high_seas | Kiss Kiss Eat Some Meat

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.]

The unicorn kingdom that existed prior to Equestria's founding had the same sort of hierarchy by lineage, and many of those titles still exist in modern times as a relic of those period. But our history had to undergo a great disruption before our current system arose.

[Celestia has picked up a common theme about royalty on other worlds. Few people have positive things to say about it. That bothers her, particularly as she remembers her own errors, frequent and egregious as they had been at first.]

If you don't mind to answer... What kind of disruption? Though I understand if you do not with the talk about that.

[A hierarchy different than one settled by lineage. A government system in which only those who were worth it acquired rulership. Was such a thing possible for humans? For a world that lacked the magic that Equestria seemed to flow with. She can't really imagine it, and she fears what would be required for such a system to be installed, both to the country and to those who ruler under the old regime.]

Discord. The spirit of disharmony.

[She doesn't speak his name with anything close to what she truly feels. Discord has reformed now, and she mustn't speak about him with prejudice... though she hopes he will never, ever appear here, she cannot count on that.]

That's quite specific.

[It doesn't tell much exactly, sure, but knowing that it's a the spirit of disharmony and that it's named Discord it doesn't take much to think of the different effects it could have had in Celestia's world.]

So in your world even disharmony has a spirit. In my world it doesn't, there's nothing, person, spirit or magical being, responsible for it or that instigates it as far as I know. It just forms part of people's nature unfortunately.

[Celestia laughs softly, nothing more than a low noise deep in her throat.] Oh, make no mistake, we need no spirit for disharmony. We simply have one on top of that. But his power runs far beyond simply making ponies have difficult interactions. The very laws of physics are his playthings/

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject