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twilightponyI'd decided that if I wanted that crystal hay, I was going to have to go to the Crystal Empire and get it myself. I've gone looking a few times but nopony at the bazaar has been selling any. It's an exotic specialty product and Ponyville is a small market. We export our own specialty products, like our hay and zap apple jam, but when it comes to imports, the stall owners stick to the basics.
I announced that I was going to make a day trip to the Crystal Empire, and to my surprise, both Spike And Starlight Glimmer wanted to go. Starlight was a bit hesitant. Although she wanted to visit her friend Sunburst, she felt it was frivolous to do so when she wasn't there to get his help and advice. I told her she should go, some friendship lessons are best learned by living them, which she can do wherever she goes. She just has to keep an open mind and an attentive ear. Spike just wanted to be in on finding fun things to add to our pantry.
So off we went, to the Crystal Empire to buy hay. And corn and berries and fur-leaf tea leaves. The list got longer during the train ride. I was getting worried we might not be able to carry it all.
We stepped off the train at the Crystal Empire station and found the place oddly deserted. Even the streets of the Crystal Empire were empty. A few minutes later we stopped to debate whether we should go the the marketplace and see if that was deserted too, or go straight to the castle and try to get an answer there. What if everypony had something contagious? Just then, several crystal ponies galloped out of their houses and mobbed Spike. Spike's a local hero. We soon found out that they weren't sick, they were hiding from a changeling. Then, as if to illustrate just how bad the hysteria was, somepony suggested that maybe that wasn't Spike, maybe he was the changeling in disguise. They dashed back to the safety of their houses, leaving us sputtering in protest. So, to the castle it was. This is like the week of the changelings. I hope it's not the start of a new invasion.
At the castle we managed to prove that we weren't changelings (trivia questions were involved). Sunburst was there, so we set about researching changeling detection and repulsion spells. So much for Starlight learning about friendship in a relaxed atmosphere. Spike, as the local action hero, leaped into action and joined the changeling search group.
We had made some progress with a protection spell for my niece when Spike came back with a new friend. That new friend turned out to be, to our horror, the fugitive changeling. Who went into some weird frenzy and promptly fled. But Spike brought him back and convinced us that this changeling, who goes by the name of "Thorax", is friendly. It took a lot of convincing, and as the Princess of Friendship, I accepted Spike's judgement and thus Thorax's friendship. I'm not sure how or under what heading I'm going to file this friendship lesson. I think you'd have to pat a lot of timber wolves before you found the friendly one, and that doesn't sound like a wise thing to do.
Well, I got my hay, some fur-leaf tea for Zecora, and a few other items. Spike got a new and exotic friend, and Starlight Glimmer got to puzzle over a new friendship lesson. I also read I Met A Mare to my niece. She never tires of that book.
I didn't tell Thorax about the hoe down incident. That would have been awkward. As friend of the Court, Thorax is staying in the Crystal Empire castle. Spike is there with him to help him get settled. It will take some time for the crystal citizens to get used to a friendly changeling in their midst, but their adulation of Spike should accelerate the process. I taught Thorax some of Zecora's breathing exercises to help him to better master his frenzy, but I don't know if that'll be enough next time the Crystal Ponies pour love and joy into the Crystal Heart. Without restraint, Thorax just might go into love coma that close to the Crystal Heart.
I announced that I was going to make a day trip to the Crystal Empire, and to my surprise, both Spike And Starlight Glimmer wanted to go. Starlight was a bit hesitant. Although she wanted to visit her friend Sunburst, she felt it was frivolous to do so when she wasn't there to get his help and advice. I told her she should go, some friendship lessons are best learned by living them, which she can do wherever she goes. She just has to keep an open mind and an attentive ear. Spike just wanted to be in on finding fun things to add to our pantry.
So off we went, to the Crystal Empire to buy hay. And corn and berries and fur-leaf tea leaves. The list got longer during the train ride. I was getting worried we might not be able to carry it all.
We stepped off the train at the Crystal Empire station and found the place oddly deserted. Even the streets of the Crystal Empire were empty. A few minutes later we stopped to debate whether we should go the the marketplace and see if that was deserted too, or go straight to the castle and try to get an answer there. What if everypony had something contagious? Just then, several crystal ponies galloped out of their houses and mobbed Spike. Spike's a local hero. We soon found out that they weren't sick, they were hiding from a changeling. Then, as if to illustrate just how bad the hysteria was, somepony suggested that maybe that wasn't Spike, maybe he was the changeling in disguise. They dashed back to the safety of their houses, leaving us sputtering in protest. So, to the castle it was. This is like the week of the changelings. I hope it's not the start of a new invasion.
At the castle we managed to prove that we weren't changelings (trivia questions were involved). Sunburst was there, so we set about researching changeling detection and repulsion spells. So much for Starlight learning about friendship in a relaxed atmosphere. Spike, as the local action hero, leaped into action and joined the changeling search group.
We had made some progress with a protection spell for my niece when Spike came back with a new friend. That new friend turned out to be, to our horror, the fugitive changeling. Who went into some weird frenzy and promptly fled. But Spike brought him back and convinced us that this changeling, who goes by the name of "Thorax", is friendly. It took a lot of convincing, and as the Princess of Friendship, I accepted Spike's judgement and thus Thorax's friendship. I'm not sure how or under what heading I'm going to file this friendship lesson. I think you'd have to pat a lot of timber wolves before you found the friendly one, and that doesn't sound like a wise thing to do.
Well, I got my hay, some fur-leaf tea for Zecora, and a few other items. Spike got a new and exotic friend, and Starlight Glimmer got to puzzle over a new friendship lesson. I also read I Met A Mare to my niece. She never tires of that book.
I didn't tell Thorax about the hoe down incident. That would have been awkward. As friend of the Court, Thorax is staying in the Crystal Empire castle. Spike is there with him to help him get settled. It will take some time for the crystal citizens to get used to a friendly changeling in their midst, but their adulation of Spike should accelerate the process. I taught Thorax some of Zecora's breathing exercises to help him to better master his frenzy, but I don't know if that'll be enough next time the Crystal Ponies pour love and joy into the Crystal Heart. Without restraint, Thorax just might go into love coma that close to the Crystal Heart.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-27 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-27 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-27 10:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-08-31 01:16 am (UTC)This is why ponies eat grass instead of nursing their mares their whole lives.
no subject
Date: 2016-08-31 01:44 am (UTC)