Sunrise at Moon Watch

Sunrise, is a magical time of the day. Light burns away old magic, washes away curses, and warms the hearts of those that watch it. And there are few places to watch it more pleasing than from the top of a mountain. The tip top of a castle will do in a pinch. Pegasi, being naturally superior in matters of altitude claim clouds beat both. Robert sat on the top of the castle, one leg wrapped around the pole, and pointedly ignoring the pegasi. The sun rose on schedule and on course. He jotted the angle down in his notebook. Wings spread out, he leapt, and glided down from the peak, swirling down to the balcony of the castle. Flaring, he touched down softly, and the wings vanished in a burst of orange light. He reached up and tapped the door. Purple magic twisted the handles, letting him into the bedroom.

“Good Morning Twilight.” Robert said, inclining his head.

“You don't have to bow.” she pointed out, still brushing tangles out of her mane.

“Necessity has little to do with it. Though as I am serving you in an official capacity, some deference is expected.” he shrugged. “So, what are your plans for today?”

“I didn't have anything planned I'd need you for, but I keep getting these.” she levitated a handful of letters, sent through the conventional mail system to him. He picked them up in his magic, and read through them.

“Ah. It would appear that it has started.” he said, folding and returning the letters to their envelopes.

“What has?” Twilight asked.

“The push to court.” he replied. “I have been told that Princess Luna had a similar 'grace period' to readjust to modern life. Then they pushed her into holding court so they could get her to agree to things that Celestia would never have approved.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked curiously.

“It would seem that Luna is more clever than they gave her credit for. If she couldn't see all the angles of a plot straight away, she'd ask for a day to 'sleep' on it, and show it to Celestia. And then she'd either give them a... ahem ROYAL reaming, or pass the matter to the day court as not falling within her purview. And Celestia would give them her disappointed head shake.” Twilight shuddered involuntarily. “Of course there is the I presume purely anecdotal story about the noble who attempted to slip the closing of an orphanage into a bill to build a new mansion.”

“That's... where the new statue came from.” Twilight coughed.

“Not for me to say, just what I have heard.” Robert shrugged. “It is of course your choice to even hold court. While you are indeed Royalty, and thus entitled to do so, you are also not required to, given the presence of two other active courts in the land.” he considered it a moment. “Though anything particularly odious, or onerous could be transferred to the Crystal Throne. And then back again. Only the most determined of malcontents would be willing to undertake such a long journey more than the once.”

“That's cruel.” Twilight said, shaking her head.

“It is that. And yet effective.” he examined her schedule. “There's a free period just following lunch. I believe a short open court could do wonders for your experience, and still leave you time to relax before the next scheduled event.”

“I guess it would be okay?” Twilight considered it. “What would I have to do?”

“Mostly sit and listen to whatever complaints are brought forward. Should be no different than listening to the complaints at the trade fair. Hopefully none of those who sent these letters are around to hear about it.”

“It can't be that bad. I mean, we're all friends here, right? I mean, some ponies don't gt along, but really, how bad can disagreements between friends be?” Twilight's tone was altogether too hopeful. Robert remembered the advice: Never miss an opportunity to say nothing. This one was waving a flag at him.

Twilight's eyes were starting to glaze over. She'd set aside an hour following her lunch, presuming to get through three or four disputes. She'd been in Celestia's court often enough to know that more than that was hoping beyond hope. Her mind idly ran the probabilities that listening to Lord Hardstone was some kind of cosmic balancing effort against all the good she had done for ponykind. If it was, she decided, somepony needed to stop the Princess train, because she was getting off right here.

The worst part, said the bits of her brain still listening, was that he had a point. Several of them. All of them good ones. He'd done research. Good research, said a very impressed part of her brain. Not as good as Twilight's research, when she'd done it as a thought experiment. She'd covered all the good points, then moved on to the massive laundry list of bad points.

“Lord Hardstone.” Twilight tried her calm voice. It attempted to cut through the droning, but was rebuffed as solidly as a plastic spork digging stone. “LORD HARDSTONE.” her stern voice, more potent than her calm one, got his attention, enough to make a smile touch his lips that she was still listening. “LORD HARDSTONE.” The Royal Canterlot voice was not an inside toy. Even so, it cut through the sound, and if it made a few ears ring, it was worth the cessation of his voice. After a few minutes, the ringing in her own ears ran down.

“Lord Hardstone. I admit, that I to have given the matter some consideration. And while I appreciate the effort you have undergone, I must unfortunately inform you that it is for naught. Moving Cloudsdale into permanent position over Canterlot to shade it, is an unviable long term solution. Not least because Princess Celestia needs to be able to see the sun to raise it, but also to be able to lower it. In addition, should it become stuck overhead, it would evaporate the city eventually, causing a not at all gentle rain of Pegasi and their possessions. Given the average size of the pegasus ancestral home, and the accumulated... memorandum within, I estimate it would be sufficient to knock Canterlot off the side of the mountain.” Twilight paused momentarily for breath. “Furthermore, such an action would kill off all plant life within the city in short order, leaving it unable to grow any of it's own food. And while the rest of Equestria is able to provide foodstocks, such an effort would be unsustainable, and would rapidly lead to famine. Not to mention medical diseases caused from lack of sunlight.”

“Well... I am quite certain that...” Hardstone began, before Twilight cut him off.

“Unless you intend on living on the fungal growth beneath the cloud cover. Which would of course require corpses for those vital nutrients which are not provided by normal manure.” she waited.

“Umm....” Hardstone's articulate reply told Twilight quite clearly she had won the argument.

“Very well then. Request for permanent anchorage of Cloudsdale over Canterlot, is denied.” Twilight stamped the paperwork, passed it back to the noble and looked at the clock. “Well, I have time for one more pony, provided it's quick.”

“Lord Pasturn.” Robert read the next random name off the list. It seemed the better part of Canterlot's nobility had been sitting in Ponyville, waiting for a chance at a fresh court.

“Really your highness, this is far too short of a court time for a proper argument to be made.” he started.

“I know, but it's all the time I could spare. I shall plan accordingly in the future. Please, make your presentation and I will consider it afterwards.” Twilight inclined her head politely.

“I do not know that I can. A mere fifteen minutes is barely time to scratch the surface, and to let you look it over is to not benefit from the weight of my expertise in the matter.” Twilight affected her best approximation of Fluttershy's stare. “I shall endeavor to do so none the less.”

He began to quickly outline his proposal and then get down to specifics. After a moment or two though, Twilight's eyes narrowed even further, and her temper began to rise. When he proposed defunding the School for Gifted Unicorns however, she snapped.

“Stop. Right there. How could you even think I would agree to that?” Twilight's mane lifted slightly off of her neck. “If it weren't for me going to such a prestigious academic institute, we would not be here. I would not know my friends, I would not be sitting on this throne, in this castle. We would all be dead. Decomposing corpses under eternal night. Or maddened, under Discord's influence. Or enslaved by Sombra.” her eyes began to glow around the edges. “Yet you have the audacity to ask me to take away funding from the institution that saved us all?” Spike touched her shoulder. She deflated.

“Umm... yes?” Pasturn ventured. Twilight inhaled.

“Court is officially adjourned for this day.” Robert laced magic into his voice, spreading it to each ear in the room, though he spoke just above a whisper. “The room is to be cleared in an orderly fashion.” The vast majority of the ponies stood, and left the room. Lord Pasturn did not move, no matter how his attendants prodded him towards the exit.

“I demand an official answer.” Pasturn shouted above the noise of departing ponies. Twilight leveled a glare at him.

“I should think such an answer is self-evident.” she replied.

“I must have an official answer.” Pasturn insisted.

“Very well...” Spike cut her off with a claw on her shoulder.

“No Twilight. He's after a court event.”

“Stay out of this lizard.” Pasturn snapped. Twilight's gaze narrowed further. Unbidden the spell to turn something into an orange flickered into her mind.

“I will thank you not to speak to my assistant that way.” Twilight snorted. “What do you mean Spike?”

“Lord Pasturn, plaintiff in no less than eight court suits against various organizations, including two against the Princesses.” Spike raised an eyebrow. “One against Princess Celestia, and one against Princess Cadance. For some reason, he hasn't filed against Princess Luna. Or you, but this will give him cause.”

“Meddling reptile.” Pasturn snapped.

“Court. Is. Adjourned.” Robert's voice was much louder this time. His wings stretched skyward, and beat down. One massive blast of wind cut through the room, rocking the remaining ponies. “Leave, or be removed.”

“You really think your pet carnivore frightens me?” Pasturn's lip curled.

“Very well.” the wings stretched upward again. This time though, the physical wings were not all that spread out. Magic stretched beyond them, grasping air to the top of the vaulted ceiling. Then they beat downwards in time with the physical. The gust of wind was enough to lift the tiger from the floor, save that his claws had buried themselves in the crystalline material. The blast of wind lifted the obstinate noble off the ground and flung him on a wave of air out through the front doors, and into the square outside. The blast caught Rainbow Dash off-guard and rolled her through the air. She caught herself and flew into the castle.

“Everypony okay?” she asked, landing.

“We're fine.” Twilight said. “Robert, why did you do that?”

“He was asked politely to leave. He did not. He was warned to leave or be removed. He did not, and so he was. Nothing but his pride should have been wounded.” Robert replied, meeting her eyes. “I see my actions did not meet with your approval. Such is the reason I believe you should find another for the position.”

“Look, Twilight, I'm sure Robert meant well. Who did he remove?” Rainbow asked.

“Lord Pasturn.” Twilight answered.

“Him? Good job.” Rainbow threw up a hoof to Robert. He bumped it with his paw.

“What?!” Twilight asked, turning to face her the pegasus.

“He's an earth pony-supremacist.” Rainbow snorted. “He's been at the Cloudsdale weatherboard to” she closed her eyes as if reading something. “Halt Pegasus interference in the natural processes, and end their unwelcome influence on earth pony farmers.”

“That's insane.” Twilight shook her head. “I guess it didn't happen?”

“No, the weatherboard agreed, on the condition of a two-third's consensus among the affected farmers.” Rainbow grinned.

“And farmers can't agree?” Twilight hazarded.

“Not exactly. Two-third's of the farmers in Equestria? Apple family.” Rainbow laughed. So did Twilight after a moment. “Only the small hoofful on Pasturn's land voted with him. The rest voted with the Apples.”

“When did this all happen? And why didn't I hear about it?” Twilight asked.

“It's been a while, not long before we first 'met' Discord actually. You weren't exactly into politics then, and we got really busy, really quickly.” Rainbow chuckled. “Then it was all over after we got finished with Discord. I guess having your weather go nuts on you, makes you grateful when it's going good. Especially when it's managed by an awesome Pegasus like me.” she threw up onto her hind legs and polished a hoof on her coat. Twilight shook her head, then turned to Robert.

“There are better ways to handle things like that.” she said, looking him in the eye.

“Perhaps there are. They require planning and tact. I am unversed in them. The direct approach has always worked for me.” Robert shrugged.

“Fine. Next time, let me know you're going to do something like that.” Twilight shook her head. “I think you're right. I need someone else for that job.”

“Definitely.” Rainbow nodded. Twilight laughed, then the others joined her.