EchoWing

  “Here we go again, everyone.” The chatter surrounding him died down as Quiver Quill prepped another set of flashcards and took in the gathered ponies and humans. “Time for another Q and A session…” He paused as his sight came upon a trio of outrageously-dressed teenage girls, each one with a ruby pendant about their necks, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “What are you three doing here? Your story isn’t even finished, much less posted.”

  Adagio Dazzle smirked from her seat as she treated the folding chair no differently from a throne. “Loopholes, stallion. The story might not be up yet, but there’s previews out for it.” She gave him a seductive glance and added, “Anything else you’d like to say about that?”

   A steel blade found itself a hair’s breadth away from her nose, and the siren turned to see Sunrunner glaring at her. “Watch yourself, Twiggy. It’s not too late for you to get retconned out of existence.”

  A terrified gasp went up from one of the other sirens. “Oh no! I don’t wanna get retconned! I’m too adorable to get retconned!”

  Aria Blaze raised an eyebrow at her blue-haired associate’s protest. “Do you even know what the word ‘retcon’ means?”

  “No,” Sonata Dusk whimpered, “but I probably won’t like it!”

  Quiver cleared his throat. “Anyway, moving on. Our first set of questions comes from the reader ‘Comickook’, and are directed to Princess Celestia.” He turned to the Princess of the Sun and asked, “First, ‘considering your experience with other universes, have you ever been curious as to the possibility of a universe where you actually managed to successfully get through to Sunset before she left Equestria and you were able to train both her and Twilight side-by-side?’”

  The alicorn took on a sad expression as her gaze went to her two most recent personal students. “I’ll admit, the thought has crossed my mind on more than one occasion. And I do like to think there was at least one world where no mistakes were made, where everything went right, and Sunset not only remained in Equestria but could well have become another surrogate older sister to Twilight, much as Cadance did. Unfortunately, due to many mistakes on my part, that didn’t happen in our version of events.” She bowed her head and added, “More’s the pity.”

  The stallion nodded. “Second, ‘considering Twilight had five ponies in her study group, do you think it would have been possible for you to gently encourage Twilight to gradually develop real friendships with them that, if developed properly, would allow them to activate the Elements of Harmony years before Nightmare Moon returned? I mean, yes, they’re all unicorns and there might be some sort of unknown rule that the Element Bearers have to have fair representation from all three tribes. But if there is such a rule, I sure as heck don’t know about it.’” He looked up and asked, “Is there such a rule?”

  Luna rolled her eyes. “In all truth, we have no more control over who gets chosen to bear a particular Element than we do over…well, the few natural forces that are beyond ponies’ control. ‘Tis a miracle that I and my sister were able to wield them against Discord.”

  The draconequus in question rolled his eyes as he juggled tacos, much to Sonata’s rapt attention. “From your perspective, anyway.”

  “We’re veering off-topic.” Celestia sat up and explained, “There’s every chance that Twilight’s classmates at the School for Gifted Unicorns could have become bearers of the Elements of Harmony, had the circumstances been right. With that being said, however, friendships are something that occur naturally, on their own, and Twilight could have just as easily ignored my gentle encouragement to focus upon her studies.” The lavender alicorn took on an ashamed expression at that admission as her mentor continued, “A potentially infinite number of factors led to Twilight and her friends being in the right place at the right time, and I’ve no way of knowing how things could have gone otherwise.”

  Quiver nodded and read off the final question. “And three, ‘Why didn’t you send Cadance to Ponyville instead of Twilight? Mind you, Twilight does a pretty good job (most of the time)…’”

  “Most?” Twilight whimpered.

  “Their words, not mine.” Quiver then continued the question. “‘…But it seems to me that the Alicorn of Love would be a pretty good candidate for bearer of the Element of Magic. After all, the Element of Magic is also the Element of Friendship and what is love but merely friendship intensified? Again, this is not meant as a complaint concerning Twilight’s performance (which is quite good the considerable majority of the time), but merely asked out of pure curiosity.”

  Celestia nodded. “Well, for starters, ‘Magic’ and ‘Friendship’ are not interchangeable, and nor are they meant to be. A true friendship, built from the virtues represented by the Elements, creates a powerful magic all its own, but one does not need friendship to levitate a ball, nor magic to form a bond with another pony.”

  “Second, love isn’t an intensified form of friendship.” Cadance sat up and explained, “Love binds ponies together, yes, and the two things are very close, but they are not the same thing. Finally, I wasn’t sent to Ponyville because I wasn’t the right pony for that job. Twilight was.”

  “Indeed. Nightmare Moon would have been a greater danger had Cadance been present instead of Twilight.” Luna frowned as she admitted, “The perception of rejection is one thing, but the perception of outright replacement is another entirely. Twilight’s odds of success were far greater than Cadance’s were, if only because Nightmare Moon was more likely to underestimate her, and less likely to kill her on the spot or banish her to the Moon.”

  Pinkie raised a hoof. “And that would be bad either way.”

  General murmurs of agreement went up before Quiver noted, “Okay then, moving on. This question comes from Mugen Kagemaru, who asks Pinkie Pie…” The stallion went pale as he asked, “‘What’s in the cellar, and has Rainbow Dash ever been down there?’”

  “Oh she’s been…!” The realization struck the party pony as she took on a quiet, sober tone. “Is…is that a ‘Cupcakes’ question?” Her mane deflated as she turned sad. “What kind of sad, ill person comes up with a story like that? I don’t kill things and turn them into cupcakes! I’m crazy about making people happy, not about making them dead!”

  Her human counterpart took her into a comforting hug. “We know that, Pinkie. Anyone who’s into torture porn really needs therapy. And maybe medication.”

  “Yeah, definitely meds.” Rainbow Dash got comfortable as she added, “And hopefully that’s the last of questions like that. We don’t need anyone asking Fluttershy about her shed…”

  “I don’t have one!” the yellow pegasus protested.

  “Or me about…” The prismatic pegasus noticed the frown on Quiver’s face and whimpered, “Oh no…”

  “First question from FinalLegendZero for Rainbow Dash. ‘What are rainbows made of in the Quiververse?’”

  The athlete facehoofed and grumbled, “Not dead ponies, that’s for sure.” She sighed and admitted, “Look, a lot of stuff goes into making rainbows, but mostly water and magic. The exact stuff is kind of a secret, but it definitely doesn’t involve anypony getting killed.”

  “Thank the Maker for that.” The stallion turned back to the elder alicorn and continued, “The remaining questions from him are for you, Princess Celestia, and come from honest curiosity. These aren’t trick questions or veiled accusations.”

  The princess sighed in relief. “Very well. Ask away.”

  Quiver cleared his throat. “‘First, when was it that you started to transition Equestria’s government from Rule of Alicorn to Rule of Law, and what was it that convinced you to do so?”

  A nod. “The transition began shortly after Luna was taken by the Nightmare and transformed into Nightmare Moon. Further details shall be elaborated upon later, but for now, I’ll say that I feared that absolute power would corrupt me absolutely, and leave it at that.”

  “Alright. ‘Second, I know that you’re one of the few Celestias across the multiverse honest enough to not style yourself as a goddess, but are there any groups that worship you and/or the other alicorns in your version of Equestria despite this?’”

  Celestia bowed her head. “Regrettably, yes. For a brief time during my period ruling Equestria alone, there were several cults that came to worship me as a goddess. I had to resort to very drastic steps to demonstrate how incorrect they were in their beliefs, but I was nonetheless successful. One reason I’m glad that there are four of us now, with potentially more on the way, is that you’re far less likely to view something as divine if you see it walking down the street every day.”

  “And that’s assuming you aren’t blind to their faults and failings.”

  The princess nodded at Sunrunner’s summation before Quiver continued, “Next come questions from diablo4000. They ask, ‘what the heck Applejack was thinking when she said the lesson she learned after beating Flim and Flam was that she was right all along.’” At the farmpony’s sharp expression of protest, he continued, “And he goes on to say, ‘Maybe in truth it’s stop being stubborn, don’t let pride trick you in a bet that involves land that was given to your family by a goddess and let others help you. Did she get in big trouble for that and did her family as well?’”

  Celestia raised a hoof before the Apples could chime in. “First of all, as previously stated, not a goddess.”

  “Second a’ all, Ah wuz the one who took that bet with those swindlers, not Applejack.” Granny Smith narrowed her eyes. “Blame where blame’s due.”

  “An’ finally, the lesson was that quality speaks for itself, an’ that you shouldn’t be afraid to call on your friends an’ family when ya need help.” Applejack took on a smug look as she noted, “An’ hard work is always better’n takin’ shortcuts with some fancy gadget.” She noticed the glare on Quiver’s face. “What?”

  “You and I are going to have a talk about that, but it’s not going to be here and now.” The stallion cleared his throat and continued on. “The next question is for Twilight. ‘What the heck were you thinking trying to perform a reformation spell on Discord, given the hypocrisy involved? Discord was considered evil for turning ponies into the opposite of themselves against their wills, yet it’s okay for you do to the same to him?’ And he goes on to elaborate on the potential consequences of such an act backfiring given Discord’s powers and abilities.”

  “Oh my, what a pertinent question.” Discord gave the lavender alicorn a toothy grin. “And I must say, that was horribly hypocritical of you. Then again, you do have a tendency towards mental manipulation, so I can’t really say…”

  Fluttershy quietly cleared her throat. “Discord, you’re being mean.”

  Twilight had a foul expression on her face as she answered. “Yes, that was horribly hypocritical of me. But I was frightened and desperate, and as much as I trusted Fluttershy, and still do, I had little confidence in her ability to reform Discord through her own devices. Discord was unrepentant for his previous actions.”

  “And still is.” Applejack noted with a glare towards the draconequus.

  “And yes, that doesn’t justify the use of mind-altering magic on my part. But like I said, frightened and desperate.” Twilight took a deep breath. “I’d elaborate further, but something tells me that would fall into spoiler territory for future stories.”

  “That it would.” Quiver moved on to the next question. “Finally, he poses the HHHNNNGGHH Challenge to everyone and everypony present, to see if they can withstand high levels of cuteness and feels. His words, not mine.” He shrugged. “I don’t think anyone has a problem with that, do you?”

  General murmurs of agreement sounded as Sweetie Belle chirped, “If you believe a certain hippogriff, I might have given them some resistance to that sort of thing, though.”

  “Probably not all of us,” whimpered the human version of Rarity.

  Sonata raised a hand. “Question! Will it include pictures of penguins?” Heads turned to her as she asked, “What? Penguins are adorable!” She then gave a toothy grin and added, “Like me!”

  Quiver grinned. “You do have a point.” He continued on as Sonata clapped gleefully. “Finally, some questions from one Scholarly-Cimmerian. First, for Princess Twilight – ‘One thing I’ve often been curious about is how you got into the Daring Do series of books. Some stories I read have your mother as an editor for A. K. Yearling, and that’s where the introduction to the series began. Does that hold true in this universe as well, or was it simply because you just liked books in general that much?’”

  “Oh!” Twilight giggled. “Well, I can confirm that my mom is the editor for the Daring Do series in this storyline, yes. I thought that had been mentioned already, in fact. As for my actual introduction, well, during her editing, my mother would read the polished drafts of the first book to me before bedtime. Testing the waters with a young reader never hurt, after all.”

  Quiver laughed and continued, “Their next question is also for Twilight. ‘What are your current thoughts on Trixie Lulamoon? Do you consider the hatchet buried, so to speak?’”

  “Truthfully, that might be a better question for Trixie.” Twilight smiled and admitted, “For my part, however, the only issues I had with Trixie were the actions she committed while in possession of the Alicorn Amulet. Between her apology and the actions she’s taken since, I’m content to forgive her.”

  Applejack rolled her eyes. “Speak for yerself, Twi. Ah’m still a touch sore over all that.”

  “Well I’ve forgiven her at least. She certainly didn’t have to return to Ponyville in order to aid us when I was possessed by the Nightmare.” Rarity held a hoof to her mouth. “Oh dear. Does that count as a spoiler?”

  “Only if they haven’t seen the timeline.” The stallion then continued on. “The next question is for Spike. ‘What got you into comic books? I ask because I’m a big fan of superhero stories myself.’”

  “Awesome!” At Quiver’s raised eyebrow, Spike chuckled. “Sorry. More to the question, I guess.”

  “Yep. ‘Was it on your own, or did you discover comics thanks to someone else, like Shining Armor? Apologies to Twilight, but I can’t ever see her as interested in such a thing as comics.’”

  Twilight’s ears drooped as she whimpered, “Well in my defense, there’s so much literature available that doesn’t count as a comic book to go through.”
Spike rolled his eyes with a grin. “Yeah, you can pretty much thank Shining Armor for getting me into comics, and comics for getting me into reading in general. And don’t be too hard on Twilight – the Power Ponies series is relatively new, at least in Equestria.”

  “Relatively new in the human world too, FYI,” the human Rainbow Dash chimed in. “And pretty much an affectionate parody of other hero teams like the Justice League and the Avengers, though something tells me they won’t get a movie anytime soon.”

  “If they do, I hope it’s more like the latter than the former.” Quiver cleared his throat and continued on. “Next question’s for the pony CMC. ‘I apologize for the heavy question, but in light of recent events, I do want to ask – where exactly do you stand on Diamond Tiara?’”

  The three fillies looked between themselves before Apple Bloom spoke up. “Well, findin’ out how bad her mom was did make us a little more sympathetic. But that don’t really excuse her callin’ us blank flanks for so long.”

  “Or calling me a cripple.” Scootaloo sourly noted.

  Sweetie Belle nodded. “Or everything with Gabby Gums or any other trouble she’s caused us.”

  Their unofficial leader nodded. “Basically, we’ve accepted her apology, but we’re mostly takin’ things day by day fer now.”

  Quiver nodded. “And one last question for Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms. ‘This is me being facetious, and I do apologize for joking about the matter, but I just have to know – exactly how sick are you of hearing about the Anon-A-Miss debacle?’”

  The six teenagers groaned almost in unison as the human Applejack explained, “Probably ‘bout as sick as the author is a’ seein’ crazy Anon-A-Miss stories an’ scenarios.”

  “Yeah, no one enjoys being reminded of how much they screwed up, especially when it was no one’s fault but their own and no one lets them forget about it.” The human Rainbow Dash frowned as she noted, “Needless to say, we’re gonna be a little more sensitive about the Fall Formal from here on.”

  “And I appreciate that.” Sunset sighed. “Still, I’m glad that some have allowed us to move on, even if others haven’t.”

  Quiver frowned. “Too many of the latter for my liking.” He put aside the questions and concluded, “That’s it for now. We look forward to further questions come the next session, though there’s no guarantee that’ll come next year.”

  “Yeah, we might wanna wait until we pass the twenty-story mark before we do another’a these things.” Applejack grinned. “More material fer the readers to work with an’ all.”

  Quiver nodded. “Couldn’t have said it better.”