Starlight Glimmer comes by Twilight's throne and bows for her.
"Your highness, I think we both know what is happening recently at our western frontier." She says, getting standing up again.
"You have been reported of more issues?" She asks.
"Well, no much lot have been reported actually. There is a great flow of people exiting Equestria in order to benefit from the Equideer's social norms." She explains.
"I've heard of that. Life is easier there as I heard from some poor ponies says." She roll her eyes. "Why people can't understand their system is so more fragile than ours and only based on a thought of Unity while we have magic, sport, money, technology institutions and schools, all of stuff. What is happening, Starlight?"
"I don't know my dear. But it have to stop because they are even settling new towns close to us. They have a very different way of living than ours and our society risks of it."
"I'd like engage you as a special agent, that have for mission to research what is the matter about them and how can we counterpart their arrival to sustain prosperity in Equestria." She says. "I want you to introduce the society, seek for clues or what else, and come back to me when you found what is so important in their success that we are missing." She orders.
"Acknowledged, your majesty." Starlight replies. "Do I have to work solo? Or can I build a little team?"
"Well if you thought of some, why not. But try to stay as discreet as possible." She says. "If you had something in mind, sure."
"Mhh. I had a little idea, for sure." She smiles and rub her front hooves, thinking of her plan.
Twinklesprite sees the yaks coming.
"Hi, welcome to Equideer! I wish you a happy day!" She says at the register of the in-building hostel.
"Yak pretty picky food or quality of beds. If something is not perfect, yak destroys everything!" he says firmly, as some of it does a little "Uh huh!" agreeing sound.
"Urgh. So unpleasant." She replies, rolling her eyes and laying back in her chair, mindlessly reading a book that have a dress picture on the front.
"What!?" He replies firmly, stepping on the ground which makes it trembles for a second and getting close to her.
"Uh! Nothing!" She says, sweating, as she is surprised by the yaks movement she falls off her chair. "Just, don't mind me. I'm not here."
After a few instants, from outside of the building in construction, we can hear a strong voice.
"This. Not perfect. Yak want smash everything!!"
The next seconds, the building collapses. Just coming by with a pile of wood and stuff, Suncream throw her tools and materials on the ground, doing an annoyed or disappointed sound.
"What is the matter, exactly?" She screams.
Strawberry Jam manage to get out of rubbles, as she was probably, pastly, in a room or upstairs. She shout as her leg is hurt.
"Awouch ouch ouch! It hurts!!" She cries.
"Strawberry!" Flowercorn that were also nearby, comes by. "Oh my, by all gods, what happened?"
Suncreams rush to the yaks.
"You are going to repair that immediately!" She shout.
"Baby pony don't order yak, ever!" He replies, coldly.
"Is that a dare?" She have her head against the yak which become a kind of headfight or such between the two of them.
Twinklesprite grab Suncream's tail and tries to makes her less confident.
"Darling you don't wanna angry more the yaks don't you?" She says, mumbling because all of her strength is put into her trying to stop her.
After some time, the ponies and deers are gathering in front of the Queen and King of Equideer, Esperanza & Ethan.
"We demand refunds!" Someone in the shout says. "Yaks destroy everything!"
"A dragon burned my house in a sneeze!" Someone else says. "Then he left, laughing and saying we should build more stronger houses!"
"We have enough of having changelings doing us jokes by changing to ourselves and saying whatsoever!" A mother and her family of few daughters in the background of the crowd seems annoyed by changelings making them confused about who is who.
Esperanza and Ethan looks at themselves.
"Oh my, by all gods, what are we going to do?" He looks stressed.
"We need to talk." She says firmly to the crowd. "We will agree on new rules of our country, and apply them instantly or the sooner possible. Every issues will be solved by your local or closest Helper and the usual civic service of the Guidance Collectivity. I encourage if you are unsatisfied by the time your issues aren't solved to join the Guidance."
A blue pony drinks a tea. Starlight smiles to her.
"Hi Trixie, it's been a while!" She says.
"Yes. It have been a while." She says deadpan. "I don't know if you can but if you have any royal authority you probably should name her the Lonely and Miserable Trixie because that'd be more realistic to the actual her."
She lays her head on the table, feeling deeply bored.
"Aww don't feel like that, I'm sure you will find someone soon enough." She retorts.
Trixie looks up again.
"Do you think I ever will? Look at me, I'm never gonna be enough for anyone." She argues.
"Okay, okay. It isn't important." She says. "What is important is that I need you for a very special mission."
"What do you need me for?" She have sparkles in her eyes. "Do I have to save the world like we used to do a while ago?"
"Well, kind of. You see, Equestria is experiencing the event of a newly formed nation rising and gaining power at its border and our fragile society might suffer from it." She explains, hoping she will understand. "We need to protect our country."
"So you want me to be a spy or some sort of special agent to ruin their social peace and make their state fall?" She asks. "I'd like that, this sounds very fun thing to do!!" She forgets her boredom in an instant.
"No!!" She says, then Trixie gets a little sad. "I mean, kind of.." She says. "We need to know why their society is prosperous that much. Then we might try importing that to our kingdom."
"Oh okay. That does sounds interesting a bit." She replies.
"Are you joining?" She asks.
"Probably." She says.
"Yay!" She have a big grin. "Let's gather the others!"
"The others?" She just can say before Starlight grabs her with her magic and runs out of the cafe happily.
A green maned and brown coated pony walks from the shore to some wooden place. After walking close to a kind of open restaurant the figure overhear a conversation.
"Trotetia is a nice place to visit. You should go!" A stallion licorn says.
"Yeah are you sure? I know I like to visit all places I can, but I'm unsure if I should go there." The gray coated and forest-green maned kirin replies.
"Definitely. They are very acceptant and will never refuse anypony, surely." He adds.
After a time, the forest-green maned kirin was walking endlessly in a forest, but sometimes a hill or a clearer place was showing the direction of the Smokey Mountains as they show up in the distance. Suddenly, a sound of branch or such is heard from behind her.
"Hey?" She asks. "Who's there?" She shout.
The green maned and brown coated pony-like figure comes out of behind the trees, they're head slightly down, walking slowly and seemingly trying to be as gentle as possible.
"Who are you?" She asks. "And why are you following me?"
"I'm sorry." The figure replies in a mumble.
"What?"
"I'm sorry." The brown pony replies, laying on the ground in an indigent way. "I've been alone and kind of clueless about what I could do and I just overheard you were maybe aiming to go to an accepting place and I thought I'd follow you because I don't know were it is but I still want to get there and-" They ramble in their somehow slightly low masculine but yet still very feminine voice and intonations.
"Hey. It's okay." She makes him stop his panic rambles. "Why are you alone? Are you lost?"
"I don't know. I- I- I- I just don't know anything. I've woke up on the shore early and I can't think of anything else." His voice is very gentle and shy.
"Aww, I can take care of you if you want." The kirin smiles to him. "But I'd like to see yourself more, so I could have some trust on you."
The green maned pony unfold his wings which makes his piece of cloth he have on his back that is barely hiding anything fall on the ground. That reveal shock slightly the kirin as she does a step back.
"Oh wow! Are you an alicorn?" She asks suddenly all excited. "What's your name?" She asks. "I'm Faustine Shell, nice to meet you." She swing her head in such a manner to make her hairs sway a bit in a seductive way while approaching him to try to shake his hoof.
"I- I- I don't know my name.." He hesitates. "Even so, nice to meet you Faustine."
"Come on baby alicorn, follow me, I'd take care of you!" She says, so emotive.
"Um. Okay." He replies.
Ethan walks in the room as he slams the door open. Esperanza is a little surprised of that and let out a gasp.
"My Queen, we need to talk about something." He announces.
He closes the door. When walking close to her she stops brushing her coat and looks at him.
"I don't like the way you are speaking to our people." He says. "You can't argue with them or swear of them just because they earn well their life or such."
"Oh really?" She says. "Because I thought sharing was the thing we agreed on for a political doctrine to focus on."
"Well I said yes earlier. But it have been few weeks since we founded Equideer and it seems like we should stop this." He argues.
"W-what?" She says, falsely clueless. "I don't know what you are talking about.." She lies.
"We aren't in emergency state anymore. The crisis is done." He says. "You told me we need to found foodbanks. I accepted." He states. "You told me to found a police department. I accepted." He adds.
"Yes? Isn't that for good?" She blushes, embarrassed, and backwards until reaching the bed of her room.
"It was. But you pushed it to the edge now." He declares. "I do not want to hurt your feelings, but for me it feels like you never going to stop. People can be rich. It happens." He says, as she looks down. He raise a hoof to make her stare at his eyes. "You can't raise the taxes more and more. I've seen many precious workpower of companies overlook our capital and towns because of your 'equality act' and how harsh you are if people eventually likes to keep their stuff to themselves."
"B- bu- but isn't it the way for everyone to have a chance? I- I always only known that. When I lived in Equifrancia there was so many problems with poverty and revolts. I heard them all the time as the Princess I was but. I always thought that only bad people can disagree with equality..." She states. "So when I left as the great drift started, the community I've built had therefore been under a more social aimed society..."
"I am not denying your past." He sits on her bed as she sits by his side. "I am just trying to make you see that, and speaking as one, deers are more... movement-aimed beings."
"What do you mean?" She tilts her head for a second.
"Find out that deers likes the competition. We need to improve sports and markets. The GDP will only benefit from this. We can then organize gifts and redistribution based on donations and not on heavy-weighted taxes that choke economy of everyone." He proposes.
"That sounds like a nice idea. I think Seira will be able to change the decrees fast enough to not give us a too bad reputation for companies?" She guess.
"Yes. I'll help for promoting our new laws outside of our borders." He says.
A little while passes as they calm down.
"By the way." He starts.
"Yes?" She replies.
"We need to clarify our relations for the people to let them know." He continues.
"What do you mean?" She asks. "We are King and Queen of Equideer, aren't we?"
He boop her nose with a hoof.
"Yes we are." He smiles. "I mean the relationship we are in, us, both of ourselves as leaders of the place."
Esperanza blushes.
"What. Are you shy about it?" He asks.
Esperanza glance at a glass and see her bright red face. Therefore with her magic she grabs a piece of cloth and cover her face.
"N-no not at all." She says, her voice muffled by the tissue.
He seize the cloth with his magic as his powdermade licorn horn appears. She is a bit surprised as she didn't expected it.
"Don't lie to me, my little gemstone. I know everything about you." He whisper to her ears.
She blushes and falls down laying on the bed, totally seduced.
"I didn't knew you can easily use your magic like that." She says with a cute voice.
"I can do a lot of things you aren't aware of, honey." He says. "I think the correct term for our relationship would be... united. Right?"
She nods quietly, never been that red she smiles to him. He leans down and press his snout on hers for a second.
"Oh by the way. I should crystallize the cube." She says.
"What is it? In fact, you never explained what it exactly is to me, did you?" He tries to remember.
"It is an artefact my mothers Obsidianna and Glowstone built for me. It was dedicated for me to wear it everywhere as a collar made of many little crystals forged to store an external magic power source in case I'd need more energy that I had myself. Hehe, I was usually getting in problems as a kid, by chance my five friends would sometimes be here for me." She smiles, having very few memory of the little friend she had two centuries ago. "When apocalypse did its looms on Equifrancia, she started mass-producing magic and filled the collar with more and more powers. When the collapse started, both my mothers gave up their alicorn magic to fill the collar with, but as it was overloaded with power already, they bended and mixed it with their crowns and a few family-linked objects. Bythen, the Crystal of Unity represents me, as their daughter, but also as the hope and spirit of unification of our people under external threats." She explains. "Ever since, we made ceremonies in order to refill the cube with love and unity as I always was healing everyone as much as I could."
"Wait. How much old you told me you are?" He asks. "251 years old?"
"Yes. Usually people say like, 'hey I'd like to wield the crystal's energy, I'd like to never get old', but truth is being unsensitive of time doesn't make everyone you like or love lasting by your side." She have her eyes full of tears.
"Oh no. By all gods I totally didn't thought of that. Is it why you never had a partner?" He asks.
"Not much only that, I'm just clumsy with relationships." She says. "But eventually being roughly the only one that is guilty in case of your community's failure is a very dense responsibility to take. I was about 15 at the time, so I just followed my idea of how the world should work, back then." She explains.
"It's okay. Everyone can feel guilty. But let me say you aren't. I did leaded my people for about 10 years now but I started at 25. So I guess that our leading manners can't be too compared aside, we are different." He says. "I'd understand if you wouldn't want to marry me. I'll help with the crystallization if you want."
"No, it doesn't matter. I've changed my opinion on this recently, when the new cyclone hit, and I want to marry you. I have to offer to my people a family to reach in case of my disappearance. This announcement will make a prosperous shockwave throughout all of our nation. But the crystallization can occur soon, because I feel the cube have been quite used since I absorbed it." She smiles.
After running around and discovering the place, the kirin and the pony-like played around and got to playfight, eventually. The brown pony is surprisingly powerful for its size and manners. He eventually get on top of her, as they both try to regain their breath.
"You are quite strong for your size." She smiles. "I like that."
"You like. Me?!?" He is surprised. "You really mean that?" He asks the cutest way possible.
"Yes, silly! You are as friendly as I ever seen someone be." She smiles.
After a little quiet time, she stare at him in such a manner that he blushes. At that moment she does an effort to raise her head to kiss his lips and then she retrieve a comfortable laying position.
But suddenly the pony-like figure shines slightly as great fangs appears in the mouth, their horn changes to 2 horns of cattle-like shapes and his overall shape becomes muscular and fierce as it could ever possibly be. A frightening hiss is perceptible as his eyes goes from green to red.
"Oh by Twilight are you a pony-vampire or something??!??" She shout as she gets far from him.
Getting at a certain safe distance she stops running, and looks at him as scared as he looks at her shamefully.
"What? What do you mean?" He says. "What's wrong?"
She brings out a mirror from her bag and shows him his look. He let out a gasp just as scared as she is of him.
"What? You didn't knew you could do that?" She says. "That you could transform into a monster?"
"Oh, well, no." He have tears. "I'm sorry." He cries.
Seeing the tears running down his cheeks, she suddenly feels guilty.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." She apologies. "You looks like you don't even know what you are. It's okay, we will seek for that. But you just look so scary for now. Are you sure there isn't a way to reduce your teeth length?"
"I don't know. I'm as clueless as I could be. Please help me, take care of me, I'm begging you!!" He whines.
"Aww okay. I can't refuse that. You are too cute even with your special looks." She admits.