Scenes of Immortality

by Kytin

Honorary Royalty

"Ah, Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. How kind of you to join us after the crisis is resolved." An earth pony with a deep brown coat growled at the Alicorn sisters as they entered the Royal Council chamber.

"What?" Celestia was taken off guard by the hostility Nut Loaf was directing at them. He was normally much more friendly than the other nobleponies. "What crisis?" She blurted without thinking.

"The succession crisis!" Nut Loaf snapped. There were bags under his eyes and his mane could have used a comb. "Or were you somehow unaware that the royal family was murdered by the dragon ravaging my lands?"

"I... yes, I heard about that." Celestia replied awkwardly. She glanced over to The pegasus Lord Storm Mane and unicorn Lady Fire Ruby, but they seemed to be too busy insulting each other to pay any attention to the tardy Princesses.

Nut Loaf followed Celestias gaze to the other two nobleponies. "So you just decided to leave it to me to keep these idiots from starting a civil war?" His irritation showed no signs of lessening, but at least it was no longer wholly directed at the alicorn sisters.

"A war? Why?" Celestia cried in alarm.

"Because they both think that they are the only one fit to rule Equestria." Nut Loaf replied, his frown deepening. "And both of them would make a mess of it if they did."

Luna finally spoke up. "But you said that the situation was resolved."

"Yes." Lord Nut Loaf sighed and some of his anger drained away leaving a pony that just seemed very tired. "I managed to convince them to agree that we would all swear fealty to whoever killed the beast that murdered the royal family."

"What?" Celestias startled exclamation caused the other two bickering nobleponies to glance at her, but they quickly resumed their argument.

"I know, it's not ideal." Nut Loaf continued. "But it's a better use for their armies than killing each other. And if somepony doesn't deal with that dragon soon then it won't matter to my ponies who rules Equestria."

"But we already killed the dragon!" This time Celestias cry caused the arguing ponies to stop and stare at the princess.

Nut Loaf also stared at her for a long moment. A smile slowly formed on his face, and he began a deep, long laugh.

"It's not funny!" Celestia began to panic. "I can't rule Equestria! I don't know what to do! I'll mess it up! I'm no good at being in charge! I'm not even a real princess! Luna, tell them!"

"I don't know." Said Luna thoughtfully. "You're pretty good at telling me what to do." She added with a smirk.

Celestia narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Fine then. If you think this is so funny, you can rule Equestria with me."

"What?" Luna gave her sister a surprised blink.

"You were there with me. We killed that dragon together, remember? Besides, you're better at this stuff than I am." Celestia replied.

"And what makes you think that I would bow to either of you?" Lord Storm Mane snapped.

"The fact that you gave your word that you would." Lord Nut Loaf replied sharply. "Or do your oaths mean nothing to you?"

"And what of the oaths given by the honorary princesses?" Asked Lady Fire Ruby. "If I recall correctly, they swore that neither of them would become queen."

"We did?" Said Celestia with a mixture of surprise and relief.

"...And we shall take no title higher than that which has been granted to us by our Lord the King." Luna quoted. "It was part of our oaths when King Keystone made us princesses, remember?"

"Which means that you two are not eligible to rule Equestria." Lady Fire Ruby stated with satisfaction.

Lord Nut Loaf frowned. "Technically, they could take the throne. They just can't take any title other than 'Princess'."

Lady Fire Ruby snorted with derision. "A flimsy pretext at best." She stated. "The king would hardly have made that part of the oaths if he did not wish to keep them from usurping his line."

"It's impossible not to usurp his line." Countered Nut Loaf. "With the royal line destroyed, anypony that takes the throne will be a 'usurper'."

"Well I for one refuse to consider allowing these trumped-up commoners to rule over us." Storm Mane declared. "How do we even know that they have done what they said? The dragon could still be out there. I doubt that a pair of pampered so-called princesses would be capable of defeating such a beast."

"You have no idea what we are capable of." Luna muttered darkly.

"But if they are telling the truth?" Questioned Nut Loaf. "Will you keep your word and swear fealty to them?"

"None of you have the power to enforce that agreement anyway." Storm Mane snorted.

"So what then? You would start a civil war to enforce your claim to the throne?" Asked Nut Loaf.

"Only if you fools refuse to acknowledge my claim." Storm Mane replied haughtily.

"You have no claim." Lady Fire Ruby responded. "What on earth makes you think that the crown should be yours?"

"Simple. I have the largest army of anypony here, therefore I have the best claim." Storm mane sneered.

"What about the Princesses?" Nut loaf asked quietly.

Storm Mane gave him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about? They don't have any army at all."

"What makes you think we need one?" Luna said menacingly. The light in the room seemed to fade. Shadows seemed to move in the corners. "As I recall, armies were of little use against Discord. You can see what became of him if you visit the Canterlot gardens."

"Your magic might work well enough against one menace, but are you sure you can defeat an army of trained warriors?" Storm Mane blustered.

Luna paused to carefully consider the question. Did she really think that the strange changes she and her sister were experiencing would give them enough strength to fight an army? The image of a dragon corpse with a blackened hole through its brain flashed through her mind.

"Yes." She replied.

"And they would not be alone." Nut Loaf added. "Because I, for one, intend to keep my oath."

"But..." Lady Fire Ruby began a protest. "...oh, very well. I suppose I shall also keep our agreement."

"What?" Storm Mane cried in surprise as he turned toward the noblemare.

"As much as I would love to be queen, I am not willing to tear Equestria apart to do so." Stated Fire Ruby. "And aside from myself, I can think of nopony better suited to the position than the Fated Heroes of Equestria. The common ponies will certainly love it."

Storm Mane looked back and forth between all the ponies that were now united against him as if searching for an option that would allow him to escape the increasingly inevitable conclusion. They stared back stonily until he finally lowed his head and spoke.

"Fine. All hail Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, rulers of Equestria."

Comments

[RaptorCalloftheShadows]

And that's how Equestria was made!

[Joe England]

Well, another thing to consider is that if they both rule they sort of HAVE to be princesses, simply because that title accommodates plurality. You can have many princes and princesses, but only one king or queen. Assuming of course you don't go by differentiating monikers like "High King of the Northern So-and-So."