zephyr heights First Serve w/Flick Ray #1: Queen Haven

[Blueblood]

"As camera centric as my life has been, if I'm to be taking a break, I'd prefer the stage of a play to the set of a movie, whether I'm behind or in front of the footlights."  Queen Haven pointed out, wings flicking a bit as she wondered how much her interviewer was really listening to her.  Or himself.  "And I think it would be something toned down and personal.  Something along the lines of Check Off's dramas, have you ever seen one of them?  He was the one who had the famous line about seeing a weapon on set in act one means it will be used by act three.  Just the tight way he brought everything together in staging and writing and hung truly equine emotion on that strong frame... it left an impression on me, as a young mare."

[Hippo]

"Oh, mare. I can see it. I remember going to some plays when I was younger and really enjoying them. But I do wonder if the technological side of things would get in the way. That's not to say there isn't a community willing to invest in live theater, it's just that these days it seems that more attention is draw to the things that get the biggest film budget, the biggest headlining actors and actresses, and the longest red carpet ceremonies. But you said something about it being intimate. I think that would be a great thing to pursue. Would you want your daughters involved?"

[Blueblood]

"Mmm, the lack of attention is rather the point.  This is something I want to do for myself and those that care about the art, not because the eyes of all of Zephyr Heights are on me.  I'd honestly do it in the castle for staff and guards only, just for my own satisfaction."  Queen Haven had to remind herself that Flick wasn't necessarily slow on taking up the implications of her words, he had to ask questions at the pace of his audience, which wasn't necessarily all that quick on the uptake.

"And if my Daughter's wanted to join, I'd let them, but I don't see either of them taking an interest.  Pipp really does care about her streams and the technological side of things, as you said, and Zipp has always been a more outdoors sort.  But that's alright, I think its healthy for families to have things they do apart as well as together; it gives them something different to talk about with each other, broaden all our horizons, you know?"

[Hippo]

"You know it is interesting, we're having to understand things have changed. After the pony unification, everypony has had to learn the new normal. For me personally, I'm so used to seeing your daughters in your tow that it seems strange to consider them not part of your community projects. While the princesses are doing productive things abroad, do you have a core guard that you commune with and share experiences with, or have you gotten closer with other friends or family? I can't imagine you spend all your time alone with Cloudpuff, despite him being a valued member of the family."

[Blueblood]

"I would say that I have a core guard, yes.  Granted, I only just recently learned who was and wasn't really part of that core, for obvious reasons."  There was nothing like being broken out of jail for solidifying a friendship, that was for sure!  "It's going to be a little more time, I suspect, before I feel myself ready to take on a more normal social life, though.  So much still needs sorting out, both for me and for Zephyr Heights."

[Hippo]

"Sorting out, like what?" Flick could lead into asking the typical normal political things, but he decided to have her speak to what is probably at the top of her list of to dos for the city, as as she procludes, herself.

[Blueblood]

"We have to re-orient ourselves to no longer being, essentially, alone in the civilized world.  You know we had no official ambassadors or any diplomatic corps?  Well, now we have to actually work out things with our neighbors, and need to have folks from there to do the same for us.  Almost nopony's trained to do it, too; honestly, it will probably fall on us Us personally to conduct diplomacy, me and my daughters, until all the paperwork for embassies, staffing, and such get done.  

And with tasks like these, you just don't know all the things you never gave a thought to until it becomes a problem for someone else that's now in your life.  There's apparently a river in the industrial district that feeds into the river that flows near Bridlewood, and then comes out into Maretime Bay.  I anticipate considerably more issues to be raised if anything ends up dumped in there, for instance."

[Hippo]

"The earth ponies and unicorns will help us with this, of course right?" Flick asked rhetorically. "With only a few issues, I feel like the network sharing with Bridlewood and Maretime Bay has been pretty well recieved." Flick pondered a bit and smirked, knowing his next words would need to be spoken in the right tone, as to not make it sound like a signal to return to older ways. "You know, I know it's important to put the past behind us and not look down on the other pony kinds, but considering the level of civilization we helped bring to them as a result of the unity, I feel like we're owed a higher amount of decision-making, what do you think? I know you would never hoofbump me for suggesting you should be the Queen of the other towns, too, but shouldn't you? Who do you share your diplomacy with typically, anyway? A tea barkeep and a military factory executive?"

[Blueblood]

"Oh, no doubt."  The Queen replied to the question, despite its rhetorical nature.  "There's a large amount of goodwill about right now, one might call it a 'honeymoon period.'  What's needed now is to arrange as many real ties and commitments as possible while the going is smooth, so that it becomes easier to stick together than back out when times get rough.  Believe the words of a... mature mare, rough patches always come up, even among the closest tied of ponies."  She wondered, internally, just what had weakened the ties the three tribes had in the past.  It was, if she had to venture a guess, a long process, hidden from view at first, until at some point a crisis came up, and everypony realized that they just couldn't coordinate together.

 

She could sense the care Flick was putting into his next question, and was careful herself in turn, as incautious wording of her points could be politically contentious, domestically as well as inter-communally.  "Leadership belongs to whoever steps up and can get other ponies to listen to them.  That is why the Royal Family prides itself on taking active steps to decide and implement policy.  If the other communities follow their business leaders as opposed to a dynasty, well, that's who we have to talk to.  I rather suspect Maretime Bay may soon find itself in a succession situation when it comes to leadership; it really depends on how politically proactive Sunny Starscout is.  She is young, but from what I have seen from her with my daughters, she has natural leadership tendencies, a drive, and a goal.  That gets you rather far fairly fast if you don't give up.  Bridlewood, on the other hoof, seems far more stable.  Alphabittle has considerably less to live down, one has to say.

 

"As for assuming primacy in decision making..."  She frowned, trying to figure out the best way to phrase this.  "Let me ask this question: are you, or have you ever been, a married stallion?"

[Hippo]

Flick smiled wide and involuntarily chuckled. As soon as his breathing would allow him, he uttered out a response like he was serving up a punch line. "Ha heh, ha, what are you gonna say that I haven't had to share the burden of decision-making? Haha, ha, but no I'm not married." Flick leaned in to Queen Haven's question, hoping she would share with him the hilarity that he sensed in the timing of the question.

[Blueblood]

"I thought not."  Haven's amusement was more quiet, but she went on.  "But I would say, if you were married, you would know that it is rather unwise to insist on decision-making primacy, whether or not one party ends up having it.  Usually the balance is idiosyncratic, with arrangements like one partner deciding 90% of things, but the other having absolute veto and override on whatever 10% they decide.  It doesn't do to put things like that into a written constitution, but they are essential for a functioning relationship."

[Hippo]

Flick nodded and yielded to the Queen his satisfaction of such a well-thought out response to his half-joking question. And in all seriousness, he wouldn't refute anything she said. It is true that while you wouldn't write into pony law exact percentages of rulership stake that are afforded different types of ponies, there would be some kind of understand amongst the high council of pony leadership that the ying and yang of cooperation would exist organically and be dealt with in a personal fluid way. Who these high council ponies would be was an interesting thought to Flick though, and he desperately wanted to know what the Queen thought of that. "So who are these earth ponies and unicorns that share in that? Does the public know them? What kinds of conversations have you had?"

[Blueblood]

The Queen tapped her chin.  "I'm not sure, at this point, if it would be wise to call them out.  You understand, the recent rejoining of the tribes was as much of a shakeup to the others as it was to us; I should hate to embarrass ponies in the process of sorting things out.  I will say though, in many cases the relevant leaders are less in formal government than they are in business.  Less, perhaps, for the money they make than for the social pull and credit their particular services and goods have earned them.  They're quite well known in their communities, and I daresay you'll be knowing their faces and names in Zephyr Heights soon enough."  One in particular, in fact, had been invited on a little... well, don't call it a 'date.'  Not yet, and certainly not on air.

 

"As for what we've talked about... well, it's early days yet.  Mostly, its been sorting out misconceptions about bathing habits and cannibalistic tendencies.  Turns out, none of the three tribes eat other ponies, and everypony understands more or less the importance of good hygiene."  There was a spark of humor in her eyes at this remark, though it was going to be hard to catch over the radio.

[Hippo]

"Ha ha, well I should hope so. That would be awkward wouldn't it? Pony peace being interrupted by a lack of soap usage? Imagine if we went to war over something like that anyway." Flick didn't want to get into real details of pony differences, knowing full well a good queen would deflect such language on a public platform. And he himself would ridicule any kind of malice in language that would divide Equestria once again. He was, however, part comedian, and loved finding the absurdity in every topic he goes over with guests on the podcast. He felt being affable was the key ingredient to getting great authentic interviews on his show. "What about the unicorns and their forbidden words. Um, this show is actually hitting record numbers because it's reaching out to ponies outside of Zephyr Heights. But because our listeners in Bridlewood have strong views on the usage of several commonly said words and not to use them because they are 'jinxies', we have had to censor some of the audio out of previous episodes. And even this one." Flick looks at his tablet. "Yeah my recorder automatically picks it up when we say it, and it bleeps out those words. See, here it says we've said the word 'wing' five times. Welp, six times now, haha. The Bridlewood version of this show just replaces the words with a booping sound. We tried replacing them with a pre-recorded version of me saying 'bing-bong' but we realized it ruins the flow of the podcast."

[Blueblood]

Ah, yes, the quaint taboos of the back woods.  Queen Haven would have to admit, the conversational quirks of unicorns was one of the major remaining obstacles to integration.  Having random words suddenly become unspeakable mid-conversation was bound to create no small amount of friction at the negotiating table.  "Your conscientiousness does you credit, I'm sure.  And while then Royal Family is quite willing to make concessions in regards to, say, certain condiments being left off the menu, there are things which are simply unreasonable to demand.  I tend to defer to my daughter in these matters; there are certain 'jinxies' she respects in her livestreams, but others that she will openly challenge.  You cannot have a working relationship between pegasi and unicorns if neither can say the words 'wing' or 'magic'."  Her eyes narrowed as she sought out the recording technician in the shadows.  "And that sentence is to remain uncensored, By Royal Order."

[Hippo]

Any implication that the Queen's words were being censored without her knowing would certainly cause problems, even if she herself didn't mind the audio touch-up. Of course, in this instance, Flick would yield to her demands, regardless of her level of ribbing. In his attempt at authentic conversation with the Queen, his goal was never that she would never have to command anything, but rather that she would only have to command things once. Flick motioned to his producer. "Of course, we'll leave that uncensored. No problem." Flick paused and thought for a moment, and would jump at the opportunity to say something he thought would make good content for the show. "You know what we should do? We pegasi should make our own forbidden words. It's not fair that superstitious unicorns get all the fun quirks. So what should our words be? Hmm. How about 'horn,' or 'ground,' or 'apricot.' What do you think?" Flick wore a cheeky smile.

[Blueblood]

Queen Haven shot Flick a look flatter than The House of Pancakes.  "We just agreed not to censor ourselves... and then you suggest we forbid ourselves from saying certain words?"  To the Queen, it seemed to betray a certain... lack of forethought behind Flick Ray's words.  Perhaps that was what he meant by 'authentic conversation', but Haven was beginning to understand now why so few ponies actually wished to have them on-air.  You could talk yourself into some quite embarrassing holes, that while in private would be laughed off with a joke, could in public be used as a stick against you, even just for mockery.