Chapter Six
Welcome to The New Age
Morning arrived upon the Crystal Empire. Nothing had changed since last night other than the ponies noticing the change to themselves and their home. No longer were they forced to stay inside their homes and only be allowed to leave for important matters involving King Sombra. No longer were they in fear of guards killing them if they looked or acted suspicious. And no longer was the sky constantly covered in a veil of darkness and clouds. It was as if the nightmare they’d been experiencing was finally broken as ponies began to wander around the newly built kingdom.
While the ponies were currently trying to figure out what had happened and talking to some of the guards who were carrying the weak & wounded to the hospital, Nanako was sleeping on the bed of Queen Umbra without a care in the world. However, that would come to an end as Umbra, Amber, and Rusty entered the room. Upon seeing the celestial being halfway off the bed like a bum, Rusty deadpans at the scene before speaking.
“....This is the being that you choose to become our ruler?” Rusty asked.
“Well, it’s better than anypony else that we got. Do you think anyone would be okay with me ruling after what my father did to them?” Umbra answered as she made her way over to the window and opened the curtain to her room, causing the sunlight to hit Nanako’s face, but she was still asleep.
“I mean she does make a valid point,” Amber said before making her way over to the celestial being. “She looks cute when she’s passed out…I think?”
“Perhaps, but I still have my doubts about her. You sure she won’t betray us like Sombra did?” Rusty asked as Umbra shook her head.
“Given how the Crystal Heart accepted her, I have reason to believe she won’t do that.” She said before looking over at Nanako and using her magic to push her off the bed. The sound of something hard hit the floor as Nanako fell face-first onto it. There was a moment of silence in the room before hearing Nanako grunting and pulling herself up from the ground. “Rise and shine princess~”
“Geez…must’ve been tired last night if I was sleeping face down like this,” Nanako said as she slowly pulled herself up while covering herself with the blanket from the bed. “What time is it?”
“It’s nine o’clock, Queen Nanako,” Amber answered as Nanako let out a loud yawn. “We have a lot to do today given how you’re the new ruler of the Crystal Empire!”
“And that would be?”
“Addressing yourself to the Crystal Empire,” Umbra answered before using her magic to make a list appear out of thin air. “Afterwards, you are to meet with ten of Sombra’s hoof-picked generals…and by hoof picked, I mean forced to work for him, otherwise he would kill them.”
“Understandable, who wouldn’t work for a guy that can mount your head on a pike? Mind telling me their names?” Nanako asked as Umbra used her magic to bring up a magical image of three unicorns. One was a cream-colored unicorn with red hair, the other was a blue unicorn with yellow hair, and the third was a white unicorn with orange & white hair and had a fox-like tail similar to that of Amber, only the unicorn had multiple tails. “First we have the science and medical leaders who consist of Mayfield, Northstar, and Haiku.”
“This place has a science department?”
“It does, but it was only used one time to create magic-canceling rings for unicorns and mind-control helmets. Afterward, it was liquidated because he didn’t have any use for it. Now that he’s dead, we can make something useful and patch ponies up if they’re injured or sick.”
“Hm, the one with the fox tails. She wouldn’t happen to be related to Amber, would she?” Nanako asked as the unicorn nodded.
“Haiku Foxtail, mother of Amber Foxfire and Aqua Foxwater. Haiku is the kingdom’s leading expert in plants and is the owner of the apothecary shop.”
“So she’s a botanist and chemist, interesting. What about the other two?”
“Mayfield, leader of the scientific technology department & security, and Northstar is in charge of the medical science department. You need somepony in need of a prosthetic or a physical check-up, they’re the two you can rely on…despite one being an airhead with a thing for magnetism and the other being crazy over seeing new species of animals or beings.”
“...Should I be worried about Northstar?”
“Yes…yes you should,” Umbra said before bringing up four images of five ponies. One was a male pegasus, the other two were female pegasi, one was an earth pony, and the fifth was an old gruff-looking unicorn. “Next we have the military department. You already met Rusty Heart.”
“You kind of owe me a new room seeing how you did damage it with that weird thin magical beam attack.”
“It’s not magic, it's ninjutsu, and you can take money out of the treasury to repair the damage done to your room,” Nanako said as she looked back at Umbra who continued.
“She along with Emerald Spade and Star Loyalty are the captains of the aerial division, Hateful Freeze is the captain of the ground soldier division, and Blazeheart is in charge of the unicorn division and the kingdom’s blacksmith.”
“Alright, nice to see this place has some kind of military forces. But what about interior workers? Like carpenters and clothes designers?” Nanako asked as Umbra brought up three images of three earth ponies.
“Thunder Hoof, Glamorous Icon, and Tarot Deck. Thunder Hoof is in charge of housing and construction, Glamorous Icon is the empire’s fashion designer, and Tarot Deck is our fortune teller, astrologist, and chef.”
“A chef huh, I would like to meet Tarot Deck seeing how she’s the chef, and I am a bit hungry.”
“We have food set up for you in the dining hall. Can’t start the day without something to eat right?” Umbra said as she made the magical images disappear. “Amber, take Nanako to the dining hall, I have some things to set up before the meeting around ten o’clock.”
“Yes ma’am!” Amber said before looking over at Nanako. “Follow me if you would, my queen.”
“Please don’t call me that. Queen seems a bit too formal for my taste.” Nanako said before making her way off the bed and floated after the fox-tailed earth pony to the dining hall. While the two were walking down the hallway, Umbra looked over at Rusty with a smirk on her face.
“Still think she can’t be trusted?” Umbra asked as Rusty rolled her eyes.
“Fine, I suppose I can give her the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t kill us off the bat like Sombra did when somepony woke him up.” She said before walking down the hallway in the opposite direction. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that not everypony is going to trust her off the back.”
“Hence the meeting we’ll be having. It’ll show that my father is dead and they can no longer fear death or worse.”
“Do you even have a plan for how she’ll get them to trust her? Because words alone aren't going to cut it.”
“I’m sure she’ll have some idea of how to prove to them that she can be trusted. For now, you may return to your duties and inform the other about the meeting.” Umbra said as she sank into the shadows and disappeared. As Umbra and Rusty went their separate ways, Nanako and Amber entered the dining hall. To the celestial being’s surprise, she was expecting the table to be covered in food that would be suitable for a pony. Not that it wouldn’t matter to her, she could just turn it into something edible to eat. Food is food even if it wasn’t human food. But instead, the table was covered in an assortment of foods ranging from vegetables, meats, fish, fruits, and pastry goods.
“Wow, I was not expecting this if I’m being honest,” Nanako said as she admired the food on the table. “ Well the meat part at least, I can understand the fish. But I was expecting plant-based foods given how you’re ponies.”
“If you mean the meat on the table, it’s not animal meat,” Amber said as Nanako raised an eyebrow at her.
“Is it some kind of plant-based meat?”
“No, it’s bug meat.” said a new voice as the two looked over to their right to see an amber-orange pony with black colored hair, a witch's hat on her head, and a white apron around her waist. “So you’re the one that took down King Sombra. When Umbra said that you were something beyond, she wasn’t kidding about it..”
“I get that a lot. I’m going to assume your name is Tarot Deck?” she asked as Tarot nodded.
“Yep! Tarot Deck is my name. I’m the empire’s fortune teller, astrologist, and chef…that last part was kind of forced on me because King Sombra killed the last chef two years ago and pretty much chose me to take his place…it was not fun having to deal with his outrageous food pallet.”
“Given my short interaction with him before his death, I can see why you wouldn’t find it fun,” Nanako said before looking at the spread of food. “While I do appreciate that you did this for me, I don’t need to eat this much. Though I will make a plate for myself, can you give the rest of the food to the ponies in the castle and if possible throughout the empire?” She asked which took Amber and Tarot by surprise. “What? Did I accidentally say something wrong?”
“N-No…it’s just that…King Sombra never offers anypony food…he just leaves us with scraps of whatever he doesn’t eat…which is rare.” Tarot said as she looked over at the table for a moment before looking back at Nanako. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Yes, I’m sure about that.” She said before walking over to the table as she made herself a plate of food for herself. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get bug meat that’s the size of an animal?”
“W-Well due to the environment that we live in, a lot of the animals that we had died off. So King Sombra had an idea to use an enlargement spell to increase the size of all bugs within the Crystal Empire. While it did help with providing food for the empire, it also caused the local wildlife to change.”
“I’m afraid to ask, but when did he do that?”
“Northstar assumes that it happened nine hundred years ago, which makes sense seeing how the change couldn’t happen so suddenly,” Amber answered.
“Yes, indeed…where are these giant bugs?” Nanako asked.
“There’s an underground entrance outside near the entrance of the empire. Sombra would bring a group of unicorns with him to kill the bugs and extract the meat from them. It tastes really good if you know how to season it.” She said before noticing Nanako taking a loud crunchy bite out of the bug meat. A low moan of pleasure escaped the celestial being’s mouth as she looked over at the earth pony chef.
“Dear god, this might put the food I eat back home to shame. And you made this all on your own?”
“I mean I had help from the boys in the kitchen, but the idea to use a special sauce was my idea.”
“Well, you did one hell of a job. Keep up the good work Tarot~” She said before taking a seat at the table. “Feel free to give the rest of the food to the others.”
“U-Um, of course! Thank you, Queen Nanako!” Tarot said before quickly making her way back into the kitchen.
“It’s Nanako! Not Queen Nanako!” She yelled before letting out a sigh of slight annoyance as she looked over at Amber. “Is this going to be a thing?”
“Being called Queen after an act of kindness? Yes…I think.” Amber said before making herself a plate of food and sat to eat. While the earth pony was eating, the celestial being would notice the earth pony’s jagged sharp teeth which piqued the girl’s interest.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why do you have teeth that were meant to rip apart teeth?”
“Oh, so you noticed?” Amber asked after taking a bite out of her bug meat. “I’m not the only one that has teeth like these. A lot of the ponies in this kingdom have it. Northstar said it’s mainly due to evolution seeing how normal ponies couldn’t survive this long in a place like this. Generation upon generation, our normal flat teeth, and pony anatomy had to change to adapt to our…prison. She said that first started to be noticed around the one-hundred-year mark of King Sombra’s ruling during the great devegetation that lasted for a good fifty years or so.”
“So that would make you all omnivores.”
“Correct…at least with this generation of ponies.”
“Well that answers a few of my questions on the whole razor-sharp teeth…but why do you have a fox-like tail while everyone else has normal tails?” She asked as the fox-tailed earth pony shrugged.
“You’ll have to ask my mom about it. Because that’s where I along with my sister got it from…oddly enough she never tells me why we have tails like this.”
“I’ll make a mental note to ask Haiku about your family's genetic traits. But for now, I’ll just focus on the meeting in front of the castle and the food I'm eating.”
“Got anything to say to the ponies of the empire? Because I’m sure words aren’t going to cut it.”
“I have a few ideas that I’m hoping will work,” Nanako said as she looked over at the pile of animal meat off to the side of them. “...Question…how good are you with stuffing meat inside of a taxidermy body of a pony?”
[An hour later]
“Attention ponies of the Crystal Empire!” yelled Umbra as everyone within the area of her voice turned their attention. “As all of you know there have been rumors going around about somepony killing our ruler King Sombra. Well, I would like to say that the rumors are true, King Sombra is dead.” Ponies within the crowd started to mumble to each other. “If you’re all wondering who did, well I would like to introduce our savior and the new ruler of our empire.” She said before turning around and motioned Nanako to walk up. “Queen Nanako, the Kingslayer!” As Nanako made her way to the platform, trumpets began to play along with confetti being thrown into the air celebrating their new ruler's arrival. It would be noticed that she would be carrying something on her back that was wrapped in bandages as she stood in front of the coward of ponies.
“Greetings ponies of the Crystal Empire. My name is Nanako Otsutsuki, your new ruler and killer of King Sombrero.” Nanako said as some of the ponies laughed at her misspelling of their old ruler’s name.
“It’s King Sombra Queen Nanako.” Umbra whispered.
“Right…but does it matter? The guy’s dead so I don’t see why I should call him by that name.” Nanako whispered back before turning her attention back to her new subject. “Now most of you are wondering what I am if I’m not mistaken. Well to make a long story short, I am a celestial being that was brought by a book left behind by the late Princess Amore. Her wish was to see that this kingdom was free of King Sombrero’s tyranny.” She said before placing what she was carrying on the ground. The moment she revealed the dead body of King Sombra, everyone within the vicinity of the area could be seen gasping in shock. Nanako took notice of the crowd's reaction as she used wood style to position Sombra’s body on a cross as he hung in the air. She soon looked over at the crowd with a stern expression on her face. “As proof of what I did, I have his dead body right here upon display.”
“How in Tartarus was she able to assemble his body like that?” Umbra thought before noticing the stitches on certain parts of Sombra’s body. A smirk appeared on her face as she started to put the pieces together on what Nanako was planning on doing.
“For years you all have been suffering under this mad pony’s lust for power. For years you all have been forced into slavery by his tyranny. You've been humiliated, and forced to kill your families, friends, and loved ones just so you can survive to see another day. This pony killed Princess Amore just because he wanted power and turned his daughter into a corrupted monster after failure upon failure to rebel against him. If this continues to go on, you all could've been wiped out from the face of this planet. It was by a last-ditch effort by your late princess that she summoned a champion from the stars, and that champion is me.” She said before taking a few steps away from the corpse.
“For many years I’ve been fighting to try and reclaim the throne and end my father’s tyranny. Sadly, I have failed and for that, I am sorry.” Umbra said before bowing down to the citizens of the Crystal Empire. “Due to years of corruption from my father, I am not suited to lead you all. But this goddess from another world, I have faith that she will do what I failed to accomplish. It’s time for a new age to come, one where you will not bow down to a tyrant. But instead, take them down!” Umbra said as Nanako set King Sombra’s body on fire with a fireball.
“As Ruler of the Crystal Empire, I will be laying down new rules which will be written and implemented within a couple of months. Here are the first three,” Nanako said, upon saying that, the ponies within the crowd had worried expressions on their faces as they saw Nanako pull out a piece of paper. “Rule number one, the curfew that Sombra placed will be lifted. You all can wander around at night whenever you want, but there will be guards wandering the city to make sure no one is up to any crimes. Rule number two. Schools are now reopened to all fillies and colts.” She said before hearing a loud groan from the young fillies and colts within the crowd. “Sorry kids, but them's the rules I’m placing. Anyway, schools are now reopening, but things are gonna be a little different.”
“Different as in how?” Umbra asked.
“Those who are still eligible to go to school will be learning not only basic knowledge but also combat training. It would notice that you are standing on your back legs similar to how I’m standing and the way this empire looks right now, correct?” Nanako asked as the ponies looked over themselves at the sudden change in their anatomy. “This might be because I touched the crystal heart. And because of that, it might have given you a bit of my powers. This isn’t the only reason why I’m implementing combat training, but I need to make sure you all can stand against anyone who tries to hurt you or your loved ones. You at least have a fighting chance instead of cowering in fear.”
“Suppose that’s understandable in a sense.” said a random pony as the celestial being continued.
“Rule number three, all ponies if they can will help with the reconstruction of the Crystal Empire. While this place is nice and peaceful, we need a means to protect this place in case a conqueror tries to invade us. In short, we need to upgrade everything. I’m talking about improving the walls around the empire, armor, weapons, knowledge, medical supplies, arms, and magic.” Nanako said as she took a few steps forward and made this list vanish out of thin air. “You all have been through a lot over the past one thousand years. The scars that Sombra left may take some time to recover, but they will heal over time. For I, Nanako Otsutsuki, Goddess of the Star and Kingslayer, will lead you all into the golden age of the Crystal Empire. But for this kingdom to grow, I will need the help from all who can help.” The Celestial being took one step back as she bowed down to the ground crowd in front of the ponies. “So I will ask you this request. Will you help me bring this kingdom into the new age of freedom for as long as I live?” There was a moment of silence upon Nanako’s request. The ponies along with Umbra were stunned at what they saw. No pony in the history of the Crystal Empire besides Princess Amore, bowed down to their subject in a way like that. The moment of silence was broken when a small filly in the crowd clopped her hooves together.
“I’ll help you, Queen Nanako.” She said as a few more ponies clop their hooves together. Soon the entire crowd began to clap and cheer for their new ruler.
“Thank you,” Nanako said as she pulled herself up from the ground. “I won’t let you all down.”