FermataTheBasse

[colour=#008080]"I'm often lost. Mentally and physically."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan trotted along eagerly, not noticing when Twilight deigned to take the lead and bring them into the nearest fabric store. She did take note of other things, however. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Ah, so you know where it is Twilight. You are already quite ahead of the game, my little pony! You must be really eager to begin your potential future career." [/colour][colour=#000000]As Swan entered the store when it came into sight, she took an appraising look around, trying to get all the details, all the fabrics Twilight probably knew more about than she did. Ellie would be happy to be surrounded by it's brethren. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Do you already know your fabrics, Twilight?"[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Yes! Go on and put on a show!"[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"How fascinating... Yes, I can see that!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan Dive imagined Flying's practice sessions in public, and proceeded to imagine herself within the exact same circumstances. Sans the incredible gymnastics, which Swan was not totally privy to. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Do tell, Flying, is it often that you practice? Are your practices planned beforehand more often than not? From what you have described, I venture a guess at an insatiable hooves that must be in motion on a regular basis. I myself am cursed with them." [/colour][colour=#000000]As she said that Swan's hind legs were doing a little stepping under the table to a silent beat, so tired she was already of being seated. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"As for the Young Mare's Tail, we are publishers of the stories of individual ponies and all other related media. I find it fun to chronicle such tales, and it helps to spread friendship in our little Equestria. I could not give you statistics..." [/colour][colour=#000000]Nor could Swan even understand the numbers that came with them. [/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Humor is sometimes the best way to draw attention."[/colour]

Swan Dive smiled, thinking of the inherent humor in jumping onto a bandwagon where one's handsomeness was the issue at hand. It was quite the nice little prank. Nopony's feelings had the potential to be hurt, even. Swan wondered if she could somehow come by that story in more personal detail later on, but that was not what she should be focusing on now. Swan loathed to lose focus on the subjects of her interview. If she slipped up, she might lose some of the Doctor's good will. She addressed him earnestly, [colour=#ffd700]"I can only imagine how funny that must have been, Doctor Spin! I can see why you'd keep it, and it is quite nice. A personal, more in depth look into history. Yes, that variety of history I could perhaps spare some time for."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan examined the next room they entered, but it all appeared to be the same to her untrained eyes. Many old things she'd have to read to understand what was going on. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Mmm, may I ask, Doctor? What do you think of our military as it is now? Given that you know how it was in the past?"[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Hats! Never enough hats!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan giggled when Earth accidentally made a quick little rhyme on the spot, giggled even more when he actually wrote it down. It was the little things about everypony that she tried to notice, that she enjoyed noticing. Earth had been a member of her staff for a fairly long time, she had come to like him in spite of his occasional tendencies to crack under even moderate pressure. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Well that is why our tales are made, the variance will not fade. So long as we write, friendships and loves will take flight. Ooh, double rhyme!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan Dive rubbed her hooves together, happy with her own little coup, began to read idly through some of the articles she'd made...[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"I wonder if I could have been a model? Upper Crust tells me I have the brains for it, darling she is."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan Dive nodded reassuringly, then promptly smacked the side of her face into the pole she had neglected to notice in her path. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Oh!" [/colour][colour=#000000]She staggered a bit, nearly lost her hat, but her dancer's agility kicked in and allowed her to recover herself, a hoof even kept Ellie firmly onto her head. The side of her cheek was a bit sore, a bit bruised, but she smiled it off, kept her trot going strongly. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Ah, that's a good plan, Twilight. Now shall I make a suggestion? There is sure to be a fabric store in this part of town, I think?" [/colour][colour=#000000]On the one hoof, this was the industrial part of Fillydelphia they were entering, there had to be stores with fabric. On the other hoof, Swan was atrocious with directions. She could lose herself in a paper bag. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"We could stop by and take a look, alright?"[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"I am only uncomfortable when others are uncomfortable around me."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan Dive's smile faded, just a bit, when she quickly sensed that there was some degree of awkwardness between herself and not only Balanced, but also Flying. They had been fairly well off until now, Swan had received the invitation into Flying's house. It had to be the question, and such an innocuous question it had seemed. Well Swan knew it was best to back off, not ask that question until there was comfort between all subjects involved. She sort of had an answer, that should be enough for now. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Swan Dive, miss. I am Swan Dive of the Young Mare's Tail. Now, erm... How do you practice, Flying?"[/colour]

[colour=#afeeee]The Great and Powerful Trixie [/colour][colour=#000000](RLF Airpad, Harmony, Virginia)[/colour]

[colour=#afeeee]"Trixie is just trying to be friend-" [/colour][colour=#000000]Trixie's attempt to justify her affectionate gesture was lost when an explosion of some sort occurred. Trixie was even faster than her fellow soldiers to react, she was one of the GEF elite and it showed in how fast she was to rally. [/colour][colour=#afeeee]"Let's meet again sometime, Harmony!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Trixie spared those words for the Freelancer then she was off, a knife in the air beside her and the distance between herself and the ground rapidly decreasing. Trixie's flight was quick, powerful as her namesake, she threw up loose rubble and repulsed anything airborne in her rush to reach the source of the noise. She had the worst feeling...[/colour]

[colour=#000000](Main Square, Cronarch, Free, Twilight, Karrthus, and so on)[/colour]

[colour=#000000]... Sure enough. Twilight was involved. And everypony else in existence, by the looks of it. Trixie had to be nervous, the way the crowd seemed to be focusing on that one mysterious, wizened stallion who was facing off against three of the most important ponies- and the most important dragon- in all Equestria without so much as batting an eyelash. They were... sitting together? Trixie got as close as she dared, approached Twilight's seat, her knife carefully sequestered into it's pocket dimension along with the thousand or so others she had at her disposal. At a moments notice, they'd be deployed. Her priority would be Twilight, of course.[/colour]

[colour=#afeeee]"Twilight. What the hay is going on here?" [/colour][colour=#000000]Trixie tried to speak softly but insistently, so that the mysterious stallion she only sort of knew as some kind of crackpot priest would not overhear. She sensed bad things about him...[/colour]

[colour=#b22222]Lypris [/colour][colour=#000000](RLF Tents)[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Lypris stayed behind, waiting for her Queen. By the time she had determined that she'd be getting no response, the others had already gone. **** that Princess and her interspecies romance. Lyrpis wasn't jealous, she wasn't angry, she was however incredibly annoyed. They needed leaders now, not lovers. Let that wait for after the apocalypse was well and done with. But no, they had to make their sweet time now. Lypris wasn't normally the sort to disdain her superiors. But man did she want to disdain them now.[/colour]

[colour=#b22222]"Forget it."[/colour]

[colour=#000000](Through the Changeling hivemind)[/colour]

[colour=#008000]"Everyone in Equina, on alert. We've got mass chaos in the city, possible..." [/colour][colour=#000000]Lypris cursed in a dead tongue, remembered what the soldier had briefed them on. The rank and file changelings were probably affected as well, were probably up in arms. Of all the times for the Changeling's strict adherence to hierarchy to be broken... Lypris began to gallop, cursing herself for being born without wings. She could theoretically have teleported, but the energy might have been crucial...[/colour]

[colour=#000000](Main Square, Free, Twilight, the Prophet, and so on)[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Lypris arrived, quickly sized up the situation. No fights were breaking out, yet. Still time for Chrysalis to show up, whatever that would accomplish.[/colour]

[colour=#000000](Through the Changeling Hivemind)[/colour]

[colour=#008000]"My Queen? Can you hear me? We're having a situation here!"[/colour]

[colour=#ff0000]Vinyl Scratch [/colour][colour=#000000](Equina Ghetto, Draxis, Draco)[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Vinyl bit her lower lip. Already something was going wrong. Her first instinct was to run off, check to see if the population she had come to love was still okay. She had lost, mourned silently for so many already... But no. She was a soldier, and she had to follow orders. If she didn't, the safety of many was compromised. Harmony may have been dying slowly in Equestria, but Vinyl would be dammed if she didn't keep it alive. She saluted her two superiors.[/colour]

[colour=#ff0000]"Right. The detonators are only going to make a narrow chokepoint into and out of the ghetto. We should be able to secure the entrance with this much manpower, keep the survivors within safe." [/colour][colour=#000000]Vinyl began to lead the men along, towards where the charges were set. It was a narrow chokepoint of alleys and half wrecked buildings through which the light of the sun filtered through eerily. Long ago, Cadence had met Gladius here, had been pulled along back into her destiny. Now Vinyl was primed to collapse the ruined wall that hemmed the ghetto people in.[/colour]

[colour=#ff0000]"I'll fire when you're ready. We dunno what's on the other side, so..."[/colour]

[colour=#ffff00]Fluttershy[/colour] [colour=#000000](Main Square, you all know this already)[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Fluttershy slowly recovered from her sudden bout of fear, pulled her frayed nerves together... She looked up, back to the prophet, to those evil, evil gems... And screamed:[/colour]

[colour=#ffff00]"Twilight!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Her best friend, the one she had come to know for all of their mutual flaws, so long ago...[/colour]

[colour=#ffff00]"Twilight!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Her best friend... her best friend? Where had Twilight been these last five years? A member of one of the most powerful, most oppressive forces Equestria had ever known! She had disrupted the peace, ruined so many innocent people... The light of those gems hurt so much, the message of the Prophet rung through her ears... She was a monk of the Starlight, a monk who had trained herself to be unbiased. So long without the temptation of bias, of a scapegoat, of sweet, sweet ignorance and bliss. It tantalized her, she actually began to salivate, her drool wetting her chin.[/colour]

[colour=#ffff00]"T-Twilight!"[/colour]

[colour=#000000]He would sacrifice himself for their sake, would save and redeem them...[/colour]

[colour=#ffff00]"... I denounce you! You've led us all to ruin! Hail the Prophet! Hail the Prophet our savior!"[/colour]

[colour=#ee82ee]Princess Mi Amore Cadenza [/colour][colour=#000000](Equina, Chrysalis)[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Cadence leaned into her Queen, the two walked in lockstep for a while, their awkward three-legged gaits ignored perhaps as they had one another for support. [/colour][colour=#ee82ee]"You know I will vouch for you, my Queen." [/colour][colour=#000000]When had Cadence ever married? That was such a non event now, it wasn't even funny. Cadence lolled her head, forced their heads both to turn with that motion, so that they were now kissing, Cadence slow, passionate.[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Don't speculate, ask!"[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"Reality is more interesting, that is true. But for me, history is perhaps just as fictional as fiction itself! I cannot, after all, talk to or touch the ponies of the past." [/colour][colour=#000000]It was Swan Dive's usual whiny tirade on why she disliked studying and academia. A biography for her was only worth it if the pony in question was actually around to be talked to in person. Most of her staff had heard it many times already, and Swan spared Earth the pain of her full speech, which included actual tears and hoof shaking at the air. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Well we have interviewed many members of the nightlife before, Earth. What conclusions would you draw about them? And feel free to write up on your thoughts if you feel like it." [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan wasn't too specific on who wrote what in her publication. With one specific caveat. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Remember, not too academic. Try to get interviews or such."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]With Earth's next question Swan began to pirouette her way over toward the stack of drafts that would become their next newspaper issue, sitting in a neat pile on the floor beside the food counter. She checked through it. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Some interesting ponies, Earth. Ponyville, Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad, I've been well traveled this month! Reviews, personal advice, humorous accounts..." [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan nodded and smiled at each member of her staff who typically wrote such things as she said them. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"You remember what you wrote, yes Earth?"[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Wheeee!" -Swan Dive in instances of enjoying things meant for ponies many years her junior[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"Ah, so the new generation is that which is interested in your business. Us elders are too entrenched in our ancient ways to learn anything new, I suppose. But that's wonderful, that you can provide a wanted service for young fillies and colts!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Enthusiasm was perhaps the greatest disease of all, as Swan was excited to see that Spin was getting more comfortable with the interview, and her own willingness to be casual and relaxed as she preferred to be when talking with others continued to increase. She did a two step- literally, a dance- across the hall to where a curious poster of the famous Shining Armor had been posted. A bit ahead of the Doctor, she wanted to stop and take a quick read of the plaque. [/colour]

[colour=#000000]She was spared the trouble of having to figure out words she wasn't any good with by the Doctor's offer. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Why yes I would, Doctor Spin. While Shining Armor is quite photogenic, it is true, I have to wonder why it was written on the poster? If I have to read the display we will be here a while." [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan giggled at her own self-depracatory joke.[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Well you've got opportunity in this very community! Wait, where did I get that from?"[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"Oh, may I see them? Yes, I should like to see what you have done, darling Twilight." [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan pushed Ellie down, so that the brim of her hat was covering her eyes. They were walking right into a now bright afternoon sun, on it's way to setting. Swan was careful to keep eye contact as she spoke, looking over to Twilight, so that she was only hardly looking forward and was well en route to walking into a pole on the street in her path. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Perhaps they do not Twilight, and it is a shame. However, if you had the opportunity, what do you think you would do first?" [/colour][colour=#000000]Her mental percept of Twilight was rapidly forming. No time for watching where she was going, no sir.[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Like mother like daughter. I managed to wholly avoid that cliche."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan Dive herself failed to notice her own motion, but she did notice Flying's response to it, and she had to wonder if something about her was drawing negative attention. Was it her hat? Perhaps Ellie was bit dirty today, Swan rubbed at the brim of her hat in instinctual concern for it's 'health'. She was eager to hear Flying answer the question, but she seemed to be suddenly shy. Swan dusted herself off as well. She was apparently very messy today, to throw off others. Okay, that probably wasn't it, even she knew that. But before she could try to press the issue, Balanced was now there.[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"Ah, hello there. You look wonderful." [/colour][colour=#000000]'Serviceable' and 'fashionable' were two separate ideas altogether, but Swan was touched, that her hostess would go through the trouble. Swan nodded at Flying. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Your daughter was about to tell me how she came upon her job, Miss. If you would, darling Flying?" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan smiled hopefully at her charge.[/colour]

[colour=#b22222]Lypris [/colour][colour=#000000](RLF Tents, Alpha inForce, Free, Halftooth)[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]Fluttershy [/colour][colour=#000000](Equina Main Square, the Prophet)[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Practicality is not my strong suit. I think my parents are surprised I haven't crippled myself yet."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]As Swan recovered from her self-inflicted burns, she had to be amazed by Flying's hardiness. She was gulping down her own drink as if it weren't still boiling hot. Swan almost copied her again, perhaps in a childish need to not be outdone, but at the last second Swan finally learned her lesson and removed the mug from her lips, setting it back onto the table.[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"Ah. So you are capable of overcoming the danger, but you know your limits." [/colour][colour=#000000]As a dancer herself, Swan understood completely. If she ever lost the ability to dance, Swan would have been devastated, not out of a job perhaps, but definitely without a big part of herself. She could imagine the care Flying took in routines, the balance between the rush of adrenaline that demanded more and the cautious head that warned against more. Swan had to rub her hooves together, both fore and rear, to make sure they were still where they belonged. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"How did you first join your troupe? Were you noticed, or did you have to seek them out?" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan drunk, sure this time to blow on it and only sip. [/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Sometimes writing must be short and to the point."[/colour]

[colour=#000000]Swan straightened up, magically tugged at her ascot until it was in the exact same position it had been before. She was excited, she really was. It was rare that she had the opportunity to cover the simple tales of one's foalhood. Twilight was so incredibly cute, nervous as she was, Swan had to resist the urge to hug her on the spot. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"Well come, walk with me Twilight." [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan took off, taking care to restrain her pace so that the little one could keep up. Swan looked up to the sun. It was a bright, cloudless day, the sun high in the sky but a light breeze preventing it from being too hot. A prefect day for a story to unfold.[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"So tell me if you will. What have you already done to develop your fashionable self?"[/colour]

[colour=#008080]"Is a precis a food from Germaney?"[/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"Oh yes, I remember her!" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan Dive remembered everyone, and though she had long forgotten the nightclub they had been in, she remembered that mare clear as day. [/colour][colour=#ffd700]"She was so demure, strangely enough, despite being a security guard. But that's weird. I didn't know we had a Prohibition back in the day. I thought that was just a fictional element for dramatic effect?" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan wasn't the most well informed mare in the world when it came to any subject that wasn't people or dancing, she had forgotten most of her childhood history lessons already. Something about the Princesses and Hearth's Warming. That was about all she remembered, because she knew most of the actors in the usual Hearth's Warming pageants. [/colour]

[colour=#ffd700]"It's an interesting story to draw, juxtaposition and such. And as for the Princess, I'm not sure if she reads our publication or not. But we can always hope, right?" [/colour][colour=#000000]Swan didn't track her subscriptions too extensively. [/colour]