Eloquence

Pathfinder, I am so incredibly proud of you right now, both for what you have accomplished here and for what you continue to accomplish. I have not forgotten that you were the first among the staff to reach out to me as a friend, nor that you were one of my first friends here, and remain one of my deerest Your promotion is admittedly somewhat bittersweet, as I would have been incredibly happy to work with you in an admin role had the road of life veered in a slightly different direction, but I am deeply happy for you nonetheless, and I wish you the very best in your endeavors, spreading the magic of friendship and silly puns <3

@@Taialin, Eloquence flushed initially at Rarity's response. She hadn't thought that she sounded that silly. Despite her laughter, however, Rarity seemed to at least want to follow her ideas, if for no other reason than that she didn't have any ideas of her own. "Oh, umm, well then," she began, feeling more flustered than she already was. "I do know a place just a block up from here that I really like, I think you'll like it too, I mean, if you haven't been before." A quick walk and a fair helping of awkward feelings on Elo's part later and the pair found themselves at The Gardener's Hoof, a place which specialized in the best fresh vegetables made into delicious salads. As they sat down Eloquence opened up a menu and chatted as she perused her options. "After this, well, I have several places in mind that I like to go to help with writer's block. Some are just right in the middle of Canterlot, while others are a bit more out of the way. I guess at least a couple might seem a little weird to some ponies, but they do help me so, maybe they'll help you too?" Eloquence had slowly sunk into her menu as she spoke. She found herself wondering if the menus here were always so large and easy to hide in.

@@Unicorncob, @, @, @@Fresh Nonsense, Fluttershy returned to the party with the other mares, depositing her bag on the gift table as she went. Apparently since she'd stepped out ponies had begun organizing a game of pin the tail on the pony. Pinkie was unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the whole thing, as was Luna apparently, and as a result Trixie was quickly snatched up to join "Team Fun". Fluttershy wasn't all that fond of party games, especially when playing with lots of other ponies, and especially especially when it meant being blindfolded and you could trip or knock something over or otherwise hurt and embarrass yourself. Still though, her friends would want her to play, they'd be disappointed if she didn't, and it might be fun once she got started. "I umm, I could play too, if somepony wants me on their team," she offered very quietly to no one in particular.

@@Unicorncob, @, @,@@Fresh Nonsense, Fluttershy trotted about her home with a feather duster clamped in her teeth, dusting shelves and knick knacks and anything else that looked dusty. She hummed a happy little tune as she went, accompanied by the tweets and squeaks of some of her many housemates. Really, there was nothing like a good dusting to brighten a place up, and the act of cleaning up her happy home was very soothing to the pastel pegasus. She turned her attention to the windowsills, dusting each of them off and looking out the windows as she did. She would have to spend some time outside when she was done, what with the sun shining and her sweet little chickens running around and... Pinkie? She peered out at the bright pink pony outside her window. Even if she couldn't tell who it was by looking at her, her exuberant bouncing would give her away. That was definitely Pinkie, but what was she doing outside her house? She set down her duster and opened the front door, trotting out and over to her friend. "Pinkie?" she called. "I didn't expect to see you today, why are you bouncing around out here?"

@@Strong Copper, And as quickly as it fell, his guard was back up, securely in place. He was his indestructible star persona again, which was not nearly as interesting as his true self. It really was a shame that moments of honesty could be so few and so fleeting in her interviews, but she supposed she couldn't expect everypony to open up to what amounted to a perfect stranger with a sheet of parchment. Since he went back to playing interviewee, she went back to playing interviewer, leading her to notice the perfect lead-in to her next question. "Well, I suppose I can't argue with that," she began. "In that case, where is your gut telling you to go?" She made a few more notes as she waited for his response, the light pressure on her right ear telling her that Ellipsis had returned. He only perched for a moment before fluttering from Eloquence to Silver and perching atop his head.

I missed my @mention and am so sorry to be so late to the party but my words are read now so yay

@, @@Taialin, @@Fresh Nonsense, Fluttershy got up to follow Trixie, motioning for Rarity to join her. "I know you probably don't want to do this Rarity, but maybe if we each figure out the word on our map piece we'll be able to leave faster," she offered as an attempt at motivation, about the only attempt she could muster at this point. She picked up her piece and followed the example of the ponies around her until she could make out her word. Squinting at it, she read it aloud. "Friend... mine says friend," she offered in her usual soft voice to any ponies that were close enough to hear it. @@Golbez, Eloquence couldn't help but notice other ponies gathering around the map pieces, apparently reading faint words on their surfaces. Given that everypony appeared to be reading the word on their own peace, she felt compelled to do the same rather than continuing to lounge in the shade (nice as that may have felt). She got to her hooves and stretched before motioning for Golbez to join her. "We should probably go read our words as well. Come on, let's see what random words this mysterious being has for us, hmm?" she asked. Ellipsis, for one, did not hesitate for a second to follow Eloquence out towards the map pieces. She listened in on some of the other words found on the map pieces. Some of them seemed entirely random, while others like "wrench" and "bats" had some relation to the pony they were given to. She wondered if she would have a word related to herself, and what word somepony might choose to represent her. She sifted sand over her piece like the others did until she could make out the word. "It says.." She huffed and finished her sentence with an entirely displeased tone. "Carrots."

@@Derplight Sperkle, Fluttershy nodded and sipped her tea as she listened to her friend. "I've never known any place like the Everfree forest. I used to think it was so scary, the way everything just... took care of itself, with no ponies tending to the animals or the plants or the weather. Zecora's helped me see the forest in a new way, as long as you know where you are and how to avoid anything dangerous it's not really scary, it's just different. Goodness, if you told me a year ago that I would be taking pleasant walks through the Everfree forest with my animal friends one day, I don't think I would have believed you." She absent-mindedly touched her own mane at the mention of the conditioner. "Of course! I can send you home with some today, and if you'd like I can ask Zecora for a jar for you the next time I see her. I'm sure she'll want to pay you a visit soon anyways, she always has such nice things to say about you during our visits," she finished with a smile as she reached for a cupcake.

In general, people (and presumably ponies) prefer to date others who are similar in what I would call "mental age". Someone of a similar maturity level who can understand the other's mentality in that sense. Considering that, Luna and Celestia's respective dating pools would be... probably non-existent. The only being we know of even vaguely similar in age to them is Discord, and that would be, erm, complicated given their extensive history as enemies, not to mention that I don't think Discord is at a place currently where he can handle a romantic relationship. So that would be my answer. They're not with anyone because really who would a couple of functionally ageless beings be with at this point in their ridiculously long lives?

@@Taialin, @@Red Cedar, @@Golbez, @@Fresh Nonsense, @, @, The complaints made by Rarity and Trixie didn't escape Fluttershy's notice. In fact, the confusing map and baking sun seemed to be getting to a lot of ponies, with even Applejack and Princess Luna beginning to sound disgruntled. The only one who seemed to be keeping a positive outlook was Cadence, who had since trotted over to give Rarity and Trixie a bit of a pep talk. Fluttershy trotted over to join the group. "Do you really think so Cadence?" she asked as she laid down next to Rarity, facing the princess. "I hope you're right, but I can't imagine why somepony would want us to come all the way out here and try to figure out all these clues. It just doesn't make any sense." Eloquence watched with a mix of confusion and shock as Golbez shoved his talons deep into his hat and braced himself to pull something out. While seeing the parasol answered the question of why, it only added to the question of how. "H-how did... how did you..." Elo trailed off, then gave a slightly amused huff. "Let me guess, a magician never reveals his secrets." She shook her head and walked under the large parasol into the shade it provided before laying down on the sand. "I don't suppose you have any more of those in there do you? I think you're right about us being stuck here for a while, and it appears that there are others who may benefit from a bit of shade." She turned her gaze from Golbez to the disgruntled group of ponies sitting a short ways up the train from them as if to punctuate her point. "I feel as if I should be trying to help, though the map aspect is a bit discouraging. I've always been terrible at reading maps, and I imagine having the map be in pieces would only make it harder to read." Eloquence sighed and sunk into the dirt. "I don't suppose you have any ideas as to how to crack this code. It doesn't seem like anypony does anymore."

@@Fresh Nonsense, @@Taialin, @@Derplight Sperkle, Fluttershy helped keep Rarity steady as the three of them made their way to the spectators' box. She couldn't help but notice how exhausted her poor friend looked, and the unsettling way in which the occasional spark would fizzle out of her horn. Though she was certainly no medical or magical expert, she couldn't imagine that was healthy. Once they got Rarity safely sitting down inside the spectators' box, she excused herself and flew back out and up the stairs to Cadance. "Thanks for coming to help Cadance. I know it must be hard moving around with all of that extra weight and so many other ponies around. Why don't you come sit with us in the box? It'll be more comfortable down there, and you can help us take care of Rarity. To be honest, I don't really know what to do about a unicorn who's used too much magic, so I think you and Twilight will be a lot more helpful." "Fluttershy! Over here!" Fluttershy turned to see that she was being waved over by an earth pony sitting a few rows back. She soon realized that she recognized the pony as one of Eloquence's friends, the one who tackled her earlier. She fluttered over to them. "Is Rarity okay? We saw her go down after sending off the flair." "Oh, yes, she's very tired right now but she'll be just fine," Fluttershy answered. "Well, if it helps..." The bright orange mare rummaged around in her bag before pulling out a thermos. "I brought this as an extra for myself, but Rarity could probably use it more. I figure a little black tea might perk her up a bit." "Oh, that's so very nice of you to offer, thank you." Fluttershy took the thermos in her own hooves, but found it quickly joined by a second that levitated in front of her hooves, offered to her by a soft pink aura. "My thermos contains a lavender mint blend, if she would prefer a non-caffeinated option," the terra cotta mare offered. "I'm sure she could stand to get something into her system after expending so much energy, in fact... ah, here they are." She levitated a small tin over to Fluttershy as well, who accepted it into her hooves along with the second thermos. "These are just some oatmeal cookies we brought to snack on, but they should help her as well, if you need them." Fluttershy smiled at the pair of ponies. "Thank you so much, umm..." "Ginseng!" the brighter pony offered. "And Chamomile," the more muted mare added. "And there's no need to thank us, it's really the least we can do." Fluttershy gave another warm smile before returning to Cadance with her considerable load of refreshments, waiting for her to lead the way to the spectators' box or return to her seat and ready to either follow her down or help her navigate the sea of ponies back to her seat.