Boundary Point

Twilight sat down at her table in the café with her simple coffee and poured cream into the mix. Levitating a stick and stirring the black liquid, the sound of customers chatting while the hoof steps of ponies coming in and out of the library washed over her as the scent of her coffee woke her up. Quickly opening her notes, she was greeted by page after page of well-structured stylings. She turned to a page as her ears shot forward where she made note of human social dynamics and her comparison against that of her own kind. Strictly hierarchical, patriarchal system, lack of upper or lower royalty castes, monogamous…

She gulped at the last one, then wrote ‌in the margins: No system of royalty, but still monogamous?, when her ears perked up and swiveled to her left.

“No way, there’s no way in Tartarus that one piece of Grapevine equipment is touching Sweet Apple Acres, especially with what happened with Big Mac.”

Twilight looked up as she saw a familiar tan pony next to a human with a dusty blonde mop of hair and a wide figure in the coffee line. Her tail kept flicking repeatedly while her companion lifted his right limb and clawed his own face lightly.

“Look, I know you’ve had problems with them in the past, but their snowplows are obviously high quality. Many things have changed for them after the war Jack,” the human intoned toward his tan companion.

“Now, now listen here. I don’t care what they showed us at the convention, but after what happened with our attempts to get the only piece of equipment we got from them repaired? Absolutely not,” Applejack said as she and her companion took a step forward as the line advanced.

“Think Jack, think,” the human tapped his claw like appendage on his forehead. “That was what, ten years ago? Twelve? They may have changed since then, especially if they somehow survived the war.”

“I know what you’re getting at Gerald,” Applejack looked up and snorted. “But that dog don’t play. Nobody scams us once and gets away with it.”

“But what if it was an honest mistake?” Gerald asked.

“Then they can take their honest mistake and shove it up their–” Applejack stopped in mid-sentence as she heard the nasally voice of Twilight hissing at her from across the café.

“Applejack!”

The pony with cowboy hat and human suddenly jolted their respective heads as the image of a longtime friend came into view, “Gerald, can you get the drinks? I’ll be over there.”

“Sure, it was the caramel apple spice, right?” The human said, looking at the purple pony propped up on her front legs atop a café table.

“Yep,” Applejack shot a smile towards her human companion as she broke from the line, ducked under the metal chain that sorted the queue and immediately trotted towards Twilight.

“Applejack, what are you doing here?” Twilight’s glee shone through the stacks of paper in front of her.

“I told you I was at the convention, it’s in the track and field stadium on campus. What are you doing here?” Applejack gave a quick hug to Twilight before pulling a seat.

“Well, um, funny story, turns out that…” Twilight stammered.

“Oh no. You didn’t. Of course you did.” Applejack narrowed her eyes in annoyance at her friend.

“Well, it’s funny that–, look, how’s the convention going so far?” Twilight gave a narrow, forced smile.

Applejack just continued to stare at Twilight as seconds became moments. Twilight shot a second smile towards Applejack, only for the mare to turn and unhook her lasso by the mouth and lay it on the table.

“Who did you get,” Applejack looked Twilight squarely in the eye as a downward curl formed at the end of her lips.

“I don’t know what you mean, I, I,” Twilight fake smile washed away as Applejack kept her gaze on her flustered table companion, “Applejack... I’m just here, you know, studying.”

“Studying,” Applejack’s eyes became half lidded as she grimaced.

“Come on Applejack, it’s not like you haven’t seen me studying before,” Twilight once again forced a smile, while her ears slightly folded back.

“Right, and is a half naked human part of your rigorous studies?”

Twilight’s eyes shot down as she saw the crude sketch of the human she had watched rail somepony for all to see little more than half an hour ago. Putting up another nervous smile, Twilight’s horn slowly glowed as she folded the sketch neatly and with due haste, deposited it in her saddlebag.

Applejack bent over, “Did you really get a human?”

“No, no, I was just curious because um, we had one show up to my place of work and I realized, I never thought twice about them given my situation the last few years aaandd…”

“Umm... Applejack? Is everything okay?” The wide human approached the table, two drinks in both sets of claws. Setting the golden amber one down next to Applejack, the human pulled another seat and sat, awkwardly adjusting himself as he leaned forward.

“This is the friend I told you about Gerald,” Applejack pursed her lips as she kept her steely gaze on Twilight.

“Oh, you mean Twi-“

“Dusk, Gerald, her name is Dusk,” Applejack turned to look at her human companion.

“Of course, of course, Dusk. Well, I’m Gerald,” he extended his arm, each blunt claw parallel to the table in front of Twilight.

Twilight looked over at Applejack for a moment before her ears shot forward and put both hooves on the table as she thrusted her face within inches of Gerald’s hand. She turned and twisted her head as she examined the interior palm and turned to the exterior, “So those are nails, they’re like tiny, misshapen hooves.”

“I guess you could say that?” Gerald kept his hand extended, but kept darting his eyes between the two ponies at the table.

“Tell me, doesn’t it hurt when you move those?” Twilight absentmindedly asked as she continued her impromptu examination. She angled herself low to the table and looked up, trying to get a better view of Gerald’s palm.

“My fingers?” Gerald looked at his inspector, who only quickly nodded yes as she continued to take in his hands, “No,” Gerald lightly extended and contracted the fingers on his hand back and forth. Twilight froze before getting closer to Gerald’s hand, and as she moved closer, he moved his fingers in sequence, showing they could move nearly independently from each other.

“The ligament and tendons must be astoundingly complex,” Twilight mumbled as she focused on the back of Gerald’s hand, watching the glimmer of skin crinkle and smooth out as he continued to flex his fingers.

“Well, I’m not a doctor, but I think you’re on the money,” Gerald gave a small smile and glanced at Applejack, who only let out a grunt.

“Tell me, do your fingers fall off and regrow at regular intervals?” Twilight asked as she stared at his thumb. Gerald smirked before he used the perpendicular digit to touch each of the other four fingers in sequence, “So that’s how you grasp…”

Applejack put her foreleg on her muzzle and covered her eyes as she let out a groan, “Gerald, for Winona’s sake, she isn’t going to shake it.”

“Shake it?” Twilight said as she glanced over at Applejack, “You mean like this?” Twilight arched her front two hooves on the table as she slowly arched over with her mouth open as if to bite the human’s hand. A sly grin melded across the human’s face as he slowly extended his hand towards Twilight’s mouth.

“Apples to fritters Gerald, don’t encourage her,” Applejack picked herself up, shoved her hoof in the human’s hand and wobbled her leg as the motion passed through her appendage and through Gerald’s limb and onto his shoulder.

“Oh, shake!” Twilight said, pulling back from the table, looking behind her and giving a quick once over.

Gerald gave out a mix between a chuckle and a grunt, “If it helps Dusk, the first time that I met a pony in the kingdom, they thought I was being an absolute ass because they interpreted the two legs thing as me constantly rearing up. Dragons do it too, so I’m not sure what they’re getting at…”

“Only one Dragon in the Kingdom,” Applejack nodded to Gerald.

“Oh, of course, they wouldn’t have had too much experience now, would they?”

“So, um, Gerald, enjoying the convention?” Twilight asked, as she took a sip from her lukewarm coffee.

“Well, I got to see the exposé on the use of a certain kind of unicorn magic to increase the nitrogen content of soil, but not many cared for it simply because the company would not say what kind of spell was being used.” Gerald trailed off for a moment, “There was a general sense of something going on behind-the-scenes but,” Gerald shrugged.

“Like they weren’t being completely honest?” Twilight asked.

Gerald nodded his head, “Exactly, lot of the farmers that show up are Earth ponies and any time you inject anything magical into the mix, they seem to get nervous, or at least that’s what I got from it.”

“That’s because you haven’t absolutely ruined your crops due to magic that’s gone off the rails.” Applejack thrusted a hoof at the human, “You should really read Plough’s Almanac, one of its editions has a story about how an entire orange farm property failed because they tried to magically enhance the soil.” Applejack shook her head, “Turns out that all they managed to do was turn what nutrients were there into pure salt.”

“Does that happen often?” Gerald asked.

“Um, more often than you think,” Twilight looked away from her two guests. “During my time in Ponyville, while I helped out with some general work, none of the farmers ever asked me to try a spell to increase crop yield. And even if they did,” Twilight’s voice petered out.

“Look, the point is Gerald, growing food is too damn important for us to risk using magic on. Even if present company included happens to be the magical prodigy of the age,” Applejack gave a nod and a smile to Twilight who shied away but curled her lips.

“That actually explains a lot,” Gerald said looking between the two ponies. “Every time I asked why you guys just don’t throw magic at it, it’s either been ignored or I’ve been put down for being an ignorant alien.”

“Well,” Applejack gave a reluctant but soft frown towards Gerald. “Part of that’s because you’re you, ya know?”

“Back in Canterlot, I remember a lot of the unicorns there not paying any mind to me, but goddamn if I put one foot out of place.” Gerald’s left lip pulled, “Ponyville’s better, but the Apple family has been nothing but welcoming since the second day.”

Applejack raised an eye, “The second day?”

“Well, there was that thing with Apple Bloom thinking that I was going to chop you in Big Mac up. And not to put too fine a point on it, Big Mac don’t talk,” Gerald finished as he took a sip.

“Apple Bloom just let the rumors get to her, and you know Big Mac talks enough if you just listen for a moment,” Applejack snided as she leaned forward. “And what about me?”

“I could tell you the truth,” Gerald hid his mouth behind his drink. “But where’s the fun in that?”

Applejack froze as she waited for a moment, then a warm smile softly took root as her tail flickered for a second, “Oh, so that’s what you’re playing at.”

“Let’s see how the Element of Honesty digs up the truth,” Gerald put his elbows on the table and leaned towards Applejack, and asymmetric grin plastered on his sun worn face. “The first day I saw you, you were bucking an apple tree and turned to see me staring at you, holding you in my gaze, but you ran away.”

“Nope,” Applejack snorted as she turned to face Twilight, trying to hide a bemused smile from her companion.

“The first time I saw you, you were covered in mud and when you saw me, you ran away because you thought I was something from the Everfree forest,” Gerald continued.

“Nope, try again.”

Twilight watched as she could see the tension building in Applejack’s eyes, the same tension she saw earlier that day.

“The first time I saw you, the sun was setting, and you had just finished moving barrels of apples to the silo, you decided to lay in the grass to let yourself dry off when you caught sight of me.” Gerald bit his lower lip for a second before releasing, “Then like a proper mare, decided to get up and introduce herself, only to discover that you worked a little too hard that day.”

“Gerald…”

Twilight stared, watching the company play a strange game of some sort that they themselves concocted. Applejack suddenly brushed her foreleg against Gerald’s hand and scooted closer to him before the two just looked at each other. Applejack broke her gaze first before returning it, only for Gerald to chuckle, and as if giving permission, Applejack herself giggled as well.

“Is this a thing you two do?” Twilight finally thrust out, her eyes ping ponging between the two.

“I’m sorry Applejack, you know how much I love making up those stories,” Gerald hung his head and smiled.

“That’s why I keep you around, though these ones were kind of flat.” Applejack turned to look at Twilight, “Though I’m guessing you are restraining yourself for my sake.”

“But why would I want to embarrass my lo- “

“Shhh,” Applejack turned to Gerald. “She already knows, besides, she’s got her own problems now.”

“With the heartsong thing?”

Applejack rolled her eyes, looked away from Gerald and grunted, “That’s the one, why did you have to break the moment?”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just curious, you know. Where I come from, the closest thing we got to heartsong is getting drunk and finding a shotgun in your face the next morning,” Gerald laughed into his drink.

“Wait what?” Twilight asked as she shook her head and snapped back to reality.

“A shotgun wedding, it’s something that happens when the guy won’t take responsibility, so the girl’s family makes sure that he does,” Gerald answered as he gave a curt smile.

“And a shotgun is?”

“That’s a little hard to put down…” Gerald answered, “But it’s a ranged weapon to be concise about it.”

“So, do shotgun weddings happen with your royalty or upper class?” Twilight asked as her horn glowed, lifting her pencil in midair, then lightly tapping against the paper.

“Well um, I guess? But where I come from, we don’t really have royalty, though we definitely do have an upper-class,” Gerald trailed off for a moment. “I guess? I mean, shotgun weddings aren’t a real thing anymore, and even then, I guess it would only happen to common folk.”

“Wait, your lower-class marries?” Twilight looked up at the human.

“Marriage isn’t restricted by social rank,” Gerald said as he looked over to Applejack, then focused on the blackboard of the café. “In some places any two consenting adults can marry, though of course there are restrictions and other places…” There was a brief pause before Gerald suddenly picked up again, “Wait, I thought that the Cakes-“

“They’re not married,” Applejack shook her head. “He just took her last name and vetoes any prospects. Cup Cake will put out an open invitation once every few months in various papers, and interview them, but Carrot just vetoes them.”

“So it’s like a um...” Gerald snapped his fingers twice, “A delf, demi… something...”

“De facto?” Twilight interjected.

“Yeah, that’s right, de facto marriage!” Gerald pointed at Twilight, who took a moment to tilt her head and look at the limb.

“Could you do that again?” Twilight asked.

“Try to figure out a word?” Gerald tilted his head.

“No, the sound you made with your fingers, could you do it again?”

Gerald looked left and right before lifting his right hand close to Twilight’s face and snapping his fingers. The mare initially yanked back before realizing that no harm would come from the motion the fingers made, and as Gerald repeated the snaps, Twilight looked closer and closer at the instrument at play.

“What the Cakes do isn’t entirely, what you might say…” Applejack bounced her head left and right, “Not on the up and up.”

“I mean we’ve never really talked about herds, could you give me a quick rundown?” Gerald said, turning to Applejack.

Applejack lifted an eye and simply looked over at Twilight as she finished writing her notes.

“Oh,” Twilight cleared her throat. “While there is much debate about the reasons, unlike other forms of life, we ponies have about three mares to every stallion.” Twilight put down the pencil and pulled her forelegs into her chest as she continued, “Because of this, a single stallion and mare forming a familiar group is a waste, so instead we form herds.” Twilight lightly placed one of her hooves on the table as she continued to recite, “Because of this, marriage is for princesses only, not even high royal class ponies are excluded from this,” Twilight suddenly stopped, and looked down.

“Um, what Twilight meant to say was,” Applejack quickly picked up, looking Gerald in the eye to draw him away. “Is that what the Cakes are doing is incredibly selfish, and a complete waste of Carrot Cake’s potential. In fact, the only reason they’re able to get away with it in Ponyville is Cup Cake’s clout, they don’t just own the Sugarcube Corner…”

“What if they couldn't get away with it?” Gerald asked as he glanced over at Twilight, still sullen.

“If they were just another normal herd? Honestly, Cup would be arrested and Carrot would be put in a shelter. Truth be told, if we didn’t know them as well as we do, it would happen regardless of Cup Cakes donations,” Applejack said with a nod.

“Why a shelter?” Gerald continued his line of questioning.

“Well, we assume it’s abuse or some kind of brainwashing at that point. One of the key things about a herd is that with more than one mare there, it lessens the chance that a mare goes on to abuse her stallion,” Applejack said, taking a sip. “If we only had one mare’s word to take, that’s a problem, but having at least two, preferably three mares, to watch out for each other is ideal.”

“Honesty in numbers…” Gerald hummed.

“And that’s ignoring the benefits, everyone’s participating, everyone is watching out for each other’s foals,” Applejack tallied off. “Point is, a good herd benefits everyone.”

“Not to, um, point at the elephant in the room,” Gerald’s face contorted. “If they’re so great, why aren’t you in one?”

“That’s um...” Applejack trailed off.

“The Apple family is landed,” Twilight finally spoke up, the glaze cleared from her eyes. “Big Mac will probably be, how do I put this...”

Applejack let out a sigh before she turned to Gerald, “That means that while we’re not royalty, we have greater pull than the lower royals. And given that I’m an element, Big Mac, Apple Bloom and I are locked out of other non-royal landed families.”

“So if you’re locked out of other families of your status, where does that leave you guys?” Gerald raised an eye.

Applejack let out an exhausted sigh. “Upper royalty,” she said, taking a swig of her drink.

“Hang on, I’ve seen the places upper royalty hangs out at when I was in Canterlot, and they don’t know a damn thing about running a farm.” Gerald looked confused, “Is that why you and Big Mac have been holding off?”

“We won’t be able to hold off much longer,” Applejack said, looking into her drink. “I should’ve had a foal or two by now, and that’s ignoring Big Mac who should’ve had six. The farm’s been with my family for such a long time, and it’s not bankruptcy or being royally stripped of our land that gets us, it’s the fact that I’m an Element. Which means now there’s royal procedure and yada yada,” Applejack gave a disgusted look to no one as she pursed her lips. “If Granny were still here, she would’ve probably had me hammer in her iron shoes and would have gone to the magistrate and taken care of it the old-fashioned way…”

“Okay, so just don’t,” Gerald said as he looked with worry at Applejack. “Just leave it in your will that a foal you had outside of a herd gets the land and start the Apple family back again that way. It will be pushing it, but…”

“It’s not her land to give,” Twilight said, looking at Gerald seriously. “Celestia has generously permitted the Apple family use of that land for more than two centuries. If Applejack doesn’t follow through, the Ministry of the Interior will just strip it from her anyways,” Twilight looked away, and towards the gentle sunlight gleaming from the outside. “I’m really sorry Applejack.”

“It ain’t your fault, sadly, one of the advantages of the war was that it pushed back such things.” Applejack curled her lips inside her mouth as she glared at her drink, “I’ll probably have to send a letter to Dash next spring, and see if we can get any good info on any prospective families.”

“Why don’t you just come back to Earth with me?” Gerald was looking away from Applejack, his face taking a sturgeon quality to it.

The tan pony froze, slowly turning her head to look at the familiar human, “Excuse me?”

“Just you know, leave it all behind, Earth’s not all that bad. And unlike Unicorns and Pegasi, you still have that strength to fall back on,” Gerald turned to catch Applejack’s glare.

“I have a brother and a sister who need me to be here, and your solution to my dilemma is to leave them behind?” Applejack pushed away from the table.

“That’s not what I meant Applejack, I was trying to - “ Gerald stopped as Applejack left the table. The sound of clicking hooves echoed as Gerald instinctually threw out an arm to stop her, only to utter, “Fuck.”

Twilight froze as she looked at the human across from her, switching her gaze to the pony leaving the café, only to return to the human and giving off a narrow half smile, “Does um, does this happen frequently?”

“I mean, we have our disagreements, but I’ve never seen her snap like that,” Gerald finally retracted his arm and closed his eyes. “I think she’ll be fine, but she never really talked about that until now.”

“She and Fluttershy had it the hardest. When we became the Elements of Harmony, she just wanted to keep working the farm, and Fluttershy just wanted to keep watch over the local fauna. Neither of them were suited for what I thrust them into,” Twilight grimaced. “But the alternative was worse.”

“Having Luna as your ruler?” Gerald asked.

“Endless night,” Twilight peered up as she took a sip from her drink.

“But that couldn’t have happened, I mean the day –” before Gerald caught himself, turning away from Twilight, he looked up the window and pulled back his lips.

Twilight gave a stone’s gaze to Gerald, “I don’t know what you’ve been reading, but allow me to elucidate you on the matter of the raising of the sun. Celestia raises the sun.”

Gerald glanced quickly at Twilight before returning his gaze out the window, “Of course, of course.”

Twilight relaxed as she leaned forward against her forelegs, “Now that that’s settled, since you’re here, I have questions.”

“Shoot,” Gerald turned back and took a sip.

“According to my research, humans cast off their royalty?” Twilight said as she glanced at her notes.

“Well, that varies region to region. Where I come from, there is no royalty, but one of the nations closest to my culture has a royal line and everything,” Gerald answered.

“That’s a bit confusing,” Twilight rubbed her chin with the top of her hoof as she scribed on her notes.

Gerald paused for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, then stopped before biting his lower lip and looking left and right, “Think of it like this, before Equestria was formed, the three tribes were for the most part, isolated from each other, right?”

“No actually,” Twilight shook her head. “The land was interspersed with many different kingdoms and cities before Celestia unified the land.”

“Well, that’s kind of true here. There’s probably well over a few hundred countries. However, we separate them by culture and region rather than what appendages we have,” Gerald nodded.

“So how powerful is your royalty? Or,” Twilight looked up at the light fixtures for a moment, “I should say, for what royalty that do exist in some of your countries?”

“Well, in some nations, the royalties are at the top of the food chain, what they say goes. Other places? If they happen to have royalty, they’re just placeholders. They serve ceremonial duties and are mostly politically neutered,” Gerald nodded.

“So you don’t have any leader of humans?” Twilight tilted her head.

“Yeah, compared to Equestria a few years ago, we’re pretty fractured, but we definitely unified up a little since the Corridors. It’s still nowhere as centralized as the kingdom was and its array of protectorates and city states ten years ago,” Gerald answered. “That said, I should say some of the larger countries are pursuing their own agenda. The country I come from is notorious for this.”

Twilight scribbled down notes as Gerald fidgeted in his seat, he looked left and right before he arched his back over and whispered to Twilight, “So what’s this heart song business Applejack’s told me about?”

Twilight froze as the dull graphite from her pencil snapped, looking up at Gerald, he could see a yellow glint in her eyes. Exhaling, the unicorn put down her note-taking supplies and lightly clopped together the ends of her hooves, “Well, you see, funny story about that…”

Gerald raised an eye as he double checked his surroundings, “Applejack says that this isn’t something you talk about in good company, but she went on a rant on how her friend was going to use it, but she wouldn’t let me in on the details.”

“Oh, well,” Twilight looked around and sighed. “You see, well, it’s a way of um,” she looked up at Gerald who looked down at her with bemused curiosity, “It’s a song one might sing to you know…”

“It’s a mating ritual?”

“No, no,” Twilight shook her head as she blinked a few times. “Why would you think that?”

“I was thinking if it was one, I could try it with Applejack -“

“Don’t. You’ll undermine the relationship you and her built. Look,” Twilight again looking left and right as words kept getting stuck in her mouth, “Sometimes a mare knows what she wants, and other times she needs a hint, but if you know what you want, you don’t need heartsong. But if you’re in that wishy-washy place…”

“I’m confused, is this a dating app for ponies?”

“App?” Twilight returned the confused look.

“Think of it like a spell that tries to find you someone you might fall in love with,” Gerald said, putting his hand left and right in midair.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Twilight smiled. “I don’t know how your app works, but with heartsong, you sing a song and hope for a reply.”

“So what happens if someone knows the lyrics to the song and answers? Do they count?” Gerald said, leaning over.

“No, no, I mean.” Twilight trailed off for a second before returning, “There’ve been instances, but after a while, the singer will know something is off.”

“Like what?”

“Look um,” Twilight looked away from the human before turning to her notes. “The only reason I’m doing this is because I know what I’m doing. Most of the ponies,” Twilight looked around the café and saw the zoo of different beings, some in serious debate, others in lackadaisical diatribes, “Most of the ponies who try Heartsong simply never find their companion.”

“I’m just curious to know,” Gerald said with a raised eye. “Does it search out for an appropriate partner? Or does it find what effectively is your soulmate?”

Twilight blinked for a moment, before shaking her head, “A soul what?”

“A soulmate, you know someone that you’re perfectly compatible with, as if, I don’t know, destiny itself selected them?” Gerald scratched his chin.

“I don’t know anything about this soulmate business,” Twilight looked down, raising her own eye, peeling back a lip as she finally looked up. “But two ponies enraptured by heartsong are said to be both compatible and complementary.”

“So it’s just a search algorithm?” Gerald blurted out.

“Search algorithm? You mean like the division algorithm? No, not like that at all. That implies the heart song itself is going to try to make the best match from the given inputs.” Twilight grunted, “What’s going on here is simply put: magic.”

“I guess I understand, I’ve only seen telekinesis magic, in fact that’s the only spell I saw in Canterlot. Though there was that one blue unicorn in Appaloosa that was able to do that thing with the ping-pong ball…”

“You’ve never seen real magic?” Twilight’s lips curled as she smiled.

“Nothing beyond what I said.”

Twilight looked left and right, seeing as no one was watching, and levitated the lid off her coffee, “Watch closely.”

The gentle hue of indigo emanated from Twilight’s horn as her coffee cup shook for a second. Suddenly ceasing its movement, steam lifted from the drink as Gerald watched.

“Being able to reheat your own coffee, that’s actually quite –”

“Shhh, I’m focusing,” Twilight muttered as she kept her eye on her drink. Soon the steam pooled up into a tiny cloud above the coffee, as tiny vortices of steam were pulled from above and onto the table. Soon, the figures of a unicorn, an earth pony, and a pegasus all made of visible water vapor started prancing amongst themselves for a few moments before Twilight’s horn slowly dimmed. The figures leaping and playing amongst themselves for only a few moments more before they lost their shape and returned to shapeless gas before dissipating.

“Now that’s not something you see every day,” Gerald said in a hushed whisper.

“I would’ve showed you something perhaps a little more flamboyant if not for the fact that we’re in public,” Twilight leaned back. “Still, most of the unicorns only know how to manipulate items in midair. Very, very few of us bother to even move past primary education with our magic.”

“How come? I mean, if you can perform such feats, why are the others content with just knowing how to manipulate stuff?” Gerald gave Twilight a curious eye.

“You have to understand, it takes a long time to get good at this. The one I just showed you was relatively simple, but most unicorns would struggle with pulling steam from water. Not to mention forming that steam into shapes and having the shapes themselves act autonomously.” Twilight gave a grin, “But if you put yourself to the grindstone, you really can perform wondrous feats.”

“Seems like a waste,” Gerald said, crossing his arms. “Not to judge but it feels like the reason many unicorns don’t advance is that their cutie mark says ‘you’re only good at one thing, so don’t even bother advancing other skills’.”

“That’s uh...” Twilight’s voice shot out unusually loud, and chuckled for a second. “That’s a gross oversimplification. See, our marks tell us what we are destined to do. And for most, that’s enough.”

“I mean, Applejack told me that you’re using…” Gerald bent down and placed his left hand flat and vertical to the right part of his mouth, and whispered, “Flank paint, I mean if that’s a thing, can’t you just trick others into thinking you have a destiny more grandiose than you really have?”

Twilight let out a deep breath as she slowly blinked her eyes, “I use it because it avoids much of the trouble that comes from such a famous mark,” Twilight slightly turned her head to look at the planet she had painted on this morning. “Those loyal to Celestia wouldn’t speak to me, and the trai-“ Twilight shook her head as she began again, “And the others would either see me as an enemy or figurehead to raise against the Princess.”

“How did,” Gerald frowned as he trailed off. “What exactly happened?” Gerald said quickly, checking behind him. “Rumor has it that you attempted some kind of forbidden spell or were secretly feeding information to Sombra. I mean, it’s obvious neither is true, otherwise Applejack wouldn’t have anything to do with you.”

“It’s…” Twilight gazed at the coffee that was now exposed, reflection blinded by the shimmering tiny waves that only the light above could expose. “It’s complicated. And not something I would prefer to discuss. But suffice to say,” Twilight slowed down as she caught a glint of her own violet eyes in the coffee, and exhaled. “Suffice to say, things ended a lot worse than I wish they did.”

“Sorry,” Gerald said, giving a polite nod, “The way Applejack tells it, you and the Princess were awfully close. And occasionally she goes on tirades about how Celestia can’t appreciate the mare that saved Equestria twice.”

A faint smile crept up on Twilight’s face as she drank in those words, “She and the others helped too. Both times were team efforts. I was just a catalyst to get things moving along.”

“Not by the way she tells it, Applejack’s always been quick to give credit where credit is due and she firmly believes that while she and the others helped in what ways they could, without you, both situations would’ve come out a lot worse than they did,” Gerald conveyed as he opened both his palms.

“I don’t know what to say,” Twilight shrugged as she looked at the human across from her.

Silence draped across the table as the scent of coffee beans and cinnamon engrossed the café. The two creatures from two worlds looked away from each other as caffeine addicts of all kinds weaved and made their way through the day.

“So umm,” Gerald hummed. “Returning to the subject of Heartsong, is there like a particular song you use or…”

Twilight wrinkled her nose as she started, “It’s not so much the song you pick, but the state of mind and intention at heart. Otherwise, ponies just singing down the street might accidentally find their partner. There’s some practice involved, of course, but,” Twilight glanced at her notes. “Once you know the ins and outs, it’s relatively easy to perform.”

“So what song did you pick?” Gerald said, adjusting in his seat.

“It’s an ancient pony song that roughly translates to ‘Echo’,” Twilight answered.

“Can I hear it?”

Quill and Xavier exited out of the library and into the main atrium, and approached the mechanical vending machines on the complex, opposite of the café. The two stopped in front of one as Quill fiddled around for a few bits in his saddlebag and deposit it in the rudimentary machine, “Soul aria, an arrest warrant for some crazy pony singing at night, and a decree that the song ‘keep me up all night’ shall no longer be sung in Stratusburg,” Quill groaned as he tapped the large button with his hoof to select a bag of chips.

“I’ve got to say, search engines have definitely spoiled me,” Xavier answered as he watched Quill work the bag with the softs of his hooves.

“I’ve been quietly applying to a few universities on Earth, but even if I get offered a position, I’m not sure I can convince lead mare on this,” Quill grumbled as he sat awkwardly on his rump and dug into his afternoon snack.

“Well, the good news is that if you’re an earth pony, you’ll still have some of that amazing strength and endurance on earth,” Xavier answered as he leaned back against the wall that held a poster with many Unicorn mares in voting booths that said the secession vote was in two days.

“I know, but what about the other tribes?” Quill said while in half a chew.

“Even prepared Unicorns freak out when they realize that their magic no longer functions. And those that keep calm and collected still have to pass a test at the corridors to make sure that they don’t get locked in a room with the door designed for humans only. Pegasi and griffins fare better, they can still glide but they can’t take off more than a few feet under their own power, at least without air thermals,” Xavier answered before snapping his fingers. “We did have an incident half a year ago where a dragon died because the greed effects that made him large on this side were magically based. When he came over, he suddenly began to shrink down and his body couldn’t take it.” Xavier looked away from the professor, “Since then, dragons have to be put through quarantine to ensure that they are at their minimal size before making their way over, but dragons coming over is so rare that they’re already discussing decommissioning the protocol.”

“Sounds like an awful way to go,” the professor said, still munching on his chips, “if that’s the case, there is a very good chance I won’t be able to move. Too much strain on Cross, being a Unicorn and all that. ”

“If you ever do get the chance, just be careful where you go, I would recommend somewhere in Western or Northern Europe, maybe Canada. I come from the States and, to put it lightly, there are sectors of the population that are not fans of anything on this side. Though to be honest, you’ll find them anywhere you go,” Xavier pursed his lips.

“Thanks for the tip,” Quill give a nod to the human as he chewed, “But I already spent summer in Berlin awhile back, really enjoyed my time there. But Scarlet and Cross were right upset that they would need to watch the foals for two months.” Quill paused, and stopped eating, “Back when River was still the lead mare, she gave me a lot of latitude to expand my career in academia. “

“You never talk about your herd, at least not with me.” Xavier froze and looked at Quill, “Sorry, what do you mean ‘was still lead mare’?”

Quill sighed, “Every herd is different, Xavier. The one that really leads varies with how everyone gets along. Sometimes you get a strong mare that gives out commands and everyone follows. Other Times there is resistance, and she needs tacit approval from the others. And other times,” Quill looked down and shook his head. “Other times something happens, and she has to surrender the position of lead mare. And when that happens, the new lead mare gets to institute new rules. And depending on how strong her position is, we just have to take it.”

“There have got to be cases where the stallion gets some say on the rules,” Xavier said.

“Well, there are some herds where the Stallion controls things, rare, but I’ve seen them. He can do this by playing the mares off each other, or in even worse cases, he rules through a lead mare while the others can only let it go or leave,” Quill answered.

“Why is that a worse case?”

“Well,” Quill began. “If a mare and stallion get attached to each other early on, other members are just kind of there to bring in resources for the other two to use. A good herd ensures that everyone’s needs are looked after. It’s not uncommon for this to happen to very submissive mares and older mares who don’t know how to live without being in a herd.” Quill shuddered, but caught himself and continued, “Active stallion abuse is common, but passive mare abuse is just as pervasive. It’s just that while the former is a common topic because of how mares see that we need to be protected, the latter is rarely talked about and considered to be a failure on the abused mare’s part.”

“You talk about this like you’ve seen it happen before,” Xavier spoke quietly.

“Xavier,” Quill looked up at the human. “I’ve been in two herds in my life. While I’m not happy with my current one, it’s not a lost cause. Not yet anyways. But I’ve managed to make sure that my mares, while they might not be happy, are at least taken care of. Unlike what happened to Dew Drop.”

“Dew Drop?”

“She was my third daughter,” tears welled up in Quill’s eyes. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

Xavier checked behind him, “Do you want to go outside and talk about this? Or somewhere private?”

“No, no, don’t worry,” Quill said, rubbing his wet eyes with his front limbs. “Maybe when I visit you up north in a year or so, but not today. Let me finish this up and we’ll go back downstairs.”

Xavier nodded as he stood there, keeping the stallion company as patrons passed them, leaving the library. The skies grew a tinge darker, while the lights inside stayed as bright as ever. The smell of java finally meandered on over to this corner as the tapping of hooves reverberated across the hall.

“Changing subjects,” Quill said, eyes dry and finally working on his bag of chips again, “I read in the newspaper how that in New Cloudsdale-“

🎵Fyoî, Fyoî, rêt-khe dhung lech chu, ba khê mu hu môtsam? 🎵

“there was a murder investigation concerning-“

🎵Fyoî, Fyoî, ta-khe tur chup ôhce... 🎵

“🎵-Turp tur ôhce, oûb ta... 🎵”, Xavier slammed his hand over his mouth, spinning his head in the direction of the song

“Come again?” Quill raised his eye.

Xavier can see it, no more than thirty meters away was a purple unicorn staring at him from the café.