The Importance of Being Civil

by TheAmazingMe

Civil Liberties

As we looked at the damage to Her Royal Highness' chariot, I took a deep breath. We'd been flying back in great haste and thus inadvertently struck a rather large goose. Miraculously, the goose was alive, but the chariot dropped one of its wheels in the collision. Celestia's magic helped us land on an empty street and her guard captain went immediately to secure the wheel while the royal guard medic handled the goose. This entire misadventure had me thoroughly rattled, a fact likely not lost on Celestia. She announced to the medic that we'd continue on hoof, being a few blocks away from the orphanage.

When we drew near, Celestia stopped short. As we were in view of the play yard, I looked over to see the young colt Celestia had claimed as her own. He stood facing away from us, with the large colt I took to be the bully standing between Celestia's colt and the orphanage. "Celestia, you have to do something before he gets hurt!" I urged the princess, but she seemed to be waiting.

"Shh," she hissed at me, "I want to see how he handles this."

I lowered my voice, not that it mattered much being across the street. We just barely were able to see the beginning of this latest bullying episode. It turned my stomach to think that, if this foal really was nobility, I'd be sitting here watching noble blood be shed. "We know what will happen. Whether or not the foal fights back is immaterial. He won't win."

Celestia shook her head. "I'm not looking for him to win."

With how upset she seemed at his earlier state, my mind scrambled to find a reason she'd be so slow to act now. "What are you looking for? Blood?" A familiar tingle caught my muzzle and I was unable to open my mouth again.

Unable to give Celestia the kind of verbal haranguing that I otherwise would have been obliged to do, I stomped a hoof in indignation. As the bully sent the white colt sprawling with a single blow, I lit my horn and sprang forward. But my momentum was suddenly stopped. I felt a familiar magical force holding me at bay.

I caught sight of the foal flipping around to get his hooves underneath himself and stand. I expected him to run, or at the least to curse and spit at his attacker. Instead, he held his head up defiantly and stared the bully down. In a flash, both colts were tussling on the ground.

With her magic now concentrated on stopping me from moving, I managed to hiss through gritted teeth. "Satisfied now?"

She shook her head. "He settles his problems personally. There's something admirable about the way he doesn't run."

In spite of knowing the limits of my own magical abilities, I couldn't idly sit by. My horn sparked a few times until Celestia turned to me. "A colt is getting hurt. Stop it."

"He seems to be getting as good as he's giving. I'd like him to have some closure on this issue before he leaves." Celestia replied, turning back to watch the show. How nopony else noticed this for so long only served to anger me more. She seemed to have the right of it, both colts looked fairly even. Something had changed in the polite young foal we'd seen this morning. He fought like a manticore. Unfortunately, he wasn't used to fighting and wound up underneath the bigger colt once again. I flinched as my hooves hit the ground.

In a blink of an eye, Celestia was there splitting the pair up and staring down the bully. Blueblood was definitely worse off of the two now, the size and strength of the bully playing a huge factor. Scrambling across the street I managed to round up Mrs. Care and her husband, who turned out to be adept enough at healing minor wounds. We got to the pair as Celestia dismissed the bully, who ran straight to Mrs. Care and hid behind her.

"Celestia, please let somepony with more training handle this..." I cut myself off as her horn erupted into a golden glow. Dirt fell back onto the ground and cuts and bruises evaporated. For a moment, he looked at her gratefully. Then, he collapsed.

I sighed, recognizing the signs of a minor healing coma. At least he hadn't gone into shock and stopped breathing. "You know better than to heal everything at once, don't you?" I whispered at her side.

She turned to me and shrugged. "That only applies if you aren't looking to incapacitate your patient. This way it'll be easier for him to travel. And he won't have to be sore doing it."

I stamped my hoof. "He wouldn't have been sore at all if somepony hadn't allowed the fight to continue. What are you testing him for? Isn't he family?"

She had the grace to look ashamed. "You're right, Civil. I will be more careful of the situations I allow him to be in."

Shaking my head, I once again took a step forward to handle the fallout of another of Celestia's eccentric episodes. Then a thought occurred. Turning to face her, I spoke. "Forgive me ma'am, but I feel you're not telling me something."

Celestia lifted an eyebrow, but then shook her head. "Not now, Civil. Let's get back to the train."

Less than satisfied with that response, I curtly handled the matters at hoof and got everypony sorted onto the royal train.

"It is important that I-uh, that Celestia be notified as soon as he is awake. She's rather keen on keeping tabs on him." The guard on duty over Blueblood's suite on the train nodded. As Celestia insisted on Blueblood having a female guard with foal experience, I'd personally chosen Macha Method, a mare with a foal about Blueblood's age.

"I'll take care of him like he was my own." Macha replied, saluting properly.

"See that you do." I said, nodding at her as I made my way back to Celestia's car.

Even though her car and Blueblood's suite we're practically next door to each other, Celestia couldn't help but worry. "Are you sure that I couldn't just have him here in my car?"

Considering how I'd had to inconvenience the Royal Guard captain just to get the closest suite to Celestia's car, I answered quickly. "Your Royal Highness still has matters of state to attend to. The foal would be underhoof."

At her sour look, I sighed. "Blueblood's more likely to sleep through this trip, given the healing he needs to sleep off. We would be disturbing him to keep him here. Macha is more than capable of keeping him calm should he awake with a fright. And I did instruct her to let us know when he awoke."

Celestia nodded. "I insist that he be brought to me as soon as he either awakes or we arrive. I don't care what I'm doing, you will see to it that whatever it is stops so I can devote my full attention to him." She paced the floor a bit, wings ruffling now and then. Finally, she turned back to me. "How much of this do you think has gotten out to the public?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Well, your guards are known to gossip. And that mare at the Vital Records office didn't strike me as all that able to keep her mouth shut. So, assuming it isn't on the front page when we arrive, then you might have a day or two to prepare him for the Royal Presentation."

She heaved a heavy sigh. "Do we have to have a full Presentation?" The weight with which she gave the last word let me know that she knew the answer, but had to have an out.

I was fine being her bad guy. Call it experience. "Well, Griffon King Gilleasbuig I of Griffonstone and his queen once declined to do a Royal Presentation for their younger son for a year. There were so many rumors of their child being malformed that they finally gave in and introduced little Gerhard. The whole debacle quite upset the queen."

Shrugging, Celestia sat on her favorite chair and sighed.

"Now that you've run out of ways to avoid it, we need to talk," I said firmly. "What is this all about?"

Celestia's eyes looked tired. It took her longer than appropriate to respond. "The mare in the moon will be coming home soon."

I blinked. "What?" I asked, eloquently.

"I must swear you to secrecy on this. Tell nopony, discuss it not even on your death bed. Is that understood?" The gravity in her voice grounded me. Then her eyes captivated me. They looked hollow with a bitter sadness I couldn't place.

I responded as a confidante should. "I swear it. By your sun and all I hold dear."

She nodded. The look in her eyes intensified. "An evil force is returning to Equestria in a few years. I banished it almost a millennia ago, but that was not enough. The stars will aid in her escape from the moon. Nightmare Moon will return."

I spared a glance back towards the foal we'd practically stolen. "And this colt can stop her?"

For a being as old as she, a shrug was uncommonly common. "Perhaps. But not alone. I have many candidates. Many students. In the end, it will likely take as many as six to do what must be done. One for each Element of Harmony."

The phrase was antiquated, but somewhat familiar. My teacher, the etiquette master DeBray spoke of an ancient set of attributes once associated with the crown. "Laughter, kindness, loyalty, truth and generosity. I thought those were just ideals that you wished to uphold a long time ago. But what is this sixth?"

She shook her head and cast an illusory charm to illustrate her points. Different colored gems appeared, the sixth differing greatly from the others in shape. "These six elements are not just ideals, but powerful emblems with enough potential to perform great feats."

I cocked my head."How do you know they're real?"

The odd gem and two others drew closer to her."I once wielded them. Well, I wielded them alongside another. And I want to return that partner to my side. But I can no longer wield the elements. When I used them to banish Nightmare Moon, I fell out of harmony."

I felt the panic in my chest rise as I thought of what this meant. "You would place a great weight on some unknown unicorn."

"I have no other choice," she stated simply.

I took a deep breath in and released it through my nose. "You are right not to place all your eggs in one basket. Your protege, Sunset, she is another candidate?"

Celestia nodded as she stood. "Naturally. Although I fear she may be too ambitious. We must keep her away from Blue until I'm more certain that she is ready."

"Would one pony wield them all? Or six?" I couldn't quite decide which was more terrifying.

She set the Imaginary gems around her in orbit. "I doubt one pony could. I barely could. I'm certain it will likely take six, but it will require something else. A spark of some magic I have yet to fully understand." The odd star-shaped gem stopped orbiting her and she took it in her hoof.

The Royal Guard Captain knocked, then poked his head in. "Your Royal Highness, the council from the EFS is here to speak to you about your plans on publicizing your recent... adoption? Also, I scheduled some time with you afterwards to remind you about the rules concerning leaving your security escort."

Celestia quickly banished the illusion. "I'm sure both conversations will be greatly productive."

The captain's look turned deadpan. "I'd certainly hope so."

"Civil." She said my name like the command it was and I turned to make sure things were set correctly for entertaining the EFS council. Celestia went to her private corner of the car and closed the door. She'd emerge looking fresh and ready to personally apologize for this and smooth over that.

"Please show them in, captain." I said, forcing a smile. Let the world burn around me, I knew what my job was and how to do it well.

Author's Note:

I don't even want to think about how long ago I'd finished this chapter. I don't know how I forgot about it. Let's just chalk it up to working on too many things at once.