//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 (Ancient History) 
// Story: Interesting Times 
// by Timothy48 
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Chapter 5



Ancient History



Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.


                                                                                                      -George Santayana


Canterlot Catacombs, July 14, 1908 10:43am

The next morning, Twilight once again found herself inside the catacombs of Canterlot Castle with Princess Luna, Legal Accord, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. However, unlike the last time she was here, she had come prepared. Her saddlebags were full of paper and quills for note taking, and she had packed a light lunch in case they took longer than last time.

However, sleep had not come easily for her last night, as a multitude of question had been on her mind that night. So it was a less than rested Twilight that greeted the dawn. Thankfully, Applejack and Rainbow had taken it upon themselves to bring Fluttershy and Rarity up to speed on what they had experienced last night; something Twilight was grateful for as it was one less thing she had to worry about as she hadn’t been able to sleep. She had decided to write down what she could remember from their visit to the catacombs beneath the castle and she also had several questions that she wanted to ask Luna about that she hadn’t thought of the day before.

In fact, right now seemed like a good time to ask one of those questions. Clearing her throat, she asked Luna politely, “Your Highness, may I ask you a question?”

Turning her full attention towards her, Luna replied, “You may, and please when we are not in a formal setting you may all call me Luna.”

Nodding her head, Twilight said, “Of course You- I mean Luna.” Gathering her thoughts she continued, “I was wondering about that weapon you showed us last night.”

“The rifle?” asked Luna.

Momentarily confused at the word, Twilight quickly realized what Luna was referring to and replied, “Yes, the ah, ‘rifle’.”

“What did you wish to know about it?” inquired the Lunar Princess.

“Well, I was wondering why it was designed that way, and I was wondering what other types of weapons came before it.”

Nodding her head, Luna replied, “While I do not know all of the details of the weapons history, I do know that before this particular weapon was designed, that firearms of the period were almost exclusively used by either unicorns or those with the means to wield them, such as griffons or diamond dogs.”

“Wait you mean those dogs actually had weapons like this?” asked Rainbow Dash incredulously.

Luna chuckled and replied, “Yes, they did, but from my understanding they were crude designs. If what Tia says is true, and I have little reason to doubt her, most of the weapons the diamond dogs used during the war were manufactured by us and given to them for their use. Though what they did with them after the war I do not know, after all Geo Dogs don’t really have a single nation.”

“Geo Dogs? I thought they were called Diamond Dogs?” asked Rainbow.

“Well that is the name of one of the clans that inhabit these lands. But they are actually a fairly recent group, if what I have heard is to be believed. Geo Dogs however is what their species is referred to in a general sense, just as we are referred to as ponies rather than as Equestrians on occasion.”

“So what you’re saying is that there are more clans than the Diamond Dogs out there?” 

Luna nodded. “Correct, Rainbow. Many of these clans live in remote locations and tend to keep to themselves, and just like ponies they differ in many ways. Both in appearance, temperament, customs and history, just to name a few things.” She waved a hoof as if trying to clear away some smoke and said. “But I digress, back to your question Twilight. The main reason this rifle is built the way it is, is because we no longer had to rely solely on unicorns or those with paws to wield these weapons. Before the creation of this weapon, our firearms were of a much different design.”

        “What did they look like?” inquired Twilight.

“They were just simple metal tubes with a touch hole at one end to ignite the powder.” Luna replied. “Really crude and not very effective, but over time they were improved upon. However, we found that, baring unicorns and those with dexterous means, the only way for earth ponies or pegasi to use the weapons with any kind of ease was with a lever underneath it. However, that type of trigger was still cumbersome to use and proved to be somewhat dangerous. Accidental discharges were common and the lever triggers were prone to breaking making them unpopular with the troops. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much of a choice but to continue using that type of trigger, if we wanted more than just unicorns equipped with firearms. That is until the development of the magical harnesses.”

        “Why was that so important?” wondered Applejack.

        “Well, up till the invention of the self contained cartridge I showed you yesterday, ponies had to load the weapon from the muzzled using loose powder and lead balls. Needless to say, the process was slow and cumbersome to the extreme if one was not a unicorn or possessed claws.” She paused for a moment as if unsure how to continue. Finally she said, “With their discovery, ponies were no longer confined to one type of firing mechanism and nor were the soldiers of other nations; it also made loading the weapons much easier. However, the harnesses were not easy to make, as they required a significant amount of time and effort to allow them to work properly. I think there’s a book somewhere around here about how to make and maintain them.” 

She looked around the room, a slightly confused expression on her face, before turning her attention back to the group. “Well, I’ll have it found later if you are interested in their design. Anyways, as time went on experiments were conducted in ways to make these weapons more efficient for ponies to use, until we arrive that the design you see today.” While they had been talking, the group had continued walking along the row they were currently in and had soon found themselves at the very same boxes as the night before. During her lecture, Luna had pulled the rifle from its protective box and with a strange looking knife, which she had also pulled from the same box as the rifle, pointed out the various features of the weapon as she was explaining.

Twilight, who had levitated a quill and parchment from her bags, had been busily scribbling while Luna lectured on about the history of firearms. Pausing in her note taking she looked up and asked, “Okay, but that still leaves the question of why the weapon has that type of mechanism. Since we have magic wouldn’t it be easier to just dispense with the,” She consulted her notes for a moment and then continued, “external firing mechanism and instead just interact directly with the…” She glanced back down at her notes, searching for the term she was looking for. However, Luna had failed to cover the inner workings of the rifle so she was without a term for what she wanted to ask.

Thankfully, Luna supplied the term she was looking for. “You mean the firing pin? Well, there had been experiments along that line of thought. However, it soon became apparent that most ponies, and even some unicorns, had difficulty interacting with something they couldn’t see. In addition, it was just easier from a production standpoint that this design was the ultimate winner. This allowed for a standard type of rifle to be fielded by the allied forces, and with the harnesses and this rifle it could be done.”

“Wait, allied forces?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, the Grand Alliance, as it was called, comprised of Celestia’s forces, the Zebra’s, Griffons and Geo Dogs, among other contributors, during the Nightmare Wars. However, those four were the ones who comprised the bulk of the fighting forces.”

Twilight furiously scratched her quill across the paper she held with her magic, an intense expression upon her face as she drank in Luna’s words and committed them to paper. Finally, when she had caught up she asked another question. “So, now that we know a little more about the rifle what about the bullet?”

Luna blinked and with her magic summoned the bullet in question; it was a simple straight brass cylinder with a rim at one end and a lead bullet at other. She let Twilight take a few notes and even draw a simple illustration of the cartridge before she continued speaking. “As you can see, this is the type of ammunition that is used with the rifle. However, rather than have me explain how it all works, it would be better if you just read the manuals that came with them.” she said while pulling out a sheaf of bound parchments from another box.

Twilight’s eyes lit up at the mention of reading, while Rainbow Dash simply groaned at her friends egg headedness.  Shooting Rainbow a look of annoyance, Twilight opened her mouth to give a retort but a look from Applejack stilled her voice. Instead, she turned back to the Princess and after accepting the manual and placing it in her bag for further study later, said, “Thank you Your Highness, I’ll be sure to go over it later this evening.”

         “Hey, what’s that over there?” Inquired Rainbow, pointing over towards the far wall where a row of tarp covered objects rested. 

Motioning for Accord to push her bed, he began to make his way towards the far wall, where the covered object’s rested. When Luna was next to one of the mysterious tarp covered objects, she used her magic to rip the dusty cover from it, revealing a somewhat familiar looking object. 

        “Hey, that kind of looks like Pinkie Pie’s party cannon.” observed Twilight. 

Luna cocked an eyebrow at Twilight’s comment. “Pray tell, where did Pinkie Pie acquire a cannon in the first place and why would she use it for parties?”  

Shrugging, Twilight replied, “I have no idea where she got it, all I know is that she uses it to help her set up party decorations and stuff. Don’t ask me how she does it, cause I don’t know and the last time I tried to figure her out, I nearly went crazy from the attempt.”

        “I...see.” clearing her throat, Luna continued, “Well, at least you know what this is, so I won’t have to explain how it works or anything like that. But I can say that this particular model doesn’t fire parties out of its mouth.”

While the cannon did kind of look like Pinkie’s, the resemblance was only passing and Twilight had no doubt that she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of what it fired. Taking a closer look, she could see that the cannon had two iron shod wooden spoke wheels on either side of a long metal barrel. Which had been so well polished when it was originally stored that it still gleamed a soft silver under the light cast from above. 

The barrel sat on a thick wooden axle that was reinforced with wide bands of metal wrapped around either side for additional strength. A pair of pivots were connected to the barrel on either side and were centered above the wooden axle. Walking around towards the rear of the cannon Twilight could see that somepony had wrapped additional metal bands around this end of the cannon's barrel and had then for whatever reason put an odd looking handle at the end of it.

Luna chuckled at Twilight’s careful inspection of the gun and said, “I can see that you have a few questions Twilight.” Twilight absently nodded as she continued to inspect the rear of the cannon. Directing Accord to move her closer to the back of the piece, Luna asked, “What did you want to know?”

Still staring at the gun, she absently replied, “Well, I was kind of wondering what this is, it looks to be some kind of mechanism, possibly to load the cannon?” she looked up, a look of hopeful questioning on her face.

Luna nodded. “You are correct, this cannon here is a three-inch breech-loading field gun and fires a simple shell and powder bag arrangement rather than loose powder and ball. According to Celestia, these cannons were the last to ever be made and are our most advanced field pieces. This,” She tapped the end of the gun, “Is, as you guessed, the breech and when you rotate this handle here,” She demonstrated by grasping the handle in her magic and rotated it, causing it to open outward and to the right on a pivot. “You open the breech of the gun, and you’re now ready to load the shell and powder bag into it. 

To close it, just reverse what you did to open it and then prime the powder bag with this rod here,” She waved the aforementioned rod in her magic and demonstrated how to ‘prime’ the powder bag by putting the end of the rod in a small hole near the breech of the gun. “And now all you have to do is put the friction primer in and you’re now ready to fire the gun.”

Which she proceeded to do, by placing one of the ends into the hole and then said, “Now all one must do now to fire it is to pull this lanyard hard enough and it will cause the friction primer to ignite the powder in the breech of the gun.” She removed the lanyard from the hole and placed it back in the pouch she had taken it from. Turning back to the group, she pointed at a screw type device underneath the breech of the gun and said, “This is an elevation screw; it allows the gun crew to change the elevation of the guns muzzle to affect the range the shell will fly when fired.”

Having finished her impromptu lecture Luna waited for anymore questions from the group. Rainbow Dash raised a hoof and asked, “So, um, is there anything else like this down here?”

“If you are referring to more cannons, then yes. Celestia said she had at least one battery’s worth of each type of artillery piece stored down here after the end of the war and the signing of the treaty. In addition, she had several thousand shells for each gun stored here, as well as replacement parts should the any of the preservation spells lose their potency over the years.”

“Oh, okay.” Looking around, Rainbow asked curiously, “So what other kinds of weapons and stuff are down here that you could show us?” 

Laughing softly, Luna replied, “Oh many things Rainbow. Accord, if you could float me over that way, I think there is something that you might all find interesting.” Doing as he was instructed, Accord floated Luna’s bed further down the aisle. Asking him to stop in front of a large pile of rocks, Luna pointed at the pile and asked, “What do you think this is?”

The three friends gathered around the rock pile and inspected it most carefully. 

Finally, Rainbow said, “It’s a pile of rocks with weird carvings on them.”

Luna laughed and replied, “Well, yes it is now, but that is not entirely correct.”

“I don’t follow.” said Twilight confused.

“Well, I guess you could say that it was always a pile of rocks. However, at one point it was hoped that they could become so much more. This pile of rocks, and others like it, were an experiment to try to find a way for soldiers to assault heavy fortifications without taking heavy losses. Alas, it was not to be, the thing never worked properly and remained a dream.”

“What do you mean by that? How was it was supposed to help soldiers assault heavy fortifications?” asked Twilight.

“Well I do not know all of the details, but from what Tia told me, these rocks would form together when activated and turn into a walking wall of sorts, preventing the enemy from inflicting gruesome losses on us. In addition, it could also pick things up, such as large boulders, and throw them at enemies, among other activities.”

“Really? That is so cool! Could you imagine the stuff you could do with this?” Rainbow exclaimed excitedly.

Nodding her head, Twilight said, “Yes, I could definitely see the many applications, other than combat, that this could be put to. It is a shame it didn’t work though. Do you know why it didn’t work Luna?”

“I’m not sure. I too found my interest piped by this and decided to read up on the original development teams notes and blueprints. The theory and design were sound. However, from what I found it was almost impossible to control and seemed to take too much energy on the part of the spell caster to maintain.”

Twilight scribbled a few notes on her quickly growing pile of papers and asked, “How did one operate it?”

“From the notes I read, it was through a modified Come to Life Spell, which gave the caster a greater degree of control over it. However, as I said before it was terribly draining and would quickly exhaust them after only a few minutes. They never managed to figure it out sadly. If you want, I could get you their research notes and material if you’re curious.” Luna generously offered.

“Oh, would you? I would be most grateful Your Highness! This is a really interesting idea and I would love to know more about it.” replied Twilight gratefully.

Giving Twilight a nod, Luna replied, “I will see to it that you receive everything you require. It may be possible that you could even unlock the secret of getting this to work.” 

Twilight's eyes lit up. “That would be wonderful!” she exclaimed. “A chance to work on something as old as this. Oh thank you Your Highness!”

Luna gave a shallow nod.“You are welcome.” she said. Turning her head away from the group, she swept a hoof across the room saying, “As you can see, this is only a small portion of the many wonders of the past that rest within this room. Many of these wonders are dangerous, others less so.” She paused for a moment as if considering something, before continuing her train of thought. “Shall we continue the ‘tour’ or are you three ready to head back?”

The three friends looked at each other and then Applejack spoke up, “If it’s alright with you Princess Luna, we’d like to continue.”

“Alright then. If Accord would be so kind as to take me over that way, I think there are a few things that might still surprise you.”


~oOo~


Several hours later Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack sat around a table in the hospital's cafeteria and discussed what they had been shown.

“I don’t know Twilight, I mean yeah some of that stuff is pretty neat, but at the same time it’s also kinda scary. Not that I’m scared or anything.” Rainbow Dash hastily added, putting on a brave face, even though Twilight could see that she was scared inside, as was Twilight herself. Applejack probably felt the same way as the other two on the subject of war. It was a scary subject, though some of the things that the Princess had shown them looked like they could be put to more peaceful uses with a few changes made to them.

The stone warriors were a prime example. From the few notes she had read already they represented a major breakthrough in the field of Animation Magic. Being able to control several thousand pounds of rock even for a short time was a major accomplishment. 

Twilight remembered her first Winter Wrap Up when she used a Come to Life Spell on a snow mover and accidently caused an avalanche. However, that was nothing compared to the stone warriors. Not only were they more complicated than the snow mover was, but also much different in the way they were operated. The snow mover was a wheeled vehicle, while the stone warriors moved by walking; their massive forms more similar to a mountain troll than a wheeled plow.

Or at least in theory. Reality had dealt that dream a harsh blow. From the initial field report, the creation had stumbled about like a drunken pony. What was worse, it tended to crush whatever it tried to pick up and hold in its ‘paws’. All in all, it had been a poor performance. 

In spite of that, the designers had not been discouraged and instead attacked the problems with gusto. By the time the project was canceled, they had managed to iron out most of the problems except for the power issue, and if the project had been allowed to continue, Twilight had no doubt in her mind that they would have perfected it in time.

In the end however, they hadn’t had the chance, so now it fell to another generation of inventors and mages to figure it out. Even from the few notes she had read, Twilight already had several ideas and a partial theory developed on the subject and was eager to get to work. 

However, first things first: it was time to bring the rest of her friends up to speed on the latest ‘tour’ of the catacombs. In addition, they would need to write up a ‘report’ on their initial findings and thoughts about what they saw, heard, and experienced, As well as any recommendations on what they as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony felt was safe to release to the general public. 

Twilight felt that it might take awhile to write up the report, as already Applejack and Rainbow were arguing over something that they had seen. When Rarity and Fluttershy eventually joined the discussion it only got worse. Twilight felt the beginnings of a headache coming on and moaned silently to herself. It’s going to be a long day.

Canterlot Hospital, Celestia and Luna’s Room, July 14, 1908 7:03pm

As Accord opened the door to Celestia and Luna’s room, he heard muffled voices on the other side. Glancing at Luna, he quirked an eyebrow. Luna simply shrugged and said, “I didn’t know we were going to have visitors either so don’t look at me.”

Without saying a word Accord opened the door, and with Luna’s bed in tow, walked in to find that Celestia had not one but two visitors. One, a tan furred griffon, was shorter than Accord; the top of her head barely reaching above his shoulder. Her head feathers were the standard white commonly found among the species, though speckled with black as if someone had flicked ink on her face. She wore a simple, yet fashionable suit that gave her an air of class and importance.

Turning his attention to the other visitor, Accord felt a twinge of surprise at the sight of the zebra standing before him in the room. He sported a simple brown cloak that covered most of his body, and carried himself with a certain athletic grace that bespoke of years of training, possibly in one of the forms of zebra martial arts. 

Hearing a soft cough, Accord turned to see that Celestia was now sitting up in her bed, which was a marked improvement over this morning. Her eyes however were still covered by bandages. The doctors were still hesitant on removing the bandages due to fear that it could further damage her eyes as it was still unclear what had caused the initial damage. From what he had heard, they likely wouldn’t be safe to remove for at least another week.

Accord felt that they were being pessimistic, but better to be safe rather than sorry. Another quiet cough brought his mind back from its wanderings and he said, “Forgive me Your Highness, I was lost in thought.”

Celestia gave a maternal smile and replied, “That is alright Accord, I am glad that you two have returned. It turns out that we are not the only ones to come through to this world during The Event. May I introduce you to Ambassador Gazeti, representative to Equestria of the Zebra Council.” The ambassador solemnly inclined his head without speaking.

Turning to ‘look’ at the griffon, Celestia continued, “This is Countess Maria von Eisenburg, representative to the King of Griffons, Gustav II.” She also inclined her head, declining to speak as well. Celestia spoke once more, “Everyone, this is my soon to be chancellor, Legal Accord.” Seeing as how neither the Countess nor the Ambassador had spoken, Accord felt it was only appropriate that he follow suit, declining to speak as well.

An awkward silence descended on the room as the two ambassadors and Accord looked each other over. Finally, Luna, having grown tired of the silence inquired. “Celestia you said that both the Zebra Lands and the Griffon Kingdom have also come through with us?”

“Well, yes and no to both. It seems as though a part of their respective countries have come through with us. In addition, they seem to have taken far less damage than us, which could help us tremendously in helping rebuild our nation.” replied Celestia.

She was about to continue when the countess interjected, “Ja, it iz true.” Her thick griffon accent making it slightly difficult for Accord to follow as she continued speaking, “I haff been informed zat a modest portion of our country haz come through vith yours. Sadly, our capital did not, und ve are vithout a central government at zis time...” She said, suddenly trailing off, at a loss of what to say next and simply waited for someone else to speak. It was a rare sight to see a griffon unsure of anything, especially one of the nobility. Who were taught from birth to never let weakness or uncertainty show lest they allow their enemies an opportunity to cause them harm.

She must be shaken indeed, if she is allowing her uncertainty show as easily as she is now. Thought Accord, it was at this moment he felt the need to speak, and so he asked, “How much has come through?”

“I vas told dat most of ze Vestern Mountains came through, I vas also told zat a part of za Immergrün Tal came through with it as vell. Though I am unsure of vat else might have come through at zis time.” Settling her wings, she waited for someone else to ask any further questions. When none were forthcoming, she took a slight step back as if relinquishing the floor from someone else to speak.

Turning to the ambassador, Accord inquired, “And what of your lands?”

He simply looked back at the chancellor for a short time before he answered in a deep bass voice. “Roam did not come through, that much we know. It seems as though this Mist you speak of did not reach beyond the Wazi River.”

If what he said was true, and if memory served him correctly, that meant that nearly a third of the Zebra Lands had come through with them. In addition, that meant that some of their richer coalfields had also come through. Hazarding a guess he asked, “Does it end right at the Wazi River along its entire length?”

“Not quite on the river, no. There are several miles between the banks of the river and the ocean that swallowed the rest of our lands, we are currently unsure of the amount that has come through at this time. I only just now learned that any of our lands had come through this morning. However, we are fairly confident that all the land that is to the north of the Wazi came through.”

Nodding his head in understanding, Accord pulled up a mental map of the world. The Wazi River started in the southern mountains of Equestria and flowed down into the savannah region of the Zebra Lands. The river’s path seemed to flow in a southeasterly direction before turning sharply towards the north after about seven hundred or so miles. It then continued for an additional five hundred miles or so before emptying into the sea. If one were to look at it on a map, they would see that it looked a lot like a lopsided triangle. The land on the northern side of the river was a combination of flat land, which if it were properly irrigated and maintained, would make decent farmland, to the south and rolling wooded hills that quickly turned to steep mountains in the northern parts. This is where several of the rich coalfields lay, and on which Equestria relied on to power its infrastructure.

The Griffon Kingdom was another matter; the Eisen Gebirge Range was rich in mineral deposits. Principally iron ore. Hence, the name, which translated meant ‘Iron Mountains’ in Equinic. In addition, it stretched for nearly a third of Equestria’s length, though the Griffon Kingdom only controlled about half the range. The Immergrün Tal or Evergreen Valley as it was known in Equestria, was a picturesque valley whose unique weather patterns kept the valley green year round. It was also home to a sizable town and provided a small amount of the Kingdoms domestically grown food; principally cheese and meat.

If what these two say is true, then that means not only is Equestria not alone in this world. But also with area’s that are potentially intact and that can help us in the  rebuilding process. Of course, the fact that they have lost both of their central governing bodies will hurt them badly. Which means they might not be able to…Unless. A sudden idea struck him at that moment and turning to the two representatives, he asked. “It is obvious that all three of our nations are in dire straits. Yours are without effective leadership, and ours is badly damaged.” It was at this point that the countess interrupted him.

“Vat do you vant from us? Zer iz no governing body to approve of any treaty zat ve might come up with.”

The ambassador nodded and said, “I agree, I have no authority from the Council and even if I did it would require the Council to ratify the treaty to make it legal. Unfortunately, they were left behind.”

“I understand. However Mr. Ambassador, if my recollection of zebra law is correct, in the event that the Council is unable to perform its duties, the various tribes could each send a representative to negotiate on their behalf in any treaty negotiation. Am I correct in that assessment?” asked Accord.

“You are, but that depends on them being willing to surrender themselves to your rule and I know that there are many southern tribes that still remember The War.” Accord could hear the captial letters slamming into place when the ambassador mentioned the war.

“Mr. Ambassador, the Nightmare Wars were nearly a thousand years ago. Surely the various tribes have moved on?” inquired Accord in a pleading tone of voice.

Ambassador Gazeti merely snorted in contempt. “Do you take us for fools? Unlike you short sighted ponies, we zebras remembered our history and we made sure that it wasn’t forgotten. So that when the day came, we would not be taken in by your scheming lies again. So to answer your question Mr. Accord, no the tribes have not ‘moved on’ as you so hoped. They remember the pain and afflictions that befell our people and how we were simply cast aside when we had outlived our usefulness.” 

Accord stood there shocked, though not surprised, at the Ambassadors response. Finally he managed to say, “Mr. Ambassador, holding a grudge against our people for some perceived injustice from the past is-”
        
        “Perceived injustices?!” shouted the now enraged ambassador, cutting Accord off. “How dare you mock my people? How dare you mock those who gave their lives protecting your precious  princess and her court followers, Only to have their sacrifices trampled on and ignored when the danger was past! If it wasn’t for the fact that our nations have since begun mending our relations I would spit in your eye and take my leave!” 

Stealing a glance at Luna, whose eyes had taken on a pleading look, Accord took a deep breath and said, “Ambassador Gazeti, I apologize, I lost my temper and chose my words...poorly.” The ambassador gave an annoyed snort, but refrained from speaking. 

Encouraged by this, Accord continued, “I did not mean to mock your people or those who gave their lives protecting Princess Celestia during those dark days. However, that doesn’t change the current situation, our two peoples have found themselves in a strange new world. I do not know how much the Princess has told you yet, but just a few days ago a strange iron ship carrying an entirely different species sailed into Manehattan Harbor. It’s captain has informed me that this new world we find ourselves in is a rather...violent one.”

The ambassador’s face didn’t so much as twitch, but his posture changed ever so slightly. Where before he radiated hostility pure hostility towards Accord, now he was less belligerent, though he remained unconvinced. Accord however would take whatever he could get. 

Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I do not know if your people will accept this offer but, at the very least pass it on so that they may think on it. We wish for you to become our partners rather than servants, our nations have been peaceful neighbors for hundreds of years. I would hope that, coupled with our fair trade relations would be enough to overcome any past slights.” he finished hopefully.

“Some things, time can not heal. There are those who despise Equestria for what they did to us those many years ago. However, I will forward your message to the various tribal elders when they meet to discuss our people's future at a later date.”

Accord nodded his head and replied, “That is all we ask.” 

Inclining his head respectfully towards the two princesses, the ambassador quickly departed.

Turning his attention to the griffon countess, Accord asked, “And what about you?”

She flicked a claw dismissively. “I vill of course relay any message you vish to send. Though I doubt zat my people will be so ready to embrace zis new...arrangement.”

“Very well then, I will have one of the staff deliver the official proposal to your embassy as soon as possible.” replied Accord.

“Sehr gute, I as promised vil relay it to back to vat is left of my country. If zer is nothing further to discuss, I bid you good day.” and with that she too left, leaving just Accord and the two princesses in the room alone.

Sighing, Celestia shook her head and replied, “Not as bad as one would expect for your first diplomatic meeting, though it could have probably gone better.”

        “I’m sorry Your Highness. I fear I might have pushed them away.” responded a sullen Accord. 

“What’s done is done, and for the record, what happened wasn’t your fault Accord. After the war our nations did not part on the best of terms.” Taking a deep breath she forced a smile on her face and asked, “So how much of the catacombs did you show Twilight and her friends?”

“As much as we could, I might have glossed over some of the more…outlandish ideas but they got the gist of it. Twilight was particularly taken by that stone soldier project. In fact she wanted to continue development if of it, if that is alright with you, Tia.” replied Luna, a little tiredly. Even though she hadn’t left the comfort of her cloud bed, it was still tiring to be shunted around everywhere and try to answer every single question asked by a certain curious lavender unicorn.

Nodding her head slowly Celestia turned her attention back to Accord and asked, “What of the diplomatic team that you said you were assembling?”

“From my understanding Raspberry is handling the details as we speak.” he replied.

“Who all is to be on the team?” inquired Celestia.

“Well, I had originally wanted the Bearers to do it. However, they are in no condition for a journey of that kind at this time. So I instead selected several others who I think might do just as well.” Summoning a folder with his magic, he proceeded to list the ponies on the team. “I felt it would be prudent to have Fancypants lead the delegation, I have heard that he seems to influence others with relative ease. In addition, he is calm and focused, not to mention cultured, which will be an asset during their visit to the United States.”

Flipping a page, he continued, “Though she doesn’t have much experience at diplomacy I thought your niece Princess Mi Amore Cadenza would make a fine second to Fancypants. Her ability to spread love wherever she goes and to quell any arguments that may arise will be an invaluable asset. In addition, the fact that a member of the royal family as part of the delegation should add additional credibility to it. As for the security aspect, I believe that I left that in the capable hooves of Shining Armor, so I do not know who will be assigned to the detail as of yet. However, I did tell him that he could not go with them. He seemed disappointed at that, can’t imagine why.”

Both Celestia and Luna chuckled, Accord simply smiled. Clearing his throat he continued, “In addition to the security detail and our two negotiators, the team will have two courier pegasi to deliver messages quickly. In addition to the couriers, there will be a small staff of clerks, chefs and doctors, just in case something should happen while they are away. As I doubt that there is any human doctor remotely qualified to operate on a pony, this way we can cover all of our bases so to speak.”

Both Celestia and Luna nodded their heads in agreement of Accords assessment. Inclining her head slightly Luna inquired, “Will there be anypony else for the negotiation team other than Fancypants and Princess Cadence?”

“At this point I am unsure. Fancypants might want to have his wife along, but other than that I cannot see any reason for having anypony else on the team at this point in time.”

“I believe that you are correct in your assessment Accord, having too many ponies might cause unforeseen problems. I believe it is wise to keep the delegation as small as possible. How many ponies do you think there will be in total?” inquired Luna.

“At this time I can only guess, but it is unlikely to exceed twenty at most.” he replied.

Luna simply nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, suddenly feeling tired. Opening them part way she said, “If there is nothing more to discuss, then I think our meeting is done.”

Accord nodded and replied, “I think so too. I will bid you both good night.” Bowing his head in respect, he trotted out of the room.        

As he trotted through the halls of the hospital, he passed both doctors and nurses; those of which for the most part either spared him a passing glance or ignored him completely. Thankfully, word of the return of Discord hadn’t spread and his disguise seemed to be holding… for now. Shaking his head, he turned down another long hallway and nearly ran into Twilight Sparkle, who seemed to have her nose buried in a book, as was normal for the librarian. What wasn’t normal was the large amount of papers stuffed into her saddlebags and floating behind her in her magical field; which, from the looks of it, had recovered much of its magical strength over the past few days. As he looked down at her, she looked up, gave him a sheepish smile, and said, “Ah, Mr. Accord. I was looking for you.”

He quirked an eyebrow and asked, “Oh, is that so? Well it seems that you have found me. What can I do for you Ms. Sparkle?”

She gave him a smile and replied, “Well, after quite a bit of discussion the girls and I have finished our report about the…catacombs.” The last part she had spoken at barely above a whisper. As if she were afraid, there might be a spy close by. 

Chuckling slightly, Accord replied, “Well that’s good, so which of these papers are your report then?” 

Twilight blinked in confusion and replied, “All of them.”

Accord felt his jaw drop and his eyebrows try to touch his maneline, stuttering from astonishment he said, “You mean that this is your entire report?!” He indicated her saddlebags and the papers floating behind her with a hoof.

She looked at him funny and replied, “Yes, is that a problem?”

He sighed and said, “Twilight, while I appreciate your thoroughness, I don’t have time to read all of this!” He waved his hoof at the mess of papers once more, “Do you happen to have a summary or maybe point me at the most important points of the document?”
Giving him a frustrated look she cried, “It’s all important!” Visibly calming herself slightly, she sighed and finished, “Though I suppose if you give me an hour or two, I could have a summary written for you. Of course that means I will have to put off my research project, and I will have done all this work for nothing.” She gave a little sad pouty face as she looked at the papers 

Accord sighed and replied in a tired tone said, “No, no. I, will just have to skim them to the best of my abilities, thank you for your time in writing this report Ms. Sparkle.”

Visibly brightening she replied happily, “Great! Here you can take my saddlebags,” She floated her saddlebags off her back and placed them on Accords, “And here are the rest of the papers.”

Floating the papers over to him Accord took them in his magical grasp and said, “Thank you, now if you will excuse me I had better get to reading them. Good night Ms. Sparkle.”

“Good night!” With a large grin on her face, she quickly skipped down the hallway.
It was then that Accord realized that he had been ‘played’, muttering to himself, he muttered, “That little…. Well played Twilight Sparkle, well played.” Shaking his head, he resumed his journey back to ‘his’ office.      

Later that evening Accord sat in ‘his’ office, which actually belonged to Celestia. However since she was unavailable for the near future, he thought it would be a waste of space not to use it. At least until Her Highness resumed her duties. Currently he was skimming through Twilights report when the clock on the wall chimed eleven. Setting the paper down he rubbed his eyes and looked about the room. 

It was about what one would expect from a reigning monarch; a marble fireplace sat in a corner near the double oak doors, and a soft white carpet graced the floor with a sun stylized after Celestia’s cutie mark adorning the middle of the floor. Bookshelves sat against the walls and were full of the books, scrolls, maps and varieties of knick-knacks and bobbles that one would expect a monarch to collect over the years of their reign.

A large window was set into the wall behind him and looked out over the city of Canterlot. To the left of the window sat an old chest. Stained and worn with age, and not wishing to pry, Accord had refrained from looking in it. Though the temptation was great at times, he had managed to resist it. 

To the right of the window sat a small corner table, on which sat an elegant vase, with beautiful golden flowers carefully resting inside. Then, of course, there was Philomena’s perch, which sat near the fireplace. Currently it was occupied by the phoenix, who at this moment was looking at him with an unreadable expression upon her face. However, if he had to guess what she was thinking it would probably be something along the lines of. What are you doing in Celestia’s chair, and when’s she going to come in here and kick your flank straight to the moon?

Shaking his head at the thought, he turned his attention away from the bird and back to the mound of papers laying in the IN basket. Sighing, he plucked the top paper from off of the pile. Looking it over he quickly determined that it could be delegated to somepony else and placed it in the corresponding pile. Shaking his head in exasperation he thought, Honestly, I wonder how Celestia even had time to breath! Let alone run a country and keep it in as good condition as she did for as long as she has! “Boggles the mind.” He said aloud.

Sure does doesn’t it? 

Accord felt ice run up his spine and his hair stand on end. Philomena let out startled squawk and flapped her wings, her head swiveling, looking for the unknown voice. 

Heheh, so you can hear me too little birdie? Well, that’s fine, you can’t speak to no one, so I’m going to just ignore you for now.

Accord felt the presence turn its attention back to him. Trying to bring his heart rate back under control he managed to choke out, “What do you want now?”

What, can’t I just drop in and say hi every now and again old buddy, old pal?

“You are not my ‘buddy’!” Accord spat back.

Now is that anyway to speak to your old friend? 

“You’re no friend of mine.” he growled.

The voice fell silent for a moment, as if it were analyzing him. Finally it said, You don’t remember me do you Discord?

“Kind of hard to tell who you are when you’re invisible.” Accord shot back.

True, true, but to think that you would completely forget about me! Me, you’re bestest old pal back before... the voice trailed off, as if uncertain it should continue.

“Back before what?” asked Accord irritably. 

Back before you went crazy. replied the voice.

Accord blinked, placing his hooves on the desk in front of him he said, “Perhaps you should explain yourself a little better.”

What’s there to explain? You and I were in charge of our worlds and you got attached to your charges and went nuts. Simple as that. But enough of history, I’ve got a red hot scoop for ya, so ya better be paying attention!

“What? If you did something-” Accord slowly rose from his seat, a look of anger on his face.

I didn’t do anything ‘bad’, if that’s what you’re thinking. When Accord let out an impatient growl, the voice quickly continued, But I can see you’re getting impatient, so here’s the scoop chief. You guys are moving a bit too slow for my tastes so I’ve decided to hurry things along a bit. Your secrets out, you’ve been discovered.

Accord rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, “No, really? What made you think that? Perhaps the American ship that steamed into Manehattan Harbor the other day perhaps?”  

That’s not what I’m talking about you ninny. A fishing trawler, specifically a Japanese vessel has not only spotted your fair land, but they’ve spotted some of your people and just so that they aren’t called crazy when they get home. They decided to take on a few... ‘passengers’, if you will.

“WHAT!?” Accord practically screamed, thankfully the special sound muffling spells seemed to prevent the guard outside from hearing his startled shout. It would occur to him later that for his safety, he should probably try to find a way to dispel the magical sound barrier. Or at the very least, leave the door open so that they could hear him.

Did you not hear me? You should do a better job of cleaning out your ears in the mornings Discord. But anyways as I was saying, yes, the crew took on some ‘passengers’, just so they aren’t locked up in the looney bin when they get back. You understand don’t you?

In a barely controlled voice Accord asked, “Did they take these ponies against their will?”

Naw, they went willingly, oddly enough. But regardless, if you thought the cat wasn’t out of the bag before, it is now. When that ship makes Japan, it’s going to cause quite the stir among the higher ups. If you want to get the first punch in you had better do it fast, because the Imperial Navy’s going to be knocking on your front or back door, which ever, before long.

Accord sat there paralyzed, his thoughts were flying around at a thousand miles an hour and yet going nowhere. Finally, a thought smacked him in the face and he raced out of the room as though his tail were afire. Slamming open the doors with such force that he startled the two guards standing to either side, he barked, “One of you, go and get Fancypants right now!”

“Y-yes Sir!” replied the guard to his left and with a hasty salute, was off like a shot. Turning to the other one Accord said, “I want you to remain here and you will not speak a word of this incident to anyone and I want you to tell my orders to your partner when he gets back. Do I make myself clear?”

“C-clear S-sir!” He replied nervously, unsure of what Accord was referring to, but deciding to agree anyway so as not to draw the obviously spooked stallions ire. With that dealt with, Accord retreated back into the room. After having sat back down, he smoothed out his clothing and waited for Fancypants to arrive.

Nearly twenty minutes later, both the guard and Fancypants came puffing into the office. Dismissing the guard with a wave of his hoof, Accord looked over the celebrity unicorn. He wore his trademark suit and monocle, his light gray coat had a slight sheen of sweat upon it. If this bothered the unicorn, he didn’t show it. His azure mane and mustache had somehow managed to remain slicked back and in order with nary a hair out of place. To all intents and purposes, he appeared to be outwardly calm and collected, however his sapphire eyes betrayed his inner agitation. Waving to indicate a nearby cushion Accord said, “Mr. Fancypants,”

“Fancypants is fine Mr. Accord.” interjected the prosperous unicorn.

“Fancypants then. The reason I have called you here is to see how soon you and your team will be ready to depart for the United States.” Accord said calmly.

“I beg your pardon?”  

“I believe you heard me, I have just been informed that…events have conspired to move our timetable up. If you are able to, I hope that you can leave tomorrow. I will send a message to Captain Phelps to make all the necessary preparations for your stay aboard his ship while you make your journey. This was our agreed upon payment for services rendered unto him in the repair and resupply of his ship. So I will ask once more. Are you and your team ready to go now?”

Slightly taken aback by the strange turn of events, Fancypants replied hesitantly, “I suppose we are as ready as we can be, given the current situation. If it is alright with you, my wife wishes to go with me and the delegation.” Accord nodded his head in approval and Fancypants let out a silent sigh of relief. “Excellent, I have two clerks, a chef and a server. Two pegasi couriers and of course, six guards and their commander, a Lieutenant Stalwart Shield I believe.”

“Well I suppose if there is nothing further that you need, then I will give the order to have your things and staff moved to Manehattan tonight. I would advise that you make haste as well, Ambassador Fancypants, for your ship will sail with the morning tide. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” he replied.

“Good, then you are dismissed.”

Nodding his thanks, Fancypants quickly left to see to the last minute preparations for the voyage. Leaving Accord alone with both Philomena and the Spirit, which reminded him that he was there, by speaking. Still quick I see, that’s good, wouldn’t want this to be a one sided affair after all. I’ll see ya around Discord, but before I go, I’ve got one last thing to say.

“Then say it already.”

I know it might not mean like much, especially after our first meeting, but, I am sorry for this. But you didn’t leave Us a lot of choice in the matter. I have to go now, I’ll see you later. And with that the being departed, leaving Accord alone with Celestia’s pet, his churning thoughts and his paperwork.