//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Running a Nation is Pretty Hard (Lightly Edited) // Story: Sometimes the Truth Can Be Deceiving // by UnamusedWaffle //------------------------------// “Sir! The royal hospital has been overflowed! They’re short on staff!” A frantic voice from outside of Blister’s study ripped his attention from his paperwork as the door swung open, revealing Private Thunder Spin. His mane was in tatters, bandages littered his body and his left eye was bruised. The past several hours had been grueling for Blister, to say the least. With the military wing of the castle being blown out by the strange changeling weapon while strategy was taking place, that meant most of the available rulers after the Princesses had been incapacitated. It was just his luck that so many were gathered in one place and Luna had even forgotten her helmet when the attack took place. Thankfully, though, the medical wing remained untouched. Blister sighed as he swiveled in his chair to face the panicking Private, his untreated cuts and bruises making him wince. Bringing his blue eyes up from the dried blood splotches on Blister’s body to meet his eyes, Thunder Spin attempted again, “Sir the-”. “Yes, I heard you,” Blister said softly. “Is there no pony else we can spear to work?” “Not unless we want to ask the room full of angry citizens.” He replied. Blister sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Let the staff know that I'll put in an emergency request to Canterlot Royal Hostpital for more hooves to help." Thunder Spin nodded. "Hell, tell 'em that I'll come down and cast some healing spells if need be." With that, Thunder Spin smiled. Blister’s expression then turned somber, “Are the Princesses awake?” A frown was all that was needed from the Private. “No, sir. But Princess Cadence is showing increased brain activity though. The doctors said she should be up within the hour.” With a thank you and a wave of his hoof, Thunder Spin was sent off running towards the royal treasury down the hall. Blister sighed as he checked the time on the clock situated just above his desk: 11:24 am. He had a short check-in with the royal advisors in about 10 minutes. Groaning to himself, he stood up from his chair and popped his neck and forehooves, sighing with content at the feeling. He had been up all night doing paperwork, organizing the funeral, and preparing what he’d say to the Princesses about Shining Armor among other things. Bags were now visible underneath his eyes as he sleepily and painfully made his way to the meeting room. The meeting itself was only a few doors down, but a couple dozen meters was still more than what Blister would’ve wanted. But the aspect that had really taken a toll on him were the civilians. There were about 26,000 of them, which should have been a manageable number for Blister. But boy, was he wrong. The citizens of the Crystal Empire were rowdy and almost impossible to calm down. They had all been contained in a shelter in the Southwest section of the city, but having to move them when the attack began only added fuel to the fire of already panicking crystal ponies. They were currently panicking in the castle ballroom and the nobles were complaining about being near the “peasants” while the royal cooks catered to everypony there. All of that chaos just compounded Blister’s headache underneath expense bills and nobility complaints. He hadn’t dealt with this kind of thing in a long time, and it's not like he was eager to start again. He was so consumed in his thoughts that he almost missed the door to the meeting room. When he walked up to face the door, he paused. Reflecting on everything that had just transpired over the past 15 hours or so, he repressed the tears and drew in a deep, shaky breath before he entered the room of arguing nobles sitting at a round table. Upon seeing the current ruler of the Crystal Empire, they all silenced themselves. A low ranking noble directly across the table from Blister decided to speak up. “Glad you could make it, sir” he started with a smile, but almost immediately smashed it into a frown. “Our royal guard has been reduced to around 1,000 while the changeling army lost about 500 in the raid. The Canterlot Royal Guard suffered no losses.” “What about the Elements?” Blister asked frantically. A smile from the advisor eased his mind. “The Elements were taken into a secluded area of the castle after the magical blast hit the Northeastern wing and were kept there until the retreat of our enemy. They are in the infirmary now with Princess Twilight.” Blister sighed. “How are the preparations comings?” The atmosphere of the room seemed to plummet. Looking down, the noble responded slowly. “We are ready to start the funeral whenever Princess Cadence wishes.” At that, Blister thanked the noble and proceeded to step out of the room. As he was closing the door, he heard him say one last muffled thing through the door, “And sir, thank you for exceeding our expectations.” Blister let out a snort at that. ‘I can do that five times over and not break a sweat,’ he thought. As he made his way back to his study, he let his mind wander. Bad idea. His thoughts immediately latched onto Shining Armor as the rare moment of nothing in the past several hours allowed everything to sink in. Had he done all that he could? If he had just been a little bit faster, just a little bit smarter. His face twisted in anger as stamped one hoof down onto the crystal floor, the sound echoing off of the tall ceilings and narrow walls of the hallway. ‘I guess it is time for some upgrades to the suit,’ he thought to himself. The distant sound of frantic hooves on a crystal floor pulled him from his thoughts. ‘Not now!’ he thought desperately. He hoped that it wasn’t Cadence and silently prayed to any and all gods that he wouldn’t have to deal with Twilight. The sight of Princess Cadence made his stomach sink. Cadence’s eyes were red and puffy. The once light tiredness replaced with a deep exhaustion. Her mane was in shambles, a stray clump of it half-covered her right eye. She had bandages that wrapped around her pink barrel that restricted her from flying as well as small cuts and bruises that littered her body. The beautiful regalia that once adorned her body were now dented and scraped almost beyond recognition, chunks of gold were missing from when the crystal came crashing down. Her eyes widened in shock as she took in Blister’s form. He was far worse off than she was, with his lime green mane in a similar condition to her’s. His green eyes reflected a kind of exhaustion she regularly saw on Shining after a visit from stuck-up nobles. Accompanying his bruised eye, he had a deep cut that ran from the bottom of his ear to his cheek, dried blood staining the greyish black fur below it. His left foreleg had been bandaged, with blood trying to seep its way through. The most notable thing on his body, however, was the enormous midnight black bruise on his chest. Blister’s once strong build and cold demeanor had been reduced to almost nothing. How he was even still standing was beyond her. Cadence raced up to Blister, her hooves steps becoming slower and slower with each second that passed until she was right in front of him, the sound of her hooves slowly becoming nothing more than quiet and unsure whispers. Blister knew that sound all too well. The sound of somepony grieving. What surprised Blister was the slight spark of anger in her red, teary eyes. “What happened?!” she demanded. They both already had an answer. Her breathing was now uncontrolled. Blister sighed and flattened his ears as his gaze met hers. “How much have you heard?” They had gone back to Blister’s study/bedroom where some privacy could be had. Private Thunder Spin had filled in everypony he could on what happened to the Prince of the Crystal Empire. Apparently, he was the only one who had seen the Prince’s last moments. The story was that after Shining Armor began running back to the castle to check on his family, he sent a horn message to all the unicorn troops, labeling this new “Iron Mane” as now in charge. He gathered a small group to accompany him, but they were ambushed as they were about to enter the castle. Thunder Spin and three others were the only ones that survived. He said that when he opened his eyes for a few seconds, the Iron Mane was slicing up the Prince from behind. He argued that since the changelings weren’t able to change their form inside the barrier, then it had to be Iron Mane and everypony had to agree. The few guards who had worked alongside the metal pony were more reluctant. This put Blister in a tight spot. ‘Correcting the record would be a grueling process and most likely lead to more misunderstandings,’ he thought. He didn’t want to cause the grieving widow any more confusion and heart/headache with the truth. ‘Dammit,’ he cursed himself in his head. In his focus on managing the Empire, he completely neglected to listen to the rumors. Now those falsehoods reigned supreme as facts. “Yes, his story is...true,” he sighed. “I tried to help him after he sent me one last distress message, but I was…too late.” he choked on his words, tears welling up in his eyes. Cadence’s own eyes widened, genuinely surprised. She had never seen this much emotion from him before. Her own tears were now threatening to spill. Drawing in a shaky breath, he continued. “The funeral service is ready to proceed whenever you are ready.” That nearly broke her. Sniffling, she tried to stand up and make her way to the door, but Blister got up first. As he made his way over to her, up out of his tall, comfy chair and around the small coffee table, she flinched. Pausing, Blister sighed. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. Getting down to eye level with her, he held his hooves out for her. His face betrayed no emotion now, the light from the fireplace flickering on it. Cadence was extremely hesitant, but she eventually threw herself on him, burying her head in the crook of his neck. Blister’s eyes shed a single tear silently while Cadence was an absolute mess. Tears spilled down his neck and onto the floor. For once in his life, he didn’t care. After about 5 minutes, the door to his study burst open, making both of them jump a little, still embracing. In came two large figures, flowy manes betraying their identities, and a third smaller figure. Princess Celestia was a mess. Her mane was untouched, however, but the rest of herself didn’t fare too well. Bruises and cuts littered her body, albeit not as severely as Cadence or Blister. Light splotches of dried blood stained her once pristine white coat. Princess Luna was the least damaged, with only a large bruise on her head to the left of her horn being the only discernible injury. Lastly, Princess Twilight’s left wing was bandaged and small cuts showed on her right ear, front forelegs, and barrel. The two regal sisters stood there slightly confused with small bits of sadness poking through their masks. Twilight was overcome with grief as tears threatened to spill, her untrained mask seemingly already shattered. Blister pulled Cadence’s face to look at his as she stopped crying. With a slight frown, he brushed away her tears and stood up. Nodding to Twilight he turned to exit the room as she raced over to Cadence, crying into her hooves. As Celestia opened her mouth to ask him a question, Blister cut her off, his gaze fixated on the door behind her as he continued to walk slowly. “The funeral begins when Princess Cadence is ready. The story you have likely heard is true. I leave the duty of ruling this shit show to you two for now. And Princess Luna?” She flinched slightly at his tone as he turned his head towards her. “Go easy on her,” he said coldly. Leaving a slightly angry night Princess, he opened the door in his study to go wherever he was needed next. Turning to the left, he spoke up to the five shadowy figures behind the right side of the door. He let a small smirk melt through his expressionless face. “Ya know girls, it’s not nice to eavesdrop.” Blister winced slightly as the weight of the carriage latch was let down onto his back. Looking around at all the armored guards and rushing nobles, he took a deep breath, calming his nerves. It was finally time to lay his friend to rest. His nervousness did not go unnoticed however, as a certain pink alicorn clad in a black gown and black make-up on his left whispered to him. “Are you sure you can carry that?” she asked. Blister nodded with a reassuring smile to the widow, his crystalline armor moving ever so slightly. Somepony behind the giant carriage gave it a light smack. Blister turned to his right, his gaze meeting three other crystal guards. Nodding to each other, they proceeded to start moving the carriage out from under the castle’s underpass. A high pitched sobbing earned Blister’s attention for a brief moment. Looking back to his left he saw Twilight leaning on Cadence, a few tears slowly streaming down her cheek. Deciding to satisfy his curiosity, he strained his neck to look over the other guards on his right, just barely catching a glimpse of two flowing manes above them. ‘All accounted for,’ he thought. The clanking of armor against crystal and wooden wheels turning filled the air as the convoy of guards trailed and led the carriage of Shining Armor’s casket, making their way down the street. The green crystalline casket was adorned with red ornate crystal roses and secured down with crystal cables. The entire thing reflected the peeking sunlight so heavily that somepony was bound to think that it was summer in the frozen north. The convoy proceeded towards the outskirts of the Empire, with mourning citizens standing outside their homes and lining the streets. Shops closed and lunch was left uneaten as every crystal pony dropped what they were doing to pay their respects. The entire Empire was silent, no words were exchanged. Legend had it that if somepony had dropped a pin needle, lightning would strike. As the carriage passed, each crystal pony would bow their heads in respect, creating a dark green glow on the street. Some citizens also offered silent mouthings of “I’m sorry” to the grieving widow as she passed by them. The block of guards lead the carriage and the four pulling it around the circumference of the Empire while that dark green glow began to slowly yet surely envelop the entirety of the land’s area. As the convoy slowly began making their way back to the castle underpass, with the circuit path now complete, Cadence leaned over to Blister again, this time whispering “Thank you so much for organizing this, I was so worried when I woke up.” “No problem, Princess,” he responded stoically, though with a slight hint of genuine emotion. She smiled before restoring her mask. After that exchange, the carriage and hundreds of guards surrounding it came to a halt, back in the same place where they started. Without saying a word, Blister pulled a small crystal out from under the cables on top of Shining’s casket and gently set it down onto the street with his magic. Within a few seconds, the once light purple crystal had drunk up all of the dark green magic that once flooded the streets, making the crystal itself glow dark green. Once that was complete, twelve pegasus guards got under the casket and slowly lifted it up after the cables had been removed. The guards were surrounded on the corners by the Princesses, and Blister prepared a teleportation spell, all of them heading for one destination. The top floor of the castle. With a flash of lime green light, Blister appeared on that floor, a giant snowflake design on the crystal ground greeting his eyes before he looked up. It was a large circular floor that was exposed to the air, with crystal columns lining the circumference and the beginning of a staircase off on one of the far sides. The casket was set down near the edge, overlooking the whole North sector of the Empire. The pegasus guards descended back to the ground and joined the groups of bowing crystal ponies. Blister levitated the glowing crystal over to Cadence, who took it in her magical grasp. She stood directly behind the casket, while the other Princesses stepped back, taking their places beside one another and Blister. Lowering her head slightly, Cadence took a deep breath, shed a single tear, and touched the crystal to the casket. Almost instantly, the crystal fused itself into the casket, a green glow taking hold of it as it slowly began to deteriorate into small dark green flecks, the wind taking them up into the sky and into the heavens. As the casket slowly faded away, Shining Armor’s resting body was left, seemingly floating on the blanket of dark green specks, a peaceful yet emotionless expression on his body; the chest wound had been stitched up by the Empire’s finest doctors. The body of the Prince of the Crystal Empire was slowly carried up into the gray sky of the late afternoon. Once the body was just about to transcend past the clouds, one could make out the faintest glow of a white, almost holy light enveloping the body and green specks, transporting them to places still unknown to Ponykind. The Crystal Princess sighed, and slowly shifted herself to face the four onlookers. Everypony’s expectations were shattered by what they saw. Her expressionless mask held the faintest remnants of a somber yet satisfied smile. “How much did you get done while we were out?” Celestia asked Blister, a slight undertone of dread accompanying the question. Private Thunder Spin, Blister, the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony had all gathered in one of the castle’s many circular meeting rooms. Blister could only smirk and let out a slight chuckle at her question, earning him a raised eyebrow. “You need not worry, Your Highness. I handled the majority of what needed to be done so there isn’t much for you four to worry about while you and Princess Luna recover here. Speaking of, isn’t it nearly nighttime, Princess?” The two regal sisters could only roll their eyes at his jokester tone. “Now, the Private and I must bid you adieu, we gotta go rest up.” “Thank you, Captain Blister,” she said softly. It was Blister’s turn to roll his eyes as he put an arm around Thunder Spin’s neck and turned around to leave. A slight limp could be seen whenever Blister put weight on his bandaged foreleg. Celestia and Cadence couldn’t help but feel guilty. As if he had read their minds, he shouted into the room from down the hallway, “And stop feeling guilty, you freaking Princesses have felt enough of that for one day.” Luna chuckled a little as she levitated the stack of papers that had been left on the table up to where she could see them. Cycling through them to see which obligation they should tackle first, she stumbled across a piece of paper at the back of the pile, one which had been written across in large, bold, black letters, “VOID”. The only part of the title she could make out was “Promo-on f-r Lie-t-n--t --ister”. ‘That idiot,’ she thought.