Once again I stood before the crowds of the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange. As I had almost every years since its inception. True, it was nice to see both peasants and princes cavorting about, trading good with nary a care of class. In fact, peasants tended to over charge the nobles; nearly half the complaints I heard were usually by some petty noble against a field worker. I usually sided with the field worker, regardless. My sister was the one who dealt with the nobles, I preferred taking them down a peg. They could afford a little price gouging here and there, especially since on a normal day they did the gouging.
The peasants loved me for it, even if I did have to side against them from time to time to keep it fair. And in extreme cases, such as a Barony for a loaf of bread. Though, last year I did let one slide, as it was a rare recipe from before Celestia and I even came to Equestia, requiring unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, precision timing and ingredient from the four corners of Equestria to pull off properly. I traded her a suite in Canterlot Castle for the second loaf.
“Princess Luna, I wish to levy a challenge against Free Wind.” A dark gray pesasus in elegant robes announced from the base of my throne. It was Stone Gale, an upper member of the Wind family whose nobility could have only shone harder had he been wearing a monocle. The Winds fielded more complaints than the next three noble families combined. They were the only noble family to have a lower and upper class: the lower class being one step above the peasantry, breeding quite a bit of bad blood between the two.
“Explain thy challenge so I may judge if it be just!” I bellowed down the gilded steps in the Royal Canterlot Voice. The Winds were the family for whom I needed to side with the nobles as much as the peasant, for their lower class attempted just as many petty retributions as the upper class.
“Free Wind traded a paltry 15 bits for aunt Bronze's Old Pegastopolan Cloud Berry Stew. Why, that isn't ever worth the cost of the broth!” Bits. I really hated my sister for those. The idea of uniform currency used to determine the value of all objects sounded nice in concept. Until you realized that the Bit had no intrinsic value and its worth from pony to pony was incredibly arbitrary.
“Pray tell, why didst thou accept this trade be it so unfair? Was it so you could shame Free Wind before a crowd?” The answer was probably yes, but he would never admit it.
“Nay!” He replied in his own attempt at the Royal Canterlot Voice. “That reprobate deceived me, saying it was enough to buy a house, but at the next stall the vendor wouldn't even trade me a farmhand's cart for this pocket change!” My point proved. Celestia had was planning to declare a single Bit worth exactly a dozen health apples. Perhaps a solution to this kind of problem, but in the long term I still saw an issue with the value of things compared to apples, such as oranges, unless my sister wished to declare an absolute value to all things beneath her Sun. I suppose that is her right (for now), but it had tripled the number of complaints I received this year.
“Fine, summon Free Wind so I may continue with my royal duties!”
“With great hast your Majesty” He gave a deep bow and flew off into the crowd with a giddy little grin. I hated the Winds. I truly did. They were the only noble family which refused to sit at court, and ran Cloudsdale as if it were their kingdom, even though it had been annexed almost a century ago. They split their own family in half to avoid the Law of Peasant's Rights (one of the first laws my sister and I passed) and continue to treat their lower class like farming tools: replaceable objects. I couldn't wait to see how well farm tools could slay their masters.
A small queue had formed during Stone Gale's challenge. By the Sun and Moon I despised those Bits. More than half the cases were in regard to the value of those stupid things and couldn't dismiss a single one of them because I had no idea what they were worth! I'd pay ten million Bits to for someone else to do this job, but for all I know that might not buy them a sandwich. By the time to tool master returned, his rather perturbed plowshare in tow, the queue had stretched halfway across the field.
He flew over the line and straight to the foot of my silver throne.
“Dear Queen of the Night, I have brought this rapscallion to answer for her misdeeds” Stone Gale announced with smug self-righteousness unbecoming of a noble, but something they were all well versed in.
I glared down at him, along with those I'd just been mediating, and all those behind them waiting for mediation.
“Yes, thou hast. Now wait thy turn with the rest of my subjects, unless thou believe yourself higher than them.” My words were echoed by every eye in the long line before me.
He stared up in disbelief, as if his princess had just slapped him across the face. As was my right, the repugnant Wind family. His mouth formed a dozen incoherent syllables, each the beginning of a different attempt to persuade me to judge them now. His prisoner, an amber pegasus with a metal collar round her neck, was glaring daggers at him, looking as if she'd kill him at the first opportunity. I must remember to speak with Free Wind later.
“Stow thy arguments and make hast to the queue's end before thou art imprisoned for obstructing my royal duties!” Free Wind perked up at this though and seemed be praying that his noble indignation would win out. Sadly, Stone Gale's head sunk to the ground and he slunk off, a disappointed pegasus following close behind.
I got better a dealing with Bits as the day went on. I declared them invalid trade goods after an hour wherein the line only got longer, and my patience had been exhausted. Nothing was quite as satisfyingly loud as the Royal Canterlot Voice when magically amplified. Still, that left a whole field's worth of damage, and still no idea how to determine if a trade was fair when neither participant truly knows its value. I swear I could have cried with joy every time a pair came forward arguing the fairness of a pie tin for a pendant. It was a good quality pie tin; I'd have to ask him later what it was made from. But for every traditional trade there were two dozen complaints about Bits. By the time sunset came, I'd reached my limit for whiny nobles and vindictive peasants alike.
With a wave of my horn, the burning sun fell beneath the horizon, and my glorious porcelain moon rose into the sky, bathed in my wispy tapestry of stars. I looked up to them in thanks. Without them, I may not have lasted much longer, but now I was in my element and surrounded by my works of art. Perhaps I should paint a new constellation; I've had one in the shape of a dragon planned for a while, and it might mollify the queue into being more pleasant. Or maybe I just loved it and needed the relief.
A white glow wrapped around my horn again, as the painted stars swirled through the sky. A handful of stars arranged themselves in an arcing spine in an empty corner of the sky. I swept several more into their place as extremities. From my pool of paint streaked four more stars to the end of the spine, arranging themselves into a slightly obtuse head. I had the first draft, but it needed tweaking. The angle of the spine was too clean, and the extremities were too straight forward. Even the head's shape was lacking. Slowly, it all warped and bent, sliding into irregular, natural looking shapes. The arms and legs were given a simple arrangement, open to interpretation as to their full form. The head itself was given a spike by a fresh star and a slightly lumpy appearance. Finally, I sprinkled a dusting of dim and fading stars over it, added a tiny accent of distant glow along the curve, and set it in the sky as a new member of my celestial gallery.
My subjects gazed not towards the sky, but at me. Not with looks of awe, love or appreciation, but confusion and frustration. A pair stood before me, waiting for their judgment with looks of impatience. Most of the vendors had packed up and gone, and what few were left were following suit. The only patrons left in the field were those waiting in my queue, and not a one was happy to see my sky. They wanted to leave, to go home and sleep through it all. Again. The straw that broke the camel's back.
“Let it be known that all trades with Bits are to be deemed unfair and to be retracted immediately! If all of thou would prefer to scorn the night then thou will gain no favor with its princess!” Now it was surprise which bloomed on all their faces, along with indignation and anger from a few. Many prepared to broach their arguments, “This is not a matter for negotiation; if thine was with Bits, then untrade and be gone from my sights!”
Thankfully, they did. Unbridled fury relayed through the Royal Canterlot Voice left no room for reproach. I just hope they heard none of the hurt behind it. Most of the field dispersed in a matter of minutes, leaving only about a dozen before me. I'm certain that there were others who'd made traditional trades in that line, but they'd all been scared off. These ponies should be rewarded for their bravery.
Each came in their turn, telling of how the other had cheated them. Sometimes both parties declared the other a fraud. However, few did much in the way of arguing; most simply stated their cases, received my judgment, and scampered off as quickly as they could. Good, I'd much prefer this be done and these ingrates be gone. There were a few tricky trades, but the last pair arrived at my throne in less than half an hour. A pair I'd hoped not to see.
A distinctly unpleasant cloaked pegasus and the distinctly displeased amber pegasus stepped forward, the former taking a bow when he arrived and the latter sneering in the opposite direction.
“My princess, it is an honor to finally have my audience with you”
I was in no mood for this.
“Yes, thine honor and my great displeasure. Tell me, thine trade was with Bits, why hast thou disobeyed the direct orders of a princess” I coldly replied.
With a step back, he answer, “Well, your majesty, this dirt monger refuses to return what she hath robbed me of!” Shooting his hoof pointedly towards his unwilling companion.
She whipped her head around and lunged to within inches her pompous captor, glaring directly into his eyes. “I would give it back to you if I could-” she growled, pressing herself into his nobly groomed fur, “if only so I could deck your noble face with it and leave.” She continued to push, stepping past his forelegs and shoving hard. He recoiled back a few steps in absolute shock. Free Wind adopted her own smug grin and turn her body to me, leaving her grin to linger on he defeated foe. “But sadly I cannot be rid of you yet”
She turned her gaze towards me, her grin shifting to a fond smile. “I apologize my princess” She said with her own bow. As she rose, her left forehoof disappeared into her saddle pouch (I'd call it a saddlebag if it could be respectably called that), withdrawing with an old tin flask. “I drank the soup soon after trading for it. Had I known it would cause so much trouble for you and myself, I have told this sky screwer to piss off” With that, she dropped the flask before me and stepped back.
“See?! The harlot admits it!” Stone Gale, apparently recovered, dashed to the flask and lifted it up like it was a bloody ax, “She must be made to pay for it, perhaps with hard labor or imprisonment”
“Is hard labor not what she performs everyday?” Free Wind subtly nodded as Stone Gale's face became a frumpy pout, “And given thine family, I would declare she lives as a prisoner, so if thou were to suggest either of those as punishment, I would say she has paid her dues.”
“Yes, well,” He began pacing back and forth in front of Free Wind, “Then why not lashed, forty or so, public and-”
A sadistic smile had blossomed across his face, but I was not going to let this stand. My wings of night extended at either side, silhouetted against the moon and stars. Silent as the midnight winds, I glided down the silver steps of my throne. With a violent flutter of my wings, Stone Gale was informed that a princess now stood not three feet from him, towering over him as a pillar of pure shadow.
“I shall not stand for such barbarity!” This was done. I was not going to continue with my official pleasantries. “You care for your soup so much you would flog a member of your own family! I care not for thine petty vendetta against those who you already beat into the dirt every day of every month of every year!” With every word, he scrambled farther back. With every word I took a step forward, extending the shadow of the moon behind me. “I despise the Wind family. Thou art the most cretinous abhorrence in all the lands of Equestia and beyond.” I was no longer speaking with the Royal Canterlot Voice, but a low, quiet, personal growl. With my next step, Stone Gale tumbled over himself, falling to the ground beneath me. “I have seen your dreams. I have seen the dreams of every member of your family, high and low. Even with minimum adherence to the Law of Peasant's Rights, the most wretched of slave driving nobles still sit head and shoulders above thy family.” He quivered within my shadow, as I reached my neck in to whisper directly to him. “You will go. You will not seek retribution against Free Wind, I'll know if you do, and if you do, I will take her and the rest of the Wind family slaves from smoldering ashes that used to be your keep.”
I stepped back from the shivering ball of gelatinous nobility and looked towards Free Wind, returning to the Royal Canterlot Voice, “I declare this trade fair. Regardless of nebulous worth of bits, you deserve what small comforts can be given to you.”
She smiled back at me; that was a warmth I so sorely missed. Sadly, Stone Gale was one of those nobles that didn't learn.
“But-”
I spun to face him as a bolt of magical lightning cracked the sky and my mane turned to an amorphous pale cloud.
“BE GONE!” He stared back in shock and horror at my slitted turquoise eyes for only a moment, before gasping in terror and streaking through the sky with a fear I'd seldom seen outside his victims. Now it was my turn to wear the smug grin.
Free Wind was less enthused. When I looked to her with a wide, childish smile, I caught a glimpse of something that was neither joy nor fear. It was an angry, envious look. A look I'd been giving my sister for years. But it was gone in a moment, replaced with wide-eyed shock as her body went rigid and she took a step back.
My grin wilted and I took a deep breath. I could feel my mane settle back into its wispy sea of night and stars and my eyes returned to spherical pupils. My horn glowed with the pale light of the moon and my opulent silver throne vanished in a flash. Without a look back at Free Wind, I flew into my canvas of sky.
***
I'd almost forgotten to release the moon after my display. I had held it in place behind me to heighten the dramatic effect. The sight of Rainbow Falls at night was not particularly impressive. The rainbows didn't glow in the dark, so they resembled muddy rivers. However, that was not what I was looking at. For most, the rainbow waterfalls were what made this place worth while. However, it was also a place of high peak and secluded clearings. It was from there that I could watch the light of moon and star dance off the flowers, forests and the distant ocean. I so wished that other would see the beauty I see.
“Finally!” And now it was my turn to be shocked, as an amber mare crawled over the outcropping of crags and boulders to my rear. As she pulled her hind legs up to her, her foreleg slipped and sent her flopping ten feet onto the bed of grass. “Ow”
She picked herself up quickly enough and trotted up to my side.
“Thank you Princess Luna, both for calling him out,” she touched her hoof to her collar, “And for calling out his shit family”
“Forgive my ignorance, but are they not also thy family?” I queried flatly. She merely stared at me with a look suggesting we both new the truth. “Forgive me again, I know how you have suffered to them.” I draped my wing over her side and drew her closer, “I am sorry, were it within my power, such injustices would not be allowed to continue.”
“You're a princess. How is it not within your power?” There was no accusation in her voice, just earnest curiosity.
“We are a diarchy, my sister and I. Neither of us can act without the other's approval.” Those word turned bitter in my throat.
“But Celestia seems to make plenty of decisions without you” She asked flatly. It wasn't seditious or accusatory. It was as if she was trying to lead me to my own conclusion. Wait, was she?
“She's better at dealing with the nobles, so she assumes the whole of that responsibility” True, but saying it made me sick. We both knew that the noble/peasant system was barbaric and arcane. It shouldn't even exist, on this we both agreed, but Celestia insisted we work within the system to avoid violence. As if equality is not a right worth fighting for. “She runs the country while I keep the peasants happy.” I whispered.
I felt her feathers on my wing as she attempted to reciprocate my hug. I looked down at her unusually short wings. “I've seen your dreams.” A sob wrapped itself around my throat, trying to cut off my words and the thought all at once. I glanced up towards my beauteous, comfortable sky, “You dream of flying. All of you”
“Thank you Princess Luna. You give us the greatest joys in our lives, during our sole moments of respite.” She cuddled in close. “You give us all something to live for”
I couldn't keep back the sobs. “It's not right. What they do to you. What they do to everyone. It's a horror show. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry; We've had the power to help, but we haven't, and it's gotten to this point.” I lifted her wing into my sight, “Where a slave driver is considered a compassionate noble,” I choked on a fresh sob as the words caught in my throat, “and they can clip your wings without any repercussions.
She gazed up to my sky, drinking in my tapestry, “You added a new one, didn't you?” She pointed her hoof toward the dragon in the south, “It's a dragon, right? Your work only keeps improving” He voice was dripping with melancholy. “I wish I could paint with the stars”
That tore it. I pointed my horn at her and let it fill with celestial magic. Her wings were wrapped in a sheath of moonlight; I could feel the shorn muscles and cracked bones. I closed my eyes. I'd seen a pegasus's anatomy many times, and I knew the ratios for wing size and body mass. I poured every ounce of magic I had into her. They were old scars, but I was guiding them, and soon her cells began to propagate. It took a long time, old bones knitting together and ancient scars sprouting fresh flesh, but in the end, it was successful.
Free Wind wore shear disbelieving shock as she stared at her freshly functional wings. “Go” And she did. Not very well; her path was erratic and unbalanced, spinning out and stalling with every other flap. I was standing by in case she was in danger of crashing, though, I didn't know if I had the energy to fly out and catch her. Thankfully, this was unnecessary, and she land with only a few frantic flaps, a smile was wide as Ghastly Gorge upon her face.
“I promise you, I will not allow this happen again.” He smile shrunk, but I could see the vestiges of hope flutter behind her eye. “Soon, these nobles will pay”I spat, “and you and all your family, your true family, will be free beneath my moon.”
And so we strode off into the night, my fiend and I, and planned the final sunset of this broken, old Equestia.
In the end, I did find out what that pie tin was made of.
