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// The Duchess of the Western Kingdom's 
// Story: The Magic Lamp 
// by Silver Butcher 
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The sands of Saddle Arabia filled the air as winds blew around a small town that was in the middle of a celebration, on the outskirts of the town Shining Armor, Flurry, and Starswirl were making their way towards the town, all wearing protective clothing to both shield themselves from the sandy winds and to hide their faces from Cozy, Starswirl looked at the map he was holding in his magic before looking back to the Saddle Arabian town before them.
"This is the place, Cozy's last wish was made here about three days ago,"
"So she's most likely hiding out here with Spike," Shining said as they entered the outskirts of the town.
"That or she noticed she was being tracked and has already gone into hiding, planning her next move,"
"For someone who says they specialize in tracking you sure took your time finding out where they'd gone," Flurry noted as she looked at the Horses of the town celebrating like no tomorrow. food and drinks were in abundant supply, and the entire town seemed to be covered in a barrier protecting it from the wiping winds and the blowing sand, "What's going on?" She questioned "I don't know a lot about Saddle Arabia but I don't think there are any holiday's happening anytime soon,"
"Who knows," Starswirl replied as he looked at the partying natives "Maybe that sand protecting barrier is new, seems like the kind of thing you'd celebrate when you live in the center of a desert," Starswirl looked around and rolled up his map, "Alright, you two look around and see if this town has a leader, we'll need their permission if we want to bring an investigative team here to search for Cozy and Spike, in the meantime I'll see if I can pinpoint how many wishes were made here," Starswirl dropped the bell from his hat and followed it as it began tracking traces of Spike's magic.
Shining and Flurry watched him for a moment before turning to a nearby restaurant that was overcrowded with horses and they made their way in. As they headed inside Flurry stopped as her sensory spell informed her that something had been staring at them for a fair amount of time. She looked around but gave it up when she failed to spot the one watching her and entered the restaurant. On a Roof across the street from her, Breezie Spike fluttered up a little and smiled.
"About time," he said with a chuckle before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Shining and Flurry's time in the restaurant was short as their question of who was in charge of the town had been answered by nearly the entire establishment with a hearty cheer to the Duchess of the Western Kingdom. Flurry had been given a drink on the house while Shining had been filled in on the town's recent events.
"Apparently," Shining said as they exited "This town had a big problem with slave trading, and this Duchess of the Western Kingdom moved her entire lively hood here and has been stamping the problem out at the source, the towns own local government,"
"What's a Duchess?" Flurry asked as she tried to pinpoint the title to somepony in Equestria.
"It's what Prince Blueblood actually is," Shining replied simply "A Rank below that of a Prince, Blueblood just demanded to be called a prince and then started firing any of his staff who called him otherwise," Shining looked to his daughter and noticed the look on her face. "Oh, but don't worry, I'm sure not all duke's and duchesses are like Blueblood,"
"I hope not," Flurry said with a groan "It'll make this impossible,"
"She moved her entire life to a random providence to help stop the slave trade in her country," Shining pointed out as they made their way to the town hall the Duchess was currently residing at, "I'm sure her heart's in the right place at the very least," Due to the town seemingly celebrating the arrival of the Duchess the streets were mostly empty and The two made their way to the town hall fairly quickly. The Townhall was fairly large in size, and outside of it, a set of guards were dragging a horse to a cart where he was desperately screaming for forgiveness as he was thrown into a cart and was driven off, still pleading to be set free. Shining and Flurry watched the scene play out before making their way to the hall, where a small line of horses stood, all holding different papers. Shining and Flurry were about to ask if this was the line to see the Duchess when a female voice spoke up.
"Hold the line, I see a couple of Lost Equestrians in the back," The Line looked back at them as what looked to be a Diamond Dog made its way down the line towards them.
"I'm very sorry," She said "But this line is an aid line for those who have lost family members to the slave trade, if you are lost there's a hotel you can spend the night in and you may come tomorrow to ask about accommodations back to your homeland," Flurry walked up to the Diamond dog and removed her coat, letting her wings show freely as she picked the cloth up with her horn. "Oh," The Diamond dog said bluntly as the line goers all stepped away from the Equestrian Princess "I was not told of an Equestrian Princess coming to see the Duchess," The Diamond dog scratched her chin with a bemused look "That said I doubt I have the power to stop you from speaking to the duchess regardless of if you have an appointment or not," A set of guards approached and the Diamond dog waved them off "As the Assistant to the Duchess I'll take you to her personally, I'm sure she'll be happy to see you, not that she can stop you either,"
The Trio walked past the line, Shining looked at it and realized that the papers they were holding were pictures of lost family members along with document's probably relaying information on who had taken them, he quickly noted that most of the line goers only had pictures though. They made their way into the Hall and after some walking arrived at a large set of doors.
"Um...please be quiet upon entry," The Diamond dog said politely "There's a trial going on at the moment, the Duchess will see to you after it is over" She put her hand against the door, and revealed that the large door was just the wall made to look like a door with the actual one hidden inside of it. The Trio made their way in and found a horse standing in the center of the room, before a glamorous throne sat an Equestrian Pegasus, she was taller than most with light pink fur and a long blue mane. She was wearing a white dress so her cutie mark was hidden from view, She had larger than normal wings extended their fullest as she glared silently at the cowering Horse. She paid no mind to Flurry or Shining as the Diamond Dog motioned for them to stay put and rushed to the Duchesses side. The Duchess didn't look away from the Horse as she reached out and lightly patted the Diamond Dog's head once she came to a rest next to her.
"I..." The horse said feebly and the Duchess struck her hoof down and hit the floor, cracking the marble at her feet as she did so.
"You have nothing," She declared "I have several families who have confirmed they saw their missing members with you before they went missing, Furthermore you were caught attempting to smuggle exotic creatures through the city, including but not limited to a young Dragon, a Kirin, a Breezie, a Llama, and the Very Diamond Dog that now stands at my side,"
"Please," The Horse said abruptly "I had no idea she was yours when I..."
"This Diamond dog is my assistant not my Property," The Duchess said as she struck the floor again, "Regardless you will be shipped to the Eastern mountains to spend the rest of your days working in the mines, Take him away," The Horse started begging as the guards dragged him out. The Duchess watched this as the Diamond dog whispered to her. The Duchess turned to Flurry and Shining as she drew her wings back in and stood on her hooves. as she approached a Brown Kirin with a Pink mane slunk out from behind the throne and removed the broken marble floor and quickly replaced it before sliding back out of sight.
"Greetings," She said with a bow.
"How," Shining asked with a raised brow "Did an Equestrian become a member of Saddle Arabian Royalty"
"I was taken from my homeland at a young age by a group of slave traders, and was bought from them by a set of noble folk who couldn't have their own child, They have long since left me behind, not that I care too much for them, they were prominent in keeping the slave trade alive, upon their death I took claim of their estate and soon after began dismantling the slave trade. Truth be told I am now living here after a failed attempt on my life, the would-be assassin originated from this town, so I am here to clean it of its dirty trade and help the locals regain their lost family's,"
The Duchess turned her back to them and made her way back to her thrown, upon taking her seat a blue Breezie with a white mane fluttered in and whispered into her ear.
"Tell him he will be in charge of the next few trials, we have Equestrian Royalty visiting," The Breezie fluttered off and the Duchess looked to Shining and Flurry "Now then, what might I aid you in?"
"We're looking for an escaped Convict," Shining said simply "She was last seen in this town, at least three days ago if our tracking is good, we've come to ask your permission to search for her in your town,"
"Permission granted," She replied with a smile "And might I add I appreciate you taking the time to ask me," Shining and Flurry bowed and the Duchess bowed back "Please do tell me if you find them, and you can use any of my guards for help if need be," After a quick thanks Shining and Flurry waved the Diamond dog off and teleported back to where they had left Starswirl.
"She seemed nice," Flurry said "What a pleasant surprise," Shining didn't say anything as he scratched his chin in thought 
"That Duchess has the same color pattern as Cozy, what more her list of slaves from that trader are all things Spike has been noted to turn into, and I never saw her Cutie mark, if that is Cozy, then we'll need to tread lightly, this entire thing could be a trap of some kind," He looked to Flurry and smiled "Flurry doesn't seem to have thought of it yet, so I'll have to  keep her in the dark and see if she spots anything suspicious while not looking for it," Aloud Shining called to his Daughter "It occurs to me that if Cozy is still around she'll probably be going after the Duchess, might be planning to start a war between Saddle Arabia and Equestria, Flurry, while we search for Cozy, keep an eye on the Duchess if Cozy makes a move against her I'll need you to stop her,"
"You got it dad," Flurry said with a salute



Cozy sat in silence as Spike scratched her head.
"That went super well," Diamond Dog Spike said as she looked to Cozy "Shining's suspicious, as planned, and Flurry's going to be keeping you safe from....you,"
"Good," Cozy said with a smile as she extended her now super large wings "I have to say I wasn't expecting the age thing when I wished to be the Duchess, but I am loving being this big, I can finally reach the top shelf without having to fly," Spike smiled at her and Cozy patted her head again. Kirin Spike poked out from behind the throne and started scratching at his wrists.
"Careful," Cozy said to him "If you scratch too much you'll disrupt your glamor, be pretty hard to play to fool if they see you in your true colors, along with the eyeliner and the golden cuffs,"
"Ah, but Glamor's are so itchy," Kirin whined as he rubbed the air over his arms.
"I wish they didn't bother you, Pweety Pweese," Kirin Spike let out a large sigh of relief.
"Ah thank the stars," he sighed as he flopped onto his back, "Oh and about all the missing..."
"I wish for them to be found in a quick but believable way, Pweety Pweese," Cozy said simply "Now, let's get Dinner started, I could use a bite and I need to see how all the rest of the you's have been doing in their roles as head of staff,"