//------------------------------// // Noble Trolls-or How to Wreak An Aristocrats Day. // Story: Sage of Harmony (Season 2) // by Eon Seb //------------------------------// It took some time and a lot of hard work, but things in Canterlot were getting back to normal. Celestia was finally finishing the last few reviews. 5 families were on probation and 3 had lost their status as nobility but, other than a large amount of stress, most of the court was up to snuff. Discord being introduced as the new Supreme Justice caused another wave of panic, but made getting rid of the families who refused to do their jobs or had managed to gain noble status only through having money much easier. Now, they could actually shut up about her "playing favorites" after Discord read the law of nobility to them verbatim. Sir/Dame: Title earned through great acts and service to the crown: Non-hereditary. Baron and Baroness: Settle a new area and form a thriving town: Hereditary. Viscount/Viscountess: Earned through great acts of military heroism and by showing great leadership : Hereditary Earl/Countess: Title awarded to inventors and historians for discoveries that better the life of all ponykind: Hereditary Marque/Marchioness: Titles offered to all founder families after the Princesses took over governing : Hereditary (and all but one extinct). Duke/Duchess: Title given to those of royal lineage/ those who run large cities. The great noble families: Hereditary Prince/Princess: Title used by the Alicorn leaders of pony kind: Earned via ascension to the state of immortality . Duchess Bluebell had also proven her worth recently. While her magic may still be sealed, her mind was not and she soon had the remaining nobility wiped into shape and back on track. The city and, by extension, the country had not run this well in centuries. Of course they were still annoying in other ways. Case and point. Celestia watched as Nightmare set another piece of her mail on fire. "That was the 3rd contract request from that house! What is it going to take to get them to realize I won't sign my daughter into a marriage?" This was, by far, the most annoying part of having announced her heir for Nightmare, and her sister was not helping. " Don't they normally send those to the father?" Nightmare's face could have been used as a level "I just got back from comforting her after her actions to claim control of the forest. You now how most pones; even the omnivorous ones; hate violence, She was actually afraid I wouldn't want to be around her anymore. She's so stressed with all the meetings she has to deal with and being the envoy to some of the other tribes. So I decided to deal with these myself. I had no idea how asinine they were. No wonder she's been on a hair trigger the past few days "- Celestia could only smirk at that comment- "Not what I meant and you know it. Now let's get this done before it's time for me to raise the moon." Dream world Nightmare could only stare at her mare friend, Who had just explained and shown the current form of the plan she had to deal with the betrothal contract overload. "This can't be legal?" Midnight had with her a contract which would make any other betrothal attempts void while allowing their daughter to maintain as much freedom as possible. It was deceptively simple: Party A is betrothed to Party B and they shall grow up along side one another to see if a relationship will work out. If either party feels that the marriage would not work they may back out of the betrothal on their 18th birthday. If both parties agree the marriage WOULD work, they will be wed on the 21st birthday of the youngest party. Midnight looked like a preening bird "I checked it with every law book we still use, 5 lawyers, and Discord. The contract is perfectly legal and protects all parties from any repercussions regardless of the outcome. Now we just have to find a good candidate for the second party." After 3 hours of dream searching, they had the nobility in 2 categories: those who thought the contract was a good idea and those who thought it was too lenient. Of those who agreed that the contract was a good idea, none of them had children who were not betrothed of an acceptable age. "Oh this is just ridiculous!" Nightmare just managed to avoid using the royal voice in her anger. 'Well this is still not as bad as the first few who tried to offer herd contracts to our 10 year old." That made Nightmare speechless, then the dream world shook "WHAT THE BUCK IS WRONG WITH THEM!?" Nightmare was hyperventilating while Midnight was on the ground with swirl eyes, after snapping out of it she continued "That's why they were happy to send you the contracts now. I gathered all of the family heads who made that offer and explained to them why I rejected their contracts"-here she blushed-"I may also have threatened to eat them if they tried something that stupid again." Nightmare looked at her companion's sheepish face before blinking, once, twice, and proceeded to laugh her flank off. "I can't believe you managed to make me seem like the calmer individual in this mess" It took several minutes but when she calmed down they got back to work. There had to be some way to deal with the idiocy of betrothal contracts without threatening physical harm. Several hours later, Nightmare was back to her nightly rounds. After having vented her frustration on several bad dreams, she ran into Spectrum, who had just come out of a door with a contemplative look on her face. After exchanging their normal greeting (hugs) Nightmare inquired as to what was on her child's mind? "Mama what does it mean when ponies are dreaming about someone a lot?" Nightmare answered that as honestly as she could, no reason to explain things beyond Spectrum's age "Well, that depends on what type of dream it was. If it's a nightmare, we may need to stage an intervention. If it's a good dream, then it just means they think about that pony a lot and being around that pony makes the dreamer feel happy. Why do you ask dear?" Spectrum blinked "Oh I just got done watching one of Diamond's dreams where I was saving her from, something it was kind of hard to make out what exactly I was fighting in the dream. I actually thought she was having a nightmare about me at first which is why I checked. Thanks for clearing that up mom, night." Spectrum walked away, not noticing her mother had stalled. 10 seconds later, she was racing back to Midnight's dreams with a new plan Filthy Rich was a practical stallion. He was the big fish in the small pond of Ponyville. Contrary to his wife, he was comfortable with the current situation concerning the recent change in his family dynamic (due to his daughter joining the junior court of the moon). Now Filth did not have much of a temper (considering who his wife was, he had to be one of the most even-tempered stallions in Equestria). Still, if he had to deal with one more rich pompous smarmy shitlord, he was going to scream (and most ponies thought HE was bad). When Midnight showed up to meet him with a contract, he was ready to buck something, consequences be damned. After one very emotional conversation, they had both calmed down and come to an agreement calling in the girls and explaining it to them. It had gone much smoother than he anticipated. Apparently Midnight had thought ahead and gave them a lesson on the basics of betrothals and their purpose from a non-romantic perspective. So one quick signature later, everything was finished and he could swear he heard a something akin to shattering glass as the dreams of several noble families fell apart.