Cutie Mark Crusaders Fantasian City-State Historians, YAY!!!!!!

by Dragonborne Fox

Sixth Day, Morning Part I—Reflections of Seasoned Fighters

The Crusaders finished their breakfast before anyone else the following morning, though they made sure to not eat too fast or too much lest they have tummy aches. They wasted no time reviewing their report, which just needed one more chapter finished and the footnotes and references before they could get the coveted hoofprint of approval from Lance.

Weirdly enough, instead of being with her cohorts at the highest booth, Natalie was sitting with them, wedged between Zecora and Flash Sentry, with Spike sitting opposite of the still-munching wraithling. They, too, had finished their food, and waited for someone to put their foot forward so they could make small talk.

Natalie, having opted to have extra caffeine for her drink, and having already downed it, had her elbows propped on the table and her chin propped upon her pasterns as she eyeballed Katie. It did not escape the Crusaders' notice that she had bags beneath her eyes, which were only possible if she had either pulled an all-nighter or had been awakened at an ungodly hour, which they assumed would not be particularly uncommon for the higher rungs of the military.

"Welp, at least we finally figured out your portioning for every meal. If Alexander hadn't done your autopsy at damn-o'clock-in-the-morning, we'd still be drawing straws to tell you how much you can and can't eat every three to five hours," she said warmly. "Though at the rate you're going through your food anyway, you're gonna burn out on purple wasp sooner or later."

"Says the bitch who drank three coffee pots in a row," Katie hissed in response, before going back to her food. Natalie didn't reprimand her for the backtalk, and instead just shook her head and rolled her eyes in response.

"So… what did Alexander find?" Sweetie asked, lifting a hoof to gesture to Katie.

Natalie's smile dropped and she sighed. She almost seemed to wilt with the question. "Well… besides rickets, an underdeveloped love sac, the obvious ribs and the balding, he found… a very suspect internal organ she should not possess, and that she has confirmed herself was not in her body before she got herself sealed," she began, seemingly debating to herself whether or not to show the trio what she meant. "Changelings have a love sac, next to a stomach that processes physical foods, that helps them convert love into nutrients their body can use. Basically, a second stomach built exclusively to convert the emotions they consume. It also holds excess love, for them to use as they see fit."

She lit her horn and produced an x-ray of a changeling's internal workings, and showed it off as she used her horn to gesture to the extraneous organ in question. The love sac wasn't attached to the intestines or the like, but was attached to the same pipe that was connected to the main stomach, and arteries for distributing the emotions-converted-to-nutrients to the rest of the body.

She procured another x-ray, of a gaunt changeling currently sitting at their table. It wasn't just her body and bones that had shriveled; every organ, except the main stomach, was weak and small, sporting several scars that had healed over which were showing through the x-ray. And even then, the main stomach was smaller than it should have been. However, against all logic and probability, there was a second heart, opposite of the main heart, big and strong and with suspect runes carved upon its surface.

The second heart came complete with its own set of suspect chain-like arteries connecting it to the main arteries and the rest of the body, with each new artery also sporting runes. Natalie used her horn to gesture to the second heart. "Now, her… abilities, we can excuse, due to her unique mutations, estimated age of a thousand years, and undead state. This? We have found no explanation for," she said, frowning. "We have confirmed that it is filled with whatever hatred and despair she has consumed, which she somehow converts to use for her ice magic, and is made of crystal. It does not beat until she conjures her ice; it's a deadweight otherwise. So are the arteries connecting it to the rest of her body."

"Didja have to open 'er up?" Apple Bloom asked. "And how'd ya estimate her age?"

Natalie nodded. "Oh yeah, we had to cut her open and we had to drug her so she wouldn't feel a thing first; otherwise she'd have cussed us out pretty bad," she said. " As for her age, we ran some of her tissue samples through several bits of magitek before we got something conclusive. However, she usually gets so injured during combat, it's impossible to tell the extra arteries and second heart are even there. During her little skirmish through Greenwood, Twilight wasn't able to see anything past her bleeding despite the fact that the wraithling reportedly had a hole punched through her chest before the Elements of Harmony sealed the hole shut." Now that was an anomaly, the Crusaders had to admit to themselves.

Then again, from their somewhat limited understanding of that situation, the problem at Greenwood must have been pretty dire for Twilight of all ponies to miss that little detail. And confirmed Elements of Harmony usage meant that apparently, the situation had gone from 'steaming tea kettle' levels of insanity to 'possible end of the world scenario.' Natalie continued, seeing their obvious confusion, "Then there's the fact that poison joke heals her without playing any pranks on her first, for reasons we're still trying to figure out. That's why you can't see any incision scars from her autopsy; she healed seamlessly under that stuff once Zecora applied it, save for the injuries she got before she died."

The trio's ears twitched disbelievingly. Poison joke? Healing? Without pulling pranks? Since when? Natalie noticed their looks and her brow slanted. "Yeah, I know. I got the full spiel from Twilight about poison joke's effects; she was trying to not cuss up a blue streak as she waved papers around, dancing like a bat out of hell came up to her and bit her on the cutie mark. It took her a while before she realized that maybe I might not have known what she was harping on about, so she had to start that tangent over from the beginning, with an explanation of what poison joke is and does first so I wouldn't be lost the second time," she said, shaking her head. "It was one of the few times I got lectured twice, by the same pony, in the same hour."

The Crusaders shared glances. "Yeah, Twi's like that sometimes…" Apple Bloom said apologetically. "If something gussies up her hamsters and glues their feet to their wheels, then she'll be hootin' and hollerin' all day long if she could."

"Trust me, Fantasia's been doing that an awful lot to her lately," Spike said, idly looking at his claws as he held them up to his face, buffing them against his chest scales. "It's like, everywhere we go is a nuthouse in its own way, save for the very few sane places. The Aerie and Whitefall are the only ones in the 'sane' category, for the moment at least. Every other day, she has a new complaint to lodge with Lance, mostly regarding the rest of Fantasian society. And if it's not her, it's either Shining or Blueblood or Rarity pitching the hissyfit."

"Put it like this: Blueblood was, and still largely is, paranoid about the Fantasians," Flash Sentry said, wings ruffling. He gestured to the whole military that surrounded him. "He was kinda wrong about these ones, but from what we've seen of the rest of the society, he's kinda right."

"Did he blow up when you guys visited?" Sweetie asked, looking at Natalie.

Natalie nodded. "Oh, yeah. His whole damn gasket went into the stained glass ceiling of the Parliament and firmly stayed there. His aunts wound up having to boot him out of Parliament before diplomatic relations could sour further," she answered. "His rant devolved into shouting at us because of our coat colors and races, though I can't help but think that maybe… maybe it was an act."

"Why would he be acting? He treated my sister like manure at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Sweetie argued, frowning as she recalled her sister's less than ladylike tirade about that night. There might have also been copious amounts of certain beverages consumed by said sister during the night of the tirade, which Sweetie had been explicitly told was for adults only.

"Well… someone at Parliament pulled some strings and arranged for us to be at that hotel… y'know, the one that made the print?" Natalie said, shaking her head. "And once Celestia figures out who, she's probably going to kick their rumps on our behalf. We know it wasn't Blueblood; he sorta came here on his own willingly, which automatically rules him out."

"Shut your cakehole, Natz!" Anna called from the booth. Natalie waved her off with a dismissive hoof. "The less you talk about those three idiots who ran that illegal business, the better!"

"And speaking of those idiots, I wouldn't be surprised if the other two dunderheads joined their undead friend in banishment," Natalie said, more of an aside than anything. Her remark caused a groan of dismay to come from Lance's booth, followed by the sound of somepony hitting their head upon the table.

"Wait, one of those crooks became a wraith?" Scootaloo asked.

Katie nodded. "Kinda helped break his horn and made him see stars for a while," she affirmed. "They decided they wanted to act as bad as most of Fantasian society, they probably got to be part of most of Fantasian society. I also wouldn't be surprised if the other two hockdraggers became undead themselves."

"In other news, no more babies for them," Spike piped up, shaking his head. "Even if they're undead and find someone to woo—"

"Eeeew, shut up, nobody would breed with those dunderheads at all even if they ditch their sentience!" Natalie hissed, and instead of reaching a hoof over to bap Spike on the head, she spread a wing—a wing that didn't have primary feathers or half of its secondary feathers—to hit him with it. In doing so, her coat color shifted from cream to white with a flourish of gold and blue magical dust leaving her body. In addition, her mane and tail wavered in an invisible wind, faintly aglow like liquified flame. On top of that, her entire body sparkled like living crystal, refracting various lights for a somewhat mottled sheen that hardly anyone else batted an eye at.

However, due to her wings being partially amputated despite their large size, Spike didn't even flinch from the strike, or rub his head once the wing parted from his skull. In return, another smoking seed bapped Natalie upside her own head, landed on the table spinning, and vanished with a popcorn-like pop and a puff of smoke.

The Crusaders, bless them, did not react at all to Natalie flashing her wings in the slightest—that cat was already out of the bag anyway. They did, however, show some reaction to the fact that she had spontaneously changed color, with her mane now aglow: they raised their brows and tilted their heads at her. "That's kinda cool; why'd you hide it?" Scootaloo asked.

Natalie sighed and shook her head again, with a long and suffering groan leaving her mouth. "Well… nobody on Fantasia, outside of the Aerie, really tolerates alicorns running around with wings and horns flailing about in the open, save for other areas directly controlled by them in the first place… and that usually requires brute force or magical mayhem controlling everyone else to establish some kind of sick pecking order. And being somewhat disabled—" She spread both wings to full mast again, with both of them only reaching the ends of the table and no further, "—kinda puts a bigger target on my back. Because of the disability, I'm seen as weaker, easier to kill, that sort of thing."

"Plus, given how the ancient legends say what Faust looks like, if the storyteller recounting the tale even bothers to remember the details, and that I kinda look like how She's described in those legends…" Natalie shook her head. "Everyone outside of here might see me as the second coming or some manure like that, hence the illusions I cast to keep from being prodded at with hot, burning sticks." She shrugged. "Also, I heard about a crystal alicorn of the past, don't have much details on her, but let's just say I also heard the crystal ponies here lost their luster, save for those like myself and Lazarus who are able to activate it on their own bodies whenever we damn well want."

She closed her wings again, ruffling them uncomfortably and shedding a few loose feathers in doing so. She used a hoof to gesture to Anna and added, "And she couldn't tell us anything until the situation at Greenwood was more or less sorted out, so we virtually had no idea she and her sister were hybrid alicorns until recently. It did go a long way to explain their skill sets, though, once that came to light—Sarah's more flighty and stabby, and Anna would rather strangle you with plants if she can't turn you into a pincushion."

"So, basically, you're all priority targets if you don't conceal your true nature?" Sweetie asked, garnering another nod from Natalie as her eyes briefly gravitated to the ceiling.

"Plus, I… kinda ascended during the whole Catastrophe fiasco, so I really stuck out like a sore thumb if I even tried to approach civilization back then," Natalie sighed, frowning ruefully at the memory. Her sparkling sheen diminished somewhat. "And now that I help run the Aerie, I'm still a priority target for our enemies—I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't. One wrong move, and I'm probably gonna be so screwed that Lance will rip my head off in the afterlife if it comes to that."

"Didja get any flight training in?" Apple Bloom asked.

Natalie shook her head again. "Was a little too focused on keeping a low profile to consider the option," she answered simply. "Between the Catastrophe, stopping a cult-revived crazy bastard of a wraith-alicorn who somehow kept his long golden locks, and the Trials of Attrition, I was kinda left with a lot of hindsight. Plus the fact that the bastards running the stadium kinda knew where I lived at the time… well, you might say I got the short end of that stick." Was destiny really that harsh in Fantasia, or did it only seem that way because nopony actively sought it out for Godcat knows how many years to leave it disgruntled at the end of the day?

Also, wraith-alicorn with long golden locks? That sounded like an epic bedtime story. The trio leaned in, eager for the details. "What was the cult like?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well… they were wearing stupid wigs, for starters, trying to immitate the alicorn they worshipped," Natalie began, eyes twinkling with malicious glee. "And they tried to imitate his muscles, to… morbidly comical effect." She lit her horn and produced a drawing of such a pony, with the wig longer than he was tall and trailing down his back and tail to reach the ground like a crude cape, with decently-sized muscles in effectively all the wrong places. It was somewhat disturbing to look at, until the Crusaders realized that googly eyes and a dorky tongue had been grafted to the drawing's face, making them snicker in delight.

"And what did the alicorn want to do once he was revived?" Sweetie pressed.

"Considering he came back undead rather than fully alive, he… wanted to drown the lands of Fantasia in blood, and mayhem, be the last one living… stupid things like that. Funnily enough, he didn't have a cutie mark, and his lower jaw was missing, so we had to exchange some banter for a bit before Matt and I got the gist of what he was saying," Natalie said, still grinning. "Which really made him mad that he had to repeat himself fifteen times in order for our pubescent dumbass selves to understand him—word of advice, when you become teenagers, everything will start sounding wrong if it's slurred enough and the hormones have kicked in."

"So y'all were snickering as the alicorn dragged on with his word-slinging?" Apple Bloom asked, struggling to envision a pony talking with effectively half of their face missing. It didn't quite pan out so well in her head, with the tongue flapping gaily as it struggled to form incoherent speech with a body part it really needed beneath it to function properly. And for some reason, her mind was making the pony in her mind's eye say all sorts of stupid manure that would get her a switching if she ever said any of it out loud with Applejack in earshot. Then it ran said stupid manure through a blender, and the end result… well, it left a lot to be desired of what could have been an otherwise terrifyingly majestic mental image.

Natalie's grin widened, seeing the amusement in Apple Bloom's eyes. "Oh hell yes. We could not contain ourselves; even as the alicorn began firing magical blasts, his sword—which Matt stole from him, by the way—and lightning-swift punches at us, we were still giggling, and even making fun of the bastard all the way to the end of the battle. We were taunting him, mocking his inadequacies, the fact he only had stubs for wings and couldn't fly, him repeatedly tripping over his own mane and tail in his various attempts to get to us, how he hadn't killed us yet, how he was losing to a pair of hormonal teenagers…"

Her smile grew absolutely evil as she continued, "And of course, the fact that his followers had screwed up his own ritual and made him unable to communicate properly in doing so. Of course, that might have been our fault, but you wouldn't have known that because of how wrong the alicorn returned to the mortal coil in the end. Anyway, our teasing and resistance got to the point that he grew so mad he sorta overloaded his own body with his unstable magic and exploded right as we dealt the killing blow." Her eyes twinkled in mirth. "Sent us halfway across Fantasia doing it, but it was worth it. I'm pretty sure whatever's left of his cult is still steaming that we managed to bruise their patron's ego that badly."

"So how'd you survive being thrown halfway across Fantasia?" Sweetie asked.

Natalie kept smiling. "Once we were about to land, I… remembered to light my horn in time, though it was a near thing. Matt was still figuring out his shadows, but that combined with my timing cushioned our fall." She shrugged. "Of course, we had to get treated for broken legs, extensive mana drain, and things like that by a friendly kingdom of cats in the area, but once they cleared us to go we were golden. The cats were also encouraging us to head back out with NoLegs accompanying us, on the day the gryphons attacked, but from our understanding, the cats and attacking force brought themselves to mutual annihilation anyway."

"Didja ever go back to bury those cats?" Scootaloo pressed.

Natalie nodded. "We felt it best that they be buried where they died, and with an entire military helping out, the task was practically easy to do. Though we did have to trek through the area to solve another problem which emerged later, no thanks to the bungling stupidity of myself, Matt, and Lance," she said gently. "That area is now called the Kitten Kingdom Ruins, or alternatively, the Kitten Kingdom Catacombs, depending on your fancy. And we made sure to pay respects to the Catacombs during that little adventure."

"It sounds as if you've had many travels; don't you think that your stress you should unravel?" Zecora piped up, looking at Natalie somewhat incredulously.

"Well… hardly have the time to," Natalie answered with a shrug. "I guess I could take a vacation day once this whole mess is sorted out, though only after making sure the military can run itself while I do so. Because if I do, chances are the others are gonna hop on that bandwagon with me."

Zecora frowned. "Your job, you take it very seriously. Yet your eyes… they gleam mischievously," she muttered.

Natalie turned to Zecora, a brow raised. "You don't have to worry; I'll reign the other three in to keep the property damage from even achieving liftoff," she said.

Zecora shook her head, seeing that the Lieutenant-General was not picking up on her meaning. "No; your eyes, they hide most… intimate desires. Perhaps you and your lover will fly higher?" she tried, causing Natalie's eyes to widen before she facehoofed.

"Oh! Now I get what you're talking about…" Natalie grumbled, her face flushing as the meaning of Zecora's words hit her. Her ears flattened against her head, and what made it worse, was that Matt barked out a laugh from the highest booth.

"She was telling me the same damn thing!" Matt called, a cheeky grin on his face. Anna responded by hurling another smoking seed at him with her hoof, which bounced from his nose and puffed into smoke on their shared table.

"Well… I hardly have the time to do that either," Natalie muttered into her hoof. "And with friggin' Redpine deciding 'hey, let's poke the other major military force on Fantasia and see how the fallout goes! I'm sure nothing will go wrong,' I've been pulling some all-nighters just to plan for that situation…"

"Redpine is most wicked and vile, on that we can agree; yet your health and sanity you shouldn't neglect, you see," Zecora replied, garnering a reluctant nod from Natalie. She put a hoof on the Lieutenant-General's shoulder and added, "Now that we see eye to eye on this matter, we have to seek the knowledge we're all after; it wouldn't do any good to forget our main objective, lest even our own desires fade and we lose sight of our perspectives."

"Betcha they won't be expecting me and my retinue when they do decide to come over and pick a fight," Flash Sentry added, smiling wryly. "The contingent with me are mostly pegasi; we could teach you guys how to manage the weather for another layer of surprise."

The Crusaders turned to regard Flash Sentry. "So why'd you come here?" Sweetie asked, tilting her head as her friends set to work on double-checking their report.

Flash Sentry wore a crooked smile. "Well, we came here out of our own volition, and to also guard Shining Armor and especially Prince Prissypants, since he wouldn't be able to bring his own hoofservants over," he answered. "That being said, he does talk to me about things he's noticed around Fantasia. Like how stupid Redpine is being, for instance. Better the Prince than his lunatic father, though—and in regards to that old bastard, I'd die a happy stallion if that old curmudgeon got his head bitten off by Celestia for the so-called 'reforms' he's been trying to pass in the wake of the barrier's shattering."

"What reforms?" Scootaloo asked, frowning as she noticed Flash's smile fading with her query. Whatever it was, she felt that it was bad news.

She did not like being right in this instance. "Namely, that nobles shouldn't have to work for the common ponies, that tribal interbreeding be forbidden, that cross-species breeding, like what happens when you put a gryphon and pony together, should also be forbidden… that mules, buffalo, cows, donkeys and zebras should not be allowed in Equestrian schools, and generally insane manure like that," Flash answered somberly, causing Natalie to look at him with a raised brow.

"... okay, I'm definitely thinking that Blueblood put on an act now, if his father is even worse…" Natalie grumbled, looking Flash Sentry in the eye as she said that.

Flash nodded. "Oh yeah; when you guys stayed at Canterlot Castle, like you should have from day one, he was purple with rage. Yelled both my ears and his son's ears off about how such lowborn creatures should only be given the worst of services," he said, shrugging. "Called you all sorts of names, too. 'Cloaked homeless ponies' in particular sticks to my mind."

Natalie wilted. "Yeah… we did kinda show up looking like that…" she muttered. She gestured to Lance. "It was his idea."

Lance turned to her, still wearing that twitchy smirk. "Natz, don't throw me under the airship," he ordered curtly. "I have enough problems."

Natalie wilted further, sinking into her seat at this rate. "Yes sir…" she muttered.

"So why else are you ruling Blueblood out?" Sweetie asked, skeptical of the mere notion.

Natalie perked up a bit. "Well, according to intel, he helped save that little filly and the winged baby during a trip through Ashwood. Ashwood… was the forest surrounding Greenwood, before it kinda got destroyed. Furthermore, he was able to keep them calm once they were brought to our airships…" Her wings ruffled. She looked around for a moment, trying to spot Heather before finding her amongst Greenwood's villagers and gesturing to her. "She's taken a real shine to him as a result."

Blueblood helped save children? That… was somehow unbelievable to Sweetie's ears, and yet she found herself unable to deny Natalie's sincerity. Flash grinned. "I was there," he said, pride in his voice. "He kicked a dunderhead's face in when it tried ripping his forelegs off; I saw the hoofprints. He hits like a mule if he puts his mind to it."

Goodness. Then again, given Blueblood rivaled Shining Armor in height and leg girth, that did sound somewhat more plausible to Sweetie. What did that fop do in his spare time, hit the gym? "But was that the only reason he kicked the dunderhead, because it tried messing up his fancy coat?" she asked incredulously.

Flash shook his head. "Nope. He was legitimately concerned about the kids he helped out," he replied. "Kinda wanted the head of whoever hurt her on a pike, but we had to remind him that the Fantasians are… peculiar about their pecking order regarding such matters. He'll get his turn, assuming there's even anything left."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Given our reputation, he might be kicking ash," she said with a shake of her head. A feeling of ice crept up her spine, and for some reason, she didn't know why. She looked around the table. "Is it just me, or does anyone else feel a chill all of a sudden?" she asked.

Katie shook her head. "Not me, I'm cold all the time," she replied.

Natalie groaned and turned to the wraithling. "Not you," she hissed, before garnering nods from the others at the table.

"It almost feels like… something bad is happening in Equestria," Scootaloo said, wings drooping. "But what is it?"

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

Discord had meandered his way into Parliament again, although this time he was invisible—grinning as he watched one of the nobles parade back and forth across the proverbial stage, screaming his head off over matters regarding Fantasia. More specifically, he was bitching about the diplomats who had arrived to Equestria soon after the barrier broke, the same ones who now babysat the Crusaders. He wanted to see where this went, to see if perhaps this tirade would be worth his time.

"And I keep telling you, Princesses, we should do something about those ruffians! That wretch who had the unmitigated gall to fondle your feathers in public should have her hooves cut off!" the suited noble on stage screeched, his graying blond tail swishing as he pranced about.

"And we keep telling you, she helps run a military in Fantasia! What good would it do to strike her down for a slight which I have already forgiven her for?!" Luna asked in exasperation, wondering what the hell had cankled this noble so badly.

"But the nobility has not forgiven it, and it should never be forgiven! It doesn't matter if that homeless wretch helps to run a military or a brothel, she should be stricken down where she stands so the other ruffians with her know not to follow her sordid example!" the noble proclaimed, to much nodding from like-minded members of Parliament, of which there was a depressing majority. Fancypants stood up and trotted to the irate unicorn, frowning.

"But she didn't know any better; the barrier had only broken three days prior to their arrival. They would not know our customs in the slightest, and we wouldn't know theirs," Fancypants said, waving a hoof in a motion meant to soothe. His hoof was swatted to the floor by the gray unicorn, who turned to him and huffed irritably. "Now why would you do that? I've done nothing towards you or your bloodline!" Fancy said, scuffing his hoof to the floor.

Discord grinned. Now this was getting entertaining. Deftly, he lifted his talons and flicked them subtly, just enough to not be heard. The blustering noble rallied, his chest puffing like he was about to beat on it with his front hooves. "I'll have you know that she had plenty of time to ask Shining Armor about our customs before she waltzed through those damned doors! Did she use it? No, she didn't, and kept herself as ignorant as the rest of the lessers who serve us!" he retorted.

Fancypants sighed, hating to admit that the outraged noble did have a tragic point about the matter. "But did she have to stay at that hotel, as opposed to the castle itself? Last I checked, we did possess diplomatic quarters for any foreign nationals that deigned fit to visit," he said tartly.

"Them? Diplomats?" the blustering noble hissed, steel gray eyes narrowing at the thought. "Never! Homeless vagrants do not deserve the trappings of wealth afforded to them through diplomacy! I won't hear of such scatterbrained poppycock; such is beneath all of us here at Parliament, and it should stay that way!"

Fancypants sighed. This was starting to get irritating, like he was talking to a brick wall. "But what if they had been telling the truth from the beginning?" he replied smoothly, albeit with an eye twitching.

"Homeless vagrants never tell the truth about anything!" the blustering noble replied, causing Fancypants to internally facehoof. Discord flicked his claw again, and the noble added, "Those miserable terf-herders deserved what they got, every last one of them!"

The Princesses traded looks. Celestia turned to the noble. "Elaborate, Duke Blueblood," she said curtly, with the air of somepony having creeping suspicions settling into her mind.

Duke Blueblood did, and waved his hoof dramatically as he said, "Whatever bit of suffering they got on their home planet was well-earned—as should be common for all homeless vagrants," he answered.

Luna frowned. She remembered an extensive talk she had with Lieutenant-General Windwood in the dreamscape a few nights ago, regarding… certain things adorning her body. Duke Blueblood was really saying she deserved that? For what crime, exactly? "What if they had geases carved into their bodies?" she questioned.

Duke Blueblood scoffed as Discord subtly flicked his claw again. "It matters not what illegal magics they had been experimented on with; what matters is that they served their betters," he said firmly.

Luna blinked, scarcely able to believe her ears. She sighed, and pressed forward. "What if they miscarry, or have stillborn foals?" she continued.

"They can just make more! The homeless breed like rabbits! They're hardly good for anything else," Duke Blueblood replied with a flick of his raised hoof. "For a vagrant, love is a foreign concept, and shouldn't matter in the slightest—they should only exist to serve their betters."

Again, the Princesses shared looks. What was going on to make Duke Blueblood this agitated, enough for him to not keep his innermost thoughts to himself? Cadence decided to speak up, feathers somewhat cankled at the concept that homeless ponies couldn't understand love itself. "If they don't understand love, then do the nobility understand it?" she asked pointedly.

Duke Blueblood turned to the Princesses, a somehow sickening smile on his bearded face as he lifted a hoof to his chest. "Yes—we understand the love for our nation, a love that transcends bloodlines, class, and legacies," he said proudly, with the air of someone having a prepared speech written out in the event of being asked a very specific question. "It transcends even our ancient Houses, and ensures we keep sight of our goals so we can guide Equestria to what it should be."

Cadence frowned, having subtly lit her horn during that little monologue for her magic to inform her of something a little worrying. Namely, that she felt no… genuine love for the nation emanating from Duke Blueblood—at least, as the nation was presently. There was no warmth radiating from him, no aura, ho hearts fluttering around him, or anything of the sort, and he acted as though he hadn't noticed. She did have hopes it might change in the future, but she was careful to avoid hedging her bets. She waited until the Duke turned around to continue parading about before telepathically relaying her findings to her aunts.

Her aunts continued to frown, but otherwise kept their poker faces as the belligerent Duke went back to his earlier tangent. "Even so, those vagrants dared to have us question our love for Equestria! They dared to call into question our traditions, our decorum, our decency! Will we stand for this slight?!"

"No!" much of the gathered nobility replied in tandem, a brief and deafening roar that temporarily shook the room. Great, he was rallying the masses of the gathered Noble Houses.

Celestia spread her wings. "Now, now, my little ponies," she interjected, as calm as a cucumber, "they weren't that bad of a lot, were they?" Much of the nobles scowled, and she continued, "They did not destroy any property nor livelihoods; they obeyed our laws, adhered to decorum as soon as they were informed of it, and decided to not press any issues forward, did they?" The nobles considered this, glancing amongst each other, albeit still scowling at slights real and perceived.

"It matters not that they behaved themselves afterwards; their conduct could have used far more tact than they displayed when they were here!" Duke Blueblood argued, turning back to the Princesses with a scowl. "They should have behaved from the outset!"

"While that might be true, they can scarcely be blamed for the slight you seem to hold against them," Luna noted dryly. "Furthermore, from my venturing into the dreamscapes, they are treating the diplomats we sent to their lands fairly well, warning them of whatever dangers of Fantasia have decided to rear their heads. And, they're learning much about Fantasian culture—" "Or despairing lack thereof," she noted internally, "—and custom. Is that not all we hope for in the end, to learn more about the ponies and other sentients on the other side of the shattered veil?"

Discord flicked his claw again, amazed that Duke Blueblood had yet to shoot himself in the foot. The Duke didn't seem to have noticed him yet, and kept on as though nothing were wrong. "No! Not unless we want them to destroy us!" the Duke said, frowning. "I… I had troubling nightmares over the course of last month, and within I saw their great and terrible power." He lifted a hoof to his forehead, indicating a faint as he shook his head. "And one day, they might use it on us!" That got the nobility muttering amongst themselves again.

Fancypants' brow furrowed. "Care to elaborate on this 'great and terrible power?'" he pressed. "Because when I met them, they had no such indications as having anything particularly noteworthy about them, their legless cat and wraith aside." The Duke faltered, unsure of what to say about that. The blue-maned unicorn got the idea that he may have pulled that one from under his tail.

Discord kept himself invisible to the nobles, but made himself visible to Celestia and the other Princesses. They saw him, and he motioned for them to keep quiet about his presence with his paw, before producing a pirate hat for his head, a cutlass for his hip, a red flag for his talon, and a white flag for his paw. He waved the white flag, and the Duke elaborated after composing himself, "I saw fire and death besieging Canterlot, heralded by changelings and gryphons seeking to perform rapine and slaughter on the masses."

Luna's brow started to climb up her forehead. The First Unified Army was, technically, capable of the feat as far as she understood the situation, though she kept her mouth shut to avoid giving the Duke any more ammunition for his parade. "Furthermore, I saw hails of artillery fire, and unicorns being dehorned en masse, while pegasi had their wings clipped," the Duke went on, sweat beginning to bead his brow.

That… was also possible, Luna had to admit. Though, that was probably a last resort for the Fantasian military. Her eyes flicked to Discord again, and this time he waved the red flag. "On top of that, they… they… they cast apocalyptic levels of magic around all of Equestria in the nightmares I had," the Duke went on, shuddering at the memory. "Hellfire, giant swords, explosives and emergences of foul plants burying themselves into whatever poor ponies they could grasp… it was horrible!"

Luna's brow furrowed. She recalled no such thing being flung about in whatever dreams the Duke had, few that he could claim to have under his belt. Her eyes flicked to Discord again, silently demanding an explanation, but all she got out of him was a cheeky grin and a wave of the white flag.

The Duke continued, horror still painting his features as he turned to the Princesses. Celestia had to admit, his emotions were genuine for somepony that could have been fibbing for all she knew. "I know this sounds far-fetched, Princesses, but you have to believe me—would anypony lie about something as horrific as that?" he beseeched, the fear in his eyes sincere and bright.

Hesitantly, Luna nodded, for she had indeed seen some of what he was blathering about. "Prithee, I have seen what you speak of," she agreed. "I have heard through some sources that they do, indeed, hold a great and terrible power between them." That got the gathered nobles, even Fancypants, to gasp and recoil, muttering amongst themselves over how they could have let such powerful individuals into their lands so easily.

Discord waved the white flag as soon as Cadence looked at him. "If we do not do something about that catastrophic power and its wielders… I fear we may be done for," Duke Blueblood said, legs shaking at the thought.

"Technically, I have catastrophic power, due to my connection with the sun," Celestia said. "But do you see me throw it around everywhere?"

Duke Blueblood shook his head. "No, for you are a very responsible pony with that power, Princess," he replied smoothly. "But these savages… they've thrown it around everywhere on Fantasia! From a stadium, to a mountain, to an otherwise-inconsequential forest village, nowhere is safe from them!"

Luna sighed, and turned to Discord again. His smirk widened, and she wilted when she finally realized why: he had something to do with this. She wouldn't put it past him to give the nobility a case of the heebie-jeebies just to get reactions like this out of them. What was he trying to do here, make her and her fellow Princesses pull their manes out? It certainly was working, that much she could say for certain.

Some part of her began to worry for the Fantasians as the Duke began another tirade about them. What was Discord trying to pull here?