6: A Greater Understanding

Sitting at the doorstep of Carousel Boutique, Pinkie Pie waited.

And waited.

And waited,

And waited…
The waiting was getting kind of boring. She needed to move.

With that, she plotted to move closer to one of the buildings surrounding the Boutique. After all, he'd probably be embarrassed to find out the mare he was meeting had been waiting for him to arrive. If she hid herself in the crowd, however, she could save him that potential humiliation. He'd think she had been just tardy as he had, and quickly forget about that bothersome worry.

Or would he?

She flushed her pestering worries down her metaphorical toilet, and tried to think. If anything, all of this plotting and scheming would just make him feel awkward. What she needed to do was act like herself, make sure he knew that she enjoyed her company just as much as he did.
Of course, that wasn't as easy as it sounded.

"If you ever needed your Pinkie confidence before, Pinkie Pie, you sure need it now."

And that's all she needed to know. Of course, these worries were going to bug her, but she knew it would be a bad idea if she let them drag her down. After all, she liked the guy for cryin' out loud. Why should she act all strange around him?
All of a sudden, the door opened behind him. The stallion who'd she'd just exerted excruciating self torment over trying to impress was now standing right behind her.

Now it was time to pretend he was a stranger, dash off, and throw him a surprise party.

"No, not now, not when you've gotten so close. After all, action is my middle name… Well, one of them anyways."
Her plan unfolded perfectly. She not so casually turned around to face him, and gave what she imagined was one of the freakiest grins she'd ever shown a person. Her teeth were practically jutting out of the corners of her mouth, and her lips had swollen red from all the lip biting she'd inflicted on herself during her waiting.

"This is no time to be shy. Shyness is not on your daily planner, you need to act!"
And as far as she could tell, Shyness had graciously abided her request.

"Oh, hi Pinkie Pie,"
His words reeked of improv. Stroking his mane nervously, he suddenly remembered a mistake he'd just made. "Sorry I'm late for the meeting, work's been hard on me. 'Lots of dashing back and forth," He grabbed the opportunity to take a deep breath.
"Huh," Pinkie created such a scenario in her head. "I didn't think Rarity's work was quite like that."
"Still, she's a great boss." He smiled, distorting her heartbeat. "Friendly, kind, relatable, I'm happy to have her."
"I know, right?" Pinkie giggled, rolling her eyes for added effect. "I'd like to have her as a boss."
"Yeah," Subtly, he motioned him to follow her down the town's east ward road. "And not only that, despite my inexperience, she's also been very generous for money. All in all, I'm really lucky to have her as an employer."
"Well, that's Rarity for ya," Pinkie laughed uneasily. "She's good at that, making dresses I mean,"
Their footsteps resonated distinctly among the scattered mid afternoon chatter around them. Detecting the awkward air, Pinkie decided to further pursue their floundering interchange.

"So, work's hard, huh?"
"No kidding," He chuckled. "Like I said, it will probably be a lot easier once I fresh up on my fashion terminology."
She barely gave herself time to think of a good answer, but she knew inside this was going well so far.
"Was your work back home ever this hard?"
"No, never." He looked up at the sky, clearly reminiscing. "Rarity's business has been booming, and I have a feeling it will be expanding over the next couple of years." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Still, if that did happen, I wouldn't wanna be transferred to one of the other branches. After all, I… well…" He deliberated on finishing for a moment. "Never mind,"
"Aw, don't be shy," She grinned. "How come?"

It was a bit of a silly question, but she couldn't help asking. Besides, she couldn't help anticipating what his answer might be.

"Well, I was kinda hesitant to come here at first." His eyes encountered the violet colored sky. "Now though, I'm starting to feel attached to this place."
She watched his eyes curiously. "Wow, it seems you like Ponyville a lot." She inquisitively smiled. "Is there any particular reason?"

"Well," Several birds let their melodic caws ring through the cloudy, sun-set sky. "There's someone in particular who I think has made my stay here a little easier." He kicked a rock as he walked.
"Rarity?"
He burst into a fit of laughter. "Good guess. But…" He lost his gaze again. "I'm not quite ready to say who that person is yet." He met up with her eyes. "Is that okay?"

"No it's not!" Of course, she wasn't going to say anything like that. "Well, surprises do help make life more fun."
He'd already lost his focus on their conversation. His mind was somewhere else, probably in the dank section of his brain she had yet to explore. "Have you heard it?"
"Heard what?"
"The gossip around town,"
"Oh," That's all she could manage for a response. She never, ever imagined him saying anything about that; especially considering how close it was to home.
"Ponies are making a pretty big deal of it all."
"Yeah, they are." She didn't want to admit the concern she'd seen on other ponies' faces had somewhat bothered her at times. "What do you think of the situation?"
His eyes didn't shift. It seemed like he felt obligated to hold some type of heart-feeling towards what she wanted to believe was mere gossip.

"I understand why the ponies in town are worried about what happened." He grimaced as he looked back up into the sky. "But I don't think there's a reason for concern; one way or another, this chatter will end."
"Wow, you seem pretty confidant." She giggled. "'Guess it is just idle gossip, huh?"
He glanced her way, chuckling in a way that to her almost felt like a mutter. "Ponies these days worry about everything. Besides, there's no good reason to be concerned about all this.
Anxiety was running through his blood. Pinkie could tell. Something about the controversy was bothering him, but she had no idea what it was.
"Like I said," He met her eyes. "This mess will end soon."
Pinkie was anticipating an abrupt answer, but she still found herself shivering at how sure of himself he was. She had rarely ever seen him act so certain about anything.

"Okie dokie lokie, I'll take your word for it." She bounced giddily in place. "Anyways, would you like to head to your house, or take a pit stop?"
"Well…" The sky loomed its dark colors over him. He was definitely considering something or another, and didn't want to talk about it. "We could eat at Sugar Cube Corner."
"'Sounds like a good plan."

They found themselves sitting at a table, eating two pieces of chocolate cake. Mr. and Mrs. Cake watched gleefully from the side, whispering things Pinkie wished she could hear to each other.

"Anything interesting happening soon?"

"Yup, Rainbow Dash is having her birthday soon. I'm doing everything I can to make sure she has the most awesomest party every."

"That's good to hear," Bashfulness practically shouted from his face into Pinkie Pie's ears. She tried to convince herself her face wasn't just as obvious. "That sounds like it would be quite an interesting party."
"Yes, haha, it will be."
They went on from topic to topic, Pinkie trying hard to keep up her side of the conversation. After finishing their food, and heading outside, Pinkie blurted out a question she knew she shouldn't have asked.
"Areson, you said 'till recently, you felt lost. But, you found your cutie mark, so, how was that possible?"
They continued walking at the same pace for a little bit, almost as if nopony had said anything. Then, he spoke. "I guess I'm unusual in a way. I, well, I couldn't find a purpose for me in life. I wasn't sure what the point of living was. I'd try to figure out what my life was meant for, but couldn't discover it. That's why my cutie mark didn't make me satisfied with me after I found it."
He tried to avoid making eye contact with Pinkie; as if his heart wasn't letting as much out as he wanted to. Realizing this, she changed the subject. "Well, at least you found that special thing, right?"

"Yes, I did," He kept his face to the ground, not budging an inch. "Pinkie Pie?"
"Yes?"
"I have a question for you,"
"Go ahead,"
"Will you always be my friend?"
The words stung her. Hard. She began to fear her conversation had given him a bad impression of her character. "Of course I would. Why do you think I wouldn't?"
"Well, it's just… There are some things you might find out we disagree on." He was getting closer to his house. Gently, he leaned on his mailbox. "Big things. Things that would make ponies so mad, they'd take sides against each other. If you thought one way, and I thought the other, would you still..?"
She surprised herself with her next maneuver. She trotted over to his side, and quickly kissed his cheek. Even with all her worry, she felt comfortable with this kiss.

"I guess… This is what being yourself is like."

This was the Pinkie Pie she knew she was.

Open, honest, and straight to the point.
Dazed, he turned towards her.

"I think that's a pretty solid answer, don't ya think?"
Taking a moment to rehabitate his calm, he slowly smiled. Then, he chuckled. "Unless it's an 'I used to like you, but now I hate you' kinda answer that's subtly inserted… Is it?"
This time, they both broke out in exertions of hilarity. It took some time, but Pinkie realized what she had done. Not only had she given herself confidence, but Areson as well.

"Well, I'm heading back." He placed a hoof inside, but stopped. "Thanks for everything, Pinkie Pie."
"You're welcome." He was gone. The door shut.

She flew. Well, as close as she could get anyways.
She pranced from house to house, eyeing every single firefly she noticed. After a moment, she lost track of where she went. She didn't care though. Everything in her life felt absotutely perfect.

She wanted to tell someone. Now. But she decided against it. And even though things were perfect, she still needed to wonder some about whether he might want to pursue some type of relationship.

"Now THAT would be the best thing ever!"

Having a party to commemorate it didn't even seem that embarrassing to her.

As soon as she got home, deciding not to tell anyone was an idea she threw out the window. The Cakes appeared to be readily available, so she started with them.
"So, how did the date go?" Mrs. Cake asked.
Her mane flipped up and down in response. "It went AWESOME! I was even able to kiss him on the cheek!"

"I kinda figured you two were having fun," Mr. Cake laughed. "So, you two a couple yet?"
"Oh, not yet. That's probably gonna take some time, ya know, but I really do think he likes me." Pinkie fell over onto the couch. "Hah…"
"Remember Pinkie," Mr. Cake's voice became cautious. "There's always a possibility he doesn't like you back. In life, you've gotta remember that you can never be sure that things will go your way…"
"'Course I thought of that," Pinkie spoke letting only her mouth move. "But I learned my lesson. I don't think of that anymore."
"Well, I just want you to be careful. He doesn't seem like the kinda guy who'd be mean, though."
Harsh memories returned of the time she'd asked about personal stuff the night after the party. Still, having calmed down since then, she didn't think it was as much of a problem.

"Oh, dear, there's no need to be so pessimistic," Mrs. Cake said. "After all, our little Pinkie is growing up already."
"Wow… You're right. Pinkie, this is a big step, ya know that, right?"

"I was thinking of having a party to commemorate it, but…"
"I think it would be better once you actually become a couple." Mrs. Cake politely pointed out

"Good point. One step at a time, right?"
"Always a good thing," Mr. Cake agreed.
She didn't want to go to bed yet. After having a quick dinner, she talked to Rarity about the development.

"I knew you do it, darling. What was his face like?"
"Kinda dazed, not sure what to do…"
"Well, I'll tell you one thing. That's love if I've ever seen it before."
"'You sure? I know I kinda felt the same way, but…"
"Exactly."

Rarity's words filled Pinkie with excitement. Nothing she said really displeased her at all.

"Do you mind if I'm the one to tell the others?"
"Nope, not at all."
"I'll keep this from Rainbow Dash though, let her find on her own time. She wouldn't want to hear about this."
"Haha, that's the truth. Not exactly her thing,"
"This is the kind of thing I wanted to hear. Why, all many of the ponies in town seem to talk about is what the paper's been talking about. Honestly, have they forgotten how to be happy?"
"Maybe," Pinkie's eyes lowered to her cup. She closely examined her own eyes. "'Guess I got a lotta work to do."
"Don't stress yourself, darling. As soon as you throw another one of your parties, their mood is sure to improve."
"Ya really think so?"
"I know so."

"You're probably right. Still, to see everyone else so sad, and me so happy makes me wonder if I have a good reason to be sad."
"You don't, darling."
"Are you sure?"
Rarity grabbed an uneasy glance up at the ceiling, and hesitantly shook her head. "Yes darling, everything will be fine."

Pinkie wondered about Rarity's tone, but she acted so pleased afterwards, she almost forgot she'd ever been unhappy.

"Well, goodbye Pinkie Pie. Hope your future outings with Areson go as well as this one has."
"Thank you, see ya later!"
Back at home, Pinkie decided to tuck herself in a little earlier than usual. Her whole body wasn't in agreement on that but hay, it was a good place to think.

The dark settled in on her as she lay in bed, letting merry thoughts flash through her head in fast motion. Gummy was at her side again, chewing thoughtfully on his tail.

"Wow Gummy, it's been a long time since I was this happy. Well, that's kinda hard actually, I've been happy a lot, but, you know what I mean."
With a blink of his cute little eyelashes, he looked at her.

"Okay, maybe you don't, but that's okay to." She adjusted her body so she was leaning relaxingly against her pillow. "It's just all of this happening at once feels so surreal. Like, as if nothing could ever go wrong anymore." She cuddled her pillow tightly. "'Course, it's probably just a state of mind. Things can go wrong all the time. But your attitude determines whether you're happy or sad."

Stroking Gummy's head, she heard a knock on her door.
"Pinkie Pie?"
"Mr. Cake?" She peeked back at him through the narrow sliver between the door and the wall.

"I heard you outside while I was taking care of the babies, I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"No, not at all." He sat down next to her on the bed, nervously staring into his hooves.

"Pinkie, me and Mrs. Cake have had a lot on our minds lately. You've probably heard of it, the incident everypony's been talking about?"
"I know people have been talking about something, but I don't know much about what they've been talking about really."
"I kinda wish I didn't know. All it's really given us is worry," He laid his feet out across the bed, lying down on the back of the bed. "I try to tell myself it's right to worry about it, but sometimes I'm not so sure. I've just heard so many things, from the paper, from the gossip, you know. And I was just thinking, maybe if we just thought like something you were saying just now, maybe things wouldn't be so tense."
Pinkie hadn't seen much meaning in her own words other than being her typical, chatty self. Looking at it again though, maybe it was kinda meaningful. Attitude was what determined somepony's mood, it's what could potentially make a sad scenario look like a happy one, or the other way it is. Optimism and cynacizim, it was just the way somepony looked at things that would inevitably make the difference.

"I never thought of it like that before. I didn't make you angry, did I?"
"Of course not, Pinkie. You just gave me, some food for thought as they say. I think I'm gonna mention this to her later, and see if she thinks it makes sense to." He placed his feet on the ground, and started walking away. "Thanks Pinkie. You know, Ponyville could probably learn a lot from you."
Before she could speak, he'd wandered down the stairs, and already seemed to be bringing up the topic to Mrs. Cake. Her happy mood now having an excuse for being the way it was, she decided to wade in it peacefully.

"Oh yes, tomorrow's totally gonna be a great day."

Fluttershy woke up the next morning, and quickly went through her breakfast routine. Then it was off to meet Areson.

She'd struggled over the idea, but in the end, she knew she had to do it. Crossing a line she'd been hesitant to even think about doing before would definitely improve her mood.

On the way there, she waved to Mr. Cacky.
"'Glad things are going well for you, Fluttershy. 'Kinda weird though. Ponies are gathering near the center of town, there's something big goin' on. Don't really wanna find out, though, so I'll just hang out here."
Fluttershy accepted his opinon as hers as she left. "I don't blame you. I'm not exactly anxious to find out either.

Not long into the morning, she knocked three times on his door. Almost immediately, she began to wonder whether he might be asleep, and might be interrupting his sleep.
The door creaked open, and then moved a little faster as it hit the wall, making a small noise as it hit the wall.
"H-hello Fluttershy,"
"Good morning Areson. I'm sorry if I interrupted you during something important."
"I was just doing a few quick things before I head off to work."
"Oh, that makes sense."
His stance looked normal as he invited her inside his home, but he was on edge; like there was something he didn't want anypony to see.

Fluttershy didn't see why. The house still looked pretty much the same, a simple breakfast on the table, a notepad with a pen lying on the table nearby. Nothing Fluttershy found especially suspicious.

A pessimistic image, so fast she couldn't even decipher it, popped up inside. She destroyed it just as fast.

"How have you been lately?"
"Pretty good," She moved over near the table, examining the ceiling as Areson, distinctly frazzled compared to other times she'd seen him, moved from place to place at the front of the table, erratically reaching to the other side of the table to pull a chair. His position perfectly blocked the entire front of the table from view. "How's the job going?"
"W-well, actually," He used his left hoof to grab himself a celery stick from the nearby kitchen shelf. "It's going quite well. I'm still getting used to some of the stuff, but overall, I find myself enjoying it." He pointed his hoof over to the sticks. "Help yourself."
"Oh, thank you," She grabbed a few, savoring the taste in her mouth. "Listen, I need to be honest with you about something."
He stopped eating, keeping his concentration on Fluttershy. "About what? As far as I know, you haven't done anything wrong to me."
"Well, I've been kind of suspicious of you lately."
His muscles relaxed, and his tension decreased. Somehow, he became natural without batting an eyelash. "I can't say I blame you,"
"Well, I've been worried about you. The things you won't tell other ponies, your nervousness, in all my anxiousness, I locked on to that as reasons to distrust you. But I know everypony has their secrets, and I shouldn't have been so inquisitive. I'm sorry,"
"No need to apologize," He started to examine a newspaper, as if he was disinterested. "After all, I did come off as kind of suspicious. 'Probably made you think, 'maybe that pony's name really IS Arson'."
They both exchanged a laugh at reminiscing that joke. "'Course, I think I'll need to get those foals straight. I'm pretty sure they still think my friend hooligan is in town."
Fluttershy giggled. "They do have such a large imagination. Considering what's already on their minds, though, I don't think you'll have to worry about it."
"It would make things a little less stressful," He chopped up a few carrots, placing the slices in a ceramic glass bowl.
"Oh, how did your meeting with Pinkie Pie go yesterday?"
He burst out in bright red fumes, and nodded. "It happened,"
"So I take it all things went well?"
His face cooled down, and he chuckled. "Yeah, I just wasn't expecting her to be as open as she was."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,"
"It's just kinda embarrassing."
"I understand, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"And now, I'm going to tell you all about it."
"Oh,"
"It was random, out of the blue; I wasn't expecting it at all. We were talking, I was wondering if she'd be friends with me no matter what, and then she kissed me on the cheek." The words came out of his mouth surprisingly confidant, Fluttershy couldn't help being impressed. And not just with him either.

"Wow,"
"I think a kindergartener could explain what that means."
"And?"
"I'm four years old. 'Have no idea what it means."
"Well, I won't say anything," She let more happy exertions leave her mouth. "But, I do have a question;"
"Go ahead,"
"Do you like Pinkie?"
He threw the notepad into one of his drawers, and faced Fluttershy again. "One way or the other, would you tell Fluttershy?"
"Oh no, I can keep a secret."
"Well…" He gazed through the window. "I do. Yes, I do. Still, I'm not confidant I could ever let her know that."
"How come?"
"It's… complicated. Things are going to happen. Things we probably wouldn't agree on, and then we wouldn't be together anymore. There is no way I could hurt her like that. I just might as well not get involved. Even though she said… Or, kinda said… That she'd still be my friend, I just can't be sure."
Fluttershy walked up to him, patting his back sympathetically. "We always have disagreements sometimes, but that doesn't mean she'd leave you because of something like that. Pinkie Pie isn't that kind of pony."
"She isn't?"
"Have you gotten that impression from her?"
"Yes,"
"Really?"
"Well," He watched the window in front of him, desperately trying not to look into Fluttershy's eyes. "No, I haven't."
"Exactly. I don't think there's a good reason to be concerned."
He checked a clock he'd placed on the wall above his bed, and sighed. "'Guess I better get going. Rarity doesn't really like it if I'm late. But it's nice talking to you."
Fluttershy gave him a goodbye as he pranced out the door, leaving his house as she did. Even though he had acted suspicious, after hearing him talk about his genuine feelings for Pinkie Pie, she couldn't find a reason to think anything much of his behavior. The tough part now would be keeping her knowledge from Pinkie herself.

She heard overlapping voices not far from his house. Although she'd wanted to stay away from anything that might discourage her, this sounded important.

The sight was quite discouraging.

A large crowd of ponies had gathered in the front of the building in the center of town, angrily talking to the mayor all at once.

"…Now, now, everypony calm down. I understand your upset, but…"
"Don't act so condescending. You've been locked inside your office ever since the news came to Ponyville."
"Yeah, we want a statement. Where's your leadership when you need it?"
The voices barely dimmed at the mayor's attempt at calming the crowd. "I have been heavily considering these things in my office, weighing possible options while I am there. I can assure you I am not ignoring this issue…"
"How do we know that? If that's all it was, you would've told us that. You're just trying to ignore it."
Fluttershy noticed Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the crowd. Both of them looked quite concerned. She was tempted to join that crowd, and finally figure out what was going on.

But her friends were so adamant about keeping her away. There was no way she could do that.

Not after she'd become set in the attitude her friends wanted her to have.

Clashing choices of option offering themselves up to her, she made a dash before anypony could interrupt her.

Before she could open the door, a familiar voice interrupted her.

"Fluttershy?"
It was Twilight. On any day, any other day, she'd be thrilled. Today was really a strange day that she didn't feel any especially strong emotion at seeing her.
"Twilight? What are you doing here?"
She swooped next to Fluttershy from the other side of the house. "I noticed the crowd in the center of town. The problem's grown much worse than I thought it would."
"What's going on?"
"It's a long story, but it's gone viral in the newspapers. Every town and city in Equestria now knows what's going on. And things haven't really been the same since."
"It's what happened in Canterlot?"
Twilight shook her head in melancholy. "Yes, you're right. Have you heard the whole story?"
"No, because they didn't want me to, I didn't end up hearing the parts that are making ponies mad."
"I don't blame them for doing that. They were probably just trying to make you happy. Inside, they may have also been dismissing this. I did the same thing for a while. Princess Celestia and Luna were the only ones who were bothered by what ponies were saying about this." She took a deep sigh. "I understand if you don't want to hear this. But I have a feeling you want to now."
"This really is more than just gossip, isn't it?"
Twilight looked away, scared to look Fluttershy in the eye. "Yes, it is. But it might get worse if we leave it unaddressed."
"Then tell me everything. Don't sugarcoat anything; I'll be fine. What happened?"
"Alright, in that case, I'll explain everything that's happened so far." She braced herself in a regal manner. "It all started in Canterlot at the promotion ceremony for a new royal guard. He'd been put in charge of a royal guard attachment in Canterlot. Not a Captain of the Guard like my brother, but still, it's a big deal for a guard. It was a fairly routine ceremony, nothing especially fancy or well-attended. But still, there were some ponies, a few local reporters and a such, there to watch him get his promotion. Princess Celestia first spoke, explaining what the ceremony was commemorating, and introducing the name of the guard. Afterwards, Shining armor came up, speaking in favor of his promotion. He said so many great things about him, explaining each and every one of his accomplishments, and various examples of excellent character."
She dug in the ground with her right hoof, but keeping her eyes on Fluttershy. "It's so ironic the trouble he's now caused."
"What happened then?"
"He went up to take his turn to speak. It started off pretty customary, nothing unusual, just thanking Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, and then giving a thanks to his father for raising him well. And then he said 'but'. That was the start of when things got strange."
"That's basically all I know about it. Not as many details, though, and I don't actually know what happened after he took the stand."
"You must've been really worried, not even knowing what was going on. I understand what the other ponies were doing, but we really should've let you know. I'm sorry,"
"It wasn't that bad."
"Still, we should've been responsible. I should have been responsible." Her lungs went in and out, and she continued. "But, I'm just delaying this even further. After that 'but' he started telling Celestia exactly what he felt of the way she was running this kingdom."
"What points did he raise?"
"He felt she wasn't doing enough to protect the kingdom. He criticized her for freeing Discord, saying it was far too dangerous for the common pony folk. He also brought up how Celestia didn't get directly involved in saving the Crystal Empire; neither did she make an attempt to fight Discord with us when he first appeared. Finally, with that in mind, he questioned whether Celestia honestly cared about what happened to other ponies."
"I don't think that's true."
"Me neither. Still, his points rattled me a bit inside. The Princess herself seemed a bit surprise. Of course, Princess Luna ran to her side, attempting to derail his points. Still, he held strong, and persisted in his argument. Princess Celestia had to do all she could to keep Princess Luna from bursting out in anger. After finishing, he grabbed the badge Shining Armor had awarded him, and threw it in the dirt, saying he would never come back until Equestria was finally safe."

Wind blew through Fluttershy's mane, cooling her off from the heated conversation Twilight had just explained for it. "I can see reasons why ponies would have taken this seriously, and why they would've dismissed it."
"It definitely was an unusual sight. No pony had ever questioned Princess Celestia like he did before."
"But aren't ponies loyal to her?"
"I thought they were. Still, the newspaper took a hold of this story, and businesses all around Equestria heard about this. Because of the uniqueness of such a thing, business has been booming lately for them. Ponies, meanwhile, can't help but buy new copies, scared to find out what will happen next. If only that was all they were worried about…"
"They've been questioning their own loyalties to Celestia?"
"Some have. Few in Canterlot, but in some other cities, it's becoming a problem. Ponyville is one of those cities. And now ponies are angry at the mayor because she hasn't taken the time to address the ponies on this issue, or try to ease any of their doubts."
"That does explain what's going on."
"Of course, the mayor wouldn't have left her office all of her sudden unless she had a good reason. The story came in the news this morning, and the Mayor was one of the first to see it. She knew that she would have to talk to them one way or another."
"What did the paper say?"
"He's coming to Ponyville to give a speech on his new ideas."
Fluttershy gasped, not expecting Twilight's revelation at all. "And that's why..?"
"Today is so hectic. He'll be speaking this morning, and that will only cause the controversy to grow. He's a very capable speaker, and many ponies will take some time to honestly consider his opinions."
"You don't think they'd..?"
Twilight let out a breath of air. "It's hard to say. Princess Celestia said in a meeting we commenced that she herself was reconsidering the way she ruled. Princess Luna tried to defend what she had done, but her attempts at regaining her confidence were superficial. Now that the pony is going out of his way to speak in various towns, Ponyville being the first, the situation has become even more delicate."
"What can we do about it?"
"Fight back,"
"How?"
"We need to explain why his points are wrong. We need to argue why Princess Celestia has done what she's done, and why this pony's conceptions about her are wrong."
"That isn't going to be easy, but it is the best shot we have."
"That's how I felt. If ponies remember the good she's done, they'll be motivated to follow her instead."
"What is the pony's name?"
"Readson, he comes from a family of writers, but his father encouraged him to join the royal guard. My brother told me that the first time he met him, he almost made him blush at how many compliments he'd give him."
"It seems so strange that coming from such a nice family, he'd feel so confidant in going against Princess Celestia."
"You just about hit the reason why he's so popular. He believes very fervently in his ideas. I doubt he would ever, ever change them, no matter what we said. That's why we have to change the ponies, which still aren't set either way."
"That definitely makes sense. I just hope ponies keep that doubt long enough for us to catch up to him."

"I'm not really worried about our friends turning to his ideas. But some ponies could find a lot in him to relate. They are the ones who would most likely be persuaded by his ideas first. And that's why, as you said, we need to act fast."
"I'm sure the others would love to help."
"Yes, after the speech is done, we'll have a meeting at Sweet Apple Acres to further discuss this."
"What about now?"
"I'll ask him if I may speak as a debater, bringing up points opposite to him. That way I can balance out the influence of the ponies."
"It sounds like a good plan. I guess we should hurry," Before they started, Fluttershy asked one more question. "Twilight?"
"Yes Fluttershy?" Her eyes were full of empathetic worry, but Fluttershy still detected a confidant aura inside of her.

"Is everything going to be okay?"
Twilight gave herself a moment to think, and then turned back to Fluttershy. "I know that as long as we stick together, we're going to pull through."