TMP Prompt #160 - “The Start of Something”
Prompt: Let’s vote on it.
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Useless, Feckless, and Scheming
“—enhancing the magical facility of the subject by a hundredfold.” Luna said. “As thou canst observe, apart from a few minor side-effects, the subject in question retains—”
“Which side effects?” The high, clear voice rang out in the council hall. “Sister, thou must be explicit. Would you have our council rule in ignorance?”
Luna winced and cleared her throat.
“Verily, we are glad to see thee, Celestia. We are grateful for thy timely reminder, and feared that thou wouldst find thyself too engaged with royal affairs to deliver it.”
The Princess of the Sun descended from the ceiling.
“Always do we have time to keep our sister from engaging in activities we believe to be potentially perilous for herself,” Celestia said, in that infuriatingly calm tone. “And for Equestria.”
“There is no peril—!”
“I do find myself curious.” Chancellor Amber broke in. “As to the side effects. Not that I would see harm come to either of you, of course.”
His steel-gray eyes, Luna felt, glittered a bit too much for a member of the simple, honest earth pony race.
“Of course, of course!” Commander Foehn’s too-large armor rattled as he bobbed his celadon head. “No harm!”
Commander Derecho would be ashamed to see one of his descendants so weak-willed.
“Side-effects?” Princess Iron Pyrite blinked and tilted her head to the side. “What are side effects?”
One thing in Pyrite’s favor was that she was doing everything possible to reverse all the old stereotypes of unicorns as talented intellectuals.
Was this what the Great Equestrian Council had come to? Luna felt contempt bubbling up in her chest and swallowed it back down.
“The only notable side-effect is a slight, slight tendency toward emotional instability.” Luna said. “And a minor change in appearance.”
“Elaborate,” Amber snapped. “Upon the former.”
“Yes, yes,” Foehn echoed. “Elaborate.”
“Nothing of note, merely an enhancement of present emotions," Luna said. "Of course, we shall test our subjects carefully prior to the process.”
“What process?” Pyrite asked.
“What pr—?” Amber sighed. “The process Luna just spoke of, Pyrite.”
“Well, I don't know! This is boring!”
“Boring, yes. It is a bit boring.” Foehn agreed, then caught Amber’s glare. “But necessary! Necessary! Side-effects! Scary!”
Amber rubbed his brow.
“You have stated that you will be the first subject?" he asked. "As a ‘proof of concept‘?”
“We would not have any of our subjects suffer, an we should find ourselves in error,” Luna explained. “Should there be a problem, ‘tis a near-certainty that we will live through the process of recovery, and we are perfectly stable, emotionally.”
“Perfectly stable.” Foehn nodded. “So stable.”
“And your thoughts, Cel—Princess Celestia?”
“’Tis foolishness, Amber! The ‘emotional instability’ she speaks of would be fearful in a mortal! With our power, such a thing could be disastrous for all Equestria!”
“Disastrous? Yes, disastrous!”
“Dost thou believe us incapable of controlling ourselves!?” Luna cried. “We who sing the positions of the stars!? We who guide the planets in their eternal motion!? Sister, you insult us!”
Amber cleared his throat.
“Princesses! The people hold you in such high regard.” He smiled tightly. “Equestria, in its youth, has chosen you to lead it. Surely you would not have its ponies lose faith in you because you squabble like children. Can you imagine if they put the council in power once more?”
“We’d have to run everything!” Foehn’s voice shook. “Everything!”
“Yeah!” Pyrite curled a goldenrod lock around a hoof. “I don’t wanna run stuff!”
“How horrible that would be," Amber said wryly. "At any rate, I believe I speak for all three of us when I say we would like to vote and get this over with. Princess Luna, having requested a ruling on the matter, will you abide by our decision?”
“’Tis why I asked for this meeting.”
“And you, Princess Celestia?”
“Yes.”
“By the Great Circles of the Planets and the First Dawn in Time, do you swear it?”
The princess nodded.
“They swear it, yes, yes.”
“Thank you, Foehn. Very well then. Princess Iron Pyrite?” Amber asked. “How do you vote?”
“It's got a scary name—”
“Scary!”
“We named it after ourselves!”
“—and a bunch of weird stuff I don't understand. Pass.”
“’Pass’? Do you mean to say that you reject it or that you’re allowing it?”
“Whatever. I'm done here.” And with that she got up and left the council chambers.
“We have not dismissed—! Ugh. fine, I shall mark her as abstaining." Amber shook his head. "Kids these days...I shall have to have her mother talk to her again. And you, Commander Foehn?”
“Um, I…Um…can I get back to you? I mean the whole project sounds really scary and big and weird, yes, and I wanna hear what you think first, Amber.” He twiddled his hooves and lowered his voice to a mumble. “And um, I...I don‘t wanna vote at all, actually. No.”
Amber took a sharp, angry breath and held it for a couple of moments. Then, to the distress of everyone present, he let that breath out in a slow, quiet, chuckle that developed into a full belly laugh.
"You know..." he finally said, with a frightening grin that made Foehn hide his head under his hooves. “You make a decent point, Commander Foehn, though you don’t realize it.”
Amber’s glasses seemed to catch the light and become opaque as he stared down at the Princesses from his podium.
“Princesses, when the people voted that we should do so, we agreed to hand temporal power over the realm to you upon your return. However, it was with the understanding that you would allow us to hoe our own rows, and that we would extend you the same courtesy. We are doing so now, for we simply represent the humble people of Equestria, and this is well beyond our bailiwick. This is a conflict between the two of you, Princess business, and so we all abstain. Let the people see that two of you must govern yourselves, if you are to be worthy of governing anything else. Council dismissed.”
Luna’s jaw dropped. “But—”
"Dismissed, dismissed!" Foehn slumped in relief. "Ohh, thank goodness we're dismissed."
“And we,” Celestia said. “As the elder sister, judge that thy project is too dangerous to be allowed to continue.”
“Well! How interesting. I do hope you two work this out like adults. There should be no strife between sisters, yes?” Amber smiled very politely as he got up, and casually strolled away from the table toward the exit. “Good morrow to you both.”
“’morrow!” Foehn's armor rattled as he, too, attempted to calmly walk out, though an untrained observer might think he was actually rushing to get away from the sisters.
The council room was silent for a few moments.
"Luna," Celestia began. "I know it seems—"
“You!” Luna snarled, turning to her sister. “Were it not for thy interference—!”
“Thou wilt thank me someday, Luna.” Celestia’s wings beat, once, strongly, and she lifted off the ground. “We shall discuss this later. I have much to do.”
“Always, always you stand in our way! Always you seek to keep us in the shadow!” Luna hissed, glaring up at her departing sister. “Not this time!”
***
The pudgy chartreuse unicorn looked up from his notes as the Princess of the Night swept into the laboratory.
“How did it go?”
“...Well. Quite well.”
“Really? Huh! Well, this is great news! Heh, guess I was wrong. The council’s good for something after all. And Princess Celestia?”
“She…agreed to abide by their decision, for the good of Equestria.” Luna voice wavered. “She believes that this will allow ponies to see my merit at last. She…Celestia has faith in me.”
“Great. I’ll get everything ready.” He paused. “One last time, Princess. Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” Luna nodded. “Project: NIGHTMARE is a go.”