While Celestia slept quietly, Luna traversed the halls and looked around in fear of something. She felt as if the danger of her grim nightmare brought about by the creature’s infernal gaze hadn’t passed just yet. The night princess closely examined each of the murals, and for one second, pictures from her dream flashed in their places like the remains of the horror still was burning within her soul. These twisted images distorted the triumphant poses of their original forms into something much more sinister. The figure of Discord being defeated by the Element Bearers changed to that of the Basilisk rising above them. The Nightmare’s defeat was now her rise back to power. The Elements of Harmony were now destroyed and shattered on the floor like they were nothing more than glass ornaments.
The nocturnal royal felt a sharp pain strike her heart as she shook her head, snapping her back to reality. Luna knew if she was to keep her sanity, she had to preoccupy her mind. She recomposed herself and went out in search of Amethyst. Ever since Shining Armor left to take care of his own kingdom his duties fell upon his second in command, sergeant Amethyst Gold. This violet mare organized all of the tasks that princesses had to do and all of those who came had to go through her first. Despite that, most other ponies had only seen her as just another guard so it came as no surprise to Luna when she saw Amethyst arguing with a Pegasus ambassador.
“I will tell you only once: The princess is unable to respond to your request at the moment!” Amethyst argued with general Cloudstorm.
“What?!” the general responded harshly “I shall not be talked to in such a demeaning manner! By a foul earth pony, no less!”
Upon hearing these words Luna wanted to lash out, but she kept her composure as she came closer to the two arguing ponies. As her gentle hoofsteps echoed the two ponies turned their heads and swiftly.
“Princess Luna,” Amethyst and general Cloudstorm said in unison as the elegant night guardian stepped in front of them. Luna looked at them both and elegantly returned their greetings before turning her attention to general Cloudstorm.
“General,” she started firmly “We are honored to have you here, but we must ask you to refrain thyself from petty insults, especially if they are directed to one of our finest guards.”
Luna spoke with a calm and collected voice, but the general could hear her threatening undertone. Her eyes looked at him strictly and the mighty general felt his heart turning inside out as a cold breeze swept across his back. Even though Luna remained silent the general felt as if a thousand screams were yelling at him from this intimidating pony.
“A thousand and one pardons, my dear princess,” Cloudstorm apologized “I didn’t mean to offend”.
“Thine apologies are directed at the wrong mare,” Luna subtly winked at Amethyst whom was standing there in shock. She couldn’t believe that the night princess herself would stand up for her. General Cloudstorm swallowed his pride and looked Amethyst directly in her eyes.
“I apologize for my insults,” he said bitterly to the Royal Guard.
"Apology accepted," Amethyst stated humbly.
“Now General,” Luna began “Why have thou honored us with thine visit?”
“A few of our scouts have noticed a strange stallion roaming around the ruins of the Old Castle,” the General said and showed her an artist’s rendition of the pony. As Luna took it her eyes widened a bit. It was that same stallion that she had seen before that hellish serpent attacked her.
“I wonder...” Luna thought to herself, but quickly chased away those thoughts and turned her attention back to Cloudstorm.
“So why art thou telling us this now?” Luna asked.
“Well, we have noticed that he seemed to be searching for something. Whenever we would send some of our soldiers to search for him they,” the general stopped and took in a deep breath “Let’s just say they were never the same again.”
“Pray tell General; Have they claimed seeing a golden eyed serpent haunting them?” Luna said as she felt a piece of the puzzle had snapped into place.
“How did you know that?” Cloudstorm asked, baffled by Luna’s spot on description.
“Call it a hunch if you will," Luna rolled back the scroll retaining the artist’s rendition of the unicorn with a stern glint in her eyes “We shall see what we can do. Meanwhile, we must ask you to keep a close eye on the suspect but don’t do anything rash. Does thou understand us?”
“Yes your majesty. Thank you for hearing our plight,” Cloudstorm bowed to both of them and exited.
“Thank you so much for what you did back there, Princess,” Amethyst said the second he had left.
“No problem, my dear,” Luna responded with a gentle smile “You know very well that I frown upon such insolence. Especially, from someone as highly esteemed as General Cloudstorm.”
“Still, thank you,” Amethyst said.
“Besides, I was looking for you before the general showed up,” Luna stated
“Really?” Amethyst questioned as her brow raised in surprise.
“I wanted to let you know that my sister is immensely tired so I will be taking over for her,” Luna explained
While Luna spoke Amethyst fidgeted nervously. The princess of the night noticed these awkward movements and calmly raised an eyebrow while not breaking eye contact with the purple unicorn.
“Is there a problem with that?” Lun asked.
“Well, I don’t mean to insult your decision making- -” Amethyst paused quickly still awkwardly hopping from one hoof to another trying to find the right words. She didn’t want to insult the princess, but on the other hoof she wasn’t sure how Luna could handle some of Celestia’s tasks.
“You think I am incapable of performing my sister’s duties because of my absence and my lesser knowledge of the present times, am I right?” Luna asked.
Amethyst’s eyes widened in shock; Luna had guessed exactly the things she was about to say.
“Please, don’t take it personally, dearest Princess. The royal duties of Celestia differ quite a lot from yours so I am a little afraid,” Amethyst claimed awkwardly like an unprepared comedian.
“Put thine fears to rest, dear Amethyst. My sister has taught me enough to replace her for a day,” Luna smiled.
Amethyst bit her lip and let out a sigh. She looked back at Luna’s comforting eyes and nodded her head.
“Now that is settled thou shalt tell me what my sister’s duties are for the day,” Luna commanded
“One moment, please,” Amethyst pulled out a scroll. She searched through the yellow paper for the Royal duties.
“Well, General Cloudstorm was here already so I can cross that off the list...” Amethyst mumbled to herself as Luna patiently waited “That leaves us with the Eastern and Western apple orchards”.
She gulped.
Luna placed her hooves to her templates.
“Please, tell me they are not fighting over the two bits again,” Luna said annoyed by the mere thought of this problem.
“I am afraid they are. Are you sure we shouldn’t wait for Celestia? I mean, they can probably come back tomorrow,” Amethyst tried to persuade her, but Luna remained persistent.
“No, I will get this settled once and for all!” Pure determination shone in her eyes.
Amethyst jumped a bit, but she was impressed. It truly was something to admire, but she remained skeptical and sighed before continuing.
“Their representatives will come in about an hour, so I think it is best that you wait for them in the throne room,” Amethyst said and quickly apologized for being so brash with a princess.
Luna just laughed it off. “It is alright, my dear. Just inform me when they arrive.”
Luna went off to the throne room. Even though the murals were present even there, Luna couldn't focus on them. She had other things to worry about now. She had to think of a way to solve this conflict once and for all.
Even before she fell into a coma Luna had heard of the plight of these two apple distributors. The Eastern apple orchards mostly consisted of those in Las Pegasus plus a few other small orchards. The Western mostly comprised of the Manehattan and Fillydelphia apple orchards. Aside from being run by two different species (the Eastern being run by pegasus and Western by earth ponies) the two unions had different approaches to cultivating apples.
The pegasi had a more modern approach using the very best technology on their harsh terrain to grow apples, while the Western used more traditional technology. These big differences caused a lot of conflict between the two unions which led to the big strike. The Western field lowered the price of their apples by two bits per pound (due to the overwhelming amount of apples they were producing). However, the Eastern pegasi felt they were getting ripped off since they weren’t informed about the price change. Now fewer ponies are buying their apples and they were pretty angry about that which led to a strike.
This summit was supposed to bring an end to that feud and bring peace to both sides. Luna had been hearing about this assembly for quite a while. She knew that if the feud went on, even for a day, the ponies would become much more bitter. She didn’t want to prolong it. She was going to put this argument to rest once and for all. Wrapped up in her thoughts Luna formulated reasons she could give these ponies to stop fighting. All of them seemed perfectly logical to her but how would the representatives take it? A loud knock on the door managed to snap Luna right out her thoughts.
“Come in,” Luna said as she opened the door.
“The delegation will be here any moment!” Amethyst exclaimed as she entered the room, “I hope you know what you are doing.”
“Oh yee of little faith” Luna said jokingly.
Amethyst smiled awkwardly and waited for the trumpets to blow. Her hooves were shaking and cold sweat was beading off of her. While Luna did understand Amethyst’s plight she still felt a bit offended by her actions. Amethyst must have noticed it as she stopped shaking her hooves and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
“Sorry,” she mouthed out to Luna.
Their wait was short lived as two pony guards entered as they blew their trumpets. Amethyst’s heart pounded quicker while Luna remained calm and collected.
“Presenting, Duke Fritter the representative of the Western apple orchards,” the first guard exclaimed as a well groomed white earth pony entered the room. He bowed down to the Princess as elegantly as he could and kissed her hoof. Luna returned his greeting.
“Presenting, Baroness Fruitfly the representative of the Eastern apple orchards,” the second guard roared as an elegant dark green pony came in. She took a bow before the Princess and barely looked at the Duke.
“Thank you, loyal guards,” Luna responded to the two guards.“You may leave us now”.
“And what about her?” the Duke asked, rudely pointing at Amethyst.
“Forgive me, but one guard must be present at all times during a meeting,” Luna explained calmly “It is the Canterlot law”.
The Duke scoffed as the Baroness dismissively chuckled at his silent commentary. The distain was pretty clear in the eyes of these ponies so both Luna and Amethyst prepared themselves for a fiery argument as they both settled in their places.
Amethyst pulled out a scroll.
“Hear ye! Hear ye! The Royal Economical Court will now be in session. Before both sides present their arguments please raise your right front hoof up,” she exclaimed.
Duke and the Baroness, as well as Luna herself, raised their hooves.
Amethyst read the royal oath from the ancient manuscript. ““Now repeat after me. 'I solemnly swear by the divine light of Celestia and the beauty of the Lunar night to speak only the truth. I will look past my selfish agenda, work towards the betterment of Equestria whether it basks in sunlight’s gaze or walks among the shadows of night.”
Once they finished the oath Luna nodded her head towards Amethyst. “Thank you Amethyst” she said and returned her gaze to the two ponies in front of her. “Now, my respectable subjects what dark fate hath fallen upon thine ponies?”
“That dark fate has a name,” the Baroness spoke snobbishly “and It’s called the Western apple orchards”.
“Such slander!” the Duke spoke with disgust. “We have done nothing wrong!”
“Oh please, our sales have gone only downhill this season,” the Baroness retaliated
“That is not our concern!” the Duke dismissed her
“ So, it just so happened that our sales dropped at the same time yours went up,” the Baroness would not give in
“It’s not our fault you have fallen on hard times,” the Duke said smugly
Luna tried to calm the two ponies, but it was to no use. They continued to blast each other with insults and slander.
“You haven’t even informed us about the price change!” the Baroness screamed. “We had no time to prepare!”
“That’s the market, my dear. If you can’t handle it maybe you shouldn’t be in this business!” The Duke smiled smugly.
“Why you filthy earth pony!” The pegasus' face burned red.
“What did you call me? You rat of the sky!” the Duke flared.
Luna saw where this argument was heading and tried to interject but her soft words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Undeterred she increased her volume.
“Calm down! We are all rational adults! I am sure we can come to an agreement,” Luna tried to ease them down.
It was all in vain. The baroness and the Duke were at each other throats.
Luna’s patience grew thinner and she knew she could only take so much before bursting. Amethyst noticed the rage taking over Luna and backed away from her.
“ENOUGH!” Luna screamed as loud as she could, her bombastic voice spreading quickly through the room. Everypony stood in awe looking at the infuriated princess.
Luna was heavily panting as she readjusted her mane and recomposed herself. She looked at the two ponies, who were visibly shaken, with commanding eyes. Amethyst gulped as she feared what might become of this.
“Now, esteemed guests we can discuss this topic but not with such crude manner. Especially not with insults,” the night princess composed herself despite her previous outburst.
“ I understand your plight, dear baroness, but I am afraid that the prices will remained unchanged. It is completely in order with the Equestrian Free Market Law” she spoke to the dark green pegasus.
Luna watched the baroness’s face turned red with anger, while the duke smugly smiled.
Luna quickly noticed that smile and turned her sharp gaze toward the Duke whose smile began to fade away.
“However, the Free Market Law also clearly states that ‘when changing an established price of a product the Royal Court must be notified at least two weeks in advance’, ” Luna smirked at the Duke just as he has smiled at the Baroness earlier “If I recall correctly, you haven’t informed my sister about this change either.”
“Well it was a sudden change! We had to act as fast as we could!” The Duke clumsily tried to justify himself.
“That may be the case, but a letter does not take that long to write. As such, we shall penalize the Western apple orchard union with two thousand five hundred bits. This sum is to be paid to the Eastern apple orchards as soon as possible,” Luna stated calmly
“B-but that’s nearly half of our INCOME so far!” the Duke protested
“Your prices will stay the same,” Luna responded coldly “Thou still hath enormous supplies of apples. Thou will be able to recover.”
The Duke had fallen silent as well as the Baroness.
Luna looked at them both inquiringly.
“Do we have an agreement?” she asked.
The two ponies looked at each other and nodded their heads.
“I believe that is fair,” the baroness claimed.
“As long as we can keep our price, we shall make it work,” the Duke responded as he shook hooves with the baroness.
“Thank you princess for solving our Gordian knot!” The Baroness graciously bowed to the Princess.
“ 'Twas my pleasure.” Luna bowed her head in response. As the two pones left both Luna and Amethyst released a sigh of relief.
“So what do you think?” Luna asked Amethyst.
“I will never doubt you again, dear Princess,” Amethyst responded with a smile of relief on her face.