Sixth Lesson- Royal Pains
In throne room of the Royal Paradise, the six Princess ponies were debating over a small piece of news they had gotten from a servant.
"We have just received word from Misty Mountain." Princess Primrose declared. "Twilight Shine has settled the matter of the alicorn amulet, and will be on her way back here very shortly."
"So, it appears the girls have passed our tests." Starburst snorted at the other princess ponies. "And you all know what that means."
"We must hand over our magic wands to the new Harmony Bearers, as we promised to do." Princess Serena whinnied sadly, looking down at the glittery wand sitting on her throne's arm rest. "Our days as the guardians of the elements of harmony are finally over."
"Awww, don't look so down, cousin." Amethyst consoled her, putting a hoof on Serena's shoulder. "We never really were harmony bearers ourselves, merely their guardians. Why, if we didn't have the wands, we wouldn't even be able to use the elements at all."
"It's easy enough for you to give up your wand, Amethyst Sparkle. You're a unicorn!" Primrose whined, frowning. "The rest of us will have to scrape by as normal ponies!"
"It is beneath a Princess Pony to not have her magic. I'd have to have a servant fetch my tea, or worse... get it myself!" Starburst's lip curled up into a pout. "There is no way I'm giving up my magic wand to some commoner pony."
"We have to surrender the wands, girls. It is a matter of honor that we keep our word." Royal Blue reminded the other princesses. "As the rulers of Ponyland, it is our responsibility to set a good example to our subjects."
"Royal Blue is right. Besides, getting rid of the wands lets us turn our attention to a more important matter." Princess Tiffany spoke up, drawing all of the others attention to her. "It has occurred to me, that very little gets done with authority divided between the six of us. Now, even though I am often called to mediate disputes, I believe the time for more decisive leadership has come."
"What do you mean, Tiffany?" Serena asked curiously. "What is it that you are proposing?"
"Ladies, I believe it's high time Ponyland had a queen- a supreme ruler above any of us Princesses." Tiffany motioned a hoof towards Amethyst, who levitated an ancient, golden crown out of a glass case behind their thrones. "The confederacy needs a single strong ruler, with more authority than a Celestia or Luna ever had, to restore order to our dominions."
"Ohhhh, that's a splendid idea!" Princess Royal Blue smiled. "And I know exactly which mare should take the royal crown... namely, me."
"What? No!" Serena snorted in disgust. "By right I should be queen, no one can compare! I'm the fairest and most graceful!"
"You are so not!" Amethyst snorted, levitating the crown above her own head. "Besides, I'm the only one of us with her own magic, I should be the one who should rule!"
"By that logic, I should be the queen becuse only I can fly!" Princess Tiffany snorted, flexing her wings angrily. "And maybe I should, I've always been something of our unoffical leader, so-"
"-no, I should be queen, you silly nags! Only I have the talent and Charisma!" Primrose retorted. "And I'm the oldest from the bloodline of Princess Celestia!"
"Well, I'm the eldest of the line of Princess Luna, so I should be queen!" Starburst snapped. "I am the best qualified!"
"I should be queen!"
"No, I should!"
"No, me!"
"NONE OF YOU SHOULD BE QUEEN!" An alicorn roared angrily in the Royal Canterlot voice, trotting into the throne room and surprising the six fillies. "The six of you should continue to rule by consensus, at least until one of you is mature enough to bear ruling a nation that it took both Celestia and Luna to rule over."
"Why, how dare you!" Princess Amethyst snorted. "We are your superiors, Mi Amore Cadenza! You have no right to talk to us in such a manner."
"We have always respected the fact you were an elder Princess, as we have also heeded your counsel for the fact you are an alicorn." Princess Primrose warned. "But do not forget who are the feudal ladies here, and who is the vassal."
"I mean no disrespect, your majesties," Princess Cadence continued, trying to rein her temper in. "But you have given your word on surrendering the elements of harmony to the candidates, and if you were to go back on your promises..."
"The ponies of Ponyland would lose support for us. Well played, Cadence." Princess Royal Blue smirked. "Very well, we shall surrender our wands to the girls at the ceremony tomorrow."
"And as to the question of the royal crown, I believe that is a matter best tabled until this 'harmony' business is concluded." Serena agreed.
"Very well then... are we all in consensus over these matters?" Princess Tiffany inquired. The other mares all nodded their heads in unison. "So be it. This meeting of the council of Princess Ponies is adjourned. See you all tomorrow."
As the princess ponies Trotted out of the room, Starburst suddenly heard a *snap* come from beneath her.
"Oh no!" The immature mare whimpered ,looking over to the alicorn with tear-filled eyes. "I chipped my hoof polish again. Oh Cadence, it's just terrible!"
"All that drama over chipped hoof polish?" Rolling her eyes, Cadence trotted over to her, levitating a pen and sheet of paper from a nearby table. "Here, this is my personal recipe for a polish made from glitter scent. I came up with it when I was a teen filly myself." She gave the paper to Starburst. "Now please stop crying, okay? It's beneath a ruler of Ponyland to blubber like a baby."
"Oh, thank you so much, Cadence!" The grateful mare dried her eyes, galloping out of the room. "I won't forget this, I promise!"
"Sometimes babysitting skills and patience with foals, also pays off with spoiled and bratty Princesses." The alicorn said aloud.
"You always did know how to make your charges smile." A voice broke the silence. "I know you were always able to make me happy."
"Oh, Shining... how I so miss making you happy." Cadence said to the silence. "If I had not had your presence here to comfort me, I never would have made it through these past few centuries."
Although Shining Armor was long dead, his soul ever remained with Mi Amore Di Cadenza- a voice she could speak to through the lifebond. It had been always there, seeing her through the hardest of trials- sometimes as a presence in the back of her mind, other times as an invisible companion she could speak to as if he were still actually there.
"You were right, my love." Cadence whispered. "I just had to let Twilight be the pony she truly is, and everything just clicked."
"A pony has to be true to herself, if she is to live up to her true potential." The voice speaking in her mind replied. "Even Twiley had to be true to herself, right up until the end."
Cadence's head drooped at her husband's mention of her former charge. "Tell me, Shining... is she happy there with you, in the hereafter? Is she happy with her choice to reject immortality, and leave this world behind?"
"I don't know, my Darling. She and all of the others have passed on to the great stables, while I remain here at your side." The voice seemed uncertain at that. "But I'm sure she is happy to be with her loved ones."
"Oh Shining, How I wish I could be there with her." The Princess replied sadly. "And you too, as well."
....
Following all of their busy and hurried preparations of the previous day, the six harmony candidates were enjoying the quiet of the moment, each in their own way. On the set of railroad tracks that circumnavigated the outer citadel, two equines road in a small, steam-powered engine around the width and breath of the city
"Oh Steamer, isn't it wonderful?" Posey smiled, sniffing at the air. "All of these beautiful flowers they planted along the track are so sweet smelling."
"They are nowhere near as lovely as you are, my sweet." The engineer colt replied, as the green and black engine chugged it's way along the rails. "You are prettier than all the tropical blossoms in Flutter Valley?"
"Oh, you've been to Flutter Valley?" Posey asked, her eyes going wide. "Wow, I thought we were the only outsiders who had been there."
"Yep, my partner Tracks and I stumbled into the valley once, when our Train broke down near the spot where you were... taken." The colt noticed that Posey winced at that. "We stumbled our way through the forest, and found ourselves before the royal court of Queen Rosedust."
"Oh my." Posey replied, putting to her mouth. "What ever did you do?"
"We were able to convince them we were in distress... until Tracks shot his mouth off and told Rosedust her facial cutie mark, mane plume, and fancy accent made her look like a human prostitute."
"Oh dear..." Posey replied, blushing a deep red. "That probably didn't go over very well."
"Not at all. Tracks has a way of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time." Steamer sighed. "Anyway, Princess Cadence was finally able to negotiate our way free, but only after a certain colt had been thoroughly beaten by several male flutters, then apologized for his absolute stupidity."
"Wow, I bet that's a lesson he'll never forget." Posey said with a giggle.
"Indeed, I'm just glad you were able to get away from Flutter Valley without any trouble." Steamer replied. "I don't know what I'd have done if something bad had happened to you."
"Really Steamer?" Posey blushed a deep red. "I-I've never had someone care about me like that... before..." The shy and timid pony trailed off quietly.
"Well, I guess someone does now." The engineer colt's face slowly moved closer to hers....
WHABOOM! Far off to the south, a dark, shadowy cloud began to slowly spread across the sky. Flashes of red light appeared on the horizon, followed by what sounded like pearls or rolling thunder.
"Eeeeeeeee!" The terrified Posey shrieked, hiding behind Steamer. "What was that? Make it go away!"
"Sounds like it's coming from the direction of Dream Valley!" Steamer replied, comforting Posey in his hooves. "I'd say a volcano's erupting."
"Oh no! It's the witches, it's got to be!" Posey shrieked, burying her face against Steamer's chest. "Something really awful's going to happen, I just know it!"
...
"Everything is in Readiness!" Hydia cackled, looking to the fellow witches of her coven. "Tomorrow, I shall ride this chariot into this skies over Ponyland, and destroy our equine enimies once and for all!"
"Excellent, Hydia!" Beezin cackled evilly. "Then all of our efforts were not in vain."
"Rawr, but how shall you pull your chariot along?" Katrina purred. "It's not like a Pegasus is simply going to go along with your plan."
"This little toy that just fell out of the sky the other day holds the awnser." Hydia laughed, pulling out the alicorn amulet, With a wave of her hand, she channeled the energies within the cursed item, and it began to change shape. Within moments, the alicorn amulet changed shape into an obsidian alicorn, stamping it's hoof, and staring at the witches and warlocks with it's red glowing eyes.
"My what an impressive beast!" Sonombula exclaimed, admiring the black magic aberration. "With this creature at your disposal, all of Ponyland will be at our mercy!"
"Indeed! My own daughters will regret running away like that!" The old witch motioned to the apple cross goblin, who was cowering in the corner. "You there! Harness up this beast. For tomorrow we are taking Ponyland's 'last flight'!" Turning to leave, the witch let out another triumphant cackle.