The Crystal Heart, the symbol of love and faith that the crystal ponies felt towards one another, slowly spun on its pedestal in the plaza of the Crystal Castle.
Half a dozen guards stood at attention at key points around the heart, standing a few yards away from the mystical artifact to give it a large berth. Three guards watched the Crystal Heart spin on its pedestal while the other three faced away from ancient relic, observing the crowd of crystal ponies who would trot towards the Crystal Heart to bask in its beauty.
Emerald Secret and Copper Plate, ponies of high positions who melted into the crowd of regular faces, watched the Crystal Heart. Their time spent together staring at the Crystal Heart had become a silently planned schedule between the two of them, a time where they would meet up to relax and remind themselves of what they protected by helping the Empire.
It had all started on the day after Lord Skeletor had returned the Crystal Heart. While their lord healed from his injuries in the medical wing of the Crystal Castle, Emerald stood outside to watch the Crystal Heart like a hawk, as if taking her eyes off of it for even a moment would cause it to disappear. Because Emerald was so focused on the Heart, she failed to notice her new fellow council member, Copper Plate, trot up next to her and take a seat.
Nothing beyond a simple “hello” was exchanged between them that morning, and nothing more really needed to be said. They both had questions they knew the either couldn’t answer.
Was anything she had seen real? Was Sombra truly gone? What would happen to the Empire under Lord Skeletor's reign? So many questions, and not a single answer to be found.
Emerald unconsciously returned to the same spot the next day, observing the Crystal Heart from afar as Cannon Fodder assigned new guards to key positions to protect the Heart. Unlike the time during Princess Amore’s rule, they couldn’t trust that the power of love in the Empire would keep the Crystal Heart safe from sticky hooves or thieving claws since all the enchantments that kept it safe before had fallen soon after Sombra took over the Crystal Empire.
As she watched the crystal guards take their positions around the Heart, Copper Plate once again joined Emerald to silently stare at the Heart until it was time for the Royal Advisor to check up on Lord Skeletor.
Every day that Emerald went to look at the Crystal Heart, Copper Plate would trot along sooner or later and silently join her. It wasn’t until the morning after Emerald’s confessions to her that they started to talk more as they watched the Heart. Small talk and thoughts about how the weather in the Empire would be without thestrals to move the clouds that formed inside the barrier soon turned into long and drawn out conversations about fond memories of the past and hopes for the future. It was thanks to these conversations that Emerald was eventually able to get a better understanding of the older mare she spent her time with.
Copper Plate had been working in the royal archives of the Crystal Castle for years before she gained a place on Princess Amore’s council, originally taking the position of royal advisor before she convinced the princess to add a seat for representatives of the archives. It was then that Copper Plate became the first council member in history to be given more than one spot on the council. A close friend of Princess Amore, Cider Law, took the position of Royal Advisor before it was eventually passed on to Emerald Secret.
The last council member who acted as the representative of the Royal Archives, Dice, was apparently one of Copper Plate’s nephews from her step-brother’s side of the family. That news was given with a somber tone as they both recalled the plucky ruva stallion. He had shared his aunt’s love of literature to the point of burning thousands of candles to stay up late reading any text he could get his hooves on.
They both held fond memories of the plucky stallion, swapping delightful tales where Dice would go off on a tangent about the use of the word, “and” in the books in the Royal Archives and other such things. Emerald thoroughly enjoyed having somepony to talk to about the past, sharing pain and joy with Copper Plate as if they had been friends since foalhood.
“So, how have you been?” Emerald finally asked her after allowing the silence between them to go on for a few minutes as they silently observed the Crystal Heart.
“I’ve been doing alright. Lord Skeletor gave me the day off yesterday after our meeting.”
“I heard about that. How was it spending two hours alone with him?”
“It was actually pretty nice. There were a few times he asked for some help interpreting a word or a law, and aside from one thing, I don’t have much to complain about.”
“Oh? What was the one thing?”
“He wanted to get rid of trials by combat. He said they were, ‘barbaric’. I talked him out of it, thankfully, and he just added a few safety precautions to it.”
“Really? That is strange. Did he say why they were, allegedly, ‘barbaric’?”
“Based on the stipulations he added to it, I think it might have been the killing part. I can sympathize with him on that, even though it's already rare for ponies to die in trials by combat, there were always a few exceptions where somepony wouldn't hold back or some idiot tripped on their own weapon. Aside from that, nothing too strange happened during our meeting. So, how have you been doing, Emerald?”
“I’ve been doing well for the past few days. I'll admit, I still feel a brush of panic sometimes, but I’m usually able to push past it without anypony noticing,” Emerald replied as she took her eyes away from the Crystal Heart to look at Copper Plate. “Thank you, by the way. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“You’re welcome, Emerald, it was the least I could do for a friend,” Copper Plate told her with a kind smile.
Emerald sat on those words for a few moments, briefly debating a question that had nagged at the back of her mind for a while. “… What about this? You, sitting next to me when you could be inside reading. I don’t really think we were more than colleagues when you started doing this. So, why?”
Copper Plate stayed quiet for a few moments, almost alarmingly so as she thought of the right words to say. A serious expression fell on her face for a few brief moments before a light chuckle escaped her, causing a smile to break across her muzzle as she looked deeply into Emerald’s eyes.
“It’s funny actually. It’s the same reason Amore came to me for teatime for a whole year,” Copper Plate stated, surprisingly dropping the princess’ official title. “She said I looked lonely. I was always squinting when I read, and I always had a serious expression on my face when I was younger. Most of the ponies in the archives stayed away from me since I always looked angry.
“It wasn’t until Amore pointed it out a few years later that I realized what I was doing. Because of that, I was usually… I was always alone in the archives. Princess Amore noticed and decided to talk to me, just like what I did with you. You were lonely, and I don’t think anypony should feel lonely,” she told Emerald.
Emerald allowed those words to swim through her mind for a good amount of time. Copper Plate’s Words were twisted by Emerald’s subconscious fears and anxieties. Suddenly, every sweet and genuinely caring word became a sickening bastardization of what Copper Plate actually meant. A single word rang out in her mind louder than any other thought that was racing though her head.
Lonely.
She was lonely. She was alone and that’s why Copper Plate sat next to her on those days, because Copper Plate pitied her. That’s all it was, wasn’t it? Pity? A charity case? She was just a broken mare that somepony pitied, a side project for somepony to fix!?
Her raging thoughts and bitter hatred faltered once a foreleg wrapping around her withers, pulling her into a tight hug with Copper Plate.
“I’m glad we’re friends, Emerald. I haven’t said much, but you’ve still helped me too. Just having somepony to call a friend in these odd times feels like I found something that I was missing for years. And, in a way, I was missing this. So, thank you,” Copper Plate quietly said.
Emerald didn’t respond immediately to Copper Plate with words, instead, she wrapped a foreleg around Copper Plate to embrace her as well. She closed her eyes and suppressed the negative emotions that clouded her judgment, silently cursing herself for letting her mind wander to such dark and twisted perversions of Copper’s kind words.
“Thank you, Copper.”
No more words were shared after that, as they both fell into a comfortable silence.
Skeletor blankly stared at a page full of numbers and mathematical equations that he pretended to understand while listening to Avid Value go over the Crystal Empire’s finances.
Avid Value went into great detail about the bits being distributed to the Empire and the amount of bits in the Crystal Castle’s vault. While circulation of currency would allow the Empire to remain stable for some time, Avid Value greatly stressed that their current monetary system would eventually collapse if enough ponies began saving up their bits, causing them to fall out of circulation unless they were used.
As important as this meeting was to Skeletor and the overall stability of the Empire, Skeletor still struggled to keep himself awake during his private meeting with Avid Value. After foregoing sleep the night prior to experiment with his magic, such as learning levitation and lifting light objects, Skeletor became the embodiment of a walking corpse thanks to his severe lack of sleep. The Royal Treasurer’s words became a lulling melody of large numbers that barely made any sense to Skeletor.
Avid Value, in comparison, was extremely lively and full of energy as he threw himself into his work, pacing back and forth between a blackboard and an abacus to calculate the cost of sending an expedition team to the Ruva Kingdom. Skeletor chose to spare no expense in making sure that the ponies going there would be safe, giving them an ample supply of rations, blankets, and other necessities. Needless to say, even though it was going to be a small group of ponies going to the Ruva Kingdom, it was becoming a very expensive endeavor for the Empire.
Since all of the old carts and carriages had rotted away and fell apart, Skeletor needed to commission a few carpenters to build a new carriage out of a naturally purple colored oak that grew in the subterranean farms in the lower regions of the caverns. Apparently, the once small saplings grew to enormous heights in the time between the Princesses’ and Skeletor’s arrival, causing the bipedal creature to wonder what Sombra did to the Empire during his battle with the princesses.
Two prominent theories crossed Skeletor’s mind, those being that either the Empire time traveled or a spell was used to make the Empire age by at least a few hundred years. Skeletor tossed out the time travel idea since the crystal ponies themselves were fine, and if the Empire did time travel then it should have just plopped down in another moment of time without any damage. One other theory also crossed his mind, though it was one that he desperately wanted to ignore.
He feared that whatever spell Sombra used to bring him here caused the Empire to decay by generations in the span of a few seconds. The issue with that theory was that Sombra said that he didn’t summon Skeletor, though, that could have easily been a lie. How else would Skeletor have ended up in the Crystal Empire if Sombra didn’t pull him from his world? Whenever someone got taken to another world in anime, it was usually because they died or because someone in the other world summoned them, and he was pretty sure that he didn’t die before he appeared in the Crystal Empire. At least he hoped that he didn’t die at comic con.
Skeletor shook those thoughts out of his mind as he turned his attention back to Avid Value once he heard his adopted name.
“—tor, is something wrong?” Avid Value asked.
“Hm? Sorry, I was just caught up in my own thoughts for a moment,” Skeletor waved off. “What were we discussing?”
“Taxes for this year, your highness. I recommended pushing those off until next year, when the citizens are more financially stable. By that time, we should hopefully perfect your plan for paper currency. Speaking of that, do you have an idea for what we should call it? Maybe something like, paper bits?”
“Why do… Oooh right, you never had paper money before. They’re just called dollars.”
“Doll-hairs… Hmmm, that could work. We also need to discuss the different value between doll-hairs and bits.”
“They’re ‘dollars’, Avid, not doll-hairs. And for the second question, I need to know how much a bit is worth.”
“It’s a bit. It’s worth just that,” Avid Value stated.
“Okay, so what comes after a bit?” Skeletor asked.
“I’m not sure what you mean, your highness.”
“Like… Damnit, you don’t have a concept for change, do you?”
“Well, we’re trying to change it now. Aren’t we?” Avid Value asked as he looked back at the blackboard full of complicated mathematical equations, graphs, and other things Skeletor couldn’t understand.
“That’s not what I meant,” Skeletor said as he stood up from his seat and walked over to the blackboard. “Do you mind if I clear some space on this?”
“Not at all, your majesty.”
“Great.”
Skeletor wiped away a small part of the blackboard to give himself a decent amount of space to work with. He waved his hand, causing a light green aura to surround a piece of chalk to lazily pull it to his palm. Even though he didn’t need to use any magic to grab it, exploiting his powers for mundane purposes gave him a sense of control, allowing him to feel the potential power he had at his fingertips.
After allowing the piece of chalk to spin in the air for a few moments to extend his comforting feeling of power, he drew the symbol for cents and dollars on the blackboard and began his explanation.
“Where I come from, money can be broken down into different forms of currency. For example, one penny is the lowest form of value. Five pennies are a nickel, two nickels are worth a dime, two dimes and a nickel are worth a quarter, and four quarters is the value of a one-dollar bill. A one-dollar bill is worth one hundred pennies, twenty nickels, four quarters, and ten dimes. There are a number of coin combinations to make a dollar bill, like using ninety pennies and a single dime, or three quarters, two dimes, and a nickel. Do you understand?”
“Yes... But, what’s a bill?”
“It’s a type of dollar. A dollar is valued by the number on it. For example, we had one-dollar bills, five-dollar bills, ten-dollar bills and so on. The difference between each bill was the number and the picture of the president on it, giving each a different set value.”
“Alright. What’s a president?” Avid Asked as he began writing on a spare piece of parchment paper.
“How?… Right, right. You’re a monarchy, of course you wouldn’t know,” Skeletor said as he put the piece of chalk down. “A president is a leader elected and voted for by the people.”
“The ‘people’ choose them? And then they get their portrait put on money?”
“Not every president, just the ones from a long time ago near the beginning of my country’s independence,” Skeletor explained.
Avid Value wore a contemplative look on his face as he digested Skeletor’s words, letting a low hum escape his throat as he did so. “I see... your highness, do you mind if I say something that you may not like?"
"I... guess?"
"This whole system that you're trying to create is... Confusing, for lack of a better term. While I see the benefit of having different valued 'bills' so that ponies won't need to physically carry thousands of bits around with them to spend it, the idea of 'change' is... complicated.
“From what I can tell, you want to institute a plan that could be broken down into different levels of value that most of your subjects won't understand. Not everypony in the Empire can do complex math that breaks down something into one forth or one third of something else.
"Your plan for dollars is interesting, and it would be more efficient to carry that around since it could be folded up. But you're plan to create 'change' is perhaps too... advanced for some ponies to understand," Avid Value said delicately.
"Really?... Well, I suppose that makes sense. Then what do you recommend?" Skeletor asked
"Well... I'm... Also hesitant to institute the plan for paper currency," Avid Value quickly admitted as he clenched his eyes shut, almost as though he was expecting Skeletor to explode on him.
"Um... Okay, why?" Skeletor simply asked.
Avid Value opened one eye to look at Skeletor before both of them opened and his posture relaxed. "You're... not mad?"
"Of course not. I may not know much, Avid, but I'm not an idiot. Anyone who refuses to listen to experts, such as yourself, on things they don't know is a moron. So, please, tell me what you think we should do. Take your time and walk me through it," Skeletor said as he put his hands together and patiently waited for Avid Value to speak.
"Well... Firstly, I know that transportation of paper currency would be more practical for large scale purchases, it's impractical in longevity. If there's a fire or it gets wet, then it's gone. Bits don't deteriorate with age, and steel bits would last for generations."
"hmm. That does make sense. So, how should we proceed?"
"I think your plan for paper currency is still valid, your highness, but I'd also like to recommend starting production on steel bits as well. I believe it would be better to use dollars for large payments, such as housing and furniture, but nopony in the Empire will even be able to afford those expenses yet, so I believe it would be best to postpone the plan for paper currency."
"Alright then. That's reasonable. I should have expected that an American currency system wouldn't have been very practical.
"A-mare-ik-an? What an odd name, what does it stand for?" Avid Value asked.
"Oh, it's the name of my country. I was born in the U.S.A., which is the United States of America."
"Interesting. How far away is your country, your highness? I don’t remember hearing about any countries with beings that shared your stature or appearance.”
“Ah, well um... I’m uh… Fffffrom a faraway land. Farther than any ship bound by sea could sail, higher than any thestral can fly, a place that is on the other side of the rainbow. It'd be impossible to see it in your life time, but perhaps one day it will be possible for ponies to travel there,” Skeletor cryptically replied.
“Wow… I can’t… That’s amazing, Lord Skeletor!” Avid Value exclaimed with a wide smile as he began writing even more on his papers.
“Yes, yes. It is a fascinating place,” Skeletor dismissed as he pretended to be horrible at being humble. The less he had to say about his home, the better. He didn’t want word to spread that he was an alien from another planet, and most likely another dimension, since he didn’t want to find out how they’d react to that.
“So, taxes,” Skeletor said, bringing the conversation back to its original topic. “They won’t happen until next year then?”
“Yes, your highness. Even if we held taxes this year, not many ponies own land to tax. The lands in the other two kingdoms are desolate, and not many crystal ponies owned land before Sombra’s reign. The farms used to be owned by the Onion family, but… They’re all gone as well. So, the farms have fallen under the jurisdiction of the Crystal Castle.”
“I see. And how are the subterranean farms doing?”
“Fairly well. Pretty soon, we won’t have to eat crystalberry jam stew. It’s not terrible, per say, but it’s definitely… An acquired taste.”
“Yeah, it makes broccoli taste a lot better in comparison,” Skeletor joked as he continued to search for some sense of meaning in the numbers on the blackboard. “I assume the taxes go towards the upkeep of the Empire and the safety of its citizens, correct?”
“Essentially. A large amount of it also goes directly to you.”
“Me?” Skeletor asked as he tore his attention away from the blackboard. “I get paid?”
“Of course, your highness. You’re the leader, why wouldn’t you get paid?”
“I… I just never thought kings got paid… huh. So how much do I have to pay in taxes?”
“Ha! Good jest, your highness,” Avid Value chuckled as he looked over his papers. “Royalty doesn’t pay taxes, Lord Skeletor.”
“… Really?” Skeletor asked as he imagined never having to pay taxes again. “That’s… nice? Soooo, I get paid and I don’t have to pay taxes.”
“Correct. The bits you earn go into the Crystal Castle’s vault.”
“Which is also the Empire’s vault, right?”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Okay…” Skeletor simply said, as his own brain started to fail him. “Well… Good. Good, Goooood, good. I’m... glad to hear that. Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
“Not for today, we already went over the budget for the expedition to the Ruva Kingdom earlier. I’m surprised that Cannon Fodder decided to lead the group instead of assigning it to Colonel Kernel.”
“It is surprising. I just hope everything goes well for them. They’re leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, your highness,” Avid Value confirmed.
Skeletor nodded as he reassured himself that he was right. Cannon Fodder and his quickly assembled team of guards would escort three alchemists to the Ruva Kingdom, allowing one alchemist and three guards to be sent to each alchemy tower in the Ruva Kingdom. They had a surplus of supplies for their mission, taking two weeks’ worth of food for what should have only been a week and a half, and enough blankets to smother a small elephant.
Even though the barrier that hung over the Empire protected the Crystal Pony Kingdom and the Crystal Castle from the assault of snow from the never-ending winter, the other ruined kingdoms were still exposed to the unnatural elements of the Frozen North. There simply wasn’t enough love in the Empire to make the barrier expand over the other two kingdoms, meaning that the crystal ponies would have to leave the safety of the Crystal Pony Kingdom to search the alchemy towers of the Ruva Kingdom.
If Skeletor had known that, he would have been much more hesitant to agree to Purity Flame’s request to have a small number of alchemists search the Ruva Kingdom. Even if there was something there that could help Skeletor and the Crystal Empire, he didn’t feel good about it. Once again, the ponies would be risking their safety while Skeletor sat on his throne collecting bits and leaving all the hard decisions to ponies he just barely knew.
“Are you absolutely certain that they have enough supplies for the trip?” Skeletor asked.
“I’m fairly sure. The only thing I could think of is medical supplies, and that’s one of the main reasons they’re going.”
“What about weapons? Are there any wolves or other animals in the Frozen North?”
“None that I know of. The only other creatures that lived in the Frozen North were the animal stock in our Empire or the animals and Yaks of the Yak Kingdom,” Avid Value told him.
Skeletor’s mind stopped for a brief moment after he heard that. “Yak Kingdom? There’s a Yak Kingdom?”
“Yes. Yakyakistan is a kingdom to the most northern edges of the Frozen North, bordering between the Frozen North and the Northern sea. They were a wonderful trading-based economy, often giving the Empire food, wool, and other valuables in exchange for fruits and vegetables that could only grow under the Empire.”
“Really? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before?”
“I... Well, I suppose we all just assumed you knew. But even if we didn't, there wasn’t much of a reason to tell you. The yaks usually came to us for trade since their thick fur allowed them to easily traverse the snow, and as far as they know, we’re still under Sombra’s control. They cut off all ties with us once Sombra… Well, the less said the better,” Avid Value said as he avoided talking about a clearly uncomfortable subject.
“I see. Reconnecting ties with… Yakyakistan, can come later. Once the Empire is stable enough, we could try sending a representative there to tell them that Sombra has been dethroned.”
“A wise decision, your highness… And if it would be possible, could we also consider getting into contact with Dream Valley?” Avid Value hopefully asked.
“What’s Dream Valley?”
“The kingdom of Equestria, which is the land below the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna rule… ruled over the pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies that call Equestria their home. Relations between Dream Valley and the Crystal Empire were always harsh before Princess Amore arrived, and we became friendlier over time. I was just wondering if it would be possible to send some guards to Dream Valley to tell them that we were freed, and perhaps we could find out what happened to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“How far away is Dream Valley?”
“Nearly four weeks by hoof, your highness. It’s quicker to get there by wings, but none of the ponies left in the Crystal Empire can fly.”
“Hmmm… I’m already concerned about sending anyone to the Ruva Kingdom, though it would help contact the outside world… For now, we’ll wait for them to come to us, and if they don’t, we’ll send someone over to Dream Valley once we have more fit and well-equipped guards. How does that sound?”
“It sounds wonderful, Lord Skeletor. If the princesses are still alive, then I’m sure that they’ll return soon. I’m sure the princesses will be happy to meet you!”
“… Uh… Right, yeah, I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic,” Skeletor said as he felt a chill run up his spine at the possibility of meeting the princesses of Dream Valley. How would they react to him being ruler of the Crystal Empire? They’d probably attack him on sight, or call him a monster and turn the crystal ponies against him.
Avid Value, being completely oblivious to Skeletor’s concerns, packed away his papers and abacus and wiped off the rest of the blackboard with a rag. “I think we’ve covered everything we needed to, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Hm? Ah, yes, we’re done for today. Will I see you for lunch today?”
“Unfortunately not. I wanted to speak with the blacksmiths to discuss something important. I’ll be around for court though.”
“Excellent. Thank you for this meeting, Avid. If there’s anything else we need to talk about, just come find me,” Skeletor told him.
“Thank you, your highness,” Avid Value replied with a bow. “I’ll see you later. Have a wonderful meal at lunch,” he said before he trotted out of the room, leaving Skeletor alone with his thoughts once more.
Avid Value trotted down the halls towards the blacksmith’s forge in the lower levels of the Crystal Castle with an extra pep in his step, humming a light melody that held no rhyme or structure. He wore an enormous smile on his muzzle as he made his way down the stairs, replaying the words that Lord Skeletor had told him when he asked about his home. Avid Value resisted the urge to squeal like a cheerful filly as he thought about the biggest secret he had ever been told.
A land beyond the rainbows, where nopony could sail or fly, a place where complex math was used to make money, and where everypony had a say in their government, it was so obvious.
Lord Skeletor was from the fertile fields of the afterlife, a disciple of Faust who was sent from the heavens. There had been rumors about him being a disciple or vessel for Faust, sent by the Devine Weaver so he could strike down the tyrant known as Sombra. However, Avid Value never placed much merit into those theories. But now he had Lord Skeletor’s own words as proof for those claims, and he trusted Avid Value enough to tell him.
Avid Value felt his spirits soar at his lord’s admission, resisting the urge to burst into tears of joy as he focused on Lord Skeletor’s commitment to helping the Empire. Even after freeing them of the monster that had enslaved them, Lord Skeletor remained in the Empire to see them through their recovery, fixing the injustices that remained even after Sombra’s death.
Avid Value had always had wandering thoughts that sought temptations in the flesh of the same gender, feeling a tight pull on his heart that he never felt for any mare. His closely held fantasies had been dubbed as sinful emotions that tainted the magic of love that powered the barrier, causing Avid to feel like a freak of nature that lived in paradise. But now, after finding out that Lord Skeletor had lived in Faust’s divine realm, he was certain that there was nothing wrong with what he felt.
It was like a heavy burden had been lifted from his withers and the demons that taunted him for being abnormal had been chased off by Lord Skeletor’s blessed divinity. He had always felt like an outcast, worried that the ponies around him knew of his secret. On a few brief occasions, Avid Value thought of submitting himself to a group of ruva doctors to remove those thoughts. But each time he thought of doing that, flashes of the strained smiles “fixed” ponies had kept him from seeking “help”. And he was so happy that he never went through with it
Lord Skeletor had given him the truth, and told him that there was nothing wrong with him. If his highness was fine with two stallions or mares loving each other, then that must have meant Faust taught him to think that way. Avid’s preferences in love were accepted by his highness, and he wouldn’t have to hide himself anymore.
He was free to be whoever he wanted to be, released from the crushing fears that had plagued him since puberty when he met a stallion named Iron Clad. Nothing romantic ever happened between the two, but the vivid dreams he eventually had for him caused Avid Value to realize how he felt for his friend. Those feelings reemerged and grew with age when he met Red Blaze, who ironically ignited a burning passion inside of him.
His feelings never disappeared, and even with his attempts to court mares failed to lessen the fire he felt for the same gender. He had never crossed the line that would lead him to entering the bed of another stallion, but now he had a chance to explore how he truly felt.
Avid Value didn’t expect to find his soulmate in a few days or even a few weeks, but he felt hopeful that he would one day be able to walk with his head held high as he trotted next to a stallion who shared his interests and desires. He was free to pursue whomever he wanted, all thanks to Lord Skeletor.
The smile on his muzzle grew wider by a hair as he thought about his plan for Lord Skeletor. Avid Value hoped that the blacksmiths would be able to use their new supply of steel to craft Lord Skeletor's gift, something that he had lacked since his first day in the Crystal Empire.
After all, a perfect king deserved the perfect crown.