Diplomatic Relations

by Nameless Narrator

Gears Are Moving

The official business was over for the day and the usual influx of tradesponies and recently more and more angry nobles faded. For the only princess currently capable of serving her country the official and unofficial duties were far from over though. Luna was tired way more than when Sharp first had begun appearing. At least he'd been spending every waking hour by her side recently.

The princess knew why she was completely exhausted. Having to protect the dreams and minds of her subjects during the night and dealing with all requests concerning law changes and governing the land was taking its toll even on an alicorn. There was still time before the sundown so Luna was left sitting on the throne without the energy to even walk back to her room. She could rest for about an hour or so, then raise the moon and begin her dreamwalking. Resting her head against the padding of the throne, Luna's body softened and her breathing slowed.

"Your Highness!"

Why did everything beginning with somepony yelling at her mean bad things? Couldn't somepony just shout at her to finally get a surprise serving of cake?

You'll be able to rest as long as you want when all this is over, Luna.

"Erm, princess Luna?"

The polite coughing made her slowly leave the clouds of haze in her head. When was all this going to stop? Was this some kind of ironic punishment for cursing the damned unicorn traitor, some cruel joke of fate?

With a resigned sigh at the entire world going against her, Luna opened her eyes just to see a duo of Nightguards standing at attention.

"Yes, my little thestrals?"

"We bring bad news. A group of Nightguards was attacked about two hours ago. All of them are currently in the infirmary. Their condition is stable but will not be able to return to active duty for at least three weeks."

"That long? Who attacked them?"

"A group of drunk citizens. They were angry because the clouds over Canterlot made some of them unable to work in their greenhouses or something. To be honest, the entire thing is sort of breaking the morale of the city."

There will be weak-willed troublemakers in any crisis. The important thing is not to give in. Some crazy farmers can go plow themselves, heh.

Luna had to agree. The guards were doing their jobs and were being punished for it by the citizens they were supposed to protect. As much as Luna would love at the moment to give the attackers the taste of lawless Canterlot shrouded in darkness she couldn't just seek revenge, that wouldn't help matters in any way.

"Captain," Luna assumed royal stance, "Relay this order! From now on the Nightguard is authorized to use deadly force against any armed attackers. It is, of course, preferrable not to do that but they will not face a trial for doing so."

It was difficult to tell whether the batpony was relieved or terrified but Luna had no doubt he was loyal and would do as he was told.

"Dismissed, captain!" she ended the audience and was left alone in the throne room.

The chances of her falling asleep again were pretty slim and she had to raise the moon soon anyway. She could do it on the way to her chambers and just with a flick of her horn the sun gradually ended its rule over the day and the moon assumed its rightful position. Throughout Canterlot, street lamps flicked to life.

Luna entered her room and almost crumbled on the bed before noticing there was a letter with her sister's seal on it. She rubbed her eyes. On second glance the seal was hers. Cursing the lack of rest, she unrolled the parchment.

I write to report progress on finding the unicorn and batpony traitors. Choking Darkness is currently working in the Ponyville Mental Asylum as a receptionist and an assistant and has recently bought a house here. The ownership of the house is partially hers and partially her husband Blazing Light's.

I haven't seen anypony resembling a bronze changeling but the unicorn Choking Darkness lives with spots exactly the same color scheme and according to the guards at the castle Blazing used to present himself as a unicorn during his short stay at the castle.

Their address is: Three Seasons street 19.

P.S.: Mayor Mare will do ANYTHING for money.

P.P.S.: Still working on the Bearers. Two remain.

Luna smiled. The smile was full of satisfaction and completely empty of joy. She had no reason to punish the runaway Nightguard but her helping the traitor was putting her slowly beyond help. Tomorrow she would send her elite to capture Blazing Light. Luna didn't want him dead... right now. He had to be captured because his ability to cheat death was uncanny. Still, there would be nothing to save him once Luna could restrain him and finally end his threat to Equestria personally.

The princess glanced at the parchment again in confusion. What was the thing about the Bearers?

Princess, you are hardly standing.

"I have to stay strong for my sister," Luna dropped the letter on the table and turned to imaginary Sharp.

I have a proposition. Why don't you take a night off, just for today.

"I can't. There are things lurking in the shadows that wait for me dropping my protection from ponies."

How likely are they to be waiting day after day? Especially because you haven't missed a night since your return.

"I'm not sure I can risk it."

Sharp yawned and smiled when Luna mirrored it.

Take it like this - a night of rest will allow you to protect them further. Just one night should keep you going, right? I might help with the relaxation anyway.

"Oh?" Luna raised her eyebrows.

Well, you know. When you play with yourself it's mostly in your head... I'm in your head. You sort of liked me, him.

"You know what? One night won't hurt, right?"

Good, Luna. Now just relax and let me make you feel good.

Luna spread herself on the bed and let the imaginary stallion take his place above her.

Good... open your body and your mind for me. All this will blow over soon.

---

Icy Gaze relaxed. He'd been able to finish the first part of his mission and regarded he deserved a little break. Of course, it wouldn't be him if even his free time wasn't dedicated to work.

Sipping a cup of hot cocoa in some half-forgotten cafe, he flirted aimlessly with the waitress. It was pretty obvious to the slightly chubby mare that her gorgeous customer was just making smalltalk which involved a steady stream of compliments but she didn't mind. Neither did Icy when she swayed her hips just a little too visibly whenever she refilled his drink.

What might have surprised the waitress would have been the fact that Icy wasn't lying at any point. He'd had his share of mares as the status of a lance for hire, his abundance of stories from lands far away and, most importantly, his looks and fairly young age had sparked interest in ponies from all levels of society. Cheap whorses, expensive ones, barmaids used to the company of farmers and even noblemares intending on 'slumming' a little had been his companions at one point in time or other. He'd felt the muscular flesh of soldier mares and the silky coats of high society but deep in heart Icy preferred the down-to-earth mares, the ones with tight muscles from hard day's work covered with jiggly flubber from solid village food in large servings.

Yes, he might have overdone it with the 'eyes sparkling like the rarest gems on princess Celestia's crown' but in his defense it wasn't the eyes he was looking at at the time. All that was a dance between somepony looking for a pleasant scenery to watch while thinking and an another pony desperately hoping to get something she wasn't used to from local colt population.

All in all, in the end Icy didn't have to pay as much for his entire stay as he'd expected and left a generous tip. Words were a currency as much as gold was in certain situations.

Filled with energy from the overdose of sweets, Icy decided to spend the afternoon in a more productive fashion. Let's just say that he suddenly found an interest in the daily rhytm of farmyard work and wanted to see a guide without bothering him or her to be exact.

Finding the orange filly in question took some time as after about an hour of freezing his rump off in the orchard Icy realized that, no matter what, there weren't any greenhouses too far away from the Apple family barn and the apple trees were heavy only with snow. Yes, Icy didn't know apples didn't grow in winter. As somepony used to being able to buy them whenever and wherever he couldn't be sure that there wasn't some kind of snow apple, right?

His cold and wet hooves disagreed with him as he trudged through the enormous orchards trying to find his way around after getting lost and wandering randomly. He didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed when he finally found the road leading from Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres after darkness had already fallen.

Icy knew that the longer he waited the higher the chance of other Bearers finding out about the disappearance of three of them was but today he just wanted to observe and find about the schedule of Applejack in order to pick her off while alone. There had to be some helpers on the farm and the last thing Icy wanted was to have to fight some hoes armed with ponies, ehm... the other way around.

The problem was that there wasn't a good vantage point anywhere around. Actually, there were quite a few of them but all revolved around him being a grizzly bear immune to frost. Evaluating all possibilities, Icy was forced to take a risk. Muddling his hoofsteps left behind in the snow by swishing his tail, he walked towards the huge barn where presumably farm animals were being kept.

Cursing the inevitable crunching, Icy thanked whatever deity was watching out for him when he got inside without being spotted. Thinking back, all his steps hadn't been too risky as most of the solitary bearers had been averse to going outside and the same was true right now. Why would a family leave house in the middle of winter outside of the necessity of taking care of the animals.

That, of course, meant...

The barn door behind him creaked once again.

...that somepony would have to feed the animals periodically.

Jumping behind the closest bale of hay, Icy regretted not carrying his lance with him.

The hoofsteps passed his hiding place and through a hole between the stacks he saw an orange coat. Patience was a virtue in a situation like this but his target being literally few steps away from him was too good to pass up. Still, he kept listening. Timing his steps to coincide with hers and not reveal him, Icy stopped hiding and almost breathing as he approached the eartpony who was busy talking to the animals she was feeding.

"AJ, you forgot the special mix Granny Smith prepared for the pigs. You know, the one laced with special cider to keep them warm," yelled a voice from outside, causing Icy to freeze.

Unfortunately, also causing Applejack to turn around.

Lie? Attack? Run?

"Sorry to bother you, miss, but I got lost in the snow and when I saw your barn I-"

"Right," Applejack turned back to her pigs and nodded at Icy to come closer.

He didn't realize his mistake, not until her hind legs hit him in the chest with the force of a sledgehammer.

"I talked to Pinke, mister 'Canterlotian'," said AJ over Icy's groaning and coughing, "I also tried to visit Fluttershy cause Winona caught a cold. And... one might be surprised... I actually enjoy visiting Rainbow Dash from time to time to mess around."

Icy rolled aside as a stomp raised a cloud of dust where he'd been lying a split-second earlier.

"Where are my friends?" another stomp.

"Safe," Icy ignored the pain in his ribs and jumped back on all four legs. He was hoping to either enrage Applejack to make her more vulnerable or to calm her down to lie his way out of this.

"Really?" AJ hesitated.

"Yes," he took a step backwards, "It has something to do with the wanted posters. I was supposed to gather all of you to keep you safe from whatever is happening."

"And what is that?"

"I... don't know, sorry," Icy waved his front legs, a gesture that might put him in danger but also presenting he wasn't a threat.

"Do you know I'm the Element of Honesty?" AJ suddenly grinned and an another blow sent Icy flying through the air.

"Good job, Mac," Applejack waved at a red earthpony of almost Icy's height but massively bulkier than the pegasus.

"Element of Honesty my ass!" growled Icy Gaze, standing again, "You little bitch covered his closing in by talking."

"Hey, I didn't say a single lie. GET HIM, Mac!"

They were civillians, that was their mistake.

Even with what felt like a broken ribcage Icy was able to avoid the blows of the behemoth called Big Mac. The problem lay in the mare who was attempting to bind him with a rope. Backing away, Icy accidentally kicked a rake, at least accidentally at first. When he turned his head for a brief second Big Mac charged immediatelly and stopped abruptly when the rake, kicked under his hooved, slapped him straight in the face in a classic comedic fashion. The crunch and the stallion's disoriented slam into the ground was less funny though.

Jump, grab the rake, break the handle by hitting the concussed stallion right where the spine connects with the skull - all those were supposed to knock Big Mac out but even after the attack that griffons invented to kill basically anything that moves he was still alive and groaning. Icy jumped on his back with the cast iron part of the rake in his hooves.

"Now, girl," he turned to Applejack, "You're the Element of Honesty or whatever so listen carefully. I'm not supposed to hurt you or your bearer friends. I will be executed if something happens to you. In other words, I need to keep you safe. BUUUT... that doesn't, in ANY way, relate to this guy. So you can either come with me or I will jam this into his throat and then take you by force."

Icy wasn't lying. Well, he wasn't telling the complete truth but the words leaving his mouth could pass any sort of scrutiny.

"What are you gonna do with me?" asked AJ, still swinging her rope.

"Bring you to your friends, that's all."

Once again, absolute truth.

Applejack's eyes darted from Icy to Mac, then she hung her head and dropped the rope.

"Good," Icy punched Big Mac to keep him dazed a while longer, "You head her, big guy, and you heard me. Don't try to follow me or rat me out. I know where you live and I can easily change at least one part of that sentence."

Picking the rope himself, Icy ordered:

"Lie down, girl. Legs in the air."

Growling AJ did so, ready to kick at any moment in the case she had misread the pegasus but he didn't try to force himself on her or anything. In fact, AJ didn't feel anything unpleasant while he was busy tying her legs together. The only thing she could deduce was that her captor was very good with knots.

"Everything okay up there?" Icy asked after he'd hoisted her on his back, "I don't have a gag on me but don't make this more difficult than it's been already."

Creeping through the shadows, Icy left the barn with another one of his targets secured. Just one more and then the easy part of his mission would be over. With his last target actually being slightly friendly towards him, it should be easy to lure Pinkie out and capture her. After that, though, he would have to think of a way to take out an alicorn archmage who might or might not be ready for him without seriously harming her.

"Think of the money, Icy. Think of the money."

"What?" AJ heard him mumbling.

"I'm pretty sure princess Twilight is going to kill me."

---

Twilight opened her eyes and yawned.

Yesterday had been weird, another day spent by walking around the town and watching ponies and occasional Nightmares do whatever they did. At least that had been the case until Shieldbreaker had almost tackled her in the middle of the street and escorted her to his house.

The explanation had been short, consisting mostly of a sweating stallion shoving a piece of parchment in her face. After that, when she had asked for it, Shieldbreaker had brought her her belongings from the tavern. With him being at work, Twilight had spent another day by reading and for once it hadn't been a satisfying one.

When her mind realized that Twilight let out a relieved sigh. She was in Shieldbreaker's bed. According to the sun it was around noon. Her host was nowhere to be found and there was rustling around her bed caused by five changelings looking straight at her. Lovely.

"YAAAAH!"

The reflexive burst of magic knocked over almost all furniture in the room but, most importantly, didn't make the Nightmares even flinch.

"SHIELDBREAKER!" Twilight screamed.

The stallion in question rushed inside and looked straight at the princess.

"Is anything wrong?"

Twilight waved her hoof at the circle of changelings around her bed. When Shieldbreaker just shrugged, not understanding, she waved her hoof again.

"Erm, this? You know... five Nightmare changelings watching me sleep?"

"Oh, sorry, your Highness. Queen Guiding wants a word with you."

"I gathered that," hissed Twilight, ice seeping from every word, "My question is why somepony, an ex-guard, would allow this to happen in such a way that might make his ex-employer suffer A HEART ATTACK?"

Shieldbreaker looked as if she'd stabbed him in the chest.

"I-I'm sorry, princess, but I talked to the two guards before they, ehm, got captured and I wanted queen Guiding to help me with protecting you in case the pair was just serving as a distraction."

"You allowed the changeling WHO ATTACKED ME to send her minions and watch me in my sleep? What sort of guard are you? I'm sure all princesses can breathe easily now that you're gone from Canter-"

It would have been a good chewing-up had not at that precise point one of the changelings transformed into the familiar form of Breaky's marefriend and punched the princess with the strength of a trained boxer.

"You have insulted my queen and my coltfriend, girl," the Nightmare growled, "and I won't let you continue with that nonsense. Queen Guiding wouldn't have hurt you... seriously and if she wanted your purple hide then she could have had it the day you visited her."

"I," Twilight stopped to apply her famous trait - logic, "am sorry. Don't take me wrong, anypony would be mad at you, Shieldbreaker, because what you did showed you're loyal to more than one side but your marefriend is right. Guiding Light could have had me brought to her at any point."

The silence in the room continued.

"So," Twilight broke it first, "are these guys going to watch me the entire day or is there more to it?"

"The Queen wants to see you. We have captured the two guards snooping around and she thinks you need to hear what's going on."

"Okay. Do I have to wear a disguise or something?"

"No. We have watched the town since yesterday and there haven't been any suspicious movements or anything. You are free to move around, at least until more guards show up."

"Let's go. Well, give me ten minutes to make myself presentable. After all, we can't have a diplomatic visit marred by me smelling bad."

Everypony and everychangeling, or whatever the term would be if anypony used it, left Twilight alone.

There was one more thing bothering her. Somepony might have already reported her stay here to the authorities after seeing the wanted posters. The problem dissipated quite quickly when she didn't see a single piece of parchment posted anywhere around. Visibly escorted only by two changelings, Twilight found out that they had torn down the few posters the guards had managed to put up before getting captured.

When Twilight and her escort reached the abandoned house belonging to the Nightmares and finally arrived at the main cavern where she had fought Guiding some three days earlier Twilight got nervous again, the queen's stare was less than friendly.

"Your Highness!" a duo of relieved voices yelled.

"Oh, you two," Twilight smiled at the nervous pair. She had seen them before here and there. Yes, they were just random guards but at the moment they were also familiar faces, "What's going on?"

The guards went over the things that had happened in Canterlot and Guiding chipped in from time to time with corrections regarding the assumptions of her involvement.

"You wouldn't have called me here if you didn't have an idea about what's going on," Twilight turned to Guiding.

"If the story of these guys is true then I think we're in deep trouble. By 'we' I mean every living being in this world. Unfortunately, you won't believe me if I tell you so you have to see for yourself. I tried to warn you and Celestia during my stay in Canterlot and nopony believed me."

"TELL ME!"

"There is only one of my changelings missing in this town and that one resides still with princess Cadance. There is no way he'd be able to overpower princess Celestia anyway. The assumption I'm behind the attack is basically nonsense because I don't have that kind of power. Yet, the mark of our kind was found in every place an attack has occured and that force stems from one being, Nightmare Moon."

"That can't be right! I've seen the Nightmare banished TWICE!"

"Yeah, twice... and that seems okay to you? Think before answering!"

"She can return?"

"Of course, you can't kill a god. The only thing you can do is either purify or kill its host which is what I suppose you saw."

"So you think the Nightmare possessed somepony again."

"Not just somepony. It is easier for it to possess somepony with darkness inside already and who is in a vulnerable emotional state. Trust me, I have studied our most dangerous enemy. I think it is controlling your dear princess Luna."

"I doubt it," objected Twilight, "Princess Luna is strong and has gotten over ponies initially hating her after her return."

"Has anything made her act up? Like... you know... killing my father," the sentence ended in a hiss.

"She killed many of Sombra's servants during the invasion. Blazing Light was just one of them," Twilight raised her hooves in defense, "Yes, he was responsible for the success of the invasion, not even you can deny it. I'm toying with the idea there might have been more to it though. Still, nothing points at Luna being the host now."

Guiding's cold stare melted when Twilight continued.

"I need your help. I want to find out what's going on in Canterlot-"

"It's obvious," Guiding interrupted.

"It is not. There is no proof, only a ton of assumptions. I need to get to Canterlot without being captured on the way."

"WE CAN HELP!" the captured guards blurted out, "You can pretend to be our prisoner and nopony will bother you, your Highness."

The questioning gazes of three ponies stopped like a three pairs of floodlights aimed at Guiding's face. The queen sighed.

"I'm coming as well. If I'm right then you're going to need my knowledge of Nightmare Moon's real power. Get a good night's rest, princess. I will keep the guards here tonight. Any questions?"

"We leave in the morning?"

"Yes."

---

Hello, Discord.

"It's been a while," the god of chaos, currently eating a book and feeding some of Fluttershy's pets, responded to the sourceless, hissing voice.

The age of our rule is coming again. The Elements will not stop us this time.

"That sounds fun," mumbled Discord non-commitally.

The power of the Tree will be gone soon.

"Mhm."

I thought you'd be happier at having a chance to wreak unbridled chaos again.

"I would, my dear associate, but there is a promise binding me more than the Elements."

You, keeping a promise? Don't make me laugh.

"I think you remember the alicorn of Death. He might be terrible at magic but his power is deadly even to us. He is the one who isn't allowed to act while I'm not doing so as well."

I see. What if he was out of the question?

"Then, of course, there would be nothing stopping me from joining forces with you."

Discord didn't need ears to know the voice chuckled to itself before leaving. When he'd been summoned by Void it had been easy to break the bindings because Void was awful at magic, his alicorn power devouring it, but Discord was more than aware that if the alicorn wanted him dead then even the god of chaos would have had hard time resisting him in his own realm.

But, as things went, Discord now had friends in this world and what kind of friend would he be if he didn't give them a chance, right?

Summoning a mug of cider, he grinned.

"Even gods can die. The smart ones just know how to avoid it, my dear. Not pissing off the death incarnate in his house might be a good start."

Comments

[Anonymous Critic]

You know, I was waiting until mention of Gaze finding and sending off Blazing's diary, but since the whole cloudy day at Canterlot bit should have no doubt been mentioned by now, I figure I am already ahead of where I was in Horn and Wings... so back to there, I suppose!

[Anonymous Critic]

"There is only one of my changelings missing in this town and that one resides still with princess Cadance. There is no way he'd be able to overpower princess Celestia anyway. The assumption I'm behind the attack is basically nonsense because I don't have that kind of power. Yet, the mark of our kind was found in every place an attack has occured and that force stems from one being, Nightmare Moon."

Welp, I called it...

[JazzyWaffles]

Good... open your body and your mind for me. All this will blow over soon.

God. Dammit.