A year after the defeat of The Princess Consort, Twilight and her friends must now face a new challenge, one that could cost them there very existence.
It has been almost a full years since the mare known as The Princess Consort was defeated, and Day Breaker was banished to the sun, and things are beginning to calm down for the newly minted alicorns of Equestria.
But all good things must come to an end, and as tensions from the nobles keep mounting, a new problem in the form of a council of similarly powerful beings makes its way to the capitol, to decide on not only the fate of Twilight and her friends, but the ponies themselves.
For there is one on the council who wishes to change the world order, and it all starts with ponies.
The Ascendancy Council Chapter 01: Preparations Begin
“Your highness surely you can see the wisdom in this action, after all it will benefit many of your residence once construction has concluded.”
“I see,” said Twilight as she stared down at the stallion from her seat, “and tell me, did you bring up these same points when you spoke to Princess Luna two days ago when you saw her?”
“Well…yes, but she said that it would be up to you so it would be better if I brought my idea to you.”
“I see,” said Twilight, before her eyes narrowed as she spoke. “Tell me Hard Ways, do you think I am stupid.”
“Um…your highness whatever do you mean?”
Twilight smirked, “First and foremost, the majority of The Everfree Forest is protected by the Equestrian Wildlife Conservation Act, in fact the only portion of the forest that is not covered by the act is the portion which surrounds the very castle which you stand within, which is currently being used to expand the Town of Ponyville. Speaking of Ponyville, The Everfree Forest falls within its jurisdiction, which means Mayor Mare must also give approval of this plan of yours, not just myself or Princess Luna.”
Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I was also told by Princess Luna that when you were informed of this very fact, you told her to simply go over the mayor’s head and give you approval anyway, which she informed you would be against the law, to which you said and I quote “Laws are only for peasants so that they can be properly controlled by there betters, not to be used as chains to limit the nobility,” which has got to be one of the most disturbing sentences I have ever heard uttered by a member of the nobility.”
“Now see here you little…”
“I am not finished,” said Twilight, “I also have it on good authority Hard Ways that the last project of this nature you managed to slip past The Princess’s scrutiny caused massive environmental harm to the woods outside of Baltimare, which took years to recover, and lead to you being banned not only from the city, but from ever doing such projects again.”
Hard Ways was visibly sweating now, but Twilight still wasn’t done, for she had one more point to make. “I also know that this ban was hoofed out by Princess Celestia herself, which leads me to assume that you are but the latest in a long line of noble’s who are trying their level best to overturn every single decision made by the Princess since her time as sole ruler of Equestria, under some puffed up excuse that her compromised mental state when it came to her mate also affected her decision making on other areas as well.”
“But it cannot be denied that when it comes to her mate the former princess was woefully bankrupt of any sense of morality…”
“But that was only one instance, her mate never factored into any of the laws that you and your fellows have been calling into question, therefore her decision making was never compromised as it was where she was concerned. What you and the other nobles need to get through your thick skulls is that just because Princess Celestia has been banished for three thousand years does not mean you have the go ahead to tear down every law she has passed for the last thousand, for your predecessors already did that when Princess Luna was banished, and it lead to detrimental effects that we are still recovering from to this day! So no Hard Ways, I will not be repealing the ban preventing you from conducting mining projects, thus I will also not be approving your permit to mine in the Everfree Forest. Good day sir.”
“…You will rue this Princess, rue it I say!” yelled Hard Ways as he left the throne room, and once he was gone Twilight sighed deeply before turning to one of the guards beside her and speaking.
“Steel Wing, is it to much to ask that they come to me with real problems, rather then trying to get around Luna so that they can overturn some law?”
“That would be asking a lot of them princess,” said Steel Wing with a smirk, “but that is why you, Princess Luna, and others hold the rank that you do, so that you can keep them in line.”
“I just wish that it wasn’t such a demanding job,” said Twilight, “are there any other?”
“No your highness.”
“Then I think I am going to go cuddle with my wife, and then get some reorganizing done.”
With that said she teleported out of the room to her personal chambers, but when she looked around she saw Rainbow nowhere in sight.
However she did find her daughter Majesty in the living room, her back on the couch and a unicorn stallion looming over her, kissing her deeply.
“Ehem!” said Twilight with a disgruntled look, causing Majesty’s eyes to widen in terror as she threw the stallion off her, who looked up before screaming at the sight of Twilight and teleported away, causing Majesty to groan as she turned over and planted her face into one of the couch cushions.
“Majesty I thought we talked about this, I get you are wanting to experiment till you find your soul mate, but you have your own place, I am tired of finding you in various compromising positions with your latest conquest.”
“But mom,” said Majesty, “I was a fucking teenager when Celestia and Luna found me, and back then I could never be as open and honest with who I was like now, its not my fault that I like to get frisky!”
“I would still prefer you to do it in you own place rather then my home, but we can talk more on that later, for now do you have any idea where your mother is?”
“Last I saw she was heading to the guards training area, for a new group of guards just arrived for her special training.”
“Of course she is,” said Twilight with a sigh, “well I better go make sure she isn’t terrifying them too much, after all she just got her washout rate down last month, and I would like to keep it down.”
*
“My spells aren't doing crap this is dumb!” yelled a mare as she kept up a torrent of blasts, which were either being dodged around or deflected by their target, who was flying around overhead to keep away from the ground bound combatants.
“Just keep doing what your doing Feather Gale,” said her commander, the stallion glaring at the target as he spoke, “we just need more time.”
“HOW MUCH FUCKING TIME,” yelled a pegasus next to him, who was using a shield to try his best to block the incoming blasts sent by there target.
Before the commander could speak, a rumble of thunder sounded, and then a bolt of lighting flew down from the sky and struck the target, blinding everyone for a moment, though once here vision cleared they saw a massive cloud of smoke where there target had been.
“Good shot,” said a voice from within the cloud, before is was dispersed, revealing a cyan blue alicorn, her rainbow mane and tail crackling with electricity from the bolt of lighting which they had used to try and do her in. “But word of advise, never try and use the weather against a weather pony, especially one who was head of an entire towns weather division.”
With that, she unleashed the energy she had been withholding into a massive bubble of static electricity, hitting all of her attackers and paralyzing them, but before the ones who were above her could fall all the way to the ground, a magic aura surrounded them and lowered them gently to the ground, before a grizzled looking unicorn mare walked onto the field and spoke.
“Alright, this exercise is over, medics see to the wounded, High Commander Dash, your wife is outside and she looks really pissed, so please deal with that.”
“Great,” said Rainbow as she took off for the front gate, seeing Twilight standing outside with a very disgruntled look and swooping down, wrapping her up in her great big wings and then kissing her on the lips before smiling at her. “Hey honey, whats up?”
“Give me a minute and I’ll remember,” said Twilight as she leaned in for another kiss, and then another, and then a few more before finally escaping her wings and regaining her disgruntled look. “Ok, now did you or did you not know that our daughter was getting busy with a stallion in our chambers in the castle?”
“I didn’t even know she had come to visit,” said Rainbow, “but before I go talk to her, do you remember what he looked like, for I still have some energy I need to work of and he sounds like a valid target.”
“I don’t no,” said Twilight, “but I can think of a few other things we could do to work off that energy of yours.”
“I bet you could,” said Rainbow with a smirk, before her horn lit up and they both teleported away, leaving the guard outside to sigh in relief.
*
“I CANNOT BELIEVE THEM!!!” roared Luna as she entered her mothers chambers.
“Luna, inside voice,” said Faust as she concentrated on her work, paint splattered haphazardly over her coat as the painting she was working on slowly took shape.
“I am sorry mother, but I really thought the nobility would have given up after all this time, but it is coming up on a whole year since my sisters banishment and they are still making attempts at undoing every single law she has ever had a hoof in since my own banishment over a thousand years ago.”
Faust sighed, but her smile never left her face. “They feel emboldened dear daughter, after all the last time such a thing happened, their ancestors were able to make sweeping reforms which upended many of the laws you had set in place thousands of years ago, laws your sister had to spend hundreds of years to try and bring back, and still not all of them have been re-certified. You have the benefit of knowing such a thing has happened before, thus you must be ever vigilant, for it will take time for them to realize that they cannot succeed this time around.”
“Well, that does explain why certain things felt so…stagnant upon my return, while other thinks felt like they had slid backwards. But enough about the nobles, after all I believe you called me here for something important, I just happened to run afoul of a noble on my way to meet you, and I will admit I bottle up my reaction till I got here.”
“That’s perfectly alright Luna, as for why I called you here, in about a months time, the ascendancy council will be arriving her…to meet with and judge the new alicorns that have joined our ranks.”
“I see,” said Luna with a glare, “and let me guess, you actually received this news shortly after Twilight and the others Ascended, and have only now just plucked up the courage to tell me.”
“…you know me too well sometimes.”
“I remember my childhood quite clearly still,” said Luna, “and the many questions you would either not touch for weeks or leave to Celestia to explain the answers to me, it is a wonder she knew enough to tell in your place.”
“Well to be fair you were just so cute back then I didn’t want to shatter your innocence any sooner then I had to, so every time you would come to me with a question like that I would freeze up.”
“Well frankly it was annoying,” said Luna, before sighing sitting down on a couch. “So, will it be the entire council, or will it just be the members of the Circle?”
“The Circle,” said Faust, “the rest of the council is busy with other matters, especially those who govern Tartarus, for they are still trying to undo the damage your mate did when she created the Windigo swarm.”
“Well that’s good at least,” said Luna, “but thanks for letting me know, I’ll pass word to the staff tomorrow, especially if Gale Mesh if coming, though at least we’ll be able to see Zecora again, seeing as she has a seat on the Circle.”
“Indeed,” said Faust, “and also Umbranox will be there as well, so we will have at least two allies.”
“What about…mother?” said Luna.
Faust actually sighed at this, “Chrysalis is still being denied her seat back amongst the Circle, apparently Gale is trying to rule that she should be removed from the Council entirely…like we are.”
“I still do not understand why we are, I mean I understand why your mother never took a seat, after all she very much liked the hooves off approach when it came to anything, but surely at least you are deserving of a seat.”
“We have talked about this before Luna,” said Faust, “however with so many new alicorns now in existence…I think it may be time for me to have one.”
“I would have to agree,” said Luna, “well mother, its been lovely, but I have to go and get ready for the night, say high to mother for me when you see her.”
“Will do,” said Faust as Luna left, smiling as the door closed before putting the final touch on her painting, which burst into light before forming into a beautiful barn owl, which began nuzzling her affectionately and caused her to giggle.
“Hello dear friend…welcome to the real world.”
The Ascendancy Council Chapter 02: Whispers Are Heard
“Thank you for coming darlings, and if you need any adjustments feel free to come back anytime!”
Rarity smiled as she closed the door, happy that business had been picking up now that she had finally found somepony who would look past her station to critique her work, thus she didn’t have to worry about ponies simply buying her goods due to the fact that she was an alicorn.
As she headed back upstairs to the living portion of her home, she found both her mates going over what looked to a map of Equestria with various pieces on it in their study, and she could not help but glare as she walked inside. “Darlings, what have I told you about taking this particular part of your work home?”
“That it gives you to many bad memories of when we were in the war room planning out our venture into the lands that would one day be known as Equestria,” said Yang, “but we could not leave this work as something troubling has been cropping up recently.”
Sighing in the realization that she would most likely regret this, she moved closer to the map, and noted that many of the pieces were on the boarders of Equestria. “Well darlings, what is going on?”
“We have been receiving reports of probings along our boarder from our various outposts, and the nature of those probes seems similar to the ones conducted along the boarder a few years after the banishment of Princess Luna.”
Rarity quirked an eyebrow at this, “do you suspect an attack like before?”
“We’re not sure,” said Yin, “which is why we have been looking over the reports and mapping things out, for we want to rule that out as a possibility. However one thing we are taking into account is that unlike before, there are far more alicorns now then when Luna was banished.”
“That is true,” said Rarity, “but it could be that the amount of alicorns has set many of these people on edge…so you better take me through this bit by bit, for I will need to be well informed when I present this information to Twilight and Luna.”
*
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE ONLY HAVE A MONTH TO PREPARE!!!”
Luna grimaced at the volume of Twilight’s Royal Canterlot Voice, for it reminded her much of Celestia’s, which was not surprising given how much time Twilight had spent with her sister.
“My mother did not inform me till the day prior,” said Luna simply, “thus we only have a month to get everything ready for the arrival of the Circle.”
Twilight took a moment to calm down, and then sighed before speaking once more. “Ok, so how should we prepare?”
“I already have Canterlot Castle being prepared as we speak,” said Luna, “what I will need you to do is gather all the other alicorns and bring them to Canterlot so that we can get them ready for meeting the circle, for Gale demands that they all attend.”
“All of them?” asked Twilight.
When Luna nodded, Twilight sighed once more. “That’s going to be hard Luna, for many of them are still out their looking for their soul mates, and a lot of them are really going to be against going to an event of this nature.”
“Well unfortunately Gale will not accept anything but the entire lot, for anything less he will perceive as a challenge to his power.”
“He sounds paranoid,” said Twilight.
“Extremely,” said Luna, “ever since he took the head seat of the Ascendancy he’s convinced himself that every other ascendant, including his own children are conspiring to take the seat he believes is his by right, and we are the ones he suspects the most.”
“But why,” said Twilight, “Faust never sought a seat, like her mother before her, so why would he expect us to try and take his?”
“Because Gale does not trust those who have immense power yet only exercise a scrap of it, that and he was always jealous of mothers place in Zacherle’s heart, and of the fact that she was born ascended, unlike the rest of the Ascendancy who had to earn it.”
“…I’ll gather the girls and get to work then, meanwhile, I know you said you were prepping Canterlot Castle for their visit, but is there anyplace you can think of that might make a better meeting spot?”
“…Now that you mention it, your castle would be best,” said Luna. “For it has the most guest rooms, but worry not, I shall handle the arrangements while you travel.”
“Thank you Luna,” said Twilight, “now if you’ll excuse me, I have a bunch of wayward alicorns to corral.”
She then teleported away, leaving Luna to sigh before she headed off to collect Twilight’s castle staff, for they had much work to do.
*
The first place Twilight teleported to was Rarity’s shop, but after the mare did not respond to her calls, she headed up to the residential section of the shop, and was surprised when she found that Rarity’s living room was in a state that made it look like a war room.
“What in Tartarus?”
“Twilight Darling,” said Rarity as she noticed her, the mare walking over and giving her a hug before pulling back and smiling. “Sorry for the mess, but we got caught up in something that is rather troubling to be frank.”
“How troubling?”
Rarity guided her over to the central table, where Twilight saw a map of Equestria with all of its various boarder stations marked, as well as what looked to be sightings and dates near said boarder stations.
“…Someone is testing our boarders.”
“Yes,” said a male voice, Twilight looking to see that Yin and Yang had come in with food, “and from all we have been able to deduce, the pattern of these tests matches one to one the same testing of boarders that began happening after Princess Luna was banished to the moon.”
“But that can't be right,” said Twilight as she continued to look at the map, “that was a prelude to invasion brought on by the other kingdoms thinking us weak due to the absence of Luna, and while yes Celestia is gone now, the number of alicorns has increased by a substantial margin.”
“And because of that line of thinking my brother and I had the thought that maybe this testing of boarders was due to the various kingdoms now fearing that with new alicorns we may start looking to expand our own boarders,” said Yang, “but Rarity quickly dissuaded us of this notion with her own theory.”
Twilight glanced at Rarity, which prompted the mare to speak. “…Twilight, do you recall what we learned about Celestia in regards to the Badlands?”
When Twilight nodded, Rarity continued. “Well it prompted me to do some digging into how the other kingdoms reacted to that incident, and what I found was that after that incident…each of the other kingdoms adopted a new moniker for Princess Celestia, ones that denote her as someone who should be feared.”
Walking around the table and moving a book aside, Rarity picked up a list and then began to speak once more. “The griffins know her as The Burnt Ivory Queen, the dragons know her as The Sun Unconquered, the Abyssinian's call her She of Scorching Sands, and there are many more such titles.”
“Your point?” asked Twilight.
“My point is dear that compared to that, none of us, even Luna have such titles, which makes me believe that…well that either one or all of the kingdoms who might have eyes on Equestrian territory may see us as lacking our greatest weapon, that being Celestia.”
Twilight simply stared at her for a long moment, and then she sighed before looking back to the map. “You may be right, which makes what's coming next all the more troubling.
“What is that darling?”
Twilight quickly filled her and her lovers in on how they would soon be playing host to the Ascendancy Council, and once she was done Rarity got a contemplative look on her face as she spoke. “Hmm, this may work to our advantage, for if any of those ascendants are tied to the kingdoms near our boarders, we may be able to find out who is doing this and stop it before it escalates like it did before.”
“That’s a good plan,” said Twilight, “but if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and round up the others, I just hope it won’t take too long.”
“Well why don’t I and my loves help you darling,” said Rarity, “for we were actually about to start packing all this up when you arrived, so we are free to help.”
“That would actually be quite helpful,” said Twilight, “but I’ll be back later to look all this over, for if someone is planning an invasion, Luna and Faust will need to be alerted.”
*
“Um…Princess Faust?”
Faust looked up from her latest work of art, which she was painting in the royal gardens of the palace, to see Blueblood standing behind the canvas she had been using, looking hesitant.
“Blueblood, I am glad you finally answered my summons, I was starting to worry that something may have happened to you.”
“Well to be frank my lady, I didn’t exactly leave Canterlot on the best of terms, especially as the ponies who I once saw as friends were so quick to leave me to rot after I…well after what I did.”
“Well Blueblood, while your second attempt to get the Fell Shadow away from my daughters was flawed, I know your heart was in the right place, which is something I also know is a rarity for you, given the stories I have been told about your character prior to your banishment.”
She saw Blueblood flinch at that, then she turned back to her painting, continuing to work as she spoke to the young stallion. “You Blueblood remind me of another I used to know, he to lost the only family he had when he was young, and a mare who was beloved by all took him into her household and raised him as her own child, making sure he wanted for nothing.”
“As you can imagine, he was much like you when he became fully grown, spoiled, self assured of his place in the world and his superiority over all others, and a true terror to all those around him.”
Looking back up from the portrait to make sure he was still paying attention, she continued. “Due to this, the mare who raised him as one of her own became concerned, and this concern came to a head when he stood before his mother and demanded of her the ultimate gift, to make him into an ascended.”
She heard Blueblood gasp, but didn’t not stop in her speech. “The mare thought long and hard about his demand, and in a bit of foolishness, she decided to give him exactly what he asked for, thinking that suddenly being saddled with so much responsibility would straighten him out…and in the end, it was the greatest mistake in her life.”
Silence rained in the garden for a long while, with the only sound filling the air being the sound of brush making contact with canvas, but eventually Blueblood spoke up. “My lady, if I may be so bold, the mare in the story is you correct?”
When Faust nodded, he continued, “who was the ascended then.”
“…his name was Grogar.”
Seeing his shocked look, she smirked, “I know, one of the most fabled of monsters in all of history having a childhood, well even monsters have families, and he was no acceptation.”
“What happened to him?”
“Chrysalis killed him in the end, for I could not bring myself to, even with so many stating that it was my mistake to fix.”
“And the reason you are telling me all this,” said Blueblood.
Faust smiled once more, “Because unlike him Blueblood, you can still be saved from the darkness which has tainted your life thus far, and though you did not realize it, you already took the first step.”
“How?” asked Blueblood.
“You could have come up with any number of under-hoofed methods to try and discredit or even outright imprison the Fell Shadow, but instead after your first honest attempt to raise suspicion about what she truly was failed, you decided to decided to accuse her of the high crime of using dark magic, which if I am correct, you did to get others to possibly become suspicious of her.”
“…Indeed your highness, for I had hoped that even the suspicion of dark magic would cause others to look into her and discover the truth, but unfortunately I…well I did not factor in how tainted my reputation had become do to my own actions.”
“And it is good that you recognize what your actions wrought, but to make sure this growth continues, I would like to take you on as my student.”
Noting his shocked look, she continued, “I know it must seem strange to you, or that you are perhaps not worthy of what I offer you. But unlike my eldest daughter, not only do I prefer my students to be older in age then the ones she would take under her wing, but I also prefer to take on students who have started to rebuild their lives from what they once were.”
Finishing her painting, it burst into light before taking the form of a pure white falcon with blue eyes, which landed on her outstretched wing as she moved over to the young stallion and spoke. “As is my custom, I present to you this animal guide, to be your light along your long road when it grows dark and cold. So…what say you?”
