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// Chapter 2: Welcome to our town 
// Story: Kingdom in Shadows 
// by Istaran 
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Cadance and Shining Armor sat at their thrones, the queue of petitioners finally empty, when one of the guards burst in, bursting into song.

“If it please your highness, I must do this thing!
I must announce, I must pronounce, the coming of the King!
The wonderful, magnanimous, glorious, mysterious, Itinerant Kiiiiiinnggg!”

While it was sudden to them, it felt like a conclusion, and indeed the Song Magic was finally winding down we strolled out into the center of the room, taking a place before Cadance and bowing politely.

While the others had bowed more deeply, I settled for merely a polite head nod. It wasn't due for a king to be too humble. Princess Cadance was my peer, in my mind, and deserved only the respect due an equal. To my left, trailing a pony-length behind was Wind Chaser, brazenly strolling about in her natural form. Her wings twitched a bit nervously as she came into view of the Princess and her husband, but she bowed low and then sat quietly, making no aggressive moves. To my right, even with the changeling was Bardrick, a strapping young griffon warrior, lightly clad with ceremonial armor, but no weapons beyond his beak and claws. His pauldrons bore the sign of some kingdom or other scratched and buffed out, with a pronounced “IK” scratched in over it. His feathers seemed prematurely grey, the only sign of his true age he had chosen not to undo. And directly behind me, about a pony-length behind the changeling and griffon, strolled my son Alexander, a walking impossibility, a male alicorn, a colt just starting into puberty by the looks of him. He sang a final thank you to the guard as he passed, just as the stallion was blinking off the confusion of coming out of the song, and bowed almost as low as the changeling before giving them a disturbingly bright smile. For the time being, he was as white as shining armor, except for his wings which bore Cadance’s own pink hue, and his flanks were completely blank.

Cadance looked over her visitors with perked ears and a curious expression warring with properness. "I was not aware that there was any pony that wore the crown of a king. What brings you to my court today?" She gestured to the left. "If you have come far, we have food and drink to refresh." She gave off a warm friendliness as she spoke, a sincere welcoming presence that has served her well with her people so far.

“Thank you very much, Princess Cadance Mi Amore Cadenza!” Alex said, prancing over to the refreshments to help himself.

While he did, I stepped forward. “My Kingdom is small and newly formed, having existed only slightly longer than your own marriage. We are also quite mobile, by necessity, and have up until recently been wary of dealing openly with other governments. Many of my subjects have, in the past, been victims of brutal crimes or other dire circumstances with their abusers protected by corrupt local government officials. However, as our numbers have grown, it has become obvious we will need to deal openly with someone. We have a number of proposals we wish to discuss with you today, as well as a personal favor I would ask of you before we leave. But first, I believe introductions are in order.”

I drew himself upright for a moment, gesturing to myself with one wing. “I am South Wind, formerly known as the human Daniel Holden, and known by my subjects as the Itinerant King. Forgive me for not showing off my original form, but I prefer not to be the kind of king who towers over his subject.” I also preferred not to be the kind of king who used changeling shapeshifting magic in front of foreign dignitaries who had been in a very unfortunate run-in with changelings on their own wedding night.

I dropped back to all fours, and gestured to the changeling to my left. I had had her arrive in her natural form as a matter of transparency. If we had hidden her nature from them, it would have been a breach of trust when they found out. “This is Wind Chaser, my first and most loyal subject, truest of all loves, and mother of my foal.” I swept my wing toward the ‘alicorn’ who was trying to make small talk with one of the guards while sipping from a glass of juice. “And this is our child, Prince Alexander Gabriella Stormbringer the First." I managed to withhold my wince at our child's name. From now on I was going to chose names for my children before conceiving them, I swore once again. I gestured next to the griffon, who bowed in turn. " And lastly, Bardrick, my good friend and chief military advisor.” I settled back down, and waited a moment for her to take it in.

Cadance nodded to each of us as we were introduced, her eyes going off into the distance faintly as she let her view of love take hold to reveal the lines that bonded the strange newcomers to her court. "I see. I'm afraid you have me at quite a disadvantage. Is yours a 'kingdom' per se or more of an extended family? If you are seeking refugee status, we have room for those seeking honest work. There's no shortage of things to be done." She looked upwards a moment before settling her gaze back on the newcomers.

I don't know what they looked like to her, but I could guess. Wind Chaser, Alexander and I were a tight knit family, and she would surely see that. I wondered if she would mention the bonds between us and some of our more intimate subjects, especially Midnight Oil, but she said nothing. My other subjects held a more platonic form of love, Bardrick included, but the link to each and every one of them had been used for powerful surges of transferred love, in training if nothing else, and I suspected she would note that. She seemed particularly interested in Alex for a time, and I really wonder what she saw there.

“An extended family?” I said. “The analogy is not too far off, though we are hundreds in numbers and not all of us have relations that would typically qualify. We do wish to offer to come and help with the work. We are quite well acquainted with temporary employment, as your empire seems to need help for you to build up to a stable state. We are also quite well trained for combat, with abilities that most lack in that regard. We wish to offer a unilateral military alliance as part of our negotiations. Any of our number who stay to work here will come to your defense if you are attacked again. And if you are able to meet our requests, we will also have reinforcements available. Before we make our requests though, is there anything else you need beyond workers? We have contacts in many nations around the world, and may be able to acquire and transport supplies for you."

Cadance raised a fine brow. "I confess, this is most curious. You appear before me, king of an unheard of realm. You mentioned you were once human?" She canted her head faintly. "Have you heard of the former diplomat of your kind? Have you met him? Your kind has had interesting effects on the world, from small to large." She gestured lightly to the south. "I'm told several have appeared in Manehattan. A fascinating phenomenon. You seem to be doing well for yourself."

I steadied myself patiently, rolling along with the brief derailment. “I have met Silver Stars twice now, and Twilight briefly as well. I take it as part of my personal duties to do what I can to protect the humans who have arrived since I did, though I have yet to invite any of them into my kingdom. I have made a point of recruiting only those whose lives would be clearly improved by tearing away all that has come before, and thus far none of the humans in Equestria have had such dire paths. As for our effects.. it is part of why I chose the name South Wind. Like the wind, we bring change in our path, inexorably, both big and small, good and ill.”

Cadance looked me over with a soft noise of consideration. "Have you? She is a precious creature, but so frail under it all. Do you share her delicate soul?" Before I could answer, she made a dismissive wave of a hoof. "Enough of that. Let's return to the matter at hoof. If your people wish to immigrate, as I mentioned, there is no shortage of good work for them. We have need of miners, farmers, artisans, teachers, librarians, administrators. Almost any profession at all, really. This may sound a bit queer, but I'd rather a positive soul. The city is defended by good cheer, after all."

A few years ago I might have been skeptical about that last part. But I had experienced both our own and her own versions of 'weaponized love', so I had no doubt she could kill me with a sufficiently pointed smile. “Many of them will, no doubt. The decisions are still being made, but I estimate about a hundred to start. Which brings us to our needs. We will need a space to ourselves, not for all of us, perhaps about the size of a block. Specifically, we need a place to work in private on research projects and manufacturing. And we will need access to certain materials that are hard to acquire, often restricted by other governments. The most pressing is a material called ‘displasia amethysts’. I believe the Crystal Empire was formerly the primary supplier, before the former King was dethroned. The difficulty acquiring them is one of the biggest obstacles we currently face.” 

Cadance glanced off to the side, where Shining Armor entered the conversation. "Displasia is very valuable, and difficult to mine. We've only just got the mine up to the point where we can hope to extract some, let alone the cutting and refinement that goes into making it ready for its intended uses. Do your people know how to mine, cut, or refine it, and do they intend to work for it, or pay for it?"

He nodded, “we would actually prefer to do all of the work ourselves. My people are very hard workers. But if you prefer we focus on other forms of work and pay for the crystals, that is also acceptable. With how widespread we are, we need the crystals to empower faster travel. Especially with the old mines closed for so long, other governments are often unwilling to even allow their sale.” Alex was about to cut in with a spirited discussion of his invention, the Gatecrasher bracers, but I cut him off with a thought, and he went back to hitting on the poor guard pony.

Shining Armor shook his head. "We were hoping to barter and trade the gems for vital supplies from other cities and nations to the south. Once we have refinement up to speed, it will become a significant portion of our income." He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

Cadance nodded softly. "If you purchased them, we could use the money in their stead, which would still meet the needs of our people. Giving them away would be quite irresponsible of us." She heaved a slow sigh. "As you may have noticed, my Empire is lacking… in infrastructure. We have so much more rebuilding to do."

With a thought, I gave my griffon companion a role to dispel his boredom. Bardrick stepped forward to speak. “If I may, we could provide an intermediary to accept lists of necessary supplies from you, and provide them in exchange for the gems. We can cut out some of the profits that merchants would charge you, giving you a better exchange rate. And use the crystals to get our own trade routes opened to get the materials you need to you, as well as help our own trade efforts internationally. We can get anything but contraband for you quite quickly and easily, in exchange for what we need.” We could get pretty much any form of contraband, for that matter, but Cadance seemed like the kind that would rather believe we couldn't than ask us to get something improper.

I nodded. “We will need other forms of crystals as well, going forward. The displasia amethysts are just the most pressing need. But once lines of trade are open, it will be easier to discuss such details as we go.” Giving a full list of the types of crystals we wanted for our experiments would just strain our negotiations at this point. And really, if we didn't get any of the others, just being able to supply Gatecrashers to a larger portion of our numbers would be a massive win. Alex was already working on a larger version intended for freight transport, that would need far more crystals.

Cadance quickly shook her head. "I can't imagine a use for contraband. If it's illegal in Equestria, we're not likely to be using much of it here." A smile overtook her features. "If you can negotiate better trading rates, that will be most valuable. But now I must ask, what about you? You've spoken of your people, but not yourself? You seem a pony of… connections?"

I traded glances with the others, closed my eyes and drew in a breath for a moment. What did she mean by 'connections'? Given her unique talents, I suspected she meant the links of love to my subjects. I wondered if she could see any residual signs of the bursts of love I moved between us when needed. But she could just as easily have been referring to trade connections. Dang ambiguous language. Oh well, chance to talk about something I wanted to get out into the open. “I have an.. artifact of sorts. We’ve come to call it the ‘Kingsblood’, as it lives within my blood, and also within that of those who have pledged their loyalty to me. It allows us to speak to one another, mind to mind, and has done much to keep my kingdom unified, even over a great distance. It is how we remain tight knit like a family despite the physical distance that separates us. It has more uses as well, such as faster healing, forgoing the need for sleep, and sharing memories with one another. By sharing her experiences with me, Wind Chaser helped me learn how to share love more effectively. Among other things.”

Shining Armor tilted his head a little. "That is… very interesting, and somewhat concerning, but doesn't really answer the question. Do you plan to move on and leave your people behind, or are you also planning to immigrate?" He pointed at me. "I should ask, since it's brought up, is that artifact of yours safe? It sounds worrisome."

I cringed a bit at the question of safety. Ponies didn't even have the concepts necessary to get to imagining a 'grey goo' scenario. And even within the constraints I held to, the fact was everyone who took on the Kingsblood was permanently at my mercy. There was a huge amount of trust they needed to place in me, and to a lesser degree trust I needed to have in them to leave them with its power. “Whatever the distance, my people and I are united. Having an enclave we can call home makes it the natural place for me to spend the most time, but I still have need to travel. If nothing else, I want to meet with Princesses Luna and Celestia in due time. Besides, not all of my people will chose to come here, and I intend to visit those who remain abroad as often as I can make the time.” I looked away, unable to meet their eyes. “As for safety.. it’s hard to describe. It has a mind of it’s own, and a loyalty that is unbreakable." I didn't mention that the loyalty was to my villainous, fictional alter ego. That was hard enough to explain to people with a direct thought-link. "But it also has a potential that, frankly, terrifies me. I pray that nothing less safe ever reaches this world.” For one, if anything scarier than Deus ever did show up, I'd probably be using Deus unbounded to fight back, and even if we won there would be repercussions. So I prayed that threshold would never be passed.

Cadance recoiled slightly. "You'll pardon my saying so, but you haven't filled me with confidence. I don't want to know what it does that would make a human so frightened, from what I've heard of your home world. You do all come from the same place, do you not?" She shook her head with a frown. "In any event, please refrain from using it within the Empire. I would also request that you not… share… it with any of my ponies. They have suffered enough at the hooves of those that thought they knew what was best. I wish for them a healthy, natural, life."

I shook my head. “I can no more promise not to use the kingsblood than you could promise not to use your own heart. It is as much a part of me as my heart or brain. But I can promise to restrain its potential, and I will easily promise not to share it with your ponies, as long as you promise to hear me out when I have something I need to tell you. Your empire is small and young, and hopefully free of corruption. I trust that if there are those who need your attention, you will hear me out and take action. If we are lucky, it will never even come up.” I didn't need to recruit more ponies, least of all from as peaceful a country as this. But if I encountered anypony in a situation I would normally recruit from, I needed some way to get the situation resolved. Maybe that would end up with me dropping a broken pony in their lap, and letting them deal with the rehabilitation for once.

Shining looked a bit confused, an expression copied by his wife. "I would hope we're 'free of corruption'. We want what's best for our ponies, which now perhaps includes you? You're welcome to petition us like any other pony in the Empire." I don't think they understood what I was trying to suggest, but I let it go for now. Their empire was small and had short chains of command: there weren't as many opportunities here for corrupt local governments to abuse their power unnoticed as there were in larger nations. If a problem arrived in the future I would bring it before them, possibly even before taking action myself.

Cadance gave a slow nod. "Of course. Well, if that is all? We should see to the others who have done just that. A princess' work is never done." A gentle smile was offered. "It has been a true delight."

I straightened as Wind Chaser strode up to my side. “Actually, I mentioned at the beginning that I had a personal favor to ask of you. I understand in Equestria it is traditional that Princesses officiate weddings? I know we are doing things a bit.. out of order, but we would be honored if you were to make things between us.. official.” With that I wrapped a wing around the changeling. It was still weird having her exposed like this in public view.

Cadance tilted her head. "Well, it need not be a princess, but it would be a pleasure to do that." She looked between us. "The love between you two appears pure and strong. Please, hold hooves and speak of your love to one another, and the promise you will offer to the other."

Alexander trotted over to our side, humming a traditional wedding tune with perfect pitch, even managing a few chords that are normally a bit outside the realms of a typical voice. The grin on his face was positively beaming. Our little Prince would be a bastard no longer.

I took Wind Chaser’s hoof between both of mine, looking deep into her eyes. “Wind Chaser, when I first came to this world, you appeared before me as a guardian angel, saving me from a terrible, tragic course. You supported me through everything, encouraged me to become the king you knew I could be, and fought by my side in every dark and dangerous time. Now, I ask that you hold your head high and stand by my side, as my beloved queen. I promise to love you, protect you, and cherish you with all my heart and all of my power for all of my life. Do you accept?”

Wind Chaser fluttered her wings nervously for a moment, glancing at Cadance before nodding. “My king, I promised you from the beginning a loyalty that goes beyond following orders, that I would lay down my life for you if ever you needed it. You.. you know what I feared from you and why, but you rose above everything, every fear and every expectation, and became much more than I ever thought possible. You have shared with me your pure, incomparable love from the very beginning, and I still struggle to see myself as worthy of you, but I will accept your offer and rise to be worthy of it. I promise to be your loyal and loving companion, the mother of as many children as you can bless me with, and your subjects’ second strongest advocate.”

Cadance's expression lightened with each fond word exchanged between us. When all the words seemed complete, she nodded. "I, as princess of the Crystal Empire, and steward of love, do hereby witness this testimony of devotion and recognize one where once there was two. May you know love and fulfilment for all your life together." She spread her wings wide and sent a pulse of magic through the line she could see, strengthening the bond between us. Others might be less aware of her magic, but as we had a lot of experience intentionally manipulating the flow of love, it was quite obvious. But also, it wasn't anything we wanted to fight.

As newlyweds, we slipped into each other’s embrace, kissing passionately while our son quietly played the spell he had read in Twilight’s cell over his horn, washing his magic quietly over his mother. Wind Chaser felt something deep within her.. unclench, for lack of a better word. Having felt it twice now, she knew where it was now, and finally gained control of it. The gates to motherhood, so to speak, were finally ours to open as we pleased. Meanwhile the bonds of love from all of our distant subjects spiked temporarily, the love flowing into me, and then into our bond, filling the channel between us to capacity. Without doing anything physically improper, we pushed the love where it needed to be, conceiving right there before the two ponies that had unknowingly triggered our first conception.

Cadance took note of the odd flow of love, but didn't mention it, instead clopping her hooves in polite approval. "Now go, you have love to express." A very polite way of stating what is likely to come. "Be well, and welcome to the Crystal Empire."

“Thank you and fare well yourself, Cadance. Shining Armor. We will send a representative to arrange trade details shortly.” As we walked away, I felt like a massive weight had been lifted from my shoulders, despite the physical weight in my hooves as I picked Wind Chaser up and strode off on my hind hooves. My guardian angel was finally my queen. My people finally had a safe haven suitable for our nation as a whole, and we even had a trade partner willing to sell us the crystals to enable our continued research and development. In so many ways, we were finally out of the shadows. Or at least.. half out.

As we left, Bardrick noticed a glance between our royal hosts. They still had their suspicions. We weren't going to be trusted fully, not yet.

Good.

I didn't need total fools for allies.