//------------------------------// // Unspoken Prince of the Desert // Story: Sugar Hoof the Wizard Colt // by Furenstein //------------------------------// A battalion of royal guards, myself, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and Gilded Spear travelled out to the desert north of Klugetown, back home. It was inconspicuous, as was intended, barely any signs of life above ground, but as soon as we touched down onto the sand below, I could feel my treants moving underground. There were more of them now, as per my orders, I should've told them to stop at a million. "Sugar Hoof." Celestia said, seemingly put-off by the magic in the air that was completely invisible to the untrained eye. Both of the princesses eyed the direction of the caverns wearily. "How many treants did you make?" "I made twenty, Princess. I awoke one morning to find my twenty had become thirty thousand." I explained, much to her shock. "They can reproduce?" Celestia said, anger rising in her voice. "Assuming the treant has enough magic to piggyback off of, and a tree strong enough to handle the strain of being given bare mental faculties." I held my head down in thought. We trotted to the cavern on hoof, they prepared for a fight, and I wondered who's side I would even be on IF a fight did break out. "If the treants are only capable of the bare minimum intellect wise, they shouldn't be too much of a hassle." Luna said, a soft smile forming. "Something happened to the treants after we had been here for a while, they are meant for self-defense, or dumb manual labor, but the ones I had made were competent enough to build, to learn magic, to think, to feel." I shook my head. "Thralls aren't meant to be like us, they're minions, simple-minded." The cavern was lit beautifully in nice shades of blue and green. Magic thrummed in the air as butterflies flew about, and treants all over the cavern turned and knew that I had returned. "That's a lot more than thirty thousand." Princess Celestia whispered through a gritted-teeth smile. "When I left, I told them to begin mass producing more treants." "WHAT?!" Everyone screamed at me, much to the displeasure of the treants. "I wanted to build a small kingdom underground, where I could practice and study in peace. When I left, it was to retrieve a magical artifact for studying." I explained, hoping to avoid a fight. "The elements, that was no accident. You planned this from the beginning!" Luna stomped. "No, I was going after the Idol of Boreas, In Griffonstone. Even If I was going after your elements, I would not destroy them, I would study them." Luna narrowed her eyes at me as the guards stared out into the caverns and tried to count them all. Suddenly, the door was blocked as vines covered the only entrance. Treants wearing armor that almost looked identical to their bark and leaves surrounded us. Before things could get worse, I shouted, "STOP!" The trees all halted their movement as Birch walked over to us. "Master, you have finally returned, and you've brought some soon-to-be friends." He said, kneeling. "Birch, we need to go somewhere private." I whispered to him quickly. "Of course, Master. We've had a throne room built in your absence." "A throne room? For me?" I asked to which Birch nodded happily. "I told you I wasn't trying to be a king or anything!" "Your humility is without end, master." I groaned, "Just take us to the throne room then." "Yes, Master, please follow me." I nodded for the ponies to follow me as I trotted after Birch. Though uncertain, they followed after us slowly, ready in case the treants tried anything. As we entered the throne room, I was amazed at how beautiful it was, It only had three things in it, despite it's sheer size. A big throne made of gold and lined with emeralds, and a smaller one, simply made of stone. Windows stained with green lined the wall, allowing us to look out into the caverns below. Inside the room, Overseer Elm and a treant I didn't know waited for us. They both kneeled as we entered. I looked over to the new treant, she wore a dark green robe with vines printed on it. "Who are you supposed to be?" I asked. "I am the leader of the mage's guild, master. I lead the guild and coordinate projects in your name." She said. "I never created a mage's guild, and you all shouldn't have even felt the need for such a thing." "We were all hurt by your loss, master. We hated that you were out there, alone, likely in danger," She looked upset as she recalled the day I left. "So a few of us who were more magically inclined got together to form the guild, so we could handle any dangerous magic projects instead, while you remained safe." I tried not to face hoof before turning around and saying, "Close the door, we have a lot to talk about." Two treants closed the throne room doors. "I told you, Sister, he was up to no good." Luna said aggressively. Celestia narrowed her gaze on me, "You never mentioned you had an army with the population of Manehattan." I didn't know what Manehattan was, so instead I turned to Birch who stood beside Elm. "Roughly speaking, how many treants do we have now?" "There's no need to speak roughly, we record every treant brought to life. We have 1.7 billion treants worldwide." Only the treants were happy, the rest of us were shocked, the Princesses wore panicked expressions as I was unable to fathom what was said. "What do you mean, 'worldwide', the caverns can't go that far, we're surrounded by water." "We dug deeper into the earth, master, and began setting up teleportation systems to get around the caverns faster." "How deep exactly?" I asked, not entirely wanting the answer. "We reached the inner core a few days ago." He replied. He caught me up on all that had happened since I left, much to the growing uncertainty and fear from the ponies. Princess Celestia looked at her royal guards and could see the fear radiate off of them, and the anger Luna felt. The treants stood happily, ready to protect Sugar Hoof and do whatever he ordered readily. She made a split second decision that she believed would keep her ponies safe. Sugar Hoof, I would be honored if your Kingdom would join with Equestria." She said, shocking all the ponies behind her, her sister included. "I have watched you grow since the tree of harmony was destroyed." "Since he destroyed the tree of harmony." Luna said, much to her sister's displeasure. "I would like to extend to you the title of Prince of Equestria, and welcome you and your treants as Equestrian citizens." Her smile was fake, her body language was fake, she was pretending and putting in all the effort she could to make it convincing. "You're serious?" I asked, not sensing a lie, but I could tell she was acting on the cuff. "You have already earned the respect and loyalty of your treants, I know you will be a kind and just ruler." Did she not understand that I 'earned' their respect and loyalty because I am essentially their dad? I created them, it is my magic that keeps them alive. I was dumbfounded, I've never been a ruler, I'm just a wizard. "What exactly do you expect from me?" I asked sheepishly. "You and your treants can come and go as you wish, and you are expected to maintain order here in the desert." Well that didn't sound too bad, I thought. "Since you still have the elements, we will still need you help defending Equestria." "I've no political background nor understanding of royalty, are you certain this is wise?" "I have never been more certain." Now that, was a lie. "Do I need to stay here, or do I return to Canterlot?" I asked. This time, she did not answer to me, and instead looked over to Birch. "You mentioned teleporter systems earlier, is there any way a teleporter could be set up for travel between here and Canterlot?" Birch would not answer until I turned around and gave him a knowing nod. "Of course, all we need is to set the teleporter up in this 'Canterlot'." In a day's time, I went from being King Sugar Hoof in the caverns to Prince Sugar Hoof, all the treants hated saying it. Now instead of a prisoner, I was a Prince, and not just like a random group in the desert Prince, but an official Prince. One of two in Equestria. By Princess Celestia's royal decree, I was to watch over the desert in Equestria's name, and bring all who would do harm to justice. My treants became more open, we were less secluded now, leading to rumors spreading across all the desert citizens. Some believed that I was the true ruler of the desert, others still remained loyal to the storm king. Though, his support was failing while mine only grew. There was talk about him amassing troops on his island, preparing for a blood-letting, though none were afraid, as I brought harmony and life with me. "You make our strongest enemy a Prince?!" Shouted the lunar princess. "You think I wanted too? All it would take is for him to give the order, and..." She trailed off as she thought about the results. Ponies slain by treants, and the green would overtake the world. "We'd be slaughtered in a conflict." "All this has done is invite war to us, the storm king ruled the desert, he will attack!" "Yes, of course he will, he'll attack Sugar Hoof first. Either Equestria's greatest threat is destroyed, or our most technologically advanced enemy is destroyed." "But still, a princehood, you've given him political power." "He already had that, all he would have to do is take it. At least like this, hopefully he'll grow attached to our way of life and see us as friends instead of others to be conquered." "If you intend to befriend him, perhaps leaving Gilded Spear with him would be a good idea." "Just as I was thinking, dear sister." "Master, surely you jest." Advisor Birch said, having been demoted since I became a prince. "It's not that bad, Birch." I said, rolling my eyes as tailor treants took measurements of my body. "You are the greatest being to ever live, and you are to be settled as the inferior to two pegacorns?" "Alicorns, and It's not my intention to live at the top, I just want the freedom to study magic as I please. If I keep the Crown's peace out here, I suspect they'll mostly leave me alone in time." "Still though, it is them who are lesser than you, you are the rightful king!" Birch said, exasperated. "I am just a wizard, a very talented wizard, yes, but just a wizard. It is through fear that they've given me a princehood, I suspect. Princess Celestia would not give me political power unless it was to placate me." "Master?" "She knows what I can do, and when she became aware of my army, she knew she had to do something to stop me from turning my army towards her ponies." This reminded Birch of something, "Speaking of your army... my prince," he made a facial expression that made it seem like the word prince was poisonous. "We have some prisoners that we need your ruling on." "Prisoners? From my order to imprison everyone who arrived here?" "Yes, as we dug around the globe, we found more and more invaders in your land." "You mean you dug into someone else's underground home, declared it as mine, and imprisoned everyone who lived there?" I said with a glare. "Yes, master." He said sheepishly, causing me to groan. "Release the prisoners, they are free to leave." I ordered. "My prince, they no longer want to leave." "What, don't they want their freedom back?" I asked. "They have forgone all freedom in exchange for being allowed the honor of serving you." I sat down and face hoofed, causing the tailor treants to stop taking measurements. "What have you done now, Birch?" "I am to live with Sugar Hoof full time?" Gilded Spear said. He was thankful to be back in Canterlot, and thought that his job with Sugar Hoof was over. "Yes, my little pony. I need you to keep doing what you've been doing, try to befriend him, and inform me of everything he does." "Won't it be a bit weird, him being a Prince and all?" Gilded asked, uncertainty in his eyes. "I won't lie, it will be strange, having him as your superior. Follow your training, and try to keep him in line." Gilded Spear saluted, "Yes, Princess." "Commander Tempest, the new shipment of spears you requested have arrived." "Excellent, how long before we're ready to mobilize?" She replied, overlooking the preparations for war being carried out in the courtyard below. "A few days now, ma'am." The broken-horned pony breathed in the wet and stormy air of their constantly raining home. "This sugar rebellion will be over before it's even began."