"So, this is your first time on a luxury ship, your majesty?"
"I don't think I've been on a boat either, unless I lost my memory of being on one," Sapphire noted as she looked over Silver's personal ship, with was a modest cruise ship that she assumed could hold about a hundred ponies with ease. It was the day after her arrival, which was spent mostly on a tour of Vanhoover. The tour turned out to be mostly about places of businesses, the town plaza statue of the founders of Vanhoover, the Pear family farm, the estate of House Clock, and then the city port that served as the lifeblood for the city, behind the Pear family farm. Hence, today was going to be spent on Silver's ship as they toured the harbor and the North Lunar sea for the day, with Harrow joining but Copper being unable to since he had duties to attend to.
"Well then, I consider it an honor that your first seaworthy voyage was on my ship, the S.S. Silverstride!" Silver declared in her elegant pink dress with a wide smile as Sapphire resisted the urge to connect her hoof to her face as she laid on a lounge chair, Foggy standing nearby.
"Yes... I'm happy that you're enjoying this," Sapphire flatly stated as she looked over the ship railing, seeing some other ships passing by.
"Indeed I am, your majesty. Though it is a shame that you didn't want all the ships docked so that we can have the sea for ourselves," Silver replied with a frown, only to blink when she saw Sapphire frowning her.
"Silver, I'm not going to tell ponies to drop their work just so I can enjoy an empty sea. These waters belong to everypony, and who better to know that than the Alicorn of Water herself?" Sapphire asked, her voice sounding cold and emotionless as Silver started to build up a sweat.
"Umm... my apologies, your majesty. I didn't mean to offend you," Silver quickly stated as she bowed down in an attempt to appease Sapphire, her face mere inches away from the deck.
Staying quiet for a moment, Sapphire let out a snort as she said, "It is fine, you are forgiven for your... words," as she looked at the ocean again, though keeping Silver at the edge of her vision.
Rising up, Silver said, "Thank you for looking past my poor choice of words, your majesty. Now if you’ll excuse me, I'll be checking up on our cooks to see how lunch is going," before she started to back away at a rapid pace before running into the cruise ship.
Snorting again, Sapphire muttered, "Why must nobles always treat any ponies that aren't a noble like dirt?"
"Well, they do have political powers depending on where they live, princess," Foggy answered, causing Sapphire to look at him, causing him to go wide-eyed before he continued, "Forgive me, I didn't me—"
"No no, I'm actually listening to you, Foggy. So please, if you have more to say, I want to hear it," Sapphire interjected as she moved a forehoof in a circular fashion to indicate him to continue on.
Nodding as he let out a sigh of relief, Foggy explained, "As you command, Princess Sapphire. In some parts of Equestria, the nobility either hold ownership of the land or have stock in businesses near their home due to the wealth that they have at their disposal. This gives them some measure of power over ponies that rely on their land or wealth, and some of them prefer to abuse this. As for House Clock, I don't know which group they truly belong to, but odds are that they own portions of land within Vanhoover. But since it's a growing city, they would have invested in some of the shipping companies in order to have a secured flow of revenue."
"Huh. That’s interesting, but wouldn't that allow some ponies that become rich to be able to become nobles?" Sapphire asked.
Shaking his head, Foggy answered, "No princess, nobles don't welcome outsiders into their circle since they place much emphasis on bloodlines. The only way for one born outside the noble houses is to be elevated by a princess to a position of nobility, and that is only when they have done great deeds for the benefit of Equestria."
Humming to herself after hearing Foggy's answer, Sapphire stated, "That is an interesting bit of information, Foggy. If only I could make everypony a noble, that would certainly shake the old ones up a bit," as she smiled to herself, before spotting that Silver was coming back.
"Your majesty, lunch is being prepared in a timely matter. But if you desire to eat sooner or later, the staff are ready to adapt to your needs," Silver said with a forced smile as she held a nervous look to herself, causing Sapphire to roll her eyes at her.
"Relax Baroness Clock, you haven't earned my ire," Sapphire replied, causing Silver to drop her smile as she took in a few nervous breaths. Shaking her head at that, Sapphire added, "Though, for simplicity's sake, you don't mind if I call you Silver? I rather not have to mention your title every time I have to address you."
"Of course you can, your majesty. You aren't obligated to acknowledge any noble's full title unless during formal occasions," Silver stated.
Nodding at that, Sapphire shifted her position so that she was lying on her back, folding her forelegs behind her back so she could rest her head on them as she levitated her crown onto a nearby table. Silver meanwhile, stared at her for a bit before taking stepping over to the railing as she looked out at the sea, before turning her head towards Sapphire as she asked, "Princess, may I have a request?"
Cocking an eyebrow, Sapphire looked at Silver, replying, "Depends, what request do you want from me?" as she held back a snort at the fact that she had to be a bit more flowery with her talk.
"Forgive me if I'm brash, but would you grace us with a demonstration of your power?" Silver asked, causing Sapphire to blink in surprise as Foggy's jaw shifted like he was about to gape at her in surprise. "I know it may be a sudden request, but given that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna demonstrate their power through their control of the sun and moon respectively, it would be a sight to see you demonstrating your control over the water as your title claims."
Giving Silver a neutral look, Sapphire took note of the words 'your title claims' as a possible challenge by Silver to question her position as the alicorn of water. She privately felt offended by that, before she realized she was being defensive about a position of power that she didn't want in the first place. Deciding to give Silver the benefit of the doubt, Sapphire got off her chair as she said, "Very well, I will grant you your request," as she grabbed her crown with a hoof and slapped it onto her head, as she wondered to herself about just how much power she actually had as an alicorn. As a somewhat nervous Silver stepped aside as Sapphire came to the railing, she lit her horn up as she let her magic flow out into the water, feeling it before her as she grasped it with her magic. Lowering her horn to point it at the ocean, Sapphire slowly lifted it up as a mass of water started to rise out of an area that was larger than the grounds that Canterlot Castle was on, causing her observers to widen their eyes in awe.
As Sapphire continued to lift her horn up, she saw that the amount of water that she was lifting, pausing in brief surprise before resuming her lifting of the water while pouring concentration into adding even more water to the load that she was already lifting. Surprised at how easy it was for her to do both tasks, Sapphire continued to raise the mass of water, lifting it to a height that surpassed Silver's ship. As more water flowed into the mass from below, this caused the water to flood into the empty space, only to be pulled into the air as well. Despite feeling some strain on her horn and magic, Sapphire continued to press on as the ship's crew came out to watch in awe of the magical might she was displaying. However, as the water mass reached a height that was twice the ship's own height, Sapphire suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side, causing her to groan in pain as she clutched her right side with her left forehoof.
"Princess!" Foggy cried out as he came to Sapphire's side, grabbing onto Sapphire's shoulders as he tried to steady her. Looking at Sapphire's still lit horn, Foggy stated, "You need to stop your spell now, princess! You're pushing yourself too hard!"
Shaking her head, Sapphire said, "No... I need to return the water properly or it'll send a powerful wave towards the ship and the city..." as she held her look of concentration as she slowly lowered the water mass back into the sea. However, she was a bit surprised that she knew what would happen if she simply let go of the mass of water, wondering where that bit of knowledge came from since she knew that she was never taught about that particular reaction. Slowly, the magical strain was weakening as Sapphire began releasing more and more water, but the pain in her side didn't abate as Silver came to her side as well. Eventually, the mass of water was returned to the ocean, where Sapphire ended her magic as her concentrated expression morphed into one of pain as Silver and Foggy helped her into her chair.
"Servants! Summon a doctor or a nurse to our side, now!" Silver barked out, causing the crew to dash into the ship as Foggy inspected Sapphire's side, only to find nothing wrong with it.
"Princess, you shouldn't have pushed yourself so hard in order to show your mastery of water," Foggy stated, having gone to the conclusion that Sapphire just overexerted herself.
"No... no... I didn't push myself... buck... I didn't feel much of a strain when I was lifting all that water. It was... just out of nowhere, my old wounds started to burn with intense pain," Sapphire replied, grimacing at the pain a bit before it started to fade away as the two looked at her in shock.
"W-wounds? You have wounds, princess?" Foggy asked as he started to inspect Sapphire again, much to her irritation.
"They're already healed, just a bit sore... and sensitive to large uses of magic apparently," Sapphire explained as she placed a hoof on Foggy's face, pushing him away.
"Sorry princess. It's just that since I'm your personal bodyguard during the day, the sheer thought of you being harmed would be a disgrace to me as a guard," Foggy stated as a nurse came over, whom promptly placed a hoof on Sapphire's forehead while another held her fetlock as her eyes ran over Sapphire.
Sighing, Sapphire said, "That's understandable, and everypony can stop worrying about me. The pain has ended already, so I'll be fine now."
"No can do, your highness. It's my duty to ensure that nothing is wrong with you, now open your mouth please," the nurse stated, causing Sapphire to groan as she opened her mouth to have a thermometer shoved into it.
"I will say though, after your display of power, nopony will doubt your title as the alicorn of water. Though, if that wasn't the tip of your power... I shiver at the thought of what you could do to any enemy fleets that ever decide to attack Equestria. With you as one of Equestria's princesses, we may never have to fear a naval invasion again," Silver declared.
As Sapphire was about to roll her eyes at Silver's obvious brown-nosing, Sapphire replied, "Yeah, until I die of old age," only to be confused at the looks of confusion the other three were giving her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
For a moment, there was only silence until Foggy was the one to break it when he answered, "No... it's just that you're talking about dying of old age... when you're an alicorn."
Tilting her head, Sapphire asked, "And your point is?" to which Silver scratched the top of her head.
"Umm... princess... you do know how old Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are, right?" Foggy asked, hoping that Sapphire could connect the thoughts, before becoming appalled at even thinking of Sapphire in such a fashion.
"Yeah... they're a thousand years old, but I figured that Cadance was just making a joke since they're the senior princesses after all. You know, just one of jokes on a pony's age? I mean, a pony that is over a thousand years old when there's a pony my friend Applejack's grandmother who's not even a hundred years old yet looks like she's ancient? That's just ridiculous," Sapphire explained, yet only getting the same looks as before.
"Umm... princess... how much do you know of Equestria's history?" Silver finally asked, causing Sapphire to look up at the sky.
"Umm... not much beyond the origin of Hearth's Warming, since I overlooked it for other fields of study prior to my reveal, and then I was focused on studying Equestrian laws and my duties as a princess," Sapphire answered, as she was thinking that Foggy and Silver were pulling an elaborate trick on her, or continuing the joke that Cadance started. However, she was getting a gut feeling that there was no prank, and that was starting to make her nervous as she asked, "Can somepony tell me what's going on here?"
Coughing into his hoof, Foggy looked at Sapphire as he explained, "Umm... princess... it's actually recorded historical fact that both princesses have been around for over a thousand years since Princess Celestia has been raising the sun for more than eleven hundred years... and with the power you have displayed recently... you're probably going to be like them. Meaning, you won't age, princess."
Eyes darting back and forth between the two, Sapphire then started to laugh to herself in a slightly manic fashion, saying, "So... you're saying that I'm going to be a princess... for hundreds, if not thousands of years?" Receiving concerned nods from the three, Sapphire continued to laugh to herself even more. "Well, ain't that just perfect?" Sapphire declared right before her eyes rolled up in her head as she promptly collapsed onto the chair.