//------------------------------//
// The Queen You Know, The Mare You Don't 
// Story: Majesty: Queen of the Castle 
// by Paradise Oasis 
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Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

How very simple that innocent little phrase is, yet how much truth it contains within its words. Being a leader is never easy, and the more power and responsibility that leader bears, the harder it is for that leader. Well, I live under the rule of the one pony such a position may be the hardest for, and it is always sad to see the pressure that rule always seems to put upon her. it is amazing that such a noble pony has such incredible patience.

It also saddens me, that a great deal of this grief comes from her own subjects; ponies whom she rules over and protects, to the best of her ability. But instead of being grateful and reverent for all of the sacrifices our beloved monarch makes for them, my  fellow ponies seem to do their best to make her life even more miserable. Even now, as I trot past the entrance to the throne room, I can hear two obstinate mares are inside, whining to the Queen about a problem they could have easily solved between themselves.

"Blast it, Surprise! I wanted this to be a formal party! Why did you hang all those silly banners and bows and balloons in the grand ballroom!" Glory the unicorn complains, stamping her hoof angrily as she stands before the throne. "My queen, could you please tell her that we want the duke of Maretonia's visit to be a special event, and not the farce she wishes to reduce it to?"

"Awww, you're just a big boring old grump!" The white Pegasus flapping on the other side of the throne whines, looking to our ruler like a wronged child seeking approval from a parent. "Tell em' the duke and duchess wanna have a good time, queenie!"

"Both of you, please! This is a matter that is easily solvable!" The white unicorn with a blue and white streaked mane declares, raising a hoof to silence them both. "Glory, allow Surprise to have some fun and revelry making after your banquet! Surprise, please save your silliness and practical jokes until after Glory's elegant feast is complete!"

"As you wish, my queen." Glory bowed reverently to the mare with the golden crown upon her head. "Though I still don't see why a court jester like Surprise has any business arranging a party." 

"You got it, Queenie!" Surprise bowed to the white unicorn  with the blue flower print cutie mark on her flank. "As long as grouchy old Glory doesn't spoil all my fun again!"

The two turn to leave the throne room, and I see our queen rubbing her temples with her hooves. It saddens me greatly to see two fully grown ponies, both of whom are friends and would have come to the same conclusion on their own if they had only tried to sort it out themselves, have to waste the time of a sovereign who already has enough to worry about with constant goblin attacks, diplomatic disputes with other confederacy city states, and hearing more important grievances her own other subjects have. 

My name is Tornado, and I am a unicorn stallion that lives in the kingdom of Dream Valley. We are a city-state of about five million ponies, located in the heart of Ponyland. Our small kingdom is ruled from Dream Castle, a mighty citadel built deep in the heart of the mastificent forest. We were the first modern kingdom to be founded on the continent , and therefore proudly boast of being the oldest state in the Ponyland Federation, the federation of allied states carved out when the empire of the ancients fell under waves of barbarian invaders... barbarians who just happen to be our ancestors. 

As to the ruler I am now watching sit on her throne, she is her royal highness, Queen Majesty XIV- known to us, her subjects, simply as Majesty. She is descended from a long bloodline of monarchs, going all the way back to the unicorn royal family from before the kingdom of the ancients. She is from a royal house founded by Queen Sunsparkle herself, the fist monarch to ever rule over other ponies. Our queen wasn't chosen to lead us by ascending to alicornhood, she was born into it. 

Not wanting to bother our already troubled sovereign, I try to quietly trot away so as not to disturb her. But my soft steps do not escape the ears of our ever-vigilant ruler. 

"Tornado, come into my throne room please." I hear our monarch command, in her usual gentle-but-firm tone. "I know you are there, historian."

"Nothing escapes your notice, my queen." I reply respectfully, trotting into the throne room, and bowing low before her. "How may I be of service?"

Even standing before such a magnificent pony is intimidating, and not because the queen is intimidating, but the powerful artifact she wears. For upon her head Majesty bears the golden crown, the powerful artifact that can make the queen's will a reality, simply by her thinking of it. In my time in Dream Castle, I've seen her do everything from turn whole armies of trolls to stone, to defeating two alicorns at once simply by blasting them with the crown's power. Forget rainbows and friendship beams, this queen has the most powerful weapon ever seen by ponykind- one of her ancestors even killed the tree of harmony with it!

And that's the kind of reputation my queen has earned herself, a reputation as a ruthless warrior-queen who uses force instead of friendship to solve her problems, and bullies other ponies into doing what she wants. Majesty is frowned upon by the ponies of Equestria (a kingdom of ponies that exists to the south of  Ponyland), as a queen who destroys and kills her enemies instead of reforming them. That is our queen; loved by the ponies of Dream Valley, and feared and hated by everyone else. 

"Tornado, I have been meaning to summon you for some time." Majesty sighed, beckoning me to have a seat on the dais before her throne. "Levitate that quill and parchment before you, for I wish for you to record another historical narrative I have for you."

"What is it this time, my queen?" I ask her, having as seat and using my unicorn levitation to dip my quill into the vial of ink. "A tale of your mother, the previous queen, from the Dragon Wars?"

"No, Baron Tornado, I have an even more important story for you to relate." She tells me with a sigh, sitting back and reclining upon her velvet cushioned throne. "For the tale I am about to relate to you... it is my very own."