History Lessons

Chapters

Lesson One: Check your Facts
Lesson Two: Know Where you Stand
Lesson Three: Procedural Concerns
Lesson Four: Making Plans

Lesson One: Check your Facts

“I still don't get why you needed to bring me along, Twilight.”

Twilight glanced back towards the young drake perched between her wings, even as she walked the halls of Canterlot Castle.

“I told you, Spike. I'm going to need help finding the necessary reference materials, if I'm ever going to get this book properly translated. And no one knows the Castle's Library better than my Number One Assistant!” Twilight finished with a chipper tone and a smile for the baby-dragon on her back, hoping a bit of flattery would encourage the young drake.

Spike didn't seem to notice, as he began scratching the back of his head and thought aloud “I guess...but don't you think Princess Celestia would have hired some librarians by now? Couldn't they help you instead?”

Twilight sighed “I promise we'll be quick, Spike. And I don't want to have to count on anypony being there so soon after Hearth's Warming. I mean, there's never been that many ponies working there before, so-”

“That's cause you always had me in there with you. Princess Celestia didn't need to hire anypony back then.” Spike pointed out.

“True enough, Spike.” Twilight easily agreed with his boasting “And, like I said, it shouldn't take us too long. I just need to find some native examples of draconic writing, ideally with some properly translated copies, some cultural reference materials on dragons, and-”

“You're not gonna make me carry all of these books too, are you?” Spike interrupted, sensing that Twilight was about to list off quite a bit of material. Material that someone was going to have to carry all the way back to Ponyville.

“...We'll figure something out.” Twilight assured, even as she spared a glance for the large tome floating alongside her, held aloft in her magic.

It had come into her possession just over half-a-year ago, during her visit with Chrysalis' changelings. More specifically, she acquired it while perusing the contents of the changeling's own library, having spotted the curious tome amongst the eclectic collection of written works. The changelings, it seemed, had acquired reading materials from just about every sapient species she knew of. Most of it was stuff written by ponies, but there had also been works by griffons, zebras, donkeys...

...and, in this case, a dragon.

Chrysalis ended up gifting her the book, shortly thereafter, an action that had confused her at the time.

And still kind of did, for that matter.

But, at the time she was far too excited to give it much thought. All signs had pointed to the book having actually been penned by a dragon, which had marked it as an extreme rarity. It was basically a literary treasure that had fallen into Twilight's hooves.

The only problem was, she couldn't read it.

Chrysalis was no help, apparently quite gleeful at the prospect of seeing Twilight stymied by the book.

Yes, Twilight had a very basic understanding of the draconic language, thanks to Princess Celestia's tutelage, but only enough to glean the very smallest of bits from the book.

And The Golden Oaks Library, as fond as she was of her home, was not so large a library as to have the materials on hoof to properly translate the draconic language. Which wasn't so large a problem itself, as she was easily able to place an order for a guide covering the language. It was a bit of a niche purchase, but it would have been a welcome addition to the Golden Oaks Library collection, as far as she was concerned.

It would have, if she had not made a very distressing discovery in the course of translating the text, that had ended up negating the usefulness of her new translation guide.

The written tongue of the dragons was a profoundly lazy and apathetic language, that was not given over to completeness or clarity.

The translation guide she had ordered had been very useful when it came to providing direct translations for the various runes found in the book. But all this provided her was an incomprehensible word-salad.

She had actually been a bit curious as to why the translation guide had seemed so small, at first. With each rune representing a given word or idea, she would have expected the guide to be a fairly weighty tome in it's own right. What she didn't know at the time, was that dragons rarely bothered coming up with new words for new ideas. More often than not, they would just jam several words together that described the new thing, and call it a day.

Apparently, this was why the direct translation for the draconic word for 'pony' came out as 'hard-footed dog'.

Twilight spent three days double-checking that, trying to figure out if she had gone wrong in the translation at some point.

Then she tried translating the word for 'pegasus'.

It came out as 'annoying bird-dog'.

The word for unicorn was even more bewildering, as it translated out to 'dog-that-breaths-fire-from-its-skull'.

Even more frustrating, the draconic language didn't have a proper grammatical structure to it. Evidently, dragons didn't organize their words into proper sentences based on intent and function. No, they put the words in order based on which words the dragon speaking personally thought were most important!

It was utterly schizophrenic.

Sure, on some level, this provided a great deal of insight into draconic culture, and it even lent a certain poetic quality to their language.

But, it also meant that Twilight had wasted several months worth of her own free time trying, and failing, to translate the tome.

It really was no wonder that most dragons just seemed to settle for speaking plain Equestrian.

Poor Spike probably was going to end up having to carry quite a few books for Twilight. She was going to need a lot of reference material, in order to parse out some of the draconic phrases found in her literary treasure.

But, she needed to get it done now, while she had the opportunity.

There was only a small window after Heath's Warming where the library wouldn't be receiving any customers, she could reasonably be allowed to put off her work helping the changelings, and she wouldn't be at the center of organizing the Winter Wrap-Up. If she didn't make some actual headway now on this project, when would she? That the tantalizing secrets of the book hadn't driven her mad, with their inaccessibility, spoke of how far along her self-discipline had come along in these last few years.

Now that she thought about it, it was entirely possible that they might have to swing by the Canterlot Academy's library, if they couldn't find what they needed here.

One thing at a time.

She passed one of Canterlot Castle's many servants, before turning the corner that would lead her to the castle's library and her old refuge.

“Alright, Spike? Do you have the checklist ready?” Twilight asked of her Number One Assistant, as she came to a stop in front of the door to the library.

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Spike said aloud, as he took out today's checklist and started going down it.

“Right, 'Reach the Canterlot Castle's library' is ready to be checked off.” Twilight happily informed, as she got ready to push open the door.

“...You know, we might be able to get more done if we didn't put every single thing that that we end up doing on these checklists.” Spike noted as he ticked off the item.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, pausing at the door to look back towards Spike.

“I mean...did we really need to make separate items to check off, for riding the train to Canterlot and getting off the train?” Spike asked.

“Spike. The whole point of a checklist is to mark off every step of a project, delineating progress and allowing one to track what still needs to be done.” Twilight patiently explained.

“Yeah, but...so far I've had to check-off walking to Canterlot Castle, going through the maingate, and getting up to this floor of the castle. Seems like we'd save a lot more quills and ink if we just brought all those together into one 'Go to Canterlot Castle's Library' point, you know?” The little dragon explained.

“Well-...we'll talk about it when we get back home. For now, let's just focus on wrapping things up with this checklist.” Twilight compromised, having trouble arguing with Spike's point, but not yet willing to give-in on maintaining thorough checklists.

“Alright...'Reach Canterlot Castle's Library' is done. Next up, 'Enter Canterlot Castle's Library'...good thing we wrote that down.” Spike muttered to himself, a bit too loudly

This earned a brief frown from the purple princess, before she turned her attention back to the door to the library. Pressing her hoof against the door, she was just about to enter, when it flew open, seemingly of it's own accord.

Twilight was given momentary pause, as she found herself looking up into the eyes of Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings.

“Is there some reason you- Oh...Twilight Sparkle, I wasn't expecting you.” Chrysalis came to a stop, as she took note of the young alicorn.

“Uhhhh...” Twilight gaped, as she couldn't help but stare at the, normally, very intimidating Changeling Queen.

More particularly, what the changeling was wearing.

Once again, Twilight found herself in the position of being caught between her desire to have answers for just about everything and the knowledge that the answers she sought would likely be very distressing for her.

“What are you wearing?” Spike helpfully blurted out, not worried about what the answer might be.

“Pajamas. Obviously.” Came the prompt response from Chrysalis.

She was wearing pajamas.

Pajamas that were obviously a soothing lavender color, not all that different from the color of Twilight's own coat.

Pajamas that were only completed by the addition of a nightcap atop the changeling's head, that sported the same colors as Twilight own dual-colored mane.

The sleepwear gave the Changeling Queen a distressingly strong resemblance to a certain young Pony Princess.

“...Huh.” Came Spike's own reply.

“...I take it you're not here to deliver our hot cocoa?” Chrysalis asked, unperturbed by Twilight's bewildered silence.

Twilight had yet to formulate a response.

“Who is it, Ms. Chrysalis?” A young voice called from just behind Chrysalis. A moment later, a young colt peeked his head around the Changeling Queen, showing off his bright pink-and-blue mane, against the less eye-catching dull red of his coat.

Chrysalis spared a glance for the foal at her side “Just Princess Twilight...without our hot cocoa.”

Twilight's eye twitched for a moment, as her mind finally latched on to something “...Cocoa?”

“Hey, yeah. Can I have some cocoa too?” Spike suddenly asked.

“Obviously not, as there is none here.” Came Chrysalis' dry response.

“That's alright. I didn't really want mine anyway.” The colt noted, as he began pulling at a heavy scarf wrapped around his neck.

“Don't be ridiculous. Of course, you want hot cocoa.” Chrysalis told the foal.

“Naw, I'm good. Thanks though.” Came the colt's easy response, as he finally pulled the scarf loose.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at this, before sending a light glare Twilight's way, surprising the young princess “I hope you're happy.”

“...What?”

“Poor Hard Note has clearly been deprived so long of his hot cocoa, that he has slipped into some manner of delusional state. No doubt caused by his sheer despair at being left waiting for so long.” The Changeling Queen calmly informed the confused alicorn.

“I did? When did that happen?” The curious colt, Hard Note, asked of Chrysalis.

“Just a moment ago. It was terrible. Very distressing. Tears were shed.” Came the changeling's bland response.

“...Oh. Cool.” Hard Note remarked.

“So...he doesn't want his cocoa, then? Can I have it?” Spike asked again.

“What are you wearing?” Twilight finally blurted out, earning a wry glance from Chrysalis.

“Again...pajamas.” Chrysalis reiterated.

“It's rude to make others repeat themselves.” Hard Note helpfully chimed-in.

“Indeed...” Chrysalis agreed, before her eye darted to the side. She raised an eye, at the sight of the book floating in Twilight's magic, recognizing it “...though it seems, I may have to repeat myself once again.”

Twilight's ears perked at this, as she looked up to the Changeling Queen, curious now.

Chrysalis didn't give much mind to Twilight, turning around to march back into the library “As I said, when I gave you that book, I don't care how disappointed you are with it's contents. We won't be doing any 'trade-ins' or any such thing.”

“What?” Twilight called back.

“You're making her repeat herself again.” Hard Note cheekily pointed out, before following the changeling back into the cozy confines of the library.

All of this actually broke Twilight from her pajama-induced stupor, as she quickly followed after the Changeling Queen “Wait! I'm not trying to give the book back!”

“Oh?” Came Chrysalis' mildly curious reply.

“Not at all. In fact, I'm still trying to read it. That's why we're here.” Twilight explained, as she came up alongside the changeling. She made a point of ignoring the stylized stitch-work in Chrysalis' pajamas that made it look like she had a couple of feathered wings at her sides. The holes in the top of the pajamas, meant to accommodate the changeling's gossamer wings, helped.

This actually was a rather fortuitous turn of events for Twilight, the Changeling Queen's bizarre sleepwear not withstanding. Chrysalis had implied before, that she knew the contents of the book, and knew them fairly well. If she could pry even a few hints from her, it could do wonders for her translation work...

'Mustn't. Stare at...Pajamas.'

Chrysalis didn't seem to notice the effort-of-will that Twilight was undergoing, focused more on the alicorn's explanation. Stopping, she glanced to her side to Twilight “You still haven't read that thing yet? It's been months, has it not?”

“I-...well, no. It's been kind of...hectic the last few months.” Twilight admitted, a bit chagrined by the idea that she was being stymied by a book of all things. She kind of felt like she deserved the teasing that the changeling would, no doubt, put her through. Twilight cleared her throat before continuing “And, if I'm being honest, I've been having no end of troubles trying to translate it.”

“I see. So, that's why your here, to pester me into helping you read it. Is that it?” Chrysalis asked, in a somewhat condescending tone.

“N-no. I was just coming here to get some more materials on the draconic tongue, so that I could translate it myself. I didn't even know you were here...in your pajamas.” Twilight explained.

“But, if you could just tell us what's in the book, that'd be great too.” Spike piped-up hopefully.

Chrysalis seemed to take Twilight's words at face value. The Changeling Queen had an uncanny ability to pick at Twilight's motives and words, so it seemed she was convinced that Twilight was speaking honestly.

Unnoticed by the two royals, Hard Note glanced between Chrysalis and Twilight once again, scrutinizing them both “Uh, Ms. Chrysalis? Did you know your pajamas kind of make you look like her?”

Leave it to the foal, to tackle the draconequus-in-the-room.

“Really? I hadn't noticed.” Chrysalis casually remarked, while glancing down at her sleepwear.

“How could you not?” Spike asked, not picking up on the irony of the changeling's words.

Twilight had to clear her throat, as she used a hoof to rub the back of her head, a bit embarrassed for Spike.

There were several moments of silence, as Chrysalis turned her gaze on to Twilight. After several more moments, wherein the young princess held her tongue, Twilight eventually gave in “Uhm...yes?”

“Are you going to ask the question or not?” The Changeling Queen demanded.

“Question?” Twilight hedged, having a fair idea as to what Chrysalis was referring to, but not ready to commit.

“Yes. The question you obviously want to ask.” Chrysalis clarified.

Twilight glanced to the side again, before speaking up “...Would you mind helping me translate the book?”

Chrysalis' glare briefly intensified, before she finally let out a sigh while rolling her eyes “Celestia gave them to me as a gift. I, perhaps not thinking at the time, did not give her any parameters for my Hearth's Warming pajamas. She, obviously, took that as an opportunity to have some fun at my expense...Satisfied?”

“Oh...well, wait a moment.” Twilight was given some pause, at that explanation. She knew that Chrysalis and Princess Celestia were almost relentless in their teasing of one another. And while she was sure she was still left bereft of some context, there was still another question left “If you know she made them that way to mess with you, then why are you wearing them?”

“Because, I'm stubborn and prideful.” Chrysalis frankly informed her.

“So...spite?” Twilight asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“...They are also very warm and comfortable.” The changeling added.

“I think they look cool.” Hard Note noted.

“And, Hard Note thinks they look cool.” Chrysalis amended a moment later.

“...”

“...Uh-huh.” Came Twilight's slow response.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes a bit, before sighing “Make it quick.”

“...Uhm.”

“What exactly is troubling you so much about the book?” Chrysalis clarified for the purple princess, even as she turned and began walking further into the library. The young colt followed a moment later, as he tossed his scarf over his back.

Twilight found herself glancing back to Spike, eliciting a shrug from the small dragon. With no better recourse, Twilight trotted after Chrysalis, the book following through the air “So, does that mean you're going to help?”

“If you can stop wasting my time, yes. We were in the middle of something.” Chrysalis explained, as she glanced towards the colt trailing beside her.

“...Is he-” Twilight began, as she too began eying the foal.

“Hard Note.” Chrysalis supplied, which earned a grin from the colt.

“Right...is Hard Note supposed to be here?” Twilight asked, with just a touch of concern.

“I'm allowed to be here.” Hard Note said, garnering the princess' attention.

“Oh?” Twilight asked, as their small group again came to a stop.

“Uh-huh.” The colt nodded.

“...Would you mind elaborating?” Twilight asked, realizing she would need to prompt the foal for anything further.

Hard Note blinked at that, before furrowing his brow “Elabo-...Elabro-”

“Elaborate.” Twilight helpfully repeated for the colt.

“It means-” Both Spike and Chrysalis began at the same time, before they each abruptly came to a stop.

After exchanging a brief glance with the Changeling Queen, Spike scratched the back of his head “You probably got this, I guess.”

Chrysalis just shook her head at this, before focusing back upon the confused colt “To elaborate, means to explain something in detail. She wants to know why you're allowed to be here.”

“Oh...well, why didn't she just say that instead?” Hard Note asked.

“She did.” Chrysalis replied, before Twilight could.

“Yeah, but...if she could have said it that way, why'd she go and use a word like-...like that one? Why didn't she just say it using those words, instead of using that other word?” Hard Note clarified, his expectant gaze shifting from Chrysalis to Twilight.

Twilight gave a smile for the curious foal “Sorry. I guess, I'm just used to using words like that, Hard Note, and I sometimes forget that not everyone knows the same things as me. But, on the bright-side, now you know a new word.”

“Well, no, I get that. But why do we even need that word? I mean, we could already just use the word 'explain' couldn't we?” Hard Note pressed.

This gave Twilight some pause.

“Huh...that is a good question.” Spike admitted, from a top Twilight's back.

The young princess had to furrow her brow at this “Well...it's like Chrysalis said. To elaborate, means to explain in detail. See?”

Twilight gave a smile to the young colt, as she finished. It quickly began to fade, as she noted the dissatisfied expression on Hard Note's face.

“But, couldn't ponies have just kept saying it that way? Instead of making up a new word?” The colt asked, even as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof, shifting the mess of blue-and-pink mane that rested there.

After a few moments of considering this question, Twilight found herself glancing towards the Changeling Queen. The young princess had never been in a position where she needed to explain something like this “Uhm....Chrysalis? Perhaps you can handle that one?”

“Hm? Oh no. I think you're doing quite well on your own.” Chrysalis denied.

“Really? Cause I'm not sure Twilight knows-” Spike began, before being interrupted by Twilight suddenly giving him a small buck.

The princess quickly turned her attention back to the foal, a smile plastered on for his sake “It's complicated, Hard Note.”

“That's an excellent point, Twilight. The word 'elaborate' can have more than one meaning.” Chrysalis interjected.

“It can?” Hard Note asked, disbelievingly.

“Indeed. It can mean explaining something in detail, but it can also mean that something is very complicated.” The changeling easily explained.

“Wait, wait, wait...so we made a new word for explaining stuff a lot, but that same word means that other thing too? Why didn't they come up with another word for that too?” The colt asked.

“I'm not sure. But, Princess Twilight could surely explain that little inconsistency for you.” Came Chrysalis' casual reply.

Twilight sent a glare towards the changeling.

She quickly assumed a friendly expression, as the colt again turned his attention towards her.

“Can you explain that?” The colt innocently asked.

“Yes, can you?” Chrysalis unhelpfully echoed, visibly trying to conceal her amusement.

“I-...maybe not right now, Hard Note.” Twilight finally admitted.

“Oh...well, that's alright.” Hard Note quickly assured, before turning back towards Chrysalis and prodding her with a hoof “So, can we get back to the story, Ms. Chrysalis?”

“In a moment, little one.” Chrysalis assured, before she again resumed her walk, the colt quickly following behind.

As she watched the two of them turn onto and begin ascending the library's staircase, she quickly realized that, at no point had her own question been answered.

Spike had to grip his small claws in her mane, as Twilight flapped her wings, following them up the stairs.

“Just to be clear, Chrysalis, he is-...” Twilight drew to a pause, as she caught sight of the Changeling Queen making herself comfortable upon a large pile of colorful blankets and pillows. Judging by the size of the pile, Chrysalis must have emptied out, at least, two full linen closets. It was just a big hodge-podge of bright colors set into one big comfy pile, that Chrysalis was happily taking advantage of. The bright lavender of the changeling's pajamas almost failed to standout against the...

'Ugh...I'd almost stopped thinking about those pajamas.'

Twilight had to vigorously shake her head clear of that thought. It was just sleepwear. Some fairly ridiculous sleepwear. That the Chrysalis was wearing. That gave the changeling an uncanny resemblance to a certain alicorn princess...

“Oh, sweet! I'm getting in on this.” Spike spoke up, breaking Twilight's focus again, even as he excitedly slid off of her back. A few moments of running on a pair of stubby dragon legs, led to Spike diving onto an open spot on the pile of cushions and blankets, right alongside Hard Note.

“Spike...” Twilight admonished, as she began a hesitant canter over that way.

“Oh, come on, Twilight! This is great! I was freezing my scales off outside.” Spike complained, even as he rolled himself up in one of the blankets.

Twilight rolled her eyes at this, and was about to speak up again, when a green glow sprang up around the blanket Spike had grabbed. In the next second, it flew up into the air, letting the small dragon fall out of it's warm confines. The blanket then floated over to the frowning Changeling Queen, before settling across her withers.

“This is my blanket.” Came Chrysalis' rather forceful declaration.

“Uh...my bad.” Spike awkwardly conceded, squirming under the gaze of the changeling. Twilight didn't really know how to respond to that, but could only note that Hard Note seemed inordinately pleased by the whole thing.

“Right...So, just to be clear, Hard Note has permission to be here right? Here? With you?” Twilight asked of the changeling, deciding not to cling to the blanket-issue.

“Uh-huh! My dad said he'd let me come with him today, if I behaved myself.” Hard Note quickly supplied for Chrysalis.

“His father is a member of the Royal Guard. A Stalwart Gaze, I believe.” The Changeling Queen added next, answering the obvious question before Twilight could give voice to it.

The name actually rang a bell, in Twilight's mind. She had always stayed on pretty good terms with most of the ponies that worked around Canterlot Castle, and she could recall a quiet, even-tempered, Earth pony by that name “Oh, I see. So, you wanted to come see the castle then, is that right?”

“Not really. I mostly just wanted to hang-out with Ms. Chrysalis again.” Came the colt's frank reply.

“Oh.” The princess couldn't help but blink at that answer.

“Yeah, she's really cool.” Hard Note added.

“He's very astute for his age.” Chrysalis casually noted.

“Wait. You came here to spend time with her?” Twilight asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah? Why?” Came Hard Note's reply.

Catching sight of the look of surprise on Twilight's face, at this turn of events “I'm a bit insulted that you find it so hard to believe that I'm cool, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Oh, right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-...” Twilight had to swallow down a bit of embarrassment. She supposed that was kind of unfair of her to make those kind of assumptions about Chrysalis, at this point. It had been over half-a-year since she had decided to help Chrysalis' changelings, and she had been given more than a few chances to interact with the Changeling Queen in that time. And while Chrysalis wasn't exactly a nice individual...

Twilight tilted her head towards Chrysalis “That was rude of me. I'm sorry.”

Chrysalis simply nodded.

“Now...what exactly is the problem you are having with that book?” Chrysalis suddenly demanded, turning her attention over to Twilight once more, to Spike's relief.

“Oh...right. Well, I seem to be running into some issues translating the text, and-” Twilight began.

“What kind of issues?” Chrysalis cut-in again.

“Pretty much all of them.” Spike piped-up, cutting Twilight off, even as he wrapped himself up in a different blanket. This earned an annoyed look from the princess, that eventually slipped into a sigh, as she conceded the dragon's point with a nod.

“So, basically you can't read the book.” The changeling summed up.

“I can get the exact translations for a lot of the words and phrases in the text. I just didn't realize how little good that would do me.” Twilight managed to explain.

“Where'd you get the book?” Hard Note asked, his curious gaze resting on the tome in Twilight's magic now.

“It was a gift, that I gave her some months back. This was when Princess Twilight visited my changelings, so she could help them.” Came the surprisingly straight-forward and respectful answer, from Chrysalis.

Hard Note thought about this for a moment, before seeming to nod in understanding.

“So...how much have you actually managed to translate?” Chrysalis asked of Twilight, gesturing a hole-filled hoof towards the book.

“Properly translated? I can only say with certainty that I've managed to translate the cover correctly.” Twilight relayed truthfully. While she could technically translate quite a few words in the book, she had no idea how to even organize these contents into coherent ideas and sentences. She had managed to confirm her translation for the presumed author's name, which was emblazoned along the cover.

“The Dark Tempest that Shattered Crystal Mountain.” Twilight said, catching sight of the expectant look coming from the Changeling Queen.

It was a dragon's name. More particularly, an adult dragon's name.

That had actually been the one part of her research that had garnered some genuine interest from Spike. As it happened, most young dragons had names quite similar to his own. Short, descriptive names, that young dragons would carry with them until they had achieved something worthy of bragging about. After some impressive accomplishment or another, the dragon would fashion a longer name for itself, describing itself or the act. This typically marked the transition point for young dragons into true, independent adulthood, when they would no longer be under the protection of their guardians and elders.

The fact that this dragon's name featured a very specific locale, as well as a notable event relating to that locale, made it very easy to research. This was especially so, since Twilight basically had free reign to poke around the Crystal Empire's libraries, and was regularly making trips to the region anyway.

She probably could have found actual Crystal Ponies that knew of this dragon, and learned even more, but for one issue.

King Sombra.

From what she had been able to piece together, before Sombra had seized the Crystal Empire as his own, he had served as a prominent adviser to the ruling family at the time. One with his own motives, naturally, who had capitalized upon the bygone, and since returned, empire's more isolationist days.

It used to be that the Crystal Empire had been quite guarded about it's independence from Equestria, and more specifically Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Which he took advantage of, stirring up the population against any attempts at outreach with other nations, and playing upon fears of outside threats, all while gathering his own supporters.

As time wore on, Sombra eventually directed these fears towards the, at the time, apathetic dragon roosting within the nearby peak of Crystal Mountain. This forced the ruling family to allow him to organize the military expedition to oust the dragon from their lands.

Given his goals, it wasn't a terrible idea.

If he succeeded, they would drive-off or kill the dragon and seize a vast pile of wealth, all at the prompting of Sombra himself, letting him take the credit. If they failed and were routed, that would mean the military power of the Empire would be weakened and he could use it to frighten the populace even further into following him. The forces were largely comprised of those loyal to the rightful rulers of the Crystal Empire, those that had volunteered for the task, while many of his supporters stayed behind, possibly at his prompting. And if the Crystal Empire's rulers had refused to back the expedition, it would have looked as if they didn't care about the safety of their subjects.

A win-win-win.

Until one factored in the part that involved a very old, very angry dragon.

Arguably, things were still going according to Sombra's plan, when the dragon ended up devastating the army sent to oust it.

Things were getting a bit iffy, when the dragon turned it's power against the mountain itself, purposely causing most of it to collapse upon the remaining portions of the army. But, the dragon's wealth wasn't of that much importance to Sombra's plans anyway.

When the dragon started razing the countryside, as it chased the remnants of the expedition back towards the capital, that's when things were getting out of control.

Written accounts stated that the whole of the Crystal Empire's westerlands were set ablaze, and that the rising smoke and dust from the collapse of the mountain made it look as if a terrible storm was sweeping across the land. Still other accounts claimed that the dragon itself belched out great bolts of lightning, and swept down upon the countryside with the force of a hurricane.

Sombra was eventually forced to take to the field himself, perhaps revealing a great deal more of his magical prowess than he really wanted to. Ironically, the future Dark King had to save the Crystal Empire before he could take it over.

Which he succeeded in doing.

While it was a titanically destructive battle, Sombra was able to rally the surviving forces and did most of the work of driving away the dragon himself.

It's rather telling, that the fight was so impressive that the loser still gained a great deal of respect, accolades, and fear from his fellow dragons in the end. It made it clear why, when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna faced Sombra down, they did it together.

Ultimately, the event was cited as the last Great Dragon Rampage on record, and served to elevate Sombra's status as a hero at the time, facilitating his eventual tyranny over those lands.

...Yeah, that part Twilight was pretty easily able to translate and confirm. There were quite a few records available describing these events, stored away in the archives of the Crystal Empire, being among the more recent historical events to occur before the Crystal Empire was lost to time.

She couldn't help but look back with even greater concern, for what could have come about if they hadn't thwarted Sombra's full return.

“So, all you have is the name then, yes?” Chrysalis asked, breaking Twilight from her recollections.

Twilight quickly nodded, as she focused back upon the now “That's the only part I'm sure I have translated correctly, yes.”

“Well...at least, you've accomplished that much.” Chrysalis sarcastically conceded, earning a mildly annoyed look from the princess.

“Right...So, this book was definitely written by this dragon, this Dark Tempest?” Twilight asked.

“He responds to 'Tempest'. And he more dictated the book than wrote it himself. Very large claws, you see...” Chrysalis casually mentioned.

“That book was written by a dragon?” Hard Note asked, pointing a hoof towards the tome.

“Apparently. That's what got Twi so excited about it, anyway.” Spike said from his own cozy little nest amongst the blanket-and-cushion pile.

“Huh...So, is it that dragon, Ms. Chrysalis?” Hard Note asked, as he looked back towards the Changeling Queen.

“What? Which dragon?” Twilight asked, thrown by the colt's earnest question.

“That would be the dragon I was telling him stories about...before we were interrupted.” Chrysalis explained.

“Oh, so you were telling him stories. That explains things.” Twilight said with a nod, recalling the time she witnessed the Changeling Queen entertaining a large group of young changelings with her story-telling skills. The young princess could admit, that she had been entertained at the time too. Sending a smile towards the young colt “Well, I'm not sure which stories she's been telling you, but there are quite a few dragons out there, and-”

“Actually, he's correct.” Chrysalis suddenly interrupted.

“...What?” Twilight blurted out.

“Yeah! She was telling me all about Princess Platinum's dragon and-” Hard Note excitedly began.

“Wait. Princess Platinum? What does she have to do with any of this?” Twilight asked.

“Only everything.” Came Chrysalis' easy reply.

“But...Princess Platinum didn't have a dragon. There isn't anything like that in the-” Twilight began.

“Do you want to know what's in this book or not?” Chrysalis sharply demanded.

Twilight's mouth quickly snapped shut. Chrysalis didn't make many empty threats, and the implied threat, could have left her never knowing what was contained in that inscrutable book.

“That's what I thought. Now, if you're willing to accept that perhaps your accounting of what took place in a tumultuous time from over a thousand years ago might be wrong, I can tell you the story that I know.” Chrysalis offered. After a few moments of continued silence from everyone present, the changeling took in a deep breath and seemed ready to begin.

Chrysalis paused, before glancing down towards the colt at her side. This incidentally set the small, puffy ball hanging from the tip of her nightcap dancing “That is...assuming Hard Note doesn't mind hearing the story again from the beginning?”

Twilight couldn't help but turn towards Hard Note, to catch his reply. Fortunately, the colt gave a big smile “Sure, that's cool with me!”

“Excellent. Then-” Chrysalis again paused, as she noticed Spike holding up his own clawed hand, in a bid to get attention.

“...What is it?” The changeling asked.

“Uhm, before you get started...where are we on that hot cocoa?” Spike asked hopefully.

Author's Note

So, here we have where my mind has taken me this week. It seemed to be appropriate, as I'm also working on my post for Changeling History. This story will let me get in some world-building, have some fun character interactions, and tell an interesting story hopefully.

Questions and criticisms are always welcomed. I'll likely be doing some edits, cleaning up typos and what not, over the next few days. I'm likely going to be busier this month with non-writing stuff, but I'm going to keep at it.

Enjoy.

Lesson Two: Know Where you Stand

Some fifteen hundred years ago...

The Grand Castle.

A castle that, it would be argued, is so luxurious and awe inspiring it has no need for a more proper name. This, being on the presumption that no other castle could be so worthy of be called 'grand' as this one.

Princess Platinum was quite sure that it took many a night and day, before her ancestors could come up with all that. Entire songs and great speeches were no doubt built up around that idea just for the sake of letting everyone pat themselves on the back for coming up with the name. And it was an impressive edifice, there could be no mistake about that. Sadly, it just seemed to play into the entirely incorrect views the non-unicorns held about them, that they were all a bunch of self-congratulatory, aristocratic snobs. All the sadder, because Princess Platinum always thought it was a rather lazy name.

One could have just called it The Really, Exceptionally Big and Shiny Castle and gotten the same effect.

Looking at the imposing structure now, she wasn't even sure she wanted to complete her journey back to her home...

...though that was more due to the fact that her father, King Bullion, was in all likelihood quite furious with her.

Not that she was afraid of her father. As the heir apparent, Princess Platinum had long had it instilled into her that it was by Divine Right that she would one day lead the unicorns as their Queen. And as such, she was beyond such things such as doubting her course or quailing at the thought of a terrible scolding. She was meant to rule and not even her King-Father could deny that or expect her to quake in his presence, as so many other ponies did.

So, she most certainly was not worried about what was waiting for her in the Grand Castle. She had made her choice, and her Right to Rule provided her all the validation she needed. She wasn't going to grovel before her father with her ears pinned back, like some child.

Nope, she was just...taking her time, in this last stretch of her trip. Moving at the leisurely, unhurried pace of true royalty.

Princess Platinum had to remind herself that she was standing perfectly still, on the side of the road, staring at the castle in the distance. She also had to take a moment to force her ears to swivel back upright.

Steeling herself once more, she took to the same easy trot she always used when she knew others would be watching.

It gave her more time to think. And to take in the scenery. The worryingly-chilly scenery.

Where it could be seen, dry grass clung to the ground, as lifeless as it was unappetizing. Even with the sun out, the day remained overcast, lending a touch of gray to everything that could be seen. Which seemed rather fitting, given the chilly breezes that still swept across the lands, and up under Princess Platinum's cape.

The occasional snow flurries weren't unheard of in Spring. Early Spring, that is. It wasn't terribly worrisome having a long Winter, those happened all the time, with the warm weather and daily showers being delayed by a few weeks. But, by now, they should be slipping into the beginnings of Summer and yet the days actually seemed to be getting colder.

And no matter what anypony did, they could not seem to chase away this Winter.

It was becoming very worrisome. So much so, that the smallfolk were beginning to lose their calm. They could only be placated so often before even they realized that something was wrong. It didn't help that more than one nation had sent delegations accusing the unicorns of being behind this, with some ill-thought out magic or some such thing. Though, quite a few more accusations had been leveled towards the Pegasi, under the notion that they were the ones most responsible for things like the weather. So, that was nice.

Earth Ponies were blaming the Unicorns, Unicorns were blaming the Pegasi, Pegasi were blaming the Griffons and the Griffons were blaming Ponies-in-general. There were surely, at least, a dozen more missives from other less important nations that were looking for answers. Some thought to blame the Changelings, but no one could come up with a good reason for why they would bother to do something like this. Others still spoke of dark magic being in the works, but even those claims failed to find any proof.

Some few thought to cast the blame towards the dragons. But nopony wanted to volunteer to go accuse a giant, fire-breathing, flying serpent with scales stronger than armor and a surly attitude of doing anything. So, that was quickly dropped as a possibility.

Sorting through all the accusations eventually lead to the terrifying realization that everyone was out of targets to blame, and still no one knew what was causing this problem. It seemed to be effecting everyone without regard for borders or allegiances.

Some thought to turn towards the alicorns, Celestia and Luna, but even they could not be found. Nor had Clover been able to make contact with her master, the famous Star Swirl the Bearded. Yet another couple of things to add to the growing list of worrying circumstances.

Soon, what few diplomatic ties the various nations had with one another had been cut, as each country closed ranks, each deciding to look after its own.

At this rate, if something didn't change, they were going to be looking at a crisis...

...and Princess Platinum was likely going to be chewed out by her father, for trying to do something about it.

“Who goes there?!” A shrill voice called from above, rather rudely shaking the mare from her thoughts. Turning her attention upwards, she looked up to the watchtower positioned alongside the path that lead to her home. More particularly, the guardspony atop the tower that was squinting down at her.

“You there! Declare who you are, before you go any farther!” The mare in the tower again called down, eliciting the raising of one of Princess Platinum's very elegantly maintained eyebrows. She made a point of glancing down upon herself, running her eyes down her pastel-purple coat to her platinum horseshoes. A single gesture of her hoof brought further attention to her pale mane, and lent a light flourish to the eminently recognizable trimmed and bejeweled cape.

How many ponies walked around while wearing a crown anyway?

If there was anypony that couldn't recognize her on sight, she had yet to meet them.

And still had not, if the embarrassed sputtering could be heard from atop the small guardtower was any indication “Your Highness?! I-I am just terribly sorry for how I addressed you! I did not recogni- I mean, I was clearly out of turn.”

Princess Platinum's violet eyes gave a visible roll at this reaction. One which the guardpony wisely did not comment upon. Again, with nothing more than a look, she made her point quite clear for the fretting guardspony.

Abruptly snapping her mouth shut, upon noticing the expression on the Princess' face, the watchmare gave a very snappy salute “Your Royal Highness certainly has leave to continue on her way.”

Princess Platinum resisted the urge to give another roll of her eyes, and instead settled for a heavy sigh “...Very good, then.”

A scant few steps down the path, the princess was beginning to let her thoughts wander again, when the bellowing sound of a trumpet carved it's way straight into the center of her head. Only narrowly resisting the urge to jump out of her skin, she quickly turned an irate glare towards the guardtower's occupant.

She could quite easily hear the gulping sound the guardsmare made, as she lowered the trumpet from her lips. Visibly quailing under Princess Platinum's gaze, the mare quickly hid the trumpet from sight “T-to...announce your return, Y-your Highness.”

Her annoyance was only mildly placated, when the guardsmare ducked down behind the parapets of the tower when she intensified her glare.

Platinum gave another shake of her head, before continuing down the cobbled path.

She didn't bother letting her mind ponder any truly important issues, quite sure that somepony would come along to rudely interrupt their course.

'Or maybe not so rudely, after all...'

There were some few that knew how to approach her. One such stallion was approaching her right now, with another four armored unicorns at his back.

“Well, well, is that you, Sir Valiant? Coming out to greet your princess after her long journey?” Princess Platinum called out, as the distance closed between the two of them.

Ever Valiant, a Captain of the famously skilled Silver Knights and a noble ward that has served in King Bullion's house since foalhood, and someone that she had been pleased to know for years.

“Indeed so, Your Highness.” The stallion, Ever Valiant, replied not missing the beat that so many others would when being addressed by royalty. Which was only fitting given how long she had known him “It seems only fitting that we be allowed to play some small part in your adventure. Even if it's just to deliver you to your father.”

If one were to look, they could see the stallion struggling to keep a smile from creeping onto his face. Princess Platinum made no efforts to hide her own pleasure. No one was really allowed to second-guess her feelings or expressions anyway, so she didn't bother concealing her gladness at the stallion's presence.

While he and his fellow armsponies stopped an appropriate distance from their princess, she didn't slow her pace, even as they moved to salute her “How dull, that my father has the lot of you playing fetch. Especially, when there are so many more important things to do.”

The Princess made a point of stopping only a scant distance from the unicorn knight, a wholly inappropriate distance most would say. Again, the stallion was unfazed and, if anything, seemed a bit amused himself “Important things, Your Highness? Like perhaps going off to this little meeting of yours, against your King-Father's expressed orders? I'm sure my ponies could have found the time for something like that.”

“Oh? Well, I'll have to keep that in mind, the next time I decide to flout my father's orders.” She replied, in an entirely nonchalant manner. With a shake of her head, a few loose strands of her mane wisped across his face, even as she brushed past him “It would have been nice to spend some time in good company, during my little...flouting.”

“If her Highness desires a flouting...” He easily replied, a small smile crossing his lips.

“Hold on a moment, Chrysalis.”

“What is it? I thought you wanted to hear this story?”

“I do. It's just...was Princess Platinum-”

“Yes.”

“You didn't let me-”

“Yes, she was flirting with Ever Valiant. Something I would have clarified upon a little farther in the story, if you had given me the chance.”

“But, who is this Ever Valiant? I've never heard of him be-...”

“...”

“So, I guess you were going to cover that a little bit later too?”

“What a wonderful idea, Twilight Sparkle. Are you sure you haven't heard this story before? Do you perhaps want to tell the story yourself?”

“But, I like the way you tell it, Miss Chrysalis.”

“I'm sorry Hard Note, but if Princess Twilight Sparkle wants to-”

“Okay, Chrysalis! I'm sorry I interrupted...Please continue.”

“Another wonderful idea, Twilight. I think I just might.”

Turning to follow at her side, Ever Valiant spared only a brief glance for the armored mare sending the rather unpleasant look towards the Princess. Getting her attention, he managed to preempt anything out-of-turn that the mare might say about the Princess' attitude.

It would do more to get her in trouble than the Princess, anyway.

Soon enough, they were quickly closing the distance between themselves and the maingates to the Grand Castle, with Ever Valiant at her side and his four knights following in formation a few steps behind.

“So...may I ask how this little outing of yours went, Your Highness?” Valiant asked his princess, again in a manner that some would find far too familiar.

“...About as well as you could expect.” The royal mare replied, her tone quickly shifting from playful to irritable.

“That badly?”

“Worse, I dare say.”

“...Anything we're going to be going to war over?” Valiant asked, only half-joking.

“I'm sure that would please the Pegasi. But, no, if anything they're barely even acknowledging that we exist. As per usual.” Princess Platinum explained, with a wave of her hoof. Noticing the inquiring look coming from the stallion at her side, she gave out a sigh before elaborating “I suppose I should be pleased that the Pegasi City-States even deigned to send a representative, even if the one they sent was an insufferable jackass.”

“Better one, than none.” The knight sagely noted.

“Only barely. The pegasi aren't taking this seriously, sending some jumped-up commander, that I'm sure they were only too happy to send away for a few days. Worse, he seemed to realize that he barely amounted to a courtesy anyway, and was quite ready to bellyache about it. Vocally.”

Ever Valiant wisely chose not to comment on his Princess' own bellyaching.

“So, we cannot count upon the Pegasi in this, then. What of the others?”

Princess Platinum shook her head and made a disgusted sound before answering “I may not have gotten along with this Hurricane fellow, but I can't even begin to guess how things went with Puddinghead.”

“As eccentric as we've been lead to believe?”

“The mare went on for twenty minutes commenting on the natures of boxes and chimneys, before the Pegasi representative stormed off. The chancellor was still rambling on when I decided to take my leave.”

“Huh...makes one wonder how this mare managed to get elected of all things.” Valiant noted.

“I'm not. If anything, Chancellor Puddinghead is perfectly indicative of what should be expected when Earth Ponies get to pick their own leader.” Princess Platinum continued to grouse, even as she glared at the approaching gatehouse.

“Did you, at least, get a few moments to speak with whoever the Griffons-” The knight began.

“The Griffons didn't even send anyone!” The royal unicorn snapped.

“What?”

“Not even a missive, explaining their absence!”

That actually gave Ever Valiant more pause than any of the other news of this meeting. Anyone who actually knew anything about those that lead the Pegasi and Earth ponies couldn't have been surprised by the outcome. But, the Unicorn Kingdom and the Griffons had long been on, more or less, good terms. Similar notions about honor and the Right to Rule had served as a fair foundation for diplomacy between the two groups. They had often found themselves as military allies, or at least partners, against the war-like Pegasi, with the Unicorns paying handsomely for the Griffons to supplement the Kingdom's elite forces.

Whether the Griffons were choosing not to attend this conference or simply unable, it was very troubling.

“Of all the times to do such a thing, I cannot believe that they think now is the appropriate time for such things.” Princess Platinum continued to rant, perhaps not yet recognizing the possibility that their most likely of allies might not have been absent by choice.

Valiant ended up shaking his own head over this “I suppose it's just as well. If the conference went as poorly as you say, I can't imagine their attending could have helped things, Your Highness.”

“Oh, you think so, do you?”

It took a moment for the stallion to realize that he had just made himself a target for his princess' ire. He quietly cursed his loose tongue, before trying to play damage control “...I'm quite sure I don't know what to think, Your Highness.”

“Do you honestly think the Pegasi would have been so ready to snub, if they had known that the Griffons were going to be in attendance? Hm?”

Ever Valiant gave a helpless shrug, knowing the only option was to let her run her course.

“No. The moment they caught wind of it, they would have been scrambling to send someone that could actually make some important decisions. Not some whiny peon, looking for a fight.”

“I suppose, it would have been a good thing for them to take the conference seriously.” The stallion conceded.

“Oh, a very good thing, indeed. Even better would be the worry it would stir among the Pegasi and Earth ponies, seeing that our two nations had come to the table.”

“How would that-”

“We almost certainly could have come to an accord with the Griffons, at least. And do you think the others would sit back idly, while we did so? No. The Pegasi, in their militant paranoia, would have reached out to the Earth ponies and, appropriately enough, taken care of approximately half of the work we would need to make this all work. Their little coalition would meet our own, and everyone could begin to take this seriously. Each side would be negotiating with the power and respect needed to keep the other from dismissing the issue. But, no, we've all decided that we don't need to even talk with one another...That is what our shiftless Griffon friends have cost us...” Princess Platinum finally finished, almost out of breath due to her frustrated rant.

A few moments of silence reigned over the group, with the guards at their backs knowing better than to say anything and Valiant knowing to give his Princess' a few moment to compose herself.

They all came to a halt at the gates, which quickly began creaking open, just as soon as the party was spotted.

“So...it's a shame the Griffons couldn't attend.” Ever Valiant noted, in a nonchalant manner.

Princess Platinum suddenly let out a, very un-princess-like, snort of laughter at that “Indeed.”

“Rather rude of them, when you lay it out like that. Sounds like they may have just doomed us all.” The stallion teased a bit more.

Again, she couldn't help but chuckle at that “I shall be expecting quite the impressive excuse for perhaps causing the end of the world. A written apology, at the very least.”

Pleased to have gotten the Princess out of her funk, Ever Valiant quickly followed at her side as they entered into the castle's bailey.

A bit more accepting of her failure now, Princess Platinum quickly reclaimed her usual poise “So, it seems my little endeavor has turned out to be quite the utter disaster. I can only hope things have gone better here?”

Valiant visibly considered the question for a moment, before shrugging “An utter disaster? No, I wouldn't say so. There was a bit of panic the night you slipped out of the castle, but it wasn't a disaster.”

“Small victories.” Platinum remarked.

“There was, however, some small concern when King Bullion threatened to have Clover's head removed.” The knight calmly informed.

“What?!” The princess rather loudly blurted out, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the courtyard.

“Your Father was rather quick to blame her for your disappearing into the night.” Valiant sadly informed.

“He hasn't done anything to her though, right?!” The princess quickly demanded.

“Other than scaring her out of her wits, no. Thank goodness for that.”

Platinum had to rise a hoof to her forehead, in an attempt to rub away the conflicting emotions over this news. She didn't entirely succeed, as she quickly stomped that same hoof down “The entire point of leaving on my own was to make sure Father couldn't do that sort of thing to anypony!”

There was a sudden intake of breath from just behind them, but Ever Valiant quickly silenced his subordinate with a stern glance, that went unnoticed by Princess Platinum.

He quickly turned his attention back towards the distressed mare at his side “I'm afraid as King, there are a great many things that he could do, Your Highness.”

“Urrghh! I am aware of that! But he can't just go blaming others for what I do!”

“It is no secret that you hold counsel with Clover, that you give an ear to what she has to say. And, unfortunately, our Court Mage has been a bit more vocal than is proper for her recently acquired station.”

“Vocal? That mare could barely raise her voice against her own shadow. It took me a month just to get her to speak plainly with me, so what is this claim that she is suddenly being so forward?” Princess Platinum asked, skeptical of the stallion's words.

“It's-...it's all relative, Your Highness. Regardless, everypony has heard of her supposed visions and everypony has heard that you are taking them seriously.” The stallion continued on, even as he took to the front restarting their trek through the courtyard.

“Taking Star Swirl the Bearded's own student seriously is now seen as scandalous? Well, I certainly-...Moon Above! Please tell me that he hasn't heard that his beloved student was almost executed!” Princess Platinum suddenly demanded, in a near panic at the thought.

“Well, the castle is still standing...” The Knight-Captain pointedly observed. It may have been a bit of an overstatement of what would happen if Star Swirl the Bearded unleashed his wrath upon them, but not by that much. Turning back to the mare at his side, Valiant finished what he was saying “As far as I know, Star Swirl the Bearded knows no more of our circumstances than we of his.”

The princess gave an immense sigh of relief at that, before closing her eyes and muttering to herself “Small victories...Small victories...”

“Though, it might not be a bad thing if we could find him. To speak with him about this...unseasonable weather.” The stallion added.

“Oh, yes. Right after we tell him about how-”

“His Majesty managed to rein in his temper quickly enough. Reason started to reassert itself when questions were raised about his call to search for a head-sized box. As you say...small victories.”

“A head-sized box? Why-...Oh. He was going to send-...oh.”

“Your Father was quite certain, that poor Clover had manipulated or ensorcelled you into following, what he referred to as, a suicidal course. There was quite the undercurrent of concern, hiding just below his abundant anger.”

Princess Platinum had returned to massaging her brow, desperate to work the building stress away before she got a headache.

“And you want me to go find Star Swirl? Letting him know how closely his own apprentice came to being rendered travel-sized?” She demanded incredulously.

“Perhaps the Alicorn sisters then?” Valiant offered with a shrug.

Princess Platinum only shook her head at that. By all accounts, both Celestia and Luna had fallen completely out of contact with pretty much everyone. They could have fallen off of the face of the planet, for all that anyone knew.

“Just...just tell me that Father hasn't been too rash in his actions. He hasn't actually hurt Clover, has he?” Platinum eventually requested.

“No, one of the servants found the note you left behind. That, along with an airtight alibi for Clover, managed to convince him to show some restraint. Clover's been confined to her tower for now, but otherwise remains healthy.” Ever Valiant explained. After a few moments of consideration, he nodded towards his Princess again “Mayhap I should have opened with the part where Clover is unharmed.”

“Yes, mayhap.”

“In any event, your Father-”

“Is going to have to wait for a little bit longer for me. You say Clover is in the tower, yes?” Princess Platinum cut in. Smoothing out her mantle, she soon turned towards the keep ready to go seek out her mage friend “Before anything else, I should check upon her. I'm quite sure that she-”

While Ever Valiant patiently nodded at the Princess' decree, one of his guardponies moved to intercept the princess. A few moments later, Princess Platinum was blinking in confusion, as an armored mare set herself in her planned path “And just what is this?”

Knowing well enough what was about to happen between these two, the Knight-Captain quickly put his mind to defusing the situation. He was just a shade too late, as his subordinate took the opportunity to speak up.

“Your 'visit' with the Court Mage is going to have to wait. His Majesty gave explicit orders for you to present yourself to him the very moment you arrived...Your Highness.” The slightly younger mare told the Princess in as stern a manner as she could muster.

Princess Platinum spared a pointed glance for Ever Valiant, before turning her attention back to the armored mare blocking her path. Tilting her head for a moment, the Royal mare seemed to be pondering over something “And, am I to take it that it falls to you to escort me unto my Father's presence. The very moment I arrive?”

“That is correct.” The mare stated without hesitation.

Ever Valiant resisted the urge to sigh, even as he lamented his choice of subordinates for the Princess' escort.

“Well, I suppose you can't very well let yourself fail in carrying out my Father's orders, now can you?” The Princess asked, in an overly saccharine tone.

“Yes, Your-” The mare began again.

“Though that does present a bit of a problem for you, now doesn't it?” Platinum interrupted, with a faux-thoughtful look that gave the other mare some pause.

“I don't-”

“It's a rather impossible task for you to fulfill at this point, wouldn't you agree? Given that I arrived more than a few moments ago, and yet here I am. Very much not in my Father's presence.” The royal mare observed.

“That is-”

“Why, it's almost as if my Father's realizes that this order couldn't possibly be fulfilled to it's very letter, as he worded it. That he understands that I shall need to take some time to ready myself for such an appointment. That I might need time to make myself presentable after my long journey or that he might be unavailable himself.”

The mare visibly winced, as the Princess continued on with her lambasting. Forcing herself to standup a bit straighter, the mare unfortunately failed to notice the look her Captain was sending her way. The one that very much urged her to drop the issue “Your Highness. I understand perfectly well that His Majesty was not speaking entirely literally.”

“Oh?”

“But, by that same token, he too would understand that what you wish to do is nothing more than a showing of petty insolence-”

Ever Valiant facehoofed.

“-that he would surely not allow to be tolerated, even for the sake of another. Now, please-”

“Petty insolence, you say? I assure you, my dear, my insolence is anything but petty.” The Princess noted with a chuckle.

The mare couldn't help but be taken aback by the flippancy of that remark, before trying to turn towards her Captain for support. Support that took the form of a stallion sternly shaking his head.

She scowled at that, before gritting her teeth.

“Your Highness...I apologize if I was a bit abrupt. However, you cannot-”

“I'm sorry, but are you sure that you're the one that gets to dictate what I can or cannot do? I must say, I cannot be sure myself, as I'm not quite sure I recognize you.” Platinum observed with an upraised eyebrow.

Her own scowl unabated, the mare again tried to take control of the situation “Rightful though your guilt may be for Lady Clover's predicament-”

“Ah, now I recall. You're Graceful Chivalry's daughter, are you not? I can see it in the jawline, so he must surely be your father, yes?” The Princess said.

The mare fell silent at that, staring down at her own hooves, only now grasping the situation she had blithely galloped into.

“...Yes, Your Highness.” The mare glumly replied.

“I thought so. I really should have recognized you sooner, but I do meet so many ponies. You'll understand, if I need to be reminded of your name, yes?”

The other mare didn't respond.

Ever Valiant shook his head at this, quite ready to intercede, even if it meant gaining the Princess' wrath “Your Highness, I'm sure that Clover has already heard of your arrival, and-”

“One moment, Captain Valiant. I should know the names of those that have been tasked with guarding my life.” Platinum stalled the stallion's words with a wave of her hoof, before turning back with a smile for the mare in front of her “So, tell me my lady, what is your name again?”

After a few moments, the mare muttered something unintelligible. The Princess did not spare her and merely tilted her head, as if to ask the other mare to speak up.

“...FitzChivalry.”

“There. Now, was that so hard?”

“Your Highness.” The Knight-Captain spoke up more strongly this time, earning her attention more fully. The Princess seemed briefly testy about this, though this did not last long after meeting Valiant's own gaze. Several tense seconds passed between the two of them, during which the Princess' own stern expression softened and gave way to a small amount of shame.

Glancing towards the mare, FitzChivalry, Platinum gave a small shake of her head, before focusing back upon her stallion “Let my Father know that I will be along shortly. I have some small business to attend to.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Ever Valiant quietly affirmed.

Stepping around FitzChivalry, the Princess paused for a moment before speaking “Again, my apologies for not recognizing you, my dear. It's rather unforgivable of me, given how much I've heard of you from Valiant and your own Honorable Father. Do take care...”

“Yes, Your Highness.” FitzChivalry replied, even as she avoided looking towards the Princess.

Princess Platinum briefly seemed tempted to say something more, but instead began an easy trot towards the keep.

An uncomfortable silence quickly overtook the small group of guardsponies, one that was only interrupted by the occasional fidgeting of the other three ponies there. With a look and a quick movement of his head he dismissed the other three, a directive that they were quick to follow.

Turning back towards FitzChivalry, Ever Valiant breathed in deeply, before letting it go over the course of several seconds “Well, I-”

The mare quickly snapped to attention “Sir, I'd like to apologize for my actions. And...for embarrassing you. I am ready and willing to accept any punishments you feel appropriate.”

“...Including the one for interrupting a superior officer?” Valiant wryly asked, swiftly earning a chagrined look from the mare. He held up a hoof, to forestall any further attempts to apologize from her “It's fine, Chiv. Frankly, I think letting our lovely Princess have her way with you is more than punishment enough, at this point.”

“I-I didn't mean for it to get so-” She began again.

“Like I said, it's fine. I should have kept a tighter hold of things anyway.”

She nodded at that, accepting his leniency for the moment “...Sir? Permission to speak freely?”

Ever Valiant rolled his eyes at this, before shaking his head “Nope. 'Fraid not.”

Chiv's jaw dropped a bit at this, in surprise, but she managed to swallow down what she wanted to say.

The stallion smiled at that “Look, it's pretty obvious you don't particularly like our Princess very much.”

“Uhm...”

“You shouldn't be too surprised to find you're not the only one, Chiv. I mean, I'm rather fond of her, but...”

Unsure how to go from there, FitzChivalry settled for rubbing the back of her helmet with her hoof “...Is that so, sir?”

“You're low enough in rank that you haven't been asked to attend any sort of higher social functions.” Valiant began, politely diverting from the real reason she wouldn't be welcome at such events “At those things, you end up surrounded by way worse than her, all of them sniffing about for any sort of weakness that they can use on one another.”

Chiv could only tilt her head at that, not entirely surprised by what's she was hearing “I suppose, I understand...”

“Don't think that you do. King Bullion's not as secure as he sometimes acts with his position, and there's lots of others sporting blood as blue as his own, all looking for a chance to call themselves King or Queen.” Ever Valiant began an easy trot, evidently expecting the mare to follow him as he continued to explain “And, as his only heir, the Princess has a lot of Unicorns trying to pick her apart for any weaknesses. This sometimes means that she ends up getting really defensive, really quickly. And for her, getting defensive usually means getting offensive. As you just found out.”

“...Why are you telling me this, sir?”

“You put yourself in her way and she overreacted. Want you to know why.”

Chiv gave the stallion a look that made it clear that she was expecting more of an answer.

He tilted his head back towards her “She is going to be your Queen one day, despite there being others vying for the position. I don't want you clinging to this and souring things for when the day comes. She realizes well enough that she went over-the-line.”

“Am I to expect some sort of apology then?” Chiv asked with clear skepticism.

“No more than what you just got, I'm afraid.”

Again, the mare sent him a look that was full of doubt.

Valiant shrugged at this “Royalty doesn't apologize. Not directly, at least. So...here I am.”

“So, you're apologizing for her now?”

“Eh, His Majesty has a bunch of ponies that are always apologizing for him too. They're called diplomats. Anyway, that's enough of that.” The stallion declared before coming to a stop. It took a moment for Chiv to note that they were standing by the practice yard.

“Sir?”

“You've got a lot of nervous energy in you that you need to work off, I think. This tends to help, Chiv. Plus, we've got the whole Silver Knights reputation to uphold, so it looks good when we put in the extra training.” Valiant explained, while pointedly gesturing towards the other ponies working in the courtyard. Turning towards the keep, Valiant set off at a quick pace “Once I've spoken with His Majesty, I'll come back down and help you out.”

“Thank you, sir!” Chiv called back, noticeably excited at the offer. After a few moments hesitation, she held up a hoof “And, uh-...sir?”

“What's that?” Valiant called back with a glance.

“...Do you really speak of me to others?”

The stallion chuckled at that, briefly leaving the mare feeling embarrassed “Chiv, the Silver Knights are supposed to be the best-of-the-best. Of course, I talk about the mare that's actually trying to live up to that claim. Now get back to it.”

“Yes, sir!”

Clover was trying very hard not to fret.

She didn't think of herself as an overly fretful pony. Her master had certainly never instilled any fretful tendencies when teaching her; very little tolerance for useless fretting, he would say. Clover was quite probably one of the foremost experts on magic in the Kingdom, and thus should be quite above fretting.

She was certainly a capable magician, after all. Would her teacher really have kicked her out if she wasn't ready? When Star Swirl the Bearded told you that you were ready to take care of yourself, well...that was quite a compliment from him. And all Clover had to do to become Court Mage was present herself before King Bullion's court. And just like that, she was given a tower, books, supplies, and...basically told to mind her business until she was called upon.

Still, she was a very capable magician, she reminded herself.

Clover was trying very hard not to fret.

She didn't think the two armed guards by the door were trying nearly as hard as she was not to fret, and they seemed perfectly calm.

The magical mare swallowed down anxiously, as she turned another page in “Weather Magic: Whether your Withers can Weather the Weather” a highly informative tome...whose author may have sported an overfondness for wordplay. And, in addition to being pertinent to their current crisis, it was proving quite helpful in distracting her from certain recent events.

Sparing another glance for the two very stern ponies by the door leading from her not-terribly-drafty tower, Clover found her hoof anxiously rubbing her neck once more. Not too long ago, two very similarly armored and severe ponies were roughly dragging her out of her bed in the middle of night, and tossing her in front of the terrifyingly angry King Bullion.

They didn't even let her change out of her sleeping gown before delivering her to the King. This lead to the unfortunate circumstance of her lying on the floor with a silky, clover-covered night gown wrapped around her hooves, whilst looking up to the pony that could, at any moment, order her head chopped off.

It had been a very stressful night.

Things were not helped by her utter confusion and bewilderment at the situation she had been tossed into. Confusion which only incensed King Bullion further, which in turn had left the poor mage all the more bewildered and unable to answer the stallion's accusations. Most of which centered around Princess Platinum's sudden, unannounced departure from the castle, and whether or not Clover was to blame for it.

It was only after she had been dismissed from the King's presence that she had been given the opportunity to get herself out of her sleepwear and her head on straight that she had been able to sort her thoughts. It was only then that she recalled the Princess speaking of an idea to address the blizzard crisis a few days before. An idea based on Clover's own counsel, that they would need to work with the other tribes rather than against to solve the problem.

Unfortunately, by the time she had put things together herself, King Bullion had rather decisively ordered her to be kept to her tower until the Princess' return. He apparently had no need for Clover's own insight into his daughter's disappearance, having found some manner of note explaining things.

As such, she was rather hopeful that Princess Platinum's return would be swift. There was no telling when the King's temper could take another turn for the worse, and there was little doubt that she remained in his sights. And, despite her visions and dreams telling her otherwise, she was rather worried that something might have happened to the Princess.

Clover couldn't imagine anyone daring to accost her, but even so, Princess Platinum was traveling without any manner of armed escort, in a time where the roads weren't entirely safe for lone travelers. There was no telling what could happen to the Princess on such a journey.

She didn't care to entertain the possibility of the one pony, apart from her teacher, that took her visions and advice seriously not...returning. The fact that the Princess was one of the only ponies in the castle to extend a hoof in welcoming her didn't help keep her from worrying. The Princess had been rather kind to her and when she wanted to she could exude this utterly magnetic charisma and confidence, that Clover rather envied...

'...she's also rather pretty.'

Clover immediately stuck her nose as deeply as she could into her book, in an effort to keep herself from 'fretting' anymore about the Princess.

So, she was rather startled when the doors to her tower were abruptly thrown open. As were the two guardponies stationed by them, who very quickly coated the handles of their weapons in the glow of their respective magics...

...and who then very quickly dismissed the aforementioned glows, upon recognizing their Princess.

“Your Highness!” Both Clover and the two guards all called out as one.

“Ah, there you are, Clover.” Princess Platinum said, as if she hadn't just returned after disappearing into the night against her King-Father's wishes. The Princess soon turned to the two guards to her sides now, giving each a curt nod before addressing them “You two are dismissed.”

There was only brief moment of shared hesitation between the two of them, that ended after they shared a glance with one another. A moment later they both nodded “Yes, Your Highness.”

Just as they were about to close the doors behind them, Platinum held up a hoof as if a thought had just occurred to her “Ah, just a moment...”

Both paused at their Princess' word and watched, along with Clover, as she undid her finely-trimmed cape and set it over a table. A moment later, she was using her magic to undo the harness that housed the two sheathed long-knives along the sides of her barrel. She soon used her own magic to levitate the weapons over to the two guardsponies “Please, do me the kindness of having these returned to the armory.”

There were another couple of hesitant nods from the two guards, that ended with one of them taking the weapons in his own magic, before leading his companion out the doors.

As they closed behind them, Princess Platinum began shifting about, as if shaking away any lingering discomfort caused by the harness “Ah, that is so much better...”

“You stole weapons out of the armory?” Clover worriedly asked, as she quickly trotted over.

“Borrowed, dear. Valiant gave me a set of my own a couple of years ago, but those really are too nice to actually use if the need arises, so...” Princess Platinum explained as easily as if she had just swiped an extra blanket from the cupboard.

“U-use them? You didn't have to, did you? At the meeting?” Clover asked, suddenly latching onto a worrisome possibility.

“I was sorely tempted...” Princess Platinum sourly noted. Letting loose a quiet sigh, the royal mare let her calm facade slip a bit before focusing on Clover “...I'm afraid things did not go as well as you could have hoped, Clover.”

“How do you mean?” The magician quietly asked. Prophetic visions or no, things could go wrong in the most unexpected of ways. Sometimes this was even moreso when it involved such predictions, especially if they were poorly interpreted, and she was not so sure she trusted her own insight into such matters.

“We'll get to that in a moment, Clover. But first...how are you doing?” Princess Platinum asked with clear concern for the other mare.

Clover briefly ducked her head at the attention being sent her way, briefly reminded of why she thought so well of the Princess “I-...I'm alright.”

The royal mare gave a patently skeptical look at that answer, that left Clover squirming “Your Father was admittedly...scary.”

Platinum frowned at that “Yes, I heard about the, uhm...box.”

Clover again found herself rubbing her neck, as if to assure herself that she wasn't going to have her head lopped off. She was shaken from ruminating on that for too long, when her Princess started speaking again.

“Believe me, I am going to be having words with him about this matter; threatening to have somepony executed of all things. Just because I went on a little trip without his permission.” Princess Platinum noted with a huff. Stomping her hoof a couple of times, she marched across the room over towards the unlit fireplace “I mean, it certainly wasn't as if it was your idea for me to sneak off into the night.”

“I didn't even know.”

“Precisely, which was exactly the point of me doing so...where's the firewood?” The Princess asked with an upraised eyebrow, noting the distinct lack of dry timber in the room.

“I ran out the other day, I'm afraid...It was rather chilly last night, and they haven't brought anymore up and, uhm, I'm still not allowed to go down and-”

“Now that is just petty. Know that I shall see to it that someone is sent up with a fresh supply, just as soon as I leave.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. I really appreciate that, but...about the summit?” Clover reminded, all too ready to focus upon the crisis, instead of her last few days in the castle.

“Yes, yes, of course, dear. I just wanted to be sure that you-...you didn't suffer too much on my account.” Princess Platinum hedged.

Looking on, Clover eventually managed to draw up her reserves and give the Princess a comforting, if awkward, smile.

Seeing this, Princess Platinum eventually gave her own uncomfortable smile “Well, good...”

“I'll manage, Your Highness. I was taught by Star Swirl the Bearded himself, if you recall. And he could be kind of scary too.” Clover again assured her.

“Right...Well, then onto the matter at hoof, I suppose.”

“Yes, Your Highness. How did the meeting go? Did you manage to get through to the other nations?” Clover hopefully asked.

“I'm afraid not, Clover.” Princess Platinum admitted.

“What? But, my visions-”

“I am not calling your powers into question, Clover. But, unfortunately, the other nations did not see fit to take this matter as seriously as needed.”

“But, how badly could it have gone?” Clover asked, both perplexed and worried.

“...Let us just say, that the meeting could not have been hurt by my bearing cold-steel against the other delegates. Now that I think about it, this Commander Hurricane might have actually approved of such barbarism.”

“What?!” The young magician blurted out.

“I might have even found some common ground with him against Puddinghead, if I did so. That's hindsight for you...”

Author's Note

So, here's this update. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions come in about my portrayal of the characters and the world itself. I actually plan on Twilight giving voice to quite a few such questions at the beginning of the next chapter, but I'm still all too happy to offer up some answers now.

Funnily enough, I had most of this written before viewing the latest MLP:FiM episode pertaining to Griffons. Amazingly, most of my headcanon stood up fairly well to the new canon lore.

For those curious, for Princess Platinum's appearance I'm drawing on this work:

The artist also has some pics of the other founders that I'm also rather taken with. If you want a good idea of what I'm imagining while writing them, you should take a look.

As always, the next couple of days will see some edits and typo corrections. Naturally if you spot any, I'd appreciate being told.

Any questions and criticisms are more than welcome, and I hope everyone enjoys this update.

EDIT: Here is a proper link to the artist whose depiction of Equestria's Founders I was so taken with: http://emkay-mlp.deviantart.com/art/Princess-Platinum-Interpretation-359920402

Lesson Three: Procedural Concerns

"Hold on just a second, Chrysalis.”

Giving an extremely apparent roll of her eyes, the changeling paused in her storytelling to turn towards Twilight “Let me guess...you have some questions.”

“...You don't really need to be so snippy about it.” Twilight groused.

“Uh-huh.” Chrysalis blandly replied, clearly not paying attention to the young princess.

She was paying far more attention to the unicorn mare that was passing her a steaming cup of hot chocolate “And here you go, your Queenship. Hot and extra chocolate-y, as requested!”

“Thank you.” Chrysalis quietly said, before immediately taking a sip of the still very hot beverage. Twilight found herself staring a bit, wondering if the changeling simply didn't care about burning her tongue when it came to chocolate.

“Now, was there anything else I could get for anyone here?” The servant asked, still in her impressively chipper voice.

“Nope, this is great!” Spike happily replied, sipping away at Hard Note's hot chocolate, the colt having followed through on letting the young dragon have his drink.

The servant smiled down at that, clearly pleased “Oh, are we sure about that, Mr. Spike? I was thinking I might pay a visit down to the treasury and scrounge up a few tasty gems...”

“Wha- Really?” The little dragon asked with big hopeful eyes.

The mare gave a quick nod “I'm sure I could convince the accountants to part with a few gems for the sake of a visit from our favorite dragon.”

“I'm really your favorite dragon?”

“So, should I see if we can't spare a few gems for old's time sake?” The mare asked with a smile.

“Sure!”

“Spike...” Twilight quietly tried to discourage, not wanting him to spoil his appetite for later.

“And what about Ms. Twilight? It's been so long since I've last seen you here, is there anything I can get for you?” The servant asked of the alicorn, unwittingly putting her on the spot, as Twilight realized that she couldn't quite place the servant's name.

“Oh, uhm, I'm not really- I didn't really think to-” Twilight tried to stall, as she wracked her panicked mind to attach this mare's face to a name. It had been quite some time since she'd interacted with anyone from the palace and there were so many names.

It had something to do with lemons...

Twilight found herself giving an awkward smile, as the serving mare gave a confused tilt of her head at her apparently uncomfortable silence.

“Uhm...”

“Lemony Fresh, what was that tea you served Celestia the other day?” Chrysalis calmly interjected, as she floated her cup down to rest on a nearby table.

Lemony blinked at that, before visibly recalling what it was the changeling was referring to with a smile and an upraised hoof “Oh! With the lemon tarts? I believe that was...Rosemary tea?”

“Sure. She'll have that.” Chrysalis added a bit dismissively.

The mare gave a nod, before turning towards Twilight “Well, if Ms. Twilight would like to try some? Perhaps with some lemon tarts?”

“I-...that would be lovely, Lemony.” Twilight quickly replied, shaking herself from her surprise over Chrysalis' intervention.

“Excellent! And is there anything else I can pick up for young Mr. Hard Note?” Lemony asked of the colt.

“Nope.” Hard Note easily replied, even as he clomped over the pile of blankets to sit down by the bemused Spike. Openly scrutinizing the little purple dragon, as Spike returned the favor, the colt glanced back towards Chrysalis “Can we get back to the story now?”

Lemony gave a laugh at the colt's blunt response before making her way back towards the exit “Well, I'll be back in short order then.”

“Thank you, Lemony.” Twilight added as she left, giving a big smile for the servant as she left. Chrysalis merely gave a nod to the mare as she took her leave of the library.

Twilight gave a relieved sigh as Lemony exited the library, before glancing towards the Changeling Queen “...Thanks.”

“For what?” Chrysalis easily replied, too casually examining her own hoof in favor of paying any attention to Twilight's show of gratitude.

The young princess had to roll her eyes a bit at that, unsure whether the changeling was being difficult or just refusing to acknowledge that she had performed an act of unsolicited kindness for Twilight “Thank you for covering for the fact that I'd forgotten about Lemony's name.”

Before Chrysalis could give any sort of response, everyone's attention was drawn to a choking, sputtering noise coming from a certain dragonling. Giving a shocked look towards Twilight, Spike gave voice to his surprise “How could you have forgotten Lemony? She used to make the best lemon tarts for us!”

“Well, it wasn't exactly intentional, Spike. It has been a while since we've seen her and a lot of ponies worked in the palace when we were here.” Twilight pointed out, even as her ears dropped a bit in shame. She really felt terribly embarrassed about letting the mare's name slip from her memory. Even more so, as she recalled the small acts of kindness Lemony, among others, had done for herself and Spike in past years.

“I guess. But-” Spike began again.

He was cut-off by a loud huff from the colt at his side.

“Can we please get back to the story?” Hard Note petulantly demanded of the room.

“...I, uh-” Twilight started, a bit taken aback.

Before anyone could add anything Chrysalis quietly cleared her throat, quickly garnering the colt's attention. As Hard Note stared up at the Changeling Queen, the expected reprimand never came, as she instead calmly looked down her nose and met his gaze.

The colt soon started fidgeting before glancing off to the side “I mean, I was just-...”

Hard Note glanced back up towards Chrysalis as he faltered, only to find that she hadn't moved and seemed to have no intention of saying anything. She just kept watching him expectantly. With an impressive amount of sternness, given her current wardrobe.

'Does Princess Celestia just think it's funny having her dress-up to look like me?'

Another ten or so seconds of this silence passed with Hard Note becoming more and more visibly uncomfortable and ashamed, before the colt eventually muttered “I'm sorry.”

Both Twilight and Hard Note glanced towards Chrysalis, who merely gave a slow rise of her eyebrow towards the foal.

After a few more moments and quietly swallowing down his anxiety, the colt turned back towards Twilight and Spike “I-...I'm sorry for interrupting.”

Giving an encouraging smile for the now rather contrite colt, Twilight gave a nod at that “It's alright, Hard Note. I can understand getting a bit impatient to find out the end of a story too.”

“Even so...I believe you had some questions, Twilight?” Chrysalis finally spoke-up, turning her gaze towards the young princess and setting the puffball hanging from her nightcap swinging.

Refocusing her attention now, Twilight took a moment to recollect the points she wanted to raise concerning Chrysalis' story “Right... Just a second...”

Her horn lit up in its usual glow, as she retrieved an unfurled scroll from amid the blanket pile and brought it up for her perusal “Let's see what's first h-hey!”

Briefly reaching a hoof towards her list, as it floated away in the green glowing grasp of Chrysalis' magic, Twilight found herself settling for sending an annoyed look towards the Changeling Queen.

“You made an actual list?” Chrysalis inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight's horn flared a bit with magical light, as she retrieved her list from the changeling's grasp “Yes...you didn't want me interrupting with my questions, so I wrote them down.”

“Isn't that kind of like giving yourself homework?” Hard Note asked with a curious look for the young princess.

Before anyone could reply, Spike cut-in with a loud sip of his hot chocolate. Using his forearm to wipe his mouth clean, the little drake volunteered his own thoughts “Yeah, but Twilight really loves homework anyway, so-”

“Spike, I don't-”

“But, I guess it's not really homework, since we're-”

“Stop.” Chrysalis rose a hoof to forestall anymore of this exchange, before pointing said hoof towards Twilight “Questions.”

“Oh, right...” Twilight quickly replied with a nod, before scanning over her list once more. Clearing her throat for a moment, briefly glancing up towards Chrysalis the princess soon focused back on the list, not wanting to pay too much attention to the changeling's pajamas “Okay...So, I don't recall ever reading about this Ever Valiant in any history books, but it seems like he's pretty relevant to the story.”

“That doesn't sound like a question.” Hard Note innocently pointed out from the side, earning a tilt of acknowledgment from Chrysalis followed by a pointed look for the young alicorn.

Briefly closing her eyes as she realized her mistake, Twilight had to resist the urge to sigh “My question is, why haven't I heard about this stallion?”

“Why would you have heard of him?” Chrysalis easily countered.

Blinking in momentary confusion, Twilight had to give a shake of her head “I- because he's clearly an important associate of Princess Platinum's? And you wouldn't have mentioned him if he didn't have some impact on things?”

“You're going to find that most individuals go unremembered by history, regardless of the impact they have on the lives of others.” Chrysalis calmly replied.

Twilight frowned at that response “But-”

“Or perhaps you thought that future ponies are going to be reading about Lemony Fresh's lovingly prepared lemon tarts in some history text?” Chrysalis added a moment later.

Noticing how Twilight seemed notably taken aback by this pointed question, Chrysalis gave a heavy roll of her eyes “You do know that I don't have the patience to deal with you becoming terribly introspective right now?”

Glancing away for a moment, as she brought her thoughts under control, Twilight couldn't help but give voice to her concerns “Sorry. It's just-”

Chrysalis held her hoof up again “Stop. I'm going to save you some time here. Everyone dies. Most of them will go unremembered. Take comfort in the fact that their memories can live on through you...Next question.”

A bit stunned by the forceful, though surprisingly valid, advice from the changeling, Twilight shared a brief look with Spike. The little purple dragon gave a shrug, prompting the Pony Princess to swallow down her worries and turn her attention back towards her list “Uhm, okay then. Thank you...”

“Do you think Ms. Twilight's gonna remember me too?” Hard Note asked, completely oblivious to the impact the question had on the nearby Twilight.

“Probably.” Chrysalis answered with a shrug.

To which the colt simply nodded “Okay. That's cool.”

Turning back towards the mildly disturbed princess, the Changeling Queen gestured a hoof towards her “Next question.”

“Uh, right. Next up...there's this FitzChivalry pony-” Twilight began.

“Hey, yeah! It sure seemed like Princess SourPuss had some sort of problem with her. What was up with that?” Spike noted before taking another sip from his hot chocolate.

“It's cause she's a bastard.” Hard Note helpfully supplied.

In that moment, Twilight was very relieved that she was not sipping upon some hot beverage, as she surely would have done a spit-take at that casually delivered sentence. Even so, she found herself sputtering in shock at the colt's language “Hard Note! That is not a polite word to be using!”

“But that's what Ms. Chrysalis said!” The colt countered defensively with a hoof pointed towards the Changeling Queen.

“That's true. I did say that.” Chrysalis casually admitted.

“Chrysalis! You can't use that kind of language around a child.” Twilight exclaimed, sending a goggle-eyed look towards the changeling as she did so.

“And yet FitzChivalry was a bastard, a child born outside of wedlock, to one Graceful Chivalry and a lower-class mare.” Chrysalis calmly countered.

“That's not the point! Without the proper context-” The young princess tried to press on, as Spike and Hard Note watched on from the sidelines.

Chrysalis gave an impatient huff at this, before interrupting “The proper context is that FitzChivalry was ostracized and put down because of the circumstances of her birth. So much so, that becoming a knight would have been a goal beyond her wildest dreams without the support of her sire.”

Chrysalis turned back towards Hard Note as to explain further, putting Twilight's objections to the side “Because ponies of different families used to settle agreements by marrying their members to one another, having a child with someone other than your spouse was both embarrassing and insulting. Because ponies are sometimes very stupid, they felt it made sense to blame and punish the child for something that they had no control over.”

Taking a short breath after delivering this explanation to the attentive colt, Chrysalis abruptly turned back towards Twilight “There. Context.”

“Uhm, Ms. Chrysalis? I think you explained all of that before.” Hard Note helpfully pointed out from the side.

“Yes, but Twilight wasn't here to hear it, so we had to do it all over.” The Changeling Queen pointedly replied, more for the young princess' benefit that anyone.

“Alright, alright. I get the point, Chrysalis.” Twilight groused, sparing a brief glance for the bemused colt before continuing “He still needs to understand, that it could make some ponies very upset if he used that sort of language.”

“Fair enough.” Chrysalis said after a moment. Turning towards the curious Hard Note, she added “Hard Note. Don't use that word until you're older.”

“Okay.” The colt replied breezily.

“...Okay.” Twilight added shortly thereafter, a bit surprised by how simple that turned out to be.

“Now, was there anything else you needed to know about FitzChivalry or can we move on to the next question?” Chrysalis prompted.

“I hope she doesn't have too many questions left.” Hard Note said aloud.

“She probably does. Twilight almost always has more questions.” Spike helpfully explained.

Sending a bland look the dragon's way, Twilight cleared her throat before turning back towards her list “I'll try to keep it quick...Anyway, I take it FitzChivalry thought rather highly of Ever Valiant?”

“Correct” Chrysalis said with a nod.

“And Princess Platinum and Ever Valiant were an item?” Twilight added.

This time the Changeling Queen made a gesture of her hoof, as if to say 'kinda'.

Twilight rose an eyebrow at that and swiveled an ear towards Chrysalis, as if to prompt her to continue.

Considering it for a moment, Chrysalis gave a shrug “They kept their relationship fairly private, but very nearly everypony at the time knew about the two of them. King Bullion rather approved of the match, as well, and probably expected a proper courting to come.”

Considering it for a few moments, Twilight looked back up towards Chrysalis “So, was FitzChivalry, uhm, pining after Ever Valiant as well?”

“Perhaps or perhaps not. It's hard to say for certain.” Chrysalis replied with a shrug “FitzChivalry plays her part, but her perspective is not so...well-represented in this story.”

The purple alicorn nodded to that, displaying her understanding behind that answer. That is until she was visibly struck by a thought and raised a hoof up in a gesture “Wait...I can understand that it's hard to know the innermost feelings of a somepony from over a thousand years ago. But how is it anypony would know about all of these private conversations? Is it just speculation or creative license?”

“There were changelings around back then.” Chrysalis pointed out.

“I know that much, but-...wait, are you saying there were changelings spying on all of these ponies?” Twilight asked, as she started to grasp the implication of the changeling's remark.

Hard Note stood up from his spot amongst the blankets visibly excited “Hey, yeah! There were lots of changelings back then. Right, Ms. Chrysalis?”

The Changeling Queen gave a nod at that “Indeed there were. And those changelings would have had good reason to keep tabs on ponies like Princess Platinum and Ever Valiant.”

“Yeah! Like with Chancellor Puddinghead!” The colt added with a grin.

“Puddinghead? Puddinghead wasn't a changeling.” Twilight pointed out with no small amount of bemusement.

“No. It was Smart Cookie that was the changeling.” Chrysalis easily corrected.

“Wait. So, the changelings from back then went and replaced Smart Cookie with a changeling to spy on Chancellor Puddinghead?” Spike demanded, having been paying attention in between sips of cocoa.

The large changeling gave a small shake of her head at that “There was no abduction. Smart Cookie was always a changeling. And as far as any changeling knows, he only ended up at the Chancellor's side by accident.”

Twilight seemed to be having some difficulty wrapping her mind around that, and in fact had actually reeled back a bit from that information “Smart Cookie is one of the most famous Earth pony's in Equestrian history. How could she have possibly been a changeling without anypony-...wait, did you say he?”

“It was a male changeling that was behind the identity of Smart Cookie, yes.” Chrysalis easily affirmed.

“But...how? I mean, surely somepony would have noticed.” Twilight exclaimed, seemingly more to herself than anyone else. Even now she was putting her mind to the task of sifting through any stray factoids or remembrances about that time period that could have hinted at such a thing.

Chrysalis shrugged at that “It's what changelings do. Though some changelings put forward the notion that Chancellor Puddinghead had known the truth about Smart Cookie, that her chosen adviser was actually a changeling, perhaps even from the very beginning. It would explain a bit.”

“And are there any other famous ponies that actually happened to be changelings?” The alicorn demanded.

The Changeling Queen took a few seconds to grasp her cup of cocoa with her magic and bring it over to herself, before responding “No, not really. Smart Cookie was a bit of an outlier, as compared to other changelings. We usually try to avoid attention and becoming a national hero is a bit at odds with that goal.”

Twilight actually found herself conceding that it would explain a bit about the pony known as Smart Cookie. By most accounts, the mare was known for being rather down-to-earth and humble, avoiding the public eye and serving as the mare behind the Chancellor. Or rather, the changeling behind the Chancellor.

It certainly wasn't proof of anything, but the princess couldn't help but connect those bits of information.

“Generally speaking, most changelings that were intent on blending among ponies tended to favor menial positions and modest identities. Which, incidentally, made it rather easy to spy upon the those in the Unicorn Kingdom. Or so I've been told.” Chrysalis added, not concerned with the thoughts buzzing about Twilight's head.

Even so, this caught the Pony Princess' attention “How so? Why would it be any easier to spy on unicorns?”

“As a rule, unicorns from that time weren't given over to acknowledging those that they considered their lessers.” Chrysalis explained, before taking a sip of her somewhat cooler beverage.

“O-oh...”

Seeming to enjoy the mild discomfort her response garnered from the young alicorn, Chrysalis continued on “It makes it rather easy to hide from somepony, when they refuse to even let their gaze linger upon those they consider below their station.”

“Well, that sounds kind of rude.” Spike observed, giving a frown at that notion.

The large changeling gave a shrug at that “Not so much. It was actually considered more rude to draw attention that somepony was a servant or otherwise below you. It was considered a kindness by many of these high-class unicorns to not go about damaging the pride of the lower-classes by reminding them of their station.”

“I suppose it was a different time, with different notions about what was considered polite.” Twilight conceded, before Spike could add anything else.

“Ponies have changed quite a bit since then, though not as much as some might think.”

The princess nodded at that “I guess you would know better than most. But, I'm still curious as to why the changelings were so intent on spying on ponies back then.”

“Apart from the ever present concern that the ponies might discover our hiding places and try to attack us? Apparently, the changelings of the day could sense something was wrong, realizing that the cold weather was unnatural much sooner than most. And if there was something that was endangering ponies, then it endangered changelings, as well.”

Twilight could see the sense in that; changelings derived their sustenance from ponies, so any threat to ponykind was a threat to the changelings too. But that was not really the most interesting part of that explanation for the alicorn “What was it they sensed? How was it that the changelings could tell something was wrong before anyone else?”

Chrysalis gave a shake of her head “I couldn't tell you. It seemed there was just a wrongness to the air that changelings could pick up on. Beyond that, there's only one changeling still alive that could offer a personal accounting...and I rather doubt you want to speak to my mother about anything ever again.”

Twilight quickly shook her head at that notion, any curiosity she might have had being instantly quelled by the idea of having to pay Manti another visit. Chrysalis' mother, while old and infirm, was easily one of the most frightening individuals she had ever encountered. In fact, the elderly changeling hadn't given a second thought against the notion of psychically assaulting Twilight in their first encounter, in a misguided bid to drive the young princess mad with terror.

Even without the ancient changeling's attempts at brainwashing, Twilight still harbored some justifiable fear for Chrysalis' mother.

“Why wouldn't you want to speak to Ms. Chrysalis' mom?” Hard Note innocently asked.

It was Chrysalis that answered for her, sparing Twilight from having to find some sort of polite response “She gets very cranky and doesn't particularly like ponies.”

Swallowing down a bit, Twilight found herself nodding in agreement “Yes, very cranky.”

“Now, was there anything else? Or shall I continue with the story?” The Changeling Queen asked of everyone present. Not receiving any objections, she cleared her throat before resuming with the telling of the story “As I was saying...”

Fifteen hundred years ago...

“Your Highness?”

Princess Platinum barely spared a glance for the guardpony at her side, her attention far more focused upon the heavy oaken door that stood in front of her. Having ascertained the state of Clover's health and having few other means of delaying the inevitable, it was now time for her to attend to her king. The same king that also happened to be her incredibly stern and stubborn father, whose direct orders she had just flaunted.

She rather needed a few moments to sort out how she was going to approach this.

“His Majesty is, uh, eagerly awaiting your presence, Your Highness.” The mare standing watch once again tried to prod the princess only to, once again, largely go ignored.

What was truly the worst that could happen when she went through those doors?

A scolding? A stern talking-to? Being completely stricken from the line-of-succession, publicly castigated, ostracized, and ultimately banished?

'Perhaps not that last part...'

Princess Platinum just needed to formulate an approach for dealing with this, some way of framing her actions in the correct light. If she just thought this through, she was-

“Hang on a second.”

“Spike?”

“I can kinda see how changelings might end up spying on Princess Platinum and everything. But how exactly would they have known what she was thinking?”

“I thought we were done with questions?”

“...Actually, Spike does raise a good point, Chrysalis.”

“Yeah, I mean were they like reading her mind or something?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“Then how is it-”

“Because I said so.

“Chrysalis, you can't just-”

“Because I said so.

“If you would-”

“Because. I. Said so.”

“...Please continue.”

Looking around the study, as she slowly pushed the door closed behind her, Princess Platinum was momentarily taken aback by just how warm the chamber was. Taking a breath, she let her gaze briefly wander over the large, roaring fireplace, packed to capacity with merrily burning logs; she rather hoped that her own chambers hadn't been forgotten when it came to the allocation of firewood.

One could easily describe the room as being uncomfortably toasty, but that was hardly unusual for her father. He liked to keep himself warm and those around him uncomfortable, and Princess Platinum was fairly sure this policy would extend even to her.

Given how anxious she was already feeling, the mare was rather glad that she had left her trademark cape behind in Clover's tower. It wouldn't do for her to breakout into a sweat in front of her own father, lest it seem she was cowering and fretting like some neonate of the Court.

The princess had to forcibly keep herself from starting, as the relative quiet was interrupted by the sound of a stallion clearing his throat “Is it too much to expect, that mine own daughter not spend her time cringing by the door for too long?”

And just like that, the princess found her anxieties overcome by a not inconsiderable amount of irritation.

Closing her eyes briefly to bring her thoughts under control, Princess Platinum began a slow walk towards the voice “My apologies, Father. I was a bit caught up ruminating over the issue of our Court Mage's rather drafty tower. It is in a rather sad state and terribly chilly.”

There, sitting at a nearly too-large desk of dark wood, was the Unicorn King and her Father, King Bullion. Princess Platinum was admittedly disappointed when he failed to even glance up at her remark from the piles of scrolls and missives he had his hooves buried in. Though, as a rule, very few ponies were inclined to use the word 'disappointed' when describing the stallion, for even as he passed well into his fifties he cut an imposing figure.

Far from the decadent, soft, and political ruler that many outsiders expected of the Unicorn Kingdom, King Bullion was a powerfully built stallion and possessed an even more powerfully built mien.

Indeed, some could be forgiven for thinking that he ever showed anything other than stoicism or stern anger for those that crossed him.

Even the militant leaders of the individual Pegasi City-States had maintained a wary respect for him, after the forceful Unicorn King had started a march upon their lands. Over a relatively minor issue of some stolen foodstuffs and goods, he had threatened to conquer them one-by-one and very convincingly at that.

Perhaps it was a bit much, though this did occur several decades ago, at a time when one could be excused for thinking him a too-young ruler floundering in too deep waters.

It had sent a message.

One so effective, that some might point towards it as one of the issues that drove the normally competitive and isolated Pegasi City-States to close ranks and become a more unified force...

“Ah. So is that the reason my daughter decided to tarry so long when it came to seeing me? Was she too busy touring our esteemed mage's quarters?” Her father inquired with a tilt of his chin, breaking her from her thoughts. She couldn't help but note that he had yet to turn his attention fully towards herself.

Giving a small sniff at that remark, Princess Platinum turned her nose up a bit “Not at all, Father. It merely took me a little while to make my way all the way here, so tucked away from the world as this chamber is.”

This remark elicited little more than a grunt from the king.

Rolling her eyes a bit at this mild reaction, Princess Platinum turned her gaze to the blazing fireplace, watching as one of the burning logs prepared to crumble. If he couldn't be bothered to give her his attention, she was all too happy to-

The thought was cut short at the sound of a stallion rising to his hooves, his paperwork pushed to the side, as King Bullion finally looked her way.

She had her father's eyes.

That was something that she had always been told, and now she found herself feeling some small sympathy for those ponies that had earned her condescension or anger in the past.

Apart from that, she otherwise clearly took the rest of her features from her since passed mother. She lacked her father's large build and his icy-blue coat, though she could not for sure say how closely her mane and tail matched. At his age, they had both started slipping towards a steely-grey color that she might find in her own mane and tail at that age.

He was a classically handsome unicorn stallion, with a countenance as cool and unyielding as this interminable Winter.

All of this was only slightly hampered by the comfortable looking robe he was sporting at the moment.

He did like to keep himself warm.

Regardless, Princess Platinum found herself watching as he deliberately made his way around his overly-laden desk to approach her wondering how things were about to proceed. Watching with an upraised eyebrow, the younger mare started putting her not-inconsiderable intellect to the process of figuring out how she was going to respond to anything that her father might-

He was hugging her.

...Yep, he was holding her in his forelegs and she didn't really know how to respond to that.

After about a minute of this, he eventually set his hooves back to the floor and took a step back. A moment later, an unfurled scroll floated through the air held in his magic, before being casually cast into the fireplace to be consumed.

Turning back towards his desk and starting his way back towards his seat, King Bullion briefly cleared his throat before speaking “This was a damnably foolish little pursuit for you to go traipsing off upon, especially during such a time of concern and fretfulness.”

Blinking in bemusement at this casually delivered rebuke, Princess Platinum struggled to sort herself out to provide a proper response to these words. Granted, she was altogether more comfortable exchanging in such verbal sniping than...the thing that had just happened “I-...I can assure-...”

Princess Platinum had to stop herself for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep, calming breath as a means of bringing herself back in order. This was her father, and as such it was a perfectly normal thing for him to embrace her upon her return from a potentially risky journey. That was a thing that family members did. She distinctly remembered that from her childhood.

Opening her eyes, Princess Platinum found herself meeting the gaze of her King once more “My apologies for any inconvenience or misunderstanding, Father. It was hardly my intention, but I suppose I can understand how one could mistake taking action for simple recklessness.”

King Bullion merely gave a quiet, unimpressed hum at that remark, before once more taking his seat behind his desk. Using a hoof to edge a goblet closer to himself, he grasped a pitcher in his magic before pouring what she suspected was wine into the waiting vessel “I don't suppose you've managed to take the time to grace Ever Valiant with your presence yet? As needful as Ms. Clover is of your patronage, I'm sure the Knight-Captain would be relieved to know that you are whole and hearty.”

Princess Platinum found her lips pursing a bit, at his apparent disregard for her own remarks “...Ever Valiant was kind enough to meet me on my approach to the castle and escort myself inside.”

The stallion gave a nod at that without looking up from his desk “Good lad. The two of you should take what time you can for courting one another. I'm sure it seems a pointless formality at this point for you both, but it does pay to keep up appearances.”

“Appearances? You're suggesting that how others perceive myself should be my greatest concern right now?” The princess found herself demanding, her incredulity growing with each word.

Taking hold of a quill pen in his magic, her father deliberately dunked it into a nearby inkwell before bringing it against the surface of one of the many missives littering his work space “That might be overstating things a bit, but-”

“It is snowing outside, father.”

Leaning back a bit at the interruption, King Bullion turned his gaze to the side to take in what lie beyond his study's window. And indeed a light flurry could be seen dancing just on the other side, having been brought down by the dropping temperatures of the day's end.

“Summer should nearly be upon us and we are still finding frosty ground come morning, ice to be chipped from our windows, and regular flurries.” Princess Platinum pressed her eyes narrowed in annoyance.

He didn't respond beyond turning his attention back to the paper he was signing.

Taken aback by his apparent lack of concern, the mare found herself letting loose an unladylike snort and a sour look to her side “....Somehow, I find myself doubting that the smallfolk will be overly concerned about my future marriage, when they find themselves starving in the streets.”

Pushing a scroll to one side with a hoof, he moved onto the task of breaking the wax seal on another before perusing it “They are not starving yet. And there remains no small amount of time to address the-”

Princess Platinum clicked her tongue against her teeth before interjecting “And yet, I'm quite sure they are already sharpening their pitchforks for when they are. They can sow no crops, graze no animals. We are sending out ponies just to dig up semi-edible roots to boil down and you-”

“I have already sent out a number of knights, at your repeated request, to seek out answers.” King Bullion reminded, his tone a bit more forceful now.

“Oh yes! And they have done such a wonderful job of providing us a solution thus far. Meanwhile, you've imprisoned one of the few ponies that is actually offering any-”

Slamming his quill down in a burst of magic, King Bullion once more took to his hooves “That girl is not Starswirl the Bearded and has only thus far offered up pointless flights-of-fancy for you to to chase down. I will not have the actions of this kingdom dictated by the musings of a half-wit soothsayer, nor will I have my daughter giving undue weight to her visions out of misguided compassion!”

“Is that why you threatened her with the Headsman's axe? Because I decided to spare an ear to the one pony that-”

“She would have lost her head if it was by her counsel that mine own daughter delivered herself into the hooves of those that hold us in contempt! Disappearing in the middle of the night and flaunting my explicit orders to the contrary?” King Bullion demanded his anger no longer hidden and his voice nearly a roar that surely carryied through the doors of the chamber “I might have welcomed the notion of some assailant spiriting you away, if I had known this was of your own design! That could at least be explained to the court!”

“There is hardly a member among the Silver Knights that can match my skill, save perhaps Valiant. I am not some delicate filly waiting to be snatched away by some hooded flunkies.” Princess Platinum dismissively reminded.

“No. You are my daughter and heir, the key to the throne of Unicorn Kingdom, and the pony that is to stand against our foes here and abroad when I am gone.” The stallion countered, as he took his heavy steps back to the fireplace with his gaze fixed upon her “Or do you perhaps think the Pegasi would turn down the opportunity to use you against me? Or that the superstitious Earth ponies might not choose to vent their anger at their own mediocrity upon you?”

Turning away at those remarks, her lip twitching as she suppressed the urge to blurt out the first thing that came to mind “...We have tried to bring an end to this Winter on our own. Clover is not wrong in suggesting that if we turned to the other tribes-”

“And what came of this attempt of yours? This outstretched hoof that you offered to them in goodwill? Have you perhaps waited till now to tell me of some grand new agreement between ourselves and them that you have brokered?” King Bullion pressed, his contempt for these other nations apparent.

Princess Platinum spent several moments not meeting her father's gaze, knowing that she had nothing to refute his thoughts on the matter.

“Nothing?” He pressed once more.

Finally letting loose a sigh, she turned back and met his gaze once more, unwilling to let her dignity falter “...Nothing.”

The silence weighed over the two of them heavily, with King Bullion's anger visibly draining away, leaving behind a stallion that was visibly sagging under the weight of too many issues “Neither the Pegasi or Earth ponies have any desire to work alongside us, nor do they wish to entertain the possibility that this long Winter is not our fault. In that light, do you find it that strange that I would not trust them when it came to my daughter?”

All at once, Princess Platinum felt exhausted and unwilling to pretend any longer that she thought much more highly of their kingdom's neighbors. She had already suffered a long and fruitless day and she couldn't bring herself to defend Clover's notion of working alongside them. Or at the least, she could at least recognize that such an alliance was impossible as things stood.

“...I do have an obligation to mention that at no point was I ever accosted by the other representatives, father.” The mare quietly pointed out.

“How fortunate we are for that.”

She gave another sigh and a shake of her head at that “Yes, well...it can hardly be said that Clover has lead our House into ruin. We might count few beyond our borders as allies, but-”

“Star Swirl's little apprentice will be allowed out of her tower. You can pass that along to the guards yourself, if you must.” King Bullion conceded, sparing her the effort of arguing her case.

“Clover is possessed of no small talent, father. And I have no doubts about her intentions.” Princess Platinum added with a tilt of her head.

The older stallion gave a derisive snort at that “Her intentions be damned, I will not have her braying about her visions in court again. If you cannot keep her reins, then this clever little mare can go crawling back to her master.”

“...I will speak to her about discretion.” Princess Platinum agreed, too tired to take exception to what he was saying. Taking a moment to rub the bridge between her eyes, she started to turn towards the doors to the study “If that is all, my King?”

“No.”

That brought her to a surprised stop, her hoof hovering in the air and her ears swiveling his way “I'm sorry?”

Once more her father was far more intent on the crackling of his fireplace “Come tomorrow, I expect you to call upon the other families of the city. You will set aside time to speak to all that can be considered worthy of your presence.”

“To what end?”

“You will take the time to, and in a very proper manner, explain how it is that you became so misguided as to disregard my wishes and run off into the night.” He calmly elaborated.

Staring wide-eyed at this, Princess Platinum struggled to respond for a moment “But, I-”

“You will explain how our very well-intentioned Court Mage became so carried away, that she mistakenly filled your head with all manner of prattle about prophecies and dreams. That you only moved against my will due to unwarranted fears brought about by Clover's ill-conceived counsel. And how you now understand how wrong you were in your course.”

“You expect me to make a-” The mare tried to argue, knowing that she would be casting aside no small amount of her reputation by following such an order.

“You will disavow Clover and all of the nonsense she has brought into this castle. You will explain that you have come to grasp the wisdom in following my will. And you will convince as many as you can, that if we are to address this crisis it will only be accomplished through unity behind the crown.” Pausing for a moment to take a breath, he turned back towards her before finishing “Is that understood?”

Standing rigid for several moments, Princess Platinum had to struggle against the urge to refuse, knowing all too well that this was in no way a request. And that he wasn't asking this of her as a father, but as her king “Yes...I understand.”

Frowning a bit at this, King Bullion's own gaze wandered a bit and his voice softened “To rule is to make sacrifices. And to, at times, demand sacrifices of others. Therein lies the true weight of the crown you will one day wear.”

“...Yes, my King.”

“And so, while you see to this task I have laid out before you, you shall be at all times escorted when moving beyond the grounds of the keep.” The stallion added, as he turned his gaze back to the fires. Behind him the young princess found herself grinding her teeth together all too ready to dispute everything, but he still had something left to add “And if it is found that you cannot adhere to this edict, I shall have no recourse but to lay the blame at the hooves of our too-controversial Court Mage.”

“Fine.”

The Unicorn King found himself leaning his head to the side, as a bejeweled crown careened past his head before ricocheting off of the sturdy wooden mantle of the fireplace. A rather loud clanging sound filled the study, as the heavy crown bounced off of the far wall to eventually land upon the stone floor. The ringing metallic sound was only overcome by the noise of heavy doors suddenly slamming shut, as his daughter stormed off.

Deciding to let the matter lie for the moment, he lent his tired eyes to taking in the rather unsightly gouge left behind in the hardwood of his fireplace's mantle, the result of the flung headwear.

As a relative calm returned to his sanctuary, the stallion let out a quiet grunt.

“Almost as bad as her mother...”

Author's Note

Yay for updates!

It's a bit late and I've got work in the morning, so I'll be leaving off on this for now. Expect some tweaking and typo corrections over the next couple of days.

Any questions or criticisms are welcome. I hope everyone enjoys this latest chapter :]

Lesson Four: Making Plans

Clover the Clever found herself nearly tripping over her hooves, as she moved to steady the teetering tower of tomes she had stacked up on her reading table over the course of the day.

Letting out a sigh, as she managed to stabilize the great pile of research, she was only briefly distracted by the sight of her own breath forming in the cool air. Forcing down a small shiver, the Court Mage ducked her head briefly before steeling herself. Sparing one last glance towards the books to be sure they would stand, she sidled across the room towards the one that had nearly caused them to topple in the first place.

The currently fuming princess that had slammed open the doors to the small library.

Clover was somewhat relieved to find that Princess Platinum’s very apparent anger wasn’t directed towards herself, and that the Princess seemed well enough in control that she wasn’t ranting aloud. Even so, the agitated pacing and the noises of apparent frustration coming from her friend told Clover more than enough about how things had gone with the King.

She very much hoped that Princess Platinum’s current lack of her usual crown wasn’t indicative of anything...

Swallowing down her anxieties one more time, Clover took another step forward, raising a hoof in the hopes of getting her attention. She found herself almost deflating in relief, when she was interrupted by the sound of a hoof lightly knocking on the doors to the library. Both mares turning towards the still open doors, revealed the presence of one of the many guardponies from around the castle standing in the threshold, his hoof still hovering near the door.

Clearing his throat briefly, the stallion stood up a bit straighter upon taking note of the princess “I beg your pardon, Your Highness. The King sent me to relay a message to-”

“Do not speak to me about my Father!” Princess Platinum immediately snapped, leading to the guard clamping his mouth shut in an instant, even as he ducked his own head. Clover could sympathize with the stallion, as the angry comment wasn’t even directed towards her, and she could feel her own ears pinning flat.

“I- Of course, Your Highness. I-I did not mean to-...” The unfortunate guard stammered for a few moments. Again clearing his throat, Clover suspected this was a far more nervous gesture than before, the guard gestured a hoof towards the Court Mage “It- It has been passed down that the Court Mage is now free to-”

“Do you you think she does not know that already?” Princess Platinum demanded, closing the distance between herself and the shuffling stallion “Do you think her a fool that she could not have deduced that on her own?!”

“N-No, Your Highness. I-”

“And has no one yet sent for more firewood?!” The Unicorn Princess did not relent, bearing down upon the poor fellow, till she seemed to be looking upon him like an ant “Is it perhaps that we are meant to freeze to death while we’re here?”

At this point, the stallion couldn’t even speak up, merely giving a vigorous shake of his head now.

“Then perhaps you can do something that is actually useful and go retrieve some fire wood!”

His mouth still buttoned shut, the guardpony started nodding his head even more vigorously at the order, even as he stood in place.

“...Now!” She eventually shouted, quickly shocking the stallion into action. The sound of his hooves on stone echoing from down the hallway, Princess Platinum turned away with another huff. Not even looking now, she used her magic to close the doors behind her, as she trotted further into the library. Passing by Clover, the Court Mage briefly tried to speak up, to shake herself out of her own nervousness around the clearly upset princess. But the opportunity passed, as her princess trotted by.

Clover watched with no small amount of concern, as her friend abruptly sat down on her haunches in front of the reading table. Letting out a heavy sigh, Platinum pressed her forehead against the edge of the table with her eyes closed, without further comment.

Clover found herself once more shuffling her hooves, looking to the side, some part of her distressed at seeing the princess seeming so...tired.

Sidling a bit closer, it seemed as if Princess Platinum was in her own world to the Court Mage; it almost made Clover wonder if she had fainted dead away from, perhaps from exhaustion. That was plausible, in her mind, given her travels and the time that must have been taken up with meeting the other representatives, Platinum must have gone without much sleep for a couple of days now. It was preferable to think this was merely a sign of fatigue on her princess’ part, instead of despair.

Bringing a hoof to her mouth, she cleared her throat before trying to broach the matter “Erhm, Princess? Perhaps-...Perhaps I can escort you back to your chambers? I’m sure you must be-”

She quickly found herself pinning her lips together, as Princess Platinum held up a hoof without looking towards her, implicitly calling for silence. Having achieved that, she lowered her hoof before letting out a slow sigh “I need a few moments, Clover...I need to think...”

“You-...You might have an easier time of it if you had some rest...my lady.” Clover managed to persevere after only a moment’s hesitation.

“Mmm...”

She had to frown at that non-response from the royal pony. How poorly could the meeting with her father have gone? How much more had been piled on to the princess? How could she actually help? There was the real question, the one that truly stymied Clover; after her years of tutelage at the hooves of Starswirl the Bearded, mastering the ways of magic, how is it she still felt so unable to help anyone?

Clover found herself resting on her own haunches, looking onward with concern, wondering just how much she had managed to cost the princess “Did you...lose your crown, my lady?”

“What? No. What?” Princess Platinum blurted out, lifting up her head at the question, in apparent surprise. Even now, there was a lingering mark between her eyes and horn, where she’d been leaning her head against the reading table “No. Just figuratively I-”

“You figuratively lost your crown? You’ve been dis-” Clover started to ask with growing worry.

To which the princess gave a quick shake of her head “No, no. I mean, I threw-...lost it. I lost it literally...And didn’t bother retrieving it.”

“So you haven’t been...disinherited? Or anything of the sort?”

“Not at all...It was just a very vexing conversation is all.” Princess Platinum finished, rubbing at her temple with a hoof, seemingly trying to massage away a headache now.

Pressing her lips together as Clover prepared to push on “How did it go, my lady?”

“He...correctly surmised that the summit was unproductive. We argued...You are free to leave your tower now, if you haven’t already picked up on that.” Princess Platinum tiredly summarized for the court mage, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.

“I...assume that’s not all? He took exception to your leaving for the summit?”

“He couldn’t have cared less about the summit. All that mattered to him, is that I publicly opposed him. No, I embarrassed him! By calling into question his utterly mule-headed policy of doing nothing!” The gray-toned princess snapped again, before stomping to one side to apparently glare at nothing in particular.

Once more Clover wasn’t sure if it was better to let her run her course or to try to calm the royal mare.

She didn’t get an opportunity to mull it over for too long, as the princess turned back around and trotted over to the reading table. Clover was left a bit bemused, as she watched her princess once more sit down, before leaning her royal head against the edge of the table again.

Unsure how to proceed, it felt like a full minute had passed before the young mage could muster up anything to say “It’s...going to leave a mark, if you keep pressing your forehead into the table like that.”

This actually prompted the princess to sit back up, and turn her attention back towards Clover. She was briefly worried that she might have offended her, when Platinum gave an abrupt snort that quickly resolved into a clipped laugh. Chuckling now, the princess absently rubbed at the sore spot that she had indeed caused on her forehead with a hoof.

“Feeling a bit better? Maybe- Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. We can-” Clover began hopefully.

“No, no. It’s actually somewhat worse than all that, really.” Princess Platinum continued to chuckle, even as she somewhat blithely shot down her friend’s optimism.

“Oh...”

“But, I won’t complain about having something to laugh about later on...” The royal mare mused, a rueful smile on her face now.

“Your fa-...The king gave you some manner of decree, didn’t he?” Clover soon deduced.

Princess Platinum eventually nodded, before giving a wave of her hoof “Yes...Yes, as it turns out, it falls to me to salve his wounded ego and repair his reputation in the eyes of the other families.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be. I made my decisions and- Oh, you mean-...I need to go to the other families and tell them that I made a foolish choice and that I regret it immensely.” The princess clarified for the Court Mage. A moment later, she turned to the side, before muttering out of the side of her mouth “Although, I don’t...”

“That doesn’t seem so bad, having to go speak with a few nobles.” Clover noted aloud. It took her a moment to realize that her princess was staring at her like she’d just said something very foolish. Once more overtaken by her sense of sheepishness, she shuffled on her hooves a bit “I mean, I suppose that could be time-consuming and...unpleasant?”

“It’s not just going to be unpleasant, it’s-” Princess Platinum abruptly stopped herself, turning to the side before she could snap at Clover “I sometimes forget that you aren’t as used to the...politics that we’re dealing with here.”

“I take it, that this is worse for us than it sounds.” The court mage broached.

“Yes. Yes it is. You need to understand that there are many different factions we need to deal with, if we’re going to pressure my fath-...The king into taking action.” Princess Platinum began to explain. Rubbing at her forehead again, seemingly to help order her thoughts.

“Who could-”

“Off the cuff? The Jewels, the Bluebloods, the Gallants, the Vintages, the Glimmers...” The Royal unicorn quickly and easily began rattling off names of the noble lines she knew to have her father’s ear, punctuating each with a wave of her hoof. Stepping off to one side, she glanced upwards in brief consideration “And of course, we can’t neglect Lord Towering Shield, sitting on his great pile of sychophantical vipers. I could go on, but you get the point...”

“How can there be this many sides though, my lady? The only way anypony lives, is if we all come together and-”

“They’re thinking about what comes after the crisis. They are taking it for granted that this crisis will eventually be solved or pass on its own, and are thinking for what comes after it.” Platinum continued to explain, before giving a flip of her mane “And...they aren’t even entirely wrong for doing so.”

“But-”

“I know, Clover. We need to take action. And politics are getting in the way of us doing so.” The princess quickly forestalled with a raised hoof for the mage “But those same politics are what keeps everyone else from acting on their own selfish wants and desires. There’s a precarious status quo that few have an interest in upsetting.”

“You make it sound as if we’re all trapped in some sort of great spiderweb.” Clover observed, still sporting a disbelieving look.

Princess Platinum seemed to mull her words for a few moments, before giving a nod “That’s...an apt analogy. Because, like in a spider’s web, if one starts pulling on the threads too roughly, the whole thing might fall.”

“He’s concerned your actions made him look weak...? Which could cause others to attempt to capitalize and destabilize things further?” Clover started to surmise, the gears in her head clearly chewing apart the information that she’d been given. Seeing the nod from her princess to continue, she continued “So, he’s making you shoulder responsibility to reestablish his authority...And because that makes this a visible loss for you, it’s less likely that the nobles will want to follow your lead?”

Platinum nodded once more in agreement “Basically, yes. I either have to publicly drag our own reputations through the mud, to spare his...”

“I know enough, to know that I don’t have much of a reputation with anyone beyond you, my lady.” Clover quickly pointed out, with her own self-deprecating smile.

The royal unicorn gave another chuckle and a tilt of her head at that “I cannot deny that...But the alternative, is that I publicly rebuff my father’s orders again.”

“Which could lead to others plotting against him.”

“They’re already plotting against him, Clover. This will just lead them to thinking they can accelerate their plans.” Princess Platinum corrected, before visibly considering a thought “Some might even think that I’m already vying to overthrow him and try to toss themselves in my camp. Or try to co-opt such a motion for their own benefit.”

Clover furrowed her brow at that, knowing well-enough to not ask if perhaps her princess was plotting such a thing. Shifting back to the main issue was an easy choice “What do think the worst case scenario could be from rebuffing your father?”

“Civil war.” Came the very blunt response from the princess.

“Oh...”

“Yes. Oh...”

“I suppose, we’ll be ruling out that choice then.”

“You suppose correctly.” Princess Platinum agreed, her earlier energy withering away once more, as she finally finished imparting the depths of their situation. A few moments later, the royal unicorn had closed her eyes and was rubbing at the bridge of her nose with her hoof, exhaustion once more spilling over.

“Well- I mean, is there some way that I can help? Perhaps I can speak to them on your behalf. It need not be you that-”

“That would look even worse for all parties involved, Clover, precisely because you have no standing in the court.” Platinum interrupted without even looking up. Giving a wave of her hooves in the court mage’s direction, she continued “Assuming they weren’t insulted just by it being you that was sent...no offense. But it would not only look like the King can’t control the goings-on of his own court, but that I’m trying to toss you under the cart.”

“But, you’re not! I-”

“That’s how they will see it, Clover.” Princess Platinum cut her off before she could continue. Finally looking up, only to see the despondent look taking over Clover’s features, she let out a sigh “I do appreciate the sentiment. But this is the truth of how things work within the nobility. Don’t blame yourself over this.”

“I just-...It seems as if I’m so powerless to help you, my lady. I’ve spent years studying so much, but all I’ve done is- there aren’t any spells I know that can help me fix this.” Clover finally admitted. Though after a few moments, she gave a tilt of her head “No spells that I would consider using, at least...”

“Just let me worry about the politics of this situation, Clover. I have no doubt that your magical prowess will make itself useful in some way in the future.”

“All I’ve done so far is tangle myself up in this giant web. And gotten you tangled in it, as well.” The court mage pointed out, the princess’ own exhaustion seeming infectious now. Clover found herself letting out a long sigh “We probably would be entirely better off, if all the blame had fallen on me. I could probably do more for you in exile, than I can here...”

“Yes. You probably could.”

“Uhh-Oh...I didn’t really expect you to agree with me.” Clover notes, a slightly hurt look crossing her face, as she turned towards her princess.

Only to find the royal unicorn very obviously overtaken by some thought that she had to work her way through.

“Princess Platinum?”

“Hold a moment, Clover. I just...I need a moment.”

“Uhmmm...” Clover hesitantly tapped her two front hooves together after a few moments “You’re not...thinking about exiling me, are you? I-I could understand if you felt you might be-”

“What? No, no. That’s not it.”

“Oh. Oh, of course. I never should have thought that you would-”

“That is to say...You probably will still end up being exiled, if this works.”

“...Oh.”

Present day Canterlot Castle library...

“Chrysalis! We would have words with you!”

This abruptly shouted declaration, along with the sound of the library doors being thrown open, naturally proved to be quite the surprise for Twilight. Setting down her notes for a moment, as she furrowed her brow at this interruption, she found herself glancing towards the others. Unsurprisingly, Spike and young Hard Note likewise seemed surprised and curious, respectively.

“Well, that was sooner than I expected.” Chrysalis noted in a mild tone, barely bothering to spare a glance towards the shout.

“Is that...Princess Luna?” The purple princess hesitantly called out, as she stood up from her place nestled among the pillows and blankets, carefully setting down her notes as she did so.

“Twilight?” The voice called back, confirming that it was in fact the Moon Princess at the lower level of the library.

“Well, we certainly can’t pretend that we didn’t hear her now.” Chrysalis groused, even as she used a hoof to prop up her chin and glance to the side.

Twilight quickly, or as quickly one reasonably could, stumbled her way through the pile of comforters, quilts, and cushions. Giving a small buffet of her wings to cover the last stretch, she approached the edge of the second level before peering down at the curious Princess Luna down below.

“We’re all up here, Luna, What’s going on-” Twilight quickly had to abort her attempt at waving to her fellow Pony Princess, in favor of clearing some space. Barely refraining from letting out a sound of surprise, she blinked as Luna quickly set her hooves down on the second floor, having swiftly ascended with a quick beat of her wings.

The Moon Princess gave a quick turn of her head towards Twilight, as if to greet her, before visibly having her attention caught by the lounging Changeling Queen in the room. Pursing her lips and furrowing her brow, Luna quickly stomped her way to the very apparently unconcerned Chrysalis.

Twilight only had a scant moment or two to notice that Princess Luna was wearing her own, apparently custom-tailored, pajamas, in lieu of her usual regalia. And another moment to connect that one thought to a certain changeling’s own pajamas. Twilight certainly preferred the star-spangled pajamas, adorned with only slightly embellished constellation, to the pajamas Chrysalis was sporting. She didn’t get much further than that with her train-of-thought, as Luna came to a stop at the edge of the pile of blankets and pillows and shot an expectant look towards Chrysalis.

“Luna...To what do we owe the pleasure?” Chrysalis finally asked, with a smirk.

“Do not think to play the fool with us, Chrysalis! We know fully what deeds you have been getting up to this day, and we will not be having anymore of it.” Luna stated firmly, and rather loudly. The stomp of her hoof that she punctuated her words with set the fluff ball on her own nightcap dancing. Taking a moment to push away the soft little ball hanging in front of her eyes with her hoof, Luna refocused back upon the target of her ire.

Just in time for Twilight to come trotting up, with the very apparent goal of mediating “Princess Luna? I’m not really sure what-”

“Is it not obvious, Twilight? This one has absconded with the royal bedding! No doubt as some facet of an immature prank on her part!” Luna quickly pointed an accusing hoof towards the Changeling Queen, even as she turned to respond to her fellow Pony Princess.

To which, Chrysalis gave a huff and an upturn of her nose “Oh, yes. Of course, I am once again the first suspect for anything that might go wrong in the castle. I know I make an easy target, Luna, but perhaps you should think about providing some evidence, if you’re going to accuse me of such things.”

Still sitting in his own spot to the side, next to Hard Note, Spike very pointedly glanced around at the large pile of blankets, sheets, and pillows “Can’t imagine where she’d get the idea that you swiped her blankets...”

Luna very apparently agreed with the little dragon’s assessment, as she gestured her own hoof towards the collected pile of coziness.

“Chrysalis...” Twilight said in a tone that was as much a sigh as anything else; her tone was positively parental in its exasperation. Holding her own hoof up towards the changeling, she asked the obvious question “Did you take Princess Luna’s...royal bedding?”

“And the royal pillows.”

“Yes, and the royal pillows...”

“Of course, Twilight. I should think that would be obvious.” Chrysalis replied with a smirk, and her own gesture at their surroundings.

“Wha- Then how can you possibly feign innocence?! You readily admit that-” Luna began.

“That I did indeed take your royal bedding, yes. I am definitely guilty of that.” Chrysalis easily agreed, before Luna could get up to speed once more. The Changeling Queen leaned forward a moment later “But it certainly wasn’t a part of any sort of prank, on my part...Your chambers were simply the closest ones available at the time.”

Luna’s brow knitted at the changeling’s attempts at splitting hairs, before giving a shake of her head “No. We have had enough of your shenanigans this day, Chrysalis. Enough time has already been spent on tracking your water fowl.”

There were several moments of silence shared by the rest of those in the room, at this last declaration from the Moon Princess. Twilight in particular was left confused for a moment, not entirely wiling to rule out the possibility of Chrysalis releasing wild birds into the castle as a distraction.

It finally came down to Spike, as the dragonling held up a claw, with a visible look of understanding coming across his face “...Oh! She means she’s already wasted enough time on wild goose chases.”

“Yes, that is what I just said...” Luna agreed in quieter tone, as she just now seemed to be wondering if she had gotten the phrase wrong. Turning back towards the changeling in the room, she re-focused back on the task at hoof “We have already wasted several hours traipsing about the castle trying to find this one. And we refuse to allow her to vex us any further with her shenanigans.”

“Oh, please. Do you really believe that I’ve been hiding from you all morning, setting up various false leads and decoy trails, just to annoy you?” Chrysalis countered in what was surely as condescending a manner as she could manage.

“I believe that exactly.” Luna quickly affirmed.

“Yeah, I’m kinda thinkin’ that too now.” Spike agreed from her side, raising a claw to his chin in thought.

Chrysalis pursed her lips at that, before shrugging “Alright, yes. That does sound like something I would do.”

“Is that something you did, Chrysalis?” Twilight asked in a knowing tone. To which the changeling gave an easy nod, leading to her letting out a heavy sigh. Rubbing her forehead with her hoof for a moment, before gesturing back towards Chrysalis “Did you not just say that your stealing of Luna’s pillows and sheets was incidental? Why would you go through the effort of setting up false leads, if you hadn’t planned everything from the start?”

“Well...just because I did it on a whim, doesn’t mean I didn’t think it would annoy her.”

“This is the last straw, Chrysalis!” Luna gave another stomp of her hoof, apparently quite incensed by this indifferent response. Her wings fluttering with agitation now, Luna tilted her own head up, before leveling a hoof towards the changeling “If you can’t respect the sanctity of our personal quarters, then we will no longer be sleeping together!”

It took a moment for Twilight to process that.

“...Wait, what?”

“Yeah?” Spike quickly followed up, with a curious glance between the two eldest royals “You two are sleeping together?”

“No more! From hence forth, she will need to warm someone else’s bed when Celestia is busy!” Luna continued on, at what Twilight thought was a too loud volume.

“Okay...” Twilight abruptly said, taking to the air, before holding her hooves up to forestall anything further being said. Seeing that she had gotten everyone’s attention “...before we go any further. Luna? When you say that you and Chrysalis have been sleeping together, you mean-”

“Oh, Twilight. Is your mind once more wandering towards-” The Changeling Queen began to croon towards the young princess.

“Nope! Not you, Chrysalis. Just- Just let Luna answer. I already know what kind of thing you’re probably going to say, Chrysalis. So...no.” Twilight quickly held up her hooves again, stopping Chrysalis from continuing, before turning back towards the slightly confused Luna expectantly.

“Twilight, I’m not quite sure what is...” Luna began hesitantly, raising an eyebrow at Twilight’s seemingly strange behavior. A moment later, she seemed to visibly grasp what was being asked of her “Oh...I do believe I understand now. You’ve somehow inferred that we have been canoodling with Chrysalis here.”

“C-canoodl- What? No!... I mean, kinda. What I mean is-” Twilight quickly started, very visibly trying to stay neutral about the topic they were discussing.

“Nothing of the sort is happening, Twilight. Certainly not without any say-so from Celie.” Luna replied in such a casual manner, that the young princess very much was still struggling with the conversation. Luna, seemingly quite oblivious, gestured her hoof towards the amused changeling “Chrysalis here has merely been forcing herself into my bed as of late, on account of her sleeping longer hours during the day.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Spike chimed from the side, apparently satisfied with this explanation.

“I-...I’m not sure that it does...” Twilight began, still somewhat put-off by Luna’s explanation.

“Sure it does, Twilight.” The little dragon reaffirmed, as he stood up from his spot in the blanket pile “Don’t you remember how all the changelings were worried about living in the Crystal Empire?”

“They were kind of worried about that for a number of reasons, Spike.”

“Well, yeah. But I’m talking about them being worried about living in the cold. They were really worried about that, until you explained about the Crystal Heart, remember?”

The young princess had to blink, as her Number One Assistant successfully jogged her memory. Like with most creatures, living with colder weather tended to require that changelings burn more of their energy, just to stay active. This was a somewhat greater problem for changelings, given that their normal methods of replenishing their energy reserves required that they harmfully feed on others. And even with a supply of ‘Love’ available, most changelings still felt more lethargic and drowsy when cold.

“So, it’d only make sense that Chrysalis would be having sleepovers with Princess Luna, right? Princess Celestia can’t stay in bed with her all day, and she probably gets pretty chilly on her own.” Spike continued in a very genuinely casual tone.

“Uhm...right. Of course, that makes perfect sense, Spike.” Twilight hesitantly agreed, glancing between Luna and Chrysalis, somewhat embarrassed now. Given how much of the research on changelings she’d spearheaded herself, she really felt like this explanation should have occurred to her. Granted, Chrysalis loved messing with Twilight so much, it was no wonder that the Changeling Queen didn’t bother to try to steer her towards that conclusion.

“Uhm, excuse me?”

“Hm?” Luna found herself glancing side-to-side in brief confusion, before finally tying the young voice to the same general vicinity of the light tugging on her pajamas.

There was a small, strange colt staring up at her.

“Uhm, hello?” The Moon Princess hesitantly replied, even as she kept herself from pulling back. Somehow in the midst of all of the recent ruckus, she had failed to notice the foal, nestled as he was amongst the pile of blankets.

“Hi.” Hard Note very plainly greeted Luna, letting go of her pajama sleeve to briefly wave with his hoof. Looking up at the towering figure before him, he gave a tilt of his head “Are you really the Princess of the Night? And, like, the Moon?”

“Yes?” Luna replied a moment later, her own head tilted in bemusement at this.

“Oh! Princess Luna, I haven’t introduced you to Hard Note here.” Twilight proclaimed, as she awkwardly shuffled over between the two. Gesturing a hoof towards the brightly colored colt “He’s visiting Chrysalis here in the castle, as her...friend?”

The purple princess had to furrow her own brow, and send a questioning look towards the Changeling Queen, wondering if that was the appropriate term. Chrysalis merely shrugged, in a rather unhelpful way.

“Anyway...his father works here in the castle.” Twilight finished a moment later.

To which Hard Note gave a vigorous nod, before looking back up to Luna “Yeah, he says that you’re supposed to be really nice. But that you’re also really shy, and that’s why we never see you.”

Twilight found herself ducking her head briefly, in mild embarrassment for the foal’s blunt words.

Likewise, Princess Luna seemed far more hesitant and unsure of herself, at the colt’s comments. It was a far cry from her forceful demeanor from before, when she merely thought she was dealing with an annoying Changeling Queen. Opening her mouth, she closed it again before finally giving a reply “I, uhm-...Yes, I- We suppose that is a fair assessment of things...Though, we are often busy through the night, so-”

“Doing stuff with the Moon?” Hard Note chimed in excitedly.

“...Among other things, yes.” Luna agreed with a nod after a moment. Clearing her throat, she took a moment to adjust her night cap with her hoof.

“So, uhm, which one weighs more?” The colt followed-up, without missing a beat.

“I’m sorry?”

“You know? Which is heavier, the Sun or the Moon?” Hard Note quickly clarified. Holding up a hoof, he continued “Fine Vintage says that the Sun’s heavier, because it’s brighter. But that’s dumb. Being bright doesn’t make things heavy, does it?”

Luna could only furrow her brow in bewilderment.

“But Fine said that’s what his dad told him. And I was like...if the Sun’s heavier, how come both of them float up in the sky? They’d have to weigh the same, right?” He continued excitedly, his blue and pink mane bobbing up and down with his words.

“Uhm, I’m not terribly sure that-” The dark alicorn began, pursing her lips as she tried to process the questions she was being peppered with.

“But then, Miss Keen said that Fine was right, and that the Sun is heavier. So, then I asked how she knows that and she said because she’s the teacher. And then I was like...that’s not a real answer!” Hard Note punctuated the last declaration with a stomp of his little hoof and a very determined look on his face.

After a few seconds of silence on the part of the room, it was Chrysalis that gave a wave of her hoof “Well...he’s not wrong.”

“Right?” Hard Note perked up at that, with a pleased look for the Changeling Queen. Which was quickly replaced with a more dour look, as he looked back down at his hooves “Anyway, that’s how I got detention...”

Princess Luna was very unsure about what had changed with children in the last millennium, but she resolved to look into the issue.

“Oh...so, is the Sun heavier than the Moon?” The colt eventually asked again, having remembered his original question.

Luna furrowed her brow at this, both trying to think of an answer to the question and cautious of the foal going off on another strange tangent “I...I’m honestly not certain about that, young Hard Note. We...that is, my sister and I, have never really spoken of such things before.”

“Oh...Okay then.” Hard Note very easily replied.

“Wait.” Spike said from the side, standing up to gesture a claw towards Hard Note “After all that, you’re fine with just an...’I’m not sure’ for an answer?”

“Well, yeah.” Hard Note replied, his own eyebrow perking upward at the question the drake was posing. The colt gave a tilt of his head at this “I mean, if the Moon Princess doesn’t know if the Moon weighs more than the Sun or not, then Ms. Keen definitely doesn’t know for sure.”

“Huh...good point.” Spike conceded after a moment of thought.

“Is it though?” Twilight had to ask, her own brow furrowed and feeling quite thoroughly puzzled by all of this.

“Well, not that this hasn’t been fun, but...” Chrysalis started, briefly drawing the attention of the others.

“Oh, oh! I almost forgot!” Hard Note exclaimed, before again looking up to Luna once more “You do stuff with stars too, right?”

Getting a bit used to the foal’s abrupt manner now, Luna settled for giving a simple nod at the question.

“You can pester her with questions later, Hard Note.” Chrysalis declared a moment later, before the young colt could jump into another series of questions.

“I- We really aren’t bothered by it. We’re just not so very used to-” Luna began, glancing up towards the now slightly irate changeling still sitting in the pile of pillows.

“I’m sure it’s not a bother for you.” Chrysalis countered before the dark princess could finish “But it’s something of a bother for us. You’re interrupting the story.”

Hard Note was the first one to react to that, turning towards the Changeling Queen, before a look of recollection crossed his face “Oh, right! I’d almost forgotten about that too.”

The colt failed to note the look of displeasure that briefly flitted across Chrysalis’ own face at that nonchalant admission.

For Princess Luna’s part, she was too thrown by the accusatory tone coming from the changeling to notice, before ducking her head in embarrassment “O-oh...I wasn’t aware that I was-”

“Chrysalis!” Twilight snapped in an admonishing tone for the changeling “The only reason Princess Luna is even here, is because you stole her sheets and pillows.”

“It’s only stealing, if I don’t return them.” Chrysalis easily replied, before turning her gaze back towards the Moon Princess in their midst. A moment later, her horn lit up with a dull green light, with a matching aura lining a particular portion of the collected sheets and cushions. With a light flick of her horn a large star-spangled length of blanket rose up out of the pile.

Right out from underneath Twilight, leading to an awkward shuffle of hooves from the youngest royal, before she gave a quick flap of her wings.

Ignoring the annoyed look from the purple princess, Chrysalis quickly used her magic to retrieve two fairly large pillows. A few moments later, she dropped the sought after prizes in front of the mildly surprised Princess Luna “There...Now you can be on your way, and we can get back to the story I was telling.”

There was a brief look of hurt that crossed Luna’s face, as she watched her bedding plop down in front of her hooves. She quickly recomposed herself and gave a firm nod “I-...Very well. It seems that we have-...achieved the goal of our search. We can now be on our way...”

“Wait, does she really have to go?” Hard Note quickly asked, looking up towards Chrysalis and Twilight hopefully “Can’t Princess Luna just stay and listen to the story with us?”

Luna couldn’t help but let her ears perk up ever so slightly at this “I wouldn’t wish to intrude. And I’m not even certain what story it is that Chrysalis is telling and-”

“It’s about Princess Platinum!” Hard Note quickly supplied with a grin and a nod of his head. After a moment’s thought, he pointed a hoof towards Twilight “It’s all in this book that Miss Twilight was having trouble reading!”

“Twilight was having trouble reading a book?” Luna blurted out, utterly dumbfounded by the notion.

“I know, right?” Spike quickly chimed in from the side, before Twilight could clarify the matter.

“Spike, it’s not that I’m having- I can read the book, it’s just that I’m...having a bit of trouble comprehending what’s written in it.” Twilight eventually finished, turning towards Luna as she tried to explain.

Princess Luna could only sport an uncertain look at this, turning towards Spike once more for explanation.

“The book’s in Draconic.” The drake casually replied

“Oh. Well, that explains it then.” Luna agreed with an easy nod at the simple explanation. She only paused for a moment as a thought visibly occurred to her, as she turned towards Chrysalis “And you’re reading this book aloud for Twilight, or perhaps-...”

The Changeling Queen merely stared back unhappily.

Perhaps not being able to really read the social situation, being a young foal, Hard Note excitedly waved to get the Moon Princess’ attention again “Uhm, it’s- Chrysalis already knows the story.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Luna asked with a slight lift of her eyebrow.

“Uh-huh!” The colt added with an excited nod, before gesturing a hoof towards Chrysalis “She was just about to get past all the boring parts too! Right, Miss Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis stared back at the colt, sparing a brief glance for the awkward Lunar Princess at his side, clearly considering whether or not to let this latest arrival join them. Judging by the sour look on her face, her preference was clear.

She was only broken from her ruminating, when Twilight sidled up closer and gave the changeling a nudge with her hoof and an imploring look “Chrysalis...”

“What?” The changeling tersely and quietly replied, while sparing a glance for Twilight.

Now it was Twilight’s turn to sport a sour look, leaning in as she countered Chrysalis’ annoyance with disapproval “We’ve talked about this...It’d be a nice thing to do.”

Chrysalis responded with nothing more than a wry look at that.

“But, why not?” Twilight asked in a slightly louder tone at the non-verbal repsonse, and with a small gesture back towards the idle Princess Luna “I thought you two were getting along better?”

The Changeling Queen pursed her lip at that, not entirely denying it, but not giving any ground.

Twilight had to frown at that, before furrowing her brow briefly in thought. Sparing a brief glance for Hard Note, she looked back to Chrysalis with a tilt of her head “...You’re not jealous about Hard Note paying more attention to-”

“Fine.” Chrysalis abruptly declared, before turning towards Luna and jabbing a hoof in her direction “You can stay and listen.”

“I- That shouldn’t be a problem.” Luna replied a moment later, somewhat put off by the changeling’s tone. Though she didn’t get much of an opportunity to take issue with it, as her attention was once more drawn by the colt at her side’s excitement.

“Cool! You can sit here if you want, Miss Luna.” Hard Note happily exclaimed, as he gestured to what seemed to be a particularly comfy spot among the pillows and blankets. He quickly plopped himself down excitedly, before looking back towards Princess Luna “And don’t worry. I already know most of the story, so if you don’t know what’s going on, you can just ask me!”

“Well, that’s...very generous of you. We might just take you up on your-”

“Listening means being quiet and paying attention. Not interrupting me with a bunch of questions.” Chrysalis interrupted, evidently still fairly vexed by this turn of events.

“But, Princess Twilight gets to keep interrupting the story with all of her questions!” Hard Note pointed out in a plaintive and pitiful tone, even as he pointed to the youngest royal of the group.

“Well, yeah. But Chrysalis keeps browbeating Twilight whenever she tries to ask a question anyway, so I don’t think that counts.” Spike quickly chimed up from the side, before the purple princess could try to defend herself.

“...She’s what-beating Princess Twilight?” The colt asked the young dragon, a perplexed look on his face.

“Browbeating. It’s when someone bullies someone else with words.” Spike helpfully explained.

“Oh, for the- Just give her the notes Twilight’s been taking!” Chrysalis snapped at the small drake, jabbing a hoof in Twilight’s direction. Or more specifically, in the direction of the small pile of scrolls that Twilight had already filled with her own musings, questions, and points of interest in regard to the tale being told.

“Wait, what?!” The young princess blurted, taken off-guard by this sudden demand, but still reflexively using her magic to draw her notes closer.

“Hey, yeah! Princess Twilight’s been writing down all kinds of stuff since she got here!” Hard Note excitedly agreed, happy at the idea of a solution for this issue.

“Huh. That could work.” Spike agreed with a tilt of his head, after a moment’s consideration. Taking a sip of his hot chocolate, he gave another nod at that “Nobody takes more thorough notes than Twilight...Apart from yours truly.”

“This truly feels like more fuss is being made than-” Luna began, glancing between the others with a frown.

“Spike! I can’t just show someone my notes! Not right away, at least!” Twilight exclaimed, even as she started lifting her notes up in the air with her magic. Unfurling one scroll after another and glancing between each of her scrawlings, she leaned towards the young dragon “You know how long it takes to get my notes properly organized...”

“Oh, this again.” Spike replied in a dry tone and a roll of his eyes.

“Yes, this again!” Twilight snapped back, even as she hid her collected notes to one side with her magic. Frowning, she spared an apologetic glance for Luna, before turning back towards Spike “You remember what happened the last time I shared my notes too soon...”

“Uhm...what?” The drake eventually replied, with a lift of his eyebrow.

“They were a complete mess!” Twilight abruptly shouted, waving her hooves around to punctuate her outburst. Taking to the air without thinking, she gestured her forehooves from one side to the other as she continued “Nothing was alphabetized! There were no citations! My grammar was awful! There was no index! And there were so many snippets penned into the margins!”

“...Uh-huh.” Spike’s eyebrow climbing even higher as he looked up at his friend.

“Spike! If Princess Luna tries to read these notes now, she’ll probably end up even more confused than when she started!”

“I don’t think that’s remotely possible.” Chrysalis interrupted in a bored tone, her own green magical aura quickly scooping up Twilight’s notes.

“Hey!” Twilight exclaimed, futilely reaching a hoof towards her stolen writings. Before she could do anything about it, the Changeling Queen’s magic deposited them at the confused Luna’s hooves.

“There. Problem solved.” Chrysalis declared with a great deal of finality in her voice.

“Chrysalis! You can’t just-” The affronted Twilight began.

“Enough!”

“If you would just give me a few minutes, I could-”

“No.”

“If I just organized-”

“Sit down, and let me tell the story!”

“But I could-”

“Now! Or I’m taking back that book I gave you.”

Twilight’s mouth snapped shut at that, a bit of color leaving her face, as she was clearly shocked by the threat being leveled against her. Overcoming her surprise, she furrowed her brow as she looked up at the changeling.

“You wouldn’t.”

“You absolutely know that I would.”

The purple princess held her ground for a few seconds, before her ears drooped. The rest of her soon followed suit, as she bowed her head and let out a long sigh. Turning a morose look towards the still very confused Princess Luna, she spoke up in an imploring tone “Please, just...just don’t judge me too harshly by what you see in there, Princess Luna.”

The Moon Princess stared back for several seconds, quite unsure as to whether this was peculiar new social norm or if she was just surrounded by weirdos. Eventually, she settled for clearing her throat and picking up the dropped notes in her own magic “I-We wouldn’t dream of judging you so harshly over something like this, Twilight.”

“Thank you...Try to ignore all the scribbles and lack of punctuation when-”

“Last warning.” Chrysalis flatly interrupted Twilight, before she could go to far.

Twilight again snapped her lips shut, though this time she followed it up by settling down among the cushions again. After a moment’s thought, her purple aura quickly lit-up around the aforementioned tome and brought it over to her side.

A few moments later, Spike leaned over towards Hard Note and gave the colt a tap to get his attention.

“See? Browbeating.”

“Now...if there are no more interruptions?” Chrysalis finally asked, glancing at all those present, with her gaze lingering on Luna until she too eventually settled in her own spot. Giving a nod, as she found that she once more had everyone’s attention on her “I’m going to be skipping ahead a bit...”

“There is actually one thing we would like to say.” Luna chimed from her spot in the blanket pile, holding up a hoof to garner the changeling’s attention.

“...What?” Chrysalis asked through clenched teeth.

“We just wanted to say that we approve of the pajamas that sister had made for you. They are quite lovely.” Luna replied with a gesture of her royal hoof towards the changeling’s sleepwear.

“...They are quite nice, yes.”

Fifteen hundred years ago...

“Ah, Princess Platinum. You don’t know how honored we were to find out you would be gracing our humble home with your royal presence.”

That very royal pony arched one of her finely manicured eyebrows ever upwards, as she surveyed the supposedly humble home she was visiting. Carefully cobbled paths, smoothly carved stone walls with detailed crenellations along the edge of the roof, tall towers, and servants and statuary in equal measure. The only thing truly humble about the estate, were the normally well-tended hedges and colorful flower bushes. The frigid temperatures had ensured that no amount of care could leave them as anything more than barren twigs jutting out of the soil.

She was fairly sure that she had even spotted a few bite marks on some of the branches, presumably from servants sneaking a snack during these lean times.

Lazily turning her gaze back to her host, Platinum made a point of visibly slapping on a pleasing, yet obviously fake, smile for her host. Paying no mind to the clank and rattled of the armored unicorn trailing behind her, she cantered across the cobblestones towards the main entrance to the manor and the waiting host.

“Lord Towering Shield...I can’t begin to tell you just how much of a genuine pleasure it is to be visiting you here in your lovely home.” She called back in a saccharine for the patriarch of the noble estate.

She had no doubt I her mind that Lord Shield was in anyway unaware of her opinion of the older stallion. He was no doubt as experienced in the backbiting and false, nearly sarcastic pleasantries that aristocrats loved to exchange in. He especially was a recurring target for such ‘niceties’ being the especially influential stallion that he was. In fact, it was a recurring joke among his detractors that his name, Towering Shield, was more in reference to his condescending to everypony else, rather than being a comment on his height.

Indeed, Towering Shield had always had a spare frame and a reedy voice; the lord of the Shield family has never been possessed of the stature and muscle that so many found attractive. He was a thin, short stallion, whose dull blue mane and tail had always been more wispy than anything.

’Of course, most of them rarely had the spine to make such jokes to his face...’

For all that he would never be a force on the battlefield, Towering Shield was a calculating and shrewd player in the King’s court and everypony knew it.

“I daresay the lovely princess here speaks truly...the idea that she could spare a genuinely kind word for anypony is laughable.”

And then there was the Lord of the house’s son, Silver Shield.

A well-built, athletic young stallion with bravery and good looks to spare, Silver Shield would be the apple of any noble’s eye...if he could ever learn when to shut his mouth.

As was only appropriate, she gave a very polite, very light chuckle at the younger stallion’s words, before waving them away with her hoof “Oh, sweet Silver Shield. I do believe that you’ll find that the only time I run out of nice things to say is when you are around.”

The younger stallion leaned back at the retort, furrowing his brow and opening and closing his mouth a couple of times “I- Well perhaps you should-...go read a book to learn some more nice words to-”

He also wasn’t much for the wordplay and verbal sparring that these interactions usually called for. Thankfully, for everypony present, he was cut-off from his rambling attempt at a reply, when his father set a hoof to his son’s chest.

“Son. Surely we are not such rude hosts that we’re to leave our guest out here in this frigid weather. Be a gentlecolt and show our Princess Platinum the door.” Towering Shield told his son, his calm, easy smile never wavering as he kept his gaze on his royal guest.

Silver Shield frowned, letting his ears drop slightly, as he realized that he’d already lost this exchange of words “...Of course, Father.”

“Excellent. No point in celebrating such a wondrous occasion out her in the cold.” Towering Shield nodded, even as he gestured for Princess Platinum to join him.

Giving a small sigh, Silver Shield shuffled his hooves to the side, before pointing towards the large double-doors leading into the manor “There’s the door.”

There were several seconds wherein both Towering Shield and Princess Platinum stared at the younger stallion in disbelief. Even Princess Platinum’s knightly escort was tipping their head in confusion at this.

“...What? Father, you said to-”

“Open the doors for Princess Platinum, and then welcome her into our home.” Towering Shield patiently clarified for his son.

“Oh. Oh, right...” If anything, Silver Shield’s ears seemed to drop even further, as he realized his blunder. All the same, he quickly cantered to one side of the entrance to the large home, before using his own magic to open the doors for his Father and Princess Platinum.

“Such a gentlecolt...” Platinum noted with a light chuckle, as she passed the embarrassed Silver Shield.

Towering Shield spared only a glance at the comment before giving a light wave of his hoof “Yes, well, he tries.”

Silver Shield let out another sigh, and was almost ready to follow them in, when he had to stop short. He was left furrowing his brow in momentary annoyance, as the Silver Knight escorting Princess Platinum trotted in ahead of him. Finally free of anymore guests to welcome into his own home, he followed with a quiet huff.

“Now, your Highness, let me take your cloak.” Towering Shield said in a kindly manner, as he deftly used his own magic to collect the frilled, though damp, cloak sitting across the princess’ back.

Watching as the cloak floated away, she gave a tilt of her head to the Lord of the house “Ah, I now see where your son gets his charms.”

“Indeed, indeed.” The older stallion chuckled, failing to notice the annoyed look coming from his son, even as he deposited the outerwear with one of his waiting servants. Cantering forward now, he gestured for Platinum to join him in heading down a hallway “Let us go find somewhere more comfortable to chat, now that we’re indoors. If it would please, your Highness?”

“I do think it would, Lord Shield.” Princess Platinum responded with the appropriate nod and smile at the invitation, as she trotted after him. She only stopped, upon noticing the hard-to-miss sound of her armored escort following after. Clearing her throat, she sent a dry look to the knight that was trying to trail after her “I do believe I can take it from here. Feel free to take a few moments rest, while I speak with Lord Towering Shield.”

Pausing briefly, and clearly expecting this conversation to be trouble, the knight visibly swallowed before responding “Begging your pardon, your Highness. My orders were not to let you out of my sight.”

“Oh, nonsense. There is scarcely a safer place in all the lands, than right at my side, good sir.” Lord Towering Shield proclaimed with a wave of his hoof.

“All the same, your Lordship, I can’t simply-”

“I will not have you insulting our host like this. After Lord Towering Shield has welcomed me into his home, I won’t shame him by traipsing around with an armed bodyguard.” Princess Platinum sharply rebuked the unhappy knight, before he could continue.

“Now, now. There’s no need for such harshness.” Towering Shield said, as he approached the knight. Waving over one of the nearby servant, he looked back towards the knight “Here, let me send for something warm for you to drink, while you wait. You can warm yourself up, while we waste our time on pleasantries.”

Glancing, between the two, his brow furrowed in worry, the knight briefly looked back towards the idle Silver Shield. All he got from him was an indifferent shrug at his plight. Knowing how troublesome it could be to hold is ground now, he bowed his head at the offer “That is very kind of you, Lord Towering Shield. I shall wait out here, in case there is any need for me.”

“Excellent, my lad. We’ll try not to leave you waiting out here for too long.” Lord Shield told the knight in a warm tone, that just barely avoided coming off as patronizing. Sparing a few quiet words for the servant he waved over, presumably to secure the knight his warm beverage, he quickly set down one of the halls without a moment’s hesitation “Now, let us be off to find somewhere a bit more private to chat, your Highness.”

“It would be a pleasure, Lord Shield.” Princess Platinum agreed with a light nod, as she trotted after the older stallion, paying little mind as Silver Shield trailed behind them both.

In short order, they arrived at what seemed to be the threshold of a well-furnished parlor, with a small fire happily crackling away in the fireplace. Holding the door open for Princess Platinum, Towering Shield gave a courteous nod to her as she entered the room, only pausing a moment longer to wave his son in after her.

“Now, before we start, is there anything you would like for me to send for, your Highness? Perhaps a light snack? Or a drink to settle the nerves?” Towering Shield asked of the princess, even as he spared a brief look of disapproval, when he noticed his son sitting down before anypony else.

“No. No, I don’t think we need to waste anymore of our efforts on false pleasantries...” Princess Platinum noted, as she lazily turned her gaze back towards the elder stallion. Her earlier pleasant demeanor dropping away with startling quickness, she stared back in a dull, impersonal fashion “I’d sooner have us focus on the issue of how we’re to overthrow my father.”

Likewise, Towering Shield’s warm demeanor melted away, leaving behind a sour and openly scrutinizing gaze on lord’s countenance.

“On to business then.”

Author's Note

Yay! Miracle of miracles, it's an update!...You can expect a few edits and typo corrections over the next few days, as time allows. Please enjoy.