Canterlot was a city of legend. Built on the side of Mount Canterhorn, it was the capital of the Solar Empire, the seat of Empress Daybreaker herself. It was a centre of trade, a centre of religion, and the main base of the Solar Army and the Solar Imperial Guard.
And sitting in a massive, lavishly decorated solar, was the aforementioned Empress Daybreaker.
The mare had discarded her regalia already, allowing herself to relax as she lounged on a couch which had been a gift from Saddle Arabia’s Emir, some three hundred years ago.
Or was it two hundred? Hard to tell, with how alike they all look. Then again, I suppose that’s the point.
‘’Your majesty!’’
Daybreaker lifted her head, glaring at the guard that had dared to disturb her rest without even announcing himself. ‘’What?” she snarled.
The guard rapidly saluted, then said, ‘’The Captain-General has been murdered!’’
I hate everything.
Five minutes later, Daybreaker stood outside the house of her Captain-General of the Imperial Guard. A cordon of her Solar Guard’s best and brightest surrounded her, keeping any onlookers well away from the scene.
Despite his status, the Captain-General had decided to remain in his old, two-story house, even though Daybreaker had offered him a house far more suited to his stature. He had rejected her offer because he 'liked this neighbourhood more'.
One of her guards emerged from the house, looking stricken and shocked. ‘’Your majesty.’’ He bowed as he stopped in front of her.
‘’Report,’’ Daybreaker ordered.
The stallion raised his head. ‘’Your majesty, the Captain-General, his wife and his eldest daughter all appear to have been murdered. We found them with their throats slit in the living room. There are no signs of a struggle.’’
Daybreaker raised one of her eyebrows. She found that hard to believe. What being could sneak up on her Captain-General and kill him so easily? ‘’Go on.’’
The soldier swallowed. ‘’We found the Captain-General’s youngest daughter asleep in her crib, untouched and unharmed. Nothing else in the house is out of place.’’
Daybreaker considered the very unlikely turn of events. Someone had gotten into the house of her Captain-General, which she had warded herself - said wards were still present and showed no signs of being tampered with - killed him, his wife and his eldest daughter, and then left without doing anything else.
It seemed almost impossible. But, apparently these were the facts.
‘’Bring the child to me,’’ Daybreaker commanded.
The stallion bowed again. ‘’As you wish, your majesty.’’ With a dismissive nod from Daybreaker, he turned around and went back into the house, coming out a minute later with a sleeping foal, carried in his magic.
The foal could not be more than five months old. Daybreaker hadn’t seen her before, but she was immediately affected by how cute she looked. Foals were by definition cute, but this one was even more so, with her fluffy white coat and her pink and purple curls.
Cute now, a beauty later, and stately in her old age. I can see it already.
‘’Thank you, soldier,’’ she said as she took the foal from him with her own telekinesis.
‘’Of course, your majesty.’’ The stallion hesitated. ‘’If I may… what will happen to her?”
Daybreaker looked at her guard. Her Captain-General had been close with all of his soldiers, and this one was no exception. Likely he knew more about the foal than Daybreaker did.
‘’I do not yet know,’’ she admitted after a moment. ‘’For the time being, she will stay with me.’’
The guard looked visibly relieved at that, before schooling his face into the neutrality they were all trained to have. ‘’As you wish, your majesty.’’
Daybreaker hummed noncommittally as she placed the foal on her back. ‘’I will return to the Palace and put the foal to bed,’’ she informed the guard. ‘’Begin an investigation immediately.’’
‘’By your command, your majesty.’’
Daybreaker gave a single nod to him, then teleported herself back to her rooms. There, she lifted the foal off her back and laid her on her massive bed. With a click of her tongue, two servants entered. ‘’Get a crib for the foal and prepare a room for her, as close to mine as you can manage. She will be staying here for the coming time.’’
‘’As you command, your majesty,’’ the two servants said as one, bowing before leaving the room.
Daybreaker turned back to the somehow-still-asleep foal. ‘’Poor dear,’’ she whispered. ‘’Don’t worry. You’re safe here.’’
Or she ought to be. But first, a new captain of the guard. And then some revisions of the guard. She was going to insist on some better protection this time.
Daybreaker looked over the initial conclusion of a rapport concerning investment into the Navy’s new fleet of submarines. The main issue was sacrificing range for firepower, and deciding what the better of the two choices was was a headache and a half. In the end, the rapport had settled on deciding that another rapport needed to be made, because of course it had.
Fucking bureacracy.
‘’Ga!’’
Daybreaker lifted her head and raised an eyebrow at the foal, seated in her high chair. Food was smeared on her face and on the chair. Some of it had even gotten onto her horn.
Chuckling, Daybreaker used her magic to wipe Sweetie’s face clean. ‘’Now then,’’ she said, lifting up a spoon filled with the food in her telekinesis, ‘’open up, my dear.’’
Sweetie stared at the spoon for a moment, before banging her hooves on the little table of her chair. Green sparks flew from her horn, and Daybreaker felt a very, very weak force try to wrest the spoon from her control. She had more power in her sleep, but it was still impressive that the foal could manage even that.
‘’Aren’t you an interesting cutie?’’ she mused aloud.
‘’Ga!’’ Sweetie confirmed.
‘’Quite.’’ Daybreaker prodded her with the spoon, and Sweetie finally opened her mouth to eat it. ‘’There you go. That wasn’t so hard, was it?’’
‘’Ga!’’ Sweetie pounded her foreleg on the stool. ‘’Ga! Ga!’’
‘’I have no idea what you’re saying,’’ Daybreaker deadpanned, ‘’but I agree. A as long as you eat your food, that is.’’