Proofread by Hunter Steel

Chapter The Fourth What To Do

“Princess Celestia we just received reports of the situation in Vanhoover,” Reported Raven as she trotted alongside her sovereign.

“Very good Miss Raven, you can enlighten me on the way there.”

“Of course Princess.” Raven thought over how to present some of the more interesting parts of the reports she received from the royal guards, stationed in Vanhoover before sighing.

“Is something the matter Raven?”

Raven stiffened “n-no your Majesty.” Celestia gave her a patient smile, “w-well yes, but it can wait until we arrive at the chariot.” Celestia gave her a nod. Letting out a mental sigh Raven's mind drifted back to the situation at hoof. ‘First, a mysterious creature shows up in the Everfree Forest and attacks the Princess, the bearers of the elements, and even Discord before escaping, now there are diplomats falling from the sky? What next? are we-' Raven's musings was interrupted by the sound of armored shoes hitting stone. They had arrived at the chariot and were surrounded on both sides by guards.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

A few minutes later

“Now Raven,” Started Celestia, “what is the situation in Vanhoover?”

“Of course Princess, it seems that the ship carrying several diplomats as well as their guards appeared several miles off the shores of Vanhoover by ‘falling from the sky in bars of heavenly golden light.’ There are also reports that a Griffin by the name of Fabia was out there when it happened and she was directly under the vortex of dark clouds that preceded the appearance of the ship-”

“Was she injured?”

“No Princess, one of their guards flew out of the vortex and asked her to move before the ship appeared. She was fatigued from her workout session and a bit shaken up but other than that she is fine.” Celestia smiled and nodded. “After the spectacle, a crowd formed on the beaches and docks, the police arrived soon after to maintain order. There are also several civilian reports of everything from angels to ‘The end times.’ The entire Vanhover guard regiment arrived soon after and several flight capable members of both groups approached the vessel soon after. Tensions were high at first but luckily everything was cleared up smoothly.”

Raven closed the folder she was skimming “I see, is that all?”

“No Princess, they claim to be from a group of islands called Storm Front, they are staying at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel after changing their plans to make their way to Canterlot immediately upon arriving. The reports describe them as rather unique in appearance. Their party consist of an Earth Pony, a Sheep, and a Pegasus who seems to be the head of their party, there is also mention of a strange pet, and reports of their vessel radiating a strange magic upon arrival that has since disappeared, while the ponies don’t seem to have any magic signature at all. That is everything of note Princess.”

“Interesting, thank you Raven, this is bound to be an interesting encounter.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Princess, might I ask a question about the situation at hoof.”

Celestia turned to her assistant and gave an indulging smile. “You may.”

“Well it’s just that, I don’t see why you would take time from your schedule to meet them in Vanhoover when they would have come to Canterlot by themselves.”

“Raven, you have been my assistant for several years now and might have noted how few diplomats visit Equestria, and in the rear case how often is it that they come here solely for the purpose of extending a hoof of friendship? I would like to believe they are here to find a way for our countries to ally in friendship and harmony, but I can’t take the chance if that isn’t the case. In either situation, showing up unexpected will throw them off guard, something I feel is needed in our favour, not to mention the reports of their magic has me slightly concerned.”

“Of course Princess”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

It was dusk when Celestia’s sky chariot arrived at the royal guard outpost in the city. After lowering the sun and boarding another chariot, she departed once again for the Pacific Rim hotel escorted by a group of six royal guards, two of each race. At arrival, on the street the hotel was located on, she took note of a unicorn clad head to hoof in silvery armor swamped by reporters and waiting at the entrance to the hotel. The pony seemed to not acknowledge the throng of reporters trying to get an interview in favour of talking to a young colt enthusiastically asking questions, one Earth Pony mare even seemed to be trying and failing to push the pony for some reason.

When the chariot stopped in front of the hotel and the princess stepped out, those close enough to take notice immediately dropped into a bow starting a chain reaction that suffused the crowd. “Rise my subjects.” Celestia took note that the armored pony did not bow, she wasn’t particularly perturbed quite the opposite, it gave her an idea of the pony’s she would be dealing with. Vaguely noting that the pony was female, she strolled forward to the armor clad being and received a short half bow.

Returning the bow Celestia addressed the guard. “Am I to believe that you are one of the guards of the diplomatic party sent from The Storm Front Islands?

“Yes I am Princess.”

“Very well then, would you mind escorting me to your charges?”

“Of course Princess,” The guard turned and begun to lead the Princess into the lobby, Celestia’s eyes flashing to the scorpion like stinger at the end of the guards tail. “Though only Miss Belladonna is here at the moment.”

Celestia rose a brow at this as she and her escorts followed the guard.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

After a short elevator ride Celestia came upon the penthouse and was ushered inside and seated across from a Pegasus mare named Deathly Belladonna. Accepting her offer of refreshment Celestia begun to analyze everything about the pegasus ‘Pink Lemonade?' thought Celestia 'not what I was expecting, tea is customary for most cultures.’ the pegasus across from her has a coat of pure white while her mane and tail are a blend of orange, gold, and black. Her minor covert feathers are white while her major coverts are golden and her primary and secondary flight feathers are black. Her cutie mark is of golden flowers blossoming on a black vine. Her shining golden eyes locked on to Celestia with a small smile the minute she entered. ‘Foreign diplomats rarely if ever show as much confidence as the pony before her unless they felt they had some sort of ace in the hole.’ After their initial greetings they fell into silence. Seemingly tired of waiting Deathly Belladonna Started. “I suppose I should start by apologizing for the ruckus caused by our arrival, I most certainly did not expect to receive such an… enthusiastic welcoming upon our landing.”

“Yes, I read the reports, falling from the heavens in bars of golden light. However there is no harm done, it even seems soap box sales have gone up this week." Belladonna gave a small nod and took a sip of her drink before she spoke.

“Princess, both of our time is important and budgeted, so I will skip to the meat of the matter as it is.” Celestia’s smile receded slightly at the phrase. “The reason we came to your fine country is quite simple. We are searching for the Draconequus that appeared roughly ten days ago, it's believed that this Draconequus has something of importance.”

“I see, and what would that be?”

“We are as of yet unaware, though that is why the other members of my party have gone to meet with this Draconequus.”

“You know where it is?”

Belladonna’s smile fell a bit at the Princess’s choice of words. “No I do not, Lady Kunai does however, and we believe that she will be able to draw her out. Thus she has gone in search of the Draconequus.”

“And you did not think to get the consent of me or one of the other Princesses before deciding to track a wanted fugitive in our country?” Celestia flared her aura slightly to simulate anger, her expression never changing, while only unicorns would be able to tell exactly what happened, any creature would be able to pick up on the supposed danger. This subtle trick has served to sway negotiations in her favour for centuries. In all likelihood she would be able to convince Deathly Belladonna to help capture the fugitive, from there… we would see.

Belladonna didn’t react beyond a slight flick of her ear before she took a sip of her drink. Belladonna quirked an eyebrow, “Princess I myself wrote several letters addressed to you as recently as seven days ago.”

♫♥♠♦♣♫

Kunai, Michelle, and Leccy sat at the steps of a recently burnt out factory of some sort at the north edges of the city. They soaked up the rays of the sunrise and watched the forest beyond the empty plain that marked the edge of the city as the security guards for the multitude of factories along the road made their way to relieve their colleague tasked with night watch. They waited patiently at the edge of Vanhoover for the magical signature of a certain fugitive under pursuit to find their location. Kunai sat between Leccy and Michelle with her chin resting on her hands and her elbows on her knees. She was wearing a pair of headphones with the image of a hydra attacking a pirate ship stencilled onto the housing. Leccy was distracted by the phone floating in front of her and Michelle was smiling and occasionally, waving pleasantly at every person who passed by them. They each had a fully armored guard assigned to them, each sitting on the steps behind and above them. Behind Leccy and Michelle were the Pegasus and Earth Pony from the yacht respectively. Behind Kunai was the imposing sight of a Griffon that stood half a head above his fellow guards. If you thought the ponies were an intimidating sight in their all concealing armor then you would, at best, actively avoid this Griffon, and at worst you would soil yourself and run screaming. The formfitting armor conformed to his talons, claws and beak with the effect of actively reminding you that you’re only sitting a few feet from something perfectly capable of shredding you to tiny bits with minimal effort. Of course that’s the look most griffons go for, that and they tend to enjoy the scorpion tail a bit too much.
Soon enough a small group of security guards and early morning workers had gathered across the street from them. Eventually three stallions, one Unicorn and two Pegasi crossed the street and approached them, Kunai was watching them, Leccy was pretending to ignore them, and Michelle smiled at them. “Good morning.” Started the unicorns who was echoed by his companions. He had a light blue coat and chocolate coloured mane and tail, they were all still dressed in the classic security guard uniform.
“Good morning, how are you today?”
“Ralts.”
“Good morning.”
Came the reply from Michelle, Kunai, and Leccy Respectively.
One of the Pegasi stepped forward. He was white with a green mane and tail.
“Awww~ it’s so adorable, what is it?”
As he reached out his hoof to pet Kunai, the guards, who upon till now were all unnaturally motionless, snapped their heads to him, the motion reminiscent of the unseen horrors that stalk the living from within the darkest shadows, as a result startling all the locals who were watching the exchange. Their visors daring him to make a move. He looked up at the Griffon who’s obscured eyes made no promises, visibly shrunk, and pulled back his hoof with a nervous smile. The Pegasus then drew to the back of the group tail tucked between his legs. Michelle looked at the guards disapprovingly.

“Really you three? You didn’t need to scare him.”

She chided, to which she received no response other that all of them reorienting their heads to stare off into the middle distance.
“I'm not scared.” Piped up he guard, “I'm just… um.” He trailed off into mumbles.

Michelle gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry about that, they tend to be a bit overprotective, especially when in unfamiliar surroundings.”
“We were actually curious about that. I heard that you fell from the sky yesterday.” Asked the unicorn.
Michelle nodded. “In a white ship?”
“It’s a yacht actually, but yes.”
“So where did you come from? I’m no expert, but to my knowledge there are no ships like that anywhere in Equestria. Or owned by any of her allies.”
“Oh, we’re from The Storm Front Islands.”
“Storm Front? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it,”
“I'm not too surprised, most of the countries in the northern hemisphere seem to be isolationist to some extent, though it’s not as prevalent here as it is in some countries.”
“I’m not sure where the northern hemisphere is, but us Equestrians have always been rather friendly with our neighbours.” Said the other Pegasus, he was lazily designed to be full white.
Leccy rose a brow, “Really?” she said disbelievingly. The ponies switched their gazes between her and seemed to be unsure if they should respond to her.
“Yes, really.” Replied the blue unicorn. His eye locking onto the phone floating in front of her. “What is that?”
“It’s a phone.”
“Not sure what that is but ok.”
“How are you doing that? How is it floating? I never heard of sheep doing magic.” asked the Pegasus who seemed to regain some of his bravado.
“Sheep can’t do magic, it's most likely enchanted, but I can’t sense any magic from it though, strange.”
Leccy quirked a brow and had her response cut off by Michelle. “What do you mean,” she asked with foe ignorance, “of course she is the one levitating it, as for why you can’t sense the magic, ours is a bit different than yours in a few ways, so it takes quite a bit of practice to pick up on it.”
The white Pegasus shook his head. “As security guards we are all trained to sense magic since any unicorn with an invisibility spell could slip past us otherwise, but hiding magic is almost impossible.”
“And we all felt the magic that brought you here despite how far we're from the docks, so I doubt that’s it.”
“Well it’s most likely the frequency then, from what I’ve seen so far nothing in this city has a magical frequency above five hundred or so Hz.”
“Um, i'm not completely sure what you mean by Hz, but the fact remains we can't sense anything from her.”

Michele smiled as the guards ears perked up before falling flat to their skulls as there senses picked up a magical signature that would be best described as a wild lightning storm raging at sea. “Can you sense it now?” She inquired.

“What is that?” Questioned the unicorn.

“That's my magical signature, I just lowered the frequency to something you could sense.” Replied Leccy as the feeling slowly faded away to leave the three guards overflowing with questions.

Kunai suddenly stood up and was shadowed by her guard as she started to make her way toward the other side of the street before telepathically telling her guards and companions “We should be able to see them soon.” The three ponies gave the griffon following the little creature a wide berth as he accompanied her across the road. The group across the road that had grown slightly seemed to tense as the armored griffon stood and made to approached them following his charge. The other four were quick to follow in their wake.

“It looks like there here, it would probably be best if you left, I don't know how dangerous things will get.” Michelle advised the three stallions.

“What? wait, what’s happening?” Michele just smiled at them as she passed by.

The group across the street seemed about to panic despite standing their ground as Kunai and her entourage quickly made their way past them and begun moving across the grassy plane. From the forest across the plane burst a female Draconequus, fur and mane filthy and matted. She was on all fours and sprinting directly toward the two groups. When she was about half way across the plane she had slowed to a crawl as the forms of Luna and Discord burst from the forest in hot pursuit. At this point Kunai was halfway to her. Deciding to save time Discord snapped his fingers teleporting himself and Luna a few feet from the downed Draconequus. Upon turning to see her pursuers she quickly rolled to her feet dodging Luna’s initial magical blast. Only to be nailed in the side by a blast of magic from Discord which was followed up by a quick concussive blast from Luna that sent her skidding to a stop several feet away. Bleeding and disoriented she attempted to raise a crystalline barrier between her and her encroaching assailants. However her barrier was easily shattered with a swipe of discords talons. Luna reared up with the intent to bring down her hooves on her head but found her hooves blocked by a transparent blue barrier made of many small hexagons. Luna then found herself grabbed around the barrel and teleported backwards. Thinking she was under assault she quickly charged her horn only to find her magic extinguished by two talons. Twisting her head around she found she was clutched under Discord's arm, the Draconequus in question apprehensively fixated on something to their front. Looking forward while trying to squirm free from Discord’s grasp, she beheld six figures approaching their downed fugitive, three of whom adorned armor she has no familiarity with, while the three who were unarmored were the strangest combination of beings she had encountered in quite a while, a Sheep, an Earth Pony, and what looks like one of Discord’s creations. Upon reaching the Draconequus the strange creature seemed to say something before glitching and disappearing with the fugitive, while the remaining five, their stride unbroken, continued forward.

Luna was aware of a snap after which she found herself staring into an empty prison cell with her armor replaced with a Vanhoover police department uniform. While looking around she heard a door open to her right, turning to the sound she found Discord dressed in a police Captain's uniform. “Well rookie, looks like you finally caught a break. Five suspects charged with impeding the course of justice might not be the biggest catch we’ve got but it’s enough to get you a promotion from donut mare to errand mare in general, congra-“

“DISCORD WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS, THOU HAS ALLOWED THE CRIMINALS TO ESCAPE WITH THE BEAST!!!”

“Geez Luna keep your saddle on you’re going to hurt someone with your shouting one of these days, they're all locked in the cell see.” Discord turned to the cell in question, “… why did you let them out?!" Luna opened her mouth to shout at Discord again only to find it filled with wood flavoured taffy that prevented her shouting. “No you wouldn’t have let them out that’s just silly,” meanwhile Luna was trying and failing to pry the taffy from her mouth with hooves and magic, only succeeding to get her hooves stuck to the taffy and the taffy stuck to the ground when she put her hoof down again. Mumbling to himself Discord started to pace trying to figure out what could have gone wrong. Three minutes later Luna’s front half was properly plastered to the floor and adjacent wall while Discord was examining his teleport spell. “They never came with us, did I not include them in the spell? no no no I wouldn’t make such a novice mistake.”

“MMMMMMMMMMM”

Discord turned to Luna, “Would you stop playing around and help me figure this out.” with a snap of his fingers Luna was free of her confectionary confinement. Turning to Discord with rage in her eyes she was about to use the RCV™ but reconsidered when Discord rose his fingers with an accompanying eyebrow.

Taking a breath Luna grit her teeth and spoke in a not so shouty voice. “Perhaps we should return to where we last saw them, there could yet be clues as to their whereabouts to be gleaned from the location”. In another snap they were back in the opened field, and in the distance they could see the ponies in question walking calmly back to Vanhoover. A flash of light later Luna was standing before them.

Michelle gave a pleasant smile. “Can we help you officer?” Momentarily taken aback Luna looked down to see she was still wearing Discords outfit, while no less than ten feet behind her the small crowd of security guards were watching with interest. Snarling Luna threw the cap to the side and ripped the uniform shirt to tatters before undoing the belt buckles. Michele quickly covered Leccy’s eyes, to which the sheep leant her head to the side to see the spectacle. “My goodness!” hissed Michelle loud enough for the small crowd to hear, “Have you no shame!? Stripping in the streets!!” in that instance Luna froze at the sound of cameras going off as paparazzi seemed to come crawling out of the woodwork to immortalize there princess apparently striping for a small crowd before scuttling off to disappear back into the depths from whence they came. Luna stood in front of them holding a ripped uniform shirt in her magic face beet red as Discord teleported behind the five foreigners to hear ponies commenting on Luna’s 'well toned' and 'athletic' figure. He rose a brow as he noticed the armored Ponies and one Griffon all had what seemed like a splash of dark purple paint with random lines of orange and several other colours mix in but standing out splattered across their once gleaming silver armor. The blemish was slowly receding though, and with it the traces of his magic he could sense in it. Furrowing his brows Discords snapped his talons to turn the griffons armor to wax paper, in contradiction the griffons armor only gained another splash of the strange mix of colours, this one noticeably smaller and receding twice as fast taking the original with it. The griffin turned his head to look at Discord as he repeatedly snap his fingers trying to change the Griffons armor in some way.

Meanwhile Luna was staring at the crowd of Ponies, “THIS ISN’T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!!!” She totally didn’t shout in the RCV™.

♫♥♠♦♣♫

“Disregarding the matter of several missing letters that were supposedly sent to Canterlot Castle for now, from what you have said you were sent here in advance to make reparations to Equestria, her citizens, and the crown for any and all issues that may arise as a result of your attempts to locate and apprehend the creature roaming our countryside.” Celestia had been here all night trying to get a read on this Pegasus, her first impression was that she was a simple mare with pride in herself but after several hours of admittedly pointless discussion she initiated and maintained, her impression of the Pegasus had changed from that of a business mare, to nobel, to warrior, soldier, random cabbage seller, and several others besides that, and while straightforward for the most part the mare was exceedingly polite and patient.
“Within reason.” Replied Belladonna, “though I don’t expect there to be issues bigger than the hubbub we raised upon our arrival.” Belladonna paused mid-sip of her coffee, the earlier beverage having ran out several hours prior. “Hmm it seems they have found her being pursued by Princess Luna and Discord, she seems to be in rather rough shape." Celestia watched in interest as a small holographic display appeared in front of the Pegasus’s left eye displaying text being typed with no corresponding outward movement from the Pegasus before the screen disappeared. "And it seems your sister was caught in a rather… strange position, by several photographers who ‘crawled out of the woodwork’ as it was so eloquently put in the report."

Celestia’s thus far indulging facial expression became neutral. “What has happened to my sister.” She stated more than asked.

“Nothing too serious, it seems that as a result of some shenanigans she was perceived to be have been stripping in public when confronting my fellow diplomats.” Celestia opened her mouth to respond “the report wasn’t very detail oriented,” {yes it was} “However they are on their way here, and you can inquire as to what happened.”

“Might I request that you instruct them to make their way to the Vanhoover Royal guard outpost instead?” Again more of a statement than a request.

“I can, though that raises the question as to why.”

Celestia rose from her seat and begun to make her way to the door. “So that they might turn over the creature to the custody of the crown.”

“That may be an issue seeing as she is no longer with them.” Celestia paused with her back turned and gave a mental sigh. ‘Why must she be difficult’ thought Celestia.

Turning around Celestia responded, “You just said that the creature was found and in your custody.”

“I did say she was found, however I never said she was in our custody despite how true that may be.”

“Very well then, you said that it had something considered important to your country correct? Release it into our custody and if whatever the creature has is deemed safe it will be safely returned to you."

Belladonna took another sip of her coffee before responding. “I'm afraid that is not acceptable your Highness, our orders were to bring her back to Storm Front. This is a part of the reason I was sent to hopefully make reparations, we cannot allow her to stay here under any circumstances, at the same time we do not wish to make enemies with Equestria, we are perfectly aware that what we did could be perceived as an insult to your great country or even as an act of war. Both of which are outcomes that we hope to avoid.”

“In that case you can make reparations by releasing the creature into our custody.” With that Celestia took her leave.

Author's Note

As always Many thanks to my Proofread Hunter Steel for the help that makes this story readable, unlike the scrawlings of a madman he must decipher and translate to modern English in order to bring you this story, as well as his enthusiasm and feedback that help make this story.
So what did you think? I’m curious to know, As always I'm open to feedback and ideas, wood for the fire and all that fun stuff, so comment comment comment. Your comments help satisfy the caged beast that is my muse.
I would also like to apologise for the extra long wait for this chapter. I recently started playing Minecraft, so between the distraction and the fact that I found the time I usually set aside to create new chapters being corrupted by Minecraft logic, it took a while as you can see. I had to take a few days to purge my programing of all Minecraft based corruption without disturbing the regular corruption. It took a little while and someone asking when the next chapter would be out before I finished this one, even though it’s actually my other story they asked about .

BTW since this image is stuck in my head for some inconceivable reason I thought I would share it.

Deathly Belladonna drawn by Lopoddity