Philomena pecked at a solitary seed left in a bowl by her perch. “Shahar, I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of you. You’ve shown complete attention to my lessons and respect of everything I’ve taught you for the past three days. Now, on the eve of your coronation: I have to say, dear princess...” She swooped down to the alicorn’s muzzle, staring straight into her wide-open eyes. “You’ve gotten very good at sleeping with your eyes open.”
“Zzz- *snuck*” Shahar stirred, shaking her head and knocking Philomena off. “Eh?”
“Yes, sure.” Philomena sighed. “Dear, you can’t be ignorant forever. You have a country to rule, and this info-”
The princess tried to piece together a coherent argument in her waking state. “This information is stupid! Why do I need to know the exact names of all five types of magic!”
Philomena gave frustrated caw. “Because if you don’t, you won’t be able to help those with a problem that involves them.”
“We have doctors to learn that useless information!” Shahar had very nearly reached the end of her rope, having this same conversation day after day. “I will never use one HUNDREDTH of the facts you spew at me.”
Philomena sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? Everything is important. Like... oh I don’t know. Give me something stupid.”
“Magic contains a trace of the user in it.”
“BAM! Used several times in the Cervid-Equestrian war. The deer picked off our officers by capturing their magic and performing mind-exchange spells, then killing them in their own turf. Come on, gimme something super dumb.”
“Solaris’ great grandnephew was Leon.”
Philomena laughed. “Leon the conqueror? Hellooo, Ms. Griffon? He was the one who finally won the Griffon war. It shows how quickly good can turn to bad. Only three generations from a king I’m praising to a pony who you probably hate.”
“I don’t hate any monarch. They are to be respected, but firmly disagreed with.”
Shahar lay on her bed as Philomena stopped laughing. “Seriously?”
“No, but Selene scares me when she argues, so that’s what I tell her.” After a pause, the two began to laugh, finally dispelling the tension.
“If anything, you’ll be the most amusing queen in a bit.”
Shahar looked at Philomena. They definitely had a good relationship, but something was striking to her. Why didn’t Philomena and Hestia have the same bond? Philomena had cited only one thing against Hestia: that she gave in too fast. Griffons had a phrase for excuses like that: a load of crap. Well... maybe it was a little stronger.
She hadn’t noticed it, but over the past few packed days of learning court manners and boring trivia she had learned to focus more on the ponies around her to remain on top of things. She had learned who it was Livana’s guard friend brought in with him three days ago during the assassination attempt: a castle mage called Hex. Talking to him (well, talking being relative. He was pretty reserved and only really answered her questions because she was the princess.) Shahar had learned about the castle mage order. They even had earth ponies--like Hex--and pegasi in it. They were mostly potion brewers but the occasional talent would come by like an earth pony caster. Their cloaks were to hide... accidents.
Servants like Selene had their own interesting lives. Most lived in the glass tower in the inner court, but a few higher ranked or generational ones like Selene lived in one of the giant palaces’ quarters. They were almost nobles, but less stuck-up.
Oh, yes. The nobles. If there was only one thing that being out in public with her father taught Shahar, it would be how to not punch someone when they are being a jerk, and boy did she use it. When she had arrived, she was seen as “that foreign filly” by the nobleponies. Once she had helped save Hestia’s life, however, everything turned around. She was then called: “That brain-dead foreign filly who’s going to get killed doing something stupid.”
What the hay were they even nobleponies of? They just sat around all day pretending to be important. She had asked Philomena, and she said at most they were descendants of some important pony and owned a lot of land.
“Golden Spire is technically a noble,” the roc had noted.
Shahar had laughed, remembering the rather pushy pony. “I can’t imagine her in this place. Then again, I can’t imagine myself in this place.”
Philomena had frowned. “You seem to be rather at home though.”
“I don’t know.” Shahar had said as she shrugged. “After the whole ‘I’m a princess’ thing found its way in, I really came to like this. My sister says I’ve always been a bit of a leader.”
She often saw herself referencing her father and life in Havoth-Zair. But each day made it seem like those times were years ago. She had only been here almost a week, but she was constantly thinking about “the old days.”
Now here she was in a cycle of sleeping through a lecture, arguing to Philomena, laughing with Philomena, and being lectured again. School never seemed to stop. The best part is that she had been promised to continue her education even AFTER becoming queen.
Philomena swooped down to a chair in front of Shahar and transformed into a mare, lazily eating a few grapes suspended by a magic holder. “Okay,” she said between grapes, “what are your questions from yesterday’s exploring?”
Shahar loved this part of the morning. For the past three days Philomena had been using something to get her to pay attention to her while she was feeding Shahar information by letting her get aside the questions she had. It hadn’t worked spectacularly in Philomena’s eyes, but she was at least learning something. “Well, for starters, Incendia in the kitchen told me that all the food in Everfree is grown in the gardens, but don’t plants need different environments for growing?”
Philomena took another grape. “Everfree is built on a kind of middle-ground. To the west we have some boggy terrain, the south has those deserts, the north-east has fertile and rocky land. Lump that in with earth pony magic, strategic irrigation, and pegasus weather control; and you got plants in Equestria that can’t be grown anywhere else in the country.”
Shahar thought the truth was a whole lot less impressive than her idea: That Everfree was able to magically move places. Oh well. “Next question, when do the servants get time to eat and have fun?”
Philomena seemed pleased by the easy questions. “The queen’s personal servants like Selene are numerous enough that they rest whenever they can find another servant to do the jobs. The nobles’ servants just depend on how much demand there is.”
“So they never get a break.”
Philomena nodded. “Hestia has tried to set restrictions and encourage doing some work their own selves. But again, squishy resolve let them just pressure her a bit to get their slaves back.”
“Then that’ll be my four-hundred and sixty-ninth thing to do when I’m queen,” Shahar determined.
“What was the four-hundred and sixty-eighth?”
“Get the mages to work on area teleporting spells.” Philomena rolled her eyes as Shahar chuckled.
“I think that you’ll need that list pruned by tomorrow.”
“Cheers!” Celos called, raising his mug of frothy haysludge. Jane and Livana were not in a “Cheers” mood.
“The griffons used poison joke. This is just plain poison,” Jane muttered, poking the mug like it was a bomb that should’ve exploded long ago. Livana took a sip, but could barely stomach it. A starving rat wouldn’t drink that stuff. She had to admit he quality of food was definitely... worse since the plot. But she didn’t expect each MEAL to get worse. She almost wanted the petunia stew flambé from yesterday’s lunch.
Almost. Not quite. She was desperate, not stupid.
Luz and Julius came up to the group and sat down with them. They had something that resembled food: a nice big plate of beans. The three lower-ranked members eyed the plates jealousy. Julius prodded it. “Mmm grass-’n-grapes in a “‘special sauce’ that smells a whole lot like last night’s Chef Surprise, which was solid.”
Livana found her haysludge a whole lot more appealing. That wasn’t saying much, though. Jane slid away from the table and stood from her cushion. “Where are you going?” Luz asked.
“I’m a horse. I think just plain old grass will work for me.” In a hurry she left, leaving the four to their “breakfast” (really, it was nearly lunchtime, they had just been staring at the food for so long without eating.) A minute passed and Jane firmly strode back to the table, plopping back down. “I found out where they’ve been dumping the ‘waste’ part of the toxic waste they’ve been serving us.”
“Lucky,” Livana muttered, trying to hold down another sip. Celos didn’t want to say anything. He was smiling as always, but Livana noticed a green hue to his face. “I know this is in bad taste-” the nightkeeper began.
Julius looked Livana in the eye expectantly. “Can I have it? Bad is at least edible.”
Livana gave him a stern look. “I mean what I’m about to say. We can at least be expecting a funeral banquet soon.”
The other four grimly chuckled before returning to their “food.” Suddenly, they all took one big slurp of all their food and tried desperately to choke it down. It worked, barely. Julius tried to say something but almost threw up in his mouth. “From now on, I’m giving you full access to my money to buy imported snacks. Maybe you can talk the princess into getting some griffons--or better yet--Griffonkin-”
Livana cawed in anger, but remembered quite quickly that she was a pony and couldn’t caw. “Knee-jerk reflex. THEY are never to be spoken of.”
Julius opened his mouth to ask why when Luz put his hoof in his commander’s face. “Ah, yes. He’s so terribly sorry.”
Livana eyed her commanding officer, who looked pretty stunned himself, but nodded along with his corporal. She didn’t really feel like staying to chat, so she stood and marched off, not really sure where to, as she had already done her required training. She and Jane had done an obstacle course, and Livana didn’t to altogether well. But Jane had seemed to slow too, as to not let Livana lose by too much.
Livana saw a female griffon carrying a few bags, so Livana decided to help her. She grabbed the bags telekinetically and lightened the others’ load. “Thanks.” The griffon muttered, walking slightly quicker.
“Where are you going miss...”
“Lavi. Well... I guess back home.” She paused talking for a moment, continuing to stride forwards. “What’s your name?”
The nightkeeper became puzzled. “My name is Livana.”
Lavi seemed a bit interested as well. “Well, that’s not an Everfreean name. What’s your real name?”
“Livana,” she pressed “that’s my birth name.”
The eagless chuckled through her grim countenance, “‘Moon,’ that’s a griffon name, a little bit of Everfreean in there but common for our names nowadays.”
“Yes, I know. I was raised in Havoth-Zair.”
“Were you?” Lavi asked. “That’s my hometown. By Y’air it’s a rather small world.”
Livana smiled. “But, why are you going back?”
The eagless grew rather cold again. “Oh, you have to know.”
“I really don’t, I’m sorry.” Lavi didn’t answer, but something clicked in Livana’s head. “It’s about the incident, isn’t it?” The griffon nodded. “Oh. But... I thought there was just questioning going on, and they wouldn’t let someone related just leave. You’re innocent, right?”
“Yes.”
“They why are you leaving?”
Lavi sighed and stopped moving. “Royal orders. Every griffon in Everfree has been ordered to leave on account of treason.”
Livana was shocked. “WHAT?!” She stumbled around, “ROYAL orders? Surely Shahar would have more sway than to let that happen.”
Something clicked in Lavi’s head. “Wait, you’re the princess’ friend. The one who helped stop the assassination attempt.”
Livana regained some composure. “Erm... I didn’t do that. It was really thanks to Marcus.” She shook her head. “But yes! This can’t be possible. Shahar has a heart for our people, and at first word of this she would talk sense into Hestia.”
Lavi raised her talon. “So she must not know.” The griffon gave a low roar. “I think that maybe the assassination should have happened. She’s a dead mare walking anyway, and the only thing that stopping it did was THIS.” She started talking in a low voice. “Most of us don’t have homes to return to, or a cent to our names. I’m lucky as I’ve got a few bits saved here and there and can probably last. But most... most won’t.”
Livana couldn’t help but slightly agree. Not so much as to say Hestia should have been killed, but this wasn’t deserved. The gears in her head began doing overtime work. “Where did this get proclaimed?”
Lavi showed the nightkeeper a slip of paper. “On this. It has the royal seal.”
It took a few seconds, but Livana took the paper from the griffon’s talon. “I’ll show this to Shahar. You need to stay here.”
“I appreciate your sentiment,” Lavi began, “But there’s little you can do.”
“I beg to differ.” Livana argued. “Shahar told me today was the first day she was granted small power for this evening’s open session.”
“She can have all the power in the world, she can’t change it. And the open session only can resolve minor disagreements at MOST. But there’s another law: No law can be overturned until a period of one-thousand years has passed.” Livana was rather stunned, she didn’t know that. “And no, Hestia already has looked into repealing THAT law. It still has five-hundred years to go.”
“Aquila on high!” Livana cursed. She thought for a moment. “We-we’ll think of a way. For now, tell your friends to go nowhere. There has to be something to do.”
Lavi shook her head. “We can’t stay here.”
Livana turned around and around, trying to think. “Okay, do you have a piece of paper other than this?” The griffon shrugged and handed her a termination of employment notice. Livana took it and concentrated all her magic, putting all her desperation into it.
Slowly, a pen of light started to form with her magic controlling it. Lavi took a step back as Livana very very lightly touched it to the paper and started writing. It charred the paper like ink, but it wasn’t enough to burn. Carefully, Livana made a map, and released the energy. The pen flashed with searing heat, and it was gone.
“I- I didn’t know you could do that.” The griffon stammered.
“Neither did I.” Livana admitted, handing the map to Lavi. “Magic surprises me. That’s not important. The mark on the map will lead you to a secret place with a small amount of resources. Only three ponies know about it, and the one who would go there is on your side. Hide with your friends until I come back.”
“This won’t-”
Livana tossed Lavi a glare that a griffon would envy. “Better try than starve.”
Lavi smiled. “You know what, go ahead. You have a griffon’s spirit, kid. Good luck!”
Livana returned the grin and started galloping towards the castle. Oh, if only she could fly.
“And so I said, ‘Jay, not jay!’” Philomena gave a laugh. Shahar was a bit confused. “Err... bird joke.”
“I’m getting the sense ALL of your jokes are.” The princess took another bite of her lunch. She had gotten more accustomed to the rich food than at first, but she still only ate some.
Philomena grumbled. “Well, sue me for you not knowing the difference between a robin and a cardinal.” She took a pear and bit into it as a knock came at the door. “Yeah?”
“Private Livana here to speak with princess Shahar.” called one of her guards.
“Send her in! And go have some lunch, we’ll be fine.” Shahar eagerly replied.
“If it’s all the same.” replied the other guard. “We’re more likely safe if we DON’T have lunch.”
“They’re right.” Livana called through the door. “It’s cranberry and petunia enchiladas with leftover haysludge sauce.”
Shahar leaned over and whispered in Philomena’s ear: “Four seventy-five.” She called out. “Erm... Here, come in and take some of mine, then go your way.”
The two guards rushed in and snatched morsels of lunch here and there and left calling back “Yes ma’am!” Philomena and the princess shared a laugh, but Livana entered with a very dour expression.
“What’s wrong?” Shahar inquired.
Livana showed her the decree. “This is what’s wrong.” As Shahar scanned the document, Livana started to choke. The past few days had been rough, but she knew it was part of training to help her. It was something good, but stressful. And there was her sister, staring down a problem with as much ease as she stared down her father in a fit. She saw her elder sibling’s face fall, and for a second she lost hope. Her sister was shocked: what hope was there? And so she choked back a sob that just came from nowhere.
Shahar held Livana tight as Philomena took a glance at the paper. Livana whispered in her sister's ear, trying to keep from crying. “They need you. Most have no homes to go to.”
“Shh,” the elder soothed. “We’ll think of something. We always will. I can help them.” Her mind raced, but was drawing a blank. “I just can’t believe Hestia would do this. It’s overreacting.”
Philomena was flying all about the room as a phoenix, looking for something. Once she found her golden claws, she swooped back down to the paper and watched the two sisters. Time passed, and she started growing impatient. They just kept whispering soothing words back and forth. Eventually, Shahar led her sister to the bed. “Are you done?” Philomena asked, but the princess shot her a look.
“This is why they don’t allow teen girls in military.” Philomena muttered under her breath, inaudible to the sisters. “Well, get done. It’s time for three short lessons--your final ones as a princess.”
“Philomena!” Shahar shot. “This is not the ti-”
The roc ignored her. “Lesson one. The royal seal contains no magic. Lesson two, some things--like my claws and armor--can completely reverse spells.” She took the piece of paper and flew over to the bed. Shahar was just about to chide her when Philomena gave the seal on the paper a quick tap. The imprint started dissolving, and a white light was absorbed into the golden talon.
Both the sisters looked up at the phoenix. “Now are you going to listen to my last lesson?” Both quickly paid her heed. Philomena took on the form of a mare--in full armor for some reason--and started running her hoof through her mane, until she realized her mane was obstructed by a golden helmet which she quickly removed. “I’ll try to keep this a brief as ponily possible.”
“One day, in Geno, there was an argument between Harmonia and Anima--the mother of all. But Harmonia represented harmony, and that wouldn’t do. Her creations--the elements of harmony--tore all that wasn’t good out of her. And from this was formed Discord. He confused races, civil war broke out, I already went over all this. Discord was imprisoned by Nocturna in stone.
“Fifteen-hundred years later, Discord rose, and dragons killed Nocturna and Solla. To prevent another downfall, Discord created more like himself. The draconequui were not perfect copies, but still created chaos. Then, Celestia and Luna rose to put a stop to his tyranny. The draconequui didn’t go down without a fight, and only the last of them surrendered. This was Metis.
“Discord’s statue was placed far under Everfree, in a sacred place under heavy guard. Metis seemed to be relatively safe, but I’ve always had suspicions. He’s been acting oddly lately. Actually, it started fourteen years ago: the fifteen-hundredth anniversary of Discord’s imprisonment. Any questions, or do I make my suspicions clear?”
Shahar looked like she was having a hard time staying awake, but nodded. Livana looked fascinated, and raised her hoof. “Why didn’t you say something to Hestia?”
“Metis has her under his spell, and that’s a major reason I have for suspecting him.. There have been a lot of decrees like this, but much more minor. Strange things, like banning void magic to loosening guards around the statue, and she knows and pays no attention to it. This has gone a bit far, and I’m starting to worry.”
“Will any of this help us save the griffons?” Shahar mumbled.
Philomena rolled her eyes. “Yes. If we can confirm Metis is Discord in a new body, we can do something about him.”
“So can we stop with the stupid history lessons now? What was the POINT of telling us half of that stuff?”
“You never know what may be important.” Philomena and Livana answered in chorus. “Maybe dragons are the answer. Discord and dragons aren’t the most friendly of couples and they could probably get rid of him.” Philomena offered. “Maybe we have to surprise kill him--that’s the only way to kill someone with chaos magic. Kill the body he’s in before he can make a dumb joke about it and be alright. Who knows?”
“We don’t know it for sure. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. What options do we have?”
Philomena chuckled. Maybe their father was right. Shahar would make the better guard while Livana was the better princess. “Use the elements of harmony. Frankly, killing him is too hard to be a first resort. But we would need the six element spirits.”
Livana spoke up. “Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, and Magic.”
Philomena smiled. “If you were to repeat that to anypony else, they would tell you yes. But I see ms. action here is getting impatient. But we only know where two are: One is far away and one is in the hospital, dying. There’s another way: they can be wielded by somepony highly in tune with the elements, like say a unicorn child of one of the previous spirits.”
“Hestia!” Shahar exclaimed. That had been one of her questions the previous day: what Hestia’s cutie mark meant. Philomena had explained it meant she had a talent for telling when ponies were lying and then launched into a boring explanation. Okay, for once maybe the boring stuff was important.
“Did someone call me?” Suddenly, the queen was standing at the door with another of her “surprise” smiles. Shahar almost expected it by now. Without fail the second the subject drifted to her she appeared. “I’m sorry to interrupt the little party, but it’s time for the hearings.”
Shahar got up and Philomena returned to bird form and perched on the princess's back. “Caw” the roc said, using the onomonopia. “Let’s see how horribly you do.”
Hestia rolled her eyes. “She’ll be fine.” Livana rose and stood by her sister’s side as the four exited the room and proceeded to the main throne room.
Once they arrived, Livana whispered something into Philomena’s ear. The roc nodded and dismounted Shahar. “I’m sorry, I have a little bit of business to attend to,” she explained, transforming into a mare in armor again.
They stepped out into the crowd of ponies and pushed their way through. Philomena tried her hardest to not lift her wings to fly and accidentally gore a few ponies, and Livana realized that even decorative armor hurts when being banged into you. Eventually, they escaped the crowd and found themselves in the gardens, galloping at full throttle.
Livana finally explained why Philomena needed to be called out. “We need some way to help them. Some don’t have a place to call home.”
“Well, we’ll fix that.” Philomena confirmed, switching to a more authoritative tone. “First, we need to get rid of the individual kicking them out. If we expose fraud now, any number of innocents could be tried. Or Discord could forgo plans and do whatever he’s building up to. No, we have to get a little help from our fine-feathered-feline friends.”
Livana hung her head, like she hadn’t heard that tired joke before. “Well, could we hurry? They won’t wait forever.”
Philomena saw how Livana was galloping ahead, always keeping her eyes on Philomena. Twists and turns led them through the garden as the roc’s smile grew only wider. “Hey, nightkeeper,” She called ahead. “Remember how I asked you how you got to the palace to warn us last time?”
“Yeah.” Livana said, picking up the pace slightly. “I follow the tracks because I don’t know the way, why?”
Philomena smiled profusely, at Livna, confusing her a bit. Possibly, Livana never noticed that she had not once glanced at the ground.
It was no time at all--if you count fifteen minutes as no time at all--before they were galloping just out of Everfree’s border and into the forest. Philomena sneaked one last peek behind at the gates and the now-invisible palace as she slid into the forest. Livana hurriedly navigated the dense trees, and it wasn’t long before they both heard whispering. Livana slowed down and motioned for Philomena to get behind her.
As soon as she entered the clearing, the nightkeeper realized just how many griffons there were in Everfree. HUNDREDS were all packed in there, some in trees and some just floating around, waiting patiently for her. Lavi came forwards to greet Livana, but when she caught sight of Philomena, she quickly stepped back and bowed. A lot of murmuring came, but it was hushed by seeing the roc.
Livana leaned over and whispered to Philomena. “Yeesh, you sure do have a few fans.”
The mare just smiled. “Stardom, baby. Goddess amongst griffons.” She raised her voice. “Now, what are you all bowing for? I’m the one who should be apologizing for not getting here sooner.”
Lavi spoke. “We... weren’t expecting you to come.”
“Well, I’m all ya got to command you, thanks to Livana here, and I have a few ideas to share with you.”
“Can’t you just get something done immediately?” One griffon shouted down from a tree.
Philomena shook her head. “No, and at most Shahar could have an unofficial order go out when she comes around to it tomorrow, but there’s a snag. I don’t want any of you to panic-”
“A sure sign we should panic,” a wisecraking griffon noted. Both the ponies gave the joker a glare.
“Anyways, we may need your assistance with... force. All of you need to stick together somewhere. Stay near Hippogria so word can reach you the second it needs to. Wait for an “all-clear,” then all of you come back.”
Lavi piped up, “And if not?”
Philomena put stress on the next words. “If ANYTHING else comes through not relating to Hestia’s death, get back here. Also get back here if we don’t say anything in three days. This allows tomorrow, and two days for other things.”
“Wait,” one of them noted, “we come back either way?”
“If we call for you with an all-clear, come back and be ready for your regular lives. If not...” she paused, very obviously relishing the attention she was drawing, “gather griffons sensitive to your cause and come back ready for battle.” A murmuring rose. Some with anticipation, some with fear. “There will be the fall of a regime either way, and order will prevail, leaving nothing between you and freedom”
Livana was absolutely stunned at how Philomena could rally the griffons to her aid. Suddenly, even the cautious ones were talking like warriors. The roc leaned over to her. “Take note, girl. Each race has their own ‘key words.’ Mention them, and you’ll get them rallying to your side. ‘Freedom’ is the griffons’.”
Livana smiled as she saw the griffons take wing, crying thanks to the roc and herself--despite doing practically nothing. One by one, the griffons left sight until eventually only Lavi remained. “Should we tell everyone about this?”
Philomena confirmed the question with a nod. The nightkeeper stepped forward. “When you get back, go to Havoth-Zair and find Aiah, my dad. He’ll be up in arms in a heartbeat if I know him.”
Lavi smiled. “We all would, kid.” The eagless took to the skies, pausing only to shout down: “Thanks, and we’ll see if we can help you!”
“My cows aren’t eating!”
“Why don’t you ask them what’s wrong?” Shahar would find such an answer somewhat mocking herself, but apparently that didn’t occur to the genius farmer in front of her, who began to stare at her like she had turned in fire and solved griffon hunger.
Hestia had explained during the first open court that there was a legitimate reason for the answers being... simple. Those who tried normally solved their problems on their own, and all major problems were often taken to court. This was mainly a morale booster to see the queen deal with... absolutely inane problems, and princess Shahar was already impressing ponies with her “wisdom.”
Throughout the session, the alicorn kept glancing back to Metis who showed absolutely no emotion. She couldn’t read him, but in a way that betrayed that his mind was elsewhere. Every so often he would grin at absolutely nothing, which was rather suspicious admittedly, but she just couldn’t convince herself that someone with fifteen-hundred years loyalty would suddenly just snap.
Really, the most suspicious was Philomena, but Shahar had no reason to doubt her other than being quick to pick up and cast blame. The thought haunted the princess: what if Philomena was just trying to remove Metis from the equation to have more influence?
The battle of fears waged internally as ponies upon ponies marched on. “I have dedicated my child in your honor.” “I hope you take care of us farmers!” “Why do we not rid ourselves of the many foreigners occupying our businesses?” (The only thing that stopped Shahar from throwing that stallion somewhere dark, dank, and rat-infested was the lack of dark, dank, and rat-infested places nearby.)
The only question she didn’t have an answer to was actually from a filly on a class trip to see and ask the queen questions (they settled for second best.) The pink and yellow filly had asked why everypony around Everfree had such weird names. Shahar notice anything like that, but Hestia was ready with a long, dry answer involving an ancient language of nobles that made Shahar sorry for the poor filly that had asked. Still, it was rather embarrassing to be upstaged by a eight-year-old in anything that wasn’t an adorableness contest.
But the line grew short quickly, and at the end Shahar had yet to see anything from Metis. Her time was running short, and she had to act quickly. Hestia rose to her hooves with a warm smile that said more than her words ever could. Disarming her, it cleared the princess’ mind and gave her the idea she needed.
Laughing with relief and watching Metis begin to stride out the door without so much as a word, Shahar yelled, “Hey, Metis!”
He turned around, but obviously was still off in his own thoughts. Shahar continued regardless “I want to invite you to breakfast tomorrow. You too, Hestia.”
The queen chuckled. “I may not have that long.”
“Exactly” Shahar added, beginning to put some emotion into her voice, “So I invite you early in the day, to let me have the most chance to talk to you. I...” she tried to sound on the verge of tears, but didn’t know how to pull it off, “I want to learn from you on your last day. I want to know more.”
Hestia seemed thoughtful and glanced at Metis, who was as stoic as ever today. “If I can, dear, I will come. I cannot promise you, but if I can I will come and answer whatever you need to know.”
That was all the hope Shahar needed, and nodded toward a hidden Philomena. Time to put it into action.
Philomena swooped down to the guard’s encampment to where a group of commanding officers stood alongside Livana. They were ready for a time to march, and tomorrow would not be a day of rest.
Tomorrow was war.