Chapter One
Chapter 1
Last Tuesday...
Canterlot is beautiful in the early morning sun. The soft rays of light peeking over the distant edges of the mountains to the east. From the balcony of the Solar Tower of Canterlot Castle, Cadance took a deep breath of the warm morning air and watched the beautiful array of golds and oranges streak through the sky. She loved these late summer mornings.
They brought back memories of Celestia. When Cadance was little, Auntie Celestia would sometimes bring her out on this very balcony, and raise the sun. Celestia probably meant it more as a lesson on the complexity of Alicorn magic, and the responsibility they shared in using it appropriately. But little filly Cadance was more mesmerized by the sheer beauty of Celestia’s mantle than by the weight it held.
“Celestia,” she said with a sigh.
Two centuries had passed since the last time she had seen her aunt. Celestia and Luna just disappeared one day, no explanation, no warning, just… gone. It had thrown everything into chaos, to the point that Cadance thought Discord had something to do with it for the longest time.
So much had changed since they left. Cadance was no longer in control of the Crystal Empire, having proclaimed Rarity her successor as the Crystal Empress, and returned to Canterlot. She had to take the Solar Throne with Twilight on the Lunar Throne when it became evident that the Royal Sisters weren’t returning, and unrest was threatening Equestria.
The turmoil in Equestria nearly broke out into civil war. Luckily, the formation of the Senate, with it doing the majority of governing and the two Alicorn princesses sitting more as figureheads than rulers, had diverted most of the impending crisis. Well, the internal crisis within Equestria.
At the moment, relations between the Crystal Empire and Equestria are… troubling. Cadance frowned as she thought about it. Disagreements, rumors, and nasty assumptions had done more than enough to erode the once solid relationship with the nearby nation, to the point that suspicion between Equestrians and citizens of the Crystal Empire is now the norm. And that was before last year’s debacle between Twilight and Rarity.
The two hadn’t spoken since.
Twilight had thrown herself into her duties as an Equestrian Diarch, and as the Senate’s Secretary General with such vigor that Cadance could barely get a word in with her all year. And then, if Twilight wasn’t tangled in some matter of the Senate or the Throne, she was off chasing rumors down of Celestia or Luna with her Seekers. Cadance had no idea what was going on with Rarity, but she couldn’t imagine her to be any better off.
Cadance knew something had to change between the two old friends. And soon. She let out a sigh and absentmindedly brushed a hoof through her hair, only to annoyingly feel it pass through the ethereal nuisance.
“Good morning, Miss Cadance.” The princess looked behind her and offered a smile to Flint Pie, her personal secretary. The grey stallion had a tray of coffee and muffins balanced on one wing, and a clipboard tucked underneath the other. He wore a pair of dull brown saddlebags, and an ugly orange and green tie that would have made Rarity cringe with disgust. He slid the tray off onto the small table on the balcony, and sat down on the other side. “I trust you had a restful evening?”
“Good morning, Mr Pie,” replied Cadance, taking the care to keep her tone indifferently professional, careful not to rush the conversation headlong into how his date went. She grabbed one of the mugs from the tray with her magic took a sip. It was perfect, foamy, and with a body as black as coal. “My evening went well, thank you. What about yours?”
Flint looked out into the distance with that same content, nearly bored look on his face as he pondered the question. “It was enjoyable.”
Flint Pie was a fantastic administrator. His ability to calmly coordinate events with multiple teams, chart out activities, and ensure everything was done in a timely, professional manner was incredible. It was also the complete opposite of Cadance’s casual and fluid preference in handling matters of the state. Unfortunately, his skills as an administrator and his admittedly chiseled features were just about his only good qualities. Emotionally, he was a rock.
Patiently blinking, she smiled as if a thought had just come to mind. “Oh, and your date with Candy Drops?” Cadance asked, hopeful that her matchmaking charms would work this time.
“It went according to schedule.”
Her smile faltered. “W-what did you think of her?”
“She was pleasant, though she smelled too strongly of perfume.”
Cadance waited to see if the stallion would elaborate further. But instead, he had pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time against his clipboard. She let out a sigh and took a savage bite out of one of the muffins, taking her frustration out on the poor pastry. “So, what’s going on today?”
“You have a nine o’clock,” Flint paused as he checked the clipboard, “marriage counseling.”
Cadance groaned.
“Come again?” asked Flint.
She waved away his concern, and busied herself with another sip of coffee.
“Anything else to look forward to today?” asked Cadance, as she wiped the remains of the muffin off of her peytral with a wing.
Flint looked further down the clipboard. “You have luncheon with the Bird Watchers Society around noon, the Equestrian Games committee is meeting at one-fifteen, and a dress fitting at Polomare Emporium at three.”
Cadance frowned as she picked up another muffin and chewed much more thoroughly as she assembled the schedule in her head. “Have an excuse ready to leave the Bird Watchers early. Looking Glass is a dear, but I can only take so many bird facts before I feel like flying off myself.”
“Noted,” said Flint Pie as he scribbled in the margins on his clipboard. “After that, joint Evening Court with Princess Twilight from five-thirty until seven.”
Cadance shook her head. “It’ll just be me. Twilight isn’t in Canterlot.”
“She came in last night.”
Cadance bolted up from the table. “What? I wasn’t informed?”
“It was three in the morning.”
“Well, where is she?!”
“Down in the throne ro—” was as far as Flint got before Cadance lept off the side of the balcony and dropped into the courtyard below. He stared at the space where she had been, took a muffin off the tray, and trotted out of balcony and back through Cadance’s royal bedchamber.
* * *
Supposedly, it was going to be another beautiful morning in Canterlot with an amazing sunrise. It better be amazing, thought Twilight. It certainly was a drain on her magic to help the Solar Court this morning.
Twilight felt sluggish, slow, and in a bit of a daze as she levitated her tea cup and took a small sip out of it. She savored the mint flavor for just a moment before she turned back to the objects floating around her. A copy of a thesis on magical theory she was asked to peer-review before it was published, a Senate bill on water management for Southern Equestria, revisions to her daily schedule, updates from Seekers all over the country, and the day’s copy of the Equestrian National. Right on the front page, in big bold letters, was the announcement of today’s Morning Court.
PRINCESS TWILIGHT RETURNS TO HEAD MORNING COURT —
SENATOR GRUMP PROMISES TO PUSH PROPOSED CRYSTAL TAX PLAN
Twilight groaned, as she tossed the newspaper to the ground. “I hate election years.”
But, as tedious and as awful as some of the Senators could be when voting comes around, they weren’t nearly as bad as a certain traitorous, crystallized, frozen-hearted, mare who shall not be named!
Twilight rubbed her eyes with an anxious whinny, forcing her thoughts to focus. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted. It was time to be a Princess, and represent her country as best she could. Not like some unnamed emotionally influencing, greedy, self-righteous, rock hum—
“Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she shouted to herself, reading the first line of the letter out loud to get her mind back in order. “I’m writing to you at the beginning of our second week at the dig site of the Sun Temple in… Zebrabwe... I’m afraid not much progress has been made. We’ve uncovered some of the ziggurat’s base, but we believe that there is more underneath the sands. There’s all this sand and we’ve had dust storms...”
Her volume leveled out and she trailed off as her mind sharpened back into focus, a frown was slowly creasing her face as she kept reading.
...they come without warning, since these are all wildlands, like the Everfree. A sudden gust of wind turns a normal day into a fight to stay on the ground, and I can’t get above the cloud level in time to avoid it. It’s like a wall of dust just slams into you, and our tents provide very little shelter against it. Our guides have brought in shamans in our behalf to plead with the weather spirits to give us peace. I am skeptical of it actually working, but I’m trying to remain respectful of their beliefs and traditions at the same time.
As for the Sun Temple, it is actually rather quite interesting. It’s design is definitely not Zebrican, ancient or otherwise. Maybe minotaurian, since a central figure in the pictographs was a minotaur, but everything else about the temple seems... off (I’ve enclosed some diagrams and measurements of the place). The sun is a focus but it is unclear on if the original creators of the temple worshiped a particular god or the sun. There is evidence of multiple deities and spirits, and the odder thing still is that all of them seemed to have been designed not only by a different time period, but culture and potentially race as well. This suggests that the Sun Temple may have exchanged multiple hooves since its creation.
There is one reference to Celestia, I think; an alicorn figure raising the sun. It was added several centuries after the construction of the temple, and has taken damage. There wasn’t much on the wall about her, not even a name, just identifying her as “sister” in ancient Zebrican. I’ve also included a wax rubbing of the pictogram in this letter.
I am sorry, I wish I had more. But these sand storms have been severe enough to halt work, and ground any pegasus team. I’ll report back once something substantial has been found or if I’ve failed.
Your faithful student, Seeker Loose Leaf.
Twilight fought the urge to crumble the letter into her hooves and throw it as hard as she could. She had told him, expressedly told him, that the Sun Temple in Zebrabwe was a dead end. Cadance had checked there herself after Celestia and Luna vanished, and found nothing. But for some reason, Seekers were attracted to that site like moths to fire. Twilight had even visited the site herself and found nothing of worth.
It seemed like that’s all that there was these days. She’d spent the last several months traveling with the best Seekers, all on missions of their own as she followed up on anything about the missing Princesses. But to date her searching had been in vain.
Twilight carefully organized the diagrams Loose Leaf had provided onto the floor before channeling magic through her horn and into them. The pages glowed briefly with power as a perfect model of the building he had described in his notes formed from her magic.
That’s about as far as she got when the Throne Room doors flew open hard enough to crack the walls behind them. The gust blew all the pages all over the place, and Twilight jumped at the sudden sound, causing her to drop everything.
Including her tea.
Twilight grumbled a few choice words as she pawed at her broken cup and spilled tea. “Thank you, Cadance. I only had one sip of tha—”
“Enough, Twilight Sparkle,” snapped Cadance as she trotted across the room. “You aren’t a little filly anymore. You’re a Princess of Equestria and you have duties. Responsibilities! You can’t just run off like that and leave me with everything!”
“I didn’t just run off,” protested Twilight. “I had a credible source in Baltimare, and if—”
“Did anything come from that?”
Twilight looked back at her scattered papers, picked them all up with a touch of magic, carefully putting them back together. She refused to look back up at the other Alicorn. “No.”
Cadance’s shoulders sagged, and she let out a breathy hiss through her gritted teeth. “Twilight, I know you care for them, I care for them too. But you can’t keep doing this. If they’re out there, they’ll show up when they are ready.”
“You sound just like her,” said Twilight, a fair share of ice in her words.
“And maybe Rarity has a point,” said Cadance, matching Twilight’s pointed glare with her own. “Equestria needs you right now, and that isn’t a maybe or a might. It’s a fact, Twilight.” Cadance closed the gap between them and wrapped a wing around Twilight. “I need you.”
Twilight sat down and Cadance followed suit, pulling her into a tighter hug, which Twilight slowly responded to in kind. Cadance let go and looked at Twilight. “Want to talk about it?”
Twilight shrugged and Cadance’s horn flared once, summoning two steaming cups of tea. Twilight took her own and sipped out of it, letting the calming taste of mint wrangle her senses before speaking again. “It’s… It’s just that I don’t know what to do about any of this.”
“Any of this, meaning?” asked Cadance.
“Rarity,” whispered Twilight.
“We’ve talked about this before, Twilight, a lot. You two need to sit down and talk.”
“I know,” said Twilight, resting her head down on her hooves. “It’s just, I don’t know how. Or when.”
“Well, her birthday is coming up,” said Cadance. “You could talk to her then, give her that ‘declaration’ we talked about. I bet that would definitely smooth things over. I could be there if you want.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said Twilight. “You received an invite to the party, but I didn’t.”
Cadance shrugged it off. “I bet it just got misplaced, you know how those mail ponies get. You’ll come as my plus one, and we’ll get you sized up for a new dress this afternoon before Evening Court.”
“I have a dress,” muttered Twilight.
“That rat’s nest you wadded up in the bottom of my closet last year and have yet to pick up? Or that horrid yellow thing that should be burned?” asked Cadance.
“It’s a good dress,” Twilight muttered again, pawing absently at the carpet.
“It’s a fashion disaster, Twilight,” said Cadance. “You’re coming with me to Polomare Emporium this afternoon, and that’s the end of it.”
“But I can’t go to the Empire,” protested Twilight. “Why would she even want to see me? After what happened last year? After what’s happened this year?”
Cadance nodded thoughtfully. “I didn’t say it would be easy, but I will be there every step of the way. Rarity is a lot of things, but she’s still your friend.”
Twilight sat there and let the silence pass between them. “I’m sorry for all of this. Maybe if I had ju—”
“Stop,” said Cadance. “What’s done is done and you can’t change the past. Time travel doesn’t work that way. It wasn’t your responsibility, it was mine to choose a successor for the Empire. I choose Rarity, not only because she's the host for the Crystal Heart, but also because it just felt... right.” Cadance held up a hoof to stop Twilight from interrupting. “Sometimes you need to trust in here,” she continued, poking a hoof into Twilight’s chest. “Instead of here,” she said, tapping against Twilight’s head.
“Thanks, Cadance,” said Twilight wrapping the other mare in a hug.
“Any time, Twilight. Say, your coat is soft, Twilight. Really soft. And you smell of... strawberries,” said Cadance. “Which reminds me, do you know what happened to my new conditioner? It was on my vanity last night, but I couldn’t find it this morning.”
Twilight froze. “C-conditioner?” she asked, her eyes looking every which way but at Cadance. “I, uhh, oh, look at the time. I have Morning Court in a bit.”
“That’s fine, I have a nine o’clock, marriage counseling,” said Cadance as she broke the hug and stood up. “Come find me in the east tower before three.”
“Marriage counseling. That should be fun,” said Twilight.
“Ponies seem to think that all they need to do is visit me and ‘poof’ everything is magically fixed, and love is as if it had never been stronger,” said Cadance. “I have to remind them it doesn’t work like that. For example, you are still single.”
Twilight scrunched up her face at her sister-in-law. “Just for that, I’m happy I used all of your conditioner.”
“You used all of it?! Rude.”
“Takes one to know one!”
Cadance didn’t answer, though she flicked her tail in response as she trotted out of the throne room and off to counseling.
“I don’t remember you two being so feisty,” chuckled a voice from behind her throne. “How interesting.”
“Yeah well,” said Twilight as she finished sorting her papers. “Time changes us al—” she dropped them again and spun around to face the voice.
“Hello, Sparkle,” sing-songed Discord, paddling a canoe made of water across her throne room.
“Discord? What are you doing here?” asked Twilight as she trotted over with her head cocked to the side in confusion.
Discord regarded her with half interest, as he brought his canoe to a sloshy stop. “Playing a little game,” he said. “Care to join?”
Before Twilight could say a word, he snapped his paw and the throne room disappeared.
* * *
Lady Merry Sapphire laid in her bed and watched as the first rays of morning sunlight slowly spilled into the bedroom. The day hadn’t even started yet, and a frown was already plastered across her face. She was lost in deep thought, chasing answers for questions that had plagued her for months.
The biggest had been on her mind every day for a year now; the threat of conflict between the Crystal Empire and Equestria. Such building of tension between the two nations appeared to be the falling out of old friends. But was there something more? Something hiding in the shadows, playing the situation, maybe going so far as to be the true cause of it? The only lead she had, and with no real facts to back anything up, was that her long distant nephew, Blueblood the thirty-seventh, might somehow be connected. But why? And to what end?
And as if those questions weren’t enough. She had a mighty need. The need to organize.
Sapphire turned over in bed, and groaned into her pillow. When she invented ‘Merry Sapphire’ as a disguise, to be the seneschal to the Crystal Empress, Luna tinkered with new spell bindings to make ‘Merry’ more real. To give her desires, flaws. Quirks. Though if Luna knew at the time that an overwhelming desire to organize could literally overwhelm a pony, she wouldn't have bothered. But being here on vacation, with no meetings, appointments, or schedules... oh how Merry’s hooves ached for the feeling of her organizer.
Sapphire flipped over onto her back and stared at the ceiling, recounting the exposed beams of the room’s vaulted ceilings as a way to calm her needs. Her eyes wandered around the room, focusing on the environment around her. The walls were made out of wood and plaster, and painted a soft eggshell white. She closed her eyes and forced long, deep breaths to carry her away. The air smelled of sea salt, but there were also other scents. The faint traces of late summer rain from the night before. Lemon, olive, and basil floated up from the rich gardens just below her room.
Merry Sapphire was not in the Empire, but was a guest at the Villa Belle. It was a marvelous two story estate, commissioned by Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Belle, at the height of her music career. Gently tucked away behind lavish vineyards and boastful gardens, it sat on the edge of the Mariterranean Sea, and was perfect to escape the unwanted paparazzi and hordes of fans. The impressive, beautifully rustic manor was intrusted to Rarity after Sweetie Belle passed.
But it wasn’t the rustic luxury that worried Sapphire. As beautiful and as peaceful as it was, it was her Empress that troubled the mare.
In the months following the Empress’ disastrous excuse for a two hundred and fiftieth birthday, Rarity had removed herself from the public eye. She became distant, even from those closest to her. Rarity spent little if any time with Commander Onyx, the Crystal Council…
“With me,” Sapphire mumbled. She reached over and pulled one of the bed’s other pillows to her chest, and nuzzled it against her cheek.
Had her aloofness been the only issue, Sapphire would have felt better. But she was concerned with other unusual behaviors of her Empress. She had found Rarity wandering the halls of the castle, brooding, and more than once. Rumors began to circulate amongst the Palace staff that the Empress had gone mad; pacing before a great mirror, or sobbing to the point of near hysteria and shouting at herself. Sapphire suspected that sleep was often avoided by Rarity for as long as she could stand it, and when Rarity did dream, Sapphire knew it was anything but restful.
But then a few days ago, out of the blue, Rarity had either come out of her stupor, or had completely cracked her crystal coat and canceled all of her appointments, meetings, everything that had to do with the Crown. The Empire was practically on fire and Rarity had ordered her to pack a few bags for the two of them and be at the stables in an hour, not bothering to elaborate further on just what was happening nor were they were going.
Sapphire sighed and rolled over into the cool shadows crossing her bed. It was then she felt a sudden pulse of anger. Why in the world should she care about the Empress’ odd mood swings? It wasn’t her problem, nor was the Empire! She was a seneschal, a glorified planner. Her problems w—
She had no idea how she got out of the bed, but her hooves were shaking with anger that wasn’t her own. The Alicorn part of her mind resisted the emotional manipulation and cut through the thick fog that clouded her judgement, just enough for Sapphire to regain control over herself.
There was only one pony with the sheer power to command influence like that. And for it to be that strong…
“Rarity…” Sapphire whispered as she sat down by the bed. Her ears flat with worry, she looked across the room and into the tall mirror that hung from the wall. From within, a tired looking blue crystal mare was looking back out at her.
“Do you have any ideas on what to do?” she asked the reflection. The reflection looked back at her and shook its head, causing Sapphire to sigh and climb out of the soft bed and march up to it. She walked over to the mirror, hummed a song-like spell and felt her world change.
Sapphire felt different, her limbs getting longer. Her coat was darker and no longer crystallized. The silver mane was gone, replaced by a etheral one that reflected the stars of the night sky. A pair of great wings spread themselves out from her back, and a long horn was centered on her forehead. A few heartbeats later, and the Regalia of the Night appeared on Princess Luna.
Luna turned around and looked around the room with her own eyes, unbound by the magical bindings and matrices of her disguise spell. It was a simple room, full of good memories of summer nights long gone by. She made her way over to the desk and took out Sapphire’s journal… No, she shook her head. It was her journal.
She let out a frustrated sigh. The spell bindings, as marvelous as they were in keeping her hidden, had their own side effects. One of them was ‘Sapphire’ slowly developing into her own sense of self; a split personality.
A soft noise caught Luna’s attention and she crossed back to the other side of the room and looked back into the mirror where Sapphire stood patiently in it. She was dressed and groomed to take on the day. Her silver mane was brought back, perfectly framing her face, and she wore a silver vest with a cream colored cravat. Luna could just make out the pin on her chest; three diamonds in a gold circle, the symbol of the Office of the Empress’ Sensechal.
“So now that you’re out and stretching your legs, do you have any ideas for how we can fix Rarity?” Sapphire asked, her voice echoing within Luna’s mind.
Luna shook her head. “The plan is unchanged, Sapphire. You know that.”
“What good is that when others are made to suffer?” countered Sapphire. “When those we care about suffer?”
“Suffering builds character,” offered Luna. “Every step to something good requires suffering and sacrifice.”
“You sound like Tia,” remarked Sapphire with a pout. “If I wanted her opinion, I would have talked to her about it.”
“Which failed six months ago when we visited Canterlot, remember?”
Sapphire sighed and sat down in the mirror. “Yeah, I do. There just... there has to be something that can be done. Something more that we can do.”
“Which we are doing,” said Luna, lightly stomping her hooves and stretching her legs to get the blood flowing. “Though not as well as I had hoped.”
“I know,” replied Sapphire. “It’s always good to be able to talk to someone, even if it sort of is talking to myself, and that you’re also just as equally lost.”
Luna shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve challenged a part of my subconscious to a discussion on matters beyond my control. A millennium alone can really get to a girl.”
Sapphire perked up at that. “Oh, good. I thought we were going crazy.”
“Perhaps, but I—”
A sudden noise from downstairs caught Luna’s attention and she jerked up. She tapped the mirror with a hoof, and she once again became Merry Sapphire, just as she appeared in the mirror. It sounded like glass breaking, but there was something else too. Like voices arguing at once. Quietly, she slipped out into the hall and made her way downstairs.
* * *
“I told you it would happen.” boomed the voice inside her head.
Rarity tried to ignore it as she picked up the shards of the glass bowl with her magic and dropped them into the garbage. A washrag floated over from the kitchen sink and began wiping the splattered egg off the stone floor.
She did all of this while maintaining dagger like focus on the quivering crystal stallion standing in front of her. “Would you care to repeat that, darling?”
“Empress, please understand,” said Beryl Knight, standing his ground as best he could. “T-the Crystal Council is only concerned with the well being of the Empire. We’re simply doing this to prevent any further… complications.”
Rarity laughed a sharp, pointed laugh as the washrag arced its way back into the sink with a soggy thud. “Complications? Beryl, I have half the mind to marshal the Legions, and storm the Palace! This, this… this is a coup. Isn’t it?!”
“It’s not like that, it’s a temporary suspension of powers,” countered Beryl, his voice rising slightly, both to stop Rarity from interrupt him and to mask his desire to scream like a little filly. “Which the Council has every right to engage, as stated in the Emergency Powers Charter of Fifteen—”
“Emergency Powers?” balked Rarity. “What emergency? Things are going wonderfully. Splendidly wonderfully,” she huffed. “Everything is fine... It’s great. Almost nopony has died. In fact, the Empire is... Why, Shimmering Bay is—”
“One of the many reasons many members of the nobility are upset with you,” interrupted Beryl Knight. “It’s been nearly a year since you purchased the lands from the griffins, and what is there to show for it? Hmm? A train station to nowhere? A gift store with no visitors?”
Rarity snorted as the fridge behind her opened up and new eggs floated out, wrapped in her magic, and she set about making her omelet for a second time this morning. “It’s nation building, not a gala dress. It takes time to make a thriving port town. It doesn’t just happen overnight.”
“Regardless, it’s a lot longer than some ponies feel comfortable with. Some very influential ponies,” added Beryl. “A massive amount of money was used to buy Shimmering Bay, and even more has been poured into it with very little in the way of results. Could that money have gone to different endeavors? Endeavors that wouldn’t have put us at odds with Equestria?”
“Would any of those endeavors have freed us from our fiscal chains? Would they have secured a future for my empire?” asked Rarity. “No, as long as we are forced to do our tradings with Equestria as the middle pony, our own growth is restricted.”
“But it would also be stable.”
The whiplash from his response left Rarity scrambling to hold onto this second bowl of eggs.“Stable? Beryl, I get the feeling this is more than just the costs associated with securing the future of a wholly independent nation.”
“Empress… Rarity, I say this as your friend. As the longest service member of the Crystal Council,” he sighed. “The Empire is struggling on all fronts; infrastructure, education, defense, immigration reform, economics… Even weather management. Remember the flash freezes? The ice rot that decimated our wheat fields? We’ve already implemented rationing in the north, but with how poor of a harvest we had last season, and the rather grim forecast for this year... I can say with some certainty that the rest of the Empire isn’t far behind.”
“I’m aware of these problems, and, with the council’s help I might add, measures have been implemented and steps have been taken,” retorted Rarity as she placed the pan back on the stove and poured the egg in. A few pieces of chopped up onion, green pepper, and a bit of grated cheese rained down on top of mix. “Embassaries are being sent to Zebrabwe, Elkdom, Saddle Arabia, and Mustangia for assistance. In addition, the griffins have also promised to loan a company of their Stormbreakers to bolster our defenses.”
“Ah, yes. griffins. Surely their farming knowledge wil—”
Rarity derailed his remark with a wintery glance.
“But,” he continued on as best he could, “it isn’t going to be enough, is it?”
“Darling, I’m doing my best here,” replied Rarity, struggling to maintain her composure. “It’s not like I can wave my horn and make it all better instantly.”
“The Council doesn’t expect that,” said Beryl, with a slight bit of sharpness in his voice. “But they do expect you to work with them. You created the Council, and the ponies who work within it are sworn to you. We respect you. Don’t make us regret that honor.”
“Respect me?” balked Rarity. “Darling, you all respect me about as much as a filly respects her older sister’s stu—”
“You left the Empire without notice. You just took off and left for the Mariterranean,” interrupted Beryl. “The Council sent me because I was the only one crazy enough to believe you weren’t.”
“Weren’t what?”
“Crazy.”
An icy silence filled the space of seconds, and Beryl took the initiative as best as his quivering heart would let him. “Y-you don’t talk to us anymore. You don’t discuss your plans with anypony. And when you do act? You bypass any and all interaction with the Council to do as you see fit, passing all sorts of edicts and decrees, and spending our nation’s treasury on whatever flight of fancy strikes you.”
“Flights of fancy?”
“Rejecting the Equestrian Telegraph Project, creating a bat pony colony in Hillsbread, a—”
“They came to me, Beryl!” snapped Rarity. “They were hungry, they were tired, and they had nowhere else to go. I acted for the greater good of us all. I am not going to bow to some crystal pony superstitious nonsense about bat ponies and bad luck, nor will I tolerate criticism about helping them, unless it’s criticism about how we’re not doing enough for them as it is!”
Beryl closed his mouth and took a deep breath to compose himself. The only sound between the two was the faint crackling of Rarity’s icy coat as she went through the motions of flipping her omelet. “Your Highness, please understand. I respect you; your desires for the Empire, and your generous nature. But please also understand that not everypony shares the same sentiment.”
“I’m sorry, Beryl. I know. It’s just…” Rarity trailed off and shook her head, fighting back the growing pressure from within. “What do you suggest I do?”
“Come back with me. To the Empire,” he urged. “Talk to the Council, explain to them what’s going on. That you’re not crazy. Share your plans, your ideas for the Empire. Work with us.”
Rarity shook her head again. “I’ll think about it.”
“Empress—”
“I said ‘I’ll think about it’,” she said as she turned around and directed her attention to the omelet. “It’s been nearly sixty three years since I last had any vacation time for myself. I want to savor this for a while longer, then the Council may have me as they wish. Thank you, Beryl Knight, for your visit.”
Through the Crystal Heart, she could feel him hesitate. The question of doing the right thing; to continue to pursue matters, or let them drop for the time being. He stood there transfixed in that moment, frozen with choice. She smiled, sadly, when she felt him waver. “Thank you for your time, Empress, enjoy the rest of your vacation.”
Rarity nodded, but said nothing else. She waited as she heard Beryl walk out of the adjacent dining room and to the front doors. Still, she didn’t move until she heard the old butler of Villa Belle mumble his goodbye to Beryl Knight as the doors closed behind him. She let out a sigh, and called out to the other pony nearby. “Sapphire, you can come out now.”
Lady Merry Sapphire slid out from around the corner by the kitchen’s open back door, her ears folded back and a light blush spread across her face. Rarity could feel the embarrassment radiate from her. “My Lady, I—”
“Don’t worry yourself, Sapphire,” said Rarity. “Your eavesdropping is something I’ve come to expect. Now come on and wash up, I’ve made us an omelet. We have three days left, and I am determined to enjoy them, and we’ll start right after breakfast with some sun and swimming!”
Sapphire gulped. “Swimming? Swimming, swimming. What with the water, and not being able to touch the bottom with your hooves and such?”
“Of course, darling, what else would we swim in?” asked Rarity, smirking a bit at the mare’s foal-like fear of deep water.
“I, uhh, ohh! I need to get my book!” said Sapphire as she scampered back towards the stairs.
“I’m afraid there’s no avoiding it today, young lady! You promised me yesterday that we’d get out there,” said Rarity, but Sapphire’s muffled reply was too faint for the Empress to hear. She tittered to herself, and sat down at the table as the omelet divided itself in two and landed on separate plates at the table. “Sometimes it's like taking care of Sweetie Belle all over again.”
“Could be worse,” said the omelet on her plate with a squishy shrug. “You could be taking care of an orthos with a grass allergy.”
Rarity shuddered at the thought. “Ohh what a week with Fluttershy that wa—”
She stopped and looked down at the plate, and at Discord’s severed head smiling back at her. Rarity only had enough time to yelp in alarm before the world went dark.
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wow.....
this is going to be good
6862713
I was about to post that, lol
That's what I tell the kids in the coals mines when I whip them and tell them to work faster.
But honestly, geez Luna. Hyperbole much? That lines was used as a gag in "Calvin and Hobbes" for a reason.
*Mr. Plinkett of Redlettermedia appears inexplicably* I liked how Discord handled things in this movie. When womens gets crazy, sometimes you just have to abduct them... for their own good of course.
At least that's what you tell the jury.
It up to you to give them both a hoof upside the head for it, Cadance, you're the only alicorn available for the job!
Flint Pie, instantly suspicious. I can't help but imagine Pinkie having her line of descendants spying for her even from the grave.
Heh.
Oh my god, Twilight, are you still letting your emotions effect relations with the Crystal Empire that strongly? Talk about "things that should make you ineligible to be a head of state". Millions of lives impacted by this, and she's being all personally offended still after even a year.
Okay, much better.
Very rude!
You never expect to be thankful for Discord's intervention, but here we are.
A split personality for Luna? Historically, that hasn't gone well. Same for the emotional stress that Rarity is under to a bit of a lesser degree.
A "temporary suspension of powers" does sound an awful lot like a coup.
Even more thankful for Discord, twice in the same chapter. Well, assuming he is attempting to help as it appears that he is.
Im so happy you continued this story, kudos
I feel like there needs to be a Greatest Hits collection of Discord's best entrances/exits.
But really, what was Rarity expecting when she ordered the non-Euclidean omelette?
Sorry for not reading this sooner
I sense a conspiracy against Empress Rarity from the Crystal Council.
Just have to say that I'm loving this story - perhaps more than the original PTS500 arcs... Is that blasphemy or something?
Probably because you have lots of good things - Fallible Twilight, Rarity in any aspect and intrigue in spades.
Few grammar and spelling errors throughout the prologue and Chapter 1 but nothing large to detract from the reading.
I'm sure Lizardman will pick them up. "Leapt" rather than "leaped", for example.
Only Discord could crack a yoke like that.
I shell be going now...