The Equestria Diaries

by Istaran

Chapter 16: Royal councelling

The guards led Frank out of his cell. He was glad they didn't have him in iron chains or the like. Truth be told, his cell had been a bit more comfortable than he would have expected, aside from the lack of any kind of seat with back support. He had to make due with cushions on the ground to sit and sleep on, and the toilet was a literal hole in the ground.

They led him into a lovely looking arboretum, where Princess Celestia was seated next to a small table. Frank sighed quietly as he noticed the fluffy pink cushion opposite the solar diarch that was no doubt his intended seat. There was even a dainty little tea cup set out for him, steam already wafting off the delicious smelling brew. When the guards stopped and saluted their princess, he took a seat and sipped quietly.

"Do you know why I have asked you here today, Frank?" Celestia asked.

"No ma'am. Your majesty. Ma'am." Frank answered, nervously, setting the cup down with a slight jingle.

"I want to know why you did what you did. I know you are sorry for what you did, but I need to know more if I am to help you reform. I need to know why you did it this time so I can help you ensure you never do so again. Do I have your cooperation?"

Frank drew in a deep breath, staring at the tea for a moment before meeting Celestia's eyes and letting his breath out slowly. "Alright. I'll do my best. I guess I should start from the beginning, hmm?"

"That would be best, yes."

"About three years ago, I met a woman. Elizabeth.. a umm.. professional matchmaking service introduced us, initially, but we really hit it off when we met. It's.. " he smiled at the memory, "it's funny: she used to say 'sorry if I'm scaring you off' right before telling me something about herself that was exactly what I was looking for. Like, that she was looking to marry, hoping to have children, that she didn't want to even consider divorce an option. Commitment.. it's really sad how unpopular it seems to be these days, but it was what we both were really yearning for."

Celestia waited a few moments as Frank paused, lost in his reminiscing before beginning. "I really don't see what this has to do with.."

"I'll get to it, I promise. A little over a year ago we had our first child, a son. He's so sweet. And it's just an incredible joy watching him learn and grow. He just started walking." Frank was tearing up, while Celestia restrained herself from commenting on the idea of a yearling just learning to walk. "We have another one on the way. It's too soon to know if it's a boy or a girl yet."

"I can see your family is very important to you. But.. what does this have to do with the stallion, err, man you assaulted?"

"It was just a few weeks ago. We were just riding a bus home after work, same as any other day. When suddenly, the light disappeared. I was left standing in a very dark place, with no sign of the bus anywhere, or the rest of the world for that matter. Some writing appeared, red letters floating in the darkness. It asked me where I wanted to go. Anywhere, real or fictional, it claimed. So I picked the only place I wanted to go. I said home. But it didn't let me go there. It told me it was taking me here instead, to Equestria. It then asked me to pick one item to bring with me. So I asked for something simple, but useful. A Swiss Army knife. I.. lost it somewhere, but it's a tool. It has a dozen pieces that fold out to be able to do different things. It can cut like a knife, has a tiny pair of scissors, heads for turning screws.. I didn't know what I would find here in Equestria, and figured I could use it to deal with whatever problems I faced. I was more anticipating the need to make shelter in a wild untamed wilderness, but it turns out there were plenty of little things that needed repairs around Ponyville. So I still think I made a good choice."

"This 'Swiss Army knife'. It is made of a silvery metal, with red sides and a white symbol?"

"Yes. You've seen it?" Frank asked a bit enthusiastic before he remembered the state it was last in.

"My guards found it in a back alley, covered in dried blood. We would have much to suspect if you had not already confessed."

Frank put his head in his hands. "I was so despondent afterwards.. I never even took the time to clean the blade off. It's probably ruined by now.. which is just as well. I doubt I could bring myself to use it again anyways, even for good uses."

"Your regret gives us hope for your reform, but you still have not brought us to your reasons."

"Right. Well. After I chose my item, the words had just one more thing to say. They told me that 'the survival game begins now'. And with that I was dropped into your world. Your student's library, more particularly."

"If you were in a survival game, then surely sticking together was paramount. What did that man do to earn your ire?"

"You don't understand. Or rather.. I'm the one who misunderstood. On our world, that term means something different. It means a game of elimination, where only one winner will be left in the end. In real survival games, it's normally all fake. Players are eliminated from the game, not really killed. But in fiction.. there are all kinds of stories of people forced to fight to the death until only one survives. I thought.. I thought that was what kind of game we were forced into. I just.. I just wanted to survive, to get home to my wife and my children. I would do... I would do anything to get home to them, to see them again. Or at least.. I thought I would."

Frank was in tears as he continued. "When I talked to Daniel.. he didn't have any of what I had. He had no wife, no children. He barely even kept in touch with his parents. He said it himself.. it would take months before they even noticed he was gone. I knew.. thought I knew.. that only one of us would be going home, and that there was no reason for it to be him, no reason he was more worthy than me. More needed. It was hard, still, to steel myself. But I did. And. I stabbed him, when he thought I was going for a hug, I stabbed him right in the" Celestia cut him off from reliving the grisly scene with a silent but stern hoof placed on his knee.

"I see now why you did what you did, and why you are your people's Element of Loyalty."

"What.. Element? What do you mean?"

Celestia called forth one of her guards, who presented his cell phone to them. The QR Code display was active, with Magic and Loyalty present. Loyalty had the Activate button enabled, waiting to be pressed.

"We do not fully understand the workings of this device, but we recognize the connection to the Elements of Harmony easily. Your loyalty to your family drives you, but now I need you to swear that same loyalty to the other humans, to work together with them to survive your 'game' and return home. I have received word of two other humans on the way here from Ponyville to join you. They claim your Daniel to be an ally, alive and well, but working on another task presently. He sent them to assist you, and to convey his forgiveness."

"He forgives me? I can scarcely believe he is even alive, why would he forgive so easily? I haven't even apologized to him yet.."

"That I do not know. You should ask him once you have had a chance to give that apology. In the mean time, I do think that the palace is the best place for you to see. I am sorry, but times are growing more dangerous. Our neighbors to the south have brought word of an army of humans with powerful war machines. They seem to have a certain unnatural.. falseness to them. But the danger they pose is very real, and I fear my little ponies will be next to suffer their unprovoked attacks. If that happens, I fear I cannot long protect you from my ponies' fearful reactions."

"I understand, and.. I agree. Your hospitality here has been more than I deserve. And, even if he does forgive me, I am not really ready to forgive myself yet. Still.. if there is anything I can help you with, I will do my best."

"Yes, you will. Now finish your tea."

---

Meanwhile, another Princess made contact with another human. This time Luna found Istaran sitting atop a massive draconic figure, made of steel plating and copper wiring. An artificial monster as before, but with none of the necromantic aspects. A pure and simple engine of destruction. Some panels were open and the man was tinkering inside.

"What are you doing, Sir Wind? Building a dragon?"

"Preparing for war." He looked at Luna, and blinked a few times, before going back to his work with less interest. "Or rather dreaming of it, it would seem. I need to do so in the waking world, though, and you should too. A powerful foe is coming. If you can, crush him swiftly and without mercy. Can you slay him in his dreams? Would that end his threat?"

"Death within a dream merely causes waking, nothing more. Besides, I do not believe I have found that ones dreams yet. For that matter, I search also for King Daniel's dreams. Do you know him?"

Istaran looked at her thoughtfully, putting his tools aside. With a sly grin he dropped to the floor before her. "No, I have not yet met King Daniel, but I hope to soon. I hope to real soon. In the meantime.. would you do me the honor of a sparring match? It will be a fun workout, and you did say death in a dream merely leads to waking.

"Very well. Come to Canterlot when you wake. We would meet you in person, and introduce you to the other humans."

Istaran bowed to her. "I will, in due time, now.. en guarde!" Blue light flashed from Istaran's hand as he conjured a weapon, a segmented blade somewhere between a sword and a whip, whose pieces pulled together or pushed apart based on little electromagnets embedded in them. The weapon was able to twist and turn, attacking from unexpected angles, but it could not get past Luna's defenses, blocking with various discarded tools while attempting to brain Istaran with others.

The fight carried on for some time, hectically, as Istaran conjured more weapons and Luna deflected them while firing back with magical blasts. However, all good things must come to an end, and Luna managed to end it by dropping the mechanical dragon onto Istaran's head with a loud crash that shattered the dreamworld entirely.

---

I woke with a gasp, looking around the unfamiliar bedroom blearily. A weight on my arm, no.. foreleg, alerted me to Wind Chaser's presence, and her rapid motion as she sat up, looked at me briefly, and pulled me into a deep kiss. We were going to have to talk about this.. later. I don't know if it was because I was in the form of a pegasus myself, but pony kissing was a lot more pleasant than I would have anticipated.

Comments

[Morning Dusk]

Well... That happened... Also I did not ever consider the idea of using the dreamscape to spar. I will have to propose the idea to Luna to use in training the guards, so they won't have to hold back in training. Of course that would require the construction of dream bridges and... Ah, there I go again, rambling. I really need to stop doing that. Anywho, onwards!

[TheDeolex]

This story is actually quite interesting, so why does it only have so few likes and comments?

[TheDeolex]

"Do you know why I have asked you hear today, Frank?" Celestia asked.

Missplaced "here" with "hear"

[Istaran]

5941774
Fixed. Thanks

[Istaran]

5941680
I honestly do not know, as the dislikers don't comment. It's been picking up popularity over time since I completed it, though, so there's that. :) Weirdly the original sequel, Itinerant Kingdom has outranked it since the day I published the first chapter. (EDIT: oops, it seems EQ has finally outranked IK!)

If I had to wildly guess, I would assume a blatant self-insert with OP nanotech is a reflexive turn off to readers. Which sounds fair. Especially since it's introduced from the very beginning pretty openly, before people have read enough to be invested in the story. Though if that were the case I would expect at least someone to comment about not liking that or something.

I kind of feel like there's enough going on in this story that people ought to have plenty to comment positively and negatively on, including probably people who like the story overall have bits that they wish were handled differently.