"So every week we trade off on personally meeting with ponies in the city." Shining Armor said, sitting up in their bed and scratching away at a note pad while Cadence did the same.
She nodded, moving the wine glass to her lips and sipping the ancient, perfectly preserved alcohol that had been spared the wrath of Sombra. On one of their explorations of the place they'd discovered an entire wine cellar and had put it to good use. "I'll do ribbon cutting ceremonies if you oversee sporting events."
"Deal." Shining nodded, evidently happy that they could agree on that.
The two were dividing up their mutual and separate duties. The fiasco of hiring was fading from her memory, the pair having navigated through it well enough to where they had a functioning palace staff. Only time would tell if those working were the best fit for their position. Cadence didn't have the heart to tell her husband that at a later date they'd have to go through the process again.
The Princess of the Crystal Empire just didn't feel comfortable with delegating the responsibility of who worked for her to another. Her new domain wasn't so vast and populated to justify that. "Oh. It looks like I'm to hold court every weekday for two hours in the afternoon and most of Saturday." She frowned in thought, wondering if that would have a serious impact on her day to day life.
Shining looked up for his notepad. "I can help you with that if you like. We could alternate the weekdays and swap on the Saturdays." He offered.
Normally she would be touched that her husband was still so quick to volunteer himself in helping her but this time she had a issue. "But you're conducting all of the guard's training a little after two on the weekday."
He looked nonplussed at that, apparently not seeing what she was getting at. "Yeah that's what would let me do it, you don't really know anything about the military anyway."
That had been the wrong thing to say, Cadence not liking the implication of that. "You don't know anything about running court either, I can run court just fine." Her slight buzz was getting in the way of her thinking or she wouldn't have become quite so passionate about it. Certainly Shining hadn't meant anything about her capabilities.
Shining scooted over in the bed to drape a hoof around her shoulder and nuzzle her ear affectionately. "Its not a problem if you want to handle court, Cadence, I was just asking if you thought you might need help. If you want to take part in training the guard that wouldn't be a problem with me."
There was no way that she could stay mad at him, especially not with him tickling her like that. She squirmed as he nuzzled forward and kissed the side of her neck. "I know I kno- stop that." She swatted at him with a hoof and tried to wiggle out of his clutches.
She actually didn't particularly want to have much to do with the guard. She could fight evil monsters and godlike enemies but that didn't mean she wasn't exceptionally girly. Cadence was a pink alicorn princess of love for a reason and it wasn't because she liked to run around and practice fighting in heavy armor.
"I think I'll be fine handling the court myself, you don't have to worry about me running the court-ah, Shining, careful. I'm going to spill my wine."
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Never make important decisions when you're tipsy and in bed. She reminded herself for the fourth time today. She honestly didn't know how Celestia or Luna managed it. Cadence was sitting high up on a dais overlooking the throne room where her courtiers and the court petitioners waited for their turn to address her. The grace period after King Sombra's defeat was over and now the every day business of settling disputes had become one of her jobs as ruler.
“Princess. I have here the purchases made by Princess Coda the third for all the ice she ever bought from us with the address of our snow farm put right at the bottom.” A surly looking crystal pony with a wide brimmed straw hat on insisted.
He was standing right next to an equally disgruntled earth pony chewing on a pipe. “And I have a signed letter from Prince Even Measure thanking me for the purchase made from the snow on that same piece of land. We've been in business with the royal palace supplying ice-cream for generations.”
“Gentlecolts...please. Mister Snow Globe, Mister Freezer Burn. You're not going to get anywhere fighting like this.” She pleaded, getting the sense that neither feuding stallion were really listening to her.
At dispute were two families of crystal ponies who lived just outside of the crystal city in the snowy tundra. They had the bad fortune of having their entire families inside of the city for, of all things, a frozen treat competition when King Sombra had struck. They had apparently been fierce rivals even back then and time had not healed old wounds.
And now she was hearing an argument about who should rightfully own a track of seemingly completely barren nothingness flanked on all sides by more nothingness. Cadence could only reason that she was being set up by Shining Armor as a prank or was going slowly insane.
“Can you explain again why this particular stretch of snow is important?” She asked, unable to even truly understand what the point of this all was.
Snow Globe cut in front, screwing up his face into a very serious expression. “This area of snow tastes better than regular snow. Been tasting better my whole life, my pappy and his pappies life. We do good business and we wanna keep doing good business.”
“You don't know how to do business to save your hide. You want to turn all that snow into gee-latt-es. Whatever that is. It ain't even got milk in it! Whose gonna wanna eat that?” Freezer Burn spoke up, nudging himself so that he was right up next to his rival.
Snow Globe glared, clearing the distance to directly face the other earth pony. “Shows what you know about business. A gee-latt-e is some new fangled invention of the future. Its water ice with custard on it.”
“Gentlecolts-” She tried to raise her voice, instead she was drowned out by the two.
“Nopony is gonna wanna have that. You'll be wastin the snow.” Freezer Burn insisted, poking a hoof out.
“Gentle-”
Snow Globe wasn't going to accept that, stamping his hoof and taking a menacing step forward. “Ponies are done tired of just ice cream. You got to be thinkin of how to expand the menu. Though I know theres no pont in spending my time telling you good sense. You ain't had good sense once."
“Please-.”
“I'll show you the best sense you can get by hitten you upside the head with my hoof!” Both ponies looked ready to have a go at one another right there in front of the entire crowd of aghast onlookers.
“That is enough. Order in the Crystal Court!” The booming voice of Rock Steady, one of her new guards, filled the audience chamber and effectively quieted both of the unruly stallions who had flinched at being reminded just where they were. “Princess Cadence is holding court, not beholding a brawl. If you do not watch your mouths and manners I will throw you both out.”
Cadence smiled at the guard in thanks, the pegasus nodding back to her that the situation was back in order. She took a deep breath and spoke up. “You both have effective claims on this land, which I think is none at all. Sale orders and letters of congratulation on the quality of your...snow, does not give you any particular rights to it.” She rubbed at her temple, realizing she was still talking about a field of frozen powdery water.
“But...” They both started and were cut off by the glare of Rock Steady.
“I wasn't finished. I would be willing to allow you the chance to purchase deeds splitting the land...How much land are we even talking about.”
“Its about two hundred acres...” They admitted after a moment.
Cadence couldn't help but stare at the pair. Two hundred acres of snow, and it always was snowing outside the wards that kept the city rather temperate and warm, that was not a small amount. That they were even arguing over it rather then sharing the land must have been born out of stubborn competition or mutual dislike, likely both.
Another thought struck her. “You were in business over a thousand years ago. How do you know that the 'quality' of the snow hasn't changed since then?”
That caught both of the earth ponies off guard. They looked at one another and then back up to Cadence who was growing more and more disbelieving by the second at where her life had managed to end up. 'Well?”
“Er...well no Princess. We'd went out and had a argument about it before we ever got a chance to inspect.” Snow Globe admitted sheepishly, taking his straw hat off his head to rub at his thinning mane.
Silence fell over the court beyond a few nervous coughs. Cadence was now rubbing at her eyes at what felt like a headache coming on. “Amicus Brief” She said suddenly, her legal expert who was standing not too far off to her right. “How much exactly is the land outside the city going for per acre?”
The lawyer pony tilted her head for a moment and pondered the question. “I'm not a real estate expert but I believe it goes for about ten bits each.”
“Wonderful.” That sounded like it wasn't particularly expensive. “If you wish to purchase public land then you can do so at our...” She honestly couldn't quite remember the name of the new department and tried to recall.
“Office of Natural Resources. Map Maker is the pony in charge.” Amicus Brief whispered to her.
“Our Office of Natural Resources. If you would please speak to 'Map Maker' she'll be able to help you.” Cadence finished and then gave a stern look at both stallions. “If I hear that one of you tries to hog all of the land or keep it all for yourself I'll declare the whole area a national park and draft you as the park rangers. Understood?”
Both stallions, now appropriately terrified of the idea of giving trivia about snow for the rest of their lives, fled the court quickly and presumably to buy up the land they wanted. Cadence would usually feel bad about being 'mean' to other ponies but the two of them had managed to test her patience badly.
There was a short pause and the next pony in line walked up the length of the throne room. Suddenly there was a light groan that she could hear from the collection of ponies throughout the court. Confused, she looked around at what had caused it and managed to see the wince on both Amicus Brief and Rock Steady.
“Princess.” That was Rock Steady. “You should just tell this pony right away that you're not interested in his...particular complaint. He made a habit of coming to the previous court and making the same petition over and over.” He advised.
Now she was even more confused, the unicorn stallion now approaching looked resolute, ignoring the rest of the crystal ponies who were rolling their eyes at him. Cadence didn't think he looked particularly unreasonable and she was willing to give any pony a chance.
“Go ahead, what is your name and what is your petition to the court?” She asked.
“Thank you Princess.” The gray slate coated crystal pony dipped his head in a quick bow. “My name is Tape Measure and I come about a grave injustice that has been done to myself and many other ponies in your Crystal Empire!”
While Cadence's eyes widened she could see the entire court collectively sigh and slap their hooves to their faces. “Go on...Tape Measure, what is the problem?”
“Well, your majesty. As you know any significantly tall object casts a shadow at the light of the sun. And the tower of your palace is by far the highest structure in the entire city. Would you be surprised to know that your palace makes for an incredibly long shadow?”
She could feel a sort of dread forming already, despite having no idea where this pony was going with the matter. “I...suppose it would have too.”
“And would you be further surprised to know that, consequently, the ponies underneath the shadow are left in a period of darkness which deprives them of the light of the sun for longer then other citizens? Costing money from candles alone and inconveniencing them if they happen to be working?” He sounded almost triumphant at this point, despite the rest of the court still looking exasperated.
“Um...” Cadence was again left without words but this time out of being struck without knowing what to say.
“This of course isn't your fault, Princess, no. Nor is it the fault of those who built this beautiful towering structure that enhances our city. No, Princess Cadence, there is only one culprit!” Tape Measure had apparently been practicing this speech quite a bit, or judging by Rock Steady's comment, got to say it a lot.
“Culprit?” She couldn't think of much else but single word answers at this point.
“The Sun of course. For too long Princess Celestia has been having the sun directly arc across our city in such a way that my home, and the rest of the length of the shadow, are shrouded in darkness longer then the rest. I think you can see the solution.”
There were certainly a lot of things that Cadence could see as a solution. Such as having herself committed to a mental institution.
“I live next to him, Princess. He's literally the only pony who has ever complained about this.” Rock Steady commented quietly. “If he didn't make amazing cookies and host great parties I'd have moved years ago."
“I..what?...solution?” This wasn't reality, it simply couldn't be. Surely Celestia didn't have to deal with these sort of things on a daily basis.
“Yes, a solution! Princess Cadence. I offer for you several possible courses of action. First, as Princess Celestia's niece I am sure you have her ear. If you were to direct her attention to this issue I’m sure she'd be willing to change the course of the Sun to better accommodate our cities situation.”
If he didn't look so completely serious about it Cadence was sure she was being set up. She almost welcomed a bucket falling on her head at this point actually. Sadly, nothing so merciful as that came.
“If she is unwilling to compromise on the matter I can think of some more options at your disposal.”
Cadence had become morbidly curious, despite thinking she should have known better than to ask “Such as?”
“A full economic embargo is likely to make her see the light, forgive me for the pun. I don't think anything as serious as declaring war is likely to occur but to show commitment we should be resolute in saying that all options are on the table.”
“I'm...not having this conversation right now. This is a bad dream.” Cadence finally gave in, placing her hooves over her face and shaking her head. Then she relaxed, dropping her hooves and staring down at Tape Measure with just enough seriousness to not insult the poor, clearly insane, stallion.
“I apologize, Tape Measure. But I cannot agree with any of those courses of action. Might I suggest you move to a more agreeable neighborhood?” She offered.
Tape Measure frowned, not happy he was being turned down. “But Princess, my house isn't the one that can move. The sun does. Surely it shouldn't be that big of a deal...”
Cadence had never asked Princess Celestia if moving the Sun was difficult or not. She thought it would be, especially if it was to change its direction, but there really was no way of knowing unless she asked. No, no way would she buy into this sort of insanity and try and broach the subject with her.
“I'm sorry, I'm...considering an important trade negotiation with Princess Celestia and cannot entertain your request at this time. Certain sacrifices must be made in the interest of the Crystal Empire.” She couldn't even begin to believe what she was saying but she hoped desperately that it was something Tape Measure would accept.
Tape Measure gave her a long, searching look and then brightened into a smile. “Alright Princess, I understand. Just remember to raise the issue the next time you see an opportunity” he then bowed, rose up and then trotted away.
Cadence, and most of the court, watched him leave from view with a various mix of stares and disbelieving looks. Clearing his throat, the pony in charge of deciding the order of petitioners began his duty once again. The moment had passed and only one alicorn princess was still off base as to the way the day had been going.
She rose up out of her seat suddenly, the next group had already been coming up to address their concern. “I'm taking a break. I'll be back in five minutes.” Cadence announced, and walked off to find something to drink and a place she might be able to rant about completely insane ponies without being overheard.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Cadence ended up taking fifteen minutes before she'd calmed down. The din of the collective court speaking together quieted when she returned and sat in her throne. She took a deep, centering breath and then nodded for the next petitioner to step up.
The next petitioner was actually a pegasus mare with a young foal who appeared to be a bright orange pegasus colt at her side. Cadence began to regret having stormed out for a breather, she saw the hesitancy written on the faces the mare. "Don't worry. It's alright. What are your names?" She said gently.
The mare, who appeared to be about middle aged, bowed low and began to spoke in a voice that had a slight quaver in it. "Thank you, your majesty. My name is Shimmer and this is Sun Stone." She lifted a hoof and patted the bright orange pegasus colt affectionately on the head as she spoke.
Something was definitely not 'right' to Cadence. Shimmer appeared to be hesitating on speaking further and the crowd had started to take notice with curious expressions. Making a split decision the Princess decided to forgo protocol and quickly descended from the dais to stand in front of the small family.
"Is that better?" Cadence said, keeping her voice down. The little colt had bright yellow eyes, a mixture of childlike wonder at being so close to royalty with some amount of trepidation on his face. What she could see of it anyway, he ducked so that his face was pressed all but into Shimmer's side.
Shimmer nodded, a small frown on her face. "I don't mean to be such a bother Princess because you've done so much already but. I've been staying with a friend at their house for a little while and, well I was hoping that you could help us now that everything is back to normal. My husband was...a outspoken opponent of King Sombra before we were cursed and..."
Cadence had a suspicion how the story was about to go and tried to hold back from the raw emotion of sorrow already threatening to come forth at what was unlikely to have a happy ending. "Go on..." She heard herself encourage Shimmer to tell her what had happened.
"My husband and a number of other ponies attempted to stop King Sombra before he completely took over the empire. After...Sombra did take over he destroyed our home and commanded no pony to take us in. If Princess Celestia and Luna didn't seal him away I'm sure he would have done worse. But we have nothing anymore." Shimmer was downcast, as wilted and without happiness as any of the crystal ponies while they had been under the curse before.
She had to do something, anything, to help this family. "I understand. If you like I can let you stay within the palace in one of the guest rooms while I have one of my staff arrange to purchase you a new house. I know that it can never bring your husband back but he sounds like he was a very brave pony."
"He was a guard." Sun Stone said quietly, peeking his yellow eyes out from where they'd been mostly hidden. "When I grow up I'm going to be like him."
Cadence smiled at that, kneeling down to be at eye level with the young colt. "I'm sure you will make an excellent guard. I know that your father would already be very proud of you." Sun Stone only nodded, appearing to be trying to keep up a brave face.
"Thank you very much Princess. You don't know how much this means to me. I wasn't sure where we could go..." Shimmer looked on the verge of tears, but only out of relief this time.
Cadence gave a shake of her head, bringing her head back up to look at Shimmer. "Its not a problem. Its the least we can do for your loss."
Court progressed quickly for Cadence after that, flying by as her thoughts returned again and again back on the broken family whose story had touched her so deeply. She knew there were more stories just like that littered all through the city. The tragedy that had befallen the crystal ponies was a wound that each pony appeared to deal with in different ways. She could see the ones who pretended it had never happened and the others still stricken with grief written clearly on their faces.
At least she had done something to help one family. She hoped that someday she might be able to almost completely heal the damage that had been done. She supposed Princess Celestia had been very wise to send her, a Princess of Love, here to make her mark. When the time had passed to end for the day she adjourned the assembled ponies and welcomed them back at the start of the next week for the next open court.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
It was late in the evening, Cadence and Shining were both brushing their teeth next to one another and preparing for bed. The memory of Shimmer and her two children were still in her thoughts, unable to quite shake or forget them. Shining stopped scrubbing with the brush, leaned into the sink and spit. While rinsing the brush and the sink he gave her a curious look.
"How was court today?" He asked.
As she had quite a bit of toothpaste in her mouth, as well as the brush, she didn't have to answer right away. It was fortunate that she did as she could consider her words with a bit of care. After also spitting, rinsing and placing her toothbrush down Shining was looking at her fully now and waiting patiently. He wasn't quite as adept at picking up on emotions as she was but he could always tell when something was bothering her.
"It went...alright." She finally said. "Nothing I couldn't handle."
Shining nodded, moving over to give her a affectionate nuzzle at what she'd left unsaid. She appreciated that, depending somewhat on feeling of support and love given without even having to know what in particular was bothering her.
Still, there was a question she wanted to know. "Shining would you..."
She stopped herself from speaking more, deciding she didn't want the answer after all.
"Would I?"
"Never mind, I'm going to bed." She said, moving over to their grand, queen sized bed and laying down. She was joined fairly quickly by Shining and immediately moved over to hold onto him tightly with her hooves wrapped around his body..
He hadn't said a word after she told him 'never mind' and she could all but feel the concern emanating from him. Cadence both wanted to know and didn't want confirmed the fear that Shimmer's story had brought up in her. She knew Shining Armor well enough to expect that he would lay his life down for both her and the people of the Crystal Empire. If there were a threat he wouldn't hesitate to put himself in between it even if it was a hopeless battle.
That was perhaps her greatest fear. They'd faced down dangerous enemies in the past and she could still vividly recall the fear clutching at her heart when Shining Armor had went out to find his sister and her friends. All the while she stayed with a building sense of fatigue at the battering magic's of the dark presence trying to force its way back into the city. he'd returned unharmed except for the shards of dark magic that had sealed his abilities. But how close had it been? Shining had never told her what had happened other then that Sombra was more powerful then he'd thought a unicorn could possibly be.
Holding onto him in their warm bed, she pressed her face into the soft fur of his chest and tried to will the worry away. They were safe here and worrying about what might happen in the future was never going to do anything productive. "I love you Shining." She said suddenly, still holding onto him.
He was stroking her mane softly with a hoof, replying automatically. "I love you too Cadence. We're safe here and everything is going to be alright." He assured her.
While it didn't make her feel entirely better, her active imagination still trying to get the better of her, it was nice to hear him say both of those things. She took a deep breath, still resting right up against him and began to relax enough so that she could fall asleep.