It was getting close to lunch time and I was tired and hungry. Thus far nine delegations had arrived. Of those nine six had included a Princess Celestia. A seventh slightly changed the mix with a male Celestia by the name of Prince Apol. He was attending with his brother Prince Chand who was a male Princess Luna. That was pretty awkward. I’d almost written Guylestia on the name tag.
Sunny Day shifted slightly and asked, “How much longer are we going to wait? They’re already pretty late.”
“I suppose as long as it takes. Although I am really ready to eat and I imagine the room full of nobility is about ready to get started too,” I replied. Just as I turned towards the door the mirror burst into light. It was brighter this time.
Slowly a pearl-coated alicorn slipped through. Her blonde mane billowed in the absence of wind much in the way Princess Celestia’s did. I blinked in shock. “Exemplar Ferrel?”
There was little doubt that this alicorn was or had been Ferrel. They were identical other than the fact that this version was larger and had wings. Her look was vacant a moment before her eyes fell on me. “Silent Knight. How lovely to see you.”
Sunny Day and I bowed deeply. Quickly I went back to the script, “Greetings, great alicorn. Welcome to the Summit of Equestrias. How may we refer to you?”
The alicorn’s head tilted and she replied, “Ferrel will do. Although I guess I am a princess. How should I refer to you?”
From the corner of my eye I saw Sunny crack a smile. “Silent Knight will be fine, Princess.” I made a name tag and offered it to her.
She accepted it and then said, “I have come alone. It is good to see you again, Silent Knight.”
“Again?” I asked curiously.
Princess Ferrel nodded. “Yes. I was saddened when you died on the train.”
A cold chill went down my spine and I stammered, “Thank you, Princess.” What else can you say to that sort of thing?
“I trusted the wrong vision. It was my mistake. May I go in?”
“Of course, Princess. By all means,” I replied.
“Thank you.”
Once she was through the door Sunny Day sat a hoof on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah… it just felt like somepony walked over my grave. In her Equestria I died and she became a princess?”
“I guess so… That is one strange bird though. I can’t imagine her ruling. Anyway, shake it off. You didn’t die and I know you’re hungry. Let’s go hit the buffet that we painstakingly put together and then had to wait so long to eat at that I’m sure it is all cold.”
Sunny had a way about her to keep things moving. “Yeah, you’re right. Come on. I hope some of those little carrots are left.”
☾ ☼
Chaos. It was total chaos. The room was packed full of alicorns and keeping any of them straight was near impossible. There were some odd ones that were easy to pick out: Mother Mare, Princess Pfft, Princess Ferrel, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Pirate Princess Celestia to name a few. Of course the two stallions stood out. They were lost in a sea of mares. Welcome to my world.
Everypony was chatting and the room was rather noisy. Sunny and I were leaning against the wall and eating. The whole thing was surreal. Our world previously had two alicorns and now it was jam packed with them. I also had no idea which Princess Luna was the one I served.
While we were pony watching Princess Ferrel wandered over to the buffet. Her stare went vacant as she looked between crackers with white cheese and other crackers with yellow. The choice seemed to be agonizing so I spoke up, “Is there something I can help you with, Princess?”
“I’m not sure which to choose,” she replied.
“The white cheese is very mild. The yellow is sharp. Which would you prefer?”
“The white, but if I choose the white we may all die.”
Sunny’s eyes went wide and I stammered, “Pardon?”
The alicorn turned to look at me. “I had three visions of this summit. In the one that bore witness to the destruction of all of these worlds I chose the white cheese.”
Demonstrating an alacrity I’ve never seen in a pony before, Sunny Day lept up, cleared the distance to the table, and stuffed every piece of white cheese into her mouth.
Princess Ferrel’s head tilted and she selected a yellow cheese cracker. “Thank you,” she said absently before wandering back into the sea of alicorns.
My eyes flicked back to Sunny. She was struggling. I offered her a napkin and she shook her head. With tears in her eyes she swallowed as best she could but still looked distressed.
Subtly I put myself between her and the dignitaries and slowly slipped a trash can her way. She nodded in appreciation and solved the problem.
“Congratulations, Lieutenant Day, you just saved millions of lives,” I said dryly.
She laughed quietly and wiped her mouth as delicately as she could. “I’ll expect a medal and a pay raise.”
“Good luck with that…” I trailed as one of the many Princess Celestias climbed up onto the small podiums.
“Ladies… Ladies… oh, and gentlestallions, too. Please, may I have your attention?” she said, her voice rising ever so slightly.
The room fell to silence and she pushed on. “Thank you. It is my belief that I am the Princess Celestia of this world but, at this point, I am somewhat questioning that.” There was a general laugh throughout the room. “With that said, I think we need to figure out an easier way to identify the world we represent. May I suggest that we take a pass at numbering our worlds?”
One of the other Princess Celestias, and I truly have no idea of which one, replied, “Numbering may suggest a hierarchy and I truly don’t want to risk offending any of you.”
Our (I hope) Princess Celestia nodded and replied, “That is a very valid point. That is not my intention of course. Perhaps we should vote? If you feel this would offend you if you have a higher number please vote nay. Otherwise vote yea. All in favor?”
It was unanimous. I guess the ponies were largely identical. “Very good. Then shall we begin?”
☾ ☼
Sunny Day was leaning against me, asleep. We were taking turns propping the other up so that it didn’t look too obvious. The experience was both frustrating and interesting. Numbering the Equestrias, despite there being general agreement to do so, was not as easy as everypony had hoped.
It went swimmingly at first. There seemed to be general agreement that Mother Mare’s Equestria would be Equestria 1. Following that, the Equestria with the equally sized Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ended up as Equestria 2. Then it got hazy.
“All I be saying is that we don’t wish to be numbered. I propose that we be Equestria R,” the Pirate Princess Celestia said over the others.
Lightly I rubbed my eyes. There couldn’t be a cheesier line than that but, then again, that was exactly Princess Celestia’s humor.
“Very well, for the sake of getting another world off the table we will consider Equestria R. All in favor?” Princess Celestia called. There was a vote and it passed. “Excellent, Equestria R it is. Now, back to the topic of Equestria 3.”
“13, please,” Princess Ferrel said without provocation.
Princess Celestia blinked. “Pardon?”
“My Equestria will be 13. This removes another one, does it not?”
Without missing a beat Princess Celestia nodded and replied, “All in favor?” The vote passed.
“Very good. That is four down… Instead of plowing through the numbers does anypony else have any requests?”
Sunny shifted in her sleep and almost fell over. She gasped and looked around in shock. When she found me looking at her, she smiled. “Oh thank Celestia, it was just a nightmare.”
“Which Celestia are you thanking?” I asked, pointing to the crowd.
“Oh, nevermind, this was the nightmare. Have they decided who is who yet?”
“Nope.”
“Awesome…” Sunny Day trailed. “This is going to be a long summit.”