17| Don't Look Down
I struggled to pull my wide-eyed gaze from the towering City before me as I stepped through the gate from the landing terrace. The clouds beneath my hooves felt as soft as marshmallows, and that was in the City’s outer streets where pegasi flitted to and fro; the floating cloud houses bobbed and swayed in the breeze, tethered to each other and the shops on the street below. I would’ve said the altitude stole my breath in that moment, but the experience was like walking into the TARDIS for the first time.
Pegasi passed by Boreas and I without noticing who we were initially, going about their Sunday shopping and whatever business they might’ve had. It was as busy as the markets at Mercy, which only added to the serendipity I was feeling.
“If this is what Heaven looks like, then someone kill me now,” I absentmindedly muttered with a grin, much to Boreas’ comically shocked expression.
“What?!” she exclaimed at that, perhaps a bit too loudly. That caused a few passer bys to cast sideways glances at the sudden vocalisation, and half a dozen of them gasped when they saw me.
“What the heck is a unicorn doing in the City?!” the nearest stallion to me exclaimed.
“A unicorn can’t walk on clouds!” a mare so studiously said.
“That’s not a unicorn, that’s Princess Luna of the Equestrian Kingdom!”
I didn’t anticipate the subsequent crowd of pegasi that formed a wall around Boreas and I, forcing us to take a couple steps back. Hushed murmurs and whispers of rumors about Belcusas and the fight began floating around the crowd as parents hid scared children behind them, while other curious colts and fillies were poking their heads out from behind the legs of the parents that were trying to keep them out of harm’s way. I expected to see stallions with mares hanging off them, but there didn’t seem to be anything of the sort, though that didn’t mean I wasn’t getting lusty stares and leering glances from a good few of them.
“Which way to the palace, Boreas?” I asked as I readied my wings to get away from the crowd.
“Follow me,” she stated, taking off with enough of a downdraft to make clothes billow in the wind. I took off after her, gaining as she slowed down enough for me to catch up.
“How did you find your reception?” Boreas asked with a chuckle at my expense.
“Rather overwhelming to be honest. I kinda envisioned that the pegasi would bow and part as they laid out a red carpet before me, as a wordless plea to let them be, given how Belcusas was,” I admitted.
“Well, you’re not wrong,” Boreas returned. “As much as he demanded admiration, he gave a lot of ponies good reason to stay out his way.”
We came upon the palace’s main gates in due time, and two armoured pegasi, complete with swords, spears, and wingblades narrowed their eyes at me as Boreas and I approached. “Step aside, please,” I politely asked.
They crossed their spears in front of the door.
“I need to get inside the palace. Remove your spears and open the doors, if you could,” I continued.
“Just because you bested our King in battle, that does not mean we hold loyalty to you,” one guard said.
“In the event King Belcusas is removed from power, control of the kingdom is transferred to his wife,” the other evenly stated.
Rolling my eyes, I reached into my bags to pull out the letters Belcusas wrote and just about shoved the papers in their arrogant faces. “If you know how to read, you’ll understand that Belcusas has forfeited any and all rights to his throne, absolved any contingencies he has, appointed me as ruler, and it’s that which makes me your queen now.”
To his comrade’s surprise, the guard on my left brazenly took his helmet off and dropped it, then let his spear fall to the ground. “You’re no queen of mine,” he sneered before taking off.
I didn’t expect him to up and quit his job just like that, but that was his choice and not my problem. I turned to the remaining guard. “Unlike your friend, you’ll still have a job if you choose to remain. What’s it going to be?”
As he withdrew his spear, I couldn’t help but notice a ghost of a smile on his face.
“Princess?” he said as he opened the door.
“Hmm? Yes?” I said to him.
“Unlike my uh, shall we say comrade, my loyalty is to the pegasi of this Kingdom, and not to the money I am being paid or the individual running it.”
I was taken aback by that, and I found myself nodding in approval. “Commendable attitude if I do say so.”
I got inside without any further problems, and I half expected the entranceway to be brimming with activity, but it was completely deserted for some reason.
The floor was softer than the time I laid on a giant sack of freshly picked cotton, and the interiors was as smooth and glossy as polished Roman marble. The grand staircase that hugged a cherub pegasi fountain—how a fountain worked at that altitude I had no idea—had perfect ninety-degree angled steps, and the rails were just as ornate. The entire place had a lot more decoration put into the sculpture of the clouds than I had expected. I had no idea it was even possible to mold clouds like that.
There was no need for superfluous lighting as natural sunlight streamed in through the windows, and permeated the clouds like angels descending from heaven. The decor was practically nil, and while I would’ve said that simplicity is effective, bleach-white everything was pretty bland.
“So, which way to the throne room?” I asked Boreas.
“The thing about cloud houses is that you can mold and add on and alter different rooms. I can take you the way I best remember, but it might’ve changed after I left.”
“Alright then, lead the way.” She lead me up the left of the staircase and through a door, and from there we began working our way through the maze of corridors. I always found that there was a sense of disorientation whenever I visited a new place, and given how isolated the City was, I relied on Boreas for direction as we walked through the palace.
Given how white everything was, I would’ve had difficulty navigating the place on my own. Every corridor we went down, and staircase we went up looked the same, like something straight out of an M.C Esther painting. The comfort of knowing where I was in the Castle of the Two Sisters came from familiarising myself with small details, like the chip off a brick at the end of the north corridor that told me I was near the library, or the bent nail that protruded from the rafters in the west corridor that said the kitchen was around the corner.
At the end of a corridor, we went up a staircase that ascended one of the palace’s many spires and towers like a lighthouse’s, and we arrived at a landing with a set of doors at the top. “Ah, here we go,” Boreas finally announced. Whereas the throne room doors back at the castle were five metres tall, made out of wood and iron and weighed a few tonnes each, the ones to Belcusas’ throne room were only about two metres tall and made out of water vapour.
The thing I had to learn the hard way was that you couldn’t simply walk through cloud doors, and I wound up walking smack into the doors to the throne “Oww,” I said as I rubbed my nose. “That wasn’t supposed to hurt.”
I looked to Boreas. “Why did that hurt?”
Boreas was holding her hoof over her face in a vain attempt to cover her giggling. “The enchantment on this room means only those of the royal bloodline can open the doors, almost like the spell you have on your room.”
She managed to pull her hoof away from her face long enough to oh so kindly open the doors.
The throne room was just as grand, if not bigger and more decorated than the one back at the castle. Wide windows were shrouded by thick, baby-blue drapes tied back against the wall, nesting against one another. Long banners that depicted what was the City’s coat of arms: the cloud, sword, and lightning bolt inlaid on a shield with a ribbon which weaved behind and in front of it were draped from every alabaster column. Also attached to each column were golden candelabras with unlit, fresh candles above intricately carved limestone statues of the City’s four former rulers in order; Belcusas, Dingir, Brittia, and finally, Belfast, the douchebag who started the whole thing.
Opposite each statue on the other side of the room sat pedestals with glass cases, showing off an item that represented each monarch and their rulership: Belcusas’ case for his staff was empty, then there was a sword with an obsidian-black blade; a golden, flat-top shield; then a sallet helmet with eight vertical slits down the visor.
A ruby red rug split the room in half, leading up to stairs that spanned the room wall to wall, which led up to and converged on the throne that sat atop a raised platform with massive vertical windows behind it that allowed an unadulterated view of the city below.
“This is amazing,” I beamed, turning to look at Boreas with a nod at the cases. “What do the other items do?”
“The sword drains magic power; I’ve never seen nor heard of anything that’s pierced the shield, and as for the helmet, that’s the only item which I’ve never seen removed from its case.”
It felt like there was an unseen force repelling me away from the sword the closer I got, as if it was a foreboding warning as opposed to a magic barrier. Something about a sword that drained magic energy was rather unsettling, moreso than the aura given off by the shield or helmet. I needed to look into putting them all somewhere safer that wasn’t in plain sight.
“I uhm… Kate?” Boreas asked, drawing my attention from the grandeur of the throne room. “Mind if I borrow the staff for a moment? There’s something I need to do.”
I was a little reluctant to give it to her, but I knew she wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone with it, so I eventually unstrapped and handed it to her.
She wordlessly went over to face the statue of her father, and touched the stave’s crystal to the statue, and proceeded to do the same to the other three one by one. Almost instantly, they all fell through the cloud floor with a soft whump.
I blinked out of shock and immediately snatched the staff from her. “What’d you do that for?! They could hit someone!”
“Woah woah woah, let me explain. I know exactly where they’re going to land.”
“Enlighten me,” I replied sternly.
“The land directly under the City is owned by the ruling power. If anything falls to the ground, we can claim it with no repercussions for anyone who might’ve otherwise owned it.”
“And why, pray tell, did you do that to those statues?”
“Because,” Boreas began, looking over her shoulder to where the statues once were. “Their rein is over. For the first time in two hundred years, we can look forward to a future. Any kingdom in isolation will eventually crumble without trade routes, and potentially reducing itself to xenophobia.”
“That is... rather insightful,” I admitted.
I grumbled and shook my head to clear my thoughts, then began walking up to the throne where I planted my tush. My eyes instantly widened. “Oooooo, this is the best thing I have ever sat on!” A grin spread across my muzzle, and I wriggled around to feel just how comfortable the throne was. “I should replace my stone throne with a cloud throne! It’s soooo much more comfortable!”
Boreas was grinning up at me. “Yeah, clouds are pretty cozy. Sometimes I’ll sleep outside and under the stars on a cloud during a clear night.” She cleared her throat. “So, what’s the next step of your plan, Princess Luna?”
“Step One: Acquire throne. Step Two: Make a public address. Step Three: Profit.”
Boreas gave me a peculiar look. “Profit?”
“It’s an… inside joke on Earth. But Seriously, if things go according to plan, we can hold a consensus amongst the residents so they can decide what direction they want the City to go in, and then we closely monitor the situation thereafter. And as much as I hate to admit it, not knowing what kind of resistance we might expect puts me at a disadvantage of what to do if somepony makes things difficult.”
“That’s why you’re the Princess,” Boreas knowingly intoned.
“More to the point, is there a way I can make my speech to notify the entire Kingdom?” I said pointedly.
Boreas put a hoof to her chin as she mulled the question over. “Usually that kind of thing would require gathering the entire kingdom in one place and using a voice amplification spell. I’m not sure how everyone would react if you cast your voice over the entire city without any forewarning; ponies might think they’re being invaded.”
“An extreme reaction, but I can understand what you’re saying. Do you remember how your father would go about that?”
Her expression lit up. “Actually, I do! Take the staff and bang it on the topmost step on your right hand side.”
I cocked my head. “That seems an oddly specific thing to say,” I said as I proceeded to do exactly that.
After about ten seconds, a mare poked her head in through the doors and shyly made her way up to me. Her coat colour reminded me of a yellow rose, and her short, almost tomboy-ish chocolate-brown mane and short-cut tail made me appreciate her figure. And then it hit me: The absence of a long tail meant everyone was free to gaze upon her shapely flanks adorned with a cutie mark of a rolled scroll tied with a red ribbon, and her short mane meant she couldn’t hide behind it even if she wanted to. I suddenly felt sorry for the poor thing; she was eye candy for Belcusas.
“Y-you called, Your Majesty?” she squeaked out.
“Hello there,” I smiled, trying to sound as friendly as possible. “What’s your name?”
“My n-name is Asherah,” she replied just as timidly as before. “I am, er, was responsible for the scroll keeping of any records Belcusas ordered.” She tilted her cutie mark towards me. “Record keeping is my special talent.”
I put a hoof to my chin in thought for a moment. “I would like to make a public address to the entire city. Is that something you’re able to organize?”
“It is, Your Highness,” Asherah said with a short bow. “Not to disappoint, but it will take at least an hour or so to get everypony and everything ready.”
Considering that the short speech I had planned was going to make or break the future of the City, I could appreciate it taking that long to organize. “That won’t be a problem,” I said approvingly. I got up off the throne and began walking over to the timid mare, and sat down a few paces away from her so it didn’t feel like I was imposing on her personal space.
“Look, please understand that you don’t need to be frightened of me. I’m not the same kind of person that Belcusas was, and Boreas here can attest to that.” Boreas took a step forward when I glanced over to her.
“Asherah, even though my father branded me a traitor after my transgression, Princess Luna treated me as a friend and equal. I promise you, on my word for what it is worth, that Luna has everypony’s best interests at heart.” Boreas offered an upturned hoof, and Asherah looked hesitant for a moment before she placed hers upon Boreas’, letting a deep breath escape.
Convincing one pony to accept that I meant to do good was the first step in trying to convince everyone else, and that part of my plan seemed to go off without a hitch.
“When somepony abandons the Kingdom and its people, we can’t help but look down on them. I don’t hold any ill will against Boreas for leaving under duress; I respect that she did what she had to do. I would have done the same thing if Belcusas wasn’t keeping tabs on my family.” Asherah looked up to Boreas with a trusting smile. “Thank you, the both of you.”
Neither Boreas nor I got a chance to say anything before Asherah took off and sped out the door. As peculiar as that was, I just assumed she’d said what she needed to say.
“Would you mind if I went to see if there’s any of my old things still around?” Boreas asked after a moment.
“Go ahead. I’ll stay here and give the relics a new home in the castle’s vault, then wait for Asherah to return. You know where to find me if anything comes up.”
Boreas just gave me a nod as she trotted out the door.
After Boreas left, I recalled back to when she mentioned that the door was enchanted to only allow others of the royal bloodline through. I assumed that meant anyone related to Belcusas,. Given how he made his position with mares clear, I had no way of knowing how many pegasi that extended to. I ran my magic all over the confines of the throne room, and expectedly found a number of Solid Seals. They were well within my ability to rewrite, but instead of doing exactly that, I erased them all entirely and put in place ones that I trusted after I made a note of the spells. Then, I left the doors ajar so anyone that needed to find me, could.
Once that was out of the way, I turned my attention to the cases. Instead of teleporting out the items themselves, I also teleported the cases with the relics to the entrance of the vault one by one. Even though Boreas told me what the sword, shield, and helmet–or lack thereof–did, I had no way to ascertain what they were capable of until I could properly and safely study them. I had to hurry to open the vault door, put the cases inside, then get back to the Kingdom before someone found me gone.
Teleporting heavily enchanted items in bulky cases over large distances put a strain on my magic, moreso since the flight to the City, so I was content to kick back in the cushy cloud throne and snack on the food and drink I brought, and enjoy the view of the city from the balcony window behind me.
It was a short while after I polished off my canteen of water that I realised I had no idea where the facilities where, so I used the staff in the same manner as Boreas described earlier to send for someone.
I was somewhat surprised when Asherah turned up five minutes later. “Oh, I thought you were doing the thing I asked you to do earlier?”
“Oh, uhm, sorry, Your Majesty, but you did send for me?”
“Huh, so that one enchantment is just for you?” Apparently they rang like bells for certain individuals.
Asherah nodded. “The next one down is for the head chef in the kitchen, the third one to open and close the doors remotely, and the last one summons extra guards as needed.”
I thought it smart to create a method of calling someone so you weren’t sending a messenger, and with a grin that mirrored my inner eight year old, I began poking the third step with the staff. Open, shut, open, shut went the doors as Ashera looked at me as if I was the most immature person she’d met. Sometimes doing stupid things makes me happy for reasons I can’t explain.
“Queen Luna? Your Majesty? What did you want me for?” Asherah said after a while.
“Wha-?” I almost forgot about what I called her for. “Oh! Yes, would you mind taking me to Belcusas personal chambers? There is a matter that requires attention.”
“Of course, Your Highness. Please, follow me.” She politely bowed to usher me out the door, and I closed and locked it behind her. It was a good opportunity to test my enchantments on clouds to see how well they held up while I was gone.
The good thing about the cloud palace that differed from the castle, was that Asherah and I were able to fly from various spires and towers, a few of which held the War Room, Belcusas’ house, the armoury, and various others. Ashera lead me to a large tower next to the throne room some fifty metres away that was Belcusas’ house. There was a smaller balcony and railing that jutted out from the face of the tower, which mirrored the one outside the throne room we touched down. Asherah gestured to the double doors that were tall enough for me to comfortably pass through without risk of catching my horn.
“As requested, Your Highness.”
I had no idea what Boreas said about the throne room door also rang true for those doors, and I wound up smacking into another door for the second time that day.
“Princess Luna! Are you OK?!” Asherah rushed over to tend to me, but I held up a hoof to stop her while I rubbed my face with the other. Again.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Cloud houses will take some getting used to…”
“Do you need me to accompany you inside?”
Why Asherah would need to I had no idea, but then again, it was Belcusas’ house, and that came with all sorts of unwanted mental imagery. “No thank you, I’ll just be in and out.”
I had to use the staff to bypass the spells Belcusas had on the door, and I jokingly wondered how he would react if I completely destroyed his house to get on his nerves, but I didn’t want to once I saw what his place looked like.
It was like I walked into a penthouse suite at a five star hotel; the entire layout was as expansive as it looked expensive. The floor was made from tiled marble and gilded with white gold along the seams, and the rest of the furniture followed suit with copper, bronze, silver, and yellow gold inlays of the various poised statues and pristine pieces of furniture. I was dumbfounded at how opulent the place looked, not to mention rather disgusted at how greedy and obscenely rich Belcusas must’ve been to furnish his whole house like that, but the fact he was in a cell previously occupied by a drunk vagrant was beyond hilarious.
The entranceway was a passage of actual polished marble columns that was easily twice as tall as I was, and there was a different suit of armour sitting in between each column. The fourth mannequin, or... ponnequin I guess you could call it, that sat at the end was bare, where I realised I still had Belcusas’ brigantine at the castle.
An uncomfortable pressure reminded me of why I was here, but I was at a loss of where the restroom was. Forgoing gawking at the decor for the time being, I went straight for the first door I saw, one of about four and threw it open to find Belcusas’ bed right in front of me, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye...
“Who the hell are you?!” I exclaimed at the sight of three yellow stars on the flank of a rather indecent mare.
The baby-blue pegasus that looked like a bucket of white paint had been spilled on her shot from between the tangle of bedsheets and pillows strewn about the place, staring at me with eyes as big as dinner plates like I was intruding on her privacy. Not entirely wrong, but that was besides the point.
“My name is Wish, and what in the name of the Gods are you doing in my bedroom?!” she demanded.
“Your bedroom!? This is my house now!”
“Just you wait until my husband finds out about this, he’ll–”
“Belcusas is your husband?!”
The mare blinked as if that was the most stupidest thing she’d ever heard. “He’s the King, I’m the Queen consort!”
Pausing with an unseen realisation, she began looking around and under the sheets, behind pillows, then fixed me with an accusatory gaze. “Where is Belcusas anyway? He’s been gone about four days now.” Her eyes narrowed at me. “Have you been sleeping with him?”
“What?! Me? Being dicked by that dumbass?! Hell no, I’ve got standards!”
“Watch your mouth!”
“Hah! I could say the same thing about you!”
“GUARDS!” the mare screamed at the top of her voice, and I then heard hoofsteps thundering like drum beats from behind me.
When I looked back, there were at least six guards standing in a semi circle around me. I had no idea where they came from in such a hurry.
“Escort this intruder from my sights and into the dungeon!” Wish bellowed.
The guards looked about each other sheepishly, torn between following the orders of their former queen, and their current one.
“We apologise, Your Excellency, but Queen Luna here has assumed control of the City after Belcusas lost the Challenge of Kingdoms,” one of the stallions said. “By all intents and purposes, we serve her now.”
I looked back to Wish, pondering my next move. “I do believe we can come to an agreement, here.”
It wound up taking me a lot longer to get to the bathroom than I wanted. By the time I was done and sorted out the situation with Wish, Boreas was waiting for me back in the throne room, and her bags were looking emptier than I thought they would be.
“Did... you find what you were looking for?” I tentatively asked.
Saddened, Boreas shook her head, wiping a hoof over an eye. “My room wasn’t where it used to be, and neither were my things. I don’t… At the least I hoped to get a painting of my mother she made for me when I was five, but I don’t know what my father did with it.”
I knew what it was like to have something that meant a lot ripped from you. My heart went out to Boreas. “What did she look like? There’s bound to be a version of it around here somewhere, or at least another one.”
She shook her head again. “No, it was just the one.” Swallowing thickly, Boreas struggled to continue. “I… I…”
It was impeccable timing that Asherah poked her head around the corner, and I beckoned her in with a wave of a hoof.
“Your Majesty, everypony is assembled. If you’d step outside behind you, the Kingdom is waiting for your address.”
“Ah, thank you, Asherah. On a different note, do you know if Belcusas had any sort of storage rooms around the place?” I asked, looking to Boreas. She struggled to keep her composure at the prospect of losing her mother’s painting.
Asherah nodded. “I have logs of what he keeps in the storage chambers. Was there something you need, My Queen?”
“Belcusas has misplaced a portrait of Boreas’ mother that used to be in her room. Could you help her find it?”
“Of course, Princess.” Asherah smiled warmly at Boreas. “I can help you find it at the very least.”
“Thank you, Asherah.” Boreas smiled weakly, and the two left the throne room to locate the painting.
I was never one for public speaking. Quite frankly, I would have rathered being in a box with spiders crawling over me than staring out at an entire kingdom delivering a speech that could change their lives. Anxiety really is a bitch.
Holding the staff, I stepped out onto the expansive dais that overlooked the kingdom, and was greeted by thousands of pairs of eyes all looking up at me. It’s now or never, I told myself as I steeled my posture like a ruler should as they address their subjects. I fed the voice amplification spell through the staff like a microphone.
“Some of you may have heard rumours circulating around the last few days. I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that yes, I bested your King in combat. In accordance with the stipulations laid out, I am your Queen now, and I stand before you today to say that there will be changes.
“I was informed that Belcusas allowed mares to be bought and sold like property or treated as slaves, so henceforth, no more shall mares be treated in such a manner, as such actions are illegal in the eyes of the laws of Equestria by which this kingdom will be governed.”
I took a breath to continue, but someone erupted in a bout of anger, one of the more fancy dressed pegasi towards the front as opposed to the lower class citizens at the back.
“She’s trying to take our mares away!”
“I paid good money for my harem!” another roared, much to my shock and disbelief.
They were actually trying to justify slavery of all things! I needed to defuse the situation as fast as possible.
“At no point am I making any effort to dissolve relationships any of you might have with one another,” I said, scowling down at the agitated noble pegasi. “The point that I am illustrating is that you relied on Belcusas’ influence to retain proprietary ownership. It is by my decree that everypony is given equal rights to decide whether or not they chose to remain by your side or not.”
“You have no right to lead us if you do not share our beliefs and values!” another shouted with an accusatory point of a hoof.
“And if your values and beliefs hinge on disrespecting other creatures then you do not deserve to remain in my kingdom!” I countered.
A hushed murmur fell over the crowd, and the noble pegasi weren’t looking too happy, but what did that matter.
Seizing the opportunity before anyone else opened their mouth, I continued. “If anypony has any objections to this, or wishes to challenge my right to rule this kingdom, I will be holding an open court for anypony that wants to address any concerns, so I encourage you to come forward before I return to the Castle of the Two sisters at the end of today. Thank you for taking time out of your day to come and hear this address, and once again, I hope I can do right by everypony here.”
I dimmed the spell being funneled through the staff, then turned back inside to the throne room, exhaling a stress-laden breath. “That could have gone better,” I muttered to nobody in particular, rubbing my brow in frustration.
Literally a minute later after I sat down on the throne to prepare myself for what was about to come, a line had formed outside of the throne room, all the way down the hall, even up the staircase winding its way up the inside of the tower. I honestly had no idea where it ended.
The first four ponies wore expensive looking shoulder capes tied with gold silk tassels, rimmed with wool, and decorated with the Kingdom’s crest on the back. Their outfits looked like formal, mediaeval military attire, and each of them had a what looked like a rapier or some sort of fencing sword strapped to their side, and a dagger strapped to their left foreleg.
“Greetings, Your Highness,” the oldest stallion said, the corner of his nose curling in distaste as he adjusted his monocle. “I am Duke Thermal, and I represent the nobility of this Kingdom,” he added, gesturing to the three others behind him one at a time. “This is Lord Cumulus, Lord Fleetfeather, and Lord Nimbus.” Thermal himself had one too many chins, and a bandaged left wing. He probably sprained it flying his fat ass to the fridge. “I have come to protest your decision to take away the mares in our care.”
“Oh, you are mistaken,” I clarified. “My goal is to allow them the freedom of choice to as to whether or not they want to remain in your ‘care’.”
Thermal grinned darkly, looking behind him to his fellow nobles and representatives, all of whom shared the same creepy smile. “That would be an unwise decision, Princess, as these mares rely on our care, and they... return our kindness.”
“Are you familiar with Asherah?” I asked, getting a curt nod in return. “She mentioned that Belcusas kept tabs on her family. Would it be reasonable to assume he did so to keep her actions in check, and that you’re doing the same to the mares in your ‘care’?”
Thermal flinched. “I… I am merely suggesting that it would be better for everypony if the status quo went unchanged,” he said with gradually decreasing composure.
All I had to do was talk him down until he crumbled exactly how I wanted.
Scowling, I leaned closer. “If you have been fair and reasonable as to how you’ve been treating ‘your’ mares, then you have nothing to worry about. If they choose to leave, then they have every right to. If they chose to stay, that is up to them. If I find that you’ve been influencing their decision, then you will have me to answer to. Am I clear?”
Thermal’s expression narrowed on me, but I remained impassive.
“Crystal,” he eventually spat.
He turned to leave, but I wasn’t quite done.
“Thermal,” I called to him before he could depart. He stopped, didn’t turn around, but his ears did flick back. “Could you have all of your mares sent up in due time? I would like to talk to them.”
“Of course, Princess.” Thermal didn’t seem adjusted to my new title, but that didn’t matter; I had him exactly where I wanted him. One slip up, and I’d have the excuse I wanted to put him in the dungeon while the mares of his ill-gotten harem made their own decisions.
Thermal and his buddies left, muttering something amongst themselves, but I wasn’t interested as much as I should’ve been. Given how big the line to the throne was, I had my work cut out for me with what I needed to do.
A lot of the other ponies were mares who thanked me from freeing them from the oppression of Belcusas, who declared that a mare’s place was at the hooves of a stallion in doing whatever they asked, and encouraged stallions to take advantage of his declaration. To that end, I offered the hospitality of Celestia and myself at the Castle of the Two sisters if any mare felt the need arise. The stallions were a different story. Though some were disappointed that they couldn’t order somepony around, others were relieved that they were no longer obligated to uphold archaic laws that had no place in the modern world.
Boreas arrived back in due time, looking a lot happier than I thought she would be. I could see that her bags held a few things, most notably the frame of a small painting pressing against the inside of her bag. Seeing that I was rather busy addressing the concerns of the kingdom, she left to do her own thing after I told her what time I’d be done, but things were about to take a turn for the worse.
An hour before I was due back at the castle, I was becoming antsy in my seat as I waited for time to tick down. The throne was more than comfortable, so I didn’t exactly mind all that much. That was when I heard screaming from what sounded like half a dozen ponies rattle my ears from somewhere in the distance, catching everyone in the throne room off guard.
The guards themselves were looking around for the source, wondering what the hell happened, while the civilians began panicking at what the screaming could mean for them.
“Everypony, remain calm!” I ordered over the din of the gradually increasing panic. “Return to your homes, and I will see to this matter!” At least I had the excuse to close up shop early, but that wasn’t my immediate concern.
Mere seconds after I heard the first scream, three mares wearing what looked like sarees burst into the throne room. Panic was writ across their faces, and one garment on a bubblegum-pink mare had a hole in it, the edges of which looked too smooth to have been ripped, and a nasty looking flesh wound on a foreleg.
“M-m-my Queen!” a lime green mare stuttered, bowing deeply. “T-Thermal has one of o-our heard mates hostage!”
“What?!” I didn’t expect hostages to be taken on my first day as Queen. “Take me to her immediately! The rest of you can wait here with the guards.”
Not one to argue, two scared mares stayed put as their companion lead me to Thermal’s manor of a cloud house, and through a hole in a wall I assumed they made on their way out.
On a bed that could’ve easily fit half a dozen ponies mares, including Thermal with room to spare, and that was saying something given the stallion’s size, he had a hoof wrapped around the neck of a pinkish-white mare, his other holding a knife against her neck as her rear hooves kicked out, but they only collided with his kankled legs.
“Thermal!” I said sternly, earning the stallion’s attention. “Let her go now!”
“Why should I do that?” he snarled. “All I’ve ever known is being torn out from under me! There’s nothing left for me now, so I’m going to take away from you what you took away from me!”
“You’re just destroying lives out of spite, Thermal! If you do this, you’re just going to spend the rest of your life in the dungeon for taking somepony else’s!”
“So what?! I’m going to go down standing up for what I believe in!”
“And you want to die a martyr?” I asked, toning down the aggression in my voice. “There’s so much more to the world than what you have in your world. Let her go right now, and I’ll let you walk out of here in one piece. Nopony has to die here, Thermal.”
“I only have one wing, you cow! Do you think I can fly anywhere I want? My whole life has been this kingdom, and I’m not going to let you take it away from me!”
Thermal’s grip on his knife tightened, and his captive screamed bloody murder. As that happened, a blur shot through the hole in the wall and into Thermal, the momentum carrying him through to the next room. He dropped the knife on the bed in the process, and the mare scarpered away and into the embrace of the herd mate who lead me here.
Wondering what the hell exactly happened to Thermal, I poked my head through the hole in the cloud wall to see Boreas standing over him, just as relieved as I was.
“Just in the nick of time,” I said with a sigh of relief.
“I heard the screaming, and one of Thermal’s herd mares told me what happened when I got to the throne room,” Boreas replied. She looked down at the stallion, and poke him with a hoof. “So, what do you want to do with this fatass?” Thermal was unconscious and breathing, but would likely wake up with a wicked headache and a hoof-shaped bruise on his head.
“Stay here and keep an eye on him while I go fetch a couple guards to put him in a holding cell. We’ll take him back to the Castle so I can discuss with Celestia what to do,” I said. “When the guards arrive, come back to the throne room.”
As much as I wanted to call it a day early and get back to the castle before dinner, I had the immediate matter of Thermal’s herd mares to deal with. After I sent a couple guards to meet with Boreas so she could fill them in, I was able to sit down with the mares.
As it turns out, Thermal was trying to coach Maybell, Althena, Aisha, and Pyrrha into telling me they wanted to stay with him when one of them decided they want out, and that’s when things got ugly. I gave the four mares the option of whether to stay in the City, or come to the Castle of the Two sisters with me when I returned.
As it turned out, Althena and Aisha were sisters, the former older than the latter by four years, both of whom had been sold to Belcusas by their father, whom promptly jumped ship, then gave them to Thermal as gifts. They didn’t have anything left in the City, so they were eager to visit Equestria and do some soul searching.
Maybell and Pyrrha had been plucked from the outer district where the peasants largely resided. They didn’t have a home to go back to, so I was more than happy to take them back to the Castle and give them a home and a job.
After the incident with those four, I wondered if Thermal’s buddies would do the same to their mares at all, so when they all arrived from my earlier summons, I explained my position directly to them as the three Lords watched on. They didn’t have to make an immediate decision, I was just giving them more opportunity if they desired it.
To find out if they were denied their right to freedom of choice, I had Boreas remain behind for two days before she was due back to the Castle for work, to monitor the situation and come back with a report.
As the day drew to a close, I had missed dinner at the Castle, but managed to squeeze in the time to invite Asherah and the other mares outside to show them how I lowered. It was a sight they’d never forget.
I left Boreas in charge until I returned on Tuesday evening, and took the staff back with me. I put my own spells and Solid Seals in places that I thought needed them, so only Boreas, Asherah, and myself could come and go to certain areas. Even then, I knew who would come and go.
I wouldn’t say that the day turned out great considering the Thermal incident, but despite that, I went there to accomplish a goal I set for myself, and achieved it. As far as I was concerned, any day is a good day so long as people or ponies didn’t resort to martyrdom. And next week, I planned to return to the City on Saturday to get an update from Asherah, as well as make good on asking the citizens what else they wanted to see changed.
For once, I felt good for what was to come.
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She's lucky there was only one incident. If this was real life and an entire society was forced to change their tune overnight, there would be riots. Possibly a civil war! Heck, even the oppressed caste would likely be divided and more would want things to stay the same than you'd likely think, as happens all the time in reality. I'd give real world examples of this, but I do not want to cause a political debate.
i just thought of something, cloud mages, pegasi that use clouds to form magic, a unicorn trying to handle clouds would only be able to treat it as water, with no special properties, but a pegasi can enchant clouds, coax lightning and water out of them
think of Cloud mages like those Japanese cloud serpents, twisting clouds around them like a ribbon, sending out blasts of lightening with subtle movements of the wings
i'm sure people could imagine all kinds of magics that could be used by cloud mages
and the thing is, unicorns can't out talent them they can't just use magic to do everything the cloud pegasi do and make them obsolete, only pegasi can use cloud magic
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It would be worth mentioning that what you're referring to is what I call 'Weather Magic'. Pegasi are most proficient with it, though that's not to say that only pegasi can use it.
I don't know what this is supposed to be talking about.
In Magical Mystery Cure when Rarity gained Rainbow's cutie mark, she was able to manipulate clouds, lightning, snow, and so on and so forth.
One thing that a friend told me was that, when I pitched him the question of whether or not pegasi could walk on water, mentioned that pegasi magic only works on clouds/water vapour because their magic becomes too saturated to stand on water instead of clouds. On the other hand, Twilight has demonstrated that unicorns can stand on water when she was training with Zecora.
Fun!!!
Nuuuuu!!!
That was the last updated chapter! *runs in circles*
Ahhhhhz!!!! *runs face first into an apple tree* Blerhhgh.
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great, more unicorn supremacy, you could replace every pony with a unicorn and nothing would really change
well at least cloud mages could be a AU thing
Woo an update
This was well worth the time it took to read. An incredible story, one I am happy to have stumbled across.
Character development is key, and often forced or neglected. Kate's transition from spurned office worker to accomplished mage and ruler was seamless, and I am sure there is more to come.
Foreshadowing is a sharp razor indeed. Wielded carelessly, and it will slice the limbs off your story. Your movements with this tool are subtle and masterful.
The last thing I will mention is your rock solid pacing, intertwining exposition with characterization, plot development with dialogue, and just generally using layers appropriately to keep myself and the rest of your audience engaged.
The ambition behind this project is admirable, and I am certainly looking forward to seeing it through.
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To clarify what I meant with my Rarity example, that was to illustrate that unicorns can use Weather Magic, but not all of them. Weather Mages are going to be far less common when it comes to unicorns than pegasi, as pegasi already have an existing affinity for manipulating weather.
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Eeeeeeeee, thanks you so much for the kind words!
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i suppose, a pegasi is far more likely to get a weather-related cutie mark then a unicorn is
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Weather magic falls under a number of sub-classes, including: lightning/electricity, ice and snow, water, air/wind, and so on.
A unicorn could use electricity magic and thus be unaffected by lightning, and likewise a unicorn can use ice magic and be unaffected by cold weather and ice. The exception to this would be Firefly, because fire is a chemical reaction, and not part of the weather.
Unicorns can use one of these sub-classes with great proficiency, but in a different manner than pegasi. What I mean by that is a pegasus can use air magic and water magic to manipulate clouds to generate lightning bolts, but their capabilities fall short of what a unicorn can do with those branches of magic as a whole. In other words, pegasi have components of ice, lightning, water, and air magic, but in small amounts which manifests as a race-specific trait.
I don't have much to say, just wanted to say that I really enjoy your story and that I'm happy every time there's an update.
I disagree with the protagonist's opinion on immortality. The whole reason immortality matters is because it is immortality. Living forever allows you to see and do everything. It removes your sense of worry. Once you've lived long enough, you gain a sense of eternal serenity. Of "I have done everything I want to do and seen everything I want to see. I am content." Then you begin to focus inwards, not outwards. You see your own flaws, and then you fix them.
And then you run out of flaws.
And that is when your depression kicks in.
You've finished the world's biggest to-do list, and there's nothing left.
You find yourself drifting. Detached from the world.
And then, finally, you fade from your own thought.
And that is where immortals go to die.
herd
Dammit Kate, you just had to jinx it.
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9155083
You replied to a comment without actually saying anything?
Doctor who stuff again Love it!
not gonna spoil anything for anypony new and not up to here yet
9140144
Nah. That’s just flat-out wrong. It’s impossible to ‘run out of flaws’. If you had any evidence for these claims I might take them more seriously, but even the oldest people in the world don’t follow those stages.
I'm hoping that the villains get more fleshed out and the conflicts get more nuanced as the story goes on. The concept is sound, but the execution has been a slog to get through so far.
'Kate/Luna is met with unambiguously bad problem, handily solves problem and defeats mentally challenged villains, rinse and repeat' is getting old.
I mean, the world-building is lovely, even if some of the characters seem to be special just for special's sake, and Catherine's situation is interesting enough, but the challenges presented have been lacking by comparison, and the characters come off as flat. Things are happening, yes, but things happening doesn't equate to good character growth and development.
There aren't 2 A's in medieval
Lowered the moon you mean??
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Can I get my cookie now? Pretty please with a cherry on top??