((Just a side note, this is the first example of an ask originally sent to i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle. I am answering a few that I can answer with just text even if maybe the person is or is not around Tumblr anymore))
Genie Twilight: I’ve always been a fan of more classical style of music, I do tend to lean onto Octavia’s specialty more often than not. Though that’s not to say I dislike genre’s that are more energizing. Vinyl’s tracks are often jams, and I do happen to have a T-Shirt of her that was gifted to me by Rainbow Dash years ago.
Though one genre I’m surprised I like as much as I do is Metal. Sweetie Belle’s certainly done a fine job showing off her powerful voice in a genre some often complain is too loud. But that's part of the fun. Sometimes you need a little energetic audio to get you through the day. It can be hard to work in pure silence.
It had been a few hours since Blacklin had left the library with Moonlight. After their conversation with Viola, the pair had spent the time discussing about living situations. The current options were limited, there was no way he could handle having four living with him. it was hard enough simply having two sharing his home (it had been built for one after all).
Despite his concern, Moonlight insisted that things were fine. In her own words, things had already been taken care of. Gilda and herself were to stay with Blacklin until their barracks had been completed while Nightingale and Lighting Dust would reside at Town Hall.
It hadn't settled well for Blacklin, but he knew better than to argue it. There would be no point in the long run anyway. Nightingale simply had an aura about her that allowed no arguments to be made.
After the day he had, Blacklin was finding simple solitude in his own room. As he glanced around it, a small smile plays on his beak. Over the three years he'd been in Ponyville, that one room had changed so much.
It had gone from a simple, near bare room with just his bed and writing desk to having countless pictures on the walls, memorabilia from Canterlot Castle, signed pictures from Spitfire and Firefly, framed music sheet from the Royal Canterlot Orchestra (which he had finally gotten the pleasure of seeing when he went with Roseluck and Pinkie to take Princess Luna up on her offer a year ago).
He remembered the periods of loneliness he had felt during the first year. Sure he'd made quick friends when he moved: Lyra, Firefly, Scootaloo, Applejack, Berry Punch and Minuette; but he had to admit a bit of homesickness had set in at first. That was why he was grateful for the friends he'd made, Minuette and Lyra especially (not to discount the insanity that the CMC would often bring along). Those two stopped by some nights, along with Roseluck after they'd become friends, and their company had done wonders to ease that feeling away over the years.
Still, it was never a dull moment, especially when the orb activated, even if the messages conveyed were sometimes horribly embarrassing. Even if the messages to others would end up causing him trouble at times!
He reached over and touched it gently, causing it to flicker and then shift turning into an almost three-dimensional window. Once more, the gryphon recognized the scarred features of his friend Viola.
The unicorn mare could be seen pacing and muttering to herself. Her cheeks still held a blush that had been there during her last communication. It would not be surprising if she had been like this since then.
Finally she seemed to realize that her recording was going and she looks straight at Blacklin and glares.
"Gah! First Pinkie Pie and now you!" she exclaimed. "Y'all need to stop making assumptions about me already!"
She muttered a bit more and then takes a breath, looking back towards Blacklin.
"I'm going to turn this back at you," she stated matter-of-factly. "You've mentioned 'the herd' before and I want some clarification on courting and how that works." There's a short pause before she gave a sly grin. ". . .and if the lot of you are so bent on getting nosy, I shall ask if you and Applejack ever cleared the air from earlier."
Her outburst caused the gryphon some confusion until he realized that she had probably meant to have it sent, or at least have it received, earlier than it did.
The questions asked left a slightly bitter taste in his mouth. He thought he had gone over this topic before in the past, but he could only guess that either Viola never saw it, had forgotten about it, or had been left confused by it. Those were the only things that made sense to him anyways.
He sighed a bit and then shruged. It wouldn't hurt to try to clarify things a little. Though, it was probably best to answer that last question first.
"I'm guessing that you want to know about what's happened since she and I decided to take a wait and see approach," he said, receiving a nod in response.
"That's what I thought." He gave another soft sigh and settled in on his bed, thinking over how exactly to respond. "It's been a month or so since then. We've had a lot of time to think it over since then and really, it hasn't come back up since."
He gave another shrug. It wasn't the best of answers and he knew that, but it was the truth. Since they had that talk, both he and Applejack hadn't really brought it up. Of course, that may have been due to his own work picking up and the added work of making sure that Moonlight didn't over strain herself.
On top of that, Applejack had started spending more and more time with Rarity lately. He didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but the unsaid thought was there. Honestly, it was cute to watch. There was no jealousy, no bitterness. If that's where things were headed for AJ, he was happy for her and wished her the best.
"She's been doing her own thing since then," he says aloud.
He noted the look of disbelief on Viola's face and he responds with a sheepish smile. "Look, it's not my place to talk about what may be going on in her personal life, okay?" He clarified.
He took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. Now he had to tackle the bigger question.
"About the herd thing," the gryphon says slowly, "that's a bit complicated to go on about. I'll try to do my best to explain it, but forgive me if it comes out odd.
"I stated before, I think, that Equestrian ponies are pretty much polygamous," he begins. "Mainly because of the skewed gender ratios. I think last count had it near three to one, mare to stallion."
He slid off the bed and began to pace.
"A 'herd', as you can guess, is what a stallion's set of mates is called. A herd usually will consist of three to five mares, but I've heard stories of some stallions in places like Manehatten having a herd with up to eight to ten mares in it." He shakes his head. "I don't know how anyone could handle something like that personally. Three or four would be my limit at best.
"Now this isn't all ways the case, there are exceptions to the case like myself and Big Mac, but a herd will usually consist of just one race of pony. You know, like all pegasi or all unicorn.
"Now, because of this, it isn't unusual for siblings or cousins to end up as part of the same herd. Especially if they happen to be close and have the same taste in stallions."
He stopped pacing and laughs before looking back at Viola.
"So it wouldn't be odd, by pony standards anyways, if say one of Pinkie's sisters were to join my 'herd'."
He gave another soft laugh and continued on.
"Each herd often has an 'alpha mare'. The best way to describe it would be that they're the first mare of the herd. Sort of the main mare a stallion wants to be with. They're the one who gives the okay about any other mares who want to join a stallion's herd."
A smile crossed Blacklin's beak. He could already see the question forming up in Viola's mind through the glint in her eyes.
"And how does a mare show they want to join a herd, you might ask?" he went on. "Well, some take the very direct approach and flat out ask. Some join with the alpha mare. Others have, well, the best way to describe it would be a 'mating ritual'."
He chuckled softly.
"Now, I've never seen any, but I've heard stories of some," he explained. "Each race kinda has their own ritual that they use.
"Pegasi are like gryphons in a way. You've seen the feathers that I've given to Roseluck and Pinkie and the significance of those. Pegasi are the same way. They'll present the stallion with one of their feathers, sometimes it's plucked form their wings and sometimes it's one that's fallen out. Another thing that they'll do is to present a stallion with a personalized cloud."
He notes Viola chuckling a bit and smiled. It was a bit odd, he admitted, but would be interesting to see at some point. Personally, he pictured Dash trying to make this giant cloud statue of herself to give to a stallion when he had heard that part.
"And unicorns have their own, rather interesting, ritual." He hopped back on his bed as he continued on. "Unicorns will give a gem that matches the color of their eyes to the stallion they like. After so many gems have been accepted, they will do something that I never thought was even possible: create a vial that will contain their magic. Honestly, if I hadn't seen such a vial with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.
"I don't know how they pull it off, but I'd love to see it some day."
Once more he noted the look in Viola's eyes. The question that was forming was an easy one to guess: He'd mentioned Pegasi and Unicorn ponies so far, but had been absent about Earth ponies. The truth of the matter was that he didn't know about their rituals.
"Kinda funny given that my two marefriends are earth ponies, but I really don't know much about their own ritual," he admits. "I hazarded a few guesses before but those were things that ended up being true for all races, not just them.
"You see, a common ritual between all three races is to give the stallion a bouquet of flowers that match the color of the stallion’s coat. Granted, that's not always the case. Sometimes there isn't a flower that'll match their coat. I don't know what they do in that case."
He tilted his head in thought and tapped his beak, going over all he had just said.; wondering if there was anything he'd missed. Rituals themselves, what a herd was considered, alpha mares. . . He blinked a few times and snapped his talons.
"Ah! Almost forgot something! I mentioned alpha mares earlier, but there was something about them that I had forgotten about. You see, while it's usually the first mare to be a stallion's partner, that's not always the case. There are times when it'll change. An alpha mare is the one who means the most to a stallion. There have been a few times when two mares mean equally as much to stallion, but that's incredibly rare."
He smiled at Viola. "I'm sorry about all the teasing you've gotten about your relationship with your version of myself," he says. "I do know exactly how that feels. You'll recall that Roseluck and I received the same kind of treatment from our friends at first as well. While, yeah, we ended up together in the end, it may not happen for you and him."
His smile grew larger. "Though, it's pretty easy to see that you're a close friend to him. If he's like me and he's offering to teach you to fight or simply just really opening up, it means he trusts you deeply, even if he doesn't say it out loud. You're a friend and we're loyal to those we care about."
There's no reply to his words, but he expected that they had been understood. Moonlight and Pinkie meant no harm in their teasing, but he knew that it could go too far at times. He just hoped that it didn't cause either Viola or this other version of Blacklin undue stress in the end.
Viola: Pardon the second ask, but for a situation coming from outside the world rather than in it, there's always running afoul of an Alien... or THE Alien, given you seem to enjoy the classics.
((Oh yes! This one sounds fun too! And an advantage to the others: sprites exist of them already.))
Viola: Alright, I've looked at most of the suggestions, and given your apparent love for Zombie flicks, I'd like to suggest for the Unusual: An Accidental Zombie Apocalypse brought about by Twilight Sparkle. I'm certain you see how this could come to be, she's only trying to keep her friends around longer and it backfires horribly.
((Zombies. That sounds fun. While the idea of Twilight making them I don’t know if it has been made, but I’m pretty sure there is a bunch of Zombie stories out there to use. Maybe that one Zombie Steven Universe Tumblr…))
"Okay. This I need to get this cleared up before I confuse myself. That's... not the local Beauty Brass is it? Do you happen to know where your version is, if she exists? I think Blacklin might know the answer to that one."
“Uh, yeah, that is our Beauty Brass. Why would you think it otherwise? Silly mare.” ~Carrot
It had been a few hours since Blacklin had left the library with Moonlight. After the conversation with Viola, the pair had spent the time discussing about living situations. The current options were limited, there was no way he could handle having four living with him. it was hard enough simply having two sharing his home (it had been built for one after all).
Despite his concern, Moonlight insisted that things were fine. In her own words, things had already been taken care of. Gilda and herself were to stay with Blacklin until their barracks had been completed while Nightingale and Lighting Dust would reside at Town Hall.
It hadn't settled well for Blacklin, but he knew better than to argue it. There would be no point in the long run anyway. Nightingale simply had an aura about her that allowed no arguments to be made.
After the day he had, Blacklin was finding simple solitude in his own room. As he glanced around it, a small smile plays on his beak. Over the three years he'd been in Ponyville, that one room had changed so much.
It had gone from a simple, near bare room with just his bed and writing desk to having countless pictures on the walls, memorabilia from Canterlot Castle, signed pictures from Spitfire and Firefly, framed music sheet from the Royal Canterlot Orchestra (which he had finally gotten the pleasure of seeing when he went with Roseluck and Pinkie to take Princess Luna up on her offer a year ago).
He remembered the periods of loneliness he had felt during the first year. Sure he'd made quick friends when he moved: Lyra, Firefly, Scootaloo, Applejack, Berry Punch and Minuette; but he had to admit a bit of homesickness had set in at first. That was why he was grateful for the friends he'd made, Minuette and Lyra especially (not to discount the insanity that the CMC would often bring along). Those two stopped by some nights, along with Roseluck after they'd become friends, and their company had done wonders to ease that feeling away over the years.
Still, it was never a dull moment when the orb activated, even if the messages conveyed were sometimes horribly embarrassing. Even the messages to others would end up causing him trouble at times!
He reaches over and touches it gently, causing it to flicker and then shift turning into an almost three-dimensional window. Once more, the gryphon recognized the scarred features of his friend Viola.
The unicorn mare can be seen pacing and muttering to herself. Her cheeks still held a blush that had been there during her last communication. It would not be surprising if she had been like this since then.
Finally she seems to realize that her recording was going and she looks straight at Blacklin and glares.
"Gah! First Pinkie Pie and now you!" she exclaims. "Y'all need to stop making assumptions about me already!"
She mutters a bit more and then takes a breath, looking back towards Blacklin.
"I'm going to turn this back at you," she states matter-of-factly. "You've mentioned 'the herd' before and I want some clarification on courting and how that works." There's a short pause before she gives a sly grin. ". . .and if the lot of you are so bent on getting nosy, I shall ask if you and Applejack ever cleared the air from earlier."
Her outburst causes the gryphon some confusion until he realized that she had probably meant to have it sent, or at least have it received, earlier than it did.
The questions asked left a slightly bitter taste in his mouth. He thought he had gone over this topic before in the past, but he could only guess that either Viola never saw it, forgotten about it, or had been left confused by it. Those were the only things that made sense to him anyways.
He sighs a bit and then shrugs. It wouldn't hurt to try to clarify things a little. Though, it was probably best to answer that last question first.
"I'm guessing that you want to know about what's happened since she and I decided to take a wait and see approach," he says, receiving a nod in response.
"That's what I thought." He gives a soft sigh and settles in on his bed, thinking over how exactly to respond. "It's been a month since then. We've had a lot of time to think it over since then and really, it hasn't come back up since."
He shrugs a bit. It wasn't the best of answers and he knew that, but it was the truth. Since they had that talk, both he and Applejack hadn't really brought it up. Of course, that may have been due to his own work picking up and the added work of making sure that Moonlight didn't over strain herself.
On top of that, Applejack had been spending more and more time with Rarity lately. He didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but the unsaid thought was there. Honestly, it was cute to watch. There was no jealousy, no bitterness. If that's where things were headed for AJ, he was happy for her and wished her the best.
"She's been doing her own thing since then," he says aloud.
He notes the look of disbelief on Viola's face and he responds with a sheepish smile. "It's not my place to talk about her personal life, okay?" He adds.
He takes a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling.
"About the herd thing," the gryphon says slowly, "that's a bit complicated to go on about. I'll try to do my best to explain it, but forgive me if it comes out odd.
"I stated before, I think, that Equestrian ponies are pretty much polygamous," he begins. "Mainly because of the skewed gender ratios. I think last count had it near four to one mare to stallion."
He slides off the bed and starts to pace.
"A 'herd', as you can guess, is what a stallion's set of mates is called. A herd usually will consist of three to five mares, but I've heard stories of some stallions in places like Manehatten having a herd with up to eight to ten mares in it." He shakes his head. "I don't know how anyone could handle something like that personally. Three or four would be my limit at best."
"Now this isn't all ways the case, there are exceptions to the case like myself and Big Mac, but a herd will usually consist of just one race of pony. You know, like all pegasi or all unicorn.
"Now, because of this, it isn't unusual for siblings or cousins to end up as part of the same herd. Especially if they happen to be close and have the same taste in stallions."
His pacing stops and laughs before looking back at Viola.
"So it wouldn't be odd, by pony standards anyways, if say one of Pinkie's sisters were to join my 'herd'."
He gives another soft laugh and continues on.
"Each herd has an 'alpha mare'. The best way to describe it would be that they're the first mare of the herd. Sort of the main mare a stallion wants to be with. They're the one who gives the okay about any other mares who want to join a stallion's herd."
A smile crosses Blacklin's beak. He can already see the question forming up in Viola's mind through the glint in her eyes.
"And how does a mare show they want to join a herd, you might ask?" he goes on. "Well, some take the very direct approach and flat out ask. Some join with the alpha mare. Others have, well, the best way to describe it would be a 'mating ritual'."
He chuckles softly.
"Now, I've never seen any, but I've heard stories of some," he says. "Each race kinda has their own ritual that they use.
"Pegasi are like gryphons in a way. You've seen the feathers that I've given to Roseluck and Pinkie and the significance of those. Pegasi are the same way. They'll present the stallion with one of their feathers, sometimes it's plucked form their wings and sometimes it's one that's fallen out. Another thing that they'll do is to present a stallion with a personalized cloud."
He notes Viola chuckling a bit and smiles. It was a bit odd, he admitted, but would be interesting to see at some point. Personally, he pictured Dash trying to make this giant cloud statue of herself to give to a stallion when he had heard that part.
"And unicorns have their own, rather interesting, ritual." He hops back on his bed as he continues on. "Unicorns will give a gem that matches the color of their eyes to the stallion they like. After so many gems have been accepted, they will do something that I never thought was even possible: create a vial that will contain their magic. Honestly, if I hadn't seen such a vial with my own eyes, I never would have believed it."
"I don't know how they pull it off, but I'd love to see it some day."
Once more he notes the look in Viola's eyes. The question that was forming was an easy one to guess: He'd mentioned Pegasi and Unicorn ponies so far, but had been absent about Earth ponies. The truth of the matter was that he didn't know about their rituals.
"Kinda funny given that my two marefriends are earth ponies, but I really don't know much about their own ritual," he admits. "I hazarded a few guesses before but those were things that ended up being true for all races, not just them.
"You see, a common ritual between all three races is to give the stallion a bouquet of flowers that match the color of their coat. Granted, that's not always the case. Sometimes there isn't a flower that'll match their coat. I don't know what they do in that case."
He tilts his head in thought and taps his beak, going over all he had just said. Wondering if there was anything he'd missed. Rituals themselves, what a herd was considered, alpha mares. . . He blinks a few times and snaps his talons.
"Ah! Almost forgot something! I mentioned alpha mares earlier, but there was something about them that I had forgotten about. You see, while it's usually the first mare to be a stallion's partner, that's not always the case. There are times when it'll change. An alpha mare is the one who means the most to a stallion. There have been a few times when two mares mean equally as much to stallion, but that's incredibly rare."
He smiles at Viola. "I'm sorry about all the teasing you've gotten about your relationship with your version of myself," he says. "I do know exactly how that feels. You'll recall that Roseluck and I received the same kind of treatment from our friends at first as well. While, yeah, we ended up together in the end, it may not happen for you and him."
His smile grows larger. "Though, it's pretty easy to see that you're a close friend to him. If he's like me and he's offering to teach you to fight or simply just really opening up, it means he trusts you deeply, even if he doesn't say it out loud. You're a friend and we're loyal to those we care about."
There's no reply to his words, but he expected that they had been understood. Moonlight and Pinkie meant no harm in their teasing, but he knew that it can go too far at times. He just hoped that it didn't cause either Viola or this other version of Blacklin undue stress in the end.
My gosh, she's rather adorable! She's come a long way since then?
Oh, Ruby's come a very long way since those pictures were taken! She still hates it when we show them off though. She's a good kid, maybe too serious at times.
Phfft, actually you'd think with her attitude that she'd be Carrot's kid and not Berry's. Dinky's kinda the same way. She some times acts more like Berry than she does her mom!
Blacklin tilts his head a bit as he views the window the orb had just opened. He wasn't sure which confused him more: the question itself or seeing the amber unicorn with crimson with a yellow streak mane and tail that he didn't recognize behind Viola. She certainly wasn't a unicorn that he recognized from the Equestria he knew of.
Next to him, Moonlight looks at the question and pales, shaking her head.
"Oh no. Don't you dare answer that, Blacklin," she says.
The male gryphon gives a mischievous smirk at hearing his sister's protests.
"Well, there was this one time when she was still just learning to fly. . " he starts, moving to the side to avoid Moonlight's sudden attempt to tackle him.
"Noooo! Not that one! Don't you dare tell them about that one!" She yells out. "You tell that one and I'll tell them about that incident with the filly from Zebrica!"
Blacklin freezes and shoots what could only be a look of fear and desperation. "You wouldn't."
Moonlight gives him a smug look, knowing that she now held the upper hand. "I would."
Her brother looks around, seeking a counter claim. His ears perk up as one comes to mind. He gives Moonlight a sly look, leaving Pinkie and Gilda to look at the siblings in confusion.
"Well, if you want to play that game," he says slowly, "then I'll just be forced to tell them what happened with your first date. What was his name again? Oh that's right, it was-"
Moonlight gave a squawk of either surprise or fear, it was hard to say which given that the image in the window had suddenly changed right at that moment. It shifts from Viola to another mare that both Blacklin and Pinkie knew quite well. A familiar earth pony mare with a cream colored coat as well as maroon and pink mane and tail.
"Oh look, a new question!" the blue gryphon. "Let's continue this conversation never!" She turns her attention completely to the question that had been asked and tilts her head a bit.
"So, who is this 'Rose' she is talking about? Another friend of yours?"
"That's Blackie's special somepony!" Pinkie blurts out. "Ooo! We should go visit her and introduce Moony to her!"
Moonlight blinks and then looks between Blacklin and Pinkie, pointing a talon at the pink pony.
"Now hold on one minute," she states. "I thought she was the one you were with. If she isn't then why is she adorned with one of your feathers, dear brother?"
Blacklin and Pinkie share a look and then rub the back of their necks, looking for a way to explain it all to Moonlight.
