Unwanted

by Apple Blumpkin

Chapter 10 - Princess Celestia

“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” ― Niccolò Machiavelli

Chapter 10 – Princess Celestia

The price of peace was always blood, and a thousand years of peace carried a hefty blood-debt. A millennium ago, after Nightmare Moon’s defeat and banishment, the thousands of dead, maimed, and missing ponies, at the battle of Canterhorne and others, knew this price. And while time heals all wounds, time also had a way of making ponies forget. In the past three years Equestria had seen its harmony broken too many times. Nightmare Moon return, Discord’s return, a direct attack on Canterlot from the Unseelie Court, and the reappearance of the Crystal Empire and King Sombra, were all reminders of darker times in Equestria’s past. While all incidents were dealt with promptly and had relatively happy outcomes, they still had allowed doubt and fear to creep into the minds of ponies.

Even happier events had upset the balance. Most ponies could easily remember a time when Princess Celestia ruled over Equestria alone, the country’s resolve as solid as Celestia’s solitary authority. Now there was not one alicorn ruler but four. While many ponies celebrated the new royalty, it still served to upset the carefully crafted stability of Equestria. The way the world was had everything to do with the ponies inside of it. If they thought they lived in a Utopia then they did, but if they had begun to think that they lived in a scary place, then that Utopia would quickly come crashing down around them.

Princess Celestia sat in her council chambers waiting for Shining Armor to arrive and give his report. She sat by a window and gazed out over the city that lay below her, watching ponies going about their day.

There was a new threat to Equestria. Princess Celestia had a sense for these things. She wasn’t sure if it came from countless years as its ruler or if there was some innate ability inherent in all alicorns.

As she sat in contemplative silence, she couldn’t help but think about where all of Equestria’s troubles started. Equestria’s problems had the tendency to never really go away, and when she spent time thinking them over, they always seemed to come from the distant past. Princess Celestia figured that that was true of all problems, but given her immortal status, she had a way of being able to track problems for much longer.

It was difficult to think about the past without Princess Celestia thinking about her own role in it. There was a time when Princess Celestia would of been considered cruel. When Equestria was much younger and full of dangers, it had been a necessity. It had taken countless years for her to find balance. If she were too merciful, disorder would arise, but if she was too cruel it would damage the unity and loyalty of her subjects.

As Equestria matured and dangers were removed, the state allowed Princess Celestia to adopt more and more clemency. Her ponies began to forget her actions; her mistakes began to be washed clean. Eventually, Celestia became loved. This is when her sister’s jealousy began.

While every school filly knows the legends of Nightmare Moon, many of the facts have been lost with time. One thing that school fillies don’t know was that when Luna embraced her darker side and began calling herself Nightmare Moon several tense years passed before any hostilities broke loose. The final breaking point had been because of Luna’s jealousy, but it was much more complicated than that.

There had been a fundamental difference between the two sister in how to rule their country. Celestia had begun to be seen as the more benevolent of the two, and the love she received had thrown off the power balance between the two sisters, inadvertently, in Celestia’s favor. While Celestia had been loved, Luna had been feared.

It didn’t happen by accident. Luna had thought it much safer to rule through fear. Celestia remembered many heated debates. The Princess of the Night was no sadist thought. She got no enjoyment from being feared. She simply had argued that it would be the best way to rule. Luna saw ponies to be ungrateful and cowardly and their love as fickle and false. A pony would love on their own will, but fear was something that the princess could control. Luna saw the issue as simple as controlling what one could and not bothering with what one couldn’t.

Celestia was wise enough to find some merit in her sister’s argument. However, the Princess of the Sun felt that ruling through fear should be a last result. While in the stalemate, Luna, through impatience and jealousy, made a mistake against her own protocol. If one is to rule through fear then one must avoid hatred at all costs. It was a rule of Luna’s own creation. When she began to take actions without proper justification hatred had begun to grow.

Soon, the hatred for Luna, whom now called herself Nightmare Moon, had gotten to the point that the ponies of Equestria demanded action. They turned to the one they loved, to protect them; they turned to Celestia. With a heavy heart, Princess Celestia recalled the fact that it had been her to throw the first stone against her sister.

Princess Celestia couldn’t help but compare her memories of her sister from a thousand years ago to the princess whom wandered the castle at night alone and looking lost. She loved her sister dearly, no matter what form or personality she took, but she couldn’t help but think that Nightmare Moon was so much more like her old sister than the idle Princess was now.

The state of Equestria had begun to be filled with much more turmoil again, and Princess Celestia asked herself how the old Luna would have handled this situation. It was a very old habit, and Celestia saw it as a sort of internal check and balance. It happened very rarely, and it always came as a slap in the face, but on occasion, Celestia would find that she and old Luna would agree on something. It was always a rude awakening, because Celestia found that her whole persona was built to suit the state of Equestria. She always has been and always will be the ruler that her country needed her to be.

Her instincts were telling her to tighten the rope. She didn’t look forward to having to be more strict, but the balance of her country hung alongside her ability to keep everything under control. Celestia feared that she might be acting too late and that things were already much more out of her control than she thought. The past thousand years of peace she had won wasn’t always easy. She had, of course, had to make hard decisions to keep that peace every so often. Nothing that caused her need to break her mask of Clemency though. An utopia had to be protected from both outside and internal threats. She had become very good at being able to deal with these threats without breaking the peace and tranquility of Equestria.

Princess Celestia was brought out of her quiet reprieve by a soft coughing. Celestia looked up and saw Shining Armor standing to her side with a sheepish, guilty expression, as if to say ‘sorry for interrupting.’

“I’m sorry Princess,” Shining said with a bow, “I didn’t mean to take you away from your thoughts, but I’ve been standing here for a while.”

“Then I should be one apologizing,” Celestia responded with a small smile, “I don’t often get caught up in my own thoughts.”

“Is everything alright? You looked worried,” Shining Armor asked.

“Just thinking about things long past,” Celestia responded, her serene smile never fading, “but I believe you are here to tell me what I should be worried about today.”

Shining gave a soft sigh to lament being the bearer of what is so often bad news. He magiced up a scroll to read off of and cleared his throat.

“Well, the Griffin tribes are still fighting for dominance in the North East around their part of the Crystal Mountains, and some of the fighting has spilled over onto our side of the range. Reports of trade caravans and supplies on route to the crystal empire being sacked are increasing. There has even been one report of a passenger train being stopped by Griffons and robbed. Because they are fighting each other, they are all putting the blame on their enemies. All I can suggest is to give the caravan’s and railways more protection, short of getting involved in the conflict ourselves.”

Celestia gave a heavy sigh. The griffons didn’t take kindly to any outside interference in their scuffles. Any attempt to ask them to stop would only be met with offence, and even if Equestria did want to involve itself in their politics, they wouldn’t accept any aid in any form. The Griffon’s pride and honor wouldn’t allow any outside help.

“Yes, that is all we can do for now,” Celestia eventually surmised, “By the way, who is expected to come out on top? I imagine we will have to send an ambassador to them when this is all over.”

Shining Armor flipped through several pages of the report before he had an answer.

“Well, there is several groups fighting, but the two favorites right now are a young bloodwing named Gilda and a Lord Halfclaw; we don’t know much about either of them, but my money is on Lord Halfclaw; he seems to have a lot more griffons with him.”

Both names sounded vaguely familiar, but Celestia shrugged it off.

“Very well, increase the guard, but do it slowly… no need for them to think we are building up troops to attack them while they are fighting. I had plans on better protecting those routes anyway, anything else?”

“You mean the plans you were making with Filthy Rich?” Shining asked.

“Yes. Anything new on that?”

Shining set his scrolls down on the table, there wasn’t anything in them about the conversation at hoof anyway. “Not much, some rumors,” Shining said with a small huff before continuing.

“By the way, I’m getting pretty tired of pretending I don’t know that their ‘private security’ is following me around,” irritation was written plainly on his face.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. However, I asked you to come back –”

“I understand why it had to be me that handled this. I just need you to know that this is the last time I can come and do this. I have to think about the Crystal Empire now,” Shining interrupted in an irritated tone, but his face soften quickly, “forgive me for speaking out of turn, your highness.”

“I know you feel like your loyalties are split, but you can trust that what is best for Equestria is best for the Crystal Empire. However, I will not ask something like this from you again if I can help it,” Celestia appeased, “But for the time being, please indulge me and try to ignore the ponies following you; their intentions are very similar to your own.”

“I’m just not used to being the one investigated I suppose. I know that their head of security suspects I was lying about something,” complained Shinning.

“That lie could very well keep them out of trouble, so try not to let it bother you. I’ve asked you to do far worse in the past,” Celestia meant her comment lightheartedly, but she still caught the dark expression flash across Shining Face.

Celestia let the conversation die of its own accord before putting it back on track.

“So, what rumors have you heard?”

Shining paused and looked slightly embarrassed; he didn’t like to report rumors, but he hadn’t been able to find anything to support or deny them.

“There has been some whispering from a few of our… less reputable sources,” Shining paused to emphasis the ‘less reputable bit’, “that the ponies responsible for Filthy Rich’s death was a group called ‘The Order of the Alicorn Sisters’ and that they killed Filthy because of some old prophesy that they followed.”

With practiced calm, Princess Celestia gave no outward indication that she was surprised. Inside though the mention of ‘The Order’ left her stunned. She hadn’t heard that name in at least a thousand years.

“Does the name or the prophesy sound familiar at all Princess?” Shining asked.

It took a few moments to find an acceptable answer, but Princess Celestia finally said, “Yes it does. It was a very old and important Unicorn order nearly two thousand years ago. The prophesy had to do with me and my sister’s right to rule. They helped us secure the throne and bring unity to Equestria. However, the prophesy was fulfilled, and the order was disbanded… I haven’t heard any mention of them in a very long time, and even if they were still around, I have no idea why they would target Filthy Rich…”

Shining Armor gave it some thought, “ah well, I’ll still make sure it is looked into, but it sounds like a pretty baseless rumor to me.”

Celestia outwardly gave a simple nod, but internally she was returning to her previous line of thought, and how all of Equestria’s problems had a habit of coming back from that time period.

“You know, maybe you should have Twilight look into it,” suggested Shining Armor, “Recently she has been really clingy, something about her having all the time in the world now and wanting to spend every moment she could with her BBBFF. It might be because she is immortal now, but I can’t help think that something else is going on in that head of hers.”

It was an innocent suggestion, but any mention of ‘The Order’ would only be in Celestia’s private library which had all sorts of things she wasn’t sure she wanted Twilight to be exposed to yet. However, she was a princess now, and there were some very important lessons for her to learn in that library. Perhaps, it was time.

Not getting a quick answer had caused Shining armor to continue to try to come up with reasons.

“She really likes dusty old things, like history, and to be honest, with how much she wants to hang out, it is hard to keep focused on the investigation…” continued Shining.

“OK, I will write Twilight and tell her to research the matter in our next correspondence,” Princess Celestia finally said, “Now I’m sure there is a lot more to talk about in that stack of papers.” Celestia motioned to Shining Armor’s now forgotten reports.

Shining gave an abrupt head jerk to look at the papers as he remembered them. He magiced them back in front of him and continued, “We continue to get reports of strange lights over the San Palamino Desert, but everything is unconfirmed. Also, several Apple carts were stolen in Appleloosa,” Shining continued on.

Princess Celestia continued to half listen and nod her head at the right times. It was a skill she was very good at. The other half of her mind had gone back to the feeling of impending dread that Equestria was in danger. It was a good idea to bring Twilight in on things, at least in a limited regard. She was a sharp girl who had proven herself worthy more times than necessary. Although it was just a suspicion, she could almost feel that whatever threatened Equestria would not be stopped by the Elements of Harmony, and that Equestria would soon become a very different place to live.

Comments

[jdb1984]

Dun Dun DUUUUN!

Oh, and Bloom might be getting addicted to tobacco.

[Jaxonian]

ooh do i sense some Twining Sparmor shipping???? :3 moar plz!!

[auramane]

Please, I need more of this.
Why hasn't it updated?

[Apple Blumpkin]

3496436
I'm sorry, been side tracked with other stuff, but I promise that i will eventually get back to this lil story.

[Ruxify]

Can't wait to read more!

[Ranma-sensei]

Okay, after the obvious statement of finding your story great, I have some nitpicks:

1.) You really need to proofread before publishing. I suspect the low number of views on the later chapters is a consequence of people being turned away by the many grammatical mistakes and typos.

2.) Tying into point one is the fact that you tend to confuse words. For example, you repeatedly say "defiantly" when you mean "definitely".

Perhaps you could get somebody to beta for you - or you could turn to a beta-for-a-beta group.

3.) You seem to be a little confused as to where to take your story, and it shows. The mystery around Filthy Rich's disappearance and death somehow doesn't grip me - in fact, it always rips me out of the story. Maybe you should note your intended basic outline down and see how you can fit the murder investigation into it more fluidly.

By all means, this doesn't mean that I don't like your story. Quite the opposite, really. But I don't feel comfortable giving an uninspired and useless "Yo, great story, bro.", so I try to give constructive criticism.

[Sweeticus_Bellicus]

The show must go on

[FallBlau]

I like the allusions to Machiavelli. The Prince is one of my favorite books, so I caught the reference immediately.

I honestly stumbled across your story by chance, but now that I've read it, I feel invested it. I really want to see what happens, although, by the town you have already set, you seem to alternate between a light-hearted ship-fic to dark, brooding murder mystery story. The contrast is very visible, but interesting...

I honestly can't wait to see more...

[Pheonix]

Yo great story bro.

[that pony girl]

mooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeee they said

[-Brutus]

Any update in future?

[johndoe42365]

R.I.P. a good story may an AI one day come and complete what has been left to us all

[James David Fox]

Such a nice story, this is brilliant, a broken Diamond Tiara on her way to discover more of herself, and a confused Apple Bloom having to deal with the feeling of a probably new friend, I hate how this was abandoned, never to be told again. Great story, wonderfully written, and sadly abandoned....

[Nanomachines]

What an interesting and gripping story...

Wait, hasn't been updated in over 100 weeks!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....

[Book_Wyrm]

Legalism and Confuscism anyone?

[Knight N Gale]

3539549
So is this story dead?

[CrossoverFanficReader]

9513266
Absolutely. Without a doubt.

[Knight N Gale]

9544553
Oh, did you talk to the author?

[CrossoverFanficReader]

9544805
not at all

[-Brutus]

3539549
I hope so, this was one of the good ones from back then. I hope you're doing well in life.

[JSAR1562]

I'm enjoying this! I do hope it continues.

[horses are fuckin weird]

11133100
bro it was last updated in 2013

it dead

[Kirbyfan123]

Hope this isn't Dead but looks like it is