Seventh Chapter
Testing the strength of our ideas
This chapter begins several hours after the one preceding it, when Princess Celestia is about to go to sleep
Captain Sunshine Eartheart of Her Majesty Princess Celestia’s Royal Guards
Any moment now.
A Lunar Guard walks into my office. “Good evening Captain. Her Highness wishes to speak with you.”
I ignore the guard for a moment to finish what I was writing. Eventually I turn to him. “Very well.”
If my intuition is correct this will be Luna, moaning about the fact that Celestia didn’t accept the offer. Why would she? She doesn’t want to lose control of her own guards, the same can be said with Princess Luna. I suppose it’s also a matter of distrust within the Royal Guard, neither side would want to be commanded by the other.
More importantly however, I am sure that Luna asked the question at the wrong time. She will have been so excited at the prospects of a good idea, so excited as to bring it up just after Celestia’s long tiring day at work. The tired Princess of the day is far too fatigued to agree. Now Luna is going to apologise to me. It doesn’t matter what one says does it? It’s always a matter of how one says it. A beggar on the streets of Manehattan with ideas to change the world, won’t be listened to, but a fool in a position of power’s ideals are held sacred. Now let’s see what Her Highness thinks shall we?
I enter the office of Princess Luna, this time she is alone. “Captain Earthheart, I wish to apologise.” Didn’t I say so?
“For what Your Highness?”
“I asked Celestia about the dual captain agreement.”
“Ah.”
There was a moment of silence. “I’m sorry.”
“There is no need to apologise Your Highness. You proposed the idea, and your sister said no, that’s the end of the matter as far as I am concerned. Is that all?” The princess gestures that I leave. I stomp my hoof and salute, a gesture that our meeting is over. I turn to do leave but stop just as I am about to open the door. I turn my head around and let out an annoyed sigh. “I jus- may I speak freely?”
“Of course.”
I turn to face her again. “I thought you’d be the better pony to pitch it, so to speak. You are after all her sister, I am merely her Captain. Your relationship must have more influence, and I knew someone like you would agree with such a sensible idea.”
“Pah. You’d think that.”
“Oh?”
I didn’t imagine getting this would be so easy. I suppose it’s easy to surrender one’s feelings to a good, honest, trustworthy pony.
“Well you see… I don’t know if I should be telling you this, but… Promise not to tell anypony.”
“Of course Your Highness.”
Here it is. “I think it’s relevant that you know this, considering we’re going to be working with each-other on occasion. You’d probably have had more influence than I in suggesting that policy. I love my sister, I really do, but she rarely listens to what I have to say politically. She just ignores me really, just dragging me out to make me feel good I suppose. I wish she’d listen to me, I really want to make a difference.”
This is useful, very useful. You might be asking why, and that’d be a good question. Despite how obvious those facts are, the important part here is that she trusts me. Even a useless Princess is still a Princess. Perhaps Princess Twilight is the exception, befriending her would be actively detrimental.
“It must be very difficult, if I dare speak so boldly” I state “I’d say you were done an injustice. Whatever is said about your past is irrelevant, you are a principled pony who deserves power. The fact that you’re ignored is a crying shame.”
“You think so? That’s a rare opinion.”
“One that should be more common. I may not have spoken to you often, but when I have, you showed true leadership. For what little my opinion is worth, I imagine you would rule this Kingdom excellently.” She wouldn’t of course, Princess Luna would probably be too indecisive to order her own breakfast, let alone rule Equestria. Luna is all well and good as an opposition to Celestia, it’s always easy to see what’s going wrong. But it takes a great deal more skill than she has to do things properly.
“Thank you very much.” She beams at me. “It’s very flattering to hear that, even if I find it hard to believe.”
“Your Highness, what I speak is absolute truth. Even if you don’t believe it, I certainly do.”
“Again thank you.”
“A pleasure. Might I ask, if it’s a good idea to suggest the policy to Celestia myself?” There’s a good reason I’m asking this question. You’ll see why later.
“I suppose, it could work. Doubt it though. She never listens to me.”
“I’ll coordinate a meeting with Captain Skywatch, myself and your sister. We’ll convince her.” I give her a smile.
“Excellent.” Luna gives a weak smile. I know she wants to trust what I’m saying, but can’t fully bring herself to do so. “You’re doing a good job, just don’t expect any miracles.”
“Princess Luna, I shall do what I can, now if you don’t mind I’ll take my leave. I have a few things to arrange.”
“Of course.”
This is all going supremely.
*****
“Please sit Captain Skywatch. Might I offer you any refreshments?”
“You got any soft drinks? Thanks.”
“No alcohol?”
“My shift is just starting. I’d kill a lemonade though.”
“Ah yes, so hard to forget these things after one’s first day. There are so many things one inevitably forgets after such an information overload.” I go behind my desk to take out some gin, and some lovely lemonade Sparkling kindly made for me earlier.
“I getcha mate. By the way, I like what you’ve done to this place. Very plain, functional.”
“Indeed.” I pass him his beverage, he takes quite the gulp.
“Cheers!” He smiles, and we clink our glasses.
“I don’t like superfluous things in the military.” I get to my point. He doesn’t strike me as the type of pony to waste time, so I won’t waste his. “Hence the uniform, and not the armour. I’ll only wear that thing for ceremony.”
“I getcha, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.”
“Oh I agree we really should do something about our armour. I believe we could be a lot more mobile if it wasn’t so bulky. Especially for your lot, it’s fine for an earth pony, but I don’t see why anything with wings needs it. Regardless, that’s a whole conversation unto itself. I’ll have to speak to some blacksmiths and soldiers about it.” I wave that point away. “That’s an issue for another day, a far more complicated one. I’ve called you here for another reason.”
“Oh?”
“As you will have doubtless heard, Princess Luna suggested my policy of command to Celestia, and she declined.”
“Yep. She’s not happy with her at all.” Good, that’s just what I wanted.
“I wouldn’t be either. As far as I’m concerned, this decision belongs to the sovereign. However, according to her sister, she can be persuaded.” I take a sip of my drink. “Princess Luna probably caught her at a bad time.” I say charitably. “I think, that if both of us, experts in our fields, were to arrange a meeting with Celestia, tomorrow morning, we’d be able to give her sound military reasons for this policy.”
“You don’t have to convince me.”
“Excellent. I’ll arrange the meeting.”
“Fantastic.”
We both clink our glasses. “To co-operation.”
“Co-operation.”
Even small things are important. This issue isn’t going to turn the Royal Guard into a fighting force of formidable power overnight. But this is just the start. But you’ll excuse me for now, I need to sleep.