Fate of the Lostbelt Kingdoms

by ElementBrigade

Chapter Twenty: Quick Stop

Chapter Twenty

Quick Stop

“I know that you’re angry. But was freezing their bodies in ice and drawing on their faces necessary?” Twilight asked as Fluttershy was currently placing blankets over the cutie mark crusaders, and Pinkie Pie giving them hot chocolate.

“They’re lucky I didn’t leave them like that until the next day,” Anastasia said while still covered in the mess that the cmc put her in. “Honestly, do you know how much it took me to make these clothes similar to those from Pan Human History? A lot of materials were sacrificed to do this.” She said while fake crying dramatically. “Even worse…I don’t even have an extra set of clothes on me. Oh, what a dilemma.”

“Dilemma my foot, you pretty much used up all of my royal attire just to make that.” Ivan thought before shaking his head.

“We’ll make a quick stop over to Rarity’s place, but before we can do that,” Twilight said before looking over at the kids who were staring at the servants in astonishment. “You girls are in a lot of trouble. Assaulting foreign diplomats and stealing Pinkie Pie’s party cannons. I am very disappointed in you girls. Did you not learn anything about judging a pony by their appearance?”
“B-But Twilight, they are trying to t-take over Equestria-” Scootaloo said, only to get cut off by Twilight interrupting the young filly's sentence.

“I don’t want to hear it. You girls could’ve gotten yourselves hurt or worse.” Twilight said before taking a deep breath to calm herself. “Normally this would be the time when I would punish you girls for this, but I’ll leave that to Applejack due to having the meeting Mayor Mare set up at town hall.” She said before looking at the other students. “We’ll be having a small test tomorrow about what you learned and saw today. I hope you all paid attention to our foreign friends' demonstration and the small bit of information they gave up in class today.”

“Seriously?” Smolder asked in annoyance. “But they weren’t even done showing us what other magic spells they have.”

“Much as I would love to show you all more. We have a busy schedule to keep. Maybe next time, but for now. We need to get moving.” Twilight said before looking over at Fluttershy. “Would you be so kind as to drop the kids off back at school after dropping us off at Rarity’s place?” She asked as Fluttershy nodded and motioned for the kids back onto the demonic boar’s back. While the ponies were busy gathering the kids, the servants were currently off to the side talking to each other about an important matter.

“I still find it hard to believe we’re not on the reverse side of the world,” Ivan said while noticing Fluttershy ordering the demonic boar to kneel for the children to hop on him. “A rider servant like myself could order a demonic beast like the boar around due to the class that they’re summoned in. But that pony can just tame it like it was nothing with little to no effort…Hard to believe a creature like her can exist.”

“Hm, she could be useful in taming some of the demonic beasts back in Russia,” Anastasia said before noticing Ivan looking at her with what she could guess was a raised eyebrow. “Hear me out. From what I can remember, taming a demonic beast is a challenge within itself. If we can somehow have her assisting in convincing more demonic beasts to help us, then it would make traveling from town to two through the snow much easier than having the yagas travel on foot.”

“...That’s not a bad idea for once. It would bring traveling time and casualties by half. We might even set up a traveling system of some kind.” Anastasia said while pondering different ideas about the idea. “Might need to ask the princesses about this, but we can do that after dealing with Minotaur.” She said before ending the conversation and making her way over to the demonic boar.

“Right…” Ivan said before following after the caster servant. While the group was busy assisting in getting onto the demonic boar’s back, a familiar berserker huntress would watch the group from a distance. She would soon pull the string to her bow back and aim with two arrows pointed at Anastasia and Ivan. Her eyes squinted at the two former Tsars in rightful anger and rage for a moment before lowering her weapon and biting her lower lip a bit.
“No. Not yet. They could be useful in taking down Minotaur.” Atalanta said before quickly following after the group from a distance the moment she saw them leaving the area.

---

[Carousel Boutique]

Carousel Boutique. Home to Ponyville’s seamstress and fashion designer, Rarity, and her sister Sweetie Belle. Here ponies from across Equestria come to commission her to design costumes, dresses, tuxedos, wedding dresses, etc. It is here that Twilight, Anastasia, and Ivan made their way into the Boutique. Though upon entering, Rarity let out a glass-shattering scream that cracked the windows in her home and the surrounding building near her.

“Dear Celestia! What happened to you!?” Rarity yelled as she stared at Anastasia. “You look like the aftermath of Pinkie Pie’s party cannon mishap!”

“You can thank your sister and her friends,” Anastasia said with a deadpan expression on her face. “They thought that Ivan and I were invaders. So as punishment for their transgression, I doodled on their faces while half their bodies were frozen in ice.” She said which caused Rarity to look over at Twilight with a flabbergasted expression on her face.

“Your sister is fine. She didn’t receive any permanent damage or anything. Though I think she’ll be keeping her distance from Anastasia for a while.”

“I’ll take your word for it, but right now I don’t care.” Rarity said before making her way over to the caster servant. “How could they do this to you and your clothing!? Such elegant material, such style, such otherworldly attire! Ruined by a combination of confetti, cake batter, and other party accessories!” She said before letting out a gasp of air in dramatic fashion. “Oh, this is The. Worst. Possible. Thing!”

“...Are you sure she’s the right person for the job?” Ivan asked as Twilight let out a slight chuckle of nervousness.

“She can be a bit…dramatic at times. But I assure you, Rarity’s the go-to mare when it comes to getting clothing made or fixed.” She said before looking at Rarity. “You can fix this…right?”

“Hm, that would depend.” Rarity said before circling Anastasia. “Keep in mind, I can’t use my magic. So having this be a rush job won’t do until our magic returns. So cleaning her clothes will take about three days or so. Sadly, the only thing I can do for you is offer to give you a bath to get the mess out of your hair.”

“I wouldn’t mind taking a shower after this morning’s assault by children who would be mistaken as archer-class servants.” She said while pretending to cry. “Even worse, those were the only pair of clothes I had in Russia. So much materials and magic put into making something from the pan-human history, all ruined.”

“Oh, you poor thing. No mare…or in this case, a servant should ever have to go through something like that.” Rarity said before looking over at Twilight. “How long before the town meeting begins?”

“In two hours, why?”

“Perfect, that will give us enough time to get her cleaned up before the meeting. Though making her a new outfit might be a bit of a challenge seeing how I don’t have anything in your size.”
“Hm, I might be able to help with that. I just need the following materials to create a different set of clothing.”

“You can do that?” Rarity asked before noticing Anastasia raise a hand to create a medium size sapphire gem from out of thin air. “Certain servants can create items through magecraft, though mine isn’t as good as most caster class servants, it’s enough for me to make what I need.”

“Wonderful, would it be okay if you showed me how to do it? Your way might be more efficient and time-consuming for some of the orders I have.” She asked while leading the caster servant upstairs to the bathroom. The moment the two of them were gone, Ivan let out a small sigh of relief before sitting down on the floor.

“I assume you’re tired after what happened in the rock quarry?” Twilight asked as Ivan shook his head.

“No…just oddly more relaxed…which I am not used to.” He said while looking around the boutique. “Throughout my rule over Russia as its king, I tried my best to lead my people to the best of my abilities given what we were put in. Never would I have thought that I would end up in a place like this. I was content with dying at the hands of the human of Chaldea. Though it would seem I’ve been given a second chance at life. Ironic given how I named Ivan the Terrible.”

“What do you mean?” The mare asked.

“I want to ask you something. You say that there is a mirror version of this world. Where instead of ponies, there were humans. What are your opinions on humans and the history behind them?” He asked which caused Twilight to be taken by surprise.

“Where did that kind of question come from?”

“This world…I don’t know if it’s changing me for the better or punishing me for the sins I’ve committed within the lostbelt. But I’m starting to think more clearly than I ever thought I could. My mind isn’t a jumbled mess. I can remember certain events that led to my actions of the country being forced to fuse with demonic beasts to survive, the hell I put Anastasia in, and the death of my son by my own hands.”

“You had a son?” Twilight asked which took her by surprise.

“This was before the transformation,” He said before crossing his legs and placing his hand over his face a bit. “My mind wasn’t my own at the time. Pretty sure I was suffering from some kind of mental illness or something, but even if that were the case. It was no excuse for what I’ve done. The date was November sixteenth fifteen eighty-one. I was currently trying to figure out how to fix the current problem of the constant snow storms. My son, Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich, came into my studies in a fit of anger after killing off innocent people who I thought were spies sent from another country. His words were this.” Ivan lifted his other hand to create a magical image of a young man wearing royal attire.

“What’s the point of the Tsar if he’s just going to kill his people like this? This country will die and you will be the cause of it.”

“I was angry. All I could see was red. The gull of my son questioning my ruling. Out of anger for what he said, I delivered a fatal blow to his head. Killing him within less than a couple of minutes. As I cradle him in my arms, regretting what I did to him, his last words were that he forgive me for what I did to him.” He said before making the magical image of his son disappear. “It was after his death that I spiral down the hole of madness and destruction. I didn’t care so much about the future of Russia, I didn’t care so much as to the people's suffering, I didn’t even care if I was killing them with my noble phantasm when I slept. All I could think about was…nothing…nothing but trying to put pieces of my shattered mind together. I ask you, princess, does a person like me deserve a second chance? Does the lostbelt deserve to continue even with its folly of blood and death?”

There was a moment of silence hanging in the air between the two. Twilight could only imagine what sort of horror and unforgivable acts Ivan had committed during his rule over Russia. Though Princess Luna had a similar situation when she was overcome with anger and jealousy towards Celestia, she never did kill her. Normally, if she was her old self back when she first started as just a unicorn learning about friendship, she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. But over time she had learned that not everything is black and white as she thought it was, it was a huge gray palette. The alicorn took a deep breath before speaking.

“...I believe you do.” She said which caused him to focus more intensely on the alicorn. “If I’m being honest, no pony is perfect. Nor does the history behind a species or race. I did a bit of a brush-up on the mirror world’s history a while back. While it’s true their history is paved with blood, Equestria isn’t so different, mainly without technology, but replace it with evil would-be conquerors trying to take over Equestria, a god of chaos, and magic. I don’t like the idea of the universe erasing history that would lead to a dead end, but you and the lostbelt you’re from were given a second chance. Which means you should be given a second chance here in Equestria.”

“And how do I know that things will be different?”

“Because you’ll have friends to lean on if you’re having trouble. After all, we are the elements of harmony.” Twilight said which caused Ivan to stare at her for a moment before speaking.

“...If I had people like you as part of my inner circle of people to trust. Things might’ve turned out differently than how they are now.” He said before leaning back a bit.

“If you don’t mind me asking, but would you be willing to talk about your life story?” Twilight asked which took Ivan by surprise.

“You sure? I will warn you, it’s not that much of a pleasant life compared to most people you hear.”

“We got time, plus it seems like you need to talk to someone.” She said before getting comfortable on the floor. “We got time before Anastasia and Rarity are done getting ready, so why not have a bit of a talk between two rulers, no?”

“...I…suppose you’re right,” Ivan said before clearing his throat. “I was born on August twenty-fifth in the year fifteen thirty in Kolomenskoye, Russia.” As Twilight listened to Ivan’s story about his life, Anastasia and Rarity were secretly listening from halfway up the stairs. There was a slight moment of silence before Rarity spoke up in a whispering tone.

“It seems he’s changing a lot more than how he was in the past, no?” Rarity asked as the caster servant huffed.

“I suppose, but that doesn’t change how I feel about him.” She said before carefully making her way upstairs without the others hearing her. “Though I can’t deny that this world is changing us. Which I hope is for the better.”

“I’m sure it will be for the better. Now come along, we have to make you look presentable for everypony to see you~”

Comments

[BestinDworld]

i hope that ivan in his 2nd chance at life gets a 2nd chance at love in this fic. twily seems to get along well with him so theres an idea

[Ultimate Warrior of Zera]

I like how everyone is changing for the better.

[asianfanficreader99]

ElementBrigade, have you already known of Lost belt 7 by now ?

[ElementBrigade]

11667753
I have

[asianfanficreader99]

11667969
When are the rest of the Lostbelt going to appear ?

[ElementBrigade]

11717750 Later on if I get paid to write more chapters from the person who commissioned me to write this story.