Entwine
“Princess,” the unicorn in rich suit bowed low to me. “I wanted to ask you to sign the final permit for railroad line to Canterberry. The last pending issues should be resolved within a week or two, but we should not tarry with preparations, this way we will be able to start construction with the end of Winter Wrap-up.”
“But why are you coming to me with this, sir Puff? My sister is currently taking care of rule of Equestria, I'm just for urgent consulting needs.”
If I'm to leave for Hippotigria, Luna will remain on the throne. She recharged one of the rapid time flow talismans again, and placed it in a way that lets her catch up on her sleep at dusk and dawn, while remaining fully active all day and all night. And currently, she's trying her hoof at ruling, still under my supervision, before she catches up with all the changes and is able to continue alone.
“Your sister... Princess Luna... I'm sorry to say... but she's obstructing the process. She refused to sign until all of the analysis papers are in order. As you remember, we have talked about it last month, and you promised this case would be solved at utmost urgency, allowing all non-essential preconditions to be fulfilled later. But unfortunately no such arrangement has been made with your sister and her appearance on the throne has... disrupted the process unexpectedly.”
“Have you mentioned the agreement to my sister?”
“Yes, I did, but she still didn't agree.”
“Unconditionally?”
“Well... not quite. She agreed to the Southern Bridge variant... but it's considerably more expensive and would take longer, because it would involve an additional bridge! Plus the road would be longer by about a mile.”
“Which documents are missing?”
“Some material allotments, several last employee contracts, the train engine purchase, details on finish of the terminal, some groundwater flow analyses in uninhabited areas, ticket sale concession... mostly things that won't be necessary until late summer.”
“That groundwater thing sounds important...”
“It will absolutely not affect ponies. The construction may disrupt some underwater flows but they do not supply water to any of settlements or farmlands.”
“Let us consult my sister.”
It took us three minutes to reach the throne room, while the businesspony followed, looking beaten. I would have signed the papers, but either my sister was obstructing him wrongly, in which case she should be notified, or she had a good reason. And judging by his looks, she had. So far she’s been very competent and while doing things differently than I did would arise many objections, most of them were baseless. But she wasn’t infallible. She was shocked and appalled by the idea that the former buffaloes’ stampeding grounds were now orchards and that we would designate more, she suggested we make minor time modifying talismans open to the public, which I almost had to beat out of her head, and we got in a shouting match, when she blocked expansion of a major, essential Fillydelphia factory at cost of a small chunk of a neighboring old forest. She yielded in all these cases, but I think the last one got her on verge of breakdown. I’m sorry, sis, but the country needs to move ahead and land becomes scarce.
So I waited by the throne as Luna was finishing calculations for the increase of Fillydelphia Philharmony budget, and signed off the number... she was definitely better with these - I'd just give as much as given manager requested and would come up with saving by delaying some major investment, while Luna could come up with the exact necessary number. Say what you want, progress was slow in the country over the past 1000 years.
Luna smiled and turned to us. “Oh, I see sir Puff has tried the back door” she smiled. “Allow me to repeat: These groundwater veins must not be breached until it is assured they don't affect Tickwood.”
“Any specific reasons?” I asked, squirming at the very name of the place. Ick, I hate ticks!
“Let me show you the map.” she stood up from the throne and approached a huge map of Equestria covering the back wall. “This point” she projected a ray of light from her horn at the map, “is where the veins would be cut. They supply water to a small, unmarked brook here. It provides water to the trees of Tickwood. I'm not sure whether the amount from other underground sources is able to sustain the largest, oldest trees. It may be that they will die off.”
“It's not like we really need them” I frowned. “The forest is avoided and disliked. There were times when I pondered getting it cut it down.”
“And good that you did not!” Luna exclaimed excitedly. “Because the slopes are susceptible to landslide and the trees hold them anchored. And here, below, the brook joins the stream of Millwater. It supplies water to the dam of Miller End, a village living off several watermills. The landslide would block the stream, and later, when the natural dam fills up, it would be washed off and flood the village. The variant I'm requesting provides a dam over Millwater, combining the bridge with a choke point where Millwater can be blocked off in case the landslide happens anyway, and protect the village from flood. Of course the East Rail Company has no interest in helping ponies of Miller End. And sir Puff is hoping the underground water will not affect the forest. I'm not sharing his optimism, but I'm still willing to wait for the groundwater flow analysis.”
And that’s what I hoped to hear.
“I have an impression that sir Puff was very much hoping for the permit before the analysis is complete. Because I think I know what it would say. And I think there is no point wasting time, money and effort on such an analysis. After all, he deemed it non-essential.”
We exchanged smiles.
“Sir Puff”, Luna said almost cheerfully, “There is no reason to delay the permit any further. Hereby...” she took the binder he was carrying by his side, and gave the document within a smooth signature after underlining or crossing over some entries. “You receive permit to build the line according to the Southern Bridge variant. This decision is final.”
* * *
“I've not been assertive enough with the railway case. I'm hopeless. Too long out of the mill. Sis, I'm really not cut for that.”
“Luna, let me tell you how I'd handle that. Imagine I'm on the throne. Sir Puff comes and presents the case. I frown a little at the water flow analysis. He assures me it may at worst adversely affect Tickwood. I smile and sign. And in two or three years I lament lost lives at Miller End, and never make the connection between the landslide and my today's decision. So, Luna - your vigilance beats my assertiveness. And the ultimate truth is that we were meant to rule together, sister.”
“You'll have Nadir for that soon.”
“He'd have no clue about landslides and groundwater flow. They have less than a hundred miles of railway total, he's not really experienced in that. Tell me, Luna, how did you even know about the Tickwood and the landslide risk?”
“Some nights I take the vapor form and travel through Equestria. I listen in to dreams and fears, send good dreams and help when I can. The old miller of Miller End feared a flood would destroy their village, lamented you constantly delaying construction of the dam.”
“Sis, if you ever say you're not qualified to rule, I'll knock you so hard you're gonna see all the stars. If anything, you're far better at it than me.”
“Celestia, you must be joking. Things you've done over past week...”
“Me and Nadir. I admit, the two of us together may be better than you alone. But look at the country over the last thousand years. It's been stagnating. Zebras arose from wild tribes into a stable land. Gryphons have monarchy and diplomacy instead of wild hunters. Minotaurs formed a rule of democracy, not that I expect it to last, but it's an advancement over tyranny they had.”
“Democracy?” Luna screwed her face. “the fools. Rule of the best liars.”
“It's still young and uncorrupted. You know it can push a country by strides before it falls victim to oligarchs.”
“But when it does... We know how Res Publica Ponica ended.”
I sighed. I did. The Trinicity, Res Publica Ponica, The Everfree City, The Equestrian Commonwealth... The ancient names flashed through my mind. Not Discord, not changelings, not dragons. Ponies destroyed their own world, me myself being a significant factor, and it took us half a millennium to rise it from frozen wastelands to foundations of a thriving country. And then as the new city, new capital, Penumbra was rising, cared for by my sister, I dug for more resources for it and I released the ancient evils that consumed most of it and forced the rest of the population to leave their livehood and escape. Then I founded Canterlot, and I failed my sister, abandoned her, too busy with MY city. And she broke, in solitude and grief.
“Are you blaming yourself for Everfree again?”
“No, not this time. I’m blaming myself for abandoning you when you needed me the most. You forgave me, Luna, but I don't think I'll forgive myself, ever.”
“Celestia, what you said... I... I'm not good with words. The stars, seeing all of them...”
...what?
“If you keep blaming yourself for that... Your cutie mark, it will... fall off...”
I frowned.
“I mean...” she groaned, sighed and screwed her face. “I'll kick your flank so hard it will fall off!! Your cutie mark, that is!” Then she covered her face. “I'm hopeless!”
Oh! I neck-hugged my sister, laughing. “It wasn't so bad! I mean, it was, but it's a start!”
* * *
I'd prefer traveling light. A wing of Solar Guards, two pegasi servants, a skywagon with bare necessities. But that would be fine if I was visiting my love to be together. Not if I was visiting the head of a neighbor country on official invitation. Nadir's court was positively tiny by comparison. But then he had a different image to uphold.
So there I was in the ornate, luxurious royal coach, accompanied by a squad of guards, fifteen servants, twenty draft ponies pulling six wagons of luggage, another coach with my court, two guides, five advisors, one scribe and (on her insistence) my most faithful student.
“I will have to rewrite this horrible thing when we are back” Clarity sighed, applying a piece of cloth to another blob on the parchment where she was writing down her observations. “I never suspected shaking of the coach will make writing so hard.”
So, Luna claimed that Crystal Clarity wished upon the stars to see the Zebra Lands, and that dreams didn't quite cut it... and the Earth pony had a talent to describe what she sees with vivid clarity, so... an account of our travel would be valuable. Trade caravans to Hippotigria were relatively rare due to high customs taxes (this would change soon) and the last “guide” style book about that country was over 140 years old and getting hopelessly outdated.
“Let me try to help” Twilight replied, and proceeded to lift Clarity into the air.
“Oh, that's much better!” Clarity exclaimed, quickly covering a paragraph with her writing, while floating in the middle of the coach. Then the coach jumped on a rock, Twilight lost her concentration, and I managed to catch the scribe before she'd fall to the floor.
“Oh... Thank you, Princess!”
“Sorry!” Twilight grinned sheepishly, took over and lowered the pony to the seat.
“And another blob.” the earth pony applied the cloth again. “At least that sponge inkwell works flawlessly.” she replaced the quill in the wide wristband containing a clipboard with multiple sheets of parchment, a clip to attach the quill, a box for spare quills, a small blade for quill sharpening and the inkwell with an ink-soaked sponge inside.
“Would you like to train that with me, Twilight?” I suggested.
“I'm so ashamed! I... that was so unex... there is no excuse. I'm a failure.”
“Oh, Twilight, don't be silly! Everypony can lose concentration when distracted!”
“But I've been training this! For weeks! I had Spike hit my horn till my head was hurting!”
“Every. Pony.”
“But I can't be just like every pony! I must be as unwavering as you!”
“Twilight Sparkle!”I turned my head playfully, “Are you implying I'm not a pony?”
“No! That's not what I meant! I meant that you'd never...”
“Twilight... When I say every pony, I mean every pony.” I peered through the window towards the Sun heading down to the western horizon. An hour before sundown. We should stop for the night soon, but that was chamberlain's headache, I was sure either we had a place at some town or we'd stop to set the camp up.
“Did you ever...” Twilight began, suddenly shocked by realization of the possibility “...lose concentration while lowering the Sun?”
“No.”
Twilight sighed in relief.
“While raising it, yes.”
“What?!”
I just nodded.
Twilight sat in stunned silence.
“So, Twilight, what about we train it together?”
Twilight nodded eagerly.
“You won't mind, Clarity, if we levitate you?”
“Oh, no Princess!”
“Then stay vigilant! If we both lose concentration at the same time you're on your own!”
“So, do we count on another unexpected bump?” Twilight asked, while levitating the scribe cautiously.
“No, besides we are expecting that. We need a stronger distraction.”
“Like?”
“It's very hard to keep concentration while laughing. Do you want me to start with the first one?”
“umm... what first one?”
“So, a pegasus, a zebra and a buffalo walk into a bar...”
* * *
The city was much bigger than Canterlot - but then Canterlot was almost tiny when compared to Manehattan or Fillydelphia. Still, Entwine could probably rival these in size, and certainly beat them in terms of beauty.
The Topside was the poor, barren district of huts of stone and mud, where heat was insufferable and water scarce; a large tongue of sandy desert reaching between barren reddish rocky mountains, with an enormous crevice - a river canyon - running through its length from a narrow valley far in the mountains and extending beyond the horizon into the desert. Countless lesser crevices were branching away from the canyon, splitting Topside into dozens smaller districts connected by a number of bridges.
But just after we touched borders of Topside, it vanished from sight. Entwine certainly grew in the several centuries since I saw it last, but it lost nothing of its special character. We followed a wide road carved into wall of rock, descending steeply through one of the cracks into the network of canyons of the city proper. All houses were carved at various levels into walls of half-mile deep natural canyons, connected by catwalks, stairs, lifts, tunnels, and shaded from the heat through endless web of vines filling the canyons and giving the city its name. From smallest ivy, like the ones ponies grow in pots to stalks spanning the canyon with two-lane roads along their tops, with the tops of the canyons covered with thick canopy, the city was basking in gentle green glow of sunlight filtered through leaves.
Following Storm's guidance we descended to the bottom, reached the main canyon and rode up along the river, through alleys between parks, gardens of the most luxurious and rich houses, stores, hotels and institutions like museums, theaters, or elite schools along the shores of the river. And of course the monuments. The districts with houses carved all the way up into the walls of the main canyon and multiple smaller ravines, crevices, gorges branching off everywhere were framed by enormous sculptures reaching from the bottom all the way up, majestic, placed every half a mile or so apart or guarding the openings of another leg of the canyon, probably hundreds of them in total. Most of them depicted zebras, although we saw one pony, one gryphon, and two minotaurs. All in the weird, vertical pose, standing on hind legs, front legs along the sides or raised, watching the valley from above, each maybe a quarter of mile tall.
“When I was here last, the bottom was the poorest, with unbearable smell. I was brought to the palace through the topside, and all the sightseeing was over the stalks” I noted to Zephyr. “And the makeshift shacks on the bottom would be washed off with every spring flood.
“Oh, since we got the dam up the river and a sewage system, the bottom became very valuable. The floods are no longer a risk, the soil is very fertile and all housings roughly to two thirds up the wall get unlimited running water. Only the ones above the dam water mirror use water that is pumped to the topside, and it's not as plentiful. I'm quite sure Nadir will show you the Hoofer Dam, upriver. It's our national pride and a sight to behold.”
“How is the water pumped up?” Twilight asked.
“Enormous screw pumps, if you excuse my language.” Zephyr winked. “They look like long straight, diagonal pipes, running all the way from the bottom to the top, nudging the crest of the dam two thirds of the way up. Water goes into the pipes through a gap near the crest of the dam, then half the water goes out through the bottom, the other half goes out through the top. Don't ask me about the engineering details and how that happens.”
I must say, I was impressed. The cool shade of canopy forming practically a roof over the canyon, fancy water cascades filling the air with fine, cool mist... I had to admit, despite spring just starting, the mountains around Entwine were already scorched, but down here the temperature was just right. The streets were milling with thousands of zebras going about their business. My convoy wasn't going unnoticed though, zebras stopping, pointing, some smiling, some waving to me with friendly looks, some glaring with scorn, some kneeling low in respect... the general reception was mixed, but I tended to meet more disapproving looks than approving ones. I was giving them all my best smile, constantly reminding myself not to let my jaw drop open at sight of yet another miracle of the architecture. Yes, they went a long way!
And then the turn... Flanked by two of the enormous sculptures there was the branch of the canyon with a narrow brook and a wide, paved road leading up to a distant green, sunny valley. I remembered the bare, scorched walls, as one of eldest plants succumbed to a disease. Currently they were covered with the same canopy of ivy as the rest, although visibly lacking the enormous, ancient stalks. The walls of the branch of the canyon seemed to be filled with offices and institutions. The road was climbing the gentle slope of the bottom of the branch, as we approached the bright valley.
And then the view opened onto the Old Entwine. Surrounded by enormous mountains with snow caps there was the green valley with clean lake in the middle, gardens, orchards, and the Twin Palace on the far end. There were very few buildings besides the palace - most of the buildings of the old city was removed to make room for the fertile gardens supplying the city with fresh fruit and vegetables. Rice, hay, corn, grain and easily preserved goods would be brought by train from the Sugara Valley area, but freshest vegetables and fruit still came from the Palace Valley, Old Entwine.
The palace couldn't quite rival the Canterlot Castle, lower and less colorful, it was impressive nevertheless, with towers of white and black marble mixing, two side wings containing most of its bulk, the central wing quite small, merely a connection between the two, like a perched phoenix with half-spread wings.
Hippotigria always had two rulers if it was only possible - brothers, nephews, if one bloodline was killed off, the other would take over. The history was violent, full of bloodshed and intrigue because for every two rulers working in partnership there was a pair competing or outright fighting. Nadir had promised me the full story of his parents' death “for some long, cold night”.
But for now, we arrived at the palace. Three ponies - the two princes, and a zebra princess stood on top of the low, wide stairs to the main entrance, waiting. A cordon of guards held a crowd of journalists, officials and gawkers to the sides. Storm opened the carriage door and I stepped out, taking my best regal stride. Flanked by Storm from one side, Twilight from the other, I ascended the stairs. Nadir took two steps forward, smiling, practically smirking. He bowed, greeted me officially, then gave my cheek a peck, holding his mouth to my cheek while a storm of photo flashes blinded us for a few seconds. Then he introduced me to his brother and his wife. “Princess Celestia, my fiancé - Prince Zenith, my brother, and Princess Zorana, my brother's wife.”
Yes, she was definitely a beauty, her shapes resembling those of Fleur de Lis, with long, flowing hair and a glyph of an upside-down pyramid composed of six dark circles for a cutie mark, but she lacked the brash confidence of my Prance-loving friend, her demeanor more resembling that of Fluttershy. Zenith, on the other hoof, was tall, impressive, strong... I wondered if he calls Nadir “Runt brother” in his thoughts too. His cutie mark was upside-down of Nadir's - a big ring with a thick black dot in the top part of it. His smile was forced, he seemed to be keeping anger under the surface. He greeted me courtly, but I could feel an edge in his voice. Nadir invited me to follow, and we turned towards the inside.
“Princess, you certainly realize...” Zenith began in a perfectly controlled tone, “the violent history of our country. I'm not sure what to think about the fact that you trusted the Zebra guards as personal escort, while keeping your own guards too far to be able to react quickly. Is that carelessness, arrogance or misplaced trust?”
“Misplaced? I'm quite convinced neither Zephyr nor Storm would attempt to kill me...” I paused, “...again.” I added with a grin.
He threw me a surprised glance. There was a shade of fear in it.
“Prince Zenith, I trust your brother. He's honorable and has pure heart. Are you implying this trust is misplaced?”
“Are you always this fast in judging characters?”
“Am I?”
“You've barely spent two weeks in my brother's company.”
“He's done a great deal of good within those two weeks.”
“Surely he's good at gaining trust of others.”
“That he is. He certainly gained mine.”
Nadir was silent the whole time, feeling oddly distanced.
“You must be tired after the trip, Princess. I will bother you no further. Prince Nadir will lead you to your quarters and you're welcome to join us at the dinner.”
Princess Zorana threw me almost a sympathetic glance as she was departing, following her husband in opposite direction than where Nadir was leading us. The weird smirk was not leaving his mouth... did he plan some prank?
“This will be your room, Twilight Sparkle”, he stopped at a tall door to a fairly luxurious suite, and we left Twilight in her room. A short way down the same corridor we stopped at another tall gate leading to a suite truly dazzling with luxury. Wall-high mirrors, gold, black and white marble, fancy furniture, a bed the size of Light's hut... Servants scuttled away, leaving last of my luggage in the middle of the room when we stepped in.
“Alone at last.” he said.
“Yes,” I smiled, while tensing up, prepared to dodge the pounce.
Instead, he held his mouth outstretched for a kiss. Damn it, no fighting? All right. I wanted him so much that I could skip that part. I was about to kiss him, when things began adding up in my head.
His half-closed eyes. Green. Big. Treacherous. That was not Nadir. The illusion was perfect, but the demeanor was not. Nadir would not... he would not behave like this.
You play a game? Let's play a game. “You want a kiss, you earn it first.” I smirked.
“What do you mean?” the disappointment was almost palpable.
“I rethought your offer from Ponyville. I accept. This willl be a very fun afternoon!”
There, the pile of luggage... I was quickly digging through it, till I found the long, narrow chest locked with a magical lock. I turned the door lock with my magic, then opened the chest. There it was, nested in dark velvet, black, long and glistening.
“Too bad I have only a small bottle of lube. This may get rough.” I removed the bottle from a corner of the box, squirted some gel onto the ridiculously big dildo, then buckled the straps around my back and grinned ravenously.
The fake Nadir's eyes grew suddenly huge with fear. I lifted him with my magic, turned around, then lifted his tail. The bottle floated to him and squirted some cold lube at his anus.
“Wait! Celestia! I... I'm not in the mood!”
I turned him in the air and floated to me. The fake green eyes were filled with terror. I leaned to his ear.
“There are things a Princess is not supposed to do, and I certainly don't enjoy doing them...” I whispered. “But if you don't tell me right now where my Nadir is, I'll fuck your ass with this thing until you tell.”
“But I'm here! I'm your Nadir!”
“Liar.” I grinned, turning him around and binding his legs with my magic, stepping over him. Merely my front legs passed above his hips when I felt the tip bump against his rump.
“I'll tell! I'll tell everything! Don't do it! They paid me!”
The image below me shifted, illusion of the zebra dissolved. A black, remotely-insectoid pony-like creature with gnarled horn, holes in its legs and insect wings was visible in place of the fake prince. A changeling drone. We had enough trouble with them last year in Canterlot...
“They paid me to play prince Nadir! And he said I'd gorge myself with your love to him if I manage to emulate him well enough... But there was not a word about huge dildos! Sure your love is delicious but this is too much!”
“Who?” I was asking slowly, with deliberation, the dildo still resting against the changeling's backside. “What they? And most important of all: Where is he?"
“Wow.” sounded from a big mirror on the wall. I recognized Zenith's voice. Then the mirror moved to the side, revealing Nadir and Zenith in a secret corridor.
“Told ya, bro.” Nadir was grinning so wide I thought his jaw would fall off. He ran up to me and hugged me tightly.
First I returned the hug. Then I threw the changeling a rather cold stare, and it scuttled away like only insects can. Then I levitated Nadir up into the air. I turned him around. I lifted his tail with my magic, then I squirted the cold gel at his anus.
“Wait, wait Celestia! I can explain!” he shouted.
“I'm sure you can. After I'm through with you.”
Oh the look on Zenith's face. I was sure he was just about to shake off the stupor and rush to save his brother, so instead I unbuckled the strap-on, dropped Nadir and gave him a good, solid slap on the flank with it.
“Ouch, that hurt!”
“Now you can start explaining.”
“Allow me, please...” Zenith approached, “and please, don't punish my brother for what was my doing.”
I packed the dildo back into the box, locked it and turned to listen, too overjoyed with Nadir's appearance to be angry really.
“I thought my younger brother got enchanted, infatuated, blinded by your beauty, and that you are simply using him. I devised this test, to replace my brother with a changeling, to see if you really know and love him. Please accept my sincerest apology. I swear I didn't mean to slight you.”
“Prince Zenith, it would be dishonorable to doubt your oath, but how far would you dare to go as to prove your intentions?”
This sudden request, my doubt set him aback. Apparently nobody ever doubted his word here. “Princess... I...”
I threw Nadir a glance. He grinned. I failed to hold back. Just a smallest smirk escaped onto my mouth, but Zenith was too good at recognizing others acting...
I could see as the emotions run through his face, first a relief that I'm not serious, replaced soon by a desperate sinking feeling of realization: "Oh,no! She's just like him!" And then there was this hard smirk: "If I can deal with my brother, I can deal with the two of them."
“Princess”, he smiled, “I hope giving you my brother will be sufficient.”
“Am I yours to give?” asked Nadir, feigning hurt.
“Nadir, remember the time at Star Lake?”
“I do, but I was just a wee foal back then!”
“And I was your big brother trying to keep you in check. Remember how you'd climb the trees and throw pine cones at me?”
“Yes, and how you couldn't climb as high, so you could not reach me.”
“And what I said, what I'd do if you don't stop?”
“You said you'll sell me to a pony witch!”
“And did you stop?”
“...for a time...”
“And so I didn't sell you for a time. So this here is cunning enough and knows magic well enough, and I'm selling you to her in exchange for my peace of mind. There, fair and square, lil bro. Is that okay, Princess?”
I gathered Nadir under my wing. “Deal.” I grinned. “And call me Celestia.”
“So, Celestia, welcome to the family. Tired? Or would you join us for a meal?”
“We'll join you soon, give us some time”, Nadir shooed his brother with his hoof.
“Oh! I see.” he chuckled, then retreated into the hidden passage and left.
I intercepted hit of Nadir's hips on my flank and used advantage of my mass, falling over sideways onto him as he was trying to recover from failed attempt to tip me over. Falling under my weight, he bucked with his hooves at my legs, but I was already rolling over his back, still holding him with my wing, turning him hooves up in the air with it. He bent his neck backwards, ejecting himself upwards, but I expected this, so I reached with my neck and chomped on his mane, stopping his attempt to stand up, and using his momentum to pull myself under him, grabbing him with my hooves into Ironhorns' Grip. Another strong turn, and I was on top of him, laying on his back, holding his legs wide apart and his mane in my teeth, completely immobilized.
“What in tartarus is that?” he whined through the nose.
“Minotaur Wrestling. Speed is deemphasized in favor of combining strength, mass and inertia.”
“You know Minotaur Wrestling?”
“Spent last three weeks learning it!”
“No way, you bested Modern Zo-Fu with Minotaur Wrestling?”
“Yes, I did. Way underrated, isn't it?”
“You MUST teach me!”
“After three weeks of training? I'm still a novice. But I have a good trainer, I'll send him your way after I'm back to Canterlot and catch some more of it myself.”
I released Nadir, rolled off his back, and we finally met in a kiss.
“But you'll teach me the basics”
“I will. You never briefed the changeling on fighting?”
“I knew you had trouble with them in Canterlot recently. I'm not going to expose your secrets to your potential enemies. Bro got some kind of contract with them but they seriously creep me out.”
“He'd better have a good leverage. They don't really hold contracts in deep respect.”
“He's smart, I'm pretty sure he does. Anyway... would you care to explain...”
“Yes?”
“Why did you take that dildo with you?”
* * *
The meal, a counterpart to our “tea time” but with fruit drinks and light snacks in the palace garden, in the shade of a big tree, was an opportunity to get my brother-in-law-to-be known better. The five of us (Twilight was invited too, though she didn't say anything the whole time) were sipping the drinks and discussing.
Nadir was right, Zenith was all business. Still ashamed about misjudging me, he was already expressing his worries about the country. I invited him to participate in drafting the marriage contract. This calmed him down a bit but he still seemed distrustful.
“You really worry about wrong issues. If you really want a headache of this kind, me and Nadir are planning a child.”
“A heir to thrones of both nations?” he asked, surprised.
“Not really. I don't plan on abdicating anytime soon. And even if it came to it, Equestria's rule isn't exactly hereditary. Still, a ruler of Hippotigria who is a son of princess of Equestria... That's bound to cause friction.”
“A lot of problems would be alleviated if he grows up in Entwine, with only minimal contact with Canterlot.”
“And if he's born a plain, mortal Zebra. And that would be optimal from political standpoint, but put yourself in place of me, his mother.”
“Your duty to the land is foremost. Would you put your maternal instincts above the good of your people?”
“My duty is to give the ponies safety and prosperity. It is not to help them cultivate their prejudices.”
“Point taken... but then you'd be really shaking up the order of Hippotigria.“
“WE would.” I put my wing tip on Nadir's back. “The four of us. I'm not going to do this without your consent.”
“Zenith,” Nadir spoke up. “It's me who insists on alicorn heir to the throne. Celestia would be perfectly satisfied to have a daughter and then you could sire two sons.”
“Actually...” I added “I wouldn't just be satisfied. I'd definitely prefer it that way. Considering the violent history of Hippotigria, I'm afraid I'd outlive my son. Not a thing I'd wish to witness. A daughter would be much safer.”
“Brother,” Zenith was visibly disturbed. “You're trying to destroy ages of traditions of our country.”
“That I am. Look where these traditions brought us. Isolated. Nibbled by Gryphons from one side, Harpies from the other, walled off from Equestria, conflicted with buffaloes, alienated from minotaurs, stagnating.”
“Nadir, how can you even say this! The dam...”
“The dam was built almost two hundred years ago. What great did we do since then? One railway line? Anything else?”
“Nothing. Our primary trade routes got cut off.” he sent me a glare. “Prince Veth tried to open new ones. Then you broke the negotiations and cut us off.”
“Did you review the contracts?”
“I did. I spotted maybe three dubious points. I'm pretty sure they could have been renegotiated, or you could have just agreed to them, they weren't that bad really.”
“Can we review them again, together? If I rejected any of the contracts wrongly, I'm willing to apologize and recompense you for all the losses.”
“Fine.” Zenith practically stormed to the library.
* * *
Zenith was sweating profusely. Nadir and Zorana were assisting as I passed him another contract. “Import of perishable goods. The inspection of freshness is at the destination. The punitive charges for spoiled goods are twice the value of the transport. That would leave the importer with a hefty profit in case they can make the goods spoil. And a compensation in case we can't meet the quota, so we couldn't even quit the game.”
Zenith didn't protest any more. He'd oppose before, claim that they would not spoil, that this is correct, that there is enough time, that the point is acceptable. Now he just flipped the page and read into regulations concerning transport.
“The transport is stopped at the border pending signature of Capital Office of Health after it is confirmed to match requirements.” he read, then cursed. “Of course the Office at the time consisted of three zebras and was located in Entwine. The signature could take even two weeks to reach the border.”
“Or be delayed indefinitely,” I added. “After it is confirmed - meaning they might want to review the transport, not just the manifest. Tons upon tons of food wasted and us paying punitive charges for your clerks' procrastination.”
“Scoundrel. Hit me.”
“I demanded pre-approval before the caravan would be formed. He replied we'd have to pay the salary of every resident approving clerk in Equestria. Ten thousand bits per month.”
“Next. Zorana, call some senior servant. I want every single portrait and sculpture of Veth thrown out from the palace.”
I picked another file from the small pile as Zenith closed the binder on the previous one putting it on the big one.
“Oh, this one is my favorite. Wildlife protection.”
“I saw that one. Ban on building dams that could influence our wildlife. That's a very far-fetched clause.”
“Oh, that innocent thing? Read into border responsibilities.”
Zenith started reading.
“The wording is odd, but the intent is pretty clear.”
“No, don't try to guess the intent. Read the wording literally. Note the punctuation. Notice that “also”. Doesn't that seem like it attaches every animal to the same clause as every forest ranger?”
“That would be stupid! Who would ever want to watch every single wild animal crossing the borders! And what for?”
“Flip the page. Punitive charge for trespassing. It would cover the costs of magic markers, wouldn't it?”
Zenith flipped the page back and read the sentence again, and again.
“Celestia, I hope you understand that under my rule an attempt to enforce a clause formulated like this would result in ten to thirty years of heavy labor? Considering scale and malicious intent, closer to thirty than to ten?”
“Yes.”
“And peasant or prince, whoever wrote them would spend a good piece of life carrying bricks for aqueducts?”
“Yes, Nadir briefed me on the idea of Crime against Justice. I like that idea.”
“So what about we take these, and rewrite them all in a honest manner?”
“You're late.”
“What do you mean? It's not like... I mean, you're not vengeful. I know that much. We can...”
“Nadir, you didn't show the briefcase to your brother?”
Nadir facehoofed. “Celestia, did you have to do it? He won't leave me in peace now!”
“What do you mean?”
“Bro practices the rule of “work as hard as you can”. He will demand now that I do the same with the rest of our neighbors, on the same, crazy time scale.”
“Oh. Sorry, I didn't know.”
“You've done that already?” Zenith looked at me with disbelief.
“Yes. We have a briefcase of treaties we plan to sign, releasing about one per week.”
“Why not sign them all now?”
“Told ya, Celly? That's my bro.”
* * *
“Don't tell me you've never done that.”
“I did! Of course I was doing this a lot! But that was like... a thousand years ago! I kinda... lost touch. When sis was on the Moon, I was always too busy. And tired. And needed for something else.”
“Look, I won't make you do it if you don't want. I just thought it would be... the right thing to do.”
“And it is. I'm just... I'm... a coward.” I hid my face in my hooves. “I'd never dare to do something like sneaking up to your room at night. And this... What if they discover me?”
“Nothing bad will happen. I assure you. Khamilion is a true wizard with make-up and disguise. Some stripes, some brushing and you'd easily pass for a half-mustang. You'll get a cowl to hide your wings. And... oh, I'm sure she'll think up something about your horn.
“The looks is not a problem.” I turned myself into pastel vapor of mist and solidified into a plump, elder female zebra form. “What do you see?”
“I see an elder... no, wait. I understand what you mean. I see your age and your power. Every mystic worth a lick of salt would see through that... otherwise excellent disguise.”
“I can cloud their minds so that they would not notice. But it's not fair, it's like throwing sand in their eyes. Besides, where could I leave my horse collar safely?”
“I have this one covered. Zenith will watch over it. As for mystics...” he ran to his study and got me a wooden bracelet from some chest, “take this on. You're possessed by a demon and this thing is keeping it in check.”
“A good mystic will recognize I'm no demon.”
“A good mystic won't blab about what they see. And I know all good mystics in Entwine personally.”
“All right, but you lead the way, I just follow and watch and try not to get in the way.”
“Sure! Look, it's not some kind of excursion into enemy territory. The folks are mostly friendly, and the few that are not... they are no match for the four of us.”
“Four?” Oh. The idea of Zephyr and Storm coming with us gave me a good sense of security. Now that would be a team that could face serious odds. Then a thought struck me. “Does your brother do it?”
“Zenith? Nah. He's got agents. He says I'm old-fashioned, imagine this.”
* * *
And so we were in the Topside. Storm was pretending to be my husband, the biggest of the three. Zephyr and Nadir acted to be children. I must say Zephyr impersonating a filly was exceptionally cute. Nadir, on the other hoof, wore an eyepatch and fake scars. He was pulling me, a stately elder zebra matron in an empty cart - we were supposedly returning after making a delivery to the palace. Changed form or not, my soles were soft and I didn't want to stress the rags tied on my legs instead of my hoof-overs. Sure I could heal my legs magically, but they would be just as soft after the healing, so let’s save that up for times of need. I pondered inviting Twilight to join us, but she preferred to stay in the palace after she discovered the Library.
“The Topside may seem like a dump, it's the poorest and most of worst scum lives here, but it holds some of the best treasures of the land, if you know how to look.” Nadir talked as he pulled the cart along a dusty road.
“What kind of treasures?”
“Like these two.” he pointed to Zephyr and Storm with a grin. “I found them here.”
“You found.” Storm chuckled. “Yeah, right.”
“All right, all right. I was in a fight with a gang of twenty or so, and Storm joined in to help me.”
Storm chuckled. “Gang of twelve, and they were holding you and beating the crap out of you.”
“Right, right. I got much better at fighting since then, I'd handle them myself now.”
“Suuuure.”
“And Zephyr?” I asked.
“We were investigating a slave trade ring.” Storm said. “Nadir was trying to find threads from rich buyers down below. I was asking the folk of the kidnapped around here.”
“Yeah, your threads were better. But when it comes to finding Zephyr, that was me.”
“Yeah, shall I tell?”
“Uh...”
“Right.”
“So, what was the story?” I asked.
“I'd better not tell.” Nadir's ears got red.
“So I will!” Zephyr giggled girlishly, totally matching his looks. “I seduced him. I was a sex slave at a brothel in the Topside. I do like sex, but I'd prefer to pick my partners on my own. Still, as customers go, I totally wanted to hump this one's haunches.”
Nadir's ears seemed to emit small trails of smoke.
“So, after three rounds,” Zephyr continued, “I ask him if he'd consider buying me off. And have me as his permanent slave.”
“I had to get alone with the... employees... to ask them if they are slaves,” Nadir protested.”We still didn't have any proofs. I was investigating!”
“Yeah, after three rounds of very thorough investigation...”
“Look, I got carried away. You're GOOD at that!”
“So, three in-depth checks, and I really, honestly loved every moment of it, I ask him and he starts feeling guilty. So I cheer him up.”
“Making me even more guilty.”
“Guilty pleasures are the best!”
“So, I ask him if he would testify. And he agrees on a condition I take him as my slave.”
“Look, I spent most of my life as a slave. I had no idea how to live on my own. Imagine you release me, tell me I'm free to go, and I have no clue what to do next. I'd end up in the gutter really fast. Figuratively. There are no gutters in Topside.”
“Of course taking him as a slave was not an option, but I could employ him as a page. Long story short, with Zephyr's help we could get testimony from all the slaves and a quick raid completely destroyed the slaver ring.”
“And I never got him in my bed again.” Zephyr sighed. “Any chance you'd invite me for a threesome?”
We arrived at a small market. Trade stands made of single huge dried ivy leaves on stick scaffolding, each leaf big enough to provide shade to the trader, the wares and a couple buyers. Ah, recalling the long-forgotten tastes. String on the money pouch. Coins. Balancing big, spherical object on my nose. Knife handle.
I was slowly recalling doing things the Earth Pony way. The memories of the skills were all returning slowly. I passed slices of the watermelon to my companions after finishing slicing it, and we enjoyed the “food and drink in one” in the shade of our cart.
“Where do you hail from?” asked a cloth trader sitting in the shade of one of the huge leaves near our cart.
“Near Clover, the seaside up north.” Nadir replied. “We heard Prince Nadir's getting hitched, so we brought a cart of nacre, some pearls, red coral, amber and shells. We sold all at the palace. Now we're looking for wares to bring back, not to return empty.”
“What about some silk?”
“We'll be passing through Silk Valley, so... I'm pretty sure you can't top their prices.”
“Flax?”
“Clover gets bulk flax deliveries for sailmaking, we wouldn't make any profit.”
“Mutton wool fabric?”
“What's your price?”
“Seven copper a ten-fetlock.”
“That would be a bad business considering the prices are about to fall.”
“Six copper?”
“Three and we have a deal.”
“Three copper a ten-fetlock? Are you crazy?”
“The muttons of the Rock Fall Pass will bring the prices even lower.”
“Don't even say that name. Yuck, I'm sick of it. Rock Fall this, Prince Nadir that, Princess Celestia another thing. I'm sick of them.”
“What's wrong?”
“Everyzeb's cheering and none think of us, cloth traders. I have three bales of wool. I bought it for four copper a ten-fetlock. And it seems I will have to sell it at a loss.”
“Don't you think a loss of what, three silver, is is a fair price for safe youth of many foals?”
“I know, I know. I'm sorry. It was selfish of me. You know what. Buy the three bales at five copper per ten-fetlock. I'll break even on my costs and you're guaranteed to turn profit by the shores.”
“Four and a half, and just one bale, and we're fine. There is no way I can sell three whole bales upon my return before the cheaper imports arrive.”
“Four and a half for two bales it is, a ruin on my head.”
“Let me see the cloth.” I stood up, licking the watermelon off my mouth.
“Mom?” Nadir asked in surprise.
“I've been weaving wool before your grandfather settled on the shore.” I grinned. There was the bale. “Dirty like the soil itself but you're selling per tenfetlock, not per stone, so that is... gross, but acceptable. Straw and hay weaved in? The zebra who carded this should be flogged. Oh, holes from clothing moths. How neat. The thread is uneven and way too poorly weaved, fragile. And you're saying you paid four copper for that? It isn't even worth two. I'm sorry, but no deal.” I grinned. “This wool has been waiting for a sucker for at least two years, and considering the price you're asking, it will wait another ten until clothing moths leave nothing of it.”
“Go back to your damp Clover, cursed mare. You couldn't recognize a fine cloth if it bit you in the rump!”
“This cloth not only could bite me in the rump, it would eat all my fur off it. Besides, you're selling it in the topside and not on the fancy streets below for a reason, don't you?”
He lowered his head. “I found it discarded behind the clothmaking school. This is where I get most of my wares, cloth that earned the students failing grades. Have it for one copper a tenfetlock so that my kids don't go hungry today.”
“Why don't you cut it up and sell it as blankets or rugs? It would still make acceptable blankets.”
“You know, it's a good idea.”
“Four blankets for five copper each, to keep us warm at night?” Storm suggested.
The trader cheered up and quickly cut four large blankets for us and I loaded them on the cart. Whoa, the wool tasted icky. Definitely needed washing.
“Should we move on?” I asked Nadir.
“No, let the thugs sweat and fiddle a little more.”
“What thugs?”
“The ones that will ambush us as soon as we leave. Didn't you see that filly scuttling away as soon as she heard we sold a whole cart of goods at the palace?”
I swear I didn't.
“If you watch over the wares...” the trader offered, “I could go, call some guards for you.”
“No need.” Storm shook his head. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“You did this on purpose?” I asked Nadir.
He only grinned widely.
* * *
Zephyr had a black eye. Nadir's lip was thick as a baloon. Storm walked with a limp. Only I was relatively presentable, and that only due to healing myself magically from the few bruises. I promised I'd heal them later, but for now they would suffer for putting me into this.
Twenty thugs, driven mad from all that waiting for us in the blistering heat of the backstreets of Topside, and the four of us not scared of them at all.
Of course most of them were taken to the hospital as soon as the guards arrived. I stabilized two that were so badly clobbered they might not make it. One of them tried to file a complaint, that it was us who attacked them. The guard zebra just asked him: “Are you willing to repeat this in front of Prince Nadir's court?” and suddenly the thug's eyes filled with fear and he shook his head.
Now we were sitting in a tavern located in a cave under one of the houses. Sipping cold, mild, honey-flavored ale, reclining in old, battered reed chairs, discussing politics with the bartender and a few patrons.
“Call me a traitor of the nation, I wouldn't mind if Equestria took over. They have better primary education, better health care, and the pegasi make the agriculture flourish despite worse technologies and colder climate,” the bartender commented.
“You'd end up polishing horseshoes of a pony master, you fool. I still can't believe Prince Nadir could do something like that to our country,” and elder patron snarked.
“She bewitched him and he's under her command.” his elder female companion croaked.
“Now now, Prince Nadir is a good mystic, he's not bewitched this easily.” Nadir opposed. “But he's young and she's pretty, if you know what I mean.”
“Pretty? What are you, stupid? She's older than the mountains, all her beauty is magic and illusions. My guess is there's a rotting crone under that all.”
“You're stupid,” her partner replied bluntly. “Alicorns don't grow old physically. They reach a certain age, certain power level, and they choose a permanent form for themselves ever since. It doesn't age. But they can change form temporarily if they wish so. She can be anything, she can look like any creature. For all we know, this could be her.” he pointed at Zephyr. “Playing a frilly filly.”
“I am not a frilly filly!” Zephyr protested. “And I'm not Princess Celestia. Though I wish I was.” he put his face on his hooves, raising his eyes dreamily.
“Why would you ever want to be Princess Celestia?” I asked, faking outrage.
“Because Prince Nadir will marry her. And he's so handsome! I so wish he would marry me!”
“Now, now, sis”, Nadir hugged Zephyr, “He sure won't marry you but if you get a job as his maid, he might...”
“Don't you dare finishing that thought!” I scolded Nadir.
“...introduce you to one of his high officers?” he finished. I blushed.
“Actually, Equestria is quite matriarchal, and if things go the way some think, you might become the prince's officer,” Storm added with humor.
“Me? An officer? But that would involve fighting!” Zephyr's theatrics, in connection with the black eye made me snort with laughter into my mug of ale.
“And I still believe in our prince.” An old traveler zebra in a brown fedora and leather coat said, leaning on the bar. “He works in mysterious ways. He knows something we don't. He didn't get enchanted, and Equestria doesn't need Hippotigria, we'd be just another headache for the hornheads. And there would be a nation-wide rebellion if they tried. Celestia is not stupid, she won't start a war. Now that whole thing with the assassins... This one's stinking.”
“Yeah, I couldn't believe any zebra would be so bound on trying to start a war. The consequences of successful assassination... thousands would die on both sides. Maybe millions.” The bartender sighed.
I held my hoof on Zephyr's shoulder as he shuddered, huddled in fear at the thought.
“I don't think there was any assassination attempt. It was just a ruse.” The elder stallion snorted. “A poison dart with no cure? But then, Why? To put us in an awkward situation?”
“Nadir tried to resolve it diplomatically. But the pony would not let him easily off the hook.” the elder lady commented. “But why would she want to marry him? Other than taking over Hippotigria.”
“Find me a mare who wouldn't want to marry him.” I grinned.
“Sure he's a charmer but Celestia doesn't strike me as one to fall for charming smiles.” the female replied. “Now not to say he doesn't have other virtues, but I heard the first things they did when they saw each other were him proposing and her accepting. Not much time to get to know each other.”
“Yes, don't you find it suspicious?” The traveler smirked from under his hat. “Nadir is not exactly known for making important decisions in the spur of the moment. He takes a day or a few to rethink even the most lucrative offers. And Celestia would definitely not accept if she didn't expect this beforehoof. Everyzeb says he was bluffing and she called his bluff, just to spite him. I won three silver on bets of how long till they break up alone. And today she's in Entwine. Would that happen if he felt uncomfortable with her as his fiancé? ”
“I'm still saying he's under a curse.”
“Sure your right to think that.”
“Wait”, the bartender interrupted the exchange between the elderly lady and the traveler. “So what you're implying: They met secretly, they fell in love. Them getting together as a personal affair would be totally unacceptable for the nobles, so they arranged this whole ruse with fake assassins, fake apology, fake proposal and fake political marriage, just to be together?”
“Now that's a pile of horseapples.” Nadir shook his head. “Just look at the number of treaties they produced. Besides, not to slight our prince, he'd need a stepladder!”
“Midnight, you scrawny runt!” I exclaimed with scorn. “Our Prince is at least a head taller than you!”
“Actually, he isn't.” the bartender disagreed. “He's very similarly sized to your son.”
“Except Princess would never want a good-for-nothing troublemaker like my son. Getting his old parents and little sister into a fight with some thugs. The good wise prince would never do a thing like that!”
“And who was first to call “Take that! And have another!” while pile-driving the gang boss head first into the ground?” Nadir grinned toothily.
“Oh, son, it's not like I don't enjoy to kick some ass of the sissies from the capital. But that's completely improper! Just imagine Prince Nadir taking Princess Celestia to the Topside, just to hunt for a burt with some thugs.”
“I can't talk for the princess...” the traveler spoke, “but that's exactly what our prince would be doing.”
“I wonder what would Prince Zenith do if he learned about something like that.” Nadir chuckled.
“I guess...”, the traveler tipped his hat a little, “he knows his brother enough to foresee this.”
* * *
Nadir asked me for advice. He wanted me to see “The Scorcher”, the poorest part of Topside, and to tell him what to do to resolve its problems. They led me across the canyon through a bridge on top of a massive stalk, and into a chunk of desert far from the canyon and its many branches. A wide, shallow, scorched valley was filled with countless poor shacks, dugouts, rare buildings of dried mud. We went down the main road for a long while, between poor seller stands, houses of mud and wood, but then we turned into narrower streets. Storm led us to the poorest parts of Topside, where he grew up. We passed by shacks of dry ivy, shallow dugouts covered with big, dried ivy leaves, and small mud brick houses. The zebras were definitely poorer, some bore scars or traces of injury, although you'd only rarely see one overly skinny. But patrols of guards were scarce, and there were long lines of zebras to wells with water.
“At least, for the last couple years they don't go hungry. There are soup kitchens, where you can eat for free. Instituted by Nadir,” Storm explained.
“On Storm's suggestion,” Nadir countered.
One old zebra approached us with a limp. An ugly gash on his leg was open and I thought there were worms in the wound.
“Help me, nice lady!” he stepped up to me. “A few copper for a medic.”
I was about to reach to my purse when Storm stopped me.
“This again, Puppy Tail?” he turned to the beggar with scorn. “Last time doctor Needle worked his hooves to his fetlocks on fixing your leg. I can't count the times you were healed. You keep reopening the wound, to raise pity and you disrespect the doctors' work. How much do you have in your mattress? You could afford a nice house with enough land to feed a family for that much.”
“Oh, it's you, young master Storm! I didn't recognize you!” the beggar stumbled back. “Don't take me to the doctor please!”
“That won't be necessary” I smiled, and healed his leg.
“No, no.... he cried, staring at the newly-regrown fur. It hurts! It hurts so much!”
“It does not!” I protested, sensing lack of pain in his body.
“He means it hurts when he makes the injures anew.” Storm grimaced. “Many of the zebras here are unfortunate, sick in some way, unable to work. Some are simply lazy, irresponsible and stupid, responsible for their own fates. Some just don't care and don't want more. Some... made mistakes and now pay for them. And some... I don't understand them. I did check both Canterlot and Ponyville and you don't have districts like these. And I'd really like to know your secret. The soup kitchen doesn't solve this. It actually makes it worse. Some zebras who still worked a bit for food, now gave up completely.”
I stopped and thought, then we continued down another of the shady - in a very figurative sense of the word - streets. I spoke my mind.
“There is no simple secret or easy answer. Role models. Generations of shaping the ethics. Jobs, many jobs where even if you're sick and old, you can still be useful and helpful. Efficient health care, so that you don't spend months in bed uselessly. Good upbringing.”
“Not something that can be solved with a simple treaty.” Nadir shook his head.
“Years, maybe centuries of work.”
“Not within my lifetime.” He sighed.
“Who knows? We're pretty efficient together. Though I agree, it will take another generation for the mindsets to change. Thieves? Bandits? That almost never happens in Equestria.”
Suddenly four zebras with knives and daggers in their teeth emerged from behind some obstacles, surrounding us. Fifth one walked from behind a building, big, heavily built, some wicked blade tied to his front hoof. He was missing an eye, the bloody eye socket gaping at us.
“You dreaming about Equestria's order? he growled, showing yellow teeth, front ones missing. “Ain't no happening while I'm in charge of Topside.”
“Ain't happening when the likes of him are in charge of Topside.” I shrugged to Nadir. “And who do we owe the dubious honor?”
He wasn't a young gangster like the twenty we'd beaten up before. This one was an old, experienced bandit, he did kill in his life, and he would kill again if it gave him profit.
“Purses. Now!” he raised his bladed hoof without gracing me with reply. I reached for my purse.
“Answer.” I said, while untying the string. “Who are you, and why are you doing this.”
“Are you stupid, old crone?” he spat. “Or are you deaf? Name's Purse, and I want them, that's why.”
“I mean, what do you need the money for? What do you need your money for, so desperately that you decide to steal it instead of earning it honestly?”
“Sweet liquors and fun dreams. And mares, though today...” he approached Zephyr, who backed off “I might save up on that.”
“You could afford this all with honest work. With no risk of getting captured.”
“Me, captured?” he guffawed. “There ain't no guard who would dare pick on me. I can get in one day what I'd have to work for a month. And last but not least...” he made another step towards Zephyr “Benefits of the trade.”
“Make another step...” Zephyr hissed through his teeth, “and I'll teach you not to touch girls who don't want you.”
“This is the Southern Half.” Nadir spoke calmly. “Are you usurping rule over Prince Zenith's domain?”
“Zenith can suck my dock, he has no power over me, and Nadir is too busy with his wench to come here, so don't even dream he'll show up to save you.”
“So... let's sum it up.” I smirked. My smirk was apparently driving him mad. “You do it by choice. Not because you didn't have the chance, because life's been unfair or something. You just like doing it.”
“You nailed it, crone. Now when we're on the matters of nailing...” he took another step towards Zephyr.
Zephyr used The Prancing Pony technique, his front hooves delivering a barrage of blows to the nose of the offender. Then he practically galloped over his back... and kicked with his hind leg. Right into Purse's “purse”.
“KILL THEM” croaked the bandit before dropping.
The four attacked.
Now this was the kind of situation to skip all the noble philosophies of Zo-Fu, and apply the cruel reality of Crow Maga. The first attacker got a mouthful of my hoof and his teeth, then his lower jaw got broken as I stepped down, my leg still in his mouth. Out of fight.
Storm engaged his opponent.
Nadir held one thug, choking him.
Zephyr staggered. A dart was sticking out of his flank, and the fourth opponent was loading another into a blowpipe. He raised it to his mouth...
I recalled the month of fear and worries. Not again.
I used my magic to push the dart down his throat.
Then I saw Nadir falling.
“Blades... Poisoned...” he called out. His opponent disengaged and joined the other against Storm.
I was about to rush to Nadir and Zephyr, when the hulking body of Purse stood in my way. His eyes filled with hate.
He held his hoof with a blade up.
He stabbed me.
I dodged, but not quite. Just a nick on my shoulder, but I felt the burning sensation spread.
I lay on my side, using my magic to contain the poison, remove it... It was difficult, the poison not very fast, but definitely lethal and very persistent. Even healed I would be left stunned.
Purse walked towards immobile Zephyr.
“Don't do it!” I shouted out.
He laughed.
I stood up, staggering a little from the effort of my magic, and concentrated on Nadir's wound. Scoop the spreading poison. Contain it. Extract the poison. Slowly...
I heard the expected roar of outrage as Purse discovered Zephyr's gender.
Just a little more... there. Nadir's safe.
Now Zephyr, laying curled up after Purse delivered a savage kick to his groin.
Curing the poison three times in a row is taxing. I was practically on my knees when Zephyr's poison was extracted. Storm was still fighting the two somewhere behind some shack.
And Purse decided I'm still not too old for him.
And I was too exhausted to resist.
I saw Nadir standing up, staggering in our direction. In no condition to help. He would die trying to protect me...
The bandit stepped over me. Then I felt his weight on my back.
Then he rolled off my back and fell to his side. Twitching. Struggling to stand up, and failing. There was a different kind of dart in his flank.
I looked around and saw that zebra traveler from the bar on some roof not far. He turned and vanished behind the edge.
I staggered to the one zebra thug with blowpipe and tried to neutralize the poison, but I was too weak. I felt the poison slipping through my barriers, leaking through his body, paralyzing his heart. I tried to keep it beating, but then the poison spread to the brain and it was the end. I felt the life gone.
I struggled to my hooves and walked towards the corner of a shack, behind which Storm fought two of the thugs. Nadir followed.
Storm emerged, as I was closing. He staggered a little, but calmed me down. “I'm fine, just broken ribs. They didn't nick me.”
I looked behind the corner. Two zebras lying in a heap, limbs at unnatural angles. I checked them with my magic. One was knocked out. The other was dead.
Only now we heard hooves approaching, shouting “Make way to the guards!” and soon a group of rather ragged-looking guards appeared from behind a bend of the road, galloping to us. At first they thought we were drunk, but then they saw the darts, the blowpipe, and finally listened to Nadir when he told them the blades were poisoned.
We all - the four of us, unconscious Purse and two of his mooks that were alive, one with completely shattered jaw, the other unconscious and with badly broken two legs, were loaded on our own cart and two of the guards pulled us to the hospital. I saw others dragging the corpses onto the road, soon obscured by dust raised by the cart.
I killed one of them.
I cried.
* * *
Southern Half Topside hospital. Poor, somewhat crowded, though tidy and what it lacked in luxury and equipment, the crew was making up in dedication. I was placed in one of bigger rooms with six other female zebras. My three friends were in the male wing. The bandits landed in a special ward.
I was unable to maintain the changed form any longer, needing to save up strength for the sunset... sure Luna could do it, but she'd be worried sick if I didn't. So I sent good, calm sleep onto six other patients in my room, and let the illusion drop. Just then a nurse walked in.
I had to calm her down. Yes, it's me. Yes, I'm fine. I just need to rest. Just some water and rest. Yes, I can talk to the guards and give my testimony.
The nurse ran out, and soon two male zebras walked in. One, in the standard guard uniform, he almost stumbled when he saw me. The other... I recognized the traveler from the pub, the one who saved me from the bandit... He smiled.
“Agent Vex, at your service, Princess” he tipped his hat, then revealed his badge on the inside of his coat and took a notepad and a pencil from some inner pocket. “Prince Zenith's Intelligence Service. Could you please answer some questions?”
Oh.
“Yes, of course. And my deepest thanks for timely aid.”
He was concise, to the point, no unnecessary details. Just what we talked about, how the fight began, do I have any clue how the one with the blowpipe got the dart in his throat, can I tell anything about the poison they used... I answered honestly and to the best of my ability. He told me not to worry, the bandits will face the justice. He assured me he saw enough, and the bandits were wanted for quite a while. That Nadir and his friends are safe and sound. The whole visit didn't last even ten minutes. Then he left.
A senior female doctor appeared, bowing to the floor, then informing me that they prepared a room for me, one “more fitting for a Princess”. I refused. “And in case you moved any patients out to make room, move them back in.”
“Oh, no, we just adapted my office!” she blushed. “Is there anything else we can do?”
“Just treat me as any other patient. Give me time to rest, undisturbed.”
“Yes, Princess”, the doctor almost crawled out. The nurse was much better, just leaving the jug of water and a cup, then bowing a little before leaving.
I drank, then lay on my bed, and closed my eyes. Memories of the poison escaping my barriers, filling the body of the zebra, flowing to his brain wandered through my mind, and I cried myself to sleep.
* * *
The sunset was... hardly better than the one my sister did, jerky, uneven and blunt. But at last I knew I'd be rested enough for the Sunrise. Nadir and Zephyr had recovered fully, and I was able to heal Storm's ribs relatively easily.
“And once again we owe you our lives.” Storm sighed.
“Nadir...” I looked into my love's eyes. “What happens to the captured bandits?”
“They will face my brother's court,” he replied, but his eyes didn't meet mine.
“What happens?” I insisted.
“It's almost sure they will be sentenced to death.”
“But... can we save their lives? Can you... give them royal mercy maybe?”
“Normally, they would be able to choose who of the two of us would judge them. They'd pick me and hope for my mercy. I don't think I'd give it to them normally, because they don't regret their acts and they would return to kill more. Still, if you asked, I would do this for you. But now, as I'm one of the victims, I can't be the judge. And my brother will judge them fairly, for crimes of today, and for crimes of the past. And no, he won't yield to me, no matter what.”
I lowered my head, recalling the times when Luna was sending out her Shadow Guard. I knew what had to be done. I couldn't feel okay about that, but I had to accept.
It was the same, except this time I was one of the victims. And still, as much as I hated him, I couldn't wish death upon the one who assaulted me...
We could move to the palace, but I insisted that we stay until morning, despite the word getting out - the nurses quickly passed the gossip and I could see curious eyes peeking from the door at us, but I really needed the extra rest.
The doctor apparently got the message that I don't want any special treatment. We got a light supper, same as all the others, just a glass of milk with honey and a small bowl of rice with some raisins thrown in for taste... I was glad for that, I could not eat anything more fancy anyway.
* * *
I woke up when the right time came and walked up to the eastern window at the end of the corridor.
There was a sea of zebras. Poor dwellers of Topside, often hurt, miserable, tired. They occupied roofs of the poor shacks around the hospital, crowded in the streets, waiting quietly. A whisper ran through the crowd as they noticed me in the window.
They deserved more than plain old sunrise. I climbed on the window still, then jumped into the air, soaring for a while, before stopping on the roof of another, low building, on the other side of the crowd. The sea of bodies turned. There were a few colts and fillies here on this roof, and I could hear them squee, as suddenly their far place where they could hardly see the hospital became the front row.
Majestically. Gently. Reverently. I raised the Sun over the horizon, allowing it to flow through the few low clouds, painting them the colors of my mane. Then I raised it further, and let its light fall upon the crowds.
I flew up and let my shadow pass through the crowds as I spread my wings, soaking in the magic and passing it freely, transformed into form they could feel and absorb.
Finally, as the Sun began its daily route, I landed.
The crowd exploded in a cheer.
Basked in the magic of sunrise, glowing with power, I walked back to the hospital. Healing old aches and injuries, inspiring hope and good will. Smiles and friendship.
And then the crowd parted from the other side, and I saw Nadir approaching. We met halfway, and he greeted me with a bow. I bowed to him. He turned, and I rested my wing on his back. We walked together, confident and inspiring.
“Do we let them in on our secret?” I asked him.
“I think I'm willing to trust them.” he smiled. We stopped, and he turned.
“Friends...” he spoke, his strong voice carrying over the crowd. “I want you to keep what you will see a secret. Keep it in your hearts, and tell it to your best friends, but don't spread it to those you don't trust.”
Then he turned to me.
We kissed.
* * *
The four of us left the empty hospital, most of the crew taking much-overdue time off as I healed all the sick, leaving the crew temporarily without work. Nadir got me a quad of nice, soft boots for until I reach the palace. We crossed over the chasm and I performed similar healings at the Northern Half hospital a few miles further. The more “elite” hospitals in the canyons would need to wait for later...
We were making our way back to the palace slowly, enjoying relatively cool morning weather, being followed by a crowd of gawkers in a short distance. We stopped at a small restaurant near the rim of the valley of Old Entwine, buying boiled corn for breakfast. Of course the owner wanted to give it for free, but Nadir tipped him more than the value of the meal. We sat at a table under canopy of the usual huge dried leaves, and as we started on our corn, Nadir spotted a fresh newspaper on a seat by us. He laughed. Give it to journalists if you want to make mess out of it.
Celestia captures hearts of Topsiders!
In another futile attempt to discourage her from marrying him, Prince Nadir gave Princess Celestia a tour of the least attractive parts of the Capital. The visit to seediest parts of the town made the Princess so sick, that in the yesterday's evening hours she had to be admitted to a hospital - and which one would Prince choose? Southern Half Hospital, about the poorest hospital in Entwine.
Not discouraged in the least, and fully recovered by morning, Princess Celestia gave an exquisite show of magic, raising the Sun before crowds of citizens gathered at dawn by the hospital. She then proceeded to heal all the sick in the hospital, and cheered by the crowds, she pledged not to cease her efforts until she makes Topside flourish.
The article then proceeded to recall our endeavors so far, and made vague guesses based on opinions of zebras I'd never heard about, on when, if at all, would we marry.
I was halfway through my corn, when suddenly I felt lightness, euphoric light-headedness, I felt floating a little over the seat...
“Uh-huh, I wonder if it's my brother or his wife.” Nadir chuckled. Myself, I was momentarily tempted to ask Nadir to run away with me... but sanity prevailed.
“Let's hurry to the castle. Zephyr, Storm, join us later. Ready to soar, Nadir?”
“Uh... yes?”
Still not feeling stable enough to cast group teleport safely, but feeling unusually light and flighty, and unburdened able to lift a lot more than normally, I grabbed Nadir with my magic, ran off the rim of the cliff overlooking Old Entwine, and soared directly to the southern wing of the palace.
I could easily sense my horse collar. Unlike my hoof-overs or the tiara, it's not a thing I could just lose. I soared weightlessly over the orchards and the gardens, then landed on a balcony just outside the room where I sensed my collar was, placing somewhat shaken Nadir by me. I knocked on the glass of the balcony door.
A servant opened the door just a little bit, telling us “Prince Zenith is indisposed.” Nadir put his hoof in the door and smirked at the servant. The servant balked and stepped away. We walked in.
There was Prince Zenith looking sickly on the bed of his fairly luxurious, if practical looking room. Unprepared for the burden, unable to find the proper mental attitude to make it bearable, he lay totally smashed. My horse collar lay by the bed.
“May I?” Nadir asked, smiling to me. I nodded.
“I'm... I'm sorry.” Zenith squeezed his eyes shut.
“Now, now, bro, wearing my marefriend's jewelry”, Nadir teased, then lifted the collar onto his own neck, then stood straight, momentarily tense but calm. Zenith was gasping with relief, struggling to his hooves.
“Heavy, isn't it?” Nadir smirked.
I saw Zenith regain composure. He stood ready to deliver some apology or something, then he made a double take, staring at my legs.
Oh yes, I was standing on a fluffy carpet. On the tips of the thin, long hairs of the carpet.
I walked up to him, my hooves barely touching the carpet. I bowed my mouth to his ear.
“Now you know. There is no need to talk about it.”
I recovered the horse collar from Nadir and somewhat regretfully put it on my neck, my hooves immediately sinking into the carpet.
“Princess.” Zenith looked into my eyes. “May I ask you, so that when my son takes the throne, you let him wear this for a day? Every ruler should feel it upon their neck, to fully understand their role and responsibility. And now, that I know... I can't have anything but deepest respect for you.”
“With attitude like yours, it would break your son's neck before the Sun sets. Lighten up, Prince Zenith. Your brother didn't have much trouble wearing it now, did he? With courage and confidence, trust, friendship and hope this burden is quite bearable.
“But never light.” He lowered his head.
“Bearable.”
* * *
I spent the afternoon in the palace library, with access to all the historical documents about the old disputes between our countries, accompanied by Twilight. Confronting the opposite accounts I was able to easily discern which side was right... slightly ashamed, I was noticing my own mistakes of the old, summarily Equestria owing to Hippotigria more than vice versa. There were still some entries where the accounts were in conflict. We'd have to visit the communities personally and resolve that there. But the count of disputed regions on our border dropped from over thirty to three or four - Nadir should be able to resolve one of the remaining ones on the spot. When he's back, that is.
Nadir and Zenith attended their courts. Zenith would judge Purse and his helpers. He expressly opposed my presence, saying my written testimony would be quite sufficient, and my presence would introduce completely unnecessary bias. Besides, my testimony was only one of many, and not nearly the heaviest. Purse was wanted for a long time, and even my bid for mercy would not hold enough weight against his numerous past crimes. That I learned from the elder librarian helping me find the needed documents.
Meanwhile, Nadir's task in court was more pleasant, though harder. At least a dozen of different small-time criminals of Topside turned themselves in willingly, claiming they want to leave the way of crime, serve their sentences and start anew with clean accounts. One outright claimed he doesn't want Princess Celestia to be disappointed with him. Nadir told me this is all right, most of them honestly mean that, but some might have done it just to get away with their crimes lightly, so he'd have to discern, which ones... not nearly as easy to determine as whether Purse was a murderer or not.
Twilight just finished taking notes for me, when the two princes entered. I invited them to our table and presented my findings, then we began transforming them into written law. Nadir was transferring the spoken entries into language of law with trained efficiency , writing down the Zebraic versions, me translating to Poni, Twilight writing it down, while Zenith was just checking the notes over and again, listening with disbelief.
“You're giving away at least two hundred square miles of land in total. Just like that. Not a word of protest, regret, no demands of any kind.” he muttered, while reviewing an especially big swath of land, Crow Peak, a whole mountain of at least fifteen square miles.
“No, I'm not giving anything away. That land was never mine to begin with. I'm just straightening out mistakes in the paperwork. Making the documents match the reality.”
“Making the...” Zenith sighed. “For ages we were taught the documents are THE reality. That if the world is different than what the documents say, the world must be changed. I always frowned upon this approach, but then I thought, who am I to change the ways of my ancestors?”
“It's healthier this way, don't you think, bro?” Nadir grinned, the quill still in the corner of his mouth.
I kissed Nadir's other mouth corner. “Now the somewhat harder part comes. The next batch is the land that got settled illegally. Of course we don't want to throw the settlers out, some of them live there for a century or longer. So I tried to match land values and prepared offers of mutual exchanges. The last bit is a few uninhabited areas that rightfully belong to Equestria, but I'm offering them in exchange for parts of Hippotigria settled illegally by ponies, as there are more of these than frontiers of Equestria settled by Zebras.”
Nadir reviewed the entries quickly, and approved. Zenith was double-checking them.
“You know now I should really start bargaining and demand more in the exchange?” he raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, but that wouldn't be fair.”
“It's trade, not justice. The concept of “fair” is far more lax.”
“But you won't. You know I have prepared the calculation in good faith, with intention to have it solved with no hiccups. I set the values at about what we'd agree upon in case both sides are bargaining. You'd abuse my trust by demanding more, and next time we try to resolve a conflict you'd face my full strength as a negotiator. You'd face an uphill battle instead of a satisfactory solution ready for your signature.”
“You are perfectly right. I have another question though.” He rested his hooves on the table. “What about Princess Luna? What would she think about this exchange?”
“Now by this question you have earned a lot of respect from me. Many forget that my sister has equal power in all of Equestria's matters. But in this case you don't have to worry. These are border issues, and Luna has delegated all the border issues responsibilities to me. The borders have changed quite a bit over the last thousand years, and she didn't quite catch up on all the subtleties since then, especially that she's busy with many other things, so I'm the one to handle everything concerning the borders and most of foreign affairs.”
“Allow me to ask... did you delegate any responsibilities of your own to your sister fully?”
“Education, science and research. She's in charge of almost all schools, grants, researchers, and so on. She's much better at that than me. I'm still in charge of the School for Gifted Unicorns, but that's only one school in the big Equestria. To be honest, Luna was seriously disappointed in the state of affairs she found upon her return, and not without a reason.”
“She's left to rule alone for the time of your visit?”
“I trust her.”
“She did disappoint you once.”
“Due to my own error. I will not repeat it.”
Zenith was checking my notes with the map for a while, he suggested some quite cosmetic adjustments, which I approved, then as Nadir finished writing everything down, I sent the treaty through dragon fire to Luna to sign. It was back no more than five minutes later, and the three of us signed it too. Zenith passed it to a scribe to make copies, and ordered to have it released to the public when the copies are ready. Then he invited us for dinner. Just the seven of us - me, Nadir and Zenith with his wife, Twilight and two Nadir's friends.
...my first proper meal in Hippotigria. Snacks in the Topside were all right, but I really could use a formal dinner.
It was royal. Various sprouts with buttered baguettes for appetizer. Spicy soy goulash soup. Mixed fruit dumplings in cream. Breaded parasol mushroom hats fried with molten smoked cheese and cranberry jelly sandwiched between them. Thick puff pastry turnovers stuffed with spicy mushroom, cabbage, and various pickled vegetables, with a selection of dips and sauces. Steam-boiled bread with honey, chestnut and plum sauce. And for dessert - a single watermelon-sized grape infused with dozens of various juices, honey, and delicacies, cut into pieces for all of us to enjoy - the fruit of the “Mother Vine”. One of oldest vines spanning Entwine would bear this fruit - only five to seven grapes every year, and the grace to try it was a rare privilege of the royal family and chosen nobles. That's what Zorana told me about it.
“I thought it's ivy that spans the canyon,” I asked her, “and ivy doesn't bear fruit.”
“Oh, a common simplification.” She began explaining with enthusiasm reaching beyond mere learned knowledge. “There are five different giant plant species that give Entwine the name. Two species of ivy, most common Bigleaf that gives us most of the shade and Titan Ivy that forms the great bridges. Some branches of the canyon are overgrown with a species of bindweed called Heaven Bells that gives little shade but grows absolutely wondrous blue bell flowers later in the spring, giving us abundance of honey. And there are two species of vine, Vine of Forefathers with somewhat smaller, dark, extremely sour, overly abundant fruit that is used as ingredient for countless purposes in potions, tanning, medicine, but is far too sour to be used as any kind of food, and the rare Mother Vine, from which only one plant bears scarce fruit, and even that only due to extreme care of very talented gardeners.”
I had to admit, the grape was delicious, and the pockets of various taste from infusions were giving it an extreme variety of tastes. I complimented the dish, then asked Zorana “You certainly seem knowledgeable in these?”
“Oh, yes. My family prides itself in it. I originate from the noble family of Keepers of the Mother Vine, it's my heirloom, and I'm one of only three zebras who can prepare elusive recipes from the Mother Vine grapes. I'm so proud and glad that you like it...” she broke off.
I thought I saw tears in the corners of her eyes. I put my hoof on her shoulder gently. “Tell me.”
“Oh, just old, silly foalish dreams.”
For a brief moment I met Zenith's eyes, and they were soft, caring, unlike his common stern self.
“Tell me.”
“I just wish I had any more useful talents. There is nothing more I could demand from life for myself... but there's so little I can give in return. Preparing a dessert for a dinner five to seven times in a year... not a very useful skill. I'm a decorative article. Oh, forget it, I'm rambling. It's silly, there are so many zebras with real problems, and here I am complaining about having too little work.”
“Zorana tried quite a few other occupations,” Zenith explained, “but she only got results with the grapes. They are her special talent. Despite her best intentions, the effects in all other domains were rather... underwhelming.”
“Disastrous.” She shook her head. “Disastrous is the correct word.”
Nadir nodded, a shade of smile in the corner of his mouth, apparently recalling the events.
I was lost in thought for a while, then I found Twilight staring at Zorana’s cutie mark. I looked at it too. Six black dots forming an upside-down pyramid. Six thick, black dots...
“Have you tried experimenting with these more common, dark grapes?” Twilight asked her.
Zenith frowned a little.
“Uh... not really. They...” she struggled for expression.
“The Commoners’ Grapes?” Zephyr smirked. “That would be quite improper, wouldn't it?”
“If Princess Celestia can fight crime in the Topside, I can certainly try cooking with the Commoners' Grapes.” Zorana planted her hoof on the table as firmly as Fluttershy usually does.
Zenith shook his head and sighed, but he didn't say a word.
* * *
There I was, on Nadir's bed, a neat small red ball gag in my mouth being definitely useful. Zecora's potion curbed my magical destruction, but I was still rather on the noisy side. And Nadir was returning the favor for all the breaks we'd take when I'd take care of him without receiving anything in return. The secret passage behind the mirror in my room was leading straight to his bedroom, no need to teleport.
“I should really tie you down,” sounded from under my tail. “I can't keep going with you writhing like this. I was taking lessons how to do it right, but I was training on an immobile gourd.”
Oh yes, did I mention I was writhing and thrashing from multiple orgasms?
His tongue sunk in me again and he reached that very special spot, his tongue tip drawing small circles over it. I couldn't hold back, writhing and kicking.
I think one of my kicks connected.
“Enough is enough.” he stood up from the bed and picked up his sash.
I stared at him. No, don't stop!
He crawled onto the bed and wrapped my hind legs in the sash, tightening two hoops holding them together. Then he pulled the loose end to my front legs and put them through another two hoops. He pulled on my tail and put it through a gap in the part connecting front and hind hooves. “There.”
“Nadir, I... I'm not sure...” I whimpered, removing my gag for a moment using my magic.
“Your horn still works just fine, you just removed your gag.” he said, while replacing it in my mouth and securing the strap behind my neck. “You can remove the bonds just the same at any time. But if you can't keep yourself from kicking me, they are to stay in place.
I nodded and lay calmly on my side.
Oh!
His tongue found that place again. And moments later I was coming over and over, whimpering through the gag, struggling in my bonds, my labia pulsing rapidly, and my mind wandering through weirdest dream-like visuals, blank from pleasure. No, there was no way I could use my magic while in this state. Not that I wanted. Totally unable to focus on anything but the orgasm. An evil creature like Discord or Chrysalis would find me entirely defenseless.
And Nadir kept licking restlessly. How long did it last? Half an hour?
Finally cramp-like spasms began making my backside ache, and Nadir gave my labia a soft, tender kiss, letting my continuous orgasm fade and pass into a wonderful afterglow.
I felt him crawl up behind me, removing my gag using his mouth.
“May I get in?” he asked.
I hesitated.
“I'll be quick and gentle.”
“Okay. Just don't try to give me another. That was almost too much.”
He kissed my neck and I felt his tip against my wonderfully aching labia. They parted for him without any resistance, and he slipped in, giving out a delighted purr. He nibbled on my neck and bucked his hips lightly. His tip slid near my cervix, never passing into the zone of discomfort.
This time it was him taking his pleasure, using my inside for his own delight, taking without giving, seeking his own relief... with me bound, exhausted and powerless, still shuddering from fatigue. I could feel his tip flaring, stretching my tired, sore insides too overworked to give more than powerless throb. His hips moving faster, his tip flaring harder, his breath catching in his throat.
Taken advantage of?
By Nadir?
I shut my eyes tightly, grinding my teeth. Then my insides clenched. I felt the powerful throb inside, a wave of his semen perceptible through his flesh, flowing to his tip.
I cried out, quietly, as the orgasm hit. A guilty, ashamed, broken orgasm squeezed my insides as they milked his shaft, greedily demanding more of his semen, holding him in, caressing his maleness which was still spurting more, a wave after wave filling me.
I lay, whimpering, crying.
He retreated immediately, held me, whispering his care and worry, asking what happened.
“Just a bad cramp,” I lied.
He didn't believe me, but he didn't press the issue. As he lay spooned to my back, everything was all right again, and I snuggled up closer to him, and loved having his hooves around my neck, and his breath in my mane. I drifted off to sleep, the comfort chasing sadness away.
* * *
I tried to slip out from his embrace without waking him up, but the shine of his eyes from under his eyelids and a smile on the corner of his mouth meant I failed. He wasn't one to sleep in, but first dawn was still too early for him.
“Sleep. I'll just handle the sunrise and I'm back.” I whispered, then trotted to my chamber through the secret passage.
Washing, brushing the mane and tail... my upper back definitely needed more thorough cleaning, disadvantages of spooning right after sex... Tiara, hoof-overs, horse collar. Now, that I knew I had a choice, that the curse wasn't my own alone to bear, wearing it felt easier. A duty, not a sentence.
I walked up to the window. There was a rather big crowd gathered in front of the palace. Well, sorry to disappoint but it will be half an hour past the sunrise when the valley gets its first sunlight, and I prefer the view onto some far, flat horizon when doing it. Raising from the bottom of a bowl - emergencies only.
I soared from the window, and flew up circling slowly around the valley, beating my wings until I had the farthest horizon well within my reach. Now I could see all of Entwine from above for the first time. Barren mountains on the west, dry desert on the east. A network of crevices, enormous cracks in the desert leading from the mountains to the main canyon, most originating from multiple mountain valleys spilling into the tongue of desert reaching between two mountain ranges. I could see the dam and a lake far up the river, deeper into the mountains, and the railway line leading northeast into the desert. Other than deep green of the ivy filling the canyon, the terrain was all the same browns, oranges and grays of the barren world... with the exception of Old Entwine, one circle of green, an oasis in the mountains.
I leveled my flight and concentrated on the sun. The wind was making my mane flutter along my neck, as I pulled the orb from its night resting place and put it in motion for its daily journey. This always filled the world with lots of free magic, magic related to birth, creation and growth.
Concerning birth... I recalled something I forgot yesterday. It felt sacrilegious, to use this magic to kill Nadir's seed within my womb, instead of using it for fertility. But he promised, when we're married...
And then my heart fluttered in fear as I recalled my magic scooping the poison out of his blood not even two days ago. And the same magic failing to scoop the poison from blood of another zebra.
I turned back and soared low over Entwine, back to the castle.
And there I saw it, near one of major roads exiting the canyon and turning into a major Topside artery, there was the old, long-forgotten structure.
Gallows.
Three bodies were hanging on them. I recognized the bigger, bulkier shape in the middle.
A chill ran through my skin. I knew he deserved it. I still remembered him laying his weight on my back. How he did it with trained efficiency. How he didn't even frown at the thought that, was I just a common zebra, the poison would have killed me within another minute or two, and he'd finish off inside my corpse. I knew one of the other two nearly killed Nadir. And still, I couldn't accept their death.
Who were they? What events, what failures of the society shaped them that way?
Maybe if, instead being snotty and smug about beating Prince Veth at his own game, I could have guided him by example, to help him reshape the society of Entwine, to prevent this atrocity from ever coming to be?
Now, for these, it was too late. But late as I was, I got things rolling, and I'd see them to the end. So that no pony or zebra would have to be hanged. So that none would deserve it.
So far it wasn’t that hard. There is an inherent good in all of us, and you only need to make the life bearable, opportunities reachable, give us a chance and hope, and we will let that spark of good surface. If you lead a simple life, you really desire to to lead a simple and honest life, and you will, given the chance. But there are influences that corrupt. Power, wealth, control. Some become drunk with these, addicted. They tend to forget our primal, equine desire to do good. Dealing with these is much harder and I would have to deal with them soon.
I glided lower, descending towards the palace, passing over the scorched city. I could see some zebras already out, working - pausing their work to wave, salute or bow to me. I almost rubbed my belly over the roof of the restaurant where Nadir got me the corn, then as I passed the rim, I gained speed, soaring over the lake and heading for my room's balcony.
The crowd cheered, despite missing the sunrise, the valley still basking in deep shadow. Oh well, tomorrow they'll know better. I may even ask for some suggestions on a location...
I stopped on the balcony and bowed to the crowds, then walked back inside, then through the passage.
Nadir was awake, though still on the bed, his face in a blissful, dazed smile as I entered.
“What?” I asked seeing his dreamy expression.
“Do you have any idea how beautiful you are in the morning?”
“umm, thanks?” I lay by him and we kissed.
“Take me under your wing. I totally love when you do that.”
I did.
We kissed once more. Then we went back to sleep.