//------------------------------//
// 26) Month 1 - Important bills 
// Story: Climbing the Mountain 2 
// by Talon and Thorn 
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Max glanced around the crowded hall. despite the shocking event of just a few minutes ago the court seemed seemed almost mundane now. He’d spent enough time in this chamber for the general business of court to become second nature. Likewise the setting seemed to have calmed most of the other courtiers, although many looked a little dishevelled despite their ornate robes after the panic surrounding Corona’s appearance.   
 
Despite the calming nature of the setting, Max was still nervous: the first order of business would be one of the most important pieces of legislation passed in most of the courtiers’ life times. The princess had teleported the entire court to the floor of the debating chamber, several of the higher ranking nobles were looking up towards their personal boxes lining the walls. The princess had not said anything about them not using them but it looked like the court had decided that using them and rising above their fellows might send the wrong message given the humility the new bill was supposed to represent. However, the lack of space meant that most of the members of the night court were forced to stand. the princess had apparently foreseen this issue and most of the older members of the court had been positioned near seats where they were able to rest their hooves. Puissance, despite being the oldest of the courtiers, had stepped away from her own chair and was pointedly standing near the front of the hall.
 
“My lords and ladies,” came a bellowing voice from a formally dressed stallion who had taken his place at the podium. The lord chamberlain was one of the princess’s most senior advisors who was not a voting noble. His role was to keep order in the chamber and to ensure the business of the court was not unduly disturbed. Max had heard that the position was often taken up by a retired courtier at Luna’s request. “Pray silence,” he paused to let the general hubbub die down. “The first order of business are any early day motions left over from the previous session of the court. The first bill on today's book is that raised by the late baron Fields to broaden the scope and funding of the Internal Affairs Bureau.” The stallion paused for a moment in respect. “Due to the honourable member's death the bill has been primarily sponsored by Vicerene Wallflower. Vicereine Wallflower of Canterlot will take the stand.” He bowed as the Vicereine pushed her way through the crowd to the front of the hall to take her place. She moved with purpose despite her heavy robes, she had removed the powdered wig and her mane had been left rather messy.
 
Max glanced around and noted that most of the court had done likewise, some had also stripped off other parts of their formal costumes, mostly the ruffs. Or maybe they’d lost them in the earlier panic. In either case he assumed that now the opening ceremony was over they could wear what they wanted. He grabbed his own wig, glad to be free from the thing. he was beginning to wonder if there was something living in it, he couldn’t see anything to do with the thing so he kept it on his hoof for the moment. Various pages were moving slowly back and forth through the crowd passing out copies of the proposed legislation. Max had read the document several times already, but due to the ceremony had not been able to carry a copy around with him, so he took another gratefully.
 
“Right Chaps and Chapesses,” came Wallflower’s bellow from the front of the chamber, causing Max and several other courtiers to jump. “We all know what this is about and what needs to be done, we’ve just told Corona where to stick it but now we need to show the princess that we can be trusted to serve her and Equestria properly.” She glared around the hall. “For too long the Internal Affairs Bureau has been a joke, a paper tiger with no real power and no real way to stop the,” she paused for a moment, “excesses of the court. Given what happened after the gala we need to do something about it and we need to do it now!” she stomped a hoof on the lectern in front of her. “Now normally this sort of thing would get bounced back and forth between committees for years, maybe decades before anything actually got done, but that’s not good enough, we need to get agreement here and now! We’re hurrying this through and not everything is fully laid out yet, but we need a yay or neigh from each of you.  You can of course query the legislation if you want, you have that right, but nopony is leaving this chamber until we have a vote. You can fillybuster as much as you want, but we’ll all just get hungry and tired then, and I can get snappy if I don’t get three square meals and a good six hours a night!” Her face softened for a moment. “I know this isn’t exactly normal procedure and it might even seem that this is the sort of thing that the bureau is supposed to deal with, an abuse of power, but we need to show the princess and the common pony that we can act for their good.” She glanced up at the princess’s box where Luna set looking down at the court, her face unreadable. “Right, now I call my colleague Duchess Posey of Greater Cloudsdale to lay out the details of Baron Field’s proposal.”
 
Wallflower stepped aside and gestured as Fragrant trotted up onto the stand. She curtseyed to the Vicereine and then to the body of the court before laying out a set of notes on the lectern and started to speak in a clear voice. Max felt a little guilty, Fragrant had probably meant to spend last night practicing this speech rather than, well, entertaining him. Still, it didn’t seem like she needed the help as she quickly and clearly laid out the central tenets of the new bill. The pre-existing Internal Affairs Bureau was to be expanded to cover all members of the court regardless of their rank, it would be given powers to investigate the finances and dealings of all serving courtiers in order to search for any evidence of corruption, and if it found evidence of wrongdoing would have the ability to punish the guilty even to the extent of removing them from their role and recommend a criminal trial if laws had been broken. The organisation was to report only to the princess herself but would be headed by a council made up of senior members of the judiciary, military and shadowbolts. It might be some time before a chairpony was selected but Fragrant threw the name of a judge, Honourable Oath, into the ring as a possibility.
 
Once Fragrant had finished her speech, each of the remaining Viceroys stepped forwards to give their support to the bill. Night Light clarified that the bureau would be removed from its current position within his own ministry and made truly independent and that its reach would extend to all members of the court, even those of the highest rank. Puissance also spoke, although with somewhat less passion, about the need for a body to increase public confidence in the court and to prevent corruption.
 
The supporting statements having been read, the discussion was thrown open to anypony who would speak against the legislation. A silence rang over the chamber as many pairs of eyes glanced up at the princess towering over the massed court. Sensing their trepidation Luna spoke. “My position on this matter is well known,” she announced, “and I am gratified by your support of myself against my sister. However, I require my courtiers to be willing to deal honourably with each other and with the peoples of Equestria, but if I am required to impose honour upon you, then it is worthless. As such I will excuse myself from these proceedings, I will return only after you have reached a decision. I will not ask that a record of the vote be kept, you must all decide for yourself if you believe you can meet my expectations.” With one last long hard look around the chamber Luna turned and left the debating chamber, leaving the curtains of her box open.
 
For a moment, silence continued around the room as the courtiers digested what their monarch had just said. Finally, a pony raised his hoof to speak. “The court recognises Archduke Bobbing Fisher of Rushia,” announced Wallflower with a slight sigh.
 
“Thank you Vicereine,” said Fisher with a nod. “I would ask how the bureau would interact with the more secure ministries, such as my own ministry of defence. certain reports and expenditures are required to be kept secret for the good of Equestria as a whole. Few, if any civilians are cleared for such information, it is likely that your new council will not contain those individuals. Your own Diplomatic Corps may have the same problem, may it not Vicereine?” he concluded a little challengingly.
 
“Your objection is understood, Archduke,” responded Wallflower “and as stated the council running the bureau will also include members of the Shadowbolts and the military. it should be possible to establish a quorum cleared to fully investigate all levels of the government, including mine and yours.” Not looking happy, Fisher nodded at this announcement and stepped back. “Good, are there any other objections?” Around the hall a few hooves were raised.
 
Max quickly grew more and more weary as point after point was raised about the practicality of the new rules and possible exceptions to them, of course the lack of sleep wasn’t helping matters. He already knew exactly how he was going to vote and he doubted any point of order was going to change that so he just had to stand there waiting for the discussion to finally wind down. He was glad to see that the objectors certainly seemed to be in the minority, even if they were being quite vocal. most of the courtiers were like him, just waiting for the final issues to be hammered out.
 
Finally, the objections quietened down and a closing speech was presented. To Max’s surprise, rather than Wallflower it was Buttercup who took the podium to perform. The younger mare looked a little overawed by the mass of the court in front of her but she stood resolute and spoke in a surprisingly strong voice. “Members of the court, as you are aware this bill has been submitted in my father's name, one of his last acts was to show his support for it at his own retirement party. I do not claim to be able to speak on this matter with even a fraction of his own conviction,” she closed her eyes for a moment and swayed slightly, when she opened them again they were glittering with unshed tears. “He said that we had to prove ourselves better than our forebears to ensure that we could pass something on to our children to make them proud of us. This bill shows, in just a small way, that we can put aside our differences and are willing to have our actions judged, that we are willing to work for the wellbeing of all of our people. I ask you now, all of you,” her gaze swung over the court, “to show your support for this bill so that we can prove to ourselves, to the princess, to our parents and our children that there is still honour in this body, that we are worthy to work for the princess and for all of Equestria!”
 
Next to her Wallflower began to stomp, showing her support, Max was only a few seconds behind and quickly the applause was taken up but the whole court. As soon as the noise had started to die down Wallflower stepped forwards and called for an immediate vote on the bill. Max hadn’t taken part in a secret vote before, they were not common. each noble was passed two tokens, one silver, one golden, to vote for the legislation they were to place the silver token in the voting bag as it was carried around the room, the golden token meant a vote against. The unused tokens were then placed in a second bag. Max just hoped he got the two the right way around. Slowly, the possession of the voting sergeant and a group of attendant pages with the voting equipment passed around the hall, eventually pausing in front of Max. He carefully placed the silver token in the voting bag and passed back the golden one, letting out a held breath once he was done. He wobbled slightly on his hooves, he really did need to catch up on his sleep.
 
His immediate duty over, he started to consider what to do next, the vote would be over soon and hopefully pass by a significant margin. The princess would return to listen to the result and the business of the court would continue and a call would be sent out for any other early day motions. He would have a chance to put forwards his transport bill, but should he? Fragrant had warned him against it, told him that new courtiers didn’t do things like that, but he knew how important this was to his people, and to many other areas around Equestria; the railway was expanding quickly and many areas were just getting left behind. He was certain that the majority of provinces would benefit, it should pass easily and Fragrant had helped him draft it all so there shouldn’t be any exploitable loopholes. Greengrass had suggested he seize the day if he had the chance and now seemed like that moment...
 
“Lords and Ladies!” announced the chancellor from the front of the hall, jolting Max from his thoughts. “The vote has been collected and counted, we only have to wait for the reject bag to be verified to ensure no misvoting has occurred.” He paused for a moment and the voting sergeant nodded. “The final vote is as follows. Tokens in favour of Baron Field’s bill for the Internal Affairs Bureau, two hundred and ten, votes against, twelve, abstentions, twenty-one. The motion passes.”
 
Another wave of stamping passed through the crowd. Max grinned up at the very relieved looking Fragrant on the platform. He’d sort of hoped that it would pass unanimously but it seemed like some of the court were not happy with the new rules. Still, the overwhelming support should give the princess the evidence she wanted that the court was willing to turn over a new leaf. Or at least he hoped it would.
 
Once again he was jolted from his stupor as a fanfare was played to signal that the princess had returned to the chamber. She once again stood alone in her private box far above the floor of the chamber. “Your majesty,” announced Wallflower, “It pleases me to report that the voting is now over and the bill to increase the powers of the Internal Affairs Bureau has passed by a significant margin. Your court is proud to recommend to you that the bill be introduced in full, certain details will still need clarification but we are willing to accept greater restrictions and investigations into our actions for the good of Equestria. We...” the mare faltered for a moment, “we are sorry for our previous actions and seek your eventual forgiveness,” she bowed low.
 
For a moment Max thought he saw a flicker of a smile on the princess's face but it quickly returned to its impassive mask. “Very well, I accept your recommendation my court. I declare that Baron Fields’ bill be implemented as soon as possible. Recruitment of additional staff for the bureau will take place over the next month and the needed budget will be secured from the royal purse. I accept your act of contrition and am glad of your words and actions. However,” she continued, her voice darkening as she glared down at the court, “do not think yourselves forgiven of your wrongdoings due to this one action. Proof will be needed that you have changed your ways and will continue to put the good of the kingdom ahead of yourselves. Any further corruption will not be tolerated.” The words seemed to hang in the air for several moments before silence returned to the chamber and the princess leant back in her seat.
 
At the front of the court the chancellor once again stepped forwards. “My Lords and Ladies,” he announced, “Now that the first bill has been dealt with, are there any other early day bills?”
 
This was it thought Max, this was his chance, he was overcome with uncertainty for a moment, almost frozen in place. But then he thought of Iron Trotsky at home, slowly dying of red lung and wanting to leave a legacy for his daughter. Of Piste and Zephyr, of the benefits roads and rail could bring to his province, to his people and his hoof shot into the air almost of its own accord.
 
There was a mumble of confusion through the court as they began to turn towards Max. He saw Fragrant cock her head to one side before her eyes widened in surprise. “The court recognises,” there was a brief pause, as a servant rushed over and whispered in the chancellor’s ear “Baron Mounty Max of Nulpar,” he continued.
 
“Thank you,” said Max. Looking around the sea of faces around him, suddenly this didn’t seem such a good idea, but he pushed his anxiety aside and made his way to the front of the court. He took his place at the pulpit and took a deep breath. “Hi!” He started uncertainly, maybe he should have prepared a speech or something, it might have helped if he’d managed to get some sleep last night. “Um, my honoured colleagues,” that sounded like a good start, “I wish to propose a bill to provide a subsidy to promote road and rail building in the more rural areas of Equestria, like my province of Nulpar. The railway has been a blessing to much of our nation, allowing journeys that once took a week to be reduced to only a few days or even less. It allows the easy transport of good and materials around the county, offers the opportunity to travel from one end of Equestria to the other allowing our people to share ideas and to maintain friendships. Rail can make travel through harsh terrain quicker and safer, my own,” he hesitated, he hadn’t meant to make this so personal, but he needed to make sure the court understood how important this was to him, “my own father died on a journey that he might not have made if Nulpar had railways. The princess herself told us in her speech earlier to work on improving Equestria’s infrastructure but, although the major settlements are well connected now, the smaller towns still lag behind. Rails and even proper paved roads don’t come cheap and the companies now running the railways aren't keen on spending to enlarge the network without guaranteed benefits. Our people need our help to make it just that little bit easier to help themselves. I ask you all to help all those small communities that could gain so much from better travel facilities.”
 
There was silence as Max’s words sunk into the crowd. Many of them sat unmoving, one or two looked confused and a few others were muttering to each other.
 
“Baron Max has proposed his bill,” announced the chancellor, “does anypony second the motion?”
 
The silence continued. Max looked over towards Fragrant, surely she’d support him in this, she had helped him put the bill together in the first place. She stood in her place scowling at him making no move to help.
 
“Um,” came a voice from the floor, “I’d like to second that there bill. I’ll be right handy to build more railways don’t ‘cha know.” The speaker was a rather matronly looking white mare with a blond mane. Max recognised her as one of the new courtiers he’d seen being ennobled yesterday, but he couldn’t remember her name.
 
“The court recognises Baroness March Gustysnows of the sub-province of Whinnysota,” announced the chancellor.
 
One of the other courtiers raised a hoof.
 
“The court recognises Baron Starborn of South Everfree.”
 
The baron nodded. “Excuse me Baron Max, but I don’t appear to have received a copy of your proposal.”
 
“Ah,” said Max awkwardly, “I didn’t really have a chance to give any out, this was a sort of spur of the moment thing.”
 
“Spur of the moment!” exclaimed Starborn, there was general muttering around the court. “Surely the details have been worked out in committee months ago? Early morning motions are for legislation we didn’t have time to vote on in the last session.”
 
“Well, you see...” Max found himself sweating, “I didn’t really go through committee, I did show it some courtiers, Fragr... I mean Duchess Posey, Baron Dramatic, one or two others. I did write it last season, so that’s all right, I think?” He turned to the chancellor who didn’t look impressed.
 
“It is not required for a bill to pass through committee,” admitted the stallion, “and all that is required for an early morning bill is for it to have been written before the previous session closed... It is permissible.” He admitted with bad grace.
 
“I see,” said Starborn, “But how do you expect us to vote on something you haven't even seen the details of baron? This seems most remiss.”
 
“Um, if you can give me a bit of time, a few minutes, I could get you a copy!” spluttered Max. It occurred to him that he actually only had a single copy of the current version of the paper, he’d spent some time working on it in Nulpar and on his trip back, certainly not the hundreds he’d need to show the rest of the court.
 
“The court recognises Duchess Posey of Cloudsdale,” announced the chancellor, Max started, he hadn’t noticed Fragrant raise her hoof.
 
“Given how unprepared the Baron is,” she said, “I raise that his proposal be adjourned until a later session? I believe there is some time free in the general voting schedule in six months or so.”
 
“Actually,” came a voice from near the front of the chamber, Max’s heart sunk as he recognised it.
 
“The court recognises Archduke Fisher of Rushia.”
 
“If the baron requires extra time I think we are due a recess after the earlier events, say fifteen minutes? To let the baron get his affairs in order,” said the archduke, a look of enjoyment on his face.
 
“The court recognises baroness Thornbush of Neighvosibirak.”
 
“I second the idea,” said Thornbush glancing over at her feudal master. There was a general muttering of agreement through the chamber, several ponies paced on tired hooves after the previous extended debate.
 
The chancellor glanced upwards and for the first time Max realised that the princess was still in the chamber. Luna sat regally looking down on her court, her face unreadable. After a moment she gave a small nod.
 
“Very well, court is adjourned for fifteen minutes at which time the session will commence!”
 



 
At the sound of the announcement Max sprung from his place and galloped at full speed towards the nearest exit. A quarter of an hour wasn’t much time to get his bill and somehow copy it hundreds of times, he needed to think. “Max!” came a cry that sounded like it came from Fragrant, but he didn’t have time to stop and check, they could talk later. His hooves pounding on the flagstones, Max flew through the castle's corridors barely avoiding colliding with several servants as he went. he was glad that his new quarters were closer than his old ones, he’d never have made it in time where he used to be stationed. Still, it was almost five minutes before he threw the door open. Mrs G sat there, a tower of paper surrounding her. she looked up, apparently unsurprised as he dashed into the room.
 
“Is court finished for the moment?” she asked.
 
“Have you seen my copy of my road building proposal?” he gasped, leaping across the room and tearing open the filing cabinet, tossing various bits of paper aside in his search.
 
“I filed it upstairs, bottom drawer of that cupboard with the dent in the top I think, what’s got you in such a hurry?” she asked as Max rushed up the stairs taking them two at a time. it was only seconds later that he returned jumping from the door to the second floor to land on the free desk.
 
“I need this copied, quickly!” he cried.
 
The old goat sighed and took out a quill. “How many do you need?”
 
“About two hundred and fifty, in the next five minutes!”
 
“I’ll need a few more quills then.”
 
“There’s got to be some way to do this!” said Max pacing back and forth in agitation.
 
Mrs G furrowed her brow. “The castle does have copying resources you know, the east wing, not far from the ministry of the interior.”
 
A wide smile slipped onto Max’s face. “Thanks Mrs G,” he cried, “I love you!” He gave her a kiss on the cheek before taking the bill in his mouth and dashing towards the door.
 
“I do hope the duchess doesn’t get too jealous,” said Mrs G, watching him go.
 



 
“I need help!” yelled Max as he rushed into a large room. It was full of line after line of desks with pony after pony hunched over then, quills grasped in mouths or auras as they carefully copied out documents. Behind them, some hissing device seemed to be carrying out the same process more artificially.
 
“You certainly do,” mumbled a grey coated old unicorn stallion as he wandered over towards the stressed baron with agonising slowness. “What can I do for you, sir?”
 
“I need this document copied now!” he cried, spitting the papers onto the nearest table.
 
“And how many copies?” asked the servant, picking up the somewhat crumpled paper and flicking through it.
 
“One for each of the court! And I need it done now, right now, literally!”
 
“Of course you do,” sighed the stallion, rolling his eyes, “You’ll want to use magic then, duplication spells.”
 
“You can do that?” asked Max in astonishment.
 
“We can do many things sir, for the right price.”
 
“Oh, well I haven’t really got any bits on me,” spluttered Max.
 
“Don’t worry sir, just sign here and the cost will be taken from your budget,” the stallion handed over a form. Max hesitated for a moment, he didn’t know how much this would be but he guessed a lot; still, he really didn’t have time to find out and he couldn’t stop now. “And there, and finally there, sir,” continued the unicorn, pointing at line after line on the form. “Thank you. Now, Photograph, Copier,” he called, and two younger but equally grey unicorns trotted over, “A court full of duplicates please.” Both of the stallions’ horns glowed grey for a moment and their auras surrounded the paper. It looked like the ink was literally sucked off the document before flying towards a nearby stack of paper. The glow brightened and within a few seconds the box was full of hundreds of equally distressed documents. Max blinked, he’d rather hoped the final product might look a little better, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He grabbed the box of paper and swung it onto his back, staggering slightly under the weight as he turned back towards the door.
 
Giving a final cry of “Thanks,” Max galloped from the copying chamber towards the court.
 



 
The guards only just managed to open the doors to the debating chamber in time for Max to come careening through.
 
“Given that the baron...” said Fragrant before she was cut off.
 
“Sorry I’m late,” panted Max. “I’ve got the details.” He waved a copy of his proposal in the air. “If I may?” he asked the chancellor as he headed back to the front of the room and clambered onto it. He leaned against the podium for a moment getting his breath back, he was feeling rather light headed. Still, now that he’d managed to get back here in time, he was sure things would work out. A small group of pages approached rather nervously, he passed them the box of papers with a smile and they bowed before taking them and beginning to pass them out to the rest of the court. “As you can see, all the details are in there.”
 
Much of the court was staring at him in astonishment at that moment, but a few of them at least were starting to flip through the document muttering amongst themselves.
 
“I can talk you through any questions you might have,” said Max helpfully.
 
A black unicorn raised his hoof, his face scowling.
 
“The court recognises Baron Hardup of Prancingland.”
 
“Talk through any questions!” he spat, “Is this all a joke to you! Do you seriously expect us to vote on something like this only a few minutes after being given it?! Look at this, what is this, a cow and a pony surrounded by a heart!” He waved the paper in the air. Max swallowed painfully, he didn’t realise the magic would have duplicated all the notes he’d made on his copy of the paper.
 
“It’s a goat and a pony actually, I was thinking about some of my assistants at the time and I must have doodled it...” he gulped, this was not turning out how he’d expected. in a moment of clarity, he realised just how much of a fool he must seem right now.
 
“You do realise that you are supposed to be a noble of the land!” cried Hardup, “Not some clown! The princess herself has just warned us to clean up our act and you come up with this! Flouting the spirit of the rules, rushing a bill through without running it through committee! For shame!” There was a cheer of agreement through the crowd. Max’s eyes shot up to the princess’s box, she still sat there looking down with an unamused expression.
 
“The court recognises Baron Dramatic of Mane.”
 
Max attention was drawn back down to the court. Did he actually have some support? “I have read an earlier draft of the document,” said Mellow somewhat timidly, “And it really is quite comprehensive.”
 
“Of course, an earlier draft! I’m sure no extra riders have been added since then, and we can of course take your word for it,” continued Hardup, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Enough of this foolishness! I call for an immediate vote on this ‘bill’” he made quotation marks with his hooves. “We can get this rubbish out of the way and get back to some real work!”
 
“The court recognises Archduke Fisher of Rushia”
 
“As much as I enjoy seeing my colleague making such a fool of himself, I have to agree with the good baron,” said Fisher with an evil grin on his face. “This is clearly a waste of our time, let us vote and get it done with.” There was a cheer from the nobles around him.
 
“Do you have any last comments on your bill before the vote takes place?” asked the chancellor to Max.
 
Max lowered his head in shame, how could he have been so stupid! He had completely humiliated himself in front of the court. He looked towards Fragrant in the crowd but she refused to meet his gaze. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I do truly believe that my bill will help my province and the people that live there and many other ponies all around Equestria. Better roads and railways are sure to make a difference to their lives, I only hope you can look past my foolishness in this matter and see the good this can do to our country.” He stepped back away from the podium as the vote started.
 
It didn’t take long. A small number of the court had been swayed either by Max’s words or the princess’s earlier mention of infrastructure improvement, but only a handful. Mellow voted for Max, as did Baroness Gustysnows and one or two of the newer courtiers as well as a few of the members from the less developed provinces which, like Nulpar, were poorly served by the current transport network; but the final result was a forgone conclusion. Eventually, the voting wound its way up to the dukes and duchesses, and to Fragrant. Max’s ears pricked up as she cleared her throat, at least she would be lending him her support. “I vote against this foolishness,” she announced clearly.
 
A cold shiver ran through Max, and for a moment he wondered if he’d misheard. Then he met Fragrant’s gaze and he knew that his ears were correct. She didn’t even look apologetic, her gaze was, if anything, angry with maybe a little pity. The coldness turned to fire as Max ground his teeth, he would have thought he would have at least had Fragrant’s support, considering that she’d helped to write the document in the first place. She knew how much this meant to him, she’d even seen his people’s problems first hoof. He returned her gaze with just as much venom. Almost without him noticing, the vote came to an end.
 
“The final result is twenty-five votes for, two hundred and eighteen votes against, the motion is rejected. Your majesty, your court recommends that you reject baron Max’s suggestion.”
 
Max’s head dropped again and he tried to slink off of the stage before anything else could go wrong.
 
“Thank you,” came Luna’s voice from above, and Max knew his humiliation wasn’t over yet. “I accept your recommendation. I agree with Baron Hardup that this event was clearly an attempt to circumvent the normal procedures of the court.” Max felt his blood turn to ice at his ruler’s pronouncement, was she going to fire him? Replace him as ruler of Nulpar? Send him home in disgrace? “However,” continued the princess, “I do not think the baron’s intent was malicious, he truly did seem to have his people’s best interests at heart, and for that at least he deserves commendation. Although it would seem that his education was lacking on how a courtier should comport themselves.” There was a quiet hubbub around the chamber as the court took in this information. “Now, are there any more bills to submit?” she asked. There was no reply. “Very well, I therefore declare the court closed for the day, return to your homes and think deeply on the events of today.”
 
The noise level in the chamber rocketed as the courtiers began to loudly discuss the princess’s words. Max quickly made his way to the nearest exit, not feeling like he wanted to discuss the situation any more right now. He passed Greengrass on the way out, the short stallion looked confused about something as he watched Max go.
 
Max had only just made it out of the debating chamber when he was cut short by a cry from behind him. “Baron Max!” he turned to see Fragrant stamping towards him, her face black as thunder. “How could you have been so feather brained as to carry out that stunt!” she yelled, “I specifically told you not to do anything stupid and what did you do? You did the most moronic, imbecilic, thing possible, you made a complete idiot of yourself and you humiliated me as well! You heard the princess, your education was lacking, I trained you!” She was angrier than Max had ever seen her before.
 
“Look, I’m sorry I messed up, I really wasn’t thinking straight, I didn’t get any sleep today,” protested Max.
 
“Oh, you didn’t get any sleep! That makes everything alright!” she mocked.
 
“Look I said I was sorry!” exclaimed Max, the stress of the last hour starting to bubble over as anger. “It would have been nice to have gotten some support in there, you more than anypony knows how important that bill was to me, to Nulpar!”
 
“Support! Why should I support such a hare-brained, half thought out idea!”
 
“Because ponies are supposed to help each other when they’re friends, and more than friends,” he lowered his voice a little, “Not that you ever want to show anypony that.”
 
Fragrant glared at him. “Maybe we should rethink just how close we are then,” she snarled before turning on her heels and marching away. For a moment Max wanted to gallop after her to apologize, but then another wave of anger rolled over him and his face hardened.
 
“Fine!” he yelled before turning away as well.
 



 
“You look troubled, duke,” said Notary, she looked up from her desk to examine her employer.
 
“Hum,” mumbled Greengrass blinking as he turned from staring into the corner. “Sorry?” he asked.
 
“I said you look troubled. I would have thought you would be in a better mood after how your game with Baron Max went.”
 
“Yes, so did I. things went well: just a few words said at the right time, your stunt with the guards during the day, a little chat with Gustysnows and the rest of my sub provincial lords and baron Max made a fool of himself with no trail back to me. Still, I’m not feeling much accomplishment... he’s rather too easy to fool, not much satisfaction there.”
 
“Maybe it is because you acted on the spur of the moment rather than planning in advance?” suggested Notary, tidying up some of the papers on the duke’s desk.
 
“Possibly. I did lose my temper there, but I don’t like being patronised.”
 
“I do not think the baron wanted to insult you, I think he may have just seen you alone and wanted to offer you some support.”
 
“But why? What would he get out of such an action?” asked Greengrass, “I certainly don’t want his pity,” he spat.
 
“Given the recent events maybe you could do with as many friends as you can get?”
 
“I might need allies, but friends I can do without,” said Greengrass, turning back to his work.
 
“Of course sir,” said Notary as she slipped from the room.