Chapter 31: Sweetie Belle part two
“It is our intention to develop peaceful relations with England.” Princess Celestia stated. "A couple of years in their school of magic isn’t going to hurt Sweetie academically.” Celestia hesitated a moment. “Sweetie, I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like you to attend the summer session here so that you don’t fall too far behind. Louise and the others will be invited as well.”
“Including Nova?” Sweetie Asked.
“I think we can schedule around any difficulties.” Celestia offered with a big smile.
“Oh, and how about Hermione?” Sweetie asked.
“Hermione?” Celestia asked with just a slight tilt of the head.
“Just a friend, close, but not so close I’d want to include her in any future plans as to who I’d want to herd with,” Sweetie explained. “She loves learning. - Though she did make a certain problem worse.”
“Certain problems?” Lady Duchess Blueblood asked. “Could that mean a certain rumor is true?”
“The filly in question is of age, and has joined into a herd agreement with two other mares.” Celestia offered. “If that is what you are referring to?”
“Forgive me, but I’ve only heard rumors.” Duchess offered apologetically. “Will there be any public announcements?”
“These other two mares, what sort of social background do they come from?” Lord Blueblood asked.
“One is the widowed bride of a local chieftain, and the other a fairly formidable alicorn.” Celestia offered. Her smile had shifted to a smirk. Princess Celestia had no qualms about building up Nova and Alalme’s credentials in the eyes of the Canterlot elites.
“But I thought?” sweetie asked in a whisper.
“There is more to being a princess then simply ascending,” Celestia whispered back. “She has a remarkable command of weather magic and I even witnessed her raise the moon once.”
“She raised the moon?”
“Somehow convinced Nightmare Moon to lend her power, and kept the shadow pony who’d possessed her at bay while she did it,” Celestia answered softly.
“Seriously?”
“It may not have been by her power alone, but she did indeed do it. Which is a far cry above any average unicorn.” Celestia offered.
“Wow,” Sweetie said softly. “So um, Hermione?”
“We’ll just have to have Luna see about inviting her. I’m sure it’ll be very interesting, and possibly even an enlightening experience for her.”
“I bet Harry wouldn't mind coming. He’s not exactly the most studious individual, but then he’d as likely do anything to get away from his Aunt’s family.” Sweetie offered. “Downside is he’s, well, ignorant of pony kind.”
“What’s that?” Duchess asked.
“With the exception of the Pegasi, most of the English know little to nothing about Equestria.” Celestia offered. “Something we are not in a hurry to remedy due to concerns of national security.” Celestia took a breath. “While I feel I can trust that Sweetie and our other precious ponies will be safe enough, I do not trust the English. Specifically the magic users in their society. Instead of rising to leadership positions to lift their world into prosperity, as has been done in Equestria, they antagonize, marginalize, and withdraw into authoritarian camps. They look down upon their fellow beings. So much so that they have disdained all knowledge derived from the non-magical, and have become quite ignorant of the advancements of the mundane society that surrounds them.” Celestia gave her words a moment to sink in. “To be bluntly honest about the only thing the Wizards offer us is their unique methods of magic use. We have far more to gain from the mundane nonmagic user. They are clever and innovative.”
“But why do we even bother?” Prince asked. His tone a mixture of concern with his usual haughtiness.
“Because they are aware of us. Fortunately, they do not as of yet know the full truth of the matter, and owing to the inherent nature of the species, we are crafting a nice fiction that we hope will throw them off the sent.” Celestia offered. “In the meantime, we wish to learn as much about their societies as we may.”
“I see.” Lord Blueblood said in quiet contemplation.
“Well, I still don’t like it,” Prince grumbled. Prince Blueblood's response was from a place of ignorance having been left out of the loop, and yet if he had known the full truth he might well have reacted with more than just grumbling. What’s more is that he was determined to find out as much as he could, and spent the remainder of the luncheon plying Sweetie Belle for information. Something Sweetie found rather confusing, but saw no reason not to tell him, but did take care concerning what she actually revealed.
“Sweetie, have you put any thoughts into who you might wish to herd with?” Duchess asked causing a halt in Prince’s line of questioning. Even he gave her an odd look. It hadn’t occurred to Prince that his mother might want to arrange something for the filly she all but denied the existence of. No doubt to gain more political clout for herself.
“I’ve kind of already got a herd.” Sweetie offered. “It’s just a matter of filing an official declaration of intent.”
“Declaration of intent?” Rarity asked feeling like she’d just been kicked in the gut. Celestia shifted a hoof over to rest it on Rarity’s hoof.
“We were going to discuss this issue later,” Celestia said softly.
“Princess Celestia, I just happen to know of some ideal candidates who are well placed.” Duchess offered.
“Mother, it would seem to me that you’d have less say in this matter than I do.” Prince protested.
“And you don’t exactly have any say. At all.” Rarity reminded him. Sweetie just looked at the two as a feeling of horror began to slowly creep over her.
“Now now...” Celestia said softly. She cleared her throat, and then in a voice, everyone could hear, announced that Sweetie had been invited to join into an 'Intent to Herd' contract. “It’s a good offer, and as we have yet to discuss the issue, all competing offers will simply have to go through the standard channels to be considered in their turn.” Celestia smiled realizing that Nova must have known something like this was coming up.
“Dare I ask who?” Rarity asked giving Celestia a curious look.
“Princess Nova Moon. The same alicorn who took Louise Magnus into her herd.” Celestia offered.
“Did this Princess go through proper channels?” Duchess asked with her usual haughty tone. She was presently racking her brains as to who Princess Celestia could be talking about, but the only Nova Moon she knew of was Twilight’s little mutt.
“She made her intentions known to me this morning,” Celestia replied. “Her rank allows her direct access.” Princess Celestia’s pronouncement caused every eye in the place to widen in surprise. “The herd in question presently includes Princess Louise Magnus, Lady Alalme Silverwood, and Princess Nova Moon of Arcadia.”
“Um, what about Apple Bloom?” Rarity asked. "I always just assumed it'd be the three of you."
“She was invited too.” Sweetie Belle offered.
“Princess Nova and Lady Alalme are widowed, and as they’d developed a close relationship with the Crusaders, they brought Louise into their little herd as soon as they knew there was an egg involved,” Celestia explained. Her smile faded. Going with a variety of the fiction they told the humans was certainly a reasonable way to avoid having to explain the truth. “Seems the father was a member of Lady Alalme’s family.”
“Was?” Fleur deLis asked.
“Their family was devastated by a monster that had taken a liking to pegasi eggs,” Celestia announced. “The new settlement on the edge of the Everfree is made up of her clan's ponies. They were forced from their homes thanks to the irresponsible practice of releasing nonnative creatures into the forest they lived in.”
“Creatures?” Jet Set asked.
“Giant pony eating spiders,” Sweetie informed her.
“The glen they lived in was torched to exterminate the spiders. This was one case where killing the spiders with fire really was the most appropriate response. The bulk of the clan really had nowhere else to go, so we invited their families to move to Equestria.” Celestia informed them. Celestia was also well known for using extreme measures to kill spiders that were unwary enough to crawl into her apartments. Just ask Luna. “They’ve chosen that specific patch of Everfree because it is the place their ancestors once called home. These English pegasi are the lost foals spoken of in legends concerning the battle between myself and Nightmare Moon. They have lived in England for countless generations, and now they are home.”
Princess Celestia, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle casually walked down a palace corridor shortly after the luncheon had ended. Sweetie wasn’t too sure if she’d ever get used to ponies bowing as they passed by, but then, she was in the company of the ranking princess of Equestria. But then that’s not what was troubling her, not this day.
“Care to share?” Rarity asked Sweetie. She knew there was something bothering Sweetie.
Sweetie worked her jaw for a moment as she formulated what she wanted to say. “What is going on between you and Prince Blueblood?”
“Right offhand, I’d call it a love-hate relationship.” Celestia offered with a smirk on her face. “He does seem to have matured over the years.”
“Sweetie, Prince and I go all the way back to when we were in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” Rarity offered.
“And I am so glad you are not the same pony now that you were then.” Celestia offered with a nuzzle.
“My behavior was rather out of line wasn’t it?”
“You cared less for your studies than you did in trying to convince the foals from noble families you were one of them.”
“I so wanted to be part of the elite and everything that goes with it,” Rarity offered, sounding rather wistful. “I realized later that they knew I was a fraud.” She let out a sigh and moved to give Sweetie a hug. Sweetie backed off. “I’m sorry, I’m not proud of what I did.”
“What you did?” Sweetie asked.
“Prince Blueblood was my colt friend at the time. He was just using me, I knew it...” Rarity had a hurt look in her eyes. “It’s only fair I tell you before you find out from the gossips. I tried to entrap Prince. All I cared about was gaining that status. It never occurred to me his family would never recognize me as his wife.”
“You did get a sizable stipend out of it.” Princess Celestia offered.
“Which my parents squandered on trips around the world,” Rarity stated. “My business success is thanks to my hard work. Would you believe that when I went to that first Gala I honestly thought things would be different? That I could rekindle that relationship. After all, I had a successful business, I’d helped save the world, and had even been knighted.”
“You can’t rekindle a relationship that never truly existed though.” Celestia offered.
“Entrapment?” Sweetie whispered. Denial had set in.
“I know that now, and it was a hard lesson to learn,” Rarity offered with a tone of resignation. “Sweetie, he’s your father.”
“You know that in the eyes of the law you are married to him.” Celestia offered to Rarity.
“What? - How does that even work?” Rarity asked.
“Any coupling is automatically registered via a citywide detection spell.”
“What?” Rarity asked.
“Father?!” Sweetie exclaimed breathlessly. Anger. The Nile would break its banks at any moment.
“It was put into place to protect the nobility from false claims and has the added benefit of discouraging the nobility from playing the field with their servants. The fact that they gave you a stipend only helps to cement the union. In the eyes of the law at least, he’s your husband, and the only way to change that is to get a divorce. Dear sweet Duchess would never do that because she doesn’t understand how the law works. The only thing she cared about was getting rid of a gold digger, and doing damage control.”
“Where does that leave us then?” Rarity asked sounding like she was getting ready to go into a panic.
“Well, I’d imagine that it makes him our consort.” Celestia offered as she mulled it over in her mind. “I wonder if he knows?”
At that moment the rubber band that kept Sweetie’s brain going snapped, and she let out a high-pitched scream. A continuous high pitched scream. A talon reached up to cover the ear that was sticking out of the wall, discord fell out of said wall, and began rolling on the ground laughing while every window within the space of a thousand of Celestia’s wingspans shattered.
Putting a hoof on Sweetie’s mouth only stopped her momentarily.
Sorry, not sorry. Poor Sweetie. 
Just a heads up, what with summer activities things may be a little slow. All depending on how inspired I am at any given moment. This chapter and the one before really should have been one chapter, but it was a bit like slogging through mud for some reason.
And with this one, I'm thinking of taking a break. I'm kind of working on another update, but it's summer. I'm mostly just ready for a break.
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Geez, no wonder that Blue hated Rarity at the Gala.
Woot, another one from Aiko, thank you!
9707811
Ya, this is where the satire gets heavy. In the episode where they go to that first gala, Rarity has one thing on her mind, and that is to rope herself a well-placed stallion, and who better than Prince Blueblood. After all, he's good looking, well placed in Canterlot society, and is close enough to Princess Celestia that he can call her Aunt and get away with it. We sympathize with her and see Blueblood as the heavy. Blueblood the snob who ruined Rarity's gala experience. Never mind that he's likely already got a special somepony. How could he not, he's Canterlot's most eligible Batchelor. But if we take another look at this, he could have simply given her the brush off. That is if she'd have listened. Instead, he does everything he can think of to discourage her without breaking her heart in the process. In the end, his night was ruined as well. Rarity wasn't a protagonist, she was the antagonist, and the way I present their relationship completely flips the dynamics between the two characters. Even in the canon material, Rarity was just a young mare barely older than a filly. In this AU, Celestia only started showing interest well after Rarity had a chance to grow up a little.
9798140
That is intentional.
It's a joke.
The Philosopher's stone is gone. Forever.
It's already been stated in the story that the Philosopher's stone is gone.
It can't be gone and safe at the same time.
he's a dirty old man.
This is the second time, maybe even fourth or fifth time I've had to explain that one.
If you are speed reading and/or all you are doing is looking for mistakes - stop.
Unless it's something major that all the people before you including myself missed - I no longer want to hear about it.
this is good i have reread this story 6 times over the summer and it still keeps me entertained keep up the good work . btw how was your summer vacation go anywhere special or just hang out around the house all summer:P
9823782
Mostly hanging out. Had my big bro show up for a weak. He helped me chop firewood.
I hadn't done a lot of writing, but I am slowly plodding along. I want a significant amount of material and/or have it more or less finished before I post more. I've also some other ideas I've been playing with. Not sure what if any of it I'll post. Think I understand why people do multiple projects now. Can't think of what to do with one, work on something else.
9849566
OK, got the spelling, and the extra 'and' was intentional. Also, no apostrophe on 'Hogwarts Express'. Titles don't have to follow standard sentence structure, and 'Hogwarts express' doesn't get an apostrophe on the web site, the signs, or the train. They'll throw in a 'TM' otherwise the apostrophe is only necessary within the text short of a character pointing it out in the story. Harry: Hey Ron, did you ever notice that they never put an apostrophe on Hogwarts Express? Ron: I'm a wizard Harry, I never went to muggle English, you know that.
9273488
No the Basilisk was originally described to look like and based off of a king cobra. While the cockatrice was originally depicted as a chicken dragon hybrid. Europe got the legends crossed and saw them as synonymous because of the similarities in how the are hatched. A serpent/toad egg hatched by a cockrel for a Basilisk and a cockrel egg hatched by a serpent/toad for a Cockatrice.
9890023
Keep in mind that I'm mainly working off what is depicted in the movie, versus what is in European bestiaries. If the Europeans got it wrong that's not my fault. Also, keep in mind that this is an AU. My interpretation of the source material. I'm not an expert.
Also Pliny the Elder's basilisk (Roman) was a small lethal snake of no more than twelve inches. It approached prey in much the same way as a cobra and could set fire to bushes and smash stones by breathing on them. Even if we increase its size to a full-grown cobra it's still not the Basilisk in the Harry Potter book. By the time Hollywood finished with it, it could hardly be considered a basilisk anymore.