CHAPTER 13: Good News at Last!
King Solmidas awoke to the sound of the bell his servants would ring every morning. He yawned, removed his covers, and got up to get ready to start the day. He walked over to a nearby desk and levitated his crown towards him. Before putting it on he looked into his reflection on the shiny, spotless, gold surface. He stared at it for a while, thinking about the news he received right after dinner last night. It was big news, but everypony had things to do and would be heading to bed soon at that time, so he saved it all for today. The first pony he would have to tell, of course, would be his queen.
“Chernalia?” he said, turning around to her.
“Yes, Love?” the queen responded as she got up and out of bed.
“Last night after you left the table, Safeguard came with some news.”
“What sort of news?” she asked.
“Well, it seems Leogle wants to come over to the palace and meet with Celestia and Luna to discuss things and……possibly make amends.”
Queen Chernalia’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open for a moment.
“Sol, tell me you’re jesting!”
“I am not. It’s what I was told.”
The queen smiled, went over and nuzzled against her husband.
“Chernalia…” the king started, but she was so overcome with joy she didn’t even hear him.
“It’s finally happening, my love.” she said, “Things are going our way once again! I’m sure he’ll ask the girls for forgiveness, and they’ll-”
“Yes, yes, that’s wonderful, Love, but…”
“What’s wrong?”
The king turned and started walking around while speaking to Chernalia. There was some tension in his voice.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the general has had a change of heart, I’m just not too sure about our daughters going up against him again.” he said.
“What are you talking about?” Chernalia asked him.
“It’s not that I don’t trust them, it’s just……it’s just I can’t help but feel they still aren’t ready for this…”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m sure they did admirably, but something tells me there’s a reason why they failed the first time, not to mention once again with the dragon.”
Chernalia tilted her head and gave her husband a somewhat sarcastic, but stern, look.
“Solmidas, dear, I wouldn’t worry about it. The first time Leogle treated them awfully, that was why they failed. The dragon was just a mistake on both our parts. If Leogle is ready to ask for forgiveness this time I’m sure it will work out.”
“Chernalia, it’s not Leogle I’m worried about…”
“Do you not trust your daughters?”
The King closed eyes almost in fear of how his wife could react to what he was about to say.
“I just don’t know if I can trust them with this just yet…”
“Sol…”
“I know those first two tests were not in their favor, but what if they fail this one too? I can’t afford to let my daughters make fools of themselves.”
“SOL!” the queen bellowed. “Your daughters…fools!?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…” the king said nervously, shaking his head. “I’m not saying they would look like fools, but I don’t want them humiliated in front of my subjects. We are talking about the future leaders of Equestria!”
“Sol, you’ve already been told just how well they handled these tests even though it didn’t go well. Percy and Penny were there, they documented how professional our daughters were.”
“And what about when Celestia barked back at the dragon?” the king said almost getting angry.
His wife shook her head, looking disappointed.
The King turned around and frantically walked back and forth in the room.
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry……I’m just so worried, I can’t see it happening any other way…”
He put his head out a window. For a few seconds she left him there to recollect himself until she joined him with her wing around his back.
“My King, you need to have faith in your daughters.” she told him.
“Should I let them talk to him when he comes?” he asked his wife.
“I think it’s worth a try. They will be with you this time, they don’t really need to change what they did last time, and think about it: if Leogle was apologetic enough to arrange to meet again, what could go wrong?”
“Alright.” he said after a long pause. “I will let them know about this and they will meet with him, providing they can prepare to negotiate. I will be presiding over the meeting, but I will allow them to do most of the talking.”
“It’s going to be alright, my love.” she said nuzzling him once again as he did the same. “I know you’re worried but as I said, all we can do right now is have faith.”
The royals continued to embrace one another for a few moments longer until they both parted and got ready to put on their regal garments and prepare to do their duties.
Neither of them knew it, but during this entire time, Percy was listening outside. He meant to knock on the door to ask a question, but he didn’t want to interrupt; though he couldn’t keep himself from eavesdropping.
“Oh boy…” he said under his breath.
“So the General wants to see them again? Gee, I sure hope he’s ready to say sorry.”
Percy began pacing around in front of the doors thinking about what he had just heard while stroking his scaly chin and talking out loud.
“I haven’t heard the king and queen get in that heated of an argument in a long time. It’s crazy to hear Sol say how he’s having a hard time trusting Tia and Luna. I sure hope he hasn’t lost all his faith in them. I know I haven’t. Still, I best not say anything about this. He’ll tell them later but I don’t want them knowing he’s a little iffy about trusting them with this. I’d hate to drive a wedge between the royal family…”
“Is everything alright, Perseus?” said a familiar voice from behind.
“OH, ACCORD!” Percy yelped nearly tripping over his own tail. “It’s you……I, um…”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snoop.” Accord said politely.
“Eh, it’s okay. I mean you’re going to know what the king was talking about in there eventually, so I guess it’s no secret.”
“Oh? What happened, might I ask?”
“Well…” Percy got ready to speak but remembered to not mention what the king had said about his daughters. “Apparently we just got word that General Leogle has had a change of heart, and he wants to come back and meet with us and talk to Tia and Luna. I think he might want to apologize or something……at least that’s what I’m hoping.”
Rather than having an overjoyed expression, Accord seemed somewhat shocked and confused.
“Er…Leogle has changed his mind already?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s good, right?”
Accord suddenly smiled and continued speaking.
“Oh, well of course it’s good! That’s wonderful news indeed! Just…you know it’s a little odd how quickly it happened.”
“Yeah, I can’t disagree with you on that.” Percy replied. “Well I’m quite sure Tia and Luna are going to do just fine talking to him this time, since he seems sorry and the king is going to sit in on the negotiations and stuff.”
“Indeed. Well it’s only a matter of time before the princesses know about this as well.”
“Yeah, he’s going to tell them soon but don’t tell anyone I told you this.” Percy begged. “I don’t want the king thinking I’m spying, I just was going to ask him something and then I heard him talking about it in there to Queen Chernalia. I can’t even remember what I was going to ask him now. Hehe…Well, I best get a move on; I’ve got things to do.”
Percy ran down the stairs to go off to his duties, and talk to Penny about all this when he had time.
“Yes, have fun, Percy, and thanks for letting me know about this!” Accord said looking back while smiling and waving to his dragon friend.
Once Percy was out of sight, Accord turned. He had a very skeptical look on his face and his tone of voice changed.
“So then, the General has already changed his mind?” he said to himself. “That’s rather……interesting. Seems he’s had plenty of time to think things over.”
Accord looked out the window Percy was standing in front of earlier and stroked his white beard.
“Well it looks like the princesses are ready for another test then I suppose. Good news for them indeed. Good news indeed…”
The wise alicorn senator spoke rather smugly than normal, but then continued on walking with a smile on his face, looking proud and confident as usual. It was in fact good news, though he didn’t seem to take it that way.
Later that day, Celestia and Luna were studying diplomacy in an unoccupied room in the educational center. Every day they had a study hall all to themselves for an hour to catch up on homework and other written obligations. Lately they had been taking advantage of this time to practice negotiating strategies in order to be prepared for their actual exam one day. As they were reading their textbooks and taking notes, a knock could be heard on the door.
“Come in.” Celestia said.
King Solmidas entered alone.
“Father …” Celestia said. “Is everything alright?”
“Daughters, I apologize if I am interrupting anything at the moment…” the king started saying.
“It’s alright, Father. We have time to talk.” Luna responded.
Celestia and Luna bookmarked their textbooks and set them down on their desks and approached Solmidas.
“I have some very good news for the two of you.” he said.
They glanced at each other briefly and then drew their attention back to their father, eager to know what he would tell them.
“I received word last night that General Leogle wants to meet with us in about a week. He wishes to have a more civil discussion than last time and make amends for what happened.”
Celestia’s mouth dropped open and Luna gasped with her eyes as big as saucers.
“Father, are you serious?!” Luna exclaimed.
“I am, Luna.” the king said, smiling.
“EEEEE!” Luna squealed flapping her wings while airborne.
“Oh my goodness!” Celestia exclaimed. “He’s actually willing to do this, Father?!”
“That’s right, Celestia. The general is willing to make up with both of you.”
“I knew this whole diplomacy thing would get easier from here on out!” Luna said.
“Wait, so he’s coming next week you say?” Celestia asked.
“He will be coming with some of his own officials, and I will be presiding over the negotiations.” the king explained.
“So you will be there with us then?” Celestia looked down quick and thought a few things over while her sister pranced about on the floor all excited. “Well this should be fine then! I’m sure having the discussion in these courts will make it much easier, especially with you in there, Father.”
“Your mother sure seems to think so, as do a few of my advisors.” the king said walking up next to his daughter and put his wing around her.
“Does everyone else know about this yet?” she asked.
“Right now just us, your mother, the dragons, and some of my advisors, that is all. Percy will address the courts on the matter later tonight.”
Luna snuggled up to her father’s leg warmly as he put his wing around her.
“So Father, do you think the general will listen this time?” she asked.
“It certainly seems like he’s ready to apologize. You two won’t need to really change what you did with him last time. I am certain you both handled the negotiations well then, but now that Leogle seems to have a change of mind, I’m sure this time will go much smoother.”
The king walked over to a nearby stained glass window in the classroom that showed an image of the royal family.
“You will both do fine with Leogle, I am sure.”
“And if we are successful, that will count as our final exam?” Celestia asked walking up to him.
“Yes, my daughter, it will count.” he replied.
“Tia can you believe this?!” Luna said jumping on top of Celestia’s back and peering into her sister’s eyes upside down.
“I’m just speechless over how fortunate we are now!” Celestia told her little sister.
“This is a sure sign that both of you made no mistake with your lessons and you are ready to do great things.” said the king, embracing his daughters.
Chernalia looked at her husband and daughters from the doorway. He looked back and they smiled at each other. She then left the doorway and walked down the long hallway with the late afternoon sunlight shining brightly from some nearby windows.
The queen walked slowly thinking about all the good things that had happened to the royal family lately. Being in the midst of turmoil was very tough for the king and her, but with things finally going as planned, she could only see it getting better from here on out. She made a content sigh and closed her eyes.
Suddenly the pitter-patter of dragon feet could be heard from a nearby stairwell and Percy and Penny appeared out of the corner of her eye.
“Queen Chernalia!” shouted Penny.
“Penny, Percy, what are you two doing here?” the queen said, laughing.
“Percy just got done telling everyone the good news! It’s true then? The general’s willing to come back and say sorry?” said the little dragon hopping up and down eagerly.
“It’s all true, Penny.”
Percy stepped forward rolling up a scroll that he used earlier to address the court.
“And the king just told Tia and Luna, right?” he asked Chernalia.
“Yes, Sol just told both of them. They were, of course, very glad to hear it.”
“Yeah, the parliament was glad to hear it too!” Percy said with a proud look on his face.
“I feel so happy for them!” Penny continued. “They’re going to nail this one!”
Chernalia giggled and walked on with the dragons down the hall as the dragons kept walking along and talking about the news. She looked out a window at the view of the Everfree City.
“Stand firm, Equestria.” she said. “Your future is bright.”