//------------------------------// // CH 44.1 Unintended Consequences // Story: Twilight's Nightmare // by Nightsclaw //------------------------------//   Noble Guide held the report in his aura. Every settlement affected was listed, each with two numbers. One for the wounded, one for the dead. More than a few of the smaller settlements were simply crossed out. Most of the numbers were truly staggering.   Celestia, the Princess of the Unconquered Sun, watched almost motionless. She perched upon her throne as the room of nobles digested what the numbers truly meant. Whispers, fearful speculation and murmured accusations replaced the crinkle of parchment. Things had gotten out of hoof. The alchemy flowing through his system kept his emotions in check. There was meant to be perhaps a few dozen lives lost at most. Not the thousands reported so far. The dark clouds were meant to make a finite number of monsters. Monsters that would draw the Nightguard in to hunting them down, not this ever-expanding blight. “Equestria is at war.” Celestia’s simple words silenced the room. One would have to dig deep into the archives to find a previous example of such a pronouncement.  “Every able-bodied pony must be made ready to defend their home.” “Aunty, you intend to levy a draft?” Blueblood asked. “Not a draft," Celestia’s eyes lingered on the mortal prince. "Merely mandatory training. Every settlement will also become walled, every train carriage armoured.”  “But, the cost…” “Will be born.” The temperature rose, Celestia’s ancient eyes were windows into Tartarus as her gaze silenced a trembling Blueblood. “This is the greatest threat my nation has faced since the Nightmare rebellion.”  Murmurs rippled around the room. The nobles, the parasites, were most unhappy. Even now, the worst of them could only see the, “What does it matter if the common rabble perish?”  Princess Celestia’s eyes met each and every noble in the room. Some with respect and gratitude, one very definitely with scorn and promised retribution. “You will do what I require of you.” The Alicorn’s mind magic pressed into the constructed mind protecting Noble Guide. The compulsion was crudely placed but so thick with power as to be irresistible. Today, Celestia wielded her power like a flaming sledgehammer. “Good.” The edges of Celestia’s mouth raised in the slightest of smirks. “I thank you for your support.” The princess bowed her head respectfully to her now obedient subjects. With a look, she commanded her assistant to distribute bundled scrolls to each noble. “Now, my Little Ponies, we all have a lot to be doing. Day Court is adjourned until Monday next week. May harmony go with you all.” With that, the Princess of the Sun gratefully departed the room of silent nobles. Blueblood was still shaking as he fled the room as soon as decorum would allow.  He walked to his estate, his hooves taped a calm rhythm on the pristine Canterlot stone. It was good to be away from the suffocating presence of Princess Celestia. She had proved to be far more decisive than anticipated. Fortunately, this could all still work out, resources would be spread thin. Now, more than ever, they would be looking for the wrong thing to be able to stop him.  He double-checked the scroll with his orders. Fortify and secure his refugee settlement, make it self-sufficient and expanded its capacity by at least fourfold.  The rest of the points were not objectionable, at least not to him. For each one million bits of property owned in Canterlot, the owner must provide one guard for the national defence force. For every two ponies beyond the standard allotment of personal guards, a noble must provide one guard for the national defence force. Each household must have one member who has taken or is taking basic civil defence training. Personal defence classes were to be made part of the educational curriculum. Yes, this could work perfectly. Everypony would be too distracted fighting off this new threat. He would not even need to instigate any more incidents. This blight would be more than enough for years to come. The only question was, how to deal with it once he ascended? A nod of greeting, and he was past his gate guards. His butler opened the main door and bowed. Noble kept a collected yet grim expression on his face. Everypony knew a tragedy had happened. Even if they did not truly comprehend the scale of the incident.  With a subtle tilt of his horn, he dismissed his servants and took refuge in his chambers.  The thick red wine he served himself had an awful similarity to another liquid that far too much of had been split. Not that he would have baulked at such a price. It just had been such a waste. The problem was this was not price paid, not acceptable collateral. He was to be king, and ruling a nation’s devastated ruin was not how he wanted his time as an Alicorn to start. Where was the miscalculation? Why had the spell done this? It had behaved the few times it was tested on a smaller scale. A few mutated animals that had to be put down, nothing more.  His increasingly frequent pain medication fizzed as it mixed with the wine. He ambled to his balcony. The cool mountain air was as clean and pure as always.  The airship dock had become a hive of activity. Troops and supplies frantically marshalled, pulled from almost forgotten siege stores.  By the staggering amount of preparations Celestia demanded, this so-called blight would be a recurring problem for decades.  In the streets below, a royal procession wound its way from business to business. Celestia personally entered any that would be of use in her plans. No doubt she was not taking no as an acceptable answer to her requests. Those that would not bend to her wishes willingly would do so under the irresistible might of the Solar Alicorn’s mind magic.  Perhaps most would yield to her kind words and motherly request for aid. For others, it would be the fact it would be social suicide to refuse such requests, especially in times like these.  He looked out past the edge of Canterlot down into the nation below. The view was breathtaking, just not in the usual way. Whole tracts of green land had darkened. The blight had twisted it, forming corrupted edifices, fortifications from which monsters would spread, raiding the nearby settlements.  What had he done to the beautiful land of Equestria?