Ponies of Choas' Dawn

"You must maintain a professional attitude and keep your emotions in check. Am I making myself absolutely, one hundred percent crystal clear?"

“You’re fidgeting again.”

“I am not!”

The alabaster filly rolled her eyes and frowned inwardly at her younger sister’s rebuttal. She took a deep breath and puffed herself up a little straighter, since she had detected that her posture had begun to slouch somewhat. Meanwhile, she noticed that the right wing of the blue pegasus sitting beside her twitch once again. Her violet eyes darted to the movement and narrowed. It wasn’t just that the wing was moving about, at least one of her pinions was very noticeably out of place.

“Really,” the unicorn filly sighed, “you’re going to choose now to start molting? Mother’s going to throw a fit when she sees you,” before her younger sister could respond to the comment, her horn started to glow. A moment later there was a startled and only half-contained ‘yelp!’ from beside her.

“You,” the younger pegasus bit her lip and glanced around the palace’s great hall, noting the guard ponies that were in attendance. She also noted the absence of either of their parents, or any members of the earth pony delegation that they would be greeting shortly. Sensing that it was relatively safe to speak, the filly glowered at her older sister, though at a much lower volume than she had started with, “you did that on purpose!”

“Of course I did,” Celestia replied evenly, not appearing to rise to the bait of her sibling. The indigo feather that was still glowing with the pink aura of the unicorn’s telekinetic field floated up between them for the pegasus to see, “one of us has to mind how we present ourselves.”

The younger blue filly huffed at the insinuation, but she was cowed slightly by the sight of the obviously ragged feather which had been on her wing only moments before, “it’s not my fault,” she insisted, “I just preened myself an hour ago! It must be a new one,” she stretched out both of her wings slightly and scrutinized each in turn once more.

“Of course it is,” the unicorn filly made only the most cursory of efforts to hide the note of doubt in her tone. Her eyes darted to the pegasus once more, focusing on her hind hooves this time, “and I suppose that’s a new scuff on you right rear hoof too? The one that you got yesterday while flying in the dining hall,” in a lower tone she added as an aside, “even though Mother told you not to do that ever again after what happened the last time…”

“I already told you,” the younger filly snapped in a stage whisper, “somepony moved that chandelier! I really can fly through the whole castle with my eyes closed,” she added in a petulant tone. As she spoke, she was looking idly at the aforementioned hoof and subtly tucking it further behind her forelegs so that it wouldn’t be as noticeable.

“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should,” Celestia intoned quietly to her sister, “for example, I can use my magic to undo all of the braids in your mane the moment everypony walks in here,” she cocked an amused brow at her sister’s baleful expression, “but I won’t.

“It’s called: being a princess,” she once more schooled her features and faced the large double-doors that lead into the palace’s Great Hall, “you should try it some time.”

“Well, I think you should try sucking on a—”

Whatever un-sisterly advice that the pegasus had been about to offer to her older sibling was lost in the sounds of those doors unlatching and swinging outward to admit a cluster of ponies. Celestia instantly took in a subtle breath to help improve her posture, while her younger sister made a much more visible show of gathering her composure after allowing herself to become disheveled by their argument’s growing heatedness.

Leading the plethora of ponies were the principle participants of the day’s discussions: Princess Platinum of the Unicornia-Pegasopolis Alliance and her counterpart among the local earth pony tribe, Chancellor Smart Cookie, who had only recently been elected to the position after her the preceding chancellor’s term in office had ended. Celestia still found the earth pony’s system of governance quite baffling. How were ponies supposed to be able to know who to turn to in a crisis if somepony new was in charge every time you turned around? It had to be dreadfully confusing for them.

Their mother, as always, wore resplendent attire that befitted her position and title. Jeweled shoes clicked sharply against the marble floor with every step. A flowing purple robe that was trimmed with white lace and decorated with a mixture of rubies and sapphires seemed to drift around her as she walked. Her ivory mane was folded up into an intricate bun that was held together with strands of golden thread, and topped with a silver diamond-studded crown.

Walking beside her, seeming to be completely out of place in such a regal setting, strode a chestnut mare with a crimson mane and emerald eyes. Her clothing consisted of a simple, but certainly well-tailored shirt and vest. The material of each was sturdy and of high quality, to be sure, but lacked any of the glimmering accents or flourishes that were found on every piece of clothing that their mother wore. Had this drab choice of clothing been intentionally crafted as a slight to the realm? Celestia wasn’t sure, but if her mother suspected anything, the silver mare gave no outward sign of having been insulted.

Behind them walked a couple of earth pony colts. Like the older mare leading them, they too wore simple but well-made jackets of a cotton-wool blend. The two of them were making a noticeable effort not to appear distracted by their surroundings; the ivory unicorn filly could see their eyes grow a little wider once they stepped into the palace’s magnificent gallery which had been specifically designed in order to impress visitors to the realm. Otherwise, their features were rather well schooled, which reflected well upon their upbringing, Celestia thought.

Bringing up the rear of the delegation were three other ponies. One of them was their father, Commander Hurricane, consort to the current sovereign of the unicorn principality and the supreme commander of the militant pegasi race. As was his kind’s own custom during affairs of state, he had donned his parade barding; a suit of gilded brushed steel that had been molded to fit his body almost perfectly. A short scarlet cape was draped over his right shoulder, stopping just above his greaves. His helmet had been omitted, as today’s business was to be conducted inside.

Walking beside him were two other earth ponies. At first, Celestia had assumed that they were bodyguards for the Chancellor, but she quickly realized that neither of them was wearing any sort of armor, or carrying a weapon that she could see. Her next thought was that they were servants that the earth pony leader had brought with her. However, the unicorn filly was not firmly convinced of this, either. The stallion and mare beside her father weren’t carrying themselves like members of a staff. They weren’t royalty, to be sure, but neither were they of the sort to bend fetlock to anypony. It was something that Celestia internally puzzled over the entire time while the procession approached.

“…and these are our daughters,” their mother said by way of introduction, waving a hoof at the pair of patiently waiting fillies, “Chancellor, may I present to you the princesses Celestia…and Luna,” both fillies stood erect and bowed in turn, at the mention of their names, to the chestnut earth pony. When they rose back up, they remained standing. From this point on, they would follow the group as they made their way to the garden for the luncheon that they were to share while they deliberated.

“S’a pleasure to make yer acquaintance,” the mare dipped her head slightly. The drawl of her words caused Celestia’s ears to twitch slightly. She’d never heard a pony, especially one whom was a leader among ponies, speak quite so…plainly before. While she acknowledged that proper articulation was, in and of itself, not a direct reflection on a ruler’s acumen; it was also quite certainly a key aspect in maintaining an air of confidence in the abilities of a leader. If a pony couldn’t be trusted to speak properly, how could they be trusted to lead properly?

“These here,” the mare stepped aside and waved at the colts behind her, “are my nephews, Wise Cracker and Tough Cookie,” each of the colts issued a curt nod. Celestia even noticed that one of them was blushing slightly, while the other managed to make himself look slightly taller than he had been a moment ago. The chancellor continued on, looking to the other ponies near the pegasus stallion, “and those there are my little sister and my brother-in-law, Sugar Cookie and Stud Muffin.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to meet you all,” Celestia said with a broad smile as she once more bowed. Luna had been given no lines of dialogue to speak at this moment, and so she bowed in silence beside her older sister. The unicorn filly’s amethyst eyes darted briefly and caught her mother approving smile.

“Yer just sayin’ that ‘cause you don’t know us yet,” the crimson-maned mare laughed, winking at the fillies. Then she nodded back at the colts, “I’m sure these two tornaders with hooves will have you cursin’ our names in no time!”

“Aunt Cookie!” the older colt said as he flashed the earth pony chancellor a reproachful look before glancing back at the pair of fillies and shifting uncomfortably.

Celestia managed to hide most of her smile, which had started out as something more akin to horror upon hearing the chestnut mare break with protocol like that. Seeing that she was not the only one who seemed to have been startled by the remark helped to ease her discomfort. It looked as though her mother was only barely maintaining her own composure at the sudden departure from formality as well.

She made a courageous effort to regain control of the conversation though, “I’m…sure they’re not that bad,” Princess Platinum replied, forcing a grin. After a brief moment of thought, she added, “I can assure you, having raised my own daughters; fillies are much more of a hoofful,”

If it were at all physically possible, Celestia was certain that she would have gone even paler than she was. Her carefully manicure expression fell completely away as she gaped at her mother in stark surprise. Beside her, Luna’s frazzled pinions suggested that the pegasus was experiencing her own feelings of gross embarrassment. The unicorn filly glanced at the colts, who were now the ones smiling at them.

“You say that,” the chancellor smirked, “but you ain’t never seen what these two can do when they get the notion into their heads to try and herd cattle on their own,” she favored the colts with a wry glare, “we were chasing down spooked heifers fer a week!” she cleared her throat, “and we’ve only rebuilt three of the five barns that got leveled…” the colts exchanged grimaces and suddenly looked a lot smaller beneath the gaze of the two earth ponies looking disapprovingly at them from behind.

“Remember that topaz shortage a while back that caused the bit to sharply devalue against the Yakistan Bauble?” the unicorn sovereign arched a knowing brow at the chestnut mare before nodding at Celestia, “somepony decided they didn’t like the color yellow that week, and turned all the topaz in the royal vault into garnets. Which,” Platinum continued with an anxious little smile, “is why there might be a bill giving a slight ‘bump’ to tariffs going through the House of Lords at the moment,” she winced apologetically, “sorry about that. Things should level out next year,” she hastily assured the chancellor, who was grimacing at the news.

“Also,” Hurricane grunted from the back of the group, “that hailstorm last month was supposed to be a light drizzle. We think somepony,” his eyes were locked on his younger daughter, “knocked the labels off some of the clouds and didn’t put them back right while she—I mean they—were wandering around the part of the weather factory their father told them never to go to.”

The chancellor burst out laughing at this revelation, “I was wonderin’ about that! I thought y’all were still mad about the Pickle Barrel Fiasco of Oh-Nine!”

“No,” the pegasus shook his head, “nearly everypony’s recovered from that, and the rest will be having their last therapy sessions in a few months.”

“That’s good to hear. Give’em my best; bless their poor little hearts,” the mare shook her head slowly, “anywho, no harm done with the hail. I just hope you like your summer squash extra squashed,” it was Hurricane’s turn to laugh this time, in his customary low chuckle, “It was supposed to be watermelons, but a couple of ponies got into the seed barn and stole ‘em all,” she nodded subtly at the colts, as though nopony in the room yet knew that the younger ponies continued to be the subject of what the adults were talking about, “as I understand it, they fed them to the chickens to see if melons would grow inside of ‘em and make ‘em pop!”

“And what did we learn from that?” the earth pony mare beside Celestia’s father asked sternly of her foals.

“Never let Wise choose the switch; because he thinks thinner ones ‘hurt less’,” the older colt mumbled under his breath so quietly that Celestia only barely heard him as he idly rubbed his hindquarters at the memory. More loudly he said, “seeds are for planting, not for playing,” his mother issued and approving nod.

“Well,” the silver mare said, by way of diverting the conversation back on track, though she was still wearing a rather broad smile and chuckling to herself, “it seems that we both well know the trials of foal-rearing,” she received assenting nods from the other adult ponies. The younger generation merely did their best not to make eye-contact with anypony as they stared at the floor, “might I suggest that now is a good time to turn our attention to the fruits of our realms’ mutual labors?” she chuckled, “literally. Come, our luncheon awaits us on the terrace,” she cast a wry smile at the chancellor, “as does an old friend of yours, I believe.”

“Clover’s here?” the chestnut mare perked up noticeably, “well golly, it’s been an age since we last talked,” she cast her gaze at Celestia’s father, “I don’t suppose Pansy’s about?”

“I’m afraid that Sergeant Pansy is on assignment with a trade delegation in Mulan that ran overlong,” he waved away a worried look from the crimson-maned mare, “no, it’s good news. They hit things off pretty good, it seems, and the donkeys invited them to stay for some sort of festival. That pegasus has a knack for knowing how to get into somepony’s—or donkey's, I guess in this case—good graces,” he rolled his eyes and frowned slightly, “which is news to me…”

“Well, I’m glad she’s holdin’ up alright. Good fer her,” the chestnut pony looked back at Princess Platinum and licked her lips, “now, there was some mention of ‘fruits’, I believe?”

Dinner was a much quieter affair, as most family meals in the castle tended to be. Celestia was grateful for that. It wasn’t that the lunch that she had shared with the earth pony delegation had been ‘bad’, per say; but it had certainly been…different. In the filly’s experience, meal times were for eating, with very specific moments set aside for polite discussion; such as during the soup course, or especially while drinking tea at the end. It seemed that the earth ponies had very different customs though. They just talked whenever they wanted, even during the entrée!

Ever the graceful royal personality, their mother had maintained her composure throughout it all, never issuing a single criticism. Though it had been obvious to Celestia that a few of those etiquette faux pas’ had pushed some of her buttons. Clover, the realm’s archmage and First Councilor, had done a much better job of acting oblivious to all of those possible slights. If, in fact, it was acting. The viridian mare had seemed to be genuinely overjoyed to meet with Chancellor Smart Cookie, and the two had spoken at length throughout the meal.

Celestia and Luna had not been present for the actual political discussions that were the true purpose of the delegation's visit. Honestly, that had been a little odd. In the past, both of them had regularly been in attendance of even those most boring and tedious moments of such proceedings. It was well understood that the both of them needed to be aware of the seriousness of their ‘princess’ titles’, and the implications that it had for their futures. Not this time, however.

Instead, both of the fillies and the earth pony colts had been dismissed to play in the nearby garden while the rest of the ponies talked. It would come as a surprise to nopony that all four young ponies offered up not the slightest bit of protest to this notion and bolted before the polite excusals were completely out of their mouths. Each of them had felt that they had been embarrassed by their older relatives quite enough, thank-you-very-much!

They had played among the many trees and flowers of the Royal Garden for hours. At first, their antics had consisted of demonstrations of what made their own breed of pony superior to all the others. Celestia had thrilled them with her levitation magic and the light spell that she knew, Luna executed feats of acrobatic flight, and Tough Cookie effortlessly lifted both fillies and his younger brother into the air with one hoof. Celestia had been forced to admit that she found the feat of strength impressive. She wasn’t prepared to acknowledge earth ponies as being superior, but she did concede that she could never in a thousand years have replicated the stunt herself without using a spell. Nor, truth be told, could she have lifted all three other ponies using her magic. Not yet, anyway. Her lessons with the Archmage Clover progressed slowly but surely. In time, she was confident that she would be as powerful as her tutor someday.

After their obligatory bragging and showing off, the four of them had engaged in more traditional games; though they all added little twists to them that their innate abilities allowed for. In all, Celestia didn’t begrudge acknowledging that it had been great fun, and she had gotten the impression that she would be seeing more of those colts and the rest of the earth pony delegation in the future. The ivory filly didn’t think she’d mind that in the least.

Once the main course had been cleared away, and fresh cups of hot teat had been deposited in front of everypony, the family dinner conversation began. Their mother was the first to speak, with an eye on her two daughters, “so, how did you enjoy your little ‘play date’ with those colts today?” their father hid a slight frown at the mention of ‘play date’ behind a sip of his tea.

“They were a bit…rugged,” Celestia remarked, thinking back on some of the games that the colts had suggested that involved a lot of wrestling and running. Though, she supposed that there wasn’t much more that an earth pony could do, really, “but it was a lot of fun.”

Luna nodded her agreement, “I liked them. Wise Cracker knows a lot of good jokes,” her eyes lit up and she looked at her older sister, “shall I tell Mother and Father the limerick about the mare from Nanbuckit?”

Both fillies and Princess Platinum were all immediately drawn to the sound of Hurricane as he suddenly started to cough up a mouthful of tea that he must have been in the middle of swallowing when something went horribly wrong. The pegasus stallion hurriedly recovered and set down his cup, leveling his gaze at his daughters, “they taught you what now?”

“It’s a story about a mare who—” Luna began, delighted at the prospect of being able to share the story she’d heard earlier that day.

Celestia’s eyes went wide and she quickly interrupted her younger sister, “—lived happily ever after, the end!” she grinned broadly at both of her parents. When the younger pegasus filly glared at her, she issued a quick kick under the table, “it’s a lovely story, sister, indeed. I’m sorry to have spoiled it in my excitement,” she leveled her gaze at Luna and gave her head a quick shake.

“It’s…rather brief,” their mother frowned, looking at her husband, “isn’t it, dear?”

“It’s fine,” the stallion quipped evenly and went back to drinking his tea, a knowing eye on the fillies.

The silver unicorn shrugged, “anyway, I was wondering if you would like to see either of them again sometime soon?”

“They were both good fun,” Celestia nodded, “perhaps when next they visit, we can show them the lake?”

“Oh, a lakeside picnic sounds like a wonderful notion,” their mother beamed, “doesn’t it, dear?” their father merely grunted as he took another sip from his teacup, which was sounding to Celestia to be quite empty by now. Their mother frowned for a moment and then looked back at her daughters, “we could organize some games, too," she thought for a moment and then smiled, “perhaps a six-legged race? Celestia, who would you like to be paired up with, Wise Cracker or Tough Cookie?

Their father grunted again, more derisively this time though. Celestia and Luna looked at him in confusion while Platinum issued a stern glare. Quirking an eyebrow and waiting for an explanation that didn’t seem forthcoming, Celestia slowly turned back to respond to her mother’s question, “could I be paired with Luna? We could race fillies against colts,” she suggested.

It was obvious from their mother’s strained smile that it was not the answer that she had been seeking, “I see…I cannot think of a reason why we would not be able to do that. So…I guess we can. Um,” she thought for another moment and then raised her hoof in triumph, “I know! Seating arrangements!” she looked back at Celestia and Luna, “which of the colts would you rather sit next to? It’s a round table, so you’ll have to be sitting next to one of them…”

“Celestia and I could sit across from each other one way, and Wise and Tough can sit across from each other the other way,” Luna pointed out, “that way we’re next to both of them.”

“Yes,” their mother sighed, “that is correct. I had not thought of that. Give me a moment to think of something else…”

“Oh, for…” their father growled, finally giving up the charade and putting down the tiny cup that had not been doing a very good job of hiding his growing scowl, “this is ridiculous, Platinum. There’s no need to go through all of this. For pony’s sake, they’re the nephews of the current chancellor! In a few years somepony else will be in charge of that rabble and you’ll have married our daughters off to a couple of commoners with no political ties whatsoever!”

“Hurricane!”

“What?” the stallion snorted in response to his wife’s mortified outburst. He nodded his head at the pair of fillies, “were they supposed to not know what you were trying to get at? Why not? When were you planning on telling them, the day of the ceremony?”

Both Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes were wide as they gaped at both of their parents. For her part, the unicorn filly didn’t know what she found more shocking: the sort of argument going on that her parents had never had before in their daughters’ presence, ever; or the notion that this whole day had apparently been arranged in order to feel out potential marital matches for the two of them. Had Wise Cracker and Tough Cookie known about the purpose of the visit?

“Hurricane,” the silver unicorn mare sniffed haughtily, “you simply cannot be so candid about these things, especially not in front of the fillies!”

“I’m sorry, is this not any of their business?” the pegasus quipped.

“It's not like that—girls, it is not like that,” their mother shifted her target to the young fillies seated at the table, her expression morphing immediately from annoyance to something approaching grief, “it is absolutely your business who you marry someday, but…” she winced slightly now, “…there are certain…grown-up things—considerations—that need to be taken into account when you make that choice…” the mare frowned and pawed a hoof at the air as she tried to come up with a better way to phrase what she wanted to say.

“You mean like when you married Father?” Celestia asked, “so that the unicorns and pegasi would never go to war?”

Her mother gaped at the older filly while the gray pegasus wore a broad smile. The stallion chuckled softly, “see, Platinum? She gets it,” he nodded at the alabaster filly. Then his expression hardened slightly, “and I’m sure she’ll get why it’s a bad idea to arrange a marriage with a colt who doesn’t have any political value in the long term.”

Celestia’s face scrunched up as she thought about her father’s statement. It was clear that her mother had considered the argument to be lost, and was nodding her head in sour acknowledgment of her husband’s position. That was probably why it came to a shock to the both of them Celestia continued the discussion.

“That’s not true,” she said quietly. Both of her parents looked at her in surprise. The cream colored unicorn straightened up in her seat and explained her thought process, “it would still be a political union, and it would still serve as a symbolic tie to bind the earth ponies to the Alliance,” she said. She looked at her father, “you’re right, neither Wise or Tough are nobility, and have no titles of their own or permanent ties to the leadership of their tribe. For one of the only two princesses in the realm to be married to either of them could be seen as a waste of a possible political alliance to another tribe or race.

“It could also be seen as a commitment. We would be giving up something that the earth ponies know is very precious to us: marital leverage. It would be a demonstration of how much we are willing to symbolically offer in order to make a formal treaty endure. It doesn’t matter if neither of them still has any ties to earth pony politics in ten years; it only needs to exist for just long enough for the wax seals to dry on the treaties that come of it. Treaties that, hopefully, last for many years beyond the lifespan of a single princess and her common-born consort.”

When Celestia was finished, she looked patiently between her parents. Both of whom were staring in wide-eyed astonishment at their daughter. Luna was likewise gaping at her.

“That was…wow,” her mother finally managed to get out before she fully regained her composure. She took a breath and settled herself before continuing, “that showed remarkable insight, Celestia. How did you ever become so familiar with such matters?”

“Master Clover,” Celestia replied simply, a wry smile forming on her muzzle, “in addition to magic, she teaches me political theory during our daily lessons,” her parents exchanged glances, and somewhere from the next room, Celestia heard laughter from a pony that sounded very much like the First Councilor. The filly waited another beat in the tense atmosphere before speaking again, “I also think that Luna should be the one that has to get married.”

“Huh?” her younger sister balked at the sudden suggestion.

“She told me that she thinks Wise Cracker has a cute flank,” how she maintained a straight face, the unicorn would never know.

“That was a secret!” the pegasus filly shrieked at the top of her lungs. Her younger sister coiled up in her seat, her wings fanning out as she made ready to leap across the table at her future murder victim.

“DinnerwaswonderfulIneedtogostudynowloveyoubye!” Celestia might not have had wings of her own, but she made a very impressive attempt at flying from the table as fast as she could, a dark blue streak following close in her wake.