Rainbow had never been comfortable with long and awkward silences, and today was putting her through exactly that. Standing at attention next to her friend, Zipp, the cyan pegasus looked on with unease at her leader. Luna, newly declared Dictator for Life, was sitting behind her desk, in her chambers atop one of the tallest towers in the city, with a window behind her overlooking all the rest of their beloved capital, and even beyond. The older mare, a dark blue unicorn clad in armour not dissimilar from Rainbow and Zipp, was currently not paying attention to either of them, but instead to a veritable mountain of paperwork that littered her aforementioned desk. Though the contents of the papers was unknown to her, Rainbow could nevertheless make out the insignia of the now-deposed Senate. So clearly this was both official and important. After a while, and after struggling considerably to avoid even glancing in her fellow pegasi's direction, Rainbow's patience was rewarded when Luna, after letting out a deep sigh, set aside her current papers to finally look to them both. "Apologies for making you wait. As you can probably tell, I've had a lot to deal with in recent days."
Both of the other mares instinctively saluted, with Rainbow being the one to speak, finally feeling comfortable enough to crack a smile as she did so. "No apology needed, Ma'am! We know you've got a lot on your plate right now."
"To put it mildly," Zipp added, gesturing to the papers.
Luna chuckled, but it was a laugh without any real sense of humour behind it. "I won't argue with that." She reached over, picking up another of the papers. "I knew a lot of the senators had been lacking in their duties and responsibilities in recent years, but it was only after I got a hold of all this that I understood just how bad the situation really was." She frowned at what she was reading, then looked up to her two soldiers. "You know the public money given to them that's supposed to go towards things like, say, keeping the aqueducts clean and maintained so that the people can have good drinking water?" After seeing the two nervously looked to one another, then quietly nod to her, Luna held the paper up in front of them. "It instead went to things like throwing banquets for them and their extended families! Those aqueducts haven't been cleaned for a year!"
After blinking a couple of times, Rainbow looked over to Zipp. "Huh, I thought water tasted a bit weird lately."
Zipp, for her part, did her best to ignore that, instead stepping forward to address her leader. "Permission to speak freely, Ma'am?"
Luna nodded. "Granted."
After a moment to take a breath, Zipp finally asked what was on her mind. "Ma'am...what you've done has been a real shock for everypony, even those who weren't all that fond of the Senate. I mean no offense, but you taking on this role so directly is...well...controversial."
Rainbow winced, perhaps fully expecting Luna to take Umbridge at such a statement. Instead, the older mare simply nodded, getting up from her desk and speaking in a far calmer tone than predicted. "You are not wrong, Centurion. In truth, I thought long and hard about this for many a time." After a pause, she turned, looking out of her window to the city. Her eyes drifted over the flickering lights of candles from the windows of the many homes below, taking on a contemplative expression before finally speaking up again. "Do you know what it is I did when I wasn't being called to action in a time of crisis?"
Rainbow scratched the back of her head briefly. "Well...no, actually. There was a lot of rumours, but I kinda just figured you went out to just, you know...drill? Every day?" She saw Zipp arch an eyebrow to her, and after mulling over her own words for a bit she cleared her throat nervously. "Which...yeah, now that I say it out loud doesn't really sound...right."
Luna smiled for a moment before turning to look to them more seriously. "I was a farmer, Centurion. I got up at the crack of dawn, I tended my crops, my life was simple." She then frowned. "Were it not for my apparent talent in battle, I doubt I'd have ever caught the notice of anypony important. But, catch it I did, and whenever trouble arose I was called in to deal with it again and again." She sighed. "And when the danger passed, I was always content to just go back to my home, far from the capital, and resume my simple life as if nothing had happened." Slowly, she again looked out to the horizon, perhaps in the direction of that very home. "But the times that needed me...they just kept coming and coming."
Zipp shrugged. "Well, you did what you could. Nopony could have asked for more than that."
Luna's eyes narrowed at her own reflection in the window. "Do you know what a soldier's greatest responsibility is, Centurion?" After waiting for a moment to see if she got an answer, which she didn't, she gave it to them. "It is to ensure the protection of both the state and its people. After a time..." She paused briefly to calm herself. "After a while...I came to understand that the dangers lay not only without, but within. A rot in our leadership, leading to weakness for us and opportunity for our enemies. By focusing so much on themselves, the Senate became an enemy whose mere presence within our nation brought danger and risk to those who call this country home." Finally, she turned to look to them again. "Once I realise that I had been spending my time fighting symptoms instead of causes...my path was clear." Slowly, she hung her head, her voice now one tinted with uncertainty. "I simply hope...that history looks upon my recent actions kindly."
Silence fell, and for a long while neither of the other mares had even the slightest inkling on what to say after that, though Rainbow actually managed to sum up the general mood of the meeting fairly accurately. "...Dang."
"Indeed," Luna concurred.
Zipp, for her part, gave her leader's words a fair bit of thought, and in the absence of anypony else saying anything, she stepped forward to do so. "Ma'am...we can't ever know how we'll be remembered. If the things we do will be agreed with or condemned or any of it." She waited until Luna was looking to her before continuing. "All we can do is...well...our best. Do what we can for the right reasons. And let history do what it will."
Luna considered the response, then smiled to her subordinate. "Well said, Centurion."
Rainbow grinned to her colleague, nudging her in the side. "When did you get all philosophical?"
Zipp chuckled slightly. "Well, we can't always be thinking about topping flight speed records, can we, Dash?"
The other mare scoffed. "Pfft! Speak for yourself!"
Luna, having apparently been made to feel at least a little bit better about her decision, took in another breath before moving back over to her desk, settling herself down behind it before speaking up again, this time with a more authoritative manner. "Rainbow. Zipp. I did not merely call you here for a pep talk, you must have guessed that."
As before, the two stood at attention. "Yeah, we figured, Ma'am," Rainbow answered.
Luna nodded to them. "Part of leading a nation means making important decisions regarding our relationships to our neighbours. Who to have dealings with, who to trust, who to keep an eye on and so forth." She tapped the tips of her forehooves against each other. "In this...I have decided that it is time to revive an old institution." Seeing the confusion on the faces of the two centurions, she elaborated. "I have already sent word ahead to the leaders of the other two pony kingdoms, but you must be informed as well. I intend...to resume the Great Forum."
Instantly, surprise came to the faces of the mares, who looked to one another to share their joint astonishment. "Wait...actual international gathering and negotiations?" Zipp asked.
"The three kingdoms actually getting involved with each other again?" Rainbow added.
"It is a lot, I know," Luna admitted. "Such a thing has not been done within our generation." She looked to the side. "And even our parents would have considered it too far in the past to be viable for a return." She then turned back to them. "However, our nation cannot move forward if we stand still and only look inward. Our dear Senators did not believe such," she began with no small measure of disdain. "And because of that we are likely seen by many out there in the world as a people in decline." Looking over her shoulder, through her window, she mused to herself. "How many out there were even hoping that we would become the 'sick pony' of the world?"
Rainbow stepped forward. "Ha! Sick?! The Lunar Republic?! Not on my watch!"
Luna smiled to her. "Exactly the sort of attitude we need...in one who should represent us."
And just like that, Rainbow's confidence diminished. "...Pardon?"
Zipp, who was perhaps a bit more in-tune with what her leader was building up to, leaned over to her friend. "I think she's saying that you are gonna be sent to the forum."
Rainbow's head snapped in Zipp's direction. "What?! Me?!"
Zipp, far calmer, looked to Luna. "And I'm guessing you want me down there too, Ma'am?"
Another nod from her commander. "I do. I realise this is a surprise, but I require a security contingent to accompany our chosen ambassador when she goes down there to take up residence."
Rainbow, hearing that, calmed down a bit. "Oh, so we won't be ambassadors then?"
Luna chortled. "I mean nothing against either of you, but I believe such matters require a more, shall we say, delicate touch than you two can provide?"
Rainbow smiled to her. "Hey, no argument here, Boss. I'm the last pony I'd say should handle that kind of stuff." Then, curiosity came to her, and she tapped her chin a few times. "Say...who will be your ambassador for this?"
"Why, who else?" a voice from behind announced.
Turning, both Rainbow and Zipp looked on as former Senator Rarity entered, smiling in that way of hers that let all know that she had been informed of all this long before they had. "Ah," Rainbow began. "Figured you'd want to be involved in all that taking stuff, Rarity."
"Ah, it's Ambassador Rarity now, Centurion," the white unicorn corrected. Then, she stepped forward, bowing to her dictator. "And I assure you, Luna, I will not disappoint you."
As before, Luna got up from her desk, giving a brief nod to the newly-arrived mare. "I'm sure. You are the only member of the old Senate who remains in my service. The only one I would have ever trusted to such a task. You will be the face of our nation when you speak at the Forum." Her expression became a touch sterner. "Where your former colleagues made us look like a joke, you will make it clear that we most certainly are not."
Standing tall, Rarity smiled to her. "On my word, you will have nothing less." After this, she turned, looking to Rainbow. "I believe we should get to the business of informing our respective households that we'll be going on a bit of a trip shortly."
Rainbow smirked as she considered that. "Well, Scootaloo always did want to go on a road-trip. Guess it's time her big sis finally delivered on that promise."
Zipp nodded, then cast her eyes to Luna again. "Ma'am, with your permission, I request we bring our new recruits, Gallus and Smolder, with us. This'll be a good first assignment for them to dig their teeth into."
"Or beak, in Gallus' case," Rainbow added jovially.
Luna considered that, then nodded. "Granted. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She looked once more to her massive pile of papers, sighing deeply as she did so. "I have to get back to this mess."
Rainbow grimaced at the sight of the work. "No offense, Ma'am...but I do not envy you on that."
Luna looked up to her, giving a smirk not that different from the one Rainbow had worn a few moments ago. "Nor should you."