//------------------------------//
// Chapter 31: The Canterlot Nobility 
// Story: The Side Character is a Deer 
// by Deergenerate 
//------------------------------//

Just the night before, near the peaks of the mountains across the lunar sea, all was not right. 

Ezin'dle turned her gaze towards the city in the distance, the lights in their windows contrasting the dark blues of night rather well. Ezin'dle merely gave them a moment, making sure none of their occupants were staring in her direction before she turned her sight down to the crevasse below her. She paused, holding out a hoof and feeling a large burst of wind from below. It would be enough to slow her descent, but not enough to blow her away unless she spread her wings to create air resistance. Good for the main crux of her mission, but remarkably poor for what came next. Ezin'dle let out a long sigh.

Without further hesitation, she leaned forwards and threw herself over the side, falling towards whatever awaited her at the bottom at high speed.





Celestia sighed as the golden light wrapped around her horn slowly dissipated. She kept her eyes on the distant horizon, as her sun set below it. She slowly inhaled, before turning to stare back at her destroyed palace. Casualty reports still weren't in, even a day later. They were still sifting through the rubble, finding the bodies of castle staff and guards. And that wasn't even thinking about the destruction levied to the city itself. It was... horrifying to think about. So many lives were lost in such a short span of time. 

The door to the balcony slowly opened, prompting her to sigh and turn to see Luna staring at her, with a grim expression on her face. The two sisters were quiet for a moment before Luna finally spoke up.

"Starswirl is back from Ponyvile," she stated, "And he's called a meeting of the Canterlot Nobility."

Celestia gave a slight frown. "I knew this was coming. No doubt they want to find someone to hold accountable for all of this damage?"

"That's part of it, but Starswirl's main concern with this meeting was the training of Derek." Luna grimaced. "Apparently, Johan has barred Derek from doing any training with Starswirl. As such, she wants Derek pulled from Ponyville and taken to Canterlot for the foreseeable future." 

"What? Why would Johan..." Celestia started, but she shook her head and let out a sigh. "I supposed I can understand why. Starswirl isn't the most... compromising of teachers. Still..."

Luna shook her head. "Frankly, I am in agreement with the deer. Twilight would be a much better teacher for Derek than Starswirl. For one, she's an alicorn as well, and thus more in tune with alicorn powers."

"I... can't help but agree." Celestia sighed. "But if the Council does end up agreeing with Starswirl, there is little either of us could do."

"I don't understand why we keep that thing around." Luna sighed, shaking her head. 

"Father wanted it." Celestia sighed, shaking her head. "Though it is frustrating, I choose to keep his memory alive... for the most part." 

"Father sure had a predilection to choosing the regular ponies over us Alicorns didn't he?" Luna laughed slightly.

Celestia smiled, shaking her head slightly. "Do you... do you ever wonder what he was like? Personally? Neither of us has a firsthand account of mother and father." 

"No, but everyone in the palace back in the day constantly told us about them," Luna said, shaking her head slightly. "I can't even picture mother's voice."

The two alicorns trailed off for a moment, turning their gazes back to the horizon, before, with a loud grinding rumble, they felt a tower slide off the castle, plummeting to the ground below. Their eyes widened, but before either of them had a chance to reach out with their magic, it slammed into the ground far below, exploding into rubble and splintered rocks. 

Luna let out a snarl, while Celestia merely grunted with a sigh, shaking her head slightly. 

"We need to do something about this... U'val." Celestia said, turning her gaze back to the castle, looking for any more damaged structures that needed righting right away, before they suffered a similar fate. 

Luna inhaled. "First we'd need to find out where he is and what his plans are. Then we can go about it," she said, her brain instantly shifting into crisis mode. "You go meet with the council. I'm going to attempt to dream walk into his mind."

Celestia instantly did a double take. "You're what?" She cried, jaw-dropping. "You can't seriously be-"

"I will be careful," a small smile came to Luna's face. "Besides, I doubt he can keep me out for long. He's obviously insane."

"That's what I'm worried about," Celestia said. "It's far more dangerous to be inside the mind of a maniac than to be kept outside."

Luna shook her head. "I assure you, the torture of the tantalus has immunized me against that kind of thing. Whatever he can unleash upon me, I've been through worse. Now then, please, you have a meeting to attend."

Celestia took in a deep breath before shaking her head. "Fine. But if things go wrong, or heavens forbid he notices you in there, I want you to pull out. Understand?"

Luna nodded. "Of course." 

Celestia let out her breath before nodding. "Good. Stay safe Luna. Please. I can't lose you again."

Luna watched her sister turn and walk into the castle. The younger alicorn waited until she was out of earshot before turning to the horizon. She closed her eyes and let her horn glow, raising the moon, as was her duty, before she went all in on dream walking. There was a certain mind she was looking for, and he would probably be hard to crack.





There was a hole in the ceiling, which was the first thing Celestia noticed when she entered the chamber of nobles. It was massive, large enough for a full-grown manticore to fly in without having to squeeze. She found it far more pleasant to stare up at that rather than the ponies in the hall. They were all unicorns, universally so, wearing elegant suits, and expensive jewelry. She took a deep inhale. She, thankfully had the foresight to take an aspirin beforehand, which should kick in at around the time the headaches from the nobility's constant arguing started to form. 

"It just seems rather cruel don't you think?" One of the nobles, and white and blue one by the name of Fancy Pants called out.

"Cruel? Last I checked you aren't the one sleeping in a room that had its roof ripped off," Prince Blueblood scoffed. "Canterlot is the capital of Equestria, and if more monsters like that statue show up, we need more alicorns to protect this place, as auntie Celestia and Luna clearly weren't enough!"

"To be fair," another noble suddenly spoke up. "Ponyville is often attacked much more than Canterlot by monsters and the like. Perhaps this new alicorn being there would better protect the people?"

"While I will not deny that, Ponyvile is a town with a population in the hundreds at most. Canterlot is the third largest city in Equestria, population-wise," Blueblood responded, frowning slightly. "Pragmatically, Canterlot should thus be better defended."

"You're just saying that because you live here, Blueblood," The mare sitting at Fancy's side, Fleur De Lis, responded, frowning slightly. "If you had a private manor down in Ponyvile, you'd demand half of the royal guard be stationed there at all times." 

"You are dramatically missing my point here, though I suppose I cannot expect any less from the descendant of lesser nobility instead of those with the blood of royalty," Blueblood hissed, which resulted in Filthy slamming his hooves onto the desk. 

"How dare you insult my sister!" he roared, the eye under his monocle twitching slightly. "You are nothing more than a spoilt boy, who is coasting off the prestige that comes from a relative who died over a thousand years ago, using it to lord over the rest of us. My family earned our position at this table, you on the other hoof-"

"Gentlecolts!" Celestia suddenly shouted, silencing the arguing with a wave of her hoof. "This is not the time to resort to petty insults. Especially because we have gotten horribly off track."

"Indeed we have, thank you, my apprentice," Starswirl responded, nodding his head. "Now then, to get back to this meeting's main point. The new alicorn. He is currently having his potential shackled by the deer he keeps company. He needs to be trained, and as such I demand he be taken to Canterlot for the foreseeable future."

"On that point I must disagree," a new voice suddenly said, the door to the room slammed open as a new unicorn strode in, with a rather smug stride in his steps. He wore a grey suit, with a neon yellow ascot which stood out as rather ghastly in a fashion sense, though aside from that he looked extremely unspecial. A grey unicorn with a slicked-back black mane, it would be hard to pick him out from a crowd. "I apologize for my tardiness fillies and gentlecolts, living in Manehattan has its downsides when these meetings are called."

"Ah, Pretext, good to finally have someone intelligent here," Blueblood sighed, giving a slight nod. "Though, I do find it rather odd that you are... disagreeing with us on this." 

"It's simple really. Starswirl here is a great wizard of ancient knowledge," The newcomer responded as he took his seat by Blueblood's side. "It would be best if he stayed the course of researching who this new attacker is. The new princess is more than capable of training this alicorn." 

"With all due respect... urr.... I'm sorry I don't believe I caught your name." Starswirl said, frowning slightly. 

"Noble Pretext, at your service," the unicorn bowed slightly, "My family has ruled an estate in the hills around Manehattan for the past three hundred years, so we are rather... new in the grand scheme of things. Suffice to say though, you'll come to find I hold much sway in these meetings." 

"Well, Pretext, with all due respect I don't agree with you in the slightest," Starswirl responded, his frown deepening. "Twilight Sparkle is completely inexperienced in matters of teaching."

"And yet, she is one of the most powerful unicorns to ever exist. Greater than even you if she managed to become an alicorn while you couldn't," Pretext said, his neon yellow eyes narrowing slightly. "I fail to see anyone more qualified in that case, no offense." 

Starswirl - and most of the other nobles in the room for that matter - were left completely dumbfounded, their jaws dropping as Pretext smirked slightly. 

"B-but her horn is damaged, it will take at least a month for her to heal from that! You can't truly believe that he can wait on his training for a month!" Starswirl roared, standing up and slamming his hooves down on the table. 

"I very much do," Pretext responded. "Our enemy launched an attack on Canterlot with what was no doubt a tremendously advanced weapon, which we now know exactly how to defeat in future uses. Coupled with the changeling invasion of Ponyvile, that, if you remember correctly, was thwarted by the very same alicorn, using exceptionally advanced spells if witness testimony is to be believed."

Starswirl tried to speak up, but Pretext silenced him by continuing. 

"I don't personally know much about magic, but being able to form a solid sword made out of magic attached to your horn is something that a novice can't do, would anypony else like to agree?" he said, looking around the room. The others were slow to respond, most of them entirely flabbergasted by the dressing down the arch wizard was receiving. 

"Granted he's a natural, but a month is a long time. Equestria's new enemy could launch several attacks during the time Twilight is recuperating," Blueblood stepped in.

"Granted that is a possibility, but in response, I look to the pile of cyan rubble in the courtyard," Pretext responded, cocking his head to the side. "I will reiterate, it was a tremendously advanced weapon, which was destroyed. He, in all likelihood, only had one. And considering the fact all eyewitnesses claimed they saw it attempting to escape, it probably played a major role in future plans, which have probably sent him back to the drawing board. Starting over will no doubt delay him by at the very least a month, maybe far longer. As such, I firmly believe that one of the strongest alicorns in history will be able to recover her horn and train her new student in time." 

Pretext quickly turned to the princess in the room. "Now then your majesty, I believe I have solved this meeting in record time, and would like the meeting adjourned, it's a long ride back to Manehattan, and weak as I am in magic I can only ever manage a single teleport a day, so I want to get started on the ride home as soon as possible if you wouldn't mind."

Celestia didn't respond, merely staring at him wide-eyed. She couldn't help but smile. This was most definitely the most... interesting noble meeting she had ever been to.

"I certainly do not. I feel as though it is decided, but just to be sure, I say we put it to a vote," Celestia nodded.





Noble Pretext had quite the open look of smug satisfaction on his face as he walked back to his carriage, which was pulled by two stallions wearing black and neon yellow tuxedos, with the same colored sunglasses. Both looked completely identical besides their colors. 

"Are you ready to move out sir?" One of them said in a monotone as he opened the door to his cart.

"Yes, back to my manor please." He stated simply, before sitting down inside and slamming the door. He waited for a moment until it he was sure they were out of sight of Canterlot before he held up a hoof, revealing a yellow crystal on his wrist. There was a flash of light as a holographic image was projected from the gem's point directly into the center of the small boxlike cart room. There were a couple of sparks before the form of an earth pony in a similar suit wearing a helmet with a glowing vertical strip in the middle appeared in front of him. 

"Noble," the stallion nodded down at him. "I trust it all went well?" 

"Yes sir," The stallion said chuckling darkly. "I believe I have succeeded in crippling the alicorn's development for the time being. If all goes well, it will be another month before he starts figuring out how to use his power. Should be enough time for us to start creating... countermeasures."

Epoxy nodded slightly, humming beneath his helmet. Its tendency to make his voice sound more metallic and robotic distorting the noise into a rather harsh hiss that caused Noble to involuntarily flick one of his ears. 

"Good job Noble, you've served me much better than the clones. Return to your manor for the time being, I will contact you if I have need of you again. But watch yourself in the future. There is no us in this business." Epoxy said darkly, before the crystal shut off and Noble was back alone in the carriage.