Attack of the Equine Empire

A sudden jolt woke her up. Rarity knew right away that the train had stopped. "We're here," Pinkie said. The city of Bastion was in many ways like Canterlot, and in many ways it was completely different. There were brown buildings and red brick ones and ones of muted blue. There were shops of green, boutiques of pink, and she noticed far less purple and white. It was a welcome change from the beautiful but mostly green and rural scenery she had become accustomed to on the train ride. All those buildings could be seen from the train station alone, so Rarity wondered what else could be found deeper in the city. Butterflies swirled in her stomach just thinking about it. By the time they had unloaded all of their luggage a young and, rather handsome, stallion had come to greet them.

"I was told that the Equestrian Princess and her friends were beautiful, but the tales certainly don't live up to how gorgeous you all actually are," he said, bowing and giving Twilight's hoof a kiss.

"Oh," she said while blushing, "that's certainly sweet of yo-" Before she finished Rarity was already standing between the two of them.

"Yes, and what might your name be?" she asked. She smiled and batted her eyes when she looked at him. He didn't even blink, a merely kept a smile on his face.

"Windswept, my dear," he said. "Now may I know your name?"

"My name is Rarity. It is certainly a pleasure to meet you."

"As it is to meet you." He bowed to her and kissed her hoof as well. Rarity blushed and giggled, and Windswept looked over her shoulder at the other ponies. "And may I have the privilege of knowing the names of your friends?" Twilight moved between the two once again.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. You've already met Rarity."

"Yes I have." He smiled at Rarity once again with his bright white teeth. "Our carriage to the Palace is close by. I offer my help with your bags if you need it."

"Thank you very much," Rarity said smiling and batting her eyes once again at the stallion, "but I think we've got it." Together, Rarity and Twilight used their magic to levitate many of the bags in the air, and Spike got the two that they had missed. As they walked to the carriage Rarity thought she heard Spike mumble something from the back, but she couldn't make it out. She decided to just ignore it.

The carriage ride went by fast enough. Windswept recited the names of the sites that they passed. He said who owned the shops they saw, he explained why Bear Park is called that if it doesn't have any bears, and he described the flowers and foliage that comprised the Royal Garden. Rarity didn't even realize that they had arrived at the Palace until Windswept announced it. When she stepped out of the carriage Rarity was floored by the sight of it. It looked like the Crystal Palace, only made of stones infused with dozens of bright colors. No doubt to keep the place from looking drab, she thought to herself. Mosaics of ponies covered blue walls, golden towers shot up from the ground, and a beautiful green keep stood tall in the center of it all. These ponies certainly know how to decorate.

At the gate an alicorn was waiting to greet them. She had a sky blue coat and a lovely light purple mane that flowed down past her shoulders. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," she spoke, "and friends. Welcome to my Palace. I am Princess Cornaria."

"It's wonderful to finally meet you," Twilight said. She stepped out of the carriage and bowed before Cornaria. She then pointed to the others. "By the way, these are my friends Ra-"

"Yes," Cornaria interrupted, turning away from the Twilight. "Now to give you all the Palace tour and show you to your rooms. Get plenty of rest, Princess. Tomorrow we'll begin the diplomatic talks." That was awfully rude, Rarity thought.

"Okay..." Twilight looked at her friends and shrugged. As they entered the palace Cornaria stopped and turned to Windswept.

"Windswept," she said, "don't you have other matters to tend to right now?"

The stallion smiled as he bowed slightly to her. "Well, I've been showing these lovely mares around town so I thought I'd tag along for the tour too, with all due respect."

"I'm sure there are other things you could be doing. Go do them." Windswept looked at the ground, his face contorting with anger ever so slightly, suggesting he had a very scathing and no doubt clever comment barely being held back. A split second later he looked back up to her with a smile on his face.

"As you wish Princess," he said. He turned and walked in the opposite direction that the others were headed. Rarity frowned when she saw him leave, but continued on with her friends anyway.

"It's good to see another alicorn leader," Cornaria said as they walked down the halls. "I remember my own ascension. Although Equestria seems to already have plenty of them. The sisters, and now you makes three. And now that the Crystal Empire's returned, that Cadance mare is in charge of it. Didn't your brother marry her?"

"Yes he did, actually," Twilight said, barely keeping up with her as they walked. "My friends and I were at the wedding."

"That was when you had that Changeling attack. We would never have a security breach like that here." Rarity clenched her teeth as she walked in the back, trying to remember her manners. Cornaria, of course, did not notice it. "Still," she continued, "I see so many countries without alicorn monarchs, and it's a real shame. So many don't respect the old ways of doing things. Saddle Arabia, Zebrica, Germaney..."

"What about your neighbors to the north?" Twilight asked. Cornaria frowned and sighed at that. She knew exactly who Twilight was referring to.

"I have never met their Emperor face to face," she said, her pace finally slowing, "and the stories I've heard about him rarely mention if he has wings or not. They do however say quite a bit about magic."

"They do?" Twilight asked. She and the others were able to walk right beside her by then.

"It seems to be a fascination for many of them, if my sources are correct," Cornaria said. Her voice had lost a considerable amount of pomp. "With a country as secretive as... they are... you can never be too sure. Still, in every story or rumor there is almost always magic, among other things." Rarity looked over to Twilight, whose face showed that she was more curious about that then worried.

"What kinds of magic do they practice?" Twilight insisted.

"I'm not sure."

"Do all the unicorns there study magic?"

"I'm not sure."

"What abou-"

"Princess Twilight," Cornaria said, while stomping down her hoof. They all stopped walking when the ground appeared to shake slightly from the Princess' outburst. "I simply don't know these things. I may not even want to know these things. These are among the issues I wanted to discuss at the diplomatic meeting, so may we please continue the tour and save this conversation for tomorrow?" Twilight averted her eyes and they all resumed their walking.

As they walked, it was never very long between times that they saw guards at their posts. Some were on individual patrols or posts, some were in pairs, threes, fours, even fives at a time. "There certainly are quite a few guards in this Palace," Twilight said, finally trying to change the subject.

"Yes. We've had to hire many new ones to increase the security," Cornaria said in a somewhat lighter tone. "Windswept helped find new recruits to bolster the Palace's garrison by the hundreds. I don't want anything to happen, especially not tomorrow... but enough of that. We'll have plenty of discussions about that at the meeting tomorrow. Our first stop is the throne room. Years ago, when Bastion was just beginning to thrive and the Palace was being built we-"

BOOM was the noise that cut the Princess' speech short. It was immediately followed by a just as loud, if not louder, exclamation of "URSA MAJOR'S BALLS!". Twilight and her friends instinctively rushed to the source of the noise. They found a doorway to a small room with smoke pouring out, a few guards who looked just as confused as the six, and an old unicorn covered in soot. "Great. Just great. This'll set me back a bit," he said, sitting on the floor across from the doorway. His voice matched the scream, and he wore a dark blue cloak with faded astronomical designs on them. He had a blue hat sitting next to him and a short white mane and a bit of white stubble on his face. His hair only looked white, though, after he brushed all the soot off himself.

"What happened?" Rainbow asked as they rushed towards the scene.

"My experiment had two possible outcomes. This was not one of them," he said, frowning. "You see, it exploded. It was an experiment concerning water, so my library thankfully won't burn to the ground. It'll just be a little soggy." He looked up at the ponies standing and floating over him. "You must be the Equestrian delegates."

"She's the delegate. We're the delegate's friends," Rainbow Dash said as she landed and offered a hoof to help him up. He accepted, and when he was on his hooves he turned to Twilight.

"You must be Twilight Sparkle. I've heard a lot about. I've also been that told you like books."

"They're a hobby of mine," she said as she blushed.

"Well, I was going to show you my library, but it...exploded." Rarity looked over the old pony. He doesn't talk like somepony his age, she thought.

"What did I tell you yesterday?" Cornaria asked when she finally caught up to the others. From the look on her face Rarity could tell that she was angry but not at all surprised.

"You told me not to do any experiments while the Equestrian Princess was visiting," the pony said, not looking guilty at all, "but, I had very good reasons for all of this. I was so close to a breakthrough that I couldn't just stop for a few days."

"What was your experiment about?" Twilight asked.

The pony turned away from Cornaria, much to her very visible frustration. "Water purification spell," he said. "Very advanced. Molecular level advanced. You see, there are sewers that run under the castle and all throughout the city. I was looking for a way that we could keep them cleaner, along with our other water sources. I must of messed too much with the hydrogen or something... oh, by the way, my name is Flickering Flame. Some ponies call me Flicker. Some ponies call me Flick. Some ponies call me an idiot but I don't like them as much."

"You don't seem like an idiot to me," Twilight said, smiling.

"Thank you, although I can't help but feel like this is false courtesy. No pony of sound mind would do some of the things that I do." Twilight and her friends exchanged a look. What kind of pony who lives in a library and conducts magical experiments would consider himself not of sound mind, or at the very least an idiot?, Rarity thought. "If you can't already guess," he continued, "my position here in this castle is that of Royal Scholar. I manage the country's science and magic researches and act as an adviser to Cornaria. She chose me for the job because she was drawn to the fact that I am a Child of Star Swirl the Bearded."

"You're related to Star Swirl?!" Twilight's face lit up at the mention of her idol's name.

"Not by blood," Flick said. "By ideas. I follow his teachings and devote my life to the further of intelligence and a general understanding of the world. I am one of few who still do. There have been less and less Children of Star Swirl with the passing of the centuries. Even in Equestria, where the practice was started."

Twilight looked as if she was ready to bounce off the walls. "Oh," she said, "I've read about your order, but there was so little information I didn't think you were real. You just have to tell me all about it. What made you want to study Star Swirl? What drew you here specifically? Is there something special about Bastion that made you accept the offer?"

"Special about Bastion?" he scoffed. "Not really. It's not all that standout. Even the name is unoriginal. There are loads of different towns and cities called Bastion all over the world. My personal favorite is the one in the Griffin Kingdoms."

"Enough!" Cornaria said as she stomped her hoof. "Flick, please go to your quarters and stay there until I can talk to you privately."

"Your Majesty, those were my quarters." He pointed at the smoking room.

"Then go find new ones." Flick frowned, but like Windswept he submitted to the Princess' authority. He walked only a few feet when Twilight faced Cornaria to explain that she didn't mind, and even kind of liked talking to the old unicorn. When she turned back Flick was gone. Rarity hadn't been paying attention, and hadn't seen any bursts of teleportation magic, but he had disappeared all the same. Another strange thing associated with a somewhat strange pony.

Cornaria continued the tour through the Palace, although Rarity didn't remember much of it as she honestly did not care. The Palace was beautifully ornate and had some nice paintings hanging on the walls, yet she still found her mind drifting off elsewhere. By the time the ponies had reached their suites Rarity had thought about Mustangia, about the ride there, about Bastion, its busy streets and shops, about that strange pony Flick and the Children of Star Swirl, and mostly about Windswept. No matter what topic she thought of, she always went back to Windswept. His deep blue eyes, his rich voice, his beautiful orange coat, and his flowing brown mane. Again, she didn't notice when the tour was over and they were shown to their rooms. When they settled down for the night she was relieved to finally sleep somewhere that wasn't moving constantly. And yet, sleep refused to come to her.

After a few hours of tossing and turning, Rarity got out of her bed and decided to go for a walk. She figured she might as well take a look at the palace she had ignored earlier.  The only ponies she saw in the hallways were the guards on duty. They either didn't notice her or quietly gave a polite nod and continued on with their duties. As she approached a nearby balcony she thought she heard a voice. It was low, soft but very clear, and it sounded good on the ears. When she got closer she discovered that the voice was singing.

"In the winter, little foals,

All together they do sleep.

By the mantle's burning coals,

They do not make a single peep.

Though the blowing winds are cold,

Their worries and silence they keep.

As not to wake their mother old,

They do not make a single peep.

As the coals go out and the children shiver,

And then, in the cold begins to creep,

They wish not to burden their love giver,

So they don't make a single peep.

And now life these foals did leave,

As their old mother did now weep.

She will now forever grieve,

And forever the foals won't make a peep."

"That's a very sad song," she told the solitary guard on the balcony. She had approached and stood behind him for some time, waiting for him to be done before saying anything. He looked over his shoulder, not very surprised by her presence.

"It's a very old song. Just singing it to pass the time. My mother would sing it to me before bed. She made sure that if I ever felt cold or sick that I would wake her up and tell her. I'm sure she regretted it on some nights." He laughed at that and looked back out at the view. The city was much more awake then the Palace. Lights were on, ponies laughed and shouted, and movement could be seen almost everywhere.

"You have a very lovely voice," she added.

"Thank you. I'm guessing that you're out this late because you couldn't sleep."

"You'd be right, but I think I'm fine now." She had been wide awake when she stepped onto the balcony, but while standing there and listening to the guard's lullaby she couldn't help but feel her eyelids grow heavier and heavier.

"Well, goodnight then," he said as he smiled at her.

"Goodnight." She smiled and went back to her room. She liked that pony. He wasn't particularly handsome, with his almost too large figure and muscles, his dull red coat, and it was hard to tell but Rarity thought he was maneless under his helmet, but he was nice enough and had a wonderful singing voice. As she laid her head down and closed her eyes she thought of his voice and the sad song he sang. She was asleep in moments.