//------------------------------// // The Princess of The Ivory Castle // Story: Imperial Affairs // by The Sound of Loneliness //------------------------------// “Anyway, I think it’s time I hit the hay. Goodnight, Twilight.” “See you in the morning, Spike,” Twilight said without even turning away from her book. Spike smiled at his friend, rolled his eyes and closed the door to Twilight's library without another word. This book was just too much for poor Twilight to pull away from, once in a lifetime opportunity. A biography of Starswirl the Bearded written by his own contemporary! When Ember offered to pass some dusty old book she found in her father’s hoard, Twilight could not imagine what kind of crazy luck was about to hit her. It took Twilight more than a few cross-references, authenticity checks and eye rubs to believe what found its way to her study. The Royal Library would’ve envied such a piece. Surviving more than a thousand years under a few tons of gold and the dragon himself was nothing less than a miracle, let alone doing so in perfect condition. Twilight had to suspect the book was magically protected from decay, even though it didn’t show on any on her tests. Admittedly, it would be almost a crime to let such a thing decline. It was a state of art even without looking at the contents. Even more so than Starswirl’s own Grand Spellbooks. The gold-lined cover, the illustrations, even the letters themselves: all were a work of art. To Twilight, though, the most thrilling part was easily the written. Who could tell that the ancient Archmage hardly was the quiet scientist the modern historians imagined? By the author’s account, Starswirl, in his youth, couldn’t bear sitting in class. Young Starswirl prefered learning from experience. In fact, Rainbow Dash could mistake his bio for a spin-off Daring Do book. Turns out, ages ago Ahuizotl had a similar rivalry with Starswirl as with the daring explorer nowadays. Though the Archmage was still mostly interested in ancient libraries, rather than talismans and statues. Oh, what a joy would it be to ask Ahuizotl what Starswirl was really like! Well, a mare can dream. There was still the book though. And the book was running painfully short. No book could withstand an assault from the Princess of Books for long, not even a truly amazing one. There was still the final barricade of the last 50 pages to climb, but it already was 3 at night. Twilight rubbed her eyes and yawned. How many times she had fallen asleep at her late-night studies? Eh, probably enough. Maybe Spike was onto something, there’s always tomorrow to finish everything still pending in the evening. Twilight pulled away from Starswirl almost defeating Ursa Major and ventured to the library door. The Castle knew when to cut the lighting. Twilight, then, headed down the hallway stopping for a moment to admire the view of her good old Ponyville. The town was largely sleeping at this hour too, though Twilight saw several lights still glittering and a lantern flying down from the sky. Probably Derpy Hooves finishing her deliveries. Night shifts were very much a hazard nowadays. Twilight gifted the town a dreamy smile before moving to her bathroom. Even scholars needed some hygiene once in a while. A couple of minutes later, Twilight, not before grinning at snoring Spike, put her head on a pillow and prepared to venture into the dream realm. *BANG* Twilight covered her head with the pillow. *BANG BANG* Well, it's not like they were going to go away. Twilight mixed a groan with a sigh and had to get back up again. Ponies coming to see Twilight in the middle of the night wasn’t quite uncommon anymore, but they always had to come when she was trying to have some sleep. “I’m coming,” Twilight announced down the hallway in response to another round of bangs. “Don’t wake Spike, please.” Splashing her face with water, Twilight, then, headed straight to open the door for her guest. She really hoped it wasn’t some out-of-town celebrity wanting to bluster he personally knew royalty. The last time it took nearly the entire night to get rid of him and afterwards Twilight had to go though the whole day with not a single hour of sleep. “So, what bri...” Twilight opened the door and stopped her greeting mid-sentence to process what exactly she was seeing at her doorstep. It was Rarity, or looked like her; maybe her eyes were playing tricks on Twilight this late. Rarity wouldn’t allow herself to disgracefully pant for air in front of others like this pony was doing. There also was someone else Twilight didn’t recognize at first glance. An earth pony with a sky blue coat and a fiery ginger mane, wearing the same purple uniform as Rarity. “Princess,” the other pony greeted her with a slight bow and a valiant attempt to manage her own breathing. Twilight tried to pick through her memory to remember where she could know this pony from, “Eh… Do we know each other?” “No, Princess. We’ve never met before, but I am very glad we finally have a chance. My name is Cloudy Dawn, I am the Imperial Minister of Communication. I am here with Rarity.” The Minister nodded at panting Rarity, “We have an urgent business.” “Now do you?” Twilight rubbed her forehead, “Well, come inside then.” “Thank you, Your Highness.” Twilight rolled her eyes upon hearing the official address. So pompous it sounded silly. “What's with Rarity?” still confused Twilight had to ask while leading her guests to the sitting room. “I found her galloping through Canterlot streets to the train station, Your Highness. She was completely terrified. From what I could pry off her she has an urgent message for you.” “So urgent you had to run for me at 3 in night?” Cloudy had to wave her head from embarrassment. “It's from the Empress, Your Highness,” she explained. Twilight gave out a long sigh. “And what is it your Empress wants from me?” “I don’t know, Your Highness,” Dawn said in the most apologetic tone her own out of wind lungs allowed her. “But she made very clear to Rarity she’s unhappy with you.” “Me?” Twilight's confusion gave way to surprise. “What did I do?” “I can’t tell, Your Highness. You would have to ask Rarity; when she will be able to tell you, that is.” Twilight stopped to let her guests past her into the sitting room. It had a round table, and 7 chairs, though Twilight now rarely used all of them. “So, did you two just ran all the way here from Canterlot?” still puzzled Twilight asked. “More or less, Your Highness. Rarity isn’t, exactly, reasonable when she’s frightened. I had to almost pull her back to the palace. In her state, she had completely forgotten she’s a VIP and can call for the Guard carriages now. She would still have two-thirds of the way in front of her if she went on a train, even with the guards refusing to drop us off at your door and flying us to the town’s train station instead. They said it was due to some nonsense with the “officially approved destinations” and your Castle not being one of them.” Twilight blew a short snort, “Good. Can I get you two something? Tea, or coffee?” “Tea, please. Thank you, Your Highness,” the blue mare said while taking a seat alongside Rarity. Twilight was glad Minister’s etiquette didn’t allow her to refuse. Twilight herself needed some… a lot of coffee and some time to make sense of what she just heard. Nightmare Moon is angry with her? Twilight methodically sorted through her memory to find what she could do to anger their tyrant, but her sleepy brain refused to connect any dots. It didn’t make any sense. Upon Returning with cups, some tea leafs on a plate and a hot teapot, Twilight found that Rarity now caught her breath, but still was just as panicked. By the looks of it, the Empress indeed was very unhappy. Twilight placed herself on the other side of the table and started pouring water in the cups, “Here, take a sip, Rarity,” Twilight said, passing her a filled cup and stirring it a few times with the spoon. “It should calm your nerves a little.” “T-thank you, Twilight.” Rarity drank the cup in a single mighty gulp. Twilight refiled the cup with the same result, she decided not to pour another one for now. “So, eh...Rarity, what does Nightmare Moon want from me now?” Both mares gave Twilight startled looks. Rarity looked like she would faint, “What?” “Y-your Highness, there is a certain protocol. We don’t call the Empress by her name. She is “Her Majesty” or “Empress”, while you and Princess Cadenza are either “Your Highness” or “Princess”. Please, excuse us for not being used to such familiarity when speaking of the Empress, Your Highness.” The Minister added another slight bow to her explanation. “Please stop calling me that.” Twilight’s capacity for silly official speech was up. “It’s just Twilight.” “Right, Princess Twilight.” “Princess Twilight” rolled her eyes again, well it was still better than “Your Highness”. “Twilight, the Empress wants to see you.” Rarity managed to produce. “That’s kinda obvious. But what does she want?” “But I don’t know, Twilight! I was just seeing Luna when she spurred up at you! She told me to drag you if I have to.” The two other mares exchanged concerned looks. “Umm, Rarity. Sorry for asking off-topic, but why do you always talk like Luna and the Empress are separate ponies? You know they are just different names, right?” “It’s because they aren’t,” Twilight began explaining. “Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna are two separate po… entities, living inside the single body. Nightmare Moon took over Luna’s body during her moment of weakness.” “Oooh...” Dawn failed to contain her wonder. “That explains so much!” “Twilight, she was so angry! I only saw her like this after someone tried to murder Luna at her meeting in Appleoosa! I thought she would scorch me with lightning, or throw me into the dungeon or...” Rarity was shivering and cut her speech short. “Rarity, please. This is important, did you tell her something that could’ve caused her change of attitude?” Cloudy Dawn asked in a way refined by her years of taking interviews. "I just told Luna about… us.” “Us?” Twilight emphasized. “How we all just grew apart after that... time.” “This doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight exploded, causing Cloudy Dawn to jump in her seat. “Nightmare Moon now just suddenly cares about what we six feel for each other? What’s next? We all having a tea party at Fluttershy’s?” Twilight grabbed her head in hooves. “Actually, it does make a lot of sense!” Dawn wistfully propped her heard with her hoof. “It… does?” Twilight’s stunned response came. “Well, of course! Princess, allow me a personal question: why do you think the Empress just left the six, or rather five of you, alone after you… served her back on that day?” “Beats me, actually. I tried to understand for a while, but then it hit me that I probably don’t want to know.” Twilight proceeded to make an ugly grimace. “I see. Well, I believe, I have an answer for you!” the Minister announced with a slate of pride. “From what I managed to pull from other institutions and the officials at the court, the Empress rarely ever sees anyone as being worthless to her. She, somehow, always knows how to make everything serve her benefit. Be it a rivalry between her generals or tender feelings of her subjects towards each other.” “And you think she’s using our friendship against us? Well, this isn’t exactly new.” Rarity sank her head, “And this doesn’t explain why she suddenly cares so much about us.” “I was just getting to this part. You see, I think the Empress understands your value as inspirational leaders for her ponies and, probably more importantly, your usefulness in managing any emerging crises. And since your elements only work because of your friendship, you being on good terms with each other is what keeps you useful for her.” “Should’ve guessed it myself.” Twilight groaned and facehoofed herself, “Well, this is just wonderful! So we are playing for team “Nightmare Moon” by simply being friends! Great, just great! Rainbow Dash and AJ will love every syllable!” “Eh… Right. Well, if my theory is correct, you’ll have nothing to fear from the Empress during your visit to the palace. She wouldn’t hurt her own interests-” “To Tartarus with her interests!” “-and, I think, she’s quite fond of you personally too. She, previously, always spoke very highly of you and even set you as a performance example for us on one of the council meetings.” Twilight groaned painfully, “This keeps getting better and better! Cloudy, do you really have to tell me all of this? I can do without knowing how much I am liked by someone I despise!” The blue mare gave Twilight an apologetic look. “I… imagined you would like to know where do you stand with the Empress before you meet her.” “I am not going anywhere just to be used again!” Twilight dropped her head at the table, ringing the silverware. Rarity gave Cloudy a panicked, begging, stare. “Princess, I urge you to reconsider! You can’t simply refuse an invitation from the Empress and it is not in your best interests to keep her waiting for long! Her order for Rarity to drag you there was no joke! The Empress will see you regardless if you want it or not!” Twilight’s muffled sigh was heard, “I forget sometimes it’s not Princess Celestia.” The Minister sighed in solidarity, “We all sometimes do, Princess Twilight.” Twilight signed again and spent a few long minutes on the table before finally answering: “Alright, I’ll go. Just give me a few hours to sleep. She can wait that long, right?” “I think she’ll understand.”