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Diplomat at Large

by Evilhumour

Chapter 3: Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

Slice n' Dice wiped a hoof across her brow as she finished herding in the last of the pigs she’d been raising up for this year’s slaughter, before heading back toward the house.

“Good work today, boys,” she called to her packmates. “Wash up and let’s get ready for supper.”

“Um… Slice?” Little-Growl suddenly called. “It looks like we’ve got company.”

Looking where he was pointing, Slice saw a trio of ponies coming up the road. An Earth pony mare with a silverish-blue mane, an Earth pony stallion whose colors almost matched her own, and a small filly with green fur and a red flush to her mane. Her blood ran cold as she saw them.

As the trio reached the gates, Thin-Tall went up to greet them. "Hello there and welcome to tha' Big Apple Orchard," he said. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, you can,” the mare said. “I’m Lazuli, this is my husband and our youngest.”

“Wait, I know you,” Big-Cheer said with a frown on his face before lowering himself with a growl emitting from his mouth.

“You mean, it’s them?” Little-Growl asked with disbelief before narrowing his own eyes at the ponies with Thin-Tall moving in front of his brothers.

“You may say your piece to us before turning around, Apples,” he snapped, baring his fangs. “We will not let you hurt her anymore.”

The stallion had moved in front of his family with his daughter hiding behind his legs. “Ah deserve that, and worse,” he said with Thin-Tall snorting warm air into his face.

“Yes you do,” the wolf said, pawing the ground.

The stallion bowed his head. “Ah… Ah don’t deserve yer forgiveness,” he said softly. “But Ah made a big mistake, an’ Ah came to own up to it.”

The three wolves looked a little startled, as did Slice.

“Ah let some ol' friends yap their lips at me an’ make me think the worst of mah baby filly,” the stallion said. “Ah let mahself be a poor excuse for a father, an’ Ah came to tell her how sorry Ah was for doin’ what Ah did.”

“And you, miss?” Big-Cheer asked Lazuli, still looking angered.

“I let my husband talk me into ignoring my eldest,” Lazuli said. “I was wrong too. But… but in my heart, I never gave up on the hope that I would get the chance to see her again.” She bowed. “I just wish I’d had the courage to do so without having to hear the truth from somepony else first.”

“Ma?” Slice asked hesitantly as she stepped up, her packmates still blocking the way.

Lazuli gazed at her. “Princess Celestia herself came and told us the truth about you, and your new life here,” she said. “But it shouldn’t have taken her intervention for me to get up the courage to come and see you. I should have done it on my own, a long time ago.”

“Oh ma,” Slice said, running past her brothers to hug her mother with tears of joy running down her face.

When they had finally separated, Slice felt a tiny hoof against her leg and looked down at the little filly that had accompanied her parents. “And you are?”

“I’m Bramley!” the little filly said. “Are you… my big sister?”

Slice smiled. “Ah sure am,” she said.

“Yay!” Bramley cheered before throwing her legs around Slice’s own.

Looking down at the sister she’d never known, and at the mother who’d never lost faith in her, Slice blinked away tears of happiness. “Come on in,” she said. “An’ meet your new brothers.”

The wolf trio instantly stood at attention, giving Bramley friendly looks, and Lazuli as well as the two passed through the gate. The stallion - Johnny Apple - they still eyed warily, but stood by and permitted him to enter too once Slice gave them the go-ahead.

Ah owe you big time, Princess Twilight, Slice thought to herself as she led them into the farmhouse. You an’ Princess Celestia both. Yah brought the rest of mah family back to me.

Idly, she wondered how Wise-Mind would react when he stopped in the next time, which she fully expected to be soon - he had dropped by just that morning to let her know he was back from the Gathering, which had evidently produced some surprising new developments. And how her Apple family would react to him.

“Everything okay Slice?” Ma asked, with Slice noticing her packmates were also giving her curious and concerned looks.

“Just wonderin’ when mah Packleader’ll be comin’ by again,” she said with the wolves breathing sharply. “And what he will say.”

“Oh I forgot about him,” Little-Growl said nervously.

“This may be bad, really bad,” Big-Cheer muttered nervously.

Johnny Apple stood ramrod-stiff. “He’s comin’ soon, Ah guess?”

Thin-Tall nodded his head. “Our farm,” he said, stretching the word out to make the distinction of who was included and who was not clear as day. “Is among one of our pack’s greatest boons. We also sit on the main entrance between your nation and ours and Slice here has connections to two Princesses of Equestria.”

“Well, once he comes here… Ah want to tell him thank you.” Johnny tilted his head. “For takin’ care of mah daughter when Ah failed her.”

“Ah don’t think that it will be wise, Johnny,” Slice said with her dad staring at her for using his given name. “He know what you done did and he ain’t happy in the slightest, Ah can tell you that. Also, you ain’t mah Pa.” she said, staring him in the eyes. “Not by a long shot.” She sighed, shaking her head. “But Ah don’t want mah Ma and little sis to be without someone ta help them with their farm and all that other growing up nonsense.”

“Maybe he’ll be mad at us, maybe not,” Lazuli said softly. “But we still owe him, for helping you.”

“No maybe about it, miss Apple,” Thin-Tall said, shaking his head. “We don’t take lightly to those who abandon their own and…” he stopped, looking at Bramley. “Big-Cheer, why don’t you show her around?” Big-Cheer blinked for a moment before nodding his head and shepherding the filly away. Once they were out of hearing range, Thin-Tall continued. “Look, in all honesty, he will be furious when he spots you,” he directed his words at Johnny. “And it will be a serious question if he can, or will bother to try, to restrain himself from attacking you on the spot.”

“If that’s what he does, then it’s no less than Ah deserve,” Johnny said firmly. “Ah’m not goin’ to let mahself be driven off from doin’ the right thing. Not this time.”

“Look, Ah don’t like ya, but Ah ain’t letting mah sis grow up without a dad,” Slice said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s best if ya just go back ta Equestria.”

“Slice n’ Dice Apple of the Strong-Defend Pack, Ah am yer father and ya will listen ta me right now!” he snapped, causing Slice to sit down on her rump before she was aware of what she was doing. “Ah know what ye been saying and Ah don’t-” he stopped himself, shaking his head. “Ah know that this Wise-Mind will more than likely try an’ rip mah throat out the moment he spots me but Ah have to make things right.”

“And how will being dead make things right, Johnny?” Ma asked, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “I may be mad at you, but that doesn’t mean I want to lose you. Or any member of our family. ‘Specially now that we just got one back. And then some.” She looked over at Thin-Tall and Little-Growl. “You boys helped give my daughter a home,” she said, walking over to cup their faces. “I can never thank you enough for that.”

“It was our pleasure,” Thin-Tall said, nuzzling the mare that he already considered family. “But the fact remains… Wise-Mind will come. And while we can speculate, we cannot predict exactly how he will react to finding you here.”

“Whatever will happen, will happen,” Johnny Apple said firmly. “An’ Ah’m willin’ to face it when it happens.”

Just then, the door opened, and the tallest wolf the Apple couple had ever seen stalked in with nary a sound to his movements.

“You would truly stand up to me, for what you believe is the right thing to do?” he asked.

Johnny Apple, his heart pounding in his chest, stood firm. “Ah would,” he said. “Ah made a lot of mistakes, an’ Ah’m here to own up to them. Even if it costs me mah life.”

The wolf stalked closer, his face in Johnny’s. When their snouts touched, the wolf closed his eyes for a minute.

Then, reopening them, he nodded. “I feel your conviction, Johnny Apple. I hear the truth in your words. I understand you deeply, truly realize the error of your ways. And I… forgive you.”

Everyone else in the room let out the breaths they didn’t realize they’d been holding, and Wise-Mind drew away from Johnny. “Welcome to our lands,” he said. “And I am glad to see that the error that was made long ago has finally been corrected.”

Johnny bowed. “Ah owe you more than you can imagine, for takin’ in mah Slice,” he said. “Yer more the father she deserves than Ah am.”

“And she has been a treasure to me,” Wise-Mind said. He looked over to Lazuli. “Welcome to you as well, Mrs. Apple. I am glad to see you have finally come looking for your daughter.”

“I should have been here a lot sooner,” she said. “I want to thank you, Wise-Mind, for taking care of her when I let myself be kept away.”

“You are most welcome,” he said. Then he looked around. “If you don’t mind, I believe I heard some discussion of dinner earlier?”

“R-right,” Slice said, scrambling to her hooves. “Ah’ll get started.”

As she headed into the kitchen, her mother right behind her, Wise-Mind flicked his ears and looked back towards the door. “You can come in now, little one.”

Hesitantly, Bramley entered, followed by Big-Cheer. “Hello,” she said.

“Hello,” Wise-Mind said. “I hope I didn’t scare you.” He gave her a friendly look. “After all, you were innocent in this whole matter.”

Bramley looked up at him. “You’re a lot bigger than my daddy,” she said. “And… what big ears you have!”

Wise-Mind chuckled. “All the better to hear you with, little one,” he said with a smile, reaching one paw out and ruffling her mane. “Including your tummy rumbles.”

As if on cue, the noise repeated itself, and Bramley blushed as Big-Cheer chuckled behind her.

“Come,” Wise-Mind said. “I believe your mother and sister will have things ready soon.”

As Bramley eagerly headed to where he was indicating, he smiled after her. At last, we are all together.


Ponyville…

Scootaloo trotted along happily, her aunts by her side. “I can’t wait for you to come up and see Rainbow Dash’s house,” she said eagerly.

Holiday smiled at her. “And it was so nice of that friend of yours, Zecora, to provide me with a cloud-walking potion for this trip,” she said.

“Yeah… it was,” Scootaloo said. Soon, they’d reached the lifting point. “Here’s our cloud!”

With Lofty pushing it, the Earth pony mare and the little filly were soon up in front of the cloudominium, where they looked around.

“I know you told us about what it looked like, but words just do not do this place justice,” Holiday said, a hoof on her chest. “Those rainbow falls… they’re fantastic.” She looked at Lofty. “I think we just found the theme of your next quilt.”

“I think you’re right,” her marefriend told her.

Just then, the door opened. “Hey, guys!” Rainbow Dash waved. “Come on in!”

The trio smiled and did as she said, following Rainbow Dash through the foyer and up a level to the main floor, where they found a pair of pegasi - a mare the same sky blue as Rainbow Dash, and a stallion a little darker and with a matching rainbow mane - waiting for them.

“So,” the stallion said as Scootaloo approached him curiously. “This is the little filly you said was your biggest fan?”

“Sure am!” Scootaloo told him.

“Well, I don’t know how you can say that,” the stallion said. “You see… we’re her biggest fans!”

The mare next to him promptly pulled out a pennant of Rainbow Dash’s face, waving it eagerly.

Rainbow Dash facehooved. “Scootaloo, Ms. Holiday, Ms. Lofty… meet my parents.”

“Bow Hot Hoof,” the stallion introduced himself. “And my wife, Windy Whistles.”

Windy smiled at them. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Scootaloo,” she said. “Rainbow Dash has told us so much about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Holiday said as she held out a hoof. “Scootaloo’s told us so much about Rainbow Dash, and of course this isn’t the first time we’ve met her, but we didn’t know much about her family.”

“Well, there’s not that much to tell,” Bow said lightly. “Me and my bro Rainbow Blaze grew up in Cloudsdale, and we met my wife here in college. Normal careers - nothing near as exciting as our little Dashie and her love of racing. Why, she’s got more trophies than anyone I know!”

Rainbow Dash looked a little embarrassed. “Daaad…” she muttered.

“Oh, I’m sure you earned them all,” Lofty said. “Scootaloo told us about how much time you spend training for those competitions.”

“She sure does,” Windy said, beaming. “We’ve always encouraged her to be the best she can, you know? And she took that to heart.” She noticed Scootaloo had moved in close to Rainbow Dash. “And you know, when she told us she’d taken this sweet little filly under her wing… we couldn’t have been prouder.”

“Mom…”

“Well it’s true!” Windy looked in their direction. “I always knew you’d make a wonderful big sister some day, even if…” She sniffed a bit. “Even if Bow and I couldn’t be the ones to give you that little sibling.” She leaned down to Scootaloo, rubbing her face against Scootaloo’s. “When you told her how you felt, you made one of our fondest dreams come true,” she said.

Scootaloo blushed. “I was just being honest,” she said.

Holiday and Lofty, seeing the two like this, smiled. “Scootaloo’s our pride and joy,” Lofty said. “And we’re honored to count Rainbow Dash as part of the family.”

“Then that makes you part of our family too,” Bow said. He grinned, and let out a whoop. “BEST! FAMILY! EVER!”

Rainbow Dash flattened her ears and cringed, prompting all of them to laugh.

About an hour later, as they were finishing with the dinner dishes, Holiday looked at the clock. “I hate to say it, but I think we need to be going soon,” she said. “Scootaloo needs to be getting to bed on time.”

“Awww…” Scootaloo pouted. “Do we hafta go?”

Lofty ruffled her mane. “Sorry, sweetie,” she said. “We do. But,” she said. “We would be more than happy to stop by here again, more regularly.”

“You mean it?” Scootaloo asked eagerly.

“We mean it,” Holiday said. “In fact…” she exchanged looks with her marefriend. “I think we’ll be seeing more of Ponyville in general.”

“What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked.

Holiday placed a hoof on her shoulder. “What I mean is, we’d like to move here. On a permanent basis.” She glanced in Rainbow Dash’s direction. “Your big sister had a talk with us after you went to bed that night she got back, and she pointed out how much you miss having us around when we’re gone. And we decided it wasn’t fair to you to just be giving you over to other families when we can’t be here. So we’re moving here full-time.” She leaned down and nuzzled Scootaloo. “We can be together here, from now on.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. Then she let out an ear-piercing squeal and started hopping around. “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes, yeeees!”

The two mares exchanged looks. “I think she’s happy,” Lofty said with a grin.

Bow gave a grin of his own. “I said it before, I’ll say it again,” he said. “BEST! FAMILY! EVER!”

Rainbow Dash groaned, but smiled.

“Does that mean you guys are going to move to Ponyville too?” Scootaloo asked, turning to Rainbow’s parents.

“Well… I don’t know about that,” Windy said, seeing her daughter's face. “But we will visit a lot more often. We want to get to know you better, and our daughter’s friends - both our daughters’ friends.”

“Say, speaking of your friends, doesn’t little Flutters live around here?” Bow asked.

“Not so little anymore, but yeah, she’s in town,” Rainbow Dash told them. “I think Well-Hidden is still around too, but as stealthy as he is, I can’t always tell.”

“Coltfriend?” Windy asked curiously.

“Nah. Just a good friend.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“That’s good, but I do hope she will find somepony one day; she’s not getting any younger.”

Dash scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Mom, we’re about the same age, you know-”

Windy smirked. “I know, honey, I know.” She ruffled Rainbow Dash’s mane. “But you have a career planned that’ll keep you busy, and I wouldn’t ask you to put that on hold just to give us a grandfoal or two. I can wait until you’re ready.”

Rainbow Dash blushed. “Thanks, Mom.”


“Twilight…” Spike shivered. “I don’t think I like this place.”

Twilight herself looked aghast at their surroundings. It had taken them several days to reach the southern island where Mount Aris, farther south and east of the Equestrian continent than she’d ever anticipated traveling. Now, they had found the central city near the top of the mountain, but it was in ruins, worse even than the darkest parts of the Everfree Forest.

“This isn’t natural,” she muttered. Gesturing for Spike to follow, she began performing wide scans with her magic as the two walked through the ruins, until finally they’d reached a point near the very center of the city.

“Spike, this definitely isn’t natural,” she said. “And this place wasn’t just abandoned. It was attacked.”

“Attacked?” Spike looked around in surprise. “By what?”

“I don’t know yet, but-” Twilight was suddenly cut off as she heard a noise.

“Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm…” it came. “Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm…”

“That humming…” Twilight whispered. Levitating Spike into her back, she followed the sound.

There was a mild splash as they reached the spot where it had been coming from, and Twilight looked around to see the large pool of water. “Whoever was here went into there,” she said.

“Let me guess. We’re following them.”

“Exactly, Spike.” Lighting up her horn, Twilight formed a construct around his head, and then hers. “These bubble-head charms will let us breathe underwater,” she said before wading into the pool. “Hold on tight, Spike.”

And with that, she dove underwater.

They followed the large tunnel below the pool for some distance, through twists and turns and darkness, until Twilight thought they had gone down almost to the base of Mount Aris itself. Finally, they emerged into a small glowing cavern, where lightly glowing plants grew from the walls. As Twilight began treading water, moving them forward, she heard a faint gasp.

“Who’s there?” she called.

“Who’s there?” another voice countered.

Twilight looked around. “I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle, of Equestria,” she said. “With my son Spike. We’re-”

Equestria‽” The voice’s tone changed, now sounding excited. “Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen somepony from Equestria before!” Then there was a flicker of light, and Twilight suddenly found herself facing a glowing yellow seapony, her mane, hooves and tailfin a translucent cyan and a set of red wing-like fins coming off her back, a cyan dorsal fin between them. She had a huge grin on her face, and Twilight couldn’t help but think of Pinkie Pie when she saw it.

“I’ve got to get you to my mom, right away!” she said cheerfully. “She always told me to tell her if any Equestrians showed up!”

Twilight blinked as she and Spike began following after her. “Who are you, anyway?” she asked.

“I’m Princess Skystar!” the seapony said eagerly. “Oh, that’s hereditary, not earned like Mom said most alicorns get just for being alicorns. But it’s what I am!”

Twilight smiled. “Pleased to meet you then, Princess Skystar,” she said.

She followed the other mare some distance, before finally emerging into a larger body of water, and looked around in surprise. There was considerably more architecture than she’d expected, and all around them were seaponies, most of whom looked rather startled to see a pony and dragon.

Princess Skystar led her up a final tunnel, and swam over to what looked like a throne where another seapony, this one rather regal-looking, sat. “Mom, mom, look what I found!”

“Is it another shell?” the regal-looking seapony asked. “Because I am telling you if it is another shell, I am-” Then she noticed Twilight, and her eyes flicked from Twilight’s horn to her wings. “Well, well, well,” she said slowly. “What have we here?”

Twilight stood firm, as much as she could while floating. “Your highness,” she started. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, and this is my son Spike. I have come here on behalf of my nation as Diplomat at Large, in the hopes of reestablishing contact between us.”

The regal seapony drifted down closer. “Is that so,” she said. “And just how did you get down here? Our defenses should have kept any intruders from the surface out. Precaution, you know - after the last time.”

“Well, I started at Mount Aris,” Twilight said. “I’d found out about the hippogriffs cutting all ties to… well, everywhere. I came trying to find out why, because I was worried about what was going on with them, but the place was deserted.”

“And with good reason.” The regal seapony gestured. “Go on.”

“We heard some noise and followed it, and found this pool,” Twilight said. “So we swam into the tunnel at the bottom until we came out here, and then…”

“And then my daughter brought you to me.” The regal seapony studied her again, then nodded. “So you came all this way out of concern, for a people you’d never met, hmm?”

“Exactly,” Twilight said. “Your majesty…”

“I am Queen Novo, ruler of Seaquestria,” the regal seapony said. “And I must say, I find it hard to believe. After all, that’s what the last Equestrian to come here said, and look what happened. She tried to steal my most precious artifact, all for that monster that forced the hippogriffs to flee.”

“Monster?” Twilight blinked. “What monster? Who attacked the hippogriffs?”

“They call him the Storm King,” Princess Skystar said nervously. “He’s got this huge army, and he’s trying to take over the world.” She blinked at Twilight’s look of confusion. “You’ve really never heard of him?”

“No,” Twilight said. “I - we haven’t.” She grimaced. “And if Princess Celestia knew about yet another threat out there and didn’t tell me again, I’m going to tweak her nose over it!”

Queen Novo threw her head back and laughed. “A spirited child,” she said. “You are an interesting one, Princess Twilight.”

“Um… thank you?”

“But I think you’ll be a little more comfortable if I do this.” Queen Novo swam up to a large jellyfish-like thing floating above her, and as the central section opened, it released a glowing sphere. Taking it in her fin-hooves, she began stroking it, and aiming it in Twilight’s direction.

Waves of glittering magic flowed from it, sweeping over Spike and her, and in an instant, she felt her wings changing and her body elongating, her two hind legs fusing and changing into a tail like the two seaponies’. Spike, meanwhile, had assumed a more… rounded form, some type of fish she didn’t recognize, and somewhat spikier than he had been.

“This is incredible!” she said as Queen Novo returned the sphere to where it had been. “How is this even possible? Not even the changelings have this kind of magic, and they’re born shapeshifters!”

Queen Novo looked a bit startled, but then calmed again. “All part of who and what I am, Princess,” she said. “All part of how I helped the hippogriffs when they came asking for my help.”

“You mean… you turned them into seaponies too?” Twilight looked delighted. “Then they’re okay!”

Almost okay,” Queen Novo corrected her. “Queen Skydancer didn’t make it out.” Her eyes lowered. “She held off the Storm King’s armies so her people could get away, and it cost her her life.”

Twilight looked down. “Oh…” she said quietly.

“Ever since then, they’ve been safe with me,” Queen Novo said, beckoning to Twilight to follow her as she began to swim out of the chamber. “Queen Skydancer’s brother, General Seaspray, represents them in my council of nobles, and if ever it’s safe to go back, he will become their King. But for now, until the Storm King and that traitor general of his who tried to steal my pearl are dealt with, they live here, far below the waves.”

Behind her, Princess Skystar made a face. “He’s one of the most reasonable nobles I know,” she whispered.

“Skystar, would you mind entertaining young Spike?” Queen Novo asked without turning around. “Princess Twilight and I need to talk in private.”

“Sure thing! Come on, Spike - I’ll show you my shell collection!” She grabbed his fin and swam off before he could protest.

Sighing, Queen Novo looked up. “Oceans above, but precocious children have far more energy than I can take at times,” she muttered.

“I know what you mean,” Twilight agreed. “Some of my best friends have little sisters like that.”

Queen Novo chuckled, then led Twilight some distance. “My personal office chambers,” she explained as she swam towards one set of caves. “I thought we should talk here.”

The grotto they entered was full of strange items, and Twilight would have gladly taken time to examine them if she could have. Instead, she followed Queen Novo to another throne, and took a seat in a nearby clamshell, before the seapony looked to her.

“I recognize a fellow Power when I see them,” she said. “So tell me, how’s her royal Day-ness doing?”

“Um… well enough, I suppose,” Twilight said. “She’s got her sister back.”

“Princess Luna?” Queen Novo looked interested. “I suppose it has been over a thousand years now… and I take it you, oh Lady of Magic, were involved?”

“I was,” Twilight confirmed.

“Mm.” Queen Novo sighed. “Harmony’s been needing someone to take up its sub-Powers for a long time,” she said. “So they finally found a new set of Bearers.”

“Sub-Powers?” Twilight blinked. “What do you mean, sub-Powers?”

“Of the many Powers out there, most work on their own, or alongside their Opposite,” Queen Novo said. “As the Lady of Water, I tend to align with Night and am closely associated with Winter. My Opposite, as you can probably guess, is Fire, who aligns with Day and is closely associated with Summer. But the Powers of Harmony and Disharmony are different. Each of them can operate on their own, but Harmony requires six beings to represent its sub-Powers - Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic - to call on its full might. Disharmony has six sub-Powers too, the Opposites of Harmony’s sub-Powers, but they’re generally independent, and Disharmony can access their own abilities whenever they need to.”

Twilight quickly put two and two together. “Discord.”

“Exactly, child,” Queen Novo said. “He’s the Lord of Disharmony. I felt his Power emerge some time ago; it seems to be active but mostly laying low, so I presume Celestia found a way to win him over?”

“Well, he is close friends with my friend Fluttershy - whom I guess is the Lady of Kindness?”

“If that’s her Element, then yes,” Queen Novo said.

“Wow.” Twilight sat back. “I guess I should have asked him more about this,” she said to herself.

“Ol’ Alpha, right?” Queen Novo smiled lightly. “I felt a touch of his Summer magic on you. How is the old wolf, anyway?”

“Doing fine, as far as I know,” Twilight returned. “So… you said you were associated with Winter, and he’s the Lord of Summer… does that mean there’s a Fall and Spring too?”

“And an Air and an Earth to go with them,” Queen Novo confirmed. “All the Powers come in pairs, even those who’ve formed closer teams like us Forces of Nature and the Four Seasons, or the sub-Powers of Harmony and Disharmony, or the Four… well. You get what I mean. Except for the Judge; ain’t no Power that could serve as an Opposite for them.”

Twilight nodded, and then listened as Queen Novo began to tell her more.


“So,” Twilight was saying a few hours later as she was served her dinner of cooked salmon and preserves made from sea cucumbers. She had gotten used to the taste of fish in good order; while not the same type served at her earlier meals with Swift-Pad, it was still delicious. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine,” the yellow seapony across from her said. “Isn’t that right, dear?”

“It is interesting to meet new people,” the blue seapony next to her replied.

“Eeeee!” The pink seapony next to Princess Skystar squealed happily. “Oh, it is absolutely great to meet new people! I haven’t met new people since it’s been so long I can’t even remember!”

On the other side, a smaller white seapony rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Right, sis,” he muttered.

“Hey now, don’t be like that, Terramar!” the pink seapony scolded him. “Meeting new people is fun!”

“You said it, Silverstream!” Princess Skystar cheered.

Twilight just smiled at the cousins’ interactions. When she and Queen Novo had finished their talk, the seapony queen had invited Spike and her to dinner with her family, including her sister Ocean Flow, brother-in-law Sky Beak, and their children Silverstream and Terramar. So far, the four had proven quite friendly, even if Terramar seemed a little distant.

“So,” Spike said. “Were you all born seaponies?”

Sky Beak shook his head. “My wife and our children were, but I was a hippogriff,” he said stiffly. “One of the refugees from Hippogriffia, changed by the Pearl of Transformation.”

“Oh…” Spike looked abashed.

“It is fine, young drake,” he said. “While I miss our old home, I do not regret coming here for an instant. After all,” and here he reached out and took his wife’s hoof. “I found the love of my life here.”

Ocean Flow smiled back. “And I found you,” she said. “Easily one of the best days of my life.”

If Rarity were here, she’d probably swoon, Twilight thought, but kept it to herself. “I’m so happy for you two,” she said. “That you found one another.”

“It was a wedding to remember,” Queen Novo said with a smile of her own. “Not so exciting as the last one you attended… but then, you had to put up with a changeling attack, and that kind of excitement we could do without.”

Really?” Skystar looked excited. “Oh, I’ve never met a changeling, what are they like?”

“I wanna know too!” Silverstream said eagerly.

Twilight smiled and began to describe the ones she’d met, both the good and the bad, with an emphasis on the good.

I wonder how Thorax is getting along? she thought to herself.

Next Chapter: Chapter Four Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 9 Minutes
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