re about to learn a little known legal secret,” said Spike. Daring gave him skeptical look that said she doubted the validity of that statement.
“Legally,” said Celestia, “Spike is my son, while also legally being Twilight’s brother. It’s something her whole family already knows.”
“And kept quiet on with a royal gag order,” quipped Luna, “my sister actually waited until almost a year after my return to let me in on that little secret.”
“So I wanted to wait until what I thought was the right time,” responded Celestia, “you were a little busy getting caught up on details regarding the nation during your... absence.”
Luna huffed, “A point that I am still more than a little sore about, sister. But that is not why we are here, we are here for something else entirely.”
Flurry and Cadance just giggled at the antics of the two oldest alicorns in the room. Both considered saying something, then decided against it.
Daring stared at the princess of the sun with surprise on her face then said, “Did I inadvertently make you my mother-in-law? Of all the things for nobility to bicker about, I had to go and do the one thing that topped them all.”
“And to make matter more amusing,” said Spike, “you don’t really care about your social standing.”
“I’ve put most of my resources and energy into finding my sister and potentially dangerous artifacts to secure in a safe place,” said Daring, “the reasons I made the books in the first place was because I needed capital to continue my endeavors and it was something my sister and I talked about doing together.”
“Speaking of which,” said Twilight as she cantered up to the four, “I spent some time with this,” she held up the book that Star Log had written, “ever since Daring liberated it from her lockbox.”
“That has to be one of the cutest early attempts at writing I have ever seen,” said Celestia, “it’s a pity we’re still looking for a lead on her.” She then took the book and cracked it open, Luna, Daring and Spike rolled their eyes, looked like mentor and apprentice shared a few more similarities than they wanted. Cadance gave another giggle and Flurry just gave Daring a perplexed look.
“How goes the search for replacements for the project,” inquired Daring, wishing to a have a distinct change in the subject matter.
“Slower than any of us would like,” said Celestia as she continued to read through the book written by a literal foal, “the ‘incident’ involving my former picks revealed a few flaws in our system, which I have already taken steps to correct. The so-called professionals I had chosen for the project were sent back to training, in a more amusing fashion.” Daring and Spike gave the alabaster alicorn an intrigued look,for a moment or two, then shifted that same look to Princess Luna.
“They were all sent to redo their training independent of each other in small towns that at most have three or four ponies with construction skills, with the added bonus of being told if we receive so much as rumors of them continuing the misconduct that got them there in the first place we would give them a far more amusing punishment.”
“Like something involving being sent to communities with no construction capable ponies, by themselves, and being responsible for the expansion of those communities,” said Spike.
“I’m sure we can do better than that,” said Daring, “how about also giving each a handler who is also responsible for the acquisition of new outfits, and if they don’t like their handler’s choices then they can just walk around town in the buff. Think of it this way, they can either be completely at the whims of their handler’s sense of style or risk their perceived reputation by walking around town either without changing their clothes once or none at all, no matter what their ego will be taking a hit.”
“Especially if we make it so their handler is also responsible for their laundry,” said Spike, “if we have their handlers outright state to them that the only thing they’re responsible for are their charge’s observation and attire that should give them pause, especially if we bar them from hiring any new help. Chances are they aren’t learning their lesson because they likely hired housekeepers to keep their new accommodations in pristine condition.”
“Aren’t you worried that under their current conditions they could be bribing the ponies responsible for filing the reports?” Daring inquired.
“We are,” said Luna, “which is why we have multiple ponies of the towns under their current circumstances are filing reports for us on them, and they were all told to not let it slip they were hired to do so. They were able to figure out one or two ponies involved in their observations and make a go at bribing them. Of course, ponies from smaller communities are actually rather difficult to bribe, they have very few wants or desires and have rather simple needs.”
“Although,” said Celestia as she finished up the book with a smile and floated it over to an eager Flurry Heart, “your idea does have some merit, and entertainment value.”
“That new innovation that makes it possible to watch movies at home, rather cheaply, might provide some more entertainment value,” said Daring, “if we have it all filmed discreetly and made available for everypony, possibly around the time it actually happens, we could get some entertainment out of it and shame them for misconduct all at the same time. Or do you think I’m being too callous?”
“Should their current punishment not yield the desired result,” said Luna, “your suggestion would likely prove a better choice, to them it’s all about the games played by the elite. In such games public humiliation is considered one of the greatest shame.”
“We thought they had a taste of it when we administered their punishment,” said Celestia, “seeing as we made it a publicly known fact through every news outlet we hold sway over, facilities that we hold to high standards of honesty and integrity. But should their punishment prove less fruitful than we are hoping, your suggestion will be implemented.”
“Now, on to happier happier things,” said Luna, “I hope you’ll allow me time with your foal once he or she is born, I absolutely adore foals.”
“Luna’s built up a reputation of spoiling many of the nation’s foals,” said Twilight, “to the point most communities have established rules for when she is permitted to visit.”
“Honestly, we would be more than happy to have you visit,” said Daring, “the heavens know we’re likely going to need help over the first few months, both with the community and our little bundle of joy.”
“Oh, right,” said Twilight seeming to remember something, “you mentioned Zelshirka actually had some connection to our family.” Twilight’s parents perked up at this, it was always fun learning new things about past generations, even if some of those things weren’t worth remembering. Celestia and Luna also showed some interest in the statement.
“Yes,” said Daring, “during the pre-Alicorn era Equestria Zelshirka and her sisters ended up having pony worshippers. By Zelshirska’s own admittance, at least one of my ancestors was among her early worshippers but what is now known as the Sparkle line actually had several members in the congregation. The first ones did so out of a sense of curiosity, the following generations that still were active worshippers did so partly out of tradition and partly because of what the edicts of the three stated.”
“Well,” said Velvet, “at least we have confirmation Twilight’s desire to learn more than most is hereditary, we weren’t entirely sure about that.”
“However, their worship started to wane shortly before the appearance of the ponies we now know as the royal sisters.” Celestia and Luna weren’t happy to hear this, a lot of history had been lost since their initial rule and the fact that there had once been a faction dedicated to the worship of ancient dragon deities had been completely glossed over didn’t sit well with them. “I believe that the foundations for many of the beliefs Celestia and Luna champion now, along with their fellow princesses, may have derived from the edicts of the three dragon goddesses. Zelshirka’s sisters are currently in a transcended state of sleep due to a lack of power on their part. They require worship to enrich and enhance their power, as is true with all deities. Zelshirka lucked out due to her former physical heart now being the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire. A portion of the energies the ponies of the region share with the heart actually goes to her, she got a bit of a power surge when we asked Spike to help restore her idol.”
“An idol we are currently studying at one of the magical research facilities I’ve established over the years,” said Celestia.
“Amusingly enough,” said Daring, “due to her domains, Zelshirska is actually gaining energy from the very act of her idol being researched. In fact, Twilight, she expressed a desire to talk with you in private during the meeting I had with her just last night.”
“So, she’s sporadically contacting you in your dreams still,” said Twilight, “but how am I to speak with her in private? I can’t ask Luna to help me get to her pocket space.”
“Part of our agreement allows her to use me as a conduit. Although, I’m not sure it’s a good idea in her current state with me also being pregnant, she’s not nearly strong enough to not cause negligible issues while one of her representatives is carrying. Although, she did mention she might be able to establish a more effective connection with you if you were to have a small shrine dedicated to her within a place that is easily accessible to you.”
“I’m listening,” said Twilight.
“What you use to make the shrine, and its exact dimensions, is not too important. The materials used to make it just need to be symbolic of her domains. Those being: Fertility, Connections and Knowledge. You’ve already got the third domain down pretty well, the other two might prove a little trickier. But as long as one of those three is properly represented, or you have an appropriate representation of Zelshirska to reside within the shrine, you should be fine but it’s best if you have a shrine that has representations of all her domains making up the shrine and an appropriate representation of Zelshirska within the shrine.”
“You just had to say it,” said Celestia, “Twilight has a tendency to want to go with the best if she has the opportunity to do so. Now she’s going to go around looking for the best materials to make that shrine, then probably try carving a duplicate of the idol.”
“Well, she won’t have to look far for the materials,” said Daring, “just as far as her friends and loved ones when it comes to the materials for the shrine and representation.”
“And she just made it worse,” commented Night.
“Or better,” said Spike, “depending on how you look at it. Twi has been having some difficulties with all the changes recently. She just barely got the beginnings of an actual castle staff up a few days ago, what with me getting closer to no longer being a consistent option anymore.”
“Yes, well you are preparing to have a family,” said Velvet, “that changes things for everypony.”
“Of course most ponies don’t go and try and build an entire community when they’re expecting,” said Night. “Although, I’m sure your mother would have tried it if she could get away with it.”
“I only considered it for my second month of pregnancy, and only when I was carrying Shining,” said Velvet, “but by my third month I realized how much of a financial drain that was.”
“Well,” said Spike, “to be fair, she is building this with support from all the princesses and the community is more of a place to observe what happens when you bring back an older belief structure into the modern era.”
“I am working on making sure it’s all up to date,” said Daring, “the lack of records on the subject matter makes things a bit tricky, but it also provides for opportunities in how things are approached and executed.”
“Anything else we should know?” Velvet inquired.
“She’s kept a stuffed cat since the time she was a filly named Gingersnap,” said Spike but I don’t see what th…”
The sound of an excited Night Light shrieking like an enthused little filly crashed through the room, Daring gave Twilight and Velvet a worried look. “Night,” Velvet did her best to clear her throat and talk over the excited sound of her husband, “has a habit of antiquing, something he shares with Twilight, but while our little Twiliwily,” Celestia, Luna and Spike couldn’t help snickering, much to Twilight’s annoyance, “is a bit more subdued, Night has a tendency to overdo things so much we had to BUY a warehouse just to house everything he inevitably ends up buying.”
“Yeah,” said Twilight, “dad does go a little spend happy when he’s in places that are selling more vintage items and accessories.”
“Looks like the princesses prepared a spread for us, I suggest we make a go at trying it,” said Daring, clearly trying to shift focus.
Twenty minutes, and about a dozen helpings of various snacks later, a mildly content Daring was interrupted by Velvet, “Twilight tells me you have a general aversion to dresses, care to explain that one?”
The entire room’s attention focused on her, Daring just sighed before saying, “You try falling asleep in one place then waking up in another to find what attire you had on was replaced by some perv who decided you needed to be dressed in some sort of ceremonial dress in order to be sacrificed! That happened to me a few too many times.”
“Oh,” said Twilight, “I’ll let my friends know about that.”
“Mom,” said Flurry Heart, “why aren’t we more involved in the project?”
“Politics,” said Cadance flatly, “we’re in agreement that the only rail line to the community during this early time will be to and from the Crystal Empire and the town will primarily fall under our watch. We provide the bulk of the building materials for the project and the other princesses, plus Daring, make choices about who will be trusted with construction on the project. We wanted the best ponies possible for this project, practically the whole of the Crystal Empire would be trying to go down their and do their utmost to earn Spike’s favor. The system we have works out for the workforce and qualified ponies.”
“And even we as rulers are still prone to error,” said Luna, “my sister’s initial choices proved to be lacking in the proper traits for this project. As for Twilight Sparkle, she felt she was likely to interfere with the project if she should be involved in the selection process.”
“But when it comes to paperwork and planning I’m top notch,” said Twilight, “I helped hash out the town’s initial design, even going as far as creating a models of community layouts to see which way they want to influence progress. I’m also going over the outlines for what is intended to be the beginnings of the town charter, and writing up a questionnaire to assist in screening potential inhabitants.”
“I told her to cut the length on that one, it was more like like having an unfinished short story than being an actual questionnaire.”
“I suppose I deserved that one,” said Twilight.
“Besides,” said Daring, “It’s on Cadance and Shining to appoint the observers, I do hope the selections don’t get all in a tizzy about ponies in revealing attire or waltzing about the area with little to nothing on.”
“We’re still looking into things on that front,” said Cadance, “but it is nice of you to give reminders that this community is going to have some somewhat different expected norms than what most ponies are used to.”
“I volunteered to be one of the observers, I figured that if visiting ponies at least saw a princess in area they would feel a little more at ease, and I really want to get to know you and this project better.”
“I bet it’s more of a case she doesn’t want her parents finding out how she desires to see naked ponies,” Daring whispered to Spike, it was so low the ponies next to them couldn’t pick up on what she had told him. Spike just chuckled.
Princess Celestia was happy for the distraction, one that she had insisted was of the utmost importance. She got a chance to look over Daring’s rough draft, and had almost giggled when she saw a line stating “All acts of public intimacy are permitted, so long as they are of willing decision of all parties involved and do not involve cohesion of any kind” to which Celestia had thought she had done a decent enough job holding her laughter back.
But now she was sitting in a conference room waiting for one of her potential new choices for Daring’s project. The pony in question was a half-hour late, which usually wouldn’t bode well. The pony in question finally came through the door, through being dropped into the room by one of the guards. Celestia was starting to have doubts regarding this choice. This pony was a unicorn that had barely five pages in his dossier. The unicorn stallion was colored forest green with a caramel malt colored mane.
“So sorry to make you wait, Princess,” said the unicorn stallion, “I just saw the architecture of this place and couldn’t help wanting to get a better look at it.”
Veggie Malt, a unicorn that came from a small town and had been raised by parents that ran an ice cream parlor near said town’s center. His name might of been a little unfortunate, and his work history might have been almost non-existent but did have a bit of a reputation as a pony who showed enthusiasm regarding older or more unique architecture.
“Mr. Malt,” said Celestia in a serious tone, “you are here because I am considering you for a very special project, one that is a joint venture in terms of support from all the princesses. You should know, the last team I had pegged for this project was removed due to a lack of proper commitment. Due to the nature of the project, you will only be permitted to see the materials in regards to the project if, and only if, you manage to pass on your screening. You can think of this meeting as your introduction to the screening process, and the first phase of a system that has many. Now that you have been sufficiently informed and warned I would like to learn more about you as an individual, preferably information that isn’t likely to show up in a file somewhere.” She punctuated her seriousness with a steeple of her hands.
This was the new architect she was considering, a test of character was in order when she took into account her last choice of architect and builders for Daring’s project. She needed some very different ponies, ones that would be more than willing to take on the challenges regarding Daring’s unique approach. And they didn’t get more different than her current consideration before here.
Veggie Malt gave a nervous chuckle, when he had been asked to come to Canterlot’s castle for an interview he had not expected Princess Celestia to be the one doing the interview. Also, being informed she had selected a team for a surprise project that failed to perform the duties asked them meant he was definitely feeling the pressure.
________________________________
Daring, Luna, and Spike were taking a look at the progress of the town; Luna approved the wheel design for the community. The map helped emphasize the temple, which still was waiting to be built by the right ponies while providing a memorable design for anypony that saw the community from above. The central bathhouse was nearing completion, the other ones were mostly done and just needed some minor touches, and the mailhouse was still up in the air. Apparently, they were having trouble deciding on the design of the post office, and they were conflicted on whether go with a dragon motif or heart motif. The conflict was further made problematic by the decision to make the postal building practically next door to the school. Spike settled the debate by having them make the facility look like a dragon wing and pegasus wing joining together with the doors and windows being done in a heart motif, something the team involved had apparently not considered.
After the planning of the design was finalized the building went up surprisingly quick. Going by aesthetics alone this town would be an oddity, and that was perfectly fine. This town was part of an experiment; it wouldn’t do for it to look like any other place in Equestria. A quick look over at Spike and Daring showed they were inspecting the dozen or so houses that had been designed and built.
All the teams currently in the clearing didn’t mind the restrictions placed on them, especially since they didn’t interfere with what was being attempted. Some even found the addition of restrictions exhilarating due to some belief that working within boundaries can result in some interesting results.
Luna got some measure of enjoyment out of observing how things progressed, and was just as disappointed as Celestia that the ivory alicorn’s prior choices had been so poorly suited for the project. Thankfully, the numerous legal agreements that all the participant workers in the project were required to sign, and happened legally binding, which meant those same ponies were not permitted to divulge any information regarding the project before its completion. Of course, considering their personalities, those same ponies probably were of the mind that the project had been beneath them to begin with.
Given all the problems that occurred before the start of the project, Luna and Celestia had been hoping all parties involved with the project wouldn’t have such a hindering issue. Celestia wanted to be here, but she had to personally see to it that her new choices weren’t as potentially detrimental as her prior ones.
A closer inspection of the exterior of the mostly completed bathhouse showed there were traces of what become reliefs; they likely wanted to make sure the decorations met the approval of Daring and/or Spike before finalizing that piece of the project. Besides the other structures needed to be erected, leaving the artistic flourishes until later seemed to be a proper judgment call.
It looked like all ponies currently working on the project knew how to prioritize, which was a good sign for the more artistically inclined ponies Luna had personally selected for all this. It gladdened Luna to see such distinctly different types of work teams working in the same environment so effectively.
For Luna seeing Daring and Spike interacting with the workforce for Daring’s project, and also seeing how the town went at such a rapid pace was a bit of surprise. Celestia couldn’t come, she had too much on her plate, even without the interviews for the replacement team. It was a setback that most projects usually wouldn’t be able to afford, and was looking like it wouldn’t happen again.
This was a special project, to be sure, that much was certain. Daring had expressed her dismay at not being able to continue her search her sister personally, but leaving it to ponies she had grown to trust more wasn’t a bad alternative, at least in Luna’s eyes. To Luna, this was the beginning of a new sort of approach to things. To her knowledge, this sort of collaborative effort had never been done before among Equestria’s rulers.
Twilight would have loved to join in, but she had other obligations to attend to. Obligations that were leading her towards being a better ruler, and maybe even a better pony. Luna knew this because of Spike’s comments, he had a great deal of faith in Twilight to do the right thing, even if she did stumble a bit along the way every now and then.
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Celestia let out a deep sigh, thirty-seven interviews in the past four hours and she only managed to confirm two ponies for the new team. Somehow Blueblood had managed to sneak his son into the candidate pool for this group with little to no notice, she would be having very stern words with him over that. Celestia would have thought that pompous fool would have learned his lesson after the several times she shot down most of his projects in public. And from the looks of things, his eldest son was turning out just like him.
Despite being late, the new architect she interviewed managed to pass the rest of her tests. Of the other construction hopefuls and veterans, she was looking into only one managed to pass the tests as well. She still had a few dozen more to go, this new process she had devised for testing the quality of ability and personality had a tendency to be a bit time consuming but was worth it. Her prior choices had helped to emphasize the need for seeing to the quality of character and work ethic in addition to the quality of the work itself.
Equestria was going through many new astounding changes, thanks mostly to the efforts of Twilight and her friends over the past two decades. Daring’s current project was helping to further those changes, with the unintentional side effect of bringing those who weren’t very good at adjusting to the changes out of the woodwork. This town that Daring had designed, and would have complete authority over, was an excellent chance to see what happens when lesser-known elements of the past that were mostly forgotten were brought back into the view of the nation. In a sort of sense, the community would be akin to its own nation.
Daring would probably argue points for both sides, something that Celestia found mildly amusing. Getting her new team selection for the project was of great importance to the project, it was their responsibility to manage the construction of the community’s central building.
Even so, an architect and a single construction worker did not mean a proper team for the project. Celestia turned back to her dossiers and groaned; she would probably be at these interviews and tests of character until sundown, possibly longer than that.
______________________________
As for the frescos, Luna was acting as a consultant with the teams so they could have a plan more developed before work on those could begin. She made sure to not tell them what she would prefer they do, but did say what her thoughts on some of the designs were and gave multiple examples of how she thought the pieces could possibly be improved. She wanted to make sure the final say was up to Daring and the teams. She also made sure to not dictate any thoughts on the pieces about the central building, she felt it best to help expand on what the teams’ ideas and discretions when it came to that structure, and it would be better to have a physical structure before such thoughts were discussed.
Twilight, true to her general nature, had been a bit of a perfectionist in the crafting of her version of the idol. She had wanted to make an exact replica, like had been done with her magic, but Daring had stated that Twilight herself had to create the item with her personal impressions of what the best materials were. The “shrine” had been easier than anticipated, it was just copies of her personal favorite texts arranged in a house-like configuration with an open wall that would be her position for placing the item in question. The material itself was a bit tricky, so she decided to go with Daring’s suggestion of things that she personally saw as representing her more meaningful connections.
She carefully carved an imitation of the idol out of a piece of applewood that was the length of her forearm and about as thick as Applejack’s forearm, both mares had been somewhat surprised to find such an item in the pile of kindling and deadwood the farm mare and her family had piled up a few days prior with Applejack actually saying she was going to investigate who had thrown the piece on the pile and see if there were any other pieces in the pile that conceivably be used as art or workpieces.
It had been some time since Twilight and her friends had established the school, a school that was now run and operated by many of its former students with Twilight still as the official headmaster and merely dropping in every few months to check on things and deal with anything that might require her attention. Her next visit to the school wasn’t for another week so, and before Daring’s project, she had been feeling rather bored. Cadance had told her about how uninvolved she usually was with the Crystal Empire, thus her enjoyment of things that tended to deviate from the norm, a sentiment that Flurry Heart seemed to exemplify to the Nth degree. Flurry was obviously excited about being involved as an observer in the project, so much so Cadance and Shining Armor had expressed their concerns on the matter to Twilight on more than one occasion. The problem was that Twilight was echoing her niece more than she cared to admit as of late. After she had managed to carve the idol, which was clearly of an inferior quality of craftsmanship than what she was trying to duplicate, much to her own frustration. Using her magic to touch up the carving, bringing it a bit closer to what she had been aiming for, she looked over handiwork before continuing on with additional components.
She placed metal pieces of silver and gold crafted with her magic to resemble Spike’s spines along the spine of the wooden figure as signifiers, thankful she had thought to craft the spines ahead of time and place points along the statue’s back to fit the pieces of crafted metal in. She then used a piece of discarded cloth Rarity had been more than happy to do up like a traditional cleric’s robe, upon the statue and then placed a small clipping of the manes of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on the statue’s attire in such a way the locks resembled a sash and belt. She then placed an overly glittered pair of gloves for the statue that Pinkie had provided her. She then pinned a decorative heart made from the hair of Shining Armor, Cadance, Flurry Heart, her mother, and her father over the statue’s chest. When all that was done, she took a small braid of Starlight Glimmer’s hair and wound it into a circlet that she placed on the idol’s head.
After giving her work five checks to make sure everything was good go, this is Twilight Sparkle we’re talking about, she place the idol in the house she had prepared for it. She had her doubts, but she was far more curious about things than she was doubtful. If she really could form a line of communication with an ancient dragon deity she was more than happy to try and make contact. This was going to be an interesting night. First thing was first, Twilight wanted to appear as a gracious host, so she placed an offering of a small offering of some food and a miniaturized copy of Equestrian history before the idol. Thankfully, she had thought to put the idol in her room, mostly to ensure it wasn’t disturbed during these first few nights after she had finished it. She was working on a stand in the library that would house idol, but until she had it fully worked out and made it would remain in her quarters.
Deciding it really wouldn’t matter much, Twilight decided to lock her room and sleep in the nude. Her naked form on the bed slowly began to slow down until she found herself deep within REM sleep. What came next was both a surprise and not.
Twilight found herself in a strange almost dream-like environment, completely naked, with a crown that looked and felt like it was made of literature pieces. Why did she have an accessory while also being completely naked?
“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle,” came a sultry draconic voice, Twilight turned to see Zelshirska with apple green scales and a set of silver and gold spines running down her back. As was par for the course, the dragoness was devoid of any attire. Her bust was clearly bountiful, even when you scaled her down from being seven times Twilight’s size. “I’m rather pleased with your attempt at making a representation of me, most entities would give up part way through and pass off the task to another at around three or four times.”
“I take it that’s what the dragons did,” said Twilight with piqued curiosity.
“The crafting of my first representation was passed around to a dozen or so dragons, most tend to have short attention spans when it comes to anything that isn’t food, fighting, or shiny. They’ve gotten a bit better at maintaining focus over the past few centuries, but Spike in particular has much better self-control and focus than most dragons out there. An attribute he likely gained from being raised among the ponies of Equestria, an attribute I would love to see more dragons adopt as time moves forward.”
“Well, we can’t know what the future truly holds,” said Twilight. After she said that she started ogling the dragoness, much to her own surprise and annoyance.
“I have no problem with you admiring my form,” said Zalshirka with a bit of a giggle.
“I think I know where Daring got that relaxed attitude towards being looked at by others,” Twilight mumbled under her breath.
“Daring Do developed her general disdain for attire from her prior occupation,” said Zalshirska offhandedly, almost as if she was stating a commonly known fact, “and it’s not uncommon for those of a clerical order to develop or gain personality quirks that are akin to the deity they have devoted themselves to. It’s more so a case with Daring due to her aura having a higher degree of resonance with my own energies than most mortals. She’s still her, at the core, but she just adopted some of the quirks I have.”
“Such as her casual disregard for who is around her when she kisses, in a rather intimate way I gathered from my observations.”
“I suppose,” said Zalshirska, “I used to do such actions with my sisters from time to time, mostly as a way of messing with them. Deities like to seek entertainment wherever they can get it, the goings on of mortals can be amusing but usually passes by a bit too quickly for us. For those of us in the godly realms time flows at drastically different rates, and usually in response to our personal states. If we are bored or tired time will literally crawl for us to the point months or years can go by in the mortal realm while hardly a few minutes have passed for us.”
“Which means the inverse is true,” said Twilight picking up on implications.
“Yes, but sometimes the opposite can hold true. Every now and then those things that usually would make time crawl actually make it speed up, often to the point a decade or so can go by in the span of one of our hours. Of course, the emotional state of other beings in our realm, mortal or divine, can also influence the way time flows in this realm. When my sister awaken, and I certainly hope it is within this century, we are going to fall into quite the interesting interactions. Feel free to visit me anytime.”
With that Twilight woke up, feeling both refreshed and like she had just gotten over running a marathon for some reason. This was especially evident by the damp portion of her sheets that basically made her outline, unfurled wings and all, and the fact she had plenty of energy for the day. She was excited for her next foray into Zelshirska’s realm, she was more than eager to learn more.
Twilight had never really felt a strong intimate attachment to anyone outside her family, there had been that time she a bit of a crush on Flash Sentry but it had subsided after a few months. But for some reason she felt intimately drawn to Zelshirska, she wasn’t sure why and this sort of thing required testing beyond their initial interaction. But for now, she felt like she Zelshirska had a more intimate connection than she had with her closest friends and family. In all likelihood, it was just a side effect of her first genuine visit to the dragoness’s realm.
She was a bit off put by her first visit, which was likely the reason why she had such a brief interaction with the dragon goddess, that was almost devoid of her curiosity.
*************************************************
A few days, and several pointless activities, later Twilight was back to prepping for another meeting with Zelshirska, this time with a plan and notes. Among the less pointless activities for the day, Twilight did her laundry, especially her bedsheets.
Once again she was within the realm of Zelshirska, and feeling...sexually excited? She took note of this, she wanted to keep her records as meticulous as possible. Recording personal sensations might just help her understanding a few things.
Once again she was completely in the buff, this time without any accessories. She chalked up the first time to Zelshirska messing with her, this was her personal domain after all. The kind of magic to maintain such a place must have been tremendous.
After a few minutes of wandering around, she ran into Zalshirska, who was now a smidge taller than Princess Luna, before Twilight could even say anything Zelshirska handed her what looked like a book that was halfway to being a tome. “Before you say anything,” said Zelshirska, “how many times have you visited me?”
“Um,” said Twilight as she gave the dragon goddess a confused look, “this is my second visit, isn’t it?”
“Seventh, actually,” said Zelshirska, “but I’m not faulting you there, very few can recall their encounters with me properly. As we discussed before,” Twilight gave the dragon goddess a perplexed look, “since she naturally resonates with me, Daring Do is mostly unaffected by her visits to my domain. As for Princess Luna, her ability to move through dreams affords her some natural protections. But you are not as fortunate, this is proving problematic moving forward. Hence why we have me giving you that, it should help bring you up to speed on some of our interactions.”
“Well, that’s a little surprising,” said Twilight as she took the book, “and probably should have been expected. The first meeting, that I can recall, I covered my sheets in sweat. Any ideas why I’m sexually excited by the idea of meeting you, I’ve been feeling that lately.”
“The sweat bit is something you’ve been going through almost every encounter, your third and fifth one being the times you didn’t coat your sheets in sweat. As for the sexual arousal bit, I’m clueless and have done nothing within the bounds of my abilities to attempt at getting you to feel a greater level of intimacy towards me, all that is entirely you. Although, we have seemed to connect a bit better than I anticipated.”
“That’s nice to hear,” said Twilight as she cracked open the book, a rush of information and memories flooded her and she was dazed for a few seconds, after assaulting her mind the book faded out of existence, “that was more of a rush than last time! We really need to find a better, and less disorienting, way getting me back up to speed. Ethereal existences are a bit more tricky than the theories regarding them seem to suggest.”
“What do you want to discuss this time around?”
“Spike and Daring are expecting their first baby, and almost all my closest friends have foals of their own. I haven’t been able to find the right...partner. You’re the closest I’ve gotten to a meaningful romantic relationship, but I’ve barely known you personally for very long. Even so...I’m personally entertaining the idea of being impregnated by you. But that doesn’t seem very…” Zalshirska was now directly in front of her, her size, with a penis that would easily make even the largest of stallions feel inadequate, and it was only in an inert state. It just one, a singular penis, her studies said dragon males had two, something Spike had been a bit embarrassed about confirming for her during her research. “You have a…” her word died out in her throat.
“Indeed, I’m a goddess. That means I can alter my form to however I wish, the form you and the ponies of Equestria have been interacting with is based on an old idol design from centuries ago.”
“I thought it just pertained to your size, not your entire biology.”
“You have so much to learn. Now, how about I make you begin to know what it’s like to feel pregnant.”
“But even if you do fill me up here that won’t translate to the physical world, will it?”
“Where we are is between the physical and spiritual, if I were to impregnate you here the effects wouldn’t translate to your body, net yet. In other words, you would be pregnant with none of the physical signs of having sexual intercourse if I was a bit more powerful. Chances are, your body would have the experiences that led to it all which would lead to you not having a body that’s had any experience being spread open.”
“In short, a genuine immaculate conception. I read about those in theory, and the idea is actually making wetter. I’m going to have some serious cleaning to do after all this, even if we don’t partake in intercourse.”
“I don’t mind either way,” said Zelshirska with a smirk, “so, do you want me to plow you and so my divine seed within you?”
Twilight bit her lower lip for a few minutes before saying, “Yes please!” Before she knew it she was on an incredibly lavish bed, one with sheets that complimented her coat while not being as what Rarity would call ‘garish’ or ‘repugnant’ and was surprisingly comfortable, almost to the point of not even being felt.
“I must confess,” said Zelshirska as she approached the now bed prone Twilight, “it’s been ages since I had a mortal lover, and none anywhere near something of this nature.”
“The dragons must have been incredibly unimaginative, only thinking to make you horny when they felt like getting on with you,” Twilight smirked from her surprising vantage point on the bed, licking her lips a bit lustfully as she saw the dragon goddess’s dick go from flaccid to fully erect, and seemingly doubling in size, in almost no time as she approached the violet coated alicorn mare.
“You’re quite right,” said Zelshirska, “I have a feeling we’re going to both enjoy this. I look forward to being the ‘father’ of what we will create some future night.”
“I just hope I can remember this night,” said Twilight as she felt the erect dragonic cock begin to tease her marehood.
“I’ll make sure of it,” said Zelshirska in a sultry voice, “I’ll carve our lovemaking so far into your form here you’ll feel it in your physical form in the next era.”
Just those words alone caused Twilight to twitch with pleasure, just as Zelshirska’s rod slid into the mare pussy. The dragoness went slow and tender, almost as if she were handling a ceramic doll. Each slow progression of the dragoness’s dick further sent waves of pleasure through Twilight. After what felt like forty minutes of the most pleasurable torture to the alicorn mare the penis stopped halfway into her womb. Then, as if both were linked in some more subtle way, they both orgasmed. When Zelshirska’s load was released into Twilight’s womb it magnified the mare’s the pleasure to such an extreme that it knocked her out then awake again seven consecutive times in as many seconds. After that Twilight went completely blank.
The last thing Twilight heard, other than the moans of pleasure she was giving out, was Zelshirska saying, “I’ll come to give you this sensation, only better, once I can manifest on the mortal plane for more than a few minutes. I loo…”
******************************
When she awoke the next day Twilight felt stuffed, but not by the contents of her stomach, and moving her hand down to her waist recalled all of her encounters with Zelshirska, especially the one where they had made love to each other. Twilight’s face suddenly went a deep red from embarrassment at the memory. She remembered time in a deity’s realm was in a state of irregular flux, what had been hours for her could have been moments in the mortal realm.
She then remembered the last words Zelshirska had said before Twilight had faded out of consciousness the ninth or tenth time, “Two weeks, that’s how long you and I have been at it here. I’ll also take the liberty of changing your estrus cycle so that for the time we spend in the mortal realm you really will get pregnant, you’re welcome.”
Twilight blinked a bit and rubbed her abdomen, she had willingly stated she wanted a dragon goddess to knock her up while she was in a state of immense desire. Although, the idea of ethereal sperm seemed to excite her more than she was willing to admit.
Regardless, Twilight decided she would stay quiet about all this until she couldn’t hide it anymore. Getting impregnated by another female, that was grounds for being laughed at in most scientific circles. Not to mention, the possible responses of her family and friends over it all. It didn’t help that her partner in it all had no compunctions or misgivings about any of it, and seemed more than excited about the prospect of doing it the way they did.
Twilight blinked a bit, she remembered getting coated on the face and bosom with her partner’s cum, she also remembered saying something about it being a big turn on for her. She couldn’t remember ever thinking that as sexy, some of her fanfiction projects ventured into risque territory but she never recalled any fantasies where she or those she wrote about were coated in semen the way Zelshirska had covered her last night. Twilight started worry that she might actually be some kind of closet pervert or have closet kinks that were not to be shared in private company.
But thirst thing was first, she and her bedsheets needed a thorough cleaning. She would probably need a lot of coffee this morning, even though she was probably more awake than she normally was on these sorts of days.
“Oh, thank the stars you’re up,” said Mandible, “you haven’t been seen in three days, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sent letters of concern that arrived in our mail about an hour ago. It’s almost noon, what were you doing in there?”
“Private research,” said Twilight reflexively, “sorry, some old habits are harder to break than others. Please send letters of apology to all parties that expressed their concern. Also, I’ll be visiting the school in two days, please see to it the proper arrangements are made. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to wash up. Also, I’ll share some of the details of my activities with the staff once I’m out and clean.”
“Of course ma’am, right away,” said Mandible as she rushed off.
Twilight realized she was going to need to work on a few things as she headed to the bathroom to have a long session with the shower.
Celestia finally had a new team built, it had taken her three days and over two hundred interviews but she had managed to get a new team that psychologically different from her prior choices. The temple went up in seemingly no time, with surprising effectiveness. They even used fewer resources than had been anticipated and still made a quality work that was verified by the other teams. With all the primary structures built the teams were playing the evaluation game before they started getting a bit artsier.
Spike was surprised by the results but was even more so when he learned Twilight had thought ahead to have some special order basic furniture sent to them. It was nothing fancy, just a little over a dozen or so essential pieces of furniture that had been crafted to match the aesthetic that Daring was shooting for. Speaking of Daring Do, it seemed her hips had become what were commonly known as “birthing hips” but in a way that accentuated her attractiveness further. Spike chose not to dwell on that further, it was far too distracting.
The custom made basic furniture Twilight had sent them was requiring his attention anyway. All of the furniture in question was also do-it-yourself assembly; Twilight knew how problematic moving fully assembled furniture in confined spaces could be. And that was doubly so for situations like this where there were a slightly hefty flight of stairs between the main floor and the actual living space. Not to mention, the structure in question was a tower in its own right.
From what he could make out there was a couch, two reclining chairs, a dining table, nine basic chairs (which were the only furniture not in pieces), a work desk, an office chair (made to have the seat and back be a heart shape), what looked like four adjustable safety gates (clearly Twilight thinking ahead to the baby), a drawing table, a pair of nightstands, and two coat racks. Along with all that was a note stating she would be arriving with a mirror, Spike couldn’t quite figure out what was with Twilight and her fixation on mirrors, especially as gifts.
Spike could understand most of the pieces, but why Twilight would send the two of them? More than one coat rack was a bit of confusion. Of course, at this point, he was expecting her to send a delayed marital gift that happened to be a small collection of coasters, but two coat racks was still a little confusing.
The grocery store for the community was mostly completed, there were a couple of bland looking structures near it that were fully set with the basic components for a restaurant, the post office and school were practically finished, and the finishing touches on the train depot had been completed.
Now came the more interesting development, the frescos and various other aesthetic design elements that Daring was encouraging. Starting with the temple, amusingly enough, and spreading out to the rest of the town. As if on cue, and aware that he was thinking about such things, representatives of each team popped up next him with small folders that each contained aesthetic designs for various structures.
Spike let out a shallow sigh before saying, “everyone with aesthetic designs for the temple and/or bathhouses, please go and find my charming female companion; those of you with aesthetic designs for other structures, like the school and post office, please present the ideas and say which team you are from in addition to who it was is responsible for the aesthetic layout you are presenting.” With that half, the representatives departed to look for Daring while the others began pulling sheets from their files.
They were all in standard work outfits, which he was starting to see as less of a necessity and more of an annoyance. Daring’s basic policy of little to no attire was starting to rub off on him, and he was actually liking it for some reason. He really didn’t see himself as being a perv, but Daring was making that distinction harder to identify. Of course, he wasn’t much better, being in a business casual suit set to compliment Daring’s coat and mane in addition to accentuate his own color palette.
They waited patiently for Spike to decide which to look at first. Not even bothering to see which sheet he was taking he just reached out and graciously took on from the pony to his left. When it looked at it he saw an artistic work of young members of all the races known to Equestrians, in addition to foals of every tribe, interacting in a variety of activities, some of the displayed events even looked like they might be centered around various holidays. “This is an interesting choice for art at the school, from this it looks like the murals are intended to be life-size and inside the structure,” said Spike, “who had this idea?”
“I did, sir,” said the pony that handed him the sheet, looking up Spike could see it was one of the Crystal ponies that had been assigned to this project, he seemed to be an Earth pony variant. The pony in question had a crystalline grayish-purple coat and peach colored mane that also had the crystal motif all crystal ponies possessed.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name,” Spike chose to say diplomatically.
“Spinel Orchard, your greatness,” said the pony in question, “I was born the year after you saved the Crystal Empire. Your statue, all three iterations of it,” Spike gave the pony a perplexed look for a moment, he hadn’t seen any other statues of him beyond those from when he was still a baby dragon holding the Crystal Heart on any of his recent trips to the Crystal Empire, “inspired me to go into my current craft, you see…”
“Alright, that’s enough of that,” said Spike, “I don’t need your life story, and certainly don’t need to hear about how you’ve been raised idolizing me. I just needed to know who was responsible for the piece of a design plan I’m holding. I don’t want to pick one without going through the rest of the options, so I’ll put on a pile and do some discussing of it with my partner.”
“Of course,” said Spinel, “thank you, your greatness.”
The other pony rolled her eyes, she seemed to be a loamy red coated earth pony mare with a deep violet mane that had streaks of ocean blue and diamond pink running through it. She silently handed Spike her sheet after the dragon in question rolled the sheet he was holding like a scroll and began keeping it in his tail as if the act was one of the most natural things in the world. “This,” she said as she handed Spike the sheet, “was drawn up by Silent Branch, she’s the brown coated pegasus in my team.”
Spike graciously accepted the leaf and gave it a cursory look, it was a design for the post office that looked like aerial members of every race were in a competition of some sort. “An interesting start, but if this really is intended for the post building, it might be a good idea to have a design that shows a bit more of an image that encourages cooperation. As this is now, it seems to imply everyone at the post office is supposed to treat each other like some sort of competition. In that sort of environment, that kind of mindset can prove quite unhealthy.”
“I’ll pass your note along,” said the mare. Both gave Spike a bit of bow, something he wasn’t sure about in regards of what to feel, and departed to look for Daring.
___________________________________________
Daring was approached by a sky green pegasus mare with files; she found their standard work attire quite drab. She wanted to enforce a policy regarding attire where she really didn’t require anything but that was still a ways off. Daring was in a simple forest green maternity dress, and nothing else. Once the community was actually established she had a few plans that would clearly deviate from the norm, and likely make many of the first residents feel a bit awkward. Of course, rebellious feeling teens and prepubescent foals would probably love the town’s ruling regarding attire she had in mind.
Rulings on what is publicly acceptable later, right now there are ponies that are demanding her attention. The two ponies just held their files out for her to browse and waited patiently for her choice. Daring picked the one on the right, which was held by a chestnut brown earth pony stallion with a hazard orange mane. The color of his mane and tail made her feel like her eyes were being hurt a bit, which had her thankful she hadn’t spent much time in his general area.
She flipped open the file and started checking for signifiers of who was responsible, most of the names were in the upper left corner along with their cutie marks with others having all those same marks on the backs of the paper. After giving each of the pictures a cursory view without much word beyond some initial impressions she closed the file and tucked it under her arm and repeated the process with the other file, which was presented to her by a turquoise coated unicorn mare with a forest brown mane with a streak of sea blue down the middle. After going through the file, she gave the two a curt nod and motioned for them to return to their posts. Almost as soon as the two had left the two that Spike had just spent time with approached her, she repeated the process that she had just gone through with the prior two and sent the newcomers on their way.
When she arrived at the, now finished, temple she was treated to the sight of Spike moving the noticeable pile of furniture into the structure. She picked up some of the smaller pieces and followed suit; she had told him the plan for their living accommodations enough times to not be worried. After about four or five trips for her, possibly twice or more for Spike, the furniture was all placed and arranged in their new living space.
As they were surveying the interior Spike said, “What about beds?”
“I spoke with Princess Luna about it a few days ago,” said Daring, “she said she was having a very special bed made custom just for us, and she would be arriving personally to drop it off. She also said the same thing about a bed for the baby; she was actually a bit giddy when she mentioned that.”
“Not too surprising,” said Spike, “Luna has made no efforts to hide her love and appreciation for children. And this is one of the few times she’ll basically have an excuse to come see a baby on a semi-regular basis.”
Daring just rolled her eyes good-naturedly, there was still quite some time before she actually gave birth. Even so, there was still almost as much time before the community had any genuine residents. They needed to bring as many residents as possible, within reason, to the town they were building.
On the plus side, most of the vital furniture was in their new living space. Downside, they were still waiting on the bed. Daring wasn’t too put off; she was used to sleeping accommodations that weren’t considered healthy by most ponies. But since she was pregnant, chances were Spike wouldn’t be too happy about her sleeping in anything other than an exceptionally comfortable bed or overly soft nest.
Not to mention they still needed to provide essential furniture, like beds and chairs, for the level intended for the individuals intending to go through religious training. They could get to work on that later, after they had all their necessities up and running and began the process of bringing in the community’s first residents.
**********************
It was two or three hours after moonrise when Princess Luna teleported their new bed, complete with sheets that lined up with the aesthetic she became aware of when it came to Zelshirska, into the room that was going to serve as their sleeping quarters. She also had a crib, that was night themed, teleport into the same room. Daring didn’t mind too much, sharing a room with the baby was probably a good idea.
Daring looked at the surprising set of stacks of four-and-a-half-page questionnaires, from the look of things there were far more applicants than pre-approved spaces. First thing was; first, she and Spike took the time to read over the forms from the Crystal Empire first. After they were done, and their suspicions were confirmed they marked seventy percent of the applications from the Crystal Empire with a significant “RETURN TO SENDER” and shipped them off. After that, they got to the real task of going through the applications.
They decided to handle the meetings at the Ponyville townhouse, most of the details regarding the project were still being kept under wraps. Daring was on the fence about that but Spike and Cadance were both adamant about keeping the majority of info regarding the community out of public knowledge until a few genuine residents had actually begun settling in and getting acclimated to the new town.
Amusingly, all the ponies in Daring’s team, and a few in Luna’s, had asked for community application forms. All the structures were finished, aesthetic detailing and all, and if everyone had returned to their home point. Daring was looking like she might be just a small handful of time from giving birth. Spike jokingly said her rotund belly was just too much fun to play with on more than one occasion.
Daring didn’t mind his antics too much, they were mates and she knew he meant well for her and their baby. She had been warned by Twilight about his occasional bouts of playfulness, and occasional cases of getting ahead of himself.
*************************************************
“I see you’re interested in this venture I started with the princesses, ms Dinky,” said Daring to the young unicorn mare with a pale purple coat and blond mane before her. Said unicorn was dressed in a blue business casual dress, “care to give some insight as to why you decided to fill out an application.”
The mare in question sat neatly, and politely, in her chair in Ponyville townhouse Twilight had given Daring and Spike. She kept her composure, although it was evident she was a bit surprised about a few things. Taking a moment to collect her thoughts Dinky said in a surprisingly elegant voice, “I would first like to thank you for the time you’re taking to meet with me.”
“Not a problem,” said Spike, “we want this project to go as smoothly as possible.”
“And I appreciate it,” said Dinky, “mom expressed an interest in the project, but she’s far too attached to Ponyville to even try leaving at this point, even if somepony went through the trouble of filling out an application in her stead. And I want to try moving toward new opportunities.”
“An excellent starting statement,” said Spike, “have you given any thought as to what sort of role you could be playing in the community?”
“I was thinking working in the postal service, like mom did before she started up her own operation here,” said Dinky.
“We will need postal workers,” said Daring, “and did take the time to have a post office established in the area. That said, if that option was no longer available to you, what other occupations would you consider taking part in?”
“I noticed in your public release,” said Dinky, “you have public bathing facilities, and are in the process of finding managers and staff for the facilities.”
“Right, the bathhouses,” said Spike, “the site has three, for the moment. We might look into adding more as the community expands beyond what we’ve prepped for.”
“But for now,” said Daring, “it’s a bit of a social experiment, so we’re keeping our initial population within a certain range.”
“If I couldn’t be part of the mail service, I think I might want to try working as part of the staff for the bathhouses,” said Dinky.
“Very good,” said Daring, “according to the records we were given access to, your talent lies in record keeping. I think that making you the record keeper for your place of employment, initially, during your stay at the community might be the best course of action.”
“Any reason you didn’t apply when Twilight sent out the alert she was looking for new aids,” Inquired Spike, “given the details we have on record regarding your special talent.”
“I was a little nervous about applying for employment for a princess, even one I’ve known pretty closely most of my life. Mom actually gave me a nudge towards this project when the opportunity presented itself.”
“She wants you to try something without her within arm’s reach,” said Daring, “my parents were the same way. Even though I talked with my sister about going out and having adventures, she really didn’t want to leave the town we grew up in, even if I was with her. Mom and dad had to give her a bit of a forceful nudge to move beyond the place we grew up. I was far more adventurous; I wanted to go out and see the world from a very early age. But recent events have led me here, trying to do something I have very little genuine experience with.”
Dinky gave Daring a perplexed look. “Before the event that kicked all this off,” said Spike, “she wasn’t a very social pony. In fact, she went out of her way to limit her social interactions.”
Dinky gave a curt nod before saying, “Thanks for the consideration. If I do make the cut, mom might drop by for a visit every now and then.”
“We have no problems with that,” said Daring in Spike in unison, after a brief pause all three gave a hearty laugh that lasted for a few minutes. There was something about Dinky that just made all that seem perfectly natural.
After they were done with the bit of laughing, Daring a Spike asked a few more questions before thanking for her time and telling her they would get back to her in few days to let her know the results.
They continued along with a few dozen more applicants, some had even come from some of the major cities, but most seemed to come from smaller communities. Thankfully, they kept the interviews to a maximum of fifteen minutes or so, any longer and they would likely go through a fraction of what they had and be losing sleep while doing a portion of the interviews. Spike wanted to make sure Daring was getting enough sleep, especially with how close she was in her pregnancy.
After the last interview of the day had left Spike inquired, “How many have we prepped for living in the town again?”
“We wanted to keep things to a somewhat manageable level,” said Daring, “so we started with around sixty houses in the residential area, each house should be capable of accommodating up to a family of six or so. Although, sometimes residents choose to dwell in a discreet section of their shop. The shopping facilities we have erected, including the blank dining centers, all have an area that can serve as either places to live in or extra storage.”
“So that’s why you made it, so those structures had two stories. And the hotel structures you had me oversee can easily have any of their rooms act as a residence for their staff, but just to be safe I made sure to have portion of the main floors hold a few rooms for staff only that could act as a place for few minutes of rest or temporary residence should any of the faculty require it. But why are their two three-story hotels in the commercial district to begin with? You’re not honestly expecting that many guests at any given time, are you?”
“One of those structures is actually supposed to be a department store, of sorts. I thought might be a good idea to have a facility for small and startup businesses to operate in a more regulated environment, that or have a place for more vendors to sell their wares.”
“I get it, they rent or buy a space and everyone knows where to find them. And since businesses of that nature are usually a bit low on funds, do you have a special policy for them?”
“We’ll work on logistics when the time comes for that, and the facility can act impromptu storage for the community until the rooms have a designated owner or renter.”
“Sounds good,” said Spike, “but for now, you need to get to sleep, we don’t exactly want you losing focus tomorrow.”
*********************
The next day, about five hours after sunrise and 2 hours after the two had eaten their morning meal, they back to several hours worth of interviews. At around noon they took a break to eat, Daring ended up downing four times as much as Spike this time around. Daring’s consumption was a bit of surprise since she hadn’t showed signs of such a massive appetite that morning.
All the completed interviews were divided into “pass” or “fail” piles; the third pile was for interviews that were yet to happen and marked “pending” but all of it was still more time consuming than Spike and Daring would have liked. Twilight had offered to assist in this matter but Daring and Spike insisted that they should be the ones to take care of it all since they were the ones that were trying to build the community and would the most significant deal of involvement with its developments. Daring also made the argument that if she and Spike had a better understanding of the potential residents, it would be easier to decide on who gets to be a resident during this early time.
After lunch it was more of the same, the interviews almost all seemed to blend together. There were a few cases of having an interesting interaction, like was the case when they found themselves having exchanges with former members of the teams they had building the town. Veggie Malt, Spike, and Daring couldn’t help feeling sorry for his name, had been one of the more excitable individuals they interviewed. All the former build members were surprisingly able to make the cut, but Daring wanted to keep the number of actual practitioners of any given profession to something akin to sample size so that they could have something resembling a diverse community.
The real problem was finding acolytes; Daring would prefer they be young mares and fillies interested in the faith. Princess Cadance was handling the creation and delivery of the new acolyte furniture, Daring and Spike would be showing her where it all went when they had the time and received word regarding the delivery of the items in question.
The town’s policies would be provided in a simple, so simple a foal learning to read, pamphlet for all the new residents to read. Since she was confirmed as an observer for the town, and they wanted her to feel like she had some involvement in project before it all got underway, Daring had entrusted Flurry Heart with the production the pamphlets, she wrote out the ten key policies for the community on a piece of loose paper, with a little bit of background info regarding the town, and handed it off to Flurry with the expression “Have at it” and watched the excited young half skip/half hover away. It would take some time for Flurry’s project, especially with making copies.
Day two of the interviews, with what looked like another day and half’s worth of work, was finished. They were just getting ready for dinner, Spike insisted on actually making something when there was knock at the door. Since Spike was preoccupied, Daring went and got the door.
What she saw confused her, Twilight and Flurry with a few dozen boxes floating in their magic, six for each mare. Daring stepped out of the way as she said, “We’re just getting ready for dinner, Spike’s in the kitchen prepping it now.”
“We’ll be quick,” said Twilight as she and Flurry entered the structure and set the boxes in the corner next to the door, “Flurry just wanted to get these to you as soon as possible, we might have gone a bit overboard.”
“We?” Daring said with confusion and a raised eyebrow.
“Aunt Twilight knows a spell for duplicating objects, after I got about a dozen or so prototypes of the pamphlet made I brought them over for her to look over and decide which one was best, after all, she knows the aesthetic you’re going for and details of the project almost as well as you.”
“True,” said Daring, she had a bad feeling about where this was going.
“After looking through the dozen Flurry drew up I compared them to the mission statement you have for the community and chose the one that best matched,” she then slightly opened one of the boxes and reached in before pulling out a four-page pamphlet modeled after a pair of intertwined dragon tails. The pamphlet itself had a variety of dragon images adorning it, in caring and nearly intimate positions to each other, along with a quick introduction to the town on the first page, the following pages were adorned with bullet points regarding expectations of the residents.
After reading it over Daring placed on the table for Spike to look over before saying, “I can see you put a lot of work into this, and I do think the design and motif go well with what we’re trying to do. However, you wrote all the community expectations from the angle of this just being any other in Equestria, of the dozen or so points you have in the pamphlet about a quarter are not what we’re going for. I recommend you take a look at the charter I wrote up, Princess Celestia has a copy and would likely be more than happy to help you out with writing up the initial community expectations.”
“I’ll say,” said Spike as he set down two plates of vegetable curried rice before picking up the sample pamphlet Daring had placed on the table, “you both seem to have a tendency to get ahead of yourselves when you’re excited about a project. Twilight has a pretty solid grasp of the mission statement, so the opening portion of the pamphlets is fine but the points on expectations of the residents should have been written up after taking a look at the charter draft in Celestia’s possession and consulting Daring herself. And to make matters worse, you jumped ahead with producing a dozen boxes worth of copies before doing either. I would expect this sort of thing from Flurry, she’s still young and feels a need to prove herself, but this is something I was hoping Twilight would have grown out of, especially given how much she likes to cite adhering to the rules and protocols.”
Twilight gave a sheepish grin before saying, “You’re absolutely right, Spike, I should have considered the proper avenues for this sort of thing. But a project like this is so new I’m not even sure there is a proper protocol.”
“We’ve been doing this for several months now, you should have picked up on the rules we set for this,” said Daring. “We’re almost ready for everything, just a few days of interviews and we should have our starting population. While I think the pamphlets are a good idea for newcomers, Spike and I will be setting out the ground rules for these first residents that are being brought in.”
“In other words,” said Spike as he got the chair for Daring in front of one of the two plates of still steaming food, “get back to work on the pamphlets after taking a look at the community’s charter and talking to Daring about it all. That second part might be a bit tricky right now since Daring and I will be busy with more interviews tomorrow and the day after, but I’m sure you can schedule a meeting with Celestia about all this on short notice.”
“She has actually sent me a letter recently saying she wanted some personal time,” said Twilight, “I’ll send her a note that I’ll be seeing her tomorrow later tonight.”
“And before you go,” said Spike, “get these boxes out of here, we don’t need our potential residents seeing something like this just yet.”
“Will do,” said Twilight as he effortlessly in her magic, “just out of curiosity, how long do are thinking of running this social experiment.”
“I honestly didn’t put much thought into a time limit,” said Daring, “I’ll send word to Princess Luna and Princess Cadance once we have the specifics there worked out.”
“What about foals? I’m pretty sure you can’t just interview them without their parents,” said Flurry with a vested interest.
“We’re making sure a few of the ponies have families,” said Spike, “and we have applications from three different ponies that are certified as teachers, one of which is on our morning itinerary for tomorrow.”
“Good to hear,” said Twilight, “come on Flurry, let’s leave them to their nightly activities.” With that Twilight and Flurry left, with the boxes of pamphlets with the only remaining pamphlet in the house being the one Daring and Spike had looked over and gave critique on. Daring and Spike began eating their food, Daring almost diving into hers, a few minutes after their unexpected guests had left.
***************************
The following morning saw Daring and Spike sharing the shower, in an only semi-erotic way, before getting dressed and opening their door for more interviews that day. The first one to arrive, ironically enough, was a pegasus mare that just happened to be one of their three prospective teachers for the school. The pegasus mare was lithe, almost as if she were built to be a fashion model, with a dusky violet coat and sky blue mane with a streak of ocean green down the middle. Her choice of attire for the day was a forest green jacket and skirt with a white blouse that displayed her cutie mark, a protractor and open book with a black writing quill.
“Ms. Eventide Note,” said Daring, “welcome, please have a seat,” the mare in question took one of the two seats across from Daring and Spike, “before we begin everything in earnest, my partner and I would like to hear a brief summary of what you have heard about this project and why you have an interest in it.”
“Well you see,” said Eventide, “I heard about this whole thing from a friend of mine who happens to be part of the current castle staff in Canterlot, I’ll provide you the details on all that later, mentioned this special project that all the princesses are being very tight-lipped about. I don’t mind the whole secrecy thing, especially with how high ranking nobility are. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, but I could never find work as one, by the time all the jobs I heard about were open gave me time to actually meet with them they informed me they had already filled the position, I’m genuinely a bit surprised that hasn’t happened yet.”
“We want to make sure we’ve covered all our bases,” said Spike, “so, you haven’t heard anything about this project other than it’s some secret project all the princesses are working on?”
“Well, I did hear it’s supposed to be a social experiment that uses components of some older living aspects from way back when.”
“That’s more than enough for you to know at this time,” said Daring, “and yes, it is true that this project will be incorporating several aspects of society that are much older than most modern ponies are familiar, we want to get some idea of what they were like while getting the opinion of ponies with a more updated opinion. I’m what you might call the project overseer, and if you make the cut, we’ll inform you and the rest of the confirmed residents about the more in-depth details. However, due to the nature of the project, you will only be allowed to talk about what goes on in the community with your fellow residents and certain confirmed individuals.”
“We want to keep outside influences to a minimum during the initial phases of the project,” said Spike. “We don’t usually inform prospective residents this much, but from what we’ve been able to confirm about so far we think it’s safe to say some more of the generalities. Like we said, you’ll only get the specifics if you’re confirmed.”
“Now then,” said Daring, “Let’s get this interview started off…”
Spike was happy the interviews were over, going through that many applicants as fast as he and Daring did wasn’t easy and was very exhausting. Cadance came down with the furniture for the part of the temple set aside for the acolytes. Daring said she wanted to keep it small for now, Cadance took that to mean thirty or less individuals being trained. Flurry was placed in a structure near the temple and central bathhouse, which was something she wanted to do so anyway. Cadance had also come down with Flurry to help her set things up.
Flurry had told them she wanted to be a participant observer, which means she would be part of events around the community almost as much as she would be recording them. Twilight wasn’t happy to hear that, even going to cite the need for objective information gathering. Flurry, amusingly enough, countered back that they would need some subjective data to act as a comparison and control against more objective data to see if the ones recording the info were genuinely being objective or possible or just saying they were being objective to get out of being scrutinized, Twilight conceded that point and allowed Flurry to do as she intended. Also, when she arrived Flurry gave Daring a pair of crystal chalices that she thought could be used for any rituals involving liquids, the goblets had edges that were actually smooth and comfortable to the touch.
With everything set up, and the appropriate ponies notified, the 150 or so ponies that were vetted had there train arriving later that day. Over a week of going through dossiers and interviews, Spike was surprised the two of them managed to pull it off in as little time as they did. Once everypony was off the train Daring’s speech would begin, and it was likely to be a doozy.
Twilight finally got her book distribution company up and running, they gave the option of self-publishing, or they could publish for you. If you went the self-publishing route, they had staff that was genuinely dedicated to showing you how to publish yourself. After the publishing problems were out of the way they would then begin copying and distributing them all over. Daring decided to go the self-publishing route, in light of her prior experiences. Her “remastered” Daring Do series was even allowed use the wording she intended it to have, and the relaunch of the series saw both “issue 0” and the final book of the series launching at almost the same time. Both were met with massive acclaim. And, of course, Rainbow bought the whole remastered set, complete with the last to books in the series. Amusingly enough, that all happened a few days prior to this event, an event Daring had actually said of immense importance to her. Spike could understand the reason why, this project was of its own kind and how things went from here would likely decide more than anyone anticipated.
**********************************
After all the residents were gathered outside the temple, an act that took a few hours. Everypony was lined up still as can be, some of the foals were fidgeting but not moving far from their parents for the time being. After surveying the surprisingly large group of ponies, Spike was thankful Daring had insisted on two hundred plus houses in the residential area, Daring began her speech.
“We are all thankful for your willing participation in this project,” Daring started, “we didn’t want this to be compulsory or mandatory in terms of participation, it was always intended to be a willing participation project. We’re sorry for any foals that might feel this move was forced upon them by their parents, in a few weeks time we’ll be endeavoring to get your thoughts and opinions on all of this without your parents or guardians saying things that effectively put words in your mouth that were not used about this place.” Some of the adult ponies with the younger members gave some sheepish grins, spike thought it was good they were being called out before the actual talks and took note of who it was that did so (he was thankful for Daring wanting to meet all the adult ponies that applied; personally, it helped put names to faces for possible unintentional problem members). “Now that that is out of the way, it is my duty to inform you this is technically not Equestria or the Crystal Empire. This community is not subject to the same laws and rules of those places, as such, we have some ground rules to go over before everypony gets settled in.”
All the new residents looked about with a bit of worry, concern, confusion, and among the younger members mischievous hopefulness. Spike gave a smirk when he spotted Flurry in disguise among the crowd, his time among Twilight and the other princesses had given him the ability to spot the telltale signs of disguise type spells. The ones that looked the most worried were the parents and legal guardians of the younger members present.
After giving a slight sigh, Spike said, “Most of these rules, and bylines aren’t meant to be invasive or overly restrictive, they're mainly here for everyone’s safety and security,” he then gave a smirk, “and maybe a little fun on the part of all the residents.”
Daring nodded and continued, “First rule, you are not permitted to talk about what goes on in this place with any outside individuals, the only exception to this rule is the princesses themselves. And when I say that, I mean only the princesses, you are not permitted to speak of what goes on here with anypony that visits that claims to be a proxy of the princesses, no matter how legitimate their claims seem to be.”
“There’s a good reason for this,” said Spike, “during some of the lead-ups to this project’s start we, and the princesses themselves, encountered parties that were exceptionally skilled and making their claims seem far more credible than actually were, we even encountered at least one group during the project was made to seem better than they actually were. The details of all this are currently restricted by a gag order by the princesses themselves, details which will become publicly available as this project moves forward. There are however vetted recording ponies here that will be residing in the community taking a variety of approaches to how things occur in this place that will be reporting to the princesses directly, for security reasons we are not permitted to inform you who these individuals are until a later date.”
“Rule two,” continued Daring, “you are expected to respect the choices and privacy of other, that means you are expected to follow the rules of common decency that are expected of all communities. However, our rules of common decency have a twist. It now my privilege to inform you that this community is clothing optional, that means you are permitted to walk about in whatever attire you want or do away with the attire all together in your going about the town. Also, if you will turn your attention the gazebos scattered about the town,” she gestured to a gazebo a short ways out from the temple, “these are set aside for acts of public intimacy so that those involved will not be blocking the roads and pathways other residents and guests are using. And when we say that we don’t just mean kisses, we also mean some of the kinkier acts of intimacy those about town are into.”
“This place is called Fetish for a reason,” said Spike, “several actually. The temple here is the central structure for a reason, a reason my charming partner will make clear before continuing with the rules.”
“I recently came in contact with an ancient dragon goddess,” Daring started, “one that was actually worshiped in the pre-alicorn era of Equestria’s history. I’ve had quite a few conversations with her; she even claims the Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire was hers back before she ascended to the ranks of deityhood, the details of such a thing will be presented to any that are interested later. However, I made a bit of deal with her; this temple is modeled after her sign. Once a week I will be holding sermons in her honor, all who wish to participate are free to come, it’s your choice as to whether or not you want to participate in these religious rituals. Deities, much like alicorns, have spheres of influence that they hold domain over. The deity here is known as Zelshirska, and she is an ancient dragon goddess that domain over Fertility, Knowledge, and Connections. We made sure to have a few representations of her scattered throughout the town. All the princesses are already aware of all this, and for the time being, we ask that all the residents not share the details of the faith with those from outside the community.”
“It is also our duty inform you,” said Spike, “she claims to have two sisters. Her sisters were said to be the dragon deities that reigned over the sun and moon in the pre-Equestrian era. If any here would like to make a go at reviving the faith for either of those deities, we ask that you let us know, as well as the princesses. If you do have that interest, we will send word to the princesses about your interest so that you will be able to discuss the details with them.”
“Now, before we go on,” said Daring, “are there any questions about what has been brought up so far?”
Spike noticed a few foals shooting up their hands, along with a few of the adults, all in random scatterings.“Well, that’s more than we thought,” said Spike with a chuckle, “we won’t be able to get to all of you here now, so how about we address your questions while we help you get settled in, I think this is best because I’m seeing quite a few young and interested members here.”
Everyone nodded and the arms left the air. Looking about Daring gave a chuckle before moving on, “Rule three, anypony caught using magic that affects the mind without confirmed prior consent of the those they are using the magic on will be severely punished, Zelshirska doesn’t like mind afflicting magics that are being used in a non-defensive way. If you are using illusion magic to protect young from harm that is perfectly acceptable, but if you are doing so to hide something for personal gain then that is not permitted under any circumstance. Also, minors being affected by mind targeting magics are not alright, anypony found to be doing so, even with the prior consent of the minor in question, will still suffer legal punishment.”
“This also falls under the umbrella of common courtesy for the community,” said Spike, “and you are allowed to mention this rule to those not read into the project, this is one of the few highly enforced laws of the community, and it is important visitors know what is expected of them.”
“And finally,” said Daring, “Rule four, anypony found in violation of the prior rules can and will suffer severe punishments. Punishments that none have really seen in this era, but still fall into acceptable to modern sensibilities. Also, punishments will be different based on the regions that they occur.”
“Now, for a bit of a warning,” said Spike, “since the community has communal bathing facilities all the residential facilities do not have personal bathing areas. This decision was made because we want the residents to actually get outside their perceived comfort zones. We also want the community to develop its own distinctive identity built around connections. Now, the main bathhouse, the closest facility to the temple, is a mixed bath.”
“That means,” said Daring, “gender is not a factor, you will be seeing everyone who comes into the bath naked. It is expected that all residents of the town will take the time to bathe here, there are very few points in the day or night where the facility will be closed. Once or twice a month it may be closed for cleaning and maintenance reasons but will remain open with a rotating staff to ensure everypony gets what they need. The southern bathhouse, which is considerably smaller, is a female-only bath while the eastern bath is a male-only facility. It is expected that guests will mostly use these two bathhouses. Now just because these are expected doesn’t mean that anyone has to do things that way. The only things that you need adhere to are what everyone else is. However, if you want to parade around town in the way you always wanted, without the fear of being called on an account of public indecency you can here. The only time you’ll ever be called on an account of public indecency is if you decide the routes everyone uses are there for you to show off, flaunt or what have you without moving from the general area. Remember, everyone has places to go and the routes provided by the down make it easier to move about. Also, we have a clause in our development policy that we will not expand the town westward beyond this clearing. There are a variety of creatures that live here, some you are unable to find anywhere else on this continent, and we would like to preserve some of the natural splendor of this region for the wildlife. Keep these rules in mind while you are here. Also, then you are free to share the note on the development clause with those from outside the community, the western bathhouse is a sort of marker for how far we are willing to expand westward for the town. The current batthouses will not,” she expressed the word ‘not’ for any who were making a case against her in the crowd, “be expanding from their current capacities. When, and only when, it is required we have more bathhouses we will see to the building of more such facilities. Now, in the office section of the temple we have your housing and work assignments, feel free to ask and make requests regarding those assignments. Please feel free to move about the community grounds to gain some acclimation to everything; it would be problematic to everyone if you all just sat around here waiting for us to hand out your assignments. So we request you do so in pockets of ten to twenty while the rest go about the town and begin setting up after their assignments.”
“At this time,” said Spike, “we would like to request that the first group have the ponies that inquired about the restaurant structures, and the construction experts we decided to be part of this community. This has mostly to do with these two groups likely taking the most time to arrange properly; we also want both to get knowing each other so they can make the arrangements for changes to the blank restaurant structures. There is also fashion store in town that has been made mostly blank; we would request our fashion expert also be part of this first group. Also, due to the nature of this town, we will have some notes to give to each of the practicing professions in the town; and for you parents and guardians, this does include the school. The education curriculum will be a bit different than what you are used to, or even comfortable about children learning. Also, there is an additional learning plan we are calling the ‘religious lesson’ plans for those who want to learn about the faith my charming partner is making ago at reintroducing. Please note that while most the community is about inclusivity, these extra lesson plans are currently intended only for fillies and mares, mostly because the bulk of the clerical order is designed to center around females. We will be looking into admitting any that are interested, and for the parents of the fillies that are interested, we are prepared to give a full explanation of what the training program is intended to be like. Please note, that we will also be imparting a simplified summary to all interested fillies for them to share with their households.”
“Also during, and after, the training period the accepted fillies will be given the option to be housed within a prepared portion of the temple, and as is the case with all training plans there are certain rules they will be required to adhere to,” Daring said as a point of note. “We make no apologies for them if they come across as having personality aspects they wish to show off but you do not approve of. You have to remember they will be trained in a temple that is dedicated to a deity that is associated with fertility, that includes the ability to produce offspring,” for emphasis she tapped her swelling abdomen. While we think it might be easier to train younger females in the faith, we will also consider any mares interested in lessons in the faith as well.”
“Please note, that any repeated lack of commitment to the faith will result in removal from the clerical training program,” said Spike, then he smirked, “but those do make the cut will be permitted to offer up suggestions on how to improve it all.”
“Now,” said Daring, “in some of the faiths you might have heard about those of the clerical order are not permitted to have families and raise children. That is not the case here, doing anything like that is actually seen as a violation of the tenants of the faith, you can still be part of the order while also having a family if you so desire. We honestly don’t have any expectations for this, especially since we want it to all be based on free choice. Also, the younger fillies that still require education from the school will still be expected to attend the school during their training period; we do not want one field of studies to hinder or block another field of study. Once again, because it is a violation of faith’s tenants. So, to all, of you parents and guardians worried that having a young filly learning to be a priestess will miss out on their schooling with foals not being trained, that is not how things will go down. Any young residents found to be intentionally favoring a set of schooling over another will be placed in an environment where they will be encouraged, and if necessary gently forced, to be brought up to speed with others within the primary educational institution.”
“We take learning, of all kinds, very seriously here,” said Spike. “Now, break up into your groups and we’ll see to the rest.
*****************************************
Veggie Malt, that pony really needed to consider a legal name change, hit off well with the rest of the construction ponies, even though they were all from different teams during the construction of the town. All the construction ponies that had been admitted welcomed the suggestions by their culinary and fashion-minded compatriots as to restructure the building to meet certain aesthetic choices. The town’s new fashion expert, a mare that was a former pupil of Luna’s by the name of Stellar Weave, decided to call her shop “Mystique Elegance” and have the facility itself be redesigned to resemble an eclipsing moon with the silhouettes of various sapient creatures known to Equestria about the fringes of the shop. One of the restaurants was bakery that was going by the name “Divine Loaf” and being made to look like it had been made out of a variety of breads, the other was a more open bistro type establishment that decided to go by the name “Sanctified Dining” and decided to have them redesign the structure to show design inspirations from the temple while still showing it was a place of dining. All three shops even asked Daring to do some little blessings for their structures; for the bakery they asked all their flours be blessed for authenticity’s sake, the bistro asked that the water and various other drinks that were planned be blessed along with the amendment that they would later be changing it to the dishes themselves, Daring said she would probably leave that to an ordained lower ranking priestess when they could spare one but just blessing the drinks should be enough until then, and the fashion store asked for the ground to be sanctified and have the fabrics blessed. All the owners of the business also chose to reside above their places of business, much like Rarity back in Ponyville.
From the looks of things, some of the businesses decided to capitalize on the open religious components to the town. After the construction, food, and fashion businesses were taken care of the bathhouse staffs, postal staff, and school staff. Dinky, to her surprise and dismay, was accepted to the community but placed in charge of the main bathhouse; Eventide Note was selected as the town’s new teacher, much to her startled delight; and an earth pony stallion by the name of Alphabet Block was chosen as the head for the mail staff. Along with the rest of the faculty selected for each area as well.
After all the businesses that could prove valuable to the town were dealt with the rest of the residents were arranged for. Some of the younger fillies asked about being trained in the church, usually right in front of their parents and some of the other foals, after giving a brief summary for both the young and matured some of the parents were okay with it while others weren’t and still others chose to diplomatically say they needed to have a family discussion about it all before moving forward on that point. Some of the younger mares also expressed an interest and said they were on board after being given a breakdown of how things would likely be moving forward.
“Since I couldn’t find any records on when her worshipers would congregate, and Zelshirska isn’t being helpful with just saying ‘they congregated at random times’ we’re going to have to decide when weekly sermons are on our own,” said Daring to her new acolytes, it had been a day or so since everypony started moving in. What was most surprising to her were the number of takers on the offer. “But before that, we’re going to have to get you acclimated with the key components of the faith and get some practice in for the more routine parts of the congregations.”
“I get it,” said one of the pegasus mares that had volunteered, “most of the events is a show.”
Daring nodded, “A show to help exemplify the domains of the deity. Also, some of you might feel a little embarrassed by what I decided is the official attire the priestesses will where, of course, you have to be of legal age for sexual relations to wear them.”
“There are fillies here,” said a unicorn mare that volunteered, if Daring remembered right, the mare that said that was from Canterlot. “You can’t talk like that in the presence of such young ponies.”
“That,” said Daring, “is a taboo from Equestria that I have no intention of remaining here. Children are a lot smarter than most give them credit for,” she went over to two the fillies and patted them on their heads in a caring manner before continuing, “speaking the truth around them won’t ruin their development, it’ll just serve to make them more informed earlier than those that have such things withheld from them until much later.”
“I suppose that’s to be expected,” said an earth pony mare that had volunteered, “especially given what you said this religious grouping is supposed to be about.”
“That is exactly right,” said Daring, “and the sermons and training won’t really begin until you’ve been officially inducted into the faith. Foals have it easier; they haven’t built up preconceived notions the way older ponies have. Since most of this faith is basically unknown, we have a lot of wiggle room with what we can do. We’ll spend a few months properly inducting you into the faith and teaching you all what is expected of those who follow the faith. You can’t really be religious figures in a faith without knowing about nuances of the faith. And you can’t be nuns, priestesses or any other church official without being part of the faith.”
“So,” said one of the fillies, a powdery green earth filly that had yet to earn her mark, “we’ll be spending some time learning about all this before everypony else?”
“That’s right,” said Daring, “it might take just a few months or a few years. Once you’ve all be properly educated in the faith you can decide whether to continue your studies to become official members of the clergy or go to pursue some other life path. Once you’ve all been properly educated in matters regarding the religion and we have our stayers the weekly sermons will commence, I just chose to inform everyone here ahead of time so they could decide whether or not to attend.”
“Quite kind and generous of you,” said another pegasus mare, “and it’s courtesy of you to give us another out before full commitment, I think we might have jumped ahead without realizing the details of what this could entail.”
“I have to ask,” said the unicorn mare that spoke up before, “what sort of benefits can we expect from this sort of thing?”
“That depends on your commitment to the faith,” said Daring, “Zelshirska’s domains are Fertility, Knowledge, and Connections. Any member of the clergy could gain access to abilities connected to any one of the three, but the highest-ranking member of the order would have access to them all.”
“And how do we know this isn’t a scam, for all we know you were highly effective in convincing the princesses on this semi-isolated community.”
“Tell me,” said Daring, “which pony tribe do I belong to?”
“Pegasus,” said the mare with a scoff that should tell she was being obvious, “which means your natural magics allow you to fly, move about on clouds without a spell for it, and influence the weather.”
“Exactly,” said Daring, “under no circumstances should I have access to magics that fall inside the domain of what is possible for a unicorn, even if I am related to a few by blood.”
All the other ponies in the room nodded confirmation, Daring then smirked and tapped the two fillies on the head again, this time the eyes of all three glowed a soft bluish-pink for a few seconds. The fillies blinked a few times then giggled, the adult ponies just figured it was fillies being fillies. Daring then did the same action with the unicorn that brought this up and the earth pony mare, getting the same glow in their eyes for a few seconds. Both mares blinked a bit, and the earth mare looked like she wanted to deck the unicorn for a moment.
“That was...memory magic,” said the unicorn, “but you’re a pegasus, that shouldn’t be possible for you, especially with sharing copies of memories.”
“My agreement with Zelshirska gave me access to this power,” said Daring, “and I also used it on the fillies. Those of you I used it on have copies of each others' memories from the past three months, and since I was the conduit I have copies in my mind as well. But be warned, the agreement must be genuine or you will not gain any such experiences with divine energies. As I told everypony before, the statues of a female dragon around the town are representations, idols, of Zelshirska. Now, let’s get your lessons going.”
______________________________________
Spike wondered how he had ended up in the town’s boutique of all places, being entertained by a surprisingly eccentric mare. The modifications to her shop were just barely finished, and Daring had also performed a ceremony the night before to consecrate the grounds on which shop was upon. It was clear Stellar Weave wasn’t trying capitalize on the religious slant the town was built on, but she did want to embrace it to some extent.
“Alright, so what about the local style? What’s it supposed to be like? What’s the attire supposed to say?”
“Erotic,” said Spike with deadpan amusement, “the town’s aesthetic identity when it comes to the citizens is ‘whatever the wearing feels most free in’ and that’s it. I take it you already know the truth about my partner?”
“That she’s the genuine Daring Do, we were told by Princess Twilight shortly after being confirmed. Most of us didn’t buy it; she had always been A.K. Yearling to us up to that point.”
“Which is a pseudonym she used during her writing career, but I take it you suspected as much beforehand.”
“Mostly because everything about her never said what the initials were for. What was the significance of that pseudonym?”
“Something of an in-joke with her sister.”
“She has a sister?”
“Yeah, an older one. She’s a unicorn, and Daring has spent almost her entire professional career trying to find her.”
“That’s so sweet, what’s her name?”
“Star Log.”
“Cute. Alright, I really want to impress her with my first batch. What’s her preference?”
“Daring,” Spike said realizing the change of subject, “Nothing, chances are she’ll be going around town in the buff before the week is out. But if you want the attire to match the town, try modeling on what you’ve learned about its origins so far. Also, if you want some idea of what Zelshirska looks like there are statues of her all over town. And if you keep an idol of her nearby you might be lucky enough to personally talk with her. You can make your own; you just need to make it out materials you feel best exemplify her domains.”
“Oh, those dragoness statues were her, I went all over the town after beginning the setup. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what she looks like; I might make my own idol later.
_________________________________
Dinky was a little disappointed, she had wanted to do mail work but instead ended up as the manager for the main bathhouse. She didn’t mind too much; she didn’t think she would be getting the job she wanted. Besides, she was managing a facility that ponies in Equestria hadn’t really seen before. She almost destroyed herself with laughter when she saw the bathhouse rules, rules she was told were non-negotiable applied to residents and guests alike.
Now here she was, standing outside her new place of business staring at the rules that were literally on and around the door. She figured she should at least try the facility out herself, she was curious and she could use the excuse of doing quality control. She looked down at her attire for the day; it was a sky blue skirt and ocean green blouse. She was a bit conscious of non-family members seeing her without any clothing on.
She supposed if she saw a few other ponies confident enough to go about with little to nothing on she would feel a bit better about herself. But nopony else was even here, it was early morning and nopony had come to bathe just yet. She could head to the female only bathhouse but she felt it was necessary to get used to her new working environment.
*****************************************
After giving all the volunteers a brief lecture, it was almost two hours long and the fillies were actually more focused during the whole thing than the adults, Daring decided she had enough of the whole wearing clothes thing and headed to her living space with Spike to remove her attire and head out to the bathhouse. When she arrived Dinky was still outside, the unicorn mare gawked at the sight of a naked Daring just strolling about like it wasn’t a big deal.
“I’m probably going to feel silly about this, but I’m going to ask anyway,” said Dinky in as calm a manner as she could, “why are you parading around town naked?”
“The town was made clothing optional,” said Daring in a casual manner as she came up next to Dinky and stopped for a moment, “it’s policy I instituted. To be more accurate, you can wear whatever you want around town, no matter how scandalous or embarrassing it would be anywhere else. I feel more comfortable going about without clothing, it’s a bit of holdover from my prior occupation and I usually find most attire highly restrictive. Also, I have general aversion to dresses whenever I can get away with it.”
“Oh,” said Dinky, “that’s something we’re gonna have to get used to. But I’m still a little self-conscious about ponies that aren’t family seeing me without anything.”
“You’ll probably grow out of,” said Daring, “these first few weeks are a learning experience and about reorienting our comfort zones. I knew those assigned to the bathhouses would likely feel a bit uncomfortable regarding the rules, but I think they still will help in better building a sense of community.”
“Especially since you made the bathhouses the only places to actually bathe,” said Dinky, “in a sense you’re forcing interaction among residents here. I’m curious, where did the idea for this come from.”
“Records I was able to find from the pre-Equestria era made mention of communal bathing areas that were commonly given the same name as the facilities here, the ones we have are a bit more updated than the simplified bathing areas they had in those days.”
“So, the facilities need to be near the water?”
“Running water, and if you wanted the water to be warm you needed unicorns to heat it for you.”
“Oh, wow that’s really old-fashioned. But we’re using modern plumbing and heating technologies. Alright, I’ll try getting outside my comfort zone for a few minutes.”
***********************
Almost a half hour after Daring and Dinky had gotten in some of the other residents had gotten what they called desperate for a bath, of course Daring and Dinky had been out of the bath for ten minutes and wrapped in towels. The foals, fillies and colts alike, seemed to enjoy the bath wholeheartedly while most of the adults were a bit uncomfortable being naked in the presence of their new neighbors, many of the teenage ponies were somewhere between the unbridled joy of the foals and unsuredness of the more matured ponies.
Spike had come in a few minutes after Daring and Dinky to enjoy a soak in the tub, nearly startling himself and trying to hide his privates when he had seen Dinky was in there with Daring. Then after a few minutes, and some prodding from Daring, he decided to just let his twin rods fly free, especially when he realized somepony would end up seeing him naked aside from his family eventually in this sort of environment. He got out and toweled at almost the same time as them, then headed to the office area to see what that was going to look like.
Stellar Weave seemed to get a great deal of enjoyment from just watching the rest of the residents in the facility with her. After seeing Daring go about the facility with little to no concern, she started getting the idea of just going about a little more risque herself. She also made mental notes for her new projects as well. She got especially excited by the passionate kissing Spike Daring did in and out of the bath.
It looked like the town was starting to come together as a community, for the time being. Everyone was still getting used to the new societal rules and dynamics. Between her ‘reports’ Flurry was ogling a few stallions and mares that were about her same age, even going as far as to mentally plan some excuses to spend more time with them personally. She unconsciously licked her lips as she saw an earth pony stallion and pegasus mare float on by her.
Stellar Weave looked in the mirror; her bright indigo lingerie went well with her coat, she tossed her fluffy starry silver mane trying to think of other attires to wear throughout the week. Walking about one’s home in lingerie wasn’t considered taboo in Equestria proper, in one’s place business or some other public locale sure, but this was intended to be a community where such faux pas were done away with. She hadn’t shared this little secret with anypony, and even felt a need to hide it from her roommate when she attended Luna’s school, but she felt most comfortable and confident in nothing but lingerie.
It wasn’t that she wanted to shamelessly throw around her figure, she didn’t care about her personal looks like that. Although, having the figure she did compounded with DDD-Cup breasts didn’t hurt when she made comments about wanting to be a fashion pony. Of course, her family had thought she meant being model when she had meant being a designer. She had grown up admiring the works of Rarity, and even saw the white mare as a bit of an idol. She was actually surprised by just how many attractive looking ponies had signed up for this project.
She had been caught a bit off guard, but not really surprised, when Spike had told her had a crush Rarity for years, a crush he admitted was one-sided, and he had eventually managed to outgrow. Although, he had inspired her to make a series of undergarments for stallions and mares that were modeled after dragons she had seen over the course of her life. She also created a set of swimwear that was dragon inspired and was among the first items she chose to put on display, amusingly alongside some of her themed lingerie.
The lingerie she was in was meant to resemble a twilight period with its coloration and look; she even entertained the idea of sending a few sets of it to Princess Twilight as a gift. Spike and Daring would probably be all for it, for different reasons she was sure, but the princess herself would probably have a reaction far more in line with what most Equestrians would if a pony they hardly knew gave them such intimate attire.
Stellar Weave caressed her own waist a bit before heading out to the town; it was time to show the world the real her. On her way down from the upper level of the complex she spotted group mares that seemed to have their eyes trained on the lingerie in the window and blushing vibrant shades of crimson and scarlet, one of them looked like she might be Eventide Note, but before she could confirm any of it the mares dashed off as if they had noticed her approach.
She had actually ridden on the train most of the way in the same booth as Eventide; the two had looked like they were hitting it off when they conversed with each other. Eventide had spoken at length of her love of foals and desire to be a teacher at a school, even if it was once in her entire lifetime, and bemoaned all her misfortune of that not happening until being confirmed for this project. Stellar found the mare’s passion delightful.
Thinking back, Stellar Weave wondered if Daring had picked up on the hidden kinks of the confirmed residents, they were told about the background behind the town’s construction and the fact the community was meant to intentionally disregard several societal taboos found in Equestria and the Crystal Empire is what had drawn her to this place, to begin with. She wasn’t going to meandering around the town flaunting her figure; Daring certainly didn’t. She was just going to stroll about town the way she had always wanted to, and none of it was sexual in nature. Of course, most ponies wouldn’t see it that way.
Amusingly, the first one to see her outside, in her lingerie, was Daring Do. Daring didn’t say anything, she just stopped up next Stellar and gave her an intrigued lookover before giving her two thumbs up and continuing on, all while completely naked.
Stellar Weave decided to talk a stroll through the residential district, knowing full well what many of the ponies there would say and not caring for what might have been the first in her life. The head of the town literally just gave her a thumbs up while moving about town completely nude. In short, she was done with going about the way other ponies considered appropriate.
When she got to the residential district she was pleasantly surprised to see several other residents going around half-naked, they all were wearing pants or skirts, but their torsos were wholly uncovered. She even saw the youngest of the alicorns, Flurry Heart, observing several ponies from one of her upper windows as she approached the central bathhouse. Stellar needed a good morning wash, and was actually excited by the prospect of a communal bath. The events of the bath the day prior were almost inspirational.
Her good cheer quickly ended when she felt her rear get pinched. She promptly turned around and scanned or likely culprits, she didn’t see anypony close enough. Just when she thought she was in the clear, she felt another pinch on her other cheek. Naturally, she got annoyed. A spell that she knew was just what this moment called for, something she used for finding hard to see items around her place.
Stellar Weave lit up her horn and began to see ripple-like waves in the air, ripples that flowed around every solid object within twenty feet of her, including a unicorn believing themself to be invisible. She caught the caster off guard by catching their arm as it made an attempt to make another pinch. When the caster was caught Stellar saw the arm and the hooves of the pony in question flicker for a bit, which meant losses in concentration would likely end the spell. Stellar decided she would just end things quickly and decked the pony where she thought their face might be.
When she did the invisible pony came into view, it appeared to be a sunny red unicorn stallion in a mockery of a Royal Guard uniform. Flurry appeared next to her in a Flash of teleportation, with a very displeased look on her face, she was in a set of frilly pink lingerie that was adorned with crystal hearts. “I thought we had wards erected over the town to protect against stuff like this, either this pony is highly skilled at circumventing the wards we have in place or he has access to resources that allow him to possess materials to do so.”
“Either way,” came Spike’s voice as he and Daring approached, he was shirtless and wearing a pair of aurora blue swim trunks, “this is a major security concern we thought we guarded against.”
“Before the project officially began,” said Daring, “we were here with the princesses, after making our agreement with the local wildlife and knowing it would be some time before any of us returned here, Princess Twilight put up some wards she said should last until the end of the year that were intended to prevent things like this. This fool,” she gave the unconscious unicorn an unapproving stare, “shouldn’t even know this location or have the ability to get here.”
“The only official way to get here is through the train at the Crystal Empire,” said Flurry, “a train that all the residents here had to board after providing proof they were who they said they were, and the train had a number of spell nullification charms cast on it, mostly to keep ponies from sneaking on with invisibility, illusion, or teleportation magic.”
“The only ones who know the exact coordinates are the project head, who is currently right next to me,” said Spike, “the princesses, Shining Armor, and Fluttershy. All of whom are in agreement that the exact coordinates of this place are to be kept secret for the next five years or so. For this idiot, who is definitely not confirmed, and terrible at choosing deceptive attire, to be here like this means we have a potentially major breach of security.”
“Does this place have somewhere for holding criminals or problematic citizens,” inquired Stellar Weave.
“Yes,” said Daring, “but we weren’t expecting problems this soon, it’s up but unstationed.”
“The princesses are still trying to decide which members of the guard would be best suited for this place,” said Spike, “the earliest they said we would have anyone would be some time in the next three months.”
“And even then,” said Flurry, “the most guards that would present would be around six, and even then only about a third of them would be unicorns.”
“Unicorns that were likely never taught any spells for locating hard to see or invisible targets,” said Spike, “invisibility is a spell with a lot of potential for abuse, especially in today’s world. As such, the crown likes to keep tabs on all ponies that either know or are studying such spells. And all those ponies are on a very tight watch list, for their safety as much as the public’s.”
“Observations they themselves are made aware of and are required to sign off on if they wish to continue their practice and research of such spells,” said Daring. “Of all the known practitioners of invisibility spells, around seventy percent are in the guard and are dedicated to observing ponies of interest in any number of cases.”
“The rest are hired out for various observation jobs and are required by law to report to the guard where they are working, where the job they have is sending them and how long the job they are being hired for is intended to last,” said Spike. “All of whom are supposed to be professionals, and none would act as unprofessional as this moron.”
******************************
The harassment complaint forms were in the holding facility, and Stellar Weave was definitely filing a sexual harassment report. Thankfully, it wasn’t any of her new neighbors. Daring had Spike carry the jerk to his holding cell, and for extra emphasis she placed him in restraints that kept his arms in the back of him and a magic canceling ring on his horn, all of which they had multiple in a locked closet at the facility that looked like it was part of the wall. Looks like they didn’t have any of those materials within reach of offenders.
Daring met her outside and just said, “Pass that off to Flurry Heart and she’ll send it along to the proper pony, she’s already bringing this breach to the attention of the princesses. Also, be a bit careful around Spike, he won’t do anything because he’s too much of a nice guy for that sort of thing but does have a bit of a clothing and outfit fetish due to an overly extended crush. Right now, he’s with Flurry filing a separate report.”
“Thanks for the info,” said Stellar Weave, “why did you give me a sign of approval when you saw me this morning?”
“Because you were embracing the policies of the town so readily. On another note, I would rather not have the residential and commercial quarters, along with the bathhouses, under constant surveillance of the Royal Guard, it would make this whole place look more like a penal colony than a social project.”
“I agree,” said Stellar, “I’m surprised a perv like that was able to slip in at all.”
“We’ll hopefully better prepared for the next one. Besides, we probably should have had one or two guards here just to be safe.”
“But given the near scandal that happened with one of the contracted teams,” said Stellar Weave, “I can see why you’re all being so cautious about who gets assigned here. So, does that mean you’ll be leaving soon to personally see who gets assigned here?”
“It still takes some time to arrange and prep the train,” said Daring, “so might still be a few days before I can do that. Having any members with the ability to fly would give away the location for anypony that’s learned the general location of this community, which means even if it would be faster to fly myself I can’t just yet. Hopefully, in a few years, we’ll have our own trained community security.”
“If it isn’t any trouble, I’ll work on a few prototype designs for that and run them by you when I can.”
“That would be lovely, thank you.”
With that Stellar Weave headed to the Flurry’s house and handed it to the young alicorn before heading off for a much-needed soak. As she left Flurry was careful not to watch the mare’s rear, in light of what happened. Choosing instead to aim her gaze somewhere else so as to be respectful of the mare.
Eventide Note was looking forward to giving lessons to the young ones, especially in light of the less than civil event the other week. She was happy that there were some ground rules for the education of the foals, what she wasn’t so sure about was the fact that one of the mandates for early education was lessons on reproduction. She could understand teaching the foals how to tell the difference between love and infatuation, but sexual education for ponies this young felt a bit off.
She wanted to come off as professional, but she also wanted to embrace the self-positive body image approach the town was going for with its semi-official “dress code” and asked Stellar Weave to make her the appropriate attire. Eventide’s personal problem that she had what many called “model figure” and was worried about the message she would be sending the foals. Of course, the head of the town regularly went about town naked with a figure that was enough to make a few genuine models feel inadequate. With that in mind, Eventide going around in somewhat revealing attire didn’t seem too bad.
What Ms. Weave made for her was barely what most ponies would call clothing at all. The shirts, if you could call them that, were barely able to cover the chest and the skirts, and that was using the term loosely, barely covered her lower regions, even her new underwear, which was only panties, barely did their job concealing her adult bits. And to make matters worse, she allowed Ms. Weave to alter the rest of her attire to line up her new attire without actually seeing what the new attire was like beforehand. Only a minimal number of garments were spared, mainly the formal and casual attire she intended to wear when going out of town.
Eventide had no aspirations of being on the catwalk, she didn’t like lots of eyes on her, and now she felt like the entire town was a fashion walkway in the worst way possible. She would probably change her opinion on everything based on what the students’ attire was like. To her surprise, when the students finally did arrive, a full third of the class was going in the nude; another third were in swimsuits, for some inexplicable reason; and the last third of the class were in mostly normal looking clothes, aside from what seemed to be some minor alterations to have their outfits match the town’s aesthetic.
Eventide didn’t care much for the erotic, she often tried to avoid it whenever possible, but since a third Zelshirska’s power was tied to knowledge, something that teachers do their best to impart to their students, she figured it wouldn’t hurt have the dragon goddess’s representations at her home or near the school. Perhaps she would talk to Daring Do about it, and there was some sense what thought she would never think about seriously. The fact that A.K Yearling was in truth the genuine Daring Do had come as a surprise, but in the grand scheme of things didn’t have as much of an impact as most would think if you took the time to think about it a bit more.
“Alright Class, settle down,” said Eventide when she was sure all the students were present. “Since this is technically our first day of class, I won’t take attendance for the day and leave it to you all to socialize. I think it best if you get to know your fellow classmates personally, after lunch I’ll assign a simple project that will let you tell me a bit about yourselves. But for now, get to know each other for a bit, I’ll let you know when recess is starting so you can go out and play, after that will be the assignment I mentioned earlier. You don’t have to give me the assignment when school gets out, but please try to turn it into me before the end of the day tomorrow.”
Almost as if on cue the class started mingling and chatting, it was nice to see foals socializing. And it was knowing how quickly things were changing that scared Eventide a bit. She decided the first two weeks or so would be like any other lesson plan in Equestria; she would then test the waters with the sexual education by giving a basic lesson on the differences between male and female bodies, with the use of more family-friendly wording, and see how the parents of the class responded. She felt this was the best way to go about things, discussions with parents and guardians about what they considered inappropriate for foals was never something an instructor wanted to have. This was definitely going to be an interesting first year for the town, she doubted it would go more than five before ceasing to be a thing, it was an exciting experiment, but she didn’t think it would move beyond being anything more. At the very least, she got to actually experience what it was like to be a school teacher.
While the students worked on socializing with each other, Eventide set to work writing the simple questionnaires. Since they didn’t have any premade forms, yet, that meant Eventide had to do all the work personally with loose leaf paper at her disposal. Thankfully her class size was small, only about a dozen or so students. She had more than enough blank sheets to pass out to the students.
Eventide chuckled to herself as she wrote out the forms for the students, Ponyville had earned a reputation for the sort of things that are outside the norm of Equestria but this town was a project in the sort of thing that even Ponyville would find odd. All six of Equestria’s greatest heroes lived in Ponyville, all seemingly unassuming, for the most part, one was a princess and another was unforgettable for other reasons.
Well, all of the six great heroes were unforgettable, but Pinkie Pie was memorable on a level all her own. Stellar Weave considered Rarity a major inspiration in her life, despite having very little contact with the mare herself in life. The Apple clan had always been a family known for their quality of work but that had been within a rather small circle, the level of their quality became better known with Applejack taking on her heroic role in the time the six heroes went about doing things for Equestria. Rainbow Dash got into the Wonderbolts during her time as a hero. Even Fluttershy, the least brave member of the group, was able to become the beacon of compassion she was now thanks to her time with the other heroes.
Even though they’re recorded as heroes, it was more at Princess Celestia’s behest. They had done several heroic deeds, but they themselves admitted they merely did so out of obligation. Princess Twilight Sparkle had merely experienced her life the way she did thanks to the privileges she was given in her youth and earned through her deeds. She had even written a book about how the privileges that one’s parents can be imparted onto their children and how it is always up to those children to prove themselves worthy of the privileges imparted on them by the system. She even cites a number of examples, the first three being of relation to the families of herself and her friends. She also told of how one’s work can earn them privileges, once again citing her friends among the examples.
Eventide had read that that book dozens of time as a filly, it was her main inspiration for wanting to be a teacher. Her parents had both been born into privilege and had numerous public recorded accounts of not following through on their obligations to society. Eventide’s younger brother, Noblesse Oblige, was of like mind to her, much to the annoyance of their parents. Noblesse was pursuing a career in politics, something their parents approved of, but his reasons for seeking political power were similar to why Eventide was pursuing a career as an educator.
Her parents were both pegasi that had lived among the Canterlot crowd for years, Eventide and Noblesse had been raised in Canterlot as well. The only reason had gotten away with reading her favorite book as much as she did was because one of the princesses authored it. Her parents had actually been thankful they were living in Canterlot when Noblesse had been born, seeing as he was a unicorn instead of a pegasus. Her parents weren’t purists, like some other notable Canterlot nobles, but they were a bit surprised. Eventide soothed the worries of her parents by stating that one of their distant ancestors was probably a unicorn, probably from an earlier time when the pony tribes had little to no concern regarding who their partners were.
Now Eventide was here, in town that was a social experiment in seeing the viability of older practices and beliefs in the modern era. She was already enamored by the bathhouses. She was surprised to learn that social bathing was a very ancient practice for ponies, one that wasn’t maintained by the ponies that founded Equestria, but there was a chance that the ponies of other nations around the world maintained such an ancient tradition.
Eventide almost giggled to herself; her parents would likely flip out if they knew about the properties of this town. They were approving that she had gotten approved for the project, that was mainly because of the fact the project is a joint venture among all the princesses. This is a project that Equestria had yet to see. Eventide didn’t care about all that; she just wanted to be a teacher. She just didn’t think such a distinct social environment would accompany her first set of lessons.
Daring and Spike were not happy, instead of overseeing the town they were escorting a perverted idiot that found his way to the town and went unnoticed until recently. Said perverted idiot hadn’t revealed his name, but Daring had found out with one touch without him realizing, which she shared with Spike shortly after. Neither wanted to speak his name out loud, mostly because they didn’t want to make a show of acknowledging his behavior.
Spike was very displeased, as a dragon, he didn’t take it well when uninvited guests entered his territory. The entire town was like his territory, the temple akin to a lair and the residents were under his dominion. It irked him, immeasurably, that somepony had managed to actually get close enough while unseen to one of the residents to physically harass them. Now instead of going about his new territory getting to know the residents and facilities better, he was acting as legal enforcement officer making sure a criminal got to a court without incident.
The pervy perp in question was sitting straight across from Daring, making no effort to hide his lewd gazes at her voluptuous figure, and Spike just wanted to deck him until he was paralyzed. Thankfully, he was in sweatpants and t-shirt, both black with no identifying marks of any kind, and cuffed firmly along with being fitted with a magic nullification ring on his horn and spell canceling collar for the off chance somepony else tried to use magic on him from a distance. So he couldn’t use his unicorn magic, and no external pony spells would work on him either. At Daring’s behest, he was also fitted with a gag over his mouth to keep him from talking, before he was gagged every third word out of his mouth perverted and every second or fourth word was offensive for some other reason. By the time he finished the first paragraph of his rambling, he had managed to insult the entirety of the town and the princesses with his ignorance.
The attire he was in was under the mockery of a Royal Guard outfit was much less offensive. Chances were Shining Armor would not be happy with the mock Royal Guard armor, Cadance would probably get a kick out of it though. The repercussions of the outfit alone were something that was not pleasant for Spike to consider.
As they carried him out, literally like a sack over Spike’s shoulder as if he was a sack of refuse, they were thankful he actually had clothes on. The perverted idiot had a skintight shirt and skintight shorts on; Spike wondered why he didn’t just go with a onesie bodysuit instead. Regardless, both articles of clothing were black.
Probably the most disturbing part of it all was the fact his attire clearly showed itself to be constricting the parts of his body that it covered. Amusingly, showing a reinforcement of Daring’s general clothing choices. Spiked like going casual, but this dipwad made it so that he was required to wear formal attire.
Spike was in a river blue suit, with a desert yellow shirt and violet tie (the tie was thankfully designed to come off and on with minimal effort). Daring was in a forest green maternity dress, with a very disapproving look on her face. It hadn’t even been a full year, and they already had the kind of incident all the protocols she and the princesses worked on were designed to bring to prevent. To make matters worse, the train ride was going to feel longer than it should be.
***********************************
Four hours after boarding the train, it felt more like twelve to Daring and Spike; they were finally pulling into the station at the Crystal Empire. While Spike passed the scumbag off to the guards, Daring gave Shining Armor a hug that was more for show than anything else, the momentary pinkish-blue flash in his eyes was all the proof needed that Daring had discreetly passed on the information she had acquired. Shining was having decidedly not happy look on his face. Daring pulled Cadance in after giving shining his hug and discreetly passed on the info to Cadance, she had a similar reaction to what Shining had. Shining had the perp sent to a much more dedicated holding facility then left to brief the guards selected for the project stationed in the Crystal Empire about the breach. Cadance decided she would get to work on sending Twilight, Celestia, and Luna the message about their little problem. Shining would help Daring with the initial looking over dossiers; the meetings would, unfortunately, have to wait until considerably later.
***************************
It was about a half hour after they arrived, almost twenty minutes longer than Shining liked, when Daring and Spike found themselves sitting down with Cadance and Shining to discuss what happened.
“I don’t like that some pony was able to slip into the community’s grounds without raising the alarm,” said Spike, “Twilight assured me the subtle magical protections she erected would keep unauthorized individuals out.”
“Maybe the spells she intended to put up would do just that,” said Shining, “but you know as well as I do how forgetful she can get about some things, especially when she has her attention focused on other things.”
“Well,” said Daring, “she did put a lot of attention on the logistics of the project, she probably thought the spellwork was a minor concern and let it get away from her. Even so, the lapse in security isn’t excusable. Considering their standing with each other, and involvement with the project, I think is best that Princess Celestia be the one issue the reminder to Twilight about obligations.”
“That seems the best course of action,” said Shining Armor, “now, about our less-than moral perpetrator. Daring’s new abilities proved helpful in providing us some leads, while also allowing us to minimize integration time, but it will take a considerable amount of time to track down all of the less tasteful elements in this. Whoever is behind our perp’s arrival in the town was careful and used an intermediate party that likely has far less interest in the operation than their employer, if the one who did this genuinely cautious and smart about their choices. That said, it’s impressive that the one who caught him in the act was your town’s new tailor. Tell us more about this spell of hers, if you can.”
“Stellar Weave was able to meet all our requirements and put some of the less voiced concerns to rest during her interview,” started Spike, “she also has expressed her inspiration being Rarity herself.”
Daring nodded and continued, “Stellar Weave stated the spell she used for finding our violator was a spell designed for locating and finding hard to see objects around the home and shop. Given the variety of small and easily losable objects, those in her profession regularly work with it’s an understandable precaution.”
“One which Rarity, in all her time, has never been able to acquire,” said Spike, “this spell of Ms. Weave’s is likely an extension of her magical talent that she’s turned towards her choice of profession. That said, due to the way the spell works it also allows the caster to make entities with abilities that hide them from standard sight to be seen by the one casting the spell. I suppose, if she can teach the spell, she could teach it unicorns in the Royal Guard.”
“A spell like that could prove useful to the Guard,” said Shining, “I’ll make a formal request for Ms. Weave and Twilight to come on up for research purposes. I also want to chew Twilight out her forgetfulness on something so important. If we can study how the spell works in more detail, which Twilight is best suited for, we can figure out how to replicate the results we want to turn the spell into a standard lesson for the Royal Guard.”
“Pity such spells haven’t been the case until now,” said Cadance, “if Stellar Weave had been interested in the Guard, her spell would have caught the eye of several high ranking members in the guard. I suppose if that had happened we would have heard the word of her ability by now; I think we might have gotten to know each other better.”
“You do realize she basically is the same age as your daughter,” said Spike, “right?”
“That’s a minor detail,” said Cadance with a nonchalant tone.
“I think we’re getting a little off topic here,” said Daring, “what are we going to do with our perpetrator?”
“For now,” said Shining, “we will be holding mister Hidden Mark. It’s clear he lacks discipline, but also his talents are known by the wrong sort of ponies and have been kept from the government until now.”
“Thankfully he’s still young, if a bit foolish,” said Cadance, “We’re going to offer him a choice, one that will have far-reaching consequences.”
“A few years of military service or spend the rest of his sentence for violation of some of the more severe legal statutes on the books,” said Spike. “I agree that an eye needs to be given to watching him, given the magical talent we’ve seen him use, but do you think it would be wise to actually give him formal guard training?”
“Well, seeing as he was caught in a mockup of Royal Guard armor,” said Daring, earning a scowl from Shining and giggle from Cadance, “it’s a pretty good guess he has some infatuation with the Guard. Seeing as the ones who sent him on the mission told him he was free to wear whatever attire he wished to avoid attention.”
“So he chose to wear a mockery of Royal Guard armor,” said Shining, “he could just as easily have contempt for the Guard.”
“Or maybe it was the one who supplied his outfit that holds the Guard in contempt,” said Spike, “from what we’ve managed to gather he wasn’t pleased about the outfit his supplier sent him when he said the criteria for what he would be wearing for his mission.”
“Which is the only reason I’m willing to entertain the option Cadance, and I came up with, to begin with,” said Shining, “if he had been the one to choose the outfit personally, we wouldn’t be having this line of conversation.”
“He’s around the same age you were when you started your training,” said Cadance.
“He’s actually a few years older from the profile we managed to acquire,” said Shining, “but still within the minimum age range for training programs. We’ll see if he has what it takes to make the cut, assuming he takes the offer for joining the military.”
“What did his profile say about his home life,” inquired Daring, “I only chose to have the information gathered be very recent and give his genuine name.”
“A good choice, all things considered,” said Shining, “that knowledge ability you’ve gotten is still new to us, despite a number of pony spells having similar properties. What we’ve found about his home life is that it’s not idyllic but still acceptable in modern Equestria. His mother, a unicorn mare named Rouge Charm, lives in a moderately sized town near Fillydelphia and is the owner of a small cosmetics shop, the cosmetics she sells are all made by her. We haven’t been able to find anything on his father, his mother didn’t say anything about who that might be, all we were able to find was she found out she was pregnant a few months after a one-night stand back when she was just starting her business and was a bit less responsible with her choices.”
“We’re going to bring her up for a visit in the next few days to discuss her son’s life choices with her,” said Cadance, “but concerning who his father might be, we suspect it might be one of the less responsible Canterlot elite. We’ll be working with Auntie Celestia in running genetic comparison to see how accurate that assessment is.”
“You’ll notify his father once you find out, I take it,” said Spike.
“Depends on who it comes out to be,” said Shining, “we don’t want to have socially distasteful traits passed on if we can help it, the incident with Daring’s former publishers showed us that much in a bit more of a blatant way than we were anticipating.”
Spike was feeling extra bored; it was several weeks after the incident that had him and Daring having an unplanned trip to the Crystal Empire. Daring had gone back the week after to begin interviews with the prospective guards for the town. They had to make sure the guards had some idea of what they would be dealing with in town, chances were their training wouldn’t prepare them for the town’s aesthetic, so Daring decided to take Stellar Weave on up with the expressed statement she was to show to the meetings in her usual attire around town.
Seeing an attractive mare wander around town in only her underwear was definitely a surprise when Spike spotted her doing it the first time, a few days later the same practice was trending among several other residents in town. Daring regularly walked around town in the nude, a practice that only started gaining traction among other members of the village after they had seen Stellar Weave move about the town in lingerie.
It had taken some time for Eventide get used to the town’s aesthetic, probably accelerated by the attire of the town’s foals before she had decided to go with something a bit more stand out than anticipated. On her fifth day of work, Spike had spotted the school teacher moving about the town in a string bikini, one that was barely legal in most parts of Equestria proper. Of course shortly after Ms. Note’s choice of attire had changed several of the fillies she was instructing followed suit, much to the chagrin of some of the parents but not for the usual reasons.
It looked like the town had gotten used to the choices of attire, or lack thereof, thanks to Daring’s regular escapades around town with nothing on. Spike had partially embraced it with going around with only pants on. Of course, Daring was also trying to get him to be a bit more bold with his choice of public attire.
But now, Spike didn’t have anything to do; he needed something to keep himself occupied. He thought back to Daring’s offer to have his own shop tailored to his interests; he then had an idea moment. Spike rushed back to the temple complex. He passed several of the priestesses that were in training, some in the fetishwear inspired uniforms, on his way to the residential level he shared with Daring.
Once he was in the residential area he shared with Daring Spike made a rush to the drawing table, grabbing some drawing paper and drawing utensils as he did. He began drawing the layout for the interior of the complex in his head, a cafe mixed with a hobby shop. He had a section for comics, another for Role Playing Game materials, and even space for music, in addition to the restaurant section of the building.
He started thinking about what the internal and external aesthetics would look like, even chuckling to himself as to what would pass for a “work uniform” but then stopped cold when he realized he hadn’t given the place name, it needed to have something that would fit the area and the geek community. Somehow Spike thought “Dragon’s Den” would be a bit too cliche, so he started thinking of substitute expressions.
Not being able to come up with a good synonym for dragon, much to his annoyance, after several minutes of thought, Spike decided to focus on the second half of the name. As a bit of a joke, he settled on something he found amusing, thankfully only spending a much shorter time than he did for the first part. Choosing to call it the Dragon’s Sanctum. He chuckled to himself, remembering one of the meanings for the word sanctum being “a sacred or holy place” and for geeks nothing was more sacred than a place to spend time with like-minded individuals and just hang out with each other for fun. Spike then realized the RPG section would require more spaces for play tables. Instead of scrapping the whole design he just modified the section with the RPG materials to have an extra room attachment filled with the playing space and tables required, along with a variety of chairs both at the tables and in strategic points around the room even had extras in special compartments that were clearly labeled.
With the general layout of the interior finished, down to the placement of chairs and tables in the playrooms and dining area, Spike started thinking about the exterior aesthetic. He wrote some notes on his ideas for the exterior aesthetic, there were five or so, and decided to leave the final verdict the residents that had a better understanding of building design and structure aesthetics than him. With that all out of the way he grabbed a new sheet of paper and drew up a basic format for the facility’s uniform, which was pretty minimalistic. He drew a hat that looked like a cross between a detective’s hat, wide-brimmed wizard’s hat, and sports cap. The whole thing was so ridiculous looking that it caused Spike to chuckle and snicker for almost a half hour straight; after taking a moment to take out the sports cap component and replaced it with segments around the headwear that looked like a helmet, which somehow made the hat look more dignified, Spike put a big circle with the words “logo and name here” on the front, back, and sides of the hat where he thought it would be most appropriate. After the event with the hat was taken care of Spike drew up a slightly ornate apron design and put a big circle on the chest area that had the same wording as he had on the hat’s rings.
Spike sat and thought a while before drawing an image in margin of the page that displayed a young dragon, not unlike he was before he had moved to Ponyville with Twilight, wearing a cape and chest piece, with said chest piece having the image of a twenty-sided die positioned to the seventeen was what was being read, afterward he wrote “Logo?” just beneath it all in a show of being unsure if that was the best option. After drawing up the shop’s uniform, he set it with the building’s he had drawn up. Spike grabbed a third sheet and started writing up a menu with quirky names for most of the items along with descriptions of what those items actually entailed. Spike remembered discussions about the town having visitors, possibly even tourists; he felt it was probably for the best to have a structure like his little venture, at the very least it would show that there was at least one place for a particular demographic to congregate. Also, he would have place his old playing partners to enjoy a few games within an area that wouldn’t disrupt the rest of the town or be interrupted by the residents of the structure popping in unexpectedly.
A place like this diner and game store would mean that those sorts of interruptions would be far less likely, hopefully. Chances were most of the visitors for the first few months would be popping in out of curiosity alone. That’s the way with almost every new business; some would even call it an occupational hazard. But Daring had been right about one thing; he really did need something to occupy his time now and running his own little business seemed like a good idea, especially if it meant not getting in the way of what his wife was up to when she needed him to be elsewhere.
Zelshirska liked how things were progressing, yes she didn’t have any more priestesses just yet, but she did seem to get a few new followers. To her that was more than enough at this point, Daring Do’ plan was proving a bit better than she anticipated. A seamstress and school teacher were now among her patronage, along with the residing ponies that had helped to work on making the town possible. After being told what the difference between the alicorns, fascinating creatures she was still fuzzy on when it came to the details about them beyond what she had been told, and actual deities were some of the children of the town were actually being counted among her worshippers as well.
Surprisingly, all the ponies that had signed up for being part of religious order developed a greater conviction to being part of her cause than before. Every single one of the priestesses-in-training were now officially part of her worshippers as well, most of whom were unsure of it all when they signed up and were mainly doing so out of curiosity.
Her idol that had started it all was still being studied by the ponies, mostly due to the fact that they had little experience with an artifact of its nature before. But because of her domains of power, Zelshirska actually gained energy from the study of her connections to the mortal realm almost as easily as if she were being worshipped, even if no actual worship was happening.
Zelshirska was feeling ever more revitalized, not quite enough to restore her pocket space to the way she liked to have it in the olden times but she could feel herself getting closer to that. She missed having mortal lovers, that little stint with Twilight Sparkle was a nice little distraction for the time it lasted. It wasn’t uncommon for deities to have mortal lovers that weren’t among their faithful, it was just preferred among divine entities to have lovers that were among the faith they belonged to.
Watching the town Daring Do built was more than fascinating to her, ponies milling about as always did but in manners that hadn’t been seen in ages. The school teacher, Eventide Note, was of particular interest because of her apprehensions. Stellar Weave was of interest as well due to her full embrace so quickly.
As always, Spike was drawing her attention, his attempts to curtail boredom were always so much fun to watch for some reason. The mare known as Dinky Doo was a bit apprehensive about her position for a time, but after some time he acclimated so well that she was moving about the town with no attire just like Daring was.
The town was barely into its second month, and already had run into an issue its founders had thought had been addressed. The plan was after they got up to month four or five then they would actually allow visitors in an official capacity; but for now, it just about all the residents settling and getting into the flow of things.
Daring’s interviews with the prospective guards was amusing, to say the least. The guards themselves came to the meeting in proper formal attire, Daring and her partner for the meeting were present for the meeting in their everyday about the town looks. That is to say, Daring in nothing and Stellar Weave in lingerie. The lingerie Stellar Weave chose for the meeting lacy and pink with little replicas of Cadance’s mark adorning them, the looks of embarrassment on all the interviewees was more amusing than the dragon goddess had anticipated.
Of the thirty or so guards being interviewed only three were openly receptive to the appearance of their interviewers, one being a unicorn and the other two being earth ponies. Those three were a lock, but they still needed another unicorn and two pegasi for the full detail. They found themselves having to choose members of the guard that were less opposed to what they were seeing instead most open to it as they had hoped.
Regardless it was still pretty amusing entertainment for a goddess who couldn’t really play games with other deities to pass the time. Of course, she had no recollection of ponies ever doing anything like what was happening here before. The event with Hidden Mask was not something she was approving of, but at least they wanted to get all the facts straight before deciding on whether or not they should condemn him.
Twilight Sparkle, an amusing little creature that she was, found herself being berated by her former mentor and family for a lack of follow-through of her own commitments. The violet alicorn had committed herself to giving the town magical support, only to completely forget about such obligations while working on other components of the same project. Given her tendencies, not too much of a surprise.
The general openness of Daring’s new community in terms of whatever feels most comfortable was more than interesting to see, given Zelshirska’s origins. What was even more interesting was the fact that some of the residents actually experienced a change in their definition of what is most comfortable, due to a variety of variables that included what they saw regularly on a daily basis and what their job description entailed. Several of the bathhouse workers, not just Dinky, had taken to moving about the town with no attire to speak of, except maybe the occasional hat, out of something seemed more than habit.
“You know,” said Daring as she looked the plan Spike had drawn up during her time away to finally get the town’s security detail, “this would have been easier if you had taken up the offer during the town’s initial planning stages.”
“Yeah,” said Spike, “but in my defense, I thought I would actually have more to do around here. As things stand, I’m going to go bonkers in the next few weeks if I don’t have something to do.”
“Understandable,” said Daring as she looked over to the page that had his basic outline for the uniform, “it might be a while before you can get any employees, are you fine with that?”
“It will at least keep me busy, so I think I’ll be okay. It’s not like the shop will suddenly have a massive influx of customers I can’t keep up with, at least as things seem to be going. Besides, the town’s population is pretty low and the business itself is kind designed to cater to a pretty niche crowd. I doubt we’ll get that many tourists in town when the town becomes open to the public that I’ll be incredibly overwhelmed during their visiting times. Besides, this will allow me to pursue my hobbies without disrupting your work.”
“Alright, I’ll see about getting this outfit design to Stellar Weave,” Daring said as she got up, her assets making a bit of jiggle as she got out of the chair and moved toward the door.
Spike watched her go down the stairs, her tummy and assets doing little jiggling bounce with each step that was more exaggerated than when she had left the room. He pulled his head back into their living space and started wondering when he started thinking such things were sexy. Of course, seeing Stellar Weave go about the town in nothing more than her underwear did come close to making him hard a few times, same was true with Eventide Note and her parading around in a very skimpy swimsuit.
Thinking about it the foals were following suit with all three of the mares. Some of the more modest members of the community, of which there was now a very small percentage for some reason, were still insistent on wearing standard publicly acceptable attire in Equestria proper, but they were at least willing to tolerate the foals going about the way the more revealing members of the community were. Chances were they figured it would be just a phase the foals would grow out of, with some silly rationalizations as to why the adults who went about in what would be questionable public choices did so here.
Daring had very clearly stated that the community was intended as a self-positive environment thus the clothing-optional approach to the place. Spike wondered why some of the ponies here had signed up to begin with if they were just going to act like this any other community in Equestria. Spike suspected they did it more as an excuse to easily get out of a situation they weren’t particularly happy with, or the perceived prestige of being part of a project that was confirmed to have backing and cooperation of all Equestria’s princesses.
The ones only out for the prestige wouldn’t last long, as was evident by the events that happened after Celestia’s initial team for the town’s construction were proven to not be the right ponies for the task. So far, all the ponies of age for responsibilities were operating in the village as they should, with the younger members being watched over and instructed by the school teacher that he and Daring had thought ahead to look into and confirm. What the parents of the foals weren’t pleased about, at least the more traditionalist ones, was making sexual education part of the early education of the students. Of course, the way the lesson plans for such things was made a bit more family friendly and only focused on the basic things they were required to know, for now.
Spike suspected they would be covering reproduction once things in town were settled down. At the very least the parents wouldn’t have to have awkward conversations about where foals come from, assuming they didn’t decide to go with some ridiculous cop-out that had no basis in fact. He had popped in to see how the classes were progressing, and compared to Ponyville and Twilight’s school things were dramatically different. Also, since the town was technically considered separate from Equestria for the time being the school did not have to adhere to any of the overly complex rules that dictated the education system of Equestria proper.
Of course Twilight had insisted Daring write up a set of rules for the school to make sure no shenanigans were going on with the educators. Daring did, of course, but the whole thing was actually shy of a hundred pages. Spike, of course, laughed hysterically when Twilight asked him for the rest of the book, for almost twenty minutes, before telling her exactly “That’s all she wrote” and watching his adoptive sister get flustered with confusion at his words.
Daring didn’t like wasted time, energy or words, when it came to writing the rules for anything she made sure everything was short and to the point with very little room for misinterpretation of her words. A mannerism that translated over to the rulebooks she wrote, something Twilight was clearly not used to. Twilight was used to rulebooks being rather hefty and thorough with extensive wording, as was evident by the several books containing rules and laws she had written over the years.
Spike had no preference either way, but he did find Daring’s short and concise approach to rules and laws a bit more charming than Twilight’s extensive approach that was full of words, with the added bonus of potentially putting someone to sleep before they got through everything. Daring’s approach was also a hit with the foals, given their tendencies to want to go out and do their thing. The foals were especially happy that the rules about wandering beyond the borders of the town were clearly stated shown to apply to everyone, not just foals.
Some of the foals expressed a desire to go out and meet the gremlins, much to the annoyance of the parents that were still of the belief such creatures were merely invented by a less enlightened era to explain why equipment didn’t work right or broke down, to which Daring had said they would have to make some arrangements. Which to Spike meant, she intended to talk with Fluttershy and see what they could do from there. Gremlins had been proven to be real, thanks to their bringing volunteers back to Ponyville, but most who refused to visit Ponyville and doubted the accounts of things beyond the norm that happened there and refused to go and confirm things for themselves were still of the mindset certain things that happened, despite the meticulous records of such events, in Ponyville beyond the norm were merely due to adults letting the imaginations of children get a bit too far. Amusingly, some of those sort of ponies had actually signed up for this project.
***********************************************
The next day Stellar Weave met Spike outside the temple, in a set of sunrise orange lingerie, with a hat and apron as his design had shown, colored a crystal blue with the die in the logo being green with a purple number, and just handed them to him before gushing about how cute she thought the whole thing was for several minutes. Spike started to feel worried, a feeling that didn’t subside when he met the construction ponies at their office and explained the internal and external aesthetics of the facility. The outside of the structure was now planned to use an amalgam of the palace of the Crystal Empire and Canterlot castle as its external structure.
He spent about an hour or so chatting with them and discussing some of the logistics, after all, he had to have some amenities for the ones working in the facility. He supposed he would have to get an industrial coffee/cappuccino machine for the diner section. He would also require things like a fridge and oven for the kitchen area, probably industrial level there as well. Perhaps some sort of PA system for relaying messages through the facility, maybe even have few security spells for the place to keep the more items and merchandise more secure. Spike realized the logistics of the place were probably more than he had anticipated during the planning stage, but now he was already working on making the whole thing a reality. He had decided on the castle aesthetic to allow the place to have multiple levels, that way there would be more play spaces for the place and he could arrange for the basement to act as a primary storage area for surplus products, and if he made it all deep enough it could be naturally cooler to better store perishables like a root cellar.
Spike didn’t expect more than a few ponies at any given time in the shop, given the population of the community. As for placement, he decided on making it a point near where the residential quarter met the commercial quarter. The town only had a little over hundred residents, about a third of which were foals. At the very least he would be providing a place for foals to go when their parents were still busy or didn’t want to be disturbed. A place he would make sure was safe and secure.
That reminded Spike, Twilight would be coming down in a few days to do the spellwork she had promised for the town, chances were she was already on her way. Twilight was in for a bit of a shock when she came down; Spike started wondering if he had any cameras to record it. If she decided to bring some of her friends down, which was more than a little likely, they would be in for a shock as well.
Rarity would probably make a scene when she saw ponies going about in nothing and next to nothing, Fluttershy was likely to just blush in embarrassment, Applejack would probably have something to say about the lack of modesty or practicality of the attire choices, Pinkie would probably just make a comment about getting into the town’s spirit before making a go at doing it herself, Rainbow would probably act like it’s no big deal, and Starlight would probably have a similar reaction to Twilight.
Now Spike really wanted to find that camera; he wanted to record the looks of everyone who came to the town as it is now. After getting their photos he would keep them for those embarrassing family moments, it would be great. That all said, when Twilight’s parents came for a visit things would probably get really awkward really fast, for them is not him. Flurry saw how things were here on a regular basis and regularly sent reports to her mom, so chances are Cadance and Shining would have the most muted responses. Celestia would be harder to judge, mostly because of how guarded she usually kept her reactions. Luna would probably have the most positive response, seeing how she liked to have ponies freely express themselves, Spike also suspected Stellar Weave was sending Luna notes on some of the things going on about the town.
“You want us to what?” One of the unicorn mares that signed up for being a priestess said in surprise.
“Milk me over the crystal goblets,” Daring said casually, Spike had decided to join her for the practice for the day, at least for the time being. “Then drink the milk, there’s plenty more, I assure you.”
“This has to be a joke,” said one pegasus mares that had signed up.
“Not at all,” said Daring.
“I’ll do it,” said one of the earth pony mares that had signed up, “ya bunch of pansies. Besides, I’ve been holdin’ myself from feeling those mammaries of hers without permission for a while now; I wanna see what they feel like.” With that, the mare trotted over to Daring with one of the crystal goblets and began milking Daring’s right breast.
Almost as soon as she started Spike gave territorial growl of disapproval. The mare released her hand from Daring’s figure and Spike stopped, when she went to milk Daring again, he started it again.
“Probably an instinctual response,” said the earth mare, “I’ve seen a few earth stallions get a bit edgy when the mare they have their fancy on starts interacting with other stallions. I think I have an idea,” she turned her attention Spike, “how about it big, do you wanna milk her?”
The mare handed Spike the goblet and took a few big steps away, Spike came up behind Daring and almost as soon as he touched her breast she elicited an erotic moan that made all the adult mares get a bit sexually excited, he then began to milk Daring’s right breast with the chalice just beneath her. After filling the goblet up almost to the brim he took a quick sip and complimented on the richness of the liquid itself. After taking his taste he passed it off to the mare that had tried to milk Daring earlier gave a nod and left, presumably to check on the progress of his own project in the town.
****************************************
About a half hour, after Daring had been milked, they were in the ritual chamber. “Now,” said Daring, “can any of you tell me what this room is and its primary role here?”
Amusingly one of the fillies raised her hand, Daring found it adorable and gestured to her. The filly said, “This is the ritual chamber, it’s where larger scale rituals that aren’t meant to be used in common services are to be performed.”
“Very good,” said Daring with a nod of approval, “can you tell us all what sort of rituals those are?”
“Mostly ceremonies that have to do with members rising in the ranks,” said a filly next to the one that had answered Daring before, she recognized them as the two fillies she had used as a demonstration. “Of course, that usually means some of the more physically matured members engaging in something akin to sexual orgies.”
The mares that had volunteered all looked at the filly that had answered Daring in surprise for a few moments before turning their attention to Daring. “Sorry, I didn’t do that,” said Daring in an authentic confused voice, “all I did was transfer duplicates of their memories from a few hours prior during the demonstration to each other. If I am directly responsible for that, it was completely unintentional.”
“But she’s not wrong,” said one of the unicorn mares in surprise.
“She’s quite accurate,” said Daring, “part of Zelshirska’s domain of fertility means there will be cases where her priestesses will either be involved in making it so sexual intercourse can result in offspring or be part of a ritual that is very sexual in nature.”
“I’m worried about what that’s going to do to the foals,” said one of the unicorn mares.
“It’ll be fine,” said an earth pony mare, “besides, that just means the foals here will be more knowledgeable about things outside the community. As long as we teach them how to make properly informed decisions everything will work out fine. Besides, it’s not like this is some crazed sex community.”
“If it was,” said Daring, “I’m pretty sure that we wouldn’t have bothered with several of the resources we have now. Yes, the community is designed in such a way that the public acts of intimacy are far less taboo. But if the town were centered around sex, which it isn’t, then the rules regarding where public intimacy wouldn’t have even been formed or one of the most heavily enforced.”
“I suppose that’s true,” said the unicorn mare that voiced her concern, “Honestly, I don’t know why I’m still here half the time.”
“Maybe it has something to do with supporting and supervising your daughter in a way that isn’t obstructive,” said Daring casually, the unicorn filly that was said daughter giggled in amusement. “Now, have you all read the handbook on what is expected of this clergy?”
“Yup,” said all the fillies in unison. Only half the volunteering mares raised their hands in silent confirmation. Daring rolled her eyes in amusement, quite visibly, before saying, “For those of you who haven’t, make sure you get through the first part at least by this time tomorrow, I’ll be checking. The rest of you, see what you can do to carry out what the handbook said is expected of you on church grounds and throughout the community. At the very least, I want to try getting a church service going sometime next month.”
“Doesn’t that mean you’re going to have to cite from a religious text at least once?” Inquired an earth pony filly.
“Probably,” said Daring, “I’ll work on getting something of that nature from Zelshirska in the coming days.”
Twilight thought she had a prepared herself and her friends for what the town had to offer, she was wrong. The structure of the forest made it impossible for passengers to see ahead until they were practically pulling into the station. Seeing several ponies going around very little or no attire was quite the shock for most of the group. Pinkie, as always, was the exception and actually made a few comments about how free all the ponies looked, even going as far strip down to nothing on her way out the doors of the train, by the time she had come to a stop the pink mare was now holding all her clothes in a neat little pile and was standing next to her friends in her birthday suit with an even bigger grin than before she left the train.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Starlight were all feeling somewhat embarrassed at the sight before them. Applejack made a few light comments about the practicality of the attire and lack thereof some ponies had as they passed. Rainbow just made a few comments about the idea of a clothing optional community being somewhere between cool and awesome. Rarity looked like she wanted to faint but held herself back, also seeming to be thinking of a polite way to comment on the town’s aesthetic. And Pinkie, of course, was not only fully embracing the no clothing necessary policy of the town but also zipping around having short six to ten second conversations with several ponies for a minute or two before zipping back to her friends, to all of which her traveling companions, minus Rainbow, just facepalmed.
After they had been waiting for almost a half hour Flurry Heart finally came to meet the seven ponies, she was in something that looked like a jade formal dress that decided to get a little extra revealing while still being what it was intended to be. “Sorry for the wait, everypony,” said Flurry, “Spike started a new project a few days ago, and I was helping with the shipment, mom insisted I look over a set of special shipments for it the other day. I see you’ve noticed the town aesthetic. Don’t worry; you get used to it. Daring Do regularly parades around the place with a complete lack of clothes, our school teacher is now regularly going about town and teaching class in a tiny swimsuit, and our fashion expert can be regularly going about in nothing but lingerie.”
It was at this point Rarity decided to have a little breakdown, “They all just go about in overly revealing, potentially erotic, attire? That’s a bit more than avant-garde, don’t you think?”
“Sure, it seemed a bit salacious at first. Very few of the residents took up the opportunities presented with the clothing optional approach to the town, only about a third of the foals are let outside with any lack of attire, and another third regularly go to class in swimwear. But that’s a discussion for another time.”
“I’m just surprised by how many ponies are willing to go along with it all,” said Starlight.
“Well, when you see the leader of the community going around in the buff almost everyday it tends to cause the rest of the population to reevaluate their ideas of what is socially acceptable around town, doubly so when the town’s primary educator and most fashion-forward member parade around town in extra revealing outfits. Also, Spike in just a pair of pants is a regular sight around town.”
At this point Rainbow just burst out laughing; Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Starlight all gave looks of embarrassment. Applejack just rolled her eyes, and Pinkie commented sampling the town’s sweets. Flurry just giggled at all of this before continuing, “Daring assigned everypony to their first positions in the town. Dinky wanted to work in the post office, mostly since her mom once had the job, but Daring decided to put her in charge of the main bathhouse.”
“How did that work out?” Twilight inquired, hoping desperately to get away from awkward thoughts.
“Pretty good,” said Flurry, “especially after she just decided to follow the bathhouse policies outside her work environment.”
“Wait,” said Starlight with concern, “isn’t one of the bathhouse policies to be completely without attire while you’re there?”
“Yup," said Flurry, "and everypony who works in the bathhouses is thankful for the furniture and equipment that’s water resistant. Dinky was a bit body conscious at first, but now she’s openly going about the town in the same manner as Daring. Stellar Weave is the mare that runs and operates the fashion outlet here; she was pretty quick to embrace the aesthetic Daring was going for.”
“But you said she goes around in just her underwear,” said Rarity, coming out of her stupor.
“Indeed I did,” said Flurry with a grin, “and she has a figure on par with most fashion models, she recently admitted to Daring and I that she feels most comfortable in nothing save lingerie. I didn’t pass that little note along to my parents; I think it best to let everyone with a connection to this project know when they get here, just in case we have a security breach regarding the reports.”
“I suppose it’s a reasonable precaution,” said Twilight, “especially given what happened recently. How are things regarding that problem?”
“Mom and dad are handling it, but given his talent, they have to be extra careful in how they approach things.”
“Care to clue us in,” said Starlight, “Twilight didn’t really share the details.”
“The main reason I’m here,” said Twilight, “is because I forgot to put up the wards and security spells that are meant to cover the entire town, I thought that Starlight could help with that since she has a talent for magic as well. It was all brought to my attention, and embarrassment, after a stallion with the ability to use an invisibility spell on himself rather expertly came in and almost sexually harassed Stellar Weave.” Rainbow broke out laughing for a few minutes at Twilight's admittance to being a little scatterbrained.
“Thankfully,” said Flurry, picking up for her aunt, after Rainbow's laughter died down to a set of low snickers and chuckles, “Ms. Weave is resourceful and has a talent for a type of spell that can actually work as a counter to invisibility spells, even if that’s not what she usually uses it for.”
“Care to elaborate,” said Rarity with interest.
“How about you ask her yourself,” said Flurry, gesturing to the mare in question passing by, from the distance she was from them it was hard to tell just what she was wearing other than it was electric blue. “How about I take Twilight and Starlight to speak with Daring so they can get the town’s protective spells up? The rest of you can explore the town. Fluttershy, the students here expressed a desire to go and meet the gremlins, how about you see what you can do on that front. Of course, that will mean talking with the teacher, Eventide Note, and the troupe.”
“Um, is there anything I should know about her or the school? If you don’t mind telling me, that is,” said Fluttershy.
“As I said before,” said Flurry, “about a third of the students are regularly in the nude, a third are in swimwear, and a third are semi-normal clothes. As for Eventide, she’s now regularly seen about town and the school in a tiny swimsuit; it would be barely legal in just about any part of Equestria proper.”
“She always dresses like that?” Twilight said with surprise.
“Of course not,” said Flurry, “up until near the end of her first week of teaching she dressed far more modestly, how most of you are dressed now is a pretty good comparison to what she used to dress like.”
“What changed? If you don’t mind telling us,” said Rarity.
“Sorry, I’ve already blathered enough as it is,” said Flurry. The seven looked at each other with a bit of concern; Flurry motioned it was time to get things underway. The seven grabbed the bags they had brought with them, in Rarity's case, it was three bags while the rest only brought a single bag.
Twilight’s friends started peeling off as Flurry led the way to Daring. Fluttershy made a go for the eastern boundary, probably because the gremlins would be less embarrassing to be around for her. Applejack decided to check out the main bathhouse, perhaps due to the communal nature of her family. Pinkie made a beeline for the dining establishments, for a few seconds a literal line of cartoonish bees could be seen trailing her like some kind of tail. Rarity headed for Mystique Elegance the moment she was informed that was the town’s boutique, the building’s design had thrown her off until Flurry had clarified what the structure was. Rainbow decided to get an aerial view of the town then go and see what Spike was up to. Twilight and Starlight kept following Flurry to Daring.
******************************
“Okay, about this how do you think it should go,” said Daring once they got the pleasantries out of the way, “tell me if this plan is a bad idea. We set up a series of nodes to keep the spells up and stable; it could possibly increase their power. Then once the town starts expanding, we start putting up more as the town gets closer to expanding outside the reach of the protective spells.”
“That could work,” said Twilight, she put on her thinking face, “that way when the town is expanding we don’t have to recast all the spells, just set up a new node point.”
“It’ll also act as a security measure in itself,” said Starlight, “since there won’t be a central or undefined point for the magic around the town it means anypony trying to undo our work will have a much harder time and probably get caught in the act.”
“Since I’m not really knowledgeable about these sort of things, I’ll leave it up to you in deciding which spells should be used. But I suggest you at least have a decent distribution of wards, detection, and other protective spells.”
“A reasonable suggestion,” said Twilight, “we want to have the spells be as diverse as possible. The nodes will have to be fixed points though.”
“I’ll get you a town map,” said Daring as she got up, her assets and pregnant belly giving a bit of a jiggle as she stood up and walked out of the room to retrieve the item in question.
“You know,” said Starlight, “thought seeing her in the nude would be way more distracting than this.” Twilight only nodded, she hoped her friends were having better luck.”
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Applejack was conflicted, on hand a bathhouse would be great place for the whole family to wash up almost all at once and they could redirect the dirty bathwater to the fields to water the grove but on the other it could take away a bit too much space on the farm and would be far more work than raising a barn. She would have to have a talk with her family about this, and chances are they would all have to witness a bathhouse before deciding on the matter. There was also the matter of strangers seeing her unadorned body when she came into the building proper.
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Pinkie was excited about the bakery; it had such tasty cakes and treats. The cafe was nice too, especially with its open-air aesthetic. But what got her really excited was Spike’s new project, which was still a few days out from completion. It could be used to host parties, if she could ever convince him on that front, and had a variety of places to spend your time. She also liked his ideas for the menu items, even going as far as to suggest a few new additions in the aesthetic of the establishment. She had almost surprised him with her in-depth know-how of the demographic the place was designed to cater to, until he remembered it’s Pinkie Pie that he was talking to.
Pinkie was able to try so many samples without having pay a single bit, the owners of the dining establishments were okay with it so long as they got honest feedback from somepony that wasn’t part of the community. They wanted to make sure they weren’t just making a few things that only they liked; Pinkie was glad for the opportunity to meet such a challenge. Also, she really liked the atmosphere the whole town seemed to exude.
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Rainbow was bored, bored, bored; she was stuck waiting over a month for her next show with the Wonderbolts, and her next practice session with the team was still a solid week out from her current position. The aerial view of the town was okay, Spike’s project was a bit too nerdy for her, and she had nothing to do. The only solace she had was that they would be heading back home before the day was done.
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Fluttershy was happy to hear the gremlins were more than happy to entertain the foals and had brought a few gremlins back to the town to meet them all. The gremlins also wanted to make sure Daring was keeping up with her end of the bargain, and were satisfied she was, for the time being. Fluttershy ended up having a full body blush when she saw what the inside of the school looked like; she thought the outside was cute. Even with the warning about the attires of the teacher and students she still blushed so hard she almost passed out. Thankfully, Eventide had a bit more free-flowing class style due to being new to the whole teacher thing; she had also been notified that Twilight would probably bring her friends along for the ride sometime that week.
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Rarity was conflicted about fainting, blushing, looking aghast and being in awe when she saw the display for the boutique. There was a night themed, slightly frilly, set of lingerie on a mannequin between a twilight themed one-piece bikini with a section opened to display the gut area and an elegant looking day themed evening dress that wouldn’t look out of place in Canterlot. The swimsuit and evening wear in the display were pretty standard, especially in places like Canterlot and Manehattan, but to actually have mare’s undergarments on display in the window, not even adult attire shops did that. After nearly gawking at the display for a few minutes she entered the shop. A little bell above the door, not unlike her own shop’s, announced her arrival into the store. The inside was displaying undergarments, for both males and females, openly alongside the standard faire for a shop of this kind.
“Welcome to Mystique Elegance, where your style meets a different aesthetic,” came the voice of Stellar Weave as she came into Rarity’s view. Flurry wasn’t joking, Stellar Weave had a body fit for a model and then some, but the fact she was in morning orange lingerie was a bit off-putting for Rarity. “Ms. Rarity, it’s a pleasure to see you in my humble shop. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Rarity blinked few times to get her bearings and said, “Just inspecting the place, darling. Why are there undergarments on display in the window?”
“It’s to go with the town’s aesthetic, I know most ponies from outside the community will probably be put off by the fact there’re unmentionables on display for any passerby, but it’s a reflection of my sense of comfort.”
Rarity gave a polite cough before saying, “Yes, Flurry Heart informed us of your...preference in attire. I suppose a town aesthetic like this makes it easier to get measurements. I was also informed you have a talent that helped deal with an intruder, what do you usually use it for?”
“It’s a little trick I discovered when I was inspired by you to pursue a career as a fashion designer,” Rarity was touched by the sentiment and showed it, “it allows me to see distortions in the world around me, I use it for finding items that are easy to lose around the place. I haven’t lost a single needle since I began pursuing this career.”
Rarity gave a good-natured chuckle; she remembered how she lost a few needles during her early attempts at fashion. “I’m guessing that’s your talent, so being able to teach it to somepony else isn’t in the realm of possibility.”
“Not at the moment, but Daring and I did discuss the possibility of Princess Twilight studying it and figuring out how to replicate it so that it can be taught. However, the distortions I see with it are more akin to silhouettes; I just get general outlines with hardly any detail.”
“That’s still impressive in and of itself. It’s better than most ponies have, I have the ability to detect gemstones. Arguably an advantageous ability but there are times I think about having an ability like yours, it would make finding what I’m looking for at times considerably easier.”
___________________________________
After a few minutes Daring returned with a map of the town, “Dinky drew this up with assistance from Flurry,” said Daring as she entered the room with the rolled up map. “I’ll leave you two to decide the best points for the nodes, when you’re done with that I’ll see about making sure you get to where you need to for it all. And if we have to put up some new fixtures to make it easier I’ll make sure the new ones match the town’s aesthetic.” With that, she left the two mares to plan on their own.
Veggie Malt woke up, as he always did, in this incredible new community. His usual attire now consisted of cargo pants or shorts and a pocket filled vest, nothing else. It was rather liberating to not worry about undergarments, if a bit odd feeling at first. He liked that Spike had a new project in the works, and helped to better formalize the designs of the exterior and interior after the general plan was proposed. He rather liked the seemingly eccentric design of the whole thing, the outside looking like some sort of prototype for a new castle while the inside being dedicated to catering to a specific demographic. He had never played any type of games like what Spike had rambled on about, but he was interested in trying them now.
Spike had talked about cutting his teeth with Ogres and Oubliettes but had expanded into other games of the same type as well. O&O was fine for classic fantasy backdrops, but Spike had also mentioned a game that uses a noticeably different system and has a more modern backdrop as its default setting called Realm of Enigma. Veggie Malt figured he might give the games a try at some point.
He agreed with ponies that actively pointed out how off-putting his name was; he had no particular attachment to the name other than it was given to him by his parents. Of course, half the time he thought his parents might not entirely like him due to their choice of name for him. Just because his dad operated a vegetable farm and his mom ran the local ice cream parlor didn’t mean their combining the two aspects together for a name was a good idea, he remembered when his mom had made an actual vegetable malt, it tasted awful. Nevermind the whole “I’ll use plain flavor to allow the natural essence to work its magic” fiasco or the fact it had been so bad most of her regulars avoided the place until a full week after her announcement of its discontinuation.
Because of his name he had been associated with being not very good for a not-so-healthy portion of his life. It didn’t matter that he had graduated from architect school as the second highest rated student, the highest ranked student had gone to Manehattan to work for a big firm and had been practically hired the moment he had graduated. Veggie Malt hadn’t gotten any such offers, nor did he want any, he wanted to work his way up the old-fashioned way. He started his own little construction company back home, the same small town that had mixed thoughts about him, even though he knew the place didn’t really have much of demand for that sort of work. He had managed to see some of the most fascinating architectural designs during his formal schooling and wanted to try and do something similar with his work.
This entire town he was in was the exact sort of thing he wanted to see, even if most of the residential buildings were a bit uninspired and bland looking. The temple, which he had helped in working on, at the center of the town was the kind of structure he wanted to see. He adored the bread inspired exterior of the bakery and temple inspired aesthetic of the bistro. The heart inspired designs of the post office and school building. This was the kind of place he wanted to be.
To be honest, he had never put much thought into pursuing any actual relationships beyond the working and professional sort. Although, there were a lot of attractive ponies milling about on a regular basis. Today that was extra true, the six great heroes of Equestria were visiting, it was no surprise they would have some sort of involvement with the project. The construction company he and the other former workers for the beginnings of the project had formed was just across the street from the bistro, next to the bakery, an easy excuse to get some decent food, and he was watching them all, it looked like they had brought along a guest that seemed mildly familiar to him.
As all the records showed, they were pretty lively as a group. Although, it looked like the pink one had decided to embrace the town’s aesthetic a bit too eagerly. He watched with amazement; he couldn’t hear anything they were saying, from his position as the great hero known as Pinkie Pie seemed to sexually tease the great Wonderbolt known as Rainbow Dash.
Looking down at his formerly blank paper he found a sketch of what looked like a structure with Pinkie’s unique hair aesthetic and Rainbows expanded wings on a pair of interconnected spherical structures with only one visible door. Looks like he had subconsciously built designed something new again. Then he noticed the doodles in the bottom right corner, which were sketches of the two kissing at five different angles. Veggie felt embarrassment overtaking him as he made a go at discreetly erasing the images of the kissing mares.
It was during the erasing of the doodles that something hit him, he was sexually aroused by mares being intimate with each other. Given the small size of his old community, and their overly traditional approach to most things he really hadn’t seen anything to trigger those sorts of thoughts in that environment; and at architect school he had been so focused on his studies and the architecture that he hadn’t even given any of the other students a side glance until they were all in formal settings, even then his viewing of his fellow students was minimal. Thinking about it, he didn’t just want to see mares get intimate with each other; he wanted to also be part of it.
Well, at least he was in a community that allowed for that sort of exploration of sexuality openly, he would have to have a discussion with somepony about this. Although, his choices of consultation in this matter were limited, possibly even not worth the time or effort for it all. He would be helping oversee the new complex but Spike was handling that quite well, especially with his exceptional ability to properly translate the schematics to work orders that were understandable to the construction workers.
Since he wasn’t needed, he was in the office trying to come up with some new designs. He was trying to keep his focus off the adult females of the town when Flurry Heart strolled in, her formal-ish dress showing off her figure. “How are things around here, Veggie,” said Flurry as she approached him. Veggie Malt gulped like he was a colt caught in the cookie jar, “I have some free time, now that I’ve taken care of showing my aunt and her friends around. How are things with you?”
Veggie Malt had always been at hiding things, this included bluffs and outright lies, so he just decided to come clean to Flurry, “I saw Ms. Pinkie Pie parading around the town without anything on…”
“Yeah, that sounds like auntie Pinkie,” said Flurry with a giggle, “always getting caught up in the spirit of the town.”
“Anyway,” Veggie Malt felt himself getting a little too warm for comfort, “she placed her bosom on top of Ms. Rainbow Dash, and I… I found it really sexy, especially after Ms. Dash’s wings went full spread. I kind of ended up drawing this,” he showed the new design to Flurry, “and kind of...drew some sketches of them both making out in the corner, I erased the sketches almost as soon as I saw them. I think, maybe, I find the prospect of two intimate mares arousing.”
Flurry gave a big grin, a grin that made Veggie Malt feel a bit uneasy, before saying, “Drop by my place this weekend, I have some stuff to ‘discuss’ with you, you might even get a little surprise. I hope you like surprises.”
“I suppose it’s okay, but if any of us are too uncomfortable and tell the other, then that’s when we stop.”
“Sounds fair to me,” said Flurry as she departed. Veggie Malt saw the young alicorn mare make her way in the direction of the bathhouse and wondered just what he was getting himself into.
Alphabet Block was having a good day, none of the staff was doing anything stupid. That said, the mail staff really didn’t have anything to do for the time being. Once the town was opened up for visitors that was likely to change. The closest they got to any work was the reports from most of the observers, but those were a monthly event and tended to require a request for the train to come on down to pick up the outgoing mail.
The only thing of note was the fact Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends were in town, even though he only ever saw the party at a distance. Pinkie Pie, the most random mare in Equestria, possibly the world, popped up to say a greeting before bouncing off like it was the most normal thing in the world. The fact that she was entirely without clothes didn’t bother him, especially since both the community leader and half the postal staff regularly went about town with nothing on. He supposed the ponies that went about the post office nude would only wear a postal cap and the mailbag when out deliveries around town, something that was yet to actually happen.
There wasn’t much to do around here, and that’s the way he liked it. He had worked in the postal service of Manehattan, Canterlot, and Vanhoover, all of which had been far too hectic for his liking. Every time he requested a transfer to one of Equestria’s smaller communities he was denied, usually followed up with excuses about such communities don’t really need more ponies.
This experimental community had its applications crop up at just the right time, if he had to deal with one more overly noisy and unnecessarily hectic mail complex he was going to probably end up doing something regretful. In addition to his requests to for transfer to somewhere more peaceful being denied, his attempts for personal time off were also denied. The closest thing to time off was the mandatory minimum time off for major holidays, which in the postal world is substantially less than any other profession. His mental health was definitely showing signs of falter, somewhere like this was good for his piece of mind.
Maybe if he was lucky, he could actually end up going on a date with somepony. There were definitely plenty of good looking ponies to choose from in town, especially among the mail staff. His biggest problem, he didn’t even know his sexual orientation thanks to being forced into working for as long as he did. Usually, by the time he found somepony to ask out his time was up and it was back to work. He had always been good at his job, but he just wanted a change of pace while staying in the profession. He liked being the head of the post office, seeing as he found delegation was better suited to him than the other postal positions.
He liked being in charge; it meant he didn’t have to deal with annoying superiors that want him available as much as possible. He decided to head home; literally, everyone was just lounging around. His residence wasn’t any different from the others is the residential section, and he made sure to keep it that way, the less distinct his home was the less likely he would have to deal with unwanted visits from former superiors.
After closing the door behind him when he got home, and setting all the locks to the locked position, he headed into the kitchen to find a black unicorn mare with an electric green mane and tail dancing about his kitchen in nothing but an apron.
Alphabet pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly, before saying,“Night Feast, what are you doing here, again? I thought I told you that I’m not interested in your shenanigans.”
Night Feast was one of the staff for the bathhouses, the southern one to be specific, but over the past week or so she had taken to somehow getting into Alphabet’s place and making him a variety of meals without being asked. While Alphabet had found it cute the first time, the novelty had worn thin by the fourth day. The worst part of it all, when she started it was compulsory. “Ah, I know you like my meals,” said Night in a teasing voice, “and the view,” she said with a saucy grin.
“At first, yes. But now, not so much. You do this again and I’ll report you to the local guard and community leader. Are you ever going to tell me how you keep getting in here?”
“Not unless the proper conditions are met,” she said in a teasing manner.
“Fine, fine,” Alphabet took a deep breath before continuing, “if it will get you to stop breaking in, how about we go on a date this weekend. But on the condition, you don’t come into my residence without permission from this point forward. Are we clear?”
“As a bell. I made you a four-course spread this time, do try to enjoy it.”
“Okay, I guess I can do that,” said Alphabet. He hoped this didn’t go any further without his input, he really needed to figure out how this mare kept getting into his locked house, and somehow managed to do so with ingredients that were not anywhere to be found around town or in his house.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like her cooking, the first night she had blathered on about how she had worked in the diner her parents owned and operated. His problems were that this was both not expected of her from the onset and that she had decided to start doing this sort of thing without notifying anyone, to his knowledge. This was made all the more concerning that he routinely closed and locked all his doors and windows before leaving the house. Yet, without fail since the day this whole thing started, Night Feast was in his kitchen making meals just for him, she even admitted to not really knowing him the first two times. As far as he could tell, the first time was a complete accident and had something to do with Night’s general approach to things when not expected at work.
Her habit of going about naked, which he was still unsure of how to feel about, probably came from expectations at work. The novelty of a naked mare pretty much wore off on him after three days of working with some of them. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t attractive; she had a figure that was present among quite a few of the ponies in the upper societal regions of Equestria’s major cities. He couldn’t speak for Canterlot, seeing as he had only really been there for work-related reasons once or twice.
Honestly, he had no idea how to feel about an attractive mare being in his house cooking delicious meals for him. He supposed quite a few stallions would consider a highly attractive, and very naked, mare in only an apron sexy. They probably considered this sort of thing where she makes them delicious meals in addition to all that a worthwhile fantasy. But the problem Alphabet had was he was completely clueless about what he found arousing, and knew it quite well.
In a sense, he supposed this could be considered therapy, but it just wasn’t pushing any of his buttons. Was he really that clueless to what he found attractive? Or did the sight of a very attractive mare in nothing and next nothing really not interest him. Considering he had seen a few stallions going about in a similar manner and had no responses to them, he figured it was just due to his overall obliviousness to anything potentially sexy. He supposed he could be asexual, seeing as he was seemingly free of any sexual desires.
Twilight and her friends departed, with the assurance they would be back for another visit. Twilight mentioned that she, and Starlight, needed to converse with the other princesses on getting some of the rarer materials for making the spell nodes. Getting something like that in sufficient quantities for the project, discreetly, was far from an easy task.
On the ride back Rainbow couldn’t stop laughing at Twilight’s ditz moment, but she deserved a little chagrin from her friends. They all had obligations, and hers had just gotten more expansive over the years. That said, her senior princesses still insisted she wasn’t quite ready for the more extensive delegations and responsibilities her position required. And this little near fiasco helped prove just how right they were; if she were more accustomed to her position, she would have at least thought ahead to send a liaison to mediate things and assist in assessing what might be required of her obligations she had locked herself into.
Instead, she had completely forgotten about her the obligation of magical security that she herself had suggested because she had decided, quite unilaterally, other aspects of the project demanded far more of her attention up to, and possibly even a bit past, the point she was notified she had completely omitted the very act of magical protection from her actions regarding the project.
There was no way, under any circumstances, she was going to call the town by the name Daring had decided on and the other princesses had okayed out of their own sense of amusement. She had only said the town’s name once on the way there, and only to Cadance due to the elder alicorn being the principle princess in charge of overseeing the project. And had gotten predictable results from all her friends; Rainbow broke into laughter all the way down to the station area and for the first half our of the train ride down, Rarity and Fluttershy both showed signs of embarrassment from just hearing the town’s name, Pinkie just giggled and started babbling incoherently about it all (which Twilight took as the pink mare going into note taking mode), Applejack just huffed and facepalmed at the bizarreness and perceived stupidity of the name, and Starlight made a comment about it at sounding better than some of the sillier names she had encountered on the map.
Of course, it didn’t help things when they actually got there all pretense of modesty left Pinkie in less than a heartbeat, much to the embarrassment of the rest of them, the act of getting to know the place turned into an exercise in embarrassment for most of them. The only ones not embarrassed, aside from Pinkie, were Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow had even made a comment about following Pinkie’s lead on their next visit.
Also, the discussion about the attraction between the two over lunch was as funny as it was concerning for Twilight. Pinkie was a married mare, to Cheese Sandwich, and the very idea of two of her friends sharing the same spouse, as well as being spouses to each other, was causing a variety of mixed thoughts to course through her mind at a pace that was almost too fast to focus on for more than a few seconds. That said, she and Cheese were still trying to have a baby; for close to five years now, the doctors said neither of them had any conditions that stated that conception of a foal wasn’t possible.
With Rainbow in the mix, something Twilight didn’t want to think about but found herself doing anyway; things probably wouldn’t get any easier. “Please tell me the whole banter with Rainbow about her being attracted to you was a joke,” said Twilight as she trained her attention Pinkie.
“Nope,” said Pinkie in her usual chipper manner, “we even have a herd application form back at my place, Cheese got it for our first anniversary as a semi-gag gift. He’s totally okay with us having more members in the family that are adult.”
“But, does Rainbow even have feelings for him?”
“Uh, yeah,” said Rainbow, “the guy knows how to throw awesome parties and is pretty good at pranks, I’m not opposed to being part of that herd. Besides, Pinkie’s stories of what they do behind closed doors has me totally wan…”
“Not going to listen to the rest of that,” said Twilight, cutting her friend off.
“It’s better that way,” said Pinkie, “and there’s so much more fun things we can do as a trio that we couldn’t as a pair.”
“I think that’s enough of that sort of talk,” said Rarity, “it’s starting to venture into the sort of thing you don’t discuss in the presence of polite company.”
“So,” Twilight inquired, “what did you think of what you saw?” She was desperate to get away from such an uncomfortable subject; she got enough of that sort of thing just talking about the project.
“Ah lahked the communal bath idea,” said Applejack, “o’ course befer we try et back home some o’ mah family ‘re gonna need to come down and see how et all works. Et wud save time wid cleaning up et least.”
“I’ll admit their fashion expert is a bit...eccentric,” said Rarity, “but her fashion sense, even if a bit peculiar, is quite interesting. And her ability had so many practical uses, even if she does limit it to locating items that are a bit too adept at hiding.”
Twilight facepalmed, “That’s right, Shining asked me to take a look at her ability to see if we could replicate some of its features in a teachable spell.”
“Well, it just means you’ll be back a bit sooner than you thought,” said Starlight, “and to be honest, the aesthetics of the place are way more interesting, and more inviting in some places, than where I came from.”
“But that’s just it,” said Twilight, “it’s not like any place we’ve seen before.”
“Yup, it’s got a really open atmosphere,” said Pinkie, “one free from societal concepts of modesty we all have to live with. If it had been around when we were little, I would totally have chosen that as my place of residence. But I’m too attached to Ponyville now; maybe we’ll branch out to there once they open up to the public.”
“It’s a bit too embarrassing there,” said Fluttershy, “I can’t see myself ever living there, even though it has some interesting creatures nearby.”
“Eh, it’s pretty boring out there,” said Rainbow, “nice place to visit but not enough excitement to keep my attention.”
“As opposed to Ponyville, which was pretty slow and sleep before Twilight came to stay,” said Rarity with a critical tone.
“That’s different,” said Rainbow with a wave of her hand and nonchalant tone, “I moved on down there to act as moral support for Shy, besides the housing prices back then were pretty cheap.”
**********************************************
After they got back to the Crystal Empire Twilight checked the train schedule. “Okay,” said Twilight, “the next train home is at nine in the morning, looks like we’re spending the night with Shining and Cadance.”
“Can’t you just teleport us back the rest of the way?” Said Rainbow, “it would be faster.”
“Maybe,” said Twilight, “but it would also be considerably draining, even if Starlight and Rarity were lending me some raw magical energy, and if we did that then instead of one mildly drained alicorn we’d end up with a semi-drained alicorn and two magically fatigued unicorns. No, we’re taking the train, seeing as it would take weeks or months for us to recover our magic if we were to do it the fast way.”
“But it’s just us,” said Rainbow with confusion.
“And our attire, and our bags,” said Pinkie, “mass plays a big part in spells that affect other objects, especially transportation type spells like teleportation. If you really wanted to rush it, I suppose Twilight could leave our clothes and bags behind but then we would all end up at whatever she set as the destination point completely in the nude.”
“Something I would never allow,” said Rarity, “although, given her actions at the place we’re now coming from, I don’t think Pinkie would mind all that much. Even so, if we did go without everything and arrived at our destination naked as a wild animal, Twilight would still feel pretty drained and require a few days worth of rest.”
“Mostly on the account, I’m not used to teleporting an extended mass,” said Twilight, “I can teleport myself effortlessly almost anywhere in Equestria or the Crystal Empire, with one or two smaller passengers. But six other physically matured ponies, that’s going to take some getting used to. I suppose I could try teleporting short distances with the equivalent of that much mass on my off time, which I have very little of at the moment, but the practice itself will mostly be over short distances, likely just around town, and will probably still require me resting for a bit after on fact I’m so unused teleports of that size. I’m not just teleporting that much mass when it comes to ponies; I also have to take the space between them and also include the air between ponies in the total mass to make sure everypony is included in the teleport.”
“Okay, okay,” said Rainbow, “I get it, unpracticed larger scale teleports that are unpracticed are not very good in terms of ideas. I just want to get home so I can enjoy my free time the way I want.”
“Not to mention we need to get the herd formation form signed by all parties,” said Pinkie in her usual chipper tone, “then it has to be confirmed by a pony with the proper power to do so, Twilight could probably do that for us. After we get everything else out of the way.”
“You’re assuming your husband is onboard with this idea,” said Rarity, “you said so yourself, he got you the form as a sort of gag gift.”
“Oh, Cheesy’s more than okay with this sort of thing, we’ve discussed all of you joining our family at one point or another. And he was totally onboard with Rainbow joining, even going into why she would be a good fit for an addition to our family.”
“Let’s save the rest of that for when we get home,” said Twilight with some slight embarrassment.
“This is quite the list,” said Cadance as she looked over the list of materials needed for making spell nodes, “and you’re sure these are required?”
“If we just go with the standard approach then we’re required to cast the spell from a central focal point, preferably the highest point in the town,” said Starlight, “and doing it that way, while proven to be effective is also mildly easy to circumvent.”
“Doing it that way only creates a semi-sphere,” said Twilight, “one that peaks at the point at which the spell was cast, but it stops at the ground level.”
“We already know there are entities that can circumvent magical means, even that of alicorns,” said Shining.
“Yes, gremlins being able to go through detection spells, even high-grade ones, was a bit of a surprise,” said Twilight, “thankfully we’re on amicable terms with them, and the research the volunteers we gathered is helping to further our understanding innate magics. That said, Daring suggested the spell nodes and we agree that approach would be better for security reasons. The only reason it’s not a more common practice is the logistics of creating them.”
“That’s an understatement,” said Cadance, “a full third of the components are rarer resources from outside Equestria’s typical imports. Also, the spell receptive materials you listed are in such low supply, according to our last inventory check of such materials, that we’ll be lucky to not run out by the time you make six.”
“I think three should just about do it,” said Starlight, “or we could make for just to be safe. Ideally, we would want a minimum of five, but we don’t want to deplete the resources too low so that if they’re needed for other demanding projects they should be available.”
“Yes, that is all quite well and good,” said Shining, “but Magi-tin and Magi-copper are very difficult to even locate, even more so when mining. And they exist in such low natural levels it’s a miracle we managed to accumulate as much as we did in the past century or so. I’m sure Rarity can help you find crystals that are more magically receptive, it should be within the bounds of what her ability is capable of. That said, the amplifying materials that also would increase the corrosion resistance of the metals can only be found in Zebra territory, and if we were to request even a twelfth as much as Twilight says the nodes could need it’ll raise eyebrows. Either we read our suppliers in on the project, so they can know exactly why we require such an intense quantity, or we work on ordering small trickles of the materials in a cycle that makes it so no suspicions are made.”
“Either way,” said Twilight such shipments will catch the interest of pirates along the trade routes, they especially like super rare merchandise. We’d have to give the shipments a security escort, which would just attract unwanted attention. We suspect pirates abducted Daring's sister, it might be a good way to lure them out. But I don’t want to waste such important materials on a ploy to catch pirates mooring around Equestrian waters.”
“I see what you’re saying,” said Shining, “no matter what our decision, there will be some serious dangers. If we come clean with our providers, they might be willing to give us a bulk discount but it will also act as an early alert to anypony spying on such proceedings. We don’t do that then the risk of somepony being tipped off is substantially less but chances are we won’t get enough for the project on the deadline you’ve been tinkering with over the course of the project.”
“Quite the pickle,” said Cadance, “but a project like this is worth some risks. I’ll discuss all this with Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna the next time I see them; this is too important to leave to just two princesses and their close circle of confidants.”
Spike was surprised, and thankful, for the outfits intended for fillies in the clerical order. While the mares basically wore stylized fetishwear, something he found mildly amusing and notably attractive, the fillies were in attire that was more akin to old world robes, with slits in the sides of the leg area to make movement a bit easier, and something akin to a v-neck for that hint of attraction without sexualization.
Daring had made it very clear the kind image she wanted to project, also Zelshirska was not very forgiving of sexualization of individuals that are not yet old enough to both be of childbearing age and of potential to care for any young on their own. They didn’t seem to have any attire geared towards the male end of things; all the religious attire was centered on females. Spike wanted to ask Daring about it, but it felt a bit rude to ask something like that for some reason.
His shop was up; he just needed the first set of supplies to get in. Nothing fancy, just coffee beans, some tea mixes and a variety of roleplaying supplies. But not the erotic roleplaying stuff, not yet at least. Besides, he would have to keep that sort of inventory somewhere else to make sure the wrong sorts of ponies didn’t wander into it.
He would need to work on the coffee blends to see what would work best the menu, both default, and custom. He would also have to work on game inspired treats, mostly cookies and other confections. He also had some healthier snacks that he could work on, like sandwiches and salads.
That all said, it would still be some time before his supplies for the whole thing would be getting in. Even though the building itself was finished, he was still stuck waiting for the appliances. He hoped the spaces he set aside for the larger appliances, like the stove and fridge, were properly measured out. There were very few things Spike had a high level of disdain for, one of those was avoidable messes in the kitchen.
Spike was feeling rather bored; a park area had also been neglected in the town’s design which could significantly help to curtail this feeling. Amusingly, none of the princesses had bothered to inform Daring of this, including Twilight. It had been Rarity on the group’s way out that had mentioned this, along with a comment about the lack of suitable romantic backdrops in the town. Daring was going in a meeting with representatives of the community’s demographics about the where to place a park and what it’s design and aesthetics could be.
He was so lost in thought he didn’t notice how the world around him shifted yet stayed the same. Everything has a slight tint of blue to it for a split second, but he didn’t even notice any of that. He was just starting to come out of his thoughts when an unfamiliar voice reached his ears.
“I thought you would be having more enjoyable moments by now,” said a sensual voice, Spike turned to see a very attractive dragoness with violet and green scales and an exceptionally voluptuous figure smiling serenely at him.
“Zelshirska? You can leave your pocket dimension now,” said Spike in surprise.
“Not quite, I’m just projecting a representation for you to see. It’s a little something that became possible for me recently, it helps keep me from the boredom that comes from having nothing to really do in my personal space.”
“I know the feeling,” said Spike, “Daring is discussing some of the components for building a park for the community. I’m not sure I could give proper input for that sort of project.”
“But you did suggest placing it in the south-western part of the town, partially due to the fact eastern expansion is not permitted.”
“You know that? Of course, you do, one of your domains is Knowledge.”
“Your wife seems to be getting into the swing of things; I rather like this experiment she managed to pull together. I got a few new followers, and it seems the training she’s been giving is going rather well.”
“You almost sound like Twilight, always trying to expand her knowledge. She can’t help learning about new things, did she discover anything new when she met with you?”
“She desires an intimate relationship with a caring dragon, like yourself, and is a little envious of what you and Daring have.”
“Yeah, well the relationship caught me by surprise, and I’m looking forward to being a father. I suppose that’s why I started my own little project here; I’m not sure of how well it might do though.”
“All of the businesses here are curiosities, something of the world outside with a few touches of my philosophies.”
“So, you like mortals going about in revealing ways.”
“I don’t like unnecessary secrets, hiding aspects of one’s body is definitely an unnecessary secret.” With that, she seemingly disappeared.
Spike looked about and just decided to roll with it all. Now, if he could just find some ponies to play a few of his favorite games with. It didn’t look like it; maybe he could generate interest in a few when the place finally opened. He really didn’t want to think about his encounter with an ancient dragon goddess; it was something that usually ended up being something beyond him.
Note to self thought Spike talk to Daring about interactions with Zelshirska.
“Well, I have to say,” said Spike, “it’s been quite some time since we had some genuine time to ourselves,” pulling Daring into a brief kiss, “whatever shall we do with our time? In a few months, we really won’t have very much to ourselves.”
Daring was completely in the nude, as usual, and Spike was also completely naked, something Daring insisted on when they were in their home environment. Spike Didn’t mind too much; he still felt weird about being seen in public without anything on. Thus why he regularly went about outside their residential area in only a pair of pant, he was sure some photographer from the Crystal Empire that caught that sight on camera would likely make their career with images like that.
“Trying to be a sweetheart, as usual,” responded Daring, “I was thinking of going over some designs for securing ourselves here.”
Spike knew what that meant; Daring wanted to put a few traps up along the stairs leading to their residence. “I’m game, so long as it doesn’t involve anything potentially fatal, it just needs to be something to make intruders question their decisions regarding our little haven. Also, it will make sure any of the younger residents that accidentally set off the security don’t get seriously hurt.”
“Good point, we’ll look into that all later. I can sense there is something else you want to discuss, go ahead.”
Spike let out a short extended breath before saying, “I noticed all the religious attire is centered on females, is there a reason for it?”
“A few,” said Daring, “since Zelshirska is female it makes sense to mainly focus on that side of things, for now, all her visible blessings seem to focus on the female form, and the ones with the most power in this religious order are females. Besides, the official attire for adults uses eroticwear as a base. Can you honestly think of any male eroticwear that would properly compliment the kind of attire the priestesses are intended to wear?”
“No, I guess not,” said Spike with a bit of a blush, “it would probably be less embarrassing to be nude.”
After that short conversation, they spent several minutes cuddling, which involved Spike occasionally fondling Daring’s swelling abdomen, and looking over some non-lethal traps, occasionally saying where they would probably put them. At one point Spike suggested a trigger for basically turning the stairs into a slide, which Daring was completely on board with. The real issues were installing it all and getting the proper resources to both set up the traps and reload them. Of course, setting up a reload system for some of the traps could be almost as tricky.
Afterward, the two came broke off from each other and Spike headed to the kitchen to work on lunch. After taking some quick inventory on what was in the kitchen, a habit of his that was instilled and encouraged by Twilight since he was very young, he got to work on making the two of them a small feast. Pregnancy has a tendency to greatly enhance a female’s appetite, and Daring was no exception to that rule.
Of course, Daring had yet to develop any odd craving; that wasn’t likely to happen for a few more months, he hoped. Spike really didn’t want to hear what a mare pregnant with a dragon’s baby requested, he’d already gotten an idea of what the odder things mares would crave when Twilight’s friends had been carrying. Besides, Daring had a serious appetite as is.
Today’s spread was a seven-course meal; it needed to be a multi-course meal because of her strong appetite, as was evident by how Daring was packing away the first course. Three dozen cucumber sandwiches, a large pot of cheddar-broccoli soup, five large loaves of garlic bread, a large pot of spaghetti with alfredo sauce, four dozen garlic knots and four extra large garden pizzas. And to compliment it all, a small variety fruit juices, apple juice and strawberry juice and even some blueberry lemonade.
Did he diminish almost all of their personal eating supplies? Most likely, would they have lots of leftovers? Hard to say, was it all worth it to see Daring gorge on everything in a very unrefined manner? In his opinion, yes.
Pregnant mares have a tendency to eat quite a bit more than usual; he wanted to be sure his partner had enough. Besides, they had supplies delivered to almost the whole in town once a month. Of course, Spike had spent almost half their supplies for the month on this one meal; but it was worth it, he was spending personal time with his mate. Daring was pretty decent with her cooking, it came from her previous lifestyle, but Spike had practically developed gourmet cooking abilities from his time with Twilight.
He only grabbed a few things from the spread, a few slices of pizza and some garlic knots, and left the rest for Daring. He didn’t entirely know why, but he actually enjoyed watching Daring eat. Her manner of eating in private reminded him of family gatherings, all dignified in public and less so in private. In fact, it was a bit of a quirk among the Sparkle family.
From the looks of things, Daring was very much falling in line with that tradition, just one more thing to worry about.
________________________________________
Daring had thought herself a pretty decent cook, that was until she tried Spike’s cooking. How this dragon managed to cook at a level so great was beyond her, she was hesitant to call it gourmet but she couldn’t think of any other words for it. Daring hadn’t eaten at all that many “fancy” restaurants but she had been to a few in her younger days, just enough to get a basic understanding of what more “elite” dishes were like, and Spike basically blew all of her prior experiences out of the water. A multi-course meal was also very sweet of him; she had been feeling her appetite amplify gradually as her pregnancy progressed.
The cuddling wasn’t bad either; it felt right. Before all this Daring had been not big on that sort of thing, or socializing in general. Now she was holding community meetings and reestablishing a church, and liking it. Not quite as much as her personal time with her new dragon lover, but still very much enjoying it.
Daring was really enjoying the food, as well as eating most of what was on the table at a rate she had never downed anything before, and started wondering what it would be like with the baby.
“Any idea,” said Daring between stuffing herself like a chipmunk and actual bursts of eating, “what it will be like when I finally have the baby?”
“Well,” said Spike, “based on what I’ve seen with Twilight’s friends that have foals and how things were during Flurry’s infant years, I would say a lot of sleepless nights with irregular periods of uncharacteristic cuteness. Also, a lot of running around being a bit clueless, more so for us since the baby is part dragon and part pony and we don’t know how that will translate in terms of what is acceptable for the baby to eat. You have to remember, dragons really like eating gemstones, that might mean the baby will be able to eat them as well. Also, you might find yourself craving gems in some manner during your pregnancy, despite your body not being able to process them.“
“Thanks for the warning, we’ll need to work on finding substitutes that ponies can digest.”
“I’ll send out the word for you to the princesses and Twilight, I’m sure Twi will like the challenge. She always did like problem-solving, especially if she could solve a problem before it became more obvious.”
Daring had finished her first sermon, which had surprisingly gone on for over an hour. None of the ponies being trained as priestesses had any major problems, just a few minor issues that could be easily explained away as a lack of familiarity. The fillies were adorable in their attire, and actually performed better than the mares in some places.
Spike had been there for the ceremony and had been much more restrained when another mare milked Daring during the mid portion of the ceremonial meeting, didn’t stop him from implying he would hurt anyone that touched Daring without his okay. Daring chalked it up to his protectiveness, after all she was still carrying and he probably didn’t want anything happening to the baby before it came along.
After Spike’s inventory had gotten in he had sent out notice to the community and asked if anypony was interested in being a barista, Night Feast had answered the call. She had been feeling a bit directionless, even with a talent for food preparation and cooking, which was one of the reasons why Daring had placed her as staff for one of the bathhouses. After she answered the call she was measured for the store’s official dress, which was just a hat and apron.
Night Feast has quickly gotten into the habit of going about the entire town in the nude, so while working at Spike’s new store she was naked under the hat and apron. Almost as soon as the place opened several of the town’s foals rushed to check out the place, mostly because they had kept hearing about the fact the place had games and treats.
After the sermon, the fillies all changed out into their usual attire for the town and rushed on down to Dragon’s Sanctum for sweet treats and beverages, Spike had even taken to teaching the foals how to play some of the games around the shop. Several fillies, and a few of the colts, had gotten rather interested in some of the RPGs.
Since Spike could trust Night with cafe part he could focus on the game store part with fewer worries, especially after how quickly she had memorized the recipes for the entire menu and gotten each attempt down almost flawlessly in just one or two goes, one go for all the things that required full kitchen in back and two tries for the drinks made up front. With being able to put more focus on the game store he could both help potential customers and act as the one to play sample games with some of the ponies that entered the store to help them get a feel for the games or just see if it was something they would like to play on a more regular basis.
After the whole service, during which Daring was indeed dressed in the fetishwear inspired attire, Daring switched back to her usual attire for time around town observed the actions of the town as they filed out of the temple. They had decided forgo a religious text, for the time being, on account that Zelshirska herself wasn’t sure of how to structure the text or what to put in it. All the members community came to see the first service, and likely had only done so due to curiosity.
The following few services would give a good idea of how many would be willing to attend regular services, Daring wasn’t about to put in some law or rule that forced members of the community to attend, it all had to be of the accord of the attendee. Daring had read accounts of religious groups in the ancient past enacting rules and regulations on their congregations that effectively forced certain behaviors, this led to both zealots and uprisings that ultimately caused the downfall of these groups, she had even explored some of their ruins.
Although, Daring was starting to have cravings for gemstones, with assistance from Pinkie Pie she was able to get an acceptable substitute in the form of rock candy. Said candy was made extra tough and sparkly to give it a greater feeling of eating condensed earth minerals.
_________________________________
Spike had mixed feeling about the service, on one hand he could see why Daring had things like other mares milk her but on the other his possessive instincts made it so that seeing the act caused a rather aggressive reaction. This was further made problematic by the fact he thought the sight of Daring being milked by other mares was more than a little hot, a feeling that was at odds with his possessive instincts.
But right now, he couldn’t really care. His shop was up and ready, and he had been treating some of the foals to sample campaigns to better introduce them. Of course, things got a little weird when the most recent shipment included several boxes of a card game he hadn’t heard of. The game’s name, Conjure the Calling, a game where you summoned creatures and items and cast spells at your opponent. The game seemed to really take off with earth ponies and pegasi, but only a few unicorns showed some measure of interest. Apparently this new game was so massively popular several card manufacturers were hard at work devising their own card battle games, chances are the market would be flooded with games like this before this time next year.
Spike was also thinking of how to make his own version of a card battle game, Twilight owned a card manufacturing facility and would probably let him utilize it for considerably lower than anywhere else. That said, she mainly used it for producing flashcards. Flash cards were Twilight’s favorite kind of card, but this new card battle game was right up Rainbow’s alley.
From the look of things, the future was getting more interesting. With games that hadn’t been seen before making an appearance left and right, not to mention, the way technology seemed to be growing at a rapid rate. Twilight was working on a newer version of the mechanical computer, she had already done that sort of thing with cameras.
To better assist Daring’s new cravings Spike introduced his customer base to what he called a “geode fossil cake” so that she could pig out at his shop and they could spend some time together outside of their residence. The cake was a dark brown chocolate cake with dirt brown caramel frosting with a rock candy white chocolate blend he managed to come up with the assistance of Pinkie and Maud Pie. What he didn’t anticipate was how much of a hit it was with the foals, and some of the adults, as well. The white chocolate rock candy bones were modeled after a wide variety of fossils that were found and identified around Equestria.
The treat was such a tremendous hit Spike started wondering what the snack would be like once the town officially opened up to the public. He also started stocking the cases with edible fossil treats that were basically the fossil treats in the cake that were thrown onto the confection in a haphazard manner, even seeming to be embedded in some of the frosting at times, assembled in the way they were supposed to properly go on the real fossils, the foals really liked those too.
Daring was somewhere around five months shy of having the baby now, assuming her pregnancy followed along with a standard pony pregnancy. Spike wondered what their little bundle of joy would be like, how much pony and how much dragon would be expressed in the baby’s features? Would be a colt or a filly? Was using pony terms really a good idea when the baby was only half pony? He had a lot of questions whirling around in his mind now, he blamed Twilight for that particular quirk.
Twilight was surprised by how quickly the town would be opening up to the public, and even more surprised by the laid-back response both of her parents had when they heard the name of the town. Which they confirmed they had not heard until they all went to see Cadance about another visit. The town would be opening up the public a just a month two months out from current date first day of spring, which Twilight thought was possibly a bit too quick. Of course, Hearth’s Warming was just five months out, and if her calculations were right Daring would be having the baby around that time as well.
Since Flurry was part of the observers for the project it was decided, against Twilight’s input, that the family should spend a few days together in the town. Twilight couldn’t believe how casual her entire family was about the whole thing, even after her parents were informed the town’s acceptable attire was a bit off from anywhere else in Equestria. To his credit, Shining Armor was very vocal in his own protests about town. But his objections were overruled by Cadance, and it seemed neither Night Light or Twilight Velvet had any standing issues with anything.
Twilight Velvet had been a bit of a thrill seeker since as long as her children had known them, it was no surprise she was so accepting of Daring from the get-go. Night Light was a different story; his daughter guessed the reason he was fine with it all was because of the fact the community was semi-isolated and his curiosity to see what a place that didn’t follow several of the accepted taboos of Equestria proper was like. And, of course, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor were overruled by the rest of the family, at this point, it was almost a running gag among the family.
So now, here they all were riding the train down to the community Daring had devised. It would still be an hour or so until they got there, which for Twilight meant annoying and potentially embarrassing family moments on the train. Moments like Cadance joking with the train’s staff, Shining being made publicly uncomfortable by Cadance, and her parents using really unusual pet names while commenting on what was outside the window.
********************************
One Overly long train ride later they were all approaching the station, Night Light made a comment on the design of the station as they pulled in. Once they had all disembarked and removed their luggage, Night Light and Twilight Velvet had insisted on spending a few nights in the town to really soak up the atmosphere. As per usual, the sight of ponies milling about in what would typically be considered barely legal or just entirely nude could be seen from the station.
Fortunately Spike met them at the station only a few minutes after they had unloaded; unfortunately he was going around shirtless despite the chill in the fact winter supposed to be starting in just a month or so. “Glad you could make it,” said Spike, “and thanks for the heads up, Daring came up with a little practice for Fall we were all about to get to in the next couple of days. It’ll take another day or two of coordination then everyone will out and about.”
“And what might that be,” inquired Twilight, “I could help with the planning.”
“Naw,” said Spike, “she wants you all to relax and act as if you were tourists,” this caused Velvet and Night Light to brighten up with excitement, while also making Twilight and Shining look visibly uncomfortable. “She also has Stellar Weave working on winterwear for the whole town; it’ll be one of the few times Daring isn’t out and about in no attire to speak of.” Twilight and Shining showed some relief at this news, “but she’ll probably be going about like business as usual indoors, this caused the siblings to groan with a mix of disappointment and annoyance.
“I’m not sure we entirely follow,” said Night Light.
“Daring regularly goes around in no clothing at all, she’s gorging herself on treats as she plays with the foals at my shop right now. There’s this new card game that came out recently they seem to really like. And, for some reason, Daring is really good at it.”
“But first, let’s get our luggage taken care of,” said Twilight, “where are we staying during our visit?”
“Shining and Cadance will be occupying a guest room at the residence we set Flurry up in. As for Velvet and Night Light, what would you prefer? We were thinking of placing you in the same complex as Shining, Cadance, and Flurry but we thought it best to let you decide. We do have some spare rooms at our place, but there’s no furniture in them presently. Just our bedroom, the common area, and the kitchen are furnished. We’ll have the baby in the same room as us for the first few months of his or her life with us, and we’re trying to decide among the five spare rooms to dedicate to them after that.”
“A big decision,” said Shining, “we ran into a similar problem when we were deciding where to put Flurry’s bedroom and nursery. We decided to make them separate so that she would have her own play space as she got older that wouldn’t end up cluttering her sleeping area.”
“I suppose that was a good idea,” said Spike as he led them all toward Flurry’s place, “and we might turn one of the spare areas into a play area ourselves. Daring has mentioned wanting another one already, even though the first one isn’t quite here yet. By the way, Cadance, how’s your pregnancy?”
“Okay, I guess,” said the pink alicorn, “I’m still in the early months of my pregnancy, so at most, it’s just a few mood swings when I don’t get enough to eat.”
Spike gave a chuckle before saying, “Daring is already at odd cravings stage, and thanks to the baby being part dragon that includes a craving for gems. Thankfully, we found a substitute that ponies can eat. Here we are,” he stopped them at Flurry’s place. Word of warning, Flurry’s gotten into a little experimenting. She’ll explain why to you, just remember to keep level heads and ask the right questions. Night Light, Velvet, where would you like to hold up? Some of the houses here are still empty, and furnished with the most basic of furniture.”
“That actually sounds like a good idea,” said Velvet, “we can treat it like an auxiliary residence, maybe even reserve it for our own personal use. It might be nice having a retreat residence.” Night Light groaned in defeat, he knew what that meant all to well, and most of it had nothing to do with getting away from Canterlot.
****************************************
A few minutes later, Spike had to rush out and get two sets of keys for the house that Velvet had chosen, they came up on his shop. Velvet and Night Light both gave compliments on the external design. When they stepped into the shop the two were taken aback by Daring’s look, seeing as she was far more voluptuous than they had anticipated. Daring herself seemed to be no longer in the play section of the shop and instead had a large looking cake that looked more like a ball of mud with bones adorning its outside, Spike knew that when you cut open the cake it would be just like breaking open a geode, hence the name for the confection.
“What is she eating,” inquired Twilight, “it doesn’t look too appetizing.”
“A geode fossil cake,” said Spike with a grin, “a little something I came up with around here to give her an excuse to visit more regularly during her pregnancy, turned into one of the more popular menu items. In fact, it inspired some of the foals to work on devising a game where you take on the role of an assuming archeologist or geologist and complete a series of tasks to...well, I don’t want to ruin the fun. The objective is decided by a unique means and is so integral to the game that saying any more than I have would ruin the fun for potential new players listening in. Since they only barely started, they’re still working refining the whole thing. But once they have it all figured out to the point they’re confident in it we’ll help them with publishing the rulebook and getting any special pieces made just for the game.”
The group of six then made their way over to Daring, as they circled around to the dining section a small collection of rock candies embedded in a hollow of the cake did indeed give the impression one was eating a geode. Looking around the visitors noticed a few of the other tables also had the confection heaped on them as well, mostly foals and their parents from the look of it.
Something Twilight noticed, that the rest didn’t seem to have yet, was a nondescript paper bag on the table almost hidden behind the absurdly large cake modeled after a geode. “Um, Spike,” said Twilight, “what’s in the paper bag next to the cake?”
“Oh, good eye,” said Spike, “she gets gingersnaps from the sweets shop twice a week these days, for some reason her craving for them has gone up a ridiculous amount. I shared the secret to the geode cake with them, I don’t mind sharing my recipes with others every now and then, and they’re hard at work on making a gingersnap geode cake. As you can see, mine is chocolate. I did it that way because of how easy it is to make a chocolate shell without a mold. The bakery had to send out a special order for a semi-mold to make sure the product maintains the proper shape long enough. The real trick is placing the rock candies inside in such a way they don’t get too distorted by the heat and stick to the walls of the hollow.”
Daring looked up from her overly large treat and greeted them, “Nice to see you all, I hope you enjoy your stay,” said Daring, “in case you were wondering, it only takes about twenty minutes or so to polish off this tasty confection.”
Twilight looked to Spike with surprise; his response was, “She has an intense appetite these days and a tendency to down more complex meals in the time it usually takes to go through an average one. Not that I mind, I love cooking for just about anyone. Still, her heightened appetite has prompted me to request for greater volumes in our monthly shipments.”
“It’s easy enough to explain that sort of thing away,” said Cadance, “especially when you’re allowed to use the truth. Not that the ponies in the Crystal Empire mind, I’m sure many of them would love to see images of Spike in his current attire.”
“I’m pretty sure a few are already in circulation by now,” said Spike, “seeing as the delivery ponies have recently been arriving with the newer camera models Twilight designed.”
“Okay,” said Twilight, “I might have rushed their production out a bit too early and probably should have waited until this project was much closer to being open to the public. Lesson learned; I’ll be a bit more cautious with my technological ventures from now on.”
“At least until she forgets about all this in her fervor,” said Spike in a goodnatured chuckle. “She does seem to forget those lessons pretty quickly.”
Twilight gave an amused huff of annoyance at Spike’s comment, seeing as his comment reminded her of when she had made similar declarations only to completely forget about them by the time her next big breakthrough happened.
“Care to join me with this,” said Daring, “these sorts of treats are always tastier with family and friends.” The rest of the family graciously accepted and Spike ordered some additional plates and silverware.
Daring had felt like she had gone through Tartarus when the baby was finally born, the doctor’s at Canterlot’s finest medical facility had come close to being almost useless with the whole thing. It just a week out from Hearth’s Warming and had suggested just a few days prior they go to Canterlot for a Hearth’s Warming celebration with Celestia and Luna. A good call, all things considered, chances were what medical staff they had back in Fetish would have been possibly more clueless than the doctors in Canterlot, despite one of them actually having been from Canterlot.
And when she came around she was the most beautiful thing Daring and Spike had seen; she was actually strongly expressing more unicorn traits than pegasus traits. Her body was covered in lilac-gold colored fur-like scales and she had a pair of proto-dragon horns at the sides of her head that had smooth curving arcs along her forehead that connected with a horn more in line with what you would see on a unicorn. She had what looked near duplicates of Spike’s eyes, her hands were what looked like a cross between those of a pony’s and a dragon’s and her hooves had a bit of sharp jut that was similar to the clawed toes of a dragon.
Spike wasn’t very good at names, seeing as he just wanted to name with the most uncreative gem-inspired names that seemed to just jump out of him. Daring decided to call her Lilac Alloy, in honor of her coloration. Was it lazy? Most likely, did anyone object? She didn’t hear any objections. Since she had some aspects of a unicorn she might also be capable of magic. Regardless, Celestia and Luna were more than a little ecstatic to see the newest addition to the family, Celestia even teasingly joking that they should put a bit more thought into the name for the next one.
Luna was the most excited, mostly due to her love for foals. She absolutely adored the baby, even with the random spurts of flame she put out when a bit too overstimulated. Lilac was just barely a week old when Hearth’s Warming officially rolled around, and Celestia was more than busy trying to find the perfect gift for her new granddaughter, Luna was a bit less occupied with such thoughts and just focused on having as much fun with the filly as she could without exciting her too much.
Celestia was out at the royal tailor’s shop, making sure to get a new special wardrobe for the baby that was appropriately fireproofed. Thankfully for Daring and Spike, Twilight had thought ahead with the crib at home and went a little crazy on the fireproofing charms the whole thing. Luna was on the ground, in her bedrobe, playing with Lilac as she said, “All foals cute, but you are the most adorable little filly I have ever had the pleasure of meeting,” she tickled the filly’s belly and earned giggles from the infant. “You’re one of the most special little fillies ever, yes you are.”
“Pity Twilight couldn’t join us,” said Spike, “but she’s a little busy showing around/dating that new foreign dignitary. Where did she say he was from again?”
“She said he’s a dragon from Neighpon,” said Daring as she half watched the sight of Luna playing with her baby and half scarfed down massive handfuls of gingersnaps.
“Looks like we can’t give the baby your favorite toy just yet,” said Spike, “besides, you’re planning on having more and think giving one your old toy might send the wrong message.”
“True,” said Daring, “but on the plus side, we got our home security up and running.”
“The construction ponies were somewhere between amused, annoyed and excited when we told them about all the modifications,” said Spike with amused reverie.
“The looks on their faces was pretty great too,” said Daring. “But it looks like our regular routines are going to be a bit hectic for a while. Just in this past week, we haven’t quite slept the way we usually would.”
“Nightmares,” inquired Luna as she continued the adorable display.
“Maybe for her,” said Spike as he gestured to the infant, “but for us, it’s more a case of she wakes us up because of a need for food or diaper change. You know, typical newborn stuff.”
“Yes, well the maids, sister and I assigned to keep an eye on her when we all have no choice in having to be away from her...”
“Which has only been a few hours on two separate days so far,” interjected Spike.
“Yes,” said Luna, “have reported a few cases of magic surges.” As if on cue Lilac’s horn lit up a greenish gold for a few seconds and Daring found herself and the furniture she was on in a reversed gravity zone.
“Duly noted,” said Daring, “I’m unsure of how to feel about my current situation. I suppose we could have Flurry and Twilight give her some magic lessons; I’m sure Twilight would absolutely adore that.”
“Assuming Celestia and Luna don’t beat them to the punch,” Spike said nonchalantly as he gestured to the midnight alicorn still playing with the infant. “We’re gonna be here for a while; the trains won’t be back up and running until next week. In other words, we’re stuck in Canterlot for a while.”
“Why is Celestia so hung up on getting Lilac the perfect gift,” inquired Daring, “Lilac isn’t even a month old yet.”
“That may be,” said Luna, “but she’s never genuinely had a foal to spoil before, and she wants to take the spoiling grandparent thing to its absolute limit. Besides, her attempts at starting a family of her own haven’t really gone that well. There was that time she dated Discord, believe it or not, but it didn’t even last two full years. All her other dating attempts barely last two months, and with Spike being her legal son...”
“Still having trouble with that one,” said Daring as she fluttered down from her position on the ceiling, along with her with her tray of treats.
“Sister wants to indulge herself in some of the familial archetypes for a bit. Also, she wants to cash in on some of the sibling rivalries we missed out on during my...absence.”
******************************
Almost a full hour later Celestia returned with a wide assortment of bags in her arms and magic. The bags had everything from the unordained bags that clearly were intended for those in the castle, to the bags of every high-end store in Canterlot that caters to young foals. The ivory alicorn returned just in time to catch lunch that was made and being served by Spike.
Among the other things made, Spike had whipped up some oatmeal with a liberal sprinkling of gem dust mixed in. Daring and Spike found out very early on that their new daughter was attracted to gemstones and, unlike most infants when drawn to anything sparkly, made very real attempts to eat the gems themselves. Since she had yet to grow any strong teeth, she had actually taken to scraping flakes and powder off gems she came across with her somewhat blunt claws and sucking up the powder and flakes in her hands. And since she had already proved she could consume gems in some capacity, Spike made sure to grind a few small gems into dust and mix it well into the oatmeal for his daughter.
“So, what did I miss while I was out?”
“She had a powerful magic surge that part of part of the common area we’re using for the family gathering into a reversed gravity zone,” said Daring, “the effects haven’t worn off yet.
“Although, it was amusing to see Daring sitting on a couch on the ceiling,” said Spike. “Thankfully, she’s a pegasus and could easily move out from her position on the ceiling. That said, the Hearth’s Warming tree is currently on the ceiling with the couch and gifts we all labored to put under the tree.”
“That’s still true,” said Daring as she dug into her salad, “just in a different sense,” she began chewing her food a bit more gracefully than usual.
“The tree rotated around the gifts after they lifted up about six feet of the ground,” said Luna, “my magic couldn’t relocate them but doing it the old fashioned way did for some reason. So whatever caused gravity to be distorted is also interfering with teleportation and levitation spells.”
“She’s that powerful, at only a week old?” Celestia responded in surprise.
“According to the emissary from Neighpon,” said Spike, “a pony/dragon hybrid is called a kirin, and their magical potential and capabilities are immense. Of course, they’re also exceedingly rare occurrences. They might get a bit more populous in the coming years. Just think, if one born from a pegasus is this powerful, then what would one born from an alicorn be like?”
“Oh dear,” said Celestia, “Twilight is one of the most magically gifted ponies in over two-thousand years, a kirin born from her would possibly make any feats of magic Lilac does look quite tame.”
“And considering she just turned inverted the gravity for a quarter of a very large room, that is concerning,” said Daring. “So, what did you acquire to try and ‘buy’ Lilac’s favor?”
Celestia put down her bags and brought out a variety of items, “First,” said ivory alicorn as she pulled out a small collection of pajamas designed for a foal Lilac’s size, “an assortment of bedtime outfits fitted for her and enchanted to never catch fire.” She put the pajamas away and pulled out a collection of what looked like metal toys, “these toys have been enchanted to be as soft as a pillow and immune to fire that is hopefully nowhere near as hot as her flames can get.” She proceeded to go through a variety of other items, including dining utensils and various sheets, which included a small collection of blankets perfectly measured for the crib they had back home.
Lilac had no interest in what was going on, until she noticed a dawn green blanket adorned with geodes that had been split open. It seemed the blanket was her new favorite item, judging by how tightly she held onto the blanket. “I find it amusing that the one item she liked has more to do with Luna than you,” said Spike to Celestia. The ivory alicorn just banged her head against the table in defeat, all her attempts to be an over giving grandmother either got almost no response or were immediately blowing up in her face.
“She’s only a week old,” said Daring, “the likelihood she’ll remember any of this is extremely low. You’ll probably have better luck next year.
Despite her desire to return to Fetish with Spike and her daughter, the moment they arrived at the Crystal Palace and Cadance saw Lilac she insisted they stay for a few days, the pink alicorn even going as far as to insist on finding late Hearth’s Warming gifts for the filly. Shining Armor was less enthusiastic, seeing the filly caused a short resurgence of bad memories from when Flurry was that age.
Much like Luna, Cadance had the desire to play with the filly. Shining admitted it was nice to see his wife playing with a foal again, but the fact she was still 5 or so months out from having another baby worried him. The last time Cadance got strange cravings brought on by pregnancy she was eating crystal berries in rye bread with spray cheese and raw cilantro at least twice a week. And that was her least unusual craving, several of her other cravings were so bizarre he kept trying to suppress them the moment they began surfacing again.
“What sort of cravings did she have during her pregnancy,” inquired Shining, he desperately wanted to change what his mind was focussing on.
“Most of my Cravings centered around gemstones, we needed to find a substitute,” said Daring, “after a few experiments, with a bit of help from the Pie sisters, we found that extra hard rock candy seemed to do the trick. This big lug,” she gestured to Spike, “made me a variety of treats at his shop to those basic specs. It started as a few excuses to have me at his place of work during my pregnancy but it turned out quite a few of the residents really liked them as well. I have a feeling once the community is officially opened to the public he’ll have a pretty good business going.”
“I also think the way she eats is adorable,” said Spike, “I know we didn’t ask before, did Flurry explain what she needed to?”
“I found it amusing,” said Cadance, she then gestured to Shining, “he froze up for a half hour at the news our little filly swings both ways.”
“I’m pretty sure the whole reason she even signed up for the job was to explore her sexuality without either of you interfering,” said Spike, “especially since she’s been dating several different ponies around town the past few months.”
“And Shining is a little sour about it,” said Cadance, “he wants to try intimidating anypony she decides to date. But really, I couldn’t really care so long as she genuinely has feelings for them and they’re treating her properly. Which I don’t see as being much of a problem, especially since we all signed off on the current residents.”
“That was before I learned my little filly was going to get ‘experimental’ during her stay,” said Shining with annoyance.
The rest of the group laughed, which prompted Lilac to let out an adorable giggle fit that ended when her parents stopped laughing. Shining wasn’t amused, mostly because his wife now had some backup with playfully teasing him. It also didn’t help that his new niece was incredibly young and highly impressionable, with the kind of parents you both worried about and wished you knew at the same time.
Daring and Spike were more than suitable parents, more so when it came to Spike, but at the same time, their ideas of what was acceptable for a young child were a bit off kilter in Shining’s assessment. Daring made contact with an ancient dragon fertility deity, willingly made it so that she would get knocked up by Spike, and basically set up an elaborate plan to have an entirely new town that has governance over to make sure her baby has a safe environment to grow up in.
Of course, Shining knew that was a bit too much of an extreme line of that, but it still seemed that way. Daring had all confirmed that thought process when she said she planned to have the family she missed out on. It wasn’t that she was giving up on her sister, she regularly asked how the investigation regarding her was progressing, she just decided to do something that was in service of the memory of her family.
“So, when are you going to head down to Melody Brook?”
“We figured we go on down there after she’s four or five months old,” said Spike, “and I’m sorry your parents didn’t get a chance to meet her yet. It was just lousy timing; they wanted to spend the season with Twilight this year.”
“While we spent it all with Celestia and Luna,” said Daring, “if Night Light and Velvet had been there we would have been more than happy to share our welcome news with them.”
“I would have thought she would be more pegasus-like,” said Shining, “given the tribe her mother is.”
“I guess I have more unicorn in me than I thought,” said Daring, “I’m sure the next one will be more like a pegasus.”
“I heard about your plans for more foals,” said Cadance, “when will you start on that?”
“Once she’s four or five,” said Spike, “you know just starting school so we can indulge in personal time without her potentially ruining the moment.”
“Yes, well, we didn’t have that luxury,” said Shining, “we had to invest in private tutors from outside the Crystal Empire for most of Flurry’s formal schooling, anypony from the Crystal Empire kind of just...they basically stalled the whole education system to accommodate Flurry, often to the detriment of every other pony. It got so bad we almost called in Twilight to act as her teacher a few times.”
“That bad? I have a feeling it might be a bit worse for us,” said Spike, “she’s the first recorded case of a dragon and pony having offspring in Equestria’s history. Probably will cause more of an uproar than Flurry being born an alicorn.”
“On the plus side,” said Cadance, “Twilight and Starlight managed to get a few spell nodes up and running back where you’re going.”
“But I have a feeling we need more to strengthen the defenses,” said Spike.
“Yes,” said Daring, “but most of the materials that make the nodes as effective as they do are exceedingly rare, it’ll take time to negotiate enough for our needs. If we’re lucky, it’ll all be resolved in a decade or so and we can get to work on the rest of the nodes.”
Spike and Daring were glad to be back in Fetish, and especially glad to be back in their residence. The entire train ride back the staff of the train were fawning over Lilac, for various reasons that related to either her cuteness or unique physical appearance. Of course, once Twilight and her parents heard about her, they couldn’t schedule a ride down fast enough, once they finally did get a train scheduled for the visit Lilac was just barely a month old.
The visit was pretty much like when the small family was in Canterlot or the Crystal Empire. With Velvet just wanting to play with infant mostly, Twilight had a similar response as well. Also during the visit, Daring and Twilight talked about magic tutoring once the filly was a bit older. The whole town had a similar response when Daring officially introduced everyone to her.
The train they had caught back home was so late that almost nopony was up, and those that were didn’t noticed the return of two of the community’s more notable figures. Lilac was thankfully sleeping soundly in her travel carrier, which had been provided as a Hearth’s Warming gift to the couple by Luna. When they arrived, Spike was the one wearing the carrier.
Spike took her to his shop pretty early on; he wanted to see what Lilac’s thoughts on rock candy were. Her teeth had yet to get strong enough to make an impact on gems, same with her jaws, but her bite strength was noticeably higher than a pony of similar age. Once he had her in the shop, Spike gave her one of the fossil candies and watched as she just devoured the thing. He followed this up with a small fossil candy collection, which Lilac also gulped down in short order.
Lilac still required regular feedings of her mother’s milk; her teeth were not quite at the point they would cause Daring noticeable discomfort just yet. That was likely to change when she started actually teething. Dragon teething was surprisingly similar to pony teething, with both having their first few days or so. But in the case of Lilac, all her teeth that grew in were very dull and mostly akin to a pony’s while having an enhanced strength to them that was more in line with the structure of dragon’s teeth. Due to a lack of sharp teeth by which to break gemstones apart, Lilac had instinctively created a method that took her dragon-like claws into account to assist her dull teeth that were not yet capable of breaking intact gems but could still easily break apart pieces ripped from gems.
Thanks to her dull teeth the damage she could inflict on her mother was significantly reduced, but her surprisingly strong jaw muscles almost turned that fact into a moot point. Ponies would typically drop begin dropping their baby teeth as newer and stronger teeth developed between the ages of four and five years, usually at the time commonly referred to as four and a half, but dragon’s tended to develop newer more matured teeth at around just a year and a half.
The major difference being these newer teeth were actually a stage between baby teeth and adult teeth often called “child teeth” and many different dragons were prone to go through several of these sorts of teeth every few months up to age ten, in some rarer cases this would actually occur until they were seven, which is when their “adolescent” teeth grew in, these would typically stick around until their late teens before being dropped and their genuine adult teeth grew in. Spike had learned all of this from Ember and the other dragons that frequented Equestria for peaceful reasons.
Regardless they were just happy to be back home. It seemed those days in Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, coupled with the travel, had led to Lilac being a bit more accommodating for a bit. The first week back the young filly hardly made any noise, allowing her parents to get some much-needed rest. By the time she a full-month-old she had seemingly outgrown her bursts of noise.
Unsurprisingly, Daring was bringing the filly to church during her sermons, not that any of the attendees minded too much. Lilac become a sort of unofficial mascot for nearly every business in the town, mostly Mystique Elegance and Dragon’s Sanctum. It was unsurprising really, Spike was her father and Stellar Weave got more chances to work on baby clothes. Also, both had a tendency to dote and spoil her a bit.
Stellar Weave actually started keeping a small stock of rock candies of various kinds in her shop as treats for Lilac and Spike probably did more playing with his daughter at the shop than actually work, not that anyone minded either case. To almost everyone, just seeing the hybrid foal was a treat.
That all said, they did run into some minor problems when word about Lilac got out around Equestria. There were nineteen cases of attempted ponynapping of her and Daring, an additional twenty pertaining to just Lilac, and several dozen new applications by various researchers in sociology and/or genetics applying to come and visit the town. Thankfully the security measures for the town were working like they should and guards got something to do, but it didn’t mean they were happy about it. The guards, amusingly enough, had gotten so used to seeing ponies in revealing attire that they were actually more suspicious of ponies with more on than less, the excuses they gave were claimed security related but that didn’t seem to be the whole reason.
Then there were the increased attempts for visits by Twilight, Rarity, Cadance, Luna over the following months leading up to spring to just spend more time with Lilac, all with similar yet different excuses why. Shining, thankfully, was able to thwart his wife’s attempts at increased visits. Pinkie, surprisingly, was acting as a voice of reason along with Applejack to diminish Twilight’s attempts, with the two mares, and Rainbow, actually having to physically restrain the attempts at visits by Twilight and Rarity. Celestia had no such compunctions; instead, her reasoning for suppressing her sister’s visits had more to do with her desire to be the fantastic grandmother she thought she could be, which happened to include restraining and thwarting her sister’s travel attempts.
There were times Luna tried to hide her attempts at visits by booking trains to various other locations in Equestria, Celestia was so experienced with having to dealing with similar sorts of ruses she was able to spot those her sister almost immediately. In some cases playing her own little jokes on Luna in the process, like issuing a declaration her sister is to only ride two trains over the course of a month and all trains headed to the Crystal Empire that find her as passenger, especially a disguised one, were to get confirmation of travel from Cadance and one other princess that was not Luna, which usually meant Celestia or Twilight.
Spring was fast approaching and Daring was working on trying to coordinate Winter Wrap Up, the whole snowfall for the town was managed by the town’s resident pegasi. Due to the presently sensitive nature of the project they didn’t have a dedicated weather team, this was likely to change when the community became officially opened to the public.
Twilight’s parents kept wanting to come back for visits to see Lilac, which meant they were more than happy the community would be open to the public soon since their first and only visit was a family perk that they couldn’t cash in more than once. Lilac was seemingly oblivious to all the activities surrounding her; she was barely aware of the attention she did seem to notice. All she wanted to do was spend time with her parents, nothing more.
It happened, the town was finally opened to the public and all the information in the official statement came with it. That was all made possible just a week after the first day of spring. Predictably, there were rushes of visitors to the community in the first couple of months, most of which resulted in mixed reactions of the visitors themselves. Mixed in among those visitors were Twilight and her family. With Lilac now around three months old Twilight could work on official magic lessons with her new niece, something she was squeeing about internally for who knows how long.
A number of notable members of the Canterlot crowd were also visiting the town, most of whom had a very low approval of the village due to the fact many of the community’s occupants had actually chosen to forgo any attire and therefore Equestria’s most basic of modesties. Some of the retired Canterlot elite, like Fleur Dis Lee and Fancypants, joked about possibly changing this to their place of retirement. The visiting foals didn’t seem to mind, many of which made a mad dash to Spike’s shop when they realized they could get sweets and play games there. The more dedicated dining establishments also found themselves to be rather popular.
The uniforms worn by all the establishments didn’t meet with the approval most of the visiting parents, seeing as they lacked the hints of modesty that most uniforms for most dining establishments present in the outside world. A few of the visitors even made cracks about there not being a strip club; they were soundly thrashed by any residents in earshot for a few seconds with the beating ending with statements about the community not wanting to reinforce objectification of others.
“No matter how many times I see her, she’s just so cute,” said Twilight as she sat across from Lilac in the residential part of the temple Daring and Spike resided in. She had grown used to Spike’s unadorned form, that didn’t mean she was devoid of embarrassment almost every time she saw him without any clothing on. “I’m not surprised by her abnormally strong magic surges; Jing says Kirin have incredibly strong magical power and potential.”
“Um, I think we might be a little out of the loop here,” said Spike.
“Oh, right,” said Twilight, “Jing is the visitor Neighpon I’ve been working with. He happens to be a dragon, but not like any sort we’re familiar with in Equestria. Anyway, in Neighpon they have stories of rare entities called ‘kirin’, which happen to be what happens when a pony and dragon have a baby together. They’re said to be extremely rare, and from what I’ve been able to gather they have magical power that could possibly rival or surpass that of an alicorn. Can you imagine what a kirin that reaches an alicorn-like state could be like? Anyway, you two can go about the rest of your day; I’ll be spending the next few hours looking after her and teaching her some magic basics.”
“But I don’t wanna be away from mommy or daddy,” said Lilac in an adorably squeaky voice with a slight flowery accent to it.
“You didn’t mention she’s so articulate,” said Twilight with surprise.
“She’s been talking since she was three weeks old,” said Spike, “she just got to the articulate wording stage earlier this week.
“Well,” said Twilight turning her attention to Lilac, “it looks like you’re even smarter than I suspected. And I thought you would be pretty smart, to begin with since your mom and dad are two of the smartest individuals I know.”
“Don’t worry, honey,” said Daring, “I’m going to be nearby if you need me, auntie Twilight has been looking forward to this since she first heard about you. She gets pretty excited about magic, but she’s also really focused on her family and friends getting the best of what they need. Since your dad and I don’t really know how to use magic, your aunt is the best choice we can think of. Of course, Grammy Celestia and auntie Luna are also excited about spending time with you on magic lessons.”
“I’m sorry,” said Twilight, “did you just say ‘Grammy’ Celestia?”
“Celestia is insistent that Lilac use one of those cute names foals use for their grandparents when addressing her,” said Daring as Spike stepped out, in a pair of blue jeans, “we’re okay with it. Also, Celestia gets really excited when Lilac calls her ‘grammy’ and gets a little overindulgent in spoiling her a bit.”
“I wasn’t expecting Celestia to get so into the whole grandmother thing so seriously,” said Twilight with a bit of surprise.
___________________________________________
Big Macintosh and Discord were also among the throng of visitors to the town; Mac was showing clear signs of discomfort regarding the town, especially since he was married with foals, and Discord was just laughing it all off. They were all at Spike’s shop around a game table. Cadance and Shining Armor were in town to visit Flurry, with Cadance also wanting to spend some time with her new niece later. To avoid that awkwardness Shining decided to check out Spike’s shop and figured he might as well join Spike, Mac, and Discord for whatever activity they had planned.
Thankfully this worked out pretty good for Shining, seeing as they were all starting a new O&O campaign which coincided pretty closely with Spike’s acquisition of the latest version of the game just a few days prior. Shining and Mac both had mixed feeling about a naked mare in just an apron and hat operating in a place of business in general, Discord just kept on making cracks about how great the whole place is and he should meet whoever was responsible for all this personally. Spike just kept his mouth shut about that, mostly because he did not want Discord taking advantage of the situation with Daring.
Even though Daring was personally responsible for the town, the main offender was an entirely different entity. After a few minutes of silence, most of which was spent on character creation, Spike finally said, “That might be difficult, seeing as she’s a literal goddess and just sort of hanging out in her own pocket space.”
“Then visiting her shouldn’t be too hard,” said Discord, “I hang out in a space apart from the rest of the universe as well. Should I go with a Warlock or Wizard this time around?”
“I’m gonna be a spellsword, seems a good fit for me,” said Shining.
Macintosh just showed his character sheet and pointed to the Class slot which read “Paladin” before going back to working on his character.
“Maybe you should play a Druid or Cleric,” said Spike, “the party’s likely going to need a more dedicated healer. On the plus side, your character will be more capable of doing magic.”
“Alright,” said Discord, “but I’ll get a backup character going in case my other one gets killed off early on.”
A few days after her first open sermon after the town was opened up to the public, Daring went down to Melody Falls with Lilac and Cadance; Spike was a little busier than he had anticipated and the rest of the family was occupied with other things. Cadance came along because she was curious about the place and wanted to spend more time with Daring and Lilac.
After they had cleared out all the potentially sensitive or fragile items from the house Twilight got to work on the logistics of turning Daring’s foalhood home into a museum. Daring wasn’t happy with the idea, and was very much against it but still understood why Twilight had wanted to do that. So instead, Twilight and Luna had worked with politicians for the town to allow tours through the town, the mayor and town council were all for it since they were looking for ways to help keep the town relevant while maintaining its older charm. The tours poured through two or three times a month.
Thankfully, it wasn’t tourist time just yet when Daring, Lilac, and Cadance arrived in the town. They made a quick stop off at the house so Daring could show Lilac the place she had grown up. After a quick tour of the house, which Cadance also seemed to enjoy, they headed down to the waterfall.
“See that peach tree all by itself,” said Daring gesturing at the plant,” Lilac nodded, “that was my mom’s favorite spot in the whole world, she would spend hours, sometimes whole days, beneath that tree.”
“I find it odd that no other trees have grown around it, especially with all the overripe fruit that must have fallen around it.”
“Yeah, something about the tree’s placement and location makes sure it’s the only large plant in the area,” said Daring, “all the fruit seems to just roll a good ways out and get snatched up by various animals that cart it all a considerable distance from here. Maybe we should take some of the peaches when they get ripe and take them back home with us and grow our own trees from it; I’m sure my mom would have found that amusing.” Daring then made a subtle gesture with her hand to Cadance to indicate someone was following them.
“I would love to see the memorials you placed for your parents,” said Cadance, seeming to haven’t noticed the warning her partner had given.
“I would love to do so as well,” said Daring, “but I think we should check to see if we have any uninvited guests, I don’t want the wrong sort going there. It’s supposed to be a sacred place my sister and I put up in their memory.”
Cadance nodded before saying, “We can wait under the tree, if they don’t give up by sundown we can just try again another time, pity your daughter will miss out on the experience.”
Almost as if on cue five different media ponies and about twice as many news ponies broke their cover to protest the sentiment. “How many did you count,” Daring said nonchalantly as she approached the nearest news pony, with Lilac in her yellow sundress of Rarity’s making, in her rose blue sundress that had been made by Stellar Weave for the ‘out of town’ selection. “I counted a dozen easily.”
“I counted almost this exact number,” said Cadance calmly, “although, there are only about half as many news ponies as anticipated, the rest of the numbers are pretty close to what I had them pegged at.”
“Are you aware that you are trespassing?” Daring said to all of the ponies gathered; she suspected there might be more keeping hidden and waiting for an opportune moment.
“Um, no?” One of the news ponies said, “we were unaware this was private property.”
“Ha, as if you would be so lucky,” said Cadance with an amused chuckle, her mulberry colored spring dress shaking at her belly and bosom as she laughed, “this clearing and the waterfall are a joint ownership of princesses and their families.”
“It’s been that way for the past fifteen months,” said Daring with a smirk, “but we’re not surprised you didn’t know, we did a pretty good job keeping the whole venture from being broadcast. Although, admittedly, it was done to keep ponies from developing over the site. This is just a nice little bonus.”
“We had considered putting up a small manor at the site,” said Cadance, “but during those discussions, we realized it would just ruin the grandeur of the site to do so. Now, if you all aren’t off this property in the next few minutes I will be contacting all your parent companies to inform them of your lack of preparedness.”
“And she does mean all,” said Daring with a smirk, “no newspaper or media outlet in the country will be spared.” There was a chorus of audible gulps before the sound of dozens of ponies scrambling to leave the site. “And that,” said Daring, turning to her daughter, “is how you deal with problematic guests.” She then turned to Cadance, “Are we good now?”
“Surprisingly, no,” said Cadance, she pulled a pair of news ponies; a blue unicorn mare in an ironically peach colored outfit and an earth pony stallion in a suit that almost matched the tree’s bark, out from hiding in the tree itself, both had ink black manes, “it seems these two either forgot how to get down or are extremely dedicated to their work.”
“A bit of both,” said the unicorn, “I’m Azure Scribble and he’s Bark Pen. We just want a few words and we’ll be on our way.”
“While knowing where the memorial of Astra Shower and Keen Note by their own foals would likely make any news pony’s career,” said Bark Pen, “we have no plans on doing so just yet, maybe if we get a bit more desperate. But no, we just want to know what Daring’s daughter is like, besides adorable.”
Daring groaned a bit in annoyance, “She’s not very comfortable around non-family, which is why she retreated behind Cadance and myself as soon as she thought it was safe to do so. Also, her appetite is equal parts dragon and pony; she likes to eat pony foods and gems almost equally as possible. She also is very smart with an incredible memory and will likely remember this whole exchange. Is there anything you two would like to add?”
Lilac just poked her head out from behind her mother and adorably stuck out her tongue, Cadance said, “Just like with anyone else you will ever meet, she has her own personality and should not be treated as someone or something that is an example of a broader group. Also, she is only known pony/dragon hybrid to Equestria but we have heard that some other nations have stories about pony/dragon hybrids.” While saying all this she set the two down at the entrance to the cove.
The two expressed their gratitude and left, once they were out of sight Lilac said, “Are there anymore hiding somewhere?”
In response Cadance spread out her senses through her magic to find any stragglers they might have missed, “I don’t sense any more potential interferers,” said the pink alicorn, “let’s go make that visit.”
Daring and Lilac nodded and Daring led the way to the place she and Star Log had laid their parents to rest. Once they were there Daring said, “This is where my parents were laid to their final rest, they passed on many years before you were born,” she hugged Lilac to her, “but I still wanted to bring you here to have some semblance of meeting them. My dad and sister were both unicorns, we’re still trying to find out the fate of my sister, and my mom was a pegasus, like me. You actually have more in common with your aunt and grandfather than me or your dad, mostly because the pony traits you express most strongly are those of a unicorn.”
“When we finally find Daring’s sister,” said Cadance, “we’ll make sure she knows some of her family is still around and where to find them.”
When they finally entered the shallow cave that held the simple graves Cadance gasped before saying, “Flurry and Twilight mentioned this to me, but I hadn’t that it would be so elegant in its simplicity. Did you two really do all this yourselves?”
“Yep,” said Daring as she led Lilac to the graves, once she and Lilac were a few feet from the graves she said, “hey mom, hi dad, I finally had my first foal. Her name is Lilac Alloy,” she presented the filly to the graves, “give a greeting to my parents, Lilac.”
“Um, there are no ponies to greet here,” said Lilac.
“It’s symbolic,” said Cadance as she came up next to Daring, “it’s a way of helping you have a semblance of a connection to grandparents you’ll never meet.”
“It’s so at the very least you can carry on with the memory of who they were,” said Daring, “even if you didn’t know them, you can at least know about them. Knowing of someone doesn’t mean you know about them, and only family know about each other better than most.” Lilac nodded to her mother and took a few steps towards the graves.
After she was a few steps between the graves and her mother she said, “Hi, grandma, grandpa, I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you when you were still around, I hope I can at least get to know you soon.”
“That sentiment you said about family,” said Cadance, “it was beautiful, so was her little greeting to your parents.”
“Speaking of family,” said Daring as she led the two back out of the shallow cave, “you should have around three more months before your new baby gets to see the world.”
“Why do you think we rode a private car down here,” Cadance replied.
Daring stopped with her leading and turned Lilac and said, “Is there anything you would like to do before we head back home?”
Once they were back on the train, Daring whispered a promise to Lilac to show her pictures of her parents and tell her some stories about them. The filly was very excited by this; she was also noticeably hungry. Thankfully, Daring could feed her both her milk and had brought a few boxes of rock candies with Cadance for those little gem cravings her daughter was prone to as well. Daring was carrying and suckling her daughter before they had even made it halfway to the train.
Daring was almost worried about Lilac a little too much, to the amusement of Spike and the filly in Question. Lilac would be having her first day of school just days from now. Her little filly was now five years old and had taken after her aunt Twilight a bit more than anticipated, and Star Log to a lesser extent but only because of the similarities Daring’s own sister had to Twilight Sparkle. Lilac had a habit of being buried in books almost as soon as she could read, which she had been able to do so since a short time after she was two years old. She didn’t require the basic magic training from her aunt anymore, but still very much enjoyed learning new things about magic with her.
Twilight herself was happily married to her new dragon counterpart, with a daughter of her own that was two years old. Spike’s shop was doing better than anticipated, they had been required expand its size a bit and he had been required to hire on a bit more help. Zelshirska worship was a bit higher than when it had all started but just barely enough to qualify as a fringe religion. Still, Celestia and Luna saw that as an improvement.
Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were sharing the same stallion and both had three-year-old foals now, Pinkie had a colt and Rainbow had a filly. Both were expecting again and were four or five months pregnant. They didn’t seem to mind too much, Rainbow even joked about just spreading more of her amazingness around.
The Apples built a bathhouse out behind their main house in Ponyville, a few of their other places of residence followed suit a year or so later. Applejack, true to family form, was raising a pretty big family. Her husband, Soarin of Wonderbolt fame, actually seemed to enjoy this very much. They had a pretty even mix of pegasus and earth pony foals.
Rarity managed to expand her business further, helped along by her daughter’s talent being an aspect of fashion that complimented her mother’s. The young mare had yet to start her own business, for the time being, she was more than happy to help expand her mother’s brand. Rarity was also expecting another baby, being a good six months pregnant. Her pregnancy prompted an increase in the production of maternity and baby clothes.
Fluttershy also had further expanding ventures with her wildlife sanctuaries for rarer animals that didn’t seem to be doing well without assistance. She had met a buck, from a deer nation, while scouting out potential new refuge sites and had ended up marrying him shortly after. The marriage served as a good political foundation between Equestria and the nation known, simply, as the Forest Empire. Fluttershy was now expecting her own little bundle of joy, although what to call pony/deer hybrid children was still being debated.
Starlight Glimmer was still looking around for the right stallion, she had tried dating Sunburst a few times but that special connection lifemates are supposed to have wasn’t ever something she felt from him.
Cadance had a beautiful set of new daughters, who were thankfully just a unicorn and a pegasus. Shining was both relieved and terrified, they didn’t have another baby alicorn to contend with but did have two baby ponies to deal with. The pegasus filly was named Amber Garden because of her coat colors and the apparent enjoyment she had around the plants she saw; and the unicorn filly was named Pearl Shield because of her pearly white coat and how she seemed to compliment her father's easily, he also had a habit of carrying both of the fillies around and calling her that seemed to always make her giggle in approval for some reason.
Flurry was still exploring her sexuality, but it seemed like was very much attracted to both mares and stallions. Now that she didn’t have to be an observer she was free to go home and deal with her revelations with her family. No matter what, she knew that her parents would be there to support her, even if they didn’t always show it.
Zelshirska was feeling far more energy than she had in a long time, thanks mainly to the interest in studying her that was generated by the town itself. Zelshirska didn’t mind being studied or prayed to; both were more than enough to transfer energy to her, prayer just did so a bit more effectively, as was the case with all deities. She still wasn’t at a point to be able to inhabit a pregnant mare, which many of her priestesses took on being, amusingly enough. But since Daring was holding off on getting pregnant for a few years, she did inhabit the mare a few times over the years Daring abstained from getting pregnant. Many ponies that were having trouble having children of their own for medical reasons did actually come to her worship with skepticism but left being believers and spreading her word throughout Equestria. Some of the minor priestesses started to hear her voice as well, with their assistance and that of Daring Do she worked on developing her first official collection of religious texts. The book was completed by the time Daring’s daughter, fantastic little thing that she was, had turned three years old.
Zelshirska also met the visiting dragon, Jing, who had expressed his own interest in her history. It turned out many deities were worshiped by the different races that made up the archipelago that was his nation, and they were also on the lookout for various cultural markers of interest to introduce to their own land to further its strength and diversity. She had met him through his use of the idol Twilight Sparkle had crafted to come in contact with her. They had a few interesting conversations, both rather enjoying the learning of new things, before he crafted several smaller idols of her, of surprising quality, and sent them in packages to his nation of origin.
It wasn’t even a full year later when a notable dragon deity from that nation made his presence in her pocket space and they had many different conversations, many centering around family and the roles of those members. It seemed this dragon god, whose form was very different than any other dragon she had seen before Jing, approved of her in some way. By the time Daring’s Daughter was five she could feel the presence of her sisters beginning to gain power, she wondered what this would mean for the ponies they had bonded themselves to with their essence.
No matter what, everyone knew their family would be there for them as their adventures moved forward. Twilight and her friends were probably done with the amazing adventures, but the adventures of the next generation were yet to happen. As the years moved forward so did the chance for the new generation’s adventures.