«««✧✦✧»»»

«««✧✦✧»»»

Chapter Ten: ... And A Full Leap Forwards

«««✧✦✧»»»

“May the next petitioner come forth!”

It took all Luna had to not groan at that sentence. It was like tolerating a broken record looping away. It was always done in grandiose manner, no matter who said it.

Blessedly from Faust herself, the next pony to enter was the last pony ... Only for the petitioners to be replaced by piles of paperwork.

Luna nearly lost control of her temper and composure again and started slumping ever so slightly, already dreading having to scan and read reams and reams of paper filled with legalese and clauses which do nothing but try and disguise in excessive verbiage and their greedy plans or wear her down to just accept whatever proposal was before her without question. It was bad enough knowing that her eldest sister had to tolerate such manure for so long, but now to experience just how bad it was for herself? Tartarus must surely be naught but bureaucracy and legalese.

Princess Luna almost wished she was back on the moon before she snapped out of her reverie and back to reality as the last petitioner came forward hesitantly.

Taking note on the mare’s hesitance, Luna decided to offer some support for the shy mare to help articulate her thoughts. Straightening her back a little, Princess Luna spoke in the most benevolent voice she could muster, “Mine sister is currently occupied with a traditional event down in Ponyville, and has left me in charge of the Day Court in her stead.”

The mare flinched, as if she didn’t expect Princess Luna to accurately know what she was thinking. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence and Luna slowly expressing her impatience with a frown and furrowed eyebrows, the petitioning mare stepped forward a little more and asked in a quivering voice, “Y-your Majesty, Princess Luna ...”

Above the congregated Princess, petitioner and Royal Guards, Rising gave a small snort at Luna’s attempt of encouragement before returning to his thoughts and those of the Legion within the Plains of Eternal Hills.

As Rising looked over inside the alcove and at Shining Armor, who was pawing the ground in boredom, he thought back to yesterday during the Royal Sisters’ small meeting with their Majordomo, more specifically when Celestia’s little student and her friends had sort of made up with him after his indelicate turn on Rainbow Dash.

«««✧✦✧»»»

As the two princesses and Majordomo continued to discuss and talk amongst each other, it was clear to Rising that they would be at it for possibly more than ten or so minutes. Still, he had elected to wait in silence, occasionally getting coherent snippets of what the three were saying.

That is until Twilight had meandered up to him and hesitantly poked his leg to get his attention, “Um ... Rising?”

Getting his attention with a slow turn of his head, Twilight began, still hesitant on trying to work out what she wanted to say, “So, about before ... when you first met my friends ...”

“If you’re asking for an apology for what we’ve said, then say no more.” Rising started before he gave a halting, “We ...”

He looked to his left, as if someone invisible had just called for his attention, and his irises’ had changed colors twice before he restarted, looking back at Twilight, “I, apologize, as I still wasn’t thinking things as thoroughly as I should have been.”

Twilight blinked in mute surprise, “O-oh.” She gave a quick glance over to her friends, seeing similar states of surprise, “Well—”

Pinkie Pie quickly scampered up to Rising and said brightly, “Apology accepted!” She frowned for a moment and gave a surprisingly hard poke to his chest, “But don’t be a meanie to my friends, okay buster?”

Rising blinked at the pink pony with raised eyebrows and replied with, “Noted.”

Either by wordless conversation or telepathic approval, the other mares trotted towards him with less hesitation, though they still had their own expressions judging on his words before.

Silenced reign among them as the group occasionally looked back at the princesses and Majordomo, who were still in discussion until Twilight was the first to break the ice again, “Sooo, how are you doing in Equestria?”

The stallion gave a shrug, which was rather difficult to do, which ended with his neck and head moving down and up. “We’re faring well enough, considering how a great deal of things either disobey or ignore the rules of physics and gravity, the shock of whatever else is new to us is just dulled to where we can simply stare and move on.”

The unicorn student gave a small scoff and roll of the eyes, “Yeah, I can imagine a lot of things don’t make sense. Much like how the clouds and trees in the Everfree Forest just tends to themselves without our hooves.”

“That, is natural to us.” Rising gave an amused smile, “We can prune, we can tend to the ground and weeds around plants, but we can’t influence the clouds and the growth of the trees or its fruit.”

“... S’what again?” Applejack drawled after staring at the stallion for a few seconds.

This garnered a returning stare from Rising as he repeated, “The natural climate of your Everfree Forest is normal to us and our race.”

“How’d y’all gather fruit for e’ery harvest, then?!” Applejack started.

“We watch and wait.” Rising smiled.

This sent Applejack into a sputter, “Bu-but what about the fruit?! Do they all turn ripe in time?”

He shook his head, “No, some get over-ripe and just become food for the ants, worms and birds, if they haven’t gotten to the fruit before they became ripe already. Some aren’t ripe enough to haul them to markets or stores, and sometimes the ripe and ready to be picked don’t make it in time to be sold, or they don’t get bought long enough that they are thrown out.”

This brought Applejack to give the stallion a look of uncomfortability, her ears drooping as the farm pony complained, “But ... but tha’s such a waste!”

Once again, his neck and head dipped down and back up as he replied, “It’s the best we could do. Pesticides only came back around and turned us ill, and nobody was ever willing to stand guard and patrol a full crop all day and night to prevent animals, insects and thieves from getting at them.”

Applejack gave another question, her ears falling flat, “But what if you can’t get any fruit?”

“Then their are no fruit or vegetables for farmers to sell or eat. Sometimes they have to fight both the weather, natural disasters and the earth itself to ensure they at least get a handful. And if they can’t, then they either replant and wait, give up the farm, or starve.”

Applejack fell into a depressing silence as Rarity asked with a frown, “Darling, isn’t there anything that does not contribute to this distasteful outlook of your race’s life?” She gave a disdainful sniff before adding, “Or does everything in your do perpetuate nothing but barbarism and low quality of life?”

The mares were finally rewarded with a smile as Rising replied, “Thankfully, no.”

Rarity raised her chin up and gave an almost snobbish harumph, “Then perhaps we should have more positive conversation instead. All this frowning and negativity is doing nightmares against my health and beauty. I’ve taken years perfecting my body and I’m not letting it go to waste, thank you very much!”

The alicorn relented and gave a nod, “Very well, what would you like to know that isn’t doom and gloom?”

“Thank you,” Rarity pressed before giving a few seconds of thought with a hoof to her chin.

She gave a happy exclamation and was just about to ask what came to mind before Twilight was nudged by Pinkie Pie with a pocket watch in her hoof, indicating that she wanted her friends to get a move on. Twilight gave an odd look to Pinkie before stepping forward and saying, “Mares, I think we do need to get back to Ponyville, we’ve been gone too long and we need to get everything ready for the Running of the Leaves.” She turned towards Rising and gave a polite bow, “It's nice to see you again, Rising. Though I hope during the coronation our meeting will be under less sour circumstances.”

Rising blinked before noticing Pinkie jabbing at her pocket watch, ending any chance of him asking what Rarity had in mind. However he did glance over to the still arguing princesses and Majordomo and asked, “You’re leaving without saying goodbye to them?”

Twilight’s ears immediately perked up and quickly turned to face the princesses while Rarity gave another unhappy huff, “Well! Since we are being pushed out the door, I suppose I shall have to rely on either the coronation party or through letters. Goodness knows I could do with a Pen-Pony outside of my own parents and customers are often formal.”

“We’ll do what we can with letters, though don’t be surprised if they’re a little difficult to read or have different handwriting.” Rising commented.

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight called. However she didn’t get an answer, not even an ear twitch from her mentor to signal she had heard her.

Twilight was willing to sit and wait for the Princesses to acknowledge her until Rising looked over and said, “May as well give your goodbyes anyway.” His ears swiveled to hear something that Twilight strained to hear before he gave a loud derisive snort, his expression souring.

That as it turns out, garnered their attention enough to look over and notice his reaction to what one of them had said.

Twilight took that opportunity to try and gain their attention again, only for them to return their attention back to their discussion.

Now with Pinkie appearing before her again, this time jabbing the pocket watch harder with a stern look, Twilight simply relented and called out, “Goodbye Princess, I’ll see you at the Running of the Leaves. ... Alright let’s go, mares.”

Rising gave a small chuckle at Twilight’ grumbling as the group of mares, with Spike climbing back onto his adopted sister’s back, having gotten over his dismay and despair of having no comics.

«««✧✦✧»»»

“Finally!” Rising’s ears and attention returned to the present as Princess Luna grumbled as the timid petitioner left the throne room and out of hearing range. As it turned out, the mare was the last pony to visit for the day. It had taken quite some time to figure out what she had wanted, which had been about her wanting the highest ruling approval for adoption papers over a small colt that had been abandoned.

Shining Armor added his own grumble of relief as Rising commented “Odd,” he stuck his head out with the curtains fluttering open, “With your sister, you barely complain. Even when the last petitioner left, you never grumbled nor complained. Is it because of your sister nearby you wouldn’t dare raise your voice near her?”

Luna glared at Rising, “Tis none of thy business to know!”

She was only answered with a level stare before he pulled his head back.

Now groaning that she snapped at him as well as being irritable that Day Court was done, only to be soon replaced by paperwork, Luna got up and slowly stretched before leaning against her assigned guard and descended from the throne.

After leaving the throne room and finding Rising and Captain Armor around a corner, Luna quickly trotted up and muttered, “We ... apologise for that. While we art oft familiar with nobles who begrudge and ask of menial things as it has been since the days of old, it still angers us that they do not try to figure out how to solve their own problems or even consider any other thought than to trot to us like a foal to their mother.”

“We understand your impatience.” Rising commented, as he regarded her with some leveled patience, “And we’re willing to look past your anger. However, as we’re assuming you were taught this, many will look to you or your sister for guidance and wisdom, even those who wish to supplant their selfish desires past your nose. Those who are patient have great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”

“Thou speak as an aged pony.” Luna muttered, quickly recalling the lessons that had been pounded into memory long before she had become princess.

“And you grumble like a spoilt and rebellious child.” Rising retorted, gaining enough balance to give a gentle nudge at Luna’s side. Luna’s only response was to grumble to herself as they continued to move onwards.

Shining Armor meanwhile, would have commented that they argue and bicker like a married couple. However since he was in the presence of both one of the two Diarchs of his own homeland and a guest that could beat him seven ways till next week, he opted to hold the thought to himself and followed in silence, mulling over the events he heard about his sister and her treacherous journey to a dragon’s lair.

Instead of having the ‘office’ to do her own share of paperwork and file through written proposals and askances within the comfort of her own room, Luna’s workplace was instead created out of the unknown number of open rooms in Canterlot Castle. The construction of her room was a replicant of what she had before her banishment, placing a large enough desk for her to do it all was considered an afterthought, left unconsidered. And sadly, due to the determined effort to replicate everything, this left no room to place a desk anywhere that wasn’t in her way nor was there a possibility of renovations.

So instead, Luna was left to choose out of the many locations in the Castle where she wanted her own workplace. Said room she chose was one that was the closest to the throne room, as she figured it was best to have both jobs be closest to one another rather than have to travel all the way to her room and then go across it.

She didn’t consider that had she done so, she would’ve been sorely tempted to abandon paperwork for the safety and excuse of going to bed earlier until her sister had noted it aloud.

A sudden, very loud noise ripped Luna’s attention from her thoughts as she almost literally jumped out of her skin.

She gave a quick yell before dancing away from the source before she turned to the direction of what Luna would have been convinced as a loud magical blast detonating next to her, and saw Rising hold a hoof to his nose, sniffing a little.

Shining looked at him and spoke with his ears folded back against his head, “Bless you.”

Luna simply stood there, looking almost scandalized as she commented, “Art ... thou well?”

Rising’s response came slightly nasally, “Health be willing, thank you.” After noticing how his voice sounded, he gave a rough growling to clear his throat and tried again, this time sounding better, “We may need a zinc lozenge, though.”

Luna’s expression turned from startled to bewildered. Zinc? Wasn’t that supposed to be one of the modern supplements for a pony’s growth, if what the medical notes she had to read was correct.

Whatever the stallion’s problem was, it could probably wait. For now, Luna had an appointment with a pile of papers.

«««✧✦✧»»»

Princess Celestia gave a chuckle after seeing the aftermath of the race. It was a welcome surprise to finally find her student participating in physical activity, as she had been hinting here and there during her tutelage. She had watched and facehoofed upon seeing Rainbow Dash and Applejack take their competitive attitude to such an extent that each mare would try to sabotage the other for a race that was more about tradition and seasonal ecological management than about who crossed the finish line first.

However, she was glad that the two mares felt ashamed and embarrassed about their unsportsmarelike behavior and that the both of them didn’t let their desire for prestige and praise ruin their friendship.

After watching them gallop off to help the remaining trees which had not yet shed their foliage, Twilight came up beside her mentor and said with an amused smile, “I’ll give them around a few hours before they’re back to trying to best each other.”

Celestia admonished her, “Come now, Twilight. You should have more faith in your friends.” However after a small thought, she bent down closer to Twilight and said, “I’d give them tomorrow.”

The two shared a laugh before Celestia added, “I’m sorry that I hadn’t noticed your departure, Twilight.”

Her student waved it off with a hoof, “It’s okay, Princess Celestia. You were busy trying to figure out what to do about—” Twilight nearly mentioned Rising before realising where she was and quickly hushed herself as she placed a hoof over her mouth.

Celestia quickly took initiative to cover Twilight’s near blunder and replied, “I’m glad that you were understanding. Handling something as complicated as this ... .” Her voice drifted off after thinking over the entire event of Rising’s awakening.

Twilight moved her hoof away and moved a little closer to whisper, “Princess Celestia? Do you really think that Rising can fit amongst everypony? Given his attitude and his ... eccentricities.” She waved a hoof around the ponies and Ponyville, “Is he really going to be able to handle all this?”

Her mentor’s long silence and her eventual answer didn’t assuage her concerns, which bothered her and everypony around her, “I don’t know, Twilight Sparkle.”

That answer stayed with Celestia, even after she had stepped aboard her carriage and flew off back to Canterlot.

Was Rising going to be able to handle the tameness and innocence that Equestria now had? Out of all the attitudes and behaviours, it seemed that her speculations of the Minotaurs’ and Griffons’ reactions to his presence was the most familiar to him.

Yet there were very few options available to Celestia that she, her sister and Rising would agree upon.

A small voice at the back of her head began to whisper a thought. For the majority of the flight back, Celestia mulled about it, toyed around with it and gave it consideration.

Finally, she decided to agree to it and with a spare parchment and small quill she kept with her whenever she was out of Canterlot so as to send messages to anypony at any moment, and wrote upon it, ‘We simply hold onto hope and shall endeavor to do our best in helping our friend adjust as he transitions from the world and culture he knew to a whole new world.’

With that she rolled it up and with a little magic, sent it on its way to Twilight, and went back to feeling the wind blow through her and meditated on what to do for the coming days.

«««✧✦✧»»»

The same loud noise erupted again, making Luna and her more literate attendant jump and nearly make a line of ink tear across the recent proposal in front of her. Even Shining gave a start and jerked his head towards the source of the noise before calming down a little.

“Confound and buck it all, Rising!” She yelled, turning to the stallion who was the responsible criminal, “Doth thou seek mine startlement for thine entertainment?!”

Rising gave another sniff and answered with another rub to his nose, “No. We’re not doing it on purpose.”

“Then take thine bothersome sneezes elsewhere,” Luna demanded, “Hath thou no place else to busy yourself?”

“Looking at our track record,” Rising replied, “We’re not allowed into the library, we’re not allowed near the Royal Guard barracks, the Night Guards are asleep at this time, and we’re not allowed outside the castle. Unless you can think of something to entertain us, we’re well enough staying nearby you and watching you work.”

Her glare was all she could give in response, before inspecting the proposal to be sure she hadn’t ruined it. After seeing no damage, Luna returned to listening to her aid resume their duties and reading and summarizing the key points covered by the proposal she was currently looking at.

She placed the piece of paper in the ‘Rejection’ pile as relative silence returned for a few minutes, with Rising observing and listening to her work being done.

After a few more minutes, Rising looked over to Shining Armor and asked, “Could you go into the library and fetch us a few books? The elementary primers would be preferable.”

Luna immediately stopped what she was doing, paper levitating just shy of being added to the increasingly growing ‘Rejection’ pile and stared at the stallion. She nearly proclaimed that Rising wasn’t allowed into the Royal Library until she realized exactly what he said. Shining took a little longer at catching on, but just before he reached the door, he paused and turned to look back at Rising with surprise.

Luna turned to face him, astounded, “Thou knew and planned this from the beginning.”

“Not entirely.” Rising shook his head a little and admitted, “We did know that your sister would ban us from the Royal Barracks, though we didn’t think she would’ve added the library and the Captain to be our aide.”

“But thou predicted we would restrict thee.” Luna pressed, unconvinced.

He fell silent for a little, before giving a small nod to the side, “We suppose we did.”

The Princess scoffed, though a small smile creeped in despite her unhappiness, “Thou remind us of our youthful days. None could keep us down and often did we worm our way out of discipline.”

It was then that Shining moved, hesitantly, as if waiting for Princess Luna to call him to stop. However once he was nearly out of the room, he began to pick up his pace and headed toward the library.

When the Captain was out of sight, Luna commented, “Thou art aware our sister may not share our amusement?”

“As far as we’ve seen and are aware Princess, you both are too well adjusted to having everyone heed and beckon to your wills. Yes, Princess Celestia won’t be as amused by this, however there isn’t much she can do about it without sounding like a tyrant.”

He was rewarded with his remark with Luna giving a shiver and a glare at him, though she didn’t retort or snap back at him as she returned to her work in silence.

That silence would continue well into the evening, even after Shining returned with the procured books until Luna had finished her job, as once the last paper was dropped off into the ‘Rejected’ pile and her aide said that was all the paperwork for that day did she give another grumble of relief and jumped off her cushion.

It was when they reached one of the main halls that led to the entrance of Canterlot Castle did they find Princess Celestia and Golden Needle trotting up the stairs. Upon locking eyes, both groups moved towards each other, with Celestia greeting warmly, “Hello Luna! How was the Day Court?”

“Droll, as ever.” Luna grumbled, “And thine paperwork was just as terrible. Couldst thou believe it if we told thee a pony wished to remove ten homes for the sake of building a high rent apartment that cost more than either one of those homes?”

Only patience and years of experience made Celestia respond by shaking her head in amusement, “She always did prefer to look at the numbers instead of cost and effect.”

“This wasn't the first time?” Shining asked, his interest piqued as he was there with the other alicorns when the proposal was read aloud.

“Oh yes, Captain.” Celestia gave a small laugh, “Compound Gemina has been insistent on pushing apartments and smaller homes to populate Canterlot, even at the expense of the middle class ponies.”

“And she hasn’t learned at all about compromises, exceptions and what seems to be proper rent prices?” Rising flatly commented, his eyebrow raising.

“Sadly.” Celestia shook her head.

Seamstress Golden Needle decided to speak up, eager to change the topic to her own efforts, “As charming as most of the noble class ponies’ wits are, I am more than happy to say that I’ve completed the necessary garments for our up-and-coming Prince!” She hesitated a little as she took another look at Rising, “Though ... We may need to have him dress up and trot around with it before we can say it’s perfect and ready.”

“Then it seems we have a task for thee, Rising!” Luna said in a smug tone, “Thou hast asked if we knew what to do with thee, and now we hath our answer!”

Celestia looked between Luna and Rising before asking, “He hasn’t asked for books to be brought to him yet?”

This garnered Celestia with an incredulous look from her sister and a thoughtful look from Rising as Luna cried out in frustration, “How in Equestria is it that thou both figured such a loophole and we hadn’t?!”

Both Celestia’s and Rising’s laughter at poor Luna’s expense rang through the halls.

¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° ŜⒽ𝓐ᗰ𝑒ℓ𝓔𝓢Ş 𝐭𝐢𝕄𝒆 ѕⓀ𝐈Ｐ°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸

The day had come at last. The news had been spreading like wildfire the day before, and thousands of ponies had quickly made traveling plans. The rich and higher classes made reservations and fought proverbially tooth and hoof for the best seating and view to see both the princesses and this new ‘Prince’ that had been declared.

The lesser rich and more numerous middle to lower classes did their best in getting anything else to see and hear the event, though there were the smarter few who decided to hear about the coronation either from second-hoof accounts or from their daily newspaper.

Then there were those who packed up their camping equipment, gathered supplies and headed out to the designated areas within and around Canterlot City, where designated unicorn teams fueling and casting a series of vision and audial spells, broadcasting against a blank wall showing the balcony where the princesses and their new ‘Prince’ were to appear.

While the kingdom of Equestria underwent an orderly chaos in preparation, Princess Luna gave a small protest to Rising, “Couldst thou settle down? I cannot tell if thou art uncomfortable in thine coat or anxious!”

Rising continued to fidget around in his given dress as Princess Celestia agreed, “As much as I’ve seen and been with you, Rising, I don’t believe you would be the one to have stage fright.”

The stallion himself muttered, “Is it stage fright? Or are we just uncomfortable with the rapid change of pace?”

He didn’t have long to ponder as Reginald Glass trotted over to them and reported, “Everything is almost ready, Your Highnesses. The nobles from Canterlot, celebrities and high class ponies of Manehattan and Los Pegasus, and the Royal Thestrals of Hollow Shades have been seated and the crowds attending are slowly trickling to a stop.”

“Then it is nearly time,” Princess Celestia remarked as she looked at Rising, “How do you feel, ‘Prince’?”

“If you’re expecting a witty one liner from us, Princess, then you’re going to be disappointed.” Prince Rising replied almost flatly as he rolled the shoulder joints of his front legs as a reminiscent gesture of rolling his shoulders, before giving a quick sigh.

Celestia assured the stallion as she came up and bumped shoulders with him, “I can understand your hesitance. Just breathe and keep to the script, Rising. It doesn’t take long at all.” She gave a small giggle as she added, “After all, I’ve had to deal with my coronation.”

Rising gave a huff as he replied, “Our ‘coronation’ is a bit smaller and less important in comparison to that, Princess.”

Both alicorn mares rolled their eyes as Celestia argued, “Rising, you are the first Alicorn stallion to appear to Equestria in a thousand years. During that millenia, ponies everywhere believed I was the only Alicorn, and even when Cadance appeared and when Luna came back, nopony ever considered that another Alicorn to show up, let alone a stallion at that.” She ruffled her wings a little as she looked at Rising, “I don’t think our own coronation to being the Diarchs of Equestria can beat that.”

“If we are ready,” Reginald Glass pressed, making Princess Luna and even Princess Celestia flinch as his tone became hard, “Perhaps we can begin and prepare to walk out to the balcony?”

Rising looked at both mares with bewilderment as Celestia gave a nod and agreed, “Yes, we should probably be moving, then.”

Shelving the question for Reginald for later, Rising said nothing as he followed the other ponies, a few Royal Guards following alongside as they trotted off to where the balcony was.

As they walked on, Rising gave yet another loud sneeze. The princesses gave a start, Celestia’s flared her wings open, nearly taking off while Luna turned around and glared at the offending stallion.

Reginald turned and raised his obscenely large eyebrows as he asked, “Bless you, sir. Will you be alright?”

Rising gave a few sniffs as he answered underneath a tissue being levitated over his nose, “Thank you,” After giving a few, hard snorts into the tissue, he added, “We’ll be fine long enough, the sooner the coronation begins the better.”

The other ponies looked at the stallion with silent regard for a while before continuing onwards, depositing the used tissue into one of the many placed trash bins within the castle.

A thought came to surface to Princess Celestia and she turned to Rising to ask, “Rising, before ... you transformed, you had spoken something about being highly ranked within your lord’s kingdom ...” She hesitated as she didn’t know whether the stallion would answer her or not.

Her sister picked up on what she was heading towards and continued for Celestia, “Mayhaps you enlighten what rank you hold within this kingdom that you served?”

Rising came to a stop and considered his answer. While the information itself was harmless and it wouldn’t immediately give an edge on anything, it still was something of a personal information that he and the Legions didn’t usually divulge. Not to mention that announcing one’s rank would easily be considered a matter of pride, which lay on a very fine edge.

He glanced at the Royal Butler before looking back to the princesses, and by reading his body language, Celestia was able to interpret his concern and added, “Reginald Glass is sworn to secrecy on any private matters which he happens to hear, Rising. He wouldn’t reveal anything unless it was an order.” The butler gave a respectful bow after she finished speaking.

The stallion stayed silent for a little longer before he answered, “Our Lord, after adopting all of humankind into His family and declaring them as His sons and daughters, had established and given them relatively high positions in the Kingdom. Although those who followed him devoutly were in a sense equal to the status of princes and princesses and as such were his heirs, he knew better than to entrust humankind with substantial and actual power. He instead gave them a more political power, preferring them above his own soldiers and generals.”

Slightly put off with the vague answer, Celestia decided to press him on it, “What position were they given?”

Rising answered with an even voice, almost as if he was trying to verbally walk on eggshells, “As we had said, mankind as a whole had been adopted and named as heirs and heiresses, on top of being given the political position of a Judge. They, among the Lord, his son and his ...” Rising seemed to hesitate on what to say next before giving a slight nod to the side of him, “‘Majordomo’ would later on preside and judge both their fellow humans and the Fallen.”

“Judges?” Celestia asked with her head tilting slightly.

Luna gave a light scoff, “Thine lord grants a rather interesting position, for those who he calls his “heirs.””

“If you recall, princesses, humankind has had a deep descent into behaviours that would’ve made many conclude casting them into the void than consider any of them worth of salvation.” Rising gave his remark, “Precious and loved as they were, He still knew better where to draw the line of what they would be given.”

“Wait,” Luna nearly muttered and slowed her pace a little, causing the other ponies to slow down as well, “Thou saidst that thine kind were meant to be judges in presiding court, but both by thine actions, habits and by the ancient scrawls within thine sanctuary, thou were more a warrior than a judge!”

Rising’s expression immediately soured as his head lowered slightly, “Now we know how the Angel felt.”

He didn’t answer the questioning stares from the other ponies as he answered, pausing here and there, “Our ... own position came at our own personal request. We didn’t achieve the same feeling of satisfaction and peace. Instead of becoming a judge as He had wanted, we ... requested to participate in His army.”

Luna seemed to have some relation, as her eyes softened, “Thou wanted to take action and move rather than sit and wait.”

“Nobody was thrilled in the slightest when we had asked, that much we can tell you.” Rising said with his eyes closed and eyebrows raised, “Should’ve seen their highest commanding general after they relented and allowed us to join the army.”

Princess Celestia was about to ask why they allowed Rising to, except she noticed her Majordomo trotting over to her. As she turned to look at him, Celestia realized that they had arrived at their appropriate destination.

Giving an irritated huff at being forced to push the question aside, Celestia politely asked Forward Bastion, “Is everything ready, Majordomo?”

The stallion gave a firm nod, “Everypony in Canterlot is seated and ready, Your Highnesses,” He turned around to walk with them closer to the large balcony, “Shall I tell the trumpeters and crier to begin?”

Princess Celestia gave a quick nod to him. As Forward galloped away, she turned to look over at Rising, who in turn was looking at himself through a tall mirror that had been placed there.

Celestia trotted closer to him as Luna discussed and verified a few further details with an assistant. Rising didn’t react to her presence as he continued to stare at the reflection and the very pony he had become and was dressed in.

The tall alicorn stallion had been dressed in a mixed suit of armor and clothing. The metal-grey armor wrapped once around his breast, with a bolo tie of the Equestrian seal in the middle of it, and the back of his neck before going across his back and arching over his thigh where his Cutie Mark would be. The detailing and engraving was a tarnished silver in fanciful designs that reminded Rising of both blackleaf and beading engraving; It impressed Rising due to just how much detail and effort was put into the armor’s design, let alone how quickly it was forged, detailed, and finished.

His hoof shoes, which had a more broader shape of a Fleur-De-Lis, were also in a metal grey color, with brighter silver detailing around the metal edges and it enveloped a little more of his hooves than either Celestia’s or Luna’s shoes did.

The same was done to his peytral, though there was no symbol upon the center of it, leaving it to have a solid plate of blank space surrounded in engraving details, as since Rising didn’t have a Cutie Mark of his own ... yet, as both princesses and the seamstress assured.

Finally, Celestia asked, “Rising?”

His ears didn’t twitch at her word, however he responded a few seconds later, “One week.”

Celestia’s ears drooped a little as she stepped closer and hugged Rising with a wing around his barrel.

“A single week since we’ve arisen,” Rising muttered as his eyes remain focused upon the mirror, “and already, we’ve shed our human form, soon to be placed upon a lofty pedestal. A crown placed upon our head, and civilians to hail us as their prince ... .”

Princess Celestia tilted her head slightly as she asked softly, “You don’t take well to being given any of this?”

He shook his head. His wrapped tail twitching once, nearly drawing both of the Royal Sister’s attention to the movement, “Nothing like this.”

Rising had protested and was very vocal against the tail wrap, despite the constant reassurances from every pony around him how it would’ve completed his given coronation dress and still given him acceptable privacy and prevent anypony from seeing.

“Acceptable or not,” Rising argued at the time, his iris’ blazing in color and a flustered blush coloring his cheeks, “you forget we’re used to covering the crotch up to the hip!”

“You draw spies from nothing!” Luna had protested when one pony that had been in charge of helping him dress up tried to approach Rising again with the tail wrap only for him to quickly flap and shy away, “Nopony shall notice or see anything unless you keep mentioning or complain about it! Come down here!”

What followed was a dogfight in confined quarters that Rising had nearly won had Luna decided not to add her magic.

Celestia had to force herself not to let her eyes linger on his tail and return to the current conversation as Rising continued, “We are more used to being alone, letting our decisions either be dictated by us or by His orders. All we have in leading anything was armies, many of them would have won without us anyway. We never led a kingdom, and too few of us ever owned any significant land or business ... . None of us wanted to.”

Rising looked over to a circlet that rested upon a baby-blue pillow that was emblazoned with the Equestrian seal, consisting of both Royal Sisters flying in a circle around the middle, which bore the sun and moon.

It was a single, inch and a half wide band fashioned to look like a band of bright silver chain with a sort of celtic engraved plate in the middle. In that plate was fitted with a trilliant cut tanzanite as its center stone. The tanzanite was an attempt to make it stand out against his own brightly colored mane while not having the colors clash or dominate over each other, as if left bare, Rising’s mane would’ve distracted anypony from seeing his silver circlet.

She couldn’t immediately find the words to say. In a way, Rising was in a place she didn’t have the right advice or answer to. Both Celestia and Luna had been raised by tutors, advisors and their own parents to know and understand how to lead in their places. Rising was simply dragged out of his sleep and thrust into a new world and barely anything besides the buildings and structures seemed recognizable. Luna had some trouble with Equestria after being gone for a thousand years, but for untold eons? As much as she could gather from him, it seemed as if there were neither signs or warnings that he was going to be crowned as a prince or be turned into a pony for Equestria’s safety, including him.

Celestia pressed closer to him as she softly apologized as Luna trotted closer, “I’m sorry.”

Rising shook his head again, “Don’t be. You're not at fault for any of this. It’s merely life being as it always had been ... .” His eyes drifted over to his crown and stared at his own reflection in the large gem.

When Rising was informed that his circlet had required a gem to make it stand out, he hadn’t argued about it. Considering his rather distracting and eye catching mane, a gem that was enough to stand out against it was reasonable enough. Add on seeing Princess Celestia’s peytral and crown being fitted with significantly large gems and Princess Cadence's crown having a slightly smaller gem, and understanding how Equestria was a more matriarchal society, this led Rising to believe his gem would’ve been around thirteen millimeters by thirteen, a typical size for headwear or necklaces all the while keeping to the societal terms. He even expected the color of the gem to be a pastel violet.

Apparently not.

Instead, the tanzanite was a massive three inch trilliant cut, exceptionally violet. It was large enough to be seen from yards away!

When he asked how on earth could the princesses afford getting such a gem and why he was getting something that stood out so visually, Princess Celestia calmly told him that they had naturally growing gem and crystal farms in certain areas of Equestria. And gems or precious stones at this massive size would only set a pony such as Rarity, or Twilight in the case of her younger brother, back by a hundred or so bits.

All Celestia was rewarded with was a spit take from Rising as he ranted, “Gemstones and crystals take years to form and be ready to be mined! The only—”

Rising immediately fell silent and unamusedly stared at her before finishing with a response that would send both princesses into a giggling fit, “Magic ...”

A Royal Guard came trotting quickly towards the three alicorns, interrupting both their talk and Rising’s reminiscing, his hooves clacking on the tile loud enough to gain their attention.

“Your Majesties,” The stallion reported with a sharp salute, “The ponies are ready and awaiting for you.”

Princess Celestia glanced at Rising before she used her magic to pick up the pillow containing the circlet and followed her younger sister to the balcony.

Rising paused, his eyes returning to the mirror for a few moments more before giving a long breath and moved to follow behind the mares. Though not without breaking into a sudden cough and a sucking in air through his nose with a grimmance.

The numerous crowds of ponies began stamping their hooves and the smattering of other creatures among them cheered as they saw the approach of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. All the while the quieter nobles sat in advantageous places where they could see their princesses and this newcomer that Prince Blueblood had been trying, pestering, and spreading rumor about. Some had started moving their heads left and right, trying to see past the Royal Sisters and their currently inconvenient manes from revealing their mysterious pony.

"My little ponies," Celestia began, her voice amplified with a spell as the cheering settled down and every pony and creature below fell silent to hear her, "Long ago during the early days of Equestria, alicorns had been a name of myth and legend. Until both my sister and I ascended to the thrones, there had been no records of alicorns. Even the recent coronation of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her accomplishments are the only intact record of such ponies. But now, the times as we once knew them are now past us and we have entered into a new era. We have discovered that we are no longer alone. The rumors of a new alicorn are true, and soon you shall behold an alicorn who had lived long before the birth of Equestria itself, hailing from a time many eons prior to even the most earliest of civilizations and having traversed through the lands we once lived in before the Windigos had driven us here. Now he returns to us from his long solitude and seeks to live among us in our great kingdom. My little ponies, I present to you all, Rising Dawn."

There was a great roar of applause but among the nobles and royalty, it was a very different story. An alicorn? And not only an alicorn, but one older than the birth of Equestria itself? Already the nobles began muttering and speaking amongst themselves, some making plans and others resolving to confront this new pony. Where has this ‘alicorn’ been all these centuries and why now did they decide to show up now?

Rising Dawn, after giving another round of deep breathing, walked between the two princesses as they parted ways to let the civilians of Equestria see him. His wings unfolded partially, displaying and proving that he was an alicorn to the crowds around and below as he looked out and down at the sheer mass of ponies, gryphons, thestrals and other creatures in silence.

Many of the nobles very nearly bolted out of their seats at the sight of their new pony. An honest to Faust alicorn. An alicorn stallion. Such an idea of a pony existing had flitted to and fro in their imaginations and idle thoughts. Sometimes a few nobles would’ve come across a question whether there really were any alicorn stallions, or if their princesses were the only ones in existence of such a physical status ... while fewer nobles considered and thought of other thoughts surrounding them.

Sometimes a few noblestallions would’ve imagined or dreamed during the night or day on how they would’ve looked as one. But never in all their lives had thought that such a gender on the epitome of all ponies in Equestria truly existed.

The silence began to linger as the citizens, nobles and the princesses patiently waited for Rising to give his speech. However it started to seem as if something was delaying him, as he stood there and said nothing.

At first, Princess Celestia thought that Rising was being dramatic, and internally thought that he was over-exaggerating about his hesitance. She tilted her head a little to get a side-long gaze at his expression and noticed how his eyes swirled in color and kept flicking left and right, how he was blinking a little more than usual and how his mouth barely seemed to move.

The crowds below began to mutter and wonder to each other as Luna trotted forwards slowly and asked him in a soft tone, “Rising? Art thou well?”

He didn’t immediately respond to her question before he closed his eyes and breathed slowly a few times. After calming himself down, and with a few reassurances from the Legion, Rising opened his eyes and started, "Citizens and nobility of Equestria. We are honored to stand before you all, and deliver our humblest of greetings. As your diarchy, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have stated, our name is Rising Dawn."

Already, Celestia could tell that Rising wasn’t planning to follow the transcript her scribe had written for him. Albeit for starting himself off, he was certainly doing better at not stuttering between words or pausing in an attempt to come up with the right words like many other ponies had and floundered at.

He unfurled his wings fully and upwards, while his mane had spread out and flowed in a similar breeze that Celestia's mane had, giving his appearance a seemingly powerful presence, "After centuries upon centuries away from ponykind, we return to you. Leaving our long seclusion and hermitage after your plight against the Windigos, whereby you have established the Kingdom of Equestria."

Rising continued, "Long has it been since we have lived among ponykind,” his mouth gave a small twitch at using the alternate usage of terminology but didn’t give any further reaction as he continued without halting, “Well before you were driven, we had sought to live away from your settlements for both peace of mind and body. Though your ancestors had hoped to convince us to return, we stayed and remained alone, in seclusion from ponykind.”

Rising paused as he heard some of the whisperings from the crowd, a very rare few suspicious over that the new alicorn before them was, or could have been, implying.

“Years upon years had passed and we still held reluctance to return until your princesses had encountered us and befriended us.” Rising paused again and gave a small glimpse over to aforementioned mares before continuing, “We still cling to our old ways, and we are unused to living within a grand kingdom as this, and it will take time until we are ready and able to do all that we can do for Equestria. Thus we ask of you, for patience and understanding as we learn to live and help you thrive. You are all that is great in this land, and you are all that is worthy in it. We are honoured to return and stand before ponykind once again."

A greater round of applause came from the civilians and from the majority of the nobles, although some of the nobles and the more politically-intelligent civilians whispered and muttered to each other. Regardless of who held suspicions, they still gave reluctant applause.

Celestia slightly frowned at the sight of the nobles, perhaps she might have to talk to Rising about them, but she decided to talk about it later once everything had calmed down. She stepped forwards with the pillow and crown trailing behind her as she declared, "In recognition of both age, wisdom and of great nobility, I welcome Prince Rising Dawn, the Prince of the Dawn. Let us welcome him as one of us!" She finished as she lifted the circlet off the pillow and placed it gently on Rising’s slightly bowed head.

Her declaration was well expected by the gathered ponies as they didn't hesitate in joining the rest of the crowd in cheering and stomping their hooves on the ground. Many of the naive and optimistic now held the belief that the golden age of Equestria was just beginning, with such momentous events like the defeat of Nightmare Moon and now the announcement of a stallion Alicorn within their territory.

Were it so easy.

Author's Note

This chapter is actually done and out here...
I've finally made progress...
I've actually gotten something accomplishing done for once in almost a full year.

My writing, inspiration and imagination, I love you three but I hate you so much for lagging behind, stalling and doing everything possible to slow me down and stopping me! And I so hate the full adventure of start to finish! I'd rather it being a breeze to write something of quality down and not be halted so hard!

scuse me as I finish putting a new hole (or three) in my wall with my head