ooc Another Cultural Exchange

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

Not that it changes anything, but doesn't Canterlot have only one rail line into the city? At least, that's all that's shown in the show, and it makes sense given how high up the mountain Canterlot is.

While I still expect the station would be opulent, twelve platforms seems like a lot.

 

Although, if they have a second line exclusively for trains descending the mountain, then maybe they could have use of 12 platforms, especially if the trains need to have a smaller car to engine ratio given the climb.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

15 minutes ago, Illiad Easle said:

@Skylight Scintillate

Not that it changes anything, but doesn't Canterlot have only one rail line into the city? At least, that's all that's shown in the show, and it makes sense given how high up the mountain Canterlot is.

While I still expect the station would be opulent, twelve platforms seems like a lot.

 

Although, if they have a second line exclusively for trains descending the mountain, then maybe they could have use of 12 platforms, especially if the trains need to have a smaller car to engine ratio given the climb.

Hmm, I get the impression that Canterlot has more rail lines than what is seen in the show. Like, it seems reasonable to assume that there are trains from throughout Equestria that go towards Canterlot and that Canterlot is a major city that would have said demand. However, after glancing at some train stations IRL, I do agree that twelve platforms is a bit much. Perhaps four is reasonable? If so, I'll go with that.

Edited January 21 by Skylight Scintillate

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

I don't think it will make any difference really.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

3 minutes ago, Illiad Easle said:

@Skylight Scintillate

I don't think it will make any difference really.

Hmm, well I suppose it depends on how long the trains are staying at the platforms. However, what do you think would be a reasonable number? Just one or two?

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

I think they would have only two or four passenger platforms, and maybe a separate station elsewhere for cargo and military use.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

8 minutes ago, Illiad Easle said:

@Skylight Scintillate

I think they would have only two or four passenger platforms, and maybe a separate station elsewhere for cargo and military use.

Alright, I edited it to say that it has four platforms. Let me know if you have anything else to make note of.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

I suppose since it appears that both the characters have a lot they want to do in Canterlot and Thestral market, we should create a rough plan of what they should do? What kinds of activities would you like to roleplay doing?

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

Sure, I can't say I have anything specific in mind for this portion, but I am looking forward to the show and to them meeting Princess Luna. I was wondering whether you wanted to portray her yourself or have me play her when she appears?

Other than that, in terms of things you've mentioned that I think would be interesting would be the castle, the museums, and the marketplace.

What else did you have in mind? Did I miss something?

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

1 hour ago, Illiad Easle said:

@Skylight Scintillate

Sure, I can't say I have anything specific in mind for this portion, but I am looking forward to the show and to them meeting Princess Luna. I was wondering whether you wanted to portray her yourself or have me play her when she appears?

Other than that, in terms of things you've mentioned that I think would be interesting would be the castle, the museums, and the marketplace.

What else did you have in mind? Did I miss something?

Yeah, I was thinking that those would be the major scenes that would be roleplayed. I think that any other scenes could be as they come up. I don't think anything important has been missed. However, I get the impression that you are more familiar with and would like to roleplay Luna when she appears. What do you think?

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

Sounds good, and I'd be happy to play Luna!

Before I do though, we should decide what the underlying truth will be for her. I'll list out what I consider true, and you can make any corrections you think are necessary.

So, way back when, when Discord first ruled, Celestia and Luna became alicorns in order to defeat him. (The how is unknown/irrelevant and they won't tell anyone that they used to not be alicorns) Celestia was a unicorn before and Luna was a pegasus (I say because Celestia is more often shown to use magic casually and rarely flies while Luna is quite often depicted as flying and does not use magic as often as her sister.)

I won't go too deep into my head cannon here since it likely won't come up in this story, but Luna became Nightmare Moon not out of jealousy, but rather out of duty. Essentially, while Celestia managed the elements of harmony Luna had a different responsibility, which I've termed Balance, which required that bad things happen every so often in order to maintain balance, things like natural disasters, epidemics, ideological shifts, and poor karma. Had Luna been allowed to work unimpeded she could have kept the events small and spread out to maintain balance, but Celestia forbade any negative action (This goes deeper into the plight of immortals and how Celestia fears her ponies turning away from her or not needing her and that's a whole other thing) so eventually the debt grew to the point where a major event was needed to balance the scales.

Simultaneously, Luna had a falling out with her love interest while secretly pregnant with his child (Secret to everyone but herself and one other she trusted) she had previously adopted (stolen) twelve orphans who she cared for at Archback Mountain (or rather the valley while they sheltered in the nearby cave) and had been caring for them there with the help of this love interest.

The love interest fled the castle (In the Everfree since this is before Canterlot was founded) to stay with those adopted children in case Luna wanted to murder him.

Instead, after giving birth to her son and trusting him to a servant to take him far away and raise him as her own she became Nightmare Moon after splitting her soul as she was too good a pony to do the terrible things that needed to be done to balance the scales. She intended to reunite herself with her parted soul once the deed was done, but she was banished instead, and when she returned her soul was restored by the new elements of harmony.

 

Which brings us to the now, due to the thousand years apart from the world and everything that everyone was taught about her she isolates from the ponies and takes solace among the thestrals and bat ponies who are as shunned as she feels. She acts normal around the bat ponies because they don't have preconceptions about her, but around the thestrals she feels that she needs to live up to their expectations of power and strength, as many clans have based their cultures around how they think she expects them to act. She avoids the Fastar clan and Archback due to their connections to her past as she does not want to relive her past trauma.

 

Yeah that's super deep, but that's the consequence of my making Luna a pivotal character in my lore. I'm sure you have some questions and I'll be happy to elaborate even if it won't apply to the story. I bring all this up not because it will affect how she acts too much, but rather to justify her reaction when she meets Nova, since that will create a conflict for her given her history.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

13 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

Simultaneously, Luna had a falling out with her love interest while secretly pregnant with his child (Secret to everyone but herself and one other she trusted) she had previously adopted (stolen) twelve orphans who she cared for at Archback Mountain (or rather the valley while they sheltered in the nearby cave) and had been caring for them there with the help of this love interest.

The love interest fled the castle (In the Everfree since this is before Canterlot was founded) to stay with those adopted children in case Luna wanted to murder him.

Instead, after giving birth to her son and trusting him to a servant to take him far away and raise him as her own she became Nightmare Moon after splitting her soul as she was too good a pony to do the terrible things that needed to be done to balance the scales. She intended to reunite herself with her parted soul once the deed was done, but she was banished instead, and when she returned her soul was restored by the new elements of harmony.

While I am a bit confused about balance, I suppose if it wouldn't come up too much, I wouldn't ask for more details. However, I do have some questions about Luna's relation and history with Fastar clan. For example, what caused this conflict between Luna and her love interest? Is it related to the balance you mentioned? Who is the child she had, and who are the orphans she adopted? Are they thestrals? What happened to them after Nightmare Moon happened? And what happens now that she has returned?

The only thing I would add is for the scene mentioned, I would play Princess Twilight. I think that Twilight would see Princess Luna both as a friend and kind of a mentor. She most likely wouldn't understand the balance thing Princess Luna does, most likely because it got lost to history or something. She also loves learning about new cultures. Finally, she would try to understand this conflict with the thestrals and try to prevent it from reaching a boiling point. If there's anything I mentioned about Princess Twilight that conflicts with your information, I can make changes.

Also, from my impression of your post, it seems like Nova wants to sleep this evening? Or does he plan on being awake this evening? If so, my idea is that they take a look around Thestral Market this evening and they meet Princess Luna and Princess Twilight next evening.

Edited February 25 by Skylight Scintillate

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

what caused this conflict between Luna and her love interest?

So, In my history of Equestria, the Equestrians before Nightmare Moon took Zebra as slaves. These slaves eventually organized and rebelled with the help of the Black Knight, Midnight Star, and Mohotma. Luna had been tasked with finding and eliminating them by her sister, but as she was not a fan of slavery herself did not try very hard. She did find the three and fell in love with Midnight Star. 

Eventually Celestia herself got involved and forced a confrontation between her and Luna and the Black Knight and Midnight. Luna and Midnight pretended to fight, and the Black Knight surrendered in order to spare Midnight. Celestia turned the Black Knight to stone and made Midnight into a slave for Luna.

Despite this being a favorable outcome, Midnight resented that Luna did not stand up to her sister for his freedom. Their falling out was when he finally stated, "You're worse than the slavers we fought." before breaking his own chains (metaphorically, though he did have a magic collar to keep track of him which he broke) before fleeing the country.

Both of them regret what they did, and both are too ashamed to seek out the other in case the other still hates them as much as they assume.

Midnight Star is also not a normal pony, he was brought in from another world and has a similar body proportion to an alicorn. Most would consider him a giant earth pony, but rather than having an earth pony's magic he has a limited amount of gravity manipulation abilities around his hooves. He was given biological immortality through a ritual so he's still alive and living with the descendants of the Children of the Moon.

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

Is it related to the balance you mentioned?

No, though he did help her with her burden, so him leaving caused the whole burden to once again sit on her shoulders.

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

Who is the child she had

So, since Midnight is not a normal pony, him and Luna were not biologically compatible to produce an offspring. Midnight was disappointed, but not ultimately concerned by this. Luna though sought out scholars to try and find a way whereby they could produce an offspring. As it was experimental she kept it a secret from everyone including him in case it didn't pan out. Ultimately she never got to tell him so Midnight is still unaware.

She sent her son away to wherever the servant thought would be safe so she wouldn't be able to hurt him in her soul torn madness, and so that Celestia couldn't punish him for her actions if/when she failed. The servant moved to a desert nation (Fan made, called Troy) and called him Hercules. He died (Or rather, went to the Gate of Tartarus to hold them shut) at the age of 30. Many claim to be descended from him, but very few are (Only two characters are fanonically descended from him so far).

So he won't be relevant to this story as Luna doesn't know what happened to him other than that she sent him away to be safe and she hasn't put in the resources to find where the servant went in case Celestia gets suspicious.

 

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

who are the orphans she adopted? Are they thestrals?

The twelve orphans, also known as the Children of the Moon, are something I stole from a fan animation by the name Children of the Night. They were secretly adopted by Luna and cared for by her and Midnight. They are six colts and six fillies, two of each pony type, and most were orphaned when their parents died as part of the zebra rebellion. (I also stole their names from the creators of the fan animation, but I made up their personalities myself.)

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

What happened to them after Nightmare Moon happened?

They were raised by Midnight Star and the zebra that were freed from slavery until they were old enough to sustain themselves. They paired off and had foals of their own and eventually grew into a full independent city covering Archback mountain along with other ponies who left Equestria over the years with Midnight to guide them through the generations.

Every few generations, twelve foals will be born carbon copies of the original 12. They are taught special by Midnight and form the Lunar Order at Archback Castle, serving as advisors to the rest of those at Archback. Recently, the order has perfected a ritual connecting them to their previous lives and memories. (I'm planning that the souls of the original 12 are waiting for their mother to return, and the cycle will continue until she does return for them.)

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

And what happens now that she has returned?

They are eager for her to finally come back to them, but they understand why she has not yet reached out. Her shame at having abandoned them, and at what she said and allowed to happen to Midnight keeps her away, and Midnight's shame for abandoning her and his words keeps him from reaching out. So the children and the order wait for something to bridge the gap and reunite them with their mother.

 

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

She most likely wouldn't understand the balance thing Princess Luna does

Nor would she have been told about it. The responsibilities of Balance were passed on in Luna's absence much like the Elements of Harmony were, and the new Balance bearers are under strict instructions not to spread knowledge of their responsibilities around.

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

If there's anything I mentioned about Princess Twilight that conflicts with your information, I can make changes.

I think that's a perfect representation. I imagine she would be present at the feast and would notice Luna's shift in demeanor when Luna realizes that Nova is from the Fastar clan. (And to be clear, her demeanor won't become hostile, just more distant and aloof than usual.) and ask her what is wrong. Given their closeness Luna will explain in private and Twilight can aim to help her correct things before Nova returns home.

2 hours ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

it seems like Nova wants to sleep this evening?

Wants to? no. Needs to? yes.

At the very least he'll need to take a good nap before he does much else. Maybe we have him take a nap after they plan, and then proceed with things as you said. If we say it's about 10pm right now he'll sleep until about 2-3 am, then they can see the market for a few hours until after the sun comes up and then sleep through the day. Does that make sense?

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

Oh wow that's deep. However, I do have a better understanding of why Luna would act the way that she would. 

1 hour ago, Illiad Easle said:

Wants to? no. Needs to? yes.

At the very least he'll need to take a good nap before he does much else. Maybe we have him take a nap after they plan, and then proceed with things as you said. If we say it's about 10pm right now he'll sleep until about 2-3 am, then they can see the market for a few hours until after the sun comes up and then sleep through the day. Does that make sense?

Yeah that makes sense. We can go with that.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

@Illiad Easle 

9 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

Nova would pay rapt attention to everything the tour guide said, similar to how he had followed Speckle's tour, though he got the feeling that interrupting the tour guide was frowned upon here as no one else seemed to ask questions. He figured there would either be a designated part of the tour for questions, or he could ask Speckle later.

Sorry if it wasn't clear, but once they arrived at the top of the tower, there would be an opportunity to ask the tour guide questions as the group fanned out around the tower to observe the city from above. 

Edited April 2 by Skylight Scintillate

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

Well, Nova would still wait for an example, someone else asking a question, so he could understand how he should ask and what he could ask about. The tours he's been on before were very strict in that regard, this is his first casual tour.

That being said, I don't actually have a question in mind if you want to just move forward, I just put that in as an insight to his hesitant nature.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

@Illiad Easle 

Alright, if that's the case, then I'll write my reply.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

21 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

(If I remember correctly, you wanted me to play the princess when doing social interactions? If I am remembering wrong or you changed your mind I can edit this.)

Yeah that's correct. It matches what we agreed on earlier.

 

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

I'm thinking that Luna will be somewhat cold during the meeting, but afterwards will approach Nova and Speckle privately to explain.

 

Although, maybe it could go another way? Perhaps Luna privately tells Speckle not to bring Nova back, and Speckle pushes back to ask why, wherein Luna explains the situation and Speckle helps her to get over her reservations?

 

What do you think?

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

35 minutes ago, Illiad Easle said:

I'm thinking that Luna will be somewhat cold during the meeting, but afterwards will approach Nova and Speckle privately to explain.

 

Although, maybe it could go another way? Perhaps Luna privately tells Speckle not to bring Nova back, and Speckle pushes back to ask why, wherein Luna explains the situation and Speckle helps her to get over her reservations?

 

What do you think?

Hmm, I'm not really sure which way would work better. If Luna tells Speckle not to bring Nova, when would that be? During or after the dinner? I suppose it would depend on whether Princess Luna feels like explaining to Nova, or whether she thinks Speckle already knows why or something. Like, what I'm saying is that I don't really have a strong preference for one or the other. Does that make sense?

My idea for this situation is that Twilight, being the princess of friendship, picks up on this and asks Luna if something is wrong. Meanwhile, Speckle takes a bit longer to realize something is off.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

Sorry for the delay, I was dealing with things.

 

I was thinking that Luna would talk to Speckle after the dinner, asking her to not bring him back to future ones if he were staying long enough for that to be an option.

As it is though, with Luna speaking privately to Twilight, I think Speckle wouldn't be worried, but rather think nothing of the princesses speaking privately, maybe some important matter came up? It happening soon after Nova introduced himself must be a coincidence... right?

That's what I think she would think anyway.

 

I'll get posting so we can keep moving.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

7 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

Sorry for the delay, I was dealing with things.

No worries, I get that things come up.

7 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

I was thinking that Luna would talk to Speckle after the dinner, asking her to not bring him back to future ones if he were staying long enough for that to be an option.

Perhaps, though it sounds like in the RP Princess Luna wants to leave right away? If so, how would she speak to Speckle after dinner? Unless you're saying that Princess Twilight would convince her to stay?

7 hours ago, Illiad Easle said:

As it is though, with Luna speaking privately to Twilight, I think Speckle wouldn't be worried, but rather think nothing of the princesses speaking privately, maybe some important matter came up? It happening soon after Nova introduced himself must be a coincidence... right?

Ok, I feel like Speckle would definitely notice Nova's excitement disappear, and she would be curious as to what had happened, but I suppose jumping to the conclusion that they are in trouble is a bit of a stretch, even for a filly.

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

57 minutes ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

If so, how would she speak to Speckle after dinner?

I figured in a dream

57 minutes ago, Skylight Scintillate said:

Unless you're saying that Princess Twilight would convince her to stay?

I'm certainly hoping she does!

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

Hey @Illiad Easle is everything ok?

[Illiad Easle 3,139]

@Skylight Scintillate

Yeah! Sorry, it's just been a really busy week at work. I'm planning to make a post today actually.

[Skylight Scintillate 2,031]

I feel as though this scene is nearing its conclusion, and while I'm sure the pair (Nova and Speckle) have a lot of things they can do in Canterlot, it wouldn't make sense to RP those scenes out. Unless you think Nova has something he specifically wants to do in Canterlot that you want to RP, I think we should plan to transition to the other part of the exchange. What do you think?