Chapter 23: Meeting at Canterlot
Edited by: The Great Khan
“You've been invited to Canterlot your highness?” Captain Silver asked while the Emperor was enjoying some morning tea.
Mateus nodded. “Well yes, their princess wishes to meet me in person. For diplomatic discussions and probably to also asses my character in person if I had to guess.” He responds.
“Well in that case, allow me to accompany you the sire.” Silver stated. “As Captain of the Crystal Guard, it is my duty to protect you wherever you go, Your Highness.” He states, hitting his chest piece.
“You know...” He began, "I can take care of myself. One or two guards should suffice.” He responds casually before returning to his tea.
The captain nods. “True, but… it's still a duty. Plus, this would give me the opportunity to see for myself how things have changed over the last thousand years. A though I still can’t exactly wrap my mind around it to be honest. One thousand years in stasis.” Silver responded before looking off to the side lost in his own thoughts.
Mateus sighs. “Very well, just don’t arm yourself to the teeth then. We don’t want to look ready for war towards out southern neighbors now do we?” That is up to them though. He thought the last part to himself.
“More Tea if you will?” He asks servant next to him.
The mare just nods before refilling the cup while holding the handle of kettle with her mouth. Something which he quietly finds absolutely disgusting.
“Well thank you, Your Highness. I shall prepare myself accordingly for the trip whenever you are ready to depart.” Silver acknowledges with a bow before leaving.
The emperor quietly hums to himself before looking back down at his cup and then back at the mare holding the kettle with her mouth.
He grimace. “Just bring me the tea kettle from now on.” He states before yanking the kettle away from her with his magic.
The maid was a bit confused but quickly nodded. “O-of course, Your Highness!” She replied before cantering off.
The emperor looked down at his hooves and back up at the kettle levitating next to him.
“Sometimes I miss having hands...” He thought to himself before placing the kettle down and enjoying the rest of his morning in silence.
He had a diplomatic meeting to prepare for. When it was, he didn’t know, as the letter he received didn’t exactly specify when he could visit. Or it could be because the letter was badly handled in transit, with some of its last sentences being smudged and smeared.
Whoever was the courier for this letter was obviously incompetent, or maybe a 'derp' as the common folk would call it.
Either way he had to get it done. Even though there was still much work to do here, but he also knew that building up positive relations with his much larger neighbor was something which could only help his ambitions. It could buy him some time to build up his own strength before letting his true ambitions unfold.
A quick reply needs to be crafted first of course and send with a bit of magic. No point of barging in unannounced after all during peace times.
Now only one question still remained.
“How to actually get there? Do we have trains of our own?” The emperor wondered to himself as he emptied his final cup of tea, as the kettle was empty and he already sent the maid off to do other things.
He should have asked for more.
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“So he is really coming?” Luna asked her older sister as they both trotted through the halls of Canterlot Palace.
“Yes.” Celestia replied. “I am quite curious to meet him myself. To see if he really is a crystal unicorn or not. If he is, then his existence alone might be a good source of hope that the crystal unicorns were not completely wiped out after all.”
Luna hummed. “That is all well and good sister, but still, inviting a complete stranger we have never heard before now or even then into the palace? Especially a pony who managed to KILL Sombra all by himself if the stories are true? That is a bit…hasty isn’t it? We don’t even know what his true motives are” Luna admitted bluntly.
Celestia sighs. “Well, I understand your concerns sister, but it is better to build up good relationships than to make rivals, Luna. Let's meet him first before we start judging.” Celestia argued.
Luna looked off to the side. “Well I guess, but my intuitions hold true don’t tell me that I didn’t warn you.” Luna pointed out which made Celestia shake her head.
“Luna, times have changes, and you should stop acting so suspicious towards every newcomer who trots through these halls. This is why I keep telling you to get out of your room and socialize more. It will really do wonders for you.” Celestia added before they both reached their intended destination.
“Well, this is where we must part. Unless you are willing to take my place at court.” Celestia stated as she gave her sister a smirk.
Luna flinched. “Dear heavens, no. The longer I have to hear nobility whine and complain the more I feel the urge to just throw them off of this mountain. You can continue to hold day court as you always have dear sister. I prefer the peace of my own night court” She respond with a huff.
Celestia fake moped. “No mercy for your dear old sister then?” She asks as she opens the door.
“’Oh, and by the way,” Celestia announced before looking over her shoulder. “If you are free today, which you most likely are, can you maybe help lead the preparations needed for our guest's arrival? I obviously cannot, since I'm busy with court now.” She requested.
“I guess I can.” Luna responded which made Celestia smile.
“Thanks Lulu!” Celestia responded before making her way to the throne room to finally begin day court.
A thousand years of doing this, and she still somewhat hates it. She has just gotten really good at hiding it.
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“Well, without a train how are we going to get to Equestria?” One of the guards chosen to accompany the emperor asks as they waiting around in front of the throne room. Fully equipped and ready to go.
One of the four guards shrugged. “No idea, but we have been instructed to just wait here until further orders by the captain. I'm not even sure if we are really going or not.” He stated while rubbing his chin.
“Yes, we still are.” Silver stated as he enters the scene, also ready to go.
“Come, follow me up to the emperor's chamber. We are to meet him there.” Silver ordered.
The four crystal guards nodded before following.
Once there, Silver immediately approached Ruby who was stationed right in front of his chambers.
"We are here. Is his Majesty ready?” Silver asks.
She nods “I think so.”
As if on cue, the doors to his chambers open. Revealing a fully dressed and geared up Mateus along with his staff.
“Ah, you are all here. Perfect, we are ready to depart then.” He casually states.
“Uhm, excuse me Your Highness, but… how exactly are we going to travel to Canterlot without a train? We could maybe prepare a carriage for you. But traversing through the snow-covered tundra is both dangerous and also quite slow. Not something I would recommend, even if it is our only option right now.” Silver stated.
“Then do not fret,” the emperor began. “We won't be traveling via carriage or any other form of civil transportation.” He explained, much to the confusion of Silver and everyone else.
“Pardon me, but how exactly are we going to get there then Your Highness?” Silver asked again.
“Simple,” the emperor began. “I am going to Teleport us there.” He responds nonchalantly.
The confusion continued. “Forgive me, but… did you say teleport? As in magic?” Silver again slowly asked. Both to not sound rude and to clarify himself a little bit better.
“Yes.” The emperor responded. “We are going to use magic to get there. I spent the majority of this morning and early afternoon refamiliarizing myself with an old spell I haven’t made use off for quite a long while. A spell simply known as “Warp” where I’m from.” He explains.
“Uhm… okay?” Silver responded. Still sounding quite confused and possibly a bit nervous.
“Anyway, there might be a 14 percent chance that this will fail. Especially when calculating the number of participants, I will have to warp along with me and the distance. But I'm confident that I can warp us all to Canterlot without any issues. It just requires a suitable beacon to home into. Princess Cadence should be perfect for that.” Mateus explained, before tapping the floor beneath him with his staff. Summoning a magical circle on its surface that was large enough to encompass the group.
Silver was now visibly getting nervous, but didn’t voice it. At least he wasn’t the only one. The guards behind him also looked fairly anxious as the runes on the inside began to glow.
Even the very air around them began to feel slightly energized. Which even Ruby outside the circle could tell.
“Be sure to keep standing still inside the circle once I release the spell. Otherwise, you might get split in half or suffer from any other form of magical mishaps.” Mateus explained, again with almost an almost infuriating tone of calmness despite the risks involved.
This just made the group even more anxious as tiny magical sparks began arch from the edge of the circle as the spell was slowly reaching its apex.
The emperor of course ignored their obvious expressions of dread as he turned his attention to Ruby instead, who was looking at the spectacle with mild fascination.
“I wish to have my tea ready by the time I return later tonight. As I always do at that hour.” He instructed before returning his attention back to the warp circle in front of him.
“Remember: tea ready at nine.” He announced before tapping the circle again and activating the spell.
With one bright flash they were all gone. Leaving nothing but a small cloud of smoke and a slightly-blinded Ruby as evidence of their prior presence.
Today’s lesson for Ruby though: never look directly into the flash of an activated warp spell, or suffer temporary blindness while stumbling about in panic when it's the first time that has ever happened to you.
She certainly learned that the hard way.
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Cadence was staring at her own reflection. Lost in thought at the idea of meeting this curious but still strange unicorn so soon. The letter which suddenly appeared an hour or so ago right as she was readying herself the day was quite the scare. But one which quickly dissolved when she had the chance to read its content.
She quickly shook her head. Before getting back to the task at hoof of figuring out what to wear for this diplomatic meeting if ever. She is sure her usual regalia should suffice. She wasn’t going to attend a wedding after all. A thought which made her frown when thinking of how her own weeding went.
She again placed these thoughts back to towards her mental back burner before picking up her brush to straightening out some of the lose ends of her mane.
Dropping it as soon as she picked it up when a sudden flash behind her scared the horse apples out of her.
The second time of the day.
“Did it… work?” A strange new voice stated, causing Cadence to squeak before turning herself around instinctively in a defensive stance.
“I warn you, just because I'm the Princess of Love doesn’t mean that I can’t-” She was about to threaten before she quickly recognized the ponies in front of her.
“The… the Crystal Emperor?” She stuttered, completely stunned.
“Princess! We heard your scream, is everything alri-” A guard burst in before noticing the band of armored strangers in front of him.
“In-intruders, INTRUDERS! I NEED BACKUP! WE HAVE INTRUDERS!” He quickly screamed before racing out of the room.
Mateus shook his head at the guard's unprofessional reaction. Leaving his princess all alone with a bunch of possible intruders while seeking backup. But then again, what exactly was he supposed to do? It is five against one; not exactly a favorable matchup for any skilled soldier.
“Greetings, princess. I hope our arrival was not too intrusive.” He greets her calmly.
Cadence blinked. “Uh… no… nonono it was… nothing, I guess. I was just busy doing my mane and… uh… So, it’s no big deal… really.” She responds, finding all of this to be quite awkward on her end.
“Uhm… are you here because of my Auntie's invitation? If so, then it would make sense why you're… suddenly in my room.”
The emperor nodded. “Yes indeed, that is exactly why I am here, and again sorry for this sudden intrusion. I hope that my sudden appearance here won’t cause a misunderstanding. Especially with my escorts next to me." He responded, causing Cadence to perk up.
“Ah, yes… the guard.” Cadence began. “I better go and deal with that right away then. Though it would be best if you and your guards were to leave my room first before either more guards or my husband see you here. Just to be safe.” She suggested to which Mateus nodded.
“Certainly, that would be for the best.” He responded before taking his leave, with Silver and his guards following suit.
Cadence also soon followed. Throwing away the idea of getting herself dressed properly first as he is already here and already causing a scene. Plus, she also needed to explain this situation first to both the guards and her aunts to prevent any misunderstandings.
Though now that the surprise and confusion from earlier had worn off, Cadence had to admit that she felt a tad bit violated.
Why her?