//------------------------------//
// Court Correspondence 
// Story: Sage of Harmony (Season 2) 
// by Eon Seb 
//------------------------------//

Celestia calmly folded her latest report and watched as Luna crumpled hers. "More fan mail from the Sea Tribes, I take it?"

Nightmare looked at her sister with haunted eyes "Tia, I take back everything I said or even thought about you before I was banished. How you deal with this level of admiration day in day out and stay sane I will never understand."

Celestia was not sure what to say to that for once "Well I'm surprised I lasted all those years without you. I think I was one wrong turn away from snapping sometimes. And to think I had cut my magic in half from overwork. We really are "'a mess if we don't work together'", just like Discord used to say. Not to mention I have it on good authority that our subjects have not slept as well as they do now since before you left."

Nightmare grinned a tad sheepishly about going into a funk, "Thanks Tia, now let's get these done so you can go to bed."

The next letter they open was the report from Appaloosa which had been screened for accuracy. They were happy to see everything was going well. Trade was prospering and the tribe and town were getting along swimmingly to borrow an old seapony term, They also had a response from the fluff ponies, who were delighted to host their ambassador for however long the negotiations took. They also included a dictionary for the delegation to learn some common terms . For a language consisting of only three sounds, it was surprisingly deep complex and flowery. The introductory Raspberry when translated was 'Greetings new friend. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with this day?' For instance, after a quick message spell to send it on to Midnight, they continued.

Nightmare opened the next missive, "Oh The Saddle Arabians would be delighted to visit us. It's nice to see relations with them are going well. We haven't had a repeat of the bloody river, I hope?"

Celestia glowered, "Fortunately, no. The group responsible for that was handled with no quarter. Even the texts on their blood magic were destroyed or hidden away." Saddle Arabia was the homeland of ritual magic, just as Zebrica was the home of potions. Both of these forms of magic were important in that any pony could learn how to use them with practice. Unfortunately, both of these arts, just like the magic of a unicorn; could be corrupted by greed and a lust for power. This was the main reason for the story about Saddle Arabian magic only working in their territory; it stopped the untrained from trying something they did not understand.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Celestia opened her next letter. Her ears drooped slightly (so slightly only Nightmare noticed.) "Well on the bright side, the griffins believe us that a threat is coming. The bad news is the only way we can secure their aid would involving stealing a dragon’s hoard... Again."

Nightmare winced from remembering some of their escapades when they were younger and the level of damage and money required to fix it. After calming down, Nightmare opened her last letter, "It's from Midas"-

She immediately blinked and reread the sender "He's still alive?" Midas was ruler of the Minotaur people and a renowned pain in the flank. He only respected one thing - power - and his view of females, (even females many times his power level) left much to be desired.

"Midas X is the current leader. He is actually not quite as bad as his ancestor but he has a reputation to uphold." Celestia clarified the letter demonstrated this as well.

Dear Princess Nightmare,

I have no doubt that you and your sister's concerns are justified, but, regrettably; I can't mobilize my forces on the word of a pair of worrying old nags, (their words; not mine) - immortals or not. Unless something big happens or you can gather more substantial evidence than a single traitor, I cannot spare the forces to aid you against a (potentially) nonexistent foe.

Sincerely,

Midas X

Nightmare calmly folded the letter, "You're right. He has much more tact than his fore-bearer." Midas I was boorish boastful and annoying to every other leader he met - especially to the two pony 'upstarts' who ‘pranced around, clearly demented, with delusions of divinity.’ The fact that each of the two individual pony legitimately WAS more powerful than literally a hundred of his best soldiers did nothing to quell this viewpoint. It was a known and begrudgingly accepted fact that the ponies controlled the cycle of the sun and the moon. This fact was actually the main reason no group tried to crush or conquer them after the Windigo winter, (The chaos incident was not spoken of.) Watching as they, without aid, caused a solar eclipse shut him up for a while, (but ONLY for a while).

After some reminiscing, they returned to their reports. Some including updated trade agreements, reports from the border and progress reports of the Research and Development Department about possibly reviving an extinct dragon subspecies, known as the weather drakes.

Meanwhile...

A mysterious, shadowy female figure crushed the report with her magic, "So they think some old styles and retraining will stop us? Fools! We've been growing stronger every year, every generation!"

She opened her report on the magician. There was some potential, but she was far from perfect. They did not need another Snowfall. She dismissed the reports on one Spoiled Rich. The mare was full of greed but, tough as she acted, her spine was jelly. Not much use there. Next she read about the exploits of old Discord. While he was causing upset in the short term and driving ponies nuts with frustration, everything he did ended with things being better in the end. "They got to him too, it seems. Damn! Could have used that distraction."

Lamenting a lost opportunity, she checked her idea box, tossing all the votes for peace in the fire, she sorted through the tallies for some good back up plans. She was sure they were unneeded, but always better to have something and not need it than need something and not have it. After sorting everything and double checking the main plans broke down as

Back up Plan A: Replace important ponies one by one, bringing the government under control under everypony's nose.

Back up Plan B: Bust Tartarus wide open and let the denizens cause mayhem and misery before swooping in as the saviors and be adored by everyone.

Back up Plan C: Go back to hiding and spying until the current young generation dies off and hope the Princesses have forgotten about us.

Back up Plan D: Break out the buffoon and hightail it north to safety.

She almost tore up plan D on principle, but as an absolute last resort, it could work. She just hoped they never had to use it. Their king was not known for being forgiving. "Soon Equestria will be mine and nothing will be able to stop my king's return. Not chaos or harmony -the shadow will rule all!"