high_seas | Kiss Kiss Eat Some Meat

Is that so? I have a fondness for chocolate, in any of its forms, though the contrast of dipping fresh fruit on a chocolate fondue is particularly great. Tea, though, I prefer it without any sugar, I find that it's the best way to enjoy the differences between different tea types and brands.

[Elsa smiles and looks away from a moment, her demeanor suddenly slightly shy and awkward as she continues.]

Maybe... If it would please you, we could enjoy some tea together sometime? I usually read while doing so, but having a companion with whom talk would also be appreciated.

It would be a definite change, and a very pleasant one. I'd like that.

[She rarely had good company even back in Equestria, where most of her meals were either taken in private, or formal affairs with either courtiers or overawed subjects. When Twilight had been in-residence, she had occasionally enjoyed her student's company, but those times were at an end.]

How did Luffy come to recruit you, if I may ask? [In other words, how did a second sane person make it on to this crew?]

[Ever since her parents died, even before that, Elsa hasn't been able to have company during tea or anything she did. It's not without worry and fear that she managed that make the offer, but she understands that there's little way to avoid being with people in the current circumstances. And she wants to give it a try and make sure if she really can't be with others. Luffy promised that he wouldn't let her hurt anyone, that it would be fine and for now she has decided to believe in him.

Her smile grows at the answer before she giggles softly at the question.]

He invited me to join when we talked for the first time through the books, though I obviously refused until he found me and made a convincing case of his argument. I will admit to not be entirely sure, but for now I want to believe in him and as long as no one ends hurt it should be okay.

He must have seen something in you, during that conversation, that made him intent on having you join. And he is not an easy man to dissuade when he wants something.

[In this, they remain different, and Celestia remains in her own quiet sort of isolation in one respect: she is only here because of Pinkie Pie. Had her subject not insisted, Luffy almost certainly never would have invited her into the crew, and she knows that.]

[In that way, she is still an outsider here.]

I suppose that would be an explanation though I honestly don't know what it is that made him decide that. All I did was mostly panic over him being inside a kraken without showing an ounce of worry about his own well-being.

[She shakes her head at the memory.]

Back then I was convinced that he just invited everyone he talked with to join his crew, but it seems that there are some standards after all. As simple as they may be.

He is more complex than he appears to be on the surface... which isn't saying a very great deal, I admit. If I had to guess what he valued, I would say it is intensity. So far, I have sensed that in almost everypony I have met on the crew, and for those I have not, I may simply not have discovered what makes them tick.

[There's a rather humorless chuckle at that.]

I guess I was intensely worried back then. Though I would think that anyone who isn't used to that kind of creatures would react the same way.

Or Luffy himself. Unless you were including him as one of the creatures.

[She's not above having a laugh at Luffy's mild expense!]

[Elsa stifles a giggle at that. Indeed she can't tell what shocked her most, Luffy's attitude or his situation.]

I suppose we could include him there, couldn't we? Though I feel that "child" would be a more faithful description, in a way he reminded me of my sister. Though, fortunately, Anna doesn't have a habit of being eaten by monsters.

[If that were to happen Elsa feels she would have just dropped dead right there due worry. Fortunately the only monster Anna had to face had been Elsa herself, and now she wouldn't give her any more troubles nor would she be in danger.]

He does have a certain air of unconcern for his own well-being, doesn't he. Doubtless his general lack of need to actually worry about it helps...

[Seriously, the boy is nearly invincible, and where he fails, his friends are there to pick up the slack. It's impressive.]

He does, that and an impressive self-confidence. Makes one wonder what's the secret behind it, if there's one. You have been with him longer, does he really have a knack for doing the impossible?

That is a difficult question to ask, when I am not certain what your standards of 'impossible' are. This may surprise you, but some people would never have believed in a talking pony prior to coming here.

[She smiles slyly, absolutely at ease with poking fun at herself.]

Oh, I understand, but I think that whatever you consider "impossible" would be a good fit for my own standards. I may not have ever seen a talking pony or one with wings and a horn, but I've met trolls. They can talk, they can use magic and they are basically rocks, not as pretty as a pony, but if a rock can perform those tasks I don't see why a pony wouldn't be able to do them as well.

[Elsa returns the sly smile, leaning slightly towards Celestia and lowering her tone a bit. Just enough to give a playful idea of it being some "secret", without it being really so.]

As I understand it, ponies exist on many other worlds, and yet without great intelligence or the ability to speak. I gather that seeing conversation and intelligence in a creature you never expected it from surprises people more than seeing them in a completely fantastical creature.

That is true, it's funny but I could have expected more to meet a pony that can talk after meeting the trolls than to meet a man that can stretch the way Luffy does.

[Because after seeing the trolls and how they looked like normal rocks before they started talking, she had come to accept that there were magical creatures out there. Surely she has never seen a pony that could speak or have great intelligence, but she hasn't seen any country beyond Arendelle either, yet she doesn't doubt their existence. Luffy, however, was far more shocking, because while she thought that there were other magical creatures, she had never considered that there would be other humans with powers. And even if she had, it wouldn't have been such a power.]

Though now I'm curious, do humans exist in your world?

They do not. Equestria is home to many creatures, and many more exist beyond its boundaries, but none are human. Though I have found no difference between humans and ponies, save for the exterior.

[And the inherent pony gifts -- wings and weather control, horns and magic, or stamina and strength and a connection to the land. But then again, who can say if humans really have no such gifts of their own?]

It must have been hard then, to find yourself here then, excluding the catfish island as far as I know the majority of the population here is human. How long have you been here?

Some months. But I have lived through far, far worse than what I have seen here. [Possibly excepting her efforts to murder everypony, but let's not go there.] In a certain respect, I am enjoying the vacation. I haven't had a real one in a thousand years or so, after all.

A thousand-...

[The surprise is clear in Elsa's face for a moment before she laughs softly, covering her mouth with a hand and slightly shaking her head.]

I must say, you maintain a very youthful appearance despite all those years of work. And I'm sure that a job that required so much time and attention couldn't be an easy one.

Ah, well, my sister and I are special cases. [And she intends to leave the source of her longevity a mystery beyond that.] But rulership is indeed no easy task, especially given what terrible shape Equestria was in on our ascension.

You have a sister as well? Is she younger?

[Celestia hardly seem like the little sister to Elsa, it makes more sense for her to be the older one.]

Rulership? I was aware of your royal lineage, but I was under the impression that you were a Princess-... Ah! Is Equestria a principality then?

[Her pale cheeks get a pink tint as embarrassment at herself for being surprised for a second fills her. She had just assumed that it was a kingdom or a queendom.]

Yes, Luna is my younger sister, and we have ruled Equestria together for quite some time. [That is a half-truth, maybe three-quarters when you consider that the period of time Luna and Celestia ruled together was indeed quite some time as a human would reckon it.]

The title of 'Princess' is a complicated one, but in modern times it refers to alicorns -- ponies, like myself and my sister, who have both wings and a horn. In these days, that privilege is earned, not one of birth or lineage.

An earned privilege... The trials for it must be very difficult and severe in that case. Do all princesses help with the rulership or is it just you and your sister?

At the moment, my student, Twilight Sparkle, is still learning how to be a Princess. Princess Cadance was for the most part uninvolved in rulership for many years, but now she and her husband oversee the Crystal Empire now that it is no longer trapped by King Sombra's magic.

In general, Princesses find their way to positions of power because they are most suited to them, and because a pony who does not want to help and care for their fellow ponies does not become a Princess.

So every Princess is definitively someone worthy of that title and who will work for the best of your land.

[Elsa smiles at that though there's a hint of bitterness on it.]

It's unfortunate that humans don't work that way, in the world I come from rulership simply goes to the first born or to the closest alive relative in direct lineage. It doesn't matter if they are worth of it or not, if they care for their country if they want to be in such a position, if they are fit for it... Or even if their subjects will want them.

[She hadn't been ready. She had tried, but it was just impossible to control her powers. She wasn't worth it or fit for it, not when she couldn't even protect and take care of one person, how could she do it with a whole kingdom? And when her power was discovered she hadn't been wanted, she had been feared instead. What kind of Queen could an Ice Queen be? Not a good one. Anna wasn't ready for it, she had never been prepared for it, but she was more suited for it. She was warm and optimistic and wasn't devoured by fear. It won't be easy, but Arendelle will be in better hands with Anna in charge.]

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