Chapter 6 - Unwanted Promotion
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Both Silver Quill and Windsor were still standing a little ways from me in the Throne Room. My butler held a handkerchief in front of his muzzle with one hoof, his magic still holding the ice pack to the base of his horn.
“No, my Lord Regent,” croaked Silver Quill, using a formal title that I’d never heard from her before.
Sitting on the ground, between them and I, are my torc and sash.
I turned pleading eyes to my butler, but he was already shaking his head.
“It's true, Master Stroke, sir,” he coughed. “I thought that you knew.”
“Of course I didn’t know,” I shot back, taking another step away from the two items and the two of them. “How would I have known?”
“Have you ever seen me sit at Princess Celestia’s side as you do?” asked Silver Quill incredulously.
“No,” I admitted. “But she did threaten-”
“Because of your elevated position!” she shouted before lapsing into another coughing fit. I took several more steps back, quadruple layered protection spells or not, I was taking no chances.
I was just able to keep myself from bolting.
Windsor helped the still coughing mare to the floor, rubbing her back, before turning his face back to me.
Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the arrival of several Solar Praetorian stallions. At the head of their number was the Praetorian General, Morning Glory. Behind them, a small continent of Lunar Sentinels.
Morning Glory approached, removed her violet helm, and bowed to me as she shook her cropped mane loose of the magical tie that held it in place.
“Your orders, my Lord?”
“Not you too,” I groaned.
The new arrival cocked her head to one side and looked to Windsor and Silver Quill.
“Apparently,” croaked my butler. “Nopony told Master Stroke his actual position.”
The Praetorian General turned back to look at me, a serious look in her cold and sharp emerald eyes. She was a powerfully built mare with a cerulean mane and sculpted muscles coiled under her cream coat. She, like me, had a multi-layer bubble around her head.
The two of us would not ever be considered friends, but we were, at least, cordial to one another.
“Lord Regent,” she started, her voice hard and commanding. “The Solar Praetorians and Lunar Sentinels await your word.”
Regent.
There was that word again.
Not just Regent either, I was Regent of the Moon, sole representative of Her Shimmering Royal Majesty, Princess Luna, Lady of the Night and Guardian of Dreams, The Night Mother. The Lunar Herald and Adjudicator Primus.
When I still didn’t reply, Morning Glory snorted derisively and grabbed up my torc in her azure magic.
For a moment, I thought that she was going to slip it over her own head and take responsibility for herself.
No such luck.
She, unceremoniously, looped it over my muzzle and dropped the heavy silver metal collar around my neck, the Lunar crest jangling loudly.
“You are Princess Luna’s Regent, Lord Stroke,” the Praetorian General snarled. “Mare up and act like it.”
I turned and looked at all the ponies gathered in the Throne Room, taking the time to look each and every one of them in the eye, watching their reactions, their postures, everything.
As a whole, they were scared.
Of course, many were fighting the effects of the illness, I could see suppression rings around several horns, coverings over thestral and pegasi wings, and still others with uncomfortable looking urticaria.
Princess Celestia had been gone for months before her return and Chaos had almost broken Equestria.
I would not let that happen again.
“Evacuate the Palace,” I ordered after clearing my throat. “Every pony, other than myself and the Princesses, is to be out of the castle by nigh- nine this evening.”
I had almost said ‘nightfall’.
“From there, the entire city of Canterlot is to be quarantined, no pony in, no pony out.”
I turned to Morning Glory.
“Praetorian General, send your fastest fliers with messages to every city within Equestria, and our allies, apologizing for the unusual patterns of the Sun and Moon for the next few weeks. Further apologize to our allies for the temporary cessation of trade, we do not want to run the risk of spreading this further than it has to go.”
“Sir-”
“These fliers are then to gather reports from mayors and governors on the local health of every city that they go to. Should they encounter any indication of illness similar to what we face here, they are to fully quarantine the city. Should we be so lucky as to find the illness localized to Canterlot and our surroundings, they should impose regulations so as to control the spread of SAD.”
The Praetorian General looked decidedly uncomfortable.
“From there, I want you and your guard to open the food stores and make sure that everypony within the city has food and clean water. Medications and help will be provided to everypony in need.”
I paused, trying to remember my old pandemic training and several similar situations in the fiction books that I had read.
“What about you, Lord Regent?” Silver Quill wheezed.
I turned to her, cocking my head to one side.
“What about me?”
“Why are you staying?”
“My medical training might be old and for an entirely different species,” I sighed. “But I do know enough to get the Princesses through this.”
Morning Glory opened her mouth to say something, I cut her off.
“I do not want power, Praetorian General. I don’t want to be in charge at all. Trust me when I say this: Once Princess Luna is no longer ill, I will be having words with her about this position that I find myself in.”
She snorted and shook her head.
“Not what I was going to ask,” the armored mare nickered at me. “Nor do I think that is what Silver Quill meant either.”
“It wasn’t,” confirmed the other mare.
“Then ask the right question,” I scowled.
“Fine,” my butler cut in with a roll of his eyes. “Why are you the only pony staying?”
“I don’t follow.”
“You are Regent, Lord Stroke,” Morning Glory said, as though it explained everything.
It probably did, but I still didn’t understand.
“You are, in all intents and purposes,” she continued, sneering. “The Ruler of Equestria, you cannot be left here alone, defenseless.”
Oh.
“At the moment,” I said after a long moment. “I don’t think that that matters.”
“Explain.”
It wasn’t a question.
I opened my mouth and was promptly cut off.
“Actually, don’t.” Morning Glory scowled, stamping her right hoof. “You’re just going to spout off some horseapples that I don’t care about.” She then added after a moment. “Lord Regent.”
My teeth clicked together audibly as I snapped my mouth shut.
“You don’t get to make this decision,” she continued, marching up and inspecting several members of both guard forces that had attended her. “You, you, and you,” She pointed at three healthy pegasi, “Stay here and await the Lord Regent’s message to our allies and cities. The rest of you are with me.”
She then rounded on me.
“In matters of the Princess’s safety, and yours for that matter, you don’t get to make the decisions, I do.”
“The risk of infection for untrained ponies is too high!” I countered.
“Then I’ll find you field medics to stay as well.”
I snarled wordlessly at her and flared my wings. For her part, she growled back at me and got as in my face as the magical bubbles around our heads would allow.
We stayed like that, posturing for a position of dominance, for several long minutes, our anger and frustration with each other plain for everypony to see.
Then, Windsor coughed.
Suddenly, the two of us were very aware of our audience and we backed away from each other.
“Praetorian General,” I ground out through clenched teeth, letting my wings fold themselves back against my barrel.. “A word. Everypony else,” I paused and looked around, breaking eye contact with the mare in front of me. “Get out. Now.”
Many of the guard didn’t move, but one look from Morning Glory got them trooping out in good order. Windsor and Silver Quill needed assistance in leaving, two of the Lunar Sentinels scooped them both up on their backs and marched them out.
“Lord Stroke?” She Solar mare said bemusedly, giving me a cocky grin, her anger seemingly forgotten.
“Drop the horseapples Glory,” I ground out through still clenched teeth. “You don’t buy this ‘Regent’ business anymore than I do.”
“You’re wrong.”
“What?” I asked, wrong-hooved.
“I do ‘buy it’ as you said, I don’t like it, have no fear of that, but I do ‘buy it.’” She shook her head and gave me the most real expression that I’d ever seen on her face.
She wasn’t being formal, she wasn’t being derisive, and she wasn’t filtering.
Morning Glory, The Praetorian General, was just as terrified as the others had been.
“You are, without a doubt, the most un-pony pony that I’ve ever met,” she continued, ignoring the way that I was studying her face. “You’re formal when others are informal and vice versa. You don’t socialize, you don’t sing, you don’t fly despite having wings,” she held up a hoof to stop me interrupting her. “I know you’re working on that last one, but it took you six years to get there. You’re also closer to Her Majesty, Princess Luna, than any pony, other than her sister, ever in written history. She looks up to and trusts you with everything that she has.”
She dropped her hoof and leveled an intense glare right into my eyes.
“In short, you are a threat.”
I recoiled from the accusation.
“But,” she continued, her expression softening. “Despite literally having all of the power of a High Noble of Canterlot with none of the responsibilities, you don’t do anything with it. In fact, you seek out extra menial and, frankly, exhausting work. You haul and push and work yourself to the point of dropping dead, and then, on top of that, you take a bath and stay up the entire night performing the duties as secretary rather than assigning somepony else.”
She shook her head.
“You know, at first, I was with her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia, in not trusting you. You had my Praetorians following you everywhere you went, just waiting for you to set one hoof out of line. Did you know that?”
I hadn’t, but given how shut off I had been, I wasn’t surprised.
“Do you know what we found?” Morning Glory hadn’t stopped, it was like a dam had finally burst within her breast and all of this was finally coming out. “We didn’t find a single thing. Nothing. Eventually, I had to refuse the order of the Princess to continue the vigil. It was a waste of time and resources that could be put to better use.” She chuckled under her breath. “Almost lost my job because of that.”
She looked back up at me.
“But it was worth it,” She actually smiled at me. “You are a good pony. As much as you don’t act like it, you are.”
“I don’t know what to say to that,” I replied awkwardly, looking down and poking at the scarlet and gold runner on the floor.
“You wouldn’t,” she snorted. “Most stallions would have fallen over themselves if a mare told them all that.”
I took a step back, unsure of how to process that statement.
“Oh, come off it,” She laughed. “I have a very nice herd to go home to, I’m not about to try to add a stallion into the mix.”
With a nervous chuckle of my own, I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Now,” she continued, the mirth fading from her face and voice. “I believe you wanted a word, Lord Regent.”
She was right, I did, but, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what it was.
“You forgot, didn’t you?” she asked after several long minutes of silence.
“It had something to do with your insistence on putting guards on me,” I admitted, rubbing my chin with the back of one wing. “But I don’t remember the specifics.”
“You have a few hours before we seal the palace,” she said as she turned and started to trot towards the doors that her Solar Praetorians had walked out of. “I’m sure that you’ll remember between then and now, just send a runner.”
“Thank you,” I called after her, before she could leave the Throne Room.
“For what?”
“For trusting me. For everything you said.”
She gave me a small smile and a nod before leaving.
/＼ ^._.^ ／\
I could hear the sound of hooves on the marble floor in the Throne Room from my hiding place in the antechamber.
In the time since my return to The Palace, Morning Glory and I had talked, argued and fought over almost every single detail regarding the quarantining of Canterlot and, potentially, every city from here all the way to The Frozen North.
The Praetorian General gathered several members of both guard forces into the Throne Room for a formal charging of duty. I was told that it was tradition that the Princess, or, in my case, Regent, would give a small speech to new guards before taking their oaths to protect Equestria.
This wasn’t the same thing, but I was still expected to say a few words.
My reflection stared back at me from the large, gold-framed mirror set into one wall.
Like usual, the pony in the mirror was tired, worn-out, and slumped. His coat was a dull burgundy and his coal-black mane was in shambles. The only thing that looked like it was in order was the torc hung around his neck and the midnight blue and black sash draped around his barrel.
I shifted my bat-like wings and sighed, there really was no use in putting it off any longer.
Turning and approaching the door, I squared my shoulders and held my head high. As I entered the Throne Room proper, magical isolation bubbles snapped into place over my head; I nodded my thanks to the casters.
“Atten-shun!” bellowed the mare nearest the door I had walked through, her voice echoing throughout the entire chamber.
In perfect unison, one hundred armored and armed ponies came to attention and saluted.
My hooves clicked against the marble steps as I climbed the dais and turned to look out over the sea of Sentinels and Praetorians. To the head of the Lunar Sentinels were Evening Song’s twelve secondary commanders, the Custodi Mare, wardens of the Lunar Seas. Their opposite stood in formation around Praetorian General Morning Glory, Celestia’s personal Coronal Aegis.
“As you were,” my voice rang out in the silent room.
In less than perfect unison, they relaxed into parade rest. There was the shuffling of wings, the stamping of hooves, and more than a little coughing and sneezing.
Unable to help myself, I found myself watching them.
I knew that Morning Glory expected something short and quick, probably along the lines of “You have your orders, do your Princesses proud,” and for me to just send them out.
Moon and stars above, I knew that’s what Princess Celestia would have expected me to do.
Princess Luna wouldn’t have blamed me if that was all that I did.
I even opened my mouth to do just that.
But, right as those words were on the tip of my tongue, Evening Song’s face flashed into my mind, and the silent promise that I had made.
Evening Song didn’t have anything to worry about as long as I was there.
“You know,” I started with a chuckle, my voice easily carrying out over the sea of ponies staring up at me. “This is not a situation that I thought that I would ever find myself in, being in charge, sending ponies out into danger.”
A nervous giggle ran through them and I could see Morning Glory’s head cock just slightly to one side.
“That’s not something that I take lightly,” I continued. “And it's certainly not something that I want to do either, not without being there with you all; helping and doing my part.”
I held up one hoof to stop the Morning Glory from interjecting.
“I know that the Praetorian General would prefer if I kept this short, and I had originally planned to,” I sighed and sat back on my haunches. “But as I look at all of you, and knowing that there are more of you all that couldn’t be here with us, I feel like I need to say a few more words.”
“Look at me,” I got back to my hooves and stretched out both of my wings, pushing my barrel forward and my head back. “I’m a simple thestral, not an alicorn, not royalty of any kind. Just like every single one of you.”
They exchanged glances with each other and whispering broke out.
“And like all of you, no matter if you admit it to yourselves or not, I’m just as afraid as you are.”
Morning Glory’s eyes widened, she was unable to stop herself from doing it.
“I’m afraid that our world will never be the same, that our beloved Princesses won’t get better, or that I’ll lose somepony that I care about. I’m not judging, you’d all be fools to not have similar thoughts running through your heads somewhere.”
The Custodi Mare watched, silent, their eyes searching my face, confused expressions on their own.
“And you’re not fools.”
I let that statement hang in the air, silencing their whispers.
“Fear is going to be a player in the next few weeks ahead,” I continued. “Make no mistake about that. Fear of the unknown, fear of the sickness running throughout your fellow ponies, fear for your loved ones.”
Despite being trained and well conditioned guards, I could see panic rising in them.
“But,” I modified, catching the eyes of the guards standing in the front. “You get to decide how much that fear is going to control you. You can spend these days, these weeks, maybe even months, worrying about the pathway to the future. Making rash and split decisions based on that primal feeling that you don’t know what blow is going to come next nor where it is going to come from.”
No pony made a sound as I paused again.
“In those moments, when all you can see is darkness, I want you to pause.”
Heads cocked and eyebrows raised as I paused.
“I want you to pause and take a deep breath,” I took a deep breath, pulling one hoof up in front of my muzzle as I did so and lowering it as I breathed out. “Refocus on the moment. The pony in front of you, the pony to your side, and the ponies that you have waiting for you at home, all of them are going through the same thing that you are. They are just as afraid as you or I am, and they are afraid for the exact same reasons.”
“What happens then, what happens right in front of your face, is the only thing that matters, it is the only thing that will ever matter.” I could see that they were starting to understand my point, heads were nodding and a few of them had smiles on their faces. “The decisions that you make in that moment, which are either based on fear or on love, will change Equestria forever.”
I paused again and closed my eyes, the words were there, I just had to let them flow through me.
“My father was an engineer, he moved from his homelands to where I was born, all for the opportunity to build and design. He was a hard stallion,” Brows furrowed at the non sequitur, they didn’t see the point of my mentioning my sire. “Always expected the absolute best from me and my sister, he taught me that it was hard work and dedication that made the world turn.”
I didn’t like talking about my past nor the family that I had left behind, it was a painful subject that I didn’t feel had a purpose here. That life was gone.
“But that wasn’t the only thing that he taught me,” I snorted at myself, dad would have kicked my flanks if he’d ever heard this. “Father would say that there would come a moment in my life, a choice that I would have to make, that would change everything that I knew about myself and my world forever.”
I could see further looks dawning comprehension appear on faces. Even Morning Glory had stopped looking like she wanted to interrupt me.
“Each and every one of you will have one of those moments while on this duty, probably more than one.”
Huffing, I shook my head and readjusted my wings before continuing.
“I watched the effect of my father’s love and generosity towards his fellows, literally change the world around him. And I thought to myself ‘that’s something I want to do someday.’ I want to be able to help ponies. So, every day, while on duty, I want you to think to yourselves: ‘What do these ponies need that my talent can provide?’”
“That is all that you have to figure out.”
Smiles stretched over the faces of the Custodi Mare, they had caught on to my point first.
“I may not have done exactly what you are about to go out and do, physically go, physically go and stand as a shield for friends and family, but I was on the frontlines for different battles. Battles of the body, of sickness, and pain. Armed, not with sword, spear and shield, but with a stethoscope and a thermometer.”
I looked up and over them, jumping as The Palace shook violently with a magical surge from one of the Princesses.
“And I can tell you,” I continued, regathering their lost attention back to myself. “The effect that you will have on others when choosing love over fear, is the single most valuable thing there is.”
“When you are faced with that choice, remember, it’s not your fame, your rank, nor your power that will outlast you. It will be what was in your heart that gets etched across the stars.”
I closed my eyes, taking a few breaths before spreading my wings open with a snap and held them at full extension.
“When you walk through those doors today, you will only ever have two choices: Love or Fear.”
When I opened my eyes, I took a very long time to meet the eyes of every single pony, holding them firm in place. They were still scared, and I wanted to make sure that they knew that that was okay. Fear is not the mind killer, fear is an obstacle to overcome.
“Choose to rise above fear. Choose Love.”
/＼ ^._.^ ／\
As soon as the last guard left the Throne Room, I crumpled to the dais, my legs totally unable to hold me up a moment longer.
The soft swooshing sound of Morning Glory’s magic pulled me up to my haunches and pressed a goblet of cool water into my hooves.
“Are you alright, Lord Regent?” She asked. She and the Coronal Aegis had approached the dais but only the Praetorian General had placed a hoof up on the steps leading towards the throne.
“No formalities Morning Glory, please,” I said after draining the goblet and waving a hoof in her general direction. “I’ve just had enough formalities to last the rest of my life.”
“As you say, Feather,” she continued, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
“Let’s never, ever do that again,” I groaned. “You can give the next speech, Morning.”
“You weren’t really supposed to give a speech, Lord Regent,” explained the Custodi Mare Crisium, a thestral stallion whose name escaped me.
“I know,” I chuckled as I rolled onto my side.
“Then why did you?”
“Don’t know,” I admitted, resting my head on the cool marble. “I have no idea where those words came from. One minute I was just going to say four, maybe six words, the next, all of that was there and coming out of my mouth.”
I took a few moments in the silence that hung in the air to stretch mightily against the astonishingly cool stone beneath me, sighing as I felt the vertebrae in my spine pop.
“Oh yeah,” I moaned. “That’s the stuff.”
Several of the Custodi snickered behind their hooves and I could feel the eye rolls of the Coronal Aegis.
“Are you done?” asked Morning Glory.
“Just about,” I groaned as I twisted my neck with a quick jerk, the popping of those joints felt like heaven. I got back to my hooves and had to fight the grin that almost spread to my cheeks at the disgusted looks I was getting from the Morning Glory and the rest of her cadre. “Okay, I’m done.”
“About the guard force to remain behind…” Started the Praetorian General.
“I already told you, Morning,” I cut in, holding a wing up to stop her. “No more than eight from the Sentinels and another eight from the Praetorians. I will not budge on that.”
“It’s not enough.”
“It’s perfectly enough. A rotating eight hour shift of two for each princess, that leaves a pair of ponies to have a full day off before rejoining their peers. Plus it also minimizes the chances for possible infection vectors spreading to a larger force.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to be spending the vast majority of my time within their chambers, I will be well within the protection of anypony standing guard outside.”
“And the times that you aren’t there?”
“I’ll manage.”
She gave me a look that expressed just how little she thought of my management capabilities.
“You’re still getting your own eight.”
I opened my mouth to argue that I wasn’t important enough to have one guard, let alone eight, but let the matter drop.
“Fine,” I conceded. “Fine.”
“Good,” she nodded, and turned to the Coronal Aegis. “You’re learning.”
“But no officers.”
“WHAT?” roared Morning Glory, the Custodi Mare, and the Coronal Aegis all at the same time.
“You heard me. No officers.”
“You don-”
“You’re right, I don’t make those decisions,” I countered before the Praetorian General could really get going. “But let me explain my reasoning.”
Morning Glory ground her teeth audibly, but nodded for me to continue.
“Officers are, by and large, better trained and more capable in terms of administration and logistics, right?”
The nod that I received was angry and reluctant.
“Good,” I nodded back. “That’s exactly the kind of pony that we need out there.” I gestured with my hoof at doors. “They’ll do way more good out there, helping and being useful rather than standing around in a hallway or looking after my sorry flanks.”
“There are more than enough officers to-”
“No, there aren’t,” I interrupted again. “Once the Palace is sealed, which you will be doing as soon as we’re done here, you will need everypony on the ground to police and control the general populace of Canterlot in addition to assisting with the medical personnel. You will need ponies that are used to acting upon their own recognisance and able to take initiative.”
She met my eyes, her gaze steely. I was convinced that she was going to argue with me, to fight me.
“Fine,” she sighed. “Fine. No officers.”
“Did you send out the fliers like I asked?”
“They’ve already left, your message and directives will be in every city before morning.”
“Good.”
/＼ ^._.^ ／\
Two Lunar Sentinel thestrals flanked me on either side as I watched the concert of unicorns cast the layered sealing spell over the doors to the Palace.
The doors flashed a brilliant, almost blinding, white runes sprung into being and crawled their way over and through the massive oak and gilded steel doors. I could almost hear the groan as they sunk deep into the wood, metal, and stone; locking everything into place.
Job done, I watched Morning Glory and her cadre start shouting, sending ponies this way and that.
I knew that, within the hour, a massive bubble would form around The Palace and another would spring up around Canterlot as a whole, locking us in and keeping others out.
It wasn’t an elegant solution, but it was the only one available to us without the magical prowess of the Princesses to back up the unicorns within the Praetorians and Sentinels.
“What now, sir?” asked one of the thestrals behind me, his spear resting against his shoulder.
I opened my mouth to reply when The Palace shook again, a tapestry along one wall began to smoke. Without needing to be ordered, the other thestral rushed over, tore the ancient cloth from the wall and stamped on it repeatedly, quashing the purple smoke.
“Now?” I coughed, the smoke was acrid and had filled the room very quickly, sticking to the back of my throat. “We get to work.”
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Just found this story by happenstance, now I have to reread the whole series so that I can know what's going on. Gosh darn it's been a while
I love This a lot. It well written evokes good old emotion and tells a damn good chilling story.
Side note? Can I fucking hate Celestia? Like what the fucking fucking please can I hate her?
I mean the man Sacrifices his life For you to have a god damnSister. Harmony better wise up or whatever because screw friendship and love alicorns. This man expelifys it. Period. HE deserces to be a aliciron!
This to me is the greatest flaw of the tv show? Like greatness is supposedly only for those that have friendship? Or the sun and tbe moon? Well it sure does not stop one from being kind or cruel in Celestias cause. What of fluttershy how she Not Worthy, you know or some such? That really says a lot that people that farm and populate the good land of equestria just dont measure up! If you save a childs life well you need to go throught this twelve step challenge especially if your a earth pony!
Bottom line for a kids show it has some dark ass undertones. When unchallenges its worse Unexamined even worse.
I hope. I hope. you dont brush this aside. This some great stuff. I hope follow through with this line of questions. Cough alicorn alicron ciough. ESPECIALLY THE treatment she deals him. Like? Really?
And Luna should have done more! Like boy saves your ass is glorifyed secretary and dooms himself to a life that is both alien and strange. Damn misty eyed damn. Actualluh what happened to twilight? Or Candy?
Ps. Word on working through your stuff throught fiction writing totally do the same. Keep on being awesome!
On side note. I am open to criticism and critic. I thrive on discussion so at the very least I will wish you a kind day! Keep on having fun! Further I actually not criticiing you only hoping you go down this awesome path that set yourself barring telling the story you want to tell.
I always find it strange in stories like these that the charactsrs ofren enough do not become alicorns I often have to wonder why? You know? Its like going to a kid and saying you suck ass? Like who does that?
Pony universe, damn.
10454994
Wow, that was one hell of a review/comment.
First of all, thank you.
Secondly, feel free to hate anyone you want. One of the main things that I wanted to explore while writing this story, other than my own issues, is the idea that no character is perfect. Not Celestia, not Luna, not Evening Song, and certainly not Feather Stroke. Maybe Silver Fang, but he's just a child.
Directly answering your question about Twilight and the others: You'll have to wait and see.
Chaos version of Streptococcus zooepidemicus?