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// The History of Equestria Under Alternia Part 6: The Dagger that Blew the Powder Keg 584-588 (Ch. 3 of the Saddle Arabian War Series) 
// Story: Princess Celestia The Changeling Queen:  Stories Behind the Mask 
// by vren55 
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Some argue that the war began with the dagger that was shoved into Faisal I’s throat. Some argue it began long ago with the conflict between Saddle Arabia’s slave system and Equestria’s ideology of Harmony and freedom. I don’t disagree with either, but I think a more moderate view is in order. The foundations of the war were laid by the animosity between Equestria and Saddle Arabia, and it was certainly escalated by the Gorgon Incident. I also agree that it began with Faisal I’s death.

However, I would argue that the war became inevitable when Faisal I took Jade Glimmer into his harem.

All the Saddle Arabian kings had large harems, and their subjects also had harems as well. The king’s harem though was the largest and became institutionalized into the Grand Harem.

Now, most of my Equestrian audience will shrug at having a polygamous harem because they would be aware that Equestrians also has herds which are similar to a harem, and like Saddle Arabian harems, are male or female led. They’ve fallen out of practice, but they are entirely legal. Alternia’s nobles at one point was even proposed to create a harem for their princess in 100 AR. One of stallions and mares.

Saddle Arabian harems were similar to herds in this, and didn’t differentiate between sex at first. They also, at first, had a practical, and humane purpose. The seclusion of fertile males and more often, females, dated back to when Saddle Arabia consisted of a series of warring tribes. When warlords and chieftains couldn’t be sure of their follower’s loyalties. Saddle Arabian mares at that time (and still) had quite a bit of power in their society. If a warrior secretly bedded the right matriarch, she could bear that warrior’s children, and work with the warrior to usurp the incumbent chieftain.

The harems also existed to protect females/males and their children from raids by other tribes. Keeping and secluding all the fertile members of the tribe’s leader with their children in one place made it easier for chieftains to protect their loved ones.

But by 584, the Saddle Arabian cultural-social institution of a harem had changed. The problem was the initial founders of the harem system didn’t anticipate the formation of the caste system and the introduction of slavery. Now, instead of safe havens for Saddle Arabian wives/husbands and children, the harems became specialized groups of enslaved concubines intended to pleasure the Saddle Arabian (male or female) who controlled that harem.

Jade Glimmer became part of the Sultan’s harem in 580 AR, but her story goes back a bit. She was a unicorn descendant of the Glimmer unicorn clan that was destroyed in the Equestrian Civil War and lived in a small town on the Western Equestrian coast with her family. Her family were merchants and so she was educated, eloquent, and very pretty. Paintings from the time feature her having jade-green eyes, and a matching light-green coat, along with a luscious royal-purple mane.

In 578 AR, when she was sixteen, a Saddle Arabian corsair raid killed her father, fatally injured her mother and took her westwards.

She was then sold into the harem of King Faisal’s Minister of Internal Affairs, one Desert Storm. From her personal accounts, we know that he wasn’t unnecessarily cruel, but he was her master and he forced himself on her and made her perform what he saw was her duty..

In the midst of her suffering, she became lifelong friends with one Winding Sheets (real name, Crimson Fan) a lithe purple-colored, red-maned unicorn mare with scarlet eyes. At twenty, she was Desert Storm’s favorite concubine. Having been enslaved when she was a child, and knowing that Desert Storm would eventually tire of her, she took pity on Jade Glimmer and taught her how to move up in Desert Storm’s harem and household. Winding Sheets’s hope was that when Jade replaced her, she’d take care of Winding Sheets.

What neither mare expected was that King Faisal I would take an interest in Jade. At a banquet in 580 AR hosted by Desert Storm, Faisal I was entranced by Jade Glimmer, who was doing a dance/magical act for the guests. This itself would not have been surprising to most. Jade Glimmer’s special talent was in dancing. What was surprising was that Faisal I invoked his privilege as Priest-King and took Jade Glimmer into his own Harem, installing her as the 4th Rank Concubine and giving her the consort name “Roxelana.”

Why was this significant? I’ll briefly digress. You see reader, in order to ensure that the concubines within each harem were fighting amongst themselves and not plotting against the Harem master, Saddle Arabian Priest-Kings had the practice of instituting ranks for the concubines and consorts within their Grand Harems.  This created an institution that would apply for both male and female Priest-Kings and had worked for years. At certain ranks, the male or female concubines and consorts would get certain privileges. Concubines of the highest levels even got salaries. New inductees into the harem were also given new names, in an attempt to erase their former identity and to tie their loyalty to the King. Ultimately, instead of uniting to resist the king, the concubines were encouraged to fight one another.

But in Faisal’s lust and overconfidence, he had sealed his own fate. Jade Glimmer’s resentment at her situation, at what she had to submit to to achieve a modicum of independence (and even then a false one at that as it was subject to the Priest-King’s whims and lust) grew as she served in the Harem.

Shortly after she was made a concubine of the King in 580AR, the Gorgon Incident occurred. It was then she became infuriated at Equestria’s Prime Minister, her future husband, Rapier Apple for his staunch anti-war stance. It was also when she realized that Equestria couldn’t, or wasn’t willing enough to overturn the system of suffering that tortured her and so many others. She had to do something by herself.

Thus, even as she satisfied the desires of the King Faisal, she began to plot the downfall of Saddle Arabia. She enlisted the help of Winding Sheets, who, despite her initial fears, proved to be one of the foremost plotters. Slowly, those who knew about the plot grew, until nearly a third of Faisal’s Harem was in on it as well as the concubines of numerous other Saddle Arabian ministers.

But Jade Glimmer knew that if they were to destroy Saddle Arabia, they would need friends in other places. Horses who were in Saddle Arabia’s government and sympathetic to their cause. This wasn’t easy though. Only the slaves had any cause to bring down Saddle Arabia.

A few horses did though. Mustang’s subordinate, Hawkeye, joined the resistance, which soon acquired a name only whispered in the ears of slaves after dark, The Open Circle Resistance.

By 582 AR the movement, galvanized by the worsening conditions of slaves, started to free slaves, slowly started to amass weaponry and when possible, assassinated those coordinating the slave system. They also linked up with existing resistance movements and disseminated propaganda aimed at shaming the Saddle Arabians for allowing slavery to continue.

It was at this point in time that the Royal Equestrian Intelligence and Naval Service started to get in touch. The Open Circle had been ferrying slaves to the Equestrian Express after all. Jade, who was now one of the major players in the movement didn’t trust the REINS or Equestria though. She saw them as self-interested and conducting operations only to appease the Equestrian public, without taking the step to go to war.

She was mostly right and this was frustrating to those in the Open Circle Resistance. Furthermore, slave conditions were in fact, worsening to an insane degree. Hundred were being crippled or dying, worked to death in the fields or in the factories. Jade was also aware that the Saddle Arabians were doing their best to circumvent the Silks-Pea agreement by raiding remote Equestrian outposts and villages. She herself was one of those taken in the raids after all.

Frustration led to more extreme actions. I the late months of 582 AR, the movement started to up their assassination attempts. Many failed and cells within the resistance were destroyed down to the last child as a result.

This got the attention of many Saddle Arabians who began to question the efficacy of the slaves and caste system as the brutal reprisals (hangings, disembowelment, and public torture) by their government disgusted them.

It also horrified the Equestrians, who began to clamor even more for action to be taken against the Saddle Arabians. It was at this point that Rapier, kept informed by an increasingly grim Mustang and a horrified Black Beauty, realized that Saddle Arabia could not change if the current ruling body stayed in power. Black Beauty in particular, became supporters of the Open Circle Movement soon after the reprisals began.

But what shocked Rapier more was his old friend Xanthos, who now was 2nd Secretary for War. Xanthos had completely embraced the caste system and now rejected Rapier’s friendship.

Rapier thus ordered the expansion of the operations of the REINS in undermining the Saddle Arabian government. He also started to support and actively coordinate Equestrian war plans and military buildup, while agreeing with Alternia on the need to make contact and support the Open Circle Resistance.

Jade was enthused, but her movements were becoming much more restricted. She had risen to the rank of 2nd Concubine and constantly had to satisfy the growing debauchery of King Faisal. His wife, Queen Halwat, had died in childbirth and so Faisal was free to turn to his Harem for pleasure. For Jade though, the combination of running a resistance in secret, the humiliation she underwent as a concubine, and the physical toll of now being one of the king’s favorites, was forcing her to the end of her physical, emotional and mental limits.

The only comfort she had was in her friendship with Sadat, King Faisal’s youngest son, who didn’t directly own any slaves as he was an opponent of slavery. Through Hawkeye, she also befriended Mustang and Black Beauty, albeit, in secret.

But that was not to last. In 583 AR, Sadat was purged. Faisal and his eldest son, Iosef, had agreed that Sadat, for his kind-hearted nature and his anti-slavery beliefs, was not worthy to be in the line of succession. So they had him murdered. It was clumsy, bloody, and Sadat’s screams through the palace told everybody who had done it. Iosef himself had taken a dagger and murdered his own brother.

At the same time, the investigation and reprisals on the Open Circle Resistance intensified even further. There were now daily arrests by the Hassassins and even more executions.

Meanwhile, Black Beauty, Mustang and Hawkeye found themselves kicked from their positions for their anti-slavery stances. Shortly afterward, Black Beauty’s property was then seized, whilst Mustang and Hawkeye were nearly arrested by Griffon Hassassins. All three narrowly escaped. Black Beauty by hiding in the Harem, underneath Jade Glimmer’s bed. Hawkeye and Mustang, by hiding in Winding Sheets’s chambers.

But Winding Sheets’s luck didn’t hold. Desert Storm happened on Mustang and Hawkeye and the ensuing fight led to Winding Sheets being badly wounded and forced to flee Saddle Arabia with the two horses. A harrowing journey ensured, where Mustang and Hawkeye had to care for the wounded Winding Sheets, reunite with Black Beauty and the rest of their own supporters, before linking up with Equestrian Express. The group would successfully reach Equestria.

Jade Glimmer knew nothing of that though. She only knew her friends had to flee, and that her best friend, Winding Sheets, the one who had helped her so much, was wounded. Stress and despair - both at the torture that was her life and the loss of the few close friends she had - fuelled a desperate, suicidal plan. One with terrible consequences.

She knew that Faisal’s birthday was soon. It would take place three weeks after the new year of 524 AR. Usually, Faisal would take his 1st Concubine on a private retreat to his richly-decorated lodge at Banoji for a week, a few days before his birthday. In this king’s paradise, nestled in the beautiful lake country of Saddle Arabia, he would feast and enjoy the pleasures of his slave wife. No guards immediately on the premises. Just a few lower concubines to serve as maidservants, or as bed-warmers.

It just so happened that Faisal had dismissed his 1st Concubine, a horse, who had gotten too old to serve in the role. So Jade was now 1st Concubine. Faisal suspected nothing of her, and still thought her to be the skilled, but demure and completely submissive courtesan that she was when she entered the Harem. Besides, Faisal didn’t think his new 1st Concubine would ever try kill him. He had given Jade gifts, lavished her with his attention, and she warmed his bed nearly every evening. Furthermore, if Jade really attempted to kill Faisal, his guards surrounding the private retreat would definitely imprison and then execute her.

It would be his greatest mistake because Jade had no intention of getting out alive, as noted in her secret diary:



Every night, I welcome Faisal into my bed. Every day I smile as I attend to his every need, his every want. Every minute, no, every second, I wonder if he will find out what I have done. Every moment, I live in fear of his displeasure, of his rage. Diary, oh diary. This will be the last time I write in you.

Night by night, a little of myself disappears. Lost, corrupted, sullied… broken. I can no longer remember the mare I was so long ago. I have long forgotten what it means to live without fear. Every night… I become more tempted to submit. To be his obedient slave. To be Roxelana, not Jade Glimmer.

But not yet, before that happens, I will end it all. I will end Faisal and I will die. But if I cannot free myself… what remains of me anyway… at least I can choose my own death.



Jade told nopony or body in the Open Circle Resistance, which was in full retreat anyway. She just ordered them to make for the Equestrian Express and to get the young away safely. She then embarked with Faisal to Banoji.

After three days of entertaining the king, she waited until he fell asleep, and then, slit his throat with the dagger she had hidden in the dresses she had brought. She was about to turn the dagger on herself, but Scarlet Silk, one of the maidservants, stopped her.

To Jade’s surprise, Scarlet was actually an Equestrian spy and a freed slave, who had volunteered to go back to Saddle Arabia to make contact with Jade and extract her. Her compatriots, an REINS unit commanded by her adopted father, Stalwart Pike, made a distraction on one side of the lodge to allow the mares to escape. It was successful, but the unit took heavy losses.

Even as Jade and her rescuers ran for their lives, the effects of Faisal’s death rippled outward. Saddle Arabians were sent into mourning, and fury. Their king had been murdered by a slave, a member of his own harem.

And two days after, Iosef declared war on Equestria, citing their part in the murder of his father. There were no REINS markings on the weapons they used, but Iosef still accused the Equestrians of ordering his father’s death and that Jade was their agent.

In reality, Iosef was really just waiting for an excuse. He and his father had been waiting for a cassus belli (a reason to declare war) for a long time. Iosef knew that Equestria was probably not responsible, or at least not directly. However, he knew that he could use his father’s death as an excuse to declare war on Equestria, and to unify his country.

Saddle Arabians and Equestrians mobilized and ports across both sides of the ocean became closed to shipping from each respective government. Jade Glimmer, Scarlet Silk and Stalwart Pike just managed to get onto the last ship out of Saddle Arabia.

A naval war of a scale never seen before was started.