private A Cultural Exchange 1x1 with DwhitetheGamer

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight got the feeling that this endless set of introductions was punishment for not having a party. It seemed there would be many introductions to follow. He sighed, "I'm Midnight Star, yes the same Midnight Star that was attacking slave owners like your family a thousand years ago."

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Big Mac simply nodded.  "It was a good thing you did.  You wouldn't have taught us the value of hard work if you didn't."

 

Applejack couldn't help but laugh.  "It's rare to hear my big brother speak like that."

 

"Eeyup." Big Mac said.  "I'm in one of those moods today.  So, how have you been, Midnight?"

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight shrugged, "The days really blur together when you're as old as me, though recent years have certainly been much more interesting than the past few centuries. This exchange has certainly been an informative experience so far, Equestria really has changed, it's not everyday people thank me for waging war against their ancestors." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Applejack smiled.  "While it isn't nice to wage war on anypony, we can see why you did it, and we appreciate it.  We don't wanna sound mean or anything, but..." she cringed again.  "...we don't like laziness."

 

Big Mac cringed as well.  But he shook it off.  "Well, I guess I'd better get back to the barn.  Gotta take care of Granny Smith."

 

He rushed off to the barn.  Twilight sighed.  "We've come a long way, haven't we, Midnight?"

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight thought for a bit as to how best to respond. "You have come a long way, but also over a long time. The disparity between nations has only grown more apparent, Equestria may be playing catch-up to the rest of the world for many years. But yes, you have changed over this time, which is better than having remained stagnant." He sighed. "Perhaps I should stop talking about such things, I get the feeling I may be depressing you ponies with such talk." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight shrugged.  "We don't mind.  You know much more about the history of Equestria more than us, and we would like to know more from your point of view.  Well, all that's left is our castle.  I think you'll love it inside.  Follow us."

 

The group led Midnight to the front doors of the castle.  Twilight spoke up again.  "This is our castle, the Castle of Friendship.  Here's a fun fact: the castle literally came up from the ground."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight looked perplexed. "You're saying a mass of crystal of this size just grew right out of the ground and happened to take the shape of this well built castle? I could understand a large mass of crystal emerging and then being carved into a castle, but a preformed castle simply emerging is a real stretch of the imagination. It would take very powerful magic to pull something like that off." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight couldn't help but giggle.  "Of course.  It's all thanks to the Tree of Harmony.  It was the one who made this castle for us."

 

Copper shook his head.  "I'm still perplexed that the Tree of Harmony was able to make this castle, but it's all well and good."

 

Twilight nodded.  "Shall we go inside, Midnight?"

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight continued his perplexed look. "The big crystal tree in the Everfree forest? That's certainly an odd thing for it to do. It's always been dormant whenever we've come out to study it. I always wondered what it would do if it were activated." Midnight nodded, "I'd love to look around inside."

 

(In my cannon, the elements were not returned to the tree to stop the plunder-vines for reasons that may never come up in this story, so the ponies still have the elements if that were to ever be important.)

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight smiled.  "Then let's go, Midnight."  She opened the doors of the castle with her magic and led everypony inside.  She spoke again once everypony was inside looking at a table with what looked like a pap of Equestria.  "This is our map of Equestria, called the Cutie Map.  Whenever a friendship problem arises in Equestria, our cutie marks will glow, and they will show us the location of the problem so that we can try to fix it."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight was being quickly overwhelmed with the oddness of everything he encountered, the castle wasn't too bad, but this? Midnight looked even more perplexed and slightly exasperated. "The map is all well and good, but the problem finder just seems really contrived, like a convenience to some unseen plot that betrays some overarching intelligence that not only knows where problems are but which of you would be best suited to fix it? And what really constitutes a friendship problem? Friends come and go overtime as one develops so it is a given that some will fall apart and while it is sad it hardly seems like something that warrants a princess' attention." He sighed, clearly Equestria was a much stranger place than he remembered.  

 

(If I didn't know that this was an actual plot element of the show I'd say it was a plot device to a very poor fanfic.)

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight pondered for a bit before responding.  "Well, the friendship problems we've faced have been some major ones.  We've had to travel to a town where everypony was brainwashed and had lost their cutie marks to a mare named Starlight Glimmer.  She had given them cutie marks that were equal signs, allowing everypony to have basically the same mindset.  We lost ours trying to fix it, but we managed to get everypony's cutie marks back.  Another friendship problem was that some families have been warring against each other for centuries, but we managed to settle the differences between them.  What I'm saying is that friendship problems came be anywhere from being brainwashed to families not liking other families.  They were tough situations but we pulled through, showing what friendship really was to them."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

"Hmm..." Midnight pondered as well. "I guess that is the sort of thing that would warrant a princess' attention, but it begs the question of why Celestia did nothing about it, it's not like these things are outside her borders or could really go unnoticed by her for so long. Especially that centuries old feud you spoke of. Oh well, I;m glad you're doing a better job of handling it than she did, ending a feud is no small task, impressive even I must say." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight thought for a second.  "I don't think Celestia has enough time to do such things.  She has to take care of her subjects' needs and requests in Canterlot.  I guess if there was no need, it would've been too late, as she would have thought about the problems in the evening or something, before she went to sleep."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

Midnight just looked confused, though slightly amused. "Are you saying that Celestia thought the nobles in Canterlot more important than a whole community losing their very selves? Or a family feud lasting centuries? I suppose that would explain why she sent you after Discord and Sombra alone instead of helping you in some way. But I digress, as much as I'd love to spend hours discussing politics with you I don't think the others are all that interested in our conversation." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight shrugged.  "I don't know.  Maybe she doesn't have enough time to do what we're doing.  Which does make sense when you think about it."

 

The rest looked at each other with confused expressions.  Copper then spoke up.  "I think we should go into something else rather than, you know, worrying about what Princess Celestia does."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

"My sentiments exactly, you ponies have the capability to take care of yourselves, but Celestia is trying too hard to take care of you for you, so much so that she isn't able to do it to an extent that is actually worthwhile. She's holding you back because the further you progress the harder it is for her to care for everyone. That is certainly a new perspective, but yes" he turned towards Copper, "We should do something that more of those present can actually participate in." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Copper smiled and nodded.  "Sure."  He thought for a few seconds, then the thought of the changelings come to mind.  "I think it's time I exposed the truth about the changelings, girls."

 

The Mane Six gave him skeptical looks.  "What are ya saying, Copper?" Applejack asked.

 

"I'm saying that Changelings aren't what they're made out to be.  I actually met one who's a delegate for his race.  He's a nice changeling once you get to know him."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

(I'm going to stop converging this story with my cannon, we've fully diverged from the artillery group.)

 

Midnight looked surprised by Copper's chosen topic, he sighed. "Copper... that wasn't really your secret to tell. There was a reason I gauged your opinion before I told you, neither the queens nor Equestria are ready for a full reveal yet. That said," He turned back to the assembled ponies. "I'm going to have to ask that you tell no one what you heard. Things will get very difficult very quickly if you can't keep quiet." 

Edited March 10, 2016 by Illiad Easle

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Copper looked surprised at the reaction from Midnight.  "Oh, sorry.  But anyways, yeah, I want you all to Pinkie Promise us that anything we say about the Changelings stays between us, okay?"

 

The Mane Six looked at each other, then nodded, doing the Pinkie Promise.  After doing the Pinkie Promise, Twilight spoke up.  "So, Midnight, what do you know about the changelings that we don't know about?"

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

"Well, I know plenty about changelings, I have had many years to learn of and from them, long before Chrysalis attacked. However I am not at liberty to say. The current agreement of the queens is that those interested are to learn from a changeling directly to prevent hearsay or a gossip effect on the truth. That is why none of you are to talk to anyone about this without the express permission of a queen. All I can tell you is that there are multiple hives, they aren't like Chrysalis, and they want to continue being unknown. They've gone centuries, nearly millennium thus far without your knowledge, and they'd like to keep it that way as much as they possibly can." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

The Mane Six nodded in understanding.  "I guess if it's right for the changelings to not be known for what they truly are, then I guess we'll wait until the right moment." Twilight said, disappointed that she wouldn't know more about the changelings.  

 

Copper looked a little embarrassed by his words.  "Sorry," he said quietly, mentally apologizing to the changelings.

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

"Hey," Midnight said, "Don't look so down, I can find you a changeling to talk to you if you guys are willing to answer a few questions. I'd need your honest answers of course, don't try to change them to be what you think I'm looking for alright? Then I'm sure you guys can get all your questions answered, if you guys want to that is." 

[DwhitetheGamer 867]

@@Illiad Easle, 

 

Twilight smiled a little sheepishly, disappointed that she wouldn't know more about the changelings other than what she already knew.  "Okay.  Let's show you the next room, then."

 

She led Midnight to the next room, which contained a BIG shelf full of books.  "This is my personal library.  I use it merely to study magic spells and other things."

[Illiad Easle 3,134]

@@DwhitetheGamer,

 

(Does she really have fewer books now? I haven't seen most of season 4 on.)

 

Midnight was quite surprised that they didn't indicate a willingness to answer questions, but shrugged. Maybe they didn't really want to learn about changelings after all. He was slightly impressed but somewhat underwhelmed by Twilight's collection of books, his library had almost an 8th of the amount the Canterlot archives possessed, but most of it was fairly old texts from centuries past. "This is quite the collection you have here, are these on loan from the archives or your own personal copies?"