Equestria, Canterlot Castle, 06-29-05 A.N.M., 4:27 P.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
Sunset Shimmer stomped her hoof in frustration as she read over yet another ridiculous, asinine proposal. Ever since the Gate that led from Equestria to the Moon Kingdom had appeared, there had been no dearth of stupid proposals from the nobles.
Most of these had been from what was left of the moneyed lot that were either too smart, too stupid, or too chicken to attempt coups. There was already enough of that going around as it was; another group in Los Maraleas had tried something similar to what the unlamented Commander Ironside had tried in Hoofington.
The first of these was a petition to ‘ban any contact from the ‘Kingdom of Exiles’ that Luna had formed, as it was done without the authority of the High Council or the Alicorn Council’. That one was the most ridiculous of all of them, but was also the one that was taken the most seriously, as it was a direct attack on the Alicorn Council’s authority. After due deliberation, both the Council of Eight and the High council ruled that the petitioners had filed an unlawful petition. The lot of them- three of which were highly placed Lords -were now serving at border forts like Fort Last Hope.
Sunset frowned as she read the next passage. Moving to the ‘rejected’ pile, she pulled out the one from the bottom of the pile. Setting the two proposals net to each other, she used her magic to compare the ink and parchment of each one. Both came back as a match. She did the same on the pile; again, everything matched.
Now scowling fiercely, she turned to her Guards. “Summon a runner, and tell them that I wish to speak to Lord Blueberry about his proposals at my convenience.” The Guards nodded; the pegasus Guards-mare to the left of the door briefly left her post to carry out Sunset’s orders.
Several hours later, Sunset looked up from the EIS report at the arrival of a huffing pony. The portly stallion took a moment to catch his breath before giving Sunset a polite bow. “Advisor Shimmer, I was hoping to hear that you had approved my proposal for review by the Regents,” he said pompously. “Do you have good news for me?”
“Actually mi’lord, I’ve already rejected your proposal.” Sunset gestured to the ‘rejected’ pile. “Every version of it I might add.” She pulled a scroll from out of the pile; it bore the Seal of House Dash. “I find it unsurprising that you would have attempted something like this.” She broke the seal; as she did so, the wax turned into dust. The noble paled. Sunset smirked.
“So, rewording the same proposal and sealing it with different seals; ordinarily, that would only be a gross ethics violation. A few hours of community service along with a three hundred thousand bit fine.” Sunset gestured for the Guards at either side of her office door. “However, trying to pass such a document off as coming from one of the Founding Houses is rather more serious.” She pointed at the pile of dust. “Had that proposal really been from House Dash, it would have come from one of their official couriers; they don’t use EPS, nor do they use household servants. Plus, it makes no sense for House Dash to put forward a proposal in this manner; the Kingdom the proposal is against is one that she is duty bound to protect, as she is the Regent currently sitting on Luna’s Throne.”
“Now, before you start blustering about not being involved in this, I should tell you that your secretary has already confirmed that she wrote- under threats against her family -several different versions of your proposal.” Sunset’s smirk dropped; the stallion started to sweat as he also saw that her pupils had turned to slits. Sunset closed her eyes briefly to control her anger before continuing.
“The attempted violation of the sanctity of a Founding House is one thing; threats-- even if they are strictly financial -against another pony are something we do not tolerate.” Sunset’s gaze turned intense as she stared the stallion down. “If Princess Rainbow Dash or Princess Twilight had been the ones to discover this, you’d either be stone or crystal right now, instead of just being stripped of your title, family connections, and exiled.” Sunset’s horn began to glow. “I’m not as merciful as that; I prefer to see that you suffer for your transgressions. Enjoy spending time at Fort Zephyr.” A flash of teal mana- with an ornate, five pointed star in the center- surrounded the stallion as she teleported him away.
Sunset turned and used her magic to burn the rest of the scrolls. Turning to Twilight’s Seneschal, she had this to say; “Let Twilight know what happened here; also, tell her that if she doesn’t want to deal with more of the same, then she better outlaw any proposals connected to the Moon Kingdom.” Sunset stomped her hoof. “And if she or Rainbow Dash won’t, then tell them that I will.” The mare nodded before trotting off.
Sunset sighed. “If I knew coming back would have involved these kinds of horseapples; I’d have stayed on Earth longer.” After a bit of thought, she shook her head.
“Nah, not really.”
Rainbow Dash looked up as she heard an angry snort. Twilight was standing at the door of their shared suite of rooms. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Care to share, Twi?” she asked.
Twilight snorted again. “Why is it that the other nobles of this kingdom persist in acting like a bunch of spoiled brats?” Rainbow Dash snorted.
“You already know the reason.” Rainbow looked on as her lover plopped down on their bed. Setting down her book, Rainbow scooched closer to her and began to massage her withers. “Which noble are we gonna have to fire-and-have-arrested now?” she asked, her hooves working out a tight knot between Twilight’s wing shoulders.
The purple alicorn let out a grunt of pain before she sighed in relief as the ache in her wings disappeared. “It was Lord Blueberry, and we’re not going to have to do anything.” She snorted yet again; this time she sounded a great deal more angry. “He’s one known for his ethics violations; he’s already been fined over one hundred million bits this year alone. This time, however, he went one step further.” Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. “He threatened one of his employees, forcing her to write a version of his ridiculous proposal as coming from your House.”
Rainbow’s irises turned to slits. “They’re stooping that low? Okay, that tears it; no more petitions from the nobles involving anything outside new parks is to be accepted for the rest of our Regency. We should have done that in the first place.” Twilight shook her head.
“The titled but moneyed lot already had their petition privileges revoked earlier this year, around the same time Bluey lost his. He’s the only one of that group that has had them restored; not that that matters, as he’s on our side now. Besides, there are those that do have petitions and proposals that are actually worthy ones. I agree with you, though; it’s time we sent a message to the entirety of the nobility.” Rainbow Dash nodded as she continued to massage Twilight.
Rainbow Dash was hoping that things would have quieted down, now that the Gate of Dreams was fully revealed. Instead, all that had happened was that the idiocy had increased. Rainbow Dash frowned as she recalled the happy events that led up to the current idiocy that her, Twilight, and their staff had been dealing with.
The assembled ponies waited with bated breath for the arrival of Princess Luna. Returning for a brief time, the Princess of the Night was present in Equestria to help the Regents in explaining what had recently transpired.
A short day ago, a large Gate made up of some unknown substance had appeared about three leagues to the south of Fort Zephyr. Within an hour, Princess Luna had assembled a detachment of her Lunar Guard and had flown to the site.
Earlier the next day, she sent word that she would be returning near noon to announce something special, as well as give further explanation as to what had occurred. She had already been present now for two hours, though the crowd had only been gathered for about twenty minutes.
The murmuring died down as Princess Luna appeared on the balcony. Alongside of her were the two Regents and their Royal Advisors. Luna looked down at the crowd of ponies. She shuddered slightly; public speaking was still something she was uncomfortable with, even after so many years since her return. Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder in understanding.
Luna cleared her throat, then began to speak. “Mares and Gentle-colts, I apologize for keeping you waiting, but I can finally explain what has occurred.”
“More than one thousand years ago, I, Luna, Princess of the Moon and Alicorn of Dreams created a Kingdom of Exiles on the far side of Lune’s surface. This was done with the express purpose to provide sanctum for ponies that had no place in any other Kingdom on Equus.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “Around the time of mine Fall from grace, the Kingdom became Sealed further than what it was before I created it.”
Luna smiled. “I’m happy to say that that is no longer the case. Due to reasons I cannot divulge for safety’s sake, the conditions that forced the Kingdom to be separate from our fair land are no longer apparent. What I had originally planned from the start has occurred; the Gate of Dreams is now present in Equestria. For the first time, passage between our two Kingdoms- for trade and immigration -will now be possible.”
Luna’s smile grew. “There is more good news than just the fact that the Gate of Dreams has appeared. The Moon Kingdom has a Princess of its own, as I had intended when I formed it. Despite a Great Evil doing its level best to destroy the Kingdom, she and the ponies she has sworn to protect have managed to persevere. Mares and Gentle-colts, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the Alicorn of Shadows, Darkness, and Light, and the Princess of the now no longer Exiled Moon Kingdom: Princess Nightingale!”
As the alicorn made her stately way forward, the crowd looked on in hushed wonder at her beauty. Then, the cheering started and clapping of hooves started. To know that there was another nation- one started by Princess Luna long ago, no less -reaffirmed hope for the common pony after all of the attempted coups.
The only group that wasn’t cheering was a small knot of nobles; they were too busy glaring balefully at the alicorns standing on the balcony, trying to think of ways to get around yet another alicorn standing in the way of what was rightfully theirs.
Rainbow Dash shook her head to break the recollection. Feeling a rumble beneath her, she realized that Twilight had fallen asleep. Rainbow giggled at the cute snores she let out occasionally. Gently, the cyan alicorn lifted her mate to get at the sheets, draping them over the both of them.
She soon joined Twilight in blissful slumber; time enough tomorrow to deal with idiots.
Equestria, Canterlot, 06-30-05 A.N.M., 11:17 A.M. (After Nightmare Moon)
The atmosphere in Canterlot was festive.
Midnight Dream looked about herself in wonder as she took in everything that the city had to offer. Though Lunar City was far larger- not to mention opulent -the sheer number of stores available in Canterlot trumped what her home city was able to do.
Luna looked at Midnight’s wondering gaze with an amused grin. “Seeing something you like?” she asked the pegacorn. Midnight nodded.
“As much as I love home, I’d never dream that there were cities that could top it,” she said. LUna snorted.
“Hmph; methinks that thine standards are low. Canterlot is too full of too many stuffy nobles for my taste.” Luna looked at the market stalls with a frown. “This seems new though; these weren’t here this time last year.”
“That’s because the locale was moved to accommodate the crowds coming from the Moon Kingdom and the Crystal Empire.” The two mares looked to see that Sunset Shimmer and her marefriend Moondancer was standing behind them.
“And I bet that went over well with the nobles,” Luna snarked. The mares giggled.
“Actually, it did. The Noble Court has closed ranks and censured the rest of the idiots.” Sunset smirked. “We’ve received word that replacements will be needed for ten more minor Houses and three more major ones.” Her smirk grew. “What’s more, the exile of those three has ended the last of the brushfires Rainbow’s been scrambling to put out; EIS reports that the rest of the revolutionary groups started by nobles have been dissolved. All that’s left are the more usual ones, most of those don’t have a leg to stand on, as they lack both funding and support.”
Midnight frowned. “You have been having troubles here too?” she asked. Sunset nodded.
“Yep. It started in Maerch actually, when Twilight and Rainbow Dash started on their journey north. When Rainbow came back as an alicorn, the horseapples really hit the cart.”
Luna snorted. “About time I say; I finally have my sister back.” She shook her wings out. “Well, aside from that, is the Council of Eight going to monopolize Nightingale the whole time we’re here?” Sunset shook her head.
“They’re about done with negotiations; what was taking so long was because of the idiot nobles. Now that that stump is no longer in the way, they should be finished soon.” Almost as soon as she said that, three more mares joined them.
With a whinny of delight, Midnight trotted over to Nightingale for a kiss. The alicorn indulged her before sauntering over to the blushing Moon Princess. “Hello love; miss me?” she asked teasingly. Blushing even more heavily, Luna nodded. Sunset giggled. The others turned to see that Moondancer was also blushing.
“What? It’s so sweet and charming!” she said. This made the others laugh.”
They all trotted to an ice cream cart. One they all had some frozen goodness, the mares all sat at a low table. The next few minutes were punctuated by noises of pleasure as the group all partook of the thing that all females enjoy-- ice cream therapy.
“Wow, this is wonderful! Our Kingdom has wonderful desserts, but ice cream is a luxury.” Midnight paused as she ate another spoonful of her peanut-butter-swirl. “I’m not sure why; there’s plenty of places on Lune’s surface with no atmosphere, and casting personal atmospheric bubbles is fairly simple magic.”
Nightingale sighed. “That’s actually something I’ve been working on. The reason why ice cream- compared to Moon Berry Sorbet -is a luxury. It’s actually an import.” She took another bite of her mint chocolate chip-- like a certain adorkable purple princess, Nightingale had a fondness for mint. “Most of what we eat comes through what little trade we had established between the other Exiled Kingdoms. Since those lines are protected by the Guardians, there’s not a great deal of room available for over-priced commodities.” The alicorn scowled. “As for making it ourselves, I could never get that through despite my best efforts; the Council always found ways to sabotage it. Most of those were in making it so that common ponies couldn’t afford it.”
Sunset set her spoon down with a clatter. “Actually, ice cream has only recently- like within the last couple of centuries -become so prevalent.” She pointed at the nearby cart, which was being manned not by a pony, but a heifer. “Despite unicorns being one-third of the population of Equestria, most have no magical skill beyond levitation, and whatever their special talent is. Celestia’s School is one of the few institutions that actually has a dedicated magical curriculum.”
“Anyway, we have things like this as a result of milk from cows- who made wholesale agreements for milk in return for living space and voting rights -and from inventions.” Sunset frowned. “Most of those were imports too; it wasn’t until a couple of decades before your return, Luna, that earth pony inventors started building refrigerators. Before all of that, the ice for frozen desserts always came from natural sources.”
Luna nodded. “It was the way of such things.” She ate another spoonful of her fudge vanilla swirl. “Mmph,” she said around her mouthful; after a moment, she swallowed before continuing. “Love this flavor; vanilla was always hideously expensive in my day. The idea of using such an expensive spice to flavor a dessert sold to the masses was unheard of; in fact, the only ones that ever indulged in that manner were my sister and I, plus a bare handful of nobles. Nopony else could afford to.”
“Well, actually, Luna,” Moondancer began hesitatingly, still a bit wary of being on familiar terms with the Moon Princess, “both vanilla and chocolate are still quite expensive. A two hundred pound bag of dried vanilla sells for several hundred bits average.” Luna blinked, a little shocked; her sister was the pony who most often dealt with the economic end of Equestria, so this was news to her.
“Yep, though availability isn’t what drives the price up so high. Vanilla is a hard plant to process; a crop can take upwards of eighteen months, most of which is spent in drying.” Sunset tapped her hooves. “Plus, it’s one of those things where trying to take shortcuts magically results in an inferior product.”
“Then how is so much produced?” Nightingale asked. Both Sunset and Moondancer smirked.
“We actually have the Oranges to thank for that. The lands outside Manehattan house large greenhouses that they use for orange growing. The grow vanilla beans alongside orange trees; so much so that Equestria actually has a surplus. That doesn’t drive the price down though; Celestia insists on keeping it high so the smaller farmers don’t suffer.” Sunset grinned. “It used to be that apples, wheat, pears, and peanuts were Equestria’s largest exports. Now, vanilla is second only to apples.”
“Before the advent of greenhouse methods, countries like Pachydermia or Saddle Arabia were the only places where one could get vanilla or chocolate; that is why it was so expensive. The costs are much lower now that we produce our own.” Moondancer paused to finish her own dessert. After a bit, she sat her spoon down. “Sunset, I’ve been wondering something; just how similar is the human world to ours?”
Sunset frowned. “Aside from their technology, the fact that they only have one sapient species, and much of their history, there’s a lot that’s similar. Including some of their farming techniques; again, though, much of that has been industrialized.” Luna nodded as well.
“Ever since your return, both my sister and I have been watching that world closely. The humans are doing a great deal of damage to their world; if it weren’t for its own magic, they would have faced ruin centuries ago.” The midnight blue alicorn smirked at the look on Sunset’s muzzle. “What, you thought that that world had no magic? Sunset Shimmer, if that were true, neither you nor the Dazzlings would have been able to be sent there; from a pure physics standpoint, there isn’t enough power in either world’s version of Sol to power a portal to pass a bit through, much less a pony. It would take a class 1 quazar- a feeding supermassive black hole -to support a portal big enough to allow somepony Spike’s size”
Sunset frowned as her theories were borne out. “That did occur to me. However, humans must be almost magically dead, as they make no use of cosmic forces outside of plasma. And that is generated using lasers and electricity.”
Midnight looked confused. “Wait, are you saying that the legend that there’s another world parallel to this one?” All of the other ponies present nodded.
“The Mirror of Worlds is a Pre-Unification artifact that allows for the viewing- and occasional visit -of other realities.” Luna scowled. “It’s one of the few artifacts that Star Swirl created that wasn’t flawed.”
“Actually, Star Swirl didn’t create that Mirror; my sister Astrolia did. All Star Swirl did was locked it to that one world; and that was so he could banish the Dazzlings and other undesirables there.” Sunset snorted. “I don’t know how many times I can say it, but every single thing that stallion ever did was either a cheat or a hack. Trouble is, it says nothing about his intelligence, and everything about how he was taught.”
Luna nodded. “While I never received much instruction from him directly, I could tell that he was incredibly brilliant.” She looked up at Sol’s early afternoon position. “Well, we only have a few more hours before Midnight and Nightingale have to return to the Moon Kingdom. And there is much more to show you than what you’ve already seen.”
With that, the five mares left the table. Sunset and Moondancer decided that they would follow Luna and her herd around. The five spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the sights of Equestria’s crown jewel.
In a place of deep, deep darkness, the Dark One looked on in anger and rage at the image in the scrying orb his chief servant called upon. Though his power was once more restored, it was only at the level it was when he first came to this world.
The evil creature let out another snarl of pure rage before bursting the orb. He then turned towards where a conjuring circle was laid out onto the stone. Using his power, He once more tried to bridge the gap between Him and His slave Sombra.
Once more, he was stopped by the Gates of Tartarus. Snarling, He morphed into a ball of dark energy, and moved to another part of His castle.
He soon returned, having summoned more shadowspawn and dark wraiths to attack the Palace of Friendship. His muzzle bore a now-satisfied, evil smile. He soon gazed at what remained of his Kingdom, knowing that soon, the Champions of Creation would fall.
Seeing that his ‘Master’ was now occupied with dark, evil thoughts, the servant made his way to his quarters. Once there, he used his powers to summon some of his own servants. These he sent out to destroy the most dangerous of the Dark One’s creatures, as well as to gather those that would bring her that could finally bring what he needed to destroy his enemy.
Soon, Serenity, Melanie, and Dusk willing, the Lost Alicorn of Darkness would finally be free. Soon, the Umbral Kingdom would join the others once more.
And the Dark One would finally be destroyed; hopefully for the last time.