Chapter Thirteen: But Still We Carry On

"Alright, Princess Celestia. Explain to us again about the “Grand Galloping Gala”?"

The mare gave a silent sigh, “It’s an annual royal ball, which is mostly attended by the higher classes of Equestria.”

“And you figured Twilight and Spike would want to attend?” Rising continued asking with a raised eyebrow and getting a nod from Celestia.

“I figured she would want to reconnect with me, since it’s been some time since she went off to Ponyville and became an Element Bearer, as well as after meeting you a few times.”

Rising gave a nod as well and after being given another few mouthfuls of water from the refilled water bucket, “And yet you gave her only two tickets because ...?”

“I had figured at least she and one of her friends, Rarity specifically, would want to attend while the others wouldn’t want to. While I admit that I don’t know much about Twilight’s friends, Rarity did seem to have some preferences toward high society and the high society lifestyle,” Celestia explained.

“And Spike?”

This time she shrugged, “The Gala doesn’t really require a ticket for the younger foals, or young dragons in this case, so long as a responsible stallion or mare was in charge over them. He would’ve been allowed in as long as he attended with Twilight or Rarity. Even then, the guards in the castle knew Twilight and Spike enough that they would’ve allowed him in and directed or escorted him towards me if he was alone and his adopted sister was nowhere in sight. So no, I hadn’t intended or known that Twilight would’ve had the drama she experienced with regards to her friends, or that her friends would all want to go.” Celestia gave a frown as she finished, “Let alone hear that all of Ponyville would have wanted to go.”

“And how well did Luna take to hearing that?” Rising asked in an amused voice.

Celestia groaned and rolled her eyes, “She thought for a while I was lying and that I had intentionally started all that trouble so that Twilight would learn something from it. I may have planned on trying to get the Elements active again, and through them bring Luna back, but I’m not so inconsiderate as to try and make somepony learn a lesson from this.”

“You might be surprised at what you are capable of,” he said, taking another sip of water and getting a grumpy look from Celestia.

It had been five days since the start of Rising’s illness, with two of those days having been the worst for him and the Princesses, consisting of Rising not even going several words before heaving, coughing, nearly choking and even vomiting.

Princess Celestia wasn’t easily nauseated, but it only took a few moments of just listening to Rising’s bodily upheaval to send her dry vomiting. And after hearing from her, Luna opted to merely leave Rising to both rest and endure the days and nights, expressing she wanted nothing to do or be near his audible illness.

A day after that, Rising looked as if he was right as rain, as though he had just woken up from a good night’s sleep. However, he insisted and was able to get Doctor Hibiscus’ agreement on letting him remain one more day before being let go.

So, for the time being and for Celestia’s break from Day Court, the two discussed some of the activities that Twilight and her friends had been up to. Both good ... and unfortunately bad.

“Still, we’re more than surprised about Ponyville’s attitude to having a zebra living within walking vicinity, since the majority of Equestria’s morals center around friendship and goodwill.” Rising added, for which Celestia rewarded him with an embarrassed look from the Princess this time.

“The Zebras rarely migrate outside of their homeland, usually for a variety of reasons. Some have been exiled, others to journey and experience the world, and a few others have needed to expand their own knowledge or share them to others.” Celestia explained, “I do find it interesting that one elected to live within Everfree Forest. Regardless, the majority of Equestria is incredibly used to their prominence as a dominant species within our kingdom and have become so expectant of their lifestyle around that prominence that they tend not to consider how alienated our non-pony citizens and visitors might feel about our pony-centric attitude and culture. Ever since my sister was returned to me, much of an average pony’s lifetime had been a contained and orderly sort of life. Which I suppose may have been my fault in trying to maintain a kingdom by myself for so long ...” Her voice drifted off as she started looking away outwards through one of the windows.

Rising raised an eyebrow at the mare before summarising, “So ponies aren’t isolationists or holding onto a sense of speciest superiority complex, they’re just easily spooked when confronted with creatures and cultures that are alien to their society?”

She snapped out her thoughts and looked back at him, “I-in short. Yes.”

“How close-minded of them." Rising commented airily and got a swat to his shoulder, making him chuckle.

Celestia frowned at him, “It’s a perfectly fine life and it suits ponies well enough.”

“We know, Princess. That is why we call it isolated, dull even.”

She looked at him with confusion as he explained, “From all that we know and have learned, ponies of this generation, let alone the previous generations during your reign, few among your citizenry have rarely, if ever, met any significant amount of strife to instruct and teach them that life is never a stable and consistent state of existence, and they shouldn’t expect life to be so contained and in an orderly fashion. With how you describe their reactions to even the oddest of sights that would or should barely inconvenience them had they undergone a cultural interchange, they act as if everything has fallen away and nothing but anarchy remains.”

He quickly put up a hoof in front of Celestia to stop her from arguing, “And we know, it's not always the case and not every pony here does that or reacts like that. But it doesn’t dismiss their reactions to the odd or extraordinary, right?”

The princess gave a deeper frown at how Rising was belittling her ponies and how they reacted, but she couldn’t help but nod that there were some times where nobles or ponies in the cities she visited would genuinely react much like how Rising described.

Not enough to make his point agreeable, nor was it enough to say he was right, but she could see where he was looking and pointing towards.

Rising continued by explaining a little more, “The lives of living beings has two states; Entropy and Negentropy, or rather the antithesis of entropy. You’re either making improvements, and making progress towards personal excellence and perfection, which does result in learning it is better to never say or declare you’ve achieved perfection and believe that everything can become better than it was before. Or you enter an entropic state, stagnating and becoming weaker as you either do not learn or adapt or do not use something often, mostly this happens in stable or peaceful environments.”

Celestia took that moment to chime in, “And you believe that Equestria is in this ... declining state?”

“We haven’t seen enough of this kingdom to really say so, but the attitude of your ponies do point in that direction.” Rising said, waving a hoof to the side, “We’re not foolish enough to make assumptive conclusions on something such as this. Though we do recommend making the encouragement for your ponies to seek self-improvement rather than remain sedimentary and satisfied in their comfortable hum-drum everyday lifestyle.”

He turned to the bucket to get more water as he finished, “While we don’t know if ponies improve and adapt like humans can, but we can certainly attest to the effectiveness of self-improvement.”

Celestia looked at him with a few thoughtful moments before she commented, “You’ve had a lot to think about during your species’ era and thereafter.”

Rising gave a laugh, “It doesn’t take long for someone to, and someone has to think about it from time to time. It’s why philosophy is a popular hobby.”

“You remind me more of my mother.” Celestia sighed, “She always liked philosophy and she even got my father involved with a few gatherings, with both Luna and I being dragged along to listen.”

Another chuckle as he said, “Probably wanting to have you two be like your parents. We know quite a lot of people who wanted miniature clones of themselves.”

The mare gave a huff before falling silent for a few thoughts, some of it remembering a bit of her mother nagging her.

“Regardless,” Rising continued, “It only makes us wonder what Equestria and the other races around Earth contributed, either culturally, technologically or even philosophically.”

Celestia looked at him with some confusion before a certain voice called out, “Prince Rising!”

Her ears perked up as she recognized the voice, belonging to her sister as she continued to speak, “Our ears are not receiving horrid noises coming from thine room, art thou fairing better than thy plight from the last few days?”

“We are well enough on the mend, Princess Luna.” Rising answered as the midnight blue mare trotted in, “One day more and we’ll be back to accompany you in both our duties and studies.”

Luna gave a huff in response, “Almost half a blessing, that.”

The room fell silent as Rising went for another drink and Luna had brought over a second chair to sit next to her sister as Celestia explained, “We were just going over recent events as well as going over a bit of Rising’s taste in philosophy.”

Luna gave a groan as she relaxed a bit, “Oh Faust, not another deep-thinking pony. I’ve had enough from our mother and father.”

Rising chuckled as he repeated, “As we told Princess Celestia, someone has to. And it doesn’t take long in anyone’s life to start delving into it.”

“I suppose somepony must, since you are the equivalent of an old nag.” Luna retorted, “I cannot even begin to understand how you’re able to stay standing and active, being this ancient.”

Rising gave another chuckle as Celestia turned to look at her sister with a scandalized expression.

Luna didn’t look apologetic in the slightest before the thought occurred to her, “Now that I doth consider it, how doth one endure living so long? I must admit that when sister informed me of your collective ages, it was a significant shock. While I don’t know how long our own parents have lived for—”

“Nine hundred eighty and one thousand, Luna. I keep reminding you of this every time you forget and ask.” Celestia groaned and muttered at the midnight alicorn.

“—I still can’t help but wonder how and why you live for so long.” Luna continued, either ignoring or not hearing Celestia.

All they were given in was a grim smile and a sentence that left them pondering, “Only together, Princess. Only together.”

«««✧✦✧»»»

Twilight stood stock still, her eyes wide and a faint blush on her cheeks as she stayed as silent as the grave when she answered the front door of her treehouse to see a familiar sight she honestly didn’t think would reappear.

“Twilight? Who’s at the door?” Spike called from behind her, curious as to what was going on.

Midnight Wind blinked at her in confusion with her reaction to seeing him. He normally got looks from other ponies mostly out of it being strange to see a thestral during the day or at night, but he had figured after meeting him and his fellow Night Guard wouldn’t rustle Princess Celestia’s student.

He cleared his throat to try and get the mare’s attention before she blinked and profusely apologized, “I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t really expect to see you ... or have you visit me ... . Um ...”

A patter of feet came from behind Twilight before Spike saw who it was and quickly started snickering, now realizing what was going on.

A few more seconds of Twilight stuttering before Midnight decided he may as well speak up, “I am sent here by Princess Luna to help you in a project to study and detail information about my race, the Thestrals.”

Midnight and Spike could hear the gears grinding in Twilight’s head as she processed his words as well as still registering that the same stallion she met some time ago and had stared at was in front of her.

This lasted until Twilight’s brain finally clicked and connected what she heard and gave one of the most adorable and happy squee and said, “A project? From Princess Luna?!” She then got closer towards Midnight, making him take a step back from her overeagerness, “How soon does she need this done??”

“Her Highness didn’t say.” He replied, hoping his answer calmed the mare down, “She only expects it?”

Sadly his expectations were denied as Twilight gave another happy squeal before grabbing Midnight and after declaring, “We need to get started right away!” She pulled him in and started rambling about all the tests, and experiments that had to be done.

Some part of him wondered what he did to Princess Luna to send him into this.

And neither of the ponies, including the young dragon noticed a pair of wide, magenta eyes from a nearby cloud.

«««✧✦✧»»»

Sooner or later, the Princesses had to leave Rising to recover as they made their way to the throne room to continue another day of attending court.

Along the way, they discussed some of what Rising and Celestia had talked about, most of it involving the state of Equestria in what Rising had the current view of it being in this “entropic state” as he put it.

“And he considers the peace and order you have held since my absence as this?” Luna asked, skeptical at the human-now-stallion’s opinion.

Celestia nodded, “In a way I can understand and see why he says such, despite how minimal he has seen Equestria. And it does make me wonder what the other races have contributed in the years.”

Luna gave a dull expression before reciting, “Lately, the Minotaur tribes claimed to have invented a method of moving water through some sort of helix pump, which they are using for their crops, and draining flooded lands. The Yaks in the meanwhile are rumored to have created a sort of contraption that harvests grain at a faster pace than our own methods, though it is made of wood and pulled by a yak.”

Celestia paused and turned to look at Luna in surprise, “And how did you learn about these? I haven’t heard of this!”

“Then it appears you need a scribe from the local paper of news, dearest sister.” Luna replied, “Much has been talked about their discoveries for three days already.”

The alabaster alicorn stared at her sister in silent shock as Luna continued to walk. After a few moments, Celestia chased after her and asked, “What newspaper are you subscribing to??”

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Rising shifted his new silver peytral to get more comfortable, causing Celestia to make an annoyed noise at him, “Would you quit fiddling with that? It’s making me feel like doing the same.”

He turned and gave a half-lidded stare at her, giving a drawl, “Well excuse us, Princess. We’re still not used to this body, or having jewelry that is meant for this body.”

The mare rolled her eyes in some exasperation as she trotted forwards. Her horn lit as the peytral began to move, allowing Rising’s fur to smooth downwards before the jewelry laid on top and lost the magical glow.

It was the first day that Rising would publically attend the court proceedings, rather than hiding away in the alcove. This was to show to the ponies who would arrive and give their appeals that Rising was real and not a public stunt, that he was a Prince, and an authentic Alicorn.

Both Rising and Celestia were at the throne room, awaiting both for her Majordomo as well as a temporary “throne”, the more fanciful name for a cushion, for Rising. Considering that his public appearance was still fresh and recent on Equestria’s span of attention, there hadn’t been time to really design anything for him, even his own room.

In fact, there were still plans being drawn to remake the throne room to include Luna. With the inclusion of Rising to the Canterlot political arena, a majority of those plans now were scrapped. The only reason Princess Cadance didn’t have her own throne or seating in the throne room was that she was exceptionally stubborn against showing up and attending court. Should she ever have been met and talked to by Celestia, Cadance would simply grab a cushion or place a cushion spell on her shoes, sit or stand on one of the levels below Celestia and that would be that.

For Rising, he would be placed to the left of Celestia and on the platforms covering the two small water fountains that were currently gurgling and pouring merrily.

The stallion gave a frown as he took a look over at the water fountains, as he hadn’t taken the time to inspect them before. Or comprehended the reason why the Princess wanted not one but two in her throne room, right in front and below her where they caused somewhat of enough noise, not to mention the resources and effort to keep both fountains running. As far as he and the Legion could recall, electricity wasn’t invented or used widespread.

The sound of one of the double doors opening turned both of the Alicorns heads to see Forward Bastion with two guards approach, one of them carrying a large cushion on his back while the Majordomo had a saddle pouch filled with paperwork of various kinds.

Forward and the guards gave a bow to the Prince and Princess before approaching with the paperwork, while the guard with the cushion trotted up to where Prince Rising would sit as the last guard trotted to the side to take his post.

“Good morning, Forward.” Celestia said as she levitated some of the paperwork, “I trust you are feeling well?”

“As well as ever, Princess.” The stallion replied as he removed the pouch from his side, “Though that might change with some of these appeals and cases.”

Celestia turned to look at the first appeal in the pile and gave a small noise, “One does have to appreciate Jade Star's determined attitude.”

“Indeed,” Forward nodded, “if only she focused such energy into other things instead of expanding both business and buying other businesses. I recommend another viewing over rules against monopolies to make sure the mare doesn’t find a way to slip past.”

Rising merely blinked as he looked over just a little to the left, “Barring that, royal decree would and should deny her any headway, and allow one to immediately cover where she found her exploits.”

Both ponies turned to look at him in curiosity as Celestia gave a light frown, “I would rather obey the rules and laws set by Equestria rather than enforce my own status, Rising. While we are royalty and do have the final say, we shouldn’t be so quick to use it.”

He blinked again, “Did we ever say it had to be the first response?”

“Even so, I’d rather not.”

Rising rolled his eyes at her unwillingness to employ her legal and authoritative status in such matters. “And that is why we see you as soft. The greedy will rob you of every moment, because you keep handling them with ...” Rising paused as he thought about how best to say what he wanted to tell her, “Silk socks.”

Celestia gave Rising a bewildered look as he trotted up the carpet-laid stairs of her throne before he sat down on the cushion provided, giving a word of thanks to the guard and elected to wait in silence for Celestia to begin.

Celestia returned his huff and looked back at her Majordomo, “Anything else for the court?”

Forward didn’t look at the pile of paper as he replied, “There are a few permits being asked of you, and the rest are merely nobles arriving to ask for certain things, Princess.”

She nodded her head before trotting up the steps to her throne and with a look to Rising, who didn’t return it, declared, “The court is now open! May the first petitioner come forth!”

As the guards shuffled about and brought in one pony, Rising looked a little to the left as he recalled in passing about how the Day Court used to have all the petitioners and nobles be in the same room and would one by one line up to present themselves while the others conversed or sat back to watch. However, that only presented an increasing problem with how where one noble would fail to gain approval in something they wanted, another noble would have found a way around whatever was stopping the previous noble. On top of this, it gave the other ponies to silently heckle or passively embarrass the petitioner for what they needed or wanted from Princess Celestia, regardless of how she constantly made the attempt to keep the crowd silent.

Rising snapped back to reality as he felt one of the Legion mentally nudge him and noticed that the Princess had already gone through with the first pony of Day Court and a second was waiting patiently for their turn.

However, after the pony spoke about how they needed a permit in order to both expand their hotels as well as permission to remodel said hotel, Rising simply lost attention again and started conversing with some of the Legion to plan out their next steps, since he was still new to the whole aspect of being a quadruped.

Unsurprisingly, Princess Celestia caught on to what Rising was doing and was quick to drag his attention back to the physical present not unlike a mother chiding her offspring to pay attention.

Surprisingly it took her several ponies until she caught on.

“Prince Rising, I know and understand how dull it can get when the ponies arrive asking for things that are easy to grant or deny that it makes little sense why they have to ask royalty in the first place, but that doesn’t mean you get to daydream and ignore them.”

“Then why is there no civil court for these?” Rising calmly asked. Though from what Celestia could see from the slight twitch in one of his eyes, she couldn’t tell whether he regretted making it sound like he was irritated or that he really was irritated, “The daily line of ponies would be greatly reduced or be traded for issues of greater importance if there was one or even two courts in different locations.”

“Which would’ve been swamped to the brim no matter how many judges we appoint,” Celestia explained, remembering this from her mother’s lessons, “Ponies would’ve used those courts for even the most petty of issues.”

“So you would rather keep personal control and use their fear of wasting their Princess’ time with their squabbles as a filter?” Rising replied.

Celestia sighed exasperatedly at him, “You make it sound as if I’m the one who invented this method. I’m not sure if it was my mother, but I didn’t argue since I saw it reasonably.”

“Yet Equestria seems to have only two courts, yours and your sister’s.”

“We used to have six, two here and then the rest spread out.”

Rising blinked as his irises changed a few colors, “And what happened to them?”

“Nobles and ponies who used bits for brains,” Celestia grumbled, “Soon after a few rounds of judges changing seats, nobles started trying to get ponies more sympathetic to them or their bits. My mother and father ended up having to shut both the courts and the nobles down.”

“No rules to prevent them?” Rising raised an eyebrow, now getting an understanding of Princess Luna’s position with nobles.

“The nobles would’ve found their way around, and neither my parents or Luna and I could make a tight enough net.”

“And what better motivator for them to behave through exorbitant fines and other possible legal punishments such as the freezing of assets, seizure of goods and property by the Kingdom and the forfeiture of any titles the criminal may hold? What of the middle-class wanting to make a business somewhere? Or what of the far more petty cases that shouldn’t be of your concern?”

“Again as you said in an ineloquent manner, we do ‘use their fear’ to scare them off. And what you’ve listed is among that tactic when it comes to the nobles, especially the more antagonistic kind.” Celestia said with a frown, “As for the middle-class ponies wanting to make businesses and the “far more petty cases”, it usually relies on the mayor or whoever is in charge of the town or city.”

Celestia looked as if she would speak more but then fell silent as she stared off into the distance with something clearly on her mind.

Rising wasn't entirely thrilled at the smile that crept up her muzzle, "Perhaps if it seems like an issue to you, dear Rising ... Majordomo, who are the next ten ponies and what are their issues?"

The stallion looked down at a list that he had carried with him and reported, “Seven of the ponies are cases of requesting permission to either expand or create new businesses. Although I think the other three might be something if you’re intending for the Prince to try his hoof.”

Rising turned to look at Celestia with an unimpressed expression, “And what exactly are you aiming for, letting us have judgement over your kingdom’s court?”

She returned his look with a wide grin and lidded eyes, “Well you did mention that your status had formerly been a Judge, Prince Rising.”

Rising’s eyebrows only furrowed, “That does not answer our question.”

“Really? I would’ve figured you would know the answer by now.”

“Crypticism does not suit you as much as you think, Princess Celestia.” His voice now flatlined, “In the least not for us.”

Princess Celestia’s eyes rolled before looking back to Forward Bastion, “Let’s get through those seven before hoofing the other three to Prince Rising, since he seems to be in a judging mood about how Equestria runs.”

One of Rising’s eyes twitched slightly as the two ponies returned to resume court, clearly making the attempt of not locking eyes with him.

And it wasn’t long before it was to be his turn being the deciding factor in Equestria, starting off with one Earth Pony stallion.

Still irritated at how Celestia was just giving him reigns over three ponies and whatever they were wanting, Rising could do little for the moment but turn his attention to the stallion and listened to what he had to say.

The stallion gave a respectful bow to the three before he spoke, “Your Highnesses. My name is Harvest Leaves, and I work for a charity organization in Manehattan.”

Celestia did not like the brief light in Rising’s eyes and that flicker of a smile on his muzzle...

Prince Rising took a step forward, “Welcome, Harvest Leaves. What have you to ask of the court?”

Harvest glimpsed at Celestia before looking at Rising, as if he expected or is still expecting her to speak to the Earth Pony instead of the newest royal.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Harvest gave a nervous cough and chuckle before beginning, “Well, as I’ve stated, I own and manage a charity organization, this is mostly to give goodwill and gather ponies who would like to make changes for others, such as for the poor and unfortunate.”

Harvest gave a few seconds of pause, leaving Celestia, Rising and even Forward Bastion to wonder what he was waiting for before continuing with another nervous cough, “Your Majesties, I’ve come far to Canterlot because my organization is going under in finances, despite how much help the Bank of Equestria has offered to us. As much as I wish it were not so and I didn’t need to do so, I respectfully ask for financial aid into my organization, both to keep it open as well as give some incentive in investigating, as I fear somepony may have been embezzling bits out of it.”

It was only then did Rising spoke again, “Certainly an unfortunate case, Harvest Leaves. Might you tell us what the name of your charity is?”

This seemed to have inspired some courage in the Earth Pony as he gave a slight smile that didn’t seem to be out of relief to Celestia, “It is called the Equestrian Wishing Well Foundation, Prince Rising.”

Rising’s eyes slightly opened wider before turning his head to Celestia and the Majordomo, gesturing with a wing to have them lean close. Then, he spoke up just enough to have him be heard even by Harvest, “Does Equestria happen to have a Federal Trade Commission? Or rather—”

Celestia didn’t need to hear anymore as she replied softly as Forward gave a recognizing nod, “We do happen to have one, it's even the same name.”

She looked at him with some concern as he replied, his voice not becoming any louder or quieter, “Perhaps have them go through the organization and their accounting and donation receipts, both here and there. Maybe even ask a few of their employees while they’re at it. See if there aren’t any discrepancies.”

When he turned his head back to face Harvest, his entire demeanor changed. Before he had been calm and polite, if a bit fidgety. Now, he was holding a smile that was a tad too wide and there were a few beads of sweat around his face.

“Thank you for patiently waiting, Harvest.” Rising began with a polite smile, “However, we’re afraid we may have to ask you to wait a little further as we take note and inspect the Wishing Well Foundation so as to accurately judge the source of your misfortunes. In the meantime, we additionally ask you to please wait within Canterlot Castle. You will be provided room and food in the meanwhile as the FTC takes a look.”

Harvest was quick to speak up, “Oh, m-Your Highness, I’m confident that this issue will be resolved quickly. I’ll be sure to send a letter over to my charity that the FTC will be coming over.”

“Of course, of course.” Rising gave an understanding nod, “If you follow the guard, they’ll show you to your room.”

With that, Harvest left and the moment the door closed shut, Rising turned to Forward and flatly stated, “Get someone to send a team of their fastest Pegasi and hold their Foundation down until the investigators make their arrival. We’d rather not have any letters forewarning the charity.”

The stallion blinked before giving a frowning nod.

Princess Celestia meanwhile leaned forward and asked, “And what brings such a decision like that?”

Rising gave deep breath before turning to explain, “Charity is sadly among a society’s “murky swamps” that one has to be careful and aware of, as anyone can set up scams or fraudulent charity organizations and trick people who aren’t aware into surrendering large amounts of money. They appear more often around certain events or disasters; Illnesses, environmental crises or natural disasters, even around certain holidays.” Rising rustled one wing towards the door where Harvest had exited,” And from how Harvest Leaves approached and asked for royal funds, it seems he attempted to aim for the sun itself.” Rising gave a cheeky grin, “Literally, in your case.”

Forward Bastion shifted around nervously before looking over to the Princess, “Your Majesty, may I suggest looking back at some of the other organizations that had been asking for aid? I fear this might not have been the first time we had a pony attempt this.”

“That is an excellent degree of caution, Majordomo.” Rising complimented with a turn of his head.

“I would fear it borders on paranoia, Prince Rising,” Celestia commented, “But I’ll consider it until afterwards, Forward.”

“We’ll talk later about the difference between caution and paranoia, Princess Celestia.” Rising rolled his shoulders, “For now, let's just send the next one in.”

Not one but two Unicorn stallions were ushered in, both dressed in clothing that clearly indicated they were both nobles as they exchanged dirty looks at each other up and giving clear amounts of space between themselves before coming to a stop before the throne stairway.

The two nobles gave a polite bow, though still snuck dirty glimpses at each other, very much likely to soon come to blows before Rising cleared his throat and expanded his wings with a quick and loud flourish, “Gentlestallions, we would welcome you to the Royal Court, but unless you both are eager to further embarrass yourselves right in front of us and be escorted out of the castle bound in rope, we kindly ask of the both of you to behave in a manner befitting of noblestallions and not like bickering children.”

That seemed to be enough to warrant them to stop and turn their attention more so on Rising as the one on the left introduced himself with an additional kneel, “Count Saffron Haze, Your Majesties; Occultist scribe and High Noble of the courts of Equestria.”

The other stallion was quick on his hooves to add his own introduction and copied the kneel, “Baronet Silver Vision, Your Majesties. Librarian, scribe and scholar.”

Rising gave a relatively slow nod in acknowledgement, “And what argument brings you both to the Royal Court?”

Again, the two nobles looked at the Princess for a few moments, wondering if the Prince was speaking for her or they were to speak to the Alicorn stallion himself instead.

The Baronet seemed to decide to take the first step and spoke up, “My Lord, Prince Rising. A month earlier, a father who had ties to both my family and ...” He clearly had the thought of spitting out the next word, but with what Rising had said before Silver elected to make an effort to not spit or give a glare at the stallion next to him, “His.”

One of the Count’s eyes twitched before he stepped forward and spoke over Silver Vision, “My Lord. Onyx Haze, who had recently deceased that month and left behind a great deal of wealth and possessions. While we’ve already sorted away the majority of everything he has left behind, some of his possessions were not mentioned within his will.”

Rising gave a slight frown as he gave a nod to the two to continue. It’s always been the small details that some people forget to mention in their will and testaments. There’s been a reason why the best answer to that problem is either with a lawyer or giving the general statement “for all that is left in my possession”.

Count Saffron gave a slight smile from the Prince’s gesture to continue, “Onyx Haze was a stallion within my family’s name, who had married Dew Vision into the Baronet’s family. This was a marriage both out of preference as well as to make ties between our families. Both mare and stallion had lived long and happy, then passed away in old age. However, as stated before, while they had written much of what they had left behind to both families, some were sadly never mentioned. Specifically, it is the ownership of a business chain and a set of artifacts dating as far as five hundred years.”

Princess Celestia’s attention perked up at hearing about the artifacts as Rising raised his own eyebrow, “A set of artifacts? What might they be, specifically? And neither Onyx or Dew made mention of their own business?”

Baronet Silver was quick to explain, nudging the Count out of the way. However, just after informing Rising and Celestia about how the artifacts were two sets of jewelry for a mare and a stallion, Count Saffron nudged back.

This resulted in a brief shoving fight which brought Rising up on his hooves, his wings spread wide open as he thundered, “Enough!” Both stallions recoiled from Rising’s actions, their eyes wide with the Baronet with one front leg up and nearly rearing while the Count skittered away from the former, looking ready to bolt as Prince Rising settled back down and folded his wings.

The court fell silent for a time as Celestia gave a look at Rising, who did not turn to see it. Knowing that he was unrepentant in his outburst, Celestia elected to step in for a moment, calling to the two stallions, “It is alright, my little ponies. You are still welcome here, and there isn’t any danger upon you,” she gave another glance at Rising with furrowed eyebrows as the mare added, “I can assure you.”

The two stallions shared a quick glance at each other before cautiously returning to stand before the Prince and Princess, with a Majordomo giving Rising a raised eyebrow.

The Prince again, didn't look. Instead, he calmly stated to the two nobles, “We would prefer hearing from you in a calm manner, as you stand in the presence of your Princess, not embarrassing yourselves by behaving like a couple of unruly foals.” Rising paused for a moment before asking again, “Now. Neither Onyx Haze or Dew Vision made mention of their business chain in their will at all? And has either family made any headway between negotiating who should receive the two sets of jewelry? Even considering using them as wedding gifts for any continuing marriages between your families?”

Both nobles remained silent before Baronet Silver took a step forward and answered, “T-Yes, Prince Rising. Neither of them had made mention even during their days alive unless it involved success or another business opening somewhere in Equestria. As ... for what else you ask, I do not believe this idea ever came up.”

Count Saffron looked away with a thoughtful expression as he mulled over the idea as Rising gave a nod, “Then perhaps we will let your families consider the jewelry with the idea.” He went silent for a moment before thinking aloud, “As for the issue with the chain business ... . Maybe allow a duel, wherein the victor shall possess ownership of this business chain?”

Minus the guards who still stood by the doors and by the Princess, the occupants of the throne room looked at Rising with bewilderment as Princess Celestia asked tentatively, “A ... duel, Prince Rising?”

“Of course, Princess Celestia.” Rising’s head moved to give a glimpse at Celestia, “We assume duels do still occur even in this day and age, though the procedures likely changed and it’s far less lethal than we’re used to seeing, correct?”

Both Celestia and Majordomo exchanged looks with each other before the Princess gave a reply, her voice taking a hesitantly curious tone, “I ... believe we may need to take a look at that, Prince Rising. As it has been a long while since duels were ever done.”

A small light brightened in Rising’s eye as his wings gave a rustle and his lips curling upwards a slight bit, “Then perhaps what we say might work for this situation, if the two gentlestallions are willing to agree to the idea?”

It was now the nobles’ turn to exchange looks at each other, though in their perspectives, they didn’t really know what to make of both Rising, his idea and the prospect of settling their issue over who owned a business chain in a duel.

The Count replied with hesitation, “If ... if Your Majesties deem it wise ...”

Rising’s smile crept up a little more, “Then in the meantime, we will peruse through laws and history in order to best suit this case and deliver the necessary terms to ensure proper conduct over this matter, will you both be in need of rooms?”

Count Saffron gave a slight sniff as he replied, “While, I appreciate the offer. I believe I shall not be needing one, Your Highness.”

Baronet Silver gave his own polite declination, resulting in Rising giving a nod, “Very well. We will send word when we have reached a conclusion over this matter.”

After another guard escorted both nobles out of the throne room Rising turned to face Celestia, his expression turning unamused as he didn’t say anything other than merely look at her.

Celestia shared her own unimpressed expression, determined to return his silence.

Forward merely elected to peruse through what was the next and final pony for Rising to deal with before giving the call, “May the next pony come forth!”

Rising gave a huff at Celestia before turning to the third and final pony given to him. This one was curiously a pale heliotrope Unicorn mare with the cutie mark of a purple and white star with two blue glimmering streams. On her back were two saddlebags with a few scrolls that seemed big enough to look like maps peeking out of them.

As the mare approached, just ... something about her felt off to Rising. She seemed to walk up towards the Alicorns as if she already knew the outcome of their interactions yet wanted to hear it anyways. Adding on to that smile of hers ... .

The mare came to a stop at a fair distance from the Alicorns before giving a polite bow with a quick, “Your Highnesses,” before standing back up and introducing herself, “my name is Starlight Glimmer.”

Rising’s irises swirled gently while the Legion started pondering and conversing with themselves quietly. Though Rising himself paid some attention to their conversation, he focused on the mare and asked, “Welcome, Starlight Glimmer. What do you have to ask of the Royal Court?”

“Well your Highnesses, I’ve come to ask for permission to build a village.”

Rising couldn’t see from his peripherals what Celestia’s reaction was, but he could guess she raised an eyebrow, “And where, might we ask, are you proposing to build this settlement?”

That smile she first responded with was an immediate second red flag to Rising as she replied happily, “I’m very glad you’ve asked, your Highness!”

Her horn lit up as she quickly opened her saddlebags and revealed several maps as she straightened them out to let both Alicorns and Majordomo to see. Several of the locations gave significant details in the surrounding areas that ... seem to indicate quite a good distance away from what seemed to be labeled Manehatten.

Starlight began to explain, “I would like to build Our Town—” She paused as Rising responded to her with a raised eyebrow to the rather curious name, “Oh that’s the name of the village. But as I was saying I would like Our Town to be built within this area,” She made a mark on one map, specifically in a flat area surrounded by mountains, “which should be just northwest of Manehattan.”

““Just northwest of Manehattan”?” Forward Bastion repeated in confusion, “Miss Glimmer I do feel that I should inform you that such a location is many miles away from trade routes and guard patrols. This would leave you effectively isolated and forced to rely on your own resources for everything.”

Starlight merely gave a happy hum in agreement, “That’s the whole point!”

Rising quickly challenged her on that with a simple, if a bit flat, “Why?”

Her response was just as quick, seemingly as if she'd been rehearsing it before she arrived, “For a fresh start, your Highness. I want to create a sanctuary, a refuge with no distractions from outside, where we can be self reliant. A blank slate, if you will. This will be my chance to make the perfect place to live.”

Rising’s eyebrows subtly furrowed at her response. That’s a third red flag that annoyingly places her in a legal position where as much as Equestrian law involved in building a settlement, he couldn’t outright deny her ... which added yet a fourth flag in his book.

He didn’t dare risk a glimpse over to the Majordomo or to the Princess, as now Rising realized that this was a mare who likely knew how to get her way even from the Princesses. Instead he kept a level stare at the mare while discussing and listening to the Legion conversing.

Much of it involved comparing this to some incredibly bad memories and moments that led to a great deal of deaths in human history … .

A sudden cough brought Rising’s attention back as he realized that Starlight was looking at his side, likely where a Cutie-Mark would be. The mare looked back at him before asking, “Your Majesty, Prince Rising?”

He didn’t speak up but instead blinked and tilted his head to the side. This seemed to be enough for the mare as she asked, “If I may be allowed to be a bit bold, but may I ask about your Cutie Mark? With the Princesses, their own Marks are straightforward and open for everypony to see. But, you seem to hide yours behind your clothing.” She seemed to want to ask further but given how he was looking at her, the mare didn’t seem to find the courage to really call him out on it.

However, it was well enough to be implied to Rising. Though he elected to not take offense since this seemed to be more of a curious remark than an intentional jab at him. On the other ‘hoof’, Rising didn’t feel like answering her truthfully considering something about Starlight Glimmer rubbed him the wrong way.

So instead, he elected a different method of answering her, “Our own Cutie-Mark is covered more out of personal preference as well as to honor an ancient habit which were once integral to the society we once lived in. While Cutie-Marks were just as common as they are today, clothing was used to prevent temptations as well as keep eyes on a pony's face rather than their personal locations, if you understand our meaning.”

This brought Starlight to blush and quickly lift one of her rear legs closer to her body while lowering her tail.

Rising continued spinning the web a little longer, drawing memories and experience of the Regency era of England, “Another reason for it is because it was considered improper behavior, if not provocative and exceedingly flirtatious, to walk in public with your flanks exposed. Normally, the only time a Cutie-Mark would be allowed to be seen openly was within the confines of your home and among friends within either their homes or yours. Or in bed with your spouse.”

The mare gave a nervous chuckle from what she learned, “I-I see. I do apologize if I’m giving any offense for that, Prince Rising.”

Rising simply shook his head, “We do accept it, though that was a very long time ago, and we are still adapting to the new methods and trends that Equestria now holds.” He paused for a moment before asking, “Perhaps we may see one of your maps for a moment?”

With a blush still somewhat on her face Starlight gladly levitated one over to him, which he took into one hoof, “Thank you. Allow us to consult with the Princess and Majordomo.”

Just before he let Starlight out of his sight, Rising could tell that she was still looking at his covered flank, either hoping she would see his non-existent Mark or something else.

He turned to see an angry and embarrassed Princess Celestia and an amused Forward Bastion, and only returned their looks with a subtle smile.

The mare quickly encompassed the three in a soundproof shield before poking him hard in the chest, “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Then understand how it feels for us to constantly need to look away from a pony when walking behind them.” Rising flatly retorted.

“Perhaps we can return to the subject at hand?” The Majordomo said, his amusement not going away.

Celestia gave an annoyed snort while Rising looked over to Forward and asked, “How much did she fill out for this petition?”

“Everything from what I’ve checked and been told,” Forward admitted, “the application, building permits, fees and dues. She’s done everything to the letter.”

“Which is yet another red flag for us.”

Forward gave a reluctant nod, “Indeed. Starlight’s even filled out in triplicate. This is normally done to ensure things are processed properly, but this is the first time this was all set and ready by the time she presented her application. And that’s not the end of it.”

The two Alicorns looked at the stallion curiously as he brought back his saddlebags and revealed a clipboard and listed out, “She’s done work for environmental studies, impact usage analysis, stormwater mitigation. The mare has done everything with a level of organization I would’ve expected more from your own student, Princess. Either she’s gotten this done all at once or she’s been planning for this proposal for months to even years.”

Rising exchanged a look with Celestia, who returned with her own concerning look. After a moment of silence, Rising looked as if he would ask her for her own input, but instead she only replied with, “This is your call, Rise.”

His eyes furrowed again but didn’t complain. Instead his eyes flicked left and right a few times, and after another consultation with the Legion he gave a gentle nod before turning to face Starlight.

The soundproof spell fell away as he returned to his “seat” before looking at the Unicorn mare, her smile still present and still unnerving him, “As it stands, everything is legally set and there isn’t much reason to deny you from going forward with this plan, Starlight Glimmer. You have the Royal Crown’s acceptance of your petition and application.”

Starlight started to bow and nearly began to thank Rising, “However,” he interrupted her and made her blink, “this is on the condition of allowing a contingent of inspectors and specialists to visit and review that everything is built to code and specifications during construction.”

To anyone else, they might have imagined seeing a twitch in Starlight’s smile. To a Legion like Rising however, you may as well have let that smile fall completely, “Oh, Prince Rising,” She gave a playful scoff and lifted a dismissing hoof, “I’m certain that isn—”

“That is not a negotiable condition, Starlight.” Rising ordered in a firm tone, “To build a settlement, a village no less, outside both trade routes and guard patrols as well as a long hike to Manehattan is an unusual request. It’s in the interest of the Royal Crown to ensure nothing ... illegal, occurs.”

Starlight fell silent for a moment but caved to his demand with a polite bow, “Of course, Your Highness. Your inspectors will be given access to everything.”

“Very good.” Rising said with a nod, “Is there anything else to bring before the Court?”

“No, Your Highness. I believe that’s everything I need.”

He watched silently as the mare departed and followed one of the guards out of the hall.

“Majordomo Forward, could we perhaps request a team of Pegasus to do a high fly-by and take photographs over her village two months or so after construction is done and Starlight’s settled in?” Rising asked with a frown.

Both Princess and Majordomo looked at the Prince with concern as Forward answered, “I believe I might be able to accomplish that. Is something wrong?”

Rising didn’t turn to look at them, but instead kept looking at where he last saw Starlight’s tail, “We very much hope there isn’t. We’ve heard of isolated villages and towns before ...” He gave a slow sigh as he explained to them “None of them were run by good people, and none of them lived happily for long, nor did such leaders and their citizens end peacefully.”

Celestia blinked at the dark tone that crept up on his last sentence as she asked, “Do you want to bring her back and reject her proposal?”

He lowered his head and looked at the platform he sat on before shaking his head, “To do so would result in nothing but trouble upon us if we did ... . Just make sure we have updates on her and her little “village”, Majordomo Forward. We want our gut feeling to be wrong.”

The three fell silent for some time before Rising gave a sigh before turning around and fixing Celestia with a level stare, “Now. Princess Celestia, let’s talk a bit about something called the Lower Courts.”

All Celestia could reply with was an exhausted sigh.

Author's Note

Awh Mah Gawd.

I finally got this down and done, and.... really hoping to never let it get this delayed or this bad like earlier chapters because I hate seeing the story sit here and my brain and body deciding they both wanna do other things and my heart's the only one trying to drag em both back in.
Honestly dont have anything exciting to say... Im just that much of a slacking twit when it comes to putting energy and the attempt at discipline sticks about as long as regular tape; Works for a little while, then just falls off by itself...

I'm guessing I'm going to get flak for this out of not being very cash-money creative, but for Starlight yes I did because really that is pretty much the best answer that Irrespective can and could have made and it is most definitely something Starlight would do: Annoyingly and suspiciously be in that perfectly legal space, and all you can do is let her have her way and just watch from afar.