//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Preparations // Story: Piece by Piece // by Eltirions //------------------------------// 11 December 1008 He’d gotten back to the Palace sometime before nine in the evening, and had then immediately gone to bed. The day had been far too exhausting. Luckily for Shrouded, he did not have shifts in the morning. His first watch started at noon, though that wasn’t standard. He’d have to find a way of thanking Darkheart later. With that decided, he rolled out of his bed, away from the pleasurable warmth that was Misty’s body next to him. He would have preferred to stay, but he had to get up sometime. ‘’Why do you leave me!’’ Misty over-dramatically cried out as she sat up in the bed.. ‘’Am I not good enough for you?’’ Shrouded fixed her with a look that made her giggle and snicker at the same time. ‘’Obviously,’’ he drawled.  ‘’My heart is broken! Oh, the equinity!’’ Misty pretended to swoon. Shrouded chuckled at his lover’s antics. ‘’What a shame.’’ ‘’Ugh, fuck you too.’’ ‘’We did that seven hours ago.’’ Misty’s glare would have killed him, if it could. ‘’Go then,’’ she said. ‘’Leave me.’’ Shrouded, wisely, took this as his que to retreat. He loved Misty, he really did, but she was snippy before her first three cups of coffee. Shrouded could sympathize; he wasn’t much better.  He got three metres into the mess room, before Darkheart greeted him with a jovial, ‘’Good morning, Shrouded,’’ that indicated nothing but pain would come. Shrouded ignored his commanding officer and continued his walk towards the coffee machine. ‘’I’ve taken the liberty of assigning both you and Misty to the escort of the Princess,’’ Darkheart continued with the same tone of voice, ‘’and by that I mean you two will primarily be escorting the Princess in particular.’’ ‘’Sir yes sir,’’ Shrouded muttered sardonically as he filled his cup with coffee. ‘’Whatever you say sir.’’ Oh, he understood perfectly well what Darkheart was saying, but he just plain couldn’t be made to care until he’d had at least two and a half cups of coffee. When he had consumed those two and a half cups, he finally bothered to reply directly to Darkheart. ‘’Is there a reason you have picked us for this task, sir?” he asked semi-warily.  ‘’I’m so glad you asked,’’ Darkheart replied with a smile that meant nothing good. ‘’I selected you because it has been proven you are good with children, and I selected Misty because she’s the most competent mare we have.’’ Shrouded raised an eyebrow at the praise. ‘’Why do I feel there’s a catch.’’ Darkheart’s smile turned into a smirk. ‘’While I’m sure Commander Dash will agree to my reasoning,’’ he said, ‘’she takes the security of the Princess very seriously, and will no doubt insist on additional training to make sure you meet her exceptional standards.’’ Motherfucker. ‘’Sir.’’ Would it be immoral to throw his remaining coffee into Darkheart’s face? It’d certainly be a waste of coffee. ‘’Sir, Misty is going to kill you.’’ Darkheart chuckled. ‘’I’ll take that advice to heart, sergeant. Now go and have your breakfast.’’ ‘’Sir.’’ Shrouded didn’t bother saluting to him. Once he’d sat down and had eaten his breakfast, Shrouded allowed himself to wonder at Darkheart’s choice. The argument he used for me is weak, and the one for Misty is non-existent. I suppose you could argue that the Princess would need both a mare and a stallion to look after her, but that alone wouldn’t be enough reason… Shrouded wasn’t going to question his post, oh Moon no. He was quite content with being responsible for the Princess’ safety. It was technically a dangerous job, but here in the Crystal Empire there was barely any risk to the filly. Everything Shrouded had seen indicated that the Crystallians loved Flurry Heart, and wouldn’t let her come to harm. But harm is relative. That had been a lesson drilled into him during training, as a vital part of the VIP protection lessons: harm was relative. A rabid fan who tried to kidnap their favourite singer or actor might not mean anything harmful, but the kidnapped person definitely wouldn’t see it that way, and the law wouldn’t either. From what Shrouded could tell most Crystallians were more or less content with the current state of affairs, although how much of that was because the Lunar Empire had liberated them from Sombra the thestral didn’t know. But there were probably a few nutjobs who thought that Nightmare Moon was the source of all evil, and that they had to rescue their Princess from the clutches of darkness. Shrouded snorted. Some people… ‘’So I hear we’re assigned together,’’ Misty said as she sat down next to him, carrying her own breakfast. ‘’Who’d you suck off for that?’’ ‘’No one,’’ Shrouded replied truthfully. ‘’Darkheart probably thinks it’s funny,’’ he offered. Misty reached up and pecked his cheek. ‘’Well, I certainly don’t mind,’’ she admitted as she began with her breakfast. ‘’Not sure if it’s funny though.’’ ‘’We are not sneaking kisses while guarding the Princess,’’ Shrouded declared before Misty could even think of the idea. ‘’Aww…’’ Misty pouted very cutely. It was Shrouded’s turn to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘’But when we’re off-duty…’’ ‘’Fair,’’ Misty decided, and dragged him in for a longer kiss. |-x-X-x-| 11 December 1008 Damnit, I should have seen it! Sunset had been sleeping for over twelve hours now. Nightmare had checked, multiple times with different doctors, that she was actually sleeping and not in a coma or something similar, and luckily she was. But Nightmare still couldn’t visit her dreams. There was a reason for that, of course. Ponies always dreamt, even if they didn’t remember doing so most of the time, but Nightmare had experienced a completely dreamless sleep before with other ponies. It usually only happened when they were deathly tired, and their brain was so exhausted it couldn’t even conjure up anything to dream about. Soldiers had it sometimes, if a battle had been going on for far too long. Nightmare continued to watch the sleeping unicorn with a mixture of pity and regret. Why hadn’t she paced herself?! Sunset had been Celestia’s student, she had to have known her limits for studying. Maybe she forgot about them. Or maybe… she’s  afraid. Nightmare was pretty sure that Sunset was the person most likely to pose a challenge to her in a fight, outside of Twilight. Sunset was an extremely skilled mage, and unlike Twilight was not afraid to go for the kill. Nightmare was far more powerful, of course, but Sunset would still make for a difficult opponent. Was that your plan, Celestia? she wondered. Train someone to kill me, so you wouldn’t have to do it yourself? That sounds like you. Through the window, Nightmare looked at the sun she had risen into the sky about an hour ago. Celestia was watching Faust from it, or maybe she wasn’t; Nightmare had no way of knowing without going there herself, and she had no intention of ever doing that unless it was absolutely necessary. Sunset stirred a little. Nightmare looked back at her, but other than having shifted her head a little the unicorn still looked exactly the same. ‘’Your majesty?’’ one of her guards asked through the door. ‘’We have a priority message from Crystal City.’’ ‘’Bring it here,’’ Nightmare commanded immediately. Why was there a priority message? Had something happened? The guard entered and hoofed her a letter stamped with the seal of the Crystal Palace. ‘’Thank you,’’ she dismissed the guard with a wave of her hoof. Once he was gone, she opened the letter with her magic and unfolded it. Your Imperial Highness, Greetings. My name is Tight Ship, Chamberlain of the Crystal Palace. I write this letter to inform you that the Crown Princess, the Governess and Commander Dash shall be taking a tour of the Governorate’s largest cities (Rainbow Falls, Snowybury, Quebuck, Hedgewards and Ponytown, in that order) from the evening of the 12th of December until the evening of the 21st of December, this year.  The Governess has requested I pen this letter, seeing as she is busy with the preparations for the tour. I have been assured that all the security and planning is being seen to by qualified ponies, and that the Crown Princess shall be back in time for your own arrival on the 22nd. I look forward to seeing you there. Signed, Tight Ship, Chamberlain of the Crystal Palace  Nightmare stared at the paper. A tour of the nation? Whose idea was that? She put it down next to the bed, on the nightstand, and then raised her hoof and rubbed her forehead. If they wanted to go on a tour, Nightmare trusted Rarity to ensure that Flurry would remain safe and be raised into a princess capable of one day ruling the Crystal Empire. And perhaps even more. Nightmare had considered it. Twilight wouldn’t ever want to rule together with her, probably, but if Flurry could do it… Nightmare wouldn’t say no to an extra pair of hooves to help her rule.  But that would be Flurry’s choice. And there were other options besides her, anyway. Sunset stirred again. |-x-X-x-| 11 December 1008 Rarity awoke to find a comfy warmth pressing into her barrel. She immediately looked down to see Flurry had snuggled against her during the night, her legs wrapped around and against Rarity in a very loose hug. Behind Flurry laid Rainbow, snoring softly. It was warm and adorable. Rarity wanted it to last. But it couldn’t. She turned her head around to see the time. 09:27. Great, two hours until the press conference. ‘’Flurry,’’ she said softly, ‘’time to wake up.’’ ‘’Hmm…’’ Flurry mumbled, stirring a little. ‘’Rainbow,’’ Rarity said a little louder. ‘’It’s morning.’’ ‘’Rares…’’ Rainbow muttered. ‘’Don’t wanna.’’ ‘’We have two hours until the press conference,’’ Rarity informed them both. ‘’We need to have breakfast and get ready for that.’’ ‘’Auntieeeeeeeeeee…’’ Flurry whined as her eyes fluttered open. ‘’Tired.’’ ‘’I know,’’ Rarity said sympathetically, ‘’but it’s time. Come on.’’ She pulled away the covers and got out of the bed. Flurry yawned, then followed behind her, while Rainbow sulked and then leapt out of the bed. ‘’Why did we plan it so early?’’ Rainbow whiningly asked. ‘’Because we have things to do,’’ Rarity reminded her. They had a quick breakfast, which was briefly interrupted by Tight Ship informing her that he’d sent a letter about the tour to the Empress, for which Rarity thanked him profusely. After that breakfast, they all refreshed themselves, and then it was already almost time for the press conference. Rarity put the finishing touches on Flurry’s mane. It wasn’t anything extravagant, just a bit of combing and setting everything just right. She’d pulled her own mane into a more complicated version of her usual working bun, elegant but relatively simple compared to some of the hairstyles she saw in the Empire every day. ‘’Rares.’’ Rainbow was not very happy with the fact she had to wear her uniform. It wasn’t a bad uniform: the colours blended well together, and it was practical and suited for the tasks it was made for. But Rarity had to admit that it wasn’t very fabulous. ‘’Rainbow,’’ she said back. ‘’You look good.’’ Rainbow smirked. ‘’I always do,’’ she quipped with a toss of her head and a wink. ‘’So I’m going to be standing behind you and next to Flurry, right?’’ ‘’You are,’’ Rarity affirmed with a nod. She’d be taking centre stage, obviously, with Flurry behind her, more hidden but still obvious to anyone who tried to see her, and Rainbow next to Flurry to make sure she was protected. There would be more guards, of course, but Rainbow would be Flurry’s shield if anything happened. Rarity trusted her to get Flurry out if a fight broke out. Once all the preparations were finished, they went down to the front of the palace, where a stand had been set up for Rarity. Heart Square was steadily filling up with ponies; already there were thousands present. Speakers had been installed so everyone could hear Rarity loud and clearly, and the Night Guard was out in full force, together with Crystal City police. This is it. And that was when Rarity realized she hadn’t prepared a speech. ‘’Rainbow I don’t have a speech,’’ she hissed under her breath. ‘’Rainbow I-’’ ‘’You’ll be fine,’’ Rainbow proclaimed confidently. ‘’You can think up a speech on the fly. Just tell them what you wrote in those letters, and everything will work out.’’ ‘’But-’’ Rainbow pulled her in close and pressed her muzzle against Rarity’s. ‘’Go,’’ she said after the longest five seconds in Rarity’s life. Rarity practically galloped onto the stage, heart racing. Touching muzzles wasn’t a kiss - good friends did it too, and nobody could deny that she and Rainbow were good friends, but it was so close to it that Rarity had half-expected it to end in a kiss anyway. She slowed her pace just before the cameras could catch her, and forced herself to maintain her elegant, prim posture as she walked onto the stage and towards the microphone. She tried not to focus too much on the crowd: by now there were probably over ten thousand ponies, and if she thought too much about that she was sure to panic. Deep breaths, Rarity. You can do this. ‘’Good morning,’’ she blagged into the microphone. ‘’My name is Rarity Belle, Governess of the Crystal Empire. It is a pleasure to be here in front of you.’’ She took a moment, and weighed the crowd. They appeared to be curious, and willing to listen. They were quiet, at the very least. ‘’I realize that I have not been very present in your lives since arriving in the Empire. I’m certain that some people find no problem with the current state of affairs; however I am not content with my isolation from you.’’ Breath again. ‘’Do not make a mistake: I’ve no wish to interfere in your lives any more than necessary. I simply wish to be more connected to the people I am supposed to rule. A ruler should be connected to those they are sworn to protect; I have made a mistake in ignoring this, and for that I wish to offer my sincere apologies to you all.’’ She allowed the silence to stretch on for a few seconds, before picking up her speech again. Now she felt that the crowd was more than a little surprised. ‘’But simple apologies won’t suffice, I’m afraid. And there is something else.’’ She turned her head and gestured at Flurry. ‘’Crown Princess Flurry Heart has been wishing to see more of the nation beyond Crystal City, and so do I.’’  Rarity allowed herself to smile as a wave of anticipation and adoration swept through the crowd. ‘’To that end,’’ she said, ‘’the Crown Princess, Crystal Shadowbolt Commander Rainbow Dash and myself shall take a tour of the nation’s five largest cities: Rainbow Falls, Snowybury, Quebuck, Hedgewards and Ponytown, starting this evening and ending the evening on the 21st this month.’’