//------------------------------//
// A Matter of Prestige 
// Story: Reformation... It's a Pony Thing 
// by Lets Do This 
//------------------------------//

The ship ghosted low over the rolling ocean waves, the better to be unobserved from a distance. And so when they finally came in sight of the coast of Abyssinia it came as something of a surprise, a sudden sweep of green hillsides and stone dwellings, surrounded on all sides by endless parched desert.

Captain Celaeno, seeing no advance air or sea force coming out to challenge them, ordered a higher altitude as they came closer to the seaport docks of Panthera, so they'd be out of longbow range. But again, nothing challenged their approach, either warships or guards. At Twilight's suggestion, the pirates had slung one of their rainbow sails slantwise across the Storm King's emblem on the ship's prow, to help emphasize their friendly intent. But they might just as well have sailed right into the city itself, with cannons rolled out and boarding parties clinging to the rigging, for all the notice the city took of them.

Capper shrugged when they all looked at him in surprise.

"Not putting too fine a point on it," he said, "we're pussies, really. Any warlord or invading force comes to town, we pretty much roll out the welcome mat, 'cause we've nothing else to stand in their way. We've survived this long mainly by being far enough away from everyone else that no one feels the need to come all this way just to get ugly with us."

"And the Storm King only came here because he was looking for magic artifacts..." Twilight said.

"... and left, once he'd pilfered the treasury and sacked the place," Capper agreed.

The ship slowed to a halt above the docks. From here they had an excellent view of the city's walled core and palace grounds... and of the devastation that was still evident in both. The palace was particularly hard-hit, with spires knocked down, grand cathedral windows shattered, roofs staved in and anything flammable burnt to cinders. The central walled city wasn't much better off, with burnt out hulks of homes alternating with merely damaged structures, hastily and inexpertly patched...

... and outside of the central city, the rest of Panthera, outskirts and suburbs and farmlands alike, looked pretty much untouched.

"It doesn't look so bad from up here," Fluttershy said.

Capper nodded. "Normally I would agree. But somethin' you gotta understand about this place is, it's not how much of it got hit, it's where." He pointed. "That's the Abyssinian royal palace down there. Looks pretty beat up, and not much has been done to put it right. I hate to break this to y'all, but our monarchy tends to be a little weak-willed and self-centered. In actual fact, we only have a monarchy because we couldn't come up with a good reason not to. They're going to be a little focused right now on what's right in front of them: a palace with a big hole in the roof."

"Well, not to worry," Rainbow said, putting a hoof around Twilight's shoulders. "We've got royalty of our own along. Twilight here can majesty with the best of 'em. She'll talk some sense into them!"

"I don't know if I should, Rainbow." Twilight shook her head. "I mean, this is hardly an official diplomatic visit. If the Princesses even knew we were here, they'd be more likely to want us extradited! It doesn't seem right, pretending to be an Equestrian envoy."

"Well in a way ya are, sugarcube." Applejack smirked. "You are a Princess, and this here is an international crisis, of a kind. It makes sense for you to be payin' a call on the local nobility. We should just go in there, tell 'em what's what, ask for their help. Official-like of course, with all that royal hoo-hah frosting on top."

"Mmm... frosting!" Pinkie Pie said, drooling.

"Well... all right," Twilight said. "But let's not overdo it. Capper, would you come with us?"

"Absolutely." Capper nodded. "Just don't y'all say I didn't warn you."

For an initial diplomatic party they had Princess Twilight, wearing her rebuilt Friendship crown, with Capper serving as her cultural attaché, and Tempest Shadow as bodyguard and Minister of Ground Forces. Captain Celaeno offered to come along as nominal Minister of Sea Forces, and Rainbow Dash quickly volunteered as Minister of Air Forces. And Grubber and Spike of course came along, as aides-de-camp for their respective ponies.

Twilight had to call a halt then and there. Otherwise, they would all have been trooping into town together. As it was, the winch platform was fairly crowded as they were lowered down to the dock level.

They walked up the main street of the central city, past its scratching-post houses and milk-bottle storage towers, and the occasional ruined street-vendor's kibble-cart. The destruction was pretty disheartening up close. There were ruined homes and storefronts everywhere, and a few miserable-looking feline inhabitants making fitful attempts to patch up damage, or just scrounging through the debris, looking for something to eat.

"This is horrible," Twilight said, staring around uneasily. "Just leaving the city like this, in such a state. Why haven't they even made a start on reconstruction?"

"Told you," Capper said, unhappily. "Around here the will to do comes from the top. And there ain't much of it to go 'round."

A lengthy walk brought them to the epicenter of the destruction, the ruined Forum Square, right in front of the palace itself. And here it seemed to take forever to get Twilight announced as a visiting royal potentate... or even to find any inhabitants who looked likely to pass along word that she was standing there. Eventually they trusted to luck, and simply walked up the main steps and through the ruined front doors.

By a navigational sixth sense Twilight had picked up from roaming Celestia's palace in Canterlot, they found their way to the main audience chamber. There was a red carpet, and guards stationed somewhat distractedly along the walls, beneath what few windows were left unshattered. But there wasn't a throne, merely a raised dais at one end, with some comfortable pouf seating and several rolling chart panels bearing maps of trade routes, disorganized planning calendars, and pinned memoranda.

And standing before the chart panels were two lanky, jet-black felines, wearing royal purple robes and gold regalia. Their attention was entirely focused on the boards, and they muttered at each other in heated argument.

Twilight's party waited for what seemed like a decent interval. Then, glancing at Twilight for permission, Tempest stepped forward. Her armored hoof rapped the tile floor thrice, sounding like gunshots in the ruined hall.

"Presenting," she intoned loudly, with an annoyance she didn't bother to conceal, "Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Friendship Princess of Equestria!"

The two felines turned to look, and blinked wordlessly at them.

Capper stepped smoothly into the picture, bowing gracefully to the royals, and then to Twilight. "Your Highness!" he purred. "Permit me the great honor and privilege of presenting Her Royal Majesty Queen Moon Whiskers, and His Royal Majesty King Dark Claw the Third, together the rightful rulers -- by popular consent -- of the sovereign nation-state of Abyssinia!"

Twilight trotted forward a couple steps, and smiled confidently at their Majesties, hoping to get off to a good start.

The black-furred faces simply stared back at her silently, blinking a few times.

Then they peered at Capper, with equal blandness. "Prince Cappadocio?" the Queen asked. "Is that you?"

Capper looked uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah... long time no see, huh? I know this comes as a bit of a surprise to y'all... I mean, I would've written, but things have been hectic lately. Y'all know how it is." He quickly recovered. "But that's neither here nor there. Her Highness Twilight Sparkle is here because of an urgent matter that affects both our nations. Your Highness?"

"Your Majesties," Twilight took over, as smoothly as she could manage, "we have come on behalf of all Equestria to seek your assistance. A grave injustice has been perpetrated upon our citizens. Several ponies have been kidnapped. We believe their abductors have concealed themselves somewhere within the sovereign territory of Abyssinia. We ask your Majesties' kind indulgence in helping us to locate these missing ponies, and helping to bring their abductors to justice."

Twilight took a relieved breath. There, that puts it nicely, she thought. With just the right amount of diplomatic icing. Maybe I am cut out for this sort of thing after all.

But the felines simply stared at her, blinking, for long enough that Twilight began to feel distinctly uncomfortable. She wondered if there was some fine point of local protocol she'd missed.

Finally, the Queen spoke again. "We are very sorry to hear that, your Highness," she said. "I wish that we could be of help."

And with that, both of them turned back to the trading chart, and began arguing with each other again.

Rainbow stared, disbelievingly. "Hey! Didn't we make it clear this is Princess Twilight? Of Equestria? You know, big important princess, big important nation, all that jazz?"

"Rainbow!" Twilight hissed, embarrassed. Then, remembering her role, she raised her diction a few notches. "Our Minister of Air, you are out of line. Kindly restrain your judgement. Their majesties seem a little preoccupied at the moment... perhaps with issues of their own?"

She turned the last part into a hopeful question, thinking if she could at least get them talking, things might move more smoothly. But for a moment it seemed to fall on deaf ears. The feline rulers kept debating with each other, paying no attention to her.

And then, just when she was considering turning Rainbow loose on them again, the Queen turned to stare at her. And then spoke.

"Our apologies, Highness," she said. "Indeed we have been rather preoccupied of late, with the ongoing reconstruction efforts. We have made so little progress. The Storm King, in robbing our coffers, has deprived us of the resources we need to either rebuild our great city, or trade with other nations for the resources we need to serve our citizens."

She sighed. "We are afraid the needs of our people must come first. Until such time as we can rebuild our capitol, we can be of little assistence to others, even for the most worthy of causes. We ask you to not judge our response too harshly. It is not for lack of sympathy. We simply lack what we need to be able to freely offer assistance."

She spread her paws helplessly. And then turned back to arguing with the King again.

Thwarted, Twilight's party withdrew a few steps to consult amongst themselves. "Well, this trip's pretty much a bust!" Rainbow grumbled, crossing her forehooves. "Though fair enough, if they lack the bits to feed their own people..."

"Ahem," Capper interrupted. Then he seemed reluctant to go on.

Twilight looked at him. "Something to offer, our esteemed cultural attaché?"

He smirked back at her. "And I thought I was the smooth talker around here! I was just going to say it's not about money. It's about prestige." He gestured around them, at the ruined palace. "Like I said, our royalty isn't entirely hereditary. It's more a matter of who doesn't get out of the way fast enough. Their Majesties rule by popular consent -- and right now, with the palace still a wreck and the central city a shambles, they probably don't have a lot of pull left with the local nobility."

"Speaking of their Majesties," Twilight said, smiling at him, "you never mentioned you had royal connections... Prince Cappadocio!"

Capper looked briefly smug, and then his expression turned sour. "It's not as big a deal as it sounds, the royal family's a bit on the large side. Yeah, I'm in line. Might even manage to still be on my deathbed when my number comes up. But leaving my title aside for the moment -- 'cause I never like to name-drop -- it's clear we have a quid-pro-quo here: we quid, they quo."

Rainbow frowned doubtfully. "You're saying... if we could somehow help them rebuild the palace and the city, enable them to impress the locals again, they'd be more likely to help us out?"

"Again, no promises. But it sure wouldn't hurt," Capper agreed.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Twilight said. "We're hardly in a position to rebuild an entire city. Not even with my magic!"

"Yeah!" Spike nodded. "You'd need an army to do something like that!"

"An army..." Captain Celaeno looked thoughtful. "Well..." she said cautiously, "what about that hunk of magic crystal we found on our ship? You know, like the one the Storm King had in his cabin?"

Tempest Shadow stared at her, wide-eyed.

Celaeno looked guilty, and shrugged. "We honestly didn't know what to do with it. I mean, none of us are any good with magic. We thought about junking it, but I'd seen how important and potentially dangerous a relic it is. We were actually hoping there'd be a good point where we could just give it back to you, Twilight, because..."

"Where is this crystal now?" Tempest demanded impatiently. Then she drew back, looking apologetic. "Uh... sorry. Old habits die hard. Please, Captain?"

Celaeno nodded. "We kept it safe in the hold. Any chance it might help?"

"Only one way to find out," Twilight said. "Take us to it... right now!"