The Princess of Friendship (Open- Read Rules at Bottom)

[PedestrianWolf]

(OOC: I'm just gonna post, since no one else has jumped in yet)

 

 

Marzipan practically did a backflip in delight as the princess accepted her offer of an original painting for her castle. The filly's mind raced, what to paint? It had to be her best work. One couldn't give a princess something slapped together, now, could they?

 

Her attention was brought back to the present by half a cookie plopping on her nose. She picked it up and brushed away the errant crumbs, and tried to pay attention to Twilight Sparkle's questions. "Ah, si, prego. The biscotti, they are made by mi cousina, Snickerdoodle. I stay here, with her. She bake like a demone!"

 

Stuffing the half cookie in her mouth (almond, her favorite) Marzipan approached the throne once again with her sketches. "Ah, I have istrutorre, a tutor. He is a nice old stallion from Canterlotta." She flipped to some of her best work. "Thees one, I draw of the fountain in la piazza," she said, displaying a sketch of the square in the center of Ponyville. "Thees one is by Rainbow Falls. Molto bella!" she exclaimed, making a gesture where she kissed the tip of her hoof and held it aloft. "Thees is what I draw before coming here, and thees," she said, pausing, "I draw while waiting." The page was on the quick sketch of Bramble Rose, who was still in line, chatting with the other adults.

[Blueblood]

The memory of the indignities he had had to endure but yesterday had momentarily taken Prince Blueblood out of the present moment.  Java had said something about arrogance and high society, but darned if the alabaster unicorn could parse it from his memory.  Gaps in conversation comprehension were not uncommon for him; experience had taught him in such cases that a minimal response was best for maximum ambiguity.

 

"Oh?"  He said, raising an eyebrow, hoping desperately that Java would elaborate and not make him look like a fool.  A foolish hope already, so not a good sign there.

 

Most of his limited mental energy right now was devoted to attempting to match the academic in the line, Bramble Rose.  "Yes, yes, money's hardly an issue."  An incautious statement, to a pony soliciting donations.  "That said, I'm not sure how often I'll be putting my dignity on the luck of the draw in the future."  The answer to that was, 'very often,' but that's a story for another time.  "Oh, so Maxie coughed up, did he?  Good for him.  I'd be more interested if they had opened their seafaring department for a chair sponsorship, but with all those airships buzzing about these days, nopony seems to care about it..."

 

He sighed; sailing was a passion with him, and in any case, he had an antipathy towards unnatural flight.  

[SteelEagle]

 

OOC- Okay, I have waited long enough for people to post. I am skipping them and will be moving Ped so we can also move on since she has announced she does not know when she will be back. From now on, I will only be focusing on the pony Twi is with

 

Twilight looked at the young artist's work with great appreciation. She wasn't a mare who knew the ins and outs of the highly skilled and exclusive world of the artist, but she did know what hard work, dedication, and talent looked like and she knew she was seeing all on display in these works. She was young and she had a bright future ahead of her- thankfully she would now have a place to express herself and have a future of her own creativity laid out in front of her for the world to see and judge. Twilight wasn't expecting anything less than the best effort from Marzipan and based on how the filly was able to teach herself so much, she knew that over time this little artist would have quite the name. More important at the moment however were the cookies, which they both partook in.

“Well, give him my thanks. They are delicious,” Twilight said as Marzipan flittered through her sketches, “very well done. You have a lot of talent, Marzipan. What we'll do now is set up a day in which we can meet again and you can show me your works of art and we'll decide what to do from there, okay?” Twilight asked pleasantly as she scarfed down another cookie, “it was nice speaking with you, Marzipan. I hope next time we meet you'll have something stunning to show for it- I know you can do it,” Twilight nodded assuredly before she was escorted away by the guards. Well, that was another pleasant meeting! “Next, please.”

[Bramble Rose]

 

Bramble made a sympathetic noise, but demurred, "You can hardly blame the Canterlot crowd for preferring air travel," he said politely.  "Up on their mountain, the new Sky Marina gives them the opportunity to enjoy yachting without having to travel all the way to Manehattan just for a few hours' sail around the harbor.  They really are more set up for sky ships than for the more traditional sort.  Each of the two hobbies enjoys its own unique enjoyments.  I don't really consider them to be rivals to each other as they are complimentary - you can't expect that any noble will pass up the chance to have both a sky yacht AND a sea yacht, after all."

Bramble looked over as the adorable young page filly called for him.  "Ah!  My turn, gentlecolts.  Have a most excellent day!"

He paused outside the entrance to the throne room, forming a mirror from his magic for once quick look at his mane, making sure his bow tie was straight ... took a deep breath ... then walked into the throne room with his head high.

"Good day to you, your Highness!" he greeted Twilight cordially.  He had prepared a whole speech ahead of time, but seeing the princess right there drove it out of his mind.  He dropped down to one foreknee as he bowed his head, his silver hair falling around his face.  "Thank you so much for taking the time to see me," he extemporized.  Hello.  Thank you.  At least get the basics out, yes.  "You have a most beautiful castle here.  Fascinating how it grew, too - I hope you're doing a bit of research on the magic involved there."

Wait, what?  No!  That could be taken as him telling her what to do!  Hurry, to the presentation!  He stood up and got right to the point, setting down his easel and floating a copy of all his presentation notes across to Twilight so that she could follow along.  

No, wait!  Introduce yourself, first, you foal!  "My name is Bramble Rose - I have a Doctorate in theoretical aetherics with a focus in nontypical aspecting in ponies, and have also done some publishing in practical floral spellcasting.  If I might say, I've read some of your published work on positive social dynamics in relation to aetheric manifestation.  It is exceptionally fascinating!  I have been studying in Ponyville for a while because of its history as such an integrated society but having an strong earth-pony origin, providing a uniquely appropriate place for my studies."  Also the cost of living was low and he had little problem getting tons of small side-jobs since he hadn't gotten much in the way of grants, but no need to mention that ... on to the presentation!

"It is a rare occurrence that we come across truly new magical phenomenon in Equestria.  So much of it has been mapped out so long ago, and whatever we have close at hoof often tends to be taken for granted.  In the last few years, a veritable cornucopia of magical phenomena have been cropping up all over Equestria - generally with you and your friends at the core of it, helping to maintain the peace for all of us."

He flipped the page on his easel to reveal a map.  "This is the area devastated by your battle with Tirac, highlighted in red hashmarks.  As you can see in the first appendix, there are records of weather anomalies along the area at this, this, and this point."  He tapped a glowing green stick made of magic against the map in three places.  "In the second appendix, I also have done some preliminary survey in the farms closest to the battle zone, and found that 70% of them have found issues with their crops growing too fast or too slow, with another 4% having their crops growing too differently."  The pointer swept across several areas just outside the red-marked area.  "The possible statistical errors in my preliminary survey, as well as the potential for the questions to have influenced the subject farmers, are listed at the end of the appendix."  He flipped the page to show a series of little purple unicorn faces, from smiley to frowny, and a series of checkmarks next to them.  "In the third appendix, you will see that I performed a series of preliminary unicorn magic tests, using ... unfortunately, only myself as a test subject.  Trying to use magic in the area gains a certain amount of ... unexpected difficulty as I approach the devastated area."

He dissipated the pointer, brushed his long mane back over his ear, and smiled to the princess.  "I was hoping for the opportunity at a royal grant to fund a small team of cross-discipline researchers to study the magical potential of the area, and whether this is something we should be taking advantage of, or what difficulties are going to be introduced trying to restore the area.  The influence of the nearby Everfree Forest is also something that should not be ignored.  Pages two through six of the presentation detail the different levels of research that could be achieved with different levels of grant participation.  At the basic level, we would have one unicorn, one earth pony, and one pegasus pony doing research on the area.  At the higher levels, we can have at least a dozen ponies, and hopefully several non-pony researchers as well.  Rumor has it that you know a zebra researcher in the area who is an expert at the magical properties of the Everfree Forest?  I wouldn't mind a letter of introduction there ... "

His words rather drifted off, as he suddenly realized he could not remember how to end the presentation.  He swallowed, and gave a nervous little smile.  "Um ... any questions, your highness?" he finished lamely.
 

​

[SteelEagle]

He didn't get off to the best start with the Princess, though Twilight had to guess it was nerves that played terribly against him. What he said was fine. She didn't take any offense and instead was more than pleased to know somepony else considered such local magical research an important day to day task. More than that, she just thought he needed to relax. The real research he had to do was why ponies were all so nervous around her today. She had been around Celestia during many of her public sessions and rarely did ponies display such fantastic awkwardness. Perhaps it was how new she was, or how accessible the castle was- perhaps it was the subject of her domain, friendship, and all the emotional baggage that could have. More research was required.

Of course, research would be the name of the game. It was nice for a fellow magical scientist to be interested in some of the same tropics that she was. It showed a great deal of forethought to think of these things. Most of the impact she was very familiar with, having conducted some of her own analysis as it tickled her fancy. Most unusual was the growth or lack or growth patterns and how it had little defineable shape or reason behind it, one six inch by six inch plot of land being impacted in a wildly different fashion from another plot of land immediately next to it. There were a great many ways to take it all and she had herself conducted research and written some reports on the matter.

However, none of that was to say she had been able to devote the time she wanted to devote to the subject. For the most part she was happy with her efforts but those efforts were hampered by the near endless tasks of rule that a Princess had on her dossier, and that was to say nothing of maintaining the friendships that mattered to both her and Equestria so very much. The prospect therefore of having somepony else investigate this matter further intrigued her. Only a few questions bubbled up into her consciousness, but she didn't consider most of them out and out vital. That didn't mean she didn't have to ask them, but first she would much rather share her enthusiasm. She picked up the presentation and cast a spell, a thin line of purple aether snaking above her head before a small eye opened up. It started to leaf through the presentation while she spoke with Bramble further.

"I'm very glad to hear that somepony outside of this area is as interested in the aetheral aftereffects of Tirek's battle. I initially believed that such a large scale magical disturbance would attract more researchers and scientists, but few have poked around. Somewhat disconcerting, but I digress. I have conducted my own research into it, though I haven't been able to do nearly as much as I'd like to do. I won't go into too much detail- I'll give you the research notes I was keeping at the time so you can dig yourself- but I liken the eaction of the soil to the immune system of an Earth pony, mostly because the land is absolutely soaked in it. This foreign magic has intruded, the aether responds. In some areas it has overreacted to the presence of the magic, leading to wildly magical fluctuations. This has led to aether death in some areas and the victory of residual magic from Tirek, or a continual wild engagement. That is just the C1-C2 layer, however, so there is still much to be done.

So, yes, I'd be more than willing to grant you some funding to explore this deeper. I will grant you the maximum funding requested and I will get in contact with my friend Zecora, the zebra you mentioned. How long do you expect this to take?" She asked, finishing absorbing the information contained in his presentation, levitating it back towards him as the thin line of magic and the eye fell back into her horn.

[moonshineTheleocat]

"Voronai,"

Well.... that was possibly the closest any pony has gotten to correctly pronouncing his name the first time it's been spoken. So... he just went with it. Besides... the nai at the end sounds a lot nicer and easier on the ears than -noi-. Buuut... why was this stallion looking at him like that? Actually... now he thought about it... he looked familiar. The stallion raised a hoof and stared thoughtfully at him.

Yyyyess... yes... now he remembered. Way back in college he had always mistaken the buck for a mare from the front due to the soft feminine face for the first few seconds. Yeah... just one of the ones Java listed off as a cute buck. Hard to forget the face really. Especially... hmmm... what was it.. oh well. His days in the University were insane. Though he was a noble pony, and had money... he never partied with the rich kids... nope. He was with the nerds. And... when you mix together an Engineer, a Scientist, a musician, two ponies who studies magic, and drink... you get a cross dimensional portal that takes you to a world that can only come out of a science fiction magazine. Java remembered him and Happy Times angrily taking an axe and a hammer to the device when it was all over.

 

The pony snapped his attention back to reality when he heard the word airship. He silently looked to Bramble, and then back to his Frinemey, Blueblood.

 

“Mmm... I'm a noble... but I don't see myself owning a yacht for either... I like utility. And... well blueblood~ An airship can't replace a seafaring ship. Just as a Seafaring ship can't replace an airship. Each has a time and place for their use, but unfortunately the mass and the market just don't see it that way.”

The stallion looked off to the sky distantly. Oh... how heart broken he was when he learned one of his creations had been flown by some young rich fool had flown the ship out into a storm with his friends. Luckily, his lab doesn't half-arse it when it comes to the hull, and the kids made it out alright. But the ship... oh if it had a mouth the cries it'd shriek! Java could never hold a ship over lives... but storms... it was his first creation as a head engineer!

 

The stallion cleared his throat. “They both use the same idea of physics. However... the seafaring ship can support more weight. The sea is a dangerous and unpredictable mistress however. Sudden illy timed turns can be fatal errors.. and running aground is the death of any vessel. And for Airships? Well.... gravity sucks and if you don't know the ship like your back hand... you'll find yourself smashing into a mountain or something. Or worse.... tear up your engines for over-exerting. Or... the pilot is an idiot and doesn't know how to repair his own vessel. But that's the same for a Seafaring ship.”

 

The stallion then sighed and began scratching his head. “Annnnd... our newest line of ships are mixing Earthpony engineering with magic. So far we're only offering them as private models for Adventuring parties with the correct licensing... as repairing them is much more difficult. I've made some tools for repairing the magical components... buuut... mass producing them is incredibly difficult, and training ponies to use them is worse.”

 

The stallion paused. Bramble was gone. It was just him and Blueblood. Did they change the topic?

"I'm rambling... what are we talking about again?"

[brianblackberry]

 

Sunrise Beach was happy that her friend Marzipan manage to connect with the princess.  She could only imagine what it would be like to create art for royalty, to have one's works displayed in castles and other royal residences, it would be all prestigious and all that junk!  Surely it would make one a famous artist who could sell their work to galleries and those rich Canterlot types, which would be pretty radical; hopefully this was Marzi's future!  For now all Sunrise could do is wave bye to her friend before giving an official salute in order to maintain the professionalism the guard captain always told her was oh so very important, even though Princess Twilight was definitely the informal type.

Next was the demure stallion, Bramble Rose, who kindly floated his number to Sunrise before awkwardly introducing himself to the princess.  Sunrise always found it amusing how some ponies would always fumble over their words when it came to meeting Twilight; usually it was stallions who did this, probably thinking how cute the princess was or some junk like that.  They hardly seem different from colts in that regard.

Sunrise's amusement quickly turned to confusion though as the silver maned unicorn explained his reason for being there, or as far as she could tell what was his reason, as the turquoise filly couldn't make heads or tails of what he was saying!  Something, something magic, something, something Equestria.  Sunrise's head slow tilted more and more to the left in an expression of utter confusion as she attempted in vain to decipher the egghead language he was using.  No, that wasn't right, it wasn't even normal egghead language, it was some sort of crazy, ultimate egghead, egghead language!  Not even the princess talked like that, at least to Sunrise.

Turned out princess Twilight did understand who Bramble was blabbering on about, and not only that, spoke the same weird super egghead words back.  Ughhhh… Sunrise sure hoped she didn't ever have to know these egghead words when learning about magic, it was so totally confusing they as well have been speaking Breezie! It made her head hurt just thinking about it; not cool! In fact nothing about any of this could be considered cool!

She sure could use another cookie right about now...

[Bramble Rose]

 

Bramble Rose was *fascinated* by the spell Twilight was manifesting - a floating eye that seemed to read on its own?  What a fantastic time saver!  But this was no time for idle chit-chat, there was science to be done!

"Oh, no, your highness, that copy is for you.  I've got my own duplicates.  So, uh, if you'll see the next .... next page ... uh ..."  It sunk in what she just said.  Maximum Funding.  He blinked, and repeated a soft, "uhhhh...."   He gave a shake of his head, and a broad smile spread over his face.  "Full ... maximum funding?  Th ... Thank you!  Thank you, Princess!"  No more embarrassing jobs for him!  No more 'do you want hay fries with that?'  No more rock farm!  No more modeling for clothing catalogs and ads!  No more scrambling work as a local roadie for various events!  No more delivery colt!  Time for Science, baby!  He wanted to jump up and down screaming 'yes!' a few dozen times, but he'd wait until he was out of the Princess' presence for that.

She'd asked him a question.  Dazedly, he flipped through his own copy of his notes, trying to find the answer.  "Uh ... well, for .. for maximum ... the initial testing group would need to be there for ... three years, yes.  Though not all would be needed full time, but that's simply the initial data-gathering phase over multiple seasons.  Yes.  Yes!"  A faint bounce happened in his hooves, despite trying to keep it under control.  "But for statistical validity, a low-level observational position would need to be kept, likely a series of research assistants, taking readings at least once a month for the next 30 years, and that's without ... without ... "  He completely lost the train of his thought... "Unless we find something amazing!" he finally blurted, and bounced up into the air with a giddy expression.

Maximum funding!  "Yesyesyes!"

He landed his hooves firmly on the ground and blushed, straightening his tie and clearing his throat, barely managing to get it back together.  "Um.  And of course we would be most pleased to accept your own research notes, your highness, along with any further notes that you might want to collect in the upcoming years.  I'd happily add your name to the team as an external consultant.  I feel it safe to say, that even aside from your position, your credentials in the field are without question.  But as for your conclusion ... that will certainly be on our list of hypothesis, but we could ... hardly prejudge our data so soon."

What a princess!  He gave her a huge, genuine, excited grin, once again brushing his long silver mane back over one ear.  "And it will be an absolute pleasure doing any research with you, your highness.  I ... thank you!  Thank you so much!"

He'd had this whole presentation prepared.  He glanced down at his notes.  It was ... rather superfluous now.  He let out a soft little laugh.  "I ... guess my time is up?  I should ... let others have their turn.  Thank you, Doctor Sparkle!  I mean, Princess Doctor!  Princess Twilight, PhD!  Please, do summon me when your notes are ready, or if you want to discuss the project at length some time!  Or ... any reason, of course!"
 

​

[SteelEagle]

 

 One of the highlights of her job was seeing the unbridled excitement that her decisions could bring to the ponies of Equestria. It was a visceral sense of accomplishment and pride in the abilities and intelligence of ponyfolk who came from all across the nation to seek her out and, as it turned, purely so they could use their own skills to benefit the nation. There was a degree of selfishness to every request but they all paled in comparison to the public good they accomplished. Art, friendship, food and the collected sciences- all of which bleed out into the greater goal of a better Equestria. She was happy to help them help others through the expression of their talents and passions, which was what Equestria was all about when you boiled the complex machinations of society down to its bare necessities.

In this case, seeing how boiling over with happiness Bramble became at her announcement made it all the better. Nothing was better than a scientist being allowed the full volume of joyous expression and while the stallion went about explaining the goals and time spent on the mission, she went about he;ping him in another way. From her horn one could see- well, if one had laser vision as spell was almost infinitely small- a small line of aether. It spread out behind her and through the castle, winding up in her room. There it unlocked her private study and gathered notes, filing them in order, finding a folder, and sealing it magically. It then flew down the stairs and as he finished speaking, appeared in front of the pair. After a moment, Twilight levitated it over to him.

She then cast another spell, one that was over in a flash. It hit the folder and then Bramble's horn, tying the opening of the folder and the ability to read it's contents to him and him alone- or to those he has given explicit verbal permission to. “Here you go! Don't let the size of the folder fool you. It contains over one-hundred and seventy two pages of notes. Currently, only you and I can open it or read the notes. Sensitive information, to a degree anyway. I'm happy I could help you out, Bramble Rose. Please make sure to keep me abreast of how it goes, okay? It was lovely meeting you, Bramble!” She said, waving him goodbye before turning to Sunrise. “Sunrise, could you go to the mail room? I'm sure it's come already and there is probably something you'd like in there. After you do that, make sure to listen to the radio for the Hoofball game today. The captain for the Seaddle Thunderpegasi wrote me, asking for good luck,” Twilight smiled before shaking her head and looking ahead. “Next?”

[Lux]

Not sure what the line order is, but I'm still in the thread.

 

Sweet Surprise couldn't help but get distracted by the sheer size of the throne room she was in. It was as big as her house/ candy shop, and the chocolate hued mare didn't even have a fancy throne. She fancied what type of throne she would have if she magically became a Princess. Maybe a throne made of chocolate? Nah, it would melt so fast during a summer day that she would have a chocolate puddle rather than a throne. Maybe one made of iron with sharp swords sticking out of it? No, too uncomfortable and too morbid especially if she as Princess were to host a wedding. A bean bag throne would be nice but hard to get out of without rolling out of it in a very unPrincess like fashion. Oh well, something to think about.

 

She tried listening in on the conversation the purple pony ahead of her was saying, something about research project and the Everfree Forest, and magic. Sweet Surprise's mind spun as she couldn't comprehend, looking over at the green unicorn to see if she knew what Bramble Rose was talking about.

 

"Did you... get any of that?" Sweet said before a thought came to mind, "Wait, am I next? I still have this number four but am i now a one?"

[Blueblood]

Bramble's academic equivocations may have served to soothe his anxiety slightly, but the short time allotted before it was the effeminate stallion's turn to be summoned before the Princess was hardly enough to convince Blueblood to cough up yet another academic endowment.  He already sent a large scholarship donation on a regular basis to the Equestrian Naval Academy, which was the one school that still taught his favorite subject seriously.

 

If he hoped to escape long rambling lectures on the differences and similarities between vessel types, however, the Prince would be wholly disappointed.  Not that he ever held out that hope while Voronoi Fractal was in his presence.  In situations like these, where torrents of long words charged his ill-equipped brain like an army of centipedes, he adopted the basic survival tactic of nodding with a serious expression, hoping that the noise would soon stop.

 

It took a while.  "I believe... you were giving me a sales pitch for your engineering company's line of vessels.  I'm not interested."  Having not actually listened to anything the brown earth pony had said, Blueblood didn't actually know if he'd been targeted as a potential customer or not.  Still, it was best to head that off at the pass.

 

Speaking of which, just where in line was he?  The little group in front of the throne room had devolved into a milling herd of ponies, which some young page of a filly was attempting to muster.  He blinked, looking around and down at his paper.  "Er, I think you were here before me, miss."  He said, before mentally kicking himself at the lost opportunity to be quit of this place, and its irritating company, one moment sooner!  

[Bramble Rose]

It was not a flashy spell, but the arrival of the folder, and the security spell binding it to him, left Bramble yet once more in awe of the magical prowess of a princess of Equestria.  To most ponies, even many unicorn ponies, it would look like just another example of telekinesis - but though Bramble couldn't see the hair-thin line of energy, he was familiar with just what sort of study, finesse, and control such a spell entailed.  He took the folder with a confident nod.  "I thank you for your trust, Highness.  It was a pleasure to meet you, as well, and I look forward to working with you and for you in the future.  As always, if you have any need of me and my skills, I am at your disposal."  He dropped to one foreknee briefly, then stood up and strode out of the throne room, his notes and display stand following along after him.

He let the large doors close behind him before he bounced up into the air, in full view of the ponies waiting in line.  "YES!"  With the gear floating after him, and all uncaring of who saw him now, he bounced his way like a young foal playing hopscotch down the line of waiting ponies.  "yes yesyesyes YES yesyes yes yes yes YESYESYES yes yes yes YES!"  *poing poing poing* Out the door and down the street.  Everything was coming up roses!

​

[brianblackberry]

 

Sunrise Beach could feel her mind going numb from all this crazy egghead talk between princess Twilight Sparkle and Bramble Rose, long ago forgoing any attempt to even try figuring out what either of them was talking about.  Longing to escape her boredom from listening to the incomprehensible dialog between the princess and the young stallion, the young filly started to daydream about running around with her besties Purple Haze and Marzipan at the local fair.  As she became more lost in her thoughts, she slipped into a dream about her next junior hoofball game, running around the field, using her young magic to manipulate the ball away from the other team.

 

Just before she was about to surely score the winning goal Sunrise was snapped back into reality by Bramble’s cheerful exclamations as he left the room’ the turquoise filly shook her head of cobwebs and looked about, no one seemed to have noticed her dozing off, thank Celestia, as she would certainly have ended up scrubbing the floors of every single barracks if the captain of the guard saw her snoozing in the presence of royalty!

 

When the princess addressed her, Sunrise snapped to attention with a proper salute.  Twilight didn’t exact give orders – she always made more of polite requests.  It almost sounded like she was dismissing the young page, for the day.  Sunrise wasn’t sure how to interpret that, but the revelation there was something for her in the mail room plus an opportunity to catch up on the hoofball games made her more than happy not to question Twilight’s suggestion, “like, yes, your highness!  Er, Princess Twilight!”

 

Before she galloped off to the back room to find what awaited her, she had one more duty to perform.  Trotting up to Prince Blueblood she saluted, “like, your paper says number three so you are like totally next to see her lavendarness, you can like go up and talk to her now, the princess, she uh, is totally awaits you!”  Just as quickly the young filly was gone down the hall to find out what Twilight meant about something she would like!

[Blueblood]

There were, among the upper class, shades of meaning and aeons of history encoded in light and casual phrases that the hoi polloi had long turned into stale jests.  The most common jibe that adorned the music halls of Canterlot was the stiff duchess or pompous butler that declared that certain things simply were or were not DONE.  It was a phrase easily mocked, but from the very phraseology, one could outline a distinction in etiquette.  While some things were outright forbidden by authorities on politeness, other actions were avoided simply because they grated with a general social tone, and would have made onlookers uncomfortable.

 

Hence, when the scion of the House of Rose burst out like a foal playing hopscotch, Blueblood actually reared in surprise, staring at the academic aristocrat as if that stallion had suddenly sprouted a second head.  Bramble's action could not in any way be called rude, but, like in the music-hall, it wasn't done by one of his class, usually.  Hence, the obvious deduction that Twilight must have pleased him very much.  *What did he ask for?  I must have missed it in those long words he used, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a date.  Maybe research funding?*

 

So distracted was he by his reverie that it took the enthusiastic yellings of a young page to direct his attention anywhere else.  In this case, to the paper he'd absent-mindedly took from her some time ago.  Huh, so apparently he was ahead of the chocolate mare, and didn't need to stay with the coffee stallion after all.  Ha!  

That reminder won a beaming smile for Sunrise Beach, and would have also earned her a tip, if it wasn't DONE to tip a page like a busboy.  Page was simply the first step to knighthood, and one hardly treated a knight like a waiter!  Knights were almost nobility, and thus had a certain claim to be treated as equals.  Therefore, he simply said, "Thank you, young page, and may I wish you luck in your ambitions."

 

It was therefore, with a confident smile that Prince Blueblood strutted through the doors of the Crystal Throne room to greet his fellow Royal.  "Hello, Twilight."  He said, speaking, as he rarely did, from one equal to another.  "I have to say, this is a most... interesting architectural statement.  I wouldn't have expected you to go for a palace like this.  Though I can't say a word against the page you've chosen, very bright, she'll go far if she sticks with it."

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight didn't know her royal siblings and relatives nearly as well as she would like, for a variety of reasons. To a tee they were all universally busy and had an overwhelming sense of responsibility thrust upon them. Twilight knew this more acutely than others because she had the smallest support staff and an insatiable lust for work and knowledge that was almost eclipsed by the enormity of the potential workload in front of her. Celestia had easily the largest staff but se had the most in front of her. She was still the ruler of Equestria- all the big jobs, big meetings, and big decisions came from her. No matter what her friends said, a meeting with Celestia would always override a meeting with Twilight in the eyes of foreign dignitaries.

All of this was true for everypony in the family...with the possible exception of Blueblood, who while recently was undergoing something of a moral evolution of self, still had a legacy of poor behavior unbecoming a stallion of Equestria. Twilight supported all of his ambitions that spoke to the greater calling that all royalty heard and believed with every fiber of her not inconsequential being that the adventurous pony within the habitually haughty and temperamental skin would come out and lead to a new age of great and proper morality. And here before her he stood without his usual entourage of sycophants and aides, looking very much like a pony here to get help rather than dispense his often...err, profitable brand of wisdom.

“Welcome! So nice to see you too, Blueblood. This castle wasn't...well, it wasn't designed to fit my desires, to be put bluntly. I would have preferred something smaller if I am being honest. And yes- Sunrise is a bright young filly. I am happy to have her here, that much is certain. What can I help you with today?”

[Blueblood]

It had to be said, though Prince Blueblood had put off saying it for as long as possible, that as low as Twilight Sparkle may have thought herself on the totem pole of Equestrian Royalty, she was a high and shining beacon of it to all the nations when compared with him.  As disappointed as foreign dignitaries may have been with the prospect of meeting just her, they would never even consider paying Blueblood Manor an official, or even personal, visit.  The only exception to this was the soirees and balls he would sometimes host, and even then they spent most of their time seeking out other guests, leaving their host to strut about the room in a strenuous bid for any sort of attention!

 

That was no way of going on with life, and the Prince knew it.  Hence, the beginning of his moral evolution; it had not at this time reached the point where he would have felt ashamed of giving advice, or a full out lecture on certain points of conduct and decorum.  Specifically, that if one were to hire smelly servants, one ought to keep them away from the guests!  Purely as a matter of courtesy, of course.

 

However, that minor irritation had long since been swamped the arrival of a major and consuming one, which the Prince had left behind waiting for his own turn to meet Princess Twilight.  As the irritation Java caused was greater to Blueblood, so was the issue revealed to him deeper.  Fortunately, however, it was an issue that concerned an area in which the alicorn in front of him had a special claim to expertise.  Surely now, the end was in sight...

 

"Ah, yes.  Well, truth be told, it's rather a... personal matter."  He rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously, a little unused to admitting his need for assistance in any matter.  Taking a look back at the double doors behind him, he magically prodded them a bit to test for soundproofing.  Once satisfied on that point, he turned back to Twilight.

"There's this... pony, see, who I find intensely irritating, but who I can't seem to get rid of.  We keep bumping into each other in the strangest of places, even here in line!  And frankly, I'm tired of having to put my guard up and muster my wits every time I see him."  Indeed, given what sort of wits Faust had seen fit to give Blueblood, the effort of using them must have indeed been exhausting.

"Thing is though... I think he may well be as tired of being enemies as I am.  Is it... possible, you think, that I could make a friend out of him?  And... how?"

 

The look that came out of the Prince's face might have inspired amusement, or pity, depending on the mood of the observer.  Here he was, a grown stallion, coming before a Princess with the same sort of schoolyard issues that any young colt had to face growing up!

Of course, Blueblood hadn't really attended any schoolyards, not the sort that normal ponies went to, anyway.  In fact... had anypony ever taught him how to make friends, real friends, while he was growing up?  It was just possible, perhaps, that many more adult stallions and mares would benefit from remedial courses than they would easily admit.  But after all, that was what a Princess of Friendship was there for, right?

[brianblackberry]

 

OOC - Steel asked me to go next, although Sunrise Beach will be alone in this reply.

 

*****

 

Sunrise Beach didn’t put too much thought into what the white unicorn said to her, other than it was unusual sounding.  At least she could tell it was a compliment, but one of those strange hoity-toity compliments the Canterlot set uses.  Well the stallion certainly looked the part, even had the prince title, probably a descendent of the old Platinum unicorn royal family from pre-Equestria days who still likes to use such titles to emphasize their non-alicorn royal past.

 

Sunrise though was far more interested in whatever awaited her back in the mail room, a place where all messages not delivered directly through Spike from Celestia came through.  It usually was stacked with good will gifts for Twilight from admirers as well as those who hoped for favors; guess it comes with the territory of being voted the most popular princess.

 

As Twilight said, there was a long, tube shaped container with Sunrise’s name on it.  This was the first time she had ever gotten mail that wasn’t from her mother, Martini Paradise; in fact it was from Twilight herself!  That was really cool of the princess, well she was pretty cool overall, and very chill for royalty, even if she was one of the biggest eggheads Sunrise ever met, but nopony was perfect, except maybe Soarin’…

 

It took all of a few seconds for the young filly to use her magic to pop open the top of the tube and pull out its contents; her eyes widened in surprise.  It was a poster!  Not only that, it was a Wonderbolts poster!  Not only that, it was one of Soarin’!  The best part of all; it was signed, by him, to her!!! ERMAHCERLERSTER!!! 

 

She squeed with delight so loudly as she hopped back and forth to echoed through the crystalline halls throughout the castle.

[Lux]

Doh! I missed the post order again!

 

 

Sweet Surprise was momentarily distracted by the very excited purple unicorn galloping out of the throne room! Well it looked like she got her wish. 

 

"Er, I think you were here before me, miss." 

 

She was all about to proceed to meet Princess Twilight, barely able to contain her excitement, when suddenly she was stopped. 

 

“like, your paper says number three so you are like totally next to see her lavendarness, you can like go up and talk to her now, the princess, she uh, is totally awaits you!”  

 

"Oh," Sweet said as her face got red with embarrassment, "Sorry about that sir. Hehe... awkward."

 

She watched as the stallion left and soon so too did the mare who retreated somewhere into the castle. Did this mean that there would be no more ponies to visit the Princess, that her wait would be in vain? She couldn't lose hope,not after she come this far. 

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight was shocked. Blueblood had an honest to goodness friendship question? Of all ponies, BLUEBLOOD? She had expected to be drowned with such questions by everyday ponies who sought her advice, but the first in depth treatise on friendship she would dispense was to a noble that seemingly held the concept in contempt for great lengths of time. Perhaps he really was turning over a new leaf. If he wasn't, he was almost humiliating himself in high society terms by prostrating to a family member and asking something a bare-flanked colt might ask. So no, this was likely not a trick. And that pleased Twilight to no end. “Well, I didn't expect that sort of question from you, to be honest. Not that I am unhappy with it! I was expecting a lot more friendship questions today. Anyway...

Yes, you can make friends with him. Friendship can be born out of almost any circumstance. Look into what there is about him that you can respect and find it within yourself to acknowledge it. His weaknesses will remain, but do not have them drive your opinion of him. Over time if there is a real root of friendship, maybe ou cab effect change within him. Maybe you can't. But friendship is based on respect, so see what you can respect about him. From there- maybe you share similar interests. Maybe you share a favored past time. Being friends doesn't mean you share everything with somepony or that either party must be perfect. It simply means you can get past what ails you and find what makes that pony unique, special, and worthwhile. Even the attempt is better than being an enemy

Being enemies is a worthless endeavor. It does nothing for you and it does nothing for him. It clouds your mind and muddies your judgement of not only him, but everything that he touches. It sours you on interaction and connecting with others. An enemy may ruin your lunch, your day, your career, your life- but only if you allow it. You defeat your enemies when you make them your friends. And even if you do not become friends, the effort is worth it. You may not always become friends with somepony, but there is nothing that can prevent you from at least becoming friend*ly* with somepony other than yourself. Even taking that step is huge, and it will improve your life markedly. So to answer your question- yes. It is entirely possible for you to become friends with him and you should at least make a good faith effort to try,” Twilight replied, happy to finally be able to dispense some friendship advice.  

[Blueblood]

Should Blueblood have been insulted at Twilight's surprise?  One could argue that he'd brought it on himself, of course, with all the years he'd spent building his current public reputation as a snobbish jerk.  Still, disrespect to royalty, to the very face of said royalty, was not a trend he wished to encourage.

 

On the other hand, if it was disrespect, it was disrespect by a fellow royal.  And, not to put toe fine a point on it, a royal that undoubtedly outranked him.  There were few, in fact exactly four, ponies whom the Prince would unashamedly acknowledge as his superiors, and Twilight Sparkle was one of them.  Thus, he sat politely, paying attention like a good little friendship student.  The unicorn listened to the lavender alicorn's 5-minute lecture, nodding along as she went, not even raising his hoof until she finished.

 

"Thank you, just one last question... what am I actually going to do.  Right now, I mean.  Because when I walk out that door, I know he's going to ask me why I came.  Frankly, I don't see anything but awkwardness following complete candor on that question.  I mean, you wouldn't like to hear that one had to seek royal assistance because they thought you a bally nuisance."  That was the rub.  It was easy to say and acknowledge the basic principles of friendship, but actually working out the concrete instances took a little more time.  Half an hour, at the very least.

[SteelEagle]

 

 

Twilight considered this. What was he to do? For her it was an awkward beginning. She understood that better than most. When she had first come to Ponyviille she was lucky enough to not have enemies, and lucky enough to not be hit with unkind ponies off the bat. She had met ponies who earned their reputation through and through and she managed to make fast friends with all of them. That made it a different case than Blueblood's, who did not get along with his potential friend. No doubt she had advice that could help, but could he do it himself? This would come down to the character of Blueblood and the character of his potential friend and current enemy. If they were good ponies at heart and they made an honest effort to bypass this stage in their relationship they would do so.

“Well...that is much harder to do. The most important thing is to simply talk. Be honest. Be honest about your desire to turn over a new leaf and start anew with him. Offer a lunch. Talk. Find something about him you respect- something that once you remove him from the category of an enemy, becomes a strength you can admire. There is something like that to be found in anypony you meet after all. And from that, after you've found something about him that is respectable and reliable, get to know him better and allow him the space to make mistakes and be forgiven. Help him where you can, allow him to try to help you, and be kind- even when you disagree, nothing prevents you from being polite and positive about it. Allow him to get close to you and learn about you as you do him and you two may find you have something more in common at the moment than hate,” Twilight said, hoping it'd work out.

 

But there was always a chance she was wrong here- friendship was such a wide topic and so malleable that what worked for one pony may fail for another. The important thing, she believed, was an honest effort.

[Blueblood]

So, honest talking was the key, was it?  That was actually a pretty tall order for one steeped in the guarded conversation of Canterlot Society.  Where every word could be a weapon, even friends tended to be reticent with each other.  Of course, 'reticent' was the last word that Blueblood could apply to Voronoi Fractal.  Noble birth or not, that earth pony didn't seem to give a buck about mincing his words, or disguising his meaning...

 

*And honestly, I do kind of respect him for that...*  Blueblood blinked at the thought that came into his head.  Could that be a start?  It certainly fit Twilight's listed criteria.  And, in any case, the Prince had no other notion of how to start.  His was not a head built for multiple ideas at once.

 

"Ye-es."  He said slowly, nodding at the Princess as he thought aloud.  "I can see how that might work.  In any case, it can't hurt.  Well, not worse than a day's hard labor under your friend Applejack.  If I never see a pig again... although, to be fair, he probably would say the same thing about chickens."  He smiled a bit at the memory of Java being swarmed by maddened poultry.

 

"Anyhow, thank you for listening."  He stood up from his seated position, dusting himself off before bowing.  "I hope that I'll be able to see you under more... social circumstances next time.  You're always welcome to drop by the Manor, of course.  Good day, Princess."

 

And from there, he turned around and walked back out the double doors.  They opened before him to reveal the line... and Java.  Blueblood took a deep breath.  Now to do it before he lost his nerve.  Walking right up to his fellow noble, he began without introduction.  "You know, as irritating as I find your presence sometimes, and as exhausting as the battles of wits that our conversations keep turning into are... I will say I'd rather spend a half hour with you than the whole pack of silly snobs that swarm the great halls.  At least with you I can bally well speak my mind, and I know you will too."  There.  He'd said it.  Now the ball wasn't on his wicket anymore.  

[Lux]

The sounds from inside the throne room were muffled, but Sweet Surprise could hear both the stallion's tone and that of the Princess. As she waited she realized that there was something that she forgot to check. The earth pony unzipped the canvas saddlebag, releasing a cold vapor into the air. Inside there were two metal containers, a smaller one inside a larger one. The smaller one contained several dark brown squares of fudge while the outer one once held ice but to the candy maker's worry now held simply cold water in it. This bag she made was a way to refrigerate her candy, but it had a limited cooling time. She knew that if it wasn't her turn soon, there was the risk of her candy getting spoiled! 

 

To her relief the doors opened and the stallion walked out, but not before talking to another pony in the waiting area. 

 

"Is it my turn? Wait, where is that happy unicorn that i saw giving out those tickets? Did she leave? Oh please don't tell me i missed my chance!"

[SteelEagle]

 

It was wonderful to see Blueblood so willing to go ahead and try to build a friendship, even though it was clear he was worried about it. A sign of emotional strength was an attempt to do the right thing even if it meant putting yourself in an uncomfortable position. Being able to deal with a little bit of internal conflict so you can build a bridge was half the battle, and it was what separated a good and honest pony trying to improve and a pony who was all talk and no trot. She waved him off pleasantly, her stomach churning at the thought of not having ore hay fries. She couldn't wait until the kitchen got the full compliment of ingredients in so they could make for her the same meals they did for Celestia and Luna, which would hopefully prevent much of these cravings.

 

For now though, she'd have to content herself with whatever the cooked up, which would in turn require the services of her page when she returned. Twilight hoped she liked her gift. She was a good page and Twilight wanted to ensure that Sunrise knew that she was valued and her time in service to the Princess was being honored. It didn't hurt that she had contact with the Wonderbolts. “I hope everything works out, Blueblood. If you need any more help, feel free to visit me or write me. Have a great day Blueblood,” she finished, mentally preparing herself to turn the page to a new pony, a new problem. “Guards, send in the next guest,” she said. The guards did so, and the door opened to reveal Sweet Surprise. “Welcome! What can I do to help you today?”

[brianblackberry]

Sunrise Beach was certainly happy for the gift she received from the princess and did not hesitate to take the poster back to her small room in the basement of the castle.   The filly unicorn would have loved to have placed the image on the wall above her small bed right then and there and lie down on her tummy so she could look up and ogle Soarin’ in all his stallion Wonderbolt glory, but she couldn’t just tack such a prized poster to the wall, it needed to be framed!

 

Unfortunately framing cost bits and time; saving up was easy enough thanks to her small weekly allowance from the princess, but Sunrise certainly couldn’t run out to have to framed, at least not today, she had to get back to her duties!  Sure she was given time off, and perhaps even the rest of the day, but this was the first time she got to be the official page at an official princess function and she wanted to prove the lavender alicorn’s faith in her was well founded, besides she was a big filly now, why almost a mare!  Which meant she was a responsible pony!

 

As the young filly raced back to the throne room she found to her embarrassment that the next guest had already been summoned and worse, the guards had to do the job themselves because she wasn’t there!  Not cool, not cool at all!  Oh horseapples, she was going to hear it from the captain later!  It wouldn’t even matter if the princess said it was alright, the ol’ captain would just say that Twilight didn’t understand the protocols yet, Sunrise could hear that lecture now, word for word, in his distinct gravelly voice.

 

She nervously gave the princess an exaggerated salute, “like I’m totally back yer highness, princess Twilight Sparkle!   Sorry about got getting to your next guest!“  She quickly ran over to Sweet Surprise, “like I’ll take your paper with the number now and uh, welcome to the castle of the Princess of Friendship!”  She gave her biggest smile, hoping that will take care of any lingering doubts on her part.