It was very early morning and the sun had just begun its journey, flung across the sky by a pony Cadance thought she knew well. Flurry Heart slept peacefully with Shining Armor in the Magic of Friendship’s private room along with her maid, Miss. Calcite. Most of Twilight’s friends still slept there too and somehow it bothered her that she felt she needn’t worry that they slept right next to Shining Armor without her presence.
She wasn’t in a very good mood which she knew was very atypical for her especially with such a nice day all around her. Just a few clouds decorated the blue sky and Twilight’s airship flew fast at a high altitude with a relaxing wind. Rainbow Dash kept to her morning exercise routine flying laps around the airship and the crew minded their businesses.
Maybe she kept thinking too much about those books that likely romanticized the past way too much since she left the Crystal Empire. Especially because ‘the past’ wasn’t what she thought it was and that made those books even more fanciful. She was also still frustrated with herself at her failed attempt at playing the politician as ponies did in those books. She felt so foolish too, but she was drawn to those stories about the powerful matriarch that united the land.
She was bored, and boredom bred ill thoughts. She loved feeding and bonding with Flurry Heart, but the baby needed her rest after her meal and Cadance often was left wide awake after. In the Crystal Empire that wasn’t a problem because she could always find something to do or she could call her aunt via magical mirror and talk to her about something that happened. Something she could need assistance from her age-old wisdom.
She never really connected a lot with Luna but she was her aunt and Cadance both respected and enjoyed her company in the many times Luna had approached her and they did some pleasant thing. It even came to the point that she sought Luna’s company once or twice.
They mostly watched the stars and Luna sure loved them and was quite proud of her ‘art’. It got a bit overbearing at times, but Luna was a pleasant company nonetheless and Cadance enjoyed what time they spent together.
Then there was Celestia. The mighty Celestia. Queen in everything but title for whatever stupid reason which both eluded Cadance and seemed irrelevant. The closest thing Cadance had ever had for a mother, even warmer and closer to her than the old matron of the orphanage she lived as a filly. Her power was undeniable and for the past few days it felt unbearable over Cadance’s head.
She liked Celestia too much and was beside herself with happiness at the pride her aunt radiated when she was ready to take on the Crystal Empire, but after the start of their journey she felt betrayed and wasn’t sure she could trust her beloved aunt anymore. Sure, she had told herself repeatedly that Celestia wasn’t a bad pony and that everything certainly was justified… But deep inside she was hurt. She wondered if Twilight felt like that too.
Probably so, but not in the same way: Twilight never wanted to be a princess to begin with. She never wanted to wield power and make things happen the way she felt was right. Probably because Twilight had been a privileged child from her birth with a nice family and was recruited quite early to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.
At the time Cadance had already been adopted by the Princess as her niece. Not as a daughter, just her niece. What a strange detail that was considering recent discoveries. Like Blueblood who didn’t even get a title of princedom but an archduchy. It was an important one though: he was responsible for Canterlot County second in richness only to Bay County. But it contained the capital city and the Royal Court.
Well Cadance knew that the tile of Princess worked different than it did in other countries before Modern Equestria and other parts of it. A Princess was even ‘more’ than a Queen. The later would be somepony who holds power for whatever reason, mostly heritage, while the former was more than a ruler. She was supposed to be a guide a leader as much as a ruler. In practical terms it only meant that Cadance was supposed to do what Celestia told her to and was the administrator of her empire.
Twilight was a peculiar example since she never bothered with the political side of her position and was spared the same obligations Cadance had to contend with. Especially with Mayor Mare taking care of the city that was already under Canterlot County and the Heartland Archduchy.
The problem was that Cadance sometimes felt that things were not as fair as they could be, and this feeling had surfaced with a vengeance after the routine of the travel reared its head.
The Sisters ruled all. Celestia had the Sun and Luna had the Moon. Literally everything and the heavens. Twilight had the Elements of Harmony and along with her friends she was an emissary of Friendship and made it flourish everywhere. What did Cadance really have? A plot of land that wasn’t good for much other than tourism and if not for the crystalized metal the new airships used that would be all. And, as soon as the market was saturated that would be a big whatever. Or worse, as soon as other places managed to manufacture it.
Cadance did have a unique and impressive power over Love but she just simply wasn’t allowed to go around making ponies fall in love. It was a waste: so many ponies she knew loved each other but never managed to express their feelings until it was too late because their special ponies had already made commitments. Fiery passions that lit in secret and died in silence while she was forced to watch and do nothing. In the end it felt like ponies loved The Sisters because they were so good at ruling Equestria and were so powerful. That they loved Twilight because she was a beacon of everything a pony could ever strive to be. Cadance was just the local ruler of the cold place nopony really liked visiting more than once for the novelty. She could still remember the mean remarks journals made about her receiving a city from her aunt that materialized from thin air.
How come Twilight could go around doing the friendship patrol and Cadance couldn’t use her very own and unique power?
Twilight always was better than everypony else, after all. The little wonder foal… Youngest filly to Celestia’s school. She didn’t even take the courses on political theory like Cadance did. She never went to the classes reserved to future leaders and rulers like Cadance. Instead Celestia simply sent her on her way to become the great Princess of Friendship, the Bearer of the Element of Magic, while Cadance sat her flank administrating the cold plothole of the world in Celestia’s stead.
It was not Twilight she resented though. It was her aunts. They were the ones that were always in control. Oh, how she would like to see Celestia and Luna trying to explain something to the whole of Equestria for a change.
Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the pegasus crewponies called an alarm. “Look lively, lads! Airship astern!”
Cadance’s first reaction was looking around, high and low in all directions because she had no idea what an ‘astern’ was, until she noticed the crew running towards the ship’s back and she followed them, along with the others that came out of the private quarters and from the underdeck.
“Where are they? Who are they?” Twilight asked nervously and one of the pegasus crewponies pointed at a golden speck against a cloud.
Twilight squinted and more than a few ponies onboard imitated her until they finally saw it. “Wow! You guys have good eyes!”
The Captain approached with a spyglass and gave it to her who took it in her magic and looked through it. She saw an airship, not too different from hers, but the hull was deeper, and she had a wider beam. The hull was crystalized metal, like her ship, but it had a golden tint. Not only that, but that thing had a battering ram and she was positive she saw at least two front-side cannons and a ballista!
“Magnificent…” A deep green pegasus with a black bandana frowned sarcastically. “The Gold Pricks.”
He was promptly chastised by the Captain via his hoof forcefully connecting to the back of his head, while Twilight simply lowered the spyglass. “The what now?”
“Gold Pricks…” Another pegasus sighed with annoyance. “T’is how the crews call the Royal Guard in the Manehattan Bay area.”
“You guys were pirates?!” Shinning Armor gasped while Cadance and the others busied themselves giggling with different levels of modesty.
“We was, your highness.” The Ship’s Captain said calmly. “Got caught, did our time and got pardoned.”
That notwithstanding, the unicorn stared angrily at his sister, who put a hoof on her chest. ‘What? They’re hard-working ponies!”
“Pirates are the opposite of hard-working, Twilight! They take what others worked to buy!” He shook his head. “You put my baby and wife in a airship full of pirates!”
“Ain’t like that, Prince Armor.” The Captain calmly shook his head. “Tis the life. The community. We live isolated and we share amongst ours. We did steal, aye. But we paid for it.”
“You share what you stole, while you hid from the law!” He pointed an accusatory hoof at the Captain, but then he touched his forehead and sighed. “I’m sorry… It’s just…”
“We understand, your highness… A pony of the Guard wouldn’t like us. No hard feelings.”
“Relax, Shinny…” Cadance grinned next to him. “Twilight knows what she’s doing.”
“Can’t you stay on my side?”
“I’m sorry….” She giggled behind a hoof. “I’m still not over you being the Captain of the Gold Pricks.”
He simply grunted and turned back to the ship’s captain. “Are they gaining on us?”
“Nay.” The other looked through his spyglass again. “We’re losing them quite fast.”
“So… False alarm?” Pinkie wondered.
“Nay lass. They’re onto us.” The Captain looked worried.
“But… If we’re faster…” Pinkie insisted, letting one ear fall to the side of her head.
“They’re hounding us, Pinkie.” Shinning propped his legs on the railing, staring at the pursuing ship. “They’re likely coordinating with ships from other detachments and are likely to not leave us in peace.”
“Hum…” Fluttershy stared at the ship and then at the ponies with her, and then back again. “They’re not going to fire shipboard weapons at us, are they?”
“Nah…” Shining shook his head. “I don’t think so. And if they do, I can protect the ship with a shield spell, and so can Cadance. We should be fine for now.”
Twilight also kept staring at the pursuing ship and rubbed her chin. “I want a meeting so we can discuss how to best deal with this. As soon as we’re done with breakfast.”
The others agreed.
***
It was too damn early; she had slept way too little and she regretted messing with Chocolate Velvet the last night. Not only Celestia had defeated her, without even trying, but she felt bad she caught herself trying to ‘do wrong’. And worse, Celestia had trusted her while implying that she knew Chrysalis was up to no good. Again. Damnit!
Fortunately, Luna was there to help her alleviate her frustration. Luna seemed to understand her.
She also regretted, almost as much, tasting that stupid drink the crystal ponies made for Luna. But it was all worth it. At least until the present moment when she wasn’t sure if her headache came from the hangover or if it came from the present situation.
She sat at a table almost dozing off next to her best eggmaiden and two of her soldier changelings. Also, in front of her was one of her Praetorians; the one whom she’d unfortunately named Limpy. The queen had to admit that her regard for Shimi, her eggmaiden, had raised even higher because her patience remained unwavering while her own plummeted faster than an enemy of the Five Herds into one of the Manehattian rivers. And she was his mother. Well technically she was mother to the whole Swarm but that was beside the point.
The shiny silvery changeling sighed. “One more time. What is your name?”
“Limpy.” The big, scary, naturally armored and magically mighty formidable, biologically tuned killing machine that was the Changeling Praetorian said with his accent Chrysalis had no idea where it had come from.
“No. We want you to understand that your name is not Limpy anymore.” The patient Shimi said. “Your name is now… Uh…”
She looked at Chrysalis. “What was his new name again?”
Chrysalis rose her head from her hoof and thought for a second. “It was… Hum… Steve… There.”
“Your majesty you can’t call a changeling ‘Steve’.” One of her soldiers frowned.
“I just did.”
The eggmaiden sighed at the queen’s dismissal but it didn’t bother her that much because she knew it was futile and she was stuck with her queen no matter what. “Very well. Your name is now ‘Steve’. Understand?”
‘Steve’ nodded positively and ‘hum-hummed’ so. The changeling doctor then smiled and asked him again. “So, what is your name?”
“Limpy.” His certainty was enviable.
Chrysalis’ head found the shiny crystal table with a bang. Her horn hit the table and sent a small shock from its root, but she didn’t care. She had come to a point she just couldn’t feel physical pain anymore. The doctor simply sighed. “I’ve told your majesty… It’s been imprinted. We can’t just change a changeling’s name like that.”
“We change literally everything about ourselves! I refuse to believe I can’t teach him a new name!” She then turned to her formidable soldier. “Why don’t you understand that I want to give you a new name!? ‘Limpy’ is a disagreeable name and I want you to have a beautiful name. Perhaps an intimidating name since you are one of my great elite soldiers.”
He frowned. “Mother! You would never give me a disagreeable name!”
The queen inhaled and exhaled ostensibly. “I am sorry, but I did give you one. I have a terrible sense of humor but now I am trying to change your name! Princess Luna said that I should, and she is right. I am trying to be a better ruler and mother, so I need you to understand that ‘Limpy’ is an ugly name.”
“Don’t you worry mother!” He frowned full of determination. “You can test me all you need. I won’t fail.”
“I… What? Testing you?! What in Tartarus are you talking about?”
“He’s rationalizing it. He’s convinced you’re testing him… Somehow…” Shimi said unsurprised. Damned if she knew how their heads worked.
“Unbelievable!” The queen growled. “I am not testing you! I am giving you a command!”
“But all names are pretty.” He complained holding his hooves to the table in distress.
“What?” She craned her head in confusion. “Who taught you that?”
“It’s in Princess Twilight’s book!”
“What?” The queen asked again.
His horn shone with green light and a book materialized in his telekinetic aura. It was a beautifully crafted leather-bound book with a velvety red cover and golden letters that read ‘All Foals Are Beautiful’.
“What the…” She snatched the book from his grasp and opened it, then started flickering through and her scowl got deeper and deeper the further she went. “This is a book for foalings! It is meant to prevent little abominations like that pink filly in Ponyville from realizing that her mother is worse than I am and commit suicide or something! Not to mention you are not a child! You are mommy’s big killing machine!”
“But I don’t like this new name!” He frowned like a child about to throw a temper tantrum. “You named me Limpy and I’m bloody proud of it!”
The queen scowled again and held up the book for him to see and spoke in her angry voice. “Whose head do I need to put on my mantlepiece for this?”
There was a bit of a silence among the changelings in the room and Chrysalis felt compelled to start executing changelings at random until she got an answer but that probably wouldn’t go very well with Celestia and one of the two soldiers did tell her eventually.
“King Thorax authorized a bunch of reading materials my queen.” The one on the left said. “It probably was one of Princess Twilight’s suggested books… You know… With the friendship crap and all that.”
The Queen stared at the damn book and sighed, next holding her hooves to her face in exasperation and then she frowned while she skimmed through the book some more. Maybe she could find something in there that would allow her to make Celestia let her kill Thorax and then stuff his body and display it next to one of her specimens in her private quarters. But that wouldn’t be very likely, and she might eventually miss him.
“Hum… What now your majesty?” Shimi’s ears flopped.
“I’m going to tell Luna to read Twilight’s book! Problem solved! All names are pretty now, thus saith Princess Twilight Sparkle!” She said with a grin and gave her soldier back his book. “There you go Limpy! Now I need you to get Bossy for me.”
A white flash manifested on the other side of the table and interrupted her. Discord appeared before them holding his finger up about to say something.
“No.” The queen said.
That surprised him. “No what?”
“Whatever you’re going to say the answer is ‘no’. I am tired Discord. Too tired for you. I drank too much and I spent almost the whole night awake with Luna and now my head hurts.”
“Too much information Chrysalis.” He crossed his arms. “Anyways I need your help with something. It’s more important than whatever you might be doing.”
“Why are you bothering me?!” Her face turned to a pained expression. “Go bother Celestia.”
“Celestia is the problem. I need you to-“
“No.” She refused to listen.
He snapped his fingers and a rope tied itself around her muzzle then he ignored her malevolent stare. “I need you to help Twilight. She needs to talk to an important pony in Manehattan and Celestia is going to be on the way. So, you can start by distracting Celestia.”
Her eyes, in a very uninterested way, still said ‘no’. He sighed. “You can do ‘drink too much and spend the whole night awake’ with her too…”
Her eyes opened suddenly, and she tried to speak through her tied muzzle but all she managed was a series of unintelligible mumbles. “Good. See you later.”
“Wait!” She finally yanked the rope from her muzzle and raised a hoof. “What is happening?”
“You know. They’ve talked to you. I’m going to help Twilight and Cadance figure out that whole mess. By keeping Celestia busy and out of their way.”
“About Emperor Grigor? About that whole mess of erased history? Are you mad?” She scowled fiercely again. “They are going to ruin everything if they give the Lion something he can use against The Sisters! That jerk already has too much legitimacy and I don’t want him spoiling my view from the House of Majesty in the Senate!”
Then her headache returned with a vengeance and she put a leg over her head. “Ow… Wait… Ouch… Damn.”
“Do you need a minute Chrysalis? Really, I can wait.” He grinned quietly and she grunted and stared at him as though she could kill him with her eyes. “I am confused, however. I thought you hated Celestia, Luna and Starlight Glimmer with a passion. Also, Twilight. And…”
“Shut up!” She yelled as loud as her headache would allow and everyone made silence. “They’re… Helping me now. Besides, I don’t think that Celestia is going away anytime soon.”
“Aaaw… Did you make some new friends when I wasn’t looking?” He pulled at her cheek with his lion’s paw and she batted it away with a hoof.
“Enough! What is it that you want you infernal…” She simply grunted in anger.
“I told you. You need to distract Celestia from them.”
“Why would I do this?” She grunted again. “I want to be on good terms with The Sisters and couldn’t care less if Twilight and Cadance are sad over this waste of time.”
Celestia was nice to her. So was Luna. Chrysalis wished to be in good terms with them and not only because it was ultimately beneficial to her but because Celestia did have this loony bin of a world under control and she wanted Chrysalis’ changelings to be well.
Her eyes drifted to Limpy while he watched over the draconequus like a guard dog about to jump and rip his throat out at the smallest hint from her. Not that he actually could do that, anyways. There was also Shimi with her concerned expression and then at the couple of her soldiers in the room, both bored and uninterested.
If the Lion managed to oust the Sisters thanks to Twilight and Cadance being insufferable idiots, her changelings would again be in danger. War? That would be the least of her worries. The Sisters are the thing keeping the world from turning against her children and The Lion wouldn’t think twice before annihilating them and claiming to have cleansed the world of the threat they posed. That is if he could fight Chrysalis… But the point is that the Swarm couldn’t fight the whole world.
Although this weird griffon magic that resurfaced recently had an unknown quality to it and that got her worried too.
Regardless, Celestia would have her children thrive and live happily. Being respected. Being loved. Being themselves. In the last months for the first time since the birth of their race the changelings could go wherever they pleased without disguising themselves. It was because of Celestia’s student and her own student. It was because of Celestia’s way worked in some weird way Chrysalis didn’t understand yet. Ponies respected her and trusted her that she knew what she was doing. The last thing the whole damn world needed was The Sister’s legitimacy being put in distrust.
The Lion was dangerous. More dangerous than Tirek or the Storm King or King Sombra ever were… Chrysalis knew the kind. He didn’t want power. He didn’t want victory. He wanted to subjugate to destroy and claim that he did it. Just like that prick from the past that Twilight and Cadance insisted on messing with. Not to mention that she could seduce and manipulate her way with those, but The Lion was… Fanatical. Immune to the luxuries she could provide or to common sense.
It hurt her to admit, but she was afraid of him.
Memories of centuries ago, of Celestia systematically destroying the ruling families came back with a shudder. The Lion was dangerous, absolutely, but so was Celestia when she was angry. She didn’t want to think of what she could do to him, or her, if they managed to break her serenity. The difference was that she was on her side and wanted everyone to play nice with each other.
Then it hit her. And it hit her so hard she covered her eyes with her hooves and sighed profoundly. “For fuck’s sake. I’m becoming my mother.”
“Actually, Farfalla was much more beautiful than you are… With that golden mane and eyes of hers. She also had a much nicer temper.” Discord mentioned casually. “But if you are concerned about the Lion you should know that he is under control.”
She didn’t have the energy to be angry at him or at her soldiers’ inane giggling, but she did think that Limpy’s murderous glare at Discord was cute.
She shook her head and sighed in defeat. “Discord I’m in enough trouble as it is and if I start getting in Celestia’s way she is bound to lose her patience with me. More importantly The Lion is not going to help me, and he is bound to gain leverage with the fruits of Cadance and Twilight’s research. Whatever they find there will uncover this mess about Celestia’s agreement with the griffons that rewrote History. This whole quest of theirs is a problem especially now. Especially for me.”
Not that she expected Discord to understand a smidgeon of how politics worked in the Equestrian Confederacy.
“Oh, come now, Chrysalis. I know you are still hiding something from Celestia. It is your nature to lie just as it is mine to cause trouble.” He smiled smugly. “Not to mention that you are wrong: I don’t know what the problem was, but Celestia fixed it and that was much bigger and older than the griffon’s case of egomania. Probably as old as ponies themselves.”
“How does that help?” The queen stared inquisitively. “And how are the two things connected?”
“It was a chain of events Chrysalis. Things started going wrong at the same time Grigor started his murderous spree, yes. But that was a repercussion of whatever happened in the past. It was a coincidence, or not, that Celestia started unifying Equestria at the rough same time the griffons were happy to rid themselves of Grigor and they helped each other. They got rid of their dark evil emperor and all the mess he created, and Celestia hid whatever caused to the problem to begin with.”
She had thought of separate events… It had never occurred to her that the whole mess was connected, one long age-spanning chain of events. Suddenly things clicked in place and she craned her neck thoughtfully. “Ah. Wait. The mess you’ve created was part of something bigger.”
“No Chrysalis. That is the thing: some ponies were evil, but they were not evil just then. Whatever happened that summoned the windigos happened. It was an ancient problem. Something they kept doing that corrupted Harmony over and over until Celestia put it to rest and healed the world. It might have had something to do with the griffons and their big bad emperor. Or not… Doesn’t matter. The important thing is that Celestia hid whatever it was, and that seems to have solved the problem.”
She didn’t seem to react to it. He thought it curious but waited until she finally scowled at him. “Discord what actually happened? Because I’m having trouble understanding how exposing this thing again won’t simply make it worse, if Celestia saw fit to hide it.”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. Celestia is the only one that does. But ponies changed.” He offered her a lion’s paw. “Twilight’s convinced me that they are ready to understand and face whatever the problem was. And I am guessing Twilight, together with Cadance, can figure it out. With some help. That is why they must get to Manehattan and find a pony called Naminé. She is the key, otherwise all they will have is evidence that Celestia did hide something and THAT would help the Lion.”
“Celestia disagrees either way.” The Queen argued.
“Well, Celestia is wrong!” He put his hands on his hips. “She does that from time to time. Ponies have changed and in no small part due to her. I have! It’s about time she realized that too.”
Chrysalis wished she could say that she changed too but kept that tidbit inside her head.
“Then why didn’t you send them immediately to that pony?” She cried, instead and raised her hooves frustratingly, but he only rolled his eyes.
“Because I don’t know where she is neither how she looks now. Manehattan is a big city. She is hiding from Celestia and will only come out when she realizes that she can help the two princesses.”
“What is her deal?” She was becoming suspicious. “Why would she come out of hiding because Twilight and Cadance want it?”
“How should I know? Some ponies are so crazy they make me feel normal!” While she was suspicious, he was becoming impatient. There was much to do. “I only know that piece of work because she pestered me about reading my soul memories or whatever. Then she vanished again when she gave up.”
She took a few seconds processing what Discord had said and finally admitted defeat. She didn’t like it. She still thought that this whole mess would best serve everyone involved if it remained buried. But Discord wasn’t the type to commit stupid mistakes. He thought that this would be beneficial… She might as well cooperate and earn some good girl points after it’s all said and done. She also didn’t like the idea of Celestia being around until she figured a way to deal with her Praetorians, but It occurred to her that she managed to dig her own grave deeper and deeper the more she tried to fix this situation by herself. Maybe swallowing her pride and allowing Celestia to help would fix this whole mess.
No need to disclose any of that to Discord, though. “Luna wants me to play evil queen so that Celestia and Chocolate can come here and ‘save’ her. I think I can stage an idiotic mock battle and… Well… Some entertainment. I also have a seven-headed hydra of a problem for her to fix… But that won’t keep her here for long enough, and she’s bound to leave anyway if she figures she needs to deal with Twilight and Cadance.”
“Ah don’t worry. Celestia’s also gotten herself into a whole… What do you call it when ponies that work for the Princess steal her money?”
“Stupidity.” She deadpanned. It’s how she would call it if her changelings were stealing Hive resources from her. “Or death wish.”
“No that is what we call changeling queens that try to be funny with The Lord of Chaos.”
She rolled her eyes. “Embezzlement. Why in Equestria would they do that? A pony could live their entire life without working and get away with it.”
He shrugged. “Beats me if I know. Because they like expensive things, I suppose. Not even the world almost ending can make certain ponies wise up. Anyway… She’s got one such scheme to crack. The point is that she’ll come eventually, and things are piling up on her plate. I may come up with something more, but you need to keep Luna busy too.”
The queen laughed. “Easy. Luna is trying to shirk her duties at the Senate. How do you know that Celestia will come, though?”
“Ah she will. Dear little Luna wants it. Celestia’s spoiled her since their parents died and Luna is an eternal teenager. The thing is…” He pulled at his beard. “Twilight will take time to get to Manehattan so you should stall and then stick to Celestia and Luna. And when they do catch up to Twilight, likely in Manehattan, you can help our young princesses. Hopefully after they’ve already talked to Naminé.”
She raised a hoof, dismissively. “If it’s that important that she meets this Naminé I can send my infiltrators to Manehattan to find her and facilitate their meeting. Our magic isn’t as useful as it once was, but we should be able to manage it. With some luck, they can manage a meeting without Celestia looming over them.”
“Good, good. Meanwhile I’ll make sure that Celestia can’t reach them or that they have a fighting chance.” He crossed his arms. “Anyway… Once The Lion hears of this, he might want to help Twilight and Candance… But I would prefer not to get him involved.”
“Can’t you do us all a favor and kill the Lion already since Celestia is not willing?” She could hope.
“Of course not! That is wrong!” He gasped and she kept staring in silent frustration over the context of this whole multi-age mess. “Well, I’ll see you later Chrissy. Bye.”
With that he vanished into a flash. The queen was silent and her changelings on the room waited for something. A command. A question. Anything. A few seconds passed before Shimi broke the silence. “Your majesty… Do we want to get involved?”
“Discord likes Twilight and her friends.” She said quietly. “I don’t think that he would try to harm them… And by association he wouldn’t do so to us by getting us to help. He likes Celestia… Whatever outcome he expects is good for her and then for us.”
The small silvery changeling blinked twice at the queen. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Chrysalis looked for a good few seconds at her Praetorian with the stupid name she gave him without thinking. “We already are Shimi. It hadn’t occurred to me but whatever happened to Celestia and Luna that damaged their souls or whatever the hay happened probably came from this mess. Everything is connected. In fact, our own creation might be implicated…”
One of her soldiers made an ominous sound and the other giggled like an idiot. Chrysalis figured she was getting too soft.
“Oh…” The small changeling hoofed uncomfortably at the table. “What do we do then?”
Before answering the queen magicked into existence a piece of parchment, a pen and an inkwell. “I’m going to write a letter to Celestia…. I want to draw her in and if she is too busy, she’ll send Chocolate Velvet and a couple of knights along with her Royal Guards. That should help. I guess…”
“At least I get to play evil monster prisoner in the Bordello of Candy.” She gave a creepy smile, but it became sarcastic. “Hopefully Chocolate Velvet isn’t too attached to some weird vow of chastity or some stupid thing knights do… If I’m lucky Celestia will be distracted long enough that I can figure out how to tell her about the Praetorians.”
Chrysalis kept a small frown, wondering how she could get Celestia’s stallion to be interested in her after last night, but her charms never failed her. There was silence in the room other than the soft and continuous chime of the Queen’s magical telekinesis and the scratching of the feather on the paper. But she stopped and rose her eyes to her eggmaiden who stared directly at her in that judging way that only she could direct at others in the Swarm.
“What?” She asked in her characteristic unfriendly tone.
“Don’t you think King Thorax feels bad when you do this sort of thing?” She accused with words and stare over her crossed legs and angry expression. “It’s bad for your relationship and therefore it’s bad for the Swarm.”
“He can get laid with anyone he wants too!” She defended herself more than argued back but failed to convince Shimi, her soldiers, or even herself. She would likely geld him if she ever caught him staring the wrong way at another thing. Alive or not.
“Anyways he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to marrying me.” She said nonchalantly and raising her muzzle. One of her soldiers said something, chuckling and elbowing the other who barely tried to hold his laughter. “Hey! He’s your king! Show some respect!”
She growled at the two and they recoiled and silenced immediately. Then she noticed the eggmaiden staring at her with a smug grin of superiority. “Fine! I’ll talk to him or something. Next thing my eggmaidens are going to start giving me orders!”
***
The private room in Twilight’s airship had a decently sized table meant for meetings between the airship’s owner and its captain or other relevant ponies. Since Twilight and her friends were used to sleeping in the crowded place, they were fine with the meeting over the map table anyway. Though Applejack was getting aggravated at Rainbow’s constant shuffling of her wings by her side. She understood that forcing Rainbow Dash to stand still, pay attention, and keep quiet for more than a few minutes could be considered a form of torture but she was trying to get her job done! Besides, Flurry Heart behaved better, for pony’s sake!
Not that her pegasus friend understood any of that when she stared at her and then back at her notes scribbled on a piece of paper. “As I was saying, we checked the pantry and we do have enough food for everypony… And dragon… However, we do not have enough for a single day past the shores. And considering we need to cross the ocean to get to Griffonia, we’re in trouble.”
Twilight grunted with her hoof on her forehead. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to stop… But I guess that’s just not possible. Can we sneak into a town? Get what we need and leave?”
“Not likely…” Her brother shook his head. “They are chasing us. That would be impossible.”
He grunted in frustration and frowned. “As if they’d need that to track us… We’re carrying the Elements of Harmony, two alicorns, a bunch of enchanted barding and weapons, and the airship has two giant mana batteries. No way we can sneak this thing near anywhere. An academy cadet unicorn could sense us without even trying. Not to mention we’ll need a lot of stuff. We can’t bring it to the middle of nowhere without drawing attention even if we could hide the ship.”
Flurry Heart protested from behind her mother's head and he amended while Cadance looked up and giggled. “Right… There alicorns.”
“Aye. Ship’s made for speed princess. Not for sneakin’.” The captain agreed. “We can keep running, but we’ll eventually have to stop.”
“Okay… Could be worse. Ideas?” She sighed.
“Uh… Actually, it is worse Twily…” Shining grimaced next to her and Cadance. “Princess Celestia likely has ordered the deployment of the local militias of every city, town and village, not to mention forts and detached garrisons all the way from Canterlot to Manehatan, and probably in Griffonia too. Luckily not many of them are equipped with modern airships because they’ve been moved to the griffon lands, but knowing precisely where we are, they can plot our course and intercept us. If we’re lucky we can avoid most of them because the ship is so fast, but they’ll certainly keep airships chasing us all the time and try to ambush us.”
“So, is there some good news for us?” Glimmer growled next to Twilight who stared intently at the map.
“Well yes.” Shining stared sarcastically. “We can hope that Princesses Celestia and Luna won’t be throwing strategic level spells at us.”
Cadance noticed, but kept to herself, that the general mood wasn’t very nice in the room. This room sure could use some love.
“So…” Twilight spoke again. “We should avoid all cities and keep to our best possible speed… We’ll need supplies… We may be forced to fight them.”
Rarity hummed also staring down the map. “And what if we abandoned the airship? Leave it somewhere near Manehattan and they take another direction?”
“No way!” Rainbow flared her wings hitting both Applejack and Fluttershy but never took notice. “We can’t just abandon them!”
“Rainbow is right Rarity.” Twilight shook her head slightly. “We don’t know what could happen to them.”
“If that is what you need Princess…” White Leaf said, full of resolution. “We’ll do it.”
The alicorn simply shook her head again. “No. I can’t be sure you won’t be mistreated.”
“Not to mention…” Shining Armor continued for Twilight. “Airships would be docked, and teleporters locked down as soon as they saw us approaching any major town. This alone shoots down most plans we can come up with.”
“We’re not getting anywhere.” Twilight blurted out frustrated. “Come on everypony! We need ideas!”
“Why don’t we fight Princess Celestia head on?” Applejack offered and attracted bulging eyes all over to her.
“Because that is likely to hurt a lot and turn us into small piles of ash when Princess Celestia uses the sun’s fire on us, or something?” Spike rose an eyebrow at the suggestion.
“Actually, Princess Celestia’s magic doesn’t throw ‘sun fire’ around. Elemental magic is easier than that. It just so happens that her magic is Plasma, Life, and Harmony oriented. Therefore, her magical elements are a combination of Fire, Lightning, Magnetism, Light, Life and Harmony.” Twilight said not very confident. “And she’s been rated to output three point eighty-six times ten to the power of twelve Hornpower. It wouldn’t hurt and wouldn’t turn you into a pile of ash. You would feel nothing at all, and it would disintegrate you and then damage the fabric of reality for generations to come.”
She paused for a second with a hoof on her chin. “Though not all that may be available for her to practically pour into a spell… There are limitations on how much magical energy can fit in a place at any one time, in a single formula.”
Twilight shrugged. “In practical terms her Hornpower output is ‘what the hay’ and means that she finds it really easy to cast spells other ponies might struggle with and that she can make spells a lot more powerful by pouring more magical energy than needed into them. Which is one of the reasons the Senate has proposed legislation that prohibits Princesses Celestia and Luna from participating in warfare spellcasting.”
She then put her hooves on her face in frustration. “And is this why every little tyrant wannabe, like The Lion hates the Princesses. In an emergency the Senate will grant the princesses special powers and they can do whatever they deem necessary, such as when Nightmare Moon, Tirek or Discord appeared. Not that Princess Celestia doesn’t already do whatever she wants, because everypony loves and trusts her so much she can get away with freeing Discord out of the blue and annexing the Changeling Swarm like it’s up for grabs! And I was forgetting that working together with Luna, they both could probably end existence as we know it! Ugh! This is what we’re going against!”
She concluded with a frustrated and stifled scream against her hooves and ponies stared at each other. Starlight stared at the others while Twilight recomposed herself. “What she means is that the Princess doesn’t have to overdo her spells. She can cast a low-energy spell just the same as a fast runner can simply walk.”
She paused. “And also, that she could return us to our base components if she wanted.”
Non-magical savvy ponies made silence for a while, considering what Starlight and Twilight explained. Until Pinkie finally spoke to her. “What are your kinds of magic Twilight?”
Starlight answered while Twilight stared at the map again. “Alicorns are attuned to all kinds of magic Pinkie. It’s like Destiny’s given them a ‘cheat’ so that they can do whatever they need to deal with threats to Equestria.”
Then she continued. “But being ‘oriented’ means that they are that much more powerful when casting spells of their elemental orientation. Pegasi are Air and Water ‘focused’, which functionally also gives them the Ice element and means that they can access those elements when using their magic, but not others. Earth ponies are Life and Earth focused and unicorns are Arcane focused which lets us use things like telekinesis and mimic all kinds of elemental spells. But some individuals are also oriented into other elements like Rarity that has Earth oriented magic too. That said, Princess Luna has Harmony, Gravity, Mind, and Ice orientation in her magic. Twilight is Harmony oriented while Princess Cadance is Love oriented.”
“Actually…” Twilight corrected her still staring at the map over her hooves. “Cadance’s magic is Harmony and Life oriented which is why she can do healing magic really well and her love magic is a personal variation of her Life orientation. But there is some weird thing going on in the Crystal Empire that has started to give her Earth magic in the form of crystal manipulation and some Ice magic. These things are fluid and ponies can internalize a kind of magic like the Crystal Ponies that moved to the north and became ‘crystal-y’ over time. Alicorns seem to incorporate magic like that much faster.”
“And how much Hornpower can you output Twilight?” The pink pony was still curious.
“Pinkie! You wouldn’t ask these things of a unicorn!” Rarity frowned at her.
“But Twilight is an alicorn!” She complained but the others returned to the conversation that was more productive.
“Well what I meant…” Applejack insisted. “It that Princess Celestia is not going to use all her power to stop us. Not to mention that her position is based on trust. Even if she’s done something wrong, she’s not going crazy because that would erode the trust the peoples have on The Sisters.”
“Which is the reason we are in this situation. Applejack.” Twilight looked at her. “If Princess Celestia has done something bad in the past, it could erode her position now.”
“And…” Applejack insisted again. “That is why she won’t do anything too harsh to us! Even if you’re right about her being evil. Or something.”
“She doesn’t have to.” Shining put a hoof on the table. “She’d wipe the floor with us and that is if we managed to avoid the Royal Guard at all. She doesn’t need high level spells for that.”
“Not to mention that she could spin things her way to the Senate, anyways.” Cadance added.
“Is it just me or are we screwed either way?” Rainbow deflated a little.
“We might as well give up!” Twilight sighed her frustration out. “There has to be a way to deal with whole mess!”
Her brother spoke again. “If we didn’t need supplies, we could come up with a plan but… We can’t just grab things somewhere and drag them to the ship somewhere safe. We’ll need a working dock with a crew and access to supplies. Only places we can get that, Manehattan and Fillydelphia, are also the places we’re likely to get the most resistance. Well there is also Baltimare but the point of going to Manehattan is that we need to see this Naminé and is the closest point in Central Equestria to the Griffon Lands.”
“Ugh!” Twilight grunted and stared up in barely contained frustration. “We could take days trying to find a pony we don’t know in Equestria’s largest city! This will never work!”
“Shining…” Rarity called with that voice she uses when she has a magnificent idea. “How big a dock do we actually need?”
“Not that big?” The unicorn wondered.
“Aye. She needs only the hooves and carts to bring the supplies to a berth with a cargo ramp.” The Captain added.
“Well…” Rarity smiled mysteriously. “Manehattan has more than one port dedicated to cargo.”
Ponies stared at her and Shining narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“Manehattan grew so fast and so large that its city sponsored port simply cannot keep up with all the demand. So, private individuals built another port in the south part of the city.” She said with a radiant smile. “It is a small port that has significantly less protocols and likely breaks quite a few laws, but it is functional and should make our task much easier. Not to mention that I personally know the manager.”
“Sounds like the sort of place they’d steal the airship rather than resupply’er, lass…” The Captain wasn’t convinced.
“Better than the sort of place they’d lock down the airship and arrest the crew.” Shinning grinned.
“Can they be trusted Rarity?” Twilight asked hopefully.
“Why they can be trusted enough. I bought several rolls of fabric through them for the store.”
“Great… Twilight bought her airship with my taxes and Rarity just admitted to smuggling goods into Manehattan.” Applejack covered her face with her hat.
“Applejack, please.” Rarity used her passive-aggressive patient voice. “The movement of goods is regulated. The port’s regulations are what is lax.”
“None of that matters. They’ll still see us coming.” Starlight reminded the others. “This thing is like a giant magic beacon.”
“Well if we can dock the ship without being seen they’ll know we’re in Manehattan but will still have to find us if we find a way to mask the ship's presence. And the first place they’re likely to search is the main port.” Shining grinned too. “With some luck we might be able to keep the ship hidden for long enough and then, when we’re ready we can just blast out of there seaward. It’s not foolproof but it could work.”
“We come in at night. Fly slowly. Maybe let the ship lose mana to the atmosphere so that her batteries aren’t so full. Engines at low emissions.” The Captain nodded. “Might be it will work. We’ll have to shake any pursuers before we approach the city, so they don’t see where we aground her, but it’s doable.”
“Cadance and I can cast a magic dampening spell on the ship. She’ll need to power down though.” Twilight and Cadance smiled at each other.
“Uuh… Princesses…” Applejack seemed confused as did some of the present ponies. “I mean no offense to the ponies that actually understand magic but… Using magic to hide magic?”
“Oh. It’s very possible!” Cadance giggled. “It’s how counter spells work!”
“And this being artificial magic it’s even easier. It just takes a lot of energy.” Twilight grinned next to her. “Cadance here should be able to do it with some effort.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Rainbow announced excitedly.
“They’ll track me and Twilight, even without our regalias or barding and weapons.” Cadance complained but then let go. “I don’t think this is going to work that well but at least we’ll be able to defend ourselves a little easier.”
“At least we’ll have a chance.” Twilight agreed with her. “I think it’s our best shot so that’s what we’ll do.”
***
Lord Protector Grape Donut left his home early accompanied by his wife. He meant to be at his militia’s headquarters before his ponies so that he could hear ahead of them whatever the verdict was. Princess Celestia’s ponies and herself were done studying all the records he kept in his archive. Finances, operations, militiaponies and their interactions with the citizens of Ponyville, all communication between his HQ, Canterlot County’s administration and Ponyville’s Mayor’s Office.
Lots of ponies were involved not only himself and his subordinates but many ponies that worked for Mayor Mare and ponies above her in the administration hierarchy all the way to the Royal House. This thing was intimidating.
The most impressive part of it was that Princess Celestia just so much ‘snapped her fingers’ -It was a griffon expression he thought was really cool- and the entire system seemed to grind to a halt and ponies began procuring the necessary records for the audition. Mind-blowing that in little less than a couple of days they were ready to present the results. At least as far as the culpability related to Ponyville’s administration and his militia. Well, Ponyville is a small town and his militia hasn’t been doing much anyway.
Almost as though she was reading his thoughts, Semolina Pudding’s voice next to him drew his attention. “Grape, do you think we’re in trouble?”
It hadn’t occurred to him sooner, but he could be in trouble.
“I don’t know.” He admitted. “I haven’t done anything, but I think that someone way above us may have set us up to take the fall if their scheme was found. Not to mention… I was completely incompetent as your boss.”
“I’m scared, Grape.” She kept her head low as they walked. “I wasn’t really a role model either. The blame is on all of us.”
Walking towards their headquarters he felt a sense of dread creeping up his spine and turning his stomach. He remembered well enough all the promises he had made to himself about turning in his resignations and literally ending his life… But that was before he saw that half of the town took his side against the Princess of Friendship and her sister-in-law, another Princess, and their heroes. It was exhilarating!
“I can’t believe it…” He blurted out, frustrated and incredulous. “Our real chance at doing something right and we blew it. It was a mission from The Mare herself.”
They stopped for a second while he rubbed his forehead and sighed. His mate touched him tenderly in his shoulder. “Let’s go, Grape… We’re in this together.”
It also had occurred to him that not only Semolina wasn’t nagging him the whole time, but she also talked to him like an actual pony. She clearly was as worried and sorry as he was. That was good. Probably?
She simply walked quietly to his side after that and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts too. He decided against bothering her.
They entered the market and they were met with an uncomfortable silence. He saw both dejection and sympathy in the faces around them and nopony bothered them on the way. It only added to the somber tone of his thoughts.
“Lord Protector.” He turned to the side; someone had called him. It was the old Granny Smith the Apple Family’s old matriarch holding out an apple to him.
“Ma’am.” He greeted her respectfully while he grabbed the apple. Next to her was Applejack’s older brother, Big Macintosh. What an absolute unit of a pony that guy was. He wished he could have him in his militia instead of their buff pony.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into my Applejack but I can assure you that she is a good pony.” The old mare said with a sad expression. “But I know for sure that she believes what she is doing is right. I just want you to know that we’re sorry for that whole mess.”
“Eeyup.” The younger Apple agreed.
“Thank you, ma’am. We appreciate it.” Semolina said next to him with a surprisingly pleasant smile.
“Ponies ought to know better than to question The Princess! If it weren’t for her this here town wouldn’t exist, you know! Suppose the other princesses are confused. Young’uns do that every now and then, you know.”
“Ponies just don’t always agree ma’am.” He smiled softly. “Nice talking to you.”
The old mare waved goodbye while they walked away. “Good luck!”
Walking away he offered Semolina the apple without really thinking about it. She took it and had a light red tint in her cheeks. But he didn’t see it, too worried about their future. After that they walked in silence for a few seconds while they took note of just how many ponies didn’t stare at them and the silence their presence brought to the market. The town seemed divided because the princesses had a disagreement. Princess Celestia seemed worried about that, alright. Maybe the whole affair could grow in proportion and then all Equestria would be split between the two pairs of princesses. What a mess that would be, if that was the case.
Amid all that, it seemed like the town finally realized what those ponies in the militia were there for. They seemed to respect them; though they didn’t know if for siding with the right princess or for finally doing their jobs. Maybe ponies realized that they did their best. They hoped that the Princess' ponies would take that into consideration.
He sighed looking up. “We failed at our job Sem. It was important… The Princess must be furious and with this investigation she’s ordered… I think we might lose our job and our titles. I will be lucky if I don’t end up in a dungeon.”
She didn’t say anything and simply kept quiet for the remainder of their walk to the Ponyville Militia Headquarters and arriving it seemed the same it always was, a long house with some windows and nothing special about it.
They went past the entrance door and past the door to offices area. It had been taken by several ponies they had never seen. Mostly canterlotian unicorns wearing a fancy jacket or a tie, one or another wearing reading glasses. His militiaponies milled about trying not to interfere with their work and at the same time tried to glimpse some clue as to their fate. So much for being there first like the responsible leader he ought to be.
Mayor Mare was there too, and she quickly approached the pair.
“Grape Donut…” Her ears hang low on her head and her eyes showed deep concern, speaking as hushed as she could. “They found something bad in the paperwork back in my office. It seems they are going to accuse Meadow Flower with something!”
“But… She is such a nice pony!” He gasped as quietly as he could. “What did she do? What are they accusing her of?”
The mare shook her head half in panic already. “I don’t know! They wouldn’t say! They’re waiting for The Princess to arrive then their boss will talk to her in front of everypony. But it sounds bad and I’m afraid it will rebound on all of us!”
“But we didn’t do anything wrong! I mean… We were kind of incompetent… But…” His ears fell after his initial shock. “That is my fault! Not yours! Or Meadow’s!”
“Well it’s not only your fault…” Semolina mentioned sadly and wondered if it hadn’t simply become too easy for ponies all over to ignore the problem since the militia wasn’t necessarily important most of the time. “I suppose we all here have our share of the blame.”
Before they could continue the door to the Lord Protector’s office opened and a small beige unicorn came out of it with a well-kept caramel mane in a ponytail and wearing a blue suit. She did speak with authority though. “Lord Grape Donut. Kindly come inside. The Madam Justiciar needs to see you.”
He gasped so deeply it was more like he had inhaled. Deeply. Around him the ponies gasped.
A Justiciar! One of the ponies that Princess Celestia hoof-picked to preside investigations and administer punishment to corrupt government officers in her stead. Somehow, he had managed to get both the Princess and one of her justiciars angry about his militia!
Now he had to face one of the most dreaded nightmares of public officials in Equestria! He heard tales of very rich and powerful ponies losing everything! Dukes, Counts, Viceroys… And a king… Ponies, griffons and yaks… Their position, their money… Shunned by their rulers and the people they were supposed to serve, forced to live under bridges and forced to eat forage.
To be honest most of those stories must’ve been exaggerations since very few ponies could image Princess Celestia allowing such extremes. But he had failed her too! She would surely leave him at the Justiciar’s mercy! What could such a terrible monster do to poor little him? He should have been a better commander. A better administrator. A better husband! A better pony! And now he was going to Tartarus or something like that!
He imagined one of those tall and elegant unicorns with a long horn with all the power to end his life along with his career. His head hung low, but he would face his executioner with pride: he may have failed but he did the best he could in the end!
He didn’t linger and opened the door to pass it, closing it behind him. Then he found himself staring at a pleasantly looking white unicorn mare sitting at his desk. A delicate muzzle holding small reading spectacles in front of black-specked golden eyes. She wore the typical Justiciar red robes with golden chain and amulet of her office, with its hood down, letting show her frazzled pink mane.
Grape Donut simply stared at her instead of the big and scary monster he had imagined.
“Good morning Lord Grape Donut.” She said calm and educated, organizing papers over his desk and he immediately remembered how screwed up he was. “I’d like-“
Instead of listening to her as a normal pony would he dropped to the floor crying like a foal. “I know! I know! Shameful! I don’t deserve mercy! I messed up! I really messed up! It is all my fault too! But the others aren’t to blame! Please-”
“I was going to ask if it is alright if I ate one of these donuts…” She stared at him without letting his display affect her.
“Oh… Absolutely.” He blurted out looking up from the ball of pathetic crying pony he had become. “Make yourself comfortable.”
She grabbed one of the sweets in her telekinetic magic and inspected the sugar-coated confection. “The Princess had already decided how she was going to deal with your unit and none of you are to be prosecuted for misappropriation of Her Royal Highness’ assets. You’re in trouble alright but it’s none of my business after you were cleared out of stealing Her Highness’ money.”
He blinked a few times dumbfounded. “Why did you want to talk to me then?”
“Because something prompted Princess Celestia to order you ponies to arrest Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance along with their retinue. Prince Shining Armor… Captain of her Guard? The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Something big and weird is happening. And it seems like I should make it my business…” She bit the chocolate filled donut and munched at it. “Understand?”
He took a few seconds to process that. “Uh… All I can say is that the Princess believed that Princesses Twilight and Cadance were confused about something. I didn’t really question her orders.
His hoof uncomfortably found the back of his neck and he chuckled even more uncomfortably. “To be honest I was afraid of even trying to get involved.”
“I see… Did you learn of anything during the operation?”
“Princess Twilight did say that she had the right to investigate something. And that she was in an important mission. And also, the Prince Consort did say that Princesses did something wrong…”
The white unicorn hummed pensively and bit at the donut again. The other pony simply stared in confused silence. “Hmmm. We’re done here. I need to talk to Celestia now.”
With that she finished her donut and jumped over the desk. He stepped out of her way and then followed her outside to the offices area. The Princess had just arrived with her knight in white silks and Royal Guard golden barding. The whole room fell silent as a graveyard.
“Golden Rule?” The princess blinked twice. “What are you doing here? I didn’t call for a justiciar.”
“Well a good one has a nose for trouble princess.” The unicorn grinned way too smugly and pointed at her chocolate dirty muzzle.
“Your muzzle is dirty…” The princess said mildly amused and the other simply licked it in, still staring at the Princess in such an intense way that left Celestia confused. “Hum… Well, your report?”
“Absolutely!” The unicorn became serious and magicked a paper folder to the princess who proceeded to read it while the unicorn talked. “We did find evidence of embezzlement. Money that should be getting here wasn’t and the reason that nopony noticed is that records were adulterated in the Mayor’s Office. Specifically, to hide it. A pony working for the Mayor’s Office by the name of Meadow Flower oversaw the transfer of resources to the local militia. In the militia’s side though, there was no record whatsoever. I just don’t understand why is it that the responsible for the resources within the militia didn’t suspect something was wrong.”
The princess sighed and closed the folder. “I don’t think he was paying a lot of attention. It seems too obvious too. Take me to Miss Meadow Flower. please.”
The unicorn nodded and both walked to the group of ponies that was Grape Donut, his wife, the mayor, and the mare that called Grape to the office. Chocolate Velvet walked next to the two mares and remained quiet, simply watching while the ponies stared dejectedly at each other and then at the princess and her Justiciar.
“I would like to speak to Miss Meadow Flower. Extra-officially, please.” Celestia stared down at the ponies and one of them, a soft beige and tan maned earth pony raised her trembling hoof. She seemed terrified and Chocolate Velvet wondered if it even was a good idea for the Princess to talk to her. He doubted she would be able to draw anything from her right then.
“It’s me… Princess.” The poor thing trembled and seemed as fragile as the smiley daisy in her cutie mark.
“Do you understand the accusations that are being made against you?” The small pony nodded ‘yes’. “Is there anything you would like to tell me?”
The pony simply looked down and shook her head softly. Chocolate expected the princess to return the folder to her Justiciar and let her do her job. Instead Celestia looked at the folder again and then back at the pony. “Miss Meadow Flower, Miss Golden Rule has reviewed the record of your bank accounts and you don’t seem to be accumulating wealth. In my many generations of lifetime I have never seen a pony steal from the government and then throw that money away. You adulterated the records on behalf of somepony else, not for yourself.”
Meadow looked away and spoke softly. “They’ll hurt my family Princess.”
“No. They won’t.” Celestia lowered herself to stare at the little mare. “Whoever they are I can protect you and your family. But I cannot do it if I don’t understand the situation. I must maintain a relationship of trust with all institutions that form our government, and if I start protecting ponies that don’t deserve protection, that trust will erode away. Please understand that you will be prosecuted for participating. The judge may or may not consider that you did not accumulate wealth as a sign that you were likely coerced into this. If you cooperate and disclose to the investigators all the details of the situation, I will grant you lenience and protection to your family.”
The little mare stared at the princess for a second or two before she spoke again. “They approached me on the way to work half a year ago… They said they’d hurt my wife and husband and that we’d never see our foals again if I didn’t do what they wanted or told anypony about this…”
“It will be alright.” Celestia told her softly and smiled. Then she stood and looked at the other ponies. “Lord Protector?”
The princess calling him almost startled him and he immediately stood at attention. “Your highness?”
“Are you willing to keep your position?” She asked and he sensed the honesty and practicality in her voice.
Was he though? He had to stop and ask himself the question inside his head. The princess was certainly right to ask him such a question and he likely wouldn’t have thought of it if she didn’t.
“Hum… Boss?” Ponies stared at him and one of his subordinates Marble Hoof, ‘the smart one’, called him almost with doubt and worry in his voice. “You haven’t answered yet.”
He looked at the pony and at the others. Several sets of eyes watching him. Some worried, others already showing disappointment. His griffon friend, a way off next to a wall didn’t stare, instead he looked at the floor, but the pony knew he too waited for his answer.
His eyes found the Princess next to her amazing knight. He hadn’t thought of it, but Sir Chocolate Velvet represented so much of everything he had hoped for in life. The great and powerful protector of ponies that slayed the monsters which preyed at ponies… Ponies like him that helped the Princess make Equestria the awesome place that it was. He had forgotten theses dreams, hadn’t he?
But could he be compared to the knight in front of him?
Well, he could. Even the great knight that followed The Princess around failed. Even if he was bigger and stronger, simply more powerful than Grape Donut would ever be. He just didn’t know if he had the moral ground to ask the princess to let him keep his job. In fact, he should be ashamed of himself for his sloppy command of the Ponyville Militia and he didn’t think that he could bring himself to ask the princess for a second chance.
He was ready to give her his answer, but she spoke first. “I need to tell you something important first. It is good that all of you listen to it.”
He mumbled and hesitated first caught off guard by her request, but he eventually agreed. Ponies paid attention. His mind flooded with all the nasty things he had once thought of telling her.
Face to face with The Princess words failed him. He couldn’t even bring himself to tell her how much he hated Twilight Sparkle. He also realized that ironically, she was the one that actually knew who he was and took him seriously.
Finally, the princess said something. “Some creatures like the diamond dogs only live for eighty years. Some insects live for weeks and others live for only one day. Small animals can lead lives as short as ten years. Some unicorns lived up to five centuries. The average earth pony lives some two hundred years. Some of you can live up to two centuries and a half. You look so young though… How old are you?”
“I am…” He hesitated. “I’m twenty-five your majesty.”
Hearing that she laughed, and he stared at her. She was so beautiful, and her laughter sounded so… He lacked a proper analogy. He hadn’t been seeing many beautiful things in his life lately.
Meanwhile Chocolate Velvet wondered where the hell she was leading this conversation.
“Do you know how old I am?” She grinned at the earth pony.
“Not really your majesty…” One didn’t really go around asking how old was Princess Celestia.
“I am six thousand one hundred ninety-five years old.” She lowered herself and said with a larger grin. Something seemed off about that number, but none of the present couldn’t process just how many years that was.
The Lord Protector simply stood there, looking at her and listening. The conversation was much different from what he expected. “You are like little candles in the wind. You are born and you shine so brightly. You dream, you aspire. You struggle and you change. You change the world around you. The light you, all of you cast brings beauty to the world. But your time is limited! As you shine you are consumed… Every second a little bit of you is spent and when your light is exhausted it is over. You can’t afford to spend your time alive worrying about things that should be. You need to live your life to its fullest extent, to shine as bright as you can, and not worry about how you did everything wrong, or how you should be doing better. Because the sunrise is more beautiful if you watch over the river without the pretension to fish more. Do you understand?”
“I think I do, princess.” He said, looking down, until her magic pulled his chin up to look at her smiling candidly at him.
“Let me worry about things. I have time. You need to go live your life.”
He smiled back at her. “Thank you, princess.”
“Now…” She towered above him again. “Do you wish to keep your position as the Lord Protector of Ponyville?”
“Yes princess!” He had a huge grin on his face.
“Excellent!” She smiled some more.
Ponies celebrated with restrained joy given the present situation, but they recognized the happiness in his and the princess’ smiles when Grape Donut turned to his ponies. “Well, if you guys will give me a second chance, I’d like to get started on working to make ourselves the best town militia in Equestria!”
He was glad at the answer he got from his militiaponies. They felt like a group of friends. Or maybe it was just him that had a good mood. Something in the middle, perhaps? The important thing was that they seemed to have a future as the town militia. Mayor Mare even smiled at him and friendly put her leg over his back.
Looking at the scene from outside, one thing stood out to Chocolate Velvet. They didn’t give up on each other.
“Celestia. This just arrived.” Crucible Wings approached and offered her a scroll interrupting the celebration. Taking it in her telekinetic magic, the princess opened the scroll while he talked. “Chrysalis’ made Luna her prisoner in the Crystal Empire and her guards can’t save her… Or something. It appears they don’t have the numbers to siege the Bordello of Candy where Chrysalis’s holed up with her.”
With the open scroll in her magic, she stared at the pony like she was having trouble comprehending what he had just said. She blinked twice. “How did that happen?”
He simply shrugged. Celestia then turned to the letter.
‘Dear Princess Celestia.
I have taken your little sister Princess Luna hostage and for her safe return to Canterlot I demand her weight in small Princess Celestia toy figurines.
Under no circumstance must you or any Knight of the Royal House attempt to rescue her from the second tower to the left of the main structure of the Bordello of Candy or I, The Very Evil Queen Chrysalis shall be waiting for you with your sister for you to see me torture her.
Queen Chrysalis
P.S.: I feel sorry for trying to steal Chocolate Velvet. Definitively do not bring him.’
“I cannot believe these two!” She said with an irritated frown staring up from the letter. “I sent Luna to the Crystal Empire to capture Cadance and she is fooling around with Chrysalis!”
While Chocolate Velvet’s mind was amid immature mature images about Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis doing things that shouldn’t be mentioned in public, Crucible Wings was more useful. “Chrysalis has ordered her escort to take over the Bordello and Luna’s guards did mention some estrange looking changelings, princess. This may be worth investigating.”
The princess sighed with her ears turned back. Chocolate did tell her of his conversation with Chrysalis in dinner last night, and she already knew Chrysalis might be up to something naughty… Terrible choice of word in the present context, but regardless it seemed like something that warranted attention. She couldn’t figure out why was Chrysalis taunting her. Something didn’t add up and since Chocolate Velvet mentioned that Discord seemed to side with Twilight and Cadance, she had a feeling that more problems would crop up to distract her from her hunt of the wayward princesses.
“Princess, it sounds like your highness is needed. Please let us try to capture the princesses again!” Grape Donut approached her with a hoof over his chest.
Her face immediately softened. “I would allow you to join the Royal Guard in the pursuit Lord Donut, but I am afraid they are above your capabilities for now.”
“We would’ve won if Discord didn’t show up, Celestia.” Chocolate was back to his professional self. “I was frustrated, but Twilight and her friends were getting tired.”
She nodded at him and looked at the ponyvillians. “I could provide you with an airship and a teleportation to Baltimare for you to have a chance, but not within practical time. Our more capable airships are in Griffonia or securing the shores.”
“I have an airship, princess.” The griffon mercenary raised a claw. “It’s not the fastest, but it is a good warship of griffon make and is equipped to board other airships.”
He then grinned and raised his hands. “I’m supposed to help train them, anyway.”
Her ears fell and she shuddered with thoughts of these poor underprepared ponies plummeting to their deaths from thousands of hooves. She shook her head. “I cannot allow it. Airship combat operations aren’t a thing for civilian militias.”
Then she was surprised at the obese pony frowning at her. Ponies just didn’t do that to her! “Didn’t you just tell me to go live my life and let you worry about stuff?”
Surprised, she sat on the floor and raised a leg. “I did... But. That was not… I mean…”
“You played yourself, Celestia…” She wished she could kick that smug smile out of Crucible Wings’ face. Not to mention Chocolate’s matter-of-fact nodding, complete with lidded eyes.
“Fine!” Her ears turned back, and she stomped the floor angrily which amused Chocolate Velvet to no end. “But please be careful! I don’t want any of you to lose your lives because of this!”
“I promise, your highness. We will be careful.” The pony told her in all seriousness.
“And I’ll take care of them, Princess” The griffon pointed a thumb at his chest.
“Very well.” She nodded once. “I shall pay for the teleportation fee of your airship to Baltimare. Keep me informed and when it is time Sir. Velvet will join you with a full battalion of my Royal Guards. Crucible, kindly ensure that Lord Grape Donut and his ponies are thoroughly prepared for the mission with the best equipment available to the Royal Guard. And Mister Snake, make sure these ponies are as prepared as possible for the task ahead.”
The Princess then turned to the Justiciar Golden Rule. “Collect Miss Meadow Flower’s testimony and make sure that the process runs smoothly on Canterlot. You know the workings of the job. And, Madam Mayor, I assure you that I will return your ponies as soon as possible.”
“Yes ma’am.” Said the Royal Guard and the griffon mercenary.
“Thank you, Princess.” The mayor nodded with a smile.
Candy Crush, the ‘cute pegasus’ of the group didn’t say anything, but slowly and incredulously shook her head. Those ponies were out of their minds! No way in Tartarus she would get herself mauled or possibly killed so that the princess can get laid in a luxury hotel she couldn’t afford with her pay.
Feeling left out of the excitement, she huffed silently and turned to the door without looking back. Nopony seemed to have cared she left, so she didn’t care either. Outside was the same Ponyville of always that never paid her much attention. She started making her way home and after a few yards she stopped to a hushed voice.
“Hey, pony… Though day at work?” A male voice with a bit of an accent that pulled on the ‘s’, a bit squawky.
She turned to see a smug looking griffon sitting on the dirt path and leaning against the wall. He wore a bandolier with a pouch. She was sure it was adorned with some large animal teeth, and she didn’t like it one bit, but other than that, it was a young and comely griffon with purple coat and golden eyes, but a mustard colored head.
“Yeah, what is it to you?” She made every effort to sound as unfriendly as possible. For a second she thought he was going to hit on her.
“Oh, nothing. I just wish to purchase some information…” He grinned as he produced a hefty pouch of Bits. “I hear that the Crown doesn’t really care much for you… I thought I’d show some appreciation for your time. You see, we appreciate the dutiful where I come from.”
“And where would that be?” She closed one eye and stared at him.
“Does it matter?” He threw the pouch to her. “We use Bits for currency.”
It was a pretty heavy pouch. Probably enough to pay for some three months of her salary… Get her muzzle fixed for good. Sounded almost fair, but she still felt like she was betraying her… Friends?
“You’ve been holding it for some time, pony.” The griffon winked at her. “I think we know what you want.”
“All I know is that Princess Celestia wanted Princesses Twilight and Cadance detained. And that she’s planning on an ambush near Baltimare.” She said quickly. Before she might regret it.
Just as soon as she closed her mouth the door to the headquarters opened and it was the ‘other pegasus’. Flight Worthy appeared out of it and called her from the door and as soon as she heard his voice she squealed and hid the pouch under her wing. “Candy! We’re wrapping up to go to Mister Snake’s airship! You need to pack your things!”
She meant to return the pouch to the griffon and apologize. Alert the Princess of what she’d done. But he was gone.
“Come on, Candy!” He called again impatiently.
Well… She couldn’t give up the money now.