Trust and Wariness
Twilight Sparkle
"In and out," she told herself as she sat on her bed. "In and out. Breathe deeply." She took several more deep breaths, then looked out the window into Everfree City. The sun, predictably, was high in the sky in spite of how it was just after breakfast. Fluffy cumulus clouds and wispy, high altitude cirrus clouds wreathed the sky, tended to by pegasi. Coronal Guards patrolled on both the land and air, waiting for the ambassadors to arrive.
Their arrival had been pushed back due to some weather event that Twilight wasn't adequately informed about, such that it was now her fifth day in the alternate Equestria. In the time since she'd gone on one more sight-seeing trip with Nightmare - the queen rarely went undercover in Everfree, usually going to small towns or places of commerce.
She had also spent a great deal of time in the library with either Solar Flare or Nightmare, discussing dark magic. It was rather unnerving just how much they knew about the subject; Princess Celestia had taught her some, of course, but it was only the basics of how it functioned so she could defend herself from it and extremely basic transformation spells. Their knowledge of dark magic was absolutely terrifying; blood rites, soul binds, demonic conjuration, just to skim the tip of the sinister, corrupting iceberg. Twilight was especially disturbed by how easily their notes and tomes made sense to her, how easy it was to memorize the formulas. She knew objectively that dark magic fell under her role of 'magical special talent' which made it easy to learn, but she still couldn't help but feel that it came too easy to her.
Her fifth day in the other world, and now the other nations would be coming. Nightmare had given her quick run-over of who to expect at the meeting; the Minotaurian Republic, the Zebran Plains, and the - in this world, strangely effective - Dragon High Council. It surprised Twilight to learn that the griffons weren't sending any represtenative and that instead the 'Mohr Empire' was sending a diamond dog. That promised to be an interesting meeting.
"Deep breaths," she told herself. She still had a few hours until they arrived, so she sent an 'I'm okay' pulse down her link to her home-Equestria. In that time there were a lot of things to prepare, "There is nothing to worry about. All you have to do is answer any of their questions truthfully and honestly. Don't worry too much about offending them; I mean, they've lived on this world with the queens all their lives, they've gotta have tough skins." Even though they aren't that bad, especially not Nightmare.
Speaking of which, the door to her chambers glowed. A starry blue mist squeezed itself underneath the door and flowed next to her, swirling around in midair. Twilight looked at it calmly, knowing who was about to step out from it. The fog condensed itself into equine form and took on the shade and solidity of Nightmare Moon, clad in her armor and regalia as she approached her. "Twilight, are you ready?" she asked with a little fanged grin. "The ambassadors will be arriving soon and you need to be there to greet them."
Taking one last breath and letting it out, Twilight nodded perhaps a bit too quickly. "Alright, I'll be right there." She wasn't quite familiar with this Everfree Castle yet, however she did know the way to the throne room where she'd be meeting the representatives of the other nations.
Nightmare tilted her head and frowned. "There's no need to be worried." One of her jet-black wings unfolded, hesitated, then wrapped around Twilight's back. It was surprisingly warm, and the feathers were densely packed. "If you really do hold one of these 'Elements of Harmony' then I know that they'll like you. And besides." Nightmare's voice grew thin. "None of them would dare make trouble in our city. The last ambassador who did..." A wicked, fanged smirk formed on the dark alicorn's face.
That was ominous, but it did something to help calm down Twilight. Nightmare was right, the two queens could easily make sure no trouble was started. She had nothing to worry about. "Um, okay. Thank you."
"Of course, Twilight. Now come, we need to go." Twilight nodded her affirmation and began to clamber off the bed. By the time she got to her hooves, Nightmare had already assumed mist form and vanished from sight.
With a deep breath Twilight got off the bed and opened up the door, walking past the Coronal Guards into the flame-colored halls. A flick of her magic closed the door behind her, and she began to wander through the halls, over carpet and marble, her wings spreading slightly whenever she was startled by somepony coming around a corner, until she reached the Everfree Throne Room.
It was incredibly large. The room was shaped similarly to the crystal that Celestia had used to demonstrate the effects of the Crystal Heart months ago, if it was laid on its side, but blown up to a massive size. The doors were colossal, tall enough to fit a fully grown dragon, and inscribed with two alicorns, their horns touching at the middle where the doors opened. Windows throughout the throne room let the light of the sun stream in, casting brilliant light spots on the marble tile floors. There were surprisingly few Coronal Guards, standing at the perimeter of the room and by the doors.
A carpet rolled up to the thrones from the doors, a wide thing that seemed to be made of shifting, flowing flames trapped under glass that gave them a bubbly appearance. The thrones themselves were on an elevated pedestal, similar to the one back in Canterlot, but there was no water flowing behind it and there were two instead of one. Facing towards them, the one on the left was Solar Flare's and the one on the right was Nightmare Moon's.
By the time Twilight got there both alicorn queens had taken their place on the thrones; Solar Flare on her throne, black at the base, then red, orange and yellow as one's vision went up. Nightmare's throne was as black as her own coat, but seemed to have an insidiously hidden depth, stars twinkling out of the corner of her eyes and vanishing when she went to look, an unseen, unimaginable horror just out of sight behind the black paint, greedily sucking in anything that got too close. Above Nightmare Moon was a window to the sky, and a narrow shaft of magically-amplified sunlight streamed down. It stopped just short of Nightmare's horn, though Twilight assumed that when Nightmare wasn't on her throne the light would wash over her throne and obscure it from vision.
Aside from the guards there was nopony else present, so Twilight moved to the Nightmare-side of the carpet and stopped a few paces from it, backing off the carpet and facing the door to wait for the ambassadors. It was broiling hot, humid and stuffy, making Twilight sweat under her coat. She hoped it would be over soon.
Twilight didn't have to wait long. Within five minutes a unicorn guard fired his pale pink magic at the doors, and they slowly pried themselves open inward. Outside Twilight caught a glimpse of Everfree City, but then her vision was attracted to the zebra stallion trotting in. He reminded her somewhat of Zecora, though his eyes were a similar shade of purple to her own despite being as teardrop shaped as Ponyville's resident shaman/alchemist. His mane was the precise opposite of Zecora's, being short and wide down his neck, impeccably groomed so that not a hair was out of place. His stripes gave the impression of ocean waves cascading down his back, and his cutie mark was a single branch, with leaves hanging from it. The zebra walked up the carpet, the clip-clop of his hooves muted by the carpet. Once he reached the thrones he bowed to the queens. After holding that for a moment he moved to her, then stopped to speak in a flowing, nonrhyming accent.
"Greetings, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am Chancellor Torelnu of the Zebran Plains. A truest of pleasures to be in your presence." He bowed slightly and picked up her left hoof, laying a kiss on it before pulling away, moving to the side of the carpet across from her and leaving Twilight to her blushes. Torelnu was a... pleasure.
It suddenly dawned on her she had no idea what to expect from anyone. The other nations had twenty five hundred years of divergence, she would have to throw all her expectations out the window and take things as they came.
She didn't have to wait long for the dragon ambassador to arrive. Luckily, instead of a fully grown dragon, it was rather an onyx-scaled drake that flew in. His eyes were completely overtaken by an orange light, indicating that another dragon from far away was controlling him, probably in the interest of size. The dragon council even back home did that whenever meeting with the 'smaller races'. The drake landed easily and smoothly, much better than Twilight could hope to, and folded his large, leathery wings behind himself.
The dragon walked up, his claws clicking lightly even through the rug. Whoever was possessing him stopped before the queens and bowed to Nightmare, then bowed extra long to Solar Flare. The dragon then turned to her and raised a brow.
"Hmm, you are smaller than I expected." She felt smaller, too. The dragon was neck-craningly tall, even for an adolescent. "Princess Twilight, I presume."
Finding her backbone, she stood up straighter. "Yes, and you must be - "
"Counselor Trumble, possessing Volunteer Speck. I hope that this will be a pleasure." He stuck out a claw, and Twilight raised a hoof to shake it. Once that was done, he took a position next to her and they began waiting for the third ambassador out of the four to come.
Standing next to a towering, teenage dragon possessed by a fully grown one didn't do much good for Twilight's self confidence. Even with Spike as a brother, it just made her feel uncomfortably flammable. However, she was representing all of Equestria, so she kept her nerves in check and tried to appear as regal as she could. If only she had her crown. Twilight chanced a glance up at the queen; Solar nodded, and Nightmare gave her a reassuring grin that said you're doing fine.
Twilight assumed that the next ambassador saw her before she saw him, even with Trumble/Speck stepping back to accommodate the parallax his larger size created. The diamond dog stood tall on his hind legs with long, well-cleaned golden fur and a tapered muzzle. One eye was blue and the other was green. Around both wrists were bracelets covered in tiny diamonds and nuggets of gold, and a similar collar around the diamond dog's throat encrusted with amethyst. He carried himself with poise and confidence as he entered the castle, ignoring the pointed looks given to him by the Coronal Guards.
Like the others, the diamond dog bowed to the queens, then approached Twilight. "Ah, you must be the pony that everydog's been riled up about. Princess Twilight Sporkle, was it?" He offered a paw.
"Sparkle, actually," she corrected, sticking her hoof into the offered paw. He winced in what must've been embarrassment. "And you must be - "
"High Speaker Rifter," he interrupted. "A pleasure to meet you. I and the Mohr Empire look forward to opening relations with your country, Princess Twilight."
"The feeling is mutual," she replied as she shook his paw.
"Yes well," Rifter said, pulling his paw away. "I suppose now we need to wait for our last arrival." The diamond dog moved to stand beside Torelnu, giving the zebra dirty glances.
Twilight for her part was floored. She had just had a civilized conversation with a well groomed, well bathed diamond dog, from a diamond dog empire. She wondered just what sort of influence the queens had on the world. More than likely a stabilizing one. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Conflict in outer regions could spill into their own country, so stabilizing other species was the best way to prevent that. She wasn't entirely sure how they'd go about stabilizing other countries, but...
Soon the last of the day's ambassadors had arrived, one minotaur from the Minotaurian Republic. She'd seen minotaurs before in Celestia's court, bipedal and self-assured and naturally bulked up. Not all of them were as muscled as, say, that traveling show-bull Iron Will she'd heard so much about, but fairly decently so either way.
The approaching minotaur's fur was the brown of fired clay pots, his horns curved backwards slightly, and he wore an elaborate suit that covered most of his broad chest and pants that went over his legs, with a hole to let his tail swish about. He moved jerkily up the carpet and bowed stiffly to both of the queens, then came over to Twilight, crossing his arms and staring down, down at her with narrow yellow eyes.
"Princess Twilight," he mused. "Ruler of the other Equestria."
She nodded and extended a hoof up. "Indeed, and you must be?"
He frowned, but shook her hoof with a tight grip that, were it not for her earth pony durability, would surely have left her sore. "Tightened Grip, your majesty. I hope this will bear fruit." With that remarkably short introduction complete, he moved to stand besides Trumble.
This prompted both queens to stand, Solar Flare opening her mouth first to speak over her crackling fire. "Thank you all for joining me. Now we can enter the next stage of talks, one on one with Twilight so there are only two people combining their interests at any given time."
"Princess Twilight, with my sister. Everyone else, with me," Nightmare said. "I must fully bring you four up to date on the situation."
They all muttered their agreements and followed one of the royal sisters. Twilight caught up to Solar just as she was turning towards a hallway, and settled into a light canter in order to keep up with her legspan. "All in all I think that went fairly well," the taller alicorn said. "Of course, whether it will remain well is still to be seen."
"I hope it does," Twilight admitted. A nervous energy began building in her stomach. She hadn't spent as much time with Solar Flare as with Nightmare, since in the day her schedule was filled to bursting already, so Twilight didn't feel as much at ease around her as with her twin, especially since Solar's mane and tail heated up the summer-esque weather even more when she was near. Solar led her through the Everfree Castle into what looked like a small study, Coronal Guards flanking them all the way, sealing the door behind them.
A pulse of orange magic ensured their privacy as Solar moved to sit on one of the green cushions around the bookshelf-filled room. "Please, sit," she said, motioning towards another at the same time Solar summoned a paper, quill, and inkwell. As Twilight went to sit down, she had to wonder how her fiery tail wasn't setting the pillows ablaze. "Now, first of all tell me; how likely do you think it is to open a stable portal between our worlds? One that anypony could use?"
She shrugged. "Well, it would certainly be tricky, but there's no reason it can't be done. Stable interdimensional portals are a poorly researched subject, but the theory all stands to reason. A week or so, and I'm confident I can get something working. Especially if Discord decides to be helpful for a change."
The queen sneered, baring her fangs. "Yes, Discord. You do have him on a tight leash, don't you?"
"Well, sorta," she said, rubbing a foreleg with the other. "It's less that we have him under control and more 'we've convinced him not to do anything horrible'. But we do have a way to help keep him that way while helping Discord blow off steam; we're renovating April Foals Day so that it's basically Discord's free day to do whatever he wants, provided it's nothing too extreme and he puts everything back once the day is over."
Solar Flare looked more than skeptical at that. "And you can trust him to not betray you? That he won't simply decide to keep it as such? You do not have the Elements of Harmony anymore, after all, and while my sister and I defeated his counterpart we aren't quite as skilled as we were then. Your Discord now knows we can do that, he would take us far more seriously and destroy us while we garnered our reflexes again."
"Oh no, he wouldn't dare disappoint Fluttershy. He's very attached to her."
Solar looked skeptical at that, but relented. "I hold great reservations about giving that serpent even an inch of space to do as he wishes, but... he is not under our custody. You know your version of Discord better than we do. In any case, first we need to decide where a hypothetical portal between our worlds would be placed. Our capital corresponds to the middle of a forest in your world, and your capital of Canterlot is far from ours."
"Well, Ponyville and Harvest Brook are both very close to our capitals, and seem to occupy the same space. Though I'm not sure about opening a transdimensional portal that is essentially the border between two nations in small little towns like that." Even if Ponyville had experienced something of a boom since her ascending to princesshood, it was still a small town, absolutely eclipsed by Canterlot. "Canterlot has the space, but what does it say if our capital has a way to your world but yours doesn't to ours?"
The queen nodded sagely. "What indeed? How about Manehattan? An economic and cultural center for us."
Twilight hummed. "For us, too. Alright, when I go back I'll see about setting up a portal in Manehattan. I'll need schematics though, so placing a portal in a street in my Manehattan doesn't place it in a wall for yours."
"Interesting. As to what we can offer each other, we have very advanced weather manipulation techniques. We need to, to be able to handle the day and night. I'm certain we can show you how to perform them."
"Hmm, maybe, though I don't know if they're even needed for us."
She and Solar Flare began to talk, discussing various resources each kingdom could bring to aid each other, sometimes snacking on biscuits brought by servants of the castle. Not surprisingly, in terms of raw resources both of their countries were more or less the same. It would have been better for them to also be able to discuss with Celestia and Luna, but they were absent, so it fell to her. As her talk with Solar Flare dragged on, Twilight began to wonder what was keeping her in their world. She could probably manage to send herself back with some prep-work, and she still had the way back. Twilight brought it up to Solar Flare, and she nodded.
"There would be no political issue with you returning, however I think it would be in your best interest to remain here. Less risk of teleporting into a wall, less back-and-forth. Concentrate your efforts here. Besides, if you leave then the only other from your world is, ugh, Discord, and I do not look forward to being alone with him."
Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Hmm, I suppose that makes sense."
Before too long, she'd finished up her conversation with Solar Flare and the two of them had crafted a large paper scroll, filled with all sorts of legal jargon between their two Equestrias. To distinguish, Twilight's home was written as Equestria(P) and theirs was Equestria(Q). She still had to send it back to the other princesses to look at - one out of three was not majority, obviously - but it was fairly well constructed. Though Solar Flare was quite incensed at not being able to talk Twilight into having their weather teams help.
"I'll see if I can get this back to Canterlot Castle," Twilight said when their time ran out. "So... I'm guessing this is where we part ways?"
"For now, at least. I'm certain we'll still see each other." Solar Flare offered a warm smile, which still managed to show off her fangs. "After all, Nightmare's grown quite close to you these past few days."
Twilight shrugged, the room suddenly growing warmer. "I like her company. She's very knowledgeable about magic, too." Suddenly, she sought to change the subject."So um, I'm meeting with Rifter next?"
"Certainly. I'll send him in, Twilight. As the main attraction you get to stay here while everypony else comes to visit you." Solar Flare stood and left the room, leaving Twilight alone for a few minutes with only paper, quill, and ink to keep her company.
It was done. Twilight had officially gone into a parallel dimension, befriended Nightmare Moon and - sort of - her twin sister Solar Flare in an alternate Equestria where the day/night cycle was over seven hundred thirty times longer than back home, and drawn up a rudimentary treatise between them.
That didn't last long, however. Soon enough the diamond dog from before, Rifter, came in. His gait was smooth and confident as he approached and sat down, crossing one long leg over the other. "Why hello there, Princess. How are you this fine morning?"
She snuck a glance at a nearby clock; it was two in the afternoon, then back to him. "Uh, I'm great. Still a little out of my element with the whole other-universe thing, but I'm adjusting. The day and night cycle of this place is throwing me for a loop, though."
"Hmm, interesting." He twitched his left hand and it shimmered lightly with brown energy. Much to Twilight's surprise the diamonds and gold around that hand came off and seemed to transform amethyst, dancing in intricate circles around his hand. She couldn't help but gawk; she'd heard that diamond dogs possessed a modicum of geomancy, but she'd never actually seen it in action before, since the tribes in Equestria didn't make much use of it. Rifter seemed to notice her attention. "What?"
She shook off her confusion. "Oh, sorry. It was just the, um, magic you were using. I've never actually seen it first-hoof before."
He smiled. "Please, if you think this is interesting you should see what my bitchfriend can do. Why's it so fascinating?"
"Oh, well um... before we get into that, would you mind telling me about the Mohr Empire? I'm only into the early six-hundreds with this world's history, so I haven't seen any mention of it yet."
"My kind have not formed such on your world?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
This was going to be awkward. "Well, back home your people are, well, less than civilized. A multitude of roaming packs, mostly." Twilight's face flushed; it wasn't every day you had to tell a diamond dog that their kind was only known as eternally fighting brutes.
Rifter's muzzle twitched, but he didn't betray much else. "Huh, that's... rather unfortunate. Well, it's neither here nor there," he said, waving it off and putting his gems back on his wrist, their appearance shifting back. "You see, gems do form an integral part of my kind's economy. Very culturally significant, and all that. Also good for our health." Their health? Twilight was - for obvious reasons - familiar with the process dragons used to digest gems and the like, but diamond dogs weren't known to have that process. Perhaps it was something else? Maybe something more related to their immune systems...
"Princess?" he asked, shaking her out of her trance.
"Oh! Sorry, I was elsewhere. Now." She pulled writing utensils over. "Obviously I can't make a decision like allying with a new nation all on my own, majority rule and all that, but the leyline arrangement of Equestria gives rise to a tremendous amount of gemstones. I'm assuming that's the same here?"
Like she had with Solar Flare, the discussion soon devolved into polite negotiations. She and Rifter talked about various things each of their nations could have from each other, the issues with any portal relays, and so on. The novelty of having the discussion with a diamond dog never faded for her. Twilight wasn't a specist, not at all, but back home it was simply a fact that the society diamond dogs had formed... left much to be desired. Within an hour, Rifter and his pleasing demeanor had helped her draw up a trade agreement with the Mohr Empire, though most of it was based on speculation about portals.
He left, and then Torelnu came in. The same process repeated; the zebra was a real gentlecolt, but they already had sufficient trade of runestones from the Zebran Plains back home, they hardly needed more. The draft they drew up for that was more or less neutrality. Trumble, the dragon, was rather indifferent to her, but Twilight got the impression he didn't harbor any actual dislike for her. From conversing with him, Twilight got the impression that the dragons had a loose government in this world as well, where laws were more 'suggestions' that the more respectable dragons followed. Any treatise formed with the Dragon High Council was, by their very nature, tenuous, but preferable to simply ignoring them; dragons tended to hate being ignored. But all in all, things went smoothly and uneventfully, save for some minor culture shocks such as the zebras in this world being more... sensitive to the demonstration of unicorn magic.
The minotaur, Tightened Grip, however... things got interesting with him.
The towering bull stormed in and slammed the door behind him, towering over Twilight imposingly. She sprung to her hooves and met his glower. "What is your game?" he snarled. "Another Equestria? Another diarchy? What do you want with us? Why are you here? What do you want from my people in particular?"
"Huh?" she said, stunned by his sudden, unexpected aggression. "What do you mean?"
"Equestria has kept a stranglehold on the rest of the world for the past fifteen centuries!" he bellowed. "And now your world comes along, with your Equestria in it. Even if you don't practice quite the same international policy as this one, the tales of this 'Celestia' and 'Luna' are telling enough that your country holds much sway."
"Well, Equestria is considered the world's predominant superpower," she said. "Why is this cause for concern?"
"Your leaders move the sun and the moon with their magic, keeping the day and night cycle going and thus ensuring the planet survives. You manipulate air currents to keep the planet from getting too hot or too cold." They... what? Did he think the days and nights were a year each back home? "Tell me, do you know why Saddle Arabia has not sent any representatives here?"
"Um, no?"
"Because they want nothing to do with Equestria. They don't want to even risk upsetting the queens, and they know that, so they stay as far away from their politics as they can." At her horrified look, he backed off. "You don't know," he whispered. Grip shook his head. "No, of course not. How would you?"
"Don't know what?"
"When the queens first took power, so many years ago, they couldn't decide on eternal night or eternal day," he explained. "This resulted in - "
"The Alicorn War," Twilight recited. "I read about that. The civil war lasted four years before the queens put aside their differences and came up with the cosmic cycle used to this day."
Tightened Grip nodded. "So you know about that. Well, afterwards the queens consolidated their power and became very isolationist, building up their wisdom and Equestria's infrastructure after the Reign of Chaos and the Alicorn War. They annexed the Crystal Empire and put the Crystal Heart to good use. The peace lasted until about fifteen hundred years ago when the griffons decided to invade from up north, deciding to put the queens' warrior culture to the test."
"Oh," she said weakly. Something similar had happened back home as well, around fifteen hundred years ago as well, but that was more of a series of interlocking treaties blowing up than anything malicious. "I'm guessing it didn't go well?"
Tightened Grip's face grew stern. "The Queens smashed them. The actual conflict was even for a while, but once Equestria got an inch they took a mile and crushed them; Nightmare Moon rained meteors on their capitals and Solar Flare personally threw the emperor into orbit. And then they folded the griffon empire into Equestria, so the griffons haven't had independence for centuries."
Her jaw opened slightly. "They... did?" Now that she thought about it, it was odd that the griffons had sent no representative. But if they were already a part of Equestria, likely keeping to the northern reaches if they were anything like the griffons back home...
"Yes, and after that they wanted to make sure nothing would ever invade them again, so they extended what looked like peace offerings. Pegasus teams to better regulate the weather? They weren't fool enough to decline." He scowled. "Of course, over the years the queens made it more and more important. Necessary to keep away deadly storms and droughts. So today they have world-wide influence, and hardly anybody can say no to them for fear of them simply not helping anymore."
"Can't they set up their own weather defenses?" Twilight asked. A chill went down her spine: Solar Flare had offered to send pegasi to her world to help with the weather. She'd tried to do the same thing to them, to make them dependent on their country lest they be torn apart by rampant hurricanes and snowstorms. She'd have to talk to her about that later. Maybe to Nightmare instead, she was much more at ease around the black alicorn than the orange one.
He crossed his arms and raised a brow. "And anger the queens? As if. So you must understand, with the sort of stranglehold Equestria has on nearly every other nation on the planet. Having a second Equestria coming into the game, that has the potential to upset a lot of the established order. No matter how stifling it may be."
"The Equestrian Triarchy does not perform such practices," she said resolutely. "Nor would Celestia and Luna ever break the cycle of the night and day."
Tightened Grip grunted. "We'll see. Now, to speak of something else, the Minotaurian Republic's most recent invention is a denser form of gunpowder that..."
The day stretched on and on.
***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***
Once all was said and done, Twilight left the conference room to go meet with Nightmare, regarding what the minotaur had taught her. Her head buzzed lightly with what he'd said. The alicorn twins supposedly kept a hold on the rest of the planet by way of having extended an 'olive branch' years ago, and then they turned it into plundervines. And Solar Flare had apparently sought to do the same to them, to make the princesses forever dependent on their decisions, unable to tell them 'no'. She had to get to the bottom of it... carefully.
She was starting to get an idea of the castle's layout, so it wasn't all that hard to reach the room Nightmare Moon had gone with the other ambassadors while Twilight spoke one on one. The Coronal Guards didn't give her any trouble, but they did track her with their eyes, like gargoyles ready to pounce.
The room was comfortingly large and had many cushioned seats all around. A breeze blew in through the windows, working to counteract the scorching temperature. A few trays with various pastries sat to the side, gaps in the rows of food showing what had been taken.
Nightmare Moon herself sat on an especially large cushion, a stack of papers before her suspended in her dark violet aura. She looked out from behind them with a neutral expression, but when Twilight closed the door the taller alicorn's face lit up. "Ah, Twilight! It's good to see you, I assume everything's done for today?"
"Um, yes." She glanced at a clock out of the corner of her eye; seven at night?! But the sun was... oh. Right. "By the way, have you checked your tether to Luna?"
Nightmare Moon nodded, suddenly tense. "I have. Can't believe I didn't notice it until now. I've quarantined my end of the link for until a more permanent solution can be devised." She raised a brow, and the draconic pupils flexed slightly. "But I'm guessing that's not what you wanted to talk to me about?"
"No. I want to know, and don't take this the wrong way, what's this about your sister offering us weather services?"
She frowned. "Oh. So you figured out our angle?" Twilight nodded. "Well what about it? Twilight... Twilight." Nightmare set the papers aside and moved closer to Twilight, raising a foreleg and draping it over her withers. "However much I trust you, neither I nor my sister trust Celestia and Luna as far as a foal could throw them. Especially since they have Discord on their side."
"But I told you about them, didn't I? They wouldn't intentionally do anything like this first."
"What am I, Twilight?"
"An alicorn?" she asked, looking up at Nightmare.
She shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. What position do I have?"
Ah, so that's where this is going, she thought. "You're a ruler."
"Exactly. And as a ruler I have to take into account potential threats and resources. Whether or not Celestia and Luna would willingly cause us harm is irrelevant. They have access to the Elements, and even if they are gone for now they may get them back. Even if they do not wish us harm now, they may in the future, and since we're immortal that's a very long time to plan for. We can't force your country to do anything as it is now, Twilight. We don't want to do so just for the sake of it, either. It's preemptive. I still think you should agree to it, it would be best for us both. Mutualistic symbiosis, after all."
Twilight wanted to protest it, but it made sense. It was ruthless, unharmonic, needless and vicious, but she understood why Solar and Nightmare would want to do that. Their country had to come first, that was paramount.
Still, it was a firm reminder that this was not Celestia and Luna she was talking to. They were conquerors, warrior queens. They moved the sun and moon not only out of duty, but also to remind all other nations who called the shots, making them dependent on their will so they could never rise against. They were proactive, and they on their own protected their country, with no Elements to call on or Discord to use as a last resort. They were mighty in body and will.
"I understand." She didn't pull away from Nightmare's foreleg, but she did stomp a hoof and look up into her eyes. "But I stand by what I said; we don't need your pegasi to help. The shorter days and nights keeps our world's weather relatively stable, so advanced weather-crafting is less needed than it is here."
The corner of Nightmare's mouth bent up in a warm smile. "That is good to hear, I suppose. Now, the ambassadors will be retiring for the day soon. What say you and I go send them off, then we disguise up and go to the Haywaiian observatory? I've been meaning to show you it for some time."
She nodded. "I would like that."
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5105218 Beat me to the song darn it.
fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/032/0/5/twilight_sporkle_by_maekern-d4odd8h.jpg
Oh boy, I hope Nighty makes her move XD.
5301714 I need a 'Soon' GIF. Anyone help a moon out?
so love this can not wait for more
One thing I spotted.
Should be: "However much I trust you, neither I nor my sister trust Celestia and Luna as far as a foal could throw them."
5301866 Already caught that and fixed a few min before you posted. Thanks anyway.
yes! this updated! this story is a hidden Jewel. Now to read
Twilight really needs to tell Celestia and Luna some things, preferably by coded messages, because they shouldn't allow Solar Flare and Nightmare Moon any more ground than absolutely necessary and should definitely be planning on closing any portal that might be built as quickly as peacably possible. Also, Twilight should make them aware of the other alicorns reluctance to let her return in case they try to turn it into a hostage situation. It would be funny if she went all EoH and blasted them to their respective orbs though.
5301717
1.bp.blogspot.com/-yRKdiyePiCI/U7Lp4r1J9VI/AAAAAAAABdU/zKIdHlpfODU/s1600/soon+cat.gif
Also:
Part of the last sentence got cut off
Hmm, interesting, good chapter.
I hope everything works out in the end after dealing with the traiters...
"due to some weather even"
"event"?
"The other nations' had"
I don't think that that apostrophe ought to be there.
"we aren't quite as skilled as we are then"
I'm not entirely sure what this is meant to mean.
"Our capitol corresponds to the middle of a forest in your world, and your capitol"
"capital", I think.
"where the day/night cycle was over seven hundred thirty times"
I suspect that the end of this sentence was cut off.
Seems something is missing here.
interesting new developments
5303090
5302910
5302698 Whoopsy daisy. Fixed.
You know, I'm a little terrified with how this story feels like it's gonna turn out. Twilight consistently seems to be able to find the logic in Solar Flare/Nightmare Moon's rule, and I get the feeling that this is leading to some kind of MoonLight where Twilight goes all dark. Part of me wants to think that this is just her naivety, but perhaps that's just foolish hope. Personally, not only do I find Twilight's inability to comprehend the darker nature of Solar Flare especially and Nightmare Moon to a lesser degree rather exacerbating, but I also find the continued lack of Twilight returning to her Equestria rather foreboding. On the one hand, I understand that this is to worldbuild for the other world, but on the other, I just feel like things are coming to a rather dark head.
Obviously, taking in note the tags having both romance and sex, I would presume this has something to do with Nightmare Moon and leads to MoonLight, but the simple issue I have is the lack of a dark tag, meaning that, I presume, Twilight convinces Nightmare to be a better pony. A second, slightly lesser complaint on my behalf is also my niggling feeling that Twilight will end up living in Other!Equestria with Nightmare, abandoning friends and family for love, which would feel sooooo OOC.
Well, that was hugely rambling, but I think a fair representation of my problems with the story and my continual resistance to giving this story a like.
5302768
I think that is going to be part of the mutual arrangements that will emerge. Those who oppose the more tyrannical rule will be given the option of instead of prision ( or death) permanent exile in Equestria( p) .
Please don't let this story go super dark. I have seen too many like this try and go edgy.
5304467
Well, to be fair the establishment of permanent portals would mean that, in the scenario you paint, it would be no more effort to visit her family than it already is as she's not living near any of them anyway. Her friends, on the other hand, would take more effort to see regularly.
I must admit I love your portrayal of Nightmare Moon.
5325491 lol. Twily and Nightmare Moon already are rather clearly taken with each other.
FFS NOT AGAIN! Damn I'm stupid. Why would you place 'Publish' RIGHT NEXT to 'Edit'?!
AWWW yeahhhh, can already tell this is gonna be one heck of a ride!
5344286
You're killin' me here, Big E. Bogus notices for an update of my new favorite MoonLight? For shame!
5344386 Don't blame me, blame the site devs! Placing the Publish button right next to Edit, damn it.
5344386
ikr?
Ok so, I'm going to say this right here. I like this story quite a bit so far.
That said I want to reiterate a few comments that I saw before mine. Please don't let this turn into a super dark everyone fights and no one can work anything out story. Those are, old, I think is the best way to put it. Having the two Queens just off and attack equestria, even with a flimsy excuse, will kill this for me.
Tension? Oh I love tension. Have the talks not go well, have mistrust color everything. But war? I don't like wars just popping up for the hell of it. War should be a last resort. Even for the two warrior Queens.
I very much enjoy the 'Once Upon A Time' -esque story you are writing. Nightmare Moon or her sister don't seem out of character as far as iron-hoofed rulers, but they have more character painted into them than simply 'Har har ENTERNAL NIGHT FOR EVERYONE Har Har" that the show give Nightmare Moon. Look forward to seeing more of this story unfold.
>so Twilight moved to the Nightmare-side of the carpet
Twilight moved to the side closest to Nightmare
>Ponyville's resident shaman/alchemist
I'm not sure if there's books that have done this before, but yech, that looks bad. I can't imagine reading that out loud.
>shaman-slash-alchemist
aw, I was getting really excited when the other ambassadors were introduced, thinking we were going to get to hear all of them have a meeting. Then we got rushed out of the room.
>Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof. "Hmm, I suppose that makes sense."
I tend to not see a point to lines like these.
oh gosh, I was scared this was how it ended for a moment; so thankful to see the incomplete mark. Looking forward to the next chapter!
You know, what I love most about this fic is your characterization of Twilight, because it is absolutely spot on. Just that right mix of brilliance, hesitance, and adorkableness. Building Nightmare into a sympathetic character, and the gradual setup for a NightLight pairing is enthralling too.
What sets this story apart though is the TERRIFIC functioning totalitarian Equestria. Such worlds are almost always portrayed as dystopian, horrible and stifling, but such elements are only subtly hinted at (except during Cookie's brief section, but we have yet to establish his reliability). We get the feeling that totalitarian Equestria (Totaliquestria?) really works, and the benevolent tyrants really do have the nation's best interests at heart.
It's beautiful
5344744 I love you for saying that! Darkness for darkness' sake is entirely unacceptable, and kind of pointless!
Europa, I love what you're doing here. The development of the alternate universe is lovely, and I'm enjoying the slow burn of TwiMoon starting up. I'm wondering how you'll resolve all the problems.
The differences between the two Equestria's remind me, in an odd way, of the differences between the Federation and the Terran Empire... Though perhaps not quite as severe...
You sure your not Ambassador Spock?