Sand on the Doorstep

Hours had passed since the Disaster Brigade had managed to douse the rampant flames of the sorcerer's fire. He had had a grand view of it from the chamber which the princesses had been kind enough to provide for him in one of the towers just above the throne room. It had certainly been a glorious show, a veritable battle of the elements against one another. It had taken no less than twenty-five grown pegasi to finally get the blaze under control, each release one deluge after another from the clouds they had herded over-head. At first the water had done little more than alter the path of the flames, forcing them to spread further along the forest's border rather than penetrating further into its depths. Eventually though, after hours of confusion and strife in the skies above those woods, the inferno was finally defeated.

That was of little concern to the wizard at this point, however. The fire had been little more than a test to see just how strong the power's within this new body of his were. The single spark he had left behind at the edge of woods had turned into a raging fire-storm that had provided hours of entertainment. If that wasn't the kind of power Walter had been hoping for then nothing was likely to appease him.

He wandered around his new chambers, inspecting every inch of them for anything that might not be what it appeared. His entry into the castle and his meeting with the sisters who rules over this land had been seemed far too easy, leaving him to wonder how much of kindness was really just a ploy to keep him off his guard. Still, upon further inspection of the small two-room suite, he could find no really reason to doubt their sincerity. The younger one is certainly the more powerful of the two, but a great deal of her potential is still unrealized... We'll have to do something about that before this is all over. He had expected the two to be the same close, caring sisters he had briefly met on the night of the old ruler's fall from power. Instead, and much to his delight, he found the pair to be far different than they had been in the past.

The older sister, Celestia, clearly had more experience in terms of leading the nation than her sister. Strong, regal, beautiful, and full of charisma, the white alicorn would make an obvious choice as the figurehead of government. Combining that with her sharp mind and knowledge of the ways of the world, and there would be little reason to debate her position as one of the rightful rulers of Equestria. Yet she had shown little-to-no resistance to the effects of the wizard's magic. His charm had fallen upon her just as easily as it had on the guards, the servants, and the other members of the royal court. On everyone, in fact, besides the second princess.

Proper, focused, and in possession of a particularly royal demeanor, Luna displayed a side of the monarchy which Walter found far more interesting. She was a lovely thing to behold, slender and graceful, but with a sense of forbidding power behind her every movement. Her large blue eyes seemed to stare right through the soul of anyone she looked at. In many ways she seemed superior to her older sister in terms of ability to rule, commanding respect and obedience from her subjects and having just as much knowledge of politics as Celestia did. But she lacked her sister's charisma, constantly taking a backseat to Celestia when they appeared together outside of court. And most importantly, she had a inane talent for magic, something that the wizard picked up on immediately after entering the royal court.

When he first made his way into Canterlot he had begun channeling a mass-manipulation of the minds around him. Everypony he passed soon came under his spell, suddenly focusing their attention on anything other than the shrouded unicorn with the glowing red eyes. Convinced that he was some obscure royal diplomat returning from a 15 year journey around Equestria, the guards let him pass without question. His spell had been well constructed: while it would leave all it touched with no memory of him entering the castle that day, it would implant in their minds a false memory of him returning three years earlier, making it appear that anything that transpired this day would seem to them as if it happened back then. There was little doubt in his mind that Roland would survive his little display of power back in the woods, so he had decided establishing a background in Canterlot would be his best course of action. The Gunslinger still had yet to see him in this form, and who would he be to argue with an entire kingdom who truly believed they had known this grey-coated unicorn for years. The mere thought of Roland and his uncharismatic words attempting to convince an entire country that its monarchs' long-standing advisor had only just appeared a few days ago made him laugh to himself.

"Something amusing you, chancellor?" Walter had nearly forgotten about the pair of guards escorting him to the throne room. He was about to meet the princesses for the first time in what had to have been more than a hundred years, it would not do to enter their presence in a laughing fit.

"Nothing at all, good sir, nothing in the slightest. But please, theres no need for all the formalities with me, save that for those stuck-up lords and ladies. I'll be hanging around these parts for a good long time now, so please, call me Revenant Flare. I've grown a little tired of hearing nothing but 'Chancellor Flare' and 'Chancellor Revenant' over the years." He thought the name had a good ring to it, but he truly had no idea why he had said it or where it had come from. Names had always just been something that he threw around as they were needed.

"That may take a little getting used to, chanc- I mean... Revenant. Most nobles demand us to use their titles whenever we address them."

"Well, rest assured both of you, I'm no noble. I'm merely here to help the Princesses manage their kingdom a bit more efficiently. I'll have none of that pampering that the rest of the court so blindly indulges in. The realm is my only business."

The guards exchanged a quick look, confirming that they were both on the same page in this. "Its good to here that, sir," the second escort said. "I have to admit, aside from the Princesses themselves I doubt any other members of the court really have the realm's best interests at heart. Personally, I'm not sure we'd have much of a realm left if the Royal Sisters weren't here to hold it together and keep that greedy, spoiled lot in check."

The first guard nodded in agreement. "Its good to finally have you back, sir. I certainly hope these other nobles don't make things too hard on you. Ponies with good intentions rarely go uncorrupted in their presence. Hopefully your return is just the sort of wakeup call they need in order to realize that they don't control this world."

No... No they don't. And soon enough I think you'll ALL come to realize that...