With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

11th September 2012
21:57 GMT

Waving the cheerful-looking Sassy Saddles goodbye, Rarity walks out of her Canterlot fancy shop, sees me waiting and manages not to sigh.

"So?"

"She knows somepony she thinks will be suitable. Naturally, I will need to check the quality of their work to make certain that they're up to my standard, but we both think that this will work."

I nod and fall in alongside her as she trots down the street. Canterlot streets are curious. Despite not having motor vehicles they are clearly divided into pavements and roads, and far wider than the relatively few carts now in evidence require. Maybe things get very busy during the early hours of the morning?

"Glad to hear it. So… We good?"

"We are average. I have no greater fondness for you than I do somepony I have never met."

I nod. "I'll take it. How are things with the Diamond Dogs?"

Rarity lets out a quiet throat-clearing noise.

"We have… An arrangement. They're willing to trade tools and fresh food for a portion of their gem stones, and I take the time to guide them to the best quality deposits when I visit."

"You see? Now you can get what you need for your work without theft or child labour!"

"…serve to keep us divided, unable…"

Of course, I… Rather imagine that Spike would prefer it the other way around.

She cough-throat clears, then raises her right forehoof to her mouth for a moment before lowering it back to the pavement.

"Yes. Well. I'm sure that we've both learned something valuable from the experience."

"I think I'll quit while I'm all square."

"…free from the tyranny of…"

"So you have learned something."

"Ah… Could be. You want me to open a boom tube back to Ponyville?"

"I think that I will take a little time to peruse the boutiques of Canterlot. Competitor research, as it were."

"Fine with me. You going to make your own way back, or do you need me to hang around?"

Spoiler: Version which occurs if Grayven hadn't already met Starlight Glimmer, which he obviously has.

"I'm.. perfectly…" Rarity looks past me at some sort of pony street preacher who is being widely ignored by the few passers-by, and gives her a slight frown before returning her attention to me. "Perfectly able to locate the station without you."

"No fur off my nose. Just thought you might appreciate the faster journey. Guess I'll see you later, then."

"I suppose that it's possible." She looks me over, then turns and trots towards… Another clothing shop.

Meh.

I'm getting a few stares, but it looks like the pony reaction to crazy street preachers is the same as the human reaction: head down and walk past them. As a result, no one is stopping to look at the giant alicorn. Including the crazy street preacher, who's so far into her spiel that I'm not even sure if she's aware of her surroundings.

Ah, okay. Not much going on back on Earth that needs my attention, Vega's settling down nicely, I've returned my relations with the Bearerherd to neutral and Luna's been flicking her tail in what I think is meant to be a suggestive way at me lately. No need to go home just yet.

"…experience true equality!"

You know what? I'm going to see what that's all about.

I amble in the direction of the mare now taking a moment to breathe, and slowly becoming aware of exactly how much attention the locals are paying her. Her muzzle sets in a discordant protosnarl as she stares after a nearby couple, who spot her expression and hurry away a little faster.

"Hey."

She turns her face towards me, snarl vanishing as she fixes her expression into 'politely persuasive' for a moment before realising what I am and blinking in confusion. But the sales script has already been activated.

"Hello, sir! Have you come to hear how all ponies can be truly equal?"

"I was wondering what this was about. Pretty sure all citizens have equality under the law."

"'The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread'. But is that really all we can hope for?"

Probably-crazy pony has a pale lilac pelt and a purple mane, with a cutie mark of an equals sign. Explains that, then.

"Probably. Different ponies have different abilities and desires, so there are always going to be differences."

"But what if they didn't."

"Ah… In… What sense?"

"What if all ponies had the same abilities?"

"I don't think that's possible. I mean, if someone spends time working on developing their skills at something then they're going to get better at it. And it's just inefficient to constantly switch jobs."

"But that presupposes that anypony can get as good at another job as another pony. And as long as we have cutie marks, that will never be true."

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Yes." Her grin is more than a little manic. "Think about it. A pony with a cutie mark in… I don't know, snowboarding, will have a greater understanding of snowboarding than anypony else, no matter how experienced they are! Eventually they'll get to the point where they can't have a meaningful conversation with anypony who doesn't have that mark about it. And many ponies make their special talent the centre of their lives."

"Ok-."

She nods enthusiastically. "And that's why we have to abolish them."

"Abolish them?"

"Yes."

"You know, I've had this theory that they're actually parasites, drawn to the pony body when they discover their special talents."

"R-really?" She blinks, then shifts back into salespony mode. "I mean, great! And not at all crazy!"

"Right." I nod. "Glad you see it that way. What is your proposed fix?"

"I was able to find a wand that lets me remove cutie marks and place them in crystal prisons, where they can't separate us from our fellow ponies any longer!"

I nod. "Neat. And then you could network them."

Another blink. "Network them?"

"Sure. Like… Each knot is a special talent, and each strand of rope is a connection from one pony to another. You could give everyone access to everyone else's special talents. That way, anyone can step into anyone else's role without any loss of efficiency."

She tilts her head a little to the left, frowning. "I.. don't…"

"Once you've extracted the special talent, you could create an entire library of special talents. Let ponies swap talents in and out, or… Allow them to connect to the entire group of marks. Let them draw on it, or… Maybe even draw on all of them at once so that every pony has every talent."

"That…" Her eyes widen. "That's brilliant!"

"Well, you know, alicorns are the most equal of ponies, being equally earth pony, pegasus pony and unicorn pony. Why don't I introduce you to-?"

There's a teal flash, and she's gone.

Huh.

What a strange pony.

"I'm.. perfectly…" Rarity looks past me at some sort of pony street preacher-. Starlight Glimmer? Been a few weeks since I've seen her, and Luna hasn't mentioned her. Wonder what she's been up to? Our Town is nowhere near Canterlot. Starlight's being widely ignored by the few passers-by, and Rarity gives her a slight frown before returning her attention to me. "Perfectly able to locate the station without you."

"No fur off my nose. Just thought you might appreciate the faster journey. Guess I'll see you later, then."

"I suppose that it's possible." She looks me over, then turns and trots towards… Another clothing shop.

Meh.

I'm getting a few stares, but it looks like the pony reaction to crazy street preachers is the same as the human reaction: head down and walk past them. As a result, no one is stopping to look at the giant alicorn. Including Starlight Glimmer herself, who's so far into her spiel that I'm not even sure if she's aware of her surroundings.

Ah, okay. Not much going on back on Earth that needs my attention, Vega's settling down nicely, I've returned my relations with the Bearerherd to neutral and Luna's been flicking her tail in what I think is meant to be a suggestive way at me lately. No need to go home just yet.

"…experience true equality!"

You know what? I'm going to see what that's all about.

I amble in the direction of the mare now taking a moment to breathe, and slowly becoming aware of exactly how much attention the locals are paying her. Her muzzle sets in a discordant protosnarl as she stares after a nearby couple, who spot her expression and hurry away a little faster.

"Hey."

She turns her face towards me, snarl vanishing as she fixes her expression into 'politely persuasive' for a moment before realising who I am and blinking in confusion. I can see almost the exact moment she moves her mouth to start her sales script and then clamps down as she recognises me.

"He-. Uh. Hello s-. Grayven, hello Grayven."

She shakes her head, ears flopping down.

I look up at the large equals sign banner behind her, and then down-. The grey equals sign on her haunches has been replaced by a stylised purple star with a waft of teal smoke rising off it. Fits her pelt and mane better, though I'm not sure how it fits her outlook.

"What happened to your cutie mark?"

"Oooh. Ah. That's ah…" She sighs. "The equals sign was painted on. I wanted to show ponies how committed I was to the cause of equality."

"And that's your actual mark?"

She nods solemnly. "Yes. My special talent is magic."

I-. Hang on. "Sunset Shimmer, magic, Twilight Sparkle, magic, Starlight Glimmer, also magic."

"Ah…"

"Should we be looking out for a mare named Nightfall Twinkle?"

"No, that's not how.. it…" She raises her right forehoof to her chin and looks thoughtful. "I don't think that's how it works. Though ponies do often develop talents related to their names."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. Do their parents get magic intuition?"

"I don't know. I could never get anypony to agree to let me study it." She gives a quiet snort and bows her head slightly. "I don't understand how so few other ponies are interested in this!"

"In my experience, intelligent species don't like reflecting on their underlying assumptions. Questioning cutie marks? That's more than any of them want to think about."

"You proved that at your talk."

"So what are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to persuade more ponies to volunteer for my experiments. I've had… Some success-"

"Already?"

"-with-. Ah, yes?"

"Because I was expecting something this complicated to take years."

"Oh. Ah, thanks. I talked the zebra alchemist Zecora into telling me how the cutie pox potion worked. I can replicate it no problem, but fine control is… Ah… Getting.. there."

"Well, you've already made more progress than anyone else in the history of Equestria. Feel proud."

"Thank you." She stands up a little straighter. "I will."

"Though if I might suggest..? I don't think random street corners is the best place to go for volunteers of magical experiments. Have you considered older students from the School for Gifted Unicorns?"

"I was planning on taking the volunteers back to Our Town…"

"I could probably talk them into letting you use their lab space."

"Oh. Um. That.. would be great." She hops down off the stage and trots over to me. "I'm a little surprised that you're being this supportive. Most ponies…"

"Well, you know, alicorns are the most equal of ponies, being equally earth pony, pegasus pony and unicorn pony. Let's go track down the dean…"