The delay early that morning had thrown Celestia at least four hours late for the meeting between Maredonia and Saddle Arabia’s chosen representatives.

Although her thoughts were firmly upon the task at hand of preventing hostilities between these two countries under her protection, Celestia’s attention did often wander elsewhere and more pointedly towards the visage of a certain lavender unicorn trapped below her; the young mare’s moans still fresh and vibrant, eagerly whispering sweet nothings Celestia could not quite shake herself from.

At times she found herself breathlessly sighing, wordlessly lipping Twilight’s name, which was thankfully overlooked by her squad of Royal Guards who escorted her through the ancient hoof-cut stone walls of the Czar’s palace, following the pegasi flower mares as they scattered rose petals ritualistically below her hooves to tread upon.

In a land of sand and nigh on perpetual heat, the sun was worshipped more than just a celestial object, but in fact as a God in and of itself.

Celestia always did find the irony in their fanatical religion, for it was she that manipulated the sun’s course.

Surely it would make more sense if they worshipped her, instead?

The Princess pushed such thoughts aside, knowing full well their religion called for a much more primal ideology to be revered, rather than the adoration for a living, physical entity such as herself even if the ponies and the Czar of Saddle Arabia respected Celestia as a servant of the sun, despite her control over it’s destiny.

Princess Celestia found herself smiling to herself at the contradictions of their doctrine as she and her entourage approached the doors to a room isolated completely from the rest of the palace, after passing row upon row of Saddle Arabian soldiers brandishing their trademarked, ceremonial scimitars at the ready, their shimmering, bronze scale armor polished to an immaculate perfection to which Celestia appraised with her eyes.

With their narrowed eyes and scowling features, they looked quite intimidating.

However, Celestia knew full well that their stance and facial expressions were part of their infantry’s posture. It was to show dominance in the face of a friend or foe; to hide any displays of weakness and to prove to all trespassers upon their holy lands that they were not afraid to reveal their deep seeded hatred for outsiders.

Which was more than likely the cause of Celestia’s summons to this diplomatic event.

Maredonia and Saddle Arabia has had a long and bloodied path together over territorial disputes. However, both nations have been begrudgingly a part of what Celestia liked to call a ‘pact’ of non-violence for many generations quite successfully, that she herself enforced upon them many, many centuries ago.

As they drew close to the door, the flower mares ceased their spill of the rose petals and quickly dashed forward to open the door for the Princess, allowing her entrance while own troops filed into line beside Saddle Arabia’s own.

Trotting into room and with the door closing behind her, Celestia took in the visage of the elegantly silken dressed Czar and his wife curled up together upon a stack of plushed pillows upon one side of the room, close to the central fire pit that lit and warmed the windowless space, while on the other side a mare adorned in a white cotton toga paced impatiently besides the wall, far away from the Czar as possible.

Judging by their grim expressions, Celestia presumed talks had already devolved into a awkward and tense silence between them.

“Princess Celestia of Equestria! I am pleased to be meeting you this evening.”

It was the Czar who spoke first, rising from his pillow and offering his hooves out towards Celestia as he approached her, kissing both of Celestia’s cheeks to which the Princess silently complied with a smile... even if her skin crawled after being subjected to his stinking breath.

“And I am honored to finally meet you Czar Maaz Muneer. Your Father and I were very close. I hope our relationship can be as fruitful as it was with him. He was a kind and wise ruler that was respected far more than any of his predecessors.” Celestia kept her gaze firm, though her smile was more than pleasant enough.

The Czar pulled back, beaming wide. “Of course! Of course! I have nothing but respect for you Princess,” he waved a hoof about as he settled next to his veiled wife, his eyes however narrowing across the room to the mare in the toga, “not that I share the same sentiment with that mare.”

Celestia ignored his slight towards the Maredonian diplomat as she turned towards her, knowing full well sexism was quite wrought throughout the Czar’s culture. Especially in Maaz Muneer’s near tyrannical reign.

A womanizer and a racist pig, Celestia had only heard stories of his grand misogyny.

Biting back her prejudicial opinion, Celestia released a softer smile for the toga-wearing mare, bowing her head towards her. “And you must be the diplomat that the council of Maredonia has entrusted with their authority?”

The mare bowed low towards the Princess, keeping herself in that posture for quite some time out of respect for the alicorn. “It is an honor to be before you, your Radiance. I am happy that you were able to attend this meeting and bless us with your wisdom.”

Shaking her head, Celestia drew her eyes to the fire pit, approaching it so she could feel its warmth wash over her coat. “I apologize for my tardiness, but I had certain... internal affairs to deal with that could not had been avoided.”

“Nonesense!” The Czar announced with his forehooves out to the sides. “Take all the time you require, Princess Celestia. Relax! Relax! Would you like to convene this matter until the morning? Allow yourself to soak in our luxurious baths and partake of a few of my wife’s concubinus? I have heard they are quite adept with their tongues, among other parts of their body.”

Celestia raised a hoof, shaking her head. “Unfortunately I have only come to diffuse the situation and return to my lands as quickly as possible.”

The Maredonian diplomat scowled towards the Czar. “I agree. We should diffuse this situation immediately before somepony does something they are going to regret.”

Glancing between the two, Celestia hoisted a brow into the air. “Under the pact I have made with your ancestors, I am to believe none of you have yet made a hostile action against the other, as per the agreement?”

The Czar frowned. “Of course. We may be simple folk here in Saddle Arabia, but we are not barbarians. The pact has been honored as per—”

“You filthy liar!” The Maredonian mare trotted forward, pointing a hoof towards the Czar. “Several raids upon our outlying villages and the corpses of innocents soaking our soil say otherwise!”

Celestia narrowed her eyes upon the Czar. “Is this true?”

“Of course not!” The Czar scoffed, rising to his hooves, clearly offended by the mare’s accusations. “I have ordered no such thing. If it was indeed a raid by my people then it was without my blessing. I will investigate this problem immediately, discover these culprits and have them executed.”

“That is simply not good enough, Czar! Families were slaughtered and for what? Nothing!” The Maredonian mare approached Princess Celestia, her eyes pleading with her. “How are we to trust a stallion who ordered the public execution of one of our own Maredonians for a crime he in fact did not commit?”

The Princess drew her attention to the mare, then back to the Czar. “Public execution?”

The Czar snapped. He raised his voice while pointing an accusing hoof back at the mare. “That blasphemer trespassed upon holy ground, desecrated a temple within my lands and was caught red hoofed! By the law of my forefathers such an action is punishable by death!”

“And that warrants your people to slaughter fifty-five innocent lives, all because of the damnable actions of one pony; who as far as we know, could had very well been an innocent as well?” The diplomat turned about to hiss right into the face of the Czar. “You knew your subjects would react violently and you did nothing to stop them!”

The Czar appeared offended, placing a hoof to his hest. “How am I at fault for a few fanatical followers of our religion?”

“You knew what was going to—”

“ENOUGH!” Celestia bellowed, the room trembling under her voice, causing both ponies to look up at her, their argument instantaneously ceasing. “I have heard enough of your childish bickering.” Celestia regarded the Czar with a narrowing of her eyes.

“I don't know what it is that is going on here, but, you had no right sentencing a pony to death without a proper trial. Such a trial ought to had been mediated between your governments with a verdict that would appeal to both sides, not just your own. You overstepped your mark, Czar. Perhaps if you had went about this situation in an entirely calm manner, then maybe your subjects would not had reacted as violently as they had and murdered countless of innocent lives.”

“While I have pity for their loss, I fail to see why it is our fault. I ordered no such—”

Celestia lifted a hoof, silencing the Czar before he could continue. “While I am sure we are now unable to find the culprits that slaughtered these innocent Maredonian civilians to properly sentence their heinous actions, we can however work together to prevent any further hostilities from taking place. These are your ponies Czar and you must control them, appropriately.”

Next, Celestia turned on the Maredonian diplomat, who was looking just a little too smug at the Czar’s reprimand. “And you…”

The mare blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You know your ponies are forbidden to set hoof in Saddle Arabia without consent of the Czar and his court, for this very reason. Not only that, one of your own infiltrated a temple to which is considered a sacred place to the ponies of Saddle Arabia without your supposed knowledge and while I do not condone the stallion’s abrupt execution, I cannot support his illegal presence either within such a holy site. Strengthen your border protocols and be sure that this does not happen again.”

Princess Celestia took a step back from the two. “As far as I am concerned, this meeting is adjourned. Perhaps if you had both placed your prejudices aside and worked together more closely, maybe we could had avoided this diplomatic mess, entirely?"

Celestia glowered at them both. "And if I so much as hear a single death on either of your hooves after this meeting is adjourned? I will uphold the peace between you two myself with militaristic action.”

The Czar gawked. “Are you threatening us?!”

The Princess advanced upon the arrogant Czar, while the diplomat of Maredonia shrank back in terror at the dangerous look in Celestia’s eyes.

“Much like when I had forced your two countries into this peace treaty centuries ago, I am going to tell you now, Czar, exactly what I told them.”

The fire pit within the center of the room flickered and roared, the embers reaching far higher than what was considered natural. As if someone had fueled the embers with a flammable liquid.

“If either of you so much as set hoof in each other’s territory with an improper intent ever again, I am going to come back here with every single soldier I can muster and I will trample your lives into the dirt, personally… I will destroy you, your culture—everything you stood for and replace your authority with my own to make sure with absolute certainty the peace is upheld… is that understood?”

The Maredonian mare shook her head, aghast. “Y-you wouldn’t! That goes against everything the treaty you created stood for!”

“Don’t think for a second I won’t follow up with this threat, because somepony belonging to who knows what faction has already made an attempt on my life… so don’t give me a reason to believe that it might had been either of you.”

Celestia glanced to the veiled mare.

Gulping hard, the Czar shrank back from Celestia. “I-I swear on the souls of my children and my children's children, that we had nothing to do with any attempt upon your life, Princess Celestia.”

The Maredonian nodded as well, mirroring the Czar’s concerns. “That is correct, your Radiance, even the Maredonian government would never—”

“You can save your breath, for I know you both don’t have what it takes to try something so idiotic,” Celestia muttered, her eyes returning to the Czar, “I take it a room has been made available for me?”

“O-of course! Only the finest for—”

“I will depart upon first light to Equestria. Remember my words well and dwell upon your mistakes. Work together in peace and your people will live long and prosperous lives… but if you disobey me? Well then, you can only hold yourselves accountable for forcing my hoof and taking you out of the picture.”

Celestia turned to approach the door, though paused to glance back towards the veiled mare still silently seated upon the plush pillows. “You… come with me.”

“W-wait!” The Czar looked between the two, evidently concerned. “What is it you are doing with my wife?”

“I am extremely tense after this tantrum between you two little foals,” Celestia indicated the Maredonian and the Czar with a wave of her hoof, “and I have heard the mares in Saddle Arabia are very good at releasing tension,“ Celestia smiled as she extended a wing and embraced the Czar’s trembling wife closer to her body, “I want to find out for myself if that is the case…”

Celestia’s smile dropped from her lips as she gave one final glare towards the two. “A good evening to you both… sleep well.”

Author's Note

Dumdedumdedum!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Like, hate, flame, sacrifice plushies in Celestia's name... it's all gooooood.