Romance and the Fate of Equestria

I just realized that in the very first Author's Note of this story, I said, "This is gonna be huge." It never occurred to me how right I was at that moment. Yeah, baby. What a story this is…

Although having to lift the speech directly from Snowdrop just makes me realize how low-quality my writing actually is. Just ignore the fact that I could never possibly write a speech like that. Although if there is a moment anywhere in this story that made you cry, I'd love to hear about it.

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven

On a much larger, much more elaborate film set, on the flat clouds just outside of Cloudsdale, Angel Aquamarine in full Snowdrop makeup stood at the head of a dumbfounded crowd of pegasus extras, many of them foals, and presented a crudely-carved snowflake—actually made of glass—to a pair of tall, thin unicorns standing on a higher, smaller cloud, made up as a young Celestia and Luna complete with large Crusaders Mecha wings. Three pegasi standing on tiny little clouds had cameras aimed at the filly's face from three different angles.

"Maybe it doesn't look like one, but it's still a star!" she said defensively. "It's a star for winter. I can't see what the stars look like up there… just like I can't see what spring looks like… but I can hear it all. And I heard the snow twinkling just like the stars do every night. So… they should be able to grant wishes too, shouldn't they?"

She finished the lengthy soliloquy, without a single stumble other than those of the naturally shaky voice she had adopted as Snowdrop. When the speech ended, Angel O'Brien floated out from behind one of the cameras, her eyes misty. "Wow, little sis… I think I liked you better when you were a big ham. Your coaching has done wonders. All right, we've got two great takes there. Let's run it again: this time, let's get the reaction shot from the classmates, a close-up on the princesses, and… one from Snowdrop's profile. Let's go."

The three cameraponies quickly obliged, the lighting and sound crew arranging their own positions accordingly. After three minutes or so, the scene was ready.

"All right," said O'Brien. "The monologue, from the top."

Promptly, the younger sister began her speech from the beginning.

"Winter's been giving us a gift all this time, and… and we've just been ignoring it. Celebrating spring is good, but winter can't be all bad if it gives us these. It may be cold and dark, but that doesn't mean there isn't any good to it. Maybe… maybe winter is sad that everypony doesn't like it."

Luna's actress gasped.

"Um… cut," O'Brien called after the full speech was finished. "Fleur, honey, do you have any other facial expressions?"

Fleur Dis Lee's flowing pink Celestia-like mane went limp and motionless as soon as the cut was called. "I beg your pardon?" she said sweetly.

"You're just going to keep that one same smile on through that whole speech?" O'Brien challenged. "No other reactions?"

"I don't believe so," Fleur said, her face and tone not changing in the slightest.

"…Fine," O'Brien said weakly. "From the top again. Action!"

With a faint tinge of exhaustion, Aquamarine went through the entire speech yet again.

"So maybe we need to make wishes on the winter's snow, just like how we wish on the night's stars. Maybe then we can have a happy winter instead. We already have a happy spring, and summer, and fall… can't winter be happy too? Because… winter… it's important. Even if it seems useless, it can give us wonderful things, so…" The speech ended there, on that hanging, unfinished note.

At the end of the speech, O'Brien rapidly shook her head to brush the tears away. "Right," she sniffled. "Um… well, while we've still got our daylight, let's get as many takes as we can of the princesses' final lines, then I think that'll be it for the day. Let's start with the close-ups, shall we?"

All three cameraponies aimed their equipment straight at the two princesses, two of them doing individual close-ups and the third doing a wide shot of the pair.

Another pony clapped a slate in front of the cameras and darted off; Fleur's magical mane once again flared to life, and Luna's actress quickly stepped forward and leaned in to the cameras, wide-eyed. "May we see your wishing snow?" she whispered.

She lifted the snowflake over the cameras and into their range with her magic aura—dark red, the only thing that couldn't be faked with practical effects—and inspected it carefully, as did Fleur, who then turned toward the cameras and asked, "Could you make us some more?"

This brief scene was filmed twice more.

O'Brien nodded with satisfaction. "All right. Let's end it with the wide shot and Snowdrop's response."

Only one camera was used at this point, getting a profile shot of both the princesses and Snowdrop. As before, they acted out the scene of Luna taking the snowflake from Snowdrop. When Fleur asked, "Could you make us some more?", Angel Aquamarine gasped, her eyes brightening with joy, and replied, "Mm-hmm!"

O'Brien launched herself into the air, twirling around excitedly. "WHOO!" she crowed. "Good work, crew! That's a wrap!"

The crew all looked at her in bewilderment. The line producer flew up behind her and whispered in her ear.

"Oh," she said blankly. "That's only for when we're done shooting the entire movie? Oh, okay. What do you say when you're done for the day?" She listened as the crewpony whispered further. "Really? There's no specific…? Uh, okay, we're—we're done for the day, everypony! Let's pick it up right here tomorrow morning. Great shoot today, ponies!"

The crew began to pack up and disperse. Several crewponies brought the princesses' cloud down to the level of the city, and the two actresses stepped off.

Scootaloo, her mane braided, eagerly swooped down on Angel Aquamarine, who had a pair of artists on her, carefully wiping off her makeup. Before she spoke, Princess Luna's actress called out, "Oh, Scootaloo, darling?"

"Yes, Princess?" she called back. "I mean, Imelda?"

"Whenever you're ready to help us with these," she said elegantly, beckoning with her large wings.

"Of course, I'll be right there," Scootaloo said, nodding, before turning back to Aquamarine. "So, how was my whispering?"

"Distracting," she replied coldly, but unable to suppress a smirk.

Scootaloo giggled. "So, are you gonna do anymore acting after this movie?"

"Scootaloo, we've just started this movie," Aquamarine said in amusement, as her contact lenses came out and she turned her gaze upward toward the taller filly. "…But yeah, I'm sure gonna try."

"Bam!" Scootaloo exclaimed, pumping a hoof and quivering with excitement. "That's awesome."

Just off the set, Fleur and Imelda were walking toward a pair of small, nondescript buildings they were using as dressing rooms and trailers.

"Good work today, Fleur," Imelda said brightly.

Ignoring her entirely, Fleur walked right through the cloudy wall of her trailer.

"No?" Imelda said, undismayed. "Alllll right then…"

"Imelda Largo."

Imelda turned her head with an exaggeratedly graceful, fluid motion, and there was Gilda, floating downward on a cloud, clad in deep purple armor, her huge wings now ribbed and spiky, her fur and feathers stormy gray, and her eyes a murkier shade of gold with vertical slits for pupils. She smirked, revealing a pair of fangs in her steely beak.

"Gilda!" Imelda said pleasantly. "Ever the Equestrian patriot, I see. Look at you! Member of the lunar guard in good standing, by the looks of it."

"Meh, just a rookie," Gilda replied, running a talon over her head modestly. "But I'm very happy."

A little speckled chicken bobbed out from behind one of her massive wings; Gilda picked the bird up and began stroking it.

"Oh my, is that a new chicken?" said Imelda, intrigued.

"Yeah, her name's Gorgon," Gilda said affectionately. "Gorgon Deathblood."

Imelda beamed. "It's good to see you well, Gilda."

"You too. Man, that's a really good impression of Princess Luna. Staying in character the whole time, I like that."

"Just trying to be professional," Imelda said sweetly.

"And how about those fake wings, huh?" Gilda added, feigning surprise and ignorance. "How do those work?"

"You know, I don't know," Imelda admitted, unfolding them and looking at them. Gilda nodded with satisfaction at that. "I think they're made of wood? Scootaloo, the young actress playing Cumulo Nimbus, she's in charge of putting these wings on me and Fleur, but I don't understand how they work. I certainly can't fly with them." She gave a few lopsided attempts at flapping them to demonstrate her lack of control.

"You'd be surprised," Gilda said in amusement.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, nothin'."

"So…" Imelda said thoughtfully. "Judging by your new line of work, I'd say Golden Thread didn't go as well as you had hoped?"

"Not so much," said Gilda, flinching. "Long story, but it ends with Cocoon getting away—completely ruining the shield your dad gave me, I may add, the bastard—and reuniting with his queen. Meh, now I'm just tryin' to live one day at a time."

"Of course," Imelda said, nodding.

"And so far, the royal guard gig feels pretty good."

"Mmm, I do love the look," she said admiringly, taking in the sight.

"Yep," Gilda said with satisfaction. "I think I have career prospects ahead of me. There's kind of a glass ceiling, which pissed me off at first, but once I learned the details, I felt pretty okay with it."

"Ah," Imelda said with interest. "Are you referring to the four senior guards who pleasure the princess?"

"You know about that?" Gilda exclaimed.

"I am Princess Luna, am I not?" she said smugly, before briefly giving into a most un-Luna-ish snorting giggle fit. Regaining her composure, she continued, "She told me everything about her life so I could properly inhabit her."

"How does knowing that your character will keep bed-warmers a thousand years in the future help your acting?" Gilda said suspiciously.

Imelda shrugged. "Just knowing that's the kind of pony she is has helped me understand how to carry myself. The rest is subtext."

Gilda smiled. "Well, congratulations, kid. You always said you wanted to be an actress. I'm proud of you for finally pulling it off. Only… I wonder…"

Imelda flinched, knowing what was coming.

"How is your dad going to react when he finds out?" Gilda said quietly. "I don't think this is appropriate behavior for the crown princess of crime."

"You're not going to tell my father about this, are you?" Imelda demanded, an anxious squeal creeping into her voice.

"I don't need to, sweetie," Gilda said simply. "This is a big movie. You know how things go with fancy-schmancy biopics like this: you're never gonna meet anypony who's actually seen it, but it's gonna be award bait, they're gonna be talking about you on the radio, your name's gonna be on the poster somewhere, I'm sure. You might think you're safe under all that Princess Luna makeup, but face it: you've just put yourself in the public eye."

Imelda growled. "Maybe so, but I'm not going to spend the rest of my life as an accountant for my father's organization! There's so much more out there for me than a life of crime. Surely you can empathize. You always longed for your life to be more than thuggery."

"I feel you, Imelda," Gilda assured her. "Your secret's safe with me, of course it is, but it's gonna get back to your dad sooner or later. The only question is… whether this qualifies as taking sides against the family." She raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"That's the question, isn't it?" Imelda muttered bitterly. "Whether he could find it in his heart to have me dealt with."

"I don't think so," said Gilda. "He was always nice to me, and I was just a common thug. You're his daughter."

"Which makes my betrayal that much greater," Imelda countered. "Of course he was nice to you, he's a nice pony… to those who haven't crossed him. He's still a crimelord above everything else. That's just the way it works."

"Then what are you doing here if you're so scared?" Gilda whispered harshly.

Imelda glared. "If I didn't have the courage to follow my dream, I would have nothing. If I die, I will die with my role in this film as my legacy!"

The harsh stare that the two continued to level at each other was filled with a deep understanding, and broke when they both jumped in alarm at the sudden sound of a young voice saying, "Imelda?"

They turned in surprise toward Scootaloo, who hovered a few feet off the cloud's surface as she came within speaking distance. "Oh, hey Gilda," she said. "What's up?"

"Hey, Twiggy," Gilda replied, a bit flustered.

"Imelda, are you… dying?" Scootaloo said in concern, wincing at her own forwardness.

Imelda swallowed. "I'm feeling a bit nauseous, yeah," she said, breaking character completely in the middle of the sentence, her natural accent harsh and grating, before she quickly brought the false Luna voice back by the time the sentence was finished.

"She's fine," Gilda said hastily. "She's just a bit nervous."

"Oh, of course," Scootaloo said kindly. "Who wouldn't be? The whole world is gonna see what we just filmed out there."

"And how does that make you feel?" Gilda said absently, her eyes still on Imelda.

"Freaks me out," Scootaloo admitted. "But, you know, that's why we're doing it."

Imelda smiled innocently and nodded.

"So, time for me to help you with your wings?" Scootaloo offered.

"Certainly," said Imelda, beckoning her toward the dressing room. "While I've got you, are they supposed to sting going in?"

"Yeah, they do that. Don't worry, they don't hurt at all coming out."

As the two departed, Gilda nodded, satisfied, and purposefully floated away on her cloud.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Endnotes

So, from now on, when you envision Gilda, envision her with all the motifs of the two bat-ponies who pulled Luna's chariot. There have been several different interpretations of why Luna's guards look like that; fanged, bat-winged, and cat-eyed as they are, they're certainly no ordinary ponies. A fanfic written by a former friend of mine suggested that Celestia's royal guards wear armor that casts an illusion over them making them all look exactly the same. That'd certainly explain a lot. Now, while I'm probably not using that idea for Celestia's guard—I've come up with a few unique royal guard characters—I did decide that such an illusion applies to Luna's.

The official statement from the writers is that the bat-ponies are a unique race of ponies that live in the mountains, which certainly contains more story possibilities than a simple illusion, but doesn't quite fit in with my continuity. When the bat-ponies were brought up in Friendship Is Dragons, an MLP/D&D-themed webcomic I read, the official explanation was used and many of the commenters were surprised, having assumed that Luna's guards were just wearing Halloween costumes, which I thought was an absolutely hilarious conclusion to reach. At first it seems like the simplest solution, but then you start to mull it over…

Now then, this… was originally going to be where we'd have the first of three hiatuses during Part Three. However, with everything that's been going on, my work hours last year, the busy trip to Sweden, my visit with Grandpa, a whole lot more work hours this year, plus all those times when I took a month to update for no apparent reason… here we are more than a year after Part Three started but only one-quarter of the way through it. So much for the "one part per year" theory. So, I now decree: no hiatuses in Part Three!

Not officially, anyway. Things will still get in the way, such is life. The good news is, I only have a six-month-long work year. Last year, those other six months afforded me some opportunities to travel and become more worldly, but I ain't wasting any time on that crap this year. No sir, this year, I've hopped back to Colorado, and I'm gluing my lazy butt to a comfy chair and chilling out with my mom and sisters. I'll be bustin' out RFE chapters like… I dunno. Like something that comes out with new installments a lot. So, yup, as of now you'll be seeing a lot more of me. Ciao!