It’s been seven years since the Secretariat Comet passed over Equestria and everypony has been going about their daily lives. All throughout Equestria, everypony greets the new day with smiles…well almost everypony…
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Over in Appleloosa, a very disgruntled Pegasus knocked a pie over onto the ground.
“How could she do that to those poor defenseless buffalo!?” Fluttershy yelled in her normal quiet tone.
“Now calm down there Fluttershy. I’m sure she had a good reason for moving the buffalo over into the Badlands.” Braeburn tried to reason with the frustrated Pegasus.
“I don’t care! I mean, it’s not like they were hurting anypony, and it’s just plain wrong to move an entire tribe to a place like that!” Fluttershy yelled back quietly.
Braeburn lifted the top of his hat to scratch his head, wondering how best to calm Fluttershy down. She always seemed to get like this whenever the monthly Friendship council of the regions of Equestria drew closer.
“Well you can always just ask her about it while we’re in Canterlot. We need to get going if we want to catch the train there anyway.”
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The next day, in the royal palace at Canterlot.
Ponies from the different regions of Equestria all gathered in the grand hall of the royal palace, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their ruler, and the organizer of the monthly Friendship council to bring everypony together.
As the ponies chatted amongst themselves in the hall, the doors to the royal chambers opened atop the giant staircase in the room. All the ponies bowed their heads, as a lone pony made her way down the steps. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, all the ponies lifted their heads up and greeted her.
“All hail Queen Chrysalis!” The ponies announced in unison, their eyes glowing green.
Chrysalis waved her hoof to her subjects, as her twisted horn began to glow green. Her eyes narrowed, and a sinister grin formed on her face, as she absorbed the love and admiration for herself from her newfound subjects.
Once she finished absorbing enough love, her horn stopped glowing, and she put a more caring and sincere look on her face, as she spoke to all the ponies.
“Welcome, and thank you all for coming once again to our monthly Friendship council.”
“It’s no problem at all your majesty! Ah even brought a whole bunch of apples and apple snacks for you and everypony here!” Apple Jack announced to the queen, a large smile on her face.
A slight grimace came over Chrysalis, as the thought of more food made her now full stomach somewhat queasy.
“Umm, thank you my subject, but perhaps you should share with your fellow ponies first.”
Chrysalis then looked out upon the crowd to see just how many of her subjects had shown up for her feeding. She could see several ponies that she knew were from the surrounding area, and others that she had guessed came from further in Equestria’s borders. There were residents from Ponyville, several Pegasi from Cloudsdale, to include the entire Wonderbolts team, a plethora of Unicorns from right there in Canterlot, and a mix of ponies from further regions.
Everypony seemed to be standing in their own respective groups, but Chrysalis spied one little filly standing off by herself, gleaming at her.
“You there, little filly, do you not have a chaperone?” Chrysalis asked the filly.
“Ah do your majesty, but Zecora’s been under the weather lately. She couldn’t make it, so she asked me to come in her place.” Apple Bloom answered the queen.
Chrysalis thought to herself, as she tried to remember what she could about the zebra Zecora. She got as far as remembering her face, but then the memory of constant rhyming began to give her a headache.
“That’s unfortunate to hear little one, give her my best regards at getting better.” She told the filly.
Chrysalis then turned her attention back to the crowd of ponies, and spoke to them once more.
“As you all know, we’ve had a wonderful reign of seven years since the princesses decided to step down, and bestow upon me the greet honor of ruling over Equestria. It was through their friendship and kindness that we were all able to get along, and form this wonderful Friendship council with all of Equestria.”
Chrysalis then gestured to the princesses standing behind her, and all the ponies began to stomp their hooves in approval. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both waved to the ponies, until Queen Chrysalis quieted the ponies down.
“Now, as a sign of care for my subjects, are there any issues that anypony would like to bring up?” She asked the crowd.
Fluttershy was the first to speak up, as she spoke with an almost demanding assertiveness.
“Yes, I have a complaint! Why was it that the buffalo had to move from their home to the Badlands of Equestria!? They weren’t hurting anypony, and it seems wrong to move them without cause!”
A look of disapproval came over Chrysalis’ face, as she began to wonder if she liked the more timid Fluttershy over her assertive self. She quickly disguised her distain with a smile, as she answered the frustrated Pegasus.
“Now now, it was for both their, and your own good. If the buffalo had been allowed to stay where they were, then they might’ve run the risk of destroying your trees for your town. You wouldn’t want that now would you?” She ended with a sly smile.
Fluttershy frowned and narrowed her eyes, preparing to give Queen Chrysalis “the stare.” Braeburn quickly calmed Fluttershy down, preventing her from causing a scene in front of all the other ponies.
At the same time, standing among the Wonderbolts in their uniform, Rainbow Dash looked over at the still angry looking Fluttershy.
“Wow, she sure does seem cool. I wish I could be as tough and have a friend like her.” Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
The leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire, was the next to speak up from the crowd.
“I’ve got a question your majesty. When will the Wonderbolts be allowed to start recruiting new members again? We should be looking to improve more Pegasi so they can be like us.”
“I’ve discussed this with you before Spitfire. If more and more ponies join your team, then it could possibly cause friction between the members, and I wouldn’t want my top fliers to not all get along. Right?” Chrysalis spoke to Spitfire.
Spitfire let out a groan, her goggles hiding the anger in her eyes.
Chrysalis waited to see if any other pony had a problem, but no one else spoke up.
“Well then, if no pony else has a problem, then I’d say that the friendship in Equestria is as strong as ever. I’d like to thank you all once again for coming to this council, and I can’t wait to see you all again next month.”
With that, all the ponies in the room bowed once more, before leaving the royal palace. Still frustrated, Fluttershy stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her and almost hitting Braeburn in the face.
“I wouldn’t worry Captain Spitfire, I’m sure we’ll be able recruit more for the Wonderbolts soon!” Scootaloo said to Spitfire as they walked out, wearing a Wonderbolts hat.
“Don’t worry, we will.” Spitfire replied in a serious tone.
Pulling their own cart of wares out with them, the Flim Flam brothers talked amongst themselves as they exited the palace.
“This sure is a good gig we’ve gotten ourselves in, isn’t it Flam?”
“It most certainly is my dear brother Flim.”
“Why, we’re bound to double, no, TRIPLE our profits thanks to this little arrangement.”
“Indubitably.”
Back inside the royal palace, Chrysalis started to make her way back up to the royal chambers, while Princess Celestia spoke with her.
“You know Queen Chrysalis, you shouldn’t be afraid to have a little more trust in ponies. Things might not always turn out as bad as you think.”
“Don’t be silly Celestia. If the ponies are given the opportunity to quarrel amongst each other, than their friendship could go with them.” Chrysalis responded.
“Though you could still stand to learn about friendship.” Celestia muttered under her breath.
As if on cue for her response, a pink rain cloud appeared above Celestia, and she was quickly drenched in chocolate milk rain.
“HA HA HA! Ah, that one never gets old. It’s always nice to lighten up the mood on a typical boring occasion.” Discord spoke aloud, as he swayed back and forth from a hammock suspended upside-down between the chandeliers.
“The occasion did not seem all that boring to us.” Princess Luna spoke to Discord, referring to herself in her usual royal fashion.
“Oh come now. Without a little chaos, things like this will always be boring. Say, did you see the way that little yellow pony almost challenged the queen? Oh that would’ve been so wonderful to see!” Discord replied.
“Silence! Remember that you are talking about your ruler!” Luna yelled at Discord in her booming voice.
“It’s okay my sister, that’s just the way he is.” Celestia spoke to Luna, wringing out the last of the chocolate milk from her hair using her magic.
Chrysalis shut the doors to the royal chambers behind her, leaving the three of them together in the grand hall. She then walked over to her throne, which was essentially Princess Celestia’s old one, but modified to match the changeling appearance. Her changeling guards wearing the old guard’s armor, stood quietly in line down the length of the throne room, as she walked by them. She sat down on her pink fluffy cushion and began to laugh manically to herself.
“Ha ha ha! Everything’s still going according as planned. I’m still ruling this world and none of them are any the wiser. It can be a challenge keeping the princesses, and especially Discord in line at times, but at least they don’t remember exactly who they are. Although, I’m still surprised that Discord was as easy to manipulate as he was. Hmm…”
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After returning to Ponyville from Canterlot, Rarity and Sweetie Belle made their way back to Town Hall. As they entered, Mayor Mare was scolding Derpy for knocking over the bookshelves again, but she turned her attention to them as they got closer.
“Ah, welcome back Rarity. How were things in Canterlot?” Mayor Mare asked.
“Oh they were simply divine Mayor, but the train ride back was absolutely dreadful. Sweetie Belle just could not stop bothering the conductor about…whatever it was she was bothering him about.” Rarity replied.
“I was trying to see if I could get my cutie mark in conducting, but he wouldn’t sing with me at all!” Sweetie Belle told her sister.
“Sweetie, that’s a “musical” conductor, not a train conductor.” Rarity told her sister.
“There’s a difference?” Sweetie Belle asked aloud, a confused look on her face.
“He he, it’s always good to know that young fillies are trying new things. It would’ve been nice to have gone and met the Queen today, but I suppose its better that our youth see her first.” Mayor Mare spoke.
“That reminds me Mayor, why didn’t you accompany us today?” Rarity asked.
“Lately I’ve been working with a pony to settle a debt they owed for utilizing the Town Hall for an event in the past. It’s really just a lot of politics and financial duties that comes with the job of being mayor.” Mayor Mare replied.
‘Well, it sounds like quite the hoofful.” Rarity spoke.
“Believe me, you have no idea.” Mayor Mare responded.
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Two years earlier,
Mayor Mare sat in her office signing some papers, when a knock came at her door.
“Come in please.”
A blue pony opened the door and walked into the office. Mayor Mare stopped her signing and greeted her.
“Hello. How may I help you miss?” Mayor Mare asked the pony, placing her hooves together.
A little annoyed at the greeting that she just received, the pony decided to let it go, and started speaking.
“The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie, will allow the informal greeting she was given just this one time, as she has much more important matters to attend to.” Trixie spoke.
“The great and powerful huh? That’s a bit of an odd name, but I won’t judge. So, how may I help you Miss Trixie?” Mayor Mare spoke.