Regency of the sun

by Lunasau

Chapter 1: Triumvirate

War. For much of Hurricane's life, it was all he had known. Then came the war against a foe he couldn't fight, the wendigos, and the winter they brought with them. This harsh and uncontrollable winter caused him to lead the Grand Pegasi Armada to a new land, back when he was just Commander Hurricane. It all seems like so long ago now, though it was barely two decades ago, all of this coming to his mind as he walked through the elegant halls of the nation's temporary capital, the castle of Canterville.

Canterville was a quaint mining town that had been steadily growing for years now, under the leadership of Princess Platinum and her Archmage Clover. As Hurricane walked through the stone halls of the castle he looked to his side, causing his ceremonial armor to shift slightly, where he saw the love of his life, Pansy. He remembered when she was just a young private who showed so much potential but lacked the courage she needed to command. Now she stood tall next to him her fur, a lighter blue shade of his own cobalt, was immaculately groomed and her white mane done up into the traditional bun of a female commander of the Pegasi. She was the love of his life and they had been married only one year after the coronation of the Princesses before the start of the crystal war. When she noticed him looking at her she turned to him with a kind smile that nearly caused him to lose his carefully woven composure.

Instead, he simply smiled back, something he shouldn't be doing as he was still her commanding officer when they were in public, and turned back to the large wooden door they now stood in front of. He sighed slightly, this was not a meeting he was looking forward to, less because of the company, because this would be one of the few times he would get to see his old friends, no he didn't like the circumstances that made this meeting necessary. He steeled himself and got back into the posture of a commanding officer as he opened the door to the council room and analyzed his surroundings.

Before he could get far, however, a voice would interrupt his train of thought "Ah Hurricane it's been far too long old friend" and he turned to see the mare who had said that. She was a mare who simply exuded grace and agility as if crafted to do so, and that was speaking nothing of her beauty which was nearly indescribable. Her pale lavender fur was so well-groomed you couldn't even see the marks of age nor stress and her white mane was beautifully styled into a regal cut falling just below her right shoulder.

He quickly went up to her and took her waiting hoof in his shaking it firmly saying "same to you Platinum how's your hunt for a husband going?" She looked at him with a slight frown, letting go of his hoof, for but a second before shaking her head and smiling up at him her ruby eyes the only thing betraying her true feelings.

"In truth, it is not going all that well, but I do believe ill find, someone, one day," she said wistfully before trailing off for a few seconds seemingly lost in thought. Hurricane knew she didn't normally do that, meaning she was probably lying about something though for the life of him he didn't know why. Before he could ask her about it, she quickly asked him "what about you, how is little Lightning Flash doing?".

Hurricane knew she had just changed the subject but decided to ignore it because he loved talking about his daughter more than anything. "She is doing great, we just got her apprenticed to my brother Ocean Wave after she turned five, she's beginning to look so much like her mother." As he finishes he nuzzles up to Pansy who blushes fiercely but leans into the nuzzle before breaking it off and looking around the room herself.

As she finished scanning the room she turned back to Platinum and asked "are the others here yet?" Platinum turned to her and nodded before moving to the main table of the room.

"No they aren't quite here yet hopefully they will get here soon especially that bloody Archmage of mine," Platinum said in slight frustration just as the door swung open revealing a slightly disheveled light brown mare dressed in her signature cloak with her slightly singed two-toned green mane. "Speak of Discord" Platinum began as she looked at her Archmage "and where have you been Clover, no wait let me guess, a dangerous experiment that needed to be done but in the end blew up in your face?"

The slight anger behind Platinum's voice caused Clover to flinch a bit and quickly rush behind Hurricane and Pansy as she nodded and whispered "help me" to the both of them. Platinum turned to her with a questioning look that even Hurricane could tell meant that the young Archmage was in trouble. "I know this summons was Important Princess, but by the time I got it I had already started brewing the potion, and" Clover trailed off as she saw the look on Platinum's face and instead moved to hide more behind Hurricane who slightly opened his wings to hide her.

Platinum was about to say something when two new ponies burst through the door. Well one of them burst through the door the other just walked calmly into the room after them. The pony that burst through the door had short brown hair that had specks of what might have been cake in it, while their beautiful orange coat was itself covered in specks of dirt, however, their most important feature was the pudding hat they wore on their head. In fact, each of the ponies now gathered in this room were all dressed in their formal clothing, from Princess Platinum's dress and the Clover's Cloak to Pansy and Hurricane's ceremonial armor. Now added to the mix was a pony dressed in their traditional Chancellor dress as well as an orange coated stallion dressed in a simple tunic with a cap being the only thing holding in his mess of orange hair.

Platinum's attention quickly turned to them, much to the silent relief of Clover, as the two ponies walked in "Ah and our final attendees have arrived, now I know I'm not going to get a straight answer but Puddinghead why are you covered in dirt and cake?" Pudding head turned to face Platinum with the biggest smile on their face as they ran up to her and wrapped her up in a big hug causing Platinum to cringe slightly.

"Well that should be obvious silly I was eating some cake when I got your letter, and then I ran as fast as I could through the mud-soaked streets of Earthville to get Smart Cookie and come straight here," Puddinghead said in a single breath as she slowly put Platinum down.

Meanwhile, Smart cookie came over to talk to Hurricane, Pansy, and Clover with a small smile on his face. "Long time no see old friends," he said as he shook each of their hooves and hugged them for a bit before turning his attention to Clover. "So Clover how did that Irrigation spell go? did you get it working?" Smart Cookie asked causing Clover to blush furiously for some reason that Hurricane didn't understand.

"No, not quite yet, the spell matrix I would need to make would have to be leagues more complicated than a simple water moving spell," Clover said as she stepped out from behind Hurricane who quickly lowered his wings.

Before anything else could be said on the matter however Princess Platinum raised her voice "So now that you are all here I would think it best to start this meeting." After she said that everypony in the room nodded and quickly found their seats around the large circular table in the center of the room. Once everyone was seated Platinum spoke again addressing everyone "It truly is good to see all of you though I do wish the circumstances weren't so dire" she frowned slightly as she continued "as you all know the civil war nearly broke Equestria and worse still our very leader, the only Alicorn left has vanished in what we can only assume is self-exile."

As she finished speaking and sat back down it would be Hurricane who would next break the silence "Equestria's enemies, both foreign and domestic, are now circling like vultures waiting to see if we fall." Hurricane then stood up and pointed at the map of the world in front of him "To our east, across the sea, we have the Griffonian Empire led by Grover II who now seeks to have an audience with the ruler of Equestria." He then pointed at the eastern coast of Equestria "Closer still, in the starting place of the rebellion, are the remnants of the Lunar Loyalist who don't even believe the war is over though they have so far been silent". He then turned to look at one of the guards at the door and then back to the rest of the table saying sternly "finally our military is in a state of disrepair and disunion after the civil war which took some of our best military leaders from us" and with that Hurricane sat down.

The next to stand up was Puddinghead who looked more serious than they normally did as they spoke "the people are unhappy and they need leadership." They then circled with their hoof around western and southern Equestria "in these regions the local government has broken down and the land has collapsed into anarchy as the nobles of this region call for aid against the people who are about ready to storm their castles." They then pointed to central and northern Equestria "These are the only lands that are still under Equestrian rule and haven't fallen into anarchy however the people are not educated enough to understand current events leading to them making uninformed decision showing that we need a royal education system" they finished sitting back down.

For a long while after that, there was silence as nopony could believe that this was what had become of Equestria the beautiful nation they founded. It was Princess Platinum who spoke first however as she rose once again from her seat "Equestria cannot be left leaderless at this most crucial moment in the history of our nation, we need leadership and with Celestia gone for the foreseeable future what we need are regents." Her horn began to glow as she finished and suddenly three headpieces appeared on the table, one of them an ornately decorated dark steel helm decorated with golden laurels, the next was a tophat with a decorative bowl filled with decorative golden pudding on top, and finally a platinum crown with amethysts laid into it. Before anyone else could say anything Platinum began by saying "as the last princess to remain in Equestria and as the niece of Celestia and Luna the title of princess regent falls to me." As she said this she placed the platinum crown on her head and turned to Hurricane "but I cannot do this alone and so my first act as Princess regent is to appoint you, High Commander Hurricane, as the Lord Protector of all of Equestria and my fellow regent."

Hurricane looked at her and simply nodded with a slight smile on his face as he replaced his own helmet with the one sitting on the table. Princess Platinum then turned to Puddinghead "but let neither of us forgets that one cannot rule through regality and might alone, no a good ruler is one who understands the people and so I now appoint you, Chancellor Puddinghead, as the Chancellor of Equestria and my fellow regent". Puddinghead smiled giddily at this and quickly handed their current hat to Smart Cookie and put on the one sitting on the table.

Platinum then spoke one once more this time looking at the other three "and for you three I give the appointments of Clover Archmagos of Equestria, Pansy Weathermistress of Equestria, and Smart Cookie Minister of Equestrian Economics." She then motioned for everypony to stand and said "Now we three regents of Equestria must lead our nation through these horrifying times and when they look at this moment they will see the moment that Equestria changed forever led by the regents' triumvirate" she nodded to Hurricane and Puddinghead "but they will also remember the efforts of our friends and chief advisors" she finished nodding at Smart Cookie, Clover, and Pansy. "now we three must swear our ancient oath to our nation and let our work begin" Platinum said as she grabbed her sword with her magic and held it above the table.

It was soon joined by Hurricane's lance, and then by Puddinghead's scepter as they all swore the very same oath they had seen the princesses swear on their coronation. They spoke with one voice "I swear upon the power of the gods and all that I hold dear to protect this land with my life, to rule fairly, wisely, and justly, at all times and to stand ever vigilant as the shield that guards the ponies of Equestria against all those that seek their destruction."

There was a slight pause then as each of them finished the oath then in one voice alongside Smart Cookie, Clover, and Pansy screamed"For Equestria! For Ponies! For the Empire! For the Princesses!"

Author's Note:

And thus begins the age of regents.

Comments

[Kit Wolfkat]

This is kind of interesting, I will be tracking this.