Twilight and her friends explore and learn about cultural difference between the East and the West
After a long career of study, Twilight could finally stand on her own, but the gears of fate didn't stop turning. a few weeks later,（the end of s9e26）, a fleet of ships from the East arrived in Equestria, accompanied by a long-planned conspiracy in front of Twilight. Will she be able to go through the trials and tribulations of traveling to the mysterious land of Seresia, experiencing a whole new culture, and making new friends while defeating an unprecedented evil force?
I wrote originally in Chinese, so if you are willing to help with English translation~ please contact me on Discord: dreamingheart
Translated by: Dark straw, Blockclear, wd357dui, Luther
A month had passed since the coronation ceremony, and although Twilight had the help of Spike and Princess Celestia, the long hours of intense work had left her a little overwhelmed. Today was the day for Canterlot's regular weekly meeting. Twilight was sitting on a throne engraved with her cutie mark, with Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's thrones standing to her left and right. "The meeting will now begin, please report on the week's work individually."
That familiar voice ringing in her ears snapped Twilight's attention away from the empty throne, this was the first time she had attended a meeting independently without the two princesses. The one who had just spoken was Spike, her faithful assistant, who had noticed Twilight's absent-mindedness and had deliberately raised his voice to remind her. "Mr. Fancy Pants, let's start with you."
"My pleasure, Your Highness."
Spike eased up a little after seeing that Twilight finally shifted her eyes away from the thrones and back to the famous politicians in the venue. But unknown to Spike, Twilight wasn't even listening to the fancy-dressed ponies on the stage; her mind was filled with memories of what had happened a couple of days ago. The two Princesses had expressed to Twilight that they wanted to go to the beach for a couple of days, confident in Twilight’s abilities to succeed without their aid. The management of the weekly meeting and today's daily workload was left fully in her hooves. Princess Celestia's kind and funny-sounding words reached Twilight's head, but at that moment she felt a fear comparable to as if she was an inexperienced baker creating her first batch of baked goods.
"That's all I wanted to say, Your Highness."
"Very well, is there anything else Princess Twilight would like to say?"
Spike asked as he intently and with speed recorded the last of the colt's reports while the other colts aligned their eyes together on the princess. A few seconds of silence made Spike immediately realize that something was wrong. He turned his head to Twilight who was lost in a daze of memories and firmly bumped his elbow into her hoof.
"Ah!... No... I'm listening!"
Puzzled eyes from the stage gazed at her, trying to make sense of the princess's borderline unintelligible reply. Spike slapped his forehead helplessly, then rushed on, "I guess what Princess Twilight is trying to say is that she has nothing more to add, right?"
"Uh... Right! There's nothing more I need to add! Everyone did a great job!!" Realizing her lapse, Twilight hurriedly tried to ease the awkward scene with a smile.
"If you all have no other questions, this meeting will end for now, please leave in an orderly fashion. The princess and I have some things to discuss."
After seeing the colts on stage start to whisper, Spike hastily ordered the meeting to end and ushered them out, closing the door behind them He knew that Twilight would freak out if she heard these politicians and celebrities bad-mouthing her on stage.
"What's happened to you today? you look so inattentive." Spike asked, walking back and hopping boldly on Princess Celestia's throne. He gazed over at Twilight and saw her sitting paralyzed in her seat.
"I'm so sorry... Spike, I'll never get used to this kind of work... I was so confident! But... Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were both away and I just felt so overwhelmed and lost." Twilight shifted, finding a relatively comfortable position to lie on her back. Her sights were set on the grand glass painting mounted on the wall of the hall depicting her taking over from the two princesses in governing Equestria.
"No more backup? Hey Twilight, you'll have to go through this sooner or later, and it's a lot easier than saving Equestria! Did you forget that time you pat yourself on the back for being perfectly capable of handling this?" Spike joked, gathering up the recordings he held in his claws.
"Did I say that?"
"A month ago. When you, me, and the other ponies were here directing the work ponies to set up your throne."
"Well..."
"I distinctly remember Rarity said that if you needed help you could always call on them, and then you confidently replied: I'm perfectly fine~ Don't worry about it." Twilight shook her head and presented an embarrassed, but nonchalant smile. Spike quickly realized that she had completely forgotten about it.
"Well, you're so busy I think it's OK for you to forget it. Though... I have a suggestion, how about you take a lunch break and after that, we can get a massage! Rarity introduced me to a new massage parlor in Canterlot. She said that the service and experience there are great, and she even gave me a couple of membership vouchers to take you to experience it during your free time~" Spike bragged, pulling out two vouchers from his belt pouch and presenting them to Twilight.
"Huh? Wait a minute... when did you talk to Rarity? You have been around with me all month?!" Twilight asked as she took the membership voucher, surveyed it, and then looked at him quizzically.
"Come on... These vouchers were given to me by Rarity a month ago! She specifically told me to make sure I took you when you had some free time. She worried that you'd stress yourself out."
"Well... ~A cozy massage might be what I need to relieve the tension and depression I've been feeling for a while now." Twilight said, getting up and beginning to walk towards the door. Suddenly, Twilight stopped in her tracks, seizing up like a machine.
"Wait! What if a pony suddenly comes with something really important while we are gone? Like some kind of international diplomacy, border strife, or something! And because because we aren’t there things go from bad to worse! And then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna got so angry that they sent me to the moon! No way... I have to hurry up and draft a countermeasure against this kind of thing!"
"Here we go again... your ‘twilighting’ is getting worse..." Spike muttered, completely ignoring Twilight's order for him to start documenting this new plan. Spike reached into his fanny pack and sifted around for a bit before pulling out a small card and inspecting the text on it. The card described a series of consoling measures he and the other five ponies had prepared specifically to help Twilight deal with the exponential surge in paranoia she had been experiencing since she was placed into power. The card included, but was not limited to: tasty food, books of interest, and a party. But after flipping through several of them, Spike couldn't find what he felt was the right solution.
"Dang... this just isn’t going to work." He thought to himself. After a short while, Spike decided that he'd better resort to the simplest and crudest way to solve the current situation: A well-meaning lie.
"Didn't we just make a plan the other day?"
"What plan?"
"Look at you, all this work is getting to you. Have you forgotten that you already drew up the plan to give yourself half a day's rest after today's meeting?"
"Did I really plan that? Show me the schedule!"
"Uh… yeah! It's right here in my bag!!!" Spike hurriedly grabbed a brand new scroll from his bag, Ignoring the questioning look Twilight threw at him. Using his body as cover, he scrawled a plan onto the fresh scroll. The forged plan was finished in no time. The words on it were nearly illegible, but he couldn't care less right now.
"Here!! take a look! Even has your signature on it." Twilight squinted and stepped forward to take a closer look. Spike, knowing that his imitation of Twilight's signature wouldn't stand up to a closer look, quickly stored the scroll back in his bag. He couldn’t risk being found out.
"Ah? I signed a schedule like that?" Puzzled, Twilight looked up, her hoof scratching at her head as she tried to remember where that planner in Spike's paw had come from. But the longer she thought about it, the more disorganized her thoughts became.
"Well, well, since I have this plan... Better hurry up and execute it then~ My little royal counselor, lead the way!"
"Huh?" Spike froze for a moment at the sudden contrast in Twilight’s attitude. Before he could react, he was grabbed by Twilight with her magic. The guards at the door saluted as they left and Spike hurriedly took the opportunity to throw a ball of paper in front of one of them. He signaled for the guard to open it before he was carried away by Twilight, disappearing down the corridor as the guards watched.
Following the address shown on the coupon, Twilight and Spike arrived in front of a store with grand neon signs hanging in front of it, casting colorful light into the street. Upon the sign was the silhouetted bust of a smiling filly, lying on its back at the edge of a pool lined by an array of blue lights. one hoof bobbed up and down, as if it were inviting all to join in.
"Are you sure this is the right place? This place doesn't look like a massage parlor at all."
"Um... This should be the right address?" Spike said as he picked up the coupon in his paw again, looking it over it several times somewhat sheepishly.
Twilight and Spike stared at up the neon array for a moment, then down at the front entrance where the line was forming, before finally looking at each other again. Hesitantly, they decided to take a closer look.
"Hello? Excuse me..."
Spike walked up to a stone-faced security guard in a gray shirt, intending to inquire about the parlor. He was greeted by a quick "Get in the back of the line." from the guard, who felt no need to even look at him.
"I just want to-"
"Line up... Line up!!!" The security guard barked. Seeing that his tone hadn't shaken Spike, he put down the notepad in his hoof, revealing a light blue face with sunglasses. Although Spike couldn't see his eyes directly, he could feel that the pony beneath the sunglasses meant business.
"Hello", Spike said in a friendly voice, "we just wanted to come by to make sure the address on this coupon was this place. And, if it isn't – could you do us a favor and point us in the right direction?" Twilight, seeing how tough the security guard was, stretched out her own wings to corral Spike behind her. Using her magic, she took take the coupon in Spike’s claws and brought it to the guard to show him.
"What u-" he muttered as vision was suddenly blocked by a large purple feather. He looked up angrily, ready to show whoever was responsible what he was made of. His vision fixated on the pony in front of him and he soon realized he wasn’t looking at just your everyday pony. In shock, he took off his sunglasses doing a double take before his attitude suddenly shifted. "Princess Twilight!!!" His excitement was accompanied by a loud squeal that perked the ears of many colts on the sidelines.
"Oh my gosh! It's Princess Twilight!!!"
"Does she come to this store for massages too?!"
"Can you take a picture with me Princess Twilight!!!?" The crowd that was originally lining up orderly all congregated around Twilight, quickly causing a stir. The security guard, in order to maintain order, yelled and drove the foals back into the queue, "All of you, line up properly! The princess came here to experience our impeccable service! If you want autographs you'll have to wait until the princess has time and is willing!"
"You come to this store for a massage too princess? What do you think of it?”
"Does the princess like the service here?!"
"Let's just go in first... The colts are so enthusiastic, it’s not too late, you can always come out and give them autographs after you're rested." Spike softly reassured Twilight, who tried to keep a smile on her face. She waved her hooves to greet the foal folk as she walked by, even though she was feeling exhausted by now, and was guided into the store by spike.
Entering the establishment, a receptionist greeted them warmly, "It's Princess Twilight! Welcome to the shop!" the filly said as she handed over a list of items in her hooves. "What services would the princess like to experience in our store? We have a cozy aromatherapy spa to relieve fatigue, or maybe you want a professional massage master give you a full body massage to sweep away the aches and pains?"
"Uh... We have two coupons, I don't actually know what we can redeem."
"Oh! Please let me see them then." The receptionist smiled, receiving the coupons from Twilight. The receptionist examined them carefully for a moment, then took the coupons and walked over to the side counter and showed the ticket coupons to a colt. Twilight could see the colt bend down and disappear for a moment before rearing back up, picking up two beautifully crafted cards and handing them to the receptionist. Accompanied by the colt, the receptionist trotted back to Twilight.
"These two coupons are good for one free visit to our one-stop service. Please take the cards and follow me." The receptionist said, handing the cards to Twilight and Spike before leading them both inside.
"This is it, Princess Twilight."
Pushing the door open, the first thing that caught her eye was a mural of a mountainous outcrop, followed shortly by the fake tree planted in the center of the spa. Underneath it was a recessed and irregularly shaped pool of water. The water surface was covered with flower petals with steam rising from all parts of the pool, permeating the room with the scent of the flowers. The room, although far from the real thing real, was a good enough to imitation of a naturally occurring mountain hot spring. Below Twilight was a floor made entirely of plastic and wood with the exception of a cobblestone path leading from the doorway to the pool.
"Ha, It smells good!" Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, enjoying the refreshing feeling and comfort that the floral scent brought to her lungs.
"This is one of our store's exclusive imported incense. you're just in time my Princess, you wouldn’t have been able to see it if you had come a few days later. So, please take your time and enjoy it! Feel free to call me if you need me." She curtsied the princess and retreated to the door, closing it behind her, leaving Twilight and Spike inside.
"Woo-hoo! Dragon Leap!" Spike shouted, couldn’t wait to slam into the pool, causing a great splash in all directions. Twilight stepped back and rushed to block it with her wings, narrowly avoiding getting her coat soaked as petals and water rained down on her.
"Heh…" Twilight smiled.
"Twilight get down here! The water's just warm enough!" Spike swam on his back through the pool before suddenly slapping the surface of the water sharply as if he were a colt who couldn't swim. "Save... Save me... Cramp... Cramp!!" He flailed a few times before sinking and disappearing into the water below. Twilight, shocked, without hesitation jumped into the water and began calling out Spike's name as she searched for him everywhere.
"What are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for you Spike! You're not drowning today!" Twilight stumbled, answering the familiar voice from the sidelines. She remained standing in the water anxiously searching, but when she looked up, she saw Spike across the pool with a stifled grin on his face. Panicked and confused, it took her a second to realize that it was all just a prank from Spike. Displeased, she shot her hoof across the water surface, sending a splash at him. Spike, not wanting to be outdone, reciprocated and began an all-out pony vs dragon water fight in the pool.
"Ooooohhhh, You can't even imagine how much I miss soaking in hot water." Twilight said gently after getting tired of fighting. She found a comfortable position to lie down in and spoke again,
"The last time I took a bath like this was with our old friends from ponyville... We all got together to talk as much as we could..." Her mind fantasized about pleasant scenes with her friends as they chatted together, but when she opened her eyes the only thing in front of her was Spike and the steamy room. She couldn't help but feel a little sad as she leaned back and looked up at the ceiling for a while.
"Hey, I know you miss them terribly… Canterlot isn't all that far from Ponyville you know, it's not like we'll never see them again. We could go back to Ponyville and see them again if we have time right?"
"Well..." Twilight sighed, still looking at the ceiling, her tone filled with loss.
"Well– Why don't we invite them all over to Canterlot? We could have a get-together this weekend! How about we invite them to come along and experience this sauna? I could go talk to the administrator about booking us a room or something." Spike chirped, thinking for a moment.
"There's no need to go to all that trouble Spike, I think I can hold on my own."
"You're kidding right? You think I don't know what you're thinking?" Spike crossed his paws over his chest and narrowed his eyes at the Twilight. She stopped her preening to put on another forced smile, but she quickly sighed in defeat as the smile slipped away from her lips.
"Well... You caught me." Twilight flashed her tongue out and smiled lightly, "I do want to get together with my pals, I haven't seen them in over a month… Please record this for me: This weekend I'm going to invite them to come along to Canterlot for a get together, maybe have a meal together or something."
After spending the afternoon in relaxing massages, Twilight and Spike began walking back to the Royal Castle, stopping halfway to buy some milkshakes. They arrived at the promenade and began to enjoy their drinks during a leisurely walk.
"That was a nice experience! I'd like to visit there again sometime Spike."
"Of course! I’ll have it arranged as soon as you can free up some time!" Spike cheerfully responded, glad that the fatigue and worry had cleared from Twilight's face. After taking a sip of the milkshake in his paw, he continued, "Any more plans for the evening?"
"Lay in bed and get a good night's sleep for tomorrow!"
"A good idea."
"Uh... Princess Twilight...", a voice called, "There is an ambassador waiting for you in the parlor right now.", Interrupting Twilight and Spike. They stopped their journey heading through the halls towards their room, and looked up to see a guard running over anxiously.
"What? Ambassador? a-ambassador!!??" Twilight froze in shock.
"She says she's from Seresia and is here in Equestria for business and trade." The guard continued, stopping as he noticed Spike behind Twilight making frantic cues with his eyes and paws.
"And what? Don't keep me hanging!" Twilight noticed the guard leaning over with his eyes fixated beyond her. But he was not looking at herself but at Spike, she snapped her head towards Spike causing him to hurriedly stop signaling the guard to shut up.
"Restoring a friendship once severed."
"Ah?!... Then why didn't you send guards earlier to inform me of something so important!!!"
"Because…", the guard stammered, "Because the Royal Counselor instructed us before you left that we would not be accepting any more meetings today, and if anypony came they were to be told to come back tomorrow." After hearing this, Twilight immediately turned her head with a grumbling face back at Spike, who was now smiling awkwardly, looking as innocent as possible. "Don’t look me like that! I just want you to be able to get some rest!"
"Guards, where is the ambassador now?" Twilight demanded, looking back at the guards while completely ignoring Spike's defense.
"Waiting in the reception room."
"Take me to her immediately."
"Yes princess." Led by the guards, Twilight and Spike were ushered to a door outside the noble reception room, where foreign guests would arrive. Two ivory-white colored unicorns, one male and one female, stood strong in the doorway, blocking them from proceeding further. The two ponies wore a basilisk-crowned hat on their heads along with black cloaks that completely covered their bodies, revealing only their patterned collars. The male unicorn had a prominent crimson line in his long lead-white hair, with light red pupils gleaming and scarlet eye shadow. Twilight took a step back, having to raise her head as she looked at the them. The female unicorn, though shorter than the male, was half a head taller than Twilight. The female’s appearance and dress mirrored that of the male’s, only differing in color, having of indigo instead of red. Such a mysterious costume and the sense of oppression had Twilight frozen, unable to move her eyes.
"This is Princess Twilight, she has come to meet with your ambassador, please make way." The guard spoke in a respectful tone. The two unicorns looked at each other, then both stepped aside, the female taking the initiative to help open the door to the room.
"I've been waiting for you, Princess Twilight. Please, have a seat." a voice called. Twilight looked towards the end of the room, seeing a pony with a pale pink complexion and gorgeous clothes, second in size only to Princess Celestia, sitting down on the VIP cushion. Two bunches of violet-orchid-colored hair stuck up like mountain peaks before extending downward towards the sides. Behind his ear was a carefully organized section of hair, with a silver hairpin running across it to hold it in place. A flower with pink petals and silver leaves bloomed at the tip of the hairpin. Her eyes, deep and determined, were as bright as millennia-old amber, and she wore a smile.
"I'm very sorry for keeping you waiting! Ambassador! I thought I wouldn't have any more guests this afternoon and had left to rest for a while, I sincerely apologize!" Twilight said hurriedly, as she took a seat across from the ambassador.
"Your Highness has been working hard for days, a little proper rest is only natural." The mature female voice said, "Did the princess have a good time?" The ambassador's tone was light and witty, but Twilight couldn’t help but feel as if the pony in front of her was acting like Princess Celestia when she questioned a student if they had realized their mistake. For a moment she seem at a loss for words.
"Ah, don't mind me, princess. You happened to brush past me on your way out and overheard you…" She trailed off, realizing that the question she had thrown out had embarrassed Twilight somewhat. The ambassador, after a quick glance at Spike, went on to say, "Your little helper let me in on what what you were going to do, though not intentionally. Forgive me for taking the liberty of staying in this room to await your return. Would the princess like some tea?" The ambassador picked up the teapot and gracefully filled a teacup before slowly pushing the cup towards Twilight. She then picked up her own teacup again and blew on the heat in the cup before taking a small sip.
"Ah... Haha, it's okay" She responded after a moment of awkward and impolite smiles. Continuing, she began, "My name is Twilight–"
"She is the newly appointed Princess Twilight Sparkle! The famous Princess of Friendship who saved Equestria countless times!!" Spike blurted out, introducing the ambassador in a boastful tone. The compliment made Twilight a little embarrassed.
"You are the newly appointed Princess Twilight, pardon my intrusion." The ambassador once again bowed respectfully to Twilight, taking the window of privacy flashed a disgusted look at Spike, who responded with a grimace, "Please don't mention it, ambassador"
"Please, call me Meng Yu, Your Highness."
"Pleased to meet you ambassador Meng Yu! What brings you to Canterlot today?"
"I come by the emperor’s request in the hope that your country will reopen diplomatic relations with the continent of Seresia. I hope we can reach a common ground during this meeting." Meng responded, lifting both hooves up and hitting the air ceremoniously. Out of nowhere an oriental female unicorn walked over slowly, levitating a reddish-colored gift box and placing it on the table. The unicorn then opened the box in front of everyone and took out the items inside and put them on the table one by one.
"This pair of Hundred Treasure Glazed Vases came from the hooves of a master in Qingyuan Town and was fired with the finest materials. I present it to you as a gift."
"Dear Celestia… This vase– It's so beautiful!!!" The body of the vase was as brilliant as a light shining through a perfectly cut gemstone. The surface was painted with dazzling patterns that sparked in her eyes. One vase contained a brilliant spirited pattern encompassing a phoenix soaring freely in the sky with firm eyes and smooth and gorgeous movements. The other vase was more subtle, but just as beautiful. A budding lotus flower caressed the vase with blooming lotus leaves dancing down the vase. Twilight had never seen such craftsmanship before, let alone as a gift to her. She was just about to put the box away when Spike had reached out and snatched a vase, cradling it lovingly in his arms.
"Oooooooooooooooooh! Is this vase made of gems?!" Spike's face lit up, coming close to contact with the vase, just short of pressing his own eyes to it. He sniffed and scrutinized the design on it, even trying to get a mouthful of it, when Twilight saw this and immediately grabbed the vase back with her magic and put it in the jeweled box.
"Spike! That's not food!!!"
"But the surface of this vase is so smooth and shiny, what else could it be if it's not made of jewels?" Meng Yu couldn't help but laugh as she watched the two bicker.
"These can only be made of a very special kind of clay, and with a precise process. It is first panned for impurities and then the modeled into the underlying shape. After air drying, it is colored by a master colorist and then covered with a layer of glaze. Finally, it is fired at high temperatures to seal it all together." Meng Yu patiently described the craftsmanship of the treasure vase to the two of them, but it was clear that they didn’t quite understand. "Princess don't be polite", Meng spoke softly, "Please accept them, I hope this gift will be the first steps paving the way re-establishment of diplomatic relations between our two continents."
"Of course! Thank you for the gift ambassador Meng Yu! You must have traveled a long way to get here, stay at the castle today. I will have the guards arrange a comfortable velvet bed and quiet room for you. Dinner will be prepared by our maids. I don't know if it's to your liking, but I assure you we have some of the best chefs in Equestria."
"Thank you, your highness, for your kind invitation. I thankfully accept your request."
"If there's anything you need just let me know and I'll do my best to help!" Twilight said, a bit frazzled. Using her magic, she picked up her teacup and sipped it while thinking about what present to return. "A book? A specialty item? Maybe something else…" she thought to herself.
"As a matter of fact, Princess Twilight, I do have a favor to ask. Our fleet has traveled thousands of miles across the ocean to reach Equestria with many trade goods on board, and we would like to seek a location to set up a marketplace for commerce. Would you be able to arrange this for us?"
"How big of a site do you think you need?"
"The larger the site the better the circulation of ponies, so of course the bigger the better if possible."
"Hmm, let me think about it." Twilight fell into deep thought, but she couldn't think of anywhere that would serve as a suitable site in Canterlot.
"There's a vacant lot near Ponyville, would that be enough?" Spike chimed in, scratching the scales on the back of his neck.
"Eh... Right! That's a great idea you have, Spike!"
"Oh? May I trouble Your Highness to show me around?"
"Sure, Ponyville is quite the trip by train, so I'll take you to the observation deck where you can see all of Ponyville now. This way, ambassador."
A few minutes later, Twilight's and company appeared on the balcony. She carried a telescope and pointed the lens towards Ponyville, adjusting the position a few times before settling it in place near the clearing Spike was talking about. "Ambassador, through this telescope you'll be able to see the location in the distance."
"Thank you Your Highness." Taking the telescope, Meng Yu peered through the lens at a grassy field. Many thatched houses standing not far away, and ponyfolk of all shapes and sizes in the streets. Moving the lens to explore in all directions, she saw a tall, majestic, purple treehouse wrapped in crystalline trees, with flags hanging from the eaves and Twilight's cutie mark iconography at the top. "Is that a crystal castle I spy? It looks so beautiful and grand!"
"Oh? Ah, that's the Friendship Castle, it's one of my residences in Ponyville. you may reside there when the time comes. As well, it also serves as convenient place for you to manage things in the market."
"I think that is a very suitable place, Princess Twilight." Meng Yu said affirmatively, smiling while continuing to observe for some time.
"Very well! Where is your cargo? I'll arrange for help."
"The cargo is on our ships, Princess Twilight. The fleet is stationed in the harbor of Manehattan."
"Wow, that’s... It could take days to move all the cargo here." Twilight pondered, unsure sure how much cargo was in their hooves. She knew it it would take quite a bit of time just to take a round trip, let alone with cargo on their hooves.
"Rest assured princess, we have plenty of time to prepare." After her words, Meng Yu called out to the two unicorns that had guarded the doorway earlier. The stallion entered and walked up to her, before speaking softly in a language Twilight could not parse.
" Princess Twilight, I have my subordinate ready to bring some goods a bit later. I would also like to ask the princess to send a pony to guide him throughout town."
"Of course, no problem!" Twilight replied cheerily. Calling out to a nearby guard, she commanded them as the guide. The stallion saluted Twilight and the ambassador once before leaving the scene with the guard leading him straight away.
Twilight’s dinner with Meng Yu had gone well. They followed it up with some conversations, laughs, and a train ride, ultimately finding themselves at the doors to the Friendship Castle in Ponyville. After entering and finding a room for Meng Yu, Twilight began to rummage around the castle for information about Meng’s continent.
"Seresia... Seresia, that ambassador said it was in the east, and across the ocean? But I remember that ocean being dangerous, so how did they do that? I need to find something about the eastern world... Spike!!!" Twilight sifted though book after book, note after note, trying to look for clues in Equestria's encyclopedia, but it was futile. Muttering to herself frustratingly, she continued her search through books when she noticed Spike lying on magical barrier on the box, gazing at the two preserved vases inside.
"I'd really like to taste them, how did they make clay into crystal??"
"Spike! Stop thinking about eating those vases and get over here help me find something on Seresia!"
"Okay, okay, don't yell so loud! What do I need to find?"
"Anything about Seresia."
"Wouldn't it be better to just ask the Princesses? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna might know about this Seresia continent or something. After all, the ambassador also said that she's here to re-establish diplomatic relations, so she must have had at least some connections with the princesses." Spike commented, watching as Twilight flew from shelf to shelf making a mess.
"Right! Why didn't I think of that! I can always count on you Spike!"
"That's for sure! Wait a minute– What are you doing?! Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
The world swirled around Spike as the walls morphed and twisted into a brand new scene. In a flash it was over, and he found himself looking upon swirling sea water lazily swooping down the beach leaving white waves in its wake. In the distance Celestia and Luna were using magic to gracefully lower the sun and raise the moon simultaneously. The surrounding pony folk watched, wide-eyed and astonished. After the two princesses finished their performance, the ponies erupted into enthusiastic applause before scrambling to get their picture taken with the princesses.
The gentle ocean breeze brushed against their faces as spike settled into the sand. They both listened and enjoyed hearing the pony folk as the performance concluded. But before Spike could relax, he found himself in a flash of purple again, and a piercing sound Twilight and Spike suddenly appeared in the pony herd. The entrance sent ponies staggering back and causing a few yelps from the crowd. "Twilight?" Celestia and Luna called in unison, gathering back the attention of all eyes in the room.
"Can you at least tell me before you’re about to teleport us somewhere?" Spike stumbled his words before plunging headlong into the slim beach. With great effort, he began to pull himself out of the sand.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I need to talk to you." Twilight said with grace, ignoring Spike's complaints and walking directly to the two princesses.
"Dear ponies, will you give us some private space? We have some things to talk about with Princess Twilight. Please go ahead and get a juice from the beach juice stand next door, on me"
"Yeah!"
"Long live Princess Celestia!" The ponies left the scene together amidst the cheers, leaving the grounds to the three princesses.
"What happened?" Celestia magically conjured two blankets and placed them next to them.
"An ambassador from Seresia, named Meng Yu, came for an audience this afternoon. She proposed to resume relations with Equestria and requested that a temporary market be constructed in Equestria for the trading of goods, as well as giving me a gift."
"Isn't that nice? Twilight? What’s the problem?" Luna commented, approaching the two while using her magic to deliver the juice to each foal, then sipping the one in her hoof.
"Seresia. I've never heard of this place before and I can’t find anything in my texts. You must have heard about it before though, Celestia?" Twilight explained, taking the juice that Luna floated towards her and shifted to make herself more comfortable on the blanket.
"Seresia, ah... Let's see, it sounds familiar."
"Weren’t they given us a tea set? Do you remember that sis?" Luna asked to Celestia, shuffling to a comfortable position lying on her side on the recliner, "A white tea set with a very intricate blue pattern on it." Seeing Celestia shaking her head, Luna continued, "We were still very young at the time, and we even snuck the tea set out and used it in a playhouse. As a result, you and I broke a teacup when we inevitably fought over it, don’t you remember? Starswirl was furious when she saw the shards on the ground."
"Oh, I remember. And then Starswirl put away all the vases and tea sets, and he would only bring them out on important occasions. That was such a long time ago."
"Twilight you just said that the ambassador gave you a gift too? Was it a tea set as well?" Luna asked looking over at Twilight with a smile.
"Well... No, it was a pair of Treasured Glazed Vases– at least that's what the Ambassador called them."
"Oh? Could you show us?" Celestia and Luna leaned closer, intrigued by the name.
"Unfortunately, I don't have them with me, I left them safe at my castle in Ponyville with a layer of magical protection." Twilight paused, squinting at Spike. "I have to protect it because someone always gets bad ideas."
"There's no harm in tasting it! Besides, why else would they give us two of them? One of them has to be for tasting!"
"No, it's a great symbol which took countless hours to create, if I lose it or break it, what will I tell the ambassador?"
"Whatever you say." Spike crossed his paws over his chest to express his dissatisfaction. Twilight continued, looking up to the princesses to continue her question, "And how much do you know about this continent of Seresia, Princess Celestia?".
"We haven't traveled with the continent of Seresia for many years, it’s been so long I couldn’t even tell you when. But there's one thing I've never been able to forget."
"What is it?" Twilight pursued.
"The monarch of the continent of Seresia wanted to take Luna as his wife, and he paid tribute to us with countless gifts and piles of treasures that nearly filled the warehouse. But then it turned out..." Celestia paused and pulled Luna's hooves closer, "On the surface, he wanted to get married, but behind the scenes he wanted to research and then extract the immortality of Luna, keeping it for himself and discarding Luna once it was all over."
"I didn't know any of this at the time, only that ‘Tia tried desperately to prevent it from happening, and the two of us had a huge fight about it.", Luna said quietly, "Looking back now, I realize that ‘Tia just wanted what was best for me" Luna smiled, laughing a bit and resting of her hooves Celestia's forehoof, rubbing it slowly.
"I'm sorry I didn't make it clear to you in the first place Luna, causing so much pointless suffering and disagreement."
"Hmm, so to make it up to me. You'll be responsible for all the expenses for tomorrow's event."
"Great Luna, I can't believe you actually pulled this stunt!" Celestia remarked jovially. Twilight and Spike glanced at each other as they continued watched the two great princesses tease and fight.
"Sorry to interrupt– but what exactly should I do?" Twilight scratched her head, still intent on asking for their opinions.
"Do what you always do, Twilight. Make some new friends." Luna said as she dodged a hoof from Celestia.
"But I don't know anything about Seresia." Twilight responded. She knew that re-establishing diplomacy was an important step in fostering communication and friendship and that she needed to know something about this continent if it were to go smoothly. She had no idea what kind of customs they had or formalities that would aid in her diplomacy.
"There's a first time for everything, Twilight. We believe you have the strength. Ah, hahahahahahaha don't!" Celestia said, turning and looking at Twilight, only to be tickled by a playful Luna sneaking up behind her.
"Well, so much for my serious conversation" Twilight remarked.
"By the way! You mentioned they were building a market, can you let us know when it's done? I miss that white pastry I used to eat, ‘Tia do you remember what it was called?" Luna jumped back in to the conversation after calming down and regaining her posture.
"White pastry? Is it a cupcake?" Twilight asked suspiciously while Celestia shook her head.
"I can't remember what that kind of pastry is called, it looks like but it's not a cupcake, there's one with filling inside and one without. It's made differently, the texture is like a soft bread and the taste is immaculate." Luna licked her lips and rubbed her hooves as if she was enjoying those treats right now.
"And those foods that are skewered on small sticks and roasted over a fire"
"Ohhh! yeah, yeah! And those, I even tried to find some sticks to skewer the food myself to make them later on, but nothing I did could come close to what they could do. All the ones that came out of the grill were either mushy or burnt."
"Eh... The market has already been arranged by me on the outskirts of Ponyville, I’ll make sure your Highness are the first to know once it's done. I don’t think I should leave the my guests for too long, so I won't stay any longer. Have fun you two princesses, and thank you."
Sitting in a comfortable seat with warm yellow light filling the room, the mayor looked at the few remaining papers on her desktop. After stretching a comfortable and with a yawn, she reached over and took a sip of the a cup of hot cocoa on her desk.
"Ah, another wonderful day will soon come to an end. I can rest after handling these last papers." After drinking and enjoying the last drop of hot cocoa in her cup, the mayor straightened her tie and delved back into her work. Just as she began to focus, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Startled, she nearly knocked over the inkwell onto the papers.
"Please come in."
"Good evening, mayor, I apologize for bothering you so late." Twilight spoke, pushing her way into the room. Spike followed shortly who was behind her. The mayor couldn't remember the last time she had seen Twilight and immediately got up to greet her with a warm and enthusiastic tone, "Hello, princess Twilight! It's been a long time since I've seen you! Welcome back to Ponyville!!!"
"Mayor, I need ask a favor from you." Twilight said, giving the mayor a warm hug "I need to set up a temporary market in a vacant lot outside Ponyville in the next few days, and I'd like you to help me notify the everyone."
"Oh? Does the princess want to sell something in the town?" The mayor asked curiously.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, it's a batch of items from far east, and I'm sure everyone will be interested in them."
"Of course no problem! I'll make the arrangements tonight." The mayor shuffled back to her seat, ready to begin drafting the notification." Looking up from her desk, she asked "Is there anything I need to specify in particular? I'll write it down all together."
"Don't bother. Spike, please give the written notice to the mayor."
"Coming right up! Twilight knows you're really busy, so she already told me to write up the script before she came. Here, take it." Looking at the how thick the roll of manuscript paper that Spike handed over, the mayor was grateful and let out a small sigh of relief. She seemed to have forgotten just how prepared Twilight was in the long time she had been gone. Thinking back to the first time Twilight had given a speech, Twilight had prepared a thick stack of cards and thanked them for almost everything.
"If the princess doesn't mind, I'll sift through some of the important information, streamline it, and then release it to the residents." The mayor looked up at Twilight and commented after opening the manuscript paper and skimming through it
"Sure, just make sure nothing goes wrong haha" Twilight laughed. She didn't especially want the mayor mare to do that, but she knew she could trust them to get it done well.
"We are counting on you mayor, don’t stay up too late." Twilight and Spike smiled and waved after chatting with the mayor for a bit, saying their goodbyes and beginning their walk back to the Friendship Castle. Just as they arrived in front of the main door and were just about to push it, the door opened on its own. Twilight, confused, took a few steps backward.
"Good evening, ambassador, are you going out at this hour?" Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, seeing it was just Meng Yu who pushed the door open.
"Ahm the teleportation device arrived and I was just about to go out to get it, but I didn't realize that you had returned as well." Meng Yu smiled as she pushed the door fully open before stepping to the side herself to greet Twilight's return.
"A teleportation device?!" Twilight responded with surprise and curiosity.
"Yes! With the teleportation device, we can quickly transport the large amount of goods stored in the harbor."
"Can I see this teleportation device?" Twilight couldn't hide the excitement in her heart, she was eager to see what the devices the ambassador was talking about looked like.
"Of course! Look, princess, here it is."
Twilight turned her head in the direction her hooves were pointing and saw that the male guards who had left earlier in the day were coming this way with a dozen or so sturdy stallions. Each pony was carrying two dark colored stakes. Carved into the top of that wood was the head of a beast, with its eyes closed, resembling a lion. Twilight was not sure exactly the creature, but it looked ferocious. The pillar was square with sharp angles. Dense runes lined the pillars with both thick and thin lines, giving them an aura of mystery.
"This a teleportation device? Why are there so many of them?!" Twilight scrutinized the pillar in front of her, examining the runes that oozed magical fluctuations from the pillar's body, trying to imagine how the device might operate.
"Yes, princess Twilight, this device is called the Tian Ya Chu, place it on the ground and fix it in place, leaving a certain amount of space and drawing a magic formation. Then recite the corresponding incantation, and in just a blink of an eye, the item in the teleporter will appear in the middle of the spell formation." Meng Yu slowly stroked the grain of the wooden peg, and then continued.
"It allows for two-way teleportation, but the object to be must be inanimate. Magical objects also escape it’s teleportation abilities, so teleportation of Tian Ya Chu themselves cannot be done.
"I'd love to see how this device works!!!"
"Of course it's no problem, princess Twilight. But it's getting late now; we should save our work for daylight tomorrow." Meng Yu smileed as she greeted the stallion transporting the devices towards the castle.
"Why not now?" Twilight asked a bit puzzled, she was eager to see the power of these things now.
"It makes a decent amount of noise during operation, and I see that the folks in the town are resting already, so I'm afraid it might beset them." Meng Yu explained. "Leaving a good impression on the residents is best for our subsequent event isn't it?"
"That's true..." Twilight said reluctantly while smiling awkwardly, realizing she was a bit reckless. "Let's at least move them to the warehouse! I can't wait to see how these devices work!!!"
"Okay… Let’s try this again..." Twilight closed her eyes, one hoof caressing the device that hung around her neck. It was a gift from Princess Celestia that would assist her in learning how to control the rise and fall of the sun and moon. The moon overhead wasn't as bright as the sun, nor did it have the same warmth that the sun brought when sunshine kissed her coat. But on this quiet night, the ivory moonlight took care of the earth in its own unique way. Everything around her was so peaceful that Twilight could concentrate on her research. She loved the hustle and bustle of the day filled with laughter, but also enjoyed the solitude of the night.
"You can do it! Come on, Twilight!" Spike sat beside her on the balcony, cheering her on. As the magic started to flow out of Twilight’s horn and the device around her neck gently glowed, the moon slowly set and in return, the warmth of the dawn began to spread out over the land. Although the process was much slower in comparison to Princess Celestia, she managed to successfully bring up the sun.
"Not bad Twilight. You’re starting to get the hang of it!" Spike crossed his paws to his chest and nodded affirmatively, "I'm sure you'll master this magic sunrise-sunset thing in no time!"
"Whew~ I did it! Thanks for the encouragement, Spike."
"So, what's the plan for today?" Spike skillfully pulled out his parchment scroll, stretched his bones, and glanced back at Twilight.
"Get in touch with the castle’s butler for me. Tell her I'll be staying in Ponyville for a while, assisting the ambassador from the east with her affairs. During of which when I'm not at Canterlot, I entrust her to take care of the castle’s day-to-day errands. Tell her to only write us when there’s something she can’t handle. And... start drafting another one; since I’ll be back in Ponyville, I want to arrange a get-together with my friends. Ask Pinkie if she could prepare us some snacks and cakes, and maybe some juice too."
"Okay… well… and done!" After a quick jot, Spike rolled up the list and tossed it midair; with a puff of green fire, the letter was already on its way. He put the other copy away.
"Okay, I think it’s time to eat ...Ah!" Twilight and Spike had just turned around when they saw Meng Yu and her two personal guardponies standing in the room, startling them both.
"My apologies. I didn't mean to intrude." Meng Yu spoke apologetically, "I was just wondering if I may invite the princess to breakfast with me. My servants have made some of our specialties from the east. It just so happened that I stumbled on you and your assistant on your way out, so I followed to have a look. Please do forgive my impertinence."
"No, no, it’s totally fine. I just didn't expect the ambassador to be such an early riser." After calming her startled mind, Twilight said.
"What is that device? From my observation just now, it appeared that the princess exerted control over the moon and the sun using that device?" Meng Yu scrutinized the amulet on Twilight’s chest, seemingly intrigued. Twilight responded to the ambassador’s sudden interest with a gentle smile, and then hoofed the device to Spike,
"It’s nothing but a simple practice prop~ Spike, I'll go with the ambassador to the dining room first. Come meet us there when you're done."
"Sure thing, Twi." After the petite dragon had left, Meng Yu whispered something to the guardpony beside her. The mare only nodded before leaving the room trailing Spike.
"It is imperative that the princess keep it secure. If it falls into the wrong hooves, the consequences will be severe." On their way to the dining room, Meng Yu’s sudden remark caught Twilight’s suspicion. Her eyes locked on Meng Yu, speculating just what she was insinuating; the latter, seeing her reticent, threw back a polite smile and remained silent for the rest of the walk.
"Princess, allow me." After the three ponies arrived and took their seats in the dining room, the guardpony who had left earlier used her magic to present on the table a peculiar food container that Twilight had never seen before. It was a cylindrical object with layers of compartments; and small protrusions studded on either side of each layer. Steam gently rolled out from the top; the surface was a soft oak color with the top sunken in. Texture lines crisscrossed along the surface. Next to it was a large bowl of broth with many white granular objects floating on top, as well as vegetable leaves bobbing up and down. Amid the rolling steam, there was also a faint but pleasant fragrance.
"It smells so good," said Twilight as she located a seat; Meng Yu sat across. "Your expression reveals that it must be the first time you've ever tried one of these, correct? This is called a steamer, made from bamboo. It transfers heat using steam which then cooks the food inside each compartment. As a result, the food can be made rich and flavorful. Guard, demonstrate to the princess."
The guard next to her promptly floated up the top compartment of the steamer by magic, and instantly a savory aroma accompanied by a puff of steam dispersed in all directions. Twilight felt her taste buds explode just by sniffing it. Inside lay several white buns with a spiral pattern on the top swirling out around. Twilight counted six buns, five on the outer layer surrounding the one in the center.
"Could this be the white bread that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had their hearts set on?" Twilight surveyed their crisscrossed patterns, and was reminded of her conversation with the princesses last night. Although she didn't know how it tasted yet; the fragrance had already mesmerized her.
"Hiya, I'm back! Woah, what smells so good?!" Spike, who had just entered the room, was attracted by the aroma then dashed to the table, locked his eyes at the food inside the steamer.
"Welcome back, little dragon! Please, have a taste of this." Meng Yu took the lead and picked up one bun, blowing tenderly for a few moments before nibbling a small bite. Some kind of black broth slowly gushed out from the bite.
"Wha…What's that black goo?" Twilight frowned slightly, the ominous color seemed to have brought back a lot of bad memories. All the blackness she had dealt with before didn't exactly leave her a good impression. The hoof she had reached out hesitated for a moment and slowly retracted.
"This is black sesame, Princess. Please, have a try. It's sweet." Meng Yu explained. Twilight put up a polite smile in response, but her hooves remained unconvinced. Spike looked at Twilight, back at the tantalizing aroma in the steamer, shrugged, then snatched a bun in his paw. He then took an experimental bite, taking the crust with its lingering warmth into his mouth. The texture was soft and tender, feeling nothing like Pinkie Pie’s crispy cupcakes. He then took another bite and let the sesame broth flow down his throat. The first thing his taste buds felt was a hint of warm sweetness, followed by the delicious aftertaste of black sesame seeds; the two combined and complemented each other until his entire throat was filled with that ebony goodness.
"Mmm! Dear Celestia ...... This is amazing!" Spike ate the rest of the bun all in a few bites, then grabbed two more. Twilight gulped at the way Spike was devouring them, then looked back at the buns in the steamer.
"I can eat it for you if you don't want it!" While Twilight was still being indecisive, Spike leaned over to her and tried to get Twilight's bun, but she immediately used her magic to fend off his impending paws. After a deep breath, she bravely took a bite. To her shock, she immediately felt as if she had taken a big gulp of lava; the scorching pain in her mouth made her want to empty everything in her mouth onto the plate. But with Meng Yu watching on and her unwillingness to make a scene, she positively blushed from her mental dilemma.
"Princess, hot tofu cannot be served with haste, especially the ones stuffed with black sesame. Be patient. The outside crust may feel cool, but the inside filling can still be burning hot. Quick, take a breath, and have some porridge." Meng Yu scooped a small bowl of the porridge next to her, gently blew it a few times, then served the bowl to Twilight with a small ladle. She immediately took the bowl and vigorously poured its contents down her throat. At last, the burning sensation abated.
"Hot tofu…? Is this thing called hot tofu?" Spike asked, looking at the half-bitten bun in his paw.
Meng Yu chuckled. “I’m afraid not, little dragon. This treat is called Baozi. Its outside crust can contain all sorts of stuffings inside." Meng Yu explained as she slowly savored the bun in her hoof.
"Whew ...Finally ..." Twilight let out a sigh of relief.
"Pfft~ You look just like that time when you gulped down an entire bowl of hot sauce at that surprise party I threw for you back at the treehouse! Bahahaha!"
"Why is NOTHING happening to you?!" Twilight stuck her tongue out in a desperate attempt to ease the pain while looking at Spike in disbelief.
"Hello？? I'm a dragon remember? This bun is nothing compared to my dragon fire. It really is lukewarm at best!" Spike grabbed another bun, enjoying the novel taste of the treat. "What do you know? The flavor of this bun is simply something else! No wonder Princess Celestia and Princess Luna keep talking about it."
"Yep! There is a total of four princesses in Equestria… This one before you …is the Princess of Friendship! She has saved the kingdom …many times now! " Spike announced, the food in his mouth didn’t detract his smugness one bit, "Well …Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the royal siblings ruling over Equestria. There is also Princess Cadance, who rules over the northern Crystal Empire!" It took several mouthfuls of hot porridge before Spike could catch his breath. When he tried to grab another bun from the steamer, he then realized it was empty already.
"Oh? I didn’t expect Equestria to have multiple princesses ruling at the same time. I can only imagine they must have shared a cooperative relationship with each other?" Meng Yu removed the empty compartment on top, revealing the lower layer with more food.
"That's for sure! The four princesses are very close friends! You know, Twilight used to be a pupil of Princess Celestia! And Princess Cadance is married to Twilight’s big brother."
"Princess Twilight has a brother? That sounds delightful!" Meng Yu gracefully finished the Baozi on her plate and took another one from the steamer. "I have quite a few siblings too~ One little sister and two little brothers."
"Wow, that’s a lot of siblings you have! But nopony can best Applejack on relatives." Spike exclaimed as he took two more Baozi from the steamer, completely ignoring Twilight's obstruction.
"Is this 'Applejack' also a sibling of Princess Twilight?"
"Not really, but Applejack and I are best friends, along with Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy," Twilight answered. She looked over at the way Spike was eating and hurriedly hoofed him a napkin.
"It would be an enjoyable experience to be able to meet Princess Twilight's friends."
Roseluck pushed open the window and basked in the warmth that came with the first rays of sunlight at the break of day. She enjoyed a deep breath before deftly placing the small pots of daisies she had planted on the windowsill. "Sisters~ It's a gorgeous day today! Let's get all the flowers outside while it’s sunny!" She turned back to Lily and Daisy, both still dozing under the covers, and pulled back the curtain with a swoosh, letting the vibrant color of the sun fill up the bedroom. She trotted over to the bed and pulled the blanket softly.
"Just five more minutes...." Lily grabbed the blanket and tucked herself in tightly, stealing Daisy's part as well, forcing Daisy out of the coziness of her dream. "What…? Is it bright already...? Aaaww~" Daisy rubbed her eyes, yawning and trying to adjust her eyes to the brilliant brightness illuminating the room.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads~ I'm going to get to work now, just don't keep me waiting, girls!" Rose trotted out of her cottage and into the streets of Ponyville, bouquets of flowers on her back, humming as she set up her stall. To her dismay, there were several occasions in a row when ponies passed by her stall, but paid no attention to her fresh flowers. Their interests seemed all to be somewhere out of town. This unconventional behavior from her usual patrons had especially intrigued her, so she stopped the next passing pony.
"Princess Twilight is back in Ponyville! And there are a bunch of ponies dressed in strange clothes with things nopony has ever seen before!"
"Princess Twilight is back?!" Rose replied in surprise. "Yeah, I heard from the mayor that the princess and those exotic ponies are going to build a city market outside of town! Do you want to come and check it out?"
"Of course! But I still have to wait for my sisters, you go ahead!" After sending the filly away, Rose galloped back inside and threw off the cover on the two snoozing bugs, "Wakey-wakey, sisters! Princess Twilight is holding a market outside of town!"
A slight grin hung on Meng Yu's face as she looked on at the curious Ponyvillans gathered not afar. Twilight stood next to her, watching as the strong stallions manipulated the props on the ground. Once the Tian Ya Chu was erected, the construction ponies drew four more circles on the ground with the Tian Ya Chu in the center. They then drew a smaller circle concentric with the four larger rings, followed by carefully carving intricately shaped runes into the interval between the concentric circles until it was filled. Twilight’s attention was locked on the movement of the workers and the strange runes on the ground, her curious mind filled with speculation about the property of the spell and the props.
"We are ready to begin, Princess Twilight." After a construction pony trotted up to Meng Yu and reported in their language, Meng Yu nodded and informed Twilight.
"Ambassador, please, go ahead." After receiving Twilight's permission, Meng Yu waved her hoof, signaling the oriental unicorns to quickly stand in front of the spell formation and begin chanting with each pony summoning a magical array. As the spell formation was slowly lit up, the unicorns’ magic was channeled to the center of the formation, forming a faintly glowing sphere of magic. After the sphere was properly charged up, it immediately shot into the Tian Ya Chu. As the runes on the surface of the pillar grew brighter and brighter, the beast's head installed at the top began to rise mechanically, as if it were the hands of a clock, chiming after each tick. Following the fifth chime, the beast's mouth opened and a beam of light shot out of its mouth into the sky, leading everypony’s vision skyward as the beam disappeared into the clouds. In the blink of an eye, the beam of light then crashed back down from the sky and landed squarely in the runic spell formation, striking up a dull rumbling noise. When the dust settled and the noise all dissipated, a bundle of goods appeared where the beam light had landed. The dazzling display drew many cheers from the audience.
"Woah…!"
"What is that thing?"
"Maybe it’s another creation of Princess Twilight?" While the onlookers from a distance conversed enthusiastically about the incredible feat, Twilight was just as surprised and curious as the next pony. After the stallions hauled their wares out of the ring’s reach, the unicorns began a new cycle without a moment's delay.
"What a marvelous apparatus! I can’t believe my eyes!" Twilight's exclamations were beyond words. Standing next to her, Meng Yu smiled proudly and introduced her how the Tian Ya Chu worked.
"Twwwwilight!!!" A familiar gleeful voice called out her name while Twilight was still captivated by Meng Yu's introduction. Twilight spun around to see Pinkie Pie greeting her warmly among the townsfolk.
"Hi~ Pinkie!!!" Before Twilight could even react, Pinkie already had her in a passionate embrace. "Too... too tight..., can’t... can’t breathe…" After several attempts, Twilight finally managed to escape Pinkie's "intimate" greeting, and then hugged her again, this time much more gently. "I miss you so much, Pinkie! How have you been doing?"
"Couldn't be better! I was going to deliver a cake, but then I saw there were sooooo many ponies here, so of course I came over to join in the fun!" Pinkie revealed to Twilight a small gift box she had stashed in her tail. "Why didn't you say something when you came back? Twilight, I was so ready to throw you a super-duper welcome-back party!!!"
"You don’t have to go to all that trouble, Pinkie~ I was going to get the gang together today anyway."
"Wow! New friends! Hiya, I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you!!!" When Pinkie finally noticed Meng Yu beside Twilight, she immediately pushed her aside and hugged her warmly. "Hello, Pinkie Pie."
"This is the ambassador from the Eastern Continent of Seresia, Meng Yu." Twilight managed to stand up and then introduced the ambassador to Pinkie.
“Wow! The Eastern Continent? You must be a long way from home! Welcome to Ponyville! Are those two ponies behind you with you as well? Super!! I can throw an awesomely spectacular party today!! To celebrate Twilight's return and the Ambassador's visit! I need tons of cake... And balloons!!! Oh no no no... I have to hurry back and start making those cakes right now! See ya later!!" One second she was still rambling on to herself, the next second she had already disappeared into thin air, leaving only a trail of smoke behind her.
"Is she one of the friends the princess mentioned earlier?" Meng Yu was riveted by the effervescent pink mare, raising her conclusion based on the interaction between the two.
"Ahem~ Please don’t mind her, Ambassador, that's just how she is. Pinkie Pie gets excited when she meets a new friend, hehe…" Twilight muttered as she gazed in the direction Pinkie had gone.
"Oooooh, by the way, where are you staying in Ponyville, Ambassador?" As soon as Twilight's words had left her mouth, Pinkie once again bounced back to Meng Yu's side. The two guards behind her each took a step forward, ready to reveal what was hidden under their cloaks, only to be stopped by Meng Yu. “She is temporarily staying with us at the Friendship Castle right now, Pinkie. Also, please don’t flash out of nowhere like that, you'll startle the ambassador." Twilight obviously noticed the guards’ actions; although she still had no idea what exactly was hidden under the cloaks, judging by the guards’ ready stance, she still had a guess or two in her mind.
"Okay, got it!!! See you at the castle at noon!!!" Pinkie said, disappearing with another puff of smoke.
"Looks like a grand party is already in order~ You simply must try the cupcakes she made; they taste amazing." Only after making sure that Pinkie wasn't coming back did Twilight take the initiative to break up the awkward silence.
"Of course, I'm looking forward to the party, Your Highness. Allow me to apologize for my guards if they frightened you or your friends, they were just doing their duty." Meng Yu apologized. Twilight replied with a gentle smile.
"It's all right, Ambassador. What are your plans for today?"
"I would like to take a stroll around town and learn more about the local culture and customs of Equestria."
"Local culture and customs? …I think I have just the place!"
"Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! This is Applejack, who runs the orchard and is a very good friend of mine. Applejack, this is Meng Yu, the diplomatic ambassador from Seresia."
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Applejack." Meng Yu took up the initiative and offered her hoof. Applejack responded with her family’s famous hoofshake without hesitation. “Well shucks, the pleasure's all mine! Ambassador Meng Yu, I got a feeling we gonna hit it off real good!”
"How are you, Applejack?" Seeing that Applejack was still her hospitable self, Twilight was delighted to know that she would definitely leave a lasting impression on Meng Yu, just like when she first met Applejack so long ago.
"Whew... Your friend has got a strong hoof."
"What do you mean?" After parting hooves with Meng Yu, Applejack stepped next to Twilight, who was confounded by Applejack’s sudden outspokenness. It wasn't until she noticed the look in Twilight's eyes that Applejack stammered, "I mean, y'all are just in time! Granny Smith and Big Mac just finished makin' some fresh apple pies straight outta the oven! Why don't y'all come on inside and I'll fetch it from the kitchen."
"She is a very tough Earth Pony." Meng Yu remarked with a flick of her hoof after watching Applejack gallop inside. "Huh? What just happened?" Twilight's mind was buzzing with question marks: How was it possible that a simple hoof shake could reveal so much about a pony? Puzzled, she lifted her own hoof and made a few shaking motions, mimicking the interaction of her two companions, as if trying to remember if she had missed something.
"Nothing, Your Highness. It was just a polite hoof shake." As Meng Yu followed Twilight inside and took a seat at the dining table, she surveyed the architecture of the farmhouse, seemingly fascinated by its distinctive style. "Here, have a treat!" Applejack walked out holding a platter of still-steaming apple pie in her mouth and then placing it on the table. She was followed by a red-coated stallion Earth Pony and a senile mare.
"This is Granny Smith." Applejack waited until everypony was seated before introducing her family members. "Howdy, young ladies!" Granny Smith greeted warmly. "This here's Mcintosh, mah brother. Folks 'round here call him Big Mac."
"Ehhh… Yup."
"Now, Big Mac ain’t exactly the loquacious type. He’s not so good at puttin' his feelins into words. Ain’t that right, Big Mac?" Applejack teased as she wrapped her hoof around Big Mac's shoulder with a sly grin.
"Eh, nope."
"Anyhow, I'm gonna headin’ on down to Appleloosa with Big Mac later to get’em a couple wagonloads of apples; that saloon there is fresh out of apples to make cider. Y’know, if they run out of cider fer even a spell, they’re gonna be madder than a tumbleweed in a sandstorm."
"Sure! But are you guys still coming back today? Pinkie's throwing a big party at the Friendship Castle at noon, and I'd like to invite you."
" I reckon I ain't gonna make it back in time, Twi. You know how far Appleloosa is from here." Applejack shrugged helplessly.
"Okay..." Twilight was obviously a little discouraged by her answer, and Applejack didn't know how to comfort her. The room suddenly fell into an awkward silence. Big Mac looked at his sister, then at her friend, and then he seemed to have made up his mind. He nuzzled Applejack with a great deal of invisible determination. "What?" Applejack looked back at Big Mac. With his colorful glances and gestures, Applejack suddenly realized something, and her tone brightened visibly, "You want me to stay with Twilight and go to Appleloosa alone?"
"Eh, yup."
"Even if you were fit as a yak, there ain’t no way you could haul all those barrels of apples to Appleloosa yourself."
"Eh, nope." Big Mac gestured a few more times. "You're gonna ask Braeburn to help you?" Among everypony in that room, Applejack had clearly become Big Mac’s only interpreter.
"Eh, yup."
"Not a bad idea, Big Mac. But remember the last time you delivered the apples to the wrong place, and I had to go and do it all over again?"
"Eh... yup..." Big Mac's freckled face flushed and ears drooped slightly, his hoof against hoof. Applejack sighed at the look on his face, "Alright now, I’ll give you one more shot, ya hear? Don't let me down again." Big Mac nodded his head excitedly and patted his chest reassuringly.
"Eh, yup!"
"Thank you so much, Big Mac! You've really done me a big favor," said Twilight gratefully.
"Eh, yup!"
"So, Twi, there’s still a while ‘til noon, what are y’all up to?" Applejack sliced the apple pie and passed it around in front of everypony.
"The ambassador wanted to take a walk around town, so I thought I'd take her to your orchard first, and of course stop by to see how you're doing." Twilight stuck out her tongue mischievously, "After this, I plan to stop by Fluttershy’s cottage to pay her a visit and introduce the ambassador to the situation in Everfree Forest."
"The Everfree Forest? What is that place?" Meng Yu inquired as she took the apple juice that Granny Smith had hoofed over and bowed before passing it to the two guards sitting next to her. "The Everfree Forest is located southeast of Ponyville, a vast and dangerous place. Please, Ambassador, avoid the area at all times, it's easy to get lost if you don't have a map."
"I see." Meng Yu nodded thoughtfully.
"So, y’all are still headin’ to Fluttershy’s place? Alright, I'll help Big Mac load up his apples first, and then we can catch up on the way. C’mon, big brother, let's hurry on up." After eating a few more slices of apple pie, Applejack grabbed her hat and shamelessly robbed the hefty stallion away from his food.
Moments later, Meng Yu and Twilight arrived at the barn house, where Applejack and Big Mac were working hard loading the apples onto the wagon, barrel by barrel. When Meng Yu saw that there were about a dozen more barrels still waiting to be loaded behind the two working ponies, she suddenly offered to help. "Even though my consciousness would never allow it, the truth is that me and Big Mac could really use some help." Applejack took off his hat and held it to her chest, "May I ask the ambassador to load these barrels onto the wagon?"
"Of course. Jinyun, take care of my robe. Jinyang, help me carry these barrels to the wagon outside."
"Understood." After receiving a response in unison from the two guards, Meng Yu took off her gown, revealing her elegant figure as well as the cutie mark on her hip. It is an unfurled scroll with a heart hidden in the center. There is also a tiny sparkle at the top right of the heart. After giving the gown to the mare guard, she asked the stallion guard to join her in carrying the load.
" Y'know, this Meng Yu ain't quite like them brass I was picturing. When she said she wanted to help, I thought she was gonna send them two guards behind her, but I didn't realize that... Are you sure she’s an ambassador?" With a few helping hooves, they soon had all the barrels loaded and ready to go. After making sure everypony had got apple juice from the kitchen, Applejack approached Twilight, pulled her aside, and voiced her doubts.
"I'm just as surprised as you are, Applejack, but isn't this nice? You have no idea what kind of royalties I have to deal with every day." After taking a sip of the juice, Twilight smiled bitterly.
"I reckon the ambassador is a good pony. I kinda like her."
"I’m glad to hear that. Come on, we still have to visit Fluttershy."
"BOOM!!!" As soon as Twilight pushed open the door to the castle, colorful ribbons and small pieces of paper came crashing down on her, she subconsciously blocked it with her hoof, but she was still showered with it. After the hoof was removed and the colorful confetti was shaken off her body, a cake appeared in front of her eyes.
"surprise! Welcome back to Ponyville! Twilight!!!" A large cake appeared in front of her while Pinkie Pie poked a head out of the back and congratulated Twilight with a big smile on her face.
"Ah~~~ Pinkie, there's no need to make it so grand." She said so on her lips, but Twilight's face was overflowing with joy. She looked at the luxurious décor inside the castle, with ribbons and balloons pulled all over the ceiling, and said with some amazement "Did you do all this with just one foal?!"
"Of course not~ Silly! I had Rarity's help." With those words, Pinkie stepped to the side, revealing Rarity hiding behind her, who waved her hoof in greeting to the group.
"I just saw Pinkie setting up for the party when I got to Friendship Castle, so I came to help~"
"Hi~ Rarity, long time no see!" Twilight embraced warmly, "My best friend invited me, how could I not come~ Honey." The two foals embraced each other for a while, "How have you been?" Twilight asked.
"Very good~ A few of the outfits I've been designing lately have been very popular with the celebrity world, and they're planning on inviting me to the Famous Ponies Famous Dresses, and they want me to share what I've been designing~"
"That sounds awesome Rarity! Congratulations!!!"
"Thanks~ Twilight, how about you? How are you getting used to staying in Canterlot lately?"
"Ugh ..... You know, with a ton of things to deal with every day, and manners to learn, I don't know how I'm going to make it through this month." Rarity listened and patted Twilight's shoulder comfortingly, "You'll get used to it~ Besides, you can come to us if you encounter any problems."
"Speaking of which, thanks for the experience coupon~ Rarity."
"Oh? Spike already took you there? He's pretty smart, I knew I could count on him. How was it? Did you like the environment and the service?"
"Couldn't have felt better~ The spa and massages are really great." Twilight said with a sigh of relief.
"I'll give you a few more later if you like it, I have a lot more in my hooves, I'm an honored VIP of that shop~ I have a lot more tickets in my hooves."
"That's very generous of you Rarity! ~"
"Eh~ Why are you still so polite, by the way, where's that VIP from the Eastern Continent? Spike and I have been talking quite a bit about her." Rarity looked around Twilight, but saw no unfamiliar faces, "In the back." Twilight finished and looked back while Rarity followed her line of sight out the front door.
"Dear Celestia ......!!! Look the styling of this costume!!!" The moment she saw Meng Yu, Rarity was attracted by her attire, her eyes were glowing and she immediately rushed to Meng Yu, pulling up one of her hooves before carefully touching the fabric of that costume, completely ignoring the two guards behind Meng Yu who had already lit up their swords. "This hoof feel ..... This craftsmanship .... This pattern .... My dear Princess Celestia ah!!!"
"Do you like the dress?" Meng Yu asked while Rarity nodded her head obsessively "I've never seen this style of clothing before, this silky touch like velvet! A surface as shiny as a jewel! This dress must be heavy?!"
"Haha~ On the contrary, it's lightweight." Meng Yu laughed brightly a few times because of Rarity's behavior, then continued, "Clothes made from this material are warm in winter and cool in summer, so they will be comfortable to wear and won't wrinkle." Meng Yu's tone sounded flat, as if it wasn't something very rare, but in Rarity's opinion, this fabric was simply many times more precious than extremely rare gems.
"Where can I buy the material you're talking about?!"
"I'm sorry, Rarity, the material and the specific production process are strictly confidential, like the kind of clothing I'm wearing are imperial gifts from the emperor, the general colt can't even touch it, let alone witness its production process."
"Ah ..... But ..... I've already thought of dozens of different styles of clothing made from this material ....! They're sure to create a huge stir in the fashion world!!!" Rarity's tone held a hint of regret and more of a plea, but Meng Yu didn't seem impressed. "Think about it, it would be a great honor! When the time comes, Famous Dresses and Ponies will log me on their front page!!!! I mean, you and I ...... And the prestige! Countless honors! Please Help me!!!"
"I'm really sorry Rarity, I can't help you with this favor." Meng Yu shook her head affirmatively and firmly, then walked straight inside the castle, while Rarity, who was grief-stricken when she heard this reply, moved her recliner, then flopped down on it and bawled.
"Rarity, don't be so sad, maybe the ambassador has her difficulties too." Twilight comforted her from the side, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack also came over.
"Isn't it just a piece of clothing? It's no big deal, surely ya can find something better." Applejack tried to calm Rarity down, "Pieces of clothing? How could you say that!! That's just rude!!!" The group looked at Applejack in unison, and Pinkie shook her head with a stony face, while the latter laughed awkwardly twice and hurriedly went on to add, "I meant to say ..... You don't need it to be on the Famous Costume Famous Colt right? You also said you've been invited to participate."
"Woah!!!" Instead of being persuaded, Rarity cried even harder, and the group looked at Applejack with a grumbling look on their faces, while she could only cover herself with her hat in shame.
"I'm back! Did I miss any fun?" Just as the gang was trying to figure out how to comfort Rarity, Spike came through the door. "Rarity?!!! What happen with you? Who bullied you!!!" Seeing Rarity in such a state, Spike was the first to rush to her, pulling her by the hoof in concern.
"Oooh~ my dear Spike ..... No foal is bullying me, it's just that I want one thing so bad I can't get it ....." Rarity's talent for acting could be described as pure, Spike was heartbroken to see her like this, "What do you need? I promise I'll get it for you!!!"
"Really?... Oh Spike, you're always so nice to me~ I think ..... I want to know where I can get the ingredients for the clothes that that Seresia ambassador is wearing ......"
"Isn't that easy? I'll go ask! Where's the ambassador's pony?" Spike said with a confident pat on the back.
"The ambassador's in there, Spike, come on! You'll make it."
Meng Yu, Twilight, and four of her other companions were invited by Rainbow Dash to come and visit the Wonderbolts show led by her. There was a packed house and everyone was cheering for the Wonderbolts show.
"Did the ambassador enjoy the show?" On her way to watch, Twilight mustered up the courage to ask Meng Yu, who was sitting next to her.
"These Pegasus look really lively~ Is that one your friend? I see you all cheering her on." Meng Yu didn't turn around to look at Twilight, she just pointed to the female Pegasus with the rainbow colored mane and tail in the group and asked.
"Yes, her name is Rainbow Dash, she especially loves to fly, and it's been her lifelong dream to join the Wonderbolts, and now that she's the leader of the Wonderbolts, it couldn't have worked out better for her." Twilight introduced herself to Meng Yu while she was also happy for Daisy's current achievements.
"Equestria shouldn't have to worry about natural disasters or anything, right?" As everyone was raising their heads to look at the Pegasus performing in the sky, Meng Yu suddenly asked this, causing Twilight's eyes to shift from the sky to her. "A natural disasters? Like what?"
"Fires, floods, something like that." Meng Yu and Twilight locked eyes and spoke slowly.
"The two things the ambassador mentioned have never happened in Equestria, at least as far as I can remember, and usually the Pegasus clear the clouds, and if they encounter thunderclouds or cumulonimbus clouds, the Pegasus will be the first to take care of them~" looking up as she continued to look at the Pegasus soaring in the sky, unaware of what Meng Yu was thinking in her mind at the moment. Twilight was carefully introduced, but looking at her, it seemed like her mind wasn't on enjoying this amazing show, as if she wasn't listening to her either. "Did something happen?"
"Ah... Nothing, just some sighs of relief that the Pegasus living in Equestria are happy."
"Aren't the Pegasus who live in Seresia happy?" In the face of Twilight's rhetorical question, Meng Yu didn't answer immediately, but waited for a while before saying, "Of course they're happy, it's just that they're not like the Pegasus here."
"Hmm?" As Twilight speculated on what Meng Yu meant and imagined in her mind if not all the Pegasus in the sky should be like that, Rarity on the side suddenly nudged her gently with her hoof and then made a hint with her eyes. Puzzled, Twilight looked at her with a puzzled look on her face, only to see Rarity's head move slightly, as if signaling her to look to the side. When Twilight glanced at Meng Yu, who was sitting next to her, she seemed to understand what was going on before pointing a hoof at her chest, looking at Rarity with amazement in her eyes, who was smiling and nodding her head constantly, seriously even more grateful.
Twilight frowned slightly and shook her head in a small way, while Rarity, upon seeing her response, first looked incredulous, then immediately converted into a pitiful look, although not a word was said, the meaning to be expressed was already clear. Twilight was helpless and secretly rolled her eyes, after thinking for a while she still looked at Meng Yu next to her and opened her mouth:
"Ambassador, you are dressed so unusually, different from what I've seen in Mahaton, Canterlot, I'm a bit curious, do the foals of Seresia dress like you?"
"Of course not, if the foals of Seresia are dressed as lavishly as I am, then there is no point in me trying to hide anything from your friends."
"I see... ...... And what do they usually wear?"
"Pretty much like Equestria too, some places they like to wear clothes and some places they like to wear nothing at all. As for me, if it's a neon dress or a ribbon shawl or something, I'm still willing to wear it."
"Could it be that the clothes don't fit??" Twilight asked.
"This dress is very comfortable to wear, Your Highness, and if I could, I would actually like to lend it to you or your friends to try on, but this dress symbolizes uniqueness, and it was rewarded to me by the Emperor himself as an affirmation of my work and duties. So this dress can't just be lent with another colt in case something goes wrong ......." Meng Yu paused slightly as she said this, and then continued, "Furthermore, this fabric is extremely rare, it can be said to be hard to find for thousands of dollars, and it's impossible for your friend to buy it."
"Why do you say that?" Twilight wondered, even something as rare as gemstones Rarity could get a box of them, what else could be even rarer than gemstones?
"In Seresia, there is a mountain whose name is Changbai Mountain, and two thirds of the mountain is hidden in the clouds. There is a kind of mulberry tree that grows amongst the top of this mountain, and because the tree looks like it is growing in the clouds, it gets the name Qi Yun. The leaves of this tree are the Heavenly Silkworm's only favorite food, and the Heavenly Silkworm is the raw material necessary to make this dress."
"What is a Heavenly Silkworm?" Twilight asked curiously.
"The Heavenly Silkworm is a small insect that will cocoon into a chrysalis when it reaches adulthood, after which we will cook the chrysalis in boiling water at this stage, and then pull out the silk threads in the chrysalis at the right time, and then process them and color them to make the clothes I'm wearing now."
Saying this, Meng Yu hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I know what the Princess is thinking, and your friend is eager to obtain the raw materials to make this dress, but I really cannot give it to you." Meng Yu's tone carried a bit of helplessness, "The Heavenly Silkworms are not the same as ordinary silkworms, not to mention their scarce numbers, they are also particularly picky eaters, as I mentioned before, this Heavenly Silkworm only eats the leaves of the Qiyun Mulberry Tree of the Changbai Mountain, the craftsmen had once tried countless methods to change their diets and cultivate the subspecies, but none of them were effective. Even if there is even just a slight change in this geographical environment, this Heavenly Silkworm will not eat it." Hearing this, Twilight nodded thoughtfully.
"But ..... Princess Twilight, afterward I can send your friend a brocade made from a common silkworm species in return for watching this show. I'm guessing this idea of inviting me to visit with you was Rarity's~ thanks for her kind, but please don't ask any more about the brocade afterward, I wasn't even supposed to say any of this information, and if the Emperor finds out, I'll be heavily punished." Meng Yu looked at the two guards behind her before turning back to her, of course~ only under these circumstances would I be willing to share it with you.
"Rainbow Dash! Darling, are you still not dressed yet? What’s taking so long?" Rarity knocked on the door with worry, but no answer ensued. Today was another fabulous day for her, for she had finally gotten her hooves on the silk she’d been asking about. Although it’s not the exact same top-notch material for which she had desired, what she had at the moment could still be put to good use.
As a token of appreciation to her friends for their help, Rarity personally-tailored dresses made of silk and then invited all her friends to come to the Boutique for a fitting session. Of course, she knew that certain ponies are sure to make excuses if they ever hear they are going to be dressed, so she had only told them that there was an “urgent matter" she needed help with. Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive at the boutique, but the last to come out of the dressing room.
"Do I really have to wear the whacky dress??" Rainbow Dash came out of the dressing room reluctantly; she hadn't expected Rarity's "urgent matter” to be trying on dresses. She couldn't wait to swoosh outside and hide in a cloud right now.
Rarity inhaled beyond belief when she heard those words; her face aghast. "That was incredibly rude, Rainbow Dash! It took me great effort to come up with these designs! I mean, just look at these exquisite fabrics! Sure, it's not as silky as what the ambassador is wearing, but I still take pride in my work!" Rarity declared with enthusiasm as she caressed the dress she was wearing. "I used the silk to make these dresses the moment I got it, and you ponies have been the first to don my masterpiece!!!"
"I like the texture of this dress. It feels so light and comfy too. Thank you for the dress, Rarity." Fluttershy was also very fond of the featherlike dress. She tried fluttering her wings a few times and felt no discomfort at all.
"Don't mention it, Fluttershy, the pleasure is all mine."
While everypony was still on the topic of the dress, Applejack walked in, "Sorry gals, I was jus’ wrappin' up my chores ‘round the orchard, is there anythin' I can do to…help… Bahahahahahaha!" She couldn't help but burst out into a guffaw at the sight of Rainbow Dash’s new dress and her “Iwannagetoutofhere” expression. "That getup sure suits ya, Rainbow Dash! Ya look mighty precious."
"Oh! Quit your yapping! Don’t you tell anypony about this!" Rainbow Dash blushed red and tried to retort, but that only made Applejack giggled even harder. However, Rarity's next words brought her laughter to a screeching halt.
"Oh Applejack, stop teasing Rainbow Dash, you have your own dress to try on~ Here, get in there and put this on." As Rarity pushed a dress in front of her, Applejack's face turned red same as Rainbow Dash's a moment ago.
"Ha! Look who’s laughing now!" The two mares’ expressions swapped as Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack with a wicked grin on her face, eagerly anticipating her turn in the silken dress. Applejack flustered in an instant; not even the Changeling invasion had her face looked like how she did right now.
"Well, shoot! I plum forgot! Still gotta move a whole box of apples that slipped my mind. Gotta high-tail it back to the apple orchard... You gals have fun now, I reckon I'll swing by another time!" Applejack's mind racing, blurted out an excuse that she wouldn't even buy it herself. Rainbow Dash stopped her in her tracks as she was trying to make a run for the front door. "Whoawhoawhoa! Applejack, where do you think you’re going? Rarity is still waiting for your feedback! Surely you don't want to leave her hanging, do you?"
Facing Rainbow Dash, Applejack seemed to be at a loss; half-opened mouth couldn’t even spell out a single word. Rainbow Dash was even more delighted at her friend’s misfortune, "I would loooove to see how you would look in that dress too. What are friends for, right? After all, sharing is caring!"
"I… I…I can't...." Without waiting for Applejack to finish the sentence, Rainbow Dash snatched the dress from Rarity and shoved it between Applejack's hooves, pushing her into the changing room. "Oh, don't be shy, Applejack, you're going to love this dress!"
Meanwhile, Twilight and Pinkie arrived at last. They entered the room just in time to witness the scene that just happened. Intrigued, Twilight came to Rarity and greeted her, "Hi, Rarity! Good afternoon! Did we miss anything fun?"
"Good afternoon, darling! It's just that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are trying on the dress I made, nothing new. Oh, speaking of which, I truly do appreciate you for doing this favor, Twilight. These silks are simply divine!"
"I'm glad you like it. Well, Rarity, the truth is, it wasn’t me who was doing you a favor. The ambassador knew what we were up to all along. You know, with inviting her to Rainbow Dash's show and everything. She had her guards send over a lot of materials afterward, which I all hooved to you"
"I know! The Princess of Friendship living up to her name! I have never doubted your ability!" Rarity said with a smile. "Anyways, I'm glad you can spare some time for me. I made you one too, try it on! And one for you as well, Pinkie!"
"Ooooooooh! New dress!!" Pinkie happily took the dress and quickly put it on before twirling it in place. "Hey! It’s like cuddling with a pile of cotton candy! Fluffy!"
"So, Rarity, was the “urgent matter” you spoke of…trying on dresses?" Taking the dress from Rarity, Twilight voiced her doubt. Although Rarity didn't say it explicitly, what she just saw confirmed her suspicion.
"Well, you could say that. I mean, what could be more important than making new dresses for your friends and making sure they are happy?"
"That’s fair. Just don't wear yourself out too much. Ooh, it just occurred to me, Rarity, that these outfits you’ve made might come in handy soon!"
"Oh? Is there a show coming up, Twilight?"
"It's a dinner party, Ambassador Meng Yu’s invitation. In fact, she's invited all of you! Venue’s tonight on her ship."
"Really?!" Rarity looked thrilled to hear this, "I'm honored to be able to accompany you to the dinner party, Twilight, not to mention attending in a dress I designed myself!"
"So, how are we going to get there?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ambassador Meng Yu will be waiting for us at the Ponyville train station at sunset. The two Princesses will be joining us as well." After hearing Twilight's explanation, Rarity's ears instantly popped up as she grabbed her sewing instruments beside her. Surprised and delighted, she asked, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are going too!? I need to hurry and design outfits for them as well!"
"Good evening, Ambassador, sorry we're late~" The station looked extraordinarily peaceful in the evening sunlight, and by the time Twilight and her friends arrived, Meng Yu and her guards had been waiting there for who knows how long. "
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, this is Meng Yu, the diplomatic ambassador from Seresia. Ambassador, these two are the rulers of Equestria and my colt mentors." Twilight's face beamed with happiness and pride as she introduced the two princesses to Meng Yu.
"It is an honor to meet you both, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Meng Yu saluted the two princesses in turn, while the latter smiled and nodded, "Welcome~ Ambassador Meng Yu, I hope Twilight Sparkle and her friends have left a good impression on you." Celestia glanced at Twilight before asking.
"I've enjoyed Twilight and her companions, as well as the relaxing time in Ponyville, and the beautiful scenery~ I'd love to take a moment out of my busy schedule to enjoy them." Meng Yu responded with a smile, and the group exchanged pleasantries in this peaceful atmosphere for a while, until the roar of the train interrupted them. Eyeing the speeding train as it slowed down and slowly pulled into the station.
"Our fleet is in the harbor of Mahattan, just take the fast boat to the main ship once you get there, any foals get seasick?" After the group entered the train and found a seat, Meng Yu began to give a briefing on the destination of the trip. Her eyes swept over all the koma as she asked the question, but the group shook their heads to indicate they were fine.
"It's okay, if any of the colts get seasick, we have measures in place to deal with it, so please get on board." Meng Yu finished with a smile and sidestepped out of the way for everyone to enter first, while saving himself for last.
"The ambassador is truly an impressive colt, is she always like this?" Celestia purposely lowered her voice to parallel Twilight and question her before everyone was seated.
"Yes Princess, you must be feeling a bit strange as well, right? It's obvious that she can have her own guards do that and I've told her that she doesn't need all these complicated manners, but she always responds to me with a smile and yet she doesn't stop doing that either." In fact, Twilight herself was curious and puzzled about the ambassador's reasons for doing that, but it made her seem more approachable, and she simply stopped pursuing the matter and chatted with the group.
The moment the train pulled into the station signaled that they had arrived in the bustling Mahattan. Passing through the bustling markets and dodging the frenzied fans, they arrived at the harbor of Mahattan, which was close to the sea. As the cold water lapped against the docks with waves, Luna, standing behind the colts, raised the moon so that the nighttime sea level reflected the moon in the sky like a mirror. A few straggling seagulls hovered in the sky, chirping as if asking for food. Fluttershy looked up at the creatures in the sky as if communicating with them, then opened the small satchel she had hidden under her wing and threw some crumbled bread to them.
"Please~" Meng Yu led the group to a plain fast ship, a particularly conspicuous presence in the harbor of Mahadon both from a distance, and up close, with a slender, yellow wooden hull. The two sails, fore and aft, tilted one forward and the other aft. In the center were three side-by-side masts, the ones on the sides a head shorter than the one in the middle.
"Wow!!! What a big ship!!!" This was the first time Rainbow Dash had ever seen a ship floating on the sea, and her spirit of exploration for new things drove her to fly around the ship a few times before stopping on the deck and bouncing tentatively a few times, making a crisp knocking sound. The rest of the colts also marveled at the shape of the ship and its particular beauty as they boarded. It was the addition of the two great princesses that made the ship seem less massive.
"Everypony hold on tight, we'll be sailing soon." With Meng Yu's call, the ship began to slowly sail out of the harbor as Mahaton slowly disappeared into the night under the watchful eyes of the group.
"I'm a little confused, Ambassador, are we going to take the ship to the depths of the sea?" Although the night view of the sea was exceptionally beautiful, after a moment of traveling there was no sign of any food being served, or any intention of them being seated. A little puzzled, Twilight came to Meng Yu's side to express her disbelief.
"Because I'm afraid of scaring you, Princess Twilight." Meng Yu said lightly. Twilight raised an eyebrow and then asked, "Please call me Twilight, it's more convenient, but you said you were afraid of scaring us? Why is that?"
"You'll know in time, Twilight, sometimes seeing with your own eyes is more useful than flowery word descriptions."
"Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash are you alright, You look terrible!!" On Twilight's side, she was still fantasizing about what kind of existence would scare them, when an exclamation came from over there. At a glance, it was Rainbow Dash who was holding onto the side of the boat, her head facing the sea, her wings hanging down as if it was a plant that had gone missing.
"I ..... Vomit ...... Suddenly feel ....... Want to vomit ......" The irresistible feeling of vertigo kept hitting her brain. The feeling was like boarding a Pegasus device for the first time, no .... ten times worse than that. The light sea breeze was only pushing the waves to caress the hull, but Rainbow Dash seemed to have lost her sense of balance completely, so it was good that her friends assisted her in time.
"What happend to her?" Twilight was a bit anxious as she looked at Meng Yu, trying to find an answer in her. Meng Yu acted calmly and turned her head to look at the guard standing behind her. The latter instantly pulled out a pendant dangling a green-colored bead from his own cloak and walked over to Rainbow Dash.
"Hang this fixation bead around your neck and you'll feel much better." Meng Yu said as she pointed to the contraption in the guard's hoof, but Rainbow Dash seemed a bit reluctant. "I ..... I think I ..... Over ..... After a while it will be fine ......"
"Geez! What are you babbling about dear, you look just awful! " Rarity gently patted Rainbow Dash's back. And Apple Jack stood on the other side, comforting together with what seemed to be a teasing tone in his voice, "I can't believe you were defeated by a ship~ Hmmm ...... But don't worry Rainbow Dash, we'll take care of ya now be a good girl and put it on." Even though Rainbow Dash still didn't want to voluntarily, Apple Jack found a way to put it around her neck.
"We're almost there princess, right there." After about tens of minutes, looking in the direction Meng Yu was pointing, there were hundreds of ships, large and small, on the sea level under the night, surrounding a somewhat strange looking island, with sporadic fires visible on it. "Is the ambassador's flotilla behind that island?" Twilight questioned while wondering in her mind, hundreds of ships do create a certain impact visually, but it's not so much that it scares a foal, right?
"Hold on Twilight, you'll see them soon enough." It was only as she passed through the layers of other ships and gradually approached that Twilight recognized that it wasn't an island at all that she had just looked at from a distance, but four huge ships! Huge alone couldn't even describe their size, it was almost like four giant fortresses drifting on the surface of the sea. In front of these four ships, the other ships were as small as a big whale in the deep sea and an ordinary small fish.
Hanging from the bow of the ship was the face of a hideous golden beast, being carved in a lifelike manner, showing its teeth and revealing sharp fangs, not knowing whether it was laughing or roaring. The overall hull of the ship was black, and the part of the ship that was in contact with the water was painted white, with a blue-based line interspersed with red at the junction of black and white. At the bow of the ship, not far above the red and blue lines again, was a large square hole, from which two long chains spat out into the sea. One side of the ship faced the moon, but the other side was nothing but endless darkness; even the brightest moonlight could not illuminate it.
As their boat traveled to the light side, Twilight also noticed that what looked like eyes had been drawn close to the bow, in the middle of the ship; a great sense of oppression that became stronger as they got closer. Flush with the head of the beast at the bow, but on the side of the ship, there was also a golden creature; it had four legs, a golden skin color, scales on its body, and spikes on its back that curved backward slightly like waves. Mouth wide open, spitting like a snake-like letter; gleaming eyes with teeth and claws action feel ready to break away from the wall of the ship, flying toward the vastness of the sky.
"Welcome to my treasured ship! Ladies and gentlecolt from Equestria," leaving the elevating platform onto the spacious deck, everypony began to look around as Meng Yu's words fell to take in everything around; the ship was brightly lit, there’s an area at the bow of the ship that was two decks higher than the deck they were currently standing on, with staircases on both sides that lead straight up to the top; on the top stood three masts, one on the left and right, and one in the bow. There are three huge mast posts in the center of the ship, they are large enough that not even 30-40 ponies standing next to each other would be able to encircle one.
Looking at the place near the stern of the ship, it was a six-story high floor, and in order to make it easier to climb, the staircase was designed as a ladder-like structure with a vertical first floor on both sides, then a horizontal middle floor, and finally a horizontal extension to both sides; but only the last floor of the staircase was designed as a vertical middle direction. Above that there was a house, with the four corners of the roof extending outward and then rising high. Masts could be seen on each side and behind of the house.
All the beige linen sails were tightly connected to the bamboo poles behind them by dense ropes, and hung high up on the masts like folded quilts; there were also magically-pulled lanterns at the ends of the poles, which constantly flickered with firelight. Besides them, many of the ship's crew were busy with their own affairs, scrubbing the floors or hiding in corners in twos and threes, talking in whispers.
"It's a beautiful night tonight~ isn't it? I have a suggestion, how about we set up the feast on the deck??" Meng Yu came to Twilight's side and asked her in a small voice. Twilight hadn't recovered from the astoundment, and stammered out a reply after a long while, "Well… Of course! And also… this is simply unbelievable! How did you manage to control such a large ship traveling all the way to Equestria?!!!"
"By utilizing some magic, as well as the unique sailing techniques of Seresia~" said Meng Yu with slight pride.
"It really is amazing ......" Twilight caressed the thick mast of the ship in front of her, looking up and feeling like she couldn't see its end. Gazing at her, Meng Yu continued, "If the Princess is interested, why don't you stay on the ship for a little longer and I can show you a little bit of our culture."
"It would be an honor, Ambassador." She has been looking forward to in the first place, but she didn't know how to ask, but now that she heard Meng Yu take the initiative to invite her, Twilight eyes lit up with excitement, and she immediately nodded her head in agreement.
"Grand Master, welcome back to the ship, the dinner meal is ready, what else do you wish?" A cat-like creature with grayish-white fur with black spots and a feminine voice arrived in front of Meng Yu between the two ponies, bowing slightly with both paws clasped in front of her and speaking words that Twilight couldn't understand. She had cloth tied around her legs, arms, and chest, and wore a pair of dark sailor pants with her long tail exposed, floating slightly as she moved. Her body was slender, and although she was a head taller than Meng Yu, she was respectful in her presence.
"Is that a tiger?... A talking tiger..." Fluttershy looked at the creature in front of her and with a hint of fear leaned towards Pinkie's side, but then with some curiosity she poked her head out to look; the moment her glance met with the creature's she shrank back. "Don't be afraid everyone, she's my chief officer, a snow leopard, a race native to Seresia. Responsible for taking over while I'm away from the fleet." Noting their concerns, Meng Yu motioned for Deputy Hoof to come forward to introduce herself.
"Welcome aboard, ponies, and please call me Xiao Ling." Xiao Ling gave the group a Fist-and-palm salute, easing the somewhat tense atmosphere; after all, Equestria had never seen a creature like her. "Our guests and I have agreed to have dinner on the deck, make the arrangements."
"Affirmative, I'll get started right away." After saluting again, Xiaoling left the group, returning a little while later with some other ponies to set up tables and chairs; in the meantime, the group began to roam freely around the deck, with Pinkie going around to meet the sailor on the ship and presenting them with gifts, Applejack and Rarity and Fluttershy are taking care of Rainbow Dash, Spike is with Twilight, Celestia and Luna are standing by the side of the ship looking out at the sea while discussing, in hushed voices, about the dinner tonight.
"Dinner is ready~ please take your seats." A few minutes later, a large round table was placed in the center of the deck, the table was wide and more than enough to sit around. The dishes were put in front of everyone as they sat down.
The first thing that caught their eyes, along with the aroma that make ponies drool, was a large tree that was carried by the five colts and then placed in the center of the table, taking up a third of the table, with the treetops covered in cabbage that had been trimmed into leaves and covered with a golden yellow shell. Half-hidden between the leaves were round like fruits that was connected to the trunk of the tree and dangled in mid-air; the body of the tree was dark in color; ponies can see their own faces through the reflections of the tree's body.
Immediately after, what being brought up was a plate of steaming, golden and white breads layered on top of each other; along with them was a dish of condensed milk, a plate of fried milk, a plate of cold hay, and a bowl of stir-fried veggie dishes with white and yellow bean sprouts intertwined with red chili peppers, emitting the aroma that hit the taste buds. A bowl of shredded potatoes and dozens of other dishes, large and small, that Twilight and her friends had never seen before.
"Woohoo! You can tell it’s delicious just from the smell!!" Pinkie's eyes were glowing, there are so many dishes with so many colors and flavors that she didn't know which one to start tasting first.
"Because of the long trip, the ship's food storage is not in abundance, but our chefs purchased some local ingredients and made these with their hoof skills, I hope you will like these dishes, here I propose a toast, may our friendship last forever~!" Meng Yu lifts up a cup of drink beside her hoof and stands up, drinking it all in one go under everyone's watchful eyes, others were touched by her words, and together they followed Meng Yu's action, and spent an unforgettable night under the moon.
Even the warmest sunlight during the day failed to hide the oppressive atmosphere brought about by the triple guards in Canterlot's Royal Garden. Ever since it was discovered that Chrysalis had escaped, the royal gardens had been sealed off and no foal was allowed to enter or leave. When Twilight arrived at the scene and saw the missing statue, the word "shocked" was not enough to describe her mood at this moment. Although she was glad that Lord Tirek and Cozy glow were still in the same place, she still couldn't understand how Chrysalis escaped from her bonds on her own, could it be that she was rescued? But who could have rescued her from the eyes of Canterlot's royal guards without setting off any alarms? A series of questions kept hitting Twilight's thoughts and she didn't take a breath, she just felt like the whole sky was going to fall.
"Princess Twilight .......... Princess Twilight??" After being nudged a few times by Spike's elbow, Twilight was pulled back to reality from her own jumbled thoughts and asked, somewhat angrily, "What is it? I'm trying to clear my head!!!" Looking in the direction Spike's eyes hinted at, two well-dressed guards stood by for who knows how long, one of them wearing an elaborate medallion on his chest indicating that he was the lead colt here.
"Sorry, Captain! I just .... got a little sidetracked, please don't mind. Did you guys find any useful clues at the scene?" The captain listened and re-saluted, then used his magic to hand a paper report in front of him, "I'm glad you took some time out of your day to come, Princess Twilight, we found a magical formation we've never seen before around the base of the statue, and even though the magic has been depleted, we've managed to recreate the pattern of the formation. "
Taking the drawing and scrutinizing its contents, her head was racing, trying to recall even a trace of memories related to its pattern. But at this point, Twilight's thoughts were completely overwhelmed by fantasies of Chrysalis escaping and then returning in various ways, causing harm to Equestria, and she couldn't focus herself, and in slight pain she could only hold her forehead.
"In addition to that there were also a few severely withered leaves found near the magical array and throughout the garden, at first we didn't pay much attention to them but the gardener told us that they didn't belong to any of the plants in this garden and didn't recognize the species of this flower, and the withered leaves didn't look too normal either." After a short silence, the captain, seeing that Twilight hadn't said anything, pulled another glass container from her satchel and handed it over.
"Well, it looks like we'll have to ask a professional colt about it, maybe we could ask Zecora, she's always been good at that." Spike came over and joined Twilight in surveying the container of wilted foliage while noting the look on her face at the moment, and it only took a moment of thought to come up with an idea.
"It's a good idea! Hmmm ..... I hope Zecora is home at this time." Twilight's eyes lit up and she pushed the item to Spike in a smooth hoof before looking up at the captain, "Other than that is there anything else to report Captain?"
"No more, Princess Twilight, but if we have any new developments, you will be the first to be informed." Twilight nodded then continued, "Tough luck guys, it's a special time, make sure you watch over that statue! One Chrysalis can already turn Equestria upside down, can't afford another two to escape!!!"
"Please rest assured, Princess, we will do our best to ensure the safety of the remaining statue!!!" Although he was uneasy in his heart, there were more important things to deal with at the moment, and after casually instructing a few more words, he pulled Spike into a magical blink and disappeared into thin air.
"Woohoo! Does Princess Twilight usually blink around like that?" The young soldier beside the captain seemed to be seeing Twilight and her use of magic to disappear for the first time with his own eyes, excited and at the same time couldn't help but look at the captain curiously to ask. The captain, on the other hand, looked at him in dismay upon hearing this, "Didn't you hear what Princess Twilight just said? Now immediately return to your post! Not a single butterfly can be let in!!!"
"Yes ...... YES!!! Captain!!!" At the same time that the recruits were running back to their posts in a slight state of disarray, Twilight arrived in front of Zecora's treehouse.
"Zecora! Zecora?" A knock on the door resounded through the inner room, but there was no opening of the door; as Twilight expected, Zecora wasn't home. She could only pace back and forth anxiously, praying in her mind that Zecora would come back here immediately. "I knew it! Every time something big like this happens, nothing goes right ......."
"Twilight?" A familiar but slurred voice came from behind, it was Zecora who had just returned to the house, carrying a leather bag full of plants on her back. In her mouth was a basket also filled with unknown materials. Twilight all of a sudden looked like she had seen her savior and immediately rushed in front of her to give her a big hug, causing the basket in Zecora's mouth to fly out and the contents to fall everywhere.
"Hug ..... Sorry! I was so excited ...... You can't even imagine how anxious I was to see you.!!!" Looking at the materials all over the floor, Zecora looked at Twilight with some anger, who smiled awkwardly before quickly picking up all the materials on the floor with magic and putting them back in the basket under surveillance.
"Be at ease, come inside and tell us slowly." Following Zecora back to the treehouse, he watched her organize her things while explaining the purpose of the trip. Upon hearing this, Zecora also realized the seriousness of the matter, she immediately put down the work in her hooves and turned to Twilight, taking the container in her hooves and studying it carefully.
" repair the damage to this object, i do, but it will take some time I'm afraid , if the princess doesn't mind, she can leave it with me."
"How long will it take? Zecora you also know that this matter is imminent, the sooner we can find out where this thing came from, the sooner we will know who and in what way the Chrysalis was rescued."
"Less a few hours, more a few days, this thing is only this one, be careful to act, I need. must not hurt it the slightest bit ...... But if I can hoof hold most of it, or make great progress."
"You mean you need more samples?" Seeing Zecora nod, she then said, "Got it, I'll be right there!!!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Twilight immediately disappeared in front of everyone with her magic, but she forgot to take Spike with her when she left, so the one colt and the one dragon just stared at each other in a somewhat awkward manner.
"Eh ....... Hi! Zecora? How have you been??"
Meanwhile, Twilight teleported back to the Royal Gardens, right into the young soldier from earlier. The latter was startled by her sudden appearance, and if he hadn't recognized it as Twilight, he probably would have had to light up his magic to strike an attack.
"Twilight .... Princess Twilight!!!"
"Sorry .... Soldier! I didn't mean to, where is your captain? I need to see him immediately now." After helping the young soldier up, Twilight directly asked after him, and the latter immediately saluted, "Report .... Report Princess, captain he went to another area to carry out monitoring, now I am responsible for the security patrol of the nearby area!!!"
"Then ..... Do you still have that container that the captain gave me earlier? It contains those dead leaves you guys found."
"Yes Princess, there are a few more being sent to the warehouse for safekeeping."
"Send them all here, I need these for research to investigate what kind it is."
"Yes princess! Do it right away." Watching the soldier trot off into the distance, Twilight had to wait anxiously where she was, and a few minutes later the young soldier arrived back with a small trailer on his back. Twilight scanned the inside of the trailer, there wasn't much inside, but it was better than just one piece.
"Thanks for the help soldier, I'll take care of the rest, Spike, help me get all this stuff, we need to get back to Zecora in a hurry!" Seconds of silence passed but got no response, Twilight spun around in place and didn't see Spike shadow, "Spike???? We don't have time to play hide and seek!!!"
"Princess .....? Are you calling for the little dragon that stayed by your side earlier? It was only you when you teleported here just now."
"Ah ..... Oops! How could I forget him at Zecora's ......" Despite the constant grumbling on her lips, Twilight was now left to bring those containers back on her own.
"Uh ..... Princess? There's something else .... I feel the need to report to you." Watching Twilight try to hold several containers under her armpits at the same time with her wings but failing repeatedly, the young soldier decided to lend a helping hand by helping to put everything into a single container; it was all just dead leaves anyway, so what could go wrong?
"Uh huh? Did you guys find any new clues?"
"Well ..... Not exactly, Your Highness, it's ..... About a couple nights ago, I came across something very strange."
"What was it?" Twilight asked suspiciously.
"It rained heavily in the garden, but ...... afterwards there was no trace of any rain."
The School of Friendship, the coveted place for the entire Equestria creatures, where you can make new friends, learn how to make friends & realize the true meaning of friendship. However, with the influx of more and more races, it is inevitable that there will often be conflicts between races due to differences in lifestyle or culture, and whenever this happens, one either tries to understand each other or chooses to write a letter explaining their situation and handing it over to the school's leader. That is, Starlight Glimmer to handle these matters. Today too, as usual, Starlight sat in the principal's office, fretting over trivial matters between students, and with her was Trixie.
Trixie plopped down on the couch and complained before switching positions so that she could get some relief from her hooves which were starting to tingle from being pressed for so long. She couldn't remember how long she had been in this position, the only thing she wanted to do right now was for the plum purple-skinned unicorn in front of her to hurry up and stop the stupid work in her hooves and go out with her to find a nice restaurant to have dinner with like she had agreed to do earlier.
"I'm really sorry, Trixie, just give me a little more time~ I'll be done organizing in a minute." Starlight peeked her head out from behind the mountain of papers stacked on her desk and tried to comfort Trixie. But she knew that it was just a stalling tactic that didn't do much good, and couldn't even do a little bit of psychological comforting. The envelopes of students in front of her were already driving her crazy, and Starlight wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible so that she could get some rest so that she could fulfill her promise to Trixie. But ever since Twilight had given her the position of principal, Starlight had experienced Twilight's insanity and realized what it meant to have a plan that could never catch up with change.
"You've said that several times already, did you know what Starlight? Since you became the principal of this school, the time you can accompany me is even less .... Which wasn't sitting on the couch waiting for you like you are now! Either that or you're just about to leave when a student pops up or something unexpected and you immediately run back into the office and sit in that chair again. Trixie is going to be so mad at your behavior!!!" Starlight knew she had no words to say, and could only reply with a polite, but not embarrassed, smile.
"I order you to stop what you're doing in your hooves right now, go out with Trixie for a nice meal first, and then lie comfortably in bed for the night afterward. We'll deal with these trivial friendship issues tomorrow." Trixie deliberately stretched her tone when she said "trivial."
"Trixie, you know I can't do that, and the friendship issues aren't at all what you think they are, they're 'trivial' issues, if I handle them poorly and start a conflict between the races, I can't afford to take the responsibility!!!"
"Listen listen listen, you're really getting more and more like Twilight in the way you talk, you know that!!!?" Trixie said in a sarcastic tone as she plopped down on the edge of the couch with her hooves at her chin.
"What? It's not the case that it's not true! It's not even true!!! I'm just trying to make sure everything doesn't go wrong." Starlight held her face a little red as she tried to think before saying something like that. Trixie looked at her like that and immediately frowned with a look of utter disgust. "And to say no, that statement you just made sounded like Twilight's mantra to Trixie, especially the one about 'making sure nothing goes wrong' or something like that." After this statement, Trixie lifted both hooves and waved them casually a few times in mid-air.
"I'm Starlight ~~ the new Headmaster of Friendship ~~ and I love spreading the true meaning of friendship to everypony! Come join us!!!" Trixie said as she styled her hair to look like Starlight's, then followed Twilight's tone with style.
"Hey!!!" Starlight got a little annoyed and used her magic to copy a small doll given to her by a nearby student and slammed it at Starlight, when Twixie saw this she immediately dodged to the side. Just as the doll flew halfway, there was a sudden fluctuation in the air, followed by a sound of magic flickering, and a foal appeared out of nowhere between Starlight and Trixie. The doll also flew right into its face, smashing her to the ground.
"Twilight Sparkle?!" After recovering from the sudden flickering, Starlight and Trixie looked to the ground together, and upon realizing that it was Twilight Sparkle lying with her face covered by the doll, they both shouted in unison.
"Uh ....... What happened ....." Twilight held her head and staggered up, obviously the force of the blow she had just received was not light.
"Are you okay??" Starlight jumped up from her chair and quickly ran to Twilight's side to hold her up, while Trixie continued to sprawl on the couch, looking indifferent and gloating. "I... I'm fine, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Of course not ....." No sooner had Starlight's words left her mouth than Trixie interrupted with some impatience. "Of course you not interrupting, it's just that Trixie is waiting for Starlight to finish working on those 'friendship issues' of hers and has to accompany me to the restaurant for a snack like she promised before. So if it's nothing urgent, can you wait and leave Starlight until we're done with that?" Trixie muttered, hooves clasped to her chest as if she was already guessing the reason for Twilight's sudden appearance, which she obviously didn't want to appreciate despite Starlight's gesture with her eyes.
"I'm sorry Trixie, but I need Starlight to come with me right now." Twilight said in a slightly apologetic but firm tone.
"What's happening? What's the rush?" Starlight asked a little confused.
"It's complicated, I'll talk to you on the way." Without waiting for Starlight to respond, Twilight grabbed her hoof and disappeared in front of Trixie after a magic flash.
"Hey!!! Give Starlight back to me!!! She promised to take me for a snack ......"
"Woohoo!!!" By the time Starlight reacted, she was in another hut filled with various books, and before she could stand on her feet, a strong wave of vertigo filled her head like a water balloon filled with water but broken, causing her to almost stagger to the ground, but luckily Spike came over in time to hold her up and said with a gentle pat on the back, "First time Twilight has ever been yanked by Twilight to use teleportation magic, right? "
"Well ..... Not exactly, I just ..... haven't reacted yet."
"What the hell happened? Twilight? So anxious to get me here."
"You would never imagine ..... Starlight, Chrysalis she .... escaped!!!"
"What?!" Starlight looked at Twilight incredulously after hearing this, "How is this possible? You've got to be kidding, right??"
"I know it's hard to accept, Starlight ...." Twilight's tone was full of helplessness, and she too hoped that this was just a prank that wasn't funny. "We believe that Chrysalis was rescued by the colt, it was a magical formation that the Canterlot guards found under the statue, have you ever seen one of these?"
Starlight was silent for a long time as she gazed at the magic formation on the manuscript paper, driving Twilight a little crazy, she wanted to say something but was afraid of interrupting her train of thought, so she just sat down on her chair as if she was covered in crawling fleas, constantly trying to find a way to relieve her inner agitation.
"I remember!!!" A sound of undisguised excitement resounded throughout the house, startling the dozing Spike into falling off the table while causing Twilight to jump right out of her chair then quickly get in front of her, "What! What is the origin of this magic formation!!!?"
"If I remember correctly, it's a magic formation that comes from the East and is known as the 'Ju Ling Formation'."
Royal Garden, the place where the efforts of many craftspony have been concentrated, and the elaborate flowerbeds and the strict layout have created a unique atmosphere. Normally, it is a place for members of the royal member to relax and have fun, but during major festivals, it is also open for visits by the colts. Other than that, the only people who could enter and exit the royal garden on a daily basis were the dedicated guards. Today they were patrolling the garden as usual, making sure that everything was in order, that there were no unwanted branches or leaves, that there were no unauthorized foals, and most importantly, that the statue placed in the center of the garden did not make any mistakes.
In order for this newly promoted guard to adapt to his surroundings as quickly as possible, he was assigned by the team to patrol the garden. At this moment, he was wandering around the garden, and by mistake, he ran into the depths of the garden. Neat flower beds surrounded the place in a square, and a small fountain was placed in each of the four corners, and the springs that spewed out were in turn connected to each other, forming the appearance of a curtain. A statue was placed in the center of the field, that of the magically sealed Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy glow, with another circle of flower gardens was surrounded around the base of the statue as a barrier. When he first entered this place, he was marveled by such a layout, so he curiously walked in, and then came to the front of the statue to carefully examine for a while, and suddenly remembered some words that the captain had instructed, and thought that the thing that needed to be closely protected in the depths of the garden must be the statue in front of him.
"If I remember correctly ..... This seems to be the biggest bad guys, right?" He muttered to himself, not noticing in the slightest that not far behind him a pair of eyes were gazing this way through a gap in the cover of the flower garden. She watched the guard's every move carefully, then used her magic to pull out a vial from the satchel she had hidden under her gray and black cloak, opened it, and poured a small handful of powder onto her hoof; then brought it front of her head, removed her equally gray and black mask, and began to mumble something under her breath. As the powder began to emit a faint greenish glow afterward, she took a deep breath and blew it out. The dust that floated into the air was like a python with eyes lunging towards the guards.
"Why is it suddenly raining???" A sudden itch in his nose caused the guard to sneeze several times in a row. When he recovered, he felt a cold liquid falling above his head again, and when he raised his head, it was a large dark cloud that had gathered in the sky at some point. The guard whispered a couple of complaints, and just took a few steps to prepare to walk back, the rain suddenly became heavy and dense, drenching him so much that he couldn't open his eyes,
"What the ...... How did it suddenly become so big? How did those pegasus organize the sky!!!?" He grumbled in dissatisfaction while fleeing in a sorry state towards the nearest place where he could take shelter from the rain.
After watching that guard leave, she didn't rush to show herself, but waited for another minute or two to make sure her surroundings were safe before carefully walking over to the statue and standing there for a moment as if admiring a wondrous work of art.
"Finally.... I find you ...... It really took me a lot of effort ........ You better not let me down." After a few moments of muttering to herself, she flashed her unicorn horn and utilized her magic to pull out an elaborately carved pendant from her satchel and placed it around Chrysalis' neck. As she began to silently recite an incantation, the pendant melted as if it were ice, and green liquid spread like vines down her chest in all directions before seeping into the stone statue until it disappeared. After a while, the stone statue of Chrysalis moved a little, the surface of the stone pieces began to rapidly fall off, when the binding disappeared, Chrysalis stumbled like a doll off the strings and fell from the stone seat to the ground, his mouth released the unwilling roar before being petrified.
"No！！！！" Chrysalis' eyes closed tightly as she held herself in front of her with her hooves, but nothing happened in the next second, she froze for a moment before her heart palpitated and she opened her eyes, scanning her surroundings to realize that she was in an unfamiliar environment, Twilight and her companion had long since disappeared, and in their place was a colt in a cloak in front of her. She immediately jumped to the side, looking at her warily while continuing to glance around with her afterglow, wondering if she was trying to find a way to escape or something else.
"Your Majesty! I finally found you!!!" The cloaked colt said in a slightly excited tone.
"Who are you? Where am I?!" Chrysalis didn't pay any attention to what she said, instead, she asked in a questioning tone.
"Queen Chrysalis, you were turned into a stone statue by Twilight and her friends using magic and placed in this royal garden. It was me who just saved you from the seal." Seeing Chrysalis' skeptical look, the filly pointed behind her. Chrysalis turned around and saw Tirek's statue of Cozy glow, then looked at her hooves again with a somewhat half-hearted look.
"Why would a pony save me?"
"Because I know how much you hate Twilight, and I happen to know Twilight's weakness." Chrysalis narrowed her eyes and looked down at the cloak-clad colt, whose eyes under that hood seemed to be watching her as well, and whose mouth seemed to be tinged with an imperceptible wry smile. After a long time of staring at each other, Chrysalis- coldly grunted, "If you dare to lie to me, I will turn you into my food immediately!!!"
"Of course, Queen Chrysalis, this Royal Garden of is full of guards, you can't escape alone, but before leaving, let me show you something and prove my loyalty. Queen Chrysalis please stand back." After colt finished speaking, she once again lit up her magic and quickly carved a circle of obscure words around the stone statue, then took out a small canvas bag and pulled a handful of powder from it and sprinkled it into the circle.
The moment that white powder touched the air, the space in front of him appeared stacked like a mirror kaleidoscope, but in a blink of an eye it returned to normal. after that colt took out a small object and threw it into the circle, that thing landed on the ground as if it had a consciousness, it rolled crazily towards the place where Chrysalis was standing, and then it grew into a stone statue exactly like Chrysalis at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye. Chrysalis witnessed all the straight, never seen such magic, she was a little impressed cloak pony how standing in front of her, at least she would not be easy to turn this horse into food.
"Queen Chrysalis, come with me, let's get to safety first." After casting her own show, Chrysalis then trusted her for a moment and quickly disappeared into the garden with darkness as her cover.
"Hey!!! What are you doing? Why are you hiding here and being lazy?!" The guard who was sheltering from the rain earlier coincidentally met the captain who was on patrol, he saw his subordinate hiding under the eaves and still occasionally reached his head to look out, like a clown, and scared the guard with a jolt when he loudly scolded him.
"Captain! It's raining outside! I just came in to get out of the rain!!!" After seeing that the visitor was his captain, he immediately straightened his posture and replied loudly after giving a salute.
"Raining?" The captain stick his hoof out and wave it casually twice before standing the whole colt outside again. "Where's the rain? How could it possibly rain when there are pegasus clearing the skies over the Royal Garden every day!!!" The captain yelled as he scolded, then gave him a hard hoof on the helmet, hitting the guard a bit dizzy for a moment. But he shook his head and straightened his posture once again, "I'm not lying to you! Captain, it just gave really raining!!!"
"Stand out and take a good look, the ground isn't even wet where did the rain come from!!!?"
"What ....? But I just saw ....." After being pushed out with a hand, he stood in the garden with an unbelievable look on his face. It had obviously just been pouring down rain, but suddenly there was nothing left, and he looked down at the ground as if trying to find a bit of standing water to prove that he wasn't lying. But to the captain, he only felt that it was an excuse made by the new recruit trying to be lazy.
"That's enough soldier! Stand at attention!!!" Hearing this, the guard immediately took his position in place. "I don't want to hear any more of your explanations, if you're just trying to be slacking such behavior won't work! Lying in bed and pretending to be sick is more useful than this!!!" The captain continued to heckle.
"Get back to your position right now! Soldier! Let me catch you slacking off again and I will be happy to introduce my hooves a good meeting with your butt!!!"
"Aye! Captain!!!" After saluting the captain, he dusted himself off and headed for his post, still looking somewhat incredulous as he passed the area where the statue had been placed again halfway through. He searched around for evidence that would prove that he hadn't been slacking off, and indeed came up empty-handed. But he was still a bit unwilling, by the time he searched near the statue, a faint scent came from it, he inhaled his nose as if trying to distinguish the source of the scent. After half a dozen sniffs he eventually locked his eyes onto the statue of the villain in front of him, but with another confused look on his face.
"Was this scent just there??" The question popped into his head and his brow furrowed as he stared at the statue for a long time.
"Hey ！！！！！ Didn't I tell you to go back to your position soldier!!!! What are you doing here staring at the statues? Fallen love with them!!!?" The captain, who had followed him at some point, watched him staring at the statue for half a day and yelled before coming this way, anger written all over his face.
"Ca .... Captain! I smell a strange scent around this statue! I don't feel right!!!" The captain heard him and suspiciously moved closer to smell it as well, but in the next second his expression was as furious as a teased colt, "It's surrounded by flower gardens!!!! You idiot!!!" The captain pointed to the blooming flowers below the statue. "Isn't it normal to have a scent!!! You're changing tricks to tease me, aren't you?!!! Come on, come on, immediately switch posts with Bekoma and get me to the training ground for extra training!!!"
"My queen, right now we can only hide here for the time being, I'll help you deal with Twilight when we are safe."
Everfree Forest, a place where regular foals would never set foot easily, no matter day or night, this place was always permeated with an aura that made foals tremble with fear, and if there were no foals familiar with this place to lead the way, they would easily get lost in it. But this is a natural refuge for those who do not care about it. At this time, Chrysalis is following the cloak pony through a lot of hard work to escape here, all the way deep into the Everfree forest, in a stream with a withered tree under the hole to hide. Chrysalis looked around at the dense bushes and the thick giant trees that seven or eight Illusory Spirits couldn't even hold over, and there seemed to be a hint of disdain in her eyes.
"Although I don't know exactly what your real purpose for rescuing me is, the only thing I want to do now is to trample Twilight and her hateful friends under my hooves!!!" Chrysalis indignantly stomped off a fragile branch on the ground as if it were Twilight.
"And .... I'm starving!!! I'd love to find a foal to suck his love clean out of me right now." Chrysalis kept her eyes on the cloaked colt as she said this, "But I've decided to spare your life for saving me, now get out of my sight immediately! Before I change my mind." Chrysalis let out her harsh words, but the cloaked colt didn't seem to be afraid of her intimidation.
"My queen Chrysalis, if you eat me, you won't have the chance to properly enjoy that taste of victory when you defeat Twilight. I can advise you and help you get what you want." A contemptuous smile appeared at the corner of her mouth under the cloak, as if he was sure of the meaning of his existence.
"Why would I want to listen to a pony come and give me advice? Hmm? Or are you sent by Twilight to try to come and toughen me up, and teach me what true friendship is?!!!" A series of questions were thrown at the cloaked foal, Chrysalis snapping at every word while circling around her.
"The idea of friendship is to help each other under the concept of equality, unlike in my case and yours. I will be your loyal servant, willing to commit to helping you achieve your own ends, and all I need is a small reward." The cloaked colt touched one hoof to his chest and bowed slightly in a submissive gesture.
"If I were you, Queen Chrysalis, I would at least listen to the colt's advice first, and see what she has to offer that dares to talk like that."
Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, realizing that this statement did not make sense, and after pondering for a moment, she said with some impatience, "Alright, I'll give you a chance, if you can't convince me, then you'll wait to be sucked dry by me!!!" The cloaked colt nodded and began to introduce to Chrysalis about the recent arrival of a group of ships from the far east to Equestria, which was a very significant diplomatic event. If Chrysalis could stir up trouble and sabotage this diplomacy, it would not only tarnish Twilight's reputation, but it could also start a war.
"After you, my queen, have provoked the relationship between Twilight and the ambassador, you will then turn into another ambassador, and then use Twilight's hooves to lock up that real ambassador."
"Sounds like a good note, but what's the point of doing that?"
"To trick Twilight, Queen Chrysalis."
"Heh heh heh~ I have lot of ways to trick Twilight, why do I have to listen to you?!" Chrysalis sneered, disdainful of this answer.
"My beloved queen, if you really tricked Twilight into trusting you, then why would she still turn you into a stone statue?" The cloaked foal only spoke lightly, but made Chrysalis momentarily unsure of how to retort; after a moment of silence she said with some irritation, "I was so close! A little bit and it worked! It's all because of those so-called friends of hers! I hate them so much! That Starlight! If it wasn't for her, Equestria would have been under my rule!!!"
"You are certainly powerful, My queen, but you can't be defeated alone, unless ......"
"Unless what? Speak quickly!!!"
"Unless you have absolute power."
"Absolute power ....." Chrysalis repeated what she said. "Speaking of this absolute power, at that time, me and that big-bodied, mindless Tirek, as well as Little Cozy glow, stole that old goathead's bell spell, and then utilized it to almost defeat Twilight ...... If it wasn't for the power in the spell being split between those two fools!!!......" Speaking of which, Chrysalis put on a resigned look, she was only one step away from success, but because she was just one step away, she was sealed by Twilight.
"So I'm guessing this bell you speak of, my queen, is now under the Twilight's hooves? If that's the case, that's not a bad thing." Chrysalis was surprised to hear her say that as if she was looking at a fool.
"What are you talking about? How could this be a good thing!!!?"
"My queen, since the bell is in Twilight's hooves, it's just a matter of finding a way to get her to tell you where she's hiding it, maybe Twilight has other power-filled spells hidden, so if you snatch them all together then, won't you be able to gain absolute power?" These words from the cloaked foal were like a wake-up call to Chrysalis, she acted as if she had come to a realization, and then laughed a few times in a wild manner.
"If I can get those props hidden by Twilight, and then suck the power from them, then I'll have absolute power! No foal will be able to stop me at that time! hahahahahahahahahaha!!!"
"Queen Chrysalis, right now you just recovered from the seal of the stone statue, so you must be weak." After finishing his words, the cloaked colt took out an old looking box from the corner, opened it and took out a crystal from it and delivered it to Chrysalis.
"My queen, this contains some of the magical energy that I have collected, although it's not much, but it will allow you to regain some of your strength." Chrysalis looked at the crystal she handed to her, sized it up, then somewhat skeptically grabbed it with her magic and took a tentative breath. Immediately after a familiar feeling surged into her body, this crystal indeed carried some magic that could help her recover, Chrysalis no longer hesitated when she saw this, and sucked up all the remnants inside in one go, as if a foal that had been starving for many days suddenly saw a table of delicious food. Unfortunately, the energy contained in that crystal was not much, even though the cloaked colt handed over a few more, Chrysalis still felt that it was not enough.
"I need more!!!" Chrysalis growled in dissatisfaction. After sucking up that last crystal, Chrysalis threw it aside.
"This is all I have stored, my honorable Queen Chrysalis, if you still want more abundant energy, I'm afraid you'll have to search it from those hidden by Twilight, with my current methods I can only scrape up these for you."
"Tsk ......" Chrysalis licked her lips with her tongue, looking as if she couldn't get enough. "So what do you want after telling me so much?"
"To receive your favor is already the greatest reward for me, Queen Chrysalis." The cloaked colt respectfully knelt before her, "But I do have one small wish, and I would be very grateful if Queen Chrysalis would grant it to me." She looked up slightly, not looking directly into Chrysalis' eyes, but rather her eyes were flush to her chest.
"Say it, as long as it's not to share power with me." Chrysalis spoke contemptuously as she looked to her hooves, fiddling with them casually, but not intending to look her in the eye.
"Among those treasures in Twilight's collection, there is something called the Alicorn Amulet, it's a necklace, largely grayish-black in color, with opened wings Alicorn, and if Queen Chrysalis sees it, I wonder if she could leave it to me."
"An Alicorn Amulet? It sounds like a very powerful thing, why wouldn't I keep it for myself instead of giving it to you?" Chrysalis asked as she bent down slightly and brought her face to the cloaked foal to look at her.
"Because this Alicorn Amulet has a curse on it, and after wearing it you will gradually lose yourself, and Queen Chrysalis doesn't want to lose her mind when the time comes because of wearing it, and end up missing the chance to rule Equestria and dispose of Twilight once again, right?" my queen?, was silent for a moment, she was staring at the foal in front of her, but her head was thinking fast.
"If you say it has a curse, what else do you need it for?"
"It's just to satisfy one of my collecting fetishes~ Honorable Queen Chrysalis, this will not be a hindrance that will affect your rule over Equestria, please rest assured."
"My queen, I'm back." The cloaked colt's front hooves had just stepped into the cave when she saw that Chrysalis was lying in a twisted position between several giant cocoons hanging upside down from the roof of the cave, and it was vaguely visible that the cocoons were wrapped with creatures that she had never seen before. She looked around and found that even the shape of the cave had completely changed, with the cocoons as the center spreading out in all directions, many gray and black rocks, or things that looked like rocks, occupying one third of the cave. Chrysalis, upon hearing her voice, spat out its own long tongue and hissed a few times, then quickly returned to the ground.
"You're finally back, where's my crystal?"
"Here it is, Queen Chrysalis." The cloaked colt used magic to flip open her satchel and took out a crystal inside before respectfully delivering it to Chrysalis. And Chrysalis was not polite at all, snatching the crystal and placing it in the center of her hoof, after opening her mouth, a ray of energy gushed out from the crystal and flew straight towards her mouth.
"It's a shame, if you were a changeling, perhaps I would have promoted you to be my Praetorian Guard, maybe allowed you to share the love of these creatures with the Queen. But the energy in this crystal is no longer enough to satisfy me now, so I took advantage of your absence these past few days to go out and find some 'treats'." After playing with the depleted crystal in her hoof for a moment, she tossed it aside with his hoof, listening to the crunch of the crystal as it hit the ground, then lovingly stroked the cocoon a few times.
"You have to understand that if you were of no use to me, it would be you who lying in there right now, and if you want to gain my complete trust, you'd better give a little bit more than just rescuing me and then locking me up in this humble cave to give a few crystals that don't mean anything to me, understand?"
"Of course, Queen Chrysalis, you definitely won't regret it, and I definitely won't let you down." Because of the difference in size, Chrysalis had never seen the face of the cloaked foal, and she had never raised her head to meet Evil Chrysalis eyes. Although it didn't matter to Chrysalis, she still had a few moments of curiosity about what the colt looked like under that costume, and although the tone of the words she had just spoken was flat, the implication was already obvious.
"You never told me your name, and you wear this stupid tight cloak all day long, you have worse taste than the King Sombra, or are you hiding some secret from me?"
"My appearance is of no help to the Queen's grand plan, so I choose to hide my humble identity. As for my name, you can call me Feng chen." Chrysalis intentionally leaned down to get a better look at her, while the cloaked foal took the opportunity to make a kneeling motion after she finished speaking, so that her face was as close to the ground as possible; seeing her unwillingness to cooperate, Chrysalis was a bit upset and was ready to stretch out her own hooves to take advantage of her inattentiveness to forcibly lift off her hood.
"According to the observations and reliable information I got in the past few days, Twilight Sparkle has moved from Canterlot to a friendship castle in Ponyville, they're receiving the ambassador from Seresia that I mentioned. They shouldn't leave Ponyville in a short time, and now without anti-changeling magic, My queen, There's nothing can stopping you from doing what you want!!"
"Oh? Finally, a good news." The hoof that was originally reaching for the hood was withdrawn, Chrysalis was still more concerned about how she could realize her revenge than the curiosity that was placed in front of her.
"Finally my age is coming!! Twilight Sparkle ...... After all these years ...... You always have a way of turning out to be the biggest piece of obstacle on my way to success! Let's see how you handle this diplomacy this time! Those pains I used to endure ..... must be doubled back to you! Hahahahahahahaha!" Wild and unruly laughter echoed through the cavern as Chrysalis furiously pointed her hoof towards a simple Twilight clay statue she had fabricated in the corner. Feng Chen looked in the direction but didn't say much.
"My queen, I have a plan, but I need your help."
"Oh? You would actually need my help? Speak, let me hear what kind of plan you have." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow and slowly returned to the "throne" made by her own hooves, plopping down in a comfortable position before saying with interest.
"As far as I know, that ambassador is also looking for the Alicorn Amulet, she plans to apply to Twilight to get back its ownership, we just need to rush before the ambassador, first set out the whereabouts of the Alicorn Amulet , and then find a chance to pretend to be Twilight to reject the ambassador's request; from this, we can stir up their relationship, and then finally steal the Alicorn Amulet, in order to make sure that nothing goes wrong, I'll give you another pendant, you just need to coax Twilight to wear it, and leave the rest to me."
"Oh? That sounds like a good note, but how did you know that Ambassador What's-His-Name was also looking for the Alicorn Amulet?"
On the table there was an elaborate cake, a white buttercream sculpture surrounded by a cherry for garnish, while it was surrounded by apple slices shaped like petals and coated with jam. It was one of the newest desserts that Pinkie had researched on her own, and it was just the right thing to give to Twilight to try, but at the moment she didn't have the heart to enjoy this delicacy. The fork, which was grasped by magic, was floating in mid-air, with the cake, which she had taken a bite from, stuck on it. Due to keeping the same position for a long time, the cake started to slide downwards due to gravity until it hit the plate hard, splashing cream on Twilight's cheeks and startling her.
"Hello? What are you gawking at, Twilight? Shouldn't you be enjoying the cake from Pinkie right now??" Looking at Twilight's comical appearance, Spike covered his mouth and snorted a couple of laughs before criticizing in a serious manner.
"Ah ..... Nothing~ Just thinking about something." Twilight explained as she quickly wiped the cream off her face.
"You're worried about the handover ceremony that's going to be held the day after tomorrow?" Spike said with a casual hoof, reaching out with his paw for another piece of cake and stuffing it into his mouth, while Twilight nodded:
"I was just thinking back again to that night when Ambassador Meng Yu suddenly knocked on my room door, and the more I thought about it, the more strange it seemed ..... Because normally at this time of the night the Ambassador would have already gone to bed, and she wasn't wearing that gorgeous official outfit that night, that was the first time I've seen her without clothes, and if she also had a flowing mane of hair, maybe I would have mistaken her for Princess Celestia."
"Perhaps she was in a hurry, too? Didn't she also explain to you about the Alicorn Amulet? I don't really think there's anything to worry about."
"I don't know ..... Spike ..... I always feel unsettled inside, like something bad is going to happen ..... Maybe it's because I'm afraid that something will go wrong with the Amulet? Afraid it'll fall into the bad guy's hooves again or something." As the magically controlled fork scratched haphazardly at the cream-coated plate, Twilight only felt her thoughts getting more and more jumbled as she held the necklace hanging around her neck in her hooves and gazed at the pattern on the piece of jade, completely unmotivated to enjoy the delicious cake.
"But every Equestria's evil force are already locked up by us, it's not possible that a baddie will suddenly come out of nowhere to turn Equestria upside down once again, is it??" After hearing these words, Twilight's ears popped up, and she stared straight at Spike, who seemed to have realized what was going on and hurriedly changed the subject:
"This cake of Pinkie's is really delicious, won't you wanna try?" Seeing that Twilight didn't respond, he didn't hesitate, "Then I'm going to eat it all!" After saying his words, Spike swept the remaining cake directly in front of him, and just as he opened his mouth and prepared to feast, he suddenly felt a discomfort in his throat, as if something was about to come out of it in one gush. A green flame accompanied by a burping sound erupted from Spike's mouth and headed straight for Twilight, just in the blink of an eye she skillfully turned on her magical shields as if this was the norm. After the flames, a letter followed the remnants of the flames and crashed on top of the barrier, then fell to the ground, Twilight hurriedly moved forward to pick it up, opened the sealing wax and opened it to read it.
"A letter? What does it say?" Spike patted his chest, slowed down and then hurriedly grabbed the juice on the side and drank it up
"Ch ...... Chrysalis ...... Chrysalis has escaped from Canterlot!!!?" Twilight said in an incredulous tone, but her hooves were trembling slightly, and even the scroll she was magically grasping fell to the ground. And Spike, who had heard the news, spewed out all the juice he had just taken in his mouth.
"What? How is this possible!!! Wasn't Chrysalis sealed up by you guys with magic?!" Spike rushed aside and picked up the scroll on the ground and opened it, expecting it to be one of Twilight's not-so-funny jokes, but the neatly written words on it proved to him relentlessly that everything Twilight had just said wasn't a hallucination.
"We have to go back to Canterlot immediately! Spike!!!" Twilight jumped straight out of her chair, and Spike heard her calling out to her and quickly realized it, "Coming coming! I'm ready ....." Before the words left his mouth, the sound of that magic flickering interrupted the conversational dialog and the whole room became unusually silent. But then a sudden knock sounded on the door:
"Princess? Princess Twilight? May I come in? I want to talk to you again about the matter of the Alicorn Amulet, please reconsider, this amulet is vital to us, I think we can find a moderate solution." Meng Yu's voice came from outside the door, she gently knocked on the door a few times, but after a long time, she didn't wait for a response from inside the house.
"Chancellor, is this princess not avoiding you? Since that day after rejecting you, we three times twice to visit the door, either busy or do not know where to go, must be you refused to give her friend that silk satin, so harboring a grudge." The male colt following behind Meng Yu was the first to break the silence, expressing his doubts in a low voice.
"Chancellor!! why bother with the guy more words, if that princess again refuses to hand over the Amulet, but also ask the Chancellor to allow subordinates to use force to seize! I will surely smash this Canterlot in a pitiful state." Compared to the relatively calm male colt on the side, the female colt's tone seemed a bit impulsive.
"Jin Yun, the Chancellor has instructed you many times not to act impulsively, even if the Princess refuses to come to her senses, I believe that the Chancellor has her own way of dealing with her." Stallion once again opened his mouth and criticized Jin Yun for a couple of sentences, although the latter was displeased, she didn't say anything more, she just quietly waited for Meng Yu's next instruction.
"Alright, Jin Yun Jin Yang, I taught you two not to talk behind your back, be careful of getting a bad reputation and being talked about by the colt when he hears about it." Under Meng Yu's gentle reprimand, the two colts slightly lowered their ears like children who had done something wrong, "Yes, Chancellor...."
"Since the princess isn't here, I'm sure she must have left on an urgent matter as well, let's come back to visit another day."" Meng Yu waved her sleeves, turned around and prepared to leave, the two guards also understood the situation and followed the pace of the Chancellor. However, they had just taken a few steps when the door of the house clicked and then slowly opened on its own, causing the two guards to quickly turn around and put themselves on alert.
"Princess Twilight?" Meng Yu tentatively called out again, but still did not receive any reply. Instead, Jin Yun was impatient and slowly approached the door, lighting up her magic and preparing to draw the sword at her waist. Jin Yang tried to pull her back, but was easily shaken off, so she had to stop and guard Meng Yu's side first. As the door to the room was pushed open, Jin Yun was the first to enter the room and look around, making sure there wasn't any danger before signaling the other two colts to enter the room.
"Chancellor, the Princess is not in the house, probably opened another magic teleportation to hide, I can feel the residual magic scent in the air. As well as this was found on the ground, please take a look, Chancellor." Jin Yun used her magic to pick up the scroll on the ground and delivered it to Meng Yu's hooves.
"Dear Princess Twilight, I'm very sorry to inform you that the stone statues that were secretly protected in the royal gardens have been damaged, the 'Chrysalis' one is nowhere to be found, but the other two are well preserved. We have searched the area as soon as we realized the situation, but no useful clues have been found for the time being. The gardens have been sealed off and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been informed. We are currently awaiting your next instructions, please proceed to Canterlot as soon as you see this message." After softly reading the above, Meng Yu stared at the contents of the scroll in silence while Jin Yun Jin Yang beside her talked in whispers.
"Go back, we'll find another time to come back."
"Yes." As the two guards responded, the three colts left Twilight's room, and during the same time they left, far away in the depths of the Everfree Forest, Feng Chen hurriedly pushed open the door of the shelter, "Queen Chrysalis, there's been a change in our plan, we have to speed up our progress now."
"Hm? What's wrong?" Chrysalis was leisurely enjoying her stored food, and Feng Chen ran to her while calling out, she was a little displeased at being disturbed by her good mood.
"My queen, the cover I set up for you in Canterlot has failed, now the entire Canterlot and Twilight know that you have escaped from there, especially Twilight, she must be very vigilant right now, trying to get close to her again ..... the risk will increase greatly."
"Pfft~ Didn't you assure me that nothing would go wrong with your protection?" After hearing her explanation, Chrysalis turned her attitude around and displayed a gloating look. Although she admired Feng Chen's skills, it seemed that Feng Chen always flaunted them in front of her, which made her a bit irritated, whether that was intentional or unintentional. At this moment, when she heard about her defeat, she definitely couldn't help but make a few sarcastic remarks.
"My queen, it was only a matter of time before my protection was discovered by the colt, it just came a little faster than I expected.but don't worry my queen, I've already thought of a countermeasure." Feng Chen didn't seem to care about Chrysalis' sarcasm, as if everything was within her grasp.
"Speak." Chrysalis frowned, realizing that her sarcasm did not have any effect, she could only spit out a word impatiently. Feng Chen nodded, then came a little closer, signaling Chrysalis to bend down, and after it did so, Wind Dust moved towards Chrysalis' ear and explained something in a low voice. Chrysalis' expression at first was puzzled, then his eyes lit up, and finally revealed an evil bad smile.
Today's Ponyville swept away the calm of the past, and for the second time welcomed the grandeur of four princesses visiting Ponyville at the same time. From the moment the warm sunlight illuminated the earth, the local pony folk, the foreign visitors, the princesses' guards, and those ponies from the eastern continent outside the town, together drew a picture of the lively streets. Twilight stood on the balcony of the Friendship Castle and watched it all, happy to see this harmonious scene, but always unable to hide the worry in her heart. Spike beside her could also see what was going through her mind, but he didn't know what to say, so he just patted her shoulder silently.
"Princess Twilight, the other princesses are already seated." With a crisp knock on the door, a guard stood in the doorway and reminded her, Twilight nodded at the sound and turned back inside, "I'll be right there."
"Princess." The guard gave a salute and then left under Twilight's watchful eye. Spike, meanwhile, brought over the gown that had been lying on the table waiting for a long time and asked with concern, "Do I need to take a vacation for you? You don't look well."
"I'm fine, Spike~ Thank you for your concern, but everypony already waiting for me at the venue and I can't let them down."
"Okay, but promise me you won't push yourself, you haven't slept well in the past few days because of Chrysalis, don't push yourself out." Twilight smiled and nodded, getting into her gown with Spike's help before making her way to the Friendship Hall doors. As the guards pushed the doors open, the first thing that caught her eye was a red carpet that stretched from beneath her hooves to above the throne. Seated on either side of the throne were Celestia, Luna, and Princess Cadance with her five friends standing underneath a raised platform, acting as leaders of the many foals that flanked the hall.
"Twilight! Over here!!!" With a cheer, a pink hoof waved back and forth amongst the foals, it was Pinkie waving her hoof excitedly towards Twilight's side. Twilight's hanging heart seemed to drop a bit when she saw all her friends were present, and then she walked towards her throne amidst thousands of gazes, greeting her mates on the way.
"Did something happen? It took you so long." As Twilight took her seat, Princess Cadance the side approached to whisper a question, her tone full of concern, while Silver Armor beside her poked her head over.
"It's fine, just checking again to make sure the magic is okay."
"Hi! Twi, I'm completely sure about the Anti-Changeling magic I created, still don't quite understand why we didn't do this in Canterlot, but feel free to rest assured!!!" With a confident pat on the Shing armor, Twilight hesitated for a moment and turned her head to look at Celestia and Luna again, and when she saw that they both nodded and looked at her with determined eyes as well, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then stood up and spoke:
"Ladies and gentlecolt, welcome to the Friendship Castle to witness this day that will soon go down in history! Let us begin by inviting the diplomatic ambassador from the far eastern continent, Seresia, Meng Yu!!!" With the sound of enthusiastic hooves, Meng Yu and her two guards stepped into the hall and came to the front of the stage in full view of everypony, bending down to perform the royal etiquette.
"The honorable Ambassador Meng Yu has brought us precious spices, silks, and their specialties, but most important of all, is the friendship that has been long forgotten. It has been a long time since we last corresponded with Seresia, so long that it predates even the founding of Ponyville. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, the two continents were cut off from each other. "Ending on a regretful note, Twilight scanned the audience used in the room before continuing:
"For a long time afterward, most of the foal folk had never heard of Seresia again, let alone traveled to experience the exotic lands themselves, as if the continent had disappeared from our memories. Now that the opportunity has come again, Me, as the Princess of Friendship, should grasp it firmly! I hereby announce! Equestria will re-establish diplomatic relations with Seresia, and I hope that the flame of friendship between the two continents will be rekindled!!!"
With an eruption of cheers and hoofbeats, Spike appeared from behind the throne with both paws holding an overall red, gold trimmed pillow cushion adorned with an Alicorn Amulet. Twilight then motioned for the foal folk to quiet down and continued:
"This treasure once brought a considerable amount of trouble to Ponyville, fortunately we were able to stop it in time and preserve it well before it caused a bigger disaster. It is a pity that we never knew where it came from even after searching through the ancient books. But today, this stolen treasure will return to its homeland of Seresia and be preserved again." With Twilight's introduction, Spike slowly walked down the steps with the amulet in his hand to the ambassador before offering it in both paws.
"Wait!!!" Just as Meng Yu was about to take it with both hooves, a shout rang through the entire hall like a thunderclap, all of a sudden all eyes looked towards the source of the sound, it was Chrysalis who was sitting in the corner in a leisurely manner, no colt knew how she managed to bypass the guards and not be detected.
"Long time no see~ Princess Twilight ...... Hahahahahahahahaha!!!" The colts sitting next to Chrysalis quickly jumped away like birds of prey, and her evil laughter made all the colts shudder.
"It's Chrysalis!!!" Twilight and her partner, as well as the three princesses present all stood up and looked at Chrysalis with unusual vigilance, and in a trance, the air and time seemed to freeze, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of their own breathing.
"Are you guys looking for this?" A moment later, Chrysalis interrupted the silence, not knowing where to pull out something exactly like the Alicorn Amulet talisman and put it into his hooves, everypony first froze, and then looked at Spike in unison, There are nothing on the pillow cushion in his paw. Not only did the group look surprised, but Spike just felt a chill run through his body and fainted in shock.
"Why didn't I know about such a powerful treasure before? With it, I can do a lot of things I want to do!!!! For example ..... Solve you! Twilight, and these friends of yours." Chrysalis sighed as she played with the talisman in her hooves while feeling the energy contained within again, "Such pure power! It can be much more powerful than the broken bell hanging around that old goat's neck! You're actually willing to give up your hooves to some foreign colt from Seresia?"
"Quickly hand over the Amulet!!!" Jin Yun, who was standing beside Meng Yu, stepped forward and used her magic to pull out the sharp sword at his waist, pointing it straight at Chrysalis and chided. But Chrysalis was not moved and stood up slowly as well, "Do you really think you can beat me?"
"Hmph... I'm fast learner." As soon as the words fell, Jin Yun's body slightly bent down, then violently jumped in place, controlling the rapier in mid-air to slash at Chrysalis. Although Chrysalis had never seen this situation, but also reacted quickly and immediately opened a magic shield in an attempt to resist this blow. In contact with the shield in the instant that the sword blade is like cutting fruit general easily will shield broken open a slit, Chrysalis feel bad, immediately to the side to hide. Without the support of magic, the shield instantly cracked and turned into particles that dissipated in the air, and the sword also made an ear-piercing knocking sound after making a close contact with the floor.
"foolish pony! It seems you don't know my power!!!" Chrysalis roared with a burst of anger and then slipped the Amulet around her neck before her horns lit up with magic hitting several magic projectiles in succession towards Jin Yun. The latter used his sword as a shield and bounced away the incoming magic shots, and the colt folk present were scattered in fear.
"I definitely won't fail this time! Equestria will finally be mine!!!" The power of Chrysalis, who had been empowered by the Amulet, increased greatly, and she laughed in an unusually cocky manner. Just as she was about to show off her might, she felt as if something was firmly bound under her hooves, and when she looked down, she realized that a magical chain derived from a magical formation painted with obscure and difficult to understand words had appeared on the ground at some point to lock her limbs.
"Thanks to the magic formation the ambassador helped design ......" Twilight let out a sigh of relief for the moment, secretly celebrating the success of her plan, "Chrysalis, I don't know exactly who helped you escape your magical confinement, but you must not be allowed to do anything wrong here!!!"
"Oh? Is that so? What a shame, I've learned my lesson this time and brought a lot of helper hooves with me, come on out! My children!!!" As Chrysalis's cry rang out, uncountable Changelings surged out from behind the pillars, by the windows, and by the gates to surround Twilight and her companions, and looking at the black-packed phantom spirit horde, Twilight was already shocked beyond words.
"See? Everything you know around you has been infiltrated by me! Now it's your turn! Twilight!!!" Just as Twilight was wary of the phantom spirits leaning around her, in just the blink of an eye, Chrysalis stood in front of Twilight, who fell to the ground in shock, and tried to get up only to realize that her body was completely out of control.
When she looked aside, each of her partner's hooves held a hidden pair of iron cables, and then followed the direction of the cables and looked down, it turned out to be that the magic array did not know when it ran under their hooves, but instead trapped themselves. With the evil laughter wandering in her ears, Twilight became more and more panicked, constantly resisting while also trying to call for help from her partner, but as she witnessed her partner little by little transforming into a phantom spirit, a deep sense of despair surged into her heart.
Everything around her seemed to blur as well, and in a trance she saw magic lighting up on the horns of Chrysalis shooting towards her, the blinding light becoming the last thing she remembered seeing. The next second, Twilight woke up from her bed with a start, and before she could regain her senses she looked around, sweat dripping from her forehead. Was it her own room in the Friendship Castle? The moonlight outside the window was bright and clear, the surroundings were quiet and cozy, and Twilight realized that she had been having a nightmare, a nightmare that had never been so real.
"My Queen, look." Feng Chen handed a necklace to Chrysalis, it was a jade pendant with a whitish body, an oily surface, and an oval shape that was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a bird-like creature that seemed to be about to spread its wings and fly engraved on its surface; its eyes were gleaming, and its feather patterns were clearly visible. There was an opening at the top, and a thin black cord went up through the hole, connecting it to a cream-colored bead, which was held in place by a smaller knot on each of its left and right sides. Extending some distance was another knot, only the beads in the center became five.
"What is this?" Chrysalis picked up the necklace with her magic, playing with it as she scrutinized it.
"As long as you can coax Twilight to wear this treasure,, my queen, it will be able to access and absorb Twilight's power without even realizing it." There was a hint of superiority amongst Feng Chen's tone, as if she was showing off her feats, "This is a small object that I have carefully researched and made, in less than seven days! Even the most powerful Heavenly Horned Beast that is powerful enough to wear it will be drained to nothing~!"
"Is it really as powerful as you say?" Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, seemingly not looking favorably on this little nugget in his hooves. "I can't feel any magical energy contained in it at all, you can't be lying to me?"
"My honorable queen, please trust me, this object itself is just a container, it is only after sensing the magic that it takes effect and absorbs it." Feng Chen said as he took the talisman over and put it on his neck before demonstratively lighting his horn, then an imperceptible stream of magic surged towards the talisman and its pattern began to glow faintly, but it was only in the blink of an eye that it was extinguished once again.
"The amount absorbed at a time won't be too large for the sake of stealth, but an Alicorn like Twilight usually uses magic no matter what she does. I have good reason to believe that soon her magic will fill this treasure." After removing the talisman, Feng Chen handed it back into Chrysalis' hooves.
"Oh? What an interesting toy. "Saying that, Chrysalis opened her mouth and stuck out her long tongue at the talisman in an attempt to obtain the little bit of energy that was left in the talisman, but she didn't get any response, which made her a bit unhappy, "Then how do I suck the energy from it??"
"Simply recite the reversal magic once before putting it on, my queen." Under Feng chen's guidance, Chrysalis quickly learned to reverse the magic, but instead of wearing it directly around her neck, she recited the incantation and then managed to suck out the magic inside after trying to open her mouth again.
"Not bad, not bad, I like this thing." Chrysalis licked her lips and hefted it in her hoof before placing it on the table.
"What next? Don't you have some more plans to tell me?"
"Of course, my queen, let me tell you slowly."
Early the next morning, Chrysalis carefully pushed aside the bushes in front of her and was greeted by the tall and majestic Friendship Castle. She observed her surroundings, as if she was afraid that she would be discovered.
"I can't believe I have to dress up as Twilight ....... Doesn't she know how much i hate her right now!!!" Though reluctantly, Chrysalis transformed into Twilight's form, then examined herself for a moment to make sure nothing was missing before she started walking towards the castle with a big strut.
"Princess Twilight? Didn't you say you wouldn't be back until the evening?" The Chrysalis disguised as Twilight was just about to push open the castle gate when she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from behind her, she immediately turned her head to look, and before her eyes there were three strangely dressed colts standing in front of her.
"Are these colts that Feng chen talked about?? Dressing really inexplicably ......." Chrysalis muttered in a low voice, her mind quickly recalling the information about them, "Ah ...... ! The meeting ended early! So idly bored I came back first, Meng .... Meng Yu ....? Eh.... How was your day?"
"Thanks to the Princess's blessing, not too bad~ My guards and I were strolling around Ponyville and happened to run into you on our way back." After exchanging a few pleasantries, Meng Yu seemed to stare at Chrysalis with deep eyes and surveyed, the latter was stared at for half a day some feeling uncomfortable,,, and even suspected that her disguise was not exposed when she suddenly asked, "Little Helpful Hooves is not at your side?"
"You mean that stup .... Spike, huh? He has something to come back later, don't mind him." Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief as if she was relieved, before she spoke, Chrysalis had already simulated many ways to escape in her mind, including holding the ambassador in front of her hostage.
"So that's how it is, let's go inside and talk about it, princess please."
"After you." The Twilight in front of her suddenly became polite, which made Meng Yu a little bit of a small surprised, she and the guards exchanged a glance, and then quickly walked in front, and after the guards pushed the door open, they led Chrysalis into the castle.
"Princess Twilight .... I wonder what progress has been made in the matters discussed last night?" Walking in the long corridor of the castle, Meng Yu was the first to break the silence, looking at Chrysalis who was walking with her, who had been observing the construction inside the castle until she noticed Meng Yu staring at her, and hurriedly replied with an awkward but not impolite smile, "Ah ....? I'm sorry, I gave busy forgetting, remind me again?"
"Last night I discussed with you about the Alicorn Amulet, and you said that you would return to Canterlot today to discuss the matter with her princess into one."
"Is that so?" This rhetorical question from Chrysalis caused the two guards behind Meng Yu to look at each other in disbelief, while she went on to ask, "Has the princess forgotten all about last night?"
"Maybe, you know, as the Princess of Friendship has to deal with a whole lot of things every day, it's understandable that she would forget about this little matter. Of course I don't mind if you remind me again~" Chrysalis pretended to be having a hard time and spoke in an aggravated tone, Meng Yu laughed but didn't complain but patiently explained again:
"Last night I invited you to my room and discussed about the ownership of the Alicorn Amulet, and on behalf of Seresia I would like you to return it."
"What? You too want the Alicorn Amulet?" Chrysalis' rhetorical question was rewarded with a look of difference and doubt from Meng Yu, In the next second, Chrysalis couldn't wait to swallow back all the words that he had just blurted out.
"Haha ..... I was going to say! I had planned to go find the other princesses to discuss this matter together! But I forgot some details about the Amulet and just in case so I was going to double-check before I left."
"But didn't you just say .... you came back earlier because the meeting ended ??" after Meng Yu said these words, Chrysalis's face instantly turned gloomy. And Meng Yu seemed to notice the change of expression on her face as well, clearing her throat before continuing:
"The Alicorn Amulet is a treasure that was born out of the history and culture of the Seresia continent, it is a very dangerous item that should be kept in safekeeping just like the other three treasures."
"Wait ...... Did you just say .....? Four treasures??" At first Chrysalis didn't intend to listen to her explanation carefully because she was disgusted, but when she heard "the other three treasures", her ears couldn't help but perk up;her sight also returned from her surroundings to Meng Yu's face. "Then what are the remaining three pieces?"
"Silkcloak of pegasus, Armlet of Earthpony, and crown of unicorn."
Upon hearing that there were treasures bound to it besides the Alicorn Amulet, Chrysalis couldn't help but let out a cold snort in her heart. Recalling what Feng Chen had once said, she began to have doubts about its true purpose.
"No wonder you only want the Alicorn Amulet, Feng Chen, and you don't even care about that old goat's bell, so it's because of this!!!"
"This Alicorn Amulet is the last treasure you need to collect?" Chrysalis pondered for a moment and then asked.
Meng Yu shook her head and said, "Apart from the Silkcloak of pegasus and and crown of unicorn that have been kept in the Palace's restricted area, that Armlet of Earthpony are still unaccounted for at the moment."
"Oh? Tell me more about the origin of the treasures."
"In the long and long of Seresia's history, there was once such an emperor, who made great achievements, united and unified the originally scattered and hostile major tribes in his early years, and also laid the foundation for the stability of the continent of Seresia. But he is just an ordinary colt, the years do not spare the steed, a chance, let him know as long as he can get the unicorn used to release the magic of the horn and the sky steed used to fly the wings, will be able to obtain eternal life. So she ordered the magician under her hooves to look around for a way to get these powers for herself. Then she was fortunate enough to be aided by a worldly high steed, who crafted four treasures for the emperor and claimed that they would give the wearer unimaginable power as well as eternal life."
"Interesting, what happened afterward?" Chrysalis asked with interest.
"The treasures later disappeared in transit, rumor has it that there were colts among those Fangshi who had evil intentions, and there were also colts who said that they were plundered, but whatever the reason, the Emperor ultimately didn't wait for these everlasting life treasures."
"I see." Chrysalis nodded, trying to digest such a huge amount of information.
"Princess please feel free to rest assured, we just want to protect it again ..... This Alicorn Amulet not just a dangerous item, but also a treasure of our culture."
"Maybe, I'll have to think about it, what if it's your emperor who wants this treasure?"
"Princess please don't make joker~ Spike asked the same thing before, but our emperor just wants to make sure that these things are preserved in case something bad is born." Hearing such a familiar question, Meng Yu couldn't help but laugh, thinking that Twilight was joking with her.
"Whatever." Chrysalis finished her reply perfunctorily, without any smile on her face, and the latter could only put away her smile when she saw this, and both sides fell into silence for a while.
"Princess, if you have no other questions, can we start hoofing to prepare for the handover ceremony?" Meng Yu tried to break the deadlock by asking a question, while Chrysalis glared back at her and said, "Never!!!"
But in the next second, Chrysalis seemed to have thought of a better note, and changed her words again, "Ahem ..... I mean! Of course there's no problem, I just need some time to prepare for the preparations~ Tell you what, you guys go back first and wait for my news."
"Alright, Princess Twilight Sparkle, we'll bring the wooden box used to shield the talisman's temptation magic with us at that time." After giving a farewell salute to Chrysalis, Meng Yu led her guards towards the castle gates. As she neared the gate, she suddenly stopped and looked back at Chrysalis to speak motion:
"As for my personal pony items, I will leave them in the castle for now, I hope the princess doesn't mind."
"Don't mind at all, just leave already." After waving his hoof to half send and half drive away the ambassador, Chrysalis immediately closed the castle gate. Only after confirming that she was the only one left in the castle did she finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, well, Feng Chen! I can't imagine that you actually have your own little plan." Chrysalis strolled around the castle while absorbing the news she had just learned. Originally, after a period of time together, she still had a few good feelings towards the bowed down Feng Chen, but now it seems that this guy is just trying to use herself.
"Whatever ...... I'll find a way to get the Amulet to the hoof first, maybe I can pretend to be that colt and then find a random box to trick the Amulet in Twilight's hoof! And if I'm lucky, maybe I can take the other stuff along with it ..... Hahahahaha!!!" Chrysalis' laughter echoed through the castle while she found the room where Meng Yu was in the middle of her wandering.
"But I haven't seen that colt's cutie mark yet ..... Dang it!" Pushing open the door to the room, it was filled with many things she had never seen before. She stood in one of the mirrors and began to examine herself as she transformed into Meng Yu's appearance, but only realized the severity of the problem when she saw her bare butt.
"Gotta find some clothes to cover up quickly ......" Chrysalis rummaged around the house, then rummaged through a chest with intricate carvings and found a dress similar in style to the one Meng Yu was wearing and put it on herself. It was also the first time she experienced such a comfortable fabric texture, which also possessed intricate embroidery patterns and carried a faint fragrance. She couldn't help but exclaim, "Well ..... The texture of this dress is quite good~ Never worn such comfortable clothes before."
Standing in front of the mirror and showing it off, Chrysalis was liking this dress more and more and couldn't help but sing. This time she was bound and determined to make this Diplomacy Twilight's nightmare and rule Equestria once again.
