Any room where Princess Platinum was to meet with her father was practically a throne room. As the race that claimed the mountains, the unicorns alone had access to mines. Jewels were the reward for their labor and the Royal Family had more jewels than any other unicorns. There had been times in the past when the palace was so full of splendor that ice dragons would stray into the Known Valley, and after much unicorn blood had been spilled or gobbled, their soldiers would finally manage to bring down the winged beast. Unicorns would never make beauty their folly, and dragons were violent savages who hungered only for meat and gems. The same brilliant multitude of gems that decorated every chair her father claimed, no matter where it was.
The castle could not accommodate high ceilings, but King Tantalum chose the meeting hall with the highest in the castle. Jeweled chandeliers twinkled above, their candles kept lit by the spellwork of marches of maids. His chair was a throne by any other name: high-backed and covered in the finest cloth, with gems embedded in a frame that dwarfed all other seats. The artifact was without any name that Platinum knew of, but it had been in the castle longer than she or her father had been alive. And now he was sitting in that chair, watching her as she approached with her head hung so her luscious white mane fell in front of her face. Maybe it was an obvious tactic, but she loathed to look her father in the eyes when he was displeased, and the way he sat so impossibly straight and displeased with everypony who looked at him made it hard to tell if that same displeasure extended to her. Meanwhile, the maid trotting alongside Platinum's plodding steps was filled with furious energy — she had already left the room once before to tattle on Platinum, and now she was simply escorting the princess toward her inevitable punishment.
Platinum dearly hoped that she would be spared the rod. It was an impossibly ancient piece of polished wood shaped into a long staff, with rounded metal studs around one end and a metal grip along the other one. The latter was for the magic of whoever wielded the terrible thing — sometimes it was an unsympathetic servant, and other times it was King Tantalum himself. There was something so senseless about the rod that she couldn't put into words, something beyond the horrible welts it produced and the fear it generated. She always wanted to be on the other side of that fear — truly, she would love it if ponies could fear her even half as much as she feared the rod. It was the same rod that King Tantalum himself had been smacked with and every member of the Unicorn Royalty before the two of them. Once, Platinum thought she had spied dried blood on it — and that blood hadn't been hers. She hated the tradition of the rod so much not simply because it hurt, but because the rule of the rod was that crying meant you got hit until you came to your senses again, instead of the amount of appointed strikes you were told you would be given.
Her first few times under the rod, Platinum cried. She had barely been one winter old when she first faced it and her father wielded it well, though it was too big for a filly of her size at the time. He still managed to beat all of the tears out of her so that good manners and a sound mind could rest in her head once more. After that, she stopped crying for some time when she was faced with the rod. There was a day she could not remember that landed her under the rod for something that escaped her around the time she was three winters old. Perhaps her blanket training had not been completed that afternoon; she didn't know. For whatever reason, the strikes started without interruption other than her father and a servant-stallion giving them in alteration. Then her mother's screaming started at some point between strikes, and though young Platinum had not even seen the form of her mother, the screaming was everywhere in the castle and her head felt like it was cracking from the inside out that day. She wailed and begged as much as she could, saying over and over that she was hearing the screams of Queen Vitalis again. Each tear and admission of what her father called 'residual madness' earned her harsher and harsher strikes, and she was held down until every last tear was beaten from her. The screaming and headaches hadn't stopped after her beating that day, but Platinum knew to say nothing in the time afterward, even when she had to see healers to fix her ribs from the harshness of her father's discipline.
She never told anypony how she heard her mother's death throe scream after that.
Thankfully, Princess Platinum saw that the rod was nowhere to be found. However, she kept her facial expression stiff as she flipped back her mane, making the gesture seem as though it was done out of feminine annoyance. As the maid stopped to bow, Princess Platinum looked cooly at the phantasmic form lingering a few steps behind where her father was seated. Queen Vitalis' forehooves were folded primly on her lap, and despite her lack of a chair, she still managed to find a ladylike way to sit on the stone floor — which shone through the edges of her skirt. Each layer of her petticoats was like a flower against the imperious and sense of formality that no corner of the castle was free of. Even in her mysterious presence, Queen Vitalis was frozen with the trappings of ladyhood: while her mane was lowered somewhat from the trappings of her diamond-studded snood, gold netting still caught the light blue and pink locks so carefully arranged under the most elegant coif in all of Unicornia.
Princess Platinum tried to avoid how her mother's wine-dark gaze followed her into the room, as if she hadn't left Platinum alone with the maid in the hallway.
"Your work here is done, Dustmop," King Tantalum said solemnly. He always stared at the servants down the length of his muzzle, not because he was much taller than them, but because all the seats of the Unicorn King were splendidly boosted. "I shall do my duties and you must return to yours."
With those words, the maid rose and gathered the edges of her skirts in her magic to do one last quick bow before turning and trotting away.
Brown-muzzle, Platinum thought with a hiss to her words that only she could hear. She wasn't afraid of thinking thoughts like this about other ponies. She knew that Queen Vitalis probably had some sort of connection to her thoughts, though how she knew it was only a deep-seated paranoia that gnawed at her all of her life. So she did not care if the spirit overheard her think such mean and petty things — as if most mares were strangers to pettiness.
"My precious Platinum," came the deep voice of King Tantalum. His crown in all the tribal colors of purple and silver was atop his head, always silently reminding her that to be a father meant little else but to be a king. "Do you know why you have been brought before me with such haste?"
Really, a father was just a king who didn't use the majestic plural — though, there were times when her father did slip up and refer to himself in such a way. He did it more often than he forgot the names of her dolls, and he forgot the names of her dolls a lot.
She swallowed when she realized his voice sounded graver than usual. "Father," said Platinum, her voice mousy and struggling not to shake, "the maid who brought me here told me nothing of what I did to wrong you. She screamed at me and declared me wicked, yes, but I know not what wickedness I have done."
There was a lie in there — the truth was that she had some idea of what she had done. She was also not one to play ignorant when blame was best shifted to the countless servants she was surrounded by. While she knew her father expected an obedient and simple affirmation if Platinum toned things back just so, she might be able to spare herself the full brunt of whatever torment was planned for her.
"Dustmop tells me that you were throwing some of the most perverse displays with your dolls instead of busying your hooves with something better. She also tells me that you were alone in your playroom, and that was why you did these devious acts. Is that not what happened?"
Princess Platinum shook her head no and immediately ducked her eyes to the floor with the most excessively humble display she could think to put on. Hooves all together. Skirts brushing the floor just so. Deep breaths.
"You know exactly what is expected of you. There are few who indulge in playrooms at your age. My daughter, you do so splendidly in your lessons that I know you to have the makings of a shrewd queen in you, one quite capable of securing a husband that can rule our tribe. In all the years we have had, I have seen you grow so fast. Now, you stand before me, just shy of marrying age. Our lives are like the bracelets your mother used to wear: one knob for birth, an opposite knob for death, and a perfectly plotted path of gems from one end to the other. You have a most splendid fate and life planned for you that started before you were even born. You will not work to death like a mud pony, unaware of if you will have a next meal or roof over your head. I know in your classes you learned of how brutal they are sending mares into battle. Pegasi are brutes unlike any other, using foals to fight. Their lives are with and without kin in all the worst ways, and they rape chosen mares full of the next brood of soldiers. Just think of how beautiful your life is in comparison."
"It is perfect, Father," lied Platinum with the gentlest of whispers. She calmly drew in a breath and kept her eyes on the floor, watching how the stones brushed her hooves. She was overdue for another set of proper regalia horseshoes. Would she be able to get out of this mess first?
"Then you know that the traditions which await you are the lifeblood of our race. You have the ability to have a home and family. You will not starve. Your neighbors will not depose you — or worse — for a chance at leadership the way earth ponies do. In Unicornia, we have stability and art. We are worthy of the culture that we have created while the other races oppress themselves and are not worth living. You are expected to tip your horn into the circle of society and find a husband that will do his part too."
"Of course, Father," Princess Platinum said with a smoothness not typical for a filly her age. "I think of nothing else. I know that every day you have given me greater gifts than the fillies of the past by allowing me to partially have access to what only princes before me have."
"Now then, little one, what was it that Dustmop saw you doing?"
Privately, Platinum was glad that the high lace color of her dress hid her nervous swallow. Just what was she to say? "I... I was playing with my dolls, Father..."
Was it ever worth it to tell the truth — even in part?
"What is that you did with your dolls? Dustmop reported no small offense to me."
Platinum resisted the urge to shudder that so often came with trying to wriggle out of the types of trouble no tantrum could quell. "I was using the doll you got me for my birthday to have a wedding party..."
King Tantalum's thick white brows knitted together with stoically concealed confusion. "I see, daughter. You know there is nothing wrong with a wedding. What happened afterward to get Dustmop riled so?"
"Father..." murmured Platinum with a trace of a whimper in her voice. She couldn't meet his gaze. "That is all that happened... I was playing with my dolls. I had a wedding... and I picked my spear-clutching doll to be the groom." The little princess swallowed quickly before adding the lie she had so carefully rehearsed in her head, delivering it with enough fake meekness that she hoped would convince the stallion who saw so little of such behavior from her. "I thought the doll was a stallion because war-mares are so rare. Her mane and tail were not unlike a stallion's length of hair, yet they hid her eyelashes. She had no blush or eye paint sewn onto her face. Oh, Father, she looked so bulky and boyish to me in her little armor that I thought I must have a stallion doll in my hooves and I had never gotten to have a play-wedding before. Only when Dustmop screamed at me did I notice my doll was no stallion at all."
For good measure, Princess Platinum gave her eyes a few strong blinks. Fat tears began to course through the daily makeup so carefully applied by the castle servants. She looked up at her father at last, lower lip protruding with a small whimper.
King Tantalum's face showed nothing and he simply nodded slowly before lighting his horn with an aura so pale blue it was almost white. The edges of a pair of saddlebags Princess Platinum recognized from her chambers began to glow. From underneath the lid, the warrior mare doll was produced.
"Is this the toy that you speak of?" her father asked coolly, holding it out to her. "Dustmop brought it in after you had been escorted to your parlor."
Princess Platinum nodded mutely, tears dribbling down her muzzle as she did so.
"Then I see the cause for your confusion. I will have the tailors modify the doll to be more feminine and less offensive. We would not want to have such an improper piece in the playroom of a developing young mare. When they are finished, you will never have any doubt that you clutch a mare dolly. I see no reason why I should punish you for a mistake that even an old stallion such as myself could make."
"Thank you... thank you so much, Father," murmured Platinum as she hugged her doll tightly to her chest. "I was so worried you might not believe the truth." As she reared up, her whole body was dizzy with the same relief that was overflowing from her head. The light and quick patter of her heart was practically a song. It was enough to distract her from the sound of magic popping and the bright flash spilling out from under her skirts.
With her eyes closed in the bliss of her victory, Princess Platinum could not see her father's reaction or the immediate response of her lingering mother. It was her father's voice that snatched her from her serenity and the softness of her doll's coat pressed up against her. Right now, all she wanted to do was savor her victory. So much of the tricks she had learned and used even now were absorbed from the mares of the Unicorn Court. No matter the era or the unicorn on the throne, there were always those among the court who were only as deep as their makeup and finery. They broke no rules but the ones that suited them to break, and mocked anypony who spoke of false idols like progress or asked more questions than they answered. Their every manner was mired in elegantly crafted deception that no ordinary socialite had. To Platinum, unicorns like this were the gentry among the gentry, and she longed to grow into similar horseshoes.
"PLATINUM!" her father bellowed. "Little one, look at your mark! 'Tis here, 'tis here!"
Platinum gasped right as her rump hit the floor. Her eyes fluttered open with the dramatic practice of a mare twice her age. Shifting her doll so that she could clutch at it with only one foreleg, the little princess used her other hoof to peel back her skirts. Right there on her flank was something that had never been there before. The image was one that Princess Platinum had seen on no crest or monogram and was something uniquely hers as she took in the newness of the sight. Upon her flank was an ornate hoof-held mirror whose color gave away that it was made of her namesake. A few sparkles were struck into her fur that now marked the mirror's shining glass pane, which would have obscured the image of anything reflected within, had there been anything.
The patch of her coat that the mark adorned felt no silkier or different than before, and Princess Platinum already bathed more regularly than most unicorns — and bathing was a unicorn practice in the Known Valley. Still, she found herself wide-eyed and marveling at the new symbol. She was at such a normal age to get a mark, and hers was so fancy compared to most ponies. Dustmop's mark was literally a duster because she was good at dusting. Her father's mark was a helmet that he got when he was slightly older than her, after he drove his horn through his first earth pony in one of the wars. She had never seen her mother's mark, and most unicorns had marks of items that could at least be found on a proper manor estate, in the mines, or related to magic. Mages had the best marks of unicorns, and usually the most complex. Unicorns that had complex or unusual marks but were never magically educated to explain their skill were usually witches.
Even among the range of mundane marks that she had seen on unicorns, she knew that there were ponies who never gained a mark in any race. Pegasi never worked with the possibility that some ponies got their marks lake, bound their wings, and dropped them from their cloud fortresses once the markless pony reached a certain age. Earth ponies had the most laughably pathetic marks that Platinum had ever seen — and she had seen many earth pony marks brought home on trophies by the most savage among the soldiers in the unicorn army. There was once a country lord who collected many earth pony marks and had them made into tapestries for his manor — his name escaped Platinum. But she heard tales from returning soldiers and captured earth ponies alike that the life of an earth pony offered so few chances for a mark that some of them begged and pleaded for them, or indebted themselves permanently to masters that they gained marks under.
There was something so pathetic about the thought of mud ponies and marklessness that Platinum heard herself laughing in delight as she beheld her fabulous marking.
"How noble!" said King Tantalum with rare excitability. His eyebrows climbed high up, revealing a look of wide-eyed delight that Platinum had never seen on her father before, except at war victory banquets. "A mirror of truth for a mare who is forthcoming even in times of trouble. Your future husband will be so proud of you."
Are you not proud of me?
"He absolutely will be," chimed Platinum with a sudden, big smile. She knew that the mirror could not be for truths she never spoke, but she was happy to let her father live that fantasy.
"Now..." began her father, leaning back into his tall bejeweled chair. "I think it is high time I shared some fantastic news." He brought his forehoof to the long table and gave it a few resounding taps. Princess Platinum saw a few unfurled papers with their wax seals freshly broken laying on the smooth stone surface.
"What sort of news?" Platinum asked breathily. She shivered slightly, in both excitement and from a draft that poured in from one of the halls. All around the two ponies, the banners of noble unicorn clans rustled with the cold wind. As the winters grew longer, the sight and chilliness were becoming more familiar, even in a land where their castle stronghold had never been resistant to the coldness of the land.
King Tantalum shivered and pulled his purple cloak closer. Platinum loved that cloak, and not just because it had a fur trim bigger than any of her dresses. That cloak was a symbol of Unicornia itself, and one day when she was closer to being of age, she would have her own proper regalia made. "My daughter, you are starting marehood rapidly. Your marking is just another sign of how you must turn your thoughts towards readying yourself for marriage. A stallion is always needed before your first heat, as the ideal goes."
"My first what?" piped Platinum, her ears swiveled with genuine confusion. She scooped her dolly back into both of her front forehooves and began to cradle it as she cocked her head in thought. She knew what the word heat meant, but not how her father was using it. During her time eavesdropping on the servants and mares of the Unicorn Court, she had only managed to gather that it was vaguely related to foals.
"Nothing important," said her father emotionlessly. He waved a forehoof and tossed the white rolls of his mane. "It is merely a reward for your husband."
Even from where she sat, Princess Platinum saw a shift in the visage of Queen Vitalis. She fixed her eyes on her daughter with an active, piercing look unlike any that the filly had seen before.
"You are next," mouthed the mare with a smile crueler and fuller than Platinum's vain sneers.
What was that supposed to mean? thought Princess Platinum with a sniffle that went unheard. She stopped rocking her doll and protectively clutched her cloth friend closer for comfort that was hard to extract with those eyes on her. Under her swooping white forelock, Princess Platinum's head began to have one of its routine awful aches. The kind only her mother brought.
"As I was saying: I need, more than ever, for you to be getting ready for the stallion I pick out for you," droned Tantalum. "Any offers I would get now would be premature, and there are things that a young mare needs to be married whether she is leaving her estate or bringing in a sovereign husband, as you will be. A dowry is expected in traditional arrangments, yet for your husband, your kingdom and riches more than make up for the bulk of your dowry. However, his parents are going to want their fair share — whether it is treasures from our vaults or crafts from you. They will also likely be requesting some of the servants of the castle, which is why it is more important than ever to prepare you with a flock of them that will never leave you."
From her place in the background, Queen Vitalis crept closer to the back of the throne and then around it. Platinum sat frozen and blank-faced as she watched the way the queen crept soundlessly to stand off to the side of her throne. Not a single bit of the rushes from the floor clung to her dress — nothing ever did. The horrible, leering look of her mother was gone, and she no longer flashed her translucent teeth the way dragons in Platinum's storybooks stared down the ponies that they were about to snap up. Just feeling the hurtful chill of her proximity drained away all the delight that Princess Platinum had from hearing her father's praises. Her doll felt like such a pitiful defense against when her mother was on the prowl, and she had to content herself with being grateful that her mother could do no lasting damage to them.
For as long as she lived, Platinum was sure that she was the only thing that her mother was able to touch. And she hated the mere thought of that enough that she had to reset the smile she used to flatter her father. She tried to keep her eyes solely focused on him; she tried to think of how they had the same eyes. Still, from the corner of those eyes, she caught how her mother nodded along and mouthed bits of approval to everything her father had just said.
And Platinum — who had been declared a 'fussy foal' after her first year for crying at what they could not see — sat through the sight with the stillness she had to have.
"I have been writing with the great conjurer Starswirl the Bearded," King Tantalum went on, leaning back in his chair and folding his hooves in the way of somepony well-pleased with themselves. "And, for a fair price, he is willing to help you along with this rite of passage fit for any noble."
"Splendid," purred the icy voice of Queen Vitalis. There were two features to the voice of this mare that never changed. The first was that she always sounded like she was speaking softly in the cold, and she managed to sound both very far away and terrifyingly close up at the same time. Second, everything about her tone made Platinum have to suppress shudders and squirms. Something about her voice was wrong in a way that went beyond the words of the little filly. No amount of dollies, new mane ribbons, or fur-trimmed gowns alleviated that dreadful feeling.
Platinum did her best to suppress one such shudder and nod along to what her father said. Everypony else was okay, so she had to be too. Besides, Starswirl the Bearded was one of the most interesting unicorns alive. Not only was he uniquely talented at magic, but he was freer than anypony Princess Platinum could think of. He had forsaken the clan of Glimmer that he came from and still had access to its riches and privileges, and not just because his parents loved him to the point it bordered on the sick devotion that Platinum promised she would never partake in.
She never had anypony to ask about what her mother's voice sounded like. All her mother's siblings were older than Vitalis and had been married off before Vitalis was born. Most of them still lived in the city, as far as Platinum knew, but she never left the castle walls unless she absolutely had to. She also didn't know the names or marks of her aunts and uncles. Her father died in one of the wars against the pegasi and Vitalis' mother had caught a plague shortly before Platinum's second birthday. One of her brothers had been among the traitors executed for insisting that King Tantalum did nothing to save his wife.
"My precious Platinum, he has among his gaggle of wards a mare by the name of Clover the Clever. I am told she is not only uncommonly docile but also well-trained in magic from all her years of close instruction with so spectacular a wizard. She appears to be fair in her conversation skills and incapable of theft or rebellion. Starswirl bought her when she was younger than you are now from a peasant family — the ones that give themselves long names and often have strange tails."
Princess Platinum knew of no such unicorn ponies, and she had never met this Starswirl the Bearded. But this was her father speaking, so she nodded along anyway. All she knew of Starswirl was that he took frequent trips between the Unicorn Court and his own valley. Not only did he apparently always have magic so good and complicated Platinum was not allowed to see it to present the Unicorn Court, but he also had valuable information about the territory within Unicornia. Most mages lived and worked in the capital, but some country lords had their own household mages that they patronized. With the way her father was talking, it sounded as though perhaps she would get to meet this Starswirl figure one day and see why her father was so pleased to have him among the wizards and mages he patronized.
"Anyway, you need not worry about Clover. She apparently does not have such a tail. What she does have is all the proper domestic skills that one would expect of a mare as old as she is. Fourteen winters!" Her father let out a low laugh and a laugh as deep and whistling as the howling of the wind, though so much warmer in sound. "Fourteen winters without a husband or foals — really, Starswirl could have sold her as a wife for quite a bit of coin. Instead, he likes my offer best. She is the only one of his Arcane Student lot that he is ready to part with, and he feels she would be wasted as a wife. You shall finally have a hoofmaiden — and a famous one, too! When she was but six winters old, Clover embarked with Starswirl the Bearded on an adventure to defeat the monstrous Lord Tirek. Though, we certainly will not need to worry about her having any adventures with you. Starswirl is looking to give her up anywhere from one to two winters' time, so we can prepare for her arrival."
Platinum nodded and scrunched up her muzzle with confusion. "What is a hoofmaiden?"
Her father cleared his throat. "A hoofmaiden is a special servant meant to replace impersonal staff. They follow a mare with marriage the same way her jewelry does. Hoofmaidens are trained in chores and companionship. Each is there to aid you with tasks, sometimes even before you ask."
Princess Platinum had never had anypony like that in her life before. Other than the servants, she had played with the foals of other nobles and servants alike. Though, as the princess, she was able to delight in ordering them around more than anything else. Even then, she couldn't order them to be around her all the time or treat the nobles' foals the same way that she would treat the servants' foals. Now she was going to be given a grown mare to have all to herself, and to serve her for the rest of her life. A mare who was older than her. A mare who was alive when her mother was.
"I think that is a splendid idea," Platinum lied, ensuring her voice oozed the closest thing to gratitude that she could manage. She would rather have a new wardrobe.
"Wicked filly," hissed Queen Vitalis through gritted teeth, as though there were anypony to hear her but Platinum. "We shall see how you maintain this ungrateful heart when you finally have a husband to put you in your place."