//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: A royal discussion 
// Story: Equestrian Paradox: "Worlds at war" 
// by An Sturmmann 
//------------------------------//

Silence, the beautiful silence in the middle of the night, that was the only thing that could be heard all around inside the room.

The soft sounds of the wood, coal and oil alike as they burned, making a beautiful combination of three different kinds of sources of light, the combination made the room have a cozy ambience, not so different than if it the light came from the very own sun, like if the night, was a day.

However, the soft tones, colors, and the overall cozy ambience, was not of the concern of a certainly serious Cadence, as she made her way inside, carrying over her back a deep asleep Princess Luna, following the steps of the Princess Celestias as she led both, Cadence and Twilight inside the room, the trio of mares being quick to gather an small group of soft looking pillows and lay them together, in a sort of makeshift bed, letting the sleeping Alicorn continue her dreams there.

Celestia used her magic to lift her sister from Cadence's back, and bring her to the pillows, as Cadence didn't even took a second glance before quickly giving a little nudge to Twilight, the smaller alicorn being quick to recover from her sudden daze, sitting down on the other side of a table, just a few inches to the right of Cadence, while Celestia stood on the other side, Luna sleeping on the left side of the table, shifting on her sleep and quickly breaking any semblance of order that the set of pillows could have had.

"As much as I would prefer us to speak in the safety of my own room, we cannot allow ourselves to be seen carrying my sister while she is unconscious, the royal guard should arrive any time soon, and this is something we better keep hidden until we find a solution" Celestia spoke as she sat down, her beautiful eyes, so full of questions, of doubt, but also, sorrow and fear alike, as if her very own soul was struggling with something. "Yes, it would be something to really hard to explain, not even the guards are truly ready to hear up this kind of thing, even less when there doesn't seems to be any root for this sudden problem"

"But alas, that isn't something we should be speaking about in this exact moment, specially when there was something far more dangerous happening at the same time, I'm sorry nephew, If I only had know that such a thing would suddenly hit the Crystal empire..."

"No one was ready for it, just like I wasn't ready to be sent a letter midflight, I had to stop for a minute or two at one of the outskirts outposts to quickly write up and send answer, thankfully I could find one as quickly as needed" Cadence chuckled a bit, a mix of pride and relief in her face, While Celestia sighed, all the while Twilight Sparkle seemed to be too confused to properly speak, just switching her glare from Celestia, to Cadence as both spoke "While the city is probably still at risk if another earthquake comes, most of the ponies are safe now, however, I'm not exactly sure about what to do in this kind of situation"

"Sadly, Tirek had quite the massive effect on Equestria, so, I can't exactly give you the aid I would like to, Twilight?" Celestia answered before calling for her student, who quickly stood as tall as she could, and really stiff too, she seemed to not know how to act in this kind of situation "Do you remember the small project you spoke to me about?"

"Hmmm, the... essay about the effects of Lord Tirek's actions against Equestria as a whole?" Twilight gave another question as an answer, as Celestia nodded, spreading her wing softly and giving her a little reasurring pet on the neck "Yes Twilight, that essay, I guess that you are still in the process of researching information, I am right?"

"So far, I could only use ponyville as my Research site, and, as strange as this may sound... I'm not exactly sure i'm researching properly... " Twilight spoke, a little mix of embarrassment mixed with her honesty, as Celestia nodded and stood tall " Equestria hasn't been hit by an Earthquake that could realistically kill a pony since the days of the everfree civilization, let alone the crystal Empire, not even Amore lived throughout one in her days of yore, neither has the Sun and the Moon refused to obey the will of anypony with power, let alone two, for no reason, and to this utter chaos, we still had the conflict with Lord Tirek"

"I really, really hope that the three things are just unrelated events that can be solved" Cadence spoke, fighting back a shudder, all the while Twilight swallowed her own spit, letting out a little cough as she did so without care. "Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza... I fear that we are facing changes in our world, there is no way that Tirek's magic could have caused such effects in our lands, there must be something else behind, because... if you haven't noticed, the magic in the air feels different too"

Twilight's eyes opened up like a pair of plates as she suddenly could feel what her teacher told her, her horn gave a little spark from its tip, a side effect of the strange feeling that was covering it, it was as if the air around her horn had turned into an strange mix of water and gel, being cold and hot at the same time, each inch of her horn felt it in a different but subtle way, as if a constant unending stream of this watered down gel covered it, it was such a subtle feeling, being so soft that it could as well pass as the everyday feeling of a breeze passing by, but, unlike a breeze, it never ended, not until Twilight's attention was took back by Celestia's words, her focus changing and the feeling returning to be utterly ignored in the split of a second, as if it wasn't there at all.

"Yes, I have felt that too Aunt, however, the change at the crystal empire is a bit more aggressive, being somewhat similar to a filly  first night after using her first spell, something that is there, that you can't forget it is there, but it is so subtle that it may as well be forgotten too" Cadence spoke as she tilted her head, Twilight was quick to open an small saddlebag she had with her and take outside a pencil and a notebook. "Fascinating... this is something I didn't even knew I was feeling, it is so subtle I would have never noticed until a magic sensing training... Now, i'm feeling a bit unworthy of my element..."

"Trust me Twilight, this magical feeling doesn't has anything to do with the harmony which rules over your element... I know this magical feeling a bit too well... so does Luna, but, if I had told her about this, instead of going along with her attempts to recover the moon, well... lets just say that you don't tell a warrior princess that is in anger and despair, that the air feels like there are enemies around us... you know, it is hard  to try to stop Luna when she gets fixiated on something, let alone if you give her a second thing to be focused about" Celestia said as both, Twilight and Cadence felt the color being drained from their faces after hearing what Celestia said " En...en....enemies?"

"Yes, Mi Amore Cadenza, enemies, the magical feeling you are noticing, is fruit of an actual battle bewteen armies, thankfully, with it being so subtle, it may as well be on another continent, or a battle bewteen ships in deep sea, I myself couldn't avoid feeling scared the second I felt it, because, it has been more than eight hundred years since the last time the entire world had a proper battle on the scale needed to make the magic wave spread around like that, the last fight bewteen the decadent Yak khanate and the Changelling Queendom, while i made sure that not a single word was written down about the former days of war, even if that meant going after the warnings of the long deceased Lieutenant General, I can't bring myself to forget the clash of the last Khan and the mother of Queen Chrysalis..."

"B...but... i'm sure that the battle must have been pretty small... right?, you said the Khanate was decadent" Twilight spoke, her inner academic desiring knowledge, while her inner element of harmony couldn't be more horrified "Twilight... at its peak the khanate had an army of a hundred thousand yaks, they were the most numerous species in the whole continent, even its weakened army of a few tens of thousands, was capable of crushing other nations with ease, the Changelling Queendom on the other hand, did had more than a hundred thousand warriors, they were sent in a single huge swarm, why do you think the lands in the northern west are forbbiden even if they are full of gems?, I don't want anypony to find the bones I had to personally bury, since at the time, no country would show that mercy to the poor youths that were sent to die in war"

The silence took control of the whole situation once more, as neither of the three mares could even speak, one deep inside her own mind, reviving old memories, the other two, gawking in sheer surprise, the implications of what happened, being so horrible that their minds were trying to understand everything, but yet, refused to truly acknowledge the sheer weight of what they were told.

"While, I would like to discusss the details of what I have in mind, the time is running low, listen up, both of you, this feeling is something I cannot simply ignore, we three need to take care of too many things in too few time, Equestria may as well be a its lowest right now, recovering from an unprovoked attack by an old foe, with nature herself attacking our beloved northern empire, and the very own sun and moon refusing to obey if the moon refusal also applies to the sun"

Celestia stood tall in front of the table, making the other two mares stand too, the size difference making Celestia look far more regal, as her eyes were full of an emotion that neither of the smaller ones could truly grasp, something had switched inside of her, not fully, but there was something different.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, you must embark in a journey to research all the things that Tirek brought, good and bad alike, we must know the sheer impact of what happened, if possible, this research project must also bring possible solutions for the obstacles you may find in the full recovery of Equestria"

Celestia didn't even ask, this sounded like an order, as if she was commanding Twilight to do her will, the smaller, purple alicorn, couldn't avoid nodding as she stood stiff, way too stiff, like a newbie guardsmare in front of an officer.

"Go forth then,  Princess Twilight, don't worry about the public opinion and the astral disobedience, I shall deal with both" Celestia commanded, and Twilight opened her mouth to say something "Don't, this isn't the time Twilight, I'm really sorry to cut you, but the time is running low, as I told you before this feeling means that somewhere there is a major battle, and Equestria is woefully underprepared for those, it has been for more than a half of milennia..."

As Twilight stood back, Cadence looked at Celestia and the princess nodded.

"Take as much regiments and supplies as you need Cadence, lead them to the empire and start the rebuilding duties, if possible identify the source of the earthquake, and send scouts to the northern regions wich connect to the icy sea, we need information as fast as possible, for that is the direction that the magical wave came from"

"Now go, my faithful alicorns, our little ponies need us, they have been living at peace for far too long, and it is our duty to keep them that way!"