Canterlot [Throne Room] Equestria's Voice [Open-Read Rules]

[starswirlthebearded]

((OOC: Please read the Rules at the end of this post))

Celetsia has ruled over Equestria for generations. She has had the foresight and wisdom to create an era of peace and prosperity. Part of her daily tasks has been to listen to disputes within her kingdom and be an impartial mediator creating a sound solution for all parties. However times change and so must she. Like always she has an open mailbox and reads every letter she receives from her loyal subjects and responds to them as she can. However she finds that it can get impersonal and feels like she should open her doors to all during the same time she holds dispute resolution. It is something new, but it is a way for Celestia to hold true dialogue with her subjects, something she doesn't often get to do.

Celestia gathered her guards and notified them of her plans, even gathering a few for security in the throne room itself. After she had notified the guards she had told them to post the Royal Notification in all towns and cities throughout Equestria. She wasn't sure of the reaction this would bring, or if anypony outside of the usual dispute resolution would come, but she was hopeful that this would be successful and an everyday thing. Being able to help and listen to all issues of her subjects, not just through letters.

With everything in place and prepared, Celestia opened the doors to her throne room as she always does, but this time with more allowance for the general public.

Rules:

-In General, only one pony [or creature] at a time talking to Celestia. All others may talk outside the throne room among themselves

-In the case of dispute resolution those must be planned out either in PM or OCC and is the only time multiple ponies [or creatures] other than guards may be in the throne room

-Celestia's word goes [or guards played by players] Keep in mind that all other NPC guards are controlled by Celestia and any request to control them by players must be submitted through PM

-Requests to be an active guard in the thread must be submitted through PM (I'm probably going to limit it to 2 to start but we'll see how the thread progresses)

-Much like River's Kissing thread there will be a line queue, but it has no impact on posting order

-Dialogues that require more may be separated into a separate story thread

-In the event that the line chatter becomes too much for the thread, it may be separated into a separate thread

((Note: Ponies should line up for the queue, by making an introductory post. A guard will show them to the Princess for their audience, thus creating a line.))

[Imagination]

This was pretty important.

No, it was VITAL.

She had nowhere else to turn. Nopony knew how to contend with her problems, and she needed solutions!

So, Ruby Pinch decided that she was going to get those answers! Without her mother knowing exactly where she was headed, the Ponyville filly had made her way to Canterlot, her mother's old saddlebag at her side. Within it were her problems. She had heard the Princess was going to open doors to the public. Who better to ask, right? She was smart! REAL smart! And WAY old! But she wasn't going to tell her her mommy said that.

Eventually, after asking countless ponies (some more helpful than others), she arrived at the palace! But it wasn't as open as she thought. Oh well. So long as she got the answers she needed. Of course, she told the guards it was of grave importance, and her future was at stake... But she only wanted to talk the Princess about it. So, she had to wait in line. But that was okay! She got to see the palace! And the Canterlot ponies! And the guards! And the rug! It was a nice rug. The weather was always nice at Canterlot too. Didn't the Princess ever want it to rain so she could play in the puddles? What was the Princess like as a foal? Was she fun? Was she silly?

NO, focus Pinchy! For all you know, you might only get one question! ONE question! She's a busy pony! She started going over scenarios in her head, just getting worse and worse...

'Your high-ly-ness, can you help me?' 'Yes. Next!' 'D'oh!'

'Princess, can you help me with-' 'BEGONE filthy peasant, your troubles are no concern of mine!'

Okay, maybe she wouldn't say that. But Ruby was just nervous. Oh mare, this was probably a bad idea. What if she froze up and couldn't say anything? What if she just stood there like a frozen, dumb... dumby! And they just threw her out anyway for wasting their time?! At this point she was shaking, that seed of doubt planted... But she's come to far to back down now.

[Pretzelparty]

This was such and honor! To preside over and guard the princess during her choice to once again open herself up to her subjects. Obviously this couldn't have been the first time that Princess Celestia had done anything like but this was obviously the first time the fair lieutenant had ever been chosen to assist in any way, shape, or form.

Silverheart had done his best to make sure security had been at it's best and the serving staff had made the throne room absolutely spotless for the princess' sake (and a bit for his own). The way he had been working the servants was gaining a few irritated looks from them when he walked by despite having thanked them for their services. Ultimately their work and his insistence had paid off and the throne room was looking absolutely spotless, almost shining like the sun itself... with considerably less chance of blinding somepony.

Lt. Silverheart had made sure to shine and polish his armor the previous night and make himself look properly presentable for the princess as well as the sure-to-be-coming subjects. What little of his mane one could see under his helmet was very well combed and clean. Walking over to the door he told the two unicorn guards at the sides of the doors to open them and as the gigantic doors parted the marish stallion exited and took a deep breath, prepared to address a crowd... only to instead just see a small filly sitting there.

The lieutenant looked at the small pinkish filly, "Um... hello, Little filly. The princess will see you now." said the lieutenant in his typical rather feminine voice before calmly leading Pinchy into the throne room and to the princess. Bowing to her highness, Silver began to speak, "Princess Celestia, We have our first guest." Looking to the filly he smiled and gestured for Pinchy to step forward.

[Imagination]

She was still nervous as... As... Well, she couldn't really think of a creature that was naturally nervous at the time. Maybe a bunny? Then again, Fluttershy's didn't seem to have any problem getting his point across. Maybe a bird? A cat? They seemed to run near strangers alot... Were griffons extra nervous? She'd have to ask one sometime.

When she was told to advance toward the glorious god monarch of the sun, she took and breath and put on the best little smile she could muster. "Thank you, Guard lady!" she said to the lieutenant before advancing forward. Random thought, was she white or a very very off pink? Pinchy felt like she could feel some pink in there on the Princess' coat. Being a fellow pink pony gives you a kind of radar like that, you know. It did make her feel a bit better... The Princess was a pink pony like her! Sure she had super pretty wings, was thousands of years old, contained infinate knowledge, and had magic that could control the cosmos. So what? Ponies who were pink didn't have trouble understanding eachother... Right? Her own assessment made sense to her.

But by this time she had already been standing before the monarch for half a minute now! She had to say something! She put on a confident smile (a ruse) before letting Celestia have it! "Good-! Um..." She quickly glanced out the window. Was it morning or afternoon? She left during the morning but she hadn't checked the time since she left Ponyville. Looking back to Celestia, she went with the foolproof greeting. "Good day your highness!" Bam. "Um... I-I'm... My name is, um..." No, Pinchy, your name is not 'Um'. Think before you speak, filly! "My name is Ruby Pinch, from Ponyville! I need help with something..." Sitting on her haunches, she pointed every which way as she explained her situation. "I don't want to ask my teacher, cuz I'm afraid she might get mad and think I wasn't paying attention in class! And my mommy isn't so good with this stuff, so I tried to ask somepony else! I asked the mailmare! She didn't know! I asked the garden merchant pony guy! He didn't know! I asked the barber, the local guard, the Cakes, the construction pony, and they all said they were too busy to help! I tried asking Mr. Boots too, but this sort of thing makes him nervous, so I didn't press the issue... So I did the most logical thing and came to Canterlot to ask you because you're super smart and stuff!" she eccentrically explained, trying to convey to Celestia that clearly all other options had been exhausted. She even asked her stuffed bear, for goodness sake.

Reaching her hoof into her saddlebag, she set a piece of paper on the floor in front of her... With math problems on it. With teary eyes, putting on her best pegging face, the filly requested of her great Princess: "Can you help me with my homework?"

[starswirlthebearded]

Everything was prepared for any arriving guests and the guards were all on stand-by, with Lt. Silverheart who was to greet the guests and show them in. No sooner did the doors open that the good lieutenant announced the first guest, who funnily enough mistook the lieutenant's gender. Looking at the young filly, Celestia couldn't help but giggle as Silverheart announced her entrance into the throne room.

"Princess Celestia, We have our first guest."

Celestia smiled and nodded to acknowledge the guard's announcement as the young filly began to make her way to the center of the room to meet with the sun princess. Celestia was certain this would not be the normal sort of issue or audience she normally met with during this time, but she smiled and awaited for the cute filly's introduction and what she wanted to discuss.

"Good-! Um..." She quickly glanced out the window. Was it morning or afternoon? She left during the morning but she hadn't checked the time since she left Ponyville. Looking back to Celestia, she went with the foolproof greeting. "Good day your highness!" Bam. "Um... I-I'm... My name is, um..." No, Pinchy, your name is not 'Um'. Think before you speak, filly! "My name is Ruby Pinch, from Ponyville! I need help with something..."Sitting on her haunches, she pointed every which way as she explained her situation. "I don't want to ask my teacher, cuz I'm afraid she might get mad and think I wasn't paying attention in class! And my mommy isn't so good with this stuff, so I tried to ask somepony else! I asked the mailmare! She didn't know! I asked the garden merchant pony guy! He didn't know! I asked the barber, the local guard, the Cakes, the construction pony, and they all said they were too busy to help! I tried asking Mr. Boots too, but this sort of thing makes him nervous, so I didn't press the issue... So I did the most logical thing and came to Canterlot to ask you because you're super smart and stuff!"

"Can you help me with my homework?"

The cute filly made a rather lengthy (well lengthy for what she was requesting) explaination as to why she was there in Canterlot without her parent or guardian. Celestia did not approve of this, but still she couldn't be necessarily angry at the filly, as she probably didn't think and sought out help for what she considered a very big problem. Celestia remembered, no matter how long ago it was, what it was like to be a filly herself and to see many problem as grand issues that needed solving.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss Ruby Pinch," Princess Celestia warmly greeted her guest. "Let us take a look at this homework of yours." she continued in the same warm and welcoming tone.Princess Celestia took a look at the sheet that was pushed towards her by the filly, using her levitation magic to bring it up to her eye level to read it over. Upon the paper was basic multiplication problems, not at all hard to explain to a young filly how to do, and Princess Celestia had no intention of turning her away, after all she did come a rather long way for this. However she also had to impress upon the filly the error of what she did.

After finishing looking at the problems Celestia nodded and smiled "Yes, I do believe I will be able to help you, but first I have to ask you a few things." Celestia changed her tone to a more authoritative tone, as a teacher talking to a student (after all, Celestia was headmistress at her own school and had much experience talking to fillies and colts about such matters). "But before I do that, I must impress upon you the severity of what you have done. Your parents are probably worried back in Ponyville, and it was not very wise of you to take this trip all by yourself, as you could have gotten lost or hurt. Because of this I will have to assign a guard to escort you back home, and have them explain to your parents what you have done." Celestia gently explained to the filly, smiling. "Now the first question is, why did you not visit Princess Twilight Sparkle at the Golden Oaks Library? I am quite certain she would have been elated to help you and impart her knowledge to a young filly such as yourself." Celestia inquired to the filly, as she began to smirk, as the second question was more of a playful jab at the filly's short thinking of asking Princess Celestia. "And the second question is... Did you really think it wise, if you were worried what your teacher, Miss Cheerilee, if I recall, would think, to ask another teacher for help? I may have to tell her you came here for help. I do believe that is in the teacher's secret code somewhere." Princess Celestia said jokingly, she really had no intention of telling her teacher, but still, teachers teach because they enjoy it. And speaking from experience, Celestia never minded if a filly of colt that she was teaching came to her for help with a problem, even if the reason was because they were not paying attention. They cared enough to come get help and that made it worth while.

[Imagination]

The filly's expression brightened exponentially as the Princess took her homework, absolutely beaming. Yay! She was going to help Pinchy with her homework! But before she could celebrate over her educational savior too much, her expression took the express route back to pitiful, knowing that tone very well. She was in trouble. How was she supposed to know that leaving a very convincing decoy at home and running off by train to the nation's capital to ask the goddess monarch for educational help rather than go to Cheerilee and get over her fear of reprisal was a bad thing to do? Not that this wasn't helping much. BUT, back to business!

She just let her head hang, but making sure not to break eye contact with the princess. That would be rude! Right?

Her questions came! These should be easy, right? They weren't math. Why didn't she go to Princess Twilight?

"I-I did, your highness, but she didn't answer the treedoor! I assumed she must be doing something super important, like inventing an invisibility hat that never loses it's power, or... or... or finding a way to defeat an Ursa MAJOR! Or helping Applejack with a super NEW infestation of some kind! Or was she on an adventure in the Everfree...?" After a pause, she came up with the most unlikely answer, but it had to be considered regardless. "Or maybe she just wasn't there..."

But the second question floored her. "Secret... Code...?" she asked, bewildered. Her eyes were agape with awe, horror, enlightenment, and that 'ah-ha' moment all in one. Are teachers really in like a... a secret group? Have they been spying on her with like... a crystal ball or something? Have secret meetings in robes and stuff? A secret teacher society! It was kinda cool, but... But she gave Miss Cheerilee so much trouble sometimes! What if the organization had a vendetta against her?! What if they were going to make the rest of her educational career miserable?! What if they held her back!

She just imagined herself sitting in Miss Cheerilee's class as a full-grown mare, while Cheerilee hasn't aged at all because she is rejuvenated by failure!

At this point, she was absolutely shaking.

[Lux]

It was an exiting day having the doors of the castle open for ponies to come and address their questions or concerns to Princess Celestia. A yellow unicorn colt watched as a pink filly trotted into the castle, wondering if her mom or dad was in the city like his were. He then followed her, pausing just in front of the door as a wave of nerves overtook him. He really wanted to see the Princess and had a good question to ask her, but there was a strange sense of worry, one that he had for his whole life, and as much as he tried to ignore it the nervousness kept coming back.

"I have to do this. No getting shy now."

Gathering up his strength, Guiding Light proceeded into the castle and one step closer to the throne room and where he hoped to get his question answered. He was stunned by the opulence of the main foyer with its high ceilings and marble walls. Strangely despite being his first time to the castle, Guiding Light managed to find his way to the throne room. And there was Princess Celestia sitting upon her throne, the only thing separating him from meeting her was that same pink filly he saw before. The filly looked nervous, which made Light wonder what her question was. Perhaps she was as just nervous as he was, although he strongly doubted it.

[Pretzelparty]

"Thank you, Guard lady!"

Silverheart gave cringed as the filly mistook him for a mare. This was possibly the ... tenth time today this had happened today, "U-uh... actually, little Filly I'- actually nevermind..." The 'mare' giving an exasperated sigh. He didn't want to make the little one feel any more awkward than she obviously already did, seeing how nervous she was looking. Silver would probably be dealing with this confusion throughout the entire event so he may as well just go with; not like he was going to wind up dating anypony in this line.

The filly, apparently named Ruby pinch approached the princess of the Sun, silver arched an eyebrow as she just seemed to stand there for half a minute before she said anything. She must have been more nervous than he thought. He was going to go over to give her a bit of encouragement but just as he took his first step he smiled as the little filly managed to finally speak up. At first Pinchy seemed to just be rambling but it turned out that she was giving a rather detailed explanation of how she came to this point. It was rather odd how it seemed absolutely nopony in Ponyville seemed to have time to help her with whatever it was that was bothering her. Actually what was it she was having trouble with--

"Can you help me with my homework?"

Without missing a beat the guardpony facehoofed and stifled a sigh. What was today's generation coming to if they couldn't finish their homework on their own and the adults around them couldn't help them--" Oh By the princesses I'm becoming my grandfather." thought the lieutenant with a nearly horrified look on his face before he took a break from his inner critique of today's youth (seriously how could he be thinking this? He was a stallion in his prime not some old trottingham codger waving his cane at the foals to get out of his yard.) He Saw the princess was in her usual playful mood, it seemed her sense of humor was rubbing of a tiny bit on her current guard as well as even he found the little filly's reaction amusing.

Enough listening in on the conversations of the princess and her subject, he had a soon-to-be-forming line to tend to. Luckily it seemed the princess' next visitor had arrived, Even he seemed to have the tiniest hint of uneasiness about him so Silver figured he may as well try and speak a bit to him to ease his mind until Celestia was ready to see him.

"I have to do this. No getting shy now."

Putting on his kindest tone possible the marish stallion spoke to the colt," No need to be shy, Just be respectful and the princess will answer any question to the best of her ability. Would you like to tell me your name so I may formally introduce once Miss Pinch is finished?"

[starswirlthebearded]

Celestia giggled at the filly's rather vivid imagination. She went on about where Twilight might have been (and Celestia knew better than anypony that she was most likely lost in a good book, she had heard that she allowed Spike to devote himself to Applejack due to her reading that stack of books that she requested of her). That aside it seemed that the little filly was earnest in correcting her error of not paying attention in class, so Celestia would not deny the filly.

However before she was going to do that, she had to respond to the shaking filly who was clearly worried over the 'Secret Code' thing Celestia told her about. "But of course there is a secret code. How else do you think teachers seem to know everything about their students" Celestia inquired smiling cantering over to the filly. She used her hoof to gently lift up the filly's muzzle. "But the code is to know which students put in extra time or other things like that, it is rarely ever bad. I personally don't know of any teacher who would not be proud and happy that their student went to get extra help, even if they didn't pay attention during class." Celestia said smiling as she looked at the piece of paper. "I can teach you how to do your homework, but you will have to do it yourself."

The math problems were simple enough, and multiplication was rather simple once you understood it. Celestia decided to first explain the concept of multiplication. She levitated some parchment and a quill over and laid it out in front of the filly. "To begin, I will explain what multiplication is and how it works." Celestia drew on the piece of paper 4 clusters of 3 apples each with 4x3 written at the top. "Multiplication is simply where you add up clusters of numbers. This picture represents the problem at the top. Four ponies with three apples each would be how many apples in total?" Celestia inquired of the filly. She went closer and whispered to the filly "If you don't get it in your head, you can count the picture. And if you would like I can show you an easy trick for multiplying any number" Celetsia said with a wink to the filly.

[Lux]

Surprisingly Guiding Light's words of reassurance to himself were loud enough to catch the ears of a guard. It wasn't that much of a surprise though as even the colt's hoof steps echoed across the expanse of the room like thunder, no matter how inconspicuous he wanted to be.

," No need to be shy, Just be respectful and the princess will answer any question to the best of her ability. Would you like to tell me your name so I may formally introduce once Miss Pinch is finished?"

He looked at the guard for a moment, wondering if this one was a mare or a stallion. It was really hard in all that armor. The unicorn resolved that this one was a he, and the colt hoped he wasn't wrong. The words of the guard weren't gruff like he imagined one to be but instead calm and kind. It put his mind at ease and boosted his confidence, making him feel his choice to come here wasn't the wrong one.

"Oh um thanks sir. At least I hope you are a stallion. It's hard to tell in that armor. If you're a mare, then I'm sorry. Oh, my name? It's Guiding Light. Thanks for introducing me."

[moonshineTheleocat]

Long awaited was the day that the doors to the castle had been open up to public. It was a truthfully amazing ordeal to Java, even if only a small sector of the castle was allowed to be wondered, he would be able to meet Princess Celestia in person, and maybe... just maybe he can use this day to solve the one hole in his research. As usual, his coat and mane had been a mess. His mane bearing it's normal split ends and nappy mad pony scientist like shape, and the fur only being slightly better. At least his waist coat is near perfect. Clean, spotless and void of any wrinkles. Though the smell of coffee was heavy on him like a perfume.

Once he stepped into the first hall that he had presumed other ponies would be waiting, he was taken aback in shock. First by the enormous size of the waiting area. His very hoof steps easily echoed on his light trot. The pure beauty of the castle's engineering from the outside did justice at describing what it would be like on the inside. So white, so clean, and the marble floors had been perfectly polished and almost void of any scratches. The second was the line. All day long, he had been bracing himself to spending an eternity just waiting day and night for only a few seconds of the princess's time. When he found that there was practically no pony inside, incredibly shock. And that would be the understatement.

He continued to step forward, his eyes looking around the room in awe as a tinge of vertigo began to settle in. If he hadn't suddenly looked ahead of him, he wouldn't have been able to stop in time to avoid bumping into what looks to be the first pony in line.

“Oi! Erm... sorry bout that, nearly ran you over in the wonder, you know,” he apologized with each word coming out incredibly fast.

[Bellosh]

So... it had come to this. Despite continual efforts to improve the security of his archaeological survey sites, Dr. Merlot still faced the persistent threat of artifact theft. Not only that, but it somehow managed to grow outside of merely that flying rat Pathfinder, who by the way had never been apprehended by the authorities for all of the other laws she’s violated. Other bulgars were now attempting to steal his finds, to varying levels of success. Whenever they succeeded, Merlot’s financial backers became very upset; their expected thousand year-old “returns” on their investments vanishing with impunity.

Prior to today, Dr. Merlot attempted to get in touch with local Royal Equestrian Army commanders to get them involved with artifact security and, if necessary, recovery. So far, only excuses came his way about how guards couldn’t be diverted from more pressing duties. Weak excuses like those made Merlot wonder why Equestria wasn’t more like its neighbor Aquellia, which possessed the strongest military and police forces in the known world. The good doctor always found Aquellia’s leaders quite willing to devote resources towards safeguarding excavation locations (assuming a hefty sum was paid to borrow those government services).

This time, those lazy guard commanders would be circumnavigated. Merlot was going to go straight to the top of the ladder, to Princess Celestia herself! And so, he intended to use this opportunity to convince the Princess of the pressing need to deter and arrest archaeological thieves. The good gentlecolt’s livelihood depended on those annoying problems to be swept aside once and for all. And so Merlot, like everyone else seeking an audience, found himself escorted to the back of the line by an armored royal guard. An orange pegasus chap looking too much a meek boy for Merlot’s liking. The guard fortunately went off on his way, leaving Merlot to his disgruntled thoughts.....

If enough people bug me, I'll bring in Flash Sentry. We'll see though.

[QuickLime]

Tink, Tink Tink.

Was the sound of small crystalline hooves upon the palace's floors, echoing faintly in the walls...Bright Stone had begged, pleaded, and nagged her mother into letting her come today, and the little filly was fit to bursting! Her body practically vibrated as she waited behind a Explorer looking Pony who looked deep in thought... Bright Stone was deep in thought too, in her little saddle bag was a present she had picked out especially from the Princess! Her plan was to give all of the Princesses a present because they were sweet, and nice, and her favorite heros of all TIME!

ALL.TIME!

She glanced up at Merlot and tugged on the edge of the other's shirt to get his attention while she waited

"Are you gonna ask permission t' rob a tomb?" She asked, grinning excitedly, the idea of the brave explorer slipping into a crypt or something equally spooky was pretty freaken neato!

[Imagination]

"But of course there is a secret code. How else do you think teachers seem to know everything about their students"

Pinchy gasped at this "That makes so much SENSE!"

It was like a great conspiracy has been cracked open for her. Which, in essence, it has, but only one she found out about mere minutes ago. But if the Princess was willing to let her in on this conspiracy, then she must trust the filly, right...? Of course she was going to blab to all of her friends about the secret code. Maybe even confront Miss Cheerilee about it. Crack open their whole operation!

Yikes, but what if the Princess could read her thoughts?! With some sort of teacher-vision?! She stopped thinking such things just in case, and filled her head with bunnies and flowers... Or bunnies MADE of flowers! Her expression changed from worried all the way to ecstatic in her thoughts! But... She wasn't paying attention. She realized her grievous error and quickly snapped out of her wonderfully sweet thoughts and tried to focus on the mathematical tasks at hand.

She followed the picture and listened to what the Princess had to say, having missed a little bit thanks to the flower bunnies, but she had an idea of what she was saying. The filly froze as the Princess came closer, but listened to her whisper with a bashful little smile. "Umm..." She did have to count, but she did it aloud so the Princess could hear and correct if she had to... That and she wasn't good at counting in her head. "One, Two, Three... Plus three is six... Um... Plus another three is... Is... Nine, and..." She immediately brightened up "OH! So it's like a fast way of adding stuff?" She waited for the Princess to confirm or deny, as Sweetie Belle might put it. She knew a lot of fancy words. But she still wanted to know that trick, even if she had the right idea. "Oh, and it's twelve! Twelve apples!"

[Pretzelparty]

"Oh um thanks sir. At least I hope you are a stallion. It's hard to tell in that armor. If you're a mare, then I'm sorry. Oh, my name? It's Guiding Light. Thanks for introducing me."

The stallion blinked a moment at the colt and smiled, looking rather touched for a few seconds,"You have no idea how relieving it is to meet a pony today who hadn't made that mistake..." glancing back to the pink filly who was still speaking to the princess, he chuckled as he saw that she was getting around to being assisted with her problems with their mildly mischievous princess. Looking back to the colt he whispered, "Mind keeping it a secret from Miss Pinch though? I feel her day is going awkward enough as it is."

Taking a glance outside, the silver coated stallion smiled as he saw the line beginning to grow. He could see an old friend not too far in the queue actually. A certain pony in an ivory fedora... who was currently dating his sister. It honestly confused him as he was sure she would have gone for a more rough and tumble sort of pony rather than the rather snobbish Merlot who had reputable string of archeological achievements almost as long as the trail of formerly-charmed-but-now-annoyed mares behind him. It wasn't his place to judge his sister's taste in stallion's though and who knows, maybe it will be a good experience for the both of them.

Since Silver was still speaking to this polite colt however he resolved to speak to his colthood friend later,"No need to thank me for the coming Introduction, Mister Light. I'm only doing my job. Might I ask what brings you to see your highness?"

[moonshineTheleocat]

Java glanced behind himself as other's had began to fall in behind him. With a curious thought, he spun around on his rear hooves after lifting his front end up into the air. Once he was turned, his hooves planted themselves firmly on the marble, causing a brief echo to fill the chamber. The first one he noticed was a sharply dressed pony. His eyes flicked over his white suit, suit taking in the fine details behind the lines, before finally shifting his eyes up to the hat curiously. His head slowly tilted as he looked over the fedora, finding very little reason for anyone who may have been filthy rich to be in the need of a princess's answers. Till his eyes gazed down to his flank, spotting the golden statute. Then his eyes lit up with enlightenment.

“Ah,” the pony exclaimed in surprise. His hooves shifting a bit rather quickly as he took a step back if only to give him some space. Not that he may need it. It's because he knew all to well that under while under the effects of his favorite beverage, he tends to over-react or move to quickly he may end up knocking things over.

“You are Dr. Merlot, yes,” The pony asked in an excited tone. He was incredibly fast when he was speaking. Though with each word being clearly pronounced in rapid succession, it was still quite possible to understand him. And without waiting for a response, Java quickly added in. His body seemingly vibrating like a jack hammer with excitement. “Ah yes yes yes! It is you, indeed! Simply Fantastic! Well, while you might not know me, I am an engineer. And... whelp..." The stallion trailed off for a moment to kick his hoof in embarrassment. "a good amount of discoveries you made actually impacted my own designs!”

The energetic young stallion lowered his haunches to the ground and quickly slipped a hoof up to his vest and tapped his own chest. In time, a small black book had launched airborne from under his collar. Just as it happened, the pony reacted just as quickly by the power of caffeine. His teeth snapping hold of the hard leather bindings and then giving it a hard shake to open it up to the proper page. The page's sketching showed of a particular fountain that had been designed into what looks like a fully working clock. The work had been done by a careful jaw, an underlining sketch that had been roughed, followed by a fully detailed outlining in the top right corner. Then taking up a majority of the page were the actual design schematics plus notes. On the opposite page was a picture that had been glued in featuring one of the many structures that Merlot had found, plus note. Just underneath there was a bunch of math that had been detailed over the weight, tensile strength, and density of the obtained sample, plus multiple other attempts to replicate it by mere guessing and combining materials. The page had been dated back by about a good two years.

He began mumbling through the book,“One of the dig sites you found had a special composite of concrete. Very strong! At first I wasn't quite sure how I was supposed to make this design be structurally sound for what it's supposed to do, till I took a look at some of your research!”

[Lux]

Guiding Light prepared prepared to get the guard's gender wrong but was surprised and pleased to know that he was correct. It was a touchy subject misidentifying somepony's gender, something that could make the rest of a conversation very awkward or worse stop it dead. He felt even better knowing that there were others who were in the same boat as he was having difficulty know the guard's gender. The stallion however cautioned the yellow unicorn not to celebrate too much as there was a filly in line who was just meeting the Princess that guessed wrong. Light nodded to keep this fact a secret.

The colt looked past the guard for a moment to see what the filly and the Princess were doing. It was hard of course not to recognize the princess on her throne, but something shocked him. The princess had a paper with apples printed on it. Was she doing math with the filly? It seemed like an odd thing to ask the Princess of the Sun instead of a parent or a teacher for help. His thoughts though were broken by the guard asking him why he was here.

"Well, my talent is creating light, but few ponies seem to know how to improve it or how to use it other than to lead them around at night. So I'm looking to see if she knows, but then again of course she would know."

[Pretzelparty]

"Well, my talent is creating light, but few ponies seem to know how to improve it or how to use it other than to lead them around at night. So I'm looking to see if she knows, but then again of course she would know."

Well this was a bit of a predicament. Silverheart didn't wish to rob the Princess of the chance to assist one of her Subjects, but as a graduate of Celestia's school for talented unicorns and daughter to a great magic scholar this was something he may be able to assist with. Having trouble deciphering the nature of magical talents based on exclusive elements could be problematic if he remembered right. Since he was only a graduate and not a teacher he figured it may be best if he gave lightning a bit of advice to open the door for the colt.

Taking a deep breath and looking around a moment to see if the princess was still busy, she was. "Well, I'm not sure if this helps, Mister Light... But My mother told me that elemental magic can be confusing at first as to how well it can be applied. I think the best place to start for you might be to go about understanding the element that your magic generates and how it works. Have you tried books about Light magic? Another thing that might help is if your talent is -only- generating light and not being able to do that as well and manipulate it... I'm sure the princess will have more information than I can give though."

[Bellosh]

"Are you gonna ask permission t' rob a tomb?"

It wasn’t all that hard for Dr. Merlot to educate children on the wonders of archaeology. Putting up[ with them though took a complete different type of tolerance that Merlot just didn’t have. If took large amounts of discipline to keep little foals from bothering adults with trivial concerns, like how to make decisions concerning the well-being of a nation’s subjects. And most annoyingly, one of those brats wasted time getting Princess Celestia to help with math problems. For pony’s sake, the Princess isn’t supposed to be a math tutor! Why can’t the selfish filly go find an actual math expert instead of making Merlot wait for his blasted audience?

Another filly behind Merlot, whose voice sounded a bit familiar, bothered him with an insulting question of her own. Maybe if the good doctor had not been so flustered, he would have ascertained that the little pony actually recognized him for who he was, and so increase the size of his ego. Alas, Merlot was in the mood for an informative rant instead, as only a stallion of high bearing could deliver it; “Surely you’ve heard that the profession of archaeology is a science, and not a crime? There’s no robbery involved at all if the original property owners are long since gone. And for your information, the reason I’m here is because actual thieves are stealing from excavation sites that I’ve spent precious time and money ensuring that I have uncontested rights to dig up artifacts as I please. If your authority figures did nothing to stop a bully from stealing your lunch every day, why you’d be very mad too, wouldn’t you?”

"You are Dr. Merlot, yes... Well, while you might not know me, I am an engineer. And... a good amount of discoveries you made actually impacted my own designs! ...One of the dig sites you found had a special composite of concrete. Very strong! At first I wasn't quite sure how I was supposed to make this design be structurally sound for what it's supposed to do, till I took a look at some of your research!"

The engineer was correct: Dr. Merlot had absolutely no idea who he was. The archaeologist was surprised to hear however that this professional made use of Merlot’s discoveries for use in his own constructive endeavors. “If that is true,” Merlot finally grinned; “Then it appears that you owe me quite a bit of money, heh heh heh heh ha ha ha ha ha ha.” Getting thoughts of evildoing out of his system, the now congenial gentlecolt talked a bit more; “In all seriousness monsieur, I think we sometimes don’t give bygone eras enough credit for their technological achievements. Every now and then, we find out that somepony once figured out a novel invention, only to have their secrets get buried by the sands of time. It’s even more interesting when, like that case of yours, modern society somehow hadn’t managed to invent it for itself. History can be amusing like that.....”

[moonshineTheleocat]

“Yes yes. But of course history can be cruel, allowing mistakes to be repeated, no matter how well you try to avoid. You must always come back around at some point,” Java's speed seemed to have slowed down a bit. He was actually forcing himself to slow down, though the jitteryness was still ever so present. His front left hoof was actually tapping with each word he spoke out as a metronome, so he may be understood more clearly.

“Oh yes! Where are my manners.” The jittery pony offered out a hoof to the other. The hoof was wavering just as badly as the rest of his body. “I am JavaSun! A mathematician at heart if you will! Yes, but also a budding engineer!” The pony then shook the book once more to open up to a new page. This one revealing a study over some past architecture, notes had been made about how the structure works, and then some handful of recreated methods used in other odd devices that the pony came up with. “And I do agree with you there! There are structures that I find absolutely beautiful. Even when they are outdated. Vault pillars, Vault Groins, and maybe even the simplest tools. Reinvention is key behind most of what we have today! But it always goes back to the simplest of things.”

The pony tossed the book into the air and leaned his head to the side. The book slipped past his collar with ease and slipped out of sight with a strange mechanical click. “Now then! You said you were having problems with thieves? I might not be a master Engineer yet, but I think I can help you still! It may not be as good as a guard. But it's another deterent to prevent theft from anyone below a professional.” The pony chimed with a beaming smile. It then quickly disappeared as he leaned his head a little closer, “I am running out of projects to do. So much time... to few things to do. I am always awake... but whats the point of regaining time, if you can't use it for anything?”

[Lux]

Guiding light tapped a hoof against his face, thinking about what the guard had said. Being that the stallion was a unicorn, he would perhaps know a thing or two about elemental magic. The advice was partly things that the colt heard before about looking to books for the answers, something he'd been trying to do. Finally Light Spoke.

"Well I've been trying to read books about light magic but there doesn't seem to be any I can find about just it. There are books I've read about elemental magic, but they only hint on what it is. Everypony I went to for the most part don't know much about it either. As for where it comes from, I know light comes from different places like the sun, from fire, even magical things that give off light. I can't say where light comes from me, just that when I think about it, light does. And i can create light fine, but I want to know what else i can do. I guess I want to know what my limits are and how to use light."

[starswirlthebearded]

The princess giggled at the filly's reaction to her playful joke about the "secret code" of teachers. After she finished explaining she saw the filly begin to work through the simple example problem Celestia provided her. Slowly but surely Ruby Pinch began to piece together the concept of multiplication in the most simple of terms, which made the princess smile warmly at her would-be student. Celestia wasn't exactly used to teaching mathematics, as she was a teacher of magic, something she had been studying herself since she was a filly, since she was younger than the filly in front of her. But that moment of realiation, is one she knew well both as a student herself, and a teacher.

"Yes, you can certainly think of it that way," Celestia confirmed with a smile. "Multiplication is adding multiples." The answer at this point was far less important than the realization of concept. The answer was easy enough to get by counting which is how the filly seemed to reach it, but still, Celestia felt that a confirmation that the filly had the right answer was in order. "Excellent work! That is the correct answer. You seem to understand the basics." Celestia said with a bright smile. "Now, Miss Ruby Pinch... would you like to know that little trick I talked about?" Celestia inquired of the filly with a wink, as if she was going to impart the secrets of math as the filly knew it.

Current line:

1. Guiding Light

2. Java

3. Merlot

4. Bright Stone

[Imagination]

Ruby most certainly did want to know the trick! She needed it! "Tell me your secrets!" she accidentally said aloud, but at least the Princess had her rapt attention.

What if this trick was the answer to life? What if understanding life, and possibly the universe itself, blew her away so hard that she just went comatose for the rest of forever with a permanent 'OH MY GOODNESS' expression on her face? It made her giggle to think about it, but in reality it would probably be pretty bad to end up like that. Has anypony ended up like that? Maybe she should ask the Princess... Or not. She was here for math, not philosophy, or be put into a coma of enlightenment.

"I mean, yes please, your highness! I wanna know!" If she could avoid a complication like this again, it would certainly be... well... pretty beneficial to the Pinch. But upon looking behind her, she could see a line was starting to form, and she was taking up the Princess' time! She didn't want to keep anypony waiting for too long! She knew she hated waiting, it was the worst! Time to wrap this up, Pinchy! Put some knowledge in your face!

She awaited the Princess' no-doubt life-changing trick about multiplication.

[starswirlthebearded]

Celestia loved the enthusiasm of the filly and had no issues teaching her math tricks that would help her get better grades. After all, that's what she did often with magic so why not other subjects as well? Celestia smiled and nodded at the filly as she levitated a new piece of parchment over and cantered closer to the filly. "It is perfectly alright to be excited," Celestia said warmly to the filly. Even after she calmed herself down to learn. "This trick can help you multiply almost any problem on paper, so don't tell Miss Cheerilee where you heard it from." Celestia said with a mischievous wink.

Celestia raised the quill and put a rather difficult problem (comparably) for the filly. Celestia wrote on the top 21 x 25. Obviously knowing that such a large number would be too difficult for the filly. "Now this is a much more difficult problem than before, but this trick will help you solve even this and more difficult problems," Celestia said in a hushed voice. She began to draw groups of parallel lines for the first number. Two close together and one a bit further apart. And in the opposite direction she likewise drew two lines. "The trick is a drawing and counting trick. You draw two sets of parallel lines that represent the numbers." Celestia said as she pointed out what she did to the filly making sure she followed along. "After you have done that, you need to circle the groups in sections. With this problem there are three" as Celestia did so on the paper. "Then you count the dots within the circle. In the first circle there is 4, in the second there are 12 and in the third there are 5." Celestia wrote the numbers under the circles they represented. "Each section can only have one number except for the one furthest left, so when you have a number greater than 10, the tens gets added to the next number. So in this case the "1" of "12" gets added to 4. So the answer is 5 - 2 - 5. Or five hundred twenty five." Celestia finished explaining the trick. "I hope I was able to help you Miss Pinch."

The Princess smiled and nodded, though unsure if the young filly comprehended everything, but she did seem to understand the core basic of it. The princess nodded at the Lieutenant "Please show my next guest in Lieutenant." the princess smiled at the guard.

Current line:

1. Guiding Light

2. Java

3. Merlot

4. Bright Stone

[Pretzelparty]

"Well I've been trying to read books about light magic but there doesn't seem to be any I can find about just it. There are books I've read about elemental magic, but they only hint on what it is. Everypony I went to for the most part don't know much about it either. As for where it comes from, I know light comes from different places like the sun, from fire, even magical things that give off light. I can't say where light comes from me, just that when I think about it, light does. And i can create light fine, but I want to know what else i can do. I guess I want to know what my limits are and how to use light."

"That's not quite what I meant, Sir Light. Perhaps the Princess can phrase my words better." Silver had read in the past in his days at the school for talented unicorns that light could be a very fascinating element on it's own. Light could come in many forms that could reveal things not normally seen and not just because it was currently dark. He'd even heard that light in some situations coudl exert physical pressure on objects, but right now he had no time to explain any of this due to his duty for the moment.

The princess nodded at the Lieutenant "Please show my next guest in Lieutenant." the princess smiled at the guard.

"Well, Sir Light. Come along, it's time for you to meet the princess." The marish stallion said in a calm almost welcoming tone as he lead Guiding towards the statuesque Alicorn on her throne. Raising his voice loud enough so that those present could hear, Silver spoke,"Your highness, A sir Guiding Light... also from Ponyville." The grey unicorn gestured for Guiding to step forward, the smile on his face almost saying,"Go ahead she doesn't bite."

Turning away from guiding, he approached Berry pinch and bowed to her,"I trust you enjoyed your audience with the princess, Miss Pinch." Scooting the little filly along with a magical aura below her, Silverheart began to bring the filly back to the door, "For now though, I believe your time is up. If you like I could ask a member of my troops to see you home."