Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
A bone that's healed wrong has to be broken again. Though that might only apply to humans.
Illuminating Invitation (MLP: FiM AU)
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Saphire
Lurking dragon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So something like helping out a grandma of some sort? I can imagine that could result in feeling of more than just gratitude.
- Location
- France
I'm all for complimenting this story, but don't you dare slander the QA fics. They're the perfect mix of cute and hilarious. It's a different aim than this story, but I don't believe it to be any worse.
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
I mean, she helped that bat pony grandma.
Writing works just like everything else, you get better the more you practice. I read all those QA fics, and liked each one more than the last, so much so that I was willing to check out this fic when it's not my Fandom of choice. I have read like 3 mlp fics ever, one where sauron was made into a pony to be punished/redeemed that didn't go far, one where the adorable filly green wears a nurse's hat and has alot of panic attacks, and one where princess celest AI was skynet and sent waves of robo pony terminators to do destructive brain scans on all of humanity to upload them into matrix equestria. That last one WAS my favorite until now.
I just personally never really liked that QA is on a quest for data and wmd's but unexpectedly finds love, her giving up on the former to settle for the latter is just too out of my understanding of her character. I much prefer sunset on a quest for love but unexpectedly finding data and wmd's. I think this juxtaposition is part of it, and I don't think I could appreciate it nearly as much without years of experiencing the inverse.
- Location
- America
You know, I'm having a hard time remembering a QA fic where QA gives up on data for love, and I'm pretty sure I've read every QA fic by Alivaril.
Do you mind naming one in specific? because the closest I recall is that QA finding out that entropy/infinite energy has been solved and then being somewhat lost on what to do from then on.
- Location
- Finland
Well there is where she has a very obvious crush on a local top gundam pilot/magical girl/traumatized child soldier.
But even that is very much spurred on by data (about her) and wmd's (she is one).
the administrative mishap one was particularly glaring, with her following the commands of (and personing) random human #9020968 (lena luthor) on only a paragraph of commendation from people who she also had no reason to respect. it's a matter of taste.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I was tempted to weigh in, but this isn't the thread for complaining about or addressing QA complaints ( 
). Please take it to my snippet thread, the QA ideas thread, a specific thread, etc.; somewhere that isn't here. Complaining about a story in a thread not for that story ensures that those complaints cannot be addressed without inducing a derail, and also has the probably-not-desired side effect of slowing the next II update.
). Please take it to my snippet thread, the QA ideas thread, a specific thread, etc.; somewhere that isn't here. Complaining about a story in a thread not for that story ensures that those complaints cannot be addressed without inducing a derail, and also has the probably-not-desired side effect of slowing the next II update.
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this isn't the thread for complaining about or addressing QA complaints (
I wasn't ever trying to complain about a bad thing, just examine and compare the many moving parts of several different very good things. I certainly didn't mean to cause you any grief or derail your thread. So i am very sorry and am done doing it.
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No worries; I vaguely remember someone saying worse, which was the bigger problem, but I don't remember if that was here or in a discord server, so mostly just a case of unfortunate timing. I did like and appreciate most of your analysis there, and I am glad that you're enjoying this!
Back on the thread topic proper, a fun fact: one draft of Sunset's morning wakeup had guards bursting in and trying to rescue her from probably-poisoned food.
"Lady Shimmer, don't eat that!"
"...Okay," Voice admitted. "I might not have talked my way past them after all."
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Ehhhh fairly sure that one was written by a different author entirely with somewhat different building block construction backing its premise with some shared bits of QA in Taylor's body and spending the period of Coma time looping Taylor's memories over and over
EDIT Anyways well atleast we got more details on how detailed her Empathy was or rather how I imagine it was part magic Empathy sense part increased mundane super reading
Which given she didn't know that was normal created a feedback loop communications disconnect which had her on a hair trigger temper wise because all the polite niceties hiding disdain were probably incredibly obvious to her and never got fixed really and Celestia probably realized that Sunset was a Empath unaware they were an empath in the middle of a political hotspot
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LunaMoth
Wings of Kynareth is my comfort song...
- Pronouns
- He/They
Honestly Alivaril your good at writing xenofiction, and its actually made its way into this story a little.
epiccuttlefish
Epic Cuttlefish
- Location
- Earth. Probably.
*the next time Sunset and Flighty meet*
Flighty: So... um... something that looked like me and called itself 'Devourer of Decadent Dreams' showed up at my house not long after the end of our last meeting, and said that it wanted my 'privacy', whatever it meant by that. Do you have any idea what it meant by that, and how to stop it if it appears again?
Sunset *facehooves* Dammit Voice...
Flighty: So... um... something that looked like me and called itself 'Devourer of Decadent Dreams' showed up at my house not long after the end of our last meeting, and said that it wanted my 'privacy', whatever it meant by that. Do you have any idea what it meant by that, and how to stop it if it appears again?
Sunset *facehooves* Dammit Voice...
- Location
- Illinois
Huh. This actually has real implications for Sunset's corruption questions and maybe Cel's stance on the nobility???
Oops
"One thing we missed yesterday is that I am likely to continue growing," Sunset started. "Therefore, the initial commission should be primarily for show, although obviously we will still need it to be function -- a stopgap, as it were. We should organize a more permanent piece thereafter."
"Additionally, I intend to leverage my status as Mom's daughter to provide her with some variety of protective enchantments on objects she'll be able to wear publicly as gifts from myself."
"Also, Cadence had ought to have something to keep her in one piece, and certain pieces of Celestia's War Regalia are in need of... Maintenance..."
FLIGHTY FLAME:
fin
I don't know... Idiot doesn't have the same tsun-dere ring as Baka.They're Princess Celestia's animals; an attack on them is an attack aimed at her support. It's not as though Sunset actually likes them or anything, idiot.
Hm...
There's so many things that lead to this assumption.
In the court where Celestia almost approved the steel rail system, Sunset assumed that it was a test. I can see a lot of Sunsets issues stemning from the assumption that Celestia is infallible.
"Celestia has taken an action that hurts me. Celestia cannot make mistakes, thus it must be deliberate."
So much of Sunsets views are based on two fact: Sunset is the second most important pony in existence, and Celestia cannot make mistakes. That means that all actions that Celestia takes are made with sunset in mind, and when they hurt Sunset emotionally, it is deliberate.
Since Celestia has hurt Sunset so often, she *cannot* love her, because that means that the times that Celestia hurt her were mistakes.
Ooh there is just *so* many reasons for Sunsets irrationality. This is so fun.
Abuse, control issues, narcissistim, religious excuses disguised as personal experience.
I can see why voice chose Sunset as a Host
You know with how Sunset has abilities and skills she thinks so normal she can't even conceive of the notion other ponies don't have it, I wonder just how many of her tutors actually did anything and how many simply weren't interested but were professional except Sunset saw through it anyway, and reacted as if it was expressed which... well, largely got them to actually dislike her and the vicious cycle took off from there.
Anyone actually watching over Sunset would probably have caught that before long and avoided the entire mess but... Celestia. And nopony but Celestia being at fault is fundamentally incompatible to Sunset's worldview, incomprehensible even.
Anyone actually watching over Sunset would probably have caught that before long and avoided the entire mess but... Celestia. And nopony but Celestia being at fault is fundamentally incompatible to Sunset's worldview, incomprehensible even.
- Location
- South Carolina
I could actually see her belief that Celestia can't make a mistake stemming from the tutors abusing her.
If they ended up saying something like "Celestia obviously made a mistake taking in gutter trash like you" a lot, I could see her rationalizing it to herself that she couldn't be a mistake, because Celestia doesn't make mistakes.
...but if she does, does that mean Sunset is a mistake?
Chapter 27: Meddling Mare
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Special thanks to @saganatsu, @DB_Explorer, @fictionfan, @Adephagia, @Wordsmith, @Taut_Templar, Jamie Wahls, @Elfalpha, @BunnyLord, @Drcatspaw, @tinkerware, @Lonelywolf999, D'awwctor, @magicdownunder, @Mordred, @Nuew, @Greydrone, and my 18 other patrons not mentioned here. An extremely enthusiastic "Thank you" to @Torgamous for her patronage as well. Also, if you're not on here, you fit the tier, and you want to be added, please tell me.
AN: Beta-read by @ensou.
Princess Cadance
Lessons weren't supposed to be painful, but painful they were. Not because of the subject matter or physical health issues; memorizing runes used for enchantment, their meanings, and their common applications would probably take months of daily practice, but that was just a matter of review and application. Cadance didn't need to dedicate hours and hours every day, just a bit here and there.
No, the painful part was watching Sunset. Mere days ago, Cadance had thought Aunt Celestia was being ridiculous for blaming herself over Sunset's spikiness. Cadance still thought that only some of the blame laid with Celestia, but there was no denying that a portion of Sunset's issues were indeed Celestia's fault. Cadance couldn't help but feel sympathetic pain whenever one of Sunset's numerous neglect-birthed maladaptive coping strategies reared their heads.
"Work, curse you!"
Like right now. Cadance had a surprisingly easy time with the emotion-driven style of 'High Enchantment,' even if it still fell victim to many of the same efficiency issues that were apparently inherent to enchantment in general. An alicorn's fount of magic should be able to protect entire city blocks or more, yet the little bracelet Cadance made for Twilight would barely manage to stop a runaway cart and Cadance was already tired. That lone object had taken more out of her than multiple hours of levitation practice. Even storing raw magic was more efficient, and it was no wonder that the practice of war enchantment had rapidly fallen from favor once it was no longer deemed absolutely necessary. As Sunset was so happy to claim, depleting themselves like this would mean incredible vulnerability if Equestria wasn't at peace.
In contrast, Sunset was demonstrating why everypony had moved to the stricter boundaries of rune-chains in the first place. The younger mare glowered down at the half-melted remains of the latest tin plate she'd been practicing on with ominous wisps of smoke curling from her fur — or possibly less ominous and more a byproduct of repeated explosions. She kept doing so well at first, too, but even Cadance could see that she kept letting her frustrations with Celestia bleed into her work.
It's not so easy to pretend, is it? Cadance refrained from saying, knowing it would only make matters worse if she did.
There were some things that would make Sunset's situation much better in a short period of time, but Celestia seemed intent on not doing any of them. Really, three and a half weeks before announcing the adoption? That was just utterly unacceptable no matter what political benefits it might bring. Cadance would try to talk Celestia down to a wait period of fifteen days, one for each hour of daylight and year of Sunset's life. Even that long was far, far longer than Cadance would prefer; Celestia was focusing more on the politics than the pony, in Cadance's opinion. Any less than that and Cadance might inadvertently sabotage Sunset's fledgling friendship with... Fl-something Flame? Cadance remembered the first name had alliteration and started with Fl, but not what it was. Still, wrangling Cadance's other family members was a balancing act, and one that made Cadance feel unexpectedly sympathetic for Auntie's ongoing troubles. No matter where Cadance looked, there was no easy answer.
Sunset definitely needed that formal adoption as soon as Cadance could swing it; if it were up to her, Celestia would make an announcement today, and any subsequent gatherings would be a celebration thereof. Cadance would still try to convince Celestia to do exactly that, but she didn't have high hopes even if it would almost certainly help a lot. No matter how tough Sunset tried to act, Cadance had watched the younger mare lean in when Celestia hugged her.
As the alleged Princess of Love, Cadance would prescribe plenty of cc (copious cuddling) if she thought anypony would actually listen to her, but nope. Her authority might be equal to Celestia on paper, but in practice, over half of Equestria likely didn't even know she existed. With good reason, of course, but just because Cadance was inexperienced didn't mean she was absolutely terrible at everything. Sunset needed for Celestia to be able to publicly show affection and pride rather than solely when they were in private, and soon.
One of the other reasons — aside from the obvious issues with broken trust — that Cadance hadn't simply leaked word of the adoption herself was that Sunset might very well need at least some time to come to grips with her new empathy before facing groups of ponies. Really, this idea of formal society introductions seemed like a bad idea on every level. How well had introducing Sunset to high society gone in the past, exactly?
At least the whole mess meant that Cadance would undoubtedly get to see Sunset in a cute dress. Sunset had previously fought tooth and horn to avoid getting dressed up more than absolutely necessary, and under normal circumstances, Cadance might switch to trying to dress Sunset in suits instead. But if Sunset was becoming fast friends with a tailor, they might actually make something she enjoyed. Cadance was stuck wondering how much of Sunset's opinions had been true distaste and dislike of frilly things, and how much was taught. At this point, Cadance wouldn't be surprised if ponies said things like how Sunset 'looked good for a street rat,' or 'accidentally' pricked Sunset with needles. They'd certainly gotten away with saying and doing worse under Celestia's nose.
The smell of burning heralded another plate giving up on existence, and Cadance winced. She could hardly believe that was an improvement. It was a good thing that they'd already found a window that could open, and that both of them had resilience beyond that of mortal mares, as Cadance vaguely remembered something about metal fumes being toxic.
"Maybe you should focus more on the modern methods instead of the thing Celestia only just started teaching you?" Cadance ventured.
Sunset's glare neatly changed targets from the half-melted plate to Cadance. Once, that glare would have had Cadance shrinking back from Celestia's terrifying student, a pony likely capable of systematically defeating every member of the Royal Guard in the entire castle — with the possible exception of Corporal Needle, because even if that mare might have had some interesting things to say about trust in relationships once Cadance cornered her to ask, Cadance wasn't convinced said pony actually knew the meaning of restr–er, moderation.
"The modern methods are useful for conveniences," Sunset said through gritted teeth, "but what we need for guarding Celestia is power. Finesse can only counter specific threats; power can counter practically everything."
Sunset stabbed an accusing hoof at the plate.
"I am making progress, and unlike you, I'm not one to give up just because something is a bit difficult. Anger is just another incentive."
Cadance winced, ears going flat. It was a shame that being able to see beneath Sunset's spikes didn't mean those spikes had gone away altogether, or that they'd stopped being able to prick Cadance here and there. She would have to arrange more playdates with Twilight — possibly as many as possible, really. Sunset had been so much happier back then. 'Good with foals' was not a trait Cadance would have remotely suspected of Sunset, but that little foalsitting session had worked better than her wildest imaginings.
"But there are plenty of other things we could be studying," Cadance tried instead. "You're still learning about this one from Celestia, right? You'll have plenty of time to practice after you know more. We might as well focus on something you aren't getting nightly lessons for."
Cadance momentarily paused as a thought occurred to her.
"Or, come to think of it, Celestia might be back by now? It's almost dinnertime, and I think we both have subjects that we want to talk to her about."
Like could she please please please announce Sunset's adoption already so that Cadance could actually implement a few plots for their own good? Cadance wouldn't say that Sunset was getting worse, because Sunset had actually improved pretty dramatically over the last few days. But that didn't mean the spikes didn't still hurt, or that there wasn't more that Celestia could be doing. Adopting Sunset was a step, not a solution, and Cadance suspected that Celestia might have forgotten that. Again. How could she be so old and still so bad at this?
Sunset Shimmer
The worst forms of procrastination were those that actually sounded fairly reasonable. It being dinnertime soon meant that we still had some time. I was sure that Twilight would be happy to study as long as she could, but we were barely at the half-week threshold and Cadance was already searching for excuses to escape.
Still, as loathe as I was to admit it, Cadance was indeed doing better at 'High Enchantment' than I was. I felt fairly confident I'd understood the theory right, but I just couldn't manage to keep my feelings clear. For normal spells, using emotions as reactants was fairly predictable, and tainted magic could be harmlessly redirected from the greater portion of a spell before it could do damage. High Enchantment wasn't like that; the moment I started to feel even a trace of indignation at how Celestia was successfully manipulating me, my anger agitated the admiration I was trying to muster and broke another plate.
It also explained why Celestia was enchanting tiny gem fragments to merge into a greater whole at some later date. I'd assumed it was so that she wasn't as limited by surface area, and so that it would be more difficult to tamper with once it was completed. I should have known those wouldn't be the only reasons. At worst, Celestia would only lose most of a week of work rather than the entire thing should doubt creep in.
I was getting distracted. I refocused on Cadance and sharpened my gaze to a glare.
"And what do you want to discuss with her?" I accused. "You aren't going to go complaining that I'm demanding too much of you, are you? Because you know I'll still be working even after you give up."
Cadance closed her eyes, sighed as though I was the one being tiring, and wearily opened them once more.
"I'm going to try to convince Celestia to decouple your 'society introduction' from the adoption announcement," Cadance earnestly claimed, "or failing that, to at least move it to fifteen days for your age and current hours of daylight. Twenty-four is far too much. I don't think I'll succeed at full-fledged decoupling, but I'll try. That might mean going into a privacy bubble again while I try to convince Celestia, and if I come at all close, I'm pretty sure she'll turn around and ask you for your thoughts. So if I do better than I expect, I'd appreciate it if you put yourself before politics, and back me up on this."
I dropped the glare and leaned back, not sure how to think about this. I remembered the bet a few seconds later, and the glare returned.
"Already realizing that you'd lose your bet?" I spat.
Cadance stared blankly at me as though she had no idea what I was talking about. Comprehension didn't dawn for several more seconds.
"Oh, for Harmony's sake!" Cadance complained, sitting back on her flank to throw both forehooves up. "I don't care about the bet! Set it to a concrete twenty-one days and then repeat it at two months or something, whatever, it's not something I'm worried about losing! I'm certain she loves you!"
Just for that, I would still be keeping track of both time thresholds even after Celestia failed the first one. Six favors from a Princess of Equestria was nothing to scoff at even if she wasn't currently worthy of the title.
"Just, I'm trying to help! So please don't fight me on it?"
I tried to guess what she might be feeling, but right when I could actually use my new sense, it seemed to be failing me. Learning what frustration felt like could only be useful, yet all I felt from Cadance was her usual brand of flickering, fire-like warmth. I huffed and sat back.
"Why do you care at all?" I demanded. "This doesn't concern you."
Cadance shook her head furiously.
"I am trying to be nice to my younger cousin," Cadance said heatedly, "whom I am going to be seeing for the rest of, oh, eternity! I don't need to be a reason to be kind to family! Or to anypony, for that matter! I am allowed to not have ulterior motives!"
I blinked at her. I knew very well that being part of a 'family' was no guarantee of anypony involved actually liking each other, but she did sound sincere enough. After a moment of thought, I marked this conversation down as more evidence to the column of alicorns apparently viewing me as a young immortal in need of guidance, even though Cadance was only a little older than me. Oh, it really might just be Cadance being as naive as she looked, but that was why my regression idea was still a hypothesis and not a theory.
"I do have a plan for getting her more free time to spend with you," she continued, "and no, it isn't anything as reckless as trying to have me preside over Day Court — not yet at least, I am going to try to work up to that. But before you ask, I'm not telling you the plan because I'm pretty certain that you'll scoff and say that it couldn't possibly work."
My eyebrows crept up and made it impossible to maintain a glare. It was more than enough to convey my dubiousness, though.
"That does not inspire confidence," I said flatly.
Cadance groaned and flopped over sideways, indelicately sprawling all over her pillow nest.
"I know! But it's the best I have, okay? Please go along with me on this?"
I grumbled, but gave it due consideration. I didn't know what plot she had in mind, but considering how little effort she'd put into lessons on etiquette, politics, and everything else, she would almost certainly fail horribly. Even if it did blow up in her face, though, I could still hold my prior support over her head. It wasn't like I cared too much about the political side of things, and Cadance would live longer than any of those 'well-bred' idiots.
"Fine," I allowed. "But you're on your own as far as execution goes, especially if it really is as stupid as it sounds."
"At this point," she muttered, "I'm just going to leave my thoughts at 'thank you.'"
Not having many thoughts does seem to be normal for you.
It was tempting to simply barge into Celestia's current meeting with some village representative or another. Ultimately, though, I thought doing so would slow the meeting down. I instead lurked outside, pointedly ignoring Cadance, and worked on getting my magic back under fine control by tossing thirty manifested marbles into unstable orbits and adjusting whenever they might collide. Or trying to adjust, at any rate. Last month I didn't have a practical upper limit on how many things I could properly levitate at once; now, I was unpleasantly surprised to find that I would need to downgrade to a dozen or so if I wanted to avoid any embarrassing errors.
Magic was often compared to muscle, and for good reason: most muscles might get stronger with use, but would have trouble working at all in the absence of magic. In this case, though, my magic had undergone the equivalent of years of strengthening all at once, and my control was awful—at least, by both my standards and those demanded by Celestia. I was still much better than the average unicorn. Considering how abysmal their skills were, though, that wasn't saying much.
At least it wasn't bad enough to necessitate thaumic therapy; such injuries would send my output all over the place. My new output was healthily consistent, I just needed to adjust — and possibly come up with some new retraining methods since I would probably be going through this again within the next few years. Unless ascending provided better inherent control to go with the power?
Waait a minute.
I could have hit myself. I'd already found out that some spells were unexpectedly efficient, but hadn't extrapolated from there. My current control problems could almost certainly be traced back to that. I was expecting identical input and outputs rather than needing a smaller input for the same output as before. I'd almost certainly been using more magic than necessary for teleportation, too.
I dismissed the marbles into smoke with a shake of my head, scowling. Cadance was looking out the window, but I didn't really feel like speaking to her.
Fortunately, the door to Celestia's office soon opened, and a somewhat harried grey-coated pegasus mare backed out, bowing and babbling nonsense the whole time. I narrowly resisted the urge to push my way past her, waiting until she'd cleared the doorway, then squeezed inside. The cozy office within seemed more appropriate for some petty bureaucrat or professor rather than Princess Celestia, but that was just one more way she ensured that ponies did what she wanted. Some ponies wanted businesslike meeting rooms; others, offices; yet more wished for cozy drawing rooms. To each environment, its own mask.
The representative behind me was stuttering something at a flustered Cadance, but I dismissed their interaction as unimportant, directing my full attention to the two ponies already inside. Princess Celestia and Raven Inkwell were speaking to each other in low tones until I entered the room. Both ponies glanced up at that point. Ironically, Raven's unchanging mask promptly proved more honest than Celestia's: Raven only gave me a curt nod of acknowledgement, but Celestia donned a warm smile.
"Good evening," Celestia greeted me before turning back to the patiently waiting Raven Inkwell. "Please inform Countess Roseblood that she cannot estimate costs for a frontier expedition based on the costs of food in Canterlot, let alone the sort of fare she eats. I highly recommend she hires an accountant sooner rather than later; she certainly won't be getting any Crown support at this rate."
Considering that this latest had been said loudly enough for me to hear rather than her continuing in a hushed whisper, I couldn't be certain that it hadn't been said for my benefit. For all I knew, they might have changed subjects. Still, Madame Inkwell bowed.
"By your command, Princess," Inkwell said deferentially, before straightening to briskly trot past me.
Celestia's full attention returned to focusing on me, and that same smiling mask reappeared. I was momentarily distracted by feeling warmth not just from her, but by my necklace outputting more warmth than its usual. I couldn't be sure if that was a deliberate function, or just a byproduct of it recharging from proximity to Celestia — no, wait, I was being stupid. This was Princess Celestia. Everything she did served multiple purposes.
"That should buy us a fair amount of time," Celestia told me conspiratorially. "I'm afraid the newest Roseblood has yet to acquire the wisdom or skills of her parents."
That was as close to Celestia got to calling a living pony an utter imbecile, I knew; the implication was pretty obvious.
"How was your playdate?" she asked, almost sounding as though she didn't already know the answer.
I knew she'd planned it. She had to have control over everypony around her. Once she realized that her methods of trying to distract me with friends had — apparently — been only partway flawed, it stood to reason that she would try again with new methods as soon as possible. Still, I moved to the closest cushion and settled atop it.
"Much better than I expected," I admitted, before narrowing my eyes. "Why haven't you supported Flighty Flame before now if you knew about her already? Brilliance can only do so much without support."
Celestia blinked rapidly, but spared only a moment's glance for Cadance's abysmal attempt to sneak inside.
"Pardon me, but I believe there may be a standing error of communication. Could you elaborate, please?"
After a moment's hesitation — and a glance past me to make sure the only witnesses would be Cadance, plus the two Royal Guards closing the door behind Cadance — she stood up and gracefully stepped around the desk, barely providing any warning before she squeezed in beside me and engulfed me in a sideways wing-hug. If she was trying to ensure that I physically could not get mad at her, it was unfortunately working quite well. I huffed anyway and forced myself to continue as though she was still on the other side of a table rather than imitating the world's most comfortable blanket nest.
"Not even one day since my first major enchantment lesson," I accused, "and the 'consultation' I was supposed to attend had a mare my age, with my work ethic, with enchantment as her Special Talent? You weren't even trying to be subtle."
A small, throughly humiliating squeak escaped me as Celestia squeezed harder, apparently deciding that the solution to hugs not working as intended was to apply more hugs. I hated that it was working.
"While I appreciate your faith in me," she lied, "I must confess that in this case, it is simply luck or fate at work. I did indeed pick Madame Accord based on staff recommendations due to a reputation for combining elegant dress designs and excellent enchanting work. I did not, however, know that she had been ensuring her assistants did not get a fair share of the credit. Today was the first time I have even heard the name 'Flighty Flame.' Inkwell gave me an overview, but perhaps you would like to provide more detail?"
I still harbored doubts, but I had to admit that her claims did sound plausible. If she was telling the truth and I claimed she didn't, I would only look foalish and harm my position in general.
"Flighty tried to get into your School, but wasn't allowed to take the tests," I summarized. "She would have subsequently failed even introductory classes given the way grades are structured and weighted, but that's an issue with the school, not her — and she's my age. I could have had a classmate who actually cared about the subject matter rather than just learning the bare minimum! Even if your School's name does say it's for 'Gifted Unicorns,' I do think this is a problem. Most scholars aren't able to use their specialties for magical purposes; even if most ponies of other tribes might not be able to actively apply what they learn, they could still accomplish a great deal with thought alo–ne…?"
I trailed off a very, very unfamiliar sound escaped Celestia. Was she—sniffling? I tried to crane my neck to look up at her, but couldn't get a good angle with how firmly she was squeezing me.
"Don't mind me," Celestia said shakily. "I'm just — very, very proud."
I stared blankly and tried to determine what, exactly, I was supposed to say to that. I couldn't quite manage it before she took a deep breath and shoved her emotions back behind a kindly mask, alleged pride gone.
"I am not certain we can have them ready to accept students of other tribes in time for the fall semester," she admitted. "Updating rules alone would take quite some time, to say nothing of curriculum."
I snorted and wiggled one hoof in what was supposed to be a dismissive motion. My current lack of mobility made it difficult. But really, I knew this process wouldn't be instant, and actually intended to fight her if she focused too much on it instead of on me.
"Flighty wouldn't be able to join me then, or probably even at all. She's done well considering her lack of resources, but she's too far behind in too many subjects. I'd rather be sure this is done properly than quickly, especially since the competition to get into your School is fierce. We'll need to open new seats, or else we'll have parents angry at us 'taking them away from the unicorns who belong in them.' Some are already angry about letting commoners in, and that distaste is picked up by their children."
Most of the noble idiots had been more intent on bothering me with feeble attempts at currying favor rather than attempts at bullying, yet I'd seen how they treated other students born from common stock when they thought nopony 'important' was watching.
"Still?" Celestia sighed, her mask repairing itself by the moment. "I would have expected them to adapt centuries ago."
I shook my head, warming to my subject the longer I ranted.
"When did their ancestors ever get their hooves properly burnt for misbehavior?" I demanded. "You stay hooves-off with the School even though it has your name on it, and it's not as though commoners have resources to defend themselves. Reporting bullying to a teacher so that a misbehaving heiress is punished just means that their parents will take revenge for the slight outside school."
My scowl deepened as I thought through the implications of that.
"Why isn't that kind of retribution illegal, anyway? Conditions aren't going to improve until they can't just take revenge for the 'slight' of ponies defending themselves."
Celestia took a long, deep breath, then exhaled a sigh.
"It is already supposed to be forbidden," she said quietly.
I snorted. If I hadn't known that, the average pony most certainly wouldn't.
"With what enforcement mechanism?" I scoffed. "Day Court, when ponies might not even know or be able to prove why they're suddenly facing opposition in Canterlot? The headmistress for your School, whose job is supposed to be that of an administrator rather than any sort of investigator? Even 'loyal' ponies only obey you when they think you mean it; it's easy for them to convince themselves that you were actually just bowing to political pressure, and they're actually doing your bidding by doing the exact opposite. At this point, we might have to open an entire extra school primarily for non-unicorns, because otherwise any non-unicorns attending the existing magic school would be relentlessly bullied even if we change the curriculum."
Celestia's eyebrows gradually crept upward as I continued complaining.
"You are much better informed, and more attached to this subject, than I would have anticipated," she admitted. "Did you discuss all this with Flighty?"
I instantly shook my head and forced myself to glare. It was difficult when my body insisted I should instead lean into Celestia's bulk and fall asleep.
"I keep telling you the School for Gifted Unicorns is terrible!" I hissed. "It isn't just because I 'think I'm too good for them,' even though at this point, yes, I could teach classes there!"
Celestia perked up, and I flinched. She made no move toward the window, though; it seemed the motion wasn't a warning preceding lowering the Sun.
"Would you like to?" she offered.
That made me balk. I might not have been exaggerating, but capability was not supposed to imply desire.
"Oh, eww, no," I hastily refused. "I don't have the patience for ponies who are just there to learn because their parents want them to, or out of a sense of obligation, or something else stupid. I'd much rather spend any such time tutoring Twilight, thank you very much. Maybe Flighty, too, but we haven't talked about that at all."
Thankfully, Celestia didn't appear disappointed by my answer — or if she was, not to the point that any of it showed beyond her smiling mask. Actually, when I got to the part about tutoring Twilight, she even seemed happy. Possibly genuinely for once; it was hard to tell.
"Speaking of things that are healthy for Sunset," Cadance finally interjected from the other side of Celestia. "Can I convince you to announce the adoption, say, tomorrow rather than at the formal introduction? Or today at sunset—the time, not the pony?"
Celestia looked away from me, and my situation became that much less comfortable. I would glare at Cadance for dragging Celestia's attention away, but I couldn't see around Celestia to do so.
"I think you're putting politics before the pony right now," Cadance continued, and Celestia winced. "We have your infamous and still-unexplained response to the Summer Sun Celebration's 'Signal' in case ponies think you don't actually value Sunset. More importantly, I've watched you hold back from showing affection when we aren't strictly in private. That is the exact opposite of the message we want to be sending, right? Cuddle away! Besides, Canterlot is too stiff already, and it could really use you two acting as an example for how it's actually acceptable to show affection in public!"
I wanted to glare at her. That was her idea for replacing Celestia's original plans? Public displays of affection? That had better not be the only component after she was so needlessly cryptic about it.
To Cadance's credit, though, that argument did seem to be working better than either of us had expected. Celestia was silent for several long seconds before sighing.
"Oh, Harmony," Celestia said strangely. "I might as well make a to-do list of my past mistakes at this point. I suspect I would already be more than halfway through."
She started turning away from Cadance, and I immediately stopped trying to crane my neck. By the time Celestia returned her gaze to me, my expression was back to being attentive rather than an attempted glare aimed at Cadance.
"She raises a good point," Celestia admitted. "Needing to stay distant before I announce your adoption is not, upon reflection, the most reasonable of actions, especially given the time lag between invitations being issued and the societal introduction itself. Would you object to my announcing your adoption tomorrow? I suspect the castle entrances will subsequently be swarmed with reporters and the curious; I would prefer that the staff be appropriately prepared for such a siege."
The unexpected terminology made me snort. It would probably be accurate, though. The group of press piranhas Cadance and I faced would be nothing compared to the aftermath of announcing a royal adoption. More importantly still, Celestia should actually be able to start treating me like she was taking the adoption seriously, rather than this painful half-existence where she continued almost as normal for the sake of appearances. I wasn't sure if an early announcement was the entirety of Cadance's plan — I certainly hoped not — but either way, I hoped that it would be good enough.
"I did say that I would much prefer as little lag as possible," I pointed out, "with necessary delays only for the logistics. So, no, I'm not going to object."
I paused as a thought occurred to me.
"Actually, could I get Flighty permanent access to the castle library, please? She's done very well for herself, but it's not fair to expect her to–"
Celestia interrupted me by simple virtue of squeezing hard enough to make me once again imitate a squeaky toy. In the process, I heard Cadance release a giggle, and I immediately vowed vengeance. Admittedly, I wasn't quite certain how to deliver that vengeance right now, as thinking of anything malicious was rather difficult when subjected to Celestia's cuddling and attention both.
"You do not need to justify your request," Celestia promised. "You are my daughter, and want to do something nice for your friend; as far as I'm concerned, you two, and Twilight Sparkle as well, can have the run of the entire castle if you want it."
"Day Court," I said instantly.
"Almost the entire castle," Celestia corrected, smile turning slightly wry.
I was half tempted to throw a party outside Court hours just to test her latest claim, too, but wouldn't push quite that hard. Not yet. Or, actually, not at all. Parties were awful and it wasn't worth going that far just to prove that Celestia didn't mean it. Sooner or later, we would accidentally transgress over unfairly unstated limits and Celestia would narrow the conditions all on her own; we didn't need to push to make it happen early.
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- Location
- Elsewhere
"I wouldn't say that."
"Really? Thank y-"
"You aren't nearly halfway through."
Mgunh1
Not an AI, honest!
- Location
- Northern Luna Base, Module 5, Sublevel 15
She's like a spicy kitten. Loves the affection but the second it stops, she hisses at you.
- Location
- OK
god, I can't wait for the moment when Sunset's brainrot makes her think Cadence is morphing into a master politician, just because she's able to convince Celestia to perform basic parenting tasks.
Cadence: "Also, you probably should make a point of meeting Sunset's friends at some point, so you can show your attentiveness towards her social wellbeing"
Celestia: "oh, damn, really?"
Sunset, whose brain is dribbling out of her ears with cognitive dissonance: "Amazing, it's like watching two poltiical chess masters at work."
Cadence: "Also, you probably should make a point of meeting Sunset's friends at some point, so you can show your attentiveness towards her social wellbeing"
Celestia: "oh, damn, really?"
Sunset, whose brain is dribbling out of her ears with cognitive dissonance: "Amazing, it's like watching two poltiical chess masters at work."
Mgunh1
Not an AI, honest!
- Location
- Northern Luna Base, Module 5, Sublevel 15
Sunset expecting 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel, meanwhile Celestia and Cadance are struggling at Tic-Tac-Toe.
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