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Clarity writes up the events of the defeat and reform of Nightmare Moon, including the fact that her crown is apparently continuing to exist, and makes two copies - the original in personal notebook stash, one tucked into the back of "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide", and one sent to Princess Celestia via mailing spell with the suggestion that it could be published in its own volume especially if either Princess would care to add notes on the parts Clarity didn't personally witness.
And she sets about settling into Ponyville.
She learns her way around - here's where she can buy carrots and bunched dandelions and clover sprouts; here's where she can get a case for her crown and cases for everpony else's necklace so they don't have to wear them or leave them lying around loose; here's a shortcut between Guiding's house and the tower the twins live in together. This is when this little town wakes up in the morning and this is when everything closes at night. This is what her friends do all day: Cherry Cordial farms and looks after critters. Brightblaze tinkers with gadgets kind of singlemindedly (though she also flies). Silver Streak plays violin and and reads and wanders around looking at things. Guiding Star does fortune-telling for spare bits and belongs to a dance group and volunteers for anything going on in town that could use amateur decorating (Joy is often with her when she does this). Joy also wanders around being sociable and helpful and cooks, itinerantly, for anypony who'll spare him kitchen space.
And Clarity learns the organizational system of the library, with Blueberry's considerable help, and she studies and explores.
And when she's been in residence for just shy of a week, she gets a letter from the Princess, which contains six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. Aww, that's thoughtful. Clarity's never been before.
She goes out to see which of her friends she'll run into first if she takes a meandering path through town.
allcomplete
allcomplete
Clarity has figured out where they are at this point, and does know the way to Guiding Star's house. There she trots.
follow_polaris
Guiding is at the little awning-covered bit of her front yard that serves as a storefront for her fortune-telling, and she is casting her spell for somepony.
"Looks like everybody's set up to be on time and remember all their gear, but I'm not gonna tell you who's going to win, that'd be no fun," Guiding tells her customer, who giggles and tosses her a few bits and gallops off.
"Hi, Streak, hi, Clarity!"
"Looks like everybody's set up to be on time and remember all their gear, but I'm not gonna tell you who's going to win, that'd be no fun," Guiding tells her customer, who giggles and tosses her a few bits and gallops off.
"Hi, Streak, hi, Clarity!"
clearthestorm
"Hello," says Streak. "I've just been given cause to wonder how you got your cutie mark."
follow_polaris
"Huh, did I never tell you? I was messing around with magic and then I had my first vision and I knew something cool was going to happen, so I ran to tell everypony to go out and see it! And they did, and I had my star."
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"...For future reference, I really don't like being interrupted. But that's interesting!"
clearthestorm
"That makes five of us, with Joy obviously not applicable. I do not have an explanation for this," says Streak.
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"It could be lots of ponies, but if it is just us five it's very strange. Who else is around our age and might have gotten their cutie mark at the same time?"
follow_polaris
"Uuuum, me and Cordy came in to school with our marks after the same weekend, but everypony else in our class either had them already or got them later. And Ponyville's a one-room schoolhouse kind of town."
clearthestorm
"Blaze and I didn't have many close friends our own age, but I believe I would have noticed if an unusual number of nearby ponies got their cutie marks at the same time that we did, and I remember no such thing."
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"And I was behind most of the sorts of ponies that were in my cohort at the School for Gifted Unicorns, if not actually the last. Huh."
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"Yep. Maybe I'll write the Princess and see if she knows anything, but I'm not sure a question like that will be a priority. I can tuck it into a friendship letter maybe."
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"...I'm personally acquainted with Princess Celestia, but it's more of a teacher/student kind of thing, I think. Assignments and reports, not - chatting about things."
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"I can write her letters, yes. And I could usually get in to see her in person if I wanted when I was still in Canterlot. That just doesn't guarantee that she'll pay attention to me over the hundreds of other things competing for her attention - or tell me why, if she does ignore me. I didn't know at first why she was telling me to go make friends when I was trying to warn her about Nightmare Moon."
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"I mean, she gets lots of credit for it actually working," says Clarity. "It did actually work, and in that sense it's reasonably like you telling me to let go without explaining that I was going to land in a tree. I imagine if I asked her she'd say something about wanting me to make friends - authentically, instead of just recruiting ponies to go on a quest with me. Maybe the Elements wouldn't work if it was just quest-recruitment."
