“Why six?” Sunny Day asked me curiously.
“I don’t know. Six is a good number. It is even, divisible by two or three. It seems as good as any,” I replied.
“Yeah but six! There are five Equestrias that are more… Equestria than us?”
We were hiding in one of the meeting rooms catching our breath. We’d had enough princesses for a lifetime. “I don’t think that is how it worked. It was mostly arbitrary. We’re Equestria Six from now on.”
Sunny poked her tongue out and asked, “How does Princess Pfft get to be Equestria Three?”
“I believe you’re overthinking this, Sunny. Who knows. Perhaps cosmically her Equestria was around before ours? At any rate, she is a willful princess and they seemed content for her to be three.”
“Fine, fine…” Sunny said and then looked back at me. “Now explain to me again how Twilight Sparkle is the Princess of the Night for Equestria Four.”
I took my helmet off and set it on the floor. “As best as I can tell Princess Luna wasn’t fitting in well so she traded her princesshood to Twilight Sparkle for help with her image.”
Sunny’s head tilted. “You can do that?”
“Not in this universe,” I replied with a grin. “Anyway, the individual meetings should be over soon and we’ll need to be back out there serving and whatnot soon. I figure we have another half hour to rest.” From my saddle bag I pulled out a canteen I’d brought and started drinking from it. Plain water, my favorite.
The unicorn’s tail swished and she took her helmet off. “Half an hour? That is perfect. Do you want to fool around?”
She had caught me by surprise again with her teasing. Unfortunately for her my mouth was full of water which I sprayed in shock directly into her face.
“So that’s a no, then?” Sunny asked as she tried to dry herself off.
“Yes, that is a no and I’m hoping you were kidding. Serves you right,” I said.
Sunny Day stuck her tongue out at me. “I was. I know you're committed. It is just fun to get a rise out of you… eh… eh?” She elbowed me lightly.
“How is it we entrust the safety of Princess Celestia to you?”
The mare wagged a hoof. “It is because I know when to be silly and when to be businesslike.”
“I see,” I said trying to keep a straight face. Finally I smiled. “Alright… if I take a nap do you promise not to molest me?”
“Mostly yes. Maybe just a little fondling but fine…” Sunny replied and then added, “But I’m going to nap too. So lean your back up against mine and I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”
“Deal!”
☾ ☼
“Prince Chand has invited us to visit his kingdom,” Princess Luna said to me.
My ears flicked and I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going to another Equestria. That was a security nightmare. “Us as in you and I or us as in you and Princess Celestia?”
“You and I. He was amused to find out you are Silent Knight,” the princess explained.
“Why?”
Princess Luna grinned and shook her head. “He would not say but promised that I would be equally amused. When this summit draws to a close I would like for you to put a trip on the books.”
“Will that be allowed?” I asked.
“Of course it… oh. A point well made, Silent Knight. Mark it tentative. Final language on the visitation agreement has not been approved. It should be acceptable as long as we don’t violate the sharing agreement.”
Mentally I was taking notes. “The sharing agreement was finalized?”
The princess frowned and nodded. “Yes. It has been determined that for the sake of all Equestrias no knowledge may be shared. As you know too much of that leads to links that are dangerous. This is disappointing for my sister and I but we were in the minority on the vote. There will be no sharing.”
“Alright… so we can go visit, look around, talk to ponies, but not share anything. That seems impossible to me.”
Princess Luna stroked her chin and replied, “Yes, yes it does. If you’ll excuse me I need to go bring that point up!” She hurried off into one of the meeting rooms leaving me to my own devices again.
Occasionally an alicorn would wander out for a treat before returning to their respecting meeting halls. There were always two sessions going with the group of alicorns split between them. Somehow Princess Pfft was in both. Magic.
One of the biggest surprises for me was seeing some of the ponies I knew in the form of alicorns from other realms. In particular Lady Cadence. We had two here: Pirate Princess Cadence and Non-Pirate Princess Cadence. The latter was currently over at the buffet. She’d arrived with a Princess Luna. That Princess Luna was the same size as our Princess Celestia and that Princess Cadence was the same size as our Princess Luna. If that sounds confusing it is.
I wandered over to the pink alicorn and cleared my throat. “Pardon me, Princess. Is everything to your liking? If there is something lacking I can go into the castle and find it.”
“Oh everything is lovely, Silent Knight,” she replied absently and then blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. You are Silent Knight here, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Princess, I am,” I replied, painfully curious how she knew me. The rules were still being laid out and even though I knew the other realms had no bearing on this one I was very interested in the other versions of myself.
She smiled and nodded. “Good. I feel safer then.” A donut levitated off the buffet and she nibbled on it. Then she squeaked, “Not that I don’t feel safe! You’re a gracious host. I’m so sorry!”
“No need to apologize, Princess. This is a strange situation for us all. I’m glad you feel safer, though. My counterpart and I are here to ensure your protection and that your needs are met. Our princesses thought it was best to only bring the two of us so that we could keep this all classified,” I explained.
Princess Cadence smiled, “Yes. Luna has always trusted you with secrets. Celestia, too, while she was alive. To be honest I was surprised you came to work for me but I’ve never been more secure.” The princess then groaned. “Not you. My Silent Knight. I’m sorry, I’m not good at this.”
I shook my head and smiled brightly. In my head the idea of Princess Celestia not being alive terrified me. It would have been rude to focus on that though. “Truly not a problem. If it were me… and again I have no knowledge of your world, I would imagine it would be out of my extreme dedication to Shining Armor. He made a big impression on me.”
She laughed and nodded. “Yes, my husband has that effect on ponies. At any rate I should be getting back into my meeting. Take care, Colonel.”
I sputtered, “Colonel!”
The pink alicorn cringed slightly and looked at my rank. “Oh I’m sorry! I really should go! Take care, Silent Knight!” With that she beat a hasty retreat.
Colonel! I was a colonel in her universe? What the hay! Now I was jealous of myself. That Silent Knight was years ahead of me… the jerk.