There were times when I really hated court day.
At first it had been a pretty informal thing. Ponies have a problem or are arguing about something? Well, Princess Twilight Sparkle would be happy to mediate and help find a solution! Like a lot of little casual things I’d started doing just to be nice, once word had gotten out I’d wound up needing to hold court more often and take more cases.
Since becoming princess, I’d developed a certain—‘respect’ probably wasn’t the right word for it, maybe ‘insight’—for what I had learned from dealing with multiple cases where farmers sued one another for subjectively important reasons. Inevitably, the debates wound up boiling down to where property lines were, since many of the deeds were as old as Ponyville itself. While digging through the archives to find the old paperwork was fun, dealing with the inevitable fallout when one or both ponies found out the property line wasn’t what they wanted was trouble I could’ve done without. Which lead to the matter currently occupying far too much of my time.
“It's mah pig!” declared Corn Cob. “Ah'm the one who bought and paid for it!”
Sweet Turnip stomped a hoof. “Well it's been on mah land, eatin’ mah feed and shelterin' in mah barn!”
The Ponyville farmers glared at one another from their respective stands while I watched from atop my throne. I suppressed a sigh. “How long as the pig been on your land, Sweet Turnip?”
“Over a year now.”
Corn Cob slammed his hoof on the railing. “You're a damn liar!”
Sweet Turnip shot him a glare of pure spite. “No, you is!”
“You just want to steal mah prize truffle pig, you thief!”
“Ah did no such thing you!” Sweet Turnip shot back. “You’s as crooked as a dog’s hind legs!”
“‘You are’,” I muttered under my breath. I try not to be too pedantic about grammar, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to speak Equish. There are entire books of rules about it.
Having heard more than enough of their arguing, I started smacking the gavel until both of them stopped yelling at each other. “I’m going to have to insist that you two stop interrupting and insulting one another.” I smiled in a way that flashed more teeth than was technically necessary. “I'd hate to have to hold anypony in contempt of court and make a decision based on anything other than the facts of the case.”
Rather than take a hint that they were at serious risk of experiencing royal displeasure, Corn Cob jabbed a hoof in his opposite’s direction. “Well Ah can't just sit here listenin' while he's lyin' and tellin' tales!”
“Ah ain't lying! That pig’s been on mah farm for over a year!”
I was sorely tempted to have Captain Storm Kicker and the rest of my guard escort the both of them out of the palace. Being hauled out by armed guards would send a very clear message that I was not going to put up with them hurling insults at one another all day. Of course, then I’d have to put up with them some other day. Finding a solution now would be a lot better. That’s when a rather clever idea for how to solve the current argument popped into my head. “Would it be possible for us to ask the pig where it has been for the last year?”
Corn Cob face stared up at me incredulously. “Pigs can't talk.”
I grinned. “No, but I know a very good animal handler who can talk to animals, including pigs.”
Sweet Turnip’s eyes sparkled. “Right, Fluttershy! She'll back me up!”
Fluttershy has a pretty good reputation with the farmers in Ponyville, considering she often helped them with one animal problem or another. As long as I could get them to go along with me getting Fluttershy’s help with this case then I might be able to shut this down quickly and without the headache of listening to them throw barbs at one another.
“So if you are both okay with adjourning for now, I can get Fluttershy to ask the pig,” I said. “Once I have her report, I'll give each of you my judgement.”
Sweet Turnip nodded. “Sounds fair to me.”
Corn Cob shrugged. “If a pig can even keep track of time.”
“If need be, we'll reconvene if Fluttershy's report to the court isn't decisive.” I was confident Fluttershy would, at the very least, give me an honest report of what the pig knew. There was a chance the pig wouldn’t know anything helpful, but I was more than willing to give this a shot. Especially if it could spare me from more of their pointless back and forth debating that had long since devolved into argumentum ad equinum. “In the meantime, court is adjourned.”
I put my gavel to good use to end the session. The farmers gave each other one more dirty look before leaving the stands. I checked the clock and grimaced when I saw just how much of my time the case had taken up. It was already nearly noon. I couldn’t decide which was worse: that they’d consumed three hours of my time, or that it felt like it had been twice that long. In either case, I wasn’t in the mood to risk the next set of petitioners being more of the same. I addressed the rest of the ponies gathered in my court. “Considering the time, we’ll be taking a one hour recess.” I banged the gavel again to make it official.
I stood and stretched before leaving the courtroom. Spike and Storm flanking me as we headed towards the dining room. Once we were out of the public eye, I let out a sigh of relief and my shoulders slumped. “I really hope Fluttershy can help me figure out where that pig should go.”
Storm nodded. “Yes, that would make resolving the matter much simpler.”
I shook my head. “I never knew ponies could get so worked up about something like a single pig.”
“You know, before you started having open court, I never knew farmers argued about pigs so much,” Spike commented. “This is your ... what? Seventh case this month involving pigs?”
I groaned and headed for the dining room, already looking forward to the moment when I could flop back into one of my comfortable chairs. “I don't want to think about it. Though I’m pretty sure Fluttershy can help. I'll ask her during lunch, since we were going to be meeting here in a bit anyways—and at this rate, I'm sure I can offer her some bits as a consulting fee for her time.”
“At least it is not another divorce case,” Storm observed.
I shivered in revulsion. “You just had to remind me that I'm going to be dealing with a couple of those after lunch.”
Spike grimaced. Considering he was the one taking all the notes for my cases, he knew all too well exactly what we were in for. “I think the divorces are even worse than the times we’ve had to deal with actual criminals.”
“Yes.” The corner of Storm’s mouth twitched. “The toaster couple is back again.”
“Seriously?!” I threw my hooves up in exasperation. “I just don't understand that case! Follow me here: the husband is willing to give up the house, the cart, half his income, half of his retirement—half of everything, and all he wants are his clothes and the toaster. But the wife refuses to give up the toaster, when the husband promises to fight for everything if she won’t give him what he wants. Now they’re threatening to tie up the courts fighting one another for months or even years over that stupid toaster, paying who-knows-how-many bits in lawyer fees that they could instead use to buy an entirely new toaster. It's insane, absolutely insane.”
Spike sighed and shook his head. “No wonder the local judge begged you to take this case.”
“Why are they still fighting over the toaster?” Storm asked.
We entered the dining room and I sat down at the table with a sigh. “I don't know. When they came to court about all they did was scream at one another about the stupid toaster and about what he or she did at one time or another and how awful the other one is.” My eyes narrowed.
“Either way, I'm putting an end to it. I already have enough to deal with, I'm not having an argument over a toaster tie up my court.”
Spike grinned as he started setting the plates and eating utensils. “So you gonna cut the toaster in half to teach them a lesson?”
“Lengthwise or breadthwise?” I might have imagined it, but I swore I saw a brief, mischievous smirk on Storm’s lips.
I rubbed my chin as I considered the practical applications of this decision. “Lengthwise would still technically allow the toaster to function with some jerryrigging.”
Storm considered this problem with all due seriousness it deserved. “Breadthwise then.”
I frowned, realizing I was seriously considering doing something that could be construed as kinda mean. “Would it make me petty to do that?”
Spike shook his head as he put out some hotpads. “Some people deserve it, Twilight. They’re wasting everypony’s time, including a princess’s, because they can’t compromise over a toaster. Really, I’d say you’re just making a point about not bringing frivolous cases to court by chopping their toaster in half.”
Storm nodded in agreement. “Yes.”
I considered the idea, and it didn’t seem like the worst way to deal with the case. “They do say the mark of a good compromise is that nopony’s happy. Might as well give the both of them a generous helping of compromise to chew on.”
“At this point, they deserve it just to make up for all the needless trouble they've caused.” Storm brought out a wing and showed off wingblade. “If you wish, I will personally carry out the sentence on the toaster.”
“Thanks Storm.” I couldn’t help but grin. “I do get some leeway with my royal prerogative.”
A small smile showed itself on Storm’s lips. “Indeed you do. That is why they often send the difficult cases to you.”
One of the advantages of being a princess was that I could cut through a lot of red tape to quickly bring cases to a close that might otherwise clog up the court system for an undue period of time. Naturally, judges were expected to follow the law fairly strictly for the cases that came to them. Princesses technically didn’t have to follow the laws since we were the ones who made them, though it was still generally prudent to stick to established laws and precedents as closely as possible. Trying to dump cases at the hooves of a princess wasn’t something judges normally liked to do, if only because nobody wanted to be seen as admitting defeat and possibly wasting a princess’s time, but every once in a while you got a case like this that could use a bit of a royal prerogative. Princess Celestia was known to sometimes come up with inventive solutions when dealing with especially troublesome legal battles or needlessly stubborn litigants.
“You don't get to deal with the easy stuff as a princess.” I grimaced slightly. “I guess I’m finally starting to understand what the other princesses have been dealing with all these years. There’s a lot more to it than pretty wings and a fancy title.”
“You're doing great.” Spike plopped down a big bowl of hot spaghetti onto the table. “Everypony is better off with you helping out.”
“Yes, you have done a very good job of clearing the legal queue,” Storm agreed. “I’m sure you remember the nice letter the judges sent you last Hearths Warming.”
“That was nice of them.” I frowned as I looked around. “By the way, has anyone seen Fluttershy? She should be here by now. We scheduled lunch a week ago.”
“Hopefully she gets here soon.” Spike placed some bread down. “It’d be a shame if all of this got cold because she was late.”
Storm shook her head. “She has not shown up yet. Should I ask Cloud?”
Cloud and Fluttershy did live together, so Cloud should have a good idea of what Fluttershy was up to. “If you wouldn’t mind. Normally Fluttershy’s pretty good about being on time.” Certainly a lot better than Pinkie’s tendency to show up more or less at random, regardless of any plans I’d carefully laid months in advance.
“Cloud should be in her office. Give me a couple of minutes, Highness.” Storm headed out, and a minute later she came back with her cousin.
“Hey Purple Smart,” Cloud said with a note of apology. “Found a note from Eepy this morning. Apparently something came up with her animals that she needed to check out.”
“Oh.” My ears wilted a bit. “So that's probably keeping her from showing up for lunch?”
Cloud shrugged. “Probably. It's hard to say how long she’ll be when there's something going on with her animals. Could be five minutes, could be all day.”
I sighed. “Right, this wouldn't be the first time she's missed something because her animal caretaker duties held her up.”
Probably sensing my disappointment, Cloud grinned and stepped up to the table. “You could always have lunch with me instead.” She sniffed the aromas in the dining room. “Waste not, and this smells pretty good.”
I smiled back at her. “Sounds great to me.”
It was disappointing that Fluttershy hadn’t showed up, but she had a job to do. I’d had to miss plenty of social occasions with the girls because of my royal duties. It was one of the reasons I’d gotten into the habit of always inviting at least one my friends over for lunch every day. Just because we all had jobs and other things filling up our time was no excuse for letting our friendships lapse. I’d be a pretty poor Princess of Friendship if I didn’t stay in touch with my friends.
Not to say that my lunch would be completely lonely. There was still Spike, Storm, and Cloud; Storm and Spike were always reliable company, and I liked spending time with Cloud. Especially when ... well, things were a mite bit complicated between us. Not in an unpleasant way by any means, but still complicated. We were exploring exactly where we were these days.
“Hope you like spaghetti,” Spike said as he started filling bowls, “because we’ve got plenty.”
“I can always work with that.” Cloud took the seat next to me.
Storm cleared her throat. “If there is enough for all of us...”
“Sure is!” Spike laid out another bowl. “The nice thing about spaghetti is that you can easily make a lot of it.”
They both thanked Spike, and everyone got settled in. Once everyone had gotten a good start on their meal, I decided to spark up some conversation. “So, it’s nice to get a break from open court. Ugh, especially when I’m hitting up the divorce cases next.”
Cloud finished chewing before saying, “I bet. From what I've heard, that's a huge headache. Guess I should be glad I'm not married.”
Storm arched her eyebrows. “Did you not tell Blossomforth and Fluttershy that the three of you would get married once Aurora was born?”
Cloud momentarily froze. “Well … yeah.”
Storm pressed her point. “And how old is she now?” From her tone, I could tell Storm wasn’t exactly happy with her cousin. Small surprise, Storm took things like propriety very seriously, and Cloud ... well I still haven’t decided if Cloud doesn’t even know how to be proper or if she does know but just doesn’t care about things like conforming to societal norms and expectations. I suppose the end result is the same either way.
“She’s six mon—look, I'll get to it, okay?” Cloud’s wings flickered. “It’s just weddings are expensive and take forever to get set up, and there are a million and one things we have to do before we get hitched.”
I knew Cloud well enough that I could tell she was just making excuses. One of the things I’d figured out about Cloud in the years I’d know her was that she wasn’t very good at handling most of her major life choices. Not to say that she made bad decisions like a certain apprentice of mine, more that she tried very hard to avoid making a choice at all when she could just settle into a relatively comfortable status quo. However, I was pretty sure Blossomforth and Fluttershy wouldn’t let her put off the wedding indefinitely. I tossed my two bits into the conversation to try and nudge her in the right direction. “If you need a wedding planner, you know somepony with a bit of experience at that. Either me, or I’m sure Pinkie would love to help. At the very least, Pinkie can have you covered for the reception.”
Cloud didn’t quite meet my gaze. “I'll keep that in mind and get back to you when we start wedding planning.”
“So never?” There was more than a hint of reproach in Storm’s tone.
Cloud hesitated before answering. “Eventually.”
Spike grinned and pointed a fork in Cloud’s direction. “I have a feeling Blossomforth and Fluttershy might have something to say about that.”
Cloud coughed awkwardly.
Much as I wanted to nudge Cloud in the right direction, I knew she wouldn’t respond well if she felt like everyone was badgering her. I decided to steer the conversation back to safer topics. “Anyways, you seem to have gotten back on your hooves with your job now you're back from maternity leave, Cloud.”
The change in topic caused Cloud’s smile to return. “Yeah, nice to slowly be getting back to normal life. Getting to stay home with everypony was nice, but after a while I was starting to go stir-crazy.”
“I can imagine,” I said. “Any problems now that you’re back?”
Cloud shook her head. “Nothing beyond the normal stuff you get when coming back to work for the first time in a while, and we’ve already talked about anything else.” She shot me a grin. “Helps that you’re a pretty easy boss to work for and the hours are flexible. This was a pretty good switch for me from working the weather.”
I smiled. “That's good to hear. You’ve gone through a whole bunch of big changes in your life as of late, between getting a new job and having a kid.”
“Yeah, it's been pretty huge,” Cloud confirmed. “Aurora’s pretty much changed everything. We have to build our schedules around her as much as possible since me, Blossom, and Flutters have to trade off foal-watching duties.”
“Good thing we've set up the daycare here at the castle too,” I said. Creating a castle staff and my personal guard had made it necessary to add such services as a daycare for everypony working under me.
“That is handy as a backup.” Cloud spread some parmesan on her spaghetti. “Even if we prefer for one of Aurora’s moms to watch her whenever possible.”
“Or one of her aunts.” Storm’s normally stoic features broke as she smiled and her wings fluttered.
“Yeah, Aurora loves it when you visit.” Cloud nudged Storm with a wing. “Not to mention it’s nice to have you around to be a foalsitter. Between you and Rainbow, we’re pretty well covered whenever we need a break.” She smirked and waggled her eyebrows. “Or need some private time for some good old bonding.”
Storm rolled her eyes at her cousin’s antics. “You say that, but the last time I watched over Aurora all you wanted to do was go to bed and have a nice long nap.”
There was a twinkle in Cloud eyes that I’d come to know meant she was about to say something mischievous, and I pressed a hoof to her mouth before she could speak. “Let’s keep things clean at the lunch table?” I moved my eyes meaningfully to Spike for Cloud’s benefit. Spike was a bit wiser to the world than I sometimes like to think, but I still felt the need to protect my little brother from some of Cloud’s more perverse quirks. She was usually pretty good about watching her mouth around impressionable youngsters, but I didn’t want to take a chance with Spike’s innocence. Or what innocence he had left.
Cloud paused and then nodded. “Sure thing. So Purple Smart, since we’re talking about changes, how’s princesshood treating you?”
I tapped my fork on my plate before I answered. “Not too bad. It’s certainly taken a lot of adjusting. What with needing to grow used to the castle, getting my own guard and staff, having open court, and oh my goodness, ponies actually listening to me and doing what I say all the time.”
“And you've been doing great at it.” Cloud rubbed my back. “Ponies are lucky to have you as a princess.”
“So they are,” Storm agreed. “It is a difficult matter to become royalty, but you have adjusted well.”
Spike filled another plate for himself. “Right, you need to stop worrying so much. You're doing great. Definitely a whole lot better than how most ponies would do if thrown in your shoes.”
My cheeks started to flush. “Okay, you can all stop complimenting me now. You’re starting to embarrass me.”
Cloud smirked mischievously. “I dunno, you can be kind of cute when you're embarrassed.”
A chuckle escaped my lips and I slapped her on the chest with a wing. “Oh stop, you.”
Storm huffed. “Must you, cousin?”
Cloud continued to smirk shamelessly. “Yeah.”
“You've known her longer than I have, you know this is what she does,” I pointed out.
Storm sighed. “Yes, it is.”
“So, what are you two up to?” I asked, shifting the conversation again. “Any plans coming up?”
Cloud scooped another mouthful of spaghetti. “Eeps, Blossom, and I were gonna go see a play this weekend.”
“I was hoping to head up to Canterlot to see the opera and check in with family,” Storm said.
I nodded. “All of that sounds nice.”
Spike shot a sideways grin my way. “As you can probably guess, Twilight's going to be reading books.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You almost make that sound like a bad thing.”
“It's a ‘you’ thing.” Cloud grinned. “You’re known as Princess Books for a reason.”
“Wait, I am?”
“Sometimes ponies like to joke about it,” Spike confirmed. “I wouldn’t worry about it. You know how all the princesses have nicknames.”
“I guess...” I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise that ponies had caught on that I like books. Really, if that was the worst that was being said about me then I could hardly complain. “And what about you, Spike? Do you have anything planned for this weekend?”
“Not really.” Spike shrugged. “Maybe I'll find a comic or two to read, or make the rounds around Ponyville.”
“What about you?” Cloud asked me. “Quiet weekend at home with a book?”
“That and I was invited to dinner with Applejack and Rarity, and Pinkie wanted to show Spike and me a recipe.” I gave Cloud a knowing grin. “Maybe I’ll find some time to spend with some other ponies I know, and have some fun with them.”
“Sounds fun.” Cloud grinned back. “I’d recommend seeing if there might be some ponies interested in hanging out for a while. It can certainly make for a relaxing or interesting evening.”
Storm sighed and rolled her eyes. “Though first we have to get through the work week.”
“Ugh, you just had to remind me.” I put any potential bookish or romantic ideas to the side as I pulled up my schedule. “So much to do, so little time. I would do just about anything to get out of having to deal with these divorce cases...”
Cloud tsked and waggled her hoof. “Don't say things like that. We don't want to tempt fate.”
I groaned and wanted to press my forehead to the table. “It feels like everything I say tempts fate these days.”
Spike snorted as he spread some butter on a slice of bread. “I’d say that comes with being a princess, but that was true before you became a princess. Really, ever since you came to Ponyville you’ve just been a non-stop parade of madness.”
I huffed. “And ponies wonder why I like to have quiet weekends with just my books and no crazy monsters, ponies, or responsibilities to deal with. Though at this point, I’ve pretty much just accepted that I’m doomed to live an abnormal life.”
Spike momentarily froze before turning to face me. “Speaking about things not being normal, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk with you about. You know all those scrolls you wanted me to send to Celestia? I didn’t want to bother you with this earlier because you were in court, but there’s a bit of a problem....”
From the way Spike said it, this wasn’t just a little problem. “What’s going on?”
I usually had a couple things for Spike to send Celestia’s way every morning. The one thing I liked about holding court was all the paperwork it generated, and some of it had to go to the royal archives in Canterlot. Then there was all the normal stuff, like any reports or letters I wanted to send to Celestia. I normally kept anything that needed to go to Celestia in an outbox on my desk. One that I now kept well away from the outbox for all the letters that needed to go to the post office, thanks to the last incident. At least Derpy eventually managed to figure it all out and get the letters where they belonged.
Spike pulled out a scroll out of his bag. “When I tried to send everything to Celestia, the spell didn't work.”
“It didn't work?” I frowned. “What do you mean? You got the spell right, didn’t you?”
From the slight frown on his face, I must’ve wounded his pride. “I’ve been using that spell since before we moved to Ponyville, I know how to do it.”
“Right, of course you do.” I gave him a quick pat on the back. “But spells just ... they don’t suddenly stop working for no reason. And I’m sure you remember what the first step is in Star Swirl’s Guide to Spectacular Spellwork.”
“Yes, yes, make sure you’re casting the spell right.” Spike sighed. “But I am! Here, let me show you.” Spike held up the scroll and breathed fire at it, but instead of magically sending the scroll to Celestia, nothing happened. At least the scroll itself survived.
“That’s weird.” I frowned and started carefully looking him over. “You’re not doing anything differently as far as I can tell. You feeling okay? You haven’t come down with anything? Experienced allergies? Molting? You’ve been eating gems regularly?”
Spike shrugged. “I'm fine. I don’t feel weird, and I haven’t been doing anything different. It's just not working for some reason.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense!” I rubbed my chin and stared at the scroll. “Spells don’t just stop working for no reason, something has to be causing it. Maybe Celestia’s out of range, or just doesn’t want to receive any mail?”
Spike shook his head. “Last time that happened, the scroll still went away, it just came back to me a couple seconds later.”
“How does the spell work?” Storm asked.
I frowned and got a few scanning and analysis spells ready to try and get to the bottom of this mystery. “Celestia created a special bond with Spike that lets him use the magic inherent to his dragonfire to send a message to her instead instead of just burning whatever it hits. She can send scrolls back the other way, too.”
Spike crossed his arms over his chest. “And I've never had trouble with it before.”
Cloud pressed her lips together. “Hm, maybe try some sort of detection spell on him while he tries it again?”
I nodded. “Exactly what I was going to do next.” I made sure all my spells were ready, and prepared a scroll and quill so I could jot down the results. “Now try it again, Spike.”
“Can do.” He blew out another burst of flame to the same impotent results.
I blinked as my analysis spells fed me information, quickly getting it all down in writing. “Nothing's wrong with Spike or the spell; there's some sort of magic in place blocking the sending. Something powerful, and it would have to be a specific counterspell. But that doesn’t make any sense unless ... unless someone is deliberately cutting off my line of communication to Princess Celestia.”
Cloud scowled and took to her hooves. “I told you not to jinx it.”
“Because that’s the biggest thing we need to worry about right now.” I grumbled something not exactly Mom-approved under my breath before focusing my thoughts on more practical matters. “What I want to know is who’s blocking me from getting in touch with Celestia, and why.”
Storm’s wings flicked. “If there's a hostile force threatening Ponyville or you directly, cutting any line of communication to Celestia would be a logical first step.”
Now wasn’t that a worrying idea? “But why would anyone want to threaten Ponyville? Okay, I realize that’s was a dumb question as soon as it came out of my mouth. Between the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the Tree of Harmony, and everything else, there’s plenty of targets to choose from. So that brings us back to who and why.” I frowned and tapped the table. “Especially the who. It would have to be someone who knows a lot about how Celestia’s magic works to be able to make a counterspell like this.”
Storm moved to asking practical questions. “Who do we know of that would be capable of casting such a spell?”
I crossed my forelegs over my chest as I thought, and tried a couple more spells to see if I could pick up any more information. “It’d have to be someone good, really good. At bare minimum, we’re talking about someone with the spellcasting capabilities of an archmagus. Celestia’s the one who set up the initial spell, and it was intended to be a foolproof and unbreakable line of communication. Not even Discord could cut it off. That’s not even getting into the fact that on top of the raw power, they’d need to know how to do it.” I frowned as I tried to form a list of people who met all those requirements. “Chrysalis could do it, but this doesn’t feel like changeling magic. Still, she could always be using some sort of magical item or be mind controlling somepony else to help with it.”
There was another possible culprit I really didn’t want to bring up. Luna was intimately familiar with her sister’s spells, and would have the raw power to pull it off. I didn’t want to bring that possibility up, but ... well part of conducting a responsible investigation was accounting for every possible answer, no matter how uncomfortable.
Speaking of which ... Archon Shimmer would have to go on the suspect list too. A former student of Celestia’s would know her magic well enough to pull this off, and from what I had been able to tell during her visit, she was more or less on par with me in terms of raw power. Last I’d heard, though, she was still in Freeport. Plus there was no reason for her to attack me, we’d actually gotten along pretty well the last time she visited. Well enough for Celestia to send me a very embarrassing letter about how she thought we’d make a cute couple.
“Is there anything that could help us locate the source?” Storm asked.
Cloud nodded. “Or just break the spell?”
“Yes to both.” I levitated Spike onto my back and started towards my lab. “Or at least, I hope so. I’ll have to head down to my lab and see what I can come up with. I’ll know a lot more once I have some idea of what I’m dealing with.”
“I'll put the guards on alert,” Storm said as she followed me. “I’ll send out some fresh patrols to see if we can spot anything. It might also be a good idea for the rest of your friends to come to the castle, just in case we need them. Also, I’m keeping guards on you, Highness.”
I sighed but couldn’t really argue the point. I hated having bodyguards following me around; I was supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, and having a squad of heavily armed ponies making sure nobody got too close to me made that hard. Still, I couldn’t really argue against it when we might have a threat incoming.
Cloud fell in alongside us. “Always a good idea to have the rainbow-friendship-blast powers in reserve. I better let the mayor and other officials know we might have trouble incoming. No need to go into crisis mode yet, but it might not be a bad idea to at least be ready in case things heat up.“
“Good idea.” I stepped into my lab and tried my first magical probe. The good news was that I managed to find the spell draped over Ponyville, blocking any communication with Celestia. The bad news was that my probe got noticed.
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!” The words were so loud they hit us like a physical force, and I wound up putting a hoof on the table just to steady myself. It sounded like a mare’s voice, but there was an odd resonance to it.
“What in the world is that?!” I turned around and headed towards the nearest window, which was still rattling from the aftereffects of the voice. It felt like the sound had come from outside. “Was that somepony using the Royal Canterlot Voice?”
“It sure sounded like it,” Spike groaned, rubbing his ears.
For a moment I wondered if maybe I’d been right about it being Luna, except that voice hadn’t sounded anything like her or Nightmare Moon.
We arrived at the window just in time for a flash of green light to temporarily blind us. After I blinked the afterimage from my eyes, I saw a crackling dome of green fire large enough to surround all of Ponyville spring up around the city, completely cutting the town off from the outside world. I was reminded of the time Trixie had done something similar while under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet, though something felt even more threatening about this situation. It took someone really powerful to put up a shield on that caliber. My brother could do a spell like that, but he was an Alpha unicorn and has a special talent in defense magic. A team of magi could pull it off too, but not that quickly.
Before any of us said anything, the voice boomed across Ponyville once again. “DO NOT BE AFRAID, WE MEAN YOU NO HARM. THERE ARE TWO MURDERERS WHO HAVE LONG ESCAPED PUNISHMENT FOR THEIR CRIMES CURRENTLY WITHIN YOUR CITY. WE HAVE COME TO BRING THEM TO JUSTICE ONCE AND FOR ALL.”
Storm scowled. “There have been no crime reports of anything like that.”
“And you’d think we’d be the first to hear about that,” I agreed. “Who do they think they are, just barging into Ponyville and putting the entire city on lockdown? Whoever it is it’s not Celestia, Luna, or Cadance, so I outrank them.”
Cloud’s gaze swept over the dome shield, searching for any holes or weak points and coming up empty. “Any of the Archmagi would want to ask you for permission, and this doesn’t look like any of the other princesses’ magic. Plus they’d still give you at least a courtesy call.”
Down below, I could see ponies talking in small clusters, and more than a few running around. Whoever was doing this was going to set off a panic at this rate. They were going to get a piece of my mind once I figured out what was going on. The final echoes of the last announcement faded away as the voice continued.
“THE CITY OF PONYVILLE IS HEREBY ON LOCKDOWN UNTIL THE CRIMINALS HAVE BEEN APPREHENDED. ALL INNOCENT CIVILIANS WHO REPORT TO THE OUTER EDGE OF THE BARRIER WILL BE INSPECTED AND BRIEFLY DETAINED UNTIL THE CRIMINALS HAVE BEEN APPREHENDED. I ASK YOU TO EVACUATE QUICKLY, BECAUSE IN AN HOUR'S TIME WE WILL MOVE INTO THE CITY TO APPREHEND THE CRIMINALS. I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO DELAY THE ASSAULT FURTHER, BUT WE CANNOT RISK THE KILLERS FINDING A WAY TO ESCAPE JUSTICE ONCE MORE. THESE MURDERERS WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY RESIST ARREST, AND HAVE SHOWN UTTER DISREGARD FOR THE SANCTITY OF LIFE OR INNOCENT BYSTANDERS.
“IF YOU CANNOT EVACUATE, PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES IN A SECURE AREA. WE WILL ATTEMPT TO BRING THE CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE AS SWIFTLY AND SAFELY AS POSSIBLE. AND FINALLY ... TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND STARLIGHT GLIMMER. YOU MAY HAVE THOUGHT YOU COULD ESCAPE JUSTICE FOR THE LIVES YOU ENDED, BUT YOU WERE WRONG. IF THERE IS ANY SHRED OF DECENCY LEFT WITHIN YOU, TURN YOURSELVES IN SO WE CAN AVOID ANY NEEDLESS DEATH OR DESTRUCTION. IF YOU RESIST, KNOW THAT YOU WILL FAIL, AND JUSTICE WILL FINALLY BE DONE. THE ARMY OF YOUR VICTIMS HAS COME FOR ITS REVENGE.”
I blinked and my jaw dropped. “Wait, what?! Did I hear that right?!”
Spike’s mouth was also open in utter disbelief. “What is she talking about? When has Twilight ever killed anyone?”
Cloud shook her head. “That can't be right. Something’s up.”
Storm glared and her teeth flashed in a snarl. “What madness is this? It seems our villain has decided to attempt to convince the world that you are the monster here.”
Spike nodded. “Right, whoever this is they must just be trying to trick ponies. Or they're just crazy.” He crossed his arms. “Anypony whose met Twilight would know she isn't evil.”
I probably should’ve been offended I’d just been publicly called out as a murderer, but I was too confused to care about that. I had no idea what this pony was even talking about. I hadn’t murdered anyone, and I was damn sure I would remember if I did something like that. This was insane. This pony had just closed off the entire town and was threatening to arrest me and Starlight. What made them think they had this kind of authority? If someone sincerely thought I was guilty of such a heinous crime, they should have gone right to at least one of the other princesses. It only really made sense if they were just lying to try and trick everypony or just outright crazy. Something wasn’t right here—a lot of things weren’t right at the moment. Was my home really going to be attacked?
“We got incoming.” Cloud pointed down to the street where Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack were running towards the castle. It was good to see that they were okay, but I couldn’t help but note that Fluttershy wasn’t among them. If she was still out helping animals in the countryside, she would have been caught outside of that shield. Though given the circumstances, I couldn’t help but worry if something worse might have happened.
“What should we do, Highness?” Storm’s question snapped me out of my ruminations.
Right, we needed a plan. A knot of worry built up within me at Fluttershy’s absence, but there wasn’t time to panic about that. Everypony needed me to make decisions, and that meant focusing on what I could control instead of fretting over what I couldn’t. The town was going to be attacked inside of an hour, we didn’t know who we were dealing with, and they wanted me and Starlight. Those facts at least gave me something to start with.
I turned to the others. “Storm, have someone escort my friends to the Map Room. I’ll meet them there as soon as I’m done here. Find Starlight and have her escorted to there too. Maybe she knows something about what’s going on, and I want her protected in any event. Next, send out some scouts to see what you can find out, prepare the castle defenses, and send out an order for everypony to take shelter. Finally, prep the castle shield to be activated at a moment’s notice. They’ve said we have an hour before they attack, but I’m not inclined to trust them.”
“On it, Highness.” Storm trotted out to carry out my orders.
“I better get my armor.” Cloud frowned down at the street as ponies started panicking. “There are gonna be a lot of scared and confused ponies out there. What should we tell them?”
There was a very good question. I had only the vaguest idea about what was going on, and that was a whole lot better than everypony else in Ponyville. They needed leadership, or else blind panic would end up taking over. I needed to be that pony, no matter how scared or unsure I was. If they saw that I was just as terrified and uncertain as they were, I’d have rioting in the streets. Or worse, they’d all do what our strange attacker wanted them to do. I wasn’t sure why they wanted all the civilians to go to the outer edge of the city, but it couldn’t be anything good.
I did my best to sound confident and carry myself with regal grace. “Tell them we're going to deal with this, and to get someplace safe.”
Cloud nodded. “You better get your own armor as well. Things could get real crazy real quick, and Storm will be cranky if you get hurt. And princess or not, I will spank your cute purple plot if you don’t take your own safety seriously. Got it?”
I took a deep breath. “Right, I’ll go do that.”
We both parted company, and I used my magic to summon my armor. One of those things Storm had insisted on, I’d gone with something that was basically just a fancier version of the purple and gold full-plate armor my guards used. Naturally I’d done all the enchantments on it myself. Hopefully I wouldn’t need it, but considering the circumstances it seemed like a good idea to put it on.
Once I was ready, I headed to the Map Room. My friends were already waiting for me, and the instant I stepped into the room each of them asked what sounded like five different questions in about as many seconds. I held up a hoof to cut them off. “Girls, one at a time! But to start off with all the obvious questions: I don't know whose doing this or why, I'm sending out scouts to figure out what's going on, I'm telling everypony to seek shelter, and we're mustering the Guard.”
As was her way, Rainbow was the first to get in a question. “What about Starlight? They said they wanted to arrest her too.”
“Storm should have sent somepony to get her,” I said. “I don't know why this person wants me and Starlight, but she might know something. At the very least, we need to make sure she’s somewhere safe.”
To my relief, I saw Starlight galloping down the hallway. “Starlight! It’s good to—” Starlight galloped right past the doorway to the Map Room. I was momentarily taken aback by her actions. “Starlight?! Starlight! Come back!”
“Whoa there!” Rainbow streaked out of the room and cut Starlight off. Starlight skidded to a halt to keep from running into Rainbow. “Where do you think you’re running? Didn’t you hear Twilight calling you?”
The rest of us trotted out into the hallway. Starlight turned her head to face us and she froze. Her eyes were wide with obvious terror, and her breathing came in ragged gasps. She also had her saddlebags, each bulging with stuff quickly shoved into them. One of them hadn’t even been closed properly, and a couple of picture frames stuck out. It wasn’t hard to figure out what she was up to.
Applejack frowned as she looked her up and down. “She’s makin’ a break fer it.”
I would have asked Starlight if she was okay, but it was pretty obvious she wasn’t. “Starlight, do you know what's going on here?”
Starlight’s eyes darted around, desperately looking around for some kind of escape. She trembled as her words came falling out in a tumble. “That's Rising Fire! She's this crazy lich who tried to kill me once! But she's supposed to be dead!” She took a couple of hasty breaths while we all stared at her. “Well, you know what I mean! I saw her body get destroyed! That was supposed to be the end of it, but she’s here!”
That was something, but those answers just left me with a whole bunch of other questions. “When did a lich start wanting to kill you? Why does she think I've killed a bunch of people?”
“It sounds like you have quite a tale to tell,” Rarity chimed in. “Perhaps you should start from the beginning?”
Starlight started pacing back and forth. “Ugh, fine. It was over a decade ago, back when I lived in Freeport. I spent a while living on a commune because of a stupid misunderstanding with a bank. And then that crazy lich came to kill me with a bunch of undead. Did I mention she’s crazy? Because she was going on and on about how I’d killed a whole world. Insane.”
Rainbow zipped up to her. “Wait, this Rising Fire thinks you murdered a whole world? How?!”
“Like I said, she’s a crazy lich.” Starlight snorted derisively. “She said Twilight did too, and that was back when Twilight was still an unmarked filly, so you can tell how crazy she is.”
“Well, I can hardly imagine Twilight doing something so horrible.” Rarity wrinkled her nose. “Honestly, I can’t imagine Twilight ever wanting to seriously hurt or kill someone.” After a pause that dragged on just a bit too long, she turned to Starlight. “I can't really imagine you would do something like that either. You hardly have any motive to destroy an entire world.”
Starlight scowled at her. “Gee, thanks for the hesitation and qualifying your statement by saying I’d need to have a motive first.”
Pinkie jumped into the conversation with her usual diplomatic grace. “She’s probably just thinking about the time you nearly destroyed all of Equestria because you were mad we wouldn’t let you keep an entire town full of innocent ponies enslaved. Or how you tried to strip away all the individual personality and magical talent of the ponies you enslaved, just because you were sad about your friend moving away years and years ago.” She paused and frowned. “Wait ... is Trixie moving away?! Is that why you tried to destroy the world again?! I thought you knew that destroying the world isn’t a good way to solve problems! That shouldn’t even count anyway, Trixie’s a travelling magician! She’s always moving!”
Rainbow snorted and crossed her forelegs over her chest. “Let’s hope that lesson took better than the one about mind control. Remember how you mind-controlled us just so you could make one of Twilight's assignments go faster? Or the time you nearly destroyed Thorax's hive by drawing a big monster to it?”
“Not to mention all that stuff she got up to in the North before we even met her,” Applejack added in. “Was awful awkward when my cider and Rarity’s dresses near got boycotted in Northmarch just because they found out we were acquaintances with Starlight.”
“Yes, yes, thank you all for reminding me of my checkered past,” Starlight grumbled not quite under her breath. “I certainly wouldn’t have remembered all the horrible things I’ve done without you all reminding me about it every five minutes.”
I stepped in to try and push the conversation back into more productive territory. “So what’s going on with this Rising Fire?”
Starlight shrugged. “No idea, I’d never even heard of her until she tried to kill me. Her brain has probably rotted away and she’s just gone crazy from being around forever. All I know about her is that she’s convinced I did something I never did, and that she’s a crazy powerful lich. Last time I ran into her, I was pretty sure I’d dealt with her for good.” After several seconds she sighed and reluctantly amended. “Well, Archon Shimmer and her crew helped with that.” She hesitated a bit more. “It was a team effort.” After a couple more seconds she downgraded to, “I contributed. Anyway, the point is that Rising Fire was supposed to be gone.”
Pinkie’s head tilted to the side. “Uuum, shouldn't you have told us about this sometime before now? You know, when liches are kinda super undead-y and keep coming back over and over and over again because they just refuse to stay down unless you get their file-factory?”
“Phylactery,” I corrected. “And yeah, your typical lich will eventually rebuild their body as long as their soul is safely stored in a phylactery. You should have told me about this before now.”
Starlight snarled as she shook her head from side to side. “Well she seemed pretty gone to me and I never saw her again since then, so forgive me if I thought she was gone for good.” She sighed and shook her head. “Or maybe that’s just what I wanted to believe.”
Wonderful. Apparently this was another case where Starlight hadn’t thought things all the way through before she acted. Starlight had a really bad habit of making snap decisions in the heat of the moment without really thinking about all the implications, or little things like ethics and morality. It was something we’d been working on, and I liked to think we were making some good progress. After all, she hadn’t acted out in a destructive way for months. However, sometimes I couldn’t help but wonder if I was just treating the symptoms without really getting into the root cause of all her problems.
Yes, she no longer did things like time travel to change our pasts without thinking about what would happen when you destroy the friendship of ponies whose friendship has repeatedly saved Equestria. However, deciding that a problem must have sorted itself out when it didn’t bother her for a couple years fit the pattern of impulsiveness and poor decisions. Not to mention Starlight didn’t like talking about her past, so it’s no surprise Rising Fire hadn’t come up.
From what I had been able to get out of her and dig up from other sources, her life was a long series of failures, exiles, and serious crimes. The last time I’d gone to Crystal Empire, our train made a stop in Coldharbor in Northmarch. Finding out my apprentice had been involved in the city getting burned down a decade ago and was exiled on pain of death had been a nasty surprise. It took quite a bit of frantic negotiating and Starlight agreeing not to leave the train to keep that from turning into a major incident.
From what I’d actually been able to get out of Starlight about her past, there were probably more fun surprises like that waiting for me. Apparently nothing had really gone right for her since Sunburst got his cutie mark.
Still, reflecting on Starlight’s emotional problems wouldn’t do any good. “Let’s concentrate on the big picture, everypony. We've got less than an hour before this Rising Fire attacks and we need to figure out how we’re going to deal with her. If she’s attacked Starlight before, we have to take it for granted that she’s serious about her threat.”
“Yeah, she is.” Starlight started heading towards the door. “So, um, good luck with all the planning. I’ve got a couple things to—”
Applejack blinked as though she’d been slapped. “Whoa nelly, you ain't runnin' out on us!”
Starlight started slowing down, but didn’t stop heading for the exit. “I was just going to go make sure Trixie would be okay. She’s out there, and I don’t want Rising or her stupid army of undead hurting her.”
While normally I would have praised Starlight for thinking about a friend during a crisis like this, I knew she was lying. Especially since Trixie wasn’t even in Ponyville; last I heard she was doing a show in the Baltimare area. It wasn’t hard to guess what she was really up to—she wanted to try and run away before Rising launched her attack on Ponyville.
While running and leaving us to clean up the mess was bad enough, I was also pretty sure Starlight hadn’t told me the whole truth about her history with Rising. Her account had been so threadbare that there almost certainly had to be more going on, or at least a few details that might help me understand more. Not to mention I didn’t think her plan to run was going to work given the circumstances. Rising had already cut the city off, and any halfway decent plan would include contingencies for if we tried to run for it. At least here in the castle she could be protected by the castle defenses and my guard.
And at the end of the day, Starlight was my responsibility. She might have made mistakes in the past ... and the near past. And if trends were any indication, she would continue making mistakes, but she’d come a long way from where I’d found her. Most importantly, she was trying to be a good pony, and as long as she was trying to improve I was going to help her. That meant I wasn’t about to let Rising have her if I could help it.
“Starlight...” I stepped up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Remember what we discussed about always trying to run away from your problems?”
There was an ugly flash behind Starlight’s eyes and her lips twisted into a snarl. “I don't think that applies to not running away from the crazy evil lich that wants to kill me!”
I met her growing anger with calm serenity. “And how do you plan on getting through the shield?”
She shook her head and started pacing. “I'll figure something out when I get there! It's better than just sitting here and waiting for her!”
I frowned as I watched her pace back and forth. Starlight had a bad habit of not quite thinking things through, and if she did that in a situation like this it would probably end with her getting captured by this Rising Fire. Or worse. “It'll probably be safer here in the castle. We’ve got my guard, each other, and the castle’s defenses. Given time, I think I can break the spell that’s keeping us from sending messages to Princess Celestia and call for help.”
Rainbow slammed her hooves together. “Yeah, teamwork and strength in numbers. There’s nothing we can’t beat together.”
Rarity cleared her throat. “If I may suggest something, it might also be worth trying a bit of diplomacy. If nothing else, we might find out something about who we're dealing with. Maybe we could even negotiate more time before they attack?”
That wasn’t a bad idea. There were some risks, but if we could somehow avoid anyone getting hurt... “That would be great if you can pull it off. See what you can do.”
Starlight, however, wasn’t so convinced. “Excuse me, remember the part where I said she was crazy? You can’t negotiate with crazy. Likely she’ll just blast you when you try and talk to her and leave nothing left but a crater.”
Rarity tossed her mane. “Yes. But what do you think this lich will do to Twilight and you if she captures both of you?”
Starlight shivered.
Starlight had a point about this being dangerous, but there were ways we could at least mitigate the risks involved. “I'll have a guard escort Rarity. It's not perfect, but it's something.“ I gave Rarity a serious look. “But if you think you’re in danger, get out of there and back into the castle, Rarity. I don't want you getting hurt. Understand?”
Rarity nodded. “Of course. Just put the time we do have to good use.” She smiled, looking every bit the confident mare I knew her to be. “Who knows, perhaps I can charm whoever it is into calling all this madness off?”
“If you can pull that off...” I thought about all the ponies that could get hurt if this came to some sort of battle and winced. “Well, I'm not sure there's a big enough reward I could give you if you can successfully negotiate with Rising.”
“Oh, you don't need to worry about that darling.” Rarity waved it off. “Just knowing everypony is going to be safe will be reward enough.”
Applejack bit her lip. “Be careful, Rares.” She hugged her, and Rarity returned the embrace. “Don’t go doin’ anything... Well, maybe Ah wouldn’t be the best example, but you know what Ah mean.”
“You too.” Rarity pecked Applejack on the cheek before breaking the hug. “Be safe, everypony.”
Rarity departed, leaving the rest of us to plan and prepare for what would happen if the worst should come to pass.